Vincent’s ship he’d called landed in front of their house. They all got out of the ship, and it took off elsewhere.

  “Well, I need to go shopping, we’re low on… everything,” Vincent said.

  Tod turned to him, “I’m surprised you aren’t taking us to this too.”

  Vincent jokingly replied, “Nah, I only take you on missions that endanger you, shopping is harmless!”

  “Me and Tod are gonna work on the cellar while you’re gone,” Eiliesh said enthusiastically.

  Tod looked over at Eiliesh, “Uhm, why?”

  Vincent jumped in, “Because I have plans for it and Eiliesh offered to help”

  “When did I get involved?” Tod asked.

  Eiliesh responded, “I don’t know, do you want fifty percent?”

  “He’s paying you!?” Tod shouted.

  Tod and Eiliesh made it back to the house and Vincent turned to the driveway to get into the car.

  “Alright, I need to go get something from my room, I’ll meet you down there in a minute,” Tod said as Eiliesh went downstairs to the cellar. Tod turned and went into his room, grabbing his phone. As he left his room he turned back to the front door. As he approached it, couldn’t help but notice Vincent’s door ajar. Energy emitted from the room and filled the house.

  “I just… want to know who he really is… one peek won’t hurt…” He thought to himself.

  He stepped into Vincent’s office, cluttered as always. He squeezed through the small gap between the desk and the wall. He stepped over Vincent’s chair and pulled back the cloth into the room. It matched the office, in terms of unorganized crap scattered about along shelves and the floor. One thing caught his attention, a hanging bed of flowers in the center of the room. The flowers glowed a dark blue that dimly illuminated the entire room. He stepped closer to inspect the flowers. He’d seen these before, but he couldn’t remember from where. He got even closer, seeing the dark lines moving out of the center of the flowers. He finally remembered.

  He remembered sitting in a bed of flowers, barely taller than them. It must’ve been when he was incredibly young. He looked up and saw large metal ships whizzing around in the air. Gunfire couldn’t hide the sound of a giant beast roaring around him. The sky was an infinite abyss of darkness. All the ships were comparable to helicopters and had someone inside firing at something behind him. Suddenly he heard loud footsteps approaching him and he instinctively layed on his back, trying to hide himself. He saw Vincent looking around in the flowers, trying to find him. Vincent finally saw him and knelt down and picked him up.

  “What are you doing out here? I’m gonna take you back somewhere safe.”

  The last thing Tod remembered was being loaded into a ship as Vincent said to one of his co-workers, “Some freak left a baby out there.”

  “Ew, a Belvod, get rid of that thing.”

  Vincent responded offended, “No! I want to keep it, it’s just a little baby.”

  “Whatever, just don’t let the boss see it, he’ll you get rid of it.”

  That was all he could recall. When he tried to remember as many details as he could. He remembered that the ships had a large diamond shape on them. Tod knew where he needed to go next if he wanted to find out more about Vincent. Tod searched around the room a bit more but found nothing. He decided to just go to The Diamond Council and figure out what happened. He left Vincent’s room in the exact condition he found it in and left.

  He walked outside and thought to himself for a moment. He decided to call The Diamond Council and rent a ship to get there. He called, asked for one, and they said it was free of charge.

  * * *

  Kane was eating a bowl of cereal, and he got a call on his phone. He picked it up.

  The other line spoke, “Tod is coming to a branch.”

  Kane gasped and choked on his cereal a bit.

  Kane coughed and responded, “Oh god, which one, I’ll be there in a minute.”

  “14b”

  Kane jumped up and ran to his walk-in closet. He hastily got dressed in his very proper work attire. He rushed out the front door and loaded into his ship.

  * * *

  Tod Stepped into The Diamond Council branch and looked around for anyone to help him. It was bustling with people, running back and forth through doors in the room. He attempted to get some assistance but was ignored by several people. Suddenly someone turned and looked at him.

  “THERE’S A BELVOD INSIDE!!” They shouted.

  Tod sighed. A guard approached Tod with his gun drawn and pointed at him.

  “Don’t you dare move or I’ll shoot. What’s your business here?”

  “I just want to talk to like… someone in charge, I guess… I don’t know.”

  The guard spoke sternly to him, “Are you an ally of The Diamond Council?”

  “Uh, yeah, I’m Vincent’s son, here’s my ID.”

  The guard immediately put down his gun and began apologizing. Suddenly Kane stepped through the door behind Tod.

  “Tod! Oh, my goodness, how long has it been… 90 years or so?”

  “I barely remember you; I’m surprised you remember me.”

  “Well of course I remember you!”

  “The only time you ever saw me you were on the floor with a gun pointed at your head. And it was through a ship’s windshield. Wait, how are you here and why do you remember me?”

  “Uhm… Long story… ancient… spell… magic… whatever, that kind of stuff. Anyways, I remember you because you’re an associate of Vincent and I like to keep tabs on him.”

  “Why keep tabs on him?”

  “Uh… Because we’re best friends and I want to know what he’s up to…”

  Tod responded a bit confused, “Ooo…kayy, anyways, I want to ask you about Vincent’s past.”

