The TALE of the TESSERACT
26: From the Ashes
Arcadia woke with a start, staring around at his surroundings. The light was incredibly dim, rendering it hard to make out anything. While his sight may have been hindered, his other senses were firing off signals. His four arms were bound on either side of him, as were his legs. He was strapped to some sort of cold wall. He was upright but a slight angle backwards.
Arcadia had no idea what was going on. He didn't know whether he wanted to be scared or confused… perhaps both. In the dark, he called out, "I have no patience for this! Whoever it is that put me here, show yourself!"
There was a low toned laugh.
"Why do you care?"
"I am Captain Arcadia of the Chimera Empire…"
"The dead Chimera Empire."
"My empire has plenty of colonies!"
"Doesn't matter, your homeworld is gone. The Chimera will be in disarray for at least the next 10 years… and the alliance of all those pitiful empires… will collapse after the loss of its government."
"How do you… who are you?"
A light was turned on. A single bulb above both of the creatures lit up, illuminating a small radius, within which the Chimera could now see who he was talking to.
It was Commander Talor.
"You… What?"
Talor began laughing, taking steps towards the captain. He was now only a few feet away.
"You think I'm Talor? That foolish Starlen. He was never fit for command. Do you know what he did? He screamed for his mother as he died. So pitiful… I watched as his body was ripped to shreds."
"What in the…"
"We have survived past the destruction of our creator. We are now more powerful than ever. We have adapted. We have changed. We are the strongest portion of the Grox armada. We will be the mightiest soldiers ever!"
"For the last time, tell me!"
"We are the Deltas. We have changed…"
The form of Talor began to transform. The bones popped out of place, the flesh melted away, the limbs disappeared into a mass of fur and feathers, and everything that was the Starlen became… something else.
What was left in its place was the strangest creature Arcadia had ever seen. It was the basic shape of a stingray, and had two piercing red and slit eyes. Glowing tribal marking covered the span of the 'wings' that extended from the two sides of the body. Its mouth was like a worm's, but divided into four sections, altogether capable of creating a terrifying mass of rotating teeth. Its tail ended in a small portion that fanned out.
The strangest thing about the creature was the fact that it was hovering. There was nothing feasible holding it up… it simply defied gravity and hovered above the surface of wherever they were.
"How do you?..."
"Hover? We have a Kronon core within us," the Delta responded, its horrendous mouth flapping back and fourth, "It radiates energy outwards, maintaining our perpetual control of gravity's effect on us. It was much more basic before… but the Grox have made many improvements to it. Instead of simply absorbing abilities, the Delta Swarm can now absorb the form of another creature. We can become anything we draw blood from!"
"What does any of this have to do with me?"
"Your form has already been duplicated… as has Talor's. We disposed of that pest a while ago. We need him no more. We have been infiltrating the Starlen Base this entire time… we have been waiting on this planet. You are here now, and it is our duty to the Grand Master… to destroy every last one of you!"
"That's great… but I guess my real question is… why am I still alive?"
"It is more fun now… for now I can feast upon you while you squirm…"
The Delta was laughing again, while a look of contentment appeared on Arcadia's.
"Why aren't you scared?" the Delta exclaimed.
"Gire… he was one of my best friends… he designed a little device. Its sort of small, straps onto your back. It was for situations in which I found myself restrained and at the mercy of the enemy. And come to think of it… it could help me now as well."
There was the sound of a force field popping into existence as a shockwave exploded outwards behind the chimera. It disintegrated all of the restraints, dissolving the metal instantly.
The captain dropped to the floor, stepping towards the Delta.
"What do you plan on doing? You still have no idea where you are. You're trapped here with me!"
"Is that so?"
Arcadia pressed a button on his belt. A powerful hardened Chimera shield appeared around the captain. It was constantly visible and pulsating with power.
The captain then pulled out a small circular device from his belt. He clicked a small button on it, causing it to light up and begin to hum.
"What is that?"
"Miniature anti-matter bomb."
Arcadia held his arm out, and dropped it.
Maruck looked up at the tank, in a state of disbelief beyond expression.
"What are we going to do?" Maruck asked, with a hint of fear.
"We need to warn everyone," Arcadia stated, just moments before he turned on the spot and took off running.
Maruck was confused… what was Arcadia doing?
The Chimera captain had just sprinted out of the opening they had created in the spire, and was now running at an exceptional pace across the plains of Marksul.
Left with few other options, Maruck took off as well, right in the wake of the other captain.
Maruck and Arcadia were sprinting across the dry and cracked surface of the dead planet. They darted past pools of lava and plains of ash.
"Where do you plan on going? Maruck exclaimed, just a little ways behind the other fast moving captain. Both Scorpnak and Chimera had the ability to run quite fast due to their powerful legs, but… Chimera tended to sprint just a little bit faster. Maruck was having to exert a bit of energy to keep up.
"Back to the base. We need to warn everyone," Arcadia shouted back.
"But we still haven't worked something out. If the Deltas are here, then why haven't they attacked us yet?"
Arcadia stopped, causing Maruck to come to a quick skidding halt next to him.
Maruck spoke up again, "Still, couldn't we just radio the forces back at the base and tell them?"
Arcadia looked stumped for a second, and then said, "There would be no point. The Deltas are probably tracking us right now… we don't want them to know that we know of their existence."
"Arcadia… you're being ridiculous," Maruck said, frustrated now, "I already said clearly over the radio that we knew about the Deltas. There is no way that doing anything involving the radio will have any effect on our advantage against the Deltas. In fact, the Grox probably gave them abilities beyond what we saw before. You remember when the…"
Maruck went silent.
"Come on Maruck! Now isn't the time for stalling!"
"You… you never knew about the Deltas…"
"What?"
"We never explained it to you. You… you can't know any of the details… and yet, here you are, talking about the Deltas as if you're an expert on it…"
"There isn't enough time!"
