Akkadian Forever, Part 5 of 5

Is this the final chapter for the Akkadian Knights?

Akkadian Forever, Part 5 of 5

How could this come to pass?  How could this happen?

Curse and Caledonia stood opposing each other in the center of the gulley that once was a pass through the Forge, a series of mountains.  Over the millennia it had eroded to the point that it was no longer anything more than a series of hills at the edge of a swamp.  The air was muggy, although it wasn’t particularly hot today.  The stench of carrion was all around and made it hard to breathe, not that he needed to breathe any more.

His left hand was holding his right arm.  His arm was broken.  He could feel several broken bones and it was obvious that his curse did not take away his pain as it had taken his life.  

Caledonia didn’t look to be in much better shape.  She stood in front of him, waiting for his next move.  Although she had summoned the totality of her strength to battle him, she had several lacerations and bruises all over her body and her suit was in tatters.  Dozens of undead littered the ground around her and she had erected a thorny wall behind her to stop the remaining forces from advancing.  So far, it had held.

A fire burned in her bright green eyes and she had a resolute look of determination that showed no fear.  Truly, she had developed over the centuries into a formidable warrior to say the least.  Curse had not expected this.  He expected to face the same cowering mew he defeated so long ago.  He did not anticipate that as he slept she had grown to become the true demi-goddess she claimed to be.

 

He attempted to take a step, and found that he could not.  Exhaustion began to overtake him, his energy utterly spent.  Curse fell face first into the ground.  His last thoughts before darkness took hold were to wonder if Caledonia would show mercy and end his life, for truly that would be the only mercy she could show him.  

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Cal looked at her fallen foe, behind her, she could hear the undead army begin to collapse once again, only this time she could sense something else.  She allowed the thorny wall to wilt and sink into the earth and watched as the thousands of warriors before her turned to dust and floated away in the soft breeze over the moor.  With Curse’s control over them waning, they were finally free to pass beyond this mortal coil.  

She looked back at Curse, now lying on the ground.  She could sense movement and could tell that he was only down for the moment.  Holding out her hand, she coaxed some of the nearby grasses to begin a strange dance.  They began to weave in and out of each other, forming a rope.  After a minute of this, she withdrew her hand and picked up a stout line.  Walking over to Curse, she bound his hands and feet, then bound his wings.  

Rolling him over, she could see a dim light inside his skull.  He had put everything he had into this effort.  Frankly, he was a lot more powerful than he looked.  Had Cal herself not been what she was, well, she didn’t care to think about it.  Then a thought came to her and she turned, looking around.

“Doc?”  She started up the hill from whence Curse came initially and looked around, finally finding Doc lying on the ground.  She was out cold, but alive.  She pulled over some moss and rested Doc’s head on it.  Cal put her hands on Doc’s forehead and focused some healing energy into her.  She would be alright.

Standing up, Cal looked back across the moor to the forest at the other end.  The sun was low in the sky by this point and, far in the distance; she could barely make out the outline of the keep, or what was left of it.  She could only pray that the rest of the team would be ok as well…

 

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The No Mercy Death Squad led by Kzaz had strategically withdrawn from the battlefield after nearly twenty minutes of intense fighting.  Their only true call was to delay the Knights, not terminate them all.  They were indeed difficult to eliminate at any rate and the NMDS team was taking a beating in the process. 

 

With no time to prep or plan, it ended up being a challenge of brute force as each team collided with the other. The Akkadians had emerged victorious, it seemed.  

 

Picking himself up, Wyldcard started helping the rest of the team to their feet.  Doing a head count, he determined that everyone was present, save Quan.  The team moved towards the wreckage of the Defender.  

There was nothing left other than shards of metal and ash.

Wylde started rummaging through the wreckage anyway, refusing to accept it.

“You won’t find him there.”  He turned to the familiar voice and saw Caledonia standing on the other side of the wreckage.  Doc was besides her, appearing to be worse for the wear, and a very large, plant like creature was carrying a bound Curse in its arms.  He stepped back involuntarily at the sight of the monstrosity…

“Don’t worry about my shambling mound, I summoned it to carry this one.”  Cal motioned to Curse's motionless form.  

Wyld refocused and lightened up considerably when he saw her.  “Are you ok?”  

“Yes, but he’s not.”  She put a hand on the unconscious Curse.

“You have got to be kidding me!”  Sammy was less than pleased that she was insinuating that we should take care of an enemy that just blew up the keep and killed a teammate, “I say was gut him and use his bones as doorstops in our new base!”

Vex put a hand on his shoulder.  “Sammy, that’s not how we do things around here.”

Dax stepped in, “He’s right, you know.  This guy in one day destroyed our team!  Why not tear him a new one…”

Wyld stood there thinking it over as the team broke out into a heated argument.  What would Eron do?

