The Warrior's Beckoning

by Patrick Howard

  “I’m guessing this was done for its tactical applications?” I said.

  “Yes. We thought the chance to debilitate an enemy leader without incurring a single casualty on our side was worth the risk, but we underestimated the cost.” She looked at the door.

  “What cost is that?” I asked, following her gaze.

  “No one anticipated that the dark mass we tapped into would manifest in a semicorporeal form.”

  “And start slaughtering everyone?” I asked quietly.

  She nodded. “Now, I’m caught in the middle of this, fighting things I thought existed only in people’s minds.” She sighed heavily. “I’m sorry. So, so sorry.”

  “Well, I’m kind of glad. I’ve always wanted to do something like this, at least once,” I said with a soft chuckle.

  She smiled shyly.

  “I need to get you out of here. I found another survivor, a woman. She’s resting in my car. You two need to get to the nearest hospital. Another hospital, not this place,” I ordered, turning to the door.

  “I will.” She followed me to the door.

  “Stay close to me,” I said as I opened the door slowly. Shining my flashlight around the dark room, I stepped beyond the doorway. She reached for my hand, and I took it gently and held it for a moment. We ran down the winding halls and corridors. The hair on my body stood straight up, though I saw nothing amiss. I knew, though, that we were being watched. Something was near.

  I stopped as we neared the side entrance. The woman continued toward the door. Unhooking my keys from my belt, I tossed them to her. “Go! Take my car, and get her and yourself to a hospital,” I said.

  A rush of cold air pushed from behind me, and the woman turned. Her eyes widened, and her skin turned pale. I felt a cold presence looming just over my shoulder. Without a shudder or hint of fear, I looked into her eyes, my eyes pleading. “Now!” I yelled as I spun backward, driving my elbow into whatever loomed behind me.

  The blow struck a cold mass. With a shriek, the creature responded, charging forward. It lashed out for Christina as she opened the door, but she slipped through. The creature grabbed the handle and began to pull back on the door. Screaming, she resisted, and she got away.

  I charged the creature, ramming my shoulder into its back. It fell forward against the door. The creature itself was a bit taller than I, a little over six feet tall. It was massive, but not as strong as it appeared. Placing my hand on the back of its head, I pushed forward with all my might and repeatedly drove its head into the door, harder and harder with each blow, denting the metal door.

  The creature dissipated, but the sensation of something looming nearby did not. Turning quickly, I locked stares with several more creatures. At first I counted five of them, but the numbers grew so quickly that I soon lost count…it seemed endless. I heard my car engine crank and the sound of gravel kicking up as the women drove off quickly.

  They were safe. All I had to worry about now was the battle at hand.

  I turned to face the creatures at an angle, folding the tips of my fingers. I placed my right hand level with my waist and my left hand close to my left breast. This was my natural battle stance.

  Flow. Flow as a poem, each move preparing for the next, leading to victory. The first creature charged. The second followed. They did not all move at once but came at me singly or in pairs, toying with me. I remained expressionless, without conscious intent. Reflexes are not voluntarily activated. They cannot be controlled. They bring action without thought, without concentration. When the first creature drew within a few inches of me, I spun quickly, grabbing its wrist and turning its arm hard. The creature shrieked as I pulled it to the floor snapping its arm back and stomping its neck. The second creature lashed out at my back. Crouching, pushing back against the creature, I grabbed its wrist and pulled it forward. It landed on top of the other creature, and I kicked its neck.

  Standing, I turned to the other creatures. They remained still, watching me.

  I was still heavily outnumbered. I bowed my head. May the Lord be my strength. I raised my head once more. Focusing all of my energy throughout my body, I roared and charged them. In a blur, I plowed into the creatures. One was knocked to the floor, bringing down those behind it.

  Those on the side turned to me as I spun bringing the side of my hand into one creature’s neck. Ducking as the creature on my left reached for me, I slammed an open palm into its gut, rising quickly to wrap my arm around its neck, pulling up and snapping its neck. The creatures in front of me recovered, and I spun around again, raising my leg in a side kick and striking its chest. Pausing, I studied the creatures that now surrounded me.

