by Sam Hval
Red sat there in the concrete room with his head leaned down and felt the straps loosen on his wrists.
***
Fire, blood, and death. Buildings on fire, soldiers soaked in blood, and thousands dead.
Those are the things King Corridan dreamed about before he was awakened by the door to his quarters swooshing open. Corridan was surprised; no one ever came into his room at night. The door was always locked. There would be no reason to barge in, unless there was an emergency.
He sat up and watched Red stumble in, with his guards trailing not too far off behind.
"Master," Red mumbled.
"What is it? It better be important," Corridan said.
"Very. The Oldies are coming."
"What? What do you mean? How do you know this?"
"I was told by the Devil herself."
"What were you doing in Ullicar?!"
"I was kidnapped by her. I was in Parker."
"Weren't you supposed to be doing the exact opposite!? You were ordered to find the Oldies and bring them here for torture!"
"They were killed before I could reach them."
Corridan looked down in astonishment. All of this was just too much for him to handle. Even after ruling a province for 20 years, he has never had to worry about being on the brink of war. The Oldies were ready now. They knew he wasn't ready.
"Red, tell the couriers to send word throughout the city. We need to evacuate them now."
Chapter 6
The mayor's office looked as if someone had let a wild animal inside. Papers were scattered across the floor, all drawers and doors were open, and every object appeared to be knocked off of their surfaces.
"What in the hell..." William muttered.
"Where is he?" Angel pointed out.
William's eyes darted around the room, searching for any sign of Timothy. His eyes stopped and focused on a note taped to the front of his desk. William walked over and pulled it off.
William read the note out loud. "If you want him, come find him in Sector 5."
"Who do you think did this?" Angel asked.
"I don't know."
"Do you know where the files are?"
"They aren't here."
"Who took them?"
"I don't know!" William shouted. Angel had been on his nerves since he met her.
Angel tilted her head downwards in embarrassment.
"I don't have any answers right now. We're gonna have to find the answers at this point. And the only way to do that is to follow the note," William said, as he folded up the piece of paper and shoved it in his pocket.
"How do you suppose we know where to go in Sector 5 to find him? In fact, why even go and find him? What importance does he serve to us?" Angel suggested.
"Angel, he's the mayor. A town without a mayor is like a bar without a bartender."
"So what? The town seems fine by itself."
"Do you really think that Angel? Actually, do you really know that? Because if I remember, you're just a poor farm girl who doesn't know jack about Post-Breakout life!" William's tone started to get more stern. He knew they weren't making any progress at the moment, but it was the only way to get her to shut up.
"I am! So what? If I remember, you're just a loner who lost his only friend, a bartender! Are you really that in love with yourself? You don't have anyone to serve you drinks now, so you throw a fit? You're pathetic!"
"Listen here sweetheart! If you wanna slander me, go ahead! But I'm trying to help this town the best I can and what are you doing? Huh? Trying to convince me an innocent life ain't worth saving? Well then I guess you weren't worth saving either! So go on and run now. You're no worth to me if you're gonna have that attitude." William turned away. He realized his voice had raised higher than it should have. He almost felt bad for her. Almost.
"I'm sorry, its just that I wanna help you too. I thank you for saving me, but we need to find my grandmother. If she's an Oldie too, then this town is in danger. What's more important: saving this town from invading Oldies, or saving a kidnapped idiot?"
William closed his eyes and wished for a solution. He wanted to have an answer, but he was too embarrassed to think that the girl was right. He couldn't walk out on her like this. Paul didn't walk out on him at his time of need. Then, like a lightning bolt, the solution hit him.
"What if, the Oldies kidnapped Tim?" he suggested. "And maybe, just maybe... It was your grandmother who did it?"
“Will you're a genius!" Angel screamed excitedly.
William turned back around to face her, and smiled.
"Let's go save this town."
***
Devil stood tall with her hands clasped behind her back. She looked out her office window at the firing range behind it. One by one, Oldies in training fired at their targets in rhythm. Their arrows flew through the thick air and landed straight into the straw targets.
The creamy black and blue sky shone over Ullicar. She looked up at it and gazed at the jagged outline of Sector 3 in the distance, with the red core shining behind it. The mass of land slowly orbited until the core was behind it, now creating a faint red outline.
She thought on her latest mistake. She tried her best to convince Mason to not invade Parker. Especially since his granddaughter lived there. But being the stubborn old man he is, he did it anyway. And now Angel knew. She knew that her once sweet grandparents were a part of the organization they pretended to hate. Julie and Tom, such peaceful aliases for destructive people, Devil thought to herself.
A knock at her door surprised her more than it should have.
"Come in," she commanded.
The door squeaked open and an Oldie sentinel, a loyal bodyguard for high positions, stepped into her office.
"The mayor has been captured and awaits you in the interrogation chamber," he announced.
"Thank you. I'll be there soon," She replied.
