Terran Knights 2: Chapter 32

Hawk floated through the air his wings pumping strongly. But as he crossed the skies pain twinged in his chest. Stumbling in the air instead of going higher he began to sink. Looking down he watched the ground quickly approach and turned both wings at the last moment.

Instead of crashing into a home or building he slid forward and crashed into garbage dump. Going through the piles of trash he rolled across the ground breaking down a pile of trash. Pushing himself off the ground he snarled angrily trying to drag himself to his feet. Looking at his chest he saw the black energy in his torso.

His sliver armor was streaked with black. Digging one hand into the ground he forced himself back to his feet and hissed leaning on a wing. Glancing at the dark sky above he saw the clouds rolling in on what little light was left. He felt the shift on the wind as well. A storm was going to be coming.

He took a few more steps and then stumbled again. Taking a slow breath, he let the armor and wings fall away. The scratches and scars along his arms and chest were far more obvious. Just flexing his arm sent pain up his body and forcing another scowl.

But his vision swam after his next step and he fell over. It bled away to black and instead of hitting the ground he stumbled forward through darkness. The sky was riddled with pinpricks of light and the heat left almost immediately. In the vacuum of the darkness he shuddered and glared.

“Great. I’m here now.” he grumbled.

In this in between place the pain that he had felt before was nonexistent. It was like being asleep which meant he probably passed out in that junkyard. But being here also meant that he had been chosen to come here. He didn’t make it happen that’s for sure.

He wandered forward for what was probably a few minutes but it felt like hours. Far longer than he had wanted since waking up within the place. He could remember the first time he’d been dragged into this place. He’d been outside a club, a belt around his arm and an empty needle on the asphalt. Whatever he’d bought had been bad and he’d been spazzing out behind a dumpster.

He’d thought it was some sort of drug haze when he met the celestial. He was then given a devil’s bargain that he didn’t think twice about accepting. The first thing he did when he got his new power was finding the dealer. He could still remember them begging before he killed them. It was a good memory.

Taking another step forward his impatience finally got the better of him and he shouted, “Key! Where the fuck are you! Why’d you bring me here!”

The air that was once still had shifted and had become wilder, sharper. It whistled in his ears, pulling around him but he just stood waiting. The wind gathered in front of him and a bright spot of light exploded in front of his face. Narrowing his eyes, he grit his teeth and looked at the celestial in front of him.

The thing in front of him formed like a bad radio signal. Made of pure white light with jagged lines along it’s form like it would fade out. It’s head flickered like it was on fire but not like a camp fire. Closer to something like how he saw the sun whenever he saw documentaries or from back in school.

But what really did it was the eyes. The eyes were deep orbs of black. No stars in them. No light. Just pits that sucked in everything even parts of its own light. The alien celestial stared at Hawk with those black eyes. “Hawk.” Even their voice was warped, unlike anything a human could produce.

“Why the fuck did you bring me here Key. I’ve got business to do.”

“You have taken Vixen’s power. Why is that?” they asked.

Hawk glared, “Because Vixen gave up on the plan. Just like that fucking kid.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on you can’t be that dense. Thought you were some all powerful space God.”

“I am no such thing,” Key said staring at him. “Though my people’s power may be what your people call Godlike.”

“Same shit. That kid threw himself in with your brother’s team. And Vixen showed up today saying she was out. I couldn’t get to the kid but I could get her. Got some power from the exchange.”

“Perhaps but there is only you and there are six of them.”

“What do you mean six? I killed that bitch myself.”

“You may have killed her but Aegis has forsaken the power I gave him and Ley has used that power to infiltrate this place and steal her back.”

He balked staring at the celestial. “You’re shitting me.”

“It is the truth. It seems that putting all of my faith into you three was foolish in the end. I will need to start over to destroy what Ley has created.”

Hawk shook his head and glared at the ground. All that he’d done up to this point. All the power he’d gained and it was all going to be swept away. Curling both of his hands into a fist he stared at Key as the celestial began to turn away.

“No. Give me more power.”

Key paused and turned to look back at him. “What?”

“I can kill all six of them. I just need more power to do it. I’ll slaughter them all!”

Key stared at him and tilted their head to the side. “You think that you are strong enough to contain the power needed to fight off the six of them?”

“I don’t think, I know. They’re a bunch of cowards with no stomach to do what they have to. Give me the power and I’ll kill them al.”

Key stared at this human in front of him and sensed something else in there. A level of desperation that they had seen more than once within the humans on this planet. Specifically, in this one. Key could see the madness there and that was something that they could use.

“Very well. I look forward to seeing what you manage to accomplish.”

Key stepped forward and thrust one of their hands forward and shoved it deep into Hawk’s chest. Hawk felt their hand pierce his chest and felt the white hot energy of whatever made up the celestials body force its way into him. He tried to hold it back as much as he could but the scream eventually left his lips.

His eyes shot open as he stared at the ground huffing. Sweat coated his body but as he pushed himself back to his feet he felt power coursing through him. Raising his gaze to the sky he watched an orange light streak across it. “Time to go hunting.”