"How is she Ivan?"Justice asked the IMA representative. After escaping from the dark underworld and Edgegar's crazed experiments, Justice, and his three companions stumbled across one of the IMA's new military outposts. Ivan, who they met in Windoa, happened to be there. Justice had asked their healers to take a look at Celine. Although she seemed to be recovering he felt they couldn't trust anything Edge had given her. Finally, after an hour of waiting, Ivan returned to report her condition.
"She's fine,"He shrugged"We can't fine a thing wrong with her outside of some bumps and bruises. Whatever substance was used on your dryad did the job. I still can't believe your story, I mean, an army of monsters that have been living undiscovered for years? Everyone knows, all breeds have already been accounted for, if the IMA can't find it they don't exist."
"Think what you will,"The durahan said,"But if nothing is wrong with celine then we must be on our way."
"Wait!"Ivan grabbed his steel arm. Justice turned and saw a cunning grin on the humans face."Hold on...we have not discussed payment..."
"But you said you'd do it for free,"Beatdown complained. Stone claw gave the human a threatening glare."You tricked us?"
"No trick,"Ivan smiled"You should learn hare, nothing is free in life. I said I'd check the health of your friend and I have...now I want something in return. Not unreasonable is it?"
"I have nothing in the way of gold,"Justice held out his hands to show he had nothing to offer. But Ivan only shook his head, his gaze dropping to the warriors blade.
"What I want is your sword,"Ivan said"That is, I want you to wield it in service of the IMA. We are preparing to attack one of Moo's training camps. I need a monster with considerable experience to act as our generals second in command. You don't have to, but you do owe me something...."
"Yes, agreed."Justice shook the humans hand,"I will do as you ask."As ivan walked away Justice saw Claw staring angrily at him. Not wanting to get into an argument over humans the durahan turned and walked away to prepare for battle.
"Will he ever stop being their puppet?"Claw asked after the durahan had left. Beatdown was snacking thoughtfully on a mango she'd gotten from the mess hall. After a few bites she spoke.
"Maybe he likes them,"She suggested taking anouther bite of sweet mango."Muhb eh musus es massar."
"Don't talk with your mouth full."Claw scolded.
It was quickly approaching 3:00 when the IMA army began it's march. The day was pleasent, cooler then usual, the land was featureless except for the patches of woodland doting the horizen. Justice walked alongside Loveless who had been named general. Strangly Ivan also was there. It seemed the commitee wasn't comfortable without sending at least one human to oversee the monsters. The army was composed of five thousand monsters of different types including Zuums, pixies, gaboos, katos, jells and baku's in many sub breeds.
Something was bothering justice as they approached their destination. Loveless, in his personal opinion, wasn't intelligent enough to lead an army against anyone, let alone moo. His tactic was so simplistic one could hardly call it stratagy at all. His plan was to attack head on and hope to overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers. All because he believed they greatly outnumbered moo's troops in this base...but what if they were wrong? It didn't make justice feel any better that his three companions had insisted on coming when loveless could be leading them into the gaping jaws of death.
Finally, on the edge of a dark swamp, they saw their target. It was a large training center that looked big enough to hold six thousand monsters. It was rectangular in shape, each corner rose up into a tall watch tower. The walls looked well defended and ready to resist any attack the IMA could hurl it's way. Loveless gave justice command of a squad of zuums and told him to scout the base.
"You've got to be kidding,"Justice said"I thought you'd already gotten all the informantion you needed? This is not just some little training camp, those watch towers have probably spotted us by now. I'll be walking right into an ambush."
"Well,"Loveless said annoyed"If your too 'over the hill' to get the job done there will always be younger warriors to replace you."
Justice could have killed loveless just then, instead he angrily called his squad and commanded them to follow. The durahan had taken only a few steps forward before he saw it, a huge shadow in the afternoon sky. Clouds covered it, blocking the view, then it emerged. To those whom first witnessed the parting of the clouds swore they saw a great raven. Utterly huge yet sleek in it's design, few even realized it was a machine. No sunlight reflected off it's smooth, black metal surface as it slowed to a hover over moo's base. A beam of energy was fired from what appeared to be the things head. A brillant explosion followed as moo's base was engulfed. When the dust raised from the tremendous blast began to settle only a crater still remained. Suddenly, like a bird of prey thats spotted it's next meal, the raven turned toward the IMA army. Energy began to surge at it's head.
