by Will Crudge
I can’t exactly hear what he hears, or even sense what he senses, but I can key in on his conclusions. I realized that’s how I could detect the genders of the, now deceased, soldiers.
Enemies are on the ground, and hints of small-scale skirmishes are filling my senses. We wind and weave through the turns and corridors of the temple. It’s everything I can do to keep up with him. I may run at twice the speed of an Olympic sprinter, but a Zodiac can run as fast as any passenger car.
We come to the end of a hallway. I recognize it as the junction between the main training hall, and the auxiliary room. But he doesn’t make a left, or a right turn. He simply skids to a halts with his massive paw-pads.
I stumble as I try to cut my speed as abruptly as he has, but we two-legged folks are less graceful in that regard. I manage to stop within a few centimeters of his hind quarters, and I look down to see him completely motionless. I can sense that he’s trying to plot out his next move. It seems pretty obvious that he’s deeply concerned about something.
He turns to look at me with his bloodied face. “We’re being overrun. Barnes is dead. Several candidates have been killed or wounded. If we continue this way, then we may share their fate.”
I can feel his heart ache. He was paired with Barnes, and I knew they’d been together for over two centuries. Only his own fortitude is keeping him together… and I was too. His mind begins to meld deeper into mine. But not out of the need for emotional comfort… It was something he senses. Something is concerning him.
That something was inside me. Like a caged animal trying to escape! Suddenly there was a blue glow to everything. My pulse quickens. My adrenaline began to surge. I swivel my head around to try and figure out where the blue glow is coming from, but it keeps moving wherever I look.
The shadows that formed amidst the glowing light made no sense. It was as if they shifted whenever I moved my eyes. What the fuck is this? I ask myself.
“The Rage is churning up within you, Kat.” He says with an ominous tone. He also called me ‘Kat’. He’s never done that before… Ever!
“Primal Rage?” I ask. I know it is. I am in denial. It was no secret that my bloodline is particularly prone to fits of Primal Rage, but it has never emerged within me. Until now, apparently. “Why now? Wh-what’s triggering it?”
“You’re in real combat now. It’s surging up to protect you. Don’t let it out!” He says.
“But how?”
“Stay close to me, and control your breathing. Place your hand on my back.” He says, as if he is trying to talk down a suicide jumper.
I do what I am told, and the blue glowing façade begins to dim. It isn’t gone, but I can feel it sink back a little deeper within me. It is reminiscent of trying to hold your breath against a bad case of hiccups, but on an entirely emotional level… And normally hiccups don’t have the yield of a tactical nuke. #WarMasterProblems.
“I think it’s under control now. I’m good.” I say with a nod. Of course I have no real knowledge about what I am experiencing, but it seemed like the right thing to say.
“Very well.” He nods. “Come! Guild members have landed back in the hangar. We need to link up with them at once!”
We begin to head back towards the direction from whence we had just come from, but Onslaught won’t ever make it there alive.
FIRST BLOOD
Onslaught leads the way, as I run behind him. He seems to be running much slower than before. I’m keeping pace with him with ease. Perhaps, I figured, he’s having mercy on little ole me. But before too much longer, I’ll discover that he’s actually running at top speed… even faster than before.
We weave back through the winding corridors, as we zig through all the zags. The artifact room is just ahead, and then a lone thought hits me. How did those first three soldiers get into the temple?
No sooner did I ask the question, then the truth would materialize. It wasn’t me who asked it. Onslaught did. I was merely responding to his brainwaves, and my mind drew a facsimile of his thought patterns. Weird!
“Those soldiers must have found a breach point nearby, or…” He speaks at first, but I finish his sentence.
“Or they were already here!”
Onslaught slowly turns his head and looks at me. His eyes are wide, and for the first time in the decades I’ve known him, he looks shocked. I can sense his feelings, and I know it is true.
“How did you do that?” He asks with a slight tilt to his head.
“What?” I reply.
“Know exactly what I was thinking, of course.”
