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Blitukus sat, and thought for a while... if the dream truly was prophetic... then the demoness who founded metropolis likely did so with the intent of giving mortals the power to defend themselves against the doomsday she already knew would occur. Why would she betray all of the other demons though? He thought about this, and decided to make his stay useful as he wasn't physically tired. He decided to go gather plants from some of the shrubs that had grown. Winter was coming and they would die off anyway. He also might have an opportunity to expand the variety in his diet. He looked at the shrubs, and smiled... due to the very act of pursuing his quest, plants had sprung up in a glacial biome. Another indicator of the beneficial side effects of his actions... but what was the heart of benevolence? Still, that demoness acting so far from the ways of the other demon puzzled him. He found mushrooms shrouded beneath the shrubs... he found more plump helmets to augment his food supply, and a dimple cup, although the dimple cup was fundamentally useless to him. He had no intent on dying his clothes. He also found pig tails growing among the bushes... he already had cave spider silk for cloth. Last, he found a single bunch of cave wheat growing. It was rumored to be the least productive of the dwarven crops, although some had a specific taste for the bread and booze that could be produced from it. He might make a simple mill in the limestone quarry and create some bread, just to taste it once more before he finished his quest... it might be his last chance to do so. He walked back to his room, and sat... an idea struck him. He reviewed the various dwarven reading materials, and found a very unique property of dwarven booze... add a few readily available chemicals, and catalyze with heat, perhaps from a kitchens stove, and the booze could be turned into a very energy rich edible substance. Considering the pig tails had no other purpose, he decided to try that at some future time. If it worked, then he need not worry about food at all from then until the end of his quest.
Blitukus sat, and rested... his ideas regarding that demoness' motivation flowered from a mere question into several possibilities, each producing further questions. Eventually, he just allowed his mind to clear, becoming focused on the inner workings of his body and soul... he felt as if he had lost all contact with the outside world, but found that he could carefully observe and manage his inner workings in this state. It seemed that his body was beginning to lack nutrients due to the lack of variety in his diet. It was a good thing he had found different foods... although, his quest would likely end soon enough anyway... and then, he would either be at his old home once again, and could return to his previous eating habits... or he wouldn't have a body to be concerned with anyway. He tended to the state of his body and soul for quite some time, finding that they had stayed in remarkably good condition considering the circumstances. Eventually, still thinking about the subject of nutrition, he noticed his hunger and his growling stomach. He walked from his room, retrieved a plump helmet, went back, and ate it. The fresh, sweet plump helmet was rather refreshing after his previous meal in 2000. It seemed the application of production en masse on large scales did have some inescapable costs... but remembering Metropolis, under the proper leadership and ethics, the benefits can far outweigh the cost. The key is establishing that proper leadership and set of ethics. He continued thinking about the demoness. Then, one possibility out of them all seemed the most likely. Perhaps that demoness, despite her heart having a dark exterior, had the heart of a mortal at her true core. Blitukus stopped to take a drink from the river, and then when he had finished, proceeded up the tunnel, stepping out onto the glacial surface... he welcomed its piercing chill, for he now felt somewhat at home among it. He looked up into the aurora persisting above, and let out a foggy breath... perhaps freedom was the key? It was known that among dwarves, the prison wasn't what cured the evil tendencies of wrongdoers... it was the sudden burst of realization that came with experiencing freedom once more. Perhaps this demoness, if she had a mortals heart at her true core, would have also felt this, only so much greater upon being released from her infernal prison... perhaps, she saw this beautiful freedom among the mortals... and saw how it would come to an end. She would want to avert its end. While nearly all demons would have nowhere in their heart to feel this, and would rather enslave everyone else, if she really did feel this way, she would become a guardian of liberty. By founding Metropolis, she had founded a stronghold for liberty and a beacon for it to always radiate from, as well as an advanced power that could defend against the demonic forces. It was the most likely possibility, but it was still merely a possibility. It could've happened in several other ways as well...
