Revenge of the Ancients part 2

Revenge of the Ancients Part II: World War

By: Christopher Gourgouras

500 million years had passed since the war of the gods. The Universe had long ago forgotten the battles fought and the only signs of ancient conflict were craters, rubble floating through space and black holes were planets used to be. On a planet far away from the original conflict in Tdonian space, life had evolved and prospered for over 100 million years. The planet was called Dertonna by the inhabitants because the eastern side of the planet had been separated from the western side by a line of mountains and the word for Mountain in the native language was Derton.

For 98 million years no dominate species had evolved on Dertonna until a Humanoid race colonized an island off the eastern coast of the main continent and the first civilized life was formed in the Universe. The island nation flourished until it became overpopulated and was forced to migrate to the mainland. They faced opposition from native tribes and were thrown into a war that lasted hundreds of years ending in the defeat of the native tribes. Millions died in this conflict and few remembered why it had began, all that was known was that now there was now one dominate nation on this planet and they could now began exploring.

As explorations took place on Dertonna and the secrets of the planet began to be discovered the conquerors began to settle down and make villages. As the villages turned into towns and towns into cities the world began to become smaller. Kings ruled the nation for one million years, some evil and some good. The last king to rule the planet was King Soldorian IV. He advanced the nation far more than anyone had in thousands of years, space travel had reached full potential and war was almost unknown. Than Soldorian was assassinated by his brother during a winter festival and the entire nation had fallen apart in that moment. East of the Great Mountains the forces loyal to the former king began to gather and prepare for war. In the west the king’s brother prepared his loyal generals and gathered his troops. Since that time Dertonna had been locked in a brutal stalemate for one million years that seemed to never end. Battles had been fought; the governments on both sides lied about the war and made fake heroes to bring spirits of war torn populations up. The blood feud had begun and the world was at war with itself for the first time.

Year: Unkown

Xaal had not expected anything to happen today. It was supposed to be another boring Monday; he would work all day in the town hall and handle disputes between the towns people. Then he would go home and sleep or read the news to see how the government troops were doing against the rebels. While at work a recruiting officer walked into the town hall and ordered Xaal outside, telling him that it was important.

“I have been sent here from the frontlines, we have lost many officers in this fight and we need everyone we can get. You know a lot about this conflict and we have been monitoring your conversations and you seem to know enough about strategy, you are under orders to come with me.” Xaal was shocked at this, he couldn’t leave his family to fight in a war that he would most likely die in but at the same time he couldn’t refuse the order and be branded a traitor. He had to go.

“I will go” Xaal said as he followed the officer to the ship, the officer gave him an hour to gather his stuff and say goodbye than they left. The flight to the frontlines was short and Xaal quickly saw that the newspapers had lied; The Imperial Army had not pushed far into enemy territory, the rebels had laid siege to the empires capitol and the war was almost over. They had to act now if they wanted any chance of winning this war.

Xaal walked into the command tent and immediately could see what was wrong. The tent was almost empty; every officer in the main force was either dead or too busy with his or her own problems to worry about what was going on in the war. Xaal also knew what to do in this situation. “Give me command of the main force and have the fleet prepared to bombard this city once it is captured.” “Why would you bombard the capital city of the empire?” “The city will be lost in an hour, they won’t expect to be hit while they are looting, you can still win this war.”

With command of the army, Xaal pulled out of the city and retreated to a safe distance under cover of night. No rebel fleets had been near the city because all imperial fleets were in orbit over rebel territory when a traitor broke away from the empire and revealed a path into the empire that would allow the rebels to win the war. The rebels would be caught by surprise when they were blown away by orbital bombardment.

Conquest

The rebels were not surprised. As soon as the rebels captured the city they had slaughtered the population and evacuated the city due to the fact that they had detected a bombardment fleet in orbit hours before it had even arrived. The city was destroyed and shortly after the Imperial fleet was wiped out by the rebel fleet that had been hidden in the mountain star bases and thought to be destroyed. The war wouldn’t last much longer.

