N.B : If you'd like to get early access to Universal hope chapters, why not consider supporting me at Patreon.com/Weeb Fanthom. Your donations will be very much appreciated. On my Patreon, supporters get the complete, uninterrupted chapters in full.
Ahead of the advancing knights, Buzzrot's wings; though the back was burnt and blistered; beat frantically. Ember dangled from his grip, the Vulpimancer's massive weight clearly straining muscles already pushed past their limit.
'Just a little further,' Eren thought desperately whilst his four glowing eyes fixed on the distant ridgeline. Just get to the top, find cover then—
BEEP. BEEP-BEEP. BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.
His blood ran cold.
"No," he hissed. "Oh for the love of the walls—NOT NOW!"
The Omnitrix symbol on his chest was flashing. Red. Rapid. Final.
Buzzrot's form dissolved in red light. For one terrible moment, Eren hung suspended in the air; back to a ten year old human child.
…And then gravity remembered him.
The brunette and Ember fell beside him, the ground rushed up: rocks, roots and the sheer stone face of the ravine wall—
It was going to be one nasty fall.
Eren hit something. He had hit a steep slope sending him rolling downwards. Rocks bit into his back and his head cracked against something hard.
He came to rest at the bottom of another ravine; but deeper; facedown in a patch of cold mud. Every nerve in his body was on fire.
Ember had landed a few meters away, the Vulpimancer's massive frame crumpled against a boulder. It was struggling to rise, its legs sliding on the loose stone, a low, pained whine escaping its throat but it managed to get itself up and shook its head.
Get up, Eren told himself. Get up, get up, GET UP—
But his body wouldn't obey. His arms and legs refused to move. He swore he could hear shouting and hooves coming closer, was it the knights? He hope not.
"EREN! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Arlet's horse skidded to a halt at the base of the ravine, nearly throwing him from the saddle. He was off before the animal had fully stopped, his boots splashing through shallow water as he ran toward the crumpled figure in the mud.
He dropped to his knees checking the kid. "Eren. Eren, can you hear me? Talk to me, boy—"
"Back," Eren wheezed. His voice was a child's voice again, small and trembling from pain. "Hurts... my back..."
Grandpa Arlet's face went grey. He moved with sudden, desperate gentleness, easing Eren onto his side. The boy's shirt was shredded, the fabric clinging to a latticework of burns and lacerations across his shoulder blades and spine. Blood seeped from the wounds, but even as the old man watched, thin tendrils of steam began to rise from the torn flesh.
Titan regeneration.
Grandpa Arlet's hands were steady as he shrugged off his coat and wrapped it around Eren's shoulders. "We need to move. Now."
"Ember—" Eren asked as his eyes searched for his beastly friend, unable to find him. "Where's—"
"Grrr"
Grandpa Arlet turned to see Ember limping slightly toward them. The Vulpimancer's smooth face was spattered with blood from a gash along its flank; but its ear flaps were pricked forward, alert.
Grandpa Arlet looked at the situation at hand. At this rate they won't be able to get far. He looked up at the ravine walls, and at the narrow path that wound upward along the cliff face.
He made a decision.
"Ember," the old wrecker asked calmly. "Can you climb?"
The Vulpimancer's head tilted, considering. Then it nodded its head slowly.
"Good." Grandpa Arlet looked up at the ravine wall, at the path that might be their only ticket to escape. "Then we climb."
Eren tried to stand. His legs buckled. "I can't—"
"I'll help you."
He pulled Eren to his feet, steadied him until his wobbling legs found purchase.
"Now climb."
As they climbed, the knights had arrived below them.
"Spread out! They can't have gone far!"
"The horse is here! Why the hell would they leave their mount behind?!"
"Where's the boy? Where's the—"
"Look up." Enoch said calmly, having looked around.
Eren's blood froze. He looked down. Far below, tiny figures in the gloom, the knights had stopped at the base of the ravine. And the one in the golden mask; was looking directly at him.
"THERE! ON THE CLIFF!"
