The Second Dark Age

[Ludens]

the introductory paragraph contains a line that is completely out of place.

The only one (in this last part, part XI) that seems to be anywhere near that is the third sentence, if that's the case then it's supposed to be there. That sentence informs you (or should have, my fault for not making this clear) that the voice from part VIII was tracked down and eliminated by his own government.

Yes, that was it. The problem is that those two scenes (the telephone call and the explosion) are not continuous: they are separated by the scene of the man escaping from the cryo pod (not to mention that they were posted three days apart).

There were also a few style issues I wanted to comment on. First, your use of extremely long sentences. Long sentences are part of your style, and I am not saying you should stop using them, but making the really long ones somewhat shorter will make the story easier to scan. It often looks like you are trying to make one sentence do the work of two.

Two other things:

The second laughed, “Are you suggesting that ten larval stage specimens took down the entire station?” he grinned at the very thought, it was ridiculous to him. “A station, mind you, that served as a military outpost!” he emphasized the word ‘military’ as it was true that nearly 70% of the former crew was combat personnel.

Both 'military' and the councilman's ridicule are stressed thrice! You are not developing a habit of over-explaining yourself, are you? This can be very hard to get rid of, as yours truly can attest .

Seriously, this about the only place where you overemphasize explanations, but it is rather obvious here.

“How have we Violated the treaty!” the first councilman nearly shouted, he made no attempt to hide his anger, trying to hide the fact they were right.

In the first place: this sentence is actually two sentences separated by a comma. This is grammatically wrong: if you have to put two independent sentences in one sentence, separate them with a semicolon. Secondly, for the entire scene we cannot read the thoughts of any character, except here, were you tell us one character is lying. It would have been better if you had used another way to make clear that they had broken the treaty. “Show, don’t tell”, as they say.


I hope you found this helpful and I eagerly await your next episode,
Ludens

[Monk]

part x
Bloody Twelve

In the middle of a vast and open plain, down upon the brown land next to a dried river a city was built in generations past. Constructed by the ancestors of the Solician people, it had been forgotten and left to the cruel keeper of time. Yet one hundred years ago, the city was found again. Its huge towers long since had fallen into decay and its streets were now broken. It was renamed “The Old City” simply because no one knew its true name, at least no one could remember. Being nothing but a heap of twisted stone and broken memories, it was unlikely that any sort of military force would ever try and seize it. However, the 5th Solace was organized and deployed there for no clear reason; and the troops were given no real answer as to why.

Indeed, even when four thousand men arrived they had no idea what they were doing. Their orders were simple, if not a bit vague; “Deploy defenses along south edge of city, man defenses and await orders.” Something wasn’t right; the Old City held no tactical advantage whatsoever, if so then it would not have been left alone for thousands of years. Yet here and now fully half of the most experienced fighting regiment in the Solician military was deployed; and with nothing to keep the troops company but the whispers of the wind. If the commanders of the unit could, they would surely have questioned their orders. Perhaps they should have, but the “soldier must do what he’s told” or so thought the colonel in charge of the force.

The Old City, remnants of the inner walls
1130 hours, First Encounter +2

The sun was almost in the center of the sky above, the deep blue still seemed to overpower and push all clouds from sight on this morning. Twelve noon was fast approaching as the soldiers of the 5th Solace dug defenses along what was now a ruin of a wall. They brought heavy equipment from the capitol city; Auto-turrets, anti vehicle and personnel mines and explosives which they deployed near and around their positions. Soon a long trench line formed with gun emplacements settled along the way. The troops continued to work, still unsure why they were there, when a sudden sound was heard. It was a piercing scream on the horizon, a sound that cut into their heads like a knife and scratched their minds. Hearing it was almost painful to them, but when the sound died away no sign was shown of what may have created it.

The colonel knew something was wrong as he emerged from a nearly broken stone tower. His eyes scanned the area about him, yet all he saw was his men stunned by the horrid sound. He stood as a harsh silence fell, the wind ceased to blow and all about the army seemed to die. The troops began to man their defensive positions as three scouts were sent to secure the areas on the horizon. Down away to the east there was a small farming village that had also fallen to ruin, after the layer of confusion had melted away the colonel thought he caught sight of movement there through his binoculars. Therefore the three scouts were dispatched. They hurried along on foot, moving fast away from the trench lines.
“Charge up the Auto Cannons!” the colonel shouted as he hopped into the trench, his men were rushing about getting into position. His shout was loud and seemed to call the attention of all near him. His men obeyed his order and finished the uplink on the cannons, as power flowed into the machines a humming noise drifted on the air. “Good.” The colonel sighed as he looked to the small village on the horizon. “We need to be ready.”

Time passed by, what seemed like hours was in fact minutes. The sun had just set into its highest point in the sky when a single man was seen stumbling toward the lines. His movement was erratic and one hand seemed to clutch his side, he wasn’t far off and some could tell his armor had been ripped apart. With each stumble a scarlet liquid fell from his body, until finally he fell to the ground motionless. He wasn’t but thirty feet from the lines when his strength failed him. An apothecary jumped from the lines and ran out to him, his white armor and the badge that he wore on his shoulder guard signified he was a man of medicine. However as the apothecary neared the fallen man a series of piercing screams was heard; his eyes darted to the horizon where a black image filled the land. The soldiers in the lines readied their weapons as it came near him.

It looked like a sheet of ice sliding upon the land; countless limbs of terrible design propelled a number of creatures too many to count. The eyes of the apothecary swelled as he saw them, rows of jagged teeth dripping with saliva as thousands of screams all sounded at once. He turned to flee, but as he did so they were upon him, the creatures rose from the ground to their full height and erupted in an attack. They changed from ice to a wall of claw, tooth and bone as they consumed the healer and tore him apart. With the apothecary dispatched the creatures screamed in delight and turned their black eyes to the prepared defenses, where in two trenches awaited the warriors of man. They sighted their prey, and went forth into an attack; the creatures moved with incredible speed as they charged the humans they hated with a passion.

The soldiers of the 5th solace were terrified, seeing their comrade ripped into pieces before their eyes caused them to tremble in place; to afraid to even fire their weapons. The creatures neared them and with a roar of thunder the auto-cannons opened fire, not needing permission from their creators to act. The bullets that fired from them sprayed into the line of advancing creatures and slowed them down, but didn’t stop them. They kept moving forward, despite the number in which their kind was slain. The thunderous fire of the auto-cannons broke the humans from their terror, and as they realized how close the creatures had gotten they began firing their weapons. An entire line of steel and cold death erupted from the trenches as the guns let lose into the black mass of creatures that raced forward. The creatures fell in massive numbers now, yet they did not stop. Their bodies piled up as little as ten feet from the human lines, they advanced and yet more died and fell upon the already fallen creatures.

They kept attacking with a furious tenacity, charging screaming loudly and brandishing their teeth and claws only to be mowed down by the humans. A wall of corpses was formed in front of the humans as they never stopped firing. Their fingers keeping the trigger pulled back until they had no ammo in their clips, at which point they reloaded and kept firing. The heat rising from their weapons and auto-cannons was unspeakable, almost making the trenches unbearable on a day as hot as it was. The screams of the dying creatures still ceased to stop as they pushed forward, death cries and final screams from inhuman things overshadowed the rumble of the guns of the Solician defenders. The bodies of the fallen creatures began to become an impediment to the ones that lived; and as they tried to climb over them they were killed, causing the bodies to pile yet higher. A small wall had formed ten feet from the human lines, a wall of twisted limbs and lifeless bodies when suddenly the creatures stopped advancing.

Silence overtook the land as the attacked ceased. The troops lowered their already overheating weapons, their ammo was low and they breathed a sigh of relief. However before the first “what was that about?” could even be uttered, another wave of creatures exploded over the wall of corpses and leapt upon the humans. They tore and ripped them into pieces without mercy. The auto-cannons had long since run out of munitions and offered little help as the creatures attacked the humans in close quarters, however the tired humans were not about to give up. They suffered terrible losses as they fought back, trying desperately to fend off the creatures. They might have done so if their enemy was not so numerous; another wave hit the trench and pushed the humans from their positions. Those who could not get out of the trench and fox holes were consumed by the creatures and cut up quickly.

The second line of trenches was ready; however it held fewer men and they could not hope to fend off the creatures’ assault. Still they clenched their weapons tightly and readied themselves for the creatures to organize for their attack. They were a hundred miles from nowhere; their transports were to far away and they’d never get to them. The creatures cried out and charged them, hoping to overwhelm them as well. The surviving troops let loose and opened fire, however their numbers were cut in half. Yet as the creatures neared the seconded line explosions burst from the ground, they had entered the minefield. The creatures seemed to ignore the fire erupting all around them and pressed forward, taking yet heavier losses. Soon their relentless tactics pushed them out of the minefield; in fact all the mines had exploded. They were about to jump upon the defenders of the ruins and slaughter them when blue projectiles strafed the ground, massacring their frontal “ranks”.

A huge vessel strode through the air above the creatures and countless guns began to open fire; repaying the toll of slaughter they had done to the humans a thousand times over. A door opened in the side of the mysterious ship and armored warriors starred out. They tossed bombs from the ship which landed in the mist of the creatures’ ranks and exploded killing yet more of them.

A loud and deafening scream, which silenced even the huge guns of the ship was heard. It died away slowly and quickly after the creatures began pulling back. However, as they did so twenty warriors appeared in their midst, they materialized out of the air with bands of blue energy moving over them. They wore no armor at all, only dressed in dark robes that covered them from head to toe, their faces covered by dark masks. Out from under their hoods a red light glowed from their eyes. They carried large swords that pulsed with energy. In their retreat, the creatures attacked them trying to get away, however the men brought their blades down on them, cutting their limbs and what seemed to be their heads from their bodies. They stood their ground as the ship above kept firing, killing any creature that dared go near them. However they were outnumbered hundreds to one and their force began to thin. If it was not for their retreat, the creatures would have soon overcame the small number of warriors who had teleported into their midst. Yet when all the creatures had finally forsaken the battle, a second wall of corpses had formed. In the center stood three figures, their dark robes torn and their masks ripped from their faces. They were the last guardians of Solicous, cyberneticaly and biologically enhanced warriors. The ship thundered off, making sure the creatures retreated.

Exhausted they fell to the ground breathing deeply the air which tasted like blood, the scent was so thick. The colonel of the surviving troops walked up to them, he grinned widely as he shouted “Good thing you boys showed up!”

The only one who could manage it looked up; his blazing red eyes pieced the colonel’s and stared into his mind. “You’ve lost three thousand men…” he said in a cold and nearly hate filled voice.

The colonel looked surprised, “I have? Well… whatever the number we did our job.” He couldn’t help but feel confusion as to why his men were dead, yet he shed no tears for them. Before he could ask exactly what had just happened, the guardian spoke interrupting his thoughts. However his words were not to him, but to his comrades

“Azreal…” he was exhausted as he pushed the words out forcefully, “are they falling back?” a man with blue eyes looked up, he replied in a quiet voice that was hardly above a whisper.

“Yes brother…” his voice was smoother than that of the red eyed guardian, and it seemed much softer. “But they only retreat to regroup.” slowly the three men were regaining their strength as their cybernetic and biological enhancements slowly returned their stamina.

“Then let’s go.” the first guardian said, all three slowly rose to their feet and put their swords at the ready. As they as surveyed the ground, strewn with the slain of both species; the guardian with red eyes stared upon the human dead. His brothers looked on the dead and felt sorrow and regret in their hearts that they had died, however he did not.

“…how is it” he said muttering to himself, “that I feel nothing?”

“Did you say something Uriel?” Azreal asked as he turned to his brother.

“No, nothing at all.” Uriel replied.



@CrackedAxe: thanks. i'm glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for taking time to read it.

@zelda12: did i put all my "I" as "i" on purpose? yes. why? Your guess is as good as mine . just something i do.

@Shadow: thank you, i'm glad you liked it.

@Froggy: (since you complement with smilies, i will thank you with smilies )

@Ludens: Looking back you're right. when i actually take time and look at that paragraph i can see i could have picked a better spot to say that, or maybe even have placed it into the previous part. anyway, thank you for pointing it out.

The other things you said i've worked on and i made an attempt at keeping sentence length down this time around. I hope i did a decent job at it.

Yes, i found what you said very useful. anything to help me improve.

[zelda12]

Brilliant, superb and really exciting.

[CrackedAxe]

Another gripping installment, thanks Monk. Your description was very atmospheric. The only thing I would have asked for would be some dialogue in the actual battle part of the story, to get us IN the trenches with the fighting men. The point of view was a little omnipresent for the most part (the same critiscism was given to the early paragraphs of my own story 'The Battle of Maldon' on another forum, read it on this forum to see what I mean) and I think that the description of the battle might have been even more immersive if told from the point of view of a particular soldier or soldiers. Apart from that minor gripe though, well done!

[Monk]

part xi
Lost Knowledge

Godsend, Imperium’s North Shore
1600 hours, First Encounter +4

A Scientist sat alone in the lab, the dark room about him was silent with only the hum of the computer in the corner to keep him company. Dim light shined forth from the monitor as white text appeared letter by letter. The man brought up his right hand and rubbed his weary eyes and sighed, they ached from looking upon the screen for so long. As the text finally stopped appearing he read over the file on which he had searched for. They were records of the treaty of Abbadon, an agreement signed by three nations that seemed so long ago in time. “Solicous” he spoke for the first time in hours, his voice barely above a whisper. He coughed suddenly as he grasped his throat, ‘so dry’ he thought to himself. His eyes scanned the darkness for his cup of water, and to his right the faint outline of it stood; quickly grabbing it he poured it down his throat. the rush of the cool liquid washed away the dry feeling and he smiled.

