The Veil: Corruption (HASEA CHRONICLES BOOK 2)

by Stuart Meczes

  “Not unarmed this time am I, you cacacazzi!” she hissed, spitting on the pile.

  She disappeared from the lounge and re-appeared a few minutes later. Through blurry eyes I could see that her wounds weren’t looking quite so bad – the booster was having its effect. But not as quick as when we were soulmates, I thought with an ache in my chest that was worse than my injuries. Except we never were. I watched as she used the sword to slice through Mikey’s bindings. She used an injector on his arm and rubbed it to speed up the process. “It’s done. They’re all gone,” she whispered.

  I slipped out of consciousness for a moment but was vaguely aware of a hand touching my cheek. It was soft and warm…familiar. I opened my eyes and saw Gabriella’s face swim into focus. She was kneeling down beside me. “Alex, what you did. It was incredible. You saved all of our lives.” I felt her soft lips kiss my cheek. “You’re a hero.”

  Hero. The word sounded fuzzy and friendly. It bounced around my mind like jelly. It was then that I realised I was losing consciousness. As the warm echo of her kiss played on my face I smiled.

  And then I slept.

  *

  It’s not real!

  The words screamed through my mind and I woke with a start. I sat up too fast and gasped as pain exploded in my chest. Glancing down, I saw my bare torso wrapped in bandages. I remembered the crushing blow that the Oni had delivered and finally understood just how strong Pandemonians were when you didn’t have super strength. I was lucky to be alive, and I knew it.

  My room had been cleared of all traces of the SOS. The unconscious bodies had been removed from where I now sat, and all the sawdust had been cleaned away. Downstairs I could hear the bustle of a clean-up operation in full swing. Gingerly I shuffled my legs out of the bed and stood up onto unsteady feet. I was about to open the bedroom when it was opened for me. Mikey’s bruised face popped around the corner, giving me a fright.

  “Hey bro,” he whispered, even though I was clearly awake. Then I saw the fading handprint marks on his throat and realised he couldn’t talk above a whisper. I felt a wave of anger at the Devil who had inflicted such torture on my family and hoped with every ounce of my being that he was suffering Pandemonia’s own version of damnation, screaming as his body was burned to a crisp in hellfire.

  Mikey gestured me back into the room, and together we both sat down on the bed.

  “The Alliance has sent a clean-up team. Should have the place looking as good as new in a few hours.”

  “What about the bodies?”

  “Gone. The live ones have been arrested for interrogation.” He glanced at my bandaged body. “We gave you a really weak booster shot – it was risky, but you were badly injured. How are you feeling now?”

  “Like a cracked egg. But I’ll get through it. You?”

  He gave a slow nod. “I’ll live.”

  “Gabriella?”

  “Healing nicely.”

  “What about Mum and John?”

  “A bit roughed up. Gabriella and a couple of other Charm Guardians are going to wipe their memories soon.” He placed a bandaged hand on my arm. “Bro, what you did was so brave. Reckless…but brave. They took us by complete surprise; we were completely unarmed and outnumbered. If it wasn’t for you, we’d all be dead. No question.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I still don’t know how you did it.”

  I tapped a finger against my head. “Those fake memories came in handy.”

  Mikey made an agreeing sound. “They certainly did.” He studied his feet for a while before speaking again. “Thank you, Alex.”

  A genuine smile spread across my face for the first time in what felt like forever. “Hey, that’s what brothers are for, right?”

  Mikey placed a gentle hand on my shoulder and stood up, turning towards me. “Gabriella, she said she is okay to make you forget now if that’s what you still want.”

  I considered the question for a moment and shook my head. “You know what, Mikey, I think I’ll leave it. I may not be a Chosen, but that’s alright. I’m okay just being me.”

  As I spoke the words, something seemed to shift inside me. I felt a powerful release – and with it came a sense of strength and clarity, greater than anything I had felt in a very long time. I blinked, confused by the sensation.

  “Okay, bro, rest up. I’ll speak to you in a bit,” said Mikey, motioning to leave the room. For the first time I noticed a black tip of something poking out from under his shirt-sleeve. The sight scratched at my brain, demanding attention.

