Black Knight - Awakening: Part One

by Gilliland, Christian

  "I need you to look into Project Eon." He replied. "I feel like the answers to everything that is going on can be found if you were to look into the classified..."

  "That's dangerous Rubii." She said, shaking her head. "I will see though. For you... Goodbye brother." She said as she turned and walked away.

  Rubaan remained on the bench, finishing his cigarette. He watched as she disappeared and as he tossed his cigarette aside he shook his head.

  "Things are about to get so fucking crazy..."

  Chapter 5: Part One

  The Demon V

  22nd of Ramlia - 346 AG

  15:00 - Belhaasi Weald

  "Now, dear steward of Dura'Ana," Sage said, approaching the Govian with his hands held out. "I harbor no desire to offend but I should say that I do believe you are mistaken in your assumptions about our friend here."

  "I am not." The Govian replied, taking a step forward. "He is the Demon. I have seen his face."

  "No my fellow Elf." Sage replied. "He is not. He is Raby Loffers, a dear friend of mine, and he collapsed whilst we were out scavenging for the riches that the Belhaasi Weald has to offer. I should say the air is indeed thick here."

  "Silence." The Govian commanded. "You are both under arrest. Do not move."

  "Prithee, dear brother." Sage said, raising an eyebrow, "Listen to me. Twould be an utter shame for this to end in our favour, for you are not even considered sport to us."

  "Is said shut up!" The Govian shouted, taking another nervous step forward. "Do not make me put a bullet in you!"

  "Tell me, soldier." Sage said, stepping forward. "What if you fired and you missed? How would that make you feel?"

  "What?" The Govian replied, "Be quiet!"

  Sage's right hand burst into flame and the Govian took a step back. Sage held his flaming hand in front of him and wiggled his fingers for the Govian to see.

  "Do you believe your bullets are faster than his?" Sage asked looking back at Crinnan. "You see, his could not hit me once. Do you think you could?"

  "How..." The Govian asked, obviously frightened. "S...stay back!"

  "Run." Sage replied, "Forget you saw us." The Govian looked around and took another nervous step backwards.

  "I..." The Govian replied. "I cannot!" At that he opened fire on Sage. Sage phased out of the way of the Govian's automatic weapon, going in and out of sight. Crinnan watched with his back on the ground and quickly pulled one of his revolvers from its holster.

  "For fucks sake!" Crinnan shouted as he quickly aimed and pulled the trigger. The bullet soared through the air and into the Govian's throat. The soldier dropped his weapon and fell backward, making a strange hissing noise as he desperately gasped for air.

  "Shall I make room for another guest?" Crinnan heard Eshan's voice ask in his head.

  "Quiet!" Crinnan muttered as he got to his feet.

  "Perhaps I will not be so lonely up here after all."

  "I said shut up!" Crinnan said as he walked toward the Govian. Sage had stopped phasing and stood before the Govian, who was convulsing on the ground, trying to hold shut the bullet wound in his esophagus. Sage looked to Crinnan, but Crinnan did not return the gaze. Instead, he quickly reached his arm out and fired a bullet into the Govian's skull.

  "You stupid fuck." Crinnan said, looking at Sage. "You just revealed to the whole fucking Govian army that not only are you with the Demon but also you're apparently a fucking Ancient."

  "Nobody ever said that." Sage said. "I should say that anyone can learn the ways of the NaNe."

  "Please." Crinnan said, shaking his head at the Elf. "Do not assume I am daft simply because I am a soldier."

  "Well I should say that you being a soldier did not have too much to do with it." Sage replied with a slight chuckle. "... and forgive me for sound daft myself but what do you mean I revealed to the Govian Empire that I am an... Ancient?"

  "This." Crinnan said, kneeling down. He lifted a velcro flap on the Govian's armor and ripped off a small plastic square beneath it. "This is a camera. It has a microphone on it. Not only did they hear you but they saw you bouncing all over the damn place, lighting your hand on fire... and they saw me. Not ONLY that, but also this fucker called in for help before you even started with your magic show. Now, they have a pretty small radius to search and there's no fucking doubt what we look like."

  "Oh," Sage replied, raising his eyebrows. "I suppose you learn something new every day!"

