Chapter 3. The Trap

Hayden   1889 A.E.G.

	By the gods, Hayden was tired. If he could ask for anything, he would ask for a bed. Right now, he could go to sleep for a century, basking in the warm afterglow of his victory. He had come within inches of death. Despite his muscles begging for rest, 
his mind was as alive as ever. He wanted to keep this streak going. If only there was a way to keep on going forever.
	
	The room was destroyed and reeked of blood. Corpses littered the area. The smog of dust finally began settling down. From it, he saw Delani standing over the dead body of the third metaphysical. She held her rifle in both hands, barrel pointed down. Delani tore off her helmet, breathing heavily. Sweat matted pieces of her hair to her face. Her right arm bled. Delani’s weakened arm could not support the weight of her weapon. It tumbled from her fingers. She saw the kneeling form of Hayden and rushed over to him. Delani helped him take off his helmet.
	“How are you holding up?” she asked. Her voice sounded distant.
	“A few degrees from collapsing totally, but other than that, pretty good,” Hayden answered. Delani looked around, seeing the welds that Mutton Chops once possessed and the spear in Hayden’s hand. She swallowed.
	“You know, you could run off with these lyshan crystals and live comfortably for the rest of your life,” Delani said.
	Hayden nodded. He understood the temptation of that greed. Thousands of scavengers prowled old battlefields in hope that all their financial woes might disappear with the discovery of a single crystal.
	Hayden called his weld blade to him. From its place on the ground, the sword flew to his grip. Each weld was made by their users. The dictums inscribed on the welds were meant to be interpreted in a very specific way by the brightsoul who inscribed the gold onto the silver. To Delani and Hayden, this spear and the two daggers might as well have been lumps of silver and gold. But the lyshan crystals could be repurposed.
	
	Hayden sliced down at the connection point at the back end of the spear that attached the lyshan crystal to the weapon. Without its master to empower the dictums, the silver and gold were as strong as their mundane selves. Hayden’s weld blade sliced through it. Once severed from its anchor to the material plane, the metals of the spear burned away to the Aether. Hayden extended the crystal to Delani. The concentrated, physical manifestation of the Aether thrummed in his hand. Delani blinked in shock.
	“Take it,” Hayden said, “I’ll help you construct your first weld once the mission is over.”
	By themselves, lyshan crystals were not too dangerous beyond exploding violently if destroyed. But too many concentrated in one location mutated everything around them. Ravenous giant insects making homes on floating islands were on the tamer side of what one could expect to find when trying to mine these gems. In addition to welds, lyshan crystals were used for faster-than-light travel and communication. Their rarity and that whole armies had to be contracted to protect the extraction made them beyond valuable.
	
	Delani gingerly took the crystal, “But you defeated them?”
	“Wouldn’t have been possible without you,” Hayden replied.
	She smiled. “Just how in control of the situation were you there?” she asked as she placed the crystal into a pocket.
	“Enough. We won, didn’t we? Name me another metaphysical who could have done what we just did.”
	“Drake Trarora?” Delani offered, while helping Hayden to his feet.
	Hayden scowled, “Besides him. I can’t blow up cities like it is nothing.”
	She shook her head, “You’re exaggerating. You have two extra lyshan crystals now. What do ya plan to make with them?”
	“I’ll think of that later,” Hayden said as he moved to pick up the two daggers from Mutton Chop’s body. “We still have to regroup with the others. The fight is not done.” He still worried for his comrades. Hayden did everything he could to help them, but something horrible could still happen. He was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
	“Well,” Delani cut in, “it definitely should not be a melee weapon. That guy kicked your ass.” She winked at him.
	Hayden narrowed his eyes at her, “Make a sword, and we will see how much smack you talk then.”
	She puffed out her chest, “Actually, I won the gold medal for my city’s fencing championship.”
	Hayden’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “You’re messing with me.”
	“Yeah.”
	He sighed in exasperation. “Can you still use craetus?”
	Delani rolled her arm. “Enough.”
	“Good because I have nothing left.” Hayden felt naked. He was used to being able to stroll into any situation and having a plethora of options before him. Now he just had the gun on his back. Hayden holstered his sword and drew his rifle.
	“I’ll protect you then,” Delani said.” You have to make it back alive to help me make my first weld.” She lightly punched him in the shoulder. The Captain winced in pain. He and Delani donned their helmets.
	
