Astral Realms - A New Dawn

“Agh. Fuck it!” screamed Vindril.

A grenade had just been launched in the corridor he and Ar were currently in. He knew it. He just fucking knew it. His damned luck was always like that! One moment, it gave him the illusion that maybe he wasn’t going to end up in a dangerous situation. The next, it destroyed that false security with a simple flick of his its damned fingers. Seriously, what k-

Boom!

The world around him was engulfed in an endless grey cloud full of dust and plaster particles. Thankfully he had seen it coming, so he cover his mouth to filter out as much dust as possible; it wasn’t the ideal solution, but it was still better than breathing in all that stuff.

As the ringing in his ears slowly died down, he quickly tried to orient himself, bringing his gun up to eye level. He knew that the pirates were going to launch an attack now. He was sure of it. In all the scuffles, fights, and bullet exchanges he had been part in the past, no matter where he had been, they had all acted aggressively in that kind of setting. Sometime, on rare occasions, things had been different. Slightly. But now wasn’t the case.

A blurred-out form that was coming from the inside tried to approach him. Sure that wasn’t Ar, Vindril opened fire, aiming around the area he supposed was the torso. However, the bullet hit nothing but empty air. Shit…that was an illusion! Where the hell was the real-

The sudden clicking sound he heard coming from his right side answered that question.

Vindril turned around, trying to hit the enemy in any way he could. At that close of a distance, even the weakest weapon was surely going to prove fatal. Hell, even an HF-2 was going to kill him. And those were supposed to be the weakest firearm one could buy in the entire galaxy. The shot that reverberated inside those walls made him pause. Fearing he had been hit somewhere, he frantically searched his body, pressing his hands pretty much everywhere. He was half expecting to find a new hole in his body, but he was hoping it wouldn’t turn out to be anything serious. However, he had nothing to fear. After all, he wasn’t the one that ended up dying.

“Watch out.” said Ar as the pirate they had just shot fell dead right beside Vindril. “Don’t die on me before we’re out of here.”

Huh. So they didn’t care if he died AFTER they left all that behind? Such a charming person Ar was…

“Asshole.” said Vindril. It was evident by the tone he used that he was partially joking. “I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. Not without that damned-”

A sudden fit of coughing made him stop, as he spit out a some of the dust he had evidently inhaled. Ugh. That had felt like he had thrown up some lime pieces. Just the thought of it was enough to make him wince. What in the hell had just gotten inside his very precious lungs? He didn’t know for sure. And maybe, that was even for the better. He had a job to do, and he was going to accomplish it whatever it took.

As he slowly took a hold of himself, raising to his feet with a little bit of uncertainty, Ar took something out one of the many pockets that donned their belt. His eyes opened wide as recognition shined in those hazel irises. Then the irony of it all made him bust out laughing maniacally. What Ar was holding was a heat grenade. The same thing that had almost sent him to an early grave. Gooood. Now those bastards were going to get a taste of their own medicine.

Without waiting for Vindril to recover, Ar pressed down the button that activated the explosive charge enveloped by that steel embrace that was the outer shell. Then, by taking a single step forward, they launched it inside the room, hiding behind the already beaten-up wall. Not exactly the best for cover, but it had to suffice.

Time, as strange as it might have been, seemed to have slowed down. Even if Vindril was now standing still, with his mind clear enough to count how many seconds had passed since Ar had launched that deadly contraption, he couldn’t help but feel that hours had passed instead of the few moments that had really gone by. To be fair, that wasn’t the first time he had experienced such a strange phenomenon. Back when he had carried out a job on a strange cruise that had taken him in a dangerous space station full of criminals, an obvious gunfight had erupted. And in that small, but intense moment, time had seemed to have slowed down, coming almost to a complete stop. So he wasn’t all that surprised. But, that c-

Boom!

Both of them went to their knees, even if the explosion had been distant and far away from them. Screams could be heard coming from the few fortunate, or perhaps unfortunate people that had been hit by the blast, but that had not died on the spot. One of them, perhaps the one placed in command of them all, ordered the survivors and the unaffected to open fire on the walls where Vindril was taking cover.

Ar didn’t even let them try to hurt them.

Without even the shadow of a hesitation, they quickly took out the other gun they had strapped around their leg. A barrage of scalding hot, molten down storm of bullets began hitting everything and everyone it encountered on its deadly path. Needless to say, chaos soon engulfed everything once again in its bloody embrace, spreading fear and devastation as easily as it was to spread butter on a piece of bread.

The pirates, the ones who had not died, tried to fire upon Ar’s and Vindril’s location, desperately trying their best to hit them. It was all in vain. Even if they had somehow managed to hit Ar’s armor, that silvery set of equipment that had even Vindril question where the hell had that been made, nothing would have injured them. Vindril was sure of it because he had seen them getting hit by a laser gun before, right when they had crossed the last obstacle they had found on their path. He had even rushed to their help, fearing they had been severely injured.

To his utmost surprise, Ar had simply brushed it all off like it had been nothing. To Vindril’s knowledge there were a few metals that were able to repel gunfire; some, were even able to block laser guns. However, those kind of metal alloys were expensive, like extremely expensive, and hard to acquire even through the black market. Even owning a single kilo of those was enough to attract all sorts of wrong attentions. So how in the hell was Ar in possession of an armor made out of those things? A whole…fucking…armor! That thing was extremely priceful, to say the least. And surely, if one was in possession of such a thing, they wouldn’t have the need to carry out such low paying jobs. Well, unless…

His thoughts were interrupted as Ar emptied a full magazine into the approaching pirates that had been dumb enough to challenge them head on.

