Burning wood

Chapter 20

Kaz’bul was a believer, not in any gods, though he was aware many existed. In fact, he was personally responsible for wiping out many faiths during his escapades on other planets.

No, he believed in many things, such as “Might makes right.”, “Finders-keepers.”, for a certain definition of find, anyway.

Example: He ‘found’ the item the client requested on this charred corpse he randomly came across.

He did not believe in making plans, what he did believe in, was his ability to handle anything that might impede his impulsive assaults. He wasn’t stupid though. He knew where he lay on the universe’s hierarchy, and made sure that all missions were screened thoroughly, and that all rumors were vetted and checked out. This time, though, he had gotten word through the grape vine that the Supreme Commander of the Empire was looking for someone.

The Empire.

This was a golden opportunity.

Literally, if this invasion succeeded, and he found who he was looking for, then he was set for life.

Wealth, fame, power and the favor of the Empire- Nay, the Supreme Commander himself – The master of a million universes!

Was it possible for a person to have a better quality of life than that?

Kaz’bul didn’t think so, which is why he rushed to Dello-Whorl as fast as his ship would take them.

Risky, but well worth it. At least in his opinion, anyway. And if things didn’t go according to plan, then he would step in personally and take of it.

Besides, it was Nuvalt, a literal twenty-sixth world country, who’s relevancy on the universal scale was some neat toys they refused to share and being one of the only valid entry points to Plains within local multi-cluster. How badly could this go?

‘Very badly.’ Were his subconscious thoughts, as an elbow cut off oxygens access to his lungs.

He flew backwards as spittle flew out of his mouth and skidded across the deck, coming to a stop when he crashed into branch that was more reminiscent of a wall than any tree he’d seen before. He braced himself for the follow-up blow but found his attacker standing right in front of him. The dense thicket surrounding them cut off the suns light, casting eerie shadows around them. It blocked the wind that breezed around the Spel, forming an oppressive silence. If it weren’t for the dull gray floor beneath them, he would have believed he were deep in the woods, rather than a dozen miles up. A strong earthy smell briefly filled his lungs.

A hand grabbed him by the throat and he panicked, desperately thinking of a solution that would allow him get a bit of breathing room. The shifted branches cast a shadow across his foes face, obscuring all his facial features but his eyes.

His thousand, creepy, purple eyes.

He reared a fist back.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Shouted Kaz’bul. A hint of desperation entered his voice. “Don’t you want to know why I came here for you?”

“No.”

Jeck punched him in the face.

He plowed through the branch and quickly flipped himself to his feet and analyzed his opponent, who’s long strides ate up the distance between them.

‘God damn.’ Kazzy thought to himself. ‘It’s not like I’m losing that badly,’ Which was true, both fighters were covered in blood, both their own and their opponents.

‘He.

Just.

Won’t.

Stay.

Down!’

The red titan’s muscles were aching in pain and burning from exertion. His internal temperature skyrocketed, his blood boiling with desire to kill, maim and cause as much destruction as he could.

Jeck was covered bruises from where he had left himself open to his double fisted assault. He couldn’t block three punches with only two hands after all, and his skin was scorched black from where heated fists landed their fiery blows, like someone had branded him with a poker stick.

Kazzy erupted. His rough, red granite skin cracked and crumbled. Bubbling magma started pouring out of the open flesh. Jeck’s eyes began watering as the air around them superheated itself, turning the trees around them to ashes instantly. Further parts of the foliage were set alight by the blazing heat being put out by his foe.

He roared in anger, fueling the flames of fury that radiated outwards in waves. Down on the streets below, Kurok and Julius watched as the other fighters, Dulla, the twins, and various others they called out to help hunt down he remnants of the alien horde, hissed in pain, and leapt into Julius’ melee field as the asphalt around them started melting.

“What the hell is going on up there?” One of the fighters asked incredulously, as the inner-city circle, multiple skyscrapers started drooping like candles, slowly flowing to the ground as though they were made of wax, not rock.

“A fight, dipshit.” Julius snorted sarcastically. Nobody took offense, insulting people was just how Julius interacted with everybody. Besides, they were too busy sneaking glances at the lack of glasses on his face. A rare sight that none had ever seen before.

De-facto leader as the only one with a lick of sense about them, Kurok walked to the edge of the bubble and squinted. “Alright, it looks like the heat isn’t effecting anywhere outside the city limits, so that’s where the rest of the invaders will probably be headed. You lot go out and patrol the city outskirts, we don’t want them running wild out there.”

