The Battle of New Eidolon
The streets were filled with frantic citizens running to their designated zones. Vandresh speaks calmly over the town's loudspeakers.
"Remain calm, get to the convoy areas immediately. Defenses are in place, anyone capable of fighting, meet up with a command unit for assignments. The evacuation will roll out in ten minutes." He looks out of the tower's 360 degree window watching as his people run to the large armored land rovers waiting for them.
When they created New Eidolon, they left nothing to chance. Chase brought his knowledge of Hardwynn City and its many defenses and emergency protocols. They couldn't replicate everything, but it worked well for them. Hu brought his brilliant mind, his Binary powers of telekinesis, and technomancy brought power and structure. No other colonies were as advanced as them. It put a target on their backs, but the defenses held up, and with Tilly and Vandresh's knowledge of warlord and bandit tactics, made battles predictable.
Vandresh thinks of how they all met. He was a self proclaimed bandit king, a true menace who did some awful things to the people of the Harshlands. One day, his crew hit the wrong village; they had recruited the help of the Harshland Heroes. A trio of do-gooders building a name for themselves by fighting for the meek and defenseless.
The fight was quick. Back then, Tilly was more raw, still very much connected to her trauma. She fought with so much rage, her beautiful, terrifying, flames destroying everything In sight. Chase saved his life that day, jumping in front of her death blow absorbing her flames into his arms. It snapped her back to reality, and she stopped the assault, flying off as Hu went after her. Chase reached out his still smoking hand… He took it without hesitation and never looked back. Now he basically runs a small city. The people in his crew became defenders and explorers, vanguards of New Eidolon the hope of the Harshlands. For all he cared, the town could be reduced to rubble and ash. It was the people that he cared about now, and he would gladly fight an army to make sure they got away safely.
He sets his message to a loop and heads out of his tower. He is met with a small battalion of fighters and guardians as he walks out the door. One of his old crew mates, now a watch commander walks next to him.
"Give me a report." Vandresh orders, as he briskly walks towards the main gate.
"Sir, Chase and Tilly are heading for their positions. Hu is coordinating the evacuation. The barriers are active, and automated turrets are fully operational, three hundred fighters are with the convoy, and we have approximately five hundred posted at the walls. The citizens who stayed to fight, number in the low hundreds." The soldier sounds confident. They had a sizable force, any other foe wouldn't stand a chance against them.
"Enemy numbers?" Vandresh asks.
"Unknown, but they seem substantial. They have the entire town surrounded."
Vandresh compulsively runs his hand through his thick beard thinking of their plan. If the Sourcers arrived before dawn they would each take a post. The focus was getting the citizens away from New Eidolon and to safety. The convoy would not stop until the rear guard caught up to them. The rear guard would defend the evacuation, keeping the main battle in town for as long as possible.
The evac sites were loosely based off of Hardwynn Cities, instead of a massive ark they had large, heavily armored land cruisers. They would travel through underground tunnels with gates that seal off behind them until they emerged into the rendezvous area miles away.
He slips his com device into his ear, while briskly walking towards his post.
"Vandresh checking in." He says, walking onto a ramp leading to a vantage point, giving him a view over the walls. The Sourcers cloaks reflect the moonlight, giving them an eerie glow in the dark. A strange green mist lingers around their legs, their eyes flash with the same toxic green color.
"Hu here, waiting on a few stragglers, but the first rovers have already left." He checks the straps holding down the myriad of equipment he loaded onto the vehicle. He lifts a tarp covering one of them. As numbers count down on its display screen, he pushes some buttons and grins.
"Chase checking in. Main gate forces ready, the Sourcers seem to be waiting to move…. Wait, does anyone else feel that?" The ground pulsed. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The sound of trees breaking, shattering, rang through the early morning air, getting louder each second. The Sourcers shifted positions creating a corridor aimed directly at the gate.
Exploding out of the trees, was the chosen Titan, but it was massive now, at least three times larger. Its eyes burned with the same green that seemed to flow around the Sourcers.
"Holy shit that thing is huge now!" Tilly shouts into the coms, as she hovers high above the town. She jets off towards the massive chosen charging the town. The defense turrets come to life as bolts of blue energy slam into the massive abomination. The Titan shrugs the blows off, his momentum unwavering. The Sourcer troops closed in behind it following its charge. Tilly lets loose a stream of fire, but is met with a barrage of blasts and projectiles cutting her attack short. She weaves through the hail of blasts, she feels the sting of one hit her back as she winces in pain.
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"Tilly! Get back behind the wall!" Chase yells over the coms, as another volley comes at her.
She heads back to the town zig zagging in the air. The attack was relentless, and she could feel multiple things bite into her, sending her spiraling behind the walls, crashing into the ground.
"Ugh, that was stupid!" she said, brushing the dirt off her clothes, and checking her wounds.
Commanders at the wall scream at their troops to fire and all hell breaks loose.
