Golden Dawn

|Chapter 33 ~ Luminous Artillery|

It was the most scared I ever felt before in my life. I was petrified to take the first step, to walk forward knowing I could very well die. If it were to end here, I'd never be able to journey back to the glade and save everyone from the coming war that could destroy everything we ever knew. The thought of fighting in such a crusade absolutely terrified me, but as I saw Angelus and Ferîan take that step - closing the gap without a moment's hesitation - I was suddenly filled with renewed bravery. I was oddly enough very thankful to the two Lepshares in our party, even Quîncîn - who's company I had still not come to enjoy quite yet. 

I glanced at the Lesphares.

Quîncîn had already started to ready his gear for the battle soon to come, strapping a lethal-looking blade unto his thigh. Next to me, Christa was as silent as the valley around us and Jacob and Lex, rigid with fear.

Yet, I noticed a look in their eyes that made the ringing in my ears slightly lessen.

It was determination. Simple, unyielding determination.

I took a deep breath to calm my storm of thoughts. We had no other choice. It was what we all signed up for, why we journeyed here after all.

We made it this far and I wasn't about to back down anytime soon.

"We have weapons we can use to fight." I suddenly reminded the group, my voice strangely even. A light seemed to enter Christa's eyes, a small smile playing on her lips as she understood what I meant.

"The weapons Huang gave us."

Jacob and Lex nodded in agreement.

"I couldn't inspect them thoroughly yet, but they would have to do." Jacob said and dropped his large backpack unto the sand. The sound of the bag being unzipped seemed much, much  too loud in the eery desert night and I cringed as I surveyed our surroundings cautiously.

Watching for any signs of danger.

For the fatal blow.

The sound of Lex gasping, made me spin my head back towards Jacob and I gaped at what he took out of his bag. I suddenly realized why the blonde showed such reaction.

Jacob held a medium-sized firearm in his hands.

The weapon was as black as the glass rock around us and shaped into an elegantly crafted futuristic gun with strokes of white that ran along its edges. The strangest aspect of its build, was the strange bluish radiance that seemed to emit from the inside of the dark metal. It immediately reminded me of the Huntsmen's artillery back when they had captured Gandila in the underground city.

The thought made my heart ache.

Gandila.

I shook my head, trying to keep myself from reminiscing and forced my thoughts back on the weapons Jacob had begun to lay out before us. There were four firearms in total, all beaming with slight sapphire tints and gleaming dangerously bright in the moonlight.

Christa whistled in amazement.

"I wonder how he managed to get these! I bet Zack would have hanged him if that bastard ever managed to find out four of their badass guns were stolen by a lone hacker." She exclaimed, chuckling at how cunning Huang had managed to arm us with the latest artillery in the Aliums' stock.

Jacob nodded and picked up one of the four weapons that lay sprawled out on the sand.

"It's light." He noted. "Must have been made by some kind of element that could excessively enhance one's speed let alone agility."

Jacob resumed his observation and caused both Ferîan and Quîncîn to inspect the stack of firearms.

"It was undoubtedly forged in our realm." Ferîan suddenly perceived, causing everyone to turn. "It couldn't have been made on Earth, even if you Aliums managed to somehow advance the technology of your craftsmanship. Your metals are just too heavy for such a light weapon." He said and frowned down at the glowing artillery. Christa kneeled down and picked the biggest out of the four firearms to observe.

"It's amazing how such a big weapon can weigh almost nothing!" She exclaimed excitedly and fastened it unto her side, buckling the dark metal unto a strand of her leather garment. The rest of us followed her example and I yelped at how cold the metal felt against my upper thigh. The firearm was very well crafted, especially its sides. Shaped like that of shards. Dangerous and invulnerable.

"Does everyone realize we have absolutely no idea how to use them?" Lex asked, her voice stiff and weary as if our conversation from earlier still weighed her down.

A pang of guilt rocketed through my chest, but I gulped it down. I instead tried to focus on Jacob - who was smirking slightly.

"Huang instructed me how to activate their interior cores to some extent, but we kind of got interrupted before he was able to tell me anything else. We will have to figure the rest out ourselves." Jacob explained, his tone darkening slightly at that last bit and my thoughts immediately went back to the explosion in the Sandrîanî's metropolis.

My hair stood on edge as I remembered the deadly flames that felt utterly alien as it burned an entire building to ashes in mere seconds. The dark memory thankfully faded from my mind as Jacob directed his weapon at a piece of obsidian rock located a few miles away from us.

"If I remember correctly, there must be some kind of switch on the side of the firearm. Be careful though, it is very sensitive and we don't know the extent of its blast range. I advise everyone to-"

A large explosion shook the very sand we stood on and I flew backwards. White spots danced in front of my eyes and for a few horrible moments, I could hear nothing but the uncomfortable ringing in my ears. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth and when the smoke and sand finally cleared, my eyes widened in shock.

Somehow, Christa had armed her weapon and managed to shoot a boulder sized crater through the very rock of the mountain behind us. The cavity was sizzling with smoke and the surrounding rocks, smeared with an alien blue radiance that ate away at the stones.

Lex gasped from somewhere behind me and I could hear footsteps closing in on me from somewhere on my right. When I could finally make out the figure of Quîncîn through the smoke, I immediately retreated backwards.

The Lesphares looked so mad I thought he would actually kill Christa.

"What  in Statera's name was that  Alium?! You want to kill us with that blast?! It could have skewered us you imbecile !" He roared.

Ferîan, who suddenly appeared next to him through the fading fog, placed a hand on the livid Lesphares' shoulder.

"Calm yourself Quîncîn." He ordered, his white hair slightly raffled. "At least we found a way to arm the weapons, even if it was through dangerous experimentation."

I turned my gaze away from Quîncîn's enraged expression and back to Christa's in slight panic. Her face was caked in dust and sand, her hair a tangle of brown waves. Her eyes however, shone bright with an excitement that made me slightly cautious as she heaved the weapon in her arms.

Totally oblivious to Quîncîn's fury.

"This can seriously pack a heck of a punch if you know how to use it!" She exclaimed in elation, her eyes like that of a crazy scientist's.

Angelus' voice suddenly cut through the air like mortal thunder and immediately silenced our entire party. He appeared next to Ferîan through the fading smoke. The seriousness in his expression made even Christa momentarily forget her delight.

"Now that we are as prepared as we can be, we must enter the ridge and find the Ertheon. Time is running out and soon, it will be daylight and our presence will be known to all who lurk here." He ordered.

The rest nodded in agreement, even Quîncîn who was still crazed with outrage. The Lesphares levelled a final scowl in our direction before following Angelus who had begun to make his way towards the ridge with Ferîan.

We were compliant.

Anything the Defender said was law and I gulped down the bile in my throat as a result.

Angelus was probably the only one who could save us from the deadly battle we were about to fight and that realization didn't make our odds any better.