Episode 01: Welcome to the Future
Chapter 07
Great Millennium Tree, hear us now. Lend me your strength, and shield us from the evil that calls itself Mrrlyn. Protect us, save us.
…Please.
The vibrations of metal hooves echoed through the ground as the stampeding group reached the stream. Seeing as how Sea just knelt there doing nothing, Wy took it upon herself to make alternative plans. Reaching for the small radio attached to her belt, she pushed the button and spoke.
"Gil, we need an extraction, and we need it fast."
A somewhat staticky reply followed. "Where are you guys? I'm coming around to circle New Camelot again."
Shit, he'll never make it here on time. "We're due south, inside a ley line. I'll send up a flare. Hurry!" With that, she closed the channel, moving the device back to its place before she removed her small pack and took out a flare gun. The red ball of phosphorescence shot up through the blue of the ley line to hang in the night sky, a desperate beacon.
By now, the knights had begun to circle the pair, yet surprisingly they had stopped attacking. Neither guns nor bows nor swords and axes were pointed at lethal areas. They were not here to kill the two Nations; they were here to capture them.
"Surrender, child of the planet," the cloaked and hooded figure of Mrrlyn demanded in a baritone voice that was decidedly all too-human for something so evil. He spurred his metallic steed forward out of the ring, hand extended in a gesture of false peace. Despite the shadow of his hood, Wy could still distinguish features of his old, wizened face, not to mention the long, white beard that flowed down his chest. The beast wore the guise of a human convincingly, and yet she couldn't shake her instincts telling her to either fight or flee the dangerous being.
"Fuck off, Beardo. We don't want none of what you're selling," Wy called out, pulling a laser pistol from her pack. She cocked it straight at Mrrlyn's forehead, but she was pretty sure it wouldn't do anything. A powerful, inter-dimensional alien, taken out by a single shot from a laser pistol? It just didn't seem like the kind of spectacular boon the universe was about to just give out, but she needed to do something to stall for time. If Mrrlyn had wanted them dead, or at least comatose, they would be by now. Negotiating was about the only card Wy had to play at the moment.
"You are making a mistake, child," the thing disguised as an old man said. Despite the protections she had on her to guard against magic and psionics, the creature's words were starting to sound more seductive by the syllable. Still, she didn't feel the press of another mind against the will of her own. Why not? What was Mrrlyn playing at? "You came to rescue your comrade, only to discover that he is more well off than the two of you. The Apocalypse has left scars on you both; do you not want to see them healed? To live happily and securely at last, after three hundred years of sorrow and suffering?"
"You're not going to make us your slaves, Mrrlyn. Might as well just kill us now." Glancing towards Sea, Wy noticed that he still hadn't moved. What the fuck was he doing? Why wasn't it working? Was he somehow paralyzed by magic, or something? Fuck, Sea. Get up. Do something!
"We're not going to kill you, dear, not that you can die. We just want you to come with us, to the castle where you'll be protected and cared for."
"Fuck, just shut up already," Wy growled, firing a shot at Mrrlyn out of aggravation. The laser simply disappeared before even reaching the being. That did not mean it was without effect, however.
"Alright," Mrrlyn scowled, drawing back his hand before turning to his henchmen. "Get them."
In silence, three of the knights dismounted and marched up to where the two Nations were. They, like their fellow knights, were decked from head to toe in black armour that was most likely magicked in some way. One carried a massive and wicked-looking sword in both hands, the other two one-handed maces. By themselves, the figures were imposing enough to make weaker-willed individuals surrender.
Wy moved to place herself between Sea and the approaching knights, and fired another shot from her pistol. As before, the laser evaporated before hitting her target, the knight with the sword. Swearing, she threw the useless thing to the ground, and reached into her pack once more. Grasping the handle, Wy wasted no time pulling her glaive from the dimensional pocket. Other than the runes that decorated both ends of the five-foot long pole of dark wood and the forty-centimeter long, thin blade at the tip that strengthened the glaive with enchantments, the weapon was rather plain. It didn't need to be fancy to kill, after all.
