Chapter 6: Divinity Polarity
Previously:
The figure paced up the rocky cliffs, walking out of her shelter, a sizable sack over the shoulders, but that didn't stop her. She looked up towards the night sky. But that was when she saw it.
'Is that a satellite…no. A comet perhaps…!' She pondered the possibilities, when suddenly, a small ball of fire seemingly burst through the thundering skies.
Alas, the figure in the red hooded cowl chased the unidentified flying object till she reached the edge of a tall cliff. She looked up at the night sky, pulling her cowl down, exposing her pink hair.
"What..." She breathed, her face glowing red and yellow as she watched the burning heap of a spacecraft glide over the skies above her.
"A spaceship…?" She breathed in shock, watching it as it entered the atmosphere.
Chapter 6: Divinity Polarity
(Music for mood: No Time for Caution – Interstellar OST)
"Steady...steady as she goes...!" Gid repeated, holding the stick on one hand, and a lever on another. The ship beeped and red sirens flashed all over.
"We're moving too fast!" Zastin called out, barely holding on as the ship creaked and rumbled. A small ring of fire surrounded the wet windshield at the helm of the shield as they descended nose first through the atmosphere.
"Clouds… Everywhere!" Zastin observed in fright, seeing nothing but a sift of dark grey. "There's nowhere to land!-" But just as he spoke, a bolt of lightning flashed and struck the aircraft.
"AHH!" Gid struggled as he was thrown off his seat, rolling to the side of the rocking ship. Without his hand on the control stick, the ship began to violently shift and vibrate, pushing the ship at an even steeper angle.
"Zastin!" Gid called out, struggling to maintain balance. "Zastin grab the stick!"
"I'm trying!" Zastin responded as he reached for the control panel. He remained there hesistant for a moment. "Wh-What do I do?!"
"Pull it back before the ship tips over any more! NOW!" Gid called out, again being thrown to the sie of the ship from a shockwave. 'At the rate we're going, this ship will crash and burn!' Gid thought as he attempted to stand up, his tail now securing itself onto the railings on the ceiling.
ZAAAPPP!
"Shit!-" Shockingly, a thundering clap slapped the left side of the aircraft, tearing one of the wall panels away, leaving a section of the aircraft completely exposed to the elements.
"Warning: Hull integrity: 69%. Electron shield integrity: Critical." The ship's VI responded, beeping and red emergency lights flashed throughout the ship's hull.
"ZAS!" Gid urged, taking a peek through the newly ripped opening of the ship. He was met splatters of rain water, now dampening the insides of the ship. The howling of winds from the outside clouded his vision. But through the elements, he saw the horizon below them.
"Ughhh….!" The grey haired Devilukean pushed, pulling on the stick with both hands, legs pushing against the floor. And surely but slowly enough, the ship began to level.
Through Gid's open view from the side of the aircraft, they had just left briefly exited the layer of clouds, and he slowly started to make out the landscape that laid ahead.
'Disengage forward thrusters...!' Gid shouted in his mind, picking himself up and to the control panel, he fumbled around until he got his hands on a silver lever.
"On the count of three, I need you to try and hold the stick as hard as you can! That's the only thing keeping this ship level!" Gid shouted, his voice nearly drowned out by the insane howling of winds.
"What happens at the count of three?!" Zastin asked.
"One!" Gid yelled out, positioning himself before the leaver.
"Two!"
"What are you doing?!" Zastin yelled beside him, holding onto the stick.
"Three!" Gid shouted, cranking the lever to a forward position. A loud creaking sound reverberated through the ship as the hummings of engines abruptly ended. The sudden silence overtaken by the winds and rains from the gaping wound of the hull.
Gid and Zastin looked at one another for a brief moment, their eyes dilating slightly. With the engines shutting off, there was only one way the aircraft will be going.
"Uh oh."
"AHHHHHH!" The two shrieked, now freefalling along with the aircraft. The duo felt funny in their innards as they levitated from their seats, hitting the ceiling as they plummeted.
"This was your great idea?!" Zastin called out incredulously, flailing in the air for anything to grab onto.
"You think so?!" Gid sarcastically replied, rolling his eyes.
"Warning: Altitude falling rapidly." Atlas reported as the control panel beeped and blinked red.
