Rise Of The Master:Chapter 10

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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 stopping 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 survivors 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 brutalized 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 symbolically, 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 clenched 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 gray, unusual weather indeed for summer but strangely fitting 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 another 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 bizarre 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 dying forces against 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 severely 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 creatures 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 erupted 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 another 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 another 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 desperately to break the warriors steel grip. But justice didn't let go and began to climb, using the rows of cruel spikes on the creatures back. Finally he got to it's head and started choking it, wrapping 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 flipped 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 bizarre 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 using 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 slithered 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 gray 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 beginning to fall apart at the seems. Now the durahan was faced with another 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....."



-- Black Razor (Allanmontalvo@mindspring.com), May 26, 2000


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