Omega - Chapter 5
TOC
Progress became slower as they made their way from the foot-hills up into the mountains. The terrain was rockier, mostly covered with snow and some of the paths were narrow switch-backs with a sheer drop to the side. The horses' breaths steamed in the increasingly frigid air as they made their slow ascent.
The travelers were more wary now after their encounter with the vampires. Maxim was using his aura whisper every ten minutes to detect nearby hostile lifeforms and Thorne had his sensors stretched to their maximum range. Lydia rode with bow in hand, eyes scanning the path ahead.
It took the better part of the day to make their way to the top of the mountain range. As they reached the imperial road running through the mountains, which ran from east to west, the setting sun appeared from beneath the clouds casting a wondrous purple and orange stain across the canvas of the sky.
"I've never seen such a sunset," exclaimed Lydia. "It's beautiful." The two men stopped to stare for a minute.
"It's the ash from the Throat of the World." said Thorne quietly. They stared for a minute more and then began to make their way east. Twilight had begun to deepen when they reached a snowy hill looking down over the frozen Nedic coast and iceberg-covered ocean. On a rocky isle a few kilometers from the coastline, catching the last rays of the sun, lay castle Volkihar. Maxim reigned in his horse.
"There it is. We should try to make it before true nightfall. " he said. "If we have to camp again we run the risk of being attacked by more vampires. "
"Are you serious?" exclaimed Thorne incredulously. "We have to take refuge in a castle full of vampires to be safe from the vampires?" Maxim gave him a look.
"These are different. We have an agreement with them. But I understand your concern. We won't stay more than a night to avoid temptation. " Thorne grunted.
They continued a while further until they came to another winding mountain trail that led down to the coast and then paused as a gigantic snow bear suddenly lumbered out from under a nearby rocky outcrop. It gave a throaty growl and reared up menacingly, towering above the trio. Thorne went for his pistol but Maxim held up his hand and shouted Kyne's peace at the bear. Thorne whistled in amazement as the bear dropped onto all fours again and then began to walk alongside them as they continued down the trail towards the coast. Thorne came up alongside Maxim's horse.
"You'll have to teach me that trick sometime. " the dragonborn laughed.
"Very well. And in exchange you can show me how to wear that power armor sometime. " Thorne snorted.
"It takes weeks to learn how to use power armor, Maxim."
"Well, it takes decades to learn how to shout. It seems like a fair exchange." The three of them laughed, comforted by the growing bond. The bear walked with the trio for a time and then became disinterested, snuffling off down a side trail.
They reached the foot of the steep mountain track and came out into a grove of pines, their branches heavily laden with snow. It was dark now and a mist had crept in from the sea over the Nedic coast, obscuring Volkihar from view. Lydia and Maxim now had heavy fur cloaks and hoods wrapped around them but Thorne's armor kept him well insulated. They were being guided by a search light on the soldier's helmet which brightly lit the trees ahead.
Maxim sensed it first. His aura whisper had echoed back to his mind, casting an image of something big approaching from the east. Behind them. Too short to be a giant and too big to be a troll. He wheeled his horse around at the same time as Thorne had spun mid stride, pistol in hand in an instant. Thorne cursed.
"What is it?" hissed Maxim. Lydia had nocked an arrow and drawn, pointing in the direction behind them.
"A terrible enemy," Thorne replied tightly. "A supermutant."
"What is that?" whispered Lydia nervously. They became aware of heavy foot falls out in the dark.
"They were once humans from my world. They were experimented on, warped and twisted. They changed into raging monstrosities, twice my size and strength with my power armor on." Lydia shuddered. She had seen Maxim in action against creatures that already possessed super-human strength. The ground now began to shake with each thudding foot fall.
"Get ready to move out of it's way," Thorne barked at his comrades. "It you get within melee range you'll get pasted." Lydia nodded, but Maxim shook his head. He had defeated Alduin in close and deadly combat. He would not shy away from this creature. He dismounted, but bade Lydia to stay on her horse. The pounding became louder. Maxim reached out with aura whisper again. The thing was moving as fast as a horse at full gallop. They could make out a hulking shape approaching through the trees, the low level of moonlight dimly outlining it. Huge.
Weapons drawn they braced. With an enormous bellow the supermutant burst from the woods, splintering the smaller trees in its way. It was a tower of greenish bulging muscle with a great misshapen bald head and facial features which were a parody of humanity. It carried a gigantic metal sledgehammer which dwarfed Volendrung. The mutant fixed its baleful gaze on Thorne, who froze.
