《Dirge》Armageddon - 4.09
Advertisement
“Keep your eyes peeled,” Porter warned them.
They cleared corners and stalked the halls. This place was old, he knew. Beneath the civilized lunar colonies had been the original network of tunnels. Beneath the ground, you could keep air pressure and spread out without too many extra materials.
The network was big. Access to the surface would be limited.
After all, you couldn’t have anyone letting out the air.
They had a bigger problem. “Can any of you survive the vacuum?” Porter asked.
The Sorcerer spoke. “I can give the others that ability. You’re good?”
“I am.” But it wasn’t that he was worried about. They weren’t alone down here.
The Sorcerer was having the same thoughts. “You helped bind the Ouroboros, didn’t you?”
“I was the lead on that, yes.” He knew his line of thought. “But that doesn’t mean we can do anything. Not against something like this.”
The halls were nearly pitch black. They turned into another room, what looked like a cafeteria. The chairs were upturned on the tables, the air like a sludge of dust.
Porter explained in a strained whisper as they walked. “I don’t know what we’re up against here. We had time to design an antithesis with the Ouroboros. All we know this time?”
Wulff picked up his thought. “It’s a cancer. Some runaway metaphysical element of the human experience that was common and potent enough to seep into the framework.”
“A Horror,” he agreed.
They all froze as the sound of a chair crashing broke the quiet.
The Sorcerer’s hands flew. Porter reached out to stop him, but before he could, they had summoned a fire which spread out across the floor like the ignition of a heavy gas. It gave light to the outer corners of the room. It crawled over dead bodies which had been out of sight between the tables. When it had reached the wall it quickly burned out, leaving them in darkness again with maladjusted eyes.
Porter dropped his arm and exhaled deeply.
“Let’s just keep movi-”
A wet and deep, hot breath doused the back of Porter’s neck.
Time stretched out as he pushed away and spun around. Catching a glimpse of glassy, reflective eyes, two heads taller and leering over him. He jutted out his hands, trying to put the hulking figure at arm’s length.
Instead, his own push shoved him back with the others. Touching it, icy chills shot up his arms, pinprick tingles crawling over his skin.
The elephant man breathed raggedly.
Advertisement
The five of them backed up as far as they could. The elephant man was so still.
“Quinn,” Wulff hissed, a terror in his voice. “Don’t let it near me.”
He didn’t reply. Porter clenched his hands, trying to dispel the coldness settling in them. It was like he could suddenly feel the weight of the rock burying them. Everything was distorted. Like watching a stone dropped down a well, everything was shrinking around him.
“Christ,” his voice quivered. He beat his forearm against the tables beside them as hard as he possibly could. The pain shocked him back, steadied his voice. “Don’t let it touch you,” he said.
The elephant man tottered forward, seemingly off balance. Like a drunk.
It swung its trunk like arms and sent a table end over end. It wailed, “AEEEEUUUGH,” trying to form syllables in a shrill noise.
Wulff hurdled the tables. “Run!”
The other four followed him, jumping the tables and trusting him to know which way he was going. If there was a way out of this, it would be him.
The elephant man broke into a lumbering run. It barreled through obstacles, knocking them aside.
They hit the back wall and sprinted. The elephant man had fallen to all fours, loping after them. Porter’s eyes locked on the exit further away. An unlocked door and beyond a half-lit kitchen. Wulff was in the front, the Sorcerer in the back.
As they burst through the door, the Sorcerer caught his foot in the doorway. Arms flew out with a shout, “Crush and chill of the deep, force of ocean depth!”
A blue light filled the cafeteria, ice forming on every surface. The tin metal of the tables crumpled under an invisible weight. Suddenly, looking back, Porter could see the elephant man unhindered. A human tank, eyes recessed and no discernable neck.
“Back!” he bellowed. Porter dived.