"Scatter!"Loveless screamed as Ivan ran up to him. Justice retreated, his squad of zuums still following. He searched for the others and spotted Stone claw heading toward the swamp. At that moment the raven fired into the center of the fleeing army. Justice ran toward the swamp, looking back he saw Loveless and ivan get vaporized by the blast. The explosion that followed sent the durahan and his squad flying.
He landed hard, slaming into a tree before falling on his back. Justice was in pain but was more fortunate then most of his squad...or the most of the army for that matter. The blast was devastating, charred bodies lay everywhere. Many were still alive among the thousands upon thousands of dead monsters. Some had managed to flee into the swamp, but most were just waiting for death to claim them. Justice preyed his companions had all survived.
"What now sir?"Said one of the four zuums not killed by the blast. Justice, with difficulty, pulled himself up and looked at their surroundings. The swamp was dark, putrid odors rose from the ground which bubbled for some reason, most of the trees were dead.
"We look for the other survivers,"Justice said"I saw others come in here before us."He looked back and saw the raven hovering silently. Metalic arms coming from it's underside were gathering the bodies of the fallen, raking them up like dead leaves in autum.
They spent sometime in the murky swamp before he found the other survivers. Claw was there as well as beatdown and celine, they'd all escaped. Nearly a hundred other monsters had also barely eluded death. Everyone was confused as to what was the next course of action.
"Old man,"Claw called out to him,"What now? We've got to get out of this swamp!"
"Leave him be Stone claw."Celine said"Can't you see he's hurt? Let your friend get a breath or two first at least."
"He's in charge now since loveless has gone to the scrap heap. It's his job to get us outta this mess hurt or not!"Claw said, then added coldly."And who said he was my friend?"
"Your cruel."Celine gave him an angry glance.
"Thats what they say."Claw returned her look.
"Enough,"Justice said knowing what claw said was true, dispite the tridents arrogence."Listen, all of you!"His voice rose above the confusion and all looked to the durahan warrior. But before a single command could be issued the sky became black. Silently, the raven hovered directly over them sending fear into the hearts of all who beheld it. Justice looked up and saw a symbol painted to it's underbelly, the symbol of the eye.
A small hatch opened and something was dropped from the raven. They couldn't see it, and knew only by the loud splash of swamp water that something had fallen. Then, they watched in horror as a gaboo was ripped apart by an unknown force. Something was there, clawing and tearing it to death. A baku was the next to fall, as the invisible creature clawed him to death as well. Silence followed, the monster huddled together as if that was some protection. Then, a pair of single toed footprints appeared in the mud. Carefully celine began to step forward.
"I think I see something..."The dryad said curiously when she was suddenly pulled back by Stone claw. She felt air against her face, as if something had swiped at her. At this point Justice came to his senses and sounded a full retreat. They ran, but one by one monsters began to fall, cut down by the unknown creature. Finally, after watching seven more of them fall he stopped, raised his sword, and challenged whatever it was.
"Claw,"He said"I'm placing you in charge. Get the others out of the swamp in piece." The trident nodded and slid off. Beadown and Celine remained."Go with him!"
"We can help,"Beatdown put up her fists and began to box at nothing,"Come on! Show yourself! We know you there!"
Something was there, and it hurled itself at justice. By instinct alone the durahan guarded himself with the shield and began to swipe at the unseen enemy, all the while the raven cast down it's shadow from above. Meanwhile his two friends attacked in every direction but never hit anything. Suddenly beatdown was assaulted from behind, the little fairy hare was slashed across the back. But the attack didn't register at once. With lightening speed she turned around grabed the invisible assailent and hurled it into a nearby puddle. The creature became smeared with mud and thus visible, a quick thrust from the blade of justice was all that was needed to slay the beast. It became visible, a horrible monster liked he'd never seen before. A short but very muscluar body it had, each hand had two long claws and a thumb. It's head was long and oval shaped with a single hengerlike lens for an eye. Each limb had some strange implant, each with a strange lens as well. On it's chest, the creature bore the symbol of the master.
"Are you alright?"Justice asked his injured friend.
"Yeah, just a scratch,"Beatdown said"My trainer made me fight alot! I can take a hit."
"We'd better get out of here,"Celine said as the silent raven flew off. They expected some form of retaliation but instead the masters flagship left quietly."I've never heard of this breed. Have you?"
"No...this is no existing breed,"Justice said kicking the creature."This thing was created, if it hadn't gotten muddy it probably would have killed us in the end. Who the hell is this 'Master' anyway?"
