Eron's hunt was going reasonably well until a demon shadow started following him.
Eron stalked methodically through the sun-bleached savannah, sandals crunching quietly on the yellow grass, each snap of a dry blade was like a crack of a city dweller's lazgun on his straining ears. He had tracked the Koribast for the past two days, living off nuts and dried fruit. If he got this kill, his clan would be eating well for the next two weeks.
Eron was close. He could see the back of the discolored gray and red armored plates of the Koribast grazing on the stunted Hallopy trees it favored. Eron moved more slowly, making sure the wind was with him, the hearth-star to his back as it etched his tall, solid figure into the scorching ground. He would not mess up another kill. The Koribast made a deep, rumbling groan and turned. Eron forced himself to stay still despite his pounding heart. The Koribast simply moved to the side to get at another spindly tree, presenting its side, giving him more vulnerabilities within its layered armor that he could hit. Even better.
Eron silently strung his compound bow while getting the best look at the animal yet. The Koribast was old, indicated by the many scars on its plated armor. Its short, reinforced neck was a coil of regrown muscle and battered armor flanked with wicked horns protruding from the shoulders. Eron selected the middle leg for its slightly larger exposed point compared to the back legs while he nocked an arrow. The front was a non-option for Eron as the legs kept readjusting too much for his liking while the Koribast grazed on the Hallopy tree. Eron drew until the compound's inner strings took the brunt of the weight, allowing him time to take aim while at full draw for the long shot. Uri would have disapproved, in fact a good portion of the clans that littered Korboro would have disliked a city dweller's bow design, it still wasn't a lazgun though.
A cough in the wind unexpectedly flew through, rustling the grass and Hallopy leaves. Even more unexpectedly the Koribast bolted because of this, charging through the trees before Eron could react and fire. What was that? Did the Koribast catch my scent? Eron thought as he lowered his bow in frustration. He heard the rustling move away from him in all directions, as if he was in the epicenter of this planet's most discreet bomb. "…What?" Eron said out loud at the anomaly.
Then he saw it when he turned around.
A living shadow, black as the deepest caves, standing just ten feet away from him. It was slightly shorter than Eron, with only the most basic human features, its feet and hands had fingers and toes, but no nails. The black humanoid's head had no eyes, ears or a mouth but it had the contours of a nose and eye sockets with a squarish hair line and yet no individual strands. The hearth-star seemed to glisten off the inky black surface, giving the front facing the hearth-star a slight sheen.
All nerves throughout Eron's body immediately fired and he involuntarily took a step back, dry grass cracking in the ominously now silent wind.
The shadow stepped forward, making absolutely no sound. Eron nearly screamed but stood firm, holding his ground. Eron and the shadow stood there for a long moment, staring at eachother, at least Eron thought the shadow was looking at him, he could not tell, the humanlike features were to basic. Eron slowly took another step back. It stepped forward without hesitation but maintained its original distance, still absolutely silent. Eron risked a step forward towards the shadow. No reaction, it simply stood there. Eron started to test his limits, heart still racing, he took two steps backwards, the shadow took one step towards him in compensation. Eron didn't want to touch the shadow creature, but he wanted to know if it was corporeal, a threat. He slowly reached down and picked up a small, sun-bleached rock, keeping his eyes on the shadow the entire time. Eron breathed in and tossed it at the shadow.
The shadow suddenly grabbed the rock mid-air with its hand and threw it back at Eron three times as hard. It hit him squarely in the chest. Eron cried out and clutched his chest, shock and surprise coursed through him in response to the shadow's quick, efficient movements. The shadow simply stepped forward to maintain the ten-foot distance, acting as if nothing had happened.
"What are you?" Eron asked.
The shadow gave no indication that It had even heard him. Eron decided not to use his bow on the demon as his chest deadened to a small ache.
This wasn't the greatest idea but Eron was starting to get more comfortable with the boundaries it clearly set as he carefully walked towards the Hallopy trees, keeping his eyes on the shadow demon always that silently maintained a ten-step distance behind him.
Eron picked off one of the underripe fruits, its soft, squishy texture left his palm as the shadow expectantly caught the Hallopy fruit and threw it back at him. He was ready this time and blocked the fruit with his arm. Eron wiped off the splattered fruit from his arm and the bits that reached his face and chest, carefully observing that the shadow did not seem to care that he had thrown something at it again and was standing still.
"Are you a demon? Will you mind if I try touching you?" Eron asked. As expected, no response. An idea came to him. It was crazy, but he needed to test just how much the shadow demon would react. He first stepped to the side until the shadow adjusted when he reached its right side in order to face him. No approaching from behind apparently Eron thought as he started taking his next few steps carefully towards the demon until it was within arm's reach. As predicted, no reaction.
Eron looked at the area where it should have had eyes. The 'skin' was completely black save for the reflection of the hearth-star's light giving it a very solid look. Eron took a breath, then reached out. He sensed for a millisecond that he had touched an icy cold surface before Eron's world was suddenly turned upside down and flung with inhuman strength into the air. Eron crashed painfully into the scorching earth many feet away.
Let's not do that again. Eron groaned as he got up, now unsurprised at how the shadow simply maintained its 10-foot distance, making no sign that it was affected by the confrontation. If it wasn't there to kill him or open a dialogue, then what was it doing? Eron wondered.
