The Tale of Mascath

“The rain poured upon the city of Mascath, and I was freezing to the bone. In these times of war, people fear the darkness, and the night was long when I reached the gates. They told me no one was to enter, as the enemy was not to be trusted. Told them I was a soldier, offered to fight on the walls in exchange for shelter and food. The answer? My hands wouldn’t match my appetite. And oh, it was big, my appetite. I spied some archers setting their aims upon me as I stood immobile. Walking for 2 days straight with the scarce food and water I managed to smuggle through the mercenary camp, I was in no condition to fight or argue. So I pitched my tent, right outside the wall and slept for a day.

                They still didn’t let me in. By the second day they warned me, told me to get away from the village if I were to survive the attack. The war is ruthless, and without reinforcements from the kingdoms, many settlements are lost, for they cannot cope with the undying will of our enemies. I had 2 slices of bread, a piece of smoked meat and a swig’s worth of water. But I still lay there, under the blazing heat of the day. Although recovered from most fatigue and wounds, hunger was setting in. As the night came, so did the rain. I set my canteen in the mud, in hopes to get it filled with rain. Soon after, a hide bottle came flying down to land on my doorstep. I looked up and the Captain atop the wall told me the vile beasts poison he air, poison the water, poison the land. They trusted only their own water. I still don’t understand, but the fluid he threw me was not water. Did they not notice the Flow around it? The next day came with an unusually fair weather. The breeze swept my hair back and forth with a caress’ gentleness, giving me the time and spirit to ponder, bring back old memories, my purpose. The night came early that day, and the wall warned me again that the enemy was near. Hunger and ache overcame me, and I fell asleep for what seemed a measly minute. I jumped, crashing my poor tent, and the noise all around was that of metal and shouts. As I became aware of the scene, I realized I was being surrounded by a large group of the enemy’s host. With newly-found strength, I tried to remember my teachings. Must have been the water. I had energy, and my aches were soothed. The movements flew so smooth, and the words, oh they came flashing into my mind like fireflies in the dark.

                I felt glorious, accomplished. Happy.”

                “So who is it to blame then, hero? Your masters, the men atop the wall, or yourself?”

                “Death is not to be blamed upon, for being welcomed into the Heavens is the greates of honours, my Goddess.”

Part 9

Full link under "Genarian Chronicles" on the right of the page

Part 9

Soldiers had invaded the avenue, they had orders to kill on sight. Several Mods came flying in to the scene, bursting and attacking the genarian. “STOP!” screamed Mark, “Don’t atta...”. His head shot back as the genarian hit him. Yoh drew her swords and burst, catching the foe by surprise, throwing him to the ground. She jumped and aimed with her swords, but he dodged, attacking fiercely. Tens of Mods and soldiers were there. The genarian looked around for a second, then disappeared into the ground. “Where’s he gone?” thought Torandis. A huge explosion engulfed the whole place, as all the tanks, helicopters, cars and mechs blew up. All the men were slammed into the ground. “Return to base ASAP. He will come here, and you need your medicine.” said Commander Thuman.

“Sir, should we make preparations?” asked Thuman, turning to General Sorges. The other Division Commanders were wondering the same. “Turn on the defence system. Droids and all. I’ll get ready.”. Not 5 minutes had passed, an explosion was heard inside the UHQ. General Sorges was about to take his serum, so he made sure he hurried. Up in ground level, EF, as he came to be called grabbed an arm, smashed the head with his elbow, grabbed a rifle from the ground and shot three more soldiers to death. Speeding through the hall, he came across 2 droids, spitting bullets so fast, not even him could dodge. So he broke a wall and ran as fast as he could, breaking several other walls. He was being chased by more droids now, but he noticed the trip-wire and led them to the trap. He just kept running without looking back. He heard the explosion behind him, and more droids and soldiers came before him. A Mod was among them, and he was bursting with energy. EF erupted in flames. Enraged, he deflected all the bullets the droids and soldiers fired at him, killed and destroying all of them except the Mod, who was already upon him, striking away at his chest. EF simply grabbed him and blew him apart. With a punch, he broke the ground below him, reaching the first floor, right on top of Sorge’s apartment.

