By Marcus Lycus
Welcome to the final Global Protectors
story. The end is here! Worlds will live and worlds will die
and something, something…
This story has been in the planning stage
almost since the beginning, though the plan has been heavily revised a few
times.
Usually I wait until a story is 100% done
before publishing but this one is a monster. It will be 10 chapters
and I’ve been writing for over a year now. So I decided to put
out this chapter and add the others as they are
finished.
If you have not read the previous Global
Protector stories you may want to check them out at my story page on the
Wizard’s Lair before you read this one:
http://www.superheroinecentral.com/~wizard/Stories_MarcusLycus.htm
Legal Horrors – The Global Protectors
are copyright, trademark etc. of Doctor Droid
(www.superstories.org/droidzone)
and are used with his permission. Other characters and text are copyright
Marcus Lycus.
What does that legal gibberish mean?
It means that if you want to use the Global Protectors in another story you
need Doctor Droid’s permission (not mine). It also means that
you can’t repost this story or use the characters created in it without
my permission.
And since this story is meant for people
over the age of 18, please don’t read it if you are younger than
that. Any resemblance between characters in this story and any actual
persons living or dead is purely coincidental of course.
And finally, please e-mail me with any
comments, complaints or suggestions. Remember feedback leads to more stories!
Marcus Lycus
October 2006
Part 1 – The End of a World
Day 1
Queen Lumina raised her Solar Scepter and rose into the air above
Queen Lumina‘s reign had lasted for more than a century. She had
ruled alone for almost two decades since her husband died preventing a meteor
swarm from devastating
But all was not well. For weeks her psychic senses had warned her of imminent danger but every time she tried to probe further her powers failed her. Her psychic vision went suddenly dark as if she was staring into a blinding light or a dark abyss. She spoke to others of the royal bloodline and they had similar premonitions but no one else had any more insight. So today she felt a slight touch of fear as she rose above her city ready to meet whatever danger threatened.
Queen Lumina was a tall woman with pale, almost white skin and long hair the color of the night sky at sunset, a deep purple streaked with indigo and blue. Her eyes were the same color, if you stared into them too long and you would be lost forever. She wore a regal gown, the color of the sky at noon, a rich blue.
In her slender hands she held the Solar Scepter, a two meter long golden rod tipped with a gleaming ruby. It was the symbol of her office and a potent weapon in her hands, magnifying her psychic powers a hundred-fold. With it she had repelled ferocious pirates such as the Warriors of Plun-Dar and tamed powerful creatures such as the Comet Dragons.
Despite her grim premonitions she had no doubt she could triumph this day. She always had before.
Below her hundreds of city folk took to the streets, wondering what threat had brought their queen into the air.
And above her…
***
The wormhole opened and a dark figure shot out. It was traveling at a fraction of the speed of light towards Gemma. Queen Lumina saw it and raised her scepter. It corrected its course and headed directly for the Queen.
She faced it without fear. Her psychic senses were already analyzing it. It was an enhanced humanoid, alone, dressed in some sort of armor. She could not tell much about the technology or the power source but she felt much better knowing it was just a single attacker. She should be able to repel it without much trouble.
She waved the Solar Scepter and generated a force field in the intruder’s path. She raised her free hand in a gesture to stop.
It kept coming.
She sent powerful psychic commands and warnings at the intruder. Surely it did not intend to destroy itself smashing into her force field?
It did not.
It smashed through her powerful field like it was glass, the psychic backlash sent Queen Lumina sprawling. She tumbled hundreds of miles through space before regaining control and righting herself. By then it was too late. She could see the explosion from orbit.
The power of the Solar Scepter carried her towards
There was no time to locate the attacker, these were her people, she had to save them!
She headed for a damaged tower to rescue survivors. Her telepathy located them and her telekinesis, enhanced by the Solar Scepter, allowed her to gather them swiftly. She cradled her subjects in gentle fields of energy as she lowered them to the ground. In minutes the rocking tower was evacuated and more than two hundred survivors lay around her. She turned to the next tower when-
BOOM!
The energy beam sent her flying backwards into another tower bringing it down on top of her. Her powers naturally protected her but the survivors, the innocents she was protecting… When she climbed out of the rubble she could see they were all dead, burnt to skeletons by a single blast. And among their burnt remains stood the intruder.
It was a single humanoid. Perhaps seven feet tall covered entirely in elaborate spiked armor that seemed to shift colors from purple to scarlet to black as it walked. A blood red cape trailed behind it. Ribbons of energy traveled up and down the surface of the armor illuminating its surface with their strobes. The armor had thousands of carved faces on its surface. Each one seemed to be screaming. Looking at it the Queen felt a wave of dizziness and nausea as the faces seemed to shift and move. She looked away. The attacker’s face was covered by an ornate spiked helm, only a single Y shaped slit broke the helmet’s surface. Behind was a black abyss impenetrable to even her senses. She stared, unable to look away.
“So, you must be
the local hero chick.”
The spell broke.
“M-monster! MONSTER!” Tears fell from the Queen’s eyes as she unleashed the full power of the Solar Scepter. A blast of pure golden light hit the intruder’s armor.
And was absorbed with no effect.
“Was that it? Or
is there more?”
“N-no… no, it’s impossible, no one can withstand the full force of-“
A mailed fist slammed into her jaw knocking the Queen off her feet. She tasted blood in her mouth. He had been standing all the way across the courtyard. Now he was before her. She hadn’t even seen him move.
“You talk too much when you fight. Anyone ever tell you that?” He planted a metal foot on her slender chest and pushed her down. Her Solar Scepter had fallen just out of her grasp.
Queen Lumina’s psychic senses were overwhelmed by the death and destruction
around her. Thousands of minds were screaming making it hard to hear
a specific voice. But somehow she could hear the reassuring thoughts
of Captain Praetor, leader of the Peace Militia. ‘Keep him
talking my Queen; your loyal Peace Militia are preparing themselves now.