"Arcadia, understand this: You are acting beyond what any respectable space captain would act like. Even if you are completely legitimate… then right now… you are being a horrible captain for the Chimera Empire. I cannot allow you to do so, and so now… I must learn the truth."
For the first time that Arcadia had seen, Maruck bent down, extending his scorpion tail to its fullest length. The Chimera had a stunned look on his face, unsure of what was happening. Arcadia observed that at the end of the Scorpnak's tail was a bulb-like appendage. It opened up, dividing into four sections like the pedals of a flower.
At the bulb's center was a single sharp… Arcadia assumed… stinger. He was shocked, having known nothing of this particular part of the Scorpnak's anatomy.
Maruck launched forward, swiftly jabbing the stinger into the Chimera's top right arm. Arcadia wailed in pain, jumping back and rubbing the spot with his other arms.
"What was that for?"
Maruck resumed his normal stance, the scorpion tail bulb closing behind him.
"Scorpnak venom… an evolutionary advantage rarely used now. It is incredibly potent, killing most creatures within a few hours. Chimera, and a few others, are known to be resilient to certain toxins."
"Very true…"
"It won't kill you… it will only act as a neurological poison. That's how the venom works in the first place. In essence… it will force your true thoughts to surface. You won't have control of how your mind renders thoughts into words."
"But… I…"
"I did this to know the truth… Chimera… or possibly… the creature of ultimate change…"
"No… I can't…"
Arcadia was now shaking on the ground, cowering on his knees.
"I need to know the truth!" Maruck stated.
"We… we…"
"Reveal your true species!"
"We are… awakening!"
Arcadia's voice was now shaky and eerie. It was getting deeper and raspier.
"Tell me who you are!"
"We are… the… DELTAS!"
Arcadia's form was now shifting. His bones were morphing, and his very flesh began to transform.
Moments later, where the chimera captain had once stood, was the hideous creation of Professor Wex. It stared at the Scorpnak with its piercing red eyes that showed only hunger.
"Tell me, Delta," Maruck said, almost in a normal manor, "Why did you not attack us the moment we arrived?"
The Delta, still seemingly affected by the poison, was shaking. It still maintained its ominous hovering motion.
"The Grox sent us here to wipe out the puny inhabitants of this world. My kind devoured the pathetic Amahani that once lived here… and any of them that survived… were wiped out completely…"
"How?"
"The Infestation Pod. The marvel of Grox technology. It cannot be destroyed… and it rooted itself within Marksul's core… it de-terraformed the planet… but the Grox didn't use this place as a colony. Why would they? They destroyed this planet just because they could… because our god willed it."
"And you guys just… stayed behind?"
"The Grox deserted us! They left us here to fend for ourselves! We were starving… forced to be able to survive by the wretched ability we had absorbed from the Grox… the ability to thrive on barren worlds."
"If that's the case, then why didn't you just attack us when we were arriving?"
"We wanted to learn about you. We wanted to discover which one of you we would kill quickly… and which ones would suffer… The Grox gave us a new and incredibly powerful ability. Our Kronon cores were amplified ten-fold… we are now the epitome of the 'creature of change.' Beyond just absorbing abilities, we can now absorb the form of any creatures we draw blood from. The entire genetic code. We are a marvel of technology. The Grox admitted Wex's genius, and added a touch of their own power… and here we are. Not only can I copy the genes… but the mind patterns. I know exactly what Arcadia would say in any given situation… that's why you never guessed the truth…"
"How… how long have you been disguised like this?"
"Remember when Arcadia went off to investigate a nearby cave when you first arrived on this world?"
"Yeah, I remember he volunteered to go investigate it with Talor…"
"Since then."
Maruck was furious now.
"What have you done to Arcadia?"
"Nothing… yet."
Maruck swiped his arms forward, arcing a large amount of electricity into the Delta. It feel back a little bit, but predictably resumed its hovering stance, seemingly unscathed.
"You know you can't hurt me," the Delta stated, "All attempts to harm me are absorbed and added to my power… as I'm sure you know."
"Really?"
"Why would I lie to you?"
"Exactly."
"You are wasting my time, prey!"
"You don't realize do you? I've had quite a bit of time to think about the Deltas since our first encounter with you. I realized the way to defeat you. There are only two ways: complete destruction by a beam of dark energy or an explosion of anti-matter, essentially instantaneous destruction, since there is no way you can absorb that… or, as I realized, something that, even after initially absorbed, still has an effect on you."
"Like what?"
"Scorpnak poison…"
It was now clear that the Delta was scared. It was hovering much closer to the ground. It was loosing its energy and becoming much weaker. The color of its skin was darkening from its previous orange and green state. The Delta was dying…
"No… I can't… die. You're the prey! You're the one I'm supposed to kill!"
"Your neurological systems are nearly destroyed by now… I'm assuming that at this point you're losing your ability to absorb attacks… which in that case… remember when I said that the blast from the plasma pulser didn't hurt me?"
"That petty pointless conversation that I had with you? How does that apply now?"
"I lied… it didn't hurt… me."
Maruck drew both of his arms back and thrust them forwards again. A large amount of shining blue electron power came zooming through the palms of Maruck's hands and into the Delta. It shook and screamed in agony. All the cells in its body were shriveling up and popping.
Maruck stopped, dropping his arms back. The Delta's skin was charred and black. Seconds later it fell to the ground, completely motionless.
It was dead.
Maruck stood there for a second, absorbing what had just happened. He took off running towards the Starlen Camp.
He knew he needed to spread the word about what was happening… they had led themselves right up into a trap, and it was going to be quite difficult to get out of.
He pulled out his radio as he was running.
"Maruck please respond," Aster said, speaking firmly into the communicator.
No response.
"Maruck and Arcadia, please respond," Aster said again. Both her and Chase were standing on a ruined pathway in the middle of the Amahani City. The faint wind was blowing ash around them.
"Why aren't they responding?" Aster said, looking at the device in frustration.
"Could the connection have been broken or something?"
