by Charles Rye
The Destroyers all let out an eerie chorus of howls as thunder rumbled across the sky.
Loss
Aurelia sat near the edge of the hangar door as she watched the pouring rain dance across the dark tarmac.
Norenia appeared and sat down beside Aurelia, causing Aurelia to glance sideways at her.
"Oh my God, are you okay?" She asked noticing a bloodstain on Norenia's shirtsleeve.
"Oh, that's nothing‚ Just a small scratch mark from Eros," Norenia replied calmly, smiling softly.
"He got a little too excited when Koriphus tried to play wrestle with him, and he decided to pounce on me," Norenia explained with a shrug.
"I'm glad you're okay, and that it was just an accident,"
"Why aren't you inside with the others?" Caliphar' voice came from behind Aurelia, making her and Norenia turn around to look up at him.
"I was just getting some fresh air," Aurelia answered as she stood up.
Zxeron suddenly came running up the stairs and across the hangar with Eros on his tail.
Aurelia, Norenia and Caliphar watched the two Destroyers run outside to the tarmac.
"Where the hell are they going?" Norenia questioned aloud.
Aurelia ran out onto the wet tarmac, following Zxeron and Eros.
"Might as well follow her!" Norenia called back to Caliphar as she ran out after Aurelia.
With a heavy sigh, Caliphar grabbed his gun before chasing after them.
Two very distinctive howls echoed in the darkness, sounding distant.
"What in the world brought them out here in this god-awful weather?" Aurelia spoke, holding her arm up to keep the pouring rain out of her eyes.
"Maybe they like it," Norenia suggested approaching Aurelia, her hand over her eyes to block the rain.
Caliphar caught up with them near the far end of the tarmac, not bothering to keep the rain out of his eyes.
"You two alright?"
"Yeah, we're fine. Just waiting to see what they're doing," Aurelia answered without looking back at Caliphar.
Growling and whimpering echoed across the tarmac as lightning lit up the airbase, outlining dark shapes in the distance.
"There they are!" Norenia shouted.
Aurelia swung out her arm and covered Norenia's mouth with her hand, signaling for her to keep quiet by putting her other finger up to her lips.
"Should we try seeing what has their attention?" Aurelia asked glancing over her shoulder at Caliphar, keeping her hand over Norenia's mouth.
"I'll check it out, you stay here and keep safe," He replied as he walked past her and Norenia.
Caliphar marched across the tarmac, holding his gun in front of him with his finger on the trigger.
His ears were raised, listening to every tiny sound around him, from the rain hitting the tarmac to the distant sound of growling coming from the back of the base.
The growling grew louder as Caliphar found himself approaching Zxeron and Eros, their backs to him as he cautiously stepped closer.
As he got near Zxeron, he was finally able to see that he and Eros had surrounded a Destroyer that seemed immensely larger than the both of them, spikes protruding from its back that seemed to be moving up and down as it growled and snapped at them.
"Shit‚" He breathed at the sight of the larger Destroyer, chills shooting down his spine.
Eros glanced back over his left shoulder and locked eyes with Caliphar, as if trying to tell him mentally to run as far away as possible.
Zxeron on the other hand kept his gaze locked with the intruding Destroyer to show he wasn't one to back down.
Caliphar began to slowly back away, being as quiet as he possibly could while silently praying he wouldn't attract attention to himself.
The Destroyer broke eye contact with Zxeron and spotted Caliphar, suddenly leaping over Zxeron and landing directly on top of Caliphar, forcefully knocking him backwards against the wet tarmac.
Caliphar stared up into the creature's black eyes, feeling the pressure of its powerful paws keeping him pinned against the ground, its razor sharp jaws inches from his face.
He could hear Zxeron and Eros on either side of the Destroyer on top of him, growling angrily at it but the growling sounded distant even though they were only a foot or so from him.
Unable to maneuver from its grasp to use his gun, Caliphar felt completely trapped.
An intense and sudden pain surged through his entire body as he watched the Destroyer drag its claws across the right side of his face, screaming loudly in agony as one of the claws scratched at his eye.
He could feel the warm wetness of blood dripping down his cheek before mixing with the rainwater on the tarmac beneath him.
Eros growled loudly as possible as he pounced at the Destroyer pinning Caliphar down, slamming its body against a nearby Jeep.
He clamped his jaws around its neck, digging his fangs into the flesh and muscles as a satisfying cracking sound came from the bones snapping.
Having heard screaming, Aurelia and Norenia came running towards the direction they thought it had come from when they unexpectedly saw the sight of Caliphar lying on the ground, blood dripping down the right side of his face.
"Aurelia‚" Norenia spoke so quietly it was almost a whisper as she pointed out the Destroyers.
