The Esoteric Design: Disbanding Hope

by A. R. Crebs

  ‘Where the hell am I?’ Troy thought. Then he noticed the enormous throne in the center of the rocky plate. Chains of diamond were severed and scattered across the ground.

  Far below, at the edge of the rock wall Troy was standing upon, fiery beings rose from the magmatic ooze. The goop dripped from their flesh, the creatures hissing and shrieking. In a mad flurry, they dug their claws deep into the rock wall he was standing on and climbed upwards to where Troy was. They were Brawlers, and they weren’t too happy to see Troy there as they hissed, shrieked, snapped, and swiped at the robot.

  ‘Definitely the wrong place!’

  Troy twirled and stepped back inside the portal, coming back out into the mines. Making an assortment of noise, he waved his hands back and forth.

  “What are you doing? Get back in there!” Spoofy hollered, shooting the enemy.

  Troy refused again pointing at the portal and shaking his head.

  “Wrong location?” Aren asked.

  Troy nodded.

  “Figures…” the pilot sighed. “Let me recalibrate this sucker. Perhaps if I use a low wave frequency, I can alter the destination of the portal.”

  It took a few moments of Aren tweaking his tech before the cannon kicked on. Nerd joined his side, helping with the project. With a quiet whir, the cannon shot a thin blue beam at the portal. Slowly, the gap shifted, turning in a circle. The beasts that were exiting the portal were severed in half as it reconnected with a different location. After a full revolution, the gateway twisted into a black hole.

  “Okay! Try it now!” Aren hollered as he shut off the beam.

  ‘This had better not send me spiraling through the great dark abyss of the universe….’ Troy gaped at the ominous opening. Giving a shrug, he passed on through.

  He was surrounded by darkness this time. Troy inwardly sighed. He wasn’t on the battlefield; still, once his optics gathered enough data, he realized he was inside the cave system on Ives. Before him was a gathering of Brutes and Stilt-Men. The beasts all turned their attention to the robot, drool seeping between their jagged teeth.

  ‘Um…hello.’ Troy waved a hand.

  Looking to his right, he noticed another portal. There was a second to his left.

  ‘Door number one? Door number two?’ He weighed his options between each hand.

  Number one—to his right. He may as well check that one first. Casually stepping into the portal, Troy nearly slipped over a black rocky ledge. It was hot, fire and magma gurgling far below in the valley. He heard the screams, saw the throne, and threw his arms into the air.

  ‘For the love of….’ He immediately returned to the cave on Ives.

  Taking a couple of steps toward the beasts, he held his arms out toward them.

  ‘How in the hell do you idiots even know where you are going? Do you just stand there and wait and play rock, paper, scissors?!’ The robot expressed itself in loud noises. The creatures merely stared at the bot, their expressions never changing. ‘Ya know what? Screw you guys! Stay right here. Don’t move! When I come back, I’m blowing all your asses to pieces. Stay!’

  Troy eased his way toward the other portal choice. Light emitted from this one as well, but there seemed to be a thumping noise coming from the other side.

  ‘This has to be it.’

  As he stepped through, the world exploded into a circus of noise. Troy looked up. He was directly beneath Sapphire’s tower. Looking to the seat in the middle, he noticed Ivory was not on her perch. A vicious skirmish had unfolded between FIFI and the Colossus. Even Dovian wasn’t in his place. Troy narrowed his eyes, noticing that the City of Fountains looked a little off. Then he realized that one of the pillars had been completely obliterated, and the city was slowly teetering on the edge, threatening to cave-in on itself and smash Team Phoenix and the other soldiers in the mines. He had to work fast.

  ‘Shit! Shit! Shit, shit, shit!’ Troy mentally cursed.

  In front of him was the entire Roman fleet. And directly beside the portal was a container with a pulsating orb of blue–a nuclear reactor that Sapphire undoubtedly was waiting to use on the humans. And next to that was the Elixis Electro-Static Frequency Tuner Euclid had stolen. It couldn’t be any more perfect.

