Authors: Greg Fish
“Ace, what happened?” she cried. “What’s going on?”
He had no response. His eyes burned in what were once his tear ducts. His claws shook.
“Ace, please say something!”
Another screen with Sergio appeared on top of Dot’s. Also in a state of shock, he kept glancing to the spot where Nelson’s destroyer was obliterated.
“Ace, what are we going to do now?” he asked.
With a growl, Ace armed his claws. The runes on his cheeks and his eyes erupted with an infernal flame as his corona ignited with an unprecedented brightness. His mouth curled into an animalistic snarl and the hollow insides of his gleaming fangs were filled with poison.
“Kill them,” he seethed just above his breath.
He slammed his hand into one his armrests, denting the tungsten and carbon reinforced alloy.
“Kill them all!” he roared. “I want their heads on a stick! I don’t give a shit what it takes, they’re all going to die, every one of them. I will personally tear out their fucking throats!”
Ace’s destroyer shot towards the Tower, erupting with a volley from every weapon it had. Dot, Sergio and the rest of the destroyers in the vicinity followed suit. Squadrons around other temples joined them, now aware of Nelson’s death at the hand of the Dark Ones. In their collective rage, they threw everything they could at the aliens. IGFs, kamikaze robots and continuous blasts from every available craft scattered the Dark Ones’ defenders. Planet killers and space cities quickly destroyed the engines of their floating citadel.
Without active engines, the Tower began to pitch and descend to the surface of the planet, slowly tumbling end over end. As it fell, it was scarred from every angle by volleys from the cyborgs’ ships. In their blind fury, they no longer even noticed the battle cruisers or the gunships trying to protect the Tower. They just kept firing no matter what, opening massive gashes in the structure as it entered into the atmosphere of Abydos, the intense compression of the air around it immolating the structure in thousand degree temperatures and somewhat stabilizing its trajectory.
As the pods sent by the Dark Gods landed in the Nation’s capital city, the Tower smashed into the outskirts of the City of Ghosts. Its contact with the ground warped, twisted and broke its tendrils which were lost in the tsunami of rock, dust and sand the impact raised. The Shape Shifter’s spires absorbed much of the shock although some crumbled and many others cracked from the stress as the Tower slid through them with a horrific sound of tearing and shredding.
Before it finally came to rest, the remains of the Tower hit one of the immense temples of the City. Something inside splintered and broke, sending the precious Cube from the City of Ghosts flying as it tore through a wall in the Tower and tumbled down on the path below until it ran out of momentum right side up in the middle of the wide streets.
In the skies above, the battle continued with plenty of Dark God ships left to fight. In the Nation’s capital, the pod bombardment was coming to a close and from their crash landing zone, the Dark Ones could hear their robots, drones and demons trying to overcome the Nation’s war machines. As the dust began to settle, the faint clacking of blades around them alerted them to the fact that they were not alone in the primeval metropolis.
[ chapter _ 043 ]
As the pods dispatched by the Dark Gods fell on the Nation’s capital, the impacts of their rough landings destroyed more than half of the city and sent debris flying for miles in every direction. Drones, spherical robots just like the ones which hunted Ace in the bowels of a battle cruiser, alien spawns, and giant, three legged demons of stone like the one used to attack Earth, emerged from the pods and in moments found themselves battling vast teams of the Nation’s best machines. The Nation’s scholars and soldiers joined the battle too, picking up their swords and machine guns and rushing to the ruins by the tens of thousands.
In space, the thinned out alien fleet was on its last legs and some destroyers turned their main cannons back on Abydos, helping the ground forces weed out some of the Dark Gods’ ground troops. With ruins all around them, the aliens had nowhere to hide and the destroyers, not worried about preserving what was left of the city hit them at full power. The giant demons attempted to fire back but their cannons were just not powerful enough to hit something in space.
Fighters and bombers descended for air support to the Nation’s ground forces and to clear out any alien fighters from the sky. Siege Machines formed improvised city walls, unleashing their cannons to halt incoming squads with a wave of energy pulses. Even the High Commanders were fighting, once again unsheathing their swords and arming their sharp claws. Joining with scholars and fellow soldiers, they sent spiraling waves of energy that burnt through enemy troops, clawed their way through spawns and put their fangs to work as they pumped organic enemies full of corrosive poisons.