  Now I wasn’t merely outnumbered, but I had no ground in which to maneuver. As one, the creatures lashed out at me, sinking their cold claws into my flesh…tearing into my soul. I felt myself collapsing, my sight beginning to fade. I began to fade. It felt as if I’d slipped into a dream, a dream that grew dimmer and dimmer.

  I heard a voice cry out in the distance, followed by gunfire. “Move in!”

  The creatures shrieked as they were struck with heavy gunfire. But it was all happening so far away from me, so distant…or was it I who was distant? Where was I?

  I was on the floor, and a man in Kevlar armor and a white uniform knelt over me. “Can you hear me?” he said, placing two fingers against my neck.

  I answered with a blank stare, my gaze falling to his side, where three other men in the same uniform approached. They picked me up, and I blacked out.

  I slipped into a nightmare in which I stood in a decimated field. Shadows crept all around me, and the cold air took on a life of its own. Cries echoed from every direction. In the center of the field was a hole filled with darkness. Shadows emerged from it, spanning in every direction. The hole grew…slowly, but it grew. Laughter emerged from the hole, sinister and filled with a cold timbre.

  Then the scene before me went black.

  I awakened on a small table in an operating room. A man, perhaps the one I had seen before, stood beyond a heavy glass door. I sat up, sliding off the bed and onto my feet. My flashlight still hung from my hip.

  Approaching the door, I called out to the guard. Turning, he opened the door. “That was close,” he said, standing to the side to allow me passage.

  “Thank you,” I said as I walked past him.

  “I’d ask how you’re feeling, but we have no time to chat. I’ll take you to the chief,” he said, stepping in front of me. We proceeded to the next room. The doors were barricaded, and four guards sat in the center. It seemed to be a prep room for the OR. We moved through the room and down the hallway. Four rooms lined the hallway, with an injured guard lying in each one on rows of chairs lined up into makeshift beds.

  Down the hall and into the next room, we entered an armory. A stern middle-aged man immediately met my gaze. Motioning me to approach, he began to speak. “So you’re the one she called,” he said in a voice that demanded respect.

  “I don’t even know who she is,” I said, looking at the folders scattered on the table before me.

  “You will. I’ve collected all the information I could about her. You’ll find everything about her, down to her shoe size, in these folders.”

  I pulled a picture from the first folder. It was her…

  “We need to get down to business,” he said sharply, placing his hands on the table and leaning forward.

  “Of course,” I said, setting the picture down and looking into his eyes.

  “I’m sure you know what we were doing here, so, I’ll skip the unnecessary details. We had a massive containment breach shortly after the dark energy was channeled into her. Soon after that, we lost control over the main lab. We managed to evacuate the lab personnel, but the guard assigned to extract her was killed when he touched her. After that, dark creatures began to appear all over the place. Behind this room is an emergency bunker where we placed nonsecurity personnel.” He motioned behind him. Then he looked at a door to my l
eft.

  “Why do I get the feeling there’s something bad about that room?” I asked, following his gaze.

  “That’s where the dark mass was kept,” he said, bowing his head. “I’ve held up here with a containment team to ensure that it doesn’t get out.”

  “And the girl?” I asked. Our eyes met, and I saw the grief he held.

  He motioned to a nearby monitor to his right. I walked to it and watched it closely. The room was dark, but I could make out a young woman in a bed, surrounded by bizarre machines. Near her lay the body of the security guard that had tried to rescue her.

  “I wanted to disconnect her immediately. But here’s the tricky part,” he said, pointing to another monitor. It showed a map monitoring the location of every being within the facility. “The black dots represent those creatures of darkness you’ve been slugging it out with. The white ones are living humans. The gray ones are trapped spirits. See this one?” he said, pointing to a white dot, not moving, on the other side of the building. “That’s her,” he said as he pressed the screen and brought up her vital signs. “She’s in a coma, but that’s not the kicker. See this gray dot?” He pointed to a gray dot moving randomly around the facility. It had the exact same vital signs, the same biosignature. A black dot followed it closely.

