The Infinite Chronicles
Act 8: Resurgence
Shoutout to Xotosa for the first to support me!
I hope you all are enjoying this series.
(ok so last chapter I said i was putting music, but I won't, but if you really wanted it you can pm me)
Sorry for the little hiatus
Chapter 22
The ship rattled and I fell out of my bed. I groaned and headed towards my door. Another rattle sent me flying to the wall. I tried to get up but Gran yelled at me "You gonna leave me here? I'm gonna whoop your ass so hard you're gonna have to need to pull your ass out of your skull!". I grabbed her and hurried on to the deck.
Elanis came out of her room, she had a cute half awake face and staggered to reach me. "What's up?" she yawned, leaning on me for support. "A typical day in our lives," I chuckled. Another rumble knocked us to the wall, Jess knocked down her door and jumped out with her knives in hands. Her hair was wild and she stared at us. "You know, that door wasn't expensive, but you could've just opened it…." I muttered.
Ace was somehow still asleep, even with the ruckus happening. "Atlas, status report," I asked. "It appears that the Dragon Aspect of Fear, Fovos, has found us," he responded. We peered out the window to find a massive dragon with a black color that seemed to suck the light out of the sea. One of his scales would be sufficient to make a shield for a full grown adult.
"Foolish mortals, you DARE come in MY land!?" its, no his voice spoke in our minds. "How far are we until we reach the Omega Dock Atlas?" I asked. He shook his head "He is faster than us, our option is retreat, or fight back,". I thought of the best option "We fight back,"
The others stared at me like I was crazy. "Are you kidding? This is Fovos, the strongest Dragon Aspect there is!" Jess exclaimed. "How well can you steer a ship?" I asked her. She shrugged "Well enough, with Steve it should be easy,".
"Good, get Steve up here with you and cover me, Atlas you're coming with me," I started running towards the exit bay at the back of our ship. Atlas got what I was thinking and jumped out with me, transforming to his full size. The holographic rings surrounded me once again and I faced Fovos. The cannons on our ship started turning towards him and unleashed a barrage of cannon shots. Only a few hits landed on him, but it was enough for him to be distracted long enough for me to sneak behind him and unleash a blast of golden energy at him.
"Elanis! There's a manual cannon upstairs, use it!" I ordered. "On it!" She ran towards the hall and to the stairs leading up. "Alright Steve, you steer this ship and I fire the cannons, got it?" I asked. He saluted "Yes Captain Jess! Grace! Make sure our ship doesn't overheat!" He frantically took the controls and spun the ship around so our cannons had a good line of sight.
I took my respective controls and used full power on the cannons "Full Broadside!...And fire!" I yelled, pushing the fire buttons. Multiple large booms echoed towards the sea as some of them hit Fovos. We saw Hazel hit him with a massive blast of golden energy, he turned and engaged her instead of us. "Shit," I cursed "We can't fire without hitting Hazel or Atlas,". A series of smaller, yet accurate rounds hit Fovos in quick bursts, it was Elanis.
"How's our shield integrity?" I asked, dodging the Fovos's teeth and punching him hard on the cheek. "95%, still able to take a lot of damage Mistress Hazel," Atlas replied. A barrage of rockets fired and hit the dragon's body, he roared but strangely he didn't charge at me, instead, he exploded in a wave of dark energy and I suddenly couldn't see.
When the darkness dissipated, I found myself not in Atlas's cockpit, rather a completely black void. Suddenly, the ground began shaking and skulls began popping out of the ground. I screamed and ran away, only to find myself falling down a hole. I splashed into some sort of body of water. In the dark water, I found myself staring at our ship. "Hazel! where are you?" I heard Jess yell in desperation from the ship. I heard the rest of my friends screaming in terror, before the ship exploded, silencing the cries of my friends. I sobbed and swam away, trying to escape this nightmare. I ended up in a ruined area, where I saw Infinite, without his core crystal, next to him was Silverius, holding up his core crystal and to my horror, shattered in with one hand. A burst of light came out of it and flew into Silverius's body. He laughed maniacally as I felt his power grow.
