My luck sucks. After everything I’d done to find the people that had murdered my family, I was met with the same chaos I’d been dealing with my whole life. Don’t get me wrong, this has been the story of my life up to this point. I’d hoped to find a light at the end of everything I’d been through. Instead, as soon as I got excited about something, and the gods decided I was at the perfect place to be smacked down again.
Climbing off the transport, I tried to head to the restaurant I’d been working my tail off to purchase. Instead, I was forced to drop to the ground as fighter craft from The Whisperers gang flew down the still-crowded streets. Their concussion blasters flashed as they sent out small visible pressure waves that ripped into people and buildings, causing chaos. I fought back the instinctual urge to retaliate and coursing the electric energy inside me that I had been born with until I could adequately hide my unique abilities.
When I was finally able to put my head up, I quickly checked the pile of luggage for my stuff. It took a minute to find the bags labeled Everrune Pentharice. With bags in hand, I walked out of the blocky metal archway that separated the passenger dock from the city beyond. I hadn’t taken three steps into the city before another screaming wing of fighters dropped onto the city.
Panic erupted all around me as I began to jog towards my restaurant on the other side of the commercial district. Despite the fear of the people around me, I had been through so many raids like this during my time as a soldier that I knew how to stay safe without stopping and hiding. I stayed off the main roads until I reached the back door of the building that now belongs to me.
As I stepped into the kitchen, I could still smell the spices and meats that had been a staple of this restaurant despite having been closed for the last two weeks. After checking that the building was still holding together from the attack, I made my way to the mostly empty dining room. Stepping up to the picture window that took up most of the wall. I focused on the still-abandoned streets. My soldiers' mind analyzed the situation in the cold, bloody calculus of combat despite wanting to try to force myself to feel a connection to my new home.
So far, I hadn’t been able to genuinely connect to anywhere since my wife was murdered, but I still kept trying, knowing that she would have wanted me to find a life for myself. As I lost myself in the view of my new domain, I could hear the voice I loved. My voice of reason. “Everrune, you are on the right path. Trust in yourself and the goddesses, and you will succeed at finding justice.”
Just as I began to breathe more easily, the scream of bombers overhead shook the glass in the windows to match the ground as the first bombs started to impact. Cursing under my breath, I left the still-empty dining room and returned to the kitchen where I had left my luggage. With a quick swipe of my hand, I unzipped my bag and pulled out my gun belts. I strapped them on and confirmed that my pistols were in their proper places on each hip, followed by six knives. When everything was ready, I grabbed my machete. I threw it over my back, remembering to pray to the goddess of justice for protection.
I took a deep breath as I ran my fingers along the bony sloped crown of my forehead, which was the staple of every Echi’s appearance. After giving the sacred sign, I turned my mind to what needed to be done. I shifted my mindset to the other skill I had learned in abundance in the Over Cities, the art of urban warfare.
Fully armed and covered in a charcoal and blue cloak that told everyone I was from Lamim, I stepped out into the empty street. I studied the sky for several moments, spotting the ten bombers as they circled back toward the square. Ready to show off my first toy that I brought to the party, I drew both pistols and flipped a switch on the one in my left hand, allowing me to connect the pistol in my right hand directly behind the left. With a beep, the two guns connected, and a small IR targeting reticule appeared on top.
I pulled electricity from my body with a deep focusing breath. I channeled it into the custom-built pistols, using my magic to supercharge the weapons. Picking out one of the leading bombers, I waited until my target reached ten thousand feet. I pulled both triggers simultaneously with a soft motion of my fingers and a deep breath. I sent a glowing blue ball of energy spinning up at the lead bomber faster than it could react.
With a bang that shook the windows of all the buildings around me, the orb struck the nose of the single-pilot ship, enveloping the nose before exploding outward with a shock wave resembling a rock dropped in the ocean on a calm day. As one ship after another collided with the ball of energy, the sky was soon filled with bright flashes as his targets broke to pieces and their ordinance exploded. Watching the last surviving bomber break away from the city, I quickly detached the two pistols. I holstered them as I prayed to one of the goddesses that had never betrayed me up to this point.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Uraura, Goddess of Justice, Hear my words. As an exile, I honor you in your forgotten status. Protect me in my desire to see justice done to those who wronged me and robbed me of my eternal happiness. Accept my sacrifice of those who would harm the innocents of this city and commit injustice before your eyes.”
