There was a subtle quietness that stretched over the misty bog. There were two figures lurking in the dark there, prodding at a divot in the bushes, a murky hole beneath the hardy Acalanth that had taken root there. Unlike the trees from most planets, this one had three separate root systems that created a massive, matted ball of messy lines.

The two people searching worked tirelessly to clear the clumps of roots from the hole, searching for signs of their quarry. As they cleared long, slick roots from the mud, they covered their black coats and pants with the thick grime. In the ours they had been working throughout the night they had become soiled down to their undershirts.

“I don’t know, Yauron, it doesn’t look like anything has crawled its way through here in a long time.”

Yauron sighed, using his forearm to push back the long, white locks of his hair from his sweaty face, leaving a streak of mud across his cheek. “You’re probably right. Let’s clean up and go back to the ship, we can make contact with the town in the morning.”

They began to disengage themselves from the mud, their thick, rubber boots suctioning to the wet earth. When they were free, they grabbed their heavy packs and began making their way back towards the south-east. As they climbed up the hill, both of their heads snapped upwards as they heard the breaking of twigs and fallen branches on the ground, tell-tale sign of movement in the forest. The sound was coming from the top of the hill, a ways away.

They both froze, Yauron reaching to his belt and pulling off a handle with a single, thin guard protecting the knuckles of the holder. Voices began to come their way, the small implants in their ears researching the tones and dialect, translating it in their heads as moments passed. Soon they could hear and understand the conversation.

“Do you think it would be out this far? With everything happening at the farms…” The voice was gruff, yet quiet, but contained a note of command.

The voices were getting closer, some too quiet to hear. One stood out from the rest. “Look! I see some footprints going down the hill.”

Yauron looked to Jatoa and placed the handle back on his belt. “We surrender!” he called out using the phrase uttered into his head from the implant. “We mean you no harm, we surrender!”

Slowly they walked the rest of the way up the hill with their hands raised. What greeted them was a company of men in leather armor riveted with some purple, iron-like metal. They were armed with long spears and lances, only one of them carrying a plasma-bowcaster. The bow was pointed directly at Yauron.

A man near the bowcaster lifted the mask on his helmet and looked between them. “What are you, demons from the forest? Or are you Outsiders?”

Jatoa looked between them all. “Better, we are Off Worlders.”

“Shut up, Jatoa,” Yauron growled, looking at his friend.

The company looked shocked and immediately leveled their spears. The commander lowered his mask as well, drawing a sword. “What purpose brings you here, outryk? Your kind are not wanted on the world of Dark Seed.”

Kithryk, Yauron thought, the name for hostile isolationists. “We follow a monster that has fled across the stars. It changes form and presents itself as that which makes you fear the most. It eats bones and kills anything it sees. I am here to kill this beast.” Yauron accented this by clearing some of the mud from his jacket with the edge of his hand.

The soldiers took a moment to talk amongst themselves and Yauron took that time to study their language. It was blocky, guttural and filled with harsh stops. He almost smiled at the thought of it being fabricated, a byproduct of some rogue Settler who thought it would be funny. These people had bluish-black hair and pitch black eyes, uncommon traits in the galaxy. What possibly happened here? He wondered.

After some time the company again refocused itself on the two outsiders. The captain spoke. “We know of such a beast, but you have no business in our realm until you have met the Proctorate.”

Yauron suppressed a groan but Jatoa wasn’t as successful. “Can’t you see that we are trying to help you? You said it yourself, you know of such a beast. Isn’t that enough for you to help us find and kill it?”

The soldier looked between them and laughed. “If you know of the beast that has been plaguing our lands, then you know that your two are not enough to destroy it. Now come, no more questions. We march for Asowar.”

The soldiers kept their spears pointed at Yauron and Jatoa, allowing them no escape from meeting these strange people’s leader. As they walked through the forest Jatoa fingered the small white implant behind his ear, his eyes shining silver in the darkness of night in response. Around him the world lit up into a beautiful, white geometric map of the environment around him. Things that were hidden before were outlined in varying strengths of white light, helping him see everything in the foliage. He looked to Yauron and saw that he had done the same, both of them scanning the forest for the monster.

After a while, they could see a lightening of the darkness in the mountains beyond the forest. Seeing their eyes on the horizon, the captain pointed with his sword to the yellow haze. “There lies Asowar. See that no stars lie beyond her and you know that you look upon the dark face of the Cliffs of Fayne. When the light shines upon us tomorrow, you will be humbled by their great presence.”

Jatoa noticed that indeed the stars were gone, but it was Yauron who seemed awed. “I have heard of the Cliffs of Fayne. Is it true that one who climbs to the top can speak to the spirits of those who have died on your world?”

The captain looked disturbed by this, looking to his comrades for reassurance. He focused again on the strange man. “It is true. How have you learned this, Ghost?”

Jatoa tilted his head in confusion. “Ghost?”

The captain looked between them. “Look at you two. Your eyes are white like a demon or a ghost. And this one,” he pointed to Yauron, “his hair is white as bone. You two must be ghosts. If not, then I fear your fate.”

The group spoke no more and silently marched through the forest towards the yellow haze between the hills.

What greeted them when they exited the thinning trees at the edge of the woods was something that, to the two outsiders, was an image directly out of the most ancient worlds of humanity’s past. Stone walls thirty feet high stretched from one side of the valley to the other, scaling up the stony cliffs until the stones were stacked at such a steep angle that nothing could climb there. Equidistantly placed along the wall were massive pillars of uncut stone, each unique and unclean, jagged in their natural form. Yauron counted twenty of them from end to end of the valley, adding their strength to the wall. To him, it was a very medieval design, one that betrayed the stony, unrefined natures of the people who built it. There were a few wood and cobble buildings with thatch roofs surrounding the entrance of the gate, otherwise the entrance of the valley was filled with expansive farmlands and pastures.