The Scientist sat down the now empty container and read the file on the treaty, his heart was starting to beat faster for some reason as he did so. Slowly he felt a strange anxiety rising, he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself but to no avail. The words before him seemed meaningless and served to the Imperium’s great advantage; but why now after so long would he be ordered to review it?

“This is pointless.” he said aloud to himself in frustration, it must have been the fourth time in the last seven hours he had read over the document. Still the words were the same; nothing was different save maybe his attitude toward his assignment. It did not help matters that the only copies were made in the Solician Language; a clumsy and unpredictable language hardly fit of civilized people. He grinned to himself as he thought that. He leaned back in the chair and looked at the ceiling; the darkness around was like a shroud, he could barely see beyond the dim illumination that his monitor provided. As he took his eyes away from the screen his eyes slowly began to stop hurting, he closed them for a moment and was about to try to rest them when he heard the sound of footsteps.

His eyes suddenly sprung open as a set of footsteps echoed down the hall just outside his door. The scientist turned and looked at the door. His stomach was tying itself in knots nearly making him fall upon the floor. Slowly the foot falls got closer; each step echoing in the perfect silence until they were directly outside the doorway. Slowly the knob turned and the door then flew open quickly. The scientist was blinded by a sudden rush of light, as he tried to adjust his eyes the only thing he saw was a dark figure standing in the doorway. He did his best to conceal his fear, raising an arm to try to shield his eyes from the light attempting to see who stood before him.

“Have you found it?” the figure said, his voice was low and rigid. He stood perfectly still as he said those words, yet as he spoke one could not help but feel afraid for some reason. As if this one man had enough power to end your life. That is the exact way the scientist felt as he looked upon him. In an instant his covered fear came screaming to the surface, he could feel his gut wrenching about, making him sick to his stomach. He cleared his throat and managed to keep his voice from cracking.

“No…” he replied softly, his eyes were slowly adjusting to the light yet all he saw was still a dark figure.

The dark figure sighed slightly, however it was barely noticeable. “I don’t think you realize what’s at stake here” his frustration found its way into his voice, despite his control over his reactions.

“Of course!” the scientist said, slight desperation setting in. “Of course I do! I…I just need more time!” his thoughts were denying his words even as he tried to reassure this man he could complete the task he was given.

“The Berserkers Jarls no doubt already have the Information we need.” The figure clenched his fist showing his anger. “Must I remind you the penalty of failing the Emperor?”

“No!” the scientist shouted in pure fear, he knew he couldn’t find what they wanted him too. However to fail was to die. His hands began to tremble slightly as he rose to his feet, pushing back the chair against the desk, making a soft noise as it hit the two crashed together. “I’ll find it!” he was praying that his lie went unnoticed.

The figure thought for a moment, or at least appeared to think. He finally made a movement, yet to the scientist’s dismay his hand traveled to the gun that was strapped to his side. He removed it from the holster and stood with it drawn. “You had seven hours to accomplish the mission.”

“Please!” the scientists shouted, nearly begging as he spoke desperately. His heart was racing from his fear and the sickness he felt in his stomach turned into a slight pain. “I beg of you…I have served the Emperor countless times” He had jusr begged for his life, and he was hearing a voice screaming in his mind to run. His eyes scanned the room quickly; no way out. “…please more time!”

The figure raised the weapon to the scientist’s head, the scientist’s bottom lip was trembling as the shadowy figure spoke; “You have failed.” He slowly squeezed the trigger and the gun fired, the noise filled the room and silenced all about as the bullet exited the chamber. The scientist’s head was thrown back as the bullet hit, his blood splattered on the wall behind and his lifeless body fell to the ground; his eyes frozen open in pure horror. Blood began to flow from an exit wound on the back of his head. A spent bullet casing fell to the ground and bounced toward his body, it rolled on to its side and rested beside him.

The figure put his gun away and walked over to the monitor, he wiped the blood that had splashed onto the screen away and then looked at the words. He input a command and jumped to the third page of the document, where he saw words that translated to “Resolution of DEFENSE.” He read on to where the text displayed an agreement between the Imperium, The Kingdom of Solicous, and a third party called The Dominion of Berserker Jarls that stated “Technology will hereby be put forth and shared between all nations. As payment to The Imperium, the Nation of Solicous agrees to give 1/6 of unoccupied land to the Imperium and puts at their disposal the minds of their research teams.”

The figure opened a new file with the punch of a few buttons, he read over the first few lines and smiled, it was the information he needed. He read over the first line aloud to himself “The Imperium enacts power given to it by the Treaty of Abbadon and demands that the Kingdom of Solicous provide it with a new weapon, as payment for assistance in their Second Civil War.” He shook his head and laughed slightly. He was looking at the secret agreement between the two nations, forged shortly after the war.

“The fool” he said as he looked at the dead scientist. “He was interpreting their archaic language wrong.” He reached down to his side and flipped a switch on his personal communicator. As he did so a voice came over the channel. “Unit 2463, Report!”

“This is 2463” he replied, “mission complete.”

“You found it then?” the voice on the other end asked.

“Of course” he answered as he smiled to himself.

“Good job brother. Purge said item from system mainframe.” The channel was closed as the voice ended the transmission.

The dark figure leaned over the interface and punched in a series of commands; the screen suddenly flashed and went blank. After a few moments, the words “File deleted by order of the Emperor” appeared. Satisfied with his work the man turned and walked out, grabbing the door handle and closing it behind him. The dead body of the scientist was cloaked in darkness as the computer shut itself down, leaving a terrible silence behind.




-

what do you say when you forget to update something in 13 days? ...oops? seriously, sorry for taking so long in this one everybody. hope you enjoy this part at least a little bit

btw, i hope some of you are starting to figure out what is going on. if not, i screwed up

[zelda12]

I'm getting a vague inkling of whats happening. Something to do with experiments on test subjects by Solicious or something. Which, as will always happen in such circumstances, leads to some undefinable evil being created.

[Monk]

Part xii
Old Allies

Arctic outpost, Berserker Dominion
16:34 hours, First Encounter +4

The sky above was grey and bright as a chilling wind blew in from the north. It was just another day on the edge of the world for the Berserker Jarls, a people who had built themselves an empire that matched the Imperium’s in both land and power of technology. A fierce warrior people, much like that of ancient Vikings in days past; not even the Imperium wished to evoke their wrath. This outpost was one of many stations in the frozen north, stationed around a huge white wreckage of some sort of vessel. One that was nearly as big as the continent on which it rested. The mangled armor torn from ages of the ice’s wear stood silent, echoing the shouts and loud noises by workers who worked tirelessly to uncover the entire structure. Its origin was unknown and after years of study its secrets were slowly being revealed. However this day, an even colder wind would blow from the south, one of treachery and war.

The lord of the camp stood in the middle of the blowing wind which held a thick blanket of snow and ice. He was unshaken by the gnawing cold of the wind that seemed to cut straight into one’s veins and chill their blood. After years of this weather day in and out, one ceases to care or notice. In his hands was plans of the giant wreckage they were uncovering, all indications was that is was some sort of ship. However it was not an ORDER vessel; its design was much to alien. Strange that an unidentifiable ship would be found here, the place where all scholars claim the Berserker Jarls had from come countless millennia ago. “Careful there!” he shouted to a couple of workers removing some radioactive substance from the ship. His voice rose above even the howl of the wind and startled workers, and they nearly dropped their load.

They grasped onto the handles of the radiation shielded container and pulled it up just in time keeping it from smashing on the ground. Their lord laughed, “Gotta be careful like I said!” he grinned at them. Strangely they couldn’t help but smile and nod as he did so, seeing such a hard and tough guy like him laugh could make anyone feel at ease. They moved on inside a lab a little ways from him, no doubt to study their find.

The Lord rolled up the plans he had and was about to walk away when a messenger ran up to him. He was going as fast as he could, which wasn’t very fast at all as he was trudging through the snow. “Lord!” he cried, his voice was nearly over taken by the wind, and his shout was nearly silence to a whisper but his commander heard him. He turned around and replied “yes? What is it?” only now after being in the cold overseeing operations for six long hours was he feeling the cold creep up on him.

“Call for you sir!” the messenger replied; even though he was wearing a thick coat he was visibly shaking. To used to the southern climates no doubt.

“I’ll go to my office.” replied the Lord. “I’ll take it there.”

“Yes sir!” replied the messenger, he turned around and moved as fast as he could to get back inside. The Lord just laughed seeing him shutter so easily. He walked away to a large building in the center of the outpost; it was in fact the central command for the entire northern continent. Uninhabited except for the Outposts of the berserkers, it held no real strategic advantage for any nation to control it, no recourses and no military advantage. Yet for the last ten years the Dominion of Berserker Jarls had occupied it, claiming to be doing “archeological” study.

The Lord of the camp reached the building and opened the door; the snow blew in quickly as did the loud scream of the wind outside. He stepped in and slammed the door behind him; a warm light greeted him and melted the snow on the floor almost instantly. He set the plans down and walked up a flight of stairs, moving through the base at a rather lax pace. He reached the door to his office and opened it, inside was his desk and pictures hung on the walls of his accomplishments and medals he had won. A few weapons were also hung on the wall; close combat weapons that were rarely used in war but still a symbol of pride for all Berserkers. His phone was silent as he closed the door, but as he took a step toward his desk it began to ring. ‘This had better be good’ he thought to himself, he was tired after a long day of excavating.

He extended his hand and picked up the phone and slowly brought it up to his ear. He cleared his throat and spoke; “Yes?” he said in his normal tone, though it was deep and menacing even when he was relaxed.

“Am I speaking to the Commander of this outpost?” a voice on the other end asked. Emotion was hard to find in the words, perhaps because it was a simple question.

“Yes you are.” Answered the Lord, “what do you want?”

“Good.” The voice said as a background voice could be heard speaking, though it was nothing but a mutter to the man in the office. “I’m going to have to recall all the soldiers from the Northern Continent.” It was now that the Lord realized who this was, it was the leader of the Berserker nation. He was startled by the comment to say the least.

“Sire?” he said as confusion set in his voice. “May I ask why?”

The voice on the other end took a deep breath and said “thank you” in a low voice, but it wasn’t directed into the phone. “Four days ago” he began saying speaking to the Lord again “One of our sleeper agents working in Solicous went missing. He missed a contact and is presumed lost.” It sounded as if a few papers were being shifted around and a pen was writing on something as the Master Berserker spoke. “However…before contact was lost we received an unexpected piece of information.”

“What do you mean; “unexpected”?” asked the Lord, he would have questioned why he was receiving this information had it not been for the fact he was in command of nearly all of the Berserkers northern assets.

“Something worse than seven years ago.” the Master spoke in a low tone, in a way he himself was unable to accept the horrible truth of his own words.

“Worse than the Plasma Explosion?” the Lord was completely shocked, how could anything be worse than that? It was hard to imagine something had happened that was worse than an explosion that nearly destroyed the world.


“…Indeed.” the Master’s reply was slow. He spoke off to someone else, not into the phone again saying “mobilize our assets; I want them ready to march ASAP.” The Lord was getting nervous; he had heard that last sentence even though it wasn’t spoken to him. War was coming again.

“Sir, what happened?” he asked, trying to keep his composure.

“We were sent plans for a new weapon by the spy.” The Master said, the Lord could not see him to notice his head was looking at his ceiling wondering how he could contain the situation. “A weapon that is unlike anything I’ve seen in my many years.”

“What is it?” The lord inquired, now seeds of strange curiosity had been set and he desired to know. Even if the information filled him with fear he felt he must know; as if his destiny would be decided by that said weapon. “Did the ORDER master Plasma technology?” there was no answer. “Did Solicous introduce a new breed of Guardian?” silence greeted him once more.

“Yes…and No.” The Master finally answered. His voice held dismay, and a strange one at that. He never had showed such emotion to any of his military officers or to the public, always remaining a strong pillar of resolve. What could drive him to show his true feelings?

“Sire, I don’t…” understand was the lord’s next choice of word. But he was cut off by the Master.

“You don’t need to.” he said, knowing what he’d say. “I’m going to tell you. Were you there a few years back, the aftermath of the Second Solician Civil War?”

“Yes I was.” The Lord answered, ‘who could forget?’ He thought.

“The Abbadon treaty was signed by the two greater powers as both intervened.” The Master seemed distracted as he spoke, probably doing multiple things at once. “Because the man who grabbed power had launched nuclear weapons, a new government was installed with both nations support.” The lord was wondering where this was going, “The compromise said Solicous would help the Imperium research a number of things. It was to ‘Double the research power’ in the treaty’s own words.”

“Sire…I fail to see…” again the Lord’s words were cut off; if he was speaking to a lesser man he would be enraged. Yet despite talking to the Master Berserker and leader of his nation, he was becoming a bit irritated all the same.

“The Imperium demands of a new weapon have fallen into our hands.” The Master’s words calmed the irritation in the Lord shocked him slightly, ORDER transmissions were hard to intercept.

