Error 66b
James Stone
"The trials that are held in the Vault of the Seven are unique in our galaxy. Other realities exist simultaneously and brush up against our own within the confines of the vault, which acts as an anchor. The Vault of the Seven, guardian of the Seven Weapons of Sin, serves as a meeting point between the past, present, and future. It is where all timelines converge and where every moment of time exists in one instance - the ultimate defensive tool against those unworthy," Jeremiah read from the Book of Sin.
Valiic and Geariic were at the head of the group as we stood just past the entrance gate. "Other realities, time convergences. Such technology is unheard of by any existing culture I know and is undoubtedly not Devisor in origin. And yet these… Precursors that created such a place as this must've been just as enlightened," said Valiic as he shifted his forcidion shield forward.
"Devisors versus Precursors, a race of technology, that I imagine must've been quite an exciting time in history," I stabbed away at the tension with a joke.
Jeremiah carried a calamitous look at my words despite it being well-received by the rest.
Everyone had their weapons pulled out. Geariic held his bulky, glowing warhammer tight in his hands. Shadow-Walker clutched his beloved Silent Dagger at the ready. Brad was loose with his shotgun, not fearful of what lay ahead, geared up in power armor and strapped up like a walking arsenal. Frost was light of arms and carried just a pistol-like corelinn weapon. Shadow was unable to convert my weapons to use the crystalized ammunitions the inhabitants of this planet use, leaving me to use corelinn weapons. That was the opposite story for Valiic. Shadow was able to convert his plasma cannon into a cannon capable of firing bursts of crystallized blasts.
The setting was elegant and mystical, yet dark and foreboding. Surrounding us was a cerulean rocky cave illuminated by the light of alien vine growth that crawled up the walls, some of which were even spreading into the cracks and burrowing into the rock like thick, indigo tentacles. Yet, this cavern of wondrous mythology was home to more than just the run of the mill rock. Much of the walls were streaked with a glass-like solid that glowed a deep blue and fought with the rock for dominance over the space.
To our luck, the cave called to us. The sole path was lit with only one direction to go.
As we stood, our collective cyberwatches started to go off, beeping red in alert. I read the display in my head: "ALERT: Substantial Time Relativity Change Detected. Error 66b: Unable to compute change, cannot display ARW time."
The fact that everyone who had a cyberwatch experienced the same thing all at once told me this wasn't just a malfunction.
"I'm no science wiz, so, uh… the hell is time relativity," asked Shadow-Walker.
Frost pulled up a holographic display on his cyberwatch and began to fiddle with the settings. "It means time in this location is moving at a significantly different rate of time than we're used to."
"Faster or slower?" I asked. My bones ached in anticipation of an answer I would otherwise rather not hear.
"It can't seem to tell."
A realization dawned on me. "Which means we could finish this trial in an hour and an entire year may pass by on this planet. In the words any idiot can understand, our efforts here may not amount to shivf. Our ball is completely out of our control, and fate has our balls in a vise grip." I kicked a rock. "Frak!"
Geariic was just as agitated as I was. "This is some pigshivf!" He slammed his fist into the wall hard enough to blast out debris.
Jeremiah closed his hands together and began to pray silently to himself.
"No use in feeling sorry for ourselves, uzzos. Let's get our heads in the game and get this shivf done." He gave pause and looked over at us. "Now tell me, who among you wants the smoke?!" Frost pounded his chest, which seemed to get a response. "I said, who wants the smoke?!" His call to arms successfully hyped everyone up.
The mood lightened at his words, and there was a resounding, "Oorah!"
"Valiic, take point and look scary. Geariic, on our ass. Jeremiah, you're in the middle. Everyone else, we'll fill the gaps," I commanded. "Everyone on alert. Others have taken shots at these trials before and no longer have their lives. Anighta even lost her whole team. This isn't going to be like walking through the breeze."
We formed a column formation, which was a common military formation to take, especially in narrow environments. Starting at the lead, we spaced each other off into groups in case of ambush. Valiic, being in front, controlled the group with arm or verbal signals. Each of us had a standard position we took but must be flexible for any given situation. As a group and independently, we worked to make traversing hostile territory as safe as possible.
"Who's this Anighta?" Valiic asked.
"The lady who gave us that book." I nodded to the book in Jeremiah's hand.
His eyes went low. "May her team rest in comfort and peace."
"That must've been hard on her," added Frost.
"Chill, guys. Those people you never knew died," Shadow-Walker gave laughter to his joke, brightening the grim mood. "But that's not going to be us."
