Chapter 20: Chapter Twenty: The Fall

 I looked down at the scarred battlefield. My heart pounded in my chest, part of me wanting to fly after the pyramid, and the other part making sure my people were okay. I had twelve minutes before the pyramid reached Urth, but I couldn’t just leave without making sure.

Plasma bolts flashed, the remainder of the legion’s ground forces continuing to fight. Despite their base leaving, they continued to fight on with depraved indifference.

“Nora, Hope, Davin? Can anyone hear me? Are you okay?” I communicated.

“Quinn, it’s Nora. Hope is on her way back to the Blue Leaf. She took a tumble, but is okay!”

Despite the flashes of plasma bolts, I noticed a small patch of ground begin to shift. I focused on it, seeing Davin slowly sit up from it and shake his head.

“I’m okay. Where’s the pyramid?” Davin asked.

“It’s headed for Urth,” I said with alarm.

I saw Davin nod as he stood up from the ground.

“We’ll mop up here. We have to make sure every single one of these bastards are put down. Don’t worry about me. Do what you can to stop them. I’ll be following shortly.”

My spirit sighed in relief as I looked at the fleeing pyramid and shot up further into space.

I poured on the speed, a counter in the edge of my gaze showing how fast I was going. I maxxed out at 3,000 MPH, yet, it was like I was still flying ta a snail’s pace. The pyramid was moving at an unheard-of speed when compared to anything on Urth. I had no way to catch up as I flew into deep space.

“Need a lift?” Hope communicated.

I turned my head to see the Blue Leaf rise into space and her engines flashed. She came in fast, reaching me in mere moments. The ship slowed down and a side door opened. I veered from my path and flew directly in. The door slammed shut behind me and atmosphere pumped into the airlock. Once it was ready, another door opened and I flew into the corridor and toward the bridge.

I shot through the archway of the bridge and slowed to a stop. I landed and looked at Hope piloting the ship, and Nora handling co-pilot controls.

“We have a lot to talk about, but for right now, can you reach the pyramid?” I started.

Hope nodded. “We can overcome it in two minutes,” she said and tapped at a screen beside her.

The Blue Leaf shot forward like a cannon going off.

I stared at the viewscreen, seeing my planet floating in the starry sky, and the legion’s black pyramid beelining for it. It was damaged in many sections, but not enough to stop, or even slow it down.

“At our current speed, we’ll overtake the pyramid in six minutes,” Nora said as she tapped away at her screen.

“Weapons are hot, but I’m not how much of a dent we will be able to make. The pyramid is massive. Even our battleships barely damaged twenty percent of it,” Hope added.

She was right. Even with our weapons, I doubted we could damage it enough to stop it. My mind began to work, trying to figure out how we could halt its advance, or even slow it down.

“Xull, can any of the remaining battleships help us?”

“The Queen and Rook have taken considerable damage. Engines are offline, and many systems are inoperable. The Rook may be able to make a long distance plasma stream burst, but the pyramid must slow down. If the legion enters the atmosphere, it will interfere with the stream and weaken it.”

“I can fly out and try to penetrate it. I might be able to do enough damage to slow it down,” I said via my implant, and out loud to keep Hope and Nora in the loop.

“It would be suicide. Even with your power, you may not damage it enough to slow it down. If we fired, you would be caught in the explosion. Considering your limit was a self-destruct on a Xull ship, the legion’s pyramid has much more power. There is a sixty-four percent chance you will not survive,” Xull communicated to all of us.

Nora and Hope looked at me with a deep concern coloring their eyes. No outcome was a good one. My first thought was to simply sacrifice myself, for the greater good. I could penetrate the ship, trash as much as I could before Xull shot it out of the sky. Maybe I could get away, but from what I remembered about that throne room, key systems were buried deep in the ship. It was a huge risk, but I had to take a chance.

My mind buzzed with concern. I wouldn’t see my parents again, but they would be safe. The whole world would be safe. I just started this journey, and I was already reaching the end.

I glanced to Nora, and her whip quivered. She knew what I was planning to do. She felt it. My heart ached, but I had to think of the greater good.

No, I pulled back from the brink of my decision. There had to be another way. There just had to be. How could I help people and worlds, if I was dead. There is always a chance to make a better result for my life, and the life of others.

I called up my stats.