Eron started his trek back to his clan, he needed to warn the about the shadow demon, maybe the elders would know what it was and how to banish it? Eron doubted it, he had never heard anything about these kind of demons in the legends passed down, it was all fangs and claws…Eron looked over at the Demon again, its very humanlike hands laid by its sides, swaying slightly but unnaturally as the shadow followed his every step.
Eron decided to call the shadow 'Watcher'. "So Watcher, that's your name right?" no response "What? Didn't catch that, was that a yes? Ok I'll go along with it, so anyway why are you here? Are you a curse from another clan sent to annoy me? I can't think of anyone to be so petty as to do that! Maybe the Warslon clan? They always tried to barter their Kletco chicks as the fattest, tastiest delicacies on all Korboro while poisoning all the nearby herds."
Watcher gave no opinion on the matter. The next few hours dragged on like this as the morning wore on to afternoon, the mid-day hearth-star beating down on Eron as he hiked through the wilderness with his silent companion. The specter was always behind, at that point Eron stopped looking over his shoulder and check on his shadow. Watcher was a good listener, it didn't interrupt. It gave Eron ample space to vent his frustrations about how it had lost him his Koribast, the weather, his arch-rival Undar, and every clans favorite subject this side of the planet, city-folk. "…maybe they can be reasoned with but honestly? They should just pack up and leave Korboro, find themselves one of those bigger planets that are already filled pole to pole with cities." Eron fumed but made a concession, it was only fair "I won't lie their archivists have a wealth of knowledge, that's how I got this compound bow, and maybe they even have some old data file on you Watcher!" He turned around and walked backwards for a moment while pointing at Watcher before turning forward. The shadow kept in stride, its silent footsteps keeping pace as the afternoon wore into evening, however occasionally Eron could hear it snap a twig or a very brittle blade of desert grass, at least Watcher wasn't completely immune to the natural mechanisms of nature.
Eron made his way through a gully and packed himself into an indent on the side. It was the dry season so Eron wasn't worried about a flood, but it could still rain on him. Watcher did not seem to care either way as it stood sentinel as Eron settled down on his sleeping pad. Sleep took him easily; his nerves were frayed and there was not much he could do if Watcher decided to kill him.
--
Unbeknownst to both the shadow creature and Eron, its planetfall had been tracked by a secret unmanned satellite that was located in deep orbit many hours earlier. It automatically ran procedures and contacted the nearest ranking official in deep space.
Strategic Satellite 4373 –Planet Korboro (Class H, tiny)
Korboro Economic Important: Minimal.
Korboro Strategic Importance: Moderate.
Normalized Planetary Gravitational Field: Yes.
Unknown Entity detected at: 13:12:57 Planetary Time. 06:12:57 Imperial Star Time.
Possible entity match – Thoron 'Nightstalker' - 88.46%
Possible entity match - Thoron 'Shredder' - 10.25%
Possible entity match - Thoron 'Spitter' - 1.12%
Possible entity match -Thoron 'Gargant' - 0.05%
Other - 'Other' - 0.12%
Precursor for Total Invasion: 99.99%
Total Invasion Intensity: Intermediate
Survival without intervention: 1.53%
General Alert: No
Classified Alert: Rank SS (Archeon Fighter, Archeon High Imperial)
>Contact nearest Rank SS Resource -06:12:58
>Contact found – ID12623 'Personal Shuttlecraft' -06:13:01
>Contact Auto-Acknowledge -06:13:01
>Contact Physical-Acknowledge -06:16:59
~~Affirmative
(Time until Planetfall Approx: 6 hours 24 minutes)
>Suggested Lower Classification to Rank D for General Alert? -06:16:59
(^ Nearest battleship 21 hours 59 minutes)
(^ 2 days 7 hours 46 minutes)
(^ 7 days 12 hours )
(^ 7 days 13 hours )
~~Enforce and Update Classification Secrecy. Authorization 15A31B92D -06:23:15
Record: 'I will be prevented from intervention and do not wish to strain more resources'
>Acknowledged. Upped Secrecy Classification - Rank Q
~~Contact nearest 2 ships, Enforce Authorization SS12B -06:22:45
>Contact ID45425 Enforce Code: SS – Page 12 Paragraph B -06:22:46
>Contact ID26932 Enforce Code: SS - Page 12 Paragraph B -06:22:47
>Battleship ID45425 'Invincible' and ID26932 'Vortex' -06:23:50
under your direct command and are on-route
--
The Satellite Luthedall, the only destination on the planet connected to the wider lattice of the Empire and initiated defensive protocols. The citizens of Luthedall were enjoying a pleasant midday lunch when suddenly all city guns were automatically activated, and blast doors initiated, and the city was sent into a panic. Security forces quelled the riots and curfew was set as they tried to figure out what 'Rank Q' classification meant as it disabled all long-range communication devices that could be used to contact other ships or planets. Mysterious text instructions were soon transmitted via terminal to the Governor who had barricaded himself in the imperial offices. 'This is Athea, I have taken command. You will not try to contact the imperial high command. They will not help you and will quarantine Korboro and exterminate everything on it. Locate any unusual creatures wreathed in darkness and report immediately, do not engage.'
