CHAPTER 6 -- A Prince from a Far Off Land

	Dustin blinked once, then shook his head. Was this really happening? "Chosen One, what... what are you talking about?"
	The tan skinned foreigner fingered the handle of his blade as he spoke, "I have watched and listened to many things these past four years, Dustin. I have seen the Earth recover from the onslaught of the Universal Cosmic Destroyer, I have seen new life appear and heard the sounds of hope returning. Now, however, I have heard a discordant tone in the air. A sound like that of old, and it chills me to the core. All of nature hushes at the noise. Though I could scarcely believe it, Giygas has once again resurfaced, in this age."
	He turned and looked up at the moon, his profile a chiseled silhouette. "Time is like a clay pot ever being molded. At certain times a blemish appears, but the potter moves to reform it. Time passes, and it is as if the mischance had never occurred. Soon however, another blemish appears in the form of the last. The potter moves in a similar way to reform the pot to what it is intended to be." Here, the man fixed Dustin with cold, intense eyes. "Giygas once before sought to stain this world with blood, but somehow he was stopped. Forces beyond our control ordained a Chosen One, along with three others, and laid out the events that would lead to Giygas' downfall. These events came to pass, just as they were foretold. Now that Giygas has returned, certain things have come to pass that tell of the Chosen One rising yet again to face Giygas. That Chosen One is you."
	Dustin tried to comprehend the rush of information being thrown at him, and failed. His mind could not accept the things he was being told. "What... but why would it be me? What makes me different from anyone else?"
	"Perhaps you have recently noticed a strange ability that you have strived to control? Maybe you caused a candle to light all on it's own, or moved an object with nothing but your will." Dustin swallowed hard as he recalled the massive piece of stone he had somehow used to destroy a Starman. He remembered how hard it had been to lift even a pencil, and for the first time wondered at the nature of his latent psychic ability. The man looked at him and smiled slightly. "I can see by the look in your eyes that I am correct. But I knew this before I even came here, I was sure of it. It is only natural that the Chosen One would be sensitive to PSI, and have great aptitude for it."
	"PSI?" said Dustin. "I don't have those kinds of powers. I'm not able to do all the things that I've read people with PSI can do."
	"Not yet, perhaps. But in time I believe you will discover that you are capable of more than you think. Next to that, You are of the same age that the previous Chosen One was when he embarked on his quest. You were awakened in the night by a terrible sound, that of a meteor coming to Earth, the same sound another boy heard four years ago. A strange messenger averts danger and tells of the Chosen Boy's destiny, this also came to pass. Finally, you have a pure heart, though you may not realize it. I can see it in you. You have the potential to influence many people and be a great boon to this world."
	"None of that means anything. I mean, it could all be circumstantial."
	"Yes, it could." admitted the man, folding his arms. "But you are here, and no one else. That is proof enough."
	Shoving all of this new data to a far corner of his mind, and starting to get a headache from this bizarre night, Dustin ripped off his beanie and ran a hand through his sweaty hair. "You still haven't told me your name." he said, thinking of nothing else to say.
	The man was silent for a moment before he responded with a bow, "I am Prince Poo of Dalaam, and I am here to protect you."
	The name registered somewhere in Dustin's head, and he tried to remember where he'd heard the name. "Dalaam. That's a city in the middle of the mountains in... Chommo, I think? But that's impossible, Chommo is on another continent!"
	Poo grinned outright at this and said, "When one has access to PSI, certain restrictions such as time and space seem less.. restricting."
	Before he could continue, a deep rumble echoed from somewhere far below them. Instantly alert, Poo crouched down as if listening, then sprang to his feet. "We must move. The enemy is mobilizing."
	Yet again Dustin blinked in confusion. "The enemy?"
	"What you believe to be a meteor that landed here is, in actuality, a spaceship, a carrier holding the invasion force of Giygas' new army. I know little of where they came from, but I do know that this is not the only place that they have landed. There is no time to discuss, they have already begun burrowing and have started constructing a base below the ground."
	Dustin's jaw dropped. An alien base, right in the middle of Alphed? It was unthinkable. Then again, a lot of things seemed unthinkable at the moment. "Then we have to stop them. There's no way I'm letting a bunch of aliens set up shop in my town."
	"Wise words. You prove yourself more by the moment. I wonder how many would flee given the same circumstances? No matter. Come, I will lead the way, but stay close. These foes will be far beyond your ability."
	The Prince moved to the exit with quick strides, his cloak flapping liquidly behind him. Dustin fitted his beanie back on to his head and let out a long breath before standing to follow him. A soft groan from the floor stopped him in his tracks. The maintenance worker lay there, the slab that had previously pinned his body to the floor being miraculously, accidentally thrown to the other side of the room by Dustin's mind.
	In a moment Dustin was at his side, and had to choke back his gag reflex. The man's body was horrendously crushed, his legs snapped in at least four spots, his lower torso nearly flattened and bone exposed at too many places to count. It was obvious that he had little time to live. Wishing there was some way he could help and feeling tears of frustration coming to his eyes, Dustin clenched his fists to his face. This whole thing wasn't making any sense, and now an innocent man was going to die because of some alien invasion? It was enough to make Dustin's head spin, to make the room spin.
	He felt Poo's presence at his shoulder. "He is badly injured.. but all is not lost."
	Dustin opened his eyes and looked up at Poo. Unconcerned, the man leaned down and held his hand over the worker's broken body. Poo closed his eyes, and a warm glow emanated from his hand. "Be healed." he said, and the glow fell onto the worker's body. Where the light settled, bleeding stopped and flesh knit itself together before Dustin's eyes. It was a matter of a few moments before the Prince straightened and the man lay fully recovered, peacefully at rest.
	Awe overcame Dustin as he touched where the man's leg where it had been hopelessly shattered. It was perfectly healed. "How..." said Dustin, when the answer became clear without his asking. "You used PSI, didn't you?"
	"That is correct." said Poo, looking impassively at the worker he had just brought from the brink of death. "With a mastery of PSI comes the power to heal even the most grievous of injuries. I imagine that soon you will learn the ways and means of it." He glanced over his shoulder. "We must go, too much time has already been spent here."
	"But what about-" said Dustin, but Poo just grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. His bracing grip was enough to bring Dustin fully back to his senses.
	"He will recover, do not trouble yourself with his fate. Now come, I implore you." Dustin followed as Poo moved swiftly over the rubble and out of the room, stopping only to glance back at the ruined remains of the Starmen.

