by Gregory Loui
Why? Why did Gore’s heart rage so? Every time Gore stepped into the Magnum Orcus, her soul ignited with the fury of a thousand suns, consuming all rational thoughts as though logic and reason were mere scraps of homework thrown into a bonfire.
Every time…
“Gore! Stop! Let go of your anger! We need to focus!” shouted Bones, the Dakka burping. Through the red tinge of rage, Gore saw the bullets bounce off the Warchief’s chest.
Shaking her head, Gore tried. She tried so hard every single day hide her rage but the rage welled up inside her like a endless spring of poison, tainting every vein of her body, every fiber of her soul. Even if she had managed to succeed once, Gore couldn’t replicate the feat. Not in the throes of the Magnum Orcus, not in the heat of battle.
“Gore!” shouted Debbie as everyone braced for impact.
Snarling, spitting out a mouthful of spit and curses, Gore whipped the wheel to the side, causing the Magnum Orcus to veer right a few degrees. Just enough to miss the Blight-krieg, shredding the side of the massive beast with the elchite spikes. Sparks exploded out in a wave, engulfing the Magnum Orcus, spilling across the window and consuming Gore in a flurry of red lights.
Energy bursting out of her body, Gore cackled.
At the same time, her hand pressed down on the bomb button. Gore smiled and glanced into the rearview mirror as the bombs exploded. And what an explosion. For a single instant, night turned into day, red and orange painting the sky as the ground shook, a shockwave of dust and sand rippling out, sweeping out under the Magnum Orcus.
Surfing on the wave, the Magnum Orcus jumped forward, back rising into the air by a full foot before the car’s wheels crashed back down and dug into the earth.
“FIRST BLOOD!” crowed Gore, shaking her fist high into the air as she spun the Magnum Orcus around and zoomed back towards the Blight-krieg. Then she turned to the back and shouted, “Prepare for a—”
“Don’t you ever jagding do that again,” cursed Debbie as the dwarf clutched her chest and sputtered, “Or at very least give us a little Blighted warning before you decide to jagding attack the jagding Warchief head on!”
“Language,” chuckled Gore, her own heart pounding out of her chest. She glanced back around at the Blight-krieg. “Blight…”
As Gore growled and pressed her foot down onto the accelerator, Debbie sputtered, “What? What are you… shit.”
“Hahaha… there’s a reason, he’s the Blight-damned Warchief,” cackled Bones as the Blight-krieg roared out of the explosion. Unharmed. “There’s a reason why he’s survived half a century of these races. You can’t kill an orc with such paltry explosives.”
“Hahaha! Good!” roared the Warchief as Gore drew up alongside the Blight-krieg. Half a dozen orcs on the roof pulled out Dakkas and aimed the rifles at Gore. Ignoring all else, Gore locked eyes with the Warchief, both pairs of eyes flared red as twin smiles lit up the night. “Good… a worthy challenge at last. The gods will appreciate this clash. Now… LET US FIGHT!”
The Magnum Orcus and Blight-krieg roared and smashed into each other. No technique. No finesse. Just a brawl, a clash of wills. The Blight-krieg won, throwing the Magnum Orcus to the side as gunfire erupted between the two cars. Snarling and whipping the wheel from side to side, Gore dodged the incoming fire, trying for the back of the Blight-krieg, where she could smash the Magnum Orcus’s tusks into the Blight-krieg’s wheel.
But the Blight-krieg wouldn’t let the Magnum Orcus go, charging and smashing into the Magnum Orcus’s side. Gore snarled. The massive Blight-krieg would win every time in an all-out contest of strength.
She needed to use the Magnum Orcus’s speed and maneuverability to her advantage. Gore jammed her finger against the dragon blood button. For a brief moment, maybe half a heartbeat, the Magnum Orcus edged forward. But the Blight-krieg kept glued to the Magnum Orcus and rammed into the Magnum Orcus’s side again, throwing Gore’s head into the wheel. Blight. The older, soul-forged vehicle could match the Magnum Orcus even in sheer speed and maneuverability.
And the gunfire exploding all around Gore didn’t help.
“Bones, can you maybe get on that, please?” demanded Gore as another salvo of bullets whizzed through the window next to her head. One of them grazed her goggles, sending a shower of sparks down across her cheeks. “Jagd! Get those jagders! Now, bitch!”