--
Eron dreamed of hunting his first Thunderdom, the massive creature was a distant cousin of the Koribasts but unlike the Koribasts, it was agile, fast, and only the support of his clan with could help him take it down as they formed a massive half-circle around it, directing the Thunderdom to a cliff wall. The first thing that seemed 'off' about the dream was that his bow wasn't his usual compound bow, a simple jet-black design and dripping smoke. It felt even more strange when he didn't have an arrow bag with him but he somehow seemingly knew to just draw the string back without nocking an arrow first, a black arrow appeared out of nowhere when he fired, it left black, smoky contrails as it sailed right into the screaming Thunderdom. It was pricked with more black arrows that came from his clan-mates using their own dripping shadow bows.
They should have aimed for the heart or eyes by now, most arrows clinked off the Thunderdom's plated hide, but a few dug painfully into the stomach and other non-vital areas. It felt cruel to Eron as the Thunderdom hallowed in pain. Eron had enough and threw down his bow and he ran to the nearest clan-member, yelling at him to stop as the clansmen simply stood there firing coolly at the roaring Thunderdom. Everything felt off, the clansman had an improper stance and drew back awkwardly on his bow. Eron grabbed the bow as the clan member tried to fire again, the string slapped Eron's wrist painfully as he threw the bow to the ground and with his other hand he grabbed at the clansmen's shoulder. The man turned in annoyance towards Eron, he recognized the blazing red hair, Uri.
Eron saw Uri's eyes as he scowled at him. They were pitch black, there was no hint of his regular blue. Then Uri opened his mouth and what came out sounded like that of a thousand distant voices "You are doomed!" and Uri smacked Eron's hand away.
"Uri! What happened to you, why are you like this?" Eron cried out, clutching his hand.
"You are all doomed!" as If Uri didn't hear him. The sky turned red…or was it already red? Eron's mind was reeling from too many things happening at once.
"Are you the shadow creature? How did you get inside my head?" Eron yelled right in Uri's face. In real life he would have never done such a thing.
"Doooooom!" was the only response. The Thunderdom at this point was laying on the ground, whimpering, as more arrows pierced it, more finding vulnerabilities.
The scene changed and Eron suddenly found himself with a strange green sword in his hand. A roaring man from a rival clan came at him with a hatchet. Eron couldn't dodge the swing in time and the axe came sailing right to his side before bouncing off unexpectedly. The clansman stumbled, overcorrecting and Eron cut off his head with a wild slash of his emerald sword. The clansman's body evaporated in a cloud of smoke. He forced himself to calm down as another raider came at him with eyes black as onyx.
"This is ridiculous" Eron said to himself as the raider came at him, each attack bouncing off the invisible Eron's field, only flickering visibly at the location where a strike connecting. "You are the shadow fiend that's following me. Watcher, right?"
The raider shouted with a thousand voices "Dooom!" at that and went after him again.
Eron ignored the raider striking him and examined the sword in his hand. "Hey thanks for the archeon blade, I have always wanted one of these!"
At the mention of the word 'archeon' the raider completely stopped. The sound of a thousand voices faded away to just one whisper "archeon…blade….".
"That's right, the two biggest clans each have one of these!" Eron bragged.
The raider gave him a quizzical look. "They do tend to war over each-other because of that, dragging other clans into the fight, most clans sort of migrated to the opposite ends of Korboro." Then he forced himself to admit, "…and the city-dwelling governor that claims himself ruler of all Korboro also has one."
"Three…. blades?" the whispered question came. Eron stopped himself, why was Watcher interested in the archeon blades?
Eron reaffirmed "But they would never let Luthedall have more!"
The raider gave an unnatural smile. "And…Luthedall…. defenses…?"
What have I done? Fear lanced up Eron's spine. "Get out of my head!" Everything went blank at that response.
--
>Time until Planetfall Approx: 2 hours 24 minutes
>Deep-space Biological Thoron Pods detected. Calculating….
>Time until Main Thoron Invasion: 6 hours 50 minutes
>Time until ID45425 'Invincible': Approx: 10 hours
--
Eron woke up and found Watcher kneeling directly over him. Before Eron could instinctively grab at Watcher, the shadow jumped back and then silently maintained its standard ten steps distance from Eron as he sat up, as if the shadow had never invaded his dreams.
The next hours were spent in utter silence as Eron and his shadow made their way back to his camp. His troubled thoughts kept coming back to the archeon blades and Luthedall, clearly Watcher was more than a passive observer and was planning something more ominous, but Eron hadn't the faintest idea. The rolling hills started to become more familiar, Eron picked up his pace and Watcher instantly adjusted to match, always behind him. At one point of the hike, Watcher started making a strange, low humming sound. Eron instantly whipped out his strung bow tied to his pack, nocked an arrow and in less than a second, was aiming shakily at Watcher. It kept making the alien, low pitched sound for another thirty seconds before returning to its usual silence. It took a while before Eron could steady his heartrate and nerves before continuing his hike. Unknown to Eron, the Thoron observer had felt a small but very significant ship enter the atmosphere on the other side of the planet and had telepathically transmitted a warning into deep space, the warning a loud screeching to those that could hear it, and a soft humming to those that could not.
An hour later a sweat cloaked Eron found the two red tiered rock formations he was looking for and started jogging despite the midday heat bearing down on him. Home was always moving, his clan had raised a half dozen large tents on the plains in between of the rock sentinels a few months ago and would soon leave again, staying away from the roving great clans and their unrestrained politicking.
