Oshoobu [city], Welom [moon], Metrog [planet], Condor [star system]
1 August; 17:02:31 Hours
The streetlamps began to flicker on one by one up the street as Enor was beginning to set, the sky was transforming from its teal color to a gradient of purple and violets to the darkest of blue. A truck slowly drove down the street as a woman and her son hurried toward their home just two buildings up from the ruin left behind of a night no one in the neighborhood would forget. The burned-out shell was nearly all collapsed as the burned smell still lingered.
The young boy and his mother neared their porch, he lagged behind as three silhouettes emerged from an unusual darkness at the end of the street where a streetlamp had blinked out. His head tilted to the side, eyes squinted and he called, “Mom? Mom? Who are they?”
“Come now, Kyle!” Anna snapped at her son, ignoring his concern. “Enough with the ghost stories! It’s no laughing matter anymore!”
“Buuuuuut, Mom!”
“No buts! Dinner and then to bed!”
He groaned and stomped his feet up the several steps and into the home, bang.
“<I can feel it even more,>” an ungodly deep voice bellowed through the growing night of the street. “<We’re close.>”
“<Something feels off, Daemus,>” the woman of the three hissed.
“<A trap?>”
“<No,>” Daemus, who had long black hair and gray muttonchops, shook his head as his eyes squinted and he said, “<Not a trap, but Gael is correct… Something is off.>”
The gigantic man, looked around at the homes lining the street, still thinking they might be walking into a trap. His pitch-black irises were darting around, and he said, “<Then what? If not a trap, is this not him?>”
“<No, it is him,>” Daemus assured Haertrus.
“<Perhaps he’s gone then, and that is what Gael is sensing - Dissipation of his power.>”
“<I know the difference between dissipating power and this, whatever it is, Haertrus!>” she growled, grabbing his forearm and forcing him to look at her.
Haertrus quickly yanked his arm back, he gritted his teeth with his two canine fangs brandished as he towered over her. Gael was petite and her shoulder-length wavy black hair whipped back as she squared up to him, reaching for the hilt of one of her curve sabers. Though Daemus spun around to the two, hissing and brandishing his fangs.
“<ENOUGH! Do you want HIM to take advantage of your little quarrel? He’d pick you two off easily if he did!>”
“<Forgive us, Daemus,>” Haertrus said, bowing his head.
“<Yes, forgive me, my Lord.>” Gael whispered as she rested her forehead upon Daemus’ chest.
“<You two make me sick with your weakness,>” he hissed, turning back to what was left of the home.
There, the three stood at the base of the ruin. Daemus slowly walked up the porch steps and through the doorframe with wood and gravel crunching beneath his boots. He took in a deep breath, smelling the smoke and a faint stench of death. Walking several steps, he looked at the collapsed staircase, running his hand against the wall with his eyes closing tightly. Daemus received a flash of a total black silhouette, monstrous in size, as it ascended through raging flames.
Gael made her way into what was once a living room for the home, though the level above had collapsed upon it and she looked up to the night sky. “<Whomever he was after didn’t stand a chance.>”
“<Who was he after?>” Haertrus asked as he reached down and took a handful of the debris and crushed it.
“<One of our kind?>” Gael pondered, “<To use so much power, it must.>”
Daemus got a flash of blazing white flames, yanking his hand from the wall. “<No, not one of our kind.>”
“<What did you see, my Lord?>” Gael spun around, her eyes opened wide.
“<He was hunting a Shim.>”
“<A Shim? All the way out here? Why would a Shim be far beyond Wendale’s reach?>” Haertrus said, tossing the debris to the ground.
“<That’s a very good question, Haertrus.>”
Gael’s eyes narrowed as she pushed past Haertrus. “<But why was he so dedicated to taking THIS Shim out?>”
The right side of Daemus’ mouth rose as he placed his hand on the banister, and he chuckled, “<Ohhhhh, there was more than one - Something was going on here.>”
“<A covert outpost?>”
“<No, something more malicious.>”
“<I don’t understand, my Lord.>”
“<He wouldn’t take on a covert military outpost full of Shims,>” Daemus noted, taking a knee in the center of the living room where he reached into the debris, “<He’s much wiser than that…>”
“<Then wha—”
Daemus yanked a stuffed toy from the debris, holding it up to Gael and Haertrus. “<Ohhhh, he didn’t get them all.>”
“<Sloppy boy,>” Gael whispered, licking her left fang with a grin spawning over her face.
Haertrus' deep chuckle reverberated through the shell as the darkness fogged around the three, and Daemus said, “<Let us pay our condolences.>”
***
Omu [city], Vectir [planet], Sigma [star system]
24 August; 20:11:42 Hours
A loud shrieking scream ripped through the streets as the crescent moon was in the sky, giving the only light beyond several flickering flames of lanterns that hung just outside the front of the rundown clay and brick homes. She ran as fast as she could down the street, glancing over her shoulder every several steps with tears rolling down her cheeks. The girl slipped on the dirt and rubble, sliding to a stop where she quickly pushed herself up to her knees and let out another scream.
“<HELP! Someone please! Please, hellllllllp me!>”
Though nothing as the doors remained closed and curtains down over the windows, and she looked around with eyes wide open when she heard the sounds of footsteps. Her breath was choppy as it felt like a hand was slowly tightening around her throat.
