by R. E. Graham
A voice called out to him from through the empty staircase. “I have your wife, Redbeard.”
The pirate lord recognized the arrogant voice as belonging to Lord Onyx.
“Oh yeah?” he asked incredulously.
“She sure is gorgeous,” Mikhail remarked, which got a disdainful rise out of Mrs. Henders as she visually scolded him.
“If you touch her…” Redbeard began to remark before he stopped himself.
“You’ll what?” Lord Onyx asked with a sarcastic tone. “I have you totally surrounded and cut off from contact to the outside world. Right now, my fleet has engaged the Republic blockade and is holding their own,” Mikhail said as he lied. “You have no option but to surrender to me. “
“That would mean my death,” Redbeard said as he shouted up the stairwell.
“Maybe…then again, maybe not.”
Lord Ruby shook his head resolutely. “You didn’t go through all of this so that you could leave without your prize. You want to be lord over Ruby and will stop at nothing until it is in your grasp.”
Knowing that there was no point in lying any further, Mikhail decided to be open with his adversary. “Frankly, I came to kill you. If I become lord of Ruby, then so be it. But right now, I am here to pay you back for sendin’ that assassin to kill me.”
Redbeard shook his head in shame. “Yeah, that was a decision that I regret.”
Recognizing the irony, Lord Onyx shot back. “I’m sure you do. It was the single decision that has led to your downfall.”
Lord Ruby was out of options and didn’t know what else to do. He took a seat at a nearby stool and looked upward. The other Ruby pirates with him looked at their leader as though he was already dead.
Up above, Mikhail looked over Sam one last time then steeled himself for what he needed to do. “Look, Redbeard, I don’t want to do it, but I will shoot your wife right now if you don’t surrender and come up here.”
Lord Ruby knew that the moment he scaled the staircase that he was a dead man. If he remained downstairs that eventually either the Republic or the men on his payroll would come for him. He only had to hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive. In the meantime, though, his beloved was at direct risk of being executed. While he prided himself on seeming as though he was the toughest son of a gun in the ‘verse, the truth was that she was everything he held dear.
The men beside him watched as the turmoil within him stirred. Everything Redbeard had come to learn about his adversary was that he was indeed a ruthless man unlike any he had encountered. He cursed himself in his mind for underestimating his opponent, but the past was the past. Now he needed to do what was right because he knew that Sam was dead if he didn't comply.
However, before he could voice his decision to surrender Scrub pounded his right hand against the wall.
“Enough talk!” the Onyx pirate said as he charged down the stairs in his heavy Centurion armor.
“Stand down!” Hernando shouted angrily, but the other member of his team ignored the order. He rushed after Scrub as Mikhail and the others watched things unravel.
Redbeard heard the loud noise of the careless warrior descending, and he raised his weapon. Before Scrub even had a chance to fire his guns the pirate lord shot the Incinerator. The firearm made a loud screeching sound as it discharged and burned through the strong power armor, melting the occupant's chest, heart, and spine. Scrub was dead before his brain even registered the reason for the noise. His body tumbled over as Hern caught up to him.
He squatted low as the pirates fired their own rifles. Some had been armed with lasers, which were able to start harming the ex-gunner’s Centurion suit. Hern realized that Redbeard’s weapon wasn’t firing and decided he needed to commit to fighting.
“Gaaah!” he shouted before his voice was overwhelmed by the sound of his chain-gun firing the last of its ammo. Three of the Ruby’s died from being shred apart by the stream of bullets while the pirate lord ducked for cover around the corner of the room behind him.
All of the captured Ruby pirates upstairs listened carefully to the sounds of the gunfire and knew that things weren't looking good. Instead of rejoicing, Mikhail felt a surge of bitterness at how things were playing out. The thought crossed his mind that Scrub and Hern may be trying to yank the reigns of Ruby right from him.
With his pistol in hand, he rushed down the stairs and found the dead raider in his Centurion armor. Hern held the last Ruby by gripping him around his throat. Using his suits amplified strength, he flicked his wrist and snapped the flailing man's neck. His suit alerted him that someone else was behind him. He turned to see that Mikhail was standing awkwardly over Scrub.
“Where’s Redbeard?” the pirate lord asked with a rumble in his voice.
“I’m still alive, don’t you worry!” the rival lord called out from the other room.
