《Mage Steel: A Western Sci-Fi Cultivation Series》


 Chapter One: Emergency Evac

    ONE


    Klaxons screeched as Kon raced along the narrow walkway, the heavy emergency duffle bag bouncing off his back with each desperate stride. Rumbles shook the ship as the pulse cannons fired again and again. One part of his mind noticed that each salvo had slightly less shots fired than the last. He pushed the negative thoughts out of his mind as he continued to run through the access corridors to the escape shuttles.


    ¡°All hands, abandon ship. This is not a drill. All hands, abandon ship. This is not a drill.¡± The ship''s automated voice rang out over and over as the Dragon¡¯s Maw  shuddered again. Kon couldn¡¯t help but think of the repercussions of his home being shot out from under him. It had been his life for the last six years, training in its halls and classrooms with the rest of the cadets.


    He made the final turn and slapped his hand against the sensor to open the hatch that led to the main thoroughfare that the escape shuttles were docked in. Smoke billowed around him and he coughed instantly as the toxic smoke scoured his throat and lungs.


    Kon hit the deck and got under the worst of the yellow smoke. Training had equipped him for what to do in these types of situations, but the reality of it happening here and now shocked him. Using his toes and fingers he scuttled down the hall and toward the bay, relying on memory more than his compromised sight.


    Hshzroo the sound of energy weapons firing came down the hall, shortly followed by pained screams. Decidedly non-human screams. Shouts in foreign languages assaulted his ears and Kon cursed as he found the door panel that operated the hangar¡¯s blast door. It opened without a sound and Kon raced in, slapping a hand blindly behind him to close the blast door behind him.


    Without the choking smoke, Kon was able to clear his watery eyes and lungs, gasping in clean air as he took in the hurried, but still organized evacuation of the ship. Clerks, technicians, and sailors were rushing to the appropriate ships while a half-dozen squires shouted above the clamor and pointed to the correct shuttles. They were all wearing light armor that covered their chests, heads, thighs, and shins. Dull gray armor that light didn¡¯t reflect off of. Each held a standard energy weapon, the type that wouldn¡¯t melt through or pierce bulkheads and expose the inhabitants to void of space.


    Eight tubular shuttles sat in a line along the edge of the kilometer long bay, each before a tunnel that would shoot them from the protected depths of the ship and into space. At the end of the tunnels was both a sealed blast door and an atmospheric shield. They would be lowering the blast doors now while the shield could keep the ship pressurized, it wouldn¡¯t stop anything physical from flying down the tunnels and into the heart of the ship.


    A single knight watched over them all. The ship was small enough that Kon knew every knight on sight, but Knight Evelyn Bosch wasn¡¯t the social type. She wore her full power armor, a seven foot tall juggernaut of steel who projected a quiet air of confidence. Her own weapons weren¡¯t standardized weakly powered energy weapons, but a pair of short swords on her hip and an energy projector mounted on a wrist. Her suit would have more deadly surprises on it, but that was all Kon could notice as he started to race toward the stairs that connected the catwalk to the bay.


    Another rumble shook the ship, more violent than all the others and Kon cursed as the stairs disappeared out from under his feet. He flew and hit the deck hard and rolled to disperse the energy of the fall. For a moment he worried about having broken the shoulder he had landed on, but the pain faded away as he got to his feet.


    A beam of yellow energy sizzled by his head and Kon leapt to the side, muscle memory pushed through his confusion as he looked around. The primary doors leading into the hangar had been blasted inward and a stream of black armored figures raced inside, firing their weapons indiscriminately into the crowd of evacuating crewmembers.


    Flesh blackened and burst as the water evaporated from bodies in bursts of steam that sent corpses to the ground. Squires fired back as they walked fearlessly against the horde of invaders. Knight Bosch leapt, clearing the twenty meters in a blink of an eye. She landed amongst the invaders in a flash of green energy that wrapped around her body and swords as she moved so fast she left afterimages behind her.


    For a moment Kon thought it was over. The survivors raced into the shuttles as discipline collapsed and they ran into the closest open ramp and the line of shuttles filled. Ramps raised and locked and the shuttles detached from their anchors with a whumph pneumatic cannons propelled them out of their launch bays and into space.


    The line of eight shuttles quickly whittled down to just two and both of them were the furthest away from where Kon had come down. He kept his head low as he ran toward the shuttles and felt his heart fall as the seventh shuttle departed before he crossed the halfway mark. Smoke had flooded into the bay and the steam and smoke from those who had been hit by the energy weapons added to the confusion all around the cavernous bay.


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    A hulking form came barreling through the smoke and slammed into Knight Bosch with a cataclysmic sound of tearing metal. Kon froze as Bosch flew through the air and bounced off the ground twice before sliding to a halt. The squad of squires fired at the figure, but it launched itself at them without slowing, blades of green energy emanating from long claws that jutted from iron gauntlets. Squires died in seconds as their bodies were ripped apart.


    Then Bosch was back, her swords singing and clanging with chaotic clashes of energy as the two figures danced through the smoke in a blitz of speed and martial prowess. Bosch was a foot shorter than the black armored monster and only half as broad, but each of her blows staggered it and she pinned it into a corner with a beautiful flurry that ended with a head rolling free. It had ended nearly as fast as it had begun, the knight¡¯s speed and strength superior her opponent¡¯s cultivation. Bosch kicked the head and then her head snapped to look at the open doors as a group of cadets came rushing through, led by a squire.


    Bosch waved her sword at the survivors and they all turned and ran toward the only shuttle left. Kon was halfway across the kilometer long bay with thick plumes of smoke and the flashing klaxons.


    ¡°They can¡¯t see me,¡± Kon thought miserably as a squad of familiar looking cadets came running through the door the invaders had and raced directly into the open door of the shuttle. Kon came to a stop in the middle of the corpse-strewn bay and thought furiously. There were two other bays, but the sounds of fighting echoed down the halls and he doubted he¡¯d be able to scrape by again without encountering more of the invaders.


