It was the Odyssey, and Dajjal was not pleased.
“Come on, Gage Crosse. I am waiting for you!”
THE ODYSSEY SOARED over the battlefield directly towards Dajjal, the widespread smoke like murky water lapping upon her hull.
“The way ahead looks heavily guarded,” Gage observed, seeing the sky still swarming with monsters.
Looking to the ground didn’t bring him any more comfort, the mass of bodies making it difficult to discern which side was winning. He sincerely hoped that they were, but couldn’t be sure.
“I wouldn’t pay too much attention to what’s happening directly below,” came Joey’s voice in comfort. “You might get lost down there, when you have one task to focus on.”
“It’s kinda hard not to,” Gage replied, glancing to Joey; he had just come up beside him. Gage didn’t know if it was just the way the light was hitting him, but Joey looked different – more thoughtful and even wise.
“I know,” Joey replied. “As for those beasts up ahead, we do have a means to clear most of the path. Then it’s just a matter of helping you get to him. The rest would fall on those big shoulders of yours, my man.”
“That would leave the ship mired in one spot,” Gage said hesitantly. “We couldn’t…”
“What does it matter?” Joey answered briskly. “That pales in comparison to what would happen should we fail. Anything we can do to get you within machete’s reach of Dajjal is a good thing in my book.”
“I can’t argue with that,” Gage answered, taking one last look below. “So, Omega then?
“Om,” Joey was already saying while he nodded, “can you clear us a path to our good friend?”
“Yes,” Om replied over the comm. “Give me a moment; you will want to act as soon as the blast has dissipated to maximize your time.”
The hull peeled back menacingly, exposing black lines from stem to stern.
Gage’s heart beat heavily, the rest of the team taking positions along both sides of the ship.
“We’re jumping?” asked Ty, gripping the handrail so tightly that his knuckles were ghostly white.
The Omega weapon’s mechanisms spooled into howl.
“Aye,” Brandon answered, waltzing cockily up beside him, “it’s why they partnered you with me. I’ll be sure to get us down safely with me magic.”
“Aren’t you the one who couldn’t cast a proper heating spell?” Ty asked worriedly, the wind whipping through his hood as if to emphasize the point.
Without a word Brandon’s face sunk in, his deep creases illuminated by a sudden and bright light.
A powerful blast surged out from the ship, the potent shockwave rushing through the air, plowing mercilessly into the enemy. Countless troops were killed in that instant and though bloody, the way was clear.
The time to run the gauntlet was now.
Tyrol peered over the edge of the deck, down at the vast hordes below.
“This looks incredibly fun. Shall we do this then?”
Looking over, he saw that both Nathaniel and Hammer had already jumped from the deck, plummeting toward the ground far below.
“I suppose that's a yes then!” Tyrol shouted as he leapt, grinning while he summoned chilly winds and ice as a prelude of what was coming.
Landing on a cushion of air, Nathaniel and Hammer rolled. The mage immediately formed shards of ice ahead of them, floating in mid-air. At that moment a throng of demons charged from the sides and Nathaniel propelled the bolts into a dozen of the onrushing bodies. They were knocked back, impaled with the subzero shards protruding from both their heads and chests.
“Always have to make sure the job’s done, right?” Nathaniel said glibly, turning toward Hammer.
A werewolf claw slashed by his face. Nathaniel jerked back, avoiding the swipe but wound up tripping in the process. The beast was over him in no time, about to make a meal when the blunt end of a sledgehammer knocked its head sharply to the side. Nathaniel winced at the cracking sound, Hammer yanking him up on his feet with a large arm before spinning around to make quick work of another pair of wolves.
“Yup! Always make sure it’s done!” Hammer agreed.
At least thirty more werewolves were coming up behind the smashed bodies.
“You ready for this?” Hammer asked, giving the weapon a pat on the end.
“You bet I am,” said Nathaniel, his swirling sigils all ready to go. “It’s what I was born for!”
“Well then, let me give you a helping hand,” Tyrol said as he touched down with a resounding boom. All around him the air swirled with frost and his eyes were filled with a deep and terrible coldness.
