New Story -- Chapter 7

(I decided to start with this new story this week and finish with more Fusionist on Thursday and Friday)

Chapter 7

Rushing through the now-open stone doorway, Thaden barely slowed down as he found himself in a cave unlike any other he’d seen thus far. First off, it was much larger at approximately 150 feet wide and twice that deep, and the ceilings reached 50 feet above his head. In addition, it was brightly lit by magical torches that numbered in the hundreds all around the smoothly carved walls, as well as a dozen pendant-like chandeliers dangling from the ceiling on chains made of what appeared to be iron. Also, along the walls were wide, green fabric banners that draped from approximately 10 feet from the ceiling to just above the floor, spaced out so that reminded him of stripes on a circus tent.

The floor was flat and shiny like polished marble, though it had enough grit to it that it wasn’t slippery. Standing upright on the floor were iron lamps with green flames spaced approximately 10 feet away from each other, flanking a pathway 20 feet wide that led toward the end of the cave – though calling it a cave at this point was a bit of a misnomer because it was more of a throne room. That was because a throne made of polished stone sat at the end of the pathway, and on it was a Vogmite that was also different than any other Thaden had seen thus far, as this one was wearing what looked like a crude steel band on its head, with a few uncut green gemstones seemingly hammered into it as if it were some sort of royal crown.

When it stood up at his entrance, he also discovered that it was also at least 12 feet tall, which was certainly different from even the Foreman he’d just killed.

Vogmite Queen (Boss) – Minimal

Level 12

Queen? Is that supposed to be a female?

It looked exactly the same as all the others he’d killed, though he supposed that the delicate-looking, silver-colored scepter in its hand looked feminine. The long object had a green flame on top that flickered threateningly and seemed to expand as the Queen stood up.

Not that he cared at the moment, because his mind – while tangentially taking in the details of the room and his target – was only on one thing.

Revenge.

He heard a snarl leave his mouth as he used every iota of energy he still had left to race across the room toward the royal Vogmite, who stepped down from the dais where the throne sat. Before he was even halfway to his future victim, a wave of the scepter and a flare of the green flame above it caused a wall of green flames to spring up in front of him, even as he noticed a roiling ball of flames appear approximately 20 feet above and in front of him, growing from the size of a baseball to a basketball within seconds.

The analytical part of his mind catalogued this new information while the rest pushed his murderous urges, and he knew that the Weak Repulsion Field wasn’t going to be much good against his enemy. As such, he deactivated his protective barrier and stopped abruptly, about 5 feet from the wall of flames. Even as he started casting Weak Healing, the basketball-sized ball of flames shot straight at his chest, hitting with an explosive impact that sent him stumbling and falling on his back. Despite the hit, and the fact that his chest and lower neck were burning and melting from the green flames, his single-minded focus on killing all the Vogmites he saw allowed him to maintain his spellcasting without interruption. He had barely hit the ground before the Healing began to soothe some of the burns, though he was still technically on fire.

He didn’t care at this point, however, as it was just pain; he and the agony of flesh burning from magical flames were old friends by that point. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel it, or even ignore it; instead, it was as if it was an inconvenience that he needed to do whatever he could to push through in order to accomplish his goal. As such, he needed to heal his damaged body so that he could move, which was why he switched to his channeled healing spell. It was a means to an end – and that end would be the complete annihilation of every Vogmite he saw.

Even as the spell began to provide him with healing energy, another ball of green flames appeared above him, growing in size. Seeing its intention, he rolled to the side just as it shot downward, missing him by a few feet, though the explosion upon impact sent even more flames to splash against his left arm, burning him through his sleeves. Gritting his teeth as he struggled to his feet, he was nearly hit by another projectile as he stood up, but he managed to duck down so that it passed over his head.

Without any other thought, Thaden ran toward the wall of green flames blocking his way forward. He didn’t stop or hesitate as he pushed through the thick barrier, screaming as his entire body caught on fire, reminiscent of when he had activated the trap earlier. Instead of stopping as he did before, as his Weak Healing spell and Weak Regeneration were still actively healing his melting flesh, he continued running even as he felt some of his muscles and ligaments falter as they were practically liquified.

Although he didn’t think it could happen, his rage only expanded as the pain was so incredible that he started losing any coherent thought by that point. All that was left at that point was the agony and his target – though he couldn’t see it at this point.

That was because the Assistant Healer was also temporarily blinded as the flames filled his face, but he kept running despite that, his anger fueling a drive that promised that he was moving in the right direction. A few seconds later as the flames guttered out and the healing energy could gain some ground, he was able to see through restored eyes that he was only about 10 feet away from the Queen, and he snarled as he brought his hands up as if he was going to snap its neck.

That wasn’t likely, given that its neck was a few feet out of reach, but he wasn’t really thinking clearly by that point.

