Light: Exploits, Book II.

Part 10. Forever Fields.

Our Ghosts pointed us to another canyon, about a half a days walk away from the canyon and the unnerving shadow of the old research station.
I was expecting another canyon and drop like when we fell into the Hall of The Deep.
But we found something slightly more sinister.
Here it is? Ghost says curiously.
Hmm? I ask.
The marker leads here; the place where the water is, it says as we stand in a vast waste.
You sure? Priest asks. Looks like the rest of this Light forsaken place.
I look around, light barely peeking through the cloud cover over head.
Could it be Hiven magics? I ask.
Just as I do, I hear a boom.
We all look and see a puff of dirt and hear a low scream.
We soon hear drawn out, breathy screams and shouts.
Cursed Thrall! I shout as we all see the unmistakeable blue hue of the creatures.
As we all try to get our bearings, one of them charges us.
I throw out my palm, sending forth a wave of kinetic energy.
It pushes it back, and it slowly wraps its arms back around itself.
As it recoils, dozens more pop up from the ground.
Oh no... My Ghost whispers.
"Oh no" what? I ask, terrified of what the answer might be.
But after a moment we all pick up an unmistakeable clicking sound.
The sound of a Geiger counter, ringing in our helmets.
You gotta be fucking kidding me, Priest growls.
These fucking things have radiation? Farah says with a defined agitation. How?
I shake my head, my fingers twitching as I refuse to draw a weapon.
Forget how, nobody make any... Sudden. Movements... I shay sharply.
The only reason I say that is because, unlike most other Cursed Thrall, that would charge headlong into a cluster of near defenseless Guardians, they remained still.
They were snarling and breathing floaty and drawn out and dead.
But made no signs of aggression to us.
Ghost... Where are we? I ask.
I heard it beep as it began to scroll through the World's Grave files.
The Forever Fields, it says softly through the Geiger counter.
This place is like a limbo, it reads, find the Cursed Conductors, it says, and we'll be deemed worthy to face the Maw... It says trailing off.
Conductors? Priest repeats.
Most likely they emit the highest amount of radiation, I say, but no firearms; we find them and we kill them with Light and our hands.
Priest growls happily and balls his fists and Farah takes her knife and guards her forearm.
I look ahead and see what is now a field of Cursed Thrall.
Stretching as far as the eye could see.
It was mind numbing and exhausting.
But we had no choice.
I swallowed hard as I stepped forward.
As we did, the Thrall did nothing to hinder us.
They snarled and tried to scratch toward us, but there were no attempts of violence.
Our Geiger counters began to scale up.
One is close. I say, balling my fists.
Farah, Priest and I put our backs together.
Farah twirled a knife, her hands arcing blue.
Priest's hands pulsed with void light.
Mine did also.
Any possibility you can share your Force Barrier? I ask Priest nervously.
Funny you should ask, he chuckles and throws a punch at a Thrall.
It screams and falls dead, the blue hue and radiation dying with it.
I feel Void Light wash over me.
How in the Traveller, I awe.
Hey you asked, Farah says with amazement.
Nothing like and extra layer, Priest says contently.
I nod softly as we continue.
Why no guns? Farah asks.
The Thrall emit radiation, so we have to assume they explode, and react, like nuclear bombs. I say.
So if we shoot one, and it explodes, and it sends the others up, I say, leading to my point.
Literally blown to smithereens, Priest says with a kind of giddiness.
If we're lucky, Ghost laments softly in my ear.
My Geiger counter begins to tick more and more rapidly.
One is very near, I say softly.
We all stop and look around slowly.
We see a Thrall moving about listlessly.
It was slightly off colored than the rest.
There it is, a Conductor. I whisper.
We approached slowly, brushing past the other Thrall.
Split up, attack simultaneously. I whisper again and see Farah and Priest fan out.
I see their forms through the crowd of Thrall.
A circle of them almost separated the Conductor so we had a more than clear target.
On 3, I say over comms.
1, I whisper.
2, I whisper again, wiggling my fingers and feeling Light in my veins.
3! I shout and charge.
Priest and Farah do the same.
I take its head; it was hot from the radiation.
