Ex Nihilo - Abyssal Prophecy

Chapter 9

Matthew was still woozy from the ritual, so his sister helped him down the stairs. The images he saw raced through his brain, making each step difficult. He tried to piece the rapid set of images into a cohesive whole, but couldn’t even manage to hold onto one. Pain radiated out from his now wrapped hand wound. Clotho’s prophesy echoed in the silence of his thoughts. He clung tight to his sister’s arm.

            “Are you okay, Matthew?”

            “That ritual was pagan, wasn’t it?” Matthew looked into his sister's eyes.

            He could see the pain his sister felt, and that told him the truth. It pained Nemesis to lie more than most.

            “Yes, Matthew. That was.” She swallowed hard.

            “You have damned my soul for eternity,” Matthew complained.

            Nemesis stopped and turned her brother to face her.

            “God forgives us all if we ask for it, Matthew. You don’t need to believe in Clotho, but her power is real. You might not understand why we tricked you, but it’s important. It is not your fault, and God will understand that. We needed to know if you’re the one.”

            A chill raced up his spine. He was confused by all he had seen and couldn’t hold onto the mental images. Something else was causing more concern now. What did she mean by “the one?”

            “This is all so confusing.”

            “I don’t understand it much better than you,” she admitted. “Let’s get a few drinks in you. That seems to help with all problems.”

            They continued down the steps, and with each new step, Matthew felt stronger. He  trusted Nemesis. She had earned it many times in her defiant stands against their father’s cruelty.

Near the bottom of the stairs there was a sudden violent shaking throughout the Lower Wards. They both lost their footing and tumbled to the door.

            “Ow! What the hell was that?” Nemesis muttered.

            “Don’t look at me.” Matthew rubbed his now sore head.

            Standing back up, they raced through the door of the Original Sins, both saw the violent shake had abruptly ended the party. There were a few patrons still too drunk to notice, but the majority were now getting dressed and arming themselves.

Nemesis strode ahead of her brother.  Lord Hector and Lord Cornelius were also heading towards the Original Sins entrance.

            “What the hell was that?” Nemesis asked the approaching men.

            “I have no clue, but it sounds like it’s on the other side of the ward,” Lord Hector said. Lord Cornelius just shrugged in response.

Sudden muffled screams turned all of them in the direction of the great divide rang out. The lights flickered and went out.

            “It is coming from the other side of the divide. We’re going to need to divide into three.” Nemesis pointed to the three terminals. “Lord Cornelius you should lead your men to defend the farthest alternative lift. The main lift may be out of service, but if this is an attack by the higher wards, they’ll send their main force down there. Your forces are the best at combat. Hold the line at all costs.”

            “All right. You Dredges with me,” Lord Cornelius bellowed, storming off. “Do you want to live forever in this hell?” A third of the crowd gathered outside of the Original Sins followed their lord.

            “I shall gather my forces. I’ve already sent neural messages to my troops to gather,” Lord Hector informed her with a bow. “Be safe, my lady.”

Several of the guards who came for the fights outside of the Original Sins left to follow their lord to battle. In the distance, the sound of terror only increased and grew closer with each second.

            Standing there, Nemesis saw her people looking to her for guidance. She loathed it. It reminded her of everything she hated in her father and feared she could become. Even Matthew looked to her. That made her even more nervous. She had fought many times, but never in a battle.

            “My people, you look to me, and I ask you to get ready to fight. We have no clue what is happening. Gather your weapons. We leave momentarily.” Nemesis faced her brother. “Come, Matthew.” She grabbed him by the arm.

            Nemesis led her brother into the Original Sins and to the door behind the bar. She placed her hand on a scanner and the door opened.

Matthew watched the people in the bar heading out, now clothed and armed. Then Nemesis pulled him through the door. Matthew’s words fled him when he saw the arsenal. Nemesis was already getting into a suit of power armour.

            “What are you waiting for, Matthew?” She pointed to another suit.

            It took a moment for Matthew to snap back to reality. He had long admired the power armour of the warriors on the Alcatraz. Few choose not to wear them for the raw power they brought, and Lord Galen was fond of talking about their medical abilities. Climbing into the power armour, he fumbled, heard his sister laugh, but he got himself situated. Closing and sealing it around him, he felt the pain when the suit connected to his nervous system.

            “Yeah, I forgot you don’t have a neural implant. I bet that hurt,” Nemesis said. “Don’t worry. It feels worse than it is.”

            Disorientated for a moment, Matthew stumbled around, clanging and bashing into things. Looking through the helmet slit was unnatural and blocked much of his vision. He thought whoever had designed this helmet was a fool. He wished the helmet was just gone, and with a hiss and series of clicks, the helmet retracted. He turned to look at his sister to see her passing him a magnetic rifle.

            “Grab this and let’s go. We don’t have much time. Whoever is attacking could already be at our terminal.  We have to get there to defend it.”

            Matthew looked over the weapon in his hands. He’d never fired any gun before, but it seemed pretty basic. Point at what you want to hit, pull the trigger, repeat.

They exited the Original Sins. Outside, men and women gathered, waiting for their lady, and a great cheer arose when they saw her.

