THE
THREE KEYS
Part
One: The Key of Spirit
Chapter
Four: Legends of the Past
"Drag! Duck!" yelled GWB as a ninja star whirred past his ear.
Drag looked up and ducked his head. The shuriken caught the Ninja behind
him square in the forehead. A second, then a third shuriken zipped past
GWB toward Drag, who rolled out of the way. GWB looked up and saw a Ninja
about to throw another star sitting atop an ancient pillar. Before he
could react, a shotgun blast sent the assassin flying off his post and into the
frozen river.
Drag and GWB turned to G64. "They're like friggin' mosquitoes,"
he joked. Three Gray Ninjas ran towards the three Agents, and GWB pulled
out his Desert Eagles. A spray of bullets knocked the Ninjas off their
feet. "THAT'S how you deal with mosquitoes," GWB quipped.
"Fudge, how are you holding up?"
Fudge swung his sword at an attacking Ninja, cleaving his foe in half.
"Me?" he answered. "I'm doing fine." A second
Ninja leapt at Fudge, and he swung his sword horizontally in the air, turning
his back to the foe. The Ninja's torso fell to Fudge's left side, and his
lower extremities dropped to the right.
Within moments, the Ninja threat had been defeated. Deathwing chuckled.
"If we weren't in such a rush, I would have flambéed them all.
Humans are quite tasty." GWB looked dumbfounded. Deathwing
laughed again. "I was just kidding!" Drag looked around.
"Uh, guys... Drac and Rex are gone."
G64 ran across the bridge. "What are we waiting for?! We've got
to get the Key before they do!" Deathwing and the other Agents
followed suit, heading through the entrance to the temple into a grand hallway.
The entire temple was made of gold, sparkling grander than anything the Agents
had ever seen before. At the end of the hallway was a large bridge made of
pure gold, and just before the bridge was an archway adorned with a golden
dragonhead. As the Agents marveled at the sight, a whispering voice that
seemed to echo off the walls of the great hall spoke to them.
"Welcome, Lightbringers. You have entered the Hall of Draconia,
resting place of the Wyrm Jade. I have been expecting you." G64
looked around. "Wyrm Jade? I thought it was called the Dragon's
Soul?" Deathwing stared in awe at the dragonhead as he answered G64's
question. "The artifact has been called many things, but the Wyrm
Jade is its true name."
The voice continued. "That is correct, for I am the Wyrm Jade.
I represent the very soul of the universe, forged thousands of years ago by the
Draconian mage, Orloch. It was Orloch who assisted in the defeat of Bagan
ages ago, and here he resides in his icy tomb."
Deathwing's eyes grew bright. "My ancestor Orloch rests here?!
One of the five Light Avatars who defeated the demon?! No wonder why the
jade is here! Orloch must have kept it safe all those years he was alive
in this dimension! That is why my people never discovered its
location!"
The voice reassured Deathwing's theory. "That is also correct, young
Deathwing. My, my! You have truly studied the past, Draconian.
However, there is something you must know that was never recorded in the history
books. Thousands of years ago, Daneasaur led his people to Beijing, where
he discovered that Bagan could heal their woes. He appealed to the demon,
hoping for pity on his part, but something went wrong. You see, Bagan is
not a being of pure evil. Whoever controls Bagan decrees his status,
whether it be for good or evil.
"Daneasaur met with Bagan, but a dark force was lying in wait. The
evil fallen god, Levah, had somehow siphoned some of his power out of the Abyss,
and his dark thoughts pervaded Daneasaur's mind. When Dane made his wish,
the evil grip of Levah took hold and called forth the Wave of Destruction.
The energy released destroyed most of the cosmos and reshaped the Earth in
Dane's image. Of the survivors, five Avatars of the Light battled Dane's
followers, the Garai Tai. He changed his name to Soddom, and in a great
battle known as the Serat Turgoth, the First Battle, the Avatars defeated the
Garai Tai and sealed away Bagan believing him to be evil in its purest form.
The Three Keys are necessary to free him, and I fear that your foes are one step
closer to achieving their goal. You must head deeper into the temple and
retrieve me, ere everything is lost!"
After the voice stopped, GWB asked it a question. "Wait... why was it
called the First Battle? Were there more battles afterward?"
The voice began anew. "No, but the Serat Nurgoth, the Second Battle,
is going to happen shortly. It cannot be helped, regardless of how much
you try to stop it. Such is the way of Fate."
Drag stepped forward in determination. "No! I won't allow
another war! I've lost too much to war, and I will not lose anything else!
We WILL stop the Garai Tai this time. I swear it!" GWB put his
hand on Drag's shoulder. "And we'll be there to help... always."
The voice spoke one last time. "Destiny cannot be changed. I
have seen the future, and it is grim. If you do not succeed, this universe
is finished. I fear something worse than Levah is responsible for this new
Soddom, and he will stop at nothing to obtain the ultimate power. Revenge
drives him, and revenge will end his life, along with countless others.
Hurry! There is no time left to lose!"