"NO!!" he cried in dismay.
"NYYAAARRGH!" the mutant roared. Then, in a shockingly human voice it shouted: "I'm sorry Thorne, I can't help it! Please, kill me!!" Thorne took a step back.
"FAWKES!" With an anguished expression on its already contorted face the mutant charged, swinging the awesome hammer at the black-armored soldier. Thorne leaped to one side, avoiding the blow that would have killed him. Maxim dashed forwards putting his shoulder behind spellbreaker and rammed into the mutant's hip to put him off balance. The giant stumbled and dawnbreaker rent through the black armor plating strapped to its leg and into the meat of its thigh. The creature Thorne had called Fawkes cried out in pain and then with impossible speed backhanded the hammer into spellbreaker, catapulting Maxim into the air and into a snow drift. Largely unhurt he rose to his feet shaking off the snow.
"Shoot him, Thorne!" he screamed. Thorne was ducking beneath another lethal hammer blow.
"I can't Maxim, he's my friend!" he dodged another blow. "He's been enthralled like I was on the mountain!" The mutant smashed a tree in half with another barely dodged blow. Lydia had peppered the mutant with several steel arrows. Those that had found their mark between the armor plates seemed not to bother the beserk mutant at all.
"At least try and stun him so I can get a clear shot!" yelled Maxim as he ran forward with another slash at the back of Fawkes' leg. Fawkes bellowed and spun with the handle of the sledge, ramming it into Maxim's helmeted head which snapped backwards, sending him flying backwards and then sliding unconscious through the snow.
Thorne had no choice. He had to do it while Fawkes was off guard. He raised the laser pistol to the mutant's head to fire at point blank range. And froze solid. His limbs and body paralysed he stood like a statue as Fawkes hammered the sledge into his armored chest. Thorne was launched backwards towards Lydia who had to manoeuvre her mount out of the way. Thorne landed in the same position, unable to move his limbs, his body or drop his weapon. Fawkes raced forwards with the sledge held aloft to make the killing blow. Lydia spun her horse again, its rump smacking into the charging mutant. The falling hammer head came smashing down onto the horses back, crushing the poor animal's spine and back legs. With a scream the horse threw Lydia into the snow as it collapsed.
Crying in an awful voice, tears streaming down his face, Fawkes swung the hammer aloft one final time.
"GOL HAH DOV!!" With blood pouring from his nose and mouth Maxim had run from behind and blasted the shout into the back of the mutant's head. It went suddenly rigid, dropped the sledge and collapsed on top of Thorne and the dying horse. Thorne's armor suddenly let go and his arms and legs went limp. Maxim dropped to his knees in the reddening snow, holding his head in his hands.
And then he felt sudden cold steel underneath his chin.
"What's this?" came a soft, feminine voice. "The dragonborn, caught off his guard?" Maxim glanced up slowly and gave a weak smile.
"Serana. What took you?" The beautiful black-haired woman withdrew her dagger and lifted the warrior to his feet, taking his face between her pale, cold hands and kissing his bloody lips. He stared at her as she then stood back and licked the blood from around her mouth.
"You were always delicious, Maxim." she said with a wicked smile.
"Serana..."
"Hush." She took his head in her hands once more. They began to glow and there was a wet snap and Maxim's broken nose suddenly straightened. The blood flow stopped.
"Thank you..." he said hesitating. "My love."
The sound of groans came from several meters away.
"Sorry to interrupt this magical bloody moment," said Lydia crossly. "But I could use some help over here." She was struggling to help Thorne move the huge limp mutant and the dying horse off from on top of him. Maxim and Serana helped heave the bodies away. Thorne came up onto his hands and knees, a huge dent in his chest plate. He turned the mutant over and placed a gauntlet to his neck.
"Unconscious," he said hoarsely. He took off his helmet and looked at Serana. "Hello." he said with a hint of uncertainty. Serana smiled, and then her face became stern.
"Greetings. I have been watching you from afar. Your kind brings great destruction to Nirn, outworlder.
"I know," he said softly. "They must be stopped." Serana nodded.
"Good enough." she replied. They looked over to Lydia who was whispering softly to her dying horse.