Valiic continued to lead us down the stone pathway that wound like a snake. I was right behind. It started around a right bend, then a left, and back to a right. This occurred for just roughly ten minutes, all while taking us lower and deeper into the caves. Eventually, we reached a point where the cave ended into a small open, with rectangular boulders pinching the gap tighter. We crawled through the tunnel, which barely allowed Valiic and Geariic room to maneuver, until it gave way to a larger opening, which made our whole company stop for a moment to scout our next route. Before us lay a ravine, the emptiness of which was vast, and the walls were not as shiny and bright, but dulled and aged.
Valiic pointed with his weapon to a path next to him. "I suggest we try the pathway instead of scaling down the ravine."
"I'm all the way with Valiic. Let's try the easy way." Shadow-Walker turned to Geariic behind him, who stared back with a bit of mockery.
Geariic snickered. "Afraid of a challenge, Shadow?"
Shadow-Walker joined in and laughed with Geariic. "I'm a sniper for a reason. I prefer to stay far away from danger."
Frost joined in, with a grin. "Careful now, Shadow. If you stay too far away from the enemy, you'll have to mail them your bullets, you bum." Shadow-Walker got a kick from that.
Following Valiic, we walked through the archway of the path and found the cave scaled up in size exponentially; matter of fact, it hardly looked like a cave any more. I felt small, like a toy soldier in a room made for giants. Below were two oversized floating slabs of rock and glass leading onward, but below that, which tugged at me wrong way the most, was nothing but a vast ocean of emptiness that seemed to descend forever. An endless abyss of purplish fog, with no visible floor.
"Well shit, I ain't 'bout tah stand 'round wit my thumb up my azz." Brad leaped to the nearest rock. I followed right behind him, jumping a distance of a few meters. Each platform was about three or four meters.
"Nah, Brad, you got me twisted. Big Daddy came for the smoke, so you best believe I'm coming." Frost was next.
"Den don't fall behind, Iceberg," Brad poked back.
Shadow took the hint and did the same. Jeremiah, Valiic, and Geariic were hesitant. Valiic, at the edge of a flat surface, looked down at us. The floating rock was a few meters jump to get to and a few meters lower than the surface.
I looked over at Brad, Frost, and Shadow, all of which shared the floating rock with me. "Clear out, boys."
Brad caught on to what I was thinking fast. "Next one. Now." He led the three to the second floating platform.
"James, I don't know about this. You may've cleared room for me, but if I misjudge where to land--" Valiic started.
"No. I get it, Valiic. I'll stop you from falling."
"That's a lot of meat to stop," Shadow joked. I shot him a sour look.
"Frak it all!" Geariic took a running leap past Valiic and landed at the front edge of the floating platform.
His weight caused the whole thing to dip to his side suddenly! And I flailed my arm backward to stay afoot. Geariic landed hard and started to fall forward towards me. Then the platform recovered, which stopped both of us from falling.
Geariic added with wry amusement, "See? No reason to cower. Well, actually, not very warrior-like either. Aye, Valiic?" he teased.
Valiic ignored him and prepared to jump. Geariic, seeing this, stepped to the other end of the platform. Valiic hit, and with a more balanced weight, the platform handled it better. Meaning we did, too.
Jeremiah was last. He landed on the platform with relative ease, almost touching down as light as a feather.
"Someone's light on their toes," I said.
"After following two maelkii, I would assume that's how it would look." Jeremiah smiled with his eyes.
He has a point, I thought, leaving it at that.
I was the first to take the next leap to the others on the second platform. With the ace ability I was fated, such a task as this was as easy as tossing a rock into an ocean.
The second rock was a twin in appearance to the first rock. In spite of that, the orientation was different. The first was straight ahead, while this one was to the right of the first. And from the second, I could now see our next destination like a glowing sign. Multiple flat surfaces of rock, meters in area, made a jagged and rough staircase downward and led down into another cavern. The first step of which was also to the right of the second floating platform, completing almost a spiral of steps when everything was laid together in my noggin.
As we jumped lower and lower, I began to question the space around me. The rocks seemed to float or hang, but there was far too much space for this place to make any sort of sense. The last step led into a small cave, which bent sharply to the right. We waited, as Geariic and Valiic were the last two to join us. We took the same formation as before and traversed through the cave, only to find the right bend was the only turn. It gave way to a long, ten meter surface that overlooked an unending gorge which surrounded everything now.
A few of us marched to the edge of the overlook to see what stood before us. A sight that was something to gawk at. In simple terms, it was the largest floating platform of rock thus far. But that was just a point on the painter's brush, and he had only begun paint the picture.
What was before us was nothing short of a damn battleground. Columns crafted of a combination of glowing vines, glass, and rock towered at different heights, placed all around the arena to act as lighthouses of sorts, for every single one of those columns had several bulky stones imbedded inside that illuminated the battlefield like yellow stars. The brightest of all the lights was carved in the center of a massive gate that carried strikingly similar characteristics to the gate that first led us into the trial, only it was scaled up to fit a far larger behemoth.