"Zas! We have to engage that-" But before he could continue the ship creaked and spun, all that was loose on the ship flailed about, swishing and suspended in the air. Gid and Zastin bumped from one side of the hull to the other.
"Gahh!-" Zastin groaned as he managed to grab hold of the edge of his seat, but Gid wasn't so lucky. "Gid-nii!" Zastin cried out.
"Shit-!" The trident tailed Devilukean tensed up as he was slammed onto the side of the ship's hull, dangerously close to the gaping tear. With a desperate effort, Gid hung on to whatever he could, his tail lodged itself into the wall.
"That lever!" Gid pointed with a hand to something behind Zastin. "That lever will activate the stabilisation thrusters!" He yelled against the wind.
"Which one?" Zastin asked confusedly, looking at the plethora of levers and blinking lights on the already sparking panel.
"Just…!" But Gid hadn't the time to clarify. One glance to the outside world from the gaping hole had told him all he needed to know.
There was no time.
"Pull me!" Gid called, pressing his legs up against the hull behind him, his trident tipped tail dislodged itself from the side of the hull. "Get me to the control panel!"
"M…Mhm!" Zastin nodded determinedly, readying himself by hanging onto the edge of a table that he was holding on, he supported himself with two legs and a tail, hands outstretched. "I'm ready!"
"Ike! (Goo!)" With a hefty grunt, Gid pushed off the wall in freefall. And to his relief, their hands found one another as Zastin pulled as hard as he could, swinging the boy to his left.
"There!" Gid confirmed, approaching the blue lever Alas, amidst the rocking and spinning of the ship, he grabbed held of the lever. "Hold on to something Zas!" He called out, before pulling the lever down.
Click!
VRRRRRRRVRRRRVRRVRVRRR...
Without warning, a loud hum one again filled the hull, and with it came the familiar force of gravity.
"Augh!" Gid and Zastin grunted in pain as they rolled and tumbled to the floor of the spacecraft at an alarming rate. And for them, all went to black with a bang.
*Nine hours later…*
(Music for Mood: The Born King – King Arthur Legend of the Sword OST)
'You have accomplished a great deal, Zastin of Deviluke…'
'F...First King Davo… It is not enough.'
'I sense despair within your soul, child.'
'I have already failed you... and your descendent…-'
'Be calm child and remain steadfast. For the path of the righteous is paved with difficulties and sacrifice.'
'And you will be the knight that will guide my last descendent to his destiny.'
'Do you really think I can be a knight? Gid doesn't think so…'
'The Morningstar which has been passed down through the ages to you from the Great Veloth himself has grown accustomed to you, that is not a coincidence.'
'Now go!'
"Wake up!" Grey and blue eyes blinked open at the voice. And soon a slap to the face annoyed him from his slumber.
"Ugh…Wh… What was that for?" Zastin asked, sitting up.
"Are you hurt?" Gid asked, helping Zastin to sit up.
"Doesn't feel like it…" Zastin groaned, stretching his neck and back. He gave out a few coughs and blinked, savouring the feeling of soil under his hands. "Wh-Where are we?" Zastin asked confusedly, looking around the scenery. Out in the open elements, Zastin laid, the freighter spaceship beside them, surrounded by a ring of fallen of squashed bushes and fallen trees.
"We must've landed on the planet during the storm last night." Gid huffed, standing up.
"More like crash landed…" Zastin commented, staring to the black smoke rising from the ship's side, to which Gid rolled his eyes on.
"I-Is the spaceship functional?" Zastin asked.
"Atlas?" Gid redirected the question to the virtual intelligence.
"Multiple drive core failures. 7 of 8 engines offline. Hull damage critical. Electron shield: 100% depleted."
"Christ…" Zastin sighed, a defeated look on his face. "But how is Atlas still working?" He wondered.
"My black box matrix is designed to be securely detached from the freighter's mainframe in the event of a crash or other ship failures. Your recommended action is to keep this matrix and deliver it to appropriate authorities." The robotic voice replied as the segmented black cube in Gid's hand flashed red.
"Right… That's going to be a problem, considering we don't even know where we are…" Zastin figured.
"Follow me." Gid said, "I'll show you something."
