Destiny (26 page)

Luonnotar had entrusted Nessa with saving the future of Irlendria and that of her people. If she failed, the world and everything she knew would be turned into a burning inferno for the Tuonellians to reap at their leisure. Everyone she’d ever known or loved would be destroyed by their rampaging hordes. How could she selfishly risk the future of her people by throwing her life away trying to rescue her first love?

For a heartbeat, Nessa almost turned away from the battle as the implications of her decision weighed on her soul. Still, no matter how much logical sense it made for her to focus solely on completing her quest, she couldn’t leave Enelya’s fate in the hands of these abominations. Doing so would betray everything that made her who she was. Focusing on the creature’s hate filled face. Nessa threw herself at the Hulk yelling her Clan’s battle cry.

“WwwaaaNnniii!” Nessa’s first blow caved in half of the Tuonellian’s skull as she bodily crashed into the Hulk at full gallop with a bone crushing crash. Slamming into the ground in a tangle of arms and legs she nearly lost her weapon in the chaos as they came to a sliding stop. Rolling onto her knees, Nessa recovered the Staff of Yatra before springing back to her hooves.

Screaming out another the war cry, Nessa slammed the black glowing wood through the center of the creature’s chest as the Hulk roared in agony. Pulling the smoking tip free she lifted the weapon high overhead for the death blow as the Tuonellian’s red glowing eyes focused on her in pure hate. Crying out with an undulating shriek, Nessa slammed the Staff of Yatra down with all of her might for the finishing strike, when the Hulk’s clawed fist batted the tip aside at the last moment.

Smoke rose from the creature’s seared flesh as the glowing wood gouged a large chunk from the Tuonellian’s neck like a hot knife through butter, but before she could raise her staff to strike again. The Hulk ripped the glowing wood from her numb fingers as the monster’s other clawed fist slashed open her belly.

Crying out in pain Nessa threw herself at the evil Tuonellian’s hate filled face with her flailing fists as the creature’s arm whipped back quick as lightning. Wrapping its clawed fist completely around her throat, the Hulk caught her in its overpowering grip. With her failing strength, Nessa hammered at the Tuonellian’s arm as her flailing hooves tore gaping holes in the Hulk’s chest. Just as she was breaking free, a gut-wrenching agony shot through her lower abdomen

Looking down in shock, Nessa’s eyes bulged out as the Hulk’s clawed fist ripped out her innards with a sharp jerk. Holding its bloody fist before her eyes for her to see, the creature’s bone-chilling laughter filled Nessa’s ears as her eyes began rolling up into her head from lack of air. Around her, she saw the legionnaires being ripped to shreds as her consciousness began to fade.

Grief filled Nessa’s heart as she realized they were all going to die. Still, she wouldn’t have chosen differently if she had the chance to make the choice all over again. As tears ran down her face, Nessa looked towards the sky whispering out in anguish with her last breath.

“Luonnotar help us!” As if in response to her prayer, Nessa heard the Hulk’s sudden shriek of terror.

***

Location Irlendria / Startüm:

I knew I was in trouble when came aware of my surroundings once again. My head burned with a raging fire as the Fring consumed me, but I was too weak to do anything except writhe in pain. From the stories I’d heard from my Grandsire, once a Werewolf succumbed to the effects of the consumption they normally didn’t recover, which was a direct result of our bodies regenerative ability. Without enough food to fuel our hyperactive metabolisms, our bodies’ began consuming themselves from the inside out until the ravaging sickness killed us.

The pain was excruciating. A small part of me just wanted to curl up and let the sickness drag me down into blissful oblivion, but that simply wasn’t who I was. With an effort of will, I fought against the agonizing pain when my feverish thoughts were suddenly slammed into focus as an ancient spirit reached out and touched my soul.

With crystal clarity the foreign thoughts slashed through my mind like nothing I’d ever experienced before. There were no spoken words assigned to concepts, but more a flow of sensations that held meaning. It was like the wind swishing through the trees, the feeling of rain hitting my face and the warmth of the sun against my skin … it was all these things and more. Just as my thoughts adjusted to the sensation, I felt my perceptions suddenly shift. The feeling was akin to being stuck in a close-up street view of Google Maps. Even though I was looking down at my own body on the bank of the Otso River, I could still feel Starfire and Frostbrand held in my arms.

For a moment, I struggled with the dual perspective, but quickly my mind adjusted to the alien perspective. As if I were riding an old house of horrors amusement ride, I felt my focus zoom in onto the battle for survival raging around us. Closest to us were two small Elves and an ivory-white Centaur dying at the hands of a Tuonellian Hulk. Further out were the bulky forms of Scourge swarming over a small band of Minotaurs, a shaggy brown-haired Wenci and the bloody remains of a Nightclaw surrounded by more dead bodies. I had the impression that there was more happening just outside of my field of vision, but it was beyond my reach.

