The Rise Of Evil

The day had finally arrived, the Garden Of Dreams had appeared again. 

The COUNCIL had done all of their preparations. They were more than ready. The leader didn't intend to back down, he was ready to fight whatever came in his way. 

All the tools and machines required for the task had been tested and approved. 

"Sir, the Garden had appeared again. It's location is in the higher ward of Ziphis."

"Move there with all the required things, and make the preparations. I'll be sending 7 units with you. Contact me when the preparations had been completed."

"Okay sir..."

AT ZIPHIS....

Nate and Tessa were going about their usual routine. 
Nate wasn't feeling much good, he knew that the Garden would reappear very soon, he didn't know that it had already appeared. He knew that the COUNCIL would do whatever they want to but he couldn't do anything, he had decided not to interfere. Still, he couldn't stop thinking about what the COUNCIL actually wanted from the Garden of Dreams. 

"What will become of this world if they succeed?" He thought to himself.

"Would my life be affected by it?"

"Maybe I should have fought back then, maybe things would be different."

Nate was overthinking, like always. He regretted his decision to not to fight. Back then, he had convinced himself that he didn't care but as the moment came closer and closer, he became more and more anxious. 

"I'm so f*cking stupid! I should have done this earlier." He thought to himself. 

"Should I go to the NCPD and tell them about what's going to happen? Maybe they would be able to stop the council."

After much thought, Nate finally decided that he would go to the NCPD. 

"I hope it's not too late." 

He put on some formals and got ready to go out. Just when he was about to open the door and leave, someone rand the bell. 
Nate opened the door almost immediately. Jake and Detective Rey Jr. were standing there, along with Jake's guards. 

"Jake? Detective? What are you doing here?"

"Mind if we come in?" said Rey.

"No. Come in, please."

The guards stayed outside, they sat down on the couch.

"Can I bring you anything?"

"No, you don't have to do the formalities Nate. We're here for a reason."

"What is it?"

"Nathan, I need you to tell me everything you know about the Garden of Dreams..."

"Well, I was about to go the NCPD and tell them, but I guess I don't need to do that anymore."

"I went to them before it was too late. I couldn't live with myself if something bad happened to the world." Jake said. 

"What did you tell them?"

"Everything that you told me..."

"Then there's nothing more I could tell you, I had told everything to Jake."

"If that's the case then can you tell us something about the COUNCIL?" 

"I have no idea about what they actually want from Garden of Dreams. But I know for sure that it would be something bad."

"Jake mentioned a guy in a mask...have you ever met him?"

"Yes, I have. It seems as if he's the one behind all this, I think he's the leader of the COUNCIL."

"That's what I think too." said Jake.

"This guy in the mask, did he ever mention anything about his plans?" said Rey.

"No..."

"Did you ever catch a name, or were you able to see his face."

"No..."

"Well, that doesn't help."

"What is the NCPD planning on doing detective?" 

"Our priority is to stop the COUNCIL from accessing the Garden."

"Has the garden appeared?"

"We believe so..."

"Where?"

"Right here, in Ziphis..."

"What? That means that the CUNCIL's units must have arrived here by now."

"The NCPD along with ZCPD has set up a barricade at the entrance of the higher ward, and we're checking all the vehicles that are passing through. Anyone who's even a bit suspicious will be prohibited from entering."

"What if they got here before you did?"

"That's what we are worried about."

"Do you guys know the exact location of the Garden?"

"No, but we know where it might be."

"How did you know?"

"Someone sent us an anonymous tip."

"An anonymous tip? Who could have sent that?"

"Probably a scientist working for them."

"Then what is the NCPD waiting for? Can't you guys search the whole area?"

"That's what we're doing, but the area is too big to search and there are sewers, buildings, houses, offices and what not, it could be anywhere. Even after sending numerous search units, we still haven't been able to find it."

"So what now?"

"We can't do anything else except searching."

"What about the-

Nate was interrupted by Rey's radio,

"Sir, this is Ron from the search squad 3. Sir, come in."

"Yes Ron, what happened?"

"We heard a small explosion, like a 100 meters away from us sir. We're going to check it out. Over."

"I'll be on the scene as soon as I can. Over."

"What is it?"

"I have to go?"

"What happened? Did they find them?"

"Maybe."

Rey quickly checked search squad 3's location on his device and started rushing out...

"Wait, detective, I'll come too" said Nate.

"Yes, me too." said Jake.

"Hell no! I can't risk compromising this mission by taking two civilians with me, you'd only get in the way."

"Detective!  Let us help, please! It's our fault anyways, if we would have done something sooner then maybe things would be easier right now!" said Jake.

"Well, you should've thought of that sooner. Right now, there isn't anything you can do." Rey said after sitting in his car.

