Rainbow Guardians: Chapter 16

 Chapter 16: Light and Darkness

Frost… The only thing around was just storms of frost. I attempted to open my eyes, but my lashes stabbed each other. It was like the prickling of frost daggers. My heart screamed a whale song in my ribs, throbbing as if to break it. My whole body burned with vigorous flames, spreading through my veins. All the physical sensations around me melted away. Somehow my vision came back, and all the ice vanished. There was something odd with my eyes; everywhere was blinded by a golden light. A white, cloudy ray approached and enveloped me. The burning feeling was replaced by a soothing, cool wind, and I grabbed the golden light in my palms, fervently wishing to get out there. Somehow, I found myself beside everyone; they were exactly in the same position I last saw them.

Everything was extremely slow, and the golden energy was still in my hands. I set it free; it revolved around and landed on my chest, glowing swirls appearing on my skin. Again, the light pumped up in my body, spreading our molecules around. The entrance of the Negavise was on the horizon. 

***

The gates were like fuming chimneys of the factories, grotesque and high. A lightning flash appeared in the atmosphere of the dark planet. Nelly and the others found themselves in a misty ocean of black matter. Every particle in their being was churning, making glitches. Nelly tried to find something to hold because her body was having an earthquake. While the energy around her disappeared, some scent like burnt amber spread into the air. Mistress Persephone gingerly stood up and went beside the Starland princess.

“N-Nelly,” she squirmed, touched her shoulder. “What happened?”

“Mistress… I… Something…” Nelly stuttered, blinking away the sparks in her vision. “Something possessed me.”

“Ancestral bond… I think your unconsciousness triggered the emergency memory in your core.” 

Nelly, however, only groaned. The rest of the crew were still attempting to recover. Suddenly, a black whirlpool began to emerge from the gates’ direction. Count Hermes, Mistress Persephone and the other teachers instantly built a barrier. The earth nymphs’ power was supporting the Count’s crystal, square walls. Albeit with difficulty, they managed to grip it, but they were still shaking. The girls stared at them, almost blankly and jaws dropped. Persephone repositioned herself and yelled.

"Are you waiting for an invitation?! Jump down the black matter.”

“B-but Mistress, what about you?” Shanya responded.

"OFF YOU GO NOW!" Count cried. "We will cover you up."

Shanya, Neesha and Julia were about to protest, but gunky black figures slammed the barrier, cracking it. Anny, Julia and Nelly dove together, Shanya and Neesha following. They fell into the dark, gunky matter. It felt like drowning in an intense gas or a swamp. It seemed the fate showered them with ‘breath-taking’ experiences that day. They kept going deeper for a while, and the ooze stopped dragging them. All the princesses except Neesha landed on the haunches. She was lightly floating thanks to last-minute anti-gravity sole activation. The others rubbed their backs and examined around. They were sitting on an obsidian floor with metal needles under it. Neesha had already started to analyse this room-prisoner cubicle, whatever it was. Her blue eyes glimmered with a rainbow sheen; she was about to explode.

"Guys, I think we must be close to Hugo's chamber!"

"Ugh, seriously Neesha?" Julia asked, facepalming. "Our bodies are still feeling like jello thanks to this… Blondie bombshell; we nearly suffocated, and now this?!”

“Hey, who are you calling bombshell?” Nelly cried beside Anny.

“Be reasonable guys,” Anny joined “It was all unintentionally done.”

“Yeah. If we need a scapegoat, it is the freaking Shadow Galactica!” Shanya cried, her voice booming.

The others became calm somehow and threw weird glances at her.

“Um, sorry?”

Shanya took her head onto her knees, curling with her navy hair. Some moments later, Nelly stood up and landed her hands on all sitting friends. Finally, their dizziness was lessening (they too were floating thanks to anti-gravity). Neesha continued her analysis and detected that the room was the storage of the prison. The building was horizontal-hourglass shaped, and they were on the second end. On the narrowest part, the scallywag of the dimension was awaiting.

