The Gift of Volkeye

by Marque Strickland

  Khyeryn opened up.

  To the infantry, this seemed like some powerful spell of sorcery, as they watched their comrade’s weapon fall when his body was suddenly impaled by hundreds of lasers, cutting him to pieces. The beast’s head was obliterated, and his arms were severed at the deltoids. The torso, as well, was annihilated as the beams of blue light punched holes in his body, mocking his armour as they worked their way down. When there was nothing of him left standing except the ankles and feet, only then did the spell of sorcery turn to wreak havoc on the others, seemingly saying: You all were wrong to come here…for that you will pay the dearest cost!

  Everyone began firing on Khyeryn’s lead. The first group of soldiers was flustered and shooting out of panic, because they were still blind. The exhaust fans were behind them, so the heavy black air was being pulled in their direction, whilst visibility for the others was almost at one hundred percent.

  If not for the amount of death surrounding them, the streaks of coloured light whizzing through the air could have been mistaken for an indoor fireworks show. Using the flashes of light as a guide, they picked off Phyllamon’s men one by one, while they themselves remained unscathed. Each of them spread out, giving precision to their aim, because they no longer worried about hitting Khyeryn. They could see him. As the dim emergency lighting cut on, their eyes went wide in observation of body parts, armour, and articles of clothing that came exploding out from the remaining pockets of smoke when Khyeryn let loose on them. They were right to have let him take the lead.

  A squat muscular beast hawked up a glob of dusty spit as he fired every which way ahead of him. All he could make out of the blackness was laser fire. Though he couldn’t see, he could feel his comrades drop at his side, knowing that the flurry of blue lasers was cutting them to pieces. There was no option except to return fire and hope to kill or disable whatever it was that was attacking them. (It had to be a machine! If not, then it was the power of some deity, for he’d never before witnessed such an awesome display of artillery.)

  The soldier felt a burning sensation in his left arm and abdomen, falling to the floor as he squeezed off his last round. The air on his end was finally clear, and he saw that he’d hit a girl.

  Sing was down, as she’d been hit square in the chest. Asha went to her aid. Though the shot didn’t penetrate (or even dent) Zynathian’s work, this still didn’t stop the wind from being knocked out of her.

  Because Sing lay on the floor, coughing, no one but Bahzee noticed the second string of troops about to disembark. She knelt over and grabbed a huge stone from a pile of debris, hoisting it over her shoulder. Bahzee took on a vicious snarl as she gazed ahead at the infantry running down the ramp. By the time Asha helped Sing back on her feet and the others had begun to take aim, Bahzee was already in motion.

  The fallen beast braved a look at himself. His entrails were slowly spilling from his body, sliding down his upper thighs, and his left arm lay about ten feet from him in a pile of random body fragments. Far ahead, he saw a black woman knelt beside the girl he shot. Also, there was a tall dark skinned boy adjacent them with a miraculous being on approach. The creature couldn’t believe his eyes. What he saw was a human boy but also part machine. He’d never witnessed the like of it before, and as the child turned in his direction, aiming, he was distracted by an even more wondrous spectacle. A teenage girl had just lifted a stone that had to have been twenty or thirty times her own weight! As the beast listened to the hurrying steps of a new squad of approaching soldiers, he longed to call out a warning.

  Too late.

  Bahzee bowled the rock forward with all her might, watching the sharp edges break off as it raced forward, taking on a more rounded appearance. By the time the first soldier touched down, sliding on the guts of his fallen comrade beside him, he, along with those following, was met with a demolishing blow.

  The beast on the floor was crushed instantly, spewing what was left of him all over the rock and clinging to it like a piece of warm chewing gum. The others had most of their bones shattered upon impact, and they died instantly. Those that didn’t suffered an even worse fate, for they were still alive as the jagged stone took them over the edge of the ramp. Their limp, broken bodies begged the night sky for rescue, but all she could offer them was open arms as she lured them into her deadly embrace.

