The sky fizzed with miniature, colourful explosions and streaks of lightning after the acid rain had ended. The green flier and the small, wounded Predacon left their shelter and climbed down the burning paths with expressions of pain. Since Divebomb had bitten Blackbeak's legs, however, he was limping and stumbling. Storm looked back through the smoke, seeing Blackbeak further behind him than he ought to be.
After dashing back, he squatted under him and pushed the Predacon onto his back.
"What are you doing?" Blackbeak cried, nearly dropping his severed wing from his mouth.
Storm grabbed him behind the knees and jostled him higher over his flattened wings. "You can't walk, Blackbeak. I'll carry you."
"Carry me?"
"I am stronger than I look."
After seeing him slay a Predacon, Blackbeak was not going to doubt him. Still, he noticed how slowly they were travelling now that Storm had to carry him. His eyebrows scrunched up in regret.
I'm slowing him down, Blackbeak thought. This isn't good… We can't afford to travel slowly! We need to find his people and get help, and they might all be gone today…
Apart from the rumble of the cracking land, the wind, and the sky explosions, there was an uncomfortable silence as they realized they were alone. As Storm trudged on, they saw nothing but bodies for hours, no creatures flying through the wind or scraping their bellies over the ground. A feeling of doom overcame them as they realized that all who may live had already gotten away, and they were far behind.
Blackbeak felt Storm's hands readjust their grip once again, and they had been doing that often lately. There was no doubt about it; Storm was getting tired.
"I'll walk for a bit," he said.
The Predacon wiggled off him and fell onto his crushed legs. Unintentionally, a squawk shot out of him and terrified Storm into trying to collect him.
"No! You can't keep carrying me," Blackbeak argued while shuffling back. "We don't have more energon. If you run out before we find the others, you will die. You are exhausting yourself."
"I can handle it," Storm pleaded.
"Worse than that, I am slowing us down." Blackbeak stared down at his legs and the wing he had dropped.
"That can't be helped," Storm said. "You cannot walk."
It was easy to read Storm, for he was always expressive in the face and wings. In horror, Blackbeak realized that no amount of arguing would convince Storm to leave him.
He wanted to sigh, "We left because we wanted to find answers about this, to get help and save the Predacons. But I don't think the Predacons can be saved now. The Predaking, Twinstrike, the others… They must be dead by now. If Divebomb became like that…"
Storm gathered Blackbeak onto his back and gripped the back of his knees.
Blackbeak's mind screamed, Leave, Storm! Run! The Predacons cannot be saved, and they are not worth being saved!
Storm stared forward, marching on slowly with the heat and radiation pressing down on them. After several minutes of quiet between them, Blackbeak began to growl and twitch.
"What is it?" Storm called to him. "Are you in pain?"
Blackbeak gave no answer, but jerked and made Storm frown. After another few minutes, a snarl came out from over him and Blackbeak dropped his wing.
"What? What is it?" Storm cried.
Blackbeak flapped, tipping Storm off balance. Crushed into the ground, Storm yelped as the legs slipped from his arms and talons pressed into his back.
"Ow! Blackbeak, what are you doing?"
The only answer was a growl above him and talons tightening their grip.
"Bl-Blackbeak?"
The fresh memory of Divebomb's mad behaviour clutched Storm. His red eyes widened and he tried to squirm free while thinking thoughts of denial.
No, he can't have gone mad so fast. But he was over me, exposed to the radiation, and maybe it affects Predacons faster-
But he wouldn't attack me, he is my friend!
A beak shut on the back of his neck, pressing in. Storm shrieked, "No! It's me, Blackbeak! Stop!"
The metal released its grip and the feet shuffled to the side. A sigh escaped Storm as he rose and looked back to Blackbeak, then it cut off when he noticed how Blackbeak glared at him. Twitching forward, Blackbeak opened his beak and hissed.
"Get a hold of yourself!" Storm cried. He glanced at the fallen wing full of sharp feathers, but knew that he could not bring himself to stab Blackbeak like he had with Divebomb.
