23
Her eyes slowly opened. The world outside was fresh, green, and warm.
The blurriness slowly faded into clarity. The dead trees swayed slowly in the warm wind, and the dirty road the truck Riu was riding in seemed so much warmer.
It was Ootya. It's bluff that it was set on was bathed in sunlight, the tent-houses that it's people lived in were clean, and colorful. The red dirt that made up most of it's surface was as blazing as rubies.
She lifted her head off of Rhiem's shoulder, who was dozing off at the end of the cargo truck.
The open air, the blue sky, the rushing wind... The Ootya gate!
"I'm back..."
The truck pulled into the rubble arch that was the Ootya gate, followed by several identical trucks.
A boy who was washing his feet at the edge, yelped, and ran out into the center of the village.
"There they are!"
He ran from street to street, spreading the news.
"They're back!" He yelled, alerting the whole village. Men who were brushing their teeth, women who were setting the laundry for the mid-noon sun, and children who were playing in the streets, they all stopped, and looked at one another.
"They're back."
"Our heroes!"
Riu couldn't believe her eyes. People, all around her, cheering. They clustered around the truck, and reached in to grip her hand, and yell her name with praise. Confused, she looked about for a familiar face.
Chief Sakami. The small girl cut through the crowd easily, aided by her personal bodyguards, and pulled herself into the truck. She looked up, and grinned. Riu felt her eyes get moist.
"Chief..."
"We heard about your victory against the Dao Ku-Long." The Chief's smile widened. "Welcome to the victory party."
"Ah!" With a yell, Riu hugged the Chief, and held tight. The Chief, slightly embarrassed, glanced at Rhiem, who was leaning against the front of the truck's compartment.
The Chief cracked a grin, which spread to Rhiem's face.
"You're back." The Chief mouthed.
He glanced down, covering his grinning face.
Riu looked at all of them, her eyes misty.
"We're all back. Together. Finally."
Home.
Rhiem's grin widened.
"Another round!"
"Two more beers over here!"
"For our heroes!"
The village of Ootya had a historic feast. Every family, every house, every person was affected by the destruction of the Dao, causing a huge lifting of fear that blanketed the the whole village, the whole world. People from every single region celebrated their new beginning of hope, never again having to live every year, knowing that their sister or brother next to them may not live. The destruction of the Dao created a huge vacuum, where once was fear, now flooded relief.
Happiness flooded everywhere, except one place...
"W-Well, that's it, my lady."
The trembling messenger was sweating, from head to toe, frozen in place. His head was bowed, small drops of cold perspiration, not daring to look at the fearsome sight a few yards away. His knees knocked a bit against each other, and his breaths were quick and ragged.
"The Dao? Really? Destroyed?" The woman lying sideways on the throne chuckled. "No kidding."
The woman turned, and sat up. "Thank you, Myli."
The messenger, still terrified, knelt down and bowed until his nose touched the ground. He then scurried as fast away as he could respectfully. The messenger walked/ran down the dark throne room to the freedom and light of the exit.
The man took one step outside, before his head flew twenty feet away from his body.
Thud! The body fell with a dramatic splat.
"I'm surprised you didn't do it yourself, Mother." A lean, slim boy stepped out from behind a giant pillar. Blood dripped from his hand. The Messenger's blood.
"Don't push me, Cyrus." The woman on the throne checked her fingernails. "You should stop acting so impatiently. I'll run out of men to serve me."
The woman lithely stepped off the throne. Elegance and power reverberated with her every footfall.
"In other news, how do you like your new body?"
Cyrus looked at his arm.
"What, this? I wanted a STRONG body, Mother. What is this weakling's strength?"
"Ha, Cyrus, Cyrus. Strength is not everything in a body. Have you even checked into this poor boy's thoughts at all?"
Cyrus scoffed. "No."
"Check again." The woman tapped the side of her head. "His memories. This boy had made a friend lately, hasn't he?"
Cyrus closed his eyes. "mm...Tsh. Yeah."
"And who was with this friend?"
"Um..."
"And who is that person, with that friend?"
"I... see..." Cyrus opened his eyes. His mouth opened in a dangerous smile. "...Yeta!"
Cyrus turned around, and strode out the exit, not even looking down at the headless body strewn across the threshold.