Then her ears perked up, she glanced back down the street and saw a shadow nearing the corner and she jumped up. The girl immediately took off, running nearly as fast as she was before, making a quick turn down the alley to her left. It was almost pitch black as she fumbled past trash containers and other debris before she slammed against the wall at the end.
“<No, no, nooooooo!>” she cried, slapping her hands against the brick.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. She heard the sound of the dirt and gravel beneath boots nearing the alley. She quickly hurried over to one of the trash containers where she crouched down beside it, out of sight. Yet the sound of the dirt kicking around became louder and louder with every step. Her heart was pounding in her chest but then stopped as the container launched across the alley, slamming against the wall, and there in front of her stood a massive silhouette.
She screamed again, though this time she lunged up and pushed past it. The girl refused to look back this time as she burst out of the alley, only to feel something wrap around her ankle before feeling the quick snap of tension. She flew forward onto her stomach on the ground. There she looked to her ankle and found a cable wrapped around it before following it back into the darkness of the alley.
The girl started to claw at it, screaming even louder than before, “<HELLLLP ME! HE’S GOING TO KILL ME,>” but then she went silent as from the darkness emerged the massive man, with the cable in hand.
She could make out the tattered green cloak he wore with the hood up, shrouding his face in further darkness before his glowing emerald eyes pierced through it and stared into her pale blues. Her lip quivered as he grew closer, and her hands slowly raised up in front of her.
“<HEY!>” a voice roared, “<What’s going on here?>”
The girl let out a sigh of relief and looked to her right to find several Galactic Defense Corps Rangers marching down the street toward the two of them.
“<He asked you a question!>” another Ranger barked, charging up a round in her Kramat TAK8 rifle.
Yet the man didn’t answer, he instead let go of the cable and the girl quickly crawled backward until she pressed up against the front wall of one of the huts. The Rangers, all wearing their white armor and helmets that had silver visors, sized the man up with their HUDs generating various readings about him; vitals, height, weight, as well as defensive scans that revealed he was armed.
Instantly, they each aimed their rifles at him with the Captain yelling to him, “<Drop your weapons! Drop them NOW!>”
The girl could hear the man let out a deep growl that reverberated through her body, sending chills up her spine. She watched as he slowly raised his left hand, and grabbed the side of his cloak that he tossed back, revealing the hilt of his buster blade sheathed upon his back. The loud hum of the TAK8 rifles primed to fire sounded like a banshee wailing through a ghost town as the Rangers dug their feet into the ground.
“<We’re not going to tell you again - Drop your weapons!>”
“Drop them!”
The shortest of the Rangers took an aggressive step forward, aiming his rifle at the man. “<Don’t even think about it!>”
Everything appeared to freeze in time for a moment as the air went cold; their hearts pounding, grips tightened and then the girl’s eyes grew wide again. She saw the monstrous man draw his buster blade and charge forward faster than the Rangers could initially open fire. Bright blue charges lit up the darkness that fired from the TAK8s but the man parried several and swung his blade down to his left slicing through the shortest Ranger’s body armor chestplate sending him limp to the ground.
“<FIRE,” the Captain screamed, “Fire! Open fire!>”
The man spun to his right, thrusting his blade into another Ranger’s chest as blue charges were shooting nearly everywhere. He then swung his right arm back, backhanding the third Ranger with his fist which sent her flying across the road into the wall opposite them. Her body folded to the ground, leaving the Captain shaking as he slowly looked back at the man.
Eight feet in front of him, the Captain watched the man pull his buster blade free and the Ranger dropped to his knees before collapsing backward. The man turned to the Captain, deep blue blood dripped down the cold steel, his emerald eyes burning through the darkness, and in a blink, the Captain took off running down the street.
Without hesitation, the man quickly reached behind his back, grabbed a dagger, and threw it. It zipped through the air, striking and plunging into the Captain’s jet pack. He screamed, “<NOOOOOOO,> and a bright white light flared mere seconds before a thunderous explosion erupted, engulfing the Captain and sending blue flames roaring out in a ten-foot radius.
The girl couldn’t move, petrified by what she just witnessed only to see the man sheathe his blade and then return his attention to her. “<P-please! Please, please don’t kill me! Pleeeeease!>”
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. He walked over to her, reached down, and grabbed her by the shirt before lifting her up into the air. The girl was crying, looking to her left and right as she attempted to avoid eye contact with the man but then she heard him.
“<Beelezika…>”
Her blood ran cold, she hesitantly gave in and looked him deep in the emerald eyes. “<B-Bee-Beelezika?>”
“<Where… is… Beelezika?>” his deep and gravely voice growled.
“<I, I don’t know!>”
“<He was here.>”
“<I have-haven’t seen him, I promise!>”
“<Golden arm,” he said as she saw his upper lip curl and nostrils flare, “and an archer.>”
The girl’s eyes perked, she started nodding her head and she stammered, “<Y-yes! Yes, I, I’ve seen THEM! The-them! Them I have seen! Nah-not Beelezika, but THEM!>”
The man slowly lowered the light purple-skinned girl to her feet, he took a knee in front of her where he grabbed her tiny hand, turned it palm up, and placed nearly ten pieces of silver in it. “<Tell me what you know of them.>”