“They won’t get far Commander,” said a steady voice. Kevin, now Commander Drak, looked over at his lieutenant. The creature was a skeleton like him but he wore a Viking helm and a pike rested in his bony grip.

Drak was not concerned. The skeletal dragon, Sapphire the Mad, had destroyed the enemy’s airship and sent Sean’s avatar to a burning hell. Everything was proceeding the way he’d envisioned it. Sean would pay for what he’d done to him and if the rest of his former guildies got in the way, he would not spare them the same fate.

Watching Smashit burn aboard the airship had been the pinnacle of an excellent month. He had been promoted to commander after smashing their enemies, the woodland elves of the eastern mountains and returning back to Nightspring victorious. Others in the ranks had tried to challenge him but he’d defeated them mercilessly.

He stood in what had once been the barren Outback. Now, he and his liege had brought unlife to this still valley. A massive portal, larger than Sapphire was long, stood in front of them. It sucked the light right from the day, revealing nothing of what was on the other side. The Lord of Nightspring had left him in charge of the vast armies still left on earth as he went to secure his next target.

Out of the gate poured more undead. The Lord of Nightspring was nothing if not ambitious. Since there was a limited population of people and creatures in the middle of Australia, he was bringing more reinforcements to smash the resistance they’d found here. Once Australia was theirs, the other continents would fall. Besides the fact that it served his personal interests, Drak thought it a strange plan. There was nothing out here except for his former guild and they could hardly pose a threat.

However, he’d heard rumors that there were more Gears and perhaps even a factory that would be decisive to their conquest. Sapphire had been born of one such Gear, a massive thing that had taken dozens of giant zombies to unearth. Where the Lord had found such a Gear wasn’t something Drak had been privy to; however, it was clear that there was far more powerful technology out in the middle of the desert than he would have first guessed.

Looking at the portal, Drak could guess that his master was acquiring even more fearsome Gears than the one that had birthed Sapphire. Looking over at the creature he could see that it was already healing at a rapid pace. While the explosion of the airship had damaged its wings, it had managed to escape and limp home. The dark magic that bound the undead together pulsed through its body and slowly healed it. Drak smiled thinking about Sean’s shock when the creature would kill him a second time. No, he thought, Drak would be the one to deliver the final blow. He’d let the dragon kill the rest of their guild and make Sean watch.

Drak was content for now to serve his master but he still hadn’t forgotten the pain and anguish the Lord of Nightspring put him through during his transformation. The King’s mocking smile still haunted him and occasionally, that smile would overlay Sean’s face. Yes, he would need to crush both of them to achieve his desires.

Some of Drak’s cruel thoughts must have spilled onto his face as his lieutenant took a step back. Another of their army asked, “Is everything alright sir?”

He whirled, smashing the skeleton’s face in. The stupid creature tried to fight back and actually pulled out its sword to attack him. His lieutenant stepped forward to rectify the situation but he held up a hand, commanding him to be still. Drak channeled the dark energy that filled him into his hand until a black orb emanated from it, sucking all light out of the area around them. The foolish underling took another step back, too late. Releasing the orb of darkness took no time at all and engulfed the creature in black flames, disintegrating it.

“Find the bunker or suffer the same fate,” his words were like ice. Dead as they were, those around him quickly hurried away to obey his order.

Yes, the Lord of Nightspring had much to answer for but Sean and his former ‘friends’ were first on the list. His armies were triangulating their location and would soon lay down a net that would trap them. Even thoughts of his old girlfriend Emmy only brought his bony fists together, clenching, as he visualized killing her. How dare she betray him? He was going to enjoy watching them die. Killing Smashit was just the beginning.

******

Cheezus read the name tags again above the metal spiders - Ziron Spider: Level 70. The three of them were surrounded in the underground factory by seven of the creatures. The sound of heavy machinery drowned out nearly every other sound which is why they’d been able to get the drop on him. Their metal tarsi shone, reflecting off the earthen floor. Behind the spiders were the assembly lines: large belts spun out parts for the new Gears. Above him were a series of metal grated walkways, ostensibly to allow repair of the four large machines that ran in each corner of the hollowed-out cavern.

Looking at his friends, Cheezus could see that Deathberry was quickly typing commands into the console on the wall. Hopefully, he would be done soon. Seona looked tense, awaiting his orders. “Keep them off me for another thirty seconds if you can,” Deathberry shouted.

