Page 29 of Fated to the Alien Chieftain

I approach one container carefully, seeing nothing within the green goo. As my warvisor scans for viruses or any biological particles, it fills me with the knowledge none are present.What in the void is this stuff?

Dranuxia leans in beside me to look at a container. “This must be where they make the nanophage.”

Arawnoth looks around the massive room. “They must intend to scour the entire universe of life.”

“It’s too terrible,” Dranuxia says, shaking her head. “We have to stop them.”

“We will. I promise,” I say, my voice filled with conviction. “Tread carefully. We don’t want to activate these containers,” I warn, as I move onward.

We walk in the center between the rows of towering columns, creating the farthest distance from us to any of the supposedly deadly nanophage tubes. I use my warvisor to scan deeper intothe green liquid. At maximum optic enhancement, I can see the trillions upon trillions of nanoscopic entities dart and flicker within their green ocean, causing me to suppress a shudder.

Movement catches my attention. In the far reaches, high upon a thick column, an eight-legged drone crawls around the tubes like an insect tending to its eggs. Gun fire rings causing my fist to tighten with anger. “Ceasefire!” I demand. Instinctually, I reach out with Dagdorix’s power and yank the rifle from the trigger-happy warrior’s hands. But it’s too late. The bullets have ricocheted around the columns noisily.

The drone’s green optic segment lifts towards our direction. “We must hurry. They know we’re here now,” I say, as I pick up the pace through the labyrinthine room of containers. I watch the drone place itself upon one vessel, its pincer claw prying at one end.Is it trying to open it?I reach out, willing the machine to die. As my eyes flash purple, it implodes inward as if consumed by the gravity of a thousand giant stars.

The tiny crumpled remains clang nosily falling to the ground. “There’s more coming!” A warrior shouts, his voice full of panic. He’s right, as more drones stream out from the ceilings and walls from all over the immense room. My eyes mist purple as I crush many reaching out with but a thought for each one.

“Hold fire,” I command, fearing a missed bullet from these novices will hit a container releasing the glowing nanophage. My focus and attention are pushed to their limits. Increasingly more eight-legged drones pile into the room. Their goal isn’t to attack us directly, but to skitter upon the columns to release the green liquid.

We inch further along the room, with everyone glancing around with heavy panicked breaths. “Patriarch behind that pillar!” Dranuxia exclaims, pointing somewhere obscured to me.

It’s too much. The enemy coming from so many directions doesn’t allow me to create a concentrated crushing gravityfield like last time. And their sheer numbers overwhelm my awareness. “Run!” I roar, pointing in the direction towards Machsin.

We dash madly through the immense room while I implode any drone that catches my eye, of which there are many. The sound of something delicate breaking is barely noticeable amongst the echoes of metal on metal and frantic footsteps.They are releasing the nanophage!A green oily smoke wisps from a broken container not far behind our group.

“Hurry!” I urge, as more containers of green goo are dropped all around us, falling like putrid fruits from rotten trees. The green smoke weaves and writhes, surging towards us, clearly processing some malevolent organized intelligence. It seeks our flesh, our lives, as if all life is an offense to it.

A warrior at the back of our group runs frantically, but the green smoke is too fast. I reach out with my powers, creating some kind of gravity vortex within the enemy mass, hoping to save him, save us all. My warvisor detects at the nanoscopic level many billions of the tiny killers getting sucked into the void, but the bulk disperses, avoiding my attack.

I create more vortexes, directed towards the most concentrated areas of green smoke, killing many, but they constantly disperse and more containers are opening, releasing an unstoppable horde that infects the very atmosphere. I watch in horror as the warrior is swarmed by lapping waves of oily green smoke.

His suit melts away, breaking down at a molecular level. He stretches out a desperate hand, a silent plea for help, as his skin, then flesh and finally bone is melted away, simply turning to dust, until even that is consumed leaving no trace, like he never existed.

The brutal efficiency of it’s too cruel. That’s no way for a warrior to die. Some others scream as they run, havingwitnessed the gruesome scene. I sprint with all the speed Dagdorix’s puny body can muster, while I continually will gravity vortexes into the most densely packed mass of smoke, hoping to at least slow it down for us to escape this terrible destructive nanophage.

More warriors fall behind their terrible screams, propelling the rest of us forward. I reach out to one poor soul at the edge of the murderous fumes, pulling him towards me using my powers. But my stomach lurches when instead of a warrior approaching, it’s merely a green-gray puddle of liquid. I recoil at the sight, propelling the remains far away in disgust as fast as I can.

Roaring flames erupt around our group, causing me to shield my eyes from the sudden brightness. It’s Arawnoth standing firmly, his eyes misting red as he stokes and directs the raging torrent. The green mass of smoke halts before probing the flames. It withdraws like a person burning their fingers. “I can’t maintain this forever,” he says, his haughty voice strained.

“Keep moving!” I encourage the survivors. Arawnoth moves the ring of flame protectively around us as we hurry towards the circular door that has just come into view. But the nanophage surges high into the air above the flames, showing its horrifying, murderous intelligence. It seeks to go over the wall of fire as I place more vortexes high above us, trying to prevent it.

Much of the green mass is sucked into my vortexes in its greed to reach us, but more keeps coming, an endless fog that will not stop until we are all dead. Warriors shout and panic as the nanophage looms close overhead. Arawnoth and my protective barrier are now breached, causing another frantic dash for the door. But this time, the green fog surrounds us.

Arawnoth switches his circle of flame to form a corridor of fire leading to the door, our last hope of salvation. The terrible nanophage surges in from behind and above, forcing us all to run for our lives. My pulse rises, seeing Dranuxia struggle tokeep up at the back, mere moments from being consumed. I reach out with my powers and send her hurtling towards the door at incredible speeds.

Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Such a fool I am!I then reach out and propel everyone towards the door at such amazing speed, I worry I might hurt them. Next, I project my will into the door, forcing the overlapping sheets of metal open. I watch, relieved to see the warriors scurry inside, safe for now at least.

The hairs on the back of my neck tingle, knowing the nanophage is right behind me now. I desperately try to propel myself forward to the door, like I did with the others, but it doesn’t work.If this body wasn’t so frail, I would’ve made it by now!Urgently, I summon more gravity wells behind me, hoping to stall the enemy. The door is near now, but so is the green mist.

I won’t make it!I consider closing the iris of the door, my last gift to the others before I die, when a female with golden hair and shining silver eyes emerges into the room. With her hands held in front of her, she summons a silver aura around the both of us. In amazement, I watch as the green mist envelopes us, but cannot touch us, held back by the silver force field.

The golden-haired warrior sighs, walking towards me. “With all due respect, Patriarch, you should have easily achieved more,” she says slowly, her voice laced with disappointment. She reaches towards the iris of the door, the edges of the metal glow silver as it pulls shut.Does she have the same powers as Dagdorix?

She casually looks around at the swirling green mist that swarms around us. “It’s easy to take advantage of a one-track mind,” she titters, gesturing with her hands. “Look how, without the others, it gathers around us, so greedy and desperate, so easy to manipulate.”

I cast my eyes around us. The surrounding air is so thick with oily green mist it’s hard to see anything beyond. They appearalmost like a solid wall, and just on the edges beyond them, the rest of the room looks as clear as it did before the nanophage was released.

The golden-haired female leans in close, whispering into my ear. “I know you’re not who you appear to be. The real Dagdorix would never falter like this.” She sounds almost amused as she nods at the door. “Machsin also, something is very different about you two.”

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