Under the light of the columns, the battleground was designed with three main lanes, with the singular goal of hashing one enemy against another. A place of fighting to test one team's will to the will of another. A warrior such as Valiic should get a thrill out of it. Then again, he wouldn't be the sole one among us partial to a good battle here and there.
Most of the battleground was structured around the middle of the three lanes. The aforementioned enormous gate was at the far end of the middle lane. The same middle lane leading to the gate started with high-ground nearest to our side and ran down a set of stairs with a dozen steps. Those stairs gave way to a flat area with a circular ring glowing of foreign symbols and elevated from the floor. However, it would be foolhardy to take such a path if one wanted to reach the gate, and that was due to the hard fact that the gate was level more in line with the start of the middle lane. Meaning, the area under the stairs was a few meters lower than the perch of rock the gate rested.
The other two lanes were more simplistic in design; the right started low and gave way to various flat boulders that led up to a hidden area covered by a roof of rock and glass, while the left lane started with a wide platform nearest to us then gave way to an even larger area below it. Half a dozen pillars of floating rock surrounded the battleground at higher positions and gave sightlines to the right and left lanes. Hopefully, that wouldn't leave us preverbal fish in a barrel.
I held my closed fist over my head. "I can't imagine that I'm the only one who believes our first trial will be held here." I gestured to the floating battleground.
"Agreed," said Valiic. His eyes were studying the layout of the arena. "It's an area made for battle."
"So what's the plan?" Shadow asked.
"Jeremiah. See what you can find out in the book," I commanded.
Jeremiah, still furthest away from the edge, began to dig through the book for clues. Interested, Frost hovered over his shoulder.
"So we wait." Shadow-Walker sighed. He found himself a boulder and took a seat on it. "So if we complete this entire sin-test-thing or whatever, does that make us heroes on this planet or something?"
"They should've never needed us in the first place, if you ask me," Geariic scoffed. "How weak does a species have to be to have outsiders like us fight their battles for them?"
"They tried." Jeremiah stopped reading to reply.
"What do you mean tried?"
"They did. Many volunteers attempted to enter these trials, and very few made it back alive."
"Maybe they deserve their fate, then," Geariic snarled. The head of his warhammer was against the ground, and Geariic passed the handle of his hammer from left to right hand repeatedly, moving it like a lever.
Not wanting to get dragged into this debate, Jeremiah left it alone and went back to reading.
"And your brother, Alabon? Does he deserve the same fate?" Valiic countered. He stood beside Shadow, who was still sitting and waiting for his question to be answered.
"Leave him out of it!" Geariic snapped back.
"He was wounded during a trial, was he not? I mean not to anger you, Geariic. All I aim to do is for you to see the position of these innocent citizens."
"Nobody's innocent," Frost added.
"Maybe not, but they're in need, and we're in a position to help them. It is the honorable thing to do," Valiic insisted.
"Honor." Geariic spat down the abyss. "A true warrior seeks power. Not honor."
Valiic slammed his shield on the ground. "Steion said that same thing to me once!" Rare that I see Valiic so worked up. "You sound more like a dytirc than a maelkii to me."
Geariic stopped playing with the handle of his hammer and instead picked it up a bit before slamming it back down. "Blame your own species! It's the maelkii's fault. I wasn't raised in a glorious house like you or your darling cohinla Narrisa--"
"Watch it!" Valiic snapped. I stood up, ready to stop a fight.
Geariic ignored him. "I was cast out. I was left on the street to fend for myself. I was called a freak. A monster. I had nothing from the moment my skin turned metallic. I fought my way to the top, and not with your pigshivf morals. My brother and I both did, and we did it alone."
Neither made a move, nor did they back away. I stepped in the middle of them. Brad, who had his legs over the edge of the overlook, stood up as well and joined me. "You've both said your piece. Now it's time to put it away. We will have plenty of time to hash this out after our mission. Right now, we need to stay allies."
"Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end. Proverbs 29:11," Jeremiah added.
Geariic spat in the abyss again and turned away from Valiic so he could no longer see him.
"Gotta say… not quite the answer I was looking for," Shadow jested, looking to Valiic, hoping to catch a laugh. Valiic, while not giving in to laugher, loosened up at the joke.
Valiic looked down at Shadow. "Heroes are born of ashes and tragedy and rise up to face extraordinary odds. I never claimed to be nor did I want to be a hero. I only ever wanted to be one thing - a noble warrior."