The Hamara clan were already out, ready to great Eron until they saw the shadow that followed him. Eron jogged closer until recurve and longbows were pulled on him.
"Eron! What demon did you drag back to us?" A clansman shouted, Uri was his name.
"I always wanted more friends, and I wasn't desperate enough to go to Luthedall" Eron joked unsteadily. A few murmurs and anxious chuckles. Eron added more seriously "I really need to talk to Thurast" and tried to take a step forward.
Uri raised his massive longbow, he was not a tall man and his bow made him look even tinier as he pulled back on the string to half-draw, others followed suite "Don't shoot! It will retaliate." Eron warned, raising his open hands. Anger flared up and multiple clansmen and women started shouting at once.
"Why would you bring a demon here?"
"Kill it!"
"We can take it out if we all shoot at once."
"Why is it always Eron straying from tradition? It's his bow that brought this curse"
Eron felt personally hurt by that last comment.
"Put your bows down, for the Emperor's sake don't shoot him!" An old man came through, pushing Uri and a few others out of the way. He wore long brown robes threaded with the best of the clans' designs marking him chief of the Hamara clan, with a white beard and weathered face that had born the wind of many seasons to match.
Most hesitantly lowered their bows, Uri and a few others still kept theirs trained on Eron and his specter. "Eron, what sort of stupidity have you gotten yourself into this time?" Thurast was never in a good mood.
"Honestly chief, I don't have an answer for this" Eron said lightly, trying to stay calm despite knowing his strange nightmare made circumstances far more dire than the clansmen could understand.
"Try harder," Uri shouted, before an angry wave from Thurast silenced him.
"Watcher appeared out of nowhere and started following me, always keeping its distance, only attacking if provoked." Eron also gave a subtle hint with his eyes to Thurast that the shadow fiend had done more, but he did not want to explain here.
Thurast caught the hint, "Come to the elder tent, will talk more in there". Eron took a step forward and suddenly everyone had their bows raised again. Eron nearly forgot that Watcher moved when he did. Before he could shout for them to not attack, a woman had thrown a tomahawk. It came straight at Watcher, Watcher effortlessly plucked it of the air and sent the tomahawk straight back into the woman's chest. Meero collapsed and it took Thurast's booming voice to stop everyone from attacking.
--
>Time until Planetfall Approx: 0 hours 0 minutes
>Time until Main Thoron Invasion: 3 hours 46 minutes
>Time until ID45425 'Invincible' planetfall Approx: 5 hours
--
"So why did you feel the need to bring that…thing back to our people Eron? Spit it out, I don't have all day" Thurast and the clan heads had sat down in the elder tent, Eron had only been in this tent twice before, once when he was very young and the day he passed the clan tests to become a man. Incense was always burning, giving the huge tent a smoky, flowery smell. Watcher was outside under guard, giving no attention to its situation, apparently a Thunderdom hide was of no consequence as it still maintained a 10-step distance. Eron and the elders agreed that he would not be in the middle of the tent as was customary, Eron thought it hardly mattered if Watcher was inside or outside but it would ease the elder's minds and guards outside.
"I have reason to believe not just the clan is in danger, but all of Korboro" Eron stated.
That got Thurast's full attention "Under what reasoning?"
Eron sucked in an incensed filled breath. "The shadow invaded my dreams and asked about the archeon blades."
Murmurs all around. An old woman, Tereth followed up "your dreams? This is an ungodly creature, but why would a simple question be a concern for all of Korboro?"
"It was asking for a count, I may have let slip only three were on Korboro". Eron remembered the dream vividly, he had done more than 'let slip', he had bragged about it.
What else Eron?" Thurast was already moving on.
"It asked about Luthedall's defenses, I broke the connection as soon as it did." Eron said.
Stunned silence.
It was Tereth that broke the silence "So what? Why should we care what the city-dwellers must deal with? It's their problem".
Thurast narrowed his eyes but said nothing, Eron suddenly found himself in the awkward situation of defending Luthedall "There is a creature that we have never seen before right outside this tent that is 'following' me." Eron nearly shouted out the last few words but held himself back then went on more respectfully "maybe at the very least, we should use the emergency linx and ask if anyone has heard legends of this creature and at least warn them it was interested in Luthedall."
The entire tent erupted into arguments, with some agreeing with Eron, others stating proudly that the plains-clans have always taken care of their own problems. Eron at any other time would have smugly stood firm with the latter. Thurast said nothing, lost in thought while Tereth was already on her feet in a shouting match with another old man.
Then Thurast silenced everyone who was paying attention with the flick of the hand, Tereth only noticed when she was the last still standing and mutely sat down. "As you all know, we have a linx communication device in case of emergencies" Thurast stared down Tereth not letting her interject. "What some of you may not be aware of is that Luthedall consistently contacts us consistently, they update every chieftain about the political climate of the wider Empire. Now as you all know it is of little concern to the clans, or even Luthedall as Korboro is a minor planet of little value existing on the fringes of the squabbling Ayda lords' range. And sometimes they tell us about severe weather patterns." He added, amused.
Eron interrupted "But what does this have to do with my problem or the clan?" he instantly regretted saying it out loud.
Thurast surprisingly didn't admonish him "I agree, however your odd 'friend' coincides with a very dramatic alert I got many hours ago."