    ¡°Nobody likes a whiner. Get to it, Kon,¡± he spoke to himself, his voice loud in the suddenly silent bay. Following his own words he went over to a dead squire, a boy¡¯s face that he vaguely recognized as being a few years older than himself. The rifle in his arms was molten slag, but the kinetic weapon on his hip was still functional.


    A full magazine of 10mm rounds were in the weapon, but Kon didn¡¯t find any more of the magazines on the body. Sounds were coming closer to him and Kon didn¡¯t have any time to scavenge the other dead bodies. Pistol clenched tightly he raced through the broken open lower doors that the invaders had breached.


    The hallway was clear of anyone, a few dead squires and more black armored invaders stretched out. Heavy armored footsteps came behind him and Kon was forced to run faster. There were personal escape pods he could reach, a last line of evacuation for anyone who had been left behind by the shuttle¡¯s departure. Unlike the shuttle bays that were buried in the heart of the ship, these were along the outer edge, behind only a thin layer of armor that wouldn¡¯t resist pulse cannon fire for long.


    He picked up speed, coughing and choking with harsh smoke and the smell of violence invaded his mouth and lungs with every deep breath. Sweat welled down his hand and pooled around his grip of the pistol. Every time he pumped his arms the heavy weapon threatened to go leaping from his grip.


    The sharp and clear fluorescent lighting snapped away and dim red emergency lighting lit up a split second later. The yellow hazard klaxon lights continued to lash about the halls, but with the smoke, dim lighting, and flashing lights created a nightmare-like feel to an already terrible encounter.


    ¡°Keep running, prey! I enjoy the hunt!¡± a deep voice boomed out from somewhere behind him. It was more growl than clearly enunciated words and the howl of enjoyment that followed it confirmed that it wasn¡¯t human. Behind Kon was nothing but smoke and gloom. Heart thumping powerfully in his chest, he started to run.


    His coughing worsened, but he forced his legs to keep churning. The signs and neon paint showed through the smoke and he used them to navigate as fear tried to cloud his mind. Another howl echoed behind him as he bounced off of a bulkhead in his haste, bruising his shoulder, but he kept his legs going.


    He wasn¡¯t far now, the edge of the ship was close by but the number of corpses were increasing. The attackers had entered close to here and the security forces had engaged them and lost. Squires and more mundane security team bodies were mixed together, but Kon didn¡¯t see any armored knights among the dead. There were only a handful of active knights on the ship, but any one of them should have been enough to push back an attacking force.


    The ship shook but the howl of the pulse cannons hadn¡¯t precipitated this rumble. The Dragon¡¯s Maw was being shaken apart by other ships. Things that the knights couldn¡¯t fight, regardless of their individual strength. In the titanic clashes of capital ships, even the eldritch powers of the knights couldn¡¯t compare against kilometers of steel and cannons.


    ¡°CADET! DOWN!¡± A familiar voice barked and Kon obeyed instantly. He flung himself to the hard deck just as a violet burst of energy sailed past him and behind, a pained howl coming from behind him as a burst of light filled the hall. He glanced behind him and saw a hulking shape shaking itself as violet flames coated its armored form.


    Nearly eight feet of lean muscle, dark fur coated face with a muzzle covered in scars. Long fur was tightly braided with bleached bone covered in runes, came off the dog like head and fell past his shoulders. Blue aura rippled up and down the invader¡¯s body and the violet flames flickered out. The wolf grinned toothily and stalked forward with a double bladed axe in one hand, black steel gleamed maliciously and he stalked forward with predatory intent.


    Kon looked the other way and saw Knight Commander Alice Roose come striding out of the smoke without a care in the world. She wasn¡¯t armed or armored in anything more than her sleep wear. Thigh shorts that ended at mid thigh and a top that hardly passed her sternum. Her long copper hair was disheveled and looked like she had just crawled out of bed.


    Violet energy was glowing up her arms as she tread barefoot over toward him. Every muscle in her body was pulsings, ripples that rolled down her as more and more energy was drawn from her core and filled her with omnipotent strength. She cracked her neck and raised her fists into a boxer¡¯s stance.


    ¡°Get behind me. This is going to get messy.¡±

 Chapter Two: A Costly Duel

    TWO


    Knight Roose leapt at the invader in a blur of speed, a trail of violet fire trailing behind her. The wolf met her with a howl; his black axe split the air at waist height while azure energy covered it. Alice bent at the waist, upper body parallel to the ground, and then kicked straight up with her leg. Her bare heel clicked the invader¡¯s jaw shut with an audible crunch and threw him back down the hall.


    Kon aimed his pistol down the hall, but cursed as the knight reengaged before he could fire. The two forms were a blur, trading blows so fast he struggled to keep up. It was readily apparent, even to his novice eyes, that Knight Roose was clearly superior. Her lack of weapons or armor were slowing her down, her blows not as effective as her fists slammed into the armored breastplate four times in a half second. The wolf just grunted and brought his axe down in an overhand swing that threatened to split Alice in half.


    ¡°Can¡¯t do anything about that fight. I can prep our escape.¡± Kon turned away from the fight and ran toward the line of escape pods that lined the hallway. Each had a rectangular hatch with a manual lever switch to open it. Emergency drills had made it muscle memory as he grabbed the first handle and pulled down. The green light next to the lever glowed to tell him that there was a good airtight seal on the other side of the hatch.


    Air whooshed as the pneumatic system worked, letting the hermetic seal break and Kon to look at a second hatch, this one on the floor. Kneeling down he grabbed the lever and threw it back letting out a wave of stale air. A three rung ladder led into the single seat escape pod. Kon hopped down without using the ladder and landed heavily in the seat.


    Blank screens stared back at him as he reached over and started the powerup sequence. It wouldn¡¯t take long, they wouldn¡¯t be emergency pods if they did, but it would still take a few seconds. He left the pod as it still warmed up and popped his head out of the hatch to witness the fight. His heart sank.