***
Corridan watched the fierce soldiers blast their way through the obstacles on the training ground. Energy blasts of all colors traveled through the course. Reds, blues, and purples, all represented different ranks.
The red blasts came from the front men. They were strong, determined warriors, willing to fight on the front lines. They wore red plated armor and sported a medium-sized blaster rifle as a weapon.
The blues shot from the long ranged sniper blasters. The snipers sported a lightweight mesh, colored a dark blue. Their job was to lay back on the tops of the large scaffoldings lined up around the protective walls that guarded Corridia.
The thick purples fired from the vehicles that were to be sent behind the front line of red troopers. The vehicles consisted of a large variety. Small hover bikes, medium rollers, large tanks, and combat ships were all dependent vehicular combatants.
Corridan noticed the sheer volume of soldiers, ships, and ground vehicles on the training ground. So much of the city's Corrilide supply was spent on war equipment.
Corridan's great grandfather, Corridan II, had made sure that that the first thing Corrilide would be used for, was war. Before Breakout, a large scale war was prophesized by many. A war had not occurred in centuries, and people were worried. War was a part of human nature, and when there is no war, paranoia of something much larger to come took its place.
Corridan was grateful for his position as King, but he did not like the idea of commanding people to achieve extreme violence. Whether it was for good, or for bad, it didn't matter. He was a negotiator. All of Morridia's problems during his time ruling were dealt with peace, not violence.
Although he had thought this way about war, now was the time for a change of mindset. The heavy sense of evil lurked throughout Sector 5 since the Oldies first officially formed. The Oldies were proud of their prejudices, and hated anyone who disagreed with them.
All of this time, they were plotting something much larger than an invasion, they were plotting domination. And no one had a clue.
Chapter 7
Willia
m guided Angel through the chaos of the town shipyard. She was delightfully distracted by the excitement of technology. She had spent many hours gazing at the large variety of ships flying over Parker, but to see them up close was a whole other experience.
William had to constantly pull her away from ship to ship. She wanted to know the names of every part, every window, and every section. She wanted to know what they all did, how they functioned, and what they looked like on the inside.
"Just wait until we get to mine," William said slyly.
Angel's eyes lit up with curiosity. She wanted to know everything right that second.
After a few more minutes of navigating their way through, they reached The Whiskey. Angel thought it was a strange name for a ship. William argued it was better than anything else you could have called it.
The ship's ramp was long and steep. It led into the deep cargo hold. The holding area hung down from the bottom of the ship, with the spherical cockpit at the top. The wings of the ship extended out the sides of the cockpit. It looked almost like a flying insect carrying a load of food. An elevator in the cargo area led up to the cockpit, kitchen, and resting room.
As they rode up William said, "So, you like it?"
"It's the coolest thing I've ever seen! How much was it?"
William froze and remembered the vivid memories of stealing it and engaging in a large game of cat and mouse in space.
He found the ship a year after he first met Paul. He hated living in Parker and wanted to go out and explore. William had snooped around the shipyard before, being the curious young boy he was, and had always come back to the same ship. He had found a way inside of it while the owner was out in the town.
He dreamed of stealing it and flying off to Sector 5. He always wanted to go there. Everyone always talked about how beautiful it was, and how the buildings touched the clouds. It sounded like heaven to him.
One day, he followed the owner of the ship through the yard. He was a large man with red hair and glasses. He followed him into the ship. William took out his stun stick Paul had given him, and while the man wasn't looking, jabbed him in the back.
He dragged his body out onto the shipyard, dropped him near an abandoned warehouse, and headed to the cockpit. His eyes shot around to all the different buttons and controls he had gotten used to peeking at. His adrenaline was hotter than when he had snuck in the first time. He started the ship up, pulled the control stick back, and launched out in to the expanse of space.
The previous owner had awakened fast enough to witness his ship escaping him. He called for the nearby patrolling lawmen to go after him. William was fast enough, and smart enough, to outwit them. After a long chase he found himself safe, and always remembered to park the ship behind the town.
"It was a gift," William replied with a hint of hesitation.
***
Angel plunged herself on to the soft mess of blankets and pillows.
"Hey, that's my bed," William said.
"Oh. Well where am I gonna sleep?"
"Don't worry, I got an old mattress somewhere."
The lights on the ceiling reflected brightly on the metal walls and floors of the egg shaped resting area. The left side of the oval sported a small table with two chairs and the right side featured two couches and William's bed.
"Come on, let me show the cockpit," William said, "I might even teach you how to copilot."
Angel bounced up off the bed excitedly and followed him through the wide mechanical sliding door.
She was practically jumping up and down at this point. Before her were two leather swivel chairs in front of a large array of blinking lights, buttons, and switches. The tall bubble of a window filled the whole wall behind the controls, giving a clear view of the outside.
"Alright," William began, "Guess I'll show you how good ol' Whiskey works," He plopped down into the left chair.
William looked up at Angel, "Go ahead, take a seat."
