July 6, 2019

Mount Loe

Storm clouds gathered overhead, a stark contrast to the clear skies during the beautifully bloody sunset just a few hours earlier. Rumbles of thunder pierced through the JLTVs, roaring louder than the engines. As Henry and his teams raced down a worn down dirt path, they noticed an enormous flash of purple lightning arcing around the mountain’s peak.

“How did this storm get here so fast? There were almost no clouds earlier and I have detected no traces of elemental magic,” Kelmithus observed. His brows were furrowed in worry. His facial features were illuminated by the scarce brightness originating from the headlights of the vehicles behind them and on occasion, by flashes of lightning as the storm around them picked up.

Emma piped up, suggesting, “The gravitational anomalies must have created unstable pockets of air pressure in the atmosphere! By making molecules lighter, everything drifted upward and so the atmospheric density in this entire region must’ve been affected!”

Henry, struggling to see farther than a truck’s length, responded. “Are we too late?”

The howl of the wind increased in intensity, threatening to drown out the sounds of the passengers within the vehicles. “No, sir! The storm is only localized to the mountain and its immediate surroundings! It’ll pass in a few days once we’ve stopped whatever’s causing these anomalies!”

Henry nodded and continued along the undeveloped dirt path. According to Sage Wellin, the path led directly to the base of the mountain, where an ancient archway stood watch over the entrance to the mountain’s main cave system.

“There is a split in the road just up ahead, past the lake to our left. Remain on the left path, and you shall reach your destination true,” Wellin said.

“Where does the other path lead to?” Ron asked as a flash of lightning revealed the imposing silhouette of Mount Loe, to their right.

“Originally, it served as the main road. Not long after the Nobians began their shrouded rituals and unrestricted experiments, the main road became infested with monsters. Their vile sorcery corrupted the environment around them, much like the grotesque butchering around us now”, Wellin said, gesturing out the window. “Eventually, even the land itself became tainted, and so monsters flocked to this new region of darkness.”

“That sounds quite terrifying and all, but we might have to take the main road. How fast can we get to the mountain?” Henry dismissed the sage’s concerns.

“If it were anyone else asking me, I would vehemently caution against such an action. After witnessing your spectacular weaponry against the Hydra though, and considering the heavenly retribution taking place in the skies, I think it may be prudent to take the faster route.”

“Got it. Still know the way?”

“The main road is well defined; you shall find yourself at ease, unless a monster decides to ambush us.”

Henry frowned. “Hmm. Okay.”

As they approached the intersection, the convoy slowed down and turned to the right. The main road was paved and much wider than the path the convoy had previously taken. A few wooden poles flanked the sides of the road, meant for torches. Up ahead, a swirling vortex hovered over the peak, illuminated by constant flashes of lightning.

“I don’t expect to see any monsters along the path. They may have fled away from the epicenter or perhaps retreated into their shelters to wait out the storm,” Kelmithus said.

“I hope so,” Henry muttered.

The remainder of the drive was uneventful, aside from the frantic beating of hearts and the anxious checking of gear. The entrance to the cave lay ahead, esoterically illuminated by a bright blue glow from within. Those within the convoy looked at the pristine metallic architecture with profound admiration, as it was a striking contrast to the darkness around them.

“Yeah, it’s Homagus alright,” Dr. Jones muttered as the vehicles slowly crawled into the entrance, wide enough to fit two JLTVs side by side.

With the vehicles now safely tucked inside the facility, Henry signaled for the convoy to disembark. “Dr. Jones, can you and Omnis figure out the layout of this place?”

“Yeah.” Immediately, Jones connected to Omnis, evident by the shimmering of his scepter. Wasting no time, he looked back to Henry, having received his answer already. “We need to get to a teleportation room toward the southern end of Section 1 of this complex. From there, we can get to the control room: Section 2. Quickly, follow me,” he said as he began running.