  Sneaking toward the other Roman soldiers, Troy carefully opened the general robot’s back panel and tugged on the wires. There was a slight interruption, causing Troy to halt. His computer was linking with the enemy soldier. This was the key to the entire robotic military. Hacking the system, Troy changed the code. Things that wouldn’t normally make sense seemed natural to the man as his computerization took the lead. The Roman fleet was a legion of demons at this point, the general being the host. All he had to do was override the orders, and he had each vessel in his control. He had very little time, however, as the demons that possessed the Roman soldiers would eventually figure out Troy’s scheme. Whereas he wanted to use the entire fleet to attack Sapphire, the best option was to destroy them all.

  ‘Set to…self-destruct…no!’ Troy stopped. Would the self-destruct function destroy Troy’s body as well? Was he tied to this particular general? If his robotic form did self-destruct, would he make it back to his human body? What would happen to his consciousness?

  An alarming cry echoed over the land. Troy looked up just as a massive explosion took out the center of Sapphire’s tower. He only had a split-second to choose.

  SELF-DESTRUCT?

  YES.

  Light, noise, heat, and shrapnel surrounded Troy’s world.

  Aria only looked back once to see Troy and Aren fly over the edge of the cliff on their hoverbike. With Troy no longer at her side, she didn’t have time to worry about him. Out of sight, out of mind. Her focus could now be centered on the task at hand–getting to Dovian.

  Looking back to the Colossus and FIFI, Aria was shocked to find that Dovian was no longer located on the giant’s shoulder. He was nowhere to be seen.

  “Typical,” Aria hissed.

  She had waited only a breath before she spun around with a cocky grin on her face. Dovian was directly behind her.

  “You’re getting slow in your old age,” she said, taking only a second’s attention away from the Sorcēarian to shoot a nearing beast.

  “And you are getting more perceptive,” he replied, his cold eyes staring down at her. He, too, took a moment to disarm one of her soldiers, pushing an invisible shockwave at the man that sent him flying back several meters. Dovian injured the man, but he did not kill him.

  “Going a little soft?” she asked.

  “Why not have a little fun while fighting?” he asked, finally tearing his gaze away from hers. He smirked, walking to the side, his hand launching separate waves of energy at any human that came too close to him, bullets disintegrating against his force field.

  “Ah, yes. Sorcēarians do enjoy slaughter-fests, don’t they?” Aria snidely remarked.

  Dovian gave her a sideways glance, looking irritated. Lifting one eyebrow, he took in the sight of the battlefield. “This was not at your own request? I’d say humanity indeed enjoys the slaughter. You all are practically sacrificing yourselves for Sapphire’s cause.”

  Aria noticed how many men had fallen in merely minutes. Her lines were looking rather pathetic since the biomechanical androids took over in the fight.

  “Better to fight than to lie down and die,” Aria scoffed. “I’d rather fight for my survival than rot away behind closed doors waiting for my death.” She looked him up and down, and Dovian gaped at the sky and released a harsh sigh in annoyance. “Or waiting for the opportunity to turn my back on everything I’ve ever known for my own selfish benefit.”

  Now that statement grated on Dovian’s nerves.

  “Listen here you little ungrateful twit.” He grabbed her.

  Aria pressed the barrel of her rifle under his chin. Dovian didn’t seem at all impressed by her nerve.

  “There’s nothing you can say that will offend me any more than what you did back there on Ives,�
�� her icy tone crackled. Dovian’s eyes flickered if only for a second.

  He finally lowered his hands, knocking back a Brute’s invisible force that was plummeting their way.

  Aria was livid, remembering all that they had been through and how easy it was for Dovian to shoot Troy right before her eyes before he turned around and did the same to her. But it wasn’t the act of doing it that hurt her; it was the way he had done it, acting as if he was an insane murderer. He even seemed to enjoy it. It was a sickening display.

  Overwhelmed by her anger, she shoved the man, sending him flat on his back. He looked at her in awe, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. How had she mustered the strength to do that to him, he didn’t know. He immediately boiled it down to an armor attribute.