Turning, he held up his hand.  Everyone quieted down and paid rapt attention.  “Let’s ask Cal why she thinks we should help this guy first.  Cal?”

Caledonia looked him over.  “It’s an involved story that starts so long ago… needless to say, I created this situation.  I did this to us and I need to fix it.  I need your support while I search for the way to do so.”

Wyld studied her for a moment.  “Then that settles it.  We are Akkadian Knights.”  Vex chimed in with a ‘here here’.  Not everyone was convinced.

Wyld raised his voice a bit, “we exist to protect the weak.  We fight so that others don’t have to.  As Eron and Quan would be the first ones to tell you, we die so that others won’t.  This is our purpose.  If Cal says we need to save this b*****d, we do it because he obviously cannot save himself.  I, for one, will hold true to our core beliefs.  I am Akkadian now and forever.  Who is with me?”

The speech was short.  It was impassioned none the less.  After a moment, Dax let out the Akkadian battle cry, “AK 24-7!”  The team joined him.  Despite the dispute, they were one, unified under a leader once more.  Wyld had come into his own.

The trek back to the remains of their base was a long one.  There were no tales of victory.  There were no comparisons of war stories.  Everyone’s minds were focused on the tasks at hand and the losses incurred.  

Members would come and go over time, yet no matter what happened one thing was for sure. The team was forged out of the fellowship of the first members. That spirit remains and the team will grow again.

AK247

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The journey had taken nearly a week so far.  It was a good thing Legion had a “toy” to play with along the way.  Red Pharaoh was most accommodating.  

Of course, Legion had let him live.  There was no sense in killing every victim.  No survivors meant nobody to tell the tale and feed Legion’s reputation.  What is a respectable demon to do without a withering reputation after all.  Hell, if the Lamb could garner a name for himself, a true power of Hell like himself should have some recognition on the mortal plane!

He saw his destination in the distance.  A wicked grin crossed his fanged mouth and his loping stride turned to a gallop, such that it was.

The edifice was constructed poorly.  Truly, it was little more than a shack, yet that was perfect.  The ramshackle structure little more than a glorified shed only served one purpose at any rate.  It hid the entrance to one of the oldest mines in Africa.  Legion ambled inside past the goblins he had recruited which scurried back and forth to escape his notice.  The tiny, dwarf sized creatures, disgusting and useless as they were, happened to be the only creatures Legion could summon.  It was so hard to find good help these days.  

It sat over a rather large hole in the ground.  At one time, it was a diamond mine.  Certain parts of Africa are dotted with them although this was one of the small ones.  The diamond traders who coordinated this mine were exceptionally cruel and greedy.  Many Africans lost their lives in here trying to make others rich.  The blood of men stained the walls and caved in passages where safety was only a secondary concern.

Moving down into the mine, he descended into the depths.  This particular mine was steep.  The men who dug it used ropes to clamber up and down the main shaft, taking dirt out by means of a series of buckets.  The first deaths occurred not as a result of a cave in, but as the result of flooding.  The rains came and the water had nowhere to go.  With the ground becoming slick, many simply drowned.

Legion liked it.  It felt like home.

On top of it all, the miners never really found the true treasure in this mine.  They were too preoccupied with what they could see to pay any attention to what they could not see.  The bottom level of the mine had uncovered a Nexus point, a point at which Ley Lines intersected as they criss-crossed the Earth.  Normally, mankind only interacted with them on the surface, several hundred feet away from the actual Nexus Points.  For what Legion needed, an actual Nexus point would be required.  

He reached his destination unharmed.  Extended his hand outward, he allowed the artifact to hang in the air at the center of the invisible intersection.  As it hung in mid air, it began to slowly spin.  The air around the bauble began to glow and the Nexus point was revealed.  Thousands of beams of light shot off in every direction, displaying Ley Lines as they intersected each other, causing the Nexus to come into being.  

Legion circled the artifact slowly.

“Yes, you thought you were forgotten.  You thought your days of power were over.  I am here today to call you back.  I am here today to call your power my own.  Arise from your sleep!  Grant me my wish!  Grant me the power of Creation itself!”

Spreading his arms wide, Legion made his wish and laughed uncontrollably.  The bauble, an artifact of nearly infinite power, tapped into the Ley Lines surrounding the entire planet Earth.  Across the globe, lines of power became visible for just the briefest of moments as the artifact absorbed the energy.  As it did, it spun faster and faster and darkened to a blood red color.  

The cavern shook.  The red ley lines disappeared.  The bauble slowed down and fell to the earth.  As the dust settled, Legion was gone.  

Had anyone been looking, had anyone known to look, had they been able to see it, they would have seen a new star in the night sky at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy.  

Had anyone been looking, had anyone known to look, had they been able to see it, they would have seen a new planet in the night sky.  

A planet of blood and death.