This world must have had more oxygen then the Erebus had or I had just gotten use to breathing in space. The air on the Erebus had always been so stale. It was always just enough. It had all the trace elements oxygen, nitrogen, even some of the poisons megacities on Earth would have had. Living onboard the Erebus was like living underground compared to this place.
I tucked the skimmer into the hollow of the ruin burying it with my hands under as much snow as I could. Underneath the snow I found small pieces of foliage and plant life. The snow was covering up what looked like the vines and plants you would see inside a jungle. My guess was Eden-3 must have had at least two or three seasons; summer and winter with a short fall inbetween.
We couldn't have had worst timing. If there was such a thing as karma I couldn’t believe we had enough of it to keep ourselves existing. In the pitch black darkness of the ruins the light from my M44 came on. It was refreshing for a moment to feel the warm hue of artificial light again. It reminded me of home of being back in my bunk staring at a holo. I settled in against what looked like a massive door made of stone covered in strange etchings - some even looked fresh. I studied them for a moment. They seemed barbaric - some looked like cave man drawings. I was barely forty yards from the entrance but deep enough not to be seen from the outside. It was a strange feeling. Most Lethe ruins discovered had always been made from biomass or exotic metals. There was even one made from a hybrid of the two called “the red flower” on Errikus. It had been given the name based on how it looked from the sky. Like a giant red rose rising up from the ground. These ruins all seemed to be carved from the world itself. Couldn’t put it past them.
The Lethe we believed made this world. As far as we knew they are the only civilization with technology advanced enough for something like this. It would make sense they could mold it and sculpt it anyway they wanted. They had the power to harness energy from stars and explore the immer; their ruins had been found throughout nearly every discovered world. This would have been nothing to them.
I wonder if they preferred orbitals. It would make sense. There had been pieces, ruins of several found through the galaxy. This was to the best of my knowledge the only one we have found that was intact and in perfect condition. Even Parcae would have been considered an orbital to some though it was more of a way station. Eden-3 probably took more then half the entire resources that made up the dead world. An orbital could be controlled moved and made any which way one so desires. The architects of these worlds must have been brilliant. Like a composer they would twist and pull the land creating something out of nothing but rock and scraps of elements here and there. I thought about how a musician plays chords on strings making music form from thin air or the way a writer strings words into a novel even the way an artist turns a blank piece of canvas into a reflection of time. The magic of creation.
I crawled into a small storage compartment. It was better to feel claustrophobic then leave myself open to attack. The hellbeast would more then likely track me to the entrance but no way could it squeeze through the tunnels.
I just wanted to lie there and wait for it all to go away. A few minutes passed. I had managed to find warmth lying in the tight space. This was probably a place used to store food once - ironic how everything on this world wanted to eat me. The stone seemed to radiate with a small amount of heat. If it had been metal it probably would have been freezing. I guess I was lucky the architects made these structures out of the ground after all. I had to decide now whether or not I was going to sleep. In the gear I had from Hayden’s ship I found a small medkit. I probably could have dropped some adrenal or injected myself with some other drug or Drok remedy he might have to stay awake but at this point I had probably been awake past thirty hours maybe more. My body was begging to shut down. If I had any nanites left inside me from the various injections I would get before battle they were dissipating and dying off. There was also no way to know how any kind of stimulant would make the protein chain surrounding the shards inside me react. My body was my own now and at the same time it was my own worst enemy. My eyes were so heavy. The most they had ever been. My mind wouldn’t stop racing with everything - The battle in space, the Skrav ship and the Aelita crashing, losing Duv’Mir and Addax and so many others – not knowing what happened to Hayden, Trevor, Brecca. There were so few of us left how many were out there now?
She laid me down inside a hole then tore out my eyes. Then when I could no longer see she tore out my tongue so I could no longer scream. My arms and legs had all burned and turned to ash. I was nothing but a head and torso now. A broken fgure melted like wax onto some dried paper.
