A bright flash of white light blinded me as we stepped into the portal back to the Umbra. Purple particles swept around us as we stepped back onto that familiar metallic floor. We were back. This deck looked familiar. It was dark and grungy but several decks fit that description. We looked around for a deck plaque and saw a blood-covered sign that read...'Deck 13'. I was back here, where this hell all began for me. "We have to go to the cafeteria."-"What? You're hungry at a time like this?" Tobey asked confused.-"No, there are people there; we have to go back for them." I had almost forgotten about Frank and the rest. I couldn't leave them behind.
Before we went I saw notifications on this armors HUD. I only had to think about it and it selected it, an audio log from Ch'zzick played. "Hello Damien, this is a demonstration on how to use the Umbral armor, firstly I'm certain you're aware of the arm-mounted energy weapon along with the two bayonets. I won't bore you with how it works, only how to use it, merely aim at what you perceive to be a target and squeeze." I aimed down the hallway and imagined squeezing a trigger; a bolt of red energy came booming out of the cannon's barrel and struck the wall down the hall. It felt amazing. "Also remember that the armor grants you enhanced physical abilities and resistance to Umbra'Keshes reality alteration simply see for yourself. I wish you luck on your mission, finish what I could not." I breathed in and out after listening to that, I felt a great weight on my shoulders. I needed to finish this. We made our way to the cafeteria; something wasn't right, there was no light peeking out underneath the door. "Tobey can you watch Emily out here please?" I said, my voice trembling a bit. The door wouldn't open, so I stabbed the dual blades into it and ripped the door off. It was pitch black inside but I could hear shuffling. I reluctantly turned on night vision and my heart sank. I was horrified by what I saw.
Splinters were chewing on the bodies of the people that stayed in here for safety; the place I told them was safe. The thud from my footsteps alerted them to my presence. I aimed my cannon at them and put them to rest, the red light illuminated their deformed faces...then they were put to rest. These were the people I was supposed to protect. There was no sign of forced entry which means...everyone inside turned. I walked over to the kitchen to see if anyone was still alive. It was barred from the inside so surely someone still was. It was no trouble breaking through the barricade. There was no sign of anyone here except for bullet holes, I made my way to the freezer to find it was locked. The energy cannon could fire a precise laser to melt the lock. I pulled the door back only to find...Frank. He was slouched on the ground; he was so still, that he was clutching the handgun I had given him. The gun had no bullets left, he must've thought there was no way out...I couldn't bear to look at him any longer. "I'm so sorry Frank" I stepped out of the cafeteria and handed Emily some water, we hadn't drank much in the time we were in that place. "No one left in there?" Tobey asked. I could hear the dejection in his voice, I just nodded and walked ahead. A strange symbol popped up on my HUD, it seemed to point in various odd directions, we made our way into an area of deck 13 I had never been to. The symbol stopped dead as we reached a strange wall. The wall made a hollow sound as I knocked on it. I punched into it and broke it down. I don't know what I was expecting but this wasn't anything I could've imagined. The architecture looked Umaran, just like the ruins on Umbra.
"Whoa," They both said, as they looked in amazement at the ornate bronze and grey purple metal plates that lined the walls. We turned on our flashlights and traversed the unknown part of the ship. "Has this always been part of the ship? Nothing else looks like it." Tobey asked. We entered a large empty area, maybe a concourse of some kind. -"I guess so, it looks like it takes up a decent part of the deck maybe even the ship as a whole." I answered back. There were what looked to be about six giant sarcophagi. Silence filled the room as we looked in awe at the size and beauty of the sarcophagi that lined the room. They looked like the tombs of gods. We heard what sounded like a crowd of footsteps approaching us from behind; we looked behind and saw a horde of splinters behind us. "Cut through the tombs, I'll hold them off here, now go!" Tobey and Emily ran between the gap in the sarcophagi into the hallway ahead. Now it was time to see what this armor could really do. The horde of insatiable former crewmates came spilling through several unknown entrances from above and below.
