Restless - Chapter 13

The attack came suddenly. A sharp thud from the door roused every soldier in the room to attention, all snapping their aim to the heavy vault door. Another hammering thud rang out sharply against it. It wouldn’t be long before who or whatever was on the other side of the door would get through. 

“Contact! Reality Anchor Three!” The captain of the Gloomguard called into a device on his shoulder. Looked like some kind of communication device.

A second later, the device crackled to life. An authoritative voice said, “Roger, we're rerouting squads to assist. How long can you hold?” 

The captain glanced at me. “Not long. We have a Fledgling with us too.”

”Pyre…” The other side of the line crackled for a while before the person returned. “The Hunters and Warden Candus are on the other side of the ship, dealing with the main boarding force… must be a last-ditch effort to push Dawn’s Glory into Umbra… Closest squads are several minutes away.” 

The Gloomguard captain’s face fell slightly, though it was only for a moment. “Understood. We’ll hold on for as long as possible.”

“Pyre… It's a Lyzar assassination squad. Expect optical camo at the least. Ashes to ashes, soldier.” The voice replied before the line went dead.

The captain turned to face the rest of us, his eyes freezing on me for a moment before. An expression I couldn’t quite put to point crossed his face. I could read between the lines of their conversation. For once, I wished Vayne hadn't taught me that particular skill.

Ashes to ashes… it was a saying between those on death's door. A reminder that from the ashes we rise, so to the ashes we return.

Backup was too far to help. My tongue felt thick in my mouth. We needed to hold out until then no matter what, even if it was signing our own death warrants to try and hold out. Thousands of souls could easily be snuffed out if the ship entirely fell into Umbra. The Reality Anchors were the only thing keeping that from happening, and there were only three of them left.

Not how I saw the end of this…

“Reinforcements are minutes away. Hold for as long as possible-“ Another heavy hit caved the door in slightly, though it seemed to only embolden the captain. “It was an honor serving alongside-”

”Don’t make me tear up, captain!” One of the other soldiers laughed. She was covered in heavier equipment than the rest, including a ton of grenades. The others joined her, making light of the extremely heavy situation. 

“Right… For the Great Lord!” The captain shouted a rallying cry.

”For the Great Lord!” A shout returned, momentarily overpowering the loud hums of the machinery. For a moment, I felt that everything might end out all right.

A final hit blew the door off its hinges, caving the entire frame inward. I’d wanted to get out of this cage… but I’d hoped I’d still be in one piece at that time. Now though? Now it wasn’t looking like it’d be possible.

From the smoke emerged a dark shape. At first glance, it was a human. Then I noticed a long tail recoil from where it slammed into the vault door. It stepped forward, revealing long digitigrade legs and a hunched-over form.

As the smoke cleared slightly, I caught a flash of scales. Immediately, the identity of the assassin was revealed. It was a Lyzar, a creature that looked like the horrid love child of a lizard and a human. This one had dull gray scales that blended in with its surroundings. It was almost entirely nude, though from what I’d heard on the radio, that was typical for the barbaric race of lizards.

Spines along the top of its head vibrated as it opened its mouth. It seemed surprised to see us, though I couldn’t tell for sure. Its reptilian head was too different to read its emotions effectively. A voice emerged from the depths of its throat, slightly hissy though surprisingly deep. “Ahhhh… thiss lord has more headss to add to my collection.”

As the reptile stepped into the room, a chain on its hip clinked. Human heads, looking freshly cut off, dangled from the chain. I immediately felt a thrill of terror as its black eyes looked past all the Gloomguard and met my gaze-

“Fire!” A shot fired off from one of the Gloomguard, quickly followed by a volley from the rest of the squad. The light was blinding as the vi-rifles lit up the space. A stench of burning air filled the room.

The Lyzar wasn’t going to just sit still. It’s scales seemed to pulse as it vanished, though that didn’t stop the guards from firing at it’s general location indiscriminately. Their bolts peppered the back wall.

 It appeared moments later right next to one of the Gloomguard, immediately catching several rounds as its camo faded. The guard fire a dozen more shots before slamming the rifle forward to catch the Lyzar off guard-

The reptile dodged easily, it’s large frame contorting as its tail whipped around. The tail slammed into the Gloomguard, shattering his armor with a heavy hit. His body flew to the side of the room, slamming into the wall hard enough to dent it. His condition was unknown, but there was a very low chance he was still alive after such a heavy blow.

The rest of the soldiers weren’t idle as they constantly unloaded onto the lizard. Most of the shots that connected diffused into its scales, though occasionally a few shots hit the same scale, causing it to pop like a blister and reveal burnt flesh below. As if realizing that, the guards started to consistently hit the same spots, showing off their incredible training as a squad.

”My bueatiful sscaless!” The reptile shouted as it lunged for another of the guard-

Only to be caught by a heavy swing of an ornate hammer. A buff, giant of a man stepped forward, standing on par with the lizard. Both of them stood several heads taller than me. A close combat specialist, from the looks of things. 

“Pyre, grant me strength!” He swung his two-handed hammer again, the head of which glowed golden. An aura of menace seemed to enshroud him as his muscles bulged with the blow.

The Lyzar slunk under the strike, impossibly contorting its body in a way that would kill any person trying such a thing. But for the reptile, it seemed as easy as breathing. Once more its tail snapped out; this time to contest the strike of the hammer. 

It’s tail connected with the head of the hammer, bringing the full might that had caved in the vault door-

The gold glow pulsed as the hammer slammed through the scaled limb in a spray of gore. Greyscales flew everywhere as the massive Gloomguard blew through the lizard’s tail like it wasn’t even there.

