pressed on. “Matthew, I am a Denarian and an Elder.”
“Come on, will you? Besides, if you’d even bother to read one of my comics, you’d know the Elders can’t get above the surface, much less come to Earth. I’m done.”
Matthew started to leave, but Katherine raised her arm and pointed to the table. “Sit down, Matthew,” she said with steel in her voice.
Matthew hesitated. “Why?”
“So I can show you this.” Katherine quickly removed her glasses. Matthew stumbled backward when he saw her eyes and fell over his chair. He knew those eyes. He had put hours of extreme detail into his drawing of them, and now here they were right in front of him. The irises completely black surrounded by dull gray.
Katherine looked at him for as long as she could, then clenched her eyes shut in pain and quickly putting the glasses back on. “Now do you believe me?”
Matthew clambered off his tipped chair and righted it. “I don’t get it. I don’t…. I don’t get it.”
“I understand your confusion. What would you like to know?”
“What are you doing here? How did you get here? When did you get here?”
“The technology of Denab IV is very advanced, but I’m sure you must know this, Matthew.” She gave Matthew a small smile.
Matthew nodded, as if in a dream.
“Well, one of our key technological breakthroughs was our interplanetary doorway that allowed for us to reach out to other planets.”
Matthew raised his hands to stop her. “You mean… the Leap of Faith? It’s real? I was going to start bringing that into the comic, but only after Nocterar was defeated.”
“I used it to come here about 10 earth years ago. I was looking for some trace of Excelsior since he was last known to have come here.”
Matthew cut her off again. “Wait a minute. Excelsior was here? On Earth? Where?”
“He's closer than you know, but I'll get to that in a moment,” Katherine rubbed her temples, then continued. “For three years, I found nothing. No sign at all of Excelsior. It looked like I was going to have to go back to Denab IV empty-handed.”
“So why didn't you go back?”
“Because three years after I arrived, there was word an ancient artifact had been discovered. It was an amazing discovery that is still being debated among your planet’s scientists. It is amazingly popular on your Google.”
Matthew almost laughed. “My what? Oh, you mean the Web. What was it?”
“It was a sword. A beautiful jeweled sword that found its way to Earth over 5,000 Earth years before the time your people know as the Bronze Age. Nobody ever knew where it came from or how it could have possibly been created. Your Google has readers who believe it is not from this world, something that no one with any common sense would believe.” Katherine’s smile grew bigger. “This is the very sword that was held by Excelsior. He was separated from it when he was transported to Earth approximately 10,000 years ago."
“Wait, the Ritgen Sword? That's the sword of Excelsior?”
Katherine shook her head. “Please don't call it the Ritgen Sword. He's the last person who should have been given that much credit for it.”
“So if it’s Excelsior’s sword, what happened to Excelsior?”
“Tell me something, Matthew. Based on the comics you’ve ‘created,’ what do you think happened to him? What does it mean when the lifeforce of Excelsior leaves its host?”
“It means that the body was fatally wounded and could no longer be the proper shell for his power, so the lifeforce returns to the sword.”
“And what happens when a host dies while in mid-transport?”
“His body turns into energy.”
Katherine nodded. “When I first heard about the discovery of this sword, I contacted my fellow Elders on Denab IV. What I found was quite interesting.”
“What did you find?”
“When Excelsior's lifeforce returned to his sword and the body of Semminex expired, his weapon touched down on this planet, in an area that
“Come on, will you? Besides, if you’d even bother to read one of my comics, you’d know the Elders can’t get above the surface, much less come to Earth. I’m done.”
Matthew started to leave, but Katherine raised her arm and pointed to the table. “Sit down, Matthew,” she said with steel in her voice.
Matthew hesitated. “Why?”
“So I can show you this.” Katherine quickly removed her glasses. Matthew stumbled backward when he saw her eyes and fell over his chair. He knew those eyes. He had put hours of extreme detail into his drawing of them, and now here they were right in front of him. The irises completely black surrounded by dull gray.
Katherine looked at him for as long as she could, then clenched her eyes shut in pain and quickly putting the glasses back on. “Now do you believe me?”
Matthew clambered off his tipped chair and righted it. “I don’t get it. I don’t…. I don’t get it.”
“I understand your confusion. What would you like to know?”
“What are you doing here? How did you get here? When did you get here?”
“The technology of Denab IV is very advanced, but I’m sure you must know this, Matthew.” She gave Matthew a small smile.
Matthew nodded, as if in a dream.
“Well, one of our key technological breakthroughs was our interplanetary doorway that allowed for us to reach out to other planets.”
Matthew raised his hands to stop her. “You mean… the Leap of Faith? It’s real? I was going to start bringing that into the comic, but only after Nocterar was defeated.”
“I used it to come here about 10 earth years ago. I was looking for some trace of Excelsior since he was last known to have come here.”
Matthew cut her off again. “Wait a minute. Excelsior was here? On Earth? Where?”
“He's closer than you know, but I'll get to that in a moment,” Katherine rubbed her temples, then continued. “For three years, I found nothing. No sign at all of Excelsior. It looked like I was going to have to go back to Denab IV empty-handed.”
“So why didn't you go back?”
“Because three years after I arrived, there was word an ancient artifact had been discovered. It was an amazing discovery that is still being debated among your planet’s scientists. It is amazingly popular on your Google.”
Matthew almost laughed. “My what? Oh, you mean the Web. What was it?”
“It was a sword. A beautiful jeweled sword that found its way to Earth over 5,000 Earth years before the time your people know as the Bronze Age. Nobody ever knew where it came from or how it could have possibly been created. Your Google has readers who believe it is not from this world, something that no one with any common sense would believe.” Katherine’s smile grew bigger. “This is the very sword that was held by Excelsior. He was separated from it when he was transported to Earth approximately 10,000 years ago."
“Wait, the Ritgen Sword? That's the sword of Excelsior?”
Katherine shook her head. “Please don't call it the Ritgen Sword. He's the last person who should have been given that much credit for it.”
“So if it’s Excelsior’s sword, what happened to Excelsior?”
“Tell me something, Matthew. Based on the comics you’ve ‘created,’ what do you think happened to him? What does it mean when the lifeforce of Excelsior leaves its host?”
“It means that the body was fatally wounded and could no longer be the proper shell for his power, so the lifeforce returns to the sword.”
“And what happens when a host dies while in mid-transport?”
“His body turns into energy.”
Katherine nodded. “When I first heard about the discovery of this sword, I contacted my fellow Elders on Denab IV. What I found was quite interesting.”
“What did you find?”
“When Excelsior's lifeforce returned to his sword and the body of Semminex expired, his weapon touched down on this planet, in an area that
Similar Books
