As you may have noticed, I did a re-edit on the chapters to fix some grammatical, spelling and plot errors. The previous comments are gone because I had to reupload the chapters. Big mistake, but oh well. For staff reading this, disclaimer applies to all chapters. Just making sure.
By the way, brownie points if you can find the Portal 2 nod. Have fun reading!
THE CORE WAR V: Revelation
Ice Tribe Fortress – Night
Feiron kept following the two soldiers at a casual pace, shuriken in hand. Down the spiraling stairway he went, tossing an occasional fireball or shadow bolt whenever he caught sight of the pilot and the leader. And every time he pushed them on with these threatening actions, the ironsmith laughed and maniacal laugh.
"That's right, run!" he yelled at them when they reached the next floor below. "But I'll always be right behind you!" Feiron stopped as soon as he entered the room. He gaped. He had never been in this section of the Ice Tribe's citadel the last time he had business with said faction. Besides the usual bland grey stone and the large banner displaying the symbol of the Ice Tribe, the room was filled with benches and boxes.
Feiron walked further into the room and noticed a change in floor texture. He looked down. This area of the floor had boundaries crisscrossing to and fro. Then he shifted his gaze back up and to the closer wall on his left. Stacks of target dummies and silhouettes lined the wall, all in varying states of disrepair. Some looked fairly new and unused, while others seemed brittle, old, and missed several limbs.
I guess this is the training room, Feiron thought, Better keep my guard up. I heard too much about ambushes in these places.
The orange-hued warrior cautiously searched the large room, making sure to divert some of his focus to his hearing. He couldn't be too careless with leaving his back exposed. It was a risk he'd rather not exploit.
The sound of metal grinding metal and stone reached Feiron's ears. He whirled and saw several segments of armor collapse onto the floor. He smirked.
"Nice trick." Feiron shot several bolts of shadow within the perimeter of the fallen armor. The black-and-violet streams of energy dispersed in every direction possibly imagined, scattering about varying items on impact. Several manikins standing proud with their spears, swords, axes, bows, and shields toppled due to one of the bolts.
Behind them were the battle-ready Certavus and Perditus.
"Not good enough, though." Feiron mocked. He crossed his arms, shuriken dangling from his index finger. "Now before we play another game of 'cat and mouse', I think I should tell you my story."
"We assumed we already knew," said Certavus, his tone dark, "but it seems our version lacks the truth."
"That's 'cause I lied." Feiron replied. "I didn't want anyone having second thoughts about me if I told them of who I really was, especially being Iron Tribe."
Perditus lost it. "Then tell us what happened!"
The Iron Tribe exile gestured for the pilot to calm down. "Whoa there, Speed Racer, turn it down a notch." Feiron was about to sheath his shuriken, but he stopped himself. "You know what? I trust that you won't run out on me if I pull the veil off my backstory, right?"
Certavus put a clenched fist to his heart. "On a warrior's honor, we won't run if you don't harm us for the duration of you tale."
Feiron stored away his weapon. "So, you want to know who I am. Well, as you can see, I'm of the Iron Tribe. I was miner, with a good home, good friends, and steady work. Life seemed like paradise up in the mountains. I thought it would never change."
His tone grew dark. "Everyone enjoys dreaming. It gives you a look at a life that may become a reality one day, or it's just a story to keep you content at night. Either way, the ability to dream was treasured. Then a few years ago, people started to not be able to dream. As you know, it supposedly became an epidemic, and those who had what you called a virus were exiled.
"I changed my armor color to make myself more discreet. After escaping the mountains with what I could carry, I came for help. Even with the disguise, you all treated me like dung!" Feiron summoned his shuriken in a blast of fire and unleashed a bolt of flame that almost incinerated Perditus's head. Certavus blacked the pilot from view.
"Honor you end of the bargain!" he commanded.
Feiron took a step back, breathing heavily, once he realized he left his anger unchecked. "My bad. I'll try to finish this without killing you." He again stored away his disked weapon. The warrior took a deep breath and exhaled, attempting to maintain his composure until the climax of the deal.
Wait. Why was he telling these two punks about his past? They already knew Feiron was a member of the Iron Tribe, but his intentions and how he became what he was now shouldn't really matter to the others. Should they?
Feiron pondered over the matter. It would probably be best to abort the operation, simply eliminate Certavus, and run off to find the other leaders. Hostages really didn't help, especially if they ended up tag-teaming with their enemies.