Your kinsmen are on their way. You need not deal with him
alone.’
Queen Lumina tried to calm herself and contain her anger. Praetor was right she would wait for help. She needed a minute to recover from the shock. Then she would deal with the monster. Just a minute.
“W-what are you?” Her voice cracked a bit, she hoped it was with anger and not fear.
“Aw, you haven’t
heard of me. I’m hurt. I guess the survivors from my last
stop didn’t warn you I was coming huh? Well that’s probably
because there were no survivors. Opps.”
“I don’t-“
“Sorry, rambling
there. They call me Lord Terminus, but you can just call me
Lord. I’m here to kill you.”
“Kill me?”
“Yup. Going
to kill you, kill him…” Terminus fired a blast at a bystander
who had ventured too close.
“them…”
another blast vaporized some more gawkers
“everyone.” A third blast shattered
one of the few towers that still stood.
“Every soul on your pathetic little mud ball is
going to die.”
Lumina bit her lip in fear. Surely this monster was the greatest threat she had ever faced, perhaps the greatest threat any in Gemma’s long line of monarchs had ever seen. She mentally prepared herself; she had to end this now, whatever it took. She stretched out her hand and started to pull her scepter towards it.
But Terminus pressed harder driving the breath from her body. He reached down with a metal gauntlet and abruptly tore her gown exposing her breasts. He bent down and fondled her nipples gently. The metal gauntlets of his armor were warm.
“DAMN YOU! I’ll kill you!” She wiggled under his boot.
“Such language?
You didn’t seem this upset when I was killing those civilians.
Care more about your dignity than your people huh? Typical
heroine.”
The Queen fell silent. What could she say?
“But enough about
me, let’s learn about you.”
Before she could react his hand moved to her forehead gripping her skull. Queen Lumina tried to steel her psychic defenses but there was no time. In seconds her life flashed before eyes, all her achievements, all her experiences, the history of her family and her world… all flashed through her. And into the mind of Terminus.
The Queen’s fair face went slack. He released her head and she fell to the ground drooling. Terminus stepped off of her and thought.
“What an interesting
little world you rule Queen Lumina… So many things to see and
destroy…”
A laser hit the ground behind Lord Terminus distracting him. He turned, behind him Lumina’s face turned into a determined scowl. She rolled and twisted, her scepter leapt into her open hand, she gracefully rose into the air. Behind Terminus several hover platforms appeared holding Peace Militia Agents armed with laser lances.
“Not bad, Queeny.
I thought you’d be out for the day. Not that it matters.
You’re all going to die. But you seem like a nice girl, and
you’ve got nice tits, I’ll leave you for
last.”
The Militiamen lowered their laser lances, Queen Lumina powered up her staff.
“You’ll do nothing of the –“
“Lights
out.”
She felt his mailed fist on the back of her neck and saw the stone wall rushing up to meet her.
The world went black.
***
Day 3
“NO!” Queen Lumina sat up in bed. She was in her quarters
in the
She gasped several times before she could speak again. “W-what happened?”
“M’lady you should rest, the physicians say-“
Her indigo eyes turned almost black. Her handmaiden gasped once and was pulled off her feet floating in midair. The other servants retreated to the far corners of the royal bedchamber.
“What. Happened.” The Queen demanded.
“M’lady…”
“TELL ME!” She hurled the servant across the room.
“The intruder, he… M’lady…
“How did I get here?”
“Lord Vortex teleported you back before the monster could… do anything. He tore off your gown while you were unconscious…”
“Wait, did you say Vortex is dead? It seems impossible…” Vortex and Radion were members of the royal bloodline, centuries old and almost as powerful as the Queen herself… If the intruder had beaten them… Lumina tried not to finish that thought. There had to be a way and as the protector of Gemma she would find it.
“Summon General Glaive and the high command! Summon Lord Pulsar and my kin! We must discover this creature’s weakness! We will-“
“M’lady they are already here, they are meeting now and waiting for you to join them.”
“Ah, yes. I see. Fetch my gown then, I shall go immediately.”
“Yes m’lady.”
***
Day 6
“NO!”
The blast hit Duke Gauss in the center of the chest, incinerating armor and flesh with ease. The superpowered nobleman died. The magnetic field he had generated to support the damaged buildings died with him. The buildings crumbled crushing hundreds and trapping thousands.
Their cries echoed in Queen Lumina’s mind but she could not stop to
aid them. This was it! The monster had destroyed eight cities,
smashing all resistance before it. But now the Queen had gathered seventeen
of the royal bloodline to challenge him along with three elite brigades of
Peace Militia. It was the mightiest force Gemma had seen in
centuries. Lumina was confident they would defeat this monster here
in
The elite brigades were already dead.
So were most of the noble champions she had brought.
And most of the city she had come to save.
Lumina had lost sight of her foe in the smoke and flame. Half the city was burning and Lumina knew that this time it was not entirely the monster’s doing. She had given the order; “Destroy him, no quarter” and her forces had acted appropriately. Baron Pulsar’s solar flames had blasted a residential area in an effort to weaken Terminus. Lord Gauss had fired steel beams like cannonballs, heedless of the damage done when they bounced off Terminus’ armor. The Peace Militia has opened the vault of forbidden weapons and used particle beams, molecular disruptors and even phase inverters against their target. Before the arrival of Terminus they would never have considered using such weapons, much less in the middle of a city but after the destruction of Sapphire City, the Ruby Towers and all the other deaths they were willing to do anything to end this threat. All taboos were forgotten, all weapons were to be employed.
And it accomplished nothing.
Terminus has shrugged them all off. Laughing. She heard a scream. The broken body of Baron Pulsar flew into the air and landed with a splat. Lumina chocked back a sob and flew on, Terminus had to be near. This time she would kill him. She had to.
Lumina found him at last in a crater. He was not alone.
He had Lady Nova.