    Alice was bleeding from a wound above her hip. Red blood ran down her side and over her leg even as her aura flared out, brighter and more dense than ever before. The invader was being pushed back down the hall as he struggled to keep up with the flurry of blows that threatened his existence. Bulkheads were gouged and dented and a few fresh corpses in the sleek black armor of the invaders were on the ground.


    Kon had a job and it wasn¡¯t gawking. He stayed close to the wall and ran toward the next pod and began the process all over again. It took less than a minute but by the time he emerged again the fight had shifted back into the wolf¡¯s favor.


    Alice had another long, deep, cut on her, this time along her bare thigh. As they turned Kon got a glimpse at her frustrated and pale expression. Her flames were weakening, her aura nearly exhausted, and Kon looked back at the pod he had just powered up.


    ¡°I could get out while she¡¯s still distracting him.¡± Poisonous thoughts filled his mind as fear wove an icy cloak around his heart. His hand trembled as he lifted the pistol up and took aim. He wanted to dive into that pod and escape. He wanted to live.


    He wouldn¡¯t abandon his senior.


    The pistol hummed and then shook as the powerful magnets came to life. The boxy frame heated under his hand and then the 10mm bullet was firing down the hall at subsonic speeds. He aimed for the edge of the wolf¡¯s leg, away from Alice. It was still a hard shot with how much they were moving about, but he was certain the slug should have ripped into the armor without fail.


    A glow of blue fire cloaked the axe as it spun in a sudden reversal and there was a bright spark right above the wolf¡¯s knee. Shock exploded through Kon as he realized the invader had blocked the pistol shot.


    It had pulled his axe out of position though. Alice landed a clean punch on the wolf¡¯s muzzle and ivory teeth went and spilled out across the floor as the wolf was lifted off its feet and thrown into the interior wall. Metal groaned and dented as the invader¡¯s body pressed against it with enough force to create a dent. Alice leapt to finish him off just as a trio of black armored invaders turned the corner, firing randomly and filling the air with bolts of yellow energy.


    Kon ducked back into the escape pod hatch, keeping one eye and the pistol out, and fired as fast as his finger could pull the trigger. The super magnets along the barrel ensured there was no kickback and he could track all three of the invaders with ease as he emptied the magazine in three seconds.


    All three invaders went down, their energy absorbent armor failing to prevent the old school kinetic rounds from ripping through them. A pair of beams had hit Alice in the two seconds they had been active, both scorched trails along her body, leaving a shoulder hanging limply and a blackened spot on her already wounded thigh the size of Kon¡¯s fist.


    The wolf used the momentum shift to recover. He was back in full form even as blood and tooth fragments fell out of his mouth. His fur was drenched in blood and thre was a wild look of hate to his face as he sent Alice back with a flurry of attacks. Kon glanced back at the pod and sighed.


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    ¡°Get to die here, I guess.¡± he prepared to throw himself into the fight when he heard Alice sigh.


    ¡°I hate regrowing limbs,¡± Alice muttered angrily just as her smooth evasions stuttered. It was all it took for the dark axe to split skin, muscle and bone. Alice¡¯s wounded arm fell from her torso and blood poured out in great spurts as she grunted in pain.


    Kon etched the look of horror the wolf had on its face into his memory. The blow had been too aggressive and had taken the invader out of position, his body exposed to Alice¡¯s retaliation. She kicked him in the side, her aura flaring brightly right as the blow landed. Metal screeched as it was bent inward, a deeper crater than the last hit, and the wolf tried to stand.


    Alice arrived before he could recover, one foot snap kicking to hit the axe holding wrist and pinned it to the wall. She gripped the wolf¡¯s head with her only hand and smiled grimly at him with blood stained teeth. She dented the wall further using the wolf¡¯s skull until there was nothing left in her hand but bits of fur and bone. Alice¡¯s aura flicker and disappeared and her legs buckled as she collapsed next to her vanquished foe.


    ¡°Shit, shit, shit,¡± Kon said as he ran toward her. He pulled the emergency bag off his back as he skidded to a halt next to her, already ripping supplies out. Alice looked up at him with half clouded eyes, exhaustion and pain weighing her down, and she grimaced as she looked down at herself.


    ¡°I¡¯m a mess. Think you can get me that axe though. It was a good axe.¡± She was half delirious as Kon pulled the bulky, red, emergency aid kit out. A white cross decorated the front and a distant part of his mind wondered why first-aid kits had the cross on it.


    ¡°Synth-skin to stop the bleeding, ma¡¯am. Please don¡¯t kill me,¡± Kon asked politely as he grabbed the knight¡¯s thigh and put the bandage over it. Hot blood coated his hand and her legs were slick as he tried to clear the area around the slash as fast as he could to apply the bandage. Alice just grunted, her breathing having deepened, and Kon could feel the pull around him as she tried to meditate. There was just so little mana in space.


    Synth-skin bandages were long rectangular pieces of cloth that had an anti-bacterial coating that also had minor regenerative properties along with a localized anticoagulant that could slow bleeding. They worked well in conjunction with nanite shots that would promote increased blood flow and help seal wounds from the inside.


    It took a few minutes and nearly all the synth-skin bandages in the emergency kit to cover Alice¡¯s wounds. She had taken more than just the axe blows, thin shallow cuts ranged up her remaining arm, across her stomach and down both legs. Kon glanced over at the headless invader and saw the blood coating its free hand. Claw wounds.


    The stump of her arm took three bandages to cover and even then the bandages were steeped red in moments. Kon worried about that but he had to believe that the nanite shot would keep her alive. She was starting to nod off, eyes draped close and her body swaying as her breathing grew shallow and erratic.


    ¡°Alice! Alice! You have to stay awake! I¡¯m going to give you a nanite shot, it¡¯s going to sting!¡± he yelled into her ear, but got no response. Pressing the silver cylinder against her neck, he pressed down on the yellow injector button and the entire cylinder hummed for a split second before he felt the mechanism jerk in his hand. He knew from reading the manuals that a trio of thick needs had just rammed themselves into Alice and deposited millions of nanites into her bloodstream.


