
The Ziggurat of Destruction (Sequel to Vanguard of Sin!)
So, the source of the Gravity well is discovered, and Trevor has to go attack it alone. Things get furious, a new enemy is revealed, and a character returns that I doubt anyone expected. Characters to their rightful owners- good readers of the series should know who those are.
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Saffron landed within the shadow of the Ziggurat, a good three hundred feet from the entrance. Gravity here was pretty much none existent, except inside the tower’s energy field.
'Saffron, wait here for me. I may take a bit of time.’ I said. 'Leave if I don’t return within twenty four hours, alright?’
'Roger, sir. Please return within that 24 hours.’ Saffron replied.
'I’ll do my best.’ I said as I stepped out of Saffron, strapping that C4 to my back if need be, the detonator in my belt. I then pushed off, the push easily getting me 250 feet. I rolled the rest of the way into the doorway. Gravity pulled me down again.
The Ziggurat was made from that marble-like metal and a blue crystal of some sort, and this crystal was rather reflective. Spikes of it stood off the tower’s sides in random positions, and would reflect light in different directions as the moonlet rotated through its half an hour long day. I couldn’t even see the top from the bottom, and I couldn’t try flying up either. I did see what looked like some massive object had impacted the tower much higher up, though. That’ll be worth investigating.
I entered the lobby. The tower was mostly intact, although riddled with holes everywhere from what I guessed where asteroid impacts. It can stop slower moving objects, but not faster ones, such as asteroids. The lobby was peppered with many small holes, and these destroyed the once amazing design on the floor. I could see stairs in the back.
As I started pushing forwards towards my first set of stairs- hopefully there’s a working elevator somewhere- I heard a loud, mechanical hissing noise off to my left. I turned, gun ready. A rusted humanoid robot was standing there, its engine hissing for some reason. It had massive blades instead of hands and there was a male human’s face stretched over the blank metal on its head, one corner hanging. It was made from the same metal as the tower- Distributor tech. But why did it rip apart a human?
The head seemed to expand, the face stretching upon four lines. Then it tore, dropping the hanging section- this revealed a small gun. I blasted it in the head before it could fire, and it damaged it. I blasted it again with the Revenge, this time actually blowing the head to small bits. I examined the destroyed bot. The torso on it was barrel like, once decorated with an ornate pattern, but this had long worn away. The arms and legs were similarly designed, bulky but ornate. They also had some of that blue crystal, and the blades were made of that stuff. I cracked the chest open- oh god, you’ve got to be kidding.
A pair of bloodied lungs hung there limply, attached to a plastic pipe, alongside a few bloodied ribs. Just a few. Where was the rest of the remains?
I decided to call the robot a Ripper if I ever encountered one again. Probably will.
Just as I was getting up from my makeshift autopsy of the robot, another tried to take my head off with its blade. This one had no face, but had skin stretched over its left arm. Why were the Rippers so mix-matched?
‘Speak of the devil...’ I muttered.
I dodged its first swing, as well as the second. I stopped the third in its tracks by blocking it with the Revenge, and then pushing back so it slammed itself in the head. It staggered back, but its head opened up a lot quicker than the first one. The laser hit me for a moment, knocking me back and lighting part of the armor on fire. I extinguished it and blasted the Ripper with the Revenge. One of its arms went flying off, along with a fourth of its head. It swung at me blindly, its motors grinding. I quickly sidestepped around it, kicked it down, and then blew its head off.
'Well, this is going to get interesting...’ I said to myself as I walked towards the stairs. Two Demons leapt down them as I neared- so Beasts were here as well! Are they working with the Rippers?
I punched the first one out the air as it lunged at me, shattering its jaw. The second one smacked me with its claws, but did pretty much no damage. I caved in its skull with the Revenge’s axe, enraging the one with the badly damaged jaw. I blasted it in the chest, and it was dead instantly. I reloaded and then continued to the stairs.
I didn’t actually find an elevator until the sixth floor, where it was guarded by a horde of enemies. Rippers patrolled around the doors while Demons, Hexed ones, and the occasional Goliath wandered about the room. So the Rippers must be Distributor tech controlled by the Trickster’s legions. I guess it makes sense, especially if he wanted to control the tower.
I pushed into the room, already firing. Two Demons fell to my first attack, and the others retaliated.
A Hexed one actually knocked me down and tried to find a place for its tentacles to grab my face, but I guess it didn’t know what a helmet was. I shoved it off and crushed its head with my foot. A Ripper cracked one of its blades down on my shoulder, staggering me- I kicked it away, reloaded, and blasted the bastard away. A Goliath took part of the brunt of the shot as well, but it still stood.
The Goliath swung its massive club around, roaring at me.
'Bring it.’ I said to it as it charged. I leapt over its Distributor tech shield as it neared and then sunk the Revenge’s axe right into its spine, killing it. The body crumpled to the ground just as some Demons attacked. Lots of them.
Half a dozen Demons pounced on me, and I performed a roundhouse kick in response. They all got shoved away, giving me enough time to tear them apart with my claws. Another Ripper ran at me next, blades held high. I blocked them both with the Revenge, and pushed hard to keep them from coming down. Sparks flew as the Ripper’s motors tried to retaliate.
I actually caused enough resistance against its motors to make them break, making the Ripper’s arms go limp. Its head started opening, but I hacked it off before that could happen. I then kicked it towards the Demon dashing at me, crushing it under the Ripper’s weight.
Another Hexed one attacked me, its guttural cries echoing in the large room. I lopped off its left arm as it near, making it stop and stare at the bloodied stump. It lost its head afterwards.
A Goliath charged at me next, actually catching me off guard and flinging me into a wall. I rolled out of way just as the Goliath slammed into that wall, leaving a dent in it. I shot it in the back, and then reloaded as it slid down to its knees, dead.
'Anyone else?’ I said, laughing. I had killed the opposition in the room, excellent.
I headed to the elevator and called it. The doors automatically opened, giving me access to a massive freight platform a good 50 feet square with about ten feet of head room. There were a few holes in the floor, which I peered down when I neared one. A massive, black chasm below. Odd...
The center of the elevator platform was a large pillar, with a single switch on it. I flipped it, and the elevator started slowly moving up, generating a loud hum as it did. This hum was responded to with a roar from below the platform, through the holes.
'Really?’ I complained, looking down one of the holes again. I could see dozens of glowing orange eyes. Round 2, fight!
A Demon climbed in first, and I shot it back down the hole. I didn’t hear an impact from its landing, which was odd. From behind me, an Octo-gore attacked. One tentacle grabbed onto my leg, knocking me over and almost into the hole- I managed to spin around before that happened, destroying the Beast with the second shell in the Revenge. I reloaded as the next Beast climbed from the depths.
'This is fucking Whack-A-Beast!’ I cried, slamming the Hexed one back into the hole. The elevator passed an open doorway, from which a dozen Beasts boarded the elevator from. A Demon was too slow, and got caught between the elevator and the doorway, cut in half and trampled by its brethren- the biggest one being a Basilisk.
I quickly covered myself with my wings just before the Basilisk tried to torch me with its fire-breathing. They diverted the fire aside me as I pushed my way towards the mouth of the creature, Revenge ready in my hand. The fire just kept on coming.
As I realized I was getting near, I spread my wings wide and fired right into the mouth of the Beast, not caring about the flames. The Basilisk screeched loudly and collapsed, legs akimbo. Just as it fell, more Beasts scrambled at me over the corpse.
I batted a Demon away as I reloaded the Revenge, slamming it back into one of its fellows. The two crashed together with the noise of bones snapping like twigs. After them, a Goliath charged at me. I dodged it, and it ended up falling into one of the holes in the floor- knocking away some of the Beasts crawling up. Shit, they were getting numerous!
A Regenerator appeared out of nowhere, and it charged at me. I sliced it in half with the Revenge’s ax, taking advantage of the time to rip its spine out before it could rebuild itself. Speaking of ripping...
A Ripper cut into the armor on my side, staggering me. I shoved it away, blasted it, and put the Revenge away, claws out. This was getting thick.
I slammed two Demons together, smashing both of their heads flat. An Octo-gore lashed at me, scratching the walls but missing me all together. I bundled up all of its tentacles in my hands and swung it like a mace, flinging a few Beasts away. This gave me enough time to get a bit of C4 in my hands. I had an idea.
The roof above this mess was hardly flat, and had a good few handholds. The floor was similar, and they were held in place by the center pole. If I took out the ground around the pole, the floor would fall out and I’d ride it the rest of the way up, hanging from the roof. It should work.
A roundhouse kick eliminated a threesome of Hexed ones, sending them flying. A fourth lunged at me, but sidestepped it, allowing the Beast to fall down the hole behind me. I reached the pole, and activated the C4 which I had to use at the moment, quickly sticking it to the pole. A Ripper, seeing what I was doing, charged at me and the explosive, intent on ripping them off and away. I destroyed it with a swift removal of its head and grabbed onto a bar on the roof. I already had the detonator in my other hand.
‘Yippee-ki-yay, motherfuckers.’ I said, hitting the detonator button. The lower half of the pole exploded and the floor shattered, killing most of them. But they kept coming, crawling up the walls!
I blasted a Demon off of a wall, knocking three others with it as it fell. I then reloaded the Revenge using my tail, flicking in closed. I noticed some seemed to be creating fireballs. Not this shit again.
I flipped out of the way of one fireball, latching onto another pipe on the roof with my foot-talons. I then realized this gave me both of my hands open, although I had an angle I’d expect Kagiso to take, not me. I blasted the Demon that chucked the ball of flame at me off the wall, killing it. I had to dodge a bone spike that came from an angry Lurcher below, almost making me let go of the roof. The next one I somehow caught in my free hand, which confused me for a moment. I dropped it and then switched to the Bloody Talon- the Lurcher needed getting rid of.
I quickly dodged a few fireballs and took aim at the Lurcher. I fired, slamming it off the wall- but the recoil broke the pipes I had grabbed on to. I, with a single flap of my wings, grabbed onto another pipe and flipped myself around, upside down again but with two hands free. Now, the elevator was badly damaged and sparks were hissing from parts of it. But it was still going up. And I was still getting chased.
Now, Demons were managing to cross the roof of the elevator to get at me. I started swinging with the Bloody Talon.
One demon was cleaved solidly in half, its parts falling away. The next one lost is left leg, and fell off due to the muscle spasm the attack had caused. The third one bit my leg, but did no damage that I could feel- I hit it with the stock of my massive gun and knocked it off.
A Hexed one attacked me next and got its head split in half. And I just had to be unlucky enough to encounter a Lurcher up here...
This Lurcher had hooked spikes on the ends of its Distributor tech shields, allowing it to hang, even though its massive weight bent whatever it was hanging onto. It attacked.
The first bone spike actually pierced my armor somewhat, staggering me but actually not causing any pain. It did knock the suit’s integrity to 94 percent and leave a large hole in the outer shell, though. Worrying.
'You shouldn’t be trying that.’ I said in English, which the Lurcher didn’t understand. I shot it in the face, dropping the body down into the pit of the dozens of Beasts below. An Octo-Gore climbed along the roof with its Tendrils behind me, only leaving it two spare. I sliced its ones off that were keeping it up.
A Demon attacked next, and it was slammed right into the metal. Gore got left behind, seemingly defying gravity. Another pair of Demons attacked- I dodged the first one’s attack, making it smack the second. I then slammed my blade through the first and rammed the second off the ceiling, making both the bodies land in the writhing mass below. I dodged a few more fireballs as I fired into the group of Demons, killing several more.
'Hero, we will destroy you!’ The Beasts roared at me all at once.
'Try it- you’ll fail.’ I replied in Beast-tongue. Wyverns started charging at me from the masses, alongside the rest.
A Wyvern slammed into the ceiling next to me, its teeth clacking together as it tried to bite me. I sliced it in half, and then switched to the Revenge as the next two attacked. I shot them both from the air, and then reloaded as a third attacked. It dived at me, talons out. I dodged its first attack and shot it out of the air before it could attack a second time.
Across from me, the ceiling I was hanging onto shattered, taking out half of it. Beasts poured from the hole, including the Leviathan that created the breach. The Leviathan fell into the swarms below, but it did its job. They were coming from all sides now.
'No, I will not go down here! Not today!’ I shouted, putting the Revenge away. The OEP’s claws will have to do.
A Hexed one lunged at me first, but got its heart ripped out quickly. I tossed the organ away as another Demon attacked, but it was punched off the ceiling. Makes things easier when you’re upside down.
I decided to quickly toss almost all of the C4 I had into the hundreds below me, and detonate it. As the next few Beasts attacked me, the bottom layer of monsters were turned into a mess of bloody scraps of meat. But, of course, they were getting replenished. Come on, when is this elevator going to get to the top?
