I glanced at Lynn’s fight for a moment. She was keeping one of them at bay by releasing bursts of blue fire into its face. As she did so, she clawed and bit at the other, roaring angrily with each attack.
I turned to the Dragon to my left. Lynn seemed to have the other two handled, but this one was proving to be a bit difficult for the others. I approached as quickly as I could to lend a hand, unsheathing my knife which glowed purple as I held it, and waited for an opening to use my power. One of the teleporters was trying to get a good shot at the Dragon’s horn, but no matter what position he blinked to, he couldn't land a hit. The Dragon seemed to be intent on catching on Olivia, who would appear momentarily, attempt an attack, then retreat back into invisibility.
However, one of these times, she wasn’t fast enough and the Dragon threw a quick uppercut with its claws. It seemed to pierce thin air, and everyone turned their heads when they heard a sharp thud. Then, slowly, Olivia’s body materialized around the claw, hanging limp and lifeless. I froze for a moment, watching in horror as the Dragon cruelly smashed her body against the pavement. It then lowered its head and aimed for another, but before it could strike again, I inhaled sharply and everything around me stopped moving. I ran up to the Dragon, jumped onto its neck, and firmly stabbed the area just beneath its left horn. I released control of time, and as the Demon fell to the ground, I steadfastly held the dagger in place, maintaining balance by using the hilt. When I was sure the beast was dead, I ripped out my weapon, and took a deep breath.
We then turned our attention to Lynn. She had already dispatched of one Dragon by savagely tearing its throat out, but the other was being quite stubborn. I could see a number of scratches on her neck and back, where her scales had been savagely ripped away by her adversaries. Finally, she gave the beast a firm scratch to the face, stunning for it a moment. She used this opening to take the Dragon’s head in her massive jaws and bite it clean off.
She released the Demon’s corpse and growled lightly as she turned to us. We knew it was her, but by some instinct we took a few steps back. Though she was a Demon, her eyes were a light brown instead of black. Her scales glinted in the sunlight, and rather than two horns, she had five, rising like a crown over her head. Her claws were long and curved, not short and crude, and her neck was almost twice as long as a normal Dragon. I didn’t know where she learned to transform like that. Perhaps hours of practice coupled with seeing more than a few live Dragons triggered something in her. Regardless, I was both impressed and grateful.
We relaxed a little when she began to shrink and return to human form. I expected her to be exhausted and weak from her injuries, but all she did was stretch for a moment and blink a few times before looking around.
“Did we really lose that many?” she asked.
The bodies of our fallen comrades lay all around us, including Olivia’s. We’d lost five people. One of the flyers had a broken wing, two other Neogens had severe burns, and quite a few others, though unscathed physically, had sustained more psychological injuries. Swarms and Minotaurs were one thing. But only now did we realize how truly outmatched some of us were against the more elite Dragons. If only we had the rest of the Neogens helping us, perhaps this would’ve turned out differently.
“We need to get the wounded back to Sanctuary,” one Neogen said.
“And the bodies,” another said, voice quivering. “We can’t leave them here.”
“OK,” Micah agreed. “Any volunteers?”
A few raised their hands, and we allowed them to return, making sure they knew we respected their decision. Now, our group consisted of Rachel, Aaron, Cora, Lynn, Isaac, Micah, Raphael, Jared, and myself. We had a wide range of abilities, and though not ideal, we’d have to manage with what we were given.
No one said a word as we entered the plane and strapped in. Mark had aided the Pilot in removing the piece of debris jamming the doors, Micah and Lynn headed up to the cockpit, despite the fact that the plane was mostly going to fly itself. The door closed, and the plane took off without any problems. A few minutes into the flight, the voice spoke again.
Hello, this is your Pilot speaking. We are en route to Dubai with a flight time of seven hours and fifty-two minutes. I have no mission log stored for this destination, please refer to your commanding officer for briefing. You are free to move about the cabin, but in case of turbulence, malfunction, or enemy incursion, please adhere to the instructions given to you by either myself or your superiors. That is all for now.
