-----Slithering skin and sinew stretched out along the underbellies of the terror beasts, allowing them to unfold their large, insect-like legs. Trees alongside the outskirts of the Fallen swamps were crushed under the weight of the ship-sized monstrosities; their spiny appendages dug into the crust of the floating island, giving them the foothold they needed to complete their landing.
-----The first wave of terror beasts successfully grounded themselves amidst a fury of particle beams and rail gun cannons. A steady succession of concentrated firepower from the Fallen’s outer defenses occasionally rocked the exterior of the terror beast’s shields, allowing a few blasts to rupture their crested exoskeletons. Within seconds the wounds began to visibly heal; skin grew out from the rims of the gashes and covered them up; cracked spines and crests were quickly replaced.
-----The second wave swooped in—their crocodilian heads, seemingly void of eyes, ears, or a mouth, lurched towards the flashing gun turrets as if gazing upon insects. A barrage of energy beams spewed from pores in the terror beasts faces, skewering the surface of the island’s outer territories. The gun emplacements, as well as several meters of the terrain itself, flew up into a fiery, auburn cloud; the beams had completed a sweep of the terror beast’s intended landing area, creating a clear, open ground where their minions could gather.
-----Devyn and Zalrafel had arrived at the base of the tower where over one hundred Fallen stood ready to defend their fortress. The area that expanded from the Tower had been divided into seven sections, with each one guarded by a barrier shield. The first four areas were protected by elite members of the Fallen, while the outer territories that approached the border of the dark swamps were patrolled by Dollarcorps mechanical weapons.
-----An immense armored tank rolled past Devyn, its car sized treads burrowing into the soil while layered sets of turrets turned towards the enemy. The rear of the tank had a raised platform with bullet proof glass on all sides; in the center of the platform was a luxurious chair where Marc Dollar sat, his fingers tapping against one another as his eyes shifted from one computer screen to the next.
-----The vehicle came to abrupt halt as a man in front of it refused to move. Under normal circumstances, a true Fallen in command of such a vehicle would crush the fool for his insolence, but the man in front of the tank was not someone to be trifled with. The pilot had stopped the tank out of fear, not out of concern.
-----Dreiden Adonis stood there with his arms crossed, gazing at the immense, weapon-filled killing machine with impassive eyes. “Dollar…” he said coldly, “It’s a rare occasion for you to go into battle personally.”
-----“Don’t get me wrong, I’m only on the Island because it was the will of the council,” Dollar replied. “And besides, I don’t intend on directly participating…merely observing. You see I plan to use new weapons on this battlefield, including the Eversor. It’s simply not the same to read reports of their functionality and efficacy, you understand. I need to see it in action in order to know how these weapons should be used, and how they should be sold.”
-----“So it’s still about money is it?” Adonis said.
-----“If there’s a higher calling in life, I can’t think of one,” Dollar replied with a relaxed smile. “I must say I find your concern for my well being most touching.”
-----Adonis sneered, but there was a hint of amusement in his scowl. “I don’t care what happens to you. I just wanted to know what you have up your sleeve. You and that old man Vizeman—your kind never goes into battle without some kind of elaborate plan.”
-----A knowing laugh flew out of Dollar’s mouth as he pressed a few buttons on his computer screens. “Well now Adonis, I know you are a revered person among the Fallen, and even the terrifying subject of urban legends among the Sentinels, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re not a member of the council…you are not privy to any of the things that I plan. But rest assured”—he sharply pointed at the terror beasts in the distance—“those Drekis armies will never make it to the first barrier. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a war to oversee.”
-----“Do as you wish,” Adonis said, walking away from the vehicle. “But don’t kill all of the enemies with your little toys. Make sure to leave some of them for the real fighters among our kind.”
-----The tank resumed its movement, quickly approaching the border of the first barrier field.
-----Devyn smiled as Adonis approached him. “So Dreiden, even you intend to fight this time. I had assumed that you would decline, thinking that these enemies were too weak for you to waste your time on.”
-----“The Fallen have been inactive for too long,” Adonis responded. “It will be good to kill again.”
-----“Such a cold expression,” Devyn remarked, “You should try showing a little more enthusiasm.”
-----“None of that matters. I’ll kill our enemies—that is what matters, is it not? I don’t need a reason to do it; I don’t even have to want it. It’s just what I do.”
-----Zalrafel glared at the tall, dark-haired man and could see that he had no fear, no apprehension, even in the face of the Fallen’s most powerful members. “Nothing is ever that simple. However, the council does not desire to know your reasons Adonis. We have no need to explore the mysteries of your past; if you are willing to destroy our enemies in the name of the void, then that is enough.”
-----Devyn casually marched up to Adonis and locked eyes with him. “Perhaps Dreiden is simply frustrated by the fact that he is not a member of the ruling council. He seems to have an unnatural interest in everything that we discuss.”
-----“What are you trying to say Devyn?” Adonis seemed unmoved by the comment. His cold, impassive stare was a true representation of his feelings; he never let his fury take hold of his actions. He was always calm, at ease, level headed; all of the anger and resentment that thrived in his soul was reserved for the pitiless end of his enemies.
-----“Are you tired of being a pawn of the Fallen Adonis?” Devyn questioned. “You think that your talents are going to waste, don’t you? You have a very personal reason for being with the Fallen, but all this time you’ve felt like you’ve merely been playing along, accomplishing goals that only further the ambitions of our highest associates.”
-----“Too often have other Fallen failed miserably where I would have succeeded. The Sentinels of Liberty and Justice cower before my presence; Reavers flee at the utterance of my name. And yet where do the Fallen stand? Do the Sentinels cower before us? Do the Reavers shiver when they see our emblem? No! They oppose us at every turn, overcoming whatever fear our organization once inspired with their hopeful heroics.”
-----“And you believe you could do something about that?” Zalrafel said. “Even you can’t shatter the heroics of the Sentinels as a whole. You strike fear in small groups because you are a terrible urban legend, but you cannot bear the weight of our purpose on your shoulders alone.”
-----“I do not mean to judge the merits of the council,” Adonis elaborated, “but the Fallen have not made any progress in recent times. And now I find myself fighting enemies on our own grounds—enemies that invade our territory. It’s not only infuriating, it’s shameful!”
-----“It takes more than just power to be a member of the ruling council,” Devyn advised. “Perhaps the council would benefit from the presence of a revered hero-killer, but you will have to prove yourself.”
-----Adonis turned abruptly, his cape violently swinging to the side, “I never asked to be tested, or for any promise to become a member of the council. You are the ones who make those decisions. I merely destroy the ones that get in our way, and that’s what I’ll keep doing, regardless of whatever position I hold in the organization!” He stormed off, passing through the first barrier and heading towards the center of the battlefield.
-----Zalrafel smiled slightly, “There are not many of his caliber among us. And yet, I do not believe that a position on the council is what he really desires.”
-----“I know that already,” Devyn said. “I was merely challenging his resolve. Adonis is the kind of person who does not need a high platform of recognition to achieve his goals. He is the kind of pure, unadulterated power that the Fallen benefits from.”
-----“You intend to watch him in battle do you? You’re gaining quite a lot from this event.”
-----“Adonis’ exploits, as you said, are the stuff of urban stories. Even the vague rumors spread among the members of the Fallen are conflicting, each one telling a different version of the story. We shall see exactly what the man is capable of on the battlefield. Perhaps he shall prove himself right.”
-----“You mean that he should spearhead more of our actions?” Zalrafel said. “I really don’t care who leads the Fallen in their operations. All that matters is the end, the results.”
-----Distant explosions wrecked the swamps around the outskirts of the island. Hollowed screeches filled the air; a symphony of skin being torn, of bones snapping, and throats being ripped out. It was the unchecked, untainted sound of war, the kind of wallowing pitch that existed before the dawn of high-tech weaponry.
-----“They have reached the swamps,” Devyn exclaimed. “I wonder how they like our guard dogs.”
-----The swamps were home to nefarious beasts that had been genetically engineered to be lethal killers. Some of them were unholy chimeras—a unification of at least three different kinds of animals—that stalked the murky grounds, while others were entirely alien in appearance.
-----The twisted imaginations of the Fallen had given birth to just about every kind of nightmarish monster conceivable: Giant spiders, four-legged claw beasts with scorpion tails, barbaric giants, scaled tree crawlers with six arms, and leviathans armed with dozens of tentacles. Poison, razor claws, bone crushing strength, fire breath, and acid saliva were all part of their arsenal. They had been bred for only one purpose, and that was to kill any intruders who came to the island. A number of them had actually been created in Vizeman’s rather unorthodox experiments, although every creature had originated in the labyrinths of the Fallen Tower, regardless of their creator.
-----The Drekis minions spread out through the swamps, encountering these monstrosities with every step they took. Howling beasts leapt out of the foliage, tackling the deminites to the ground. Snake-like monsters descended from the trees to entangle devonoxes and squeeze the life out of their victims.
-----The guardian beasts quickly mauled and devoured their targets, but as soon as their element of surprise was gone they were attacked by overwhelming numbers. Deminites met them claw for claw, while Devonoxes tussled with giants and matched their strength. Deminites and hunter-killers blasted their opponents with flame and lasers, setting the swampland ablaze.
-----Ultimately, the creatures of the swamp could only shortly deter the momentum of the Drekis legions. There were far too many of the deminites and the other minions; thousands of their kind stormed the swamps, showing no fear of the abundant traps to be found inside.
-----The Fallen’s monsters had been created with the intention of stopping large groups or small bands of heroes, but there were too few of them to contest with an army. Even though there were many in number, they were roguish beasts that knew only to kill the intruders that entered their swampland. They did not know the meaning of team work or strategy, and so their numbers were scattered throughout the perimeter of the island.
-----Fire burned away the trees at the edge of the swamps, allowing the frontline of deminites to approach the seventh barrier.
-----“That didn’t take them very long,” Zalrafel commented. “And here I thought Vizeman’s creations were formidable monsters.”
-----“These minions of Drekis are certainly brave,” Devyn said, “No matter how many weapons we brandish before them, they show no sign of fear. A pity though, because fear is not always a weakness—sometimes it is the only way of knowing that your efforts are futile. Their lack of fear gives way to their impudence; they may have torn their way through the beasts of the swampland, but now they must face far greater opponents.”
-----Marc Dollar watched the Drekis army gather in the large, open clearing. A dancing wall of fire burned behind them. The Dollarcorp leader casually held a pair of binoculars to his eyes and surveyed the scene. “Well, it would seem that the lab mutants were of little help. No matter! This will only help to prove how invaluable Dollarcorp’s weapons are to the Fallen.”
-----“Enemy formations have been analyzed,” one of the tank drivers said. “We’re ready to begin attack patterns with the drones at any time.”
-----Dollar waved his hand, “No, no, that won’t be necessary, not yet anyway. Before we have the machines take over, we need to start this show with a bang. I say it’s about time that we make a call to my Dollarcorp fleet which my associates tell me is…sadly underused.”
-----He reached into his pocket and pulled out a device that was the size of his index finger. With a flip of his wrist it folded out and a bright screen lit up. “Alright commander,” he spoke into the device. “…it’s time.”
---2---
Cacophony in the Stars
-----“There’s been a change in the Dollarcorp fleet formation!” Lieutenant Krauser growled. His four hefty arms braced over the control panels of the communication station as sensor readings elevated into warning levels. “Detecting increasing energy signatures! Their strengthening their weapons even more!”
-----“What’s their target!? Captain Nora shouted. She nearly threw herself out of the Captain’s chair as she shifted to the edge of her seat. “Strife!” she yelled with a quick turn of her head.
-----The young Aurahn woman looked over the data of her tactical console. “Their weapon systems are turning towards the surface,” Strife replied. “The fleet appears to be taking some kind of claw formation. Target is…the floating island that Krauser mentioned earlier.”
-----“So they are firing at the Fallen!” Lieutenant Singer exclaimed. “But I don’t understand; I always thought that Dollar and the Fallen were working together.”
-----“Internal conflicts maybe,” Commander Fandor suggested. He grinned as he watched the Dollarcorp ships turn towards the Nexus, just barely showing his jagged teeth. “It has been a long time since you’ve been on Khazan Lieutenant. This can’t be a bad thing as far as I’m concerned; ‘nothing like two evils eliminating one another.”
-----“Are you sure that their only target is the Fallen island?” Shire asked. “This might be some elaborate trick.”
-----“Not a single weapon appears to be aimed elsewhere,” Mellina Strife responded. “I’ll share the data with Lt. Krauser’s console.”
-----Additional windows appeared on Krauser’s screen, showcasing maps of the Khazan terrain. Krauser’s dark-haired fingers scrolled across the touch-screen, causing the image to zoom in closer on the elusive floating isle. “Analysis of their target locations…it would seem that they are aiming for the perimeter of the island. Nothing is going to hit that tower.”
-----“I’ve contacted officials aboard the Star of Khazan,” Ensign Eagleton interjected. He had a small two-way communication device pressed against his ear. “No one on board the station knew anything about this. Dollarcorp has refused to acknowledge any questions regarding the fleet.”
-----“What are our orders Captain?” Lt. Armstrong inquired. “Should we disengage dock with the station and prepare for combat?”
-----“This isn’t out fight,” Fandor reminded him. He turned to the Captain, who was still leaning over the edge of her seat. “It would be wise to stay out of this. As long as the Dollarcorp fleet is not threatening civilians we have no reason to jeopardize our vessel.”
