The Last Arclite Chapter 9

[-=Legendary=-]

The Last Arclite
Chapter 9 The legend of Azreal

1530 hours
Earth
On route to Florida

“Black… there’s nothing except black. A darkness that is somehow comforting it is my darkness. This darkness is my chaos…it is my storm. I am not alone; there is a voice inside this darkness, my darkness. The darkness fades and I am in a valley of snow. The freezing winds scorch my skin. I trudge through the snow barefoot and the ice stings like glass prickling my feet to somehow go on. There is a moon faintly rising over the mountains. An eerie howl is echoed throughout the land. I walk for hours it seems and I come to an opening in the ground and I step through. The walls are made of gray boulders. I follow the underground path and I come to a empty chamber. The walls are filled with a dark light and a presence of power consumes me. I walk cautiously towards the black throne and I turn before I sit, only to be met by hundreds of shadowy figures. They kneel before me and look downwards, I am their master. I sit on the throne and all goes dark once again and suddenly my eyes open and I am staring at myself in third person. My eyes are no longer mine, replaced by big gray powerful eyes, and a gray skin, there are spikes on my head and I only catch a glimpse of my new self. It is me… but not me. He, I speak ‘In time we all change’ and his, my eyes close.”

*THUNDER*

Hazzard wakes up suddenly from his dream already reaching for his holster.

“Christ…” he mutters

His quick stir from sleep is met by Hollows stare.

“Bad dream?”
“You could say that”
“You know some people believe dreams are a glimpse into the future”
“Well then I should have been dead along time ago”

Hollow cocked a small smile.

The hummer thundered down a broken highway nearing a few scattered buildings in the horizon.

Kinovi spoke without taking his eyes of the road.

“A Black-Tech outpost”

“Can you get us around?”
“Yes, I can but there seems to be no patrols on the scanner”

Kinovi pronounced yes “J-es”

“That’s strange, get closer and then pull over a bit from the outpost, Hazzard ready weapons.”

Hazzard reluctantly began to reequip himself, he looked at the helmet and decided he should wear it.

As the hummer approached the outpost it began to rain. The Black-Tech outpost was composed of three high towers along with a barracks and four other buildings. They stopped the hummer about a quarter mile from the outpost.

Hollow opened the side door. “Kinovi keep the engine running”.

Hollow grabbed his helmet and pulled the visor down and put his right hand on it clicking a button that made the view zoom in. The thermal reader found nothing outside.

“Lets walk”

Hollow and Hazzard both walked towards the Black-Tech outpost their M-30’s up and safeties off.

Hazzard looked at the area, it looked like a war had hit this place, HARD. The front gate which was opened via guard post was shattered. The guard post itself looked like it had been hit with a missile. As they walked by it Hazzard glanced inside to see a guard with his head blown in, he probably never knew what hit him.

Hollow also had sense something had happened here. “Jesus, what hit this place.” Was the only thing he could say when he saw what lay before him.

There were bodies, at least 30 of them; they lay around the outpost in various parts. Some leaned up against a wall or slumped over a barrel. Mostly they just lay sprawled on the floor in obscene angles.

There were some empty Light Armored Transports near the big towers, there were some other regular looking jeeps that had been shot to S***.

Hazzard bent down and rolled one of the bodies over, he had a few bullet holes in his chest and one in his neck. He looked at his armor and glanced at the insignia, A jagged sword painted in black.

He looked over at Hollow “These are Black-Tech boys alright.”

They were both in the middle of the outpost when they heard a gunshot. Hazzard looked over at Hollow and the both sprinted to the building that the sound came from. Hazzard leaned his back up against the wall arriving a little before Hollow, Hybrids are of course faster. Hollow looked over at Hazzard and nodded; Hazzard kicked open the twin steel doors bending them in the process in a amazing display of strength. Both their guns pointed up.

As soon as Hazzard entered the room he was crash tackled by a very big and strong figure. A little too strong… Hollow didn’t have time to react either because as soon as he saw Hazzard get tackled he himself was pick from behind by ONE HAND.