  “It has her spirit trapped…” I said, watching the tandem dots.

  “Exactly. And that sucker is impervious to our attacks. I have lost a lot of men to it,” he said, looking to me. “I don’t know who you are, but you’re the only chance we have against this thing. She cried out, and you answered. You are her Warrior…her love.”

  To this, I closed my eyes, raising my head.

  “If you’re ready, I’ll tell you what you have to do,” he said, placing his hand on my shoulder.

  “I’m ready.”

  “Follow me,” he said, walking through the hall I’d followed previously. I followed closely, glancing at the guards I passed. Those whose eyes met mine seemed to offer me confidence and faith.

  We approached the room in which I had awakened then continued into a smaller room with a bed. “You’ll be hooked up to the same machines. You’ll be in the same state she is. But you can fight. You will be on the side of light. The form you take will represent your true nature. Lay down when you’re ready.”

  He rolled out the machines. There were two of them, and they did not appear very high tech. They were more like i-movie props, with five crystals, one at the top and the rest arcing down on both sides. The pedestals that held them were silver and ornate. Unlike those that surrounded her, these had a cross in the center, above the solid base. Silver branches wrapped around each piece.

  He positioned one machine to my right and one to my left. Pulling out a syringe, he injected a fluid into my wrist. Soon after, my eyes grew heavy. As I went under, he left the room and watched through the window. Darkness fell, and for a moment it all went blank.

  • • •

  I sat up. Then I stood, turned, and saw myself still on the bed, asleep. The chief stood by the window. His eyes widened in awe. I approached the door, and he opened it. I felt so unusual…so powerful!

  “There’s a full mirror in this room,” he said, pointing to the room next to the lab. I entered it and stood before the mirror. Reflecting back was a figure somewhat taller than my usual height. Clad in white crystalline armor, he radiated an aura that sparked with energy. The armor resembled that of a Knight Templar. A helm covered most of his head, save for the face, where the long stem of a cross began at the tip of his nose and the short arms ended at a thick rim just above his eyes. The top of the helm was round, the face hidden by a white mist. A cross was etched into the gauntlets, chest piece, and knee plates. I turned to the side. A white cape hung over his—that is, over my—shoulders. I carried a kite shield and long sword strapped to my back.

  Reaching over my shoulders, I unsheathed the sword and pulled the shield loose. I held the shield out before the mirror as I slid my arm through and held the sword in my natural stance. The sword was crystalline, with a white aura of its own. The shield was white, with a large cross in the center.

  Turning to the chief, I asked, “Where is she?” My voice was different—booming but filled with love.

  “Heading this way. And there are many creatures behind her,” the chief said. He slipped into Kevlar body armor and loaded an M4. We entered the break room, where security guards in full armor, bearing riot shields and M4s, knelt behind flipped tables. Four of the guards were stationed in the room where I had first met the chief, to guard the entrance to the dark matter. I stood front and center, just beyond the door to the break room. It was not barricaded, in hopes that the creatures would be funneled through that door.

  “Stay back. Don’t shoot unless they get past me,” I said, approaching the door, shield raised. The hall beyond me shook with shadows as the creatures congested there. Some crawled along the walls and the ceiling; most ran through the center.

  Holding my sword behind me, I began to focus my energy toward its crystalline blade. It sparked with light, and the energy radiated beyond the blade. Thrusting it forward, I released the energy in a single beam. The creatures shrieked as the beam pushed past them, tearing their dark forms apart.

  “Help me!” It was a woman’s voice, but she was too far away for me to see her. Charging into the hall, I was met by more creatures. They ran at me, and I held my shield up. The first lunged directly at me; the second lunged underneath it. Swinging my shield, I slammed the first into the wall. The building shook with the mighty blow. The second creature clawed at my armor as I thrust my sword into its back. I spun as I jumped over it, swinging my sword and slashing at the oncoming creatures. Three of them charged me, and I cut all three in half. Swinging my shield like a plow, I charged into the remaining group of creatures, crushing them in my wake.

