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### Simon Ardar: Gloves of the Cold One

### By Akash Sankar

### Copyright 2016 Akash Sankar

### Smashwords Edition, License Notes

### This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

### Table of Contents

  1. History of Magic

  2. Prologue

  3. Chapter One

  4. Chapter Two

  5. Chapter Three

  6. Chapter Four

  7. Chapter Five

  8. Chapter Six

  9. Chapter Seven

  10. Chapter Eight

  11. Chapter Nine

  12. Chapter Ten

  13. Chapter Eleven

  14. Chapter Twelve

  15. Chapter Thirteen

  16. Chapter Fourteen

  17. Chapter Fifteen

  18. Chapter Sixteen

  19. Chapter Seventeen

  20. Chapter Eighteen

  21. Chapter Nineteen

  22. About the Author

### History of Magic

During the year 8015, two archeologists discovered a statue of a man, at a site in India, while they were drilling, looking for ancient artifacts. The statue was ten feet tall. There was a large staff in the hands of the statue. They brought out the statue and the staff. Only then did they notice that the statue had chains on it. They cut the chains with their pressurized water cutters. Unknown to them, they had just released a very powerful God.

Suddenly, the statue started glowing and was surrounded by golden light and then, cracks appeared on the statue. Pieces of it fell off, as the being inside saw light after several millennia. The incredibly large being opened his eyes and asked," Where am I?" After they told him about where he was, he introduced himself as the Golden One, the leader of the Gods.

He took up a position as ruler of the world and freed many other Gods as well. The Gods taught humans to stop wars, simply by disabling all the armies and weapons in the world. They created special magical machines to create food and make other things appear, to satisfy man's greed. Everyone was prospering. The Golden One managed to spread magic to all of mankind.

However, an evil God, called the Dark One, sought to rule the entire world himself. He managed to interfere with the gift of magic to mankind, so that each human received only a part of it. Hence, there were many different types of magicians, like Sonicists, Fluidists, and Elementists. The other Gods combined their strength and magic and managed to seal themselves away, and the Dark One and the Golden One. Despite this, the Golden One also managed to spread rules of using magic. The rules were:

First, one's name would be chosen from parts of names given in the Book of Names, an ancient book given to mankind by the Gods.

Second, a person could have only one type of magic. This rule was formed because the Dark One had interfered with the previous spell. The Golden One did not want to make this rule.

A magical society thrived all over the world. They changed the law, since everyone had magic and therefore, new clauses were created, regarding the use of magic. They retained the same places and countries because there was no need to change the names. It would have created a lot of confusion. The seperate governments of various countries were removed, and were replaced by a Universal Government, which was headed by a World President. He had a council of ministers that represented the government along with the President.

The Golden One, in his last spell, had also enabled all people to understand all languages. With all this, it became a very peaceful society. However, some animals were seriously affected by the spread of magic, and became violent and dangerous monsters. The Golden One had also created spirits, which, unfortunately, were easy to turn evil. The evil creatures created attacked people, and those people had no choice but to fight back with the magic they had been given.

Years passed, and the people appointed Peacekeepers, who were given lots of authority. They were supposed to protect people from the monsters and evil spirits. And criminals. Just because magic existed, didn't mean that the problem of crime was solved. There was also a Head Peacekeeper, who was in charge of all the Peacekeepers.

Having magic was truly an amazing thing. All the people of the world got together and had even gotten rid of problems like water pollution, air pollution, and other kinds of pollution. This was the magical society that thrived, for millennia afterwards.

Back to Table of Contents

### Prologue

The man walked into the guest room with his hands in his pockets. He looked relaxed. Two people walked behind him, wearing hoods and holding umbrellas. Odd, since it was summer. They folded in the umbrellas and dropped them on the floor. They looked around, scanning the area for threats. The other man immediately identified them as bodyguards. He relaxed a little more, thinking that the probabilities of his plan working had just increased. He waited inside, sitting on a velvet sofa.

The first man sat on the sofa opposite him. This one was wooden, and was designed specifically to make the person sitting on it uncomfortable. The bodyguards simply stood behind him. They took off their hoods. He looked for any distinguishing marks on their faces, but couldn't find any. It didn't really prove anything. Just that the man opposite him was smart enough to hire unidentifiable men. The first man, feeling slightly uncomfortable, asked," Do you have the item I seek?"

"Yes, but do you have my money?"

"Nice place for an ambush, isn't it? I bet that's why you made me come to your house."

He smiled. "Oh, come on now. Do I seriously look like I'm going to have people bursting from behind pillars and surrounding you and your bodyguards?"

"Actually, you kind of do, Ronald."

"Shall we just exchange and conclude this?"

The first man was huge and well-built, with dark hair and was clean shaven. He wore a coat that was purple and extended down to his feet. Ronald, on the other hand, was not as well-built, but still an intimidating man. He wore a simple white tuxedo. The first man drew an envelope from his person and exchanged it with a package Ronald drew from a briefcase. Ronald grimaced. "It's heavy. I don't think that a check for fifty million dollars would be this heavy."

The first man replied, "Actually, the envelope is made of paper steel." Paper steel was a newly discovered material. It looked like paper, but was very tough, like steel. It was also thrice as heavy as steel. Ronald's eyes widened. "Well, I didn't know you were that rich. Anyways, I wish you a merciless Christmas."

Suddenly, after he had said that code phrase, people holding all manner of weapons burst from behind every column and surrounded the first man, holding all manner of weapons. He seemed unperturbed. "Seriously? That's your code phrase? Well, anyway, I thought you'd do this. I mean, this ambush, not the stupid code phrase. I suppose the package's contents are fake?"

Ronald said," Nope, they're real. You just won't be able to use them. Besides, a person like you would undoubtably use them to kill lots of people. I'm actually doing the world a favor, you know. Also, why are you so calm?"

"You underestimate me, Ronald. Heaven, Hell, kill them."

The two men behind him, with identical voices, said," Yes sir.", immediately whipped out swords and jumped at the men surrounding them. They struck faster than the eye could perceive. However, one of the faster men took his gun and fired at them. One of them, the man named Heaven, simply jumped, very high, kicked off of one of the columns and landed behind the man. By the time he had landed, Hell had dodged the bullet and stabbed the man, while at the same time grabbing his firing arm and emptying the gun.

Then, they started fighting back to back and killing everyone with the misfortune of coming near them. Hell brought his sword down and cut a man's head in two. Both pieces fell down and the blood splattered all over, but he had already turned to his next foe. One man thrust his dagger at Heaven, but he dodged and swung his sword in a perfect, smooth arc. It went diagonally and slashed from shoulder to hip, cutting the man's body in two. They rushed forward and thrust together, both swords going into a man's chest.

The unfortunate man made a daring last attempt, but slipped in the blood and fell, face down, on the pool. He stayed there.

Hell raised his leg and caught another man in the chest as he ran towards him. The man stumbled back. Hell took the opportunity to slash again and again, until the man's chest had been shredded into ribbons. The man fell down, dead. Heaven stabbed the last guard and immediately brought his sword out. Ronald took out a knife and threw it at the first man. Hell looked at it, his eyes turned red, and red beams of light burst from his eyes and disintegrated the knife.

Ronald just stood there. The other man said," I don't like people who cheat me." Ronald said," Look, take the money, okay? You won't have lost anything, right? So, we can still settle this like gentlemen. There is no need for violence." Saying this, he thrust his hand forward. An impossibly powerful gust of wind blew Hell and Heaven back. They slammed into the wall, hard. They would get up later, wincing. The first man hadn't been blown away by the wind. He chuckled. "So, that's your power. You blow."

"What? Why didn't you get blown away? That wind was strong enough to lift an elephant."

"You know who I am. By the way, I don't need that cash, you idiot. I'll let you live anyways because I really don't care whether you live or not. It doesn't make an iota of difference to me." He turned, holding the package, and left, with Heaven and Hell behind him. Ronald got up uneasily, and noticed that the whole place smelled of blood. As soon as the first man got out of the house, he said," Do it." Hell took out a box, with a switch on it and pressed it.

A huge explosion destroyed the temple and as it reached them, Heaven raised a hand and a thin, translucent sheet enveloped them, like a force field. The explosion moved around it. They kept walking unscathed, and he tore open the package and saw a pair of gloves in it. They were blue in colour. He put them on.

He then thrust his hand forward. The immediate ground in front of them turned into ice. He held it up, and fired at a bird. It froze and stopped flying. Then something seemed to happen to it. It seemed not to become surrounded by ice, but transforming into ice. It then fell down and broke into tiny pieces. "They really are the Gloves of the Cold One." he said as he walked.

Back to Table of Contents

### Chapter One

A savage roar pierced the air. Simon viciously attacked the giant monster. It looked like a cross between a wolf and a cheetah and was five times his height. He ran right around it and jumped on its tail, which was limp on the ground. It flicked its tail, hoping to throw Simon off. It didn't. He climbed over its back and jumped onto its nose. He brought out his gun, all the while trying to hold on. He held it right in front of it, right between the eyes and pulled the trigger, shooting it through the brain. Blood splattered all over its back.

Simon jumped off and landed on all fours. There was a thump. He looked back and saw that its body had fallen down. There were several cheers. Simon felt pretty good. "Good job, Simon." said Sir Wagner. Sir Wagner was a slightly older man, wearing an expensive coat. He was also of royal blood, the descendant of a king. He was also a Teleporter, a very powerful kind of magician. He could teleport not only himself, but other people or inanimate objects, too. Simon was wearing polished combat boots, a cloak-cape-ish thing, a coat and trainers. It was his everyday appearance. "Thanks, sir. What is that thing, though?"

"Oh, that? That's, um," he brought out a book and leafed through its pages," um," he kept flipping," um," he kept flipping," aha! It's a Wolfacetyl. They are incredibly large predators."

"Huh. Is that The Ultimate Monster Guide?"

"Yup. So, shall we pop over to the house for a quick duel?"

Simon said, "Okay."

Sir Wagner disappeared, and reappeared, holding two swords in his hands. He tossed one to Simon. Then, he grabbed his hand and blinked. When he opened his eyes, they were in his, and Simon's chateau. They used the room they were in, to duel regularly. They assumed the starting stance and then they counted down together. "5...4...3...2...1... GO!" He slashed at Simon, who parried the slash. Simon counter-attacked by running at Sir Wagner and hitting him with his shoulder.

Sir Wagner stumbled back, but then, almost immediately, put his foot over Simon's knee and stomped, making him buckle. Then, they slashed and parried as Simon backed away to a sofa. He then jumped, somersaulted backwards, and kicked off the wall behind him, landing on a table. He jumped off and thrust his sword at Sir Wagner. He blocked it, and whacked Simon on the head with the blunt end. Simon cried out," Ow, I bit my tongue!"

They slashed and parried for a few minutes, and then Sir Wagner kicked Simon between the legs, making him fall. "Let's end the duel." he said. They went into the kitchen and found some apple juice, which Simon gulped down earnestly. He said," I must use the loo." and left. When he went in, he finished his business and was about to step out when a slight buzzing sound started emanating from his pocket. He put his hand inside and brought out a small mirror. His finger brushed against a symbol on the back of it. It started to expand, growing in size until it was as big as his face. A man's face appeared in it. It was one of the five Peacekeeper Generals, Dolanr Drac. He started talking, and Simon listened. He then left and went back to the kitchen and said," Sir, there's been a disturbance at Ronald Hurkington's house. The news came out on the scrying mirror."

"What happened?"

"It exploded."

"What!"

"Actually, if I recall correctly, there have been reports of this sort of thing at many places over the past month. The J.J Karl Museum, the Rare Items Stall, and an old man's hut. And three men were seen entering and exiting the places before they were destroyed. The descriptions were the same."

"I have no doubt that you do recall correctly. Also, it doesn't take a detective like me or you to figure out that these men had something to do with this. Find them."

"Consider me on it, sir."

"Fine, I'll consider it, but will you be on it?"

The same familiar joke that they had always used, mostly out of habit.

"Bye, sir." came the reply.

Back to Table of Contents

### Chapter Two

Simon had to drive to each place. It was a long distance, and therefore, took a long time. He didn't mind, though. He loved his Porsche. He stayed at each place, making enquiries about the people. He jotted down notes. He then stayed in the ruins of each place, hunting for something that he could use to make sense of it all.

He noticed some scraps of paper at Ronald's temple. He felt them and his eyes widened. It was paper steel. He thought," This is seriously expensive. Who could afford this stuff?" He tried to make sense of what had happened. He had found the same kind of paper steel at all the other places too. He then went back to the chateu. He unfolded his report to Sir Wagner. "There were some scraps of paper steel that I found at each crime scene. They were identical and approximately in the same position, related to each other. What do you think, Sir?"

"They might be from the explosion. Were they burnt more on one side?"

"As a matter of fact, they were!" said a surprised Simon.

"Well, that's probably because they formed a paper steel container of some sort, um, a..."

"An envelope?"

"Precisely! I was just looking for the word. And the explosive was-"

"In the envelope?"

"Yes, it was probably-"

"Remote-controlled?"

"Yes," Sir Wagner was getting annoyed," and it must have been triggered-"

"As soon as those guys left the temple?"

"YES! Now will you STOP interrupting me?"

"Sorry, it's just a habit."

"Right, so, those guys have got to have a lot of explosives and, indirectly, money. We can narrow down the list by nightfall."

"Good."

"Wait, I can do that right now. Let's see, The Sorceress, Terrence Terror, etc. The point is, we have a lot to go. You go and do some Hero stuff, I'll try and shorten the list further."

"OK. Bye." And he left.

Simon remembered something several minutes later. Ronald's executive assistant, Sam Hertz, was still very much alive. He could ask him about the stuff that had occurred. Sam Hertz was the official Vice President of the company Impressive Information UnLtd. The company had spies everywhere and they eavesdropped on everything.

They were like a company of private detectives, except seriously large on, like, galactic proportions. The World President and his predecessors had only allowed the company to exist, because it had given them all the important information that it received, apparently still did. Anyway, Simon went there as fast as he could, saw the office, and slowed down. He looked at the sign, which read "Impressive Information UnLtd." Then, he knocked on the door. It was opened by a short, grumpy man. He exclaimed," Oh, Mr Ardar! What can we do for you?"

"Your boss, Ronald Hurkington, died recently in a fire. I want to know everything about that, Pete."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes I am."

"But that information is confidential-"

"To hell with 'confidential'! I want to see Sam Hertz right now!"

Pete said with gritted teeth," Fine. Follow me." He was irritated. Just because Mr Ardar was the Head Peacekeeper, didn't mean that he could boss them around like that. They went inside the building. Pete opened a door that led to a long corridor. He pointed to the door at the end, then left. Simon walked up to the door, and knocked. It was opened by a short elf-like man. Everyone at Impressive Information UnLtd seemed to be short. Simon said, "Hello, Sam."

"Well, hello, Simon. What info do you want?"

"Your boss, Ronald Hurkington's death. I want everything you have on that."

"And if I refuse?" He seemed slightly nervous.

"Then, we'll fight again, and in the end I'll be standing over your beaten and bruised body, just like last time."

Sam winced. Every threat Simon Ardar made was genuine and true. There were many people who hadn't listened to him and had suffered for it and he was one of them.

He said, "Fine. He told me that he was meeting with, you know what? Guess who."

