~~~ Author's note.
I want to apologize for this chapter taking so long. I had several things come up in my personal life that made it hard to keep writing sometimes. I hope the length makes up for the wait and that you all enjoy it. ~~~
Screams pierced through Eli and Saleasi's dream like a knife. Both bolted straight up in the bed, their heads almost colliding. Eli was a bit panicked at first wondering what was happening and where his clothes were, before the events prior to this came flooding back. Quickly Eli swung himself up off the bed, and grabbed the cloth form of his armor as his magitech suit materialized across his body.
Saleasi followed behind him, pulling a short sword from the rift generated by her suit. Almost as soon as Eli and Saleasi had gotten to their feet the door burst open as Revis was flung through it. Standing in the splintered remains of the door was a shapeless form, that stood roughly eight feet tall. It seemed to move like smoke, with eyes that glowed a sickly green. Eyes that immediately locked on Saleasi and Eli. It shifted itself slightly, the green eyes narrowing as if it were trying to discern what Eli was.
Saleasi dove in slashing at it with her sword. Its silvery blue blade passing cleanly through the creature. It didn't even react to the slash. The gap that the blade had made quickly, and quietly closed, as if it had never happened. No blood or viscera, just wisps of what looked like smoke. That same smoke began to coalesce into three long and thin needle like shapes before plunging towards Saleasi. They drove deep into her shoulder before dissipating. Blood gushed quickly from the three holes left behind and Saleasi dropped to her knees, a scream of intense pain erupting from her.
The creature began to move towards her. The sounds of her scream causing it to emit a noise, that sounded like a distorted chuckle. Its form shifted again, as a section of it extended and coalesced into a long slightly curved blade. As it brought the blade down there was a loud clang that sounded like metal connecting with metal. Eli had jumped in front of the blade holding his combat knife. The small knife in his hand shook against the pressure exhibited by the creature.
"Eli!" Saleasi shouted, her mind focusing back on what was happening in front if her instead of the pain in her shoulder. Eli continued to strain against the entity, its eyes shifting to focus on the person in front of it. The blade extension shifted and dissipated as the creature moved back about three feet. It seemed to study Eli for a moment, it's eyes appearing to narrow. Another blade began to extend from its form as it prepared for another attack.
"Is Revis still alive?" Eli asked Saleasi, not taking his eyes off the creature. She moved carefully over to where the male elf had landed and placed her hand on his neck. There was a faint heartbeat, and his breathing was slow, but he didn't move. "Barely." She said her voice filled with worry.
The creature lunged at Eli with the blade it had created. Eli jumped out of the way but not before the tip of the blade connected with his leg. It left a long gash running down his the length of his calf. White hot pain shot throughout his body like lightning. His muscles seized and he crumpled into a heap as he landed on the floor.
He struggled to breathe for a moment. It was like being shocked by a high voltage stun gun, before suddenly the feeling left. Blood was still pouring profusely from the wound on his leg despite being shallow. He forced himself to stand, his eyes blurred, and he strained to focus. The amorphous shape of the creature seemed to shift in front of him, solidify, the area where the eyes were became more spherical.
"A drone..." He muttered as it turned away from him and back to Saleasi and Revis. He tried to swipe at it with the knife but the blade only met air. "Saleasi it's a drone! Aim for the eyes and you'll actually hit it." He shouted, and the creature let out a sound similar to an angry screech as some of the smoke shot out towards Eli, and the main body of the creature lunged at Saleasi.
Eli braced himself, and closed his eyes. He knew he was probably about to die, since he couldn't move out of the way in time. There was a sickening crunch sound, but he didn't feel any new pain. He waited for what felt like forever, before finally opening his eyes. He was alive, though still bleeding profusely. Saleasi was standing near by, her breathing heavy, covered in a viscous black sludge.
At her feet was a metal orb, the outside of which was crushed and twisted. Saleasi's sword was embedded deep into where one of the eye lenses had been. She gave Eli a weak smile, before her legs gave out and she flopped onto the floor next to the still unconscious Revis. The sounds of fighting continued on outside, the dying screams of those whose blades couldn't find purchase echoing throughout. Everything went black for Eli shortly afterwards.
He awoke to the flickering light from magitech torches. His eyes opened slowly, and his body ached. He looked around slowly, his vision still blurry. All he could make out was the form of someone standing near by, at what he assumed was, a terminal. "Oh, you're awake." A voice came from the form. The person sounded feminine in nature, but the voice was higher, and seemed a bit younger.