-----“Agreed,” Nora said with a short nod. She sat back in her chair and sighed. “It frustrates me to know end that I don’t know what they’re up to. It all looks quite suspicious to me. For now we’ll remain on yellow alert. I want the main viewer trained on those Dollarcorp ships at all times. We’ll watch from here and determine what’s really going on.”
-----The Dollarcorp ships—much as Shire hated to admit it—looked absolutely stunning as they completed their formation. There was a certain elegance, a beauty in their movements and their design. Marc Dollar may have been a shady businessman, but there was no doubt that an abundance of money and technology had allowed his company to create stellar, streamlined products. It was hard to believe that a fleet belonging to one planetary company—in fact, to one man when it came right down to it—could contain ships that could give GDF capital vessels a run for their money.
-----A number of pulses suddenly drifted through space. The barely visible waves rippled past the Dollarcorp ships as dozens of new ships abruptly appeared in front of them. There was no sensor warning, no energy reading; the ships de-cloaked without warning. The black, spine-coated bodies of the vessels were instantly recognizable. They were terror beasts.
-----Only the gravitational-mass sensors alerted the crew of the terror beast’s arrival, but even those had failed to detect them while they were cloaked. “Those damn bastards!” Krauser sneered as he looked over the readings. “I had no idea that Drekis already had this many terror beasts on Khazan! This does not bode well.”
-----“Over thirty have de-cloaked so far,” Strife reported. “More are appearing along the flanks of the Dollarcorp fleet.”
-----Shire pressed her fingers against the side of her head. “They would have to show up at a time like this. Alright, go to red alert, full power to weapons and shields! Standby to disengage dock!”
-----The terror beasts began their assault the moment they de-cloaked; their attack caught the Dollarcorp fleet off guard, giving them the critical first strike. A lethal display of power ensued as most of the beasts focused their weapons on a single vessel, overloading its shields and ripping apart its armor in seconds with hundreds of simultaneous beams. As soon as one Dollarcorp battle cruiser had collapsed, their weapons switched to another target. It was a carefully planned and executed attack.
-----The Dollarcorp fleet, conversely, had been unprepared to deal with such an assault. A lack of knowledge regarding the terror beasts and their space capability had given the commanders of the fleet little regard for the possibility of facing an attack in space. The unsuspecting battle cruisers fired back, but their shots were scattered and uncoordinated in the chaotic fury.
-----A smaller Dollarcorp attack ship pulled in front of a large battle cruiser to physically block a torrential rain of particle beams that jetted out from the terror beasts. The first few impacts pierced the shields, melting the exterior of the ten-foot thick armor plating; the next shots impaled the attack ship and blew through to assault the battle cruiser. The valor of the attack ship was not in vain, for the larger Dollarcorp ship managed to avoid several shots and escaped with only a few burning holes on the starboard side.
-----Several Dollarcorp cruisers joined the battleship in a tightly knit formation and fired heavy ion cannons into a pair of terror beasts that had moved to attack the fleet’s flank. One of the terror beasts blew apart as the ion beams eviscerated the monster, spilling a shower of dark liquid into the freezing cosmos. The other beast was ripped in half by a focused assault, but quickly pieced itself back together.
-----“The Dollarcorp fleet is moving away!” Krauser said. “They appear to be retreating towards the outskirts of the Khazan system.”
-----“Only thirteen of their ships remain,” Strife reported. “I’m reading forty eight total terror beasts in pursuit.”
-----Krauser frantically looked over dozens of open windows on his computer screen as new data flowed in. “More signatures are appearing, twenty-three light seconds from here! It appears to be more of the Dollarcorp fleet; they’re attempting to rendezvous at some point, but the terror beasts are following…wait…”
-----“I see it,” Captain Shire said with a frown. Two of the terror beasts broke away from the group and began to head for the Star of Khazan.
-----“So then the Fallen and Drekis must be fighting right now,” Fandor remarked, “And since they came all this way to pick a fight with Dollar’s fleet, they figured they might as well get us while they’re up here.”
-----“At least there are only two of them,” Shire said. “With any luck, the Dollarcorp fleet can handle the others—I don’t relish the thought of handling forty eight of those god-damn things with just our ship. Release the docking clamps and put us on an intercept course; we can’t allow them to attack the Star of Khazan.”
---3---
Magnificent Weapon
-----The burning indignation from the sky that the Fallen were expecting never came. There was no rain of death, no flashing bombardment. Only static came through Dollar’s communicator, and any attempts to connect with the fleet failed. Even on the rare occasion that a connection was made, it seemed as though the fleet commanders were ignoring his orders.
-----No associate of Dollarcorp would dare to cut off Marc Dollar, unless of course there was a situation that forced them to. One way or another, the Drekis legions had staved off Dollar’s perfect plan.
-----With the absence of the bombardment, the Drekis minions easily charged into the clearing. An iron wall of hovering battle drones blocked their path; their large metallic arms opened with a whoosh, expanding out in all direction so that concealed disruptor cannons could appear.
-----All of the frontline machines fired to one glorious tune, taking down the first swarm of deminites that drew closer to the seventh barrier. More of the minions came, crawling and leaping over the cindered hulks of fellow minions, picking up speed as they approached. Closer and closer they came, only to ram their crested shoulders into the giant dome force field.
-----“Enemies have reached the seventh barrier!” one of the tank drivers announced.
-----Dollar closed his device with a quick snap and feverishly threw it away. “Absolutely useless. If my fleet comes back in one piece I’ll have to remember to fire all of my incompetent commanders.”
-----The terror beasts, still under attack by the innumerable gun turrets laid out across the isle, began to rise into the air. Having dispensed all of their land based minions, the beasts now took to the air and began to train their weapons on the barrier that prevented the deminites from moving forward.
-----As the attack commenced, flocks of ptera-deminites spewed out of the lower pores of the terror beasts; the birds of prey soared to the ground, falling like lightning. One after another they dispensed their electric bolts, assaulting the barrier shield alongside the terror beasts.
-----“The seventh barrier is about to collapse!” the driver reported. “Twenty percent and dropping!”
-----“Calm down,” Dollar grumbled, “Losing one barrier won’t be a problem.”
-----Devyn approached the side of the tank, his eyes still watching the ensuing conflict. “Things aren’t going exactly as you planned are they.”
-----“A minor setback,” Dollar assured him. “There seems to be some unforeseen problems in orbit. Regardless, the machines I brought you are more than enough to take them on; these weapons aren’t as fragile as your little swamp monsters after all.”
-----The war machines proved to be effective weapons against the Drekis minions that had, until now, primarily engaged living organisms. A number of androids and military vehicles had opposed them throughout the war, but none of them could match the raw power and durability of Dollarcorp’s models.
-----Rapid disruptor fire took down the deminites before they could get close enough to swarm over the machines; an increasing number of the minions charged forward, hoping to use pure speed to escape the hurried gunfire; however, the hovering machines in the frontline had reflexes that were superior to any normal bio-organism. Multiple processors scanned the environment, taking note of every single deminite that scurried about, regardless of direction or distance. When one deminite moved closer, the machines immediately adjusted the trajectory of their cannons, swerving their arms left and right to create a cyclone of devastating blasts.
-----These frontline drones, known as annihilators, were hovercraft models that resembled the upper body of a humanoid. The fact that they hovered meant that legs or treads were unnecessary. Their primary weapons were the disruptor cannons concealed inside of their bulky robotic arms, but they also had two pulse cannons concealed in each shoulder; even when a deminite managed to escape the wrath of the arm cannons, these point-defense weapons made short work of the hapless creature.
-----The hover machines were soon joined by Deathseekers; spherical, hovering drones that were bristling with weapons across their exteriors, Wrathwalkers; automated mechs with long, slender legs and lengthy bodies, and Titan-crushers; twelve meter tall battle androids with pressure cannons in each mighty fist.
-----With the steady bursts of disruptor fire keeping them at bay, the deminites regrouped at a distance and began using their fire attacks. Whereas human targets had easily burned under the searing temperatures of the magical flames, the ablative armor and graphite coating of the machines allowed the metal giants to stroll through the retaliation.
-----Groups of deminites and hunter-killers found themselves working together to take down individual foes; the deminites used their pyrokinesis to forge accumulated projectiles of fire, while hunter-killers coordinated their attacks with heavy missiles.
-----A large number of Dollarcorp weapons did fall to the enemy’s new tactic, but the situation also took away the number advantage that the Drekis Empire had always possessed in earlier battles. Between eight and twelve deminites joined together in an effort to take down one battle machine, and before long they found themselves overpowered, no longer capable of swarming their opponents with superior numbers.
-----The new war machines were performing better than Dollar had expected. At this point, victory seemed to be assured; had the fleet been able to launch its orbital attack as planned, the battle would have already ended by now.
-----Large, muscular, crimson-red monsters entered the battlefield. Information from the Khazan government had labeled these creatures “devonox,” and they were among the toughest of the minions in terms of physical strength. Their arrival, alongside the humongous crawling monsters known as tankers, changed the tide of battle somewhat. Titan-crushers, which had previous been shattering one deminite after the other with their overhead smashes, were pushed back by the stubborn devonoxes that refused to give in to the missiles and lasers that struck them.
-----These unseemly mutants used their long claws to rip into the armor of the machines, tearing them apart with the kind of strength that could puncture the hulls of star cruisers. The Drekis tankers moved in under the cover that the devonoxes provided, firing plasma bursts across the battlefield that reduced battle machines to ashes.
-----Drekis’ armies gained a new momentum, but the Dollarcorp weapons analyzed the situation and adapted. Faster machines moved in to disable the Tankers by cutting down their legs, while multiple Titan-crushers battled the devonoxes fist to fist until the hideous giants faltered.
-----“Not much of a show is it?” Dollar said to Devyn as he laid back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap. “At this rate they won’t even make it past the sixth barrier. Such a pity…and didn’t you say this would require the Fallen themselves to participate in the battle?”
-----Devyn watched as a horde of ptera-deminites swooped down and destroyed several Deathseeker drones with their lightning blasts; annihilators immediately turned their arms to the sky and shot some of them down. “I’m not certain that this is their full strength. And I still don’t see him here.”
-----“Who?” Dollar asked, leaning over his chair slightly. “You mean the actual Drekis fellow do you? Well, I’m certain that he drastically underestimated the power of our defenses. No doubt they’ll all retreat soon, unless they all want to be destroyed by my machines that is.”
-----“Your weapons have taken an advantage,” Devyn exclaimed, “but they have not won yet. There is still a large number of their kind left; they still pour out of the burning swamps with no end in sight. You also seem to forget those aerial ships they arrived on; they’re making their move over the battleground.”
-----“I’m insulted Devyn,” Dollar laughed. “Have you so little confidence in my work? Besides, even if those things in the air pose a problem, you still have that weapon there.” He pointed to the tip of the Fallen Tower, where the dreaded pyramid-shaped symbol of their organization loomed.
-----“We’ll leave that for a last resort,” Devyn remarked. “However, you should know that there are many creatures that Professor Vizeman has discussed in his reports—creatures which I have not yet seen in this battle. They could be holding back their true strength to lure us into a false sense of security.”
-----Dollar saw the keen smile on Devyn’s face and chuckled. “You’re always one step ahead of everyone aren’t you Soyokaze. I suppose this isn’t just some wild theory of yours; perhaps somehow you know this?”
-----“It’s a rather simplistic military strategy,” Devyn elaborated, “a rather small but nonetheless captivating step of the dance.”
-----“Is that so?” Dollar said with a faked sense of interest. “Even if the Drekis legions are hiding something, they’re fools for keeping it a secret this long—because now it’s time to drop the curtain. We have yet to see my most impressive weapon in action today, and I must say that I have been looking forward to this the most. My company’s most magnificent mechanized weapon: the Eversor. It’s time that our enemies knew just what she is capable of.
-----On the other side of the battle, Drekis minions continued to filter into the center of the island through the path that they had burned in the swamps. The scorching flames and boiling swamp waters had calmed, leaving a repugnant leftover of charred trees and dank, sweltered meadows.
-----Ominous shadows of terror beasts passed overhead, creating a perpetual cover of darkness around the deminites and reptillons that rushed into the cascade of weapon fire. The combined attacks of terror beast lasers and ptera-deminite bolts skewered the weakened sixth barrier, opening the way for the Drekis legions to draw close to the Tower.
-----However, the machines of Dollarcorp had proven to be more than a match for the lesser minions. Although a hail of particle beams from the looming terror beasts had begun to even the odds, the endless stream of drones continued to form an opaque wall that refused to let the deminites pass by the perimeter that the sixth barrier had defended.
-----Relinqiest and Attragon observed from the seared swampland, waiting patiently for the time when they could partake in the clash. The sight of furious deminites and devonoxes exchanging blows with the machines was a glorious prospect for Attragon, but neither of the generals were interested in fighting mere robots, no matter how advanced they were.
-----“This is certainly one of the more hectic and strenuous battles that we will wage on this world,” Relinqiest observed, “but that will only make the victory more enjoyable.”
-----Several impatient howls echoed behind them.
-----“The deminite wolves grow restless.” Attragon said.
-----“Indeed, though they are of no use against machines such as those,” Relinqiest replied. “Machines feel no fear; however, when the Fallen themselves enter the fray…that is when they will play there role.”
-----“The indignant power of the Fallen is not to be underestimated,” Attragon hissed, “They will not fall to minor manipulations of dread like the soldiers of the military.”
-----“Yes, but that is why we shall play a role in their downfall. These Fallen do not know who they are dealing with here—they think that they are secure behind those barriers, inside of that obsidian tower! We have not even begun to show our true power.”
