Testing: A Little Sci-Fi Adventure (Chapter 10)

CHAPTER TEN
Said He to the Dragon

EARTH, Information Superhighway,

Outside the barriers had shattered. The fighter squadron was leaving for base and the eradication squad had landed. The tinkle of breaking glass resonanced as the figure at the doorway moved in for the kill. The man known as Dean stepped forward and withdrew his sword, which curved itself at the tip for better performance. The blade turned a hue of black.
“Leave us now!” He commanded in an overpowering voice.
“Or? You’ll resort to violence?” The menace jeered.
“If that is the only option.”
“You’ve seen me in action. The only way you or any of those filthy swine behind you could possibly scratch me is if I was a vegetable!”
“Then we’ll make you one.” The words of Hiryu made the mad killer smile even more.
“Tell you what. We’ll see if you are even worthy to challenge me. Take out my men outside and I’ll allow you to gain the honor of losing to me.”
“Fine!” Hiryu, Glave, and Naomi said simultaneously.
They walked outside onto the floor of grids. Up in the sky were creatures of flight, a wyvern, a fallen sage, and a gainseige. The only problem was these things were creations of the Republic, probably supervised by the man who stood next to them. These creatures stopped momentarily and they descended to five feet off the ground. There was a rider upon each one of them, with cables connecting his brain with the creature.
At first glance, there was nothing new about the life forms but when Isaac saw a metal plate rearrange itself on he wyvern, he knew there was some tampering. Isaac saw Weiss apparating in and out of the battlefield. Five had gone to the side of one of the cyborg steeds. With a snap of his fingers, the beasts flew upward and after a period of screeching, rained fire up them, literally. Isaac jumped to the side. He watched as Hiryu and Glave competed to reach the opponents, by running up the fireballs.
Dean had created a shelter for the rest of them, impermeable to the fire volleys. Naomi ran out and soon she staggered back inside, burnt, singed, and fried. She lacked the skill that the other two possessed. Isaac watched the dance of angles from below. There were flashes of light and in less than a minute, the creatures came falling from the sky. The beasts fell and lay dead upon the grids. Hiryu gave a small bow. Five clapped his hands slowly.
“Very good. Do that again if you can.”
“What the-”
Those cyborgs rose again, discarding the flesh and blood which covered their outer shell. The riders were dead but that didn’t stop the monsters from charging. Hiryu jumped in and Isaac counted fifteen slashes with the great blade. Glave used wind pressure to finish the other off, slicing off bits of armor with every blow. The mechanical gainseige managed to get behind Hiryu and had brought out energized claws to strike. Soon, it too fell when explosions tore off its head and arms. Naomi smiled when Isaac looked at her.
“Not bad. Not bad indeed. One more time.”
Again those things rose. The second layer of armor fell off. Inside were sleek robots with their wings wrapping their bodies. They were made for speed, the design told all. Streaking armor, lightweight design, and worst of all, platinum wings. Those things were in the air before Hiryu could lift his sword. The howl of the banshee engines and the trails of proton particles dusted the landscape. One of the engineerings brought out a heavy machinegun from a hidden compartment in its thigh and peppered the people below. Hiryu ran around and flung fireballs into the air. Glave had already summoned a whirlwind which threw him into the sky. The wrists of the other two robots opened and a blade flew out which each robot promptly caught.
Swiftly the machines went for Glave and with two quick strokes of the swords. Glave had plummeted back oo the ground. As he fell, the bursts of the machinegun ringed out. His falling body was clouded with a thick smoke as thousands upon thousands of heated projectiles landed upon him. Isaac cried out and wanted to run out but Dean held him back. After a abrupt landing, the body of Glave still moved and righted itself again. He was cut all over the place but was still smiling.
“Hiryu! Glave! Come back here!” Dean commanded. They did as they were asked to, like puppets on strings.
Then Dean walked out into the open. The flying robots looked down at the small figure. The machinegun was dropped and it crashed onto the gridlines, shattering. All three of them took out javelins and flung them at Dean. The javelins never ceased and soon the entire ground as littered with them. Miraculously none of them came within five feet of Dean. Isaac thought he saw the spears bend around an invisible shield.
Dean gave a loud clear whistle. The lines started to vibrate and move. Suddenly, one of the robots was impaled upon a renegade green line. The robot struggled to be released, liquids spurting out of the wound. Another line went through the struggling machine, and the robot died, the joints falling loose. The other opponents twitched and took out their assault rifles. Before anything else could happen, Five had walked into the middle of the playing field.