"FIRE! DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!"
"EREN! MOVE!" Grandpa Arlet's shouted with urgency. Ember was ahead of them both as it hauled itself up the steep face.
Lasers flashed. Stone exploded around their head, shards of rock cutting his cheek. Eren ducked as he scrambled higher, his heart hammering against his ribs.
A beam caught the rock beside Eren's hand. He yelped, lost his grip, and for one terrifying moment he was falling again until Ember's jaws closed around his shirt. The Vulpimancer hauled him up and began dragging him up.
____________________
Anya watched the escapees scramble over the ravine's rim and disappear from view, but regardless she still fired her laser gun. Beside her, the other knights kept firing, chewing chunks off the rock face.
"Cease fire." Enoch commanded.
The knights lowered their weapons, confusion on their faces. "Sir—"
"I said cease fire." Enoch was already moving, his sword sheathed, his hands finding holds on the rock face. "The boy cannot escape. Not when he is this vulnerable, their only source of escape is left here, they have nowhere to go."
He climbed down his horse then turned one more time to his subordinates, "Be on alert and stand your ground." That was all Enoch said as he began climbing the ravine walls
Anya was about to follow, but a fellow knight's hand closed on her arm.
"Wait," he said quietly. "We have orders. Let him handle it."
She wanted to argue, wanted to scream at him to let go of her, wanted to move. But the veteran's grip was iron, and his eyes were fixed on their commander. So all she could do is comply, for now.
____________________
Finally the three were able to get to the top of the ravine.
"We're not safe here," Arlet realized. "The knights are still following us. We need to keep moving—"
"You always did have to do things the hard way, Arlet." A voice interrupted, making Eren, Arlet and Ember turn their heads to the source of the voice.
Behind them, a hand closed on the rim of the ravine. Then a golden mask rose into view.
Enoch climbed onto the grass with the ease of a man stepping into his own garden. He looked at Grandpa Arlet, then at the boy and demon dog.
"But alas," Enoch said as he was approaching the three, completely ignoring Ember's warning growls. "Here we are."
Grandpa Arlet stepped in front of Eren, his body a shield between the boy and the golden masked knight that was once his former partner. "Stay away from him. You want the boy, you go through me."
Enoch sighed. "Again with this?" He drew his sword, the blade catching the last light of the setting sun. "Just step aside, and get this over with."
"Get what over with exactly?" Grandpa Arlet sneered. "You're hunting a child, Enoch. A ten-year-old boy. For what? To dissect him? To study his watch? To serve your 'divine order'?"
Enoch tilted his head. "Who ever said anything about the divine order?"
Arlet's eyes widened. "What?"
Before anybody could say anything, Ember charged at Enoch.
The Vulpimancer slammed into Enoch before the alchemist could react. Claws raked at golden mask while its teeth snapped at his exposed throat, and for one heart-stopping moment, it seemed the creature would tear him apart.
But Enoch hands shot up, catching Ember's throat in a grip that should have been impossible. His arm trembled with the effort of holding the beast back, his feet sliding on the grass, but he held; barely. His free hand drew out a cylindrical device.
"Get," he grunted, "off me you wretched beast!"
He pressed the weapon against Ember's flank and pushed the activation button.
The Vulpimancer's scream was a sound that would likely haunt Eren's nightmares for years. The roar was of pure agony, a sound that cut through the evening air and echoed around the open area. Ember convulsed, releasing his grip on Enoch as its body went rigid from the electricity arced across its fur.
Then Enoch roughly kicked the Vulpimancer's head, making it slip and tumble over the ravine's edge, sending it down below where the other knights were.
"EMBER!" Eren lunged for the edge, but Grandpa Arlet's hand caught his wrist, held him back.
Enoch straightened, brushing dirt from his coat. The golden mask was glitching now, the id mask's surface being marred by Ember's claws, revealing something that wasn't entirely human; a body of silver and circuit linings; till it glitched back to the golden mask.
