An ear-piercing geyser exploded out of the surf and a storm of strange birds scattered into the air. Flapping wings blotted out blue sky as Hell turned its festering eye towards the emerging creature at the center of the universe. The long awaited time of convergence was finally at hand.
On the quaking beach, the Queen's kin fell to their knees, clutching their ears as a psychic pulses filled their transforming minds. Long coiling tentacles rose from the water and pounded the beach, sending up sheets of white sands.
At the edge of the jungle, Lilith and Moss pop-whooshed into view and the beach bucked beneath them, knocking them off their feet. Deafening thunder claps announced dozens of disorienting lightning strikes. Flaming birds flew through a sackcloth sky.
Agonizing screeches turned to falling black flurries that erased the white beach. Bloated, smoldering fish bobbed to the boiling surface and washed up on shore, bring with them the stench of spilled guts, ozone and a hint of brimstone.
Moss stood up, mouth agape, transfixed by the looming hellscape, while Lilith gestured towards a spot at the edge of the trembling jungle where trampled bushes raced away. "Move," she shouted over the growing din.
"What's this shit?" he screamed, covering his eyes from the glare of the repeated lightning strikes. "Where the fuck did you bring us?" He demanded, stepping forward and stumbling forward over a smoking palm frond. Lilith spun around, grabbed his arm, and hauled him back before he got too close.
"To the end of one life; and the beginning of the next."
Moss grabbed Lilith's hand and made to pull her into the jungle, but she would not budge. In fact, the more he struggled, the more some unseen forced drew in the opposite direction. He planted his feet in the sand and felt his grip failing.
In the near distance, an enormous, sightless tendril turned towards Moss, rose like a cobra doing a hypnotic dance. It slammed the beach and a salt and pepper mixture of sand and ash struck him in the face. He screamed and whipped at his burning eyes. When he refocused, he saw a deep trench inches in front of the tips of his boots.
"Get back," Lilith warned, and a massive bolt of lightning struck the surf and a shockwave of water threw the two mutated raptors sideways like leaves caught in a strong wind. If Lilith had not anchored him in place, the wave would have cast him aside, too.
"What the hell?" he blared, choking out a mouthful of sand. Searing salt water spattered his exposed skin, and he flinched away.
Lilith turned him around, gestured towards the trampled path, and shoved him towards it. He stumbles. "Go, now," she commanded. "Follow the path. Dahl and Eve are half a kilometer further inland. Get to them. Find the obelisk and finish this nightmare before it is too late."
"Too late for what?" he asked.
"Too late to destroy her before she destroys the universe. You must stop her. I brought you here to stop me."
"Have you lost your mind?" he screamed in her face. "I just found you again. I'm not killing you now."
She grabbed him, pulled him close, and said, "I lied. When you died, I learned I am the villain. I steal the obelisk. I cause the end of everything and you are the only one who can stop me. To save them. You must kill me."
"I WILL NOT!" he screamed, shoving her away.
"You must release me."
A lightning strike punched a hole in the beach, sandblasting the right side of Moss's face. Time slowed, stopped, reversed direction, and spun around him. Lilith caught him. Blood dripped from his ear and all sound became metallic, as if someone had thrown a bucket over his head. A searing pain in his right ear replaced the pulsating ringing in his skull. He touched the side of his head, winced, and felt warmth pouring down his cheek. "Please don't ask me to do that," he said, lips touching her earlobe.
"I'm glad I found you again. Got yo see you one last time."
"I can't leave you here."
"You must," she said. "The draw to join is too powerful." Lilith gestured towards the path. "There is only one direction I'm getting off this beach. And if you are still here when that happens, I cannot save you a second time. She will kill you all."
"We still can leave this nightmare behind."
"This nightmare is a curse of my doing. I have always known my life would not end well." Lilith replied, taking an awkward step toward the surf as if being drawn by an electromagnet. Her feet felt heavy. They dragged through the fine sand and ash.
He wrenched on her, trying to arrest her forward momentum. But it was no good. Whatever spell she had cast was beyond his ability to fight. He was losing the struggle.
Three more lightning strikes punched the churning surf and a sound like a crashing locomotive echoed through the jungle. Two more bolts slammed the beach on each side of them, sending up bomb bursts of scorched sand. When the smoke cleared, two Lilith's stood in separate craters. Each walked into the surf and disappeared beneath the surface.
