Lux Locus: Fractured Family

The fight between the three was destroying what remained of the hangar, with the shockwaves created by CQ's weapon ripping apart plates of metal and shards of concrete, Kormsin's raw strength denting and tearing away at inanimate material as though they were made of paper; and Tzinma's spells gaining strength and folding, melting, and warping everything around him.

Zenith attempted once again to stand, but his damaged body refused to let him, leaving the man as a slumped heap on the ground.

"How shameful that they would defeat me so easily," Zenith lamented. "Either I have become rusty, or they've become far too strong." He leaned his head back against the frame and his inner pistons exhaled softly in tandem with the man had he still lungs. "When I die, my soul won't go to either of their black deities...and her location will remain a secret for all eternity."

The man started to laugh heartily, his vocal box distorting it into a loud noise that attracted the attention of the three fighting amongst each other. Kormsin and Tzinma felt the color flush from their faces when they realized why their brother was laughing. The warrior was the first to bolt forward and reach out to Zenith.

"You won't die without Blumarak claiming your soul, Ze--"

CQ intercepted the warrior by thrusting her warhammer to the middle of his back and forcing him down with all of her strength. The woman was partially impaled by a spell of Tzinma under the form of a shard of glass meant to dissolve her body. Both her muscles and blessing allowed her to stem the distance traveled by the shard and remove it, but CQ was now staggered, allowing the mage to engulf her in a cloud and twist her body away.

He would have also claimed Zenith were it not for a few demons of marrow bypassing the regimentaries and law enforcers to pile against the magus. The fighting and clashing of powers between three opposing deities tore the walls off the hangar and exposed it to the world of the prosecutors. Tzinma's spell still floated above the city, keeping the ships from carrying out their tasks, and leaving the law enforcers to fight cultists getting their hands on more and more weaponry.

"Hm," the prosecutor hummed. "I would have expected a...calmer day."

Zenith closed his eyes, the noises becoming muffled, then silenced altogether. He found himself fleeing again through the city accompanied by his sister and all the panicked civilians around. He felt the same fear well up inside his body as the towering afol anda caught cultists running with the panicked civilians and tore them to shreds, their faces unflinching and unfeeling even when blood spattered all over them. Their wide eyes stared down at the children like spotlights before passing on to another group and stomping away through the river of people

Dark, shadowy figures popped up in front of the young boy, scaring him and his sister and preventing them from reaching the escape shuttles and the prosecutor standing outside it with his hand outstretched.

"That's new..." Zenith whimpered to the shadows. "Yet so familiar...You were there from the start, weren't you?" he spoke out in the drowning screams.

In the boy's head a voice spoke with a calm, hissing demeanor. It seemed amused. "When it was a child? Not at all. Only when the red one and the fat one came to the sphere of white."

The boy scowled. "The planet of the Magus Imperators? The nightmares became more vivid when..." He pondered deeply. "And so you've been using this nightmare to get to me?" There was no answer. "What do you want? Who are you?"

"What this thing wants?" the voice chuckled. "What does the known soul know? There were two, but now there's four. There is one, but now there were five. It stays and feeds and learns."

"So you're just here to...scare me? Destabilize me?" The voice didn't answer, so the boy pointed at the shadows. "There's nothing you can do that I can't take care of." The boy stood proudly. "I don't know if you're with Blumarak or Mumbass, but you won't be getting her location." He walked forward and found himself struggling against a massive gale. "I...I got through this, and while it is my fear, it is my lesson to learn!" The shadows were slowly dissipating while a golden light shone forth. "Someone took us in, and taught us everything we needed to know. Everything we were required to know to survive and establish our dreams."

The shadows erupted like a ring of smoke, and the outstretched hand of the prosecutor grabbed the boy's arm, pulling him and his sister into the craft. The shadows reformed and turned to reach the child, but the doors slammed shut and the prosecutor looked to the boy.

He was a middle-aged man with brown hair and a bionic eye, and his elongated face showed his bone-structure more prominently due to lack of nourishment.

"Don't worry, boy. We'll fix you up and get you to your parents soon enough." The prosecutor spoke in soft, hushed tone, bring relief to Zenith.

The voice, however, only laughed at the scene. "The anchor has fallen from its chains, so a new one is placed. Yet, it drags along the ground, unsure if it will hook or not." Zenith looked up and saw shadows swirling about the ceiling of the craft. "Remember, known soul, that the numbers rarely stay the same. It feeds on the doubts and fears, after all."

When Zenith reawoke, he was on his ship, in his pod, and being repaired by the masked engineers. Their loose, reflective outfits glistened with oil while other parts were numbered by dirt and grime. Many were leaning against the walls, exhausted and trying to catch their breath. Some had already fallen asleep and were slumped down. The prosecutor angrily tried to free himself from his constraints, but his arms snagged on the holds.