But there was no crops growing faithfully in this summer heat. There were no livestock roaming the grasslands. There were only piles of rotting corpses lying around the farmlands nearest the forest. As they passed inland they saw massive cuts in the ground, burrows and bloody puddles where some horrible violence had occurred. There were no civilians around, only soldiers milling about and adding the corpses of some fuzzy quadruped to piles.

Yauron noticed that these animals all had no bones. He reflected darkly on this. Uncommon for them, this one has quite an appetite. This is going to be very difficult.

They were brought all the way to the walls. As they approached the gates opened without noise, allowing them into the town beyond. The stark difference between the outside of the town and the inside was staggering. The barren grassland ended and was filled with densely packed, tight and narrow hallways. There were many people milling about and walking through the wall, a wide structure that was maybe just as wide as it was tall. They passed through without stopping, the streams of people stopping on both sides to allow the soldiers to pass. The people all eyed them with distrust, others with fear and anger. By the time they exited the wall’s tunnel, Jatoa felt relief to be away from all those people.

Yauron leaned in and whispered in Jatoa’s ear, in their own language, “Be aware of that tunnel. It is no exit, but did you notice all the doorways? If we need to become lost in their world, I think the wall is the best place to run to.”

Jatoa nodded lightly, understanding that he shouldn’t question Yauron’s judgment. After many adventures finding and fighting these monsters, he had learned that Yauron knew what he was doing.

They didn’t have much time to enjoy the brightly colored and well lit streets beyond the wall’s tight halls. At the corner of every street was a bright yellow lamp filled with glowing, shifting white sand. The image was beautiful but neither Yauron or Jatoa, enamored with the lamps, had time to take it in.

They were led into a tall, square shaped compound at the east side of the valley, embedded into the stone of the mountain. The doors opened and allowed them into a giant chamber surrounded by a second level with seats looking down on the first level. The seats were filled with many people, all dressed in strange clothes that Yauron surmised were royal or noble in nature.

The soldiers took up positions around the walls of the circular room and as both of the outsiders took in their environment they realized that the door they had just entered through was gone, leaving the chamber without any doors whatsoever.

One noble from above stood and they both recognized him as a Proctorate for he wore a faded yellow crown. He began to speak and the computer translated for them. “You two come from another world and claim to be here to kill the monster that plagues us. Is this true?” The both nodded. “Could it also be true that you brought the monster that plagues us here to destroy us?”

Yauron stepped forward and met the Proctorate’s eyes. “We did not bring this monster to you, it found its way here after its kind stole a ship and fled across the galaxy. I am here to eliminate it, like I have eliminated twenty seven others already.”

The Proctorate looked between them, chewing over Yauron’s story. “There are more than this one… for what purpose do you hunt these monsters?”

“Duty,” Yauron responded.

This seemed to mollify him for the moment. He looked to Jatoa. “And you, Minstrel? Why do you hunt these beasts?”

Jatoa looked around and then back to the Proctorate. “Me? No, I am just following this man. He slays the beasts with such expertise and skill that I think it would be a shame if no one were around to see and tell the stories.” He motioned to the harmonitron on his back. “Plus, everybody likes a good tune.”

The Proctorate looked between them, studying their faces. “Do you think me a fool? It’s too perfect a plan, too perfect a duo. You need to tell me what you are really doing here!” The Proctorate accented his point by slamming his fist onto the stone railing.

Yauron growled, turning away in frustration but turning back to look at the Proctorate once more. “Do you want your people to die, Proctorate? If you don’t let me help you, there will be no stopping this thing. If you think that your spears and your bowcasters will stop it, you are wrong.”

The Proctorate leaned forward and then stood from his chair, looking down on them with a sharp glare. “You think you can cow us into submission, men from the stars? We are Asowar and we have commanded the Cliffs of Fayne for over a thousand years. Who are you, really? What do you want?”

Yauron looked at Jatoa, saw the frustrated anger inside his eyes as well. There is no getting to this fool. He looked again to the Proctorate. “I want to kill a monster and any monster who stands in my way, even people like you and yours. Let me and my companion go and I will remove this monster from your lands within a fortnight.”

“At what cost?” asked the Proctorate.

Yauron looked confused. “Price? I have asked for no payment, I am here, duty bound to destroy this monster.” He stepped forward, pointing at the Proctorate. “If you stand in my way, the resultant blood will be on your hands.”

The Proctorate looked between all the nobles present, speaking too quietly for those below to hear.

Yauron turned to Jatoa. “If we have a chance to escape and are separated, meet me in a tavern nearest the gate. Find a spot and I will find you, got it?”

Jatoa nodded, sliding a small dagger our from a wrist sheath and slipping it to Yauron. “Don’t kill anyone. There are tensions here that we can’t get past if you decide to become another monster to them.” Yauron nodded and looked back to the nobles above, slipping the dagger into his belt beneath his shirt.

The Proctorate finished speaking with an aide beside him and then turned to look down on them. “You may wish to help us, but this has yet to be seen. You will wait until we have time to determine your true intentions. My soldiers will lead you to the dungeons.”

Yauron looked down in anger and heard a door to their left open up. Form above the Proctorate said, “Don’t make us kill you. If you are on our side, have patience with us.”

Yauron looked up in one time. “There is no time. If it is coming, it will kill you all.” He turned and looked to see the soldiers, spears leveled, motioning him towards the door on the left. He sighed and began to walk, entering the dark passage beyond.

Both of them were lead through a twisting tangle of halls roughly carved out of the stone. Yauron surmised that this had been a cave formation that had been expanded into a dungeon. Here and there he saw streaks of silver and purple in the walls, pushed away the curiosity that arose. After some time they were lead down a thin corridor that ended in a small cage embedded in between two veins of a grayish ore. The soldiers made it obvious that it was for them and once they were inside they locked it, two of them posting up a few meters outside the door, looking away.

