Soldiers of the Heavens

by Stephen L. Nowland

  Robert slammed Aeon Invictus into the same leg Aiden had hit, cutting through the damaged structure enough to weaken it. Aiden followed through with a heavy punch from his empty hand, distorting the overheated metal and forcing the construct down on one knee. He drove his blazing sword into the chest of the dreadnaught with all the strength his armour possessed, melting the breastplate and burning through to the heart of the golem.

  It stopped moving almost instantly and toppled to one side, quickly replaced by two more from behind. Beyond them the sa'quaarin stood, immobile and strangely quiet given the titanic fight which had erupted in their midst. Unable to spare any thought for something which wasn't an imminent threat, Aiden fought on against his towering enemies while Nellise and Pacian escorted Terinus through their ranks.

  Despite their initial success, Robert and Aiden were sorely pressed. Initially hoping to distract the enemy, they had succeeded beyond his expectations. Ten of the dreadnaughts bore down on them, cutting off any chance of escape and pummelling them with fists the size of prize-winning pumpkins. His armour, while old and obsolete in the face of these new monsters, held up as well as could be expected.

  Robert was agile enough to avoid the worst, yet his shield and vythiric armour were already heavily dented. But with the powerful gauntlet augmenting his strength, the mercenary was able to shoulder the blows and give back as much as he took. Finesse was useless against such an unimaginative enemy, forcing Aiden and his comrade to rely solely on brute force and instinct.

  “We could use a little help here, Sy!” Robert bellowed as he delivered a strike with Aeon Invictus, which left a sizeable dent in his opponent. Aiden risked a glance back at the sorceress and saw she had hardly moved since the fight began. Her eyes blazed as she stared into nothingness, leaving Aiden in the dark as to what her problem was.

  He was suddenly brought back to his predicament when a dreadnaught fist slammed into him, sending Aiden careening across the floor to land on his back. A pair of flashing red sigils blinked in his sight, ironically informing him of damage to the armour's outer plating — as if he could have missed it.

  As he was clambering back to his feet, Aiden was struck with a bolt of lightning from one of the sa'quaarin, causing his armour to momentarily stutter in its movements but doing little else. Then, Pacian was suddenly at the sa'quaarin's side, moving with incredible speed — his scythe a slashing blur. He began to work his way through the ranks of the robed technicians, whirling and cutting with abandon while his enemies seemed barely aware of his approach.

  One of them snapped out of his trance and turned on Pacian just as he was about to cut the creature down. A blast of crackling energy shot forth from the sa'quaarin's armoured hand, narrowly missing Pacian only to strike the wall and explode in a ball of blue fire. Nellise wrapped her arms and body around Terinus to shield him from the blast with her body and both of them disappeared into the cloud of fire.

  Filled with righteous fury at this sight, Pacian lashed out at the sa’quaarin. His weapon cut into its armoured chest but he was struck in the side by a fist, which sent the ascetic into a flip as he sought to recover from the blow. With the incredible skill learned from his time with the Keepers of the Light, he converted the power of the attack into momentum, somersaulting fully and planting his feet against the wall, then lunged forward and speared the sa'quaarin directly through the chest.

  Nellise and the wizard emerged from the inferno moments later, a little scorched but still very much alive. She wasted no time with the chaos in the room and focused on moving towards the distant exit.

  “Quit gawking and get back in the fight!” Robert roared at Aiden as the mercenary backed away from the constructs bearing down on him. Unable to spare the others another thought, Aiden went to Robert's aid, stomping forward and driving his sword at the construct to draw its attention.

  Aiden wasn't cowed by their numbers. He raised his left arm and pointed the palm towards the nearest, then gave the command to activate the weapon within. The sound of a thousand kettles boiling at once, both familiar and alien at the same time erupted in the foundry, as a blast of brilliant light short forth and vaporised the chest of the lead dreadnaught. It fell to the floor in a pile of glowing hot molten metal.