Nearby, Ty and Brandon landed roughly, tumbling across the soiled ground.
“See, I got us down all right,” Brandon groaned, clambering to his feet.
“Mostly,” Ty replied as he did the same, picking up his glasses that had flown off and come to rest a few feet away. The lenses were scratched, but he could still see out of them. He took a moment to get his bearings while removing his rifle from his shoulder. “Come on Brandon, this way!”
The two of them joined in the fray, keeping the path open for Gage. Brandon sent searing fireballs crashing into the enemies lining the path; Ty took care of an oncoming pack of lougarou, firing a silver nitrate bomb from his under-barrel launcher, after which he sprayed the rest with silver bullets.
Timothy and Henry appeared in a flash of light, running down the line with their guns blazing; Allete appeared a second later behind the two of them, taking out a few demons with a powerful jet of red light.
Evans raced by, spinning like a top with his blades outstretched while Quileth was taking a long draw from his electronic smoker.
“Leaving the hard work for the rest of us, eh?” Evans chastised, stabbing a passing demon in the face. “Really though: now of all times?”
“You'll find, Evans,” Quileth muttered while blowing a large smoke ring, “that I am full of surprises.”
His yellow eyes became slits, glowing faintly. The smoke ring began to jostle, like it was floating on rough water, then separated into a long, undulating shape.
“Go! Now!” Quileth commanded, pointing toward the enemy. The shape hissed, then slithered ahead like some serpent, wrapping many of the enemy in tight bindings that would not be broken until their last breath had been squeezed out of their lungs.
“I didn't know that you could do that,” Jane said as she casually walked up behind them, firing her weapons into the horde. “Surprises indeed.”
In another booming blast of light and noise, the fateful trio appeared at the furthest end of the line, immediately racing toward Dajjal.
“This is just like old times!” Joey shouted, holding up his mini-missile launcher that was strapped to his forearm, sending a shower of iron bombs into the Noctis hordes. When they exploded, they left behind craters and immolated bodies imprinted within the stone.
“Yeah!” Gage exclaimed, “Except this time we have far better toys!”
He raised his trusty MK23 and fired explosive rounds into several oncoming demons, their fragile heads bursting with gore and iron powder, which worked to slow the rest.
Ady raised her warded dagger, its sigils glowing like molten gold upon the silver blade. Sliding across the ground in a cloud of dust, she sliced through a couple fiends that had made it past Joey and Gage’s attack. With their wounds glowing with a faint amber light, they were dead before hitting the ground.
Gage flicked his misty eyes up as he ran, Dajjal looming ever closer. The demon’s malicious smile was visible even from that distance, and Gage felt like they were actually going to be able to wipe it clean off his bearded face.
Yet it was always wise to assume the tide could quickly turn.
So it was with a graciously soft thud that Allete fell to the ground, her eyes looking to the swirling sky. Her stomach had been flayed open by an abomination with several passes of its sharp claws.
“No!” Timothy shrieked, ey
es alight with extreme anger. He fired relentlessly at the creature that had killed her, and it eventually fell to the ground where he hacked away at it with a dagger.
Another abomination emerged, scuttling silently up to Henry’s back.
“Not again!” Timothy screamed as he sprinted, breathing fast through his nostrils. “Look out! Henry!”
At that point Henry turned, and was bitten. Sharp teeth clamped around his head and crunched down. His life flowed out and down his glimmering automaton, pooling on the ground. The creature tossed his body away like a piece of garbage into the crowds, continuing on toward Timothy, who had no bullets left to fire.
Evans and Quileth heard a gruesome scream, with no choice but to continue rather than drown in despair. On they went, making sure to keep the masses from swarming Gage before he made it to his destination.
Jane found herself beside Timothy’s hacked remains, surrounded by the abominations, the one that emerged earlier now one of many. Their ebony skin was stretched tight over their bodies and their tentacled heads shook threateningly as their tails lashed her like whips. She was unable to shoot fast enough to clear a way out of the tightening circle of teeth and claws, leaving only one option.