I grabbed the first one that managed to reach me by the neck and with a long swipe, dismembered both of its arms. I wasn't quite prepared for the fact that I had obliterated its body with just a kick. I was now surrounded by an uncountable amount of splinters. I pulled out my pistol and fired expert shots into the horde with help from the targeting system. I decided to make use of the armor's enhanced speed and ran through them with a barely controllable speed and force. They splattered like bugs on a windshield in my onslaught. I was too out in the open. Even with how easily I can dispatch them, there is only one of me and hundreds of them. I tried making my way past the sarcophagi but a gargoyle stopped me in my tracks. It was easy to kill, but it sacrificed itself to buy its ilk time to flood in and engulf me. Their many hands and mouths scratched and bit at me as I struggled to break free from their abyssal grasp. I couldn't fail now, not while I'm so close. I charged my arm cannon to 50% and fired blindly into the black mass, a scorching wave of bright red energy surrounded me and vaporized everything within my immediate vicinity. It felt like standing in a blast furnace but it allowed me to escape through the passage.
I made it out of there but I could still feel the burning sensation on my skin. As I made my way out of the passage, I got a call from Tobey over the radio. "Damien you there?"- "Yeah I'm still here, just." I managed to grunt out as I lay against the wall still scorching hot, my HUD read the surface temperature at 1300 Celsius and dropping. "Where are you two?"-"We're in...Well, it looks like a temple or something."- "A temple? Alright, I'm on my way; I just need to cool off." I slowly made my way through the gilded hallway and slumped against the wall. My head was killing me; apparitions were appearing around me, familiar things, then in front of me was Alice? -"How could you Damien, I thought you loved me? Why would you do that to me? You could have saved me." She appeared human to me but with a massive hole where her heart was. She put her hands on each side of my helmet. "Please come join me, where we can both be safe."-"Trust me I wish I could be with you, soon but not yet, there are still things I need to do first." Her expression turned into a death stare.-"No there's no need, it's already too late for them, come join me, we can be together forever now." She said in her sweetest voice, looking up at me with her big green eyes. How I wished to see them again, but they were not real. I took her hands off me, It was difficult to do. but I had a job to finish. she resisted slightly but gave in and disappeared suddenly, leaving only an echo of a scream. I fell to my knees, snapping out of my delirium.
After a few minutes, I reached the temple Tobey mentioned, but they were nowhere to be seen. There was gunfire somewhere nearby so I ran to the source of it. This song and dance was starting to get old, splinters were swarming the pulpit. I saw Tobey firing at them as they closed in on him, Emily was right behind him cowering, terrified by the encroaching monsters. I blasted apart and bisected every splinter in my path until I reached them. The once ornate bronze and purple interior were now painted in the black obliterated remains of its former occupants. "Thanks for the save again man, I swear these things think I'm some kind of living buffet." He looked back at Emily. "How're you doing kid? It's alright you're safe now." He said holding her close with his arm. I looked around and saw what appeared to be a library up top. I pointed up and motioned at them to come with me. We ascended the pristine metal staircase. There was an odd-looking book on a table. I decided to take a look. It had a sleek onyx cover. Reading through the book I learned some valuable albeit disturbing information. This temple was the original structure upon which the rest of the ship was built upon. Various high-profile crews for the last almost 500 years had worshipped some deity here on the sixth day of every week. The head of every congregation was a woman who devoted themselves to the said deity. It is said that those who devote themselves the most are granted dark miraculous gifts.-"Hey what kind of book is that?"-"It seems to be some kind of manuscript, not quite a bible but more of a tome of some kind."
