Rise of Serpents

by B A Vonsik

  “I see you have spied them.” Ezerus made a rhetorical statement to Rogaan and Aren.

  “Your flock of . . . what do you call . . . drones to our west . . .” Rogaan stared directly at Ezerus as he revealed some of what he saw from the presence. “Or more of your Cmpax Soldats jumping from their high-flying chariot or the fast-flying disk ship approaching far from the east?”

  A flash of alarm from Ezerus struck Nikki at Rogaan’s reference to the discoid-shaped ship. Ezerus must have visibly shown his alarm as Rogaan and Aren seized on it as a weakness.

  “Your master—” Aren started to dig into Ezerus’s emotions.

  “Not my master . . .” Ezerus denied with a snarling growl. Nikki felt a growing anger in Ezerus, born of frustration at not having complete control of his actions and decisions.

  “You have not challenged me for the Wind,” Rogaan revealed seeking some acknowledgment from Ezerus. “Not once have I felt you poking at my bond with it. He has your Ra’Sakti . . . your sword . . . does he not?”

  Nikki felt Ezerus struggle mightily to rein in his emotions and focus on the task he was growing desperate to succeed at.

  Ezerus stiffened his back, knowing what he was about to ask would be denied. “The Dari?”

  “No,” Rogaan answered.

  “A fight you will not win,” Ezerus warned.

  “With us, Ezerus . . . It is always a fight,” Rogaan nodded to Aren.

  A chill sensation struck Nikki as Ezerus started manifesting something powerful. Fearing what he was intending . . . most likely killing everyone, she desperately screamed into Ezerus’s mind, “No!”

  Ezerus staggered at Nikki’s intrusion. Confused a moment and looking around for his attacker, he then realized what had happened. The cloaked shadow turned his fierce glare on defenseless Nikki.

  Another chill washed over Nikki as Aren quickly executed a manifestation. She immediately felt pain as a cold-hot sensation snapped into existence about her neck, then painfully pushed her head to one side, twisting her neck. She wanted to scream, but whatever new was around her throat prevented her. Horrified at the sound of the Kill Collar activating, Nikki stared at Rogaan as she waited for the prickling in her neck and for her death to soon follow. Nothing. Realizing Rogaan now held his drawn blue steel bow . . . aimed directly at her, Nikki felt terror explode through her. Rogaan released his arrow. It came directly at her. She was unable to move. Her neck held immobile. The arrow came at her eyes, then fell away slightly passing just to her left and below her jaw. She felt the arrow strike to the side of her neck as a metallic clinging sounded out. The Kill Collar went flying, broken, off to Nikki’s right, dripping its deadly venom. Fearing she had been injected with venom, Nikki raised her right hand to her throat to check for blood. A wetness atop a strangely smooth surface surrounding her neck now covered her hand. Fearing it her blood and venom, she looked at her hand . . . to find nothing but a clear film of wetness covering her fingers. Relief pulsed through her as the immobile manifested thing about her neck disappeared in a glow of fire, stingingly singeing her neck.

  Chaos exploded all about her. Gunfire erupted from the Tyr trying to kill Rogaan and Aren and some of the Cmpax Soldats. The Soldats returning fire with electromagnetic guns built into their arms quickly downed several of the Tyr. Projectiles whizzed by Nikki as they flew everywhere striking low walls, poles, robotic service units, ALFs, and downed transhumans . . . killing them. Some of the crowd near lay dead on the ground with most of the remaining now running understanding this was not a skit but a real battle with death. Still, some idiots stood in harm’s way taking videos and images. Aren protected Dunkle and the rest with his shielding manifestations while Rogaan deflected bullets meant for him by his armor and a blue steel buckler now on his left forearm. He continued raining arrows at Ezerus and the Cmpax Soldats while almost ignoring the Tyr. Rogaan’s arrows easily punched through the Soldats, then returned to him to be reabsorbed into his arm guards. The Soldats that lived after an arrow strike concentrated their fire on Rogaan, their EM-propelled projectiles either bouncing off or shattering on Rogaan’s blue, red, and black steel armor. Ezerus and two of his Cmpax Soldats battled Rogaan and Aren with more EM weapons and the cloaked one’s manifestations of light and lightning. Aren parried most of Ezerus’s manifestation, leaving only a few of the light and lightning strikes to hit Rogaan. Nikki felt Rogaan in pain but resolved and determined to win the day. Ezerus too was in pain from Rogaan’s arrows and possibly some of the flying bullets. He bled from his arms, his left leg, and a spot to the left of his heart and lungs.