Quinn Barron

Category 2 Mana Storm

Strength Power: 75 Tons

Speed: Mach 5 (3,000 MPH)

 

Standard Abilities

Hyper Physical Durability

Flight

Regeneration

Hyper Senses

Hyper Dimensional Jump

Soul Splinter

 

Storm Powers

Element: Water

1. Aura 0%
2. Elemental Weapon or Armor 0%
3. Energy Bolts 0%
4. Elemental manipulation 20%
5. Elemental Flare 0%
6. Unique Ability (X)
7. Unique Ability (X)
8. Unique Ability (X)

 

I was tapped out of all my storm powers, except for one. I could manipulate water, but I didn’t know how I could use it to help us.

A sudden flash of memory slammed into me. Xull mentioned that when using an element your familiar with, will give it more strength is you are that element. I only had 20% with my water element manipulation, but Urth was a water planet. There was enough water to maybe overcharge it? When I was fighting on the moon, Nerth, there was ice in its craters, and the ice sang to me, wanting to help. If I used my ability with Urth’s water, I might be able to draw more power from it, and maybe slow the damn pyramid down enough for Xull to take her shot.

“I have an idea,” I said with confident determination.

“You can’t sacrifice yourself!” Nora shouted and her voice cracked.

I looked at her with a confident smile. “I don’t plan to. We have to throw everything, and I mean everything at the pyramid. Get us in front of it. I’ll torpedo out and remain in its flight path. I have enough power for one last effort to slow it down long enough for Xull to take her shot,” I said and communicated with Xull.

Nora blinked. “You believe it will work?”

I nodded. “It will work,” I said, and had to push away the sliver of doubt in the back of my head.

Nora nodded. “Okay. I believe in you.”

“We believe in you,” Hope added, before glancing to Nora. “Put on your exo-suit helmet. If we’re going to fire upon it, and it fires back, we have to be ready to take damage.”

I watched as Nora and Hope picked up dark blue, exo-suit helmets. They put them on, and locked them into place. I saw that Hope was thinking ahead. Their suits would protect them from space, should the ship get critically damaged.

I looked at the viewscreen, the black pyramid getting closer. Urth loomed large in the background.

“Hold fire until we are in front of it,” I said, not wanting the legion to take pot shots at us until we were directly in front of them.

“Three minutes until we pass them,” Nora said.

“It’s going to be close,” Hope said as she had firm control on the ship.

A serenity fell over me as I looked at Nora and Hope. “When this is all over, we should go on another date.”

Nora looked up from her panel and stared at me. “You still want to go on a date with us, even though we didn’t tell you about the secret mission?”

I laughed. “Yes, of course! But, why did you guys come here in secret?”

Nora looked down.

It was Hope who spoke up.

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“We knew something was up and talked with another iteration of Xull. We told her, if we couldn’t help, then she was directly controlling our lives again.”

Nora continued, “We told her, if we couldn’t help you and your world, what was the point of us trying to do better for our section of the galaxy. Xull said she didn’t want revert to the old ways, and came up with a plan on how we could help.”

“If you and Davin got into trouble, we would be there as a rescue operation. We didn’t want to be a distraction before and during the battle. Xull agreed, saying we had to travel slightly behind the fleet, and when the battle started, we would land away from it with some weapons to aid the battle, if Xull could not retrieve one, or both of you,” Hope explained.

Nora smiled. “There was no way we would stand by as you risked your life for everyone,” she finished.

I nodded and returned her smile. “It sounds like we all need to work on our communication skills, and after this, we will, all of us,” I winked at Nora.

Pink colored the short botanist’s pale cheeks.

“We are parallel to the pyramid,” Hope projected her voice.

We all looked at the viewscreen as we sped along, at a healthy distance, from the black pyramid.

It appeared to have some damage, but it was mostly intact. Cannon ports were closed as it sped through space like a black comet. Dim green lines ran along its surface, indicating, from what I could see, they hadn’t gained full power yet. Not that it mattered. Once they landed, they only needed to send out their troops to start collecting souls to increase their numbers. We couldn’t let them get a chance to land, or the fight was going to be much longer.

The Blue Leaf sped along, tiny compared to the giant structure.

Hope tapped at a screen, and the ship poured on the speed. I could sense the engines of our ship working hard as it pushed us past the pyramid. Urth was much closer, it’s living light illuminating the space around it.

I stared at my home world, feeling the tendrils of connection. They welcomed me back, like a friend you hadn’t seen in years.