“I-I don’t know… Isn’t that what happens when humans and Zodiacs meld?” I say with a nervous shrug. After all, I had no clue.
“No. not even close.”
“Maybe I just had a lucky guess?” I shrug again. It seems like my default thing to do when I’m confused.
“Bullshit! We can sense emotions, share pain, and even detect each other’s intentions… But we can’t read minds!” He scowls at me. Then it hits me like a ton of bricks… The Rage.
“The Rage is filling the gaps! I can feel it responding with our bond. It’s like a mind of its own… I guess it’s, I don’t know… Trying to help?” I say as if I’m grasping at straws for an answer. It was the best explanation I had, in any case.
“That’s a new one for me.” He says as he tilts his head back and glares at me through the slits of his eyelids. I can tell he’s not interrogating me, but merely trying to understand what’s happening to me… And even more so, how to use this – whatever it is – to our advantage.
The whine of a pulse blaster spools up from somewhere behind me. I somehow sense it before Onslaught does. But I don’t have time to think. I Just act.
By the time I heard the impact of the pulse weapon disperse its concussive force, I found my hand already outstretched, and my palm was facing the enemy that fired it. I had no idea what had happened until I saw the enemy soldier freeze in disbelief. Somehow, I had stopped a semi-lethal pulse blast with the palm of my hand… And I didn’t feel a thing.
It is hard to tell what direction the soldier fled towards. I squint my eyes to see, but to no avail. Too much blue light everywhere. Shit!
My rage is coming up to the surface, and I am no longer myself. It’s taking me. It wants control… Or is it me wanting to control it? I can’t tell. The lines are blurry now. I am slowly ceasing to be Katherine. I am now becoming this Rage… this Monster!
I bound after the soldier. I am determined to end him. My body is flooded with a new emotion. An ancient one... Primordial, even. It is lust in its purest form. The ecstasy of giving into true primal power!
“Stop!” Onslaught shouts. I stop out of reflex, but the raging energy inside me is trying to protest. Its pull is as irresistible, as the urge to reproduce. The ultimate itch that has to be scratched.
“Yes, you’re right.” I say, but I strain to make the words ring true. He comes up to my side, and leans his massive dog shoulders into me. The physical contact starts to shunt the rage. It is too strong to be snuffed out altogether, but it is abated for now. I take a deep breath, and release it a moment later.
“He was leading you into a trap, you know?” Onslaught lectured; ever the drill instructor.
“Wow!” I say, as I shake off a shiver that’s creeping up my spine. “I would have recognized that normally. The Rage was overwhelming my faculties!”
“No.” He scoffs. “You’re devoting so much mental effort to control it that you’re shutting down your own good sense! You haven’t been trained how to manage it, so you have no clue.”
“Clue about what?” I ask.
“The secret to controlling the Primal Rage.”
“What is it?” I ask eagerly. But the answer would never come. A huge mech ripped through the bulkhead, and grabbed Onslaught with its massive pincers. I shriek in terror as I stumble backward.
The mighty Zodiac never had time to yelp. Even his bulletproof hide was no match for a thirt
een ton battle mech. The armature retracts back into the gaping hole in the bulkhead that it had created a few seconds earlier. Onslaught’s limp body disappears with it. I instantly realize that I may never see him again.
Then I hear it. It’s the most horrific blood-curdling scream I could ever imagine. The sound seems to manifest streams of magenta-colored energy that filled the corridor. It was both beautiful and terrifying!
I try to gasp, but I can’t. My mouth is already occupied… The screaming, I realize, is coming from me. That’s when the Rage came forth.
And I let it take me with open arms!
SUBLIME VENGEANCE
I am merely a spectator in my own dream. I see everything. Feel everything. And I can do nothing. The rage took me, and I let it permeate my essence. Onslaught was more than my drill instructor. He was a father figure. Family, even. This battle mech would be no more, I decide.
In my normal state, I would be running for my life… and with good reason. Battle mechs were hard to stop, even so by other battle mechs. Many of them are simply drones, but others are ‘piloted’. Something inside me hopes for the latter. Getting revenge on a non-sentient machine is lacking in the satisfaction department. You might as well just burn the chair you bumped your elbow against.