-----

	Celeste sat heavily on a roadside bench, trying to will her heart to slow down and vainly attempting to catch her breath. The past few minutes had been a blur; exiting the cave into the moonlight, she had been met with an otherwordly scene. A long ragged trail was torn into the ground where the meteor had landed, and at its resting place lay a huge silver sphere. Blinking back disbelief, she had cautiously approached and felt rather than heard signs of life nearby. Something was subtly shaking the ground underfoot.
	The spaceship was empty, and Celeste found she hadn't had the courage to walk inside it. Next to the silver meteor were signs of digging, earth tossed hastily in all directions and stamped down by many feet. Judging by the prints, there were at least twenty of whatever had been inside the meteor. 'Not a meteor... a spaceship.' she thought, as incredulous as it sounded in her mind. Yet there was no doubt that the thing was a transport from outer space.
	A slithering noise had come from the hole, and Celeste had jumped as fast as she could for a nearby mound of dirt to hide behind. She barely had concealed herself when a horrific monster lifted itself out of the ground. It consisted of a small, oval shaped body with a single eye and gaping mouth, two more eyes positioned on the end of stalks, and seemed to move through a number of lithe tentacles that acted for legs. It looked around the area, eyes narrowed, then gave an alien sort of shrug and slithered off into the silver capsule where a noisy clanking could be heard. Celeste, sitting in the shadows of that moonlit night, was terrified beyond her wits.
	'Aliens and silver robots and spaceships... This is too much. It can't be real.' she thought, leaning back on the bench and trying to relax. Anyone with a brain could connect these signs with those from the history books, though. Four years ago the world had known similar threats, an alien invasion and those that rose to counter it, the War of Giygas. 'That all ended though, all those years ago. How could it be happening again?'
	Sighing, Celeste found the presence of mind to check her cell phone clock. '12:27... How long was I waiting in that cave?' she thought. Her mother, naturally, would be furious with her, and something told Celeste that a story about aliens and spaceships wasn't going to cut it for an excuse. Mourning her eventual punishment, Celeste stood up slowly and made her way back to her house.