"No, it definit…"
"This is Maruck… I'm heading back to the Starlen Base. I require immediate rendezvous there. I repeat, everyone meet me at the main base."
The Scorpnak captain sounded out of breath, his voice shaking as if he was running.
"May I ask why?" Aster responded.
"Arcadia was a Delta… he tried to kill me."
"What?" said Commander Talor, breaking into the conversation, "And what ARE the Deltas?"
"They're an incredibly resilient warrior race created by Professor Wex, in an attempt to combat the Grox," Maruck explained, "They are capable of analyzing and incorporating the skills and abilities of anything that attacks them… hence their name. But now… they've been given a new ability. They seem to be capable of changing into the form of ANYTHING they've seen before… which makes them more deadly than ever…"
"Let me get this straight…" Aster said, "ANY of the Starlens at the base could be disguised Deltas? How long has this been going on?"
"Since we started exploring this planet… They've been watching and observing us this entire time…."
"And wait…" Chase said, "What about Roku? We haven't seen him since he left to go look at those ruins…"
Aster immediately took action. "Captain Roku, this is Aster calling. Please respond."
After 20 seconds, there was no response.
"Do you think he could have been taken too?" Chase asked, slightly frightened.
"We'll just have to…"
BOOM!
A highly audible explosion resonated through the air. It was from somewhere relatively close to Chase and Aster, who wildly spun on the spot, looking for the source of the noise.
"What was that?" Maruck said, "Sounded like an explosion."
"It definitely was," Chase said, "We're the closest to it… so we'll investigate."
"Agreed," Maruck said, "Remember, meet back at the base."
"Copy," Aster stated.
Aster and Chase took off running down the Amahani road.
They were moving for at least 3 minutes, with Aster having to slow herself down, as her four legs gave her an incredible speed advantage over Chase.
They spotted two Starlen troops walking down the street intersection ahead. These must have been one of the patrols that Talor had sent out. They were wearing typical metallic Starlen armor, and appeared to be observing the ruins around them.
Chase and Aster came to a stop before them.
"Aster," one of them said, "May I ask what the problem seems to be right now?"
"A powerful alien threat has emerged. We're ordered to meet back at the base."
"Really?"
"Yes, we'd appreciate the added firepower. Would you mind accompanying us back?"
"Absolutely not."
Aster was shocked.
"What?"
"Why would we want to go back to the place that will inevitably be destroyed?"
Now she was just confused.
"Excuse me… destroyed?"
"Indeed. The Deltas have been invading that base from the beginning. In that time, they've planted a series of bombs in the separate ammunition storage areas. When they go off… the entire base will be consumed by flames…"
Chase stepped forward.
"Okay then… I'm just gonna take a wild stab in the dark but… Deltas?"
The Starlen smiled.
"Let the feast begin."
Maruck continued running across the plains, but came to a skidding stop.
What he saw terrified him.
There was a pillar of smoke rising from somewhere in the Starlen Base. He could see it in the distance.
What was happening?…
BOOM!
Another explosion, significantly larger than the last, emanated from the Starlen Base in the distance. Something large and powerful had exploded within the base's perimeter. The Scorpnak captain could see it now. Somewhere near the edge of the base, the ammunitions room had been destroyed. That held all of the Starlen's weaponry… extremely flammable. Only someone that worked in the base would know exactly where to target an attacked like that…. Who…
"The Deltas!" Maruck exclaimed, taking off even faster. He knew he only had a few seconds until…
Another explosion followed suit. Somewhere in the ammunitions room was an anti-matter bomb… and it had been set off. This was a planned attack. It was something that had been set up from the beginning. The base's wall was torn apart. All of the tents and buildings were incinerated. Maruck himself was knocked back as the massive shockwave blew across Marksul's surface.
As Maruck looked back up, he saw only a column of fire where the base once stood. It had been completely destroyed. It was impossible for there to be any survivors, the anti-matter bomb made sure of that.
The Scorpnak was horrified. He was in shock that the Deltas had planned this attack so thoroughly.
What had the Arcadia-Delta said? We wanted to find out which of you we want to kill quickly… and which ones would suffer…
It looked like phase one was over. And Maruck wasn't quite looking forward to the second part.
It didn't make sense though. There had been another explosion, one that had occurred in the opposite direction that Chase and Aster had just been dispatched to investigate. It had occurred a good 10 minutes before this one… what had caused that one? Maruck still didn't fully understand what was going on, but he knew one thing for sure. The crew was definitely not going to rendezvous at the base.
"What was that?" Chase asked. Another large explosion had just resonated in the distance, although this time it was much farther away.
"Your hope being destroyed," one of the Delta-Starlens said, "The base is gone."
Aster turned to face the general direction of the base, only to take a step back in fear. A pillar of smoke was rising in the distance, right where the base should have been.
"How… how… many Starlens did you kill?" Aster asked, trying to grasp what was happening.
"241," the Delta-Starlens responded, "We didn't need their flesh… We prefer to directly kill the ones who had caused the most inconvenience towards our god… the grand master."
"And so that means…" Chase said.
The Starlen troops smiled.
"Prepare to die!"
The two Delta-Starlens leapt forward, knocking the two captains back. Aster was off to the side struggling to throw off the solider above her, while Chase was fighting an almost hopeless battle against teeth and talons.
"Submit to your predator, human!" the Delta-Starlens said, its mouth inches above Chase's face. It seemed impossible for Chase's to overcome the power of the Delta. No ordinary human could do it…
Chase took a deep breath, and then used his tesseract ability to blow the Starlen off in an expansion of fire. As the Starlen began to dash forward to attack again, Chase quickly brought his arms into another attacking pose. Right before the Starlen hit him, a blast of plasma collided with its face, sending it writing onto the ground, its face burning.
"Take that!" Chase exclaimed, his voice filled with just a bit too much pride. He turned to face the Starlen that was holding Aster down, and immediately attacked it in the same way. It too was knocked off of its captor, moving around in pain on the ruined street.
