"Yeah. Got a problem with that?" Gremory asked.
"No, I don’t. It’s—uh—rather fascinating, actually,” I tripped over my words, “I’ve been a fan for a long time."
"Yeah, well, get in line," she said with a seductive grin. "I don’t hang out with just anyone you know?" Her smile was infectious, and it felt as if she was about to irradiate me, like the sun.
"So, Armaments, huh?" I asked. "That’s quite a tall order."
The Armament system itself was a suit of armor that enveloped the user’s body. A whole array of weaponry, sensors, and a propulsion system came with what amounted to a divine transformation. The equipment in general varied with each ‘deity’ that was reincarnated as an Armament, as did their roles. But Gremory had hit the jackpot, reincarnating as Lilith, The Mother of Darkness. She was beyond powerful.
Just what was the deal with this guy, if he was the one backing Lady Death? Looking more closely, I finally got it. She resembled her Armament. But the only thing the public ever saw, was her battle form, not what she looked like in the flesh.
As for my parents, there were times I had thought my father was hiding something. The way he used to look at me with contempt and disgust, could it have had something to do with my unborn brother? Could the devil have had something to do with him dying and not me?
"Ohh, you’re on the right track, young Cain. You’re very close indeed!" he laughed, returning to his human form after reading my thoughts. "You’ll be given an Armament, of sorts, and if you make it far enough, I’ll share some of your father’s secrets with you, and maybe even divulge information you’d be interested in. What do you say?" he asked, lighting a massive stogy, puffing the tip cherry red, and then blowing a wave of cigar-smoke my way.
What could I say? No? In the worst case, I would be ripped apart by the demonic duo, or I could simply be sent back to my apartment and consign my parents’ souls to hell, in the best case.
"How are you so sure I'll join the fleet?" I asked, taking another sip. Damn, now the liquid tasted sour, causing my lips to pucker.
"Because, Lady Death is Gremory, duh! I control the Steel Legion and keep it afloat with a donation here and there. Be that as it may, I’ve run out of assets on Earth and will need a couple of months to pull together enough for another donation. If nothing is done in the meantime, they might end up destroying my dear spaceship."
"Wait, they?” I asked. “Didn’t you say that you were in charge?" I had no idea where I found the courage to talk to him like that, but it most likely had something to do with his use of the word ‘need’.
"Long story short, I’m only in charge of the Legion superficially. At least until you get it under control for me, we’ll talk about additional privileges at that time."
"Wait, can I ask you a question?"
"Ohh, the lamb dares to ask another question?” He smirked and puffed on his cigar, “Sure, little lamb, shoot."
"So, this is quite fascinating, now that I’m almost sure you won’t just kill me. Anyway, what about the alien races, do they also have gods or devils like you two? Or is that like a universe wide thing?"
"Devils? Gremory dear, did you hear what this pathetic creature just called us?"
"Oh, yes I did," she purred, taking out two very long, black daggers. She swirled them around her fingers as if she’d done so for most of her life. I gulped and cursed my idiot mouth. Apparently, everyone was expendable after all.
"Wait, there’s no need to go down on me with those toothpicks!" I joked, trying to defuse the situation.
"Calm down. As to your question, I’ll answer only if you sign the agreement with your blood. That way it’s a hundred percent enforceable, you know?"
"Only if you add Gremory to the deal," I replied quickly. "I have a feeling you need me just as much as I do you."
She opened her mouth in protest, but the being enjoying his cigar in front of me burst out in laughter and threw his arms in the air, accidentally destroying the piano when his fist connected with the keyboard.
"Oh, hell! Look what you made me do!” he yelled and calmed down immediately. “But yes, I will add her to the deal if you think you can handle her. She really is quite something, I’ll tell you that. But then, we’ll add an additional clause, as well. A favor. I will need you to do something for me at a later time. I won’t tell you what, but if you want her, you had better agree to it," he smiled mischievously.
Gremory, in turn, looked horrified. "You don’t really—?”