-----

	The shattered halls of the school melted into a blur as he and Poo moved swiftly through the smog. Dustin noted how the devastation only increased the further back they moved, entire rooms had fallen in and a starless night sky was peeking through in more places than he could count. Once Poo helped him over a particularly large mound of dirt and metal, the crash site came into focus.
	The smog cleared away as suddenly as if the area was encased in glass. They found themselves standing in what had previously been the teacher's lounge, recognizable only by a couch buried halfway into the floor, and a coffee machine that was miraculously intact on top of a bookshelf. Everything else was either incinerated or blasted to the corners. What lay at the center, in the middle of a ring of scorched earth, was a silver sphere, taller than Dustin but recessed partially into the ground. An oval door lay unhinged in front of it, giving a brief view of a padded interior and chrome machinery.
	"What is that?" he asked, moving closer to inspect it. Poo's firm hand clenched his shoulder and kept him rooted.
	"I'd advise you not to approach it, it is tainted with Giygas' energy, where his minions lay dormant for all these years waiting to descend to earth." He pointed off to the left of the strange spaceship. "What we must concern ourselves with lies there."
	In a shadowed corner, where Dustin had failed to notice, lay a circular hole with a metal ladder sticking out of it. It was distinctly out of place among what had previously been a teacher's lounge, since there was most certainly not a lower level to the school. "A ladder?"
	"A tunnel. The enemy has already burrowed into the ground, and is no doubt beginning construction of their base as we speak. If we move quickly, we may yet catch them by surprise." Poo moved the the ladder and swung down onto it. Dustin followed as quickly as he could, though less gracefully.

	Their immediate surroundings were that of a claustrophobic tunnel, with barely enough room for two people side by side and scant headroom. His footsteps completely silent, Poo motioned for Dustin to follow him, then set off. The passage sloped downward, the floor smooth as if cut and sanded. 'It's only been, what, an hour? How far could they have possibly gone?' Remembering this was alien technology  he was dealing with, he swallowed and kept on moving.

	Strangely, the only source of light in the tunnel was the ground itself, which glowed with a faint purplish white. It cast a macabre pall over the two of them, and Poo was barely visible in his flowing black cloak. After turning a few corners and continuing ever downward, Poo held up a hand for them to stop.

	A sound reached Dustin, and as he listened closer he realized it was the deep hum of some massive machine. They must be getting closer to whatever was digging this tunnel. Poo reached slowly for his blade, and rested his hand on the hilt. "Dustin." he said quietly, "Prepare yourself, they are coming."

	Feeling fear wash over him, Dustin spun around and saw nothing but the dimly glowing hallway stretching behind him into darkness. His heart pounded in his chest. "We will move quickly," Poo said in an urgent whisper, "There are not many, but their commander will be very powerful. Stay back and be sure of your safety." His katana slipped out of it's sheath a fraction with a sharp click. "Now!!"

	Immediately, two silver Starmen appeared, one in front and one behind, and leveled their arms to fire their weapons. Poo upraised his free hand, and a sheet of air that shimmered like a mirage slipped into the space between them and their attackers. No sooner was this done than Poo dashed forward and slashed, ripping the Starman completely in two.

	Not knowing what to do, Dustin kicked out a foot and struck the Starman squarely in the chest. It's weapon discharged, and the beam of energy reflected off of Poo's psychic shield to dissipate against the tunnel walls. The robot lost it's footing and tumbled backward.

	Taking his chance, Dustin turned and ran further down the tunnel, Poo leading the way with weapon glimmering. More enemies appeared to try and stop them, but a combination of the psychic shield and the prince's sword removed them without losing any momentum. It was less than a minute later that the tunnel ended in an oval shaped opening, the scene beyond one that required Dustin to look in shock for a few moments before it truly registered.

	The robots had cleared out a sizable room's worth of soil and rock and compressed it against the walls and floor, leaving them flat and glossy. A single light threw the area into harsh contrast. Against one wall, a twelve foot tall machine was digging, obviously that which had cleared the way so far. It was all over chrome, sporting a great grinding wheel that was rotating slowly and doing something inexplicable to eat up the dirt. Some kind of energy source glowed from within it, visible through the pylons and extrusions that held it up, and it's structure resembled a tangle of metal more than an advanced machine. Silver metal covered some parts of the wall and floor, blackened dirt showing in the gaps between. At least ten Starmen stood arrayed before them in a curve, having prepared themselves to defend the base-in-progress.