As the rebels pushed further into the empire Xaal pulled back his personal unit of 1000 soldiers until he reached the coastline. His last resort was to evacuate his men to an island that had been abandoned 2 million years ago by its inhabitant’s for unknown reasons but guessed to be because of overpopulation and famine. They gathered ships and began to sail across the sea to a land never seen by human eyes for 2 million years. The war was over and everyone in the eastern empire was dead. The rebels were victorious.

Land

After 4 months on the oceans Xaal and his fleet reached the shores of a deserted island. This island had ancient ruins scattered across it and was scarred with marks from an ancient war. Xaal and his 100 men began to explore the island to find a place to settle, 900 had died in the journey across the ocean. More would die in the coming weeks.

Xaal had his soldiers scout out positions they could use to defend rebel attacks as he began to search through the ruins. He quickly realized that famine and overpopulation were not the only reason this ancient civilization had left this land, there was a greater power at work here, a power that was just beginning to awaken. At that moment Xaal knew that he had to leave the island. It was not safe there; staying there any longer would anger the souls of the damned who had died there 2 million years ago. Souls lost in ancient wars that were still angry at an ancient battle. His men had noticed as well.

At midnight a horn sounded on the small island and the raiders set forth in a charge against the intruders. As they neared the camp 100 soldiers opened fire at them but failed as there bullets stopped in the air before the undead horde. Waving battleaxes and swords in the air the undead warriors began to descend on the camp, ready to burn every tent and pillage the camp. The warlord leading the charge had an ancient shield in one hand and a battleaxe weighing 100 pounds in the other. He could see the leader of the intruders giving orders and knew that in order to defend his honor he would have to challenge the leader to a duel. He ordered his men to stop the charge until he had talked to the leader of the intruders.

Xaal saw the massive warlord walking towards him. He was at least 7 feet tall and wore heavy armor. His axe was as big as a man and he could easily take down all of Xaal’s men in 10 swings. As the warlord came closer he began to speak in a tongue that Xaal did not understand but he knew what it meant. The warlord was challenging him to a duel and he had to accept or his men would not be shown mercy. Xaal was given a sword and the warlord took off his armor. After 3 horns the duel began.

Xaal took a swing at the warlord’s leg but he dodged it and kicked dirt into his eyes. The warlord quickly retaliated and chopped off Xaal’s left hand. Xaal cried out in pain and with a shout of anger threw all his strength into his blade and chopped off the warlords arm. The warlords axe fell to the ground along with his arm but he refused to be killed. With his shield arm he bashed Xaal, knocking him over than began to walk towards him. Xaal was confused as his head hit the ground but regained his conscience quickly and rose to his feet. He took his sword and swung up at the warlords head, removing it from his neck. His men cheered but there cheers were cut short as a rain of flaming arrows descended on them and they were cut down one by one. The battle ended in defeat but with the death of the warlord, Xaal was spared and made the leader of the army on the island. As king of the undead he was given a suit of ancient armor, a shield, and a blood colored axe with ancient ruins carved into it. With this power he would retake what was his and conquer the Mainland.

5 years later

5 years had passed since the battle that had made Xaal king of the undead. The island had become a thriving settlement with an army 100,000 strong and a fleet of sea bound ships 10,000 strong. The rebels had space but they could never control the seas again. The time had come to cross the channel and take the mainland back as their own. The war that had been fought 2 million years in the past was about to begin again as the island nation again crossed over to the mainland.

The fleet set sale at noon and reached the mainland in two hours. When they got there the land had changed from a forested area to a desert. Once great cities were burned to the ground and populations either killed or enslaved. The tyrants of the rebel empire had turned this once great nation into a pile of rubble and would pay for it with their lives. Xaal ordered the march to the rebel capitol, no one who stood in their way would survive.