"Thanks," Aster said, quickly getting to her feet, "This is just weird… what now?"
"We need to run… I only made them stronger…" Chase said, turning back to the Delta-Starlens. They were both were getting back up, but they were both smiling as well.
Aster took a step back in surprise as both of the Starlens burst into flames. Their form and flesh remained intact, but a layer of flames now surrounded their body. They had ignited themselves… but were perfectly fine.
"They've absorbed my ability…" Chase said, "Now we're in for some fun."
Both of the Delta-Starlens were taking slow steps forward, as if they were stalking their prey.
"What do we do?" Aster questioned.
"We run… but… there is no way I could beat them… even if I had those booster shoe thingies…"
"The Sprint Pack?"
"Yeah that thing."
"Well then… on the count of three, you're gonna jump on my back, I'm going to run as fast as a Starlen can run… and I'm going to activate my own sprint pack, go it?"
The Deltas were getting closer.
"What? On your back?"
"1…"
One of the Deltas was bearing its teeth.
"2…"
The other was snarling, only 5 feet away.
"3!"
Chase spun on the spot and leapt towards Aster. He was quickly able jump onto Aster's back and position himself so that he wouldn't fall off. Moments later, Aster took off in an incredible sprint, using her evolutionary advantage of four legs to propel herself forward faster than any human could. Technology had its fair share of help as well, as the sprint pack on Aster ankles were launching the Starlen forward even farther with each stride.
Chase would have commented that it was like riding a horse… but he felt that might be a bit degrading towards Aster. He kept his mouth shut as they flew down the Amahani street.
With not delay, the Delta-Starlens behind them took off as well. There was no doubt, they were capable of matching them in speed. Their teeth were bared as they pursued Chase and Aster. They had a hungry look in their eyes, and the flames continued to burn away around them. If Aster stopped running for even a second… Chase tried not to imagine the consequences.
"Where are we going?" Chase shouted at Aster.
"Away from here!" she responded, exasperated.
Aster continued to run as fast as she could, given no opportunity for rest. She turned a corner in the street, dashing down another abandoned Amahani road. Small clouds of ash were turned up with each step she took. There was no escape in sight. The Deltas were almost indestructible.
"We have to do something!" Chase shouted. He got an idea. The human repositioned himself so that his body faced the other way, towards the pursuing Delta-Starlens. He launched a beam of plasma, aiming it right at the ground in front of one of the Deltas. It caused a small explosion of fire when it impacted, enough so that it delayed the speed of the Delta in its path. To Chase's dismay, not long after, the Delta quickly regained its lost ground.
"What?" Chase shouted, "Is there anything we can do to stop you?"
Chase crossed both of his arms in a swift motion, creating a large wall of fire on the ground. Effortlessly, the two Delta-Starlens dashed through the barrier as if it wasn't even there. They had already absorbed Chase's ability… making it nearly impossible for him to damage them.
"Any progress?" Aster asked, still trying to keep up her pace.
"I guess you could say learning what not to do is technically progress…"
Chase noticed that the two of them were now exiting the city. Aster was taking them down a path the left the crowded remains of Amahani civilization and into the rolling hills and wilderness of Marksul. There were no longer any plants, just long expanses of rust colored ground and drifting fields of ash.
"You cannot escape us!" one of the Delta-Starlens snarled.
The creature launched a ball of plasma from its mouth, one of which had a direct collision course with the human's face. Chase brought his arms up, blocking the blast with his alminar ability, and then throwing it back. The Delta used its own absorbed ability to knock the reflected blast of course, causing it to explode into flames a good 10 feet to the right.
Aster was now climbing up the side of a large hill, causing the battle to continue on an inclined slope.
"Take this!" Chase shouted, now desperately trying to find a way to harm the Deltas. He brought his hands together, creating a small condensed sphere of plasma. He continued to build it up, not letting its energy escape. It grew in brightness. Its thermal energy was growing to a level unreached by Chase thus far. The flame changed color, shining a bright blue. Chase smiled, throwing the fireball right between the approaching Deltas. It exploded on contact with the ground. All of the thermal power was released instantaneously, causing a cascade of fire and heat in all directions. The blast knocked Aster and Chase forward, causing the human to tumble off the disoriented Starlen.
"What in the world?" Aster said, getting to her feet along with Chase. They were near the top of the hill, and below them, was the forms of two heavily burnt Delta-Starlens.
"Did I actually kill them?" Chase stated, out of breath. On queue, the Deltas stood up, their injuries fading due to their absorbed ability. Chase gritted his teeth.
"Come on!" Aster commanded, the two of them took off up the rest of the hill, only to have their hopes crushed. It wasn't just a hill, it was the edge of a lake. Below them, after a shear 50 foot drop-off, was a lake of burning lava. Flames licked the cliff below. There was no survival in sight.
The Deltas were now at the top of the hill with them.
"Like I said… you can't escape."
"Captains will never quit!" Aster shouted.
"You are not a captain!" the Delta shouted back, "You are low-ranked cadet. You are nothing. You lost your chance at power… and now… you will suffer!"
"Is that so?" Chase responded. The human took a few steps back, now standing on the edge of the cliff.
"What are you doing?" Aster questioned.
"The way I see it… it's either save our lives and risk dying quickly… or be torn apart slowly by… them." He gestured towards the Starlens, one of which was now drooling.
"What?"
"I hope this works…"
Chase leaned backwards, and fell of the cliff. His body plummeted downwards, colliding with the lava at the bottom. Aster couldn't look. She was in complete disbelief of the situation.
"Aww… one of our dinners left…" one of the Delta-Starlens said, "Looks we'll have to share this one…"
"You can't do this!" Aster exclaimed.
"It's funny though…" the Delta-Starlen said, "Even when you die… your soul will not remain for long."
"What do you mean?"
"Everything will be destroyed. All of reality. All of the afterlife. Everything. Gone. Agriath will rule the void once again. No amount of light can cast him out!"
