Aetheric Elements: The Rise of a Steampunk Reality

by Travis I. Sivart

  Hue met a group of mounted, armed, and armored men at the edge of the city. The commander was preparing them to charge into the city and fight the monstrosities that had arrived. The officer saw Blueaxe, and nodded in recognition.

  “We are yours to command, my lord,” the captain said. “Shall we form ranks and enter the city?”

  “No, my friend,” Hue said, hanging his head in sadness, “we have a greater duty today. We ride north and west. We gather all the men we can, tell people to abandon their homes, cities, keeps, and castles. There is no stopping what’s happening. We would all just die in the attempt. We will bring what people we can into the frozen north, and try to survive. We will entreat the barbarian chieftains to join us, or at least shelter us through the winter. The dead and insects won’t be able to survive in the cold tundra during winter, and we will have months to gather our forces and plan our return. This land is lost though, and I grieve to say it.”

  The two score of knights and soldiers looked stricken at the news, but the grim-faced commander, a man of many battles, nodded in understanding. Issuing sharp orders, the captain lined his men up in ranks of four and spoke to them, explaining the chain of command. Hue Blueaxe was their general until this war was past; Lord Jaeken of the resistance and his compatriot, Grenedal Dragonblood, commanded this. They would ride swift through the night, sending five men to each city or castle they passed to gather more troops and civilians. Sometimes a hero had to run, and live so they may fight another day. This would be the hardest battle they ever faced, the one they had to run from. It would be harder for good soldiers to live than to die.

  They rode into the misting rain. Time slowed, the road and minutes counted by their horses’ hoof beats. The men sweated in the chill night air, and their horses lathered. They ran, not just for their own lives, but the lives of those in the north. Hue ran beside them, easily keeping pace on foot. He didn’t sweat or even breathe hard from the exertion.

  The screech of a predator tore the night, and a man was torn from his horse by a dark shape that swooped down. Hue’s axe was in his hand as he turned and leapt over the mounted troops heads. His axe connected with something, and a wet thud sounded as two bodies hit the ground.

  “Keep riding!” Hue yelled, as the men began to turn their steeds. “I will catch up, but don’t stop whatever you see or hear. If you stop, thousands will die because of it!”

  The soldiers obeyed the command, righting themselves and their course, and disappeared into the light snow that replaced the misting rain. The three-quarter moon showed through the clouds, a milky disc behind swirls. Hue looked at the two forms on the ground in front of him. The soldier lay twisted in a puddle of slush, and a second form rose to confront Blueaxe. Baring its pointed canines, the dark creature leapt towards Hue. With a swing of the axe, the monster’s head flew from its shoulders, a look of surprise on its face. Hue squared off his stance, and waited for anyone else that may be following.

  Two more forms appeared a moment before striking the large man, tearing at him with clawed hands and trying to sink their teeth into his neck and shoulders. Hue tumbled across the ground, axe flying from his grip. Rolling head over heels, Hue gained his feet, grabbing one of the creatures in each hand and pulling them to an arm’s length. One bit into Hue’s forearm, and a stream of bluish light burst forth from the wound, burning the monster’s face and melting its features. Hue bashed at the attacker with the body of his other foe, and heard the neck of the second assailant snap.

  Dropping the second one, he reached out and tore the head from the first. Black liquid gushed out of the neck of the limp form that remained, covering Hue with a slimy liquid that burned his skin. Before he had time to do more than drop the broken form of his enemy, he was set upon by his remaining adversary.

  The monster’s head lolled to one side, bouncing as it tried to claw at Hue’s eyes and throat. Hue snapped his elbow back, connecting with the face that limply hung from the neck, tearing the skin with his powerful blow. Grabbing the creature by an arm and keeping it at arm’s length, Hue dragged the gnashing beast towards where his axe had fallen. Snatching up his weapon, the blue-skinned man finished off his foe, its head making a wet noise as it rolled across the ground.

  “You have taken out my apprentices,” a deep, calm voice said in the dark, “but they were pups. I am the master, and I do not think you will fare as well with me.”

  “I don’t fear you, any more than I feared your filthy offspring.” Hue answered, standing straight and focusing on the dark where the voice seemed to come from.

  “Then, though brave, you are a fool.”

