Commander Rex and the Black Unicorn

Chapter 2

Chapter 2The western kingdom was a wet, drippy kingdom and it rained the night before. Rex splashed through a puddle on the road as the natural mist in the air condensed on his windshield was wiped away by the wipers, he couldn't wait to get reassigned somewhere else. This place was made for Elxroxians, not humans or anything else, he thought to himself as he splashed through another puddle and felt his car slide on the road a little. He was just thankful it never froze over.

Rex drove down the water-logged road and looked to his left. There in the mist there was Brule castle, his destination. Rex made the rest of his quiet journey trying to put together a theory on why a whole village was attacked and wiped out. None of it made any sense, unicorns were dangerous but a whole town wiped out was extremely rare.

He rolled up to the gate and came to a stop.

An Elroxian stood there in her uniform in the guard booth her black eyes widened when he rolled the window down. “Rex, don't take this personal but every time you show up it's bad news,” she said to him and he sighed. “I'm afraid that it's going to be one of those days,” he replied as he said this she grabbed her Aquarian Star crest hanging around her neck absentmindedly. Understanding the tone well she decided not to press the issue. Her green, scaly hand moved to the button and opened the gate.

“Good luck,” she said to him and Rex just smiled weakly as he drove through to the castle.

Rex got out of his car and a valet immediately came and he was given the keys. “Take good care of her, please,” he said to the valet. “You got it, sir, as always,” he replied to him as he got in the car and drove away. Rex moved his way into the side door where a woman was waiting for him.

“Alright, what is really going on here? Unicorns don't wipe out whole towns. They pick off one or two people at a time,” Rex knew his enemy's habits and this didn't make any sense. “True, but we have a live drone feed from the scene, there aren't any bodies and the walls are scorched. The only evidence that people were there at all is their shadows burned into walls,” she said to him and Rex was confused. “A Pyrehorn in the rainy season and under the sea, what sense does that make?” he asked himself.

“Yeah you're guess was as good as ours but that is exactly what it looks like,” she said as they walked down the hall towards a door with two Elroxian guards posted outside, they opened the doors to a command center with people at computers and filled with people talking on their phones, to one another and people looking through old books for information.

“Controlled chaos, is there something you're not telling me?” Rex asked as he looked around the command center, surprised that no one even noticed he came in. “When the water is scorched, the black horn rises,” she said and Rex heard these words before, a long time ago but threw it off as nonsense. “A ten-thousand-year-old prophecy, you can't be serious,” Rex replied.

“Well if a Pyrehorn attacked an underwater village and killed everyone, what would you call it?” she asked him and with that the golden phone in the middle of the room began to ring, a high pitched ring that brought the room to silence as they heard it. It was the King's Phone.

“It's for you,” she said and Rex just looked at her. “Yeah Bonnie, I got it, thanks,” Rex replied, walked to the phone and answered it. “Hello,” he said into the phone. “Understood, I'll be up at once,” he said and hung it up. “The King summons me, does anyone have an Aquarian Star I can borrow?” he asked and Bonnie pulled one out of her pocket, tossed it to him. He caught it.

“Borok,” he said and a chain appeared around it, he put it around his neck. “Thanks,” he said and walked into the elevator connecting the two rooms. “Good luck,” Bonnie replied as the center resumed its activity.

The trip to the inner chamber from the command center was very short. The elevator ride wasn't the problem, the stopping on the other hand was. The ride came to a stop and water began seep inside the thing. Rex hated this part, as a human he wasn't meant to breathe underwater but the crest of the star helped him with that. Soon the whole elevator was filled with ice cold water, the first breath was always the hardest one to take. His lungs burned but instead of resisting he forced himself to keep breathing. It always got easier.

The doors opened and he walked out into the crystal clear water filled chamber. A magical enchantment kept him from floating all over the place as he walked forward. The king was waiting for him. Not sitting in the Coral throne but standing in front of it. “Ah, mister Rex, it's always good to see you,” Lexam said to him in a deep voice and continued. “I hope all is well?” the King asked and Rex smiled. “Yes, everything is great,” he replied but he wanted to get down to business.