***
Lady Nova was the second youngest member of the royal bloodline. She
was the only daughter of Baron Pulsar and Baroness Falcon, and was just
19. Her parents insisted she was far too young for a mission of this
sort but the impulsive redhead had insisted on accompanying her powerful
kinsfolk. Her fire powers had manifested themselves just a few months
before and demanded she be allowed to use them. She had lost a lot
of friends in
Her father had argued vehemently against her going but finally the Queen wearily gestured for him to stop. Later Nova heard the Queen whisper, “If she is so willing to die for our world I will not stop her.”
Nova scowled at that memory. She was not some child to be pampered or cannon fodder to be sacrificed! She would show her father and the Queen that she was worthy of her powers, worthy of her title and able to fight for her world!
Before they left, Nova saw her best friend Princess Alura standing at the window of her tower. The pink-haired princess waved sadly to the group as they rose into the air. When Nova noted that the Queen was not willing to risk her daughter she felt a shadow of fear cross her heart.
But as they flew she looked at the noble company in their robes and capes. They were the mightiest men and women on the planet; surely they were a match for one man! Terminus may have won a few battles with surprise on his side but now they were ready for him. Why Nova herself could probably give him a good fight!
Nova wore red spider silk robes with the gold bracelets the Queen herself had given her to focus and enhance her powers. The robes were cut high exposing her shapely legs in a way the older noblewomen found immodest. They also fell low, showing the tops of her firm maidenly breasts. Before the crisis Nova’s main concern had been attracting a suitable mate from the other noble clans. She was confident that after today her glories in battle would make her the most desirable noblewoman on Gemma!
But she had frozen with fear when Terminus blasted her mother from the sky. Baroness Falcon did not even have time to scream. Nova flew after her mother’s falling body but could not even find it among the countless others that littered the battlefield. She landed and wept for minute until she heard another explosion. Her resolve returned and she flew into battle.
Nova soon had her chance. Her one chance.
Her father Baron Pulsar found Terminus in a devastated area with no civilians around. He unleashed his full power blasting a crater hundreds of feet across. Nova arrived just as her father stopped blasting and began to slowly descend, exhausted.
“It’s over my daughter. Your mother is avenged. Nothing could have survived that. Nothing.”
“Father…”
Blinded by the plumes of smoke and dust they could not see Terminus rising from the ashes. He seized Pulsar in his armored arms and cracked his back like a twig. Baron Pulsar was dead.
Terminus tossed the broken corpse over his shoulder like a discarded wrapper.
“Hello little girl,
who are you?”
“N-NOVA!” The redheaded noble let loose her own fiery blasts. They were a pale shadow of her father’s energy but maybe, if the monster was tired, if she found a weak spot…
His mailed fist caught her across the face and she fell into the crater.
“Pretty little girl
like you, what are you doing here anyway?”
“F-FALL!” From the bottom of the crater she blasted him again but he barely noticed.
“If I’d known
you were here I’d have look you up sooner.” The armored
warrior threw its head back as if smelling the air.
“Mmm, the essence
of battle. I love that smell. Do you know how it makes me
feel?”
Nova blasted him a third time. Her powers were weak; the flames barely reached Terminus’ armor.
“Makes me feel…
HOT!”
The front of his armored crotch began to flow like water. It reformed itself into a thick rod tipped with a spike. Terminus thrusted forward with it a few times so that there would be no mistaking his intent.
Nova screamed.
***
He had Lady Nova in his grip. He had torn off her scarlet robes and pinned her against a ruined wall. Her legs were spread and Terminus was grinding his armored crotch into her.
Lumina froze in midair. She had seen the horrors this creature could commit, the thousands he had killed, the cities he had destroyed but somehow this… this was too much.
But… wasn’t this what she had been looking for? General Glaive had said they needed to find Terminus’ weakness, catch him unprepared. And now…
And now she knew what she had to do. Nova’s sacrifice would not be in vain. She closed her eyes and focused her power, the Solar Scepter glowed as bright as the sun but the monster was too lost in his lust to notice.
Nova looked up and screamed.
Lumina closed her eyes and fired.
Pulsar had been powerful; one of the most powerful nobles on Gemma but Lumina was the Queen. Her Solar Scepter was the single most powerful artifact in the world, her powers without peer. Her solar blast struck the crater like a small sun. The radius of destruction tripled. Dozens of buildings were vaporized; the shockwave carried Queen Lumina half a mile into the air. Not even Nova’s ashes survived.
But Terminus was unharmed.
“Not bad Queeny.
Didn’t think you had it in you. Too bad about little Norma there,
or whatever her name was. She was just starting to get into
it.”
Wearily the Queen raised her staff and aimed it. Terminus just laughed.
“What? You’re
going to blow up a few more of your buildings, maybe kill some more of your
nobles? I’d love to stay but y’know, things to do, people
to kill. Looks like this city is just about done for. See you
around!”
He flew off.
Hours later, a few survivors found the Queen in a ruined house crying.
***
Day 7
She had studied his path, figured out the next target and she was waiting.
As a child Lumina had played many times on its beaches. As Queen she often took vacations there to refresh herself. And now she alone would defend it. Somehow.
The Peace Militia were deserting in droves. They knew their weapons were ineffective against the invader and had no desire to die futilely. Queen Lumina had ordered the remaining units not to engage Terminus, to focus solely on evacuation and caring for refugees.
There were a handful of nobles left, mostly with minor powers or non-combatants. She had ordered them not to fight either. Now the fate of the world rested solely on Lumina’s shoulders.
She was right.
Terminus arrived by blasting his way through a residential neighborhood. Queen Lumina sensed that nearly all of the inhabitants had evacuated.
Nearly all.
It was the best she could hope for.
He landed before her shattering the coral plaza.
“Fancy meeting you
here.”
“No further monster. This goes no further. Your rampage ends here. This city will not be harmed”
“OK.”
“I swear by an ancestors and all who-what?”
“I said OK.
You want to keep this city, nice place by the way, that’s fine with
me. Just give an alternative. Someplace you want trashed, someplace
you won’t miss.”
