The Universal War
Nikhil Dhingra
Copyright 2012 by Nikhil Dhingra
This book is dedicated to the creators of
Badguy Goodguy
Thanks for the inspiration
Table of Contents
Preface
1. Draktos Lives!
2. Garion, The Gatekeeper
3. The Daring Escape
4. Finding a Comrade
5. One Step At A Time
6. Negotiations
7. The Answers
8. The Battle At Jupiter
9. It Has All Just Begun
10. The Secret Is Out
11. Back To The Basics
12. The Plan Unfolds
13. The Darkness Rises
14. No Way Out
15. More Bad News
16. Uncovering The Sinister Plot
17. You’re Under Arrest
18. The Master Plan Launches
19. Draktos’ Secret
20. The End Of Garion?
About The Author
Preface
They say Draktos was one of the first beings who ever existed. He used to be a God of Light until he accidentally released the darkness into the containment chamber where he was raised. His power was too strong and uncontrollable, as he was only a baby back then. Thus the shadows were born. Since the damage was irreversible, Draktos’s dad made a decision that Draktos would only be allowed to stay on a remote side of space, which he named the Dark Dimension. Today though, Draktos would escape.
Chapter 1: Draktos Lives!
Nirem sighed, glancing down at his watch.
“It’s 2:15 p.m. already? Time for science.”
Nirem, walking down the hallways towards the science room, reflected on his horrible life.
Nirem was the top student in his class and considered a teacher’s pet by all of his classmates. Now you probably would think this is a good thing, but not at Steven Park Middle School. Being only a 5’6 junior, with a very skinny build (his dark black hair hiding his sensitive skull), glasses, and a very plaid and boring shirt that stood out from the rest of his classmates, Nirem wasn’t treated well. People bullied him, made fun of him, and even shot rubber bands at him when teachers weren't looking just because he was smart. Today though, everything was about to change.
When Nirem and his fellow juniors arrived at science class, the teacher, Dr. Evanston, was waiting patiently for them at the door. He greeted each student individually as they walked into the classroom.
Four large, rectangular tables with metal legs formed two rows. There was a big stainless steel sink in the corner of the room that had a shower head; a giant periodic table was taped to the wall above it. A fifth table was centered at the head of the classroom—presumably the teacher’s because of the messy stacks of paper on top of it. The items that caught most of the students’ eyes, however, were the various glass test tubes filled with different colored solution that stood upright in wire holders on each of the tables.
Before the students even got seated, Dr. Evanston, eager to introduce them to their new subject, closed the classroom door and got started.
“Now class, today we are going to mix some chemicals and see what you can create. Your main goal here is to create the most unique compound, try to make something no one else has made in your class. Get in your seats quickly, class. Let’s get started!”
The children hurried to find seats and immediately began rummaging through their backpacks for their science books. Dr. Evanston seemed unusually excited and they didn't want to disappoint him in any way.
“Turn to page fifteen of your science manual and follow the steps on mixing chemicals. Be careful and make sure to follow the instructions,” the teacher warned. “I had almost forgotten about this project. It’s a good thing one of the students reminded me about it.”
Dr. Evanston started walking through the classroom to make sure that the students were correctly following his instructions. When he reached Nirem’s table, he noticed he was slumping down in his chair. Little did he know, Nirem had just been hit in the back of his head by a flying rubber band.
Dr. Evanston was a bit surprised to see Nirem all slumped down like that. Nirem was one of his best students. In fact, he not only could make any creation that Dr. Evanston would invent, he also helped Dr. Evanston come up with entirely new concoctions that always produced amazing results. Dr. Evanston was convinced that Nirem could one day be a great inventor and make new discoveries.
When Nirem realized Dr. Evanston was looking down at him, he quickly sat up and began to work on the task at hand. At the same time, he nonchalantly twisted his body toward Dr. Evanston so the teacher couldn't see his back covered with red marks from the rubber bands. Dr. Evanston sensed something was wrong but understood Nirem didn't want to call any attention to whatever it was. He moved on to the next table.
Nirem was relieved that Dr. Evanston didn't say anything to him, but he was fuming inside. He knew that Quishow was the culprit. Quishow was the leader of the rubber-band shooting army. He organized an army of people to shoot rubber bands at Nirem everyday. Quishow was the one who started it to begin with. He always started it. If he forgot though, his right-hand man, Max, would remind him. Sometimes, Max actually protected Nirem from the rubber bands when he realized just how much Nirem got picked on. Of course, Max couldn't let Quishow know this, so he stayed quiet when Quishow was around.
