PRL Serials

“Xêvioso requests the presence of the New Ajogun at his location,” Tenebris says.

“You all should go with them,” Pultine says to Alia, Maxx, and the Queen Rowen. “You can get more of the plan from Xêvioso and figure out the best way to help.”

“And what will you be doing?” Alia asks skeptically. 

“I have to find Tracia,” Pultine says, looking out at space. “Coffey came as well, we are the only three mmoatia here, the rest are on the Disc of Agê and we will all return to them when this is done.”

“I’ll go with you,” Alia insists, ignoring Pultine’s protests. “It’ll be faster to find her if we go together.”

“She’s right,” the Queen Rowen says. “I will go too…”

“I want you to come with me and the Ajogun,” Maxx says to Rowen. “It is good to be reunited with you and I know that the Vodun has a plan for me and the Blight Maker. I want you with me.”

The queen smiles and hugs the Superguardian. 

“We’ll be back with Tracia,” Pultine reassures Rowen and she leads Alia away from the others. 

“You worried about Tracia?” Alia asks as they maneuver through the tendrils of the cosmos. 

“Not exactly,” Pultine explains. “I just need to find her or Coffey or Agê, I know that reuniting with them physically will help to fully restore my power.”

“You know our suits are all connected, you are connected to them now.” Alia stops their journey through the cosmos and she puts her hands on Pultine’s shoulders. “Let’s feel them out and see if we can draw their powers to you or at least get a lock on their current position.”

Pultine agrees and they close their eyes as they both feel the powers of their suits and the connection to others nearby. They meditate this way, floating the tendril-strewn cosmos, for a while before they identify Coffey and Tracia; neither of them are far from their current position. But while in this deep meditation, they both feel a shift in the flow of their powers and suddenly they feel their power being siphoned away by the suits of armor they wear.

“What is happening?” Pultine asks with concern.

“I don’t know…” Alia starts but then the tendrils around them begin to thrash wildly and the power the two have been using to keep themselves aloft in space fails them completely. They hold hands as they fall through the chaos for about a minute, and just when they are about to crash into the chaos of the thrashing tendrils, they are transported in a flash of arcane energy that flares and pops like fireworks. When they come to, they are in a familiar place, a place that they have traveled to in their minds thanks to Alia’s powers, but it is the first time that they have been here physically. They are in a field that looks to be composed of large, hairy, strings of yarn that are wrapped in a planet-sized ball. They are on the surface of Une and when they look around themselves they see the mmoatia Tracia and Coffey looking confused as well. Pultine does feel her powers fully restored to her. 

“Where am I?” Tracia yells angrily before she recognizes Pultine and Coffey nearby. “What is happening? How did I get here? I was with the Zomo and the Warehares on Top! Sister, there is a Top here and…”

Suddenly, the humanoid form of Une appears before all of them.

“Oh, there are two more than I meant to bring,” Une says with a sneering smirk. “And who are you, two? You must be very close to Agê, seeing as I used her magic with the intent of capturing Pultine and Alia, who are no doubt the cause of the suffering of my tendrils. Did you two help them? What did you do?” She stares daggers at Pultine and Alia and though they are all half her size, they stand bravely and defiantly. 

“This the thing that’s causing all this trouble?” Coffey asks. She has circles of yellow-white light at her head and both hands and she wears the same green armor of Agê that the other mmoatia wear. “Let’s rush it.”

“Wait,” Tracia says. “Is Agê here?” she asks Une.

“She is here and soon enough, she will become one with me. But don’t worry about her…” Une says as tendrils begin to rise from the ground where they stand, but all four of her adversaries break free with little effort and Une is angry at the sight of it. “What have you done to me?!” She screams and moves to attack both Alia and Pultine, but Coffey and Tracia take flight and begin blasting her with their powers that cause her real pain.

Alia and Pultine attack as well, all four of them blasting energy at the tall form of Une, and she trashes at them wildly, angrily, unable to stop their assault on her. 