  “What’s that on your arm?” I asked.

  Mikey turned to face me, wearing a bemused expression. “It’s that tattoo, you know…the weird one that attached itself to me after I beat The Sorrow. Oh wait…you don’t remember…”

  Tattoo. The word paved some of the holes in my mind, and information seeped into my brain.

  Tattoo.

  Darkness.

  Prison.

  Mind Merge.

  I stood up sharply, placing my hands against my temples as an intense throb built up in my skull. My skin broke out into a sweat, and I felt dizzy.

  I need to make sense of this.

  “Mikey, I need to see the tattoo. L-let me see it properly,” I said.

  He stared at me as if I had lost the plot. “Why?”

  “Just do it!” I almost shrieked.

  Mikey continued to stare, but he pulled his t-shirt off anyway. I saw the black, sinewy tattoo wrapping around his body like living vines – reaching his neck and covering his chest with its shimmering black ink. The sight burst the mental floodgates, and everything came back to me in a torrent of information.

  None of this is real.

  I was in a mind merge. Under the influence of the Darkness that had possessed me. This was another one of its cruel tricks. My memories weren’t false. They were real. I was a Chosen. I had felt ill because I was running out of time, not because of some bullshit about Witchcraft, fed to me by a fake Faru.

  Faru.

  If I’m having physical symptoms, it means he can’t hold the merge much longer. Oh god, I’m running out of time.

  I felt ready. The fears I had conquered in this bizarre alternate world had given me the final bit of courage I needed to face it. I was ready to take on the creature that had held me captive in my own mind.

  It is your mind too.

  Faru’s words came back to me. I ripped off my bandages and stared down at my chest, watching as the bruises faded and feeling my bones grow back together.

  “Bro, how are you doing that?” gasped Mikey.

  I flicked my head up and stared at him. “You aren’t real.” I lifted my head up shouting at the top of my lungs. “You hear that you bastard? I know where I am. I know that none of this is real!”

  I heard a crackling sound and spun around to see the dark vines burst through cracks in the walls and spill into the room. Bricks and mortar made deep groaning sounds as they were wrenched apart by the snake-like tendrils. The wallpaper began to peel away from itself, exposing pulsing pink flesh underneath, which breathed as if alive.

  I turned back to see that Mikey had frozen to the spot. His skin was as pale and smooth as a china doll. His face had been reduced to nothing but a blank slate, devoid of any features. The black tattoo seemed to tighten around him, creating cracks that flicked across his alabaster skin. The pressure became too much, and he crumbled into a million pieces. A snake-like creature slithered off the shards, joining the rest of the vines that were consuming the house. Shadows loomed large as one by one all sources of light were smothered by the slithering appendages. Only one item remained untouched by the cloying, pulsing fingers of darkness as they closed in around me.

  The mirror.

  “Come on!” I shouted at my reflection. “I’ve had enough of the games. Why don’t you face me, one on one? Or are you too afraid that you’ll lose?”

  There was a monumental roar that seemed to come from within the very Earth itself. The house shuddered so h
ard it felt like it had broken free of its foundations. The shadows filled the room as the last of the lights winked out. When I steadied myself and looked back into the glass, what I saw was no longer my reflection. The Darkness stared back at me – a solitary figure that looked like me, bathed in light among a sea of blackness. All the parts not covered by the shadowy uniform were infested with the dark tattoo. His red eyes winked in the mirror light, and his lips spread into a menacing smile.

  Very well.

  The Darkness lunged forward and his top half broke free of the glass. He gripped my shoulders with claw-like fingers, and before I could react, pulled me into the mirror.

  38

  Gabriella

  Black Dawn’s giant guns recoiled as they unleashed a flurry of shells into the approaching fleet. The sound was deafening. Fire flared up as boats exploded, sending burning Rogues tumbling into the ocean.

  But Yeth’s Army kept coming. From our position on the top platform of Atlantis, I could make out dozens of boats still afloat among the obliterated remains, approaching from every direction. The flagship – a destroyer – was flanked by attack crafts, gunboats, and inflatable raiders fitted with gatling guns that sent a hail of fire towards the battleship.