  Bahzee readied herself yet again. She hoisted another massive stone upon her shoulder, while Khyeryn busied himself, blasting pieces of the ramp away. However, it was a massive thing, and it would be a while before he wore it all the way down. Not having made much of a dent, new beasts had emerged from the ship. There were several that stopped just a few feet from the now-untrustworthy portion of ramp, courtesy of Khyeryn. The soldiers glared inward and took aim.

  “Everyone, take cover!” Khyeryn warned, letting loose another flurry of bursts. Blast! he swore at himself, as none of his shots met their mark. (His weapon was more effective at close to medium range.)

  Letting up for only a moment to adjust his aim, Khyeryn’s work was made easy as a large shadow blocked out the moonlight over the soldiers. No sooner than batting an eyelash were they cloven in two and silhouetted against the moon, spattered sloppily across the midnight sky. It happened so fast, Khye only caught the end result, and Bahzee hadn’t seen Jay at all!

  Jalum’s tail feathers had only just missed being scalped, as Bahzee hurled another rock at the face of the ship, destroying it. The explosion’s bright orange and red flames merged with their background colour and painted the sky a dark shade of purple for a moment before losing their luminescence and taking on tones of black and gray. The thick cloud of smoke trailed behind the rapidly falling ship.

  Assuming that they wouldn’t be attacked anymore from this direction, the family had allowed themselves a moment to breath. However, as Khyeryn wiped the sweat from his brow, his adrenaline kicked back in. He could’ve sworn that he heard the distant rumbling of some type of engine, and he began waving his gun to and fro as he looked outdoors. For almost a minute, nothing happened and just as Khyeryn was about to divert his attention elsewhere, he spotted something hovering amidst the smoke outdoors! As he made to fire, he caught two laser blasts in the plates on his shoulder. Khyeryn had been knocked behind a torso of one of the corpses.

  “Get down!” he yelled, seeing everyone scatter behind any overturned object they could find.

  Khyeryn saw Asha attempt to run to his aid, but he waved her off. I’m fine! he motioned.

  Bahzee was hiding behind a metal shelving unit that lay on its side, trying to rearm herself with more heavy debris. However, the laser power was solely focused in her direction now, and it wouldn’t let up long enough for her to stand and pick up anything. Khyeryn and the others retaliated. He propped his gun arm up on the dead creature’s body and began blasting through the wall’s open hole. His shots were followed by attacks from Asha, Sing, and Teshunua, but since their assailant was still dodging in and out of the smoke, they couldn’t hit him.

  Zu had been about to disembark the ship when Bahzee crushed its face with the stone. Trapped in an incapacitated machine, sailing to the earth, Zu had no choice but to break through the shield in hopes that his jetpack had a sufficient amount of fuel for him to fly back to the castle and at least kill one or two of them. Intending to distance fight in this assault, Zu had donned the jetpack as a means of emergency escape, for his wounds from the battle at Rhameeryla were still fresh, and he didn’t think he was up to being pummeled with ammunition so soon. So far, the pack was working well for him, as he dashed back and forth outside the castle walls.

  The strong little girl was his main target, because the stone she’d destroyed the ship with had hit him square in the chest, throwing him on his back with only moments to escape the aircraft. Not only did the impact reopen many of his gunshot wounds, but he knew he’d bruise horribly. Now, as he darted side-to-side, evading their attacks, Zu was aching. He grit his teeth in concentration, frustrated that he could
n’t hit Bahzee. He saw her trying to lift another stone, but he’d blown it to bits within her hand. Bahzee ducked again, narrowly escaping with her life.

  Deciding he wouldn’t get her, Zu began blasting holes into the corpse on the floor, hoping to hit whoever was behind it. This was his last chance, for he knew that he’d have to retreat in a moment, as not to lose his jetpack fuel on a pointless pursuit…and he was also worried about the bird! Unless seeing the ship destroyed was enough to make it settle on the other side of the castle, he knew Jalum would likely be coming around for another pass. And that was one creature that Zu knew he couldn’t fight!

  Zu took off one of the corpse’s legs, then another. He worked his way up the body and blew off the arm at the deltoid. Then he noticed that whoever was behind the corpse had stopped firing at him. The boy got up to run. Just as Zu made to pick him off, he was cloaked in shadow, assaulted by a cacophonous, ear-piercing cry.

