(Fifteen hours remaining)
"Terin, there's no easy way to tell you this but, Liege himself is a cragmite." It took a moment for Terin to process Talwyn's words, but when he did, Terin started shaking, losing all connection to reality.
...
...
...
"Terin?" Someone asked, worried. It sounded to Terin as if it were Nathaniel. He couldn't tell. Instead, the lombax felt his strength leave him and without it, he collapsed, blurred images of his companions before his sight as black unconsciousness took him under in short order.
He didn't know where he was at first, for the images were a messy smear of projections, but soon they came into focus. Then sound followed in much the same manner.
From where he stood, Terin could see that he was reliving the nightmare about Tachyon's attack on the Lombaxes. But from past experience with his nightmares, this didn't feel right. The nightmares always came in fragments—his mind never wanting to relive the grim reality he remembered so well. In addition, this area looked unfamiliar to him. From all the wreckage and collapsed metal structures, Terin recognized the area to be somewhere downtown. He knew his family was at home when downtown was laid to waste. It was from home that his family made their way to the Court of Azimuth. It meant that he never passed this area.
This however felt more... real. Like a premonition.
Terin watched as panicked lombaxes blew right by him, passing through his intangible form. From directly ahead came the sounds of Tachyon's mechanized Drophyd forces making their way toward him and the crowd. Instinctively, Terin reached for his Praetorian Omniwrench. The one that always rested on his upper back. In reality—if this really was a premonition, or a vision, or whatnot—he knew he couldn't do anything. But that wasn't going to stop him from trying. Anger rose within him as he brought his wrench to his side, dropping into 'guard stance': wrench staff fully extended, one blade head gently resting on the ground, the other sticking out from behind the lombax's head.
"I do this for you, my fellow people," Terin whispered before dashing toward the enemy. Planting a blade head firmly into the ground, Terin jumped skyward, vaulting through the air before coming down hard on a Drophyd. This failed to do anything as he passed right through it. Terin turned to watch that same Drophyd fall to a lombax, its wrench slamming into the glass dome. In question the lombax's fur was covered in light orange with deep blue triangles. He wore a shirt light sky blue in color, black pants, and white shoes etched with blue lines. The lombax wielded a gunmetal colored wrench, looking none the worse for wear for having just pummeled a Drophyd into the ground. Terin watched as his brave kinsman felled four more Drophyds before a series of laser fire put him down for good. Burn marks were left in the lombax's clothes and flesh as the attack punched right through him.
Rage burned brighter within Terin now, etching its hated look on the lombax as the all-consuming emotion threatened to overtake him, making him grip his wrench with a grip like iron. His knuckles turned white beneath his armored glove.
"Va di uner wis?"
Despite the intensity of the battle around him, the words were crystal clear, as if they were in his own head. Terin looked around, eyes darting throughout the broken battleground. There—on his left, out of his peripheral—Terin spotted it: a figure in a heavy brown robe, most features obscured except for two huge, purple claws. Terin gasped in surprised, recoiling in fear a few steps.
"Liege," Terin started, facing his opponent, taking stance, a determined look forming the lombax's features. Liege spoke nothing in return, instead turning on heel and dashing away. Terin wasted no time in giving the cragmite haste, pushing himself to not lose sight of his enemy. Passing through what seemed to be an endless wave upon wave of Drophyds—and plenty of fallen lombaxes—Terin was unrelenting as he chased Liege down, reaching the outskirts of the metropolitan area and passing into the residential district. While in better shape than downtown, one could see that not even the quiet neighborhoods were safe from the wrath of Tachyon and his armies.
He noticed it a second too late.
A blinding flash followed by an intensive boom were all Terin could process as he was flung sideways, skidding across the dusty ground several tens of cubits away. At first, there was a bright light, fading soon into blurred darkness; while all the time screeching rang his ears. "Darn," Terin thought, slamming his fists on the ground, using it as a crutch to get up. He collapsed as his whole body cried out in pain. Terin layed there for a few moments while the pain subsided. Grabbing his wrench, Terin used that instead. It helped little, but that was enough for him to get on his knees. From there, Terin took a quick survey of himself and saw that the left side of his armor was partly eroded away, leaving spots of raw, bare skin. Whatever Liege used was effective. And it hurt. Plenty.
