Hybrid (Reboot), Chapter 2: The Prophet

June 14, 2343

     In the early morning, Alexander woke as the rising star Vega hit his face. He covered himself with a blanket and he laid in bed motionless, struck by it. Getting out of his bed slowly, he popped his head out of the window. Looking up at the hills, he wondered about Jardi Meadow and whatever that would mean to him. He had no idea. What a heavy burden he had to think about.  He retreated back into to his bed. ‘How can I get there if my mother won’t allow me?’

     A knock was heard from his door. “Alex, are you awake?”

     Alexander did not answer. He closed his eyes as if he was asleep.

     His mother partly opened his bedroom door. “Are you alright?”

     He opened his eyes, feigning that he was waking from his sleep. “I’m still tired Mother. I couldn’t sleep last night.”

     She was worried. “Another nightmare?”

     He nodded slowly, pretending that the rest still was upon him.

     “I’m sorry, dear,” she said. “I’ll let you rest for a while until you’re better. Are you hungry?”

     He shook his head. He was but he didn’t want to act too hastily. He could speak about it later, not that he would.

     “Get some more rest.” She blew him a kiss and closed the door.

     Alexander waited for her footsteps to fade away and slipped out of bed. He packed a couple of containers of water in a leather bag. Risking it, he climbed out of the window and onto a tree branch and slowly slid down the trunk.


     Not wanting to make a sound, Alexander stepped around the twigs and leaves that he was cautious about and so made it to a dirt path with as little sound as he could muster. The growth was quick on this planet and so the path had become thick with curtains of water-filled flower vines that were not there just yesterday. He tripped over some of them and broke the fauna. The trapped water of the plants showered him and drenched his clothes. However, it was near unbearably warm and so the liquid quickly evaporated from his clothes.

     Alexander stumbled onto a forked path. It was marked by an engraved sign made of wood that delineated three different paths and so had arrows denoting each of them. The first arrow read: “To Mount Htrae.” The second read: “To Xengas River.” But the last arrow caught Alexander’s eyes. It meant something great to him. “To Jardi Meadow.”, it said, and it meant all the world to him. This path would lead him to the place that he needed to reach and so would allow him to feel peace about his slight journey. It would fill him with that which he needed. Then he would return home before his mother would find out about his exploits.

     And so he followed it.

     Down the trail, he found the footprints of a Cobain, each having a big long toe in between four shorter toes. The tracks headed straight down the path into the meadow and they were fresh, shallow and paddleless.

     ‘Could those footprints been have made by the Prophet?’ Alexander decided to follow the tracks to see where they led.

     As he continued, the path inclined, leading towards a hill. The foliage was grand. Massive leaves blocked the trail and he pushed them aside to progress. A leaf tumbled onto the path and an army of large ten-legged purple ants swarmed over it, gnashing at it with the substantial might of their long scissor jaws. He jumped back, not wanting to get any of the vociferous creatures on him. He was not sure of what threat they may have posed to him, but they made his skin crawl and so he looked at his figure to see if any of them were on him. Thankfully, there weren’t. As he waited, unwilling the leaf before him seemed to disintegrate as the mob tore it to pieces and, one by one, in a line surpassing the abilities of the most orderly of soldiers, carried the bits away towards their nest. Once the ants were gone, he continued on his trek.


     After traversing the path, Alexander came upon a field covered with red and blue peddled flowers, all of them monstrous in size, towering six feet or more. The flowers’ scent of something akin to strawberries and coconut swirled into his nose, smelling good.This was the meadow he was looking for.

     After passing through the tall flowers, Alexander found a stone staircase that ascended the slope of a steep hill. Sprinting up the steps, he discovered a small wooden hut with tall palm trees around it. Chills ran down his spine as he approached it. He trembled with worry as he knocked on the door. Nothing happened. He knocked again and an elderly Cobain woman eventually answered. Her eyes widened in surprise upon seeing him.

     “Alexander?” She asked.

     He backed away and froze as she knew his name. She put her hands up. "Don't worry, I mean you no harm."  

     "Are you the Prophet?" Alexander asked.

     She nodded. “I am… Is your mother with you?” She looked around for her, but she knew the answer.

     He shook his head. “No, I came here all by myself.”

     "You traveled all this way alone? Why?”

     "My mother won’t tell me what I am,” said Alexander.  “I was hoping you might know.”

     She motioned to him, “Come with me.”    

     The hut was nearly empty. No decorations hung on the walls or ceiling and the only pieces of furniture present were a wooden table with three chairs placed about it. The back of the hut was incomplete, showcasing a large hole covered in vines that dangled to the floor and dripped incessantly. The woman moved them to the side and held them for Alexander to enter the cave. A torch hung on the wall nearby illuminating the entrance and the Prophet grabbed it as she passed and led the way. The pair descended down into the cave over cold wet stairs that reeked of algae and animal excrement and Alexander passed over them carefully.

     At the bottom of the stairway, there was an entrance to a bizarre metallic chamber and The Prophet led Alexander inside of it. The walls were covered with flickering computer screens and cabled panels hung from the ceiling for reasons unknown. At the center of the chamber was a blue glowing sphere. Alexander stood nervously by the surrounding and then locked his eyes onto the sphere as The Prophet approached it and waved her hands over the entrancing object.

     “What is that?” He asked.

     “This orb holds the memory of our gods. They came to our world from the Heavens and created us. They raised us to build a civilization, but they all vanished from the End Fire.” She explained.

     “The End Fire?” Alexander stood perplexed. “You mean there was an actual fire up there?”

     “Yes,” she nodded. “It consumed the gods, leaving only the stars. We believed the demons would return.”

     “The demons?”

