Since the beginning of time, men have struggled to survive with nature. Men have also been trying to survive against unnatural forces, fighting for ultimate control over their little blue-green planet called Earth. The last battle occurred more than ten thousand years ago, when men were just emerging from the Stone Age. Now the battle comes again…
March 5, 2002
New York City
Morning broke over the city and its glass structures. Sunshine beamed down onto the paved streets. Cars moved and horns sounded. It may have been 6:30 in the morning, but New Yorker’s did not like to sleep. The silence was suddenly broken by a massive explosion, which destroyed the top of the skyscrapers that decorated New York’s landscape. Glass shards pierced the ground, busted windows and put dents in cars. This was only the beginning. Smoke from the skyscraper retreated and revealed one man who stood with his hands lifted towards the sky. He glowed as if he were on fire. People nearby watched from the outsides of their cars, while others watched from their offices across the street. The man put his hands on his sides and looked out on the devastated landscape. Without effort his body lifted from the beam he was on and floated out over the streets of spectators.
The man raised his right hand and a small ball appeared in it. He threw the ball towards the ground. A huge explosion brightened the skies. A crater 300 feet in diameter filled a void where the people once stood. The man lifted his right hand and disappeared. New York City was left in a destructive mess.
Los Angeles, California
The UCLA campus was heavily occupied with people running to their classes. One student in particular however seemed untouched by the bustle. He was deep in thought about what had happened in New York only a few hours before. His name was Jacob Anderson; he had attended UCLA for more than two years. He had been aware of such beings with awesome power, but he had never thought that they actually existed. The story that his father had told him described an ancient battle that had occurred a long time ago. Jacob had thought his father was just blowing hot air, but now things were different. He stopped and darted across campus towards his dorm room. The key flung from his pocket and seemed to insert itself into the door’s lock by itself. Jacob struggled to open the door, threw his book bag to the floor and picked up the phone. Still pushing numbers, he put the phone to his ear and listened to the dial tone. Someone picked up on the other side:
“Dad is that you?” asked Jacob
“Yes, is that you son? What’s the matter?”
“Have you heard what happened in New York?”
“Yes I have, and there’s something I need to tell you. Son you have a gift, a power.”
“What are you talking about Dad?”
“All I’m saying son is that you can do exactly what that man in New York did.”
“What the…”
“Yes son. You are the one that I’ve been talking about all those years. You must get back home quickly. We need to get you ready for the battle ahead.”
“This is too much!”
“I don’t care. You have to get home immediately. Now listen to me, put your first two fingers of your right hand in the middle of your forehead, and think of home…”
Jacob did as his father had instructed. In an instant, Jacob disappeared from his dorm room and reappeared next to his father. Jacob opened his eyes to see his father still holding the phone. When his father noticed that he was already home, he dropped the phone. Jacob was still confused about what had happened. His father gave him a big hug and said to him, “Son, we have a lot of work to do. Follow me!”
Jacob followed his father to a small cement shed. It had a big steel door on the front, which was turning a dark maroon color from the rusting metal. Jacob’s father put his hand in his pocket, and pulled out a small metallic key. Inserting it into the lock, he pulled open the heavy steel. Jacob stepped through the door with his father. The door slammed behind them both as a flickering light began to turn on. The stairs appeared as Jacob and his father began to walk. The light continued to flicker on and off as they ascended the stairs.
“Father, where are we going?” asked Jacob hoping for a quick answer.
“We are going to a place where you will be trained in the ancient art of the gods.” replied Jacob’s father.
“Which would mean?”
“You will be able to throw fireballs from the tips of your fingers. You will also be able to fly and run faster than light itself, son!”
“Dad is this another one of your jokes?”
“Yes Jacob it is a joke. I destroyed an entire city so that I could play a joke on you.”
“Okay maybe this isn’t a joke, but how the hell am I going to get trained in a fall out shelter, father!”
“Not everything is what it appears to be son.”
With that, his father passed him up and finished the last few steps to stop at another steel door. He did not use a key this time. He pushed the door open with the flick of his wrist and stepped inside. His father pointed to a chair in the middle of a circular room. Jacob looked at his father, nodded and climbed into the chair. His father then shut the heavy steel door and put his hands into the air. Light began to shine brightly from his fingers.
From the ceiling a small-lighted crystal began to float. It stopped no more than ten inches above Jacob’s head. The crystal began to glow with a brilliant white light. Suddenly a beam of blue light struck Jacob in the head. His muscles flinched, the veins in his arms emerged from under his skin, but strangely, instead of hurting him, it began to make him feel stronger. First, his arms, then his legs tingled with new strength. Then the blue beam retreated back into the crystal and the ordeal ended. Jacob slowly lifted his head and said: “I can feel the power from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.”