It took more precious moments for Terin to stand back up, only for him to fall back on his knees, a pain like fire coursed through him. "Get up, Terin," he demanded of himself, pushing against the sharp stinging of his peeled wounds. At last he stood, bending his knees against the continuous pain as he activated his hoverboots. Over the flat terrain Terin made ground quickly. Finally, he arrived at the spot of the explosion and Terin turned to look toward the direction Liege went.
It was there that he saw it: a fine, two-story home mostly intact—with the front door busted into and a gaping rooftop. And as with Liege's words, Terin heard the activity inside the house with an almost astute acuteness despite the range between the two. With no wasted second, Terin was off again, quickly closing the gap between him and his target. When he was satisfied with the distance between him and the house, Terin cut off his hoverboots, ejecting a wrench head into the ground as he threw himself in the air, through the large hole in the roof.
Quickly activating his hoverboots again to slow his descent, Terin fell onto the attic floor and dashed toward the door which led to the second floor. Yanking it open, screams, followed by both grunts and curses filtered into the attic, indicating the action to be really close. As Terin was about to jump down, not even worrying to extend the ladder, a big form flew by below him, flying by to quick for Terin to get a good look at it. He jumped down anyway, wrench at the ready as he crouched to soften the landing.
Terin risked a quick peek behind him to see who it was. Dressed in an explorer's vest and pants a color halfway between beige and khaki, the burly stranger wore a hat that matched the rest of his attire. Thick brown hiking boots finished the man's wears. Terin recognized the giant figure to be Markazian by the light, sun-toned skin. However, the most keen feature was the bushy red mustache that covered the lower half of his face. Lifting his head, the stranger looked at Terin before exclaiming weakly, yet still resonating with an impressive depth, "Look out!"
Terin barely had anytime to face forward before taking sight of an oncoming torrent of bullets. Unable to deflect each one, Terin instead blocked each one simply. Liege lowered his blaster and looked at Terin.
"Drop the gun, now!" Terin commanded, voice raised in anger, holding his Praetorian wrench in front of him, the battle-scarred weapon fully erect. Then—much to the lombax's surprise—another person jumped on top of Liege, slamming a grey, one-bladed wrench onto the cragmite's head. Roaring in pain, Liege whipped around in fury, throwing his right claw around blindly, easily missing his attacker. From behind, Terin heard the giant call out, "Nailed him, Kaden!"
Kaden?
Terin's vision went over to the stranger who attacked Liege, and yes, Terin could see that the stranger was indeed lombax. Donned in a red holo-armor, the lombax's fur was a yellow, somewhat golden color which was beaded and matted in sweat. Light brown triangles colored his ears which were held high in alert. However, his most striking feature was a pair of green eyes. A green that could be described in any number of dozen ways. A green he'd only ever seen on one other lombax: Ratchet. His son.
"Hang on, Kaden. I'm coming!" With that, Terin dashed across the hall and into the open room. Displaying great combat prowess, Terin could see that Liege was holding his own against the athleticism of Kaden. At this rate, the battle would most likely draw out until one of them became too exhausted to continue. Terin leaped forward, wrench ready for an overhead slam. However, Liege swung a claw around to meet the lombax and swatted him out of the air with ease, sending Terin colliding against the broken holovision.
"Get out of here!" Kaden commanded of Terin. "Run for the Court!" Narrowly avoiding a lunge, Kaden rolled away, giving him more space. He held his wrench high, a sturdy block ready. It was here that the markazian made his appearance. Blaster at the ready, the giant took aim and fired quickly, bullet after bullet making their way toward the cragmite. Under his battered cloak, Liege smiled... then dissembled his body into small particles. The bullets harmlessly passed through his body and Liege moved quickly toward Kaden.