Another fireball smashed into him from the back, sending him stumbling forward from the impact, and he landed only a few feet away from the royal Vogmite. As he struggled to his feet, the Queen angled its scepter and a green beam shot toward his head, and he barely moved it aside before it hit his forehead. As it was, the left side of his face and his ear were on fire, including his left eye, which gave him only one to see through, but that was all he needed.

With an incomprehensible snarl, he leapt forward, only to be smacked away with the surprisingly sturdy implement in the Queen’s hand. He realized that it was a lot larger than he thought it was, given his perspective from before, because it was at least the size – and weight – of a solid steel pipe approximately 5 feet long. As it smashed against his upper left arm, knocking him to the side, he felt something give under his flesh as the bone broke, but it was just another torturous pain that he acknowledged and did his best to work through, especially as he managed to get back to his feet after a double healing from Healing and Regeneration.

Expecting another green fireball to slam into him, he braced for the impact but was momentarily surprised out of his raging state when nothing hit him. Instead, the Queen was approaching him with its scepter held like some sort of weapon, and a point on its lower end indicated that it wasn’t just for show; the scepter was also meant for smashing and stabbing.

Even though he wasn’t anywhere near healed yet, as a part of his back was still on fire and his left arm was still useless from the half-healed break, he canceled his Weak Healing spell and snapped his fingers, a grim smile on his face as he charged back at the Queen. The royal Vogmite obviously hadn’t gotten the memo about his protective barrier, because it tried to hit him again with the large piece of metal in its hand – which was a very poor idea. As soon as it impacted against his Field, the scepter was suddenly repelled with a small amount of force; however, even that little amount was enough to knock it out of the Queen’s hand, not necessarily due to the strength of repulsion, but from sheer surprise.

As it flew a few feet and then skittered along the ground, no longer in the royal Vogmite’s possession, Thaden hadn’t stopped his charge. Given that his target’s height was twice his own, the Assistant Healer aimed low and did his best impersonation of a football tackle as he slammed into its left knee with his shoulder. While he’d never played sports when he was younger, he’d watched plenty of it on TV, so he thought he knew what he was doing.

Unfortunately, he’d forgotten that football players usually wore pads to protect themselves, and they also typically didn’t run straight into a bony appendage twice the size it should be. As a result, he felt something in his right shoulder crack as soon as he made contact with the Vogmite’s knee; fortunately for him, his momentum and weight was enough to actually do some damage as the Queen’s leg bent backwards. As he bounced off the leg and fell flat on his face, his exhaustion, ongoing pain, and lack of energy making it hard to pick himself up, he turned his head when a shadow fell over him, just in time to see the giant Vogmite falling on him.

He couldn’t move even if he had the energy, as his arm and shoulder were incapacitated and he could barely get to his knees, let alone roll out of the way.

It turned out that he needn’t have worried about moving, because his Weak Repulsion Field was more than enough to protect him. As the Queen fell on top of him, it repelled its heavy body with enough force that it lifted up a foot or so before crashing back down on him. When it was hit again, it was repulsed again, though with slightly greater force than before, sending it up a foot and a half. This repeated again and again as the repulsion force increased, acting like some sort of magical trampoline as the bounces became more and more violent.

Finally getting some much-needed relief from his Weak Regeneration, Thaden was finally able to stand up, and his efforts just so happened to occur when the Queen was landing on him again. The impact with the Field was much greater than before because he was moving upwards, and it sent the Vogmite flying off at an angle behind him; when he went to go see what happened to his target, he was confused at what had happened, though it quickly became obvious when he saw the dying Queen.

It had been flung up and away at just the right angle that it landed on top of one of the lamps that lined the pathway up to its throne, and it seemed as though the iron lamp was firmly attached to the stone floor. This was obvious because it didn’t move in the slightest when the large Vogmite’s chest was impaled by it, and the still-lit lamp had pierced the entire way through, trapping it in place.

But it wasn’t dead yet. That was both good and bad, as far as Thaden was concerned; it was good because he wanted to be the one to finish it off, but it was also bad because the Vogmite just so happened to impale itself on a lamp close to the scepter that had been knocked out of its hands.

Seeing another wall of green flames appear – surrounding him this time – once the Queen got its hands on the large steel weapon, Thaden once again canceled his Field and cast his Weak Healing spell. Thankfully, no balls of flame appeared from above to slam into him, so he let the healing energy flow through him for a few seconds, and after his shoulder popped back into place and the last of his burns were soothed away, he rushed through the encircling flames with his arm over his eyes, hoping that it would protect them from being completely annihilated like last time. When he made it through the ring of green fire, his entire body was on fire again, but his eyes were thankfully undamaged when he pulled his arm free.