"Wait detective!" Nate said, but Rey had already driven away.

"What now?" Nate asked.

"Dmitri, get the car quickly." Jake said to one of his guards.

"What are you planning on doing?"

"We'll follow him."

Dmitri got the limo...

"Get in, quickly!" Jake said to Nate.

Nate and Jake got in the car and Jake's guards followed them with two other cars.

"Dmitri, keep on following that grey car, don't lose!"

"Okay, boss."

Tessa was bathing all this time, when she got out, she couldn't see Nate anywhere in the house. She called him but he had forgotten his phone at home. 

While following Rey, they could see smoke coming out of a building, and numerous helicopters flew over their heads.

"Something's definitely wrong." Nate said.

As they neared to the location, they could hear gunshots and screams. The NCPD and ZCPD had engaged with the COUNCIL members. 
NCPD couldn't afford losing this battle. They kept on calling more and more backup while more and more COUNCIOL members started showing up. 

Rey stopped the car and got out, Nate and Jake got out of the car too. 

"What did I tell you, huh?" he said to them.

"It's okay...we're here to help." Nate said.

"Look, I even brought backup for you." Jake said while pointing at his guards.

"Neither me and nor the NCPD will take any responsibility if something happens to you out there."

"Yes, we understand that. We're doing this with our choice."

"Fine, follow me...but stay back."

Jake's guards took out weapons from the cars' trunks. Jake took one weapon himself and gave one to Nate. 
Jake also handed over bullet proof chests to Rey and Nate.

The scene had turned into a war. With never ending gun fire, and explosions here and there. The search area had been evacuated before starting the search but things had gone so far that an evacuation notice was released for the whole higher ward. 
Some local police officers were given the duty to safely regulate evacuation. 

"Come in, this is detective Rey Jr." Rey said over his radio.

"Yes sir, I read you, this is Kimble from the search squad 1."

"Kimble, how many units are currently on the scene?"

"Around 15 units sir. And some military units."

"And how many enemies?"

"Around a two hundred sir."

"What's the status?"

"There is heavy firing on the western and southern side, we are currently at the eastern side and advancing forward. We don't have any report of the northern side."

"I see. Did any of the squads find the G.O.D.?" 

"No sir! squad 3 had reported seeing it but all of them have been wiped out sir."

"We're coming in from the northern side Kimble, ready you units and meet me at the front gate of the Creek Heights."

"Okay, got it sir."

Rey put down the radio.

"C'mon, follow me." he said to Jake and Nate.

They went in from the northern side, but to their surprise no one was there. No soldiers, no police, no enemies, no one was there. 

They advanced towards Creek heights which was 200 meters away. Jake's guards had covered them on all the sides.
They reached their without any problems, which was quite surprising. But Kimble's squad wasn't there yet. 

Rey tried to reach them but he couldn't. 

"Shit!"

"What is it?"

"The squad isn't here yet, we can't advance without them. We don't know how many enemies are waiting for us."

"What now?" 

"We wait here for some time, if they don't get here then we'll have no choice but to move ahead on our own."

They were waiting there for Kimble's squad to show up and suddenly they heard some screams from the nearby manhole. 

"What was that? Dmitri, check it out." Jake said.

Dmitri went near the manhole and looked down, but couldn't see anything. 

He turned back and said, "I don't see anything boss."

"Okay, we can't wait here anymore. Let's move ahead." said Rey. 

As they moved ahead, they engaged with some enemies. They somehow dealt with them, but 2 of Jake's guards were shot dead. They couldn't do anything else except moving on. 

When they reached the site where the Garden had been reported to be seen, they couldn't find anyone there 
Rey tried contacting all the units but not even one of them answered. When they went inside the building, they saw some dead police officers and dead goons who worked for the COUNCIL.

"What the hell happened here!?" Rey didn't understand, who could kill so many police officers at once?

He called for backup and some unites were on their way. But before the units arrived, they heard gunshots from the eastern side. 
They immediately rushed outside, and ran towards the sound of the gunshots. 

When they reached there, they saw The Leader. Around him, lied the dead bodies of numerous police offices who were killed brutally. 

"What have you done?" Rey asked the leader. 

"I won." the leader replied.

"What do you mean, you bastard!?"

"You were too late. I already got what I wanted . There's nothing you can do now."

Rey drew his gun and so did the others. 

"Surrender now, or else we'll shoot."

"Go ahead, do it!"

"We'll blow you to bits as*hole! SURRENDER NOW!"

The leader started walking away. 

"Shoot him down" Rey shouted. 

As soon as they were all about to shoot him, someone broke the road from down below and came jumping up. It was Danny and Artur, they were hiding in the sewers. They were the ones who had wiped out the search squads in the sewers. 