Within minutes, they reached a small door that led to Section 1. Dr. Jones allowed Omnis to unseal the door and as soon as it opened, a shrill, demonic-sounding cry emanated from within. In response, the specialized groups tensed up. Heavy ordnance was pointed at the doorway while the few arcane specialists amongst the groups readied their equipment and mana gems.

“What the hell?” Sarah said.

“I do suppose beasts may have taken residence inside this mountain due to the storm,” Sage Wellin pondered.

Henry sighed. “Kelmithus, is there any way we can see in there? Some sort of sight spell?”

The shadow of a reptilian-like being presented itself by the doorway as Kelmithus responded. The American forces looked at the shadow in horror as they counted the sheer amount of spikes present on the carapace of the beast, alongside bulbous, deformed appendages that can loosely be called tentacles.

“Yes, but such a spell belongs in the Nobians’ realm of expertise. Alternatively, a Divinian could do it through sheer magical prowess alone, but we have neither.” He paused. Then, looking up as if he had just had a revelation, he continued, “Unless… Dr. Jones, can you an Omnis cast such a spell?”

Dr. Jones closed his eyes for a second. “Yes, but this will be a bit taxing on us since we’ve never tried a spell like this before.”

As Jones channeled his magical energies into Omnis, a transparent object took form in front of them. Jones’ eyes glowed a wispy blue as he took control of the summoned entity and guided it into the room. He directed the entity to the ceiling. Looking back down, he saw numerous reptilian beasts feasting upon the remains of Spyders, the corpses of which numbered easily in the hundreds.

The group, noticing Jones’ aghast look of terror and disgust, began clamoring.

“What do you see?” They all asked.

“I see… deformed dinosaurs, like a mutated velociraptor, but three times the size and with way more claws, spikes, and teeth. And… those cysts… Are those tentacles?”

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“How many of them are there?” Henry got Jones back on topic.

“I can count a dozen. They’re all huddled up on the left side of the room munching on Spyders.”

“Can we sneak past them on the right side?”

“Yeah, there’s a bit of cover, but we need to be absolutely silent.”

“Oh, dear…” Henry gripped his N109 tightly as Jones ended his spellcasting.

“Ready?” Jones asked with a smirk.

“We don’t have as much experience spelunking through ancient sites as you do…” Emma said worriedly.

“Oh, just follow me and you’ll be fine.”

The entire group, consisting of 20 people in total, slinked past the doorway and quickly disappeared behind various pieces of Homagus equipment on the right side of the room. Moving from cover to cover, they snuck past the horse of feasting reptilians. One of the beasts suddenly jerked its head upward, causing everyone to immediately stop. It looked around, as if sensing something, before returning to its meal, much to the relief of Henry and his strike team.

Minutes turned into hours for the nervous group as they inched across what seemed to them an entire runway. Eventually, Jones put his fist in the air, signaling to the rest of the group to stop. He then pointed at something in the distance: a doorway. Everyone’s face lit up as they nodded and hurriedly moved to the doorway.

Even next to the doorway, no one dared to let go of their breath. They sweated buckets waiting for Jones and Omnis to unlock the door. Eventually, the door began to slide upward, creating a metal scraping noise in the process. The sound was not much louder than the closing of a metal door back home, but given the context, it may have just been a jet engine.

The group turned back in fear as the door seemed to open slower and slower. The reptilian beasts looked toward the direction of the scraping noise and began to make their way toward the door.

“Oh shit, oh shit!” Jones hissed. “The door’s stuck! It’s not opening all the way!” He frantically clicked away at the control panel by the door.

Everyone’s eyes widened in horror as they turned back toward the leaping beasts. Already, they have traversed the distance of a basketball court. Switching to heavy ordnance, the small group of humans readied their defense.

“Weapons free!” Henry fired a charged shot from his Homagus N109 rifle, which instantly disintegrated the closest reptilian. The resulting cloud of plasma singed the armored carapaces of nearby beasts, causing them to release a powerful ear-piercing cry that travelled effortlessly through the ear plugs of the human combatants.