    She jerked awake and her head snapped around as her eyes bulged in fear and pain. Her eyes caught sight of him and narrowed as her breathing grew normal and she groaned slightly.


    ¡°Get me on my feet and into one of those pods. They¡¯ll have a camp set up already,¡± Alice¡¯s voice was a near whisper as he wedged his shoulder under her remaining arm and strained to get her on her feet. She was a heavy woman, packed full of muscle and dense bone, and they staggered together to the closest pod.


    Getting her down into its depths was a bit of work, but he got her settled and strapped into the seat. Her eyes were closing already but her pale appearance had gained a bit of color to it and her breathing had normalized.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget my axe,¡± she whispered as she passed out. Kon paused as he worked the settings in the escape pod and looked at the crazy knight. She was bleeding out in a burning spaceship and all she seemed to care about was getting her trophy. He finished with the settings, locking the pod''s internal navigation system onto the closest shuttle¡¯s tracking beacon he could find.


    With the countdown timer set for twenty seconds, he ran back up the ladder and sealed the hatch behind him. The computer would do it automatically, but with the state of the ship, he didn¡¯t want to leave it to chance. Racing toward his abandoned emergency gear, he hastily threw it all back in the big duffle back before dutifully grabbing the axe.


    It was a hefty peace of steel and he grunted in effort as he had to use both hands to pick it up. He tossed it all down into his own pod as he sealed the hatch behind him and slaved his own navigation system to Alice¡¯s. She had launched moments ago and already rocketed downward to the planet. Buckles clicked as he got his harness situated just as he was shoved back into his seat as the escape pod raced out of the short chute and into space.


    Interior panels lit up in front of him, showing the limited data that could be displayed by the weak sensors along the craft. Kon took it all in at a quick glance and then was forced to reread it all.


    Alice¡¯s pod was following a shuttle¡¯s beacon. A shuttle that no longer had engines running or life support. Or was even in one piece. It was following the piece of the shuttle that had broken apart and still had the beacon as it fell toward a different part of the world than the rest of the survivors were headed to.


    His fingers ran over the controls, but this was an escape pod, not a shuttle. He couldn¡¯t remotely access Alice¡¯s pod and have it locked onto another pod. She¡¯d have to do that herself. And she was passed out in her seat. Defenseless and wounded. Kon groaned as he realized he couldn¡¯t abandon the injured knight.


    His pod followed hers toward the mass of black clouds that blocked out his view of the planet. Kon hoped that the pods were rated for atmospheric entry.

 Chapter Three: Hard Landing

    THREE


    Heat started to build inside of the pod, sweat rolled down his neck and back as a rumble began to shake him. Sensors and cameras showed the thick mass of clouds moments away from consuming his pod. Alice¡¯s pod hit the storm and disappeared, stricken from the sensors as Kon held tight to the handles on his seat. His desperate breathing filled his ears as alarms began to beep right as he hit the surface of the storm.


    It was like hitting a wall. A sudden deceleration as he was slammed into his harness as a howl of tortured metal screamed filled the air. Superheated metal vaporized water and a cloud of steam trailed after him. Sensors were screaming as they were overloaded with data and one after another cameras went out. His last camera disappeared as a blue strike of lighting hit the pod and fried the final camera.


    ¡°I¡¯m so dead, I¡¯m so dead, I¡¯m so dead, I¡¯m so dead,¡± Kon chanted as he was forced into just holding on and hoping that the pod didn¡¯t explode into pieces. The instrument panel in front of him showed that Alice¡¯s beacon wasn¡¯t far ahead of him and that the broken shuttle¡¯s beacon had stopped moving.


    As sudden as it had hit, the shaking stopped and Kon groaned as the sudden smooth flight gave him a moment of vertigo and his stomach heaved and bile rose in his throat. He pushed his dinner back down as the anit-grav engine fired for a moment and he slammed back into the harness as the pod started to shed velocity.


    What few remaining sensors he had were suddenly pouring forth reliable readings and he saw that he was only moments away from a hard landing. He looked over and saw that Alice¡¯s ship had already crash landed, a few kilometers to his West, and then the pod hit the earth.


    Blood filled his mouth as he bit his cheek and then the world dissolved as the pod skipped and rolled over the ground. Kon screamed as the shuttle slowed and then came to a complete stop. Kon¡¯s head pointed down toward the ceiling of the pod, which was now the floor. Three times he batted at the button holding the harness together before it finally released and he hardly caught himself before crashing to the ground.


    Thump-thump-thump, a series of small charges went off and the back of the pod split away and let Kon see the planet for the first time.


    Silver rain slapped the ground and sent bursts of sitting water up in the air, each strike sounded like hail rather than water it struck with such intensity. Dense foliage covered everywhere he looked aside from the trail of carnage the pod had carved across the landscape.


    ¡°I¡¯m alive?¡± Kon asked himself as he struggled out of the wreckage of the pod and stayed right under the overhang of metal before entering the deluge. His mind was foggy, his breathing unstable and he nearly lurched out and into the jungle before turning and remembering the emergency bag and axe. He ripped open the duffel bag and looked inside.


    There was the partially emptied first-aid kit which he carefully set to the side. A clean jumpsuit was vacuum sealed and laid down, but Kon was going to save that. Emergency rations, water purifying tablets, and a small canteen were all put off to the side as he pulled the utility belt out and strapped it on. It had a multitude of pouches and holsters that most of the equipment fit on and he quickly filled it.


    The last important piece of equipment was a small, gray, metal box. He pried it open while hoping that everything was intact. He sighed in relief as he saw that nothing had broken during the tumultuous flight. A single shot flare gun with three flares, a firestarter, flashlight, and a small tablet. The tablet was the most important piece of gear in the entire duffle bag for him.