The spirit’s touch wasn’t anything like my communion with Ukko. The contact was more like a community of voices that had one voice with its own consciousness. Although the concepts being communicated were alien to my logical Klavikian mind, I felt the Werewolf inside of me stir in understanding. For the first time in my life, instead of fighting the primitive instincts welling up inside of me, I fully opened my soul to the ferocious nature that was my birthright.

In a flash, the spirit of the Great Forest came alive around me. Savage and untamed, I felt the call of the wild rush through my veins as the beast inside my soul fought for life. Instantly my golden eyes snapped open, focusing on the mangled body of the beautiful Elf lying next to me. In that instant we were connected by the same spiritual link that had awakened me. I felt the vitality of her life force rush through my soul in a sharing of emotions and intent that took my breath away, before her small hand weakly fell away from my cheek.

Tearing my gaze away from the fierce brown eyes staring back at me, I shivered from the intensity of the contact as I focused on the life and death struggle happening around us. It was obvious the Hulk had won. Already the Centaur filly’s eyes were rolling back into her head as she weakly hammered at the clawed fist wrapped around her throat. A part of my mind registered the barbaric beauty of the female Centaur as my eyes momentarily locked on her heaving chest. Slick with blood and sweat, her full breasts jiggled with each shudder of her body’s final death throes as her eyes began bulging in her head.

What in Ukko’s name was wrong with me? How could I notice something like that at a time like this? Shaking my head in disgust, I fought to clear my thoughts from the powerful instincts and raging hormones surging through my body, sickened in part at my own physiological reaction. Tearing my gaze away, I focused instead on the bloody gash in the side of the Tuonellian’s neck.

Once again, I felt my primitive urges take over. I wish I could have said it was the need to save the filly’s life that drove me forward at that second, but in truth, I knew it was the smell of fresh blood as a voracious hunger rose up inside of me demanding sustenance. The Hulk’s cruel guffawing laughter filled my ears as I drew near. Although my katanas were still strapped to my back, I didn’t even think about using them as I reached my hand over the Tuonellian’s scraggly head. Hooking my fingers, I rammed them through the creature’s eye sockets as I yanked the misshapen head back and to the side baring its throat, while my other hand captured the Hulk’s flailing arm. Pulling my body up, I sank my teeth into the Tuonellian’s neck ripping out a bloody chunk of meat.

Instantly power flowed through my veins as the evil creature cried out in terror. Its body bucked like a wild bronco in my iron grip as I struggled to rip the grotesque head from its shoulders. I felt the skin of my face grow taut as the bones of my jaws began elongating, stretching into more of a muzzle like shape, while my eye-teeth started growing at the same time. Curving-out over my lips, they quickly formed into oversized fangs with each bloody chunk of flesh I gulped down as the savage beast raged inside of me.

The gruesome act of feeding was unsettling enough to my Klavikian sensibilities, but even worse was the ravenous craving that I felt as the energized blood’s corrupt warmth filled my senses. For a second, bile rose in the back of my throat as I fought back the urge to purge the revolting filth from my mouth. Ignoring the feelings of disgust, I drove my fangs even deeper into the Hulk’s neck until my jaws closed around the creature’s spine. With a resounding crack, I ripped the Tuonellian’s head from its shoulders as my canines cleanly snapped through the bone.

I watched the blood-covered Centaur collapse onto the ground as she weakly ripped the clawed fist away from her throat. Wide-eyed she stared in shock at her entrails strewn across the ground as the Tuonellian’s foul blood began spouting into the air around us like a fountain. Numbly I knew what I had to do. With calm deliberation, I clamped my jaws onto the creature’s headless corpse drinking deeply.

From the many stories I’d heard from my Grandsire, I had a good idea why the Hulk’s blood was affecting me the way it did. The creatures had a predilection for feasting off the life forces of the prey they consumed. My old teacher, Luthar Feltalc, had always believed Tuonellians acquired their power through the pain and suffering inflicted to their prey during feeding. So as I fed on the Hulk, I wasn’t just getting the needed protein for my starved body, but also a supercharged powerade of torment energy for my metaphysical reserves.

Although distasteful in thought, when it came down to the basics, energy was energy. With a Werewolf’s practicality, I sucked the bleeding corpse dry. Corrupt or not it didn’t matter, I needed the sustenance for what I planned to do next. Rising to my knees, I heard a keening screech ring out from the surviving Scourge as I raised my arms in supplication to the sky. Calling forth my power, I called out to Ukko.