Mikhail moved up taking cover behind a bullet-ridden pillar as Hern moved to the wall behind him to lower his profile.
“You know, I never thought you were the type of man to lead a raid like this,” Redbeard said as he shook his head.
Blood trickled down his left arm. In all the shooting, he had been hit by someone in the shoulder. Unfortunately, the Incinerator laser cannon was much too heavy for him to fire with one hand as his left arm wasn't responding correctly. In all likelihood, he knew his life was drawing to a close. All that was left was stalling in hopes that his people had a chance to save him.
Mikhail was also aware that at any moment reinforcements could arrive, he knew he needed to move quickly. Hern pointed at his own chest then motioned to the door with his helmet, but Lord Onyx slowly shook his head. The lead bodyguard was incredibly confused but stood where he was as his old captain carefully moved up.
Debris and bullet casings scattered about made it difficult for Mikhail to sneak and he decided that it didn't matter. Either Redbeard was standing there with a gun aimed at the door, or he wasn't. He was thinking about how to get at the rival lord without exposing himself needlessly when Redbeard screamed out in pain.
As Lord Ruby stumbled out into the center of the room, he dropped his weapon and fell forward. Mikhail rushed in with his pistol up. Immediately he noticed the large slash across his enemy’s back that had cleanly cut through his clothing and muscle tissue. He looked to the left where Redbeard had been hiding but didn’t see anyone.
“Ruby is yours,” the voice in his head said subtlety.
Redbeard rolled over to his side, severe pain gripped his face. Mikhail stood in the doorway and lowered his pistol toward the floor. He breathed heavily, and his eyes looked intense.
“What are you waiting for?” the rival lord asked as he lay helpless.
Lord Onyx holstered his firearm and gripped Redbeard as tight as he could. He then proceeded to drag him out of the room. Hern watched in awe as Mikhail pulled the large man along the ground and up the stairs.
Those waiting up above had noticed the shooting had stopped but couldn’t hear anything else until the sound of a slow and steady, thud, thud, thud, could be heard coming up the stairs. Sam’s eyes widened as she realized that Mikhail was the one coming up, but it startled her even further when she saw that he was dragging her husband.
Everyone’s eyes were on Lord Onyx as he Finished the arduous trip up the stairs and continued until he was in the middle of the room. Redbeard groaned in pain as a trail of blood was left behind him. Once Mikhail felt that everyone present could see him, he dropped the other Lord hard against the floor. He struggled to catch his breath as he stood over the wounded man.
Redbeard looked up at Mikhail with disdain. His body was defeated, but his mind had not yet submitted. “Frag you, you piece of…”
Val Henders never got to Finish his statement as the victorious pirate lord drew his pistol and shot him multiple times in the chest.
“Noooo!” the dying man’s wife cried out.
One of the Onyx pirates stopped her from running over to her husband as h
e bled out and his heart ceased beating.
Mikhail looked around the room and saw the pride in his men’s eyes, and the defeat in those captured. He again holstered his sidearm and stared at the light going out of Redbeard’s eyes. The pirate lord who had done so much to expand his power and influence, soaking in a pool of his own blood, breathed his last.
Lord Onyx flexed his hands back and forth until he finally was ready. He yanked the small ax from his belt and knelt down beside the dead lord.
Sam looked away and covered her face while many of the others watched in horror as Mikhail swung again and again. Hern had just Finished climbing the stairs just in time to see his Lord heft Redbeard's head in the air with one hand while the bloody ax was in his other.
"I am Lord of Ruby now. You will all kneel to me, or you will suffer the same fate!" Mikhail said as he spat in anger. "I am the Skull King!" he growled as he recalled the conversation between him and Rhonda.
He carelessly discarded the head by tossing it across the room. There wasn’t a soul present that wasn’t feeling at least a bit terrified by the pirate lord. Mikhail cracked his neck by twisting his head.
“Choose here and now,” he said boldly.
The Onyx pirates took a step back giving the prisoners room to move. One by one the members of Ruby stood up. Finally, the first knelt, followed by another. As more and more men and women of Ruby took a knee to pledge their loyalty, Cinder felt conflicted. He had diligently served his Lord for so long that he didn’t know what life would be like without him. However, he knew that dying here and now was not something he longed for. Sam turned to him just as he slowly knelt and bowed his head. She looked about at the others and realized she was the last one of Ruby still standing.