The two outsiders leaned on opposite sides of the cell, looking at each other.

Jatoa spoke first. “So we’re in jail.”

Yauron looked at the two guards and then back to his friend. “You know how to talk to people, right? Since we have two commoners here, it might be possible to convince them to let us out to kill the beast.”

Jatoa looked over. “Commoners? I see two soldiers with spears. I don’t know about you, but my jacket doesn’t protect from spears.”

Yauron pointed to the soldier on the left. “Their armor seems to go over their clothing. That one is wearing home-sewn leather.” He pointed to the other. “And that one is wearing rough-spun. Every planet has poor people with poorly made clothing.”

Jatoa looked hard, could see the different compositions as his implant overlaid the wire-frame across his vision again. “So what do you want to say? Help us, even though you don’t know us and your leader insinuated that this is our fault? Soldiers don’t hear so well in times like this.”

Yauron growled and looked to the guards. “Hey, you two! Do you want to kill this monster?” They ignored him, but the one in the rough-spun almost looked back. Yauron thought a moment longer. I wonder if he was a farmer. “Don’t you want revenge for what that thing did to your land?”

The right soldier turned around, anger on his thin, leathery face. “You don’t know what I’ve lost, more than just my land, stranger.”

“Let me guess, you were tending your crops one day and you discovered a mutilated corpse of your livestock. You passed it off as nothing, hoped it was just a cruel joke. But then others started experiencing the same thing and then it got worse and worse, scaring you and your family. Then one day you are in the fields and thats when it attacked the one place it hadn’t gone before. Your house.”

As Yauron spoke, the soldier’s face grew pale, the black eyes growing wider and wider. The horror became more and more real to the man as he spoke. But once Yauron spoke of the man’s family, all the horror drained from his face, replaced with a seething, horrible rage.

The man lunged forward, dropping his spear near his companion and reaching between the bars to grab Yauron. Yauron, quick as lightning, grabbed the soldier’s arm and twisted it, trapping him against the cell door. He stepped forward and drew the dagger from his belt, reaching his hand through the bars to place it against the back of the soldier’s neck for the other to see.

Yauron whispered, “Do you have the keys to this door?”

The man shook his head and he took a great shuddering breath. “You are wrong.” Yauron’s grip softened a bit and he looked down, meeting the soldier’s eyes. The soldier made a pained face and then it became clear of expression. “It was one corpse I found and then the same day the entire town was covered in blood. I woke in the morning to find it and by the end of the day every creature in the land had been ripped apart. My livestock…” he looked away, his head resting on the cold metal of the cell door. “My house was obliterated, destroyed, and my family with it. Mine and so many others…”

Yauron let go of the man and he slumped to the floor at the base of the door. He looked past him and to the other. “Have you lost like this man has lost?” The soldier only nodded, eyes wide. Yauron looked down to the one at his feet. “What is your name?”

The soldier wiped his face underneath his helmet and then looked up. “Gazer Finyot.”

Yauron looked to the other. “And you?”

The soldier hesitated before answering. “My name is Idir Mahjareet.”

“Gazer. Idir. Both of you have lost to this beast and deserve your revenge, but you cannot do it on your own. But if you help me, I can kill it for you.”

Gazer stood, taking a step away from the cell door. “What makes you think that you can kill it when over a hundred soldiers couldn’t?”

Yauron took a moment to let that number settle in his mind. A hundred soldiers. Families of the farmers. Where will this butchery end? “I know I can kill it because I know what it is. And I have killed many of them already. Never one like this, but it matters little.”

The soldiers looked at each other and Idir stepped forward. “What is this monster called?”

Yauron looked to Jatoa. In all their travels and the dangers they had experienced together, Yauron had never revealed the name of the creature to his faithful travel companion. They looked at each other for a long moment and Jatoa nodded, a silent acknowledgment.

Yauron looked to Idir and Gazer. “It is called an Agomeph. Shape shifters, nuclear reactors, hosts, they can be called many things. But they are all dangerous killers.”

Gazer cleared his throat. “How do you know all this?”

Yauron looked to Jatoa again and then back to the soldier. “I will only say this. I knew the man who made these beasts very well and his failure is now our plague. I will not let his creations destroy more than they already have.”

The two soldiers seemed to accept this as they saw the true depth of pain in Yauron’s eyes. Whatever had happened in this strange monster hunter’s past, they believed the weight of the pain he carried. The two of them stepped away down the hall to discuss to themselves.

Jatoa turned to Yauron and studied him, eyebrows drawn down. “What was his name?”

Yauron looked sharply to Jatoa . “What?”

“The man who made them, the Agomeph?” Jatoa’s expression told Yauron that there was no escaping this line of questioning.

Yauron sighed and rubbed his eyes, attempting to clear the tiredness from them. “I never knew his name, only knew his title. I’m sure you will recognize it. He was the elected Vigowrath of The Technochemical Council of Tyranny.”

Jatoa looked away, recognition in his eyes. “The Vigowrath? Your master was the Vigowrath?” He calmed himself as the two soldiers came back their way.

Gazer reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple key, smiling sheepishly at Yauron. “I had to lie to you, it is our order when asked if we have keys.” He quickly unlocked the cell and opened the door.

Yauron and Jatoa stepped out and looked the two soldiers over. “You two are making the right call. This thing will not stop. I saw the truth of your words when we entered and if it is that well fed it will be much harder to kill. That means that we have to do it now, as soon as possible, otherwise it might become too strong.”

The two soldiers exchanged a look once more before nodding, more to each other than to Yauron. Idir looked back up the passage. “It will be difficult to get there, but there is a forest exit that was carved out of the caves, its used as an emergency escape for the castle.”

