Elemental Wars: The Exiled Element

Chapter 5 - The Messenger

I got lost on the way to the War Room, meaning I had to call Real and ask him for directions. I would've called Aránzazu, but I could still vividly recall the look of rage in her eyes and her knife to my throat.

"Do you see Armoury 81?" Real's voice said clearly over my communication device. I had to turned to my right just to make sure he wasn't directly next to me.

"Yeah, I see it." The door just said 'Armoury', so I wasn't too sure.  

"Keep the room to your right and continue walking down the corridor."

Five minutes later, I entered the War Room through it's imposing Deltan Iron double doors. 

Dark blue walls line the walls, dimly lighting the room.  There was a perfectly round table in the centre, surrounded by twelve office chairs. A hologram of a planet was hovering about the table, like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.

"Ah, Mr Dalton. Please, take a seat," an old man, at least in his late seventies, said with a respectful nod. He sounded like a drill sergeant.

Lincoln was the only one standing up in the room. His metal arm is resting on the table as he leans forward, his other regular hand tapping icons on the table. I hastily sat down at a table opposite Real, who is now sporting a crispy navy blue suit with some sort of crest with six weapons circling around the letters E.A. on his breast pocket. Invictus or not, he's still always well-dressed. 

As soon as I'm seated, Lincoln finished tapping out the codes . 

I gasped.

A black cloud appeared on the planet. The cloud grew, engulfing the planet like a hungry beast. Disturbingly, I could hear tiny screams from the planet as its inhabitants were swallowed by the darkness. I could almost feel despair radiating off Albert sitting beside me.

The old man sunk a little into his seat as he watched the planet fall. A woman that looked like she's in her late thirties flinched upon hearing the screams.

After the planet was fully engulfed, the screams stopped. Lincoln hit something on the table and the hologram looped. 

"Stop," the woman said. "Don't play it again,"

Lincoln looked at her and paused the hologram. He sat back down, his hands now forming a tent on the table. 

"That was footage from our satellites of Planet Horia last night at 0110, Delta time. No word of any survivors."

The old man looked up at the hologram. He seemed to have aged ten more years as he spoke: "Shadow?"

Lincoln sighed.  "We believe so." 

He tapped another icon on the table. The image zoomed out and I recoiled.

A giant triangular hovercraft floated above the planet. The surface of it was smooth and so dark, my mind could barely comprehend its existence. It looked less like an object and more like a void that sucked the light from the room. The black cloud seemed to be descending from its belly, pouring all over the planet.

I met Real's eyes for a moment. He nodded to the hologram, and I understood what he meant. Harold is in that ship.

"Andras has awakened Shadow from its slumber. The Lightning Elemental's favourite attack dog now serves the Lightning Elementalist to resurrect its master."

"But how?" the woman demanded. She stood up and tapped a bunch of icons on the table like she's typing something. The hologram of Planet Horia shrunk into the size of a peanut, replaced by the hologram of a giant black hole at least triple Planet Horia's size. "Shadow has been imprisoned in Site-85 since the end of the First Elemental Wars. How did Andras even get close enough to the black hole to awaken it, and how is he even alive after that?"