[IC] End of a Dreamer

[Skallagrim]

As the plasma dwindled away, vanishing to naught the true attack of the Fireen was evident. An energy weapon, Fury had not lost his touch, as the hurling spear would reach the Dreamer. The impact was tremendous as the spear slammed home into the dark pulsating shield of Skallagrim. The energy discharge was amazing, the ships above lay silent as eyes watched in horror as the energy filled their screens with numbers resembling nuclear weapon explosions.

The impact, knocked the Dreamer back and away, in a flash of light and heat. The pulsating dark energy of the shield blunted the damage, transferring the energy down and into the multitude of tendrils of energy deep in the earth, where the force was transferred with extreme prejudice. The energy dispersed through the hard rock caused an earthquake miles deep in the earth. Skallagrim raced back at nearly 120 miles per hour until the tendrils that anchored him began to reach the limits of their energy elasticity. With a sudden stop, the skeletal being nearly bent in half and then slammed into the ground, face first with a tremendous smack. Rising quickly, Skallagrim readied himself, although the two were nearly a half mile distant than they had been before. The dark tendrils of energy hummed and reverberated with the transference of energy through them.

The rocks deep in the earth fractured under the energy dispersal, molten earth flowed and churned deep in the earth seeking a way out, seeking a way to release. Would it reach the surface? Hardly, however, what would happen would be that the earthquake, initiated by the initial energy would now be fueled by another subterranean explosion as the lava crashed and expanded deep in caverns, propelling the shifting of tectonic plates.

The monomolecular mesh was a weapon and defense, a mesh made of dark graphene a single molecule thick with a with a tensile strength of 130000 MPa, made it one of the highest tensile strength structures in the multiverse. The dark graphene molecule itself contains elastic properties, which helps with the concept of cutting. Even as Fury pushed through the mesh if the dark graphene didn’t cut right away, the elasticity will help it to continue cutting as he continued to push through it especially catching and cutting anything not nestled between his hands and chest. The dark graphene has amazing shear strength requiring a tremendous amount of energy to shear the net enough for Fury to make his way through it. Would it stop him? Perhaps, perhaps not. But it would not be merciful upon the Fireen as the mesh was released, left to collapse with impunity upon the man who sought his way out.

The blow had hurt, had done damage. Had in fact given the Dreamer pause a moment as he took a survey of his body. Although the shield had done its job in offsetting a majority of the blow, the fact remained that enough energy had gotten through to fuse, rend and break the armor of Skallagrim. Several of the bones beneath the armor showed signs of fractures and micro breaks.

But it had not killed the Dreamer, and Skallagrim had not attacked yet. The hum and glow of the sword, shimmering with gamma energy began to burn the oxygen in the atmosphere around the skeletal being, creating a surreal image, harkening to the most primitive illustrations of death. The shield, much diminished, pulsated angrily as a million Dreamer began accessing the dream fragment, studying the fight.

[MelonHead]

The energy contained within the mesh was extraordinary. Had it been an inanimate shield, built to keep the Fireen in place through merit of its immense density, Fury would have struggled with it for hours. However, it had been designed to not only capture but utterly crush its prey, and to do so vast quantities of gravitational potential energy had been brought to bear. As the Fireen’s hands came into close contact with the mesh, ripping it asunder with all his strength, the Void’s abilities took hold. Vast quantities of energy flushed through Fury’s system, unwanted as his energy requirements were more than met by the Machine on his back. Almost as if it were a release valve, his body naturally forced itself into its Unbridled state, where excess power poured from his every pore. One of the consequences of energy resistance was that no matter how vast the store of power Fury tapped into, he was capable of draining it at the same rate. What he had tapped into with the Mesh could only be described as the largest energy source he had ever experienced direct contact with, and with every passing second he devoured it.

At first, the mesh had cut and torn at his armour and face, lacerating the skin almost as fast as the vast quantities of incoming energy could regenerate it. However, as the energy built up in his Unbridled form the shimmering blue skin that formed his shield grew more and more visible to the naked eye. Vaguely, Fury was aware of his spear landing upon Skallagrim and knocking him clear, but at that point it was the most he could do to grit his teeth and weather the immense forces running through his body. With every passing second his hands somehow broadened the tear before him, as his power pulsed outwards forming a wedge with which to overcome the extreme tensile strength of the net.