  "Yeah." Crinnan replied. "Shitty day for you to get up to speed." He dusted his hands off and shook his head. "Well... no need for this to go to waste." He quickly unbuckled the front of the Govian's combat rig and pulled it off of his body. Standing, he pulled it on over his own tunic and adjusted the straps so it fit him snugly.

  "Let's get going." Crinnan said as he pulled the useless rifle magazines out of the rig and tossed them aside. "We need to get as far from here as we can." Sage nodded and led the way.

  As they ran, Crinnan silently wished that the Govians did not use locked weapons. He did not know much about the NaNe network but one thing that all Black Knights were familiar with was the fact that everybody had their own personal NaNe signature. The Govians used this signature to lock their weapons to each of their soldiers so that nobody else could use them. With the fact that guns of the quality that the Govian Empire used were such a hard to obtain item in the world, it made scavengers more interested in returning any guns they found to the Agra Triangle Corporation or to the Govian Empire for a reward so that they could be reassigned to a new soldier.

  "So dear boy." Sage asked as the two made their way through the overgrown ruins. "Do tell, why is the Govian Empire pursuing you so vigorously?"

  "Don't know." Crinnan said as he ducked under a fallen tree. "I was hoping you could tell me."

  "I cannot." Sage replied. "My only assumption is that they somehow specifically learned of your presence here. The people in your... you squad I suppose... all have bounties on their heads am I correct?"

  "All Black Knights have bounties on their heads." Crinnan replied. "But yeah, Centurions are worth more. If Govia captures one of us the whole army feels it."

  "Why is that?" Sage asked.

  "We are famous." Crinnan replied. "The whole army tells stories of us, our work inspires them."

  "How interesting." Sage said with a yawn. "What sort of inspiring things have you accomplished?"

  "I just fight." Crinnan replied. "I don't care about being inspiring." Sage did not reply but instead stopped and looked up in the sky. He wore a look on his face that indicated he was listening for something.

  "What?" Crinnan asked. "What is it."

  "I cannot tell if that is the sound of a vehicle or a bug." Sage replied.

  "A HAPT." Crinnan said, turning his eyes toward the sky. "Fuck all, they're already here!" Sage held his finger to his lips and continued watching the sky. Crinnan looked up at the sky and saw nothing and then returned his eyes to Sage, who simply stood, staring upward.

  "Come on." Crinnan said, grabbing Sage's arm. "Standing here will just get us killed."

  "I think it is a bug." Sage said, keeping his gaze upward. "I should say either a nearby bug or a distant transport..." Crinnan rolled his eyes and shook his head.

  "Let's just assume it's a HAPT." He said, pulling Sage away, "And find some cover." Sage jerked his arm away from Crinnan's grasp and Crinnan tumbled forward a few steps. As he found his balance, a pack of cigarettes flopped out of an open pocket in his rig and landed on the ground in front of him.

  "Hey..." Crinnan said, kneeling down to pick up the cigarettes. He flipped it open to find it was nearly full. Without thinking, he pulled one out and placed it between his lips. Sage glanced over and Crinnan watched as one of his fingers began to glow with flame.

  "Nasty things." Sage said, shaking his head. Crinnan lit the cigarette and took a long drag, enjoying the feeling of the smoke in his lungs. As he exhaled he heard Eshan again.

  "Now you pollute my body?
" he asked.

  "Not your body." Crinnan replied, taking another drag. "Be quiet." Sage looked at Crinnan and hummed.

  "Are we... talking to our friend again?" Sage asked, slightly turning his head. Crinnan looked at Sage for a moment and then looked away without speaking. "I should say you have developed quite a remarkable gift... however inconvenient it may seem."

  "What do you know?" Crinnan asked, exhaling a plume of smoke. "You don't have some Govian whispering to you in your damn brain do you?"

  "I do not." Sage replied. "I have nobody in my head except myself... at times I should say that just myself can be too much." Sage chuckled and looked back up at the sky.

  "Tell me about it." Crinnan muttered, shaking his head. "Don't we need to be finding..." he paused when he heard a deep humming sound come from above. Quickly, he looked up to see a Govian HAPT hovering above the trees.

  "Now you are fucked." Eshan said.

  "Shut up!" Crinnan commanded as he grabbed Sage's arm again. "We need to find cover, now!"