There was silence for a while until Jeremiah jogged over to us, Frost right behind. "I think I've got this figured out. I have a direct quote. For the Blade of Wrath is not merciful on the soul and cannot be sought by those who are weak of will or strength. Before those can be tested worthy of wrath, those must prove worthy in the eyes of darkness." Jeremiah looked up to us. "I believe we are to face foes as the first test."
"I take it we need to defeat the foes and the gate will open," Shadow theorized.
"Sounds just like a game. And I'm the cheat code, baby," Frost cheered.
"Hold it." Jeremiah pushed his finger against the nose bridge of his glasses. "A champion will arise to guard his gate. Those do not enter less the champion gives way." Jeremiah took a breath. "I believe this part of the trial will be more complicated than just defeating a champion. There's much more written, but I'm having a bit of trouble unjumbling everything."
"So we'll figure it out as we go," Geariic growled. "But if we stand here for one more minute nerding over a stupid book, I swear I'm just going toss someone on the battlefield."
"We're on the clock," I informed. "Can't afford to wait forever."
"So it's game time?" Frost brightened.
"It is."
"Whoo hoo, baby. Big Daddy's coming! Time to clown on fools." He pounded his fist to his palm.
I jumped down off the rock surface first and landed at the base of the battlefield. I looked back up and shouted, "Shadow. Stay up there in case we need sniper cover. Once you are down here, there's no getting back up."
"Cool with me," I heard him respond.
Just in front of me, at the base of the middle lane, was an oval-shaped machine made of onyx and gold shards of glass and metal, with many metallic spikes extending from the machine like branches on a tree. An aura of alien symbols and words swirled around it like a haze.
Everyone except Shadow-Walker followed me down one way or another. We stood at the top base of the middle lane - a large platform that sat opposite the massive gate. Two large columns cut the centers of the three lanes and acted as large pieces of cover. Of the three lanes, the left was the most exposed, which could bone any one of us if we left our asses wide open. For the badasses of the group who enjoyed close quarter combat, the right lane was just the thing. Consisting of many small boulders and tighter corridors that led into a rock and glass ceilinged room. However, the middle lane seemed to be the focus of everything. Down in the area with the alien ring, below the gate's platform, it was covered on all three sides by small roomed corridors primed for funneling in whatever foes were to come our way. Needless to say, our hands were going to get dirty.
I commanded, "Scout right, Valiic and Frost. Geariic, take middle. Brad, with me up the right. Jeremiah--"
"I'll stay here," he finished for me.
I nodded, and we all went our specific ways. I maneuvered down the few boulders on the right, with Brad behind me. That led me to a small rectangular open space not many square meters in size that connected back to the middle lane with a small corridor. Turning left, I was able to see Geariic march down the stairs of the middle lane. The very same corridor led to the leftmost lane, where I saw this Valiic and Frost march deeper into the open area on the left side.
I headed up the short batch of risers, which took my ass into a much larger room flanked all around with pillars and rocks that would be key for cover. At the center was another mysterious machine of Precursor creation, a twin of the one at the base of the middle lane. Lining the left wall of the room were a few cutouts between the walls that overlooked the middle lane and one that connected to the surface that led to the gate. At the back of the room was a cave that dipped slightly up and towards the left. I took a peek inside and saw Frost and Valiic marching down.
"Seems the left and right lanes connect at the back," Valiic observed.
"Almost like a horseshoe," I added. "Geariic?" I called over my cyberwatch.
"The middle is a fishbowl, with many angles looking down at it. You don't want to fight in here," said Geariic.
"I think I just heard a challenge." Frost smiled, with his finger in the air. I gave a disapproving nod.
"Shadow. How's it look from up top?"
"Lonely." He half-laughed
"Speaking of… where the hell are the foes?" Frost balled his fist repeatedly with irritation.
"You know, guys, maybe if we push really hard on that big gate, it'll open," Shadow-Walker joked.
"Instead, you could do something useful, like be on the lookout for approaching enemies," I joked back, with a voice that was light hearted.
Valiic and Frost joined us on the right side, out of the cave, and caught sight of the mysterious machine. "We had one of those on the left," said Valiic.
"That makes three," I concluded. "I think it's time we count heads and regroup at the base," I commanded over my cyberwatch.
We all made it back to the base of the middle lane quickly. I arrived to see Jeremiah touching the machine. "I believe the book references these as confluxes." He looked back into the book. "Confluxes - pillars of information. Shjarrs seek to sacrifice themselves to a conflux, attempting to create another place of time and reality. In this act, they chance their life for an existence where those have lost or do not exist and pull that existence into fruition."
"Those… I'm thinking those is us," I pondered.
"You're right," he confirmed.