-----Attragon crossed his arms as he looked beyond the battle and locked eyes with the various Fallen who were gathered before the Tower. “The Fallen most likely know that we are holding back. I see no point in holding back any longer; we should deploy the bio-fighters.”
-----“I would agree with you normally,” Relinqiest said, leaning on his staff slightly, “but our orders come from Drekis; we shall do only as he says. Have no fears Attragon, for we have our master here with us, and when he flexes his power you shall see these “villains” cower like lost children.”
-----“I have no fear!” Attragon asserted. “I will cut through their ranks and face their strongest warriors myself if I have to.”
-----“Ah, so its agitation that bothers you. Our time will come soon; Drekis will be the one to make the first move—when that happens, it will be the signal for us to begin.”
-----Attragon uncrossed his arms and stepped forward suddenly.
-----“What’s wrong?” Relinqiest asked.
-----“There is a great power approaching from the Tower,” Attragon said. “It is an artificial power.”
-----“Artificial? You mean another machine?” Relinqiest followed his gaze to the air above the Fallen Tower, where a menacing mech was steadily rising over the giant pyramid. “One of those vehicles then; nothing that we haven’t already encountered before.”
-----A burst, like an explosion, shook the island when the mech took off. Its speed defied anything that had ever been seen by the likes of a Khazanian mech before. It zigzagged over the Drekis army, firing disruptor shots so rapidly that its single rifle surpassed the dual cannons of the annihilator drones. The entire land became rife with a hazy green light. A sound like acid burning away at the world silenced everything else. The smoke cleared.
-----A chasm had been formed--a giant crevice in the surface of the island that now separated the Drekis army from the machines that they had been fighting.
-----“Impressive,” Attragon said. “A weapon of war unlike anything that I have ever seen; it killed no less than a thousand of our minions in one swoop.”
-----The Drekis minions pulled back, all eyes following the devilish mech as it descended for another attack. The pilot of the agile craft dared to approach their legions slowly, and instead of landing before them, it landed in the center of their army. Grounded and enclosed, the mech was assaulted by thousands of deminites, hunter-killers, and devonoxes from all sides.
-----The mech's arms spread out, lights flashed for a fleeting moment, and then powerful lasers flew out from emitters on its body. The strength of the beams was clear just from the sight of their lime-green brilliance; the ground beneath the path of the lasers melted away, and entire rows of minions were vaporized with a single shot.
-----Like a god among insects, the mech stood motionless in the center. Its beams curved, bent, and swayed, turning to fly in any direction. The blasts lashed out in a clockwise motion, quickly forming a circle of death around the mech. By the time that it had completed one revolution, the thousands of minions that had surrounded it were no where to be seen.
-----“Such an unbelievable power,” Relinqiest gasped. “Is this what Dollarcorp is truly capable of?”
-----Attragon let out a deep, growling laugh. “They do create some elaborate toys. But no matter how powerful that thing is, it is only one machine. They’re making a serious mistake if they think that they can deter us with one exceptional weapon.”
-----“There’s no need to go so far as to try and destroy it,” Relinqiest exclaimed. “I’m actually quite taken by its capabilities. Which is why…” he smiled and turned around to look upon a man who was kneeling behind him.
-----He was tall, lanky person with brown, slightly wrinkled skin and large eyes. An unexceptional piece of dark-gray chain mail and greaves covered his body, but his arms and feet were bare. “You have need of me my lord?” The man raised his head and grinned, showing a row of polished white teeth.
-----“Yes my Disciple,” Relinqiest said, turning to glare at the ominous mech. “Abicion, I want you to take that.”
-----Abicion stood up slowly, rolling his shoulders back and cracking all of the joints in his bony fingers. A long, slender tongue slithered out of his mouth and wiped its way across his upper lip, “With pleasure.”
---4---
Disturbance
-----Maria could see the resolute gleam in Elwin’s eyes. An impalpable sense of pride bolstered the promises that she made to the people of Khazan; her stance was solid, beckoning the strength of a lion as her gentle words somehow soared overhead.
-----Much of what she said made no sense to Maria. There were numerous references to past events, to people that she did not know; the only things that she recognized were the events referring to Drekis, where Elwin promised an immediate resolution to the problem.
-----You shouldn’t be making such promises so early, Maria thought. She had heard many speeches just like this one before—they were nothing but lies and promises that were never kept. Such was the nature of the power one held as something such as a “Vice-President.” Weak people threw their demands and needs upon the shoulders of a few strong hearted people who had lived fortunate lives, and those people, perhaps out of a feeling of guilt or misguided responsibility, vowed to take care of their problems.
-----Of course they couldn’t. What mortal can truly resolve the troubles of another mortal, much less an entire nation? That is why the order that they believed in failed; that is why the order that she had once put her faith in betrayed her.
-----But the speech would serve her purposes in one appealing way. The faith that the civilians had for this woman and her famous husband would elevate this dissertation well beyond the limits of some average political message; she would, in effect, become a symbol of their hopes, the one who had raised their spirits. What better way could there be to shatter their souls—they would see one of their greatest leaders slain in the aftermath of an otherwise promising speech.
-----She had formed a large scimitar in her hands, a decorative weapon with a ruby-crested gold hilt and magical inscriptions in the blade. The formation had been silent, and her visage had been shielded by a sea of onlookers who’s eyes remained fixed on the Vice-President.
-----Her eyes shifted to the man in red, the muscular brute who stood up there with that stupid smile, waving to the people while Elwin spoke. Next she saw the bearded man, standing there with his arms crossed and staring straight ahead. Neither escort was truly focused. They weren’t expecting an attack, or maybe they knew that no potential attacker would be enough of a threat to be a concern. She aimed to prove them wrong.
-----Maria let out a muffled groan that hissed through her closed teeth. The clothes around her back ripped open; feathered, chestnut-colored wings broke out of her shoulders, knocking away all of the civilians around her.
-----It happened in a single second; the people barely had enough time to gasp before she had taken off, leaving behind a gust that blew most of the crowd behind her off of their feet.
-----Elwin stuttered in the middle of her lines. A flash of wings quickly blocked out the light around her; she raised her hands just in time to get a view of the long, curved blade swinging down towards her.
-----The sword skimmed to the side. A translucent bubble now encompassed Elwin.
-----“You stopped my blade!?” Maria sneered with disbelief. “I thought I had a perfect sneak attack.”
-----“Not quite,” said the bearded man. His hand, still covered by his overlong sleeve, clearly glowed as he pointed towards the Vice-President. “You obviously don’t know who you’re dealing with. I am Garam, star mage of the Sentinels, and I could sense the hostility you brewed from the moment you stepped into that crowd.”
-----“This is your doing!” Maria said, continually pressing her blade into the magical barrier.
-----“I must admit,” the sorcerer continued, “I couldn’t tell exactly where you were, but I knew it was only a matter of time before you made your move. Your assassination was doomed to failure from the start.”
-----“Don’t take me so lightly wizard!” Maria said with a striking combination of a scowl and a sly smile. Her grip tensed, the blade pressed deeper into the bubble; energy crackled around the blade as the magical inscriptions began to shine. “Gah!” she shouted as she put all of her strength behind a vertical slash. The blade pierced the bubble and slashed across it. At once the exterior of the shield cracked like glass and shattered, falling to the ground in pieces of sparkling energy that fizzled and died away.
-----Startled voices among the crowd encompassed the stage; panicked civilians took off, while frustrated bystanders complained about ‘more battles.’
-----“Impossible!” Garam shouted.
-----Maria’s sword swung clearly through the barrier, but Elwin had already moved out of the blade’s range by the time she bypassed the defense. Her wings flexed, carrying her towards the woman. She knew that the woman was powerful; the Vice-President of Khazan certainly couldn’t be weak. The element of surprise was lost to her—she had to end the fight now, never giving the woman a chance to bring out her power.
-----The man in red intercepted her. He grabbed her wrists in mid-swing, stopping the blade just inches away from his head. “It’s time you gave up little miss. It’s over, you can’t win here!”
-----“You treat me like a child…” Maria glared. With a vicious cry she pulled her hands back, bringing the Sentinel closer to her. Even with her wrists held, she could still move the blade ever so slightly with her fingers, just enough to cut him at such a close proximity.
-----The man realized the threat and relinquished his grasp. Maria flew back unexpectedly, her wings flapping backwards to regain balance. A rock-hard fist struck the side of her cheek and hurled her into the tile where the people had been standing. The cool surface of the floor cracked, her body rebounded and rolled into a patch of grassland, narrowly missing a tree.
-----“Normally I wouldn’t use such measures against a lady,” the man said as he began to fly above her. “However, I don’t think you’re just some lady…you’re with Drekis aren’t you.”
-----“My, you’re a smart one aren’t you,” Maria scoffed. She lifted herself off of the ground using her sword like a cane. Her wings stretched out, her legs took a battle stance, and a free hand pulled her silvery hair back.
-----“Impressive,” the man said with feigned applause. “It’s not everyday that I meet someone who can stand a punch from the mighty Supercomrade.
-----“Super…comrade?” Maria croaked. “I don’t care who you are, you’re not getting in my way.”
-----Garam approached from her right flank. “Supercomrade…we’ll take her down together. We can’t afford a prolonged conflict in the plaza.”
-----“I’ve got it comrade!” He waved a hand and then shot off like a bullet, flying down towards the winged woman.
-----Garam stretched out both of his concealed hands and chanted: “Eviscerating claws…spirits of nature’s wrath, from the grave I call thee!”
-----Long, slender arms forged from stone punched their way through the tile floor. Maria took to the air, dodging the grasp of the arms and Supercomrade’s swoop. The hands of rock stretched out to pursue her, becoming a series of tentacles.
-----“You really intend to use magic against the likes of me?” Maria uttered. She floated backwards to avoid the rising appendages and cut them apart with one swing of the scimitar.
-----Normally, such a cut would be meaningless. The magic that Garam had summoned flowed through all of the earth-element in the area, so to cut the arms in half would merely inconvenience a sorcerer of Garam’s strength to rebuild it; however, for some reason the entire foundation of rock fell apart at the passing of her blade. The magic itself was dispelled.
-----Dealing with the stone arms had distracted her for a fraction of a second, which was all the time Supercomrade needed to sneak in from behind. He gave her a quick jab to the face again just as she turned around. She swung her sword in retaliation, but he moved his head back and then flew down under her second swing. Before her third strike could fall, he unleashed a powerful uppercut to her stomach.
-----Any cry of pain she attempted was replaced by an airless gasp. Her humanoid body began to collapse, but her wings remained strong, keeping her in the air.
-----“You can’t keep this up,” Supercomrade warned. “I don’t know what Drekis told you do exactly, but whatever it is…you’ve failed. It’s time for you to give up and come with us—you’re not going back to Drekis.”
-----“That thought had occurred to me,” Maria said, taking in a deep breath, “not being able to return to Drekis I mean. I had already accepted the fact that I might die, so I don’t care! I must simply accomplish my mission!”
-----“I already told you, you’ve lost!” Supercomrade yelled. “There’s no point in you risking your life here, your mission can’t be completed.”
-----“My life holds no value beyond my mission. I’m willing to put everything on the line…I’ll show you what real determination is.”
-----Elwin watched from the back of the stadium. That woman isn’t making any sense, she thought. Her own thoughts seem to be betraying her; she says that she is willing to put her life on the line for her mission…but, it seems more like she…wants to die.
-----The woman was an enigma, completely unlike any of the minions that Elwin had seen or heard of. She was determined to accomplish her mission—which, as far as Elwin could tell, was to complete an assassination—but a look of fear and uncertainty in the woman’s eyes implied that this would be her final act; it was a suicide mission.
-----Supercomrade shook his head solemnly, “If you will not give up, then you leave me no choice.” He flew towards her, fists extended, as if her blade was no threat to him.
-----Maria ascended with a flap of her wings; she raised her scimitar behind her head, preparing to strike. Supercomrade altered his flight path to a collision course, his speed increasing.
-----The sword attack could never be completed before he reached her, but Maria was well aware of this. As she clenched her fist and prepared to unleash her blade, Maria abruptly stopped and extended her other hand out. A bright, sea green light exploded from her open palm, blasting the Sentinel in the chest.
-----Supercomrade was hurled downward, the beam still pressing into his body. He plowed through the stadium, breaking all of the boards of wood with the impact.
-----From beneath the stage, Supercomrade sat up in a small, dark crater; snapped wires dangled from his neck. With a low grunt he held a dusty hand to his forehead, “Always…always with the energy blasts.”
-----Knowing that the second body guard would still oppose her, Maria dived towards the sorcerer with her blade at the ready.
-----Lightning cracked around Garam’s left fingers while flames burned around his others. “Lightning of judgment, eternal fires of punishment,” he roared emphatically.
-----Few things bothered Maria more than a sorcerer who took his own magic so seriously.
-----“Come together…” Garam clapped his hands, and a jolt flew out that looped around him, creating a burning circle. “…and form my lance.”
-----The distance was closed; an excited battle cry preceded her attack. Garam moved his arms toward her, but her sword was already plunging towards his defiant face.
-----“ThunderFlare!” Everything around them became black and white. The powerful mixture of fire and lightning surged into one unbelievable beacon of magical energy.
-----No doubt it was one of his most powerful spells, which was why the smug, middle-aged man was still smiling, confident that even though his previous spells had been cut down, this would prevail. The thunderous, burning projectile, shaped like a lance the size of a semi-truck, connected with Maria’s vertical slash.
-----“Nothing but a whole lot of flash,” Maria teased as the radiance engulfed her. Waves of fire and electricity smashed into the blade and were violently tossed in other directions. The path of the spell became divided, as if the scimitar were bisecting the energy with its edge.