Henry’s initial attack was followed by a barrage of grenades, rockets, and high-powered spells. Chunks of flesh and dark purple blood decorated the once immaculate Homagus equipment as explosives ripped apart several of the beasts. The American forces, not wanting to waste time reloading their explosive weapons, immediately switched to their primary guns. The staccato of heavy machine gun fire echoed throughout the large hangar while loud bangs, originating from experimental high-velocity rifles occasionally contributed to the orchestra of deadly gunfire.

“Protect the mages!” Henry ordered as the group formed a semicircle around the four mages, excluding Dr. Jones who was still typing away at the panel.

The remaining five reptilians, seeing their comrades cut down mercilessly by magic they had never seen before, scattered. Moving through cover, they worked to flank the group instead of charging at them head on.

“Three right, two left!” Ron called out as he fired a shot from his N25 Homagus blaster, which was skillfully dodged by a reptilian who used a large generator as cover. A field of lightning spurted out from the generator as it malfunctioned, enveloping Ron’s original target in a deadly storm of charged particles, electrocuting it.

Henry, tracking down a new target, fired a charged shot at a large shelf that a reptilian was hiding behind. The sheer power of the shot turned the shelf into plasma, sending burning shrapnel into the beast which immediately cauterized its torso, now separated from its limbs.

“We’re ready!” The mages announced as a blue glow encircled them, increasing in intensity as their spells charged up.

Kelmithus used his batteries in an intelligent fashion, combining magic and science into an enigmatic display of power as he used the electric potential of the batteries to accelerate them to incredible speeds. Each battery he fired produced a thunderclap and a bright blue flash as the objects were sent through the bodies of the remaining beasts and into the surrounding walls. Aranmithus used his selection of corrosive chemicals to melt down the hardened exteriors of the reptilians, sometimes missing and causing valuable Homagus equipment to melt down. Scarnmithus, having studied the applications of thermodynamics in magic, used rune-engraved canisters of liquid nitrogen as pressure bombs, sending them rocketing toward the final group of reptilians, where they exploded on impact. The weakened reptilians, suffering from massive holes in their bodies, acid burns, and freezing cold, were effectively immobilized. The mage from Delta Team then cast his spell: an upgraded variation of the classic spell “fireball”. His plasma bolt impacted the dying beasts with the force of a 120mm smoothbore cannon, sending dust, debris, and bloody chunks of reptilian into the air.

“By the Heavens,” Sage Wellin stated in awe at the spectacle, having never before imagined magic on such a scale of efficiency. “Are you all Divinian?”

“Not at all, good Sage. We have just expanded our knowledge on the mechanisms of existence,” Kelmithus said.

Sage Wellin could only nod, reminding himself to have a discussion with Kelmithus later on.

“Alright, the door is open,” Dr. Jones said.

Breathing heavily, Henry replied, “A bit late.”

Dr. Jones was about to respond, but a group of shrieks interrupted him. “Guess not,” he smiled as he ran through the door, followed by the rest of the group.

They hurriedly rushed through, not daring to look back at the stampeding new horde of reptilians behind them. Henry was the last man to go through the door, and looking back, he watched one of the beasts desperately try to stick its snout through the doorway, only to be decapitated as Jones quickly activated the door’s emergency seal. The head of the beast rolled toward their feet in accordance with the velocity at which the beast was originally running. Eventually, it came to a stop up ahead, in a dark corner by a mound of blood-red gore.

“What the hell?” An operative from Charlie Team said as he approached the bloody mess. As he got close enough to identify the contents, he recoiled backward and turned to his side in order to puke violently.

Henry walked up and easily identified bloodied pieces of armor emblazoned with the insignia associated with the Imperial Guard. He frowned at the sight; these Nobians certainly did not deserve a fate such as this, he thought to himself. In the pile lay hundreds of bones and half-eaten limbs, even a human head with a look of horror frozen on it.

“Let’s keep moving,” he said solemnly. “Keep your guard up; whatever did that to these men could still be lurking around here.”

