Willa led, and Schaffel followed close behind. "Where are we going?"

"I'm feeling something powerful. Like energy. We need to head this way." She pointed. "We need to destroy it." Willa grinned confidently, "I'm having a bad feeling about it."

Schaffel looked at the blood stained floor for a moment, and had a memory.

He sat on the carpet beside Nassel, where they were listening to Schaffel's grandmother talk about the history of the Imods.

"They used what was called an Oprya, it's a powerful source of energy that makes them have powers, similar to the Cadmusians. Without it, they're useless." His grandmother smiled. "It runs off of life, that's why the Imods are green and their eyes are red. Because they are basically dead but just alive."

Schaffel and Nassel looked at each other in fear, and stuck their tongues out in disgust. Suddenly, their father jumped out of their closet, and roared, making Schaffel and Nassel jump in their seats and grab onto each other for dear life.

His grandmother laughed, and patted their heads. "I think that's enough storytime boys."

"It's an energy source." Schaffel said, then looked up to Willa. "It's an Oprya, Imods have used it for years."

Willa nodded in interest.

"That's what gives them their powers." Schaffel looked down in realization. "We need to destroy it."

Schaffel and Willa nodded to each other, and began to run down the hall, until something grabbed Schaffel's body. 

Schaffel gasped, as it pulled him through the glass window, making him land hard on the grass. He groaned and propped himself up, holding his injured side. He could only see large black boots before him, but once he looked up to who it was, it was none other than Ubel.

The monster grinned at him evilly. "You stupid kids, you don't understand the greater picture."

Schaffel tried to look over Ubel's shoulder to the window, where Willa stood in shock.

"What should I do?" She spoke to him but Schaffel could hear it as if it was a calm echo through his mind.

"Go without me." Schaffel replied. "You told me to face my problems, and this is how I'll do it."

Willa nodded, fear laced in her eyes, but her jaw was closed and set. "Keep him distracted while I kill the machine. Be careful."

Willa began to run down the hall, while Schaffel faced the worst nightmare of his life.

Ubel grinned. "You have something that's not yours." The monster lunged forward, and Schaffel dodged. "I-I won't l-let you use this to kill the humans for no reason!"

Ubel scoffed, "oh I have my reasons. They are selfish, lying, thieves!" He yelled. 

"What do you mean?" Schaffel looked at him in confusion. 

"When we landed on this planet for escape from Cadmus, we noticed that they needed our help, because they were mindless and stupid! As we helped them, and lent our technology to them, they grew smarter, and used us as slaves to make more."

Schaffel swallowed the lump in his throat.

"They're even killing each other with them. So, they deserve nothing, no mercy!" Ubel yelled, grinning. "But first, I need that." He pointed at the black object in Schaffel's hands.

"Why did you destroy Cadmus?" Schaffel asked, not making eye contact with the monster. He was trying to distract him, as Willa said, but he was also curious. 

The monster sighed with irritation. "This is no the time for questions boy-"

"Not unless you answer me." Schaffel replied, the stuttering and fear leaving his voice.

Ubel's jaw shifted. "They were no different than the humans." He knelt down in front of Schaffel, his red eyes piercing into Schaffel's. "They teased us, that technology was useless, and magic was pure. From the stories I was told they kidnapped our people."

Schaffel stared at him in disbelief.

The Emperor never told me this.

"Too many to count." Ubel looked down in sadness, then stood up. 

Schaffel looked at him in understanding. "Just because they hurt you, doesn't mean you kill them, and take their lives." Schaffel went on. "No one's life deserves to be taken, even if they've done stupid, terrible things. But we learn. We grow. But we can't kill them as punishment."

Ubel scoffed, "you'll never understand." He threw his hands forward, throwing Schaffel backward.

Schaffel groaned, as he looked up in the sky, which seemed to be spinning in circles. He struggled to his feet, trying to remain balanced. 

His eyes began to flash purple, as he punched Ubel in the stomach.

The monster growled, and his eyes grew darker, and angrier as he tried to punch the boy back, but Schaffel was light on his feet and avoided it.

Meanwhile, Willa sprinted through the hallways, feeling the energy from the powersource growing stronger. Her head ached as she searched for it frantically. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead, and she breathed heavily, adrenaline rushing through her veins.

She heard footsteps from the halls, as a group of Imods came rushing toward her. She stopped and groaned. "Really, this is exactly what I needed right now."

Willa threw her hands forward with all her strength, sending Imods flying and crashing into the walls. She raised her hands to the sky, the Imod's floating with the motion, and threw her hands down, making the Imods slam downwards. Suddenly she flew backward, her side slamming against the ground.

"Weak," said one of the Imods, laughing maniacally.

Willa stood up, determination and anger filling her up. She held her hands out to the side, and pulled concrete chunks from the walls, her eyes dark with anger. The pieces launched toward the Imods, and hit their foreheads like bullets.

They all collapsed to the ground, unconscious and some dead.

Whew

Willa wiped sweat from her forehead, and continued to run down the hall, her legs and head aching as she began to hear the whirring of the Oprya now.

Schaffel's face was red and purple with bruises, and damp with sweat as he fought against Ubel. The monster grinned, and wiped his face. "I wasn't expecting such a pathetic boy like you to be such a fighter."

Schaffel gulped, as the purple in his eyes grew brighter, cracking the skin down his cheekbones. His voice was loud and powerful as he spoke. "Killing people who have hurt you isn't right!"

Suddenly, a large flying creature flew by, capturing Schaffel's attention.

The Emperor!

The large purple bird dived, and snatched Ubel then flew upwards, before dropping him.

The monster slammed onto the grass sending a miniature tsunami through the ground, knocking Schaffel to his knees.

Ubel groaned.

The Emperor didn't wait before diving back down, to nip at the monster's skin. Ubel let out a cry of pain, and finally grabbed the majestic creature and threw it across the field with all the strength he could muster.

The bird landed with a loud thud, and lied on the ground unconscious.

"Emperor!" Schaffel cried.

Ubel smiled evilly, "pathetic," he said in almost a growl, as he went to punch Schaffel, but the boy raised his arms to protect himself. A bright light flashed, and everything went black.

Moments before...

Willa stopped where she heard the loud whirring. She held her hand out, as the door collapsed before her. She raised her eyebrows, "well that was convenient." 

Willa stepped inside confidently, then stopped at the sight of the machine.

The large piece of metal was the size and height of two large elephants, with thick metal rings swirling around a bright blue light. It was held by four pillars, which held the large thing in place, and connecting each pillar was a platform.

Her head hurt like never before, and she felt like she was going to pass out. But she was determined to end this. 

To Willa's right, she spotted what looked like a table, with different coloured buttons, and a foreign writing written under each one.

Willa approached the table, looking for anything that appeared to turn it off.

But there was nothing. 

Crap. How will-

A tear escaped from her eye, as Willa knew what she had to do. 

But it would risk her life. 

Willa slowly stepped toward the Oprya, and put her hands before her, the contrast between the vibrations coming off from the machine and her made her stomach turn, and she felt sick.

The machine let off loud squeaks, and Willa's head felt like it would explode. She shut her eyes as tears of pain fell down her cheek. Her eyes turned bloodshot, and her irises began to turn red. Veins bulged from all parts of her body, making her hands shake before her.

As the machine cracked and whined for the last time, Willa let out her last cry, and finally, the Oprya exploded, then everything turned black.

Prepare yourselves...