Cyrus went down a huge set of stairs, when a young girl sitting off the side stopped him.
"Brother Cyrus, you got news on Sister, didn't you?"
"...Yes, Jade, I did."
"Yeta's not doing so well where she is."
Jade hung her head, tears forming.
"Is Sister ever coming back?"
Cyrus, putting on a magnificent, convincing look of pain, said slowly:
"I don't think so."
"Rhiem... look at the sky." Riu was curled up on a dirt bluff at the edge of the village. Rhiem was lying on a grass patch a foot above her. "The night sky is beautiful."
The sky was filled with stars, twinkling like jewels, their light scattered by the ash and dust in the air. As if the sun decided to pull a thin blanket over it's face.
Rhiem looked up.
"I think..." Riu leaned up to look closer, at a star that was zipping across the sky. "It's a shooting star!"
"That's a plane."
"Well, that-"
"Another plane."
"Ugh!"
"Heh."
"Rhiem..." Riu closed her eyes. "I want to make a wish. On that star."
"Well, actually, that's a radio-"
"Shut up. I want to wish that we'll always be together. Through thick or thin."
Rhiem smiled, and laid back.
"It's my wish too, Riu." He frowned. "But I wonder why there are some many damn planes in the sk-"
The crunch of dirt a few yard above alerted Rhiem.
"Hey."
Both Rhiem and Riu turned, and gaped.
Her red-brown hair was cut short, and her designer clothes were gone, replaced by a more modest shirt and fitting pants. Her eyes had a new disquiet to them, like they had died down a bit, and her normally wide-smiling mouth was closed softly in elegance.
"Tiana!"
Tiana smiled, but this time her mouth was closed, and she seemed calmer.
"It's good to see you again."
Riu leaped up, and hugged Tiana, hard around the chest.
"Tiana... I'm so sorry about Noa."
"Noa... there's some irony, isn't it? I guess it is true, you really do have-" She fumbled a bit, her voice cracking. "Ha-have to lose stuff to know you need it."
Rhiem stood up, watching Riu slowly come out of Tiana's embrace.
"Tiana, what have you been doing since we left? You left so suddenly."
She smiled, a more defeated smile than before.
"I quit singing. There's just something in it that lost it's novelty." She smirked a bit at Rhiem and Riu's stunned faces. "Don't worry, I'm working as a diplomat now. Plus, I've got enough money to shut both my agent and my parents up."
Riu shook her head.
"I'm so sorry, that your life was changed so much."
Rhiem came in, with a stoic face.
"War changes lives. It's how it is."
They all stood there, silent for a bit.
Tiana recovered first, grasping Riu's hand, and raising it.
"Well, Rhiem, I hope you don't mind if I steal Riu again." She smiled at Riu. "We have some catching up to do, sister." The two left for Tiana's tent, leaving Rhiem standing under the now-dark night sky. There was a new moon that night, so the area was blackened to a high degree.
Rhiem shook his head, smiling. As long as they were happ-
No.
Something was wrong.
The hairs on his neck pricked up, and his instincts began to run wild. It was all Rhiem could do but to stop his legs from sprinting off in terror.
But what was it?
"What?"
Shivering, he looked up at the sky.
A huge section of the stars in the sky were now black.
"What the-"
Thud.
He turned his head to face the noise. It sounded like... landing.
"Who's there?" Rhiem, his hand shaking uncontrollably, grasped his Fallen Tigress, and raised it up. "Answer!"
Violent... Aren't you?
"What!" Rhiem yanked his gun to face his flank.
Watch out with those things, they're dangerous. You could put someone's eyes out with it.
A rush of wind, and Rhiem felt the Fallen Tigress rip itself from his grasp, and slam into the rock bluff, breaking the tempered black steel into threads.
With a growl, Rhiem drew his machete, and tomahawk, still shaking like a rabbit.
Hey now... Don't worry. I'm not here to fight, but-
"-Here to warn." A tall boy, with... with silver hair stepped out of the shadows, his hands raised. "About someone very close to you."
"WHO ARE YOU?" Rhiem roared, his weapons tensing.
"Me? I'm a lot of things. Call me Cyrus."
