The Allegory Of Triberias: The Call Of Destiny .

Taken Captive

BETHESDA,
The Erydrian continent.
2420AA, After the Great Ascension.

Earlier, 12 hours before.

He was now far away from his team. Therefore, Killion shed off his thermal shield and waited on the terrors to notice him.
His plan was to act as a bait and as expected, one of the shadows, the chief wyverns as evidenced by its three horned reptilian head turned to train its irises on him.
Without intending to, a shiver travelled through his body. Fear gripping him under the weight of those red irises.
What the heck am I doing? His self-preservation kicked in with the thoughts of turning away. After all, it would have been so easy to disappear. What with his suit and all, but where was he to go?
The terrors were everywhere and not to forget, how would he live with himself knowing that he had turned back at the last moment after having assured them that he would protect them? They were all depending on him. Both his crew and the victims.
No, he pushed aside those thoughts and forced himself to stand his ground.
Killion unhooked his weapon and turned it around to face the now alert wyvern. The creature looked at him, its red eyes glinting. It cocked it huge head to one side as if to size him up. Daring him to take another step forward and challenge it.
Could it be? No. He shook aside those thoughts and breathed in another gulp of air and with it a fresh resolve. There was no time to think about it. No. There was no time to think about such things. What needed to be done had to be done now and swiftly at that. 
"Okay...let’s see what you can do." he touched his weapon fondly before directing it at the watching menace. His fingers caressed the shiny new trigger, and then, they pulled it back to release a thick beam of high particulate energy headed straight for the glaring menace.
For a moment,  he felt the recoil, but he was ready. He had set his suit to absorb most of the shock even as the gun released beam after blue beam of high particulate energy headed straight for his target.
The beams hit the target's armored forehead and the creature reared up its head as it released a terrifying loud roar.
Of pain?  Killion was not sure which. It was shock, probably.
He surmised to think even as the other nine reptilian heads swerved around to face him. Their red gleaming orbs piercing through his armour with a promise of retribution.
"I am done for." He laughed even as he gazed down at his crotch somewhat grateful for the ablutions module. "What am I doing?" He added despite the deadly situation he had dragged himself into.
A gulp of air and once again, he swallowed all the fear that had sneaked up on him.
Another angry roar and for a moment, Killion thought that maybe, just maybe, he may have wounded it. There was no blood though or any visible wounds for that matter. Therefore, it was all too possible that the bugger was just agitated and ticked off by its prey's perceived insolence.
More roars and the wyverns completely turned from ravaging the rooftops. At this point, Killion finally realised that the first roar was actually a battle cry to alert to the entire horde to cease their ravaging and focus their attention on him.
"Thank goodness for narrow mindedness!" he grinned as he realised that his distraction had worked. And why wouldn't it, when he was such an obvious and easy target? 
The wyverns moved forward. Smoke issuing out of their nostrils as they left their rampaging to stalk their new and insolent prey.
In response, Killion took a step backwards as one by one, the terrors that he had feared for most of his life stretched out their huge leathery wings and began to pursue him.
"This is hardly fair." he complained as he turned around to flee from an oncoming onslaught of orange flames and glimmering sharp claws. From his peripheryhe could see the blasts of blue energy beams that had to be Connors supportimg him. However, the wyverns did not respond to him and the fact alone convinced Killion that the new weapon was also useless.
"On the plus side though, the distraction worked." he rumbled deep in his chest even as he jumped to the side and rolled out of the path of a huge ball of orange flames.
Could they hear him? He sobered up even as another angry roar filled up the night sky with the sound of its tumults. 
"Have you moved in?"
There was a crackle in his comms as one of his teammates answered him.
"Yes.  We have began the extraction process."
Good.  He thought as he chanced a glance behind him only to find that his pursuers were still hot on his tail. Roaring out in anger or was it excitement? He was not sure which. However, because of the sadistic nature of this predator, he was more than convinced that it was the latter.
But then again, he had been the one to challenge them and thus, anger as well could not be entirely ruled out.
Killion quickened his pace as he rushed out towards that part of town. The ghost town where no one lives. It that had to be the best playing ground for the coming showdown.
