"On my mark! Fire!"
A mass of cannon fire roared, slamming into the purple eyed behemoth. Fumes slowly exhaled out from the barrels as the guardsmen watched the smoke clear, revealing an unmovable force. Its cold predatory demeanor was unchanged. It lowered its head, preparing to respond.
"Abort! Abort! Retrea ...!"
The behemoth's roar was followed by a cascade of fire that melted the guardsmen and their canons away. Tearing through the buildings on the side of the road.
Kaito, hidden behind a shop, stared as the giant behemoths continued its path of destruction. People fled as pieces of their homes were hurled at them. Some of the guardsmen helped the citizens flee, others were too wounded to move. Another kept up their futile attack. The rest were either dead or had deserted.
What other choices were there?
One of the behemoths tore the roof off the building next to Kaito, and he turned and ran with the rest. Towards the exit, past his demolished house where his parents were buried. Past the temple, where a priest is screaming:
"Who among you has brought us this punishment! What great sin is being repaid with your damnation! Oh Lords of the stars! Send again your…!"
An insect-like figure emerged from the woods at the edge of the village. With a single, swift motion of its claw, it devoured the priest and crushed the temple.
Then turned its attention to the herd of people fleeing the exit as other behemoths joined the feast.
Kaito stopped, looking around for another exit. He saw his school, one of the few structures still standing.
He quickly ran up the stairs to the roof. His brown hands, stained with dirt and ash, gripping to the edge as he haul himself up.
Finally on the roof, he could see the whole village. The outskirts, and the behemoths ravaging everything in between.
A great roar is echoed from above. Kaito scans the sky with a worried look. His heart froze as he heard the sound of a hundred whips crackling directly above him. A shadow drapes over him as a flying behemoth descended from the clouds, its breath incinerating buildings. He tried to shake off his fear. He thought to himself.
"No! Every exit is either burned down, covered with bodies or blocked by them!"
One more look, he saw an opening. With no hesitation, he dropped down.
He found his way to a small alleyway, a path where he might be unseen. However, risk being crushed if a Behemoth appeared.
"It's the only way," he muttered, running for his life.
His heart was beating hard.
Behind him, the right side of the alleyway exploded as the purple eyed behemoth appeared. He went into 6th gear, arms swinging, his feet barely touching the ground.
The light from the end called to him, and he burst out onto the next street. The purple eyed behemoth roared, its fire spewing from its maw. Before he could react, he gets tackled down, dodging to the side, as they both fall.
An unlucky person hidden between boxes is exposed, instantly devoured.
Kaito's view is dizzy from the fall, ears ringing. He sees the boy who laid next to him on the ground standing up.
"Come on, let's go!" He said to Kaito as he reached his hand down.
Kaito looks up and sees a boy his age, bigger than him.
Although his eyes reflect back from the boy's, and he takes his hand.
Continuing their escape.
They found an opening, setting their course towards it.
Until they hear.
"Ouch! Please get us out of here!".
A small group of children was trapped beneath a rumble of cement from a two-story building. Kaito, not noticing himself slowing down, watches the boy sprinting to the kids. Desperately trying to tear the rubble away with his bare hands
"Hold on! I won't leave you!". The boy yelled, his muscles straining as he managed to lift one of the heavier pieces.
"Yes! There we go!" He yelled, ignoring his own soreness.
The boy focused on the trapped kids, however he doesn't see the insect-like behemoth directing its focus on them. Stepping closer and closer.
He got another piece of rubble off, and three kids ran out, leaving the boy and two behind.
"Come on, just a little more!" The boy's tone shifted sadness, but his eyes beamed with determination as he put all his strength into one final lift.
The building shifted, threatening to bury the remaining children.
In a blink of an eye, Kaito ran in and threw his weight against the shifting structure, holding it up.
"Come on, You can do it! If you don't want to turn to behemoth shit!" Kaito yelled out, fire in his eyes. It reflected back at the boy, who ignited with renewed strength. He yelled with everything he had, lifting a piece of the rubble almost as big as himself.
"Go go now!" The boy screeches through his teeth as he and Kaito hold the rubble.
The kids manage to escape. Kaito and The boy dropped the rubble and fell to the ground. A brief sense of relief drowning out the chaos around them.
"What is your name?" The boy asked.
"Kaito", he muttered, turning to face him. "And you?"
"I'm Uzoma", he said with a smile.
Kaito looked in awe at how Uzoma could smile at this moment.
Yet, at the peace of the moment all he could was to smile back at Uzoma.
Creeping up, Kaito noticed a shadow above them. They both turned as the insect-like behemoth stared down, its claw raised.
"Let's go!" Kaito yelled. He grabbed Uzoma and they both sprinted towards their escape.
The insect-like behemoth's claw opened and seed-shaped projectiles shot out.
They dodge left and right.
Right as they are about to escape, the hospital next to them was hit and collapsed on them. Uzoma pushes Kaito forward, and the debris landed on Uzoma's legs.
He screamed painfully, tears cutting through the greay and beige dust on his dark skinned face.
Kaito turned, his heart pounding.
He jumped down and tried to pull Uzoma out. He managed to free him, but as he did, his right arm was severed by a sharp piece of the falling debris.
"Leave me! There is no time for you, and not for me!" Uzoma cried out to Kaito.
