Excelsior (12 page)

Jason nodded. “Well, yeah. I mean, we’re like that too. Before we have company come over, I always tell Matthew to make sure his room is clean.”

No response from Radifen. Jason could swear he heard crickets, so he turned to the younger Denarians. “So have you guys ever met Excelsior when he was on your planet?”

Karini shook his head. His friend’s mouth was full of pizza, so he took the liberty to further explain. “Both Zorribis and I were born after he and Danaak left Denab IV, during the small window of time when there was actual peace before General Hodera took over the Krunation Empire. We were still young when we had to retreat to the caverns underneath the surface. The Elders were there to watch over us.”

Jason cut him off. “Wait. Danaak, I know that name. That’s Nocterar’s second-in-command, right?”

Grannik swallowed the last piece of his first slice and grabbed his second as he asked, “How do you know of Danaak?”

“My nephew told me all about him. He’s, you know, the reason all you guys are here. He used all these guys like Excelsior, Nocterar, Danaak. He put them in his comics and filled me in on what he had in mind for them. I encouraged him to keep it up and to tell me more about his stories as he put them together.”

Radifen smiled. “So it is you that we have to thank for us being here. If it were not for your encouragement, it is possible that Matthew may not have continued.”

Jason smiled in surprise. “Wow. I never thought of it like that. I just thought it was going to be something to keep him busy and maybe he could make a career out of it.”

Grannik's lips were red from the tomato sauce and he reached for his third slice. “Well, he is. Just not quite the way you thought.”

Jason relaxed as he finished his slice. “And the woman that’s up there with Matthew now, Klierra?"

“Elder Klierra,” Radifen corrected him.

“Right, Klierra. She’s supposed to be one of the Elders, right?” When Radifen nodded, Jason let out a low whistle. “If she looks that good now, I can’t imagine what she would have been like when she was younger.”

“Why thank you Jason,” Klierra answered from behind him. Jason stepped back in surprise and turned around. She chuckled as she leaned against the doorway to the kitchen.

“I, I was just…” He made a futile attempt to backtrack when Klierra spoke up again.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s always flattering to hear it.”

Now it was Grannik’s turn to laugh. “Now, Elder Klierra, do you mean to say that you’ve had the men from this planet so taken by you that you hear these comments all the time?”

Klierra shrugged her shoulders. “Let’s just say they know the right things to say. I’m sure that when the four of you are around women on this planet, you will get the same reactions.”

Zorribis entered the conversation. “I am betrothed.”

Karini nodded. “Yes you are. And Niterra asked me to watch over you and make sure you remember.”

“As a good brother should,” Zorribis responded.

“Is Matthew all right?” Jason asked Klierra.

“He’s fine. He’ll be down in just a minute. He was just putting some pictures back on his walls.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him what he needed to hear, and what he needed to know."

The sound of footsteps suddenly ended the conversation. Matthew slowly walked past Klierra and looked around at the four new guests in his home. He paid particular attention to the two older men and pointed at each one. “Radifen?” The son of an Elder nodded with a warm smile. “Grannik?”

Grannik extended his large hand to Matthew in friendship and clasped the boy’s wrist. On instinct, Matthew did the same, although his fingers could not wrap around the large Denarian's wrist. “I understand you already know us, Matthew?”

Matthew nodded. “I do. I can’t believe this.”

Radifen walked over to Matthew and crouched down slightly to look deep into his eyes. “You have the memories of both Excelsior and Semminex, don’t you?”

“Yes. I remember the day when you two helped Semminex. The first successful escape from the Krunation prison camp.”

Grannik looked up at his fellow former prisoner with an excited smile. “I’ll never forget that. Radifen, do you remember that one guard when I took his head…” He then grabbed Matthew by the back of his head, his eyes still on Radifen. “…and went…”

Grannik started to pull Matthew’s head back and Radifen grabbed his friend’s wrist. “Calm down. We do not need a reenactment. And I am sure Matthew remembers that moment as well as we do.”