"If you don't... don't shut up, and give me an answer, I'll rip you to shreds."
"Ugh. Rubine Yee-Haws are the same everywhere."
Cyrus pulled out a futuristic handgun, its laser sight dancing lethally on Rhiem's center of mass. "Now I have your attention? Good."
Cyrus started pacing about, never taking his gun off Rhiem.
"I'm here to warn you, in a couple month's time, me, Archeria, is going to attack. You, specifically."
"Wh-"
"Because, we're coming for something that belongs to us." Behind him, the huge blot of area where stars no longer shone started moving. The space of nothing lumbered over until it loomed over Cyrus. Rhiem could faintly hear the groaning and whining of metal joints.
Lumbering, huge, and powerful, a white-gray foot, the size of a flatbed truck, slipped out of the inky night and slammed onto the ground next to Cyrus.
"And you have no chance of surviving when we do."
"Why are you-?"
"Also, tell anyone that I spoke with you about this, and these two beauties die by me, personally. That I can guarantee."
Cyrus flicked a small photo at Rhiem. Rhiem glanced at it for a second. It was a black and white picture, of Riu and Tiana singing at a Karaoke!
"What? How'd you get this picture? Why are you doing this?"
Cyrus looked up, pondering.
"I do this because crave... fear. Hatred. It's my drug, basically what I live for." He stepped onto the foot. "And just as extra incentive to stay quiet..." Cyrus pulled down his sleeve, and Rhiem's eyes widened in horror.
"That's right." Cyrus' arm was horribly disfigured, infused with steel, in the same places as...
"Noa's bow! His ARM!"
"That's right. We've still got him. You don't want him to die, you be nice and good, don't tell anyone, and let the pain and fear of attack eat you inside out."
Cyrus waved cheerfully, as the colossal white-gray foot lifted him up into the black night.
"Bye. See you soon..."
Rhiem stood there, stoic. He closed his eyes, and lifted his head.
Inside, he screamed.
24
Rubine Settlement 135: Dasioka
"We're losing ground!" The 1st Dasiokas Guard was being pushed back. Only a couple dozen men remained to guard the inner of the settlement. It's denizens hiding fearfully within it's walls, and Archeries swarming outside.
Archeria had developed a special attacker for sieges. The Hermis Heavy Ordinance Strike. Shaped like a crab, the bot had encased around it, a heavy shell, which protected fifty pounds of TNT, and sturdy, swift legs to propel itself to the target.
One HHOS managed to slam into the Dasiokas inner settlement wall, cracking a bit, before sacrificing itself in a ground-shaking tremor. The HHOS blew out in a magnificent flare, rocketing out pieces of it hundreds of yards away; the solid metal wall now had a hole in it the size of a beach ball. All over, this scene was being repeated where ever Archeria attacked. The Dasiokas Guard tried valiantly to repel them with heavy rifles and machine guns, but time and time again failed to stop the HHOSs from blowing chunks off their only protection.
Then came Archeria's other weapon. The Carver/Sapper Seige Tripod. The C/SST was also shaped like a crab, but was shaded blue and brown, and had vicious claws used for digging, carving, slaying.
The C/SSTs slashed at the openings made by their fallen comrades, the HHOSs, widening and destroying the last protection Dasiokas had. Blue claws tore through twisted steel, making way for attack.
The Commander of Dasioka, high up in a radio tower, grit his teeth in frustration as he observed the losing battle.
"Call in the air strike!"
"Yes, sir!" The radio operator rattled off coordinates for the air strike. "Reconfirm, Aurora 5!"
"This is Aurora 5, Dasioka, we copy. Heading off to target." The pilot of the lead Aurora, covered by a helmet and an oxygen mask, checked with his co-pilot, who operated the bomb bay. "Auroras, move out!" Three Aurora-564 Bombers dived in from the cloud cover to strike the swarming crab robots.
"Delivering ordinance." Crude, but powerful fuel-air bombs were the Aurora's main cargo. The bombs fell, accelerated by the diving motion of the Auroras, smashed into the ruins of Outer Dasioka.
Three huge cells slammed into the ground, leaving small craters in the rubble and dust. Curious HHOSs and C/SSTs clustered around the bombs. Then, they ignited. The fuel-air bombs tore through machines, buildings, rubble, steel, and wood. In a furious explosion, the fuel-air bombs blasted three, hundred-foot wide craters where the bulk of Archeria's siege units were.
