Excelsior (31 page)

Excelsior grasped the handle of his sword then froze as a recent memory asserted itself.

“I don’t know the extent of Excelsior’s powers,” Radifen said slowly. “I don’t think anyone can tell you that, not even Semminex or Valertus. But I do know that it’s not something you can test. Excelsior’s always been full of surprises and his abilities seem to appear at the right time. You’ll just have to let go and trust Excelsior to do what needs to be done.”

The jewel grew cold and dark as Nocterar drained the last erg of energy and then let it fall from his hand.

“Good-bye forever, Excelsior!” Nocterar bellowed as he fired every last fragment of the jewel’s power into his enemy’s direction. It came screaming toward him and the life of Matthew Peters flashed before his eyes. The first time he touched the sword and discovered the star-shaped mark on his palm. The first issue of the Excelsior comic posted online. The “Virtual Future” experiment. Klierra’s Denarian blood that had completed his awakening.

As the ball of energy sped toward him, Excelsior stood still and did nothing. He felt his body and his mind relax and allowed his eyelids to drift closed. Just as Radifen instructed him, he let himself go.

Excelsior didn’t see the star outline on the palm of his right hand begin to glow. He never felt his right arm raise itself, his palm in the direct path of Nocterar’s monstrous energy blast. The power was enough to vaporize anything in his path, but Excelsior didn’t move. Instead of dissolving the Denarian savior’s body, the energy was sucked into his palm like a vacuum. Nocterar tried to pull it back but the blast continued and Excelsior continued to absorb it, passive and unscathed, until he had absorbed all Nocterar had to give.

The power Excelsior held in his right hand made it radiate light and Hodera -- now struggling to get to her feet -- knew this would not end well for her people. Without hesitation, she grabbed Nocterar’s sword, picked up the jewel from the floor and leapt through the hole in the chamber’s wall.

*   *   *

Denarians and Krunations alike ran from the barrage of explosions from Nocterar’s once-imposing castle. Chunks of metal and stone flew through the air and came crashing down.

As Hodera exited from the hole in the side of the Leap of Faith chamber, she attached the jewel to the handle of Nocterar’s sword. She spotted her opening and ran. Screams of fear and cheers of victory filled her ears as she raced away.

She turned to see how far from the battleground she had gotten. The Leap of Faith chamber was shrinking in the distance when a chunk of stone no larger than her fist flew through the air and struck her in the head. She tumbled to the ground while clutching the sword, fading into unconsciousness.

*   *   *

Excelsior’s eyes burned red as he opened them and smiled at Nocterar. He thrust his palm forward and the energy collected from Nocterar’s blast was returned with blinding force at the emperor.

Nocterar shrieked as the destructive energy slammed into his body. He felt his protective chest piece and cloak being cut to ribbons, and pieces of his scaly skin were shredded. The blast ate away at the emperor’s body and after a moment of shrieking, the horrendous noise dropped to a mere whisper.

When all of the energy had been spent, Excelsior’s eyes cooled to crystalline blue. Nocterar’s devastated body plummeted to the floor like a stone. His breathing was a slow wheeze and every cell in his body screamed with pain.

The Krunation leader saw Excelsior standing over him. “This. Is not. Over.” Nocterar forced the words from his lips. “Others… will finish what was started. You and your… pathetic race… will be… exterminated.”

Excelsior sheathed his sword and knelt to watch the light fade from Nocterar’s eyes. “Good-bye forever, Nocterar,” he said quietly.

CHAPTER 14

The cheering of hundreds of now-free Denarians filled the air, but Hodera heard nothing. She remained motionless, her body still clutching her sword tightly, the stone fragment from Nocterar’s castle lying beside her.

As the smoke and ashes continued to rain down from the wreckage, wounded Krunation soldiers helped one another and searched for survivors. A large Krunation knelt down beside Hodera and placed a massive hand on her shoulder.

