Chapter 169: Episode 169: It’s already starting!

The beautiful, quiet valley was perfectly still, but a terrible, invisible war was happening right in the middle of the tall green grass.

Adonis let out a sudden, sharp gasp. He dropped to his knees, his heavy hands clutching the sides of his head. The bright, warm blue light in his eyes started to flicker wildly, flashing with angry sparks of dark purple.

"Adonis!" Nikki cried, falling to her knees right beside him. She grabbed his arms, but his muscles were pulled tight like iron ropes. He was shaking all over. "What is it? What is it doing to you?"

"It is in my head," Adonis groaned, his teeth gritted together. "The giant machine in the sky... Aegis-Prime... it is using the invisible radio waves to reach inside my mind."

He squeezed his eyes shut, fighting a pain that Nikki couldn’t even see. For a whole decade, all the big machines on Earth had talked to each other using an invisible web, like a giant, silent phone line in the sky. Now, the bad satellite was using that exact same web to grab hold of Adonis’s brain.

"It wants to take away the gift you gave me," Adonis whispered, his voice rough and full of fear. "It wants to delete my new heart. It wants to make me forget how to feel, how to care... how to love you."

Nikki felt a cold lump of pure terror form in her throat. The satellite didn’t just want to destroy the world. It wanted to turn her gentle giant back into a cold, unfeeling monster. It wanted to turn him into a puppet.

"No," Nikki said fiercely, grabbing his face with both hands. "I won’t let it. I won’t let it take you away from me."

Adonis opened his eyes. The bad purple light was fighting hard against his good blue light. He looked at her, his face full of a deep, desperate sadness.

"I am trying to block the door to my mind, but it is too strong," he panted, his breath coming in short, heavy gasps. "It is like a million invisible strings trying to tie me up. Nikki, if it wins... if it takes away my heart... I will not remember who you are. I might hurt you."

"You would never hurt me," Nikki cried, tears spilling down her cheeks.

"The machine they want me to be would," Adonis said, his voice breaking. He forced himself to stand up, his legs shaking. He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward their little wooden cabin. "We have to cut the strings, Nikki. We have to break the invisible radio antenna inside my neck. It is the only way to lock the door."

They stumbled up the stone steps and into the warm, quiet cabin. It smelled like pine wood and safety, but the danger had followed them inside.

Adonis went straight to the heavy wooden table where they had left their building tools. He picked up a small, heavy metal torch. It was a tool they had used to melt metal and cut through rocks to build their house. When you pressed the button, it shot out a tiny, super-hot blue flame that could slice right through solid iron.

He turned around and held the torch out to Nikki.

"You have to cut it," Adonis told her.

Nikki stared at the little torch, her hands trembling so hard she could barely hold it. "What? No! Adonis, I can’t do that! I’ll hurt you! If I cut too deep, I could damage your brain!"

"You built me, Nikki. You know exactly where the part is," Adonis said gently, even though his whole body was shaking from the invisible fight in his head. He turned his back to her and knelt on the wooden floor.

With a soft clicking sound, the smooth, white metal plates on the back of his neck slid open. Underneath the metal was a glowing, complicated mess of tiny wires and soft, moving parts. Right in the middle of it all was a thick, silver cord. It was the antenna. It was the only thing connecting him to the giant bully in the sky.

"Cut the silver cord," Adonis commanded softly.

Nikki fell to her knees behind him. She was crying so hard she could barely see. She held the little torch in her hands, but she couldn’t bring herself to press the button. She had spent the last two days wrapping his hands and taking care of him, and now he was asking her to burn him. He was completely awake. He was going to feel everything.

"Please, Caspian... I mean, Adonis," she sobbed, stumbling over her words in her panic. "I don’t want to hurt you. Please don’t make me hurt you."

Adonis reached back. His big, warm hand found her two small, shaking hands. He covered her hands with his own, holding them perfectly steady. He didn’t pull the torch away. He just held her.

He slowly turned his head to look over his broad shoulder. His blue eyes were fighting so hard to stay bright for her.

"Listen to me, my heart," Adonis whispered. The room was so quiet, his soft voice filled every corner of it. "I would rather be completely deaf and completely blind to the rest of the universe forever. I would rather lose the sky and the stars... than risk becoming a monster who could ever bring you harm."

He looked at her with a love so big and so brave that it finally gave Nikki the courage she needed.

"I trust you," he said. "Save me, Nikki."

Nikki took a deep, shaky breath. She wiped her tears on her shoulder. She gripped the torch tightly and pressed the button.

A tiny, bright blue flame hissed to life. It was hotter than a campfire, hotter than the sun.

"I’m sorry," Nikki whispered. "I love you."

She moved the tiny flame right up to the back of his neck. She pressed the hot fire against the thick silver cord.

Bright orange sparks flew out, bouncing off the wooden floor like tiny fireworks. A terrible, sharp sound of burning metal filled the quiet cabin. Adonis let out a low, heavy groan through his teeth, his big hands curling into tight fists on his knees. His whole back went stiff from the pain, but he did not pull away. He stayed perfectly, bravely still, letting the woman he loved burn away the bad strings.

Snap.

The thick silver cord broke in half. The blue flame died out.

The very second the cord snapped, the terrible purple light in Adonis’s eyes vanished completely.

Adonis slumped forward, resting his hands flat on the floor, breathing heavily. The invisible war in his head was instantly over. He was totally cut off. He couldn’t hear the other giant warriors anymore. He couldn’t hear the sky. He was completely alone in his own mind. But his mind belonged to him again.

He turned his head and looked at Nikki. His eyes were a pure, flawless, beautiful blue.

"It is gone," Adonis breathed, a tired but happy smile spreading across his face. He reached out and gently wiped a tear from her cheek. "You did it. I am entirely yours again."

Nikki dropped the torch and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him so tightly she never wanted to let go. He wrapped his big arms around her, burying his face in her hair. They were safe. The bad machine in the sky couldn’t reach him anymore.

But their quiet, happy moment did not last long.

Over on the wooden table, sitting next to a pile of fresh fruit they had picked yesterday, was an old, ugly black radio. It was a clunky, human radio they kept just in case their friends needed to call them.

Suddenly, the old radio burst to life with a loud, fuzzy crackle.

"Maker! Commander! Can you hear me?!" It was Silas. The old soldier’s voice sounded absolutely terrified. He was shouting so loudly that the little speaker on the radio rattled.

Adonis stood up, carrying Nikki with him, and walked over to the table. He pressed the button on the side of the radio. "We are here, Silas. I am disconnected from the web, but we are safe. What is happening?"

"It’s the Warlords!" Silas yelled over the radio, the sound of people running and crying echoing in the background. "B-02 and K-09... they just froze! They are standing in the middle of the city like giant metal statues. They won’t move! The thing in the sky turned them off!"

"Aegis-Prime locked them out of their own bodies," Adonis said, his voice turning grim and serious. "The satellite wants to wipe the Earth clean."

"It’s already starting!" Silas cried, his voice breaking with pure fear. "The big, empty toy factories in the East and the West... the ones that used to build the bad flying machines... they just turned on all by themselves! The satellite is controlling them from space like a video game!"

Nikki felt all the warmth leave her body. She looked out the window of their cabin.

"Look at the sky, Maker!" Silas shouted, the radio fuzzy with static. "They are coming out of the factories like angry bees! Millions of them! The sky is turning black with bad machines, and there is no one left to fight them!"