"Ordinance delivered. Returning to ba-" The lead Aurora was smashed into by something with a lot of claws, and cruel, vicious face.
"Aggh! I'm hit!" The lead Aurora gunned it, leaving 'thing' that hit it several miles behind it. "What is it?"
"Sir, enemy Wrath LOS in combat!... it's-it's not normal!"
"What? What is it...?"
"It's... It's colored gray... no, it's silver!"
...What? What did this mean? All Wrath LOSs were supposed to be rust colored!
"Engage! Switch to machine guns!"
The commander looked upon the craters with saddening approval. Half of Archeria's bots were lost in the blast.
Then, a particularly large piece of blackened building started moving.
The commander's eyes widened.
That was no building!
The Wrath LOS barrel-rolled into the soft, white clouds once more, swiftly dodging the machine-gun fire from the Auroras. The tracers tore up the pure clouds, but nothing else.
"Shit! Asshole's fast!"
One of the Auroras skimmed across the skies, looking for the Wrath. He never saw the Wrath LOS coming. It burst from under the cloud cover, ripping the Aurora in the vulnerable underbelly with it's heavy fangs.
"Aurora 3! Look ou-" The pilot of the lead Aurora was just shouting his warning as the Wrath LOS shot past the broken remains of the other Aurora, and it exploded as it's engines ignited it's own bomb ordinance.
"Guaaaaaaaaggh!" The pilots screamed as they were rent apart by the explosion.
The Wrath LOS spun, and started firing fireballs at the second Aurora, which had to perform a 180 to avoid collision with the Wrath LOS.
"SHIT!"
The co-Pilot looked nervous.
"Sir! What do we do?"
"...Fall back." The remaining two Auroras dipped down, below radar, and flew to the east.
That... That building... The lump of rubble shifted, until it stood up straight. Giant claws marked it's front. A huge shell, blackened from the fuel-air bombs, rose from the depth of rubble. It was the Despot HHO. It stood over thirty feet tall, protected by a huge, angled shell that turned aside any blow. Huge claws protected it's front, and thin but powerful legs let the huge, crab-like thing glide over any surface.
The Despot lumbered over to the Daisokas settlement wall, slowly, like a true crab.
The commander screamed into his mic.
"Kill that thing! Now! All troops focus fire!"
Every guard focused his fire on the Despot, smacking against the shell of the Despot, but to no avail. Bullets splattered against the thick shell, shells glanced off the toughened steel.
The commander's eyes widened in horror as he saw the Despot reach the wall.
Huge claws opened, and then slammed hard into the steel wall. The wall buckled, and twisted.
"All troops! Retre-"
The huge shell of the Despot blew up. Hundreds of yards of steel fortification was immediately lost in a huge explosion, the ground shook and threatened to tear apart. Huge clouds of dust was thrown up, sweeping sending a furious hot sandstorm sweeping over Dasiokas.
Inside the mess hall, a small amount of Dasiokas residents clutched each in fear. There was fierce panic and disorder when the refugees felt the huge explosion from the Despot.
"Mommy, I'm sacred!" A young boy started sobbing and crying; he clutched his mother.
"Don't worry, don't cry," The mother started weeping as well. "Don't worry, daddy's far up above, he'll stop them from coming in. Don't worry, don't cry..."
The commander got up, slowly, painfully. His collarbone was snapped from the thunderous explosion. He clutched himself in the shoulder, hoping that he would stay in shock long enough to see this to the end.
"Damage report."
"DAMAGE REPORT!"
His lieutenant coughed, from being slammed into a desk. He glanced out the bullet-proof window. Tears fell involuntarily down his face.
"Hah...Sir... no survivors on the wall to report. We've lost the inner wall. There's only the complex structure left, sir.
The commander clenched his teeth, trying in vain to stop the single tear from coming down his face.
"Bring all women and children to the radio tower. We will airlift them out."
He thought about his wife and child, who were in refuge down at the mess hall.
The lieutenant looked away.
"Sir..." He whispered. "There's too many women and children."
The commander hung his head.
"Children only."
