HEART OF THE WORLD
MACKENZIE COUNTY, AB
11 NOV 2011, 03:50 MST
“Damn it!” cursed Duncan. “Why won’t anything stay together?”
They had only a few minutes left before the swarm arrived, and none of their attempts to rebuild the defence grid had worked. Everything they made crumbled to dust, infested with the horrible blend of demonic and death magic that had washed through when the assault rock was destroyed.
Their first priority was the wellhead. The crystal shaft that had filled the hole was largely intact, but the reflector at the top was gone. Dia had summoned a great lance of lunar energy to keep power going to Gwen and her crucial enchanting project. Now, though... that lance was purifying the area around the wellhead as well.
Duncan summoned up yet another project, a replacement of the reflector that had capped the well. It formed, and finally, something stayed. “Okay. This is a start. Broaden the focus, see how much we can purify before they get here.”
The purified area grew painfully slowly, and it was soon apparent that they’d only have a radius of a few tens of meters before the demons arrived. They started building in earnest in the very core, layering in as many drone fabricators and flechette launchers as they could possibly stuff into the space they had. Their little island of purity fairly bristled with weaponry.
“What are you doing?” Donna asked Duncan. “That’s a lot of antimatter.”
Their reserve was growing at an alarming rate. “Last line of defence,” admitted Duncan. “I don’t think this will hold for long enough.” They fabricated a small collection of cobalt-clad antimatter weapons, each with a half gram of antimatter inside.
“What’s the minimum safe distance on that?” fretted Donna.
“Less than we can blink.”
“We can blink an awful long damn way.”
“Not really. We have to stay here, over the wellhead.”
Donna nervously studied the wall of blackness cresting in front of them. “We could sure use a sign about now...”
Vanessa knew a cue when she heard one, and the flow of faith that had been directed to Gwen shifted. A nimbus of holy power formed around the crystal heart of the triad.
“Now we just need some fighting music.”
Bagpipe music skirled around them as Vanessa launched into the March of Cambreadth.
Axes flash, broadsword swing,
Shining armor's piercing ring
The swarm was upon them. The flechette launchers opened up with a sound like the sky torn asunder, killing hundreds of thousands of mites in seconds. But then the mites were swarming among them, and the defences were crushed like tinfoil.
Sound the horn and call the cry,
How many of them can we make die!
Cobalt swirled around them in a vortex of death, guided unerringly to any target that tried to pass. For precious seconds it seemed that the whirling shield might hold, but the numbers were simply too great. One leaked through, and a blade was diverted to deal with it, opening a hole for two more, then more still, until a pair made it all the way through to the crystal.
Donna screamed, and the first of the antimatter grenades flared as they blinked away, upward into the still-blinding pillar of white light that pierced the storm and lit the well-head like a beacon. The detonation cleared them some space, and the mites hesitated.
Fight until you die or drop,
A force like ours is hard to stop
The respite was brief, the swarm surged forward again. Grimly, Duncan rebuilt the whirling cobalt shield from the vapourized motes of their previous one. These blades didn’t last long, each melted when it hit a mite as the magic holding it together came undone in the mite’s dark presence. Each hit was a kill, but thousands upon thousands pressed inward.
Another detonation bought them a second, but this time the swarm didn’t hesitate, it surged after them immediately. There was no time for a shield, no time for anything before the mites were upon them and scoring another bloody wound before another cobalt-antimatter grenade swept the space clear.
Close your mind to stress and pain,
Fight till you're no longer sane
The pain was bearable, but only because it had been shared. It took a moment, one they could barely spare, to understand how. The chorus was supporting them, and every blow was split among them. They fought even harder then, forming new antimatter grenades as quickly as they could, bouncing from detonation to detonation.
Duncan sent multiple bombs out at once, blinking to the spot where the next one had just detonated, to buy time. The mites adapted in moments, diving toward the detonations as swiftly as they could. They countered by setting off double detonations, then trebled, then randomly bouncing between detonation counts. It helped, and bought time, but the swarm pressed ever harder, and the hits came swiftly.
