How a World Ends

“Like this?”

“Sort of–you gotta imagine the magic moving through you, flowing like your blood.”

Lala meditates on the floor, getting more and more irritated at his failure to amass any amount of magical powers. You could almost see the steam coming out of his ears.

“I can’t do it!”

“Don’t say that bro, this is your first attempt nobody gets it on their first try.”

“But without it I’ll just be dead weight… Gil’s got his super strength and his mom is super smart, and you’ve got your electric magic too. I’m just a skill-less loser.”

Lala is always trying to look tough in front of everyone, so it's kind of sad seeing him so down in the dumps about his capabilities.

“You’re not useless Lala, Gil needs you, and I need you too. So what if you don’t hold the blade when it comes to combat, we’ll always need someone strategic like you planning the attacks. You can be our battle strategist, on the field keeping us on our toes.”

“I guess… I still want magic powers though.”

“And I think they’ll come to you, eventually. My magic first awakened during a time of some real tremendous stress. My emotions were heightened and the situation was dire. I’m not saying we recreate the same scenario, but if something drastic does occur maybe think about giving it a go again.”

“Ok bro, but you gotta call me like–Coach Lala, since I’m the battle thinker guy.”

“Alright man, coach Lala, you better make sure we make it to home base.”

“Haha yeah!”

~ ~ ~

The lab’s lights flicker on, and the buzz of old technology springs to life. Gil and Dr. Creeks return to the study room, with a large bag full of scraps, textbooks, and other rolled up papers. Dropping the bag on the ground the bits and pieces spill out across the floor.

“Me and Gil got the lights back on, and I have a good idea on where and how we’re going to get to the Demon Lord’s little party. But first you two should pick out a piece of scrap to wield as a weapon. We’re going into dangerous territory, being able to fend off fiends until help arrives should keep you more safe. King, I can trust you’ll do everything you can to protect us.”

“That I will, and good thinking. Is this scrap all leftover remnants of daystar artefacts you’ve utilized?”

“Ah you’ve got good eyes, they are. With your shovel being able to cut through the withering foes, I thought having some spare weapons could come in handy. And the kiddos need something for quick defense. So go on, pick out your favorites.”

Lala and Gil drop to their knees and begin scrounging for the trinkets that speak to them.

CLICK–

A flash covers the room in a quick bright light. Dr. Creeks, now holding a camera, snapped a photo of the kids picking out their scraps.

“I’m just recording the memory. Carry on!”

I bend down to pick through as well, finding a few small rods I could probably sharpen into little throwing knives. Lala picks out a hefty table leg, and starts to swing it around like a bat. Gil is just picking up little shiny pieces and pocketing them.

“Ooh shiny. Ooh that one’s shiny too. Oh and that one too. And that one.”

Dr. Creeks rolls out a large blueprint, its architectural layouts for the lab. She looks through it, spying something important, then she traces her finger through the rooms leading back to this one. The room she’s aiming for is labeled “Garage”. Maybe there are some cars there we can use to get over to the Demon Lord. We’d be driving cars in another world, sounds like a blast.

Wait, how does she plan on driving a car up the pit’s walls?

“Doc, what’s the plan after this?”

She studies the map and traces a line to her desired destination and then answers.

“Well I’ve figured that the place the Demon Lord was talking about is most likely the area of the first lab, which luckily for us isn’t that far away from here by vehicle. So I’m thinking we start heading in that direction. But there’s some good news and some bad news.”

“Uh ok–good news first.”

“The good news is there are definitely vehicles in this facility’s garage that can drive us to our point of interest.”

“Ah nice, oh and the bad news?”

“We’re in a pit. So cars are a no go. But there is something in there we could use… there’s a helicopter. It’s probably our only way out of here. The bad news is I don’t know how to pilot one, and none of you do either.”

Lala chimes in, speaking in a smug manner.

“What if I told you I’m a seasoned pilot.”

“You’re simply not.”

“Awww.”

“I could go about reading the manual, and I’ve at least ridden in a few. So maybe I could give it a try.”

Dr. Creeks seems quite uncertain. Knowing her being a scientist, testing something so volatile as flying a helicopter with zero experience it's probably going against everything she’s trained to do–

“But I guess I can give it a shot. Come on, I’ve mapped the path. All that’s left is for me to read up on what all the buttons do.”

Ok she stopped worrying a little too quickly. I mean that’s good I guess we need to get moving ASAP, but like flying a helicopter has got to be a crazy thing to just do.

Her quick change in behavior makes me think a bit deeply for a moment. Her son, Gil, he’s–well he’s built different. He’s abnormally strong, his strength towers over mine and I’m six years his senior. It makes you think, he probably wasn’t born that way.

His parents were researchers, deep in the study of daystar technology. I have a feeling some tools like my shovel carry a bit of magic within them, similar as well to Almza’s golden staff of fire.

I don’t want to imagine it, but could Gil have some link to it all. Does he have daystar technology growing within his blood? Which grants him his super strength and stronger immunities to the effects of withering.

I don’t think it's really something I can ask. It's all speculation after all. Maybe if the topic is brought up I’ll prod a bit. But the two don’t seem to hate each other.

Maybe I’m just over analyzing, he could really just be built different.

“Alright–off to the garage then, lead the way Doc!”

END CHAPTER 26