Dueling at the Moon.
974 Words
On Earth...
Mr. Kolade sat in the back of his black sedan as it sped along the expressway, his sharp eyes on the city skyline. He spoke calmly into his phone, voice edged with tension.
“But… who did this? Who could wipe their memories so precisely? And where did the Vessel go?”
“I don’t know, Mr. Kolade,” the messenger replied nervously from the ruined school grounds. “I... I suspect the Vessel itself.”
Kolade clicked his tongue. “No. Vessels have many talents—but erasing memory isn’t one of them. Unless…” He paused, his fingers drumming on the armrest. “Unless someone with a similar potential was there. But who?”
---
On the Moon...
The airless wasteland trembled with silent detonations as weapons clashed.
Shockwaves cratered the grey dust in all directions. Kevin spun and ducked as Oscar roared in with twin axes, crackling with purple lightning.
Oscar’s swing carved up the moon’s crust in a searing arc of energy—but Kevin bent backward so low his back grazed the ground, dodging the killing blow.
Oscar snarled, charging in again with savage strikes. Sparks and lightning flared with every clash against Kevin’s butterfly swords.
Their weapons screamed and cracked the barren rock with each impact.
“I’ll make sure you die here, you insect!” Oscar shrieked, eyes wild.
Kevin’s teeth ground together. His speed is increasing with every attack. So is his power... I need to adapt fast.
He abruptly kicked Oscar in the gut, sending him tumbling through the moon’s surface in a widening crater. Before Oscar could recover, Kevin launched another brutal series of kicks, sending his opponent pinwheeling.
Oscar roared and slashed his axes wildly. Kevin twisted into a zig-zag pattern, shimmering—splitting into clones that struck from every angle.
But suddenly—
CRACK!
A staff slammed across Kevin’s back. Hogan roared in rage, driving Kevin into the rock so hard it fractured for a hundred meters in every direction.
Kevin coughed in the vacuum, floating up slowly. “Didn’t forget you, Hogan. That’s why I created a clone. But thanks to your rage, you ruined my plan…”
Hogan bared his teeth in a grin. “Make all the plans you want. I’ll enjoy killing you over and over again.”
He spun his staff twice, tapping it to the ground. Kevin felt the vibration beneath him, a faint glow seeping through the rock.
BOOOOM!
An eruption swallowed Kevin, hurling him 200 feet above the moon’s surface.
---
At the School...
Firefighters finished checking the ruined buildings. Police rounded up the last of the evacuated students.
Mr. Kolade’s car rolled to a stop beside the abandoned helicopter. He stepped out briskly, scanning the wreckage.
The messenger ran over.
“Thank goodness you’re here, Mr. Kolade! Have you heard from Hogan or Oscar?”
Kolade frowned. “No. Weren’t they supposed to be here with you?”
She hesitated. “I—I left them here. A few minutes later, they were gone. I tried calling—no response. Do you think they found the Vessel and... failed?”
Kolade didn’t answer. He walked slowly past her, hands in his pockets, eyes sweeping the ruined school. He looked up at the darkening sky.
The moon glowed faintly above.
“Let’s go,” he said coldly.
“Sir? Where are we going?”
“To meet the Boss. The Founder.”
The messenger swallowed hard, eyes wide with fear.
---
On the Moon...
Kevin skidded across the battered surface after the explosion, leaving deep grooves in the regolith.
“That was close...” he muttered.
Hogan’s laughter boomed in his comms. “You think I’m finished?!”
He raised his staff high, spinning it once.
“Death Rain!”
Light-red orbs of energy appeared above him in a circle, then plummeted in every direction, exploding across the moon in silent, catastrophic detonations.
Kevin zigzagged between the impacts, the surface buckling and fragmenting beneath him. He launched himself into a high arc, looking for Hogan—
Where is he?!
Suddenly—
“Right here, kid!”
Hogan appeared inches away, staff igniting in blackish-red inferno. Kevin’s eyes widened.
But something blurred past them both.
Hogan froze. His mouth worked soundlessly. Then, with sickening clarity, a thin, bloodied line split his throat wide open.
Blood globules floated in slow-motion in zero gravity, a grisly halo around him.
Kevin’s breath caught. He turned slowly.
A slim figure stood behind Hogan’s bisected body.
Her head was bowed, hair floating slightly in the void. In one hand, she held a bluish-flaming dagger.
Behind her, the sun’s corona blazed like a crown.
Kevin’s eyes widened.
“...Senior Oyin.”
She lifted her head with a sly, feral grin.
“Having all the fun without inviting me?”
Kevin stammered, shaking off shock. “But… how—?”
“Enough talk. Let’s get going before you boys blow the moon in half.”
Kevin swallowed. “Wh—where are we going?”
She tilted her head, dagger still blazing. “You do have the Vessel with you, don’t you?”
Kevin’s face lit up with realization. “Ah! Yes!”
He nodded. I hid her in my room after erasing everyone’s memory...
“Come on. I’ll show you.”
Oyin gave a satisfied nod. Together, they flew off toward Earth, leaving the ruined, cratered moon behind.
---
A Moment Later...
Amid the shattered rocks and drifting debris, Oscar pulled himself free, bloodied and shaking.
He turned—and froze.
Floating before him in the void, Hogan’s lifeless body drifted weightlessly. Blood globules orbited him like tiny, grotesque moons.
Oscar’s eyes went wide with grief and fury.
“...Brother.”
He trembled, fists clenching until they bled. His teeth ground audibly in the dead silence of space.
- Writer
