“Get him, Death Rainbows!”
“Which one?”
“The not human one! The one that’s attacking us, idiot!”
“Desiccation Chains!”
Pink chains emerged from a man’s outstretched hands, wrapping around Tandol’s chest.
Water just vanished on contact with the magic chains.
The outworld invader destroyed them with a sweep.
He thrust the same hand forward, thrusting a dark water spear down.
A large man swapped places with the smaller one and met the spear with a battleaxe slash.
Water sizzled into steam upon contact with the red hot axe blade.
“Fire beats water, bitch!”
Alin rose as in the next breath Tandol swept the large man off the rooftop with a crashing wave.
“Shit!”
An even larger woman dived for the flailing man, but just missed.
Dark water spears rained down on the roof top.
Alin blocked with his ever lightening shield.
The adventurers did the same or died.
The large woman resembled a pincushion for a moment before the dark water spears fell away, revealing skin deep wounds.
She grabbed a large AC unit, fingers crinkling the thin metal shell like paper.
Tandol slid down the water spout to avoid the blocky missile.
Dark water trident thrust for the woman’s steel-armored chest.
She grabbed between the prongs with one hand and stepped into a straight cross into the outworld invader’s chest with the other.
Coral chips exploded like a frag grenade as she sent Tandol sliding across the wet rooftop almost to the edge.
He surged forward like a jet boat.
Alin’s downward cut just missing.
The large woman punched, but he dived between her legs.
Dark water tendrils emerged from his hands, wrapping around her ankles.
The large, screaming missile crashed into a building on the other side of the street faster than almost anyone else on the roof could react.
Alin lunged with a thrust to the underside of Tandol’s raised right arm.
The outworld invader twisted and sent a powerful spray of dark water up from the rooftop, forcing him to pull back.
They fought across the rooftop, too fast for the survivors of the militia and adventuring band to follow.
Dark water weapons froze and shattered even as steel and iron chipped.
Blade and shield broke.
Tandol slipped for the first time.
Alin grabbed the outworld invader.
Jagged coral and fin spines cut and pricked his flesh.
He grabbed underhooks.
Despite being as small as a 10 year old girl, Tandol was still stronger than him despite what he had taken from the snake hydra.
But… he had the right hold and leverage as he got his hips lower than the outworld invader’s.
“Pitch him over here!”
The large woman called from street level.
Being slammed into a building had only given her a bloody nose and a few more scrapes and bruises.
She waved a light pole like baseball bat.
Alin turned Tandol with his underhooks as the outworld invader tried to sink his hips lower to regain the leverage advantage.
“You’re a lot heavier than you look.”
Alin spun and tossed Tandol.
“But not that heavy.”
A bright red and orange ball flew into the dark night with a crack of the bat.
The people whooped.
“Going! Going! Gone!”
“She went yard, baby!”
The large woman leapt from street to rooftop in a single bound.
“Hey!” she grinned, holding up a hand. “You’re strong!”
“Thanks.” He left her hanging. “You should all head to the university. That’s an emergency shelter, right? The north part of the city’s a loss and you don’t want to be isolated here when the rabbit people come.”
No time to explain.
He left their shouts and demands for answers as he ran and leapt after Tandol.
They reunited further north.
Several city blocks away.
A manticore much bigger than a tiger lay draped over a half-burned truck.
Its brown fur dripped brine and blood on the partially-eaten remains strewn around the truck.
Tandol ripped its large stinger and hurled it in one smooth motion.
Alin deflected it with the remains of his shield.
“Where is the blood in your body? In my experience those that don’t bleed like normal people are things to fear and destroy before they bring calamity.”
Gray wisps streamed from an uncountable number of cuts and gouges across his skin.
Wet clothing shredded beyond recognition.
Magic shield charms and other enchanted protection items long destroyed or rendered inert. Lost, scattered across the streets and rooftops.
All that he had left were the broken remnants of an enchanted iron shield strapped to his left arm and the bags and pouches of holding on his belt for those were the highest quality items in his possession.
He dipped into one and flicked a grenade across the distance.
Impossible to track with human eyes and reaction time.
Tandol raised a wall of dark water even faster.
Fire bloomed.
Steam erupted.
Alin lunged through the gap longsword point first.
Dark water streamed from Tandol’s back.
Ice and steel shattered.
They fought across the dark streets.
Monsters and people died in their wake while buildings crumbled.