“This is not your fight, Dean. Leave.” The robots let out low pitched screeches.
“I do what I wish. If I want this fight, I’ll have it.”
“Too bad. I guess I’ll have to take off the handicap.” A sinister smile crept across Fives face.
He rose his hand into the air. A shockwave rolled out of him and bent the grids into a circle. The lines altered and formed various shapes like pentagrams, runes, and symbols. The letters, when completed, left the lines and vanished. After seven different shapes disappeared, the androids convulsed and shook. The pieces of armor fell off bit by bit until the flesh of the original creature was all that remained. Isaac could see the blood dripping out of every single orifice of the monsters, combined with pulsating muscles and breaking bone.
The flesh soon slipped off the ligaments and only skeletons were left flying in the sky. Finally, the bones shattered and orbs of blue coherent light appeared. The creatures were reincarnated, but as pure light. A mistaken fool would have thought that these new-breeds were forms of god, colors brimming and rainbows forming around the vapors. These apparitions now had no feasible shape and floated in and out of reality.
“I’m bored. Weiss, let’s go.” Five turned his back and with a touch of his finger, a warp opened and he stepped out into the cold blizzard. Weiss appeared shortly after and after giving a curt bow, ‘logged out’.
The things suddenly reappeared right in front of Dean and grasped him with long semi-existing tentacles. They shrieked and wailed incessantly, their legs whipping the ground. Dean broke free and jumped out of the way of another lunging virus. When they came in contact with the grids, the lines turned red and released themselves from the others. Hiryu, Naomi, and Glave ran out to assist. Isaac looked around for signs of a weapon. Maÿrn had begun chanting and her staff glowered.
One of the sigmas flew away and sunk under the ground. Isaac tried to warn the others but they were too preoccupied trying to slay the first one. Maÿrn started her chains of lightning, arching them onto the virus, sending it into a howls of pain. Dean struck the stunned alien, his sword expanded slightly to reveal thick mechanics underneath. The virus was consumed and turned into gases, hanging around the blade.
The red lines reacted to this and soon lashed at the combatants. Now they warriors were pinned down by an invincible attack by data. The blows would not bring them down but merely steered them off. Isaac watched helplessly as his friends were slowly withering. Layenne was hovering next to him, she too felt weak and useless.
“Watch out! Isaac! Behind you!” Maÿrn screamed out. The missing virus had floated out behind Isaac, its tentacles and quills were already clasping around his feet. Isaac rolled away and watched as the creature rose to its full ten feet, covered in long spindly spines and poised limbs. It hissed and with lightning speed, sent two serrated claws into Isaac’s knees. Isaac screamed in pain as the monster reeled him back in.
Layenne used her small agro-knife to sever the claws and to hold back the other mandibles. Isaac could feel the blood draining from him, his knees were weak and he couldn’t stand. An alienated gridline came in from the side and grasped Layenne like a vice. Her face showed pain, as she tried to hide it, but was turning pale. Her armor was breaking apart and cracking. A bolt of lightning shocked the grid and Maÿrn ran over to Isaac’s aid. The gridline dropped Layenne for but one second before coming to and thrashing her into the ground.
Isaac felt a feeling of hatred and anger like he had never felt before. He felt a newfound strength flow through his veins. Unexpectedly, he managed to lift himself up and dashed at the data line. He had moved just in time as another tentacle had broke away the ground where he had been. He could hear Maÿrn let out a small scream. He rolled to avoid incoming projectiles and picked up Layenne. She was breathing, but erratically. He flipped himself to get out of the rampaging line’s way and placed Layenne gently to a side.
Isaac roared as he charged at the gridline. He grabbed it with his hands and felt the energy sting his hands. He groaned as he wrestled with the overcharged data and with amazing strength, thrust it straight through the virus. As the line attempted to free itself, it tore away more ligaments and tendons thus bring the death of the sigma. The line flung itself at Isaac once more but two centimeters from his face, dropped dead. The other lines had frozen temporarily and resumed their original positions in the grid network. Isaac’s feet finally gave way and he collapsed, the last of his blood seeping away. He could see Maÿrn unconscious on the floor, crimson blood illuminated by the glow of her staff, oozing from her forehead.

