Senli tore up everything around her, and found the refiner in perfect condition. It nearly brought her to tears yet again as she examined it closely, proud of what she’d done. And the girl was so caught up in the moment that she didn’t see the unhinged limb flailing right towards it.
Mere inches from her face, the mouth screeched at her, only to be blasted away before it could gnash its attack. Xard swooped down in front of the girl, firing endless shots at the horde of limbs headed their way. He burst back up into the air and started to inch away, trying to pull the monster back away from the girl that had captured its attention.
Senli went to grab the floating orb so that she could escape and remove herself from the equation, but before she could, Xard screamed in pain, practically blowing out their comms from the piercing noise.
It seemed the monster had wised up to his tricks and realized it couldn’t harm him with any old attack. So instead of trying to beat the man down with one of its limbs, it sprouted one suddenly and struck towards his arm. The monstrous maw wrapped around the redhead’s hand and shot up his arm where its jagged teeth pierced right through his suit and dug into the man’s flesh just beneath his shoulder.
Xard desperately tried to rip himself free from the clamping mouth but to no avail. So he stopped for a second, focusing his energy, and then he shot a huge blast from his consumed hand. He went jetting backwards, slamming into green ground a few dozen feet away.
Fortunately, his arm had come with him in one piece, though just barely. It was mangled to bits, the monster’s teeth having maintained its grip the entire time, tearing trenches down his flesh from his shoulder to his fingers. Xard’s golden blood poured out of him as he writhed, and his exposed flesh was instantly irritated and rashing from the bite and likely the decaying atmosphere around them.
Senli was suddenly at an impasse, devastated by what she’d just witnessed, and the choice that she now had to make. The logical decision, which Xard would certainly want her to make, would be to fly away and secure their escape, counting on the man to take care of himself.
But Cosdammit, she just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t leave him behind, especially since he’d just been put in that situation because of her own failure to pay attention. And she’d be damned if he died because of her negligence.
The redhead was trying to pry himself off the ground with his legs while using his one good arm to continuously fire at the monster, but his attacks were even weaker than before. A dozen limbs swooped down at him, ready to finish the job and rip him to shreds, but Senli made it just in time. She zoomed past while clinging to the orb and grabbed the pack on the back of his suit, scooping him up and out of danger.
“Damn it, you should of—” the man began to complain about her risk.
“Shut up!” the girl wasn’t having it. “We’re getting out of here, Xard!” Even though her voice was determined, their safety wasn’t so assured. The monster had of course resumed its pursuit after them. Neither of them could cloak either, since Xard’s suit had been damaged and would still reveal his damaged arm, and Senli’s had been completely drained of its energy reserve.
“Right, let’s do it,” The Artillery accepted what was happening and made a quick decision. He grunted in pain again, absorbing energy from his rings. However, his energetic jewelry was adorned to his now-limp and still-bleeding arm. The wounds flared as he continued to absorb more Kinets, and what looked like an infection had already started to spread, but the few tattooed numbers that were visible on his arm continued to climb.
The man then lifted his legs and blasted a pulse of energy out of his feet. He and Senli went shooting forward, to the point that the orb had to deactivate its own motion to not be left behind. They crashed into the ground again, next to the rock with the other two hiding Fiends. It gave away their location, but it also gave them a good chunk of distance to work with.
Nathym took the refiner from Senli’s hands immediately, before even attempting to help either of his companions. He shoved a chunk of Nathyum into the waiting compartment and pressed the buttons to make the machine start operating. Only when the process was well underway did he finally consort with the others, and The Eavesdropper was surprised when the device was shoved back into her hands along with the small disk to generate the portal.
“We need to move!” The leader instructed as he picked up Ahvra with both arms and began bolting away before properly explaining the situation.
With her free hand, Senli helped Xard up and then wrapped his right arm around her shoulders while his left drooped to the side, helping him hobble along. Even with the man’s injury, since the two were far more mobile in their daily lives than Nathym was, they were able to catch up with him and match his pace.
“Keep an eye on the refiner, Senli, and mind your hands!” Nathym shouted once they’d hit a good stride. “The rings will turn and revolve as it processes. Once the spiraling glow in the center reaches the outer ring, then it’s finished. Take one of the processed pieces, put it in the portal disk, and then set it anywhere.”
“The portal will take a bit to charge up before we can go through, and we can’t move it once it starts. So we need to make sure we’re as far away from that Cosdamned nightmare before we place it.”
A grunt then exuded from Xard. “I’ve got one more good push in me, group up!” Nathym ran to the man’s limping side, but since neither could hold onto the other, The Engineer quickly tethered their waists together with clips. Senli’s fingers were fumbling too much to do the same, so she just grabbed on for dear life.
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Energy lifted them off the ground about a dozen feet and then the four Fiends went zooming forward. They soared for what felt like a good distance, but any foot farther from the monster could be their salvation. Their pilot, though, was clearly in agony the entire time, sweating from the infection in his arm and the energy that was pulsing through it.