Jeremiah's hand never left the conflux. All of a sudden, the ground started to rumble, the haze around the machine started to glow light as if it ran electricity, and an alien circle began to build up around the machine similar to the ring in the middle.
"Looks like things are 'bout to get spicy," Frost roared, with anticipation.
The book flipped pages all on its own. Jeremiah looked inside. "In come the legions of priests and fanatics to spread their disease and light. Confluxes, keys to bring forth the champion, must be defended if those wish favor in the eyes of darkness," he read.
There was a startling screech that resonated off the walls and turned our heads.
"Incoming!" Shadow said over the comms.
Walls gave way down the back of the middle lane, sliding into the ground like doors, and shjarrs poured out. They were heading up the stairs for us.
These bread of shjarrs carried with them many similarities to what we witnessed when we first arrived on this planet. Dripping of black goo, these slender and long-limbed shjarrs shrieked and trotted up the stairs. None of them carried what you would call a face, and instead there was a jumbled mess of vein-like stems around where a face would normally be. Shadow-gray with violet accents, the creatures, looking metallic and robotic in nature, were not quite the size of the ones from the forest. The ones that came for us now were not as large as maelkii; no, they were roughly the size of humans. They gained speed with their burly legs. Both arms were extended out, ready to claw us to pieces with seven bladed fingers.
As far as time went, we were coming up on empty. We fired bullets, dropping those shjarr priests faster than I could count. Each one that died exploded into parts with small sparks like busting confetti. We had but a single goal - protect the conflux.
"I don't mean to break up the group, but some shjarrs are heading to the right and left machine-thingies," Shadow called.
Shivf! We have three to protect!
I joined Geariic's side. "Take the middle, and buy us a moment."
Geariic grinned like a child and blasted off, pounding through shjarrs like a train. He stopped by the stairs and started to swing his warhammer, launching herds of shjarrs away.
"Listen up!" I shouted over the battle. "Valiic, cover the left conflux. Frost, you got the right. Jeremiah, stay with me by the center one." I looked to Brad, his visor stared back at me. "Do what you do best, route and aid where needed." Everyone gave me acknowledgement and were off.
Valiic started down the left platform and jumped to the open space. His side seemed the lightest on foes. Frost already had built up ice armor over his body and slid down some boulders to get to the right.
"Heads up! The pain train is coming through!" he cheered. Brad followed Frost, picking off shjarrs heads with well-aimed shotgun blasts.
"You all good, Jeremiah?" I asked. He was half-behind the conflux, with one hand over it. He looked up from the book and nodded.
I raised my endothermic rifle and got to work. Geariic did most of the heavy lifting in my lane, while I picked off stragglers. Though we had a rough start, we began to clear the shjarrs faster than they could enter the battle. Could they really be as powerful as Witna claimed? After all, not a single shjarr was getting within licking distance of the confluxes. Was this all? Or are we just too strong?
"James! Bigger shjarrs incoming!" I heard Valiic shout.
"Must be the fanatics," Jeremiah said from behind me.
Christ almighty!
I rushed over to the left platform and saw Valiic shielding the conflux. His shield was planted to the ground, and he was blasting away crowds of shjarrs. Multiple levels of staircases led up to openings at the back. Shjarr fanatics, the same monsters we saw in the forest, came charging out. I focused my weapon on them, taking one, then two out. They took many more shots to drop than the priests did.
One charged into Valiic's shield dead on, and Valiic slid backwards but held his ground. Shadow hit it in the head with an accurate sniper shot.
Two more fanatics charged at Geariic. He took one swing and smashed one, launching it with an explosion that blasted from the head of his warhammer. The other hit his other side and fell upon impact. Geariic snickered. "Haha. Pathetic." He stomped the fanatic into the ground, crushing it apart, its goo getting all over his leg. Geariic took another swing into a crowd of shjarrs. Then another and another. His next swing missed completely, then another hit nothing but air. "GAHH! What in Sam-Hell is going on?!" Geariic's swings became wild and frenzied.
I jumped down from my perch, covering myself, and was over to Geariic in seconds. His swing came at me! I ducked under and slid to his side. I grabbed his arm, trying to calm him.
"Who's that?" Geariic jerked his arm, and I had to let go so I didn't go flying.
"Geariic! Geariic! Calm down. It's James," I shouted.
"James?"
"Yes."
"I can't see!" He looked towards me, and I saw his eyes. Over his metallic skin were black, smoky veins stretching over his neck to both eyes, which were covered with a green sludge.
"Hang in there, Geariic." I tapped him on the chest.
Brad peeked from one of the right lane perches and fired an explosive blast from the underbarrel of his shotgun, and it blasted away dozens of shjarrs with an explosion of crystalized water. He switched to his light machine gun and covered us.
"Jeremiah?" I shouted at him.
