A harsh light appeared causing everyone to go blind. Nathan's pistol discharged.
Present Time
As Sam flew over buildings to get to the Chaos Marine army, he felt air rush past him. He looked left and found Brin flying beside him, matching his wing beats. They were flying in a wide arc, trying to get behind the Chaos Marines. Apollo had ran after Matthew and Lachlan and was attacking the Chaos Marines head on.
"Sam, I think we need to talk once we get back to your base," Brin's voice came through his comms. They were too high up and flying too fast to talk without their comms.
"Who says you're coming back to my base?"
"My base has been under Chaos Marine attacks for awhile and we had to evacuate. I have nowhere to go now, since my team is dead."
"Hey, Brin, don't worry about it. My home is your home," Sam said, giving him a thumbs up as they flew over the army.
Sam dropped his chakrams, which shattered a few Chaos Marines before returning to Sam. The two marines landed near the back of the Chaos Marine army and began chipping away at it from the behind.
"Oy, marine shitbags why don't you fight something that will give you a challenge instead of killing lifeless constructs!" a voice yelled from behind Sam and Brin. They turned to see another Chaos General standing behind them.
"Who are you and why are you fighting for the Chaos Marines?" Sam asked. The Chaos General took of his helmet. Riley's face was underneath.
"You're one of the ones that slaughtered my team!" Brin yelled, clearly angry at the General.
"Wait, Brin!" Sam said putting his arm in front of him. "I saw you die, Riley, and Omega said that he killed you too. How are you still alive?"
"Hahaha … oh, Samuel. I am part of the new Chaos Marines who never die. We may lose a body but our consciousness just gets transferred into another body. We never die, and each time we come back stronger. The new Chaos Marines are like hydras. Oh, and one more thing. Chaos Umbra!" Riley began to transform into a massive black and purple elephant.
"You're not the only one with a beast form, Riley. Volcanic Dragonoid!"
Sam's form began to change as well. He now stood a whole head and a half above Brin.
"Whoa!" Brin exclaimed, seeing Sam as a Dragon.
"It's about to get hot in here!" Sam yelled as he ignited his scales, covering himself in fire.
"Arctic Spear!"
A large spear of ice flew towards them and slammed into the ground between Sam and Riley. A wall of ice erupted out of the found ground and Lachlan came charging over to them.
"Guys, we have some serious trouble. Chaos Demons are streaming out of a portal and they're seriously pushing us back. Everyone's pretty banged up back there," Lachlan said, clearly out of breath.
Sam and Brin looked at each other before heading back to find Apollo and Matthew, who were facing off against hundreds of Chaos Demons and five Chaos Generals, one of which had opened the Chaos Portal.
"Who are these guys?" Sam asked as they approached.
"It's Nathan and his team," Matthew replied.
"You mean the same Nathan from the outpost?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, that's the one, except he has the Chaos Element now. He's the one that opened the portal," Lachlan said.
Sam activated his golden defender in defence mode.
"Let's finish this now."
5: New Friends, Old Allies
Nathan summoned a sword made of Chaos and ran for Sam, who stood his ground with his trident held out in front of him. Matthew, Lachlan, Apollo and Brin were fighting the other Chaos Generals and the demons while Sam dealt with Nathan.
Sam switched into attack mode and threw his chakrams at Nathan. Nathan opened a portal in front of the chakrams and they went through the portal before Nathan closed it. They continued to run toward Sam, who couldn't switch without his chakrams. Nathan reopened the portal and the chakrams came back through, pointed at Sam.
"Arctic winds!"
A cold breeze blew past the chakrams, freezing them solid and causing them to fall beside Sam with a loud clatter. Sam ignited his chakrams and melted the ice before recalling them back to him. They flew back to his hands.
Sam switched into defence mode and charged at Nathan, who opened a portal in front of Sam, causing him to fall through it.