“What does all of this have to do with you? I can handle an insane Pyrohorn,” Rex replied and the King flashed his black eyes at him and it sent a small shiver down Rex's spine. The Elroxian King could be intimidating with his thick green skin and imposing, tall stature. Rex was tall but the Elroxian King was taller than any human, just then Rex realized that this figure could have him killed for talking to him like this and didn't know where his mind was at for a second. The King's expression softened and he began to answer.

“I don't doubt your skills or your ability to handle this in the least. However, there is something that you should know,” Lexam said to him and walked to the Coral Throne. “My father ruled the best he could, but the prophecy always ate at him. He was always afraid of what was out there sleeping in the deep black oceans where only the most foolish of our race attempt to go,” Lexam said and picked up an ancient, scaly book that was sitting on the left arm of the throne.

“This book is thousands of years old. Every king donates their largest chest scale on their death to add another page to it. I'll do it and hopefully the tradition will continue long after I am gone, there are secrets in here but only one that concerns you,” Lexam said and opened the book to a page near the beginning. “When the water is scorched, the black horn rises from the depths of the sea and all living things will be obliterated,” Lexam said the only line that was dedicated to the page.

“I knew I heard those words before but, black horn, that doesn't make any sense. I've seen every Unicorn from every kingdom and area on this whole world. There aren't any pure black ones. I've done this job for ten years and trained in it for five before that, this is a myth,” Rex replied, he was one hundred percent sure this was a story made up by some crazy King ages ago to mess with every proceeding ruler's head, nothing more.

“Myth or not I need you to investigate this. Pyre horns never attack in the rain, and underwater? Every school kid knows this. But this one did and I need you to tell me why. If this is real, everything we know is at risk. I don't want to be the King that goes down in history as the one who lets the Western Kingdom and world go to ruin,” Lexam said to him and despite his imposing stature, Rex felt genuine terror coming from him.

“Don't worry. We'll look into this mess. I haven't met a unicorn yet I couldn't banish,” Rex said with a smile, confident that this unicorn story was nothing more than an effect of the blades being unleashed and things were just out of balance is all. “You have all the resources of the Kingdom at your disposal, all you need do is ask,” Lexam said to him and Rex smiled. “I'll need my ship, if this is as big of a problem as you say we're going to need the whole crew,” Rex replied, but he didn't want to get greedy here. It could have been some kind of a test, too.

“Anything you need, you have it,” Lexam said and closed the book, putting it under his arm. Rex nodded. “Thank you,” he replied as he turned and walked right back towards the elevator. He stepped inside and at once the water drained out. Rex coughed, getting back to breathing air a great as warm wind flooded the small chamber and he dried out immediately.

He stepped back into the chamber that was still filled with chaos, Bonnie met him at the door.

“Assemble the crew, apparently, we have a black unicorn to find,” Rex said to her quietly and her eyes went wide. “You really think one exists?” she asked him and Rex shook his head. “It really doesn't matter what I think, the King thinks it's real so that's good enough for me,” Rex replied to her and had no idea what he would end up finding, or even where to look first. “Alright, I'll assemble the rest of the crew,” Bonnie replied and walked away.

But first thing was first. He had to make a phone call to his wife, just in case any of this was real. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his own phone, pressed one button and waited.

“Hey. It's me,” he said with a smile. “Yeah, you too, listen, the word is that there could be a Black Unicorn out there somewhere. The king seems to think so and I am going to investigate this. Do you think you could stay with your sister in the Southern Kingdom for a few days, just to be safe?” Rex asked with a smile.

“Yeah I know it's all just a big story but just on the off chance that there might be something to it, it's be better to be safe rather than sorry,” Rex said and sighed. “Well, you can do it if you want to but if the thing is real don't say I didn't warn you,” he said and continued, “love you, it's time for me to get back to work. I will talk to you later,” Rex said and hung up the phone, put it back in his pocket. He turned back to the chaos of the command center and couldn't wait to get out of here.

“Alright everyone listen up,” Rex shouted over the noise and the chaos died down. “The King thinks this is a black unicorn situation. Now, personally I don't believe any of it but we do have a town out there that was wiped off the map. I want the Voltarice prepped in twenty minutes, it's going to be a long day for all of us so everyone get organized and be ready for anything,” Rex said to the people and the chaos finally started to make some amount of sense as they had some direction to follow.