by James Somers
Someone jumped at him, it was an Agonotti. Tiet reacted quickly, bursting away from the flight module as the Agonotti sliced into it with a broadsword composed of his own molecules. He dropped the remaining distance to the valley floor and pulled his blade, igniting it as he touched down. The wind was blowing furiously through the valley and lightning was flashing all around. He wondered if a vortex might form and tear them all away from the ground, hurling them into oblivion.
The symbytes were beginning to press the rebel soldiers. Tiet could see one at the forefront of the fray; it had to be Lucin himself. He stood out from the others as the leader. Lucin was enveloped in a black as midnight skin of morphing exoskeleton. He was tearing furiously into the rebel ranks, pushing his advance further into the valley.
Tiet allowed the fury welling inside him to sweep him away, he was charging toward the mastermind of all of this death and destruction. He could not think of himself as merely a man taking up combat with a Mithri. He had to trust that Elithias was going to fight the battle for him. He would be an instrument in the hand of Elithias. The madness of this war had to end and he intended to end it now.
☼
KALE was backed into an alcove of one of the larger rebel freighters. Its landing gear had been torn away and it lay on its side. Kale had Juli tucked away just inside of the vessel while he, Jael, Merab and other rebels taking cover there fought off the onslaught as best they could. Many rebels had died already and the symbyte troops had bolstered the power of the Agonotti. There were thousands against the dwindling ranks of the rebels. Kale had spotted three aerial fighters strafing the advancing human legions, but they had been blown out of the sky. He felt as though his father was still living and that the king was somewhere on the battlefield, but he couldn’t see him.
Most of the rebel ships were crippled beyond the ability to fly. They were their only defense against the advancing enemy forces now emboldened by laser weapons that the human army was wielding along side of the Agonotti. The lightning producing storm clouds hovering ominously above the valley had turned the scene into a grisly horror show and for the first time since coming to the planet, Kale lost hope of winning the war.
Then he remembered the words Aija the prophet had left him with, “the arm of the flesh will fail, but when hope seems gone, pray.”
Kale stopped firing his pulse rifle. He looked at the battle raging all around them in the valley. The rebels were nearly surrounded by the enemy forces and it would only be a matter of time before Lucin’s army and the Agonotti moved in and completely annihilated them. Kale’s father was nowhere to be seen. From where Kale was, at the freighter with Jael, Merab and Juli, he couldn’t see any of their team members. He couldn’t think of any better example of the arm of the flesh failing than this situation—they were all on the verge of being killed and hope certainly appeared to be gone. When that happened, Aija had said to pray and from all that Kale could perceive, there wasn’t anything else left to do.
Kale dropped his pulse rifle on the ground and fell to his knees next to it. Jael and Merab were watching, bewildered by the young prince’s actions.
“Kale, what are you doing?!” cried out Merab.
Kale didn’t answer. He was concentrating on forgetting the slaughter around him in order to pray unto Elithias. He said, “Elithias in Mithrium. We are but men and we haven’t the strength to defeat this enemy. We know that you can do all things and your Logostus promises that the battle will be yours today. These Mithrial sons are mere insects compared to your glorious power and I beg you to reveal yourself. I pray only that your will would be done and your name glorified above your enemies this day.”
Kale remained on his knees in prayer as laser fire blazed all around him. The enemy continued their press, but something else was beginning to happen.
☼
LUCIN continued his charge across the Valley of Sayir. The rebels were mostly contained around the area where they had landed their transport ships. Many of the vessels had sustained irreparable damage and some were on fire. The landing zone had become a loosely formed fortress from which the rebels were able to fire from cover. Lucin was sending his troops along with the Agonotti to surround the area so they could press towards it from every side. It would only be a matter of time before all of the rebels were killed. There were still groups of rebels intermingled among his forces on the open battlefield, but they had even less chance of survival.