“What is it?” As he said that he heard a loud crash on the door downstairs, he lowered the phone from his ear even as the Master was explaining the situation. The crash repeated itself, this time even louder. His first thought was that one of his workers had crashed one of their heavy lifting vehicles into the base again. It happened when rookies took the control; however as he was raising the phone to his ear another crash hit the entrance door, busting it from its hinges and sending it flying into the base. And following it was a loud piercing scream.

His eyes set upon his door through which he could hear all this happening. His Master was shouting on the phone, he heard the sounds too but had no idea what was going on. Fear was rising in the Lord’s chest; it felt like an iron hand had grasped onto his heart as another scream was heard echoing through the base. He heard what must have been countless limbs pounding on the stairs rushing toward his door.

He dropped the phone and grabbed an axe off the wall; the frantic shouts of the Master on the phone were warnings telling him to get out of the room. Yet there was no way out as something crashed into his own door, denting it. Another crash hit the door; the hinges were giving way visible as the Berserker stood with the weapon of his ancestors in hand. He could hear a snarling as the door gave way under another hit, and in stepped a creature that was an abomination to the gods. There were six arms on it not counting the two legs; the arms were shaped thinner than humans deceiving the power they held. The creature stood slumped over, it had an elongated neck and a head that was dominated by a huge mouth; filled with teeth sharp as a needlepoint.

The creature charged screaming and the Lord swung his axe into it. The creature underestimated his strength raising two of its arms to stop the blow, only to have them hemmed off. The Berserker screamed in rage and swung his axe around severing its head. A green blood sprayed out and covered both him and the room. As he brought his axe down he could hear even more coming into the base, literally pouring through the door below. He readied his axe and waited for them to come bursting through the walls.

“Father Odin” he said as the lifeless body of the creature sat before him. His breathing was a bit heavy as he had put tremendous power into his swings. He had no doubt in his mind that if he attacked with any less power; the creature would have easily blocked him. “Give me strength.”



----

And so Enters the Dominion of Berserker Jarls, the third and last major player in this story. Hope you enjoyed this last part. This story is now over 30 pages long (MS word) .

if you spot some editing screw ups I apologize. I’ve gone through it a few times but I’m seriously tired at the moment. I'll look over it once more after I’ve got some rest.

@zelda: ah, yes. partly true, but it's not exactly that simple as you shall find out in later parts.

[zelda12]

Very good, ~:D descriptions were a bit thin on the ground as far as the people/buildings/environment goes, but thats just your writing style.

[Monk]

as for the people: that is done purposely. No one character is described in great detail. Even the guardians (the only characters who have names) have no basic description. This is done for a reason, so no one person becomes the main character. In a sense Humanity is the main character, by taking char. desc out you find yourself thinking about the entire people instead of one or two of them.

I thought about how to write this for a long time, and everytime i tried to do it with main characters it failed and turned out horrible. I kept trying until i came across this style of writting. This style places the focus on the race/people instead of individuals. I like it because it fits well with the theme and you don't get bogged down describing some people who you know might die in five minutes (that's imo at least). In that sense this story is very experimental for me. But i have given descriptions for certain characters, i.e the ORDER ship captain, the Solician Army, Black Dragons, Colonel at the Old City (you get the idea).

as for buildings/environment: same reason. I do give desc of Environment when i think it's needed, but here the outpost is not important. All i wanted you to see was a small outpost in the middle of an arctic continent situatied around a huge vessel of some kind.

but i'm glad you liked it

[Shadow]

very nice

I like your style of writing.

[Sigurd]

Greetings Master Monk,
It was by chance I found this story and I must say; you give it a new and an exciting twist.
I am flattered you give the Jarls such credit and I am anxiously awaiting the continuance of this master piece.
Good work!!

[Monk]

part xiii
Not so Human

Blast zone 002, Quarantined area of Solicous.
21:00 hours, first encounter +4

Uriel kicked a stone as hard as he could, the rock speed over the cracked earth and bounced up before crashing down and shattering into a number of fragments. “We’ve lost them!” he cried in frustration, his brother Azreal was a few feet away and scanning the ground below him looking for some indication of where the creatures had gone. And the third guardian; Tanthius, stood upon a smoldering wreckage looking into the horizon. The wreckage he stood on was their ship, the very same they had teleported from at the Battle of the Old City. Its armor was ripped open and the crew inside was slaughtered; however there was no sign of any creature for kilometers.

“Would you keep it down?” the voice of Azreal hummed as he looked over the ground for any tracks. “Tracking these things is hard enough without you throwing a fit.”

“Well I’m sorry” Uriel laughed as he sat down on the dusty earth; his voice was worlds different from his brother, being hard and wrathful. Yet that was how he always spoke. “We can’t all be pacifists like you.” He turned to Tanthius who was standing silently on the wrecked ship and shouted, “Ain’t that right Tanthius?” However he gave no response, only staring emotionlessly into the horizon. A gentle breeze picked up and a strong silence fell between them.

Azreal rose to his feet and looked at Uriel, “You shouldn’t waste your time. First generation Guardians lack all emotion…you know that.” He sighed slightly as he said that, feeling strange sympathy for his brother who felt nothing.

“I know.” Uriel said, “but at least he isn’t consumed with worry and sorrow like you” Uriel grinned at his brother teasingly, such a joke was out of character for him. Azreal gave a slightly laugh and his soft voice emitted a strange hum as he responded.

“Yeah, and Gods forbid he be like you third ‘genys’ …full of hate and wrath!” He smiled at his brother as thunder boomed overhead. Their joking came to an end as lighting streaked across the dark sky above, each of them could sense the ominous feel of the wind. Azreal could feel a strange emotion floating on the air but could not place it, Tanthius put his hand on his sword as bands of energy began to pulse through it.

“The enemy is approaching” he said as he saw a band of creatures closing in fast, his voice was metallic and lacked all emotion, just as Azreal had said. Uriel smiled and quickly stood up readying his weapon; Tanthius leaped from the smoking heap of metal and joined his brothers and waited the arrival of the Creatures. They each held pistols and power swords at the ready awaiting their enemy; as they did the wind began to howl and above the rain broke and poured down. However as they stood, no creature appeared. Azreal used his mental prowess to scan the area around them but could sense nothing, he began to think Tanthius’ eyes had deceived him when suddenly from all around them the earth was broken and shot up into the sky by some great force. Through the dust of the shattered land the creatures jumped on the guardians; their number was small but they were confident having the element of surprise. However the swords of the Guardians flew through the air, cutting through the falling rain and finding their way through the tough flesh of their enemy. Within seconds three creatures had fallen.

The surviving creatures screamed in anger at the fall of their comrades and brought their claws to bear upon the guardians, only to meet the same fate. Tanthius swung his sword around, hemming one in half just as Uriel struck down one who was about to rip into his brother. Azreal stabbed his sword through the chest of a creature; the abomination fell upon its hind legs and slumped against the guardian. Azreal lifted his leg and placed it on what could be considered it’s “shoulder” and used his foot to push it down on the ground. The creature’s eyes were frozen in an instant of anger that it took to its death. The last creature attacked Uriel as he turned from slaying one, and in pure hatred drove three arms through the warrior. A strange dark green substance flowed from Uriel as the creature’s arms began to withdraw themselves from his body; however Uriel looked directly into its coal black eyes. He smiled a sick smile, “Not bad…” he said in a low voice, his wrath was rising in his eyes as his blood dripped down his body. The creature looked at the way he seemed to feel no pain, and for the first time in its existence, knew fear. It desperately tried to withdraw its limbs from Uriel and screamed in pure terror, yet the guardian raised his pistol quickly and jammed it into its mouth, shattering its huge teeth.

“My turn…” he pulled the trigger and his weapon fired, blowing a hole into the creatures head sending its brain and pieces of flesh scattering into the air. Uriel pushed the dead creature from him and screamed aloud in anger, firing a number of rounds into the its body. As he looked around he saw that both his brothers had survived the attack, but something was different. He looked down and saw that from his wound was flowing a green substance, it was his own blood. As his eyes looked on his brothers he noticed for the first time his blood was that of a different color, theirs was red and his was green. More shocking, his blood was the same color as that of the creatures’. The other guardians took no notice to this, assuming that it was the creatures’ blood. Before they could examine his wound more Uriel covered it quickly.

Tanthius looked down into one of the holes the creatures came from and saw a metal corridor, it appeared to be some type of hall way. If he could feel confusion, now would be the time he’d feel it. “Brothers…” he said in a slightly weary voice. “To me.” Azreal and Uriel quickly came over and looked down into the hole; they were greatly shocked to see what looked to be the hallway of some underground base.

“Good work Tanthius.” Azreal said as he looked down, “we’ll keep moving from here.” His eyes set on his brother Uriel who was holding his covered up shoulder. “Something wrong?” he asked concerned.

Uriel shook his head “No…I’m alright.” Azreal could sense deceit in his words however Uriel was always secretive to some degree, he paid it no heed.

“Very well, let’s move through here” Azreal motioned to the hallway as Tanthius dropped down into the hole without waiting another moment. The sound from his landing echoed through the dark corridor, he looked around seeing no threat and motioned to his brothers that it was all clear. Azreal then descended into the hall followed lastly by Uriel.

The guardians readied themselves and moved down the hall, being cautious and alert to any sign of the creatures. Yet as they traversed the metal corridor there was neither sight nor sound of them. The only thing that greeted them was the whispers of an age gone by. The darkness was thick as they moved slightly quicker, around them they were slowly starting to hear noises; that of a computer processing something. The sound seemed to go hand in hand with the silence making them all a bit uneasy. After what seemed like hours they came out of the darkness into a fairly sized room with a large computer and screen on the north wall. On the left wall there was a door and the right wall there was a map of Solicous with areas marked out. Much of the north was a red color and marked “Loyalist”, the south western portion was covered in blue and had “Alliance” written on it. Finally the jungles of Solicous and the south-eastern area of the map was a color of green and labeled “NR rebels”.

Azreal laughed “I don’t believe it.” He looked at the high tech equipment in the room and smiled.

“What is it? Where are we?” Uriel asked; his usual anger ravaged voice was now taken by confusion as he looked around. Tanthius scanned the hall behind and made sure it was secure; lacking emotion he did what he normally did at this moment which was his job.

“It’s one of the Berserker’s bases they established in the Civil war.” Azreal said rather anxiously as he walked over to the computer, he punched in a few commands and quickly text displayed itself. The words were in the berserker’s language; which if you had an understanding of Old Norse, was not that difficult to understand. Of course, knowledge of foreign languages was something implanted into all guardians since the first one was created.

“So…how does that help us?” Uriel rolled his eyes, his annoyed and hateful voice now found its way back to the surface surpassing his confusion.

Azreal was punching in commands to the system as he responded, “You have to think of the bigger picture dear brother.” He couldn’t help but smile, “From here I can access the Solician Mainframe, maybe there’s info about those things in there.”

“Oh” Uriel said, a bit embarrassed he didn’t think of that. “Well then go ahead.” In a few moments Azreal had established an uplink to the Solician mainframe network and gained access using his authorization code. As he did so though, a question appeared on the screen. Yet it wasn’t a search question or a password requirement; displayed in perfect Solician was the question “Just what do you think you’re doing Azreal?”

Uriel was astounded as he saw the text display itself on the screen, as was Azreal. “What the hell? Did someone track the link?” Uriel asked worried

“No.” Azreal replied. “It’s coming from…” there was a beep from the machine as he found the location of the sender, “inside the mainframe.”

Tanthius heard that and said “It must be Andy”. He turned and faced Azreal who in turn did the same. “The A.I” as normal his voice was emotionless, but his eyes reflected his confidence that he was right.

“I thought that thing was deactivated.” Uriel said as he looked at the screen.

“Apparently not,” Azreal said as he punched a few keys. “Maybe he knows what’s going on.” The guardian punched the keys before him and asked the A.I a simple question, “What do you know about the creatures?” there was a moment of silence before a line of text flashed into place. “Be specific Guardian.” The A.I responded.

Azreal shook his head, computers are stubborn they need the right info. So he rephrased his question. The sound of him hitting keys filled the room as the others watch the words form on the screen. “What do you know about the creatures met by the 5th Solace at the Old City?”

The A.I responded rather quickly; “Quite a lot. What do you wish to know?” Azreal smiled and typed a simple word “Everything”

What followed was a lengthy silence before a number of lines appeared below Azreal’s query. It was a .dat file that the A.I retrieved and opened for the guardian, within which was a shocking amount of information that Azreal read aloud, perhaps some lines he should have kept to himself though. It read as followed:

“Specimen 04, starting as a bipedal organism created as a weapon of last resort. First test subject was created in the aftermath of Second Solician civil war, also known as G102”

Azreal couldn’t help but notice that was the designation for the second generation of Guardians. He stopped for a moment and thought of what that could mean before continuing.

“G102 was found to be too compassionate, not fitting with project outlines. Furthermore, subject’s Humanoid form created sympathy for “fellow” humans. Type G102 frozen following creation of fifty test specimens.”

‘That would explain why I awoke frozen in a cryo-pod’ Azreal thought. ‘But.. this can’t be right…’

“Experiments on second generation guardians yielded the creation of G103”

Azreal was starting to see a pattern; that was the designation for the third generation guardians. The same type Uriel was. Uriel upon hearing this became greatly confused as Azreal read on.

