Incident 27

by Scott Kinkade

  As if on cue, the Sancta Praesidium shook violently. Set ran over to the wall panel next to the door and pushed a button. Some guy Arcturus didn’t know appeared on the screen. “Report!”

  The man was visibly shaken. “A powerful force has grabbed a hold of us. It seems to be coming from underneath the stone monument below us.”

  Set turned to glare angrily at Arcturus. “That’s where you hid it!” To the subordinate on the screen, he said, “Get us out of here!”

  “We can’t. The unknown force is siphoning off our energy reserves at an exponential rate. We’ll lose power completely in about fifteen minutes. I recommend—”

  The screen went dead. Almost immediately, Arcturus’ restraints went slack. Without the massive power of the Jericho Reactor behind them, they were useless.

  “Arcturus!” Set roared.

  Arcturus held out his hand. A familiar red key appeared. “Time to make sure you don’t interfere with what’s about to happen.”

  Chapter XII

  Upon the sudden shaking of the Sancta Praesidium, Ev and Maya’s cell suddenly went dark and they found themselves freed. “What do you think’s going on?” Maya said as they broke loose from the bizarre contraptions.

  Ev shrugged. “Maybe Arcturus had a plan after all.”

  “Get real, Ev. His ‘plan’ was to hand us over to his superiors in Zero Grade.”

  “I’m not so sure anymore. If he wanted to do that, he had plenty of other opportunities. And why would he suddenly cause a power outage once we were captured?”

  “We can figure that out later. For now, we need get off this thing.”

  The door to the room slid open without resistance. After carefully sticking their heads out to examine the hallway, they confirmed it was empty. Empty, though still strange. “What is this place?” Maya whispered.

  “Hell if I know. This hallway looks like a five-star hotel. There are chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, nice carpeting, and look…” He showed Maya where the inner side of the door was metal, but the exterior was painted like wood.

  “Zero Grade must really like the finer things,” she mused. “Or, at least, the appearance of finer things.”

  “You should’ve seen the house we trashed. It was way nicer than this.”

  “Oh, well. Who cares. Let’s just get out of here.” They ran to the end of the corridor where there was a sharp left turn. A dozen people, who looked to be technicians of some sort, came running frantically from there. Ev and Maya braced for a fight, but the techies ran right by them without so much as a second glance.

  However, following behind them were several more Zero Grade thugs in suits who tensed up when they saw Ev and Maya. “The prisoners have escaped!”

  Ev clenched his fists, ready to pound them, but Maya simply conjured her bow and dropped them in rapid succession. “We don’t have time for this,” she said when Ev gave her a look that said she just stole his thunder.

  The wall here was lined with full-length windows. These were probably the panels they had seen from the outside. They were remarkably clear, not showing so much as a single smudge or imperfection. The Tru Republic countryside spread out before them, offering an impressive view.

  “I think we just found our way out,” Ev said.

  Maya nodded. It wasn’t elegant, but they would be exiting this way.

  The whole structure suddenly tilted beneath their feet. “Time to go,” she said.

  * * *

  Freya, Brandon, half the faculty and the fifty or so students following them stopped within a couple hundred feet of the Sancta Praesidium. A massive beam of violet energy was coming up from the stone monument below the flying fortress and had enveloped its lower half.

  “Damn thing’s been harpooned,” Atlas said.

  Aphrodite nodded. “That must be why it’s just floating there, naked for everyone to see.”

  Brandon popped his knuckles and got literally fired up. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s—”

  He stopped short as their attention was diverted by a crash from one of the panels on the Praesidium. Two figures violently exited the fortress.

  “It’s Maya and Ev!” CiCi declared.

  Brandon, waving to them, yelled, “Guys! Over he—”

  Again his words were cut off, but this time not by the Praesidium. A multitude of rifts opened in the sky. Those who had witnessed this occurrence before knew exactly what was happening. “Shit,” Freya said. She didn’t usually swear, but they could all agree this occasion called for it.

  A host of giant beings, wearing white robes, descended from the rifts and crashed to the ground below. Some of them landed on the Praesidium, smashing the panels and shredding metal.

  The Nephilim had returned. Not since the Stiftung Crisis had anyone seen them—they normally stayed dormant within the mystical realm of Gehenna—but now they were back in full force.

  Brandon remembered the almost unimaginable destruction they had caused, and to his horror realized they could easily do the same to the Tru Republic.

  Without waiting for the others, he dove in to take them on single-handedly.

  * * *

  “Arcturus has unleashed the Nephilim!” Maya said, stating the obvious as they hung in mid-air over Stonecroft.

  “No,” Ev replied. “I mean—why would he do that?”

  “Because he’s a lunatic! I’ve said all along he can’t be trusted.”

  He could no longer deny it. “I hate to say it, but I think you’re right. We’ve got to stop the Nephilim before they smash up this whole country.”