“Gi meg styrke til å helbrede disse krigerne, slik at de kan kjempe mot dine fiender.“ (Give me the strength to heal these warriors so that they may fight against your enemies.) Drawing every last ounce of power left in my devastated body, I spoke my prayer.

“Helbredende bølge!” Immediately my body began convulsing uncontrollably as the holy symbol of Ukko lit up on my chest like a glowing beacon. Even after sucking the Hulk’s corpse dry, I knew this was going to be close, but there just wasn’t any other options left if I was going to save us from our enemies. I’d never tried such a complex spell before in my life. I fought to clear my mind of all thought as I pictured the bodies of the wounded around me.

In general, I knew the principle was the same as any individual healing spell. My father and the rest of the Klavikian Paladins had regularly performed more incredible feats during the Great War against the Tuonellians, raising thousands of warriors as they lay near death on the battlefield with a wave of their gauntleted hands. If it weren’t for their abilities and the grace of Ukko, the Alliance of Aurenko would have collapsed at the onset of the war. In comparison to a Paladin like my father, I wasn’t much more than a cheap substitute, a wannabe compared to the real thing.

All at once the healing energy exploded out of my body in a massive wave as the glowing light enveloped each being that the Great Spirit had shown me in the vision. Concentrating on each individual with my senses, I tried to direct the energy where it was needed most, but that proved to be beyond my ability as I screamed in agony. As if in a dream, I felt my consciousness begin slipping away as I was borne to the ground by a screeching wave of Scourge when the darkness enveloped me once more.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Location Earth / Megan Driscoll:

Flipping her night vision goggles up in disgust, Sergeant First Class Megan Driscoll scanned the shadowy mass that suddenly loomed up out of the darkness with her bare eyes. The only thing that showed up clearly was the red dot from the laser scope attached to her M4, which didn’t show dick in this murky darkness. A quick check of the personal navigation system strapped to her wrist confirmed that the target area was just ahead. Unfortunately, nothing was looking like the pictures they’d been given in the briefing.

Snapping on the maglite attached to her barrel, Megan swept the focused beam of light across the indistinct shapes, swearing under her breath. She still couldn’t see jack! Even with the additional light, she could barely make out the indistinct outlines of the individual crystals that reportedly made up the massive formation. Checking her navcom once again, Megan came to a stop signaling the Marines behind her to set up a perimeter. Without waiting for the “all clear” signal, the science team they were escorting hurriedly pushed past her without waiting for the all clear signal.

It took an effort of will for Megan to hold back the grin that instantly sprang to her lips as Doctor Holdgate purposely ignored her as his team began silently unpacking their equipment. She wanted to yank is ass back into line. Instead of giving in to her urges, Megan unhooked the handset attached to her webbing and called their status into command.

“Raider, this is Hunter two Charlie, over.”

“Hunter two Charlie, this is Raider, over.”

“Hunter two Charlie to Raider. We have reached the target area. Commencing operations now, over.”

“Raider to Hunter two Charlie. Affirmative, next radio check in thirty, over.”

“Hunter two Charlie to Raider. Gotcha Lima Charlie, out.”

A year ago such a transgression would have had her swearing up a storm, but now Megan just rolled her eyes at the needless drama of it all as she mentally reviewed their tactical situation for the zillionth time. Even though Captain Griffith had ordered a full quarter of their metal halide lighting towers to be deployed inside the “Pit” as her Marines were now calling the dig, there was still barely enough light to walk around the chamber without a flashlight. If anything, the powerful floodlights just made the visibility that much worse. Besides making their night vision goggles almost useless, the heavy shadows cast by the numerous rock formation placed large portions of the Pit in pools of darkness that were almost impossible to illuminate.

They’d all heard the scuttlebutt about the impossible creatures discovered inside the ancient tomb. It had sounded absurd. Perfectly preserved Minotaurs dressed as legionnaires fighting against hordes of nightmarish monsters. Megan wouldn’t have given the rumors any credit if not for the hordes of scientists, press, and crazies flooding the island. By the end of the first day of their arrival, Admiral Wright had been forced to close the local airport indefinitely. While that had helped the immediate chaos, it hadn’t stopped the flow of people. From what she’d been hearing boats of all shapes and sizes had been arriving in a steady stream throughout the night.