Mark, Torandis and Yoh were travelling as fast as possible through the city, they could see the UHQ already. A tank approached them and a soldier inside halted them. They stopped and said “We are to reinforce the Head Quarters ASAP. Let us through.” The soldier just grinned.

“Did you think you could defeat me?”

“No, but I want to make you see the chaos, the tragedy, the suffering you’ve put me through!”

“I never intended for this.”

In the UHQ, EF was rampant, set ablaze with his full power, he sped through the halls, destroying everything. That was, until he reached a certain section. It was full of traps. Contraptions of all sorts, which he couldn’t be sure to mess with. After all, they were engineered by Mr. Sorges, and he couldn’t cross his heart that they weren’t dangerous even to him.

General Sorges came in, along with a huge army of Norms, Mods and droids. Sorges halted EF as he was about to initiate another strike. “Why don’t we settle this like grown men? Why don’t you stop this madness once and for all?”. EF kept silent. The ground was melting around him with the heat irradiating from his body. He closed his eyes. For a moment there was silence, a deep, deep silence. All the Mods were then enclosed in black flames, which set many a-soldiers around them on fire. “Quit your trickery!”, and with a wave, Sorges pulled EF flying in and head-butted him into the ground. EF got up, only to be struck again. “Why are you holding back? Do you want to settle this, old man?”, said EF with a groan. He then got up and faced Sorges. Without breaking a sweat, the Superior General pushed him, and EF went blasting into one of the traps, a little device Sorges nicknamed The Rat Mower. EF was blasted to pieces. Sorges sighed and turned around, but found himself grappled by some mighty invisible hands. “I see...you have increased your power in secret...”

Part 8

Full story at "Genarian Chronicles" on the right of the page

Part 8

“Mark! MARK!”, “I’m here, Yoh. Chill out.” answered the man while shrugging off dust from all over his body. “Where’s Captain? Can you find him?” asked Torandis. “No, I’m afraid I can’t sense anything. Did you see that guy? The flames, the explosion? What was he?”, “I’m not sure, but he might be our guy. I don’t think he left much of a chance for Captain. Look at us, we are pretty beat up, and we are strong as steel. I don’t hope to find Captain.”, “What do you propose we do now, since you’re in charge?” asked Yoh. Mark jumped to a nearby building and stared for a while. He then made an odd-looking frown and said “I got him!”. They went back to their normal states and made way toward the direction Mark sensed. Could this really be the infamous son of Jerome and Martha? “Why didn’t they just give us a photo?”, Torandis thought, “It would just be easy to find him.”

Awkward enough, they reached a seemingly busy part of town. The people there were working, walking on the street, driving their cars, as if immune to the impending dangers out there. The team found this disturbing, but in fact, there was no reason to worry, the nearest genarian they could sense was over 5 kilometres away! From here, no smoke could be seen, only the dark sky. A passerby asked them “Hey, are you Union soldiers? I heard on the news we are at war. Have you come to save us?”, to which Mark answered “Not exactly, we are looking for a companion of ours. Have you seen something strange?”. The man left running, and turned a corner. The team pursued, but cautiously. Around the corner there was the man, with a ripping grin upon his face. They sensed many people approaching. “Fly with me!” Mark said. They jetted out of there as fast as possible. They didn’t know why, but something felt dangerous. Why were those people there? So many questions and so little time to answer them. They found themselves in a broad avenue. People were swarming from all around them, and they kept running. Finally reaching a sea of people, Mark shouted “What are you doing? We can help, we are Union soldiers. What do you want?”. “Yes, you are Union soldiers. You said you would protect us. But you let us down!” said a lady in the crowd, “What have we done? If something happened, you have reason to be mad at us, but we can try to fix it.”. Mark was sweating, he felt something was up. But the feeling to fulfil his mission didn’t allow him to run. “You let our parents die.” said the lady again. “Mark, I know what’s happening! Wake up!” yelled Torandis. She turned to Yoh and said something, but she didn’t understand, for Torandis’ mouth had erupted in blood. Mark and Yoh grabbed her as she fell. Her back had been perforated, and was bleeding heavily. Mark got thrown with a strong impact into the crowd, and Yoh was swarmed by it.