Guardians deftly moved though incoming enemies, each erupting in long, sharp blades and rotating around their axis like some sort of a killer spinning top from hell. For enemies requiring more finesse, the inky shape shifters hid in the shadows, striking with lighting speed as an unlucky alien ventured into a dark alley. Some would lie under the rubble of destroyed temples and towers and as enemy troops tried to cross these rubble piles, the Guardians would shoot upwards in a forest of laser sharp blades, cutting the aliens into bloody bits or simply impaling them.
Soon, the screams of the dead and dying filled the desert sky. In the distance, reinforcements were being killed en masse by bombs hurled from hidden missile silos, fire from fighters and bombers or the occasional sweep from a destroyer’s main cannon. Slowly, most of the fighting began to move towards the City of Ghosts nearby and soon spread out among its maze-like pathways. The Guardians living among the ruins joined the battle, viciously defending their home turf.
Swarms of them wrapped their flexible bodies around the giant stone demons, stabbing them with blades shot out of their innards at point blank range, bringing the aliens down to the ground where well placed blasts from Siege Machines and laser bursts from OctoBots kept them down. Overhead, swarms of fighters and bombers circled around the City, swooping down to destroy a convoy of enemy troops or lend a hand with an unruly alien giant.
On the other side of the City, the Dark Ones’ guards tried to fend off hordes of enraged Guardians and squadrons of rovers and Siege Machines tearing their way through the Tower’s wreckage. Blood, limbs and scrap metal littered the battlefield as the brutal melee claimed ever more casualties. Emerging from deep within the Tower, the Reaper and Mai struggled to hold back the tsunami of the Nation’s machines with their wide, sweeping spirals and arcs of raw energy. The cyborgs’ robots kept stacking on top of each other in reply, building a wave of spinning blades, grasping tentacles, laser panels and menacing pulse cannons that towered over the alien squads.
As the slaughter seemed to reach its peak, a sudden chorus of thundering roars erupted over the battlefield. Surprised and confused, the fighters almost instantly stopped and fell back from each other. Something enormous stirred within the remnants of the Tower. A line of massive, spiky spines arched over a vast gash in the wreckage. A set of claws latched on to the Tower’s hull and the creature pulled itself out into the night sky with an angry grumble. Its long, powerful tail tore through the thick crystal reinforced alloy and it flexed its back and neck as it found a firm stance. A Dark God stood in the City of Ghosts once again.
It was a mountain of flesh, somewhat reminiscent of a predatory dinosaur but far too big and too streamlined to be considered one. Rising just higher than two stories in the air and wide enough to fit a jet on its back, its backbone and tail bristled with innumerable serrated spines. From the top of its head to its collar, similar spikes formed an impressive crest. The tip of its tail had faint vestigial canards, a reminder of its long evolution from a giant marine worm to a monstrous land predator. In the primeval past, these canards were fully formed fins which fused into a powerful flipper, propelling the worm to its prey at lighting fast speed. Now, these canards were as sharp as a blade, useful weapons to disembowel prey or challengers with a flick of the tail. Its head was wide and snake-like, its mouth filled with fangs. Despite its great size, it looked lean and extremely aerodynamic.
The Dark God roared, the deafening sound propagating through the city like a shockwave of a sonic weapon, driving the Nation’s machines back and momentarily stunning its own defenders. It swiped its tail at a small group of Guardians and OctoBots, flicking them away as if they were toys. The razor sharp canards on the tip of its tail mangled the machines and carved deep into the Guardians. It turned towards the Reaper and Mai who stood side by side. Examining them with its giant, glowing red eyes, it snorted a command at them. Sensing the Nation’s forces beginning to reassemble behind it, it spun around and let out another unholy, deafening roar as the firefight continued.
“What did it say?” asked Mai,.
“It said ‘find the Cube,’” replied the Reaper. “Come on, let’s get moving.”
“Wait, what Cube?”
“You’ll see.”