“It is complete. Son you must go now and fight the being that now chooses to destroy Earth,” said his father looking at his son proudly with tears welling in his eyes
“I shall win this war. I have finally received my true purpose and gained ultimate knowledge. His end shall be today father,” replied Jacob
Jacob spent a few seconds looking at his new body and thinking about his new abilities.
“Go now! Jacob you have little time to waste in this situation.”
Jacob nodded and with two fingers placed on his forehead, he vanished. He reappeared over the Grand Canyon. Looking around, he lifted his hands and yelled out, “You have challenged me, now show yourself so that we might fight for the fate of this planet I call home.” He lowered his hands and closed his mouth tightly, and then he waited. Jacob was ready to fight the man or creature that had attacked New York City. Darkness overcame the area and suddenly the man appeared no more than twenty feet in front of him. In seconds the man was gone. Jacob disappeared and punch after punch; kick after kick was thrown. Not one move was seen, just streaks of light as the two fighters came in contact with each other at incredible speeds.
Suddenly Jacob threw a devastating punch that knocked the other warrior from his concentration, a large boom sounded as he slammed into the hard bedrock of the canyon. Smoke rose, but the warrior did not emerge. Then streaks of light stretched from the smoke; balls of blue light followed soon behind. Faster and faster they flew towards Jacob, but he did not move, suddenly the lights exploded. The now wounded warrior flew from the smoke. Thinking that he had won, the man’s face showed a small smirk. When the smoke around Jacob had cleared, the warrior’s smirk disappeared. The fireball had not even touched Jacob. Through the lighted smoke, Jacob stood smiling with hands folded ever so proudly.
“I hope, that wasn’t your best shot!” exclaimed Jacob
“How could you have survived? No one in the universe has ever destroyed one of my fireballs head on,” replied the man.
“Maybe you’ve finally met your match. Now, what is your name warrior and why have you come to Earth?” The man did not say anything. He was still breathing hard from the last attack by Jacob.
“My name is Copernicus, son Magyar, prince of the Kaèl Empire,” replied Copernicus.
“So, Copernicus, you still haven’t answered me. Why have you come to Earth?”
Copernicus was reluctant to answer. If he told this man why he had come to Earth, he might try to destroy him and make himself immortal.
“I have come for the crystal of Eternity, it is said to grant immortality to the holder.”
“So you wanted to be granted immortality, then return home and kill your father with no worry about dying to take over the Kaèl Empire. Am I right?” asked Jacob
The two warriors paused from their talking and examined each other for a weakness or a flaw. “Now that you know my name, what is yours warrior?”
“My name is Jacob, guardian of the Infinity gate,” replied Jacob.
“If you want you can join me on my search for the Eternity crystal and help rule the Kaèl Empire with me!” said Copernicus hoping that he would not have to fight such a powerful being.
“My purpose is not an evil one Copernicus, so do not try to persuade me. Besides the point’s I would more than likely be the one to rule the Kaèl Empire with you by my side.”
“What…how dare you think yourself higher than me!” exclaimed Copernicus.
The upset Copernicus leaped towards Jacob, with flames engulfing his body. Jacob made a quick move to the right as Copernicus passed him; Jacob threw his fist at Copernicus’ back. His back folded together slightly and Copernicus was sent flying towards the ground at two hundred miles an hour. A loud boom was heard as he slammed into the hard rock below, smoke emerged but Copernicus did not. Jacob still unsure that Copernicus had survived the crash stood alert for any movement from below. Suddenly the smoke moved and a dark object exploded from the rock, it was Copernicus and he didn’t look too happy. Blood flowed from his forehead and the left corner of his mouth, his eyes were red with revenge as he charged closer to Jacob who made no move from the frayed warriors path.
Whoosh; Copernicus passed through Jacob’s mortal body. He stopped in mid-air and turned to look back at the warrior, but he was no longer there. Copernicus turned his view forward, there he was. Jacob stood proud and ready to fight, with his outstretched hand he uttered the words; “Your evil will no longer plague this planet!” Jacobs’s hand then lit up with light, in the form of a small ball. The small ball of light flickered, and then expanded to an enormous size. The fireball could easily sit upon the Pentagon’s five million square foot building. The beam of light now present raced towards Copernicus and engulfed him in light, he screamed from the excruciating pain from its heat. Burns all over his body began to emerge, from below his skin; his body burst into flames and then exploded.