The other fighters didn’t question it, so used to taking orders and suggestions from him, they immediately began running out of the city, ignoring the searing heat.

Kurok frowned at the buildings. He’d kept quiet so as not to alarm the others, who hadn’t clocked it yet. ‘This doesn’t add up, why aren’t we dead yet? Those buildings are clearly ruined so why hasn’t he showed up?’

Clank

Clank

Clank

Footsteps, close footsteps, reached his ear. Not from Julius, because he could see him out of the corner of his eye to his left. He turned to look.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Julius glanced to his right at the straggler.

“Oi! You deaf? Get a move on.”

“Julius?” Came Kurok’s voice, uncharacteristically terrified. Julius frowned and looked away from where he was sizing up the tall stranger.

“Yeah?”

Kuroks voice was little more than a short hiss.

“Shut your fucking mouth.”

He shut it.

The stranger, seemingly content to ignore them, watched the melting buildings with an aura of profound sadness radiating off him.

Julius leaned down.

“So, who’s this guy?” He asked curiously. It wasn’t often he came across somebody taller than he was. His appearance was even weirder, especially compared to the other boys at the gym. Most of them he could identify by putting a voice to the face, but this guy wasn’t saying squat.

“That,“ Kurok whispered back, fearing even the slightest noise might set him off. “Is Sábháilte.”

Julius did a double-take

Sábháilte?

Oh

Oh

Oooohhhhhhh

“…Shiiiiitttt” Julius finished in a whisper, thankfully not drawing the Guardians gaze towards them. Sweat started to drip from his brow, and it wasn’t because of the rising heat.

Fear of water might be seen as irrational, but fear of the two Guardians was just common sense.

A deep, cold pit of terror so ingrained into their psyche that it was practically genetic at this point.

It didn’t move. Just stared at the melting buildings with incomprehensible burning eyes.

Staring.

Watching.

‘He’s waiting!’ Kurok realized. ‘Once that heat spreads far enough, everyone here is dead meat.’

He glanced at Julius, who had come to same conclusion. Wordlessly, they both took off running towards the Spel.

***

Quake didn’t know where all the fire came from, probably something Jeck whipped up was the conclusion he wasn’t entirely wrong about, but he was pretty thankful for it nonetheless.

Metal claws on the bottom of his feet anchored him to branches surface, defying the strong tug of gravity. He waited for the vibration he rapidly familiarized himself with to get closer, then pounced, leaving a long trench in Screamer’s arm as he tried to defend himself.

“Fuck! Shoot him dumbass.” The frog man shrieked in pain as he desperately leapt away from Quake.

“I’m trying dipshit.” Long-shot yelled back. Bullets pinged off his drill as he curled behind it.

‘Thank god he can’t pull that ricochet trick like Gillian could. That’d be really annoying.’ Quake mused to himself, disappearing into the thick, murky blackness. The smoke was beginning penetrate their little brambly shield that had kept most of the fire at bay.

It seeped into the air, slipping and coating their insides just a little more with every lungful, causing gasping coughs. Sweat poured off the two of them like water tumbling off a cliff. Their clothes began to stick uncomfortably to their bodies. Each breath in was accompanied with a stinging pain, the likes that happen when you sit in a sauna for too long. The heat was beginning to get unbearable.

‘For them. I drink molten steel and eat dust for breakfast.’ Quake thought. ‘This is just an average day for me.’ He didn’t get particularly homesick, but these conditions were practically ideal for him.

Low visibility benefiting his vibration sense and an average temperature of over three thousand degrees.

It was Hell for them but it was home for Quake.

Now if only he wasn’t terribly injured.

‘Later’. He decided. The sarcasm could wait until these guys were dead, but how best to achieve that?

A panicked shout from Ghost suddenly rang loudly through his mind. It seemed to echo over the mindscape.

‘That red bastard’s torching the city, Sábháiltes here! You need to kill them now.’

Simultaneously as the shout, small vibrations winked into existence on his radar. Negligibly small at first, spread out and light, but they picked up steam eventually.

‘It’s raining, but there wasn’t a cloud in sight earlier? I’ll blame this on Jeck too.’

He acted fast.

Sprinting, leaping and clawing his way through the bramble mess on all fours like a demented squirrel, He repositioned himself and put his plan into action.

Screamer choked out a lungful of oxygen. The ash and fire clogged his lungs and nose, making every breath painful. He had been keeping track of the rat through disturbances in the air flow earlier, but Kazzys little temper tantrum threw enough ash into the wind to stop render that useless.