"Who? Sam, you know I hate suspense. Out with it, or else..."

"Alright, alright, fine. It was Volotile Vengeance."

"Volotile Vengeance? The evil rich-dude? The one who became rich by starting his own company, Volatile Destruction, a demolition company, and also several illegal operations? The guy who killed everyone who got in his way, thereby achieving fame and gaining money?"

"Yeah, the very same person whom you just gave a detailed report on. Mr. Hurkington told me that he had arranged a meeting with him and was giving him a package. He also said that he was going to betray him. I guess what happened proves you don't mess with people like that." He had a bitter tone in his voice. Simon looked at him and actually saw tears threatening to burst out of his eyes.

"He told you all this?"

"I AM his executive assistant. He trusts me with all sorts of things. Stuff like this."

"So, the package. What was in it?"

"He told me that it contained the Gloves of the Cold One."

"What?! But that's impossible! Those were thought to be lost forever!"

"It IS a pretty big bombshell, isn't it? But then, so is most of the info we give," he chuckled at his joke," but he actually showed me their powers to prove it. It was the coolest thing I ever saw," there was genuine awe in his voice," Thing is, we actually did a couple of tests on it, and we found that thermals, after, like, two minutes, melt the ice. By the way, by thermals, I don't mean the clothes; I mean the portable body warming machines. I suppose it needs a continuous stream of power to keep the ice, well, on ice."

"Wow. This is big news. Have you lied to me about any of this?"

"You'd know, wouldn't you?" It was true. Simon always knew whether a person was lying, and he was always right. He had trained hard enough to make sure that.

"Have you told anyone about this?"

"No."

"Well, don't. I'd better leave. Thanks for the info." He gave him a wad of cash.

Simon called Sir Wagner to give him his report.

Back to Table of Contents

### Chapter Three

Simon unfolded his report to Sir Wagner, driving home as fast as possible. He walked in and sat down on a sofa. After he did so, Sir Wagner asked," I assume you are familiar with the Gods of the Old Ages?"

"No, I'm not that familiar with them. I do know that each God had a weapon to put his powers in. There were six, I think."

"Not six, seven. The Cold One, the Fiery One, the Watery One, the Earthly One, the Windy One, the Dark One, and the Golden One. And the weapons: Gloves of the Cold One, Boots of the Fiery One, Armor of the Watery One, Helm of the Earthly One, Belt of the Windy One, Skull of the Dark One and Staff of the Golden One. I've listed the weapons and Gods in their respective orders. I'm kind of a," he smiled," geek, on this subject."

"Anyways, they all lived happily in the Upper World, until The Dark One started chaos everywhere. His minions destroyed everything in sight. Then, the Golden One destroyed the minions. He and the Dark One had a showdown and both got imprisoned."

"Where?"

"I don't know! Somewhere! Just let me continue!"

"Sorry."

"So, anyways, their imprisonment caused all the other Gods to be imprisoned. The weapons were said to drift, down to the Lower World, which is Earth, by the way, where they hid in places that were just like their nature."

"Wow, that's cool."

"Do you know Volotile Vengeance?"

"Yes. He's a real rich-dude and also an illegal crime lord."

"I wish you would stop saying rich-dude."

"It's a habit. Plus, I call 'em like they are."

"Anyways, yes, he's deadly, powerful, influential, and the main reason I'm bothered, is that I have no idea why he'd take a weapon like that."

"He likes power." Simon sounded slightly incredulous. "I mean, it IS kind of obvious."

"Not that kind of power. He dosen't want a weapon that people can take from him. He wants his own magic."

"Well, we'll find out more when I arrest him."

"What! You wouldn't!"

"Yeah, I would. I'd interrogate him, too."

"Do not underestimate Volotile Vengeance. His name is Vengeance for a good reason."

"Come on. I'm a Hero. Nobody can stand a chance against a Hero. Their powers are unique. You know, super-strength and super-speed. Nobody's ever beaten me yet."

"Yet. Anyways, good luck."

Simon nodded and left the house and started running. His speed increased, and kept increasing until he was faster than a train. At the speed at which he was moving, everything became a blur. He overtook cars and trucks. A few minutes later, he stopped at a building. A sign on it read 'Judicial Offices'. He walked in. A woman sat at a desk. She looked up and said," Mr Ardar. Please wait. Mr Huskin will see you soon." He sat on a chair and waited as the woman pressed a button. After a few minutes, a tall, haughty man opened the door and entered the room. His superior smirk disappeared as soon as he saw Simon. He asked," Why are you here?"

"To procure a warrant for the arrest of Volotile Vengeance, Anton."

Back to Table of Contents

### Chapter Four

Simon went back to the chateau and showed the warrant to Sir Wagner. He said," Well, Simon, I'd better come with you to make sure you don't die horribly."

"Come on, it can't be that bad. Anton gave the warrant to me without a fuss." He described the meeting but omitted Anton's refusals. He had said," Simon, are you mad! You can't just arrest Volotile Vengeance!"

"That's right. That's why I came, to get a warrant."

"Even you can't arrest someone like him! Plus, he'll also kill me when he finds out I gave you a warrant! No, Simon, I won't do it."

"Come on, now. He won't escape. I'll make sure of that."

"Come on, Simon. Don't do this."

"I will. It's up to you. Go to prison, or become famous for fairly giving me a warrant to arrest that guy."

"Fine, but I don't like it." Sir Wagner would later find out about the conversation.

They both drove to Volotile's mansion in Simon's Porsche and knocked. After a few seconds, it was opened by Volotile himself. Sir Wagner said," Hi. How are you? We came because we have a warrant for your arrest." When Volotile opened his mouth to protest, Simon interrupted him and said," For killing Ronald Hurkington and many others, and for blowing up places here and there, we place you under arrest." He leaned in conspiratorially and said," The sentence is 10 years. If you fight back, I'll win and you'll get an extra 5 years for resisting arrest by a Head Peacekeeper. You have the right to come peacefully."

Volotile did not use that right. He instead used his right and swung a punch at Simon who just stood there. The blow bounced off harmlessly. Simon kicked him on his leg and stepped back. Volotile snarled and his eyes glowed purple, just for an instant. Simon blinked. Volotile then raised his hand and a sphere of darkness appeared in his hand. The darkness looked like liquid suspended and writhing in the air. Simon thought," Looks like the black goo stuff in that really old movie, Spider Man 3."

Volotile threw it at Simon who just leaned to the left. It hit a tree, which disintegrated with a 'whoosh' sound. He then lunged at Simon with black energy circling his wrist. His fist glowed with a black aura. He punched Simon, who cried out and stepped back, a look of pain on his face. It had felt like a hot iron brand was pressing into him. Simon then somersaulted and came up, head-butting Volotile in the chest. Volotile stumbled back, but still stayed on his legs. He raised his hands and spears of darkness appeared. They zoomed at Simon who jumped away immediately. He felt a sharp pain in his right leg, and looked down.

One of the spears had lodged in it. He groaned, pulled it out, and threw it away. It dissipated and faded into the air. He then stood up slowly, waited five seconds, and rushed at Volotile. He straightened his index finger, and poked him in the eye. He thought wryly," I'm the first person who ever poked the great Volotile Vengeance, in the eye." Volotile bellowed in pain. He snapped his fingers, and fell into his shadow like as if it was a hole. His shadow just stood there.

Simon punched at it, but it just stood there, not registering pain. Volotile suddenly appeared, standing up, and his shadow seemed to seperate from him again. He then got up and waved his hand at Simon. Darkness rose from him and rushed towards Simon. Simon got entangled and struggled within the darkness. He couldn't breathe in it, and felt like he was suffocating. He tried moving out, but his movements were slow because the darkness was keeping him from moving.

Suddenly, a hand seized him and he was outside the darkness, holding Sir Wagner's hand. He looked around for Volotile, and, spotting him laughing, ran at him and punched him hard in the stomach. Volotile stepped back. Then, he summoned more darkness into his hands and lobbed them at Simon, who just jumped out of the way. Volotile raised his hands and two more spheres of darkness appeared, one in each hand. Then, small rope-like elongated things extended out of them, until they were long ropes of darkness.

Volotile swung one of his arms and the darkness smacked into Simon like a whip. Sir Wagner teleported behind him but he spun and hit Sir Wagner. Simon got up, his shoulder burning, and jumped at Volotile but he was stopped by one of the ropes. He backed away quickly. Volotile smiled and said," Well, you're a better fighter than I thought." A dark cloud appeared above him and the darkness whips disappeared. He said," Let's see if you can hit me." Sir Wagner teleported in front of him while Simon attacked him from behind. Black lightning flashed from the cloud and hit both of them.

They fell back and Volotile laughed. They got up. Simon then Sped. There were two types of Speeding. One, to make a Hero run faster, and Two, to make a Hero slow down time. He then jumped at Volotile. However, the lightning was just a bit faster and it caught Simon in the shoulder. Volotile sneered at them. Simon then played his last card. He took out his gun and fired at Volotile, who collapsed, breathing and gasping. Simon seized him by his collar, but not before punching him and knocking him unconscious. He then carried the unconscious man all the way to a jail he knew well because he had deposited hundreds of criminals there.

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### Chapter Five

Volotile sat in his cell, brooding. How had that man beaten him so easily? However fast he had been, Simon Ardar had been faster than him. He was as strong as him, too. " Well," he thought," not as fast or strong as I have the potential to be." On top of it all, he couldn't even use his powers because of that accursed potion that he had been forced to drink. It had sucked in his powers like a sponge. He hated potions. One never knew when they were drinking any potion. They were so easy to disguise.

It was powerful, but it wasn't permanent, because nothing could destroy magic. It would normally take days, but for someone of his power, his magic would come back in the next few hours. He then heard the sound of footsteps. He looked as two men in uniforms entered the room outside his cell. His keepers. How he loathed them, for the 16 hours that he had been there. He knew that it had been 16 hours because a clock had been placed on a wall opposite his cell. One of the keepers told Volotile to duck. Volotile complied, reluctantly, but, he couldn't help feeling that he had heard that voice before.

As he was thinking, laser beams emerged from the keeper's eyes, striking the bars of the cell, and cut through them like a knife through warm butter. Volotile looked up, shocked as Heaven and Hell entered his cell. They grinned as he smiled at them. Very useful, those two. He looked round, saw the other prisoners' cells and immediately came up with a way to make his escape grand and dramatic. Hell and Heaven smiled at him, like they knew his plan.

This was because he was actually telling them what he planned to do. Hell destroyed a window with his laser eyes. An alarm rang sharply, waking all the prisoners. Then, Heaven and Hell cut all the prisoners free. The prisoners rushed out of the prison. Only Heaven, Hell and Volotile remained. Volotile nodded at Hell and Heaven. Hell brought out a remote and Heaven brought out a box.

They put the bomb on the floor, walked out, and then detonated it. Heaven raised his hand and a force field enveloped the prison. Even the sound didn't escape. Then, they headed to a safe house which was close to the jail. Just because Volotile Vengeance was too sure of himself, didn't mean that he didn't have contingency plans.

The day after Volotile escaped from prison, late at night, Heaven and Hell walked into Judicial Offices. It hadn't taken long to figure out who gave Simon the warrant. They reached the secretary's desk when a voice from behind them said," Hello, flunkies." They jumped and whirled around in perfect synchronization. Simon stood behind them, holding a sword. One of them said," It's that nosy Head Peacekeeper. He smiled and said," That is affirmed. I watched the prison last night. I was sure you guys would spring Vengeance out. I was right. Then, I figured you'd come here tonight. I was right. Pretty shrewd, wasn't it?"

When they didn't answer, he said," So, here you are. I knew you two were his bodyguards. You two are also great samurais, from your descriptions. Well, let's see if that's true." He jumped over them and landed behind them. They spun around quickly. Heaven and Hell jumped at Simon, slashing wildly. Simon dodged and ducked, then thrusted at Hell while kicking Heaven in the stomach. He then slashed at Heaven and drew blood. Heaven stumbled back, surprised.

Hell tried stabbing Simon but he sidestepped and knocked Hell's sword from his hand. Hell's eyes turned red and laser beams erupted from them. Simon turned sideways and both beams missed him. He said," Laser beams and force fields. I see. Defense and offense. Cool." said Simon. He then punched Hell in the jaw, cracking a tooth. He then jumped and kneed Heaven in the chin. They both stumbled back. Then, they leapt at him again with their swords. They all slashed, dodged and parried, fighting with determination.

This time, Heaven drew blood. A gash appeared on Simon's stomach. Then, Hell stabbed Simon in the shoulder and left the blade there. Simon screamed out loud in pain. Simon painstakingly reached with his other hand and tried to pull the sword out. He swung his shoulder and the sword hit a wall at an angle and came out. He picked it up and said," You shouldn't do that in a sword fight. I don't know if you guys are sadists or something but it gives the opponent an edge. In this case, an extra sword."

Saying that he thrusted one of the swords at Hell while slashing at Heaven with the other. Heaven parried the blow and Hell stepped back. He brought his foot up in a graceful arc. It hit Simon's hand, which automatically released the sword. Hell grabbed his sword. Then, they moved. A small beam of sunlight came in through a hole in the ceiling. While they were fighting, it touched Heaven's exposed shoulder and he winced.

Hell looked at his brother and said," Damn.", and then suddenly, with the speed of a cobra, struck Simon in the neck. Simon stepped back, surprised and stunned. Hell pulled up Heaven and they both ran away. Simon recovered and ran after him, but they had too big a lead. Simon saw their backs steaming as they ran away in broad daylight.

Back to Table of Contents

### Chapter Six

"Did it work, Simon?" asked Sir Wagner, as he bandaged Simon's shoulder and stomach.

"Yeah, it totally did. By the way, sunlight seems to hurt those guys."

"Wow. No wonder they did everything at night."

"I put the device on one of them and the rest went perfectly. I knew they'd run away in the morning, but for different reasons. Now, the tracker that I placed on them can help us find their safe house easily. We'll do this in a few hours so I can recuperate."

A few hours later, Sir Wagner called him and said," It's time. Let's go, Simon."

"Right, I'll get my armor on." He fitted on chest armor, and then put on his knee pads, his elbow pads and his boots. He then wore his cloak and everything was ready. He then put on his hat. He then saw Sir Wagner, dressed up pretty much the same, who said," Won't we need any help? You wouldn't have beaten any of them if you hadn't got lucky. I saved you from Vengeance, and sunlight saved you from his flunkies.

"Yeah. Good ole' sunlight. Well, we can take Arthur and Frankie."

"Okay."

Frankie Tardinal was a Levitatist, which meant that he could levitate things. He lived his life in comfort and was a formidable ally in battle. Arthur Hopengaggen was an Elementist, he could summon fire. Elementists could control one of five elements: Fire, Water, Air, Earth and Lightning. Lightning controllers were incredibly rare. "One question, though, Sir. What kind of magician is Vengeance? I haven't heard of any branch of magic allowing you to control darkness. And by the way, that freaked me out. It looked like that stuff from Spider Man 3."

Sir Wagner ignored the Spider Man comment, and replied," Yeah, I've been wondering that too. I think, maybe..." He paused, and then continued," Maybe nothing. An ancient branch, perhaps."

"Well, let's go."

