by Troy Dukart
The commander was suspicious. His body language was tense but calm; he looked over Rousseau and then back at me. “Bring him here, next to the girl,” he commanded with a robotic filter on his voice.
Before I could grab Rousseau, another soldier came over and dragged him to where the commander wanted.
“What are we planning to do with them sir?” I asked.
“The real question is how did you get into the barracks? I told every soldier to go to the holding area with any prisoners,” he replied, his grip around his rifle tightened.
“I was on my way up when, he, he attacked me,” I sputtered out.
“Why aren't you carrying a weapon soldier?” he questioned.
“It was broken, by some Slates…” I said before I was interrupted.
“So you're telling me, you took this man down with your bare hands? Do you have any idea who this is!? Men, take him down to the holding area,” he told his men as he waved his hand over me.
“You asked for it bastards!” I said as they got close enough.
With a flick of my arms, I powered on my aura and blew away the approaching soldiers. Brutus rushed in and took down one of the soldiers with a massive bite.
Rousseau jumped up, grabbed the Shatterang from his side and threw it across the room. Like a lightning bolt, it shot through the air and cut down a few remaining soldiers before spinning back towards the commander. Without even flinching, he waited for it to get close and then in flash, he was gone.
We both looked around for him after Rousseau caught his weapon but saw no sign of him. Something then came down on me from above and slammed me to the floor.
My head hit the floor but thankfully I had the helmet on to protect from serious damage. I looked up and saw the commander pointing his rifle down at me; he flicked my visor up and paused for a moment. Rousseau had gotten to his feet and had the Shatterang cocked back ready to throw, but the commander stood still. Brutus was rushing towards him but stopped when he smelled who it was.
“I won't miss again; let him go!” Rousseau yelled.
“It would take a lot more than a toy like that to take me down,” he replied calmly.
The commander whipped off the helmet and turned around to Rousseau. It was Zon. We all took a breath to relax.
“Damn! You scared us!?” I laughed.
“All war is fought with deception, you should know this,” Zon told us. He began to remove the armor.
“Did you find out how the ship got shot down?” I inquired.
“It wasn't the tower, but something else,” Zon replied.
“The Senti are creating Slates from humans to help fight their war. I read a file about it earlier,” Rousseau replied as he walked back over to Roya who still laid unconscious, “Country or skin color have no exception.”
“This is awful,” I lamented.
“Well, we have no choice. We have to destroy this place,” Rousseau stated.
Almost as if on cue, the door slid open and a sinister, yet familiar presence entered the room. I recognized him from the battleship in Soria; it was the man in the dark cloak, Barzakh.
His face was covered by the same mask as before. We could clearly see his golden brass knuckles in one hand and a large metal case in the other. He walked in slowly and dropped the case on the floor as he put on the brass knuckles. He cracked open the case and said calmly, “Time to die.”
His voice had a weird echo to it, like two people were talking at the same time. His ruby eye glowed bright and with a lightning fast kick, the metal case came flying at us. It opened mid-air and to our surprise our weapons dropped out of it. We barely had time to catch them before he made an aggressive advance.
His fists had turned into pink glowing orbs and he leaped at Rousseau. Seeing the attack, Rousseau jumped back and fired his gunblade at him but Barzakh turned on a pink aura, which deflected the shots. He punched Rousseau across the jaw with a right hook that sent him flying back. Zon unsheathed his sword and attempted to teleport-slash him but Barzakh caught his blade between his hands. Zon pushed forward as hard as he could but Barzakh moved the blade away from his body, winded back with his hands, and shot Zon against the wall with a blast of energy.
I held my ground with Brutus and positioned myself in front of Roya to protect her, but he just started chuckling, “You know, ever since I came into this world, I've been dying to meet you, Strafe.”
“Whoever you are, I know you've been coming into my dreams. You've been asking for my help. Who are you!?” there was a slight shake in my hands.