The voice of a woman broke my attention from my reading. "I see you've been doing some reading; do you find it to be enthralling? I personally find that one to be a bit too dry for me, I find the word of our most supreme one to be much more...engrossing." A tall otherworldly female shape descended from who knows where, her skin was a light red-brown and her face...it looked so demonically alien, her red-eyed gaze met mine.-"What the hell are you?" - "It seems Ch'zzick has sent his Violet brute to meddle in my gracious one's plan, I'd tell you my name but that would be wasted on a dead man." - "I may be a brute, but at least I'm not a mutated concubine for an eldritch psychopath." She was visibly offended by my remark. - "After I've killed you, pathetic toy soldiers, I shall take in that child as an acolyte of Umbra'Kesh." It was her turn to disparage us.-"Over my dead body, wizard-wench." Tobey yelled.- "Oh that's my intention whelp!" Tobey got off a few shots on her, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off of a purple shield. She hit him with some kind of energy, knocking him into a bookshelf.-"You bitch!" I charged her furiously, but she heaved me off the balcony and flung me to the ground. I groaned as I lay there, sunken into the ground. My fingers twitched in pain as I lay in the crater beneath me.-
"Is that all the mighty crusader has to throw at me?" A book smacked her in the back of the head.-"Ow who...? Oh, you, I like your spirit child but you mustn't throw things at your superiors." -"Leave him alone!" Emily yelled.-"Oh I will, when he's dead."-"Newsflash harpy." She turned around, only to catch a face full of a pew that I threw at her. She crashed down onto the balcony.- "What? Did you throw a fucking pew at me?" -"Not the only thing I'm going to throw at you cunt." I said fuming with rage. She stepped out looking about as pissed as I was, as she was about to throw her hand, I pulled out the Decager and fired into her chest and yanked her into a clothesline. She only made a gasp as she collided with my arm and into the ground. She was too strong for it to rip out her ribcage, but not strong enough for a mortal man's arm. She flung herself back up and attacked me with a flurry of scorching scratches. We engaged in a lethal dance duo, where only one of us was walking away.
I slashed her several times around her body, disrobing her of what little clothing she was wearing.- "Are you trying to kill me or bed me?" Unfortunately, this distracted me for a second and she struck me with a powerful blast from her hand. She lifted her hand and I flew up through the floor and into the ceiling. I was getting really tired of that shit. "Face it whelp, you simply don't have the power to best me."-"Maybe not but I don't have a hole in my chest." She looked confused.-"No I don't."- "Not yet." I got up and dusted my shoulder. In a split second, I charged her; this caught her slightly off guard. She brought her hands together and fired an energy beam at me; I held my ground this time. the blistering heat was more intense than from my canon. I moved closer and closer to her while bracing as much as I could while the temperature skyrocketed to near that of the sun.-"You should be ash by now!" The heat from her beam was setting the library ablaze, my armor was blazing blue as I neared her at the end of the balcony. As she was about to finish me with all her power, Tobey shot her in the eye, which allowed me to take a leap of faith on to her. "Am I too hot to handle babe?" I wasn't really one for one-liners but that one felt good, or It would if my flesh and nerves didn't feel like they were burning away from the intense heat. I impaled her through the heart with my arm bayonet. She had what looked to be a shocked expression as if I had broken her heart right in front of her.
We both dropped to the floor. She lay there still as a statue while blood poured from the gaping hole in her chest. I fell to the ground, barely able to move. I fell to my knees with my hands on my lap, unable to feel anything but the immense heat radiating off of me. I saw Tobey approach me slowly but I warned him not to come any closer. I looked at the temp warning and saw that it read 5000 Celsius. It felt like the armor was going to fuse to me like a cast metal sculpture. My vision was going black. "Now is not the time to sleep on the job. It's time to wake up Damien, you have your people to save and vengeance to wreak." I opened my eyes and with great effort, began to move my body. Something appeared on my HUD; thermal absorption activated, I stood back up and faced Tobey and Emily. White-hot light covered them as they got closer. I held that sorceress's heart in my hand, it seemed unaffected by the extreme heat. -"You alright Damien?" Tobey asked in awe of what he was seeing.-"I am now, how about you? You took a nasty hit."-"Ablative armor is a lifesaver; got a big ol' hole now, though not like the one you gave her." -"Who knew she was such a heartless bitch. Oops, pardon my language Emily, oh and thank you for the help, couldn't have done it without both of your help."
We dug through what was left of the library to figure out Umbra'Kesh's plan and how we could stop it. We looked through their "Bible" its name almost unpronounceable. The Umbra itself is supposed to be used as a sort of conduit to open a portal to let something in, something that it doesn't name "for when it consumes all, there will be no use for names." The Umbra has to land on the planet to do so, which means we will have to shut off the engines to prevent that. After some time I had come up with a rough plan. "Alright we're going to shut off the engines, so that way the Umbra can't land planetside, then we're going to escape on whatever remaining escape pods are left." -"What about that Kesh guy?" -"I'll deal with him when the time comes." We eventually made our way out of the cultist temple and into a maglev off of this accursed deck. Tobey and Emily went up to Deck 21 to find any remaining escape pods, whereas I went down to engineering, to put his plans on ice. The automatic door opened slowly to reveal a darkened hallway filled with some kind of black mass growing on the floor and walls with splinters making meals of former engineers.
