Deadline

by Domino Finn

  I pushed forward to the head of the ship and held the soulstone high as we flew straight for the spiderlike fortress. It was enough of an incentive to momentarily stall the titan's retreat. As we bore toward it, purple magic tittered at the ready.

  Hadrian wasn't firing because we were approaching with his prize.

  "Dune, Kyle," I called, "gonna need your bows."

  The archers came to my side. "How can we be of service?" asked the ranger.

  I handed Kyle the Eye of Orik. "Can you stockrig this to a bolt and fire it to Gigas? Not all the way—I want him to work for it."

  "No can do, bro. I used up my one for the day."

  "Can't you tie it together or something?"

  "Not unless you want it to drop straight into the water."

  "Let me help," interjected Izzy. She took one of Kyle's heavy bolts and tickled her fingers to generate ice, binding it with the soulstone. "Will that do?"

  The brewmaster frowned at the makeshift arrow. "Okay, how about this?" He produced another bolt and lined it up with the other. "Glue this one too." After Izzy complied, he tested the double projectile's weight.

  "What do you think?" I asked urgently.

  Kyle canted his head. "She'll be an ugly bird, but she'll fly."

  "Good. Dune, once she's in the air, you'll give it the final nudge."

  I grabbed the projectile and removed the shadow essence from my inventory. Concentrating on the power innate in the soulstone, I forced the darkness inside. The Eye swirled with an angry black pupil. My own little power trap.

  Dune did a double-take. "Dude, that's your teleportation power."

  "It is what it is," I said, handing the projectile back to Kyle. He loaded them both, attached together by the Eye of Orik, onto his dual eagle crossbow. "Okay, Hadrian," I muttered. "You want it, you can have it. Ready on my mark."

  The airship barreled ahead with a heavy tail that dragged sideways. It was a rough ride. It would get a lot rougher if we were hit again.

  Gigas took a step toward us.

  "Thar she blows!" screamed Errol at the top of his lungs.

  The ground rumbled and waves splashed below.

  "Now!" I called.

  Kyle had already settled his aim so he flicked the double trigger and the dual bolts fired in unison. She was an ugly bird, but her initial velocity sailed her through the wind with ease. Dune nocked a silver arrow and waited. The Eye of Orik cut across the sky and the living mountain shivered in anticipation. Just when I thought Kyle had overshot the range, the projectile arced downward, caught the wind, and tumbled apart in a tailspin.

  Gigas leapt toward the plummeting soulstone in a panic to prevent it from falling short, moving deeper into the lake.

  "Get it the rest of the way, Dune."

  The ranger released a silver-tipped arrow. It cut downward, covering a great distance while the Eye of Orik floundered in the sky. Gigas lurched again, lifting a giant spire from the water and reaching forward to catch the founder relic.

  Dune's arrow chipped it in the side, knocking it anew. The Eye suddenly jolted forward, past the reaching spider leg. Gigas stuttered and the ruby tumbled into a debris pile that used to be a high tower, into the depths of the fortress.

  "Nailed it!" I exclaimed.

  The tug of the shadow essence had fled me completely. Hadrian, or Gigas, or whatever this abomination was now, paused warily. It had what it wanted. Or did it? The walking island twisted its mass around as it was suddenly influenced by a foreign gravity.

  The shadow essence was pulling the island toward the Maelstrom.

  The foot that had grasped for the soulstone stumbled down and slipped. Stretching legs lost purchase with the lake floor. The edge of the walking island dipped to the surface as Oakengard lurched sideways. The entire body of water shifted, a bathtub being rocked, forcing a tidal wave toward the Maelstrom. The pull of the shadow essence intensified and dragged the titan nearer the black hole.

  My knuckles went white on the handrail. "Come on... come on..."

  A low rumble reverberated through the water, sending a sphere of ripples outward. Stone spider legs spiked downward, embedding in the rock through the shallow water away from the lake's center. The land mass stopped dead as it secured itself.

  "It's no good," cried Avisa. "We need to uproot her legs!"

  Errol looked to me and I nodded. Desperate times and all. "How's me rear sail?" he asked.

