Arias and Solomon fell off the wall with a thud, but their hands were still bound in some mysterious energy and their feet were bound to the floor.

  “We’re here to study in your presence my King! We’re here to view your library.” Arias said, trying to use his monk charm to persuade the sentient organ orb.

  “L…L..library?” The floating brain bowl glowed brighter as if it was expressing interest.

  “We don’t have..a..L..L..ibrary…not for your kind” Thicketts glow dimmed.

  “We have a database for those in need of a basis of knowledge. Only those who have taken the upgrade are allowed to know the history or sensitive information” Bavmar said in his almost comically high voice for how large he was.

  “Upgrade? What the hell is an upgrade..” Arias asked

  “It’s a thing the rich elite have…once you hit a certain rank in the military or have the credit for it, you can have something put into your brain…I’m guessing that what they’re talking about…we were too poor to worry about it.” Solomon said through his gritted teeth as the field pushed him harder into the wall.

  “We need information” Arias said, hoping transparency would get them out of this hopeless situation

  “And you will receive none about Sm’glin’Coque, I sense his presence and I do not fear him. Nor his b.b.bbrooother” Thicketts robotic voice began to become more fuzzy as though his emotion could distort that voice.

  “What do you know..?” Solomon asked, confused that Thickett already seemed to know.

  “Avenj many eon ago seeked Sugen’s and T..T..thickets help, we made the Blooze that bought them time…Sm’glin’Coque and Sm’GlinCoop were encased in it…to suppress…t.h.h eir powers. The armageddon of the new galaxy…a prophecy delayed…h.h elp we did..but Sm’GlinCoop is bent on reuniting with his little brother…they will use their power to enslave the dead and the living…Sm’GlinCoop has the power to reach into the world of the dead to control them…his brother..Sm’glin’Coque c..c can control the living.

  “What? Howard can…control the living? Like mind control?” Arias asked, hoping to coax more information out of him.

  “Y..y..yes…but I’ve already said too much..the blooze represses him to where he can only press his words into your consciousness..”

  “Wow..” Solomon said, closing his eyes and beginning to give up.

  With a thud Arias and Solomon fell onto the floor in front of them. The floor gave out below them and they began to fall down a long shaft that eventually had both of them splash into some sort of thick liquid in a very dark room where they couldn’t see in front of them. Then like a warm blanket on a cold rainy night they heard a monotone voice ring in their heads.

  “How does he sense me, he’s a salad of organs” Howard said as he lit the underground cavern in his bright blue glow.

  “Oh my god, howard!” Arias struggled to stay afloat in this clear liquid, but now with the light he could see a metal barge that looked like a great reprieve.

  “Oh my god, I can’t believe this place is real..this is the farm…this is where Thickett harvests people…” Solomon said in a high pitched voice panicked as both Arias and Him pulled himself onto the metal barge that ran along the giant underground clear substance lake.

  “This is where he makes all the different liquids he sells underground to even the monks…the green liquid that’s the monks holy water…he uses this as the base…it absorbs the essence of a living being…the only way to suppress, regress or oppress a soul is with souls..” Howard pressed into their heads giving them a little bit of knowledge that neither Arias or Solomon were sure they understood.

  Solomon began to shiver with how cold it was in the cavern.

  “This…this wasn’t real. This was a story the elder would tell you in the fields while the droid enforcement would whiz by and collect the share of crops…they’d tell we’d be taken and thrown into vats and dissolved for substance trade…is it real? I guess it must be…it never dawned on me..”

  “I knew we got our substance to help repress certain telepathic or paranormal advisories from Sugen…I never thought to ask where it came from..Roots and Flow..” Arias said shoulder to shoulder with Solomon to feel the heat. They both scanned the giant underground cavern. It was mostly a lake of clear gelatinous material that seemed to be harmless from when they swam out of it.

  “This is a base ooze, it comes from the underground of Sugen, it’s like underground water but thicker and it can be used to create powerful oozes. This ooze is harmless, you two can swim out. Or I can levitate us together in search of an escape.” Howard beamed.

  “Why can’t you just teleport us out of here? You teleport yourself out of trouble, why not us too?” Solomon asked, annoyed at Howard.

  “My abilities are dull in this prison…I can’t teleport more than just me currently…I’d have to be freed to do take all of us safely somewhere…the Blooze is wearing off so I’m able to do some stuff as time goes on” Howard began to levitate the two behind him as he floated across the ooze lake with his dim blue light shining the way.

