A Crimson Tale

by K. L. O Johnson

  I’ll need transportation.

  *.*.*

  I slowly glide through the Hanger Bay, where space travel jets line themselves around the runway. I gently land on the ground, my heels don’t make a sound, glancing over my shoulder I wonder how I managed to make it here in one whole night without falling into the ocean. That would have been a laugh. I believe anyway. I stride along the airstrip knowing that it’s not completely abandoned. Still they don’t know that I’m not exactly allowed to leave, but who’s going to tell them? I pass many unused jests and pass a large silver space-ship as strange as that sounds it is exactly that a ship for travel through space. Initially the Nephalem would spend close to five hundred years out in the abyss of space.

  The sound of distant muffled voices make their way to my ears. They’re too far to pick out anything comprehensible. Though I try not to be caught so I hide in the shadows and move to my destination at the end of the Hanger Bay, There are many large different designed ships for different voyages and depending on whether or not they are for battle or travel they are armed and ready to defend those on board as it will take years or months for its next contact with a port station. There at the end of the Reserved Section, is the battleship I’ve been searching for—my Exelon. I smile at the sight of it.

  Footsteps sound not too far from me and I slip behind a large silver container that glimmer would often contain, food, products, weapons and many other necessities for long space voyages. The footsteps die down and I glance at to the disappearing sound and see a man and a woman heading towards the opposite side of the Hanger. I slip out from where I hide and stand under my ship. I pull up my PCP and enter the pass-codes and digits required for the ships’ access. It stands gleaming under the luminous lights and the platform slowly begins to descend. I hear the footsteps once more and I run up the platform and enter the hanger of my ship. I move to the red button on the left and hit it.

  The platform slowly begins to close itself and I race towards the pilot seat, passing down corridors, open spaces, cubicles and other seats before I manage to make my way to the bridge, I sit down into my seat and begin to power up my ship. I feel my battleship—fitted for two hundred passengers and personnel begins to vibrate under my boots as the fuel cells and engines warm up, weapon system and communication becomes online and before I knew it my ship was ready to move. At that moment an AI slips onto the platform and his holographic figure stands, staring at me, his form is silver lined in blue. “You know you’re going against protocol. Right?”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.” I reply and the wrap my scaled fingers around the shift and press more buttons more sliding my fingers down.

  “Have a plan on how to get out?” came the voice. I know it all too well but don’t focus on it instead, I force the jet—with its engine purring—to move towards the runway. A voice on the comlink breaks through.

  “This is Spatial Control. You are in breach of Protocol A41. You have two minutes to abort launch or we will use force.” I feel the sweat slipping down my face, my heart is erratic and the presence behind me isn’t helping.

  “Are you on theirs on mine?” I ask the voice.

  There’s silence.

  “If you’re here to stop me, I won’t go down without a fight.” The jet moves closer towards the runway and the same voice breaks through on the comlink. The AI regards me with a blank expression as the voice dances over our heads.

  “You have one minute and thirty seconds to abort the launch.” They still don’t know who’s on this carrier do they? I feel movement behind me before it becomes present by my side. I glance towards the second pilot seat and there sits Ryu. He sets up his side and gains control of the jet. His hands are wrapped around the shift like mine and he aids in the movement of the jet. I smile and turn my gaze back to the runway before us, I glance back at Ryu and he places his hand on the gears, as do I. He nods and at the same time we push it forward and the jet accelerates.

  The Hanger Bay doors begin to close, they close fast but I’m sure we’ll make it—just. We just slip through as the doors close but the alarms still ring out. The ships board begins to blink. “There are fifteen pursuit jets.” says Mizreth, my personal AI. “Whatever you going to do, you better do it fast.”

  “You know they’re going to fire…right?” questions Ryu but I know it wasn’t him asking me whether I know, he was making a clear point. We are now considered hostiles and a threat. I don’t blame them—if we can take a ship from their Port from right under their nose that just goes to show how tight the security is. I’ll need to inform my grandma of that.