"Really?" came Chase's voice.
There was an explosion sound below. A spear shaped pillar of fire came rocketing out of the lake of lava. It zoomed up to being level with Aster and the two Deltas, its form still vague. The fire and lava melted away, only to reveal Chase, floating in mid air.
His body was coated in a layer of flames. His clothes and skin were visible, but a translucent layer of flames seemed to be radiating from his body in all directions.
"How?..."
"I knew it!" Chase shouted, "This is just… awesome. What did I tell Roku? I said… 'like the flaming torch…' I never thought I'd be so right!"
"Huh?"
"Well… it's not technically flying… in fact, not at all. I'm using the heat of the fire to create a column of heat beneath me. Since I can control fire… I can control the position of that column as well… It's not too… practical, but it does prove one thing… I can survive a fall into lava!"
"What is this nonsense?" one of the Deltas shouted.
Chase turned to face the Delta-Starlens. He smiled.
Putting both of his arms out to the side, Chase concentrated deeply. His ability let him manipulate fire… so this might be a stretch. He knew that he needed to pull it off though.
The lava far below began to rise. Two distinct clumps of lava were rising out of the lake and moving towards either side of Chase. They were each about 4 feet in diameter. Chase brought his hands together in a clapping motion, causing the blobs to fly forward, each one hitting a Delta.
Their skin burned. They were screaming in agony. The Deltas could not use their ability to save them.
Chase hovered towards the ground and then came to a stop, allowing gravity to pull him down. The layer of flames disappeared, his clothes intact.
"I thought you said they absorbed your power?" Aster questioned.
"They did that before I learned how to manipulate lava. Another one of their weaknesses, I'm assuming."
The Deltas were writing in pain. Their body was melting into the ground. It wasn't long before they had become a pile of dark ash. Their very form was gone, now being blown away in the wind.
Aster and Chase just stood a good 10 feet from the cliff edge, just trying to catch their breath.
A few minutes later, Aster's radio turned on. It was Maruck's voice… but in a language that Chase had no knowledge of.
"Gormin oathlt tindrg o chent oald risintrika twormin sevenkdre."
"What?" Chase said.
"He's speaking in Scorpnak, he turned off his translator. It makes it so that the Deltas can't understand what's going on."
"Yeah… but neither can we."
"No… it's a code… look. Take just the first letters of each word. G… o… t… o… c… o… r… and that's… 2 and then 70. He's saying 'go to cor 2 , 70.' In other words, 'Meet me at coordinates 2 degrees from Starlen base and then 70 kilometers in that direction."
"How far is that from here?"
"A good distance… I'd say 5 kilometers north east. Here… we can go faster if you ride on my back again."
Not even 15 seconds later, they were on their way towards the new rendezvous point.
Far away…
Harko was typing away on his console in his poorly reconstructed workshop. He was sweating in the uncomfortable heat. The Grox had no care for air conditioning.
The door came swinging open with a mighty slam, causing the Tharian engineer to jump a little.
It was Veara.
"Any progress?" the evil Artlen said, now standing behind Harko.
"I might be a bit faster if you lowered the temperature in here… I feel like I'm going to burst into flames."
"That can be arranged," Veara said, moving so that Harko could see her clearly, "Understand that the Grand Master is requesting that you finish within the week."
"A week?"
"Yes, Tharian, a week. He is preparing the Tesseract as we speak. It will be positioned at the top of the Main Control Tower. He is requesting build instructions immediately."
"Fine… here look." Harko pointed towards a diagram on the screen in front of him. Veara leaned in to get a look.
"We need to position 14 of these quantum accelerators in a circle around the tower. Each one will separately handle the production of a single xeton of dark energy. All of this energy will be fed into the Tower's quantum core, which will then be fed straight into the Tesseract. Although, we're gonna need to bypass a large number of security protocols to funnel that much energy into the Tower. Once again, this whole thing could destabilize and explode. The power required for this is unbelievable."
"How big of a destabilization?" Veara questioned.
"Large enough to disintegrate the planet… and then the rest of the Pyles system."
"Well then… I suggest you not let that happen."
"Believe me… I won't."
"So… your telling me that this is the real Arcadia?" Aster said, for what seemed like the fifth time.
"Yes… I'm sure," Maruck resonded.
They were all standing at the new rendezvous point, which was somewhere in the middle of a forest. The trees were not alive, they were simply husks of life. Their structure was resilient enough to stay standing… but they were incredibly weak. There were no leaves or grass… just the charred wood and branches.
Standing in the small clearing was Maruck, Aster, Chase, and Arcadia.
"I was talking with this Arcadia before you guys arrived," Maruck explained to Chase and Aster, "Apparently, when he went to explore the cave south of the Starlen Base, he was taken by the Deltas and copied."
"Yeah," Arcadia jumped in, "I was just about to be eaten, when I turned on my shield, and blew up an anti-matter bomb in their face."
"That was the explosion we heard?" Chase realized.
"The first one, yeah. I discovered that I was being held in a warehouse near the northmost part of the Amahani City. I climbed out of the rubble, my shield protecting me. I saw the Starlen Base get destroyed shortly after, and I heard the message for the new rendezvous point. I'm assuming both of you did too."
"Yeah…" Aster said, "But how can we know this isn't just another copy?"
"I already tested him," Maruck explained.
"Tested?"
Maruck curled his scorpion-like tail around the right side of his body, grabbing it with his hands to keep it steady, as the skeleton within the tail tended to hold it in place.
"Quick lesson. Scorpnak venom is incredibly deadly…" Maruck said, revealing the stinger, "… to most species. However, Chimera are unaffected, due to the natural powerful antigens in their body. A true Chimera would be unaffected by the venom."
"Smart," Aster commented.
"You have... venom?" Chase said, with a surprised look.
"Yeah… just cause I don't tell you something doesn't mean it isn't there," Maruck responded, allowing his tail to slide back into its normal position, in a long curve behind his back.