"Oh, yes, yes, I do. You’re mine after all, so why not? Well, you were mine. Now you’re his. Interesting how this turned out much differently than we anticipated, wouldn't you say Gremory?” He grinned evilly, “Sign here Cain, and I’ll make your wildest dreams come true. Literally."
He pulled a piece of parchment from his suit coat and placed it in front of me. The word ‘CONTRACT’ was written in bold, black letters at the top. I glanced over it quickly, and with even more hesitation than earlier, pierced my thumb with Gremory’s knife and pressed it down on the parchment.
"There we go. What now?"
"Oh, he’s quite funny," the man grinned. "Very well. When you wake up, someone will come get you. Be sure to survive your trip up to the mother ship, Cain."
Just as something had knocked me unconscious in my room, as I went to stand from my seat next to the man, or devil, depending on how he looked, a wave of tiredness washed over me. I managed to ask one last question as I wavered on my feet.
"What do you mean by surviving?" I whispered.
"You’ll find out soon enough. Oh, how I do look forward to our next meeting!" he snickered. I didn’t find it as funny as he did, for some reason, but it was clear that I was way out of my league. I did the only thing I could, and surrendered to the darkness as the ground rushed up to meet me.
Chapter Two
"Oh, shit! He never answered my question!" I hissed, coming to consciousness. If I hadn’t been such an open-minded person, I might have questioned my sanity. But then again, he’d known about my unborn brother and I, so there must have been some truth to all of it.
"I can answer that question for you if you want," a playful voice said from behind. I snapped my head around only to see Gremory standing half-naked next to my mostly empty fridge, holding up a beer to her lips.
"How the hell did you get in here?" I demanded as I rushed to the front door. Frowning, I noticed it was the same way I’d left it. Barred and locked. "How did you get in?" I asked again, pushing past her to inspect the number of beers I had left.
"I came in through the chimney, like a naughty little devil. How else?" she replied and took another long gulp, crushed the can and threw it to the floor.
"Hey! What’s with the beer thieving? I never said you could have one, let alone nine!"
"Whatever. I’ve repaid you by walking around like this” she said while pointing to her firm breasts. “Don’t you like how they sway when I bend over?"
"If you want me to be honest, yes. I do like it very much so. But that’s beside the point! Don’t take a man’s beer away from him," I protested while holding the last cool can in my arms, cradling it like a baby. "Besides, when are we supposed to go?"
"When our uninvited guest knocks on the door."
I sighed and crashed on the couch. At least she hadn’t staked claim to it yet.
"So, to answer your question, yes. The deities are mostly the same for all the ‘alien’ races. It’s basically like this. God threw away his favorite son for hating Humanity, well, mostly Humanity. He hated everything that wasn’t up there in heaven, but Humans were God’s favorite play toys. In a fit of rage, he gave all the sapient alien races the same deities, the same religions, the same good, and bad guys. Why? Beats me, but I haven’t been around Lucifer long enough to get it out of him."
I sighed and leaned against the soft plush. For some reason, the white walls didn’t feel so white anymore, but rather a dirty yellow. The ceiling was brown-grey from cigar smoke, and
the doors had quite a few holes in them. Why did my apartment seem so different suddenly?
"Who’s the uninvited guest we’re waiting for?" I asked suspiciously.
"Got some room on the couch?" Gremory asked as she sat down beside me and put her legs over mine. "This place sure is dirty. No wonder you want to get out of here."
"Yeah, tell me about it," I replied and stared down at her bare legs. I couldn’t help it when they were right in my face.
"Say, do you have any idea how drunk you were when Lucifer summoned you to the Crux?"
"I don’t know," I mumbled, looking away from her. Gremory’s stare and words hurt much more than any dagger could, it wasn’t like I’d been an alcoholic all my life. The situation was what it—was. And besides, there was much more to this than he wanted to let me in on.
"You can get your shit together again, but only if you want to. I’m not going to hold your hand all along the way. You’ll have to do it yourself."
"Right. I hadn’t thought of it any different, Lady Death."