The undead horde marched for ten days without rest. When Xaal rested he was carried on a bed by 2 warriors. The dead never tired and would never betray him, they were bound by ancient oaths to serve whoever slain there warlord. On the eleventh morning the rebel capitol was in site, a few more hours of marching and they would attack at once. The city had no defenses because the rebels had no threats on the mainland. The rebel war fleet had been turned into a merchant fleet and the army had been turned into a police force to enforce the laws of the dictators who ruled the empire. To the surprise of the rebel dictator an army was in his streets burning buildings and killing everyone around them. He had no way to stop this, so he began to run to his private ship. Just as he got there was an explosion as a planetary bombardment round hit the ground and half the undead army was wiped out. He assumed one of his personal security ships was still in orbit but he was wrong. Shortly after that hundreds more rounds began to descend on his planet and a fleet of black ships with red skulls painted on them began to enter the atmosphere.

Xaal saw the ships and knew that something was wrong. He hadn’t seen ships like this since the war of the gods and the plague god was still supposed to be asleep for another 500 million years. Xaal, the guardian of the universe, had taken human form 100 years ago to study this planet and find out if he should make them his servants to fight in the war to come 500 million years from now. Now the plague god had already found a host and was attacking the only planet that he believed would produce warriors for a fleet worthy of fighting the evil god. He now also knew what the force on the island was; he had awoken the plague god when he stepped into the ruins of the island with his soldiers. He had doomed the universe to extinction for the second time.

The battle was over quickly, all life on the planet was wiped out and the fleet began to land. Once they landed they left their ships and saw that the battle was not really over. Xaal was standing in the middle of the undead army, who were rising up again and advancing towards the ships. Xaal ordered the charge and everyone was killed, Dertonna was saved and the universe was spared for another 500 million years but Xaal had learned a lesson. He would have to be more careful when dealing with planets until he knew that the plague god was not following him. He left human form and left Dertonna, it was a useless planet now since all life was dead. Although the undead horde was useful they were not smart and could not think by themselves. Xaal left the planet and began to search for another planet. He would be searching for a long time.

Revenge of the Ancients Part 1

Revenge of the Ancients

By Christopher Gourgouras

1000 A.D. – England

It was a normal day, like every other day in Damien’s life. He woke up, tended the farm, got drunk and passed out to wake up the next day. When he woke up, he noticed something different. The sky was still black but it was bright outside. Damien could see flames in the distance and a scout was riding towards his farm.

“I am a messenger from the Royal Army, you are ordered to report to the city at once for further orders. You will be supplied with a week’s worth of food and a mount when you reach the main road. That is all; failure to follow orders will result in death on charges of treason.”

Damien followed the path to the main road, he wasn’t ready to die yet, and he was getting married in the fall and wanted a family to continue his farm after he died. When he got there all he smelled were dead bodies and the smoke was heavier here. The first thing he saw was the scout who had just visited his farm hanging from a tree, the banner of King George II was in flames and the messengers horse was laying on the ground with its guts spilling out. Damien didn’t have a chance to think; he ran down the road and tripped over a tree stump. At least he thought it was a tree stump, he looked and saw that he had just tripped over the corpse of a man-at-arms wearing the coat of arms of the areas ruling noble.

What followed was a sight Damien had never seen in his life, there was a huge pile of burning bodies and a strange metal object was in a nearby field. The entire royal army was destroyed and the local militias had been thrown into a route but were being cut down by flashes of light. Soon a humanoid figure emerged from the entrance of the metal object; he began searching through the dead for the person he had come to find. The only person he did not find was the one Human he came to find. The prophecies had told of an immortal one who would emerge in the year 1000 (Earth Years). He could not sense the aura of an immortal and his fleets that had attacked other areas also came up with nothing.

