Flame Rider II: Rise of Chaos

The Aether

"Hell-Bringer, his Lordship demands your presence immediately," stated one of the many Dark Clones that were manning the SCCS that Cre^dus was on board.

I straightened my uniform as I turned around to the door that led out of the Walker Coordination Room, or WCR as the Klanoats often referred to it as, and made my way to where I knew Cre^dus would be waiting for me.

When I entered his mediation chamber, I watched Cre^dus stand up and turn towards me. When he had my attention, which wasn't that hard to obtain when I was already waiting for him to start speaking, he told me why he had summoned me to him.

"I have had a vision," He stated, "A vision of what will happen, and what needs to happen in order for that to happen."

"My Lord, I need not know what this vision involves," I started, "As I am only a loyal servant and follower..."

"Ah, but there, is where your mistake is Hell-Bringer," Cre^dus told me, "As my second-in-command, you have the right to know what it is that I see in my visions if you do so believe that they will impact on our plans."

"If that is the case my Lord," I replied, "What is this vision of yours?"

Cre^dus lay his hand on my shoulder, before I had the strange feeling of blacking out, and yet not blacking out. Weird as it was, pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind as images rushed towards my mind's eye.

*~*~*

Before me, lay the ruins of the Terra Walker we had unleashed on New Zealand, a massive gouge torn through its mid-section. Around me I could see the remnants of the Aether that we had managed to harvest.

That's when the first earthquake struck.

Falling to my knees, I was forced to watch, as the Terra Walker started to break apart. At first I had thought that it was weird that there was no one in the city, not even people trying to clear up the damage.

But I quickly remembered the massive cities that surrounded the island nation, which were probably large enough to house the entire population of the nation.

Another earthquake struck, but it felt different from the first one; almost like it was closer.

But how was that possible. Not only was I in a vision, but earthquakes didn't feel closer or further away, it just didn't make any sense. And then I looked up at the sky; and I saw the large globs of plasma, beams of lasers, and streaks of light, as Klanoat and human tech opened fire on the planet's surface.

"It doesn't make any sense, does it Hell-Bringer?" I heard a deep voice say, "All this destruction for what? The destruction of my glorious armies?!"

"Who are you?" I demanded.

"I am the Aether," the voice stated matter-of-factly, "The entity that is the centre of the Dark Forces' power. Without me though, they will fall at the hands of the Light Alliance."

"What must I do?" I asked.

"Take the smallest amount of my soul, and place it within yourself," the Aether explained, "that small amount will then grow stronger, and eventually be able to take over Cre^dus."

I looked at the globs of black mist that was slowly contracting itself around me, and noticed a man-like figure striding towards me.

"You will find the sample that I speak of on the fourth deck, storage facility nine-oh-seven."