As the second, third and fourth Dark Gods began to emerge out of the wreckage of the Tower and spread their crests and claws, Mai and the Reaper hacked their way down to the City’s street. Warping in and out between the Nation’s machines, they sent out highly directional corkscrews of immolating heat while dodging machine gun and sniper fire from cyborgs positioned in the City’s towers. Finally, after twenty minutes of slashing they could see their target. Between several spires the Cube was laying in the middle of the pathway at a slight angle. Guardians and Siege Machines already had it surrounded.
“That’s it,” said the Reaper with a barely visible smirk.
Using his energy wave like a signal flare, he let out a terrifying spike which reduced several OctoBots and Siege Machines around him to high speed shrapnel. The broken bits of robot soldiers embedded in the City’s spires and bounced off shields, occasionally impaling a machine which lost its defenses in the melee. From its vantage point on the Tower, one of the Dark Gods noticed the signal and jumped down into the street, sliding to a stop near the Cube. Mai and the Reaper warped out of the way before they could be crushed by the excited behemoth which seemed impervious to the cyborgs’ lasers, energy pulses, and the random Guardian trying to pierce its dense, synthetic hide.
Growling at the Nation’s robots around the Cube, the Dark God cleared a small area around itself and stomping its feet dug in. With a roar, it signaled that it was ready to defend its prize. Unsure of what to do, the robots stepped back. Hesitating for a few moments, the Guardians slid back as well. They were losing control of this battle. The Dark Gods didn’t want to go down, much less stay down and their incredible strength effectively held back the entire machine army. The spawns, drones, and three legged giants were pushing them back.
Now, the monstrous alien stared down the Nation’s machines with cold defiance, daring them to stop it and its swarms. Three more Dark Gods made their way down to the Cube, letting their guards hold up a perimeter against the Nation’s machines now significantly reduced in number thanks to their efforts. Like a pack of mutated tyrannosaurs guarding a prized carcass, they let out ultra-low frequency growls and an occasional, seething hiss.
Hundreds of feet in the air on a walkway between two Shape Shifter spires, Mai watched the Dark Ones face down the cyborgs’ machines with dread. This wasn’t what she wanted. They didn’t tell her anything about the Cube or just how many ground troops there would be. She naively thought that all they would do is knock out the Nation’s fleet, point their cannons at the capital and negotiate the terms under which the cyborgs could continue to exist. It would be her chance to get back on top and to fix all of Ace’s mistakes. But it didn’t look like the Dark Ones were interested in anything other than killing everything in their wake.
Her mental crisis was rudely interrupted by a powerful shove that sent her flying into a dense wall of rock and metal. Turning around and unsheathing her sword, she barely blocked Dot’s blade. They held the clinch for a few moments, breaking it at the same time. Mai swung her sword at Dot’s midsection. The Child easily ducked and sprang back with a concussive punch to her stomach. With a precise and practiced move, Dot disarmed Mai and slammed her into the ground, immobilizing her.
She heard a soft rustle of clothes and looked up, straining against the Child holding her down with a grip that could rival that of any Shadow Demon. Standing in front of her was Sergio, his sword out and ablaze.
“By the authority of the High Command, you are under arrest for the crime of treason as defined by Article 13, sections A to D of the Nation’s legal codex,” he declared. “You are also charged with being an accessory to murder of a High Councilor.” Turning to Dot, he added, “Commander, please proceed.”
The dull end of Dot’s blade came down on the back of her head and the world around her became blurry and disoriented, swaying from side to side as it faded to darkness.
Sergio nodded with approval after making sure that Mai was truly unconscious.
“So what now?” asked Dot, standing up.
“Now, we have to leave it up to Ace because I honestly have no idea what to do.”
“Shouldn’t we come down there?”
“No. Trust me. He has some unfinished business down there.”
He tenderly put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a light squeeze.
“I’m sorry about your dad,” he said.
Dot had nothing to say in reply.
On the ground, the Nation’s forces packed tightly against each other to create an impenetrable barrier for the monsters surrounding the Cube. Flashing their blades, laser panels and cannons, they drew a literal line in the sand in response to the Dark Ones’ posturing. Suddenly, one of the Dark Gods saw a dark blur screaming towards it just above the robotic army. Ready for a missile impact, the alien arched its back, spines bristling, ready to take the impact on the dense carbon-crystalline shell of its upper hips. Instead of an impact, a powerful wave of energy slammed into the street just inches away from its snout and dangerously close to the Cube.