    With a few quick clicks he quickly brought the system online and carefully worked his way through menus until he found what he was looking for. A beacon tracker. A blue dot appeared on the screen with a distance, six kilometers, and direction. It was the closest beacon keyed to the tablet, there was a second one fourteen kilometers away, but Kon was certain it was the broken apart shuttle.


    Everything stuffed into the utility belt or hanging off a latch on it he picked up the much reduced duffel bag and put the axe inside of it after he wrapped the sharp blades in the spare jumpsuit. He couldn¡¯t use it in any meaningful way with how heavy it was, but Knight Roose would like a weapon.


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    Now prepared, Kon looked at the torrential rain and sighed before launching himself out of the escape pod and toward the thin shelter of the trees. The first drop hit him like a fist and the slick muddy ground nearly sent him sprawling. He pinwheeled for a second before catching his balance and gritted his teeth through the pain as he got underneath the boughs of the trees.


    He had been planetside on quite a few planets, but the metallic looking trees were strange to say the least. In the thin light that made it through the storm, he was able to see that the trunks looked mostly like burnished steel. There were threads of what looked like copper or tin or gold through them, melding together like a watercolor painting.


    Branches creaked ominous above him and a broad leaf fell to the ground and splattered him in mud as it hit the ground with an audible splat. His curiosity got the better of him and he scooped it up and hissed as the sharp edge split his skin. The stem of the leaf was dull and he held the heavy leaf up to his eye level. It was iron or something similar to it, dark, sharp and heavy.


    ¡°This place is weird,¡± Kon muttered as he tossed the leaf to the ground before looking up above him. Thousands of leaves rustled, any one of them could fall and end him in a moment. He started to run.


    The training above the Dragon¡¯s Maw had been mostly physical with some basic weapons and martial arts mixed in. Cadets were supposed to spend years honing their bodies in gravity assisted weight rooms, A.I taught classrooms, and time in simulators learning primary weapons systems. Before one could become a Squire they had to earn that right.


    Kon had been a cadet for less than a year. He was in much better shape than he had been when he had transferred to the ship. It still wasn¡¯t enough. Aches and pain started to make their presence known as he ran, fire burned down his throat as he gasped air through his mouth, and his legs began to feel deadweights that only rose with the most extreme of effort.


    He stopped at times to check the tablet, correcting his course when needed, and restarting. Every time he stopped it took more effort to start. By the time he got close to Alice¡¯s beacon his feet were dragging in the mud and several leafs had brushed across his back as they fell. Blood now mixed with the sweat and the rain, the salt of his sweat making the thin cuts burn.


    The first of the signs of her pod was a long sliver of metal embedded into a tree. Then more and more pieces of metal scattered about and torn apart vegetation. Kon looked at a splintered tree and realized the entire thing wasn¡¯t metal, but rather just the outer layers were, the core of it was still regular wood.


    Putting the tablet away he followed the trail of destruction toward where Alice was hopefully at. Kon was caked in mud, from boots to shoulders and he staggered free of the forest and into the clearing of wrecked wood just to watch as Alice staggered out of the crash.


    She looked much like she had earlier, covered in blood and exhausted, but the pelting rain didn¡¯t seem to hurt her. Water ran and pulled the tacky blood off of her it and she stood and lifted her remaining arm and waited as the rain cleansed her.


    ¡°I can hear you breathing over there. Hope you remembered to bring my axe,¡± Alice called out, her voice cutting across and over the storm without problem. Kon was still gasping for air and couldn¡¯t formulate a sentence if his life depended on it. He lurched forward and to the edge of the destruction before his legs gave out and he fell.


    ¡°That¡¯s embarrassing. Take a few minutes and recover. It¡¯s been a long day. We should have a few minutes before we¡¯re attacked,¡± Alice said as she started to walk over toward him. Kon picked his head up from the dirt and stared at her incredulously.


    ¡°Attacked?¡± He managed to get out between heaving breaths.


    ¡°Oh yes. There¡¯s quite an abundance of rifts about. Can¡¯t you feel the mana density in the air? It''s the only reason I¡¯m on my feet,¡± Alice added the last part under her breath and Kon didn¡¯t think he was supposed to have heard it.


    ¡°Have. Axe.¡± Kon got out as he weakly pulled at the strap on his back. Alice beamed above him, her smile lighting up her wan face. She reached down and plucked the bag off of him and Kon gasped as he was finally relieved of the heavy burden.


    An empty bag hit the ground a second later and the hiss of the sharp blade cutting the air came immediately after.


    ¡°Good piece of steel. Should be able to hold up when I start really going wild. Pity I lost my armor. You have a tracker? We need to find the rest of the survivors and regroup.¡± Alice was a barrage of statements and questions while Kon just contemplated how soft and welcoming the mud was.


    ¡°ON YOUR FEET, CADET!¡± Alice roared and muscle memory and a spike of adrenaline got him to his feet, back rigid, as he stood at attention. Alice chuckled darkly as she stared at him.


    ¡°I don¡¯t miss those days. Alright, I¡¯m in terrible shape, but you don¡¯t seem to have anything going on besides some basic training. No mana shaping at all? Or enforcement maybe?¡±


    ¡°No, ma¡¯am. I haven¡¯t established a node yet. We were supposed to start on that in the next week or two,¡± Kon explained.


    ¡°That¡¯s not great. Stay behind me and I¡¯ll try to keep whatever is coming toward us from eating you. No promises though. Which way are we heading?¡±

 Chapter Four: Monster Core

    Four


    The first of the rift beasts ripped itself free of the metal forest with a roar that rattled Kon¡¯s bones as a toothy maw stared down at them. Nearly twelve feet tall and covered in scales of shifting colors, its conical teeth were yellow and an aroma of rotting meat and death rolled across Kon and Alice. Tears filled his eyes as he repressed his gag reflex and staggered behind the one-armed woman who faced down the monster without fear.