"Justice!"Beatdown cried"I'm (ouch!) pretty sure there's a city not far from here! The big thing is headed straight for it!"
"No again...."The Durahan said stareing out into the distance. What would it take to stop the Master?
Chapter 10:The Coming Storm
Once again, they had come too late. A small army at his back, Justice went after the dark raven in hopes of stoping any further carnage. Unable to keep up with the warship, the monsters now stood on the edge of a lifeless city. It was well after midnight by this time and during the day many more survivers of the masters attack had been found. Altogether, they numbered four hundred now, hardly anything considering there were thousands before the raven struck.
"Where are they?"The durahan wondered as he stared into the deserted city. Nothing was damaged, everything remained intact, yet not a single person could be seen in the night. Taking a steps forward he felt something wet under his metal boot, it was blood. A few zuums sent to scout the area returned quickly, they found nothing besides blood. It was everywhere, on the streets, in houses, but not a single body human or otherwise. Justice remembered the raven collecting corpses after attacking the IMA army, did it happen here as well?
"I wonder why he didn't destroy the town,"Celine said.
"I don't know, he's destroyed everything else up to this point."Justice said"I can't figure this 'master' out."
"Commander!"A gali said as he approached Justice."We have found something to the north."
"Well? What is it?"He asked impatiently.
"This you must see for yourself..."Gali said.
The warrior called over a nearby zuum and lept on. Upon the monsters back he rode north, ahead of the others. It wasn't long before justice found the place of which the gali spoke. He'd found the humans. They were dead, their bodies impaled upon long wooden shafts. Coming closer the durahan saw that was not all, most had been clearly butalized before death. The ground was black and moist from the blood still dripping from their corpses. Thousands upon thousands there were, an entire forest of the dead. Almost symbolicly, a single black raven stood nearby, unafraid of them, pecking the eyes of a corpse.
"This is horrible,"Beatdown said, her eyes wet with tears."Why would they do this? It's bad enough to kill them but..." She stopped, turning away from the tortured expressions on their faces.
"Does he hate them this much?"Justice asked himself, his rage smoldering within."Why?"
"Can't say I blame him,"Said stone claw turning to the fairy hare."Don't cry for them, they're not worth it."
"No one deserves this!"Celine screamed at claw"How dare you even-
"Stop it! This is hardly the time,"Justice said before turning back to his legions."We will rest in the city tonight and set off again at dawn. We have no food, take anything you can find in the stores."
"Yeah,"Claw chuckled"Not like the stiffs are gonna need it."
The next morning they began to search for the raven once again. Justice looked back at the field of carnage and clentched his blade tight. He didn't know how they could possibly stop the machine, but he was not about to stand by and let this continue. It was cold, the sky was dull grey, unusual weather indeed for summer but strangly fiting all the same. The land quickly became rocky and began to climb upward.
By midday it looked as though it was about to pour. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, then the thunder began. No doubt a storm was approaching. The surrounding lands had become more rugged, jagged boulders protruded from the earth. Still they went on and lightening flashed overhead. At last it began to pour, the dirt road they were on became slick and muddy. Suddenly justice became aware of anouther sound besides the crashing thunder, the sounds of battle.
He picked up his pace, struggling through the brown mud. At last he found himself looking down into a wide valley. In it's heart stood a fairly large military base, the symbol of moo could be seen on a building. His army fought against a legion of bizzare flying creatures, and appeared to be losing. Justice had no idea what they were, the heavy downpour and the distance between he and moo's base made it impossible for a good look. All he knew was that they had long, slender bodies and wirled through the air with great agility and grace.
"Moo..."Justice said as the battle raged on in the valley. If they were indeed followers of moo then the flyers must serve the master. He had to decide and fast, aid moo's dieing forces againist those things or let the master be victorious yet again. He didn't have to think long."Help them!"
"You sure sir?"A zuum named Begras asked,"Is moo not the enemy? Don't you hate moo?"
"I do...but I hate the Master far more,"Justice raised his blade towards the battle."Aid them, I'll decide what to do with with them afterwards!"
Justice jumped on Begras back and led the charge into the valley. It was difficult to walk, the rain continued above them and made the grass slippery causing many to lose their balance. By the time they'd joined the battle moo's forces had been battered severly and stood on the very threshold of defeat. The strange flying monsters wheeled through the air, cutting down many where they stood. None could get a good look at them as they moved with incredible speed, swooping down and striking before taking to the sky again. One feature that was clear to all was that these creastures had no hands. Instead each sported long, curved blades to cleave enemies with. They also seemed fairly small, three maybe four feet in length. Except for one, a huge ten footer that hovered in the mist of chaos.
