Silence. For hours there was nothing but it.
Fear. It hung on the air like the tang of blood.
Darkness. It was all around us, engulfing us, strangling us.
Death. It was our fate.
All held us in a cast iron grip, squeezing the life out of us. Terrifying us. We were going to die. War did that to you. We were cattle preparing for the slaughter. Casualties were destined to be high. It was an inevitability here.
I pushed my body lower to the ground like a prowling lion, hiding below the crest of a small hill. My heart leapt into my throat, throbbing like thunder. I watched, brow furrowed angrily, as they marched past.
They looked so...different. Dressed in black leather, faces covered by masks so dark the soul was invisible, if there was any left in their contaminated and darkness-dirtied bodies.
My eyes gazed at my surroundings. It broke my heart. My home. My haven. My safe place. Corrupted, wickedness and devilry poisoning my sanctuary. And I was angry. Angry that this was not prevented sooner. Angry that the enemy was enabled an escape. Angry that we were losing.
I heard footsteps advancing towards me. I turned my head slightly to see who it was. I gazed back at the marching soldiers.
"Any sign?" he asked.
"None," I replied.
"He must be kept nearby. He's crippled. They couldn't have taken him far."
"They do not care about his well-being. They would have dragged him if he would not have walked."
He did not reply. He was as close to Gilliam as I was. It was hard to go through this desolation without our leader, the de facto man in command after the Lord of Time.
"What are we gonna do, Astra?" he sighed. "We can't do anything without him."
I faced him, frowning. "I am here to lead if he was to be taken, Chameleon. That was decided when the Resistance was created."
"No, Andromeda was supposed to lead if Gilliam was to be taken. He and Primavera agreed when the Resistance began. They'd agreed that she was the right person for the job when the Lord was taken."
I raised an irritated eyebrow. "Andromeda is not here. She is not ready to join us. She told me herself. And if she is not here, Chameleon, who shall lead us?"
Chameleon's ever-changing eyes flicked from side to side nervously.
I turned away, satisfied. "That is what I thought."
I watched the last of the soldiers march away into the distance. I sat up straight and breathed out. We were going to have to face them sooner or later. It was going to be a bloodbath when we did.
I turned to the camp behind me. There were not many of us left. We'd lost many after the last battle on the Crescent Moon Plains. With many of us lost to Eon's control, the Resistance's numbers was dwindling. As much as I despised the idea, we needed outside help. Eon's shadow was growing, his gnarled fingers burrowing through the minds of Time Walkers hiding across the periods.
I bit my lip. We needed Andromeda. And we needed her now.
I glanced at Chameleon. "Andromeda must return to Omega Chronos. Now."
Chameleon stood taller below me. "What do you want to do?"
I gazed at the soldiers disappearing to the west. "We must send another message."
"She said that she wasn't going to join us until she got the last Shard."
"Damn the Shard. The Resistance's survival is more important." I pushed myself to my feet and picked my way down the hill, heading back to the camp with Chameleon on my heels. "But we need more than Andromeda and the 'friends' she intends to bring. Send Sirius to the Vortex."
"And where do you want him to go."
"The Nova Empire."
I watched Chameleon halt in his tracks. "The Nova Empire? You're not seriously considering asking the Nova Corps for help? Those humans are as useful as blind chickens."
I rolled my eyes and stopped. "Not the Corps. An associate of theirs." I continued to walk. "Send Sirius to find the ship the Milano. He will find the people we need there."
Before I could deliver my next order, my mind's voice screamed. Danger! Incoming danger!
As fast as lightning, I whipped my hand up, a forest green shield flashed in front of me, just in time to protect myself and Chameleon from a purple ball of time energy hurtling towards us.
Eon's soldiers had found us! We were in danger.
"Get the children and the elderly to safety!" I snarled to Chameleon as I blasted an energy bolt from my palm. "All of the able-bodied prepare to fight!"
Chameleon whipped his hands to the sides, and blended into the landscape before streaking towards the camp.
I watched as the heads of the soldiers peaked over the rise, gloved hands out in front, flaring purple. I raised my hands to create a large shield, blocking their path. My eyes widened as they began to march. Their numbers were many, organised and systematised into rows, parading towards the camp in unison.
I heard the other Time Walkers charge up to meet me as the soldiers fired purple energy at my shield. They stood around me and layered their shields onto my own, strengthening it.
"Chameleon's leading the children and elderly away!" Jax, my right hand man, screamed over the blasting energy against the shield. "We must protect the camp until they escape!"
"He better get a move on, then," I growled with effort.
Patroclus stepped in next to me, orange energy exploding from his hands to layer a shield over mine. "Do not hurt them! One of them could be Patronus!"