I watch myself jump through the gaping hole in the bulkhead, and I plant my feet in a large conference room of some kind. I can tell from my peripheral vision that the mech had torn through a dozen or more rooms and corridors to make it here. But I can’t see exactly where it had come from. I’m not exactly - in control - of my body at this point. I am at the mercy of the Primal Rage, so I can only see what it lets me see… and for some strange reason… I don’t even care!
The limp body of Onslaught is embedded deep within the mech’s clutches, and it appears to be trying to squeeze his rib cage. But it was failing. The Zodiac’s tank-like physiology wouldn’t allow for it. But alas, somehow the sheer impact of the mech’s grasp has already rendered the mighty creature lifeless.
Oddly enough, I’m no longer traumatized by the site. Time and space slow to a stand-still, and I’m taking it all in. My emotions feel like foreign concepts, and my soul seems completely free from pain or negativity. I’m high on ethereal energies that I can’t even begin to comprehend.
The mech notices my presence, and immediately drops Onslaught’s body onto the deck. It rotates towards me, and I can finally see it in its true form. The massive boxy humanoid structure is only a few centimeters from scraping the ceiling with its head-like superstructure. Its left claw, still covered in Onslaught’s blood, retracts into its armored forearm, and some sort of multi-purpose cannon emerges in its place.
Without a thought, I draw my sword, leap up to its upper torso, and then bury the long blade into its chest cavity. The mech tries to track my movements with the gun arm, but it’s too slow. My feet are planted firmly against its chest, and I engage my entire core to drive the blade downward. I bury it up to the hilt, and I hear a very human scream from within. Human pilot! I realize… Good!
I retract the blade, as I fall backwards onto the deck. My shoulder blades hit first, and then I roll backwards up, and on to my feet. The entire room is alight with shimmering blue and magenta accents. My rage is now risen. I am no longer Katherine… I am primordial... I am everything... I am nothing…
The mech stands still. The whining of hydraulic pumps fell silent. The pilot is no more, and my vengeance is complete. My vengeance!
The thought startles me. I’ve been trained to seek no joy from killing. I’ve been trained to kill, but only to minimize the horrors of a greater conflict. But I don’t care. I suddenly realize that my thoughts are not my own. Or are they? I just don’t know.
Now I have a new problem. I can’t move. The Rage has me. It only wants to wait for the next enemy to manifest. It’s an entity of pure chaos, after all. I can’t sense any rational processes within it. Now I wish Onslaught had taken the time to tell me how to control it. But he is no more.
All I can do is breathe deeply. Focus is the only weapon I have in my mental arsenal. The torrent of energy flows through me like a raging river. My spine pulsates with the power of a thousand stars. I don’t know how I could ever hope to control something this powerful. It’s all consuming… Ever-present... Terrifying!
To my surprise, I begin to move. I have no idea where I’m going, so I open my eyes to see. The Rage is taking me through the artifact room, and towards the hangar. How?
The answer comes in a glimmer of thought. A whisper. It’s the entity that tried to tell me that it was Kaylen. It was somehow guiding the Rage. Guiding me, by extension.
Then I stop. I see figures coming towards me. War Masters! I conclude. Four of them, to be exact. Three men and a woman. Although I can’t see them, I can sense the presence of their paired Zodiacs in tow.
“You there!” One of them calls out as he runs up to where I am standing. “The Rage has taken you! Here…” He takes his hand, and places it on my shoulder. As soon as his hand touches me, I can feel a portion of the Rage begin to channel through him, and his eyes begin to glow. To my astonishment, his eyes glowed green.
The other War Masters run up to me, and they laid hands on me as well. Two sets of glowing blue eyes, and one set of amber colored joined the party. Apparently, I deduced, the glowing energy’s color is determined by the natural eye color of the individual. Blue for blue. Green for green. Amber for brown or hazel. But that’s just a guess. I’m too busy having the Rage shunted from me to think straight.