"What's going on? Where am I?" he shouted.

"Woah!" one of the engineers shouted.

Several of them ran to the prosecutor to hold down his body and prevent further damage, although it was difficult still.

"Sir, it's okay. You were brought here by an afol anda."

Zenith stopped struggling and looked at the person slack-jawed. "How? She was fighting blessed humans."

"Well...Whe--"

The metallic door slamming loudly against the wall gave everyone pause, but the culprit was definitely a pillar.

"You." Zenith analyzed her armor and face. "CQ. Help me out from here. I have a war to fight."

The woman stepped into the brighter light, slowing her armor to be dented, deeper in some areas, and chunks of it missing whilst her face was a cut mess. The entire right side of her face was bandaged and glowing a pale blue, and she moved forward with a limp in her step. And yet, her face remained unchanging and her eyes wide and lifeless as her comrades.

"No," she answered plainly.

"What?" Zenith's face would have gone red if it remained. "How DARE you!"

"There are no dares," CQ responded. "We were almost killed, and your soul claimed to a god of influence."

"Wh..." The prosecutor's face contorted in disbelief, and he leaned back against the 'bed'. "How? What happened? I only remember seeing the city on fire." He looked back to CQ. "What happened then?"

"I do not know when you blacked out, but I and your br..." The pillar looked around to the engineers toiling away at Zenith's body without moving her head. "your enemies, the blessed, were in combat, with the other two trying to claim your soul after noticing that you were dying."

"That, I remember," Zenoth confirmed. "But then what?"

"Well, I had positioned myself in front of the magus' spell to latch onto your body and pull out your soul with the aid of tendrils of mana." She punched her chest armor several times. "Unfortunately, all of my blessings, from my purified blood to my bones carved with runes of the administrator, prevented them from even reaching past my flesh." She frowned and looked away. "But my own blessing was limited, and so it ran out." She pulled out her warhammer and dropped the base of the body onto the ground, creating a loud thump and denting the metal floor.

This weapon, however, did not lose it. And so, while I was capable of fighting them off for a time, I was eventually cast aside. I did all I could to block their attacks and redirect them to attack each other. As I recall, the warrior of Blumarak tried to extend his crystallized blood through my body, but my warhammer pushed his body to the side and he was stabbed by the magus' blade."

"I see. And then?" Zenith asked.

"The barrier covering the city was dissolved by magus of reinforcing regimentary fleets, allowing transport ships to come down from orbit and drop armored vehicles into the city as well as allow orbital bombardment support where needed."

"Orbital bombardment?!" the man screamed at the top of his lungs. He jolted upwards but was kept down by his restraints yet again.

"They haven't used it...much..." an engineer interjected.

Zenith hit the back of his head several times against his 'bed'. "And how did we get out?" he asked CQ.

"The regimentaries flew a destroyer into low orbit towards the factory to directly drop off vehicles and heavy infantry. Last I saw of the two blessed ones was them fleeing in portals they opened up before the reinforcements entered the hangar."

"Portals? They shouldn't have those with the cultists being interrupted," the prosecutor mumbled. "And...What about the city?"

"Still under siege. The Ierfehand First requested to see you as soon as you were recovered. She mentioned the war not being over yet."

"I see." There was a long pause before Zenith started talking again. "Thank you for your aid, CQ. I would not have made it this far had you not been there to aid."

"Then have you changed your opinion on the afol anda?" she asked with just a tinge of curiosity.

Zenith glared. "No. You are an exception to the rule, perhaps. I don't reject those who aid me, regardless of whom they may be."

"Then I will leave until your body is fully repaired, prosecutor."

The woman left the room, slamming the door behind her and bringing the ire of the annoyed and exhausted engineers.

Zenith groaned and leaned up as best he could. "Are you going to unlatch me now?"

The engineer working on his torso looked at the man straight in the eyes, and with a lengthy and exhausted tone, answered him. "Nooooooooo."

Their colleague facepalmed and answered in their place. "We can't let you move because your body might short out while we repair it and spasm. You did it quite a few times when we went digging out all of the broken shards in your gears."

"Fine. How long will this take?" Zenith sighed.

"Hmmm. At least a few more hours. We've replaced most of the broken pieces, so now we just need to run tests and checks to be certain everything is in order."

"Alright. Thank you."

The prosecutor laid his head back and started to think. His brothers had never been so adamant about their sister before. They had requested her location before, sure, but to be so aggressive about it and try to kill him was new.

"I'm just glad Vulius is still safely hidden. They are quite efficient at it. After all, we don't need a broken Unlimited in the hands of evil deities."