After the loud roar the shadow turns back towards John. His face turns white, "it is looking at me" flashes through his mind. Without the sun in his eyes his vision clears. John can see the grayish skin covering the giant humanoid shape. What he thought was a head is simply a large mass coming out of the top of the shape. Those red lights cover most of the top section and 6 can be clearly seen.
The large mouth of this nightmare starts halfway through the "head" and ends about where the belly button would be on the shape. The creature looks like a rough mold of a person made out of clay. The whole surface is irregular. The arms end in three rough digits with a squarish shape. The legs end in larger ends without any "feet" to speak of. All the appendages don't seem to have any joints and simply curve over the whole length.
On its back the skin begins to deform and form those tentacles again. 12 push out over its head forming a rough semi circle behind it at the ends. John is still frozen in place. The ends then all turn and point towards him. The mass shifts slightly as if facing him. The round mouth seems to quiver in anticipation of the slaughter.
John thinks it is the end, the thought of his wife and daughter flash through his mind again. With his last bit of strength he struggles to his feet. Turning, he begins to quickly limp away from the shadow. "I won't die here!" He keeps repeating to himself audibly. A chill flows down his spine at what he hears next. A deep, slow, booming laugh can be heard slowly coming from behind him. After a few moments it's followed by "struggle puny human, agonize before I devour you".
————————————
Deep in space, a silver dot can be seen streaming towards a small solar system in the Milky Way galaxy.
This silver dot is the fanelian battle cruiser Tigress. The shape is thick if a sloped and rounded front. A large bulge can be seen near the top with a large shielded port. The length of the ship is almost a full mile from end to end with the width at its widest section near the last quart of its length being almost s third of a mile. It's surface is smooth even with all the tiny windows lining its surface.
There are areas with no windows. Bands going around the meridians of the ship and bands going from top to bottom every quarter length of the ship. Looking from the front there is a large square section of the hull with no windows.
Deep in the center of the ship, a man stands on a round platform wearing what looks to be a white sleeveless long coat. Metal coiled tubes attached to metal bracers are attached to each of his arms.
Moe speaks out to the room. "How soon till I can rail in". The soft voice of Amelia sounds in the room "another 5 mites, we are just about to start the deceleration".
Right after she says this the ships system Tina's mechanical voice blares out. "All hands secure, rapid deceleration to begin in 10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1". At the end of the countdown the magnadrive reverses polarity and the ships inertial dampers strain to the limit with the force. The ship passes Pluto in a streak and begins to rapidly drop speed.
Anything not tied down flies to the front of the ship. Moe grits his teeth but doesn't seem to shift a millimeter. Time inches by waiting for the distance to close. Another voice is heard from the speaker, "captain, rapid deceleration has bought us 1 shard, but we are depleting the main crystal."
Angel replies "I don't give a damn, as long as we have enough to get back to a charging station we will be fine. Moe are you almost ready? Amelia what's the status on rail usage?"
Moe stands there listening to the commotion on the bridge. He looks to a panel on the wall staring at a chart with a blue dot and a white dot on it. In front of the white dot a line can be seen. His foot begins to tap on the ground in annoyance and the fur on his slim tail frizes, while the tips flips back and forth.
Amelia's voice suddenly overshadows the rest with panic in its tone "RELIC UPDATE!!! Energy signature has just crosses from large to giant!!! Oh no the energy is rising it's now a high energy class a!!!!!"
Moe grits his teeth and growls. "Tina update my shards to the high output ones". A panel on the wall opens and Moe pulls his sleeveless robe off of his shoulders and exposes the pack on his back. Two panels on the pack open and in each is a fist sized blue crystal. Two mechanical arms come out of the walls and move toward the openings in the pack. Each grasps it's appropriate crystal and removes them from the chambers in time. In perfect sync the arms move the crystals from the pack to the open space in the wall.
The arms place the crystals inside the wall and the panel closes. Next to it another panel opens and two melon sized white crystals can be seen. The air seems to ripple around these crystals as they visibly emit energy into the air. The arms grasp the crystals in their "hands" and move them to the back. In the brief time it takes the arms to move from the wall to the pack the hands grasping the crystals have begun to glow hot white.
