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BEYOND THE G|A|T|E
CHAPTER FOUR: ARISE
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The vibrant blue orb hovered above his open palm, emitting a deep blue light as it bobbed in the air. Whizzing to life once more, the orb split into three and in one swift motion the strange man braced and extended his arm. The three orbs began to glow brightly, seemingly filled with energy. Their bright blue light illuminated the dark night. Sparkling with intense light and energy, the orbs began to rotate until their light became a blue streak. The man focused his vision on his target and took a deep breath. Soon another ball of energy formed amid the orbs. The energy was concentrated on a small point, just two of his fingertips. Like some sort of generator, the orbs started to emit sparks of electricity, cloaking the man’s entire arm in a veil of sparks. As the orbs span faster and faster, their reflection caused his own ball of energy to become supercharged. And with a final shout, all the energy was released directly at the beast overhead. The energy tore into the creature with extreme force and precision, resulting in a large explosion. The creature let out an ear bleedingly loud screech that sounded more like metal scraping against metal than anything even remotely organic. The man’s attack managed to cut through some of the creature’s tendrils and tentacles at the root. The air screamed as the tentacles started falling like timber.
“Ada!” The man called for his assistant as he ran for cover, his voice having a noticeable French accent. Not too long after his call, the three orbs coalesced into one, once more and then suddenly dissipated into a cloud of energy, revealing an intricate metalwork structure within. Intermingling with the liquid metal core, the energy cloud took the form of a young lady. Her entire body was an energy construct that was surrounded by a shiny metal outer covering that loosely resembled a suit of armor. The armor served only to protect the tiny crystal which generated her body’s energy. The armor was liquid metal, so it also served as Ada’s multipurpose tool. It was form fitting and its style mimicked that of medieval armor while also resembling a gothic dress.
Ada hit the ground running, effortlessly keeping pace. “ARTIFICE ONLINE,” Ada echoed. Pausing, to ponder his next move the man pressed onward. The slashed tentacles were close to hitting the ground. That’s no good. A falling tendril was falling faster and faster in their direction. Acting quickly, the man stopped dead in his tracks, skidding across the dust and doing an about turn. Ada followed suit. For a moment it was as if time moved in slow motion. The man pointed a gloved finger towards the falling mass, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This environment was the perfect catalyst for his magic. In this moment he took in all the sounds and smells of his surroundings. He visualized all the ashes and flames that illuminated the area down to the unique flicker of all their lights. In an instant, there was a spark of energy at his fingertip. The little spark quickly became a big ball of bright orange flames, flashing and flickering across his arm. Bracing himself, the man focused his energy once more, releasing the fireball from his sphere of influence.
“Ada!” The man called out. “NOW!”
Nodding in affirmation, Ada acted near instantly, “Understood, Master Charles.”
Combining her own raw energy output with her master’s refined magic worked to amplify the spell’s attack potency! The resulting column of fire turned the falling tendril into a ball of charred flesh and embers. Charles rolled back his sleeve to reveal a series of concentric circles etched onto the underside of his wrist. The ornate linework emitted a faint green glow, with each circle slowly rotating around a diamond symbol at the very center of it all. The diamond seemed to match the crystal in Ada’s chest and emitted the same green light, however it was slowly fading, and the diamond shape was only partially lit. This had to end soon.
“Let’s go Ada,” Charles said calmly as he started back on his trek across the battered landscape. The pair continued through the rubble and fire, constantly looking upward to gauge the creature’s next move. The creature was still reeling from the damage dealt prior and relatively dormant aside from a deep droning sound being emitted from its gaping maw. The noise was deeply unsettling and reverberated throughout the area making everything vibrate.
“Understood,” Ada nodded.
John stood there on the roof, in utter disbelief. What happened—or rather, what didn’t happen was his last hoorah gracing the battlefield. He felt the energy, that surge of power within him and then...nothing. Did his little war cry mean nothing? John could only stare into the void as he watched the beast get ripped to shreds by some wicked blue laser. It was utter chaos, and yet there was still a bit of beauty through it all. But now wasn’t the time to be awestruck, especially not by the same beast that left you broken and bloodied. Focus John. Focus. With all the adrenaline coursing through his veins, John could do anything he set his mind to right now. It was like having superpowers even more so than absorbing some weird blue energy. Although, it would be worth it to keep that in mind. Perhaps his attack didn’t work because he was distracted? Never mind that, I have to go see if the others are okay. So, John carefully descended from the roof whilst the monster was reeling from the blow.
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“JOHN!” A familiar voice called out from around the corner. “Huh,” he could barely react.
Sarah ran as fast as she could, hugging her brother tightly in a warm embrace, nearly knocking them both over. “Sarah,” John let out a sigh of relief. “You’re okay.”