“Which will it be?” Mikhail asked, causing her to jump slightly.
She spun to face her husband’s murderer and composed herself. “You have won. Ruby is yours,” Samantha said as she too knelt.
Hern looked over the room and then back to his Lord. Something was different about him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Either way, they had come all this way and succeeded against the impossible. No matter where else Mikhail was going, he determined within himself to do everything he could to assist him.
“All hail Mikhail Tarvus, Lord of Ruby,” Cinder shouted as loud as he could.
The others joined in the chanting, all except for Sam who lowered her head and cried for the death of her husband.
Mikhail felt a surge of confidence flow through him as they chanted his name.
I did it. Ruby is mine. Now onto my next target. It’s time to strike back at the Republic!
Down below the excitement the dark being stepped out of the shadows. He walked about the room and tasted the death in the air. It was a pleasure to his twisted senses. What was even better though, was that his little prodigy had done it. Greed delighted himself at the sound of the chanting and knew that his plan was coming together. Soon, he would be able to use Mikhail to initiate the next stage of his deranged scheme.
The Vice smiled devilishly, his jagged teeth and blistered lips peeled back as he faded into the shadows.
“The drumbeats of war are coming. Soon, blood will run red on the streets of the worlds of mankind,” he said to himself quietly as he vanished.
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Glossary
Revelations is set in a universe where humanity does not originate from Earth. As such, some of the terms we use in our daily lives is not quite the same that they use. I have included this section to help you better understand the words and their deFinitions without it slowing down the pace of the story.
Stonecrete: [stone-creet] Very similar to our modern-day concrete but much stronger and doesn’t break down as poorly with time.
Rotation: Equivalent to our 24-hour day. The length of a rotation is how long it takes any planet to orbit around its star.
Cycle: Equivalent to one sequence of rotations around a star.
Communicator: Similar to a cellphone with even more robust features and capabilities.
Standard: This is the primary language that citizens in the Corre Republic speak. Most other nations have Standard as their primary language or at least teach their children so that they can still understand it.
Synthetic: A Synthetic is an Artificial Intelligence (or AI) that controls a humanoid like body that fought in the massive war for survival between the nations of humanity and The Collector.
ANE: After Near Extinction (or more commonly known as ANE) was a new epoch that began to signify humanity’s survival against the Syn Armada.
Cuso: [coo-soe] The currency used in the Corre Republic.
Overloader: Essentially a weapon that creates a small electromagnetic pulse used to temporarily disable electronics.
Prefect Major: The Prefect Major is the leader of the entire Corre Republic. There are many other positions under this rank that assist in ruling, but whatever the Prefect Major says goes. The Senate plays the role of the legislative branch of the Republic's government and can affect policy. While the Senate is elected from the planets' citizens, the Prefect Major is chosen from the other Prefects that rule the 10 prefectures.
Prefect: There are 10 prefectures within the Corre Republic, and one Prefect rules over the worlds within that prefecture.
Governor: A governor is a ruler over a world. There is one governor per planet in the Corre Republic.
All Father: The omnipotent, all-powerful god of The Will religion. It is said that the All Father created all life and existence. Success, power, strength, and dominion is promoted highly in The Will's holy book.
The Creator: With His voice, He created all of existence. The Creator is the godhead of the Light Bringer faith and has been hated for a long time in the Corre Republic as it seen as archaic.
Stream: This is the Corre Republic’s version of our own internet.
Note from the author: R. E. Graham
I want to take a quick moment to thank you for taking the time to read this novel. For years I have wanted to explore the Revelations universe but was unsure of how to go about it. In 2017 I figured that if I didn’t just go for it, then I never would. I didn’t want to find myself on my deathbed and feel regret for never going for my dream. But I cannot create this universe without thanking those who support it and to also extend a welcome to you if you are new to the stories of Revelations.
If you would like to learn more about other novels, products or just join an awesome growing community of fellow fans then consider checking out any of the links below.
Email List: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/4o817ero7w
Facebook: www.facebook.com/revelationsuniverse/
Website: www.whitelightmedia.org
Thank you again, and I look forward to us creating Revelations into something we can all enjoy together!
Rick