Yauron motioned down the hall for them to lead and they all began to walk quickly though the stone halls. Despite what Idir had said, they had a very clear route between their cell and the outer edges of the dungeon. There were only a few times that they had to hide their presence but none of them were a true threat to revealing their presence. By the time they had been walking down one passage for a long time, they had seen no one else for over an hour.

A sudden turn in the passage revealed a stone door with a massive, magnetic lock on its surface. Jatoa stepped forward and placed his hand on it. “Fancy lock for this kinda world.”

Idir walked up to it and placed his palm on its surface. After a moment the entire thing lit up a dull orange and the door began to slide backwards into the room behind it. He looked to Jatoa. “It is the Proctorate’s lock. It was given to us by the Settlers and they made sure that we could use it if we had need.”

The door entered the room and then slid to the right, revealing a ladder behind it. Without prompting Yauron jumped on and began ascending. He was impressed with the stability of the ladder, felt the marble within. Whoever had designed this place had put more work and energy into it than any other Fringe world he had visited. At the top of the ladder was a small hatch that opened easily. On the top side was a small cave and, from the northernmost corner, streams of moonlight through cracks in the stone. Yauron ascended and then helped Jatoa, Gazer, and Idir up into the cave. He closed the hatch behind them and looked around. He found heavy stone and rolled it over, placing it on top of the hatch.

Idir and Gazer had made their way to the mouth of the cave, looking out into the forest beyond. “Looks all clear, no patrols,” said Gazer. He looked back and saw Yauron placing the rock on top of the hatch. “What are you doing?”

Yauron looked down and then to the soldier. “Preventing us from getting stabbed repeatedly in the back. Not a good way to die.”

Gazer shook his head. “We have to go back down that way, to close the door.”

Yauron looked between the two, saw that beneath their actions was a pall of fear that left them rigid as boards. He feared that a hard enough breeze might snap Idir in two. “You think that you can just let us out and nothing will happen? We could use your help.”

Gazer shook his head again. “You already told us that there was nothing we could do. You seem pretty confident that you can take this monster on and I don’t plan on getting in your way.”

Yauron looked to Idir but he offered no words, finding an interesting grain in his spear’s head. Yauron sighed and leaned back down to move the rock, roughly shoving it off the metal hatch. “Be sure to tell them I held a knife to your neck. It will sell your story because its the truth.”

The two soldiers must have seen his disappointment, even in the darkness. But they walked over to the hatch and Idir quickly climbed down without a word. Gazer started climbing but offered some parting words before closing the hatch behind him. “Don’t go into the bog, its treacherous. And don’t fight the byurks, big hairy beasts the size of a house. They’ll leave you alone… Good luck.” Then he was gone.

Yauron walked to the mouth of the cave with Jatoa at his side. He scanned the forest and tried to find a clear path through the undergrowth. “We need to set up camp. If we can take down one of the byurks, we will probably have enough food for the night.”

Jatoa nodded, reaching down to pull a tube from a holster on his thigh. He squeezed the rear section and a short handle shot out from the middle. He squeezed the handle and a trigger shot out. With a familiar motion he fingered the implant behind his ear and the world came into clarity once again. “We can travel south from here, away from Asowar to find a clearing. There are a couple of massive lifeforms a thousand yards from here, so we should be able to find something to eat.”

They trekked through the woods with few words, Yauron allowing Jatoa to lead them through the path the computer had plotted for them. They crossed a couple of thin creeks and a marshy area of wetland, but soon they were in a large forest with little undergrowth besides the waist-high grasses. They found a grove of trees that they decided was good enough to sleep in and set up camp, having a contained fire going in minutes. From there Yauron took the weapon from Jatoa and activated his own implant. He traveled in as straight a line as possible to the large mammalian creature beyond the nearest creek and didn’t hesitate to fire the plasma gun ten times, killing it. With quick efficiency, he began to cut pieces off the flank of the creature, about two pounds total. The meat was lean and hard, but he felt that it was similar to ursine creatures from the Core Worlds, which meant it was edible. After he was done getting his cuts he shot the creature a few more times, opening its insides for the other creatures of the forest. He didn’t feel guilty for killing the creature, but it wasn’t fair of him since he wasn’t a part of this world. But this gesture felt like he was doing what he could to help the forest work a bit less for its meal.

That and kill the Agomeph, he thought as he turned away from the dead byurk.

He returned and the two of them cooked up the byurk meat on two sharp sticks. When they were done they ate sitting cross legged on opposite sides of the fire, both ravenously hungry from the day. The meat was sweeter than they had expected, but still lean and hard. When they were done eating they wiped the grease from their fingers with rags from their bags and threw the remaining scraps into the fire.

After a little while of resting in the semi-darkness, Jatoa looked to Yauron. “You said to the soldiers that we had to kill it soon before it became too strong. What did you mean? The others I saw you kill, they seemed scrawny, especially the Cyriin you killed on Ono-tep. That was a messy-”

Yauron slammed his hand on the ground. “God damn it, Jatoa, I didn’t kill a Cyriin. Just because it takes on these popular shapes doesn’t make it those monsters.”

Jatoa took a deep breath. “Regardless of that, they all seemed very weak. What makes this one different.”

Yauron sighed and put his face in his hands. “It’s hard to explain. You came from the lower levels of the city so you didn’t ever get into the sciences.”

Jatoa’s expression hardened and he crossed his arms. “Try my intelligence. You may be surprised.”

Yauron stared for a long moment before speaking. “In the technochemical discipline, we believe that technology, when applied correctly, can control any natural phenomenon in our universe. Fusion, fission two parts of the same cycle. You understand so far?” Jatoa nodded. “When the Vigowrath made these creatures, he also created a device he called the Harmony Bridge. The machine could actively convert certain elements into unstable isotopes to be used for nuclear fission. The Agomephs, all of them, they had devices similar to this installed inside their bodies.”

A slowly growing expression of fear grew on Jatoa’s face as Yauron spoke. “You’re saying that all of them have nuclear reactors in their cores?”

