《Enter the Rift》


 Prologue

    The forest came alive at night with the sounds and smells of an alien, primordial world. Intermingling with the familiar flora of oak and pine trees were plants of enormous stature, with fanning purple leaves and thick blue vines. Tufts of tall grass sprouted between gnarled roots that gave way to soft, spongy moss the color of bone that blanketed the forest floor. Hidden by lush foliage and prickly shrubs, animals went about their business; finding food to assure they live another night.


    Caws and calls and the chittering vibrato of insects filled the humid summer night air. It was almost relaxing, tranquil, even--if not for feeling of dread that saturated the forest.


    Allysa shook her head to clear her mind. She should not be lulled into a false sense of security, certainly not in the depths of Macrophage territory. She shrugged, shifting the weight of the large blaster strapped across her back. The young woman had not needed to withdraw her weapon so far tonight, but the heavy form pressed into her shoulder blades reminded her of the danger that they were in. The Primal Forest was beautiful, yes, but it was home to the most dangerous creature known to man.


    She furrowed her brow and absently clutched the strap tightly.


    ¡°You look tense, Grey,¡± a heavy hand swatted her across the back, startling her out of her thoughts. Hot breath breezed by her ear, ¡°Loosen up a little, ¡®else when the fun starts you¡¯ll freeze like a deer in headlights.¡±


    ¡°What the hell, Russo? What if I¡¯d screamed?¡± Allysa twisted around to glare at the looming figure crouched behind her. Mischievous orange eyes looked back at her. His lips curled into a downright predatory smile,


    ¡°Then the fun would have started sooner.¡±


    ¡°Russo, Grey,¡± an audibly pissed voice hissed back at them, ¡°if you two do not shut up right now I will kill you both myself.¡± In response, her teammate snorted and Allysa mumbled a quick apology. Her other two teammates, Shaw and Blackman, threw her an apologetic glance. ¡°Now. I have got Batty in position. We have got two MPs up ahead, both appear to be resting. Two meters apart. The closest one is one-hundred feet to the Southwest,¡± their leader slowly rose to stand as she spoke, ¡°Grey, you should be able to get a good aim from that overhanging branch over there,¡± she tilted to head towards a nearby oak.


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡± Allysa rose from her crouch and started over to the tree.


    ¡°Not  yet , rookie. Wait for the rest of my instructions. One misstep and we could lose this.¡±


    Heat rose to Allysa¡¯s cheeks and she stammered a weak ¡°Of course, ma¡¯am,¡± and crouched back down. She heard Russo chuckle meanly behind her and her face flushed hotter. What a jackass.


    Her leader continued, ¡°Take the one cloest to us. I will target the further hostile. We have one shot to get the element of surprise. It is possible to take them out in one shot, but not likely. Russo, you will engage as soon as the shots are fired. I trust you to be swift and effective. Blackman, Shaw, you know what to do once the fighting is over. Be ready to defend yourself if necessary. They will know you are there as soon as you step within range. Understood?¡± The woman arched an eyebrow.


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am, Commander Love¡± The four whispered back in unison.


    ¡°Alright, then. For the Glory of Atlas.¡±


    ¡°For the Glory of Atlas.¡±


    As silently as they may, the five broke off into their respective positions. Allysa jogged quickly over to the oak tree. She paused to press her wrists together and the gloves on her hands extended sharp metallic claws. The girl then deftly climbed the large oak, claws digging and scouring the bark easy until she reached her position. She hefted herself up easily and slid forward, coming to rest on her belly against a large extended limb of the oak.


    In one fluid motion she unholstered her blaster and swung the large rifle forward, eyes automatically honing in on the scope. Her right hand came up to rest gently on the trigger. This is what she¡¯d trained for. This is what she lived for. Hopefully tonight would be her first successful mission.


    Allysa took her eye from the scope and looked over to survey the others. From her perch, she could see clearly into the dark night sky. Far above, a smidge of blue against the star-spangled sky flew in a large circle. That was Batty, Love¡¯s reconnaissance peeper. She looked over to her leader, who was observing something below. Allysa could see her eyes glowing a faint yellow, a tell-tale sign that the woman was using her telepathic connection with Batty to survey the situation from above. Once everyone was in position, Batty would let her know. Allysa glanced downward. Ah. That was what Love was looking at.