All that Alin had learned of proper sword technique and footwork from Hanna fell away.
Things like managing distance didn’t matter when a single step could carry them a dozen meters.
Dark water spears pierced him through the chest and stomach.
Tandol thrust hands forward driving them in until hands in the gray suddenly seized his limbs and pulled them back.
Faint orange claws flashed in the gray, scraping orange and yellow scales off the outworld invader’s face.
Alin swept his fifth longsword across the spears.
Ice fell with him to the ground.
No thinking, just action.
There wasn’t any room for anything else in his head.
Muscle memory from countless hours training in the danger complex and the mindscapes.
Charge forward!
Tandol moved as if a normal human underwater, not like he was of a species adapted to life beneath the waves.
Alin’s relatives.
Their echoes.
A dozen superstrong hands fought to hold the outworld invader.
Dark water surged from everywhere in the blasted remains of the building.
Children’s toys scattered with the detritus of broken brick and masonry.
A touch of the longsword to freeze, punch through behind his broken half of a shield.
Discard broken steel.
Punch broken shield edge into throat.
Embrace and tackled.
Punch.
Knee.
Gouge.
Rip.
Use the gray!
Somehow he ended up on top of the tiny Tandol.
Right hand squeezing neck.
So thin.
But nearly as unyielding as a steel pipe.
Blows thundered in the wet space.
Cuts and stabs felt distant.
The iron shield in his left hand deformed before Tandol’s face did.
Sharp teeth chipped.
Drain! Drain! Drain!
No!
Not too much!
… you’ll die if you don’t…
The resistance broke at some point as Alin kept pulling at Tandol’s life.
The gray smoke streaming from his many cuts and stab wounds dwindled as they slowly closed.
Tandol’s struggles weakened until they ceased.
How long had it taken?
He pulled and pulled, welcoming the coming tide, ushering up the beach and onto the streets, deep into the city.
Like a tsunami.
A distant presence in the ocean seemed to call out plaintively. Crying for the dark water to return to where it belonged.
The small hand slipped on the wet rope as he cruelly pulled on his end.
Stop it!
Alin blinked at the voice.
Not his.
A woman.
Older, much older.
And long dead.
He recoiled from the corpse.
The bright red and orange had faded to dull hues as if bleached by months under a harsh coastal sun.
Tandol was dead.
Desiccated beyond recognition.
Dried skin and bones.
Alin breathed deeply.
In and out.
Not under control.
Too close!
Too far!
His voice.
He felt it.
Knew it, despite part of him trying to come up with denials that would be false.
“Almost…”
He had almost taken everything from the outworld invader.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Almost added another echo to the gray for the first time in his life.
Thunder cracked, shaking the building.
Lightning flashed, illuminating the darkness inside the broken store.
Right.
The battle wasn’t over.
He struggled to focus on the protocols.
Mist Spekters— he was a Mist Spekter.
Not a Rayna’s Ranger or anything else.
The cover story had to be maintained.
Still…
His body felt on fire, surging with stolen power.
So much of it.
More than he had ever held at any one time.
Disgust roiled up from his gut, but he swallowed it back down.
Protocols?
The orphanages were in the eastern part of the city.
Head there, but first…
Tandol had shredded his clothing.
Even the Threnosh onesie had been practically destroyed.
He pulled a new one out of his bag of holding.
Put on his armor.
Replaced the helmet Tandol had destroyed.
A new ear piece.
Static.
Just like the time the demigod and Americans attacked his home.
He regarded Tandol for a moment.
Coral and scale armor went into his bag of holding.
Along with the small, cylindrical backpack half-filled with dark water.
Everything on the outworld invader felt highly magical.
Even the otherwise plain green belt that looked to be woven out of kelp and the pouches and small bags of the same material.
That one he looped over his shoulder and across his torso.
It actually stretched to fit without issue despite not appearing to be adjustable at first glance.
The last thing he did before heading back out was to place a beacon with a short explanation on Tandol.
Once the interference was gone it’d be picked up by one of the satellites and someone would come.
Enemy or not, Tandol hadn’t felt like a truly evil person and it was wrong just to leave him there for the monster, animals and the elements.
He ran and leapt, catching snippets of the wider battle.
Monsters mostly.
Only the harpies counted as sapient.
Sharpened senses allowed him to hear and see at distances beyond his norm, even in the low light environment.
The familiar whine of a mini jet engine drew his attention.
