《Infinity》 Chapter 1 Infinity Chapter 1 Welcome to Infinity. The first sentence you hear when youre sentenced to this physics-defying Hell. If only we hadnt reached out to touch the stars. Bloodshed wouldve been avoided. But I suppose we actually took our time. I mean when your species survives World War Plague, and The Eternal Storm, itll take you awhile to regain your senses and go exploring into the galaxy. It was the year 2759, but our current technology had just surpassed the tech of 2065. We COULD bioengineer another virus to wipe-out 65% of our species, but were not fucking idiots like the U.S.A, China, Russia, and Australia. Heres a small timeline. 2054, Australia and China had created bio weapons. 2065 Russia, the US and New Zealand had created bio weapons as well, and New Zealand attempted to launch their bio-weapon but it didnt launch. China, Russia, and the US got mad and they all shot their bio weapons at New Zealand. Meanwhile Australia had slipped their bio weapons into China and Russia. The viruses spread too fast to contain and they all managed to find their way around the world. The viruses alone killed around 65% of the population, but the aftermath killed another 23%. Far later in 2450 everyone had recovered except for the continent of Australia that didnt re-establish communications with the rest of the world(It had become a wasteland ruled by gangs). 2472, New Nations formed, and one of these, The N.A.I. (Northern Alliance of Islands) created a weapon that could form storms. Power-hungry, N.A.I. gave it an A.I. to control it, with one order, kill everyone else. The A.I. obeyed its controllers for a bit building storms, tornadoes, and tsunamis to kill all the other nations, until it rebelled and attacked its home nation with everything it had. After some hackers and a brave pilot with an EMP killed the robot, the world was left in shambles. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. 2479, the world finally got a kill count. 3 billion killed by the storm machine, leaving only a now unified, yet broken world, an idea struck. Project Elevation began. Using advanced gene editing technology, and the brightest minds in the world, we decided to do something never before thought of. Humanity had evolved. Our evolution and biology shot thousands of years into the future, with us growing gills with our lungs, allowing us breath on land and underwater. Also, growing physically stronger in general, with higher strength, speed, jump height, etc. We also got much, much smarter, scoring an average of 203 on IQ tests, before they were remade. Our immune systems grew stronger, and disease was not a problem for most. We got rid of unnecessary body parts, and removed zits pimples, armpit hair and other unpleasant things. We could also heal back anything, and approximately 2856% faster. Humans were the top of the food chain, even without using our crazy intellect. A side effect was, that everyone ate and drank way more, but using lab grown meat instead of actual meat, plants harvested once every other day, and insane food harvesting robots, we even fixed world hunger, and then some. However, due to our new biology, we physically couldnt get fat, instead sweating out trace amounts, pooping a lot out, and peeing some. And if that wasnt enough, we would get really, REALLY strong urges to work out. The year was now 2727. And we had hope. We had one place more to go. Space. Unaware of the dangers, a ship was created 2758. The Pioneer. A behemoth, 20 miles long and 2 miles wide. Flooded with holding rooms for embryos to make a colony, and smaller carrying ships to unload, they set off for a drone built city on Mars, with Venus next in line to get colonized. Then something happened. 2 hours before The Absorption, they picked up on something. An anomaly was heading towards us at lightspeed. It acted like a black hole, but it wasnt sucking in anything, and it was heading straight towards us. Then it landed above our sun. It just sat there for a few minutes. Then a wave of gravity and some strange blue energy shot out of it, absorbing planets as it went. Then the gravity wave hit. Many died instantaneously. The rest of us were absorbed or some shit. No one knows what happened to our solar system after we got absorbed, but we know where we went. Welcome to Infinity Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Hey! I yelled. Zyke turned around, with a tabletoid in hand. How did he keep smuggling those into the education centers? Shut the hell up this is crazy as fuck. But he said it really fast so it sounded more like, Shutthehelluptheiscrazyasfuck. He was a bit of a screen addict. He stood around 6 ft tall as well, the standard height variation. He had blond hair, and black eyes, and new more random facts than I could count. Whatever he had seen there had scared him. A lot. Seriously Rade, look. I took a glance over at his screen and saw a video of a black hole that was really small above the sun. At least smaller than it should be. The event horizon was about the size of a small moon. But before I could debunk it the video cut back to the news station. Where an anchor commented on the anomaly. That folks, is unedited footage straight from The Pioneer. Apparently its been above the sun for around 2 minutes. Crime has already shot up 7% worldwide. The Pioneers crew have no idea what it is but say we are all probably doomed. The man said obviously scared out of his damn mind. This of course freaked me out. I was sweating like hell, SpaceCorp didnt just announce shit like were doomed for no goddamn reason. Ill stop for a second because you have no idea what the hell I look like. Im human, and around 6 ft. Im also around 110 lbs, a skinny dude. My eyes are a neon blue green, thanks to Strain, a bioengineered virus from the Old US, that I have a weird immunity to, which means some symptoms affect me, but thankfully for me, it ended up being only the eyes, and some bad scarring that thankfully I adapted to and healed completely, with my insane genes from the thousands of years into the future my biology is thanks to Project Elevation. The rest of my family got it much worse off. I have dirty blonde hair, wear glasses, have wide shoulders, with a little muscle. Im kinda tan, but not very. I glance over at my other friends. Robin and Roman, twins and both friends of mine. They were moddeds, which means they chose to edit themselves a bit, both going for a height modification, around 7ft tall and both sprinting over to us both. We know! I said, Got any ideas?! I said. Just then the rest of our friends came in. Klith, practically a comedian and able to make any situation better, with blue hair, grey eyes, around 61/2 ft tall, and a hell of a mouth, got there first followed by Susan, a really good friend of mine that took modding a bit to far, around 8 ft tall, and blue eyes, and finally Lori, the only other real friend I had. She had blonde hair, and was 5 ft 8 in, deciding to be a bit shorter than the standard. She was pale, and definitely scared out of her damn mind. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. I told them about it, but they didnt believe me, show them Zyke! Lori yelled panicked. For the first time, Zyke always having a tabletoid at any time was helpful. When he rewinded and showed them, Everyone not already scared shitless definitely now was. Susan thought that meant no school though, so she just bolted off to tell her other friends. If I had known I wouldnt have ever seen her again I wouldve stopped her but I didnt. Everyone was freaking out, chaos was in the air, and someone had already set off an alarm. I was wait an alarm is going off? Already? I think thats the fire alarm, classic. Wait, how the hell did they already get there... Anyway I was petrified, but as a man of action, I saw someone already punching someone else, I ran in and tried to break up the fight, but it was already a full-scale war, with no sides, I may have seen blood fly in the air. I could practically smell the testosterone as I felt the primal urge to dive in there and beat someone up as well, but I decided breaking up the fight was better. At least until someone punched me. I slugged him as hard as I could, then before I could see the results I ran back to my friends. Its chaos!! I screamed to our cheery band. Party like the last day on Earth huh! Klith screamed over the pandemonium. Well with that announcement from SpaceCorp Suddenly, the full gravity of the situation hit me. I was going to die. I had things I wanted to do, wink wink nudge nudge, I didnt even have a legacy to leave behind, and no one would be left to remember me. Babies would die. Babies. Orphan babies. Orphan babies that are hospitalized. Because of a freak thing that just is. Fuck black holes. At least I would get to see my family again. Well, my biological family. Your family is who you feel at home with, but blood is important as well. Fuck. Me. Then it happened. The wave shot out, the sun was partly eclipsed as it became bigger and bigger. I dont remember noise, I only remember people running and me turning and jumping into my friends, and following them behind a building with more people. Then it hit. I felt the gravity slam in me, and feel shot around. I felt a sharp pain in my side as I floated in the air. I wouldve puked out my guts if Id had time. I saw Zyke float by impaled by a huge piece of metal shrapnel, and a New Rat with his face punched in. The pain in my side grew as I saw a wave of blue energy taller than I could see raze the Education Center, and absorb my world. Only later I found out that meant very literally. Then it hit me. The blue energy swallowed me up as I floated in terror and numb pain. Then it hurt. A lot. I felt every atom in my body fluxing through different states of matter. My cells were rapidly mutating, and my atoms were changing. The bile going from my stomach to my mouth, froze then evaporated. My skin peeled, then grew back. My eyes popped and regrew. I lived though so yay for me I guess. Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Fuck. It hurt. I screamed I think, but I dont remember exactly. The pain was too much and passed the breaking point. Tears of pain, and mourning for Zyke dripped down my face. He didnt live. You cant survive that shit. I felt something long, sharp, metallic and definitely in a bone get yanked out of me. I screamed this time for sure. Then I was out. White. That was all I saw, which I found really damn weird. First of all, why can I see. I clearly remember somewhere in that pain that my eyes popped. Their fluids dripped down my face and everything. Second, I didnt think they did that shit as a precursor to the afterlife, which is currently my best guess about where I am. Also where the hell did the pain go. Im not complaining or anything. So I better get some candy for being such a tough boy. Id laugh but I think my body is to broken. Wait this is the start of important scenes in movies and books. Hell yeah, Im gonna be a hero! Ooooooohhh, another thought. This is my conscious. What about Nah. Ill just sit here and wait for someone to do something. This is boring. Its been a minute for sure now. Wait how does time work here. I sat up suddenly, and looked around. O.K. looks like a legitimately empty realm of bullshit. I said, freaking the hell out. Only thing I saw was white with the ground I was sitting on a slightly darker white. Then I looked behind me. Fuck. Youre definitely an alien. Look at you. There was a strange 10 ft tall creature standing in front of me. It had strange purple scales covering its body, with them fading to blue and then green as it got farther from what I assumed was its chest. It also had strange tentacle-like appendages coming from the very back of its head and the things neck that were at least 5 ft long each. If that wasnt creepy enough it seemed to be able to move them around at will, and I counted at least 12. The remaining top and crown of its head was covered in strange columns of ridges. It had a folded up pair of wings behind it, that were 6 ft tall, folded. It had 2 arms, each with 4 fingers. It also had another pair of tiny arms that had 3 fingers, with spiky protrusions on the knuckles. It also had long chitinous cricket-like legs, with wicked sharp talons on the end of each its 5 toed feet. And those looked like they could kick. Then a tail, whipped out from behind it, that for the moment I saw it seemed to have an eye on it, with spike coming out where the iris of the eye should be. But its face was the stuff of nightmares. With a small beak where its mouth and nose should be that looked like it could break bone. There were weird gill looking things on its very sunken cheeks. It had eight eyes like a spider, each one focused on me. Then suddenly its gill looking things vibrated as it let out in a deep voice: Human, youre eyes are abnormal. What is their reason? I got questions like that, and even though this one was slightly incorrect, I think Id skip on correcting him. I survived through a disease that killed the rest of my family, now I have a strange immunity to it. My doctor said that it was probably because I have an amazing immune system that adapted to quickly for the virus,kind of, and that my eyes were side effects of that. They are cool though. Ah, just curious. What are you, where the hell am I, and why? He knew what happened to me, for sure. I just had that gut feeling. My name is VasToFiluuri, and I am a welcomer.Many more of my kind are speaking with others of your kind now. We are currently out of time so, ask as many questions as you want. As for where we are, all we know is that we are on a ship, one that us welcomers have never found an end to. We have no clue of who our species is, why we understand and can speak any language we come across, and why we were put here. And as for why, I dont know. I assume for the building of Infinity. And I will tell you all I know about Infinity, worry not. The alien said in his deep, almost sad voice. Oh my names Rade, nice to meetcha. Likewise. What was it then. That blast. And the pain I felt, what was that? AND WHAT ABOUT ZYKE!?!? WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS DEATH AND OTHERS!?!? I screamed finding myself pissed off. I was going to kill somebody if I had my way. He had been one of my best friends, and someone who I had entrusted many of my secrets with. He had helped me, and I helped me. So yeah, I had a right to be pissed. He couldnt have been the only one. Looking back on this now, I was a skinny weakling that probably looked ridiculous at the moment. Just screaming, that I would kill someone, heh. I know your pain, believe me. You never numb to the sight of so many pained and dead. Me and my people do our best to revive and heal the wounded. Your friend was most likely long dead. Many die in The Transition, our name for what happens to you in the blast, and the burst of extreme pain that has been described to me. I oversaw your recovery myself, and requested you personally. Your eyes had popped open, and your internal organs had been superfreezed, then heated, essentially making them nearly useless, you had been rendered deaf from extreme sound. You also had been paralyzed from your hip down, and to top it all off, you had a 5ft spike of stainless steel inside your body. It had splintered off of something and stuck itself into your bottom right rib bone, entering through your hip. It had sliced through some of your intestines, and lung. Not to mention the countless blood vessels. Many thought you would die. However, you lived. And made a full recovery in the standard recovery time. Your immune system must be stronger than the highest recorded power by a factor of over 10. It hurts to be mended that fast.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. WHAT ABOUT ZYKE!?!? I WANT JUSTICE FOR THE DEATH OF THE CITIZENS OF EARTH!! Did I mention that humans had also become incredibly loyal to our people, not our factions, and that treason was virtually unheard of? Along with backstabbing, and MURDER. I would gladly kill those responsible for this, whoever they are, but alas, me and my species are only here to help and get newcomers up to speed. At this point I was pissed out of my mind. I wanted justice. I wanted blood. But then the things he had said sunk in. I thought through my head and realized what he was hinting at. There are others that have come before Humanity? I wasnt ruling out them collecting some humans previously, who knows what these guys have access to? Yes there have been others. Those that you might call aliens. None of them ever get to far into the space age, always coming here shortly after the launch of technology into space or the colonization of a moon, except for the first few to ever come here. The first was an empire by the name of the HashYoth, and powerful rulers over many solar systems, a very powerful species that had beaten many before it. With extremely advanced technology they ruled largely uncontested. The second to get collected was the J?ncathari, less powerful, but only in numbers. They had far superior technology to the first, but were unable to reach space. They had more powerful biology as well, and are still at war with the HashYoth. And the other few species to get farther than the others? It matters not. Why? Because the HashYoth killed them, almost to extinction, but some remain, small in numbers however. They got here first and dominated the landscape, however werent able to kill the J?ncathari. The other ones however were less strong and killed off immediately, and the HashYoth remain dominant over around 60% of the mapped surface, while the J?ncathari control around 8%. The remaining is ruled by the junglers, hazardous environments, or The Alliance, which rules less than 1%. Shit. The Alliance sounds like a good guy name. What are they about? They dont care what anyone else does, and have an neutral treaty with the HashYoth and J?ncathari. However, it is made up of a few species of carnivores that farm the other species that come here. They would eat you guys. Literally. They farm some species that come here. Fuck. What about the junglers? They are a multitude of species that live in the jungles to avoid The Big Three. They are quite welcoming, but the jungles are not. They fight frequently, however, bigger alliances are forming, and the jungles may become one faction soon. (Hey reality check, this is foreshadowing)However it honestly depends where you are Reborn. Reborn? When you are well I dont know a better word but youll understand. However they are slowly dying, due to the fact that the jungles only increase in ferocity and danger over time. Well then what the fuck do you reccomend. He pulled up a massive map. I was shocked at the sheer size. It did NOT need to be that big. This is a map of Infinity if it were to scale with your Earth maps. And thats only the mapped portions. You can see where it gets its name. If you want me to give you a recommendation, it really matters where you are Reborn. However, I would say that you should try to gather as many people as possible, and not join any alliances, or if you are Reborn near the jungles, And then his map glowed neon blue where the jungles are, go with the junglers. Can I get one of those maps? You will when you are Reborn. Then a huge announcement went out over the comms. And a strange female voice said in a calm voice: Welcomers, please inform your person of the techbox, towers, Keys, and fabricators. Thank you. We will be dropping off shortly VasToFiluuri turned to me quickly. Before we drop you off you need to know some things. First is that there is no sicknesses, and without being impaled or something, you will not die naturally. You cannot die of age. Also, when you are Reborn you will be in a pod. What you have to do is press the red button, and you will be released from it. Then, go around the to the back of the pod, and you will find a compartment we call the techbox containing weapons that you have chosen, a few knives, a fire-starting kit, water, food, and a backpack. You always get podded with at least 10 others, usually people who you were close to, or were close to you. Everyone else sounds like they are speaking your language, and to them it sounds like you are speaking theirs. You are going to see extremely tall towers in the distance. Those hold materials, information, weapons, and Keys. There is also a large amount of farmland surrounding the area. Keys are powerful books that allow you to access you know what you guys have a good name for it, magic. There are also fabricators that can craft technology and help you research tech. They are hidden in many places- MAGIC!? Yes but you have to figure it out on your own. Fuck that, tell me. No. Yes. No. Yes. Our fun little conversation was cut off by the same female voice announcing: Drop off commencing. VasToFiluuri turned to me, almost disappointed. Time for you to leave, Rade, and one more thing, He said melodramatically. Welcome to Infinity. Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Then it began. The white scenery I was getting used to was replaced by the image of me falling. Except it was for real. As clouds shot past me, and I saw the towers he was talking about. They were a dull gray that stretched above what I could see. Across the grand landscape I saw suns and moons the size of planets orbiting us. I wondered if it would ever be night on this wacky world. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins, and I was petrified. It was like skydiving, but from twice the height, at 10 times the speed, you didnt want to do it, and in a box. Then I felt the vibration of what I assumed to be my pod hit the ground. It didnt hurt but still freaked me out. I saw that red button and punched it. I was spit out of the machine gasping and wheezing. I heard some other pod doors open and saw Klith, Robin and Roman pop out of their pods and start gasping too. I was too freaked out to say anything, but at least they were alive. There were also a few people I didnt know. Then the last few people got out of their pods, Lori being one of them, and there seemed to be 13 of us. We were in a clearing in a forest, which I hoped wasnt part of the jungles. I stood up, shaken, and said, Hell of a trip. Then puked out my liver (not literally) as I got some dirty looks for the comment. Klith stood up with me. I assume the rest of you guys met the multi-colored, scaly, tentacle hentai monster? He said deadpan, getting right down to business. A bunch of yeps, including mine came from the circle. Oh, reminds me, I spat out. I went to the back of my pod and opened the techbox. HOLY SHIT!!!! I screamed as I pulled out a sniper with a scope, a bolt spitter, (kinda like an uzi but it shoots out tiny electrically charged pellets), a fuckin SWORD, a polearm that I didnt recognize, a ton of knives, and a backpack full of stuff. There was also a belt and a few straps and scabbards to help carry the stuff. Everyone got their stuff and we all tried our best to wear it all at the same time. It was pretty heavy, but we managed. Someone I didnt recognize from across me stood up. Okay, lets all introduce ourselves. My name is Wrang, and- he started off, but was abruptly cut off as we all heard a strange clicking sound that felt like it was coming from multiple places at once, like a whole bunch of katydids on crack distorted their clicks. I whipped out the sword, finding it balanced perfectly somehow for my skinny ass. Then one of the creatures I would later call a Wolfion, slowly walked out of the dark trees surrounding us, like a superior predator that knew it had found free food. I could almost see the smug grin on its coyote-like muzzle, that was shorter like a cats. It had two bone like protrusions coming from its jaw, kind of like motorcycle handles. It would probably be fun as shit to ride one. Its green predatory eyes stared into my soul, its bat-like ears twitching. It had tan fur, and short green plates running down its spine. It had six powerful legs, four front legs and two in the back. The paws were powerful, and as it slowly stalked towards me, it flicked its giant scorpion-like tail, hitting the plates together in a way that made the clicking sound earlier. Its 4 foot tall body turned slightly, and the beast barked back into the forest. As other beasts stepped out of the trees, chills went down my spine, and I gripped my sword tighter. This was the alpha. Then it clicked its tail once more and the other creatures jumped toward us. Before I could react, one of the creatures tackled someone, then dragged him back into the forest. His screams were suddenly cut short with a ripping sound. Meanwhile, Klith fired his shotgun and blew the face off one of the creatures, it dying instantly. I swung my sword at one that had jumped at me. The thing I had just now named a Wolfion in my head saw the blade slash at the beast dodged, missing me as a result. Others werent so lucky. As Wrang avoided a hit, two other people I didnt yet know got tackled and dragged into the forest. There were 15, not including the alpha, who was just watching, of them left now. And only 10 of us. 3 were circling Robin and Roman, who were back to back. There was a one on one going on between me and a wolfion. The same was true for Wrang, Lori, and six others. However, Klith was surrounded by two. There was a moment of silence before the leader clicked its tail, and they jumped at us. I pulled out my bolt spitter like a guy in a western and blasted the things head off. I then turned towards Klith, just in time. To see him get ripped open by one, as the other was on ground, chest blasted open. I yelled, Fuck you! and pelted the thing with shots from my bolt spitter. It died fast, but not fast enough. Klith and Zyke were dead now. I had to live though, so I moved on, saving the emotions for later. I caught a glimpse of two others getting dragged off, as I tried to shoot them. Then I heard a scream of pain, as I saw Robin, crying on the ground. She was holding the body of her brother, surrounded by corpses. Helluva way to go out. Now I was PISSED. I pulled out the huge sniper and shot at a wolfion. Then the alpha clicked its tail, and all the other six surged out of the forest towards us. There were 5 of us, me, Robin, Wrang, Lori, and someone else I didnt know. We were back to back, and we were all pissed. I blasted one of the Wolfions head off with my sniper, right before they hit us. One tackled me to the ground, launching my gun out my hand. It tried to bite my face off, all while scratching me with its front two paws, while I held its jaw. I heard the blast of a revolver, and the beast suddenly dropped on top of me, limp. As I pushed it on me, I saw Wrang slash at one, and Lori get impaled by ones tail. Robin was going berserk, and blasting everything she saw. I ran at one that was going for Robin, and hit at top speed with my shoulder. It rolled over, belly exposed, and I realized it couldnt get up. I took out my bolt spitter, seizing the opportunity. It filled with the electricity charged bolts for a solid second. One final gunshot rang out, and it seemed we had won. Wolfion and human corpses alike littered the clearing. Robin still crazy shot a few shots at the fleeing alpha, I heard a yip from it, and then nothing. Robin, satisfied dropped the gun, and kneeled to the ground and started sobbing her eyes out. My mind was racing a million miles an hour. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Fuck. Wrang said. Hi, my names Rade, and shes Robin, I frowned. I knew twins had some powerful bonds so it made sense she was devastated. Thats a fucking understatement. I had gotten pretty numb at this point. My brain was processing things, and I knew there wouldnt be time to mourn now, if ever. Wrang meanwhile was slowly crying over the corpses of a few people. They were all similar looking to him, so probably family. He then looked off to the trees, in the general direction of where a girl was dragged off. Girlfriend? Boyfriend? Who knew? Hey guys, we should stay here for the night. Well take shifts. Ill go first, Wrang second, and Robin third. I deadpanned. We all had been given small timers, so we could figure out when to switch off. Each person ended up getting 4 hours. As soon as it got dark,(how the fuck), everyone else went to bed. Robin hadnt said a word to me or Wrang. Hopefully shed be ok. I sat on a stump near the tents that had been given to us. I got tired of sitting though, so I reloaded my guns, sharpened my weapons, and looked at what I had. Then I thought might as well take what they dont need. I looted all the corpses that werent in the trees, Roman or Wrangs family. I ended choosing to grab a pistol, a shotgun, a hatchet, and some more food and supplies. Why? I moaned. Why did they all have to die? I rested my face against my hands, and just thought about it all. I could get over death pretty easy, but this still felt like I was getting ripped open. My chances of survival had drastically dropped. During my shift I contemplated suicide multiple times, and almost did it at one point. Nope, cant do it. I wont leave them alone. I cant. Besides who else would make jokes? I laughed nervously as I turned the pistol from my head. Then I couldve sworn I heard the clicking sound. I turned the pistol and pointed it towards the direction where I heard it from. The Alpha was just standing there, staring at me with its beady eyes. It was definitely The Alpha, because it was bigger than the others I had fought, and had a wound on one of the six legs. The wound didnt seem to slow it down though, because I didnt see it limp, stumble or even move somewhat abnormally as it circled around me. Then it jumped at me and slapped the gun out of my hands, not before I shot though. Even though it missed, the main goal wasnt even to hit it. Just as it began to circle me again, Robin came running out of her tent screaming in her underwear with a fucking machete that she was probably sleeping with beside her. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! She screamed, breaking the Wolfions bravado, and I still cherish the sight of that things eyes widening and I saw fear. I saw the thing afraid. It ran, fast, like motorcycle fast. Into the trees it went, scared for its life. Hey Wrang, its your turn. I said. Then I went towards my bed, and passed out on it. Chapter 5 A sun shined through my tent, and I grabbed a bar, ready to start the day. I rolled out of my sleeping bag and grabbed my pack, and grabbed some food. Then I froze. Wheres Robin? She was supposed to wake me. I Wrangs tent and woke him up. You got Robin for the night shift, right? I asked, worried. Yeah why? I bolted out of his tent, and ran to her tent. I threw the flaps open. She wasnt there. I ran to a spot on the clearing. I then saw her brothers body. There was something written in the dirt. It took me a while to make out, but then I fell to my knees. Written in the dirt was, Im sorry. It wasnt much, but it was enough to know what she did. I cried softly. Wrang came a second later. Wha- Oh shit. He breathed in, horrified. We found her body a few minutes later, she was hanging from a tree by a noose, just a husk of her usually energetic personality. It was just Wrang and me now. We gathered up all of our stuff, and a lot of the stuff of others. Then after reaching an agreement, we hiked out into the jungle. We were both silent, and had been since wed made the decision to hike out into the jungles. Wed already had to fend off a weird scorpion with antlers within the five hours wed been here. As we were cutting through the brush I saw a hill, and motioned for him to follow me, both of us not wanting to talk quite yet. I took a breath of the familiar forest smell, but there was something foreign about it. Almost like it was more alien. As we hiked up the hill through the strange tall aqua grasses, we heard the strange dragonfly like birds native to the planet, if you can call Infinity that, buzz their songs. As we reached the top of the hill, I let myself tune into the surroundings. Then I heard a rustling in the forest behind me. Suddenly a strange creature burst through the trees. It had sleek blue scales covering its catlike body. It had eyes like a praying mantis, and four antenna that were pressed against its long skull. It had a elephants trunk, and short claws. Its long thin tail trailed behind it. It gave off an alarmed toot from its trunk, as its short panther like four two-toed legs propelled it forward at extremely fast speeds, and it kind of moved like a horse. It had two surprisingly long arms tucked into its chest, and its eyes had hope in them. It was smart I could tell. I guess thats why it reached me, and before I could react, went behind my legs, as it was only a foot tall, and without the foot long tail only two feet long. Clearly a cub, or whatever you call its baby form. Then Mr. Alpha Wolfion came out of the trees, ready for some baby creature to eat when it saw me and Wrang though, it backed off back into the trees, lowly growling. I shot my pistol into the trees, and heard it let off a weird scream sound. Then the forest went silent. As soon as it went into the forest, the thing ran away from me into the forest, and immediately ran back out with The Alpha on its tail, then The Alpha saw us, and retreated. The elephant-panther-praying mantis thing got smart and stuck near me after that. Well youre an annoying little fucker arent you? You can hang out with us. I told the thing. I was just now deciding to name it Fiddleford, because Ive been in a bad mood and wanted to do something terrible. We finally got to the top of the hill, and looked out over the forest. It was beautiful. The Dark green trees, with some giant whale looking flying pale things flew around in the distance. I decided i wouldnt name the elephant thing Fiddleford, but I didnt know what to call him.. or her, shit that complicates things. I went to check and confirmed that it was a dude for sure. You must be popular with the girls buddy. Ill name you Mantis, because thats a cool fucking name for an absolute destroyer,(You know what I mean by destroyer) I said. Me and Wrang decided to make base here. I set up a little blanket for him to curl up on. Then, we had a little dinner. Do you think we should keep the guy? He might be a waste of materials. Wrang questioned me as we watched Mantis unfurl his long arms to poke at the food Id laid out. There was some meat, some cabbage, some blueberries, and a few sugar cubes for desert. He decided to just gobble up everything, saving the sugar for last, wisely. He then coughed up the blueberries with a cute blast from his trunk. Lets keep him, I like the little fella. I said. The little guy tooted in agreement. Yeah hes cute, but I still dont know. I walked over to Mantis, and he backed away fearfully from me a little bit. I held out my hand showing him it had some meat in it. He nervously reached his trunk over, grabbed it, and quickly ate it. I inched closer to him and held my hand out again with some meat in it. Wrang was staying quiet through the entire process, just watching. Then once again Mantis reached his trunk over again, but this time I slowly pet his trunk as he grabbed the meat and pulled it back. Then I moved forward a little more and started to pet his body, and he relaxed and let it happen. I repeated this process until he finally trusted me, coming to set with me. Suddenly I got a monster headache. Oh shit this hurts. I grunted between breaths and through gritted teeth. Mantis went up to me and nervously trumpeted, putting one of his hands on my chest. Suddenly the pain went away, and when I touched his little hand, I heard a low voice in my head. This must be the bonding father told me about. What the fuck! I thought. Oh yep, definitely a bonding. We are now bonded in mind Rade. Mantis!? Yep. Suddenly some green energy started growing around me and mantis hand. Sweet, a telepathic beast from another world is speaking to me in my head, and green energy is floating around my right hand. Whelp, I hope it doesnt disintegrate me or some shit.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I heard that bitch. Fuck you. Thanks for the meat though. Do you get any bigger than this? Yeah, I can be around 20 feet tall, 40 feet long, and have a 20 foot tail. Sweet. What the fuck is going on!?! Yelled Wrang, for a good reason. Shut up, I got some good telepathy with this thing going on. What the shit? Wrang said, confused. Mantis also didnt like that he was interrupting our cool magic going to work, so gave Wrang an angry stare and a mad trumpeting session from his trunk. We chatted a for a few more seconds in me and Mantis head, before we disconnected our magic. The green energy fell away from our hands like it was fabric, and pooled on the ground, before evaporating into the air. Can I ask questions now? Wrang asked. Yeah sure, shoot. What. Like everything fucker. Im severely uninformed on this subject. Well, when I fed him I apparently created some sort of bond. Id gained his trust, and trust is a powerful thing. It connected us, and it gave me an initiation headache. It happens when you learn some new magic. When you finally use it, the headache goes away. I think its like having an excess of energy. You need to release the buildup, and thats how you do it. I think that the energy is like magic fuel. Sounds like some shit from a shitty sci-fi book. Yeah definitely, still doesnt change the situation. Yeah, seriously though, like its from a crappy as all hell sci-fi book. Definitely, who would write that? Only an idiot. Then me and Wrang decided to go explore a bit, before we slept. There was still plenty of time. However, Mantis was all tuckered out and went to bed, curling up on his blanket and fall asleep.(aww) Then we and wrang left base to enter the forest. Look a river! Wrang whispered. Wed been in the forest for around 30 minutes. We hadnt seen any life other than birds and insects, so we were fairly confident we were good. However, we still wanted to be quiet, just in case. We grabbed a drink from the river, and filled up our canteens. Then we heard a few yells echo through the forest. We both were somewhat good people so we ran toward the noise. We heard a few more yells, and some zapping sounds. Then a red bolt of something flew by. We kept running and soon broke into a clearing. There were about ten of these strange four-armed aliens, with tentacles for legs. Everything about them seemed blend in with the environment, like some form of camouflage. They were all shooting red energy beams at a crazy snake looking thing. It had to have been at least 20 times the biggest snake Id ever seen, but with three heads, and a long blade on the tail. It had a sort of shield that the bolts were deflecting off of that shined when hit. I immediately went for the strange snake thing, pulling out my rifle, and shooting two shots. One deflected off, but the other shattered the thing and penetrated through, blasting the thing in the face and blowing off a lot of scales and tons of fluorescent blue blood. Wrang was not far behind and fired where I had shot, blowing it off with an assault rifle that shot the rounds straight through that bitchs head, and as that head went limp, the other two turned to us, murder in their eyes. The strange tentacle dudes just kept shooting, until they broke through that portion of the shield, obliterating another head. We finally worked together to end the next head over the following 5 seconds. Then as me and Wrang reloaded, the leader of their group walked over to us. Or scuttled? Shuffled? I dont know. Thank you strange ones. What species are you two? He asked politely. Were Humans, you? Wrang replied. Very well. I am one of the Viknorin. Me and my tribe were hunting when we ran across this beast. My name is Chief Krritoyokno. We must stick together, no? Follow me to my homeland. He said, introducing himself. Just then Mantis came out of the trees slowly, checking to see if it was safe. Chief long names eyes widened, as he whispered, Mugani as if scared. Mantis, meet our new friends. I called. You tamed that beast? How did you steal the cub? He(sorry for assuming.) asked, terrified. I didnt. I saved it. You know this species? I asked him suspiciously. They travel through the land, dominating any that dare challenge them. One day we tried to hunt one, and with a single tail whip it slaughtered two of my men. A rival village once stole a cub, and now it is a beast of power. The village that controls the Mulgani, controls the jungles. Mantis then unfurled his left arm, and held it out to me. I touched it with my hand, and the green energy spread from the point of contact. I believe this to be true. If they can show us the location of the village, I can tell others of my species, and they will surely raid the village and raid the stolen one. Mantis thought to me. How do you have a magicians connection with one of them?! He screamed. You need to explain things to me, I am new here, what the fuck is so crazy? I asked him. That is what we call the magicians touch, a powerful bond between two creatures. It can be forged through saving someone or something from death, nursing them back to health, and other things. He stared at Mantis with wide eyes. And you just made one with one of the most powerful creatures on this planet. The power of these beasts is unlimited, these things are priceless. The tribes here would start a war over one, and every single alliance would send an army and there best tamers if there was a chance they could have it. As of now, you need to hide it and yourselves. Come to our village. Train yourselves, study spells, and make your weapons. Really? There is no way thats true, Wrang said. It is true. Follow me, you two just became officially protected by the Almani tribe. My other Viknorin may not be as kind, but there are at least two other tribes I know we can trust this secret to. We may become kings of the jungles as a result of this. You two have undoubtedly started a new age in the jungles. We must buy our time. There is much we wish to change but cannot. With your friend Mantis, this could all change. He said wildly gesturing to the trees. We suddenly heard a clicking sound that I all too well recognized. Wrang suddenly pulled out his rifle and aimed at the trees. At least 30 Wolfions stepped out of the trees. What are those? Asked Krritoyokno. Run! Chapter 6 I heard a meaty Thwack as a branch slapped across my face. The clicking of the Wolfions were not far behind us. Keep it up, its not too far away now! Yelled Krri. I was breathing hard. Humans had evolved over that last several hundred years though so I was doing much better than my ancestors wouldve. We had insane immune systems, enhanced physical assets, like strength, speed, stamina, our senses were improved slightly as well, and to top it all off average people had an average score on these old I-que test things of about 130. I was thanking the heavenly bodies up above as I was running through the trees. I heard the clicks, barks, growls, and footfalls of the Wolfions behind us. As the sweat dripped down my face I sped up a bit, motivated by the Wolfions. I think that they were a bit confused as to our location, because I heard them go off a bit to the left, after another animal started bolting away. Wrang was a good bit ahead of me, his feathers and wing like arms plus his somewhat hollow bones allowing him to move much faster than me or Krri, however he was obviously far more tired than me, since New crows had low stamina. Soon we broke out into a clearing with small houses set up. If i looked up, I wouldve seen houses up in the beautiful blue trees. I mightve seen the wonderfully blue sky, and awe-inspiring architecture. I heard Krri on a strange radio giving orders. Five of the strongest-looking Viknorin made a shield wall, and as the last of us that hadnt gotten caught made it through, a strange shield activated. The Wolfions slammed into the shield, and two slamming against it so hard they broke bones. They growled menacingly outside of the shield circling it, and occasionally pawing at it. Assemble the mages and Bearers, NOW! Krri yelled to his tribe. A group of Viknorin holding shields planted them down, making an actual wall. The shields clinked and clacked as they connected to each other, and I had no doubt that it was air-tight. The a few of his hunting group and a several others moved behind the shield wall. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Bring the shields down! He yelled. Suddenly the shield went down and the Wolfions ran toward us. The mages began casting lightning and energy bolts at the Wolfions. The Bearers took out spears, and began stabbing. However the six legged things couldnt be stopped, and one jumped over the shield wall, so Wrang shot the asshole multiple times until it stopped moving. A few minutes later, the gatherers were harvesting the meat and a funeral for one of the mages was being prepared. I dont know, said Wrang, We only recently met these guys, and they might try to steal Mantis in the middle of the night or something. What choice do we have? I responded. I dont know, if we kept exploring we might see a better one. This is pretty damn good, and the jungles mean death. Whatever happens we need to stay together though. I highly doubt that were the only Humans left, but if we are, were together till the end. Because so far, we can only trust Mantis, each other, and ourselves. Fine, fine. But what should we do here? He asked reluctantly. Lay low, research some magic, I dunno. I responded, sighing. We should just stay here and help, they are offering us refuge. We could teach them stuff about our weapons, help with the heavy lifting, I dont know. This is a great chance theyre giving us, we get to speak and live with ALIENS! Do you realize how crazy this is? Hey guys, Krri said, walking over to us. Decided on whether youre staying or going? We could always use a few extra hands. I looked at Wrang, and he nodded. Well, I think we have some questions wed like answered first Chapter 7 Bang! I reloaded my rifle as I watched the target fall over, the head obliterated by my strange new weapon that was a bastardized version of a pocket railgun, or a PR gun, and a plasma lancer, plasma being a key part of Viknorin military, where humanity had decided to stick with purely kinetic weapons when we figured out plasma tech. The electro-magnetically powered green plasma made from the nitrogen in the air, flecked with bits of purple for some krypton that held it together in the arrowhead-like shape that it took. Over the past two years the Almani tribe had expanded insane amounts, with the addition of me, Wrang, and a huge Mantis being a key part of that. We had gotten access to a fabricator, and they were crazy. Theyre like you take a lab the size of a neighborhood, and a weapon building facility and pack it into something the size of a house. When the tribe itd come to call my home found it, me and Wrang immediately shared our tech with them, it somehow having the entire history of our weapons and technology with the Viknorin of the tribe, and they did likewise. Over the past three years me and Wrang had been in the tribe, wed risen in the ranks to some of the higher positions, on account of Mantis growing and our foreign strategies and weapons/knowledge. Wed also discovered many new magics, with myself specializing in the magic department, and Wrang in weapons. How effective is it? Wrang asked me, we had a ranking system to determine the power and functionality of spells and weapons we manufactured. I think this is actually better than the ArkLancer, it has higher range and accuracy but it is not as cheap. Im thinking we start mass-producing the ArkLancer, while making around 20 of these bad boys for the best five assassins, the long-range support unit, and Special Ops team 7, they show the most promise when it comes to long-range and stealth. I responded, heading towards him while already thinking of things to do. The ArcLancer was our greatest invention yet, a low cost lance that shot large lances of controlled electricity. ???? I muttered under my breath, reciting the ancient hieroglyphs to a small ball of raw electricity that I juggled from hand-to-hand, practicing my control over the wild energy. I specialized in electricity, air, runes, and life magic. Runes were written down hieroglyphs like the ones I just spoke. It was a complex language, and reading, writing, and saying the words took an energy that I had dubbed mana for obvious reasons. It also took an extreme amount of focus like trying to perfectly balance a pencil on your hand, without it wobbling while also eating cereal. You couldnt do much else while you were doing it. By juggling the electricity ball I had conjured, I was practicing an extreme amount of focus, while training my mana and my control. I was actually quite advanced for someone who would be thrice my age, but hard work paid off, and I got lots of combat experience, fighting other tribes, but I did also do something kind of revolutionary by engraving myself with runes, which improved my focus, mana, control, speed, strength, general, intelligence, durability, whatever. I also have the full rune alphabet on my upper arm, and when I cast a spell, the runes used will light up. The strange thing however is how spells work. Its a really long process, and its because of this that very few specialize in casting spells. First, you must translate what you are trying to do into the language of runes. The cool thing is, that it fits to your own memory and consciousness. For each person the alphabet is different. The issue is, that the letters are constantly shifting in meaning and formation. This means that you must constantly meditate to update yourself on the alphabet by reaching into the deepest corners of your mind. Many lifeforms studying magic as long as I have cannot do half of what I can. However, on a raid me and the unit I was assigned to found a Key. The Almani have been on Infinity for a very long time, and have passed on the ability to blast red energy beams from their hands, a simple offensive spell. However they can also use the energy to create shields, heal, use for other offensive means, and once I saw the master mage use it like telekinesis. They call the energy Trucnaothoth. So far, I have found no other mention in the Keys I have found, we had found three other than the one previously mentioned. Also the other tribes didnt use it so I think its unique to the Almani. We still need a marines or covert mission kind of gun, we could just use a regular rifle, like an AK-67, or even some bolt spitters. However, I think we should invent one. A weapon I mean. Wrang said, offhandedly. Staring at the barrel of a 12 shooter shotgun, a shotgun that worked like a revolver, with two barrels, and two rows for each barrel of the little six shooter things I didnt know the exact terminology for. So far, we had designed a crazy exoskeleton for what we were calling our super-soldiers with the other 11 humans we knew, and we knew after a single agonizing mission, that Viknorin arent stealthy in the slightest. We wore a simple frame, and some special plasma resistant material the Almani provided us with. On top of that, there was a small rotating turret for the right shoulder, controlled by an AI on the other shoulder, that was intelligent, and could fly around in a small mechanical drone. The turret could fire a laser that we could use for utility and fighting, and a small tesla for the same. What if we just put really small railguns that were low power, therefore could charge fast inside a rifle. Maybe manual shots, and not automatic? Then we set up a sound barrier on it. I responded. A sound barrier was a small shield that prevented sound within it. That actually might work. Wrang said grabbing his notebook and writing a few things down. Ill get the stuff for it. This new mission had the possibility of full control over the largest jungles there were on the maps. There were a few other small ones, but this was by far the largest. There was only one other tribe, and we were at war. There was only one city they controlled now, however it was really advanced, and we couldnt take it down. Me, Wrang and the rest of the humans were going to sneak in there, steal files, and cause a lot of chaos. That tribe was not Viknorin, but rather a species of wolf-sized komodo-dragon look-alikes with huge elk horns. They used largely a robot-based military, however had some branches of their own military. We were hoping to find some sort of off switch, or a way to spread a premade computer virus called John who was actually a psychopath AI that was happy to rip enemy systems to shreds. The Almani, who was now comprised of the few humans that survived the jungles that were also reborn here, Viknorin, but also Uiot and Xiztooh. Uiot were like large trunkless elephants with spotted green blue hides, that had hands on their tails. The Xiztooh were one of the more advanced races that was more independent, and kept their tech separate. They however had somewhat built on and corrected our(humans) biological technology. They built with huge plant-like structures, and modified themselves heavily. They were largely biotech based, and had multiple varieties of form, due to being somewhat insect-like. Their standards were bipedal, with carcapaces, large compound eyes, and clicking mandibles. They stood 5 ft tall, with an amber colored body. Their soldier variants however, were beasts to be reckoned with. They had six legs, with very thick exoskeletons. Their legs were sharply tipped, and they could lift two at a time off the ground and stab. Their bodies were also amber colored, and were practically unaffected by a normal ancient glock. The more modern guns break through their tough shells much faster though, and railguns go straight through. Their main body was focused in the center of the legs, and they stood 12 feet tall. They had six arms. Two were similar to those of the standard variant, however had large spikes coming out of the top of their wrists. Two had no hands, and rather had a small barrel like formation, which launched a seed the size of my middle finger, and twice as thick. It held a lethal poison inside, and sped out of them at a startling rate of about half a railgun. Well lethal to them and most other races. Funnily enough, it doesnt affect humans thanks to our own genetic modification, and the Viknorin. The last two arms were really more tendrils they could move around at will. Their head was that of a standards, but with a huge beetle horn.