James Somers - The rise of Lucin

Once he had the advantage, Lucin was relentless with his follow-up. He swung his weapon toward the boy as he stumbled backwards, but the youth was more resourceful than expected. The boy ducked below Lucin's weapon and moved in towards the body of the Mithri-man, striking at his knee, face and hands with enough force to disarm him.

His weapon fell from his hand, but Lucin went for the youth, catching the boy by his uniform collar with one hand and smashing fore and backhands into the sides of his young, dark face. Noise from the valley caught Lucin's attention again. He could still see the chariots of the Almighty charging through his thousands of human soldiers and destroying the physical bodies of his Agonotti brethren that were intermingled among them. I've got to escape, now!

Lucin tossed the battered youth away into the dirt behind him, focusing once again on getting inside of the Barudii's ship and the transgate portal within it.

"Lucin!!"

The Mithrial-man turned to find the Barudii king running at him with an ignited blade in his hands ready to strike. Lucin summoned even more of the power that had been returning to him and with a thought, he commanded the topsoil to erupt upward between himself and Tiet Soone. The wall of soil was suddenly penetrated by the spinning blade of the Barudii king. Lucin evaded the unexpected throw and the blade sank into the hull of the ship behind him. Tiet penetrated the veil of dirt, following just behind the thrown sword-he held a kemstick in each hand. Lucin was quick to counter Tiet's attack, grabbing both hands in his own-they stood face to face in a struggle of pure brute force. Tiet was pressing, teeth gritted, against the strength of the Mithrial-man, but Lucin was grinning wildly at his human opponent.

Lucin began to bait his opponent and said, "So, you know who I am?"

"I know you're going to burn in a lake of fire for all eternity," countered Tiet.

The truth of his words made Lucin boil with fury. Tiet could feel the darkness closing in around him and the press of Lucin's ominous energies crushing in upon his mental defenses. Tiet was losing ground by the millisecond.

Tiet whispered, "Lord Elithias, give me strength."

"You're going to meet Him today," threatened Lucin.

Tiet looked up and caught sight of Mirah's horrified expression as she gazed down at them through one of the bridge windows. And then, his strength was gone-Tiet had pushed against the Mithrial-man with every last ounce of energy he could muster and it was not enough.

Lucin sensed the change in his opponent and blasted the Barudii king with such a furious kinetic burst that it shattered the windows on the ship's bridge and propelled Tiet's body thirty feet away. He landed in a bloody heap and did not move.

Lucin looked back up toward the bridge and fixed his gaze upon Mirah. She could not scream; could not breathe. The dark Mithri from her nightmare was gazing beyond her physical body into her very soul and she was terrified. Mirah pulled away from Lucin's villainous smile and stumbled backward. She found the pulse rifle she had retrieved from the ship's small armory, laying on a control panel. Mirah's hands were shaking terribly as she fumbled with the safety release.

Lucin appeared in the space where the bridge windows had been. He brushed through the loose fragments of transparisteel and stepped down to the floor over the flight control panels. Mirah managed to release the safety and heard the brief whine of the gun's charging system. She raised the weapon and fired as he approached, but the black armor covering his body absorbed the shot and he was suddenly upon her, knocking the weapon out of her hand. Lucin snatched her up by the throat, lifting her small frame completely off of the floor. Mirah thrashed in his arms like a fish in a net. She felt the tracheal cartilage crushing under the man's vice-like grip. The loss of oxygen took her strength and her consciousness.

Lucin tossed the woman's body away like a rag doll and headed down the main corridor to find the transgate mechanism. He had to leave the planet before the chariots of Elithias found him.

KALE could not believe the scene playing out before his mortal eyes. At least a hundred chariots of bright light were forging their way through the enemy army of symbyte controlled humans and the Agonotti. The chariots were pulled by bright, fiery leore, driven by Mithri and fire trailed away from the hooves of the leore and the wheels of the chariots. Everywhere they rode through the enemy army, the human soldiers collapsed unconscious and the Agonotti's physical forms disintegrated in violent disruptions of matter and light.

The Mithri were dressed in flowing white robes with breastplates that shined like burnished brass. They were wielding broadswords that trailed flame from the blades as they struck at the Agonotti. The entire enemy army was falling like dominos before their attack.

When the chariots had swept completely through the army and the last of the symbyte controlled humans lay unconscious on the battlefield and the last Agonotti was vanquished, the chariots, their fiery leore and their Mithrial riders began to dissipate from Kale's view. The rebels, including Merab, Jael and Juli who was standing next to Kale, huddled against the back of his shoulder, were all bewildered by the apparent destruction of the enemy army under the invisible wave that had swept through the valley. They could see Grod and Wynn jogging toward them with the same expression on their faces-Kale, alone, had seen the truth.

When the vision had completely faded, Juli was startled by Aija the prophet suddenly standing next to them. Kale turned to see the prophet-he couldn't help but smile at his reappearance.

"Aija, did you see what happened?!" asked Kale excitedly.

"I did indeed."

"I remembered what you had said before leaving us; about praying when hope seemed lost."

"As I knew you would. You have become the fulfillment of the prophecy of the empty hand."

The truth of the scripture and how it had transpired, hit Kale with sudden realization. He had never expected that Elithias would use him to fulfill the prophecy.

Aija put his hand firmly on Kale's shoulder saying with a grim tone, "Young master, your father needs you."

The smile was snatched from Kale's face. "What do you mean? Where is my father?"

Aija leaned in closer to the young man's face. "The time of his journey has come. Don't delay," he said, and he swept his robed arm out toward their crippled ship near the base of the mountain.

A pale mask covered Kale's face as he understood the prophet's words. Kale bolted away toward the Equinox. He muttered a prayer over and over as he ran with all speed. "Please, Lord, don't let him die before I can see him… Please don't let him die before I can see him…"

Kale covered the distance with surprising speed-the others, following after him, had not been able to keep up with him. When he arrived on the scene, he first noticed the light coming from the shattered bridge window, and then he saw Emil lying on the ground. His friend was moaning and trying to move. Kale went to him, speaking to Emil saying, "Are you alright? Emil, can you hear me?"

He moaned again and appeared barely conscious. The sunlight was beginning to break through the dissipating storm clouds and Kale could see that Emil's face was a mass of edema. Blood trailed from his nose and mouth and both of his eyes were swollen shut. In Kale's mind he sensed his friend had sustained multiple facial fractures, but his airway was patent and with proper medical care he would most likely make a full recovery. Then he saw him, in the short grass nearly twenty feet away.

Kale stood watching the figure lying there in the grass; it was his father. He wanted to run to him and at the same time run away from the awful sight of seeing what had happened, but his legs were frozen in fear of what he was going to find. Grod was suddenly at his side and kneeling to examine his son, Emil. Wynn was approaching and the others weren't far behind.