ETERNITY, The Land of Dreams,
“Isaac… looks like you cheated death again…” “It’s none of your business.” “But it is… you must survive…”
“So that you can use me?” “Yes… so that we can finally be reunited” “You’re mistaken if I ever will.” “Eventually…. Eventually…”

EARTH, Information Superhighway,

“Hoi, Isaac. Breakfast!” Isaac awoke with a start. He was in the abode and was lying on the bed. Unlike the others, this one was especially hard and tough. The faces of all his friends were on his.
“I told you that would get him up. Always did.” Isaac overheard Glave mentioning it to Naomi. He couldn’t feel anymore pain coming from his knees.
“There was no need to play hero, who knows what could have happened. You should really be thanking your stars that you managed to live this time.” Said Dean gruffly; He had plasters stuck on his face and hands, making him less fierce than before.
“At least Five decided to leave us alone, we would have been goners if he stayed on.” Naomi smiled weakly, her mind probably on what Five was trying to do.
“Isaac. Thank you.” Layenne was sitting on the bed, she had bandages wound round her waist and arms. Isaac sat up and looked at his knees, they were bound in casts and had faint bloodstains on them.
“A few hours.” Hiryu said, reading his mind.
The crowd dispersed and only Layenne stayed by him. Isaac saw that Maÿrn was sleeping sitting down on the stone chair, head in hand. Her hair was tucked neatly underneath a thick white bandage. Her staff was leaning on the wall. Everyone else had sustained minor injuries but Glave who was bombarded had cloth wound all over his body. Obviously those bullets were infused with freeze. Yet again this group had managed to skip the road to hell. Dean walked over after brewing his coffee and stood over Isaac like am eagle over a mouse.
“You’re going back into the nothingness after you heal. That sword has your name on it and I’m not letting you go anywhere until you claim it, even if you die trying.” He looked at Isaac in the eye, showing that he was not kidding. Then he sat himself on the stone table and gulped down the foul, thick coffee.
This brought Isaac’s thoughts back onto the matter at hand. The fiends within the nothingness made the viruses look like hamsters. The images he managed to see, wrought nightmares forever in his mind. He looked at Layenne; she had snuggled up into his sleeve and had fallen asleep. He wondered how powerful this weapon must be to be guarded by spirits of the dead. This was how he spent the rest of the day recovering.

***
“Isaac. Take care, don’t hesitate to press the signal if you’re in trouble.” Naomi reminded him for the umpteenth billion time. She gave him a small peck at the cheek and stood back, blushing a little. Isaac noticed how she had many hidden motherly instincts within her.
“Hey? How come I never get anything like that when I go away?” Hiryu whined from behind her. A dirty look from all sides cleared things up.
“The less time we waste the better. I have to rebuild a new password before Five gets back. Go on! Get in!” He swung open the door and once again shoved Isaac inside. The door slammed shut once more and disintegrated. The sounds of calling began their chorus. Thankfully, the ones he vanquished weren’t there.
This time, Isaac was prepared. He knew that these things were but imitations and in no way could they harm him unless they managed to enter his mind, like they nearly achieved before. He sharpened his senses and attempted to tune out the endless crescendo of Isaacs.
He could barely hear the faint sound of dropping blood. It was faint at first but over time, grew louder and louder. He closed his eyes and the visions of impending doom unveiled themselves. He could visualize the monster closing in on him, hands outstretched, mouth agape. It was a woman, her long desiccated hair hanging from a skeletal face. It wore its last pair of clothes which were draped loosely over the emaciated corpse. He could see the eyeballs looking at him through those baggy, blackened sockets. He could feel the creature near. It had its hands on his shoulders.
Isaac moved like the wind. He scored a first-class blow right into the victims chest. The blood of the monster was freezing cold and trickled all over his tight fist. Isaac removed his hand from within the monster and shook it to remove the blood. All the while, he never opened his eyes. He could imagine the look upon the creatures face; everything widening to show horror and shock. The creature ebbed away and Isaac could feel its presence no more.
Isaac opened his eyes. There was nothing there that would have served as evidence of the incident. Isaac counted one less voice. Only seven more voices to go.

***
The scream and the fall. Isaac realized that these weren’t just illusions. His blood gave the unseen floor new color. He held his arm, smearing the blood, in an effort to close the wound. Isaac barely had enough time to dodge the strike and could feel ruptures on his chest. Fabric feel slowly to the floor, tainted with crimson. His eye told him to move, his legs didn’t want to. The blood singed his left eye. He could feel the blade puncture his skin, boring through his flesh, tearing his ligaments. He felt quite at peace.
Something glinted. He saw something floating in the distance, shining a bright gold. He looked back at his assulter, bearing down on him once again. Isaac’s last thought was to get to the object. He squirmed out of the way, the blade narrowly missing its mark. Isaac made his way over to the object, he tried to run but he just fell over. The other had removed his sword from the ground. He could see the object fading. The opponent neared. He reached out for it, his limbs failing him. He stretched out, further, further. He felt the pain but at he same time, it vanished.
Isaac felt wind ruffling his hair, cool water running past his skin. Something brushed past him. Isaac felt something holding on to him. He felt a warm, homely embrace. His mind flashed and went into a whirl. Explosions erupted and he could feel no more.

***
ETERNITY, the Land of Dreams,

“Isaac…” “You’re not him.” “No…” “Then who are you?” “A close friend.” “What do you want?” “To help you. Find your way to the ruins of Chekosklovaitch. I’ll meet you there.” “How can I trust you?” “It’s up to you.” “How do I know you.” “No more questions. I’ll meet you there.” “Wait…” “Goodbye Isaac.”