Dark Age Year 871
Ninth day of the Eighth month
The bridge of the Sky People’s ship was ablaze with sparks as swords and axes clashed with the cold, unknown alien steel at a speed that only those with truly superhuman speed and reflexes could keep up with. The sounds of heavy footsteps and the clanging of metal echoed throughout the deserted hallways of the ship. The only breaks in this cacophony were the twang of flying crossbow bolts and the sloshing of the liquid metal floor, as the four combatants were now caught in the circle of death between predator and prey, between the victorious and the vanquished, between the living and the soon-to-become dead. It was a dance that all four of these people knew well. Whether batting through harrowing days and nights of trying to survive the treacherous lands of Aria or the many wars that plagued peoples and civilisations since the first murder, conflicts both new and old that served as the ultimate trial of fire, burning those to ash for those found wanting, and crucifying those who passed its tests with the blood and ash of the fallen, coating their bare flesh like a fresh coat of paint, like a new armour. That shielded their hearts and minds from the horrors they often faced or inflicted on themselves and others.
As Tharos dodged an overhead strike aimed at him, the lightning-infused blade zoomed past his head, and the creature focused its full attention on him. Rayner sized this opportunity to strike at one of the softer parts of the creature’s armour. He came crashing down with his axe, moving as swiftly as a raging bull, hitting the creature right in the hip. It let out an inhuman screech as it stumbled, preparing to strike Rayner. Seeing this as his chance, Cenric managed to strike on the other side with his spear. As they both tried to pull out their weapons for another blow, they realised their weapons were stuck. The liquefied metal began to try to suck in and consume their weapons right out of their hands. However, neither Rayner nor Cenric would have the chance to strike again with their weapons or their trusty backups. The creature looked at both of them, and Tharos could feel the rage. Although their weapons were not inflicting killing blows, they were hurting the creature, and it was about to retaliate in kind.
“Enough of this, you savages,” the creature growled in Zarbarian Swinging its glaive around, it crashed it on the ground, sending a massive shock wave towards all of them. Tharos felt himself fly and crashed into the door, with Cenric, Rayner, and Jabari joining him as they all hit the wall. Tharos recovered and saw that Jabari and Cenric appeared to be knocked out cold, while Rayner was trying to get up, reaching for his axe a few feet in front of him. The creature, seeing this, Made a beeline for Rayner, who was still reeling from the shock wave. Seizing the opportunity, Tharos leaped onto one of the desks, then jumped above the creature, slashing his sword in a front flip mid-air, cutting into one of the tubes that connected the creature’s helmet with its armour. A gush of steam burst forth from the creature as its armour hissed. Tharos landed on the chair the creature had been sitting on, and the creature looked at him.
Tharos gave the creature a small, smug smile as he felt the wounds inflicted upon him during the melee start to fade away like morning dew. The rush and blind madness of battle filled his once-empty heart anew. “I think it’s rather cute that you speak the language of what did you call us again, savages.”
“The only reason I humour your kind, savage, is so you can understand just a fraction of how much we loathe and detest your kind. And for us to teach you our tongue, I would have to rip out yours. You primitive ape,” the creature answered back, its armour still gleaming, and then charged at Tharos. Tharos readied his sword and shield and faced the figure.
The creature twirled his staff and launched a series of attacks that Tharos struggled to parry, their movements so fast that only afterimages were visible to each other. Tharos realised he was at a disadvantage in this battle; the creature was swift, had a longer reach, wielded a much deadlier weapon than he was used to, and wore almost impenetrable armour. In previous fights, Tharos could rely on defence and wearing down his opponents to claim victory, but that strategy wouldn’t work here. Time was running out as the place was on the verge of exploding, so he needed to end the battle quickly. He decided it was time to play his trump card. Although this ability had weakened, he had found ways to make it effective regardless. This trick would help him pierce the creature’s armour. As he parried the creature’s strikes and then forced back.
Taking a deep breath, Tharos shifted his sword and placed his shield on his back. He then focused on a spot in front of him, envisioning a much larger sword, like a hand-and-a-half or a bastard sword favoured by some wilders or Invicti nobles. As the image of this sword formed in his mind, his sole focus was on the blade as the creature closed in. However, he couldn’t afford to lose focus. Pressure began to build around him, causing the sea of liquid metal that comprised the floor to ripple. The creature paused, momentarily frozen, before speaking in almost disbelief.
“Don’t tell me you are…” the creature trailed off as flickers of lightning danced around Tharos’ form. Suddenly, a sword materialised in front of him in a flash of light. The sword glowed a faint black like the night sky filled with stars, resembling the blade of a shadowy wisp, yet it appeared solid to the touch. Tharos gripped his new blade with both hands, feeling a sharp pain in his head as if he were being stabbed by multiple blades. His vision began to cloud and blur.
“I don’t have much time,” he thought to himself. Tharos found it odd that in his current state, he barely felt much pain. Even the most serious of injuries felt minor to him, and he could not get tired in a physical sense, even though he felt he should. Sometimes, without realising it, he would pretend by breathing heavily and panting, as if he were putting on a great show for an audience that either didn’t care or didn’t exist in the first place. However, using his powers in activities like this still caused him some degree of pain and made him feel mentally exhausted, like when he was normal, well as normal as someone like him could be. In fact, it was the only way he knew how to feel these things.