In a flash, I regain control over my body. The direct physical contact has grounded out the bulk of the energy, and the glowing blue light begins to dim consequently. The Rage is still there, but it’s been contained.
“Thank you!” I say with an exasperated exhale. I catch my breath and look up to see four smiling faces. Their eyes are still glowing slightly, but they appear to be dimmer than mine. I’m wondering if they can harness the intense energy they sapped from me.
“You’re welcome, Candidate!” The first man to touch me says. “I am Vigor, from Unum’s temple. We have no time for formal introductions, however. Guide us towards the enemy!”
I realize that these War Masters are from different clans than my own. Otherwise, they wouldn’t need my help to navigate the temple. I nod in compliance, and then beckon them to follow me.
As I round the first corner, my fist launches out into a flawlessly executed reverse punch, and I find that my feet are planted into a strong forward stance. All without any conscious thought, mind you. I realize I am defaulting to my chosen core martial art. We learn and master many different types, but we all get to choose one as a foundation. I chose Okinawan Karate. More specifically, Goju-Ryu. It translates to ‘hard-soft style’, and contains a blend of hard and soft techniques from a variety of Chinese Kung Fu styles that have been blended with indigenous Okinawan martial arts.
I retract my reverse punch a split second after impact, and I find that I’m gripping something warm and squishy. The sound of metal hitting the deck snaps my senses into reality, and I discovered that I had just punched my fist into an armored chest plate, torn out some poor guy’s beating heart, and am now gripping said heart for all to see. Four sets of dimly glowing eyes are staring me down.
“What?” I ask. They’re looking at me, as if they’d seen a ghost.
“How far into your training are you?” Vigor asks with a slight head tilt.
“Seven decades.” I reply. They all just share puzzled glances for a moment, and then Vigor gestures for me to continue on.
I can’t quite shake the feeling that I’m some kind of circus freak. But I must drive on. I lead them to the main courtyard, and I gasp at the carnage. At least a dozen dead bodies were strewn about. A few were Crimson Agents in their bright red armor, several more were obviously pirates in a haphazard array of combat gear, and three of them were candidates. Not from my class, but from a few classes behind me.
I rush to one of the candidates, and try to feel for a pulse on her neck. Her name is… was… Judith, and she was a kind young lady. Her once silky black hair is now a matted tangle.
“She’s gone, Candidate!” One of the War Master’s shouted at me.
“We can’t help them. We need to keep moving towards our defensive lines!” Vigor added.
I fight back the urge to scream. I wipe my tears, and then begrudgingly comply. I begin to sprint in the direction of shooting. I can feel the concussive pounding of a slug thrower tickle my eardrums. Kyle! I realize.
I can feel him. I try to reach out to Miranda, but I can’t feel her. She’s either too far away, or she’s… No! I scold myself. I can’t let my worries distract me.
I continue to lead on, but I’m stopped dead in my tracks. If you’ve never been struck by a plasma bolt, then I suggest you avoid it...
INTO THE ABYSS
I don’t even flinch. I can feel the pain, sure. But even the intense heat does little to slow my advance. I would never know how the War Masters or Zodiacs reacted from watching me get hit. I never did look back. I see the culprit plain as day.
The pirate wore a hodge-podge of different armored pieces. Some military, some law-enforcement, and some that looked like abandoned sex toys. His scared face didn’t reveal much expression, but I wasn’t concerned about his feelings, was I? Nope. He was only partially exposed with his plasma rifle that is jutting out from the edge of the bulkhead door ahead. He fires again, but either he’s nervous, or the first shot had just been a lucky one, because he misses this time. I don’t bother to try and evade the third shot. Something inside is telling me to ignore it. Just as well, because I barley feel the impact on my mid-section, as I bring my sword down on him. The tip of the blade strikes true, and connects on top of the crown of his head. My slash never slows, as it follows through from skull to groin. He doesn’t have time to scream. He is dead before he hits the floor.