"Not to be annoying but… how can we know that these two aren't Deltas as well?" Arcadia asked Maruck.
"I sent that message out in an ancient Scorpnak dialect. The Deltas haven't copied me yet, so they have no knowledge of it. Only the true Chase and Aster would recognize it."
"Got it," Chase said, "Um… now what do we do?"
Maruck pulled out a small device. It was circular and flat. He tossed it in front of him, where it lit up and hovered at about everyone's waist height. A holographic grid extended from all sides of it, eventually solidifying into an image. Mountains and buildings appeared on it… rivers of lava, and fields of ash. It was a portable version of the map that was at the center of the Starlen Base.
"This is so cool…" Chase muttered.
"We're here," Maruck said, pointing to the forest just northeast of the Amahani City, which took up a fare portion of the center of the holo-map. Down at the very bottom was the destroyed Starlen Base, and off to the far west portion, Chase and Aster could see the lake they had been chased to.
"We need to get…" Maruck swiped his hand across the map, causing it to shift over, moving the forest to the very bottom, and revealing an entire new section of land.
"Here." Maruck was pointing at the center of the map, where, shockingly, stood an Infestation Pod.
"Those things," Arcadia said, looking at the device distastefully, "They have de-terraformed countless Chimera colonies."
"What's an infestation pod?" Chase asked.
"A powerful Grox device," Aster explained, "It burrows its way into the planet, rooting itself deep into the mantle, until, unless it's destroyed quickly, it becomes impossible to remove without destroying the entire planet. Its main function is this… deterraform the planet it's on, and make it suitable for the Grox."
"But… why can't they just de-terraform the planet the conventional way… why do they need to use this device?"
"Its relatively small, compared to a gigantic mothership orbiting the planet as it fires its deterraform ray, or as the Grox call it, their 'cleansing ray,'" Aster explained, "When up against a remotely suitable opponent, they want to take pressure off of their space fleet."
"It also contains a powerful archon core," Maruck said, "Prevents the use of other re-terraforming abilities... just… in general. We thought this might be the case, given that Roku was unable to use his staff of life when he arrived on this planet."
"The Pod can stop that?"
"Indeed it can."
"It doesn't matter anyway… since Roku is still missing," Chase said, "Does anyone have any idea where he is?"
"Nope.
"Nada."
"Not a clue."
"Huh… that is weird…"
"Okay, but what are we going to do when we get to the pod?" Arcadia asked.
"The Deltas are made out of a Kronon core, right?" Maruck said.
"Yeah."
"So… if we can amplify the infestation pod enough… even though the Deltas were altered by the Grox, they are still probably affected by the powers of archon. The Grox didn't change that energy within them. A huge blast of archon might still destroy the Deltas."
"Are you sure?"
"It's worth a shot… oh, and before I forget, methods of attacking a Delta: instant destruction or continual damage. Those are the only ways to stop them. My venom works because even if they absorb the ability, they continue to die. Like Arcadia noticed, large explosions also work."
"And lava," Chase added, "I'll be able to fight them as well."
"Excellent…" Maruck said, "Now… let's be on our way. Be quiet as we walk. Turn off your radios completely, as well. We don't want them to find out where we are."
Half an hour of walking later, they came upon the edge of the forest.
It overlooked a gigantic crater. There was no wildlife or plants as far as the eye could see; just long and desolate plains, with this massive breach in the ground. At the craters center was the Infestation pod, a massive 50 foot tall purple structure that was covered in Grox technology. It had large, glowing, yellow bulbs, giant horn like appendages that were pitch black in color, and large tentacle portions that extended from the bottom of the pod and throughout the crater. These 'tentacles' burrowed down into the ground at different places. It looked as if the device was growing into the ground.
To their dismay, it looked as if squads of Deltas were zooming around the pod itself. They were Deltas in their true… hideous form. The Grox must have also given the Deltas full control of their hovering ability… for they could now fly completely at will and much higher than 5 feet. They were moving up and around the entire length of the crater, circling around the infestation pod that they were protecting.
Ash also blew around this area, and fair number of sinkholes filled with lava also littered the bottom of the crater.
"How… are we going to get to the pod?" Chase asked, looking bewildered at the challenge before them.
"We have to run down the length of the nearest tentacle," Maruck said, pointing at the purple robotic appendage that burrowed into the ground near the edge of the forest clearing, "The metal should give us cover on at least that one side."
"Good idea," Arcadia continued, "And… Maruck, I'm guessing you'll be using your venom?"
"Yep."
"Chase will be manipulating those puddles of lava, and Aster will be… what?"
"Not sure yet."
"Here, take this," Maruck said, handing Aster a small gun-like device. It was black in color, and had a vial attached to it containing a purple liquid.
"What is this?"
"Energy pistol powered by Scorpnak venom. I'm going to using one too, as a ranged attack would prove to be much more useful in the upcoming situation," Maruck explained, pulling out his own from his belt, "Here's one as well, Arcadia." He handed a third pistol over to the chimera.
"Why can't we use the stealth fields?" Aster questioned.
"Great idea… but…" Arcadia responded.
"What?"
"All of us have already used up a fare share of our shields' energy. The stealth field is just an energy hog. If we activated it… we probably would only get to the pod itself. Once there, we'd be out in the open."
"It's a boost, so I'm willing to take it," Maruck said, "Once there, I'll go into the pod and find the core, send it into an overload. All of Marksul should be shocked without about 3 zenons of archon energy. We should be safe inside the pod itself. Any questions?"
Everyone was silent.
"Okay then… are we ready?" Chase asked.
"As much as we'll ever be," Aster said.
"Remember, hit the Deltas with the venom pistol first, and then use whatever other methods of offense that you prefer," Maruck stated, turning to face the crater. "Okay then… here we go."
The four captains took off at a sprint. They were rushing down the edge of the crater, having to try and not loose their footing. For the most part they were sliding down the far end of the crater, kicking up large amounts of dust as they did so.