“Alternative…?”
“You don’t want
this place destroyed, tell me where I should go instead and I’ll
go.”
“I…”
Thoughts raced through Lumina’s head. It was monstrous, she could
not even think of it. But
“OK got it.” Terminus leapt into the air, cracking the plaza further and shattering windows in his wake. Lumina watched stunned for a second then took to the air after him.
“NO! NO! I never said! NO!”
But the monster sped away faster than she could pursue.
***
Iron Hills was a large mining city thousands of miles away. The hills were grey, covered with ugly pit mines. The city was grey, made of concrete and iron. The air was grey with soot and dust. The people themselves were grey-skinned, squat and foul-tempered, despised by the graceful fair-skinned folk on the coast. They said you could only tell the men from the women by the beards. Queen Lumina had visited once, decades ago to open a hospital for miners with the black lung. She left in less than two hours.
It was the sort of place no one loved, not even the natives. The sort of place no one would miss.
Mine foreman Garl stomped down the street scowling. This war had destroyed dozens of factories; the rest had shut down out of fear. There was talk of converting to weapons production but no one seemed to know how or when that would happen. With no market, his ore was worth as much as the rocks he pulled it out of. But that was life in Iron Hills; everyone knew that for the Hill Folk life was grim, dirty and foul.
He looked up and saw a red flash.
***
Lumina arrived an hour after Terminus left. No one lived. The dirty, ugly buildings and their dirty, ugly inhabitants were dead. She fell to her knees and wept.
In
Throughout the other hill cities there were riots and any fair-skin they could find was killed.
***
Day 12
“He’s coming!”
Warden Krieg looked up at his aide-de-camp Yeoman Trace. She was a tall forest girl with pale green skin and deep green hair. She wore her cadet’s uniform with the glowing pride of a new recruit.
Krieg hated her.
The Warden was an overweight, short hill man with skin the color of ash and
a prickly brown beard. He’d governed the
At least they used to be. A week ago troop transports had come to collect
most of the guards for redeployment against Lord Terminus. They had
dropped off a crew of untrained female cadets whom the Militia wanted to
get out of harm’s way. Of course that was back before
“He’s coming! Didn’t you hear me? He’s COMING! He was sighted less than eighty miles from here by a patrol!”
Peace Militia Agents were always a mixed group. Gemma had not known war in centuries. Crime was low and most people had no conception of what being a soldier or a cop really meant. So the Militia attracted romantic idealists with a fondness for gold braid and unrepentant thugs looking for a chance to break heads. Pretty little Yeoman Trace was in the first group. Bitter, nasty Warden Krieg was in the second.
“Warden you have to order an evacuation for the prisoners!”
Trace had been in the
Krieg rose from behind his desk and walked around the cadet. He pulled
his sealed orders from the safe and opened them.
In the event of an enemy attack you are to evacuate yourself
and the cadets to
Pretty much what Krieg expected. The Royal Family’s boundless compassion for ‘those in need of rectification’ did not extend to saving them from an unstoppable monster. Fuck them.
“Well, what does it say?”
“Lock the door and I’ll explain.”
When Trace turned Krieg’s eyes naturally strayed to her firm ass peeking out from her short skirt. The female cadet uniform was a joke, designed to appeal to those romantic idealists who were a bit too concerned with fashion. Modeled on the royal family’s gowns and togas it had a short blue skirt, a tight white shirt decorated with the royal family’s sun emblem and a blue half cape decorated with gold braid. High-heeled ankle length boots finished the outfit. It made was about as practical and intimidating as a schoolgirl uniform. Of course that was part of the idea since the Peace Militia were supposed to be mediators, facilitators and negotiators. The dirty work of fighting, killing and dying was barely considered. At least not until 12 days ago.
Krieg looked the tall, slim girl up and down again. The world was ending. A monster was coming to kill them all. What the hell. He crumpled the orders in his hand.
“Warden?”
“Did you lock the door cadet?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good.” He drew his stun wand and shot her right between the breasts before the girl reacted. She crumbled to the floor in a heap. Her absurd skirt rode up, exposing her navy blue panties. Krieg leered, but turned away to his control panel. It took a few minutes to override the safety protocols. Krieg started to sweat; he knew there wasn’t much time. But finally he picked up the microphone and activated the public address system.
“Attention prisoners, this is warden Krieg. Terminus is approaching the tower. There seems little point in leaving all of you to die. I am now opening all cell blocks and access doors. There are three transports in the courtyard and about seventy untrained female cadets in the prison. Good luck.” He chuckled and threw the last switch. There were over 3000 prisoners and 70 female cadets. It would be quite a show.
And it was.
As Krieg locked restraints around Trace’s slender wrists he watched the scene on the monitors. The cadets near the transports were cut down pretty quickly. If they’d been smart they could have taken off immediately and gotten away before the prisoners reached them but they made the mistake of lingering, perhaps hoping their colleagues in the tunnels and cells would reach them in time. They didn’t. The poorly trained cadets fell under the bludgeons and shivs of the escaping prisoners. The transports lurched into the air. Each bulky airship could only hold about thirty people, the prisoners completely overloaded them. One clipped a guard tower and lost an engine; it fell into the sea and sank. The other two managed a shaky flight away. Krieg wondered if either of them would make it to civilization.
Deeper in the prison the girls were not as lucky. Those prisoners knew they’d never get to the transports. So they decided to get what they could. Blue panties and white sun shirts were shredded and torn. Things were just getting good when Cadet Trace woke up.
“M-merciful stars…”
“Like what you’re seeing girl? It’s the end of the fucking world. That means no more kissing ass to you stuck-up fair-skins, no more bowing and scraping to the super queen, and I get to do whatever I want.”
“N-no… you can’t… this can’t be real…”
“Hey, on the center screen, it’s your buddies!”
