Celestial Knights: Runaways

Chapter 4

The next day came along and Inec received no answer from Zarchinox. He pleaded that he would answer, but never did. Is Zarchinox ashamed or is it all true? Nevertheless, Inec is still stuck on Mars until Undine gets better. She was up earlier, but still in great pain. Namaru must have broken a few bones during the battle. How come they couldn't transform into dragons? If they could, they would have destroyed the Knights then and there, but had the Knights come up with some sort of jammer that prevented the Dragovians from transforming? Why could he transform? It was only for a few moments, but he couldn't retain his form for long. 

"I'm terribly sorry Inec." Zarchinox finally answers, "Everything Xero said was true. I am not the legendary dragon that has protected the universe since the dawn of time. Leonus is the legendary dragon. I'm just an old dragon who has learned abilities over time. During the battle with Leonus, he sapped my powers away before he was defeated. It's only a matter of time until he escapes the Labyrinth."

"He can't escape without the doors being unlocked." Inec says sitting down on the bed, "Nobody is foolish enough to do so."

"You doubt Leonus's power!" Zarchinox growls, "Leonus is just as strong as every Dragovian is combined. He's still trying to control his power. I just hope that he doesn't learn how to control the Dark Emperor Dragon, Zend. If he does, then the universe will fall prey to his powers and no one will be safe."

"So how did this all begin?" Inec asks.

Zarchinox sighs, "It all started when Leonus and I were very young. We competed ferociously for years to become the next legendary dragon. The legendary dragon is picked by the Seven Sages. When Leonus was picked, I was excited for him. He began to change. He wanted to become leader immediately so that he could lead the Dragovians for many years to come. So he murdered the leader, my father. I saw him and accused him of murder. The Sanctuary sided with him while your family sided with me. They saw how he changed and wanted him gone. A vicious battle broke out and the Sanctuary was nearly destroyed. When the people saw the monstrous form that Leonus took, they rebelled against him. Leonus drew upon the powers of Zend and grew even more powerful. Before his transformation could go any further, I hit Leonus with a powerful spell. It hit Leonus in the chest. While doing this spell, Leonus tried to stop me. He took my powers away. Thanks to your family, I still had enough power to defeat him. Unconscious, we threw him into the Labyrinth hoping he would die. I thought for years that he wasn't alive, guess I was wrong. I became the temporary legendary dragon until now. Leonus is gaining strength as we speak."

"Xero told me about the Knights." Inec takes a deep breath, "Are they even alive?"

"They are reanimated soldiers thanks to Leonus." Zarchinox says, "Once Leonus doesn't need them, all he has to do his snap his fingers and they are gone. I must go now, I'm sorry Inec."

"WAIT!" But it was too late, Zarchinox went into another deep sleep.

"I thought you were awake." Xero enters the room, "Come I want you to see the machines that guard us."

Inec gets up off the bed and follows Xero down a long hallway. Even the hallways look extremely futuristic. The walls are painted with a metallic blue and white. The floors are all metal and glossy looking. 

"The machines are through this door." He says as they approach two sliding doors, "I warn you that they will try to kill you, but stand your ground. Once they see that you're a Dragovian, they will learn to listen to you. Please step through."

Inec hesitates. The fact that he's going up against the most ruthless machines in the world is making him nervous. What if they don't recognize him as a Dragovian? He's still only half human and half Dragovian. Inec closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. The doors open and he steps through. 

The doors shut with a bang. The echo resonates throughout the small cave. Machine like noises can be heard all around. He hears a switch being pulled and the cave walls open up. Robotic dogs walk into the light. Hideous and grotesque machines they are. The metal is like a skeleton. They have no skin covering them, revealing their vulnerable insides. It nearly made him throw up seeing the heart and everything else. What if a sword or arrow hits them. Then again, the insides are made of metal too. Three of the dogs walk up to him and growl loudly. The metallic growling is enough to send chills down his spine. The razor sharp teeth and claws are looks enough to scare. 

Their metallic claws scraped against the stone ground as they walk up to him. There's absolutely no color to them but silver, the color of the Celestial metal. Their beady red eyes are focused on him and him alone. They cautiously walk up to him and start to sniff him. They start growling, but soon realize that he is one of those that can kill them and they back off bowing their heads.

"Now they recognize you as a pack leader." Xero says over a speaker, "The results are even better than I had imagined. It seems to me that they will follow your commands and not mine."

****

The blockade that surrounds Earth was tough to break through, but they had made it. Sleer slumps up against the side of the shuttle and let's out a breath of relief. The fighters had harried them to the far reaches of their reach. Now their is nothing around them but darkness and the cold reality of the being alone. They had left Earth just before the major invasion happened. He only hopes that the Earthlings will be able to survive... again. Nio had told him about the great war that happened on Earth and that the Earth and the Earthlings had barely lived. Now it's all happening again, but this time, the Knights are stronger than ever.

"I'm getting tired of flying this rust-bucket!" Fei screams, "That planet over there looks nice! I need to rest and no one else aboard here knows how to fly this thing!"

The shuttle jerks to the right as Fei slams the steering wheel. Running away from the war is starting to get to her. I think it's getting to everyone. Morale is low and we don't have anywhere to go. Fei soars onto the planet. Sleer has never seen this planet before. He didn't even know that their was a planet this far away from his own. 

The doors open and Sleer steps out to test the air. It's clean, but it's full of nothing but smog. There must be a city somewhere around here. Everyone else piles out of the shuttle and they start climbing up a hill. When they reach the top of it, a sign appears beside them

Welcome to the Inoculai. We are a religious movement that hopes to spread our teachings to everywhere in the universe. Please come join us as we let the Dark Master teach you.

A gigantic citadel appears in front of them and guards rush out.