Kaden somersaulted out of the way, leaving Liege to materialize empty-handed. The lombax scrambled up and stood next to the markazian, wrench at the ready. Terin stood up dazed, glancing quickly between Liege, Kaden and the markazian giant. Taking hold of his wrench, Terin re-extended the shaft and quickly dropped to guard stance. It was here that he picked up hushed whispers from Kaden and his ally.
"Do you think you can stall him long enough, Kaden?" Terin heard the giant ask. Kaden nodded affirmatively, telling his friend to grab his son and the Dimensionator and get out of here. With reluctance, the markazian agreed before turning on heel, wishing Kaden luck before racing toward the master bedroom.
"You too, Max."
Terin looked visibly confused. Max? As in Max Apogee.
Suddenly, it hit him. Like a jab from the Walloper but only worse. Both Ratchet and Talwyn's respective fathers were here, fighting Liege in some sort of vision of the future. One that Terin was allowed to act upon. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye—forcing the silver lombax to break off his train of thought—Liege rushed toward Kaden only for Terin to come from the side, giving the cragmite a full-on body slam, knocking Liege off-balance. At once Kaden entered into the fray, slamming an elbow onto Liege's face, pummeling the cragmite to the floor. Liege whipped a claw in a semi-circle, nailing Kaden and sending him flying toward the wall on the far side of the room. Terin avoided the attack by jumping backward out of the attacking arc range of Liege's claw.
In moments, Liege was standing mostly upright when Terin smacked a wrench blade against him. The cragmite raised his right claw, letting the wrench come into contact with the hard front-side carapace of his claw, largely mitigating the damage dealt. From inside his cloak, Liege pulled out his blaster and prepared to fire at Terin when a gray wrench slammed into the blaster, shattering it into pieces. Growling, Liege turned to face Kaden, only to have said lombax suddenly be on top of him, slamming his clasped hands in an overhead slam, knocking Liege's downward.
"Kaden!" Terin called out, tossing his omniwrench toward the gold-furred lombax, who caught it out of mid-air and held it in Praetorian guard stance, his form and stance executed near-perfect. A lunge from Liege was easily parried and then smacked out of the way by Kaden. Leaping backward, Kaden took a quick look over the shaft of the dual-bladed wrench, wondering what kind of Praetorian weapon he was wielding.
"Flail model," Kaden remarked, looking mildly surprised. "Good choice, kid."
Loud roaring got both Lombaxes' attention as Liege bared both his claw-arm appendages menacingly, mouth open wide, revealing jagged, speckled teeth.
"Alright kid, you ready for this?" Kaden asked, handing off the wrench toward Terin.
Taking the weapon from the older lombax, Terin responded, "I am Kaden. By the way, the name's Terin. Terin Arc."
"Terin? But aren't you supposed to be a young kit at this time?" Kaden questioned, slightly baffled at this lombax's simple introduction. Kaden knew the Arc clowder, especially Gavin, and the similarities between Gavin and Terin were not few and far in between. The silver coating of Terin's fur was near identical to the young lombax's father. The dark green triangles, however, were only similar in regard to the fact that both emerald and dark green were two different shades of the same one color. "Must of been a product of both mother and father," Kaden thought, finishing his mental inspection.
Terin shrugged, unsure of how to tell Kaden how he believed that he was experiencing a sort of vision. "It's complicated."
Kaden smiled. "Well, I'd be a fool not to ask for help, Terin. You ready?"
Nodding affirmatively, both lombaxes turned to face Liege, who was simply glaring daggers at them.
"What's the plan then?" Terin asked.
"Simple. Allow Max to get our people safely to the Contingency and give him time to hopefully hide the Dimensionator."
"And this Max... is his last name by any chance Apogee?"
Kaden glanced at Terin curiously. "Yeah. Why do you ask?"
"Just curious."
"Okay then. You take his left, I'll take his right, we attack as one, alright?"
"Yes sir."