Eron immediately raised a two-finger sign in the universal clan language of politely asking permission to talk. Thurast nodded. "Make it quick Eron."
"Watcher was making a strange humming noise an hour ago, it was the only time it had made any noise at all besides my dream"
Thurast's face darkened. "Eron, this is bad"
"What was in that linx?" an elder asked, not Tereth.
"Firstly, I received an automated message that all interstellar devices were disabled by an authorization code I have never seen before, 'Q'". Tereth explained.
"An Ayda lord?" another elder asked before Tereth could address Eron's concern
"No, they are within the standard hierarchy, 'A', and even Archeon wielders only have 'S' which gives specific, special privileges which includes the Gormant and Jgellsto clans` archeon holders" Thurast clarified.
"The emperor himself?" Eron asked. All the roaming, free-spirited clans of Korboro ultimately owed their allegiance to the Emperor.
"Or someone very close to him, he has never left Galidon unless in an emergency as far as I'm aware and it would likely have been preceded by a royal procession" Thurast mused. "Either way, the Luthedall governance has issued not an order, but a plea for all clans to make for the safety of its walls immediately".
"Why didn't you let the council know about this immediately?" Tereth demanded. I don't know, probably because the council never reaches any decision quickly when Thurast needs it? Eron thought, then mentally slapped himself for questioning his elders.
"This isn't a matter just for the Hamara clan, I was conferring with other clan leaders over linx, they were getting similar reports until an hour ago something else happened which so happens to coincide with Eron's report" Thurast said, finally coming back to the shadow humming issue. "A ship entered Korboro's atmosphere and landed at Luthedall's spaceport."
No one said a word.
Eron finally broke the silence "…which means our friend knows about that ship. Who exactly is on that ship?"
"The clans are still trying to figure that out." Thurast said tiredly "We are receiving many conflicting reports from our contacts within the city. What we can puzzle together is that this person is an archeon wielder. And we know the wielder is a woman of great importance, because she immediately executed Harrinostatha for hiding out in the imperial offices and not following martial law procedures."
Every child around the globe knew Harrinostatha was the planetary governor of Korboro, and that Ayda lords couldn't just go around killing planetary leaders even of minor importance, there was always a process with bureaucrats. This woman had circumvented all of that.
"An Emperor assassin." Tereth trembled.
"That is willing to go through anyone to complete her task, whatever that may be." Thurast finalized.
"But the clans have always paid respects to the imperial line. Can't we trust the emperor himself or those around him?" Eron asked. Some murmurs of agreement.
Thurast was skeptical "None of you have been following planetary politics, the previous emperor caused a lot of chaos by sheer lack of apathy and a few minor wars were kicked off by the Ayda lords beneath his watch, Korboro was unscathed simply because of its location, the same reason our forefathers migrated here when Luthedall was just a tiny outpost. We don't know the new emperor who has only been in a few years and he is only as old as Eron"
Eron finally understood "And now we have this shadow creature, likely the cause of this imperial assassin's personal attention. If we contact Luthedall, it could spell doom for us."
Tereth surprisingly offered a good counterpoint "But if we don't, we have a demon to worry about that just killed Meero and has been invading Eron's dreams for information."
"We could contact Warsawg or Pontuse clans for their archeon wielders" another elder said. "the clans have always solved their own problems."
"Both of them are further away from us than we are from Luthedall, and city-dwellars have mechanized horses or birds to get to us faster anyway" Thurast stated.
"This isn't our problem, this is humanities problem!" Eron lept to his feet, everyone else sat there stunned, Thurast looked at him uncertainly. "I felt that creature within my mind" he emphasized, pointing at his head "It's not just after Luthedall, or the clans, but all humanity. I've made up my mind, contact the emperor's assassin, if she kills me, so be it."
"…or kill us all for harboring this creature" Tereth muttered as Eron sat back down
"We will alert all other clans of our situation and add our plea to make for the city." Thurast said with finality. "May the emperor have mercy on us. We will contact Luthedall"
--
>Time until Planetfall Approx: 0 hours 0 minutes
>Time until Main Thoron Invasion: 0 hours 36 minutes
>Time until ID45425 'Invincible' Approx: 3 hours
--
The Hamara clan slowly made their way across the plains with their old, rusty mechanized oxen carrying those unable to walk and all their belongings. Everyone kept their distance as Eron walked alone, albeit with Watcher in tow as the other citizens of Hamara kept their distance, ready to attack if Watcher made any aggressive moves, but doubtful if they could do anything to stop the shadow fiend. It hadn't stopped Eron from strapping a tomahawk to his waist in an attempt at security, he also couldn't help but also sling his compound bow on his back for comfort.
The Hanamara clan was on good terms with the Pontuse clan previously and their archeon wielder had used his special clearance to get the attention of the city for Thurast. After a brief conversation with a very frazzled administrator they had been told that the Emperor's assassin was on her way personally. The administrator cut the linx communique before they could get any details from the administrator what the assassin would do with them once she reached them.
One of their patrol's motioned that something was coming. It was the Emperor's assassin.
The clan stopped and assembled to greet her as the contrails of the hover-craft blazed across the dry, grassy plains. The mechanized horse stopped several hundred feet away and a green figure dismounted.
Thurast was not pleased "Either she sees us as enemies or is showing us great respect."
