Chapter Eight: The Battle of New Eidolon ll

Jontha slashes his way through a flock of Sourcers who were trying to make their way deeper into the town. He notices that, peppered in with the humans, were fledgling Chosen, luckily he hadn't come across many that were truly formidable. The Sourcers he faced were almost more like cannon fodder than actual soldiers, but Jontha knew that anyone who fell could easily become one of Sern's Chosen. Once chosen, they had to feed on cores to enhance themselves and twist into a more powerful form.

"To anyone who can hear me, the key is decimation. You have to do enough damage to keep them from being chosen. If you encounter a Chosen, you have to destroy the seed… the problem is, it could be anywhere. So destroy them, leave nothing to chance! Spread the word!"

A snarling Chosen rushes for him, he snaps his blade down onto it. The ligaments and tendons snap and tear from the vicious swing, but instantly reconnect. His ancient blade slices clean down the middle of the monster, splitting it in two. Its tar like blood, sprays everything in the immediate area. He hurls his blade at an impossible angle, it slices through multiple Sourcers as he runs after it. They cut, blast, and bludgeon him, but they cannot slow him down, his flesh heals at an incredible rate.

He reaches for his cleaver, it had found itself lodged in the chest of a dazed enemy. He looks into the eyes of the man, the green shimmer sends him back to ancient battles.

"Rahm….. no….."

"Don't let the ones with green eyes bite you. They carry a curse from Serns beloved. He imbues them with strength and stamina. If you are bit, you will be under his control." He shouts into his coms. If Sern has raised Rahm, he is for sure in his end game.

The vibrations hit him before he hears it, that atrocious scream of the advance team's leader sends him flying into a building, crashing through its wall. He curses as he pulls a large shard of glass from his chest bloody sprays wildly as the wound seals itself. When he told Tilly to take Chase home, this isn't what he meant, but he had no idea about this place…. He didn't blame them for wanting to protect the town, protect these people. He had spent countless years in the Harshlands, tracking down the Sourcers, following their trail of carnage. He knew that it was a brutal place to survive in. To build this place was a near impossible feat, but they had managed to pull it off. They were a glimmer of hope for the second, no… third round of humanity they reminded him of his people.

He emerges from the building, glass and other materials fall as he walks through the newly created portal. Kara Valdhum stood smiling with a wall of Sourcers and Chosen. She had been the bane of his existence for months, the constant torture, the failed attempts to make him into a Chosen. She would bombard him with her awful screams for hours. He could handle the pain; it was part of his life being a regenerator. It was the sound of her voice, the noise sent shivers down to his soul.

"Thought you could get away from us? Why don't you be a good infidel and come home with us? Mama's babies are oh so hungry and they love aged meat." She says licking her lips.

Jontha bares his teeth, his knuckles turn white as he grips the hilt of his blade with remarkable strength. It was hard to keep his cool, Jovar always scolded him for his short temper but not everyone experiences the pain and "deaths" he does. He was lucky he still had his humanity.

"Mark my words you witch! Your last sound will be the air escaping your windpipe."

Her smile fades as he rushes at her, she takes a massive breath.

THWACCHH!

Her mighty scream ripped through her underlings as blood sprayed from her shattered nose. Jontha rolls forward from the momentum of his throw, his arm snapping and healing, propelling a rock with incredible force.

Kara staggers back behind the moving wall of Sourcers rushing to meet Jontha. She fights off the darkness as it hits her in waves making it hard to stay awake.

She tries to scream at him, but her mouth and throat fill with blood.

"Yoob babsterb!" She coughs out

"Geb himb!" She orders as she retreats deeper into her troops.

Jontha is swarmed as he pushes forward. He moves his blade with deadly elegance, its ancient edge slices through his foes with no resistance. Human and Chosen blood turns the streets into a cherry red stream, Jontha revels in it, his heart races with blood lust.

The Sourcer forces step back as he lets out a massive roar. They hesitate as the wounds inflicted on him vanish before their eyes. He looks at his arm as a green infection dissipates from a now healed bite mark.

"Rahm's curse won't work on me!" He shouts.

"I see you are as much of a coward as your master… Always letting others fight your battles!" He bares his teeth in a viscous grin as he pushes forward again. He fights like a wild beast, his brutality increasing, and with every kill, he carves a path of gore towards the gate.

Hoping the fleeing Kara would bring him straight to an old foe.

Chase follows the path of destruction, caused by the massive Titan. The streets are strewn with the mangled bodies of brave townsfolk who tried to stop the rampaging Chosen. He tries his best to focus on the task at hand but, the ravaged homes, buildings, and people broke his heart.

He shakes the intrusive thoughts from his head. Sure his town was under siege by a cult army, and an ancient necromancer from space, who has his brother's face and powers. None of that mattered. What mattered was stopping the giant monster that was tearing the town to pieces.

The sounds of destruction and screams grow louder as he picks up his pace. A building collapses before him, as the Titan lets out a bone shaking roar. A few fighters peck at the creature, as it swats at them like mosquitoes. It's massive mace like fist, smashes down on

a poor soul trying to dive out of its way. They pop, like a balloon full of blood, and the Titan makes a pleased sound as it lifts its fist up to its mouth, eating the remnants of the fighter's body.

Chase fights off the horror. He leaps and maneuvers through the wreckage. He notices green flowing around the monster.

