Glimpses of the Deep

5 Year Anniversary Special

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Rulic [capital city], Titus [planet], Jeppa [star system]

14 January; 23:09:44 Hours - 14 years ago

There was an eerie and heavy silence that gripped the night sky over Rulic. The streets of the royal capital of the Iron Dictate of Blaque were distant with life; only the faint flames of torches that lined their cobblestones lit up the midnight darkness, barely a soul in sight except for the Iron Boots who patrolled the night, and the haunting caws of crows that perched on the peaks of homes. Normally, a night was deaf after curfew, but there was an unusual anxiousness that loomed like thick humid air, as if the Deep could sense an approaching grim change in the pressure.

Errrrr-ah. Errrrr-ah. Errrrr-ah. An alarm sounded while red flashing lights lit up the dark cargo bay of a B-24S stealth cruiser that flew undetected above the sovereign’s sky. A hulking silhouette stood center in front of the rear bay door, becoming visible only in the red glow of the blinking lights. This man, wearing dark gray mail and donning silver jagged armor from neck to toe, held a silver knight helmet in front of himself that he gazed into the eye holes of with an intensity before his attention shifted, but barely with only his eyes, to a woman who spoke his name.

“Theo?” Helena Madds, her hair tied back into a tight braided ponytail, marched down the bay to him where she said, “We’re two minutes from drop.”

Theo smirked. “Have I ever told you how much you sound like Com Sarg Wales?”

“Oh, shut up, Theo!”

“Seriously, he used to bark at us at academy just like that!”

Helena blushed slightly as she playfully rolled her eyes, though a moment later, her voice took on a more serious tone as she asked him, “Are you ready for this?”

However, Theo didn’t respond to her.

“Theo? Are you ready to do this?”

“Hel…”

“There’s still time,” she made a point as she looked him in his blue-green eyes while standing in front of him.

“Still time?” he said with his eyes narrowing.

“T-minus one minute…” called over the intercom, and Helena gently placed her right hand on Theo’s right cheek before answering.

“We don’t have to do this…”

His head shifted ever so slightly to his right as they held eye contact.

“… We can still back out of this…”

“Thirty seconds,” again called as a hiss ripped free, and the bay door began to lower with wind gushing in at them.

“Theo?” Helena whispered, but he raised his helm and lowered it atop his head.

A high-pitch suction hiss ripped free as the helmet connected to the spinal mech that lined down the back of Theo’s mail, its HUD flickered on, and he smirked at her. “I’m ready, Hel.”

“Fifteen seconds, fourteen seconds, thirteen seconds…”

Helena let out a brief sigh, closed her eyes tightly for a moment before returning her gaze to his, and then she turned to the open hatch. The two then looked out at the city below, they were no more than a thousand feet above it all, as the buildings appeared to be zipping by in blinks. Helena then gently grabbed Theo’s right gauntlet-donning hand in her left, and whispered, “I’ll always have your back.”

Again, Theo didn’t say anything back to her but instead he squeezed her hand.

“Ten seconds, nine, eight,” now counted down intensely with the two walking down the bay until they stopped on the edge of the ramp, where Theo’s tattered crimson cowl violently flapped back in the gusting wind, “five seconds, four, three seconds, two,” and just as the countdown finished, Theo let go of her hand and leapt forward where he shot down through the night sky at the gothic, contorted stone castle - Valkore.

***

Moments later…

“Master Theo,” a voice with a thick British accent called over Theo’s secure commline as Theo slowly arose from his left knee, looking up to the gigantic entrance double doors of the castle.

“Edmund…” he whispered while pulling his curve saber, Gaerlus, free from one of the several elite guards’ chests whom he carefully neutralized.

“Sir, what exactly is the bloody plan here?”

“Execute the mission, Edmund - Take out any obstacles, eliminate the target, and retrieve the asset.”

“Of course, sir. Of course… but, you do realize that you’re going to encounter more Titans as you proceed, which will result in your stealth evaporating, correct?”

Theo let out a subtle growl before saying, “Tell me why I haven’t recalibrated you yet.”

“Master Theo,” Edmund quipped, “your threat is not as threatening as it once was.”

“Just, just upload the target’s location and overlay it with the GPS of my HUD, Edmund.”

“Very well, suh—” Edmund agreed, but cut off as Theo tapped the side of his helm and ended the transmission.

A high-pitch chirp upticked over Theo’s helm intercom as the data he requested uploaded to his HUD. He then tapped its side again with his vision shifting from a low-level incorporated night-vision to a multi-varied overlay of ultraviolet-vision, three-dimensional GPS, and an adaptive heart rate sonar. Theo could then see, with his new vision, the near dozen Iron Boots that lined the entrance corridor just before him and beyond the giant double doors. The gothic Goliath that once concealed his target’s whereabouts behind its twisted stone was now dissected as the GPS displayed the castle’s layout in real-time, with the target’s specific heart rate signature immediately located and highlighted.