Oh, wait a second...
I slashed through three Demons, and then an Octo-Gore as I neared the hole in the ceiling. A Goliath with grasping feet charged at me, but I dodged it. It created a dent in the wall behind me, almost falling off. I pulled out the Revenge and blasted the Goliath before it could turn around. I then got slashed by a Demon, which was quickly killed. But this turned me towards the hole, allowing me to swing onto the roof of the elevator- or at least, what was left of it. The elevator shaft seemed to continue up into the darkness, not sure for how long. But Beasts of all sorts continued to scramble down the walls. I took flight up the center of the shaft.
Fireballs flew at me as I darted up the shaft, igniting patches of metal on the walls. I expertly dodged the attacks and fired upon the demons as I flew upwards, not stopping. I must of flown a good thousand feet before the roof was reached. I landed in the inlet for the door and rolled into the room, slamming the door behind me. I heard Beasts smash against it as I got up, taking the time to reload the Revenge.
The room I had rolled into was very high up- I think I was more than a fourth of the way up. And the large, empty room was devoid of Beasts. Finally, some rest.
The pillar inside of the room had what seemed to be red lightning arcing through it- ah, that conduit. The conduit was lighting up the room well. But why was it so empty?
'Trevor, you there?’ Laffy asked me through the radio.
'Yeah, I’m here.’ I replied. 'Status?’
'Being totally badass. Well, no, not really. Just trying to stay alive, actually. Kagiso- well, she won’t be with us on that front any more.’ Laffy said.
'Kagiso’s dead?’ I asked, distraught.
'She succumbed to her injuries about an hour ago. Jefferson’s enraged, and is asking for you to kill them all to take revenge for her.’
'Believe me, I intend to!’ I replied.
'What is your progress, by the way? We’re hoping that the tower will be destroyed soon.’
'I’d say I’m at least a fourth of the way up. Unless there’s more elevators like that previous one- no, unlike the previous one- I’ll be taking a lot longer.’
'I’m guessing the elevator ride wasn’t good? Bad Muzak?’ Laffy joked.
'No, just nonstop Beasts and no floor.’ I replied.
'Ah.’ Laffy said.
'Anyhow, resistance is thick. Very thick. I just killed at least a hundred of the bastards on the way up here, including some new Distributor tech mixed ones. Hopefully we don’t encounter any on the ground.’
'Jeez, I hope not. Icarus has been leading us while you’re away, leading the fight against the Beasts that just keep on attacking. We’re mostly taking shifts, but Icarus hasn’t stopped. I hope he doesn’t collapse from exhaustion.’
'If he does, the Beasts will be on him in an instant. Make sure he gets some rest, I’ll continue the fight here.’
'Best of luck, Trevor.’ Laffy said, and he ended the call. I was alone again.
I proceeded towards the stairs, ready for any attackers. Thankfully, none came. Yet.
The next floor was tall, and had a large construction in the center of the room that seemed to imitate some sort of power plant. But it wasn’t active, and thus the lights in this floor were off. No light came from outside, so I was in perfect darkness. Thankfully, the helmet on the OEPS had a small flashlight mounted on it, which I switched on. I came face-to-face with a Ripper as it switch on, which I slammed to the ground. I blasted it to bits with the Revenge, and quickly looked around again. I could see shadows of Beasts, all slowly creeping towards me. I could identify some of the larger ones, such as the Lurcher a good few dozen feet from me.
'You realize I can see you, right?’ I said in Beast-tongue. They replied with a roar, and they attacked.
I ducked as a Demon leaped at me, making it collide with the wall. A Hexed one tried to land on me next, I shot it out of the air. Then, as I was reloading, the Lurcher fired upon my position. Most of the bone spikes missed, but one impacted with my visor, shattering it. Thankfully, the visor slowed it down enough to where it didn’t tear my face in half. The shattered visor scratched it up a bit, but the scratches healed instantly.
I started towards the Lurcher, who was retreating backwards from me, still shooting. A Demon got killed by a bone spike intended for me, but I still endured two more. These two damaged my left shin armor and my right wing membrane, respectively. The membrane really hurt, but healed quickly. I fired upon the Lurcher, injuring it and stunning it for a moment. That gave me enough time to ax off its head.
A Goliath slammed into me from the darkness, tossing me up into the air. I took this to my advantage, swooping down onto its back and shooting it in the back of the head. Its brain exploded everywhere, and I skidded to a halt. I reloaded as other Beasts came at me from the dark.
I tripped up a Demon as it attacked me, causing it to smack its face into the ground. I crushed its head with my foot as I ran towards the Demon behind it, which was quickly shot to death. Its body rolled back towards the next enemy, a Wyvern. The Wyvern took into the air when it saw I had noticed it, and I followed suit. I flew faster than it did, getting just above it in mid air. I slammed the Revenge’s ax into its head, splitting it in half. The limp body crashed to the ground alongside my graceful landing.
I heard what sounded like jet engines from outside as I fought, and it seemed to be nearing. Backup? Nope, that can’t be right.
I turned to the window just to see a badly damaged ADF fighter ship come crashing through it, sending glass flying everywhere. The ship suddenly sprouted three fleshy legs, and most of it seemed to be held together with tendons. An Auto-Killer.
The Auto-Killer started firing upon me with its dual energy rifles, scorching the floor under me. I took flight, its bolts still flying just behind me. I guess the Auto-Killer didn’t know how to lead a target.
I turned around near the roof, heading straight towards it. I took the brunt of a few shots, but it didn’t do much. I rammed straight into it, severing off one of the wings with a massive crash. Blood gushed everywhere, and the Auto-Killer screeched in pain. This effectively got rid of one of its energy rifles.
'They’ve become better since you’ve last encountered them, you know...’ A Demon said from behind me, in Demon-tongue.
'I’ll still destroy them.’ I replied before blasting the Demon. When I turned around, the injury I had inflicted on the Auto-killer has healed, and the fibers of flesh were growing from the stump. The merged together to form a massive tendril that acted similar to the Octo-Gore’s, stretching with seemingly no end in sight. It continued to fire at me, but this time it was also trying to swat me out of the air.
I drew the Bloody Talon while dodging the Auto-Killer’s massive pink tendril, ready to kill it. I landed, and pulled the trigger- but it didn’t fire. Shit, forgot to reload!
I rolled out of the way of the gunfire and the massive tendril, unloading the cartridge as I did. I slammed the next one in, taking a bit of fire from the guns at the same time. I got a good target on the cockpit of the thing.
BOOM!
I fired, knocking me flat on my back. But the Auto-Killer got blown in half, both sides falling away.
'Ugh, fuck.’ I swore, switching back to the Revenge and reloading it, which I never was able to do in the first place. A single Hexed one stared at me for a second and started running.
'Yeah, run away.’ I laughed, a bit sore. Time to continue up.
I continued up a long ways, until I found a badly damaged floor. there was a ship crashed in the side of it, the ship badly damaged and of a vaguely familiar design. Looked like an escape pod, but not sure of what type. It had been up here for awhile, and was covered in dust and debris. I wiped away some of the dust from the side.
'You’ve got to be kidding me.’ I remarked upon seeing the German flag on the side. When I was on Hell last, I helped the survivors of the New Germany city ship escape on pods very similar to these. This must of been one of them, launched off course. But what bad luck to collide with the tower. What slim luck too. There’s got to be more than that to it...
I cracked the airlock open and stepped into the main area of the roomy, dozen person escape pod- and got a bullet to the side, which staggered me. I raised my hands up high in surrender when I saw a rodent-like anthro in a dull multi-colored jacket and pants was holding the gun. He was familiar too.
‘Fucking hell, Claus?’ I said, surprised to see the Ex-leader of New Germany here.
'Who in my name are you?’ He asked, still just as pompous. He was scratched up, his rapier was gone, and his once bright clothing was dulled and covered in blood. Was it his own, or other’s?
'Trevor. Do you remember me? The one who saved your sorry ass?’ I remarked. He saw my face through the shattered visor, and he automatically dropped his small gun.
'Oh shit, I hope I didn’t injure you!’ Claus replied.
'Armor took the brunt of the shot. So, no. Now can you explain why the fucking hell you’re in an escape pod that collided with the tower?’ I asked.
'Wasn’t my doing, actually. When we were escaping, someone had to find a location to land. My escape pod was the first to head to the moonlet, as it was a possible landing spot. The rest of the group turned around when they saw us sucked in by some sort of traction beam.’ Claus replied.
'So your people finally abandoned you. I’m surprised they didn’t do it sooner.’
'They liked me too much for that.’ Claus said, smiling. 'My excellent tactics saved many survivors-'
I grabbed the lying son of a bitch by the throat, pushing him against the wall. He clawed at my hand trying to make me let go.
'Claus, your idiotic ideas lead your best men to their deaths, and left your city defenseless! You caused the deaths of thousands!’ I growled at him. 'You’re just another mindless king who’s to selfish for his people’s own good!’
I dropped Claus, and he landed hard. He was breathing heavily.
'Okay, maybe I caused the deaths of a few, but everyone makes mistakes, right?’
'You didn’t even listen to my ideas that day. I’m the military one, not you. I so want to just take you outside and chuck you out a window...’ I muttered. This scared Claus, because he knew I’d do it. 'I would usually shoot you, but you’re not even worth the ammo. Sadly, I need all of the survivors I can find, so I can’t kill you.’
Claus breathed a sigh of relief. 'So I do mean something to you.’ He said.
'Don’t push it.’
Claus did his best to explain what had happened over the week I was gone for.
'My pod had a good few people on it- a family with a mother of two children, three soldiers, the military pilot, a doctor, and a pair of factory workers who escaped together. I remember ones of the kids actually taking after me, I quite liked him...’ Claus started.
'Continue, and quickly.’ I replied.
'Anyhow, one of the soldiers got the pod to start broadcasting an SOS signal when we crashed, and it seemed to be strong. But we did have a problem- low food supplies. One of the seats was given over to boxes and boxes of dehydrated foods, so we had enough for a few weeks, but that was it. And no other escape pods were responding to our calls, so they must of already left by the time we had the signal boosted.
'The family inside had a sick child- thankfully it wasn’t the one that I liked.’ I almost punched him for that comment. 'And of course, we had no medical supplies. So we had to deal with his infected wound with nothing but bandages made from one of the doctor’s sleeves and the supplies he had on him- nothing but some rubbing alcohol and a few painkillers.
'We seemed to be surviving alright. The guards would take turns defending the ship from attacks, and I would occasionally help out when I wasn’t trying to keep my jacket clean.’ I almost punched him again, my fist clenching. Of course, if I punched him in the face, his skull would cave in. 'But then the sick kid turned. It just seemed to be a slow infection from one of the Demons- and well, he killed them all except me and one of the soldiers. The soldier was the one on guard at the time, and he came in just in time to shoot the thing dead. He helped me carry the bodies out, and the lone soldier gave them memorials. You’ll see the wreckage piled into some mounds in the other end of the room- that’s where he put the bodies. Anyhow, we survived for a few more days, and he vanished while I was asleep last night. So, it’s just me now.’
'I’m starting to wish you were killed with the rest of them. But we need to escape as soon as possible.’ I said.
'What do we need to do? I’m willing to help get my- ourselves out of here.’ Claus replied.
'Better, better. Anyhow, do you have any more weapons than that shitty little pistol?’ I asked, gesturing to the tiny pistol he was using that was still on the ground.
'Oh, over here.’ Claus said, walking to the back of his small ship- there was a metal container in the back. He popped it open and pulled out three laser rifles, each with three battery boxes for reloads.
'This is it?’ I asked. The laser rifles were terrible for fighting Beasts-the laser would pierce, but the wound would cauterize. With those, the only way to kill a Beast would be to fill its head with holes.
'Yeah, I do remember you mentioning that they weren’t the greatest weapons for this job. That last soldier- his name was Private Kirk, I think- had two shotguns with him when he left, and plenty of ammo for the both of them. If we can find the body, we can get some more ammunition and some proper weapons for me.’
'If we see what’s left of him, we’ll get the weapons. But we aren’t searching. Get all of those rifles, you’ll need them.’ I said. Claus started strapping them on.
'Are we on a time limit or something?’ He asked.
'To blow the tower up, yes.’
'I’m not going to ask. I actually don’t give two shits. Barely even one shit. Not even a unit of shit.’
'Shut it.’ I growled as we exited.
'Okay, okay.’
As we exited, several Demons attacked from the roof. I shot the first two down, and the third one landed in front of Claus. He was firing into its torso as I reloaded.