“G103 met outlined requirements of project, but Solician government was unwilling to follow through with experiments. Subject’s mental capacities proved unstable. Demand for a non-humanoid Specimen was first raised, G103 placed in cryo-stasis. G104 created some time later using the same method used for G103; manipulation and combination of DNA from various sources yielded the creation of what is officially named “specimen 04” or G104.”

“…what?” Uriel said. “This can’t be saying what I think it is.” Azreal ignored the silent words of his brother and kept reading, his own voice beginning to shake as he did so.

“G104 moved to Research station 82 for further experimentation and testing. Genetic material of subject is unstable and adapts to environment over a single generation.” The file ended, it seemed unfinished. Azreal couldn’t believe the words before him, if this was true, the guardians were created the same way those creatures were.

Uriel leaned against the wall; he couldn’t understand what he heard. Thoughts were racing in his mind, thoughts that sickened him but at the same time made sense. Neither of his brothers noticed the change taking place in him; Azreal was to busy asking the A.I if the information was accurate and Tanthius just didn’t care. Uriel closed his eyes, he kept seeing scenes of death and destruction and no matter what he did he couldn’t drive them from his mind. All at once a cruel realization dawned on him, he wasn’t human at all. He was one of these creatures just in human form. That’s why he bled the same color and felt no remorse for the dead at the Old city. As it all set in his hate seemed to flare up again, driving away his confusion. He understood it all clearly now, it was like a dam in his mind broke and every horrible thought he had fled into his conscience mind. But instead of being sickened by the images he saw, he smiled in delight. Any shred of humanity he had in him was lost in that instant.

He stood up straight and raised his pistol to Tanthius’ head, without hesitation he fired into the back of the guardian’s skull shattering the bone and ending the life of his brother. Azreal turned and saw Uriel standing over the fallen body of Tanthius, his mouth slowly opened in utter shock and fear as he saw the look on Uriel’s face. One of pure hatred like that he had never seen him show. Uriel pointed his pistol at Azreal and fired; his brother was fast and could have easily dodged the shot. Yet the sight his brother killing Tanthius was too much; he was frozen in place and the bullet hit him in the chest. The bullet raced through his chest and cut through his heart, ending his existence as well.

As if on cue screams echoed down the hall and Uriel turned to see two creatures coming out of the shadows. They looked upon him in a twisted sense of respect and bowed before him. The creatures had psychic powers as Azreal had, and they could sense Uriel had changed and was now like them to some extent. Strangely they now regarded him as as a leader figure. Uriel smiled as he spoke, his voice seemed a thousand times more ravaged by hate than it had been before. “Go now my brothers” he said, “gather our kin.”


--------

ok i lied... 1 main character (sorta ) .

@ shadow: thank you glad you like it.

@ Sigurd: i've been hoping those who were on NS at the time would come by and read this. i'm very glad you like it and the Jarls deserve all the credit i give them. very glad you enjoy it

[Monk]

part xiv
There is one truth

Solace – Capitol of Solicous
6:00 hours, first encounter +6

The darkness held sway in the high council chambers, dim lights were placed here and there but they did little to hold back the void into which all sight was lost. The king was sitting alone, with papers strewn about him. He was reading over them endlessly trying to take in all the information at once; it seemed each time he had a grasp on the situation another messenger would burst through the door with yet more bad reports for him to read. Some were inferred readings taking by satellites; others were first hand reports from scouts. The later being very small in number, it seemed hardly anyone ever saw the creatures and lived to tell about them. Every shred of information at his disposal told him they were advancing, consuming all in their path.

He raised his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead and yawned. He looked up at the clock but he couldn’t see the hands on its face. Though the way he felt it must have been early, or perhaps late. He was losing track of time; after four days without sleep that tends to happen. He looked wearily at a scouting report, his eyes barely open. Slowly his head was moving toward the table, yet he didn’t seem to notice. Before he realized it his head was resting on the wooden table and his eyes were closed. He might have found peace in his sleep if at that very moment a messenger burst through the doors to the hall; sending them flying open and hitting the walls with a huge crash that echoed in the empty room. The king sat straight up and looked at the frantic messenger, his weariness melting in an instant being replaced by concern.

“Sir!” the messenger shouted as he rushed in, from the way his breathing was heavy he had no doubt been running for some time. “I’ve…been trying to find you!” he stood by the king and bowed.

“What is it?” the king asked worriedly, seeing the look of terror in his face.

“The creatures” he gasped between heavy pants. “They’ve…overrun Arcadia…”

“Damn…” the king stood and hung his head low as he walked a few paces along the smooth floor. “But I thought the 17th mech division was stationed at Arcadia?” he turned back to the messenger and studied his face; as if drawing the information from him he sighed. He knew the answer before it was given to him.

“The 17th has been wiped out.” the messenger replied regretfully. He was finally catching his breath but as he now had time to “digest” the information he carried; he was overcome with sympathy.

“Then that puts them somewhere outside blast zone 02” the king was speaking to himself, putting his thoughts into words trying to make a plan. It was not uncommon, but the messenger could not help but speak to him.

“Sire.” He said glancing over the reports the king had been reading, “after they took Arcadia. They stopped…” The king’s pacing suddenly stopped, he turned around and looked upon the messenger.

“What do you mean stopped?” he asked confused.

“I mean they stopped” the messenger said again, “as in they refused to keep advancing.”

“They haven’t stopped once since we encountered them” the king let his mind wander again trying to find meaning in that piece of information. “it has been one city falling after another.” He looked at the messenger and asked “What’s in Arcadia?”

The messenger shrugged his shoulders “not much sire, just a typical small city. No real strategic advantages.” The king had hoped that he’d know more; some piece of intelligence that had been over looked. Arcadia was indeed not important; the only importance it carried was the 17th mech division patrolled in the area.

“First the Old City” the king looked up into the darkness above him, he couldn’t see the ceiling. “Now Arcadia. Just what is it they’re after?”

Another messenger ran into the room, he took no notice of the other standing by the table; instead he shouted directly at the king. “Sir!” his voice was less tired than the other’s. The king turned to him, still lost in his thoughts. “call for you sire!”

“I don’t want to speak to anyone now” the king sighed.

“It’s Olav Grimsson” as the king heard the name of the caller his attitude changed almost immediately. He smiled slightly, that was the leader of the Berserker nation’s name.

“I’ll take it here, thank you” the king turned around and began walking to the other end of the hall, the two messengers bowed again and walked out. The king moved down the table to the far wall where he hit a button and lights came up slowly; the wall opened slightly and a monitor appeared out of a small compartment. He reached out and turned the monitor on, for a few moments the screen was scrambled; but as the signal was redirected soon an image formed. The face of a bearded man appeared out of the static; slowly the transmission was cleaned up and a strong wise leader’s image was before the king.

“Olav…good to see you” the king smiled at seeing his old friend once more.

“You too kid!” Olav laughed, “Been a long time eh?”

The king nodded, “Yes, since the Abbadon treaty. What can I do for you?” he got to the point quickly; despite how nice it was to see an old ally he didn’t want him knowing the troubles within Solicous.

“I think you should know.” Olav answered quickly. His eyes were unmoving and slightly intimidating to look into; despite being on a monitor. “We know of the daemons.”

The king was confused for a moment, but he quickly realized he meant; “the creatures…”

“Aye, call them what you will.” Olav said. There was no hint of friendship in his voice; his tone had drastically changed.

“How have you found out?” the king asked, his thoughts quickly moving to suspicion that someone had leaked information out.

“The question is not how I know of them” Olav responded, not able to keep himself from displaying disappointment at something. “The question is; what were you and the ORDER thinking?”

“If you mean their creation,” the king began only to be cut off.

“I do.” the berserker said. “I’d have expected better from you.”

“I didn’t give the order for their creation” the king said defending himself. “It-” he quickly found himself cut off again.

“It was your high council?” the berserker asked already knowing the answer. “Of course. But have you ever asked yourself why they did it?”

“I’ve been doing that since I was told of them” the king replied quickly. He started thinking to himself and said openly “perhaps I should not have killed them.”

“Dead men do not speak” the berserker couldn’t help but laugh; his laughter was strange and menacing to hear. ‘is that a joke?’ the king began to wonder. The berserker calmed himself, gaing control over his laughter. “Your council did not act alone” he said calmly, it was amazing to see how easily his emotions were put in check.

“Wait…then who-” the king was yet again cut off and becoming very annoyed. It was as if he was getting no respect from this man.

“We’re not sure.” Olav said, his own words intersecting the king’s. “Our sources show it was elements in the ORDER government; done without the Emperor’s knowledge.” The king’s annoyance was overcome with confusion, not the first time in this past week that had happened.

“But isn’t that treason?” he asked

“It is, as I’m sure it’s treason for what the council did.” Olav pointed out. “Two nation’s governments are hiding what their left hand is doing from the right.” As Olav was saying this the king realized what it might be. It was something that little remembered and if it was true, would make complete sense.

“Tharkkad!” he shouted. Olav was speaking at the time but the king had not even heard his words; he was taken aback by both the sudden outburst and by the choice of the word. The king smiled, he had to be right. “It’s Tharkkad.”

“What are you babbling about?” Olav asked. “Tharkkad annexed into the Imperium years ago.”

“I know” the king said, he would have been happy for figuring it all out if the whole situation the truth put them in was not so dark. “But, remember years back…when the Imperium was nearly toppled by a civil war.”

“I do” Olav nodded in response, still unclear what the young king was getting at.

“It’s well known that the ORDER government was infiltrated by Tharkkad officials” the king explained, trying to be as detailed as he could. “they tried to seize power in a civil war.”

“Ah yes” said the berserker. “I remember now; but if I recall the Emperor returned and purged the Tharkkad officials from the government. Indeed he purged all who fought him.”

“Yes” the king replied. “But…what if some survived the purge?” the questioned raised the berserker’s eyebrow.

“What are you saying?” Olav asked.

“What if the remnants of a Tharkkad government acted on the Abbadon treaty?” the king said asking a question that was not meant to be answered. Even as he spoke he knew the words that came from his lips were true. “Think about it; their power is broken, but they still wanted revenge.”

“So they use the Solician’s vulnerability to get them to build a new weapon?” the berserker was started to understand what was being said.

“Yes” the king responded. “Why not? If the reports I’ve read are correct; the specimen would have been shipped to the ORDER today if it had not gotten free.” Olav began to comprehend the information, he looked up and was about to say something when suddenly the screen went black. The light the monitor emitted was gone, but the silent hum of technology could still be heard. The king stepped back puzzled; trying to understand what was wrong when suddenly white text started to appear on the screen.

He read the words, and as he did he was overcome with anger because he knew he was right. His entire theory was proved by the words that appeared before him. In all five simple words were all that displayed, but it was enough to show a world of meaning; “Signal jammed by unknown source”

[Monk]

part xv
Little Arcadia

ORDER battleship, Cargo hold 02, Upper Earth Orbit
07:20 hours, first encounter +6

“And give thy thanks to thine Emperor!” shouted the chaplain, his voice echoed in the cargo bay bouncing off the drop pods behind him; being carried far above before falling silent. Before him stood hundreds of armored warriors, their eyes turned down at the ground; their silent lips and near glazed over looks did much to hide the activities of their minds. Inside of which thoughts of battle, death and war raged on; finally after so long they would taste battle. After countless days of peace the chance to crush their Emperor’s enemies had come once more; and they could hardly wait.

Amael was standing perfectly still; his eyes were upon the ground as morning prayers were coming to an end. He was of the Deathwing; he was one of the first into battle aboard Prometheus station and one of the only men who escaped its destruction. His flesh had been scarred in many places from the burns he had received from two sources; from the guns of the Solician security teams, and from daemons to horrid to look upon. The company chaplain began to bless each warrior, walking down the line telling them to praise the Emperor as they went to battle; Amael would normally be attentive at this time, yet now his thoughts were turning to his dead brothers. Each soldier of the Deathwing considered themselves closer than brothers; for the training was so rigorous and intense only ten percent of those who sought entry every made it through. And in many aspects they were much like the guardians of Solicous; manipulated through genetic enhancements and surgical implants. Yet even their strength did little to stop the creatures as they ripped through their ranks. ‘How could our strength fail us so?’ he thought to himself.

The ship communications engaged and a voice came over the intercom; it was the base commander. His voice held no emotion, only honor and duty. He gave orders to his men, telling them to board the drop pods and cleanse the Solician City of Arcadia. The name sounded familiar to Amael yet he did not understand why, perhaps an old memory forgotten long ago. A certain stress came over him as he realized he had heard the name but his mind failed him; yet he would have no time to gather his thoughts. For the commander’s voice dictated that the Deathwing should be the first into battle. “Destroy the xenos!” he said, if the troops could see him they would have seen a smile on his face. “For the emperor!”

Amael put his helmet on and linked it to his suit, his near silent breathing now moved through the metal face guard making an eerie sound. All the troops did as he; and soon they were ready to do battle. He grabbed his bolter and held it close to him, the huge rifle held immense power. Yet at Prometheus he had watched his comrades empty entire clips at a terrible looking creature and hit nothing but the metal hull. As the troops began to board the drop pods the images flooded back; the howling screams, the sound of flesh and metal being ripped open as blood flowed freely from severed arms and legs. The death cries from his friends; the charge of infuriated brothers in arms at the death of a comrade, and the sound of bone breaking. The undeniable crack from the communications system as another squad lost contact with him. It was too much; he grabbed his head and knelt upon the ground. Desperately he tried to drive the images from his mind but the more he tried the stronger they became.