One screen showed the scene outside Krieg’s office. There were three cadets in the communications room there. They’d been pounding on the armored blast door and shouting into the intercom trying to find out what was happening. As if they couldn’t see it on their monitors. The girls had been so busy trying to wish it away they forgot to secure their own door and now a half dozen dark skinned, white-haired Ice Men were in there with them.
One girl, with pale skin and light blue hair, got out her stun wand and shot a prisoner. His buddy gutted her with a sharpened metal spoon.
Another girl tried to fight them with her bare hands. They pulled her down and yanked her to the floor off-camera. Her skirt and cape went flying by.
The third had her back against the armored blast door. The cons were shouting at her, she was crying, obviously pleading.
One of the cons confronted her and barked something. Her knees started to knock and she put her hands together and begged. He hit her.
Krieg wished he had sound to go with this.
The cadet, a golden-skinned, red-haired girl, took off her cape. The skirt fell next. She stopped. The cons yelled a bit more and waved their improvised weapons. She reached down and pulled her shirt over her prominent breasts. She was now wearing nothing more than her white bra, blue panties and blue boots. The cons called for more.
She hesitated.
The big one took matters into his own hands and tore off her undergarments. They pulled her off-camera by her hair.
Krieg laughed.
“See that Cadet Trace? That’s the new order. And if you want to stay alive in the new order you’d better learn from goldie out there. Now give me a damn kiss.”
He pressed against her lips, she struggled but he managed to force his tongue into her mouth.
Then the tower shuddered.
“Ah crap. Terminus. Let’s get going girl, my personal flier is outside. I know a safe place to hole up.”
He opened the door to his landing pad and dragged her out.
Someone was already there.
“This your
show?”
The armored attacker was silhouetted against the flames. “T-Terminus…”
“Not bad, not bad
at all. The raping and killing and the prisoners going free.
Just the sort of thing I’d come up with.”
“T-thank you…”
“That your chick?
Nice tits.”
“I…”
“Tell you what; I
think I’ll just move along, looks like you guys are doing a fine job
of killing yourselves off.”
“T-thank-“
“Course I don’t want you to miss the show. So let me take care of this.” Terminus lifted Krieg’s flier with one hand and tossed it into the sea. It vanished into the dark water. Then he rose into the air and was gone.
Krieg watched for a long time. He could see the fires and hear the screams from the courtyard below. He was safe here but with the flier gone the only way out was on foot, through 3000 prisoners he’d spend the last ten years punishing. The blast door would hold indefinitely and he had enough food and water in his office stash for a few days but after that…
Ah well.
He looked at Cadet Trace at his feet.
At least he had something to keep himself entertained.
***
Day 14
“We must remain strong, we must remain faithful, we must remain loyal. Gemma will endure but we must resist the invader in all ways. We must fight him at all times and not submit to his lies and deceptions. We must remain true to the ideals my mother believed in. That is the only way. Thank you all and good night.”
The transmission ended and Princess Alura breathed a sigh of relief. This was her third broadcast to the cities of Gemma (those that still stood, those that still had power) and it was getting harder to sound sincere.
General Glaive dismissed the technicians and turned to the Princess. “Well done, your mother would have been proud.” He saw Alura choke back a sob and changed his statement. “She is proud, I’m sure of it.”
Princess Alura was the youngest member of the royal bloodline, the only child
of Queen Lumina and King Solar, heir to the Solar Scepter and the throne
of Gemma. She was just seventeen. Her pink hair was cut short
in defiance of royal traditions and she favored gowns that came well above
her knees. Her mother indulged her; she knew her daughter would outgrow
her rebellious tendencies after a century or two. Alura led a confined
life of lessons with tutors, parties with the court and dreams of freedom.
When the war began, Queen Lumina had confined her daughter to the
Princess Alura was called upon to speak to the people but she was still barred from the War Council. Yet despite their efforts to keep her isolated, she still heard rumors. Stories that the Queen had made a deal with Terminus to only attack the hill people and spare the fair-skins. These tales led to riots and lynchings in the hills. Some cities offered Terminus human sacrifices if he would spare them. Units of Peace Militia become bandits and rebels. Even about the city where Terminus offered to spare the men if they would kill their own women.
The invader did not just seek to kill the people of Gemma he sought to humiliate and twist them as well. And it was working. From her own window Alura had seen the Palace Guard fire laser lances into an angry mob at the gates. It was monstrous.
And her mother’s behavior had grown stranger by the day. A few
times it seemed she managed to drive off Terminus. Rather than confront
her he left and attacked a different city. But rather than take pleasure
at her victories Queen Lumina became more enraged at the invader. Finally
three days ago she attacked him like a berserker, barely using her powers,
practically inviting defeat. Terminus had beaten her almost to death
and dropped her broken body on the
With so many of the royal bloodline dead or missing General Glaive had assumed control. The general was a low born hill man but he had served the royal family for almost two centuries. He was their most loyal and trusted servant.
General Glaive walked with Alura through the palace halls. They were oddly empty, many retainers had been sent to outer cities to report on the situation or help with the refugees. Others had deserted, to be with their homes and families.
With her mother injured, and so many friends gone, Alura had never felt so alone.
She felt a hand on her hip; Glaive had wrapped an arm around her. It felt strong and comforting but strange. As a royal princess she had never been touched by anyone besides her parents and handmaidens. She stopped walking. He turned and put both hands on her hips and looked into her eyes. The princess felt very uncomfortable.
“You have done very well these last few days princess. And though we both hope your mother will recover soon we must be prepared for the worst and prepare for the future.”
“What do you…?”
“The people must see that the royal family is strong and must have faith in their leaders. I am but a common man, a veteran soldier. A hill man. You are young and untested. Separately we cannot command their confidence. But together… Marrying a commoner is not unheard of my Princess.”
The princess gasped. Glaive released her. “I will take my leave now princess. But remember, you must think of the future.” He saluted and turned on his heel. Alura’s knees wobbled as she staggered into her room. Marriage? To a hill man? To Glaive? Even the thought of it sickened her. No. That was not even an option.