She smirked and winked at me. "As for the guest, I need to release a certain amount of energy to be able to lift from the atmosphere, so I called them over for a bout."
As if on cue, a loud crash from the front door stopped my train of thoughts as Gremory got up and rushed out. With a snap of her fingers, she was in mid-transformation before she was even in the hallway. Lady Death’s Armament was one of the more famous ones among the Legions as she never fought without it. Fighting? Wait, was I still drunk?
"Wait, don’t fight in the—"
Another crash sent splinters flying into the living room. I ducked behind the fridge and sat there for a moment. It was an understatement to say that I was shocked by the destruction of my property.
The clash of metal on metal sent shivers down my spine. Had Lucifer meant it when he said, ‘if you survive’? I steadied my breathing as the ruckus outside grew even louder.
Rounding the corner, the first thing I noticed was that my front door was missing. How the hell had someone managed to rip a reinforced door off its hinges? The wall to the door’s right was partially missing along with the bathroom.
I hurried outside to see who could have done such a thing and stopped dead.
"You bitch!" Gremory screamed and shot a pulse blast at another figure I recognized. The energy beam struck a nearby building and tore through two floors before it came out the other side. Nausea washed over me at the prospect of countless dead.
"Who are you calling a bitch, bitch?" the second voice yelled back as the figure flew at her with a wicked-looking, two-handed sword held out to her side. Their blades sang and flashed with every strike, sending more and more chills up my body. I shuddered and peeked out to confirm it was her. Surely, it was Krieg, the Germanica Legion’s number one.
Long, fiery-red hair flowed around her in the wind as the black, red, and yellow colored outfit hugged her body tightly. One couldn’t quite distinguish from afar if it was just a normal outfit or if it was battle armor, but it isn’t like it mattered. She had enough firepower to sink a mothership.
"You skank! I’ll cut you up if you don’t scram! Take a hint and understand the two of you are done!" Gremory cursed and shot a barrage of rounds at her opponent, got in close and backhanded the other woman in the face. Gremory still came at her and managed a kick in the gut and a downward slash at her opponent’s wings.
Krieg dropped like a fly swatted from the air for a brief moment, but Krieg wouldn’t have been the top dog in Germanica if that was all it took to stop her. She pulled out a Gatling gun and opened up fire at Gremory. Forced to unfurl her wings and defend against the projectiles, Lady Death seemed to be infuriated.
"Oh boy, now you’re mine," Krieg chuckled and turned her head straight at me. Her pitch-black eyes made me want to claw them out, pride visible in the two small crystal balls.
Producing a small blade from her leg holder, she pulled it free and aimed right at me. Acting on instinct, I grabbed half a broken chair and hurled it right at her. The wood struck her head just as the blade passed by my shoulder, cutting it open. The weapon passed through the far wall and landed somewhere down the street.
"Krieg!" Gremory roared and swirled up to the sky, changed course, and came flying right at her opponent like a gigantic drill. The Gatling gun shattered in a hundred pieces as her wings made contact and slashed at Krieg’s limbs. Both legs gave in from the brute power behind Gremory’s attack. Krieg’s eyes glazed over and became white as snow for a mere instant before she shook herself awake and caught herself in mid-air.
"You bitch! I’ll get back at you the next time!" Krieg growled after sending more curses our way. Just before she disappeared, the nasty woman threw a second blade that caught Gremory’s left wing. She looked around but couldn’t find Krieg anymore; she was gone.
"Shit, why do I see my shoulder as a percentage? Or was there something else in that beer? Something, I had no idea what it could be?" I murmured just as Gremory dropped next to me and put her arms around my body. Just when I felt the blood gush out from the wound, an extreme pain washed over me. The wound was much deeper than I thought earlier.
"Come on! We need to move if you want to live and see another day!" Gremory hissed in my ear. I stopped and let her embrace me with her strong, metallic arms. I grabbed at her with my healthy hand, clinging to her armor like a baby koala to its mother.