I watched as he began to slaughter titans single handedly, Crimsona, Phantomi, Viomachina and more. I heard the cries of families, armies and others silenced by the sudden rush of water and they drowned. "All of this you will cause because you failed," a voice hissed. Next, I found myself in another black void, but this one had bright shining lights and a large blue sphere was under me. Connected to the blue sphere, a sort of tall metallic structure with a ring that circled the whole sphere. It suddenly collapsed and exploded in a bright flash of green, blinding me. When my vision returned, I found myself where I first met Avalon, on a sort of tall hill above the sea. Something was very off, there was no sound, as if the whole world was holding its breath. Suddenly, a figure so massive rose from the sea, it was so big that the hill I was standing on shook violently. When it stopped, the being that popped out of the sea was shrouded in some smoke, only its eyes were visible. It could have easily devoured any of the titans on Echaos like a snack.
It was so massive, just being in its presence felt like being compressed by some invisible force. It raised its head and roared loudly before raising a claw and slamming it down in the sea, sending massive waves and the ground under me exploded and shattered. "You mustn't give up!" a voice said to me "You can't fight it! You must conquer your fear!" it said.
It was right, this was nothing more than a vision. I took a deep breath, picked myself up and stared the massive being down. It tried to strike me, but a sort of golden shield made it bounce off. Its hand was melting from my shield, it put its hands on its head and roared in agony before disappearing completely.
I returned back to Atlas' cockpit, where I heard Fovos roaring in agony. "It seems my telepathic message to you worked, are you alright mistress Hazel?" Atlas asked. "Y-Yeah…. I'm much better now, thanks a lot Atlas," I managed to say. "You are welcome," he replied in a monotone voice "I cannot feel fear as you do, but your effort to stand against Fovos has resulted in a backfire of energy against him, shall we end this?".
I raised my hand and the rails on Atlas transformed into a sword. I grabbed it and charged it with energy before I rammed it through Fovos with all my might. He froze before disappearing into black dust. I piloted Atlas back into the docking bay, where my friends were waiting for me, and I collapsed from being too tired. I woke up in my bed once again, with Gran sleeping next to me. It was silent, so I assumed everyone was asleep.
I walked down the hall and onto the main deck, where I found Atlas sleeping, which I didn't know he could do. I stared at the dark blue sea outside. I felt someone put a hand on me and I immediately punched whoever was behind me out of reflex. "Ouch," I held my hand. I had punched Atlas, he was made of some strong metal that wasn't exactly comfortable to hit.
"Sorry about that," I groaned "I thought you were an enemy.". He rubbed his cheek"No problem, I am very durable,". I looked at his body, he was mostly grey, with some white parts and orange streaks. He had some sort of orange ethereal X shaped wings on his back that he rarely used and when he was at full size, he had this yellow halo over his head. His main weapon was a giant sword that split in half as a focusing rail when he fired his laser.
"How are you fine? Didn't you take a lot of damage earlier?" I questioned. "By earlier, you mean 6 hours ago, but yes, my nanomachine repair is very quick," he replied. "Infinite really thought of everything when he built you huh?" I said, impressed. "No, he didn't build me, rather he modified me," he answered. I was intrigued, but it was a question for later. "We have arrived at the Omega Dock, please wake up your friends as I will begin the docking process," he announced.
After waking up my friends, and some quick briefing, we got ready to disembark. The structure outside was massive, it could have easily contained two mountains inside of it. It was made of a curious black metal and green strips of light ran over the shiny black metal.
After arriving at the dock, we disembarked to find their ship, the ship where I had died. "Hey look at that, where I died!" I joked. Steve, Ace and Elanis stared at me. "Can confirm," Jess nodded. "I, too, can vouch, spears hurt," Gran popped out of my pouch. "While we're here, wanna trash this thing?" I asked. Jess grinned maliciously "Do I ever,"
After a few dozen eggs and three cans of spray paint, the ship looked great in a bad way. It had translucent raw egg white and yolk splattered all over it, a few fun graffiti sprayed here and there and a middle finger smack-dab in the middle. Elanis, as it turns out, was a great artist, and drew a few fun rude drawings all over the ship.
"We done yet?" Ace asked. We picked ourselves up and headed inside, boy are they going to be mad! After a few minutes of walking, we came into a large open room where someone was waiting for us. Upon closer inspection, that 'someone' was a male wearing some sort of red armor but it looked like it was corrupted by some dark green sludge. He turned around and we were greeted by a horrified sight.