	The one standing at the center of the room was different from the rest. It resembled the other starmen to a degree, but metallic spikes rose out of its armor at the shoulders and head, and its badge was glowing red. It stood at least a head above the rest of them.

	"So the intruders finally show themselves." it said, and unlike the other robots, it's voice had a modicum of human tone to it. "And one of the Chosen at that." If it realized what it was up against, it failed to show it. "Even if you defeat us here, human, you cannot possibly stop the full invasion. The shadow of our great Lord Giygas will stretch over all of this puny world." He lifted one tentacle arm to point at Poo and Dustin. "Get them!"

	Dustin, petrified, shrunk back against the wall. The ten remaining starmen teleported forward, appearing in a scattered formation centered around Poo. Flipping his sword around behind his back, he shouted, "Dustin, stay down!"

	A marked change came over the room in the next moment as the light fixture up above flickered. Some powerful force shook the floor subtly, and though he could only see Poo's back, Dustin knew it was coming from the prince. Feeling that something terrible was about to happen, Dustin flung himself flat on the ground.

	The space around Poo distorted, then tore completely open like a crinkled piece of paper. Out of the void shot a wave of fiery white stars, spinning and spiraling madly as they went. With the sound that could only be described as the impact of celestial bodies, the starstorm tore through the ranks of starmen, completely obliterating some and tearing the rest into unrecognizable scrap. Those stars that missed their targets sailed to the fair corners of the room and exploded, showering white flame sparks in all directions. The reverberations continued even after the cosmic barrage had ended.

	Through it all, the starman commander stood impassive. Dustin, his mind blown from the immensity of Poo's assault, noticed that a shimmer of air similar to the psychic shield that was protecting him surrounded the starman as well. 'All of that and he's still there? How can a robot even have psychic powers?'

	Not wasting any time, Poo crouched down and blasted forward at blinding speed. Before he could lay the final blow, however, a wave of fire sprang out of the ground and instantly engulfed him. "No!!" cried Dustin, a stab of terror rending his heart at the thought that his protector was destroyed. In the next moment, as the flames disappeared as suddenly as they had come, he was relieved to see Poo still standing, albeit his psychic shield destroyed under the force of the blast and his clothing singed around the edges. 

	Trying once more, Poo burst into motion and came at the starman in a dizzying zig-zag. Another wave of fire appeared at the robot's command, but this time Poo swept his hand in an arc and seemed to push the conflagration to one side like it was a puff of vapor. Leaping through the embers, he drove his weapon straight through the starman commander with a climactic rending of metal, burying it down to the hilt all in one smooth motion. Sparks flickered fitfully for a moment, then died. Poo tore his blade out of his enemy horizontally, creating a fatal gash of wires and machinery that fizzled and popped.  The damage too much to bear, it crumpled to the ground in a lifeless heap.

	Awed at this exchange of psychic power, Dustin sat up slightly from his prone position. The threat appeared to have passed, as the only sound now was the steady bass hum of the digging machine against the wall. Turning to it, the prince of Dalaam seemed to examine the machine for a moment, then leapt and plunged his sword into its electric organs. It gave a shudder, then the light emanating from its depths faded and the digging ceased. Turning from it, Poo walked over to Dustin and slumped down to sit there against the wall with a tired sigh.

	"That was amazing." was all Dustin could muster after a moment of silence.

	"In time, perhaps you will be able to achieve as much, Chosen One." Slumping against the wall next to Dustin, Poo laid his weapon down and let out a tired sigh. With the robot menace purged from Alphed, everything somehow seemed more serene, even this dank and forbidding cave. Beautiful silence reigned in the absence of the horrible machine and, inexplicably, Dustin saw a white butterfly drift across the the room in a lazy, glimmering line. Smiling slightly, he looked at the former member of the Chosen Four out of the corner of his eye. It was hard to believe how far things had come since he'd been awoken earlier in the night. And yet, in a way it wasn't surprising at all. The idea that he really was the Chosen One was starting to seem like less of an impossibility with every minute that passed.

	The magic butterfly drifted aimlessly around the room, spreading serenity from it's tiny beating wings. Dustin held out a hand as it neared, and it landed carefully on his palm. Everything didn't seem so bad, and the future, while filled with dark, had its brief snatches of hope, sometimes in the most unexpected forms. This little manifestation of hope in Dustin's palm was enough to make him relax and close his eyes, trying to fathom what lay in store.