He was still behind the conflux. "What?"
"Geariic can't see!"
Jeremiah rushed over to us, taking me a bit by surprise. I didn't expect him to jump so fast into danger. He saw Geariic's eyes.
"He touched the goo!" Jeremiah eyes went wide.
"And?" I urged him on.
"The goo causes blindness within seconds of touching it… and eventually kills."
"Kills!" Geariic jerked from shock.
I shoved Jeremiah on the shoulder. "You knew that, and you didn't mention it?!"
He was frozen, unsure of what to say.
"Can it be fixed?" I asked.
"With medical attention. Nothing here."
"There's gotta be--" My eyes caught sight of the book. "Book! Check the book."
He turned through the pages. "Oh, here-here! And so the essence of the fanatics leaves those cursed. Those cursed must seek perfection in the dark eye."
"Dark eye?"
"Stonewall!" I heard Brad call.
My eyes darted to his location; he was on an overlook between the middle and right lanes, and I saw him nod towards the middle.
"Dat shit lookz like ah eye from up here," Brad said.
"The ring! It's the ring in the middle!" I started to lead Geariic through the crowds. "I got you, Geariic. Follow me."
He did as instructed.
"Hear that, everyone?" Shadow called. "Avoid the goo dropped by dying fanatics. If you goons can't manage that, the circle in the middle will unblind you."
Brad cleared the way, with some help from Shadow-Walker. I led Geariic inside the circle. There was a faint breeze, and the circle lit up blue. Like magic, the goo vaporized right off Geariic. None was left.
"James. I don't know if I've been so happy to see your ugly face in my life." Geariic jabbed me with a friendly punch in the shoulder.
I didn't let his insult phase me, especially knowing it wasn't true. "Alright, you big bastard," I laughed, "don't get all emotional on me."
"Snipers!" Shadow shouted.
"GET DOWN!" Geariic shoved me to my ass. I saw glass shards as thick as daggers plunge into Geariic, hitting him in the chest where my head would've been. Those glass shards fell to the ground, with blood on the tips. Blood! They made Geariic bleed! "If you die, this mission gets a whole lot harder. Can't have that. Got my brother to think of." Geariic wiped at the wound.
"You're injured."
"It isn't deep. Worry 'bout yourself." Geariic ran up the stairs and pounded away some shjarrs.
Jeremiah shouted from the back, "As written in the book, those snipers are called shjarr zealots."
Does it matter? I thought.
I stood up, gathered some strength in my legs, and leaped up to a ledge that connected to the right lane. I shot a few shjarrs and caught sight of Frost sliding on a frozen floor, encased in ice armor, and slicing down a shjarr with a sword made of ice.
"Whoo hoo! Robot or not, you're getting this ass whopping," Frost taunted. Another shjarr, hiding from his view, bashed him to the ground. "Damn baby, you gonna do me like that?"
"You good, Frost?" I called.
Frost was up quick. "Hang on, uzzo. Big daddy has a date with this turd with teeth. Promise it'll be a short date." He tossed his ice sword into its chest, and it exploded into shards.
I realized worrying about him was a misplaced feeling. He was well-equipped to handle his own shivf. Weapon high and ready to go, I made my way back to the middle conflux to protect it. On the way, with aid from Shadow-Walker, I shot down some of the shjarr zealots perched on the floating platforms past the arena.
Shjarrs were coming in hot, just as before, and coming out of the walls. Only now they were swarming in faster than we could dispose of them.
These shjarrs were stronger than the ones from earlier, and upon looking with a longer eye, I noticed their armor seemed a bit thicker. In actuality, the shjarrs numbered roughly the same, but they just took longer to kill, making it seem like there were more.
I kept firing until I heard a click. As I grabbed for another clip from a pouch, I felt nothing but lint.
"I'm out of juice!" I shouted.
"Here." Jeremiah unstrapped the backpack and shoveled his hand through it. He found more clips and tossed them to me. I shoved the extras in my pouches and reloaded safely behind some cover.
Just before taking more shots, I tossed in an endothermic grenade. It exploded in an array of blue-tinted crystals and took down half a dozen shjarrs. I turned to a group and fired at a shjarr priest. It was killed in seconds as the bullets melted its body. The shjarr then exploded in sparks and brilliance.
"James!" Jeremiah yelled.
I turned to see a behemoth of a shjarr centimeters in front of me! Big, bulky like a bear, I barely managed to duck under its bladed arms. It then dematerialized in a second.
"Behind you!" Jeremiah shouted.
I turned once again to see it in front of me. It had teleported! Just then, a few bullets caught it in the face, and it stumbled backwards, nearly falling. I put a few rounds in it myself until it exploded, dead.
