Chapter 15 - The Beginning of a War

↤ Chapter 14 - Ignition

It had been eight minutes since the alarm of the ensuing battle had been raised, eight minutes since all hell had broken loose in Perception as a small military was assembled. They knew they were on a clock as Nova would surely be doing the same and they were leagues more efficient than the Abstracts, Breakers were marching through the main street of Perception towards a particularly impressive wall that had been designed perfectly for sweeping between dimensions. Standing at the huge wall were Quizzical and some of the other Guardians, those which weren’t already involved in a military operation, the Guardians were joined by a few pairs of Enchanters, there to perform the large sweep needed to transport the small army of Breakers across the Candelaum and into the fray on Nova. Their prime directive wasn’t an invasion, it was to get the injured and powerless back to Imagination as quickly as they could.

The army of Breakers was two hundred and fifty strong, a larger army just wouldn’t have been plausible considering they didn’t know where the Candelaum would be taking them.

“You’re sure we’ll be able to get them all out?” Quizzical asked Score, another of the female Guardians in the guild. “There’ll be Nobles there and we know how that went for me.”

“Yes, Aphré.” Score groaned;This was at least the fifth time Quizzical had asked that same question. The slightly older Abstract understood and was glad for Quizzical being concerned for their comrades, having been one of the few of them that had gone toe-to-toe with a Noble she was definitely in her right mind to have concerns. The only problem was that she had voiced them over and over and it was now getting irritating.

“Fine… Not like there’s any backing out now.” Quizzical muttered, folding her arms and returning to watching the proceedings unfolding before her, a sea of white leather armour writhing before her as it prepared to flood through the barrier resisting it and drown the ground of Nova with blood.

Standing atop the wall was Guldfaxe, the stalwart and unwavering leader of the Breakers guild, he was watching a comparatively small portion of his gargantuan guild assemble in the wide street before him with a careful contemplation of where each one was standing. He was proud of how the guild could work alongside itself to form such a force in such a small period and seemingly out of nowhere, a command had been given to the Breakers to form a small army, therefore the force was rallied. Ranks upon ranks of white-armoured Abstracts, armed to the teeth with weapons of slaughter were rallied in the street.

 They were prepared to march forward for Nova at a moment’s notice; the Guardians were to go in first and be backed up by the army of Breakers. Guldfaxe raised his sword to the sky, eliciting a cheer from the gathered Abstracts. Spears and swords were rattled and bashed against shields, the deafening noise drowned the street in bellows and shouts.

Quizzical fastened her helmet on, tightening it under her chin with a rough leather strap. The other Abstracts around her did the same and prepared their weapons. Score twirled her stave around her shoulder to activate it, a large, leaf-shaped head sprouted from the tip and glinted in the midday sun.

Quizzical did the same, rolling her own blade around the back of her hand and feeling a sense of relaxation as she felt the cold metal shift in weight. The rest of the Guardians standing by her each drew their weapons, preparing to go through the swept portal when it was opened.

The enchanters at the centre of the wall both dug their hands deep into the wall as if it were made from butter, the pair looked over to the Guardians for the signal to begin the sweep, Lidered nodded at them and raised his sword, a long Zweihander embossed with gold detail and a large gem at the pommel.

With the signal given, the Enchanters began to pull the Candelaum apart to reveal the Novan courtyard filled with Abstracts and Novans fighting for their lives.

While the Abstracts had raised an army, the Novans had built up a force of their own and marched it into the courtyard where it was now stationed, defending the exits in the high walls.

The utter shock on the faces of the Novans as a gargantuan portal was pulled open in one of the walls to the courtyard was a sight to behold, it was swiftly followed by a cheer from the Abstract forces as their vigour was restored for knowing their rescue was at hand.

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Glo flinched when he spotted the Abstract army through the portal, he knew that these people were vicious but most likely just here to rescue their comrades, that didn’t mean they would not slaughter as many Novans as possible. Svari had come to his rescue, something he wasn’t impressed by but very grateful for, one Abstract had been bearing down on him with a sword ready to slash his throat before the other Noble had thrown another sword and impaled the unfortunate Abstract. Svari had run over and steadied Glo on his feet, the blue-haired Noble swayed gently in the afternoon wind, he’d lost a lot of blood in the fray and lost Izzac. She’d been forced away from him in a duel with two other Abstracts and was standing a few metres away, leaning on one of their swords. The two Abstracts’ bodies lying broken alongside her, she had used her Nobility to destroy them horribly by throwing them into each other and crushing them into the ground until the pair of unfortunate Abstracts stopped moving.