Easier said, than done. Cheezus charged in and attempted to use the machine belts to his advantage. He leapt over the spider in front of him and dove behind the nearest piece of equipment. As predicted it launched a web of thick white silk towards him but instead covered the giant pully machine he’d disappeared behind. He launched a volley of knives: Death by a Thousand Cuts in a 120-degree arc towards his most hated foes. Some kids grew up with arachnophobia. He wasn’t scared though – he just hated spiders with a vengeance, so it was no surprise that several of the blades struck true:

-470 piercing

-1244 piercing/critical X2

-741 piercing

-659 piercing

-1422 piercing/critical X2

-788 piercing

The half dozen blades fanned out and struck true but this wasn’t a super powerful attack. Several of the spiders weren’t affected at all and even the one that had taken the largest critical still had 95% of its health left. However, killing his foes wasn’t Cheezus’ top priority at the moment. Keeping them off his allies for a few precious seconds was the intent and for now all 40 eyes were on him. Too bad he couldn’t just step on them like when he was a kid.

Now he had their full attention, Cheezus jumped on the conveyer belt and surfed it down the line, occasionally jumping over metal parts and dodging giant hammers that came down to smash the metal pieces into place. He didn’t want to become a pancake, but hopefully the spiders followed him. Risking a quick look back he could see that all but one had locked on to him. Fortunately, Seona had summoned a creature right out of the dirt: an earth elemental. Its blocky fists were crashing down into the carapace of the stray spider, keeping it busy for the moment. Seeing his face Deathberry gave him the thumbs up. What was that sneaky sorcerer up to now?

He found out a moment later as he got to the end of the conveyer belt. Before him stood a massive robot with an empty cockpit. Clearly, it was meant to be manned but was empty. What was this Robotech? Deathberry had a strange sense of humor. Shrugging his shoulders, Cheezus jumped in the cockpit and attempted to power up the suit of armor. The spiders were still hot on his heels and he had just found the power button when the first one jumped on top of the giant mech.

A minute later he was reliving his childhood, going down into the basement and smashing spiders during the spring. Only this time the spiders were the size of small horses and he was in a robot the size of a house.

He’d quickly got the hang of things after the first spider landed on him. The mech had twin daggers which he popped out of their sheaths on the outside of the robot’s thighs with a flick of his thumb. The arms were moved by pulling on handles right in front of him. Pulling them up lifted the arms, pushing them down lowered them, and so forth. The legs and torso were powered by a series of pedals at his feet. For now, he just needed to figure out how to attack with his arms. Drawing back one of his hands he slashed down with a dagger, driving it through one of the spider’s bodies:

-4107 piercing

Instakill

His jaw hung down for a moment. Awesome! Quickly, he took the other spiders apart using the same move. He had one problem though. There was still the one spider that was using its tarsus to try to rip him out of the cockpit. He could hear the steel of the giant robot starting to give way as it pried open the hatch. He turned the dagger around and stabbed right into its exposed back:

-16701 piercing/critical X2

Instakill

While he had destroyed the pesky spider, he’d also smashed through the cockpit. He could no longer see out of the robot very well as the heads-up-display inside had cracked with the force of the impact. The good news is that the spiders were dead, the bad news was that he wasn’t going to be using this awesome gundum again without some serious repairs.

When he’d managed to pry his way out of the cockpit, he leapt down and strode over to his guidmates. “That was a blast,” he said, a grin plastered on his face.

Deathberry looked up with a wry smile, “Glad you enjoyed yourself,” he said. “While you were taking care of the spider infestation Seona and I found something you should see.”

Their strategist pushed a few buttons on the console and a panel on one side of the factory slid open revealing a square room that appeared to be entirely made of steel. Whatever was behind the doors was highly prized by whoever had created it.

Stepping inside the room, the Cheezus saw what all the fuss was about. There were four portals just like the ones they’d found back on the island. Looking at them closely he could see the hazy outlines of what was on the other side, although none of them looked familiar.

“It gets better,” Deathberry explained. “Aeon has been able to help me gain access to the system and we can change the portals now.” He demonstrated this by giving Aeon a command to setup a portal to San Francisco.

Cheezus whistled. This would solve a few of their problems. “Can we bring something larger through the portal?”

“Up to the size of this room. And the portal will stay open for twenty-four hours on the other end as well. So, we could bring through a large group of allies – say the Survivors,” Deathberry said. “In fact, that is what Seona and I will likely do here in a few minutes assuming that Rygor will agree to help us.”

His pursed lips gave Cheezus pause, “What’s the problem then?”

“You should read this transmission we received from the bunker while you were fighting the spiders. It’s about Emmy,” Deathberry said.

Reading the message Cheezus sighed. Shit, and things had been going so well.