    Violet energy burst out and around Alice and she blurred away as she leapt away from snapping jaws. A foot connected with the beast¡¯s jaw and the creature¡¯s momentum was redirected as it was launched away from Kon and into the thick trunk of a particularly dense looking tree. Its broad skull hit the tree and with a crack it split the trunk and sent the heavy tree crashing to the ground.


    Kon finally got a good glimpse of the animal as it staggered to find its feet. It was two legged, but hunched over and its legs were thick pillars of muscles that rippled beneath the colorful scales. A pair of undersized arms emerged from its torso, four dexterous fingers ended in black claws the length of Kon¡¯s forearm. Its head was flat on top with a ridge of bone encircling the perimeter like a crown. Scarlet eyes glared out at the world, filled with rage and hatred.


    Alice bounded in, her explosive step blowing a hole in the ground, and the axe split the air with a howl. The beast whirled with surprising speed, but it wasn¡¯t fast enough. Alice cut through the bony and muscular neck with a blast of violet energy and the creature''s head thumped into the ground, sending a geyser of water and mud upward. The torso stood frozen for a moment before slowly tilting over and landing opposite of its head.


    ¡°Weak. D-Grade at best,¡± Alice kicked the corpse and tilted her head before the axe slashed open the chest of the monster in two wicked blows. Bone, muscle and the scaly flesh all split like they were paper.


    ¡°There should be a rift beast core in there. Pull it out while I deal with the rest of them,¡± Alice was already turning back to look at the forest, drawing in deep breaths as her aura thickened. Kon looked towards the edge of the forest where the beast had emerged and saw glaring scarlet eyes looking at them.


    ¡°Should we run? Try to head toward where the rest of the crews landed?¡± Kon asked. Not having a weapon was making his palms itch.


    ¡°Run? Why? They¡¯re weak and you need resources to build nodes. They¡¯re weak and their cores won¡¯t do anything for me, but for you they¡¯ll be perfect. So, shove your head in there and start harvesting,¡± Alice said. She strutted forward and before she left Kon was certain he had caught a smile on her face.


    ¡°You¡¯re injured,¡± Kon whispered, shaking his head as he slowly walked over to the steaming corpse. He kept one eye on Alice as more of the giant predators burst out of the forest, before Alice turned into violet afterimages. Her current speed made it impossible for him to track, but monsters began to die as body parts flew across the crash site.


    Kon turned toward the dead monster just as he was certain he heard laughter emanating from the knight. She was a monster if she could be laughing hours after losing an arm and being stranded on a planet.


    White muscle fibers nearly glowed in the dim light of the storm-wracked planet and Kon groaned as he shoved his arm into the wound. Everyone knew that beast cores were built into monster¡¯s hearts. The muscles grew around them and the pulsing blood of the monster constantly delivered fresh mana taken in from their lungs to the core.


    It was surprisingly similar to the circulatory system. Monsters would breathe in and use that to draw ambient mana inwards. There it was filtered into their blood and used to strengthen their bodies. Humans and other more advanced species used different methods to develop their abilities. Afterall, while a monster could become powerful, at the end of the day it was only a body amplification process.


    A Knight¡¯s training could make them so much more than a body enhancer.


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    The blood was still hot even if the pummeling rain was cold, a dichotomy as half of Kon¡¯s body was forced into the beast, hand blindly searching about. He closed his eyes and stretched further and his fingers brushed something electric. A spark raced down his arm and through his body and his eyes flew open as he grasped the core.


    Fetid breath washed over him and he turned his gaze onto another of the stalking monsters. It was smaller, only eight feet long, and seemed younger. The thick bone and muscles of its larger brethren were missing, but the long claws on its arms and its ravenous mouth looked plentiful enough to leave him nothing but minced meat.


    ¡°ALICE!¡± Kon screamed as he ripped his hand out of the monster, fingers clenched painfully around the core. Power flooded through him, electricity and fire scouring his veins as a beastly aura rolled out of his pores, bloodred and hungry. The monster leapt at him and Kon watched it as if in slow motion.


    Each drop of rain seemed to be moving through molasses, no longer a silver curtain but a million and a half individual beads. The juvenile monster was feet away, jaw still slowly widening, and Kon stood to his feet and ran to the side. Scarlet eyes tracked him, but the monster¡¯s body didn¡¯t change direction as it hit where he had just been, burying its snout into its dead packmate.


    Kon felt invincible, the world his plaything, as the monster¡¯s energy flowed through him. The aura thickened and spread until enveloped everything around him, his breath hitched and his heart stuttered as blood began to pour out of his nose. He smiled, euphoria vanquishing any thoughts of self-preservation. His fist curled around the core and he burst forward and cocked his hand back as he drove every ounce of strength he had into punching the monster.


    All day he had been terrified. Scared of the invaders, scared during his descent in the escape pods, scared during his run through the woods, and finally, he had been scared of these beasts. All of that fear and feeling of helplessness, shame, and inferiority poured out of him as he screamed in defiance of the world and his place in it. He would no longer stand at the bottom looking up in fear.


    Knuckles hit the scaled hide of the beast and knuckles broke even as all of that aura that had blanketed him blasted through the beast and outward in a red tide. Flesh turned liquid and the creature was blown in half as Kon was thrown backward. The raging inferno that had been building in him was extinguished, smothered as he had poured it all in that single punch.


    ¡°Not bad. I can work with that,¡± Alice said as Kon slowly turned to look at the Knight. She was covered in blood, from head to toe. The pounding rain was making it run, but there was viscera in her hair that made it thick and clumpy. Her claimed axe was propped over her shoulder as she cocked a hip out to balance herself and looked at the monster he had killed.


    ¡°I mean, blew an entire D-grade core and probably destroyed the F-grade core in that one, but not bad. That was a nice war cry too. Lots of emotion and felt heartfelt,¡± Alice continued to ramble as Kon slowly blinked his eyes as a powerful wave of lethargy rolled over him.