  Bow in hand, she answered, “And there’s only one way to do that. Let’s go!’

  They dropped to the ground and found themselves surrounded by Nephilim. Maya let fly with her arrows, but they proved to be only minor annoyances to the massive giants. The projectiles simply weren’t large enough to do any real damage, piercing the Nephilims’ flesh but inflicting only superficial wounds.

  “I think you’re gonna need something bigger,” Ev quipped. He leapt at a nearby giant, punching him square in the jaw and sending him to the ground. A mound of grass soil exploded where the Nephilim landed. Ev was pleasantly surprised by his strength. He had come a long way this past year; during the Stiftung Crisis it had taken a whole team of students to bring down one giant at a time.

  “I think you’re right,” Maya said, jumping out of the way of a Nephilim fist. Wait—what were they talking about again? His distraction by his own strength made him forget.

  She conjured a quiver full of new arrows and proceeded to draw her bow with them. Ev couldn’t see anything different about them; they looked exactly like every arrow she had ever used.

  But then she shot one at a Nephilim that was trying to grab her. It embedded itself in the giant’s eye, causing him to cry out in pain. That won’t be enough to kill him, he thought to himself. But the sudden explosion violently proved him wrong. The giant collapsed in a squirting, headless heap.

  “Explosive arrows,” Ev said. “Nice touch.”

  “Thanks. Chemical reactions are tricky to conjure, so I’m glad I didn’t blow myself up.” OK, now he wasn’t so sure explosive arrows were a good idea.

  A female Nephilim was creeping up on her. “Behind you!” Ev bounded over her head and delivered a savage knee to the giant’s chin, launching her backwards towards the violet light that had taken hold of the Sancta Praesidium. Strangely, the closer she got to it, the more she accelerated.

  Ev watched this play out in macabre fascination. “What the hell…?” When the Nephilim finally hit the beam, she was sucked into the ground. No, that wasn’t quite right; it was more like the light compressed her entire mass. She shrunk to a pin-prick before his eyes.

  Maya stood beside him, equally enthralled with the spectacle. “Isn’t that where we buried the Ark last night?”

  He nodded, too dumbstruck to say anything else.

  She continued. “Arcturus must have somehow activated it. It’s sucking
in anything that gets close to it.” Indeed, there was now a crater where Stonecroft had been.

  He grinned. “I think we just found an easy way to get rid of the Nephilim.”

  “Wait a minute! If I’m right, the Ark is feeding right now. There’s no telling what will happen if it keeps absorbing things.”

  Sighing, Ev said, “Fine. We’ll do this the hard way.”

  “Not as hard as you might think, mate!” Jaysin and CiCi dropped in behind them.

  Maya embraced CiCi. “It’s so good to see you guys!”

  “The team is back together!” Ev declared.

  “Well, except for Daryn,” CiCi said. “He’s not much of a team player these days.”

  Ev happily noted, “Doesn’t matter. Looks like you brought more than enough friends to compensate.”

  “And this time we won’t need a vault door to stomp these giddards.” More Chrichton slang from Jaysin.

  “All right!” Ev said. “We fight back to back. Everyone, watch out for that giant-ass beam. You get too close to it, you’re dead.”

  “Understood,” CiCi said.

  Jaysin nodded. “Right. Better scratch ‘Get sucked into giant beam’ off my to-do list.”

  * * *

  Freya’s order to stick together was almost immediately abandoned as soon as they arrived. Jaysin and CiCi left to rendezvous with Ev and Maya, and everyone else scattered when the Nephilim came at them. The battle was now one big, chaotic free-for-all revolving around the Sancta Praesidium. Students and giants collided everywhere, and everyone ignored the chain of command.

  The faculty members separated to the far corners of the battlefield to aid the students as much as possible. Only Brandon and Freya remained on the western side of the flying fortress.

  Using his fire, Brandon lit up a row of Nephilim. They flailed about wildly, screaming in unimaginable agony before succumbing as charred corpses. This bought the two some time. “We have to stop the Ark from fully activating,” Freya said.

  “Yeah, but how? No one even remembers how it works.”

  “That’s not true. Arcturus Reich knows how it works.”

  He surveyed the chaos around them. “We don’t even know where he is. He could be long gone by now. I doubt he has much reason to stick around now that he’s done what he set out to do.”

  “Then we’ll have to stop it ourselves. Got any ideas?”

  His settled upon the flying fortress. “What if we shoved that thing down the Ark’s throat? Might clog it up or something.

  “We don’t know that,” she said. “If might make the Ark activate even faster.”

  “Well, we’re running out of time, so we’d better try something.”

  She turned to him and said, “Fine. Do whatever you have to do.”

  “I’m on it.”

  He soared into the sky until he was a good several hundred feet above the Sancta Praesidium. Then, without waiting any further, he launched himself downwards onto the top of it with the intention of forcing it into the crater below.