The sky lights up from the ranged fighting as a multitude of powers and weapons trade fire. The force barriers shimmer, as the Sourcers attacks hit the town's walls.The rampaging Titans' steps shake the earth, as it approaches the main gate. The defenders watched in horror as the monster shrugged off the damage they were causing, black veins and strings filling the damage creating new shapes. It raises its massive cudgel of a hand into the air and slams it down with all its momentum, crushing the organi-steel gates. The barrier flickers, as its circuits and relays are damaged from the Titans massive blow.
"They have breached the walls! Get the people out of here now!" Chase yells, rushing towards the newly formed opening.
The Titan steps through the wreckage and begins its rampage again, heading towards Vandresh's tower in the center of town. Behind him a tsunami of sourcers rush into New Eidolon. The defenders do what they can but the Sourcers have no regard for their lives and in moments they are overwhelmed.
Chase shouts orders, as he charges into battle. His crystals hum with hunger, but this time he feels more in control. Three days ago he was almost dead, but now he felt a surge of power. He felt complete, but deep down he could tell something was raging. He recalls his uncle's teachings, as he dances through the horde of Sourcers, his new found strength decimating the almost mindless wave of attackers.
"CHASE!!!!" Tilly yells.
"Get that big fucker! Vandresh, Jontha, and I can handle this!" She says, flying into the scrum, spinning around creating a large blaze.
Chase looks back at the Titan, as it makes its way deeper into the town. He doesn't say a word as he leaves the melee and heads off to fight the giant destroying everything in its path.
Vandresh nods at Chase as they cross paths. One was heading to stop an unstoppable monster, the other jumping into a hugely outnumbered fight, hoping to at least buy his people time to escape.
He pulls a metal rod from his belt, it extends in his hand reaching for the ground. It begins collecting material, forming into a massive, razor sharp, blade. He slams it into a group of Sources, removing limbs from some, killing others. The blade changes shape, spikes shoot out, impaling anything in its radius. Some metal slithers around his body, shielding him from counter attacks. He scans the battlefield, it was madness. His people were fighting well, but the Sourcers just kept coming, he swung his weapon again and again, carving into the enemy horde. His fighting draws his fellow townsfolk to his side, they begin to push back the morale spreads like a virus. He always had a gravity about him, even when he was a ne'er do well people flocked to him. As much as he hated the current situation he couldn't shake the excitement of battle, the rally cries of his people as they gained ground, the ability to let loose and use his powers for more than constructing buildings and walls.
The small group of fighters cheer as they clear a small area. In front of them, a wall of Sourcers regroup, standing off against their push back. As he looks around, Vandresh see's the wall's defenses are holding up. If they could plug the hole at the gate, they might actually be able to pull this off.
"What the fuu ahhhh."
Vandresh whips around, no way they snuck behind them, what he saw may have been worse. Downed Sourcers were rising up, that's when he noticed that the sickly green miasma had seeped into the town. The woman who yelled out had a Sourcers tooth digging into her calf. He looked back towards the wall of waiting Sourcers in front of them, the eyes he could see had the same green shimmer.
"What kind of power is this?" he thought.
The woman begins to convulse, her eyes shine green and she lunges at her allies standing near her.
The Sourcers now close in on Vandresh and his fighters. They were completely surrounded. Vandresh ran the scenario through his mind, it wasn't the first time he had been in a sticky situation.
"Circle formation! Don't let them bite you! If you change… We will honor you when this is over. These bastards think they can take everything we built? Take our people? Let's show them how we fight in New Eidolon! Don't Leave enough of them to get back up!"
The fighters erupt in a passionate roar and the carnage resumes.
Tilly grins, as she unleashes hell onto the cultists. She was taking her anger out on them after embarrassing her like that before. No one humiliates Tilly Winters. No one.
She fires another blast of deadly flames into the crowd but they were sucked into something. A wave of green energy rips towards her, tearing up anything in its path.
She barely dodges the attack, boosting herself to the side as another wave slices through the air this time horizontally. She rolls underneath it, the crackling energy nipping at her skin. She comes to a stop and quickly gets to her feet. An armored Sourcer emerges before her, he strikes a pose, above his head is a sword of waving green energy. In front of him is a swirling shield of the same green.
"I am Earl Arthur, Holy Paladin of Sern! Your flames will be your death!" He says, a crowd or Sourcers surrounding them creating an impromptu arena.
Tilly wastes no time in attacking him, her flames are funneled into his shield.
"Oh Shit!" She yells, as his sword rages with power.
He swings another arc of energy at her, she moves but it catches her slicing into her arm.
Hu looks behind him as the final cruiser in his evac tunnel passes the first gate. He wants to be fighting with his friends but they tasked him with protecting the people, he knows that they are probably just protecting him. He hops in his cruiser and drives it up to the first gate console, pressing a few buttons the large metal door lowers behind him.
"Hu, evacuation en route. See you at the rendezvous point." One of the evacuation commanders says over the coms. His convoy of refugees heads into the dark tunnels not noticing the shadows moving around them.