They took their attention off their food and creaked their necks over to me, staring at me with vacant milky white eyes. I cracked my neck and made my way into Hell's hallway, my blade glided perfectly through the first splinter and my fist perforated the one in front of me. I just went on autopilot, while my body and shotgun did the rest. There was nothing left but the unrecognizable remains of what used to be the fine people of this ship's former crew. I entered engineering to find a large malignant growth on top of the ship's black sun drive, it might be protecting or siphoning energy from it, either way, I was going to get rid of it. Accessing the console was a bit of a chore but there wasn't much resistance, I thought about how to kill this thing, maybe I could try overloading the core. I swiped the screen to overload the core and used Yhareths authorization clearance to initiate it. A surge of electricity conducted through the growth, its flesh ignited, and it seemed to scream in pain as it disintegrated. I pulled out the ship's fuel cell and crushed it in my hand, now the Umbra was nothing more than a floating hunk of metal. I called Tobey. "Hey, any luck with finding a pod?"-"Yeah about that." I knew I wasn't going to like what I was going to hear. "I checked how many were left on the escape pod registry and well...there aren't any left, they're all gone, what do we do?" -"Not all of them, there's still the captain's personal pod, I'll meet you two up there on Deck 41, I'll send you its location."
Fifteen minutes later I met them where I told them to go. They were standing next to the pod that was their last means of escape. -"Man are we glad to see you, it's a bit cramped but I think we can all fit." He said as he entered the pod -"I'm not going with you." I said as I lifted Emily into the pod, she yelled out for me as I closed the door behind them.-"Nooo! Damien, what're you doing? " She cried out.-"Damien why'd you shut the door?" Tobey asked confused. -"As I said, I'm not going with you two."- "Why? He can't go anywhere or do anything. He's trapped in here, we can bring back reinforcements."-"No, I have to stop him here and now, that means getting you two to safety." I could barely look them in the eye, I saluted Tobey. "It's been an honor to serve alongside you soldier."-"Likewise sir."- "And Emily, you're the bravest girl I've ever met, now do me a favor and take care of Tobey."-"I'll miss you." She said with tears in her eyes, those were the last words I heard them speak as I watched their pod launch out into space. I faced away and made my way to the bridge.
The sinking feeling of dread filled me as I moved closer to the bridge, I was thinking about how I got into this unimaginable situation, how I was forced to commit atrocities, I thought about what I did to Alice, how could I ever live with myself after what I've done. The bridge door opened, it was probably the cleanest part of the ship now, there was no sign of Alice's body. He turned around in the captain's chair to face me. "Welcome back Damien, I see you've been quite busy making a mess of things." His face showed nothing but contempt as he spoke. "I see you're wearing the armor of my favorite hero, that of course is no accident, it's Ch'zzick's way of mocking me. What I did to his people was a necessary evil, I wouldn't expect you to be able to comprehend that." - "What did you do to his people?"- "The same thing I'm doing to yours, except on a smaller scale as it requires more from lesser beings." His smile widened slightly. -"What could possibly justify mass murder like this? Tell me why you would commit such abhorrent acts of cruelty? Men, women, and children, I have been forced to kill because you're sacrificing them to something; you're not really in charge are you? You're just a pawn in something larger, just like your little sorceress." His smile disappeared and he stood up from the seat. -"I've had enough of this useless prattle; I know you're here for one thing human and it's to kill me, even with my people's weaponry and your combat prowess, the way you brutishly wield those armaments, it's laughable. You can't stop what is inevitable, none of us can."