“Not only that, they have nuclear reactors that can use anything for fuel. This one… if I am correct it is using an isotope of calcium to feed its Bridge. If it has been feeding as heavily as we saw then its possible that its body has gown more stable, and thus stronger.”

Jatoa seemed to accept this. “Do you have a plan?”

Yauron reached down and tapped the handle on his belt. “Cut it apart, hope for the best.”

Jatoa sighed and laid back on the ground. “Let me know if you fill in more… details.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________

The thick haze of smoke and soot filled the air when Yauron awoke to the screams far away in the forest. He roused Jatoa and quickly came to his feet, grabbing the handle from his waist. He studied his immediate surroundings and felt calm enter him as he realized the danger was much farther away. He looked up and through the canopy of trees he could see a section of the forest, maybe a mile away, was on fire.

He looked back to Jatoa who was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Get your stuff together, I think that our quarry lie in the heart of the flames.”

Jatoa nodded and stood, shuffling around to gather his possessions. After they both were all gathered they reached into their bags and pulled out two rolled up pieces of fabric each. They slipped the fabric over their jackets and pants, the rolls cut into the rough shape of a top and a bottom. When they were fully covered they each fingered the three buttons on the left hem of the sleeve and the fabric shifted, stretching in some places and constricting in others. Soon the fabric had fit itself to their bodies and hardened, turning shiny and rigid to the touch.

Yauron drew his knife and offered it handle first to Jatoa. “Test my armor, I need to know it can take a hit. Slash me.”

Jatoa hesitated but then lunged forward, slashing at Yauron’s belly. Yauron didn’t move and the blade hit his belly full on. It deflected down ward and he felt the blade skitter off his leg before Jatoa pulled back. “Seems to work,” he said.

Yauron nodded and took the dagger back. “We have to move. The longer we wait the more we risk it getting away.”

With that they began hiking through the woods. This section was much easier to traverse but the closer they got to the fire the more and more they had to cover their faces from the smoke. After a while Yauron reached into his pack and handed Jatoa a small mask with two cylinders coming off of it, putting his own on. They only had to worry about the stinging in their eyes then as the small re-breathers filtered the air of carbon monoxide, dioxide, and soot. Soon small pockets of flames began to appear around them and they knew that they were getting close.

In the distance they saw a huge sheet of flames waving back of forth in the nights gentle wind. Beyond it they saw a large shadow move, lightning quick. The movement was accompanied by more screams and a determined mask overcame Yauron’s features.

“We have to get over there now, Jatoa. They are dying.” There was little room to argue with the tone of his voice.

Jatoa looked around and saw that there was a small trail leading up to a ridge above the forest. “I’m going to go up there and try and get a good shot. You head in. Are you gonna go all dark?”

Yauron smiled, a rare thing, and reached into the side pocket of his bag. He pulled out a small piece of metal shaped like a hexagon. He dropped his bag and pulled the handle off his waist again. He placed the hexagon onto his chest and it attached with a small hiss. It lit up, turning a variety of colors before returning to black.

Yauron’s skin began to turn color and he fiddled with the series of rings that made up the handle. Suddenly it burst into life, a long, flat blade of plasma shooting out from three disks on its top. Around his hand the air distorted by an almost invisible blue shield. The color change on his neck got deeper, his pale skin turning darker and darker. It spread upward into his hair and those long roots began to take on the same inky appearance until his skin, his hair, his eyes, all were black as ink.

He looked to Jatoa, saw the familiar fear entering his eyes. “Go now. I have a beast to kill.”

Jatoa saluted. “Go, berserker. Go and kill it.”

The two of them parted and Yauron began to run in a direct path towards the screams. He bounded over rocks and bushes, fallen trees and divots in the ground. He felt the enhanced strength and speed begin to take effect, the implant expanding his senses as the device on his chest came into full effect. Soon he was mindless, running with a single goal in his mind. This goal drove his feet as they pounded into the wet earth.

This goal: Kill the Agomeph.

He bounded through a couple sheets of flames and entered into a large clearing that had been burned out. In the center was a tall humanoid with long legs and arms, arms so long they touched the ground. Each of them ended in a long, clawed hand with jagged blades at the end of each finger. The entire thing was hairless, skin colored like a peach that had just begun to turn. It looked at him and he saw that its face was disfigured. No nose to speak of, just two slits for eyes and a wide mouth filled with triangular teeth.

But none of these details matter for as soon as it turned towards him Yauron charged forward, plasma blade raised high. The monster seemed to sense his confidence and lunged in his direction, claw striking out for his neck.

With grace and a speed that betrayed his enhanced abilities, his blade diverted, spinning around and upwards to cut the hand of the creature off at the wrist. In response the creature screamed so loudly that Yauron was driven to his knees by the pain in his ears. After the screeching subsided he again was on his feet, pressing in on the creature.

The Agomeph knew then that it had a true foe and began to circle around, walking on the stump of its hand with little care for the pain. It circled him, eyes locked onto his, and then lunged forward again. As he pulled his blade up to cut the creatures claw off, it reversed its trajectory and slipped its body in under his swinging arms. With a powerful kick it launched Yauron across the clearing and into a tree. He hit the ground, unable to breath and wracked with pain. But all of it was secondary, all of it just beneath a compulsion that drove his very existence.

Kill the Agomeph.

He got to his feet and picked up his blade, sizzling in the charred undergrowth. He yelled out, hoping to intimidate the creature, but its returning roar completely covered the sound of his own. He swung for its swiping hand but as it lunged in to kick him again he dropped to the ground and swung upward, carving a long line in the flank of its leg. He lurched to his feet and followed after it, cutting it two more times across its back.

With a loud scream the creature rushed in with more speed than Yauron could compensate for and it grabbed him around the abdomen with its right hand, squeezing him hard. It reared back with its left and attacked the arm holding the plasma blade. Though it couldn’t cut through the tough armor, the force knocked the fiery weapon into the foliage beyond.

