A Coin Toss Gone Wrong
Fighting underground. Time passes. We don’t know if we have won and succeeded as the Vampires did their best to hold us back. They raised the dead and plagued the surface of Vultan and called upon their forces to march.
The Topside is in chaos. Men and women are being turned into pawns and the indiscriminate resurrection of the dead has called forth the attention of the Church Union fully.
The situation down here is in stalemate. Units are battling the forces defending the fortress. Fortress is stuck on the rocks and any attempts to go around are countered by guerilla forces who are using the shadows.
Supply lines are faltering with the service tunnels being flooded with the undead raised from their sacrifices. The Templar Unit, the Aquinas Chapter, has started the massacre of the undead and is cleansing the Grid connecting us to the outside world. Grid 127 has become our temporary camp and has enough defensible positions to keep the supernaturals out.
Point 1 and 2 which are respectively northeast and northwest of Grid 127 is facing constant attacks from the enemy trying to flush us out.
One of the chambers has enough room and privacy to set up a temporary station where we can coordinate the efforts of the attacking team, relay messages, and direct fireteams into advancing forward.
Kei is relying on Captain Hawke’s input. Eta is watching her back and Marvin is helping the priests of the church to set up an area free from any gaze and also a secondary protection. Forcing the Grid 127 to radiate with a glow that would keep the Vamps away or at least hamper their movements.
One of the Priests volunteered to lay down as he made use of himself as a conduit for where they would gather their energy and provide a blessing.
Wards are placed near the gunners forcing the Vampires back and skilled Agents are holding back those who are strong enough to scatter us. The fortress' thick walls are blocking our way and we couldn’t properly get inside the walls.
We are very lacking in time. We don’t have enough supplies, force, and morale to keep on going. Some of the mercs and freelancers have started to retreat after seeing the fierce resistance of the vampires and some even tried selling their services. Only a few were able to do so and everyone made sure we killed them first. We couldn’t allow them to walk away without branding them as traitors to mankind. They are left dead and beaten and hanged on the walls to remind anyone who tries it again.
Captain Hawke and his team have hatched a daring plan. They readied themselves up and with the backing of the forces in Grid 127, launched a suppressive fire, abandoning some of the defenses to focus on one part of the fortress. They were able to blow up a part of the fortress and got in. Fighting their way through the corridors and narrow passages of the fortress. I was reminded once again that Captain Hawke and his team were here with us for the same reason. They wanted to know what the anomaly is and if it could be used to create a holy grail that would banish the darkness.
Fanaticism or martial prowess. It didn’t matter as they opened the fortress walls and allowed our forces to enter and occupy the interior where we met with the lycan clans who rushed at us with an army of abominations who had pledged their services under the Clans.
“Monsters serving under monsters. Of course, they would join the supernaturals.”
Kei planted her boot on the head of an animal-headed abomination and crushed the head underfoot. Eta pinned one of the monsters down and stabbed the back of a lycan’s head with her two-hander, the tip of the blade coming out of the monster’s mouth.
Marvin swipes his spellblade and burns the monsters. Their abominable forms turning into burnt remains. I stood on the torso of an abomination with the blade I bought from Riki shattered and dulled. Only the hilt is left. I threw the sword aside and cocked a rifle.
“How are things on Hawke’s side, Akun?”
I combed through the channels and heard Hawke and his team clearing the rooms. Beyond the fortress walls we saw more of the Supernaturals gathering and taking on defensive positions.
“Be advised. We’ve encountered an enemy bipedal unit in the Northeast position.”
“Enemy in the Northeast position!”
I relayed to all units. I saw teams climbing the walls with their rifles and then jumping off the walls as the bipedal unit punched through the fortress walls.
“How come they brought it down so easily!?”
Eta spat on the floor and closed her helmet again. Marvin drank his concoction and then said as if it's a matter of fact.
“The Walls don’t have any Mages attending it. All reinforcement magic is gone.”