'Die die die, you son of a bitch!’ He shouted, not actually killing the Demon that was standing there, staring at its small wounds. I shot the Demon’s head off, and then reloaded again.
'You shoot them in the head. In the head.’ I said, prodding my own.
'Ah, I get it.’ Claus responded as we continued on. The stairs were ahead of us, open and empty. Too easy.
As I stepped onto the first step, I heard Beasts roar from above.
'You’ve got to be kidding me.’ I muttered.
'Sounds like there’s dozens! How the hell are we going to kill them all?!’ Claus shouted.
'We will, don’t worry. Or at least, I will.’ I replied as the first Beast poured down the stairs. Bring it.
The first Demon was shot in the face, flinging it flat on its back. The next Demon leapt over it, almost onto me. I axed it from the air, kicking the body away when it landed. An Octo-Gore charged at me next, alongside a pair of Goliaths. I swung over the shoulders of one of the Goliaths, landing on the Octo-Gore. I quickly blew apart its “head” with the Revenge, rolling off of the body as quickly as possible. I noticed the two Goliaths had turned around at exact opposite directions and were charging. I flew straight up, allowing the two to collide into each other with a loud metallic crash; I was able to take this to my advantage.
'Sorry, guys.’ I said to them as I came diving down, the revenge’s ax held high. I spilt the two apart from each other, knocking both onto their backs. I then Grabbed one by the ankle, threw it on top of the first and switched to the Bloody Talon. I fired through them both just as the next ones attacked.
A Leviathan smashed through the roof from above, almost taking Claus out with its massive club. Claus ran away from it, firing at its head. The Leviathan seemed a bit annoyed.
I fired the Bloody Talon at it, blowing a chunk from its head. It staggered, roared, and charged blindly at me. I slid under its sword and blew out another chunk of its head as I passed. This killed it, the body crushing several Demons.
A Hexed one came running at me, sword in hand. It connected with my shoulder, not actually doing any damage to me. The Hexed one wasn’t able to comprehend that, and so I killed it as it wondered.
A Lurcher came from the stairs, firing at me rather quickly. Two bone spikes damaged my chest armor, and one actually took out some of the paneling on the helmet. It also severed one of my two horns- and this didn’t grow back.
'Thanks for that, you ruined a good look.’ I said to the Lurcher, grabbing my broken horn and dashing at it. I took the brunt of two more spikes, and these damaged my leg armor before I reached it. I then rolled over the shields it put up above it, and then slid under from its back. I quickly jammed the foot and a half long horn into its chest, killing it. But I had to get out from under it before it collapsed, and I did.
As I looked over the dead bodies I had piled up, Claus finally killed one. He spat on the body.
'Who’s next?’ He shouted before realizing I had killed everyone else.
'You seriously killed just one?’ I asked.
'Trevor, this gun is shit.’ Claus replied. 'I deserve better.’
'Scavenge on the bodies. You may be able to find something.’ I said, reloading my weapons while I could. He kneeled down next to a Demon and searched the pockets on it. Claus searched two pockets before he accidentally pushed the body, and that made him jump.
'Seriously, you’re scared by that?’ I asked, ripping off the body’s coat. The Demon was Ex-ADF, and it had a pistol in the jacket with a single cartridge. I handed it to Claus, handle first. 'Take it, it should help. But really, if you’re scared by a body flinching, don’t stick around when we fight some of the biggest monsters.’
'Who’s we? Just us two?’
'No, there’s five others- no, sorry- four others on the planet. They’re all good people. Best people I could be stranded with, really. I’m not counting you.’ I replied.
'Ugh, why must you hate me so much? Is it the clothing again? Shall I take it off?’ Claus replied.
'No, its not the clothing as much any more. If it gives you motivation, keep wearing them. You’re just a selfish son of a bitch who couldn’t lead a country well.’
'I can change, you know. Wait, stranded?’
'Long story. Short version, it’s going to be at least six years, most likely eight before rescue comes.’ I responded. There were three Demons in the floor we entered- I shot two down, Claus took down the third. He was actually a pretty good shot for being non-military, when given a reasonable gun.
'I guess I deserve this, don’t I? Are they that squadron you were with before?’
'Sadly, no. Only Jake survived out of all of them.’ I said. 'But you wouldn’t care, would you?’
'You may think me heartless, but they were good people- and I’m sorry to hear of their death. Really. Hopefully they died with meaning.’ Claus replied.
'Actually, yes. They’ll have a memorial service as some of the best men in this war when it’s over.’
'Good to hear. Now, let’s get out of here, shall we?’
We were nearing the roof. Claus and I had found an elevator which took us most of the way up to the top, leaving us only ten floors left. We had actually found that last soldier Claus mentioned, the shotguns merged with the poor man’s mutated flesh. We ripped them out, and got the German rodent some proper equipment.
'So, your plan is to destroy the tower when it’s at just the right angle so it doesn’t destroy Hell? I would’ve thought you’d want to incinerate the planet.’ Claus said as we continued on.
'Remember the gravity well. If I hadn’t come up here now, I wouldn’t of been able to get up here at all.’ I replied.
'Better for me, then.’
'Trevor? You there?’ Ma-Na asked me through the radio.
'I’m here, Ma-Na. I’ve got a survivor with me, and we’re nearly at the roof. We’ve almost done it.’ I replied.
'Excellent work, Trevor. How are you going to get that survivor down?’
'Saffron will fly him down, I’ll return to the planet by myself.’ I said.
'Wait, what? Oh, right. The OEPS. I always forget about that. But the info coming from your suit is saying that its integrity is only at 72 percent. Is that enough?’
'It better.’ I replied. 'ETA until detonation window?’
'Six minutes, and the window’s only another three. Get up there.’ Ma-Na said.
'Claus, keep up!’ I shouted to Claus as I started running. 'Wish me luck, Ma-Na’
I took the next set of stairs three at a time, sliding into the next floor. I stopped, seeing- well, not seeing anything, really. There was some really odd darkness- pitch black, actually. Must of been created by something.
Claus dashed past me and into the darkness.
'Shit, shouldn’t of done that! Trevor, where the bloody hell are you?’ He shouted.
'Be very careful! Listen for anything- the Beast causing this may still be around!’ I shouted back.
'Yess, yess I am...’ I heard a familiar voice say.
'Sounds like one of your old squad mates!’ Claus shouted.
'Somewhat. It’s her demon.’ I replied. 'Claus, find a corner and defend it! Quickly, man!’
No response. Shattered glass.
'Claus?’
'Hahaha, finally got rid of that annoying bassstard.’
'You bitch!’ I shouted, calling upon my Snypr training again. Why was June’s demon back? I killed her...
‘Demonsss never die. We jussst come back to haunt you again and again and again.’
I hear something move infront of me. I ducked just as a demon very different from June’s demon lunged at me. It missed, flying over me but smacking me with its snake tail as it passed. It vanished into the darkness again.
‘You’re not June’s Demon. Similar, but not the same. You sound the same, too.’
‘Ah, ssso you figured out that.’
The demon lunged at me again- this time I got a better look. It had no legs, just a gigantic snake tail similar to June’s demon. That’s where the likeness ended. It was male, the back of the torso and most of the tail was covered in spines, and its hands had massive claws a good foot long, similar to a Demon’s. But these seemed to be made from metal. Its head had a four piece jaw, and it also had four eyes. A helmet protected the delicate jaw and the rest of the head, along with most of the neck. The darkness seemed to be leaking out of the monster from the sides.
'Now then, I know your plansss. I intend to ssstop them.’ It said in a different voice- a masculine, but still hissing voice.
It lunged again- this time I caught it in the mouth with the Revenge’s stock, knocking it back. It slithered back into the darkness.
'Good one. But not good enough.’ It said. It attacked again- this time I stopped it by grabbing its wrist, spinning it around, and throwing it into the ground. It got up- but I was still holding onto its wrist. It complied by grabbing onto my other free wrist and pushing against me, its jaws snapping in my face.
'You must be the guardian of this tower. Are you one of the seven?’ I asked it, struggling against its force.
'No, I am your reckoning.’ It said, looking like it was about to spit a fireball at my face. I head-butted it instead, staggering the monster. I then slammed it to the floor, pulled out the Bloody Talon, and fired. But the monster took no damage. Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
The creature had its claw above where the bullet would’ve impacted, and the practical torpedo that the Bloody Talon shot was hovering in the Beast’s claw, still spinning. It had velocity, still.
'You can’t dessstroy me that easssily.’ It hissed, and then the bullet flipped around in its hand.
The next few seconds were a blur. I found myself getting flung back, pain radiating from my right arm. At least, what was left of it- the lower half of it was arching away from me, blood spewing everywhere- it still hung onto the Bloody Talon as it went away from me.
I impacted the ground hard, my arm stump still pouring out blood. Red lights flashed on my suit’s HUD, warning me about catastrophic damage and that my suit’s integrity had dropped a solid 17 percent more.
The pain was unbearable, but I still managed to see the Beast that had caused it sneering over me.
'No. This isn’t the end.’ I growled, clutching my stump as I staggered up. My own blood ran through my fingers, pooling under my feet.
'You can’t fight. Hero, your arm is off.’
'You’ve forgotten about what your kind has done to me.’ I replied in Beast-tongue. I felt the blood congealing at the ends of the stump, hardening and forming into bones, muscles, veins, tendons, the whole lot. It was slow, but active.
'Ah, we tried to make you one of our own. We failed, due to the Raven’s influence. But he won’t be stopping anything anymore.’
'That just makes me hate your kind even more.’ I replied. I felt muscles forming under my hand, and I moved it away.
'Your quest is soon over. Your fellows will be destroyed. Anthros- No more.’
'We’ll remain. We’ll survive. We’ll kill every last one of you. And fight until our last breath.’ I said. The Demonic aura surrounded my stump, forming it further. I drew out the Revenge, slowly limping towards the Bloody Talon at the same time.
'Ha! How can you fight when you don’t even have all of your limbs?!’
'Any way I can.’
I leveled the blood-covered Revenge to the monster’s head, and then fired. The Beast got launched away from me, giving me enough time to flick the Revenge open and load the next two shells in with my tail. I fired them both off into the Beast when it charged at me again, flinging it back further. I then slammed my foot down on the Bloody Talon’s stock, flipping it up into the air. I then pushed it into a wall, leaning the rifle against it. I did this as I reloaded the Revenge again.
'You jussst won’t ssstop, will you?’
'Never.’ I replied, firing at it again. The flesh on its left arm got shredded. I reloaded as I felt my wrist start to regenerate. Scales were developing over the muscle, growing very spiky.
I fired again, launching the Beast into a wall. Its stomach was torn.
'Ssso you may jussst win...’ It hissed. The bones of my fingers reconstructed, and muscle was already growing on the palms. Blood kept dripping, making me leave bloody footprints on the metal ground. I reloaded another time.
'I will win in my mission. You won’t stop me. Ever.’ I said.
I fired right into the thing’s face, and the darkness faded away. It was dead, its brains scattered all over the wall.
'Trevor, you still alive? Hello? Could you pick me up?’ Claus asked from the window. My hand regenerated when I killed the monster- the scales jagged and thick, the claws hooked and sharp. It was still my hand, but it wasn’t. My original hand was still on the ground in a puddle of blood, still encased in the part of the OEPS suit.
'Trevor? God damn it, be alive for me!’
'I’m coming.’ I replied, walking over to the shattered window. I found him hanging from the window ledge by one hand, and so I yanked him up. As he was dusting himself off, I picked up the Bloody Talon and put it on my back.
'How did you survive?’ I asked him, finally.
'Hung on and didn’t alert the monster to my presence. Didn’t you have something to do?’ Claus replied.
'Shit, you’re right. Run. Run as quick as possible, now!’ I shouted to Claus, running to the next set of stairs.
'One minute until window, Trevor.’ Ma-Na said through my radio.
We entered the next floor, and several demons charged at us. I blasted the first, cut down the second with my ax, and tore into the third with my new hand. It seemed better at ripping through flesh. The stairs were behind them, and we quickly dashed up them.
The next floor had six more Demons- Claus actually destroyed two of them, and I gunned down the others. The next stories were missing some of the floor, and I flew up them, leaving Claus behind.
'I’ll get you in a second!’ I shouted to him as I shot down some more Demons on the other floors. I landed on the roof, C-4 already in hand. The exhaust pipe at the top was obvious, and I tossed the C-4 down in it, not noticing the nest of Wyverns just below the roof. The small explosion that the C-4 caused was starting a chain reaction- this included the Wyverns pouring out in the dozens. I leapt down, threw Claus out of a window, and then followed him just as the roof exploded.