Aurelia forced herself to look up from the sight of Caliphar to see Norenia pointing at Eros and Zxeron ripping their claws into the body of a third Destroyer, blood pooling around their feet.
"Let them rip its flesh from its bones‚ Better them to kill it than me right now for what it did," Aurelia said darkly, watching Zxeron and Eros with an almost sadistic grin.
She turned back to Caliphar and got down on her knees beside him, finding herself unable to look up at his face as she reached up to gently cup her hand against his left cheek.
Caliphar' eyes were closed, but feeling the warmth against his cheek, he knew he was safe and pressed into the hand caressing him.
"Go get the others; he needs help before he loses his eye‚" Aurelia told Norenia, her voice sounding distant and cracked.
Without a reply, Norenia ran off as quickly as she could towards the hangar to get help.
"I don't know if you can hear me or even understand what I'm saying, but I'm here and not leaving your side,"
Caliphar heard Aurelia's voice and understood it was her hand on his cheek, he nuzzled into it to let her know he was still half way conscious.
"I hurt‚" He managed to reply, coughing blood out of his mouth.
Aurelia looked up at him and felt hot tears stinging her eyes.
"I'll make the pain go away,"
She leaned over him and carefully pressed a kiss against his left cheek.
Moments later, Aurelia watched as Norenia came running back with Koriphus, Sif, Vorenzar and Royena running behind her.
They rushed to Caliphar' side and all kneeled down around him.
Sif and Royena began cleaning up all the blood from his face; Royena cleaned his cheek while Sif tended to his eye.
"He's a tough son of a bitch, this definitely won't hold him back," Koriphus spoke as Aurelia felt his hand on her shoulder.
She glanced up at him and smiled faintly.
"We'll find out who sent that Destroyer here and rip the poor bastard limb from limb," He added with a devilish grin, winking at her.
"Deal?"
Aurelia nodded and smiled at him.
"Let's get him back inside, there's a room we can set up as a medical bay," Sif said as she finished temporarily bandaging Caliphar' wounds.
Vorenzar and Norenia prepared the stretcher they had brought and placed it beside Caliphar.
Sif, Royena, Koriphus and Vorenzar lifted Caliphar onto the stretcher as carefully as they could before Norenia and Aurelia helped them pick it up and carry it back towards the hangar.
Once they had reached the hangar, they brought Caliphar into a room at the far end and transported him onto a cot padded with blankets and
a pillow.
"This will help with the pain," Sif spoke as she stepped up to Caliphar' right side, holding a syringe full of a clear liquid.
She stuck it into his right arm as gently as she possibly could before injecting it into his vein.
After several minutes, she looked up into Caliphar' good eye.
"Feel anything yet?" She asked.
Caliphar opened his mouth to answer, but found himself unable to form words much less a full sentence.
"That's a yes; you'll be pain free for the next several hours. That will allow me and Royena to properly fix you up," She replied.
Still unable to speak, Caliphar simply nodded his head to let her know he understood.
"I want to help you," Aurelia suddenly spoke up looking up at Sif.
"That's fine; we could use an extra pair of hands‚ Besides, I think he would appreciate you being here right now," Sif smiled at her.
"Everyone else has to leave though, just until we're done," She added looking around at the others.
They did as they were told without a fuss, muttering get well as they left the room, closing the door behind them.
"Poor Caliphar‚" Vorenzar murmured as she and the others gathered around the door to the room they had just left.
"Yeah, I can't imagine how it felt when it happened," Norenia said in response glancing at Vorenzar.
"He'll be fine, I'm not saying it doesn't suck he lost his eye but that Destroyer could have done a lot more damage if Eros and Zxeron hadn't been there to stop it," Koriphus interjected, looking between Vorenzar and Norenia.
"I suppose you're right, if it wasn't for those two he would probably be missing an arm or something‚" Vorenzar replied looking at him.
"It's a lot easier to relearn how to use a gun with one good eye than it is with one arm," She added.
Koriphus and Norenia glanced at each other before both looking back at Vorenzar.
Good sport
Caliphar slowly opened his eye and glanced around the small room he was in, mildly confused as to why he was unable to see out of his right eye.
He reached up with his right hand and touched his right eye, only to feel bandaging covering it.
"Oh good, you're awake. I was just coming to check on you," Sif announced as she walked through the door to see Caliphar touching his bandage.
"How are you feeling?" She continued as she walked over to the side of his cot.
"Drowsy and a little out of it, what happened to me?"
"The other night you went searching for Zxeron and Eros and found another Destroyer, it attacked you and scratched your face‚"
"This caused you to go blind in your right eye‚" She answered softly, unsure how he would react.