Yauron began to beat on the creatures clawed hand around his waist, doing anything to fight the crushing pain gathering there. But a bright flash and a hiss sent him dropping to the ground. The Agomeph roared and looked up, searching for the source of the plasma bolt. But Yauron gave it no time as he pulled out the dagger and lunged for the its groin, hoping to disable it and the Harmony Bridge inside.

The blade entered the Agomeph’s flesh and the creature jumped away, grabbing Yauron and twirling in the air to throw him many tens of meters away. He sailed between the trees for a few moments, unable to keep track of it as the world tumbled around him, but he landed hard and rolled into the husk of a burned out trunk.

Dazed and confused he tried to get to his feet but the world was spinning so violently that he could barely tell which was was up and which way was down. By the time his head had cleared enough to stand steadily, he could see the Agomeph nowhere. Breathing heavily, he sank to his knees.

He felt the urge to begin running, tracking the beast, but he knew that he had to tend to his own situation first. He reached down and pulled the hexagon off his chest, it offered a fair amount of resistance. The moment it separated from him, the darkness receded from his skin, his hair, his eyes. After only a moment he looked as he had before.

Jatoa came rushing through the clearing. “Yauron! Yauron are you okay? I saw that it had you and I tried to hit its arm!” he slid on his knees the final few feet to come to Yauron’s kneeling form.

Yauron put out his arm, attempting to put some distance between him and his friend. “I’m fine, I’m fine, the berserker plate kept me safe. The Agomeph is strong, it is gonna take much more than what I thought to kill it.”

Just then a group of people scrambled over the edge of the hill nearest them. Most of them were covered in burns, a wild look in their eyes as they came upon the two men on the ground. As they looked up and saw the townsfolk, the only thing they could be, the entire group paused as they took in their strange white eyes.

Yauron raised his hand. “We mean you no harm. We heard the screams and came running to help. I have come to this world to destroy that beast. Tell me, how did the forest catch on fire?”

A man nearest them, tall and handsome, stepped forward, wiping his brow of sweat. “A scout patrol from the Proctorate found the nest and was deciding how to proceed. But the townspeople…we wanted it destroyed. The fire, we thought if we doused the whole area in gruskya grease then we might be able to burn it to death. But when we set the fire and it got out of control…”

Yauron expression turned grim. “Let me guess, it only got more angry?”

The man nodded. “I am Ohiym. Who are you?”

Yauron touched his chest. “Yauron. And this is Jatoa.” He patted his friends shoulder and stood. “Where exactly is the lair? What is your next plan?”

Ohiym turned and pointed to the south west. “It is just under a mile that way, under the ridge at the head of that small valley. As for our plan…” he shrugged and lifted a metal can. “We have more cans of grease.”

Yauron nodded his head. “You are on the right track. My master and I hunted one of these on the planet Hyusck and he used a highly flammable polymer to weaken and trap it. Fire is the right course, but you have to have it fully trapped for it to stop fighting.”

Ohiym nodded, as did a few of the others, reassured by his knowledge of the monster. “What can we do to help you? You look like you know what you are doing.”

Jatoa slapped Yauron’s shoulder. “Are you kidding! This man has slain over a dozen of these creatures.” Some of the townspeople looked dubious but Ohiym and the men nearest him looked impressed.

Yauron put a hand out in front of Jatoa’s face, giving him a sharp glance. “That’s enough.” He looked to Ohiym. “We are going to engage the creature head on, we have special weapons that will help keep the fight on us. If you and your people can figure out a way to light the ridge above it on fire, we can light the gully in front of it and trap it in its lair. Then I can kill it.”

One of the townspeople looked between the two of them. “Just you two? How is that possible?”

Instead of answering Yauron walked into the distance and retrieved his plasma blade. He returned, adjusted the settings and the thing exploded on. The townspeople jumped back, a few gasping in distress. The blade was not as refined as it had been before, there was a chaotic aggressiveness to it, an instability that hinted to the lethal consequences of being struck by its heated, dripping edge.

“I said we have special tools,” Yauron said. “No more time to waste. It will still be hungry and that means its going to be more aggressive. Be brave, you may die. Know that fighting this beast is a good death.”

Without another word he marched off into the forest, blade lighting his way.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Yauron and Jatoa laid in wait outside of the Agomeph’s lair. This one, unlike their last guess, was much more obvious. Scattered around the entrance in a circle twenty yards in diameter was a graveyard of half-consumed bones and rotting corpses. The hole was maybe three meters across and covered in a thick sludge black and gray in color.

Yauron pointed to the opening of the lair. “That grime, its a byproduct of their shape shifting ability. When they excrete bio-matter, they make room for new DNA combinations and patterns to be replicated with the bio-matter in their storage cells.”

Jatoa nodded, then looked at Yauron confused. “Wait, they use bio-matter to shapeshift?”

Yauron nodded, eyes not moving from the lair. “There is an array of twelve storage cells surrounding the Harmony Bridge that controls what structures are made and what protein substances are produced. The shape this one has taken… it has been eating a lot of humans.”

Yauron looked at Jatoa. “We are going to do an extra step before lighting our fire.” He pulled a blocky case from his pocket. “These mines are thin like playing cards but are very powerful. They are keyed to the Harmony Bridge so they won’t activate unless the Agomeph is near. I warn you now, don’t be anywhere near this when it goes off. It is designed to kill an Agomeph in one hit and we are going to place twenty of them around the entrance of the lair.”

Jatoa’s face showed his fear and he gulped loudly, trying to move past the danger. “Just… give me a good heads up if that thing is coming our way.”

Yauron smiled and they both stood up, making their way towards the lair. They had to wade through the need deep carnage, both of them doing their best not to become ill at the smell and the squish beneath their boots. They finally reached the entrance and began placing the cards.

