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Blitukus waited, sitting back, then eventually turned to rest his legs on the adjacent seat, his back resting against the inner wall of the fuselage. He felt very tired... he would likely just sleep his way back. He had paid nearly all of his money for the flight... he had only 6 moneys left, but it should be more than enough to arrange transportation from the airport to the center of the city once he arrived. He sighed through his nose... several minutes passed, and as the fireworks continued, people began to hurriedly board the aircraft. Many of the seats were taken, but a few weren't. Blitukus was able to keep the adjacent seat as a footrest. Apparently, according to a nearby sticker on the back of the seat in front, he wasn't supposed to though. He sat back up as the aircrafts engines started. When boarding finished, the doors closed, and the walkway retracted. Soon after, the aircraft taxied out to the runway, and a minute later, the engines spinning up to their full power, accelerated down the runway and took off. Blitukus saw the aircraft had left the ground, and promptly moved himself to once again rest his legs on the adjacent seat, back against the wall. He then emptied one bag into the other, and used the empty bag to shade his eyes. Despite the light in the cabin and the screech of the engines, he slowly fell asleep.
His dream started out nebulous... and then, he felt as if he were a ghost, watching a city, not much different than the Rametaru of 1999, from above. The city was on an oceanic coast, though. A large, obsidian colored aircraft approached... a loud siren sounded in the city. The aircraft exploded... and when the fireball dispersed, it revealed a demon, holding a large ranged weapon of some kind. The demon laughed, aimed at a small building, then fired the weapon. The weapon seemed to let loose some sort of rocket, that started out slow, but accelerated rapidly toward the building. The rocket struck the building, demolishing the building in a large fireball. A screeching sound could be heard... a military aircraft was approaching from the left. It fired its dual heavy automatic crossbows at the demon, and the demon grunted, slowing its flight, bits of ichor splattering towards the ground. The demon then fired again, the rocket zipping through the air, and striking the aircraft. The aircraft erupted in a ball of flame, one of its wings blown clean off. It trailed flame as it spiraled toward the ground, then exploded on impact. The demon laughed... another rocket approached, and flew right into the back of the demon, knocking the demon into a flaming tumble. A second rocket struck the demon as it fell. The demon trailed ichor and gore through the sky as it plummeted, splashing down into the ocean. A screech was heard as a second military aircraft zipped from right to left, pulling up and ascending, then turning to fly out to the ocean. Dull, distant explosions and thuds could be heard... Blitukus turned his presence to look out to sea... a naval battle was going on between red-painted steel clad ships, and dark, spiky ships. The vessels exchanged fire, blowing holes into one another... more and more of the dark vessels approached, black smoke and flame billowing from their exhaust pipes. Several rockets were fired out of the city, arcing in a parabolic path towards the ocean, creating large explosions as they landed in the water near the dark ships. One of the dark ships blew apart in a wall of flame, the remains sinking into the waters, another dark ship capsizing and sinking shortly after. Several demons in flight arrived, holding heavy weapons, firing on the steel ships... then suddenly, many of the steel ships simultaneously exploded for no apparent reason... but that reason became apparent a few moments later. In a previously unoccupied region of the waters, several shadows appeared... then several sleek, previously submerged vessels surfaced, their obsidian-dark surface absorbing all light, making it very difficult to detect them. The demons in the air stormed toward the city, and an immense battle between the demons, and the city, involving the citys military aircraft and armored vehicles ensued. Some of the vehicles seemed to deploy armored infantry, which further aided in the fight. Glowing shots streaked across the sky, to the ground, and up from the ground. Explosions burst in midair, sending shrapnel out in all directions, shredding the flesh of the demons. It seemed the demons were causing heavy tolls, land, sea, and air, the tolls exacted on the demons quickly remedied by more and more demons joining the fight... aid to the city arrived from the south. Several titanium-clad ships, one seeming to be very large and heavily armored, quickly made their way toward the battle. The dual-cannons of the large titanium ship seemed to consist primarily of crystal glass, titanium platings protecting it. The ship carefully aimed... then fired two bright beams of energy, striking one of the dark ships. The dark ship began to glow with heat, then exploded, the remains sinking into the ocean. The demons... actually laughed at this... a large, dark submersible craft emerged, far away from the battle. Several doors on its top opened... then it fired a large rocket into the sky. The rocket streaked upward, and arced forward, trailing through the sky, and coming down in the frantically scattering titanium fleet. Much of the fleet was annihilated in a brilliant flash of energy... another rocket streaked into the sky, destined for the center of the city... but, despite heavy damage, entire pieces of their glowing-hot hulls missing, the few survivors within the titanium fleet persisted, launching rockets and heavy explosive rounds at the dark ships as they approached.