But she needed to do something other than insincere broadcasts and pacing in her chambers. Her natural healing powers had helped stabilize her mother but that was all. It was as if Queen Lumina had lost the will to live. Alura knew her powers could help the countless refugees across the world but her mother forbid her from leaving the palace or helping in the war. Even with her mother in a coma and Alura nominally in charge no one would let her leave the damn palace! No one would let her help!
She tossed a vase at the wall in rage.
“Well, well, where
have they been keeping you?”
Alura whirled around. There on her balcony was the monster. Lord Terminus himself. She froze.
“You must be the princess; every fairy tale planet has to have a princess. And you are a pretty one aren’t you? You have your mothers… eyes.” He wasn’t looking at her eyes.
“I…” She took a step to the side. Her father’s old Plasma Staff was mounted in the corner, if she could just get to it…
“So you want to
help. You want to stop me. I can see it. Even now you’re
thinking if you just charge me now, maybe I won’t expect it. Well
you could try that and die screaming, or you could come with me and listen
to my offer.”
She stopped moving.
“Smart girl.
Now come with me.”
He took to the air, more slowly than usual. Alura watched him rise and hesitated. He could kill her! This could all be a trick. But if he wanted to kill, wouldn’t she be dead? She swallowed hard. She’d wanted a chance to be brave, a chance to show everyone what she could do. Wasn’t this it?
She rose into the air after Terminus.
He flew less than a hundred miles to
“Nice place.
Damn shame if someone went in and killed them all slowly and painfully huh
princess.”
“I…”
“You can save them
y’know. Not with any ridiculous suicide attack like you’re
planning, but with a little sweetness.”
“I…”
“Take off your clothes
girl.”
“I…”
She looked at the helpless town.
She felt Terminus’ warm gauntlet on her shoulder. She could feel the power in it.
She remembered her responsibility as a princess, to defend her people no matter what the cost.
“I’ll do it.”
***
Day 19
Alura rose from the bathing pool gracefully, her lean body covered in drops of water, her tuft of pubic hair almost the same shade of pink as her pussy. She stretched luxuriously, throwing her chest forward as she breathed deeply. Two handmaidens came forward and covered her magnificent form with soft, sheer robes. She was well named, Princess Alura was certainly alluring.
General Glaive stopped the vid file. He’d gotten it a year before from a corrupt member of the staff and had savored every second. And soon he knew he would savor the real thing. The Council of Elders had approved his proposal to marry her. For years he had wondered how a commoner like himself could enter the royal family and now it would happen. He supposed he owed some thanks to Terminus.
The picked up the Council’s proclamation and headed for the Princess’ quarters. She had no love for him; he could see that clearly and did not mind. She was loyal to her people and to her duty; she would consent to the wedding. And he was confident that in time she would learn to love him.
He knocked on the doors but there was no answer. He knocked again. He called a handmaiden to open them. The quarters were empty.
“Princess Alura? Where are you?”
***
“Oh stars! Oh stars! OH STARS!”
The princess writhed and panted beneath Terminus’ armored form. The invader did not remove his armor to violate her; it simple grew the appendage needed to enter her loins. Once within she could feel the spike changing shape, reconfiguring itself to fill her. The feeling was indescribable. But screaming “Oh stars!” at the top of her voice seemed to communicate it.
She clutched at Terminus’ armored body, pulling him closer, feeling the heat from it. Feelings and images leaked into her mind. Somewhere, under that armor Terminus was human. He’d been trapped in that armor for so long, forced to kill and destroy to fuel it. He was in so much pain. Unconsciously her powers began to activate, her hands glowed pink as her healing energies started to flow into him.
“BITCH!”
Terminus wailed in pain, slapped her and threw her off. Alura’s violet eyes widened in terror. Was this it? The end? Terminus rose to his feet and gestured. A fuzzy hopper levitated out of the grass and landed gently in Terminus’ gauntlet. The small mammal squirmed in fear when it touched the dark armor. Terminus gestured for the young princess to come closer.
“See this? Come here
and pet it. Feel it? Feel how warm it is, feel the heard
beating? Feel the life?”
“Y-yes…” Alura was not sure where this was going. She felt Terminus’ gauntlet land on the back of her head.
“Now think about
that blood boiling, those organs bursting, that heart exploding, do you see
it? Do you?”
He squeezed and images filled Alura’s mind of flesh twisting, burning and dying. She squeezed her eyes shut but she couldn’t stop them. Her hands glowed a harsh red.
There was a pop and fuzzy hopper was dead. Just a small pile of fur and bones remained. Bits of blood stained Terminus’ armor and Alura’s pale skin. Terminus laughed.
“That’s the
spirit Princess! Now try me!”
Alura swallowed and touched him again. Her hands glowed pink for a second but as she thought of the people this monster had killed, the things he had done to her they glowed red. If this was what he wanted, this is what he would get. She would reach him through the armor and kill whatever living body remained within.
Terminus made a sound like a sigh.
“Now that feels
good.”
***
Day 20
“It’s a miracle your majesty. You must have weakened Terminus more than anyone knew; he has not attacked in six days.”
“I see.”
“Already we are beginning to restore order to the hills and refuges are returning to their homes.”
“I see.”
“I have a detailed report-“
“That will be all for now General Glaive.”
“Of course. You must be exhausted.”
Lumina waited until after the general left before she cursed in a very unladylike way. It was a trick. It had to be. She hadn’t hurt Terminus at all in their last battle. He had beaten her soundly leaving her in a coma for six days. Had he withdrawn to give her time to recover? What was his game?
That last battle had almost broken her will to resist. She had confronted the monster once again. And once again he had offered her a devil’s bargain. This time it was not enough for her to sacrifice one city for another. He wanted her to sacrifice herself. To prostrate herself in the city center, kiss his boots and then… and then allow him to violate her. In front of everyone.