Glo sluggishly stepped before the slowly assembling Novan army, he knew that he should try to prevent the Abstracts from being rescued and returned to Imagination at all costs. He just didn’t have the energy for it, it’d been completely torn away from him by the Abstracts who weren’t properly equipped or had already been injured. Even now, the captured Abstracts looked more than prepared to stand their ground down to the last man.

Glo winced again when he heard a cheer from the Abstract army as they began to advance, banging spears and swords against shields. As an intimidation tactic it appeared to be working, the front ranks of the Novan army looked a little unsure.

Luckily, Svari took charge of the situation, stepping forwards he raised his glowing hand and barked a single order that the Novan army were trained to obey completely without question.

“Take! Knee!” Svari bellowed, his eyes locked on the approaching Abstract force.

The front ranks of the Novan army acted immediately and fluidly, the very front ranks took two long steps forward and knelt down. Following them was the next two ranks who kneeled behind them and aimed their weapons between the heads of their comrades. The rest of the army shuffled forwards, each Novan aimed laser weapons at the impending tsunami of Abstracts.

Glo looked towards the portal closer now, spying the few figures at the head of the charge. He spotted Quizzical immediately, clad in the black armour he was so used to seeing her in, although now coupled with a similarly coloured helmet that circled around her eyes. Her green hair was loosely blowing around her shoulders in the Novan wind as she walked forward, her sword held loosely in her gloved hand.

Next to her were a number of other Guardians, he could tell by the almost casual way they walked into battle. Each was adorned in armour similar to that of Quizzical, although with their own personal touches.

Svari had his eyes locked on the portal, his hand still raised above his head, the army were all watching that hand. If it dropped, they’d immediately loose hellfire on the Abstract army. Silence dominated the courtyard, only interrupted by the marching of Abstract feet.

The first of the Guardians stepped forwards through the portal and held his hand up simelarly to Svari, the rest of the Abstract army stopped immediately but the rest of the Guardians stepped forwards.

Glo couldn’t hope to hear what they were saying to each other but was rather shocked when the Abstract wielding the spear turned to face them and took a single step across the entire courtyard, right up to Svari. The Noble flinched and took a wary step back from the Abstract’s glinting spear.

“We only wish for our people back, Novan.” She spat in questionably pronounced Novan, she was remarkably shorter than Svari now Glo could see her up close, even then she looked more than strong enough to skewer Svari with her weapon. “If you do not comply, we will kill your people until you decide to.”

Svari grit his teeth and shook his head before ordering the Abstract, “Return to your home, Beast, you of all people should know that I can’t do that.”

“You will regret this decision, Novan.” The Abstract snarled before turning back around. Svari didn’t have a moment to react before she began to flicker and vanished in a cloud of dust before his eyes.

Glo watched as the Guardian reappeared back within her people, taking a moment to  speak to her comerades, the outcome of the conversation couldn’t have been a positive one since they all appeared to steel themselves. Even from the distance, Glo could see Quizzical grip her sword slightly tighter and the rest of the Abstracts began to walk forward.

The Abstract who had raised their hand, a tall and bulky man holding a small axe in his offhand, dropped it and broke into a jog towards the Novan army. He was almost like a rhinoceros, barrelling forwards and followed by the rest of the army.

The other few Guardians all broke into a run alongside them towards the Novan frontline, the thundering of feet was infinitely loud and made Svari’s command almost inaudible. But the order was registered as he dropped his raised hand and the battlefield lit up with the loud cracking of laser weaponry, there were no beams, at least not visible. Instead the weapons each charged up a ruby laser and then suddenly released that pent-up energy in one high-powered blast, each shot easily able to shatter glass or blow flesh apart.

Glo watched as the first volley ripped through the first row of Abstracts, cries of surprise and pain echoed across the courtyard followed by the sounds of bodies and weapons hitting the ground. The Guardians were lucky not to have been hit by any of the shots, the bulky man who had ordered the charge barked another order into the crowd and they reacted fluidly.