“Oh! He did, did he? There will be punishment for that. He will get to watch first hand as I rip the flesh off those he loves most!” Barzakh growled.
“Brutus, stay near Roya!” I commanded.
“I'll protect her!” Brutus told me.
Like a lion, Barzakh jumped toward me with ferocity. I swung the sword at him but he deflected it with his hand. I side-stepped his advance but he began to throw punches as fast as lightning at my head. My sword took the brunt of a few shots but he got one past my guard which knocked me off balance. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he roundhouse kicked me in the gut and threw a left hook at my right temple, knocking me to the ground. He then sat on top of me and cocked his right arm back as he grabbed onto the chest plate of my armor.
I noticed that the energy around his fist began forming sharp pink spikes that protruded different lengths outward. He was about to smash my face-in but before he did I looked deep into the ruby.
“Please, don't,” I pleaded as I wiped some blood from my lip.
I held my hand up to shield my face but he knocked it away, but as he did my necklace popped up from underneath the armor and it caught his attention immediately.
Barzakh shook his head violently; it looked like he was fighting with himself inside. His body began to clench. The arm that was cocked moved back and forth and started to quiver, he even let out a mumble.
“It's me, Strafe. Let me help you!” I assuaged.
Barzakh shook his head and released his grip on me. He lowered his hand and when I looked through the ruby eye of his mask, he looked like me. Before I had a chance to say another word, a large swipe swooped over us and smacked Barzakh away; Brutus tackled him off. I saw Roya was on her knees, trying to get up.
I jumped up to my feet and told Brutus to go back to her, she was very lethargic and groggy. Rousseau and Zon had regained their footing and joined us as we stood our ground against him. Barzakh was on his hands and knees shaking his head left and right violently and even punched himself a few times before he got up slowly to his feet.
He looked over at us and smiled sinisterly, “You shouldn't have done that, hehe.”
“You need to stop this, you are not this, this, demon! Take control!” I tried to motivate him.
Just then, another familiar face entered the room, the Federation slime ball, Tiras Strand.
“I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this reunion short here. There are bigger fish to fry and you disobeyed my direct order,” Tiras told Barzakh. Tiras was carrying a small cage with a green and red glowing orb inside that Barzakh seemed to fear.
“AERHRHE!!!” Barzakh hissed back at him, but he remained obedient.
“Tiras, you're in charge of this?!” I shouted.
“No, that would be this man here,” Tiras replied as he pointed behind his shoulder, “I'm just here for the weekend.”
Zon's eyes widened as he looked at the man who entered the room. He had on a similar garment on as Zon but had a long bandana on that looked stitched together from many other ones.
On his back looked to be some sort of bladed weapon that shined like a green emerald. Across his jaw was some sort of mask with golden and black teeth printed across. He stepped forward, “Hello again little brother, it's been a while.”
“Traitor,” Zon muttered.
“As grandfather used to say, before you let him die, a traitor is one who neglects his family and disavows his
clan. You side with those who attacked our village; tell me little brother, who is the traitor here?” the man replied.
“They manipulate you Longwei, it will not be long before they turn on you. They are creating an army of Slates from the bodies of humans; what has happened to your judgment!?” Zon pleaded.
“I will avenge my brother who you killed!” Longwei exclaimed.
“Enough with this! I have places to be, kill them quickly and don't let them cause any more damage!” Tiras shouted as he turned and walked to the door. He gave Barzakh a glare before exiting.
We stood with our weapons drawn. The masked man, Longwei, drew his weapon from his back. It was a long ivory pole with carvings of dragons etched in black into the surface. The blade was curved and he popped it up into an elaborate scythe.
“That artifact belonged to my clan. We carved it over 400 years ago. It holds great power,” Zon told us.
“Strafe, your girlfriend is here, in this tower! You'll get to watch as I tear her apart like your ship!” Barzakh yelled.
