The Quiludians had spent most of their lives waiting eagerly for the awakening of the planet, but now that it had arrived all they wanted was for it to stop screaming. It is hard to describe the noise it made, so just picture in your head the loudest sound you’ve ever heard and multiply that by ten and you’ll get the picture. The sound itself made the entire planet shake, people ran and screamed as their gold houses started to rattle and collapse, needless to say, there was quite the panic. Back on top of the mountain, where just seconds before the group was about to meet their demise at the ends of Oath-Blades, they had the perfect view of all the chaos.
Xulut-Indula has just seen her faith proven right before her eyes, everything lesson and every prayer coming to fruition in the matter of a single day. It dawned on her like the world's worst sunrise that she had just attempted to kill the Goddess herself, which by all religious standards is a big no-no. The Priestess flung herself to the ground, which was rather easy with the immense shaking occurring, and plopped herself in front of Sophia. “My Goddess, I beg for your forgiveness!”
“Fool!” Shouted Zerat-Mondul. “Don’t you see, she is still a False Goddess, she even admitted it herself!”
“You are the fool here, Guard!” The Priestess snapped back. “Look around you, do you not see what’s happening with your own eyes?”
The Royal Guard was perfectly fit to see what was happening, all three of his eyes had scored a perfect 20-20 on the test. But when one is angry and feeling humiliated, the vision tends to narrow- and right now all he could focus on was the woman who had just made a mockery of him. With a sour glint in his eye, he raised his sword to her and screamed, “men! Kill the heretics, now!”
All the guards exchanged a glance at each other, but none of them moved. Alex was thankful for the pause, he rather enjoyed living. Quickly he staggered to his feet, covering his ears to try and shield them from the terrible noise. “Don’t you see?” He shouted; the ruse apparently wasn’t over quite yet. “It was a, uh, test! To see your devotedness! She truly is the Goddess, just look around!”
Zerat-Mondul did not care for logic at the moment, his heart was governing his decisions, not his brain. “I know your tricks; I know your lies!” He spat, moving closer to where Sophia was positioned atop the altar. “You are Blasphemers, and Blasphemers must be punished!”
Neil gasped as the Royal Guard made a lunge at Sophia with his blade. The girl only barely managed to dodge out of the way, falling to her side and rolling off the altar. Despite Sophia’s strength and athleticism, she knew she was no match for a guard that had been training all his life- not to mention said guard had a sword while she had only her bare hands.
“Men!” Zerat-Mondul screamed, his face leaving all its orange behind and only keeping the red. “You heard my orders, kill them!”
It was at this moment Neil knew if he froze now, he would surely get killed. He moved away from the guard who had put him to his knees and retreated toward Alex. The guards were spurned out of their inaction by their leader and now, reluctantly, readied their swords.
Breathing heavily Neil counted them. Four, all fit and strong. They’ve got swords and they clearly know how to use them. We’ve got nothing… no weapons, no way out of this Force-Field thing, shit… what do we do? He glanced around him, noticing the crowd. Maybe if we can get out, we could lose them in the crowd? No, there’s a chance that they’d listen to Zerat-Mondul and try and kill us too… Wait, no, watch out! Neil screamed out as he watched a guard rush over to Timothy, blade ready to kill.
Timothy hadn’t noticed what the guards were doing, his eyes were transfixed on the crumbling city before him. There was so much smoke, he could see that fires had started in the street. Above the city, he could see that already people were fleeing upwards to the sky, to space no doubt. He wished that he could fix it all, he wished that he could stop the screaming planet, and also wished that the guard right next to him wouldn’t kill him right now.
The guard slashed his sword out, and Timothy barely had time to react due to Neil’s scream. He ducked just in time and immediately began crawling on his hands and knees as fast as he could to get away. “Wait just a moment!” He cried as the guard made another unsuccessful attempt at his life. “Sir, you look like a nice person! Could you not kill me, please? That would be lovely!”
The guard did not respond instead he grabbed the boy his hair and raised him up to his feet. Timothy screamed- you try getting pulled by your hair like that. Now he was dangling an inch off the floor, the pressure on his scalp was unbearable. “Death to the heretics.” The guard murmured as he shoved his sword into where he thought would be Timothy’s stomach.
But unlike all the other people the guard had put to the blade in his life, Timothy was built differently- he was built like an inflatable dummy at a car dealership. With a twist of his body, he barely managed to maneuver himself out of the way of the sword. The guard was surprised when he didn’t hit his mark.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Put me down!” Timothy pleaded.
On the other end of the force field, Alex knew he had to do something to help his friend, but he was blocked by the other two approaching guards. One had particularly beady eyes while the other had a noticeable scar on his chin, both looked hesitant- which was maybe something he could use. Alex stepped in front of Neil, putting out his hands in a soothing motion. “I know you have your orders, but look around you, is this not proof enough that she truly is the Goddess?” The guards looked around but still kept creeping closer.