Matthew watched as Sam fell through the Chaos Portal Nathan had created. His attention quickly changed to the Chaos Generals in front of him. They had taken out most of the Chaos Demons and the portal where they had come through had dispersed when Nathan had left the battlefield. Matthew was fighting Alexis, a gun sword user. Matthew himself had his Cerberus armour on.
Matthew's Cerberus armour was a black and silver armour with two hound heads on its hands which contained interchangeable cannons and blades. The third head was on his helmet. The mouth was where Matthew's face was. The heads were black, while the rest of the body was glossy silver.
Alexis swung her sword, aimed at Matthew's head. He ducked under the blade and swung his own at her abdomen. Alexis jumped out of the way and began to look around.
"Guys, hold up!" she yelled to the rest of her team. "Nathan's gone so we don't have to fight anymore." She took off her helmet, revealing long dark brown hair and bright blue eyes.
The rest of Nathan's team stopped fighting and stood facing the marines.
"Where'd Nathan go?" Josh asked.
"He went through the portal after Sam," Matthew replied.
"Well, then. There's no reason we have to fight anymore. Nathan's not here so we don't have to follow his shitty orders," Cassie said as everyone converged, Nathan's marines on one side, Matthew's marines on the other.
"You don't like following Nathan?" Lachlan asked after a long silence.
"No, but he forces us to fight for Chaos because he has our families locked up. He's been blackmailing us ever since Alpha rejected us," Alexis said with her head bowed.
"Nathan sounds like a real dick," Lachlan said, angry at Chaos. First Lachlan's whole faction had been turned into Chaos Marines and now he was forcing others to fight for him. It was cowardice and he needed to be stopped.
Matthew was thinking the same thing. "We'll help you get your families back" he said with passion in his voice. "Hey, where's Brin?"
Omega watched as Theta tried to get Kaylin to use any element, 'trying' being the keyword. Theta hadn't achieved anything in the four or so hours they had been training the young one.
"Come on, boy, channel the power of the elements. If you can't do this in time then Alpha will kill you," Theta said, harshly trying to scare the boy into using his powers.
They were training on the small base's gymnasium, no larger than a hundred square meters in area. Omega walked over to them.
"Theta, let me try and get him to work."
Omega crouched down and put his hand on the eight year old's shoulder.
"Kaylin, we need you to learn how to use your powers. If you don't then the universe will get destroyed and everything will die, including your parents and siblings," Omega said softly.
Something stirred within the boy. He seemed to change from a defenceless boy who couldn't control the wind even by breathing, to a person willing to fight to protect their family. His eyes burned with passion - no, it wasn't passion. His eyes had gone a deep shade of red and yellow and his shoulder began to heat up. Omega quickly pulled his hand away before it became burnt. The hard wooden floors seemed to melt under the boy's feet. He burst into flames, causing Omega to jump back away from him. The boy's clothes became shredded as the fire around him became more intense.
"YOU WILL NOT HURT MY FAMILY!" he shouted, causing the fire to increase in size. His powers seemed to be fuelled by rage.
"Omega, try and get him to calm down and work with us," Theta shouted over the boy's screams.
"Kaylin, listen to me. We're not the ones who are gonna hurt your family. You need to learn to control your powers before you destroy something. Kaylin, can you hear me? KAYLIN!"
Omega was pushed back by a burst of heat that had emerged from Kaylin's now extended palm. He was very angry and wasn't listening to reason. Omega's only choice was to fight. Theta lifted him up. Now they had to try and calm the boy down.
Sam awoke startled. He looked around. He was back at base.
6: Waking Nightmares Part One
Brin swung his hammer at Riley but it passed aimlessly over Riley's head. Riley had his arm out towards Brin and was using the Chaos Element to create nightmares for him. Brin was trying to dispel the nightmares by trying to hit Riley with his hammer but nothing was working. He could hear voices but they all seemed distant.
Brin opened his eyes and found himself standing in an amusement park. He knew this place. It was where he'd been forced to watch his team get slaughtered. Brin immediately became filled with fear and sadness. Riley was going to force him to experience his team getting killed one by one.