A red tear fell down from Barzakh's eye. He wiped it away with anger and then attacked. One ball of energy flew past my head and exploded on the wall behind me. I was left alone with him as Rousseau and Zon battled with Longwei; Roya could hardly get to her hands and knees. Brutus helped her up and away from the fighting. He stayed near to guard her.
Barzakh was a berserker; he attacked with blind rage and aggression. No matter how many times I would strike at him, I couldn't get past his guard. When I would come at him with a swing, he would block and counter. Staying defensive didn't work either because he would either try to throw me or shoot a blast from his hands to get me off-guard. I had to outthink him in order to win; brute strength alone wouldn't grant me victory.
I decided to try to be a little daring and acrobatic to catch him with something he hadn't seen before. I feinted retreat and ran toward the translucent wall overlooking the valley below. As I turned, he chased me across the room.
After three giant steps, I jumped up off the wall with a back flip. Barzakh was a half-step behind me and punched through it as I flipped over him. His hand went straight through, but when he went to pull it back, his arm was stuck. As I landed I looked back to see him trying to desperately get out. Now was my chance!
“Gotcha now bastard!!” I charged.
I leaped in the air and came down at him with a flurry of slashes. I kept slashing and as I did, he let out eerie screeches. Before I landed my final blow, I grabbed his free arm and began punching his mask. I kept landing strikes and each time my fist began to glow brighter and brighter. On the final punch, I winded back and cracked him with everything I had across his temple, which shattered mask apart and knocked him unconscious. When the pieces had all fallen to the floor I looked at face.
The resemblance was incredible. He looked just like me, but he had grey hair.
Black, ink-like blood began dripping out his wounds. I pulled back in disgust and noticed some had gotten on my gloves. Upon further inspection, the blood was moving and leaped down to the floor. For the time being, he was defeated.
My attention turned back to Rousseau and Zon, who were deep in contest with Longwei. Both of them had swords clashed against his giant scythe. With both hands, he pushed forward and knocked them both back and spun the blade in a circle to prevent their advance. I ran beside them and it seemed to boost their morale. Both were heavy with breath and had wounds over their bodies.
“Bugger! His range is too long, and no matter how many times we strike, he doesn't relent!,” Rousseau gasped, he tried to take a few shots at Longwei but missed.
“He has the Power of Fear. He will bring back flashbacks, bad ones and imprint them in your mind” Zon commented, he was kneeling over his sword to help prop him up. Before Zon had time to respond, Longwei smacked us all across the floor. He cut my left arm across the bicep.
“Damn, how the!?!” I said as I looked back at him.
Longwei took a new fighting stance and held the weapon with the blade toward the floor. With a flick of his wrist, the blade shot behind us and back around. We became entangled by a rope the blade was attached to as it wrapped around us tightly. Longwei then pulled the blade back and as he did we all spun in the air and got cut across the chest. When I hit the floor, I laid on my back in pain.
Longwei retracted his scythe and walked over to Zon and stood above him. He put the blade against his throat and removed his mask. When I looked over, I could see a large scar across his face.
“Don't move little brother, or I will make your death drawn with agony,” Longwei instructed Zon.
“In this life or the next, grandfather will be avenged traitor,” Zon gasped with the blade against his throat.
“I'll send you to meet him so you can tell him you failed,” Longwei responded.
He drew the blade up and was about to cut Zon's throat but Roya's blade pinned him in the gut and shot him across the room. She impaled him through the wall before she retracted it back. Roya then stumbled to the floor. We made our way to her.
“We cannot win this fight, not now. Escape, we, must,” Roya advised.
I looked down and noticed that the blood I saw from Barzakh had gathered beneath us. It then started to climb up our bodies before we became rooted in its grasp. Suddenly, we were swooped across the room and slammed against the translucent wall. I struggled as much as I could, but there was no escape from the dark vines that covered us.
Barzakh stood in front of me, pinning Brutus down with his left arm, “Nice puppy! I think I'll keep him!”
“BRUTUS! NO!!!” I yelled as I tried to break free.