He closed his eyes and said aloud “enough” his voice; normally quiet and calm came out metallic and menacing. Such was the way a helmet warped once voice to sound intimidating. Yet as Amael felt all the sorrow and loss building up; he felt a hand upon his shoulder. Slowly he looked up; his eyes wandered up the arm of a mysterious figure until he came to a face that was strangely calm. It was an ORDER admiral. He smiled; the wrinkles on his face became defined as he stared down at the troubled warrior. His eyes were a bright green; within them a strange light was glowing. They were the exact opposite of the dark voids that he saw within the creature’s eyes.

“Everything alright?” the admiral asked, he wasn’t actually concerned for Amael; instead he was concerned that the troubles the soldier showed would spread to the others. Even so Amael smiled beneath the cover of his helmet, even if the admiral didn’t care about him; it was nice to have someone ask that question once in a while.

“Yes my lord” he said and raised to his feet, for a strange reason he found it easier to drive away the horrible thoughts that had plagued him moments before. Maybe it was the strange calm within the Admiral’s eyes; or maybe it was the false sense of care that he showed. Whatever the case may be, Amael was finding his resolve returning to him.

“Good, we’d better get to the drop pods” the admiral patted Amael on the shoulder guard reassuring him. “After all, we don’t want to be left behind.” He walked ahead with the rest of the troops boarding and Amael followed soon after. About a hundred soldiers were crammed into countless drop pods. Drop ships that looked like a pod of some kind, enough for one or two squads; they were a one way trip to earth. The ORDER soldiers secured themselves and one by one the green light came from each pod. The battle ship then opened it’s cargo bay doors and a countdown began; on the bridge the commander of the vessel looked upon the earth as he nodded, giving the order for them to drop. The pods’ engines fired and down they went at an incredible speed. They shot from the hold and streaked into the atmosphere; the heat on their outer hulls rising at an amazing speed but inside the temperature remained the same. The troops inside the pods were being shaken about as they carved their way through the earth’s ozone and came falling through the morning sky.

Creature infested Arcadia
07:31 hours

Thousands of screams were echoing about at once; praising the day’s kill and the bounty of flesh they now could consume. Houses were broken and nearly torn apart and farms that had helped sustain an entire region were now being ravaged for sustenance by strange beings who seemed to care not who or what they ate. They were rampaging through an empty city; but as their “celebration’ went on; the sound of air being cut though could be heard. The creatures stopped and looked about puzzled; they had heard that sound before but their minds were all screaming and speaking at once. They could not silence them long enough to think properly and call the information they needed. The sound became more numerous and sounded as if something was on the way; yet as they turned and looked about them they saw nothing. They began running about in confusion before they saw it. Dark specks had formed in the sky above; the creatures looked at them curiously; turning their heads from side to side trying to analyze what they could be.

More and more of the objects appeared by the moment, and the sound of air being cut slowly changed to the sound of an object plummeting to the ground. Some of the more intelligent creatures screamed out and like ants running from a fire they scattered. Their timing seemed perfect as the ORDER drop pods slammed into the ground; destroying streets and breaking concrete sending huge cracks running from the impact. All about the land silenced as more and more of the pods fell until there was many throughout the entire city. Just as the creatures were about to show themselves the pod’s sides opened with the sound of air being released; as if a seal of some kind was broken and the doors to then flew open.

Amael and his squad ended up in the center of the city; three other pods had hit near by so they were not isolated as one or two squads found themselves. The ORDER troops disembarked cautiously; they were hit with a silence as they stepped from their drop pods. A silence that seemed to beg for an ambush and cry out for deception; it was unnerving. Amael moved his squad away from the landing and expected heavy resistance, but there was no sign of the creatures. Even more strange was the lack of corpses around him; he would not have expected corpses had the road not been literally “paved” in blood. It was sickening to see, and he could not deny a turning in his stomach as he saw entire streets covered in the scarlet liquid.

“Fifth squad come in.” it was the commander calling for Amael, the voice echoes inside his helmet as he gave a reply quickly. “Fifth squad reporting.”

“Looks like the Solician mech corps was wiped out.” He said as Amael detected a sigh upon his voice. “We’ve got downed Thunder-swords everywhere.” Amael was taken aback by the statement; the thunder-swords were formidable mech units and not taken down easily.

“Sir; we’ve got blood here, the streets covered in it” Amael replied as he tried to control his emotions; a squad of troops began advanced past him and his men. Moving slowly and cautiously down the blood soaked road. “I think whatever happened we missed it.” Yet even as he said that screams erupted all over the city at once. It was as if the creatures had tired of waiting and had sprung their ambush. Gunfire echoed over the city and the commander’s com link was severed abruptly. “Damn!” Amael shouted; he could sense moving all about him. The entire city seemed alive as the sounds of the creatures’ limbs upon the concrete could be heard; gunfire and death cries from both species raising up over buildings and echoing inside his helmet on the com system. The squad moving down the street ahead of him was suddenly over taken as a swarm of creatures bursting from a house nearby. Their weapons blazed with fire as their bullets cut into their enemy and slain many, but it seemed for every creature slain another appeared.

Amael ordered his squad fall back to the drop pod and call for reinforcements. He could hear the sound of death and battle raging around him as they pulled back; he reached the pod and moved inside. As he did so from all directions the creatures poured from their hiding places. From windows, doors and side streets they came like a wave. Amael’s squad opened fire into them; yet even as their shots hit the dead only seemed to anger the living. The creatures pressed forward, and with the way the ORDER troops landed scattered found them easy to rip apart and literally feast upon them.

The squad around the drop pod fired in every direction, but as the creatures came close they jumped to their hind legs and brandished their claws and arms. Rushing their armored foe in a frenzy cutting into them; even if the troops could stop one of their arms another three would slay them with ungodly speed. Amael turned and looked outside the pod to see his men being slain; grabbing his weapon he opened fire out of the pod. His bolter echoed in the confined space and the shell casing bounced from wall to wall being hitting the ground. His bullets cut into one; and then sliced into another shattering their bones and ripping their flesh apart. Yet as they turned their attention to him and moved upon the pod they became what seemed a wall of claw, tooth, bone and arm. They moved with such speed that even though he kept firing he could not tell if he killed any; they swarmed the pod moving inside even as the sound of the bolter continued. The last thing his sight saw was the jaws of a creature as its saliva dripped from a tooth before darkness fell upon him.

Within hours the ORDER assault on Arcadia was over; it had failed miserably.


-------------

so tired...but if i had put off posting this i was going to forget to; again!

the previous part was sloppy i know, i hope this one makes up for that. now i'm going to rest. (expect a few typoes as is my style )

[AntiochusIII]

Incredible. You are an excellent writer

Though I noticed that in part III (I've just read them all right now) your speechs sound - extremely - similar to the Warcraft III's "The Scourge of Lordaeron" opening movie

Am I right?

[Monk]

Though I noticed that in part III (I've just read them all right now) your speechs sound - extremely - similar to the Warcraft III's "The Scourge of Lordaeron" opening movie

does it? i've not played warcraft 3 in ages.

i went over the third part and when i compared them there are some similarities i guess. both are discussing a threat of unknown source. The only part that actually sounds the same is the first guy, who now that i think of it does sound a bit like one of the men from that cut-scene.

oh well... if it came out that way i guess it's a coincidence; didn't mean to give that impression

i'm off to sleep now. i'm glad you enjoyed it though

[Monk]

part xvi
The Infected

“Shadow” station, Solician mountain cluster
19:01 hours, first encounter +6


The sun was falling into the west; the orange fire burning in the sky was fading fast as the night poured into place filling the void left behind. The purple mists of the darkness settled in as bright white stars peeked out from behind the veil. Not a cloud could be seen as a cold winter breeze drifted down from the peaks all surrounding the station, it was freezing cold. It always seemed to be here in the north where mountain peaks ran together; forming an almost impenetrable shield for Solicous to the south. Only the strongest ever survived in these conditions; fewer still would build their science stations in such a land. As the breeze turned into a howling wind; there was a strange noise on the air. A sound that echoed industry and mighty machines, yet as it was thrown from mountain peak to peak; it at the same time sounded almost ancient.

Matiel yawned as he drew in the cold dry air of the mountains. He stretched his tired arms before letting them fall and sighed frustrated. ‘Some job’ the words sounded loud inside his tired mind, yet if he had spoken them they might have only been a whisper. He looked around himself to see no one in sight; nothing but the biting wind that was freezing him in place. The mountain trail was already gathering a light frost and the lights on the side of the station gave the only illumination in the darkening landscape. The jagged outcrops that rose high above the station on all sides cast deep and dark shadows as the sun was setting in the west. Matiel was considering going back inside; after all why should he freeze out here when Solicous wasn’t at war with anyone. The wind blew harder suddenly and he heard it scream as it passed through the metal of the only mining mech they had.

“That’s it” he said finally; his eyes felt as if they were turning to ice in his very sockets. He turned quickly and extended his hand to the keypad near the metal door leading into the station; he punched in his access code. As he did so a series of beeps followed his finger movements. Words on the keypad flashed “Access Granted” and the door unlocked. Matiel smiled slightly as he grabbed hold of the handle and pulled quickly; yet as the door flew open he heard it for the first time. It was very faint but there all the same; two sounds were gliding on the wind and piercing the silence of the mountains. Matiel stopped immediately as he heard them; they were worlds apart and barely even audible as he turned and starred at the mountain trail in front of the station. One sounded like a mech column; but the sounds were louder and heavier than that like a thunder-sword might make. The other sound seemed to blend into the wind; and its screaming noise became apart of the howl of the wind making Matiel think it was just his imagination.

His mind focused on the machine sound; he couldn’t help but feel uneasy the more he listened. For the more he listened the more he thought, and the more he thought the more he realized something was amiss. There were no mechanized divisions in this area; at least there shouldn’t be. His confusion was cut through and disappeared in a flash of laughter as he shook his head and spoke to himself “Easy Matiel” he calmed himself; “no one would dare try to get through these mountains.” He looked to the trail, his eyes slowly roamed along the sides of a mountain that skirted the small road. “It’s probably just the 81st…yeah that’s it” his words were hollow holding no confidence; yet he nodded his head quickly trying to convince himself he was right.

Matiel turned and before he could think anymore he walked into the station; the warmth of the base quickly drove away the ice that had been settling into his blood and his worries quickly. He placed his rifle at ease and began to make his way through the concrete halls of the base. He sighed as he moved through the science station; this had to have been the dullest post he’d ever received. Why the 10th Kanak had to baby sit a bunch of scientists and their little “pets” was beyond him. Day in and out nothing but guard duty; he’d much rather have a post in Solace, or maybe even Tartarus. ‘I’d much sooner rebuild Abaddon then stay here’ Matiel thought to himself, he couldn’t help but crack a smile.

He reached the inner security door and punched in the access code; he looked around for the usual site of about a hundred scientists running about. Each spouting their own version of ‘techno nonsense’, holding clip boards and trying to do their job as he; yet he was all alone. The hall was deafly silent; his finger pressed down on the “enter” button on the keypad as his eyes scanned around. The pad quickly accepted his code clearance and the door slide open quickly. As he looked in the door he still saw no one around; not a single soul was in site where normally you could barely push your way through at this hour. The soldier could feel his uneasiness creeping back; and a slight sense of fear slowly churning its way into his chest. “Where is everyone?” his voice was but a whisper and meant for no one but him to hear; even so he half- expected someone to answer.

There was a chilling wind pushing through the base as he moved through the door; it almost felt like someone had left the hanger door open a few sections down the hall. Matiel kept moving; passed the security station where everything seemed in order, except no one was there. The gurgle of the coffee pot was the only thing making noise aside from his footsteps. He stopped immediately; suddenly he felt his fear come screaming into the forefront of his mind. Matiel felt his hands tremble around his rifle as he looked about in near panic. There was something close; he could feel the movement through the air. The soft currents of the wind were being disrupted. Maybe it was his imagination but he could swear something wasn’t right. He took a deep breath and felt the cool wind enter his lungs; he held his rifle close to him and kept moving.

Suddenly out from a side passage a figure bolted from cover and ran frantically toward him. Matiel nearly screamed in pure terror as he raised his rifle at the darkened shape of a man charging at him. It was making strange moaning noises; almost screaming but in a shredded and muffled voice. Matiel locked eyes with it, unsure of what to do for a moment. His finger tightened around the trigger and he was about to squeeze it fully when he a saw sharp object in the shape of an arm bust from the figure’s body in an explosion of blood. The figure let out of horrible shout and stumbled back; it fell to its knees letting out a wail as blood dripped from the new limb. A short and harsh breathing was coming from the man, if that was indeed what it was. Matiel could see he was a soldier; but his armor had been ripped in a number of places. The man’s skin was turned brown and his eyes were a mix between half black and half white; two voids of different colors. The limb that had burst from his left side was thin and elongated; much longer than his others. It dripped a dark blood that seemed a mix of scarlet and green; turning it to a fiery color that was strange in everyway.

Matiel held his rifle pointed directly whatever this thing was; its face was disfigured almost as if the bone structure was twisting about making the mouth larger. He could hear its heavy breathing through its teeth, causing a hissing sound. It looked almost human, yet it was changing into something else. Almost like… “No…” Matiel thought out loud, his voice taken by both fear and surprise. “Don’t tell me.” He looked at the figure sitting in front of him again and stepped back, yet as he did it let out a piercing scream unlike he had heard before. It caused him to drop his weapon and cover his ears and close his eyes tightly.