The elephant man threw itself into the doorway. The Sorcerer’s eyes widened as he realized he’d done nothing to stop it. The behemoth burst through the doorway and half of the wall aside, rolling over him and through rolling metal shelves.
The four of them pulled themselves up and started running across the kitchen.
They ran through a large door and closed it shut behind them. A soft white light filled the place. Porter counted heads. Wulff, the Eidolon, and the Healer. The Healer looked shaken.
As his eyes darted for an escape, he realized.
Oh, fucking hell.
“This is a freezer.” Wulff kept backing away from the door until he hit one of the room’s pillars. The shelves were empty. He looked desperately for an exit. Freezers had only one exit. It was pointless.
Advertisement
“Wulff! Focus!” Porter barked.
“No!” he cried. “He’s coming for me.”
“Why you?!” the Eidolon asked, deeply disconcerted.
Porter grabbed Wulff’s shoulders, slamming him against the pillar. “What did you do?!”
“I…” he looked nervously over Porter’s shoulder at the locked door.
“Speak!”
“I’m helping Elicht.”
“Who?”
“Christopher! I knew! I knew when he came to my class. He taught me.”
“Damn.” Porter pushed away. He ran a hand through his hair, hanging his head. “Damn,” he repeated. “That’s not okay.”
“Guys…” the Eidolon said.
Wulff slid down to the floor. “He wanted me to help him. He saw the work I was doing in causal manipulations. He showed me the truth of metaphysics, of everything. He’s just bringing on the inevitable, Porter. All intelligent life externalizes its desire for comfort to the point of entropy. All the struggle is to end the struggle. To bring the final form.”
“Something’s not inevitable if you have to make it happen, you fuck.” Porter stared off into space, trying to think of a way out. He couldn’t teleport now, not when his place in space mattered. No, that was cheating. A small smirk found his lips.
“Rory!” the Eidolon yelled.
The healer had pushed a hanging meat hook into his eye socket. He went limp, the chain snapping taut and his body spinning in place.
Porter didn’t know why he’d smiled. “He tripped,” he said. “It must have brushed him.”
“If it touches you?” the Eidolon asked, horrified.
“Yes.”
The freezer door jumped on its hinges, the center deforming.
If it wanted in, it would be in. It was knocking.
Wulff started bawling. He knew he was going to die. He knew it for a fact. Like it was happening before his eyes, Porter knew.
“You,” he motioned to the Eidolon. “Press up against the wall beside the door with me. It’s going for Wulff. If it breaks through, we go behind it. Don’t let it touch.” He crouched beside Wulff. “Is there a point to trying?”
Wulff knew what he’d meant. He shook his head, forcefully.
Porter stood. The two of them pressed against the wall. As the freezer door fell flat, they slumped down. The naked, pale elephant man lowered its head to come through. It walked straight past them.
Wulff heard their footsteps disappear out of range, into the kitchen.
He buried his face in his hands as he felt the shadow of the horror come over him. The only sound its heavy, deep breath.
A finger touched his chin. His face was raised up.
Aziacht’s scrutinizing gaze searched Wulff’s eyes for something. “You’re not a brilliant man,” he said.
Wulff’s mouth opened, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak.
“Not a brilliant man, but an effective piece.”
“You’re going to kill me.” He could see it with his waking eyes. All the ways it could happen. A thousand deaths all at once flashing before him. Then, they all just became one.
“You’re going to do it. I’m going to watch.” Aziacht pointed to the hooks. “Because you got something wrong,” he told him. “All the struggle is to survive. To fight entropy. It’s survival that has no point. And that’s something you’re about to experience.”
O
Porter and the Eidolon came running through the door and into the light. Soft, reflected light from off the earth.
They crouched down to catch their breath, the Eidolon looking back, worried to be staying still.
Porter stared up at the glass ceiling above. “It’s alright,” he said.
“But the… thing… It’ll be following.”
“No.” He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “They were just after Wulff. This was a trap for him, Christopher’s ace. He doesn’t care about you. And he wants me in the fight.”