Watching the lombaxes move to circle him and cut off his flanks, Liege slowly lowered himself, raising his claws' front faces as blocks. He knew he didn't have many seconds left to think up of something before the lombaxes attacked him. Internally, Liege was furious. This wasn't going to plan. He let his gaze wander the room, looking for any advantages he could utilize. He knew that to his left was the hallway which led both downstairs and to the bedrooms—the master and two smaller ones. And currently, they were all standing in the bonus room, arranged in a way similar to that of a living room. Looking ahead, Liege saw the balcony door open with a nice view of the neighborhood in sight. Next to him lie Kaden's omniwrench.
It was in that moment he had a plan of action. He would just have to be patient.
Terin and Kaden attacked simultaneously, each movement in perfect unison. But still, Liege expected this of the two lombaxes. When he first began setting his time-traveling scheme into motion, Liege knew exactly who he would be dealing with. People who had either power or skill… or knew those who wielded it. However, in this fight, Liege needed to wait for an opening and to keep steady as the series of wrench smacks, elbows, kicks, and punches battered against him. Liege smiled, knowing that these attacks, while still hurting, were affecting his enemies more than it was affecting him. Their attacks were slowing down, but Kaden and Terin still refused to give up the onslaught. Each successful block of Liege's brought the lombaxes closer to defeat.
When Terin came in to swing his wrench horizontally, hoping to connect a solid blow against Liege, the cragmite saw his enemy's mistake. Both hands went into the swing. It was a deliberate move—meant to break a block. It was to end the fight as the opponent would have nothing to protect himself with. Too bad Liege was not going to the one on the ground defeated.
"If you wish to end it lombax, just say so."
Liege phased out and Terin's wrench passed right through the cragmite's intangible form, colliding against the wall, making a solid dent. Liege turned and moved next to Kaden, phasing himself back in. Dropping downward, Liege attempted to sweep Kaden. However, Kaden jumped away, landing next to Terin. Lifting a foot, Liege slammed it against the base of Kaden's wrench, sending it flying upright. Liege waited for a moment, scrambling up hurriedly while the gray weapon hung in hang time. Once gravity caught hold of the wrench, Liege smacked it out of the air, sending it hastily toward Kaden's neck, hoping the blade head will drive itself into the wall, either trapping or beheading the golden lombax. No such luck. Kaden narrowly avoided the speeding wrench, leaving it imbedded in the wall.
"So they still have wind left in them... pity." Liege could see now how his ancestors were fought to a standstill in the Great War. It disgusted him.
In an enclosed space, Liege was just too big to fight efficiently. Without thinking, he turned on his heel and darted for the open balcony door, knocking it off its track, shattering glass as the door collided against the granite balcony. He jumped over the railing, landing on the ground with a heavy 'thump', dust swirling around him as the cragmite stood back up. Together, Kaden and Terin rushed over to the railing, looking over to where Liege started running down the road toward the city.
"If he makes it to Max, it's all over," Kaden began, pulling himself up on the railing. "You have hoverboots?" He asked Terin. The younger lombax nodded affirmatively, lifting a foot to reveal a silver and green boot. Rotating his foot, Terin showed Kaden two holes where the jet blue flames would extricate, pushing the silver lombax off the ground.
Kaden nodded his approval. "Let's go then." Falling off the railing, Kaden activated his hoverboots, blue flames quickly turning orange as Kaden slowed his descent. Terin followed in pursuit. Once on the ground, both lombaxes covered ground quickly, soon catching up and overtaking the cragmite, sending the villain face first into the dirt.
Liege quickly lifted himself up, whipping a claw around the second he was back on his feet. It failed to do anything beside opening the cragmite up for attack, which both lombaxes took advantage of, knocking Liege off balance. Rolling with the force of the attack, Liege fell back on his hands and flipped himself upward, landing back on the ground in a way that was anything but graceful. Liege sprinted forward, feinting a lunge from the his left claw, hoping the lombaxes would commit to a side. Both lombaxes separated—another mistake—with Kaden taking the right while Terin took the left.
Liege swung around to his right, throwing full force his elbow into Kaden. Without thinking, Kaden stepped backward, catching Terin's wrench out of the air, then bounded in on Liege. The cragmite smiled, moving with the direction of his elbow, turning himself around before sticking his foot out in mid-air, kicking Kaden square in the gut. The golden lombax was sent flying away, landing on the ground with a thud.