  "The Void will need a proper repair when we're in port, but she's airworthy," answered the sergeant.

  "An' me tricorn?"

  Avisa smiled in collected surprise. "It fits you like the perfect woman."

  "Then hold on t' ye puffy shirts, 'cause we're goin' in!"

  The airship entered an aggressive dive toward the stalled titan. Violet energy sparked up the nearest tower. Instead of firing a laser, the magic spread and overlaid a giant hologram of Hadrian's face on the brownstone wall. The visage was unholy: part man, part rock, and full crazy.

  "Talon," bellowed the would-be god, voice pounding my eardrums. "You release Orik's soul, yet hand me the Eye. Attempt to entrap me with the shadow essence, yet deliver me its power. Can you not see that with every blow, I grow more and more powerful?"

  Izzy leaned in. "Didn't he already do the evil-villain speech?"

  I snickered as the Void flew closer. "I won't tell him if you don't."

  "Ready the guns!" ordered Avisa. Errol spun the wheel as another purple bolt missed us by a hair. "Fire!"

  BABOOM, BOOM. BABOOM, BOOM.

  It was a direct hit. All four starboard cannons struck a tight grouping around the titan's knee. Or appendage joint. Or whatever spiders had. Dust exploded outward and Hadrian visibly grimaced.

  The leg itself, however, barely shook. And considering Gigas had five more, the island remained perfectly stable.

  Another tower filled with dangerous energy. Errol steered the ship down, between stony legs and right under the massive titan's belly, nary a laser turret in sight.

  "You're a genius!" said Kyle, grabbing the captain by the shoulders and giving him a congratulatory shake.

  "Arr, as self evident as that may be, these cannons aren't cut out fer a titan."

  I joined them at the helm. "How about a special?"

  "Alas, the Void has no special weapons."

  "But it has an Atlantean anchor."

  "And what of it? Gigas ain't stupid enough t' chase us into the Maelstrom."

  "We're not going," I assured him. "Your crew's adept at field repairs. What if we retrofit the anchor onto Gigas?"

  His brow stretched in alarm. "You want t' WHAT? The anchor'll guarantee Hadrian safe passage through—" He froze.

  "Exactly," I said with a smile. "Passage is passage. We just need to make it happen."

  The admiral nodded his head, encouraged. "In that case, we'll need a spot o' land we can hook the anchor to."

  Avisa approached. "Somewhere not in sight of the lasers."

  Kyle's eyes lit up. "The mines." He scanned the titan's underbelly. "Tunnels run deep through the mountains." He pointed. "Look, there! An open passage."

  The titan's underside was mostly barren rock, but one of the bisected mine tunnels provided an easy way in. As Gigas struggled to hold onto solid ground and waited for us to emerge and make a move, Grug and Grom unloaded the item into the tunnel. They hastily retrofitted Gigas with the Atlantean anchor, deployed it, and hopped back onto the airship.

  "Right in 'er asshole!" laughed Grug.

  "That's what she said!" guffawed Grom.

  Avisa shrugged in dismissal. "I'll allow it."

  The pirates cackled as the Void dipped away. The mystical anchor fired straight toward the Maelstrom, dragging a magical black line in its wake.

  "What did you do?" snapped Hadrian.

  The mystical anchor caught hold. The line went taut. Stone legs ripped chunks of wet ground away as Gigas jerked violently toward the center of the lake.

  The sudden shift of posi
tion removed our umbrella of cover. No longer under Gigas, Hadrian's face rematerialized on the backside of the fortress to face us. He sneered.

  Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

  Explosives launched upward and multiple bolts fired. Bursts resounded everywhere. The hull took a glancing hit. A trio of cannons were taken out as a destructive beam ripped a gash in the side of the Void.

  The crew tumbled to the deck as the airship spun out of control. The Oakengard high towers flared violet again, ready to do us in.

  Gigas lurched sideways as the pull of the negative world increased. The lasers activated but dragged over our heads and we spun away.

  "How hard are we gonna hit the water?" yelled Izzy.

  Errol struggled with the wheel and shook his head. "The water'll do us no good, lass. With the size o' the hole in the hull, we'd sink faster than a cannonball. Our only hope is t' go fer the coast."