  Zu spun in the air and attempted to fire. However, as the trigger and handle to the weapon snapped off and he realized he’d destroyed yet another firearm, his back was slashed by Jalum’s largest talon. Not only was he deeply cut, but his pack was now damaged, bleeding Arhyz fuel just as profusely as he was his own blood. Zu hit a red button at the wrist of his jacket, and when the exhausts pipes on his pack let out a scorching flare of blue flames, he darted away into the clouds below. His only hope was to make it to a decent spot on Mune Ju and climb down the mountain himself, for there was no way he’d have enough fuel to get all the way to the ground!

  Now, massaging his shoulder from the shots he took, Khyeryn ran to the wall and hit the shield button, knowing that Jalum and Maugrimm would be swinging back around. As raising the shield allowed even more frigid wind in, he braced himself. The air chilled him to the bone and whipped his hair into a tangled mess, but he couldn’t have cared less. All he was concerned with was the fact that he still had all his limbs! He perused over the others and found that they, too, had sustained no further injuries and was even more relieved…but only for a moment. Khyeryn suddenly gasped, realizing that all was not well. Why didn’t he notice before? Why hadn’t any of them noticed?

  He looked to Asha.

  “Mom, where’s Lyn Sha?”

  12

  Within the solitary confines of the library that Zynathian built for Lyn on her ninth birthday, she sat oblivious to all except the words composing each sentence. The technology used practically eliminated distractions from the outside. The only thing that could ever be heard from within was the turning of pages by one person (usually Lyn, as anyone else had to ask for permission to use her facilities. There was hell to pay if she caught anyone inside who hadn’t asked to visit!).

  Lyn had felt the explosions, but from inside the movement was so faint, she’d dismissed the blasts as a thunderstorm. When she first got the gift, Lyn had praised her father for months on the efficient design of her library. Now, however, she would find that under the present circumstances, the room was brilliantly designed to a fault. The family needed her, and here she was, hypnotized by a piece of fantasy that she’d already read numerous times. With each turning page, she fell deeper into a seemingly unbreakable trance. Lyn’s mouth hung open in suspense of the events to come. She knew this bit by heart:

  “HUSH, CHILD! I did not bestow such talent upon you for your courage to fail when it’s most needed. So fixed are you humans on age and inexperience! Let those not trouble you, for even the youngest, most seemingly insignificant being is capable of great things, for I have deemed it so! ...

  “...Be careful, little one, your enemies are masterfully cunning! However, stealthy as they are, they cannot match your power. Your undoing could only come about from carelessness, and that’s why you have no room for error. Destroy them swiftly and without mercy, for they would show you none. ...

  “You’ll soon come to appreciate the extra measures taken these last several months, for this is what you’ve been preparing for—the vanquishing of evil. By the heavens, I see them near! And so the moment has come at last! Be wary, young one, they are upon you!”

  The uninvited guests startled her. Designed to respond to emotional stress, by the time Lyn dropped the book, her arm had already transformed. There was no hesitation. Upon meeting the charcoal black irises of a muscular brute, Lyn leapt from the couch and fired. Though shooting out of fright, she was accurate. Lyn put three holes across the middle of his face, burning away his cheek and removing his nose. Shrieking in terror, she carelessly sprayed the entire front portion of the library, insensitive to the decor of her favourite room in the house. She let go of the invisible trigger and watched smoke rise from ruined books, burning shelves, and charred wood.

  In addition to the beast now slumped against a bookshelf, whose face had been thrice blasted with her panic fire, there was another—a green beast—sprawled out on the floor. She ran to the wall and turned on the rest of the lights as to inspect them and the surrounding area.

  Lyn found the green creature severed at the middle, his torso lay perpendicular to the position of his legs. Though mortally wounded, he was still alert. He coughed on his blood and set his yellow eyes upon Lyn for a last look, unable to believe that a moment ago he thought her to be harmless. What he now saw was a crying little girl, seething with rage. Her black skin was a milk chocolate colour, except for her cheeks, which had gone a deep purple from fright. Her left arm was no longer an arm at all—it was a weapon.

