DESTROY ALL HUMANS: INTO THE VOID

TWENTY FIVE

He dropped from above like an atomic bomb and rolled onto the stone platform.

The red energy beacon gave off a warm current of air. Sadly the vibe wasn't as calming.

Crypto pushed himself up and dusted his suit off. His wound had stopped bleeding, but it still stung.

The platform was a large cobblestone circle. Crypto had just barely landed near the edge while the beacon was at least half a football field away.

Magnus's ship was stationed next to the beacon, its other dysfunctional half floating somewhere in space.

Crypto never thought he'd see himself running towards it, but Gladys, Phil, Pox, and Blasto were most likely there.

Suddenly he stopped moving. His body became stiff and wouldn't respond to any of Crypto's commands. "Dammit, come on!" He was only a couple of feet away from the beacon.

"Sucks, right?"

Crypto felt himself rise off the ground, unable to move. His face was filled with the struggle to break free.

"Don't try anything. You'll only make it worse."

"Who's talking?"

"Dad?"

Crypto opened his eyes and stopped struggling. He shot his head in the direction of the voice. To his left, Blasto, Pox, Phil, and Gladys were all sitting on the floor, tied up with red energy chains.

"So... Is this how you guys got tied up?" Crypto asked.

A raspy voice answered, "Yes." Magnus stepped out from the ship and slowly walked over. "It's an anti-stabilizing field. Invented by me, of course. Orthoneises, please tie him up."

The former councel-member poked his head out from behind Magnus and came out holding a pair of red energy chains. He stood at a distance and whipped Crypto's legs with the lasso, binding them together. He then did the same with his hands. 

Crypto dropped onto the floor and sat next to Blasto. Everyone lined up on the stone floor, facing the thin beacon.

Magnus stepped forward and turned to face them, his back to the beacon. "Are we one short to the party? How sad... I enjoy a large audience."

Phil snapped. "SHUT UP! SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH YOU ASSTWAT!"

"...That's quite the mouth you have there, boy."

"That's quite the ugly piss-mess you call a face."

"DON'T insult me." Magnus cleared his throat. "Anyway... as you may already know, my loyal servant here has been studying the Hand of Lucius. It's quite the celestial object, really. It turns out, the same energy from the void is inside of the gem contained within the glove. I suspect the gem was forged in the beacon of this very void. With that being said, it means I can control this void. I can change the energy focus point. I can create my own universe."

"How exactly-?" Pox interrupted.

"-I am soooo thrilled you asked, Orthopox. By redirecting this very beacon, which is the center of the void, I can blast a rift into space and distort the laws of physics. I will create an energy blast as big as the big bang and make my own planet. With every other planet destroyed, I can take chunks and pieces and fit them together onto my own planet to make it exactly how I want it."

"Like a puzzle," Pox reasoned.

"Precisely."

"What's the point of having a planet if every other planet is destroyed and there's no one left alive to innabit it?" Crypto spat.

"Oh... Crypto. Haven't you ever heard of synthetic DNA? Of course you have. HA!" Magnus cackled.

Crypto's insides were boiling and getting ready to erupt in a steam shower.

"Years ago, I intercepted a space ship full of synthetic DNA. It was supposedly going to be delivered to Emperor Meningitis. Guess who I found aboard? Simeon. He was the captain of that ship. I let him go and he returned to Furon to work for you in the weapons factory. When I visited him for a weapon upgrade I found a DNA test tube containing DNA for Pox's body. So I killed him. Sadly he hid the test tube somewhere and was successful in giving it to you, as I can see now."

Crypto suddenly remembered Cynthia. She had said something about a space ship full of research that never made it to Furon. However it did make it to Magnus...

"What was Cynthia doing with synthetic DNA?" Crypto growled.

Magnus grinned. "You mean the poor bitch who died? I'm not quite sure myself... But it must have been discovered on Celtusk."

Crypto's eye twitched. "Shut your mouth. How did you even know about Cynthia?!"

"Your friends here told me they had to leave her behind."

Pox lowered his head. "I'm sorry, Crypto."

"Don't worry about it..."

Orthoneises kneeled next to Magnus and presented a red velvet box. It clicked open. Magnus reached his hand inside and snapped on the black glove, the ruby shining in the center of the palm.

"Let's begin now." Magnus turned to the beacon, his shadow unfurling in the crimson light. He stepped forward and took a deep breath. "I think we should start dismembering some planets first, no?"

The void air seemed to grow cold while and unsettling darkness rolled in.

Magnus raised the Hand of Lucius into the beacon and a pulse of crimson light shot out from the other end all the way to the edge of the void, scattering the darkness and opening a hole in the blackness.

The clouds of dark energy receded to make way for the beam of light. The hole grew larger and larger until an entire planet was visible including the surrounding moons and the space between them.

The beam raced towards the planet and Crypto only had a few moments to wonder what everyone on that planet was doing and how they would react when the beam hit. One of the moons was coated in a colorful light, beautifuly glowing in space. This wasn't the first time he'd seen those lights.

This however was the first time he thought the lights were a moon. It wasn't a moon. It was only Crypto hoping it was a moon. But it wasn't. And that teared him apart inside. It was the Fourth Ring of Furon. 

Pox and Crypto didn't react at all. They only watched. It was like watching a lion and a gazelle. The beam, the lion, so elegently chased the planet of Furon, the gazelle. But in the end, the lion was faster.

And the lion struck.