"What happened?" Eli muttered weakly, his voice raspy and his throat dry. The shape of the woman came over to him and the sound of her hitting keys on a keyboard echoed around him. "You passed out from blood loss after the encounter you and Lady Saleasi had with the creature." She replied and carefully placed a straw against Eli's lips. "Drink up, the lady will be by shortly to check on you." She said and Eli obliged.
He was expecting water, but instead it was something thick and sweet. His mind could only relate it to honey, but there was something different to it. As he drank is weakness subsided slightly, and his vision cleared. In front of him was indeed a woman, but she wasn't an elf like Revis or Saleasi. She was humanoid in nature, but she had some traits more similar to a lizard or some kind of dragon. Her face was mostly human looking, though she had onyx scales sporadically along her cheeks and jawline. Her eyes were a bright emerald color with slitted pupils, she had messy auburn hair, and he swore he could see a set of wings and a tail swaying behind her.
The unexpected appearance of this woman caused Eli to choke on what he was drinking and go into a short coughing fit. At that very moment Saleasi, and Revis both walked through the door, heard Eli coughing, and saw the woman standing over him. "What the hell happened?" Revis said immediately grabbing Saleasi by her shoulders keeping her from mauling the draconic looking woman. "I'm alright! Just got surprised and choked on my drink." Eli choked out in-between coughs.
After Eli had stopped coughing, and situated himself he looked at Saleasi and smiled. "I'm glad you're alright Saleasi. Though I'm a bit worse for wear it seems." He chuckled a bit when she looked at him with a mixture of confusion and worry, before gently grabbing her hand. "It's just a saying Saleasi. It just means I've had a hard time."
He paused for a moment, several thoughts crossing through his mind. "Alright I have a few questions. First, and most importantly. What happened to cause these attacks? There's no way this was unprovoked." He said, and watched as concern once again crossed Saleasi's face. Revis sighed and looked him dead in the eyes.
"We caused it, obviously, but our intentions weren't malicious. Our magic lets us bend aspects of reality, make fire, and teleport short distances." He paused for a second to collect his thoughts. "We figured out that we could amplify the strength of the spells with our technology. Hence the suits, armor, and the myriad of other things." He gestured to several of the things in the room. "However, we began to run out of resources for the technology we were building."
Eli sighed and shifted in the bed. "So you began looking for a new planet to harvest." He said feeling his heart sink slightly. He could feel the guilt coming from Saleasi. He squeezed her hand gently.
Revis nodded his face sullen and melancholic. "Except we were impatient, and used magitech to try and speed up the process. We tried to make a teleporter that could send a small fleet extreme distances to uninhabited planets with the right resources." He had pulled out a small device, pressed a few buttons and a three-dimensional hologram projected from the center of it showing the large ring shaped piece of magitech. "When we activated it, it appeared to work just fine. We sent a fleet of around ten ships, and for the first week everything went as planned. The workers we had sent were collecting resources at an excellent pace, until one of the diggers unearthed something."
The hologram shifted to show a set of ruins buried deep underground. The aforementioned digger laying at the center of the ruins a couple hundred feet down from the hole it had made. It shifted again and showed an expedition going into the ruins, a door, and then smoke. "This happened ten years ago, and caused the death of the late queen. We have since constructed the Gates to move around the universe. The attacks from the creatures only started a year ago." Revis put the device away again, and sighed.
"So the entirety of this planet is being destroyed because of a lack of resources and overzealous curiosity." Eli stated firmly. "You said 'we', does that mean the entire elven race or just the Dusk Elves?" Revis looked slightly confused for a moment. "The elven race as a whole was involved in making the teleporter and going on the expedition."
"I understand that the Dusk Elves are the last remaining, but the guilt doesn't fall solely on their shoulders. We will figure out how to finish this conflict without the extinction of your race." Eli said his voice calm and caring. "So why did you dismantle the teleporter ring?"
"That was my father's doing. He blamed the others for the death of my mother and had it destroyed out of spite." Saleasi said anger filling her voice. Eli squeezed her hand again and moved to the edge of the bed. "To be fair milady, long range teleporters are a bad idea anyway." The dragon woman chimed, before looking up from the terminal.
Eli looked at her confused. "I know of several planets get eaten by the rifts they create. Similarly to how this one is, piece by piece. I'm from one of those planets actually, and warned the king before the fleet went out. He didn't head my warning until they had returned and the news of the ladies death had been relayed to him." She continued. Her eyes which had been cheerful, now showed a deep sadness.