He growled at the unbelievable pain he was experiencing, but also from the sight of the Queen attempting to use its scepter to push itself up and off of the impaling lamp. Not wanting to give it a chance to escape, Thaden scrambled forward with his melting flesh and muscles, arriving through sheer force of will at its head, where he attempted to punch it with all his might. His exhaustion and still injured physique did him in, however, as all he ended up doing was falling on its face as he unbalanced himself, and he let out an “oomph” as the air blasted out his lungs from the impact against its hard surface.

He landed with his arm halfway inside the mouth of the royal Vogmite, who foolishly chose to bite down on it. As its jaws were repulsed and opened wider, the act ended up hitting the Thaden’s chest – or at least it tried to, because his Field kicked in once again, sending the Queen’s entire head snapping downward. The movement caused the entire body of the Vogmite to shift downward on the lamp it was impaled upon, and as the skull of the royal monster bounced off the floor and hit him again, this whole series of events repeated itself over and over with rapidity. Within a few seconds, the Queen had essentially hammered itself down the lamp to the floor, and its head was being pounded by his Field before he could begin to recover from his fall.

Just before its skull cracked and it died, Thaden managed to slip off the side and smash his fist into its temple, and he was pleasantly surprised when his hand didn’t just bounce off. Instead, the pounding it had taken from his Field had softened it up enough that his fist punched through the fractured bone and into its brain up to his forearm. All he could feel was squishiness by that point, and he went to pull his hand out and punch the Queen once again, but the royal Vogmite suddenly spasmed for a brief second before falling completely still.

His anger was still burning enough that he was willing to beat up the dead monster, but his strength gave out as he removed his arm from its head, and he collapsed on the floor, entirely unable to shift himself once he stopped moving.

Thaden closed his eyes as he felt himself collapsing on the floor next to the dead body of the Vogmite Queen, the anger slowly draining from his mind along with his consciousness. By the time he was fully laid out on the floor, he drifted away into a semi-unconscious state, though instead of the void of dreamless sleep, he was plagued by visions of another sort.

Memories of his life before he was transported away from Earth first flowed through his mind. He recalled his relatively inexpensive apartment in the Chesterton suburbs, which was minimally decorated because he didn’t believe in furnishing it with anything but what he absolutely needed. Pictures of his parents were the only thing on the walls, which were over a decade old; it wasn’t because he failed to find time to get new ones, but because they had both passed away due to a gas-line rupture under their house a week after he graduated High School. It felt like so long ago that he barely thought about it anymore, though for some reason he thought about it now.

His work had been fulfilling and allowed him to do things on his own terms, though it wasn’t as all-encompassing as it seemed to be according to the few friends he had acquired in college. At least, that was his impression because every time he contacted them over the last few years, they were always super busy. He hadn’t even seen a single one of them in person in at least half a decade, though it didn’t bother him too much – and it still didn’t now. Living half a country away made visiting a bit difficult, anyway.

The few relationships he’d had with women over the years were so unmemorable that he could barely recall their names and faces, and none of them had lasted more than a few weeks. He regretted being the one that had drawn away, not wanting to put time in maintaining contact after the first few dates, and he wished he could go back and see what would’ve happened if he had actually put some effort into the relationships. As it was, he didn’t really have a serious connection to anyone back home, and given that he was an only child, he didn’t have any siblings that he missed.

Why am I thinking about this?

The answer to his mental question was quickly answered when the visions in his head changed from his own memories to something that didn’t belong to him.

A view of the massive glass-walled room that he had only temporarily visited before being rejected appeared in his mind, but this time it was accompanied by a robotic, genderless voice.

“Welcome, Contenders! The many of you have been selected to represent your planet and species by coming to Tarth, one of many feeder worlds leading to Assimilation. Only by completing the challenges lined out by the Training that is about commence will you be able to move on to additional objectives. Fulfilling these objectives is paramount to your own survival, as well as the survival of your planet.

“Know this: You cannot ever return to your planet, but your accomplishments will reflect on the worthiness of your species, and thereby your planet, in the greater context of Assimilation. Fight well, survive, and demonstrate your individual and team skills in the coming centuries… or don’t. The choice is up to you. Be aware that after the first year, those who have not advanced past Level 1 will be forcibly removed from the world, as you will automatically be rejected by Assimilation. This threshold will increase over time, but any that are intent on bettering themselves should not worry about not meeting the requisite Level quotas.

“With all that being said, it is now time to begin your Train—"

The vision cut off at that point, which Thaden thought was likely because it was at that point that he was kicked out of the massive space and transported into the top of an active volcano. The information he gained from the vision’s voice was at least helpful in the sense that he understood a little bit more of why he was there in… Tarth… in the first place, though it lacked severe details on who it was that brought him and all the other people there in the first place. Was it this mysterious Assimilation? Was it some sort of cosmic god playing with people’s lives like they were some sort of amusing experiment?

Whatever it was, he had no way of finding that out at the moment. In fact, the only thing he could think of right now was taking a short nap to try and regain some of his energy.

So that was exactly what he did.