Brin walked through the park without thinking, knowing where it would happen but something was drawing him to it. He noticed that no-one saw him. In fact some people walked right through him, which meant that no-one knew he was there and that he couldn't do anything to stop what was about to happen.
He found the Brin from the past walking past one of the white strutted roller coasters. He looked up as he had in the past and watched with fascination as the coaster stormed over the top of him. It had always been a sight that had filled him with joy and made him forget about all the bad stuff that he had gone through. That quickly changed as the sky turned blood red and the Chaos Marines began their attack.
A Chaos Portal opened near him and thousands of Chaos Marines had stormed out of the portal, killing everything and everyone. Brin watched on helplessly as the people - the families who had come here to have fun times away from home - get sliced up and torn apart by the Chaos Marines. He tried to help but he couldn't do anything.
Past Brin ran through Present Brin and into the crowds of innocents and Chaos Marines with his team in tow.
"We must protect the people, they're our first priority. Cameron, George, get over to the other side of the park and help from there. Michael, Lucy, fly ahead and take them out from the air. Scotty, you're with me. We fight from here and work our way around. Everyone, we must drive these heathens out of our home. Everyone meet up at the front gate and don't let up!" past Brin yelled to his team, who separated and began their attack on the Chaos Marines.
Brin watched as two of his team passed right through him and began to take out any marines they found. Brin decided to follow his past self and watch as past him couldn't save anyone.
"It sucks, doesn't it?" Riley asked, appearing next to him. Brin tried to tackle him but he passed right through Riley.
"I am to you what you are to them. Except I'm in the present with you and we can communicate," Riley explained as Brin picked himself off the ground.
"Why would you do this? How could you make me watch my only friends get killed by you monsters?" Brin asked as tears began to stream down his face.
"The Chaos Marines are not the monsters in this war. You beings of light are the ones who won't accept us and now we are revolting. We're the ones trying to rebalance the scales of light and dark. All you light beings are doing is denying us a happy life in darkness. IT IS YOU WHO ARE THE MONSTERS AND THE CHAOS MARINES ARE THE ONES WHO WILL BRING ORDER AND BALANCE BACK INTO THIS UNIVERSE!" Riley yelled, seeing his marines kill thousands of innocent people.
Riley walked off and Brin followed. There was no real reason for him to follow Riley but he knew he had to. They walked to where Brin's team had begun to fall. Brin saw Nathan walking past other marines who had come to fight. Nathan's team was executing them. Time seemed to have sped up as Brin walked past all of his team getting killed - all but four, including him. They were all strung up together.
Nathan killed the first two and then walked right past Brin and went on to his second in command, Cameron. Nathan readied the pistol but a harsh light had engulfed the area. Apollo and Omega appeared and began to take down the Chaos Marines. Omega created Earthen Constructs while Apollo helped Past Brin and Cameron escape. As they were about to run, Past Brin spotted Past Riley creating a portal and stepping though it. Past Brin had followed him and that was where he had found Sam and some of his team.
Apollo took Cameron somewhere and then headed to where Past Brin was. Present Brin had to stand there and watch Omega take down thousands of Chaos Marines by himself. Nathan and his team had left right after Apollo and Omega had showed up.
"How would like to see your team die all over again?" Present Riley asked, turning to face Present Brin.
"Y'know what Riley? I really don't care how many times you force me to see my team die. I have a new team now and they're the ones who will take down Chaos and end this stupid war. And I'm gonna be a part of it. I don't care how many times you keep coming back from death, Matthew and I will kill you as many times as it takes FOR YOU TO REALISE THAT COMING BACK ALIVE WILL JUST RESULT IN YOU DYING AND THAT MAYBE YOU SHOULD STAY DEAD!"
He began to scream and the nightmare began to fade. Brin found himself standing right in front of Riley. Riley was kneeling in the ground with his hands on the side of his head, clearly in pain.
"Let me put you out of your misery," Brin whispered before bringing his hammer up and slamming it down, with as much force as he could muster, onto Riley's head, caving in his skull.