  I was standing with six other Hunter squads and the outpost team, armed and aiming down at the nearing army. The rest were standing on the deck of Black Dawn. Alex and Sage Faru had been taken to the deepest part of Atlantis by Elis Holt – a stern-looking Chosen who acted as leader to the Outpost. I desperately wanted to be there too, but I had a job to do.

  I have to stop Yeth’s Army from getting anywhere near Alex.

  Next to me, Delagio flexed his fingers against the trigger of his gun, and I could tell he was itching to pull it. But I had ordered everyone to wait. There was no point in firing until the enemy was close enough for our bullets to count. Plus Atlantis wasn’t just waiting to be attacked. A series of rising whines came from every direction as ion cannons attached to the corners of the rig built up energy and discharged with shuddering booms, taking chunks out of the nearing boats. Black Dawn kept firing too, creating huge concussions on the water’s surface as the massive rounds exploded from the giant barrels in plumes of smoke and flame.

  The raiders were agile and almost impossible to hit with the high-calibre guns. The first of the fleet reached Black Dawn, and the elite on board started to fling grapples onto the deck. I lifted the coms bracelet.

  “Guardians, fire at will!”

  The fading light was brightened by the muzzle flash of hundreds of guns firing at Yeth’s Army. The row of Guardians on the ship stepped to the edge and unloaded their guns downwards. It was an execution. The elite jerked as if they were having seizures, and their bodies slumped to the boat floor or were forced overboard into the open sea. The raider was joined by dozens more. Some of the elite fired back, whilst others focused on securing the grapples to the battleship. None showed signs of fear as their comrades were killed right next to them. They were like robots – given a command and obeying without distraction.

  Soon they were climbing their way up numerous ropes, firing with one hand and pulling themselves up with the other. Some of the Guardians kicked off the grapples, and the elite fell like swatted flies. But also like flies, they just kept on coming. My chest tightened when I saw a Chosen’s legs buckle and his body fall into the water below. There were simply too many elite for the frontline Guardians to stop with gunfire alone. And more were coming. The first wave of elite Rogues started to spill onto Black Dawn.

  “We have to help them!” shouted Sophia above the crack of gunfire.

  She’s right.

  “Orion on me!”

  The eight of us broke away from the others and started to climb down a twisting set of yellow metal stairs. They were suspended from the side of the rig and several hundred yards below was nothing but dark water. We kept sprinting down the steps, moving closer to the action. A bullet pinged off the railing near my head. I snapped back and held up a hand to stop the others.

  More bullets slammed into the staircase. I glanced down to see the back end of a raider poking out from underneath the rig. A cluster of elites were aiming up at us.

  Grey stepped forward and unleashed a stream of fire from his palms. Sophia joined him, angling her hands so that her fire mixed with his. The huge flame stream engulfed those on the boat. They screamed as they burned, but never stopped shooting. The outboard motor melted down into nothing, and then the inflatable floor burst, and the boat sank, taking the burned elite with it.

  We resumed sprinting down the stairs until were almost level with the deck of Black Dawn. Without stopping, I jumped onto the railing and across a ten-foot gap, landing on the deck and rolling from the impact. Behind, the rest of Orion stamped down. Huntmasters had given up trying to get their Guardians to shoot the elite climbing onto the Battleship – they were too close. Instead everyone was locked in vicious hand-to-hand combat. Above, those who could fly were scrambling with Wendigos that had jumped from the back of gunboats, and they swirled above in a storm of wings. Black Dawns’ guns had fallen silent as the gunners abandoned them to join in the battle. I saw Troy struggling to deal with a Skinshifter that had altered into beast form. Sprinting over, I stabbed both Blood Brothers into its head. It gave a hideous yelp and staggered. Troy finished it off with a sweeping hammer blow.

  “Thanks,” he breathed.