Slowly it rose to its feet and screamed again. Matiel could not stop from falling down on his knees as it did so. Two more arms ripped through its flesh with a sickening sound and dripped with its blood which was increasingly turning a dark green. He could hear bones cracking as his eyes wondered up; seeing the man’s eyes turn completely black and his face transform to complement ever growing jaws in his mouth. Gathering what sense he had Matiel grabbed his rifle and pointed it up toward the creature. It was preoccupied with its transformation as he took aim and fired; in an instant a bright wave of energy shot from the barrel of his gun and traveled through the creature’s chest. Developing bone and flesh were cut through in an instant as a cloud of its blood filled the air in a mist. It dropped to its knees, still breathing. Matiel stood up and let out a shout as he pointed his rifle at the creature’s head. As he pulled the trigger this time it did not get up. The energy beam passed through the head of the creature, slicing through its twisted brain and throwing the lifeless body onto the floor.

As life faded in the creature a hundred more screams rose up in an instant; Matiel readied himself as he stood. He could feel his heart in an iron grip; as if his fear had grown a hand and was holding onto it trying to make him fall before whatever awaited him. Yet as the blood was forming on the floor he stood firm, his mind reached a terrible realization. The rumors of test subjects were true, how could he have not seen it sooner? “how could I be that blind?” he thought to himself. As he stood rifle in hand the slight pain in his chest multiplied by one hundred fold; it felt like someone had stabbed him numerous times through his heart and he could not keep his strength. Once more he fell to the ground; he could feel something moving through his skin. His veins felt as if they would pop all at once any moment. “What…” he could barely manage the words as his breathing became shallow. “Is…ha...” his voice was warping; and before he could finish the last word he felt pain in every inch of his body. He shouted in pain as his eyes turned a black color; slowly his shout turned to a shrill scream.

ORDER bomber formation
Solician Mountain cluster; 2k from Shadow Station

A formation of lumbering bombers cut a way through the sky. Their black surface seemed to become lost in the approaching night. The air shifted about their wings as they thundered toward their destination.

The pilot flipped a few switches as he made the last course correction; he looked about him and spoke “flying over Solicous” he was reporting back to HQ as he was ordered to do. The co-pilot was scanning the sky; looking for any opposition but he saw none. “On target” the pilot sighed as he guided his plane through the airspace of another nation. He was piloting the lead bomber; another 5 were following his lead. He knew what he was about to do might spark open war, yet at the same time he had no choice. The co-pilot leaned forward and flipped a number of switches; they both heard the bomb bay doors open slowly.

“30 seconds.” he said quietly as he looked into the sunset before him.

A voice came over the com system quickly; it held no emotion which seemed typical for Order officers. “Do not let Infected humans escape” the voice said.

“I know sir.” the pilot responded as he looked at his co-pilot and then back at the sun. “But…I just don’t understand. Can we not leave this problem to the Solicians?” the co-pilot glanced at him but did not speak. The voice on the comms was silent for a moment, possibly wondering who this bomber pilot was to question him.

After a slight pause the voice spoke again. “Do not question the Emperor” it said as a hint of anger could be hear rising, though it was clear the voice tried to keep composed. “To question is to doubt… and to doubt your Emperor is treason.” The comm link was cut suddenly as the last words rang in the pilot’s mind. He shook his head and sighed, turning to the co-pilot he nodded slowly. He then flipped a switch and said “firing on target” and then pulled down a lever, the clamps on the bombs were released and they fell through the sky. The other bombers followed quickly releasing their payload. The bombs fell from the heavens and crashed into the station below causing a great explosion that rocked the mountains; a fireball rose up from the smoldering wreckage before being silenced by the cold wind.

Communications was re-established with their base of operations. “Target destroyed” rang over the open channel. A familiar voice responded; “Any sign of the berserkers?”

The pilot had no idea he was looking for them in this area, so he replied quickly “no sir.”

The voice laughed slightly; “I should have guessed…perhaps it’s impossible to get mechs through those mountains after all. Return to base”

“Yes sir” the pilot responded relieved; happy to be heading out of the Solician nation. Yet as the formation turned and flew back toward the Imperium; the earthshaking sound of heavy machinery could be heard in the mountains. Echoing through the mountaintops the sound moved south.

_________________

ok...had to write this two times to get it to come out right. some parts still seem a bit off but i think it's ok. please tell me what you all think.

just to clear something up; when i say "mech" i do not mean "mechanized". think "mech" like "mechwarrior" or a similiar universe. in otherwords; a battlemech which became common place in the armies of the region toward the end of the rp.

[Sigurd]

I sense a shift in technology from bullet-spraying to energy weapons. I guess it is time for pushing top secret technology into production.
I don’t mind spelling errors and whatnot when the story is as enthralling as this… I am waiting with anticipation for the next part.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

"Game over, man, game over!"

That seemed a little like Aliens with the infestation... but I bet that's a pretty widespread Sci-fi thing.

Very, very good, as usual.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I hope Monk didn't die at his computer. I want to hear the end of the story!

[Monk]

part xvii
Slow Genocide

City of Tartarus, Solicous
05:30 hours, first encounter +7

The night sky, normally a vast ocean of darkness looking down on the world was covered by a thick blanket of clouds. Thunder cracked above and rain burst forth, falling to the ground in a terrible storm. Lighting streaked across the sky as water covered the streets of Tartarus. Another cry of thunder sounded in the brooding morning sky; this time it was much louder. It shook the buildings of man to their very foundations, testing their strength before finally silencing itself. The people of the city, those who were not sleeping, fled for cover in the downpour. All accept those who had long since lost their way.

Corallis slumped down against the streetlight; its bright light warming his shoulders despite the freezing cold rain pouring down upon him at that exact moment. He closed his eyes and tried to forget what he saw; but the images had become imprinted into his skull. How a routine archeological study could go so wrong just didn’t seem possible. He closed his eyes even tighter trying to forget; however the more he did so the clearer the images became. The pain of lose cut through his heart like a knife; everyone he knew was gone now. ‘What were those things?’ he wondered to himself, even his mind was wrought with sorrow and confusion. Unfortunately no answer was given to him as a howling wind began to blow from the south; driving the wind down even harder than before.

Corallis opened his eyes slightly; small slits appeared in his eyelids allowing him to peek out unto an empty street filling with water. The grey buildings around him seemed hollow, only serving to throw his emotions screaming back into his mind as he searched for answers. Slowly he slide down the streetlight until he found himself sitting, his back still propped against the pole. Nothing made sense anymore; he let his shoulders slump and he closed his eyes tight once more. Finally admitting his spirit was broken Corallis gave up on everything all at once.

Yet even as he did so a sound came screaming into his mind, slicing through his confusion and his pain in an instant. The sound seemed to echo outside of the events of the world somehow; as if the thunderous storm above could not overshadow them no matter what it did. Closer and closer the sound got to him; and that’s when he realized it. It was nothing but footsteps! Footsteps were sounding clearly above the rain, the splashes of water and the thunder all at once. Corallis turned his head and focused upon where the sound was emitting from, and to his surprise he saw a lone figure. His vision was blurred from having his eyes closed so tightly, but he swore he could see that it walked at an angle. The figure was covered in some sort of shroud keeping his prying eyes at bay; for some reason it did not stand up straight. Moving slowly down the street it made no indication it even notice the broken shell of a man; or perhaps it did not care.

A strange curiosity filled Corallis as his vision cleared and he continued to examine this figure. He couldn’t even tell if it was a man or a woman, but it was very tall despite its bad posture. As the figure got closer he could hear a strange muttering of some sort. Words mingling together into incoherent gibberish seemed to settle on the winds about the figure; the mouth uttering such nonsense he couldn’t see. The more he observed the more Corallis felt a strange fear rising inside the pit of his stomach. The figure kept to the street and did not come near him; however as it reached a point directly across from him it stopped.

Corallis could not tear his eyes from it; whatever that thing was it was standing in the middle of the street muttering to itself. ‘What does he think he’s doing?’ He asked to himself, making the assumption it was a man. It was after all dangerous to stand in the middle of a street. ‘I should warn ‘im’ another thought crossed Corallis’ mind; yet when he opened his mouth to speak he found his voice was not with him. Nothing came out but a slight whisper as he tried to shout a warning. Quickly he cleared his throat; he could feel fear ruling his actions but for an unknown reason. Each time he tried to place the cause of this emotion he failed. His curiosity was buried by panic of sorts.

The figure suddenly turned and walked toward a bar across the street; the one Corallis himself had come out of not an hour ago. It took a step forward, and as its foot met the ground Corallis felt the sound echo into his mind. It was a strange sensation; one he did not fully understand. It was almost as if the sounds this creature made were amplified by a hundred fold when it willed it so. The rain began to ease up as the figure reached the door, it extended its hand and grab the knob and for the first time the broken man saw flesh upon this figure. Yet his hand was covered in gruesome scars, places where his flesh had been ripped clean and some sort of green substance had filled its place.
Corallis shifted his legs and placed his hands on the streetlight behind him, somehow he found the strength to lift himself up. It seemed he was not as broken in his spirit as he thought he was. A slight smile appeared over his face and he moved to walk away; yet as he did so the door to the bar slammed shut and the figure disappeared. As if he was chained to the ground he stopped in mid stride; slowly his head turned and his eyes settled on the bar door. He felt an urge to go there for some reason, yet not to drink as he had done so hours ago. Corallis felt a calling within his mind; stronger than he had ever felt in his life. As if a voice summoned him, at that moment all traces of his fear were stripped away and he took a step forward. ‘What am I doing?” he thought to himself. He couldn’t even answer his own question yet his legs did not stop moving. ‘This is insane, I need to get’ the word home never entered his mind, his thoughts quickly shifted to who that figure might have been. Corallis shook his head as he came to the door; it felt like he was losing control over himself. He tried to open his mouth but nothing happened. Slowly his hand moved to the door knob; he tried to jerk it away but still nothing happened. His hand grasped the knob and slowly it turned; Corallis’ right foot moved itself inward, and before he could struggle more the door shut behind him.

The figure was sitting at the edge of the bar; not many people where here at this time of day but there were a few. Most of the rough looking sort, the kind Corallis tried to avoid. The bartender served the figure a drink and then quickly stepped away, as if he wanted nothing to do with him. Corallis tried to leave but his body was still not reacting to his wishes; now not even his mind worked correctly. As he tried to scream out a strange and alien voice came into his thoughts. “Be silent!” it barked; a voice so horrible and ravaged by hate that it was hard not to be fearful at that very moment. Corallis did as instructed by the strange voice and stood at the door without another struggle.

Two drunken soldiers in the corner had been looking at the shroud of a figure sense the moment he walked through the door. Mocking whatever it was and having their fun at its expense. Eventually though they found some reason that their drunken minds considered an insult. That guy was sitting in their favorite chair at the bar; he didn’t even ask their permission! They talked about that subject, and the more they did so the angrier they became. Eventually they had had enough and rose up from their seats. Their minds overcome with alcohol and anger at no one thing in particular led them to the figure. The walked up to him; one of the soldiers tapped him on the shoulder but the figure gave no response.

“Heyy,” one slurred a word out, barely able to keep his own footing. “yous in my seat!” Again the figure gave no indication that he even acknowledged their presence.

“Yo!” the other shouted, his vision ‘blinded’ just as much as his friend’s “we’re talkin’ to you!” However this time the figure did respond he set down his drink and lifted his head slightly; the soldiers were expecting him to get up and fight but instead he remained sitting. He only uttered one word, and it was so silent they could barely hear it.

“Why?” he spoke softly, they could not even hear his tone of voice. If they had they would have surely ran in terror. Yet they laughed instead. Their laughter was silented soon enough as he spoke again. This time though his voice spoke not to their ears but to their minds. “Why is it you insult the bringer of your destruction?” The drunken men were confused by the statements made by this figure, and why his voice seemed so clear. They had no idea that he had not spoken at all; instead using his mind to speak directly to theirs.

“Y’know” the first spoke, “you don’t make much sense” he took a step back as the figure rose and discarded the hood he had worn. He turned slowly and looked upon them, his eyes were red and furious and his flesh looked like it had been ripped from his body and a newer, brownish color of a hide was growing in its place. Even their drunken state did not protect them from disgust, and they nearly threw up at the very sight of him. His eyes looked deep into their minds, throwing his own mix of sorrow hate and insanity into them as he wished.

“Very well” a sick smile appeared on his face as his voice appeared for what it was; full of hate and unlike any human sound ever uttered. “You shall be first!” The soldiers upon hearing his horrible voice could not help but cover their ears. In the blink of an eye he drew a weapon from his clothes and shoved it in one of the soldier’s faces. It was a pistol, the same kind the guardians used.

Terror overtook the drunken man as he stumbled back and tried to get out of the way; yet even as he did so the figure pulled the trigger and the hammer fell. His arm kicked back as a bullet traveled down the gun’s chamber and exited quickly; it hurled into the forehead of the soldier. The bullet punched a hole through his skull and traveled through the back of his head, throwing it back as a trail of blood left an exit wound. The surviving soldier fell back to the ground as he looked upon his dead friend, his eyes wide with terror and his bottom lip trembling. The man turned his attention to him and pointed his gun directly to his chest, and just as before fired without hesitation. A bullet flew from the pistol and ripped the soldier’s flesh, cutting through a rib before lodging into his heart. The soldier cried out in pain for an instant before his body went limp and he fell back unto the ground.