            Marching through the crowd Nemesis and her brother headed towards the nearby lift terminal. Behind them, the chaotic marching of hundreds of boots hitting the ground rumbled across the deck. People rushed from their homes to join the mob, weapons in hand.

With each step, the terrifying sounds of screams grew closer. Soon, they could see the terminal gates. People from the other side of the great divide were flooding through, carrying their children.

            Seeing the deluge of refugees caused Nemesis to pick up her pace, and everyone behind her followed her lead. She couldn’t fathom what could be so frightening. The Lower Wards had seen every type of cruelty imaginable.

A primal scream drew her attention.

            Through the dim haze of her hand torch, she saw a monstrous abomination charging through the crowd. The colossal behemoth ripped, tore, and grabbed everything within reach. It threw people through the air like toys. Nemesis froze in place, unable to comprehend what she was seeing beyond the far terminal gate. A loud burst of magnetic autocannon fire snapped her back to reality. The first shot hit its target, but the other strayed wide, striking the thick metal of the outer great divide. She glanced back to see Matthew preparing to take another shot.

            “Get these people to safety!” Nemesis struggled through the deluge of refugees. “Matthew, keep firing. You’ll get the hang of it. I’m going to close the far gate to slow them. Aim for the bastard’s head!”

            “What about the people?” Matthew cried.

            “Look at those things and the damage their doing. We can’t save them.” Nemesis pushed her way through, and, eventually, she started to trample people. Behind her, Matthew kept firing at the approaching beast, but his shots didn’t seem to slow it down any.

            Behind the charging abomination, Nemesis could see the blur of more troops. She knew she had no choice but to stop the monster before it got to the gate. She needed to buy time for the gates to shut. With a glance back at her brother and a smile, she drew her two smaller magnetic guns and leaped through the gate. Screaming, she unleashed a torrential volley of shots at the creatures, but round after round failed to slow the abomination.

            With a swipe, the great abomination knocked her across the deck plating. Hearing the clicking of empty clips, she holstered her auto-pistols. The abomination howled and turned to face its enemy with glaring red eyes. She pushed off the ground and charged forward, drawing two smaller energy blades. Dodging the creature's many arms, she tumbled underneath the creature, slicing the back of its heels.

            The abomination’s howls of pain hurt her ears so she activated her helmet. The creature started to turn, but it was slow compared to her. Leaping onto the creature's back, she dug the blades into the abomination’s spine and used it for leverage to climb. The creature flailed. Nemesis waited for the right moment and kicked the creatures back. Flipping through the air, she twisted and brought her full body weight down, driving her twin blades through the creatures’ eyes. The entire floor shook with the force of their impact.

            Charging back to the gate, Nemesis activated the gate control. She could hear the steady thumping of Matthew’s fire growing closer. The doors began to grind shut at a slow pace. Putting the twin blades away, she took cover behind the gate to reload. She saw the humanoids approaching with more of the abominations, and the sound of Chitterers drowned out most of the other noises. Snapping the clips in place took a few seconds, and she peered around the door to make out the humanoid enemies better.

            They wore armour fashioned out of living creatures, but not humans. She couldn’t make out if they were one race or different races wearing armour. Blasts and shots of various types of weapons fire whizzed through the crowd, striking the closing gate, and some continuing past it into the skies. Anger burned inside Nemesis as she watched these creatures slaughtering innocents. With guns reloaded, she used the closing gate as cover and leaned out to fire. She fired short controlled bursts at one after another of the creatures. The bullets seemed to tear through their armour and drop them  better than the abominations.

            “We need to fall back.” Matthew panted to catch his breath as he arrived.

            “No, we have to hold them here. My troops are armed with melee weapons and can’t stand up to one of those things.”

Nemesis pointed to an abomination. “I got a plan!” Leaning out, she sprayed fire wide to drive the creatures back.

            In between the two closing gates, brother and sister stood, holding the line. People still poured past them, trying to escape before the gates sealed. Unable to advance, the humanoid creatures waited for the approaching abominations. They opened fire at the fleeing survivors, gunning the last of them down.

Matthew howled with rage, switching to fully automatic fire now that no people were left to protect.

Nemesis turned to see Matthew still hadn’t closed his helmet--and shots were whizzing by his head.

            “Close your damn helmet, you i***t!” she shouted.

            Matthew took a second to process that before shutting his helmet.

            A group of the humanoids broke from cover on seeing the gate almost shut. Matthew pivoted to open fire, but his sister reacted first. A grenade popped out of a slot on the waist of the suit and into her hands. With a few button presses, the explosive was armed. Kneeling, she rolled the grenade across the ground towards the incoming attackers and took cover behind the almost shut gate.

Matthew took cover with his sister.

            The explosion rippled outward, sending metal debris, bodies, and their parts flying in every direction. Behind the gate, the blast force shot through the narrow slit left in the closing gate.

The gate slammed closed.

Matthew and his sister sighed together in relief. Leaving nothing to chance, Nemesis marched to the emergency override terminal and shot it. She knew the damage would render the system on the other side inoperable.