Origin: Eternity's End

by Uneeb Qureshi

  Sheppard climbed the arches to use the height of the structure to his advantage.

  As the Eri followed him, he unsheathed concealed blades in his greaves and gauntlets and made quick work of each of them. He pierced vital arteries and joints on each of the soldiers around him like a master anatomist.

  By the time he finished, Dom appeared in front of him and disarmed his blades. With his hulking strength, Dom grabbed Sheppard’s body and squeezed as hard as he could.

  Sheppard wrested one of his hands free and swung at Dom. His wrist was quickly stopped, a failed attempt.

  “When you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself!” Dom said as he torqued Sheppard’s wrist. His metacarpals crushed from the force of the twisting motion. He did not show any signs of pain, his pain receptors were dulled.

  He could see the flashlight signals in the distance behind them. His friends were ready.

  A barrage of bullets and grenades were launched into the Eri in the Amphitheatre. Several Eri soldiers dodged the onslaught but many were hit. Sheppard hit the ground and freed himself from Dom’s vice grip.

  “And sometimes you need help to get it done…” Sheppard said.

  The bullets hissed through the air, calculated and remorselessly killing anything that moved. Many of the more experienced Eri soldiers retaliated against the new nuisance. They would not go down as easily.

  Sheppard saw Krontos in the distance amidst the trees.

  “Sorry we’re late Commander.” Krontos replied over the static-filled channel.

  With help at his back, Sheppard was able to confront his brother alone.

  Dom threw a wide punch but Sheppard’s reflexes were now multiplied several fold. Sheppard stepped back and countered with a back hand, knocking him aside. The now jagged and worn exterior of his gauntlets rended the nape of Dom’s neck. It was as if a dog took a bite out of his throat.

  Dom bled profusely. While clutching his wound, he crawled away trying to distance himself from Sheppard. Though the wound was not deep, he would not survive another strike. Dom put on his helmet and kept a distance.

  Behind the two veterans of war, the fighting between some of Earth’s finest and the Galaxy’s most voracious picked up.

  Krontos was able to buy Sheppard time but he became quickly overwhelmed. The injuries he sustained from their fall earlier weakened his body. With the moment he had to breathe his suit flashed several warnings.

  “What’s going on with me,” His injuries were too numerous to keep going.

  An Eri commando picked him up by the chest and threw him against the wall, disorienting Krontos. Two others took cheap shots at his torso and helmet. Unable to resist one proceeded to slam his head repeatedly against the columns.

  His cracked helmet was a nuisance, but he had to keep going. Unable to parry any more attacks Krontos felt a blade dig into his shoulder. He writhed in pain as the blade dug deeper, it was stuck somewhere between his left lung and shoulder. Krontos grabbed the enemy by the wrist and held the blade as still as he could, he did not want his lungs to puncture any further.

  He looked into the woods one last time, he was dying slowly. The mortal soldiers had turned the battle in their favor somehow. They no longer needed his help.

  He turned back to the opponent and punched the man’s visor, shattering the thick fiber glass. The Eri soldiers pulled the blade out of Krontos’ shoulder, cutting more muscle fiber and leaving his left arm useless. While Krontos held the Eri soldier by his shattered helmet visor, he sustained several stabs. His organs were going into failure.

  He held on to the soldier with his deadening grip while he bled profusely. His opponent tried distance himself as the now jagged plastic visor was slowly being pushed into his face by Krontos’ grip.

  Krontos reached behind his suit and activated a grenade. He moved his hands just for a moment, stuffing a grenade into the helmet, before covering it up with his hands. Several Eri tried to run away the two but were too late.

  Sheppard stood resolute in front of his injured archenemy.

  “What the fuck do you hope to gain by killing me now, Sheppard?” Dom asked.

  No reply.

  A deafening explosion from behind Sheppard launched massive shards of marble and concrete at them, knocking them to the ground.

  Dom recovered quickly and ran while he had the advantage, taking only a moment to look back. “Twelve-thousand years since that day Sheppard, time passes by doesn’t it?” He said, “It’s me or the girl again Sheppard, you can’t have both of us now.”

  Sheppard pulled himself up out of the rubble and looked back at the stage. The area where Krontos was fighting the Eri was rubble now. The trees were blown back, warped from the explosion. Debris littered the whole arena.

  Unsettled dust and soil obscured everyone’s vision as both sides recovered from the surprise explosion. Underneath the rubble of the archway blood trickled through the each of the rocks of rubble, Krontos’ helmet stared at Sheppard.

  He wanted answers about the surprise explosion but quickly snapped back find that Dom had fled the scene. He could not have gone far.

  Girl? Sheppard thought before he continued his chase after Dom.

  Sheppard was wracked in thought. He had the chance to end this war by stopping Dom but he had lost too many making it this far. He would find out who this girl was first before continuing the pursuit.

  It has been twelve-thousand years hasn’t it…

  He glared at the stage while shrugging off his injuries.

  Sheppard looked around him. The once proud monument to the nation’s wartime heritage was partly in rubble. And the Eri were now in retreat with Dom.