I stood straighter with determination in my eyes. “I’m going to launch out and try to slow it down. Hold your fire until I am out of your way, then shoot everything you have at it, understood?”

“Yes,” Hope and Nora said at the same time.

I stepped toward the bridge archway. I glanced back to seeing Nora gaze on me, filled with unsettled worry. I winked at her, and she smiled, but the worry didn’t leave her eyes.

I left the bridge and moved to the launch room. I stepped in and a door closed behind me. I moved to the tube and stepped inside. The tube sealed shut, and red light glowed above me.

“Let’s do this,” I muttered to myself before tapping at a smooth panel in the tube.

The light above me turned green and I was shot out, like a torpedo from a submarine.

I floated down in space as I stopped my momentum. The tendrils from Urth were still there, coiling around my senses. She was there, seeing and hearing me, just as I was feeling and hearing her.

Urth, if you’re truly listening, I need your help with this. We have to stop this invader before they hurt you, hurt all of us.

I had no idea if she really heard me, but I kept a positive attitude. I lifted my hands up along my sides as I channeled my all of my power into my water elemental control. I had no idea the range, but I had to try.

The pyramid was barreling at me like a dark, oddly shaped comet.

I focused my power, directing it towards Urth. An immediate bond, or connection solidified. She was listening and she was trying to help.

At the north pole, an immense ice chunk, several miles long spoke to me. The water and ice sang to me, telling me they wanted to help, they all wanted to help. It began to lift to a combination of my power, and Urth’s power. It floated higher and higher, defying gravity and physics.

Everyone muscle in my body tensed, like I had become some kind of lightning rod of power. Urth was speaking to me and I was speaking to her. I pulled back my arms, like I was hefting the weight of an Urth battleship. Every cell in my body supercharged as I was filled with divine purpose.

The Blue Leaf maneuvered in front of the pyramid. Weapons systems activated. Quad cannons slid out along the wings as missile racks popped up along main part of the ship. Through my implant, I heard Hope give the command, and the little ship opened fired.

Plasma bolts and missiles fired. They blasted and streaked, peppering the giant pyramid. They fired everything, yet, I saw little damage. It didn’t stop them as they continued to unload everything they had at the monstrous ship.

I pulled with all my might, the immense piece of ice barreling up. It left the atmosphere, leaving a celestial ripple behind it. The chunk flew toward me as I took control of it.

I slowly turned in space, not chancing losing any tidbit of control. My power over it already began to weaken. If I had a little more training, I could have smashed the chunk of ice right into it.

I silently roared in space as I spun my entire body and pointed both hands at the incoming pyramid. A massive piece of ice, several miles long shot past me as I stared hard at the pyramid. My power wilted, but it didn’t stop the ice chunk’s momentum.

“Xull, take the shot,” I said as I floated weakly in space.

In the vast distance, there was a tiny flash of light. In seconds, a beam shot from the edge of the moon and aimed at the back of the pyramid.

I floated back and watched with unblinking eyes.

The pyramid was very close to Urth’s planetary atmosphere. Cannon ports opened and greenish plasma bolts shot at the chunk of ice. Each strike sent cracks along it, but didn’t stop it. The chunk of ice, and the pyramid slammed into each other. Sections of the legion’s pyramid caved in as flashes of sparks radiated out form damaged areas. The pyramid slowed for barely an instance of time.

A thick plasma stream struck the other side, blasting through the hull and burrowing deeper into the ship. Explosions rippled along the pyramid, and the pyramid began to slowly break apart.

I pumped my fist into the air as I flew back toward the Blue Leaf. I could hear Nora and Hope cheering through my implant. The black pyramid crumbled as I nearly reached the Blue Leaf.

Urth, thank you.

I reached for the airlock door, when power touched my senses. I turned my head to see the top point of the pyramid glow and shoot out a beam of plasma light.

NO!

I turned to it just as it struck me. I was engulfed in energy. It burned at my nerves as my entire body was thrown by it. I smashed into the ship, along with the energy stream. It sliced the Blue Leaf in half. I fought to stay away as I grabbed onto the edge of the front half of the ship. The beam died as the rest of the black pyramid exploded.

I held onto the ship as I pulled myself into the destroyed corridor. I was dazed, trying to make my way to the bridge. My heart hammered in my chest as my cracked and bleeding body tried to heal. I could barely see, but my sight was slowly returning with each passing second. I climbed my way through the ship and to the bridge archway. Sparks and gases leaked out. When I stepped onto the bridge, my heart froze.