"Goodbye, my beautiful friend. Perhaps we will meet again in Sovngarde." the horse whinnied weakly. Then Lydia rammed her dagger into its skull. The horse shuddered once and died. Lydia rose and walked quietly to the edge of the battlefield, pulled her cloak around her shoulders and sat up against a pine tree, resting her head on her knees. Thorne went to follow but Maxim stopped him.
"Leave her a while, Thorne." he said quietly. "They were together for many years." Serana slipped an arm around Maxim's waist and the brawny warrior placed his around her shoulders. "What happened back there?" he asked the soldier. Thorne shook his head.
"My armor went rigid and I couldn't move." he said, a dark look on his face. "The Enclave must have programmed the armor to freeze up if I targeted their own troops. Some kind of fail-safe." He looked down at the damaged armor. "It's otherwise still functioning, but it's not safe to continue using."
"It also has a tracking device," came a deep rumbling voice from behind. Fawkes, the supermutant, had propped himself up on his elbows and was looking at them with great dark, sad eyes.
"Fawkes!" cried Thorne and knelt in the snow next to the giant creature. Tears were in its eyes.
"I'm sorry Thorne," he said in a quavering voice. "They did something to me. I couldn't help myself." Thorne placed a hand on the mutant's shoulder.
"Its alright my friend," he said sympathetically as Fawkes began to pluck Lydia's arrows from various parts of his body. "They did the same to me. But Maxim here freed me," he indicated the dragonborn who inclined his head. "And he freed you too."
The supermutant looked at Maxim with gratitude.
"I owe you my life, friend Maxim." said Fawkes, rising to his full gigantic height. "I will protect you with it from this point on." The dragonnborn nodded in acceptance.
"I should get this armor off now," said Thorne. "Its a liability we can't afford. I will have to go without it." he tilted his chin towards the microphone in the armor's gorget. "Initiate armor shut down." Immediately the suit's helmet, lying in the snow began to chime a warning. A dry voice came from inside.
"Self destruct count down initiated. Ten, nine, eight..."
"Shit!" yelled Thorne. "Abort, abort abort!" The other's jumped, weapons at the ready.
"Self destruct aborted." said the helmet and the warning chime ceased.
"Enclave bastards!" Thorne swore. "They've fucked me real good. I can't fire on Enclave troops, they know exactly where I am and if I try and take the suit off it will explode. You're all in danger just being near me."
"Wait," said Fawkes. "We could try and do a reset."
"How? By turning it off and on again? I'll blow up!"
"No, but a big enough power surge might do it. We just need a large electric shock."
"Great Fawkes," said Thorne exasperatedly. "How much shock are we talking about."
"One point twenty one gigawatts."
"What! The only thing that could generate one point twenty one gigawatts of shock around here is a bolt of lightning!"
The others had been standing watching the exchange curiously. Serana suddenly spoke up.
"Let me see if I understand this. Your armor won't work for you unless it receives a shock from a bolt of lightning ?"
"Correct." replied Thorne. Serana held up both hands and they suddenly lit with crackling balls of electricity. Fawkes whistled in amazement. "Oh shit." Thorne gulped.
"You'll have to take the insulators offline," suggested Fawkes. "The armor may not let you."
"I'll have to try," replied Thorne. "There's a good chance that I'll be dead with anything I do. Everybody move away." The group backed away from the soldier. Except Lydia, a look of apprehension on her face.
"Don't die, Thorne." she said softly. Thorne smiled at her. He spoke into his mic.
"Armor. Insulators offline."
"Acknowledged." said the helmet. Thorne nodded at Serana. The group began to feel their hair standing on end as the charge in the air grew. Thorne gritted his teeth. The lightning bolt struck him right in the center of his chest. He went rigid and toppled over backwards into the snow as Lydia rushed to his side. Thorne lay motionless for several seconds and then groaned, his eyes fluttering. A faint wisp of smoke was rising from within the gorget. There was silence for several seconds and then the helmet spoke.
"Reboot initiated." Several minutes later, Thorne was in control of the suit and was able to begin removing it.
"Well," said Fawkes with a chuckle. "You're not dead. Better put it back on Thorne, you're gonna need it." Thorne closed up the suit and put his helmet back on.
"That's enough excitement for one evening," said Serana in a businesslike tone. "Castle Volkihar awaits us."
And the group made off into the night.
Comments
Hehe, LOTR reference made me chuckles.