A sudden orb of bright blue-white light flashed. Tiny in the distant sky, but he knew that it encompassed the same area as a large home by Southern California standards.
He saw blackened skeletons fall with a puff of charred feathers
Harpies.
Instantly vaporized of soft tissue by the Emerald Raptor’s weapon.
Colin was up there somewhere on his flying wing, dogfighting amid the scintillating beams of magic and thumping flak cannons.
An explosion against a skyship’s armored hull cast its huge silhouette for a moment.
Harpies or other flying monsters mobbed it like flies surrounding a cape buffalo.
He heard them before he saw them.
High-pitched screams.
Alternating so that it almost sounded continuous.
From one instead of many.
A sound only ever heard on Earth in one of his dad’s mindscape training sessions.
“No way…”
They actually did it.
“No-fucking-way…”
The American leaders knew.
His dad confirmed it with a simple scan of their thoughts.
Did the demigod convince them to do this?
Or was it their idea?
They surged down the streets from the north.
From the portals in the sky.
Robust enough to survive a fall from any height with twisted ankles at worst.
Much stronger, quicker and tougher than a baseline human at peak physical condition.
Not a huge threat as individuals to anyone with a combat class over Level 20.
Which was a moot point because they moved in large groups as part of their natural state. And when used as weapons they were much more effective let loose in a horde.
Whether it was the demigod or the Americans that wanted to wipe every single living Earthian from the city didn’t matter.
Only the result did.
He broke protocol to try to send an emergency alert.
An old smartphone.
Not out of place in a Mist Spekter’s possession.
The Omninet was ubiquitous.
His dad wanted to give access to as many people as possible.
Information was the most important thing people in power could control.
The more there was available the harder it became for them to lie to their people.
“This is Goldenspoon. Rabbits are on the field. I repeat. Rabbits are on the field.”
He gave his location.
The system would log and ping it for everyone that viewed the message, but redundancy was good.
He had no idea if it had gone through, but the as long as the phone was not in a bag of holding it would continue to attempt to transmit.
Hopefully, people on the channel in the surrounding area would get it sooner and pass it on to the other local fighters.
At least some of them should know what was coming.
If they had read the monsterpedia entry on the rabbit people.
Which wasn’t a given.
Protocols were out the window depending on the size of the horde and it certainly sounded huge.
He had to fight them.
The gray was suited to the task.
He followed the high-pitched scream to an intersection.
A barricaded position with makeshift mobile walls made with working buses modified with roof-mounted guns and armored sides which protected more shooters inside behind iron plates and bars.
They filled the street.
Short, white fur already dyed pink, red and other colors of blood.
Bullets and spells ate them alive, but they didn’t care.
The rabbit people only had room for three desires in their otherwise sapient brains.
Eat, kill and breed.
In no particular order, nor even separated.
One or the other or all at the same time.
It made them insane.
Bullets in the head or chest didn’t drop them instantly.
Minutes!
They lasted minutes longer than a lion with a slug in the heart that would still go on to maul the hunter to death before it finally dropped.
They reached the bus blocking the street.
Clawed fingers ripped at the armor plating and bars.
The defenders activated the electricity, cooking the rabbit people alive and momentarily halting the advance.
But, the power ran out.
And the horde clambered up the charred, smoking bodies of their brethren to eat machine gun bullets, then the people manning the guns.
Alin enveloped the entire street with gray.
No thinking, just action.
Drained the rabbit people to within a centimeter of death.
He stopped because their lifeforce was repulsive, worse than most monsters.
Made so because of the fact that they were sapient.
How many were there?
Over a thousand.
Just on that one street.
He could still hear the high-pitched screams.
“Hey! You! Hands where I can see them!”
He leapt from the rooftop to land in front of the speaker.
A young woman.
Blood streaked her face and armor.
She had a pistol in one hand and a katana in the other.
“Get back!”
“Hands up!”
“On your knees!”
Contradictory commands filled the air as weapons snapped to him.
“Alin. Mist Spekters. If you don’t know what those things are check the monsterpedia on the Omninet.”
“Connection’s down,” the young woman said.
“Well, keep trying.”
“He’s a merc.” An old man swiped on his smartphone. “Name’s on the roster. New company. Only a few months old. Founder was a Golden Eagle. Local kid. I recognize the name. Grew up in Ms. Daniel’s home for boys.”
The young woman grunted. “Who?”
“Galen Alvarado.”