The storm was all wind and lightning and Lucin was finding himself more drawn to the happenings in the sky. His senses were tingling with a feeling of familiarity that he could not quite place. Lucin scanned the other side of the valley as it began to ascend up the mountain. He saw the ship that the Barudii had used to escape to this planet from Kosiva. From his time spent within the Barudii prince, Kale Soone, he remembered that the ship had transgate technology on board. Lucin decided that it would be a valuable asset for his conquest of Demigoth once this campaign was complete.
The ship was far enough away to have been spared a part in the actual fighting. He noticed that it appeared to be crippled and the ship was presently listing to one side. It didn’t look flight-worthy, but he could still have the transgate components stripped out of it. Just beyond the Barudii’s crippled ship, in his line of sight, he noticed something else. It was a man standing some distance beyond the ship on a ridge that intersected the base of the mountain and trailed all the way across this face of Mt. Sayir.
The man did not look like a warrior. He was dressed in a tattered robe and his hair appeared gray. The man reminded Lucin of men of long ago; in particular of many prophets of Elithias he had killed over millennia. A staff was in the old man’s hands and Lucin couldn’t take his eyes off of him. Even from his great distance away, Lucin could see him raise the staff into the air and then bring the lower end to the ground again in a striking gesture. It was then that he saw the others.
Even with the eyes of his human host, Lucin could not have mistaken the beings that were appearing all across the ridge before the mountain. These beings were his former brothers, the Mithri—the mighty host of Elithias. Fear struck at Lucin’s dark soul while he watched chariots of fire leaping forth from the mountain ridge as seemingly hundreds rode through the air descending toward the valley floor and the battle being fought there. The lightning began to fall, like fire from Mithrium, into Lucin’s ground forces, especially the Agonotti. The lightning branched into death-filled fingers that destroyed the Agonotti forms with every touch.
This was it, thought Lucin. The Eternal One had tricked him into coming into this valley to destroy his army and cast him into the pit until the great Day of Judgment. Lucin panicked and ran for his life from the approaching horde of Mithri. Vock stepped into his path, holding him and asking, “My lord, where are you going?!”
“They’re here, I must go!!”
“Who is here?!”
“Our brothers, from Mithrium! Don’t you see?!” screamed Lucin with his finger pointing into the air toward Mt. Sayir.
But Vock did not. He said, “I see nothing!”
Lucin looked at Vock and then back to toward the mountain—the chariots were still coming.
“Stay if you like, but Elithias will not take me so easily!” shouted Lucin and he pulled away from Vock, running around the other side of the rebel landing zone in an arc that would ultimately bring him back toward the base of the mountain.
Vock followed the fleeing form of his master in bewilderment. Has he gone mad? Vock trained his sight back on the area that Lucin had been pointing to. His Agonotti were being impeded by the sudden ferocity of the weather. It was too coincidental. Lucin had to be right. Vock noticed an invisible wave that was sweeping into the valley from the western side, before the mountain. The human soldiers were collapsing and his Agonotti were bursting into their molecular forms and disappearing altogether, but he could not see any attackers. Vock turned to run as the invisible wave came closer affecting everything in its path. For a
moment he thought, I can vaporize my form and escape, but a flash erupted in his path and for a fleeting fraction of a second Vock could see the terrible, bright form of one of his former Mithrial brothers in the way before him. The strike, invisible to all others, disintegrated his physical form completely and sent his dark soul to its imprisonment within the bottomless pit to await the final dreadful judgment of the last days.
☼
TIET had almost reached the leader of the symbyte army. His blade had cut down many of Lucin’s human slaves along the way and a few of the Agonotti as well. The Mithrial-man had taken a strange course though and he was now fleeing on foot away from his command position. Had the dark lord himself suddenly become a coward? Tiet might have entertained that thought for longer had he not seen where the Mithrial man’s current trek was carrying him. The Equinox!!