I looked out of a window as we flew over the shimmering ocean. The waves looked like tiny ripples from up here, and there was no discernible barrier between the sea and the sky. Hypnotized by the blue landscape, I hardly noticed the distortion in the water, a swirling circle expanding and interrupting the flow of the waves. Only when it grew much larger did I finally see it, watching as the water inside the spiral grow darker and darker.
“Um, what is that?” I asked.
The others looked out the windows on my side of the plane. Seeing this from thousands of feet in the air, the disturbance must’ve been huge.
“I’ve read about those,” Cora said anxiously. “I-I think it’s just a whirlpool.”
The moment she finished that sentence, the whirlpool erupted into a massive explosion, sending gallons of water flying into the air. Just then, a gigantic beast with black, reptilian skin emerged from the surface, its colossal body rising up from the depths. It was humanoid from the waist up, but with pincers for hands and scaly pauldrons resting upon its shoulders. It’s head was that of a hammerhead shark; dull, rectangular horns jutted out on either side. From below, powerful, thick tentacles the size of skyscrapers shot out of the water, glistening in the sunlight and spraying thick mists of water as they danced along the ocean surface. It was difficult to judge size from this distance and without a reference point, but my best estimate put the height of its torso at several thousand feet.
Upon reaching the apex of its leap, the monster took in a huge, deep breath, sucking in a tremendous amount of air. The atmosphere suddenly grew quiet as the beast looked up towards the sky. Then, it let out a deep, deafening roar, shattering the silence and releasing a shockwave of sound energy. This formed an army of tsunamis that charged out in every direction. Within seconds, even we felt the power of its thunderous cry, bracing for impact just before a wall of force hit the body of the plane, setting off a number of alarms and alerts.
Turbulence detected. Please remain seated.
I had been frozen in terror for some time now, afraid the monster would literally pull us out of the sky. My fear turned to relief, however, when I realized our altitude kept us at a safe distance from both the Demon’s pincers and tentacles. At least, I assumed this was a Demon and not a sea creature that lived in Earth’s oceans even before the war. The plane eventually stabilized, and as we disappeared into the clouds, the monster receded back into the ocean. The others returned to their seats, where they remained speechless for some time.
“You all saw that too, right?” Rachel asked, breaking the tension.
“A Demon the size of a small city?” I confirmed. “Yeah I saw it.”
“I’ve never heard of something like that before,” Cora said. “Surely someone in ten long years of war must’ve seen it.”
“I’m sure many people saw it,” Lynn said. “But I’m almost certain none of them lived to tell the tale.”
“In any case, it’s not something we have to deal with just yet,” Micah assured us.
“What should we call it?” Isaac asked.
“Yeah, it should have a name!” Raphael concurred.
“Try not to sound too excited,” Cora said.
“How about the Squid-Titan?” Jared suggested in all seriousness.
We stared at him in disappointment.
“The Kraken!” Rachel shouted with an air of presentation in her voice. “My parents told me stories of this ancient sea monster that obliterated ships all across the world. I think it w
as controlled by some kind of god who either wanted to punish bad people or maybe he just liked killing. I’m not sure which.”
“The Kraken,” Aaron said. “It does sound fitting.”
“Do you ever think about how similar Demons are to those in the stories we heard growing up?” I asked.
“You’re right,” Cora said. “Krakens, Dragons, Minotaurs, the others…they all have their origins in mythological tales that started thousands of years ago.”
“Myths can be inspired by truth,” Aaron noted. “But the human mind has a way of warping actual history into made-up fables.”
“So for all we know, the mythical Kraken could’ve started out as nothing more than a giant fish, embellished time and time again by generations of dramatic storytellers,” I suggested.
“What we just saw…” Rachel reminded us. “That’s no embellishment. That’s not a dramatization. That’s real.”
