Shadow Corps

by Justin Sloan

  Ferder screamed, pushing himself harder, and the others tried to keep up.

  All but Napalm, who now noticed something on the dragon. There were three people up there. Somehow, they had all managed to stay on even at that angle. As he watched, Samantha landed a blow on Karstrack, and the dragon seemed to lose its focus, the next wave of attacks faltering as the glow from the horns faded.

  He wasn’t sure what to do with this information, yet, but he knew it would play a vital part in this operation.

  SAMANTHA LUNGED AGAIN, this time for Karstrack’s hidden side. There was something glowing there, faintly. He was wearing something, or holding something, that he was using to control the Scurries. Ordering the Scurries to dig into the dragon at different points manipulated the dragon into going in the direction he needed it to.

  From there, it was all about pain for the dragon, as best she could figure. When the Scurries surged on it, digging in from multiple directions, the dragon grew frustrated and shot off the beams from its horns.

  What Samantha had first thought to be the dragon’s companions were actually the tools being used to control it.

  Not that it made the dragon any less of a threat, but at least now she had a good guess as to how it worked. If she was right, taking out Karstrack would solve more than one problem that day.

  So she lunged again, this time trying to work with Hadrian, who had just appeared and moved in the opposite direction. However, they were largely outnumbered, especially when considering all of the Scurries and the dragon.

  This time, however, Samantha remembered her upgrades. She saw that her sword just needed one more kill to be fully charged, so dodging a strike from Karstrack, she moved for a Scurry instead.

  The Scurry tried to lift her up with its appendages, but she used the momentum to get the sword where she needed it and took the monster’s life.

  As she fell, she spun and darted forward with her cloak. But instead of thrusting at Karstrack, she slammed her sword into the dragon, sending a massive electrical shock through it. The attack was enough to make the dragon roar and turn away, circling up and up, away from the city.

  “How’s everything going up there?” a voice said, and then she realized it was Dex, talking through her hood.

  “Could be better, you?” she replied.

  “Just keep doing whatever you did, and keep that thing away from us down here until the city pulls itself together. It’s not looking good.”

  “Copy that.”

  Hadrian appeared at her side and said, “Nice thinking, now get ready.”

  She wasn’t sure how, but he had apparently latched the two of them together with Karstrack, so that they all shot toward each other.

  “Block,” he commanded, and she did as she was told.

  Karstrack had reacted by raising his sword to thrust at them, but his eyes went wide as he saw them both lift their arms to block.

  He likely knew what this could mean.

  As soon as the blade hit, Samantha’s shield set off a shock of electricity that sent Karstrack squirming, while Hadrian’s had an explosive reaction. The latching kept him tight, though, so that he just crumpled to the ground with a wheeze as the electricity left his body.

  Samantha didn’t hesitate, instead leaping over to grab his arm, then pull free a green, horned gauntlet.

  “Wait, NO!” Hadrian shouted, but it was too late. She had already slid it on her hand and started focusing, seeing if she could put a stop to all this. Her first thought was to pull back the Scurries, and to her surprise and delight, it worked. A jab of pain shot through her arm, but she couldn’t stop now.

  As she focused again, she felt Karstrack at her side, pulling himself up. She turned and kicked him down.

  Hadrian leaped forward, sword at his enemy’s throat, and then paused.

  “Do it!” Karstrack shouted. “End it, you coward!”

  But Hadrian turned to Samantha, faceplate clearing so that she could see the pained expression on his face.

  “He’s the only other left of my kind,” Hadrian said. “I can’t…”

  Samantha sighed, looking at Karstrack, and said, “And he’s my only shot at finding out who my dad was.”

  “But if he lives…” Hadrian sighed, shaking his head. “It’ll be more of this. Who knows how many more lives will be lost at his hand.”

  “Together then?” Samantha asked.

  “Wait, I can take you to him, I can—”

  Before Karstrack could finish the sentence, Hadrian and Samantha both plunged their swords into his chest, piercing his body armor. He struggled, stopped twitching, and was dead.

  Hadrian knelt beside him, and Samantha noticed the tear before he let his face mask cloud over again.

  “End it,” Hadrian said.

  Samantha nodded, held the gauntlet high, and then willed the surrounding Scurries to plow into the dragon. They were tearing apart its armor, some starting to get into the flesh beneath. The beast was writhing and screaming, tearing through the sky and then plummeting to the ground before rushing upward again. Explosions from the horns tore into mountains as the dragon turned back on itself, trying to get a good hit on whatever was doing it damage.

  In an awe-inspiring display of greatness, the beast had turned almost in a full circle, similar to the image of a snake eating itself.

  “I have to handle my dead,” Hadrian shouted, holding Karstrack’s body close. “Get to safety.”

  With that, Hadrian went through a jump point, leaving Samantha to hope her ability to fly would kick in. She ran, feeling Hadrian’s tethering magic gone now, and leaped. The shadow cloak pushed her out of the dragon’s reach, and then she was flailing as she fell, screaming at the top of her lungs.