He winced as hot ash flew past the bare arm’s he used to cover his face with. The crackling flames that prevented him from hearing anything was quieting down and being replaced by a whirring sound that was growing louder. Ash was all flowing towards a single direction. It flew faster, noticeably going the same direction, until all around them, the fire, the smoke and the damned ashes leapt from his vision and concentrated themselves into a single point, the rats spinning tail.

There, standing there before them, was the current bane of his existence. It crouched down and launched himself at them.

He grinned.

“Long-shot!”

“I see him, pull!”

Quake watched carefully, sharp eyes taking in every minute twitch of muscle on their bodies. He bided his time, waiting for the point of no-return to deliver his payload. He felt….weird. He had been flagging, earlier in the fight, using hit and run tactics instead of pressing the attack, but now? It was like a stack of pancakes doused in syrup and sugar had been injected directly into his bloodstream.

He’d never had this much energy before.

Screamer shifted his stance. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, or maybe his perception sped up.

He couldn’t tell.

Vibrations were pouring in through his senses from further than he’d ever thought possible. Not only the city, the surrounding countryside, and even beyond, were within visual clarity for him. The aliens and other people down in the streets below, Kurok, throwing something towards the deck, and something else, just standing there.

He ignored it all.

The rain poured down now, familiar, but missing the lightning that accompanied it the last time he’d seen it. Dark clouds covered the city and travelled farther than the eye could see, casting a shadow only broken by the floating mini-suns that ringed the capital.

Green throat muscles began to bulge and expand as Screamer prepared to suck in down gargantuan amounts of air. Long-shot brought the gun over his left eye and began squeezing his right one shut.

Finally, Screamer’s dark mouth began to open.

‘I’ve got you now!’ Quake though triumphantly. The second his targets mouth began to open, he let his tail uncoil, extending outward and over his head like the turret on a tank. Still rotating, it held a deeper, darker color than before. Sucked and trapped inside, unknowingly being siphoned from, hot ash and smoke span around the length of his drill.

He slammed the drill into reverse.

Long-shot and Screamers eyes widened in horror as the cloud was funneled directly into the green alien’s mouth. Screamer made a strange, strangled groan as his stomach inflated past its normal capacity.

‘I’m going to burst!’ He panicked, horrified at the possibility. Pain coursed through his body as his stomach began to stretch and tear itself open.

Long-shot took a step back in caution, looking on in revulsion as blood began leaking out of green skin.

But where was the rat?

Ignoring Screamer for a second, he looked around wildly, before spotting it.

Hurriedly, he stepped to the side, and not a moment too quick.

Quake burst through the smoke, tail shrunken down, large metal claws forming, and out for blood.

He took a step, reared his arm back and ripped his claws through the air. Five blades of air tore through Screamer, ending his suffering and his life, and flew past Long-shot, missing by a millimeter.

The covering clouds that carpeted the city split apart like an angry god had taken its heavenly blade to it.

Sunlight lovingly enveloped his back and began to dry the blood and water that coated him.

Miles of bright, blue sky gave Long-shot the clearest view of the terrible scene.

The mutilated carcass of what was his comrade, no, his best friend, lay butchered on the concrete floor in front of him.

“You – you….” Long-shot struggled to find the right way to express his feelings, but the words came quickly enough. Snarling, he pulled his gun up and aimed directly at Quakes head.

“I’ll kill you for that!”

Quake looked at him impassively from where he stood, then looked upwards.

‘He’s ignoring me? That bastard.’

“You little fu-“

The object of Quakes attention slammed into the ground.

Viscera sprayed out like a popped water balloon as Jeck ground what was left of Kaz’buls obliterated skull into the pavement.

The rat and the cloaked mans gazes met, then slowly turned and stared directly at him.

He reeled back in fear.

‘He killed Kaz’bul, how?! This is bad. I can’t fight them two on one.’

He steeled himself.

‘But I won’t go down without a fight.’

Raising the Downwinder once more, he aimed straight at Quake and pulled the trigger.

“Die!”

The two just stared at him as the gun failed to fire.

‘Why is my neck so cold?’

A shadow fell over his back, engulfing him, a chill ran down the back of his spine….

“Nyahahaha! Sorry, I’m a bit late to the party.”

….and a giant hand wrapped around his neck.

“Grk.”

Crack.

Dropping Long-shots body to the ground, Julius looked at the two eagerly. “Did I miss much?”

Jeck stood up straight and looked around at the clouds of ash floating in the air, the jungle growing out of the deck, the small fires that still littered the ground, Kurok pulling himself over the railing, and the corpses at their feet.

Him and Quake shared another look then shook their heads in unison.

“Nah.”