  Sheppard reached for the device on stage and removed the layers of cloaks hiding it. His face went blank as he realized what it was. The structure was an arched altar, and the victim was already tied down and bloody.

  It was the woman he had met that fateful moment several nights ago, Ellie. He looked down at her, she was bruised and drowsy but otherwise unhurt.

  She gazed up at Sheppard in his full armor. The neo-realistic design of his helmet and its shape was foreign to her. She could see the waves of fumes coming out of his armor but to her they looked like an angel’s diaphanous wings.

  Underneath the clouds the blue-hues emanating from his armor looked more like a radiant viridian. He was the angel she had been waiting for, to take her away from here.

  He removed his helmet and looked down at her. Sheppard felt so pathetic being unable to help her. Yet the whole scene seemed eerie, a repressed déjà vu.

  He inspected the device and found that she was bound to it. Choosing one life over many… The choice was nostalgic.

  Gazing around the Amphitheatre again resurfaced old memories. He placed himself in a time he had chosen to forget long ago.

  He reconstructed the scene piece by piece. With his back turned to Ellie and the machine of death he gazed at the enormous seating area once again. He was in the court of the ancient magistrate.

  In his mind it was dark, dimly lit by braziers. He shook his head and looked through the archways underneath the remaining columns. He could see the burning city of Dene. It was now ablaze, because of Sheppard’s futile attempts to reconcile the differences between their worlds.

  No…it was not futile…

  He was weary of those who believed peace was never possible. Everlasting peace may have been outside of his grasp but he wanted to make them see, to see that peace was possible even if for a moment.

  It reminded him of the ancient days. When he could have left his kin for good and never involved himself in the affairs of his people.

  “Shep, are you coming with us?” Asked a traveler on the ancient Beringian land bridge.

  He was on the crossroads between the Americas and Asia. Had he travelled with the nomadic people he would not have seen his people again for nearly thousands of years. So far as he knew no immortals had crossed into the Americas yet. It was his sense of
adventure that beckoned him forward, but it was his duty to his people that tied him to the old continent. If he left, he would never have been involved with the city of Dene, the insurrection of his imperial forces or…her.

  Shep shook his head as he answered the nomad, “My people will need me, maybe not now…but I want to be there at least when it ends.”

  He turned back and ran through the Siberian wastes to the west, to reunite with his real family once again.

  Had he known he would be standing here, facing the darkness again, he would have never have turned away from the nomads. To never have experienced thirty thousand years of darkness. People wish they were immortal, but only until they realize how lonely it really is…

  Sheppard clenched his fists and turned around, the woman Dom kidnapped now appeared like Anur. He wanted to profess how much he missed her, but her time was running out, again.

  Risk saving her, or risk countless millions.

  He tore the panels of the altar and found it to be more complex than any device he had ever seen before. Conduits and thin pipes channeling a green viscous fluid were being propelled at high velocities throughout the device. There was never a failsafe; once armed it was never meant to be shut down again.

  A one-way bomb…

  The only option was to blow a hole through the plating to the inner circuitry. But he was not sure how the device would respond.

  “Sir!” Yelled an army officer in the distance.

  Sheppard motioned them closer, the Eri were in retreat. “Do you have a demolitions expert?”

  The officer nodded and shrugged the blood running from his cuts, “He’s about as banged up as we are.”

  The demolitionist was helped to his feet by his fellow soldiers and brought to Sheppard’s side. The army unit was setting up a perimeter around the damaged structure. So far as Sheppard knew, the device was not on a timer.

  With every panel Sheppard and his new co-worker dismantled Ellie grew uneasy. Sheppard grabbed saw an exposed wire and leaned in to reach it but stopped as Ellie let out a shriek. She was squirming on the altar table.

  “What’s wrong,” Sheppard whispered.

  “Something’s digging into my back, its sharp!” Blood was trickling from underneath her down from the table. His heart raced. Every drop of blood he saw reminded him of Anur impaled on the throne thousands of years ago.

  “Where exactly is it.” He asked.

  “It’s on…the inside of my left shoulder blade.” The world around him was suddenly closing in again. He did not want to lose another woman the same way again...

  “Your name’s…Ellie, right?”

  She nodded in tears, why was she brought into this whole mess? She was a typical college student plunged in between a battle of two worlds.

  “Okay, listen to me Ellie. I can’t see the blade because you’re tied down rather tightly, so if you feel it again just let us know.” His reassurances did little to calm her. She wept bitterly, wishing someone she loved would be there with her.

  Sheppard grew angrier at every attempt. He explained to the demolitionist, “If we tamper the device or move it, it might trigger the bomb…or…” He did not want to repeat the words, “It could pierce her chest, most likely her heart. There’s a blade underneath her back.”

  “Shit,” The demolitionist grew furious and threw the panel he was holding; this whole day was beginning to become hellish for both the mortals and their Legion allies.

  “Sir if I may interject,” His suit’s AI said, “I may be able to enter the system.”

  Sheppard held the fingers of his gauntlets near the exposed wire and felt a static shock transfer into the wire. The AI had downloaded itself into the system. A series of beeps whistled from the bomb and a timer appeared just on the inside of the device.

  It was written in their immortal language. 345 seconds.

