Spiral of Light

Chapter 26: "How In The Void Did He Get Up There?"

Moloch and Salazaar ran into the large chamber. They had made speedy progress despite Salazaars injuries. He had endured the walk without complaint as they navigated the crude tunnels the Hybrids had made. Salazaar had set his jaw with a look of grim determination and hopped as quickly as he could. While they traveled through the tunnels, they had not seen any sign of Forrester, but that did not surprise Moloch. 

He had enough dealings with the slippery beggar, to know that he could move unseen when he wanted to be. Following the trail of Krasus and the Legionnaires had been easy enough, as corpses from both sides had littered the tunnel floors. Moloch stepped into the sand and his boots sank into it. 

Two bald hybrids charged them, bounding across the sand on all fours in great lunging hops. Spittle frothed around their pale lips as they took one final huge leap sending themselves flying at Moloch. He drew his emitter and fired four shots. The first two went wide. The second pair of rounds struck the front hybrid in the chest and shoulder, and it flew away snarling and clutching at its dissolving flesh. 

The second one was upon them. He lunged and shoulder checked the second one, but he wasn't used to moving in the soft sand. He fell to one knee, as he felt its sharp jagged nails rake the side of his face and his armor. It bowled him over into his back and it furiously snapped its sharp crooked teeth at the skin of his throat. 

He put up both hands and stuck his bracer into its mouth, letting it clamp down on the armor to give it something to chew on. He kicked up into its abdomen with both of his booted feet launching it off himself and away into the sand.

Pfunkt! Pfunkt! Salazaar's huge bored emitter barked twice. The hybrid was struck with both shots, taking one in the thigh and one in the gut. It laid in the sand and screamed. Moloch scrambled to his feet and rejoined Salazaar, looping his arm under his.

The chamber was total chaos. A monstrous giant was pulling itself from the sand, crawling up to move towards the small circle of surviving Legionnaires. He saw Potter holding the standard and singing a battle prayer as the battle raged around them. 

He had activated the Breath of Lightning on the top of the pole, it was currently electrocuting anything around them that didn't wear their armor. The dazed and numb hybrids fell in scores and were easy pickings for the Legionnaires to finish off. 

He knew the breath of lightning was powerful but it wouldn't last long. It was enough to break the attack of the crow men, and they fled in terror from the lightning. Moloch linked up with Salazaar and they moved towards the Legionnaires. He didn't see Krasus among the survivors. His heart sank, had the arrogant noble fallen in the fighting? 

Above he heard a wild war whoop and his gaze instinctively went up to track the sound. With his helmet's thermal vision, he could see that there was a milling swirl of a dozen or so crow men whirling up there in the darkness. 

There was Tzreek's floating metallic nest and a figure that looked like Centurion Krasus falling directly towards the Giant, his ignited void blade in both hands as he angled it down point first towards the monster as he dropped, howling with all his summoned fury.

"How in the void did he get up there?" Moloch wondered to himself.

It seemed like Krasus fell in slow motion, as he drove the voidblade deep into the Giant. It had turned at the last second, and Krasus had missed the lethal strike; the place he had been aiming for was the spot in the base of the Giant's neck where its large scarred head met its hairy shoulders.

Instead he drove the void blade down into the flesh of its shoulder to the hilt. He slid slowly down the monster's black, hanging on with both hands to the voidblade's hilt and cleaving flesh and muscle as far as the momentum from his fall would carry it. 

Maybe he had driven the blade too deep, or maybe the Giant's muscles were too thick, but he only got halfway down the shoulder, before the monster bellowed with anger and shook itself like a wet dog, swatting at Krasus like a bothersome fly. 

He saw the blow coming and let go of the hilt of the void blade and dropped into the sand below. Then he ran as fast as he could towards the rank of Legionnaires. 

While the Giant whirled around howling in rage and pain, trying to pull the burning blade from its shoulder, it's smaller brethren were remiss to let Krasus escape and took in hot pursuit behind him, bounding over the sand on all fours.

The Legionnaires formed up and sent a line of emitter fire directly into their pursuers.

Moloch pulled Salazaar closer and they rejoined Krasus who moved towards them. Krasus did not slow his pace but picked it up, leaving them behind him.

"You don't have to be the fastest, just faster than the slowest one." Moloch thought ruefully, as he picked up the pace, practically carrying Salazaar as they raced towards their line.

The Legionnaires kept them covered and picked off any of the albino hybrids that got close, until they broke off their pursuit and scattered back behind the enraged giant. 

It had taken to smashing its fists into the sand, and howling, contented to just be angry and lash out at anything close to it. It seemed to have been distracted by the wound, and for the present had no interest in charging the Legionnaires, but it howled and clawed at the burning voidblade until it was able to pull it from its flesh, casting it away from itself with an angry growl.

 One of the albinos immediately went and picked up the weapon, and waved it at its fellows as it chittered in triumph. The others near to the one who picked up the weapon, crouched low, scraping their bellies along the sand and hissing at him. It swung it a few times at its fellows as it pranced around the sand jubilantly waving its arms as it brandished the weapon. 

Then it went to perform a few more elaborate swings, and the voidblade slipped in its hand, falling down and slicing off its arm. 

It deactivated when it hit the ground, the edge growing dark. Its fellows who it had menanced moments before with the weapon leapt on him at once, dogpiling him and dragging him back behind their lines.

This gave them a brief reprieve as the smaller Albinos were taking their cue from the largest among them. When they at last rejoined the group of haggard Legionnaire survivors. 

When they saw them, they cheered, their morale momentarily boosted as their ranks parted to let him in their circle and snapping shut with precision as he delivered Salazaar to the sand beside Potter and the Legion Standard.

"Well met brother." Krasus said breathing hard and giving them both an appraising stare, looking them both up and down. "When you did not join us earlier, I feared the worst."

"We got sidetracked by Silhouette and her creatures, but we dealt with her and made our way to you."

Potter finished his hymn and offered a brisk salute, rapping his knuckles on his chest armor.

"Things are looking grim, Centurions." He said, wiping away some blood that flowed from a deep furrow in his forehead away from his eyes.

"You all bring honor to our legion." Moloch said to the survivors.

The Legionnaires nodded in acknowledgement of the praise but said nothing. As soon as Moloch said it, he realized the platitude was as empty as it sounded. They were all about to be torn apart by hybrids, and he and Krasus had made the decision to lead them here to their deaths. 

Here at the end, it was obvious that no amount of honor, platitudes or medals was worth their lives.

At the emergence of the giant from the sands, the smaller albinos scampered away and hid behind it in a swarming mass. They must have preserved some semblance of higher brain function, for it was a good plan to let the giant finish them off, before they charged again and fought each other over the scraps.

Once the Giant regained its wits and reached them, he would smash their line to bits.