Kei put aside her teleforce cane and wielded her uzis as the vamps rushed in. Eta lets out steam as her figure rushes one of the Vampire, her two-handed blade cleaving through their polymer flesh and reinforced bones.
Marvin points his spellblade and ignites a vampire trying to pounce on him. Kei steps aside, kicks one hostile on the side, and then dumps an entire mag. One of the soldiers who are with us was pinned down. I shot his attacker on the ear and saw the bullet come out of the brain. The vamp staggered, but it was enough time for the soldier to draw the dagger on his side and stab the vamp repeatedly.
With the abominations rushing in. The heavy flamethrowers moved to the front with the nozzle of their throwers pointed at the enemy while the anti-projectile shields blocked most of the gunfire.
I could hear the sounds of burning flesh. We moved deep into the temple while the rest of us held the enemies back in this desperate attempt to win.
It was a structure similar to that of a Mayan structure and on the steps of the temple are men and women and creatures bowing their heads in front of this figure bathed in moonlight. Behind this creature the space seems to warp.
Marvin vomited at the sight of the creature and he started twisting on the ground. He was going to bite his mouth if I didn’t stop him so I knocked him out. The Mages who went in with us were coughing and vomiting while the rest were trying to calm their shaking.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know.”
Eta adjusted her pain editor and regained her composure. The purity seal on her armor was flickering as if it was losing connection to what made it resistant.
The creature didn’t move. It continued to bask in the moonlight as if it couldn’t understand what it was doing there.
Captain Hawke and his team moved forward. Their weapons aimed at this creature with his arms spread openly. I took a quick scan of the bodies bowing their heads and realized that they have been dead for five days and have been exsanguinated. On the floor there is a grate and lifting their bodies up. I came to realize they slashed their stomachs and squeezed the blood out of their stomach. The blood seems to have been offered to the being standing there.
Kei, who saw what I saw, contacted Captain Hawke and his team immediately.
“Captain… I think they’ve finished the ritual. You can smell it too. The particles of blood are coming everywhere and most of them are going to that creature.”
Captain Hawke and his team halted on their steps. I can hear them on the radio swallowing.
“Is that their God?”
“It might be.”
“How did they manage?”
“Blood sacrifice… they must have finished a week ago and now we’re just extra offerings.”
“Is that why they attack us?”
“Positively. It seems that their offerings weren’t enough and so they made sure to cause chaos and hope it would wake the God they conceived here.”
“I see.”
Captain Hawke turned towards the Elder who was praising his ‘God’ as if he couldn’t get out of his job. Captain Hawke ordered his team to stand down and then engaged the Elder.
“It seems your people succeeded.”
I could hear them on the radio. The Elder turned towards Captain Hawke with this uncanny smile that tore his lips.
“Indeed! I have to thank all of you mortals for providing joy and contemplation to our God! I thank you! I thank you!”
His eyes told it all. He considers every single one of us here as nothing more than jesters. I felt like it too. Now it made sense why they who have been so careful would become so rabid. But what about outside? Why are they attacking if they know they have already made their own God?
No. It’s simply joy. This is a festival of their own. A festival to welcome their God into the realside.
But the God above the temple remained quiet. Captain Hawke was staring down the Elder in frustration as he contemplated on what to do.
I begged God for Hawke to keep calm.
A coin toss that could decide our fate here.
But the coin landed on the side I didn't want to land.
“We need to try. We have to try.”
I can hear the judge slamming his mallet on the table. Captain Hawke drew a dagger and took a chunk of the Elder’s head. His team opened fire and yet all it took was for this Elder to raise a hand and flay them like they were nothing. Captain Hawke staggered, but gritted his teeth and then continued to stab the Elder on the heart until it could no longer laugh and shrugged Captain Hawke and threw him on the floor and splattered him.