Feeling approval from one of my goddesses, I glanced around and located the newest problem of the day. Over at the commercial docks just two blocks away, a raiding party had descended in bird-shaped tactical assault shuttles, hoping to steal as much cargo as possible from the bay. Knowing that everything I needed for my restaurant and home was currently being unloaded from the cargo ship, I couldn’t allow them to get away with anything if my plan would work.
Drawing my pistols, I moved towards the docks knowing that the raiders wouldn’t be looking in the direction that led to the commercial district for defenders. Usually, people accepted these raids and left the dock defense crews to protect the shipments that were often only on a layover before heading to another city. I slipped through the open shipping gate and moved in on one of the warriors out in the open as he searched through a crate. My right pistol fired, hitting the raider’s throat at about one hundred yards.
I knew I only had a few moments before they realized their flank was being attacked, so I sprinted further into the maze of crates and bundles. The nanites that constituted my magic made my body more robust, faster, and agile than the average man. I used every ounce of extra energy to close the distance with the current threat.
Slowing, I moved carefully to the edge of a stack of crates and peeked around to find two thugs loading containers onto the nearby shuttle. I waited for them to get out of sight before I pursued them into the ship, killing them both before they knew I was there. Sure that I was still unnoticed by the living, I moved quickly up the ladder. I killed the pilot and the gunner in their seats, keeping them seated so that it would look like nothing was wrong from the outside.
Dropping back down into the cargo bay, I moved like the ghost I had been trained to be by the Nameless Legion’s drill instructors. I used the shadows of the dim lighting and already-loaded crates to hide the bodies of the two guards. Once they were secure, I found a position where I could see anyone approaching the ship.
I pressed my back against the ship’s bulkhead behind me, and I kept my right blaster on the main staging area while my left was aimed down the alley between crates. With nothing moving and no one responding, any experienced enemy warriors should begin to panic quickly. Instead, it took nearly three minutes for the first raider to investigate.
When the older grizzled raider approached cautiously, I let him get close enough to see the single boot sticking out from behind the crates. Using the moment of stunned stillness in my prey, I sent a single shot to strike him just below the bone crown. Pandemonium ensued, and two more raiders sprinted from the cover of the containers only to be met by supercharged blaster bolts slamming into their armored chests.
The second time the raiders advanced, they tried to use the crates as cover, but they clearly weren’t skilled at defensive fighting. They abandoned their shelter after one or two shots hit near them. The first squirter took a shot to the thigh and fell screaming, causing two more to pop up to check on their fallen comrade.
They fell to two more quick shots, leaving the screaming man surrounded by his two dead friends. Turning to leave my compromised firing position, I listened with my enhanced ears to the sounds of shifting and creeping soldiers in the distance. I moved around the rear of the wall of abandoned crates between me and the ship, coming out behind the six remaining raiders before they knew I was gone.
It only took eight shots to end the raid and secure the platform from the other enemies. A quick lap of the perimeter confirmed that I’d dealt with all of the infiltrators. I moved over to the small raiding ship that now sat ownerless. It took a few minutes for me to pull the bodies out of the ship so that the authorities couldn’t claim the vessel as battle salvage for the city guard.
With the last body tossed over the pile near the cargo I had pulled off the ship, I took a moment to breathe before changing the ship’s security codes. One final walk through confirmed that the cleaning bots were hard at work removing the blood and the other final signs of the fight. I slapped the sticker that claimed the ship as spoils of war beside the door seal as I stepped back out onto the dock to ensure my rights were protected.
I spotted a short crate I’d just carried off the ship, I sat down and waited for the authorities to arrive while I cleaned and adjusted my weapons. A switch on the side of my pistols changed them back to their standard configuration to avoid unnecessary questions. Then I cleaned up the electrostatic discharge remnants with a grounded magnet while waiting.
Enjoying the moment to focus on cleaning my weapons and forget the past, I allowed myself time to relax as the haunting memories of my past floated back into my mind. I was raised as the son of the chief of the Quiet Island Clan, named after my grandfather Everrune Pethatrice. My life had been spent learning the secret politics and games played by the elite. Still, the murder of my wife and unborn child sent me into the lawless Over Cities to find their killers. I’m the avenging demon about to go on the hunt.