  Looking around, Nikki realized she had been forgotten in the battle. A powerful sense of relief filled her. I must get somewhere protected. She got to her feet and took no more than four steps before she felt the electrifying grip of Ezerus’s scintillating vaporous tendril wrap around her. Damn . . . I can’t move. Anger, then panic, filled Nikki as she felt a sentient connection between her and Ezerus . . . and something . . . someone else. It frightened her more than she expected or wanted, making it difficult for her to form a logical thought. He drew her to him no matter how hard she fought against it. As he drew Nikki to his left side, he nodded to his Cmpax Soldats who sent a volley of EM-propelled projectiles and several micro-rockets each at the others. Ezerus manifested a swirling man-sized ring of light not far from them in the opposite direction. The resort lit up as a sequence of thundering booms deafened Nikki as much as struck her with powerful shock waves and flying debris. Disoriented, she tried her best to make sense of what was happening. Ezerus still had her wrapped up in his vaporous tendril as he was walking quickly toward the step-gate. No. If he takes me through that, they’ll never find me.

  “Silence, whore,” came into Nikki’s mind. She realized Ezerus was able to hear her thoughts. Another ripple of panic gripped her. She struggled against the tendril vapors. Nothing. They aren’t affected by anything I do physically. She caught sight of Ezerus’s left forearm. Bleeding . . . significantly. He’s wounded. A thought came into her mind that she quickly tried to hide from Ezerus by thinking of something else . . . the glowing swirl of the ring ahead. A last hope. Timing the swing of his arm, Nikki reached out with her right hand and grabbed Ezerus’s forearm, more specifically, his open, bleeding wound. She dug her fingers in. At first and despite the pain she inflicted, Ezerus simply looked at her passively as he continued walking without pulling his arm away. Then, his eyes shot wide open as he yanked his arm away from her grip. He stopped walking, surprising his Soldat escorts.

  “Keep moving, wizard,” one of the Soldats commanded in his synthetic voice.

  Ezerus ignored the command as he looked at his upper forearm. Nikki sensed Ezerus’s concern grow more intensely as she felt the sickening sensation fill his body. The step-gate started to flicker as did the scintillation of the vaporous tendrils holding her. Ezerus swayed, then staggered. Nikki felt his thoughts turn unfocused. The step-gate vanished, plunging them all into a gloom with only some of the resort’s emergency lights still working. The tendrils restraining Nikki started to give a little, then vanished.

  “You whore . . .” Ezerus dropped to a knee, struggling to remain conscious. He spoke in Antaalin. Nikki felt him fiercely fighting the effects of what she put into his veins. Then, to her surprise, she felt another mind but didn’t know where it came from. It wasn’t Rogaan or Aren. “You poisoned him.”

  “Damn right I poisoned him,” Nikki spoke back at the words. “Wait, what are you talking about, ‘him’? Why are you talking in the third—?”

  A powerful grip on Nikki’s right forearm sent streaks of pain through her body. She saw the electrified left gauntlet of the Cmpax Soldat crushing her arm as she fell to her knees. She looked up into the dark facemask of the unknown soldier as he looked down on her impassively. The shocking electrification kept pulsating through her body. He’s not letting up. He means to kill me. Nikki felt her heart flutter. He’s killing me. Lightning streaked around and past her, bri
ghtening her surroundings. Ezerus fell to the ground. The other Soldat returned fire at something or someone. The Cmpax Soldat shocking Nikki to death reconfigured his right forearm into another weapon. Then, it fell to the ground, severed from the rest of the Soldat’s arm. A blue steel sword blade then viciously slid in front of Nikki’s eyes, as if used in a stabbing attack. Its blade edge facing upward. With a sound like a zipper, the blade sliced upward splitting the Soldat from chest to head into two halves that begrudgingly fell away from each other. The gauntlet crushing her arm pulled free of her forearm as it fell to the ground with the rest of the transhuman corpse inside. Standing with blade high in another ready-to-strike stance, Rogaan looked to the remaining Cmpax Soldat standing over Ezerus. The Soldat fired a burst of EM-propelled projectiles that Rogaan, easily blocked and deflected with his buckler and armor. The Soldat then reconfigured both of his forearms into the same weapons the dead Soldat just had as a large, disked-shaped object flew to a stop overhead, appearing without warning or with any sound.