"What's happening?"
"The convergence." Lilith answered. "This was always the plan. I believed to save us all, I needed to merge the timelines. Kearyn warned me not to do it. But I did not listen." She pulled Moss close and kissed him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Promise me you will survive. Promise me my mistakes will not be your undoing?"
Moss stared at her, shaking his head in total disbelief. "I promise I will save us both."
"If only there were time." Lilith said, sliding towards the surf as if a great force reeled her in. "In a moment, I will cease to exist. And neither of us can change that now." Dozens of lightning strikes surrounded them and, with everyone, another Lilith merged with the raptor queen. Bodies dissolved in the boiling stew and the maelstrom rose. The sea became a brackish, snaking water funnel, fueling the center of the eye of a great, booming cyclone. The jungle groaned and creaked as the swirling wind bent giant timbers to its will.
"Go, now." she screamed. "Before it is too late."
"Why make me love you just to piss it all away?"
"We both have parts to play in the coming battle. You must go down that path to reach yours, and to reach mine, I must remain here."
"Why make me love you?"
"I did not make you love me; you chose to love me."
"Then choose to love me back. Fight for us."
"Go," Lilith roared, walking towards the surf. "The Dark Athena is too strong. I cannot hold her back any longer. I am the final Lilith to join the timeline. Now, go. If you are to save me… to save them… you must not die on this beach. To save the universe, you must play your part."
Moss turned, hesitated, and said, "I'll find you, again." A great wailing banshee screamed from behind him and he fled into the jungle as the eternal daytime faded to black.
Searing smoke and the stench of brimstone chased him down the path. Baking heat melted the jungle behind him, burning foliage and animals alike. The jungle blazed behind him and as a pillar of fire rose into the sky and raced up the chimney towards the moon's surface.
__________________________________
The ship hovered out over the massive shaft piercing the core. Its engines stumbled, sputtered twice and switched off. The nose plunged into darkness, gravity reached up and pulled the vessel into the bowels of the moon. Lockspur's stomach rose to the challenge, but he fought it down.
The lateral docking thrusters fired, centering the ship and revealing strobe light glimpses of the jagged rock wall racing by. Even at a million corrections a second, the AI struggled to center the free falling vessel. But with every passing moment, the ship's speed increased by a factor of 2. Soon, the AI would run out of the needed computing power to reach the core. The forward thrusters fired at 30%, slowing the ship's descent.
After 5 minutes of eventless free fall, Lockspur released the console, took a restorative breath and unclenched his buttcheeks. "If this keeps up, we might get lucky." He did not want to watch the display, but the need to maintain control overrode his nausea and fear.
Then it happened. The vessel tilted 90° to the starboard, tossed everyone sideways in their seats and corkscrewed through a sharp corner. G-forces pinned everyone half in / half out of their seats and Lockspur's stomach slammed into the roof of his mouth. As the tunnel narrowed, the AI spun the ship twice, avoiding a large outcropping of rock, only to slow the ship to a near half before plummeting again. In the depths of the moon, the probe entered a long corkscrew, sending back an emergency telemetry report. The ship rotated upside down, spiralled down half a dozen times, momentum and physics pushing off center and its port side wingtip struck the shaft wall. The AI made a million tin corrections, and the now damaged ship straightened out and fell nose down. Inhuman arms and legs flailed as a trailing firestorm of grinding sparks faded into the black distance. The ship jostled from side to side, threatening to end the ride. The lateral thrusters stuttered into action as the AI struggled to center the ship. Sitting in the pilot's seat, crossing his legs and cursing, Lockspur wished he'd taken a piss before they started down. But they weren't out of trouble yet. A massive clog in the shaft appeared 5 kilometers below them. "Shit," he yelled, seeing the shaft shrink in on itself. In a panic, Lockspur slammed his fist on the forward thrusters. The ship slowed, AI regained control moments before pancaking against the jagged rock wall. Two rockets dropped from the wing pods ignited and raced ahead. The forward thrusters stumbled, then failed. To everyone's horror, the lower the ship descended, the faster the building gravitational forces pulled it down. The falling ship picked up speed. The AI fired all thrusters again. They ignited in irregular blue flames, struggling to stay lit in the darkness. 10 kilometers ahead; the shaft exploded in a storm of fire and falling debris. Falling rock blotted out the shaft in front of the craft's sensors. The craft flew into the cloud as massive boulders pummeled the shield, throwing everyone around like a cat caught in a spinning dryer.