"BRANDON!?" Ace yelled. Brandon's eyes were a lifeless green, and his face was distorted by some sort of acid and he had a cruel painful looking grin on his face. "I survived that night, and I became one with another much more powerful being.". Jess's eyes widened "I-it can't be!". "What is it?" I asked.
She couldn't say anything, her eyes were wide open in shock and horror. "It seems that your friend over has become a host for a Dragon Aspect," Gran replied. "As for which one, we're gonna find our real soon..."
"What happens when you become a host Gran?" I asked again. "Typically, when a mortal becomes the host of a Dragon Aspect, their mind starts to be corrupt, and the sheer amount of energy you need to become a host would literally burn you up, it ain't pretty," she explained.
"Ever since I was born, I lived in your shadow, even more so when you became Lieutenant," Brandon began monologuing, "But, when I kill you today, I will show everyone that I, am better, and always will be,". He exploded in a large amount of green acid that sizzled the floor, but not quite able to melt through the floor.
He grew taller and green-gray wings protruded from his back. He rose in a whirlwind of acid. Above his head, was a ghostly dragon head. "Now come at me Ace! We shall prove who is the better brother here!" he roared, his voice tripled in base and had four other delayed voices. "Behold!" he gestured to the ghostly dragon behind him "the power of Diafthora!".
"The Dragon Aspect of Corruption…." Gran whispered in awe. Ace stepped forward, his hands clenched on his bow. "Wildcard, with me," he said in a voice that scared me to my core. I stepped forward to help him, but Elanis put a hand on my chest and shook her head. She was right, this was his fight, not ours.
"Draw your weapon monster, my brother is already dead," Ace challenged. Brandon grinned "Thought you'd never asked," and he pulled out a large sword coated in acid. Ace struck first, firing a multitude of arrows which were deflected. Brandon closed in on him, but Ace jumped up wards and used his head to push him back, knocking him down. While in the air, he shot an arrow directly into the ghostly dragon head, while Wildcard summoned a pillar of lightning that struck him down again. Brandon got up, more annoyed than hurt.
He sliced quickly at Ace, who got hit once, but he didn't seem to care. He pelted Brandon relentlessly with arrows over and over again. He passed the bow to Wildcard who used Heaven's bolt, knocking Brandon to the ground again.
When the bow returned to Ace, it changed into a Greataxe, and he swung it ruthlessly at Brandon, who parried all of the hits. The axe turned into a rubber chicken, but Ace kept swinging it as hard as he did before, somehow doing obvious damage to Brandon.
The ghostly dragon spewed a large amount of acid, which almost hit Ace, but Wildcard put a shield in front of him. The rubber chicken became an axe again, and Ace vaulted over Brandon, and while mid-air, cut off the head and the wings. Brandon fell to the ground, no longer having full dragon powers. He drew his sword and the two clashed.
"One…." Ace counted as he slammed into Brandon's blade.
"Two..." he swung hard from the side, knocking him backwards.
"Three!" he swung upwards, knocking the sword upward, using the pointed top of the axe, plunged it deep into Brandon's chest, ending the fight. "I'm sorry," I heard Ace mutter. "F-Fuck yo-you…." Brandon managed to say before he collapsed. "I'm sorry, it didn't have to be this way," Ace said to him. "Now you'll always be better than me, in life and in death, I wish we had more time, brother," he said, before he passed.
His body began convulsing in green light, and a sort of ghostly dragon floated out of his body. "What a useless puppet," he growled. Ace's hands clenched around his axe in rage. "You will NOT diss my brother!" he yelled, engaging Diafthora. He drove his axe through his skull, making Diafthora rear his head in pain, throwing him off. This pissed him off even more. Wildcard pulled out another bow and tossed it to Ace.
"Heaven sends its strength to punish the wicked..." Ace began, firing five shots that were a brighter golden/yellow than usual, staggering Diafthora. He tossed it back to Wildcard. "To defeat those with immeasurable strength and evil…." he continued, changing the bow into an axe and slashed multiple times. He jumped back and they both held the bow which grew bigger, and drew the bow. "Thunderbolt Strike!" they yelled, firing a massive arrow over Diafthora, who was still stunned after the barrage of shots. The arrow exploded above him, blinding us before a multitude of lightning bolts struck down Diafthora, until he evaporated.
After the impressive light show, we sat there, stunned. Jess reacted first and put her hand on his shoulder "You okay?". He didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Yeah, let's get moving.." he managed. I wonder what lies ahead of us.