Eta rushed in and tried cleaving the Elder on the head. Marvin threw a spell to silence the Elder. Captain Hawke’s team recovered and jumped the Elder and held onto his arms and legs. The two-handed was about to cleave when the Elder simply spread his arms like they were nothing and shattered them. Countering Eta’s strike with a masterful riposte and the other hand puncturing through Eta’s stomach and grabbing hold of her spine and violently pulling it back out of her stomach. The lights on her helmet kept on blinking as she fell on the side with blood pooling out of her stomach. Kei lost her temper and slammed her teleforce cane on the Elder’s head, slamming the Elder on the floor. Marvin tried to cast a spell and was stopped by a mere point of the Elder. His body flayed and melted and leaving only a puddle of flesh and blood. The Elder turned arrogantly at Kei and raised an arm.
Vaun, who was in the shadows, tore the Elder apart and then slammed his foot on the Elder’s head.
Kei’s face broke. She turned to Vaun and shouted.
“WHY NOW!?”
“The job was to protect you. This is the second help. If you two don’t want to die then you need to grab on. We need to leave now.”
“YOU COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING!”
“Not my job, Kei. You know how this business works. And even if I did. I cannot carry four of you out of this place. It’s simply impossible.”
He turned towards me as if I would understand. Honestly, I’m just grateful that I am still standing. Too fast. Too slow to react and draw Castor out of my sheathe.
“We need to go now!”
Luck ran out.
Time here ran out as well.
As he dragged me and Kei out of the place. I turned my attention to the creature on the altar. For the first time since seeing this creature, I understood why Vaun wanted to leave and why this God seemed to have been awakened.
It stood on top of an altar of stone and concrete. Beneath the altar where It stood is the head of its followers who bowed their heads and gave their precious blood away.
As if it finally realized and understood what it was seeing.
It cried at the death of Its followers. Shedding bloody tears and then it turned toward a spear that pinned him on his own altar.
Behold, an imitation of the spear that bled the son of God, as he pleaded his father it did not know what it was doing.
The spear that once killed God
And now a spear that shattered another God as well.
Then I saw nothing more than a flash of light.
As if a sun was thrown on top of this man-made god.
A Coin Toss Gone Wrong
Fighting underground. Time passes. We don’t know if we have won and succeeded as the Vampires did their best to hold us back. They raised the dead and plagued the surface of Vultan and called upon their forces to march.
The Topside is in chaos. Men and women are being turned into pawns and the indiscriminate resurrection of the dead has called forth the attention of the Church Union fully.
The situation down here is in stalemate. Units are battling the forces defending the fortress. Fortress is stuck on the rocks and any attempts to go around are countered by guerilla forces who are using the shadows.
Supply lines are faltering with the service tunnels being flooded with the undead raised from their sacrifices. The Templar Unit, the Aquinas Chapter, has started the massacre of the undead and is cleansing the Grid connecting us to the outside world. Grid 127 has become our temporary camp and has enough defensible positions to keep the supernaturals out.
Point 1 and 2 which are respectively northeast and northwest of Grid 127 is facing constant attacks from the enemy trying to flush us out.
One of the chambers has enough room and privacy to set up a temporary station where we can coordinate the efforts of the attacking team, relay messages, and direct fireteams into advancing forward.
Kei is relying on Captain Hawke’s input. Eta is watching her back and Marvin is helping the priests of the church to set up an area free from any gaze and also a secondary protection. Forcing the Grid 127 to radiate with a glow that would keep the Vamps away or at least hamper their movements.
One of the Priests volunteered to lay down as he made use of himself as a conduit for where they would gather their energy and provide a blessing.
Wards are placed near the gunners forcing the Vampires back and skilled Agents are holding back those who are strong enough to scatter us. The fortress' thick walls are blocking our way and we couldn’t properly get inside the walls.
We are very lacking in time. We don’t have enough supplies, force, and morale to keep on going. Some of the mercs and freelancers have started to retreat after seeing the fierce resistance of the vampires and some even tried selling their services. Only a few were able to do so and everyone made sure we killed them first. We couldn’t allow them to walk away without branding them as traitors to mankind. They are left dead and beaten and hanged on the walls to remind anyone who tries it again.
