To Kill Gods or Die Trying

♊Chapter 41-Gemini♊

April 10th, 2304

"Is it JEM-in-eye or JEM-in-ee?" Havanna asks. "I say JEM-in-ee," Alo says.

"You're weird. It's JEM-in-eye," I refute.

"I must agree with Alo, I pronounce it JEM-in-ee," Cecelia concedes. "You guys are weirdos, it's JEM-in-eye," Sess challenges.

"JEM-in-oi," Rachel mocks his Australian English. "JEM-in-oi," I repeat.

"JEM-in-oi," Pranav jeers.

"God I hate you guys," Sess says.

"Gawd oi height you gois," Cecelia mocks with a smirk. Like drunks, we burst into uncontrollable hysterical laughter. I can't contain myself, and I collapse on the deck laughing my diaphragm out. Even calm, composed, and formal Cecelia got one off of Sess.

We compose ourselves with small hiccups of laughter. Pranav snorts and we all begin laughing uncontrollably again.

"It's really not that funny guys," Sess says with a confused grin. "Ok, ok, ok," I pant, "It's time to get serious, people."

Our boat comes to a full stop on the beach, and the 100 on board jump out. I trudge through the knee-deep water onto the black sand. Dense fog limits our visual radii to 50 feet.

"Hey Cece, set a beacon, lead the rest of the guys here," I say. She nods. Cecelia thrusts her glaive into the black sand and holds the pole with both hands, glowing bright yellow. After charging up the weapon, the blade glows bright white then fires off a bright beam upwards into oblivion. In the masses, the players on boats far away come forward, attracted like moths to a light.

I take a few minutes to tell the fresh recruits the rules before we set off: Follow your commander, stay in your sector, defense-only for the first two minutes to analyze fighting style and plan counterattacks, sub- commanders assume command if the commander dies, report potential weak spots, and adapt.

Together, we walk through the descending wall of cloud to meet our enemy. The dense fog clears in the area but takes a wide circumference around the god, making it dangerous to leave the battlefield.

The first thing I notice about our opponent is its size.

Compared to the gigantic 100 foot Aries, and colossal 150 foot Taurus, Gemini is a 10-foot tall bug. Let me not get ahead of myself— small equals fast; small equals lethality—not a good combo for us.

As we approach the god and wearily shift into formation, Gemini does not move. This is kinda weird...

"Twins," Essej whispers.

He's right.—two bodies in one. They're creepy. As a whole, two pyramids with no eyes, nose, or any facial features except for a full set of grinning white teeth sit on top of the body. Four skinny arms with long sharp fingers sway loosely on a body bound by what it seems to be leather straps? Its lower body is composed of some sort of hula skirt thing that seems to be made of very thin black cloth, like a shredded veil. Under that are four hind legs made of gears, plates, and metal. This is probably the creepiest thing I've fought so far, either because of the triangle heads with nothing but grinning human teeth or its silence.

I take Havanna's nasty-tasting potion from my inventory, down it in one gulp, and shudder. Tastes like the smell of rotten eggs and spoiled milk combined.

"Defense only. Margot, go ahead and shoot it so we can start," I order with my voice being projected across the battlefield. I have a reasonable feeling we'll be here all day if we don't make the first move. Margot aims her steampunk cannon at the god and fires a high-explosive round. The anti-tank shell rockets towards the god. BOOM! A fiery explosion ignites on contact, billowing a ton of smoke.