  “You do not see that regularly,” remarked Rogaan in English, looking up at the classic discoid-shaped UFO. “It is more imposing close then from the eyes of the Wind.”

  A shaft of white light emitted from the underside of the ship engulfing Ezerus and his Soldat guardian directly below. The two started levitating, then were drawn into the ship.

  “No, you don’t!” Aren challenged the taking up of their foes. He stood not far away from her and Rogaan. Anders and Dunkle stood next to Aren and on either side of Miller who looked to be disoriented. They started moving in Nikki’s direction, helping Miller make his way.

  Nikki felt Aren manifest something she was unfamiliar with, then started exalting it. Oh, he’s meaning to do something destructive. She felt the malevolence in his intent. Rogaan sheathed his sword, then willed his Ra’Sakti to form his bow. An arrow formed as he drew the metallic weapon. Its broadhead started glowing blue, then intensely white. He unleashed it at the hovering ship. Nikki thought he would have gone for a kill shot on Ezerus, but instead, the arrow passed through some kind of energy field surrounding the UFO before viciously cutting and embedding into the ship’s hull. Nikki felt Rogaan calm himself, blocking out distractions. He touched the presence. The half Tellen was collecting information on the ship, sending it to the presence, above.

  Aren unleashed a ball of fire . . . no, plasma, at the hovering ship. It struck the ship’s underside just as Ezerus and the Soldat disappeared into the UFO. The ball of fire erupted into a brilliant flash of red-orange before dissipating. The silvery surfaced disk-shaped ship appeared to bear darkened scorch markers on its underside. Yet, it hovered steadily. Suddenly, flashes of light pulsed from the ship. Aren threw up his arms defensively just a moment before the first pulse of light struck his Agni-created shield. The pulses hammered Aren’s Agni defense sending residual energies in all directions, ripping apart everything they struck. Several exploded the concrete near Dunkle, Anders, and Miller, sending all three of them flying. One landed next to Nikki and Rogaan, where the half Tellen turned and used his armored body to shield Nikki from the blast. Both went tumbling, coming to a stop a short distance away. The energy pulses stopped.

  Dunkle was helping Miller to his feet when the ship fired another volley of energy pulses down at Aren. The Evendiir staggered backward, then to his knees as he angled his Agni defenses, sending the residual energy pulses away from the rest of them and toward more Cmpax Soldats approaching from where they first confronted Ezerus. Nikki felt Rogaan’s intense dread in his concern for Aren’s survival as he stood up facing the UFO while reaching out to the presence. Nikki felt him connect with it. It felt powerful. With an intense growl, Rogaan made a motion like he was throwing the ship to his right. The UFO shuddered, then rotated in protest in the direction Rogaan motioned, redirecting its energy pulses onto the squad of Cmpax Soldats approaching Aren. Several Soldats blew apart when struck. The others scattered for cover.

  Miller staggered up to Nikki, his white skull on black shirt now torn in several places. His costume weapons belt and harness were damaged in several spots. He bled from multiple cuts, some fairly large. Upon reaching Nikki, he stretched out his right arm for help to stay standing. Nikki embraced the bleeding Miller, trying to keep him from falling.

  “Dunkle gave me this and said for us to get to the tower over there.” Miller spoke lethargically with his Southern drawl heavier than usual. He held out a strange-looking hexagon-shaped data chip made of what looked like blue steel. As Miller flipped it over, Nikki gasped when she saw and realized embedded in the blue steel was a small dark-colored Agni stone. “He’s helping Anders back there and will catch up.”

  A light pulse exploded on concrete not far away, tossing up the man-made stone, striking them with bits and pieces of the resort. Looking to see what happened found Rogaan with his Ra’Sakti shaped into a shield, like the first time she saw it back on the Wind Runner. He appeared to have deflected the pulse with his shield.

  “We must go,” Miller insisted. “I have Dunkle’s data files. They’re important to get to HQ.”

  Nikki looked to Rogaan for an answer of what to do. The half Tellen returned a conflicted look. Nikki knew he felt it too. Keeping his eyes on the ship above, Rogaan called out to Aren in a loud voice in the Antaalin tongue, “How are you enduring?”

