The Rise to Godhood

“Jasper Javonom, this ends here.”

Jasper gave Zelinko a curious look. As it would seem, the man who had betrayed the ruling council had returned to face him. There had to be a reason why his rival had returned to confront him.

Hadib Nabilom took a step forward, pulled out his pistol, and exclaimed, “Freeze, Zelinko! You are under arrest for betraying the city of Ronesia.”

Jasper gave his lieutenant a stern look and instructed, “Keep your pistol down, you fool. Have you forgotten what happened at Mancin Island? Zelinko is much more powerful than the servants who threw your bullets back at you.”

Hadib put down his pistol and backed down while Jasper smirked, advanced towards Zelinko, and spoke, “So, tell me. Why have you returned to face me? Were you afraid that I would hurt your lover in the confrontation?”

“I’d rather face you than flee,” Zelinko replied.

“Is that so? Then you should have faced me at Mancin Island instead of fleeing through that damn portal.” Jasper exclaimed, swung his arm, and sent a psionic shockwave towards Zelinko.

Zelinko deflected the wave, which returned to strike Jasper in the face, and broke his nose.

‘I must stay calm. A calm mind is the only way to beat this traitor,’ Jasper thought and took a deep breath.

“Jasper, it is over. Surrender to me, and I will let you join me on a glorious quest. There are other Zeto Crystals out there. Beautiful worlds like Zetani await us in the Milky Way Galaxy.” Zelinko proclaimed.

‘Bloody fool letting his guard down, I’ll show him.’ Jasper thought and took a psionic stranglehold on Zelinko’s windpipe.

Seeing that his boss had subdued the usurper, Hadib got overconfident and fired his pistol toward Zelinko. Zelinko used a waving motion which caused the bullet to reverse and hit Hadib in the chest.

“Bloody idiots, this is how you do it!” Jasper stated and squeezed his fist to crush Zelinko’s windpipe.

Zelinko collapsed to his knees, and blood was pouring from his mouth.

“For treason against the Ronesian Council, I sentence you to death,” Jasper said while squeezing Zelinko’s cranium until blood poured from Zelinko’s eyes, and he dropped dead to the ground.

“Hurry up, men. We need to catch those elopers before they escape.” Jasper commanded and marched as fast as possible with his severe nosebleed.

***

“Oh no! Zelinko has fallen. I can feel it.”

Kailow looked at his sister, who had a sudden meltdown at this very unlucky moment. They needed to hurry up, but the only way to move was to get his sister out of her current emotional state—what a mess.

“What are you talking about, Areela?” Kailow said.

“Jasper killed the father of my child. I cannot move on.” Areela sobbed and dropped to the ground while shaking and wailing in misery.

“But Zelinko sacrificed himself to help our escape. Giving up now would dishonour his sacrifice.” Kailow pleaded.

Areela didn’t listen to her brother. She was paralysed from losing her lover, who had sacrificed himself to save her.

Kailow tried to assess the situation. Jasper was less than 5 kilometres away and approaching quickly. The teleportation place was 50 kilometres away, so he could take the child and make a run for it. However, there was an issue. Even if he took Thorax to get himself and the child to safety, he didn’t know how to open a portal to Disyerto-2.

“Don’t worry, Kailow. Zelinko is still alive.” Thorax whispered before he reverted to his natural beastly state.