  Sage and Crinnan began to run, their feet pounding against the crunching leaves on the forest floor. The two remained side by side, though Crinnan had no idea where they were going. He was hoping that Sage was leading them to some kind of safety.

  "We must be careful..." Sage said as the two ran, "We are in a... well, I should say we are in a densely populated area."

  "What?" Crinnan asked, briefly looking over at Sage.

  "We may encounter your original captors." Sage said. "Or rather we may encounter their kin.

  Crinnan looked around at the grey crumbled building around him and rested his palm on the hilt of his sword. He did not know what he was watching for but he felt that he would know a Toraan when he saw one.

  The HAPT soared overhead, its engines making a high pitched whining noise. Crinnan and Sage quickly ducked into an alley and paused for a moment to catch their breath.

  "They have passed us." Sage said, pointing in the direction that the HAPT flew. Crinnan peeked around the corner of one of the buildings the two were hiding between and turned his eyes toward the sky. He did not see the HAPT and so for a moment he took a knee and caught his breath.

  "Is your friend saying anything?" Sage asked, looking curiously at him.

  "Not right now." Crinnan said between breaths.

  "Perhaps he sleeps then." Sage replied. "I should say it must be tiring cohabiting with such a stubborn being as yourself."

  "Is there any danger to this?" Crinnan asked, "What will this... ability... do to me?"

  Sage shrugged his shoulders and turned to look down the alley. "Some go insane, some lose control of their bodies." He replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "Some go into a coma and do not awaken. Some end their lives... but the fate of a shaman is not always grim. I should say, some shamans grow immensely. The wisdom that a being obtains, that they learn, when they die is like no other you have ever experienced. If you can somehow convince the ghosts within your NaNe to share this wisdom with you..."

  "Ghosts." Crinnan said with a snort. "In my NaNe... what does that even mean?"

  Sage hummed and crossed his arms. "Tis quite an odd time for such a potentially complex explanation I should say." He said. "But to be brief... what you have inside is the last NaNe image of the being whom you killed... a sort of... digital dump of the being's mind that the NaNe makes at the time of death. You now contain a digital file of every memory, thought, and emotion of the being you killed in your nanomachine network... and because it exists in your NaNe, he is able to continue being conscious."

  "Ghost then." Crinnan said, shaking his head. "So can anyone who dies just jump into my body then?"

  "Everyone has the ability, yes." Sage replied. "But certain conditions must be met. For one, they must know your NaNe address. This information can be obtained by their NaNe in a number of ways; contact with blood, and sexual intercourse being the most common. The second condition that must be met: the person who died has to find a rift in the Hills and traverse the rift back into the physical world."

  Crinnan shook his head and sighed. "How common is that?" He asked, "That there is a hole in the Hells?"

  "I should say that it is not very common." Sage replied. "Occasionally small rifts can open, providing an opportunity for someone to leave but these rifts are generally closed by the Govian Empire as fast as they open... for someone to die and then return to you as quickly as your friend did... there must now be a massive rift that Govia cannot control."

  "So anytime someone's blood gets on me..." Crinnan replied, "I could end up... housing... their NaNe image?"

  "Or yours them." Said said, nodding. "You should do your best not to make a mess."

  Crinnan snickered and shook his head. The life he lived was messy, he had had so many people's blood on him that he could not begin to count. The idea of having an entire host of voices in his head made his stomach churn.

  "Quiet." Sage said, holding his hand out toward Crinnan. "Footsteps approach."

  Crinnan stood silently and eased the Govian sword from its scabbard, careful not to make a sound. He faintly heard the sound of leaves crunching nearby and quickly examined the area for a place to hide. He spotted a door with a red X painted on it down the alley and gestured to Sage.

  "This way." Crinnan said, silently jogging forward. "In here."

  "Wait!" Sage whispered harshly, taking a moment to examine the door himself. "Do not..." before he could finish his sentence, Crinnan had pushed the door open and stepped inside.

  Crinnan found himself standing in the foyer of a dimly lit building. The floor beneath him was crumbled to naught but gravel and an arch stood before him leading to a larger room. Crinnan heard the sound of something scraping, like the blade of a sword against a whet stone. Crinnan tightened the grip he had on his sword and stepped forward.