Showdown? He snickered at the thought. The word was hardly accurate for this situation. For one, he was vastly outnumbered and two, he was outclassed both in strength and in callousness. There was also that small fact that he had also proven. That his weapons, however flashy were utterly useless.
With that in mind, he knew he would be lucky to escape with his life. However, hopefully, his sacrifice was going to buy them time to evacuate the victims to a safe zone.
He must have been distracted by his thoughts for a while. For the next thing he knew, a blast of wind pressed down upon his back and he quickly crouched down to escape the sharp claws and the terror that had swooped in to capture him.
He had made it.  He thought as he scrambled up to take off, but just as he had finished that thought, another wyvern swooped in and grabbed him, caging him in a prison of claws.
At first he was so too shocked to register the pain even ashis mind refused to process what had just happened.
His sensors were reporting that his altitude was changing. Increasing and a sharp pain had begun to tear through at his side, even as a warm liquid trickled down his side and his back. He tried to turn. To at least try and gaze up into the place of his capturer.
However, the wind from the terror's leathery wings and the sharp claws that continued to bear down on him kept him from moving.  His vision was also clouded. Courtesy of the thick sulphuric fumes that the wyverns was now issuing from their maws.
"Captain! Killion!" a feminine voice cracked through his earpiece.
"Barrageway..." he croaked out, the pain too much for him to bear. “Have you managed-" he began to say but his speech was cut short by a growl that sounded right next to his ear.
What the... He thought has he lifted his eyes to stare into the deep crimson gaze of the very same terror that he had once thought that he had wounded.
Another groan escaped his lips. Followed by a humourless chuckle at the thoughts now drifting through his mind. Thoughts of how he could possibly be more concerned about his blaster not working, rather than the very perilous state that he had now found himself in.
"Killion? Killion!" his earpiece shattered with the screams of the concerned woman, but he paid no attention to it. What was the point now?
"I must be going into shock." he laughed even as he felt the warm liquid that continued to drip down his skin with every movement that his captor was making. The life support system had already kicked in, but Killion also knew that without the claws being fully withdrawn, all the efforts of preserving him were going to be all pointless.
"Killion Dammit!" the Sergeant cursed as she heard his words and his sick laughter.
As if sensing his humour, the wyvern that had captured him pressed down harder. It exerted more pressure and it claws dug in deeper.
Killion groaned and then chuckled. This was one vengeful bugger, he thought amidst the cacophony of noises that was surrounding him. There was Calla in his ear and then the wyvern that had now bared out all its teeth, before letting out a ear splitting roar that shook him straight to his core.
All around him, the other wyverns answered and for the first time that evening, Killion finally realised the graveness of his present situation.
"If this is how I die, then, I want to know that it was for a worthy cause. At least, I won't have gotten eaten up for nothing." he said with a smile, thinking back to his team and all those civilians.
"No Killion!" the woman screamed in his ears. No one else in his team was saying anything, but he knew by their silence that they were also listening.
"Have you?" he questioned them but still, no one answered.
"Connors?”
At first there was silence. Then a sad boyish voice responded to his query.
"Yes sir, we have evacuated all the civilians and taken them to a safe zone. They are all safe and unharmed thanks to your..." his voice cracked at the end and the captain smiled once again. Didn't that voice bring back so many memories? He had been three years younger than Connors when he had joined the military and how many good men had they lost until now? He was merely a statistic, but either way, he knew that he had still made a difference. Because of his sacrifice, another family would live to see another sunrise. A child would live to see another day. To take a step closer to that brighter future.
The sulphur around him grew thicker and the concrete structures beneath him shook as the other dragons moved in to end him. "This is the end," he thought again as he closed his eyes and prepared himself to be mawed alive. As he did so, multiple beams of blue light filled his vicinity and the dragons let out roars of pain or was it anger? He could not tell which, even as beam after beam of high particulate energy hit their bodies from every angle. "What are they doing? " he feared for his crew, but their attacks did not ease up. And then, suddenly, the leading dragon let out a loud roar and launched up higher into the sky, taking off with his mangled body still attached to its  claws.