"A noble effort," Enoch commented. "But ultimately, a waste." He looked at Eren, and something in his gaze made the boy's blood run cold. "Now. The device."
Enoch then closed the distance in three swift strides, about to swing his sword to slash Arlet's neck but the old wrecker was able to parry. However Enoch kept pressing his attacks, sending Arlet back even as he counters.
"Oi, just what the hell did you mean by that sentence?!" Arlet snarled, blocking a strike that would have taken his head. "'Whoever said anything about the divine order'—what game are you playing, Enoch?!"
Enoch laughed coldly. "You always were slow on the uptake, Arlet. Always so quick to assume the worst of me." His blade carved a line of fire across Arlet's forearm, drawing blood. "The Order wants the boy's device, yes. But I have my own intentions."
Arlet's eyes widened. "You're going to keep it. For yourself."
"Finally." Enoch's blade hammered down, forcing Arlet to one knee. "Now you are catching on."
Eren watched, frozen, as the old man who had come all the way to save him, was being beaten down. The sword of the golden masked knight came again and again, and each time Arlet blocked with his sword, his arms shook a little more, his stance crumbled a little further.
"LET HIM GO!" Eren lunged forward, his small hands grabbing at Enoch's arm as he was about to strike his downed opponent. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
Enoch didn't even look.
A backhand caught Eren across the face with the force of a falling tree. The ten year old fell to the ground while the taste of his own blood filled his mouth. His ears rang from the impact and his vision nearly blurred at the edges.
He pushed himself up on trembling arms, spitting crimson onto the grass. "Don't... touch him..."
Enoch ignored him entirely. His attention was fixed on Arlet, who was still on his knees with his armed arm hanging to block Enoch's relentless attacks.
"You've gotten old, Arlet," Enoch said softly. "Slow and weak." He stepped forward, and his boot lashed out, catching Arlet square in the chest. The old man flew backward making his sword fall from his grip, and for one terrible moment he was in the air, nearing the ravine's edge till fingers caught the edge of the ravine managing to catch himself.
Arlet was barely hanging on, unable to find a place for his boots to rest on the cliff's face. Below him, the drop was thirty meters to the ravine floor where the knights and Ember waited.
Enoch stood over him, watching. "Do you remember what I told you, all those years ago? When we first came to this world, when we realized there was no way home?" He knelt, bringing his masked face level with Arlet's. "I told you that mercy was a luxury we couldn't afford. That survival required ruthlessness. That sentiment would get you killed."
He reached down and placed his hand on Arlet's fingers.
"You didn't listen then. You're not listening now."
He then rose his boot above the ground.
Arlet's face was grey with strain, his eyes locked on Enoch's mask. "You... you don't have to do this..."
"I know." Enoch's voice was almost gentle. "That's what makes it mercy."
Then he stepped on Arlet's hands.
A scream tore out of the old man's mouth as he was falling, his body disappearing out of sight.
"NO!" Eren lunged for the edge, but his legs gave out, sending him crashing to the ground. He clawed his way forward, his fingers digging into the grass, his eyes fixed on the spot where Grandpa Arlet had disappeared.
Enoch stood at the edge, looking down, his mask unreadable as he saw that by some luck, his former partner is alive, though clearly injured. A tsk escaped his lips.
"Secure the old man and beast. I want them both contained before I get down with the boy." he called down to the knights below.
Eren heard shouts of acknowledgment before sounds of struggle and growling were heard. But his eyes were fixed on Enoch. On the man who had just—who had—
"Now then." Enoch walked toward him, each step deliberate, unhurried. "Where were we?"
Eren scrambled backward, his heels finding the edge again, his hands clawing at the grass. His face still throbbed where Enoch had struck him, blood still leaking from his split lip. His back screamed with every movement, the burns and lacerations from the previous laser fire attacks were still aching him to boot.
"I don't... I don't understand..." His voice was shaking. "Why are you doing this? Why do you want from me?!"
Enoch slowed his advancement a bit. "You?" He laughed, a dry, humorless sound. "You think this is about you?"