The hands quickly place the crystals in their places in the pack and move away. Steam rises in the air from the ends of the arms. The pack closes quickly and Moe pulls up his robe again. The coiled metal lines on his arm begin to glow a soft white as the energy moves out of the crystals and flows to his bracers.
Besides the physical differences between male and female fanelians, there is one critical difference. Aside from extremely rare cases, only male fanelians can control shard energy with their will. Because of this fact, all priests are male.
Priests are graded based on how easily and how much volume of shard energy they can manipulate. Your basic class D priest can only move at most a full shards worth of energy and has only enough control to move it into a rough shape and direction. Class C priests have a little more control allowing them to focus the direction and shape of the energy. Class B has the added ability to quickly manipulate the energy while also being able to absolutely focus the shape and direction with accuracy.
Class A however is a completely different tier on its own. Adding all of the control and power of the previous classes they even have the ability to condense the energy into even more powerful forms. Not only that, but their adept manipulation allows them to not only perform attacks but also produce defensive measures such as shields and in some cases armor.
One of the other issues with fanelian genes ,and some has suspected is related to the low production of male children, is the lack of internal energy present in current generations of fanelians.
According to legends, hundreds of thousands of cycles ago fanelians did not have to rely on external shard energy unless they were performing amazing feats such as flying a starship or destroying a whole planet.
For some reason over the ages the purity and amount of internal energy in fanelians has decreased. This has led to the development of supplement systems to provide additional shard energy directly to the controller. These systems now have become the core of the priest defense force.
There are many different Shapes and sizes of supplement systems, but two ways to use them . You have radiating style systems which are what most charging stations are. Then you have direct systems which require contact. There are two types of these systems. Low put out and high output.
Low output are the most common supplement systems in use. Because of their common use and every day availability these are usually referred to as trinkets or trinks for short. Many trinks even have built in controls allowing anyone to use them.
High output systems are typically used in atmospheric vehicles, priest systems, and body assist systems. While there are three main uses for high output systems, their cores only have two options. Generator types and weapon types. Generator types are used in both vehicles and and body assist systems.
Vehicles are usually referred to as carts or cruisers depending on their size and function. Either of these only use the high output generator to fuel their thrust systems.
Body assist systems are a bit different. You have simple versions that are able to be worn under clothing and can enhance basic physical attributes. Up to fully armored suits that encase the wearer completely. Because of this they are usually called gear.
Priests use the weapon system variety. Most weapon system supplements have no built in controls. The ones priests use rely completely on the users will to operate. They come in two versions internal and external.
Most priests only require the external systems as they can't control enough volume of energy to require direct injection of shard energy into their bodies. These systems are very limited in their function and use. The benefit to these though is they can be made smaller and don't require large dense shards to operate. These are usually called claws.
If a priest can control enough energy he is given an internal system. These systems have theoretically no limits on their use. If the user has enough will and enough energy, they could even create an explosion that would rival a modern atomic bomb. Because of this there is a huge risk to use an internal system. Instead of the shard energy of the priest being filtered through their system naturally like external systems, it is forced directly into the blood and marrow of the priest. Without enough control, a priests body could become overloaded and literally burst with energy. These systems are usually called reactors.
There have been a few young priests who were cocky enough to attempt the use of a reactor without enough experience to control them. Some simply lost limbs, while others exploded into bloody paste when the reactor was activated.
If a priest has enough control, even with only the use of a claw over a reactor, they can strengthen their body internally allowing them to move faster, hit harder, and take increased impacts.
Every priest up to a class A requires the use of a claw or a reactor to be able to fight. This in fact is the limit that determines the difference between a class A and class S priest. While a class A priest can only fight at peak combat with the use of a reactor, a class S will be able to fight without needing any kind of supplement at all. The last class S priest was recorded in the books as existing over 10,000 cycles ago.
Moe is considered a top class A priest. His level of control and volume outclassed the next best priest by a factor of 2 in his ranking class. In current overall rankings his volume is ranked 5th but his control is ranked 2nd. The person who currently holds the 1st place ranking in both control and volume is the fanelian king Ahlren. The king also controls the priesthood as the top ranked priest.
The royal bloodline of fanelia goes back to the originals in the history books over 75,000 cycles. Because of this royal and noble blood relatives seem to suffer less from the inherent energy control and supply issues of most commoners. This allows them greater peaks and increased numbers of females with the ability to control shard energy.