Patronus was Patroclus' older twin brother. He was captured not long after the Resistance was created, and was converted into one of Eon's lackeys. Patroclus only joined to save his brother. Gilliam had promised to get Patronus back, and I was going to keep that promise.
And then a crack split in the shield. They were breaking through.
"Here we go!" Jax roared.
I wasn't ready. I had to be, though, even as a seasoned warrior. But I wasn't. I was fighting, warring, against my own people. I knew perfectly well that it was a fight for survival.
As the cracks began to snake, splitting the shield, the soldiers intensified their power. Everyone around me grunted as we tried to keep the shield up. We could not hold it for much longer!
"The camp is clear!"
As if resonating with Chameleon's voice screaming the all clear, the shield shattered. We were thrown off our feet, flying back into the dirt. The wind escaped my lungs and I gasped.
And then the fight began. It was carnage. Nothing but chaos and rampaging warriors, death and destruction. Time Walkers collided with Eon's army. Colours exploded into the sky, returning to the ground in an explosion of fire and earth and blood.
I clashed with a soldier, dashing low and aiming low. I bolted up the hill for a better vantage point and threw my fist into the air. Green lightning flashed into the sky, and, as I smashed my fist into the ground, it coursed through each soldier, immobilising them.
My attention snapped to the plains on the other side of the hill opposite the camp.
It was a desolate place, like a desert with ruined and abandoned buildings; a barren plain. Trees long dead stood tall and frail, the leaves gone from their gnarly fingers. Holes caused by explosions scorched the ground, leaving craters of Walker destruction.
My eyes widened at the sight of an army of thousands.
Our camp was one of many across Omega Chronos. The Resistance was not to die with the small band of one hundred standing before the wash of black-dressed soldiers.
We ran. The whole one hundred of us. All as one into the line of purple fire. Through No Man's Land. We ran as fast as we could from the hill to the plain, firing energy from our palms. Feet pounding ground kicked up dust, mingling with the smoke of explosions from the army, making it hard to see. But we didn't need to see. We needed to run. Run anywhere, away from danger and fire. From death.
The soldiers hidden in the ruins were sniping away at us, a clear line of fire. Easy kills. Wailing filled the battleground like a symphony of pain as my people fell around me. Limbs exploded off torsos. The sickly sound of energy ripping heads apart reverberated around me, mingled with the ringing sound in my ears from the energy mortars blasting at my feet, showering me in dust and burnt pebbles. It was like a thunderstorm of misery that would never end.
I ran into the army, Jax and Patroclus at my sides. We combined our powers with combat, striking down any soldier who stood before us, but not killing them.
"We can't take on the army with our numbers!" Jax called as he punched a solider square in the jaw. "We have to retreat."
I kicked an enemy in the stomach before stepping on him to leap into a punch of another. And then I saw the repercussions of charging the army head on. I watched two of my brethren fall. And then another. Then four more. Jax was right. Our numbers were too few. We had to retreat.
"Retreat!" I screamed.
I turned on my heel and raced back up the hill with Patroclus on my heels. I saw Chameleon materialise at the crest. He waved his arm in a wide arc, grey energy blasting out, knocking the first wave of soldiers down.
And then Jax screamed. I turned. I watched him fall. Everything melted away. I couldn't hear the explosions or the Walkers around me. There was nothing. Just Jax's wails ripping open the atmosphere of the silence encasing me.
I dropped to his side and placed my hands on his abdomen. Blood oozed out like a torrent. I couldn't stop it. How was I supposed to stop it? How?!
He coughed, eyes squinting in pain. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. "I'm done for, Astra."
"No, no, no," I growled through clenched teeth. I looked up to see the soldiers beginning to advance towards us. "No, you are going be fine. I know you are." I glared over my shoulder, Chameleon and Patroclus charging towards us. "Get him through a portal!"
Patroclus whipped one open, leading to the Crescent Moon Plains, the location of another camp.
"Astra..." I turned to Jax. "...it's...gonna be okay."
Patroclus carefully scooped him up as Chameleon defended us, holding up a shield of grey energy and throwing out waves to throw off the enemy. They charged through the portal.
"Chameleon!" I screamed. "Get through! Now!"
"You go! I'll hold them off!"
From the corner of my eye, I saw a soldier skirt away from the herd. I saw him raise a knife created from purple energy. I watched him throw it.
My instincts kicked into gear. I grasped Chameleon's shoulders and hurled him through the' portal.
"No! Astra!" he wailed as the portal snapped shut.
I gasped as the knife stuck into my side, piecing the the skin. White, hot pain flared up my side as my clothes soaked up the blood.
As I fell, I opened a portal of my own. I was falling. Falling. Falling into darkness.
❈Author's Note: Hey, there! If you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a quick vote! Thanks for reading!