Book 4 | Agent 34 and the Last Gem

Chapter 68 | The Portal

"No," Agent 34 told him. "Fight me,"

"Join me and I won't kill your friend," Braunick told him. "I'll give you all of your memories back. All of them,"

"Liar," the elf said. "You said you sacrificed some of them,"

"Not yours," The king explained. "I said I used some of our mother's,"

"You said it was Harper's?"

"Open your eyes, stupid," Braunick said with a smile. "Harper is our mom,"

Both Agent 34 and Thad's eyes widened, shock filling them both. He had always wondered who his mother was and if she was still alive. He would have never guessed that this woman was living so close to them. Agent 34 was angry because of the fact that Braunick was the reason for him not knowing of their blood relation. It brought anger and tears to him knowing this his own mom didn't have the ability to remember who her own children are.

"You bastard!" Agent 34 yelled. He ran at Braunick, slamming his blade straight into his chest. It bounced off the armor and came back to the elf, but he quickly rebounded it and struck the king in the side of the head. Blood gushed from the wound quickly, dripping onto his shoulder and down his arm. "You're the reason for all the pain I've gone through! Do you know how much crap you've given me?"

Braunick felt pain ring through his head and down to his toes. He slowly reached up and touched the gash in the side of his head with his fingertips and looked down on the blood that was now covering them. "You shouldn't have done that," He said evilly.

Agent 34 backed away a bit as Braunick slowly hovered over towards him while clenching his fists. The same black energy formed around his palms, encasing them in its strange substance.

"I've held back on killing you, brother," he told him. "I really have. I've wanted you on my team once again, just like the old times,"

"I'll never join you," Agent 34 said, raising his white blade which was now tipped with his twin's blood. "I'll let you kill me before I ever let Renya succumb to your madness. Look around! What is the point of this storm? What's the point of the island? Your skeleton island? Turning everyone evil?"

"I have to do it," he stated. "I'm cleansing Renya of the weak. It's been my plan from the start. This continent is too soft, too squishy. Only the strongest will survive. All elves and dwarves will be wiped out, I am making sure of that. The only thing left will be humans, and only the strongest of them shall live. They will reproduce to create more strong children and Renya will be able to sustain itself like never before. This will work, brother, I promise,"

"So you're turning people evil so that they can kill each other?"

"I told you," Braunick repeated. "Only the strongest survive,"

The candles shook, sending a blast of air out of the middle of them and towards everyone in the room. The island began to shake, pieces of dust and rock falling from the ceiling. If someone didn't know any better, they'd think it was an earthquake. The flames burned the brightest they had burned so far and turned to a purple color, flames getting duller and duller.

In the circle of candles, a black hole appeared. It swirled in circle, increasing in speed as it went until you could see something in the hole. It was not a hole. It was a portal.

The portal exploded in light, beams of black and beams of white shooting out in all directions. The sound pierced their ears, shattering the windows as it did.

Agent 34 quickly ran to grab Thad. He ran past his brother, who was mesmerized by the portal's intriguing entrance. Braunick noticed them trying to make their escape and quickly shot his hand out towards them both, a black aura appearing around them both. It pulled them back towards the tyrant ruler and were forced to watch the upcoming events.

The island began to shake violently. The beams of light retracted and went back into the portal, the black hole now full of dark colors. A face that Agent 34 had not seen appeared in it, looking around.

The being in the portal shot it's hand out of the hole, grabbing the ground around it and knocking over a candle. It pulled its body out of the portal with a little bit of trouble, legs still inside. The being simply floated the rest of itself out of the portal, hovering above it and taking in its surroundings.

The creature was unlike anything Agent 34 had ever seen before. It was huge, about the size of the kraken they had encountered earlier. It's body was pure black with gray lines covering it in random directions. It had four red eyes that refused to blink simultaneously and six black arms flailing around and going wherever they wanted to. Giant claws were connected to each hand, each claw starting to curl at the end. It's teeth stuck over the bottom lip, sharp enough to break through skin.

"Hello," Braunick greeted it. "I'm Braunick—Lord of Renya,"

The being cocked its head to the king in confusion. It shrieked at them in aggression.

"I—I contacted you to try to–to prove myself–"

Another ear piercing shriek sounded from the beast, giant tongue rolling out of its mouth as it did. It's saliva dripped from it and into the floor, a small puddle forming.

"I think I'm worthy of joining your kind-d and–"

"No one is worthy of Malío's ranking except for Malío himself," The beast cried. "You will die for attempting to steal Malío's place as God,"