"And the great apostles shall be called in the eve of the confluxes complete connection," Jeremiah read from the book.
"So we're almost done babysitting these things?" I asked.
He nodded. "I believe so."
I smiled and kept firing. Geariic, now a professional at dodging the leftover goo of fanatics, was in a tussle with an apostle. He gained the upper hand and tossed it to the floor and finished it off with his warhammer. Then I saw him spit on the thing with disrespect.
The shjarrs fell faster than I could see them, but still the numbers were piling up, and we were in danger of being overrun at some point. More fanatics started coming out and charging. I pulled out two pistols and started to dual wield. Brad blasted another group of enemies with his underbarrel launcher.
I heard a sudden stir of noise behind me, and I rotated to face the disturbance. I caught the end of a tussle between Jeremiah and a shjarr he had just tossed over the ledge.
"Good shivf." I saluted him, but he wasn't looking just yet.
Bang!
I found myself lying on my back, with my head aching. I looked around and saw Jeremiah also pulling himself up. But that wasn't what caught the bulk of my attention. I was on the edge of a small crater. I noticed some blood leaking from a few cuts on my shoulders and arms.
Jeremiah rubbed his head. "You alright, James?"
"I'll be fine. Just gotta rub some dirt on my cuts and walk it off." I responded over the ringing in my ears.
"One of those apostles warped right behind you just as it exploded," Jeremiah informed.
Just then, Shadow-Walker landed by us, rolling awkwardly and finishing on his back. His scout rifle was aimed above him, and he shot once, swiped his rifle over a bit, and shot again. I saw two shjarrs' broken bodies land on the sides of him.
Shadow-Walker sighed. I reached my hand to help him up. "They started coming from behind me. Had to break position."
"Nothing to do about it now." I pointed to the high surface over the left lane. "Take position there, and support Valiic." He nodded and marched over there. "Let's thin these numbers!" I commanded everyone.
Thus far, none had managed to make a significant dent in the confluxes we were protecting. I dropped to my knee, feeling some fatigue from the battle. My lips felt dry, my stomach empty. We had been defending this area from what seemed like hours but in actuality may've been thirty minutes. There was still gunfire from the left and right sides; however, the middle lane was beginning to look dry, mostly due to Geariic's efforts. How he could still swing that big-ass warhammer with the power he did was beyond me.
"Above us!" Jeremiah warned.
I turned my gun and fired at the shjarrs leaping down at us. They must be leftovers from when Shadow-Walker was up there. A few landed by Jeremiah, but I couldn't let up on the ones above. I heard a struggle. Shivf, I can't let him fend for himself.
I brought my aim down and saw a few of the shjarrs falling off the edge, and a few more on the ground in pieces. Jeremiah was unharmed. Not one to witness what took place, I could only spin the wheel as to what happened.
Focus, I thought.
Just then, the last dozen landed on the battlefield. I dodged two, losing my rifle in the process. I pulled out pistols and was able to blow holes in a few. My senses caught fire, and I was just in the nick of time to avoid a fatal slice from a shjarr priest that came from behind. However, it still managed to slice up my tank top and part of my upper chest before I blew its metal face in with a good shot.
"AHH! Mother of… FRAK!" the voice of Shadow wailed.
I finished off the foes in front of me and saw a shjarr right behind Shadow, who had fallen to his side. Thick blood dripped down the shjarr's claws. It went for another swipe at the downed Shadow-Walker!
I nearly shivfed my guts right out. How could I let this happen? Not again. I can't lose another one. I can't.
Mother's mercy answered. Or rather, Brad did by her grace. He was there in time. He intercepted the shjarr's attack with his gun. He then kicked the shjarr on the knee, twisting it off its footing. With his shotgun back in place, he blasted it in the head.
That's when my legs started moving. On their own, they took me to Shadow's side.
Frost came in through the comms. "What was that screech?"
"Don't worry about it. Hold your location," I answered.
Multiple open, gushing wounds started at the blade of his right shoulder and stretched down his back. Blood mud-red and darker than human blood had already spilled its way to the surface Shadow-Walker lay on.
Now on my knees, I looked down at him. He was shaking.
"Frak, James. This… grrah… really hurts," Shadow said through grinding teeth.
"Don't talk, Shadow." I pulled out medical bandages given to us by the corelinns.
Jeremiah joined me. And without needing to be asked, Brad was at the front edge, defending the area.
"James, you better give a hell of a speech at my funeral, or I'm not going," Shadow joked, his voice almost at a whisper.
His joke dragged a light laugh from me, but it was in spite of the situation. His ordeal was crushing my heart to watch. Each moment he drew closer to death, I could feel myself giving in to sorrow.