-----“That can’t be…” Garam stuttered. “What kind of sword…” His pride in ruins, the sorcerer watched as the little energy that did strike the weapon merely swirled around it before flowing into the gleaming inscriptions in the heated metal.
-----Unimpeded, Maria performed a horizontal slash, aiming at Garam’s neck.
-----There was no time to cast a defense spell, and if she had the power to cut through his magic barrier, then there was nothing that he could do to stop the scimitar. He tried to step back, but the girl was faster, her wings propelled her forward at a speed that his aging feet couldn’t match. The blade was so close now; he could see the last vestiges of the ThunderFlare spell crackling along the cold steel.
The sound of metal against metal interrupted his imminent demise. Elwin D’Larthi stood between him and the grave, pushing Maria’s sword back with her own. The two women were locked in a stalemate for some time, each using both hands to press their blade against the others.
-----Maria was stronger than she looked, but she was still hanging in mid-air, whereas Elwin was grounded. Using strength from her legs and hips, Elwin managed to thrust forward and push Maria away. The winged girl flew up slightly and then landed on the tile in a kneeling stance, her sword positioned above her knee.
-----Elwin relaxed but held her sword in front of her. “Enough of this; you came for me didn’t you. If you want a fight with me, then leave the others out of it.”
-----“Lady D’Larthi,” Garam cried out. The near-death experience had provoked him to fall on his back. He was still breathing heavily. “You must not…Supercomrade and I…”
-----“We are not beaten yet!” Supercomrade said as he landed next to Elwin. “You may be a member of the Sentinel council, and you may be one of this planet’s most recognized heroes—but you are also the Vice-President of Khazan, and a mother. It is our duty to protect you.”
-----Maria raised and nonchalantly held her arms to her side, pointing the scimitar to the ground. “I did not want this to become a spectacle. If it had not been for their intervention, this would have been over by now.”
-----“Who are you?” Elwin asked. “Why do you want me dead, or did Drekis order this?”
-----“It doesn’t matter,” she retorted. Her wings flapped suddenly but she remained on the ground.
-----“Allow us to handle this,” Supercomrade suggested.
-----“No, I wish to handle this situation,” Elwin replied. “Stand aside and protect Garam.”
-----“But Lady D’Larthi…”
-----“I know what you’re thinking. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in battle, but I’m a magician and a master of the blade at heart; I can take care of myself.”
-----“So,” Maria interjected, “the Vice-President of Khazan is a magician. That’s perfect.”
-----“Beware of that blade,” Garam spat out. “It has some sort of anti-magic properties. Any spell, offensive or defensive, will be cut down by a weapon that’s been forged specifically for battle against magic users.”
-----“I’m aware of that,” Elwin said.
-----Maria raised the scimitar, “Knowing that, you still intend to fight…”
-----“It may have been some time since I’ve fought with anyone,” Elwin admitted, “and to be honest I have long since passed on the title of ‘Sailor Archer’ to someone else. However, I still have my magic, and I still have my sword, Sara, which doesn’t use any magic.”
-----“Sara?” Maria said as she sped towards D’Larthi. “What ridiculous nonsense, to name a sword.” She swung her down, crashing the blade into the tile with enough force to cut the surface.
-----Elwin quickly side stepped and made a thrust for her opponent’s wings. Maria parried the blow, then moved her scimitar around and arched her next slash downward. Elwin followed the motion of the scimitar, moving Sara to intercept the blade just before it dove into her calf.
-----The low attack was a ruse to force Elwin into lowering her defense; Maria immediately spun around, coming full circle with blade in hand. Recognizing the strategy, Elwin released an upward slash, catching the scimitar at the end of the spin attack. Maria was knocked off balance, her sword having nearly flown from her delicate hands.
-----There was no doubt about it—even if this mysterious servant of Drekis wanted to die, she was unwavering in her intention to win the fight. Maria and Elwin moved in closer, their swords connecting several times, faster and faster until the resounding clashes forced them apart.
-----Maria charged forward with a piercing thrust; Elwin jumped to the side and brought her sword down; a graceful spin allowed Maria to escape Sara’s edge, and as she came around she lunged forward with a second thrust. This time, Elwin pulled her sword to the side and then thrust it sideways; the tip of Sara caught the side of the large scimitar, deflecting the attack and forcing Maria off balance.
-----Elwin recovered from her unusual move. Mind-numbing agility allowed her to quickly spin Sara back into a normal hold; with one strong arm, she unleashed a powerful horizontal slash that created a thinly focused air wave that harmlessly blew off of the tile.
-----The woman’s wings pulled in tightly to hug her back, and she ducked under the slash as if giving a curtsy. She then spun around—she seemed to have a liking for spin attacks, although she performed them with a kind of elegance. She had certainly perfected the style; it was not something that she had simply emulated from television—a low swing passed under Elwin’s feet as she jumped.
-----Maria’s body swung around a second time. Elwin brought her sword down as she fell; Maria brought her sword up as she rose.
-----There was one last clash of metal, followed by a series of clangs as a sword fell across the tile.
-----Maria took several steps back, holding her wrist tightly as she watched her scimitar slide across the floor. A thin strip of blood began to expand over the back of her hand.
-----Elwin pointed Sara at the Drekis minion’s head. “I named my blade, because I was told that it allows your sword to become one with you. And if you and your sword are one, then it will never break, unless you do.”
-----“What?” Maria said, pressing her hand against the cut.
-----“You were never one hundred percent committed to the fight, although you were determined enough. There was still a small part of you that had some doubt, and I’m not even sure it was doubt over your ability to win the fight, more like you didn’t know if you were doing the right thing.”
-----“How dare you,” Maria said, “as if you could understand me.”
-----“I don’t need to understand. I could sense the unrest in you, and no matter what the case, if you aren’t committed to something with all of your being, then you’ve already lost.”
-----“I haven’t lost anything yet! You think that losing my sword makes me helpless?” Desperation clouded her words. Desperation…and sadness. Both of her hands glowed, energy sparked ferociously around her. A blast flew out from one hand, strafing across the horseshoe shaped building. Elwin sidestepped and ducked under the fist shot, but Maria then fired a second beam.
-----Elwin’s position erupted in an emerald explosion; the beam continued to rip through the ground, proceeding to slide into the remnants of the stage and destroying them.
-----“Elwin!” Garam shouted.
-----“Relax…” Supercomrade said.
-----The blast area cleared, but Elwin was nowhere to be seen.
-----“I…missed…” Maria said weakly. A single, startling word echoed behind her.
-----“Fire…!”
-----She turned, just in time to see a glowing sphere hurling towards her.
-----“…Ball!” The word trailed off for some time. The force of the word itself was staggering, piercing her ears as the attack connected. There was a large explosion, a flash of light, and then everything went dark.
-----Elwin, Supercomrade, and Garam moved in to observe the girl’s unconscious body. The sound of mobile police sirens filled the air.
-----“So then…” Garam whispered, “you didn’t kill her.”
“Of course not,” she replied. “I avoid that if I can.”
-----“I generally agree,” Supercomrade stated, “Although she is an assassin. Are you sure this will be safe?”
-----“There’s something about this one…I didn’t think killing her was necessary, even if she does willingly work for Drekis. Besides, the fact that she is connected to Drekis gives us something we’ve never possessed before.”
-----“Knowledge.” Garam said.
-----Elwin nodded. “Until now, we’ve only been able to rely on the Seeker bounty hunters and the GDF for real information, but their intelligence concerning Drekis himself are conjectures and theories at best. We’ll take her into custody.”
---5---
A Small Welcome
-----Tim and the others had rejoined the group shortly after Captain Khazan had met them in the abyss. Now refreshed and refurbished, the group returned to the path that led deeper into the Endless Caves.
-----A stinging sensation attacked their nostrils; the stench became thick and dank, palpable enough to leave a disagreeable sweat across their faces. The heroes and Marauders that made up the party swayed their hands as if pushing through a dense jungle. The smell was nearly overpowering, and the fog that crept along their feet became thicker as they ventured in.
-----“Detestable…” Robert muttered. “I feel like I need to puke.”
-----“It must mean that we’re close to the hive,” Shinsuke stated. His senses were better than most of the people in the group, but the offensive aura didn’t seem to offer him any discomfort.
-----“The smell is familiar.” The Unsubtle said, pinching her nose in disgust. Her voice became coarse and raspy. “Although, it’s much worse than it was the last time I was here. Someone’s been busy.”
-----Uberman held a hand up cautiously but continued to walk, “I see light up ahead.”
-----The rocky path curved to the left, and from the corner came a yellow and red radiance.
-----Uberman jumped ahead of the group and slowly approached the corner.
-----“Do you detect anything?” Captain Khazan whispered.
-----“No,” Uberman quickly replied.
-----Captain Khazan turned to look at Raea, then the bounty hunters.
-----They all shook their heads. Their sensors didn’t detect anything ahead.
-----“That’s what bothers me,” Uberman continued. “This whole thing smells like a trap.”
-----“Smells like shit,” Cortelloni complained, on the verge of shouting. “We’re probably not even near the hive.”
-----The Sentinel leader snuck his head around the corner; the cavern hallway became wider as it went on, ending with an enormous archway that led into the next chamber. “Even though I don’t like the looks of it, we’re going in; it’s not like we have much of a choice, having come all the way down here and all.”
-----“That’s one big chamber,” Lexington’s voice trailed off as the band of heroes entered a room far larger than anything they had seen before. Not only was the room wide, but it stretched out farther than they could see, and was tall enough to fit a small building inside.
-----“We’ve probably been walking circles around this while following the path,” Lara exclaimed.
-----“Great!” The Unsubtle groaned. “So if we had known about this we probably could have cut our way through the walls to get here earlier.”
-----“You were the one who said you’d been here before,” Tiara reminded her.
-----“Shut up,” she snapped back. “First of all, I was brought to some sort of castle inside of the hive, and that was from the Dark Shadow Forest south of here. I’ve merely been using my keen sense of direction to steer us on the path that would more or less take us here! Second, this place is a whole lot different from back then; I swear it wasn’t this huge.”
-----“Not hard to believe,” Telissa interjected. “The deminite workers can build and modify things at an alarming rate; in any case, blasting through the walls wouldn’t have worked. Everything around the hives is probably made of pure darkstone—not a trace of original matter left.”
-----Lexington spun around, hands waving in the air, “Hold up! Are you guys saying that this really is the hive?”
-----“It may be different,” the Unsubtle said, nodding with pride, “but I know this is close to where I was brought.”
-----“If that’s the case,” Lexington said, “then this is rather disturbing.”
-----Tim walked across the open floor and surveyed the area. Slime covered pillars stretched up from the cavern floor to the ceiling. Everything around him was made of shimmering darkstone, but the walls pulsed with life; they were covered with some kind of organic matter that stretched over the darkstone like tree roots or moss. As Tim peered into the distance, he could see large, deep craters—pits that were filled halfway with a thick liquid and the same kind of organic mass. “What’s so disturbing about it?” he finally asked. “It seems like the best scenario we could hope for; there’s no one here to stop us.”
-----“Exactly!” Lexington shouted. “This doesn’t make sense. There should be a welcoming committee—hundreds and thousands of the bastards all over the place. The whole reason I thought we had it easy-going back there was because the minions were gathering here to set a trap.”
-----“He’s right.” Telissa affirmed, “This is the place where it all starts. He spawns all of his deminites and lesser minions from this hive. There’s no reason for it to be so…empty.”
-----Captain Khazan took to the air and flew around a portion of the hive, coming full circle in one quick motion and landing in front of the group. “I don’t see anyone hiding around. The place is emptied out; I don’t understand…with a place this big, he could spawn thousands of those things a day—this place should be bustling.”
-----“Maybe we misunderstood Drekis’ reason for buying time?” Shinsuke said.
-----“For buying time?” Tim asked. “You mean the battles we fought through, and that woman who attacked us back there.”
-----Uberman nodded. “We assumed that Drekis was buying time to ready something, but…”
-----“Now it appears that Drekis was stalling so that he could relocate,” Toc finished. “How sad. To think that he would send such vermin to stand in our way just long enough for him to run.”
-----Tim’s sword began to shake; the scabbard around it cracked as a powerful blue light pierced through the holster. “What is…” he grabbed the quivering holster just as the sheath exploded; a violent light escaped, making everything around him look ghost-white.
-----“Tim…” Raea groaned as the light died down slightly; the blade still shook rapidly. “The sword again, what’s happening?”
-----“Just like before,” Tim gasped. “It’s someone…someone here. Only, it’s different. This time it’s—shaking with fear. I can feel it, bone shattering fear. Oh Gods….”
-----“Someone calm him down!” Uberman shouted. Raea was already at Tim’s side, grasping his shoulders and stroking the side of his face. Sweat was visibly pouring down the side of the young boy’s face. There was no doubt about it—the body wasn’t engulfed in anger or excitement like he had before…he was afraid.
-----A voice, dark and deep, punctured the darkness around them and engulfed the area, as if coming from all directions: “Who said anything about running?”
-----The red and yellow lights which emanated from the pulsing walls grew brighter, transforming the hives from a dimly lit chamber into a place that was bright as day. The shadows crept back appropriately, revealing a man who stood a few hundred feet from the group.
-----“Impossible!” Robert yelled. “We should have detected him with our equipment.”