Blitukus walked back to his room, and continued his reflection... what if it wasn't enough... what if civilization had survived... but had fallen to the control of the demons? As Blitukus thought on, running several scenarios through in his head, he eventually became thirsty again. He stopped for a drink... as he drank the brisk, refreshing water from the river, he continued thinking... for a moment, the light dimmed further... and he cought a glimpse of the river seeming to become a black fluid, running along the dark walls...
Winter is upon you.
He returned to his room and sat as the snow began to pile up outside, the river becoming even colder. He thought about such a demonic future... he shuddered at the hellish possibilities. Civilization was better off dead... and... the sheer thought of what the demons would do to the technology his creations inspired, the sick perversions of what he had strived for... the thought filled his heart with a deep anger. He pressed his mouth shut, and sighed through his nose, looking down... but, then again... if the demons lost, and civilization retained its freedom... Blitukus looked up. It seemed the scope would make this world seem minuscule... indeed, the possibilities were endless. He sighed again... soon, he would observe the outcome, but his willpower marked clear... he told himself, somehow, some way, the demons would NOT get what they wanted. After he had come to terms with all of the implications of what he had observed, he tended to his soul some more... his mana capacity had increased further, although it seemed the more it increased, the harder it was to increase it further. To be able to cast magic on the scale of what Kazo could do, he would likely need decades of training... luckily for Kazo, he likely lived so long that he could reach the maximum possible capacity by simply using magic over the course of the years... but... where did he end up? Blitukus still had information to dig up it seemed.
The moon moved through the sky, and eventually the sun rose. Blitukus strolled through his arctic home... his barrels still held like the day they were made... he remembered that day, those 5 years ago when those barrels had been loaded on the wagon... although now the wagon had long since cease to exist, its component wood used in various processes... Soon, Blitukus found himself getting tired. He went back to his room, and lay in bed... he expected he would likely have another nightmare. Despite this, he reviewed his ideas, using those to drive the thought away, and slowly fell asleep. That day, he found himself in his dream, standing on a barren surface, the terrain beneath him red, the environment around devoid of all life... but, something seemed different... the sky was entirely unobscured... in fact it seemed like there was virtually no atmosphere at all. Blitukus found he could move freely through space, float anywhere he wished... he ascended from the surface of the world until he could see that entire half of that world. The surface was rocky and dotted with volcanic vents, but it seemed the surface wasn't in any state of particular upheaval, despite the apparent volcanic activity. The world had an atmosphere, although it seemed so thin it was hardly worth noticing. Blitukus smiled... something felt positive about this world... and somehow, this world seemed important. Blitukus turned around... an enormous, red sun loomed in the sky, a slight dash put through it by a ring of large rocks that encircled it. This giant, red star gave all of the worlds and objects nearby a red glow. Blitukus looked into this enormous, ancient furnace of unspeakable power... and felt that its red glow actually seemed to give him a sense of calm. He felt the gentle breeze of the stars wind, and the kind warmth of its radiance... something seemed to inspire a sense of calm and happiness in Blitukus, even though there was nothing visibly doing it. He returned to the surface of the rocky world... he noticed the colored rocks of the surface... it seemed this world was very rich with metal ores, the star above providing a gentle breeze that slowly blew across the planet. Blitukus felt something radiant warming his back... he turned around, to see an enormous bird-like creature, seemingly consisting of flame, approaching. Something about the bird seemed to convey a stubborn persistence, and underlaying benevolence. The bird landed upon the surface of that world, and gripped the barren rocks firmly. The bird was much taller than Blitukus, and stood, its fiery wings spread above the terrain. It then folded its wings, and bent down, looking at Blitukus. It smiled, and looked at Blitukus with a gaze that almost seemed to be addressing Blitukus as a distant relative. In return, Blitukus seemed to feel that somehow the bird was familiar to him in some way... Blitukus and the fiery bird exchanged smiles, then the dream ended.