The floors were detonating quickly from the top down to the bottom, sending shrapnel flying above us. And the Wyverns were just ahead of the destruction. I flipped myself around so I could get a good shot at the Beasts attacking from above.
I fired off the Revenge, injuring two of the Wyverns with the scattershot. One got a wing torn, and slowed down. Because of it, it was killed by shrapnel from the exploding floors.
‘Aaahhh, shit! Trevor, help me!’ Claus shouted, flailing wildly as he fell. I killed a few Wyverns and increased my speed so I could catch the man. And hey, I did. I grabbed him around the torso and shot with my other hand.
‘Do you do this often?!’ Claus shouted as we fell. We must of passed half of the floors by now.
'Not usually!’ I replied, spreading my wings. This slowed us down a bit.
One of the Wyverns dived at us, but I kicked it away. Two more neared, and I shot them down.
A floor exploded at the wrong time, blowing off a chunk of six floors off of the rest, causing it to start falling behind the Wyverns, actually killing a few.
'Fuck, that’s the ground!’ Claus cried.
'I see that!’ I responded, slowing us down with my wings. The entrance was nearby, and I swooped into it. I dropped Claus when I landed, making him roll away and almost out the door. I shielded myself from the blast using my wings when I landed. I was knocked out.
My mind was tainted, infected with the demonic virus. Every time I slept, or was knocked out, the virus played with me. It tried to break my will, tried to destroy my spirit in the world of my broken dreams. It would’ve controlled me ages ago if it wasn’t for my will to fight. My intention to save who I could.
This time, I found myself on the top of the twisted skeleton of a skyscraper, towering over a burning city. I had my original basic body armor and a simple ADF uniform, both badly damaged. I was in full demonic shape too- massive horns, smoke constantly pouring from between my jaws, cracks left in the ground as I walked. My head wasn’t even vaguely like the chameleon shape it had been before the war. At least, in this nightmare.
My only weapon was my claws and a flag pole, and at the end of it was a tattered ADF flag. But why...?
I know. The ADF is the world’s military- everyone rallies behind them and their causes. When a war is happening, the world, and its several billion anthros, cheers on the ADF. They are hope incarnate, and without a doubt, the moral boost for everyone. Without the ADF, we would’ve all been vanquished in the Seven Days war. I seemed to have the last flag. The last, flickering candlelight in the darkness that the Demons caused.
I peered down the side of the building- thousands of Beasts swarmed around the base of the building, trying to reach me.
'Come on then, I know you can reach me!’ I roared down to them. In response, hundreds of assorted projectiles came flying my way- I blocked the ones that came close with my wings.
I looked over the horizon; gigantic beasts the size of small mountains marched across it, heading towards my location. Several reminded me of Amon, others were new. Behind me, several ADF ships were coming my way, seemingly infected with the demonic Virus. Flesh grew from the ship, overcoming it. They still had full weapon capabilities.
To my left, Beasts poured over the mountains in the distance, joining the group already below the tower I was on. To my right, more giant beasts came towards me. And I didn’t even have a gun.
The flag I had was the last symbol of hope. The last symbol of freedom. The last chance.
I leapt down the side of the building, using the flag pole like a javelin. I pierced two Demons on it who were climbing the structure, flinging them off and killing three more. And as I fell, the ships and the giant Beasts fired rapidly upon my position. The aura surrounded me. So, this may be a dream, but the demons won’t control me. They won’t beat me.
I leapt into the crowd. The resulting landing caused a shockwave that send dozens of Beasts flying, and provoking the rest. The fire that was coming down on me made me constantly move my position.
I sensed something bad was about to happen, so I jumped away from that spot I had cleared- a Ship-Buster fired into that location, incinerating at least a hundred Beasts. Then came the Wyverns.
I leapt from Wyvern to Wyvern, spearing each of them with the flag pole again and again. Projectiles darted past me, and some actually hit. But I kept on fighting. I speared more onto the pole, ready to sling them off at the others. And when I neared a massive group of the bastards, I did. I knocked a dozen out of the sky, helped by the continuing attacks on me. I landed in the masses of Beast below and discovered that many were Ex-ADF. I picked up some of the heaviest weapons I could find, and I started firing.
One of the Goliaths had a chaingun before I killed it, and this was linked to a massive container. And it was .50 Cal.
Tides of blood were created as the chain gun ripped through dozens, only serving to slip the Beasts after the first wave. I tore through hundreds before the ammunition ran out, giving me time to go retrieve more weapons.
A commander Goliath was destroyed in that mess- and he wielded a massive sword made of excellent material. I picked it up, and then heard a stomp of an Amon clone behind me. I took flight, dodging its laser fire. I darted up with enough speed to land on its head.
The aura surrounded the blade too, igniting it and changing its shape. God damn my dreams. Why must they be so taxing?
I started hacking through the Amon clone’s skull, sending chunks of flesh flying with the demonic sword. Soon, the Amon clone stopped trying to fight back, and went limp. But it didn’t fall over.
A Ship Buster took out most of the Amon clone from under me, making me fall off. I caught myself, took flight again, and continued the fight. But the vision started to fade.
I found myself back in the real world, my helmet off. Claus was a few feet away, trying it on.
‘Loot my body when I’m actually dead, will you?’ I moaned. He jumped in surprise.
'Shit, I didn’t know! You weren’t breathing, and I couldn’t find a pulse through the scales!’
He replied.
'Forget it. I would’ve done the same to you, most likely. Come on, let’s get to my ship.’
I put my helmet back on, and one message was flashing on the HUD- Repairs failed. I commanded it to go back to normal, and it complied. There was a small indicator in the corner that flashed red, telling me that there was catastrophic damage to the suit. The suit was actually only at 59 percent integrity.
'Give me a second, actually. Need to run some diagnostics on the suit.’ I said to Claus. He leaned back on the entrance’s wall and waited, mumbling about something.
'Suit, are you able to re-enter the atmosphere?’
A message ran across the holographic HUD: At an angle of 30-32 degrees.
'Shit, that’s thin. Why that angle?’
It is easiest to orient the heat of re-entry onto your chest armor at that angle. Your chest armor is the most intact.
'Makes sense. How much fuel do we have?’
Barely enough for getting to the surface of the planet.
'Conserve fuel in any way possible.’ I said. 'Give me a trajectory I need to follow to get home.’
My HUD projected a faint orange line into the air- I could only see it. It connected to the planet’s surface, far below.
I turned to Claus- he looked afraid.
'There isn’t an atmosphere, is there? Not on this rock, anyhow.’ He asked.
'I’m afraid not. Take a deep breath and I’ll toss you in Saffron’s cockpit. He’ll put air in there.’
'He better.’
Claus took a deep breath, and I shoved him out. I followed after him as we ran across the surface of the moonlet, towards Saffron. Claus stumbled, but kept his breath in. We neared Saffron,a nd I gestured for Saffron to open his cockpit- he did, and I threw the out of breath rodent in. It slammed down, and Claus was able to breathe again.
'I have him, sir. I received news that you’d be entering the atmosphere the hard way- so do be careful.’ Saffron said through my radio.
'Always do.’ I replied, watching the two fly off. My helmet, even though the glass was broken, had an energy field in the place of the glass to keep the air in. It worked well, although it took some power.
I watched Saffron disappear around the curvature of the planet as I got into position. I was about to jump when the moonlet shook. Cracks arced away from the tower’s ruins.
'You’ve got to be kidding me. Did the destruction of the tower make the moonlet unstable?’ I muttered to myself. I jumped, just as parts of the moonlet came loose behind me. I re-adjusted my course to stay at the proper angle, following a similar path to Saffron.
When in orbit, you never know which way is up or down. Well, in space, there never seems to be direction anyways. So I couldn’t really say if the chunks of rock were coming from above me or below me.
I seemed to be nearing the atmosphere, my velocity increasing. But the rubble from the moonlet was taking a similar trajectory. Yes, the rubble was small- the largest chunk was only about the size of a bus- but it could still cause damage, especially if one of them knocked me off course.
Speaking of courses, I was staying on mine. But so were the asteroids. Of course, most of these would burn up in the atmosphere, but I couldn’t take any chances.
I spun around, Bloody Talon ready. I fired, and the bus sized one broke in half. But I didn’t see the other chunk swinging towards me, on a totally different trajectory.
A rock the size of a small car slammed into me at terminal velocity from the left, flinging me way, way off course. But I had to keep balance.
I shattered the rock that caused my trajectory mistake while lights on my HUD flashed that I was at the wrong angle for re-entry. I managed to pull myself back into place as flames started flickering on my front. I pulled my arms, legs, and wings in close as a sky-diver would, and then gained speed. Soon, the fire was at full blast, and I could feel the heat of it on my face though the field the helmet generated.
I looked around as I fell, looking for the trajectory line. I spotted it going the exact opposite direction from where I was going!
'Suit, how far off of the trajectory am I?’ I asked it as I fell.
About 700 kilometers.
‘Is that current, or where I’m going to land?’
Current.
'Shit. Can I turn myself around?’
You would risk burning up, as flipping trajectory during re-entry changes angle. We are going North-west. Objective is South-east.
'How long until it’s safe to turn around?’
Two minutes, roughly.
Something flew past me quickly, almost lashing me with its tendrils. I drew the Revenge, keeping it close as three more of the shapes attacked. Then, of course, we had to pass through the clouds.
I couldn’t see them when they attacked, almost hitting me with every one that flew past. The last one, though, slammed right into me.
I grabbed on, aching in pain from my now brutally damaged chest plate. Of course, it just had to be an ADF fighter, turned Auto-killer that does it. Four of them.
The fires of re-entry stopped, as I wasn’t actually entering the atmosphere any further- just flying with it. Tendrils on it tried to grab me, but I sliced them off as I climbed to what should of been the cockpit. We passed out of the cloud just in time, as one of the other Auto-killers was about to smack me off of its companion’s wing with the tip of its. I jumped off just in time, as the other one severed the first Auto-killer’s wing with a massive explosion of noise, metal, and blood.
My armor was now at 49 percent integrity, and it kept warning me that re-entry was impossible now.
I started diving again, my helmet’s HUD flickering with the heat. It shorted out as chunks of armor came off. Wind whistled through the holes in the suit, and scorched my scales.
Behind me, the three remaining ships were trying to dive bomb into me, firing rapidly. I rolled out of the way of a volley of bullets, almost landing in another. I then dodged as an Auto-killer tried to ram me,its wings almost knocking me out of the sky. It tried to do the same thing, but just from below- bad choice.
I just narrowly avoided it, the Revenge’s ax out as I did so. The bloody blade on the Revenge sliced through the cockpit, shattering glass and flesh alike. the Auto-killer was dead, falling from the sky at a different angle and height than me. Two left.
One whole boot exploded into chunks of ember-hot metal, flying behind me. The leg armor was starting to disintegrate as well. Not good.
I pulled up behind the Auto-killers and landed on one, already firing into its cockpit. It died under my fire, leaving the last one left. And this one put up a fight.
It swung its wings around, slamming me with them. But I landed the ax in the wing, and then fired twice into it. This left a hole in the metal that was actually bleeding, and the Beast didn’t like that. Tendrils from its back came around and pummeled me, hitting my wings. I heard one of them make a loud crack. There goes my air control.
I drew the Bloody talon, seeing as the flames on us had extinguished and there wasn’t a chance of it burning up anymore. I blocked the attacks of two tendrils and then fired, blowing the cockpit into small bits. The last dead Auto-killer slowly floated away as I sped haphazardly towards the dunes. The Beast had broken one of my wings in that combat, and it wans’t healing itself- so I put the Bloody Talon away and braced for impact.
I hit terminal velocity before reaching ground, ripping off more panels of armor. The helmet flickered on for a moment and flashed the fact that my suit was at 31 percent integrity at me, just before impact. Thanks a load, suit.
I woke up in a crater, my surroundings ablaze. My suit had been totally destroyed, with the helmet smashed, the leggings actually disintegrated, the wing armor broken, and the left arm armor gone. The torso had even taken some serious damage in impact, loosing my ammo on the way here. But my two weapons were safe, although only the Bloody Talon had ammo. I staggered up and got rid of what of the suit I could.
The helmet had to go, seeing as not much of it had survived impact. The chest plate was beyond repair, as well. All I was able to keep on was the mostly intact armor for my right arm- glove not included. All I had were some ADF issue pants, one arm’s armor, and ammo for only the Bloody Talon.
I checked if the remaining armor had anything useful built in- just a single, electronic compass on the wrist. I turned myself so I was facing South-east, and started walking; Bloody Talon in hand. My wing was broken, I had no fuel, and I wasn’t regenerating for some reason. I was also at least a thousand kilometers away from home, and I had no supplies. No food, no nothing. Just the clothing on my back- wait, not even that- and one heavy-caliber weapon with some ammo. But I had a direction.