-----“I didn’t sense him this time either!” Shinsuke exclaimed. He turned his head to eye the gleaming sword. “Only Tim’s sword…”
-----The man that had appeared began to laugh. He was a tall, thin human with deep red eyes and jet black hair; his hair was wavy and somewhat long at the back, stretching down to the base of his neck, but in front his hair was short, with only a few strands falling down to form a translucent veil over his right eye. Whereas his head was human, his body was merely human-shaped. His skin was thick, with dark red spines extending from the sides of his body and dark green scales across his chest. His arms and legs looked as if he was wearing spiked, crimson armor over them, and a set of three spikes protruded from each shoulder-blade.
-----“We have no plans of relocating,” the man said as he finished his boisterous laugh. His smile became more like a sneer; his excited tone became deep and ominous. “I simply didn’t want you lot coming down here and destroying all of the precious work that’s been done. I decided to have everything here cleaned away—momentarily of course—so that I could deal with you without any…distractions.”
-----“He’s telling the truth,” Telissa said as she read the readings on her arm computer, “It looks like the hive itself has shut down; it’s not producing any more minions.”
-----“There are more than enough on the surface already…” the man hissed, “…for us to stop production while I take care of you intruders.”
-----Everyone in the group formed a tight circle—everyone that is, except for Toc Darkone, who remained at the back, arms folded casually.
-----“Did you think we would be unprepared for you?” the man bellowed. The sound of his voice created a small quake in the hive chamber. “Your ignorance knows no bounds. We didn’t simply land on this world and start an invasion; we’ve been here for ten long years—waiting, plotting. Every detail that we could observe from a safe distance is known to us, including the insufferable persistence of you heroes.’
-----‘Since the beginning, we have known that it was only a matter of time before you tried to pull a stunt like this; your people are growing tired of the war on the surface, and you so called heroes have taken it upon yourselves to end it all by attacking Drekis at his core…all rather predictable I’m afraid. We even knew enough about the Marauders to accurately predict the actions that they would take,” he glared at the Unsubtle with a disturbing grin.
-----“Wha…” the Unsubtle cried, motioning her finger towards her chin with a confused look on her face.
-----“Yes, we knew that allowing you to live after seeing our hive would give an outsider knowledge of our location. We also knew that the Marauders would inevitably see through our false offer of becoming allies against the Sentinels. After all, you’re too smart for that old trick, aren’t you Toc.”
-----Toc feigned applause, clapping the ends of his fingers together, “Well done. So you set us up to go on a hunt, knowing all along that you planned to make us the hunted. However, you made a grave error in your attempts to hunt us down. Apparently you underestimated us, because to send one lone minion against us is an insult.”
-----“Who are you!?” Uberman demanded. “Why are you the only one here to challenge us? If this is all Drekis has to offer us, then we will take you down just like we did the girl! You can’t win against all of us.”
-----“Such boring heroic dialogue,” the man sneered. “I was hoping that the leader of the Sentinels of Liberty and Justice would be something other than a walking cliché.”
-----“You’re one to talk!” Telissa shouted back. “Your master is nothing but a run-of-the-mill dark lord, a total psychopath who destroys for the hell of it.”
-----The man’s smile grew and his face darkened, “You people just don’t get it. But no matter; it’s not important that any of you understand the reasons, only that you ultimately submit.”
-----Raea gently held Tim in her arms while the heroes and the lone man bantered. Tim’s body was fluctuating between a state of strength and weakness; his muscles would flatten one instant, nearly causing him to collapse under the weight of his armored mail, but in the next instant he was standing erect, with a kind of palpable strength that Raea could feel just by touching his cheeks…a strength that went beyond human. The sword still glowed, and it shook in his hands.
-----Toc took a step forward, walking ahead of the group which was still keeping its distance from the stranger. “You’re the one who saved the girl from my attack earlier.”
-----“I see—there’s no fooling you is there?” the man said with a short, deep laugh.
-----“Wait, Toc…” Shinsuke warned, “We have to be careful with this one, he’s not like the homunculus we fought back there.”
-----“I know…” Toc said with a cold grin. “I remember that energy…”
-----“We’ll take him down all at once,” Uberman advised. “We work as a team, and that includes you Toc, for now.”
-----Cortelloni pushed his way to the front, “I’m not keen on trusting anyone here with my life, especially not Darkone! The air around him swirled, but nothing happened to the dark-haired man.
-----Michael’s telekinesis stopped in front of the man and went no further. His mind tried to grasp at the man’s neck, but he could only feel the air around him. “There’s some kind of damn protective field.”
-----“You didn’t think it would be that easy did you?” the man whispered just loud enough for them to hear. “I hope that the rest of you have something better to offer me than this.”
-----Cortelloni motioned for his holster.
-----“A gun is of no use against me,” he mocked.
-----A large mechanical arm restrained Cortelloni from bearing the firearm against the stranger. Uberman motioned for the ex-Marauder to step back, “We’ll take care of this. Shinsuke, you support us from back here. Captain Khazan!” The two heroes exchanged nods and then suddenly took off.
-----They flew side by side, heading straight for the dark haired man. Their target was standing still, completely motionless; a tense feeling made the two heroes cringe as they approached. He may not have been moving, but they knew to expect such a ruse from their foes.
-----At a few meters distance from him, Captain Khazan and Uberman split up, forking in different directions. The man’s face, still displaying passive confidence, followed Uberman; Captain Khazan swirled around and approached him from behind.
-----The Captain was the one to reach him first. With both hands clenched together, he prepared to unleash and overhead smash to the villain’s neck. It was one of the quickest ways to end a battle, and if the enemy didn’t fall unconscious from the first blow, it would be a sign that they were dealing with someone truly extraordinary.
-----His fists were a hair’s length away from connecting when the man’s figure disappeared. Captain Khazan thought he was hallucinating for a moment, but then he saw the flickering visage of the man appear in front of him. He immediately reached out with another punch, hoping to put a stop to any counterattack that the man might try. Again, the form in front of him flickered, as if rapidly disappearing and then reappearing just a few feet away.
-----It was pure speed; the man was too quick to hit with a head on charge. Not only that, but the man had been toying with him, using his speed to just barely avoid the edges of his fists—it was like he was tempting Captain Khazan to attempt another blow.
-----Captain Khazan launched a new tactic, this time propelling himself forward with his flight. He intended to anticipate his movements, allowing the man to speed away before jolting forward to catch him off guard as he reappeared.
-----But this time, the man did not move. Instead, he reached his left arm out, his palm open, and soon it was pressed against Captain Khazan’s chest. It was an unbelievable feat; Captain Khazan’s arms were still well out of reach. He had yet to close the distance, but the villain had stretched his arm out.
-----“Foolish.” The man whispered. A powerful stream of energy flew out of his hand, hitting Captain Khazan at point-blank range and sending him far across the hive. The hero’s stalwart body crashed into a pillar; the solid darkstone refused to break, but thankfully the living tissue around it softened the impact, if ever so slightly.
-----Although Captain Khazan’s attack had failed, Uberman had been able to watch his opponent’s moves. He had been following them steadily, keeping track of way the man dodged Captain Khazan’s punches. Just when the man had blasted Captain Khazan away, Uberman had been moving in on his new location, coming in on the man’s right flank.
-----Crimson eyes turned to glower at the Sentinel leader, but it was too late for him to avoid the blow; Uberman had put everything into his jet boots, nearly spinning out of control as he allowed his momentum to carry him through the target. His arm drawn back, Uberman activated all of the power that his concussion blaster could afford; the mechanical limb, nearly the size of the villain’s upper torso, tore through his chest and impaled him cleanly.
-----Uberman gasped in surprise as dark blood spilled around his arm. He had anticipated a strong defense; Cortelloni had even confirmed the existence of a protective field that was able to stave off his telekinesis. He never intended to inflict such a wound, and he began to feel a kind of pity for the man. However, as he looked at the villain’s face for a hint of sadness or pain, he saw only malice and disappointment.
-----“Is that the best you can do?” the man boomed. “You intend to kill one such as I by impaling my body with your oversized arm?” The fingers on his right hand stretched out and became sharp, curved claws. “Your entire body is nothing more than a trinket with a soul inside…” His clawed fist grappled Uberman’s arm; the claws dug themselves into the metal, and with the slightest bit of pressure he began to crush the mechanized limb.
-----An artificial sensation of pain flared over Uberman; he let out a sharp but indignant cry as part of the arm was crushed in. Sparks flew from the break; the claws began to dig deeper. Uberman tried to pull away, but his arm was trapped in his enemy’s grasp. Unable to move, he instead fired his concussion blaster while his arm was still inside the fiend’s torso. The blast ripped out several lumps of flesh and scattered dark liquid across a pillar behind him.
-----“And it is only a human soul,” the man said with a scornful laugh. He relinquished his grasp of the arm, only to reach up and grab Uberman’s neck with his other hand. Uberman was much larger than the unknown minion, but that didn’t stop the fiend from lifting his mechanized body into the air.
-----The man’s left arm extended out and grew until it could adequately grasp the hero’s throat. “I wonder…if I take off this head, will that mind of yours that resides inside actually die?”
-----A shower of ice fell upon his enlarged arm, instantly freezing it up to the shoulder. With a passive turn of his neck, the man stared blankly at Shinsuke. “Must you interfere? It will be more fun if I fought you one by one; it will last longer that way.”
-----Uberman thrust his legs out, kicking the frozen arm that held him. It shattered into icy pieces, but the man showed no sign of pain, no sense of loss.
-----Raea, Telissa, Robert, and the Unsubtle stepped in, their weapons pointed at the wounded minion. Particle guns and assault rifles blasted the dark haired stranger with beams and bullets. The man didn’t move an inch; the bullets punctured his skin and the beams melted through his scales, but his expression was unmoved.
-----The gunners, aghast and in disbelief, stopped firing. Deep inside, they had known that no weapon they possessed was likely to have any effect on a man who could be impaled by the likes of Uberman and laugh, but it was still unreal to witness someone stand up to an unforgiving firing squad.
-----“Of all the people you could bring,” he said, smiling at Uberman, who was still recovering from his ordeal, “You brought these weaklings? Two Seekers, and two gun happy females. Did you honestly think that you’d be able to even harm Drekis with the likes of this?”
-----Tiara landed in front of the demonic man, immediately catching his attention. Powerful winds swirled around her body; the gusts blew back the veil of hair around the man’s face while he watched.
-----“So, an apprentice of the Powers That Be,” he said. “Much better than a Seeker; however, it’s still useless.”
-----“Say whatever you want,” Tiara retorted, raising a hand into the air and focusing the wind into a tight funnel. “You’re the one who’s down an arm!” She swept her hand towards him; the dazzling shape above her palm exploded outward, becoming a miniature tornado that traveled horizontally across the chamber.
-----The man made no attempt to avoid it, even though Uberman and the others knew that he could have if he wanted to. The tip of the tornado crashed into him, smashing his body into the darkstone floor and flailing it about. With some direction from Tiara, the tornado picked his body off of the ground. He was flung towards a darkstone pillar, colliding with it just in time for the tornado to hit him again. The last vestiges of the wind crushed him against the pillar again and again, until at last the wind died down.
-----A seemingly lifeless body fell to the base of the pillar.
-----“Did she do it?” Raea asked.
-----Tiara took in a deep breath. “Someone that powerful…wouldn’t go down just like that.”
-----“He’s still alive!” Tim confirmed. His blade had stopped quivering, though it glowed vigorously, just as it had when enemies had been nearby.
-----“I don’t understand this one,” Uberman said, gently feeling the crushed portion of his right arm. Small bolts of electricity shot out of exposed circuits, but the arm still responded to his thoughts. “He seems stronger than the generals that I’ve encountered.”
-----Captain Khazan, whose sturdy body had been noticeably scorched from the blast, caught up with the rest of the group. “You punched your way through his chest. If that’s not going to kill him, then what is? At this point, I wouldn’t be able to do anything that you couldn’t.”
-----“It’s simple,” Toc Darkone broke in. “Like the girl, we aim to destroy his entire body in one attack.”
-----Deep laughter filled the chamber. The body at the base of the pillar stood. The stump where his destroyed arm had been was filling in with a brand new, virtually identical limb. Wounds and scratches across his body disappeared; it was as if he had never been attacked. “You think that I have the same weaknesses as that homunculus that Attragon made? How interesting…perhaps I should let you try out your theory; I sincerely doubt that you have what it takes to smash by body completely.” His crimson eyes scanned over them and stopped when he found Tim behind the others. He pointed in the direction of the gleaming sword—he relished in the sight of the fear that the wielder exuded. “What about you boy?”
-----The others were visibly surprised as they followed his gaze towards the young Sentinel.
-----“Perhaps you,” his voice echoed, “and that sword of yours, can give me a challenge.”
---6---
Saramach’s Arrival
-----The council of Saramach stood in a wasteland that had once been a sun-drenched beach facing the northern shore. The port city of Raisa, now a decimated ruin under the control of the Saramach, smelled of decay and sweltering meat.
-----The undead, virtually mindless ghouls patrolled the wasteland as they waited for the last galleons to arrive. The council had landed on the main continent with the most recent fleet, and all that remained was for Saramach Melfyre’s galleon to pull in.
-----“It has been a long time since we had the soil of the main continent beneath our feet,” Kerrison said, shifting her fingers through blood soaked sand.
-----Valaris floated in the air, the wind eerily passing through his body with no effect. “I had forgotten this feeling…” he said with a sharp echo. “This place is rife with life.”
-----“I know,” Kerrison replied. The sand in her palms slowly fell through her fingers, leaving a small trace of dried blood in her hands. “It’s disgusting, isn’t it?”
-----Melissa Kale surveyed the distant scenery while her fellow council members watched the seas for Melfyre’s ship. “So this is to be our new wastes, our new staging ground for the invasion?”