  “Isn’t that the fun part?” I ask as I glance at him. He scowls at me and I fight back a laugh that’s threatening to surface. If I laugh now, I think the two of them will definitely believe me to be unfit for battle. At that thought, I return my gaze back to the clouds and focus. The pursuit jets begin to fire and we maneuver the Exelon out of the way. They’ve ceased contact with us.

  “Our name, our rights, are what introduce great courage and pride while it inflicts both pain and suffering to those on the receiving end.” My grandma’s voice rings through my ears, even now, while the sound of exploding ricochets of air missiles and energy beams; I am still being, lectured by that woman. I fight back a groan; I need to focus on not killing anyone or harming him or her that is behind the controls of those airliners. That will just give me something else to be in trouble for. As much as I love my home; its people both good and bad, there are just something’s I refuse to do, like undertake fire on my fellow Nephalem. Our numbers are already small and I refuse to contribute to its declining population toll.

  “Ryu.” I say, he does not answer but like the others, I know he’s listening. “Do you have any idea on how we should go about this?”

  “There.” His head nods into the distant mountain passes, thick stalls, thin crevices and winding sediment that has accumulated over the millennium. That just might work…

  I force the controls down and the jet follows the order as we steeply dip down and slip through the arch stones, rocky edges that scatter along the ocean surface, the waves, crash, thunderously against the dark grey rocks with sharp rigid edges. The jet flips on its side and we slip through the ever twisting and turning stone wall, the inside of the caverns is dark a lot darker than I expected and a lot more dangerous. I’m sure I heard an explosion of several jets before and feel somewhat guilty but try not dwell on it.

  They may have ejected just in time.

  The crevices were dark, unavoidably, we turn we slide and duck down further into the dangerous obscurity that can only just be made out by the light projected by my Exelon. Before we knew it we were home free, a vortex hovers several hundred thousand kilometers above the mountain ranges, in shades of deep green, green and navy blue. I glance at Ryu—his face reads my very thoughts.

  We both questioned whether or not to trust it. Taking a leap of faith we enter the cortex. These secondary forms of interdimensaionl transportation, our minds didn’t fee or should I say require the need to deeply focus through intense discipline, on where we want to go, this is secondary and as such—that vortex is something we didn’t call upon—instead someone else did it for us. So what lies on the other side of this is exactly where we are required to go. Well I can at least hope.

  It maybe for the better or worse.

  The light is bright, I automatically shield my eyes, my brain seems to be behind point-five-seconds and we meet with a bright blue sky. The day is bright and we soar through the air for a good ten minutes before finding a secure place to land, in a large meadow, the yellow wheat dances and sways as the exhaust of our engines begins to slow. “Where do you think we are?” I ask Ryu.

  “I’m not sure.” We glance at Mizreth hoping he would shed some light on our situation.

  He just shrugs.

  “What type of an AI are you?” I growl annoyed. Ryu sighs.

  “A bio-mechanical one. That’s my area of expertise. Tho
ugh the atmospheric and pressure measurements indicate perfect results for life. The coordinates here, correspond to quadrant 4b.”

  “Zylaria!” I rise from my seat, unstrapping myself in the process, by a press of the central button over my chest and race down the halls towards one of the corridors where a thin window stretches along, revealing mountains upon mountains of lush forest canopies, the birds in the distance flutter overhead of the ship that Ryu has placed in Stealth Mode. Technology can be amazing at times. I hear the ramp begin to extend and I rush down towards the Hanger, Ryu stands waiting for me.

  “You coming?” I nod and paced beside him as we step down the rap and into the summer filled meadow. The air seems calm and refreshing, the wind is silent and refuses to dance its lustrous dance—one which will comfort any being under the harsh sun and intense heat. If we are in Zylaria then…Ryu is immediately at my side, “We should head back to Mykyra, retrace his steps and…”

  “Find where he might be held.” I finish. We glance at each other and exit the ship. I place my hand upon my PCP and immediately the ship’s control system is switched to Hibernation. So if the need be we can return to the ship and take off. We regard each other, a silent agreement passing between us, we enter the darkness of the foreboding forest.