Only ten minutes remained until the bell would ring.
“Now, let’s see what you’ve done so far,” Dr. Evanston announced. “How about Max and Quishow? Why don’t you show the class your findings?”
Both boys groaned at the same time but stood up to present their results. Quishow started reading the steps from the manual aloud while Quishow demonstrated with the test tubes. Max took the lead in explaining the results of their mixture.
...
“Hey, watch it!”
“What’s the big idea?”
“Hey, punk, get off the road!”
But Draktos just kept walking. As he approached Steven Park Middle School, the smirk on his face just grew bigger and bigger.
...
Back in the science lab, Dr. Evanston was ready to call up more volunteers to show their creation.
“Now, class, would anyone else like to share their....”
The door was kicked open before Dr. Evanston could finish his sentence.
“How did our janitor manage to kick down the freaking door?” one of the students asked.
“I shall resolve this conflict, students.”
Dr. Evanston approached the janitor.
“What seems to be the problem, Harold?”
“You.”
The janitor grabbed Dr. Evanston by the neck, and started to choke him, sucking out all of the life from his small, bony body faster then any of the students could comprehend.
“Hey, cut it out!”
One of the students attempted to stop him, but as he approached the janitor, he was blown away by some sort of dark energy blast, knocking him towards the edge of the room. With that blast, the entire class froze.
“Woah,” Max barely made out.
Dr. Evanston’s time was running out, but the students refused to intervene. They were too afraid of the school’s janitor. He gasped for breath, but his old lungs died out, and then his pulse was gone.
?
? The janitor threw Dr. Evanston to the ground. He stared at Dr. Evanston for a while, then he suddenly stared into the class of students. Specifically at Nirem. Harold then dropped to the floor, seeming to almost immediately lose all sort of life that the 60 year old brittle man in his 30 year old janitor’s suit seemed to even have. Before the students could even react Dr. Evanston woke up.
“Stay calm students, let’s get back to work,” Dr. Evanston said calmly, as if the whole event never even happened.
“Back to work,” Nirem exclaimed. “Back to work? How the hell do you expect us to get back to work after that...that...that scene just unfolded out right in front of us?!”
“I said get back to work,” Dr. Evanston said in a strange tone. “Now Nirem, would you like to present your experiment to the class?”
Nirem started to back away slowly, realizing that before the janitor dropped dead he stared directly at him.
“I said, would you like to present your experiment to the class?”
At that moment, a blood curdling scream ripped through Dr. Evanston’s body. A bright light started penetrating through his flesh and bones, ripping him into millions of tiny atoms. Almost immediately, he disappeared.
When the bright light cleared, the children slowly opened their eyes and looked toward the front of the room where Dr. Evanston had been. Instead, there stood a black-skinned man, with no legs, wearing a long, black cape. The cape was draped over his face, making it difficult to see what he really looked like.
He pointed at Nirem. “You are The Gatekeeper!” he said solemnly.
Nirem, ignoring the comment, was mostly worried about the safety of his classmates. Catching his breath, he knew he had to get his classmates out of there.
“Run, everybody!” he cried.
With that, he grabbed a few of their arms and led the way out of the classroom, trying to ensure their safety before this curious demon took hold of them. Everyone ran except Quishow.
“Let‟s go!” Nirem snapped at him.
But all Quishow did was stare back, as the beast slowly moved closer and closer to him.
Nirem, fearing his own safety and not that of his school bully’s, left Quishow to deal with whatever that thing was as he ran through the dark school hallways, fearful for his own life. He mostly feared for his purpose in all of this; that thing called him The Gatekeeper or something. What was that all about?
“Maybe he has the wrong guy,” Nirem hopefully thought.
After about a half block of running frantically through the confused streets of Manhattan, the beast seemed to be out of sight.
“He’s gone,” Nirem panted to the students following close behind him. “He’s finally gone.”
But the beast followed close behind, not letting Nirem out of his reach. Right as it was about to catch him, a flying saucer appeared out of nowhere.
Looking up, Nirem recollected every spaceship sighting he had ever seen reported, the UFO shaped exactly like them. It seemed to have a circular shape and was made completely out of metal. On the top of the circle was what appeared to be a small dome which acted like the cockpit’s station. Shaped exactly like the UFO’s Nirem used to watch, Nirem stared up in awe.
Shocked, Nirem looked up as it hovered directly above him. After seeing a bright, green beam hover above him, the UFO sucked him up. Nirem then collapsed out of stress into an unconscious state.