Chereads / Out of Space / Chapter 525 - IT

Chapter 525 - IT

UNS Vengeance, Flight Deck A, Munition Stores

Racky the goblin was a red jacket, an Ordnanceman onboard the Vengeance. He was also the head priest of the Faith of Superior Firepower!'s chapter onboard the Vengeance. And now, wielding a mighty piece of white chalk, he was blessing the racks of 127 mm heavy anti ship rockets that were being transported up the armoured elevator to the top decks to be loaded onto the returning aircraft.

He scribbled phrases from the Faith's canon onto the sides of the deadly rockets while chanting along with a few other Ordnance men of the Faith. "Hail Fire Pawer! The More... the Merrier! Hehehehe!"

The rest of the Ordnance men on the elevator watched their antics with interest, some even nodding in agreement to their chants. The armoured roof slowly swung open as the elevator reached the top and sunlight flooded in. The red jackets started to wheel and push the racks of rockets to their holding areas but suddenly, Racky paused in his actions. His large puffy eyes bugled out as if he was suffering from a heart attack as he clutched his chest, crumpling his jacket and shirt.

The others halted in their actions and quickly ran over in concern and supported him against the rack of rockets. "Racky? You okay?"

"My... chest!" Racky gasped in pain. "I... I can feel it!"

"Feel what?" The rest of the Ordnance men was confused. "You need a medic?"

"No!" Racky stood up wobbly. "I have to find it!"

"Find what?" Racky's words were confusing everyone. "You better get to the med bay for a check up!"

"No check up! Racky fine!" Racky started heading towards the central superstructure. "It's calling me! I got to go!"

With that Racky ran off towards the hatch leaving behind the rest scratching their heads. "Goblins... crazy as always..."

-----

UNS Vengeance, Battleship Central, Magic Converter Array Room

Magister Thorn hammered the red button hard, but something was wrong. The supposed ejection mechanism did not work as the containment unit was still sitting inside the sealed room. The mage techs all had a look of terror in their faces as they watched Magister Thorn mashed the button again and again.

Sweat dripped down from Magister Thorn's head as he gave up trying to jettison the containment unit. Instead, he turned to the mage techs around him and quickly ordered. "Use whatever ice spells you all know to quickly cool down the dungeon core! Or it will cause a catastrophic disaster to the ship!"

The dozen mage techs inside the Magic Converter Array Room quickly followed Magister Thorn's commands. The fire retardant was still spraying a cloud of foam which barely slowed the fast rising temperature of the dungeon core. The sealing case has long melted away and revealed an eye searing glow from within the cloud of foam.

The mage techs surrounded the containment unit and started chanting spells. Magic circles appeared before the mage techs as spells of cold elements started forming and hot air inside the room started to cool down.

Ice crystals started to form in the air but they quickly turned into pools of warm water, yet the mage techs did not give up as they continued to recast their spells. Magister Thorn assisted as much as he could, channelling spell after spell to keep the heat at bay.

Damage control parties came rushing in to support, carrying rolls of hoses that were connected to water pumps and started hosing the containment unit and the decks started to get flooded with warm water.

Mage techs dressed in protective gear started heading towards the manual overrides for the jettison mechanism under the spray of seawater and ice spells. Using socket wrenches, they worked the cranks, turning the ejection bay doors under the containment unit open inch by inch.

-----

For an unknown amount of time, It has known darkness. The once bright and beautiful surging flames and heat had disappeared when It was cast into the between with the Others. It had embraced the cold and darkness, unlike the Others whose rage It could feel even in the void. But time won in the end, and even emotions turned cold in the darkness.

It slept, conserving what remaining power It has left and over time, It was forgotten as It drifted in the void. But suddenly, It had woke up. Something stirred in the void, calling It and as It slowly regained clarity, It found a tiny thread of divinity had burrowed into its divine spark. Something was calling It and the power was tickling into Its divine spark and nourishing it.

The amount of power was masculine, like a tiny drop of water in a dried up ocean, but divine power was power, no matter how small the offerings were. The tiny drop of divinity had made It come out of Its deep sleep. The cold and darkness of the void made It scared as It was blind and It's power depleted and the long sleep had made Its memories too fragmented for It to understand and remember anything.

Like a newborn baby, It reached out to the only thing that gave it comfort and warmth, the tiny thread that was linked to its divinity. It followed the thread blindly, wanting to depart from the cold and terrible void. Suddenly, It felt something blocking its path, making It unable to follow the link.

It could feel a soft barrier blocking Its way and no matter how hard It tried to claw or rip at the barrier, It could not remove it. For the first time after aeons, It found frustration. It continued to try to force Its way through, clutching as hard as It could to the only lifeline It had.