Blitukus slowly opened his eyes, and felt his soul had been refreshed, and now carried its full charge. He felt calm... in his heart, he felt renewed confidence that somehow, it would all turn out alright again... He got up, stood, yawned, and stretched, feeling his body had become refreshed as well. He was ready for his next endeavor, the pursuit of the third component. Be began walking toward the chamber, but his pickaxe cought his eye... he didn't know what to expect in the future, so it might be handy to come prepared... why he felt he needed a pickaxe wasn't really obvious, he just felt it was a good idea. He took the pickaxe, then kept it attached to the back of his shirt. He also decided to bring along a plump helmet, barely able to carry it with all of his other possessions. He removed the VI-ID bag and placed it on the table in his room. Likely it would be long outdated when he arrived anyway. Blitukus walked to the chamber, and looked at his control panel... the bronze was cold to the touch, but even it managed to warm his heart with memories. It was unfortunate he wold have to try to undo it all... but failure was not an option. Blitukus pressed the inlet levers forward, allowing fluid to flow back into the channels. The boilers slowly pressurized, and Blitukus then opened the steam feed to the dynamos, connecting them to the capacitor. He waited as the dynamos spun up, charging the capacitor... Blitukus also considered he might be faced with a lot of environmental hazards in the future, if it wasn't as bright as he had hoped. He walked up to the water channel, and drank as much water as he could from it, in preparation for potentially having to do without for the entire following day. He walked back to the console, and waited for the capacitor to charge. When it had charged, Blitukus transfered power to the portal ring. As the portal ring was spinning up, Blitukus approached it, the Sphere of Direction in hand. As the portal ring began to arc, he picked the arcs up on his fingertips, using some of the portals power to power the sphere of direction through his amulet. He once again focused, allowing the sphere to communicate to him on higher dimensions... before the sphere overheated from operating far beyond its original intent, it revealed the general location of Blitukus' next goal. Blitukus was surprised... it was Arkus' tower!... although, it seemed, the tower was no longer there, and the scenery was much different... it seemed to lay below a large city. It was a good thing he brought his pickaxe... he might have to dig for it. This time, Blitukus felt intent on appearing close enough to not need transit. He might not be so lucky as far as money this time, and he would rather not be stuck in Rametaru. He waited for it to cool, and used it again, this time in standard configuration. He pinpointed a spot on the northern end of the central continents, very close to where Arkus tower was. He couldn't pinpoint it, but if need be, it would hopefully be within walking distance. Blitukus held the divide active as he drew away from the portal ring, then took note of the coordinates of this location. He put the sphere away, and calculated new deltas for this. When he was done with that, he calculated the proper initial conditions. He entered both into the calculating machine, setting the time delta to take him to 1999, then spinning it upwards again, leaving it unobserved. The ring had already spun up, and the machine was waiting. Blitukus started the calculating machine, and waited for it to finish. When it had, he readied the clockwork controls, and fired the particle beam... when the beam ceased, he started the controls. As energy arced about the room, he kept his eyes shut, focusing on his willpower, attempting to force the destination to resolve close enough to the component... the component was beneath the city, where Arkus' tower used to be... perhaps Arkus had a second one, and in the future, it still lay there, unmoved? He opened his eyes and observed the rift that had formed... and his heart sank in horror. A barren, desolate landscape, black and red beneath a matching black and red sky lay beyond... It seemed likely that, despite Blitukus' will, he had just observed the results of a demonic victory, or perhaps... a situation in which neither side won.
He slowly approached the portal, breathing out slowly. Now that he had observed it... there was no longer anything he could do about it. Blitukus walked up to the portal... and looked through to the utterly dead landscape beyond... he didn't know what environmental dangers he would face on the other side... but it seemed he would be the only living being around. Not even demons were present... perhaps, truly, nobody had won? This made his heart sink even deeper... he still had a duty to perform, and maybe, just maybe, when the cat relic was put to its true use... even this would be undone. First, he needed to complete the cat relic. No matter what he faced on the other side... it must be done. He crossed into the rift, and as he traversed it, the world around him progressed once more. He passed 2000, and kept going.