“General Hodera,” he spoke with a flat tone as he roused her. Her eyes slowly opened and then closed, and she flinched from the pain in her head. Hodera tried to focus so she could see her rescuer.

When she saw the Krunation’s broad chest and silver hair, she gulped in shock. “Connoram.”

*   *   *

Excelsior no longer felt like a child, but he still felt his heart racing just as Matthew’s had when he had finished the first issue of the web comic. So this is what it feels like saving an entire planet, he thought.

Excelsior grabbed Nocterar by the remains of his cloak and dragged him to the Leap of Faith. He placed his hand on the silver sphere, and the metallic doorway flashed to life: Instead of a planet, there was the blackness of space, the right place for Nocterar’s body to dissolve into energy. Excelsior grabbed his enemy and flung him through the doorway. Nocterar’s body immediately began to dissolve as it passed through the doorway.

The Leap of Faith closed, and as Excelsior walked out of the chamber he could hear the cheers of his people getting louder. They reached a fever pitch as he appeared.

The chants of “Excelsior! Excelsior!” echoed through the sky, and the savior of Denab IV saw nothing but Denarians. Many were wounded and being tended to by their comrades, but there was no pain in their eyes, no anguish coming from their mouths. The only emotion Excelsior could see was pure elation.

Zorribis rushed up to Excelsior and embraced him. “Not too bad, Matty,” Zorribis said in his ear. “Not too bad at all.”

“I learned from the best,” Excelsior responded.

Suddenly, the cheering stopped and the Denarians created a pathway in their midst. A figure with a white beard and wearing a long flowing robe appeared. A large pair of dark glasses shielded his sensitive eyes from the sun. He looked up at Excelsior and smiled. “By our actions, it was done, Excelsior. It is good to have you back once again, old friend.”

Excelsior smiled and genuflected with his fellow Denarians. “Acerus, it is so very good to see you on the surface of Denab IV.”

“I had to see our people’s victory for myself,” the Elder responded. He turned to the Denarians.

“Today is the beginning of a new age on Denab IV. Our persecutors have been vanquished. Their ruler is nothing more than a memory, and we are free once more. Our savior, Excelsior, has returned to watch over us again.” The Denarians erupted in another loud cheer, and the Highest Elder waited for it to subside before speaking again, his face beaming.

“With this victory comes great sacrifice. Let us thank the Denarians who made our victory possible. Radifen! Grannik! Karini! Wilitar! And the woman directly responsible for Excelsior returning to us, Elder Klierra!” A great hurrah resounded, and Excelsior held up his arm, his fist high in the air in honor of the fallen Denarians.

Excelsior kept his fist in the air as he announced, “This mountain will no longer be named after my host. It will now, and forever more, be known as
Klierra
Peak
.” Another hurrah sounded from the rejoicing crowd and Excelsior’s mind went to his uncle Jason, who had surprised him by fighting Danaak.

As Excelsior lowered his arm, the Highest Elder noticed that there was sadness in his eyes. “Are you all right?” he asked.

Excelsior answered, “Yes, I'm fine. I'm just…”

“Just thinking about the life you led on Earth,” Acerus correctly guessed.

“There is that,” Excelsior nodded. “Jason is the only family I have left. I miss him already.” He took a deep breath before he continued. “But there is a lot to be done here.”

Acerus nodded and then put his hand on Excelsior's shoulder. “I would very much like to know more about Earth, and about this man you speak of. Perhaps you can tell us all about your time on Matthew’s planet.”

Excelsior smiled. “Well, it was my storytelling that drew Elder Klierra to me.”

“This is true,” Acerus said with a laugh. “We will add Jason‘s name to Excelsior‘s legend, just as Semminex‘s family was added. It is our way of honoring the host of your lifeforce.”

Excelsior's face broke into a familiar boyish grin. “I'd like that. He deserves to be there.” He looked at the mountaintop that was once again the tallest spot on all of Denab IV. “But something needs to be done first. Everyone on this planet has to know that we are free.”