  “Where are we going?” Solomon asked

  “I dunno, somewhere until we get there,” Howard hummed to himself.

  Then after some time floating through the air they could smell wet earth, like that of the root fields of when they first entered Sugen, a giant light beamed down on the lake of ooze, a crater that let out to the surface, they all floated to the top and howard let Arias and Solomon down to the ground gently. The sky was blue above them with huge pink clouds with a bright sun shining through them. The party was in the middle of a huge root field very far for Loors, a distance that felt weird for the time they did not feel had passed. It was dark when they were captured and Arias and Solomon began to go back and forth trying to figure out how much time had passed, when a ding on Arias’ tablet interrupted them. He had received almost 23 messages from Amelia and Lord V asking for information on if they had infiltrated the court of thickett and what the library had held for them. Arias heart sunk realizing they didn’t really get much other than…some confirmation on whether Thickett was alive and some minor info that seemed like tales of a bygone millenia but was still a horrific truth of today.Lord V pinged Arias immediately back after Arias wrote a lengthy paragraph about what had happened.

  “Ha! I knew that fucker was a jar of bones and mush, I see your location now and we’ll be there to pick you up, I have an idea on how to get into his “library”.” Lord V didn’t often use this means of communication, but Arias appreciated it when he did communicate nonetheless.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  ________

  The sparrow's eyes glowed a bright red as it landed onto the desert patches between two root fields and lowered the ramp to let Arias and Solomon onto the ship. Howard teleported onto the ship while Arias and Solomon ran at a dead pace to get some reprieve from the tantalizing world that is Sugen. Amelia ran up to Arias and hugged him around his neck.

  “Ping me more!” she said as she punched him in the shoulder

  “Fuck!! Okay” Arias said, popping his shoulder back into place.

  Lord V walked out into the main room of the ship, his eyes had dark rings around them and he spoke in a grim tone.

  “The prophecy is closer than I could have imagined. We have to act fast, Howards Blooze that he was put in eons ago by the bygone government of Avenj…it’s wearing off…fast, he can teleport and his thoughts are clear, he will soon be able to break free from that thing..I don’t know what happens after that” Lord V lowering himself into a chair in the middle of the chamber resting his cheek into hand. Howard teleported into the room.

  “Where were you?” Amelia asked Howard, wondering what took him so long because she saw Howard enter the portal and now he was just making way to the ship.

  “Teleportation isn’t instant, it takes time to get the place.” Howard said. Out loud.

  Everyone turned to look at him, his Blooze that contained was beginning to turn clear and his skin tone, a dark olive color was apparent. His eyes still closed but his words were crisp and loud. It wasn’t like his voice that he could telepathically communicate with. It was more of the baby learning how to speak, but if the baby was really good at speaking.

  “Did..did you just talk out loud?” Arias said, pulling his hood down. His crazy hair was everywhere and was filled with dust.

  “It…it hurts..I can feel that I’m growing physically..” Howard beamed instead of speaking out loud.

  “I have to be set free. Or I will grow into this container and it will crush me..” Howard said going back and forth between words saying it out loud and telepathically.

  Lord V shot straight up in fear, knowing damn well why they should be scared for their lives.

  “Get ready, we’re crashing into the side of that fucking castle and we’re going to rob that god jelly jar of his information on Avenj and what we need to do to keep him from exploding” Lord V running to the control room to waste no time.

  ______

  Lord V sitting in the cockpit of the sparrow, the lights were red in the pit and everyone was strapped into bench seats right behind Lord V. Lord was rapidly approaching the side of the castle of Thicketts ready to blast a hole in the side of it.

  “Aren’t you afraid of starting a war between the church and Sugen?” Arias asked sheepishly wondering why Lord V was so brash in this decision.

  “I’d like to see them try.” Lord V said, cracking his neck in the direction of Arias to show a jagged smile.

  “It just seems like they would bring the fight to us…” Arias said trying to reason

  “Arias! Pay attention! They have no way off this planet. Why do you think we’ve been coming here and being couriers of the ooze? They spent thousands of years tapping into these arcane substances and didn’t once think to look to the sky and visit. They weren’t touched in the never ending war, because no one knew they were here! We only know of them because of our dealings with their exports of Ooze and Roots.” Lord V waved his hand to gesture to Arias to shut up. Arias rolled his eyes and looked at Solomon in an annoyed tone.

  “You know I never thought about it…but yeah we never did have ships..” Solomon was just starting to realize something that never crossed his mind.