	With careful slowness, the two stalked through the bunker. But with each room they entered, space would be jealous of all the nothing they found. Hayden wasn’t necessarily complaining, but the situation rang alarm bells in his brain. Just because the metaphysicals had been defeated did not mean the blanksouls would just abandon their posts. Hayden fully expected Myers to come back with reinforcements. He kept his rifle at the ready, his senses attuned to any approaching craetus.
	
	As they went deeper, Hayden realized that his ears were not the problem. He couldn’t hear the weapons of the bunker complex firing at all. They had gone completely silent. What in Utopia was going on? Furious thoughts toward Major Orsik and command brewed in his mind, as they navigated through the narrow hallways and empty rooms. They should have been pulled out the moment their transport crashed. But no, they were here instead, just waiting to be massacred by any reinforcements. Hayden heard footsteps. He grabbed Delani by the arm and pulled her along with him, tight against a wall.
	
	They were in a corridor. It led to the far side of a room. He and Delani were right at the corner. Hayden took a calming breath. He visualized the action in his head. He quickly peeked his head around the corner. Almost simultaneously, a bullet pierced the side of his helmet. Hayden felt the piercing bites of shrapnel along his cheek as he ducked back. Yep, definitely someone there.
	“That was one of our helmet designs, moron,” Hayden heard Pollock’s voice. “Hayden! Is that you?”
	“Yeah!” Hayden called back.
	“Corbin, you dumbass! You almost killed Hayden.” Hayden felt the tension leave his shoulders as he stepped out of the wall. Delani followed after him. Relief flooded Hayden as he saw the four figures of Pollock, Corbin, Aradrew, and Lika packed against a wall.
	“Sorry, boss,” Corbin said, looking down in shame. The big man holding a large, belt-fed machine gun acting like a scolded puppy was almost comical. Hayden discarded his helmet. He touched his cheek, a small amount of red smeared his fingers.
	“It’s alright,” Hayden sighed. Back to the usual dynamic, “Anyone got a kickstick? I could use one about now.”
	Hayden’s squad collectively looked at Corbin. After a second or two, he got the message with an “Oh!” He moved forward and handed Hayden the small, gray, cylindrical kickstick. Hayden graciously took it and stuck it in his mouth. Hayden formed a small flame at the tips of his forefinger and thumb. He sucked in the smoke as the kickstick lit. He felt his mind focus and a degree of lethargy leave him.
	“Report what happened.” Hayden blew out a puff of smoke.
	Pollock moved to him. “Your distraction worked well. We made it to the bunker and blew our way inside. Fought some guys, but not too long after we entered the Ostrus, inside started to abandon their posts. Must have thought more had broken in.”
	Hayden paused in thought, “Perhaps.” Something stunk here.
	“Well, we did our jobs. Let’s make our way out of here. Lika, notify Command that we completed our task and to make sure our allies don’t shoot us.” Hayden’s squad formed up around him as they made their way to the front of the bunker complex. Delani walked up beside him.
	“So what happens now?” she asked.
	“We rest is what we are going to do,” Hayden flicked off a bit of ashes from the kickstick. “We aren’t frontline troops. You and I are drained. We recuperate and then get deployed again. I am going to try and requisition some gold and silver so we can start working on your weld.” Hayden saw her perk up. “But don’t get too excited; it will take us a month at least to make something good.”
	“And how long are we going to be here?” she asked.
	“All depends on how fast we reach their entropy field generators. Likely three months at least. We will have your weld ready by the time we reach Sechal, though.” Sechal was the capital planet of the Ostrus Kingdom. Vaemia was the gateway to the inner domain of Ostrus. They were so close.
	
	With no one trying to kill them, navigating through the bunker complex was much easier. They walked out into the open air out the way Hayden came in. He glanced up and saw the broiling sky above. Hundreds of small, metallic shapes maneuvered through the air. Streamers of tracer fire added to the chaos. Like islands in the sky, the frigates of the Ostrus and Ashuan forces hung above. Their massive vertical thrusters kept them in the air. They exchanged blows with each other and were a constant raceway of simultaneously launching strikecraft and landing them for refueling and rearmament. He saw the sleek, geometric shape of one of the Ostrus frigates plummet toward the ground over the horizon. Fire plumed out along its hull. Good riddance.
	