The tiny flow of divinity within the link suddenly increased a tiny fold and that amount of power actually gave It enough strength to actually break through the barrier before It! Suddenly, It found Itself able to continue on, and It hurriedly followed the link.

Faster! It urged Itself, as It sped through the void and slowly, a glow appeared before It and suddenly, It found Itself in a world of brightness and warmth.

-----

The Magic Array Converter room was sited right beside the twelve inch thick high tensile steel belt armour near the middle port side of the central hull. A sloping chute with armoured doors was connected to the Magic Array Converter room right underneath where the containment unit was.

The containment unit was suspended over a series of supports held with explosive bolts that will blast the containment unit down once the quick drop trap door was triggered. The containment unit will slide down the sloping chute and out from the side of the hull and into the sea.

Technically, this was a last minute addition to the ship's plans and was a job done in a couple of days by the highly motivated goblin technicians who viewed the whole contraption as funny. They did test the jettison mechanism several times by volunteering themselves to be blasted down the chute and off the ship. The mechanism was rated to work and supposed to work, but for some reason, it had failed and the mage techs in protective suits were sweating bullets as they worked the manual overrides in the broiling heat.

Finally, the trap door underneath the containment unit had opened up and the air within the room instantly cool slightly. Magister Thorn quickly yelled at the mage techs, "Get back! And hit the support with a fire spell! Now!"

Just as a mage tech raised his palms up to conjure a magic circle for a fireball spell. A small figure in a red Ordnance jacket rushed into the room squeaking loudly. "STOP! STOP! YAaMERUUU!"

Surprised by the sudden appearance of the goblin, everyone paused in their actions as they stared at the small figure who had rushed out in front of the containment and raised his short stubby hands up to block everyone despite the broiling temperature.

"STOP YOU FOOLS!" The goblin hopped wildly on the spot. "It's here! YOU NO THROW IT AWAY!"

Magister Thorn stepped forward and quickly said, "Leave at once! The dungeon core has gone out of control! If we do not drop it out of the ship... It will damage the ship greatly!"

"NO! FOOLS!" The goblin yelled back. "It is here! So says the Faith of Superior Firepower!"

"What is here?" Magister Thorn suddenly felt a chill down his spine despite the boiling hot temperatures. "Did... something by mistake got summoned here?"

"The Faith of Superior Firepower! make no mistakes!" The goblin yapped on. "Our Faith has been answered! HAIL FIREPOWEER!"

Just as the goblin finished his salute, the temperature in the room suddenly disappeared, returning back to normal in an instant. The warning sirens instantly quietened down and everyone's attention was at the glow inside of the containment unit which was covered in foam.

The sudden change in temperature made the crew shiver as they stared in confusion and fear at the unknown event that was happening before their very eyes. Only the goblin seemed to be excited as he kept hopping around and chanting, "Firepower is the greatest! Nothing can defeat Firepower! If ya fail, it means ya had not brought enuff Firepower! Hail Firepower!"

Magister Thorn wiped the cold sweat that had formed on his face and inched closer to the containment unit, his palm readying a spell to hit the explosives on the supports. The glowing light inside the containment unit slowly died out and nothing could be seen from the window ports.

Magister Thorn hesitated as he wondered should he just blast the whole thing away into the sea when the goblin ran forward. The goblin went up against the containment unit's hatches as he tried to undogged the hatch, but his strength was not high enough.

Finally, curiosity overwhelmed Magister Thorn's mind and he gestured to the mage techs to help the goblin open the containment unit to see what was inside. The mage techs lent their strength to the goblin and together, they swung opened the unit and peered cautiously inside. Magister Thorn joined them and stared into the hatch and only saw a large strange floating orb which surface looked like layered lava rock.

"What in heavens is this...?" Magister Thorn blurted out just as the goblin ran into the containment unit and touched the floating orb that was larger than him. "STOP HIM!"

-----

It finally felt comfortable after a long long time, something which It did not expect to. The link to its divine spark was stronger and the flow of divinity was also thicker compared to before, making It feel alive again.

Its surrounding was no longer dark, cold and silent. It could hear sounds for the first time after aeons, and the sounds felt so strange and alien at the same time. It could sense life energy surrounding It and something that felt really comfortable right before It.

It could sense a small being touching It, whose touch made It shrunk back from the unfamiliar feel but also It could sense a kind of closeness to the small being as if the divine link was connected to this being. It sensed Its surroundings which appeared in tones and hues of bright colours and found Itself in some kind of enclosure.

More alien voices could be felt from the Its surroundings but at this time, It did not feel threatened and in fact, It felt It has finally broken free from the void. It decided to settle down here and regain Its strength with the help of the divine link and also if possible Its memories that had eroded away over the course of Its time trapped inside the dark and cold void.

Hence, It ignored the life forms around It and concentrated on absorbing more of the divinity from the link and It fell into a deep sleep again.