They all took a step forwards over their felled kin and knelt down behind the large shields most were carrying, each shield was a curved metal rectangle, the laser weapons wouldn’t have much effect against the polished surfaces that each of them was kneeling behind.

The Guardians did similar, a few had a clever gadget that formed a small round shield around their offhand forearms made from the same shiny metal the other soldiers’ bulwarks were made from. The other Gurardians slipped large shields from their backs and hid behind them just like the others. Silence reigned over the battlefield for a long moment before there was another command from the Guardians at front, the single word was a terrifying prospect for the Novan army.

“Bows!” Came the shout and the reaction was practiced and instant.

The back third of the Abstract army leant backwards with practiced ease and slid arrows from the quivers at their hips, fluidly knocking them to their bows.

Within seconds a cloud of death began to rain from the sky above the Novan army, the Abstract arrows whistling through the air in such numbers that accuracy wasn’t a problem. They fell down into the Novan army as a vulture would its feast, the howls of the Novan troops who didn’t get their shields in the way quick enough were terrible for Glo to bear witness to. The Novans’ shields worked similarly to those of the Guardians, a magnetic field projected from a device on the forearm, thankfully the heads of the arrows were metallic so they bounced harmlessly off the shields. Thankfully too, the heads curved like the crescent moon and were horrifyingly sharp, leaving grievous wounds on those who they hit. The most unpleasant feature of the arrows were the countless barbs cut into them like porcupine spines. You couldn't simply yank the arrows out, instead the Abstract arrows had to be cut out for fear of tearing out hunks of flesh from their unfortunate victim.

Glo used the last of his waning strength to throw his lightning-made shield between himself and the steel hail, the arrows pounded off the blue lightning, sapping away a little more of his strength each time one hit. After about thirty seconds, the arrows stopped falling out of the sky, they felled a great number of the Novan troops across the courtyard. The cries of the dying and wounded filled the air with a rueful cacophony, quickly interrupted by a cheer from the Abstract army as they rose to their feet and began to march hastily forward again.

Svari watched the opposing army carefully, they were marching diagonally now, not directly towards his troops. Instead, the enemy were trying to place themselves between the Abstracts who had broken out of the facility after it had exploded and the fire of the Novan army.

The portal in the wall of the courtyard had shrunk a little, enough now for some captives to escape through alongside the injured. It shimmered around the edges as if trying to pull away from the wall it had been opened in, the Noble of Light could spy Imagination through the rippling portal, the vast streets of the city would be so easily stormed with the army at his back. Unfortunately, they were losing ground against the Abstract army, their shields were far too thick for the Novan weapons to break through.

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Quizzical was cowering behind her round shield, the sounds of the Novan weapons firing were horrible. Her shield had only been hit twice, but each of the impacts had forced her to slide back along the ground a few metres on her scuffed knees. The Guardian looked to either side of her where the five others were each kneeling behind shields, each looked far more stalwart than she felt and that filled her with vigour.

A vigour that was quickly replaced with worry as another figure joined the Noble at the front of the army, a very casual looking man with bright red hair and one hand that seemed perpetually in his trouser pocket. The Noble man who had nearly killed Quizzical on Surie if not for Pe’thos barrelling into him like a stampeding elephant before summarily breaking his nose.

Quizzical watched the red-haired man carefully as he raised a fist to the Novan army, they immediately stopped shooting at the Abstracts and Cat began to walk carefully through no-man's-land towards the Abstracts. Quizzical heard the creaking of bows being drawn and aimed at the Novan, Pe’thos ordered the arrows not to be loosed with a careful wave of his hand.

Quizzical hid behind her shield, not wanting the Noble to see her face. Unfortunately she could feel the Novan's eyes trace her form as he grew ever closer.

“Nice to see you again, Noble, how is your face.” The tall Guardian growled, “We weren’t properly introduced last time we met.”

“Better, my name is Cathode.” Cat replied casually, “I’d rather not fight you at the moment.”

“Then why are you here?” Pe’thos asked, Quizzical could see his offhand axe in his hand, not yet activated.

“Firstly to apologise to your friend there,” Cat answered, gesturing at Quizzical with his ashen white hand, “I did nearly kill her a few weeks ago, surprised that she’s back on her feet so quickly.”