    Russo was taking cover in the leafy bushes below, just out of range of the MP¡¯s sensory radius. Even from here Allysa could see the disturbing smile plastered onto his angular face. His skin appeared to shift just beneath the surface, greys mixing with the tan of his complexion. Suddenly the skin on his left land seemed to liquify and rise from his hand, shifting, molding, and resolidifying as a dull grey blade that reached down lazily several feet past his waist. His other hand did the same. With gross fascination, Allysa watched as a long tapered tail sprouted from the base of his back, presumably for balance. His smile grew wider and his whole body tensed, a live wire ready to explode.


    As Allysa watched the transformation she couldn¡¯t help but think that the aura that radiated from his strance meant one thing and one thing only--


    Danger.


    An involuntary shiver ran down her spine.


    ¡°You never get used to it, rookie,¡± Shaw¡¯s gruff voice crackled into her comms. Allysa looked away to see Shaw kneeling at the base of her tree, ¡°It¡¯s freaky. Every damn time is freaky.¡±


    ¡°Well, Russo''s  always freaky, so it¡¯s not much different from normal.¡±


    He laughed lightly in her ear.


    ¡°You¡¯re just jealous, you Regs,¡± Russo responded.


    ¡°Whatever, Conduit.¡±


    ¡°You three, stop bickering,¡± Love¡¯s harsh voice broke through the comms. Allysa flinched, ¡°Batty says they haven¡¯t moved. Russo, Grey, are you in position?¡±


    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am,¡± they responded in unison.


    ¡°Good. Shaw, be on standby in case Russo needs healing--¡±


    ¡°--which I won¡¯t--¡±


    ¡°--and Blackman, be ready to gather tissue. We have a ten-second window after they die to preserve living samples. If they die, we fail the mission. And team Love does  not fail. Commence operation on three.¡±


    Allysa nodded to herself. Her first mission. She refused to fail.


    ¡°One.¡±


    She focused her sights. A green MP, eighty feet away. She could just make out the darker green nucleus of the MP floating suspended in its globular body.


    ¡°Two.¡±


    She held her breath. Body steady. Aim sure. The drone of the forest dimmed to a dull hum around her.


    ¡°Three.¡±


    She pulled the trigger. A bright shot of blue flew from the blaster nozzle and a loud  crack rang out through the air.


    The green MP shrieked in a terrible, wet gurgle and thrashed violently as one hundred volts of electricity zipped across its dull green body. A direct hit, but not good enough. Its newtonian form writhed and undulated violenly but it was not dead.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Two yards away, Love¡¯s target lay still, electricity still crackling across its bluish skin as it melted into a puddle of dead flesh. Blackman was already bounding from her hiding place, cryo-syringe ready to collect a sample.


    ¡°Dammit.¡± Allysa reflexively reached forward and pulled a switch to reload the rifle.  Ka-chink.  A new electricity capsule slid into place and she took aim once more, but her finger lingered on the trigger as her earpiece crackled to life:


    ¡°Good shot, rookie. Don¡¯t feel too bad, it takes a lot of experience to be able to take them down with one shot,¡± Love said, ¡°Leave the rest to Russo. Sit back and watch what a trained Conduit is capable of.¡±


    Allysa sighed, but took her finger off the trigger. She watched through her scope as a sudden explosion of movement from below her caught her eye. Russo.


    The MP was still recovering from her shot when Russo slammed into it at forty miles an hour, sending it flying into a nearby tree. It gurgled, outraged. Faster than her eyes could track it shaped a club-like appendage from its green mass and swung blindly at Russo. He dodged effortlessly, tail flicking to maintain his balance. In one calculated motion his arms lunged forward and pierced the MP¡¯s suspended nucleus, hitting home and pinning it to the tree. The MP made a last attempt to swing its club appendage forward, but the weapon lost shape halfway through the motion as the creature began to melt.


    ¡°That was it? That was embarrassingly easy,¡± Russo whined and pulled his arm-blades free of the tree. He rolled his shoulders back and took a step away from the melting blob.


    ¡°No such thing, Russo. Good job,¡± said Blackman as she jogged over. She bent down and stuck a long-needled syringe into the melting goop. Thick green sludge from the rapidly decaying creature filed the device as she pulled back the plunger. Standing back up, she pressed a button on the side of the syringe and the vial froze over, ¡°Samples secured. Nice job, team.¡± The woman unscrewed the vial and placed it gingerly in a pouch on her belt.