Moe is not of royal blood. His name is actually short for Moe-Ru pronounced "MO Eh Roo" his family name is Planesmen. Family names for fanelians usually stem from either their profession or family's place of origin.
The planes on fanelia are a vast band that wraps completely around the center meridian of their home planet separating the northern and southern oceans. The plains are also where the bulk of the farming and agriculture is performed on their home world. While Moes family originated from the plains, they had long sensed moved to Crystal City the capital of Fanelia. This did not stop others from teasing him regarding his family name while growing up.
The Kings family name is Crystal in reference to the original family which discovered the energy shards. Being the first family to discover these natural batteries, they were the first family to be able to absorb the benefits of the shards.
Amelia shouts out of the speaker in the room. "Rail usage in 30 steps. Moe get ready!"
Moe crosses his arms over his chest holding himself tightly. He pushes his heels close together and wraps his tail around his waist. He takes a deep breath as Amelia begins to count down from 15. When she reaches ten a clear fluid begins to pour out of the ceiling directly on Moes head. The fluid quickly covers his whole body in a mater of 4 steps. When the countdown reaches 5, the floor under him opens and he falls into a metal chamber. At 2 a panel on the front of the ship opens revealing a cylindrical hole under it. When the countdown ends a blue light envelopes the fluid covered Moe and he quickly gets shot through the ship and out of the hole in the front. He looks like a beam of light leaving the ship as it crosses mars.
While the ship was en route to earth, Angel had brainstormed this rediculous idea. By hard decelerating to the planet it allowed them to keep the ship at maximum velocity longer cutting time off the clock. And then using the ships rail canons they would shoot Moe towards the planet at an accelerated rate allowing him to get there even sooner than the ship. The reason they had to wait for a particular moment was to line the ship up with the planet and the area they had read the relic crashed into.
While the rail canons were used for transport and also a weapon system, they usually required a landing platform with inertia dampening gel to catch the travelers so they didn't turn into greasy spots like a bug hitting a windshield at 100mph.
The only reason Moe agreed to this rediculous idea is because he was mostly sure he could use his reactor to boost his internal abilities and create a shield that would allow him to absorb the impact. While he wasn't completely sure, a little teasing at his ego from Angel and Coleen had pushed him over the edge. He would show them who is a wimp!
These thoughts were the ones he had as he rocketed through space like a living middle towards earth. Moe charged his energy to peak and created a shield around his body as he neared the planet. He could see a giant white flash come from the surface of the planet as he approached and a few moments later his shield touched atmosphere. As soon as he felt the pull of the planets gravity aiding his speed he put his hands and feet between himself and the ground. Concentrating hard flames of energy appeared from his palms and the soles of his feet. The flames grew quickly and acted as thrust to slow his fall. As he nears the ground breaking through the clouds he can see a giant crater with a huge gray shadow at its edge. Moving closer rapidly he increases his thrust even more till he almost freezes in the air. Taking that brief moment he points his hands at the shadow and large blue energy orbs begin to form. While those orbs are forming he sees the relic grow tentacles from its back. The giant blue orbs quickly condense into palm sized white orbs. When he sees the tentacles form points and all seem to point towards a single spot on the ground he shouts "DOUBLE STAR CANON!!!!" And the two palm sized white orbs explode into a massive energy beam that shoots directly towards the top of the relic.
From the ground John holds his breath thinking the end is almost here. His eyes catch a sudden white flash from above and he looks to see a giant beam of white light suddenly blast down into the top of the giant gray shadow. John looks over and sees a flipped over freight truck and dives behind it.
The next moment another shockwave shakes the truck John is hiding behind and dust, wind and white fire roar past the edges. When it stops he craws to the edge and looks back. He sees the giant grey shadow with a gaping hole going from its very top right down through the center of it. Smoke still rising from it.
In the air Moe scoffs at the relic "well that wasn't that hard. Weren't you supposed to be some giant high energy class A bastard? You died pretty quickly!!!" The flames under the soles of his feet slowly bringing him down towards the ground. As he is about to touch the surface of this planet, a loud deep roaring laugh begins to echo in the air. The laugh is coming from the large mouth of the relic.