Now we finally get back to the Mar brothers.
If you’re an avid reader, this part should do you a good turn.
The pic is something close to what the Incite Scout Flyer would look like.
Planet: Rasarr
Well, I certainly hope, good reader, that you didn't forget, during these many pages, our dear Purge friends, all alone in the massive cavern before the wondrous city, Naming Lasting. If you do remember, they are attempting to shut down an impervious electrical field which prevents them from crossing the cavern to reach the city- their olden home- on the other side.
To even dream of one day setting foot there is strictly forbidden by their slave masters, the Incite; the punishment being- humiliation and certain death. And not only to those guilty of the transgression, but also any of their immediate family members.
Yes, life as a slave of the Incite is a cruel thing indeed, and something the Purge have been subjected to for a very long time. But perhaps what has kept their spirits alive most under these trying circumstances is the thought of reclaiming their birthright; their one moment in history when their true name: Mar, was spoken of with awe and fear; when they, as a people united, actually made an impression on the universe.
'Maybe that is why the Incite hold so much fear for Naming Lasting’, the young Purge, Ledan thinks as he and his brother Druge walk down one of many tunnels leading toward where they hope the generator lies. The rest of the band are descending via the parallel tunnels. 'Because it represents so much pride and defiance to us… Were we to ever retake it… Well…the first things must come first.'
After all, there is little danger of that happening yet. They are only at the first step of the journey towards its reclamation; who knows how much further it will take them.
Unbeknownst to this small band, almost every single Purge warrior in the great Rasarr caverns has been loaded onto a fleet of awaiting Censure Rite troop carriers, and, along with their Graven Soldier, In-Hands Traséa, have been carried off-planet to parts unknown.
(Everyone except for my and your best friends- Druge, Ledan and their handful of comrades! …Or do you like the Incite better?)
Druge, as always, has come up with a plan- a fairly simple one… They all will descend down to the generator installation's lowest floor, deep under the main cavern's level (where it's dark and scary), find the electric field's power source, and tear it apart.
And what he really means is take it apart. Trying to just smash it to rubble would almost definitely cause it to explode catastrophically! (Probably the designer's way of dissuading anyone from breaking it to pieces… Just a guess, though.) So for that part of the job they'll need their Trish three-legged Walker-Pod to do all the heavy lifting; Ledan volunteered to do the technical stuff, although that skill probably won't be needed until later- assuming the old generator follows standard design specs, that is.
For the time being, everything is quiet. A good sign; it means no Incite sensors have detected them. Or at least that's what Ledan hopes it means.
He cautiously pokes his head out from behind a collapsed steel beam and scans the area ahead thoroughly with his bright blue eyes. He doesn't see much; it looks to him like the entire room is just another compartment in an endless series of tunnels, all taking the party of young warriors down, down, and further down.
He doesn't like the idea of going this low.
His twin brother walks past him at full stance without trying to even slightly conceal himself. "Stand tall, brother”, he says to Ledan, irritated. "The sentries would never suspect anyone has ventured this far underground. We are as alone down here as the deep-world blue-bats."
"Humph!" he snorts, following after him. "It would seem that my father's son was born with only a fleeting size of brain!"
"Were you?" Druge replies, smiling to himself. "Now come to sensible matters, Ledan, and tell me the location of our fellows." When Ledan does nothing of the sort he adds, "Pleeeeease."
Ledan then slides his gauntlet back, revealing the portable device he wears on his wrist- a large aqua blue map, showing the location of any and all known tunnel systems. "Commencing scan… Hmmm; it looks as though Nu-lu and his party of four have found a much easier tunnel down, as have the rest. They are all nigh to the power source.”
"I had a creeping suspicion that splitting up was not amongst the best of our ideas”, Druge replies, which, as Ledan knows, is not true at all! It was Druge’s idea to split up in the first place, despite his mild brother's protests!
"Nu-lu!" Druge speaks into his radio. "When you reach the power source immediately begin disassembly of it! We shall aid you as soon as we reform! Over and out!" He flips the device off. "We had better make double our time brother, lest, as the sloth, we are not present for the grand activities!" He practically dances off.