“Agh!” The lizard let out a horrible hissing scream, recoiling as it lunged forward. It used its head to knock the man aside, forcing him to drop his hammer. The vi fire stopped for a moment as the lizard hid its form entirely below the man’s massive frame.

“Hah!” The man attempted to grapple it with a shout-

Only to be overpowered and slammed into the floor. Menacing teeth flashed as it bit forward with its reptilian snout. For a moment, its sharp teeth and maw froze as they caught on the man’s helmet. Several vi shots connected, one even managing to take out its eye as the several broken scales fell free from its body. It was committed to the attack though, refusing to let go.

Then, as the man let out a roar and attempted to plunge a flaming red knife into the Lyzar’s side, its maw slammed closed as the helmet gave way. It easily splintered the Gloomguard’s skull in a spray of blood and gray matter. His massive body went limp, the knife dropping from his hands.

It tried to go invisible once more in an attempt to reposition, though several missing scales revealed little spots of its presence as it sprinted away. That was enough for the trained eyes of the Gloomguard. 

“Die, beast!” With no one still alive in the way, the women who cracked the joker earlier fired her grenade launcher at the beast, catching it in the side. The woman nailed it in the side with the launcher, easily bypassing its optical camo.

An explosion wracked the room, staggering the reptile to the side with a horrendous scream. As the smoke cleared, it’d already disappeared, leaving half of its body and scales behind. Even its chain of ‘trophies’ clattered to the floor with a wet squelch.

A moment later I caught sight of the Lyzar staggering away as blood dripped from its exposed flesh. Its optical camo flickered, unable to sustain itself thanks to its lacking scales. Already, the wound was starting to heal though. New scales slowly started to grow as it ducked behind the machinery on the far side of the room. Even its tail was slowly coming back.

”It’s regenerating! Finish it before it can heal!” The captain shouted as the remaining Gloomguard repositioned to get a clear shot on it. “Move kid! Go for the door, get out of here!”

I finally managed to regain my wits as I felt for the knife at my side. It was close to me now. Our positions in the room had flopped, with the Lyzar hiding behind the machines and the remaining Gloomguard moving by the door, keeping their range.

I sprinted away, putting up distance from our reptilian attacker. I felt a pang deep in my heart as I followed the captain’s order and moved for the door-

The breath knocked out of me as one of the Gloomguard tackled me to the side. I hit the ground hard, rolling a few times as something loudly slammed into the broken door. I glanced up with bleary eyes to see my crappy cot thrown with enough force to edge itself tightly into the door. It’d cut off the escape.

I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see the Lyzar assassin take several shots into its exposed flesh after exposing itself to stop my escape. It hissed sharply as the vi shots burned through its flesh. It once more escaped behind machinery, sacrificing several chunks from its arm for the attempt.

The Gloomguard that tackled me struggled up to his feet, returning to a firing position almost immediately. Before I could even get up, the well-trained soldier was once more firing into the enemy. 

I stagger to my feet, feeling the knife still gripped in my hands. It wouldn’t do anything against such a beast. My eyes snapped to one of the dead guards on the other side of the room. More than anything, I wished I could exchange it for one of the downed guard’s rifles-

A wave of vertigo and exhaustion slammed into my mind as I stumbled to the side. An unexpected heavy weight in my hands nearly caused me to fall over as my balance was thrown entirely off. I held a vi-rifle, my knife nowhere to be seen.

Did I- did I teleport it? What just happened? It was over there a moment ago and now it was here, in my hands. Where the knife had been. It exchanged places-

“It’s behind the anchor!” The captain's voice called, drawing my attention to the more pressing issue at hand.

The edges of my vision swam with dots as I felt the familiar icy thrums of my Flaw beating at me. For now, it was focused on my chest, though the hollowness rapidly expanded. I tried to concentrate, but I felt exhausted as I raised the vi-rifle up.

It was unexpectedly heavy, and the trigger felt sticky as I tried my best to imitate the other’s shooting postures. The other soldier's blood soaked into my clothes from where he’d bled all over the rifle, feeling warm against my freezing body. Great Lord grant me strength.

The world started to shift and skew as my vision split. Half of my vision stared at the interior of the ship, and the other half stared out into a vast sea of sand. Wind picked up, on the half that looked at a dessert, causing the sand to fly at me-

Focus. One piece. Stay whole. My vision returned as I lined up the rifle with the Lyzar as it lunged from its cover for one of the Gloomguard. I squeezed the trigger with freezing hands.

 Mechanisms on the rifle twirled as a mechanical click sounded off. A bolt of golden light launched forth, causing the rifle to kick subtly as the barrel heated up. Not nearly as bad as the revolver, but enough that I could feel it pressing into my shoulder.

After the first shot, the rest was easy. I continued to track the Lyzar to the best of my abilities, firing shot after shot into its already broken body. Although I missed about half of my shots thanks to its speed and partial optical camo, the remaining Gloomguard didn’t. 

Just before the Lyzar could reach the soldier it aimed for, another grenade directly impacted its body, launching the reptile to the ground. It went still, though that didn’t stop the Gloomguard from continuing to fire into its shattered body. I followed their direction. The ground turned red as we blasted it into pieces.

The firing slowed, followed a moment later by a call from the captain. “Cease fire! It’s dead.”

A few more shots hit it just to be sure, though I hardly noticed them as my vision split again. So cold. The piercing cold of my body phasing wracked me entirely as a tremble went through me. The hollowness rapidly spread as exhaustion hammered my head. Soon, my swimming vision turned almost entirely black.

I heard one last shout before everything faded away. “Medic!”