Should have worn a fucking lead suit! I grimace as the Thrall bucks and tries to throw me off.
Farah comes from behind it and takes its legs. It's still trying to thrash and kick us wildly.
Priest comes from in front of it and takes a hard kick at its jaw until he bends to his knee and starts launching punch after punch right in its face.
He's silent as he finishes, the hissing and heat escaping from its now unrecognizable head and face, light leaving its body.
Well, I sigh and gasp standing up, that's one.
That's fuckin fun is what you mean, Priest chortles.
We continue on, the Thrall making our progress seem slow and tedious.
But as we continue on, a new sound can be heard amidst the low howls of the Thrall.
Scraping.
As if metal on rock.
Or bone on steel.
From above the Thrall, there are three Knights.
All are clad in dark orange armor.
Wielding large, evil swords.
Banished... I say softly.
What's that? Priest asks.
Banished Knights. They must prowl the Fields. We must all be wary, I say as we hunker down and continue.
If they get close, do not hesitate, I demand, tear them apart.
I hear Priest punch his palm, signaling me he more than got the message.
Farah drew a second knife from her chest plate.
I palmed purple fire and felt my arms surge.
We continued along, soon hearing the unmistakeable boom of a boot step.
We stop dead in our tracks and see them. The Banished Knights.
They tower at nearly 8 feet tall.
They growl lowly as they prowl around the Thrall.
Their swords scrapped as they were dragging in the dust behind them.
As we are caught up in the sight of these monsters, we nearly miss the inclined ticking as our Geiger counters chirp.
This will make 2, I whisper to myself as we see the Conductor a short but away, colored an off orange compared to the rest of the Thrall.
We all stand in a line and assess the situation.
We go in like a spear; hit the Conductor like lightning and fan out, I say with Farah and Priest silently affirming.
I wiggle my fingers again; knowing failure would end in disaster.
No pressure.
I tighten up and bolt for the Conductor, bobbing and weaving between the other Thrall.
I cover my hand in Void Light and swipe through its neck with everything I had.
Priest, realizing he had no work to do, sprints past me and hides in the Thrall.
Farah runs left and slides down, making herself small.
In the seconds that they were hiding themselves, the Banished Knights knee another Conductor had fallen and were roaring to me.
I leapt up just in time to see swords winding up. My body was off the ground in just enough time as their blades criss crossed around, barely missing the Thrall.
I hit the ground and scramble up to my feet and catch up to Priest.
We run them, Farah says running up to us, following our dust trail.
These fields don't end until we kill the Conductors, or we die, she says. And we aren't dying right?
I nod and pick up my feet faster.
I heard the Knights behind us, closing in.
A Knight each, I say.
Be swift. Destroy them. I whisper and close my eyes.
I reopen them to stop dead in my tracks, jutting out my elbow.
The Knight crashes into me, my elbow piercing its armor.
I turn swiftly and put up my hand, pushing out a massive wave of kinetic energy that kicks up all the Thrall high into the air.
FIRE! I scream.
Before I knew it, hundred of bullets from heavy machine guns whizzed by.
The Knights were forced to their knees, the Thrall screaming as they were still flying up.
But they'd fall soon.
Light! All of it! I scream. NOW!
In a rush of heat, I saw the thin streaks of Farah's Golden Gun.
Priest ran up and he and I shared our steps as we saw a bolt of fire hit each Knight.
His body shined blue and he crashed in the center of them, and it washes over me as my body glows deep Void purple.
I place my palm on the ground and my Nova Bomb pushes my hand up, sending forth cracks of Arc light washing in with the Solar.
The Knights are all but burned away at this point.
We looked up and saw the Thrall almost hung in the air.
They're caught in the lower atmosphere, Ghost says.
Too high up to detonate? I ask.
It takes a moment to reply.
No, if they all were to explode we'd be safe from the blast, Ghost says confidently.
Hoo wee, this is fun, Priest laughs and draws a sniper rifle.
Bet you I can hit it with a pistol, Farah grunts, drawing one.
Bullshit, Priest sneers and focuses in on his scope.
I draw Mida and take a knee.
I've already got it shot, I say with a soft confidence.
Coming from a Warlock, I believe that, Priest says happily.