Page 24 of Doom

The Drones impaled me with their spear-limbs, tearing me to pieces. Some of them bit into my flesh in their greed to feed, even as I hacked into them with my scythes. There were too many, even with the help of my loyal Stran. The moment I’d heard the motion detectors go off, I’d known keeping my Red safe would be a suicide mission. Not only would we have failed to outrun them with both of us on the hoverbike, but we’d have lured them north where the final evacuations were still taking place.

“Stran, I won’t last much longer,”I telepathically messaged to my friend.“Lure them further south and remain balled up.”

In his curled form, the Creckel would essentially be invulnerable. Mindless as they were, the Drones would keep climbing over each other, uselessly hacking away at Stran’s shell for hours, even as he continued to fire his darts at them. Not even a nuclear blast could harm my companion. This would give my brothers a chance to descend upon the Drone Swarm and bomb the fuck out of it, leaving Stran unscathed.

The Creckel gave me his usual psychic nudge meaning ‘yes’ to express his agreement, followed by an image of myself in a new, flawless—pretty—new body lying on a rebirth table. A mixture of sympathy and mockery accompanied the telepathic communication. I snorted in self-derision, forced to recognize that it saddened me more than I would ever admit to lose my scars; the battle trophies that gave testament to my prowess in combat.

“It couldn’t have ended for a worthier cause than keeping my Victoria safe,”I replied back, earning me a strong nudge of approval from Stran who had already begun rolling away from me.

But the trauma of death quickly wiped away any petty thoughts of bragging rights. I had forgotten how debilitating physical death could be, having managed to survive in this Shell for five years—an all-time record for a Xian Warrior like me, constantly on the frontline. My soul leaving my body felt as if my spine was being savagely ripped out.

To my shock, instead of the quick journey into Shoyesh’s psychic vessel, my soul trudged along a psychic pathway, sluggishly advancing as if attempting to run through quicksand. This shouldn’t be happening. Had my Soulcatcher already burned out? But how? I hadn’t required her services for years. Was she simply rusty from lack of use?

Then I could feel her tug at my soul, trying to reel me in, but it was too slow. My spirit was slowly unraveling. Physical death had been excruciating, but nothing could compare with the agony of spiritual death. My soul felt submerged in an ocean of acid. For the first time, I felt true fear. However, it wasn’t the prospect of my imminent and ultimate death that terrified me but the thought of breaking my promise to my Red to return, leaving her to face the threat of the Kryptids alone.

My silent screams of agony seemed to drag on for an eternity. Then a powerful force drew me in. Within seconds, the blissful shelter of a psychic vessel closed around me. The pain instantly vanished. I floated, weightless in a dark void, surrounded by the tender, nurturing, and protective emotions of a Soulcatcher. It wasn’t Shoyesh. It took me a second to recognize the psychic signature of Jennuo’s mind. That Wrath’s Soulcatcher had needed to rescue me was distressing confirmation that Shoyesh could no longer perform her duty.

But my soul, battered from nearly unraveling and without a physical brain to form and hold a coherent thought, fell into hibernation while waiting for rebirth in a new Shell.

Chapter 8

Legion

As our chaser closed in on Victoria’s makeshift hospital on Rockwell Road, no Drone Swarm could be found in the vicinity. The only proof they had been nearby consisted of the hundreds of Drone corpses littering the streets—yet another testament to Doom’s legendary battle skills. Alongside his ever-loyal Stran, they were true killing machines.

My brother had died at least twelve minutes ago, if not more. With each one, his soul unraveled a bit more until it would completely fade away. The Soulcatchers who could rescue him were out of psychic range but on their way, all those already nearby—even mine—being currently burdened with the soul of a dead Warrior from the Valiant. The closest Soulcatcher was still two minutes out. I could only hope it wouldn’t be too late by then.

For the hundredth time, I reached out for Doom’s soul, finding it thin and brittle. Silencing the sorrow lacerating my hearts, I pushed some sense of comfort towards him, knowing in his disembodied form he wouldn’t be able to fully understand who was reaching out to him. Hopefully, it would lessen the agony in which he currently drowned.

All of a sudden, my psychic link to his soul was severed. I straightened in my seat, my back stiff with fear and my hearts attempting to leap out of my chest.

“No!” I whispered out loud, as I attempted in vain to connect with his soul, the radar still showing the rescuing Soulcatchers to be out of range.

“Jennuo got him,”Wrath mind-spoke to me.“We’re closing in on your position.”

My hearts soared, and I released a shuddering breath of relief while collapsing against the backrest of my seat. Rage turned to look at me questioningly from his seat on the opposing battle station of our chaser.

“Wrath’s Soulcatcher got Doom,” I said as sole explanation.

The same roar of joy resonated from him and our other two brothers onboard. Closing my eyes for a second, I addressed a silent thank you to whatever forces had allowed for this miracle.

“How the fuck did you get back so fast?”I asked Wrath.

“I don’t dick around,”Wrath said smugly.“Doom promised Victoria he would always return to her, and I told her that Doom always keeps his promises. Now, I need to make sure that he does, or we’ll both come across as liars.”

I snorted and shook my head.Can’t have that, now can we?”I said, sending him a wave of affection to which he responded with a psychic nudge.

“We sure can’t,”Wrath replied.

“How is she?”I asked, sobering.

“A mess. She truly cares for him. It tore me up not to be able to give her more hope,”Wrath said in a tone laced with guilt.“We need to tell her about rebirth.”

“Agreed. But let’s first get Doom back up and running,”I replied.

“All right. Have fun bombing the Swarm. Please make sure they don’t crawl back to this area. I’m off to evacuate Victoria’s patients from her makeshift hospital. It should at least give her some sense of comfort.”

“On Doom’s behalf, thank you, brother,”I said with sincere gratitude.

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