	Over a mile away, Hayden saw the approaching Ashuan army. The thousands of specks of infantry intermingled with the bulky, fearsome visages of the tanks and other armored vehicles forming the spearhead. Hayden was grateful to see them. It meant they were no longer alone. Before he and his team left, they had one last thing to do.
	
	Hayden stepped into their downed transport. Pollock followed him. With utmost reverence, they picked up the bodies of Angelo and Gus. The two carried their dead friends a small ways away from the crashed vessel. Pollock and Hayden laid them down side by side. The group formed a sparse circle around the resting pair. Each of them removed their helmets.
	“Delani, if you would, please,” Hayden said. She stared at him for a second before getting the idea. The brightsoul took a step forward. Delani extended a hand. From it, the purple of craetus extended forward, coating the bodies before taking on the substance of a flammable liquid. Death was an important part of the Andrasian faith. You could not choose how you were born, but you could choose how you died. One was supposed to face death standing, and the dead were to be burned.
	
	Hayden took one last draw of his kickstick. He held it in his hand before he flicked it at the bodies. As soon as the kickstick landed, the corpses caught alight. It was almost surreal. Logic dictated something like this should have happened by now. They had been fighting in this war for over two years by now. Over four hundred million had already died. It was foolish to think he could escape the cruel engine of probability. It was just typical. Hayden was cursed. He was doomed to forever wade out of the swamp that claimed the ones he cared about.
	
	Delani looked uncomfortable, like she was gazing upon something she was not privy to witness. She took a step back out of the circle and turned to leave. But Lika’s hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder.
	“Stay,” he said. “You shed blood with us today and helped keep the Captain safe. You are one of us now.” Hayden, Corbin, Aradrew, and Pollock affirmed the statement. Delani paused before rejoining the circle. As the tanks of the Ashuan army rumbled past them, the squad gave their goodbyes to their fallen comrades.
	“Andras gained two new powerful warriors in his army today,” Corbin said.
	“When I die, tell me if Andras doesn’t treat you well. I’ll punch him in the throat for you if he doesn’t. You both deserve it,” Aradrew said, his voice hoarse. Hordes of Ashuan infantry marched past the party. They gave inquisitive glances but otherwise kept a respectful distance.
	“Goodbye, Gus, Angelo,” Lika added his voice. “You were the best shot I know, Gus. Saved my life more times than I could count. I’m sorry I couldn’t do the same. Angelo, we will make sure Carrie doesn’t have to deal with your loss alone. She will be well cared for. She will know how much of a hero you were.”
	“Angelo, we might not have always seen eye to eye, but I hate to see you go. You kept me in check when I was being an asshole,” Pollock said, his voice strained. “We never got to start that mining business together, Gus. It’s not right that the better of us two got taken away.”
	It was now Hayden’s turn. He took a deep breath. “It’s hard to condense over two years of experience into something worthwhile. You two deserve something long and poetic, something to honor your memories. But you both hated those long speeches, so I’ll just say this: You were some of the best comrades I could ask for. We will always save two spots at the table for you. I look forward to seeing you two again. May dragon wings carry you.”
	A heavy silence settled over the group. But they could not remain here forever. The five men saluted at once before breaking the circle. The group started walking in the opposite direction of the army. The squad’s transport should be arriving soon.
	
	Hayden was ready to sleep and put this event behind him. His squad was understrength now. Replacements would have to fill in the holes. All the deadly squad cohesion they had built up over the years would be destroyed. All the teething issues that would cause could very well lead to more of his comrades dying. It was always one mess right after the other.
	“Our transport has the landing area in sight,” Lika announced.
	“They better not give us any rejects to fill Gus and Angelo’s spots,” Aradrew said.
	“Our squad is privy to a bit more oversight than that, Aradrew,” Lika said. They saw a transport break through the clouds, heading toward their position. About time.
	“I don’t know, man,” Pollock jumped in. “We arrived in space on a civilian transport. They might not have a choice.” The dropship’s engines rotated vertically, lowering itself to the ground. Hayden raised his hand to protect his eyes from the billowing dust.
	
	The ramp to the back of the shuttle opened.
	