  Her mind flashed to days fighting with her mother, all of the times others had called her out for being too young to fight, but not her. The one woman who should have been sheltering her, telling her it was too dangerous, had always believed in her. Hell, she’d even chosen to fight alongside her.

  Samantha wasn’t about to let her mom’s sacrifice be for nothing, just as she wasn’t going to let that faith in her be misguided.

  With a deep breath in, she ceased her screaming and opened her eyes. The wind stopped. Instead of falling, she was floating toward the ground, and was finally able to take in the chaos.

  Many of the fighters had been destroyed, their wreckage surrounding the smoldering city. The main palace still stood, but large blocks had been destroyed and were still in flames, and the space dragon was spiraling down toward the city. All she could do was watch in terror, trying to block out the screams of the inhabitants below.

  NAPALM THREW another blast at the few Scurries that remained below, but his energy was low. He stumbled along the outside of the city, almost there, when a large shadow crossed over him. The space dragon was above him, writhing in pain and screeching. It was going to hit the remains of the city.

  A figure was floating down from above in the distance, and judging by her dark armor and the fluttering cloths, it was Samantha.

  She had taken down the dragon, and presumably Karstrack, but now there was this new problem of the damage the aftermath would bring.

  His head spun, looking for answers. Instinct said to run, flee and try to survive.

  But his heart said that wasn’t right, that there was another way.

  It hit him—the way Hadrian had shown him to latch onto objects, to use his energy to move things. That space dragon was larger than the nearest mountain by far, and yet… he had to try.

  “CARMA!” he shouted, spinning, and a moment later the woman was at his side.

  “You have a plan?”

  “I have a hope,” he replied, then quickly pulled off his armor, so that he was only wearing his loose-fitting training clothes.

  “If you’re thinking that I’m going to do something nasty here because we’re all going to die anyway—”

  “No, it’s worse than that. I mean, it’ll hurt more. Or
, well, I assume.” He frantically looked between her and the falling space dragon. “I think I can move it, at least get it to not destroy what’s left of the city. Your touch… I’ve seen what it can do. It amplifies power, right?”

  She was already removing her gloves. “Prepare yourself. Face the dragon, and when I say go, do what you must.”

  “You—you’ll do it?”

  “You’re not some male, and you’re certainly not my enemy. You’re my teammate, an extension of the body we all now make up. Now shut up and get to work. We don’t have much time.”

  So he spun, focusing everything he had on the space dragon. Just as he was about to unleash his energy and bind the creature, Carma’s hands were on him. She ran her hands across his back, then down to his core and back up to finally reach around him and hold him as if in an embrace.

  The action caused him to pause, but then she whispered, “Now.” Heat flowed through him, along with a tingling and then a surge of power unlike anything he had ever felt.

  He shot his hands out toward the dragon and, with a shout of excitement at the sensation coursing through him, latched his energy onto the dragon and pulled. His whole body vibrated and he could feel waves of energy coursing through his limbs, rising up through him and extending from his fingertips, but still the dragon wasn’t moving.

  “It’s not enough,” he shouted over the loud screams from the citizens and the screeching from the dragon.

  “It has to be,” Carma replied, her voice wavering.

  A moment later Dex was there, quickly removing the healing robe and wrapping it around the two of them. As Napalm had felt its healing effect before, now it sent a wave of cool through him. He felt Carma perk up behind him.

  “Again,” Dex said, removing its hood. “Try again.”

  Now with the power of Carma and the healing of Dex, Napalm gave it his all. He felt the flames spread from within, taking over, filling every bit of his body. And then it was there—he was latched to the massive beast. With a mental pull, he yanked the dragon out of its trajectory.

  The dragon’s tail slammed into one of the towers of the palace as it fell, and then it hit the ground just west of the city. It slid along, tumbling and tearing apart all in its wake, and then went over the side of the cliffs.

  The ground was still vibrating as the space dragon hit the water below. It sent out a huge splash, followed by a mist that moved across them all.

  Carma still held Napalm as Dex came forward and unwound his healing robe. They should have dropped from exhaustion, if not for the being’s powers. After a moment, Carma released her grip, the effect similar to having a great warmth suddenly pulled back to leave you in the cold.

  The sensation only lasted a moment, and then Napalm turned to them. He saw Kwan on the battlefield, his Red Company not far off, where they had been shooting up at the Scurries.

  “We did it,” Napalm said, but shook his head at the devastation.

  “Everyone still alive is so because of you,” Carma said, pulling her body armor back on as if dressing after an awkward one-night stand. He stepped toward her, taking one of her hands in both of his.

  “Together,” he said. “And your people will never know you gave that gift to a male.”

  She smiled, but shook her head. “Like I said before, you’re a teammate. There’s no shame in what we accomplished here today, nor the way in which we saved their lives.”

  With a smile, he released her hand, then turned to Dex and nodded. “Come, let’s find the others. We have a lot of work here to rebuild this place.”

  Dex returned the nod, pulled up its his hood, and joined him and Carma as they walked to meet up with Kwan. There was indeed a lot of work to do, and they were also in need of food and sleep.