“Mostly,” she said, tilting her head slightly, revealing fresh burn marks. Sarah took a few steps out in front of her, scanning the rubble and destruction. This is so terrible, she thought to herself as she clutched at her necklace. “God-- what are we gonna do,” Sarah asked rhetorically.
“We have to make sure everyone’s okay,” Sarah said to John with a fierce look, as she clutched her necklace even tighter. As the fires raged on in the distance and the smell of smoke filled their lungs, the pair started their search into the world of chaos. Upon her initial scan, Sarah couldn’t really see much of anything. The only real light sources were the fires that broke out and the guard lights on the school campus. The light from the streets and surrounding buildings didn’t really reach that far, and to make matters worse most of the lights within the area of effect either went out or ended up being clouded by smoke. Furthermore, with that...thing in the sky being as loud as it is, there’s a big chance that they wouldn’t even hear her calling out to them. Still, it was her best bet either way. She yelled out everyone’s names as loud as possible. It was a shot in the dark, both literally and figuratively, there was no telling what happened between the initial impact and now. Sarah bit her lip as she pondered her next move while walking through the debris field. But just then, in a stroke of genius she remembered something. Sarah frantically patted herself down, quickly retrieving an object from her skirt pocket. Celebrating internally, she flipped open the bedazzled pink cellphone. Good. It’s not dead! Using her phone’s flash as a light source, she continued her search, waving it around and calling out to any potential survivors.
The schoolyard isn’t that big, and yet Sarah hadn’t stumbled upon anyone. Maybe they were injured? I hope they aren’t hurt too bad. She began to retrace her steps and remember what happened when that monster appeared and caused havoc. She was stepping up to the podium, about to address the crowd of students, teachers, parents and faculty. And then, BANG! It was like I got punched in the face by the wind. Sarah’s feet were swept right out from under her, desperate to maintain control and stay on her feet she reached for the nearest thing to use as a crutch. Unfortunately for her though, that happened to be a spotlight. But, by the time she grabbed it she was already on the floor. Moments later, dust and ceiling tiles came crashing down on her. Luckily, Sarah narrowly avoided being crushed by any heavy debris. That’s it, the shockwave.
“Hey,” Sarah stopped in her tracks, causing John to stubble behind her. Offering a brief apology, Sarah turned to face him. “What if everyone else is just unconscious?” She posed the question to her brother, waiting for his response.
John tried to remember what happened before responding, “I-I never thought about that, now that you mention it, it was like a bomb went off in there.”
“Exactly,” Sarah agreed.
“And they might’ve been sent flying like I was, from that shockwave,” John added, discreetly wincing, remembering what happened to Emily. She was essentially Sarah’s protégé, even though they didn’t interact much. There’s no way John could break that news to her or worse yet, let her find Emily’s body herself. He could barely process seeing that himself, in fact he still hasn’t processed that fact properly. The fact someone his age, someone he bickered with on a near daily basis.... John shook his head free of the thought.
“Hey,” Sarah said. “We need to head back to the school.”
Oh crap! John had zoned out for a bit too long. “Right!”
Charles stared up at the beast in the sky, his artifice, Ada, close by his side. Anxiously watching as the beast spanning the night sky continued to writhe. Charles never would have imagined that his first sighting of this monster would be...here of all places. “A maw,” he whispered to himself. Of all the magical and otherworldly phenomena, he’s studied, this has to be one of the greatest mysteries. A being that subsists entirely on pure anima from deep within the Earth. It was just a sight to behold. How could there be a creature so utterly massive? Charles was equal parts delighted and disturbed by his encounter. But nevertheless, he’d already committed to putting the Maw away for good, back through whatever Gate spawned it in. Though, its presence alone indicates that there would be a Gate present. There was no guarantee that his attacks even did enough damage to push it back through. Dammit. The behemoth in the sky finally showed some signs of action once again, with a loud groan permeating the atmosphere. Its remaining tentacles began to slowly retract and remove themselves from their roots in the Earth. The ground trembled beneath Charles’ feet, sending vibrations throughout his entire body.
Satisfied with a job well done, he surveyed the area to assess the damage done. The flames still raged into the night, however due to the Maw’s tentacles finally being retracted, more of the dazzling blue energy was allowed to leak out into the atmosphere. Charles' eyes widened in shock as his heart sank. He’d been taught about this by his elder and yet he couldn’t fathom it. Even from so many feet away he could feel the presence of this energy. Anima! The concentrated life energy 0f every living thing, stored deep within metaphysical channels that run all throughout the Earth, converging at many points around the world. The sight of such majesty was enough to cause a stir within even the most hardened of hearts. Charles’ brilliant crimson hair danced in the cool night air as he felt the weight of the anima flowing around him; he winced in pain. “ADA,” He shouted, prompting his artifice to meld itself into a shroud, shielding him. He had to finish up this job as soon as possible. The situation was somewhat manageable before but now, the presence 0f all this anima was going to make things difficult.