  "Watch out!" screamed Kyle.

  The Void tumbled in wild circles. Orik's angry countenance spun into view. He bore down on us, already in the water. The ship twisted around and Gigas was back on the horizon, struggling with the anchor's hold. We twirled again to see the cyclops lifting a giant paw to bat us out of the sky. Fingers spread and the hand came down.

  Hull Phase Activated

  The airship went black and the titan's blow whooshed through us. He was too big to phase through entirely, though. We solidified and clipped the side of his giant body. The collision scraped us with more damage, but it also miraculously steadied our bearing. The Void was no longer in a tailspin. Setting his targets on the coast, Errol sailed through the sky on an accelerating downward trajectory.

  We weren't gonna make land.

  Everybody grabbed ropes, masts, and handrails as the airship crash-landed into the shallows. The belly flop in the water greatly dispersed the collision forces. While the keel violently snapped, the rest of the Void held together. The flagship skidded through the muddy bank and came to a grinding stop, leaving the crew with a slew of fall damage notifications but no fatal wounds.

  "That wasn't so bad," I said.

  "Thpeak for yourthelf," muttered Kyle. "Ah bit ma tongue."

  The two titans were some distance into the lake now, gargantuan forms filling the sky. Orik was two-hundred-feet tall and still only half the size of Gigas. His head just reached the spider's underbelly.

  Hadrian's face projection hardened to a scowl. He focused on the downed airship. Tugging against the anchor's pull, the black line seemed stretched to the limit. Still, Gigas heaved. Violet energy crackled up the titan's legs. The mountainside glowed with the magical plague, and the fortress shone brightly. The collapsed stones of the high tower began to stack, climbing up and up.

  "Gigas is repairing itself," said Izzy.

  "Thon of a bith," said Kyle.

  I arched an eyebrow at him. "I thought you were cursing for real again." Izzy chuckled.

  "Thcrew you guyth right up the ath."

  We laughed as the Maelstrom exerted its pull on the titan. Our mirth disappeared when Gigas began to push out of the water. Even way back in the cheap seats we couldn't deny it. It was impressive. It was impossible.

  But then, that was the god emperor's MO all the way. Hadrian, through the use of his Trojan, his plague, was attempting to control the impossible. NPCs and mobs, saints and angels, cities and titans—it was his will against theirs, and he was dominating at every step of the way.

  The toppled high tower completed its repair. Four beams of energy converged in the space between them, collecting an impossible amount of destructive power for one focused super beam. The Void was literally dead in the water, but Hadrian still wasn't satisfied.

  "Abandon ship!" cried Errol.

  Avisa scrambled the crew. Pirates tossed ropes overboard. Oakengard's towers burned bright.

  As the All Mother fired the mother of all lasers, Orik roared mightily. Dwarfed by the other titan, all the cyclops could do was pound a spider leg that stood as tall as he did.

  But they didn't call him the Mighty One for nothing.

  The spindly knee buckled. Gigas stumbled and the beam projecting at us skewed down, blasting a crater in the Lake of Dreams. Water exploded skyward into a crashing typhoon that filled the air with waves and mist. When it cleared, Orik was grappling the walking island, yanking another of the stone legs free.

  The usually surefooted Gigas toppled sideways.

  "The Leveler of Cities," I whispered in awe.

  With the spider island now in a lowered stance, Orik grabbed the mountainside and heaved himself up. Gigas shifted, attempting to stabilize, lifting Orik above the waterline. The giant affixed a meaty paw around a glowing high tower. Orik was going for a ride.

  Hadrian's face on the fortress shifted, looking up as Orik towered above. "You're a wild one," he spat. "But I'll take you too."

  Gigas welled with magic again. The building purple energy flowed into Orik this time. The giant's hands, arms, and body took the brunt of the plague. He spewed a mighty cry, hanging onto Oakengard with one hand as the other beat his chest in a fit of rage.

  Still wracked with magic, the cyclops brought the fist down into the center of the castle. Stones caved in. Orik screamed and punched again. Over and over, one titan laid into the other, bashing the rocky ground open wide. Finally, Orik plunged his arm deep into Oakengard's bowels and yanked outward, ripping away a mass of pulsing crystal.

