Epics of Noche 1, Anchor

EON CH 05

PROFESSOR GRIM.

1760, NOVEMBER 5th.

Ocean waves crashed against the distant lighthouse as it kept spinning its yellow beacon. It was unaffected by the passage of time. The island was not. On the beach were an ancient pile of boats, some with decrepit fishing rods, others had molded nets. They laid on the beach, broken and forgotten. Yet they were the only other remnants to remain after the island was burned to cinders.

The raging fires had long died down. Aside from the beach edges, only one thing remained. The red brick house on the hill and its nearby blackened tree. Under its dead willowy branches, that curled into spirals, was a pile of charred eviscerated corpses.

"Watch out for crows, hide in the light, or Creeps will get you in the night. It'll eat you up and when you're dead, it'll go and eat you once again."

The lanky soldier sang this rhyme, as he led an old man with bull's horns towards the front door.

In the dark of the child's bedroom, there was a low sounding groaning noise. It came from the aching, weathered wood of the open closet door. Slowly, trepidatiously, the kid came out of her hiding spot and searched for her mother.

At first, she was unable to find anything, other than some droplets of red water and three crow feathers on the ground. Then a draft of wind shifted the crow feathers. This caught the eye of the little girl and she turned around to see her mother lying limply in a pool of blood. A bullet hole in the center of her forehead.

"...Mommy!"

The child yelled ecstatically. She darted over to her mom and paused.

"Mommy wake up."

As her mom failed to stir, the child, not fully understanding, tried to wake her mom. She attempted to sit her mom up and failed, the body too heavy for her little arms. It fell back on top of her and knocked her over. As she landed on the ground, her face went pale upon seeing the anglerfish soldier looming over her. She screamed for her mother as it picked her up.

Hoisting her up by the neck, it held her in its right blood-stained hand. As it raised its left, a swirl of prismatic energy appeared and began to silently take form. Mass accumulated and soon a gun was formed. The barrel of the newly created gun was firmly pressed into the temple of the little girl.

"Even the all-powerful Cross military didn't notice our invasion. Seems hiding in the light diiiiiiidn't really work out for ya. Did it now, Professor Grim?"

This new voice, jovial with sarcasm, came from the lanky soldier who just entered the room. In comparison to the giant Anglerfish soldier across the room, the lanky soldier was much shorter. Wrapped under his arm was an old man.

"You should be proud! Ol' Ang here is the very first of his kind. The only prototype to survive. A new generation of Death Tech soldiers, fused with Mr. Vulture's DNA."

The lanky soldier said in his cheerful voice.

"Think of it... Not very talkative, not very bright or good with Create, but nigh unstoppable at their jobs. Too bad they're impossible to mass produce, without some form of super healing during gestation."

He tightened his grip on the old man's shoulder.

"If only we had some of that secretive Grim Gel medicine, that the smartest man in the world, has been working on."

Professor Grim turned away from the thin soldier andfocused on the little girl. He wore a green sweater with tan leather elbowpads, had an envelope in his chest pocket, and aged brown ironed pants held upwith a large orange belt. Liver spots were on his nose, he had ghostly whitehair, and his eyebrows extended off his face. His hair pronged into three longbull horn shapes that were as far as his shoulder to the left, right, andbehind his head. His skin sagged and wrinkled, plus his eyes showed many yearswithout sleep.