The demonic invasion of the technological civilization began in 2000... but the demons mostly remained in hiding. They gathered and grouped in the dark corners of the more corrupt and criminal infested areas of the various cities, careful to keep from alarming the people. It seemed they wanted this civilization, these cities intact... they wanted these cities for themselves. They began their move toward world domination in 2002. In that year, rumors spread that the CEO of OmnireCo had been assassinated, and that the company was under new leadership... but those claims were never directly verified at the time. Soon after, OmnireCo seemed to become much more aggressive, cold and calculated economic decisions allowing it to dominate the markets and gain unprecedented power. Its power grew over the years 2002 to 2005, the large OmnireCo buildings often deemed off limits to guests. Those who entered without permission were often found to go missing immediately after. OmnireCo befriended the local government, lining the coffers of Anthath Sizet and lining the wallets of the local officials... the government pacified, its power spread into various, previously government controlled operations. By 2006... OmnireCo was the government of Anthath Sizet. The people of Anthath Sizet felt more and more violated as their lives became more and more controlled by the corporation... eventually, dissent grew. By late 2006, organized riots broke out openly attacking the corporate interest, the leaders of these rebellious groups rallying around the legend of the Revolution of 1050. This rebellion was annihilated within a month by the now corporate-owned police force, and the people were subdued. Throughout the course of 2007, OmnireCo used international ties to expand its power further, spreading throughout the entire east continents like wildfire. As its reach grew, it toppled governments and replaced them with itself. Through late 2007, OmnireCo expanded its sphere of influence throughout the world, slowly spreading from city to city, nation to nation like a disease... but the west continents, Metropolis especially, became more and more bitter towards these unwelcome advances. In Obsidian of 2007, Metropolis took a stand. The leader of Metropolis visited the capitals of the nations of the west continents, and found all of the other leaders unanimously were disgusted with the advance of OmnireCo. They banded together, and collectively embargoed OmnireCo, forcing it from the west continents. OmnireCo began to send massive amounts of propaganda to the west continents, setting up false events and push-pull factors to try to sucker the people into working for them... but the people of the west continents didn't fall for this. They were infuriated by OmnireCos actions, and popular support for the local governments actually increased. On Obsidian 27, 2007, the leaders of the west continents banded together and, all together in the same room, broadcasted a global transmission, condemning OmnireCos actions, and requesting the allegiance of all other nations. They revealed many facts to the peoples of the east and central continents that OmnireCo did not want these people to hear. In the top of the OmnireCo headquarters in Rametaru, the CEO was watching this via television, his red hand gripping a glass of a dark drink. He gripped the glass so tightly it shattered in his grasp. Soon after, several of the more nationalistic regions that had previously been subdued started to show signs of unrest against OmnireCo. Then, on Granite 1, 2008... new years day, OmnireCo declared war on the west continents. Soon after, OmnireCo began mass exterminations of populations who showed any sign of resistance. The nations of the west continents defended themselves, but found they were hardly able to having never recently been militaristic. The people of the west continents saw this... they were not simply fighting for their superiors... they were fighting for their liberty... they were fighting for their survival. During 2008, the front held firmly westward. The northwest continents crumbled, and OmnireCo took over... but the central and southern regions of the west continents still defended themselves despite nearly being conquered several times. During the course of 2008, they developed new weapons, building proper facilities to defend themselves with... soon, the front became stagnant. The west continents was finally truly holding a front against demonic forces. The nations of the west slowly built up their forces, and stormed through the northwest continents, reclaiming them from OmnireCo. Soon after, their remaining forces proceeded out to sea, forming a blockade to end the naval siege. The demons then showed themselves in true combat... they ordered a strike on the blockade, but even though this strike nearly punched through to the cities, it was driven away, the ports in the northwest continents having been liberated. The advanced technologies of Metropolis and the dedicated and skilled warriors of the free lands allowed them to regain many of their lost territories despite demonic resistance. Throughout 2008, 2009, and 2010, the front was slowly pushed eastward, until it finally divided the central continents in half, the westward cities, ruined by war, being rebuilt and repopulated by the people of the free nations. In 2010, OmnireCo stepped up its offensive to repel the desperate attacks from the west. The front moved westward again, but was soon held stagnant. In late 2010, Project Dreadnought was begun, designed to be a single super-vehicle capable of annihilating large groups of enemies. The materials cost was tremendous... but it seemed money now mattered little. The war already was very taxing... although, it seemed OmnireCo was plundering the lands of their resources in the construction of an even larger project... although, nobody knew what they were building, only that it would either be truly enormous... or enormously numerous. The Dreadnought, an immense aircraft far superior to anything to have ever proceeded it, was designed, and construction began in 2011. It took until 2016 to complete it. By this time, the demons began launching spacecraft to spy upon the free nations... once again, the demons pushed further eastward. It seemed the war would be lost... but the technological and military marvel known as Dreadnought launched in late 2016. An immense campaign began, pushing the front westward began, and Project Kappa, a space based defense network of armed satellites, went underway. Alongside Project Kappa, Project Omicron was developed... unlike the other projects, this one was kept entirely secret. All that was known outside of the government at the time was that the brightest minds available were assigned to work on it. As the Kappa satellites started to become operational, they were used to disable the OmnireCo spy satellites. Soon, the OmnireCo forces found themselves blind to the west, having to contend with the Dreadnought as well as the other forces of the free nations. The front was pushed eastward through the central continents, and finally, when the demons had realized... THEY were losing, it was too late for them. The front pushed into the east continents, and finally, in the year 2020, the Dreadnought flew over Rametaru, seemingly symbolizing the beginning of the end of the demonic invasion. It was on the 13th of Opal, 2020, when the Demons would make their last stand.