Caterwauling, Blackbeak charged at him with neck outstretched. Storm skittered away, slipping away from the snapping beak when the injured Predacon stumbled. Movement was heard behind him, and Storm rushed on with a backwards glance. Blackbeak was back on his dented legs, shrieking maniacally and charging after him.
Storm swerved around a body, and Blackbeak crashed into it as though he had not seen it. As he got caught in it, Storm raced on ahead to gain extra distance. He began to get swallowed up by the smog, but his figure looked back to the Predacon. An eerie shriek erupted from Blackbeak as he tugged himself free and hobbled after Storm like an undead being. At the sight and sound, Storm tore into the thick haze and disappeared. More of the deranged cries filled the air, but they grew distant in volume the further he ran.
A while later, Blackbeak stopped and sighed. Lowering his head with guilt, he thought, I had to. He never would have left.
However, the Predacon was chilled by his certain fate.
He has a chance now, but as for me...
Blackbeak turned his head in another direction, feeling the faint draw left that would guide him home. He even knew that they were close to the territory they had left days ago.
So much has changed, growing worse so fast… I have to hurry.
He picked up his wing and forced himself to limp slowly away, knowing that his pain would soon end and he could rest forever.
The Predaking's mortal combat with his brethren was oblivion with flashes of lucidity in which his body moved beyond his control. Time passed but he did not know how much, but there were many times when the fighting had paused as all collapsed in pain, heat, and sickness. The dust clouds rolling above brought no shade from the intense sun, so they rested and collided in intervals, clawing and biting and knowing no other world apart from this.
But in those flashes of consciousness, the Predaking realized their predicament. He saw the end of the Predacons, in this ridiculous, mad fight against the stars and each other, and marveled that it could come so suddenly and out of nowhere. Here, his body would be humbled and burned like any other into the land, for he was helpless and not the all-powerful being that he once thought he was.
And where has Prima gone? the Predaking thought. His imagination could not picture the proud, white bot suffering through the storms and the heat like everyone else. Prima would not be defeated like this, for he was stronger than the Predaking had wanted to admit. He was gone, and the Predaking chuckled in despair.
My kind was meant to stay away from the bipeds, where each would take care of their own. But I never realized the mistake in making an enemy of the Prime. Now, he and his people looked after themselves, leaving us to our fate.
Twinstrike lunged for him, and the Predaking batted him away.
Save us, Prima. Forgive me.
That memory seemed so distant now: the day the Predaking had chosen that the bipeds were not of interest and he had eaten one of them. It had seemed so insignificant for centuries that the Predaking had killed one of Prima's people. Even now, the Predaking did not think it warranted such cruelty from Prima. Would the Prime seriously leave them all to perish out here because of the Predaking's error?
"Come to me, Prima! Please, spare us!" he hollered.
He had thought Prima was all-knowing and all-seeing, so when there was no appearance, he thought that Prima was standing by and smirking at him. After a long screech to the lightning-filled sky, however, he accepted that Prima was not here. Once again he thought that Prima was underground and safe, no longer here to watch the Predaking's death.
What being greater than me could come to my aid? He barely had time to raise his eyes to the sky before Lazerback attacked. There must be someone out there!
The memories in his spark recalled a name he had heard few times in his life, first muttered by Prima. A Prime, but one that resembled the Predacons and was said to be like a father to them.
But he too is gone, more than Prima. He is in the life-giving pit, deceased.
The Predaking still called to Onyx Prime in a long wail that trembled in weakness. Teeth crunched into his arm and from the other side, Lazerback's lazer shot into his chest. Roaring, the Predaking raised a hand and pushed against the beam to protect himself.
In the lack of an answer and through the pain, however, the cry for Onyx Prime had triggered an ancient memory.