Quizzical was rather surprised at the man's sincere tone, but she didn’t move at all, just kneeling there behind her shield to watch the Noble.

“Also I’m here to, as my acquaintance over there puts it.” He began, jabbing a finger at the other Noble standing by the Novan army, “Threaten you all to pull out of Nova or we shall obliterate you and your petty kind off the face of the map.”

Pe’thos raised a questioning eyebrow before chuckling, “Threaten us? Threaten. Us.” The large Guardian rose to his feet, his hysterical laughing taking on a cruel tone. “You stand there all proud of yourselves, not knowing you’re already beaten!”

“And you kneel before us, cowering behind your shields.” Cat replied coldly, somehow managing to look down on the tall guardian towering over him. “I don’t wish to fight you, I know fine well what you Abstracts are capable of. But believe me, I will fight to the last breath in my body to protect my planet.”

Pe’thos growled at the sudden seriousness change in Cathode’s casual tone. He gripped his offhand axe from his belt and flicked it out. Cat’s response was immediate, he stepped back and aimed a small handgun at the Guardian’s head, each of the Guardians standing around the pair hissed and snarled at the Noble man’s reaction.

“Don’t make me pull this trigger Abstract.” Cat muttered, “I don’t want that blood on my hands just yet.”

Score growled and flashed her teeth at the Noble in challange, her spear aimed at his neck and ready to thrust forwards to tear his throat asunder. Quizzical could see Cat register the threat and shift his stance just a little to dodge a thrust from the deadly point.

“Back off, Cathode.” Quizzical snarled, finally responding to the Noble. “There’s far too many of us for you to take on.”

“I disagree, Guardian.” Cat replied, warmly smiling towards her, “You caught me off guard last time... I still don’t know your name you know.”

“Quizzical.” Lidered growled, “Her name is Quizzical. Now back off before we slaughter you.”

“Quizzical?” Cat purred, rolling the name around his mouth in a way that made the Guardian herself shiver uncomfortably, “A very nice name, a name I know perhaps?”

Quizzical’s blood ran cold, he couldn’t have known about her hiding Glo and Roema already. Glo had promised that he wouldn’t tell anyone who might hurt her.

“What do you mean?” Quizzical growled, her lips peeled back to reveal her sharp, glistening teeth in the harsh evening light.

“A friend of a friend has the same name, Quizzical.” Cat answered, looking her dead in the eyes. “It’s not an Abstract name at least, very unusual over on the other side isn’t it?”

“Quiet.” Pe’thos growled and Cat quietened down. “Now if you would kindly decide if you will do whatever it is with that weapon or leave us be to take our people home.”

Cat pondered for a moment before pulling his finger away from the trigger and raising the pistol to his shoulder, the tension in the group lessened but Cat knew that he wasn’t in the clear yet. He knew that one of them would probably stab him in the back the moment he began to walk back towards the Novan army, either that or he would become a pincushion with the number of arrows trained on him. Slowly, the Noble slipped the pistol back into its holster on his hip.

All the Abstracts backed off a when Cat connected with his Nobility, an arrow was loosed with a twanging of the bowstring, but the Noble caught it out of the air an inch from his chest. Cat tossed the arrow over his shoulder nonchalantly and allowed the red smoke of his Nobility to leak from his forearms and float away on the Novan wind. With a small smirk to the Abstracts, he took his hand out of his pocket and raised it carefully. Having to dodge a spear thrust with a chuckle, he raised his palm to the sky and snapped his fingers together before vanishing before the Abstracts.

“The hell was that?” Lidered asked, his shocked expression betraying his thoughts.

“Nobility, Lidered.” Quizzical answered, “They’ve got... abilities, last time I fought that guy he did that smoky thing but made a sword out of it.”

“Then beat the shit out of you with it.” Another Guardian laughed before Quizzical could finish her sentence, receiving a glare from the rest of their companions and a rude gesture from Quizzical.

Pe’thos raised one of his axes before returning to jogging towards the Novan army, there was a great cry for blood from the other Abstracts as they fell into step behind the Guardian with their shields raised in front of them. The Noble man at the head of the army gently placed his hands on Glo and the other Noble next to him before they also vanished just like Cat had but with less smoke.

Quizzical joined in the charge, her shield in front of herself to protect herself from the hail of gunfire from the Novans. Her shield was dented by one blast and she fell into a roll, swearing loudly and scrambling back to her feet before the Abstracts running behind her trampled her.