"Where are we going?" Zastin asked, retrieving his sword and followed his brother.
"While you were out, I took the liberty to scout out the terrain around us, to find more food and water." Gid explained, trekking up the rocky hill, kicking dirt and pebbles out of the way.
The two Devilukeans soon reached the top of the hill, where it rolled out into a flat rocky terrain, canyons snaking all around them, with sparse vegetation all over. The two suddenly covered their faces as a harsh hot breeze blew over them.
"According to Atlas's location system, this is Planet D1112," Gid gestured the horizon, "And THAT, is Deviluke-" He pointed to the sky. It took Zastin a fair bit of squinting to identify the purple orb in the sky, glinting.
"…." Silence overcame them both as they soaked in their current predicament. The continuous chirping of bugs and the soft howls of summer winds edged them all the more closer to despair.
'Great… not even three days into it and we're already stranded…' Gid thought frustratingly.
"…Wh…What are we supposed to do now…?" Zastin wondered.
"…I…" But Gid stopped himself. "I'm asking myself the same question…" He admitted, looking up at the lacklustre morning sky.
*Same Planet D1112… Approximately 150 kilometres away…*
Shek…Shek…Shek…
Sounds of boots striking soft soil and gravel beating the rocky earth as a hooded figure's march came to a brief halt. Looking up, the figure saw a shaded concaved s on her beaten canyon path, the figure wasted no time and took refuge.
"Ahh…" Sitting by a rock, the figure pulled down the hood of her red cowl, letting out her long slightly wavy pink hair. "That's much better…~"
She fumbled around with the dark green rucksack by her side and retrieved her canteen of water, and another disk like device.
A refreshing drink later, she then focused on the metallic disk in her hands, and pressed the button on the centre. The disk, with its golden troughs and glyphs etched into its surface, began to light up in a soft golden glow. And form the centre, a light projected a holographic likeness of a man.
(Music for Mood: Gabriella's Video – Logan OST)
'Is that… father!' The girl thought, her pink eyes watering slightly.
"Sephie… My sweet baby girl… If you have opened this message, then the worst of fates has surely befallen me and our remaining Charmian rebels spread out across this galaxy. Your mother and I love you very much, and it goes without saying that you, the royal princess of Old Charmia, is of great importance to the survival of our race and heritage. And I only hope that by the time you view this message, you would be old enough to understand. Amidst this great chaos that has befallen the galaxy, it all started with Apollyon, my sister, and your aunt. Apollyon was military adviser to my reign as king before she was radicalised by the idea of Charmian superiority. She attempted to introduce a kingdom wide artificial forced sterilisation program – to prevent procreation outside the Charmian race, to ensure the bloodline stays pure. Those who have procreated outside the race were put down, as did their mixed blood children… By the time I discovered her treachery, it was too late…"
"My sister instigated a military coup, overthrowing my reign. With you as a babe in my arms, I fled our home-world, along with those who were still loyal to me. Without a home, our Charmian 'tribe' travelled nomadically across the galaxy, fighting a secretive civil war for our survival across the stars. But… nothing has prepared us for what she did… the chaos that she has brought upon the world… to get to you… the last Charmian untouched by the sterilisation program..."
"-Transmission error: Type three-" The disk spoke out. And the video became distorted, the message now reduced to chaotic static sounds, with semblances of speech scattered.
"Sephie… My sweet baby girl… if you have opened this message…" The message repeated, and Sephie pressed the button the disk, ending the transmission.
The girl gave a long breath, absorbing it all in.
'Father… I will stop Apollyon…I'll find a way!' The girl vowed. 'But… what has Apollyon done that had father was so afraid of…?' She wondered. But her train of thought derailed when an aircraft from above shadowed the sky above briefly. Her eyes widened as she pushed herself to the back of the small cave, not moving an inch while maintaining a gulp.
Soon the noise of engine disappeared as the cloud of suspense evaporated, Sephie gave a deep breath and dropped to her knees. 'Can't let them catch me!' She told herself, before picking up her backpack, pulling the red cowl over her head as she continued on the path to the heap of smoke.
*Four days later… freighter crash site…*
"This should be enough food for another three days or so." Zastin huffed, hauling the chain of game over his shoulders, arrows and hooks sticking out of their hides and scales.
