Destiny Sorrow

by Rod S. Galves

  “Did you kill your father?” Asked Norna by the communicator without seeing the casualties they had.

  “Yes,” replied Sorom “but I wish I could do it again.”

  Calm

  They quickly took Willys and other wounded to be cared for and now everyone saw Golbert's body. Sorom told Norna what happened and the two hugged for a long time.

  “What a bitter victory,” Sorom commented.

  The leader dismissed all troops for the rest of the day to take care of the wounded and rest.

  Evelin hugged Jamin and Sliger when she saw them both alive in the room. They had their hair burned and their faces dirty.

  “I'm glad you're all right!” Said the young woman.

  “When we saw that tank, we thought we were finished,” Jamin said, “but Sliger was able to redirect the barriers of all the ships there to protect us.”

  “It was no big deal,” said the other man.

  “How not?” asked Jamin. “You saved everyone! You deserve an award.”

  Jamin went to try to hug Sliger, but he deviated.

  “I'm going to take a shower,” Sliger said, leaving them both alone.

  Then the atmosphere of the room began to change.

  “I heard about Golbert,” Jamin said, “it must have been horrible.”

  Only then did Evelin allow herself to feel what had happened. She sat on the bed and was apathetic.

  “Janos shot him right in front of us. It was horrible to watch. I wonder how Sorom is feeling...”

  Jamin sat next to her trying to comfort her.

  “Norna must be with him. He's going to come out on top, after all, he's Sorom!”

  The girl wanted to agree, but she was not so sure. Sorom seemed to have lost the sparkle in his eyes. She looked at Tugsten and Dommerick's dice and wondered how many lives would be destroyed for this plan to be completed.

  She asked Jamin for space and lay down, getting to sleep very quickly. She slept for a long time, until the morning of the next day. After breakfast, the first thing she did was check on Willys.

  Arriving there, she saw Norna next to Dijo seeing Willys and Ratz's bodies next to each other.

  “He will be fine,” Norna said to her companion, “he survived worse.”

  “I know... I'm going to program a new arm for him.” Said Dijo trying to convince himself.

  Evelin didn't feel comfortable interacting, leaving the two alone and wandering around the base aimlessly. She thought about talking to Sorom, but there was no word to be said.

  The day went by incredibly fast. In the next morning, Willys was already awake, sitting in the makeshift hospital bed while Dijo and Dice adjusted a new arm.

  “That's not good,” Dice said. “You need to wait for the wound to heal before putting on a prosthesis.”

  “I don't have time.” Willys complained. “I need to create two more Dyna42 before we attack God! This is essential to the mission.”

  “You need to be in a good state is too!” Said Dijo worried.

  Evelin approached to see his colleague.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Why is everyone so worried about me? I'm going to be fine, it's not the first member I've lost, and this time it's going to be the last one!”

  Willys left the room in a hurry followed by Dijo.

  “His energy remains the same,” commented Evelin.

  “I wish I could say that about Sorom,” Dice commented.

  “What about the ship? How's it going?” asked Evelin,

  The girl noticed Dice's eyes shining when commenting on it.

  “It's almost ready! The coating is perfect and studying Rubilacxe helped optimize engines and weapons. Basically, I only need to install the cannon.

  “When this will be ready? We have a fortnight for the Sorom deadline, don't we?” Asked Evelin.

  “It is sixteen days in fact, I should not take more than three to be able to do that.”

  At this point the communicator of the base activated and Sorom's monotonous voice spread.

  “I summon all agents to the hangar immediately.”

  Arriving in the hangar Dice and Evelin found everyone else staring at Sorom on top of a ship.

  “Golbert died in the last mission,” Sorom began. “We started this organization together; he was one of the founders with me and Norna and now he's gone. I'm not putting his life above others; we've lost a lot of brave warriors. And now with the final mission approaching I feel my hopes going away. I came here to say that even without hope, I will finish our mission, I will overthrow God and bring freedom to the world. I will complete my goal and destroy fate forever.”

  Sorom's speech did not increase the morale of the troops. The doubts that the members had only increased and Sorom left the hangar, returning to his room.

  Evelin ran after him and managed to stop him before locking himself in.

  “What was that?” Asked Evelin.

  “The truth. Things seem to have lost their meaning, but I'm not going to stop before I defeat God or die trying.”

  “It's not for you to die, it's to win! Everyone here is fighting for your cause. You can't go on just like a zombie without motivation!”

  “What can I do? We don't have enough people; I've lost my right arm and the final step is a frontal attack on our most powerful enemy. I'll never give up, but the hopes are gone.”

  Dice approached uncomfortable to meddle in the conversation.

  “Chief,” said the woman, “we caught something on our cameras, you should see it.”

  Sorom had no desire to go, however Evelin held his wrist and took him after Dice.

  The engineer's screen showed an armor-clad land vehicle heading through the Hoan Mountains carrying the very poorly made Chaos Agents symbol stuck on its sides.

  “Who are they?” Asked Sorom.

  “I don't know,” Dice replied, “but they're coming our way.”

  “We have no troops waiting for us anywhere else,” the leader said, “are they enemies in disguise?”