Without breaking stride, the knights continued walking towards her. It was disconcerting to see an enemy remain so unchanged after making it obvious you were a threat. It made Wy a bit nervous. She had no way of knowing whether the knights were so protected by magic that absolutely nothing she could do would affect them. For all she knew, even her glaive might disappear once it hit them. But trying was still better than giving up.
When one of the knights with a mace (a bear etched into his chest plate) came within striking distance, she faked a strike aimed at his head. He moved to block it, and would have had she not pulled back the blade to slide by him harmlessly, before reversing her motion with the blade now aimed at his armpit, one of the few areas not covered by armour. Unfortunately, the other knight with a mace (this one with a fox inscribed in metal) grabbed her weapon before it could hit, and pulled it towards himself. Unwilling to let go of her only means of defense, Wy let herself move forward with the motion, rolling between the two knights even as they moved to strike at her.
Back on her feet behind them, she turned around faster than they could in their bulky suits of armour. Slashing out, she caught the Bear behind the knee. Blood spurted and the knight fell to one knee, but he did not cry out in pain. They were either well trained, well brainwashed, or possibly inhuman and unable to feel pain. Fox took a step towards her, mace raised, but she dodged him easily. Spotting an opening, she aimed the tip of the blade for one of the eye slits, but was intercepted at the last moment. Having knocked her blade to the side, Fox stepped within her defensive radius and swung again. She managed to roll out of the way again, but just barely. The mace had clipped the side of her head.
Jumping back and away, she placed her fingers to her head only for them to come back dabbed in blood. The pause also worked to allowed her to notice that the knight with the sword had not stopped to fight her. He had continued on towards Sea, and was nearly at the place where he was still kneeling.
"Shit," she swore, ducking another swing. She had to get over there, and fast. Ignoring Fox, she attempted to make a dash for the other knight, but was stopped by Bear. The knight was clearly giving it his all to stay standing despite the blood that gushed from his leg. She'd been careless not to notice him, or the mace now descending on her unprotected head until it was a bit late. Lifting the pole arm up horizontally, she was able to block his strike as the shafts of their weapons met. Using her Nation strength, she kept their weapons locked. The knights had been given enchantments for superhuman strength that much was certain.
Shifting her weight unexpectedly, she was able to throw Bear off-balance even as she narrowly squeezed by him, giving him a good shove with the blunt end of her pole arm to knock him to the ground. The injured knee was clearly his downfall. Now, with no one in her way, she pushed off from the ground at full tilt. She had to stop that knight before it was too late.
Her run was interrupted before it could even properly begin. Wy felt a sharp tug on her scalp, which forced her to stop. Fox must have grabbed her hair! She was half-way through turning around to defend against an attack, when she felt a sharp pain hit her abdomen. The strike forced the wind out of her, causing her to stumble. All it took was a booted foot to trip her own, and she was down, face-first into the dirt.
The pain, to say the least, was excruciating. She knew she wouldn't die from it, but that didn't mean that receiving such massive damage to her organs was in any way easy. Temporarily paralyzed, she could do little but take in a deep, painful, broken breath as the gloved hand in her hair forced her head up to watch the scene unfold. The knight with the sword had reached Sea, and was standing over him, a determined executioner.
"Quite a shame, my dear. You fought so well," Mrrlyn said in a falsely sympathetic tone that only made her hate him more. "But, you see, I always win."
"No! Sea!" she called out, the taste of blood sharp on her tongue as the knight's cleaver was lifted high into the air. It was unlikely that the strike would kill him, but it was definitely going to hurt, and whatever Sea was up to could be their last chance at escape. She wanted to close her eyes, but was compelled to watch on in horror. Her heart stopped even as it caught in her throat. Time slowed to a trickle with the sword trapped with its point upward. Eventually, though, it was going to come down.
This can't be happening, not after everything…Sea, get up! Fight!
A nanosecond later and the entire area was bathed in light. The flash was brief, but powerful, leaving them all temporarily blinded. When the spots cleared, the scene revealed the knight dead on the ground, his sword glowing hot and red from having been struck by lightning.