Yeah, Feiron thought, this didn't really didn't turn out too well. I should have killed him then and there, but … I lack the motivation. Did someone lace my thornax cider? Never mind, let's just get this over with.
"You know what? Forget it," said Feiron, "I'll just make this the part where I kill you." The Iron Tribe warrior lunged at Certavus and Perditus, cloaked in shadow and fists engulfed in fire.
On a hilltop overlooking the citadel, Ackar and the Fire Tribe Army stood and observed. Ackar was antsy attempting this. He was still exhausted from the raid a day or two ago, and he honestly didn't want to be the leader of this attack. But Malum had gone elsewhere, most likely rummaging around the land for supplies or, even more likely, had gone AWOL … again.
But beside the point, Ackar also hoped Davson arrived with the intelligence the former desired oh so much. It would be another stroke of bad luck if Davson was captured and held hostage. That would make the job more complicated.
"Anxious, sir?" asked a warrior.
"I am," replied the Fire Tribe leader, "and you?"
"Likewise."
"Good, then you will be ready for anything." Ackar heard footsteps in the sand. "Speaking of which, hide and prepare for an ambush," he commanded.
His army, which consisted of one hundred Glatorian and several dozen Agori, went prone on the coarse ground as commanded. Ackar strained see where the footsteps were coming from in the darkness. All he could see, sans the citadel, were the sand dunes, the rocky outcroppings, and nothing else.
"Commander?" a voice called out in a whisper, "Commander, it's me."
"Davson?" Ackar motioned for his men to stand. "What do you have?"
Davson appeared from under and around the hill, with another figure in tow. In the moonlight, the white-clad armor was unmistakable. The Fire Tribe commander was reaching for his sword when his subordinate stopped him.
"Don't worry, he's with us. Apparently the Ice Tribe is in deep rock steed dung at the moment."
"What do you mean?" asked an Agori.
The Ice Tribe Glatorian spoke up. "I think I should give you the details." He gestured to himself. "By the way, I'm Gelu."
Ackar stepped forward. "Ackar."
The two shook hands, signaling a halt to hostilities. Gelu then spoke again, "Now, I have to make this straightforward; we don't have much time with that Iron Tribe scum running rampant. Axel, or Lea, is really a former miner named Feiron. After the Iron tribe epidemic, he went rogue and attempted to make a living. So he disguised himself as a member of different Tribes. Several failures later, he ended up as a double agent between you and us. But he didn't join to simply live a better life. No, he wants to eliminate the leaders of the tribes to leave them vulnerable."
"What does he plan to do?" Kyry asked. This was getting intense.
"Once he kills every leader, a hidden army will wipe out the tribes. This army consists of Iron Tribe and Bone Hunters, along with an undeterminable amount of traitors." Gelu gestured to the mountains. "They'll be attacking from the range once he notifies them."
Ackar eyes Gelu suspiciously. How did this character garner some much out of the agent? "How do you know of all this?"
"When he arrived, Feiron and I had a little talk before he delivered his hostage. I spiked his thornax cider with a concoction that should limit his self-control for at least a few hours. To be honest, I never trusted him." Gelu paused, Ackar assuming he was calculating how much time had passed. "So far, it's been about an hour. He should be out of his prime state for the time being."
This is it, Ackar thought, we finally bring down that monster.
"Gelu, alert you army and tell them-." Ackar paused. This was risky, but it was probably the only card they could play. "Tell your men we'll assist them. Have them improve the defensive perimeter and prepare for a third-party invasion."
"Yes sir." Gelu ran off into the darkness of the desert, leaving behind his Fire Tribe allies. Davson faced his commander, obviously unsure of what's going on.
"What are our orders?"
Ackar rubbed his temple. This was day just seemed to get even more uneventful with every passing hour. Another army waiting to ambush the Ice Tribe, then them? Feiron obviously had gone mad with revenge.
"Davson, take a squad and follow Gelu. Escort him to the citadel and make sure he isn't killed. The rest of you," Ackar raised his voice, "will follow at my signal."
(Cue Menu Theme from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare)
TO BE CONCLUDED IN CAHTPER SIX: THREE'S A CROWD
A/N: The final chapter will be pretty good, though that may take a little more time that two weeks, so bare with me. Oh, almost forgot: Davson is a nod to David Song, LEGO Mag Glatorian Building Contest winner. Don't forget to post comments, criticisms, queries, etc. And remember: Stay clean, stay straight, stay awesome! 062111