“I agree. It is time that they knew.” Acerus gave his blessing.

Excelsior bowed his head and shut his eyes. His body rose into the air with increasing speed, until he landed on top of the mountain. The Denarians looked on in wonder.

Excelsior saw a towering formation of clouds that his current host had seen before in a dream. Thunder rumbled and Excelsior held his sword up to the sky. The jewel embedded in the sword emanated a soft glow.

As he stood on
Klierra
Peak
, the sky blackened. Sooty clouds crashed above him, releasing a brilliant bolt of lightning that struck the sword and irradiated outward, burning through the gloom with a luminosity that purged the land of the castle’s remains and the Krunation dead. In their place were lush green fields, ready to grow healthy crops once again.

The wounded Denarians felt their pain ease as they were bathed in the light. Their broken bones begin to heal and the holes in their skin started to close. Those weakened from blood loss felt a sudden rejuvenation. Slowly they arose, joyful witnesses of the miracle.

Excelsior looked over the land, the blade of his sword gleaming in the sun. Only three days ago, he thought of the planet Denab IV as nothing more than a product of his own imagination. He thought of the lonely boy drawing comic books, trying to create a better world, a world with a hero named Excelsior. Now here he was, that very hero he thought he had created, the man who would lead the people of Denab IV into a new Golden Age. Excelsior removed his helmet and let the cooling breeze caress his face. He drank in the view of Denab IV, a rolling sea of emerald, and off in the distance, he could just barely make out a slow-moving herd of massive furry beasts.

“So THAT’S what Throngar look like.”

EPILOGUE

Out in the infinite depths of space, a burst of light signaled the arrival of an object coming from the Leap of Faith. The lifeless body of the great Krunation emperor Nocterar appeared and immediately started to dissolve. Within moments, his remains were reduced to particles of dust, giving off a faint glimmer of light as they floated aimlessly.

A transparent orb containing a ball of bright energy approached, glowing brighter as it passed through the particles, absorbing the last ergs of energy.

Suddenly, the light within the orb began to pulse as regularly as a heartbeat. And it remembered. It remembered when it was a man and when it was a god. And it remembered the one who took it all away.

And the stillness of space was broken by a single thought. “Nocterar…my servant…you have failed.”

AFTERWORD: An Abridged Life

It’s not going to come as a shock to you when I say the story you have just read is a work of fiction. It is the culmination of over fifteen years I have spent designing, updating and enhancing my character Excelsior and his original story. However, the inspiration for Matthew Peters came from two different sources. One is from my own childhood and the days I spent writing about Excelsior and other related characters. That part of the inspiration is more literal, while the symbolic inspiration comes from my cousin, Matthew Peter Henkel.

Matt left us on
March 19, 2005
, just one week before his 25th birthday, and ever since his passing, I have been looking for a way to honor him as the hero he always was to me. It has been almost five years now, and while it is easy to say that his life was cut short, I don’t think it was. In fact, I think by the time he died, his life was complete.

You may be familiar with William Goldman's book and movie The Princess Bride. When Goldman wrote that story, he found himself getting stuck time and time again on various scenes, so in order to keep going, he stopped writing about the scene when he started to bore himself. By doing this, he wound up telling this story the way it was told to him by his father (his grandfather in the film), and he was able to keep the pace crisp by taking the “boring parts” out. So what we have is an abridged version of a fairy tale.

That's the way I look at how Matt lived his life. It wasn't cut short; it was abridged. It was a complete life with all the boring parts taken out. Let's take a look at what he had to deal with when he was two years old. Diagnosed with Wilms Tumor – a cancer of the kidneys that targets children – he was given a very grim analysis by doctors not long after he was potty trained. But he survived. And not only did he survive, but he went on to thrive. Sure, the chemo stunted his growth and he would go on to have plenty of other problems with his kidneys for years afterwards, but don't even think for a second that he let that slow him down.