They were close enough now that Quizzical could make out individual faces in the Novans, she could see the fear in their eyes and felt a degree of sorrow for them as the first Abstract crashed into the Novan front line. Pe’thos leapt high into the air and landed like a meteor, scattering Novan soldiers just like bowling pins. Quizzical snarled and leapt into the fray herself, the Novan man before her drew a small device that looked similar to that which contained Quizzical’s sword although much more technologically advanced. It extended out with two long metal prongs before a glowing film leapt between the two like a bubble’s soapy film, to Quizzical it looked like a very bulky and inefficient sword.

A very bulky and inefficient sword that clanged gracefully of Quizzical’s shield and left a horrible scorch down it, Quizzical didn’t bother doing anything fancy and simply parried the next blow with her shield and thrust her own blade through the plastic armour covering the soldier’s chest. They dropped to the ground with a pained gasp and Quizzical snarled animalisticaly before leaping forwards to the next soldier before they could draw their own sword. The two Abstracts fighting at her sides were both Breakers, having thrown their great shields aside in favour of wielding their spears in two hands. The trio were fighting in perfect tandem, the large, sweeping blows from the Abstract spears intermingling with quick jabs and pokes from practiced hands. Quizzical's own swordplay was masterful as she danced between the Novan's less graceful swings.

In the chaos of hand-to-hand fighting Quizzical was forced into the ranks of Nobles, there weren’t actually that many of them, five or six ranks of soldiers separated the main fighting force and the Nobles commanding them.

Quizzical heard the whine of one of the light weapons charging up next to her and she leapt aside, the Novan who’d tried to gun her down was quite shocked as their own comrade was blasted off their feet, a gaping wound torn in the side of their chest by the unexpected gunshot. They gasped on the ground, not really registering what had happened before closing their eyes and dying on the cold ground.

Quizzical slashed upwards and parried the carbine before it could charge again, she smacked the pommel of her sword against the back of the Novan’s hand and heard bone crack. The unfortunate recipient of the blow cried out in shock and dropped the weapon to the ground with a plastic clatter, they immediately put their hands up above their head and surrendered before Quizzical could cut their throat.

In the fighting's midst, Quizzical couldn’t bother dealing with a prisoner so she just rapped the side of their head with the pommel of her sword to knock them out, they crumpled to the ground like a piece of wet tissue tossed over the shoulder of a child. Quizzical tried to parry a blow from one of the other Novan soldiers with her sword, this one wielding another of the glowing swords. At first it felt like a normal parry as it swept his blade aside, alarmingly, a current lanced from the electrically charged sword down the metal blade of Quizzical’s weapon and the sudden current leapt through her hand and forced her arm into an uncontrolled spasm.

She howled in agony, her sword being flung harmlessly from her hand. Quizzical shook as the Novan man bore down on her, quickly cowering behind her shield to guard herself from a sparking blow from his blade. Tears were streaming down her face from the pain of the burn, Quizzical didn't have time to deal with her agony yet, the soldier would kill her if she didn't deal with him first.

The Guardian drew the wicked combat knife from her calf; the grip sparking pain to scorch across her hand. Another blow came down on her shield with a harsh clang, Quizzical heard the electrified blade sparking across the solid metal and pushed up to her feet. She parried the Novan’s weapon away and thrust forward with her knife. It didn’t bite through the Novan armour at first, instead scoring a deep line in the plastic before it found a gap in the armour and punched through into the Novan’s stomach.

The Novan coughed and looked at the Guardian with an expression of surprise that turned quickly to fear, the young man dropped his own weapon and let his gaze down at the knife now sticking out of his stomach and the gloved fingers clutching it's bloodied handle. Quizzical grit her teeth with effort as she yanked the knife out, its serrated edge caught on the Novan’s flesh and the plastic fabric of his armour. Her hand burned with the effort, the warm blood splashed onto her hand searing into the burn. She cried out, in far too much pain to reclaim her knife, it was replaceable, so she left it there in the dying Novan’s stomach.

Quizzical picked up her sword, the burn on her hand only causing more agony so she folded her shield back up and rolled her sword into her offhand, she still needed to fight her way back to the gate.
Chapter 16 - Fight for your Life ↦