They reached the bottom of the crater, moving swiftly over towards the tentacle. Maruck was in the front, with Arcadia right behind him, Aster next, and Chase bringing up the rear. They were sprinting along the side of the tentacle, trying to keep their bodies as out of sight as possible.
The four of them flipped on their stealth fields, allowing the light bending particles to engulf their body. It was a powerful piece of technology bestowed upon captains. By bending light waves, the stealth field rendered the wearer practically invisible.
Due to the fields' nature of being incredibly costly in terms of energy usage, captains and other military personnel tended to resort to other means of disguise. But in a choice between getting assaulted by 200 Deltas… or actually making it to the destination… there was little choice.
They were running at full speed along the edge of the tentacle, trying to reach the center of the crater before their stealth field ran out of power. Chase was in the back, trying desperately to keep up. He wasn't doing too badly either.
They were a good 50 feet from the pod itself. They were all quite exhausted, having little rest since the Deltas began attacking.
Aster thought about the rest of the Starlens… were they all dead? The base was gone… how many could have survived?
In this moment, the stealth fields were drained of their power.
The four captains came to a sliding halt before the base of the infestation pod, with its shiny metallic surface gleaming in the light from the star far above.
"Positions everyone!" Maruck commanded, moving towards the pod, while the rest of the crew circled around him.
They were ready to fight to the death.
The Deltas saw them. Their hungry eyes turned, all 200 of them, stopping their orbit of the pod, and staring down at the four creatures below. It seemed as if some of them were smiling, and if they could, they probably were. The Deltas saw the captains below as simply food, and nothing else.
The swarm began to converge on their position, spiraling down in a terrifying cloud of wings and fury, much like a swarm of bats on earth.
Chase reacted quickly. There was a sinkhole nearby, containing a large amount of bubbling lava. The human raised his hands, grabbing the melted rock with his ability. By raising his arms, the lava shot up in a pillar of burning power. By expanding his arms shortly after, the lava shot out in every direction, consuming a good portion of the Delta swarm.
The rest of the swarm was delayed in their approach.
"Yeah!" Chase shouted.
"Excellent work!" Aster exclaimed from in front of him.
There was still a significantly large cloud of stingray-like monsters heading for them.
"Arcadia," Maruck shouted, "If you would do the honors of opening this pod."
The Chimera spun around quickly and sliced the metal wall with his bladed knuckles. The surface was weakened, allowing Arcadia to break with a single kick right afterwards.
"Great, now help the others!"
Arcadia nodded and ran back to join Aster and Chase.
Another large clump of Deltas was converging on them. Arcadia was the one who reacted this time, pulling out the venom pistol and a grenade. Jamming the two together, he threw the pistol into the air using his powerful chimera arms. As the device reached the peak of its flight, the grenade exploded. The Scorpnak venom went flying everywhere, being transferred through shrapnel of the gun, the grenade, and many other pieces of debris.
"Perfect!" Aster shouted, "That's way more efficient than just shooting each on individually!"
Chase began moving another pillar of lava, having it consume another good portion of the Delta swarm. He then moved the flames across in one giant motion, creating a temporary wall of flames. This wall once again slowed the approach of the Deltas. Time was running out, however.
Regardless, the Deltas were getting dangerously close. It seemed impossible for any of their weapons to inflict harm.
"And… why is it that we can't go into the pod with Maruck?" Chase asked.
"The Deltas would tear up the pod's hull to get to us, and we need it as intact as possible if we want to survive a pulse of archon!" Aster responded, looking around at the many approaching abominations.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Chase exclaimed.
"Keep fighting!" Arcadia shouted.
At the time, none of them would have acknowledged this possibility. None of them would have even thought that this scenario could occur, but against all likelihood, it did. Their situation got worse. Terribly worse. What had been happening before became child play… this was where the changes the Grox had made to the Deltas… really began to become noticeable.
The Deltas opened their mouths, and out came…
Alminar Gas.
"No… " Chase said.
"What is that stuff?" Aster questioned, looking at the green cloud in curiosity.
"No… no… NO!" Chase exclaimed, "You… both of you… haven't been to earth!"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Arcadia shouted.
The substance was drizzling in torrents from the mouths of the many Deltas. They had stopped approaching. They were now simply hovering the same distance all around them, forming a gigantic dome. All of the Deltas were releasing the toxic green gas, and it was clumping together, forming a single mass of death. The green cloud was descending slowly, blocking the Deltas from view.
"What are we supposed to do?" Aster asked.
"My god! The Grox must have infused the Deltas with the ability to produce alminar gas as well!" Chase shouted, "It's unimaginably toxic to all those who haven't breathed earth air."
"What?"
Chase drew his arms in a large motion, creating another wall of fire, hoping to abolish the approaching gas… but it didn't work. The alminar gas appeared to be unaffected by anything in the environment. It was perfectly static… and always deadly.
It had been a while since the human looked at the gas that had almost destroyed his world… and he hated it no less. Chase was not going to let this happen.
The three captains heard something struggling behind them, only to find Maruck, restrained by a Delta. His arms were held painfully behind his back by the Delta's sharp claws.
"Release him!" Arcadia shouted.
"You've already lost," the Delta said, "I'm no expert in captain stratagems… but I'd say that this mission… is a failure."
The alminar gas engulfed everyone near the infestation pod. Chase and Maruck watched in horror as Arcadia and Aster collapsed to the ground, the neurological poison within the tesseract's byproduct being ten times more potent than Scorpnak venom. There was nothing that they could do.
Arcadia was shaking on the ground, with the pain of a thousand needles stabbing him. To him, it felt like his body was on fire. That his arms were being ripped off and re-attached, that the whole world was disappearing in a blur of pain. Aster screamed as the same occurred to her.
"NO!" Maruck shouted, "STOP THIS!"
"They're lucky," the Delta said, "They'll be dead when we eat them… you two however… are immune to the gases effect… and… well… prepare for some fun."