I started walking.
______________________________________________________________________
Saffron landed within the shadow of the Ziggurat, a good three hundred feet from the entrance. Gravity here was pretty much none existent, except inside the tower’s energy field.
'Saffron, wait here for me. I may take a bit of time.’ I said. 'Leave if I don’t return within twenty four hours, alright?’
'Roger, sir. Please return within that 24 hours.’ Saffron replied.
'I’ll do my best.’ I said as I stepped out of Saffron, strapping that C4 to my back if need be, the detonator in my belt. I then pushed off, the push easily getting me 250 feet. I rolled the rest of the way into the doorway. Gravity pulled me down again.
The Ziggurat was made from that marble-like metal and a blue crystal of some sort, and this crystal was rather reflective. Spikes of it stood off the tower’s sides in random positions, and would reflect light in different directions as the moonlet rotated through its half an hour long day. I couldn’t even see the top from the bottom, and I couldn’t try flying up either. I did see what looked like some massive object had impacted the tower much higher up, though. That’ll be worth investigating.
I entered the lobby. The tower was mostly intact, although riddled with holes everywhere from what I guessed where asteroid impacts. It can stop slower moving objects, but not faster ones, such as asteroids. The lobby was peppered with many small holes, and these destroyed the once amazing design on the floor. I could see stairs in the back.
As I started pushing forwards towards my first set of stairs- hopefully there’s a working elevator somewhere- I heard a loud, mechanical hissing noise off to my left. I turned, gun ready. A rusted humanoid robot was standing there, its engine hissing for some reason. It had massive blades instead of hands and there was a male human’s face stretched over the blank metal on its head, one corner hanging. It was made from the same metal as the tower- Distributor tech. But why did it rip apart a human?
The head seemed to expand, the face stretching upon four lines. Then it tore, dropping the hanging section- this revealed a small gun. I blasted it in the head before it could fire, and it damaged it. I blasted it again with the Revenge, this time actually blowing the head to small bits. I examined the destroyed bot. The torso on it was barrel like, once decorated with an ornate pattern, but this had long worn away. The arms and legs were similarly designed, bulky but ornate. They also had some of that blue crystal, and the blades were made of that stuff. I cracked the chest open- oh god, you’ve got to be kidding.
A pair of bloodied lungs hung there limply, attached to a plastic pipe, alongside a few bloodied ribs. Just a few. Where was the rest of the remains?
I decided to call the robot a Ripper if I ever encountered one again. Probably will.
Just as I was getting up from my makeshift autopsy of the robot, another tried to take my head off with its blade. This one had no face, but had skin stretched over its left arm. Why were the Rippers so mix-matched?
‘Speak of the devil...’ I muttered.
I dodged its first swing, as well as the second. I stopped the third in its tracks by blocking it with the Revenge, and then pushing back so it slammed itself in the head. It staggered back, but its head opened up a lot quicker than the first one. The laser hit me for a moment, knocking me back and lighting part of the armor on fire. I extinguished it and blasted the Ripper with the Revenge. One of its arms went flying off, along with a fourth of its head. It swung at me blindly, its motors grinding. I quickly sidestepped around it, kicked it down, and then blew its head off.
'Well, this is going to get interesting...’ I said to myself as I walked towards the stairs. Two Demons leapt down them as I neared- so Beasts were here as well! Are they working with the Rippers?
I punched the first one out the air as it lunged at me, shattering its jaw. The second one smacked me with its claws, but did pretty much no damage. I caved in its skull with the Revenge’s axe, enraging the one with the badly damaged jaw. I blasted it in the chest, and it was dead instantly. I reloaded and then continued to the stairs.
I didn’t actually find an elevator until the sixth floor, where it was guarded by a horde of enemies. Rippers patrolled around the doors while Demons, Hexed ones, and the occasional Goliath wandered about the room. So the Rippers must be Distributor tech controlled by the Trickster’s legions. I guess it makes sense, especially if he wanted to control the tower.
I pushed into the room, already firing. Two Demons fell to my first attack, and the others retaliated.
A Hexed one actually knocked me down and tried to find a place for its tentacles to grab my face, but I guess it didn’t know what a helmet was. I shoved it off and crushed its head with my foot. A Ripper cracked one of its blades down on my shoulder, staggering me- I kicked it away, reloaded, and blasted the bastard away. A Goliath took part of the brunt of the shot as well, but it still stood.
The Goliath swung its massive club around, roaring at me.
'Bring it.’ I said to it as it charged. I leapt over its Distributor tech shield as it neared and then sunk the Revenge’s axe right into its spine, killing it. The body crumpled to the ground just as some Demons attacked. Lots of them.
Half a dozen Demons pounced on me, and I performed a roundhouse kick in response. They all got shoved away, giving me enough time to tear them apart with my claws. Another Ripper ran at me next, blades held high. I blocked them both with the Revenge, and pushed hard to keep them from coming down. Sparks flew as the Ripper’s motors tried to retaliate.
I actually caused enough resistance against its motors to make them break, making the Ripper’s arms go limp. Its head started opening, but I hacked it off before that could happen. I then kicked it towards the Demon dashing at me, crushing it under the Ripper’s weight.
Another Hexed one attacked me, its guttural cries echoing in the large room. I lopped off its left arm as it near, making it stop and stare at the bloodied stump. It lost its head afterwards.
A Goliath charged at me next, actually catching me off guard and flinging me into a wall. I rolled out of way just as the Goliath slammed into that wall, leaving a dent in it. I shot it in the back, and then reloaded as it slid down to its knees, dead.
'Anyone else?’ I said, laughing. I had killed the opposition in the room, excellent.
I headed to the elevator and called it. The doors automatically opened, giving me access to a massive freight platform a good 50 feet square with about ten feet of head room. There were a few holes in the floor, which I peered down when I neared one. A massive, black chasm below. Odd...
The center of the elevator platform was a large pillar, with a single switch on it. I flipped it, and the elevator started slowly moving up, generating a loud hum as it did. This hum was responded to with a roar from below the platform, through the holes.
'Really?’ I complained, looking down one of the holes again. I could see dozens of glowing orange eyes. Round 2, fight!
A Demon climbed in first, and I shot it back down the hole. I didn’t hear an impact from its landing, which was odd. From behind me, an Octo-gore attacked. One tentacle grabbed onto my leg, knocking me over and almost into the hole- I managed to spin around before that happened, destroying the Beast with the second shell in the Revenge. I reloaded as the next Beast climbed from the depths.
'This is fucking Whack-A-Beast!’ I cried, slamming the Hexed one back into the hole. The elevator passed an open doorway, from which a dozen Beasts boarded the elevator from. A Demon was too slow, and got caught between the elevator and the doorway, cut in half and trampled by its brethren- the biggest one being a Basilisk.
I quickly covered myself with my wings just before the Basilisk tried to torch me with its fire-breathing. They diverted the fire aside me as I pushed my way towards the mouth of the creature, Revenge ready in my hand. The fire just kept on coming.
As I realized I was getting near, I spread my wings wide and fired right into the mouth of the Beast, not caring about the flames. The Basilisk screeched loudly and collapsed, legs akimbo. Just as it fell, more Beasts scrambled at me over the corpse.
I batted a Demon away as I reloaded the Revenge, slamming it back into one of its fellows. The two crashed together with the noise of bones snapping like twigs. After them, a Goliath charged at me. I dodged it, and it ended up falling into one of the holes in the floor- knocking away some of the Beasts crawling up. Shit, they were getting numerous!
A Regenerator appeared out of nowhere, and it charged at me. I sliced it in half with the Revenge’s ax, taking advantage of the time to rip its spine out before it could rebuild itself. Speaking of ripping...
A Ripper cut into the armor on my side, staggering me. I shoved it away, blasted it, and put the Revenge away, claws out. This was getting thick.
I slammed two Demons together, smashing both of their heads flat. An Octo-gore lashed at me, scratching the walls but missing me all together. I bundled up all of its tentacles in my hands and swung it like a mace, flinging a few Beasts away. This gave me enough time to get a bit of C4 in my hands. I had an idea.
The roof above this mess was hardly flat, and had a good few handholds. The floor was similar, and they were held in place by the center pole. If I took out the ground around the pole, the floor would fall out and I’d ride it the rest of the way up, hanging from the roof. It should work.
A roundhouse kick eliminated a threesome of Hexed ones, sending them flying. A fourth lunged at me, but sidestepped it, allowing the Beast to fall down the hole behind me. I reached the pole, and activated the C4 which I had to use at the moment, quickly sticking it to the pole. A Ripper, seeing what I was doing, charged at me and the explosive, intent on ripping them off and away. I destroyed it with a swift removal of its head and grabbed onto a bar on the roof. I already had the detonator in my other hand.
‘Yippee-ki-yay, motherfuckers.’ I said, hitting the detonator button. The lower half of the pole exploded and the floor shattered, killing most of them. But they kept coming, crawling up the walls!
I blasted a Demon off of a wall, knocking three others with it as it fell. I then reloaded the Revenge using my tail, flicking in closed. I noticed some seemed to be creating fireballs. Not this shit again.
I flipped out of the way of one fireball, latching onto another pipe on the roof with my foot-talons. I then realized this gave me both of my hands open, although I had an angle I’d expect Kagiso to take, not me. I blasted the Demon that chucked the ball of flame at me off the wall, killing it. I had to dodge a bone spike that came from an angry Lurcher below, almost making me let go of the roof. The next one I somehow caught in my free hand, which confused me for a moment. I dropped it and then switched to the Bloody Talon- the Lurcher needed getting rid of.
I quickly dodged a few fireballs and took aim at the Lurcher. I fired, slamming it off the wall- but the recoil broke the pipes I had grabbed on to. I, with a single flap of my wings, grabbed onto another pipe and flipped myself around, upside down again but with two hands free. Now, the elevator was badly damaged and sparks were hissing from parts of it. But it was still going up. And I was still getting chased.
Now, Demons were managing to cross the roof of the elevator to get at me. I started swinging with the Bloody Talon.
One demon was cleaved solidly in half, its parts falling away. The next one lost is left leg, and fell off due to the muscle spasm the attack had caused. The third one bit my leg, but did no damage that I could feel- I hit it with the stock of my massive gun and knocked it off.
A Hexed one attacked me next and got its head split in half. And I just had to be unlucky enough to encounter a Lurcher up here...
This Lurcher had hooked spikes on the ends of its Distributor tech shields, allowing it to hang, even though its massive weight bent whatever it was hanging onto. It attacked.
The first bone spike actually pierced my armor somewhat, staggering me but actually not causing any pain. It did knock the suit’s integrity to 94 percent and leave a large hole in the outer shell, though. Worrying.
'You shouldn’t be trying that.’ I said in English, which the Lurcher didn’t understand. I shot it in the face, dropping the body down into the pit of the dozens of Beasts below. An Octo-Gore climbed along the roof with its Tendrils behind me, only leaving it two spare. I sliced its ones off that were keeping it up.
A Demon attacked next, and it was slammed right into the metal. Gore got left behind, seemingly defying gravity. Another pair of Demons attacked- I dodged the first one’s attack, making it smack the second. I then slammed my blade through the first and rammed the second off the ceiling, making both the bodies land in the writhing mass below. I dodged a few more fireballs as I fired into the group of Demons, killing several more.
'Hero, we will destroy you!’ The Beasts roared at me all at once.
'Try it- you’ll fail.’ I replied in Beast-tongue. Wyverns started charging at me from the masses, alongside the rest.
A Wyvern slammed into the ceiling next to me, its teeth clacking together as it tried to bite me. I sliced it in half, and then switched to the Revenge as the next two attacked. I shot them both from the air, and then reloaded as a third attacked. It dived at me, talons out. I dodged its first attack and shot it out of the air before it could attack a second time.
Across from me, the ceiling I was hanging onto shattered, taking out half of it. Beasts poured from the hole, including the Leviathan that created the breach. The Leviathan fell into the swarms below, but it did its job. They were coming from all sides now.
'No, I will not go down here! Not today!’ I shouted, putting the Revenge away. The OEP’s claws will have to do.
A Hexed one lunged at me first, but got its heart ripped out quickly. I tossed the organ away as another Demon attacked, but it was punched off the ceiling. Makes things easier when you’re upside down.
I decided to quickly toss almost all of the C4 I had into the hundreds below me, and detonate it. As the next few Beasts attacked me, the bottom layer of monsters were turned into a mess of bloody scraps of meat. But, of course, they were getting replenished. Come on, when is this elevator going to get to the top?
Oh, wait a second...