It should have been impossible, but with one last gargantuan effort the Fireen thrust himself forward and blasted outwards with the force of his energy displacement, the Mesh collapsing behind him. He shot forward fifty metres and splattered into the lake floor, muck coating his burning form. The damage to his body was limited, deep bleeding wounds criss-crossing his face and severe bruising across his legs was all he got for the trouble of overcoming perhaps the single greatest threat he had ever faced. However the damage to his equipment was far more problematic, his armour had been sheared and shattered, leaving great cracks across the torso and lower legs that caved into his flesh painfully. His gloves had burned away under the extreme force of tearing open the Mesh, and worst of all the World Machine wrapped throughout his armour had suffered severe damage, working at perhaps half the efficiency of before.

He pulled himself from the mud in preparation to chase down the Dreamer, the Unbridled energy pulsing from his body numbing any sense of pain as he saw in pure energy his vicinity. The damage to the planet their confrontation had caused was becoming unsustainable, but not for a moment did he consider the hypocrisy of continuing to seek his vengeance at the expense of the rock he stood upon. Slowly, with blood and muddy water dripping off his battered form, Fury rose into the air and sought out his foe.

[Skallagrim]

“Lord Absalom . . . “

Silence.

“Lord Absalom . . .”

“Yes?”

“There. . . Long range scanners indicate that . . . “

The Lord Inquisitor faced the officer who was struggling to speak, “Out with it.”

“My Lord, we are detecting long-wave gamma energy on the planet below.”

Lord Inquisitor Absalom, a man who feared little, feared now. His gazed returned to the view screen of the planet below him. His voice husky, a slight warble in the normally deep pitch. “Prepare the fleet for evasive maneuvers.”

***

THRUM

The energy from the vast induction field once again flowed into the man who had created it, fueling his aesr as he watched with grim humor the man known as Fury rise into the air. Using the electromagnetic energies flowing around him as an invisible field, Skallagrim also rose with a quiet grace. Using the magnetic field of the planet, corralling the wildly fluctuating local field to his needs, the Dreamer felt a surge as the field lifted him.

The Dark shield throbbed slowly, with a disturbingly familiar resonance, that of a heartbeat. The glowing sword also pulsed and flared as the gamma energies sought release from the incredible forces containing it.

Silently the Dreamer ascended, his gaze never leaving that of the man coming towards him. The breeze shifted and billowed the cloak draping across Skallagrim’s back. The galdhr tendrils of energy slowly slipped from the shield, falling towards the ground, before seeping into the loamy earth, like some hellish water.

Metal rattled and clanked as the pull of the EM field cascaded over it. With a thought the Dreamer reached out, manipulating the field, weaving the warped and altered inherent magnetic field of the planet with his own vast energies, securing anchors. Along the ground small flashes of energy flickered and flared, a deep warbbling of white noise slowly began to fill the air, cyclicing through the complex range of frequencies, those hearable and not. The cacophony of sound rose and and fell creating an eerie wail similar to that of the mythic bean sith of a small island on a planet called Earth.

[MelonHead]

Fury went from a slowly recovering hover to a sudden burst of forward momentum leading into direct horizontal flight in a matter of moments. The Unbridled state left him with little in the way of mental faculties, diverting all possible energy and power to maintaining his body’s immediately bolstered durability and manipulation capabilities. The second skin forming around him was dense and clearly visible even at distance, pulsing periodically with the depleted but still significant reservoir from the World Machine on his back. Fury had been injured and had utilized more energy than was safe for him in a single confrontation, and yet he was still stronger than he had ever been before. Partly fed by the perversion of Kanitah’s World Machine, but predominantly by the burning rage directed at his skeletal foe, the Fireen warrior could not fathom any danger to his person in the pursuit of his vengeance. There was only Fury, and the power and responsibility that came with it.

As he flew towards the Dreamer he too rose into the air, clearly gathering power in his sword in preparation for some great blow directed at either him or the fleet above. Fury took only the precaution of rapidly increasing his altitude and decreasing it, along with zig-zagging unpredictably through the air with no discernible pattern. He was flying at a break-neck two hundred miles per hour, and the thoughtless expulsion of energy saw his evasive manoeuvres earn themselves a respectability of sorts. To the naked eye he would be an exceedingly difficult target, rapidly darting from one spot to another, unconsciously strafing his enemy rather than flying directly at him. If the Void had not been subtly manipulating its puppet, Fury would have simply flown straight at Skallagrim and damned the consequences. However, the Void allowed him some part of his once fairly competent mind.

