Previously on The Masters of the Universe
from The Implosion – Issue 2 –
“I have to go into that dark room for how long?” Ali asked.
“The last person to use the technique that you hope to deploy against the Bludonians studied for nearly five hundred years in the dark to master it.”
“We don’t have five hundred years, Lograt,” Ali said with exasperation. “Kevin almost died to get the intel on the Bludonian stockpiles. If I can detonate that explosive material that’s been wiping out the Krognian fleets, then I can swing this war to our advantage.”
“Sounds like you have your work cut out for you,” Lograt said and motioned toward the entrance of the dark room.
from The Implosion – Issue 4 –
Ali has been in his mind long enough to be comfortable with the strange experience of losing access to his physical body and exploring the darkness behind his eyelids. The dark feels expansive, like open space without stars in the distance, and he can feel a new kind of body forming around his consciousness. He could see his chest, his limbs, like the body he was used to, but glowing light blue. Then he heard her.
“You have come to master the most dangerous skill. Only the worthy leave here with that knowledge. Prove your worth Ali!”
from the Red Mountains/Kazi Mindlink Transcriptions
Talj has a friend who has entered its existence to lend a hand. The tiny Vodun is powerful enough to travel outside of everything on a whim. Talj believes that the tiny Vodun will be the death of the Bludonian threat, but at what cost? Is it true that the tiny Vodun wishes only to make the frequent acquaintance of Talj? There is nothing to do now but watch. Talj is aware.
– Issue 2 –
“This meditation stuff is a trip,” Ali says. He had recently stumbled out of the dark room of the Kazi Dōjō on Eel to the astonishment of Kazi Lograt and Kevin. Lograt sat vigil outside of the dark room hoping to sway chance in Ali’s favor, and Kevin sometimes sat with him over the week that they hoped beyond hope that Ali wouldn’t be lost forever.
Ali stands on the plateau behind the dōjō staring out at the awesome red mountains. Lograt and Kevin stand behind him, watching him carefully like he is very fragile.
“I swear I wasn’t in that room the whole time, I was somewhere else.”
“And you did it?” Lograt asks with wonder in his voice. “You mastered the most deadly skill in just a few daylight cycles?”
Ali looks down at a rock at his foot and he extends a hand toward it, curling his fingers like talons. In an instant, the rock explodes into pebbles in all directions, but none hit Ali and his friends. He had directed the explosion so that debris would fly away harmlessly.
“You are truly special,” Lograt shakes his head slowly and falls to his knees. “The Alius,” he says as he bows with his face on the ground.
“Don’t do that,” Ali starts, but suddenly Restilli flies up over the edge of the plateau and lands next to Ali.
“Bad news,” she says, catching her breath. “Satellites are picking up a very large incoming fleet. Definitely Bludonian and they are armed to flatten the mountains. I don’t think they are here to talk. There are enough Kazi on planet to hold them off, but without reinforcements, we won’t last long.”
Ali looks to Lograt who is standing again.
“I haven’t had enough time to practice the new technique on the scale needed to explode a fleet.”
“This will be good practice,” Lograt says. “I will rally the Kazi and we will mount our best defense while you sharpen your skills making ships explode. Kevin, Restilli, with me. Ali, eyes up.”
Lograt leads the other away and Ali looks up at the sky hoping to see or feel something that he can lock onto to apply the deadly technique. After almost an hour, Ali begins to sense the ships descending into the atmosphere of Eel. He can feel the energy powering their ships and their weapons and he concentrates on one to detonate it. By the time he feels the ship explode, the fleet is visible from the ground and Ali sees a few Kazi fly up to create a barrier in the sky. Ali focuses up and tries to feel two ships this time, but just as he locks on, something strange happens.
What looks like a comet, a ball of light moving through the sky with a tail of debris in its wake, begins to zig zag through the fleet, causing destruction on a large scale. In a few minutes, the fleet is destroyed and the remains of the Bludonian fleet rains down over the mountains of Eel.
Ali is stunned and watches the comet stop still in the sky, and then begin to approach him on the plateau. He worries for a moment that the comet will crash into the plateau, but then he sees the male, humanoid figure at the center of the burning ball that dissipates as he lands near Ali.
“You must be the Alius that Talj the Living is so fond of,” the man says. He wears fancy looking clothing that is otherworldly, like a suite and tie but foreign. “I am Lêgba. I have come to lend a hand to your success.”
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