  However, its structural integrity proved inferior to the task at hand. He slammed through the glass panels and went through a dozen floors before coming to a stop.

  He got up and shook the glass, metal, and a hundred other things off of him while cursing his lack of engineering knowledge. Well, he thought, maybe he should have blamed Zero Grade for their shoddy construction work. After all, if it couldn’t withstand the might of a full-fledged god like him, it wasn’t worth building.

  He would have to approach this from another angle. Brandon smashed his way out and set about finding Atlas. In the throngs of combatants scattered all around the Sancta Praesidium, he had a hard time telling who was who.

  He closed his eyes and honed in on the big man’s psychic frequency. Atlas!

  What? Can’t you see I’m busy here?

  I can’t see you at all. Look, I need your help.

  You and everyone else here. If I abandon these students, you can kiss them good-bye.

  That wouldn’t do. Fortunately, Brandon had an idea. Where are you?

  Northern side of Zero Grade’s broken-down piece of junk.

  Brandon hurried over there and found Atlas fighting alongside a group of students. Knowing Atlas, he probably wanted all the Nephilim for himself, if for no other reason than to protect those under his care. Brandon surrounded the group with fire to temporarily ward off the giants before landing in the middle of it. “There you are.”

  Atlas looked impatient. “Well? What do you want?”

  “I need you to drop your boulder on top of the Praesidium to choke the Ark with it. Only you can pull this off.”

  “Hmmm. Well, I guess it’s as good an idea as any. All right, I’ll do it, but you have to look after these kids for me.”

  “You can count on me to keep them safe.” He took off into the air.

  The wall of fire Brandon had put up suddenly went out as an ice-breathing Nephilim came forward. She spewed force a subzero barrage, forcing him to respond with all the flames he could muster. The result was a stand-off of temperature extremes and an explosion of steam.

  “More Nephilim are approaching from behind!” one of the students announced.

  Brandon had been using two hands, dishing out twin streams of flames, to fend off the glacial assault, but now he was forced to divert one to deal with the giants trying to outflank them. Now he wasn’t certain he could adequately protect against the ice breath, and Nephilim were advancing from all directions.

  Come on, Atlas. You’ve got to hurry!

  * * *

  Atlas wasted no time getting above the Sancta Praesidium. Holding his arms above his head, he conjured a small, round rock—a souvenir from the old days. It didn’t stay small, however. He could make it as large as he wanted, and today he wanted it large. So, with that in mind, he mentally commanded it to grow massive, and it expanded in size until it was about as large as the flying fortress’ roof. Any more, and he risked crushing his allies fighting below.

  When it was ready, he grunted loudly and slammed it down upon the Sancta Praesidium. The whole thing groaned and shrieked as a result of all the metal and glass being crushed.

  But despite the loud protest, the structure gave in and collapsed down into the crater. Atlas watched in wonder as the whole thing—including the boulder—was warped and stretched by the mysterious forces of the violent beam. This had to be the craziest thing he had seen in a long time.

  After about a minute, the insane package he had just helped to deliver disappeared into the crater. The light abruptly vanished, and all was silent.

  * * *

  Even the Nephilim were mesmerized by the surreal display. Or perhaps Arcturus had commanded them to stop fighting. Either way, the battlefield became peaceful in an instant.

  “Did we do it?” Brandon asked to no one in particular. The students stood dumbfounded, too stunned to answer.

  At that moment, numerous rifts opened in the sky, sucking the Nephilim back in. Freya then landed beside him. “Is this Arcturus’ way of saying he admits defeat?”

  They both so badly hoped that was the case, but no one ventured to voice that hope.

  Without warning, a booming sound began reverberating throughout the area. It was so intense they had to cover their ears. This only lasted for a moment, though. It quickly died down to manageable levels.

  A luminescent object floated out of the crater. It was the Ark, only now it pulsated and shook as if it was about to explode. They tried to get close to it, but fierce arcs of electricity were erupting from it. “We’ve got to stop it!” Freya yelled.

  “I’m open to suggestions!” Brandon replied.

  At that moment, Arcturus made his return, touching down beside the Ark. The electricity skewered him—proving it was much more than mere lightning—but he grit his teeth and took hold of the object. Although he cried out in pain, he kept his grip on it.

  Freya reached out as if to grab him, but he was hopelessly o
ut of reach. “Arcturus! Stop this!”

  He suddenly smiled gleefully. “After I’ve come this far? I don’t think so. A better world begins now!” He ripped the lid off the Ark, exposing an illuminated interior.

  A deathly silence enveloped the area. Not a single sound could be heard. Then, a blinding light exploded from the Ark, consuming all in its path.

  The world came to an end.

  Chapter XIII

  Reh! Reh! Reh! Reh! Reh! Reh! Reh! Reh!

  In the distant corner of his mind, he knew that damned alarm was ringing. Why didn’t he set it to music instead of this aggravating wail?