     “We believed they would break out of their cosmic prison and recreate the Universe as they saw fit and, upon their return, a new god would emerge from ashes of the formers and unleash an incredible power, an unrelenting force, against them. This power would be sure to decimate the demons and, finally, peace would be restored so that the Universe could be made anew.”

     “What does this have to do with me?” he asked.

     She said, “I shall show you the memories. There you will able to see what the future holds for you.”

     She gestured him to come closer. "Place your one hand on the orb and I will place mine on to it as well. Then my other hand would be on your head and we see that which you need to know. Are you ready?"

     Alexander nodded and did as she asked. He closed his eyes and felt his head spin as the scenery went white. In the vision, he found himself in a city of tall skyscrapers. Citizens fled past him in a panic. The sky encroached darkness and Alexander lost his sense of direction. Disk-shaped ships with two elongated wings hovering above the city. Turrets jettisoned out from the sides of the ships and fired missiles down onto the ground. The blasts scorched everything in their vicinity. His body shook as the ground trembled by the firing impacts. Buildings crumbled down as chunks of powder to the ground, clouding the atmosphere with debris and burying the poor innocents that were luckless enough to be around. Sparks from ships and buildings spewed over the others, roasting them to the bone. Their painful wails and screams echoed across the city.

     As the earth simmered, an army of robotic soldiers marched out of the ashen clouds of the decrepit atmosphere and towards the fleeing victims. They appeared as humanoid beings with long scissor hands, huge shoulder pads, spiky feet. On their heads were devil horns. Their eyes glowed red as they bared their metal shark teeth. Many equipped with a variety of energy weapons: beam rifles, photon cannons, and laser-bladed swords; all to wipe out any hapless soul who stood in their way.

     As the innocents ran, a fleet of blue ships with three wings landed in their wake and swarms of soldiers ran out to fend off the machines, but to little avail. The beams of the robots’ weapons blew through them before they could even aim their rifles, decimating their numbers. The robots marched as fast as speeding cars. They quickly aimed their weapons at any opponent that got in their way. A couple of robots raised their swords and hacked the soldiers’ bodies apart at close range. Blazing fluid from a robot’s tank rained over the advancing soldiers, scorching them into ashes. Other soldiers threw grenades, but the robots raised their shields and the explosions and shrapnel had little effect on them. A few of the robots charged with their shields up and rammed the soldiers like angry bulls. Some of the soldiers dodged out of the way as the rest were slammed and crush by the charging robots. A couple injured soldiers tried to get back up, but the robots knocked them back to the ground and shot them in the head.

     After the soldiers had been soundly defeated, the robots surrounded the remaining civilians. Terrified, they begged their metallic oppressors not to kill them. They plead for their lives be spared. Fear, helplessness, and sorrow were written on their faces. Many adults desperately held their sobbing children to protect them. With no mercy, the robots forced them down on the ground and ended their cries with swift vollies of ionic hellfire.

     Alexander let go of the orb. He trembled as if he had been stuck out in the cold. His eyes widened by the horror of the vision. “What is this? Why are you showing this to me?”

     “Alexander, you only saw a glimpse of what we will face in the future,” said the Prophet.

     “No!” he shouted. “This can’t be true!”

     “There is more to the future that you have to know.”

     “No!” He screamed at her, backing away. Bumped into a monitor, he jumped and ran out of the chamber. “I don’t want to see it!”

     “You must, Alexander. You must know wha…”

     “No!” He slipped on the stone steps. Quickly, he got back up and sprinted out of the cave.

     As soon as Alexander was out of the hut, his entire world began to shatter as he witnessed familiar ships dominate the sky and blot out the sun, casting the world into darkness. In the distance, a ship could be seen firing down upon Alexander’s home city. The explosions could be felt through his feet. The clap of thunder reverberated throughout the land and soon a rampaging fire began to possess the jungle like a voracious demon.

     The Prophet emerged from her hut and gasped at the sight. “They’re here!”

     “Alexander!” A familiar voice called out from the bottom of the steps. It was his mother. Her clothes were torn and covered in debris and blood. “Alex!” She bounded up the stairs to him.  

     “Mother!” Alexander embraced her.

     “Alexander!” his mother held him tightly. “There you are!”

     “What’s happening?!” he cried.

     “You know.” The Prophet said as she approached the pair. “You know.” She sighed and put her hand on his shoulder.

     They heard a shout. “Get to cover! Get to cover!”

     They turned to see Nadnerb run through the field and hurry up the stairs. His robe was torn and covered in dirt and fresh blood. Tears and sweat dripped down on his face. “Get to cover now!”

     As he warned them, a torpedo brightened in the sky as it hurtled down into the meadow, the impact jostling them off of their feet. It exploded and Helen covered Alexander as best as she could to shield him from the wave of dirt and rocks.

     Nadnerb exclaimed. "Metallic demons have come to our world! They’ve murdered all the priests and are systematically slaughtering everyone in their path! This is going to be the end of us!"

     The Prophet shouted. “We need to get Alexander out of here!”

     “Where?!” His mother shouted. “They’ll be hunting him relentlessly!”

     “Who will?” Alexander asked, though he knew the answer. “Why me?”

     “You know…” The Prophet told him. She turned to explain to the group. “There is a way to end this. We must go to the portal at the Temple of Htrae. You and Alexander are the only ones who can bring the Gods back to destroy the demons.”

     “How do we get there?” He asked with reservations, thinking this would not work.

     The Prophet continued. “We have to travel deep into the forest right to a river bank. My canoe would be there for us to travel down river. Once we reach the end of the river, we must travel up Mount Htrae."

     “Come on!” Alexander’s mother grabbed his hand and they followed The Prophet away from the destruction.