“We got a lock, Sir. Should we take it?”, “Fire at will. My boys will be fine.”. Commander Thuman Olyve wasn’t sure about that at all, but what could he do? The helicopter fired several rockets and machine gun rounds. The genarian stopped beating Yoh and looked up, deflecting the projectiles, but the helicopter kept shooting. In one single move, the foe flew up in the air and punched a hole right through the fuselage. He got right back to the ground as the helicopter crashed against a building with a big explosion. The grabbed Yoh, but Mark stood up behind him and drew his pistol. He aimed for the head and pulled the trigger, but the bullets passed straight through the genarian, who turned around and attacked Mark, breaking his jaw. Torandis got up, still bleeding seriously. Mark saw it, and got up, he jumped at the enemy, and armed a punch. Hitting the genarian’s blocking hand made a shockwave strong enough to crack the ground under them. That’s when they heard the cars, the tanks, the jets. The cavalry was coming. “Just come with us, we don’t want to hurt you. We just want to help you accomplish your mission.” said Mark, “Why should I help you, only to be disposed of later? Your people didn’t care the first time, they won’t care the second. What difference does it make if I kill you or them? You both killed my parents.”

Part 7

Link to the full story under "Genarian chronicles" on the right of the page.

Part 7

Everything was destroyed in a 500m radius around those buildings. Walking alongside a heavy armoured tank, Lyko and his team inspected carefully around every corner. The MInfo showed a map with recovered territory. The Union was advancing at a fast pace, despite the fierce battles that were constantly going on. “Where are they even coming from?”, wondered Torandis. She couldn’t comprehend how the genarians could be permanently attacking. “Where is their base? Do they even have one? How are they sending troops non-stop to Earth?”, she thought.

She didn’t have time to think as the tank blew up. All she did was jump and duck behind a car. The massive tank was now one solid flaming pile of metal. Mark, Torandis, Yoh and Captain Lyko ran inside a store. They readied their weapons. The sweat dripped off their faces. Lyko was in terror. He did not see or feel any threat. By now, he was used to sensing his surroundings. The suit made him much more aware and agile. None of the teammates felt anything, and yet they were attacked out of nowhere, and had no clue who had done it. Feeling impotent, Lyko was pushed back when the front of the store exploded, shattering all windows and sending shrapnel flying all the way to hit the team and inflict some light wounds. The whole building trembled. They were cornered. Was this really the way it ended? Everything was dark. The smoke clouded their vision. Mark got up, and walked to the back of the floor, searching for a way out. Lyko’s thoughts ran “This is a huge danger. You’re getting too much heat. I’m sending all nearby troops there.”. Next thing he saw, amidst the smoke and dust, was a big shadow. Human-like, yet with some notorious differences in proportions. It made a sudden noise, tearing all walls apart. The building collapsed.

Beneath the rubble, all he could hear was gunfire. It wasn’t too soon before it stopped, though. He heard Yoh scream. She had burst. Lyko’s efforts to move were worthless. The exoskeleton was broken, and both his arms and legs were stuck under heavy chunks of stone and brick. He heard Mark and Torandis burst. They were fighting the Omni, but he felt like they were no match for him. It was then he heard a comforting voice reaching the dust-filled darkness where he lay. His brain drifted to a place far away, where he was free. Free of the burdens, the war, the pain. “Home...” he thought. The voice got dimmer, and he chased it. Whose voice it was, he couldn’t tell. “I need to hear it...once more.” and the voice kept fleeing, running through the dark. Was it his wife? No, she was dead. His son? Dead too. Father? Mother? All dead. All of them...dead. He heard screams of pain and despair. The fire embraced him, and the warmth of her heart calmed him. “Is it time already?” he asked. “It seems so.” the woman replied, “Do you recognize this voice?”, “No...who is it?” he wondered. With a tender smile upon her lips, she said, in an ever-so-dimmer voice “It’s him. Your boys are safe.”. Lyko could still hear the voice. So gentle, so soft, so welcoming. He couldn’t make out what he was saying, but who cared now? It was time, and in the time there was no time for questions or wonderings. There was only his wife’s fiery embrace, and the voice, so close, so far, so fast, so...explosive.