Ledan isn't dancing, though. He grabs his arm before he can prance away and says angrily, "How can you just ignore what everyone else is afraid of alerting!? Do you have no common sense at all!?"
Druge, in a huff, pulls his arm away. "It is because I have common sense that I am ignoring that childish fairy tale! And you ought All to be ashamed of yourselves for being so terrified of ‘Waking the sleeping monsters!’" he mocks, rocking his head around.
"‘Fairy tale', is it!?" Ledan says hotly, charging after his brother as he storms off. "Just you wait till we prove you an Imbecile!" He then tackles his brother down a sloped rockslide!
The two wrestle with each other till they reach the bottom. (Yeah, this is just how Purge siblings blow off a little steam… Though I don't want you to consider them as role models!) When they hit the ground Druge has Ledan's furry head tucked tightly under his arm. "Hardly so tough now, are you, Tale boy!"
Pulling, more pulling, and pushing doesn't do Ledan much good, so he finally gives up and starts to laugh away. "Very well, Ataxy”, he concedes. "Though I still think it is horrendously immature of you." When Druge releases him he continues, shaking the dirt from his combat armour. "The histories speak well of terrible creatures in these depths, and we would do well not to consider the word of those who lived in prior times as folly."
“Very well”, Druge says as he picks up his brother's arm-mounted weapon, then shoves it back into his stomach. "You do not ignore them! I and the others will press forward the plan, while you watch for any ‘creepers of the earth’." Then he adds, with a certain amount of respect, "After all…you were always the better one at watching out for unforeseen dangers."
Ledan snorts. "Humph, Yes of course!" he says, rolling his eyes, as Druge continues on deeper into the rock. "Only because You-oooo always charge ahead, eyes sealed!"
Druge grins. "It keeps the dust out." Then his shoulder mounted lights hit on something at the end of the cave. "Here! I have located something!"
That 'something' is a door- old and rusty; but from what they can see, it probably still works.
Druge gets a firm hold on the chipped crank wheel. "Erragh!" he grunts. "Here, brother, help me open this!"
Ledan walks up the wall onto the ceiling until he is directly above Druge. Once he has grabbed the top of the wheel the two give it a strong twist. With a groan and a clang it starts to move; until, all of a sudden, the whole door shoots inward, dragging them with it! They both immediately lose their grip and are catapulted through a long, barren tunnel, and into a large, hollowed-out room; dimly lit, with only a few small pieces of corroded metal structure inside.
Then they just hang in the air, floating towards the back wall!
Druge looks to his brother, expecting him to somehow have an answer for this.
"This room was depressurized!" Ledan finally says, aghast. "That is why it dragged us in so forcefully!"
"What happens when the pressure returns?"
They soon find out! The air which these two goofs let in, rushes in behind them, very quickly repressurizing the cave.
And suddenly it's not a vacuum anymore! The resulting hurricane of wind slaps them down to the nearest floor! ['Nearest' of course referring to the gravity-like nature of all four sides of the cave- up, down, left, right] "Ooooof!" they both moan in unison; but their spirits are quickly raised when they see the glowing object sitting in the middle of the large cave…
It is the power source!
The rest of the team then enters from other stubborn doorways. "Singe the fur off my nose!" one very excited individual exclaims, as he steps in, over a small stream of strange, very blue water- one of many in the room. "You found it!!"
Druge hops to his feet in an attempt to look dignified. "And what did you expect? A Mar huntsman does not allow himself a nap while his quarry is without [outside of] his power."
Meanwhile, Ledan walks over to the electrical field generator to thoroughly examine it. Static sparks throughout its inner workings creating a complex display of green lightning connecting each panel together. That disappoints him.
The others watch closely as he finishes his analysis and then draws himself up. He walks over to a metal slab overrun with a vibrant blue grass, which has spread throughout much of the cave. 'Probably a plant that thrives in low gravity’, he assumes, resting his ear against it. He then looks up suddenly, surprised to find them all staring down at him. He looks back with "huh?" written on his face.
Moments pass with everyone keeping as hushed as a mouse. Finally Druge whispers, "What is it, brother?"