They teleported, explained everything to Arthur and Frankie. They both agreed to come along with them. They all lined up and Sir Wagner took them all along and teleported to the safe house. It was a warehouse. Frankie asked," Why does every safe house have to be a warehouse?" Arthur asked him," How many safe houses have you seen?" Frankie looked slightly embarrassed and said," Counting this one?"

"Yes."

"Well, one." Arthur shook his head just as Frankie said defensively," Well, in the movies, every safe house was a warehouse."

Simon walked up to the door. "It's his unique method of opening doors. Watch, it's going to be real cool." said Frankie. They watched. Simon placed his palm on the door. Then, he applied force and pushed it so hard, it flew off its hinges and landed on Hell, who was standing right behind it. They went in. Volotile and Heaven rushed in, hearing the noise. They saw the group and stopped.

Volotile unfroze first and cursed. Frankie said," Wow. How eloquent." Volotile ignored him and said," I don't believe we all have been introduced. This is Heaven." pointing to Heaven," and the one under the door is Hell." He waited. Simon said," This is Arthur, an Elementatist, and this is Frankie, a Levitatist. Shall we?" At that moment, a sword came through the door and Hell stood up. He glared at them, and then he cursed some and called them some names that they all winced at. Volotile ignored all of that and nodded. He said," Let's." They fought.

Arthur took on Hell and Frankie took on Heaven. Simon and Sir Wagner took on Volotile. They all created carnage and chaos everywhere. Frankie levitated Heaven, who threw a dagger at him. Frankie jumped out of the way just in time, but let Heaven drop. Arthur threw fire at Hell, who jumped out of the way and shot lasers at him. Arthur flew up and then pushed his palm and fire flared. Hell moved sideways. Simon aimed a punch at Volotile's chest and missed. He then kneed him in the groin.

Volotile waved his hand and a wave of darkness smashed into Simon. Sir Wagner appeared behind Volotile, only to get punched in the stomach. He then punched Volotile in the jaw and Volotile waved his hand again. Tendrils of darkness slithered out of several holes in the floor. They grabbed everyone and sent them flying. Volotile then moved his hand down, and more darkness piled on top of them, trapping them. He released Hell and Heaven who joined him.

He said," It's time I taught a lesson to you, Ardar."

Back to Table of Contents

### Chapter Seven

He disappeared for a while and then returned, wearing the Gloves. He then took Frankie and laid him face-up on the ground. He then aimed them at his legs and hands and froze them. Frankie was powerless to act after that. He did the same for each and every one of them in the order: Arthur, Sir Wagner, and then Simon. He then looked down at them and laughed.

He walked up to Frankie and drew out a knife. It would have been scary, except that it was a butter knife. Volotile said," What is this?" He looked at it and threw it away. He put his hands in his pockets and finally found a real knife. Frankie's eyes widened. He shouted," Ah! No, please! Don't do that! Please, don't!"

Ignoring Frankie's pleas, he knelt down, and then was touching the blade to Frankie's forehead when Simon shouted," Coward! You can only do this to us when we are trapped. You depend on the Gloves. Without them, you're powerless." It had the desired effect, somewhat. Volotile froze and then walked up to Simon.

"What was that? You think that I depend on that thing? ME, Volotile Vengeance!"

"Then prove it. Beat me, in single combat without your weapon and your flunkies."

"I'm not a fool. I can sense that you are trying to psych me out. You might possibly be more powerful, but I will still gain satisfaction. Why, you're helpless now! Even your powers are gone!"

"Oh, yeah? Who told you that our powers would disappear when we are hit with the Gloves?" Volotile stood still. He thought and then aimed the Gloves at Hell and fired (Irony!) at him.

He said, "Shoot at that wall." Hell concentrated hard. It didn't work. "A temporary distraction." gloated Volotile. Simon said," Have you heard about my powers of deductive reasoning?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because, the same way I anticipated your flunkies' appearance, I knew you'd use the Gloves. Are you going to ask me what relevance this has?"

"No."

"Ask me."

"No, I won't ask you."

"Do it."

"I said NO!"

"Just ask me." Volotile wrung his hands in frustration and sighed. He asked," What relevance did that have?"

"I'm wearing thermals, the body warming machines, not the clothes, underneath. So are they. All of this was anticipated." Frankie, Arthur and Sir Wagner all grinned. Then, Simon said," Now!"

They all broke free and Simon charged as fast as possible towards Volotile, snatched the Gloves away from him, and then froze him completely. Hell and Heaven were knocked out by the others. They panted for while. Arthur shivered. He said," That was incredibly cold." Simon looked at Heaven and Hell, who were still knocked out. He glanced at Volotile, who was still frozen, and noticed something somewhat peculiar. Volotile's body was vibrating within the ice. Simon looked perplexed. He asked to nobody in particular," What's going on?" Sir Wagner answered him," He's breaking free."

"What! Impossible! He can't-"

"He can. He has a power that nobody else does."

The ice was beginning to crack. It then shattered and Volotile stepped out. He sneered at them all and laughed," You thought you could beat me, with the Gloves? No! You cannot! I am unbeatable. If you want, Ardar, ask your FRIEND Sir Wagner." He continued," Or should I say Harry? Because I don't care about any kind of royalty, even YOU."

He looked at Sir Wagner as if he wanted to cut him into pieces. Then, he said," Heaven. Hell. Come with me." They walked up to him. Shadows swirled around them, and when they dissipated, they had gone. Simon looked at Sir Wagner and asked," Is there some kind of history between you two?" Sir Wagner looked at Simon helplessly and said," He can manipulate force. It's a one-in-fifty-billion rare power. That's why he broke the ice easily."

"How do you know that?"

"We both studied together as children. I was his best friend."

Back to Table of Contents

### Chapter Eight

Simon said," WHAT? I mean, what?"

"It's all true. We both were best friends at school. Wrote notes, sat together, pranked people, snuck worms into bullies' sandwiches, stuff like that."

Simon blinked. "What was that last one?"

Sir Wagner smiled. "Regardless of how old I am, even I used to be a kid."

"Ah, never mind. The point is, you were his friend. You probably know about the darkness powers too. So, spill."

"I honestly don't know about that. He could never do that while we were at school."

Frankie said," One question. This is his safe house. There's got to be some killer stuff in this place, right? So, let's search the place."

"Right. Let's do it." said Simon.

They searched the whole place and found one million dollars in cash, a computer, a camera, and various weapons. Arthur said," So far, nothing that's 'killer' in this place except for the one million. Oh, and we have the Gloves, too." Sir Wagner said," I'll give the million to that hospital we saw that week." "All of it?" asked Frankie innocently. "Yes, all of it."

Simon said," We've got to find out where Volotile is. The tracker I placed on Hell was destroyed in the chaos." Frankie said," Why don't you ask Sam? He might have heard something."

"Hmm. I'll go ask him. In the meantime, we've got to, like, I don't know, train, or something. They nearly killed us, but for the element of surprise and my brilliant head."

"Yeah right, Simon. It was partly my plan to get thermals."

"You go there, and we'll teleport back." said Sir Wagner and sighed.

"Right, then."

Simon concentrated and felt the power in him, coursing through his legs. He broke into a sprint and felt himself speeding up. He gradually increased his speed until he was overtaking cars on the road. It was exhilarating, this feeling. He loved Speeding. No cops pulled him over, because

a) He was running, not driving, and

b) He was Head Peacekeeper, so he could actually arrest them.

Having super speed really was a useful thing, both in lifestyle and in combat. He stopped at Impressive Information Ltd. He went in, and saw that it was deserted. He kept walking, puzzled, when he heard a scream. He located the source and rushed towards the door from behind which the sounds were coming. Inside, he saw Sam with his hands on someone's shoulders. The unlucky man jerked around like he was being electrocuted, which, in this case, was true. Simon said," Stop that now, Sam, or you're gonna get hurt." Sam jumped and whirled around. "Mr. Ardar, you really shouldn't surprise me like that. I might hurt someone with my hands wired."

"You mean like that guy who's running away right now?"

Sam spun and caught the man as he bolted to the door. His hands pulsed with a blue energy and the man screamed again. Simon pushed Sam away. The man hid behind Simon, thinking that he'd protect him. Simon turned and asked him," What'd you ever do to that guy? He seems a little mad."

"I know his secrets, all of them, Mr Ardar. Even the one about -"

"Silence! Ardar, let me kill him or there will be hell to pay!" roared Sam. Simon turned to study him. It was often said that the eyes were the windows of the soul. His eyes were blazing with anger. A lot of it.

Simon also noticed that Sam's body was glowing. Not a good sign, especially for someone who could project enough electricity to power the whole town. Simon raised his hands in an 'I'm unarmed' gesture. "Sam, calm down. First, tell me what happened to you. Why are you so-" He stopped when Sam hugged him, which was bad for Simon, mostly because his body radiated electricity.

The force flung Simon backwards into the wall. The man ran towards the wall. It was evident to both of them that he would bump into it, but he simply passed through it as though it wasn't even there. He must have been a Transparent. Those magicians could go through anything, literally. Sam growled.

He ran at Simon, but he sidestepped and delivered a karate chop on the back of his neck. Sam staggered, then turned, ran behind Simon, and then grabbed his neck, with a choke hold. Simon drove his elbows back with full force and hit Sam in the face. He flew into the wall.

Sam said," I've been working on this for a while." He held out his palm, which was facing Simon. Blue lightning burst from it and hit Simon. He shouted and writhed on the floor. He felt his strength draining away. Soon, he would be unconscious. He reached out a hand and pinched Sam on the thigh hard. Sam winced and the electricity died off. Simon punched Sam in the jaw. He then kicked him in the shin, elbowed him in the stomach and slammed him into the wall. He roared," What secret are you hiding? TELL ME!"

"Fine, okay! Just stop! There was an expedition, a few years ago, looking for lost artifacts for our company. They found something a few weeks back. The Gloves of the Cold One, and something else. Ronald saw them and was very much in awe. He got rid of all witnesses, except me."

"What was the other thing they found?"

Sam replied," The Cold One himself."

Back to Table of Contents

### Chapter Nine

Simon was so stunned that he just stood there in silent disbelief. Then, he said," Well, why not? He'd obviously be buried with his weapon." Sam continued," We incapacitated him, imprisoned him, and took the Gloves."

"You did what?"

"It was simple. He was pretty much unconscious anyway. All we had to do was to put fifty of some really, really, really strong magic-binding devices and fifty of some very, very, very enhanced samples of some magic-draining potion."

"You make it sound difficult."

"It was. I was trying to make it sound easy."

Simon blinked. "But you said it was simple."

"Simple, not easy."

Simon sighed. "So, why did Ronald try to make a deal with Vengeance and double-cross him?"

"He was trying to do a good deed. A real decent man."

"Yeah, except for the tiny black mark of a history of blackmail."

"Yeah, well to me, he was a great guy."

Simon said," You hate Volotile because he killed Ronald, right?"

"Duh."

"So, by the way, this is kind of obvious, you could help us. You could come to our side and get revenge, right?"

"Okay, I guess."

"So first, lead me to the Cold One."

"Alright."

Sam walked out of the room and Simon followed him. Sam led him through a maze of passage ways and Sam stopped occasionally for a quick fingerprint and retinal scan. Simon felt like he was going deep into the heart of a fortress. Then, they both stopped at a huge metal door.

Sam put his hand into a hole lying to the right of the door. A blue glow came from it, and the door opened. "Electric." said Sam, in reply to Simon's questioning glance. Inside, there was...

"Nothing." said Sam. "Where is-"

He said nothing more when the hand touched him. From behind the door, out stepped The Cold One, his hand still on Sam. Ice grew over the shoulder on which his hand was. The ice spread quickly over Sam's entire body.

Yet all Simon could do was stare at The Cold One. The Cold One looked just like a man, but he was much taller than a normal person and he wore armor and a cape, just like Simon. Oh, and his skin was light blue, like ice. Just like his armor and cape. He had boots that were also blue, with laces that sparkled every time he moved his feet.

His face, though, was the most mesmerizing, as with most people. His nose wasn't any different from anyone else's, and neither was his mouth, or his ears. He had very normal ears. It was his eyes that were magical. They had no pupils and instead of white, they were blue, but darker. When he smiled, Simon felt a small chill go down his spine, which felt appropriate.

He then looked past him into the cell. It just didn't seem like a prison cell. "It could be the wallpaper," Simon thought," which was yellow, or the sofa, which was bright blue, or the pictures of pink unicorns on the wall.

The Cold One asked," Who are you? Another person sent to study me, I suppose." He spoke slowly, as if using words for the first time. "No, I'm here to seek your help, not study you. I have absolutely nothing to do with him," Simon pointed at Sam.

"My gloves. Where are they? Tell me, or die."

"I don't think so. First release Sam. Then, I'll give you your gloves, and you can help me."

"Fine. Although, I have no idea why you'd want my help, or this filthy specimen. Oh, wait; there are a dozen reasons for the former, not so for the latter."

He waved his hand and the ice cracked. Sam stepped out, shivering. He then collapsed. Simon started, but the Cold One said," He'll be fine, in a few minutes." Simon put his hands in his pockets and brought out the Gloves. They were slightly crumpled. The Cold One fixed Simon with a slightly disapproving stare and asked," You take a wonderful, infinitely powerful magical weapon, and treat it like that?"

"Hey," said Simon," take it or leave it." The Cold One shook his head, but then extended his hand. Simon took off The Gloves and gave them to him. The Cold One put them on and sighed. "It feels so good, having these back. All that power..."

"So, are you gonna help us?" The Cold One pointed a finger at Simon and asked," Why? Why should I help any of you? You've done nothing but imprison me and study me. Now, I can get my revenge." Simon glared. "Don't test me, or I'm gonna hit you hard. I don't like what they did to you, and I'm not on their side."

"Why did you want me to release him, then?" He pointed at Sam.

"He's on our side now. Now, help us."

"I still don't trust you. I want a show of faith." "And just what should I have to do?"

"It's simple. Just answer a question. What magician are you?"

"I'm a Hero." The Cold One nodded, evidently satisfied. He said," I will trust any Hero. They are destined to be noble. However, you must prove it."

Saying that, he thrust his hand forward. Spikes made of ice rose up and shot toward Simon. He did the only thing possible in that limited space.

He ran forward, his coat of armor shattering the spikes that touched it. He punched the Cold One, but it was like punching a wall. A wall that was really, really hard. The Cold One slammed his hand down on Simon's head, causing him to drop down to his knees. Simon grabbed The Cold One's ankle and wrenched it as hard as he could.

The Cold One screamed as his leg broke. He stomped on the ground angrily, causing a tendril of ice to snake up his leg. The ice then surrounded his leg completely. Simon swung his leg, but the Cold One grabbed it and swung Simon into the wall. Meanwhile, the ice had fallen off, revealing the Cold One's leg to be as good as new. The whole healing process had taken seven seconds.

Simon jumped and jabbed a thumb into the Cold One's neck. The Cold One let out a gasp of air. That didn't hinder him. He blew at Simon. That little bit of air turned into a blizzard, blinding him. Simon lashed out wildly, and one of his blows connected. The Cold One grunted. Then, the blizzard stopped. The Cold One thrust his hand at Simon. He braced himself for the ice spikes. Instead, a column of ice rose from the Cold One's arm. It smacked Simon in the chest and sent him flying.