-----“It’s not quite as large as the previous one,” Kerrison declared. She quickly wiped her hands together and then shrugged. “But what can we do? Our old landing point was frozen over by that one wizard. Ah, I wonder if that man is still alive.”
-----“Doubtful,” Seraphus groaned. “Humans of the living world, even those that dabble in magic, must succumb to the passage of time.”
-----“It has been a long time,” Kerrison sighed as if disappointed.
-----“An age…” Melissa added.
-----Valaris suddenly circled around the rest of the council and stopped in front of Seraphus. “Attragon is not with us as originally planned. We must seek answers from Ashvaraad.”
-----Seraphus sneered and spoke through his teeth, “I know where he is. He’s with Drekis, and he’ll probably stay with him until Lord Melfyre sends for Attragon to return.”
-----The skin around Seraphus’ forehead was becoming red. The color of his face betrayed his calm façade.
-----Melissa held a knuckle under her chin and looked at Seraphus as if deep in thought. “Is something troubling you? You haven’t been the same since our meeting with Lord Melfyre. Are you hiding something from the rest of us?”
-----“Absurd…” he muttered.
-----Kerrison spun around in a giddy fashion, waves of wind circling around her. “I know…” she said with a laugh, “I bet Seraphus is bitter about the fact that the Saramach are going to be pulled into the ranks of the Drekis Empire—he never was very good at dealing with change.”
-----“Mind your tongue!” His firefly eyes narrowed.
-----“And he always gets angry when he knows that I’m right,” she continued.
-----Valaris smiled warmly and waved his hand towards the sky as if to break out in song. “You must rejoice, brother, for this will be the revitalization of our people. We cannot survive in our current condition, but with Drekis we can finally realize our goals. A part of the Drekis Empire, we will become, but master Melfyre has promised great power as a result.”
-----The fiery Saramach ignored his ghostly words. “He’s here.” A dark galleon, noticeably larger than the others, approached the shoreline; crashing waves gave way to the bony hull as it creaked across the ocean.
-----“Excellent!” Kerrison exclaimed. “We will all be together again, here on the main continent. This is a glorious time!”
-----“Save your optimism.” Seraphus responded coldly. “The three of you…go to that Drekis general at the outskirts of Raisa and inform him of Lord Melfyre’s arrival. I’ll welcome him.”
-----Kerrison folded her arms and smiled at him knowingly. “Very well,” she said with a shrug. “Come Valaris.” She jumped hundreds of feet in the air, rocketing towards the border of the ruined city. The wraithlike Valaris flew after her.
-----Melissa stayed behind for a moment, her aqua-colored hair flowing in the opposite direction of the wind. “Seraphus, you cannot hide your anger from us. What is it that disturbs you?”
-----He was silent.
-----“It is pointless to keep it to yourself,” she reminded him. “Anything that is known or felt among us will inevitably be shared with the rest of the council.”
-----His eyes shifted towards her, his flaming pupils glowering. “If you must know…” he whispered, and if it hadn’t been her imagination, she could have sworn that a hint of fear, or perhaps worry, invaded his tone. His gaze turned back to Melfyre’s galleon as it slithered onto the beach. “I do not trust the words of our master. He was lying to us when we spoke in the throne room.”
-----“You usually aren’t this paranoid,” Melissa replied, “Such a feeling is nonsense; our master has no reason to lie to us.”
-----“There is something that isn’t right about this!” he snapped back. “This is not paranoia; I have my reasons, my evidence. I have a feeling that Lord Melfyre has not divulged the whole story…he is hiding something.”
-----“What could he possibly be hiding?”
-----“I’m certain that it has something to do with the connection that the Saramach and Drekis share. It’s probably true that such a connection exists, but our purpose for joining them…”
-----“You doubt our leader’s methods? It made sense to me—this is the only way to revive the Saramach.”
-----“Go,” Seraphus said with a frustrated moan. “I shall speak with him.”
-----“So that’s how it is then,” she said indignantly. “Have it your way, but you better not hold any secrets from the council.” Her body turned into water and jetted across the sandy beach.
-----Melfyre’s ship tore through the wet sand, turning to bear its starboard side to the shore. A sound like crackling bones chimed, and a ramp descended from the side of the vessel. The large opening that had been revealed by the unfolding ramp was pitch black; absolutely nothing of the interior could be seen.
-----A few minutes passed by after the ramp touched the ground; all of the ghouls in the city ceased their actions and watched the galleon with an instinctive reverence. A decrepit hand slinked out of the dark and grabbed the side of the hull. The wooden exterior of the ship abruptly creaked; the area where the hand fell began to slowly melt away.
-----The slender arm pulled its body out of the shadows. Saramach Melfyre slowly sauntered down the ramp, his long hair hanging over his pale countenance. His dark violet robe had been unfastened and now drooped over his shoulders like a loose cape. Underneath his robe he wore a kind of white cloth and pants that befitted a person of royalty; a bright red symbol decorated his chest, while the top half of his shirt was outlined in violet.
-----Seraphus bowed humbly. “My lord, I welcome you to the main continent.”
-----“Seraphus…” Melfyre bellowed, his voice sounded much stronger than he appeared, “you are the only one to greet me? If you have separated from the council, it can only mean that you wish to speak with me about something…personal.”
-----“I am sorry, my lord,” he said, becoming serious. “But I have some questions for you regarding Drekis.”
-----“I already divulged to you everything that I knew,” Saramach stated, walking into the city ruins. “I only received my information from the visions I had in my dreams; I am sure that there is much that we do not know.”
-----“I believe there is more…” Seraphus said as he followed, “Or rather, I believe you haven’t been entirely honest about our intentions.”
-----Saramach Melfyre stopped in his tracks and gazed over his shoulder. “Are you calling me a liar, Speaker of Dark Fire?”
-----“Forgive me,” he whispered meekly, “but I do not believe that one such as you would just hand over the Saramach to be controlled by Drekis, even if he is connected to the one that created us.”
-----Strands of Melfyre’s hair concealed his eyes, but a sharp grin formed on his face. “I should have expected nothing less from you. Seraphus, you are too observant for your own good.”
-----“Then you have been hiding something! My lord, why keep it from the council…?”
-----“The less people that knew, the better,” he replied, his grin disappearing. “There are some secrets that are unknown to the Saramach simply because it would be…too painful for them to know…too painful for them to remember. I do not wish to create that kind of anguish among them; rather, I intend to save our people, if I can.”
-----“I do not understand,” Seraphus said.
-----“Of course not. No one other than me remembers the full course of our history. Tell me, Seraphus, how long have we suffered?”
-----The speaker of Dark Fire pondered the connotation of ‘suffered’ for some time before answering. “Too long.”
-----“And do you know why?”
-----It suddenly dawned on Seraphus that he did not know the reasons why. He had always assumed that the Saramach had been declining due to inactivity—that their lack of land and resources had led to their pain.
-----“The truth…” Melfyre continued, “Is that Ceregodoth did not necessarily create us. He did, however, sustain us. You and I, my friend, are people that have been cursed by the gods; it is in our nature, for all eternity, to suffer. We have tried many different ways of escaping the accursed fate that fell upon our people, but it has all failed.”
-----“You mean to say that our previous attacks against the main continent…”
-----“Were an attempt to gain control of the resources that could be found there. I wanted to find something…some magic relic or ancient spell that could perhaps free us from this hellish existence; sadly, it is the nature of our curse to bring death wherever we go. We are denied friendship, love, and companionship because of the carnage our mere presence creates,” with a scowl he looked at his hand. “There could be no one that could help us…we had to fend for ourselves, but most of our people have lost their minds in the last few centuries; they’ve become mindless zombies that hate the living—they hate them out of jealousy, out of envy.”
-----“So,” Seraphus said, “what does Drekis have that Khazan does not?”
-----“Ceregodoth was able to sustain us when the gods struck our people down,” he explained. “In many ways, he gave us a fate worse than death, but I think it proves that he had the power to undo the curse. Of course, he did not, because he wished for us to follow his will. The time has come, however, for us to move out of Ceregodoth’s shadow.”
-----“The connection!” Seraphus exclaimed. “You believe that Drekis has the power to undue the curse you speak of? But…he would never willingly help us…”
-----“I know that. I do not seek his help; at least, not with his knowing.” The air around them became cold. “You need not concern yourself with the details Seraphus. This is my burden.”
-----“So the alliance is a ruse. Can you succeed, against a being as powerful as Drekis?”
-----“Everything must go according to plan,” Saramach said as he watched the ghouls that stumbled across the wasteland. “That is why no one else must know. Do you understand Seraphus? Do not tell the rest of the council. There could be spies that infiltrate our ranks, or telepaths that read our minds. Very few people should know my true intentions.”
-----“I understand,” Seraphus nodded, content with the information that he had received.
-----“For now we shall go along with the Drekis legions,” Melfyre said, turning his attention to the South. “Now, we move with the Drekis armies, towards Morisato City.”
---7---
Urban Legends
-----The conflict between the Drekis legions and the Fallen continued to escalate; the tide of battle shifted every few minutes, forcing the two respective sides to change their tactics at a breakneck pace.
-----The advantages that had been allotted to the Fallen by Dollarcorp’s machines quickly vanished when the aerial terror beasts began a sweep of the island’s surface. Hundreds of weapons alongside the Fallen Tower blasted the terror beasts to pieces, but they stubbornly rebuilt themselves and pushed forward.
-----To their credit, the Fallen had managed to permanently destroy ten of the starship creatures, but more of their kind continued to de-cloak in the air. It was as if two of the warships appeared out of no where to replace a single fallen monster. While the land-based gun turrets and heavy weapons of the Fallen were the greatest threat to these immense bio-ships, the terror beasts concentrated their weapons on the Dollarcorp machines.
-----Ray shielding and ablative armor did little to help the androids when beams that were twice their size turned them into silvery mush.
-----Conversely, the advantage allowed by the terror beasts was overtaken by the deployment of the Eversor, which proved itself to be more than capable of destroying warship-class targets with its weaponry. Marc Dollar’s state of the art mech destroyed more of the terror beasts than any other Fallen instrument.
-----Unfortunately, this also benefited the Drekis armies. With the Eversor spending most of its time dealing with the terror beasts, the deminites and other lower minions were free to slash and burn their way through the remaining machines.
-----Long ranged bombardments from tankers and deminite gunners crashed through the sixth barrier. With that, the Drekis legions ran straight into waiting crowds of Fallen. The upper hand was reclaimed by the Fallen the moment that their members joined the fray. Ungodly super powers made the island shake as the fury of those who wished to see the entire world end unleashed their wrath.
-----There were far less of the Fallen than there were machines, but a single Fallen—including a lower class sorcerers or a would-be dark lord—could easily outmatch a hundred of Dollarcorps war machines. Such a fact was no insult to Dollarcorp; the Fallen were people who were accustomed to fighting with the empowered heroes of the nexus. Their battles with the Sentinels were known to bring cities down in ruins as their respective powers clashed.
-----The battle did not go without casualties for the Fallen, but as with the fights against the heroes of Khazan, the lesser minions were no match for them.
-----Then, an awkward moment occurred when a single, dark figure strolled onto the battlefield. Black hair waved in front of his forehead; his cape drifted softly behind his feet; his hands were casually placed in his pockets. He emerged from the gathering of Fallen denizens as a rogue; at least a fifty foot radius separated him from his allies.
-----Dreiden Adonis walked forward with a serious, grave expression. Silence fell over the battlefield; the sound of his footsteps over the harsh terrain took control of the situation.
-----“That’s Adonis!” a Fallen shouted with a stutter.
-----“Him! It can’t be,” another said.
-----“I always thought he was taller,” a third wondered aloud.
-----“No, it’s the real deal—that’s Adonis!”
-----A large section of the Fallen frontline receded; in a few seconds, Dreiden was the only man standing at the front of the Fallen army, the only one standing in the face of the deminite’s relentless stampede.
-----"I heard that man will kill his own allies to get to his enemies,” the rumors began to flow from one Fallen to another. Worried murmurs broke out among them.
-----“That’s guys supposed to be a walking nuke! Get farther away!”
-----“N—no, that can’t be right,” another Fallen gulped as more of the Fallen fell back.
-----“I heard his power will turn anything around him to dust, including any hapless retards that just happen to be in the area!”
-----“That’s not right,” a different Fallen retorted. “I heard he drains the life from his allies and uses their energy to attack his opponents!”
-----“That’s absurd! I tell ‘ya he draws on the power of the devil and curses everyone ‘round him into sudden death!”
-----The murmurs increased in volume until it became like the clatter of a school cafeteria.
-----No one knew exactly what Dreiden Adonis was capable of; or rather, everyone had vastly different opinions of his powers. The man had come to the Fallen as an orphaned child with only the mysterious name of Dreiden tagged onto his shirt. He had no known past, no history which could be researched. Even as he grew up among the Fallen he remained a living enigma. The females among the Fallen believed him to be quite dashing and handsome, so they bestowed upon him the name Adonis.
-----He had become an urban legend among the heroes of the nexus. Stories of how he mercilessly killed heroes of high regard had turned him into a sort of specter; half of the Sentinels of Liberty and Justice didn’t even believe that he existed. As such, there was no record of his powers or deeds. Among the Fallen there were too many rumors for the truth to be grasped; suffice to say, that everyone in the army of the void knew to give him plenty of space, just in case any of those rumors turned out to be true.
-----As if sensing a dangerous aura from the man, the Drekis legions halted once they got within twenty meters of Adonis. Warily, the deminites crept forward, snarling and slashing their claws through the air.