  The snow fell heavier and stuck to Hue like ash. It smelled of fetid rot, and the clouds overhead had taken on a green tint. Something clicked repeatedly outside of Hue’s range of sight.

  “Join me now,” said the voice, “and you can be a man of power in a new order. You can command thousands and live in luxury for the rest of your days. Women will throw themselves at you and men will worship you.”

  “You offer me this because you fear me,” Hue replied, gripping his axe with both hands, ready to defend himself. “You saw what I am, and what happened to your children. Come now, let’s finish this. Your final death awaits you.”

  “Shame, but only one death awaits, and it is yours.”

  The darkness split as dozens of crawling forms clicked forward on the cobblestone highway. Centipedes as long as a man is tall writhed towards Hue, their mandibles clicking along with their hundreds of feet. The first to get close rose up, its segmented body supported by dozens of legs. Hue cut it in half, and a half dozen of the monsters swarmed their dying companion, tearing chunks from its armored body. The rest swarmed towards Hue. The man swung with precision, slicing through three before the others could wrap themselves around his body.

  Curling themselves around his legs and crawling up his body, their pincers sliced into him. Dark blood welled from a dozen wounds as Hue fell underneath them. His axe did him no good this close, and he dropped it and began tearing into their armored forms. Heads flew, legs were ripped from their bodies, and ichor coated the man and the ground around him. Hue struggled to his feet, fighting his way from under the press of insects almost as large as he was. Kicking and punching, he crushed the bugs as they ripped at his flesh.

  A dark form flew past him and he was tossed a dozen feet away. The remaining centipedes crawled towards him, clicking as they did. The mist moved around him, thickening until he couldn’t breathe. Blows rained down from his unseen assailant as the bugs once again began slicing into his legs.

  Hue’s head swam and his vision blurred as the shadow form pummeled him and the monsters slipped their venom into his wounds. Acid from their ichor etched his skin, blistering and bubbling along his body. He stumbled under the onslaught. Falling to one knee, he gasped in the thick air, trying to gain a breath.

  Closing his eyes, he called upon the energies that had brought him back from death and restored him once before. His skin glowed, his wounds and blood shone like moonlight. The clouds parted and the moon cast light, eerie and yellow, across the road. With a roar, Hue released the energy and the centipedes flew away from him in a blast of magical energy.

  Everything was silent as Hue struggled to his feet. A finely dressed man lay on the ground a few meters away, just an arm-length from Hue’s axe.

  “Lord Emite, I presume?” Hue asked, his voice weary and his breath coming in gasps. “The same man, if I can call you that, that brought forth the evil from Aborgas centuries ago? You were the one who called down the werewolves on Red City and made it what it is today?”

  “Yes,” the dark figure said, rising to his feet without using his hands or body to do so. “I am the one who conquered a land, and I am the one who helped bring about the birth of Nomed. And though you don’t know it, I am the one who will command that demon half breed once more. I have manipulated him for centuries, even from my prison. Now, you will die by your own weapon fo
r bringing me such pain.”

  The vampire bent and retrieved the fallen double-bladed axe. He stopped and stared as Hue began to laugh. A laugh that started as a chuckle, and rose to a maniacal level. Hue gasped a breath, forcing the laughter down. Lord Emite cocked his head, looking at the man with a quizzical look.

  “What you don’t understand,” Hue said, chortling, “is that axe would no more hurt me than my own hand would.”

  With a gesture, the axe twisted in Lord Emite’s hand and swung towards the vampire. The dark lord threw up his other hand to stop the blade that approached his throat in a blur. Fingers and part of his hand flew into the air before the weapon lodged in his neck. Hue was there in a flash, ripping the axe from the vampire’s throat, and then swinging again. The lord tried to obfuscate, but his head left his shoulders before he could. His severed head landed on the wet ground, rolling face down into an icy puddle.

  Hue bent and picked up the man’s head by the hair in one hand, and the axe in the other. The eyes blinked and the mouth worked, trying to say something, before falling slack.

  Exhausted and wounded, Hue looked over the scene of carnage around him. He hoped the rising sun would finish what he started, but couldn’t spend any more time here. He turned and ran. The future was in his hands. The head he carried would have to be proof enough for arrogant lords and overconfident soldiers. He had to get thousands of people into motion, and travel to the north where they at least had a chance of survival. A chance until spring, when the monsters would come.