Of Ice, Death & Monsters

Chapter 8: And We Hope They Will Come True

Matthias was in a rush. He ran to the deck; luckily, he had already commanded all of the turrets to activate.

They popped out of the side of the ship as a small barrier started to cover the whole vessel in a force field. The many golems as well began to lumber towards the front and back of the ship, their many armaments from guns to missile launchers revealing themselves to the awe of the people there.

However, even with all of this preparation, as he got to the bow, his heart sank at what he saw ahead:

Fire. Blossoms of flame and flare that encapsulated both the sky and the ground. It was as if somebody replaced the very air itself with heat as it completely ruptured the glaciers ahead, cracking and breaking them apart.

For some reason, they did not seem to melt, but there was something else more sinister that Matthias could feel from it, something he had seen before when he was young.

“Those flames… why did it have to be those flames?” They danced in the air as he could see faces and figures amongst the orange flares; they laughed and cackled like mad shadows, getting closer and closer.

Godwin shook Matthias back into reality. “Snap out of it, they’re not attacking just yet, we still have time.”

“Y-yeah, we do… we do.” He took a deep breath and looked around. The other ships were already getting their defenses up, too. This was good. This was the plan, everything is going accordingly.

Nothing will go wrong. Nothing has to go wrong. It needs to work. This has to work. If it doesn’t work, then… everything… everything will be all for nothing.

So it will work; he would make it work. He will ensure that it will always work. Once more, his mind started to fizzle, and his head ached as he grasped his temples in pain.

“What is happening over there?” John raced to the bow along with Henry, Charlie, Mollie, Derek, and Topher. Many others, as well, started to watch from the sidelines as they used binoculars and telescopes to spot the strange abnormalities up ahead.

“Those right there? Well, we would call them elementals, but over here in Galfania, they would be called spirits. They are embodiments of nature, and these ones specifically desire to destroy and consume all in their way.”

Everyone started to panic, people started to shift their feet, and look around as if there was an exit. To this, Godwin scoffed.

“You all signed a contract. None of you may leave. Do you not remember who we work for? The most powerful and advanced organization in the world! We are the Keepers of Names and binders of calamities! We stand upon hundreds of years of ingenuity and technology. We have divined the truth of the world and we shall only grow! The Star King’s blessing is upon us, and nobody can take that away! Do you all understand? Is that not why we are all here? To conquer and put an end to this madness ahead of us?”

To that, the fears and panic of the people began to be quelled, many of them actually began to cheer, and some began to take off their shirts to yell into the sky but it was cold as the Abyss and so they quickly put it back on after a few awkward looks from the others around them.

John grinned at that, doing a small salute as he readied his rifle. “So… what’s the plan? How are we going to deal with them?”

To that end, Godwin turned to Matthias, who was still staring into the sea with a look of worry and confusion. However, he very quickly snapped out of it as the Professor tapped him on the back with his cane.

“Well, for that, we need to stay calm. These are not creatures of flesh and blood. Regular guns won’t be of use here. But that is why we equipped the ships with specialized turrets and barriers using Magick as our defense systems. What we need now is constant maintenance while the golems act as the infantry defense force in case they get close to the ship!”

Matthias raised his hand, gesturing to the turrets and several sigils across the ship. “The barriers of the ships are made to stop any movement coming towards us, arresting their motion. The computers help calculate and ensure that this is done for only what they consider negative.”

“The turrets, on the other hand, are made to disintegrate anything they are aimed at, using entropy to fast forward their decay. The computers also help dictate and calculate what to shoot and maintain. However…”

He turned to face the many men and women on the ship, volunteers that he had to lead to safety if he wanted to ever stand a chance on that island. “We still need to shoot, while maintaining and accounting for any errors they could make. So luckily, everyone gets to stay inside and watch screens on a computer! Now who’s ready!”

All at once, the crowd raised their arms in uproarious approval, causing Matthias to sigh in relief internally.

“Now then, I shall lead you all to your positions now, everyone, to arms.” Godwin gestured to the interior of the ship, guiding them to their proper spots. All seemed to go well, and everything was flowing smoothly.

That was until the ship itself started to get closer to the glaciers that were being cracked open, and the first sign of danger showed itself…

In the form of a song.

“Many ships venture into lands untouched.”

“They seek fame, glory, answers in the mists.”

“Yet if they sailed any further, their doom waits.”

“For fire and brimstone, shall be rained above.”