She had snapped. She had attacked him like in a berserk fury, without a plan or a prayer. He laughed as he beat her. As he broke her bones. As he tore her gown. He stopped short of violating her but she remembered him promising there would be more as he dropped her half dead into the courtyard of her own palace. She knew she needed to talk, not to some underling like Glaive but to a peer. If only Baron Pulsar still lived. If only her husband still lived… She walked to the window and looked across the courtyard to the tower where Princess Alura dwelled.
It was dark.
Lumina reached for her scepter.
***
She found them on the mountainside overlooking
“Oh, hey there.
Feeling better I see.”
Terminus looked up at her. Alura gasped as he pulled out. She quickly wrapped the cloak around her.
“Want to join in?
A little mother-daughter action always brings in the
crowds.”
Lumina thought she would feel shock. Or anger. Or fear. Instead she felt a feeling of icy calm come over her. As if all feeling had been drained away. She knew what she would do.
“M-mother? Mother? I can explain! He, he said if I do this, if I let him do this he wouldn’t kill anyone. He promised! It’s been six days and he’s not attacked anyone! People think the war is over! Don’t you see mother? I had to!”
Lumina looked at her daughter. The teen tried to cover herself with her cloak. She wore nothing but that, her slippers and some jewelry. Lumina recognized some of the jewelry as her own. She looked her daughter in the eye.
Her daughter’s mind was an open book. It had been simple to track her and now it was simple to look inside and see what her daughter had done. Every night. For six days. Every detail. Every moan, every whimper, every scream, everything flooded into her mind. Her darling daughter. Her innocent daughter. Turned into this creature’s whore for a few days of peace.
“Yes Alura. Yes. You did what you had to do. You saved many lives. But it’s over now. I will finish this. You can go.”
“Mother?”
“LEAVE US!”
Alura looked at Terminus; he shrugged his spiked shoulder pads and gestured for her to go. The princess took off, slowly, reluctantly but finally she was out of sight.
Queen Lumina fell to her knees and lay the Solar Scepter at Terminus’ feet. She straightened her back and reached up. She undid her robes and let them fall to her waist. “I am yours Lord Terminus. If it will save my world I will do whatever you wish.”
Terminus raised an armored gauntlet to his chin as if he was thinking hard about the offer. Lumina heard a hollow chuckle.
“So that’s it
huh? You give up so now I’ll go away. How very noble of
you Queeny. Shame you didn’t try this before all those people
had to die.”
“Do what you will.”
The Solar Scepter levitated into Terminus’ hand. He gripped it and waved it around a few times. “Nice gewgaw but not really my style.” He held it up and a hush fell. The air grew cold. The scepter lost its glow. The gems along its length shattered one by one, the great ruby on the end making an almost musical sound. Golden energy flowed into Terminus’ armor.
“Mmm, mmm
good.”
He reached down and twisted the tarnished scepter around Lumina’s neck a few times turning the sacred artifact into a golden collar. He tore a long strip of spider silk from her robe making a leash that was stronger than steel cable. He tied another strip around the Queen’s wrists.
“Now that’s
better. We’re gonna have a lot of fun
together.”
***
The
Some did.
Most remained.
General Glaive stepped into the courtyard with members of the royal guard and shouted a challenge to the attacker.
“Stay right here beautiful, let me handle this.” He released the Queen’s leash and descended. Lumina found herself imprisoned in a sphere of energy unable to move or help her friends.
“Face us if you dare Terminus! General Glaive and Royal Guard will not flee! We will not surrender! We will fight you to the end!”
The end came 3 minutes later when Terminus killed them all.
“Shame you guys
didn’t listen. Queeny up there was so sweet, I’d have let
you go but I guess you had to do it the hard way.”
The rest of the
Above him Queen Lumina cried.
***
Hours later Princess Alura came out of the hills. She froze in midair when she saw the smoke and then rushed to the ruined palace. Terminus and Lumina were long gone, the place was silent but for the crackling of unextinguished fires. Alura had spent the day hiding in the mountains, trying to come to terms with what she had done, what her mother had done until she convinced herself there was no other way. And now…
“N-no… NO! It’s not fair! He promised! He promised!”
She sank to her knees overcome with shock and despair.
She heard someone approach.
“Stand up with your hands on your head!”
She looked up; there were several men in ragged Peace Militia Uniforms. Some clutched stun wands; others had the deadlier weapons they had been issued in recent days.
“Militiamen! I am Princess Alura my mother had been-“
“Stand up with your hands on your head or we will fire!”
“You don’t-“
The stun blasts hit her body, she was too weak to resist and collapsed in a heap. A militiaman walked over and stretched her out on her back. She was still dressed only in her pink and white cloak. Her pink nipples and tuft of pink pubic hair were exposed to all.
“Weet-wheer” The militiaman whistled. “You sure are hot.” He fingered her necklace. “Got some cash too.”
“Who do you think she is?”
“Who knows, I couldn’t hear what she said. Probably some spoiled handmaid.”
“We she’s ours now. Just like this whole fucking place is ours! No more bullshit from the royals! No more fighting when we can’t win! Fan out men; see if you find anything else. That building’s still pretty intact, we’ll make that camp. Maybe have a little party tonight too. A real party.”
The militiamen cheered!
***
Alura awoke when the first militiaman entered her. Her hands were tied around a column, and a hairy Ice man was thrusting into her. He leaned down and bit her slender neck, she screamed. Her screams joined those of a dozen other women the renegade militia had found. It was the Hall of Peaceful Nights, the most intact building left in the Palace. Once it had been the scene of feasts, poetry readings and celebration. Now it was a scene out of hell as civilized men gave into their basest desires. Men who had sworn to uphold the law became rapists and looters violating everything they once believed it.
Alura screamed again.
Her horror excited the man; he bit down harder drawing blood and came inside her. He howled!