"So bored…" Gid groaned comically, rolling around on the ground.
"Just start the fire, I'm starving." Zastin told him, his scorpion taipped tail lifted up to Gid. The boy took the tail top and struck it against his own trident one, sparking flames onto the campfire.
"What is there to do besides training and searching for intelligent life on this rock?" Gid asked.
"All we need to do is to find a way off this rock and head to Deviluke to sign up for the army." Zastin said, hope in his eyes as he began skinning the game he caught. Out of the corner off his blue and grey eyes, he saw Gid standing yp, heading away from their camp.
"Where are you going?" Zastin asked.
"That canyon peak over there." Gid pointed to a tall structure nearby in the distance. "It's close enough that I can completely the round in half a days time, and high enough to light sugnal fires and scout terrain."
"R-Right…" Zastin responded as Gid disappeared.
*Nearby canyon… two hours later…*
"You won't get away this time!" The hunters yelled.
"Get away from me!" Sephie yelled out, running up along a ridge that wraped around the canyon. The heavy rucksack over her shoulders shaking and stirring. Eventually, she reached the end of the ridge, with a small jagged gap through the rock wall.
Sephie halted before the end, looking back and forth between the narrow path before her, and the three hunters hot on her tail.
'I have no choice!' Sephie gritted her teeth as she ventured forth, squeezing through the rocky gap, throwing her backpack to the side. She pushed as hard as she can through the gap, feeling its rocky surface scraping her face and legs.
"Get back here already!" The hunters growled, reaching their hands inside the gap, clawing at the pink haired girl. Their hands flailed, mere inches away from her face.
"Guah!" With pained grunts, Sephie reached the end of the gap, falling out on the other side. The path before continued to spiral to the top of the canyon. Without hesitation, she pushed off the ground and continued on her escape.
"Grrr… stand back!" Sephie heard the One of the bounty hunters said. And for a moment, all was calm, with little high pitched 'beeps' repeating.
BOOM!
"Kyaa-!" Sephie yelped, feeling a shockwave blasted her from behind as she stumbled, tumbling down to the rocky ground before her, ragdolling and rolling to a stop a distance away.
The girl gave an annoyed snicker as she struggled to get up from the ground. Her face contorted in pain as she felt the stinging pain on her left knee and various parts of her body. Her pink eyes widened s she looked back to the rocky gap, which had now been obliterated.
With nothing standing between the girl and the three hunters, they crept closer and closer to their target, when all of a sudden, they stopped dead in their tracks.
"Eh?" Sephie wondered, suddenly feeling a cool breeze over her face, and her pink hair flowed with it. It was then when she felt it.
The red cowl was gone, on the ground next to her, dirtied and torn.
'Oh no… they can see my face…!' Sephie thought in fright as the three hunters took on a drastic change.
"What do we have here?~" The boar-like bounty hunter said, love hearts replacing his eyes.
"Let's… have some fun… before we collect our bounty…~" The other said, his snout dripping saliva.
"This is the real bounty…!~" The last hunter slurped, his tongue out grotesquely.
'This isn't good…!' She screamed in her head, furiously looking away and shying her face away, inching herself back from the three men. "S-Stay back! Back away!" She called out.
But the three men weren't listening at this point. Their shadows dawning on the girl, hands teaching forward towards her.
'Mother...Father...I'm sorry...I'm about to be...-' She thought as she closed her eyes, waiting for her fate much worse than death.
But without warning, in the darkness she heard quickened footsteps from the side.
"Wh-Who are you?!"
"Get out of the way boy!"
'A boy...?' Sephie thought, her eyes remaining closed. Feeling a new presence before her.
Bang!
Doom!
Pow!
Bufff!
In a matter of seconds, Sephie winced with each blow she heard, her body jolting as she heard bodies thrown around and even the cracking of bones. Covering her ears proved to be ineffective.
"Geez...what kind of adults are you... Chasing after a kid..." A new voice grumbled with a sigh.
'That voice... A boy!' Sephie thought as she opened her eyes once again, and was immediately shocked to see the three large bounty hunters, unconscious and piled up on top one another, love hearts still lingering in their eyes.