She nodded. “Weapons down, guys.” She shook Alin’s hand. “Flora’s the name. I spent some time in Ms. Daniel’s home for girls before I got adopted. I don’t know your captain, but this isn’t the time and place to worry too much about anything else except the monsters in front of us. So, you know something about those rabbit people things?”
“Read the monsterpedia.”
“We established that’s impossible right now.”
“Eat, breed and kill. Those are the only things in their heads. The order doesn’t matter. They’ll change them up in an instant. Kill them all before they wake up. Then fall back to the university. You don’t want to get surrounded by the horde. Best chance is massed and constant fire because they don’t do tactics when there’s the scent of people in the air. Straight line charge. That’s what they’ll do.”
The university was to the south, a little north of the river, closer to the center of the city.
There were other emergency shelters, but it was the most heavily defended one.
He cleared one of the buses in a single bound and ran to the next closest location.
This time he was too late.
The stench would’ve gagged a maggot.
Blood and other body fluids had been smeared everywhere.
Half-eaten bodies with their armor and clothing ripped off were scattered all over the street.
There were more rabbit people corpses than human, but that was cold comfort to the people that suffered terribly before they died.
Some things weren’t meant to be seen by sapient eyes.
He ran on before the scene could burn itself into his memory further.
Interceptor Threnosh dropped out of the sky before he could track down the rabbit people.
“Greetings. Designation: Alin of the Mist Spekters. We are Threnosh. From the upworld to your home. You do not know of our existence, but do not take offensive actions. We have been contracted by Designation: Galen of the Mist Spekters, who we also only met for the first time this night. We are to deliver you to said Mist Spekters.”
The Threnosh’s face was hidden by the gleaming faceplate.
Their armors were identical, except for scorch marks, torn metal and other battle damage.
The Threnosh’s voice was flat and without inflection as normal, but much louder as it was being enhanced by the helmet speakers despite being close enough for unenhanced speech.
“Uh… hello. Threnosh? Is that what you are? Nice to meet you for the first time ever. Thank you for the offer, but I must decline. Perhaps you may assist me in another way. I could use some help in finding the closest group of rabbit people.”
The Threnosh didn’t seem to hear him as they quickly connected a carrying harness to their armors.
“Negative, Designation: Alin of the Mist Spekters. We have been ordered by Commander Hayden to comply with Designation: Galen of the Mist Spekters’ official request. She has provided a message in the event of your refusal.”
The Threnosh played it without waiting on him, but at a much lower volume.
“Get your ass moving!” Hayden sounded strained. “The battle’s still falling within projections. The kids have been evac’d to a skyship. The rest of the evac is ongoing. That congresswoman and some of the diplomatic team are already with Galen getting ready to bail on this place. It’ll be hard to insert you farther up the road without any of them noticing if you don’t get your ass over there now!”
He was tempted to ignore them all.
But the lesson his parents had drilled into his head since he had gotten his powers played in his head.
Having power didn’t mean he could do whatever he wanted.
He didn’t have the wider view of the battle that Hayden and the others did, which meant he had to trust that they were making the right call.
They’d do the same for him had their positions been reversed.
“Okay. Let’s get going, strangers from another world.”
He sighed as he put the harness on.
He didn’t like it, but the battle was over for him.
----------------------------------------
Washington, D.C., Spring 2055
The ornate flask thrummed in his palm.
“Everything in gold,” he mused. “I find it garish and idiotic. It’s just calling for attention. Look at me, I’m very valuable, please steal me. Wouldn’t something plain be better? Like wood?”
“That would be instantly vaporized, honored demigod.”
“One of the metal woods? Enchanted. Although, using the adamantine tree to make a container, no matter how crucial, is a waste of resources.”
“Adamantine… tree…”
“Ah! Forgive me Kerkestis, that is supposed to be a great big secret. My father will be wroth with me.”
“If you request it, I shall never speak of it.”
“Not even if Sunor commands it?” Suiteonemiades waved a meaty hand. “Tell everyone. I truly don’t care. It’s not like father or any of the Gods are going to be coming to this world anytime soon. Still… look at this thing.”
The flask was more like a jug.
Close to a gallon to use the local measurement system.
The outer surface of the enchanted mythril was gilded in fine, gold filigree depicting some God or an other's triumphant story in the style seen on many a vase and urn.
“Do you know what’s inside this thing, Kerkestis?”
The Eidolon of Sunor demurred.