He slammed into the door. He could make out the outline of the Cold One walking towards him. Simon got an idea. He then Sped and got up. The Cold One walked towards Simon, but in slow motion. This was how Simon saw things when he Sped. He then took out his gun and shot the Cold One in both knees and stopped Speeding. The Cold One healed his legs again, as if nothing had happened. He then said," You have proved yourself. There is no need to fight now."

"Yeah, a real good way to prove oneself." Simon said sarcastically. The Cold One said," Where do we go?" Simon started talking. Sam got up, unsteadily. Simon turned and asked him," Hey, Sam, by the way, why does this room have pictures of pink unicorns on the walls?" Sam replied," This used to be a girl's room. She insisted."

Simon continued talking and several minutes later, they were standing in Simon's home, with Arthur, Frankie, Sir Wagner, and Sam. Simon had told them the full story. "How'd you get him in here?" asked Sir Wagner. Simon replied," The Cold One stirred up a blizzard. Nobody could see us. He followed us here." The Cold One asked," What help do you need?" Simon replied," We believe somebody is trying to collect the weapons of all the Gods. He might use them to do something terrible. His name is Volotile Vengeance."

"The weapons? Impossible!"

"It's very much possible. Can you tell us where he might be going next?"

"My gloves were found in the coldest place on Earth, Antarctica."

Back to Table of Contents

### Chapter Ten

"WHAT?" screamed everyone. "Indeed." replied the Cold One. Everybody stayed silent for a minute. Then, everybody started shouting different things at the same time.

"Why do we have to go into Antarctica?"

"This is insane!"

"I wonder if there's juice in the fridge."

"Quiet!"

This was Sir Wagner. He raised his hands and said," We must go. Somehow, Volotile seems to know the weapons intimately. I'd wager that he's already on his way there." A voice said," You're wrong." Everybody turned. At the doorway, stood Volotile Vengeance, Heaven and Hell. Simon was surprised. "You're outnumbered." he said. "Why would you come here?"

"But we're not." said Vengeance with a sneer. "We brought a few friends with us." He took out a cylinder with some symbols on it. Those symbols were... "Binding sigils." realized Simon.

Sigils were letters in the language of magic. Each sigil could accomplish some particular feat. There were sigils for pretty much anything, including a self-refilling glass, electrocution, and explosions. Some could even be used to trap certain spirits inside a cylinder. In this case, this was so.

"That's right. Oh, and the spirits in this cylinder here aren't normal spirits. They are Withrils."

The proclamation made everyone freeze. Even Heaven and Hell shivered. Withrils were spirits of carnage, chaos and destruction. They destroyed pretty much everything in their path. It was possible to trap Withrils in a cylinder with the help of binding sigils (all the better to keep them bound with) and vacuum sigils (all the better to suck them in with).

Volotile said," Here's the best part. There are approximately one hundred of them in this. They've been cramped in here, so I don't exactly think they'll happy when they come out." Everyone was horrified. Simon started thinking, but Volotile took out a knife. He said," I'm going to cut one sigil off. One binding sigil, and all of them are going to escape. You might as well run now. "Saying that, he laughed and waited. One second. Then two. Nobody moved. They would not run.

Volotile shrugged. He inserted the knife in, and then cut out a circle. He threw both the cylinder and the circle to Simon. Simon just stared at it. The Cold One took it in his hand, and ice grew all over it. He said, "There. It is done. They can't escape now. My power is too great." Simon laughed and said," The upper hand is ours now, I'm afraid." Volotile smirked and said," A Withril is, I agree, no match for the power of a God, but there have been occasions, where large numbers have defeated the Gods." Simon looked at the Cold One.

Volotile waved his hand and Hell threw a knife at The Cold One. He simply batted it away. Then, another knife was thrown. Simon knew what was happening. They were causing the Cold One to use more of his energy to protect himself rather than to keep the Withrils inside. He ran, but he was too late. Then, suddenly, Heaven knocked the cylinder out of his hands before he could react. The cylinder rolled away, and, without the continuous stream of power from the Cold One keeping the Withrils inside, it could only stand for ten seconds.

He turned and walked away. As he walked away, he said," Remember this, if you are still thinking of opposing me. I have greater means at my disposal." Shadows swirled around them, and when they dissipated, they had gone. Everyone looked at the cylinder. It shuddered, and then, exploded. Although, to understand what really occurred, the events must be told as they happened. First, numerous cracks appeared in the cylinder. Then, a gust of wind came out. Then, the Withrils surged outward. They screamed cries of freedom and bloodlust.

They disintegrated everything that they touched. Simon and the others grabbed Sir Wagner's hand, and teleported outside. The entire chateau imploded. Random spirits burst out of one wall and burst in the next. The Cold One stood there, waving his hands and causing ice to appear and trap the Withrils. Bars of ice rose out of the ground. Then, more bars extended from the sides of those bars. He was creating a cage. A blue energy glowed between the bars. A Withril veered off and tried to escape through the bars. It bumped into the blue wall of energy and flew away.

Simon stared at his own home being torn apart. Arthur said," Sir, try capturing them with the same cylinder. You could stick the piece on." Sir Wagner snatched both from Simon and spotted a bottle of Super Sticky Glue. It was lying on the ground, relatively unharmed. 'It must have flown out when the chaos started.' reasoned Sir Wagner. Simon had bought that, just in case. Sir Wagner remembered that shopping trip like it was yesterday (because it was yesterday). He grabbed it and squirted some on the space where the cylinder had been. He frantically pressed the piece into the spot. He gave it to Arthur.

He told him," Apply some heat." Arthur's hands glowed momentarily and the cylinder glowed briefly. Sir Wagner took it gingerly, and unscrewed the cap. A Withril burst out of a wall and froze, midair. It saw the cylinder, and it strained in the opposite direction. It stayed in midair, and, finally, Sir Wagner got a good look at it. It had the body of a man, except that it was slightly transparent. Its face was just two completely colorless and pupil-less eyes and a mass of teeth. It had sharp claws for hands and its legs joined into one mass.

The Withril tried heading towards the skies. It didn't work. It was sucked in with a 'pop' sound. Then another. Then another. (The Withrils, not the 'pop' sound. Although that came along with the Withrils too.) Spirit after spirit was sucked in, each moaning loudly. Soon, all the spirits were sucked in. Simon recovered at last and said," Give it to me. I'll give it to the K.C.D.E.I (This was the acronym for Keepers of Cylinders with Dangerous Entities Inside). I wonder what will happen now that everyone knows about the Cold One."

The Cold One said," They don't. The shield was invisible to them. So was I. My magic prevented them from seeing me. All they know is that some Withrils have destroyed your house. I advice you to tell them that you found a cylinder, and opened it without knowing what was inside." Simon said, "Wow. You are amazing. Anyways, I better go. Pass me the cylinder." Sir Wagner gave it to him. Simon Sped away. During the run, his thoughts drifted between various things.

One, his house. He was gonna have to pay a fortune for refurbishing, and this was just for the bathrooms. Two, his weakness. He had just stood there, looking at his house being destroyed. Three, a little something that the others, even Sir Wagner hadn't noticed. The ominous threat uttered by Volotile as he was leaving. "I have greater means at my disposal." Simon had a feeling that he wasn't kidding. What had he meant? What could possibly be worse than an army of Withrils? Simon had the feeling it would be something very powerful. Fourth, Volotile's new powers. He still couldn't fathom how Volotile could control darkness. Fifth, Heaven and Hell. He had noticed that when Volotile mentioned Withrils, their grip on their swords tightened. That meant that they had had a bad experience with Withrils. Sixth, the journey. What materials were they going to need? Then, Simon tripped on something and because of his enormous speed, was launched into the sky.

He flew for a while, and then crashed into an old lady pushing her shopping cart, who was so surprised that she let the cart go, which sent it moving down the road, which had a slight incline, and crashed into a truck carrying logs, which made the logs fall down and trip a bunch of bikers, who veered and crashed into a fireworks shop, which caught on fire and sent a dozen fireworks into the sky, which distracted an Illusionist (A type of magician that could create illusions.) who got confused and accidentally Visualized (Created an illusion of.) jets and bombers in the air, which caused everyone to panic and bump into each other, making a car crash into a supermarket, which made a bunch of dog food tins roll out, which caused a great stampede of dogs, which caused a lot of cats to jump onto people's heads, including Simon, who had never been attacked by a cat in his life, which meant that the cat had scratched his head a bunch of times before he reacted and threw it on the street, which made all the cats stare at him balefully before jumping towards him in one big wave, causing the dogs to jump on him as well, which made a kid spit out his bubblegum on the floor, causing his uncle to back away towards a fire hose, only to be bumped by the shopping cart, which had been pushed by the driver of the truck, only to land on this person, who fell down and tripped many other people, who in turn fell down, making many other people fall down. It was a total disaster.

Simon had had to help put everything back in place, to put the dogs and cats away, to repair the bikes, to put the logs back in the truck, to repair the car, the windows of the supermarket, to reassure the Illusionist that everything was fine and had to pay for the old lady's shopping. He then apologized to everybody who had been affected and walked on. He still carried the cylinder in his hands. He walked into the K.C.D.E.I and said," I'd like to make a deposit. The woman behind the counter wrinkled her nose at Simon's appearance and said," What does the cylinder contain?"

"Just over a hundred Withrils." The woman paled immediately. She asked," Who did you say you were, sir?"

"I didn't. The name's Simon Ardar."

"Oh, Mr. Ardar! Um, if I may ask, what happened to you?" Simon looked rank from the cat attack. He made a fast decision.

"I was battling some very dangerous fellows. The guys had guns, knives, and stuff. It wasn't easy to defeat them." Just then, a guy waltzed in, and pointed at Simon. He was drunk. " You're the feller' what was attacked by those cats and dogs out there. Anyhow, gotta mind my business." He thrust a cylinder at the man behind another counter and started describing the contents. Simon turned slowly to look at the woman behind the counter. She said," I won't tell a soul." Simon nodded. Then, he said," Have you had any thefts of cylinders recently?"

"Oh, yes. Just yesterday, two men came, with swords, and there was a third man who just stood there the entire time and did nothing. They searched the bank and stole the cylinder. It had the approximately same contents as this one."

"I see. Well, then, this cylinder is just that very same one. The descriptions you just gave me are those of some criminals. You have been a great help. Thank you." She continued," Oh, wait. The third man said something about 'looking for a genie container'. I just remembered." Simon hurriedly asked," Did he find any here?"

"Yes, he did. He took just one. I was very much surprised. We have more than hundreds." Simon wasn't listening. This was worse, way worse than he had expected.

Back to Table of Contents

### Chapter Eleven

He rushed back to the others as fast as he could. He paused, so that they could see him. "Simon, what happened to you?"

"Bandit strike. I was caught up in the confusion."

"Well, anyway, why're you looking so tense?"

"Volotile and his flunkies robbed the K.C.D.E.I just yesterday. They were also looking for a genie container."

The statement took a few seconds to sink in. Then, each was remembering the Siege of Genies that had occurred years ago. The genies were bloodthirsty, violent and more than a hundred in number. A really, really powerful genie could easily defeat fifty Withrils. The Siege had involved lots of death and destruction.

Simon and his friends had had a hand in defeating the genies by imprisoning them, but in silver cubes, not in cylinders. Cylinders, even with binding sigils, were not powerful enough to keep genies inside. Genies were easily the most powerful sentient beings, other than Gods, of course. Lesser beings included Shadow Men, Scavengers and Malevolents.

Genies had a great array of powers, which included becoming invisible, flying and smelling nice. Unfortunately, for them, they could be bound to serve the person who opened their container and freed them. The fact that Volotile had found a genie container could not be good. Sir Wagner asked," Did he find any?"

"Unfortunately, yes. They took just one,"

Simon said," and this makes it even more important to reach Antarctica. We must get there before Volotile does.

So, they packed. Lots of winter clothes, waterproof clothes, waterproof bags, waterproof suitcases, waterproof rugs, portable thermals (the body-warming machines, and of course, their very own personal cold-promoting, chill-bringing, frost-dealing, blizzard-mustering, air-freezing, snow-controlling, ice-creating, slush-forming, icicle-raising, snowflake-making Cold One.

Simon said," We'll leave tonight." Frankie said," Why don't we just take a genie container from K.C.D.E.I as well? We could fight genie with genie." Everyone lapsed off into silence. Arthur said," You know, that isn't a bad idea at all." Simon said," Well, I'm all for it. I can't believe that I haven't thought of it before." So, they went to the K.C.D.E.I. They got there, driving in Sir Wagner's Aston Martin, and they enquired about the genie cubes that they had and the one that had been taken by Volotile. The one that had been taken was a powerful one, called Molgoth (This was the genie's name, not the cube's name). He was apparently the most bloodthirsty genie of them all.

The most powerful genie who they had in stock, was one named Jack. He wasn't bloodthirsty and violent like Molgoth. Frankie wanted to take more genies, but Arthur immediately told him no because genies were so unpredictable that they would not be able to control two, or more. Jack seemed to be the ideal choice and so they decided to take the cube and open it at Frankie's place. Once they got there, they shifted their attention to the task of opening the cube. They had to first find a knife strong enough, and then cut off a sigil. The cube started shaking, and then exploded. A great whirlwind swept everyone off their feet except the Cold One, who had his own protective magic.

When it died, a very peculiar man stood there. He wore a perfect yellow tuxedo. He also had yellow sunglasses on. He had his hands on his hips and grinned, one foot on a small stool, looking like an emperor who had conquered a kingdom. He then saw Frankie standing there and asked," Are you my new master?" Frankie said," No, he is."

He pointed at Simon, who had gotten up. The man narrowed his eyes at Simon and said," So, are you going to do the Introduction?" Simon took out a book from his cloak and handed it to Sir Wagner. He showed it to the man.

He rolled his eyes. " You guys don't know much about this if you're looking at THAT." Disdain dripped off his voice. Arthur had summoned a ball of fire and was casually tossing it from hand to hand.

When Simon looked at him, he extinguished the fire and walked forward and took the book, reading the words," I, Arthur Hopengaggen, friend of the Summoner, welcome the genie..." The man said," Jack." "... Jack, to this household."

Then, the Cold One, Frankie and Sir Wagner followed. Then Simon went, saying," I, Simon Ardar, the Summoner, welcome the genie, Jack, to this household." Jack nodded. "Well, at least you got the Summoning right. So, why do you need a genie? Also, why is the Cold One here?" Simon said," You will make a vow not to divulge this information, or any other information that I may tell you, to my enemies, without my permission. Is that understood?" Jack rolled his eyes again and said," Yes, master. Now, what's the reason?"

Simon narrated the entire tale to Jack, with the others filling in any extra details. Jack listened to everything patiently and said," Well, this is very extraordinary, and wilder than most of the adventures I've been in. There was this one where I had to throw cobras into a pit of some australian toucans." Simon looked confused. "Snakes and Australian toucans?" Jack said," Yeah, australian toucans. Apparently my master, not you, I mean my master then, was a sadistic person who wanted to see the fight and the bloodshed, the slow painful bloody deaths and..." Before he could finish, Frankie ran to the bathroom and was sick.

Jack laughed. He then stopped laughing and said," You aren't going to make me clean that up, are you?" Simon said," No, we're going to Antarctica." Jack, of course, was asked to finish packing. He did so with an air of grumpiness. When he was done, he was heading to the living room, where his masters had told him they would be, with an air of satisfaction, when he saw a figure putting its hand inside a refrigerator. He blinked and then stretched his hand towards the figure. An orb appeared in his hand. It was golden and glowing.