Second Company had been ordered to set up guard points around the island to deal with the new arrivals, but that was only a temporary fix. The USS Wasp had been detached to the Task Force for amphibious and air assault landings for subduing an aggressive enemy, which was a completely different mission parameter then policing the large crowds of noncombatants that were flocking to the island. The Navy was struggling to set up a secure perimeter five nautical miles out to deal with the problem, but the Task Force just didn’t have enough hulls to stop the flow of boats into the area.

The incredible story sounded like something straight out of a Crypt Crawler title than an actual archeological dig. Still, the rumors flying around about the Pit had most of the Marine Raider Company jumping at shadows, which was just plain stupid. Even if the stories were one hundred percent true, it wasn’t like anything was going to be left alive after thirty-five hundred years of rotting in a sealed hole.

Frowning, Megan sighed at the useless mental exercise. It wasn't like she had a squad any longer to worry about. To deal with the changing mission requirements, Command Sergeant Major Thompson had broken First Company up into individual fire groups for guard duty. Why the hell the Lieutenant Colonel wanted a Marine escort with every scientific team entering the Pit was anybody’s guess, but it was causing havoc with her soldiers. Standing guard for hours at a time with nothing to do but stare at the dark shadows was going to be bad enough. Mix in a handful of pompous cockbite professors as team leads and it was a powder keg waiting to explode.

During her two years at Purdue University before joining the Marines, Megan had initially thought graduate students were assholes. Most were nothing but full-time students with their education and living expenses paid for by mommy and daddy. Then she met her first tenured professor who’d given new meaning to the word, but her current charge, world renowned Biologist Doctor Stuart Holdgate, took being an asshole to a whole new level. The Doctor had been under the mistaken impression that he could treat her soldiers like he did his personal staff. This time, Megan did smile remembering the man’s shocked face at the ass-chewing she’d given him.

Needless to say, he didn’t speak to anyone in her squad again. Not that it mattered to Megan, she got along with the rest of the Professor’s team just fine. As far as she was concerned, she hadn’t gone through two tours in Afghanistan to put up with that kind of crap. Holdgate would treat her Marines right, or she’d put a boot in his ass.

“Aaaiiieee!” The blood curling scream that rang out across the chamber snapped Megan back to the present as a deafening burst of rifle-fire roared nearby. Instinctively dropping into a crouch, she whipped the barrel of the M4 towards the sounds listening intently. After multiple combat zones, the response was without thought as her hand slapped the AN/PVS-14 monocular night vision scope attached to her helmet back into place. Biting back a curse at the MNVD’s fluctuating display she switched to “light infrared” searching for the source of the commotion once again.

Immediately Megan saw three glowing man-forms slam into a fourth around twenty feet out as the rifle burst came to a sudden stop. Looking back over her shoulders to her team, Megan barked out orders. “Lance Corporal Jordan is with me. The rest of you keep your eyes on the package.” Signaling for Jordan to follow. Feeling Lance Corporal Jordan’s large hand grip her shoulder, Megan headed towards the commotion at a quick walk scanning the immediate area for enemies. Taking in the situation sourly as they came to a stop near the struggling men, she signaled Jordan to hold position swearing.

“What a Charlie Foxtrot!” Although she wished she didn’t, Megan immediately recognized the hysterical Private fighting to keep his carbine trained on the massive crystal before him as one of her own as the rest of his fire team fought to wrestle him to the ground. Pitching her voice to be heard, Megan cursed loudly. “Private Gordon, what the hell is going on here? Lower your weapon and report.”

The large man’s white-rimmed eyes suddenly whipped around to focus on her in surprise as he began screaming frantically. “Sarge … Sarge, it’s gonna fucking kill us all!” Before Gordon could say more Lance Corporal Porter grabbed the larger man by the waist, body-slamming him to the ground in a ju-jitsu throw. “I ordered you to stand down Private!”

Ignoring the physical punishment, Gordon kept on screaming. “Dammit, look at it … just fucking look at it! We’ve gotta stop it before it fucking kills us all!”

Annoyance flickered across Megan’s face as she studied the ridiculous scene before her. She didn’t have time to deal with this stupid shit. The last thing she needed was Captain Nicoara getting wind of this. Striding forward with a purpose, Megan felt her Drill Sergeant’s mask slip into place as she projected her voice.

“Lance Corporal Jordan, I want this mess cleaned up now. Gordon, we’ll deal with this back at base, but for now, I want you to-.“ Megan’s voice suddenly died in mid-blast as her eyes locked onto the scaly fanged maw frozen within the cloudy surface of the crystal Gordon had been firing at. The Private’s maglite cut-off a second later as another Marine slammed his combat boot down on Gordon’s M4, but not before the blood turned to ice in her veins.