  “All things come around full circle.”

  “What?” Asked the demolitionist.

  “We don’t have much time left …”

  They rushed to dismantle the outer walls and expose the inner circuitry, but the inside looked more like a nest than a computer.

  “Try to block the vents!” The soldiers around him opened their packs and removed ponchos and other clothing items. They laid them in piles around the altar’s base trying to block any opening.

  Even Sheppard’s finely dexterous fingers were unable to reach the device’s central processing unit without breaking one of the fine threads.

  “Can we freeze it?” Sheppard asked.

  “We don’t have any liquid nitrogen on us.” The demolitionist replied in anger, that would have been the safest course of action.

  “Commander my attempts to break into the device were also useless, there’s a number of programs restricting my access. The system access seems to be wide open but it looks like it will trigger the device.” Soul said.

  Sheppard whispered, “He’s left me with choices…”

  “What choices?” Whispered the demolitions expert.

  “If we tamper with the device she dies the device might trigger, or if we fail to disable the device and save the girl…then the toxin will be released into the air.”

  The demolitionist nodded before returning to his work. “If she can save innocent lives, then we have to risk dismantling the device.”

  “There’s no guarantee that it won’t trigger even if we kill her.”

  Sheppard had a deep respect for these men. They had long left the notion of returning safely.

  Ellie was still recovering from the sedatives but she was more alert now than before.

  Sheppard could not bear to ask her the question. For once in his life, he was scared.

  The army lieutenant saw Sheppard uneasy and knelt by his side, “Are you okay sir?”

  Sheppard nodded, his forehead sweat was beginning to collect and drip onto his suit. “Can you ask her if she will…” He did not have to finish the sentence; all those present understood what was going to be asked. The army officer kneeled to Ellie’s eye level.

  She turned her head, the tears were still wet and they reflected in the sunlight. All those around her could only pity her, they all felt helpless and useless.

  Bullets flew through the air from the woods and took out a few members of their company. Sheppard and the U.S. army units were inadvertently in the Eri retreat path.

  Sheppard’s allies formed into packs and took cover, returning fire immediately. They shouted at one another for ammo, they were nearly out. Everything was falling apart. Less than a minute was left on the device and they were now outnumbered and surrounded. Their only option was to risk disabling the device.

  He stood over Ellie while bullets buzzed by his head. In his mind he cared little if a bullet hit him, it would put him out of his misery.

  “Some of us won’t make it out of here alive…but we’re going to save you…” A bullet pierced his chest and lodged in his sternum, he stepped back absorbing the momentum but did not falter.

  “Please get me out of here!” Screamed Ellie.

  He gazed behind him and saw the road the amphitheatre lined was still clear.

  “Fall back to the road!” They broke their formations one by one and retreated.

  Sheppard planted charges on each of the wrist straps binding her to the altar. If there was a hidden blade underneath her he would have less than a second to save her.

  He stood, readying himself for what was to come. His body surged with might, his reflexes increased many fold. And he finally pushed the trigger while deftly dodging the bullets passing by him. The explosives shot out, breaking the straps binding her.

  He jumped onto the altar and lifted her up while curving the blade hidden in the altar outward with his feet. He nearly threw her in the air but the blades had reached the end of their loading mechanism.

  He leapt from the stage onto the amphitheatre’s benches below. The stone benches collapsed under the weight of his armor but helped him break his
fall. His eyes instinctively became more sensitive to movement all around him. Bullets buzzed by his ears with wispy trails. His heart felt like it was beating out of his chest.

  Droplets of rain fell out of the sky, in his eyes he saw them shattered by the bullets and their impact with the ground. He was in an entirely new world in that instant. While running all he could hear was his breathing.

  A loud hiss and a gust of wind emerged from behind him. No one was going to make it out in time. It was now or never, he peered back and saw a thick cloud of green-blue gas shoot out from every direction like spires.

  He picked up pace but realized the futility. He cursed under his breath as a second gust brushed past him. He covered her mouth and nose hoping he could get her to safety.

  Eri soldiers in the amphitheatre and in the surrounding forest were hit by the clouds full force. Their armor eroded immediately and reacted violently with the toxic fumes, plastic and polymer were no match for its effects. They writhed in agony as they breathed in the highly concentrated gas.

  Sheppard and the others were just two-hundred meters from the epicenter.

  How the hell is it going to disperse?

  He peered back and saw the winds carrying the clouds in unpredictable torrents toward the southwest. pyroclastic flows emanated from the epicenter and rushed toward them felling soldiers by the dozens. Sheppard hugged Ellie’s face into his chest, hoping she had not breathed in the cloud just yet.

  “Ellie…hold on!” He unveiled a blanket from his pack and shrouded both of them on the ground with it.

  He had already taken in too much of the toxin, he felt his blood thickening to the point of coagulation. His trachea constricted and his vessels became unbearably painful. In seconds he was on the ground again, blacking out.

  It was quiet, too quiet. The darkness around him was cold and silent. His footsteps tread through the shadows illuminating the crimson soil underneath. The ground was moist and at times puddle-like. He dropped to his knees to investigate the damp earth beneath him.