There was a deep ability inside him that some beastbots had, including all Predacons, although none had ever discovered it. It required partial transformation, the unlocking of a new weapon. Staggering from the impacts of the lazers and Twinstrike's fire, the Predaking summoned the strength to transform his arm into a blaster. Pointing at Lazerback first, he fired a few shots and misses before the frequency beam struck Lazerback's head. His back's lazer powered off and he slumped, then Twinstrike was felled by the same weapon.
Their bodies obeyed an ancient signal and slowed into a crawl, then they lay and slept the deepest of slumbers: stasis lock. Instinctively, the Predaking knew that they were not dead. The Predaking observed his work, his broken friends, and with his remaining strength, he began to drag them by their tails toward the cliff. There, they tumbled over the side into the gorges, where the Predaking seized them again and sought a large cave.
At last, he had found shade from the melting heat. Legs heavy, the Predacon continued to pull the two Predacons with him deeper into the tunnel he had found. He prayed around each curve that the tunnel would not end, that he had successfully found them an entrance into the depths of the planet. It carried on, and he worked, rested, then worked again, dragging them into deeper silence below the surface.
He had never been at such a depth before, so far away from all he knew. The tunnels were lit by crystals of energon and the glow of their bodies, and the air felt stale as though nothing had moved here in thousands of seasons. The Predaking and the bodies dropped through a hole into a dark cavern, and after he crashed and lost his grip, he thought that they had gone deep enough. The horrors of the outside no longer felt real here. It was cold and calm, where the smog and the poisoned air could not reach them.
The Predaking pulled Twinstrike and Lazerback into the centre of the cavern and arranged them so that it looked as though they were sleeping. The Predaking was glad that they would not die in darkness and shame. They would rest, and even if they never woke, it was best to lie dormant forever with their dignity.
Nevertheless, the Predaking sensed that they could naturally wake from the stasis lock. As he transformed his arm and pointed the weapon at his head, he felt his internal clock setting.
I do not want to know when I will wake.
The Predaking listened to the planet groan faintly, and he thought briefly about it all. What had his life been for? All his struggles for power and arrogance seemed so meaningless now, and he had never considered that his strength had been a gift. What other ways could he have employed it? How different would his life and all Predacon lives have been if he had taken another path, choosing not to slaughter animals at his creation? If he had not rejected the bipeds but instead had entered their village to learn?
This was my fault. All of it.
He settled down among Twinstrike and Lazerback, then he shot himself with the same frequency blast. His head clattered to the floor of the cavern, and his body lay curled behind it in a ball, so that he too now looked like he was peacefully asleep.
Storm jogged through the smoke with tears dripping from his face. He did not imagine he would find anyone- hope, he had abandoned once he lost Blackbeak. All he wanted now was to lie down in Blackbeak's hold and die together, but he could not go back. They could not be the cause of either's death, for it would be too horribly tragic. Storm would rather die alone than be killed by Blackbeak and shatter their friendship.
As he carried on, he began to wonder why he was running when Blackbeak was gone now. Without hope and no longer hearing Blackbeak's cries, there was no point to continue on.
Blackbeak wanted me to keep going. That was his last wish… So I will try, for him, even if I think it is hopeless…
It was day unbeknownst to him, and now without Blackbeak over him, the radiation was directly soaking into him. Through his exhaustion, Storm's mind began to grow fuzzy.
Keep running. For Blackbeak, keep looking.
The heat was unbearable and he panted, his vents hoping to bring in cold air. Yet there was nothing but toxic, burning air to fill his body, thus he coughed and felt clogged by the smog. It weighed him down, and the radiation scrambled his signaling, affecting his command of his limbs. Slower he jogged, until he could do nothing but walk.
Run…
Why am I running?
For Blackbeak, I have to survive…
I can't. I will never make it… I just want to lie down.
Storm halted, shook his head, then trudged on.
Then, he felt a splatter of acid on his head crest. Storm gasped and broke back into a run to search for shelter. A few other small drops struck him as he ran, but his spark thumped heavily as he searched on and found no cover. Here, he sprinted through a large, open plain as the new rain pattered down.