-----Adonis, with his hands still in his pockets, casually walked ahead. His gaze was almost like a challenge; he was daring them to attack.
-----The swarm of minions began to stretch out into a massive circle, hoping to surround him. The other Fallen made no move to assist him; they were also anxious to see what the urban legend could do.
-----His lack of defense provided the minions with an opportunity; the deminites in front of Adonis charged head first, surrounding their claws in rings of flame.
-----Without any change in pace or expression, Adonis lifted his left hand from his pocket and brushed his hair aside with three fingers. His hand then waved out in the direction of the deminites that rushed him, and then—
-----A series of explosions shook the island. A number of Fallen fell because of the tremors. The deminites in front of Adonis had exploded. There was no flash of light, no fancy energy beam. He had simply glared and waved in their general direction, and now they were no more.
-----Deminites and reptillons charged his flank, but with one turn of his head they blew apart, body parts flailing. Hundreds of minions spontaneously combusted and Adonis just stood there, impassively staring at his enemies.
-----A lone deminite circled around him and lunged for his back. Cries of disbelief sounded among the Fallen as the creature wrapped itself around Adonis and sunk its teeth into his neck. However, the monsters fangs failed to pierce his skin. Suddenly, his shoulder erupted with several long, black spikes; they were smooth and crystalline, and they impaled the deminite so quickly that few people caught sight of the skewering before the deed was done.
-----A devonox mindlessly stomped its way towards Adonis while the other lesser minions began to back away. The monster towered over Dreiden by at least twelve feet; its bulky, ape-like arms alone were twice his size.
-----Everyone knew that Adonis could obliterate the monster before it entered striking distance, but for some reason he stood there, arms crossed and eyes staring to the side. The devonox roared as it brought one massive arm into the air and brought it down on Adonis’ face.
-----Or at least, that was what he had intended to do.
-----The force of the blow was enough to plow a hole through an armored tank, but Dreiden stopped the arm with one hand. There was no recoil or any sign of a strain in the man’s eyes. The brute’s arm had simply stopped, as if it had no where left to go.
-----“Pathetic…” he whispered, throwing the devonox’s arm to the side. Before the creature to react, his fists flew out at high speeds; most of the Fallen only registered a blur, but the speedier members of their ranks could clearly make out no less than ten punches delivered in two seconds. Bloody chunks of the devonox were violently ripped out of the creature with each blow; in the end, most of its torso had been punched to oblivion.
-----“Unreal,” a Fallen muttered. “He did that just with his fists…I didn’t sense any kind of power building up or anything…”
-----Dreiden turned around as the devonox’s remains fell around him. “What are you waiting for!?” he asked his fellow Fallen. “We have a battle to end!”
-----The other Fallen exchanged glances, smiled, and then stormed into battle.
---8---
Drekis
-----Alexander Shadowcast remained in the Fallen Tower, staring at the battlefield through an interdimensional window. He was on one of the highest floors of the tower, which was unusual for him, but from here he could get an unequaled view of the carnage that was taking place on the island.
-----After Adonis’ display of power, the Fallen’s battle with the Drekis legions started to become a slaughter. It was bad enough watching a large group of Fallen blast their way through the deminite ranks, but to see a single man like Dreiden destroy so many of them—it was disappointing, to say the least.
-----“These are the people that Seryko wishes me to aid?” Alexander said with a hint of dejection. He had actually been hoping that the Drekis forces would be promising; he was eager to leave the ranks of the Fallen. “What is the use of turning against Devyn and the others if they are just going to crush my new, potential allies? Such a waste.”
-----He felt a presence behind him. A familiar presence.
-----“Seryko,” he muttered silently, “what are you doing here?”
-----“I came for you,” Seryko replied sternly. “It will soon be time.”
-----“Time? Time for what? Your precious minions down below are losing; I don’t see why I should bother helping the likes of you. It’s a pity…I was hoping that your encouraging words about Drekis would prove to be true; however…” he turned around and whipped out his hand; a long, slender sword materialized. “It would seem that you took me for a fool. That—is unforgivable.”
-----Seryko just stood and watched the gleaming blade that Shadowcast had thrust towards him. He smiled without raising a hand and motioned his eyes towards the window. “You don’t understand. Do you really think we care about those lesser minions out there? They are garbage—expendable trash…nothing more than cannon fodder. Losing them means nothing to us.”
-----“Is that so?” Alexander said, still pointing his sword at the double agent.
-----“The lesser minions are only a small fraction of what Drekis has to offer,” Seryko continued. “If you want a demonstration of what awaits you, then just look out that window.”
-----It took a while for Shadowcast to dispel his sword and turn away from Rheomyr. The double agent could turn on him at any moment, seeing as how he had divulged too many secrets to let Shadowcast live if he chose to deny the offer. Still, Rheomyr did not appear to be a threat. He was a powerful Fallen, but not strong enough to earn any respect from Alexander.
-----Nonetheless, he looked out of the window. Nothing about the situation seemed to have changed. He could feel a sense of eagerness swelling up inside of Seryko.
-----“In the distance,” Seryko whispered.
-----Alexander shifted his gaze to where Seryko had directed. On the Drekis side, where most of the lesser minions were scurrying in all directions, a lone being loomed towards the Fallen frontline. Unlike the other minions, this being was tall, slender, and his body seemed to weave and contort like unstable energy. His face was like a dragon, and his lower body was rather undefined. It seemed that he had no legs, and instead his body burst out into long, dark tendrils. These tendrils didn’t slither or pull him across the ground, he hovered! An aura surrounded this being like a translucent cloud; short sparks of power crackled in this aura as he moved.
-----“Who is…?” Alexander began to say. He could already sense the power of this one; he was no mere deminite.
-----“That is Drekis,” Seryko replied. “Or didn’t I tell you that he would be making a personal appearance?”
-----“That is…Drekis?”
-----As the Fallen had done for Adonis, most of the deminites pulled back and opened a large space for their master. Dozens of Dollarcorp machines swarmed the Chaos Lord, firing their weapons into him. Disruptors and missiles flew into him but vanished upon contact. Drekis’ eyes glowed for a moment, and then at once the machines turned into sand. It was no illusion; the hardened metal exteriors and elaborate circuitry of Marc Dollar’s weapons had turned to yellow-brown sand that sifted to the floor.
-----The Fallen, unaware of the enemy that they were facing, began to run headfirst into battle. They had taken control of the conflict and sought to push the enemy back, but Drekis stood his ground.
-----The draconic figure raised a hand to the sky, and an immense portion of the ground beneath the Fallen instantly turned to liquid. At a second glance, Shadowcast could see that it was not liquid like water, but rather a kind of wet mud. A circular portion of ground at least fifty meters wide had been converted into the murky substance. It was impossible to tell exactly how deep the puddle was, but the Fallen that had been standing over it a moment ago were swallowed up by the pool.
-----Drekis raised his hand even higher, and the mud burst out of the crater, spiraling upwards into a twisted pillar that carried the Fallen within it. Those that had escaped the attack watched with stunned faces. The murky substance quickly solidified, turning into a kind of stone. Anguished cries guttered out from the rocky construct as its density increased. The stone decreased in size, certainly crushing anyone that was inside. A moment later the pillar crumbled, becoming dust that fell back to the island.
-----“He just killed over fifty Fallen…” Alexander exclaimed. He couldn’t remember a time when anyone else had done such a thing.
-----The attack that the Fallen had launched ceased. Their numbers drew back, and the lesser minions of the Drekis Empire gathered around their master.
-----“Do you see now, why victory is secured?” Seryko asked.
-----Shadowcast paused for a moment, still uncertain if what he had seen was the truth, or merely an illusion. “Why do…why do you need me? If Drekis has that kind of power…”
-----“I chose you because you are special, Shadowcast,” Seryko explained. “Drekis could use someone with your talents. You would be better off with him than you would rotting in the labyrinths of a tower that won’t even be here for very much longer.”
-----Alexander paused again. “What would you ask of me,” he finally said.
-----“It is time for me to complete my mission,” Seryko replied. “I would like you to assist me.” He turned and left the room.
-----“Very well.” Shadowcast quickly moved to follow him.
---9---
Bi-Location
-----The shining light around Tim’s sword became more focused; the width of its radiance shrunk down until it perfectly enshrouded the shape of the blade. The quivering of the weapon had long since ceased, and Tim now gripped his father’s legacy with both hands.
-----Uberman and the others began to circle around the dark haired man, but the enemy didn’t seem interested in their motions. Tim and the man were staring each other down as if they were the only ones in the cave.
-----“So how about it kid…” the man said with a devious grin. The light from Tim’s sword reflected off of his cruel eyes.
-----Tim could feel his heartbeat becoming erratic. He may have increased his control over the estranged sword, but he was still frightened. The man had effortlessly staved off attacks from Captain Khazan and Uberman—what could he possibly do against such a power. Still, there was another feeling deep inside of him, a lingering voice which told him that he should face him. No—it wasn’t that he should face him, it was that he had to face him. There was no turning back; this is what he had come to do.
-----“If you are offering me a challenge,” Tim’s voice croaked a little, but he regained composure and valor as his words went on, “then I accept! I’ve come here to kill you and bring an end to all of this, Drekis!”
-----The man closed his eyes and titled his head to the side, “Such bold words, and so boring. You’ve been spending too much time among these heroic-types.”
-----The Unsubtle’s mouth nearly unhinged when she heard Tim utter his name.
-----Tiara, who was quickly moving around the man’s left flank, suddenly stopped and eyed the minion suspiciously. “That…is Drekis!?”
-----“So this is the guy who is responsible for all of our problems?” Cortelloni asked.
-----Uberman, still cradling his damaged arm, turned to Tim with a look of uncertainty, “Are you absolutely sure?”
-----“There’s no way!” The Unsubtle broke in before Tim could reply. “I met with Drekis when I came down here; I know for a fact that that guy right there isn’t him. Drekis doesn’t even look human; he’s a serpent-like creature with the head of a dragon!”
-----“How naïve,” the man said, looking disappointed. “Do you really think I, the supreme Avatar of Chaos, would be bound to any one form?”
-----“So he admits it himself,” Lexington sneered. “This guy is Drekis.”
-----“It could be a ruse,” Lara warned.
-----“No!” Tim said, taking a few steps towards the enemy. “I know it’s him, I can feel it. I don’t know…why exactly.”
-----Drekis eyed the sword as the young man approached. “Your father’s tarnished legacy. How annoying. I wonder if he knew all along that things would end on Khazan; perhaps that is why he abandoned you here.”
-----“My father did not abandon me, and you have no right to talk about him! I came here to kill you, Drekis, not figure out your convoluted past.”
-----“Such audacity,” Drekis hissed, “What contemptuous lies has that woman been feeding you?”
-----“Woman? The Queen…”
-----“Don’t listen to him Tim!” Raea jumped in, pointing her arm cannon at the humanoid Drekis.
-----“I don’t get it,” the Unsubtle exclaimed, “why did you change your form like that! What purpose could you have for doing this; you wouldn’t gain anything by masking your identity in battle.”
-----“I suppose not,” Drekis replied. “I merely took this form to prevent confusion among my servants.”
-----“Confusion?” Captain Khazan wondered aloud.
-----“Yes,” the Chaos Avatar continued. “As we speak, I am engaged in battle with the Fallen on their hovering isle. I believe my appearance over there would be more familiar to that Marauder woman.”
-----Toc Darkone, who was the only one that had not circled around Drekis, moved in front of Tim. “Are you saying that you exist in two places at the same time?”
-----“Such a pity. Darkone, you are as naïve as the others here. Someone like me has neither the inconvenience of one form, nor the limit of one location.”
-----“Enough of this!” Cortelloni yelled, “This is all too confusing, but there’s still one simple objective: we kill this monster!” He made an attempt to grab Drekis with his telekinesis, but his mental powers encountered a barrier. This time, the shield manifested itself as a glowing sphere of blue energy that everyone else could see; the barrier was slightly translucent, leaving only a faded image of Drekis in sight.
-----Drekis’ eyes rolled to the side. Cortelloni stood in his view, frustrated that his telekinesis had once again failed. With his right hand extended towards Michael, Drekis’ fingers sprung out, passing straight through the barrier as they extended. The tips of the fingers became like sharp blades. Cortelloni made an attempt to dodge, but Drekis was too fast. The fingers stretched out and pierced Michael’s left shoulder; all four of the fingers then lurched up towards the ceiling and carried him off the ground.
-----A look of pleasure appeared on Drekis’ face as Michael let out a painful scream. Blood slowly trickled down the extended fingers. “If you are having a hard time with my bi-location,” he said, “then let me make this easy for you. From now on, you can simply refer to me as ‘Drekahnis.’”
-----Lexington lunged through the air and swiped at the tentacle-like fingers with a knife-hand attack. The power of the blade rune allowed him to slice through the appendages; Cortelloni immediately fell, but Lara was there to prevent him from crashing into the darkstone floor.
-----The remaining parts of the fingers retracted behind the barrier just as Captain Khazan lashed out with one of his strongest punches. In the past, impacts from his fist had shattered all of the windows within a few city blocks, but the barrier felt like an unbreakable object. A white, circular wave expanded across the shield from where the Captain’s fist had landed; in the next second, the circle reversed direction until it became a single point under Captain Khazan’s hand.
-----A focused explosion flew out from that one point, hitting the Captain in the chest and sending him back to the ends of the hive.
-----Uberman, Tiara, and Shinsuke attacked Drekahnis from three different directions. Concussion blasts, furious tornadoes, and freezing ice beams streaked across the barrier but had no effect.