There were only five men guarding the complex. All over, HHOSs slammed into the building, and blew chunks off of it. The sub-machines the five men had did about as much damage as throwing pebbles into the ocean tide.
Far above next to the radio tower, a heli, made to carry up to 24 men, was being prepped for take-off.
Down below, the commander was hugging his son.
"Kiddo... stay safe. I'll-I'll." He lay his head on his son's shoulder. "I'll be with you...soon."
"Daddy... don't lie. Don't LIE!"
The lieutenant dragged the nine-year old kid away from his father, tears going down his face too.
"DAD! Don't lie! Liar! I hate you! I HATE YOU! Mom! Dad!"
"DAD!"
The commander just knelt there on the floor of the radio tower.
One of the last five remaining guards was hit by flying shrapnel. Or friendly fire. Or maybe he shot himself in the foot, it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was done. Done for the day. he'd just get a nice rest and finish this in the morning.
The guard looked up at the sky from the wall he was sitting on. A hunk of shrapnel whizzed and nearly ricocheted onto his face, but he didn't care. There was a large heli, colored black, and with a symbol... painted on it. Some kind of symbol...
He didn't really care. He'd get to it later, he thought.
"What... Impossible!" The commander looked up in amazement.
An unknown heli, adorned with the Guild Proper's symbol, had landed onto the radio tower!
The bay doors opened, and on one side, Guild Knights jumped out, brandishing armor-piercing short swords, and dressed in a full bomb-suits, and rappelled down to the swarming HHOSs and C/SSTs/
On the other, Guild Shadows populated the radio tower, dressed in tan ghillie suits, and wielding heavy .50 anti-material sniper rifles.
Both wore metal armor under their suits.
The commander stared at the troops that had suddenly filled his battlefield. One guild shadow took the observation point, totally ignoring the lieutenant and the commander.
Then, the guild chief stepped off the heli. He had pure white hair, even though he was only 50, and a pale scar ran up his knuckles. Tall, lean, and deadly, Chief Htu of the Guild Proper!
Htu stepped in the radio tower, smiling at the commander before taking command.
All over, Guild Shadows blew holes in the crab-machines below, while Guild Knights either tore the HHOSs and C/STTs to shreds with their close-combat weapons, or they merely let the HHOSs blow themselves up around them.
The bomb suit and heavy metal armor meant they barely noticed the tremulous explosions.
As swords flashed and bullets flew, little by little, momentum was stolen from Archeria. The Bots started falling back, injured, torn to shreds. A sweeping force came through the Guild forces, and they pushed through the bots of Archeria. Within seconds, the Diasokas military complex was completely cleared.
The commander could barely keep his mouth from hanging open. Clutching his shoulder, he went to Chief Htu, who was surveying the damage.
He stuck out his hand, open upwards, in a sign of respect.
"Sir. I can't tell you enough... how grateful we are." The commander bowed his head; his lieutenant did the same.
He looked up to see the small barrel of a gun.
"Wha-"
Piiu!
The silenced bullet punched a deep hole in the commander's gut. On the other side of the room, the lieutenant was being similarly treated.
'...Wha? Hah..."
Htu fixed the safety on his gun, and put it back into his holster, satisfied. His smile never changed.
Glancing at the Guild Shadow who shot the lieutenant, he nodded. Dead.
Htu walked over, and started filling out administrative paperwork concerning Diasokas.
Down below, in the mess hall, Guild Knights were informing the Diasokas residents of their situation.
"Don't fear us," he said. "We're here to protect you. Long has Rubina been more concerned with fighting than shielding- we will fill that role. As you can see, we the Guild have destroyed the enemy."
The Guild Knight hung his head.
"Although we regret to inform you that Commander Farlung and Lieutenant Jacobs have been killed in action.
"Hey, Chief." A female Guild Shadow knocked on the door. "I found something hiding in the corner." The female Shadow gently pushed the commander's son in. The boy was sniffing and crying, looking at his dead father.
"Daddy..."
The Guild Shadow ruffled the crying boy's hair.
"Looks like this little ruffian saw something he shouldn'tve"
Htu barely glanced from his paperwork.
"He's a witness," Htu said, continuing writing.
"Kill him."
The commander's kid started bawling.