It floated toward the figure. It was an Orb of Revelation. This was a magic ability of all genies to identify who, or what, a certain being was. The orb told him that the figure was the Cold One. He had to ask, and there was no way around it, so he asked.

"Why are you putting your hand into a refrigerator?"

"I am drawing upon the Cold in here to make myself stronger."

"So, you are drawing upon the legendary power of Cold, from a refrigerator?" Jack had to admit, he sounded very incredulous, even for himself. The Cold One came out of the fridge, and scowled. "I don't expect a creature like you to understand the power of Cold."

Jack nodded. "I don't expect myself to either. It must be great, being a God and all. So much power, and stuff like that."

"Yes, yes it is."

"Well, I have to go."

He went. They all were sitting on couches and sipping juice. Jack's joints ached, but he was used to being the only being in a room full of other beings sitting down. Arthur saw him and said," Come, have a seat."

Jack approached warily. He had had an experience like this before. The master in question, had dumped Jack into a pit full of worms. It had been embarrassing and painful. The worms had swarmed him. Ever since, he had had nightmares about worms swarming him.

When he checked the seat and made sure it was safe, he sat down. Simon said," Guys, we'd better leave now. Jack has packed everything and we are ready to go."

"We'd better bring along some weapons too." This was from Frankie. "I mean, I appreciate having a really awesome and powerful genie with us, but there's no harm in being prepared, I mean, more prepared."

Sir Wagner nodded. "That's a great idea. We can stop at Humphrey's place. Ever since Killin' Carter showed up, saying his weapons were the best, he's opened up a shop with the most awesome weapons." Simon nodded. "Then let's go to Humphrey's."

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### Chapter Twelve

They agreed to leave the Cold One and Jack at the house. They wouldn't need weapons. While they went there, in Simon's Porsche, they discussed the weapons they were going to buy. When they got there, they ran to the shop. A man stood there. He was wearing a sleeveless vest, with tattoos covering both arms. He asked them," So, what do you want?" Simon said," I want to see whatever you have that's new." Humphrey nodded and took out a gun. "This is an Energy-Shooter. This dosen't fire regular bullets, it fires pure energy. It also manufactures the ammo inside it, so you won't have to reload. It makes it real fast."

"Cool, that's mine." said Simon.

He took out his gun and passed it to Humphrey. Humphrey put Simon's gun in a large container and pressed a button. Electricity and light flashed in the container for a few moments and then, suddenly disappeared. Humphrey took out the gun and passed it to Simon. It was an exact copy of the Energy-Shooter. He said," The latest version." Sir Wagner asked," What else do you have?"

Humphrey looked at him for a while, and then took out a small cylinder. He said," The activation sigils are on the thing. You just have to squeeze it. Sir Wagner took the cylinder and looked at Humphrey. "No, sir, you can hold it either way." said Humphrey.

Sir Wagner took it and squeezed. A small column of light extended from one end of the stick. "Those are Cutters. Incredibly light, and has different settings. The Transparent setting, where it can pass through inanimate things, like walls, or prison bars. That way, you can touch, or even cut through something or someone on the other side of a wall. This even works on prison bars. Then, the Non-Lethal setting, where it is unbreakable and has a 100 times the toughness of steel, so if you whack someone on the head, hard, it should knock them out for more than an hour. The last setting is the Lethal setting, where it cuts through anything and everything. You were the first one to activate it, so it will respond to your mind. You can will it to change settings."

Sir Wagner nodded and said," This is kind of like that old movie, Star Wars.", before he started practicing. Frankie said," I'm Frankie, a Levitatist." Humphrey looked at him and nodded. He took out a steel sphere. It was as big as a basketball. " This is a Shock Sphere. You just need to activate it, and the slightest touch will electrocute your enemies. They will tremble, mostly because they would be electrocuted. You are ideal for this weapon." He gave it Frankie. He pressed the activation sigil and a blue sheen spread throughout the ball. He dropped it. When it landed, he splayed his hands and concentrated.

The ball rose up. He then sent it hurtling towards a tree. The tree, on touching it, exploded. Frankie looked shocked. He then went away to try it again. Arthur came forward and said," I am Arthur, a Fire user. Elementist." Humphrey gave Arthur a sword. He said," This sword is highly conductive. That means that you can spread the heat of your Fire along the sword. The heat makes it almost indestructible." A smiling Arthur took it. Frankie said," Um, no offense, but these won't be enough to stop Vengeance."

Sir Wagner shut off his Cutter and said," I know. This where the fun part, sorry, the even more fun part, comes." Humphrey brought out a block of wood. A sigil, as usual, was carved into it. He said," These are Shock Bombs. The sigil spreads electricity enough to kill everyone in its range. Press the sigil, and you have five seconds to get out of there." He took out a small triangle-shaped thing. A thin beam of light emerged from the top. It moved and first landed on Simon, and then the rest.

He said," These are holographic projectors. These will project the image of all of you. There is even a wheel at the bottom to move it. You can distract a person and make him or her believe that you are somewhere other than where you actually are. Very useful for distractions and causing chaos and mayhem."

He also took out a cylinder. He said," This is an Amnesiac Gas Bomb. You just detonate it, the timer is here," he indicated an old-fashioned timer on the other side of it," and the people chasing you are knocked out and also have the memory of the last few hours erased. They probably won't even remember trying to chase you." Simon looked at Frankie. "Satisfied?" Frankie grinned and said," Oh, yeah, I am so totally satisfied." Simon said," I'll take ten of all of them each for all of us each."

Humphrey smiled for the first time. " You talk tough, but you better be prepared for the cost. That will be 35000 dollars." Simon grinned at his friends only to find them all staring at him. He said," What are all of you looking at me for?" They just continued to stare. He fumed and paid the full amount. They got back in the car. Simon said," Why'd you make me pay?" A series of replies were heard.

"Because it's funny."

"Because I'm trying to save money."

"Because you drank all the juice in the fridge in one day."

Simon said," I wonder how Jack is doing." Another series of replies were heard.

"I'll bet he's fine."

"I think he and the Cold One are dueling to the death right now."

"I think that they're just 'chilling' out."

Simon said," I sure hope that we don't get-" A crash was heard and Simon stopped the car immediately. He and the others looked outside quickly. The traffic was too heavy, but they could make out two blurs darting in between the cars.

"Heaven and Hell." said Sir Wagner. His Cutter was immediately taken out of his pocket. Simon and the others took out their weapons too.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, two beams of light flashed from the side, but Arthur deflected them with his suddenly hot sword. Both samurais jumped out from behind a car. Simon said," How come they're here? They shouldn't be able to stand sunlight." Hell laughed and said," Check this out.", and pulled up his sleeve, showing them his arm. It had a sigil on it. Simon looked exasperated. "That's for keeping the sun away, isn't it? Why are there so many damn sigils?!"

Heaven ran at Frankie while Hell ran at Sir Wagner. Arthur swung his sword at Hell, who dodged and kicked him and hit Frankie with his laser beams. Heaven had raised a force field and was effectively staying away from the action. Then, when Simon rushed at the force field, Heaven suddenly shut it off and leaped to the side.

As Simon ran past, Heaven made to give a strong push, but Simon drove his elbow back. Hard. It caught Heaven in the chest. Heaven stumbled, but scratched Simon in a shoulder and jumped, allowing Sir Wagner to run below him. Sir Wagner teleported behind Heaven, but Hell struck him with his eye-beams. Heaven grabbed Sir Wagner and launched him high in the air. He would have crashed into a car, but teleported behind Heaven and hit him with his Cutter in Non-Lethal mode. He tumbled back, crashing into Hell. They both landed in a heap. It looked like they were going to lose. However, they hadn't come alone.

The ground cracked and rumbled. A hand poked out of the hole in the ground. All eyes turned to it. A man climbed out of the hole. He snapped his fingers, and the hole sealed itself. He looked like a normal man. He wore the tattered, worn out clothes that a homeless person would wear. He said," I'm Molgoth. I've come to pretty much destroy all of you." Simon brought out his gun and fired. A rainbow colored stream flew out and headed toward Molgoth. He raised his hand and a sphere appeared. It was black. The stream was sucked into it. The sphere disappeared.

Molgoth grinned at them. He said," What? Shocked? Speechless?" Sir Wagner teleported behind Molgoth and smacked the back of Molgoth's head. Molgoth growled and turned around, punching Sir Wagner so hard that he flew into the wall. He then summoned two orbs in his hands. They were Sticky Orbs. They flew and attached themselves to Sir Wagner's arms, trapping him. He turned around and was shocked. Literally. Frankie summoned back his Shock Sphere while Arthur charged. He swung his sword, but laser beams appeared out of nowhere and hit his hand. It appeared that Hell was still in the fight. Arthur let go of the sword, which fell to the floor, steaming.

Frankie sent his sphere flying towards Molgoth, but he moved Arthur in front of him. The sphere crashed into Arthur, who screamed. Molgoth tossed him aside and summoned another orb. This one was colorless. A Prison Orb. It flew at Frankie, who jumped aside, but the orb followed him and disappeared inside his chest. Then, from inside, the orb grew, and within seconds, Frankie was trapped in a giant, colorless orb. Simon watched his friends being defeated. The most fierce and skilled fighters he knew, were being defeated with ease.

Simon rushed at Molgoth, who summoned another orb. This one was light blue. He threw it at Simon. The orb suddenly transformed into a lot of water. It splashed all over Simon. He was drenched head to toe. Molgoth summoned another orb, which was white. A Lightening Orb. He threw it at Simon. It exploded. To Simon, it was like a million Suns were right in front of his eyes. He fell down, screaming. He could hear Molgoth's laughter, but only felt pain. He managed to take a Shock Bomb from his pocket, and threw it in the general direction of the noise. He heard Molgoth gasp. He then started crawling towards his Porsche. Molgoth threw another orb at Simon. This one was black. A Dark Orb.

It dissolved, leaking darkness everywhere. Simon knew an opportunity when he felt it and stood up, facing the darkness. It cleared the burning pain in his eyes. Molgoth seemed surprised. He faltered. Simon strode forward casually and punched him and made him fall down, disoriented. Molgoth summoned a Vacuum Orb and threw it behind Simon. It suddenly disappeared, but a vacuum was felt. Simon felt himself being dragged towards the cold, empty vacuum.

He leaned towards Molgoth, trying to steel himself against the pull. Molgoth let the vacuum disappear. He then stepped behind Simon and pushed him. He was already leaning in that direction and fell on his face. Molgoth laughed until he noticed that Sir Wagner had disappeared. Then, he felt a body slamming into him and fell down. Jack laughed as he fell on Molgoth. When Sir Wagner had called him telling him about Molgoth, he had been more than happy to help. He had no choice, but he was happy to do it.

However, the Cold One had had to stay. They couldn't risk him being seen. So, Jack had come. And Sam. Sam tried to grab Molgoth, but a thin, translucent shield appeared. Heaven too, was still in the fight. Sam tried to grab him again, but Heaven and Hell intervened. Molgoth stood up and summoned a Transportation Orb, which was colorless, but bobbed here and there. It grew and grew, until it enveloped Heaven, Hell and Molgoth. It then disappeared, taking them with it. Jack said innocently," So, having a fun time?"

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### Chapter Thirteen

Once they got back, they relaxed on the sofas until Volotile stepped forward. He asked," So, how did it go?" Molgoth said," Master, they outnumbered us. We managed to escape. Although, we were doing fine before their genie appeared. They had reinforcements, and possibly the Cold One as well." Volotile glared at Heaven and Hell. "So, you two just fainted or something? And did what else? Watched the birds? Numbskulls! Cretins! You will be punished very severely."

Heaven said," Master, we are not at fault. They had superior numbers and powers." He said," Bah! You will be punished!" The twins looked at him with as much irritation as he was looking at them with, and a slight nervousness. Molgoth laughed, until Volotile glared at him, after which he stopped. He said," And you! They were under your command, and what do you do? You completely ignore them! Idiot."

"Master, I can't focus on everything."

Volotile shook his head. He knew that something had to be done about Ardar. He was a gigantic pain in the neck. " I will squash him," he silently vowed. He opened the door and walked in. It was vast. It was his primary safe house, so he kept the place, especially his chambers, neat and tidy.

He liked the room. Even the monster inside him liked the room. He walked over to his table. It was a work of art of polished mahogany. He opened one of the drawers. It slid open easily, mostly because he made Molgoth oil it every other hour. He was also going to make him oil it again in the next twenty minutes. He took out his phone. It was covered in sigils. They were communication sigils and also protective sigils, in case someone tried to listen in on his calls. He dialed a number that every criminal mastermind knew by-heart. He had never called this number before. He dialed the number, he waited and then spoke.

"This is Volotile Vengeance. The target is Simon Ardar. Payment is ten million dollars."

He waited. A voice spoke on the other end. "For Ardar, make it twenty million." Volotile considered. This was a deadly man, who could kill a hundred men single-handedly. His powers were legend, like everything else about him. "Fine, payment is twenty million."

"You know, it's about time someone asked me to kill someone worthy." Volotile smiled. "I know. Good luck, Samuel." The voice turned sharp. "Don't get personal."

"Fine."

Samuel disconnected. Samuel was a famed assassin, the best in the business. A living legend. Everybody knew him. He had never, ever botched a job. He had killed kings, monarches, but never a Hero. They were exceptionally rare. Their powers weren't simply super-speed and super-strength. Every characteristic of theirs was enhanced drastically. They had extraordinary IQ, reflexes, and other things. They were very tough to kill.

Volotile knew that this was why he had accepted the kill order. He had known people who had made personal remarks, who, to their great regret, were turned down. Samuel couldn't resist the opportunity to kill a Hero. Volotile also knew about Samuel's power. He was a Gravity Changer, the last of his kind, who had the extraordinary power to manipulate gravity. He could make an entire army fly away into space just with a wave of his hand. Volotile knew that he could handle Ardar easily. He thought," Finally, I can have some peace."

Meanwhile, Samuel smiled as he put down the phone. He had been waiting for an opportunity like this. He wanted to test his prowess against Ardar. He put his hand to his side, feeling his sword's handle. He liked his sword. He walked to the kitchen of his house/stronghold. He made some tea, and then drank it down. Then, he walked to a chute. He jumped up as high as he could, and then changed the gravity around him. He landed on the wall.

He got up, and then started walking up the wall. He walked up until he reached the top. He jumped out of the hole, and changed the gravity again. He landed straight on the floor of the warehouse. He put on some normal, unassuming clothes. He then opened the door, and walked out. As he vanished into the crowd and mingled, he took inventory.

Shoes with knives in the soles? Check.

Sword? Check.

Revolvers in pockets? Check.

Grenades and smoke-grenades in back pockets? Check.

Armor under clothes? Check.

Other things he might need? Check.

Satisfied, he kept walking until he reached an inn. It was named " The Travelling Dream ". He walked in. The owner looked at him, saw the bulge of a sword and asked," Who are you?" Samuel answered the question with the code words, " I am bound for a journey." The shopkeeper opened a trapdoor and quickly ushered Samuel inside.