  “If they knew our location, they would probably make a complete attack.” Evelin suggested.

  Sorom breathed contradicted, clearly without wanting to deal with the situation.

  “Come on, Evelin, get Norna and the two of your room to the van.”

  He left in no hurry while Evelin took orders and called the others.

  The group reunited in the van. Sorom stayed in the passenger seat while Norna drove through the mountains until they reached the vehicle.

  Up close the vehicle was really imposing. As big as the last guardian's tank they faced; but without carrying any weapons.

  Sorom picked up a communicator and the sound were projected from the van's speakers out.

  “Who are you? State your purpose.”

  “My name is Rinna,” said a voice from the vehicle. But she was promptly interrupted by another voice.

  “Sorom? It’s you dear? How's it going?”

  Sorom looked confused at Norna.

  “Mirtes?” Asked Sorom.

  “It's me! How are my boys? I brought pie and a lot of people who want to join the rebellion.”

  Evelin could notice that Sorom's posture was changing.

  “As I said,” the first voice spoked again, “my name is Rinna, I am a friend of Gerreth. Can we join in for a chat? We're all allies, and we don't have weapons.”

  Sorom gave the order to Norna, which worried Evelin.

  “Do you think it's wise to let them in? We don't even know who they really are.”

  “Mirtes is the mother of Willys and Ratz,” Sorom warned, “she was in a CCC.”

  “But what if it is...” Evelin interrupted herself she saw the brilliance of Sorom returning and no longer protested.

  The van returned first and soon Sorom asked to make room. When the land vehicle arrived, it opened its large metal doors and dozens of people left.

  A chubby woman ran and hugged Sorom. Despite the large weight difference, Evelin recogni
zed the elongated nose and pale skin of the Ingas.

  “Sorom, my dear, have you been eating right? You're so skinny.”

  “I’m fine, Mirtes...” Sorom then turned to Norna. “Take her to see Willys and Ratz... I'm going to go talk to this Rinna girl.”

  Norna accepted and soon a new woman emerged. Taller than Sorom and very well dressed, with blond hair and well-maintained, she reached out to the leader.

  “I'm Rinna. Your speech on TV woke up several people. I had contact with Garreth. He said if anything happened, I should help you. And he didn't sell your location, it was thanks to the Ingas that we made it this far.”

  Evelin noticed a smile taking the face of his leader.

  “You guys get here at a great time. We need all the help. But if you don't mind, why do you want to help me? You're not chaotic, are you?”

  “No,” Rinna replied, “but I have fought my whole life to be accepted for who I am, it is not easy for a trans woman to be respected in this land of lunatics by destiny. I don't think our ideals are very different.”

  Rinna took Sorom to meet the others. Almost all chaotic who fled from the same CCC; however, there were also other supporters of the cause.

  Evelin saw a hairless man as one of Kurtrick's security guards, a completely tattooed woman and hairlocks forming a rainbow on her head and several more people from completely different backgrounds. She noticed a girl a little older than her, with brown hair caught in a braid and a strangely familiar expression. She couldn't remember where, and the girl didn't seem so comfortable being there.

  “Evelin,” Sorom said, “go with Sliger and Jamin. Prepare new rooms, we've got a lot of new people.”

  “We are 88,” Rinna said. “I know it's not much and some of us have never fought, but we're here to help.”

  When Evelin looked at the girl again, she had already teamed up with the group of new recruits and was lost in the crowd.

  The agents spent the next week training the new recruits and preparing them for their final mission. Dice finished the ship and called the leaders to witness.

  “I present to you,” announced Dice, “the Ringnug!”

  The ship was really impressive. The body was similar to Rinlojm's, but three times larger and, instead of red, was white. An extra appendix came out with the laser cannon attached to its bottom.

  “Let me just say that this cannon takes time to charge.” Continued the engineer. “The first shot is free, but it's almost half an hour of time for it to recharge.”

  Norna looked worried at Sorom, who showed calm.

  “If all goes well, you will only need to shoot twice,” he said. “It's good to know that this important part is complete.”

  “And I'm going to fly Ringnug, but who's going to fly Rubilacxe?” Asked Norna.

  Dice rolled up her sleeves and put her hands around her waist.

  “I think I'm the ideal girl for this mission.”

  There were no protests and Dice celebrated.

  “I know you fly well,” Sorom said, “but be careful, it's your first mission, don't do anything unnecessary.”

  The woman agreed and the leader turned to Willys and Dijo.

  “How are your parts going?”

  The two saluted before answering.

  “Dyna42 is sixty percent ready,” warned Willys.

  “This is not much,” Sorom said, “we only have nine days.”

  “I can do it faster if you want me to blow up the whole base.”

  “Continue the good work.” Replied Sorom turning to Dijo.

  “There are still things on Simeht's tablet that are encrypted, but I have a good map of the interior of the Air Temple and how its defenses work. By the way, Sorom, I think you should look at this.”

  He showed on the tablet the pictures of a woman in gold and black armor with two swords.

  “This is Guardian Astra,” explained Dijo, “the best fighter of the Guardians of the Order and how you use a sword I think you should prepare for it.”