    ¡°Rookie, you can come down now,¡± Love¡¯s voice said in her ear. Right. Allysa¡¯s body relaxed. She slung the blaster back across her shoulder and dropped down so that she dangled from the tree limb. Without hesitation, she released her grip and dropped to the carpeted forest floor ten feet below. The shock absorbers in her legs took the brunt of the force and she strode over to the small clearing where Russo and Blackman were. Far to her right she could see the shape of Love doing the same, and the footsteps of Shaw were just behind her.


    ¡°Grey, fantastic aim. Blackman, great hustle out there,¡± Love practically beamed, completely throwing Allysa off. She had never once seen her commander smile since she was assigned to this exploration team a week ago. ¡°And Russo, stellar job.¡± Love held out her arm and Batty swooped down from the sky to land on her glove, the large winged mammal¡¯s talons biting into the tough leather, ¡°Yes, you did a great job, too, Batty.¡± The peeper chirped appreciatively.


    ¡°As always, ma¡¯am,¡± Russo''s skin crawled, absently shifting back to his humanoid form.  His smile is just as unsettling as ever, Allysa thought as she rolled her eyes. The cocky jerk. Though, based on his performance, he had a reason to be. Any praise she had for the older man left her thoughts when he turned to her with a smirk, though.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t I impressive out there, rookie? Thank god your shooting was off, otherwise you wouldn¡¯t have gotten to see me in action.¡± He said, winking. Allysa bristled


    ¡°Ugh. How''re you so annoying?¡±


    ¡°How are  you  so bad at aiming? The thing was sleeping, my grandma could¡¯ve made that shot.¡±


    Allysa turned bright red and was opening her mouth to retort when Love cut her off, ¡°Enough of that, you two. You both did a fine job. I will not tolerate childish feuds in my group. Now, let¡¯s head back to Atlas--and  quietly , might I insist, before you two attract all MPs within a mile radius.¡±


    Russo scoffed and rolled his eyes, but said no more. Allysa fumed silently.


    ¡°Always so hard on the rookies, Russo,¡± Shaw teased, approaching the group, ¡°without her, your job would have been significantly har--what is it?¡± Shaw tensed, as did the rest of the group. Allysa crouched into a defensive stance, though she was confused; what was wrong? She flinched involuntarily when she realized what was up.


    Beside her Russo stood in a slight crouch, skin practically jumping from his body and rippling across his arms and back.


    ¡°They¡¯re here. At least five. My parasite is going crazy.¡±


    Love practically snarled and the five of them circled up, ¡°But how? You should have sensed them before they got so close.¡±


    A wave of panic surged over Allysa. MP that could make it past a Conduit¡¯s sense radius? That should be impossible. Were the previous MPs bait? They weren¡¯t supposed to be able to coordinate attacks like that. Now they were out in the open and exposed. Allysa felt her heartbeat fluttering in her chest. Her throat was tight and her breath came rapidly.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m not trained for this. I¡¯m a Backline, I¡¯m not equipped for close-ranged combat. This is my first mission, what''re we supposed to--Ah!¡± she recoiled in pain as Russo¡¯s tail slapped her across the face, leaving a stinging red welt.


    ¡°The battlefield is no time to panic, rookie. You have close range protocol, if only a little. If one of us freaks out we all die. Get your ass in gear,¡± he growled, muscles tensing. Russo was right, as much as she hated to admit it. She needed to get her act together. In emergency situations like this she was trained to use light pistols. Allysa reached down to her belt holster and withdrew two small blaster pistols. They weren¡¯t powerful enough to kill an MP but they could do enough damage to slow them down. MPs without a Conduit were powerful, but lacked endurance. They were ambush predators, after all.


    She readied her blasters.


    Around them, the young woman realized, the forest had taken on a deathly silence. Seconds ticked by. Allysa felt her heartbeat in her throat.


    Blackman broke the silence, ¡°Russo, can you tell how close they ar--¡± her speech was cut short by a horrible thud as a long, club shaped appendage swung out of the foliage and made crushing contact with her head. Before Allysa could react, Blackman¡¯s body hit the floor with a heavy thump. Allysa jumped when a heavy object hit her foot and screamed in abject horror when Blackman¡¯s head looked up at her, completely rendered from its body.


    ¡°Blackman!--¡± Love¡¯s voice tore through the clearing, followed by the sounds of blasters firing and Shaw swearing. Shrieks of the MPs rang out in the forest around them. Allysa couldn¡¯t seem to stop screaming. She fell backwards onto her butt and scrambled backwards away from Blackman¡¯s body as chaos erupted around her.