There was a huge, enormous room with many tracks in it. A few had trains on them. It was an illegal underground railway system for transporting illegal items. The system was named the Black Tracks. Samuel used it to travel. He got into a train headed for Washington and looked around. Samuel sat down and waited.

In the safe house, Volotile was conspiring. He and his minions discussed things. Well, Heaven and Hell were silent, but Volotile and Molgoth were speaking. Volotile said," We are going to need more men. They outnumbered you, you say?"

"Yes, master, they had reinforcements."

"Well, after this plan, you won't have to worry about that."

"Again, master, I must ask, what are these creatures you're going to summon?"

"They are Shadow Men. I remember, they are very deadly. Even worse than Withrils, almost as powerful as genies." Hearing this, Molgoth pushed his chest out and his chin up. " I mean, they can kill minor genies like you, but other genies are too powerful." Hearing this, Molgoth looked down and downcast. Hell simply nodded. Heaven just sat there. Volotile said," Let's begin the ritual. He stood up and summoned a ball of darkness. He threw it at a chalk circle drawn on the floor. He summoned another one and threw it.

He did that again and again, until the circle was completely filled with the black stuff. He walked to it. He put his hands in the stuff. He then gestured. Hell and Heaven stood up and did the same. Then Molgoth did the same. Then, Volotile picked up a book. He recited words from it. "O, great spirits, I have created darkness. O, great spirits, I have washed my hands in darkness. O, great spirits, give me soldiers. Give me," he put the book down," Shadow Men!"

A hand rose from the darkness. It looked like a human hand, but it was made up of darkness. The hand reached up and pulled the rest of the Shadow Man's body up. It looked around until it saw Volotile and the others. It knelt and asked in a rasping voice," Master, what must I do?" Volotile said," Obey me, this genie, and these men at all times. My orders override any orders given to you by the others. Understood?"

"Yes, master." Molgoth asked," Are you the only Shadow Man that we summoned? Must we perform the ritual again? Answer the questions."

The Shadow Man replied," No, master. The others are on their way. The ritual can create many more of us."

Volotile said," It's a good plan, but it is absolutely redundant without a way to fight the Cold One." Molgoth said," Master, there is a way. A very special potion." Volotile looked at him. " A rage potion, master. It can affect the Cold One, making him go ballistic on his friends." Molgoth put special and sarcastic emphasis on the word 'friend'. Volotile said," No, that won't work. If he can go ballistic on his 'friends', he can certainly go ballistic on us. Also, this wouldn't put him out of action."

Molgoth said," It is sprayed in the air for one to breathe in. We can spray it, where it will linger, and we can stay just out of sight. Plus, he might fall off a cliff or something." Volotile shook his head. "Idiot. The potion will affect his friends also. Chaos will ensue, and I don't like chaos, that is, chaos that can't be controlled by me. I have an even better idea." He smiled, thinking his new plan over, and liking it with every new thought.

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### Chapter Fourteen

Sir Wagner reached home with his friends that evening, but didn't notice, as he was thinking. He was lucky that he was a Teleporter. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to teleport away from the orbs and call Jack. Simon was saying," Alright, we need something to fight Molgoth." Jack said," No offense, but you have me. I can easily combat Molgoth." Frankie said," Yeah, that is true. We need you to be around more often." Arthur said," I have an idea. We can use ourselves as bait. We can stand in the open. It is highly possible that they will attack us." Simon said," Jack, stay above us, invisible. You can reveal yourself when the time is right."

Jack said," No, that's not possible. Molgoth will see me easily. I think I can wear casual clothes, like a disguise." Arthur said," Sir Wagner, why are you so silent?" Sir Wagner looked up suddenly and said," Yeah, I agree with the motion." Frankie said," Well, I'm okay with it, but fighting in broad daylight? It'll attract the wrong kind of attention." Arthur said," I have this all planned out. Simon, you know people who spread rumors, right?"

"Yeah, they owe me a couple of favors." " Well, make them spread that we four are gonna be camping at, um, the abandoned field by the woods."

"Camping? Sounds fun!"

Sir Wagner shook his head and said," Actually, I've had a bad experience with camping. I don't like it." Frankie asked," What happened?" Sir Wagner replied angrily," I said I had a bad experience! What are you, deaf?" Simon smiled and said," I like this plan. And even if we get ambushed, we can throw those Amnesiac Grenades and escape." Sir Wagner said," Where's Arthur?" Frankie said," I sent him to get snacks from the grocery store."

"How'd you do that?"

"I persuaded him."

"You do know what that means."

"Yeah."

"And you are also telling us that you, Frankie, persuaded Arthur Hopengaggen, a really really grouchy, grumpy guy, to go and buy snacks from the grocery store. For you."

"Yeah." Simon put his hand on Frankie's shoulder. " I shall never question you again." Just then, Arthur emerged from the bathroom. "So, what did I miss?" Simon glared at Frankie and said," I shall never trust you again." Frankie laughed. "Yup, everytime, you say that you'll never believe me again. And, what happened the last time you said that? You became friendly again. Face it, Simon. You're a soft-hearted guy."

Simon bristled. "Am not!" Sir Wagner grinned. "You are." Simon groaned. "Great. The worst kind of ambush. One planned by my own friends. Traitors, the load of you. Backstabbers." Jack said," Master, please move your head to the right." Simon did so. "Why'd you say that?" A figure jumped straight from the shadows. The sword in its hand ended up right where Simon's head would've been. Simon whirled around. "What is that thing?" asked Arthur. The Cold One said," A Shadow Man. It is creature of shadow, born of the power of darkness. It can move through shadows. It has a lot of strength. However, it is very slow." They stared at the creature. It got up.

It said in a hideous and rasping voice," Shadow Men! Come and complete your mission! Kill Simon Ardar and his friends!" Then, from all around the room, Shadow Men emerged from the shadows. They all swarmed Simon and the others. The Cold One raised his hand and a dozen ice shards flew at the figures. Every Shadow Man hit by the shards was instantly encased in ice. The shards, on hitting the Shadow Men, spawned more ice shards that spawned even more. The others attacked the others (Not themselves, the other Shadow Men).

Sir Wagner was a very effective fighter, but even he couldn't top the Cold One, who had easily taken out most of the group. Sir Wagner teleported behind a Shadow Man and pushed him, and then teleported somewhere else and pushed another Shadow Man in the path of the falling one. He teleported again and again, slashing with his Cutter, pushing and subduing.

He then heard a voice from above him. " Not to interrupt your battle or anything, but you have a genie at your disposal, and you could at least make sure that this genie isn't, you know, bored, by making him fight these guys. This genie is actually incredibly powerful and could help you greatly." Jack, proud of his speech, stopped and folded his hands. He was floating in the air. Sir Wagner looked to the right and saw that the others were weakening, with the exception of the Cold One. He said," Jack, I command you to help us in this fight!" Jack said," Alright, now teleport out with your friends and watch the fun."

Sir Wagner teleported behind Frankie, who was throwing Shadow Men here and there. He grabbed him, the Cold One and the others and teleported outside. Jack looked down at the Shadow Men. He jumped, as if standing on an invisible platform, and landed in front of all the Shadow Men. He rubbed his hands. He did so three more times. His hands were glowing. He brought them together hard, the way one might clap, and a BOOM sound was heard. All the Shadow Men fell backwards. He did it again twice. A Shadow Man, jumped, kicked off a wall and launched itself at Jack. Jack summoned an orb. This orb was an Incineration Orb.

He held it in front of him, and when the Shadow Man was close enough, he rammed it into its face. It went up in flames. The other Shadow Men paused. Jack summoned two more orbs. They were Explosive Orbs. He threw them at the army. He summoned more and more and kept throwing them at the army. They exploded with such force that within five minutes, all the Shadow Men had been destroyed. He looked back. "Satisfied?" He grinned. They all just stared. He smiled. "We genies have mad skills. Frankie said, "Jack, that was awesome."

They all grinned. Simon frowned. Arthur looked at him. "What happened?" Simon said," I just had a disturbing thought. If I remember right, the process to summon these guys isn't that difficult, but it takes a lot of power. If Volotile can do that, then he can just as easily do worse things."

Sir Wagner smiled gently. "Thank goodness, there goes the camping plan." Simon said," We've got to leave tonight. Oh, and by the way, Jack, what was that clap thing? I thought that genies only used orbs." Jack laughed. "There are many things that you pathetic humans don't know about us. If I told you anything, I would be going against the Genie Code."

The Code was a set of rules that the first genie, Doldur, had set up permanently in the world, using his magic, before he was enslaved by humans. Any genie that broke those rules was turned to dust. Many had tried, and all of them had been disintegrated.

"In that case, don't tell us anything." said Frankie. Simon said," This makes it even more important to go to Antarctica." Arthur asked," Why do we need to go there at all?"

The Cold One said," Each place has a special code hidden there. It unlocks the next location and tells us where it is. That is why. Nobody can enter the Godly strongholds without the code from the previous location."

Frankie exclaimed," So, that's why we should go there!" Simon said," Sure. Why don't we take the Dream Express?" "The Dream Express?" asked Frankie. " It's an extremely super-secret train station that can transport anyone anywhere. We could use that and get to the locations." What Simon and the others didn't know, was that the Dream Express, was also called the Black Tracks.

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### Chapter Fifteen

The Cold One said," I have power in Antarctica. I can keep you all warm." He said the word 'warm' with distaste. Simon said," Alright, let's go!" Frankie said," What, now?" Simon said," No, it's close to night. Let us go tommorow morning." Sir Wagner said," Genies can track their master and his friends, right? So, you stay here and do whatever you want, provided that you don't hurt anyone, or destroy anything. Got it?"

Jack sullenly said," Sure. By the way, are you sure about that 'don't destroy anything' thing?" Sir Wagner said," Yes, yes I am." The Cold One said," I can teleport to, or from, places that are cold. When you arrive, you will find me there." Simon said, "Okay." They set off, humming. A few hours later, all of them stopped humming. They reached a store. They walked into the dimly-lit store. The shopkeeper waited. Simon said," I am bound for a journey." The shopkeeper ushered him in.

He opened a trapdoor. They all went in. The station had lots of tracks. It looked like the only color there was black. There were black tracks, black pillars, and black benches. The very walls, floor and roof were also black. A train had arrived, and was the only one. They hid behind a pillar to avoid getting noticed.

They were so fixated on hiding that they didn't notice a man walking to the same pillar behind which they were hidden. They didn't notice him walking around until he said," Hello." They all jumped. He said," Here's my card." he said cheerfully. Simon took it. As he read it, he felt a dread coming upon him that he had never experienced before. The card read:

"Hello! The man who just handed you this card is Samuel, and if you're holding this, you're probably about to die. Wish you a quick death!"

Simon looked at the man. He said," So, you're Samuel." The others stiffened. He nodded. Simon asked," Why's the card so casual?" Samuel said," There are so many movies and books with assassins in them. I try to be unique, completely without cliches." Simon said," Well, assassins kill people, so, you should, you know, just walk away and not kill anyone. It's the perfect rebellion against assassin cliches."

He shook his head, smiling, and said," No. Could I have my card back?" Simon gave it to him. He pocketed it. He looked at them. They looked at him. Simon reached in his pockets for his gun. Samuel flinched and took a step back. Simon brought it out and aimed it at Samuel, but he lashed out with an impossible kick that launched the gun into the air. Frankie sent his Shock Sphere at Samuel, but he splayed his hands and changed the gravity around the sphere and the sphere flew back at him with even more force. When it slammed into Frankie, he screamed for one second, and then collapsed.

Samuel didn't bother changing the gravity of the sphere and it flew somewhere else. Arthur summoned two fireballs and chucked them at Samuel. Samuel jumped and spun, catching Simon's gun as it fell down and dodged the fireballs at the same time. He got a shot into Arthur's chest before he even landed. Sir Wagner said, "Stop. If this is a matter of money, then I can pay more than Volotile, it was Volotile, I'm sure, ever did." Samuel said," I have sworn an oath and can't take bribes. I must kill Ardar, but he didn't say anything about you and the other two. Escape, while you can."

Sir Wagner laughed and brought out his Cutter. " I don't think so. You see, we don't abandon our friends." Samuel immediately brought out a gun and Simon used the same trick that Samuel had used and kicked the gun into the air. Samuel snarled.

He sent a powerful punch into Simon's stomach and then caught his gun. Sir Wagner nearly took off his head (He was using Lethal mode.) with his Cutter, but Samuel rolled away. He then fired at Sir Wagner but he teleported behind him, but Samuel immediately sent two elbows back and caught Sir Wagner in the gut.

He doubled over, coughing. Simon jumped at him and head-butted him. Samuel caught him with a right hook to the head, and then surveyed the scene. Ardar and the old man were incapacitated and the other two... He frowned. Where were the other two? Arthur raised his hands and twin streams of fire enveloped Samuel.

When the fire disappeared, Samuel was standing there with his clothes steaming. "Didn't you know?" said Samuel. "My clothes are fireproof." Frankie raised his hands and several of the benches flew directly at Samuel. Sir Wagner hit him on the head and he got to his knees as the benches came at him. He just held up a finger and the benches crashed to the ground. They slid and they were practically just heaps of black steel when they reached him. Simon leaped at him just as Sir Wagner teleported and struck.

Samuel moved a foot and something silver seemed to come from his boot and Samuel caught it. It was a long, silver knife. Samuel ducked, avoiding Simon, and deflected Sir Wagner's swing with the knife. He then moved his other foot and caught another knife. He battled fiercely with both knives. Then, when Sir Wagner moved under his knives, he sent a solid knee at his chin, and hit it. Sir Wagner stumbled back, disoriented. Simon yelled and started blasting furiously.

Samuel simply sidestepped. He then dropped one knife. It fell down and seemed to disappear into a shoe. He did the same with the other knife. He then reached into his pants. Simon said," It's alright, you can do your business, I'll turn around." Samuel rolled his eyes, and pulled out a really large, scary-looking axe. Simon gulped and said," How about you take your time, I'll be content to wait." Samuel laughed and swung the axe and would have caught Simon in the shoulder, had it not been for Arthur blasting Samuel in the groin. Samuel winced and turned around. He felt murderous. He then realized that he wouldn't be able to kill Ardar while his friends were there.

He decided to come back later, to finish the job. He turned to Simon, after putting the axe back where it used to be. Frankie said," Careful. You might cut yourself." Samuel ignored him and said," Ardar, you have earned my respect. Not many targets survive their first encounter against me. I will be back, later." He then took something from his back pocket and a second later, a very large cloud of smoke enveloped them all.

When it dissipated, he was gone. Sir Wagner said," I'll check. He can't be far." He teleported away. A few minutes later, he was back. "No sign of him." Frankie said," You guys, did you see that axe? It was so huge!" Simon asked," So, what do we do now?" Arthur said," We can't do anything. I guess we just wait for our train." Half an hour later, a whistle blew. The Washington-Antarctica train had arrived. They got into the train. The train left quickly, because there wasn't exactly a whole queue of people waiting to go to Antarctica.

Lurking from behind an air vent, Samuel watched it all. He knew that he could use one of his corrosive-covered arrows to finish off Ardar, but that was only as a last resort. He always gave himself three chances. Three encounters, and then his last resort plan. Most of the targets were terminated in the first encounter itself. Some of the stronger ones lasted till the second one, but almost nobody survived till the third one. He had had to use his last resort plan only once in his whole life. He thought," Strike one, Ardar. Two to go."