  *.*.*

  “How do you even know there’s a town here?” questions Mizreth. His voice rings through our headsets and I fight the urge to smack my helmet to get it to shut up but I know that it won’t affect the talkative AI only me.

  “I’ve been here before.” I say as I push aside branches in our way, acorns and other large seeds fallen from branches high up.

  I tried again and again but nothing occurred, no matter how many times I attempted to wrap my mind around it. Nothing give me the answer I seek and nothing gave me the chance or the choice to try and understand this unexpected confrontation. I glower. “So…I was right they would take the bait.” came the voice from the shadows of the forests’ dense canopy.

  Ryu stands on guard, sword drawn and eyes vigilant.

  “If you know what we are, you must be one tough bastard to purposely stumble upon us let along threaten us.” spoke Ryu. The wind picks up around us and alas, Mizreth is silent. Though the air is oddly thick, my scales begin to rise and my body tells me to run. I glance at Ryu, he too has the same expression on his face.

  “Tough I am. Bastard. I’m not. I was not born out of wed-lock you would know.” came the voice once more, something is off about this person, which, I can barely see but only just identify as a man of intimidating yet elegant stature. If his features complement his physique he just may appear as a runaway magazine model.

  “As if my parents would consider shaming their stature.” His voice is elegant and somewhat snobby. There is something about it, it’s like I’ve heard it somewhere. “What Rails? Not even a hello?” Rails? Rails! Eugene!

  “Lord Vilanté.” declares Mizreth.

  “I see Rails still has that useless AI around.”

  “Hey!” wails Mizreth.

  “No one calls him useless but me!” I yell. He steps out into the shadows and his lips are pulled into an arrogant smirk that I won’t hesitate to knock off.

  That smirk quickly transforms into a grimace. “I see that’s only fitting but ironic.” He brushes his silver hair aside that falls down to his waist equal in length as Ryu and the many other aristocrats their hair a power meter, representing their strength and over all power duration. “It takes someone useless person to identify the consistent trait.”

  “Wh…Hey!” I growl and storm toward him, unafraid of what the outcome would or could be for that matter. This man before me by nature should be bowing down to me and begging for his life—cowering in fear—by nature beings submit to those powerful. However, since I didn’t grow up this way…since I didn’t grow up, in a world where people of lower power levels bow down to those with higher ones. Instead, I grew up on Earth a place that desired for equality…a world that desired for the better and brighter future those before them had fought for. He gives me a passive look. “You can’t just come here and act like you own the place…there’s nothing to own!” I snap and he raises a silver brow.

  “Look around you. If I wanted this, all I have to do is boarder my lands, anyone that steps on it pays or dies. And you thought…there’s nothing to own.” His smug and I growl. I knew he would say that but in this case, I’m not in the mood to get submerged into a debate that will last for the next Earth year. I often measure my time in that of Earth years, strangely enough it’s normal for me but odd and strange for everyone else. Is the desire for money and power the only thing that every species requires? The only reason why we’re alive is pure accident. Is by pure deception, an act which encased the demon queens their prison.

  “You know…animals normally submit to their Alphas. To those they know are of power and control.” I hiss, deadly. My eyes glaze back into his—I refuse to give him the pleasure of seeing me waver—he steps in closer to me and stares down at me with an impenetrable gaze. The air feels thick and I can tell everyone is on edge.

  “I’ll submit, to that I know are worthy.” he declares before bending down and whispering in my ear, his lips don’t touch my skin but I can feel his breath—as cold as the winter ice—something deadly and sinister, closer than I ever thought possible. “You are nowhere near the Alphas, Omega. Aren’t I right, Rails?” he taunts and I glare. He steps back and glances over his shoulder at Fredric.

  “What are you doing here?” I demand. He stiffens and answers.

  “Accompanying my lord, Princess.” he adds quickly, with a hand over his heart and his head bent down as a slight bow. A form of respect that Eugene refuses to show.

  “At least, you know your class,” I say a bit smug—my eyes still penetrating that of Eugene.