Hazzard quickly threw his assailant off of him sending him flying at least 15ft back. His Desert Eagle already up and pointed.

“Drop the gun” the voice seemed familiar, a little distorted through the gasmask but familiar.

Hazzard turned to look at the big man that had picked up Hollow from his neck and had lifted him off the ground.

He was at least 6’0 but his build made him seem much, much bigger. He was wearing a gas mask and desert camouflaged body armor, made of the newest synthetic fibers. Strapped to his back was a very big looking blade, it was absolutely deadly looking. On his side he had a combat knife, and some combat webbing currently carrying a few grenades. Last of all, he had a very big looking pistol that looked more like a machine gun the Dye X90. It fired at a amazing 1000 rounds a minute, discarding hollow pointed 9mm rounds.

The other one of the assailants was leaner, and muscular even through the same body armor. He slowly lifted himself off the table he just smashed into. And walked towards Hazzard, and took his gun.

Up until then Hazzard was still wearing his helmet that he put on at his own discretion that covered his whole face with its visor.

Hazzard could smell something very familiar, he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Take of your helmet…” the smaller of the two said blankly

Hazzard put his hands on the sides of his neck armor and pulled a latch. He then slid his helmet off slowly, letting his jet black spiky hair fall short of his eyes.

The bigger of the two dropped Hollow, and the smaller started laughing uncontrollably. Then the bigger one ran towards Hazzard and bear hugged him forcefully.

Hollow looked completely confused and so did Hazzard

“What the hell is going on?” Hollow said.

Both of the two soldiers took off their gasmasks and Hazzard popped a huge grin.
He was starring into the smiling battle scarred faces of Crow and Tribe.

Sector 1
1530
Dry Plains

Xander led Overdose to the village and they both stopped at the fire pit. The fire was on letting embers float away into the wind. As Xander started Arclites with short or no horns at all began to emerge from the village and join around the fire pit.

“Long ago in the ages of myth, there had been many more legends. In those times my kind was more plentiful. In the past the Arclites would rely heavily upon the strength and wisdom of these legends to survive.”

“How does a Arclite become a legend?”

“Arclites can live for thousands of years easily; the matter is surviving that long in these harsh times. When a Arclite is first hatched we are born without spikes or horns. After 90 years our horns begin to form. When a Arclite has seen battle and can tap into his own mind they can meditate in the environment they wish to control. This process can take anywhere from 20-500 years. I the meditation is done right then a Arclite can become very powerful.”

“The leader of these legends was Azreal, he was the first Legend and he wielded such immense power that the Great Chaos Phoenix himself couldn’t openly challenge. In that time our people were in a constant war with the phoenix and the Stalkers.”

Xander must have sensed Overdoses curiosity.

“The Stalkers are a warrior breed; they had a civilization long ago before the Arclites. But it had mysteriously vanished before Azreal had been born. What little is known suggests that the Stalkers had a betrayal among their clan and dispersed into many smaller clans. They are dangerous warriors and masters of stealth. Stalkers just like Arclites live long lives, also growing stronger with every year. We used see their tracks from time to time but have not seen or heard of one for many years.”

“The Phoenix are a savage violent race, it seems they only live to destroy anything else that lives. Their numbers are never short it seems for everyone one that we kill another four are born. The phoenix lifespan is not completely known but we assume they can live as long as my kind. They are big beasts with no intellect who only grow more violent in time. They just like the stalkers stand straight up like you and me. They have tails and beastly claws, if the Phoenix is old enough it can wield fire in a various amount of ways. Normally it is not very strong but a Phoenix like the Chaos Phoenix himself can make fire rain from the sky.”

Overdose kept his gaze into Xander’s white eerie eyes and Xander continued.

“During the wars Azreal could destroy entire armies of Phoenix, and for a while the safety of our kind seemed assured. Things though had not been how they seemed, for overtime the other Legends began to gain power. At first Azreal was proud, but then some Legends wanted to disband and search the rest of the world with other Arclite tribes and start a new colony. Azreal became furious that the Legends would speak in such a way. This rage, this uncontrolled anger proved to be his undoing.”