    ¡°I¡¯m definitely going to pass out.¡±


    ¡°Alright, there¡¯s another pack headed this way and I''ve already collected the salvageable cores. On your feet, we need to find some type of shelter.¡± Alice kicked him gently in the ribs.


    ¡°I¡¯d offer you a hand, but I already gave you one to get off the ship,¡± Alice said, immediately snorting and chuckling to herself.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to have fun with this. Leo is never going to believe that I lost an arm. Will need to take a vid later,¡± Alice muttered to herself as Kon rose shakily to his feet. He felt hollowed out, as if a stray breeze would send him tumbling back to the ground.


    ¡°Oh, that. Yeah the first time you channel that much energy sucks. Backlash. Once you have a core or two spinning along, you¡¯ll be fine.¡± Alice¡¯s information washed over Kon, one part of his mind grabbed it but he couldn¡¯t fully process it. The first step was the hardest, bloody mud sucking at his boots as he made the first step. Alice was already entering the forest in the direction the pack had come from.


    The small clearing from the crash site was filled with corpses. Alice¡¯s brutality had ensured that Kon couldn¡¯t count the dead without at least a few hours and someone helping him, preferably someone who was good at puzzles. Body parts were strewn about in a disarray and every step left crimson on his legs.


    ¡°She was collecting cores while I fought. She could have easily stepped in and saved me.¡±


    Kon thought about that as they walked into the forest. Becoming a Knight was strenuous and years long slog of intense training. Those who survived it and became Knights, and even more so those who were prestigious enough to become officers, weren¡¯t the type to waste their time. The squires they chose to become Apprentices were generally the most distinguished in their class. A Knight of Alice Roose¡¯s caliber could pick anyone she wanted to apprentice to her. And not just from the chapter houses, but from the actual Knightly Orders. The direct Scions of old Earth.


    Kon¡¯s brain was tired and his thoughts were mush but he had single clear thought that rang though him like a gong.


    ¡°She said I¡¯m worthwhile. In her own way anyways.¡± That thought more than anything helped him pick up his steps and kept his head held high as he raced after the knight. This was a disaster of a day, but there was an opportunity here, if he was strong enough to claim it.

 Chapter Five: Lore

    Five


    Kon woke with a start as he jackknifed upward, ignoring the strain of the movement. His eyes swept the dark confines, finding nothing of note, before looking over to where Alice sat. The woman was hunched over by the corner of the cave she had found and had deepened with a few blows of her axe and a bit of digging.


    Without the violet aura around her, she looked shrunken. Raw red skin had grown over the stump at her shoulder and even as he watched he felt like he could see skin crawling around the wound. Alice had made multiple mentions about regrowing her arm, but Kon had thought that would be back on a ship, not out here in the wild.


    Alice turned to look at him and jerked her head to bring him closer before turning to look out toward the jungle again. It had been a rude awakening to realize that they had been near the edge of the jungle, or at least a less dense part of it. As they had followed the tracks that the pack of monsters had laid down, the woods and growth had only grown thicker.


    Where there had primarily only been trees when he had searched for Alice, now there were thick vines, underbrush that ripped at his skin, and the continuous screams of animals echoing out. The last kilometer had been a nightmare that had left his legs torn and bleeding before they had found the small cave and taken refuge.


    Kon walked toward Alice, keeping his head tucked down to not scrape on the ceiling, and looked out toward the hostile jungle. The incessant rain had stopped for the moment, but the thick clouds were visible even through the canopy. Violent lighting still flashed and illuminated the heavens and the constant rumble of thunder was a poor facsimile to a ship¡¯s engines.


    ¡°Sit down,¡± Alice said, kicking a foot toward a patch of ground not far from her. Kon looked at the woman and realized without the coating of blood on her, she looked young and tired. Emphasis on the tired. He folded his legs and sat down while Alice leaned back and continued to stare out into the brush.


    ¡°How much do you understand about cultivation,¡± Alice said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a way of channeling rift energy into our body and enhancing ourselves,¡± Kon said instantly. It was the rote answer that was taught in education sims.


    ¡°That¡¯s a terrible answer, but technically correct. If not for the fact it makes something as vast as cultivation reduced to nothing more than how one can enhance themselves,¡± Alice said. She sighed and the bags under her eyes seemed to deepen.


    ¡°Rift energy is present everywhere there is life. I¡¯ll let you ponder on that and the link between rifts and life, not my cup of tea. Rifts release monstrous amounts of energy and said energy can be harnessed through cultivation. Again, cultivation is just what we call the processing of energy through a set of metaphysical, personal means, to show enhance abilities. Again, basic as shit,¡± Alice never looked at him, the words came as if she had memorized them years ago and was bored.


    ¡°When rifts first found our old homeworld, nobody knew how to cultivate. Over the years as we battled to close them and hold on to our world, we learned how to. Kinda. When we finally connected with the rest of the galaxy we found out that we do it weird, but it¡¯s what makes our Knights so dangerous. You saw my battle with the enemy cultivator, right?¡±


    ¡°Kinda hard to miss. You lost an arm.¡± Kon used his chin to point toward the stump while Alice snorted.


    ¡°Not the first time I¡¯ve lost a limb. It¡¯s why our brand of cultivation is so strange. We combined it with something even more esoteric that the rest of the galaxy doesn¡¯t. It¡¯s one of our most closely guarded secrets. How we can produce so many powerful warriors even without having a world to harvest rift energy. Runes.¡±


    ¡°Runes?¡± Kon asked.


    ¡°Yeah, runes. Rifts have a habit of connecting to old places, places that they have already consumed. Each rift is a pocket of a world thats already fallen to the rifts. Slices of them. Don¡¯t know if they¡¯re the actual planet or just copies of it, doesn¡¯t really matter I suppose. In one of the rifts we found a planet that had an advanced civilization. Buildings anyways. Most of the rifts are just like jungle and shit.¡± Alice waved her hand out at the current jungle they were in.