All I can do now is hope there is a purpose to my sacrifice. Light broke through the tiny holes that separated me from the rest of the world shining in like the morning sun through a window. I had no way of knowing how long the night was here or whether I slept for four hours or fourteen. I thought about the lives I had seen the people waking up for work in the morning so few ready to start a new day. I would have killed for a shower and I would send this entire world to hell for Hera to be there too. I had to stay focused. If she was alive I would get back to her. She HAD to be alive.
Around the entrance I could hear an animal breathing. It had already dug up the skimmer and bashed it up against the wall. Nothing looked broken but it was difficult to see from where I was. The Hellbeast came closer and closer till finally it was right above me. I could see its white teeth still covered in blood from its last kill. I could smell it’s rotten breath and feel the cold send shivers down my back as the white from its mouth and nose ignited the air around me like vapor. All the world was silent with the exception of the beast and me. I gripped my rifle in my hands and watched the beast like a lion.
It had four small arms ready to grab anything that moved. It must have been able to smell me. The moment it discovers me is the moment I strike. One good shot into one of its several eyes maybe I could put her out of her misery for good. I had just enough room to aim my rifle upwards. The front of the gun was barely an inch away from the hole that led to the outside – the outside was barely an inch away from the predators largest eye.
‘I should just fire now no hesitation,' was what my training had told me to do. I am a soldier, the surviving child of Errikus, and paladin of First Descent. I am Sev. The great Narville himself in his final words had written my name, which has been whispered across the universe and across time itself
- in blood. I don’t die here. This isn’t right. If there was one thing I knew about the future it was that it could always be changed. Every time a user like me saw something – the invasion of the Skrav, the Ankari, the Antliods, the end of Errikus and the burning of the Tritan – it all changes. Nothing is certain. We can’t even be certain our past is our past let alone what actually happened. I am no God, no seer, nor am I any kind of oracle. I am nothing but a junkie, torn away from my friends and tossed about like a rag doll. The hellbeast is my harbinger, my Valkyrie.
Nothing happens. I don’t take a shot. A Terra Vesp wanders into the tunnel catching the attention of the hellbeast. Several other Vesp attack it as it rips the small creature to tiny little pieces. Purple blood leaks through the opening above me. From the opening I watch the hellbeast scratch and tear away at the small creatures that seem to be coming from everywhere. It scraps itself against a wall splattering another Vesp. The hellbeast scratches itself like a dog with fleas. They are little to no competition for the monster.
A voice in my head screams, ‘This is your chance.’ – I bust through the top of the compartment and without hesitation begin firing on the eyes of the hellbeast. I probably hit one in every four shots the rest tear away at its body and wings. It begins chasing me through the tunnel somehow I thought I was safe in here but the hellbeast defies logic - no I defy logic. My senses are shot. I can see its back flare up as it completely ignores the Vesp. ‘Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,’ – I fired backwards at the monster finally making it trip over
its own body weight and fall face down into a wall.
I made my way onto the skimmer picking it up and brushing the snow off and plugging the chord to my rifle into the hack I made. Before it started up a Vesp jumped out of the snow and bites me on the hand. I dispatch it quick but it still caught me off guard. The skimmer starts up. I had been luckier then I thought the hellbeast didn’t crush it or bury it or even put a dent on it. I have to hand it to the Skrav, their shit holds up.
The engine sputtered. Faster and faster I went sailing over the ice. I had my rifle planted pointing over the top of the skimmer. If I had to I could drift and turn myself all the way around and fire at it. I had no idea what was in front of me through the dark. Small chunks of glowing waste stuck to the front of my skimmer the unlucky insects that had wandered out into the night wrong place and wrong time. The skimmer itself was glowing red-hot as the engines began to overheat. I must have been going a hundred and ten maybe a hundred twenty miles per hour. I followed the holo display on the skimmer in the direction of the Aelita. If I was lucky I would make it there in no time and I could take any survivors to rescue Hayden. They would have the gear necessary to track him so long as we could locate the signal from his PDA.