He took a step closer.
Eren's hand closed on something in the grass. It was Grandpa Arlet's dagger, he didn't know how it got here, or maybe it had fallen off the old man. But he didn't have time to think. He grabbed it, then surged to his feet, his hands shaking.
"You bastard…I'll kill you." Eren snarled making Enoch pause in his steps.
"That's a lot of killing intent for a little child."
The mere sentence made Eren's hand grip tightly on the dagger, then charged at the golden masked knight.
The blade caught Enoch across the forearm, slicing through fabric, drawing a thin line of something that might have been blood but gleamed silver in the fading light. Enoch hissed, stepping back, and for one glorious moment, Eren thought he'd done it, thought he'd actually hurt him, now to finish him off before the omnitrix—
Then Enoch's hand shot out, catching Eren's wrist. His grip was iron, crushing, and the dagger fell from suddenly nerveless fingers.
"Foolish boy." Enoch muttered, almost in a pitying manner. "Did you really think a child's desperation could match a lifetime of experience?"
He twisted Eren's arm, forcing him to turn, to expose the wrist where the Omnitrix sat red and unblinking.
"You have no chance against me without this." His other hand closed around Eren's throat, not choking, just holding, immobilizing. His knee drove into Eren's stomach, and the air exploded from his lungs in a wordless gasp. "And even with it, you're still just a child playing at power."
Eren hung there, gasping, his vision swimming, his legs barely touching the ground. Enoch held him like he weighed nothing, his grip on the Omnitrix wrist still unrelenting.
"Of all the beings in the galaxy," Enoch murmured, his voice carrying a note of hidden anger, "the most powerful device ever created; The Omnitrix of all things; ends up in the hands of a child. Do you have any idea what you're holding, boy? What it could do in the right hands?"
Eren's blood ran cold.
He hadn't mentioned the Omnitrix by name, hadn't called it anything, hadn't…how did this knight know?
"How..." His voice came out a croak, barely a whisper. "How do you know what this is called?"
"Let's just say. I have history with the old man down there." He glanced toward the ravine's edge, then back at Eren. "He never told you? About where he came from? About what he was?" His grip tightened, and Eren winced. "No. I suppose he wouldn't. Too busy playing grandfather, pretending he was just another human in this backward little world."
His free hand came up, his fingers hovering over the dead face of the Omnitrix.
"But that doesn't matter anymore." His voice dropped to something almost sounding crazed. His fingers brushed the glowing red dial. "Because now, after all these years, after everything I sacrificed, everything I became, I finally have a ticket out of this hellhole."
His hand closed on the Omnitrix and his eyes began to glow back to that cold yellow. The circuits under his skin reactivated. Energy circuits gathered around his fingers, reaching toward the inactive watch to probe into it.
Eren tried to pull away, but Enoch's grip was immovable. "Hey! Let go—"
Enoch did not pay any mind as he only intensified his efforts. But as he kept probing a sound emitted from the omnitrix.
BEEP.
Enoch looked at the device, the dial wasn't just red any longer.
BEEP-BEEP.
Green light was flickering across the dial. Once. Twice. Then it began to build, pushing back against Enoch's circuit energy and generating more light.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.
The Omnitrix's faceplate cycled through alien icons faster than Eren could track, then all of a sudden green light erupted from the Omnitrix, the wave of energy threw Enoch backward several feet away. His grip on Eren's wrist broke, and Eren was left falling, down the ravine's river below.
He hit the water with a force that knocked out air from his lungs. Even as he was flailing in the water, his right hand found the dial of the omnitrix. It was green lit, spinning the dial he found a familiar silhouette and pressed the dial down.
Green light engulfed him his body was reshaping itself. Gills protruded from his spin and arms. His teeth elongated, then his fingers grew claws, and where a drowning boy had been, something new now took his place.
Pale violet eyes opened from the eyelids.
Early access to chapters/uninterrupted chapter 31 is already available on Patreon.com/Weeb Fanthom.