  “I’m not beaten yet,” Aren replied loudly in Antaalin, but with uncharacteristic bravado. “Get to the step-gate in the tower. I’ll be with Dunkle and Anders. We’ll be right after you.”

  “More drones approach,” Rogaan warned his old friend of what he saw from the Wind’s eyes.

  “Then, give this flying ship another spin and get running,” Aren demanded of his ol’ friend as he joined up with Dunkle who was now half-carrying Anders. “I’ll keep the rest of these Soldats Tusaa’Ner from reaching the tower.”

  Nikki felt torn at leaving Anders behind, wounded as he was. She felt her own feelings mix with Rogaan’s at leaving Aren behind to hold back the ship, drones, and Cmpax Soldats. Her bond with the half Tellen told her he reluctantly made a decision affecting them all.

  “Aren, Heavenly Hammer.” In Antaalin, Rogaan yelled out to Aren after he defended himself from another volley of light pulses. More Soldats suffered injury from Aren deflecting them. Aren then looked at Rogaan, at first not understanding. Then, he nodded his head in agreement realizing what Rogaan meant to do. Nikki didn’t understand either of them.

  Another growl and sweep of arms by Rogaan sent the UFO awkwardly rolling and rotating about. Rogaan collected Nikki and Miller before making for the closest high, tower like ride at the speed of a fast walk. It was the best Miller could do.

  “Is this the path, Miller?” Rogaan asked the wounded crewman, now in English. Miller looked up long enough to see where they were going before nodding yes.

  Another straining arm gesture from Rogaan forced the UFO about in the sky, behind them, as they briskly made their way on an overly wide path of concrete-mimicked stone paving slabs. Rogaan kept them moving along the path despite their curiosity to look back at the desperate battle Aren waged. The path soon led them to a tall stone block-mimicked structure with huge waterslides high atop the building snaking off somewhere into the darkness below and away from the tower. Pulses of light streaked past them with a loud sizzle striking the concrete in front of them, exploding. Bits and pieces of the concrete went everywhere striking them and sending Nikki and Miller back into Rogaan where they bounced off the half Tellen, then fell. Another pulse of light struck Rogaan as he turned with his Ra’Sakti reshaping into a blue steel shield. He went tumbling down in a bright ball of electrical discharge and smoke.

  “Rogaan . . .” Nikki feared for his life, then stopped worrying. She felt him, his anger and determined mind matching the pain from his burnt flesh and wounds.

  Rogaan rose from a cloud of debris and smoke with his Ra’Sakti reconfigured into his bow, his skin blackened where the energy pulse struck him a
round his armor. Nikki wanted to scream from the pain she felt through their bond knowing she only experienced a shadow of what he did. Rogaan unleashed another glowing arrow. It flew with great speed striking the disk-shaped ship now hovering several hundred yards away. The topside of the UFO’s hull exploded in a blazing bright display along the path of the arrow. When Nikki’s eyes adjusted enough to see, she saw a large, red-glowing fissure in the ship’s surface. The UFO then protested against another forced rotation to the left, mirroring Rogaan’s grunting gesture.

  “Get in dwelling!” Rogaan commanded in his broken English. He made a ripping gesture down and away with his left arm. Another light displayed on the underside of the UFO caused the ship to wobble in the air. Rogaan returned his attention on Nikki and Miller. “Travel! And find us the step-gate, young Miller.”

  “Aren and Anders?” Nikki asked of Rogaan as she passed him. She no longer felt the Evendiir.

  “Get inside,” was Rogaan’s only response as he held up his arms allowing his arrows to return slamming silently into his blue steel arm guards and reabsorbed.

  Miller, now moving with a struggle up a flat set of stone-mimicked steps but doing so on his own, passed through the open set of large double doors to the building. Nikki and Rogaan followed. The gloomy inside of the building looked to be something imaged out a science fiction story of the lost civilization of Atlantis. Emergency lights were on that dimly illuminated the place. Miller led them through a large hall, then to an alcove with a door. He entered an access code on a white-green keypad that appeared after he waved his hand over a spot on the wall. The holographic keypad turned red. Nikki heard Miller curse in his Southern drawl. Again, he entered the code. The keypad turned red again.

  “Let me at it.” Rogaan was short in temperament speaking in Antaalin. He pushed past Nikki giving opportunity for her to smell and feel his burnt skin. She shivered in revulsion and gagged. “None of that. You are needed to get out of this with our Lights.”