Blitukus shut his eyes, his heart in pain from what he saw... but he felt his presence shift. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of a sealed room, far, far beneath the surface. The room was full of military personell, walking about in a hurry. Several computers were in the room, and advanced equipment around, the room sealed by thick, heavy steel bulkheads. It seemed a prominent military figure, a human, was watching over it all... in the front of the room, a large display, showing a map of the entire world... on this map, simple symbols of aircraft, naval vessels, land forces, and infantry could be seen. War had spread throughout the entire world... but it seemed that the front was positioned westward... the demons were winning... but, the nations of the west continents were making a comeback, pushing the front eastward. Still... fear and tension could be sensed throughout the room. Blitukus felt his presence shifting again. He saw himself in the center of a city... the buildings were familiar... it was the Rametaru of 1999... only, it seemed, it was no longer 1999. The buildings were darkened with soot, the sky black and red. The center of the city was now dominated by a large, dark tower... carrying the OmnireCo label. Demons flew above the city as if it were their own... a beam of energy swept through the sky, melting the wings off of several demons. A very large titanium-clad aircraft slowly made its way through the sky. It was a leviathan aircraft, armed to the teeth and having several turrets on its fuselage. On its side, the name "Dreadnought" was painted. Several smaller aircraft flew near it... an immense aerial battle ensued, ground forces firing on the aircraft. It seemed it was doomsday... for the demons... Demons fell from the sky, vanquished by various high power, high energy fire from the advanced aircraft. But... the demons were laughing. Blitukus found his presence shifting again... he found himself out in the middle of nowhere, in a desert, a subterranean facility below. There was a large, flat concrete floor below, several towers on the mountains nearby. A demonic laughter seemed to echo among the hillsides... then, part of the ground seemed to move. An enormous steel lid slowly opened, revealing a dark, shadow-filled chamber below... it was very dark, so not much could be seen, but there seemed to be an enormous rocket loaded within the chamber. This filled Blitukus with an overwhelming sense of gloom... he shut his eyes, and found his breath shaking. He heard a voice, "Hey..."
"Hey... HEY!"