Unable to explain this phenomenon any further, we decided to put our worries on hold for now. We spent the better part of the plane ride resting and dealing with a fair number of burns and scratches. I was concerned that I didn’t really feel anything about those we’d lost. Granted, I didn’t know most of them, but I thought I’d at least be upset about losing Olivia, despite our short time knowing each other. I couldn’t help but wonder if my apathy was beneficial, keeping me from being too emotional in combat situations, or if there was actually something wrong with me.
Aaron walked around with Mark for a while, scanning the plane for any structural issues. Cora tinkered with her shield and Rachel fidgeted with her Orb. Isaac was asleep, and Lynn took bird form, sitting on a beam near the roof of the plane. Micah and Jared took inventory of the supplies on board. There were a few extra guns, boxes of food and ammo, a handful of parachutes, and various maps. By their expressions and detached tone of voice, I could tell they were a little more upset than the rest of us about the outcome of our last battle. I saw the same emotion in Raphael, who was silently cleaning his gun. I went over and sat down next to him.
“Hey, you alright?” I asked calmly.
“Hm? Oh, yeah I’m good,” he said rather nonchalantly.
“So, listen, I wanted to say sorry.”
“Why?”
“Well, all the people we lost. I’m sure you must've known some of them.”
“I…” he seemed conflicted in his emotions. “I knew Olivia. We were very good friends.”
“I-I can’t imagine how it feels to lose someone like that,” I said, despite the fact that I had seen death first hand before.
“The weird thing is…neither can I,” he stopped cleaning, and stared at his weapon.
“What do you mean?”
“It just happened but -” a strange anxiety began to rise up in my chest as he spoke. “I don’t feel sad anymore. I know I should but it’s like…”
“It’s like there’s a voice in your head? Telling you to be sad?”
He turned towards me, eyes wide. “Exactly but…it’s not a real feeling.”
Perhaps for the first time, I was given confirmation that I wasn’t the only Neogen struggling with an emotional numbness. But our moment of sociopathic solidarity was cut short by an announcement from the pilot.
Attention. We are one hour from the destination. Please make any necessary preparations.
“Guys,” Micah called out. “Come take a look at this.”
She took a map of the city she brought from the base, and laid it out on the floor of the cabin. We gathered around and examined our possible entrance routes. We knew the Sanctuary was a glass building near the center of the city, a fair distance to the east from where we’d land. One option was using their underground train system to stealthily enter the city. Another idea was to simply land closer to our destination. But given that this was a plane, not a helicopter, we couldn’t just descend vertically onto some rooftop.
“What if we can?” Rachel wondered. “Me and Lynn can hold up the plane and direct its descent manually. Jared and Cora can help coordinate.”
“You might be right,” Cora said. “If we shut off the engines and enter the city on low power, we would save a lot of time, not to mention it’d probably be safer without traversing through half a city.”
“I don’t know,” Aaron said. “It’s a heavy plane.”
“I could probably do it alone. I asked for help to be safe,” Rachel said confidently.
“I want to know what we’re dealing with first,” Micah said. “Jared, can you scout the area first? Then we’ll make a decision.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He grabbed a flight suit from the wall and slipped it over his clothing. With Rachel’s help, he ripped an opening in the back for his wings. When we were a few minutes from landing, he asked the Pilot to open the bay doors.
Good luck, soldier.
The small area on the floor opened outward, allowing the cold wind to rush into the cabin. Jared threw on a helmet, took a deep breath, and jumped into the opening. He then spread his wings and disappeared into the clouds below. While awaiting his return, we continued to discuss possible courses of action. The Underground was simple enough, but once we emerged in the city, we’d have to fight for our lives. The rooftop approach was safer, but the only issue was getting from that rooftop into the Sanctuary. Alternatively, we had enough parachutes to simply jump out of the plane. However, we would risk landing far apart from one another, and possibly in Demon territory.
While we were deliberating, Cora suddenly shouted, “Open the bay doors! He’s coming back!”
Jared zipped back into the cabin, stumbled onto the floor as the doors closed, shivering and breathing heavily.
“Well? What happened?” I asked.