After that, all Hell broke loose around the pair of Nations. Like a furious rain, bolts of lightning descended from out of nowhere, striking at Mrrlyn and the knights, and nothing else. It was only by the grace of Mrrlyn's protective spells that they didn't all drop dead immediately. From her place on the ground, Wy watched on in amazement as curtain after curtain of blue lightning struck all around her and Sea. The heat they gave off was intense, and yet somehow not painful in the least.
As if things couldn't get any worse for Mrrlyn and his evil band of servants, a vicious wind began to pick up. Except, it wasn't really wind, it was energy, and it began tossing the knights and their steeds about as if they were merely dead leaves in a tornado.
A ley line storm. That's what was happening. They usually occurred naturally and randomly along ley lines, and anything caught in it usually got more than a little fucked up. There was no way this one was random, though. It must have been Sea, and his…meditating, or whatever.
Somehow, in the chaos around them, Wy managed to spot Mrrlyn, cape half-singed and hood blown off. The creature resembled an elderly man all right, but there was something in its eyes that didn't exactly resonate human. Whatever it was, they had made it pretty mad if that angry grimace was anything to go by.
You're not getting away from me that easily, the voice of Mrrlyn sounded in her head before a barrage of pain was unleashed upon her. It felt like her head was going to split in two as a million voices sounded their agony in her mind. Simultaneously, she found herself unable to move, to escape; Mrrlyn's magic had completely incapacitated her in just a thought.
Pointing to the place Sea was supposed to be, Mrrlyn unleashed what was sure to be a deadly bolt of some kind of magic from his fingertips. Whatever spell the creature had chosen left only a small crater in the ground. Before Wy's very eyes, Sea had vanished, gone before the spell could hit him.
A beastly roar of frustration emanated from Mrrlyn. From the corner of her eye, Wy caught the wizard pointing at her next. She closed her eyes, praying to be saved, and sure enough, she felt a gentle pressure on her shoulder followed by a whispering of words both ethereal and earthly.
Sorry I'm late, Wy.
Then everything went black
For all Wy knew, she'd been unconscious for just a second. Her senses returned to her one by one, starting with the smell of the ocean air and followed by the unyielding touch of metal beneath her fingertips instead of grass. There were people around her, making a lot of panicky noise. When at last the darkness cleared from her eyes, she saw what her ears had already told her: people were running hither thither around her prone body. She lifted herself up weakly, two pairs of hands helping her on her feet. Once vertical, she swayed precariously only to be caught by her arm and steadied. Tasting blood on her tongue, she coughed only to have some of the red substance fall from between her lips.
"Miss Wy! Miss Wy, are you injured?" she heard a young, worried voice ask.
"Hmm, yeah, a bit. Nothing I can't handle," she said. Members of the Sealand Guard, most of whom she recognized, surrounded her, and they chuckled lightly at her comment. It was the future, with magic and aliens and all kinds of weird shit. There was no need for Nations to remain in hiding anymore. Everyone knew she couldn't possibly die from her injuries, though that didn't mean they weren't still worried for her well-being.
Looking around herself more carefully now that she had full control over her body, she noticed that Moore had been the one to catch her. His stoic face revealed a trace of concern, prompting her to ask, "What happened?"
"We thought you might be able to tell us that," Lieutenant Commander Travis answered, making his way through the small crowd. As ever, he was an imposing figure who demanded respect and compliance from his subordinates. They'd butted heads before. "Where is Sealand?"
Hastily checking the Platform for her missing companion, she came to the same question. Where was Sea? She remembered…fighting, pain, the sword, the storm, Mrrlyn, then Sea was gone, and everything had gone dark…
As she was processing the past few minutes, a bright bluish oval appeared a few metres away, bathing the immediate area in soft light. Everyone watched as out of the portal stepped Sea. Relief flooded Wy. He was safe, they were safe. Then, as the portal faded into nothingness, Sea's knees hit the floor, his head following soon afterwards. A dark pool began to spread from his left shoulder.
"Sea!"