"Maybe you'll stay dead this time."
7: Waking Nightmares Part Two
Sam sat up in the med bay bed, his mind racing while trying to figure out what had happened. Everyone was franticly running around. There was clearly something going on at the base.
"Do you know why I brought you here?" Nathan asked as he appeared next to Sam, who didn't seem angry. He didn't try to hurt Nathan because he knew what was going on.
Medics were hurrying around, dragging in damaged marines. They were walking right through Sam and Nathan.
"If you're trying to get me to watch one of my team die then I'm sorry to disappoint you but none of my team has died at the base," Sam replied, looking around.
"Not yet anyway," Nathan said with a sadistic smile on his face.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"We're not in the past or the present. This the future and today is the day that Chain Boy dies."
"Chain Boy. Matthew!"
"Yep, that's the one. Follow me if want to watch it. Actually I'm gonna make you watch it."
Nathan clicked his fingers and they were transported to the General's throne room.
It was dark and the only light streamed through a broken window. Matthew was kneeling with a strange armour on in front of a being in a shiny metallic silver armour. Sam saw his future self lying on the ground next to another marine who he didn't know. The being in silver armour brought his sword up and swung it down at Matthew. Another marine blinked in front of the sword and blocked it with his own blade.
"Thanks," Matthew said, breathing heavily.
"No prob. Is there any way we can defeat him?"
"You could try to fuse with Sam again. Look out!"
Matthew pushed the marine out of the way as the being in the silver armour brought his sword back down. The sword embedded itself deep within Matthew's shoulder. Matthew collapsed, dead.
"If this is the future then I can change it. I can make it so this will never happen," Sam said.
"The future is not so easily changed Sam. This will happen, no matter what you do. On this day a few years from now, Matthew will die in front of your very eyes and you can't do anything to stop it."
"Why did you think this would affect me?"
"Because he's your best friend."
"And? I've seen two of my best friends die before. Death is nothing new to me."
"How about I make you watch them die again then? Will that instil fear in you?"
"Probably not. You can try though."
Nathan clicked his fingers and the scenery changed
once more. Now they were standing in the school courtyard, where Peter had died. Sam watched on as Chaos shoved his claws through Peter's abdomen. Sam didn't seemed phased. Nathan began to feel frustration at the lack of response.
"I'm getting angry at you," Nathan yelled. He opened another portal behind Sam and tackled him through it.
Omega dodged a punch thrown by Kaylin but he could feel the heat from the fire encased fist. Theta was trying to counter Kaylin's fire attacks but Kaylin seemed to be more powerful then both of them. The best Theta could do was eliminate a few sparks from the attacks. She was now using the ice element to try and put out the fire but the fires were too strong and were melting the ice before anything could happen.
"Omega, we need to calm him down! Try encasing his fists in Earth!" Theta yelled over Kaylin's loud screams.
Omega used the earth. He created pillars out of the wooden floor of the gymnasium, which wrapped around Kaylin's hands, snuffing out the fire. Kaylin began using the earth to his advantage. His eyes had gone a deep shade of brown and he had changed to an earth elemental.
"I'm useless now, Theta. He's gone earthen and it's up to you unless you can force him to change elements again," Omega yelled, jumping out of the way of the pillars of earth Kaylin was creating. The floorboards of the gym were getting shredded by the earthen pillars and there was no way to repair the damage without rebuilding the whole facility.
Omega tried to walk back to Theta but Kaylin created a small jut in the ground, causing Omega to topple over. Kaylin walked over to him and created spears of earth which floated above his outstretched hand. Kaylin was about to bring his hand down, seeing the spears of earth and piercing Omega's body, when Bravo burst through another hole in the wall with an ice-encased fist, charging straight for Kaylin. Bravo smashed his fist right into Kaylin's jaw, sending him sprawling across the broken floor and knocking him out cold.
Bravo and Theta helped Omega up when Alpha walked in.
The Chaos Saga Page 17