***

Everywhere was twisted upside down just like the landing on the planet. From the tiles, countless liquid soldiers surrounded them. They squeezed the limbs of the girls, causing capillary internal bleeding. The cries of everyone echoed through the corridors. Meanwhile, Persephone, Eleanora, Penelope and Hermes were attempting to stop the black-matter armies. Hermes locked them up inside the crystal chambers, sending frequencies. It decomposed the magnetism among the atoms, burning their cores. Penelope’s geysers and Eleanora’s volcanic rocks exploded the soldiers; Persephone melted them with herbal acids. However, the armies kept coming just like Hydra’s heads, slowly draining the teachers.

The situation of the girls was no different than their elders. Their captors were crushing the bones and the other veins in their bodies. Nelly sensed her cracking inside, but the choir of the sound was raping her ears. She couldn’t bear it anymore and talked via telepathy.

‘Girls, can you hear me?’ Nelly inquired, baffled by a groan.

‘If you mean the shattering, Yes, I can Goldie-locks.’ Answered Julia, furiously frowning.

‘Ha, ha, so amusing you pyromaniac.’

‘Seriously, cut it out!’ Anny mentally screamed with an eye roll. ‘If you won’t stop, I swear I’ll screw up your moods even more.’

‘And, I will expose your most embarrassing dreams!’ Neesha added.

‘Please, calm down everyone! We have to get rid of this gooeyness first!’ Shanya warned; her face soaked with sweat and tears. 

‘Ok, so, do you have any plans?’ Nelly asked.

'I would say teleporting, but it is an advanced core-user ability,' Neesha replied 'Also, Nelly was about to vanish our physical beings.’

‘Ugh, I’m sorry, OK?’ she replied, trying to inhale. ‘Mistress says it was due to the ancestral bond, and somehow I saved our butts from freezing in the void.’

‘Well, I can try my acidic ivies if you want.’ Shanya said.

‘These creatures are probably from the black matter as the ones we saw before. You can dissolve their forms, but it shan’t last long.’ Neesha responded.

'I'm not gonna wait any longer. I will set muddy dudes on fire!' Julia raged, heating herself.

‘Girls-’ Nelly tried to call them.

'Seriously, sometimes I agree with Nelly. You are a fire-head!' Anny exclaimed, attempting to diffuse her atoms.

‘Oh, you little! -’ Julia tried to respond.

‘GIRLS! CUT IT OUT AND HEAR ME OUT!’

At last, Nelly hushed everyone and got their attention. Her eyes were radiating golden flashes with a turquoise glow; her golden mane blazed like an overheated light bulb. 

‘Finally, some common sense!’ Nelly began her words, frowning. ‘I have an idea to solve the problem. I think we can emit some of the raw core energy with our psyches. I’m also aware that this is risky, but altering physical forms can help us to get rid of their grasp.’

‘Well, it has a 1-5% success rate, can cause incurable scars but is worth giving a shot.’ Neesha replied, sending statistics to their devices.

‘So, who's with me?’

‘We are.’ Everyone said in unison. ‘Lead the way.’

She began to shine even brighter than before, almost transforming into a human star. Particularly, her chest was nearly invisible from the light. Nelly's aura spread pink and white particles while her physical form was evaporating. She spread stardust all around. Anny became a huge, glittering cloud and left chunks of smoke behind. The last thing left of her was a fuchsia glow in her heart's spot. Julia's body cracked as arid soil, melting into the goo of lava. Then, the hot fluid burst and flames arose. Julia's right hand was the last thing to vanish, with only embers remaining. On the other hand, Shanya crumbled to a sandstorm; petals, leaves, and branches spun over her naval with the choir of animal sounds. Roars, growls, neighs, buzzes, chirps, hisses and many sounds echoed at the same time and drove the army. Neesha focused on each molecule in her being and controlled them. Her mental energy was transmitting them by telekinesis; she shifted into nothingness with rainbow swirls. 

Later that dance of evanesce, the army of oozes had mostly wiped out. Again, a blanket of bleakness veiled the views, and it seemed as if the fortune adored blindfolding them. Meanwhile, another silhouette entered out of a black portal, rushing to the scene.