  “Come to me, my Warrior!” the woman cried out from the adjacent corridor. I turned right and ran down the hall.

  “Go to her!” the chief yelled as creatures poured down the hall behind me. There was a hail of gunfire and countless shrieks. The woman stood just beyond the next room. I could feel her. The gunfire intensified.

  Someone yelled, “Frag out!” and an explosion rocked the building. In its wake came silence. The gunfire stopped. There were no more shrieks. Could the creatures have been defeated? Or were they just pawns, wearing down their adversaries until the real battle began?

  I stopped just inside the doorway to the lobby. At the front entrance, she stood. “Warrior,” she said softly, looking at me. “You came for me.”

  I walked to her, sheathing my sword and sliding my arm around her waist. I held my shield in front of us as I held her close. Sliding her arms around my neck, she rested her head against my chest.

  “I will always be there for you,” I said, stroking her hair gently.

  “I know,” she said softly, sighing.

  An evil laugh echoed through the room. We turned to its source—a tall figure, almost hidden within the shadows behind us. He bristled with sharp spikes that jutted from his shoulders, elbows, and knees. He seemed to be wearing armor made of onyx. Turning to face him, I drew my sword and raised my shield, placing myself between her and him.

  He laughed. He drew a glinting, ornate sword with a dark aura, its blade twisted as if from a nightmare. “Warrior,” he spat. He pointed his sword at me. “You are strong, yes, but those minions you and those filthy humans defeated were nothing but echoes of a greater form.”

  “Oh?” I said, my voice booming with confidence. I pointed my sword to him.

  “Like the two of you, I am projecting my spiritual essence. But unlike the two of you, my essential self is not a being of flesh. My real self is ethereal, not corporeal.” He approached me slowly, an evil grin visible inside his helm. “Besides, I have her trapped, and the only way to free her is to defeat this form.”

  I turned to her, looking deep into her eyes. They were filled with fear, trust, an
d love.

  “I will free you,” I said, bowing to her. Tears welled up in her eyes. Such a vow was unknown to her. After so many years, someone was finally rising up to defend her. Turning back to the Destroyer, I charged, my shield raised.

  He slammed his sword, Nightmare, against my shield, Hope.

  Pushing Hope forward, I swung my sword, Love, down at his legs. He stepped back quickly, holding Nightmare to the side then swinging at me once more. I met it with Love, bashing him with Hope. This knocked him back, as I followed by swinging Love once more, this time toward his head. Raising Nightmare, he parried my attack, lunging forward with his spiked shoulder. I barely raised Hope to block; the spikes penetrated my shield and pierced my arm, and I lost Hope. I gripped Love with both hands, though my right was slick with blood and weakened by the attack.

  A white mist escaped the punctures in my armor. He laughed, watching as I regained my stance. We charged each other, and our swords locked once more. More than that, my white eyes locked with his black soul as we pressed our blades together, each trying to push back or disarm the other.

  Neither of us could gain ground, and we were locked in struggle. A lifetime of pain flashed through me…hers and mine. Times of peril and struggle…times of loneliness and loss…I gripped Love tighter. I would not allow her to know this pain. I will not fail her.

  “Never.” I spoke softly at first, and his fierce stare became a look of puzzlement. “NEVER!” I shouted, thrusting forward and knocking him against the far wall. I ran at him, jumping into the air and pressing my foot against his elbow, which caused him to drop Nightmare. I thrust Love into the wall and grasped the two spikes on his left shoulder. Ripping them off, I jabbed them through his elbows and into the wall. Quickly I ripped off the other two and thrust them through his knees into the wall. Seizing both Love and Nightmare, I thrust a sword through both of his hands. He hung, crucified, from the wall.