Neil knew that he had to risk it, or else Timothy was a goner. He darted quickly, passing by the two guards as fast as he could. The one with the scar reacted by running after him, the other stuck with Alex. With all the calmness he could possibly muster, Alex straightened his tie.
Back at the altar, Sophia was having a hard time not dying. She struggled to her feet; the Royal Guard was already on her. He raised his sword and brought it down on her side, she could feel the gash, but the adrenalin kept her from feeling the pain. “Leave me alone!” She yelled as she shoved him back with all her might.
The Guard stumbled but caught himself. “Only when your dead!”
Another lunge, Sophia dodged out of the way again by ducking to the side and giving herself partial coverage with the altar. She felt as her foot touched something on the ground, looking she saw all the ceremonial objects she had knocked off earlier. Quickly, she bent down and grabbed the first thing her fingers touched.
Zerat-Mondul was surprised when he was hit in the face by a chalice, it took the wind out of his sails for only a moment. “I swear I’ll rip you…” He was then hit in the face by a giant book titled ‘The Goddess in Green- Hard Hitting Truths about the Prophecy.’ “Ah!”
Neil could see the alien guard priming for another stab at Timothy, he knew this time he wouldn’t be so unlucky as to miss. One guard behind me, one on Tim, one on Alex, and Zerat-Mondul on Sophia, this isn’t good.
In the firm grip of the guard, Timothy watched as his friend came running over and, with a sort of pained war cry, barreled headfirst into his attacker. The guard let his grip go and Timothy fell to the floor on his feet, which is something that Neil couldn’t say for himself. He and the guard he had so bravely tackled fell to the ground beside each other, “Run!” Screamed Neil as he desperately tried to wrestle with the guard.
Timothy looked back and saw the guard with the scar right next to him. He raised his hands defensively but to his surprise the man ignored him, instead turning his attention to the fight on the ground. “Wait, no, don’t hurt him!” He shouted, but of course, the guard did not listen.
Neil was dead if he didn’t do something, Timothy knew he had to fight back. He ran over to the approaching guard and slapped him on the back of the neck. The slap was… it was… let’s just say that newborn babies have been slapped harder. It was so pathetic that at first the guard assumed that it was just a bug, but when he turned, he realized that this strangely shaped fool was trying to fight him. “You brought this on yourself!” The guard rushed towards his foe; his honor challenged.
In response, Timothy rushed back but stopped when he was pushed all the way to the force field, he was cornered. Not wasting any time, the guard stabbed as hard as he could, aiming for the neck. It would seem that Timothy was 2-0 when it comes to avoiding certain death today as he ducked just in time for the blade to go whizzing over his head.
The sword struck the Force Field behind him and suddenly a loud buzz rang out. Force Fields were like that- they don’t let anything in, but they don’t let anything out either. The blade cracked in half as a bright blue light repelled the guard back, like two positive ends of a battery. The broken end of the sharp sword flew up in the air, spiraling until it found its landing- unfortunately straight into the knee of the guard Neil was wrestling with. The man screamed out in agony, giving the boy in the tattered coat enough time to scrabble to his feet.
“Listen,” Alex pleaded to the beady-eyed guard. “Look at your commander, does it seem like he has his wits about him.”
Currently, Zerat-Mondul was under a barrage of chalices, holy scriptures, and the occasional candle. He was glowing redder than a tomato and trying violently to strike out at a girl behind an altar- all the while the planet itself was on fire behind them with two giant eyes and a screaming mouth. The guard silently nodded, “no, no it doesn’t.”
Alex breathed a sigh of relief. “Great, then you should help us! Come help me… wait, what are you doing?”
The beady-eyed guard dropped his sword to the ground and slowly walked over to the force field. With a kick to one of the orbs, the devices shut off and the blue light disappeared. He turned back to Alex, “I really don’t get paid enough for this, man.” He said as he departed through the crowd.
The brief disappointment in Alex’s heart subsided when he noticed that the crowd of people that had gathered to watch the event had greatly subsided. The mountaintop was almost bare of people, Helilifts had already begun departing. He didn’t have to wonder why for long.
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHH!!!
The screaming planet boomed to the heavens, so loudly that the next planet over in the system was able to hear it. The mountain shook and buckled; houses fell as the ground itself split open. Tallizumdul followed suit, the shaking was so violent it was like it was a limp straw in the wind. Everyone there was immediately thrown to the ground, which seems to be a running theme here, but unfortunately Sophia wasn't so lucky.
“Sophia!” Timothy shouted, his eyes going wide.
Xulut-Indula, who had been cowering in a corner from all the violence, screamed as she watched the Goddess desperately try to cling onto something as she slid off the edge of the mountain.