STELLARIUM(BOOK ONE)

Chapter 17: The Loophole

"Everyone? Avoid Elysium for now. I'll test her and check properly to avoid this from transmitting to anyone else, keep your distance."

         She warned and rolled Elysium to a room downstairs, she plugged the oxygen and gave her some injected treatments but her sweating increased. "Aurora, my dad said, She was affected by the possession of the Astral Chimera. She'll need complete isolation from us and severe testing, he said you knew what to do." Astrid said.

         She answered, "Yeah, tell him I already started and she's not responding to treatment at all. She needs something from the other side." Aurora's eyes opened, she just remembered two things. One, there were at least four victims and that explains their absence at the lab earlier. Second, this illness had an antidote from the other earth realms not theirs.

         Xander asked, "how do I reach Solstice? I don't think this method is working for her." Both of them stare at each other, they read their faces.

        Xander said, "the aurum sphere." He ran straight into the room. He placed it on the wall, the aurum sphere spoke, "you are back Xander."
     
         "Yes and I need your help, my mother she's sick. She'll need treatment, I'll need to see Solstice."

          "He's not the one in charge of healing Xander. You'll meet with Apex, he knows the ways of health. Walk in and see him, your mother may not survive another day after this."

        "Alright, no problem."
 
         He walked into the aurum sphere, the scene changed. He's standing before Apex, Apex smiled calmly at him. Xander asked, "are you Apex?"

      Apex walked straight to his face, "you didn't know before you walked into the aurum sphere, it's either you are bold or you are dumb. Ask again."

       His words seemed harsh, Xander asked again, "are you Apex?"

      Apex gaped at him silently this time. The aurum sphere spoke, "you didn't greet the lord of the courts? You just asked? That's not proper."

        Xander spoke the third time, "greetings to the lord of the courts, the grand arbiter Apex."
  
         Apex smiled at him, "well I guess your father trained you proper. I didn't expect you to know about the greetings. What do you want?"

       "My lord, my mother is sick and she needs an antidote. What do you suggest?"

       "The wife of the one and only Galen, of course I've got an antidote. Bring her to me."

         Xander feels dazed, "how do I bring her here? I've not gotten to that level of power."

         Apex smiled yet again, "Well you have, but you haven't realized it yet. You are Galen's son, you should have something up your sleeve."

       Xander seemed unsatisfied with his response, so he asked again. "My lord, I request for an antidote, alone." This time his voice sounded a bit stern. Apex noticed it and took some steps back.

        He said, "very well, get it then. The aurum sphere will guide you." He left him there.

        "Aurum sphere, why did you bring me here to meet this… man?"

      The aurum sphere replied, "because you needed to see him. He gave the answer already.Yet you seek more."

         "Summon him again, let me ask again."

      "He summons himself if he feels like it. You'll have to meet Solstice or Vexis."

      "Vexis? Why him? That's not the answer I'm looking for. I can't go to the man."

      "Would you prefer your mother die?"

     "Of course not, where can I find the antidote?"

     "That's a journey you don't want to begin yet. It's far too dangerous for you. Meet Vexis instead."

       Xander turned impatient, "where can I get it."

      "Meet the Celestial Serpent."

       Xander recalled that name, he exhaled and walked out of the aurum sphere. He sat on the couch trying his best to weigh his options.
 
         "Take me to the serpent."

    He walked into the aurum sphere again, it replied, "it's already there, it escaped through the portal Aurora opened trying to save your mother."

        He quickly ran out through the hole and saw his mother was already fine. "Who did this?"

      Aurora replied, "I don't know him but he had white long hair. Fine to the bone, he said you spoke to him about your mother."

        He turned to the door, he saw Apex standing right there. He smiled and walked through his portals leading to the courts.

         Of course, he knew Xander couldn't and would never stand a chance against the serpent. "Aurora, the aurum sphere said you let the celestial serpent in by mistake. You just caused another loophole. We need to fix it."

         Their eyes widened after his statement.

      Mara says, "isn't this enough madness for one day. First the Astral Chimera and now the Celestial Serpent? Which is worse? Help me out here."

         Luna replied, "actually it's the fastest, if catching the Astral Chimera was a lot of work just imagine how fast the serpent would move. This is just out of the box for me. Xander you are dealing with this." She walked into the kitchen to get her food.

          Xander asked, "how do we identify the beast? I know it's a serpent clearly but how do we identify the modes of it's operations? I need clarity on this first, I need more information from dad."

            "Your dad? Xander what we need is to make sure that thing can't possess us first. If it escaped through the portal, we can't just point yet because it's faster than my phone network and it's clearly stronger than presumed others due to it's speed. First we'll need to study this creature and adapt." Mara said.

      Astrid suggested, "I have a plan, it's not looking all good in my head but I think it'll push us further. Remember the outpost? The gateway leading to Nexus City? We'll need to go there. We could do something with the portal Xander."

        Xander asked, "what's the plan? Why are we going there? What are we taking with us?"

      She replied, "I'll need you to trust…"