"You saved me!" Kaito yelled. Seeing Uzoma's legs were crushed.
"And I won't leave you like this!" Kaito roared as he lifted Uzoma onto his back with his one good arm.
Kaito moved for his and Uzoma's life, the two clinging to each other.
The sound of a hundred whips shattered the sky again as the flying behemoth dove.
Kaito jumped, evading the first attack.
But the wing flung him and Uzoma into another pile of rumble, pinning them.
Both of them grunted in pain as they kept getting buried. The behemoths closed in, finishing their hunt.
Uzoma and Kaito stared up at the sky, pleading in silence for anything to end this suffering.
The insect-like behemoth raised its claw, and brought it down with terrifying speed.
They could only watch.
Then a tremor, different from the behemoth's steps. A deep shake getting stronger and louder. Clouding the roars of the behemoth. A resonant THUMP.
Shook the ground, and a sonic boom rips through the air as a silver comet slams into the insectoid behemoth, throwing the monstrous creature back, tumbling like a log as it shrieks.
Dust and debris swirling around the area. Standing between the boys and total death was a giant. 30 foot tall figure of polished steel and orange alloy. Wings fanned out from its back. And holding in his hands, a giant spear. Taller than the giant itself, and a tattered flag fluttering through the winds beneath the tip.
This was a Medjay.
The insectoid behemoth out of its step, its predatory eyes focused on the threat. It shrieked, a sound that made Kaito's teeth rattle. It fired a volley of projectiles at the Medjay.
A calm, amplified voice comes out, "Kurinda! moving to engage." And without flinching, simply raising its free left hand. A shimmering, hexagonal energy shield materialized in front of it. The projectiles shattered against it, like glass against a stone wall.
The enraged Behemoth raises its scythe like claws again. And ferociously charge forward, aiming to tear the machine.Kaito and Uzoma frozen, as it gets closer and closer.
Kurinda stood its ground. Until the very last moment. Then, move.
In fluid, a powerful pivot against the earth shaking stumble of the Behemoth. The spear became a blur of motion. A single precise thrust, it parried the claw. The impact sent sparks flying. In the same motion, drove the spear deep into the joint of the behemoth's other arm.
The beast roared in pain as it jumbled back, dark liquid spraying from the wound around the street.
"Ulysses, I spot two civilians in the rubble. I call for immediate support," the pilot's voice was calm. Almost bored, as if he were commenting on the weather and not fighting a beast. Kurinda's wings flared with light, and the Medjay levitated effortlessly, the wounded behemoth in sight.
From the sky, the flying behemoth dove, its maw opening to spew fire.
Before Kaito could even shout a warning, a second smaller and more agile Medjay dropped from above in great speed, like a hawk.
"Ulysses, on station!" an energetic voice called out.
As it dove, it swung its massive gauntlets together down. Delivering a devastating blow on the head of the flying Behemoth.
A CRACK! Echoing across the village.
Ulysses flies swiftly away, generating speed.
Hitting another blow from the side of the beast. Crashing into a row of demolished houses.
Ulysses landed agilely in front of the astonished boys. Its 20 foot frame stands above them. As he began carefully digging through the rubble with its hand, finally freeing them.
Kaito couldn't look away from Kurinda. The insectoid behemoth, now grounded and wounded. The Medjay landed, retracted his wings and took a two-handed grip on the spear. An orange flare shined from his spear as he charged. Feinted high and as the behemoth raised its claws to block, the spear dipped low, into the Behemoth's torso then swept up in a magnificent sway. Tearing its head into halves.
The Behemoth collapsed. A ground shaking THUD! Hits the ground. Its dead eyes set on the Medjay.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity.
Silence, creeping in, and the crackle of the distant fires occasionally punctuating the air.
Kurinda stood over the vanquished beast, spear held high and the flag on its tip swaying triumphantly in the smoky wind. A gem glowing steadily on his chest, a beacon of hope and impeccable power.
Kaito stared, his pain forgotten and the fear replaced by a single burning emotion.
The one that he will carry with him. Wherever he goes. Whenever he needs it.
Whoever he wants to be.
As Kurinda walks over to the boys and Ulysses, Kaito can see the window of the cockpit on the head much clearer. A figure in a green and white pilot suit looked down at the two broken boys. A sharp shine from his visor.
"You are safe now," he said with a deep voice, carrying an undeniable authority.
A soft, blue light shines from Ulysses' head, scanning over Kaito's severed arm and Uzoma's crushed legs.
"They are critically injured! Dispatch a medical shuttle immediately! ", Ulysses reported, his voice crisp and efficient.
He motioned, pressing a button on the console inside his cockpit.
They boys lay there, a mix of awe and searing pain holding them captive.
Suddenly a bright violent purple light washed over them, casting a long and monstrous shadow.
"Behind you!" Uzoma screamed, his voice raw with terror.
Kaito's head whipped around. The purple eyed behemoth had emerged from the smoke, its maw glowing from with an immense heat. Its fury focused entirely on the vulnerable boys and Ulysses who stood exposed.
It fired.
A torment of molten death surged forward.
Closer and closer.
Filling their entire vision. The heat blistered Kaito's skin.
The roar of the flames was the only sound in the world.
Kaito squeezed his eyes shut, clutching Uzoma, waiting for the end.
He opens up his eyes.
And he was lying on his thin, lumpy mattress in his shack.