Damien had barely managed an escape. After seeing the burning corpses he ran faster than he had ever ran in his life, towards the fields he had called his home his entire life. An explosion went off near him and knocked him off his feet, the blast left a crater in the found revealing an ancient artifact in the shape of a circular metallic object with alien ruins carved into it. The ship assumed he was dead and took off, a few weeks later Damien was found in the field by the human remnant forces, half alive and holding the object. He was assumed to be not worth medical attention because he was thought to be ready to die in a day. He would outlive everyone currently on Earth.

Year 3000 – Tdonian Era

The invasion of earth was a complete failure. The empires prophets had been off by over 2000 years and Uritale was sure to be punished for not ensuring the destiny of that the Tdonian Empire would remain the rulers of the universe for eternity. He had traveled billions of miles and had accomplished nothing but the slaughter of worthless peasants. Only one thing was certain, Uritale would return to this barbaric planet in the year 5000.

“The High court has spoken; Uritale will be sentenced to 2000 years in suspended animation, to be woken up again when needed in the final invasion of Earth. The guards will escort him to his cryo cell immediately for confinement.” The guards immediately appeared from the metal door and took Uritale away; the Empire would be peaceful again for 2000 years.

3000 A.D. – Earth

“Sir, alarms have been sounding all over the planet for days now. We still have not found the cause of this and our radars are going crazy. Requesting orders, sir.”

“You have orders to remain at your post, If you are attacked stand and fight. Die in the name of the company and for honor.” The Earth has been like this for 500 years. Ever since the company had committed genocides and led bloody coups all over the earth and taken over the planet.

The generals of the old world armies had been executed and replaced with executives who didn’t know anything about leading an army into war because Armies were no longer needed for anything but police work. The world had changed a lot since Damien had found an object in England 2000 years ago left behind by the mysterious invaders who had slaughtered his country and all his friends. This object had extended his life capacity by thousands of years and he had to go into hiding every 80 years so people wouldn’t suspect something. He had never gotten married; his fiancé had died in the invasion.

Suddenly all the radars had shut down. Damien checked the computer to find a problem but that suddenly went out as well. The earth went dark in a half hour. There were explosions in the sky as suddenly Satellites were destroyed and figures appeared in the sky. The invading force from 2000 years ago had returned.

Uritale got out of his ship and looked around. The barbaric planet had changed a lot, it had advanced to become almost a challenge to the empire, which had not advanced at all in the 2000 years since he had had been Imprisoned. A siren sounded and military units surrounded Uritale’s armada of 20 ships which had landed in a military air field. “I am searching for the Immortal who has been predicted by the prophets. If he is allowed to live the empire will be forced to destroy your planet. We have been informed that his name is Damien. Shots fired from the group of soldiers and Uritale was killed, the war had begun.

The armada proceeded to return to orbit, the Earth was bombarded for 30 days before they landed again. Almost the entire population of earth had been killed but Damien was still alive. They could sense it.

Damien was the only living creature left on earth that had been born there. He knew that his time was short but didn’t know what his fate would be. He was hiding in an old WWIV fallout shelter, Empire troops were everywhere. One began to enter the shelter and Damien pulled out an ak-47. Of all weapons that had been invented on Earth in the past millennium, the Kalashnikov assault rifle was the only weapon that had not changed at all. He pulled the trigger but it didn’t shoot, he had forgotten to take ammo with him. The soldier walked towards him and spoke into a radio on his wrist in an alien tongue “I have found the target, he will be executed and the device will be returned. Five seconds later a shot rang out and Damien was dead. The empire was finally successful in its quest for domination of the universe.

Year 5001 – Tdonian Era

Uritale was back on the capitol planet of the emperor. The device that had allowed the emperor to continue rule for millions of years was back in the hands of the empire. The prophecy had turned out to be true; the strike had unearthed the relic that had been buried on earth when it was created by the Ancient Guardian. The guardian knew that the relic was too powerful to be held by any creature in the universe and would destroy any race that touched the object. The emperor was willing to take this risk.