I slashed through three Demons, and then an Octo-Gore as I neared the hole in the ceiling. A Goliath with grasping feet charged at me, but I dodged it. It created a dent in the wall behind me, almost falling off. I pulled out the Revenge and blasted the Goliath before it could turn around. I then got slashed by a Demon, which was quickly killed. But this turned me towards the hole, allowing me to swing onto the roof of the elevator- or at least, what was left of it. The elevator shaft seemed to continue up into the darkness, not sure for how long. But Beasts of all sorts continued to scramble down the walls. I took flight up the center of the shaft.
Fireballs flew at me as I darted up the shaft, igniting patches of metal on the walls. I expertly dodged the attacks and fired upon the demons as I flew upwards, not stopping. I must of flown a good thousand feet before the roof was reached. I landed in the inlet for the door and rolled into the room, slamming the door behind me. I heard Beasts smash against it as I got up, taking the time to reload the Revenge.
The room I had rolled into was very high up- I think I was more than a fourth of the way up. And the large, empty room was devoid of Beasts. Finally, some rest.
The pillar inside of the room had what seemed to be red lightning arcing through it- ah, that conduit. The conduit was lighting up the room well. But why was it so empty?
'Trevor, you there?’ Laffy asked me through the radio.
'Yeah, I’m here.’ I replied. 'Status?’
'Being totally badass. Well, no, not really. Just trying to stay alive, actually. Kagiso- well, she won’t be with us on that front any more.’ Laffy said.
'Kagiso’s dead?’ I asked, distraught.
'She succumbed to her injuries about an hour ago. Jefferson’s enraged, and is asking for you to kill them all to take revenge for her.’
'Believe me, I intend to!’ I replied.
'What is your progress, by the way? We’re hoping that the tower will be destroyed soon.’
'I’d say I’m at least a fourth of the way up. Unless there’s more elevators like that previous one- no, unlike the previous one- I’ll be taking a lot longer.’
'I’m guessing the elevator ride wasn’t good? Bad Muzak?’ Laffy joked.
'No, just nonstop Beasts and no floor.’ I replied.
'Ah.’ Laffy said.
'Anyhow, resistance is thick. Very thick. I just killed at least a hundred of the bastards on the way up here, including some new Distributor tech mixed ones. Hopefully we don’t encounter any on the ground.’
'Jeez, I hope not. Icarus has been leading us while you’re away, leading the fight against the Beasts that just keep on attacking. We’re mostly taking shifts, but Icarus hasn’t stopped. I hope he doesn’t collapse from exhaustion.’
'If he does, the Beasts will be on him in an instant. Make sure he gets some rest, I’ll continue the fight here.’
'Best of luck, Trevor.’ Laffy said, and he ended the call. I was alone again.
I proceeded towards the stairs, ready for any attackers. Thankfully, none came. Yet.
The next floor was tall, and had a large construction in the center of the room that seemed to imitate some sort of power plant. But it wasn’t active, and thus the lights in this floor were off. No light came from outside, so I was in perfect darkness. Thankfully, the helmet on the OEPS had a small flashlight mounted on it, which I switched on. I came face-to-face with a Ripper as it switch on, which I slammed to the ground. I blasted it to bits with the Revenge, and quickly looked around again. I could see shadows of Beasts, all slowly creeping towards me. I could identify some of the larger ones, such as the Lurcher a good few dozen feet from me.
'You realize I can see you, right?’ I said in Beast-tongue. They replied with a roar, and they attacked.
I ducked as a Demon leaped at me, making it collide with the wall. A Hexed one tried to land on me next, I shot it out of the air. Then, as I was reloading, the Lurcher fired upon my position. Most of the bone spikes missed, but one impacted with my visor, shattering it. Thankfully, the visor slowed it down enough to where it didn’t tear my face in half. The shattered visor scratched it up a bit, but the scratches healed instantly.
I started towards the Lurcher, who was retreating backwards from me, still shooting. A Demon got killed by a bone spike intended for me, but I still endured two more. These two damaged my left shin armor and my right wing membrane, respectively. The membrane really hurt, but healed quickly. I fired upon the Lurcher, injuring it and stunning it for a moment. That gave me enough time to ax off its head.
A Goliath slammed into me from the darkness, tossing me up into the air. I took this to my advantage, swooping down onto its back and shooting it in the back of the head. Its brain exploded everywhere, and I skidded to a halt. I reloaded as other Beasts came at me from the dark.
I tripped up a Demon as it attacked me, causing it to smack its face into the ground. I crushed its head with my foot as I ran towards the Demon behind it, which was quickly shot to death. Its body rolled back towards the next enemy, a Wyvern. The Wyvern took into the air when it saw I had noticed it, and I followed suit. I flew faster than it did, getting just above it in mid air. I slammed the Revenge’s ax into its head, splitting it in half. The limp body crashed to the ground alongside my graceful landing.
I heard what sounded like jet engines from outside as I fought, and it seemed to be nearing. Backup? Nope, that can’t be right.
I turned to the window just to see a badly damaged ADF fighter ship come crashing through it, sending glass flying everywhere. The ship suddenly sprouted three fleshy legs, and most of it seemed to be held together with tendons. An Auto-Killer.
The Auto-Killer started firing upon me with its dual energy rifles, scorching the floor under me. I took flight, its bolts still flying just behind me. I guess the Auto-Killer didn’t know how to lead a target.
I turned around near the roof, heading straight towards it. I took the brunt of a few shots, but it didn’t do much. I rammed straight into it, severing off one of the wings with a massive crash. Blood gushed everywhere, and the Auto-Killer screeched in pain. This effectively got rid of one of its energy rifles.
'They’ve become better since you’ve last encountered them, you know...’ A Demon said from behind me, in Demon-tongue.
'I’ll still destroy them.’ I replied before blasting the Demon. When I turned around, the injury I had inflicted on the Auto-killer has healed, and the fibers of flesh were growing from the stump. The merged together to form a massive tendril that acted similar to the Octo-Gore’s, stretching with seemingly no end in sight. It continued to fire at me, but this time it was also trying to swat me out of the air.
I drew the Bloody Talon while dodging the Auto-Killer’s massive pink tendril, ready to kill it. I landed, and pulled the trigger- but it didn’t fire. Shit, forgot to reload!
I rolled out of the way of the gunfire and the massive tendril, unloading the cartridge as I did. I slammed the next one in, taking a bit of fire from the guns at the same time. I got a good target on the cockpit of the thing.
BOOM!
I fired, knocking me flat on my back. But the Auto-Killer got blown in half, both sides falling away.
'Ugh, fuck.’ I swore, switching back to the Revenge and reloading it, which I never was able to do in the first place. A single Hexed one stared at me for a second and started running.
'Yeah, run away.’ I laughed, a bit sore. Time to continue up.
I continued up a long ways, until I found a badly damaged floor. there was a ship crashed in the side of it, the ship badly damaged and of a vaguely familiar design. Looked like an escape pod, but not sure of what type. It had been up here for awhile, and was covered in dust and debris. I wiped away some of the dust from the side.
'You’ve got to be kidding me.’ I remarked upon seeing the German flag on the side. When I was on Hell last, I helped the survivors of the New Germany city ship escape on pods very similar to these. This must of been one of them, launched off course. But what bad luck to collide with the tower. What slim luck too. There’s got to be more than that to it...
I cracked the airlock open and stepped into the main area of the roomy, dozen person escape pod- and got a bullet to the side, which staggered me. I raised my hands up high in surrender when I saw a rodent-like anthro in a dull multi-colored jacket and pants was holding the gun. He was familiar too.
‘Fucking hell, Claus?’ I said, surprised to see the Ex-leader of New Germany here.
'Who in my name are you?’ He asked, still just as pompous. He was scratched up, his rapier was gone, and his once bright clothing was dulled and covered in blood. Was it his own, or other’s?
'Trevor. Do you remember me? The one who saved your sorry ass?’ I remarked. He saw my face through the shattered visor, and he automatically dropped his small gun.
'Oh shit, I hope I didn’t injure you!’ Claus replied.
'Armor took the brunt of the shot. So, no. Now can you explain why the fucking hell you’re in an escape pod that collided with the tower?’ I asked.
'Wasn’t my doing, actually. When we were escaping, someone had to find a location to land. My escape pod was the first to head to the moonlet, as it was a possible landing spot. The rest of the group turned around when they saw us sucked in by some sort of traction beam.’ Claus replied.
'So your people finally abandoned you. I’m surprised they didn’t do it sooner.’
'They liked me too much for that.’ Claus said, smiling. 'My excellent tactics saved many survivors-'
I grabbed the lying son of a bitch by the throat, pushing him against the wall. He clawed at my hand trying to make me let go.
'Claus, your idiotic ideas lead your best men to their deaths, and left your city defenseless! You caused the deaths of thousands!’ I growled at him. 'You’re just another mindless king who’s to selfish for his people’s own good!’
I dropped Claus, and he landed hard. He was breathing heavily.
'Okay, maybe I caused the deaths of a few, but everyone makes mistakes, right?’
'You didn’t even listen to my ideas that day. I’m the military one, not you. I so want to just take you outside and chuck you out a window...’ I muttered. This scared Claus, because he knew I’d do it. 'I would usually shoot you, but you’re not even worth the ammo. Sadly, I need all of the survivors I can find, so I can’t kill you.’
Claus breathed a sigh of relief. 'So I do mean something to you.’ He said.
'Don’t push it.’
Claus did his best to explain what had happened over the week I was gone for.
'My pod had a good few people on it- a family with a mother of two children, three soldiers, the military pilot, a doctor, and a pair of factory workers who escaped together. I remember ones of the kids actually taking after me, I quite liked him...’ Claus started.
'Continue, and quickly.’ I replied.
'Anyhow, one of the soldiers got the pod to start broadcasting an SOS signal when we crashed, and it seemed to be strong. But we did have a problem- low food supplies. One of the seats was given over to boxes and boxes of dehydrated foods, so we had enough for a few weeks, but that was it. And no other escape pods were responding to our calls, so they must of already left by the time we had the signal boosted.
'The family inside had a sick child- thankfully it wasn’t the one that I liked.’ I almost punched him for that comment. 'And of course, we had no medical supplies. So we had to deal with his infected wound with nothing but bandages made from one of the doctor’s sleeves and the supplies he had on him- nothing but some rubbing alcohol and a few painkillers.
'We seemed to be surviving alright. The guards would take turns defending the ship from attacks, and I would occasionally help out when I wasn’t trying to keep my jacket clean.’ I almost punched him again, my fist clenching. Of course, if I punched him in the face, his skull would cave in. 'But then the sick kid turned. It just seemed to be a slow infection from one of the Demons- and well, he killed them all except me and one of the soldiers. The soldier was the one on guard at the time, and he came in just in time to shoot the thing dead. He helped me carry the bodies out, and the lone soldier gave them memorials. You’ll see the wreckage piled into some mounds in the other end of the room- that’s where he put the bodies. Anyhow, we survived for a few more days, and he vanished while I was asleep last night. So, it’s just me now.’
'I’m starting to wish you were killed with the rest of them. But we need to escape as soon as possible.’ I said.
'What do we need to do? I’m willing to help get my- ourselves out of here.’ Claus replied.
'Better, better. Anyhow, do you have any more weapons than that shitty little pistol?’ I asked, gesturing to the tiny pistol he was using that was still on the ground.
'Oh, over here.’ Claus said, walking to the back of his small ship- there was a metal container in the back. He popped it open and pulled out three laser rifles, each with three battery boxes for reloads.
'This is it?’ I asked. The laser rifles were terrible for fighting Beasts-the laser would pierce, but the wound would cauterize. With those, the only way to kill a Beast would be to fill its head with holes.
'Yeah, I do remember you mentioning that they weren’t the greatest weapons for this job. That last soldier- his name was Private Kirk, I think- had two shotguns with him when he left, and plenty of ammo for the both of them. If we can find the body, we can get some more ammunition and some proper weapons for me.’
'If we see what’s left of him, we’ll get the weapons. But we aren’t searching. Get all of those rifles, you’ll need them.’ I said. Claus started strapping them on.
'Are we on a time limit or something?’ He asked.
'To blow the tower up, yes.’
'I’m not going to ask. I actually don’t give two shits. Barely even one shit. Not even a unit of shit.’
'Shut it.’ I growled as we exited.
'Okay, okay.’
As we exited, several Demons attacked from the roof. I shot the first two down, and the third one landed in front of Claus. He was firing into its torso as I reloaded.
'Die die die, you son of a bitch!’ He shouted, not actually killing the Demon that was standing there, staring at its small wounds. I shot the Demon’s head off, and then reloaded again.
'You shoot them in the head. In the head.’ I said, prodding my own.