Deep within her Alura found a core of calm. There was still part of her that would not accept this, part of her that would fight. She stopped screaming. Her muscles tensed. With a gesture she tore apart the spider silk scraps they had tied her with. She tossed the Ice Man across the room. The militiamen looked at her. Some reached for weapons. Alura’s hands glowed with energy, not the assuring pink glow of healing, the crackling red of harm. She seized one militiaman, his flesh crackled, his organs burst, he was dead in seconds.
The screaming started again. This time it wasn’t the women.
***
After the destruction of the
“Remember how I said
I wouldn’t hurt
Lumina remained silent.
“Well
I wouldn’t want anyone to call me a liar. A rapist or a mass murderer
maybe, but not a liar.”
He moved behind an asteroid a few miles across.
“So I
won’t.”
He kicked the asteroid. It began to move towards Gemma. Slowly at first, then gaining speed.
“Course the tsunami
might…”
Terminus chuckled.
Lumina said nothing. She had no sorrow left.
***
They returned to the ruins of the
“Oh my stars… no.”
“Hey Princes Alluring,
nice work there.”
“No, mother you have to understand…”
“Girl after my own
heart.”
Lumina looked in horror at what her daughter had done. The sphere blocked her telepathic link with the Princess but she saw enough. She nodded to Terminus. Terminus smashed Alura’s head with one blow.
Lumina thought she had no sorrow left. She was wrong. She cried like a child.
That was about the time the asteroid hit.
***
Day 30
The sky was as black as night though the clock said it was midday. Snow was falling though the calendar said it was summer. The foraging party stumbled through the snow and ash to the steel door. The leader tapped the code on the hatch and it opened. The small party climbed through.
“Nothing.” He reported. No other survivors. No communications. No food. It had been ten days since the asteroid hit, four days since this isolated group of survivors found any sign that anyone else lived on the world of Gemma.
Their shelter was one of dozens of emergency shelters built long ago by the Peace Militia for natural disasters. It was supposed to have enough room and food to shelter twenty people for a week. It had sheltered over a hundred for ten days.
There was more tapping on the hatch. The survivors froze. Their parties are all back, no one was expected. The two Militiamen in the group gripped their stun wands. Others picked up axes, knives and other improvised weapons. One of them opened the hatch.
“Greetings my people.”
It was Queen Lumina! She still appeared regal despite her torn robes. She gestured to the survivors to come out.
“It is over.”
A hush fell over the survivors. Could it be? Was the invader defeated? Would they return to their homes? The survivors began to file out, hesitantly at first, but more enthusiastically as they realized this really was Queen Lumina and not trick.
“Over? What happened? Is the enemy defeated? Will the sky become clear? Is there hope?”
Lumina cleared her throat and looked down. She began to speak in a whisper “My people… We have all fought hard against Terminus, sacrificed so much. Suffered so much. Today that suffering is at an end…” Tears began to fall. Some of the crowd stepped forward to comfort their Queen. Others began to realize what her words must mean. A few even ran for the shelter.
But it was too late.
Terminus dropped from the sky. He tore a militia officer in two and reached for a small child. He used the child as a club to kill her mother. The other survivors charged, their pitiful weapons in hand. Terminus just laughed.
In seconds the ragged survivors were dead. Lumina looked up at him, heartbroken.
“That was it
huh?”
“Yes, I sense no one else. They were the last.”
“Well that was easy. A bit unsatisfying if you know what I mean. This whole trip, I mean it was funny watching you crack, watching your people turn on each other and all that but really, this was hardly a challenge at all.” Terminus seemed distracted. Then he picked up Lumina’s spider silk leash and rose into the sky, dragging the queen behind him.
He settled on a small asteroid orbiting far above Gemma. Even from
here the dust in the atmosphere and the storms were visible. The world
would need centuries to heal. Terminus looked at the planet and
laughed. “But
still not a bad job when all is said and done. Not a bad job at all.
Got enough death and despair to charge my batteries for months. Years
even. All thanks to you.”
He threw Lumina to the stony surface and took her one last time. The Queen was too broken to even care.
When he finished he took her by the collar and sat her against a rock laced with iron ore. A quick blast of energy welded her collar to the ore. Similar blasts welded the bracelets she still wore. She was now pinned helplessly.
“Hey Queeny, remember
when I said I’d kill you last?”
“Please… please… you’ve done everything you can to me… haven’t I suffered enough? I watched my daughter die, my palace, my world… now let me join them in peace… please…”
“Yeah well, I lied.” He pushed away from the asteroid flying deeper into space.
Lumina realized what he meant and screamed psychically and physically. She pulled at the collar and bracelets but they were too firmly attached. It was terrible. Monstrous. With her powers she could live for years on this barren rock overlooking her world. Even without food, water or air she would live, tormented by the sight of her failure. With her arms pinned even suicide was not an option. Lumina screamed again.
***
Terminus chuckled again. Despite the ease of it, he was still pretty happy with his work on Gemma. But now he craved someplace that would offer a bit more of a challenge. Gemma’s problem was that centuries of peace left them with no fighting spirit. He wanted a place that was a bit rougher, a place that would fight like a rabid dog to repel him. The kind of world with thousands of heroes and villains for him to fight and kill.
He extended his psychic senses deep into space and in a few hours found his next destination. A small, primitive, overpopulated world with more heroes and villains than it knew what to do with. He had high hopes for the place.
But still, he had to wonder. How good could the place be if the natives decided to call their home world ‘dirt’? Honestly, if that’s how much imagination these Earthlings have it would be a pretty easy kill.
He opened the wormhole and stepped through.
Afterword
Before you ask, yes this is a Global Protector story and yes they will
in fact be starring in it.
That was a little experiment there. To see if how quickly I could
introduce characters, get the readers to care, and then smash them up real
good! This wasn’t originally going to be a full chapter but I
knew I needed bit of space to introduce the big bad guy and let him show
his stuff. And the more I wrote the more I liked him. So with
that done… on with the show!
Since other chapters are still being worked on this is a good time for
suggestions and comments! And not to be an ass, but without feedback
it’s hard to keep motivated to write.
Marcus
Marcus_Lycus@hotmail.com