Immaterium (Part 26)
Explosions tore through the space where a portal once stood. Sixteen bodies threw themselves violently to the desert ground as lancing arcs of blue fire spat out, instantly vaporising the random telephone poles sticking out of the ground. The portal disappeared and everyone slowly got up.
"You just had to blow it up Izzy, didn't you?" Joe mumbled as he spat out a mouthful of sand.
"I don't think that was my doing Joe. It appeared as though something was firing attacks into the portal." Izzy replied as he quickly checked his laptop for the Greater Daemon. "Anyway, according to this program we're approximately five miles away from one of the Greater Daemons."
"What are we waiting for then?" Tai said as he started walking. "Let's go."
"Uh…. Tai…. It's this way."
"Thanks Izzy…. Do you know what one of the them we're going for?"
"No. They were somehow masking themselves from the tracking program that I got from Gennai. I'm not sure how I'm detecting this one now, but we can't tell what it is till we get close enough to s…." Izzy broke off as he glanced down at the laptop, a dancing icon of Gennai going across the screen. "We've got a message from Gennai…."
"Well open it then." Matt said as they all crowded round Izzy.
Izzy clicked a few buttons on the laptop and a familiar voice begun to come out of the speakers.
"Hello children. Here's a prophecy I found a while ago. Hopefully you'll get this in time. The sky will be darkened by the wings of many bats. The fallen people will invoke the name of the undead Digimon king. When the clock strikes the hour of the beast, he will reveal himself as the beast and then angels will shoot arrows of hope and light at the loved ones of those they have been sent to protect, and a Miracle will happen. Please always recycle."
"Well that was about as clear as mud." Sora said.
Mimi grinned as she heard the text she'd memorised. Looks like that's taken care of. Just the damned Bloodthirster to kill now….
Izzy hit some more keys furiously before sighing. "Just a recording…. I thought he might still be alive…."
Everyone looked at him in silence for a moment before Tai spoke up. "Still alive…? What's going on Izzy?"
"I thought I'd told you." He started, "A while back I got a message through from Gennai. He sounded in trouble, there were explosions in the background and the message just cut off before he could really say anything. I think one of those Daemons attacked him."
Silence fell over the group as they continued walking through the desert deep in thought.
The Greater Daemon of Tzeentch concentrated as a small sphere of energy coalesced in front of it. Fragments of energy spiralling around it, merging with it, rapidly building it up to a few feet across. A flash of light as the surface glazed over and an image of the collapsed mountain range could be seen on it. The picture flashed rapidly as it zoomed from the rubble wasteland to the outside, to a vast expanse of ocean. Finally it settled on sixteen figures trudging slowly through a small desert. The Greater Daemon smirked as the scrying spell homed in on its targets.
Rainbow flashes of colour glinted off of its wings as it took to the air, flying straight at the desert the scrying spell had located. Pointing its staff below itself it blasted a pink blaze of flame at the mass of rubble before disappearing into the distance.
Fire raced over the strewn boulders, pink globules fusing rocks and melting them into a gooey slop. Explosions of flame erupted out of cracks in the faintly glowing pile of rock, dust, and pink flame. A deep groaning sound echoed throughout the area as more and more rocks fell into the pinkish pool of liquid rocks and magma. Boulders shattered into shards of red hot needles as more and more eruptions lit up the sky. Slowly a giant three fingered hand shot out of the glowing magma, solid rock smashed apart as the void black hand clamped onto the nearby rocks. Still slower the hand pulled on the rocks, piece by piece pulling the rest of its body out of the dwindling pool of magma.
Finally the headless figure of magma fused chaos energy stood, towering over the remains of the mountain as it awaited the return of its master.
The beam of dark energy tore through the metal walls of the city seconds before the lumbering giant digimon walked through the gap where particles of data now drifted into the air.
"Venom Infusion!"
Buildings exploded in a shower of brightly coloured data as the powerful digimon waited for the ultimate level digimon he could feel to show itself. Another blast and another section of buildings disintegrated under the power of his attack. Another blast and he could feel the digimon much easier now, down in a smoking crater he could see his target, completely unconscious.
"You will do nicely little Andromon…. You will be enough food for me…."
Quickly he bent down and picked the limp figure up, for a brief second a smile touched the giant digimon's face before he opened his mouth and swallowed the Andromon whole.
A surge of energy rushed through his body and he laughed, blast after blast shot out from his hands. Mere seconds later a mass of data drifted up around him and the craters surrounding him.
"Now. Now I can have my revenge!"
Slowly the blackness faded away as light filtered through his eyes once more. Inwardly Gennai moaned in pain but lay still for fear of another torture session. Strangely the place was quiet, almost devoid of the inane voices that had constantly filled his home since they had invaded it. How long ago that was he didn't know. Time lost most of its meaning when you died every day, only to wake once more for another torturous death at the hands of daemons. Slowly he opened his eyes and gasped at what he saw. Instantly he regretted it as the noise attracted one of the daemons with flaming nozzles for hands.
"Awake ssssso sssssoon….?
Quickly Gennai opened his eyes fully and sat up, saw a daemon feverously working away at every computer and device he had in his house that he could see. A hissing laugh and a small squirt off flame aimed at his feet brought his attention back to the daemon near him.
"Sssssurprisssssed to sssssee that we know how to ussssse thisssss equipment….? We know that you can control the ssssshield…. You know that we know…. Ssssso why don't you jussssst drop it for usssss….? It would end thessssse pointlessssssssss torture sssssessssssssssionsssss you have to endure every sssssingle day…."
A burst of flame licked at his feet, fusing them to the ground as he screamed out in pain. He watched the daemon back away, motioning to another of its kind.
"If you wisssssh to continue thisssss we are happy to do ssssso…."
A grinding sound above his head made him look up, eyes widened in shock as millimetre by millimetre the ceiling lowered itself. Inexorably getting closer and closer.
Why can't I just die?
Tai looked through his mini-telescope. There in the distance was a giant read figure, at least twenty foot tall. In his hands was an equally giant axe. It was slowly moving towards something in another direction, every now and then obliterating something, or some unlucky digimon, with a well placed swing of the axe. Slowly Tai handed the mini-telescope to someone else, watching as one by one their faces showed the same look. The same mix of apprehension and fear that he felt down in his gut.
Joe looked at the group after passing on the mini-telescope to someone else. "Maybe we should take another look at that prophecy. That thing looks even more powerful than the last of the Greater Daemons we fought…."
Izzy nodded and pulled up the recording again, reading it out loud. "The sky will be darkened by the wings of many bats. The fallen people will invoke the name of the undead Digimon king. When the clock strikes the hour of the beast, he will reveal himself as the beast and then angels will shoot arrows of hope and light at the loved ones of those they have been sent to protect, and a Miracle will happen. Please always recycle."
"I don't see any bats." TK said.
"Or other people. " Kari added.
"Well the mythological number of the beast is six hundred and sixty six." Izzy said as he looked at the text on the screen of his laptop. "Although whether that has anything to do with the hour of the beast I don't know."
Tai took his telescope back and took another look. "You might want to hurry this up…. That thing's coming straight towards us…."
PeterN: Thanks for the reviews Quantum Weather Butterfly and Prince of Darkness, you're probably right with the rating, I'll up it with this update.