Week 43.1 – The Final Gambit

Previously: Digger, with his powers fully restored, and Twain faced off against Ghost Dragon, who was currently in possession of the City of the Moon, underground source of limitless power. And now…

Digger’s seismic senses warned him that the ceiling would give way a moment before it did, so he was already moving when the rock began to fall. He leaped to stand over Cole and Bogdan and fired the Drillers straight up, pulverizing the rock above them and creating a bubble of safety.

But in the same moment, a huge boulder broke one of the largest crystals off at its base, and the crystal gave up its stored energy in a massive explosion of blue. In that instant, time seemed to slow down for Twain, and he found himself acting on pure instinct, channelling and redirecting the energy upward, so that instead of vaporizing his companions, the energy vaporized the thousands of tons of rock between them and the sky. The entire top of the ridge erupted like a volcano, blowing chunks of rock thousands of feet into the air.

Digger and Twain stood under open sky, mostly dark above and blazing red to the west. They stood on the edge of a forest of glowing crystals, untouched by the blue radiance that had destroyed everything else in its path. The glow coalesced into a shimmering blue aurora above them, which in turn formed itself into the head and shoulders of the Ghost. The revenant screamed its fury to the sky.

“Dude,” Digger said quietly to Twain. “Look at you.”

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”right”]The entire top of the ridge erupted like a volcano, blowing chunks of rock thousands of feet into the air…[/blockquote]Twain looked down. He was blue once again, and maybe it was just the approaching nightfall, but he seemed to be a deeper blue than before. Also, he was big, at least as big as the Cobalt Czar had been. He was so big, in fact, that his clothes had torn away, leaving him naked.

“New plan,” the Cobalt Twain said. “Destroy the crystals.”

“I was going to do that anway,” Digger said. “How is that new?”

The Ghost formed in front of them again. “And he can’t destroy them all,” the Ghost said. “The explosions would kill him before he could destroy more than a few.”

“No,” Twain said. “I can absorb or redirect the energy. No one will die but you.”

“Oh,” Digger said. “That is new.”

And with a boom, he fell into the earth and was gone.

“NO!” shouted the Ghost, but Twain fired another blue beam that shredded his form. The Ghost screamed and reformed as the ground beyond him, in the center of the Grand Cathedral, erupted upward. Digger flew up in a maelstrom of crystal shards and swirling blue energy that Twain drew to himself as he stepped through one of the Chi Kung katas that the old man Pat had taught him, years ago.. The Ghost tried to form a massive claw to catch Digger and stop him plunging into the earth again, but Twain redirected some of the energy to dissolve the grasping hand and more crystals erupted as Digger plunged into the ground once again.

Something hit Twain from behind. He fell to the ground, rolled over, and saw something unexpected.

So something has hit Twain, but if he is as powerful as the Cobalt Czar, what could possibly defeat him? Don’t miss the next episode!

To read from the beginning, click here…