Podkamennaya Tunguska River

Siberia, Russian Empire

June 30, 1908

Tesla frantically scrambled through over the broken earth of the crater as the screams of men, horses, and demonic creatures assaulted his sanity. As he ran over the lip of the shattered ground he chanced a glance behind him; the Cossack charge had met the three creatures head-on. One creature was run through by four of the lances the Cossacks carried. The second creature lifted a thrashing horse over its bear-like head with its upper two arms as it tore into the beast with its other pair of arms. The horse’s ride dropped to the ground, firing wildly at the monster with his revolver.

Tesla lowered his head and continued running. When he reached the first wagon he yanked open the rear hatches, exposing the radio equipment inside. He quickly powered it up and grabbed the microphone and screamed into it.

“Wardenclyffe Tower, transmit all power to the land cruiser frame now!”

“Sir? Did it work? We have been waiting..”

Tesla’s shout interrupted his earnest assistant, “Power to the land cruiser frame! Do it immediately or I am going to die!” He prided himself on being a calm man, one in control of his emotions, but there was simply no controlling the terror that threatened to overtake his sanity. What have I created? He dropped the microphone and sprinted to the second of his two wagons. The muscles in his legs burned terribly, his lungs protested vainly at more running, and his heart felt as if it would combust within the confines of his ribcage.

The second wagon appeared identical to the first: a flat-sided, rectangular box sitting towed by a team of oxen. The beasts pulling both wagons were in a state of near panic from the sounds of the nightmarish battle taking place and were attempting to pull the wagons away. The wheel locks kept the wheels from turning, altering the bovine retreat into a slog that left furrows in the charred ground. Tesla unlatched the rear hatch of the wagon and clambered inside.

Light from a dozen narrow grooves in the wagon roof illuminated the cramped insides of the wagon. The lean man crawled over and under the machinery inside until he was in the heart of the device the wagon carried. He slid himself into place, strapped his legs into the restraints, and locked the harness around his torso that would hold him firmly in place. Next, he pulled the heavy steel plate firmly into position over his chest. With his right hand, he twisted four dials along an open panel on the chest plate, each one turned as far as it would go before he secured the lid to the panel. With both hands, he reached up and pulled down the metal helmet onto his head. It was the one part of the device he had created with a bit of whimsy, having it forged to replicate a knight’s helmet.

As he sat waiting for a few brief seconds the sound of his breathing, rapid and shallow, filled the helmet. It did not drown out the screams, roars, and gunshots. What was keeping his assistants?

“Hurry up dammit! I don’t want to end like this.” He knew it was irrational in the extreme to yell now, his lab workers in Wardenclyffe Tower were many thousands of kilometres away. Tesla flinched as a bullet impacted the side of the wagon, a beam of daylight streaking through the hole.

As if prompted by the bullet strike there was a massive crack of electricity, and snapping streams of the energy arched and flowed over the interior of the wagon. Tesla glanced down at the display gauge box he had been holding in his left hand, all the gauges on it were dancing frantically at full power levels. He snapped the box into its holder on the chest plate and slide his arms into the armoured cuffs of the land cruiser frame. Within the cuffs, he took the control handles firmly in his grip and pushed himself up.

In the center of the crater, Pavel stood shoulder to shoulder with men he had known most of his life. All of his fighters were off their horses, after the initial charge the closeness of the demons had been too much for the animals and even cavalrymen as experienced as the Cossacks had been unable to maintain control of their mounts. Almost half of his men were dead. One of the monsters was down, pierced by a multitude of lances and bullets. The final two creatures circled the remaining Cossacks, periodically lunging in with hideous claws.

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Pavel ducked a set of passing talons and slashed upwards with his shashka sword, the heavy curved blade sliced a thin line in the creature’s tough flesh. They are testing us. These things are not stupid animals.

“Stay close together brothers. Guard each other well.” If even one of his remaining men panicked all would be lost, fear is too contagious to control on a battlefield once it is unleashed.