The general of Metropolis, a male human and experienced warrior, nearly a legendary tactician, stood in the central room of the control bunker, looking into the status display, all around him, humans and kobolds at computer stations. The phone by him rang. He picked up. On the other end of the line was the king, a kobold much like the general, only also highly skilled in matters of domestic affairs. The king spoke, "Has the Dreadnought secured Rametaru?" The general replied, "Rametaru has been subdued." The king replied, "Excellent news, general. Soon... we can finally put this whole mess behind us. I commend you and your efforts... If it wasn't for your quick thinking back in the battle of Platesgilded... we might've lost the Dreadnought." The general smiled, "Thank you, my lord. I- Hold on..." A kobold walked up to the general. The general asked, "Yes?" The kobold spoke, "I, erm... really don't know how to tell you this, uh..." The general replied, "Speak, commander, speak!" The kobold continued, "It looks like they've built a new type of stealth missile that our radars can't pick up on quick enough for countermeasures to work... and they tested it successfully... Sir... we've lost the Dreadnought." The general spoke, "We... wait, hold on, run that by me again." The kobold repeated, "... We've lost the Dreadnought, sir." The general hesitated for a moment, then let out a deep sigh... "DAMN!" The king asked, "Is everything alright, general?" The general replied, "My lord, I was just informed... the Dreadnought has been shot down by a new type of missile." The king replied, "WHAT? Ah no... ah what the hell am I going to tell the press... the war is essentially over anyway, but... damn." The general replied, "We all read the papers before signing them, my lord... they will be remembered." The king replied, "Of course. but I-" A beeping sound could be heard. The king continued, "I need you to finish this once and for all. Goodbye, and good luck." The general replied, "Goodbye." They then ceased communication. The general resumed observing the status board... Suddenly, several activity markers appeared over the maps east continents... nothing had been marked there before, and there were no population centers nearby. The general spoke, "What the hell... Analysis!" One of the markers seemed to move. A line traced its predicted trajectory... it was accelerating upwards toward space... but it wasn't headed to orbit... One of the humans below spoke, "It seems to be an... oh... oh my... it is an intercontinental missile, sir!" The general spoke, "Dear... f*cking..." The general immediately picked up the phone, an dialed the number to the room of the kobold Kappa operator Mintus. The phone rang... The general spoke, "Dammit, wake up!" A moment later, Mintus picked up, "Hmn... yeah?". The general spoke, "Mintus, get down to your station pronto, we've got incoming missiles." Mintus spoke, "HOLY SH- erm... On my way, sir." Mintus dropped the phone, got out of bed, then ran down the corridors, reaching a sealed door. He frantically typed in an access code.. getting it wrong the first time due to frantic haste... and entered a small room, inside, the Kappa control station, an optical computing rig built into a special seat with a VR overlay. Mintus sat in the seat, not caring about the door being open, and quickly started the computers. He wore the VR overlay... the display showed him a map and the current optical view of the satellite closest to the incoming missile... he watched the missile fly, waiting for it to get into range. When it got into range of a satellite, he immediately switched to that satellite, and locked in. Meanwhile, 200 miles above the surface... a satellite essentially consisting of a multi-part laser turret and large, massive solar panels to power it, zoomed its camera in, its turret turning to aim at the incoming missile. Mintus saw through the satellites sights, and although the basic targeting was done automatically, he controlled the fine aim. He carefully lined the crosshairs up on the front of the black-and-red missile, targeting specifically the warhead. The laser turret fired. A burning yellow dot appeared on the missile... the area around this dot heating up until it glew red. Finally, the metal was melted through, and a moment later, the missile began to turn, its control systems fried. It veered off course. Mintus, the general, everyone in the room watched the errant projectile fly away. Several minutes passed... after seemingly an eternity, it landed. It crashed into some woodlands, failing to detonate. The general breathed a sigh of relief... but just as