  “No problem, no,” warned Sorom, “I’ll defeat her.”

  “You lost to guardian Kylex and only survived because I saved you.” Norna recalled.

  “You also got beat up by guardian Simeht and he doesn't even use a sword.” Said Willys.

  “I think if you find her, you'd better run.” Suggested Dijo.

  Sorom began to get impatient.

  “I fear no guardian and will not flee any battle!”

  “I just realized,” Dijo said “Norna has already defeated two guardians, counting the tank, Willys won against the sniper and even Ratz defeated Dunna, but you did not win against any guardians.”

  “You are all dismissed!” Said Sorom “Return to your business and leave me alone.”

  The group fell apart and Sorom took his sword to train alone.

  Before the storm

  The next day, he gathered everyone in the hangar to explain the plan.

  “In eight days, we will attack the Air Temple and overthrow God!” Began the leader. “I will discuss here step by step of the mission.”

  A projector turned on showing Air Temple schematics.

  “We will start with an air strike.” Norna explained. “And we expect great defenses. Most of our ships will fly without pilots, with a program made by Dijo, and our troops will be in a transport ship. I'm going to shoot the laser cannon at a specific location on the shell and open a path.

  “The cannon must be strong enough to destabilize the temple barriers for a while,” Dijo said. “The air troops will not attempt to attack the Temple, for it would be useless. They will aim only to destroy the ships and defenses they possess.”

  “In the meantime, the agents will enter by boom,” followed Willys, “and there they will separate into two teams, each carrying one of my babies. Sorom's team is going after God-Computer while mine and Dijo's are going to mess up their systems. An automatic door closes blocking the way to God, so thick and sturdy that even our super cannon will not work. Then we'll blow up this system to open the door. But this will also cause the Temple to fall.”

  The agents seemed frightened by the comment and Sorom reassured them.

  “The Temple has an emergency system that will prevent it from crashing into the ground. It will calmly descend and land on the ground.”

  “While Willys' group will do this everyone outside should cover Ringnug.” Norna said, “because even with the door open by Willys there will still be a mechanical lock that will need to be destroyed by brute force.”

  “During this half hour everyone has to give their best to wind up the enemies, at all ends of the mission.” Added Dijo.

  “When the passage to God is open, I will put a Dyna42 and trigger it to destroy him, killing God once and for all.”

  The information was absorbed by everyone, who became increasingly tense. Seeing this Norna announced:

  “But today will be a day to relax! A party with everything we're entitled to!”

  The agents celebrated and made a circle of ships, placing tables with food and drinks and even setting up a campfire in the center. With music for everyone to dance

  “This does not seem safe,” Evelin said of the fire.

  “Not a problem,” said Dijo gave his hand to the girl. “What do you think of a dance?”

  Evelin accepted and joined the party, with many dances and celebration. Sorom watched sitting on Rinlojm's wing next to Norna.

  “We are nearing the end.” Norna said.

  “Yes. All these years have led us to this moment... Are you ready?” Asked Sorom.

  “As ready as possible... What about you?”

  Sorom took a deep breath looking at the ceiling.

  “It will be good to look at the sky again. And not with a layer of glass and radiation on the way.

  “We will succeed.” Norna said.

  “I'm sure of it. Failure is not an option, but you should enjoy the party.”

  “And you don't?”

  “I don't think
it will be good for the leader to get drunk and lose control in front of his subordinates. Besides, I need to go to the bathroom.”

  He jumped off the ship's wing, moving away from the party going to the bathroom.

  When he was washing his hands, he heard the door opening.

  “It’s free, you can come,” the leader announced.

  When he turned around, he saw a young woman pointing a gun at him.

  “Calm down there,” Sorom said worried. “We don't need that gun.”

  “Yes, we do,” said the girl with the braid. “That's how you solve your problems, isn't it?”

  Sorom had no idea who the girl was and could see that she was very nervous, fearing the gun even more.

  “You came with Rinna's group, didn't you? Are you a spy? You work for Tess?”

  “I have no idea what you're talking about,” said the girl. “I thought when I got here, I'd understand something, but you.... You don't even know!”

  Sorom did not make sudden movements and looked out of the bathroom for help, but all the other agents were at the party.

  “Don't you work for the government then? Let's talk about it. Sorry, I really don't know who you are.” Sorom said quietly.

  “You killed my brother! He was just a kid!”

  Sorom scoured his entire memory to find out who she was talking about and finally understood.

  “You are the sister of the chosen one,” Sorom said. “And you're here to get revenge.”

  “He was a child! How could you do that?”

  Sorom took a deep breath and looked at the girl.

  “He was a problem. My biggest problem possibly. It was nothing personal and I didn't take pleasure in doing that... How did you get in with Rinna's group?”

  “When you made your big speech, I started chasing you. I met some really nice people on Iguana Street and convinced them I was on your side when Rinna showed up.”

  “Congratulations,” said Sorom. “You've achieved more in a few weeks than the entire government in years.”

  “Shut up! I came to kill you!”

  “If this were your goal, you would have already done,” Sorom tried to manipulate the situation. “You're hesitant, you don't want to kill anyone. If you do that, you know you won't have...”