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### Chapter Sixteen

The train ride was long and uneventful. They discussed what to do about Samuel. Simon said," Well, it's obvious that Volotile hired him, but he doesn't take bribes, as we just found out. We can't do anything but wait for him to show up." Sir Wagner said," Remember that axe? He's obviously carrying many other weapons." Simon said," Don't worry. According to his history, he always attacks another time. We'll get another chance." The rest of the train ride was long and uneventful. Sir Wagner said," We should try pooling our information about Samuel. Simon, what do you know?"

Simon said," We only know what we already know from his history of attacks. He only uses his weapons and doesn't bother with his powers much. Before each attack, he hands the victim a card. Then, when the victim looks up, he takes whichever weapon he prefers. Once, he took out some spiked brass knuckles and punched the victim to death. Another time, he just dropped his card from a roof and when the victim finished reading it, he landed with his gun drawn and started blasting. After the kill, he uses a smoke bomb, and does that disappearing trick."

Sir Wagner said, " I know him, psychologically. He makes sure that nobody sees him. He uses smoke bombs so that nobody can tell his identity. He is very secretive. He dosen't use his powers because he loves a good fight."

Frankie said," I know some seriously extreme rumors. Apparently, once he posed as a waiter and put a tiny spiked ball inside some food. He made the food so hard, the guy had to swallow it whole, along with the ball. Then, he put some sleep-inducing drug inside his coffee. As soon as the guy passed out, he shook him hard, looking like he was trying to wake the guy up, but really, he was shaking the ball inside him. The guy died of internal bleeding."

Arthur said," Well, it's no use hearing more about what he has done, I think we should digest this information and plan counter attacks." A hush fell in the train and remained till the end of the ride.

When they reached, the train stopped. They got out, into a station that looked identical to the station in Washington, before they had destroyed it. They looked around and saw a figure sitting on a bench. Simon frowned. Samuel couldn't have come that quickly. Could he have? Possibly, he did. After all, he was THE Samuel.

The figure spoke. "Hello, masters. I've been waiting for you." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey, Jack." said everyone. Jack said," The Cold One's waiting upstairs." They all followed Jack to a door. He opened it. Arthur said," Ah, I hate stairs."

They walked upstairs, into a cabin. It was made of wooden boards that had frozen up a long time ago. The interior was worse. There were two couches, both were very old. There was a rug, and a fridge. And windows. Cabins in Antarctica were seriously frozen and rotten and stuff. Nothing else. They all looked around. Frankie opened the fridge, but Jack said," No, don't try that. It tastes terrible, like... like... You know what? You totally do not want to know."

Sir Wagner asked," Where's the Cold One?" Simon was way ahead of them. He said," He's right out there." They looked out the window, and saw a figure. Snow swirled around him. Icicles rose and sank beneath the ice. Jack said," He is such a

show-off. Unbelievable." They all opened the door and walked out. The Cold One turned and said," You're late." He then raised his hand and a small bubble appeared. It grew and grew, until it enveloped them all.

Inside the bubble was an aura of calm. It was even warm. Simon said," Well, that's really cool (Another irony!)." Sir Wagner said," Do we really have to walk there?" The Cold One said," What? No, of course not! I can teleport you there in, well, a few seconds." Arthur said," Because this is the place where you are strongest." The Cold One nodded. Jack said," Phew. I thought we were gonna have to walk the whole way."

The Cold One said," That's ridiculous! Absolute nonsense. I am a God. I can do almost anything here. This 'walking' nonsense, is best left to movies and fiction books." Sir Wagner said," Well, we can do this. Plus, once we are there, I can easily teleport there." The Cold One said," Actually, you cannot. Did you think the place was barren and unguarded? I agree, it is somewhat barren, but the room itself guards the items and me." Frankie asked," How would a room guard stuff?" Jack said," You guys gonna teleport or what?"

Everyone linked hands. The Cold One snapped his fingers, and suddenly, everyone sensed a shift somehow. The Cold One pressed his hand to a giant piece of ice, which was the size of a house. A rumbling noise was heard. Two sections moved apart and there was a door. The Cold One walked in. They all followed him in again. Arthur said," Does anybody remember that I hate stairs?" There were quite a few steps, all made of ice.

This, obviously, meant that pretty much everyone except Jack, because he could hover, and the Cold One, because, well, he was the Cold One, slipped at least once or twice. They walked down into an enormous chamber. It was so big, that fifty elephants could have fit in. The Cold One said," The code is in here, somewhere." Frankie saw a huge block of ice. It was just around the size of the Cold One. He said," What's that?" The Cold One said," That is the bed where I lay for ten millennia."

Arthur asked," Without even a pillow?" Sir Wagner said," Look, there's a lever." Indeed, there was one, right next to the table. He pulled it, and a section of the ice crumbled. There was an alcove there, and inside, was... " There's nothing in it now. I have my Gloves now." said the Cold One. Simon asked," So, where's the code?" The Cold One said," It should be..."

"With us." said a voice behind them. They all spun around. Volotile stood with Heaven, Hell and Molgoth. They walked in. The Cold One said," That's it. You will be destroyed." Molgoth said," Do I look frightened to you?" He stomped his foot so hard, a stalactite fell down. When it did, there was a rumbling. Everyone looked around. Simon asked," Is the cavern collapsing?" The Cold One said," Remember what I said about movies and fiction books? No, this is an ancient, very powerful monster I had met long ago. I was very attached to it, but then it became evil. I had had to imprison it down here. Of course, the falling stalactite triggered its awakening. As I remember, it took us a lot of power to take it down."

Volotile chuckled. He said to his bodyguards and Molgoth," It will not touch us. We can get the code." Volotile raised his hands, and small slivers of darkness appeared. They spread out into the room, disappearing into holes in the ice, being very subtle, and finally, one sliver came out of the ice. It bore a small piece of ice. Volotile took it, and then closed his eyes. He said," I have the code. We don't need to be here anymore."

Heaven and Hell walked to the exit, but were blocked by a giant mountain-shaped piece of ice. The Cold One unnecessarily said," It is here." Apparently, as Volotile had been searching for the code without the Cold One and the others knowing, the monster had risen up without him knowing (Again, irony.). The shape rose up, and turned out to be a tail. The monster looked like a giant turtle the size of a truck, with a T-Rex's head, a spiked tail, spikes all over its shell and claws and sharp nails on its feet. Oh, and it was blue, just like the Cold One. It roared.

Both groups, Volotile's and Simon's backed away with the exception of the Cold One and Volotile. They both, at the same time, attacked the monster. The Cold One and Volotile both raised their hands, and unleashed ice spikes, and a column of darkness, respectively. The monster retreated, roaring. It then turned, and both attacks were deflected by its tail. Simon said," Let's help them." Molgoth said," Let's kill this creature." Heaven and Hell said together," Let's get it." Everyone attacked it.

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### Chapter Seventeen

What followed next, was total chaos. Simon punched it head on (Like, right on the head.). Sir Wagner teleported right next to Simon and repelled its tongue, which kept starting out of its mouth and tried to hit them. Heaven and Hell jumped on its back, running over the shell, looking for weak spots and stabbing at them. Molgoth summoned Explosive orbs and stood alongside Jack, who was also summoning and throwing them at it.

Frankie Levitated many large chunks of ice and slammed them into its shell. Arthur engulfed it with fire. The Cold One and Volotie kept on their steady stream of attacks. Then, it was the monster's turn. Its back suddenly grew more spikes. This made Heaven and Hell jump off. The orbs thrown by Molgoth and Jack were blocked by the spikes.

It stomped its feet and roared, but much louder. The Cold One had had enough. He raised his hands. Blue energy flickered in them. He then threw them at the monster. They slammed against it with the force of a truck and the speed of a bullet and exploded. It reared on its hind legs. Sir Wagner jumped forward, and touched its underside. It fell down, about to crush him, but he teleported out of the way. He then held his Cutter and said," It's in Lethal mode." He teleported, right below it, and swung his Cutter. It made the monster screech in agony. He completed a few more strokes and then teleported back. It jumped right at him with all its force. It looked bad for him, but Simon stepped in front of it.

He drew his fist back and mustered all the force he could use. Sir Wagner was very observant and saw his skin and muscles ripple, as if the power he was collecting in his fist was coming from some unknown reservoir of strength. He then punched the monster, but in a very effective way. He didn't just punch it on the face. He ducked under the face, and aimed for the point where the neck met the torso, and punched.

All of them could feel the shock waves from the collision. Simon's punch had had so much force behind it, that it launched the monster back. The Cold One flexed his hands and icicles erupted in front of the monster, right from the icy wall. It landed straight on it. It looked painful.

The Cold One said," I will do all I can to speed along its journey to the realm beyond." Arthur spoke quickly and with interest," The realm beyond? What's it like?"

The Cold One said," That is for me to know and you to wonder." Frankie said," Hey, where's Volotile and the rest?" All of them had been so busy watching the monster, that they hadn't noticed Volotile sneak out with his henchmen. Arthur said," If he has left, then that means that he has gotten the code. Sir Wagner asked the Cold One," Why was it so hard for you to destroy it? I mean, you're a God."

The Cold One said," Excellent question. Some creatures predate the Gods themselves and are much more powerful than us." Simon said," Hey, look! There!" They rushed to the piece of ice bearing the code. Jack picked it up, and said," Even I can feel the darkness in this. It was touched by something evil." Sir Wagner said," Well, that could be Volotile." However, he sounded uncertain. The Cold One said," Give it to me. " Jack passed it to him. He blinked and said," The next weapon is in Mount St. Helens."

Simon said," But that's an active volcano." The Cold One said," We must to return to your home and strategize." Sir Wagner said," Alright, let's go home." Jack said," Good. I have a surprise waiting for you." Frankie said," Alright, let's hold hands." The Cold One started glowing. The last thing everyone heard before they teleported was Frankie saying," This is just like one of those seance things."

They appeared back at Simon's home. The first thing Simon didn't notice, was the gaping hole in the side of the house. To be precise, the first thing that he noticed was that there was NO gaping hole in the side of the house from the Withril attack.

He said," Jack, did you do what I think you did?" Jack said proudly," Yes, yes I did. I fixed up the entire house." Sir Wagner gaped. "Whoa, Jack! This is awesome." The Cold One said," Volotile will go to Mount St. Helens next. We must make sure that he doesn't." Sir Wagner said," I'm on it. I'm going to a few friends in the Crime Times newspaper and having them publish descriptions of all of them. This will delay them for sure."

Simon said," Can't we teleport there?" The Cold One said," This will not be possible. I am weakest at Mount St. Helens. It is the Fiery One's favorite area. I will be weak there." Simon said," I could arrange a mode of transport." Frankie said," Hey, everyone, haven't you all forgotten something?" They all asked," What?" Arthur spoke before Frankie could. "Samuel. He's still after us."

Frankie said," Actually, I was going to say the juice. It's all rotten for some reason." Jack looked at the Cold One. He knew just why the refrigerator couldn't function properly. He winked at the Cold One, but he was wearing shades and nobody saw it.

The Cold One looked at him, and then slowly drew his index finger and thumb along his lips. Jack understood, and had been shown, much more than everyone else, the sign that said " Shut up." So, when the Cold One signed at him, he merely rolled his eyes. However, again, it wasn't seen.

He said," I actually have an idea. Why don't we just go to whoever we know is close to Volotile? That person might know something about Volotile's movements." Arthur said," That is a great idea." Sir Wagner said," I'll look at the names of the people." In the meantime, I suggest that you all take rest." Simon said," Okay." They all rushed to various beds in the house and suddenly went to sleep. It was a long time before Sir Wagner came back. Jack woke up everyone and said," Sir Wagner is back."

Everyone gathered in the living room. Sir Wagner said," I took quite some time because I decided to see my Crime Time friend right before I returned. You all may or may not know this name, but actually, one of his informants was a person named Darren Drake." Frankie blinked and said," Darren Drake? You mean the guy in Impressive Information UnLtd?" Sir Wagner said," The very same. I have no more information."

Everyone was about to disperse to continue their rest, except Jack and the Cold One, and Sir Wagner, who was just about to start his rest, when there was a buzzing sound from Simon's pocket. He took out his scrying mirror, and activated the sigil. When it expanded, he saw a very famous face, a face he recognized very well. It was the current World President, Edward Kang.

Edward Kang was half English, and half Chinese. He was very powerful, both politically, and magically. Few could equal Kang in a battle of wits, a duel, or a debate. He had defeated the most powerful of magicians in duels and was practically unstoppable. He had the power to manipulate minds and was called a Mentalist, and was the only one with that power, as far as anyone knew.

He could wipe memories, affect the mood of a person, or read minds. He could even wipe a whole mind clean, and turn a person into a vegetable, or a baby. He was even equipped with the power of creating personal illusions, depending on the fears or likes of a person. He could also take over a person, and control their thoughts, thereby controlling their actions, but only for fifteen minutes. Few even wanted to duel with him. He had an aura of power that terrified everyone. He said, in a deep, authoritative voice," Simon, bring your friends and meet me immediately. I'll be in the World Palace, top floor, the meeting suite."

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### Chapter Eighteen

Simon nodded and shrunk the mirror. While he had lots of authority as Head Peacekeeper, he was still supposed to obey the commands of the World President. He put it in his pocket, and nodded to everyone. They all groaned (They loved resting), and linked hands, and Sir Wagner teleported them all to the entrance of the World Palace, home of the World President, and all his ministers. It was the replacement of the White House. It, being the home of every World President, was fitted with symbols all over it, so that the current World President could modify it as per his wishes. They went inside the doorway. On seeing Simon's face, the guards let him in.

The guards were Devils. Devils were genies that had evolved. All genies evolved into more powerful creatures, called Devils. All Devils had different specialities. A speciality was a type of magic, like combat magic, nature magic, illusion magic, etc. Once a genie evolved, they each gained a speciality, which depended on which type of magic they preferred. Devils also didn't have to use orbs, whereas genies had to use orbs to use magic.

Different types of Devils were there, depending on their speciality. There were Combat Devils, Water Devils, Fire Devils, Storm Devils, Illusion Devils, etc. The Devils at the door were Combat Devils, specialized in Combat magic. They had a star-shaped mark on their forehead, the mark of a Devil.

The lobby was huge, but the most interesting aspect of it was the Teleportive Locomotive, or TeleLoco for short. It was like an elevator, except for the purple glowing aura shimmering around it. They all walked into it, and a purple light shimmered over them all. Simon said loudly and clearly," Top Floor." Then, they blinked and they were staring into a corridor, instead of the lobby. They walked out and Sir Wagner opened a door marked," Meeting Suite".

They walked in, and saw a man sitting in a chair. Edward Kang said," We seem to have an extra guest." Simon said," Yes, sir. This is the Cold One." Kang stood up and turned around. His eyes reflected his shock. He said," I definitely need to know this story." Simon said," You can pick my brain." Kang said," Very well." He focused on Simon. His eyes practically bulged. Nobody else saw it, but Simon saw his memories flickering at a tremendous speed in front of him.

His life, at least for the past few days, flashed before his eyes. There was a pause when the memory of him fighting Samuel appeared, but then it flickered away. After he got to the part where Simon had received his message, he stopped. He said," That is troubling. Samuel is after you." Frankie said," Ah, we handled the guy." Kang looked at him.