“Really, it’s fine. I’ve told you that I don’t stand on formality unlike most useless demigods. Free tongues pave the way for free minds, after all.”
The eidolon hesitated a moment.
“I do not,” she ventured.
“Blood… and an alchemist’s cabinet worth of potions. At least 3 of which are deadly poisons.” He sighed. “Would you like me to explain or would you prefer I simply give you my command?”
This time she didn’t hesitate.
“The more information I have the better I will be able to carry your will forward.”
“You are refreshing, Kerkestis! I’m used to my father’s eidolons and all they ever want to do is violence. On enemies, allies, each other… random people on the street. It’s exhausting.”
“I only do as my nature compels me.”
“Well, you’re not nearly as domineering as one of Sunor’s scions. Granted we aren’t equal. But, that can’t be helped. Now. This thing.” He held the huge flask out. “Blood and alchemy. Very secret and very rare. I’m not supposed to reveal this, but who cares? I don’t!” He grinned. “Although, she did place a geas on it…” he mused, “so I better not say her name. Anyways. The God or Goddess, who may or may not claim dominion over prophecy, foresight, so and so forth, mixed his or her blood with the blood of a hundred thousand high level seers, oracles, prophets, so and so forth. Add in the rest of the terrible and powerful substances. Mix together during an auspicious alignment of a solar system’s planets. All while sacrificing the souls of a million unborn— sapients, naturally.” He rolled his eyes.
“That is—”
“Staggeringly wasteful? I know. Think of what those million children could’ve gone on to become or their children and children’s children? Regardless, it was all done an eon or two ago.” He shrugged. “Whether he or she foresaw this moment? He or she isn’t saying. But, between you and me, I call a steaming pile of trihorn shit. An old bull. One of the 15 to 20 tonners.”
“To send such a— a large amount of resources to this world? Why?”
“Ah! There’s that inquisitiveness! Father doesn’t tell me anything, but I can only think Sunor had a word. Not much else could’ve gotten him or her to part with this.” He tossed it suddenly.
Kerkestis caught it like a precious child of the Gods.
“Would not such a thing of power risk the delicate balance?”
“It’s an indirect sort of power. Those we vie with have sent greater things. Ultimately, it is still in our hands, which maintains the lie of a balance.” He regarded the eidolon. “Truly I regret the command I’m about to give you. I know you’ve been working hard to cultivate this nation’s oracular talents. Lots of boys and girls working hard to level and learn good technique and skill. None of that weird sexual stuff you tend to find in most oracular sects. Who knew putting young kids in the hands of dirty old men would lead to that?”
“I… I endeavored to avoid such excesses.”
“Smart. Not only is it better for the kids. Your way means they aren’t turned into drug-addled wrecks by the time they’re 20 just to endure the abuse. But, you’ve also avoided the instant death from high in the sky.”
“They have made it clear that there are things they won’t tolerate.”
“I am ashamed to ruin all your hard work.”
“Honored demigod? What is it you would have me do?”
“You already know.”
“Yes.”
“Then…” he looked at her expectantly. “No arguments against? Offer alternatives?”
“My God has commanded me to obey you in all things. And so I shall.”
Suiteonemiades sighed.
“Does that absolve you of your guilt?”
She stood like a statue for what felt like a long time.
“Never.”
“We do what we must to achieve our goals. I have the one and so, I bleed a world.”
“What would you have me do?”
The demigod handed a rolled up scroll.
“Details are in there. To wit… you will use that foul substance in that pretty container to increase the capabilities of your seers, oracles, so on and so forth knowing that it will be their deaths. Then you will ask questions for me and obtain answers. I experienced something in the battle with the Cruces, yet I don’t know what it was. I cannot even put my unease into words. That will be your starting point. Me. The battle. Search for threats. To me. To the ritual that keeps us safe for the moment. Then, search for paths that lead to solutions. I’m thinking, the usual. People and places. Names.”
“That is— even with this—” Kerkestis regarded the flask in her hands less like a child and more like a basket of vipers. “To ask all that and to receive answers would require an entire sect of legends. Levels in the 70’s, 80’s! Even then the cost to them would be—”
“Fatal?” he shrugged. “The Gods have made their calculations. They’re willing to pay the price. Well, with some good fortune perhaps a few of your children will emerge stronger from the crucible. The stones upon which you can build a foundation for this world’s very own Mt. Eboephe.”
“The Gods’ will be done.”
“I suppose.”