Umbra'Kesh held his arms out and melted into a shadow that engulfed the entire room, only his face was visible. I watched as the dimensions of the bridge expanded past that of what they should be. I watched carefully as black tendrils seeped out from the abyss that surrounded me. I fired at them with my magnum but they passed through harmlessly, maybe using the armor's weapons was the only way to harm him. Umbra'Kesh laughed at my attempts to harm him. We'll see who'll be laughing soon. I fired a volley of scarlet plasma at the tendrils and scorched them to nothing. Now that was effective. One struck me from behind while I was focused on the ones in front of me. "You might want to check your six hehehe." - "Kirainahito o warau" His eyes rose in confusion at the insult. I took this moment to fire at the floating head. The ball of plasma scorched his face leaving a trail of purple vapor, several tendrils rushed towards me at shocking speeds, stabbing into the gaps of my armor on my arms. "Ahh, bastard!" I sliced off the one in my left arm, then ripped off the one on my right. Before I could get my bearings, a large blunt construct charged into my chest, sending me flying several meters away.-"There's no use fighting anymore Damien, lay your weapon down and submit, I could grant you power with a position amongst my ranks."-"You mustn't be so narrow-minded in how you fight, slow and methodical won't work against him." I heard Ch'zzicks voice in my head. Guess I have to get more huh? Alright, let's get creative. As I imagined a tendril and a pull of the trigger, a scarlet one emanated from my arm cannon, I whipped it towards Umbra'Kesh. He let out an inhuman screech as the whip of plasma struck his face. I ran as fast as I could while pelting him with plasma bolts and what energy constructs I could think of.
It felt as though we had fought for eternity; the constant trading of blows brought both of us closer to death, it was only a matter of who could endure more.-"You cannot kill a higher being than yourself Damien, it's an exercise in futility, trust me...I've tried." I readied a flashbang behind my back, then I said with a heavy breath.-"You didn't try hard enough." I tossed the flash and fired on it right before contact, the bright red flash stunning him, causing him to revert back into his body. As I charged toward him, my mind went to my twin bayonets, filling them with scarlet energy and my hatred of him. He went into a frenzy, flailing tendrils and spikes and everything he could at me while he was blind. I couldn't waste time dodging all of them, so I just took their strikes as I closed in on him. Umbra'Kesh turned around and gazed at me as I drove my blades into his chest, purple blood splashed onto my eyes as I impaled him, the abyss disappeared back into him. I pulled out my magnum and fired on him, this time spurts of purple blood jetted out as I emptied the chamber into him. He slouched into the captain's chair, blood smearing the backrest as he slid down.
I felt the adrenaline start to wear off and I sat down on my lower back, did I do it? Had I won? Umbra'Kesh began coughing and spoke in a raspy voice. "I suppose it was only a matter of time before my hubris caught up to me hehehe, maybe I was wrong, I'd thought it impossible to fight back against it, and with my failure, it will expect a sacrifice." -"What is it you've been sacrificing people to? You'd as well tell me now." He let out a defeated sigh. -"Beings from other universes have many names for it, my people called it the devouring dark, it's corrupting effects are why my people look this way, it took my family away from me when we last rose up against it, I'd thought I would be able to see them one last time. You think me the monster? It is a threat to our very living multiverse, you're quite lucky that your universe is very far away, I needed the Umbra to open a wormhole for it to enter and consume your universe, it is too late now, in just a few hours it will tear through the veil of your reality. But congratulations on your victory." -"Unless I destroy the Umbra." I looked him dead in the eyes; he looked as if he was contemplating something. -"That could work, now what will you do with me? I won't die on my own, will you do what you struck out to do and vanquish your foe?" -"Are the Umbra's transporters still functional?" - "You know what, they are, is that how you plan on escaping?" His grin widened. -"No, it's how 'you are; I'm getting you the hell out of my universe." He let out a loud cackle. - "Well now, I wasn't expecting that." -"Can you open a portal out of here?" - "Yes, I will need to access the transporter array." For the first time in days, I wasn't trying to kill him. Dark energy emanated from him and into the ship, I looked on as he opened an unstable portal by drawing power from the Umbra, he turned around to face me. "I suppose this is where we part ways, you sure you don't want to go in? There is only enough power for one to go in." - "What reason do I have anymore?" That was the last thing I said to him before I kicked him into the portal, after a loud zap, the portal closed. I was alone now, it was just me and the Umbra. I shuffled my way to the ship controls and set a course for the planet. I wasn't going to land but instead set a crash course on the other side of the planet, there should be enough fuel in the thrusters to do that. I slumped down into the chair; I held the emerald ring in my palm as I looked into a picture of Alice I had brought with me. I looked out into space as the planet Umbra came into view.