They fell out of the sky as ungracefully as they’d flown, hitting the rusty green ground with a crash that sent them scattering. Senli had managed to hold onto the refiner at least, it nearly cutting into her glove from how tight she’d been grabbing it. But just as she was peeling herself out of the dust, the machine chimed in her ears. 🌐That creature is scary, but it hasn’t yet won. Just a bit further, my job here is done.🌐
Senli pressed the button in the middle to open the hatch, and her eyes lit up at the refined mineral. The Nathyum had been broken down into a bundle of small glowing cubes, all about the size of a standard dice. She plucked one out and set the machine off to the side.
So much of her instinct wanted to check behind her, to see how far away they were from the monster, but her mind refused to let her body do so. She couldn’t think of herself and the danger she was in until the job was done. The girl unhooked the disk that she’d clipped to her suit and pressed another button, a small compartment opened in the middle, and she slotted the cube into it—sliding in perfectly with a satisfying click.
The portal disk accepted it and burst to life with energy, but it was still waiting for confirmation. Senli flipped both activation switches on the sides of the disc—having a built-in failsafe so it couldn’t be turned on by accident. The portal puck floated out of her hands and drifted away a few feet, it then settled on a prime spot, hovering into the air.
Energy then burst forth, spiraling out of it like a vortex tearing through space. The small swirl illuminated with stars, as the ring of tech began communicating with its partner across the universe. It honed in on the gate in Nathym’s workshop, but the picture was twisted and blurred, like a melted painting. And then the girl heard familiar sounds: ambient noise that she’d always taken for granted, but now they were the call of home.
Nathym rushed over to the portal, Ahvra once more secure in his arms, he checked on its progress, and then he began shouting. “This is Nathym. If anyone is there, if anyone can hear this, we’re about to pass through. Once all four of us are on the other side, shut the portal down immediately! We are being pursued! Once again, as soon as we’re through, shut down the portal!”
That message was Senli’s breaking point, and she could no longer resist the gnawing presence at her back, and she turned around. The monster was just at the end of the horizon, but it was approaching with haste. Somehow, the crazed creature seemed to be moving even faster than before at speeds that should have been impossible. It was only a matter of moments until it caught up, until it killed them.
Xard was the last to make it over to the portal, hobbling, clearly in agony. But he still didn’t quit and stand around, waiting for their escape. He bent down to one knee, using it to stabilize himself as he held up his good hand. Energy blasted out of it towards the monster—endless shots, anything to help slow it down or keep it at bay.
Senli joined him, grabbing the pistol at her hip, opening fire. Even though she couldn’t tell if she was helping in the slightest, she didn’t stop or hesitate for even a moment, shooting relentlessly because it was the only thing she could do. And Nathym joined them, holding the pistol under Ahvra’s body, firing to the best of his ability.
The last remaining orb that had barely managed to keep pace with them all this time activated its turret mode and flew back towards the beast, sacrificing itself to give the group even one more second of time. Maybe it had an effect, and maybe it didn’t. It was hard to gauge any change in its speed, but the monster never stopped coming.
“How much longer until we can go?!” Senli cried out, looking back at the portal that was still spinning to life.
Nathym craned his neck, checking again as he continued to fire, “It’s almost done, just a few seconds. Hold on everyone, don’t lose your nerve!”
But it was hard not too, as their deaths loomed ever closer. Countless limbs sprouted from the monster as it drew near, jutting forward and snapping at the Fiends, screeching endlessly as it honed in for the kill.
Senli listened for his cue, but another, familiar voice whispered into her ears. 🟢So I guess this is it then, it’s time for goodbye. It’s a shame that our two worlds couldn’t see eye to eye. But before you head away, back to Rathe, let me give you a warning out of good faith. That monster is relentless, and you’ve taken its treasure. It will cross the stars to hunt you—death by any measure.🟢 The girl wasn’t sure how to take the words, but it wasn’t the time to process them.
“Hold!” Nathym shouted again, unable to hear the world’s warning as the beast closed in on them. “Hold!” he repeated, as it became dangerously close! “Now!” The man dropped his gun, tightening his grip on Ahvra as he leapt through the portal.
◆◆◆
It was an instant transport, right into Nathym’s workshop, but it still muddled with their brains a bit. The Engineer wasn’t expecting the decent sized crowd to be waiting for him as he scanned around, but he ignored their gazes, desperately looking for his comrades on the mission.
Xard and Senli suddenly appeared a second later on either side of him, and the man shouted at the top of his lungs, “Close the portal, close it now!” he glanced back, and let out the biggest sigh of relief as the edges of the portal began to dissipate. They couldn’t see P2 from this side of the portal, but the man had hopes to never see it again.
They were home, they’d made it back safe, and he even felt a bit of rustling in his arms. Ahvra was finally waking up, having entirely missed their fantastical adventure. Yet for some reason, the sense of dread never left him. Danger still loomed. He glanced again, the portal nearly faded out of existence, but before it vanished entirely, a haunting limb shot through the small hole.
Nathym lifted his arms on instinct, hoisting Ahvra out of harm's way. But that was the last bit of energy he could expend, the rest leaving his body all at once. He glanced down, and just under the girl in his arms, one of the monster's limbs protruded. It had gone through his body, ripped through him effortlessly, tearing through his torso as the mouth let out one final screech.
And it was the last thing he saw as his life faded away.