Part 6

Link to the full story at "Genarian Chronicles" on the right of the page.

Part 6

Most of the soldiers had never seen the outside of the UHQ, only those sent to defend its surroundings. It had to be about noon, the sun was burning hot, and as soon as Captain set foot on the wrecked streets, he felt it. Oh it was marvellous, something he had not felt before in his life. He was so light, yet so strong. He could sense the air flowing, and even the slightest of sounds would make his ears pop. A voice started forming in his head, a conscience, thoughts that weren’t his. The chair, which was now a suit, was still forming, bending, wedging, tweaking, turning, shrieking and adjusting like a second skin to his body. This conscience started talking to him, almost like transmitting thoughts. He felt like he had those thoughts all his life. He saw Mark, Torandis and Yoh speeding through the street to meet him. They were surrounded by the whole of the 3^rd Division, which included Norms and Mods alike, and a variety of vehicles. All around the base he saw military staff. As they set out, the thought came, “Take the rooftops, they are safer because they like to ride those pesky Bestis, so if they wanna get to you, they’ll have to work for it”, he knew he just had to do it. And he didn’t bother to ask himself why or how, “Follow me, let’s take the high ground!” he said to his team. “Kneel and push the ground with your left leg.” he thought. There he went, up in the air. The speed was so devastating he almost hit a building across the street, but he reacted just as fast and climbed it, stopping finally on top of it. “Well, you heard him” said Mark, “don’t just stand there!”. Together with Torandis and Yoh, he jumped and reached the roof of the building. Looking back, they saw the UHQ, or at least, the upper part of it, a huge fortress with ramifications as far as the eye could see. The conscience struck Lyko again, and he charged towards the city, jumping from roof to roof, with the pillars of smoke in the distance as his goal. Soon, the rooftops were filled with soldiers, dashing through at the highest speed. The streets below were populated by tanks and mechs of all kinds. Helicopters and jet-fighters covered them from the sky. It wasn’t too long until the first genarians were attracted by this ruckus. The first shots were heard, but all Lyko was thinking was “Keep running, jump, grab that ledge, pull yourself up, look behind, they are still with you, run, jump, run, jump...”. So set on his goal, he almost didn’t notice the blade flying before his nose. Only when his body evaded the attack on its own did he look to the left, where a horde of genarians was almost catching up with him. He looked behind at Mark, who immediately made a signal to his companions, and pulled out his rifle. The thoughts ran again, “Reach out, pull your arm back.” And so Lyko did, without questioning, as he pulled his arm slightly backwards, a shockwave slammed him to the ground, and an explosion hit the enemy group. “Captain, behind you!!” was all he heard from Yoh before turning around, to face a small creature, flying just over the edge of the building. On top of it was a similar one, with 4 arms, 2 of which holding some kind of glowing sword. They were both scaled and had a slight blue tint on top of their natural white skin. As they landed, the one with swords threw his long pointy tail at Lyko, who dodged and reached for his shotgun. He heard shots behind him, and saw Mark and Torandis fighting the genarian horde together with other soldiers. Yoh came to his aid, and pulled 2 katanas from her back. He shot once, hitting the winged animal. The other was too fast and threw itself at Lyko, but Yoh parried with her weapons. They engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat, and soon more of them arrived. Another captain came to their spot, firing a heavy machine gun. Lyko suddenly realized there were now hundreds of the things landing on the roof, and Bestis were climbing.

The battle was on, he could hear explosions and shots all around. He tried to run to his team, but got cut off. A sniper on a helicopter took the foe down, but more came. Lyko was shooting his heart out, and more soldiers appeared. Yoh was still fighting the same enemy, and now a second one was attacking her. There was no way to defeat them. That’s when she knew she had to do it. “Captain!!” she yelled, “I need to burst!!!”. The thoughts came to Lyko once more, “Tell them to burst. All of them. Yes Sir. Everyone, burst!”, Lyko was confused, his mind was tricked, but he heard the other captains order their teams to burst, and everything was a bit more clear. And as loud as he could, he screamed “Burst!”.