“Gee, thanks.” He wheezed. “I thought you were… a problem for him.”
“I’m part of his trilemma. I’m part of his game… Get on the radio, soldier.”
The Eidolon found a terminal, plugging in his device to broadcast for Solidarity.
Porter continued to stare, baffled. Every star in the sky above. Gone.
He’d boxed them in. Every universe, every star, and planet. The Monastery. He’d stolen them all from the sky. Like they’d never mattered at all.
There would be no retreat. Porter could see it, now. Somewhere on the surface of the world, Aziacht would have them prepare. The location would be waiting for them.
“I’ve got them. Teleport incoming.”
That place would be where time ended. Porter felt, now. He wasn’t sure. But he thought it might not be that truth was on his side.
“Good.”
There was nothing left between it and them, now. No stop along the way. No trials or procrastination. The end of time, clearly in sight. He wasn’t ready.
Advertisement
Exuperius [DISCONTINUED]
Terravest. The northernmost continent of the world known by many names of legend, but is most commonly reffered to as Athora, has, for eons, served as the land of exiles. Human criminals, dark elves, grayskinned orcs and dwarves that preffer mining with machinery over the traditional pickaxe alike, have come to call this half-frozen hellhole their home. It is a land of great strife, calamity and crisis, where one legendary tale ends only to begin the next, heroes fall down and villains find themselves thrown into lava. Around seventy years ago, a legendary figure appeared out of seemingly nowhere and conquered three human nations, forming a kingdom worthy enough of being called a small empire. However, at the eve of his heirs ascension, the legend breathed his last, leaving this same bloated, chaotic realm without the pillar that kept it together. Already, the carrion nobility, still spiteful for being denied their "rightful" place below the sun, rise up and gather at the court, each eager to consolidate their own power in these troubled times. Tempers flare, power is exercised without restraint and no one expects the hedonistic prince to succeed at keeping the realm together. Alas, as is often the case with such tales, not everything seems to be as it might at first appear and the vain lords of the realm may yet come to regret their carrion will. --- The Content Warnings are there for a good reason. ---
8 188The Vampire's Never-ending Curiosity
“Being the strongest is often pretty convenient and cool. Sure. But what good does this power do for me if the disadvantages it brings prevents me from satisfying my curiosity!?” This is a slow paced story of the daily (or nightly?) life of a vampire, whose starting hand in life is “no home, no name, random knowledge, overpowered strength and seemingly endless curiosity”, in a world that is often not friendly and safe even to a member of a rare and overpowered race.
8 200Monstrous Intentions
Life is hard. Horrible monsters lurk around every corner, waiting for the right time to strike. It’s a good thing the world is overflowing with adventurers who dedicate their lives to hunting monsters down and killing them with impunity. Unless of course, you are one such monster. When survival depends on blending in, it's best not to cause any trouble. Too bad sometimes trouble finds you. The story of a shapeshifting monster doing its best to hide in plain sight. Updates Fridays, Sometimes Tuesdays if I'm not lazy.