  “He…my lady, is a doormat—he’ll do anything that I tell him—as long as it gets him higher than the lowest of the low…” he says as he glances at me. My hands move on their own and I don’t try to stop them as they edge towards my Tai Sticks on my thighs—weapons that are two short metal staffs before they extend into two double blades as of course will be very effective at this range. After all, the air is too thick with vengeance—too thick with anger—betrayal—pride and honor all rolled into one.

  Ryu’s voice breaks through, I hesitate at that moment. If I fight him, here, Ryu won’t hesitate to defend me even if Eugene is out of his league—even if he goes up against a number of heavily armed men on his own, he’ll fight to protect me. “You were the one responsible.” It isn’t a question—it is the declaration—the drawn conclusion that Ryu and I have concluded, with the same page of evidence. The portal. The portal/vortex that we didn’t conjure.

  Our portals were our primary form of transportation before our people had learned there was more to the earth, trees and air around us but everything in between. “Yes. I am. As much fun as it was watching you two cause trouble. I figured to give you two a different setting.”

  A cloud crack occurred once more, I turn over my shoulder—a tree begins to descend on me. Something firm hits me hard on the back of the head and down I fall. Pain radiates through my body and I can’t find anything that has caused this, can’t seem to stop the agonizing scream that rips from my lips. Worst of all I can’t move, I’m in extreme pain and the only thing I hear is. “Kal! Kal!” Cling! Clang! Zing! The sound of clashing steel erupts through my ears it’s as quick as it came. “Kal! Hang on!” that voice, that’s Ryu’s voice. I would know it anywhere. Darkness engulfs me and I’m stuck down on the ground helpless and in the dark. The sound of quick lodging of steel. Ryu’s firing his crossbow. I know that should all too well.

  *.*.*

  With another crash, more buildings collapsed…how it managed to come to this is unknown. That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop fighting regardless of the fear coursing through my veins. I’m not frozen with fear but literally frozen, held in place, by the power of the arist
ocratic vampire. “My…my…is this all it takes to wipe out a Nindo. If so…I would have done it a long time ago.” he muses.

  He raises his hand to deliver the final—deadly blow. I force my eyes to watch as my teeth clench together in anger. Immediately a shield lands in front of me, it’s lodged into the ground.

  “Don’t touch her!” snaps the voice—Dante. He’s here and he’s fighting the vampire. He’s the one that betrayed us. Than in the distance there stands a Nephalem. I can sense it. His blood radiates off in waves, so distant and so completely free of suppression.

  Eugene.

  *.*.*

  Something heavy weighs me down and my breath fights to escape my lungs before erupting in fire as it attempts to return. I can’t help it. The light is all around me and I feel lost. I feel both happy but both sad. If I’m going to finally die, than why am I sad? I think at that moment Varden’s face flashes across my mind. His laugh echoes though my head as I remember the cluster of peaceful moments I’ve had with him. I’ve never realized it until now—how much I’ve taken him in. Right down from the way he walks, talks and down to the smallest things like he would often look to the ground if deep in thought.

  My lips hurt as they pull themselves into a smile. A shadow is cast upon me and I force my eyes to open. It’s blurry at first, the ground doesn’t seem to stay still and the noise—it’s muffled. I try to focus but the more I do the more pain I’m in. At that moment, Varden is over me, his face contorted into fear and pain. Without a moment’s thought, my hand stings in pain as I move it to touch the side of his face, at first he hesitates that snuggles into it which makes me even more happier at the sight. His face begins to change and Ryu stands above me with confusion on his face.

  “Ryu?” I question before everything goes black.

  *.*.*

  “Kal, Kal, where are you?” asked a dominant voice. The air was warm and the sun blazed with elegance overhead. I saw father wonder through the foliage of the forest that stands just beyond our lands. I clasped my hands over my mouth to hide the small giggle that escaped my lips. Father doesn’t know I’m here, I thought happily. I squatted down beneath the shrubs with a smile on my face. A hand gripped my shoulder and my hopes of winning faulted.