Twirling his new blade in his hand, as if it were as light as a cloud, Tharos jumped off the seat and ventured towards the creature, readying his blade and pointing it towards the creature. The creature was more than happy to respond in kind. It charged at him, and as their weapons clashed in a whirlwind of blows, sparks of energy reverberated and bounced off their weapons as if they were in the eye of a mighty lightning and thunderstorm. As their weapons clashed, Tharos could see the force in both of their weapons, like two magnets of the same pole hitting one another.
Each side wasn’t giving ground in this new melee. However, as Tharos tried to parry the next blow, the creature swiftly managed to throw him off balance and thrust through his breastplate as if it were made of mere paper. As the creature’s blade ran through him, it pressed a button on its staff, and Tharos could feel his flesh sizzle as thousands of volts surged through his body. Almost falling to his knees, his new sword starting to flicker, that was when Rayner, raising his axe, hit the creature square in the back.
The creature turned away, taking its eyes off Tharos. As it did so, he noticed weird blades starting to pop out of the creature’s free hand. Using this opportunity, Tharos mustered all his strength to stand and swung his sword at the creature’s head. Before the creature could turn around and block the sword slash coming down on its throat, it was too late. Tharos’ contracted blade sliced through the creatures armour like a hot knife through butter and into the creature’s neck. Thick, dark blood gushed out of the creature’s neck, and Tharos could only hear a single phrase that gurgled out its pale lips as the creature fell to the ground dead.
“Savages,” it uttered until his body lay still and its blood started pouring on the floor, mixing with the liquefied metal to form a spiral symbol with a mixture of creature blood and the metal of the floor. It was almost pretty to look at in a strange way. But Tharos didn’t have time to enjoy this almost macabre masterpiece or even ponder the possible dread of what he had just faced—a creature beyond his understanding, fighting for a cause that was long lost and decided eons ago. As Tharos tried to free himself from the creature’s glaive that had pinned him to the floor, his body felt tingly and his arms weak. Rayner then approached and, with a sharp jerk and a tug, removed the creature’s staff from Tharos’s stomach and helped him to his feet.
“Thanks. Second time you’ve helped me today.”
“Yeah, you must be losing your touch,” Rayner said with a snort.
“Just having an off day. That is all.”
“Whatever you say. Perhaps our rematch will come sooner rather than later,” Rayner replied. They both glanced at their companions. Cenric was knocked out cold, with a few bruises, and maybe a broken bone or two, but he couldn’t handle. Jabari had a bit of blood on his head. Tharos reached back, grabbed some bandages around Jabari’s head – it was better than nothing and the best they could do. Tharos then looked at Rayner.
“You carry Cenric, I will carry Jabari. We need to hurry; this place will blow up soon,” Rayner said, shooting him a glare. “You could have told me that sooner.” he sighed as he picked up Cenric, slinging him over his back. Tharos swung Jabari over his shoulder, feeling the bridge of the ship rumble beneath them. Tharos sensed that the power core of the ship was about to blow shortly. They only had a few minutes before this place would become their tomb. Rushing out of the bridge of the ship and fighting their way through several more metal men, Tharos was desperate, looking for a way to escape until Rayner spoke up.
“Milk drinker, I can smell fresh air.”
“Where is it coming from?”
“From over there,” he pointed. As they both followed the trail, they noticed the ship was slowly breaking apart, massive holes were starting to form, and most importantly, the entrance they came through was open. Rushing up the stairs as quickly as they could, within a few minutes, they reached the surface. As they did, they felt the ground rumble and quake beneath them, with the hillside tumbling and sinking to the ground below in a massive localized earthquake. Several flocks of birds flew away as they both heard a massive boom sound coming from below, which shook the ground and knocked them off their feet. They both dropped the unconscious Jabari and Cenric on the ground. As they regained their bearings and moved Jabari and Cenric by the wagon, which was parked by the treeline untouched, they noticed the unusual creature. Taking in the new view, Tharos turned his head to Rayner.
“So you’re glad we took this job.”
“Well, at least this job wasn’t boring.”
“Well, the job still isn’t over yet,” he said, turning his head toward Jabari. “Speaking of jobs, it’s going to be a few hours before they wake up. In the meantime, we should hit the road.”
“With what horses? Unless you’re going to magically conjure up some horses,” Rayner said, fluttering his fingers in a mocking way at Tharos, as if implying that Tharos, with his power, could conjure living creatures. If he did so, he would have made himself a harem of beautiful women by now, each of them painstakingly and lovingly crafted to suit and cater to every whim and taste.”
“No, Rayner, we are both going to pull this wagon,” Tharos insisted.
Rayner snorted in response. “I am a warrior, not a pack mule. You milk-drinking bastard.”
“Oh, is the mighty Rayner afraid of a little manual labor?” Tharos taunted. Rayner shot him a fierce glare. “I am afraid of nothing,” he bellowed out. Tharos chuckled at that, and soon Rayner joined him. The seconds quickly turned to minutes, and minutes turned to hours. Before they knew it, both Cenric and Jabari had regained consciousness and headed to the road again, hoping this time they wouldn’t have to take more detours.