"So, not only is it now thirty feet tall, it's being buffed by some wizard… how the hell am I going to stop this thing?" He mutters to himself.

Another building falls, as the Titan swings at a group of fighters. Some go flying into the air, others crushed between the building and its fist. Chase emerges from the dust cloud, launching himself off flying rubble, sending a pulse from his arms, he boosts himself even higher.

He swipes at the creature's knee. He swings around to the back of its leg, the crystals feed, removing the Titans flesh from reality.

"Chop him down." Chase thinks, proud of the damage he just inflicted. The Titan howls as its wounds fill with tumors and jagged bone. It lifts its leg and stops at Chase. He jumps out of the way, the impact sprays rocks and dirt everywhere. Chase rolls hard into a storefront, the impact robbing his lungs of air.

He gathers himself and rises to his feet.

"How the hell am I going to do enough damage to hurt this thing?" He thinks out loud, looking at the newly formed growths spawning in the chasms he created in the monster's leg.

The Titan begins its reign of destruction again, ignoring Chase, its path heading straight to Vandresh's Tower… straight to… there was no way it knew… no way the Sourcers knew the town's power supply was located there.

"Shit…If it takes out the power the barriers and turrets go down." He takes off running, the large Chosen had already picked up considerable momentum. Chase looks past it to the tower. The creature would be there in a matter of minutes, there was no time to waste. He runs faster than he ever could, boosting himself with pulses from his crystals.

Homes and buildings littered Chase's route. It was almost as if the Titan was doing it on purpose, trying to slow him down. He reached into his mind, searching for an answer. There has to be a way to stop this thing. If what Jontha said was true, its seed could be anywhere. He had so many lessons from his uncle, surely there was a solution buried in his mind.

The Titan swings its fist backwards into a building. Large shrapnel hurdles towards Chase. He blocks it with his arms and they devour the flying debris. His crystals shear a large piece of wall in half as smaller pieces graze him.

Panic sets in, as the tower fills his view. Chase is out of time, he jumps off a rubble pile and envisions Tilly taking off, energy surges from his arms as a jetsam of light emerges from the crystals. The blast propels him forward, the ground behind him a smoldering crater. He tries to stay awake, as the gravitational force pulls his blood to the back of his body. Fighting gravity, he puts his arms out in front of his head turning himself into a human spear. He lets the hunger take over. As he makes contact with the Titan's calf, the starving crystals feast, replenishing the recently lost energy.

He passes through with zero resistance, the space he flies through is empty until black fluid rained down onto the severed leg below. Chase lets loose a much less powerful pulse, to slow himself down as he approaches the ground. It barely works, as he skids down the street, crashing into the old wall surrounding the tower.

He lets out a groan of pain, watching the Titan stumble from the blow. He hit it mid stride as it was about to put its weight onto that leg. He held his breath, if the Titan fell, it would at least buy him some time.

Nope.

Instead of falling, the Titan launches off of the intact leg. The ground ripples and cracks as its massive weight and power lift it off the ground.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Chase says, as the massive form blots out the stars above. He goes to move but there is no time. He puts his arms over his head, and everything goes black.

The Titan slams down onto the ground, with its mighty fists sending a shock wave, rippling through the ground. The tower's base shatters, the tall building waivers for a moment and slowly topples over, crashing onto the power supply station.

The town's lights flicker at first, but then they are thrust into darkness. The wall defenses shut down, the turrets stopped firing. White cloaked figures began creeping over the walls overwhelming the town's defenders.

Hu feels the ground shake momentarily, then the tunnel's overhead lights flicker out.

"Hu to all convoys, looks like we lost power… everyone check in."

"Convoy one here, smooth sailing so far. Over."

The coms were silent, the protocol was to check in, in order, and this was worrisome.

"Convoy two?"

Nothing… Hu was in convoy three, better make sure it wasn't a comms issue.

"Convoy four?" Hu says, his anxiety building.

"Four here… wait.. what the fuck? Where did they come fr …schhhhhhhhh…."

Hu's brain kicks into overdrive, there was no way they could have gotten into the tunnels, let alone even know of their existence. There was no back way in. The only way to open the gates was to close the ones behind it, and they could only be operated from inside the tunnels. He looks around the darkness…

"Too dark, he thinks." The ground started to resemble the surface of a lake on a moonless night. He hits the lights on his land cruiser. He could swear he saw the shadows retreat. He looks behind him, he sees shapes rising from the surface of the inky black.

"It's the shadows!" He shouts. He holds his hand out, as materials fly around him rapidly. One of his harvested crystals floats from his pocket and the items start to circle it. The device shows itself to him and the pieces come together.

"Light!" He yells over the comms.

"Light up the tunnels!" He shouts as the device flies above him, it flashes with blinding light and the tunnels echo with screams.

Sourcers and Chosen writhe in pain, as the eradicated shadows sliced some in half and removed limbs of others. He hopped out of the cruiser pulling his trusty Tri-gun from its holster aiming it at any surviving Intruders. He won't let the others down… he will get these fine folks to safety. He yells for the other defenders, snapping them from the shock of what they were witnessing.

"Protect the people! Watch the shadows and keep the convoy moving… let's show these creepy cultists they messed with the wrong town!" Hu pulls the trigger and an arc of electricity fires from the spinning barrel. He hoped his message reached the other convoys, but for now, they were on their own.