“Strafe! ESCAPE!” Brutus cried before he passed out.
“Enough play,” Barzakh said coldly.
He dropped Brutus and pulled both of his arms to his right side. Slowly, energy began forming between his hands. Before he shot at us he looked into my eyes. Once again they turned blue and while I couldn't hear him, I could read across his lips, “Forgive me.”
Before I could blink the pink blast shot straight into us and shattered the entire wall down. The force felt like a building had collapsed on my chest, not to mention shooting us into a freefall.
Debris from the shattered glass scattered around us as we all struggled to break free from the dark blood. As we fell into the sunlight, the blood quickly weakened and died.
We would hit the ground in seconds. Roya was waving her hands and motioning us to come near her. I made my way over and she pointed toward her sword in front of her. Zon teleported over and back to us to retrieve it.
“PUT YOUR HANDS HERE!” she yelled in the howling wind.
Everyone except Rousseau had gotten a hold. He was unconscious, falling head first. We tried to make our way over, but couldn't reach him. Before he hit the ground, a silver shimmer flew by and grabbed him in the air, it was Commander Vero. Her wings flapped as she flew through the sky and back down to the ground. I was happy to see she recovered.
The three of us wrapped our fingers around her sword handle as she plunged her blade forward. It grew to almost 1,000 feet long before it stuck into the ground. Roya tried to slow down our descent by shortening her blade slowly to counter the forces of gravity but not so great as to fling us off with a sudden stop. Second by second we got closer to the ground and I thought we weren't going to make it.
A second before we hit the ground she had to bring the blade to a complete halt. We all lost our grip and fell about ten feet to the ground. I landed on my back; thankfully in the sand. After sitting up and brushing off the dirt, I looked back up and took in what had just happened.
“I'm gonna get you back Brutus, I promise!” I cried.
In the distance we noticed groups of people entering Sand-Cycles. Sand-Cycles weren't like Mag-Cycles, as they had actual treads like a tank on the bottom of them. They were huge, about the size of a semi-truck, and were meant for carrying troops and supplies across the desert.
Old design Roya
told me.
A few of the survivors from the Bullrose wreckage were helping people into the Sand-Cycles, but one face we recognized immediately. We ran over to help. Rousseau had awakened at just the right time.
“Tom!” Rousseau yelled as he ran into his arms in embrace.
“Hmm,” Zon murmured, he tilted his head away as to not witness the hug.
“Arghhh! Ye bastards made it out! How was the food up there!?” Tom Flint joked.
“It was so good they jumped out of the tower,” Commander Vero replied.
“Nice one commander,” Zon complemented.
“Please Zon, call me Argenta,” she told Zon, he nodded.
Tom Flint was directing the crowds of people rushing into the Sand-Cycles. He explained that during our time inside, he had managed to slip past the guards after he was patched up and found a hanger full of people from around the world inside. Tom Flint told us we had to work quick as he heard they were calling in reinforcements to clean-up the valley and deal with us.
Roya ran over and directed me into the Sand-Mag. I wanted to run back up that tower, to save Brutus, but we had no choice but to escape. I couldn't take my eyes off of the shattered glass. My heart ached, knowing I let him get captured.
She gave me hugged and we gave each other a kiss on the check to get my attention. She rubbed the back of my neck to calm me down. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a girl in beaten and tattered clothing looking at me.
At first I almost didn't recognize her, but when I looked into her eyes, everything came flooding back. Despite the anxiety of losing my wolf, all I wanted to do was to drop everything and run into her arms but she just stood there, looking at me with disgust. There, after all we had been through, stood Yessa.
Chapter 9
Strafe
Hustling as fast as we could, we loaded five Sand-Cycles full of survivors and took off. Their engines were loud and smelled of smoke and oil but they sure could move across the sand. I entered the same cycle as Yessa, but she sat away from me.
Sometimes in life, the loudest replies are silent ones, and that's all I heard from her.