Nearly the whole bridge was destroyed. Everything sparked, the only thing left functioning was the view screen. Nora was slumped over her control panel. Hope was leaning to the side limply.

I flew to Nora and took her into my arms. Her eyes were closed, and blood floated up from several lacerations. The visor on her helmet was cracked, and leaking atmosphere.

I picked her up and held her to me as I floated over to Hope. The wolf woman was unconscious and bleeding from a head wound. Oxygen was leaking from cuts along her exo-suit. It was only a matter of time before they both suffocated to death.

Lifting my gaze, I looked at the viewscreen and saw the glowing edges of entering the atmosphere. My heart pounded harder in my chest. I couldn’t fly out with them. Their exo-suits were damaged, and they wouldn’t survive re-entry. They were non-responsive and the ship was falling to Urth’s gravity. If I didn’t do something, they were going to die.

My mind raced as the burning light grew brighter along the destroyed ship. I was out of time!

A memory touched my mind and my heart slowed. I looked at Nora in my arms, remembering Xull telling me, I had a power to connect them to me, and make them stronger. Maybe it was enough to help them survive.

I called upon my Soul Splinter ability. My hand touched the side of Nora’s cracked helmet, a golden, glowing energy surrounding it.
The energy snaked from my hand, and slipped past her helmet like a golden serpent. It sank into her cheek and faded away. An unseen connection bloomed and solidified. I could feel her weak heartbeat, getting stronger.

I moved to my chair and placed Nora on it. I strapped her in and secured her. I then turned and floated to Hope. My hand was once again covered in a golden light. I touched the side of her damaged helmet, golden energy snaking in and faded into her cheek. Just as with Nora, Hope’s heart began to beat with a stronger pulse.

I had no idea how long it would take, but I couldn’t wait. I glanced to the viewscreen, seeing it engulfed in the flames of re-entry. I could sense what was left of the ship, slowly breaking apart. If I didn’t slow it down, it would shatter before we were low enough in the atmosphere to pull them out.

Once Nora and Hope were strapped in, I shot out of the damaged front half of the ship. My body was only partially healed as I arced around with my hands out. I was before the burning, falling ship. I braced myself as I held my hands up. The ship slammed into me.

I pushed against the ship as I burned. This half of the ship was still over seventy-five tons. I grunted and gritted my teeth as I used every drop of power and determination slow its descent. My nerves were fried, and my body still cracked and bleeding, but it didn’t matter. I had to save them. I had to save my friends.

I roared like a beast from hades. The blackness of space began to glow brighter with blue sky. The ship began to break apart. A crazed pulse hammered at my spirit as I pushed and pulled with my hands. Fingers stabbed into metal, and ripped. I smashed and climbed my way into the destroyed bridge. I gulped air, knowing we were fully in Urth’s atmosphere. I flew to Hope and Nora, snapping the safety belts, and picking each of them up. When I had them safely in my arms, I burst up through the ceiling of the ship and into the blue sky.

I held Nora and Hope to me as the last of the ship broke apart and exploded. Weakness filled me, but they were safe.

I fell. The wind whipped at me as I smiled in relieved happiness. A tear slipped up into the air as we fell.

I turned my head to see the towers of Spiral City. I turned my whole body and saw I was falling toward the national forest not far from the city. A smile appeared across my lips as the wind whipped at my destroyed features.

When the forest raced up to greet us, I slowed us down. Free falling turned into a gentle floating. I kicked out my legs as I saw the crater and destroyed forest from when I first met Xull’s capture drone. A piece of dented metal caught the corner of my gaze. I looked over to see my truck had survived the battle with Xull’s drone. It was slightly damaged, but it still looked like it functioned.

My feet slowly touched the ground, next to my truck. There was a yellow caution tape around the whole area, but I didn’t care, I was home.

I gently placed Hope and Nora down on the ground. I took off their helmets and tossed them aside. My legs turned to jelly and I fell to the ground in a sitting position. I took long, deep breaths as my body slowly healed.

Hope and Nora’s eyes slowly opened. They looked at me weakly, but small smiles bloomed.

“Welcome to Urth,” I smiled.

The pair slowly stood up on all fours. They crawled to me and collapsed, their heads on my lap.

I rested my hands on them as I looked up at that beautiful blue sky.

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