Terran Knights: Chapter 4

The sound of rending metal directly behind him answered his question. Jumping to his feet he whirled to face the door and watched the sparks flying toward the window. Stumbling backwards he watched as thick metal blades sawed into the car and started ripping it away.

People screamed behind him and ran to the opposite end of the train and he was on his way with them. The end of the train made a loud tearing sound and suddenly the train lurched backwards. The few people who were still around held onto the chairs for dear life. Losing his footing Seth fell to the floor, just barely grabbing a chair. He turned staring at the train and suddenly he was staring at what he could only describe as a robot.

It was cylindrical with a rotating head and glowing red line in the center of the head. It had four metal crab legs but three arms that were thin, two had buzz saws attached to the end and a third with a claw appendage reaching into the train. It shook the train and another man fell and slid toward the robot.

The claw shot forward, picking up the man before he fell past and held it up to the red line. A red light extended and it seemed to be scanning the man up and down. It beeped twice then tossed the man out the back of the train. His scream echoed for a second before getting drowned out behind the sounds of traffic below. The machine shook the train and started advancing within the train itself.

The train continued to shake and Seth felt his hand slipping on the bar of the chair and tried to pull himself up but another tremor in the train shook his grip. He slid down the floor of the train straight toward the robot’s awaiting claw.

“No way”, he said as he slid. “No way I’m going to get scanned and thrown away by some alien robot.”

Rotating his bag, he put it between himself and the robot’s claw grabbed it instead of him. Pushing back, he jumped as hard as he could reaching for the subway pipe. He grabbed it but his leg was yanked back. Staring beneath him the claw had gripped his foot again pulling on it hard.

“Come the fuck on!” he shouted trying to pull himself up but the metal arm was too strong. He glared at the side of the train holding onto the train as tight as he could but he knew he couldn’t hold on forever.

How far are you willing to go to survive?

A voice was in his head, one that was not his own. One that was an alien and calm which was the exact opposite of how he was feeling right now. Yet it was vaguely familiar to him.

Time slowed down and he stared not at the robot below him or the train above him. He stared at the empty space in front of him. In that space was a glowing purple orb in front of him. It was smooth crystalline orb that was just pure color. It was just him, the stone and that voice wondering what his answer was going to be.

Seth stared at the orb and for a dizzying moment he was thrown back to the weekend. That dark room and the pillars of light. The other four people who had been there alongside him and the glowing white entity that told him not only about the Celestials and Taq-Law and the attack that was going to come their way and the battle they were going to have to stop.

“Son of a bitch. That was real.”

Seth felt his hand slipping on the pipe and a fleeting thought crossed his mind. That he could let go and be done with things. This could be the end of him and he wouldn’t have to keep trying. No more benders. No more parties with random people that he could potentially not come back from.

He hesitated for a long moment and then grit his teeth and his hand snatched the stone out of the sky. “If I die, I die on my terms”, he said to the voice and he could feel the smile it gave him.

Good answer. Now you’re ready to unleash your power.

Time sped up and he collided with the robot with an explosion of purple light. They both flew backwards out of the end of the train and crashed into the ground. The robot got back to its four feet, the metal legs clicking against the road. Car horns echoed with the screams and shout of bystanders and coupled with emergency sirens to create a cacophny of chaos.

Crawling through the smoke Seth looked at the sky realizing that he’d fallen a really solid distance. Getting to his feet slowly Seth paused and looked at himself. He was wearing gauntlets and boots that were metallic and pale purple but he barely felt their weight. His clothes had been replaced entirely by dark fabric. The chest had a diamond design and against his skin he could feel the cool surface of the stone against his chest. On his head was a helmet with a display highlighting the robot in the smoke, people around him and a host of other pieces of information he couldn’t even process.

“Whoa,” he said looking over his arms and body. “Okay. I think it’s my turn.”

The robot’s head swiveled to face him and beeped. Its buzzsaws disappeared into its arms and were replaced by rifle barrels. It opened fire in a hail of bullets but they bounced off his body by a purple aura that just appeared automatically.

“Not a scratch on me,” Seth whistled and then raised his fist. “Alright you. It’s my turn.”

Leaping forward in an explosion of force he closed the distance between himself and the robot in seconds. Swinging his fist, he punched it in the head and sent it spinning around like a top. Another solid hit into the chest he dented it hard. Clasping both hands together he bashed the head twice, the second hit blowing the head clean off.

Hopping backwards he pulled back on his punch and felt his fist shake and when he looked his fist was glowing bright purple. Grinning behind the helmet he lunged and punched it in the chest. Purple exploded from his fist and blew the robot to pieces. Shaking out his fist he laughed to himself, “Can’t wait to hear Jeff talk about this tomorrow.”