“Oh yes, sorry.” Grannik then released his grip on the back of Matthew’s head and gave his hair a tussle. Matthew quickly pulled away and used his fingers to comb his hair back into place, then grabbed a plate and a slice of pizza. As he took his first bite, Karini walked over to him and clasped his wrist.

“My name is Karini, and I can't begin to tell you what an honor it is to meet you, Sir. I've heard the most wonderful stories about how you led our people into prosperity and how you defeated Nocterar. What wonderful stories my clanmother used to tell about you when I was small. Wait, I mean grandmother.”

Matthew laughed at how he was being fawned over like a guest at a sci-fi convention and put his hand on his shoulder. “It’s, uh, nice to meet you, too. And my name’s Matthew.” He then looked over at Zorribis and extended his hand to him. “I’m sorry I don’t know your name.”

Zorribis clasped Matthew’s wrist and introduced himself. “I’m Zorribis. Pleasure to meet you, Matthew.”

As Matthew continued eating his slice, Radifen walked over to grab another. “So tell us, Matthew. How did you become the recipient of Excelsior's lifeforce?”

“I touched the sword for a second when I was younger.”

Radifen nodded. “So what other memories do you have?”

Matthew dwelled on the question for a moment as he chewed. “Well, I know pretty much all about the struggles between the Denarians and Krunations. I know about Nocterar, and I know the legend of Excelsior. And I have a lot of vivid memories from the time when Semminex had his lifeforce. I don’t know too much about the period before Semminex, though. The time when he was in Valertus’ body, just a few bits and pieces of that.”

Grannik grabbed another slice – this time from the box of pepperoni pizza – and took a big bite. With the food still in his mouth, he mumbled out, “Yoo memba Day-dak?”

Matthew shook his head. “I’m sorry, what?”

Grannik finished chewing, swallowed and then repeated himself. “Do you remember Danaak?”

“Oh, Danaak. Yes, and I know he’s here on Earth.”

Jason almost choked on his pizza and coughed loudly as he spit it out into the sink. Did he just hear that right? “Wait. What do you mean he’s here?” He then looked at Klierra in shock. “What did you tell him?”

Klierra answered in a matter-of-fact tone. “Matthew is right. Danaak is here on this planet, and he is in
Manhattan
. His body has been preserved ever since he and Excelsior’s sword landed here thousands of years ago, and it won’t be long before his body is regenerated and he wakes up.”

The four Denarian men exchanged worried glances. “How much time do we have to get him ready?”

“Judging by the condition Danaak was in when he was discovered, we have less than 48 Earth hours.”

“How much time is that?” Zorribis asked.

“Not enough.”

Jason looked over at Matt and saw his nephew quickly putting his right hand on the kitchen counter. "Matt, you all right?"

“Ummm, yeah. I’m fine. I’m just…I just got really tired out of nowhere.”

Radifen inquired, “Do you get these sudden spells often?”

Matthew answered, “Not this strong, but every time I finished a comic and posted it, I would get tired and go to sleep.”

Jason interrupted. “But you’d be up all hours of the night when you did that. I had to tell you to go to bed sometimes, but you’d still stay up.”

“I know. But if I went to bed before it was done, I couldn’t sleep.”

Klierra nodded. “That must be Excelsior doing that to you. Maybe you should follow his lead and get some sleep. You have a busy day tomorrow.”

“But I have school. Final exams are coming up and I have to--”

Jason wanted to say, what's the point? It's not like you've been studying. But he decided to spare Matthew or any of their guests that conversation.

Radifen cut him off. “Whatever exams are, they are the least of your worries right now, Matthew. You should get some rest.”

Matthew nodded and waved to everyone as he exited the room. Jason followed his nephew, making sure that he wouldn't fall backwards while walking up the stairs. Klierra walked up the stairs as well, helping Jason with escorting Matthew inside his bedroom.