Caliphar furrowed his brow letting out a heavy sigh as he turned over onto his left side, noticing Aurelia sitting against the wall with her eyes closed, Eros lying beside her with his front legs stretched out across her legs.
"How long as she been here?" He suddenly asked, knowing Sif was still standing nearby.
"Since she found you the other night, you wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for her or Eros,"
"What do you mean?" He replied, turning his head to try to see Sif's face with his good eye.
"When that Destroyer attacked you, Eros went after it and broke its neck with his jaws‚"
"He and Zxeron were ripping their claws into its body when Aurelia and Norenia found you; it took Koriphus forever to finally clean all the blood off them,"
"Damn, sorry I missed getting to see it what with being unconscious and all," He said, smiling as he looked back at Aurelia and Eros.
"Why do I feel so drowsy if I've been here since the night before last?"
"I pumped you full of morphine; you were in a lot of pain. We had to work fast before you got an infection from anything off that Destroyer's claws,"
"Oh, okay‚ That makes sense,"
He suddenly grabbed the right side of his head and drew in a sharp breath.
"Ahh, that hurts‚" He growled.
"Hang on, I got you," Sif replied, quickly pulling a syringe from her pants pocket.
She carefully slid the tip of the needle into Caliphar' arm and injected him with a strong dose of morphine.
It didn't take long for the medicine to take affect as Caliphar' eyes felt heavy and the pain radiating in his head dissipated.
"I'll let Aurelia know you're up, she's been waiting for you to wake up to know you're alright," Sif smiled as she crossed the room towards where Aurelia was resting with Eros.
"Aurelia, time to get up‚ Someone wants to see you," She said, gently nudging Aurelia's shoulder.
Aurelia blinked her eyes open, stretching her arms above her head as a yawn escaped her mouth.
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Caliphar is awake; I just told him what happened and gave him another dose of morphine," Sif explained.
"So he might be a little groggy, but he's alert and aware,"
Aurelia slowly stood up, Eros stood with her and followed as she walked over to Caliphar.
"I'll give you guys some privacy," Sif said as she left the room, closing the door behind her.
"How are you feeling?"
Aurelia looked down into Caliphar' good eye and smiled at him.
"Drowsy from Sif drugging me, but other than that I can't exactly complain,"
"That's good to hear, I was so stressed out last night because you were in so much pain‚"
"I'm better now, in fact I could probably manage a little something on this cot," He replied with a smirk.
"Are you serious, you almost lost your eye‚" She fussed at him, exasperated.
"Tis but a scratch‚" He grinned at her, chuckling.
Aurelia shook her head and rolled her eyes ar him, before she could reply though, the door opened and Koriphus appeared through it.
"Sorry if I'm interrupting anything, Sif said you were awake and I wanted to come check on you," Koriphus said looking up at Caliphar.
"Yeah, you can come in," Caliphar replied slowly sitting up.
"Good, we're going to start your training today. I found some really cool military equipment in one of the store rooms, and I've been messing around with it, I picked up on a spot not far from here crawling with soldiers,"
"Feel up to playing a new game?" Koriphus grinned at Caliphar.
Caliphar looked back at Aurelia, giving her the puppy eyes.
"Can I go play?"
"Yes, but be back before dark. I've got plans to discuss with Sif and Royena, so be ready when you get back," Aurelia answered.
Caliphar swung his legs over the side of the cot as he stood up and quickly followed Koriphus out into the hangar.
"Like my new ride?" Koriphus smirked gesturing towards the NH-90.
It had been all fixed and patched up, with a brand new paint job of desert camo, a half black, half white wolf face painted on the pilot's side of the cockpit.
Caliphar' eyes went wide as he stared up at the helo with a look of pure lust.
"Holy shit," He and Aurelia muttered in unison.
"When did you finish this?" Caliphar questioned, looking at Koriphus.
"I found the time over the past two nights, I had help of course from Roy, Royena and Vorenzar,"
"Oh, before we leave‚ You might want this," He added, grabbing a customized sniper rifle out of the Jeep parked next to the helo.
Caliphar took it, practically drooling on the barrel.
"I think he likes it," Aurelia giggled, watching Caliphar handle the rifle.
"What the hell are we waiting for, let's go shoot some soldier ass!" Caliphar said excitedly, strapping the rifle across his left shoulder.
"Better go before he leaves you behind," Aurelia chuckled glancing at Koriphus.
"Watch this," Koriphus said with a grin, producing a small remote control from his jeans pocket.
As he pressed a button on it, the ceiling of the hangar slid open revealing the sunny sky above.
"I'm driving!" He exclaimed, climbing into the pilot's seat of the helo.