“Come on!” she challenged. “Do it!”
Without warning, they charged and she plucked two incendiary stones from her belt. Breathing across them, they were activated and she smashed them into the ground just before she was overcome. The resulting blast was devastating, killing many and powerful enough to knock the rest to the ground.
Tyrol recovered quickly, but struggled back to his feet. He summoned a massive blast of ice magic, engulfing vast swaths of the enemy in ice on both sides of the path. Hammer didn’t delay, flinging his sledgehammer toward the monsters. Nathaniel ensnared it with magic, guiding the whirling weapon across the entire frozen army, smashing them into fragments that melted away into chunks of flesh, bone, and armor.
A terrible rumble came charging from the left, and Tyrol was assailed by two fire drakes that burst through the horde, bodies slung in several directions.
The beast could not get a shield formed in time and the drake’s magma poured across his body like chocolate over a scoop of ice cream. Yet there was no merriment, only anguish as Tyrol’s body melted in half.
Nathaniel couldn't believe what he had just seen. Unable to cry, he prepared to conjure an attack against the advancing drakes, but there was a sharp pain in his leg, and he crashed to the ground in a heap. He stared in horror at his only good leg now laying on the ground, severed right above the knee.
The wendigo sped along, taking out the drakes as it spun around wildly, refocusing on Brandon, who was approaching the devastated group. It rushed at him, gnawing clear through his stomach before blasting out the other side in a shower of crimson rain.
Ty was horrified, but managed to throw a few smoke bombs its way, the vapor slowing the wendigo down enough that it was visible.
“Now, guys!” Ty screamed at the survivors. “The effects will only last a few minutes.”
Hammer went berserk, his massive frame barreling toward the monster, weapon at the ready. Jumping into the air, he brought the blunt edge down onto the beast’s head, pushing it right into the ground where fluids squirted out like some twisted version of a Rorschach test.
At the front of the gauntlet, Gage, Joey and Adrienne were making good progress. Out of nowhere, a demon tackled her, stabbing her in the hip with something blunt as they both fell to the hard ground.
The monster was quick, up on her chest in an instant. He had a dull spike in his hand, dripping with blood and poised to bring it down. Adrienne was swift, bringing her own blade to bear and the demon’s skin met its cold metal. After a few agonized gurgles, his body slid off to the side, thumping against the rocks.
Adrienne lay motionless on the ground, the wind knocked out of her. Lowering her arms to rest if only for a second, the pain in her left hip was agonizing, and the amount of blood she was losing severe.
Joey turned to check on Ady from up ahead, watching as she dipped her head back and closed her eyes. He was driven to enraged tears at the thought that she might be dead. Screaming, he charged toward Dajjal but before he had taken two steps, an unseen force pushed him hard and he fell to the ground. Banging his head, everything became a dizzying blur, yet a voice came to him loud and clear.
Joey… be watchful and ready. Wait for my signal. You will know when the time is right.
Gage plowed ahead, his massive chest heaving with hurt, his mind solely driven on by his hatred of Dajjal. Soon he slowed down and looking back, he hadn’t realized how far his feet had carried him and that he had done so alone. He could see Joey and Adrienne lying on the ground, unsure if they were alive or dead.
God damn you, Dajjal! he thought, his heart beating greatly as he spun around.
There before him was the grand demon, standing in all his majesty. As his dark wings stretched out like a shadow, his crown was alight and Dajjal seemed to glow wholly with the might of the five artifacts.
Gage held firm his machete – the very last light against the darkness right there in his hand. He planned to use it with all of his skill to make sure the filth in front of him did not succeed.
“Dajjal! You piece of shit! This. Ends. Now!”
ONCE AGAIN, GAGE stood before Dajjal and the chaos of battle continued around them, its cruel noises carried on the harsh wind.
“Gage Crosse…” Dajjal addressed in his deepest voice, rimmed with conceit. “At last you have come.”
Gage’s vision started to darken at the edges, his full focus on Dajjal.