  “Oh boy, what a big can of worms, follow me to my office, I’ll tell you all about it!” Kane said as he began through the flood of people, leading Tod to his office.

  “Take a seat right there,” Kane said as he took a seat in his own chair at a desk, “What exactly do you want to know?”

  “I-I just want to know… What he did, I guess…”

  “Y’know Tod, your dad saved almost everybody when The Belvods attacked. Everyone except well… me of course.”

  “Why couldn’t he save you?”

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  “A couple reasons, one, it was on the other side of the room, so I had to get over to the ship. Two, I was firing at The Belvods and didn’t know what was going on.”

  Tod thought for a moment then spoke up, “Why didn’t you know what was going on?”

  “Oh! That ship? Yeah, I didn’t know it existed. It was a secret project Vincent had been fiddling with in a secret back room he made. When The Belvods struck a day early, he unfurled the wall and began loading people in. It came as quite a shock to me, my walls opening and revealing a ship made of cobbled together parts.”

  “Jesus how did he make that?” Tod asked.

  “Vincent is incredibly intelligent. Dare I say one of the most intelligent people in the universe. He’s very… special… you could say. That’s why we employed him. Without his knowledge, hardly any of this would’ve been possible!”

  Tod spoke again, “He doesn’t seem that intelligent to me.”

  “He doesn’t seem that intelligent to himself, he doesn’t know a lot about himself. He’s incredibly special. More special than you think.”

  “Why do you know more about him than he does?”

  “Because he didn’t do his research, prophecies and whatnot.”

  “My

  dad, has ?”

  Kane responded, “They’re actually more common than you’d think.”

  Tod then moved on, “What happened after the Belvods attacked, with Vincent I mean.”

  “Oh… He was employed elsewhere…”

  “Where?”

  “A superhero team, The Super Seven…”

  “What?” Tod asked, confused.

  “Stupid name, I know.” Kane said.

  “No, I mean, how was he in a superhero team?”

  “They found out how much he contributed to wormhole technology, added him to the group for his intelligence.”

  Tod sat for a moment, connecting a few dots he responded, “Wait… The Super Three?”

  Kane responded a bit sheepishly, “Uh… yeah…”

  “Why did he stop working with them?” Tod asked.

  “That’s… That’s something for you to ask him yourself…”

  Tod sat up, “What, why?”

  “It’s… personal. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some duties I need to take care of.”

  Kane stood up and led Tod out of the room. He led Tod through the crowd of people and to the door. Tod stepped into the airlock, it de-pressurized and opened. He stepped out onto a platform in open space, to get back onto the ship.

  Tod remembered the night vividly that everything happened. He was sitting in a dog crate, a large lump of metal scraps, in front of him. He heard an explosion somewhere else and a few seconds later Vincent ran into the room. He took Tod to the lump of scrap that turned out to be a makeshift ship, before pressing a button that witnessed Tod to the chaos. People shooting back and forth between the smoke filling the area. Flashes of bright lights, screams, gunfire, and faint movements were all he could make out from the commotion. Vincent began loading people onto the ship, through the smoke and past the fire. Most were bleeding, some missing limbs, a few barely conscious. Vincent ran up into the ship and looked around.

  “No, no, no!” He must’ve realized that Kane wasn’t onboard. He swung open the door to the ship and before he could take a step out, he saw Kane fall out from the smoke onto the ground. Vincent was about to run out when he saw a silhouette emerge from the smoke. Vincent climbed back onto the ship and sat in the driver’s seat. A Belvod, wearing a crown, came out of the smoke. It had antlers and fur made out of the same material as the flesh covering its body. Its hoof stamped on the back of Kane’s neck and The Belvod King pulled out a gun and held it to Kane’s head. Vincent simply watched as his eyes welled with tears. As The Belvod King pulled the trigger Vincent rocketed the ship forward and it rammed into The King. After hitting him, Vincent pulled the ship upward and through the ceiling of the room, out into space.

  That was the extent of what Tod could remember. This interaction with Kane had pieced together parts in his memory he hadn’t put together before. He had a story, but he needed to know where it goes. Tod flew the ship back to his planet. He landed it in front of the house and opened the door.

  “Well, well, well, look who’s finally back.” Eiliesh said, waiting in the doorway.

  “Oh my god, I forgot, I’m sorry.”

  Eiliesh spoke in a very annoyed tone, “We’ll get it done tomorrow, its fine.”

  Tod ran into his room and booted up his laptop. In his search bar he typed ‘The Super Seven’.

  * * *

  Kane sat in his office. Suddenly he got a notification on his phone, a request from one of his workers to come to the confidential experimentation lab. He walked outside the station and climbed onto his ship, making his way to the main branch. He emerged out of his ship and walked down the halls to the lab. A guard stood in front of the door, Kane nodded to them, and they moved out of the way.

  As Kane stepped in a scientist ran up to him, “Kane, we discovered some more info about how their brains work!”

  “” Kane asked, not knowing what they were referring to.

  “The targets, we got another.”

  “Do share.” Kane said.

