Arkdays [Pre-load]

Prologue 7

"Hey Daniel," The man in the white suit asks, struggling to keep his balance due to the harsh wind. "How much longer is this thing going to take?"

    "Just wait for my command," The man in the brown coat responds, folding his arms as he stares at the shard in the sky, counting down the time since the railgun started warming up. "Patience is a virtue, Xander."

    Xander continually pats down his suit, and often readjusts the fake rose that sits in the pocket in the front of the suit. "You'll be paying for anything that happens to my suit."

    "Either way we're likely to die to this. Consider our debt paid if that's the price." Daniel responds, chuckling to himself in a defeated tone. "Whether or not this works matters not. We'll be leaving our impact on the world no matter the outcome."

    "What a pitiful way to die," Xander responds, catching Daniel's defeated tone entering his own voice. "I can see the articles now. 'Local Legend Xander Hoffield dies to the Catastrophe. What more will this mad disease take?' I worked so hard to get here, and to think it could all disappear at this moment."

    "You'd be paying for your sins at that point," Daniel responds with a glare. "I know what you've been up to."

    "I've saved people in this city many times, my wrongs are righted through the continuation of their lives."

    "Your thinking disgusts me," Daniel adds before looking at the machine to his right. "Be ready to flip the switch. Remember the steps."

    "A simple flip of a switch and the cost of half my life. What could go wrong?" Xander chuckles before walking closer to the machine.

    "You're not the only one who's prepared to lose," Daniel replies, pulling back his sleeves on the coat. "Count to five, flick the switch."

    Daniel nods, still staring at the machine in front of him. Five seconds later, he flicks the switch on the back of the machine.

    Daniel is sent back by the blast of energy but hurriedly regains his footing, glaring at the machine.

    The beam of energy shoots towards the spike of Astellium, injecting it with an incredibly large amount of energy. The spike immediately begins glowing a bright orange, bathing the city below it in a deathly light.

    "Now!" Daniel shouts, thrusting his arm out forward.

    Suddenly, a large circular blue dome surrounds the crystal, which seems to have electricity traveling through the panels on said shield. Its semi-transparency shows the crystal continuing to grow a brighter orange as the energy inside it expands through the metal layers on the outside.

Xander grunts as he throws his arm to the sky, a large circular shield of ice and frost appearing a hundred feet above his hand in the blink of an eye. The ice expands at a rapid rate, near consuming the city. Before the outside is completely cut off, Xander shoots off another strand of ice, which then circles around the blue shield aggressively, causing a snowstorm to form around it.

The ice dome around the city continues to expand as Xander feeds it more energy, it slowly increases in diameter as time continues to pass. Mere seconds later the ice is tens of feet thick.

Xander kneels painfully on the ground, gasping for air. Yet despite this, he keeps his arm raised to the sky, determined to continue expanding his ice defense. He begins coughing aggressively, black goop spraying out of his mouth at times.

Then, he completely collapses as he falls to the floor. He lands on the ground with a heavy thud, his prosthetic arm making a small 'clank' as it hits the ground.

    Daniel smiles to himself, a satisfied feeling in his heart. "You did well, friend. I hope we'll see each other again someday."

    Then suddenly, a large explosion rocks the area, a blast of energy shooting out from underneath the shield surrounding the Orignium shard. The shard then explodes into pieces, a bright yellow light taking its place. The shield around it contains the light as it continues to grow brighter.

    Daniel grunts and focuses the rest of his attention on his barrier, his forehead dripping with sweat. But despite his best efforts, the shield breaks moments later, shattering with a large "crack" that echoes throughout the air. Daniel falls to the ground soon after, a defeated sigh taking up his last breath.