He didn't move.
With one lombax down, Liege turned on the other one, beginning with a broadside slice, stopping Terin short from attacking the cragmite further.
"Scon, Elmbx?" Liege asked callously, smirking beneath his hood.
"No. Just angry," Terin replied, holding his head high, chest puffed out in defiance with his arms against his side, bent slightly at the elbow. Liege looked at Terin, then slowly let his gaze move right to the burning city. Terin followed suit, and the sight of his burning home reignited the rage that he didn't notice had gone out.
"How dare you?" Terin seethed, hands curling into fist. He again turned his head toward Liege, his voice raising from a gritting whisper to a loud outburst.
"WE SPARED TACHYON! SHOWED HIM MERCY WHEN WE DID NOT HAVE TO! WE BELIEVED THAT HE COULD BE CHANGED! DIFFERENT THAN THE REST OF YOUR KIND! AND NOW YOU DARE HELP HIM SLAUGHTER MY PEOPLE BY ALTERING THE PAST!"
By now, the rage coursing through the lombax started to make him shake. Unconsciously, Terin dug his fingers deeper into his armor.
"Your 'emperor' should revere the ground we walk on," Terin spat.
Liege's reply was simple. "Vi enporti marlo kar bata mezk."
"You're wrong. Now die with your 'enporti'."
Without another word, Terin rushed forward, sidestepping to the right as Liege threw a wicked cross that easily missed the lombax, exposing the cragmite's side. Jumping upward, Terin spun to the right, delivering a roundhouse kick on the cragmite's head, driving Liege down to the ground from the sheer compact force. However, Liege caught himself only to have his face collide against the dirt as a heavy boot slammed against the bottom of his neck.
"I said it myself, Liege," Terin said, raw anger taking complete control of the lombax, his tone no longer cool or even. "You will die with your emperor."
Removing his boot, Terin maneuvered it under Liege before kicking the cragmite over. Facing up at the smoke-speckled sky of Fastoon, Liege went livid thinking about how Terin had him beat. With that thought, Liege threw a claw at Terin, hoping to drive it through the lombax. But—to his complete surprise—Terin caught the claw with both hands, stopping it completely.
"What did I tell you, monster?" Terin demanded, throwing Liege's claw against the ground before slamming a boot on the cragmite's shoulder, making Liege roar in pain. A solid kick to the jaw shut Liege up as Terin used that foot to lower the cragmite's hood, revealing the creature's insidious face.
What greeted the lombax made his blood boil.
Like Tachyon whose face did not resemble the cragmite's in most aspects, Liege's face, however, looked more akin to his kind than the self-proclaimed cragmite emperor. Judging from bloated skin, Terin assumed that Liege was close in relation to the Cragmite Warriors. Black beads glared into crimson irises as Terin pressed a button on the watch encircling his right wrist. A buzzing noise emanated from the lombax's hand as Terin extended his arm toward where his wrench lay next to Kaden. At first the Praetorian weapon twitched slightly, before moving up toward the pull of Terin's hand. The wrench flew toward the lombax who caught it effortlessly, spinning it around before planting a blade head against Liege's neck.
In response, Liege threw a cross from his free arm, Terin simply smacked it away, the lombax's rage simply denying the cragmite any options. Taking the brief moment of interruption, Liege phased out, scrambling to stand while currently immaterial. What Liege didn't expect however, when he phased back in, was a blade head suddenly jutting out from his chest, purple blood gushing from the impact, decorating wrench, armor and dirt.
The world around Liege grew blurry as he stumbled steps forward before collapsing. Sprawled on the ground, Liege looked up at the gray-yellow sky as blackness creeped in, the final moments of his life fleeting like the wind. Terin waited until his enemy's eyes closed before he retracted the blade head. After that, he cautiously stepped forward, coming up next to Liege. Terin poked the cragmite a few times with his wrench, ready to move at any hostile movement. Nothing happened.