Theo’s pupils shrank as his eyes now locked onto the highlighted and displayed location of the throne chambers of Valkore, only for the Kalber Knight to begin his siege forth.

***

Ten minutes later…

Boom. Boom. Boom, boom, boom. Boom. Boom erupted and echoed throughout the long halls of the castle. Columns of marble lined every hall, though now a thick fog of smoke filled them too, with the bright purple charges zipping in either direction. Their deep glow lit up the whiteout with flashes of horror as pools of blood accumulated upon the marble, columns were cracked and even some crumbled, while the silhouettes of bodies that were sliced down left in the wake of merciless Kalber approach.

Shrieks ripped free from just beyond the throne chamber doors, and a young raven-haired woman turned to her husband, who sat dominion upon the Blaque throne. “<Kai’Fes! My love! What is going on? What is coming for us?>”

The King didn’t respond to his queen. His pitch-black eyes remained locked upon the doors where six Iron Boots stood at the ready to take out whatever was approaching. His long hair hung partially in his face while the crown rested upon his head. Kai’Fes’ nostrils flared every few seconds, taking deep breaths that he immediately let out in his growing frustration, but then the true horror arrived.

The screams and blaster fire all ceased, and the hall went deaf.

The Iron Boot Titans slowly glanced back and forth at one another, their eyes all squinted, and a couple gulped as a thick aura of staticky uncertainty rose from the ground and wrapped around them.

“<Kai’Fes?>” his beautiful wife called, her eyes sunken deep as black tears began to glide down her pale cheeks. “<I, um, I, I’m scare—”

However, before she could finish her admission, the torches within the throne chamber extinguished one by one. The Iron Boots began turning from one direction to the other, the light ripped from its domain as they searched for its executioner, but they found nothing other than the expanding darkness, which was encircling them relentlessly.

Click, clunk, errrrrrrrrr-eh ripped through the throne chamber as it sat in darkness, and the double doors opened inward. The Iron Boots quickly raised their RAK3 energy rifles to the opening doors, with a deep hum roaring from the six as an even deeper purple nail charged up. Then, like the torches, one by one the Titan guards disappeared in high-pitched whistles.

“<Kai’Fes! Kai’Fes!>” his wife pleaded as tears rolled down her cheeks and she pulled upon his right forearm. “<We must run! We must leave, now! Please, my love! Please!>”

Still, he spoke not a word but instead raised his left hand as if to tell his queen to silence and halt as his pitch-black eyes took careful sight of his throne chamber. He watched the remaining three Titans each fall; first, the forefront center, who disappeared within the dark like a small child snatched by a ruthless beast. Then, as his attention shifted to the second, he witnessed him split in two before vanishing as if he never was there, and finally, he gazed upon the sole remaining. This final guard of the crown fired aimlessly in almost every direction while he took slow step after step back, and then as his right heel stopped firm, his RAK3 ground to dust from the tip of the barrel up to his hands.

My’Esha, Kai’Fes’ wife, let out a shriek as a death rattling gasp ripped from the Iron Boot and a jagged blade pierced free from his back. Then, in one quick sequence, the blade retracted and the Titan flew back thirty feet, where his lifeless body slammed against the steps of the throne platform. Clump, clump, clump sounded as the corpse slowly slid back to the floor.

There, before the King and Queen of the Iron Dictate of Blaque, they bore witness to Theo as he stood tall. His jagged silver armor was scorched from blaster fire and blotched by the royal purple blood of the Iron Boots he laid waste to upon his siege. Theo’s pressure could not be denied as he looked upon the two, with My’Esha cowering behind her husband, who finally arose from his throne.

“<Impressive…” Kai’Fes broke his silence, saying, “… a Stark Knight - What an unexpected lamb they have sent to slaughter!>”

The chamber grew deeply dark as Theo took a step forward with an eerie clank reverberating within as his boot moved upon the marble floor. Theo’s head then tilted slightly to his right, his crimson tattered cowl swayed as he stopped, and a smirk broke free of his intensity. He then bellowed with his voice deep and darkly augmented by his knight helm, “It’s always those who die so quickly who speak of certain demise for their slayer!”