"Hold the bandages." Jeremiah grabbed my arm. "Let me try something first."
I nodded.
"But I need you to cover us. I can see more enemies coming."
He was right. In they poured through the doors at the back of the left lane. They came as if knowing our unit was in a weakened, fragile state.
"Brad. Protect the middle. I'll help Valiic," I commanded.
He took off without acknowledging my words.
I had to do my part in all this. I got to my feet, leaving the bandages by Shadow-Walker. Guns ready, leaping down to the same level as Valiic, I started punching holes into whatever unfortunate enemy I saw. A fanatic charged right at me, but I sidestepped and tripped the creature. With it on its back, I dowsed it with more rounds than was probably needed, but hell, did it feel invigorating. I was pissed off and showed no mercy to these fraken machines.
Eventually, I made it to Valiic's side, and we both held the area.
"Tell me he's going to make it." Valiic's eyes begged for a specific answer, an answer I knew I wouldn't be able give him.
"It's bad." That was the only way I could think of to respond.
He fell silent, and I thought I could see a tear falling down his check. In the middle of a battle, it was hard to be sure. But we did what we had to. We kept fighting. I faced the enemies head on and gave no ground. Even though I was fierce in my will to fight, I couldn't blame Valiic for occasionally sneaking peeks back at Shadow. Maybe I should've, too. Then again, is that a truth I wanted to face right now? Honestly, I'd rather face a million shjarrs by myself than see whether or not Shadow was still alive.
That was the last wave of enemies. The time came when we finally finished the last of them. All without another major incident. No more came from the doors. Matter of fact, the doors had closed themselves.
All of the shjarrs were destroyed, and only one thing lingered on my mind. Valiic was already looking backward. Tears were in his eyes - tears of joy. "James. Look," his voice creaked.
I finally forced myself to look backward. And to my delight, Shadow was sitting with his legs over the edge of the surface, overlooking us. His shoulder and back were completely wrapped in white bandages. I smiled, holding back tears. Nothing else could've lifted my spirits like this moment did. Valiic tugged on me. We both made our way back.
As we were approaching, Jeremiah helped Shadow-Walker up and back to the middle. We arrived seconds after them. Shadow was resting with his back against one of the columns, with Jeremiah next to him. Brad was on recon, walking around with his gun up and searching for leftover foes. Frost just came in from the right side and took in Shadow's injuries for himself. Geariic leaned against a boulder next to the conflux, eating food from our supplies.
Shadow smiled. "Valiic, you're looking a bit red in the face. Those tears for me?"
"Tears of joy. Training a new recruit to take your place is no fun."
Shadow laughed. "I'm quite irreplaceable. Really one of a kind."
I found myself at Shadow's side, lightly pulling up a bandage to have a peek.
He swatted. "Come on, dude, be a man. It's only a near-death wound, nothing to see," he joked.
I ignored him and snuck a peek of the wound for myself. The light wasn't there to aid, but what I did see was nothing short of a miracle. I saw no stitching; however, the wound looked to be seared shut. From what it was previously to now looking damn near healed, and I was in awe.
"That was bloody fine work, Jeremiah." My eyes were still glued to the wound.
"God's will is strong. It is Him you should thank."
"Please," Geariic sneered. "There is no such thing. What happened was all your own skill. Recognize your own abilities instead of thanking an imaginary being for them."
"Let the man believe what he wants," Frost countered.
I was not one to believe in fairy tales. Surprised to say, I was with Geariic in that. Only question was how he managed to save Shadow-Walker. I let the bandage fall back into place. I stood up, looking at Jeremiah. "How? Don't get me wrong here, I'm thankful as all humanly possible. But really, I must know."
Jeremiah shifted himself. "You flatter me. All I did was use a powerful healing agent and pray."
"Healing agent?" Frost asked.
"The corelinns may not thrive in areas of combat, but their technology for healing is rather advanced."
"I'll be damned," I smiled. I was never more thankful that we were in the good graces of such an unbelievable species.
Brad came up to me, just now wrapping up his recon. His visor glued to me, his arm pulled out something from one of his pouches, and he reached out. Gravity pulled a cross necklace down, and it spun in his hand by its chain. It was mine.
I quickly gazed down to my upper chest and realized that necklace my mother gave me was gone. Likely cut off when that shjarr sliced my tank top.
"Here." Brad handed me the neckless. "Next time, don't lose somethin' so preciouz tah yah."
I nodded, and he left.
I let myself fall down and rest on my back. We may not be done, but I needed a moment. Valiic and Frost started to pass around some quick snacks and drinks for everyone. I was tapped on the shoulder and handed some water, which I took my share of gulps from. It was our moment to rejuvenate and resupply our munitions from the backpacks.