  The beast’s eyes widened as she raised the silver instrument of death, meaning to finish him. Although on his last breath, he couldn’t help but notice the sleek elegance of her firearm. It was flawlessly sculpted, polished to perfection, with a gleam that blended into her natural tone so smoothly one might’ve thought the metal, too, to be her skin.

  Heavens above! This is the child of a god! he thought.

  Lyn Sha had no mercy on him, taking aim at his chest and unloading until she had blown its contents all over the books behind. As she gazed about, wondering what the intruders were doing here, her stomach did a somersault. She somehow knew this wasn’t the last of the killing tonight.

  The family! she thought.

  Lyn carefully tiptoed ahead, knowing that anything could be behind the shield, waiting for her. This first door was merely an opening to a long hallway, which led to the exit. That was why she was taken by surprise. Had there only been one shield, she would’ve heard gunfire the second it opened. As she came upon the door, which would reveal the horrors of her worst nightmares, Lyn swallowed her fear and went forward.

  13

  Jalum’s red tongue protruded stiffly ahead, much like a spear or a javelin, indicative of the thrashing to come. As he cast an immense shadow over his prey, he roared, inducing two of the soldiers to release the contents of their bowels. As his beak ensnared them, slicing into their bodies, his tongue made acquaintance with the putrid combination of flesh, blood, metal armour, and feces. He spat them out and ensnared the other four with his claws. They too suffered a similar fate as Jalum curled his toes inward, ripping them to pieces with his talons. He dropped the remains, scattering their carnal parts across the sky.

  Again there was a heavy wisp of air and an explosion from behind. This, however, was not aimed at them. As they looked back, Jay and Maugrimm saw that a stone from the castle wall had devastated the entire front portion of the ship. Instantly, Maugrimm knew this to be courtesy of Bahzee.

  As they propelled forward and around the side of the castle, they came upon the silver ship and were horrified to find the vessel already empty.

  “Dammit, they’re inside! We gots ta’ get back ‘round front, Jay!”

  However, before darting away, Maugrimm made sure to destroy the silver ship and its connection to the castle, letting off dozens more bomb rounds. When he and Jay flew back around the castle, they were surprised to find one lone beast, hovering with a jetpack, firing inside. Jalum belted a furious wail and raced forward to make quick work of him.

&
nbsp; 14

  Zynathian, who was normally quite the expert with all of his inventions, was too flustered to find the proper listing in any of his menus. Pressing all the wrong buttons on the panel, he swore at himself as his desperate search for the “Initiate Escape” order eluded him.

  “Dammit!” he growled at himself, slamming his fist upon the control deck. It was just dumb luck that he landed on the right button.

  The computer screen blinked and, to his surprise, a message in red lettering appeared. It read: “Initiate Escape?”

  He gave the “yes” command and waited impatiently, pacing and biting his nails. Suddenly he felt the machinery beneath the floor and in the surrounding walls begin to shift. As the castle’s inner skeleton came to life, Zynathian was relieved that everything sounded like it was well lubricated and joined tightly, until…

  “Bloody hell, not now! What is that?” he said, panicking, as he heard the castle’s parts stall and make strange grinding noises.

  Zynathian lowered his head in frustration. Then he was startled out of his transition with the sudden rising of exceptionally heavy gunfire. He knew then that Khyeryn had thrown the first stone.

  Kill everything in your path, boy! Zynathian spoke into the air, looking to the monitor only to be petrified further.

  “Escape request denied! Rocket shafts clogged! Launch presently impossible! Request denied! …Denied! …Denied! …Denied!”

  “Blast! Damn it all to hell! Shit, shit, shiiiiiit!” he swore when he felt the castle’s joints rumble and go limp as they settled back into their natural places.

  Zynathian could hear the shield being bombarded from the other side and realized that the enemy was now retaliating. He flinched as the door rattled back and forth as it was pummeled with laser fire, threatening to give away at any moment.