Blitukus slowly opened his eyes. He was back in the aircraft, looking into the face of a human. The human smiled, then continued, "We've landed..." Blitukus sat up, "Oh, yes we have, thank you." The human nodded, then walked away. Blitukus rubbed his eyes, stood, checked his possessions, then walked into the aisle and stretched. The aircraft was nearly done unloading. Blitukus blinked, then proceeded out the door, through the walkway, into Rametaru airport. He was nearly home... He walked through the building, and left it. He looked around. The vehicle that had carried him the day before was not present, and it seemed it would not be present for a long time... he needed an alternate means. He began walking away, back toward the center of the city... although, he knew he would never, ever make it on foot. He noticed a small vehicle with a sign on it pick up a passenger from the loop of the airport, and drive away. The passenger seemed unaffiliated with the driver of this specially marked vehicle. Blitukus kept walking for a few minutes... the strange position of the sun in the sky seemed to play havoc with his bodys internal sense of time. It was an odd effect of such rapid aerial transit. Eventually, he noticed one of these oddly marked vehicles passing down the road. Perhaps they ferried people around? Blitukus waved and gestured toward it. It pulled over to the side of the road, stopping by Blitukus. Blitukus opened the door. The driver spoke, "Back seat!" Blitukus shut the door, then opened the other door. He hesitated a moment... judging by the design of the interior, it was a vehicle meant to ferry others around. Blitukus entered the vehicle, sitting in the rear seat, then shut the door. The driver asked, "The A-shaped building near the center of the city... and I must be there by 3:42." The driver replied, "Okay." The driver drove away, accelerating down the road. He continued, "Businessman eh?" Blitukus responded, "No, but I do have a very important deadline to meet..." The vehicle continued down the road. Blitukus sat, and looked out the window... the driver seemed to perform skilled feats of rapid maneuvering as if there were nothing to it. Blitukus quickly found himself getting nearer and nearer the center of the city... although, eventually, the driver had to stop due to a large crowd lining both sides of the street again. There was a loud roar in the distance. Suddenly, two sleek cars roared by, traveling at such a speed they both were blurs. The driver commented, "Damn street racers..." The driver then honked at the crowd, causing it to part, allowing him to continue on. The vehicle continued, Blitukus remaining silent. Quite some time passed, but eventually the vehicle reached the A-building, the alley Blitukus had entered from visible nearby. The rift was not there. The driver pulled off to the side of the road, then stopped. The driver spoke, "That'll be 3 moneys." It was far more expensive than the other, large vehicle... Blitukus realized, that small competition he attended was luck tending to his needs. If it weren't for that, he wouldn't have the money to pay. He gave 4 moneys to the driver along with thanks, then got out of the vehicle. The vehicle drove away a moment later. He walked to the intersection, and crossed over. He then walked down the path near the street to the mouth of the alley. The rift was still not there. He sighed through his nose, then looked around the city... Everything still seemed OK... but, he felt a sense of gloom and detachment as if he were about to experience his nightmare manifested in reality... time passed, and nothing happened. He looked back. The rift had happened to come into existence again... and there was his home, back so long ago. He approached the rift, and crossed, exiting Rametaru, and exiting the year 2000.
Meanwhile, after the street race had ended...
The human sat in his sleek, blue car, grinning at the light ahead, grinning at his winnings, revving his engine, his expression full of pride. Not long ago, though... in a dark, distant alley of Rametaru... one fissure, resulting from the collapse of the adamantine, seemed to be extended and expanded upward be forces from below... until finally, the ground parted, leaving a dim, red, glowing pit open in a dark corner of this back alley. The human was still waiting at the light, waiting for it to turn... and there was no traffic going the other way. The human revved his engine, "Come on! Sh*t!" A tall person, shrouded by a blood stained brown coat, hood shrouding this persons head entirely in darkness, approached. The being approached the vehicle, and stood by it. The being observed the gas-guzzling engine, the careful paint job sporting a flame design... The being then spoke, "Magnificent *vehicle*..." The being then placed his hand on the aluminum hood, revealing his hand to be red and strangely amphibian, "I like it..." The driver spoke, "Hey what the f*ck?!" The being cracked its knuckles and tilted its head back, collapsing the hood of his coat, revealing his red, amphibian head, glowing eyes, and vicious, cruel grin. The demonic frogman continued, "I think I'll take it..." The driver then locked the doors, "Oh hell no!" The demon grabbed the door, and ripped it open, tearing the latch open. The driver stomped on the throttle petal, and the vehicle began to dart away. The demon