    ¡°The first Knight are the ones who found that rift. Instead of clearing and destroying it like it had been the M.O, they decided to explore. Scientists, soldiers, politicians, businessmen, everyone wanted in on the fallen society. It was a big rift too, probably a low C-grade. Carved into the buildings were these runes and the rift energy reacted strangely to them. So they copied them down and started studying them.¡±


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    ¡°That¡¯s a reach. To look at some carved signs and decide to study them?¡± Kon said, more to himself than to Alice, but she responded anyways.


    ¡°They were desperate. Their weapons couldn¡¯t keep the rifts back and the homeworld was so densely populated they were attracting C-grade rifts constantly and from what I know, up to B-grade. Continent ending threats. They would do anything to stop it. So they studied the weird runes that had been carved onto buildings.¡±


    ¡°And those are the runes we use?¡±


    ¡°They were pieces of the runes we currently use. Even that old ass fallen society couldn¡¯t figure it out, but they touched a piece of it. After the fall of Earth, we fled and found the rest of the galaxy and over the years we explored rifts pretty thoroughly and we collected all that data and sent it back to the World-ships. They¡¯re the ones who finally cracked it and started us on our current path.¡± Alice sighed and grabbed the canteen and took a swallow before continuing.


    ¡°You¡¯ll find this all out when you become a squire. Or maybe it''s during your apprenticeship, can never remember right. Anyways, the original Knight channeled rift energy through themselves, from beast cores, and used the runes to transform said energy into something physical. We can still do that, but much more effectively with our current model. This was a pretty big deal and all the galaxy started to call us wizards. Or heretics. Kinda both actually.¡±


    Alice lifted her hand and channeled her energy, the violet fire rolled down her arm and she traced a finger in the air to form a trio of harsh lines connected to a circle in the middle. When the fire faded from her body the rune kept burning in the air for a second before it died away and disappeared.


    ¡°That is the rune for light. So our predecessors, who called themselves mages for some reason, I think it had to do with video games?¡± Alice got sidetracked as she slowly blinked and stifled a yawn.


    ¡°Yeah, so, they like channeled their energy through the runes and did all sorts of shit. Then we met true cultivators, like that wolf guy I crushed. Literally,¡± Alice chuckled darkly at that and reached a finger to run over her axe. Kon began to think that the Knight Commander might be a bit disturbed.


    ¡°I¡¯m tired, Kon. I need to sleep, even if only for a few hours. Regrowing limbs is draining. We met cultivators and we combined it. How they drew the rift energy in to enhance themselves and our runes. It''s the basis of the Knightly orders and the chapterhouses. We travel and try to find rifts that have that old world or even other worlds that have discovered runes, and try to find more. Chapterhouses build themselves and their strength over how many full runes they can find.¡±


    ¡°Full runes?¡± Kon asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m not a scholar about this, Kon. I punch shit really hard and keep punching till they¡¯re dead. So, this might not be fully accurate. The rune I showed you only encompasses a piece of the word that is light. The rune I have on my core is for regrowth, but it''s much, much more than just the rune used to regrow stuff. Where the light rune has three lines on a circle, my full rune is several hundred of them.¡±


    ¡°Core?¡±


    ¡°Do they teach you anything in school?¡±


    ¡°Not really. I can do push-ups really well and solve for X,¡± Kon said with a shrug.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have time to explain. We built an elaborate system that constantly funnels energy through our runes to empower or Knights. I was trying to give you background so it all makes sense to you, but I¡¯m too tired to do it right. Nodes are the first step to it. This is what we¡¯re going to work on right now. We establish a few nodes and you¡¯ll see a big difference in how you can fight and move. Then we can worry about your first core.¡±


    ¡°How do I develop a node?¡±


    ¡°Energy. Lots and lots of energy and meditation. We can¡¯t start yet, I have to show you how to do the meditation and energy channeling, but when I wake up we¡¯ll start.¡±


    ¡°What am I supposed to do while you¡¯re sleeping then?¡±


    ¡°Make sure I don¡¯t get eaten. If anything comes running at us, scream for me like a child and I¡¯ll kill it. Otherwise stay quiet and let me sleep.¡± Alice got up and left her axe buried in the cave¡¯s floor as she went and flopped down on the ground. A snore rattled out of her open mouth only moments later and Kon felt a bit of admiration on how fast she could fall asleep.


    ¡°She just dumped a ton of information on me and then went to sleep. I¡¯m sure she wanted me to think about it while she¡¯s resting.¡±


    It was interesting to hear about old Earth. How the ancestors had faced the end and had not bowed their heads and accepted defeat, but rose up to struggle against the calamity that had seized innumerable worlds and had created a system that no one else in the galaxy had. Or at least talked about.


    The odds that nobody in the galaxy had figured this out or that a human traitor hadn¡¯t sold their secrets were so astronomically small that it was laughable. Yet, nobody had copied their methods, or at least fielded warriors comparable to the Knights in any type of number.


    ¡°I wonder what type of rune I¡¯ll have? Do I get to pick it or do I have to do a path of discovery or something?¡±


    Idle thoughts continued to worm their way through his head as Kon sat on the floor of the cave and looked out into the jungle. There was movement everywhere, their cave being only slightly elevated and removed from the jungle floor. If more of the beasts charged at him he wouldn¡¯t really have time to do anything but scream.


    ¡°She said it required energy and that the ancestors used beast cores. Does that mean we have to go and hunt more of those monsters? I don¡¯t remember anyone saying they had to do something like that back on the ship.¡± Kon suddenly felt dread as he looked down on the jungle. Alice¡¯s bloodsoaked face with her wide smile and booming laughter filled his mind and he knew instantly that she would send him out into that jungle to hunt.


    The memory of the power that he had harnessed in the monster core came back to him and a hunger awoke in his gut. If he had to risk life and limb to feel like that again, to feel strong and powerful, he would do it. He risked a glance back at Alice.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try not to be as crazy as she is though. I don¡¯t think people should laugh about regrowing limbs.¡±