A crackling sizzle, like an impossibly loud snap of static, came from the wagons and caught Pavel’s attention. The big man chanced a risky glance to see what it was. The top of one of the large wagons, the one Tesla had never let them see the contents of, lifted off and swung to the side on a set of hinges. Electricity crawled along the surface of the wagon, including the figure that rose from inside it. Pavel had heard stories of the old knights and their massive armour, now he saw what appeared to be a nine-foot-tall warrior standing there. The steel armour gleamed in what sunlight passed through the smoke of the battlefield, and ribbons of energy swirled along it. The electricity emanated from the large steel ring upon the knight’s back. The massive warrior stepped off the wagon, the change in weight sent the wagon bouncing over onto its side, and then it began striding towards the battle.

The two demons turned to face the newcomer, clacked their talons together menacingly and moved to intercept it. In response the knight began running, massive metal feet tearing great divots in the ground. Just as some of the tired Cossacks relaxed, a fourth creature emerged from the swirling vortex of energy. This new demon set upon the men, lashing outward with terrible claws. It lifted a grizzled veteran in its talons and bit his head off with one massive, terrible blow. With a scream, Pavel led his men in attacking the creature that had just ended the life of his cousin.

Will any of us escape this hell?

The land cruiser frame was moving more smoothly than ever before, but then Tesla had never risked transferring so much power into it. The coil upon its back was receiving a massive amount of power remotely from the transmitters in Wardenclyffe Tower. Two of the terrible creatures closed on him. With the flick of a switch, he narrowed the stream of energy from the coil, directing it into the steel fists of the frame.

The first monster leaped at him, arms outstretched. Tesla stepped forward to meet it and swung his metal fists upward. There was a massive boom as both fists collided with the demon, its black skin burned and smoke trailed in the air as Tesla’s blow sent it over his head.

The second creature shot in low, slashing into the armoured torso plate with its long claws. Tesla could feel air on his skin and knew that the armour now had multiple rents in it. He swung a fist at the monster but it was able to dance to the side, narrowly avoiding the blow. He stepped to the side, turning to keep both creatures in front of him and held his hand before him in imitation of the boxers he had seen. The first creature stood unsteadily and hissed at the armoured Tesla.

Momentarily distracted by the rising monster Tesla did not see the second one shoot in at his side until he lurched under the impact as it latched onto his hips and bit into the armour. Tesla turned slightly, the frame did not have much maneuverability in its waist and grabbed hold of the side of the creature’s head. He pulled it back slightly, thankful that the hydraulics that powered the frame greatly enhanced his strength. With its head pulled into range Tesla began hammering it with blows from his other hand. The flesh of the creature burned with each blow, and its hold on Tesla weakened.

The first demon latched onto Tesla’s left arm and began to wrench and pull. Tesla lifted a foot and stomped down on the creature’s lower leg, the monster let loose a terrible roar as its leg broke. With a switch of a toggle inside the cuff of the right hand, he intensified the electricity until it coalesced into an arch of ionized plasma that extended a meter from the frame’s right fist. Tesla slashed downward, cutting the monstrosity’s right leg through at the thigh. It howled and fell to the ground thrashing.

The slashing blow from the other creature smashed into the frame’s left arm. Dark hydraulic fluid sprayed from ruptured cylinders and the arm flopped to Tesla’s side uselessly. Tesla took a step forward and swung his other fist at the creature, his blade of energy burned through its arm and cleaved the heavy skull open. Tesla pivoted and drove his fist into the torso of the other monster. It hoarsely screamed and spasmed before lying still.

Across the crater Tesla could see the fourth monster was dead, brought down by multiple sword cuts and bullet holes. Around the creature stood Pavel and four other Cossacks bandaging each other’s wounds. The remainder of the Russian warriors were scattered on the ground.

Of the swirling vortex of raw energy, there was no sign. It had apparently dissipated during the battle. Tesla powered off the frame’s weapon systems and removed the armour’s heavy steel helmet.

“God in His Heaven, what have I wrought?”