Jared held up a finger, telling us to wait while he caught his breath.
Prepare for landing.
“Loop around, don’t land yet,” Micah told the Pilot.
Affirmative. Caution. Fuel at 7% capacity.
Then Jared finally spoke. “So…I found the Sanctuary. Giant building, basically a massive, really well-built needle sticking up out of the ground. There’s no rooftop to land on but the surrounding area is clear of any structures…or Demons.”
“That’s good news right?” Chris asked cautiously.
“Well, I was flying over and it was dark but I heard noises…snarling and growling around the nearby buildings. It…it sounded like an army of Demons.”
“Are you sure it isn’t just one really big Demon?” Rachel muttered facetiously.
“What’s keeping them at bay?” Micah asked.
“No idea, they’re swarming, but refusing to go near the Sanctuary.”
“It’s probably another defense mechanism for the Sanctuary,” I said.
“Another? What else do they have?” Micah asked.
“I, uh, had a dream about it,” glancing at Cora.
“And you didn’t think to bring it up?”
“We didn’t know if it was reliable information,” Cora said.
“Doesn’t matter, we know now,” Aaron stepped in. “I say we land as close to this building as possible, and avoid any contact with Demons.”
The others agreed. They must’ve had a pretty big change of heart after our last fight with the Dragons.
“OK, so it’s settled,” Micah said. “We use our powers to land the plane adjacent to the Sanctuary. Then enter the building while avoiding any Demon contact.”
She ordered the Pilot accordingly. We would fly over the city and slowly cut off power to the engines in mid-air. Control would gradually be transferred to Rachel and Lynn. Jared would coordinate the landing, though he wasn’t too pleased to go back outside, and Cora’s job was to connect them telepathically.
After making preparations, we began our descent and the rear door opened. The sky was dark and cloudy, and the wind rushed furiously about the cabin. Jared was the first to jump out, followed by Lynn. We were afraid she might not be able to transform in time, but a few se
conds after she leaped out, we heard a roar, followed by a hard thud on the top of the plane as she held up both wings. The door closed, and Rachel took her position in the center of the cabin.
Micah and Cora sat in the cockpit, ready to help with the landing. Our Pilot AI began to turn down the engine and deploy the wheels. We gradually dropped altitude, and very soon the gray clouds gave way to a completely blacked-out city.
“Everything is in ruins,” Aaron said, looking out of a side the window, eyes glowing blue. “Every street is filled with rubble. Swarms, Sirens, Minotaurs, Dragons, and a handful of Titans. They’ve overrun the city,” he said with disgust.
The rest of us could also see an intense, white glow emanating from a small area near the center of the city. There was some movement around its location, like a cloud of dark smoke circling the area but unable to break some barrier around it. The more I saw, the more I realized how accurate my dream really was.
Slowly but steadily, the engines stopped holding the plane in motion, and the weight of our vessel fell upon Rachel and Lynn. Our elevation declined as they attempted to slow our rate of descent. Eventually, we became fifteen people in a floating metal box. Jared gave directions to Cora, who directed the others telepathically. It was a rough ride, but eventually we reached our landing point. The white glow of the building flooded into the plane as we began our descent onto the rooftop. Lynn was holding it up while Jared directed her, turning the plane as needed.
After several minutes of maneuvering and struggling, we finally set the plane down on the a clear area beside the lake. The second we stepped out into the open, our senses were assaulted by a pungent odor and the nightmarish sounds of a countless Demons hiding in the darkness. There must’ve been thousands of them. I saw the faint shadow of Dragons circling overhead, and I could make out several dozen Titan legs standing in the distance, their upper bodies hidden in the fog and low clouds. The atmosphere was thick and humid, and an ominous wind rushed by. We all rushed to the building, and I saw the tower rise high above and disappear into the clouds. Light poured from every window, and it really did look like a needle rising up out of the ground. The width of the structure gradually waned with elevation, and small platforms were set up on various levels.
The Children of New Earth Page 19