Ezra Phantoms: The Cursed Sword

10

We all went to the huge spaceship, and I assumed that we had the same question in mind to ask Phoebe.

"How'd you get your hands on their ship?" Hailee asked, before me or Alex could.

"We hijacked it," Phoebe smirked.

"What?!" we yelled in unison. "How?!!"

"It was pretty easy actually. We could've taken it even if we had less numbers, but we outnumbered them. That made it super easy."

"Where are the Outers that helped you out now?" I asked.

"In the ship. It's pretty spacious, so it can fit a lot of people."

"Wow," I said.

"Well, what are you guys waiting for?" she asked us. Following her lead, we stepped into the spaceship. As we entered the incredibly vast spacecraft, we saw about twenty Outers in the ship. Most of them were sitting, looking at their futuristic phones. The inside of the ship was like it's own entire world. I looked behind us, and there seemed to be cabins for people to rest in.

"Hey everyone," I said to the Outers. Most of them didn't respond, since they were too engrossed in their phones. Only a few waved to us.

"I thought you were piloting the ship," I said to Phoebe.

"Same," Alex agreed. "Who's the pilot?"

"That would be Bowie," she replied. "He's the best pilot out of everybody, including me."

"Where exactly are we even headed, anyway?" I asked.

"You'll see very soon," she replied. We took her word for it, and looked for spots to sit that weren't already taken.

After a lot of screaming from Alex, Hailee, and I since it was our first time flying in an insanely fast spaceship, and my first time flying in anything, we finally made it to our destination. When we landed, Bowie came out of the cockpit, and started walking towards us. He was a tall, slightly muscular guy, with short, curly dirty blonde bangs, dark brown eyes, and freckles.

"Was this the first time boarding a spaceship for you guys?" he asked.

"Yes," Alex said.

"First time being on something that flies in general," I interjected.

"Is that why you looked like you were about to throw up," Hailee asked, chuckling.

"Hey, you guys were scared too. Don't laugh."

"Maybe we were scared, but you were petrified."

"Same thing."

The three of us continued to playfully debate who was more scared as Bowie just stood there, laughing at the whole situation.

"You guys are funny," he said. "My name is Bowie Peters by the way. Nice to meet you all." With his introduction as a spark, we took turns introducing ourselves, and got acquainted. Although, we didn't really get a chance to continue to speak when the entrance to the ship was opened by Phoebe.

"Are you guys coming, or what?" she asked, as her and the other Outers started weeding out of the ship.

We got out, and entered a forest with an abundance of greenery. None of us had any idea where we were heading, but we just continued to follow the Outers. Just when I thought things couldn't get more peculiar, we saw them do something intriguing. When we got to a waterfall, the Outers started walking through a spot in the middle of the waterfall that was blocked off by a multitude of rocks. Due to that fact, you didn't get doused by the water, and could walk through.

"Walk through that, and you'll finally see what I meant earlier," Phoebe said to us. She gestured us to go ahead, and we stepped into the shallow waters. When we walked through the passage, our eyes were greeted by beauty. It was unreal what we saw. It was like an entire city filled with Outers in the forest.

"Welcome to our hideout," Phoebe said. "Or what we usually refer to as Outer City." I took a minute to drink it all in as much as I could. Even with it all in front of me, it still felt unreal.

"Don't stand there in awe for too long, you guys," Phoebe ordered. "I want to show you guys around."

"Can you blame us though?" Hailee exclaimed. "This place looks amazing!"

"Yeah, it is pretty great."

I followed Phoebe using my crutches as she gave us a tour of the entire place, still impressed by how intricate everything looked in this hidden city. After walking for a while, Phoebe stopped in front of a large hut, and said there was somebody she wanted to introduce us to. She led us behind the hut, and we saw a stocky, middle aged man with messy gray hair, and a fairly sized gray beard. He was wearing a lab coat, a black undershirt, black pants, and goggles. He was also barefoot which already insinuated this man was somewhat crazy. There were a bunch of tools, and parts scattered across the ground around him. It seemed like he was looking for some specific object in the clutter.

"Guys," Phoebe started. "Meet Hector Eyles, also known as Hector the Inventor." We nervously waved simultaneously at this mysterious, gray-haired man. He slid his goggles on the top of his head, revealing his wide, brown eyes. He looked like he had just drank six energy drinks, and was ready to outrun anybody in a sprint.

"Nice to meet you all," Hector said, making sure to shake each of our hands firmly.

"Hector's kind of like an evil scientist," Phoebe joked.

"I wouldn't say evil," Hector replied. "Passionate seems more accurate to me."

"You definitely seem like someone that takes science very seriously," Alex said.

"Would you guys like to see what I've been working on recently," Hector asked us. "I've already shown Phoebe, and she was amazed."

"Oh you're talking about that," Phoebe replied. "I don't think they're ready to witness something as insane as that."

"Yes we are!" Hailee exclaimed. "You guys made me curious. Show us!"

"Alrighty then," Hector accepted. "Follow me, everyone." We did as he said, and followed closely behind him as he led us to his latest invention. We finally got to where he was leading us to, and saw some large contraption that looked like a laser cannon.

"This..." he said, as he struggled to heave up his invention. "Is a gun that can create numerous copies of any object that it scans."

"Anything at all?" I asked.

"Anything nonliving, yes."

"Prove it," I said, trying to get a demonstration out of him. "There's no way you created something this great."

"I'd show you what it can do, but it's only a prototype right now. I still have to work out the kinks. It worked when I showed Phoebe, but then I tried to use it again, and it almost blew up."

"Wow, so much for 'insane,'" Hailee said, mockingly.

"Alright guys, let's continue the tour then so that Hector can keep working on his Duplicator Gun," Phoebe said. We all waved to Hector, and started to follow Phoebe out of his work space. Right before we left, I noticed him pulling something out of his pocket. Something that was very familiar to me. He pulled out a shiny, white stone that I was sure was one of the Cursed Stones End was looking for.

You're right, End said. It's one of my precious beauties. You have to get me it.

I can't just ask him for something that isn't mine randomly like that-

What are you talking about? That belongs to us.

Yeah, but he doesn't know that, I thought. To him, it'll just look like I'm trying to take his stone.

I don't care. Whether you rob him, or kill him, I need that stone. It didn't take me long to realize I didn't really have a choice. I knew it was in my best interest to do whatever End said. I refused to resort to violence to acquire the stone, however. I had only just met Hector, and could tell he was somebody I wanted to be friends with. I didn't want to hurt someone like that. Plus, I couldn't even if I wanted to with all of my injuries. I was going to try to get it my way.