Vindril didn’t even need to look to know what their fate had been.

A smile appeared on his face. They had won.

For now…

//////

As the last pirates either fled, or succumbed to the giant explosion that the thermal grenade Ar had thrown without a care in the world, Vindril’s ears slowly readjusted themselves. The annoying ringing that had assaulted his ear drums shortly after the bomb had deflagrated, had almost rendered him powerless against the many threats that were still lingering all around their location. Sure, the room that he and Ar were currently in was now devoid of any enemies. That was an undeniable fact.

However, it was also true that the fighting was still raging outside. And he had no way of knowing who was on the winning side. Were the pirates winning? Or were the mercs the ones?

Not that it had any particular relevance. Unless those two sides completely annihilated each other, Vindril and Ar were going to be forced to deal with them, one way or another. It was impossible after all, arrived at the point, to resolve it all with just some carefully woven words, no matter how charming and convincing Vindril could be. No. That was just outright impossible.

The other problem, this time a little bit more complicated than simply shooting some assholes that might or might have not deserved their fates, was way more important to resolve. The objective why they were even facing all those troubles had to be in their proximity. It had to. Such an armed resistance by the pirates couldn’t be explained otherwise. Perhaps it was hidden in plain sight; or maybe it was carefully placed behind a secure double wall, hidden from praying eyes. However, that wasn’t the problem. With Vindril’s willpower and Ar’s know how, it was just a matter of time until that crate was going to pop up. No. The problem they were having trouble in finding a solution was more of a…logistic type. How in the hell were the supposed to carry the crate to the Yurian’s shop from there? Were they supposed to wait until the means agreed upon with the imperial authorities arrived? That was simply not an option. Well, not unless they wanted to engage heavily trained, not to mention armed to teeth troupes, that were only waiting for the order to kill them. No. That just couldn’t be the correct choice. So only a couple of options were left: Go back to where they had left the trucks, or try to locate something usable in the pile of junk the pirates had accumulated in the complex.

Vindril sighed out loud. None of them options were particularly appealing to him. Why the hell nothing ever unfolded without a single hiccup? Since time immemorial, he had always encountered some kind of obstacle along the way, no matter what he might have done in order to prevent it. He had even grown so accustomed to such bullshit luck that he wasn’t all that upset about it anymore. Well, most of the times. There were cases were it was simply too much bullshit to swallow. Now, of course, was one of those cases.

“Fuck it all!” yelled Vindril angrily.

He turned around and hit the bullet ridden command console that was near him, cracking open the keyboard that had miraculously survived all that ordeal. Then he hit it again, And again. Until most of the buttons had fallen out to the floor, or had broken down in a dozen pieces. When everything had broken down beyond repair, he took a calming breath, ignoring the harsh stare Ar was throwing at him.

It was during that small frame of time that he noticed something…strange. Even amidst all the chaos that had thrown the whole room into an unrecognizable state, that thing had come out of it looking completely fine. Now that was something new. To survive against all that barrage of fire and destruction without sustaining even a little bit of damage? There were materials on the market that could do such a thing. Yes. Were they easily obtainable? No. So, whatever was that thing that was laying buried under all that rubble just had to be containing something of equal value. And given the context of where they standing in, Vindril could only think of one thing that could explain such an extensive use of…whatever metal was that was. It was the thing they were searching for. It just had to be.

Vindril felt like all the fatigue and pain he had felt till that point had suddenly vanished, so he sprinted in a way even he didn’t know he was capable of, covering that small distance that separated him from that thing in record time. Then, as he got to his knees once again, he began throwing to the side all the rubble he could get his hands on. It quickly proved to be a more time-consuming thing he had initially thought.

A couple of minutes had already gone by, but the giant pile that was covering his object of interest was still holding strong against his best attempts. Ahhhh. What a pain. Why had that pile of shit get in the way? They didn’t have any time to waste! A wrong move, a little too much time wasted, and he would be forced to deal with a bigger problem than some gang of pirates.

“Move away.” Ar said, their voice a little altered from normal.

“Why? Can’t you help me with-”

Vindril jumped to the side right at the last moment, before a barrage of gunfire blasted away all that rubble. When all that madness suddenly ceased, he got up in a heartbeat. He was mad. Rightfully so. Had he not evaded that, he would have been blasted into oblivion for sure.

“What the fuck?! Are you out of your damned mind?!” he literally screamed at the top of his lungs. “You almost killed me!”

“…Stop being such a cry-baby. I didn’t hit you, did I? What’s the fuss about?”

“Wh-what?” disbelief made all the anger he was feeling disappear as quickly as it had appeared. “Are you kidding me? You think I’m fussing over nothing? You must have a screw loose if you think I’m just going to sit here and-”

Apparently not interested in hearing what was sure going to be a lengthy rattle, Ar quickly approached the box. Immediately, there were a couple of things that stood out. It was black. Completely black. The other thing that stood out, aside the scratch-free surface it had, was the total lack of an opening mechanism. Even Vindril, who had just neared it for the first time, couldn’t see anything that might have served as a leverage to open it. That couldn’t be possible. There just had to be a way to open it!

As his hands travelled all around the length of it in the desperate search of…something, the box emitted a strange sound. It was a high-pitched sound, like the melody of a bell. Then, a few moments later, a display appeared on it.

“…Holy fucking hell…”

“What?” asked Vindril annoyed. “What’s going on?”

No answer.

What was so shocking that had left Ar speechless? The was only one way to find out. He just hoped it didn’t turn out to be another problem. He couldn’t really find the strength to maintain calm otherwise.