  HADRIAN KNEW he needed to hurry back, but he had seen how it would end and knew this must be done. Placing Karstrack’s wrapped body into the pool of water beneath the once-great temple on his home planet, he lowered his head in a moment of remembrance.

  Whatever had come over this longtime friend, this man he had always considered like a brother, he couldn’t believe it was natural. Something had taken over Karstrack, he was sure of it. The only problem with that was, his kind was supposed to be immune from such trickery as time manipulation and mind control.

  How did they get to him?

  It didn’t matter right now, but Hadrian swore he would get his answer. For now, he had to complete the ritual. Whenever one of his people died, those that remained would gain their power. Karstrack being the last of them, all of the power of their people was now Hadrian’s. He kept his eyes closed, feeling the cool tendrils of the pool reach out and encircle his arms, moving up until they wrapped around his torso and into his heart. This was the transfer of power, and with a large breath he was lifted into the air, spinning, a great light visible even beyond his closed eyelids.

  And then it was gone, and he was on the stone floor, alone, as the body sank into the pool.

  Now all of his kind were laid to rest, all but him. When that day came, he would be ready. However, with the amount of power flowing through him at the moment, he had his doubts about that day coming soon.

  First he had to help Samantha, get her to where she needed to be, so that she could play her part in saving Earth, and then the universe. The two were largely connected, though she couldn’t possibly understand the degree to which yet. Samantha wouldn’t be able to follow the proper path if she knew.

  So Hadrian walked back into the light image of himself, the last jump point of his planet, and returned to Entono Fos Prime.

  25

  EPILOGUE

  Weeks had passed since the partial destruction of the city of the Elders, and while there had been much carnage, only one of the Elders had been lost in the invasion. Unfortunately, it was the woman they had all relied on the most—Orlean.

  As the Elders worked on a system to replace her and oversee the rebuilding of their city, Samantha had been tasked with finding what she could about the space dragon that had crashed into their world and now occupied a space at the base of the waterfalls. Water pounded on its scales as she stood at the top of one of the cliffs, wondering how long it would take before the water broke through, or wore it down like a smooth statue over time. Would it someday look like just another of the many mountains?

  “It wasn’t always a tool of evil,” Hadrian said, and she turned to see him, back in his normal state. “They were once a thing of beauty, said to be protectors of the three most sacred planetary systems.”

  “Earth isn’t one of those?”

  He shook his head. “Earth is of the utmost importance, and its people are special, to say the least. But what I speak of is beyond the comprehension of the people of Earth. You will come to know, in time.”

  “And my dad? Will I come to know that in time too, or will you tell me now?”

  He looked startled at that, then his expression softened. “Samantha, I honestly don’t know the answer to that. Perhaps it was trickery, or… perhaps your father is really out there. I would like to get to the bottom of this as much as you.”

  “Really? As much?”

  “You’re right, maybe not as much. But rest assured, I will not give up until we have an answer to this riddle.”

  She nodded, knowing it was the best she could hope for right now. “Thank you. I’m ready, you know. To get back out there. I had a buttload of skill points to use up, and my skill trees are filling up fast. So, what’s next?”

  “Next…” He stared off at the stars for a long moment. “We have two more dragons to deal with, and Scurries might not be available after this. It is something we must look into. Who is controlling them? How?” He turned to her, contemplating. “Karstrack controlled this one with the Scurries and the gauntlet, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be the case with the others. In fact, based on what I know of him and his powers, I’m quite certain it won’t be. And you…your training is far from over, of course.”

  �
��Training?”

  He smiled. “On the job training, but training nonetheless. I don’t want any of you to think you know all you need to know, to grow complacent. Hubris will be the downfall of our enemy, never us.”

  “You are avoiding the question.”

  “What next… Well, I have a feeling about a certain planet, one where a partner with the enemy uses a form of mind control. There’s a faction of the alien overlords who use mind control on aliens in a certain section of the galaxy. Use of the dragons might be connected, but we must act smart here.”

  “If there’s a possibility of a connection to my dad, then I say let’s get to it.”

  “If he’s really out there looking for you, he might find us before we find him.” Hadrian motioned to the dragon. “I’ll get down there and see what we can learn about these things. As for going to the planet I mentioned, you’re not quite ready. You need to train, to be sure you’re at your peak before we go.”

  He started down, but she stood her ground. “When exactly will I be ready?”

  “Ferder and the others are waiting for you. When you’re done training, you know where to find me.”

  She stared at him, feeling her annoyance bubble up as much as she wanted to push it down. This needed to end, and if the only way she could make it so was to train her ass off, then she would do it. But every bone in her body said she needed to be out there kicking ass, so pardon her if she was a tad annoyed at the moment.

  Spinning to go find Ferder, she saw him approaching with her team at his side, including Voira and Agathe.

  “You ready to get your butt kicked?” Ferder asked.

  She scoffed. “Hey, don’t try to take your clothes off this time, and I’m all for it.”

  He blushed, turning a dark blue, and the others laughed.

  “There’s a story there, I’m sure,” Carma said with a playful smile.

  “Oh, come on,” Ferder said with a laugh. But when the others kept staring, he rolled his eyes and said, “I’ll let her explain after training.”