The Unspoken

Oxygen There were no moons or stars in the night sky. The air was still and cold, my fur stood on end, my body sensitized, ready for whatever would appear from this darkness. I see one of the spots we have been looking for; a large gape we were shown through what they called satellite imagery, the hole was much larger, up close, a huge opening in the ground perfect in circumference. By twelve I fall, twiggles unfurl, and I drop, they umbrella out allowing me to float in, I spin slowly in order to have a better vantage of my surroundings, I see nothing but a deep blackness, The place, is darker than the streets above, but I sense that I am in the right place. They call the things I hunt unspoken and their foot soldiers the shadow reapers. They are unlike any creature I had ever encountered; it is believed that they were conquerors of planets and creators of races, whom believe themselves, gods of this planet. They are stronger than their creation, the inhabitants of this blue spinning orb, but now they seem to have met their match. The reapers seemingly share a single consciousness, I gathered this from melding with one of them at quarantine while we were at the lunar station, it showed no form of independent thought, in fact the following words constantly echoed throughout its mind like a flowing stream “muluk wata tahawal” this in their tongue meant “conquer and transform”. I believed that to be their primary mission objective. As I approach the floor of this deep chasm I sense that I am not alone. They came in their thousands, and as they conquer the lands of this world by their strength and technology I fear they can do the same to others if they so choose. I gathered based on my prior encounters with the reapers that they do not have fear, my team and I have found that they gather in underground locations, we still don’t know why they do not set up their bases above ground. Our strategy since quarantine was to quietly infiltrate those areas and sanitize them one by one; we believed that we could quell the shadow reapers more easily one hole at a time. Before our arrival here cybers like ayeesha, were the main defense from any form of hostile aggression against her kind, but even though they were strong warriors and mounted a great defense they were losing ground to the reapers. Since my team joined coupled with our own special skills and technology we have introduce a new and very different dimension to the fight. I sense this is the location we were looking for I press the beacon on my left shoulder which should alert my team to make their way towards my location. I land very quietly, my feet firmly on the ground, the first thing I notice is how the air down here is less polluted than the air above ground, my breathing is much smoother the oxygen is not much unlike that on gruce untainted by whatever it was that made the air above ground so rancid. Unbendable begins to hum its stone, which I call the eye; glows bright red, this happens when there are threats about. The glow from the stone shows me the vastness and the scale of this underground chasm. I see them now. I ground myself and recite the mantra “I fall by the power of twelve,” my hearing becomes sharper I hear the shuffle of feet hurriedly yet cautiously approach my location, In seconds I am engaged by what felt like quite a number of the enemy, I stamp my right foot down with such force that the few around me are tossed away by the sheer magnitude of the shock wave created. I stand in the combative stance of 7, taught to me by lango lis after the death of my father, lango lis fed the wood to the flame of my desire to be a regimentarian just like him, he told me then this stance was known as the dance of death, it was Tekeshi kitanos most favorite combative movement. Spreading my feet apart and slowly bending down, I ground myself, and at the same time shout out to my sword “unbendable”!!! It unsheathes itself from behind me with immense speed and hovers only a few inches above me. Its stone shines bright red. I can now see my reflection in the dark brooding eyes of the enemy before me. I raise my right hand above my head and in a millisecond the handle of my ivory sword slides into its rightful place, the palm of my right hand, I clasp it tightly. I attack on my toes moving with such speed that my feet only slightly touch the floor, time slows, I get to the first line of the enemy and open my sword hand unbendable flies above me and it spins and its distinctive whirling sound intensifies as its speed increases, it is music to my ears, as I engage the enemy with multiple strikes the dance has truly begun I then shout “kill” unbendable increases speed its pitch becomes higher, the stone then changes color from very bright red to a platinum fiery white. Her voice “ draemen save sum of them for us”, she then says the other place they checked were decoys, I look above and I see nenveve, trool, and teek hovering above, my team has arrived. “Unbendable”!!! The sword seamlessly attaches itself to my open palm, as I clasp it shut around its warm handle, I see everything as clear as day the chasm is no longer dark, and I engage the enemy before me. With such speed, it appears to the reapers and those watching that I have mastered the art of teleportation, but it’s only my speed of movement which makes it appear so. As I appear I strike with my left arm and slice with the sword cutting their bodies in half before they begin to fall, two three bodies at a time slicing, up and under decapitating these shadow reapers as I get my rhythm my strikes take four and five at a time, swinging to the left and right parrying at the enemy, absorbing their pulse rounds with my sword and also deflecting their fire and redirecting them back to their own kind. I have melded with them I know what they want to do and I preempt them. Any that stand before me death surely follows, the dance continues as I release the sword again it flies out of my hands and as tekeshis warriors of old I fight alongside my weapon, unbendable flies at the reapers and continues to do what It was made to, where it passes legs arms heads are severed. The population of the reapers begin to dwindle, they do not retreat or regroup they fight on even though it is a losing fight. From my periphery I can see the master psychomat at work, as she lands she simply makes solid movements with her hands and feet in form of the telekinetic katas, although she has eyes that see, she fights blind, and with every movement those that stand before her fall, they do not survive the injuries she inflicts on them, I can hear the breaking and shattering sounds of their very strong bones with every hand kata she performs in their direction, striking and slicing stamping on the floor and sweeping at the air in their direction, without a single physical touch nenveve inflicts death and destruction on the reapers. shoulders and elbows, knees hip joints blow apart, necks break, and brains liquefy oozing from their nasal cavities. Trool the glory hogger swoops down fully morphed with twiggles sprouted, and begins his amazing movements, he lands on one leg and says “the shimmering lotus needs only a light touch to wilt” he stands on that leg as stable as an elder tree, as if to goad them into attacking him he remains on that leg throwing lightning fast spinning kicks, at the reapers both legs are never on the floor at the same time, he constantly kicks at the enemy, every kick lands on one reaper but due to the power behind them he inflicts damage on an average of six any of the enemy in his path dies, he turns and twists and with every movement strikes follow, his strikes are so solid hard that anything his fists, feet knees or elbows has contact with shatters, he is so quick and precise that he never misses a reaper every hit lands on target .