“As you wish, little sis,” cackled Bones, firing off a six round rapid. Six orcs fell off of the Blight-krieg but more hopped out from the inside of the Blight-krieg to take their places, throwing explosive spears at the Magnum Orcus.
“Shit, they just keep coming,” growled Gore as she glanced at the Warchief, locking eyes once more.
“Hahaha! Is that all you got?” demanded the Warchief, raising his song-hammer high, offering his arms as if to welcome her greatest blow. “I expected so much more from a soul-forged beast! Hahaha! Are you even a true orc?”
Gore growled and jerked out her pistol. She emptied the entire clip at the old bastard.
For once, all bullets hit inside the ten point ring.
And did absolutely nothing.
“Weak!” roared the Warchief, pounding his chest. “MEDIOCRE! How have you even survived in this world? Pathetic!”
Gore’s growl grew as the blood pounded on her eardrums. Kill the bastard. How dare he lord his superiority over her.
“Don’t listen to him, sis!” barked Bones as he reloaded the Dakka. But the other orcs never gave him a chance to aim.
“Shut up. All of you,” hissed Gore as she jabbed the dragon blood button a third time.
Fire flew out around the engine, filling Gore with strength as the Magnum Orcus lunged forward.
Then the Magnum Orcus coughed, the engine sputtering. Gore’s heart grew cold as the core flickered, edging on death.
“Oh shit. No. No. No. No,” cursed Gore as her hands flew across the panel, readjusting the flow of gasoline, trying to coax the Magnum Orcus’s core back to life. Her fingers jabbed the coolant button. Only for a hiss to answer her. “No. No. No. No…”
As more explosive spears ripped apart the earth around Gore, the Magnum Orcus slowed down, movements freezing, the Blight-krieg pulling ahead. Gore cursed and slammed one of the newer buttons, rerouting power from the core to the backup engines. The Magnum Orcus groaned, a small spurt of speed shoving the car forward. But not enough.
Not enough power.
Not enough speed.
Not enough…
Gore shook her head and slapped her face, focusing on solutions. Then her eyes narrowed on the supercharger as her hand paused on the panel. She turned around and barked, “Bones, I need you to go to the front, and blow some coolant and dragon blood into the supercharger. Get the engine going again!”
Her brother blinked and then sputtered, “Um… sis, not the best idea…”
“Damn it!” roared Gore, slamming her fist into the wheel as she whipped the Magnum Orcus to the side, just in time to avoid a salvo of explosive spears. “We’re gonna die if you don’t go onto—”
“I’ll do it!” cried Debbie.
“No! Debbie! What are you doing?” asked Gore as the dwarf climbed to the front of the Magnum Orcus. Debbie opened the container of dragon blood and tilted the container back.
Then Debbie began to drink, taking a swig from both the coolant and dragon blood.
Glowing veins burst out of the dwarf’s neck, bulging and breaking through the skin in hisses of superheated gas. Debbie screamed as Gore howled, “STOP! Debbie, stop! Don’t kill yourself for me!”
Their eyes locked for a moment. Then Debbie’s head disappeared behind the supercharger. A moment later, green fire erupted out of the super-charger, consuming Debbie’s upper body.
“No!” roared Gore as the Magnum Orcus growled back to life, engines rumbling as the wheels screeched on the earth.
The Magnum Orcus started gaining on the Blight-krieg, prompting a roar from the orcs as they redoubled their efforts to annihi
late Gore and her teammates. Gore ignored all of them and focused on the supercharger, on Debbie’s form, her rage forgotten for a moment. Her heart grew cold as the world grew silent, the light falling away. Don’t…
Gore trembled, the road breaking apart in front of her, gasping, “No… you can’t leave me so—”
“I’m all right! Jagd! I’m all right!” cackled Debbie as she lifted her head above the supercharger. She took a deep breath of air before taking another swig of coolant and dragon blood. And then, Debbie bent down to spray the mixture into the supercharger, causing another burst of power to erupt from the engine.
“Hahaha!” crowed Gore, shaking her fist at Debbie. “You magnificent bitch! I knew you could do it! I knew it!”
But the world didn’t let Gore even breath a sigh of relief.