Tiet’s ship was lying askew across the valley floor nearly a half mile away from the main fighting and Lucin’s black clad form was running right for it. Once there, he would find Mirah and the girl, Ramah, with Emil protecting them—Lucin would surely kill them all.
Tiet broke into a sprint, full of panic. He felt out of breath before he had taken five steps. The thought of losing his wife and the others gripped him in a strangling hold that both pushed him onward and sapped his last ounces of strength, all at once. Tiet evaded the rest of the fighting altogether, sensing a peace about his son that was uncommon—Kale was safe, but Mirah and those aboard the Equinox were not. He was pouring every last ounce of strength into his stride, but Lucin was so far ahead of him. Tiet’s former injuries were sending out pain signals that he was trying to ignore, but his torso felt like it was on fire. He tapped his com-link located on the breast of his uniform trying to hail the ship. Static. Tiet kept pressing the com-link hoping to hear the beep that sounded when a connection was established. He had to warn them. He had to tell them that the Wicked one himself was coming.
☼
EMIL was standing at the bridge window watching the battle raging in the valley a half mile away. He wanted desperately to be there fighting along side his father and Kale, his best friend. But the king’s order was firm in his mind. He was charged with protecting Mirah and Ramah. There was no telling what would happen if he wasn’t here to see to their safety.
The storm clouds hanging over the valley were obscuring the sunlight and making it difficult for him to make out what was going on. The laser trails from pulse weapon’s fire was the most visible thing in the valley. A sense of foreboding suddenly invaded his consciousness, sending a chill over his body. The flashing of lightning revealed a dark figure approaching the ship—the sense of foreboding was forced out of Emil’s mind by the threat of imminent danger. This was what he had been left at the ship for—he had sworn his life for the safety of the king’s wife and for Ramah. He had a job to do.
Emil tapped the intercom button and said, “Doctor K’ore, someone is approaching the ship. I’m locking everything down as I head outside. Don’t come out for any reason.”
“I understand,” said Mirah’s voice over the speaker.
In the background Emil heard Ramah’s voice saying, “Be careful, Emil!”
“Yes, Emil, please be careful,” added Mirah.
“I’ll do my best, ma’am,” and he switched off the intercom.
TWENTY-TWO
LUCIN approached the heavily damaged vessel that housed the transgate technology he would use to escape the planet. He could see light coming through the cockpit windows twenty feet above him. The main hatch to the side of the cockpit was closed as well as the loading ramp entrance. Lucin removed a Barudii blade from the sheath on his back and ignited its molecular dispersion field, intending to cut through the hull if need be. Despite the storm noise and the sounds of battle in the valley behind him, he heard the whisper of something coming through the air at him.
Lucin dodged left of an incoming spicor disc and just managed to catch another already in flight with his ignited blade, nullifying the spicor’s charge. He looked to the top of the bridge section of the ship and saw a dark-skinned youth leaping away from the hull surface toward him. The young man said nothing. He quickly linked two kemstick hilts, end to end, and ignited the weapons forming a staff.
“Step aside, boy. I don’t have time to toy with you,” threatened Lucin.
The young man remained silent, but he began to cautiously close the distance between them. Lucin struck at the boy furiously with his blade, using multiple strikes to try and penetrate his defense, but to no avail. The young man quickly mounted a counter-offensive with the dual blades of his kemstaff, incorporating complex strikes and spins, but he was unable to land the killer blow.
Lucin thought, I don’t have time for this. He was waiting for just the right moment and then it came. There was a fraction of a second where the dual hilt became exposed and Lucin took quick advantage of it, striking the young man’s weapon and nearly severing his left hand in the process. One of the hilts fell away in two pieces as Lucin simultaneously knocked the other out of his path of attack and brought a powerful kick to the boy’s head. He reeled backwards, dropping the functioning kemstick, as he tried to keep from falling to the ground.
Once he had the advantage, Lucin was relentless with his follow-up. He swung his weapon toward the boy as he stumbled backwards, but the youth was more resourceful than expected. The boy ducked below Lucin’s weapon and moved in towards the body of the Mithri-man, striking at his knee, face and hands with enough force to disarm him.