The hellbeast pursued me but it wasn’t able to keep up. By the time it had taken to the air I could see it far behind me standing on the ice still crawling with the bodies of Terra Vesp.
My hand bled leaving a small path behind me. I was beginning to lose blood fast. That was the least of my problems. At first I thought I must have lost my mind. I felt shivers run down the back of my spine. Turning and facing the setting sun I saw the Erebus itself fill the entire sky. It was coming straight towards me falling towards the ground at sixty degree angle. They were crashing.
It looked like they had taken more damage in the battle then I realized. Perhaps there had been a lot more drones and Skrav up there then we thought or what was left of the Scourge had attacked them. A small side of the Erebus was on fire. The grey smoke stretched for miles across the horizon as the star began to rise. Pieces of the hull fell apart as it came down from the atmosphere faster and faster. Fragments were burning up and falling like meteors. Suddenly there was a loud bang. I could feel the shockwave from the impact like an earthquake. The destination had changed. The Aelita was close but the Erebus was closer with a larger chance that there would be survivors. The Erebus was built to survive massive impacts after all space was full of asteroids and debris. If it could survive three hundred years of constant abuse it could survive one crash landing.
“Purpose? Your only purpose is to serve. You were born to serve to human race, the desire to expand and survive. Your body made you weak. You are no longer worthy of it so I am taking it from you. “ The Valkyrie war reading my thoughts. I could hear her draw her sword again. I could feel it. It severed the flesh from the rest of my body. I was skinned. That was the moment of my rebirth. That was the moment I became something more then human something more then a man.
I wished for death but death would not come.
Antliod I swerved to the right and then to the left. Pieces of the Erebus, some as large as a dropship were falling all around me turning the ground to glass.The sky itself looked like it was on fire. The hellbeast followed my scent. It was making its way around the falling debris a lot easier and quicker then I could. I guess that was the difference between the natural wonders of the world and improvised technology. We could copy and paste the best parts of nature but never mimic its grace. The skimmer I had picked up was fast but it couldn’t move the way that monster could. By the time I had dodged the fifth and sixth piece of debris the hellbeast was less than thirty yards behind me; so close I could see parts of its face burned and charred from where I had shot it and the blood of the unlucky Terra Vesp had covered the white of its teeth. I could see the reflection of the skimmer on the once below. I was hovering over a lake now. Ahead of me water shot up of the cracks like small geysers. I drifted through one - felt the hot water burn the exposed parts of my skin. I watched water turn to vapor as it dissolved away. I ignored the pain imagining that from far away I must have looked like I was on fire.
A piece of the Erebus no larger then one of our freighters fell in front of me/ I had no time to react. The engine of the skimmer was already burning red when it hit sending me sideways into the air and onto the ground. Luckily I had made my way across the geysers and the lake. My legs were facing the direction I had been going. My body must have flipped several times over and over. The fingers on my frostbitten hand were broken. I didn’t even bother sitting up before pulling and twisting them back into place. Pain was nothing to me now. I felt like I was popping my knuckles, only the joint of my hand seemed to sting a little. At least I knew I wouldn’t have to worry long; the hellbeast was already investigating the crash and it wouldn’t be long before it found the place in which I had fallen. I turned my head to the side to see it sniffing the ground its massive black wings no longer flailed; the beast was smart enough to know that I was no longer a threat.
I had nothing but the knife I had claimed as my own from the body of the dead scourge. My rifle had landed several yards away buried beneath the snow. I began to wonder if maybe that knife had been cursed… then again it was probably just my bad luck.
