by Ramy Vance
Hundreds of necrotic ghouls had escaped from the Gate, decimating the scientists who had been on guard. Many were crouched over their victims, gnawing on their flesh and tearing it from the bone.
Abby’s heart sunk to her stomach as she scanned for Creon. She looked around to see if he was among the dead, but it was impossible to tell since the throng of the ghouls was too large. She could hardly see the ground beneath their frenzied feeding.
Instead, Abby grabbed Persephone by the wrist and jetted into the air, pulling her along as the drow’s hand turned into tentacles to avoid being snapped off by the tension created by Abby’s powerful thrusters.
They soared into the air, and Abby saw over two hundred gnomish soldiers massing in the north. She blasted toward them.
The soldiers had built a small, makeshift camp. Sarah, Kravis, and Cire were talking with a gnomish general over a holomap of the area.
Abby landed in the middle of the meeting, pulling her helmet off. She was out of breath and almost couldn’t speak.
Sarah rushed over to her. “We’re going to need you to pull it together fast and tell us what the fuck is going on here.”
Abby took a deep breath and steadied herself. “Nikola Tesla is back from the dead and using the Dark Melody and some crazy tech to bring back the souls of warriors who’ve died in battles against the Dark One. People from our side and his own. The Netherverse is full of them.”
Sarah kneaded her eyebrows with her fingers. “Goddamn it, this shit just keeps getting weirder.”
“What happened here?”
“We were making our way to meet Cire and Nib-Nib with our reinforcements when we got the call from the scientists. They warned us that something was coming through the Gate, and it was more important for us to be ready for a battle than to come save them. So, I made the decision.”
Abby looked at Sarah and the rest of the agents. “Is Creon here?”
Sarah shook her head. “There were no survivors from the camp as far as we know. Only Cire and Nibs showed up.”
Abby paced, trying to process what she’d just heard. She sat down suddenly and held her head in her hands. There was no way Creon was dead just like that. It was impossible.
Sarah knelt in front of Abby. “I know you’re hurting. That can’t be easy to hear, but you’re the only one who knows how the tech over there works. If I’m right, whatever took out those scientists is going to continue coming through that Gate until we stop it. We need you here, Abby. All of you.”
The girl’s legs trembled as she tried to get to her feet. “Martin, we need you to help me. Increase production of nanobots. Lower our adrenaline. Whatever you have to do to help us right now.”
Martin’s voice came into Abby’s ear. “Uh, we can do most of that, but I can’t turn off your emotions.”
“Then the increased nanobots will. Take them as far as you can. We’ll need them for this fight anyway.”
Martin hesitated. “Okay.”
Abby looked toward the Gate, her body becoming cold and her heart slowing until she could hardly tell it was beating.
Persephone came over to the girl and wrapped her arms around her. “I’m so sorry, Abby.”
Abby embraced the drow, feeling her warmth until even that faded and she felt nothing. She gazed into her friend’s eyes, feeling as if she were looking at something beautiful and meaningful but very far away. Perhaps too far to understand.
Persephone stepped back from Abby as if she had touched fire.
The girl smiled weakly as a tear trickled down her face. “I have to go away for a bit,” she said. “We need to take care of this first.”
Persephone held her hand to her mouth as her lips trembled. “I-I understand,” she managed.
Abby, whose eyes had turned a bright, unearthly blue, turned back to Sarah. “There were over a hundred ghouls by the time we exited the Gate. Your assessment that they will keep coming is correct. We propose to fight our way through the ghouls so we can disable the Gate. It will be simple enough, but we anticipate Tesla will interfere. We suggest termination at all costs.”
Sarah nodded as she glanced back at the holoscreen. “All right, let’s get moving then. Cire, how do you want to do this?”
The orc looked at the holoscreen as well. “We’ll split into two forces. I’ll lead the one with the main artillery. You come with Persephone and Abby. We’ll pincer them and put an end to this.”
“Sounds like a solid plan. Let’s get going.”