Storm bent over as the acid rain grew heavier, letting his wings take the blows and the back of his hands as he covered his head. Moaning, he did not know what was worse, the burns of the acid or the radiation damaging his body internally. Eventually, the radiation made it too hard to consider. The buzzing grew louder, and he forgot that he was looking for shelter. Screaming, he strode straight on through the acid storm and the most intense radiation of midday.
The small body bent under the sun to the verge of madness. Holes burned through his wings, and the confused bot was thrown into a memory of his wings being torn up before, when he had been dragged over the ground to die.
"Grimwing!" he wailed. After a single cry, however, he forgot what he was calling and just mindlessly screamed in pain.
A faint cry arose in the distance.
"Primus, did you hear that? There's a bot out there!"
"Look!"
"You can't go out in that- stop!"
Through the rain, a two-legged silhouette sprinted toward Storm. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, and Storm moved aimlessly toward the figure without cluing in that he had at last found evacuating bipeds. He crashed into arms and went limp, eyes staring away as he was scooped and carried back under a roof.
Bots stirred and whispered fearfully within the dome shelter. Stardust's people were safe from the cataclysm thanks to the help of Alchemist Prime, and now, so was a single Predacon.
Azure listened as Stardust instructed her people.
"As we practiced, everyone," she murmured. "But now, we shall hibernate for thousands of stellar cycles. The beastbots should react and go into stasis lock themselves when they see us."
Some of the bots lay down and immediately dropped into stasis lock. Azure quivered nervously when she watched how easily they had done it. She and Skystalker had never figured it out after Alchemist Prime had come, but they had assumed that they would get it when the time was right, when they really had to.
"What if Predacons just cannot go into stasis lock?" she had asked. "Prey animals do it to hide, but we are predators- why should we be able to do it?"
"The Prime said that all Cybertronian life could do it," Skystalker had replied.
But had Alchemist said it? Azure could not remember now, and worried more as she tried to go into stasis but did not succeed. She lay down, shaking as more bots fell into stasis lock and their pets reacted and dropped into slumber beside them.
What will happen if I don't do it? she despaired. Thousands of years, that is longer than all of my life several times over! I cannot even imagine a length of time like that. Energon, there is not enough energon to survive that long!
Azure glanced toward their stockpile.
I came here, and if I cannot fall into stasis lock… I'm going to starve to death.
Her claws worked into the ground as she watched the queen walk around to make sure that everyone had fallen asleep before she did. Stardust came up to her favourite Predacon, noticing that it was trembling and still awake.
"I know it is hard; you just lost your little friend," she said. "But you have to sleep now, Silver. Look at everyone and copy them."
I don't know how! Azure's mind screamed. What do I do?
Stardust went to pet Azure's muzzle reassuringly, but the Predacon hissed and drew back in fear.
"You will get it," the ruler sighed. "Once you calm down, it will come to you. It is part of your animal instincts."
I am not a simple animal! Azure panicked. I don't know what they are doing!
Stardust turned away as the Predacon growled and stamped. Scanning the mass of slumbering bodies, she finally decided to lie down herself. Azure gawked, reached out- but then Stardust's eyes went dark.
There was now no one else awake apart from her. The Predacon lay down again and pressed her claws over her head.
Sleep! Power down for thousands of years! I have to!
She dug in too hard and began to bleed from the sides of her head.
"No! What do I do?" Azure screamed. "How do I hibernate?"
These were the final months of life, where Cybertron shut down and the animals scuttled deep into the ground and went into stasis lock. Predacons were stranded and abandoned to perish, but Prima looked forward to the bright future coming for his people. Even Alpha Trion had foreseen a global society and incredible development for the bipeds in the absence of the Predacons.
A world for them and Orion Pax, Prima had thought in a great, underground shelter. Ultimately, it is what Primus wants. He stopped creating Predacons, after all. It is the end of their times.