It was now 5002, the emperor was growing old and although he now had the artifact his life was still declining. He had already lived for 8,000 years and had survived through the old kingdom whose tyrants had destroyed the planets outer crust in search of immortality. He now has the knowledge that they had been searching for something that was not on the planet and the prophets had pointed him in the direction. The riddle that followed the prophecy was not understood at the time but now the emperor knew that no one should ever use the artifacts powers, he didn’t.

“He who uses the ancient stone to control the universe will cause doomsday to begin” – Planituro, Tdonian Prophet

Year 5002 – Tdonian Era

The emperor was dead. The peace that had held the empire together for 5000 years had gone with him. A civil war was beginning between the forces of the emperor’s son and the forces of Uritale, who knew that if he could gain the artifact he would rule the universe. He was willing to die for this because he could live no longer with the knowledge that the artifact know only to him and his loyal fleet (the formal Imperial Guard of the emperor) was in his reach.

Rays powerful enough to destroy planets were launched from orbit. The outer barrier of the empire was in rubbles and the first line of attack from unknown sectors of the Universe with suns so far apart that it wasn’t even known if there was any universe left were gone. The great prophet Planituro had killed himself on the day the emperor died, warning that a civil war would cause an apocalypse on every know world. Uritale didn’t care about this. He was so close to victory that he forgot that was fighting the man he was sworn to protect, it would all be over in a day anyways. The guardian had awoken.

Year 5004 – Tdonian Era

The victory celebrations had gone on through the night. Uritale didn’t notice the figure forming in the sky above his capitol planet but it was there. Overnight an attack force of over 1000 capitol ships from the guardian fleet began to descend on the empire, 100 to all the major planets than spreading out to the other worlds. The figure forming over the capitol was different though. It was not a ship; it was a solar entity, awoken from millions of years of sleep. The human Damien, who had unknowingly become the guardian of the artifact while it was on earth, had done his job well. By activating the artifact out of curiosity he had warned the guardian of the battle to come.

In the first seconds of attack the Guardian created a supernova more powerful than any before it, wiping out everything in a 1 billion mile radius. Then he commanded his fleets to commence the final attack, as this happened a fleet appeared out of a wormhole. The fleet proceeded to contact the guardian fleet. “This is scouting division one of the dark fleet. Lay down your weapons now or face certain death. If you attempt to open fire you will be eliminated, ending transmission.”

The guardian laughed and ordered the elimination of the scouts. In seconds the fight began, one scout took out 10 capitol ships before a suicide charge at a group of ships, when his core overloaded the powerful blast took out 5 ships. This same chain of events happened in the entire section of the universe, the guardian thought it was impossible for any fleet to reach his sector but he was wrong.

The scouts died with honor so the others could escape and contact the Dark fleet. As soon as the scouts disappeared into the depths of space another fleet appeared. The Massive dark fleet was more powerful than any other in the universe. It was not commanded by a mortal life form but an immortal entity more powerful than the Guardian. The true apocalypse was about to begin.

The fleet was not interested in conquest, it fought to harvest the souls of planets so they could than harvest the core of the planet, which provided a power source that would last the fleet millions of years. The souls were eaten by the plague god in return for extended life of the crews of the fleet. Basically they were slaves to the plague god.

After a year of fighting the dark fleet had made it to the lair of the Guardian. The fleet began bombarding the massive beast and it lashed out at the nearest ship. The ship’s hull immediately deteriorated but the Guardian knew his time was short. Gathering all his powers, he fired one final nova beam and wiped out the entire fleet. With the remains of his power gone, he died within minutes. The Tdonian prophecy had come true, doomsday had been carried out. Not only was the empire wiped out, the Guardian of the universe had also been slain and the forces of the plague god were dead. The universe was empty again. For now…

Soon evolution would begin again. The new races would rise to power than fall for the next billion years before the plague god took another host but the next time he would be victorious. Until then, he went back into a billion year slumber and prepared for the war to come. The Universe was once again quiet.