"That's beyond lame..." The boy sighed disappointingly with a hand on his hip. Sephie eyed the boy in wonder, at his nonchalantly swishing tail in particular. "So? Are you from this planet?" The boy asked, turning to look at her.
"I-I'm not!" She replied nervously, grabbing her red cowl from the ground and hastily pulling if around her. "M-My tribe is a wandering race without a home planet…"
"Well whatever~ You should be grateful to me~" Gid flaunted, walking towards the girl. "I…happened to stop by this planet for combat training, and you were saved thanks to that." Gid said, his eyes slightly twitching from the lie. 'Mustn't lose face in front of a girl!'
But the girl cared not for his reasons, instead, she stood up, perplexed by their conversation, and more importantly, his red eyes.
'He…He's looking at me… He's not reacting like the others…?!' Sephie thought as she stood up. "Are you… still okay? Even after looking at my face?"
"Haah? What are you talking about?" The Devilukean asked with eyebrows raised, hands on hips.
"I'm asking if you're still okay after seeing my beautiful face!?" The girl asked dryly. Never in her life had she encountered this problem before.
"HAAH!? Are you calling yourself beautiful on your own, you midget girl?!" Gid retorted. 'Who does she think she is?'
"You're more of a midget than me!" Sephie quipped. It was true, intentionally looking down on him, comically hitting a nerve with Gid.
"WHAAT?! WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?!" Gid yelled grumpily, fist in the air, a red tick on his forehead.
"How would I know, you idiot!" replied the pink haired maiden. "If that pisses you off, then go ahead and tell me!"
"I AM GID OF DEVILUKE! AND I'M THE MAN WHO WILL QUELL ALL WARS IN THE UNIVERSE, AND STAND AT THE TOP OF IT ALL!"
'Gid…' The name resonated within her as she peered into those deep red eyes, filled with unshakable determination and swelling with hope, not beguiled by her beauty. It was the first time she had looked into a man's eyes, properly, and she couldn't help but be mesmerised.
"So? What are you doing on this planet?" Gid asked.
"…I was on my way to planet Deviluke when I took a detour and landed. But that was a few weeks ago and my ship has ran out of fuel." Sephie explained, looking to the side. "You… wouldn't have a way to get off this planet…?"
'Crap!' He swore inwardly. "I…err… we…uh.. That's none of your business!" He grumbled.
"…" Sephie sweatdropped as she looked at the smoking heap in the distance. "Could it be… that you crash landed here a few nights ago?" She asked dryly, though she almost knew for certain.
"S-Shut it! We'll be out of here in no time!" Gid said, flustered with embarrassment.
"Uh huh." Sephie sighed. "What a disappointment… To think you were my hope of getting out of here…"
"Fine! I'm gunna go, don't expect me to save you again!" Gid said, walking the opposite direction down the canyon.
"That's fine by me!" The girl retorted, walking in the other direction.
"Uhghh…" The three bounty hunters mumbled, soundly unconscious.
*4 Hours later…*
"Oosh!" Zastin exhaled, going through his form with his blade. Swift and graceful strokes, like writing with a pen. Precise, with purpose.
"I'm back!" Gid announced tiredly as Zastin stopped.
"Ah, the meat skewers and wild greens wraps are just ready..." Zastin said, when he soon noticed the large bag over Gid's shoulders. "where did you find that?"
"At the bottom of the canyon. Someone must've dropped it." He waved off. "Didn't find anything interesting."
"Ahh well... Wait...-" Zastin halted. "We're not alone on this planet?"
"Apparently not-"
"-And you didn't think it was a big deal at all?!" Zastin exploded.
"Calm down Zas, I only ran into one girl. Travelling alone."
"You ran into a girl..." Zastin analysed with a stressed tone. 'Of all the things he could encounter... He meets a girl...'
"And where is this girl?" Zastin asked, looking around.
"We went our separate ways."
"Are you serious..." Zastin shot a downcasted look at the ground, comically defeated. "Strength in numbers never occurred to you?"
"How is one girl going to help us? Just one more mouth to feed while we figure out a way to get outta here."
"We're never getting off this planet." He stated blanked to himself, lying flat on the grass.
"What was that?"