	A massive shockwave knocked Hayden and everyone around him to the ground.
	
	The transport rocked on its landing gear. Noise screamed in his ear. Hayden quickly turned on his back. His eyes went wide. The entire defensive line and at least half mile behind it had become consumed by a series of gargantuan explosions. Fire intermingled with sediment and stone as it climbed into the sky. Even more harrowing, Hayden saw men and vehicles thrown up as well, as if a child had tossed their toys in the air. The middle of the Ashuan army had just gone up in flames.
	
	Hayden gathered craetus to himself. He formed a shield facing upward. Delani added hers not a second later. The ground shook. Great boulders struck back down, crushing the unfortunate. Screams mingled with raw noise. Rocks pinged off Hayden and Delani’s shield. Hayden’s squad took cover beneath.
	“What in Utopia is going on?” Lika yelled. “Artlillery?”
	“No! They came from below ground!” Pollock corrected.
	Hayden grit his teeth, “We walked into a damn trap!”
	A second of silence descended across the landscape as the last of the rocks fell to the ground. Hayden and Delani dropped their protection. The screaming and barking of orders quickly overtook the quiet. Soldiers either stood mute, confused, or ran around like headless animals.There was no direction, only damage. Groups of Ashuan metaphysicals sprinted at impressive speeds, trying to recapture order. But the trap had not fully closed.
	
	Powerful craetus signatures flared up all around the perimeter of the broken Ashuan army. The sensation made Hayden’s hair stand up on edge. He heard the distant echoes of gunshots. Without a word, Hayden clambered on top of the shuttle. His vision was drawn to the flares of explosions and chaos. Hayden sent craetus to his eyes, boosting his vision. His skin crawled with terror at the sight.
	
	The Templars were here, the elite demonhunting task force of the Inarian Church. All their combat members were hand-picked metaphysicals of the highest quality. Craetus burned off them like a torch in the middle of the night. Each had at least one weld. Besides their impressive showing, they were immediately distinguished by the silver diamond emblazoned on the front of their armor. Hayden counted at least seventy of them had surrounded their forces.
	
	Wherever they popped up, Hayden saw them tear into the Ashuan forces. The Templars were an organized meat grinder. They formed ranks where those in front focused on defense while those behind rained death. The demonhunters spat out rays of heat that melted dozens of men and picked up giant boulders with equally massive ghostly hands to crush vehicles.
	A Templar had made a buzzsaw disk larger than a house and had it churn across the battlefield, tearing apart dirt and man alike. That was to say nothing of the individual Templars who sped among the inner areas of the Ashuan armies, sowing chaos in their wake. The Ashuan metaphysicals tried what they could. However, they were disorganized and were easily focused down by the Templars, evaporating under direct fire.
	
	Hayden slid down the transport, landing among his comrades, “We got Templars, over fifty easy. Lika, comm Command and tell them.”
	“Templars?” Delani said, panicked. “What are they doing here?”
	“You and everyone else, Hayden, are asking the same question,” Lika responded. “Command is fully aware. They are sending in Umbra mercenaries to help.”
	“What are they doing sending in Umbra? Do we not have our own metaphysicals?” Hayden asked quickly. The Umbra were an extremely secretive sect of assassins and demon slayers. Not aligned to any particular faith, their loyalty was only to the highest bidder and to see the Chained removed from the galaxy. Them being here was bizarre to say the absolute least.
	Lika shrugged. “Wouldn’t tell me; they barely gave me a sentence.”
	“Why does it matter? Our transport is here. Aren’t we going to leave?” Delani asked. Five pairs of eyes locked onto Hayden as a massive hunk of rock landed not far off and crushed a dozen men. Hayden and Delani were still drained. What good could they do? They could simply leave and fight another day. It was the easy option, even the logical option. But the easy options were never worth fighting for. As strong as they were, the Templars could never destroy an organized army of this size on their own. They banked on the chaos of the trap and individuals making the easy choice. This was a test of Hayden’s faith. He would be damned if he failed.
	
	Hayden made a turn. He scrounged up what craetus he could. The Captain raised his right arm and shot it into the air. With it, he formed a simple construct. First came the legs, then the massive wings that spread out in open challenge. Finally, he created the visage of his god. He shifted the hue of the craetus to black. Standing above the battlefield was a hologram of Andras. The image stood tall and regal. A crown of horns sat on the dragon’s head. Teeth like swords appeared as Hayden had the image open its maw.
	