“For when an Arclite is born they are forged by a potential darkness. All Arclites wield this but if a Arclite was to let it control him the change would be colossal. Over the years of debate Azreal’s power and anger polluted his mind, and changes were evident in his features. And the Arclites could all sense the darkness. Then one day Azreal himself with no protection, no witness entered the dark plains. It is said that the great chaos phoenix himself spoke with Azreal, what they spoke about will never be known but what happened in the following days was chaos. When Azreal returned the darkness had enslaved him partially due to the Legends wanting to expand and because of the power that polluted his mind.”

“That night ten massive tribes were attacked, there had been no Legends in the surrounding area to help because they had been moving a offensive strike against the Stalkers on the other side of the continent, Azreal was to blame. Over a hundred thousand Arclites died in the bloodshed, the Phoenix attacked in full force, there had been no surviving Arclites in that region. A questionable sight was the dead stalkers that we saw at several of the attacked tribes. It seems that they had Phoenix scars on their bodies, as if they had been helping the Arclites repel the attack. What could have caused our common enemy to help is unknown even to this day.”

“The rest of the story is of scattered memories; the only trustworthy memory is that of Legendary. It seems that when the news of the betrayal reached the Legends they readied an assault. At that time there had been 64 Legends, among them was Legendary, although it seemed he was only 400 years of age he was already beginning to learn to wield frost. The oldest of these Legends was Kral who was less then a thousand years younger then Azreal. The only thing that is known for sure is that when all 64 Legends stepped into the ice plains. Only Legendary survived, and only he knows the battle and massacre that happened. The only thing that he has revealed is that the darkness that was once Azreal consumed him, and the horrors he saw within him brought him to his knees. The horrors came with a unimaginable power and strength. To this day Legendary has morphed the darkness to his gain and it lives actively within him.”

“After the massacre in the ice plains Legendary united the tribes together under the belief that all wars would end, and they would be in a place without fear or war and that seven prophets would end all of it. Except some of the tribes felt they could not trust another monarch to control their entire race again. Some tribes dispersed and united under a single counsel. Since then they have become more advanced and have created a village made of steel and high structures. They wear enhancing armor and wield weapons that spit fire and light.”

“So that would explain the ships that I attacked on my way through the gate”

“No it is not how it seems, we have seen these ships too, and they fly through our skies and leave past the gates, not into the gates but past them into the darkness, their movements are very unpredictable. Sometimes they attack the traitors but leave us unharmed. We know nothing of that race”

Overdose thought about it, the fact that there was more intelligent life out there didn’t seem very far from the truth. Especially now that all this was happening.

“What’s happening to your kind now?”

“Now Legendary feels that we are nearing the final moments of our generation, for the Phoenix attacks have become more fierce and more numerous. Until a few hundred years ago there were thirteen Legends, and our people where safe for these Legends were of great experience and skill. But the Chaos Phoenix himself hunted them one by one and continues too, now there are only four that remain. Sin, Leviathan, Exodus and Shade are the only remaining legends from the thirteen, other than Legendary.”

Then it all suddenly happened. There was a ungodly roar and several voices outside were screaming something about Phoenix.

Overdose and Xander ran outside and looked towards outskirts of the village. That’s when Overdose saw them, they were vicious looking. Completely deadly looking, they were big, no…huge, massive. Off in the distance there must have been at least 200 hundred monsters.

It was the Phoenix…

[KiwiNZ]

Cool read! Nice background on the Arclites. Shows interestingly how one super-strong being is pretty hopeless amongts other super-strong beings. Now, will be interesting to see how Overdose performs against the Phoenixes.

Looking forward to the next part

[Captain Chris sTc]

will they let him have his armour back to fight the phoenixs?
The next part looks to be very intresting indeed.

[-=Legendary=-]

Kiwinz- It does, but as you will find out later on in the story you will know just how the battle went, what I will tell you now though is that by no means was Azreal outmatched by the 64 Legends.

Captain chris - Its like you read my mind....I dont like it!!!