The figure grinned as he surveyed his work. He knelt down and placed a hand upon the wound in the second soldier’s chest; he wiped the blood from it onto his hand and brought it to his face. He put one finger into his mouth and cleaned the blood off, tasting the bounty of his kill. He then stood and let out a piercing scream that was more inhuman than anything he had done thus far. Those who had no fled in terror did so now, running from this man whoever he may be. Corallis just stood at the door; for some reason his body was still frozen. Now his fear had returned ten fold, his heart felt as if someone had stabbed him and let out all his blood.

The figure looked at Corallis and smiled. “Another tainted one” his voice seemed to sound strangely familiar to him. Yet before he could question that pain filled his entire body; he grabbed his chest and fell to one knee. Something was moving inside him, it felt as if he was changing. Pain like that he had never known before surged through his veins as he felt thousands of cracks form all at once in his bones. Only now had he regained control of his body, much too late.

The figure took a few steps over to him and looked around. “This city shall make a wonderful Hive” he laughed. His laugh was sickening to behold, but Corallis did not even take notice. He screamed out in pain, only to find his voice was so shrill it echoed nothing of what it used to be. The figure spoke again; but this time Corallis heard him, though he no longer cared. His mind was warping along with everything else about him. “These humans,” he said in utter disgust, “shall know the name Uriel…and they shall fear it!” He then threw his head back and screamed out again.

As his scream echoed into the darkness of the morning, the horizon was overtaken by a black object. Gliding at an ungodly speed it was heading for the city…


_________

no i'm not dead...yet. I've editted this but it's quite possible i missed a few things. If so i'm sure i'll spot them when i go over this again and i'll fix them soon enough

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

You had me worried, you hadn't posted in so long...

I like it. When you finish, you should compile it all into one post. Unless that is too long for some kind of posting limit.

[master of the puppets]

holy crap you guys write alot

[Monk]

part xviii
Gates of Solace

Slowly the bright star dawned over the eastern horizon and morning finally broke the dark night into pieces. The sky exploded in warmth as the deep blue was revealed after a long night of silent slaughter in the south. Black smoke now rose from the city of Tartarus; the once high spires of the industrial sector thrown down and in ruinous heaps. Horrified screams that had, for a brief time traveled on the morning wind now had fallen silent forever.

Solace Palace walls
10:21 hours, first encounter +7

Aradiel once more looked out over the citadel walls; his gaze now directed down toward the city below which was busy with activity. People were about going to work this morning as they always had in days before conflict found them. A slight smile formed upon his face as he spoke for the first time in many hours. “The cover story is holding” he said silently to himself. His mind traced back to the words of the King an hour before, as he addressed the nation about the stories of war. How blame was cast so easily upon the Imperium; he couldn’t believe how eagerly the people believed the lie fed to them.

As Aradiel lifted his eyes tracing the cityscape until his vision was upon the plains, until his sight met the southern horizon where the deep blue was utterly covered by a vast cloud of smoke. The guard sighed; he knew what it meant all too well. He could nearly hear the screams of the dead as they cried out for help before being suddenly cut off.

As he was thinking of the lost a footfall echoed past him; sending a sudden chill down his spine. Aradiel turned quickly to see his commander; the guard said nothing as he turned and looked into the horizon again. His commander calmly walked up beside him and did the same; both pairs of eyes settled on the smoke of Tartarus rising ever more.
“Terrible isn’t it?” the commander finally said after what seemed ages. The fragile silence was shattered before his voice, which itself was such a quiet thing. Aradiel turned and looked him in the eyes; within which a strange serenity held sway.

“What do you mean?” he asked in response to the sudden statement. The commander closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly; as if he was listening for something. Aradiel tried to do the same, but he heard nothing but the slight howl of a growing wind. As the eyes of the commander opened he took in a deep breath of the cool morning air, slowly letting it out.

“Can’t you hear them?” he turned to Aradiel and starred directly into the young guard’s eyes. Aradiel felt as if the man looked directly into his soul when he gazed liked that. He was so calm despite the fires of war being brought to the capitol of Solicous; his peace didn’t seem human.

“Hear what?” Aradiel finally responded, unsure of what was being asked of him.

“Listen!” the commander said harshly as he raised his hand. The wind seemed to blow harder upon his word; rising up in a thunderous cry all at once before slowly calming. “The ghosts in the wind… Can’t you hear them calling?”

Aradiel opened his mouth to give a reply; yet even before he could a horrible sound drove off the wind. It was a cry that held so much pain and suffering all thrown into one sound, it overwhelmed and cast down all human senses before it withdrew itself. Both the commander and Aradiel looked to the south, where now they could see black objects moving toward the city of Solace.

“And so it begins again.” the commander spoke; his calm attitude was not affected in the slightest by what approached. Aradiel’s eyes met with the onrushing wave of darkness heading toward the defensive positions on the city outskirts; he could feel his heart beating faster and sweat forming on his hands. His eyes became wide in his masked sense of fear; as the wind rose up once more in a terrible scream, he heard it. It was a vice calling to him…

Defense Outpost 01
Solace perimeter

“Get those Cannons charged up!” cried the captain as he pushed one of his men up onto the wall. The stone fortification was one of many on the perimeter designed to hold enemy forces at bay. The captain climbed up onto the low wall where already his men had their weapons displayed and pointed at their foe. A sudden humming noise on the air told him the auto-cannons were operational; power fed into them warming the cold metal.

The men surrounding him were the remnants of the 5th solace; whose ranks were decimated at the Old City. Veterans of that battle were all around, their green armor plating ripped in many places showing the true color of their armor below. Blood stained uniforms were a common sight; it had been five full days since the battle had took place but they bothered not to clean the blood from their clothing. They wore it now as a badge of their courage and skill; some even took trophies of the kills they had made. Many soldiers had parts of their armor rebuilt by using the hides off fallen creatures.

“Captain!” a voice shouted from behind him, the officer turned to see corporal holding two las-rifles. He smiled slightly as he tossed one up to the captain; without hesitation the officer reached out and grabbed the weapon. Quickly he checked the power levels and switched to ‘full stream’ mode. However as he looked down to thank the soldier, he was gone. The captain turned and looked out over the plains, mouthing a simple “thanks soldier” to himself. By now he could see them coming ever closer; the creatures he had heard horrible tales of were closing in fast. Fear began to rise ever slowly as thousands of screams echoed before their advance; they were like nothing he’d ever laid eyes on before. The ‘common stock’ was among them, however leading this terrible charge was a kind he had never beheld; neither in reports or by his own eyes.

Propelling themselves forward with two legs they moved faster than the others; they had upon their bodies what seemed to be four arms. Each long and slender until it reached the hands where claws stretched forth almost to the very ground. Beasts whose heads were elongated; their faces dominated by both eyes and a huge mouth. And strangely enough, their hides held a lighter hue than that of the others. Not dark but more of a tan, flesh color. Unknown to anyone, they were The Infected.

The captain held his rifle and shouted “Steady! Hold your ground!” his men shifted in place as they stood, the mass of creatures storming ever closer. In their hands they held their experimental rifles; and in their minds they prayed to the gods that they would not overheat before the day was won. Another batch of shrill cries rose up high and the creatures broke into a full charge. Their speed increased by five fold as if they were holding back before. A single voice met theirs in a thunderous shout; sending their shrill scream back into their faces. “Fire ‘em up!” the captain shouted as he squeezed the trigger as hard as he could.

All at once from the low wall came an arch of brightly colored energy beams; they shot from their homes within the rifles and traveled into the world ahead. Like lightning they sliced through the hides of the creatures; rending bone and skin without exception. The fastest of the creatures were the first to fall in this attack; falling upon the earth their brethren seemed to care not and kept moving forward. The soldiers opened fire again and once more numerous creatures fell in the hail of energy; yet unlike five days before they showed no concern for their dead. The creatures pushed forward without hate or fear, it appeared their minds were no longer their own.

Pulling back the safety lever the caption ejected a steaming energy cartridge; it was all but spent. The tiny energy generator fell unto the ground below him as he loaded another in. As his eyes settled on the tide of enemies before him; he saw for the first time how human some appeared. The creatures hurtled their dead as they came closer to the outpost, they were nearly upon the walls! The defenders kept firing; each shot sending another to the ground. Yet as one creature fell dead, ten more seemed to take their place in a never ending wave of attack.

The creatures finally reached the walls and leaped over them. The human defenders drew their knives and close combat weapons ready as they were fallen upon. They were not about to flee with Solace so close; this was it, it was all or nothing. Creatures of all shapes and sizes burst over the barricade and wall that had shielded the human forces; cutting through any who came against them with ease. They ripped men apart; slicing through their chests with their fingers alone and throwing their bodies aside they pushed on. Unlike before they made no attempt to feast on the flesh of their kills; this time they only attempted to kill any human they encountered.

The captain jumped from the wall just as they powered their way over and began their slaughter. He stood and began to back away slowly, holding his rifle at the ready. He could not comprehend the images he saw before him; he stopped at the other end of the outpost as the scene of death in front of his eyes played on. As what little soldiers that were not on the wall began to move to reinforce their fighting comrades, the captain stopped them. He rallied them around him and prepared for their stand.

The creatures threw the final soldier from the wall and screamed in delight; as their eyes turned to the captain and the few men he could gather they charged again. The surviving troops fired; their already overheating las-rifles let another wave of energy go into the dark mass of bodies. The creatures were nearly upon them when the captain drew his knife and held it high. In the morning sun, light was reflected off it as he stood amongst the last of his men. With nothing but his own pride and an over-heating weapon he cried “For the King!” and attacked…

The battle for Solace and all Solicous…had now begun in proper…


_________________

took me long enough didn't it? sorry bout that, i'll try to be quicker next time.

@ AtPG: this thing has just reached over 55 pages long in MS word. I'd say that's way too long

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

That was awesome.

It deserves a top-notch video game.

[Sigurd]

Congrats on 1000 views… and… well frankly, even I am getting a little impatient to read the next chapter of this marvellous story.

[Shadow]

Great story Monk! Keep it coming! & Congrats on the 1000 view!

[Monk]

part xix
Siege of Solace

The black storm clouds that had broken the peaceful night sky at Tartarus and helped throw the city into chaos now floated on heavy winds moving toward Solace. The sun above was slowly losing its sway over the sky as slowly; a roar of thunder echoed across the earth. Yet when the boom rolled its way into the city it found itself thrown back and put to shame by the cries of humanity. Gunfire the likes of which not seen in years echoed throughout the streets of the city; sounding loudly like weapons of the gods themselves. Then the screams of frightened humans as their souls were ripped from their bodies would rise above all else; flesh was torn and thrown aside as the creatures advanced.

Intersection – 24th and Main Str
13:02 hours, first encounter +7
Hour three of the assault

Bethor threw himself against the cracked stone of the building on the corner; he could feel the strength draining from him as he held his overheating las-gun in his hands. Steam rose from within the chamber and the energy cell making the air he drew in even harder to process. Each time he drew breath he felt his throat being cut it seemed dry; it had been hours since he’d gotten water. His mind flashed to an hour before when he had consumed the last of his drink; how he cursed himself now. The soldier’s armor was ripped in many places; its green surface that reflected the pride within his heart was in tatters after heavy combat with the creatures.

In the distance Bethor could hear the sound of battle raging, countless weapons discharging as artillery shells exploded breaking the streets of Solace. Screams of both human and inhuman origin echoed through the buildings, rising and meshing together in a horrible chorus singing the song of the city’s destruction. For a brief moment his thoughts dwelled upon the civilians within the city limits. He could nearly see the images of a creature bursting through a door to some random home; screaming in some alien language and rushing forward with its claws glistening in the sun shinning through the window.

An exploding shell hitting only a single street away shook Bethor from his vision. He looked around himself to see only the bodies of fallen soldiers and dead creatures lining the road. The blood of the slain ran together and fell into the sewer. Before him laid the remnants of his squad; memories were now burned into his skull of their attempt to fall back to the palace. Now only he remained, and he had not the strength to even make the trip to save his own life. He could feel his weapon slowly cooling down in his hands. “Just a bit more” he said in a forced whisper to himself. “Don’t give up on me now.”

Bethor looked around the corner and gazed down the street. Not a soul or soulless being walked in his sight. “Alright Bethor” his mind spoke for him; words seemed meaningless at this point. “You can do it.” He pushed his body to move and was about to round the corner when suddenly a creature burst through a nearby wall. With lightning speed it slammed an object into the opposite wall across the street; it moved so quick the stone debris from the broken wall had not even hit the ground. Bethor stopped in his tracks as he saw it; the thing was only ten meters away and yet it had not spotted him. Then as his eyes turned to the object pinned in its grasp he understood why. With a sharp talon buried into its shoulder, blood was gushing down the body of a Solician soldier. His armor was sliced through like paper as he struggled and groaned in pain trying to get free. Bethor looked down at his las-gun hoping to lend a hand; the indicator still displayed it was too hot to fire. His grip tightened on his weapon as he felt helplessness wash over him.

The Soldier grabbed onto the talon like arms of the creature and shouted in pure agony. As if responding in sick enjoyment the creature pushed its arm further through him. Bethor watched as more and more of its arm disappeared into the man’s flesh and through the wall behind him. The soldier replied, he shouted as pain traced its way through his body and into his voice. Again Bethor looked down but the same words were displayed on his rifle’s energy cell; “Cell overheated”. He mashed his teeth together in frustration; his comrade was being murdered and he could do nothing!