For a long moment, Megan stood frozen in place as some primal instinct in the back of her mind gibbered in terror. Trancelike she walked past the struggling soldiers shining her torch at the large crystalline rock. Physically it wasn’t noticeably different than any of the other crystals that filled the cavern. Panning her light to where she’d seen the fanged maw the breath caught in her throat as red glowing eyes suddenly appeared deep within staring down at her. Behind her, Megan heard Lance Corporal Jordon’s startled gasp as he followed the maglite’s beam.

Even though logically she knew it was only an optical illusion from the bright light hitting the creature’s dead eyes, it still took an act of will not to run away screaming for the exit. Breathing deeply, Megan ran her maglite over the scaled horror studying it carefully. The ferocious creature was like nothing she’d ever seen before. It looked like a mutant crossbreeding experiment between an Alien and a gorilla gone horribly wrong. Thick grayish bony plates covered portions of its head and torso while overlong muscular arms with long clawed hands hung like gruesome cleavers at its sides. Even more unbelievable, the creature trapped inside the crystalline rock wasn’t some desiccated mummified corpse like she would have expected after so many centuries. No, if anything, the glistening scales shimmering in the light made the creature look as if it were almost alive, so much so that …

Backing up slowly, Megan swept her maglite at the crystals to either side of the first in growing horror. Within seconds she identified the same eerie effect, even without the maglite. The creatures’ eyes in both were growing red! Pivoting slowly in place Megan began studying the shadowy cavern as a sinking feeling began forming in the pit of her stomach. Everywhere she looked the inky blackness was turning into a sea of glowing red pinpoints. Coming to a stop facing Lance Corporal Jordon’s horror-filled face, her voice cracked as she addressed Lance Corporal Porter.

“Release, Private Gordon.”

“Sarge?”

As the rest of fire team three looked up at her questioningly, Megan jerked out of her trance barking orders. “I want everyone locked n’ loaded! We’re gathering up the science teams and getting the fuck out of here now!” Seeing the shocked look on Porters’ face, she roughly shoved the Lance Corporal ahead of her bellowing. “Move out!”

Before they’d taken a dozen steps, the loud clattering sound of falling rocks began echoing around the chamber as low-rumbling animalistic growls suddenly filled the darkness. The deep resonating sounds that began calling out around the chamber reminded Megan vaguely of her time in Southern Botswana and Zimbabwethe, but unlike the combined sounds of the large beasts of the Africa Bushveld at night, this sent shivers down her spine.

Looking around nervously, Megan kept her Marines moving as she pulled out her handset. “Hunter two Charlie to Charlie squad. Gather up your chicks. We’re RTC. I say again, gather up your chick and return to base, over.” As the scattering reply of affirmatives began answering back, Megan saw the Lance Corporal’s science team suddenly come into view. Huddled together a tight group they looked ready to bolt as they fearfully stared out at the darkness. Seeing their approaching group the lead professor leaped to his feet grabbing Megan’s shoulder urgently.

“What in God’s name is going on Sergeant?”

“No idea Professor. Maybe your dead aliens aren’t so dead after all.” Before the man could scoff at her words, Megan kept talking. “Whatever it is we aren’t staying around to find out.” Putting her arm around the professor’s back, she propelled the man ahead of her. “Let’s move out!”

“But our gear. We can’t just leave everything here.” Twisting around in her grip the professor tried to head back to aluminum boxes stacked at the base of the nearest crystal, but Megan wasn’t having any part of that. “Everyone leave your gear. We’ll come back for it later.”

Raising his voice indignantly, the professor struggled against Megan’s grip. “Our research and data. We have to take it with us.”

Shoving the man forward, Megan snapped harshly. “Seriously people, is this worth your lives?” Swinging her gaze to the other scientists on the team Megan’s voice rose in a harsh whisper. “We’ll come back for the data if we can, but right now my job is to keep you safe, and that’s what I’m doing. Now move out!”

Megan didn’t give them a chance to think as she physically dragged the professor behind her. Following her lead, the Marines hurried the rest of the team after Megan as her radio began to crackle with static. The white noise coming through her headset was suddenly replaced with the sounds of muffled voices arguing. “I do not care what your Sergeant ordered. We are not going anywhere.” There was more scratching static noise and then Private First Class Pierson’s urgent voice came through loud and clear. “Sarge, Professor Holdgate is refusing to leave the target area.”

Looking back at Lance Corporal Jordan in annoyance, Megan shook her head as the large black man rolled his eyes. “Pierson, this isn’t a democracy. I didn’t ask if the Professor wanted to leave. You are to gather up the science team, willing or unwilling, and head to my location on the double.”