After only a few moments the hair on the back of Yauron’s neck stood up and he dropped the box, whipping around to look at the forest. Slowly he lowered his hand to his belt and gripped the handle of his plasma blade. He turned the topmost ring and the item exploded into light.

A deep growl in the trees answered this and the Agomeph stepped out of the trees, maybe twenty yards away.

Yauron’s stomach dropped. “Jatoa, get inside the lair now. The Agomeph…”

Jatoa turned around and saw the Agomeph. His face turned white as he fumbled for the plasma blaster in the holster on his leg. The Agomeph took another step forward and Yauron reached back, pushing Jatoa towards the lair with his free hand.

“Go. Inside. Now!” he barked, and something in the tone must have clicked in both Jatoa’s head and the Agomeph’s for the both started moving at the same time. Jatoa scrambled over the small berm in front of the entrance and grabbed the hexagon plate from his pocket. He placed it on and the transformation began. When the Agomeph was halfway to the entrance he bared his arms wide as he felt the berserker trance take over.

The Agomeph was nearly upon him and then the explosions rocked the world. The light was blinding and he felt the internal shields on his armor absorb the impact. But it sent him sailing down the throat of the lair, hitting Jatoa so they both tumbled down the muddy, jagged decline.

When they both reached a level plane, they rolled off one another and crawled to their feet. Jatoa groaned loudly as he leaned back, massaging his lower back. Yauron’s entire body hurt and he looked down to see the hexagon plate broken on his chest. With an angry gusto he ripped the piece off, tossing it to clink down the rest of the small cave.

He looked to Jatoa. “That didn’t work how I wanted it to.”

Jatoa laughed. “I can see that. What now, we climb back up and you try and kill this thing without the berserker?”

Yauron looked up, the dimness of the cave lessened by his implant. “That was a massive explosion, it destroyed the berserker. If it destroyed that, then it is likely the Agomeph is dead up there. But if the Harmony Bridge is still active… well then it will come back if we don’t go up there and deactivate it.”

Jatoa sighed and began to climb ahead of Yauron. “Don’t worry. I expected this.”

They ascended the grimy cave as quickly as the slippery, gore covered stones would allow. Some of the rocks in the ceiling of the cave had been dislodged in the explosion and Yauron had to spend some time shifting a few around so that they could pass and crawl out of the entrance.

What greeted them was a massive hole in the murky graveyard, streaks of bone and blood blasted onto the rock, but no Agomeph. As they investigated the blast sight, Yauron and Jatoa came upon the horrifying sight of the lower half of the Agomeph, blasted off its top. The two, long, twisted legs were twitching, trying to find some purchase in the much so they might run and escape. But after a few moments the twitching stopped and they moved on, looking for the other half.

All they found was a thick trail of blood leading into the forest, towards the ridge. The ridge that was on fire and like a beacon for the Agomeph to come get a meal to heal up its legs.

Yauron growled. “Damn creature doesn’t even know how to die correctly. Let’s go, Jatoa. This isn’t over.” He searched around found the case that held the mines, surprisingly undamaged. Good thing these weren’t armed. “We head for the ridge.”

The two of them hiked as quickly as they could through the forest, making their way towards the trail that would lead to the ridge. By the time they exited the forest they saw that the fighting had already begun at the heart of the fire the townspeople had started. Some of them were able to keep the creature at a distance with their spears, but already there were many who had died.

As they ran, Yauron called back to Jatoa, “Get your blaster ready! It should be easy to finish off!” As he spoke he activated his plasma blade. Soon they were upon the battle scene and they saw that the creature had killed more than half of the townsfolk who had ascended to the ridge. It was now focused on the remaining group, formed into a defensive circle with shields and spears.

Yauron called out, roaring as loud as he could. For some reason this intrigued the wounded Agomeph, which turned away from the townspeople and began shambling towards them. Already the wound on the bottom was healing, a puckered scar where its legs were. But through the gap that still existed there was a subtle blue light, a radiating energy that betrayed the mechanical nature of the beast.

Yauron raised his blade and pointed to the light. “Aim for the light, Jatoa. Destroy the Harmony Bridge and you destroy the Agomeph.”

“Will do.” Jatoa leveled his blaster and began opening fire, striking the creature three times in the chest and once in its exposed belly. It roared and began running towards them and two more bolts took it directly in the face, blinding it.

Yauron began to run towards it as well, blade raised high in his right hand. In his left he had one final mine. He tossed it, flicking it with his hands with as much strength as he could. The mine went twirling through the air, spinning like a thrown knife until it exploded just inches from the beasts neck.

He followed through the explosion and lead with the plasma blade. Flesh met heated gas and he dodged below the swinging of an out-of-control limb. He rolled away and then came up, looking at the creature as it fell to the ground in pieces. Without hesitation he came back to it and began taking it apart, rendering an arm into ten pieces, the head into five. Finally he hacked away at the body, again and again until his blade hit something and stopped, as if the blade itself was solid.

He pulled it away and looked down, an awe stricken look on his face. He fumbled for a small device in his pocket and pushed it into the mass of gooey flesh that was not beginning to permeate with a blue glow. The light blinked once.

Twice.

Three times

Then the light went out.

Yauron breathed a sigh of relief and fell backwards onto his rear, laying backwards in the mud. He laughed a couple times and then sat back up, surveying the scene. The laughter died in his mouth, turning to soot. As he exhaled, the laughter turned into a sigh that drifted away with the rest of the smoke and soot in the air.

I did this. The Vigowrath and I… this is our legacy. There was a dark pall over his thoughts that kept him from feeling satisfaction. He stood from the mud and walked over to Jatoa who was breathing hard on his back in the mud, resting. He helped his friend up and soon he could see the townspeople drawing nearer.