"I thought this shitbox had shielding?"
"This shitbox is the only thing keeping your ass alive," Lockspur blared, gripping the pilot console with a white-knuckle grip. He peered over his shoulder and added, "If it wasn't, you wouldn't be here to ask stupid questions." He slammed the forward thrusters button again and by either divine intervention or sheer dumb luck, they fired, slowing the ship before it ran face first into the falling mountain of rubble. Vash unknotted his seat belt, stood up, and made to take a step forward. But Klar thrust his hand out, blocking his path.
"Sit down," Klar said, gesturing towards his seat. "And try to keep your mouth shut."
Vash fought with his seatbelt until he had knotted it around his waist in a sad parody of giving a shit. His irate expression mixed with childish petulance. But now was not the time for a test of wills. The little man not-piloting the ship had done the impossible. He had created a pilot in less than 30 minutes. He was not weaker, not without wits. All 50 of the not-humans aboard knew that much. After all, Lilith had used his mind to uplift them. Vash mumbled to himself, bitching in an angry language Lockspur wouldn't have recognized even if he had heard it. Klar rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Warning," an artificial voice said, coming from the ship's speakers. "Electronic hull plating at 18%. Lateral thrusters down to 26% fuel stores. Forward thrusters are at 6%. Rerouting power from the backup system to compensate for a decrease in forward thrusters."
Lockspur leaned to the side, spewed vomit across the deck, and Vash turned to Klar with a worried expression. Lockspur swiveled around. "Now you know why I never learned to pilot. Never had the stomach for it."
Something heavy slammed the hull, throwing the ship sideways into a flat spin. The shaft filled with more sparks as the giant boulder disappeared behind them. With limited thrusters, the ship had picked up speed, closing in on the mountain of falling rock.
The AI spoke again. "Electronic shielding inoperative. Hull integrity 98%. This ship will overtake the falling debris in T-minus 3 minutes."
"What now?" Klar asked.
"Auto-Pilot," Lockspur said. "Divert our remaining power stores to lateral thrusters. Keep us centered at all costs."
"Negative. That will render the forward thrusters inoperable."
"Do it," Lockspur commanded. "The hull will hold together."
"Affirmative."
"Auto-Pilot, how far before we exit this nightmare?"
"The shaft opens into a large chamber 12.5 kilometers below."
"Launch our remaining two missiles and after the impact, fire the aft thrusters at a sustained burn of 100%. Get us the hell out of this hole."
Two missiles raced ahead, impacting the glut of rending boulders. The flash of light filled the shaft, 8blinding the occupants in the cockpit and reducing the falling obstruction to a cloud of dust. A split second later, the Auto-Pilot fired the main engines and everyone aboard sank deep into their seats.
"Have you lost your mind?" Vash screamed.
"You should know; you're reading it."
"If you increase our speed and the shaft veers off, we're all-"
"Dead," Lockspur said, finishing his sentence. "Pilot. Conserve lateral thrusters for collision avoidance only."
"At our current speed, the lateral thrusters will be an ineffective means of collision avoidance."
"Fuck it," Lockspur said. "Reroute the remaining fuel supplies to the aft engines and increase power to 120%. Pilot, what is our ETA to the lower chamber?"
"10 seconds before we enter the debris cloud. 1 minute, 3 seconds later, we're in the chamber."
As the ship drilled into the cloud of dust, Vash screamed in triumph, "We made it!"
At the same moment, the ship's engines sputtered out and died. Choked off by a mountain of dust, a 1500° column of fire forced its way into the mouth of the shaft. The ship lost control, slammed the wall hard and spiraled out of the mouth of the shaft like a falling helicopter. It splashed down in the sea, sinking out of sight only to pop back up and bob for a few minutes, before sinking beneath the surface. Nothing remained of the impact but a circle of roiling bubbles and a narrow column of hissing steam.