Terin exhaled, slumping his shoulders as the rage and adrenaline left him, leaving only exhaustion and peace stirring in the young lombax. In the distance, a crackling like lighting was heard. Terin snapped his attention toward the noise. Even though he could not see it, Terin believed that Max made it to the Court safely and transported his kind to safety.
"Thank y—" Terin began before a strange pain wracked through him, making the lombax drop his wrench and fall to his knees. Clutching his stomach as if the pain emanated from there, Terin started coughing violently, the pain tripling in strength before the silver lombax began vomiting. A fusion of both tan solids and clear liquids spewed at the ground before Terin's knees. After the first wave of bile had exited, Terin collapsed, darkness taking hold of him once again.
In his final conscious moments, Terin saw something on the inside of his vision: faint white lines in the darkness, forming a tall rectangular shape. Once formed, the shape spoke, its voice not of anything physical. "You have succeeded. I hope you learn something from this."
He awoke in a cold sweat, panting heavily. Blank, white light greeted Terin as the lombax looked upward, taking note of his location. Groaning, he blinked a few times, raising his thumb and index fingers to rub his eyes. To his right he heard someone asking if he was okay. From the sound monotone, Terin guessed that it was Clank who asked.
"Yeah Clank, I am. What happened?"
Sitting up, Terin faced the others, which consisted of Clank, Talwyn, Nathaniel and another person—a female—complete in white garb which contrasted well against her raven black hair that fell slightly pass her shoulders. Terin assumed correctly that she was a member of the ship's medical staff.
"I don't know what happened either, dude," Nathaniel interrupted, sitting at the base of Terin's bed. "After Talwyn told you that Liege himself was cragmite and that he wanted his race back to help him take over the universe, you collapsed. Immediately, you were hauled off here where we watched you stirred in your unconscious state."
"What do you mean 'stirred'?" Terin inquired.
"Nathaniel's putting it… lightly," Talwyn cut in, all attention now directed to her. "You were thrashing about wildly, almost as if you were defending yourself. It took a lot out of Nate to detain you."
"That's weird," Terin thought, dumbfounded. In his vision, Terin had no interference from outside of his vision. To learn that he was striking wildly didn't help him at all. Terin must have shown his concerns because Clank spoke up next. "Terin, while you were out, I... I felt a presence. Almost like an energy field was surrounding you. The power with which it had easily dwarfs Nathaniel's own. Did you, in any way, sense this presence as well?"
"I didn't feel anything. But I saw something," Terin answered, watching closely Clank's features as the Zoni processed this.
"It concerns me that there may be a third, unknown party taking interest in our actions," Clank finally said. Terin looked about as worried as the rest of the party.
Deciding to change the subject, Terin asked about Tanstar to which Nathan gave the lombax the lowdown.
"...then finally, I told them to give Zalirus the ax." Here, Nathaniel slid a hand across his neck, signifying the punishment to be carried out before finishing. "Now, come on, we have to make up for lost time."
Terin blinked, a mixture of curiosity and dread creeping in as he watched his friends leave the room. Throwing off his blanket, Terin waved good-bye to the doctor as he followed the others. "How long was I out?"
"Nine hours," Nathaniel transmitted into the lombax's head. "That only leaves us with six of them."
AN: (12-22-17) Edited.
AN #2: MY FAVORITE CHAPTER OF THE STORY HAS FINALLY GOTTEN THE "EDIT TREATMENT"!
And now, Translations:
"Va di uner wis?" = "Why do you do this?"
"Scon, Elmbx?" = "Scared, Lombax?"
"Vi enporti marlo kar bata mezk." = "My emperor doesn't have to revere anything."
Now, to keep everything... somewhat... the same around here: I do have a second story, a prequel to this called 'Project: Focal Point'. Without giving away plot points, it will serve as an origin story for Terin as he grows up, joins the Praetorian Guard, and finally ends up in the Voklin Galaxy. So, if any of you are interested in the idea, feel free to click on my profile, scroll to the bottom, and read to your heart's content. And again, to all of you that have either faved, followed, or left a review, (Which is a lot more than when I had posted this) I thank you. So until next time...
Max out.