  "What are you—" Hadrian's face flickered and spun around. "You can't—"

  All strength fled the tall spires supporting the island. The mountainside, fortress, and raging cyclops splashed down like a meteor.

  "Ugh!" cried Hadrian.

  Gigas began to lose its violet glow. Oakengard started to collapse. Hadrian struggled to hold his face together as it flickered and distorted.

  But Orik didn't rest. The angry god was a vengeful one. He roared triumphantly as the island shook and slid in the water. Gigas turned with the current and the Atlantean anchor reasserted its hold. Slowly, the violet energy was overtaken by a growing mass of the blackest shadow. The darkness picked at Hadrian's face.

  "No!" he boomed. "I will not be—"

  The floating island spun in the water and began to submerge, its impossible size being sucked into the Maelstrom.

  In a last gasp, Hadrian's eyes went wide. Orik blustered above him, howling wildly for freedom, for the will to live and die as he chose. The cyclops would rather see Gigas banished than live as an abomination. The soulstones had been taken back, the natural state restored. The titans would endure no further abuse.

  The voice came weaker now. "I will not be..."

  But Hadrian's control was an illusion that had run its course. Gigas, Orik, and the soulstones were swallowed into the negative world.

  Quest Complete: Remove Soulstones from Play

  Quest Type: Fepic

  Reward:

  The soulstones have been removed from play. Haven is safe.

  XP awarded

  The mighty vortex collapsed under crashing waves. A violent current rocked the Lake of Dreams and splashed water a mile into the sky. When it broke, a refreshing mist bathed the Midlands. Sparkling moonlight welcomed the fallen night with an aftermath so serene, it was dreamlike.

  It was over. We had won.

  Tad finally reached the bottom of the stairwell. Going down had been easier than going up, and the fact that his leg was numb actually helped. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he pushed ahead into the server room.

  The machines still hummed. The console's monitor displayed a notification announcing the start of the Haven sync. The satellite had reached low earth orbit and the data transfer was steadily progressing. Christian would be over the moon.

  Something rushed over Tad. Relief? Exhaustion? The feeling was too confusing to parse, and he was still in a fair amount of pain. He wondered if Talon and the others inside the sim would notice any difference after being space bound. He wo
ndered if he would see them again.

  But that wasn't Tad's concern.

  He limped toward the voices in the other room. Past the body of Mr. Hines. SWAT officers were still clearing the studio, but a couple attended a man on the floor. As Tad reached the doorway, the kneeling commander frowned at him. A large pool of blood soaked the carpet, but the man lying on it wore an expression far past remorse or suffering.

  Christian Everett was dead.

  2200 Wii Party

  My cowl snapped in the wind like a tattered flag, soaring high above the magnificent and unforgiving terrain of the Sunscrapers. Amid the craggy peaks was a huge crater where an entire zip code of land had been relocated. Oakengard was no more. The top city was completely upheaved. Left behind was a shuttered network of mine tunnels and who knows what else.

  The last of the Violet Order was scraped from the land. Flying northward, vivid purple banners littered the ground. Tunics were torn from armor. What remained of those living, those never infected, no longer had a home. They were nomads.

  Bandit continued patrolling the landscape. We needed to be sure the hardship was truly over, that all loose ends were tied off for good. The dragon dipped low and glided over the Lake of Dreams, sending ripples through the now-calm water. The mountain reservoir was dormant again. No Maelstrom, no soulstones. Orik and Gigas were no longer on this plane of existence.

  The wreckage of the Void didn't look so bad from a distance, but she'd need extensive repairs. Her body was intact but her spine had buckled. For now, the flagship was abandoned. The retrofit would come soon enough. Tonight there was a world-spanning celebration, and as a rule pirates never missed a good party.

  Bandit veered toward the Godsbog. The wetlands were heavily populated with Black Army activity. Torches dotted the horizon like fireflies. Instead of gearing up for war, the soldiers were steeped in drinking and revelry. Goblins danced with humans, catechists broke bread with wildkins.