	Sweat dripped down Hayden’s head. A trickle of blood ran from his nose. He wasn’t done yet. From his left hand, he sent craetus to the ground. Around him, massive speakers took shape. As the dragon opened his mouth, the speakers ignited. A roar cascaded across the battlefield. Every soul looked upon the symbol of the Andrasian faith. Those running stopped in their tracks to look upon the projection. It was like a slap to the face. The fighting stopped, if only for a brief moment. The Templars took offense to the symbol. All at once, projectiles and beams of heat struck the dragon, destroying its integrity. Whatever was left scattered into motes of purple light before fading entirely.
	
	But it was enough.
	
	Hayden smiled as he heard the commands of officers and the yells of indignation from the devout at the infidels destroying the symbol. The army was abuzz with new life. Hayden dismissed the speakers and raised his weld sword high up. Using all the air in his lungs, Hayden let out a scream of challenge and ran toward the nearest fighting.
	“Guess we are going in then,” Corbin said, readying his machine gun. He sprinted after Hayden.
	“Guess we are,” Pollock said.
	“I want to hate him so much right now,” Aradrew growled as he rushed to catch up.
	The six ran to the nearest defensive line. Many more saw the rush and joined them. The line was a tattered, sad thing. The dead littered the ground all around. Infantry took cover behind rocks or destroyed vehicles. They fired at the Templars with what weapons they had, but they did not possess the heavy firepower necessary to take down powerful metaphysicals. Reinforcements were on the way; they just needed time. They needed to not break. A rout would mean the destruction of all of these lives.
	
	Hayden and his team, along with over two dozen more, took cover. Delani shared a boulder with him. The rest of his team was to the left of him.
	“How in control of the situation are you now?” Delani asked. Hayden could see she was terrified. She likely only ran with them because that was what the group was doing, operating under base instinct.
	“Not a whole lot, but we don’t need to do much, just hold on and slow them down. I’m scared too. But we will make it through,” Hayden said. He stabbed his sword into the ground and grabbed his rifle. The Captain quickly peeked over the rock and fired a burst at the Templars. He didn’t stay up long enough to see what happened. He knew it did nothing.
	
	Delani saw Hayden’s action and tried to replicate it. She took a series of short quick breaths before poking out of the side of the boulder. Immediately, a bolt of energy took off her left shoulder and arm. She fell to the ground with a cry. Hayden rushed to her, dropping his weapon. He brought her into his arms. Delani convulsed, tears streaking down her eyes.
	“It hurts, Hayden. It hurts.” It was bad. Rich, dark blood streamed down to the ground. Hayden didn’t know what to do. He could see parts of her ribs and lung were missing. This was not something he could just cauterize. She was going to die.
	“It’ll be okay, just wait a little bit longer,” Hayden lied.
	An agonized cry came from her bloody lips that plagued Hayden’s ears, “I’ll be alright, Hayden. We still have to make my weld together.”
	Hayden nodded, his face strained. Delani tried to form another sentence, but not a few moments later, the convulsions ceased. She was dead. Hayden’s eyes closed tight. He bared his teeth in anger and mental pain. But he had no time to mourn.
	“One’s rushing us!” he heard someone yell. Hayden was barely on his feet when he saw the Templar. He had jumped over the left side of the line into a crouch. In his hand, he held a weld sword of his own. However, Hayden only saw him clearly for a second. The Templar became a blur of silver. He made a zig-zag pattern dashing to each person in the line. Hayden rushed forward, but he might as well have been an observer.
	
	Pollock: blade to the heart.
	
	Corbin: decapitated.
	
	Lika: bisected.
	
	Aradrew: decapitated.
	
	Them and many more fell to the Templar’s lightning blade. Hayden screamed. The Templar locked onto him and rushed forward. Hayden knew he was dead. But he didn’t die. Instead the Templar froze mid-motion. He was in the air, sword poised back to strike. Hayden quickly looked around and saw everything else had stopped. He saw bullets hanging suspended. The battlefield had gone completely silent. Only he moved.
	
	~It’s awful, isn’t it?~ Hayden heard an otherworldly voice.