The creature began to remove its arm; believing its prey all but dead. Slowly and with a sickening slide it removed its sharp talon from the flesh of its human kill, letting the man slide down to a sitting position on the ground. In his place on the wall was a huge impact mark; covered in his scarlet blood. Bethor hung his head, defeated in spirit as his brother in arms seemed to pass from this realm. The creature let out scream of delight and turned to seek out another kill. Yet as it turned the eyes of the soldier opened; drawing to him every ounce of strength in his body he drew his combat knife and hurled himself forward. A red mist followed his movement as he plunged the blade deep within what would be the creature’s skull; green blood sprayed freely from the wound as the creature screamed and turned quickly. Slicing the man in two as its arms came around.

Bethor watched in complete shock as the man was cloven in two; yet as his eyes turned to the creature as it too fell to the ground. No more did it scream or move, the life fled from it and ceased to be. He flattened his back against the wall and sighed; another hero of Solicous made and slain before his very eyes. As he stood in silence his communications headset crackled to life and a voice filtered through the static.

“All…nits” he could barely make it out; the static seemed all consuming as the voice continued. “be ..advi…ed…Berserker...” the transmission cut out suddenly. Bethor smiled even though he had not gotten the entire message; he knew what it meant. At that exact moment five aircraft flew overhead, rocking the buildings below and causing the creatures in the city to scream. His eyes wandered into the sky, the sun reflected off the metal of the f-24 “dragon II ”s as the passed over the urban zone. At that exact moment Bethor felt hope filling his heart once more, for he knew that now that truly the Berserkers had arrived.

Yet even as his hopes were rising, his ears heard the sound he had been dreading. The sound that can only be made by a thousand limbs pounding all at once; as he looked down the street passed the bodies of his squad mates he saw them. The creatures had organized and were attacking again; they filled the street and seemed to even topple themselves they were so numerous. He could not count the rows of teeth they thrust before themselves as they moved at an ungodly speed toward him.

Bethor could feel fear grip his muscles; yet even so he knew if he ran there was no guarantee he’d live another moment in this hell of a city. He glanced down at his las-rifle; finally the energy cell had cooled down completely. He raised it to his shoulder and stared down the rifle pointing directly into the eyes of his enemies. Bethor drew in a deep breath of the dry stale air about him and held his weapon tightly. His eyes closed as he pulled the trigger and a bright stream of energy flew from the barrel. He didn’t witness his shot slice through the brain of a charging creature sending it to the ground. After all, enough horrible memories were now his forever to treasure.

As his eyes opened the creatures were close and ready to spring upon him; as they drew ready their claws he felt his anger explode from him suddenly. Where none had been before now there was a torrent of rage; the memories of all the dead flushed into his mind as he fired his weapon in quick succession sending many creatures to the ground. Their blood splattered on the ground as their brethren hurtled their bodies and leapt into the air ready to rip the lone soldier to pieces. Bethor’s eyes remained open the entire time, awaiting the death blow, but none came.

From behind him came a loud and menacing sound; like that of gunfire but repeating so fast it sounded like one continuous shot. A huge spray of bullets swept through the creatures throwing their bodies back into the air like rag dolls and slaughtering them as they advanced. The entire line of creatures was torn apart in moments as the line of fire engulfed them.

As the weary and slightly confused soldier turned he saw standing some distance away what looked like a pillar of metal. Yet as his eyes adjusted he saw what he had longed to see for many hours; an Odin battlemech of the Berserker Dominion. A mech whose arms were nothing but large weapon platforms; it stood proudly with a huge cannon extending out from the main body on its back. Steam slowly rose from its arms where it had fired. Bethor smiled but suddenly felt pain course through his veins. It overcame him quickly and caused him to fall to his knees; as his eyes moved to his chest he saw a large cut tracing his torso. He could feel his blood leaking from him at an enormous rate. He dropped his weapon and lifted his tired arms up to his wound; he inserted a finger inside his own body and felt deep inside him was lodged a sharp piece of hide. He closed his eyes; the image of a creature’s arm being blown off its body ran through his mind. And then the memory came, the image of that very arm slicing into his chest. With a final look toward the berserker mech he took a deep breath for a final time and fell to the ground.


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Holy crap! i go away for a little bit and this thing gets over 1k views wow...thanks to everybody who's been reading this!

@Sigurd Fafnesbane: Patience is a virtue my friend. i do apologise for taking so long... glad you like it.

@Shadow: glad you're enjoying this still.

@Alexander the Pretty Good: why thank you. i'm glad you like it

[Shadow]

@Shadow: glad you're enjoying this still.

Of course! It’s just that I was busy with my assignments and semester exam so I didn’t visit the forum in awhile. Who won’t want to know the ending for such a great story

[Monk]

part xx
The Lord of All

Caliban Dr. – only remaining road to the Citadel Gates
14:20 hours, first encounter +7
Hour four of the assault

Commissar Czevak stared down the street littered with debris and fallen bodies. As he inhaled deeply the stench of death assaulted his nostrils. The scent of burning flesh, over heating weapons and smoke meshed together into a torturous nightmare for the senses. He sighed as he looked upon the mounds of dead human fighters; scattered across the hot pavement like paper on parade day. Yet before them, passed a number of abandoned sandbag positions lay a wall of creatures. All of them dead, the life sapped from their horrible bodies. Their limbs were twisted and mingled together; one creature inseparable from another. Many blown apart from close fighting, many more drenched in Human blood.

Czevak held his pistol up, the energy within pulsed through the sides, causing a purple aura to shine softly from within the chamber. The assault had stopped but he knew the peace wouldn’t last, already he could hear the thunderous guns of the nearly arrived berserkers echoing through the buildings around him. Wings of fighters flew overhead; their jets screaming as they thundered by the buildings. Their guns opening up in a cry equal to that of a deity; strafing city streets and slaughtering the creatures. Yet somehow, the Commissar knew it wasn’t enough. He and the 14th Guard division were standing in the center of the only road leading to the citadel gates; the buildings along the side of the road packed so tightly it turned the street into a half-mile corridor. Yet even so, they had suffered terrible loses.

“Sir.” a voice rolled on the air behind Czevak, he bothered not to even look upon who spoke at first. The voice was hard and deep, it could only be his second in command. “What are your orders?” it asked him plainly. The commissar turned to see his lieutenant saluting him. The black armor of the Guard regiment he wore was torn to shreds, huge claw marks were ripped into it where below now white bandages could be seen. Czevak couldn’t help but smile as he glanced over his remaining troops; not one of the survivors was without wound or mark of battle. Yet they all stood proudly, ready for service. The old veteran for the first time in many years showed emotion; his scarred face reflected his pride in both his soldiers and nation.

“Redeploy here.” he said finally, his voice was deep and slightly menacing. The kind you’d expect a man of his stature to have. He gazed down the street, looking toward the pile of creature corpses. “They cannot reach the Citadel. No matter what…” Even though he was aging, his mind still grasped the tactical situation. If the street fell, the creatures would break through the gate, and the palace would fall.

The troops obeyed his order and began to set up make-shift defenses. Even though they went about their task without protest; the commissar knew better than to assume they were strong in their resolve. He could see the fear moving beneath the surface of their eyes; like a snake waiting to attack their fear slithered in their hearts. Czevak could not deny his own fear; these creatures were like nothing he had ever combated before. They moved forward without fear no matter how strong the defense; showing no emotion, no joy or hatred in their kills or casualties. It was as if they cared not whether they lived or died; as long as they served some purpose.

Only those alone, not following the mobs, showed any emotion at all. The commissar could not help but feel sickened when he realized how much the loners looked like humans. Their faces, while twisted and horrible to behold, held a human quality and shape. Their arms while thin and oddly shaped like the others; held knife like fingers. He had seen them rip apart many men easily; ambushing squads and striking before any reaction could be taken.

Czevak took out his canteen and unscrewed the top, he placed the container to his lips as a cool and refreshing liquid filled his mouth. It was strange how something with no taste could give one such a vibrant feeling. He tilted his head back until he felt the last drops rush down his throat, with a sigh the commissar threw down his canteen and kicked it down the street. No sense in keeping it now that it’s empty after all.

The empty container bounced off the street a number of rimes and fell to its side with a slightly louder than normal crash. It rolled on its side for some distance before coming to a stop finally; rocking back and forth as it tried to find a balance. The old commissar stared at it as it moved on its sides, unable to stop in its own momentum. He slowly turned and was about to aid his men in the building of a defense. Yet as he took a single step, the concrete under the canteen suddenly cracked. The pavement was split quickly as the cracks traveled out in all directions; causing the ground to grunt and cry as if in pain. Czevak turned quickly; with a loud crash a circle of cracks appeared on the street. The ground shook violently as if something had hit it, but there was nothing in site.

Again a thunderous quake shook the ground, sending men to their knees. Eyes looked abroad for any sign of what was doing this; minds became colored with fear as hope sank. Then a low and ominous sound filled the air, it was the snarl of a beast. It twisted on the air; so deep and menacing even the old commissar felt fear grip his muscles. A feeling unlike any he had known before washed over his body; pure terror. His eyes traced down to the cracking pavement, he knew what was coming in an instant. “Gods help us.” He whispered to himself.

A scream louder than a thousand crashes of thunder rose up; throwing down every human within the city and causing them to shout in fear. The scream was so shrill and terrible that to behold it was nearly painful. The commissar held his ears and closed his eyes, not wanting to open them to see what made such a sound. The ground was overcome by a sudden rumble as the entire city seemed to shake. Without warning; the area of pavement that had been cracking suddenly broke and shattered in a huge explosion of rock, dirt, and dust. Another horrible scream filled the air; this one more clear than that of the first. The men of the 14th div shouted in agony as they held their ears; it felt like sharp objects were being plunged into their skulls. Countless rocks and pieces of pavement slammed into the ground as a deep and chilling snarl filled the air.

The old commissar opened his eyes, but at that very moment he wished by the four gods he had kept them shut. For before his was the sum of all his terrors; the greatest and most terrifying thing he had ever laid eyes on in his life. Three times as high as he stood a creature that had no eyes; an elongated head on top of a snake like body that had scales and jagged bones like that of a spinal cord. Its entire head seemed to be a huge mouth; wherein countless rows of teeth resided; all sharp and jagged. Powerful enough to rip a mech to pieces. Below its hideous mouth were two huge arms like that of scythes. Below those two more arms, slightly smaller but no less menacing. The creature’s chest was dark and stained with red, it appear much like a human’s chest cavity only much larger. Its entire body seemed to stem from it.

It screamed again and swung its mighty arms; Czevak turned and could only watch in horror as in one swift attack the creature slaughtered his men. Their bodies were cut so easily on the arms of the creature. As it withdrew its arms it slammed them into buildings, throwing rubble about as if they were not even there.

Czevak stood in awe of its sheer power as it towered over him. The eyeless abomination seemed to wait for him to move, to strike him down and end his existence once and for all. The commissar drew his power sword from his side; quickly blue waves of energy pulsed through it. His fear was overwhelming, but so too was his rage. All his men were now dead, and behind him his king was in the palace. “I will not let this daemon pass” he breathed in silence. He gathered every ounce of strength he still had in his aging body and looked upon it, it was so great and so terrifying he could feel his arms shaking. “I failed you once Solicous.” his eyes closed before a moment, remembering the civil war of days gone by. Suddenly his eyes darted open as he set his sights on the creature. His hatred displayed for all to see in his dark green eyes; burning brightly like a fire in the night. “..Not…Again!”

“Do you hear me!?” he shouted loudly; his voice rose up above all else in the street and echoed back toward him. He could feel his strength pulsing through his veins; this was it. Before his gods and his king he’d make one last stand. “You end here!” he slammed his sword into the ground with a shout; his blade pierced deep into the pavement sending cracks in all directions. The creature used its senses and located the commissar; it swung its arm around to destroy the human commander.

Czevak quickly leapt onto the hilt of the sword and jumped with all his might into the air. Just as his feet left the edge of his sword the creature sliced it in two; the bands of energy ceased to flow as the metal fell onto the ground with a cold sound. The commissar drew his pistol on level with his eye and pulled the trigger in rapid succession. The chamber threw itself back as beams of energy flew toward the creature and found their mark; slicing its flesh and bringing forth a green blood.

The creature screamed in anger and drew up another of its arms; it stabbed forward in an attempt to skewer the commissar. Czevak felt its hard and sharp talon cut through his stomach, traveling through his body and out his lower back. He cried out in pain as a red cloud of blood surrounded him. His hang slowly let go of his pistol as the weapon sailed through the air, moving toward the ground. Yet before his weapon could even reach the street the creature drew its arm up then jerked it forcefully downward. Freeing the commissar from grasp but sending him screaming into the ground. His bones shattered as he hit the pavement, blood flowing from his large wound. The eyes of the commissar were still open as his lifeless body lay on the ground; his pistol dropped by his side as smoke rose from the chamber.

The huge creature let out a scream as it reared its head back; calling to it brethren to follow it. The gate had fallen, only one goal remained; the palace.

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and he's back! sorry guys. was busy with school work mostly, this took low priority as my creativeness had to go toward other things. But here you are!

@shadow: yeah i know how that can be.