  “You are awful! The most terrible, horrible thing I’ve ever known!” she shouted.

  Now her emotions were a spiraling whirlwind. Ever since she had received her strange powers, her mind had been all over the place. Not just because of her heightened senses, but because of her mood swings. No wonder Dovian was an emotional rollercoaster. Were all Sorcēarians like this?

  “When we first discovered you, I thought you were the key to humanity’s survival! I thought you would be some savior of some kind! Instead, you’re no better than we are! You just have magic powers!” she shouted, emptying her grenade clip into a group of Brawlers. “You’re manic, you’re reckless, you’re thoughtless, and you…you’re mean! You are just a mean old man!”

  Dovian was standing now, watching the woman with interest.

  “Goddamnit, and I slept with you! You stupid bastard!” She gestured toward him with an arm, her voice dripping with dread.

  “Well…now that I know how you feel….” Dovian gave her a lazy stare.

  “Don’t give me your lax attitude! Look around us! Look at this war! You blame this on us? How about the fact that this was a war that began millennia ago?! Long before you and I even existed! You were meant to save us! Instead, you’re allowing our destruction. And you don’t even have the guts to do it yourself! You couldn’t even off Troy and I, which says something.” Aria placed one hand on her hip. “Either you suck at killing humans or you have a reason behind all this.” She waved her hand out toward the chaos surrounding them.

  Dovian sucked air in-between his teeth. “Ah. You see...that’s where we have a bit of an issue.” Dovian continued his pacing, his fidgeting making Aria all the more anxious. Stopping, twirling to face her with his palms together, he gave her a guilty look. “You weren’t supposed to live. I mean, I actually tried to kill you. I didn’t think there was any way around it, but apparently I do suck at killing humans, so you are alive! And you gathered up a big, strong army to fight the enemy! That’s good!”

  Aria glared at him. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? That you really did try to kill us but failed?”

  Dovian scratched his head, not making eye contact with her. “I suppose not, but you’re alive and that’s all that matters, right?”

  Aria stomped toward the man, clutching his robes. “You tried to kill us!!”

  “I didn’t want to,” he muttered.

  “But you did!” she growled.

  “But I failed!”

  “Doesn’t matter! You still tried!”

  Dovian grabbed Aria, holding her against his chest. She struggled against him, and he chuckled deeply, rocking her back and forth. “And how glad I am to see that I failed. I’ve never been so happy to fail at something in my entire life!”

  Aria harshly pushed him again, and he stumbled back a few steps, laughing joyously.

  “You’re crazy! You are bat-shit insane!”

  “And I have no idea how in the heavens you survived, but I am so glad you did!” Lifting his staff, he formed a bubble around the woman, enclosing her in a sphere of energy.

  “What is this, Dovian?” she asked in irritation.

  “Now that I see you are alive, I’m not letting anything happen to you, understand?” Dovian gleefully stated. Swinging his staff suddenly, Aria quickly guarded herself, waiting for him to knock her senseless with it. Instead, she was clipped around the ankle by one of the wings, the staff locking her firmly to the desert floor.

  “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” she yelled, tugging on the staff.

  Dovian poked a finger against her helmet. “That staff will provide you with endless energy to keep you safely contained inside this orb.” Snapping off the second wing of his staff, he morphed it into a large knife.

  “I don’t want to be safely contained inside an orb! I need to be killing monsters and defeating you and Sapphire!” she screamed.

  Dovian walked away from her, using the makeshift knife when necessary to combat the human soldiers that dared attack him. He never once killed a man; he only disarmed or injured them.

  “DOVIAN!” Aria shrieked.

  It didn’t take long before she was surrounded by Sapphire’s demons. The creatures were snarling as they pounded against the force field around her. Aria was beginning to panic. Each fierce impact vibrated the dome. Giant mouths nipped and barked at her, the beings’ hunger rising by the second. As if things couldn’t get any worse, a massive detonation took place behind her. Looking back, Aria caught the sight of an android revving up its blasters to make a second attempt at taking down Aria’s shield. Dovian’s staff or not, Aria did not trust the hold of the sphere around her. Giving a cry, she tugged on the weapon once more.