Jacob stood not proud of what he had done, but relieved that he had won the first battle of a great war that had yet to come upon the Earth. He might have to call upon much more devastating amounts of power to destroy the next threat. Jacob lifted his head to look out over the horizon, and watched the beautiful evening colors as they were splashed against the sky. In a moment he vanished, to where is uncertain, but he would be back again to save the world from another galactic threat.
Since the battle with Copernicus, Jacob had taken his time to find out about the new powers that his body contained. What new fireballs he could produce. What kind of speed he might achieve. Jacob has realized that he did not require air to live; this made it possible for him to test his new powers to their full extent in deep space. In space there is little to no chance of hurting anyone.
At the same time Jacob is experimenting in space, the Emperor on the planet Taxiing has become restless. Where is my son and why has his communication signal disappeared? This was all the poor man could think about as he lashed out at his fellow conspirators. He had been driven to the brink of insanity by the disappearance of his son Copernicus. Unfortunately he did not know that his son’s slate had finally been wiped clean by a being of superior intellect and vigor. This meant that Jacob had destroyed Copernicus to the full extent of his power.
Copernicus’ father, Emperor Shoran, was not much of a diplomat. He took what he wanted for his already vast Empire. Even now the complete interior of the galaxy was known as the Lazarus Concordance, which was the Kaèl Empire. This powerful Empire spanned more than two hundred and fifty million light years. The Armada of the Empire was the backbone of the Empire, with more than three hundred and twenty million ships on active service. Since Shoran has been the Emperor he has enlisted fifty million Destroyers to the defense of the Empire. Destroyers are truly massive ships, which span three million cubic meters, making them the most feared ships in the galaxy. They are also feared because of their incredible firepower that can destroy entire systems.
In the royal chamber, Shoran grew weary of the wait for his commanders to find a sign of his son. Tired of waiting, Shoran blew the door to the royal chamber off its hinges. As it hit the floor his foot stepped out the door. Shoran began to walk towards the left corridor that seemed to stretch forever and then suddenly he stopped in front of the communications room. Shoran stood at the door for a few seconds, then he raised his hand and pushed the door in. The door handle shattered under the pressure of his blow.
“Emperor! We believe we have found your son,” said one of Shoran’s General’s hoping the news would calm him down.
“Good, what is his location?” said Shoran waiting patiently once again for an answer.
“Well, your son’s communication signal was reportedly tracked to a remote planet, in the outer part of the galaxy. What still seems to puzzle us Emperor is that just before your son’s communication went dead it reported reading a power level over twenty million,” reported the young communication officer.
“How is that possible? That’s pretty damn close to my energy level? How could some primitive planet have that kind of power level walking on its surface?”
“We are not sure Emperor Shoran, but from the data collected here your son is no longer living. If that was the rate of the blast there was no way he could have survived it.”
“What…”
“I’m truly sorry Emperor Shoran, but your son could not have survived that blast, it would have been to great for his body to handle.”
“I will find the man who did this to my son, and I will make him die a slow and excruciating death, no matter what the cost. Prepare my battle cruiser for departure. Also contact four destroyers and have them meet us at this planet in the outer part of the galaxy and make sure they use the ‘cloak’ as well. I do not what to alert my presence yet, and when I do he won’t be able to stop me.” Emperor Shoran began shouting orders holding his hand in a fist in front of his face, waving it back and forth.
Back in our solar system, Jacob continued his training with meticulous effort. He would not give up trying to find the true extent of his power, but for some reason it never seemed to come, after every increase in his power there was another increase after that to make him even stronger than before. Explosions from his fireballs ripped through the asteroid belt. The reasons why Jacob chose to practice his powers in the asteroid belt, was to avoid any human contact, but it also gave him many targets traveling at incredible velocities for which to better his aim.
Shreds of stone floated through the empty space near the belt. A darkened figure darted in and around asteroids with implausible speed. The darkened figure suddenly stopped in front of an asteroid the height of the Empire State building, his hand brightened with a brilliant white and yellow light. That same light expanded into a beam focused at the center of the asteroid, the asteroid began to expand from the center as if it was getting hot enough to melt. Suddenly the center of the asteroid exploded shattering the colossal rock. Pieces of it now flew outward towards the edges of the asteroid belt, creating a fine dust that would have blinded ships in the vicinity.
The armada that was called together to attack Earth had arrived in the outermost part of the solar system around Pluto space; they awaited orders from the Emperor.
“Emperor Shoran, we’ve arrived at the outermost part of the solar system just as you have instructed, the destroyers are requesting their orders at the moment, sir. What do you want me to tell them?”