"Nothing… Just eat..." Zastin said, comically crying on the ground.
*A while later… sundown…*
"Damn it… Where is it…?!" The pink haired girl grumbled, pacing around the canyon. 'I swore I dumped it here…'
"My supplies! There's no way I can survive on this God forsaken planet by myself now! And I've already told that midget that I…-"
But then it clicked.
The girl peered towards the distance towards the tower of smoke by the small stretch of woods, to the freighter wreckage.
'That boy Gid, could he have-…'
*Towards the evening… sundown…*
Not one, but two suns slowly descended to the horizon, fading away for the night. It's bright yellowish light dulling into an orange and purple hue. And underneath it all, two tailed boys laid around a campfire.
"Man! This stuff is good!" Gid exhaled, lucking his lips as he tossed the wooden skewer into the fire. "Your future wife is lucky,- assuming that she's indeed a she~" He teased.
"Still not in love with my sword..." Zastin responded halfheartedly, wiping down his blade with a wet cloth.
"Uh huh~" Gid winked and laughed.
"I'VE FINALLY FOUND YOU!" Suddenly, a voice called out from behind the two Devilukeans.
"Who's there?!" Zastin answered, turning around with his green blade raised into a high side guard, letting the blade rest on his left forearm.
"Wait Zastin, that's-" Gid called out as he saw Sephie walking towards them. "You, girl, what are you doing here?" Gid demanded.
"You have something I want!" She demanded with the same tone.
"If that's your attempt to get into my pants, you're not doing a very good job…~ whatever your name is."
"It's Sephie! And I'm not trying to-"
"-So it was yours after all," the raven coloured haired boy responded. "If that's what it takes to get you to go, fine. Zas, give her the bag."
...
"Zastin?"
But the swordsman was not listening at all. Rooted in his place, Zastin's heterochromic eyes remained glued to the girl's face.
'Oh no… he saw my face!' Sephie grimaced at herself. She had forgot to wear her cowl.
"Zas?" Gid repeated, shaking the boy by the shoulders. "You alrig- woah!-"
"WRYYYYY!~~" Zastin exploded in a way which Gid had never seen before, perhaps seemingly in more ways than one. The boy dropped his sword and charged at the girl, who backed away against a tree.
"Wait-!" Gid chased after his younger.
"Eeek! Get that boy away from me!" She shrieked, seeing the swordsman getting closer and closer.
Without hesitation, Gid leaped and spun, his tail followed suit and caught around Zastin's neck, yanking him back to the ground. "Oi! Zas!- huh…?" And as Gid violently wrestled Zastin on the ground, he noticed the boy's flushed face and wild eyes, lustfully snapping around.
"Let me go! I want her!" The ashen-haired teen yelled out, his eyes disoriented and desparately looking for the girl he had just laid eyes on.
"Snap out of it!" Gid yelled as he gave the boy a swift punch to the head.
"…zzzz….." But Zastin was knocked out cold.
"Goddammit…" Gid whispered under his tired breath, standing up next to Zastin. He turned his attention to the girl. "You've got some explaining to do." He told the girl, who now had her hood up. 'But… the way Zastin reacted… it was almost the same as those bounty hunters… what the hell…?'
AUTHOR'S NOTES: A HAPPY BELATED NEW YEAR TO ALL READERS OF THIS STORY. PREOCCUPIED FROM OTHER THINGS AND NEW GAMES COMING OUT I HAVE BEEN PROCRASTINATING FROM FINISHING THIS CHAPTER :P
DUE TO THE NATURE OF THIS STORY, SERIES LIKE 'MASS EFFECT' AND 'VIKINGS' WILL LIKELY TO HAVE AN INFLUENCE IN THIS STORY (IN RELATION TO THE STYLE, NOT THE ACTUAL CONTENTS IN THE SERIES, ALTHOUGH SOME WILL BE INSPIRED).
THE FATED ENCOUNTER BETWEEN ANGEL AND DEVIL, WHAT DID YOU GUYS THINK OF THIS CHAPTER EH?
AND AS ALWAYS, MORE CHAPTERS STILL TO COME!
REVIEWS ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED AND LOVED! (PLEASE!)
CRITICISMS ARE ALSO ACCEPTED.