  Robert thrust Aeon Invictus through the chest of another foe before taking a heavy blow to his side, which tossed him aside like a child's broken toy. The mercenary was thrown back several yards with sparks cascading from his armour before he slid to a halt. Seizing the opportunity, Aiden brought the searing edge of his blade down on the dreadnaught's arm, severing it at the elbow and dropping the forearm to the floor with a mighty clang.

  With Robert yet to re-engage, he stood alone against the towering constructs. He risked another glance at Sayana and was astonished at what he saw.

  “Is she smoking?” Aiden remarked incredulously as he struggled to keep the fist of a dreadnaught at bay. It did appear a thin veil of smoke was wafting from her body as if she was slowly burning.

  “I thought that was my job,” Robert grunted, slowly getting back to his feet while struggling for breath. Initially angry that she was unable or unwilling to help them, a thought occurred which gave him pause. He glanced at the crowd of sa'quaarin and realised what had them so distracted.

  “She's not paralysed with fear,” Aiden remarked. “She's fighting them on their own terms.” A dreadnaught drove its fist towards him, forcing Aiden to leap aside to avoid the blow. His armour was making ominous grinding noises and he couldn't rely on it to withstand direct punishment any longer.

  Pacian continued to move among the ranks of sa'quaarin, cutting down the weaker, distracted ones which didn't seem to have much impact on the battle. Aiden scanned their number until he noticed one wearing a slightly different robe, with shimmering blue lines stitched into the fabric around the rim of its hood. A trace of metal was visible beneath its black garment, indicating an auldsteel breastplate the others lacked.

  “Pace, kill that one,” Aiden shouted, pointing at what he presumed was the officer of this group. Pacian whirled around and spotted the target, then sprinted with unnatural speed towards it. He raised his scythe high as he charged in, intending to cut the creature down in one stroke, but just before he reached it the officer turned its head and stared at him. Pacian arched backwards and cried out in sudden shock, clutching at his head as he stumbled past the sa'quaarin. He fell to his knees as if burdened with an incredible weight.

  Pacian wasn't the only one to hear Aiden's command, however. Nellise and Terinus, unable to breach the line of dreadnaughts, moved to assist. The cleric raised her deadly sabre as she closed in, wary of her opponent's power. The weapon shimmered with a strange energy and before she had even swung it, the sa'quaarin officer was assailed by unseen forces. It waved its arms about is if trying to fend off invisible attacks.

  Sensing its vulnerability, Nellise flared with brilliant light and leaped into the air upon luminous wings. The light spread along the edge of her sword which she brought down upon her foe with all the strength she could muster. Sparks flew as it scraped along the officer's hidden breastplate, its auldsteel construction holding under the assault, which left a sizzling scar in the wake of the acidic blade.

  As they clashed, Aiden was forced to focus once more on his own situation. He avoided another incoming blow from a dreadnaught and swung his crackling blade with abandon. Robert had rejoined the fight but both of them were being pushed back by sheer weight of numbers. Aiden's plan to distract the enemy was working well enough, but left them in a precarious position. It would all have been worthwhile if Terinus had made it through, yet the wizard was still on the wrong side of the enemy line and they were running out of time. The element of surprise was long gone.

  Terinus could see the direction of the fight and pointed his staff at the wreck of a nearby dreadnaught, heavily damaged and no longer moving. Within moments, it shuddered back to life at his command. Although its left arm was severed and a gaping
hole existed where its chest had once been, it returned to the fight. Striding towards Aiden's position, it began engaging the other dreadnaughts, denting auldsteel armour, tearing off limbs where it could and forcing two of them to deal with it. It was enough to relieve the pressure from their flank, though it had another unforeseen effect.

  Constructs such as these could not be truly called alive, for they lacked the ability to reason. They followed the orders of their creators without question, so it came as a surprise to Aiden when all but two broke off their fight and turned to move in on Terinus.

  Combining their strength, Aiden and Robert struck one of the dreadnaughts from two directions at once, leaving it unable to effectively defend itself as they tore through its armoured hide. The mercenary was struck by the closed fist of the other construct and although he managed to raise his indestructible shield in time, the impact sent him tumbling.