As he cleared the distance two burning discs of energy formed, one in either hand, mimicking his earlier assault. Having drawn Skallagrim out of his defensive position, Fury was finally able to effectively utilize his most flexible weapon, one which he hoped would see his foe destroyed. Leaking energy that formed his outer shield and swiftly crafting two iridescent crescents of force that could easily shear through metal, Fury erratically closed on his hated enemy, drawing nearer with each second.

[Skallagrim]

Thrum . . .

The Fireen was advancing in a helter-skelter pattern of jinks to avoid any attack by the Dreamer at a decent speed. Beneath the skeletal figure, a surge of energy raced skyward, as the EM field took hold of the armored Dreamer.

A moment of silence as the energy field muted, a dull buzzing, barely audible filled the air. The man known as Fury continued to close the distance, he would be atop the Dreamer in a matter of seconds. However, the Dreamer strengthened the EM chains that linked him to the metal he had anchored to, as he did so a Dream Fragment fell to the ground. As it touched the landscape changed in an instant.

Antire. The home world of the Fireen surrounded them. A camp below them, a camp as it was seen from the perspective of the Dreamer as he witnessed it. A man, familiar, woke at the buzzing sound. Bleary-eyed, the man reached for the communicator, it was easy to see he was a soldier, a warrior. He scanned the messages until his smile expanded, grew. Behind the man, the skeletal form of the Dreamer appeared as he read the message. It was from his fiancé.

The scene shifted in a microsecond to another

A scene where the man fell, he had been engaged in combat but was now tumbling down a hill, then into a vast hole.

Skallagrim’s voice rippled in the air, “Mandar Rane. You have reason to hate the Dreamers, however, you have greater reason to hate that which controls you. That which took away your mother, your fiance and your unborn child.”

Antire burned away into nothing. Skallagrim, shield raised slightly, the war sword held low as the gamma energy raced along its length, the bolometric flux emanating from the sword was now comparable to a bright star of the galaxy. The very air around the sword ionized and flamed, the energy was dazzling.

Far above the planet, aboard the Flagship, the Grand Inquisitor stared in shock. His hollow eyes turned towards the science officer, “Is that correct?”

“Yes Lord. The readings indicate that a highly energetic gamma source is on that planet. The energy signature has stabilized at that point. We don't know what is causing it to happen.”

Shaking his head, the Grand Inquisitor whispered: “I know. May the Queen have mercy upon us all.”

The EM chains pulling taut as the metal they were attached to pulsed with a highly charged magnetic tug. In fact, the entire array of metal objects, the tightly rolled pillars that lay tumbled and scattered in the lake bed, vibrated as the charge flowed through them.

[MelonHead]

Show the man his home. The Fireen would not have taken the Dreamer for a gambler. It was an interesting gambit but it was missing key details, details filled in by naught but words from the mouth of a liar. The single tear burned away. The fire of rage flashed once more, and the man’s brow furrowed. He pulled up short, nigh on one hundred feet away, a pittance of distance. There was still a warrior beneath the shell. One who could not resist the call of battle, nor its intricacies. Sometimes words were required, sometimes they were not, and the Fireen recognised their need then. He halted, preparing his retort. Not unlike the Dreamer, whose attempts at diplomacy were carried out hypocritically as he readied the dogs of war, Fury utilized his sudden pause to convert kinetic energy into heat. The discs burned brightly, so much so that a human would be blinded upon looking at them. His face set, the stubborn brow and the marks of corruption across his face perhaps preluding his ultimate response to his hated foe. The Void reared within, unleashing a deep roar in the darkness of his soul as it locked eyes upon he that had laid it low.

He circled the Dreamer, forcing him to turn if he should wish to face him. Not overly quick, but fast enough, though he failed to close the distance. He eyed Skallagrim, teeth clenched to bite back the urge to charge, to close on him and have an end to things, one way or another. In his state, the sword that had cracked his world was aflame with power, a terrible sight but one that enraged him further. Residual energy filled him, the World Machine doggedly carrying out its purpose for the man who had slain its master. Such bitter irony.

“You are a liar, Skallagrim. I can see you.” The Fireen shouted back at him, the discs burned for release, but not yet. They were the Fireen’s gambit.

As his words left his mouth, he knew Skallagrim would strike soon. He burst forward and rightward, there was still some small distance to be made, he’d look into the eyes of the monster who destroyed Antire before this was done, of that he was sure.