Jones, who was still suffering from the effects of mana exhaustion, notified the rest of the team that he could not produce another scout spell, much to everyone’s dismay. Still, they pressed onward. Occasionally, rumbles of thunder penetrated the thick walls of the mountain complex, reminding them of the stakes of their mission.

Dutifully checking their corners and peering into each hallway, the trained specialists ensured that no monster would be able to ambush them. With Jones taking point, they moved as quickly and as quietly as possible to the teleportation chamber, easily distinguished by a yellow glowing sign that heavily resembled elevator signs back on Earth.

Jones ran up to a terminal where he began working to secure a connection between the facility systems and Omnis. “Just give me a sec… Alright, I’ve set our destination to Section 2. From there, we can run a diagnostic and identify any anomalous energy sources in the facility, while also getting a map of the entire complex.”

“Good.” Henry stepped onto the platform located in front of the terminal, followed by everyone else.

“Sensors say Section 2 teleportation chamber is clear. Hopefully the same can be said for the control room… Teleportation in three, two, one!”

A bright flash occurred and aside from Alpha Team, everyone experienced slight vertigo. The experience wasn’t as jarring as Alpha Team’s first encounter with a teleportation device thanks to a thoughtful design of the chamber itself. The chamber for Section 2 looked identical to the previous chamber, protecting travelers from instantaneous changes in environment.

Guns raised, they immediately pushed out of the chamber and into the control room, which was connected directly via a short hallway, unlike the labyrinth around Section 1’s hangar. Jones moved up to unlock the door, and he noticed a collective sigh behind him as it was revealed that the control room was empty. Looking much more like a typical Homagus installation, the control room was devoid of interference or any signs of struggle. Still, a perimeter was established as Jones and Emma got to work on the Homagus interfaces.

“Captain, use the holographic controls to pull up the schematics.”

Emma nodded and a three dimensional model of the entire complex fizzled into existence above a table.

“Now, I’m going to run through some scans. The model should highlight anything unusual in red. Let me know if you see anything.”

“Okay.”

“Searching for life signs now.”

Numerous green dots appeared throughout the facility, each one denoting a single life sign. Clouds of orange identified thermal signatures.

Emma squinted at the model, analyzing each section for anomalies. “There’s Section 1… two dozen or so signatures with a yellow cloud. Makes sense; reptilians are cold blooded. There’s us. Section 2 is empty aside from ourselves. All other sections below us are empty as well, except for Section 10, which has one life sign and an incredibly dense red cloud.” She frowned at the sight, wondering what it could be.

“How about above?”

Emma shifted the model downward, scrolling up toward the peak. “Oh! Almost a hundred signatures at the Enigma Lab at the peak. That’s gotta be the Nobians!”

“Alright. Switching sensors to energy.”

“Huge energy readings down in Section 10 and through a conduit leading to the Enigma Lab. Looks like whatever’s powering the storm around us is in Section 10. We should shut it down before confronting the Nobians at the peak.”

“Hold on, what about that one life sign you saw down there?” Henry asked. “With that amount of heat, it has to be some sort of monster!”

Emma smiled, “Oh don’t worry sir! We can shut it off here, but it’s gonna take some time to bypass the system.”

Henry and his men breathed sighs of relief. “Well alright. You two stay here, I’ll bring the rest of us to the top. Dr. Jones, mind running is through on how to use this teleporter?”

“Sure thing,” he replied as they walked back toward the chamber. “Now, the controls are pretty similar to an old analog machine. These arrow-like buttons let you select your destination, and that big square button to the right of them is to initiate the teleportation process. The default countdown is for 10 seconds, and try not to make it to the platform too late. I have no clue what’ll happen to someone in between normal space and the platform’s teleportation field.”

Henry looked at Jones.

“Kidding. Good luck, Major.” He exited the chamber and went to join Emma.

Henry, following Jones’ instructions, prepared the machine and followed the rest of his team onto the platform. A bright flash of light soon enveloped the room and Henry and his men found themselves looking straight at a couple of Nobian Imperial Guards.

“Boo!” Henry said as he and his men raised their weapons.