  The upside to this was that the immediate area was clear, allowing Aiden to raise his palm and unleash a ray of destruction. Brilliant yellow light lit up the chamber as the dreadnaught partially melted under the intense beam, leaving only a few active dreadnaughts on the field.

  Nellise and the sa'quaarin officer continued to fight. Pacian had recovered his wits and was using all of his cunning to attack the creature. Its armour was proving to be difficult to counter and the air shimmered with the power of its magic. They kept it busy enough that it failed to notice the arrival of Terinus' pet dreadnaught. Its descending fist crushed the sa'quaarin into the floor with one mighty blow.

  Upon its death, Sayana let out a weak cry and slumped to the floor, smoke still rising from her body. The few remaining sa'quaarin clutched at their heads and fell to their knees before appearing to pass out. Aiden breathed a sigh of relief as the situation began to improve.

  “Get to the firing chamber,” Terinus instructed Aiden as he, Nellise and Pacian began to back towards the wall, cornered by five towering constructs. “Follow the noise and destroy the source. Do not concern yourself with us — you must stop the weapon from firing.” Robert was in no position to help and Sayana was barely coherent. If Aiden didn't intervene, two friends and a valuable ally would be crushed, with no guarantee he'd be able to stop the orbital lance from obliterating his home. There was only one course of action that made sense.

  “You're the best one for the job, so you can stop it yourself,” Aiden shouted as he steeled his nerves. His armour was not built for speed or mobility, but he used what it had and charged across the open space towards the nearest dreadnaught. It sensed his approach and turned at the last moment, just as Aiden collided with it in a deafening crash.

  They rolled across the floor, slamming into another dreadnaught as their fists thundered into each other. His sword was torn from his grasp and bits of metal were ripped away as they pounded each other. As Aiden was flipped onto his back, the dreadnaught continued to punch him so hard Aiden could feel it through the armour.

  With his suit becoming increasingly difficult to use, he struggled against the hold of the construct and slowly raised his palm. With a grinding sound of protest from his suit, he inched towards the head of his enemy until he was able to place his palm flat against the surface. He then fired the energy weapon at point-blank range, blinding him for an instant as the dreadnaught's mirror-like face was incinerated.

  Casting aside the now inert body, Aiden was about to rise when two other constructs grabbed him and tossed him into the wallm which gave way as he crashed to the floor on the other side, attempting to shield his head as beams of metal crashed above him. Crawling through the debris, he noticed Terinus, Nellise and Pacian had broken through the lines and were disappearing through the far door, which at least gave Aiden a small measure of satisfaction as he faced his impending doom.

  Whatever mechanisms allowed his armour to function were quickly breaking down. The inside was becoming hotter and fully half of Aiden's sight was covered in red sigils warning him of a multitude of problems. The dreadnaught before him blocked any chance of escape slamming its fists into him again and again, and without his sword there was little he could do to defend himself.

  A darkness fell over the chamber and Aiden sensed the coming of the end. An image of Criosa flashed through his mind as he contemplated his death, her sweet smile and golden hair shining in his memory. He had done everything he could to protect her and her people, but would never know if it was enough. Just when he had consigned himself to oblivion, the darkness was replaced by a flash of crackling green energy as half of the dreadnaught was melted away. The other half was cut asunder a moment later by Aeon Invictus.

  The remaining dreadnaughts turned to face Robert and Sayana, buying Aiden a chance to live. He looked at the sorceress in astonishment, for half of her skin was completely clear of the thick markings which had once taken over her entire appearance. Her face still bore a smattering of tattoos, and her eyes still blazed with light. Shredded dark lacework covered her skin at the edges of the frayed markings, as if they had been unravelled like a ball of yarn.

  “You're done here, Aiden,” Robert rasped as they engaged their gigantic opponents. “Go ahead and help the others — we've got this.” Aiden could tell he wasn't in the mood to argue and took advantage of the distraction to push ahead.