he had finished, the alarm went off. It seemed now... that was just a test of their defenses. Several dozen missiles were now in flight from various locations. As they arced up into space, Mintus began picking them off, quick-switching quite often, picking off the lower flying ones first, for they would impact first. The general called the king... The king picked up, "Yes?" The general spoke, "My lord... we have intercontinental missiles launched! We've got the situation under control... for now, but just in case I recommend you ready Omicron." The king replied, "MISSILES? You have... I expect the situation will STAY under control?" There was a slight sound of fear in the kings voice, "Where the hell is this world going to? I was just signing the papers to decommission the Omicron... you are aware of the effects of using the Omicron... are you sure this is justified? If you have it under control... I don't think it's worth pulling the tarp off that thing!" The general replied, "I have a hunch things are going to turn very bad very fast... and if that happens, we need Omicron... otherwise we might not have much of a world left to enjoy." A few moments passed, then the king replied, "Okay... I'll have the controllers ready it... but you had better be damn sure it's truly the last resort." The general replied, "Yes, my lord... I will contact you again soon." People seemed to shout in the room, debating about the missiles and what to do about them. The general looked onward, and spoke, "They fall duds... we've eliminated their missiles." The debating in the room died down. Time passed... Markers disappeared as the missiles either crashed down without detonating, or exploded in space.
Meanwhile, Omicron was readied. 1050 miles above the oceans of the south-central continents... an enormous, previously dark satellite, painted to be hidden among the dark skies of space, unfolded itself. Its interior contained a dense assembly of components, some suspended in crystal glass near a large array of various coils. Several booms extended out quite far... then unspooled themselves, releasing several thousand square feet worth of paper thin solar panels. A blue glow began to gather within the center of the satellite. The attack had been repelled... perhaps... The alarm sounded again. Perhaps... that also was just a test of their defenses... and now the test was over. Markers appeared all over the eastern continents... dozens, perhaps hundreds... This is what the demons had spent so long building... As they flew, Mintus picked them off to his ability. Unfortunately, project Kappa wasn't complete... they only had one operator since they only needed one at the time... time passed, and many missiles flew off course, crashing harmlessly... but, it was beyond the capabilities of a lone operator to defend against. On top of it, some of the missiles detonated violently in space, ruining some of the Kappa defense satellites. The general breathed in deeply, a mixture of anger and fear audible in his breath... The first of the missiles coming down struck... a green circle appeared on the map, where a small town once was. Another hit... another hit... The general yelled, "Get our AM sites ready NOW, tell them to expect an intercept speed of 6200." One of the kobolds in the room asked, "62... HUNDRED, sir? Ok..." The kobold and her neighbors began to send out orders... meanwhile, near various cities, anti-air sites, previously designed to eliminate high-altitude high-speed aircraft, aimed upward... they were designed to take out a target moving 4 times the speed of sound... they now faced targets moving at 5-fold that. The missiles they fired moved slower than the missiles they were targeting... but they still fired. As warheads burned through the atmosphere in a trail of flame, some of them were intercepted by missiles. The sky was alight with nuclear fires... and all along the horizon, the flashes along the ground, signifying the death of the unfortunate... or perhaps, the inevitable... were seen. The general looked on, stern faced but horrified within. He heard from radio, Mintus speaking, "We've got 120 inbound, sir! We're... f*cked, for the lack of a better word." The general reached for the phone, contacting the king, "No, not yet we aren't." The king yelled, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OVER THERE?" The general replied, "67A8H5-42O4R, wait for my mark." The king hesitated, then replied, "I see... ok then, just tell me when... Omicron had better work, for all of our sakes." The sound of the king opening a hidden compartment, then typing a few things in, could be heard. The