  Scarlett ran past us and delivered a flying kick into an emerging elite, sending him toppling off the ship. She pulled a gun and fired down at two more, the impact sending them overboard. Then she pivoted, unloading a series of bullets into the mask of a nearby Rogue. It clanged loudly and the wearer gave a grunt as one passed through the eyehole. Scarlett ripped off the mask and grabbed the exposed one-eyed vampire into a headlock. With a scream of exertion, she stabbed a stake into its temple, and it dissolved into ash.

  “Duck!” shouted Troy.

  I dropped down and he swept the hammer over my head, smashing the mask of an approaching elite. The staggering Oni’s face was exposed, oozing black blood from its wound. Before it could recover, I turned and stabbed it in the stomach, standing up and dragging the knife up with me. The Oni’s innards spilled out onto the deck ,and then it fell down after them, landing with a loud thud.

  The fighting was everywhere I looked. Guns blazed and blades clashed as the Guardians and elite went toe to toe. I spun my head around, keeping an eye on my team, whilst picking off the always-advancing elite.

  Delagio had mixed a deadly cocktail of apatrope marbles and was taking out the battling Rogues. Aran and Hollie were working together. The Urisk was in camouflage, slipping among the elite and ripping their masks from their heads. Able to identify the species, Hollie finished them off with arrows. Bow notched for her latest target, she had her back turned and was pulling back to shoot when an elite came up on her. Before its blade could connect, Danny sent Penance though the back of its skull. He placed a hand on the surprised Hollie’s shoulder and then carried on fighting.

  Grey had one arm folded across his chest, and his gun arm was resting on it, taking shots at the grappling hooks and sending any elite attached to them straight into the ocean. Sophia and I stood back-to-back, deflecting hits from two unmasked Bloodseeker elites. As I dodged a series of knife swipes, I noticed the destroyer growing closer like a grey iceberg. It was spinning on its axis, bringing its back end level with Black Dawn.

  I feinted with a left jab and bought the Blood Brother sideways into the Bloodseeker’s ribcage. He doubled over, and I drove a stake through his throat, finishing him off. Sophia’s elite lunged at her. As she dodged the attack, a burst of black wings exploded from her waist and Midnight, in the form of an eagle, went straight for the Rogue’s face. Making harsh squawks, it tore with beak and talons. Sophia finished the distracted elite with a stake to the sternum. Instantly Midnight shrunk down to the size of a robin and settled back into her pouch. I glanced at her, and she almost smiled
, but then thought better of it.

  The destroyer continued to turn, lining up a row of heavy artillery guns.

  It’s going to shoot us!

  I lifted the coms bracelet and was about to speak when I saw what had risen up on the stern of the ship. My arm fell back to my side in shock. As I stared, genuine terror spread through my body, and at that exact moment the possibility of losing became real.

  The creature writhing against the web of adamantine chains stood well over forty feet. Its grey-green scales were covered in spikes, and the tail that sloped between its thick legs ended in a cluster of mace-like barbs. Its sloping skull was oversized like a Neanderthal’s, and two twists of horns like the trunks of oak trees sprouted from the top of its colossal head. Growing from each of its four arms were long, pointed shards of horn that acted as natural blades. Staring at the cluster of warring Guardians and elite through yellow eyes, the creature let out a war cry so loud it sent ripples shuddering out on the ocean surface like a shockwave.

  Guardians stopped fighting to stare at the new arrival, a few getting themselves wounded in the process. Danny drew back towards me, eyes wide with panic. “What the hell is that!?”

  I could barely get my voice to work.

  “It’s an Ogre.”

  Ogres were elusive Fera creatures, thought to be the only species genetically linked to Dragons. They lived deep in caverns and caves in remote parts of Pandemonia. None had been seen for years – and never on this side of the Veil. They were said to be as utterly devastating as they looked.

  And Yeth’s Army owned one.

  I raised coms to my lips. “Guardians, concentrate all fire on the Ogre! We have to put it out of action!”

  Everyone who could aimed at the giant creature. But like I feared, the bullets bounced off its thick hide as if they were pellets. It grew restless, tugging at the chains and roaring, sending thick sprays of spittle flying from between its book-sized teeth. A group of elite were moving the chains about, dodging as it stamped around the destroyer.