Closer and closer the hellbeast came. It would all be over soon. Quick I hoped. It would bite me several times, sever the major arteries and I would bleed out instantly into a red silhouette across the snow. I couldn’t think about it anymore. If I was going to die I wanted my last thoughts to of everything and everyone I loved. I didn’t want to think of the Erebus, the nexus, or this journey into oblivion the human race has been struggling with for the last three hundred years. I wanted to think of Hayden, the paladins of First Descent all of whom I hope and pray still live. I wanted to think of the fallen; my mother, Aira, Dom, the friends I will see when I cross to the other side. I can see them now, Duv’Mir would probably find some infinite battle for us to fight once I was there. Each of us falling into line joining the ranks of the fallen heroes the moment we pass. The only thing I regretted now was I hadn’t spend enough time with Hera.
She was for me when I was at my worst and yet I have only known her for such a short time. The Erebus being so small we should have met a long time ago but even with a thousand living souls it was still too hard to remember every face and every name. The day and night cycle, the rules and regulations of the ship, the way the guard did its very best to keep users from sharing their vision - all of it had done its job for keeping us apart. I think the elders and then of course Balkava didn’t want us sharing information with one another, they were afraid of something. The Erebus had so many dark secrets.
‘Can’t think about that. Need to think about…’ Where is Sev? Hera’s voice. She is talking to Trevor onboard the Erebus. One of the shards in my arm must have broken free. Perfect. My last few moments alive and I have lost my sense of self. At least there was no sense of drowning. Born a user die a user.
Hera looks so beautiful.
Her hair is cut in a bob, short and black. She is wearing a body suit colored in red and white holding her custom M7 rifle - one of the new prototypes nicknamed ‘the Ripper’ - and wearing a breather wrapped around her face. Things on the Erebus must be bad. If she is armed they might even be boarded or worst dealing with resistance inside the ship.
Think…
Who’s body is this?
Whose eyes?
This is recent. I can tell that much. This is the battle we just fought. This could even be present. Trevor is wearing the same gear he was in when we flew out together only now it looks damaged. He must have taken a few hits inside his cockpit or made a crash landing getting back inside the Erebus.
“He was with Hayden on the Skrav ship when I had to pull out,” Trevor said, “I’m sorry but if anyone can survive it would be the two of them. They could have ditched and gone down to the surface if things started getting too hot, I doubt t
he Skrav could match their flying skills .”
The words strike Hera like a knife to the heart. Tears fall from her eyes and for the first time I really see how much she cares for me… except its more then that; she doesn’t just care for me - - she loves me.
Love is such a trivial thing in the darkness of space. Meaningless. We are born, we live, we die and while we are alive we serve the greater good keeping our species alive, making sure the gene pool is clean and healthy. We survive so humanity can prosper another day. Humans had lived this way for decades. I remember my mother use to talk about love, that feeling of imprinting on someone else. She use to say it was a fantasy, a fairy tale - at the same time she spoke of it in full. Telling me she loved my father before he passed, that she loved me, that love was the driving force for humanity; the only reason even worth surviving.
“If we do not have love we do not survive,” my mother once said. I wanted to scream. I wanted to scream to Hera that I AM ALIVE. I wanted to scream that I loved her too.
I am in the body of a young soldier about the same age as me. A man named Talon, a paladin of Echo Squad. From what I know about huim he has lived on the Erebus his entire life and never known anything but fighting and discipline. These are just guesses of course… a small bit of intuition that comes with seeing through so many eyes. The way he holds himself shows who he is. I can remember meeting him a few times here and there. Catching him in the simulators playing superhero stories. Aside from that he served Echo Squad as their youngest member. That was public knowledge. They were meant to act as protectors of the elders. A kind of elite guard. Now that Balkava was the only elder though they were nothing more then grunts running around the ship doing errands under her command. Surely most of them felt replaced or resentment but they knew their place. Talon was only listening in overhearing Hera’s conversation. He was actually there to retrieve her and bring her back to blockade A. The inside of Erebus had fallen into chaos. The Skrav concentrated on blowing out sections of the ship that were nesting grounds for antliods forcing them to flee and move around the vents and shafts leading them to the areas we had fought so hard to once defend.
Pull (Deep Darkness Book 1) Page 23