Altiris Knights:The Fall

Chapter 7:Reapers

The clanging of swords was the only sound in the Narnmor Arena. On the grass field, two shapes darted towards and away from each other, fighting for dominance. They were the last candidates for graduating the Kai Tor Luso Academy. The crowd watched their every move, not missing a beat. A quick stab or slash here, a parry there, a kick or a hand strike. A high or low arc and a lunge, a flip, or a roll, to throw their opponent off. For an hour, they continued their dance.

Unbeknownst to them, a hundred uriak ships made their way through lightspeed, their occupants preparing for battle. 

The Alliance fleet had no warning. The uriak battle group quickly destroyed several Alliance capital ships. Uriak star fighters blasted the smaller Alliance ships, taking out nearly a half of the fleet. The remaining vessels retaliated, blowing several uriak cruisers, and two star fighter squadrons, but it was too little, too late. They were quickly surrounded and most of them were taken down.

Troop carriers flew down to Vanraael's surface. Many of them were shot down, but the orbital defense cannons were promptly destroyed.

The Alliance soldiers stationed in the city fired on the uriaks, but the creatures retaliated, and their troop carriers landed. Dozens of them poured out, a number of them gunned down by the Alliance. Then, out of their midst, several taller creatures rushed out, wielding swords. They plowed through the Alliance soldiers, nimbly evading their blaster bolts. A few of them wielded dark green power, and felled swaths of the Alliance troops.

Xaltia, Velnor, Telja, Toren, Naerell and Orpekua confronted them. Telja released a fire wave, burning several of the regular uriaks. Velnor wielded air and mind, distracting two of them. Toren aided him with his sword, and Xaltia backed them up with dark energy wielding and gold energy blade. Their foes deflected their attacks, and retaliated with their strange power. Xaltia blocked with a dark energy shield, and Velnor released an air wave, and attacked their minds.

They resisted his suppression, however, and let loose more of the green mass. Velnor blocked with his staff, and Xaltia released a rain of dark energy. Toren's sword blocked a strike aimed at her shoulder, and he slam kicked the uriak in the gut. The second uriak pushed them away, providing cover for its comrade.

"Not bad, humans", one of the creatures said in a slithery, raspy voice. "What the hell are you?" Velnor demanded. "Decades ago, Altiris Knights invaded our home, Laakeir. They slaughtered  thousands of us, and now, we shall avenge our fallen brethren. Starting with the new generation", the creature replied, something akin to a grin on its scaly face. "Not while we are still breathing", said Toren, and unleashed a flurry of quick cuts. Xaltia guarded his flank with dark energy shields, and Velnor sent out a gust of wind.

The uriaks conjured green shields, blocking the attack, and one of them released a tendril of power, catching Velnor by surprise. Xaltia cut through it with her energy blade, and grazed the creature's side with a dark energy beam. It hissed, and attacked her. Vines burst out of the ground, trapping her. The creature raised its sword for the deathblow, but Toren blocked it and slammed the pommel of his sword into the creature's jaw. Xaltia burned the vines, and backed him up. While they attacked the uriak from two sides, Velnor held off the other.

Telja conjured a fire shield, blocking a volley of green projectiles. She blocked the uriak's sword with her spear and bashed it on the temple with the haft of the weapon. It snarled, and a vine shot out of its maw. She ducked under it and swung, cutting through its shoulder and scorched its face with a fire whip. The uriak retaliated, landing several shallow gashes on her arms. Telja leapt back to safety, and cauterized the wounds, hissing as the purple fire burned away the green substance in her damaged skin.

The uriak screeched, and attacked. She blocked its attacks and managed to cut it on the leg, making it falter. It deflected her follow up attack, and hurled several more projectiles at her. She evaded, and, as it moved towards her, half dragging its left leg along, she took advantage of its decreased mobility, and attacked, the foot long blade of her spear coated in purple flames. As the spear cut into the uriak, the fire consumed it.

The uriak released a blast of green substance, slamming her into the ground, and rushed at her. She sidestepped a wild slash and thrust, her spear going through its neck, stopping it in its tracks. She poured more energy into the fire, preventing the uriak from regenerating. The creature released one last, horrible screech, before the inferno consumed it fully.

Naerell and Orpekua blocked a few more attacks from two of the uriak warriors. Then, as Naerell delivered a cut to one's shoulder, a blast of green power slammed into the ground, sending him to the ground. An uriak finished him with a downward thrust to the heart. Orpekua cut down the creature with a double sword slash to the back. She evaded the other uriak's sword and kicked it in the gut, pushing it away. She attacked, swiftly disarming it and impaled it through the chest with both swords. She leapt back to safety as it released another blast. Her eyes widened, as the two uriaks regenerated. As they attacked her, a ball of purple fire struck them, burning them quickly.

"These things are damn hard to kill. Come on, let's help them", Telja said, leaning on her spear.

Toren and Xaltia were surrounded by five of the creatures, Velnor lying a few feet away, a sickly green wound on his neck.

Xaltia managed to trap one of the uriaks in a dark energy cage. Toren and several dark energy creatures covered her, allowing her to destroy the trapped uriak. As her power consumed it, she rejoined them. Telja and Orpekua guarded their rear.

Suddenly, screeches came from above. Dozens of bird like creatures swooped down, and slammed into the Alliance soldiers, tearing them apart.

More sword wielding uriaks joined their comrades, and one of them decapitated Orpekua. The rest surrounded Toren, Xaltia and Telja, while the winged uriaks attacked the new graduates, swiftly killing all of them.

Toren took out two with swift strikes of his sword, and attacked another. The uriak briefly seized initiative, but Toren recovered, and the creature joined its comrades on the ground.

Another uriak attacked him, closing the distance. Toren deflected its attacks, but the creature blasted him with its green power, burning his neck, and ended him with a quick thrust to the heart.

Xaltia and Telja stood back to back, and managed to take out a few uriaks, but there were far too many.

As the creatures came at them, they shared a glance, and nodded. Fire and dark energy burned the uriaks, leaving the two Altiris Knights alone. They rescued a surviving squad of Alliance soldiers, and ran to the hangar. They got on a ship and flew to the orbit.