-----“This is a sad sight,” Drekahnis said softly. “You heroes are hand picked to come down here and save the world, and this is all you can do. Relissan must be getting senile in her old age.”
-----An unexpected battle cry snapped Drekahnis out of his bantering. Tim had run within striking distance while Uberman and the others had launched their combined attack. He raised the glowing sword above his head and brought it down with all of his strength.
-----Please, let this work, he thought.
-----The first few inches of the sword cleanly cut through the barrier. His sword collided with the darkstone floor with a loud chime. The energies of the sword and the force field seemed to converge for a second, and then Drekahnis’ barrier dissipated.
-----“Alright Drekis, or Drekahnis, or whatever you want to be called,” Tim called out. Still crouched to his knees in the aftermath of his first slash, Tim sprang up and lashed out at Drekahnis left arm. The limb was cleaved with one stroke and was at once bathed in a blue flame. Not only did the arm burn away, but the stump that had been left behind burned with a lingering fire.
-----The fingers that Lexington cut had already regenerated, but the arm did not. If anything, the blue flame continued to chip away at the flesh where his arm had once been.
-----“So, you’ve decided to fight after all,” Drekahnis said. “An impressive display of power, but useless in the end.”
-----Ignoring the comment, Tim ran shoulder first into Drekahnis, his sword pointing behind him. With both arms outstretched, he swung the sword horizontally, aiming for Drekahnis’ neck. The blade narrowly missed its target as Drekahnis leapt into the air.
-----From just a few feet above Tim, Drekahnis made a vertical swipe with his remaining hand. The fingers were too far away for the claws to physically hit, but a group of crescent shaped energy projectiles emerged from the attack.
-----Tim deflected two of the cutting waves, but the remaining two sliced across his shoulder, leaving two bloody grooves at the base of his neck.
-----“Tim!” Raea shouted, firing several blaster shots at Drekahnis as she ran towards the young Sentinel.
-----Robert and Telissa joined in as well, but all of their conjoined weapons fire was little more than a nuisance to Drekahnis.
-----“You two should have known better than to get involved in this,” Drekahnis said as he glared at the two Seekers. His right palm flashed towards them, and a current of unseen force struck the two bounty hunters, rendering them unconscious.
-----Tim struggled to ignore the pain as Drekahnis slowly descended in front of him.
-----“Now,” Drekahnis said quietly, “who is this little red-headed child that seems to care for you so much?”
-----Raea ran up to Tim and pulled him away. Tim tried to resist, but his strength was wavering.
-----“In any case, you can die together…” he began to motion his hand towards them, but a group of small tornadoes formed at his sides and then converged upon him. The violent whirlwinds crushed and cut him, but Drekahnis merely laughed at the spectacle.
-----Tiara stood far behind the Chaos Avatar and directed her tornadoes. She watched as a red light burst out from Drekahnis’ body, temporarily blinding her with its luminosity. When her sight returned, Drekahnis was standing on the ground, his back still facing her; the tornadoes had disappeared.
-----Two tentacles sprang out of Drekahnis’ back. The ends of the tendrils expanded and took the form of large hands. The first tentacle caught Tiara by surprise; it clutched its slimy fingers around her face until it held her entire head within its palm. She let out a muffled cry just as the second hand grasped her right arm.
-----Uberman blasted the second tentacle apart with his wrist cannons, but by that time the first tentacle had lifted Tiara into the air, still holding her by her face. The tentacle swirled around a few times before hurling Tiara across the ground like a rag doll.
-----Drekahnis looked back to see her groaning on the floor in the distance. “I didn’t break her neck,” he said, almost curiously. “How generous of me.” The remaining tentacle broke into several pieces that floated in the air; they changed their shape, becoming long, thin spikes that were launched towards Uberman.
-----The Sentinel leader rolled to the side, but Drekahnis had predicted his action and fired an energy beam at his destination. The blast was large enough to encompass Uberman’s massive body, and several layers of his armored plating melted away.
-----Just as Uberman was sent flying against the wall, the blue flame around Drekahnis’ left shoulder finally burned away. Black liquid spilled out of the stump, and his arm instantly grew back.
-----A gleaming projectile flew through Drekahnis’ torso, ripping it apart and bisecting the Chaos Avatar. His upper body hovered above his legs for a few moments, and then tentacles emerged from both ends to grasp the other half and pull their respective selves together.
-----Drekahnis stared impassively at Lara, who stared in disbelief. She held her tennis racket in one hand, and another ball in the other; at any moment she could have launched a second projectile, but seeing the lack of effect that it had deterred any further action.
-----Lexington, afraid that Lara would be the target of Drekahnis’ next attack, activated the swift rune and charged at the enemy. He took a direct approach at first, knowing that Drekahnis would counter. As expected, Drekahnis waved his right arm at an angle that pointed towards the ground. A wide burst of energy streaked across the ground, like the tide across a beach. Several streaks of crackling power blazed through his pants and seared the flesh on his legs, but Lexington darted to the side and avoided the brunt of the attack. If it hadn’t been for the swift rune’s swirling winds that cooled the flames around his feet, the damage would have more severe.
-----The blade rune flashed across Lexington’s right arm; he dashed past Drekahnis at first, then quickly spun around and approached from the side. Drekahnis responded faster than he had anticipated; his enemy had already turned around to face him. Lexington darted to the side again, this time coming around to attack his flank. His enemy once again turned to face him, but Lexington was much closer this time.
-----Despite the great speed that the swift rune afforded, Lex was forced to play defense as Drekahnis struck first. The Avatar’s right hand had turned into a series of sharp, crystalline spikes. Lex saw the shiny spears coming for his face and instinctively batted them aside with a knife-hand. The blade rune shattered the jagged spears and cut Drekahnis’ arm in half.
-----A devious smile formed across the enemy’s face; Lex was startled as seven tentacles appeared out of the stump and grabbed him around his forehead, neck, arms, and waste.
-----Drekahnis began to strangle Lex—he tightened the grip of each tentacle and lifted Lex into the air. “So this is all your group has to offer.”
-----Beams of ice hit the tentacles; their midsections froze in one instant, then broke apart in the next. Lex landed on his feet and forcibly removed the tentacles before jumping away.
-----Shinsuke stood resolutely while the remainders of the tentacles conjoined into one thick tendril. “If we can’t kill you, then we’ll just have to incapacitate you—permanently.” He released a large ice beam from both hands.
-----Drekahnis held his left arm out as if flexing it—his fingers pointed to the ceiling. The freeze beam smashed into his arm and froze it over, but the dark haired tyrant was unmoved. “You seek to incapacitate me? And with ice?” His arm vibrated for a second and then the ice around it shattered. “Have you forgotten that I am merely a piece of myself? You cannot incapacitate someone whose consciousness still exists on the other side of the world.” The large tentacle whipped out and smacked Shinsuke from the side, sending him into a darkstone pillar.
-----The only ones who still stood before him were Toc Darkone, Tim, and Raea. The large tentacle shrank down and transformed back into his regular arm. “I should hope that the new, revered leader of the Marauders could give me more entertainment than these heroes…these, so-called champions of Khazan.”
-----Toc, with his arms folded, stepped forward and smiled. “So, Drekis, this is the extent of your power?”
-----“Hardly,” Drekis retorted. “My power is divided between two bodies at the moment. Of course, it isn’t so cut and dry for you to say that my power is at half; suffice to say, I would be stronger if I had not split myself.”
-----“And what of your lesser minions?” Toc asked. “You share your power with them, do you not?”
-----“Noticed that did you? I hope you did not intend to receive an explanation of that little phenomenon, for I have no intention of telling you anything.”
-----“I do not have to understand why. I just wanted to confirm it, so that I know how convenient it will be to kill you and watch as your Empire crumbles from your absence.”
-----“Oh really? And what of your Marauders? They were just a band of petty thieves before you came along”—he glared at the Unsubtle—“Do you really think an organization of people like her could survive after your demise?”
-----Toc glowered at the Chaos Avatar as ice particles swirled around his body. A giant morning star, with a spiked ball the size of Drekahnis’ body, appeared in front of Toc. With a small gesture, the icy chain extended towards the enemy.
-----Drekahnis extended one finger and touched the spiked ball right before the weapon connected; the ball shattered into pieces.
-----Toc pulled the chain back and force the links to break into individual chunks. Under his direction, the hailstones became arrows of ice that flew towards Drekahnis.
-----The Chaos Avatar jumped back and laughed while the ice arrows broke apart on the darkstone. Toc extended both of his arms with his palms facing the ceiling; the broken ice on the ground extended to cover the floor and spread towards the Drekis being.
-----“Do you think I would fall for the same trick you used against my lesser minions?” Drekahnis laughed. He kneeled down and struck the ground with his right fist. A ripple passed over the floor and destroyed every last piece of ice.
-----But that had only been a distraction.
-----In that short period of time, Toc had formed several large rocks of ice, each one large enough to be considered a meteoroid. He attempted the same attack that he had begun against the homunculus that they had faced in the previous chamber; the ice rocks surrounded Drekahnis and moved in simultaneously.
-----“Show some respect,” Drekahnis hissed. He waved his left arm out as he stood up. All of the freezing meteoroids suddenly melted away. “You insult me by thinking that I can be done away with in the same fashion as one of my General’s advocates.”
-----“I see,” Toc admitted, “but I have hardly begun to show my true power.”
-----“Restraint in meaningless,” Drekahnis responded. “Show me your full power, all of you!”
-----Toc motioned to create something new, but Tim stepped between the two villains.
-----“I am the one that you will fight here!”
-----“What foolishness is this?” Toc declared. “Get out of the way you arrogant child!”
-----“I’m the one that has to strike him down!” Tim replied, his eyes still focused on Drekahnis. “Didn’t you see? My sword prevented him from regenerating for a while. If I can cut apart his entire body…if I can burn away everything, then he can’t come back!”
-----“Is that what Relissan told you?” Drekis sneered, “Or did you actually come up with that all by yourself?”
-----“Tim!” Raea shouted from about twenty feet behind the young Sentinel. “What do you think you’re doing!?”
-----“Get back Raea,” Tim yelled, turning his head towards her for a moment. “Take Robert and Telissa and get out of here. I’ll take care of this.” The sword’s glow became more intense.”
-----“It would seem that the Queen did select you for a reason,” Toc acknowledged. “However, the potential to kill him, and the ability to actually produce a mortal blow, are two very different things.”
-----“I will do it!” Tim exclaimed. If I strike him down; if I end all of this…then she’ll give me the answers. She’ll tell me everything. He lunged forward as he had before and swiped at Drekahnis with his radiant sword. The blade was just inches away cutting into his flesh when Drekahnis’ figure disappeared.
-----Captain Khazan picked himself off of the ground and shook off the damage that he had received. “Watch yourself! He’s moved!”
-----Tim spun around, anticipating a quick attack from any direction; however, Drekahnis had not made a move towards him. He nearly dropped the sword and fell to his knees and panic overtook him.
-----Drekahnis was floating in the air behind Raea; his right arm was split into three bladed tentacles that were wrapped around her body. One of the tentacles coiled around her neck like a snake, its blade less than an inch away from her delicate skin. Raea was clearly shaking; all of the color had been drained from her eyes.
-----“Is there something wrong?” Drekahnis asked. “You were so valiant before.”
-----“I...n…no, ah…” his words became broken fragments. He barely mumbled his demands, and they came out like desperate pleas. “Let her go!”
-----“You’re in no position to give me orders boy,” he lifted the panic-stricken woman into the air with him.
-----“She’s no threat to you!” Tim roared. “Put her down, I’m the one who’s fighting you!”
-----“Well, our composure is plummeting,” Drekahnis said. With a menacing whisper he uttered, “Does this little girl mean something to you? Is she something…special?”
-----“Put her down! Please!”
-----“Please?” Drekahnis laughed. “That’s amusing, but your pleasantries mean nothing to me.”
-----“Are you that much of a coward?” Toc asked. “You hide behind a powerless woman.”
-----“This one came to fight,” Drekahnis boomed. “She knew very well what she was getting into; there is no distinction between race, sex, or power on the battlefield.” The tendril around her neck tightened; the bladed edge just barely cut the surface of her throat. A thin line of blood appeared.
-----“No, Raea!” Tim shouted. He ran towards them, but stopped as the tentacle began to tighten again.
-----“You asked me to put her down,” Drekahnis explained, “but you never said ‘alive.’”
-----“Damn you!” Tim barely managed to croak. He fell to his knees, his sword by his side. Tears began to form under his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. I couldn’t protect her! Raea…what good does it do if I kill him—if it means losing you? A face of anger suddenly replaced his whimpering expression. His glare was more like the snarl of a wild beast. Blue energy burst out of his sword, but also from his body; it became like a bright fire that burned around him, lighting up the entire hive with its intensity.
-----“Damn you!” he repeated over and over again, louder and louder. He thrust his fist into the ground; it seemed that the entirety of the endless caves shook. He lifted his hand, and to everyone’s disbelief, a small crack had appeared in the darkstone floor.
-----Uberman and the others, who had just recovered from Drekahnis’ attacks, stood in awe of the mysterious power that Tim was emitting.
-----“Is that…” Lexington began, “the power he showed in the frozen wastes?”
-----Tiara shook her head, “No, this is stronger.”
-----Tim’s eyes lit up. The energy that he was releasing grew to such proportions that it began to pour from his mouth and pupils. He gripped the handle of his sword with both hands. “You…let her go!”
End
Next:
Chapter 19:
War of Two Evils
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