  “Release, damn it!”

  And the staff released. Aria swung the weapon around, blue light swirling around her. Slamming the pole into the ground with all her might, she activated a violent blue shockwave that detonated outward, sending all of the surrounding beasts in a ten-meter radius into ash. The wave etched toward the android behind her, shattering it to a thousand pieces.

  The thunderous boom that echoed behind Dovian made him freeze. A look of horror crossed his face, and the Sorcēarian spun, eyeing the crater that was now surrounding Aria. She was kneeling, his staff in her hand. The blue light danced around her like a whirlwind. Dovian staggered forward, starting slow before he took off in a mad dash in her direction.

  “No…not possible. Not even remotely possible!” he sputtered.

  He saw it, her hand on the staff. She had used his weapon, and it was impossible. No one else could use his weapon. He forged it only for himself. Not even another Sorcēarian could use it to its full extent. It was bound to him by his DNA. The power was his. It only released its magic at his touch. This was entirely impossible.

  “Aria!” he shouted.

  “You left me there to die you miserable asshole!” she growled.

  “How did you do that?” he quickly asked.

  Aria was taken aback by his question.

  “I grabbed it and pulled really hard! How else?” she quipped.

  “That, that’s impossible!” he stuttered. He looked shocked, amazed, mortified.

  Aria lifted her face shield. “Obviously, it’s not impossible.” Her glaring eyes were glowing like bright-green embers.

  Dovian’s hands slapped against the sides of his face as he came to an abrupt stop. “A-Aria…have you noticed any changes lately with your body?”

  Aria dislodged the weapon from the rocky ground. “Yeah, quite a bit actually…ever since you failed at killing me. In fact, if it weren’t for you somehow passing your powers to me, I wouldn’t have been able to save Troy. He was practically dead.”

  Dovian groaned, spinning in a circle. “No, no…not possible. It doesn’t make sense."

  “You did it!” she cried, not understanding his trepidation on the matter.

  Was it possible? Had he somehow transferred his powers to Aria when he had shot her? There was no way. At least, he wasn’t conscious of it. He had only heard of Sorcēarians passing their life-force into other Sorcēarians. It was how his mother had rescued him and allowed him a healthy life. In order to do something like that, one would need to focus thei
r soul energy on it. If that was what happened, it occurred completely without his knowledge or will, which also meant that his plans had considerably changed.

  Dovian gasped, another explanation coming to mind. Unless it wasn’t by his will that it occurred.

  “Oh, God!” Dovian gasped again. “By the will of the Father.”

  Aria eyed him warily. “What is your deal? Is this a bad thing?” she asked.

  “No…no,” he whispered, trudging toward her. Dovian looked paler than ever, as if it were possible. He clutched the woman, firmly placing his palm against her stomach.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she irritably asked.

  “No, no, no-no-no-no!” He shook his head.

  Now Aria was beginning to feel panicked. “For the love of God, what?!”

  Dovian spun away from her, his hands on his head. Tugging at his hair, he twirled back to face her. With his hair messed in all directions, the man looked like a crazed lunatic–his eyes wide and his expression twisting into a look that was a mix of fear and astonishment. Taking a deep breath, Dovian finally forced out the words he wanted to say.

  “You’re pregnant?!” he shouted.

  Aria shook her head, dumbfounded. “WHAT?!”

  "New Allies"

  Chapter 22

  “What are you talking about?! I’m not pregnant!” Aria’s voice was shrill to Dovian’s ears, yet his face didn’t falter as he looked at the woman with a matching expression of astonishment. She leaned forward and whispered with a hiss, “Am I pregnant?!”

  “How have you not noticed?” Dovian’s voice rose over the booming of the battlefield.

  “I’ve been a bit busy! You know…surviving!” she shouted.