  "Spooky." He heard Ethan say inside his head. "Be careful, you do not want to lose this body before I am able to see my son again."

  "Quiet." Crinnan snapped back. "Don't distract me."

  "Is that all you know how to say?" Eshan asked, "Quiet?"

  "To you, yes." Crinnan replied. "Now quiet!"

  The scraping sound stopped abruptly and Crinnan heard someone grunt deeply.

  "Someone there?" The deep voice asked from the shadows, "Someone has come for pleasures?"

  "A customer!" A higher pitched, crackly voice responded. "Someone has arrived for pleasures."

  "Quiet, fool!" The deep voice commanded the higher. His voice returned to Crinnan. "Please, come browse our pleasures."

  Crinnan was silent, he held his sword tightly and pointed toward the stony floor as he slowly side stepped through the arch. The adjacent room he found himself in was lit no better than the first but assuredly more terrifying.

  "A customer has arrived!" The high pitched voice squealed gleefully. "A customer has arrived to browse our pleasures!" The voice came from the shadows to Crinnan's right and although Crinnan had heard only two voices, he felt the weight of dozens of eyes on him.

  "A customer comes, sword in hand?" The deep voice asked, "What does a customer have to fear?" The voice came from Crinnan's left, again in the shadows.

  Crinnan raised his sword and tried to look into the darkness. He was able to make out many vague forms but nothing discernible. There were definitely more forms than there were voices.

  "What has a customer come for if not for pleasures?" The high pitched voice asked, with an irritated tone.

  The door behind Crinnan suddenly and violently swung open and Crinnan heard someone run inside. Quickly he turned around to see Sage charging toward him.

  "Get out of here!" Sage shouted. As he approached Crinnan his hands erupted in flame, illuminating the entire room. Finally, Crinnan was able to see the horrors that surrounded him and was immediately repulsed to the point of vomiting.

  Before he bent over and hurled, Crinnan caught a glimpse of the hulkish brute to his left. The grey-skinned misshapen mass of flesh stood two
heads taller than Crinnan and stared his way with eyes that black as night. His arms were as thick as tree trunks and in one of his massive hands he held a sharp, gnarly looking cleaver.

  To his right, Crinnan saw the image of the owner of the higher voice. He was tall and thin and had long, dry white hair that hung down to his back and long arms that hung to his knees. His mouth was full of jagged pointed teeth and in his white-haired knuckled hand was what looked like a severed arm, completely covered in bite marks.

  Lining the wall between the two Toraan abominations were wooden cages. The cages were stacked on top of one another, four cages wide and three cages tall and within each of them lay or sat a child.

  "What is this shit!" Crinnan shouted, wiping the excess vomit from the sides of his mouth. He held his sword in one hand and drew one of his revolvers with his other. Without hesitation, he pointed the revolver at the larger Toraan and fired.

  With surprising speed, the Toraan threw his massive hand out in front of him calling upon some kind of ancient NaNe power. The bullet from Crinnan's gun suddenly stopped only inches in front of the Toraan, and he with his cleaver slapped it out of the air.

  "Two customers..." the brutish Toraan said through his teeth as he stood to his feet. "An old one and... a young trespasser."

  "That's enough, Raad." Sage said, pointing at the larger Toraan. "We were just leaving."

  "Why, that voice sounds like old Sajinius." Raad said, pointing his cleaver in Sage's direction. "Is it indeed you?"

  "Indeed it is." Sage said. "And I should say me and my friend were just about..."

  "We've a settle to score with you!" The other Toraan snapped, stepping forward. "You killed Luce, stole our product. You fucking thief!"

  "And I would kill the two of you." Sage replied, "But I am short on time so if you do not mind terribly..."

  Raad charged forward and swung his cleaver in Sage's direction. Sage quickly leapt out of the way and a long beam of flame extended from his hand. Quickly, he spun and planted the flame into the back of Raad's head.

  Crinnan could smell Raad's flesh sizzling and nearly gagged again but had to control himself enough to dive out of the way of the other Toraan's charge. The Toraan moved swiftly, using both his arms and legs like an ape. Crinnan fired his weapon at the Toraan and hit him in his back. The Toraan in turn screamed and leapt over Crinnan's head, swiping at him as he did so.