general realized... this was not merely a dire battle.... this was likely his last battle... everyones last battle. SCRE-E-BOOOOOM! The entire bunker shook... screams and shattering glass could be heard above. Another explosion happened, but nobody heard it... for it immediately deafened everyone in the bunker. The steel bulkhead was blown out, and the ceiling collapsed. The general barely escaped through the blown out door before the bunker caved in but... he looked back. They weren't so lucky. The general ran up through the corridors, and scrambled up the steps. He ran through the wrecked building, ignoring the scorched metal melting his boots. He ran to the Kappa control station... the kobold controller was dead, and the control station was heavily damaged, but still barely operational. He shut the door, then pulled the dead kobold away, and assumed command of the Kappa satellites himself... although he was hardly able to do so with the console in its state. The inputs were partially broken, 2 of the 3 displays broken, and the VR set cracked through and the entire rig partially melted... but despite horrid damage which in any other case should've entirely ruined the console, it still worked... for the time being. He fired whenever he could, taking out several missiles despite the broken equipment and his lack of training for this weapon. Missiles rained down... but eventually, they stopped being launched. He reestablished communication with the king via a radio uplink... When all of the missiles in flight had left the atmosphere, the general spoke, "Fire Omicron... NOW!" The Omicron satellite, orbiting 1050 miles above, had acquired a piercing blue glow, an enormous amount of energy gathered at its heart. The blue glow flashed, then began to dim. The array of coils sparked slightly, then glew with heat. The satellite seemed to bend, distort, the glass cracking, until finally, it exploded in a brilliant, blue flash, immense waves of electromagnetism surging through the planets magnetic field... these waves, initially rather small, only got more and more powerful, cascading, feeding off of the planets magnetic field... and at the same time, playing havoc with the magnetic field. Solar radiation pierced through, damaging the chemistry of the atmosphere... but as these ever cascading waves twisted the planets magnetic field, all space based objects were subject to a torrent of radiation and electromagnetism. The missiles in flight sparked within... and promptly exploded in space, resulting in brilliant flashes visible over an entire hemisphere. The Kappa defense satellites were also fried... but the skies were now finally clear... The general breathed a deep sigh of relief, took off the VR overlay, and dropped it to his side... it was over... or, at least, he thought it was. The missiles had stopped firing, and he expected they were out... the broken, now barely audible alarm rang below... more launches... and now... there was no defense. The general stood, and walked out of the building, into the scorched, radioactive terrain beyond... there was nothing he could do. It was over, all of it. Time passed... after a bit of waiting, the general saw the warhead streaking toward the already wrecked building... it hit relatively close by, annihilating the general and finally toppling the building. Meanwhile... the king spoke, "General... GENERAL?!" He heard nothing but static in reply. The king looked out the window... and saw the warhead streaking right toward his office. He dropped the phone, a tear forming on one of his eyes... "Why... we were so close, and now..." The king looked down. A child, standing in the streets, watching a holographic display to his handheld optical computer, heard a dull boom, and looked up to see the plasma trails of a warhead streaking overhead... Afterwards, nothing could be heard, but a few birds singing their last song. The king, and his entire office, were annihilated in a brilliant flash of energy. The shockwave ripped through metropolis, shattering the windows on the buildings, toppling the skyscrapers, tossing vehicles about and leaving nothing behind but charred remains. Further warheads impacted, leveling much of the city. Where that child once stood, there was nothing. Several miles away, a small body, closer to a lump of black, charred flesh, lay next to a splattered lump of molten plastic and metal, placed close to what was once a hand.
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That was long and took forever to write, but it was worth it.
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Topic: A Kobold's Quest II (Read 76119 times)