Thousands of Predacon lives were destroyed in their ignorance of the situation. With every fallen body, a story was lost, although most were insignificant and no more than lives of hunting and fighting. One story dragged itself determinedly over the land as his talons melted, as acid sprayed him, and as the sun drove him so insane that he almost forgot his mission.
Then, Blackbeak reached Grimwing's cave, lay against him, and passed away. He would never know that Storm had made it, or how damaged he had been. The green flier had barely been able to remember his own name, and his memories with the Predacons felt like a dream. When he tried to speak of them, the other bipeds laughed and pitied him for the madness brought upon by radiation. Then, Storm began to question everything and believe that they were right. Predacons could not speak, for they were nothing more than animals.
The flier would live on, a normal life in the new world as a Seeker. Before then, he slumbered in stasis lock while flightless Predacons scurried through the tunnels, searching for prey that they could not find frozen in stasis lock. Thousands more perished from starvation, Skylynx among them, although he had returned to Darksteel and died peacefully in sleep.
Above, land cracked and swallowed Predacon bodies deep into the ground. The bodies ringing the Predaking's territory tumbled away, including Ripclaw's, and a similar thing happened in the plains where the horde of flying Predacons had died of exhaustion. The land fell, and eventually the shifting metal moved over them and covered them like a blanket. These Predacon bodies were preserved and saved from melting.
A cave sealed and locked away Divebomb's body. Far away in the southern mountains he had hailed from, the equatorial storm raged and expanded. The force of the wind had ascertained that Windrazor's head had been knocked away long ago and buried in grit.
Another meteorite struck near Skystalker's body and smothered it with debris, preserving it as well.
Azure had panicked until she grew too fatigued. Then at last, she had discovered stasis lock and joined the silence of the shelter. However, she woke early with an incredible hunger while the others remained asleep. She waddled over to the energon cubes, munched one of them, then fell back asleep. However, her internal timer never understood the length of time she would need to be in stasis lock. The Predacon woke every few decades, then discovered one year that there was no energon left.
Her head turned to the slumbering pets. No one had to know.
Yet Azure continued to wake, and when she coughed out the animal remains, she burned them to the walls to hide the evidence. Eventually, a year came when there were no animals left and she was still starving for energon.
Azureflame turned her head now to the slumbering citizens. No one had to know. Perhaps it would be over soon, and one missing would not be noticed or blamed on her…
Above the Predacons, millennia turned. The sound of the Predaking's head clattering against the floor had been the last sound he would ever make, for he would never wake with Twinstrike and Darksteel. A shifting of plates had crushed them painlessly in their slumber, but no one would ever know how they had come there or what their lives had been like. The collective story of the Predacons was now lost to bipedal kind, and the future generations would peer at drawings of horrible beasts and chuckle in relief that they did not have to live in that nightmare of the past.
The Predaking's name was never known, and his grave was not marked, and so he could not even be forgotten.
The Covenant knew of their fates, however, so it is recorded here, though there is no record of where they are, if they still survive. Perhaps it is because the Covenant foresees a future for them.
The planet's surface changed a great deal in the few years that followed. Once the pass of the dying star was over, it left Cybertron much altered from its previous state. There were far fewer Transformers of any kind, although the small- and medium-sized beings were spared the worst of the Cataclysm and emerged from their hiding places with relative ease.
They went back to their business, refining and grading metal, searching out energon, and building mindless machineries that could speed their efforts. Within a few hundred stellar cycles, the barren, rocky surface with its glass-lined pits and deserts of broken stone, was made over into organized structures, smoothed trackways, and regular, accumulated buildings of various metals. Large areas remained uninhabited, marked only by the strange slagheaps of the ancient dead, blown over by the dust storms. But between these arid regions, the first signs of civilization began, against all odds, to prosper.
The long night of terror was over, and the sun was rising with a beginning. The Well still did not produce Predacons, but a gifted scientist would one day stumble upon the remains of broken beasts and be struck with a world-changing idea.
Epilogue to follow.