Eron stayed behind the mechanized oxen and kept an eye on Watcher, who seemed to give no indication of the newcomer who jogged towards them. Eron could make out more details and the signs of the green Kermiculite armor the wielder had equipped. The figure reached them in stunning time, slowing to a walk. The entire clan kowtowed in respect, as if the emperor himself was there. She took off her simple travel helmet and her white-blond hair released and flowed down her shoulders.
"Rise, we must keep moving with all haste" were her first words, laced with high imperial mannerisms. The Kermiculite armor she wore was like a robe that flowed easily with the user yet Eron knew from stories that it was far stronger than standard caramite and actively enhanced the user's capabilities which was confirmed by how quickly she traversed the distance without sounding remotely tired. The Hamara hesitantly started moving again at her kindly yet insistent ushering.
"Who is the leader of Hamara?" She asked. Thurast stepped forward, identifying himself. "I am Athea, the emperor's blade" Athea gave a slight bow then asked where the 'Thoron Nightstalker' was.
"Thoron Nightstalker?" Thurast asked hesitantly.
"A walking, living shadow, this is the clan that contacted Luthedall, is it not?" Athea said impatiently.
Eron stepped out into the open. "Here's the shadow fiend if that is that is what you mean" trying to keep the confidence in his voice. Nobody wanted to move, everyone had their eyes fixed on the shadow, and the emperor's assassin. Thurast And Athea was tensing up, her hands slowly going to…both her blades. She had not one, but two priceless treasures strapped to her waist.
"Watcher…err the 'Thoron Nightstalker' has been asking about archeon blades in my dreams, it knows…" Eron gulped. He was suddenly sweating despite the rather cool afternoon. She was tall, almost as tall as Eron was.
Athea nodded. "The Thoron will react as soon as soon as I unsheathe my blades and try to run" She stood a little more than ten steps away "I've fought them before."
Fought them?
"Why not get closer before unsheathing your blades?" Thurast asked.
"Why does it always maintain a ten-foot distance from him?" Athea shot back, the implications reverberated through Eron's mind but she left the question unanswered. Eron learned what it meant to be the hand of the Emperor as the assassin suddenly launched forward with shocking speed, her robes billowing out while unsheathing her blades.
The nightstalker instantly reacted and grabbed at its side, seemingly pulling a simple black sword with a basic cross guard out of its own body.
Athea came down with a savage strike with her blades, Watcher parried the blows with its sword in a two-handed grip. The shadow counterattacked with blazing speed, Athea got one of her blades up but the blow followed through right into her side, suddenly bouncing off in a blaze of green sparks. The archeon field! Then the two exchanged a rapid series of blows. Eron's mind could hardly keep up with the feints, the parries, the dodges, and the strikes exhibited by the two duelists. Watcher could have ripped through the entire clan single-handedly if it wanted to Eron realized. He pulled out a tomahawk, ready to assist.
"Don't" Athea shouted. Eron stopped himself.
Another strike came for her head before cracking off the field.
However, the Thoron overcorrected and Athea used that opportunity to cut off the fiend's arm. Light and shadow poured out of the wound in a deluge. The Thoron dashed away. The emperor's assassin took a moment to breath out a sigh of relief.
"You have fought them before?" Eron dared to ask.
"Only a few nightstalkers, each one was different and this nightstalker felt far more deadly" Athea replied. He noticed how young she looked, she wasn't any older than he was.
"Why hasn't the empire warned everyone about this threat?" Eron said without thinking it could have been insulting.
Athea didn't seem to mind as she waved the awestruck Hamarans to keep moving "Its…complicated, there would be widespread panic" half unbelieving in what she said. "I must leave anyway and get back to Luthedall and oversee its hideously deteriorating defenses" she said more resolutely and started quickening her pace to a fast walk, Eron practically had to jog to keep up.
"Wait..." Eron was suddenly cut off by an explosion in the distance, a fireball pluming up in the middle of the Hamara carts.
Athea's imperial mannerisms slipped "that bastard got my land-bike." She dashed off after Watcher.
Then the screaming started. Eron ran after Athea and unslung his bow.
Eron rounded a cart and caught up to see Athea in another furious duel in the middle of the metal-oxen. A pile of Eron's kin laid around the shadow fiend where it had struck. Watcher was still putting up a vicious fight despite the shadow and light still leaking from its missing arm. It hit at three separate points in Athea's shield, the last one causing a thunderclap. Athea gasped in shock and barely parried the next strike. Then the next strike hit her in the stomach, the Kermiculite armor saved Athea but it left her gasping.
Her Archeon field is down Eron realized. He quickly nocked an arrow, bringing to full draw and immediately fired.
The Nightstalker, without its free hand could not catch the arrow and it sailed right through the fiend's chest, light and shadow puffed out from the impact. Athea was able to meet the next strike, giving her a brief respite but Watcher gave no indication that it was affected by the arrow in its chest. It tried to kick Athea but she danced backwards as Eron nocked and drew his next arrow.
However that gave the smoking shadow an opening and it turned and ran at Eron.
It came at him with blinding speed, Athea couldn't catch up. Eron only had time to fire one more arrow, then Watcher would be on him and cut him to shreds.
Eron shot.
The arrow went exactly where Eron wanted…. through a blaze of light and smoke and then the ground, right through the Nightstalker's black leg and pinning the shadow to the ground.