Out of the corner of Gore’s eye, whispers tugged on her thoughts and pulled her attention to the Warchief as the old orc raised a bolt caster.
In that instant, the world crawled to a stop, falling away. All else faded except for the bolt caster gleaming in the moonlight and its target, Debbie, exposed on the front of the Magnum Orcus, coughing and hacking and sacrificing her life for Gore’s. If Gore didn’t do something, Debbie would die. Gore had no doubt. If she didn’t do something, her love would die.
Gore’s heart, body and soul agreed, rushing, blurring into motion.
Cursing, screaming, howling at the world for threatening one of the few things she loved about it, Gore slammed the Magnum Orcus into the Blight-krieg, pouring all her anger into the blow. The two cars crashed together with a thunderous roar. Gore snapped to the side, her hip slamming into the door as the Warchief shouted in surprise. He wobbled, throwing off his aim. Then his eyes narrowed and the Warchief readjusted his aim.
The gun burped, shot going wild, light blinding Gore for a brief moment as ringing filled her ears.
“Jagd! Jagd! Jagd! No! You bastard! Don’t you dare take her from me!” cursed Bones, firing the Dakka while Gore blinked and grabbed at her stomach.
The Warchief screamed for the first time.
Blood filled Gore’s lungs.
But she couldn’t stop.
Even if the Magnum Orcus faltered again.
“Damn it!” roared Gore, slamming her fist against the wheel. Blood spilled out of her tusks and onto the wheel, staining the flower at the center red. She screamed at the core, “Come on! You stupid machine! Come on! Give it everything you’ve got!”
Red tendrils flowed out around the wheel of the Magnum Orcus, surrounding Gore in a whirlwind of energy as spirits leapt out of the earth around her, claws and teeth biting in her skin, forcing her eyes open, forcing her to look forward at the end of the road.
The mountains gleamed in the distance, a lighthouse in the storm of blood and darkness.
Not a metaphorical storm either. Lightning crashed down around the cars as tornadoes ripped across the Blight, blotting out the moons and stars with dust. Sand slashed at Gore’s cheek, clawing at the Magnum Orcus with a million little fingers.
And from within the storm, Gore’s fallen gods and the ghosts of her past called out to her.
Memories flashed before her. Of the earliest days, of when orcs first founded their civilization, striding across the desert and jungles, fighting dragons and other monsters of old. When orcs stood tall and proud atop their pyramids, at the peak of their civilization.
But it was not to last. The elves crossed the Northern Sea in their silver ships. And so began the Conquests as the elves burned their way across the Western Supercontinent. War, horrors worse than even Gore’s nightmares, poisoned the world, consuming the orcs.
Then the final flashes of the Great War ignited the sky as the elves destroyed Gore’s gods, scorching the jungles, turning lush forests into the Blight. And from the ashes, the orcs hobbled forward, chains wrapping around their arms as the elves herded them into slave camps.
Concrete rose up to replace the desert as Gore’s own time approached, orcs crossing the Blight by the thousands into Valerian in hope of a better life. A pregnant orc roared across the desert in the Magnum Orcus. For a moment, the orc turned to face Gore. They bore the same face. Her eyes flashed red. Red that filled Gore’s life as she strode through all twenty years of her life.
In a single moment, the entire history of Gore’s people and her own life rushed before her in the blink of an eye. The injustices they’d suffered at the hand of invaders, oppressors. The wounds that could never heal, breaking her forever. Over five thousand years, in less than a second.
And convalesced into a single soul. A female orc with a face Gore had almost forgotten, voice rumbling like the Magnum Orcus, reached out and caressed Gore’s cheek, whispering wordless wisdom, revealing another side of their history.
Gore’s eyes opened wide at the unbending backs of her ancestors as they strode from the ashes of their world. Orcs’ resilience shone through the dark. The fire that would never die. A flower that bloomed in adversity and radioactive wastes.
A realization dawned upon Gore as the blood gem’s whispers, as her mother’s words faded, leaving Gore to fall back into reality.
It was more than just a clash of steel and gasoline. It was more than two orcs screaming at each other, hormones raging and blood flaring. When Gore sat in the driver seat, when she took the wheel of the Magnum Orcus, she let out all her rage at the world. At orcs and elves alike. At herself. Through the Magnum Orcus, Gore unveiled her heart, screaming out the hidden pain in a roar of gasoline and rumbling tires. Through the power of the car surrounding her, Gore could let go of the shackles surrounding her. She finally let go of her inhibitions.
