EQUILLANCE

Chapter XVI

"Please, be calm." Dr Anderson shouted, but to no avail, the shouting and clamouring took a higher pitch in the foyer. For the past few days, Lyonta has been in serious chaos. Looting, killings, suicides and traffic jams, here and there, were the order of the day.

Lyonta, the less populated part of E23 (Earth23) had become jam packed, and more still coming in to seek safety. The death rate has risen to nearly thirty percent. As the only place, not witnessing  severe or any climate change, Lyonta was filled to the brim, people taking shelter on highways.

"You're not safe here either." Mr Bernard said with the ampliphone for the people in the foyer below to hear him speak. The noise died down quickly, what he'd had to say struck fear into their souls, seeing the calamity befalling them, already.

"So, what do we do now?" A man from within the mob asked feeling his calmed outrage reverberate across the room.  Before Mr Bernard could answer, a man he would detest shot back at the question:

"Don't give us that fucking hope speech."
The murmuring went on again.

"No, he won't. I won't. She won't and You won't." Mrs Roosevelt said pointing to everyone she'd called and continued :

"If we are going to die, it's left for us to do what we have to do. Everyone has done their best. We.Her.Him, All of You. But two constant still remain in every situation, a friend of mine once said. Who knows what that constant is?"

The room stood in silence, the cool wind of the day wiped through the entire foyer.

" Hope and Purpose." She mentioned as everyone all over Lyonta rose to their feet and watched.

"The fight for survival is all about hope and purpose!" A woman yelled as she broke down into tears and a lot more of them.
The room was turned to a comfort zone, they took each other into their arms, tears dripping down cheeks.

"Let  fate determine once again, the destiny of Earth23." Mr Andrew said as the crowd dispersed while some remained.

PASTEOLOID
It was a land laid to waste over passage into the  fort of time and space maneuvering. The wasteland surrounded the fort that stood confidently on the plateau of the Ancient Loids, a group of five old dwarves, whose feet never touch the floor.

The blue portal formed on Pasteoloid from Black Star Gate in Ghana, where the vikings also joined the mission on Earth Prime. The blue spectrum coming from within the trees alerted the savages. They grunted and growled lowly in their distorted forms, upper limbs excessively long and ending with pointy sharp phalanges.
Their whole elliptical eyes were white, matching their light brown skin. In few seconds, they would tear up the incomers and take what is needed from them, and most importantly, quickly.

With fine hearing, Vorlam alerted the new team, as the vikings stepped forward wielding exotic war tools. They were ready to slash whatever came forward. The ones from E23 hid behind an enormous tree as the vikings proceeded with caution, feet by feet, step by step, the five moved holding their axes.
The whiz came, a dart coming upfront hazed through one of them, in one drop, he fell to the ground with a heavy thud. The remaining had less time to react when  four hungry savages exhumed out of the trees. Hmm!  Four to three. Nice odds. This is a fight they won't get out of, alive or dead.

Vorlam ducked as a sharp dart-like, lethal weapon dashed away, safe distance above his right arm. The savage swung its long arm blade swiftly, Vorlam ducked again and slashed the head off the savage. It let out a shriek as blue blood gushed out into the forest ground soaking itself into the sand.

The sharp arm blade pierced into him above the waist, Vorlam turned, swooped his arm, the Yordar moved away. They stood looking at each other, grunting and snarling. The Yordar plunged forward sailing through the air as it got taken off course by an also plunging spear. The Yordar's limp body was hung to the tree.

"Thank you." Vorlam said as tried to keep standing, but he fell to the floor, blood oozing from his back,groaning.

Vorlam sat on the ground resting his back on  a tree, his vision was becoming blurry seeing his men get slashed and savage-handled by the Yordars. Both viking and Yordar fell to the floor, the snarl came again. The last Yordar sprinted towards Vorlam, with its legs merely touching the floor, revealing long, jagged teeth. Few metres away, it changed direction.