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”

It was like a poem, a beautiful yet haunting melody that was sung out, causing everyone to grow silent for a few moments before looking at each other. Everyone knew exactly what that was; all the stories told were of Fae, actual Faeries that were not just elves of their type.

The famed tricksters of the world, known for their playfulness, yet here they sounded as truthful as a man on his deathbed. Whispers began to crawl up around the inside of the ship as many of the people talked about the possibility of leaving.

I was currently running all over the place. I was told of what had happened from the myriad of others who clamored around. Now I just needed to remember where those defense systems were-

“Yo Peta! Here!” John waved his hand to me with the vigor of a madman as he walked over. “You’re coming with me, I have no idea how to do any of this properly. You’re gonna be my hands, and I’ll tell you what exactly you’re holding and what they do. You know, like old times?”

I sighed internally and rolled my eyes at that. Like old times indeed… Although as I rolled my eyes, I saw something peculiar: Jane was being approached by Charlie with the other.

“Jane, you’re going to need to come with us, please. The Magi need you.”

“Aww, you asked so nicely for an order that I can’t refuse. Fine, then, lead the way.” Jane followed the rest of them somewhere I couldn’t see.

Oh yeah, Charlie is part of the Watchtower. She would know of Jane’s past, and probably knew how handy she would be here.

“Hey, hey, you okay?” John snapped his fingers in front of me as I nodded. “Yeah, yeah, just point and I’ll shoot. But aren’t you a little worried about being warned by like… Fae creatures of all things? That’s not a good sign at all.”

I began to follow John as he walked towards the upper deck of the ship, opening doors with his keycard. “What? Those guys? Nah- okay, I actually did deal with them for a bit overseas, but I’m sure we could handle it, but you know it’s quite nice they give us an actual warning instead of some riddle.”

He walked over to a console room that was just below the helm itself, filled with several other Magi, all of whom were working overtime, drawing and assigning proper rituals and symbols on their monitor screens to maintain the defense system.

Up ahead was a glass window, where I could see the flames crash and slam into the glaciers, sending shards as sharp as swords flying into the air with the speed of bullets. Luckily, the barrier all stopped them in mid-air.

“I wonder why it still needs us, can’t the machines just activate the Names by themselves?” John grumbled as he went to one of the computers, typing something down as he accessed the frame.

“No, it can’t. That’s the one thing that we have over A.I and machines. They can’t use Names, even if you imprinted all the knowledge into them, they won’t be able to activate it. Only people can, and in most cases, you would need them to have a Name for it to work.”

John did an O shape with his mouth as he chuckled. “So that’s why we’re here then. I know exactly the Name they have, just like help guide me and stuff.”

He pulled a chair to have me sit beside him, and I obliged, staring at the monitor like I was back in college again, tutoring him.

“Alright, let’s work our magic.” I cracked my knuckles and began to get to work, opening up my own laptop as I began to open up my notes for an easier cross-reference.

I looked up at the monitor and was surprised to find a first-person shooter sort of view where one would be in the turret. Then I looked over to find the others actively setting up some controllers as if we were all going to head into a match.

Hah, now that was kind of funny. We didn’t need to aim since the system would do it for us, but I guess some people were just weird like that.

My eyes flickered like the flames towards the windows as I saw we approached the inferno up ahead, figures of fire danced around with mad grins upon their faces. “Huh… John… am I crazy or do I see people in the-“

“Flames? Yeah, no, they’re there alright, the elementals we have to remove. Shame we can’t like shoot them dead normally, damn them laws of physics.”

I chuckled a bit at that as all the turrets began to aim. For a few moments, everything seemed to be quiet; only the sound of silence could be heard, accompanied by the swaying of tides.

Then, like thunder after lightning, the elemental spirits came crashing after us, and we opened fire back. Each blast made them fade away; entropy ensured they would fast forward to their most inert uniform state.

Yet, like the waves on the beach, they kept on coming, racing after us with high-pitched shrieks whistling in the air.

I looked at John’s screen as a new framework appeared. It was a Magick-Graph program that was using a series of equations to formulate a Name. I just had to find the right one and dictate it to John.

I went and copied some notes down on my laptop and cross-referenced them to what I was shown on the monitor, my eyes looking up at the window as I saw, to my horror, a spirit appearing within the barrier.

“Just here- quickly!” I yelled out, showing John the equations as he typed them down, re-manifesting the Acting of Entropy once more, making the turret operational and quickly firing at the elemental, who faded away after the shot.

We took a deep breath, yet still more and more popped up, and we knew it was only just the beginning.