“Tell them to activate their cloaking devices and proceed to the instructed coordinates. Tell them also to not uncloak unless ordered by me to do so,” replied the Emperor.
As the orders were beamed to the Destroyers, Emperor Shoran turned and relaxed his tired, burdened body into a chair in the center of the room. His head moved slightly and landed on his hand, he thought to himself how much he wanted to destroy the man who obliterated his only son.
The Destroyers started their engines, their massive hulls began to ripple under the cloaking device, and then they were completely gone. A big flash of light burst from the space where the Emperor’s Destroyer sat, then nothing, the huge ship had gone to slipstream. In an instant all evidence of the Destroyers was gone.
Still in the outermost part of the asteroid belt Jacob blasted fireball after fireball at the huge asteroids. Shards of the rocks were flung into space. As he started to fire yet another fireball, Jacob heard an explosion. He turned toward the noise; the asteroids looked as if they were exploding with a mind of their own. He grew thoughtful. Floating silent for a few seconds in the cold blackness gave him a chilling thought, those rock remnants could be heading for Earth. With that horrible thought in his mind, Jacob raised his two fingers and placed them on his forehead. Whoosh, he was gone in the same instant.
Jacob reappeared in the orbit of Earth; he stretched out his hands towards the planet’s surface, and let out a loud cry. Suddenly from the tips of his fingers large lightning bolts sprang, splashing on the planet’s outer atmosphere. When it had finished and the rage of terror had ended the Earth was covered by a blue light that became a force field to protect the planet from this new threat from space.
After waiting for more than an hour, Jacob began to hear the same rumble that he heard around the asteroid belt. He then prepared for the worst. Jacob met the invisible threat with courage not moving an inch.
“Emperor we have arrived at the planet, but there seems to be some kind of man floating just in front of one of the Destroyers…they are requesting orders to act, sir.”
“Tell them to send out the fighters, I want to…”
“…But sir, that will be hopeless if our reading was correct those ships won’t last at all out there.”
“That’s if you were correct. Machines do make mistakes, just like men do,” replied Emperor Shoran.
The first huge Destroyer in front launched a small fighter craft from an opening near the front of the ship. At first the ships passed Jacob up, but when they turned around for the second pass the ships rippled out shot after shot at him. He did not worry. With no movement of his hands a fireball appeared in front of his body. The ball of light began to pull apart and there were now two balls. The two fireballs took off towards two of the fighters making their pass. In a burst of flames and debris the ships were gone. This time Jacob did not want to waste his time, he finally lifted his hands and from his fingertips lightning bolts flew. They surrounded the remaining ships stopping them in their tracks instantly; they soon exploded like the first two ships. Jacob, now frustrated, turned back towards the massive Destroyer, looking as fierce as ever with fire in his eyes.
“This could prove to be a problem,” said the Emperor looking at the view screen
“We could always send some of your guards, sir. They have proved to be very powerful,” replied the Emperor’s personal advisor staring at him intensively
“Good idea, Koran. Horal, get about three of my personal guards out there immediately, I want to see how they hold up against this stranger.” The Emperor began to rub his chin, with a growing smile on his face
Jacob stood near one of the gigantic Destroyers, it took only a few seconds for the Emperor to get his guards to the main cargo bay, the men suited up in space suits so that they could breath in the cold blackness of space. From the main cargo bay the two men flew, surrounded by a blue flame that seemed to engulf their bodies. They both suddenly stopped 15 feet from Jacob, the blue flame dissipated and they were left floating. Jacob did not raise his hands, but opened his mouth to speak:
“Who are you?” asked Jacob
“We are the Emperor’s personal guards,” replied one of the men
“What Emperor?”
“The Emperor of the third race, ruler of the Kaèl Empire.”
“Kaèl Empire!” exclaimed Jacob.
“The Kaèl Empire is the governing body over this galaxy,” replied the man.
“Well, whatever you’re doing here I don’t know, but all I can say is that you will not rule this planet, without going through me first.”
“We are not concerned with your planet, we only want you!”
“What could you possibly want with me?”
“We are here to eliminate you for killing the Emperor’s only son.”
“The Emperor’s son! Who the hell is that?”
“His name was Copernicus.”
“Oh, the man with the evil heart. That man tried to take something from Earth he has paid his price. Leave the situation at that!”
“What did Copernicus intend to take?”
“Copernicus intended to take the crystal of Infinity”
“What’s the crystal of infinity?”
“The crystal of Infinity, can grant unlimited power to the bearer.”
“Well, then we might just destroy you and take this crystal for the Emperor.”
“I’m sorry to say this, but you are never going to get your hands on that crystal because you’ll never get past me.”