She grinned and sat down onto the chair next to him.
William pointed at the large green button in the center of the controls.
"The great thing about The Whiskey is that she's one of the more simpler ships to control. Most cargo ships were built that way so that anyone can pick it up and fly right away. To make the job easier I guess. So this big green button obviously starts her up."
"That's it?" Angel asked.
"Yup, that's it," William took his hand and pushed down on the button. A loud rumble shook the ship and the back engines, exhausts, and more shot out and started to raise the ship.
Angel had to hold on to her the arms of her seat to not fall off. The ship continued to shake around until it was fully hovering in the air.
"Now, all you have to do is grab the stick in front of you and pull up. Go ahead, try it," William said.
"But what if I screw up?" Angel said, worried.
"Don't worry, you won't. Even if you do, I got my own stick in front of me. Go on."
Angel strapped her seatbelt on, wrapped her fingers around the head of the control stick, and pulled back. Almost instantly, the ship leaned back and started to float higher up.
"No way!" Angel laughed.
"Alright kid, let's go get that mayor."
***
"Do we have any idea when they're planning to strike?" Corridan asked Red.
"No," Red replied.
In all his years having Red by his side as his personal agent, Corridan swore he had never said more than one sentence at a time.
"So she said nothing else other than 'We're coming'?"
"Yes."
"They have to have plans. They can't just randomly decide when to strike." Corridan pointed out.
"May I suggest an idea?" Red grumbled.
"What is it?"
"How about we attack them first?"
"I don't think it's worth the risk Red. They might be prepared."
"I disagree," Red paused.
"And?" Corridan pressed for him to continue.
"We are prepared too. If we strike them first, they will be unprepared."
"I don't see your reasoning in that."
Red remained silent.
Corridan sighed and said, "Oh well, just make sure we have all messengers out throughout the town. On horse, carriage, hover vehicle, whatever. We need everyone evacuated to the undergrounds."
***
The buzz of hover bikes traveled throughout the town.
"The Oldies are going to invade!" The messengers mostly shouted. Every now and then they would add, "Evacuate to the undergrounds!"
The way they saw it, was that if even a few people started to head to the undergrounds, everyone else would follow them. They just needed to let the city know of the coming invasion.
Only ten minutes later, and crowds of citizens started to pour out of their homes and into the undergrounds.
***
Timothy felt claustrophobic in the concrete room. His hands were tied behind the chair he was strapped to and a cloth was stuff up his mouth.
Devil pulled open the door and walked into the interrogation room. Timothy watched as she slowly stepped over to him.
"Not even gonna squirm huh?" Devil said.
Timothy shook his head.
"Admirable, but not enough," she said, "I wonder if you even remember me. I'm sure you didn't care about the farm outside the town."
Timothy started try and talk. All he could get out was mumbles. Devil pulled the cloth out of his mouth and threw it at his face. His mouth was too dry to talk at first, but he eventually worked up enough saliva to speak again.
"I remember you. I had your file. You looked familiar. I should have just told William before he left," Timothy spurted out.
"Who's William?" Devil asked.
"You don't need to know."
"Do you know why I brought you here Tim?"
"Let me guess, so you Oldies can look all important. Kidnapping me won't do anything. Town doesn't give a single crap. Trust me."
"Oh I trust you. But you're wrong. I brought you here because you're a talented manager. I want you to be a part of our team. And aid our soldiers and knights into battle. You will be a fundamental part of our attack on Corridia."
"What makes you think I'm going to help you."
"You will. Because if you don't, you die. Not only will you die, but everyone you swore to protect."
Timothy remained silent.
***
As The Whiskey traveled out of Sector 3's atmosphere, William said, "Wanna take an outside view of Sector 3? We're probably not gonna see it in a while."
"Sure," Angel replied.
William took the stick and turned the ship around.
In front of them, they witnessed the beautiful blue, gray surface of Sector 3. The hills of blue grass surrounded the small gray blip of Parker.
"It's beautiful," Angel said.
"Sure is."
After a few seconds of silence, that beautiful view transformed into a fiery explosion.
***
Corridan's thoughts were abruptly interrupted as an extraordinary rumble echoed through the air. He jumped up out of the seat he was sitting in and walked up to the window to see what the commotion was all about.
He saw Sector 3, or rather, what was left of it. Enormous chunks of debris floated out. The chunks slowly broke down into smaller pieces as they traveled faster towards the core.
The pieces of Sector 3 erupted into fireballs and quickly disintegrated into the scolding hot red core.
At first, Corridan was confused. Then, he was shocked. After that, he realized what had actually happened. The Oldies destroyed an entire Sector. But how?
Chapter 8
Devil was proud. She had finally achieved her goal in striking fear into the eyes of all of Morridia. Despite having already risen in the ranks for her undercover work, she strived for more power. Recruits began to just assume she was the leader. She wasn't. Not yet anyway.