Staring at the completed puzzle of her mind, Gore blinked.
She had been trying to let go of the rage. But she could not remove a part of herself. Not when the rage was born from within, from the injustices her race had endured before and now. Not when the rage reflected the world in front of Gore, from the horror etched into her heart. Not when that rage was born out of a desire for a better life.
She could never destroy her rage.
She could never destroy her heart.
Just like she could not destroy the orc inside her.
But she could focus the rage, focus her power.
Squeezing the rage close to her anger, letting the power flow through her body, immersing her entire soul in the fires, but following Agnis’s breathing pattern, Gore smiled as the red in her eyes sharpened and mixed with grey.
She knew what she had to do.
Temper fire with ice.
Rage with discipline.
Primal power with thought and reason.
Gore. Herself. Whole.
The Magnum Orcus roared back to full strength, light and heat radiating off the metal beast in waves as she ground against the side of the Blight-krieg.
Her hands flying across the panel as her foot pressed the accelerator down into the floor, Gore glared to the side and locked eyes with the Warchief. The old orc’s eyes went wide. Or at least, the right one opened.
“Gore!” snarled Debbie, looking up from the supercharger and trying to get Gore’s attention, slamming her fist into the roof. “Gore! We’re heading straight for one of the fingers!”
Gore ignored Debbie as she continued glaring at the Warchief. She nodded and pressed the dragon blood button.
“Magnum Orcus,” growled Gore as the car roared one last time, “Close the vents. Get ready to eject all exhaust through the right vents on my mark.”
The beast and soul within rumbled.
“What?” asked Debbie and Bones as one.
“Shut up,” growled Gore as she raised two fingers at the Warchief. She shouted, “How about it? You and me! Finish line! Let’s see who breaks!”
The Warchief blinked in surprise, then cackled and raised his song-hammer high. At the same time, he reached down and yanked his driver out of the Blight-krieg, tossing the hapless orc out. Then he jumped into the driver seat and gripped
the wheel, turning to Gore. Without a word, the Warchief nodded, accepting her challenge.
A mad grin split both the orcs’ faces as they turned towards their fallen gods. To the mountain of bone zooming towards them.
“WITNESS!”
“Um… Gore? Gore!” cried Debbie, voice trembling as she hopped to the back of the Magnum Orcus. Gore shook as an explosive spear whizzed though the air just a few feet away from the Magnum Orcus, exploding and throwing her to the side.
“I got this,” growled Gore as she honed her rage into a razor keen. She jerked the wheel to the side, grinding the Magnum Orcus further into the Blight-krieg’s side until the two metal beasts couldn’t escape the other’s embrace, spikes hooking into the underside of the Blight-krieg.
Just her and the Magnum Orcus.
Gore took a deep breath.
She wouldn’t have it any other way.
Five hundred yards left.
As the bone mountain rushed towards them, the Warboyz rained down explosive spear after explosive spear down at the Magnum Orcus. Each time, Bones shot the spears out of the air while Debbie tossed whatever she could back at the Warboyz.
Four hundred.
Forcing her rage into a small ball in her chest, Gore shook, turning her gaze towards the bone mountain. The blade of gleaming white bore down upon her, engulfing the whole sky above her and the horizon in front. Neither her or the Warchief turned away.
Three.
The Magnum Orcus roared, metal shaking in tune with Gore’s soul, just about to explode.
Two.
Death and her mother glaring at her from beyond the pale, Gore growled, “Eject the exhaust!”
One.
“WITNESS!” roared Gore as she slammed the wheel and whipped it to the side.
Propelled by the pent-up fuel, the pent-up rage, the Magnum Orcus jumped away from the Blight-krieg, spinning across the rocks, sending waves of sand and superheated rock into the air from beneath the wheels. The world crawled in slow motion. Sheets of gold and brown sand washed just outside of Gore’s reach as the Magnum Orcus dodged the bone mountain, the back end of the car whistling a millimeter away from the rocks, a few outstretched rocks smashing apart against the Magnum Orcus’s chassis.