Sarah and Cire quickly split the small army into two groups. Sarah took the majority of the battle tanks the gnomes had brought, and Cire took what was left over.
Cire did not mince words when he informed the gnomes of the odds they were up against. There was no telling how many more ghouls had come through since the Gate had opened. There could be more than twice the number of gnomish warriors.
One of the gnomish generals sneered and shouted, “We don’t need to be tucked into our graves. How about we just get this thing going?”
Cire pressed his hand to his chest. “Spoken like a true warrior.”
The two squads moved out, Cire’s heading toward the ghoul outbreak and Sarah leading her squad around the dunes to flank them from behind the Gate.
Abby went with Sarah, and Persephone joined Cire’s squad.
Riding on top of one of the gnomish tanks, Sarah continued to ask Abby questions about what she’d seen in the Netherverse. Now that the girl’s body was filled with more nanobots, the consciousness was stronger, and it did most of the talking.
Abby was someplace far away where it was safe to be scared and sad. She watched the world passing her as if she were looking out of the window during a car ride. Eventually, she’d have to take the wheel again, but for now, she could be alone with her grief.
Finally, the squad was close enough to see the Gate and the ghouls surrounding it.
It was the worst-case scenario. The dunes were filled with ghouls shuffling about, screeching at the sky as if the sun offended them. They had ripped the bodies of the scientists apart and strewn them all over.
Sarah knocked on the top of the tank she was sitting on, causing a gatling gun to pop up. She stepped behind it, flipped off the safety, and started to fire.
The tanks and the gnomish soldiers on hoverbikes sped ahead, while the ground troops followed.
Abby leapt off of the tank as Sarah continued laying down suppressing fire, mowing down the ghouls in front of her but hardly making a dent in their numbers. The ghouls were piled up at the Gate’s exit, falling over each other as they oozed into the world of the living.
Abby flew over the ghouls, dropping three proximity mines into the throng of bodies around the accursed portal.
When the bombs detonated, the bodies of the ghouls went flying. Abby looked over her shoulder to see how much damage she had done.
There was a loud pop and a sizzle, then a flash of light that caused her to turn back around.
Nikola Tesla was floating in front of her.
Abby stopped on a dime, raising her shoulder and hand cannons and firing four shots. Tesla flew to the side, taking damage from only one of Abby’s shots. He grinned, shook it off, and fired a ball of lightning at Abby, who activated her shield to absorb the damage.
The two stared each other down as the gnomish army clashed with the ghouls. The ghouls easily overwhelmed the tank Sarah was on, forcing her to jump into the mass of gnashing teeth. She was on top of them for a second before slipping under like someone caught in a riptide.
If more of Abby had been present, she would have gone in to save Sarah, but that wasn’t the mission. She had to make sure the Gate was closed and stayed closed. She turned away from Tesla and rocketed toward the Gate just as the second wave showed up.
Persephone and Cire led the attack, Persephone’s tentacles sending the ghouls flying as Cire’s heavy plasma shotgun mowed them down. The squad only had the element of surprise for a moment. The ghouls quickly turned around an
d began attacking.
The tactic had worked, though. The ghouls were split down the middle, some of them tearing through Sarah’s squad to attack Cire’s and Persephone’s group.
Gnomes were dying by the dozen. They weren’t able to fire fast enough to combat the ghouls that were still crawling out of the portal, their bodies held together by a bizarre amalgamation of flesh and tech.
The dark forces crowed over the dead, foaming at the mouth and ripping open the throats of the living who begged for mercy.
Abby fired from above while heading toward the Gate. The mines she’d set off had done some damage, but the Gate was still functioning. She prepared to loop back over and set off another round of explosions before the battle got any worse.
Tesla appeared in front of her again, but she was ready for him this time. She stopped, held her hands up, and fired a flash-bang at the mad scientist, who screamed as he reeled back. Abby then charged him, knocking Tesla out of the air into the sea of ghouls.
Then she opened fire on the Gate, giving it everything she had. Chunks were blown clear off.