He asked," Can you handle a guy who has the expertise of a thousand Peacekeepers in lots of aspects, including lock-picking, forgery, boxing, and who can also manipulate gravity and make you so dizzy it would be easy for him to cut your head off, and who can, and has, punched a person to death with spiked brass knuckles and who has a lot of weapons with him, including the knuckles, sword, knives, arrows, guns, explosives, and those are just the ones he has used. Can you do that?"

Frankie said," I immediately rescind everything I said about him." Sir Wagner asked," How do you know so much about Samuel?" Kang said," As usual, there is a conspiracy going on, where we have stored all the information possible on Samuel. I can send you a PDF file." Simon said," Sure." Arthur asked," You have called us for something." Kang said," Ah, yes. I wanted to send you to eliminate, arrest, or recruit, the group known as The Three Villains. Have you heard of it?"

Frankie said," Yes. It was formed by Killin' Carter, Daniel Destructo and Storm Maker."

"Yes. It has been causing some trouble in a city in Denmark. Lots of looting, killing, etc. I wanted all of you to get them, but I think that you have a much more important mission." Simon asked," What is the estimate for Volotile reaching St. Helens?" Sir Wagner said," It should probably take three weeks." Simon said," Yeah, we can do it." Kang nodded.

"Excellent. Take the Cold One with you. Samuel is too smart to rush into situations where he knows he will lose." Arthur said," It probably won't take us that long. Plus, the travelling time from Washington to Denmark..." Kang said," I know, but you never know with Samuel." Simon nodded and said," Has Sir Wagner been there before?"

Kang nodded. After he told them where it was, they all clasped hands, when Kang said," Oh, I forgot to introduce my new genie. Everyone, meet Mary." A woman in a hooded costume stepped from the shadows. She said," Hello, everyone." Everyone finished the pleasantries, and then teleported. As soon as they appeared, they saw chaos around them. They had teleported into the middle of an attack.

They saw tendrils of lightning strike an old man who fell down, screaming. Simon looked around and saw there were three men who were not running. He also saw that they were just according to the descriptions he had been given. They were Killin' Carter, Daniel Destructo and Storm Maker. Simon and the others ran over to them.

They saw them and stopped, giving the people a chance to run away. Killin' Carter was a tall man, who was clean shaven and wore a dark red suit. Simon wasn't sure whether that suit was colored with dye or blood. Killin' Carter said," Well. This is an unexpected surprise. Shall we kill you?" Simon looked around. All the people had left. Sir Wagner said," You're outnumbered."

Storm Maker was a tall man, but not as tall as Killin' Carter. He wore a blue armor and cape. He was laughing. He said," Never made a difference to us before." And with that, the fight began. This time, Sir Wagner said," Jack, assist us in this fight." Jack complied. He then turned and looked at Daniel Destructo. He was a giant of a man, who wore a biker's jacket and black jeans. He said," Hello, little genie."

He then touched Jack's chest with his index finger. Jack screamed. Everyone heard it and looked at him. The Cold One had had enough. He ended the fight as quickly as it had started. He raised his hands and ice rose and covered the three. They looked surprised and tried to break out. Simon said," Jack, are you okay?" Jack said," You've been a good master..." Sir Wagner said," Jack, you're dying." Jack said," Well, it will be a good death." Frankie said," Do you think there's a chance?" Jack said," There's way more than a chance."

Everyone said at the same time," What?" Jack extended his hand. An orb appeared. It was white, and it had a serene, calm, glow. It was a Healing Orb. Jack closed his hand, and his body started glowing. In a few seconds, he stopped glowing and stood up, looking hale and hearty. He said," Forgive me, masters. I am unusually dramatic."

Arthur shook his head, Simon face-palmed, Frankie grinned and Sir Wagner tut-tutted. Only the Cold One's face was expressionless. He said," Shall we depart?" They all teleported back. However, they did not notice one thing. During teleportation, one creates a portal and drops through it instantly. While travelling, the bonds loosened. Killin' Carter took full advantage of it. He twisted out and when they appeared in Kang's office, he brought out a knife and attacked Sir Wagner.

Sir Wagner teleported away and Frankie sent a table at him. Killin' Carter slashed the ice that covered Daniel Destructo. On being released, he immediately thrust his hand towards the table and it shattered. Arthur took his sword and rushed towards Killin' Carter. Killin' Carter ducked and slashed at Arthur's arm. He didn't miss. Arthur backed away while Simon jumped at Daniel Destructo. Daniel stepped to the side and pushed Simon into the wall. He then broke the ice covering Storm Maker.

The Cold One raised his hand, but Storm Maker raised his first. A burst of electricity hit the Cold One and he stumbled back, disoriented. Killin' Carter turned and kicked Sir Wagner between the legs and made him buckle. Daniel Destructo punched Frankie and he fell back. Jack summoned Incendiary Orbs and threw them at him. He raised his hands and the orbs vanished. Jack snapped," Oh, for the love of crying out loud, what is your power? Tell me!" Daniel Destructo smiled and said," I have the power of decay."

He thrust his hand and Jack fell down, screaming. The Cold One summoned more ice and formed a wall between them. Simon watched the people on the other side. He had read detailed reports of them. Storm Maker was the only Lightning Elementist in existence. Daniel Destructo could spread decay. He could shatter pretty much anything. He was called a Decayist, and was the only one in existence.

Nobody knew what Killin' Carter's power was, but everyone knew that he had once been the second most feared assassin, right after Samuel. The door opened and Kang walked in, followed by Mary. Kang blinked and said," Well, what's the scene here?" Sir Wagner said," Why don't we get them some Power-Drain potion first?" Kang said," Very well." He looked around for his desk and saw it lying on the floor, shattered. " Is there never a fight where you don't break everything in a room?" Frankie gave an apologetic grin. He searched the remains and found a small bottle.

He looked at the Cold One and said," Could you open up a hole in that wall?" The Cold One nodded. Kang then threw the bottle through the hole. It was caught by Killin' Carter. However, instead of dropping it, he laughed and drank some. He then passed it to Daniel Destructo and Storm Maker, who were also laughing and they did the same. Arthur looked at Kang. "Is it straining you, controlling all three of them?" " No, I am not controlling them. I have simply put an illusion in their minds that the bottle was grape juice which they happened to love and that I had slipped and accidentally sent it through the hole.

It took some power to put in a silly suggestion like that, though. After all, the more believable the illusion, the less power I have to use. Those guys must really love juice." Arthur said," I can relate." Kang looked at Frankie and said," Let's take them to jail." Frankie levitated them and they walked to the jail. After putting them in their cells, they went to the office to plan.

After several hours, a figure walked into the jail. When the guards saw him, they demanded to know who he was. He cut their heads off. He went to the cells where The Three Villains were kept. He said," Hello." Killin' Carter said," What do you want?" The man said," For you to sign this." He produced a piece of paper. Killin' Carter read it. It was a Freedom contract.

Freedom contracts were signed both by the person giving freedom, and the one taking it. If the one taking it signed voluntarily, he was to obey whatever condition was in it. If he disobeyed, he died. The condition given was to help him kill Simon Ardar. Storm Maker said," That's exactly what we want to do." The man said," I kill Ardar. You take care of his friends." Daniel Destructo asked," When do we start?" " Now." said Samuel.

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### Chapter Nineteen

Simon thought hard. He had just been told that The Three Villains been freed from their cells. He had immediately started thinking of who could have done it. He couldn't. Obviously Volotile couldn't have done it, because he couldn't have heard the news and sprung them so quickly. At the end, he just decided to go to the one person who was just as powerful as Kang, maybe even more. The Sorceress. All Head Peacekeepers had to have some contacts in the criminal world. His contact was the Sorceress. Nobody else knew about this, not even Sir Wagner. She was half genie, half, well, sorceress.

She could do anything that any Devil could do. This made her dangerous. Very dangerous. And powerful. He walked around the town. Then, after a few hours, someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw the Bloody Knight. He was a tall man with brown hair, wearing a red T-Shirt, on which was written the phrase 'This isn't paint.' and red jeans.

Simon still wasn't sure whether that T-Shirt phrase was true or not. The Bloody Knight was a man who scared everyone. The very mention of him sent most people running. This was one of the reasons why he had become the Sorceress' bodyguard. Simon said," Take me to her. I need a favour."

"Very well. She is expecting you."

"I'm not surprised."

He took Simon by the arm and led him to a store, which they had reached in ten minutes. They passed it and walked to a warehouse. They walked into that, and then the Bloody Knight walked to a shelf and tapped a secret sigil on the shelf. The shelf stood still. The Bloody Knight turned around and walked to a trapdoor. He held it open and said," It closes in ten seconds. Walk through quickly."

Simon walked through. The Bloody Knight followed. Simon said," This place is very severely guarded. The Bloody Knight said," It's a pity that she has to change her headquarters every month. This one is much better than the others." Simon looked around and saw a corridor of torches. "Saves the problem of having to find a source of electricity." said the Bloody Knight.

As Simon walked through, he thought of the history of the Bloody Knight. His parents were murdered by a gang of terrorists. He searched for them and made some inquiries, after which he found their safe-house. Then, he came, he saw, and he killed them all. With a knife. When the bodies were found, burning in a furnace, many wounds were found in the head, the solar plexus, the arms, neck, etc. It was concluded that the man who had done that was a bloodthirsty animal.

After that, the Bloody Knight, who was then called Terrence Larry, started wiping out all gangs that came to that town, which was how he gained his title. Everyone in the town feared him. News of him spread far and wide. The most impressive thing about him was that he did all those killings alone. Nobody knew his power, except himself, the Sorceress, and Simon. He was a Rippler. There was no way to explain it. When he slashed with his knife, a cut would appear on a person who was ten feet away. When he pulled, a horse eight feet away would come to him. He could apply force from a distance. It was much like Volotile's power, in a way. Simon decided to ask about that.

They came to a wooden door. The Bloody Knight had pushed it open while they were walking towards it. When they walked in, the door closed behind them. They were in a very large room. Many people, agents, soldiers, spies, even private assassins, were present. All of them worked for the Sorceress. There was a bronze door at one end of the room. The Bloody Knight pushed it open, and they walked through. The Sorceress was sitting at a desk. She said," Well, Simon, what do you need me to find?" Simon said," I dare say you probably know about it."

"Oh, yes, a certain escape from prison? By The Three Villains?"

"That's the one.

"Yes, yes, Samuel did that."

"What? Samuel? Why would he do that?"

"Oh, to get help to kill you."

"Oh."

"By the way, I wish to conduct a bank robbery at 145th Street. Half a million. Send the guards away."

"Very well. Just make sure you don't kill anyone."

"Will do."

The relationship of Simon and the Sorceress, was not unusual. She did favors for him, such as getting information, information that was not privy even to the seasoned spies at Impressive Information UnLtd, assassinate someone, and occasionally get him those rare mint choco-chip cookies. Simon, in return, would keep guards away from certain places where she wanted to conduct a robbery or assassination.

He could even get some of her men and women out of jail. He did whatever he was asked and she would have his information before he even asked for it. Simon asked," And what about Volotile Vengeance?"

"Him, yes, he was last spotted at the Local Terminal, getting hauled away by security Devils."

"What about his samurai- Uh, wait, is there, like, a plural word for it, or something like that?"

"As for your first question, they were seen in disguises watching the scene. As for your second question, the plural is 'samurai', without an 's'. As for your unasked question, no, the genie wasn't seen."

"By the way, what is Volotile's power?"

"Oh, he's a Rippler, much like him." She gestured at the Bloody Knight.

"By the way, there's a guy, Darren Drake. He works in Impressive Information UnLtd. He's been spying for Vengeance."

"You won't see him anymore."

"Thank you. Shall I leave now?"

"Oh, there's one more thing. I'm sending the Bloody Knight to guard you. You may need him. He won't be seen, but if you need help, he'll be there."

"Until when? Also, what for?"

"Until this fiasco with the Gods is over. Also, that line answers your second question as well." Simon gasped. " How did you know about that?"

"It was easy. My people are the best in the business. Plus, the person whom I spied on the most was you."

"You..."

"Yes, I won't tell anyone."

"Good. Thank you. Shall I go now?"

"Yes, leave. Oh, and you better know this. I have someone near Kang himself. Remember that."

"You what! That's so-," he controlled himself," yes, I will."

They left. The Bloody Knight asked," So, boss, do I really guard him?"

"Of course you should."

"But you'll need me. For your raids, robberies, assassinations,-"

"I said do it. And I'll know if you deviate."

"Who'll be your 'hatchet man' when I'm gone?"

"Oh, I can always use Dave Butcher. It'll be some good experience for him."

Dave Butcher was a man who was good, but not as good as the Bloody Knight. He was currently being trained as her next 'hatchet man'. He exclaimed," What! Why him? His training is negligible!" The Sorceress said," Who else? You know that I can't exactly go out and ask for people." The Bloody Knight kept quiet. She said," Go. Guard him. Believe me, if Vengeance is as powerful as I think he is, he'll need you. Now, what else in on my agenda today?"

"Mike Farrell. He's a leak."

"Send him in. I'd like to speak to the traitor." The Bloody Knight poked his head out and called out. A few seconds later, a man came in, twitching, obviously nervous. She said," Micheal Farrel. One of my best spies. At least, until you betrayed me." Farrel exclaimed," No! I swear! The leak isn't me!"

"Oh, really?"

She smiled a smile she always smiled, which meant that she knew something the other person didn't.

"Then, I suppose you don't know about 'She's robbing a bank on 145th Street'? Forsyth had heard everything. He reported to me immediately." Mike said," Oh, I knew I hated him."

"Well, you won't be doing that for much longer."

He jumped back and blinked and water burst out of the sprinklers. She said," Seriously? A Water Elementist, and you turn on the sprinklers?" He smiled and said," You haven't seen anything yet." He flexed his fingers and more water cascaded down in a powerful torrent. It swept away the Bloody Knight. The Sorceress was caught in it. He was laughing when fire burst from the Sorceress. A thick, glowing aura of fire surrounded her. She reached out a hand and some water evaporated. She was so hot, that the water was pushed way past its boiling point and evaporated. She said," Got any more?" He jumped for the door but hit a wall of air that pushed him back. He backed away from them all, terrified. Lightning flashed from the Sorceress' fingers, and he was thrown up and then fell down again. He thrust his hand and water came in a concentrated, pressurized stream.

The Sorceress sidestepped and the water jet left a hole in her desk. She swung her hands, but nothing happened. She seemed to trip on the water, and fell down. Mike smiled and walked towards her. And tripped on the vines that she had been summoning the whole time. The Bloody Knight grabbed his arm and wrenched it back, hard. He screamed. The Bloody Knight asked," So boss, what do I do with him?" The Sorceress replied," Terrence," only she could call him that," take him down to the Guillotine Room. I don't think we'll be seeing him anymore." The Bloody Knight nodded, and took him away.

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### About the Author

Akash Sankar, aged 14, was born in Chennai, India. He is currently studying in Grade 9 in NPS International, Perumbakkam. When he was 11 years old, he was inspired to start writing when he entered in a story-writing competition. Being an avid reader, he became even more inspired to write. His first book in 2012 was Dragon Tales, followed by The Elements in 2013. He is currently working on the second book in the Simon Ardar series.

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