  “I guess that’s why we never leave” He grasped on his seat belt and prepared for what was to come. Lord V flipped a switch and a turret revealed itself on the under belly of the sparrow, with a flip of a switch a giant burst of energy, purple in color flew into the side of the Castle, a giant hole large enough for the ship to perch on was created where Lord V swiftly landed onto.

  “Get out! Storm this place and get to the main chamber, I have a deposit box we can hook to Thickets knowledge repository and take everything he has on there. We’ll get it back and decode and translate the info tonight, then we’ll find out what dark prophecy Howard's brother is going to fulfill.” all 4 of the adults ran out the ship into a main corridor of the castle. Suddenly dozens of the security robots with random faces on the screens rolled out of every corridor.

  “Halt in the name of our King and God Thickett, turn yourselves in and your death will be swift” chimed in unison from the robots. Arias pulled out his energy Staff and started twirling it and knocking the robots legs off, while Solomon was hitting them with his energy rifle one by one. Lord V, doing something for the first time in front of anyone in the last 50 years, gestured his hand and slammed three robots against the wall and the screen faces all turned to black.

  “What was that?” Solomon screamed 15 feet away from him.

  “You’re not the only one that can move some shit with your mind!” Lord V said jogging up the corridor almost seeming like he knew exactly where to go. Amelia and Howard were tagging behind, Amelia was holding Howard in her arms because it seemed Howard had grown weaker.

  “I’m so hungry..” Howard said out loud

  “I know, we’ll get you something soon,” Amelia said, hoping she was telling the truth.

  The gel had almost turned completely transparent and Howard's eyes had opened. His dark hazel eyes were glossed over and his face was in pain.

  Lord V ran up to the door and he waved his hand, it opened in an iris fashion and they all ran into the familiar red room.

  “Didn’t I dispose of your t…t…two idiots?” Thicket turning around to address the group.

  “These fucking idiots! How did you escape the lake of fire!” Bevmar said running toward the party getting ready to hit them with his fist. He landed a punch on Arias on his left cheek. Arias pulled himself and hit Bevmar across the forehead with his staff and sliced a giant gash in Bevmars forehead. He stumbled back a few steps backing up against the glass wall with the glowing red ooze.

  “Your monk boyfriend is no match for Bevmar!” the bald good jumped up and kicked Arias in the chest, but Arias swung and seared bevmars legs off below the knee.

  “Walk that off, you bald fuck.” Arias said, kicking his severed legs toward the wall.

  Lord V ran to the monolith in the center of the room with his Deposit box to jack into Thicketts library. Thickett’s capsule with his main organs floated toward Solomon and Lord V to position himself between Lord V and his previous petabytes of information before the never ending war. Thickett knew that it wasn’t in the interest of Sugen to let the already powerful Monks have even more information they could use against the galaxies. Solomon waved his hands and the floating tank of organs softly flung back to the other side of the room. Lord V ran to the monolith and quickly jacked into the monolith. There were red marking that began to glow once the deposit box was jacked in, they glowed blue for a moment and from the bottom down the inscriptions turned green. While Lord V did this, Solomon kept softly pushing Thickett to the other side of the room.

  “Alright I’ve got it.” Lord V yelled to the room

  “Guys…something is wrong with Howard” Amelia said sitting him down

  The baby began to scream a deafening whale that caused everyone to get on their knees minus Bevmar, and cover their ears. The shrill loud sound reverberated in the chambers of the castle.

  “Ye…yes…the brat is growing…he will…soon be viable for emus” Thicketts robotic voice cut through the silence after the whaling of Howard ceased.

  “You…you need to free him, or he…he will…succumb to…growing pains…or..you..you refresh his arcane suppressant” Thicket continued floating around, hose still connected to the wall pumping the red fluid into the glass orb.

  “How do we do that if his chamber is sealed?” Solomon said with blood dripping out of his ears onto his sideburns.

  “It’s not sealed ... .there's two things on top of his.ho..home. We can connect it to my blue ooze and get him a refresh…it may buy you more time…but I’ll need something in return…” Thicketts robot voice seemed to grow distorted with the last part of his sentence.

  “What the fuck would that be?” Solomon asked.

  “I need you. You are Sugen’s property, an elite member of the GFA, you are mine. Surrender yourself” Thickett said in a clear robot voice without any distortion or stutters.

  “Fuck off..” Solomon said, laying his face into hands.