Captain Hawke and his team have hatched a daring plan. They readied themselves up and with the backing of the forces in Grid 127, launched a suppressive fire, abandoning some of the defenses to focus on one part of the fortress. They were able to blow up a part of the fortress and got in. Fighting their way through the corridors and narrow passages of the fortress. I was reminded once again that Captain Hawke and his team were here with us for the same reason. They wanted to know what the anomaly is and if it could be used to create a holy grail that would banish the darkness.
Fanaticism or martial prowess. It didn’t matter as they opened the fortress walls and allowed our forces to enter and occupy the interior where we met with the lycan clans who rushed at us with an army of abominations who had pledged their services under the Clans.
“Monsters serving under monsters. Of course, they would join the supernaturals.”
Kei planted her boot on the head of an animal-headed abomination and crushed the head underfoot. Eta pinned one of the monsters down and stabbed the back of a lycan’s head with her two-hander, the tip of the blade coming out of the monster’s mouth.
Marvin swipes his spellblade and burns the monsters. Their abominable forms turning into burnt remains. I stood on the torso of an abomination with the blade I bought from Riki shattered and dulled. Only the hilt is left. I threw the sword aside and cocked a rifle.
“How are things on Hawke’s side, Akun?”
I combed through the channels and heard Hawke and his team clearing the rooms. Beyond the fortress walls we saw more of the Supernaturals gathering and taking on defensive positions.
“Be advised. We’ve encountered an enemy bipedal unit in the Northeast position.”
“Enemy in the Northeast position!”
I relayed to all units. I saw teams climbing the walls with their rifles and then jumping off the walls as the bipedal unit punched through the fortress walls.
“How come they brought it down so easily!?”
Eta spat on the floor and closed her helmet again. Marvin drank his concoction and then said as if it's a matter of fact.
“The Walls don’t have any Mages attending it. All reinforcement magic is gone.”
Kei put aside her teleforce cane and wielded her uzis as the vamps rushed in. Eta lets out steam as her figure rushes one of the Vampire, her two-handed blade cleaving through their polymer flesh and reinforced bones.
Marvin points his spellblade and ignites a vampire trying to pounce on him. Kei steps aside, kicks one hostile on the side, and then dumps an entire mag. One of the soldiers who are with us was pinned down. I shot his attacker on the ear and saw the bullet come out of the brain. The vamp staggered, but it was enough time for the soldier to draw the dagger on his side and stab the vamp repeatedly.
With the abominations rushing in. The heavy flamethrowers moved to the front with the nozzle of their throwers pointed at the enemy while the anti-projectile shields blocked most of the gunfire.
I could hear the sounds of burning flesh. We moved deep into the temple while the rest of us held the enemies back in this desperate attempt to win.
It was a structure similar to that of a Mayan structure and on the steps of the temple are men and women and creatures bowing their heads in front of this figure bathed in moonlight. Behind this creature the space seems to warp.
Marvin vomited at the sight of the creature and he started twisting on the ground. He was going to bite his mouth if I didn’t stop him so I knocked him out. The Mages who went in with us were coughing and vomiting while the rest were trying to calm their shaking.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know.”
Eta adjusted her pain editor and regained her composure. The purity seal on her armor was flickering as if it was losing connection to what made it resistant.
The creature didn’t move. It continued to bask in the moonlight as if it couldn’t understand what it was doing there.
Captain Hawke and his team moved forward. Their weapons aimed at this creature with his arms spread openly. I took a quick scan of the bodies bowing their heads and realized that they have been dead for five days and have been exsanguinated. On the floor there is a grate and lifting their bodies up. I came to realize they slashed their stomachs and squeezed the blood out of their stomach. The blood seems to have been offered to the being standing there.
Kei, who saw what I saw, contacted Captain Hawke and his team immediately.
“Captain… I think they’ve finished the ritual. You can smell it too. The particles of blood are coming everywhere and most of them are going to that creature.”