  The armour was in terrible shape. It was no longer able to run, let alone walk without limping. A whining shriek came from the left leg whenever he moved it, and the right arm could no longer move at all. Still, it was more powerful than Aiden on his own, so he nursed it through the foundry as the sounds of battle continued on behind him.

  Of greater concern was the ominous humming noise permeating the building. Not far from away, the orbital lance was still building up energy as it prepared to release its devastating power. Although Aiden had faith his companions could escort Terinus safely to the site, he was troubled by the fact they had not yet disarmed the weapon.

  He turned a corner and saw the bodies of three sa'quaarin on the floor, burned and eviscerated. Three more emerged from the walls, as if they had been teleported halfway through and left to perish.

  A loud crash from ahead alerted him to the presence of his comrades, and when he turned a corner, he saw the three of them finishing off a lesser construct, similar to the Iron Legionnaire down below. A sa'quaarin officer stood between them and a large, reinforced door of obvious importance. Nellise screamed and stumbled backward as the four blue eyes of their foe stared at her, unleashing whatever terrible magic these creatures wielded.

  In one of its hands, it dangled Terinus by his throat three feet off the ground while Pacian recovered from its attack on him. Sensing an opportunity to assist, Aiden barrelled forward as fast as he could. It saw him coming and sent a concussive blast of mental energy his way, which had next to no effect thanks to the circlet upon his brow. Pushing Terinus aside, Aiden slammed his clenched fist into his enemy's head and crushed it against the wall.

  “I had it under control,” Pacian assured him as he helped Nellise back on her feet. Aiden nodded distractedly, then appraised the door before him to find out how it opened. “I was hoping Terry had a trick up his sleeve for opening these things,” Pacian added. “They don't have regular locks to pick.”

  “I've got just the thing,” Aiden responded, raising his palm. Pacian quickly pulled Terinus and Nellise away as the boiling energies surged onto the door. When the light died away Aiden looked with satisfaction upon the open doorway lined with glowing hot metal. The constant rumbling background noise of the orbital lance had grown with intensity, indicating this chamber housed the power source for the weapon.

  Dispensing with subtlety, Aiden headed into the room to be faced with four sa'quaarin, poorly equipped and focused mostly on the task before them.

  Without pausing, Aiden and the others engaged the nightmarish creatures, making short work of what appeared to be lesser assistants. They made short work of them, leaving a pile of broken bodies lying in their wake.

  Beyo
nd them were a number of arcane consoles, all of them glittering with glowing words and strange concepts. Behind them was another door, this one even more heavily reinforced than the last. Several runes of warding were visible upon it, warning off any who would attempt access.

  With the hum of the orbital lance rising to a fever pitch, Terinus didn't waste any time approaching the control mechanism, while Aiden sifted through the warnings flashing at him from within the armour.

  “I need to get out of this thing,” he surmised. “It's on the verge of falling to pieces if I'm translating this correctly. Can you shut that weapon down already?”

  “That is precisely what I am trying to do,” Terinus responded impatiently. His console was flashing red sigils at him as well, giving Aiden the impression it wasn't going to be easy to accomplish. The room lurched suddenly, giving the distinct impression of movement.

  “What was that?” Nellise asked, watching over the wizard's shoulder with a measure of concern.

  “The fortress is aligning to the target area,” he replied while his graceful fingers raced over the surface of the console. “There is too much energy in the firing chamber for me to simply disable it. There are mechanisms in place to prevent this.”

  “Do not tell me we can't stop it,” Aiden growled. “We haven't come this far to fail now.”

  “The energy will be unleashed through a series of crystals which focus upon the target,” Terinus explained. “If those crystals are destroyed, the energy will remain unfocused and simply dissipate before reaching the ground.”

  “Then what are you waiting for, let's destroy them,” Pacian suggested.

  “They are through that door,” Terinus explained over the rising noise. “The power contained in there is too much for anyone to survive for more than a few seconds. Aiden, your armour may allow you to endure long enough to destroy them and return. You are the only one—”