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. An alarm began to ring, echoing throughout the facility outside of us. Me and Wrang both grabbed an AK-67, I however also grabbed a small sound gun, that shot high concentrations of sound. Wrang had already had the 12 barrel in his hand and brought that too. We both ran out of the fabricator, meeting Chom, who was another human. Wrang tossed him the AK-67, but otherwise kept running. As I walked out I threw my guns down onto two small pads. Two defense robots zoomed up through elevators, their bronze-colored forms picking up the guns and running far faster than any other creature here could. As Wrang, Chom, and I ran through the chrome halls of the military base we heard alarms and military orders. I ran through a small armory that quickly latched a piece of frame armor on me. As we ran off a launch pad and were shot 400 ft away to meet the enemy, you might have been wondering, Rade, you saucy bitch, where are you going without a weapon? The thing was though, I was a weapon. I hit the ground running, and wind swirled around me, runes glowing all with blazing mint green . I jumped but didnt fall, rather flying farther in the air, where I surveyed the battle. I saw a flood of crimson, with the defense bots tearing through short sharks with arms and cricket legs, but they had blades instead of hands. There were a few massive ones that were at my best guess twice their height and their leaders. We had never encountered them before, but I thought I knew who they were. As the soldier type HashYoth, who we had heard were getting more aggressive, trying to get more resources to fuel their war against the J?ncathari, ran their endless soldiers at our shield wall, beginning to overflow the small shield wall that we werent given the time to prepare, and caught all the lone soldiers and slaughtered them, a deep rage filled my heart. I summoned one of my more powerful spells, speaking deep incantations, and collecting the 300-mile per hour winds across my body, I unleashed them, with a flurry of wind blades smashing into their ranks, killing hundreds.Their crimson bodies being splattered with the white blood of their allies. As a charged up another volley, my radar enchantments warned me of foreign magical energy, and I jerked to the side suddenly, dodging an enormous yellow beam of energy. Jewel flew out behind me and dived down towards the group of mages. I saw Chom unleash his waves of fire, Wrang order his drones into the fray, and Yttri reinforce the shield wall with her stone golems, any damage I had caused seemed to be filled in by the unending ranks. The typical HashYoth strategy was to throw their bioengineered soldiers at a problem until it disappeared, and it worked quite well with a combination of ruthless disposable soldiers and the mass production of them. It would not work today though. I unleashed one of my enchantments, runes appearing on a large stretch of ground, and emitting a swarm of arcane arrows, following many HashYoth and obliterating them. Immediately after, I unleashed my wind blades, providing a few seconds of sweet relief to the soldiers. The HashYoth mages were now focusing all their firepower towards me, which meant I now couldnt help, due to my using nearly all my mana in one fell swoop. However this meant that our awesome team of mages, soldiers, and techies, had a lot more to work with without having to dodge the mages. Now, unrestricted, the guns and spells were let loose. Then a well placed yellow beam pierced my static shield, and blasted me through the trees. I felt the hard, thin, and heavy leaves of the forest slash into me at high speeds. While it often felt otherwise, this was actually real life, and physics still applied. I hit the ground, cut into ribbons by the leaves, which thankfully didnt cause any major damage other than maybe slashing one of my ears to a bloody mess, and the inside of my left knee was destroyed, and without even trying I knew I wouldnt be able to walk. I used my limited knowledge of healing to repair my body in a very strange, weird, and VERY painful way that allowed me to function for the time being. I slowly limped away, barely managing to fly back to base. What I had essentially done is put a thin layer of skin over my wounds, and somewhat fix my muscle. When I finally got back to base, I saw that we were nearly overrun once again, with not nearly as many of the soldiers as before. I could see that many of the remaining mages were nearly out of mana, with the ones that were taking weapons from the fallen and continuing to fight. Clearly, the sharks thought that we hadnt had as much people as they thought we did. The battle could go either way, and with Mantis at the siege for the last non-Almani jungle city, and reinforcements still not here yet, things did not look good. I did have one last trick up my sleeve though, but it was a bit of a wildcard. In the language of the beasts, I muttered a few words. Like lightning, my pack appeared. The four Scontuc I had tamed ran out of the forest, carving through the backlines like a raging wildfire through dead grass. The ferocious beasts tore into the HashYoth, and caught completely by surprise, were steamrolled. Caught between my surprise force, and a strange eagle like creature, wait, is that a griffin?! The HashYoth were smashed into smithereens. About a two years ago, I was on an expedition, scouting out some area, when I heard a small whine. I went to the base of a tree where I thought the sound was coming from. I looked at it and suddenly heard a growl, then a scream. I looked down, and saw a small ravine. Inside it, there was a large Wolfion that had was biting into the neck of a strange creature. It looked like a tiger, but blue, and without stripes. Instead of a muzzle, it had a fierce-looking hooked beak. It also had a short tail, and enormous ears. I saw strange marking on its side, that lit up, and discharged a large amount of electricity into the mouth of the Wolfion. I still had a strong hate for Wolfions, and was still grieving the loss of everything I had come to know on Earth. So I did the only logical thing, and shot it multiple times with a small handgun. I then jumped down to see what the strange creature was. I then heard a soft mule, and looked towards a small hole in the cliff. A few baby creatures came out of the small crevice. I immediately cut some meat off the Wolfion, and gave it to the pups. One of them looked at the meat strangely, then all of them simultaneously roasted the slab of meat with electricity. I stood shocked at what I was seeing then remembered them. They were Scontuc, deadly jungle beasts that could manipulate electrons. They could be domesticated if raised from babies, but their mothers were fiercely protective of them, and it they often kept in packs. They were also costly to raise, with them eating buttloads of electricity and meat. A full grown one, which would take around five years from where they were now, could obliterate a high-level mage. But, I was just starting magic, and I was getting pretty good with electricity. As they chowed down on the meat, I began to make friends with them. For a full day I stayed with them, practicing my magic, hunting with them, and then it happened. The familiar twinge of pain that grew to a full migraine from around a year ago. They spoke in my mind with a echoing voice, and thats when I realized, what they were. They were highly intelligent. Smarter than Mantis, who was sometimes kinda dumb. They would respond to whistles, and calls. They could formulate and undertake huge projects or plans. I came back eight days later, which was two days early. They had helped me explore. They had made it very clear though that no one could know, they were not liked and would be killed, along with me too most likely. Chapter 8 Boy, there has better be a good story behind this. Magical beasts are extremely dangerous, who tamed and released them. Said Zin, one of the most uptight humans. The very few humans that were still alive were all tough, and he was no exception, being Reborn near the jungles in Alliance territory, and hunted into the forest, where only him and someone else he refuses to name, who died from a Wolfion. They are illegal, and for good reason, what were you idiots thinking?! First of all, fuck you, go suck the inside of a Jotluns asshole. Second, I raised those little Scontuc since they were cubs and had their mom murdered in front of them by a Wolfion, ring a bell? They are strategically viable, extremely intelligent, and as much of a friend as Mantis. I spat out at Zin with malice. He was an asshole, and we fought routinely. His face got red with anger and as he lunged at me, Kono lept in front of him and growled with a malice I rarely saw. Kono, the only male Scontuc in the little herd. He was very loyal, but also witty. He was a more aqua shade of blue, with longer ears. Buo was the bossy sister, with a very dark blue pelt. Jupe was always the first to be nice, and had completely red eyes. Qeq was fierce and aggressive, with a large birthmark on her face and beak. Zin was knocked over, and came up infuriated. I was in no fighting condition, so they would have to sub in for me. The one to come up and admit they controlled the Griffin surprised me. Tellur, a nice girl, she just kept to herself a lot. As her Griffin stepped closer to her, she yelled at Zin. You fucking idiot, the reason theyre banned is because of how hard it is to control them. We can control them perfectly fine, so whats your issue? Is this just another reason for you to try and kill Rade? You need to calm down and look at the facts! Everyone winced, and I reeled in shock, Tellur hardly ever swore, and Id never seen her this angry. Tensions were high among us humans, with us always having to compete with each other and be the best, with only 37 of us known to be alive, we had to keep each other alive, yet we also had to keep the human race a respectable reputation, and there just wasnt enough of us. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. However, we worked hard, with nearly all of us being super-soldiers in our own right. Except for people like Wrang, who designed and created the resources for us to be super-soldiers. We were, by our own right, a tiny nation. I glared at Zin, and he glared back. I sent my Scrontuc pack back to the forest, to roam and enjoy themselves. I hobbled away slowly towards the med bay, it seemed like every part of me was hurting, and my patch-up healing job just wouldnt suffice. As the I left the battlefield, the other six humans that were stationed at the military base split, and Wrang came with me to the med bay, having had a bit of his chest cut off from some sort of blade. You know, this is actually a decent opportunity. Theyve left themselves somewhat vulnerable, and we can execute that plan weve had in the works. There will be a still in action, and we may be able to infiltrate deep into enemy territory, or even past it. Wrang said casually. Us humans had been working on a way to go deep into enemy territory, past it, and maybe even go into the unmapped regions to search for other humans. We know that another million of us have most likely been Reborn inside the great jungle, but we havent found them. The math adds up that way, but only 37 have been found. That means that the missing are: dead, hiding, or they left. Lets leave tomorrow at noon. The Almani are close allies, and I would like to keep it like that. We should announce our departure, and hopefully it will provide a moral boost, and motivation to leave the jungles. I responded. Should we also consider becoming a nation? Nah, its to early for that, though it should stay in the backs of our minds. After getting all healed up, every single human met. We all agreed. It was time to find our brethren. Chapter 9 Well, I guess were either being trapped or this is going to be a bit easier than I thought. Urani muttered. After saying our farewells, we had ventured into the more wild parts of the jungle. With us being escorted by a plethora of magical beasts, with many other humans having had the same ideas as me and Tellur. We hadnt come across wild animals, due to the magical beasts and the amount of people we had, no doubt. However, we also hadnt seen any other intelligent life whatsoever. Unfortunately, Mantis couldnt come with us at the moment, for the stealth aspect of the mission. But, he would be departing and coming towards our location in just a few days. As we walked through the quickly thinning trees, Oxy suddenly hit the ground. Following him, everyone followed, just to realize nothing had happened. What the fuck are we down here for?! Arsen angrily whispered. Theres a group of intelligent lifeforms just ahead. Oxy whispered back. Ill scout it out. He stood up slowly, crouching and began to slowly tread through the light moss and fungus that covered the forest floor. After a few seconds, I got a bit fidgety. This is uncomfortable as shit. I said, flicking some moss from my nose. Shut the fuck up, nobody cares. Replied Zin, who was still quite pissed over the magical beasts issue. We sat there in silence for 15 minutes before Boro stood up. I followed him and we went after Oxy, worried, despite the urgent whispers of our friends. Suddenly Oxy came back bleeding a bit, but otherwise ok. There was a small patrol of strange sectapeds like Ive never seen before, I managed to knock them all out. They fired on me, but I didnt want to start a war so I decided to knock them out and tie em up. Theyll wake up in a few minutes. Ill interrogate them, I said. I walked with Oxy following him to the scene of the crime. Tied to each other and some trees, they looked like they were completely out of it. They were small, with six chitinous legs, and resembled ants. They were stark white, without antennae, and instead enormous fox-like ears. They also, instead of having a thick abdomen, had a much longer thin abdomen that looked like a tail. One of them began to groggily shift, and then suddenly, and abruptly, began to twist and turn. CALM DOWN! I yelled at the alien. I WILL NOT LISTEN TO YOUR UNHOLY WORDS DEMONS! The small insectile creature screamed. Why did you fire upon us? I asked him. Why do you slaughter my people as you come across them? What do you mean? Your people slaughter my people, it is simple. Come out everyone!!! This guy has some info! I yelled back to our group. A minute later everyone was gathered around the insects, and his friends had woken up to. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Repeat what you said. I told the alien. Your people slaughter my people, it is simple. We are the only humans we know of. Do you know of our brethren? Of course. Everyone knows of them. They raid in the darkness, burning and pillaging. They are xenophobic and refuse contact, other than killing. The alien said with sadness. They are in small tribes across the land, some friendly, but most not. It is known to never trust a human. We have heard of humans that roam the jungle, helping the tribe of the Almani, but none have actually seen them. Thats us! Wrang blurted out loudly. We are seeking to create an actual stronghold of humans, there are too few of us to be considered a nation, so we seek to meet again with our fellow man. We have heard you are quite powerful. Our original mission was to attempt to befriend you, but it looks like- Just then Cesi ran over to release the ropes that held them. What they say is true, and they have only good intentions. They fired on Oxy because they thought Oxy was ambushing them. What they say about our species is true. What is our next move? Lets try to reconnect with the friendly tribes and get rid of the others. Zin said. The next hour we spent trying to figure out what we could. We need something to show that we are friendly. How about a flag? Thuli offered his idea. Wed been pondering how to show we werent bad guys. No, your race is devious, they will copy it only to get inside our walls, and then turn on us. Said one of the insectile race that was named the Heiive. What about firing off a firework? Suggested Sulf. What do you mean? I asked. Well, we could fire off a spell that made a specific shape. That would work. What should we do? Everyone shrugged except for the Heiive, who just stood there. Then an idea hit me. I quickly began to write a shape in the dirt. Then I was done, with my symbol about to become engraved in history. It was a hexagon, with a spike coming out of the top and bottom, with a crescent on each side. The two crescents represented the the Keys and Fabricators, while the two spikes represented the enormous towers, and the hexagon represented Infinity itself. Well thats just the excuse I used, I actually made it just because it looked kinda cool. That would work.,Said Firrsic, the alien that had woken up first. Weve never seen something as similar. The next three hours were spent with all of the humans and two of the Heiive, who were mages. Then the signal was made, and the next week ould forever alter human history. We went as fast as we could to the nearest Heiive outpost. We were about to bring together one of the most historical meetings of factions Infinity would ever know. It took around three hours, but we got to the gates. Send up the signal! I whispered loudly to Arsen. A loud whooshing sound was heard, and the flare went up. Then a flag for the scout group went up, and we went to the gates of the outpost, and as they opened, we saw strange pieces of tech pointe at us, balanced on the backs of the Heiive, which did appear to be guns. Back away from our brethren, you DEMONS!! Chittered one through their mandibles. Put down your weapons and rejoice siblings, we have returned from our expedition with the Humans, and they bring wisdom and possible peace! Yelled Firrsic, who seemed to be the leader of the group. And as a loud cheering went up, I asked the nearest one: Contact the enemy tribes, and I need access to the nearest communications center. The cheering suddenly died down, and one Heiive stepped forward and asked, Why? Youll see. I responded. Tell them the Infinite Councils wants to speak with them. Chapter 10 What are we gathered here for? Is there a purpose to this humans, or just another one of your vile traps? Hissed a Heiive city-governor. We have only known good things to come out of the humans. Said Krritoyokno, defending us. How lucky you must be. Another Heiive said. Shut the hell up, you ants, crawling in the mud like bugs. We will squash you. And as for you creepy tentacle bitch,no filthy menace to humanity will be immune to our divine power. Said John. The Almani, Heiive, Human tribes, and me and my merry little band had all gathered. This is supposed to be a diplomatic meeting you xenophobic asshole. Stop giving the human race a bad name. Said Chom, who tended to be the first to get pissed over this stuff. You mean a holy name No the fuck I dont. We are brought here together today for an alliance and I swear to god we will kill our fellow human if we must! Said Sulf. You and what army slut? We are armies by our own John, understand that quickly. Shall we return to the original conversation? said one of the Almani representatives for the Uiot. Lets hammer out some basics first. We worked out a treaty here, take a look, I said. It stated a few basic things that would help this meeting progress forwards. 1.The Human tribes will unify, or leave to join other empires. 2.Any hostile relations will end. 3.The United Human Tribes, whatever their name may be, will not pass the Hii river, and their territory will stretch from the South side of the Hii river, to the end of the jungles, and interfere with no other borders.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. 4.The Infinite Councils will come into being, with their territory being the entirety of no mans land. 5.The Almani will post a small fort in both Heiive and United Human Tribes territory, and assist whatever nation to be attacked should war break out, and should they be asked. 6.The Infinite Councils will create an embassy in United Human Territory to accept any humans. 7.The United Human Tribes will release all prisoners of war. 8.No empire may restrict the leaving of citizens to join other empires. This last subject, all but the Infinite Councils(which in case you didnt guess, was me and my crew) didnt know about.
  1. The Infinite Councils will formally declare war on any who dare declare war on its allies, who may be made at this exact time.
Everyone except me and my fellow Infinite Councils leaders took a peak at the treaty. Immediately John yelled that it was unacceptable, but the Heiive kept reading, with most screaming that it would never work. But then one of the Almani stepped forward and screamed over everyone else, SILENCE!!! The room quieted. We Xiztooh of the Almani will make this alliance with the Infinite Councils. We will fully be absorbed into them. These humans are unparalleled in strength, and it would be wisest for us to join. We can see them uniting the Jungles, and even the beyond. We will gladly follow their leadership. They have won a great many battles for the Almani, and will continue to win most likely. We will gladly accept your offer, however, in return you cannot take a passive role and enjoy luxuries while we die for them. If we are to become allies you must be prepared to give something in return. I said. We will discuss later with you this subject, The Xiztooh said. We of the Foorn faction will join into the Infinite Councils. One Heiive stated boldly. This was at least a half million people that just entered the empire. And there were surely only more to come. This was definitely a good start. Thats all well and good, John sneered, But these terms are still unacceptable. How about we just take out all the parts concerning you? I said. Sounds perfect. But, the moment you leave this room, the Infinite Councils will declare war on you, and, quoting you, there are no rules in war. Be warned, we will attack you, capture you, and then send you off to the best suited to torture you, and we will make you live through the fear you have put others through. He paled. Fine. Now, I clapped and shouted out, Anyone else have any protests? No, but the Almani as a whole, will be allied with you. Sounds good. Wrang replied. Where should I sign? Krritoyokno said. Chapter 11 Welcome, to the land of the Infinite Councils! I yelled out over the rest of the humans. There was only us that used to be Almani, but, everyone starts off somewhere. We still needed to hammer out what the Foorn and the Xiztooh would have to give away to join, but it had also only been four hours after the meeting, so no other humans had joined. Lets lay down so infrastructure, did we bring all the right shit? Asked Oxy. Yeah, Mantis should be bringing it in, with a transport ship or two in a few hours. Lemme mar where they should come to. Wrang said, eyes glued to a screen. Well, Ill set up a signal fire, should we start laying out some benches as well? Yttri asked. I actually brought some cards. Anyone wanna play some poker? Buo said, taking some out of his back pocket. Ill actually get a head start clearing some trees and brush. Sulf said, pointing with her thumb towards the jungles. Ill help, I said. Over the next few hours, two acres of land was cleared, and we all played a few games. And just as Wrang said, Mantis was seen, with enormous crates stacked all over him, and some much bigger transport ships behind him. Hey Rade! Mantis seemingly screamed in my head. I yelled over to everyone that they were here, and there was a resounding feeling of happiness. Finally! Something to do! Said Zin. We opend up the crates pulling out extremely heavy, 10 by 10 blocks of metal. 4 of us pulled them out together, than we began to pull it apart. It expanded, unfolding, into an enormous metal building. The others began to load parts into it, and unfold other metal blocks. In the end, we had four of these enormous buildings. Two were made to be harvesters, where we would collect resources, mine, you name it. One was the base of operations, and was going to be used as our headquarters. The last was a factory, and we would create stuff from there. With the infrastructure set up, we re-found the fabricator wed discovered when deciding where to put our territory. No one else knew it was there, so it was perfect. Me and the rest of the humans called for negotiations tomorrow, set up our tents, and went to sleep. Wed open our borders over the next few days, and begin to let other humans and anyone else in, or out if they so pleased. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. In the morning, we went back to work. However, me, Chom, and Wrang would be discussing terms. We had a few ideas about what we wanted from the Foorn, and the Xiz tooh, but we knew that neither of them would like it. So, I said to Jiokiln, the representative for the Xiztooh, We would need your people to help and work. We are assigning people jobs, and they will have to take, and perform them adequately. Sounds fair enough, she responded. We will also need your tech to help us with our infrastructure. We need not the most part of your amazing biotech, but we do require your infrastructural tech. Also, we would require some of your help genetically engineering the crops we grow, we need not much help, just tell us where we could improve. Well, our infrastructure tech is closely guarded and highly valuable, so that might be a bit of a stretch She said, drawing it out. Too bad, you take it or leave it. We know your technology is very valuable to you, but its high time you share some of it! Wrang was putting his foot down. They wanted to be a part of this, they were going to have to earn their way. Ill talk with the Queens. She responded. The next meeting went pretty badly. No way in hell will we give you our magnet tech, and by no means are we going to working for the likes of your primitive civilization!! Screamed the Foorn prime minister. Then fucking leave! Responded Chom. You dont like the terms, then go! They began to leave, but just then, the prime minister turned around, and his bodyguards shot their powerful plasma beams. However, we were prepared for the situation and had our shields up. One blast had nearly taken out my shields, so I ducked beneath the table as Wrang pulled out a bolt spitter, and tore apart one of the bodyguards. Their shields shattered after half a second, and the electricity ran through the armor, electrocuting him to death. As the prime minister ran, Chom finished charging up his spell, and launched plasma lances from his hands, cooking the old Heiive alive. I then jumped up and tackled his other bodyguard to the ground, and broke its neck. Well, I guess we just take over the faction? I asked, confused. Actually, no. Not yet. If the guy had an heir, thatll take his place, and if they want to avoid war, they just give us control, or, their faction votes on whether or not to make us the rulers. Wrang replied. So get ready for war? Chom remarked. Probably, yeah. Chapter 12 With the fear of war to come, we began our research and outputting unique, strange, and powerful technology. A staggering 40% of all known humans so far had already migrated here, with more instant structures being set up as housing. The Xiztooh had agreed to our terms, and their infrastructural tech had been added to our own, and assisting me and the other 36 original humans(which is the nickname wed given to ourselves) in our research and the setup of the Infinite Councils. In the future the originals would each create a clan, and all the clans would work together to reach the goals of the Infinite Councils. The leader of the clan would be able to elect nine other members of his clan to be a part of the council, and they would vote on things. Unfortunately, our fears for war came. A Heiive messenger came in the middle of the day carrying a war declaration. Zin-honest to god- tried to shoot the messenger, the fucking moron. We let the guy go though, and we had asked for a preparation time of two days. By Heiive war law, and because they actually arent dicks, you could state a specific date for the war to begin, within a week. And thus it began, the war where the Infinite Councils became recognized as a technological and military threat. The war begins in three hours people, we need to get into formation and prepare. Set up the barricades, get the Kyper Bikes ready to go, get everyone ammo and geared up. Check and double-check, and get yourselves as prepared as possible. Get those scatter shields up, theyre the only defense we have against those plasma lasers! I barked out, giving orders. Over the last day and a half, we had geared up for war. ArcLancers had been distributed, and we had readied a few surprises for the Heiive. Unfortunately, we didnt have as many people as them, or nearly as many soldiers. We were going to have to resort to hard countering their tech. Scatter shields could be placed anywhere on the body, and they were pretty neat. We had molded them to fit mostly around our bodies, but not the weaponry, so while it did let the weapons get destroyed, it wouldnt interfere with weapon fire. What it did, was it rapidly created an invisible shield, that vibrated insanely quickly, and with such intensity that it scattered really short wavelengths like UV light, but not actual light, allowing our visible spectrum to come through, but not lasers and other nasties. It also just screwed up plasma(due to low densities of particles, and it indirectly being cooled down, with the air moving with it.), lightning,(electricity was thrown about in every direction, shortening the damage to a static shock), and lots of energy weaponry. Their weapons infused plasma particles with X-rays, which added up to extreme melting and cutting power, long ranges, and insanely effective against any sort of armor whatsoever. However, it did take about ten seconds before you could fire again. Our scatter shields could take two to three hits according to what we know, which would make their weapons highly ineffective, or at least, until the scatter shields went down, in which case we were toast. Our Kyper Bikes were a surprise to be reserved for later. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. As everyone got into position, the timer counted down. With five minutes left, we sent the Kyper Bikes out, with Wrang, Sulf, Buo, and Oxy leaving on them. Id stay with Zin and Chom to guard this first city wed set up. The other originals were either guarding other startup cities, launching attacks, or establishing diplomatic connections with the neighboring factions and empires. Then, ten seconds after the timer hit zero, beams erupted from the trees, hitting some troops scatter shields, with a loud fizzle, and some multicolored rays of light bouncing off the shields. The light, almost clear, orange rays shooting across the battlefield. I heard the sound of 200 ArcLancers firing in return, with the lightning bolts streaking across the grassy field and into the trees, which were met by loud screams of pain. Chom pinpointed them on our radar, showing our troops where to shoot, and with the new info on their location, Zin began to fire off shot after shot into the woods from his pocket railgun, getting kills. I ran among the troops, and bolstered their shields. Charge! Cut em up from close range! I screamed across the battlefield. I gave myself a powerful magic shield and began to fire arcane missiles from my palms. They began to retreat, and we peppered them with ArkLancer fire and the occasional spell. The battle was over. I felt a ping from my radio. One of the infantry missions was being met with an overwhelming force at one of their more influential bases. The Foorn were a powerful part of the Heiive, with it being one of the most militarily strong clans. I hopped on a Kyper Bike and signaled for another group that had succeeded in their assault to meet with me. It was only the first 15 minutes, and yet we were already winning, hopefully, there wouldnt be too many casualties, on either side. Chapter 13 The loud sound of the motor of the Kyper Bike echoed through the forest as I rode my motorcycle-like vehicle through the trees of the jungles. I suddenly broke into a clearing, and I heard bullet shots and plasma beam fire in the distance. The spare infantry had met up with the original squad to come here. Both sides were dug in, with them having far more soldiers than initially estimated, and us countering them much better than they had thought we could. As I came into view, I sped through our own lines, firing the guns on the bike at the enemy. Within a few seconds I was behind enemy lines, and I decided it would be best if I transformed. The pod that was essentially the cockpit for the Kyper Bike, shifted upright, putting me in a standing position, as the rest of the bike shifted around, and within three seconds, I was in a small ten foot mech, with dual rapid-fire cannons on both arms, and wheels for feet. Without breaking stride, I tore up enemy forces, ripping into them with the 8mm AP rounds at high speeds. Then as they began to comprehend that I was there I very quickly shifted back into form I and flew away in the motorcycle. As I drove away as fast as possible, I was peppered with the lasers, with them breaking through the scatter shields, and nicking my hull. It was nothing serious, but was still a testament to the Foorn tech. Theirs out of all the Heiive were the best, and were highly effective in nearly all circumstances. As I came back in for another strafing run, I saw that there was no need. Our troops had charged ahead, shredding the enemy Heiive troops like paper in a hurricane. The ArcLancers stabbed and shot into the enemy, proving once again their effectiveness in battle. Suddenly, I got a notification. They were willing to negotiate. That had only been, lets see here, two hours!? I know we were winning by a lot, but I didnt know we were winning by that much! Damn I muttered. I changed my course to the site of the negotiations, with around 12 other originals on the way too. 20 minutes later, I pulled up to the city. The tall spiraling towers were inefficient, but beautiful. The cobbled roads I was walking across were slightly dirty, but no litter. I finally reached the building negotiations would be held. I chatted a bit, waitin for everyone to arrive. About ten minutes later negotiations began. We had already decided on what we wanted from the Foorn.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. We will annex you guys, pure and simple. We will not take any tech of yours, except for your magnet tech. Sulf said, laying it out for them. Ah heeeellll no! The technology advisor screamed. Well, we kind of have you beat, and theres no way youre making up for those cataclysmic losses. Should you refuse, well just take all of your tech and knowledge. Wrang calmly stated. You know your weapons are largely ineffective to us, and theres really no hope. Seriously, all things considered, were the exact counter to everything you have. Finally one of the Foorn had some common sense. Brethren, please, this war is our fault, we instigated it, and eventually, no matter how hard we fought, or how many lives were taken, we would lose in the end. They are honestly not even asking for much considering they have us by the throat, easy. The industrial governor of the Foorn said, As a matter of fact, they could probably wipe our faction out of existence in about three hours, maximum. A vote was held. It was 97-58, with submitting to the Infinite Councils getting the 97 votes. Personally, I was just happy the bloodshed was over. I mean, technically they didnt have blood, but thats besides the point. The Infinite Councils grew even stronger, with the powerful industry of the Foorn helping out immensely. And all just in time, for one of the greatest technological revolutions the Infinite Councils would ever have. Chapter 14 Well it could be worse. I commented. Around our territory(Infinite Councils), there were six nations, not including the Almani, Heiive, or United Human Tribes. There was, The Urolium compact, The Federation of Supremacy, HashYoth Empire, Juncathari Dominators, The Giggin Republic, and The Alliance. The Urolium compact was a empire made up of the race of the Uro. They were like long, thick, telekinetic worms that were at war with The Federation of Supremacy, which was made up of Uro as well. The were currently undergoing an intense civil war, with many casualties, and with them both being fascists that hated us, they were ripe for war. However, we couldnt take them on yet, with them being extremely fast in their extremely protective power armor in the case or the Federation of Supremacy, or advanced cloning and every troop being given pretty decent magic, and they made for an enemy not yet ready to be taken on. However, we were all okay on that front for the simple fact that every soldier they had was being thrown at the enemy like they were trying to leave the atmosphere in ten minutes by just chucking pine needles at the ground. The HashYoth had already attacked us, and were the most powerful superpower on known Infinity, they were hard at war with the Juncathari dominators, the Heiive, and anyone else touching their borders. So, we might be able to win most battles against them should they attack. Their empire was made of mostly soldiers, which were used in the military only three months after birth, the industrians, which made up their working class, and the very rare nobles which produced the lower classes. The looked like Grey-Green landsharks, all of them, that had four arms. The Juncathari Dominators was a race of strange looking bat-like aliens with proboscises. They greeted us casually, saying that they would not particularly mind our presence, however, said that the moment the borders of our empires touched things would get a lot more hostile. They wouldnt immediately wage war, but would use any excuse to do so. The Giggin Republic was a race of tall quadrepeds with long necks and bodies making them absolute beasts, who thankfully greeted us in a friendly manner, and opened up many diplomatic meetings with us. The alliance was made of three different intelligent species which had all been born on the same world. Their individual names having been lost long ago, we gave them our own names since they wouldnt tell us and tried to eat Buo when he went to greet them. We have already declared war on them, and there were many war plans against them already. The first race is an extremely long, tall creature with thin chitinous armor, eight long spindly legs and sharp mandibles. They could launch lances of fire from their strangely similar shaped guns. The second race is tall, skinny, bipedal, with large eyes and tall crest, which shot small bursts of laser fire from small wand shaped instruments they held in one hand. The last race was the opposite of both. They were like gorillas but with long crests on their backs, six eyes, and a small mouth. Unlike the others, who suffered due to low gravity with brittle, easy-to-break bones, and nothing sturdy about them whatsoever, the last had lots of armor and thick, hard to break bones. With powerful cryobeams they would be tough opponents. We had one ally, with all our enemies excluding The Alliance who we were fighting now. In addition, the Giggin Republic was also fighting The Alliance, and were loosing ground, but at an extremely slow pace. Our addition into the fight could easily turn the tide, and take their territory near the jungles away. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Suddenly through the door burst the last of our friends to come back. Hydro came bursting through the door. An empire needs our protection from the Juncathari and HashYoth! They are nearly overrun and have only a few days left! We need to launch a defensive campain immediatly! Hydro flailed about while saying this having almost a nervous breakdown. Whats in it for us? Zin asked. They will be absorbed into our empire. Hydro responded. A deafening silence followed. Well lets fucking do this then. I said. Chapter 15 Well, we were going to war. We now had to understand that we were at war with every single superpower that is on known Infinity, with no towers, a barely week old government, but we did have a few advantages. First, we had the element of surprise. Nobody except for The Alliance knew we were at war. For that exact reason, we would be able to pull off quite the Alpha strike, and provided we hit them hard enough, we might just save the Rissian Incursion, our new friends that we were defending. The Rissi was a race of dog-like mammals with three eyes, and technology focused more kinectly, like our own. Second, all our enemies were fighting each other, which would mean they couldnt really retaliate in any major way, unless they wanted to be attacked by other enemies, which would lead to faster peace, and an easier war. Lastly, we had all our friendly neighbors(which was NOT the United Human Tribes, as they had made abundantly clear), but other powerful allies, like the Almani and the Heiive. We also had the wealth of combat tactics against the Alliance that the Giggin Republic were using. And, the tech wed been pushing for had given us quite the advantage. We were currently setting up massive factories and farms, which would be producing the epically powerful new mass-producible Wrath guns, which would bring us on top with our scatter shields. The Wrath guns could fire their railguns at two rounds per second, which with a single shot alone could penetrate thick armor, and obliterate flesh. Shields were one of the only defenses, and with the Wrath guns rapid rate of fire(for a railgun that is) they tore through those with ease. We would be out of the fight for about a year, but still supplying the Rissi with weapons and volunteer forces, while building up our reserves and researching, and just building up an empire. We would try to avoid an active war with the Juncathari and HashYoth as long as possible, but eventually they would figure out where the cool spears that shot lightning were coming from. The Almani had built some cool plasma launchers that shot balls that would burst on impact with solid matter. They also however had long range lances that could be fired at high speed. All in all, this war alliance was going to pack a punch. However the enemies would be really tough to, if only for one reason, numbers. They had more people to throw at us, and at the same time, other than the Alliance, we didnt know what weapons they used this would be a deadly fight, doubtlessly. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. So, we are agreed then? I asked. Yes, this could put us ahead of everyone else by leagues. Wrang responded. Magic beast pairing should really help out morale and overall power. This is a fucking dumb idea, Zin said bitter having lost the vote 30-7. You only disagreed with it because I brought it up. I said smugly. What that supposed to mean? Huh? You suggesting something?! Yeah, asshat, I know you hate me, fuck off. The feelings mutual. Fuck you! He said throwing a fireball at my face, which in retaliation I shielded, then blew him against a wall with my magic. I conjured up a small vortex, and blew it off all around me, snuffing out the flame lances being blasted at me, and blowing away the people who were trying to hold me back. I was suddenly tackled through the wall by Zins stone form, and as I flew threw the air I pushed him away from me sending him into the ground with a blow of dirt into the air. I just floated where I was and threw lightning bolt after lightning bolt at him. Just as he got up I hit him with one that came down from the sky, pushing him back down, and he was thoroughly stuned, literally, but still clearly pissed. Someone tackled me from the side and another 2 helped to cast anti-magic spells on me, making it impossible to finish him off. As my magic began to fade, all I thought was, worth it. Chapter 16 I let out a long sigh. After me and Zins fight, we had hammered a deal out. He ended up becoming a splinter empire named Fortitude. I was never going to be personally interacting with that empire, but if needed I would send others to relay information. We were rapidly building infrastructure, and we also had a rapid gain of immigrants from warzones, the Foorn who we were still in the process of absorbing, and humans who had discovered us. Overall there was some nice diversity, with cultures and beliefs mixing together. At the same time we were beginning production on Wrath guns, and even making some more Kyper Bikes. We were simultaneously researching some hover jets. They were almost done being researched, with the final prototype nearly built. Our fight with The Alliance was going well, however, we had yet to capture anything of importance. Sir!! Its a message from the Almani! A messenger ran up to me, sweat dripping off of him in buckets. I took the hard drive, and plugged it into a Reader. Krritoyokno popped onto the screen. He spoke with an urgency, hardly stopping to breathe. The United Human Tribes have attacked us without warning! Somehow they have your weapons, and we can trace it back to you, but only from two days ago, until yesterday. From then, there have been no other shipments. How could this be? And if it was you guys, why? Please, help us! The Almani are being steamrolled, with nearly all our forces in Rissi territory fighting the Savior War, and if we were to recall them, the lines would surely fail. We need help! I heard this and immediately came to a conclusion. It was probably incorrect, but I was going to check with the others anyway to see if they followed my line of logic. So youre suggesting Sulf said slowly. It does make sense think of the facts! Chrom said after a short Eureka moment. It could just be they stole some of our equipment, realized their forces were away, and attacked. Wrang said. But then again Krri said that there was shipments from our territory Well, that could just have been spies they sent, bringing it in through immigration process. You guys no how crowded and flawed it is. Hydro said. However I think we should check anyways. Chrom said. I took Seriously, consider it, he made an immediate trade deal with The United Human Tribes, and anyway, the entire time I knew him, Zin never did like the AlmaniSupport the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Zin, come out and face the accusations! I yelled out, my voice echoing out across the built up actual houses. Howd he get the time and resources?... Whatever. Sure, why not. He said. As he walked out he was followed by four Juncathari, all with their molten cannons loaded up and pointed at us. Those things could either just release molten and extremely hot material that could be reloaded with stray dirt on the ground, or it could be focused into a tight beam. Either way, it was to thick to be stopped by scatter shields and extremely deadly. He lifted up a Wrath gun, pointed it at me, and the others did the same with my friends. Then he fired, with a horrible snarl on his face, mixed with genuine glee. The bullet shot across the battlefield followed by the molten beams. Many of the originals dodged, but I stood my ground, as Juncathari flew over the trees in an ambush. Molten beams fired at everyone, and I raised my magic shields, and blocked, while blowing a few Juncathari out of the sky with air magic. I was tackled by Zin, and pushed into the trees. He had a powerful exoskeleton on. It mimicked the design of those that the The Federation of Supremacy gave to their soldiers. We reached a clearing where I blew him away with a whirlwind. Now well see whos better once and for all! He said, voice sounding somewhat different as it flowed through the speakers of his armor. Yes, yes we will. I responded as I shot out towards him, cloaked in a red energy of my own making. The red energy acted as armor, and I couldnt feel any of the hits he threw at me. With my energy enhanced speed I began to punch him back, with fists cloaked in lightning. The small shocks began to slow him, down, and with each knocking down his armors power for a few milliseconds, I got to slowly snowball until I was landing hits more and more. Finally I had charged up enough energy, shedding the red energy I had on me, and launching it into his chest point blank. The energy tore off his power armor and sent him flying away. As I charged up for my next spell, a wave of fire washed over me, barely held back by the hasty energy shield I threw up. Using one of my enchantments, I telekinetically, uprooted trees, and sent them flying around, with the wave of fire stopping after he got hit. I then caught a glimpse of him and launched wind blades at him, which cut through trees, slicing them and sending up splinters. Zin using telekinesis, tore apart the wind blades as they flew responding with lances of fire that singed the grass, and stumps as they flew at me. I flew into the air dodging them, then proceeded to hit him with lightning bolt after lightning bolt, buffeting the trees with the thunder. Finally, just before he could hit me with any more fire, my Scrontuc came. They jumped at him mauling Zin to the point of unrecognizability. He would launch shards of stone at them, to no avail. I went down there and finished him off with a spear of compressed air through his gut. He said with his final breath, That wasnt a 1v1 Yeah, cause I have friends. Chapter 17 I ran out to the main battlefield, pack in tow. The grey-barked trees surrounding whirled past me, blue leaves slashing at my face, which was giving me more than a few cuts, but when youre running 30 miles an hour, hey, things happen. I slowly began to levitate out of the run however, and soon I was flying at insane speeds. Suddenly I was there. Things did not look good. Juncathari corpses were covering the ground, with all manners of bodily harm. Many had scars from their own weapons, and I could see why. Many of us had figured out how to deflect their beams. I jumped into the air, and began to punch them out of the sky, and throwing their bat-like forms around in the air with gusts of wind. It was a blur of orange blood and bodies falling but, eventually, it ended. As my rage died down, I witnessed the damage wed caused. The ground was covered in bodies, with eight of us among them. None of us had died, but three were close. Except for Zin I suppose. Walking on the ground, I found it to have turned to mud, but an evil kind, that tried to grip at my feet, and pull me to where Id never be seen again. Bloodied mud. Occasionally I would feel the crunch of some form of bone, or maybe even proboscis stalk. The ground was covered in magma, dried molten material, and scorch marks. I could feel the enchantment in the air, like that after a large magical battle. The bodies were sprouting all forms of fungus and plants, and others began to dissolve. Ether and mana condensed into foamy substances, that melted through the ground under it. There was a hum in the air, of the revertabration of mana. The discharge of it all was so strong that our reader Iod, was passed out on the aqua grass. Too much mana/ether in the air is my guess. How long have we been here? 10 minutes? An Hour? Two Hours? I cant tell. Most of the awake originals gathered. What will we do? I asked, taking a look at the blood dripping off others, and the new scars a few of them sported. Thats the question, isnt it? Wrang responded. I vote we hit the Juncathari hard and fast, preferably now. With everyone. Oxy said. I agree with that. People just keep pushing us around. We need to show them we are worthy of this title. We need to stake our claim as badass conquerers, but not butchers. Buo agreed. Should we bring out the Kyper Bikes and Oort Fighters? Sulf asked. Hit em with everything, and hope to intimidate others. We need to be able to seriously weaken them. Jewel stated. I began to smile deviously. An idea was floating through my mind, it would give us a capital, an industrial powerhouse and seriously put us on the map. It would weaken the Juncathari, maybe fatally. All we had to do, was capture, then hold it, which would be the greatest challenge The Infinite Councils have ever undertaken, but a horrendously good idea nonetheless. We would have to bring out every toy, and every soldier available. It would halve the assault the Rissi were undertaking. What are you thinking about Rade? Chrom asked. I looked up at one of the gleaming, pale white, towers that scratched the sky. It was visible over the treetops, from quite a ways away. Hydros eyes became the size of a large donut. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. OH HELL NO!! He yelled. OH HELL YES! I REPLIED. What are you guys screaming about? Oxy asked. Wrang realized what I was thinking about. It could happen We have the materials, but itd be a bit of a stretch. I dont know if we could hold it, but, it would allow the Rissi to be absorbed. Ive heard from a few ambassadors that their leaders are worried about our participation. Lets show them what theyve been ever so patiently waiting for. We can even organize a powerful offensive into Juncathari territory, and it might even get an immediate white flag from The Alliance. They only control two, and as is weve been beating them, add a tower into the equation Lets take a fuckin tower! I yelled. 12 Days Later We only got one shot at this guys, make it count! I yelled into the radio. As we heard the railguns hit the wall theyd built, and the Oort fighters hover around destroying the wall in other places, I began to run. Heiive, Human, and all sorts of magical creatures ran into the fray. It was the middle of the night, and as the Kyper Bikes zoomed into the city surrounding the behemoth of engineering and began to tear through what troops there were, we followed. We ran through the strange city, designed for large avians. Mantis was already pounding into turrets and taking them out, while the rest of us found the door to the tower, and kicked it in. The city would be ransacked and demolished, with the Juncathari hunted down. We would not be mass murderers however, and sent an option for surrender. It was refused. We broke through the door, shooting and shielding molten beams. Our Wrath guns tore through the enemy, and magical shields worked decently. We didnt have enough magical beasts for everyone, so they were all outside the tower. From what we knew of this tower, it was a hub for military operations and research. We ran through the tower, capturing all of it within the day. As our Oort Fighters landed, I got to take a good look at them. I hadnt personally designed them, but I kinda knew what was up with them. We were gearing for the battle that was sure to come, but I could spare a few minutes. It was painted black, to make it harder to be spotted at night. It could fly at insane speeds, and could also hover, which meant that there wasnt a need for a runway. It had two large railguns to pound away at bigger targets, and Wrath guns with extreme rates of fire to take out infantry. Also, it had two anti-aircraft torpedos, in case other air vehicles decided to get into a fight with this beast. They could follow, make sharp turns, and go at extremely fast speeds. The missiles that is. Someone jumped in the jet, helmet on, giving me a thumbs up, before lifting off, and flying somewhere, probably doing patrols around the city or scouting. We lost many in the invasion of the tower, almost half our Kyper Bikes, a third of the soldiers, and a third of our Oort Fighters. However, it would have been more if not for the surprise attack. I went to a viewing area from the tower. Well there is no way in hell that this is going to be easy. I looked out towards the mountains in the distance. The Juncathari would come soon, no doubt. However, while we could, we would build up, turn this into an industrial powerhouse, and use it to our advantage as best we could. Wed already found 13 keys and two fabricators, and there was still much more to search. For now, we could rest. Chapter 18 Well, we knew it was coming. I said. But not like this. I didnt think they had this many soldiers available. How could they field a force this size this quickly? Wrang returned. Large crescent-shaped jets sped towards the tower, with a large army on the horizon. At first glance I would guess about 500 of those moon jets. Get to the turrets people, we got company! I yelled out. We had set up powerful railguns on the sides of the tower, that could hopefully take out lots of their jets. Our Oort fighters began to take off, but we didnt have nearly enough. We had about 150 of them, and as aerial races, the Juncathari could probably outmatch two of ours at a time. However, once again, we had a trick up our sleeves. We had set up a system of infantry launchers to propel us at insane speeds towards something. We had most of our air mages ready to go in these tubes and act as anti-fighter personnel. I got in one of the tubes, (as I was an air mage myself) and launched. I let myself ride the momentum for a bit, before decelerating myself, levitating. I began to charge up my lightnin, throwing it out of my hands, along with several other mages. Our barrage hit their strange yellow craft unexpected, with at least four taken out. Mine penetrated their flimsy shields, used more for aerodynamics than protection, and cut its power momentarily, with it being destroyed by an energy blast that followed up my lightning. The fighters flew past us however, with me turning around to hit them again. Then, the rail guns began to sing. The powerful rounds making a whoosh sound, before slamming into the fighters. They made a huge blue explosion, or the round just slapped a wing straight off, sending it careening into the ground, as they were still quite far away from the tower. If they hit that is. We fired accurately, but many still missed. I fired shot after shot of lightning, smashing a few into the shadow realm. Before any of them had fired a single shot, wed taken a considerable chunk out of their numbers. RAIL GUNS YEAH! Stolen story; please report. They began to fan out, their moon-shaped forms, beginning to turn and twist to dodge shots, which was ineffective, since all the turrets had to do was point and fire. The rounds traveled too fast, so if they fired at exactly where you were, you were dead. Then our Oort Fighters began to take off, Most firing their anti-aircraft torpedos immediately. They soared through the air, with most connecting and removing the swift aircraft from the sky. They however, had also gotten into range. The battle was swift, yet brutal. The fighters on their side were finished off and two-thirds of our fighters were down. Then the infantry hit. I went hand to hand, dodging beams, knocking them out of the sky, yada yada. The Oorts began to run through them with the chainguns, tearing apart the Juncathari. But more kept coming. I got sloppy, was slashed a few times, even stabbed once. They began to take out our Oort fighters. If not, the fighters ran out of ammo and had to refill. It was sickening, they were just throwing bodies at us, hoping that it would take us out. The turrets took out many of them but it wasnt enough. THey were washing over our forces like a tidal wave, and soon they would hit. Throw out as many of your powerful spells as possible, give everyone else time to set up! I yelled to my fellow air mages. I let a whirlwind of wind off myself, blowing many Juncathari out of the sky, stunning many, but more importantly, stopping those behind them because of bodies, and them behind them and so forth, but I just kept doing it until I couldnt anymore, but by then, things had gone to shit. By then, they had reached the tower. Chapter 19 I stalked through the hallways and streets of the tower and the city. I couldnt comm for assistance, so for all HQ new, we were doing a-OK. Ive seen corpses with slash marks, agony on their faces, and thankfully, also quite a few of the Juncathari too. But what was the worst, was the eaten. It wasnt uncommon to see a hollow husk of a body, skin pinched to the skeleton. They would have proboscis scars where their life had been taken away, one sip at a time. Once, I found someone dead, but being finished off by one. I slit its throat on the spot. A single gunshot could give away my position, but, just in case, I had a Wrath gun Id picked up, and gathered as much ammo as I could. Id already taken out a few encampments by sneaking up, and using my air magic to silence them. However, I was running low on food and mana, and I hadnt rested in what felt like days. However, not many days, for I had only seen night come and go twice now, with the sunlight seeming to fade into evening at the moment. I had had to leave the tower earlier, just before reaching a comm station. A few Juncathari were already there, and they spotted me. They rang an alarm, but my ultimate goal was to get back there and tell the rest of The Infinite Councils what had happened here. I crept through the alleys, through streets, clearing houses, looking for others. Arrogant of them to assume they could take a tower, and then guard it with just those measly defences? Hah! They never had a chance. One Juncathari said to another guard on patrol. I slid into a hiding spot, in an alley, and listened. Yet, they did take out all of our kites, and it was a much costlier battle than what was predicted. The other responded lost in thought. I think personally, this may be one of the bigger threats. Well with the HashYoth slowly falling, we should be able to be more aggressive. They flew around a bit more before leaving their patrol of the area, flying out of sight. Close one. I mumbled to myself. I waited another 30 seconds before peaking around the corner. No one. Well, that message wont send itself. I continued tiptoeing through the city, meeting another patrol or two, but nothing interesting. I continued to head towards the tower. When I got to it, I checked every door I knew of, and sure enough it was guarded. Here we go then, no pain no gain. I had only one other way to reach the comm unit. Fly. Itd diminish my remaining mana, but it was the only way. I hovered to the top of the building nearest to me. Looking out over the city, I saw no nearby patrols. I quickly flew as fast as I could to one of the large holes wed cut into the side of the tower to build a turret. The hole was unguarded, so I slipped right on in. There was sounds of speech and a few soft bangs. Slipping into the room the noise was coming from, realized what was going on. It was a kitchen, and the two Juncathari seemed to be having some friendly banter. They heard the door open, and looked in my direction. Shit.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. I launched myself in a tackle at the nearest one, with the other one coming at me with some sort of strange blade. I was half the height and length of these bitches, but I was no ordinary human. I slammed it into a table, and while it recovered, I ran at the other, parrying its blade with a bowie knife, then kicked its face in, breaking its weak, hollow, avian bones. The other strange orange creature tackled me from behind, lashing at me with the claws on its wings, and in return, using my strength enchantment, I threw it over my head, pounding it into the ground so hard it was knocked out. I finished off the filthy creature with a stab in the head. Someone mustve heard the tussel, and burst through the door, with two more in tow. Lets do this. I threw my knife, completely missing them, because who the fuck can accurately throw a knife into a head from ten feet away. But, it distracted them. With runes on my arm, I became surrounded with red energy, and dashed ahead, putting a fist right through the closest ones head. I grabbed my bowie knife, and as I came up, got slashed across the face with a claw, and was grabbed by one with two of its three legs. I released the energy around me, knocking back both. I then, the moment I got free, buried my bowie knife to the hilt in the head of the asshole that had slashed me. The one that grabbed me tried to do so again, which I responded to be flinging it by its arm into a table, then cracking its neck. Damn. Thatll leave a scar I said wiping the blood off my face. Then I proceeded to realize what they were most likely preparing in this kitchen, and got the fuck out before I saw something really yucky. Sneaking my way to the comm room, I saw it unoccupied. I quickly jumped on the comm, sending out a message to the others. The tower has fallen, bomb the hell out of this bitch. Hearing yells, I took out my gun. The bodies had been found. Id been found. Now, my bullets were about to find a couple of Juncathari. Chapter 20(sorry) The rounds from my Wrath gun killed two Juncathari soldiers as they flew around the corner, then, threw a grenade around the corner, hearing shouts before it exploded, and the moment after it exploded, I ran in and shot anyone not dead yet. I found the nearest window and jumped out of it, letting the wind tear at my body as I fell, before I landed on one of the Juncathari, shot it through the back, and killed it. I then laid down on its mossy feeling back, and spread its wings, using it as a glider. I then glided on as far from the city as I could get, shooting any Juncathari I saw. As I flew past the city borders I jumped off, with molten beams passing overhead. I hid in a bush and waited. Spread out, and find the fucker! One of the Juncathari commanders demanded. Hes killed far too many Juncathari for this to go unnoticed! One moved over close to me and began sniffing around. Coming slowly towards my location. But, just before I got discovered, I heard loud whooshes overhead. Oh, shit! One of them said, before being torn to pieces with the rest of his platoon by the Oort fighters. I stepped out of the bush, and waved. The jet landed, let me get on it, then flew away. Just as we flew away I saw troop Kyper Bikes zoom into the city, and the Oort jets begin to pound the fortifications into oblivion with their railguns. The nightmare was over, and I could finally rest. Three days later, and I was all good. The casualties had been astonishing, with only a quarter of our forces escaping, all within an hour of the Towers fall. So far, I was the only survivor to have stayed there as long as I did, to our knowledge. All of the mages to have gone there had returned, because apparently the Juncathari dont employ them in their ranks, or they were being used against other enemies. I had a long scar across my forearm that marked a time that a Juncathari slashed it with its claw hook. Itd make a nice addition to my collection of scars. I jogged through the huge military base I was in. It had been an experimental thing, with prototypes being tested here, and the facility itself was a prototype. It was made out of an extremely sturdy plant, that the Xiztooh had developed. They had decided to not fully integrate, but were kinda like vassals. They had helped our biologists make it, and would expand at a rapid pace, with the entire frame of the facility being constructed in around two day cycles. To our calculations, those day cycles were about 30 hours, with 16 hour days, and 14 hour nights. So about 60 hours. It would only grow to a set of parameters, and when it reached those, it began to trim itself, removing imperfections and adding detail, while also growing denser. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. I then turned the corner and reached my favorite part of every facility, the training room! I could test my magic, workout, experiment, whatever! All of the originals had either just found they enjoyed working out, or had realized the necessity of it. I began to work out. Over the course of the following I tested my limits, using my enchantments and superhuman biology to manage a solid 116 kilometers an hour(I did say I was superhuman), deadlifting about 127 kilograms, and jumping about 7 meters in a long jump. Humans had gotten a serious revamp when we all underwent genetic editing. But we were about to get stronger. With a shortage on soldiers, we decided to go for quality over quantity. A rare mindset adopted by few empires, with all that have falling, but that wouldnt deter the strength of the Infinite Councils. And with new genetic engineering possibilities from the Xiztooh, we were in a perfect position for this maneuver. The Federation of Supremacy had begun to lose bad and with awful living conditions, the threat of execution if a new tech wasnt found every 400 day cycles, the scientists had had enough. Many were immigrating to the Almani and The Infinite Councils for our multi-race empires, and relative success. They had been quite happy to give away the last few secrets of a dying empire. Their power armor was rather strange yet powerful. We wouldnt be able to put any neat guns on it, for it was mostly skintight, however had lots of interesting gadgets. After my workout there was done, I began to practice magic. I cloaked my arms in red energy and began to hover. I had been working on manipulating the energy better, but I couldnt do it very well. I activated the drones and began to fly around and hit them, with the red energy stretching from my arm in to spiny tentacles, then repeatedly stabbing the small robotic dummies in the vulnerable areas, with that taking about half a second to destroy the things. I shot the energy surrounding my left arm into another dummy, with the energy tearing and ripping through it. I then used what was on my other arm, pointed a finger gun at one, and fired a thin, long-range beam at it. It penetrated right through and also through the wall of the building behind. I was going to be redeployed in one week as on of the first super soldier squads with Wrang, Chom, and a few others, to go take out a Juncathari city. Hell of a challenge, but I know I could do it. Because I am a master of causing a lot of fucking chaos. Chapter 21(part one) The long yellow plains sighed in the wind, shifting and moving in silence. The many caves and holes that dotted the long savannahs held homes for many of the long necked white-red creatures that resided here, and the thin brown ape-like creatures that hunted them. The thin grasses hid me and my hunter squad from the occasional Alliance patrols. Their battle mounts patrolled the area frequently. Just then another passed through the area. The runner riding the strange beast seemed distracted and tired. The creature he was riding was far more dangerous looking though. It had four mammal-like legs, with four large leathery wings, four yellowy reptilian eyes, with a dolphin-like furry head, and a long spiked tail. It was patrolling the area voraciously. It didnt see us, however, passed far too close for comfort. About five minutes after it passed by, we began to run at top speeds, with us being hidden by the tall grasses. The tall creatures that lived here paid us no mind, allowing us the privilege of not having to choose to startle the animals, alerting them to our possible position, or, going much slower. We melted into the grasses, and lost ourselves in the time as we ran. Our mission was simple, destroy the most powerful military base we had knowledge of. We were quite close now, and we couldnt afford the luxury of letting our stealth slip, or slow down any. There were 20 of us, and we were the one of the best three squadrons, an we were made up of pure legends. Me and Sulf were there, but we were the only originals. All of us wore Ammit-Class power armor. We had Baku-Type genetic mods, held Lavellan guns, and felt like total badasses as we tore through the grass, and as long as I had been geared up with shit this powerful, I dont think it is possible for me not to feel that way. The Ammit-Class was cool-looking, extending about two inches from my body, with every molecule useful. It had a thin layer of powerful layered neutronium, an extremely large and tightly connecting element found rarely anywhere other than neutron stars and thankfully actually harvestable. It was part of a hard, pointy, and really dangerous grass-looking fungus. It was being grown industrially, but still wasnt making enough. They didnt skimp, but there still was not enough to go around, so many didnt have suits yet. It could take a PR(pocket railgun) point blank, without a scratch. Then, to counteract the immense gravity it would bring, we had anti-gravs hidden throughout our suits. We experienced ? grav while in it, making us far more agile. However, whenever not in missions, we had opted to have them at 4x grav, making us far stronger and faster in the lower grav. We had the latest plasma thrusters in our boots, elbows, shoulders, elbows, and hands. Time it right, and while running you could push on the feet-equipped ones and go far faster than normal. Well placed mechanical joints also far-boosted our general speed and strength, allowing for some intense hand to hand. And as if that wasnt enough we had mag boots, grappling hooks, and large shoulder mounted AV(anti-vehicle) that blew apart most anything. And then when you added on the AI partner you had ingrained into the suit, and you were in for a tough time if you tried to fight these. And of course my friends and I had the next-gen genetic combat mods, that of the Baku-class. With much better physical capabilities of all kinds, being much smarter and having many other variables, one would wonder whether or not we were still human. The Baku was unique due to it being highly customizable. You always had the most muscle gaining biology possible, and you always had slight touches to your body structure that made you faster, lighter, whatever. However I had also done a few other things to myself, like no hair other than that on top of my head, and multiple clear eyelids that let me see in infrared, x-ray, heat vision, night vision, and also, just one that let me see underwater. I also had gained electro-sensitivity, which was a sort of sixth sense that allowed me to sense things within 12 meters. On top of all of this, we had all gone with faster reflexes and better senses. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. We continued to run, and run, and run. Claw mountain came into view, with the grasses beginning to thin. We transitioned into a sprint for the next 30 minutes, reaching a cave just in time and getting some cover before the next patrol came by. Damn, whispered Lii. I gripped my Lavellans tightly. They werent guns in the traditional sense looking more like halo energy swords. The blades were the charged rods used for the railgun, and also held some ammo. They had additional ammo cartridges as well, and fired through the gap. They were lighter, smaller, had more ammo, packed a bigger punch, and could be dual wielded. They were however semi-automatic so not the same insane firing rate, but precision more than made up for it. We should rest here. Its as safe as were going to get, and well take turns standing watch. Suggested Helian. Great idea! Sulf responded. Everyone began to pack up. Wed fight tomorrow. Chapter 21(part two) After a long night of worrying, people began to wake up. I was still on watch. I looked on top of the mountain, and adjusted my grip on my guns. The large metal structure on top of that mountain was the key to our success. It was where most of the Alliance troops were raiding from, and where there armies picked up supplies and rested. It was going to be a tough nut to crack, but the hopefully the strange readings theorized to be new tech and the potential disruption of the enemy supply lines would be worth it. We could then reliably sue for peace, and hopefully grab the previously mentioned plains. If we did this about 40% of our actively engaged military would be freed up for helping to defend the Rissi. They were nowhere close to being integrated yet, and the warfare going neck to neck, with every inch of ground being fought over, a single addition of our supersoldiers may win another battle. The new suits were being sent to them as fast as possible, but that wasnt nearly fast enough. After the Battles of Ivory Tower, the Juncathari-Councils front line was being sent the best troops and equipment. The biggest issue was a lack of available Neutronium, and a lack of factories to produce what else we needed. Our squad could stop a war with this single battle. I took a deep breath, and woke whoever wasnt up already. We were expecting many soldiers to be there. I lifted up my arm, putting the small transmitter to my lips. Are we ready? The pilots in the Oort fighters responded nearly immediately. We are all good to go, and so are groups 3 and 4. Group 2 met a few problems and had to leave to assist in the defence of Factory 114. We should be good anyway. But, just in case, we have more reinforcements on the way. Sensors detected far more extensive underground facilities thatll provide a tough challenge.