Let not one damn cur pass by,
How many of them can we make die!
They felt the first of their chorus fall, and knew that it would only get worse...
*** *** ***
THE BLUE VIXEN
VICTORIA, BC
11 NOV 2011, 02:53 PST
Colin stared at the crumpled body of his daughter. “She said... She said this place would be safe!”
Ray shook his head. “Nowhere is safe tonight. Her sacrifice may yet save us.”
“My daughter is dead!”
Ray snarled at Colin. “No she is not.”
“I know a dead body when I see one.”
Guard your women and children well,
Send these bastards back to hell
Ray pointed to the medallion around Kelly’s neck. “That’s her true self. She’s in bad shape, but not gone. Now help keep the others up as long as you can.”
“What?”
Another singer crumpled, and Ray darted to her side. He touched her brow briefly, and sighed in relief. “The headband crystals. I can bind them.”
“They’re dying.”
“Both sides are all in. This will be over soon.”
“Your words to God’s ears.”
We'll teach them the ways of war,
They won't come here any more
The scream of pain from the chorus made some of the voices stumble. But not Vanessa’s. She kept belting out the music without the slightest tremolo.
Colin did what he could, but the wounds they were receiving were not physical. At least not entirely so. Some showed bruises, others were streaming blood from their eyes.
And still they sang.
Use your shield and use your head,
Fight 'til every one is dead
One by one they fell, despite Colin’s best efforts. Until, at the end, only Vanessa was left. They could see the wounds assailing her, a new bruise every second.
And still she sang.
Raise the flag up to the sky,
How many of them can we make die!
*** *** ***
CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO
11 NOV 2011, 03:54 MST
NDS DETONATION REPORT
LAT 59.1598 LONG -115.1193 AGL 0.00 MI [LA CRETE,AB,CA 92MI NE]
YIELD 00020 kT MATCH AM05 97%
... 5 IDENTICAL ENTRIES SKIPPED ...
NDS DETONATION REPORT
LAT 59.1598 LONG -115.1193 AGL 0.00 MI [LA CRETE,AB,CA 92MI NE]
YIELD 00020 kT MATCH AM05 97%
... 8 IDENTICAL ENTRIES SKIPPED ...
“Is he fighting World War Three up there all alone? God, what the hell have we unleashed?”
“I don’t know. Even if we win this, how do we deal with... that?”
NDS DETONATION REPORT
LAT 59.1598 LONG -115.1193 AGL 0.00 MI [LA CRETE,AB,CA 92MI NE]
YIELD 00040 kT MATCH AM10 96%
... 11 IDENTICAL ENTRIES SKIPPED ...
“Would someone shut that thing up?” growled General Shepard.
“I’d rather keep it going,” replied Agent Brown. “As long as it’s going, we’re still in this. A bit like the anthem. ‘By the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air’... As long as they’re still fighting, it’s not over.”
The telex stopped chattering. Both men looked fearfully at it.
NDS DETONATION REPORT
LAT 59.1598 LONG -115.1193 AGL 0.00 MI [LA CRETE,AB,CA 92MI NE]
YIELD 42790 kT MATCH AM9999 91%
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph. What was that?”
“All of their antimatter stores going at once, I’d guess.”
“So it’s over? We lost?”
Agent Brown looked up at the display. The angry red blotch of demons was no longer there. “I think... maybe we won.” He closed his eyes and concentrated, feeling for something arcane. “The worldspell is back! They did it! Pull back, show us the rest of the world to be sure.”
The view zoomed out. Not a spot of red was to be seen. The blue highlights of the portals still remained. “Good. Good.”
“Uh, sir? There’s something you should see.”
“Now what?”
The view zoomed back in to the area around where the fight had happened. To the northwest there was a new portal. A very, very big portal.
“That can’t be good.”