    Love had one MP stunned and gurgling madly. Another MP lunged at her but she deftly dodged its appendage, this one a sharp blade, as another MP entered the clearing. Batty flapped and shrieked from atop his perch on Love''s shoulder before an appendage lashed out and disappeared the peeper into its sucking, globular flesh. Love cried out in anger and swirled to shoot it.


    Shaw was attacking another MP with his pistols on the opposite side of the clearing.


    ¡°Yeaa, get some! There¡¯s more where that came from!¡± He screamed, his careful aim juxtaposing the wild look in his eyes.


    Russo stood at the forefront of the clearing, bladed arms swinging in a deadly dance, stabbing and slicing at three green MPs that had emerged from the surrounding forest. His smile was replaced with a look of grim determination as he defended against the MP¡¯s crushing blows. One arm reshaped and hardened into a shield just as a club swung down and crashed into it, the impact pushing his heels down into the soft soil. Faster than her eyes could track, Russo¡¯s bladed arm jabbed forward and pierced the MP¡¯s nucleus; it slumped to the ground with a wet  plop.


    Russo growled, ¡°I  know  I need to hit their nuclei. But it¡¯s pretty damn HARD--¡± he brought his shield up again as another blow struck, then swung his right arm up


    and slashed one of the MP through its nucleus,¡± ¡°--to do when there¡¯s three of them! Shut up already!¡± He roared, a feral sound, just as one of the remaining MP threw its body at his shield. Russo¡¯s right arm formed into a blunt hammer and brought it smashing down onto the creatures body.


    ¡°Damn, I¡¯m good. Rookie!¡±


    Allysa was still frozen on the ground, throat raw from screaming, but her mind was momentarily brought back into focus, ¡°Y-yes?¡±


    ¡°Do you  want to die young? ¡®Cuz I sure as hell don¡¯t. Get your ass up and help us!¡± He looked back at her, eyes wild as he took the brunt force of another clubbing through his shield. Another one? Just how many were there?


    ¡°Y-Yes sir!¡± She said. She mentally berated herself for succumbing to her fear so easily. They could get through this, but only if they all did their part. She just needed a second to get a bearing on her surroundings--


    --Gurgle.


    ¡°GREY! Behind you!¡± Shaw¡¯s voice barely registered in her brain before he careened into her. Allysa landed hard, the wind knocked completely out of her.  Bang.  A pistol went off right by her ear. A high-pitched ringing went off as she struggled to make sense of her surroundings. She was shaken by the impact and disoriented by the noise. Allysa swung her head to the left. Love was mouthing the name ¡®Shaw¡¯ in a silent scream just as an MP overtook her and began to wrap itself around her body. She hit the floor noiselessly.


    Allysa turned her head towards the front. A grey MP was latched onto Shaw. She cried his name, but even her own voice could not overcome the ringing in her ears. Allysa reached for her pistol to stun the creature before she realized the massive crater in Shaw¡¯s chest from the blunt impact of the MP. His eyes were wide open and lifeless, mouth forming a perfect ¡°O¡± as the MP seeped over his body and began dissolving him into its own flesh. Shaw was dead. Love was dead. Everything was falling apart.


    Allysa was suddenly aware of a large figure obscuring her view. She threw her arms in front of her face and screamed. A strong hand latched onto her shoulder and shook violently. All at once her senses burst back, the cacophony of sounds around shocking her back to her senses. Russo was above her, left arm mangled and hanging loosely at his side.


    ¡°--dammit, I said  grab on,  rookie  !¡± he shouted through gritted teeth.


    Allysa blinked in surprise, ¡°B-but Blackman. Shaw. Love. They¡¯re all¡ª¡± she couldn¡¯t bear to say it out loud.


    ¡°I know that, but we will be too if you don¡¯t shut your mouth and grab on! I won¡¯t say it again,¡± he turned and crouched so that she could climb on. Biting back tears, Allysa stood and climbed onto Russo¡¯s back, trying her best to ignore the awful smell of decaying MP, fresh blood, and the horrible slurping sounds of digestion as the MP dissolved her fallen comrades.


    ¡°Hold on tight,¡± she barely heard Russo¡¯s words, but she locked her arms around his neck and across his chest and buried her nose into his back. With enhanced speed and strength, Russo propelled the two of them over the MP¡¯s corpses and into the embrace of the forest at a break-neck speed.


    As the sounds faded into the calm of the forest Allysa clutched Russo tighter and cried softly into his shoulder blades. She had failed. She had failed them all.