8 147Contact First
2039 - Earth A narrow beam energy signal appeared aimed squarely at earth from the TRAPPIST system. The communication consisted of a layered set of repeating data over several thousand wavelengths. Over the next few months scientists discovered that the lower wavelengths carried an encoded numerical language which could then be used to interpret the more complicated messages carried on the higher wavelengths. After half a year of painstaking work the signal was fully decoded. It described a small satellite launched along a precise trajectory towards the fourth planet of our solar system. Included was a package of advanced research that humanity would need to have ready in order to receive the satellite and decelerate it safely. The alien data provided the kick that humanity needed to turn from petty squabbling and unite to explore the final frontier. Major government and corporate leaders worked together to create the framework for the United Federation of Sol. UFS spaceports went from scaffolding to daily launches in every major city around the globe. Ships floated like dandelion seeds, spreading on solar wind to grow into colonies. 2397 - Mars orbit, Egeria Station The command center was a hive of activity as checks were conducted and systems initialized. Scientists flitted by like mayflies as communicators beeped and holoscreens spat out green tinted readouts. Nervous energy was thick in the air as everyone anticipated the culmination of over three hundred years of work. Massive fusion reactors under the planet's surface thrummed with barely restrained power as energy fed into a gleaming metallic maze criss crossing the planet. Metal fingers reached up, overshadowing the mighty olympus mons and trying to grab the stars. All over the solar system, people quickly turned to look as gigantic energy lances shot from the dusty fourth planet. Two years later. The same people that clapped loudly at the successful activation of project Hermes now wait with baited breath. A silver capsule trailing bright photonic sails is captured by a net of grav beams and guided with care bordering on reverence into the station. Holoscreens across the headquarters project an image of the sleek craft settling in the bay. Data connections are established and the holoscreens blink to white. Slowly an image forms on the screen. Across the headquarters people stare in wonder as a wholly alien face stares back. "Contact established. Welcome to the universe."
8 155Rest in a Demon's Embrace
This is a BL story! Be aware that if you do not enjoy romance between two men you will not enjoy this story. It is a slice of life and romance story at a slow pace. We have a website where we post announcements. Release Schedule is a minimum of 2 chapters a week In the continent of Tiandi humans lived amongst beasts, demons, and spirits. Here warriors were as common as the clouds in the sky, and each expert could either cultivate their inner energy known as Qi, or their soul, to form Spiritual Energy. In the village of Jinwei, Luo Xiao grew up like a beautiful bird locked in a cage. He was weak from birth and unable to leave his bed for an extended period of time, yet his beauty made him well-liked amongst the villagers. One day disaster struck the village of Jinwei. A Corpse Puppet appeared wanting to eradicate all life. A seal was unlocked, and soon the Corpse Puppet was dead under the hand of the sickly Luo Xiao, but this was not the end of his misfortune. Right when he thought that the end was coming, a man as handsome as a god descended to the mundane world and took him away. For the sake of revenge, Luo Xiao sold his soul to this handsome man, but is it only his soul that this alluring stranger took from him?
8 142(MTL)I am the ex-wife of the cannon fodder in the chronology [80]
https://m.shubaow.net/247/247501/Author: HeduCategory: Rebirth through timeRelease time: 2022-05-12Latest: Chapter 66rebirthfinished237,000When Li Yulan realized that the world she lived in was a book, she was being dragged to a black clinic for an abortion. According to the original plot, at this moment, she should have just learned the news of her husband's death, and was about to abandon her biological son and abort the child in her womb, so that she could remarry immediately. Then ten minutes later, she would die on the cold operating table due to a miscarriage operation. After that, her son will be sold into the valley and turned into a villain with many evils. And her cousin would marry her husband, Gu Shen, who didn't die but made a lot of money. Gu Shen went all the way until he became the richest man in the country, and his cousin became the richest man's wife that everyone envied. Li Yulan: ? ? ? Is she being ghosted? Otherwise, how could you do such a stupid thing! Li Yulan immediately covered her stomach, pushed away her cousin who tried her best to persuade her to abort and remarry, and hurried home to hug her villain son tightly. No matter what the plot is or not, as long as she has her own children, her cheap husband and cousin will go wherever they fall in love with it! Gu Shen worked hard outside for half a year, and almost lost his life. He finally made a lot of money and went home with a large bag and a small bag to see his wife and son. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the door, he met his wife's defensive gaze. Li Yulan: "Let's get a divorce, but the child has to be mine!" Gu Shen: "???" Who can tell him what happened! Content label: Farming Wenshuang Wen Shuang Wen Shi Wen counterattack Search keywords: Protagonist: Li Yulan; Gu Shen ┃ Supporting role: Dabao Xiaobao ┃ Others:
8 119