"I am taking a nap”, he says, rolling over. "It will take hours before the Trish is able to penetrate that shell."
Their expressions are quite amusing to see. He giggles to himself as his brother shakes his head at him.
He isn't wrong either. It Does take hours, and plenty of them. But thankfully, because of Nu-lu's steady pace, the Trish is making good progress on the disassembly. Now they're finally close to entering the last stage- taking apart the power core itself, and thereby turning off the invincible energy field upstairs.
But Ledan and the others are now more tense than ever. Biting hard on the forefront of their minds are the are the old legends and the old sayings of the fates of those Mar who traveled outside of the safe zones [The populated areas deemed safe and out of range of the 'Haunted Faces' -as they refer to the unknown dwellers as].
One such tale was about the hunters and trappers who used to come to these lands to capture rare game. Many of them mysteriously vanished and were never seen again. A legend was later composed, which Ledan, along with all the other children in his class, had had to memorize:
Turn on your heel and fly little ones.
Watch with a close eye for the coming of the pale swarm.
Wait for the shadows to open, the dark places to come all alight!
Look away…look away from them: The Haunted Faces.
(Even if the sayings had rhymed, I doubt they could have left a bigger impression on a growing Purge lad!) Only the toughest-willed (or, as Ledan believes, the Dumbest) warrior would dare to ignore warnings such as these.
And from an overview of the area, one would have to admit that the tales of this place do not appear to have been unfounded; for already they have stumbled upon multiple weapons and artifacts from a primitive era- items more than likely used for the various purposes of travelling. They have also come across an ancient, enormous suit of armour, worn by a giant Mar from olden days- perhaps even millennia ago! All these artifacts are not only thoroughly rusted, but have obvious signs of severe trauma, yet yield no signs of the people who once possessed them; and that final fact is what scares the group of young Purge the most!
"What happened to them?" they ask each other over and over again. "Did they die from natural causes?" - "Did they become trapped in here and simply starve?" - "Did they throw down their items and leave?" - "Or…did something get them…?"
Even Druge isn't immune to these thoughts anymore, not with this much evidence to support their fears.
Before long, all of the group- save for Nu-lu of course- begin instinctively to seek out places to hide themselves should the worst happen. They form groups of two or three and wait motionlessly in hiding, hoping like mad that Nu-lu is able to hurry up.
Ledan is crouched down behind a rock near one of the entrances to the chamber. It isn't long before his brother quietly joins him.
"Are you still not a believer in 'Fairy tales', my brother?" Ledan brags, though inside he hopes he's the one who’s wrong.
Druge pays him no attention as his eyes dart to and fro at every tiny noise that echoes throughout the room. Finally he whispers, "It could all simply be the remnants of a long-deceased killer, Atlanto." He looks back to Nu-lu. "And we did not see any signs whatsoever of the Haunted Faces through the electricity field... Besides, Nu-lu would appear to be well nigh to his work's end."
Ledan only nods, keeping quiet.
Druge quietly smacks him on the back. "Ahh! Our ancestors feared not anything in these depths. Neither ought we to."
Ledan begins to feed a little bit off of his encouraging words, though still looks nervous as he says, "Wait…if memory serves, the Haunted Faces were never recorded as having appeared until after the fall of Naming Lasting!" He quickly quiets down when his brother gives him a warning nudge on the arm. "Listen, history speaks little of them, Ataxy; and we both know that there are but few of our historians who would ever record actual facts of a monster who defeated us on all fronts”, he whispers.
Druge slowly nods, looking at him. "Then these things must indeed hold great power, and invoke a mighty fear, for our Greatest to neglect their chiefest duty of warning future generations."
"Not only neglect, but even hide”, he responds thoughtfully. "Perhaps this great electric field was forged by our own kind to keep this city from us; and to pen the monsters therein."
Druge looks critical of his conclusion as he glances at Nu-lu to see his progress. "‘Pen them in?’" he scoffs. "Our ancestors would never stoop to so great a disrespect for the great city, Atlanto."
"But is it such a terrible idea?" he counters. "Were you in their position, would it not be better to simply hide the secret of the city, and spread the word of it being a valiant, freedom monument of our people?" He nudges his brother. "It would have seen us to a great future; unlike what the truth would have." (The ends justify the MEANS!)