"You again!" Artur said while looking at Nate.

Now that Tessa was alive, Nate had thought that he didn't need to take his revenge but seeing Danny made him really angry. All his feelings of rage and revenge were revived and he attacked Danny, ignoring Artur. 

The guards engaged in the fight too, Some of them, along with Nathan cornered Danny and attacked him, while the others, along with Jake, attacked Artur. Rey went behind the leader while Artur and Danny were distracted by the others. 

The leader took a turn and Rey went after him, but he lost him at the turn. 

"What? Where did he go? He was just here!"

Rey looked around but he couldn't see him anywhere. 

He went back to Jake and Nate.

Arutr and Danny had taken down every guard and only Jake and Nate were left standing. 

Artur was about to hit Jake but Rey shot him from behind. The gun didn't affect him much but he was distracted. Both Rey and Jake took on him together.

Meanwhile, Nate was fighting Danny all alone. Danny came running towards Nathan with the intent to crush hit with his punch. Nate stretched his prosthetic arm for a punch. He ran towards Danny too. 
Danny swung his hand but Nathan ducked, and punched Danny in the gut. Danny fell down, but quickly got up. 

"You are nothing without that hand of yours." he said to Nathan.

Nathan didn't reply anything. 

The fight between them continued, as they dodged and exchanged blows. 

Artur was busy fighting with Jake and Rey. They couldn't land solid blows on him since their hits didn't affect him much, yet they managed to keep him busy and dodge his attacks. 

During their fight, a building in the back suddenly exploded, and fell down to rubble. It created a strong with and the air was filled with dust.

Before the dust could even clear up properly, another building exploded. These were the two of the tallest skyscrapers in Ziphis. 

"What the hell is happening!?" Nate shouted. 

"We need to get the f*ck outta here!!" Shouted Rey. 

"Wait, we can't leave without dealing with these bastards!" Jake said. 

"The dust cleared up a bit, and things became visible, but Danny and Artur were gone. They looked around a bit but couldn't find them.

"Hey, turn on your scope. That humanoid bastard could be invisible!" Nate said to Jake and Rey. 

As soon as they took out the scopes, the whole ground started shaking, as if it were an earthquake and they heard some more explosions. But these explosions weren't from Ziphis, they were from the neighboring lower ward. 

"Who the hell is doing this?" Rey shouted. 

"Let's go! We can't stay here anymore." Nate said. 

They started running towards their car. They reached Jake's car and got inside. Jake and Rey took one car and Nate took the other. Jake and Rey drove towards the exit of the ward while Nate drove towards his home, he had went there to check if Tessa had evacuated or not.

 Nate stopped in front of his house and quickly got out. He went inside the house and Tessa was still inside, waiting for him.

"Tessa, what the hell are you still doing here? Why didn't you evacuate with the other?"

"How could I have left without you Nate? I was waiting for you! I was scared!" 

She ran towards him and hugged him. 

"I'm sorry, but we have to leave, right now!"

"Okay...."

They got in the car and Nathan quickly started driving. 

Other buildings in Ziphis started blowing up an they made their way out of the city. 

"What the hell is happening Nathan? Please tell me you're not involved!" 

"We'll discuss this later Tessa!" 

Some military troops were on the bridge, they were  leaving the bridge too. 

As soon as they crossed the bridge, it was destroyed too.

Ziphis and two of it's neighboring lower wards were completely destroyed, reduced to nothing but rubble. 
Ziphis had been evacuated on time but the lower wards weren't evacuated properly. Some had left but some were still inside. The people who were left inside were all killed, there's no way any human could have survived that. 

But who was responsible for all this?
It was none other than The Leader. He had succeeded in manipulating the Garden's functioning. He had wished for god-like power, capable of destroying everything. The leader had become the most powerful being on the planet and there was no one who could defeat him, not the NCPD, not the world government, not Nathan, no one! He had ascended from a human being and had achieved divine power. 

This was the leader's first victory. He had absolute power and no one could stop him. 

Nate fell into despair as he realized hoe big of a mistake he had made, If only he didn't hold back on fighting and told the NCPD about this, they could've taken better counter measures. Nate fell down on his knees and grabbed his head. 

"It's all my fault!" he thought to himself.

He regretted every decision he had made after coming out of the Garden. 

"My stupidity and selfishness is the reason all this is happening." he couldn't stop blaming himself. 

He looked up, something very strange had happened. 

"What the hell is going on?" he said as he looked around. 

Everyone and everything in his surroundings had stopped right where they were and the whole world turned black and white. 

The only person who could walk and talk was Nathan. 

A bright light appeared in front of him, and a voice said, "Remember me Nathan?" 

TO BE CONTINUED IN "Deal" 

STAY TUNED!!