[Skallagrim]

Time was nigh at hand, the battle would culminate. The Dreamers; whispering, screaming, imploring for Skallagrim to try one last time to spare the last member of the Fireen species. When the man once known as Manadar Rane stopped, paused to compose an answer there was hope. Many voices cried out that perhaps reason had broke through the fog of misguided hatred. For a brief second, even the Walker between Worlds felt that he had broken through the great veil, that he had given the man a niggling doubt, one that would require him to examine the events that led him to this point.

That hope was dashed when the man’s weapons flared. The multitude of voices that had a moment before prayed for peace now lay silent. The Dreamers removed their consciousness from that of the Cughtagh, from the Queens champion. From the grand executioner of all events, that required an extinguishing of possibilities.

The floating Fury circled the Dreamer who merely lowered his head, there was no hope now. The last of the Fireen would die this day, the last of an entire species and he would never know that his enemy, his creator and his destruction had hidden within his very being. Fury's very words carried the truth. He was far too gone to be a rational being, he was naught but a mindless puppet.

“We have failed then,” Skallagrim spoke to himself, to the other Dreamers. “Such a species, flawed and damaged, but one that held such promise.”

Then it began the last dance as the Fireen moved. He was nothing if not predictable. Movement, a burst of speed by one man. A simple release of control by another. Fury detected by the galdhr, movement and mass. It was all an intricate dance of move and counter. A shimmering ran through the tethers holding the Dreamer in place, then they exerted their control over the form of Skallagrim. The parabola between the metal pillars and the man who was now being summoned to them via the great pull of the highly charged pillars. The magnetic force accelerated the Dreamer who was also dropping in height as the pull of gravity tugged on the man as he flew towards the pillars.

As the Dreamer moved, he spun on his body axis, whipping around so that he was facing towards the man who had come to kill him. Whirling so that the black pulsating shield came around first, followed by the luminous war sword, which ripped through the air. Ionizing the air, trailing a plasma stream behind it.

The warships far above moved with great haste to escape. The beginning of the end was near. The atmosphere was being consumed by the gamma energies of the sword. How far apart were the two men, both traveled in the same direction, yet their trajectories were far different. The Dreamer was being pulled to his left as he accelerated towards the pillars of metal while the Fireen was moving away.

[MelonHead]

“Reap what you sow.”

Fury had not expected the sudden move, but it had not gone undetected. Immediately before Skallagrim could magnetize himself he would be forced to generate the electro-magnetic energy to polarise himself. Fury could detect this, and saw it was something different to that which gathered in his foe’s sword. However, he could not immediately exploit this, it would be something to recognise later. What he could do is slow himself to meet the sudden movement of his enemy, judging that they would come together before being dragged apart by their momentum, Fury had the perfect weapons for a mid-range encounter at high speed.

With a flick of his wrist the left disc hurtled through the air towards the oncoming Dreamer. Instinctively Fury had calculated his path as if he were about to fire a crossbow at him, but rather than leading the shot sufficiently to hit the Dreamer he had purposely launched his projectile too far ahead of him. Should the energy disc have been an ordinary thrown projectile his attack would be wasted, but with his power he halted it in mid-air, spinning chaotically still but waiting on Skallagrim’s chosen trajectory. At such speed, Fury was calculating on him having limited ability to manoeuvre, certainly less than himself. The merit of the disc was that he could easily move it into Skallagrim’s path provided he did not move an excessive distance.

With the burning energy-disc awaiting his arrival, its overall size at perhaps four feet in diameter, Fury intended to leave a dangerous obstruction in Skallagrim’s path. However, Skallagrim was still ahead of him and closing quickly, and he still had the disc in his right hand prepared. Skallagrim had a variety of tools with which to deal with the obstruction before him, both the shield and sword could potentially render his assault useless. However, he still had limits. Fury’s plan then was simple, a three pronged assault.

The disc in his hand shot off as he launched it in a curling fashion, much like the earlier disc purposely mistiming his throw to seemingly miss his enemy. However, unlike the first disc this one did not sit on Skallagrim’s line of trajectory, but passed him and then turned abruptly, curving around and back to harry Skallagrim’s rear. This left the Dreamer in a somewhat precarious position, he had a disc directly in front of him he could not easily avoid, a disc behind him that would catch up to him only a few moments before he reached the first, and the Fireen himself who was slowing quickly and would be in a position to strike at him seconds after his discs played their part. They were separated by about twenty feet in the air, and Fury would pass about twenty five feet past his disc-trap before being able to stop fully, having already turned to face his foe. The Dreamer had opted to turn himself to face the Fireen, leaving his flanks exposed instead to the menacing discs of energy.

Three pronged assault, the third prong promised to be the nastiest.