“Come to my aid!” Une screams, and the mmoatia are dumbfounded to see Agê, their Vodun of Life and the Green, like a half animated zombie shamble over a horizon, then fly towards them, grabbing Coffey and Tracia out of the air and restraining them in her large hands while Une finally grabs Pultine and Alia.

“I have waited so long for this moment,” Une says, too angry to celebrate as she squeezes Alia and Pultine in each of her hands. “You mocked me, you destroyed the algae that I use to control my tendrils, but look at your Vodun now. She will help me restore what you have destroyed. You will all help me.”

“What algae?” Pultine strains to scream as she struggles against Une’s hand that holds her tightly. 

“Don’t play dumb,” Une screams. “Your little plan has failed and now you all will become my new Pito and help me kill all of your annoying friends that infect my universe. Struggle all you want, this will be over quickly.”

Coffey explodes in a chaos of fireworks and the half zombie form of Agê screeches as she loosens her grip enough that she is able to free herself from Agê’s grip and the magic she used to contain her. Coffey flies at the fist that threatens to crush Tracia and she manages to free her as well, but Tracia is weak, apparently the zombie Agê has been draining her powers as she holds her, and Coffey collects her when Agê releases her.

“Go!” Pultine yells to Coffey. “Get away and find help.”

The zombie Agê roars with anger and tries to pursue Coffey, but she is fast and eludes the Vodun.

“No matter,” Une says. “The four of us is all I require. I just need to heal my tendrils quickly, I am too vulnerable without them. Agê! Come. It is time to complete your transformation so that Alia and Pultine can be transformed as well.”

Alia and Pultine stare at one another and though Une exerts incredible power here on the surface of her planet-sized form, they are not completely helpless.

“Is Agê gone from us?” Pultine asks Alia through their mental link.

“No, not nearly as much as Une thinks,” Alia says. “She let Coffey escape with Tracia. We have to trust her even though she isn’t responding to us mentally.”

“That means…”

“We shouldn’t struggle, not just yet,” Alia says as Une tightens her grip and the zombie Agê shambles closer to them.

* * *

Coffey carries Tracia as they leave the surface of Une and she maneuvers the chaotic space where tendrils are flailing so violently that they tear themselves apart. Coffey dodges the dangerous debris, mostly gliding with her wings and she holds Tracia from behind, both her arms in Tracia’s armpits.

“Do you know where we’re going?” Tracia asks weakly.

“Do you?” Coffey asks with frustration. “I’m just flying away from where we were, but everything is just them screaming tendrils. What did Pultine and Alia do to them?”

“Whatever it was, it was a good thing,” Tracia says. “Those tendrils aren’t as strong as they should be and they’re destroying themselves.”

“That’s just like a mmoatia,” both Coffey and Tracia hear before they see the source of the voice, “taking credit for things they couldn’t possibly do.”

Coffey stops moving forward and flaps her wings to float in space, Tracia dangling from her arms for a moment before she flaps her wings to float next to her.

“Detritus!” Tracia screams as three witches of the Death Witch Coven approach them. “You’re going the wrong way. We need to find more reinforcements to save Agê.”

“She must not have seen me,” Quietus says. “I am here to finish what I started, Tracia of the strange lighting. And you must be Coffey, I have heard things about you. You can join us in freeing your Vodun and your reckless sister before Xêvioso strikes, or run along and tell the others what we are doing here. But I guarantee you will not want to miss Quietus, Detritus, and Ruin landing on Une’s surface.”

“Xêvioso doesn’t know you’re here?” Tracia asks with annoyance. “You disturbed the tendrils? Destroyed the algae that Une is desperate to restore?”

“That’s too many questions,” Quietus says dismissively. “Either come with us or go tell the others what is happening here.”

The Death Witches continue to the surface of Une. Tracia and Coffey look at one another. 

“We  gotta go,” Coffey says. 

“We have to send word to the others,” Tracia says, “but yes, we have to help free Agê. She cannot be corrupted.”