His weapon fell from his hand, but Lucin went for the youth, catching the boy by his uniform collar with one hand and smashing fore and backhands into the sides of his young, dark face. Noise from the valley caught Lucin’s attention again. He could still see the chariots of the Almighty charging through his thousands of human soldiers and destroying the physical bodies of his Agonotti brethren that were intermingled among them. I’ve got to escape, now!
Lucin tossed the battered youth away into the dirt behind him, focusing once again on getting inside of the Barudii’s ship and the transgate portal within it.
“Lucin!!”
The Mithrial-man turned to find the Barudii king running at him with an ignited blade in his hands ready to strike. Lucin summoned even more of the power that had been returning to him and with a thought, he commanded the topsoil to erupt upward between himself and Tiet Soone. The wall of soil was suddenly penetrated by the spinning blade of the Barudii king. Lucin evaded the unexpected throw and the blade sank into the hull of the ship behind him. Tiet penetrated the veil of dirt, following just behind the thrown sword—he held a kemstick in each hand. Lucin was quick to counter Tiet’s attack, grabbing both hands in his own—they stood face to face in a struggle of pure brute force. Tiet was pressing, teeth gritted, against the strength of the Mithrial-man, but Lucin was grinning wildly at his human opponent.
Lucin began to bait his opponent and said, “So, you know who I am?”
“I know you’re going to burn in a lake of fire for all eternity,” countered Tiet.
The truth of his words made Lucin boil with fury. Tiet could feel the darkness closing in around him and the press of Lucin’s ominous energies crushing in upon his mental defenses. Tiet was losing ground by the millisecond.
Tiet whispered, “Lord Elithias, give me strength.”
“You’re going to meet Him today,” threatened Lucin.
Tiet looked up and caught sight of Mirah’s horrified expression as she gazed down at them through one of the bridge windows. And then, his strength was gone—Tiet had pushed against the Mithrial-man with every last ounce of energy he could muster and it was not enough.
Lucin sensed the change in his opponent and blasted the Barudii king with such a furious kinetic burst that it shattered the windows on the ship’s bridge and propelled Tiet’s body thirty feet away. He landed in a bloody heap and did not move.
Lucin looked back up toward the bridge and fixed his gaze upon Mirah. She could
not scream; could not breathe. The dark Mithri from her nightmare was gazing beyond her physical body into her very soul and she was terrified. Mirah pulled away from Lucin’s villainous smile and stumbled backward. She found the pulse rifle she had retrieved from the ship’s small armory, laying on a control panel. Mirah’s hands were shaking terribly as she fumbled with the safety release.
Lucin appeared in the space where the bridge windows had been. He brushed through the loose fragments of transparisteel and stepped down to the floor over the flight control panels. Mirah managed to release the safety and heard the brief whine of the gun’s charging system. She raised the weapon and fired as he approached, but the black armor covering his body absorbed the shot and he was suddenly upon her, knocking the weapon out of her hand. Lucin snatched her up by the throat, lifting her small frame completely off of the floor. Mirah thrashed in his arms like a fish in a net. She felt the tracheal cartilage crushing under the man’s vice-like grip. The loss of oxygen took her strength and her consciousness.
Lucin tossed the woman’s body away like a rag doll and headed down the main corridor to find the transgate mechanism. He had to leave the planet before the chariots of Elithias found him.
☼
KALE could not believe the scene playing out before his mortal eyes. At least a hundred chariots of bright light were forging their way through the enemy army of symbyte controlled humans and the Agonotti. The chariots were pulled by bright, fiery leore, driven by Mithri and fire trailed away from the hooves of the leore and the wheels of the chariots. Everywhere they rode through the enemy army, the human soldiers collapsed unconscious and the Agonotti’s physical forms disintegrated in violent disruptions of matter and light.