Chase was furious. He needed to end this now. This could not be happening. All of their adventures so far… to end in the blink of an eye. It couldn't be.
The human closed his eyes, forced to except the inevitable. His heart beat with sadness. It was over…
Silence.
There was something in his genes. Some powerful force breaking through. He could feel its power. It was his ancestry… a power from tens of thousand of years ago. Marks… captain Marks of the Tharians… telling him something…
The universe is huge… impossibly huge… insanely huge! Do not underestimate it, prodigal. For one day, you will reach the stars, I am sure of it. You will become more successful than any human before you. You are the light of the multiverse, the Central Fire of existence. You will shine a light large enough to cast out the greatest darkness. Please remember this… for a day will come when it seems all hope is lost. Please… keep in mind the idea of all ultimatum. I should not even need to say it, for you know. If you are truly the captain I had hoped… you will know, that the impossible does happen.
Chase understood the infinite, for just that moment. He saw the meaning, the planned timeline, the complexity of the multiverse. He understood that this could not be where he died. This was not his time.
BOOM!
Something hit the infestation pod. A gigantic anti-matter missile had collided with the pod, destroying the hull and ripping apart the circuitry. Whatever had sent it was incredibly powerful, capable wiping out Grox technology in a single blast.
A huge gust of wind began to blow. It was insanely powerful, blowing the alminar gas away with its glorious speed. The green gas was forced away in great torrents. Their vision was cleared again, and Chase could at last lay eyes on what had rescued them.
It was a circular spaceship, containing four silver metallic prongs on the side. The ship was incredibly like the UFO's of earth myth, but with a pink circle around the top, and an aura of Kronon energy that seemed to radiate from it. The majority of the spacecraft was silver, with multiple metallic plates.
It was a spaceship unlike anything Chase had seen thus far.
A decension beam appeared below it, quickly followed by the decent of two forms from the ship.
Chase's mouth dropped.
It was Roku, and the Jaxxod from the Primo illusion.
Their feet and talons touched the ground. Roku stood there with a look of complete determination on his face. He was not happy with the Deltas, and it seemed as though he knew exactly what he was doing. Roku had the Staff of Life grasped in his right hand, and was looking straight up into the mass of creatures.
"Deltas! You have plagued this world long enough!" Roku shouted, "It is time for your life to end. You all contain Kronon cores… but as I know, the Grox altered that. There is quite a bit of archon in your veins as well."
"And so?" the Deltas that was binding Maruck shouted.
Roku looked down and towards that creature. The New Tharian smiled.
"You are subject to the power of this."
Roku held out his Staff of Life, allowing its life energy to radiate outwards.
"This is the ultimate power of life. Dark ones… fear its power! The Infestation Pod is destroyed… so this is now capable of using its ultimate ability!"
Roku jabbed the bottom tip of the staff into the ground, cracking it roughly.
"RELEASE CHARGE 15!"
A huge expansion of green energy passed through everyone on the scene, radiating from the staff itself. It shot out and expanded exponentially, flying all the way out to the horizon, and as they knew, all around the planet. Shortly after, clouds began to appear in the sky. Faster than anything natural, it began to rain. On the desolate T0 world of Marksul, it began to rain. Lighting could be heard above. The Staff of Life was changing the atmosphere.
Around the staff, a large amount of green energy was building up. In a glorious blast, it was released, rippling outwards. Its power was amazing. It healed all of their wounds. The energy was the power of ultimate life, replicated by the Jaxxod 300 billion years ago. The energy was touching all of the landforms as it expanded. The puddles of lava turned into ponds, the burnt forest at the edge of the crater became a lush, green, beautiful wilderness. The rolling hills were growing grass. The ground beneath their feet became fertile. Flowers began to sprout – more trees, a growing atmosphere, a stable ecosystem. All of it was emerging. In the distance, animals of all shapes and sizes were materializing. Herbivores, carnivores, and all kinds of life were slotting into place, completing the global ecosystem. The world was now perfectly made.
The energy stopped expanding, and the storm clouds disappeared. The sky above was blue, with the star now shining its welcoming warm rays down onto the lush, life-filled world of Marksul.
In that moment, the Deltas fell to the ground. The Grox had made them like them. The Deltas weren't just given the ability to survive on barren worlds, they had to, just like the Grox. They writhed on the ground, screaming, unable to breath in the atmosphere around them.
Within 30 seconds, they were all dead.
Stekvan stepped up behind Roku.
"I'd call that… deus ex machina for the win," the Jaxxod remarked.
Roku let out a small laugh.
"You… how?" Chase said.
Stekvan and Roku ran forward so that they could stand near the rest of the crew.
"This is Stekvan… also known as Steve. It's rather… a long story. Don't worry, I'll tell you as soon as I can. In the meantime…" Roku said, pointing at Aster and Arcadia. The pair was now slowly getting to their feet.
"You're alive!" Maruck exclaimed.
"Yeah… obviously," Arcadia responded.
"How?"
"The Staff healed them. It is the ultimate power of life, it saw exactly what they needed, and based this planets atmosphere off of it. The oxygen on this world is exactly Kronon level 67. Just what they needed to survive the alminar," Roku explained.
"You're saying…"
"Yep, they should have alminar abilities as well."
"When will we find out what they are?" Chase questioned.
"It could take a few days for them to emerge," Stekvan added, "We'll just have to wait."
"What are you guys talking about?" Aster asked, back on her feet.
"You'll see… it is rather awesome," Chase said, "Where to now?"
"Where to? Chase, we've been going from planet to planet. Are you at all intent at taking a break?" Roku said.
"The Grand Master won't."
"Good answer."
The crew began to move towards Stekvan's ship, across the new grassy surface of the crater.
"But really… where?"
"Why don't you just wait and see, okay?"
"Okay…"
"Who wants to do the honors?" Stekvan asked, looking at the rest of the captains.
Chase raised his hand.
Maruck forced it down with his own hand.
"I will," Aster said, "Ascend!"