'Ah, I get it.’ Claus responded as we continued on. The stairs were ahead of us, open and empty. Too easy.
As I stepped onto the first step, I heard Beasts roar from above.
'You’ve got to be kidding me.’ I muttered.
'Sounds like there’s dozens! How the hell are we going to kill them all?!’ Claus shouted.
'We will, don’t worry. Or at least, I will.’ I replied as the first Beast poured down the stairs. Bring it.
The first Demon was shot in the face, flinging it flat on its back. The next Demon leapt over it, almost onto me. I axed it from the air, kicking the body away when it landed. An Octo-Gore charged at me next, alongside a pair of Goliaths. I swung over the shoulders of one of the Goliaths, landing on the Octo-Gore. I quickly blew apart its “head” with the Revenge, rolling off of the body as quickly as possible. I noticed the two Goliaths had turned around at exact opposite directions and were charging. I flew straight up, allowing the two to collide into each other with a loud metallic crash; I was able to take this to my advantage.
'Sorry, guys.’ I said to them as I came diving down, the revenge’s ax held high. I spilt the two apart from each other, knocking both onto their backs. I then Grabbed one by the ankle, threw it on top of the first and switched to the Bloody Talon. I fired through them both just as the next ones attacked.
A Leviathan smashed through the roof from above, almost taking Claus out with its massive club. Claus ran away from it, firing at its head. The Leviathan seemed a bit annoyed.
I fired the Bloody Talon at it, blowing a chunk from its head. It staggered, roared, and charged blindly at me. I slid under its sword and blew out another chunk of its head as I passed. This killed it, the body crushing several Demons.
A Hexed one came running at me, sword in hand. It connected with my shoulder, not actually doing any damage to me. The Hexed one wasn’t able to comprehend that, and so I killed it as it wondered.
A Lurcher came from the stairs, firing at me rather quickly. Two bone spikes damaged my chest armor, and one actually took out some of the paneling on the helmet. It also severed one of my two horns- and this didn’t grow back.
'Thanks for that, you ruined a good look.’ I said to the Lurcher, grabbing my broken horn and dashing at it. I took the brunt of two more spikes, and these damaged my leg armor before I reached it. I then rolled over the shields it put up above it, and then slid under from its back. I quickly jammed the foot and a half long horn into its chest, killing it. But I had to get out from under it before it collapsed, and I did.
As I looked over the dead bodies I had piled up, Claus finally killed one. He spat on the body.
'Who’s next?’ He shouted before realizing I had killed everyone else.
'You seriously killed just one?’ I asked.
'Trevor, this gun is shit.’ Claus replied. 'I deserve better.’
'Scavenge on the bodies. You may be able to find something.’ I said, reloading my weapons while I could. He kneeled down next to a Demon and searched the pockets on it. Claus searched two pockets before he accidentally pushed the body, and that made him jump.
'Seriously, you’re scared by that?’ I asked, ripping off the body’s coat. The Demon was Ex-ADF, and it had a pistol in the jacket with a single cartridge. I handed it to Claus, handle first. 'Take it, it should help. But really, if you’re scared by a body flinching, don’t stick around when we fight some of the biggest monsters.’
'Who’s we? Just us two?’
'No, there’s five others- no, sorry- four others on the planet. They’re all good people. Best people I could be stranded with, really. I’m not counting you.’ I replied.
'Ugh, why must you hate me so much? Is it the clothing again? Shall I take it off?’ Claus replied.
'No, its not the clothing as much any more. If it gives you motivation, keep wearing them. You’re just a selfish son of a bitch who couldn’t lead a country well.’
'I can change, you know. Wait, stranded?’
'Long story. Short version, it’s going to be at least six years, most likely eight before rescue comes.’ I responded. There were three Demons in the floor we entered- I shot two down, Claus took down the third. He was actually a pretty good shot for being non-military, when given a reasonable gun.
'I guess I deserve this, don’t I? Are they that squadron you were with before?’
'Sadly, no. Only Jake survived out of all of them.’ I said. 'But you wouldn’t care, would you?’
'You may think me heartless, but they were good people- and I’m sorry to hear of their death. Really. Hopefully they died with meaning.’ Claus replied.
'Actually, yes. They’ll have a memorial service as some of the best men in this war when it’s over.’
'Good to hear. Now, let’s get out of here, shall we?’
We were nearing the roof. Claus and I had found an elevator which took us most of the way up to the top, leaving us only ten floors left. We had actually found that last soldier Claus mentioned, the shotguns merged with the poor man’s mutated flesh. We ripped them out, and got the German rodent some proper equipment.
'So, your plan is to destroy the tower when it’s at just the right angle so it doesn’t destroy Hell? I would’ve thought you’d want to incinerate the planet.’ Claus said as we continued on.
'Remember the gravity well. If I hadn’t come up here now, I wouldn’t of been able to get up here at all.’ I replied.
'Better for me, then.’
'Trevor? You there?’ Ma-Na asked me through the radio.
'I’m here, Ma-Na. I’ve got a survivor with me, and we’re nearly at the roof. We’ve almost done it.’ I replied.
'Excellent work, Trevor. How are you going to get that survivor down?’
'Saffron will fly him down, I’ll return to the planet by myself.’ I said.
'Wait, what? Oh, right. The OEPS. I always forget about that. But the info coming from your suit is saying that its integrity is only at 72 percent. Is that enough?’
'It better.’ I replied. 'ETA until detonation window?’
'Six minutes, and the window’s only another three. Get up there.’ Ma-Na said.
'Claus, keep up!’ I shouted to Claus as I started running. 'Wish me luck, Ma-Na’
I took the next set of stairs three at a time, sliding into the next floor. I stopped, seeing- well, not seeing anything, really. There was some really odd darkness- pitch black, actually. Must of been created by something.
Claus dashed past me and into the darkness.
'Shit, shouldn’t of done that! Trevor, where the bloody hell are you?’ He shouted.
'Be very careful! Listen for anything- the Beast causing this may still be around!’ I shouted back.
'Yess, yess I am...’ I heard a familiar voice say.
'Sounds like one of your old squad mates!’ Claus shouted.
'Somewhat. It’s her demon.’ I replied. 'Claus, find a corner and defend it! Quickly, man!’
No response. Shattered glass.
'Claus?’
'Hahaha, finally got rid of that annoying bassstard.’
'You bitch!’ I shouted, calling upon my Snypr training again. Why was June’s demon back? I killed her...
‘Demonsss never die. We jussst come back to haunt you again and again and again.’
I hear something move infront of me. I ducked just as a demon very different from June’s demon lunged at me. It missed, flying over me but smacking me with its snake tail as it passed. It vanished into the darkness again.
‘You’re not June’s Demon. Similar, but not the same. You sound the same, too.’
‘Ah, ssso you figured out that.’
The demon lunged at me again- this time I got a better look. It had no legs, just a gigantic snake tail similar to June’s demon. That’s where the likeness ended. It was male, the back of the torso and most of the tail was covered in spines, and its hands had massive claws a good foot long, similar to a Demon’s. But these seemed to be made from metal. Its head had a four piece jaw, and it also had four eyes. A helmet protected the delicate jaw and the rest of the head, along with most of the neck. The darkness seemed to be leaking out of the monster from the sides.
'Now then, I know your plansss. I intend to ssstop them.’ It said in a different voice- a masculine, but still hissing voice.
It lunged again- this time I caught it in the mouth with the Revenge’s stock, knocking it back. It slithered back into the darkness.
'Good one. But not good enough.’ It said. It attacked again- this time I stopped it by grabbing its wrist, spinning it around, and throwing it into the ground. It got up- but I was still holding onto its wrist. It complied by grabbing onto my other free wrist and pushing against me, its jaws snapping in my face.
'You must be the guardian of this tower. Are you one of the seven?’ I asked it, struggling against its force.
'No, I am your reckoning.’ It said, looking like it was about to spit a fireball at my face. I head-butted it instead, staggering the monster. I then slammed it to the floor, pulled out the Bloody Talon, and fired. But the monster took no damage. Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
The creature had its claw above where the bullet would’ve impacted, and the practical torpedo that the Bloody Talon shot was hovering in the Beast’s claw, still spinning. It had velocity, still.
'You can’t dessstroy me that easssily.’ It hissed, and then the bullet flipped around in its hand.
The next few seconds were a blur. I found myself getting flung back, pain radiating from my right arm. At least, what was left of it- the lower half of it was arching away from me, blood spewing everywhere- it still hung onto the Bloody Talon as it went away from me.
I impacted the ground hard, my arm stump still pouring out blood. Red lights flashed on my suit’s HUD, warning me about catastrophic damage and that my suit’s integrity had dropped a solid 17 percent more.
The pain was unbearable, but I still managed to see the Beast that had caused it sneering over me.
'No. This isn’t the end.’ I growled, clutching my stump as I staggered up. My own blood ran through my fingers, pooling under my feet.
'You can’t fight. Hero, your arm is off.’
'You’ve forgotten about what your kind has done to me.’ I replied in Beast-tongue. I felt the blood congealing at the ends of the stump, hardening and forming into bones, muscles, veins, tendons, the whole lot. It was slow, but active.
'Ah, we tried to make you one of our own. We failed, due to the Raven’s influence. But he won’t be stopping anything anymore.’
'That just makes me hate your kind even more.’ I replied. I felt muscles forming under my hand, and I moved it away.
'Your quest is soon over. Your fellows will be destroyed. Anthros- No more.’
'We’ll remain. We’ll survive. We’ll kill every last one of you. And fight until our last breath.’ I said. The Demonic aura surrounded my stump, forming it further. I drew out the Revenge, slowly limping towards the Bloody Talon at the same time.
'Ha! How can you fight when you don’t even have all of your limbs?!’
'Any way I can.’
I leveled the blood-covered Revenge to the monster’s head, and then fired. The Beast got launched away from me, giving me enough time to flick the Revenge open and load the next two shells in with my tail. I fired them both off into the Beast when it charged at me again, flinging it back further. I then slammed my foot down on the Bloody Talon’s stock, flipping it up into the air. I then pushed it into a wall, leaning the rifle against it. I did this as I reloaded the Revenge again.
'You jussst won’t ssstop, will you?’
'Never.’ I replied, firing at it again. The flesh on its left arm got shredded. I reloaded as I felt my wrist start to regenerate. Scales were developing over the muscle, growing very spiky.
I fired again, launching the Beast into a wall. Its stomach was torn.
'Ssso you may jussst win...’ It hissed. The bones of my fingers reconstructed, and muscle was already growing on the palms. Blood kept dripping, making me leave bloody footprints on the metal ground. I reloaded another time.
'I will win in my mission. You won’t stop me. Ever.’ I said.
I fired right into the thing’s face, and the darkness faded away. It was dead, its brains scattered all over the wall.
'Trevor, you still alive? Hello? Could you pick me up?’ Claus asked from the window. My hand regenerated when I killed the monster- the scales jagged and thick, the claws hooked and sharp. It was still my hand, but it wasn’t. My original hand was still on the ground in a puddle of blood, still encased in the part of the OEPS suit.
'Trevor? God damn it, be alive for me!’
'I’m coming.’ I replied, walking over to the shattered window. I found him hanging from the window ledge by one hand, and so I yanked him up. As he was dusting himself off, I picked up the Bloody Talon and put it on my back.
'How did you survive?’ I asked him, finally.
'Hung on and didn’t alert the monster to my presence. Didn’t you have something to do?’ Claus replied.
'Shit, you’re right. Run. Run as quick as possible, now!’ I shouted to Claus, running to the next set of stairs.
'One minute until window, Trevor.’ Ma-Na said through my radio.
We entered the next floor, and several demons charged at us. I blasted the first, cut down the second with my ax, and tore into the third with my new hand. It seemed better at ripping through flesh. The stairs were behind them, and we quickly dashed up them.
The next floor had six more Demons- Claus actually destroyed two of them, and I gunned down the others. The next stories were missing some of the floor, and I flew up them, leaving Claus behind.
'I’ll get you in a second!’ I shouted to him as I shot down some more Demons on the other floors. I landed on the roof, C-4 already in hand. The exhaust pipe at the top was obvious, and I tossed the C-4 down in it, not noticing the nest of Wyverns just below the roof. The small explosion that the C-4 caused was starting a chain reaction- this included the Wyverns pouring out in the dozens. I leapt down, threw Claus out of a window, and then followed him just as the roof exploded.
The floors were detonating quickly from the top down to the bottom, sending shrapnel flying above us. And the Wyverns were just ahead of the destruction. I flipped myself around so I could get a good shot at the Beasts attacking from above.