Druge still looks skeptical. "Do not be so quick to set aside their devotion to the truth. These were beings of great-" His voice cuts off, and they both crouch low against the rock, staring ahead in mortal terror!
About twenty feet ahead, in between them and the Trishazo, is a vibrant blue giant, wearing the rusted armour of an olden Mar soldier! The thing is about nine feet tall- almost three-and-a-half feet taller than most Purge! It has the face of a hideous scarecrow, and is composed entirely of a glowing energy substance, which appears to be drawing itself out of the tiny, glowing blue water streams all over the floor, and into the form of a humanoid-looking body!
But- most terrifying of all- it is creeping up behind Nu-lu with its arm formed into a nasty-looking blade!
The two brothers practically fall over backwards in shock and panic! Ledan gasps twice, trying to call out a warning to Nu-lu, but it's Druge who is finally able to scream out, "BEHIND YOU!!"
The thing spins around to locate the source of the scream. Nu-lu also whirls the Trish around, violently fast, with arms out…
He hits the thing square on- a blow that would have felled even the Graven Soldier! It bursts into a wave of light, and gushes all over the floor! Its energies don't diminish though, but rather collect into a few pools on the ground...
Within a matter of seconds these pools begin stirring themselves up, and amazingly (not to mention horrifyingly) start to ascend slowly back into the air; each one of them taking the same hideous form as the original creature!
They all turn to face the cowering Purge- still trying unsuccessfully to hide themselves amongst the rocks!
In unison, the monsters all open their mouths and emit the most shrill, piercing shriek heard in these caves for the last ten thousand years!
"SHIIIIIIIIIIARAH!!!"
A blaze of blue, mist-trailed rounds erupts from the terrified Purge's weapons as their ears pop inside their heads- the shriek piercing all the way to their brains!
Ledan and Druge join in as well, their guns blasting shot after shot into the monsters!
But it doesn't slow them down for even a second! They run like madmen at the small Purge, cutting down anyone not quick enough to get out of the way!
The Trish falls over backwards as a swarm of them emerge from the earth around it and drag it to the ground, repeatedly stabbing at its occupant, who wildly swings back at them, but to little avail.
"LEDAN, MOVE AWAY!!" Druge screams as a half-dozen or more of the beasts jump over the rock they are hiding behind and slash furiously at him!
He doesn't need to be asked twice, and runs just as fast as his legs can carry him, with more and more of them following him at blinding speed!
Within seconds, he is out the door they came in from- two blades narrowly missing his head! He continues to bolt back up one tunnel after another, with the horde of killers still right on his heels, despite his best efforts to lose them!
"Run, Ledan! RUN!" he keeps telling himself, unable to even spare a thought of worry now for the fate of his friends.
It becomes apparent to him as he slowly runs out of energy, that he can't shake them! No matter how many sharp corners he takes or how fast he runs, the gargoyles are still just seconds behind! Once or twice he turns and sprays the nearest one with a blast of rounds, but it only results in yet another swarm of creatures being born from the original’s dropped energy.
After gasping his way through another series of caves he notices that he is approaching their base camp site, which holds a population of at least five hundred Purge warriors.
He almost cries for joy as he enters, slapping every tent he passes, kicking over as many storage crates and camping supplies as he can in an attempt to rouse everyone from their sleeps. "THE HAUNTED FACES!!" he screams. "AWAKE!! THE HAUNTED FACES!!"
A few moments pass of ceaseless running, in which the only other motion he can see anywhere is the freaks, plowing over anything in their way, still madly chasing him!
The realization hits him as he sees tent after tent abandoned… There is no one here! No one at all! And from the looks of it they must have left in an extreme hurry; for all around are signs of half-packed luggages, uneaten breakfasts, and pieces of black and blue armour; which- he surmises- were discarded because their owners did not have the time to put them on.