"Gremory!" resounded from below us, followed by a massive explosion from where I figured my apartment was. There was no more going back.
"What the hell is it with you two? This is a civilian district!" I yelled as we shot up into the sky at an incredible speed. The sudden change in altitude was enough to knock me out for a couple of seconds.
"For now, just trust me and hold on tight," she replied while flapping her mechanical wings. They were beautiful, metallic constructs that resonated a deep purple and red. From what I could see, their use was minimal. It was as if someone created them just to add to the pure beauty she already was. The engine between the flaps burned hard as we continued to rise ever faster.
The high-rises and buildings beneath us turned to little dots and ceased to be visible very quickly, as everything became one big blur of mismatched color. A visor shut closed around her head once everything turned very dark and cold. My limbs went numb as soon as the air became sparse.
"Hold on for a bit longer, we’re almost there," Gremory whispered as she turned me around. A bubble enveloped me as I came face to face with what had become my new reality. In all honesty, I wished she wouldn’t have done so as the image that stared back at me was none other than that of Mother Earth herself.
"Oh lord," I wheezed, but no sound came from my mouth, only a breath that turned to ice. I think it was sometime then that I lost consciousness, be it from the shock of seeing the planet I’ve lived on my whole life, or because Humans weren’t supposed to float unprotected in the profound emptiness of the abyss that was space.
"Son, are you awake?" a vaguely familiar voice asked. My eyes shot open wide, but no one was there, only a strange sensation of something I’d known a long time ago.
"Father? Is that you?" I asked, as my vision returned. Four white walls and a glowing, metallic door appeared around me. The bed I lay on was far too big for a single person and didn’t look like something that should be located in a medical ward.
"Come, follow my voice," it said as the door slowly screeched open. I got up and walked through the door, following after him. The long corridor on the other side was too brightly lit, forcing me to squint against the light.
"Where am I? What’s going on?" I asked as the light dimmed and started moving down the hall. I had no choice but to follow.
"Good boy. I’m here for you because you need me," the voice said again. What had been the corridor, turned into a gigantic room with tall ceilings and very wide walls. It almost looked like a training room for the Legions, or at least similar to what we’ve been allowed to see du
ring broadcasts.
"Where are we? What’s going on?" I asked again, but louder this time. A shrill voice laughed out and echoed all around me. It felt like a pack of hyenas were cackling and howling in my mind, ready to jump my battered body.
"Here I am," the same voice replied, slightly more profound this time. A pitch-black blotch appeared before me as if it was a reflection of something I couldn’t comprehend.
"What are you?" I asked as cold sweat trickled down my forehead. Two red eyes appeared at the dead center of the blotch and stared back at me as if looking right into my soul, judging and condemning me to eternal darkness.
"That doesn’t concern you. All that matters is if you’re strong enough to be my host. What do you think, young Cain? Are you strong enough? Surely you must be; otherwise, my lord wouldn’t have sent you here."
"I—"
The shadow appeared a mere inch from my face and grinned, showing two rows of big, rending teeth. Again, it flickered out of existence and appeared right over my skin.
"So, is this what Lucifer told me about? Enhancements?"
"Maybe," the voice whispered just as excruciating pain shot down my body, from the top of my head right down to my toes. The shadow crawled all over me, prodded at my body, and pried open my skin. My voice died out as the pain became too much to bear. I stood there as skin peeled off, and the darkness merged with my very bones.
A pool of blood appeared beneath my feet and drew my attention, mirroring what I became. The pool swirled around in place as if it had become a maelstrom, but then it stopped and rose to create a mirror of sorts.
"What’s going on?" I wheezed. I wasn’t afraid of pain or being hurt, especially if it was going to change my life, but to someone not accustomed to pain, this was too much, especially if the darkness threatened to rip my mind apart.
Thoughts became blurry as information seeped into my mind, things I’d never known before, but somehow were there now. I started seeing numbers just like during the battle. Tiers and levels, necessary nourishment, combat moves and tactics, military speech, and a dozen other things.
Legion of Steel Page 2