It dropped its sword and tried to pull the arrow free with its one hand, desperate. Eron's Tomahawk buried itself right next to the arrow in its chest.
Athea didn't give Watcher a chance to recover as she sliced from the shadow from shoulder to waist from behind.
The fiend that had been shadowing Eron the past few days disappeared in a flash of light and black smoke, both of Eron's arrows and tomahawk fell to the ground.
Athea sheathed her bladed and looked down, picking up the tomahawk and testing its balance, giving Eron a slight nod in compliment as she held it up with one finger.
Eron just stood there staring at all the bodies, Herian, Garoma, Kurz, Crovaz, Gullimin and more.
Eron looked up to see Athea lookin at the bodies, pain in her eyes.
"Look!" someone shouted pointing at the sky, it was Uri.
Everyone looked up and saw the mid-afternoon sky filled with falling stars.
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Thurast had the clan abandon most of their supplies and make their way down the slopes of a massive canyon that would lead them directly to the walls of Luthedall. Athea stayed with them, cursing the Thoron for destroying her bike. Eron honestly felt better having her around.
Stars continued to fall from the late-afternoon sky as they travelled through the ravine. Athea had said something about a satellite being destroyed and needed to use the clan's linx to warn Luthedal of an imminent attack.
"The Thorons tend to deploy their pods as rapidly as possible, which means the pods will hit randomly across the planet, but they will form their armies quickly and start attacking Luthedall, based on what you said they were interested in, Eron".
Are they all like Watcher?" Eron swallowed drily.
"No actually, strangely from what we know the nightstalkers act as both their scouts and leaders. The main Thoron force is more animalistic"
Someone shouted and spotted the first of the Thorons. What Eron saw terrified him to his core. It was dozen creatures that came up to Eron's waist, but with thick, black and red fat bodies and a gaping moth with rows of teeth. They moved by dragging themselves with two arms ending in claws that dug into the dirt. Athea ordered them to shoot the 'shredders' as she called them. Each arrow that found their mark made the shredders screech, a mixture of shadow and black ooze flowed from their wounds.
Most fell dead, the few reaching the group before Athea easily swept through them. "That was from just one pod" she explained. Eron couldn't help but instinctively look up and see the hundreds of stars still coming down.
They made their way through the canyon before they heard the wailing and screeching of more shredders.
Athea asked who the warriors were. Almost all the men, including older ones, and many women stepped forward. Athea looked at them quizzically. Eron knew her robes gave her unique advantages to keep up with male archeon wielders but that didn't apply for any other type of armor.
"We are all born warriors of the plains, I'll take a clanswoman over five city soldiers any day" Thurast explained. Athea simply nodded and beckoned for them to move, they chose a narrow gully to make their stand as the children and those who could not fight were sent through the canyon, guided by the oldest of elders.
A riving mass of black teeth, claws came crashing forward through the ravine, frantically wanting to rip them apart. Athea positioned each member in a few lines in a narrow gully where the Thorons couldn't use their overwhelming numbers. Spears and axes in the front, and archers behind. Athea asked who the best shot was, explaining that she needed someone who could reliably hit the nightstalkers. Surprisingly most clan members, many of which who had many more seasons and hunts to their name pointed to Eron, including Uri who grumbled that 'his bow was a good design'. Everyone else would fire under Thurast's command.
The frothing black mass got closer as Eron took his position in the back.
"Hear me!" Athea shouted, drawing her delicate archeon blades. "Every second you buy is another second for your children, the Hamara tribe will survive through them." The men and women shouted their eagerness. Eron and Thurast shared a look, they knew better. Athea took point as the wretched Thoron drew closer, nearing maximum bow distance as they nocked their arrows. He could see the shredders, desperate and fanatic to eviscerate everything in their path as they dragged their fat bodies by two arms. He suddenly didn't want his fancy compound bow and tribal leathers, he wanted a city lazgun and good cermatic armor.
Eron nocked and was the first to bring to full draw, using the compound bows unique advantage as he searched. He found his first nightstalker near the front of the frothing black mass and fired, his arrow sailed home and the shadow humanoid vanished with a flicker of light and shadow. Unfortunately, it signaled everyone else to start firing. It was a mistake, most fell short of the first shredders, only a few found their marks, some went down, many seemingly unconcerned with arrows sticking out of their black, bulbous bodies. One arrow ripped off an arm of a shredder, black smoke poured from the hole, yet it kept coming dragging itself with its one useful arm.
The next wave of arrows was far more satisfying, ripping through many shredders, Eron's sailed right at another nightstalker, but the creature actively dodged his arrow. Another volley was let loose under Thurast's command then he immediately "Fire at will!" and the group lost all coordination, trying desperately to let loose as many arrows as they could at the shredders. The front line readied itself, Athea at point.
And then the Thoron shredders were on them.
The Hamara clan held, spears darting out and finding their marks, axes splitting open others that got past. Everyone felt hopeful, they could do this. Then a black arrow came sailing and hit a clansman right through the face, Jorthan was his name as he collapsed silently. The shredders came in greater numbers, the front line was struggling to hold them back as another black arrow came sailing through, hitting Karon through the thigh, he went down screaming, his screams came even louder as a shredder dodged a spear thrust and slashed and bit at Karon before the clansmen could pull him back.