"Huh…" he says aloud, forgetting for a moment about the swarm of Haunted Faces only maybe thirty feet behind him, and closing fast. Their hideous mouths open wide, revealing dagger-like teeth, as though to swallow him whole! "If they had not even the time to take armour, then they must have-"
A sharp blue arm slices the air, inches away from his nose as one of the freaks smashes through a tent, narrowly missing his chance to slay him! That, along with the piercing shriek of the oncoming horde, is all the incentive he needs to set off again; but now with a lesser sense of security.
A thought suddenly hits him. Fighters! The Incite captors always bring frigates to transport their armies into and out of the camp; so it stands to reason that those frigates would require a sizeable fighter escort! And it isn't at all uncommon for an Incite pilot to just abandon his fighter at even the slightest sign of a breakdown, and simply hop into a new one. (This, of course, is because of how simple it is for their kind to force slave labourers- such as the Purge- to manufacture millions of excess war machines to support their terrible cause- Universal dominance.) (Classic.)
He then notices, out of the corner of his eye, something moving at this huge cavern's very edge… Druge! He is zip-lining down an electric cable towards camp! He hits the floor running, while a pack of the creatures smashes down the door behind him and follow like rabid dogs!
"DRUGE!!!" Ledan somehow manages to scream, although his sides burn in protest. "THE FIGHTERS!!! GO FOR THE FIGHTERS!!!"
Druge doesn't even give him an inquisitive glance. Spotting one parked (quite atrociously) not far from him, he bolts for it as fast as his legs will carry him.
Ledan does the same, having sighted another one parked atop a cliff's edge. It is a long narrow vessel with two big wings and a very large tailfin, coloured grey and white with green patterns.
He decides to take a shortcut through a long tent; which turns out to be a very bad idea as it's jam-packed with the horrible creatures from entrance to exit!
Needless to say, he is very fortunate to burst out the back in one piece! The downside being that there are now almost twenty of them a half-second behind!
His vision almost goes white with exhaustion as he reaches deep, deep down, and somehow finds a last burst of energy to beat the creatures up the docking ramp! Once inside he pounds his fist into the 'seal' button as he falls down, then rolls onto his back and empties the last of his clip into the monsters, holding them back just long enough for the ramp to swing shut!
He bounds to his feet and makes straight for the cockpit amid their muffled wailing.
As he would have realised, had he not been in such a rush, the entire console screen is in some form of Incite writing (meaning to him, it's like trying to understand baby talk!). "Oh…Curses!" he exclaims.
Back when he and Druge were just children they had loved to play aboard an old, crashed Incite fighter, similar to this one, and had fancied themselves quite learned on what all the buttons and switches did. But never did they actually learn how to understand the language on them. Ledan hates himself now for not ever having tried. "Alright…alright…" he mutters, panting so heavily he almost passes out. "Ohhhh- what do I do- what do I do- what do I do…?"
Clang!! Clang!! Crash!! The fighter begins to rock as the beasts smash its hull violently!
He sharply inhales, racking his brain for a solution. "Wait!" he cries aloud, clapping his palms together. "I have it!" He looks wildly around for a big yellow button- the autopilot. "There!" He sees it! But will it have an objective pre-programmed into it? He looks at the viewer above, and is elated to realize that it does!
There is a planet on the viewer. He peers closely at the screen to decipher its name… He blinks in surprise. It is called Faoe. That is most strange. Faoe is a humankind planet-
Claaaang!!!
No choice then! 'Here is to the hope that Druge comes to the same conclusion’, he thinks, glancing out the side window, watching as dozens of the wretched creatures pound at his brother's ship. Then he punches the autopilot.
The resulting surge from the burst of the ship's engines catches him by surprise! He is thrown viciously against the back wall, his head hitting hard! The last thing he sees out of the window, before he blacks out, is the under-earth tunnels being replaced by the glow of orange volcanoes beneath the ash-filled sky. Then all is quickly replaced by the blackness of outer space…
Vision fades into dreams…
YOU ARE READING
The Warlord Domination, Sovereign Race
Science FictionBefore Earth were the days of the Warlord. Now an official AMAZON KINDLE ebook (also available on various other ebook and paperback sites) 94,000 thousand years ago, in the age of terrifying alien Warlords, humanity struggles to hold back the onslau...