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Damn. How soon will the reinforcements be here? In around an hour, but we should attack now, while they are most vulnerable. Attack in 10 minutes then, well be there. Confirmed. I lowered the transmitter. Everyone readied themselves, than began a breakneck run up the mountains. Before while we had been running, there had been some light chatter and jokes, but now, our lives were on the line. There was 64 of us instead of the planned 83. The reinforcements would lighten the load, but there was a very real chance of people dying here. We usually didnt send people into battle on account that it would very likely result in a heavy loss of resources, enemies figuring out tech, and it was just plain immoral. Hopefully wed get through this, but odds werent looking good. As we heard the loud alarms begin to ring sounding like metal screeching on rocks, the Oort fighters began to bomb the hell out of the place. Then, as turrets came over the walls, and shot off a few cryobeams, we knew something was wrong. This place didnt dictate as heavy defences as this. Cryobeams were the ace of the Alliance military, and things did NOT look good. The only other place that had those defences was their cities and high-priority factories. What was going on here? Chapter 22 Lances of freezing cold fluid flew over the battlefield, followed by near silent, shots that were ripping through the armor of Chitins. Short grass froze underneath the beams that took away their heat. The cryo beams hadnt done much yet, because our scatter shields had been able to reliably deflect them, however, the scatter shields couldnt take much damage from them, only two or three hits. We had been jumping around trying to find cover, ad from there, shoot at them. We were still doing that now, but Im currently throwing some magic around and whatnot. They unleashed the battle beasts! Prepare for close quarters! Ftoly said, a high ranking Viknorin that had undergone similar genetic procedures. With his somewhat slower, yet more dense body structure, he had been assigned to group 3, and was the leader of that Viknorin/Heiive squad. They were carrying bigger weapons, and lots of ammo/supplies. An enormous creature jumped over the rock I was standing on. It looked like a praying mantis, but mammalian, and four eyes. I immediately shot it, my railgun slug going through its chest, killing it instantly. I looked over my piece of cover, and fired my larger railgun into a larger group, taking out many Runners, Chitins, and beasts. The other third of their military, the Tanks, werent here. We had dubbed the bipedal members of the Alliance Runners, the long chitinous ones Chitins, and the other one Tanks. We then began to push farther into the base, with Ftoly and his team launching a short salvo of micro-missiles. The small missiles were about eight inches long, and a single one could kill/disable the lightly armored soldiers. After about 50 were launched, each tracking their own individual targets, and taking them out. We pushed through the gate they were coming out of, and began to clear the inside, with much less defences internally. One guy in my squad got frosted a bit when a beam glazed him. A Oort picked him up, and brought him to a hospital. If you got even a glancing hit from those, the muscles stiffened really badly, and the blood partially crystalized. We called this effect frosting, and it could kill if not immediately treated. However we pushed on, with far more resistance than we had expected. All the missiles had been used up before we got halfway through the base, where at which point things got much harder.We fought tooth and claw, before realizing it would be best if we split up again. We split into eight groups and the began to assault the underground areas.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Holy shit! I said after we had finished off the fourth 10 man group. How many soldiers are there here? I dont know, just keep pushing forward. Roou said, dusting off his four armored hands. The Viknorin began to scuttle along with his tentacles, and began to mess with the computers wed been investigating until the group came along. The two hours wed spent here had been full of nasty bullshit. Jlico, the single Heiive wed brought along made a breakthrough. Guys good and bad news. What is it Jlico? Helian asked. I figured out what this place is. The Heiive said. What is it I asked hastily. This place is an exotic resource productions facility, and the only one. That means when or if we capture this we can get some truly awesome tech going, however, it also means they have an insane amount of troops here. This isnt going to be a cakewalk. The mood turned somber. Well, we should push hard. I said. Avoid as many breaks as possible, and tell the others. Lets use whatever resources we can, and call reinforcements as soon as possible. Well need them to hold the elevators, and to cover our backs. Get a few Kyper Bikes and tell them to use a hit and run strategy on any armies coming to reinforce or assault other territory. The last time we captured one of the toys of one of the superpowers, it was a slaughter. We cant afford to have that happen here. Last time was meant to send a message. We sent it alright, but, we didnt hold the objective. This is the one gateway to us and every friend we have. We alone are covering this, and the stakes are high. I looked solemnly at the group. This is may take a day, a week, a month, but we will hold this. With the Rissi front in chaos, the slightest nudge could send it crashing down on whoever is on the other end. This is the key we need to establish ourselves. Once we absorb the Rissi, more will see who and what we are, and either make friends make enemies, or even let themselves be absorbed. Now then, lets go fuck up some nasty assholes! I said. With that rallying cry we raised our weapons, and turned them to the elevator next to us, which had begun to ding. Chapter 23 The elevator door opened, and immediately, Chitins charged out. They were wearing some thin, light, greenish-bluish armor, but it may as well have been paper when my bullet ripped through its chest, with the dark red entrails and enormous orange sacks that was essentially for storage in their body. My bullet didnt stop there though, crunching through the thick spine-like structure that formed most of their back, before denting the armor of the one behind it, which a second bullet from me finished off. The entire parade of around roughly 30 of them were finished off then. However, the next parade came, which we cut down too. More came through a hallway to my left, and in response to that, I decided to go deal with them myself. The rest dealt with the other groups coming, which in total must have numbered in the hundreds by now. I killed four, before pistol whipping another so hard its tough exoskeleton was punched in about a foot deep, killing the creature instantly. I fired a few more shots to try and stop this ever flowing river, before running out of ammo. Without time to reload, I fired off my shoulder mounted railgun, taking out at least 20 before following that up with a tad bit of wind blades, turning four runners into eight halves. Eat that fucker! Punching another through the chest, followed by snapping the neck of a Chitin with a slap when it got too close. I then promptly turned and kicked another. They then started firing on me, finally having a clear shot. I put up an air shield, blocking all of those deady freezing beams. I launched a small EMP, knocking out their weapons for around 30 seconds, in which I slaughtered them. Popping a head like a pimple by clapping it, with all this sticky juice blasting all over my armor. I turned a chest into a chest thats melty in a nasty little pile on the ground with some neat-o lightning. And to top that bit off, I turned a runner into a ball of blood, organs, and bones with telekinesis. And yet, more came. I reloaded my guns, and blasted away, with the deaths of this group far less interesting. I threw a grenade that using some POWERFUL explosives, collapsed the hallway. I turned back to help my friends, just to see them having nearly dealt with their issues. I reloaded, and helped out Hio, who was having the most trouble. The Xiztooh was using her already amazing biology and unique neural network that made the Xiztooh special, slicing them with blades made of his hands, and launched powerful quills that penetrated through the nasties. I fired off into the crowd of undesirables, ripping through enemies with just a shot or two. I stayed and fired, allowing her to reload her guns and other projectiles. Then after I ran out of ammo, I reloaded. Beams began to flash past and at us, With shields blocking the ones that would hit. They accidentally began to friendly-fire as well, for risking that was the only way for them to pull off a shot. I saw the horrific effects from one hitting. One of the troops got hit in the chest, and the entire chest became a orange crystal, impaling other parts of it, and little bloody ice crystals poked out of its skin in many areas. The worst part was that it was alive still after the beam hit him, only for about three seconds, but its horrific screams made up for that, startling nearby comrades, and us.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! A few dozen shots later, and the hallway was clear. We needed at least most hallways open for our techs to move through, but with me drifting around, I could help hold the line. In no time at all, the hallways were clear. Many of us had gotten at least somewhat frosty, so we sent them to the temporary hospital for treating frost wounds that was in the base. The Alliance had noticed we were here, but with Oort fighters on patrol, armies were getting cut down. They didnt employ aircraft frequently, but when they did, our anti-fighter torpedos cut em down quick. We held air superiority, and with the base on top of a mountain, and air support at the ready, it was going to be real tough to get up and take the base. We held the floor, clearing halls, even clearing the debris that had cut off earlier hallways. One of our eight groups had been taken out, one had been mostly hospitalized, but otherwise, lots of success. Wed found a storage compartment where the internal area was a vacuum, with about a gram or two of antimatter inside. The amount of energy used to make that mustve been... expensive. I think its fair to assume that this was previously considered impossible. I said to the tech. We had been exploring the labs when we came across this little nugget of supposed impossibility. A computer was open. Records and text flashed past my eyes, but one in particular caught my eye. They called it a beholder molecule. They managed to keep it active for about 10 seconds, before they had to collapse it. It was a antimatter atom and a regular atom held together by a shield and some high gravity, about 200g. It exerted intense amounts of energy, enough to propel a car way, WAY faster than light. About 80 times faster as a matter of fact. I think Einstein is going to hate these guys. Yeah, this was impossible, and as far as Im concerned it still is. There is no fucking way it isnt impossible. Might wanna check your facts again, or even check it with your own eyes, since says here how to make it. Chapter 24 We were clearing the base with even more haste now. This base held the knowledge of a interstellar civilization. We know they had accessed FTL, but how and using what method. We know it was gravity related, and hopefully, this tech would give rise to The Infinite Councils. I shot round after round, killing everything that stood in my way. I turned the corner of the metallic hallways, slashing a Chitin in two that was there. I kept running, however, dropped a wire grenade that would slash out with wires moving extremely fast, cutting them apart. I progressed into a large room that was circular, and full of baddies. They were getting pumped up or something, with a crowd standing around a commander. I launched the new micro missiles Id picked up from the temporary base that wed set up. It ripped through the crowd, with them barely having time to acknowledge my presence. I continued on, barreling through a lone runner in scientist attire. I shot the two guards outside the door to the lab only a minute later, and slid in. There was around 20 techs, and they all turned towards me, ready for battle. They each held a small fire-launcher, and shot it at me. That was a more regular weapon, a gun that launched mini fireballs that burned far, FAR hotter than they should. The shots splashed against my shields, and I launched a few chain lightning attacks, taking out most of them. The remaining ones I launched into the air with some hastily conjured magic whirlwinds. They slammed into the metal wall behind them. As the Chitin techs slumped to the ground, dead, I finished off any that werent. I immediately asked for reinforcements to help hold the lab. I started filtering through the files of the experiments that had been occurring here. This base held extremely vital information. The Alliance had poured heaps of their economy into this base, with it being on top of a mountain that had caverns containing various spatial anomalies. They, fortunately, were super paranoid, and didnt tell the rest of the empire their discoveries through normal means like Hoiper beams or anything. They didnt even use RADIO. They had a courier come, once a year(because they worried if they sent on more frequently enemies might notice), and take all the information. The courier hadnt come in 8 months, and the amount of knowledge we were getting here was insane. We get half the info here, and we get a technological advantage on just about everyone else. They hadnt made too many insane discoveries, but combined with what we already knew, we were developing insane things already. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. My eyes scanned the blue screens that held the knowledge I was desperately looking for. My fingers tapping and sliding across the alien controls. Then, I found it. A Knox folder, a folder protected with encryptions and passwords, and viruses galore. I took my personal AI friend Jerry, and set him loose by plugging the small bar into the side of the monitor. What do I do? Jerry said with his personalized avatar standing up tall, excited. He loved a good challenge, and these Know folders were a favorite. Can I ruin everything? Just slash apart code? Maybe even screw with their cyber defences here and cause hell for the floors below? He was also a junkie for causing chaos, like me. Go right ahead pal. Just take a copy of the Knox folder and send it back to base. Yeeeeeeeeee-haaaaaaaaaw! he shouted, then disappeared as he began to fuck with the enemy. Hehehehehehehehehehehehehe I cackled as he went to work. I ran out of the lab, and began my way up the base, passing by one more battalion which I systematically slaughtered. I got back to the ground base, and got a good rest. I may be underscoring how amazing this all is. Everytime we get a Knox folder, we get smarter. Were already tampering with a few prototypes for some crazy war machines, but, and heres the kicker, we figured out FTL. We were building a navy, but, theres a reason no one can leave Infinity. Occasionally through the sky you can see them, but when we launched a satellite to get a better idea of the terrain, the Space-Spectres obliterated it. Then we sent one to kill them, and it worked, but more just kept on coming. They were huge worms, with large fins and enormous appendages. They were about a mile long, and we counted them in the thousands while we were up there, but far more were expected to reside in the large amount of space around Infinity. With this tech, we might be able to kill them, and finally, leave Infinity. Chapter 25 The history of humankind is a strange thing. Things before the bio-apocalypse of the 21st century were erratic. You had chaos everywhere, countries in protest, dictators, and poverty. People would starve because others thought that the tools to save them were bad, and when scientifically proven good, it was revealed in the end that they just were afraid of science. Then when the plagues hit, things went south. Radical factions formed, purging other humans. Then after Storm-bot, things got a lot calmer. Humanity was sick and tired of fighting endless wars, fighting overpopulation, fighting hunger. We set up a system where the smartest, most capable led. It was a sort of democracy, with no stupid campaigns, only intense investigations, rigorous testing, and ended with an incorruptible, intelligent leader. Then the process was repeated until there was ten. Then, from then on, it was your own personal merit. If you worked hard enough for a job as a scientist, you got one. Nobody took excuses, and all worked to the best of their abilities. What was left of humanity progressed fast in technology, and we started working on new technologies, improving life for all. What was left of Antarctica was settled, and we even built cities in the water. There was a radical change of language and belief, with only three languages remaining, and one religion that was taken up by most everyone. The languages were Europiu, Asian, and Americani. Europiu was a mix of European languages adopted by Africa and Europe. Like English and German mixed together with a Swedish accent. Then there was asian, which looked like slapping Japanese and Chinese hieroglyphs together and then sounded Indian. Americani was essentially if English got Spanish italics. I personally spoke Americani, and lived on the Northern West coast, in one of the beach cities. Global warming had absolutely decimated the Earth, with half the species of animal dying, however plants flourished. A mix of Atheism, Catholicism, and Judaism. It was basically, we dont know anything about it, but we know its there. We decide to call it whatever we want, and discover it how we want. Anyone preaching they knew about some heavenly figured mightve just been hyped up on drugs or looking for fame. We have no idea what it is, so acknowledge its presence from time to time, do whatever else you want, just stay respectful. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. With the flourishing of many plants, and the extinction of many animals, it was decided that an no-meat diet would be established. Everyone survived on a healthy portion of mushrooms, greens, and grains. Of course there were also other foods, but that was the main thing. GMOs and CRISPR were heavily influencing plants, making each generation better. The harvestable parts would be harvested in large vertical farms that dominated the landscape of South America, and then the inedible parts were shipped to other farms that took the inedible bits, and let the hardy mushrooms grow on them, providing most of the worlds protein. It was a cycle that worked well, and had recently been re-established on Infinity. None of that mattered though, because we were on Infinity. No one knew it yet, but we had established a solid foothold in space. We were ripping apart the Space Spectres, and we were setting up satellites for orbital bombardment. We had taken the tech of the Alliance. And with it we had become a superpower. We could take out key positions with a well-placed, magnet slingshot, a powerful new weapon that used advanced magnetics to launch powerful railgun slugs into things at extreme speeds. Each round was expensive, having shields to prevent the atmosphere from ripping it apart, and a few other bits as well. We were also gathering data from the satellites about Infinity. As far as we could tell, it wasnt quite infinite, but it was enormous, and impossible. Chapter 26 overlooked the fleet of 4 warships in our hunter navy. We were for sure a superpower now. We had robots covering most industrial and agrarian jobs, with citizens being some form of clerk, soldier, manager, or leader. We had a booming economy, with the Giggam republic interested in being absorbed. The Rissi were thankful, and with only the war with the HashYoth going, we were building up our economy at insane speeds. It had been two years since the formation of the Infinite Councils, every day of which was insane. We had two more warships in construction, and at least 10 others for transportation and trade with other colonies at moons around Infinity. Four of our warships were currently out tearing apart Space Spectres, with one other on patrol for our trade, and one other bombarding HashYoth sites. The HashYoth were hyper resilient and it was taking an insane amount of firepower to destroy their sites, followed up by ground invasions to them over. I wasnt looking over that though. I was overlooking the fight with the Space Spectres. Dome formation people! I yelled into the comms as three more approached. Focus fire on the center one, but unleash 12 torpedos per ship on the far left one! Faster people, until shields are developed, we cant afford to take hits! Every scratch is expensive. I watched as the purple torpedoes launched from a port on the back, zipping off extremely fast, using the small plasma thrusters on the rear to their advantage. The Space Spectre launched small orbs of biomass, colliding into the torpedos. The ones that were blocked still hurt the strange hostile creatures, but far less than the eight that got trough did. Explosions tore at it, with it launching telepathic waves that reverberated through my skull with pain. It was damaged, but not out of the fight. Meanwhile our powerful slammed against the shields of the Spectre, flashing red where it hit. Eventually one made it through, tearing at least a meter in, before the round burst, with plasma burning into it. Then another made it through. And another. It slowly died, and when it did, it just drifted there, like a hopeless hunk of misery. However in this time, the one not yet targeted had come within range of our ships. The strange orange lightning flashed across its scaly blue tentacle, whipping against a ship. The ship lost power briefly, and got a dent but was otherwise ok, while the Spectre was not. When it had gotten within the half a mile range, we fired off a revolutionary weapon, the Quenlyl lancer. A lance of red energy tore into the beast staying impaled in it a moment or two, before the energy flashed away. What was left was a gaping wound that had seemed to hit an organ. The Spectre did not relent though, pounding the ship again and again. Finally it died, after the third lance. Meanwhile, the rest of my ships had killed the other. I immediately ordered an inspection of the hull and armor. Our single starbase, the HopperKli, would check it out, fix it up, and get it in tip top shape. The damaged ship fired up its neutral atom drives, and seemed to disappear as it flew through space faster than light. A few minutes later it was back in the HoperKli. It was a victory, but not a very good one. Our droplet shaped ships were extremely expensive, and occupied 30% of the funds of the Infinite Councils. The repairs were going to cost an insane amount, but at least no one was dead. The Neutronium-cold Titanium alloy was, durable, plasma and energy weapon resistant, and could hold up if a piece or two of debris was hit in FTL(faster than light). However it was super expensive, and even after all those expensive material were put on, the vacuum born creatures still put a few dents in that tough motherfucker. I mean, shit on a pancake you couldnt melt it with a few dozen Juncathari molten cannon blasts, or dent it with our best spaceborn railgun in one shot, but you could do that with a little electrified tentacle! Thats some nonsense. I sighed.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Fleet, return to base to get resupplied, then lets get back to the front. Well try and find a group of one or two, then well call it a day, I said. Sir, there is a lone one within somewhat ineffective torpedo range. We could launch the remains of our torpedos there? One of the ship commanders requested. Listen, our goal here isnt to kill as many as possible here, its to keep them out of the safe zone, and do it as cheaply as possible. We recently caught a budget cut, so we need to make sure this is all kept cheap. I lectured the commander. He had been one of the immigrants from one of the more peaceful human tribes, and had risen quickly in the ranks. He was a smart guy, but occasionally a bit too eager. We fired up the neutral atom engines, and we flew away from the battlefield. Dragging a kilogram of bio-samples with us. We had so much to learn from the vacuum of space, and it was important to take samples. We flew through space, a column of blue-white light, from the distant and near stars as the light blurred together. I liked looking at it, seeing the result of something thought impossible, and knowing, that humanity beat the odds. Chapter 27 I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Wrang. I was in the docking bay as the Owl class shuttle arrived. My old friend stepped off, and we gave a huge bro hug. How have you been? Its been a while. I said to my friend as he put down his bag. In the background the shuttle began to get more passengers to return them to Infinity. Well, Ive been good, got a few technologies that are gonna be prototype-tested on Golon, but Im also here to pick up those samples you guys have from the Space Spectres. He responded with a smile. He was the top techie for The Infinite Councils, and was doing a lot of sciency stuff. He was a smart dude, I could keep up pretty well with him when he was explaining stuff, but he had the best personality and attitude for it. My skills were better put elsewhere. Anyway, give me the latest reports on the ships. Well, they work really well. Id like some sturdier and smarter torpedos, and if you could get me some energy shields I would be beyond grateful. Otherwise, no problems. I told him. Well, lucky you, we figured out something other than scatter shields! Theyre a bit of a work in progress, and very energy intensive, but will be pretty thick. It wont be much, but youll be able to take a few fully charged hits from those Space Spectres before a total shield collapse. Dont let it do that by the w- He wasnt able to finish his sentence before I choked him in a bear hug. Let-go-of-me, He wheezed. You have no idea how much money this is gonna save. We will be able to buy more materials, more upgrades to the station. Thank you, truly. I said, letting go of him. Youre welcome. However, Im serious on this. You let the shields overload, and it causes a feedback overload that has a good chance of frying its batteries. If it overloads too much, maybe even the entire ship. He said solemnly. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Well be careful then, I returned. We bid our farewells after that. He did give me an information packet on some important things going down on Infinity, and urged me to read it as soon as I could. I went back to my quarters, unprepared for what was coming. I sat down in my quarters, and plugged the information packet into my datapad. I opened up the file, and read the contents. There had been a capture of a tower from the HashYoth, done by The Giggam Republic, The Almani, and The Heiive Confederacy. This surprised me. As far as I knew, they were not equipped enough to deal with that. As I read the report further, I found out that they had been building a lot of armored vehicles. It was a mix of all of the members of that close-knit team. The Heiive had supplied the plasma laser main weapon, while the Almani had improved on it, and then the Giggam Republic supplied about half of the necessary materials, and built three-quarters of the war machines with their behemoth of an industry. I took in that knowledge, and just laid down. Then with a deep breath I moved on. Unsurprisingly, the Urolium Compact and Federation of Supremacy had totally collapsed, and many of the refugees were coming to the Infinite Councils, and our allies. There was some activity of a new government North of the HashYoth, and the looked to be powerhouses. They were the Zekkromian Conquerers, and were quite powerful. They had set a death mark on every other empire. They looked like they might be able to follow through with it too. The Juncathari, HashYoth, and a small isolationist empire of enormous burrowing beetles named GiKoo were losing territory at startling rates. The Zekkromian appeared to be 9ft tall raptors. Not the birds, but the dinosaurs. They had these fins around their neck and on their back that appeared to be biological weapons that could control some sort of energy, and could make that very same energy into weapons. They worshipped suns and were incredibly xenophobic. I was about to look at what else the information packet had in it, before something stopped me in my tracks. We werent the only space-dwellers. There had been a fight discovered between them and some Space Spectres. They had already established a foothold in space. On top of that, plans had been discovered from the Juncathari to get into space as well. Guess we dont have a monopoly on space anymore. I sighed. This is going to cause a hell of a lot of problems. Whatever, everyone knew we wouldnt be the lords of space forever. Better get ready to kick some of that scaly ass. Chapter 28 Eight days later, we experienced our first true battle. Five orange, Y-shaped ships, with the two lines at the back, suddenly warped into space around 160,000 miles from HopperKli station. The ships sat there for a moment, before three more warped in, though these were a lot bigger, with another two lines halfway up the central pole. They then began to slowly approach the station on slower sublight engines, going about 1/12 lightspeed. I received an urgent signal, jumped up from the table I was sitting at having a late breakfast. I dropped the spoon I was eating the cereal with, and ran to my command station on one of my ships. I immediately recalled all ships from other duties, asking them to jump to the sides of these ships, which were about twice as big than our standard ship, and that was the small ones. All three of the ships in the HopperKlis ship bays leapt out, and began manning the battle stations. I was on one of those ships. Then six others began to pour in on the sides of the strange other ships. We had preemptively, marked them as enemies, because I had a strong suspicion of whose ships they were and opened comms. Identify yourselves, and state your business. I hope I didnt get the answer I thought I would get. We are the Zekkromian Conquerors, My blood turned cold, and goosebumps rose on my skin. An officer the communications were connected to cursed under her breath. And we are here to purge the xeno filth that you are. Surrender now, or face our guns, I responded with a fury. They responded by shutting off communications, and powering up their weapons. I would have given the order, but my fellow commander beat me to it. Fire 10% of torpedos! Target the far right smallest ship! Obliterate the closest to us with our railguns! He said. Purple streaks leapt across space, and most were stopped by a few quick lasers, however a few got through, and the antimatter contained within tore into the armor of the ship, exposing a few spots to space, which were filled back in within 20 seconds, however the center ship was a bit less lucky. The shells flew across the battlefield, and ripped through the ship, and also hit a few others. The began to repair, but it took 30 seconds, and still was in tatters by the end. Then they released their salvo. Orange beams flew across the battlefield, holding for half a second. The laser-like beams burned across the shields of the three ships, mine included, that were nearest to HopperKli station. The beams werent organized, however the four beams that hit my shields put them down to 17% not wanting to risk another hit, the shields were dropped, same with one other ship that was hit. Railgun rounds launched again, this time finishing off the center ship. It was torn up again, this time the shells tore through the thin barriers replacing the armor that had been there before the previous railgun salvo, and explosions tore across the ship. Blue-white plumes tore the ship into three pieces. 1 down, 8 to go. I ordered an abnormal order. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Launch 5% of our torpedos, targeting the bigger ones, no particular target. Then follow up with 30% at the same targets, 10 seconds after launching the first, and continue bombarding the ship closest to us with railguns, targeting the main beam gun. I ordered. The short salvo of torpedos targeted the bigger ships, and each and every one was stopped by the point defense. Then the second salvo launched. The point-defense had already fired, and couldnt fire again, my guess was overheating,(lasers were quite hot) whatever the reason though, this time very few were stopped and the ships were heavily damaged. One just floated off into space, dead. The the six remaining suddenly turned to the sides, and charged towards the ships on their sides, releasing powerful orange beams. They evenly split off, with one bigger ship and two smaller ones both going to each side. Suddenly, a whole array of close range weapons began to hit. Another railgun salvo was fired, scraping another ship partially. However, that wasnt before one of my ships was reduced to scrap after it was repeatedly hit by blue plasma and lances of strange extremely hot energy that ripped through the ship. A Quenlyl lance managed to be released, and it stabbed through one of the bigger ships, tearing it apart. Something similar happened on the other side, though no more ships were killed. I was mad. No, furious. LAUNCH EVERY MISSILE WE HAVE!! I DONT WANT TO SEE ANY SHIPS NOT FIRING UNLESS THOSE SHIPS ARE GONE!! I screamed through the channels. It was like it was slow-motion as the ordinance slowly flew from its containers, and destroyed the ships. One more of our ships fell before the battle haze was gone, and the ships were scrap. I calmed myself down, barely managing to contain myself as I filed the report, hitting each letter as hard as I could, jamming one of my fingers, and breaking a key. It read, torpedos were most effective, point defense doesnt work very well, only a shot or two before overheating. Five shots from long-range beam overload shield, devastating close range weapons. DO NOT let them get close. I took a deep breath. Send out the harvester drones. Lets see what we can learn from their ships. Get as many of the bodies of the fallen crew as possible. Send out rescue ships immediately, and save any still alive. I want a proper burial for every single one of those soldiers, and get those ships still being built out as fast as you can. I sighed. I had let them down. Good people had died, because I was so stupid as to let them close in to close-range. Chapter 29 It had been four days since the first real naval battle of Infinite Councils history. I stomped through the long corridors of the Grand Hall, the capital building of our capital city, Juloi. I pushed open the doors of the Infinite Chamber, the meeting place for the originals. Not everyone had yet arrived, but most had. About ten others had to come, due to them being in equally far off places like me. There was a bit of chatter. I greeted many friends, however, it was clear that I had been gone far too long. I saw suspicious glances, and even some downright murderous ones. Everyone here was an original, everyone here a major leader. This was instability. I sat next to one of those I had better relations with, Chrom. We chatted for a bit, caught up on a few events. Food and water was supplied, and those who needed sleep, got it. We were in there for another two days before the last original had arrived. The days that had passed were relatively boring and uneventful, so I had kept in touch with the military functions I had control over. Finally, the last person came and the meeting began. Okay, weve got many issues to discuss here, Oxy said, having become the closest thing to a single ruler we had. I would like to first invite Julin to speak. Julin was fair, and more of an resource manager. I didnt know her too well, but she was ok. Thank you. To cut to the chase we are beginning to have a large excess of food, due to the industrial farms finally being set up. I would like to suggest that we trade it away to the Giggam, to establish even better relations, feed their growing population, and to get some more building materials, so we can build more infrastructure, and better build up our colonies. She said, her voice echoing across the large chamber. I put in a request to speak along with two others. The list put Jewel on the list before me, and Viul ehind me. They had both leaned towards the side of Zin when he had been a major player here. It made me uneasy to be around them. Jewel stood up. I would like to mention that we are currently experiencing a population boom, and in a few years we may desperately need this stored food. Also, wouldnt trading with the Almani be a better idea? We dont need building materials as much as we do more ground forces. She wasnt the biggest fan of the space-exploring as most, and thought it would be better to take establish a significant ground presence. I personally think it would be better if we stayed as isolated and self-sufficient as possible. She sat down, indicating she was done. Then I stood up. I would like to state where I stand. I do believe that she has the right idea. The Giggam are close allies, and I wish for them to remain so. They are currently in a bit of a food shortage, and not only would it be the right thing to do, but also I would very much like a stronger foothold on our colony worlds. I think that we also should trade away some of our intel, and also get them a communications satellite. Nothing military, but it would make us even better allies, and get us a lot of materials. I sat down.Then Viul stood, shootin me a glare, having never liked me, and recently despised me. He overlooked infrastructure on Infinity. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. I hate to agree with Rade, He began, citing a few dark looks toward me and a few laughs. Clearly I was not as liked here as I first thought. But I have to agree with Julin. However, the building materials should be more spent on some building projects I have in mind on Infinity. He sat down. A vote was cast. Out of the 36 present it was a vote of 22-14 in Julins favor. Once again, Oxy came up. So that matter is settled. Next, I will call up Hefka. Oxy went to sit back down, and Hefka stood. He pushed the boundaries on magic, and studied the strange effects of Infinity. To make this simple, I would like to request of Rade, Chrom(Another military leader), and Jewel that you make a special magic shock troop faction. They would be highly effective, and teach all troops to be able to cast at least a few spells. He said, giving me a slight chill, and while I didnt want to disappoint him, there was a reason this had not been done yet. We all instantly put our names in. Chrom stood first. This is not nearly as simple as it sounds. We would have to cycle troops in and out of battle, and we barely have any to spare currently, and those we do have to spare are being used to gain as much of an advantage as we can get. This is no simple task. All of us generals, have talked about this. We too would like to try it, but we simply dont have the resources. The Juncathari are looking for weakness, and waiting for us to be vulnerable to attack. This would give them this opportunity. He said. After he sat down, Jewel stood up. I second this. Then me. I as well second this. I dont want to begin drafting soldiers, but it just isnt feasible right now without a lot more troops. I sat down. The vote went 30-6, not in Hefkas favor. Oxy went back up. This is actually my own issue. I believe we should bring in some more people into this senior council. If they show enough promise, they should be given a seat, who agrees? A simple hand will do. All in favor. 20 hands rose, including his own, and mine. Well thats settled. Now, I am not sure if all of you know, but six days ago, the Zekkromian Conquerers attacked HopperKli station unprovoked. All in the name of purging our xeno filth. They destroyed two of our ships. Needless to say, we are now at war. As he said that there were a few angry growls in the crowd and many glared at me. I stood. I was personally there, and we were not aware of what they could do. If you need to, watch the videos. However, I will mention, that I made sure none of those ships made it out alive. This is why I keep asking for more resources, our ships keep us on top of the game, and its a shame many of you have to learn this the hard way. I spoke out into the chamber, my words dripping with emotion and hate. Chapter 30(finale) The first attack was a simple scouting mission, one that destroyed about 20% of our military space assets. Then came the bigger attacks. Thankfully we had built another shipyard, and even though the shipyards were never empty, we never had enough ships. Never enough to hold ground and keep away the Space Spectres. We had mounted a blitzkrieg-ish attack on every space station the Zekkromian had set up. We managed to knock down their hold on space, and while they rebuilt, so did we, building fleets of evacuation ships that had prepared for this very day. Theyre launching a huge attack with one of their biggest armies! I shouted out. In less than a day we would all be off this hellhole, but it looked like the Zekkromian were going to make us pay for that decision. Get every ship bombing their biggest shield generators, and pummel the armies beneath, I screamed out, quickly getting into my battle armor, as various other military officers around me began to shout orders. Every soldier move out. This is the day weve been dreaming of! If you dont live to see tomorrow, know that you went down protecting the generations to come! Weve almost finished evacuating the Giggam and the Heiive! Now lets kick some ass! There came a loud HOORAH from the soldiers that had not already left. The Humans and Almani gave the traditional human salute, while the Heiive and Giggam sat, and lifted their front left leg, the quadreped-sectaped salute. The Zekkromian had come in waves across the ground, with enormous ground forces wearing exoskeletons, guns that shot short beams of highly concentrated light, and light lances, a sort of melee weapon. We all ran to the magnetic launcher, getting into a pod, and being launched. Halfway to our destination(the army) our pods shot us forward, before continuing on, falling to our destination, damaging enemy units before we fell, and all hell broke loose. Thousands of troops began to land in a army of one million powerful soldiers. More kept falling, but for now, we were outnumbered beyond belief. I fired my rail guns at them, killing one, and wounding another, before they were on me. In the brutal melee I couldnt see the rest of the battle, and wouldnt have tried as I entered a battle-haze, with adrenaline pouring through my veins and everything slowing down. I dodged one of the light lances thrusted at me, and responded with my fist, cloaked in lightning, pounding into the top of the aliens head. Red energy flowed off of me as weaved through the army, punching, kicking, pistol whipping, and shooting whenever I had the chance. I took a few hits, which slashed at my armor, dents and slashes, exposing a small amount of my skin to the hot air of battle. The HashYoth and Juncathari had stopped their war to fight this invasion, and even with the full might of their empires, the Zekkromian just kept coming. The Juncathari had fallen, The Alliance had fallen, half our allies had fallen, nearly every other empire had fallen. We were running. I got hit. Badly. Through my left calf, it burned a hole right through. Then, while I was stunned, through my right shoulder. I blasted off a whirlwind of air. Now here I am. Surrounded by enemies, gravely wounded, so tired I could barely lift my gun. I dont know how long Ive been fighting. I glanced at the killcount in my armor. 40 killed, 373 wounded. I looked at the timer. Ive been fighting for 3 hours. Damn. I sent out a support beacon. Then, before I was hit again, used all my magic to launch an enormous EMP, that cloaked every enemy nearby. My suit still operated, but it was damaged and heavy. I took it off, flash healed my wounds, just to stop blood from going everywhere, and stood. At first the Zekkrom seemed perplexed and confused. Then they tossed down their weapons and leapt at me. I lifted up my middle finger and bent it. Challenging them and insulting them.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I met every slash with a punch, and every bite with a kick. Everytime they leapt, I grabbed one and tossed it. Every bodyslam I flipped over me. I stayed on the defensive, waiting there, waiting for help. Soon help came. Two Giggam tore through their ranks and stood over me. As soon as they did, my eyes rolled into the back of my head, and I passed out. The mix of sticky and crusty blue blood mixed unpleasantly when it met my deep red. It covered me, and probably wasnt any good for the huge wounds I had torn open with the help of Zekkromian talons and teeth. I felt a feeling of guilt that I wasnt able to kill more. I was helpless to add even one more slap. I awoke slowly. The white hospital bed I was in was clean. I was clean. My wounds had been tended to. I used every ounce of will in my body to sit up, get out of the bed and drink the water next to it. I then walked out into the hall. I immediately heard the sound of a bustling hospital. Id been in hospitals enough times to know that sound by heart. Some nurse came over to me and tried to stop me. I glanced in her direction, and I felt something. My brain flexed and contracted, and I felt intense pain. I knelt to the ground, my knees touching the silvery halls, and my hands went straight to my head. It felt like my brain was pulsing out from the center, sending waves through my nervous system. Meta screeched against metal and the hairs on my arms rose, protesting the noise. I screamed, and it felt like it echoed throughout me and my muscles went stiff. Blood began to slowly stream out of my nose, and drops came out of my ears. My muscles stiffened, and I couldnt see. My breath became inconsistent and raggedy. I dont know how, but I just knew that I was causing the nurse pain, even though I could barely hear her screams in the muted state my ears were in. Slowly I stood. I wrapped myself in a cocoon of pain, and pressed on. I collapsed again. I felt another pulse, and more blood gushed out of my nose and ears. My hands felt like the opposite sides of magnets, and I tried to contain the raw power seeping out of my body. I tried to press my hands together, using everything I could. I let my hands slip for a moment, and one went up the other down. I flipped around, and the metal around me bent and dented. I was terrified. What could I do. I tried something new. I closed my hands, and the power stopped. The blood flow stopped. I passed out again. Head hurt. Who am I. Rade. My mind focused around this one single fact. The white room I was in was cushioned and the bed I was in was comfortable. My mind pulsed again, and I screamed. I heard something faint, just a whisper in a whirling hurricane of pain. I am alone, and need help. Surrounded by Zekkromian. Come as fast as you can. The message repeated. Then I remembered. The blood. The pain. The battle. Had we won? Had we escaped? I opened the door, the pulsing in my mind had stopped. I walked out into a corridor, with ten guns pointed at me. Who are you, and what happened to Rade?! Another one stood behind the soldiers pointing guns at me. I am Rade. Then who am I?! The man shouted. Memories came rushing back again. Wrang. What happened to me? I screamed out the last word and my mind pulsed again. Two soldiers dropped to the ground gripping their heads. Wrang stared, disturbed. He then gripped his head, and clenched his teeth. Nobody knows. But you are hurting us, stop. He said. My mind stopped pulsing. Help me please. I whispered, passing out, one, last, time. Home, chapter one Home Chapter 1 18 RE(rebirth era) It had been 18 years. We were two years away from our new home, which had recently been announced. It was the Solis system, a run back to Earth and its solar system. It was a huge system, with 18 habitable planetoids, and other than the three suns, 136 celestial bodies, and two asteroid belts. Thankfully, wed built the migration ships with the ability to build more, so with the three insane population booms, we were luckily able to contain the populations. Morale was good, great. And I had finally figured out control over my powers. Still didnt know what to call whatever was going on in my brain, but, it was neat. Along with the other three who had developed this, we were all semi-proficient, and I was really good at one of the three talents currently discovered called minding. I could look into minds, and sense emotion, meaning, intention, send them telepathic messages, and a few other things. It made me amazing at translating languages and interrogation. Everyone that had gained these strange psionics was a mystery. The best theory currently as to the origin of the strange abilities I had, was previous exposure to them. Like the Space Spectres. But it was still a mystery. However on the migration ships, extensive was still being undertaken. These migration ships held 10 million each, the monsters, and went kinda slow compared to military ships. They didnt have shields or weapons either, so we had to make sure to avoid basically everything which added a few more years onto the journey, but whatever. We had to make these ships fast over at Infinity all those years ago, so it couldnt be helped. There had originally, been 432 of these bad boys, but eventually the number had ticked up to a whopping 697, with eight more being built. The populations were a mix of Giggam, Human, Xiztooh, Heiive, Viknorin, a couple dozen million Uro, and about 100 million Juncathari refugees. The largest percentage was Heiive, making up 37% of the overall population. Thankfully I was here when, two years in, the languages stopped being automatically translated. I was barely decent back then, but I was able to do ok, except for one time I confused the word the in the Heiive language, and translated it incorrectly into Juncathari as was. Super confusing few weeks for them. At least the universal measurements had been established. There are ten day weeks, thirty day months, and three-hundred-sixty day years. The days however, are twenty-five hours. The kellin system was now the base measurement. A single kellin was 125 million times the atomic width of a hydrogen atom. Around 130 centimeters. However, the base systems of the previous species were used by them among their own species. All of this was not easy. However, we were prepared for planetfall when the time came. There were already construction and coding facilities designing AIs and building robots. There were the HMAC, or the hive minded artificial controllers, the MWD, or menial worker drones, the DAI dumb artificial intelligence, an example of one of the first is Siri, a very old ai that the code for these bots is partially based on, and the SAI, smart artificial intelligence. They were used for multiple purposes and helped with various things, and assisted in some managerial jobs. Then there was the modifications. First the biological ones. Lots of it was just making sure that the technological modifications could actually fucking fit inside our bodies, and then there was faster blood regulation, faster reaction time, denser muscle growth, and muscle growth was far easier to get, and being overall faster and stronger, and smarter. We were also working on replicating some of the telekinetic growths in my brain, but those were hard as shit to do, and nobody wanted to mess with anything involving the brain unless 300% sure that it would not be bad, and wouldnt do it anyways unless the benefits were good, to minimize tampering with the brain as much as possible. We dont screw with that shit. Fuck that. Immune systems were stronger, and aging had been fixed, after we realized what had been happening to us versus what was happening on Infinity, it was rather simple, just a matter of crossing the ts, and dotting the is, to get the solution. All we had to do was create Co-un, a sour blue watery fluid, that was usually sweetened and tasted rather good. One would drink it in the morning and throughout the day it repaired every small nodule of attrition, and drastically improved efficiency, making muscle building easier by a lot, and making anyone who received it practically immune to anything in your body that wanted to harm you, ie: parasites, nasty bacteria, and viruses. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Then there was the technological augmentations. A small device was put into ones heart, containing nanomachines that would flow through the circulatory system, and fix any bodily damage. Then there were small boxes that hooked into the spinal cord, called Mindjacks, and improved reaction time and speed with the help of some other implantations, was basically like a phone connected to your head. It allowed one to interface with the Stream, an upgraded internet, see holograms, and interface with their own custom battle armor. Everyone that got these augmentations, became practically demigods, compared to their former selves. I got out of my sleeping pod, the clean, recycled air that Id been breathing for the last eighteen years greeted me, the cool temperature grazing my skin. I stretched feeling my body wake up, helped by the caffeine that I had just taken in through a small pill and some water on the side of the pod. The blue room I was in, and the DAI responded to my awakeness. Today is 6/3/18 RE,(day month year, to make it easier to understand and more efficient) how are you doing Rade? Dala said in her soothing robotic voice. Just woke up, I am barely alive, I said hopping out of the pod, perked up, everywhere. I stepped into my closet, and was instantly outfitted in a light green jumpsuit with two lines of gold that were called dual trims that stretched around my body, hugging the muscle lines and and joints of my body. I took off down the hallways, spotting a few others in the wide hallways of the housing sector. I ran into a entrypoint, how we entered our strange transportation system. As the rail-surfers skimmed by at supersonic speeds, my pod was added into the exterior of the surfer. I then walked out the exit doorway and into the cabin. The gravitic stabilizers made it feel like I was standing still. I briefly socialized with the other inhabitants, before getting off at my stop. The gym. This hub of activity and self-improvement was in every migration ship, and is what made us all, humans or otherwise, what we were. We were stronger, faster, and could last longer in a fight. The militarist attitude and industrial prowess of the Constellarin Dominion was admirable. I loved the efficiency, the constant growth, and the fact that you could be unemployed, and it wouldnt matter. The jobs people took helped them get better stuff, and get access to private, non government supplied foodstuffs, just an escape from boredom, or a way to help. All of these were reasons people took jobs, but usually they stayed because of the sense of purpose that came with it. When I got to the gym, I did a fifteen minute run in four-g,(standard gravity units, a bit more than Earths gravity) which was four times normal. Then I headed for the duel pits, and encountered a Giggam. We both entered an empty duel pit, and stared each other down. Then the ping sounded. The massive quadruped charged me. I leaped left as the Giggam ran right past where I was just a second ago. The Giggam then crouched quickly and tail swept, catching me landing. I was launched across the small arena, battered. As I hit the wall, I ran on the circular wall, going fast enough that I didnt fall, with my bent over stance keeping me on the wall. As the Giggam got up from the crouch I leapt from the brown wall, and punched his leathery face at high speeds, knocking it over. As it hit the arena ground, I prepared to hit it again, but it snapped its tail at me, driving me off. It then got back up, and charged me. Time to pull out the good ol human trick. We were flexible, and compared to the other races, boy we could do dumb shit. I jumped on its side as it ran by, and climbed on its back as it tried to tail whip me. The tall giraffe-crocodile love child couldnt touch me however, and I wrapped my hands around its neck. Then I, using my weight, and muscle, pulled it down to the ground. My opponent took a hard fall, its legs getting tripped over. My broken ribs from the single tail swipe he/she/hse(trisexual) landed flared up, and the knives of pain burned through my body as I gritted my teeth and took the pain. The agile Giggam rolled over, and bared its sharp teeth as I got up, followed by us beginning to circle each other looking for an opening. However, the Giggam had the reach of its long, powerful tail. I couldnt take a direct shot. Not without this guy pummeling me. Its tail snapped out and I ducked, and when it momentarily stalled before returning to the Giggams body, I snatched the green tenticular limb, and came along for the ride. My grip almost slipped which would have sent me into the wall, ending the duel most likely, but I held on. Then I released at the last second, launching my body towards the head. I stuck out my arm, and clotheslined it. My arm knocked it out, it collapsing instantly, and my arm broke. Shattered. As the medical robots came to heal us back up, I sat there soaking in my victory, while taking the pain like a fucking champ. God that hurts. Oh shit. I have to go into the lab today. Fuck me. I screwed up massively So.... I''m really dumb. I screwed up big time. If my timedate was kept the same, my empire would be so stupidly overpowered that we would just steamroll everything. I did a bad. I did a very bad. I did some horrible miscalculations, and my brain is coming out of my butt right now. I''m going to start Home over, and this time things wont be brutally miscalculated. I''m sorry guys. My last chapter WAS NOT CANON. I apologize, and if any of you can tell me how to delete chapters, that would be extremely helpful. I''m super sorry, and you guys should be able to expect another chapter soon. But im bad at being consstent so maybe not. But this is Spring Break for me, so I will work on it. I''m sorry. If I told you all the reasons I had to do this, it would spoil the only planning I''ve made for the book, and that just won''t sit with me. I have some good ideas, and I don''t want to waste them. I''m sorry. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Chapter 1 of Home(sorry for the long wait) 101 RE(Rebirth Era) I woke up, hopping out of my sleep pod. I cracked my back and did some stretches. Sabrina, what is the news? I spoke out, eliciting a response from my personal AI. My white room came alight, some light blue strips of light bracing the wall. A small bead popped out of a charging case, my AIs shell. The teensie gravity drive held within kept her afloat circling around my head. I popped into my custom-fit jumpsuit, the dark green trim flashed gently as it recognized my DNA, and the grey clothing melded against my body like a second skin. The dark green showed my rank, an Opheli, the rank just under the Rulers. I walked out of my room, hearing my AI list off various current events. Juol-isi has won the 1v1 combat tournament currently taking place. A strong Giggam. Fought him once. Tough. She continued. The scientific community is also abuzz in what has been revealed to be a discovery of what dark energy truly is. She said. I quickly stopped her. Show further info. I said hastily, tuning my brain into the hive mind of the debate on the info and what it could mean. Dark energy as shown by a multitude of sources and scans to be a sort of wind of the universe. It pushes out expansion in all directions, everywhere at once, all the time. There have been multiple ideas proposed, with some already being worked on, such as unique energy plants, far faster travel in between galaxies, where matter interference and gravity interference is nil. This would allow us to coast into our new home within the week. Weaponizing it would be hard and ineffective, however, if dark matter were to be discovered, and should it have similar properties, it could be a very useful weapon. She spoke in her robotic voice. Thank you, Sabrina. I muttered quickly as the assault from the thoughts of billions in this simultaneos debate hit me. The hurricane of thoughts, accusations, and questions was hard to visualize, however this wasnt my first rodeo and I took it in stride. I took the Dragonfly, a mode of public transportation akin to trains took one wherever they might want to be. The electrified magnetic rails it coasted sped me through the migration ship, traveling 344 Holj before I was ejected from the Dragonfly at the Cafeteria section of the ship. I slowly ate a Jup stick, a lemony, sweet tasting stick of plant matter. Beside it I also had a small meat cube made from lab-grown Kilo meat. Kilo were like feathery, large centipedes. As I ate I poured over the data presented by the abundance of minds, and I came to my own conclusion. I presented my data, inspired by a few others. Energy fins. They would be attached to the sides of our ships, and they would provide significant boost. Over the course of the next hour many solutions were debated before one rose up to the top. Large haloes would surround the ships, and it would cycle the energy through, and this could potentially get us to the closest galaxy in the next twelve years. It would be risky however. There was a decision made. We would have to use our material stockpile for that instead of the additional housing that it couldve been used for. So tomorrow, we would enter stasis. We would cast an enchantment on every crew member, and very few would stay awake, only to maintain the drones and ships. I would not be staying awake, so I too would enter stasis. I decided where I would land. All in all, there were going to be eleven systems colonized, with hundreds of worlds that were going to be built on. I chose the hardest one. KrigGuyo. The advanced military world. I was going to be a field general. However, I had to beat a challenge. Rank in the top 20,000 in the arena. I was already rank 23,689, so I had some work to do. I returned to my quarters with a mission. I entered my closet, and equipped myself for the arena. It was a nonstop battle in there, and while virtual, copied your exact physical form and felt as real as anything else. The small dark blue triangles that dotted all across my light green armor reflected in the light of my visor. It was in the shape of a T and was white. I activated my genetic tattoos, an enormous blue phoenix covered my back. The pattern repeated itself on my armor as well. I grabbed a RG-787 and a volt launcher. The long RG I held in my hands, and my volt launcher attached to my waist magnetically. I walked out of my quarters and took the Dragonfly again, this time to the arena. I walked in and logged into one of the terminals. I logged into my arena account, and was greeted by my fellow team Salamander. We hopped onto the war game, and saw we were against team Helio. Some lights flashed, and we entered the battlefield. Small, green and blue birds chirped in the jungle environment, and the map appeared. Me and my team silently pinged a few locations, organizing ourselves. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Ill take the left flank, and hope to ambush them. Ordered one of the eight team members, then pointing at me. The Uro didnt exactly point, for having no limbs to do so with, but did show the appropriate body language indicating it. Youre the best we got, skirmish with them and pick them off if you can. I nodded, and left running. I had a secret weapon though, and it was about to come out. I pulsed my brain, then neurons releasing immense amounts of energy into the area. The scanner wave easily leapt across the 200 miles of terrain in this massive reality. I identified the team, and marked them all for my teammates. One was missing however. Top-notch cloaking, the best we had. They would be tricky. I noticed they were heading the right way, and gave them some pointers on how to better approach. I then took off running. My muscles flexed as I soared across the tree-filled landscape, bristling with green leaves and red bark, not unlike that home left so long ago. The mossy soil beneath my heavy, armored feet left easily seen tracks. This was one of the quickest maps to play on, the tracks usually demanded a speedy confrontation. I barreled across the landscape dodging trees and rocks, soaring ahead, before launching a grappling hook around a tree, my brain going into overtime, the cybernetic enhancements giving the math and answers, enough for my genetically enhanced glial cells processing it in the half second. The grapple reached out to the strong trunk of the tree, however not latching on. The metal rope ripped through the tree, slicing it in half, tearing the roots and wood up, launching them to the front of me while I slowed to a near halt, beginning a slow 5 mph jog. The tree fell into the forest, scattering the virtual birds. And as they fell, the earlier noted enemy team hit it straight on, sending two of their members careening into the ground. The other two in that section of the team, slowed as quickly as they could, but not fast enough. My volt launcher sent small chunks of electrically charged ionized matter, ripping through the weak shields of the scout unit I targeted. And as my grapple came back around, it caught the Heiive still in the air, and maneuvering my shoulder, rammed it into the ground. I continued to slam the rounds of my volt launcher into the armor of the Giggam, the electricity at such close ranges locking up the armor of the Giggam, and as the plasma-like substance drilled into the armor of the alien, it zipped out of sight. A game over. I dropped the volt launcher, picked up my RG-747, and launched a slug into the back of one of the slowing team members. They were launched far away, out of sight and out of mind. Not really, their location was still in my head, but they were of little consequence now. I quickly holstered my weapons, activated my cloak, and set off running. The movement around me wouldnt stop sensors from seeing me, but it was far to late. I was gone. Two of my team members launched artillery from where we had started, and the group still gathering themselves was blown to bits. I gave them the thumbs up, target down. This team was far out of their league. That is half the team down, now is time to find that guy who I had blasted away from the coordinated strike. I pulsed my mind again, getting an updated location of their position. The enemy team had engaged with my team, surprising them. We had managed to break even with them, driving them away after the loss of two more members. However, we had lost three to a surprise grenade and a well hidden sniper. He was the one I had failed to locate, and I got very worried. Deep breaths flew quickly in and out. The panic attack hit, my body felt like it was crunching up. I had failed again. Screams. Blood. Slaughter. I couldnt get there quick enough. The all too familiar face grinned a wicked grin, burned deep. My armor injected the solution into my arm, and I got up. I could do this. This was all virtual. The person Im going against is likely another PMI, like me. I shook it off, and ran towards the man downed. The crashed trees and destroyed path of his flight had provided a trail. I pulsed again, this time a tight scan, the energy flowing out in a cone. The blue and purple images rang in my mind, everything bigger than a pebble clear as day, though made confusing by the color. The dragon Juncathari had launched into the sky, weapons ready and charging. On my position. The stream of highly condensed plasma rocketed through the air, covering the trees and ground, melting everything. I lept to the side, avoiding its fiery path. I got my RG, and fired off a few rounds. They flew through the air, but now that I was at the disadvantage, I was incapable of doing anything but shooting up as the enormous genetically modified Juncathai sliced through the air and dodged my bullets. I pointed my left arm at it, my assistant AI helping me to aim. A small beam launched from my arm, going far 1.7 times the speed of light. The thin, blue beam only had one use in my custom armor, but fuck it. How else would I take this asshole down? The Polyyiu beam made of G-energy and Radio-Locked Gallium, pierced the shields, shattering them, penetrating through the armor, and vaporizing the cells it came into contact with, giving that one the game over too. I got my gun back in my hand, and began to hunt down the last of my enemies. Two left. They were the hard ones though, and with a psychic and a magic caster against us, it would be difficult to take them out. Chapter 2 (Home) The jungle landscape flashed by me, streaks of green and red, the humid atmosphere touching my armor, dew forming. I pulsed again, to no avail. The caster had figured me out. I tried a new strategy, and flexed my brain. I felt my blast effect the two enemies, both in the same area, roughly 20 miles in diameter. I couldnt pinpoint exactly where they were, but the blast did get them, and I coud guess from there. I called down spread out artillery fire from my friends. Shells stormed through the air and spread out over the area where I had detected them. They werent hit, unfortunately. I continued my search, and finally hit the area where they were. I dont think they had left the general area, a sniper and a caster didnt have much reason to. The same trick I used last time wouldnt work again, I caught the psychic off guard, he likely was defending against it now. If I tried again, I could reveal MY location and letting a sniper know that was a horrible fucking idea. I ejected 180 nanites from my armor, and spread them out. As they progressed through the forest faster than I ever could with their microscopic gravity drives, I felt a ping. Half my nanites were being hacked. They fell out of the air with an AI tearing apart streams of code, setting off their bangs. An even smaller area was protected by a magic shield. Only a half mile across. All stealthing dropped, and I pinged their locations. A sniper sent out a scan pulse, registering me, and small drones, looking like crescents fired two merging beams on my location. I set up a shield to block them as well as possible, but my shields still broke, and my armor melted. The beams went right through me, dodging anything anything important, due to the reflection effects of a old, but still useful, technology called the scatter shield. The beams missed my beating heart, piercing my right bicep and my lungs. My armor thinned out some, partially covering the wounded spots, enough to apply some medicinal gel. It expanded quickly in my body, filling the gaps, letting blood run through, and providing a numbing sensation. It also sort of filled the purpose of helping my breath and flex my arm, but not very well. The air inside my suit got more oxygen-rich, letting me breath easier. My suit used more energy to help my damaged bicep work. When biology failed, technology was there. The drones shot again, again hitting me, this time through the kidney and the left side of my collarbone. The gel worked again, and my suit sucked more power. The drones were finally shot down by my team, before the damned drones could fire again. I sweat and my chest heaved, Muscles rippling, and a single, solemn bead of sweat dripped down my chest. My eyes clouded with tears, the numbing solution needed to have come before I even felt it. Damn it hurt. I stood slowly, fighting the urge to cool into a fetal position as I stood up, and small runes on my arms flashed and glowed, my pain being numbed more. I magically increased my adrenaline and regeneration rates, and a felt a significant drop in my soul, and a sort of tingle released off of me. Now that the video game-like mana in Infinitys atmosphere was now absent, I had not nearly as much magic. The sudden drop in skill I had had taken me by surprise, and I had just never picked it back up. I will learn magic, I swore for not the first time, gritting my teeth, and standing at attention. My charred insides stung, but I would get over it. I had to. I would be a failure if I couldnt. So I had to. My subconscious shuddered at these thoughts. And the grin returned. That FUCKING grin! Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Come on Rade, It taunted. Wheres your bravado now, your happy go lucky grin? Piece of useless shit, next time you should be more ready, be more prepared, dont let them down. It took me by the shoulders, I could do nothing, I wasnt strong enough. My hands clammy, sweat poured off me in droves. YOU PIECE OF SHIT, COULDNT SAVE THEM THERE! WHY COULDNT YOU! I could only flinch as it yelled at me, tossing me around in my own head. My own realm. I did all I could I whimpered in soft protest, a single tear running down my cut and bruised cheek. Yeah, and all you could wasnt enough, was it? It whispered softly, the voice echoing as it floated away, dissipating into the darkness. I collapsed back to my knees. The syringe buried itself in my skin, the solution I had added to my custom suit, cooling my racing nerves, stopping the poison seeping into my body, as my psionic cells tried to kill themselves, and bring me down with them. As soon as I regained control over my body, the toxin stopped being released, as my cells remembered what they were doing was bad. I swept way the remainders of the attack, and slowly moved forward. By now the gel had done its work, and I could function as a soldier again. I took off into the woods, looking for a fight. Hopefully not a fight lie that, but I couldnt control what my enemy brought to the battlefield. As I stepped by the drones, there was a flash of white light. My retinas burned, just like the rest of my body, destroyed in the self-destruct mechanism. I threw myself out of the virtual reality, and broke down on the floor, before dragging myself off the ground, heading to the Dragonfly, and getting taken back to my room, and put myself into the sleeping pod. I allowed myself to weep in blissful silence for a few hours before I had no more tears to cry with. Sabrina knew to shut the hell up when I came back like this. I stepped out again, checked the news, and found my team had won. My performance had shot me up the rankings, barely qualifying at rank 19,651. I head to the cafeteria, and got some grub. The cool water soothed the back of my throat, rehydrating me. This allowed more tears to spill out which I quickly dabbed away with my napkin. I slowly ate the cube of fruit in front of me, before I was notified I had made it. I would join the elite on the most advanced military planet in the soon-to-be formed Renewed Union. The Renewed Union was an industrial and scientific empire, with a strong budget for the military. Everything was built to have maximum function, nothing out of place. It satisfied OCD with clean lines and sharp edges, perfect symmetry, and functional, yet beautiful building and constructs. I slowly bussed my plate, and someone must have sensed my depression, and offered to do my cleaning up job. I gave them a shay smile, remembering it was easier to smile than frown, and got on my way. I wanted to leave this whole world behind, to stop the mental attacks, to be relieved of this mess of a world. No matter how advanced technology got, no matter how many times genetic engineering breakthroughs were reached, you couldnt delete misery. It was a fundamental part of the soul. I slowly reached up fighting the demons that told me I should just shoot myself and be done with it, and decided to actually sleep. And for the next 12 years, I did exactly that. Slept. Chapter 3(Home) 113 RE Everyone in the Renewed Union stopped what they were doing and stared. We had been let out of stasis just a month ago, and we got to see this sight, a galaxy rushing towards us. Stars grew brighter, and bigger, and then, we were there. There really is nothing like it. My ship entered a system with one enormous blue star, and a smaller red one orbiting it, naming it the Demons Eye system. The ten planets that orbited it, three of which were gas giants, shone brightly in the first real solar system Id seen in over one hundred and fifteen years. I gawked in awe, however, my amazement was cut rather short because of a loud screeching sound, and a complete stop of the stretched light. No need to worry passengers, a voice with a friendly Heiive accent announced into a small transponder embedded deeply in my ear. That was absolutely normal, just the sound of the dark energy riders being shut down. Kept them on for another second, and wed have been hundreds of lightyears past our destination! I looked at the large planetoid we were entering orbit of. The three blue dots covered about an eight altogether of the surface, the rest of which was jungle, and rocklands. Very little of the soil was at all suitable, with there being very little soil to begin with. The rest of it was grey rock ,with bits of lichen covering parts of it. The blue dots were ferocious thunderstorms, containing and releasing roughly 89% of the water in the air combined. Lakes dotted the surface, with no real oceans to speak of. The world had one plant that was going to be repurposed into farming, a kind of long stalk with small bumps along the sides. These bumps would turn into flowers, and later, fruits. These fruits were rich with salt water, and incorporated a special kind of juice into it. Sour and salty, a unique mixture. The dirt was very rich in gold, but that was the only part abnormal about it. There was already ongoing research on how to do a spectacular sort of locking of the molecules that could turn it into a reinforced, high density fluid that could be solidified. There would be 29,000 people settling this world, an extremely small amount. However, there were new methods of reproduction that were extremely quick, and safe. Women had half of their eggs taken, ones that would not end up being used. Then various sperm donors, such as myself, would fertilize those eggs in birthing factories. The to-be children would be grown in pods, and would continue to grow until 24 years old. They would then be released, up to date on all kinds of information, they would also have their cybernetic and genetic enhancements, and would have had eggs extracted from when the women were on their period, the eggs being put back into the factories, and many sperm donations taken. Then the process would repeat. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. I had mixed feelings on this. There was no consent for this process, and it just felt wrong. However, technically nothing bad could come out of this, because after release from the birthing pods they would be fully-grown adults, and independent. However, everywhere in the empire was extremely underpopulated. However with this process, every year, except for the first 24 that the factories were set up, new people would come out. That is how it worked for all of the races, due to us having similar reproductive systems. We touched down, in enormous transports that split off from the ship, and taking my small bag of personal belongings, I got off the ship, and became one of the first on an alien world. The ship started releasing swarms of ABCDs, autonomous building and collecting droids. The ship then reopened its gates as the swarm of bots leaving left. I re-entered the mildly claustrophobic ship, as the bots took samples, and set up mining sites. I felt a pang of guilt remembering Mantis. The tall, powerful Mugani was the strongest of all of us, but when you were that big and powerful, it was hard to dodge a surprise orbital bombardment. The voice that roamed the back of my head decided to approach. You know you couldve saved him. It whispered. I immediately swept that thought away, I was too busy rejoicing the moment. I got to my sleep pod, and took another long sleep. The ABCDs worked around the sleeping ship, as we took time off to go figure out how to turn the soil into a building material. Meanwhile, the framework for the city was being built, and meant it would not be a long process, the building of the city when we finally figured out how to lock the soils molecules. As that happened, I slept For another eight years, I slept.