“No!” Tesla shouted from below as he forced his way out of the horde of ghouls. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
Abby turned to face Tesla as he rose into the air. “Destroyed your plan?”
Tesla’s hands burned bright with electricity. “You insolent, ignorant child!”
Tentacles wrapped around the scientist, tightening around his throat and wrists. “No one talks to my girlfriend like that!” Persephone shouted.
Tesla struggled for a second before emitting an electrical shock that ran up Persephone’s tentacles and electrocuted her, causing her to drop him. “Now I will deal with you.”
Before he could move, Persephone’s tentacles wrapped around him again, this time slamming him to the ground repeatedly before flinging him through the air.
Abby looked down at Persephone, who was whipping her tentacles around, trying to make a path. “I forgot what it was like to fight someone who was a fucking god or something,” the drow shouted.
A group of ghouls flew into the air, and Sarah stepped out into the open as a white aura surrounded her body. “Where the fuck is Kravis?”
Abby looked around for the gnome agent, but it was impossible to see anything among all the dark forces. All she could see was bodies, those of her gnomish comrades who bravely had sacrificed their lives for the cause, and hundreds of ghouls. “We need to end this now!”
Sarah grabbed a ghoul and punched through its chest before whirling and slamming it into another one. Cire fought by her side, cutting through ghouls with an axe in one hand and firing his shotgun with the other. “Any fucking ideas on how to do that?” Sarah shouted.
Abby looked down at her hand. “Just one.” She landed and channeled all her kinetic energy and nanobots into the ground, causing a shockwave that sent nanobots charged with kinetic energy tearing through ghouls, separating the Dark Melody from them and ripping them apart.
The break was enough for Sarah to do what she did best. She pulled a rifle from her back and fired at the ghouls floating through the air, picking them off with extreme accuracy and speed as the remaining gnomish fighters rallied, cutting through the remainder of the ghouls with their plasma rifles.
Abby lay in a crater, her armor blown off, shivering from the pain of the impact. Persephone leapt into the crater and covered the girl with her tentacles as she fired a plasma pistol at anything that came near them.
The sounds of combat slowly faded.
Sarah sheathed her rifle and shouted, “Check for our wounded. We’re getting the fuck out of here.”
Persephone uncovered Abby and helped her to her feet.
Abby had enough nanobots to create basic armor that was more like cloth and stumbled out of the crater with Persephone. She hardly had any nanobots left. Her head was quiet enough for her to feel her pain.
Cire shouted from across the battlefield, “I found them! Come quick!”
Abby hobbled over to the orc, with Persephone helping her to walk.
Cire stood over a goblin clutching a plasma rifle who was slumped over Kravis. The orc pulled the goblin off and knelt beside the agent. The gnome’s wounds were deep, a heavy gash across his stomach and neck. He was losing blood quickly.
Sarah pushed through everyone and knelt beside Kravis. “Oh, fuck. Sweetie, stay with me. Stay with me!”
“He needs immediate treatment,” a hoarse voice whispered.
The goblin who had been pulled off Kravis forced himself to a seated position. Creon pushed his glasses back as he took a deep breath. “I suggest inducing a coma. We can treat him once we arrive back at HQ.”
Abby rushed over to Creon and threw her arms around him. “Oh, my God, you’re still alive!”
Creon winced at Abby’s touch. “Neither of us will be unless we leave as soon as possible.”
Cire ran toward one of the remaining gnomish tanks that the survivors had crowded around.
Sarah was still with Kravis. “You’re not dying, you hear me? We haven’t gotten married yet. I haven’t even proposed to you!” She grabbed Kravis’ hand. “Baby, baby, will you marry me? Huh? What do you say?”
Kravis forced his eyes open as he coughed blood. “Do you really think this is the best time for this?”
Sarah laughed as she wiped tears from her eyes. “Is that a yes or a no?”
Kravis raised his hands to answer and slumped. Sarah clutched his head tightly to her chest.
The gnomish tank pulled up, and Cire popped the door. “Everyone in. We’ve already arranged for a pickup. Now!”