  “They’re conscious, they aren’t brainless zombies like we thought. They’re who they were before, the same people. This means as soon as they use the weapon, they aren’t completely lost.”

  “I see. Which one did you get?”

  “We got the first target on the list, the one with the orb.”

  Kane began to leave the room. Suddenly the scientist spoke up.

  “You might want to call Vincent off…” They suggested.

  Kane turned toward them swiftly, “Excuse me?”

  The scientist jumped back, “It’s just… because we don’t have to kill them… I thought…”

  “I will handle this; you aren’t in a place to make suggestions.”

  “I’m sorry…” the scientist uttered.

  “That’s more like it. Don’t forget your place.” Kane said as he left the room.

  * * *

  Vincent left the grocery store, his arms holding several bags that he began to load into the car. Suddenly as he closed the car door, he got a phone call.

  “Vincent. I need a favor.” Spoke Richard on the other end.

  “Who is this?”

  “The Void King.”

  “Ah, yeah, what do you need?” Vincent asked unenthusiastically.

  “I’m going out of town for a little while. These weapons you got… First of all, I don’t have anyone I can hand them off to that they would be in safe hands with, and I feel like if you had them maybe you could keep track of them a bit better?”

  “I see… You want me to hold onto them while you’re gone?”

  “Or just… until the job is over…?” Richard suggested.

  Vincent sighed, “Yeah, I can do that, where do you want me to pick them up?”

  “I can just ship them directly to your house if that’s alright?”

  “Sure, that’ll work. Although I’m out right now so depending on how fast you get them there, I might not be immediately able to secure them.”

  Richard joyfully exclaimed, “Yeah, yeah, that’s fine, they’re at your house right now.”

  “Alright then, is that all?” Vincent asked.

  “You bet, thanks.”

  Richard hung up.

  * * *

  Richard turned to Kane.

  “So, this’ll get those zombies off my ass?” Richard asked.

  “Hopefully, yeah”

  “What about Vincent?”

  Kane started walking out of the room, “He can handle them.”

  * * *

  Vincent got back to the house and brought in all the groceries in one trip from the car to the kitchen. Nobody was out, Vincent assumed they had a big day and started making himself a sandwich and sat in front of the TV. After he ate it, he sat up and started walking around the house, he ended up knocking on Tod’s door, to see what progress they’d made in the cellar. No response. Vincent knocked a few more times, each without a response. He finally creaked open the door and Tod wasn’t there. He went over to Eiliesh’s door, same result. He fumbled with his phone to call them.

  Vincent rang them once and it went to voicemail, he ran out to the car, calling both of them over and over until suddenly Eiliesh picked up.

  “God, Vincent, what?” she asked, frustrated at the number of times he’d called.

  “Where are you two? Didn’t bother telling me?”

  “We left a note on your desk, we went down to a party.”

  “Oh, who’s there?” Vincent asked.

  “Just a small group of friends, that’s all.”

  “Okay…”

  Eiliesh hung up. Vincent hopped out of the car and walked back into the house. As Vincent walked back in, he saw a large wooden box sitting outside the door. He slowly dragged it inside. He needed somewhere to put it, for it to be safe, but it was too heavy to put in the attic. He slowly dragged it through the house, until he remembered the cellar. He dragged the box into Tod’s room. Vincent installed a small elevator hidden in Tod’s room that led to the basement. The box just barely fit on the platform. As Vincent pressed a button behind Tod’s wardrobe, he ran over and hopped on top of the box as it lowered down. He slid it further into the cellar and took the elevator back up.

  Vincent went out of Tod’s room, making sure everything was exactly where it was before he’d gone in. He sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. As he was watching he looked out the window, he saw some sort of figure outside yet again, a much larger figure. It slowly limped toward the house; its spine didn’t appear to be holding the upper body up very well.

  “Not again…” Vincent muttered to himself.

  Vincent ran out front to keep eyes on the figure. He opened the cellar doors, doing his best to lock eyes with the thing in the distance. It suddenly started sprinting toward Vincent as he stepped down into the cellar. He suddenly turned around and jumped down the stairs. He made his way through the cellar; it had a large metal pole in the center of the room. Vincent readied a large chain he found. He waited with the chain until he heard loud, deep, grunts outside.

  He heard loud, bare, footsteps on the cellar steps. A large, ape-like creature stepped down into the cellar. The same creature they’d killed with the axe. It saw Vincent in the darkness and grabbed a piece of thick rebar. They started circling around the pole, the beast attempting to hit Vincent with the metal it’d grabbed but ending with it slamming against the support. Vincent suddenly swung the chain with all his might, and it flung around the creature’s neck and flipped back toward Vincent. It swept around the pole until the chain ran out, locking the beast to the support. Vincent grabbed a sturdy lock and secured the chain around the beast’s neck. He rounded the foundation to look the beast in the eyes, it attempted to lunge at him but failed. It swung the rebar at Vincent, and it hit him in the ribs. He crumbled to the ground before wrapping his hand around the rebar and pulling it out of the creature’s hand.

  Vincent lay down on the ground, his broken ribs sending waves of pain throughout his body. He closed his eyes as he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs along with muffled voices.