Ohiym was near the front and Yauron felt thankful that he was still alive. The man pointed to the device in Yauron’s hand. “What is that? How did you stop that monster?”

Yauron raised the small device, a handle with a circular transmitter on the end. “This was made by the person who made the beast to control them. I can’t tell you the entire story, but he died to make sure that I had this.”

Something about the tone of his voice or the rhythm of his words clued them into the fact that what he was saying was a lie. Ohiym waved his hand and out of the crowd Yauron saw Gazer step forward. “Tell us the truth!”

Jatoa stepped forward, wiping mud from his face. “You are quite a group, don’t even say thank you for him destroying the monster. His master gave him this to make sure that these things can’t kill anymore-”

“His master?” asked Gazer.

Yauron closed his eyes, feeling the coming moment happening prematurely in his mind, the culminating tensions. He knew what was about to happen. The shouting started and muddled everyones words together, and as they surged forward Yauron again activated his plasma blade, stopping them in their tracks.

Ohiym stepped forward. “Leave here, maker of beasts. You have put a sword through our necks. Our farms are destroyed, our military, the people of our town. We have nothing left and we may not survive this. What can you do for us to make this right?” He shook his head. “There is nothing. Leave this world, outryk. You don’t belong here!”

Yauron opened his eyes and looked at the people, saw the fear and anger and hatred in their eyes. I have no friends on this world. Without reply, Yauron returned to the Agomeph and ripped the Harmony Bridge from its innards. He motioned to Jatoa with a nod of his head and the two of them began to walk away, south-east towards where their ship lie hidden.

The trek through the woods was hard on them. They both were tired from fighting the Agomeph, from camping in the woods, and now from lack of food and water. They both knew that they would be perfectly find once they reached their vessel, but the journey was taxing on their weak bodies.

After navigating a particularly nasty section of fallen trees, they came upon the meadows that marked the area they had hidden their ship. The sun was beginning to rise, turning the sky the gray of ash, like the ash of the forest outside of Asowar. As the sun rose further and the veil of darkness began to lift from the trees, they saw their ship in the distance.

It was twice as long as it was wide, a vast, pointed cylinder on four sleek legs. On each side was a massive wing with two engines set within gyroscopes near the middle. As they approached a light scanned them from the belly and a ramp opened up on the bottom.

They entered the cargo bay, its innards packed neatly with rows and rows of supplies marked in a hundred different languages. After this they ascended a ladder to a long, white hallway. They walked all they way to the front of the ship and entered a bridge with four seats across the middle of a circular room. Each seat had its own control panel and the two of them sat in the middle, Yauron on the left and Jatoa on the right.

Yauron activated the ship and started prepping all the main systems for launch. Jatoa, now practiced in the position of co-pilot, began going through the pre-launch checklist on the screen in front of him. Soon the ship was humming, quiet and gentle and prepared to enter space.

Yauron looked over to Jatoa and sighed. “Ready to leave?” Jatoa only nodded in return. With a heavy hand Yauron initiated the launch sequence.

The ascent was easy, this type of ship able to fly into space without needing powerful thrust by flying in multiple, accelerating loops around the planet, slowly gaining altitude. When they had finally broken through the atmosphere and had taken up a geostationary orbit over Asowar, the two of them went to their separate spaces to clean up.

Afterwards, when both of them had gathered in the bridge once more, clean and healed from the medibaths in their rooms, they took a moment to observe the world that floated before them, taking up the right half of the window.

Jatoa plopped a nut into his mouth, looking down on a small dark line that marked Asowar’s location. “It’s too bad that we weren’t able to see the Cliffs of Fayne.”

Yauron nodded. “I heard about those cliffs when I was a little boy. I guess we had more pressing concerns on our minds. Getting arrested, killing a monster.”

Jatoa grinned. “It reminds me of that song, the one from Adrada. Whats it called…”

Yauron sighed. “Symposia Revisited, right?”

Jatoa clapped his hands together, smiling at Yauron. “That’s the one. How did you know?”

“You compare all of our adventures with Symposia Revisited,” he said flatly.

They sat in silence for a time, quietly eating their simple rations and staring out of the main viewport. But Jatoa sighed and turned again to look at Yauron. “I’ve never asked because I didn’t want to bring up your past. But I want to know now. Why did your master make these things? I have been curious ever since I saw what the first one was capable of, but I refrained. Please, tell me. I really must know.”

Yauron didn’t return his gaze, didn’t say anything for a long moment. He chewed on his bottom lip for a second before taking a deep breathe. “The Vigowrath was hired by investors from the Economic Council of Tyranny to create host bodies that would preserve their living minds for an indefinite amount of time. This was a tall order, but the Vigowrath was more than capable. But the genetic material, the flesh components he used… something was alive in them. Some instinct, some primal surge. Whatever it was, they went wild one day and found an escape on-board the Class V Frigate Good Patience of Deingar. My master and I were the only survivors in his lab. When we tracked down the ship, all the escape pods had been launched and the entire crew had been killed.”

Jatoa nodded, staring out in to space. After Yauron was finished speaking, he poured the rest of his bag of nuts into his mouth and crumpled the piece of plastic in his palm. “Thank you for telling me. I just wanted to know.” He took another deep breath. “Whats the next step?”

Yauron sighed. “There are more of them out there. Its my duty to find and destroy them all.”

Jatoa looked once more out of the windows before turning away and saying, “Okay then. Good night.”

Yauron sat in the bridge for a time, staring at the stars with a longing. This longing was more than physical, it was temporal in its scope. He yearned not for a specific place, but a specific time. Back before the Technochemical Council. Before his scientific assessment boards. Back on Tyranny there was a lake where he had floated on a small boat. The lake was in the shape of a heart and sat within the middle of a tall forest of Terran Pines.

That was the peace that Yauron thought of as he engaged the light-cruise drive and his ship sailed away from Dark Seed, towards the next stop on his quest for redemption.