Sarah handled Kravis while Persephone lifted Creon off the ground.
The tank was full of survivors of the battle. There weren’t many.
Abby was hardly able to keep her eyes open as they drove away from the battlefield. All she could concentrate on was how badly her ribs hurt, that and the feeling of Persephone’s palm pressed against her own.
The figure of Nikola Tesla sat up in the dunes, rubbing his head. “Well, that worked out better than I could have imagined.” He teleported to the middle of the battlefield, smiling slightly as he surveyed the dead. Then he pulled a bottle of the Dark Melody from his suit and poured it over the corpses of the ghouls and the freshly deceased.
Chapter Three
Suzuki and Anabelle stood side by side, staring at the lich, Rasputina.
Anabelle knew exactly who the lich was. She’d been fighting the undead creature on Earth for the last month. She’d seen firsthand the kind of carnage and bloodshed the lich was capable of and seemed to relish.
Suzuki, like the rest of the Mundanes, had no idea who or what Rasputina was. They had traveled with Anabelle and Terra to help on a fetch quest that was necessary to fulfill a quest assigned to the DGA by their mentor Myrddin and that of the Mundanes, José.
This wasn’t the lich that Anabelle remembered. The Rasputina she had met was an unhinged psychopath with rotting skin and visible bones who delighted in killing people or eating them alive.
The woman standing before Anabelle didn’t look like she was dead, though Anabelle could see a little bit of that madness in this woman’s eyes. Something didn’t look right, like looking in a mirror that was slightly distorted. It was close enough to right that you knew something was off.
The elf took her fighting stance, drew her mana to his fists, and lit them on fire as she glared at whoever this person in front of her was. “If you really are Rasputina, you’ll forgive me for kicking the shit out of you.”
The lich shook her head as she placed the jar on the ground and raised her hands in surrender. “I didn’t come here to fight you. I came to help. We have the same goal.”
“The last time I checked, your goal was to kill as many innocent people you could. Or was that someone else with the same name?”
Rasputina shrugged and smiled. “People can change their goals. I doubt you wanted to be a prissy model when you were a child,
and yet, you fell into the role easily enough. But being Myrddin’s lapdog is so much better. You don’t have to worry about anything, and don’t have to bother with that troublesome issue of thinking for yourself.”
Anabelle was about to dart at Rasputina when Suzuki placed his hand on her shoulder. “Is this really a fight that you want to have?” he asked.
“What the hell are you talking about? Of course I want to have it.”
“I mean, if she is a lich, she’s really powerful. Probably more powerful than all of us combined.”
“My team took her before and lived, and there are some things you can only pick up from years of fighting. Look at her; she’s tired. Taking out Telzrem winded her. We have the upper hand.”
Suzuki stared at the woman, who looked noticeably worried about their conversation.
Rasputina pulled off her cloak, revealing light leather armor in a fashion vaguely reminiscent of French royalty. “I'll say it again, elf, since your ears seem to be purely for cosmetic purposes. I am not here to fight you. I am here to offer my help.”
Suzuki suddenly vibrated and stepped back. “My familiar says he knows her. He’s seen her before.
Anabelle gave Suzuki a confused look. “Your familiar?”
“An eldritch imp. He’s losing his shit right now, and he knows his evil. He’s seen his fair share of it.”
“Then are you with me?”
Suzuki cast a glance at the rest of his team. “Looks like it might just be you and me.”
Anabelle cracked her knuckles. “That’s fine by me. Just try to keep up.” Anabelle darted forward, slashing through the air with hands and leaving a fiery trail behind her.
Rasputina stepped backward, bringing up a green energy barrier between her and Anabelle before holding down her palm, causing a piece of bone the length of a spear to shoot out. She grasped the bone and twirled it, then sliced through her own barrier and attacked Anabelle.
Anabelle was able to deflect her attack, slowly backing up as she countered them. “You planning on joining in at any point?”
Suzuki jumped at the harshness of the elf’s tone. “I’m trying to figure out a plan!”