“Yeah I've come,” he said, “to stop you!”
“From reaching my goal?” Dajjal scoffed. “A little late for that.”
“No,” Gage countered angrily, “to stop ya from harming humanity any more. I'm here, for my part, to set them free.”
Dajjal sneered.
“So before I kick your sorry ass all the way back down the rabbit hole,” Gage said confidently, “I’ll give ya one chance to tuck your dick between your legs and hike back there yourself.”
There was a brief period of stunned silence, then Dajjal laughed maniacally.
“Free you say…” the demon asked, “from what, me, or themselves? What makes you think humanity is so deserving of anything more than suffering?”
“Because they’re alive, Dajjal! Life by its very nature is…”
“Cruel,” Dajjal said, cutting across Gage. “I am not surprised you don't see it. After all, humanity is blind against their own actions. You see Gage, humans have had freedom since their Creation and has, for all intents and purposes, squandered it. They have fought and killed each other in the name of their very creator, and over all of their petty differences which are not so different after all. Why? Pride, arrogance, and the freedom to be such! Think about it… if you replace ‘humanity’ with ‘demon kind’, we are not so different after all.”
Gage dropped his eyes to the craggy ground, flecks of glowing embers drifting by. He began to laugh himself.
“You’re right… my bad,” Gage said sarcastically. “I should have known that I wouldn’t be able to talk my way outta this one, especially with the king of demons. So let me rephrase and say that I’ve come… for vengeance.”
Dajjal smiled narrowly, licking his lips in anticipation.
“I'm gonna strike ya down for every single man, woman, and child that has been lost on your orders, or by your own doing,” Gage said, his eyes not hiding the seriousness of his statement. “It'll be a feast for my eyes watching ya explode.”
“Oh, you mean like this?” Dajjal said, right before snapping his fingers. There was no squelch.
“That'll be Death’s doing I'm sure,” Gage said apologetically. “Oh, DJ, what’s the matter? Ya look like you’re about to cry … or scream like a little bitch!”
“Enough of this! How anemic all of these little parlor tricks have been,” Dajjal sneered, pro
ducing a flaming sword out of thin air. “Come on then, mighty Gage Crosse! Enough talk; let’s see what you’ve got!”
Dajjal dashed forward with lightning speed and Gage whirled his machete. It sang, striking the demon’s sword with a blasting ring.
“Ah, so this is the blade!” Dajjal said lustfully, not expecting a successful parry. His fiery eyes grew wide.
“Yeah,” Gage retorted, “and I'm kinda partial to it!”
A flurry of blade strikes continued, fire and metal clashing. It was impossible to determine who had the most hate for the other, both Gage and Dajjal with faces twisted in anger like two wild beasts.
Gage fell to a battered knee after a flurry of strikes from the demon and Dajjal took his chance, swinging. His blade clanged against the stone ground as Gage evaded, the Journeyman slashing his machete across Dajjal’s shins. Leaping back, the demon came crashing down on his own knees a short distance away; sweat was on both their brows.
Panting heavily and enraged, Dajjal tried to summon hellfire, but the amulet did not heed the call. The fires that should have raged sputtered and Dajjal felt like screaming, but his anger prevented it.
Gage wasted no time, flying to his feet to charge. He swung the machete and Dajjal blocked it with one of his black wings, flinging Gage backwards as he took a swipe with his own fiery blade. The sword tip grazed Gage’s stomach. It burned.
Gage held his own, repositioned, and was ready to strike again. He advanced with fury, yet his boot met a loose rock underfoot and he faltered, falling flat on his back. The machete was thrown from his hand, landing far out of reach.
“Shit!”
“So this is how the mighty Gage Crosse meets his end,” said Dajjal as he stumbled toward the helpless Journeyman. “Flat on his back like a whore.”
“Ah, now who's the one who doesn't know when to stop talking,” Gage replied. “Come on DJ… finish it!”
They both looked across to the machete, innocently resting atop a tuft of grass amongst the gray stone.
Running on Empty (Journeyman Book 6) Page 16