Captain Hawke and his team halted on their steps. I can hear them on the radio swallowing.
“Is that their God?”
“It might be.”
“How did they manage?”
“Blood sacrifice… they must have finished a week ago and now we’re just extra offerings.”
“Is that why they attack us?”
“Positively. It seems that their offerings weren’t enough and so they made sure to cause chaos and hope it would wake the God they conceived here.”
“I see.”
Captain Hawke turned towards the Elder who was praising his ‘God’ as if he couldn’t get out of his job. Captain Hawke ordered his team to stand down and then engaged the Elder.
“It seems your people succeeded.”
I could hear them on the radio. The Elder turned towards Captain Hawke with this uncanny smile that tore his lips.
“Indeed! I have to thank all of you mortals for providing joy and contemplation to our God! I thank you! I thank you!”
His eyes told it all. He considers every single one of us here as nothing more than jesters. I felt like it too. Now it made sense why they who have been so careful would become so rabid. But what about outside? Why are they attacking if they know they have already made their own God?
No. It’s simply joy. This is a festival of their own. A festival to welcome their God into the realside.
But the God above the temple remained quiet. Captain Hawke was staring down the Elder in frustration as he contemplated on what to do.
I begged God for Hawke to keep calm.
A coin toss that could decide our fate here.
But the coin landed on the side I didn't want to land.
“We need to try. We have to try.”
I can hear the judge slamming his mallet on the table. Captain Hawke drew a dagger and took a chunk of the Elder’s head. His team opened fire and yet all it took was for this Elder to raise a hand and flay them like they were nothing. Captain Hawke staggered, but gritted his teeth and then continued to stab the Elder on the heart until it could no longer laugh and shrugged Captain Hawke and threw him on the floor and splattered him.
Eta rushed in and tried cleaving the Elder on the head. Marvin threw a spell to silence the Elder. Captain Hawke’s team recovered and jumped the Elder and held onto his arms and legs. The two-handed was about to cleave when the Elder simply spread his arms like they were nothing and shattered them. Countering Eta’s strike with a masterful riposte and the other hand puncturing through Eta’s stomach and grabbing hold of her spine and violently pulling it back out of her stomach. The lights on her helmet kept on blinking as she fell on the side with blood pooling out of her stomach. Kei lost her temper and slammed her teleforce cane on the Elder’s head, slamming the Elder on the floor. Marvin tried to cast a spell and was stopped by a mere point of the Elder. His body flayed and melted and leaving only a puddle of flesh and blood. The Elder turned arrogantly at Kei and raised an arm.
Vaun, who was in the shadows, tore the Elder apart and then slammed his foot on the Elder’s head.
Kei’s face broke. She turned to Vaun and shouted.
“WHY NOW!?”
“The job was to protect you. This is the second help. If you two don’t want to die then you need to grab on. We need to leave now.”
“YOU COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING!”
“Not my job, Kei. You know how this business works. And even if I did. I cannot carry four of you out of this place. It’s simply impossible.”
He turned towards me as if I would understand. Honestly, I’m just grateful that I am still standing. Too fast. Too slow to react and draw Castor out of my sheathe.
“We need to go now!”
Luck ran out.
Time here ran out as well.
As he dragged me and Kei out of the place. I turned my attention to the creature on the altar. For the first time since seeing this creature, I understood why Vaun wanted to leave and why this God seemed to have been awakened.
It stood on top of an altar of stone and concrete. Beneath the altar where It stood is the head of its followers who bowed their heads and gave their precious blood away.
As if it finally realized and understood what it was seeing.
It cried at the death of Its followers. Shedding bloody tears and then it turned toward a spear that pinned him on his own altar.
Behold, an imitation of the spear that bled the son of God, as he pleaded his father it did not know what it was doing.
The spear that once killed God
And now a spear that shattered another God as well.
Then I saw nothing more than a flash of light.
As if a sun was thrown on top of this man-made god.