quickly reached in and snatched the human driver by the shirt collar, pulling him out of the vehicle. The demon then held the human up in the air by the throat, grinning into the humans face. The demon then grabbed the humans head, and twisted it with enormous force, snapping the humans neck. Then, the demon threw the body against a wall, leaving a dent in the wall. The demon then walked back over to the body, and proceeded to consume something from the body... although the result wasn't visible. He then strolled back to the vehicle as if nothing had happened, sat in it, and, this being his first time out in daylight in over 2000 years, was at a loss about what to do with it. He played with the controls until he figured it out, then drove away. He rolled the window down, looking at the innocent bystanders... he held his hand out, and attempted for form a ball of destructive energy, finding that nothing happened... "Hmmnh." He then began to search through the various compartments... ripping out doors and scattering items upon the seat and floor, paying no attention to the road ahead. He smiled as he found a small hand crossbow, among several bags of various illegal goods... apparantly the previous owner of the vehicle had been up to no good anyway. He ratcheted the string back on the crossbow... the crossbow seemed to do the rest automatically. This would drastically improve fire rate! He laughed, "I see I have a little catching up to do!" He then slowed, and aimed out the window. He found a poor female human, pushing a stroller forward. He fired at the stroller, and when the bolt pierced through, it caused a spattering of blood and a high pitched squeal. The mother jumped back, and let out a scream of horror and heartbreak. The demon pointed and laughed, readied the crossbow again, then fired again, the bolt piercing the knee joint of the mother, who stumbled over, letting out a tortured scream of simultaneous physical and emotional pain. He drove along, firing at random passerby, and firing at other vehicles. Eventually, he fired at a certain, shady looking vehicle, the vehicle then rolled down its windows, the rear passenger holding out an automatic crossbow. The passenger in the other car yelled, "YOU GOT A PROBLEM PENDEJO?!" The passenger then promptly fired at the demons car, breaking several windows and piercing through the aluminum. The passengers car then drove away at high speed. The demon looked down at his shoulder, finding a bolt sticking out of it. He spoke, "Ow..." He then ripped the bolt out, tossed it away, and laughed about it. The demon continued driving, driving up a ramp onto a highway. He looked to his side, and observed the bag of illegal narcotics. "Pain killers!" He grinned, took some of the yellow, powdery substance, rolled it up into some paper, and breathed a slight bit of flame on the end to light it. He smoked it as he drove down the highway, taking potshots at passing vehicles. He noticed that these specific narcotics contained carefully formulated chemicals, and other carcinogens, engineered to make the product immediately and hopelessly addictive, as well as slowly destroying the user from the inside out. The demon laughed, "What would we do without our loyal alchemists?" He took in a deep breath through the narcotic, and exhaled a plume of smoke out the window. The plume of pollutants was dense and pitch black. It coated the windows of the vehicle behind him, obscuring their view. That vehicle slowly began to move from its previous path... it ground against the center divider, swerved, then veered off of the highway, falling into the grass and rolling over several times. The demon laughed, then fired at another vehicles tire. The vehicle in question was right next to a very large cargo hauler vehicle. The vehicles tire blew out, causing it to slam into the cargo hauler and wedge itself into the cargo haulers wheels, knocking the cargo hauler off course and causing the hauler to drift off into the grass, its cargo container toppling over, crates and barrels spilling out everywhere, their contents spilling out further. The demon pressed down the throttle petal, shifting up. Eventually, the vehicles and land around became a blur as his newly 'reclaimed' vehicle reached high speed. He still took potshots at vehicles, buildings, signs, wildlife, whatever he felt like. He soon found himself taking potshots at the hallucinations caused by the industrial chemicals coursing through his veins. He laughed menacingly, looking at his vehicle and his weapon, "I think I'll enjoy this future..."
Upon exiting the other side of the rift, Blitukus immediately felt immersed in a sensation of being refreshed, a power being restored... but then, he looked back, at the steel and glass towers of 2000 AD... and let out a sigh... where was it all going to? His dreams had a tendency of being prophetic it seemed, but who would truly win? Perhaps... in the nature of all technological wars... nobody would win. The mere thought stung at his heart, and he pushed it from his head. Still... he felt concerned...
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Hmm... I hope the name Dreadnought was appropriate, all I know about the word is that it was used to label a now-outdated class of battleship.
[ December 28, 2007: Message edited by: AlanL ]
Author
Topic: A Kobold's Quest II (Read 76124 times)