I fired off the Revenge, injuring two of the Wyverns with the scattershot. One got a wing torn, and slowed down. Because of it, it was killed by shrapnel from the exploding floors.
‘Aaahhh, shit! Trevor, help me!’ Claus shouted, flailing wildly as he fell. I killed a few Wyverns and increased my speed so I could catch the man. And hey, I did. I grabbed him around the torso and shot with my other hand.
‘Do you do this often?!’ Claus shouted as we fell. We must of passed half of the floors by now.
'Not usually!’ I replied, spreading my wings. This slowed us down a bit.
One of the Wyverns dived at us, but I kicked it away. Two more neared, and I shot them down.
A floor exploded at the wrong time, blowing off a chunk of six floors off of the rest, causing it to start falling behind the Wyverns, actually killing a few.
'Fuck, that’s the ground!’ Claus cried.
'I see that!’ I responded, slowing us down with my wings. The entrance was nearby, and I swooped into it. I dropped Claus when I landed, making him roll away and almost out the door. I shielded myself from the blast using my wings when I landed. I was knocked out.
My mind was tainted, infected with the demonic virus. Every time I slept, or was knocked out, the virus played with me. It tried to break my will, tried to destroy my spirit in the world of my broken dreams. It would’ve controlled me ages ago if it wasn’t for my will to fight. My intention to save who I could.
This time, I found myself on the top of the twisted skeleton of a skyscraper, towering over a burning city. I had my original basic body armor and a simple ADF uniform, both badly damaged. I was in full demonic shape too- massive horns, smoke constantly pouring from between my jaws, cracks left in the ground as I walked. My head wasn’t even vaguely like the chameleon shape it had been before the war. At least, in this nightmare.
My only weapon was my claws and a flag pole, and at the end of it was a tattered ADF flag. But why...?
I know. The ADF is the world’s military- everyone rallies behind them and their causes. When a war is happening, the world, and its several billion anthros, cheers on the ADF. They are hope incarnate, and without a doubt, the moral boost for everyone. Without the ADF, we would’ve all been vanquished in the Seven Days war. I seemed to have the last flag. The last, flickering candlelight in the darkness that the Demons caused.
I peered down the side of the building- thousands of Beasts swarmed around the base of the building, trying to reach me.
'Come on then, I know you can reach me!’ I roared down to them. In response, hundreds of assorted projectiles came flying my way- I blocked the ones that came close with my wings.
I looked over the horizon; gigantic beasts the size of small mountains marched across it, heading towards my location. Several reminded me of Amon, others were new. Behind me, several ADF ships were coming my way, seemingly infected with the demonic Virus. Flesh grew from the ship, overcoming it. They still had full weapon capabilities.
To my left, Beasts poured over the mountains in the distance, joining the group already below the tower I was on. To my right, more giant beasts came towards me. And I didn’t even have a gun.
The flag I had was the last symbol of hope. The last symbol of freedom. The last chance.
I leapt down the side of the building, using the flag pole like a javelin. I pierced two Demons on it who were climbing the structure, flinging them off and killing three more. And as I fell, the ships and the giant Beasts fired rapidly upon my position. The aura surrounded me. So, this may be a dream, but the demons won’t control me. They won’t beat me.
I leapt into the crowd. The resulting landing caused a shockwave that send dozens of Beasts flying, and provoking the rest. The fire that was coming down on me made me constantly move my position.
I sensed something bad was about to happen, so I jumped away from that spot I had cleared- a Ship-Buster fired into that location, incinerating at least a hundred Beasts. Then came the Wyverns.
I leapt from Wyvern to Wyvern, spearing each of them with the flag pole again and again. Projectiles darted past me, and some actually hit. But I kept on fighting. I speared more onto the pole, ready to sling them off at the others. And when I neared a massive group of the bastards, I did. I knocked a dozen out of the sky, helped by the continuing attacks on me. I landed in the masses of Beast below and discovered that many were Ex-ADF. I picked up some of the heaviest weapons I could find, and I started firing.
One of the Goliaths had a chaingun before I killed it, and this was linked to a massive container. And it was .50 Cal.
Tides of blood were created as the chain gun ripped through dozens, only serving to slip the Beasts after the first wave. I tore through hundreds before the ammunition ran out, giving me time to go retrieve more weapons.
A commander Goliath was destroyed in that mess- and he wielded a massive sword made of excellent material. I picked it up, and then heard a stomp of an Amon clone behind me. I took flight, dodging its laser fire. I darted up with enough speed to land on its head.
The aura surrounded the blade too, igniting it and changing its shape. God damn my dreams. Why must they be so taxing?
I started hacking through the Amon clone’s skull, sending chunks of flesh flying with the demonic sword. Soon, the Amon clone stopped trying to fight back, and went limp. But it didn’t fall over.
A Ship Buster took out most of the Amon clone from under me, making me fall off. I caught myself, took flight again, and continued the fight. But the vision started to fade.
I found myself back in the real world, my helmet off. Claus was a few feet away, trying it on.
‘Loot my body when I’m actually dead, will you?’ I moaned. He jumped in surprise.
'Shit, I didn’t know! You weren’t breathing, and I couldn’t find a pulse through the scales!’
He replied.
'Forget it. I would’ve done the same to you, most likely. Come on, let’s get to my ship.’
I put my helmet back on, and one message was flashing on the HUD- Repairs failed. I commanded it to go back to normal, and it complied. There was a small indicator in the corner that flashed red, telling me that there was catastrophic damage to the suit. The suit was actually only at 59 percent integrity.
'Give me a second, actually. Need to run some diagnostics on the suit.’ I said to Claus. He leaned back on the entrance’s wall and waited, mumbling about something.
'Suit, are you able to re-enter the atmosphere?’
A message ran across the holographic HUD: At an angle of 30-32 degrees.
'Shit, that’s thin. Why that angle?’
It is easiest to orient the heat of re-entry onto your chest armor at that angle. Your chest armor is the most intact.
'Makes sense. How much fuel do we have?’
Barely enough for getting to the surface of the planet.
'Conserve fuel in any way possible.’ I said. 'Give me a trajectory I need to follow to get home.’
My HUD projected a faint orange line into the air- I could only see it. It connected to the planet’s surface, far below.
I turned to Claus- he looked afraid.
'There isn’t an atmosphere, is there? Not on this rock, anyhow.’ He asked.
'I’m afraid not. Take a deep breath and I’ll toss you in Saffron’s cockpit. He’ll put air in there.’
'He better.’
Claus took a deep breath, and I shoved him out. I followed after him as we ran across the surface of the moonlet, towards Saffron. Claus stumbled, but kept his breath in. We neared Saffron,a nd I gestured for Saffron to open his cockpit- he did, and I threw the out of breath rodent in. It slammed down, and Claus was able to breathe again.
'I have him, sir. I received news that you’d be entering the atmosphere the hard way- so do be careful.’ Saffron said through my radio.
'Always do.’ I replied, watching the two fly off. My helmet, even though the glass was broken, had an energy field in the place of the glass to keep the air in. It worked well, although it took some power.
I watched Saffron disappear around the curvature of the planet as I got into position. I was about to jump when the moonlet shook. Cracks arced away from the tower’s ruins.
'You’ve got to be kidding me. Did the destruction of the tower make the moonlet unstable?’ I muttered to myself. I jumped, just as parts of the moonlet came loose behind me. I re-adjusted my course to stay at the proper angle, following a similar path to Saffron.
When in orbit, you never know which way is up or down. Well, in space, there never seems to be direction anyways. So I couldn’t really say if the chunks of rock were coming from above me or below me.
I seemed to be nearing the atmosphere, my velocity increasing. But the rubble from the moonlet was taking a similar trajectory. Yes, the rubble was small- the largest chunk was only about the size of a bus- but it could still cause damage, especially if one of them knocked me off course.
Speaking of courses, I was staying on mine. But so were the asteroids. Of course, most of these would burn up in the atmosphere, but I couldn’t take any chances.
I spun around, Bloody Talon ready. I fired, and the bus sized one broke in half. But I didn’t see the other chunk swinging towards me, on a totally different trajectory.
A rock the size of a small car slammed into me at terminal velocity from the left, flinging me way, way off course. But I had to keep balance.
I shattered the rock that caused my trajectory mistake while lights on my HUD flashed that I was at the wrong angle for re-entry. I managed to pull myself back into place as flames started flickering on my front. I pulled my arms, legs, and wings in close as a sky-diver would, and then gained speed. Soon, the fire was at full blast, and I could feel the heat of it on my face though the field the helmet generated.
I looked around as I fell, looking for the trajectory line. I spotted it going the exact opposite direction from where I was going!
'Suit, how far off of the trajectory am I?’ I asked it as I fell.
About 700 kilometers.
‘Is that current, or where I’m going to land?’
Current.
'Shit. Can I turn myself around?’
You would risk burning up, as flipping trajectory during re-entry changes angle. We are going North-west. Objective is South-east.
'How long until it’s safe to turn around?’
Two minutes, roughly.
Something flew past me quickly, almost lashing me with its tendrils. I drew the Revenge, keeping it close as three more of the shapes attacked. Then, of course, we had to pass through the clouds.
I couldn’t see them when they attacked, almost hitting me with every one that flew past. The last one, though, slammed right into me.
I grabbed on, aching in pain from my now brutally damaged chest plate. Of course, it just had to be an ADF fighter, turned Auto-killer that does it. Four of them.
The fires of re-entry stopped, as I wasn’t actually entering the atmosphere any further- just flying with it. Tendrils on it tried to grab me, but I sliced them off as I climbed to what should of been the cockpit. We passed out of the cloud just in time, as one of the other Auto-killers was about to smack me off of its companion’s wing with the tip of its. I jumped off just in time, as the other one severed the first Auto-killer’s wing with a massive explosion of noise, metal, and blood.
My armor was now at 49 percent integrity, and it kept warning me that re-entry was impossible now.
I started diving again, my helmet’s HUD flickering with the heat. It shorted out as chunks of armor came off. Wind whistled through the holes in the suit, and scorched my scales.
Behind me, the three remaining ships were trying to dive bomb into me, firing rapidly. I rolled out of the way of a volley of bullets, almost landing in another. I then dodged as an Auto-killer tried to ram me,its wings almost knocking me out of the sky. It tried to do the same thing, but just from below- bad choice.
I just narrowly avoided it, the Revenge’s ax out as I did so. The bloody blade on the Revenge sliced through the cockpit, shattering glass and flesh alike. the Auto-killer was dead, falling from the sky at a different angle and height than me. Two left.
One whole boot exploded into chunks of ember-hot metal, flying behind me. The leg armor was starting to disintegrate as well. Not good.
I pulled up behind the Auto-killers and landed on one, already firing into its cockpit. It died under my fire, leaving the last one left. And this one put up a fight.
It swung its wings around, slamming me with them. But I landed the ax in the wing, and then fired twice into it. This left a hole in the metal that was actually bleeding, and the Beast didn’t like that. Tendrils from its back came around and pummeled me, hitting my wings. I heard one of them make a loud crack. There goes my air control.
I drew the Bloody talon, seeing as the flames on us had extinguished and there wasn’t a chance of it burning up anymore. I blocked the attacks of two tendrils and then fired, blowing the cockpit into small bits. The last dead Auto-killer slowly floated away as I sped haphazardly towards the dunes. The Beast had broken one of my wings in that combat, and it wans’t healing itself- so I put the Bloody Talon away and braced for impact.
I hit terminal velocity before reaching ground, ripping off more panels of armor. The helmet flickered on for a moment and flashed the fact that my suit was at 31 percent integrity at me, just before impact. Thanks a load, suit.
I woke up in a crater, my surroundings ablaze. My suit had been totally destroyed, with the helmet smashed, the leggings actually disintegrated, the wing armor broken, and the left arm armor gone. The torso had even taken some serious damage in impact, loosing my ammo on the way here. But my two weapons were safe, although only the Bloody Talon had ammo. I staggered up and got rid of what of the suit I could.
The helmet had to go, seeing as not much of it had survived impact. The chest plate was beyond repair, as well. All I was able to keep on was the mostly intact armor for my right arm- glove not included. All I had were some ADF issue pants, one arm’s armor, and ammo for only the Bloody Talon.
I checked if the remaining armor had anything useful built in- just a single, electronic compass on the wrist. I turned myself so I was facing South-east, and started walking; Bloody Talon in hand. My wing was broken, I had no fuel, and I wasn’t regenerating for some reason. I was also at least a thousand kilometers away from home, and I had no supplies. No food, no nothing. Just the clothing on my back- wait, not even that- and one heavy-caliber weapon with some ammo. But I had a direction.
I started walking.
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Reptilian (Other)
Size 50 x 50px
File Size 112.4 kB
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