"Eron! I've never seen them use bows before" Athea shouted. That demon in my dream was also learning about bows, not just Luthedall and Archeon blades Eron realized as Athea swept through three shredders with a single stroke, including the shredder on top of Karon's bloody corpse. Eron found the Nightstalker holding a simple black bow and already drawing another arrow, Eron nocked and fired faster than he had ever done in his life. His bolt found its mark, going through the Thoron's chest, killing it and hitting a shredder behind the puff of light and smoke. Eron had no time to celebrate as he saw two more nightstalkers. One came at Athea with its shadow sword and the other produced another black bow seemingly from its own body and started firing.
The front line was quickly collapsing as more fell under tooth and claw, Gurdam, Toth, Polt, Kraden. The second line immediately filled the gabs and the third line without hesitation threw down their bows and grabbed their spears and axes and joined the fray. Athea was still at the front, coolly decapacitating a nightstalker and making lightning fast yet shockingly powerful sweeps with her swords through rows of shredders. Any claw or black sword that got past her guard bounced off harmlessly from her personal shield.
Another black arrow killed old Qayro, Tereth's husband. Eron gave his revenge with the next arrow. Larger black beasts slithered forward, their tails propelled them forward like snakes, however their upper bodies were upright. Athea had mentioned they were 'spitters' and Eron soon found out why. One came close to the embroiled front line and arched its body backwards before snapping forward, flinging small black projectiles. It hit Uri who was to the side of Eron in the back. Uri yelled out as the small black knives punctured his skin but seemed to cause no real damage. Uri nocked another arrow but then started to scream, unable to draw and fire. "Hot! Get it out!" Eron's arrow found a mark and he looked over as Uri scratched at himself desperately, steam rising from his blackening skin. The black projectiles had dug inside him and were cooking him from the inside out as he screamed. Uri spat out blood, but then started choking as more gushed out of his mouth and then collapsed.
More black needles found their marks and the second line collapsed, the row in front of Eron drew their spears and axes and leapt into the fray without hesitation.
We should be fleeing! This is too much! Eron thought as old Thurast lept in, roaring. The Thorons kept coming, but the men kept fighting, fighting for their loved ones and the survival of the clan.
Athea herself was embroiled in a fight with three nightstalkers, on the defensive as she dodged and paried the demon swords with blindingly fast reflexes, augmented by her special armor. A black stroke got past her guard and her shield flickered, weakening, however the nightstalker overcorrected and Athea instantly took advantage and struck the shadow human down. With a flurry of blows Athea pressed her advantage into the others immediately, each blade a whirlwind of power as she cut off an arm of the second nightstalker. Light and shadow poured from the wound, but it still fought, unconcerned. Eron was the one to finish it off with an arrow before moving on to a spitter, he saw Athea finish the last one off in the corner of his eye as he released his last arrow.
The line before Eron was getting ripped apart and he picked up a spear from a fallen clansman and threw himself into the fray, his first thrust catching the neck of a shredder before it could strike at Athea from the side. An unseen blow got Eron in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him as he felt a claw from a Thoron shredder tear through the leather and puncture the skin. Eron pulled his spear out of the rapidly decaying corpse as shock pulsed through his system and killed the Thoron shredder with a powerful jab. Fortunately the wound was shallow and only an irritant but before he could pull his spear out again a massive maw of a spitter came down on him. Eron grappled with the maw, desperately keeping it from chomping down on his head. It then wrangled around and got free of his scrabbling hands, its teeth coming down as Eron stared into the abyss of his death. Suddenly a swipe of a green sword severed the narrow body from its massive, now lifeless serpent-like head which fell on him, the momentum and weight knocking him over.
It was quiet.
"Are you alright?" Athea said, her voice strained.
Eron pulled himself up, everyone else…and everything was dead. Thurast's body lay nearby, his throat slashed around a small pile of shredders around him. The Thoron corpses were all rapidly decaying into nothingness, leaving no evidence of Eron's and Athea's hard fought victory.
"More of them are coming, you need to leave" Athea stated.
Eron could already hear the screeching of Thoron's in the distance heralding another wave. "What about you?"
Athea paused, a moment passed and she made a decision.
Athea handed Eron one of her Archeon swords.
Eron nearly shook his head at the enormity of the gift. "Take it!" She hissed.
With shaking fingers, Eron held the sword it was light, but still heavy enough to feel real. A strange sensation of power and focus washed over him, the exhaustion from the fight. He had heard of the Archeon connection, enhancing their user's capabilities to superhuman levels and Athea's performance earlier was all the proof of this divine power.
Then Athea shocked him again "Also, my imperial code. '15A31B92D' do not forget, now go!" She waved her sword down the canyon pass, the screeching of a new wave of Thoron's was getting closer.
Eron took off in a run, barely able to look where he was going, though it wasn't difficult as there was only one of two directions in a canyon. An SS rank, to not just be an Archeon wielder but to be in the trust of the emperor and all the privileges…and responsibilities it gave.
Eron looked back.
Athea stood alone, still fighting, rapidly disarming and slaying another nightstalker with her single sword.
Eron smiled, glad to know that Athea…no…this hunter was fighting this war. For his clan, for humanity. The warrior stood alone, fighting with peerless speed and skill. Eron looked at the brilliant evening sky, streaked with puffy white clouds and distant contrails drawn by small, blazing objects. He breathed in the crisp air of Korboro as the thunder of fighter craft came baring down.
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