“<Slayer?>” Kai’Fes barked with his eyes growing large and nostrils flaring. “<Every might in the Universe has sent some inept knight to die and be snuffed out by the Deep! And you will be no different!>”

He then thrust his hands toward Theo with black tentacles of Shade ripping free from the platform around him, shooting straight at Theo, who still just smirked. One by one, the tentacles shot through his silver Kalber chestplate with Kai’Fes grinning ear to ear. However, My’Esha watched with clear eyes not fogged by the rage her husband’s were fueled by, and her bottom lip quivered as she softly uttered, “<It’s a trap…”

Kai’Fes laughed while he raised his arms out to his sides with the tentacles now wrapping around Theo’s slumping forward body. “<Pathetic! A Stark Knight fallen - No fight; no will to reignite the honor of your ancestors; no reason for songs to be written of your name… Oooooh, your blood, pathetic mortal, it deserves the ruin it meh—”

“Mmmm,” Theo appeared to groan as he slowly looked up to Kai’Fes, and smiled, “I thought this would be extremely harder…” then, before Kai’Fes and My’Esha’s eyes, Theo dispersed in glistening particles of Straedum with Theo’s voice now calling from behind the King where he sat upon the throne, “… but clearly not!”

“<Wuh-wuh-what?>” Kai’Fes exclaimed in horror as Theo arose from the throne and raised Gaerlus with its tip placed firmly against Kai’Fes’ chest.

“Understand… there will be no songs written of you or your fallen empire, the Uni will fear to even whisper of its time…”

“<This, it, no, it, it isn’t possible!>”

My’Esha was frozen in disbelief as she could see Gaerlus piercing through her husband’s chest, but the Shade refused to save Kai’Fes and instead pulled and pooled around the two. Tentacles breaching the sludgy darkness around them, slithering up and standing at attention while black tears rolled down Kai’Fes’ cheeks and he steadily gasped in a choppy manner.

“Heh, ha, hah,” Theo chuckled and just before thrusting his curve saber completely into the falling King’s chest, he whispered, “Pathetic…”

***

Ten hours later…

A Washington SD-76 Destroyer orbited just outside Genu, where on the command bridge stood General Travis Willick, watching out the gigantic observation shield. He stood with arms folded, hearing numerous beeps and augmented noises as the command crew went about their duties. Then, before General Willick constructed the three-dimensional, realistic holograms of the Seven Presidents of the Union, he immediately stood at attention to.

“Misters and Madam Presidents,” the General saluted them before they all nodded.

“At ease, General,” Chief President Bruce Starus relieved him.

“What is the update, General?” Fourth Associate President, Gerald West, inquired before others chimed in.

“Yes, what is the status?” Third Associate President, Jericho Draax, said, and then the Sixth and Second Associate Presidents demanded.

“Was it a success?”

“Tell us what retaliation we will need to be aware of is coming!”

“Enough,” Bruce snapped at them all.

“Yes, enough,” First Associate President, Cullen Powers, chuckled, “Allow the General to speak - Go on, General.”

“Thank you, Presidents…” he nodded before explaining to them as they watched him intently, “Operation Knightfall was a colossal success. The target was eliminated, and the asset appears to have been retrieved.”

“That is music to our ears, General,” Bruce said with a smile, but Jericho raised his right index finger as he leaned toward the General.

“Wait… What do you mean that the asset appears to have been retrieved?”

“Yes, and a colossal success?” Sixth Associate President, Jennifer Gage, added.

The General sighed. “Well, Presidents, our Knight has been unresponsive since completing his operation and hasn’t been debriefed yet…”

“Then how can we know that the asset has been retrieved, let alone that the operation was a colossal success?” Second Associate President, Simon Fyre snapped.

There came a brief silence as General Willick looked to the seven, then he answered with a deep tone, “Genu’s population has completely flatlined.”

Jennifer and two of the other Presidents gasped before Bruce stepped forward, asking, “Flatlined? The entire population? Wuh-what?”

“Yes,” the General’s voice echoed as the B-24S stealth cruiser exited Genu, where in the bay sat Theo with his armor caked in royal purple blood as he held his knight helm in his hands and looked deep into its eye holes.

Helena was kneeling beside him with her hands upon his left forearm while standing to Theo’s right with arms folded was Klaus Walker, his brother, who looked upon him with sunken eyes. Standing silent before Theo were the remaining knights of his Title: Drake Cage at center, Gabe Hightower to the left, and Amelia Donté to the right. There was an unbearable pressure that consumed the bay as the stealth cruiser returned to the destroyer, everyone waiting for Theo to finally speak since they retrieved him, but he wouldn’t break.

“The-Theo?” Helena whispered with teary eyes. “Theo? Wuh-what happened? Theo?”

Then, he slowly looked up from his helm with Amelia and Helena gasping as everyone saw the inky blackness that now claimed dominion over the whites of Theo’s eyes, and General Willick’s voice finished unbeknownst to them all in a twisted symphony of bloodcurdling screams, “… Operation Knightfall was a complete success.”