Within moments confusion had errupted within both armies. Justice tried to command his forces but it was useless, his voice drowned out by death screams and the loud thunder claps. Rain poured all around them and creatures made anouther pass slicing down many, all while avoiding every attack thrown their way. Hundreds of moo's troops lay dead in the mud, but justice could not see a single one of the masters.
They made anouther pass, one coming right for the durahan. It was the larger one. Justice tried to sidestep but was too slow and took a slash to the side. Ignoring the pain he dropped his sword and grabed hold of the beasts tail, hoping to pull it down. The masters minion proved stronger then anticipated and yanked the durahan, who weighed a considerable amount, right into the air. It swooped and rolled trying desperatly to break the warriors steel grip. But justice didn't let go and began to climb, useing the rows of cruel spikes on the creatures back. Finally he got to it's head and started choaking it, wraping his arm around it's throat. The creature thrashed violently before finally falling to the earth. In a last ditch effort to kill justice, it fliped over so that the durahan would impact first. Left with no other choice justice released his grip, but not without smashing the creature in the skull for good measure. Almost immediately Justice stopped falling and, looking up, he saw celine, a pixie and a nightflyer.
"You ok commander?"The pixie asked.
"Yes, thank you."Justice watched as the strange monster he'd battled spiraled to the ground. Suddenly the smaller flyers began to go mad and began to retreat. After landing justice found the body of his enemy. The thing had a long snakelike body, similar to a nagas but much more slender, a muscular torso and was covered with mud brown skin. It had to be ten feet long, no legs, it's hands replaced with blades, it wings huge and leathery. Most bizzare of all was the head. There was no mouth to speak of, just two slits for a nose and two evil eyes. On the forehead was the crest of the Master.
"We have to go after them!"Justice said"We must finish them off!" The army and his companions gathered but stone claw hesitated. He stood perfectly still, rain water running through the cracks in his stone body."Come on claw!"
"No,"He said defiantly"Just how do you plan on stoping them? This is suicide! We'd only gonna get killed...if the master wants to kill humans, let him."
"Whats your problem?"Celine asked"How could you say that?"
"Why not?"Claw hissed"It's humans that have been useing us all these years. Just whats wrong with what the masters doing? Think about it, if it wasn't for humans monsters would dominate this planet. I don't agree with their tactics but there is something noble to what both Moo and the Master hope to accomplish."
"Your wrong claw,"Celine said"Moo doesn't want to save monster find, he wants to rule us himself. As for the Master, if you haven't noticed he's been killing humans and monsters as well. If he wanted to save us from humanity he wouldn't have burned my city to the ground. How can you believe such garbage!"
"Big words comin from someone who's been stuck up in a forest her whole life."Claw fired back."The worlds a much darker place then you think, because of humans. Justice himself was only a few days away from being melted down into a silverware set, before the boss got killed."
"Have you lost your mind?"Justice asked"Cid would never allow that to-
"Sure he would, think he cared about you?"Claw grined"Only thing stoping him is the fact he's dead! You should thank the master for killing the poor slob!"
"How dare you!"Justice lost his temper and hurled himself at claw. Pounding his fist into him while the trident clawed at his armor. The durahan unloaded a huge punch to claws chin. Stone claw retaliated with an attack of his own, pinning justice to the ground and raining blow after blow onto the fallen warrior.
"Stop!"Beatdown screamed"What are you doing!? Don't fight, your friends remember."
"Stay outta this!"Claw slid off justice"Fine, if you morons want to kill yourselves what do I care!" The trident turned his back on them and slittered away.
"Your just being a coward."Celine said and claw turned around, a burning in his eyes. He looked as though he'd attack again, but instead only turned away.
"Shut the hell up!"He yelled as he left, disappearing into the grey fog was filling the valley. All was silent for several moments, except for the steady beating of raindrops.
"....I'm going after him,"Beatdown said."Maybe I can get him to change his mind."
"No! Wait, he's too dangerous."Justice said but the fairy hare had already run off and disappeared into the rising fog. What had just happened, he wondered. Everything was begining to fall apart at the seems. Now the durahan was faced with anouther decision, go after beatdown and claw or chase the masters creatures and stop them before they struck again.
"....Everyone, were going west."He spoke"Our first priority is to stop the master....."
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