“We’ll see you tomorrow morning for your training, Matthew,” Klierra told him. “It’ll be a big day for both of you so make sure you get plenty of rest.” Matthew simply nodded again and shut the door.

Klierra and Jason stood by the door, waiting to hear if Matthew had collapsed onto the floor. Jason slowly turned the knob and peeked inside, satisfied to see that his nephew had indeed reached the bed. He even found it in him to pull his sneakers off before his head hit the pillow.

Careful not to make any noise – not that it would have made much of a difference anyway – Jason shut the door and then turned to Klierra, speaking in a low whisper. “A big day for both of you?”

Klierra nodded. “Of course. You have some training that needs to be done as well.”

“Why me? Isn’t he supposed to be the great savior?”

“Yes. But you’re not just going to sit here at home while he does what he has to do. Make sure you contact his school to let him know he’ll be absent for a little while, and then you have a day’s worth of training to get yourself in shape so you can keep up with him. And then you have your own mission to accomplish.”

Before Jason could ask another follow-up question, they were interrupted by the eruption of snoring from inside Matthew’s bedroom. Klierra pointed to the door. “Is that normal?”

Jason nodded. “He gets it from his father. So what’s my mission?”

“You have to go with Zorribis and Karini to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

“You just said Danaak’s going to be alive in two days and you want me to show them Chinese vases?”

Klierra rolled her eyes at Jason, although he couldn’t see that through her glasses. “Nooooo, the three of you have to get Excelsior’s sword and bring it back here.”

Jason nodded as if he understood when the truth was the exact opposite. “And that is supposed to be accomplished… how, exactly? I don’t know if you picked this up during your time here, but when you try to take something from the museum and alarms go off and a bunch of big men are running toward you, that doesn’t mean you just won a prize.”

“Don’t worry about how it’s going to be done. They’ll take care of that. You just have to be ready for when they do.”

Jason shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, I’ll take your word for it. Can I ask you one more question?” Klierra nodded. “You said before that Danaak and Excelsior came here about 10,000 years ago, and I’m hearing these guys talking about how they knew Excelsior and fought with him and everything.”

“Yes. We all have. What’s your question?”

“Well… shouldn’t you be a fossil by now or something?”

Jason noticed Klierra's brow furrowing at the fossil reference. Maybe that wasn't the best choice of words. But she still answered. “When Excelsior created Denab IV, he envisioned a planet of total paradise, and he wanted to make sure that its inhabitants enjoyed it as much as possible. So he slowed down the aging process so drastically, it would take roughly 100 of your years for one of my people to age a year.”

“Well… you look… great.” Klierra laughed at Jason’s clumsy attempt to flatter her. At least he hoped she would stop frowning at him. She smiled. It worked.

“Thank you again. Unfortunately, Excelsior also assumed that his inhabitants would enjoy Denab IV so much that no one would want to leave. He allowed us the ability to adapt to other planets, but he did not know that when a Denarian is on a planet such as this one, their aging process would begin to accelerate over time. After being here for ten Earth years, it has become more than a little tiring.”

“Wait. Excelsior didn’t know?” Jason couldn’t fathom the idea of a god not knowing something.

Klierra looked up at the ceiling, then back down at Jason. “Not every god is omnipotent.”

*   *   *

As Matthew lay almost comatose, he felt every cell in his body reaching a completely relaxed state. His eyelids flickered involuntarily, and the more Matthew slept, the more his mind drifted away.

Matthew's body suddenly felt like lead, his bed replaced by a stone floor. As he moved his arms to push himself up, a large and scaly hand grabbed him by his hair, lifted up his head and then slammed it on the floor. Matthew winced in pain, and he felt blood sliding down his forehead and dripping onto the floor. The blood looked darker than what he was used to seeing, and as he moved one hand up to rub his forehead, he could feel it had a thicker texture.