Steampunk CTs

I had a bad feeling about what was waiting for us ahead, so I put my brother down and gave him express orders to stay in the forest and not go anywhere near the village until another Rosarian came and gave him the okay. He must’ve heard the panic in my voice. He must’ve seen the distress in my eyes, because he nodded and followed every instruction I laid out. I didn’t know what I was getting into, so I hugged my brother for what could possibly be the last time and said “I love you.”

“D-don’t say stuff like that!” He said with a distressed expression.

I ran as fast as I could back to the village. The closer I got, the brighter the red lights were. I could even hear the screams of the villagers. When I finally got back, I saw the carnage that was waiting for me.

There were groups of Holian people running around, attacking the villagers and burning down our houses. But this was different from the normal terrorist attacks. In the previous attacks, everyone wore masks or hid their identities in some way. These guys looked like normal blacksmiths, shoe makers, bartenders. The average Holian citizens were attacking us.

“Die, scum!” A man came charging at me with a rifle and as he pulled the trigger, I dodged out of the way quick enough to dodge a lethal blow, but the bullet pierced my ear, leaving a hole in the middle. I quickly tackled him to the floor and overpowered him, using the rifle to keep him pinned to the floor. I have to figure out what’s wrong. I have to figure out why these regular townspeople would attack us.

“What’s your problem?!”

As soon as the man registered my face, he called out to the other attackers “Guys! I found him! The boy that hurt that girl in the stagecoach!”

Once he said that, a group of five people lined up side by side in front of me. Just as quickly, I put together what the man was talking about: that ride that barely lasted five minutes. The ride that I just minded my own business and stayed out of her way…they’re saying that I hurt her?!

Bullshit…

“You ran off, but we know the truth!”

They all brandished weapons like guns and farmer’s tools and had them leveled at me. We were at a standstill because they wanted to kill me, but I had one of their own pinned below my body. But they were growing impatient. I could feel their trigger fingers itching, begging to let loose on the person they perceived as a monster.

Until my only saving grace, Enyeto came in. In one motion, he drew two scimitars and cut through each and every one of the people with their eyes on me. He quickly stood at attention and did a swiping motion with both swords, cleaning the majority of the blood off of it. With his back facing me, he peaked over his shoulder at me briefly. It was as if he pitied me for whatever was going to happen next. Once he looked forward, he yelled out, calling attention to everyone in our home that is now a battlefield.

“TO ALL ROSARIANS! THE TIME IS NOW! TAKE UP YOUR WEAPONS AND FIGHT! DANIEL IS OUR LAST HOPE! HE WILL RETRIEVE THE STEMATA I HAVE FROM MY HOUSE AND TURN THE TIDE OF BATTLE! PROTECT HIM! HE IS OUR FUTURE!”

The disorganized Rosarians all got their senses back and fell in line to Enyeto’s orders. The villagers that used to be guards or warriors grabbed their weapons. The ones that had no history with such things grabbed whatever they could: cooking knives, rope, even pots and pans.

I took this as a sign and immediately started running for Enyeto’s house. As I did, two Holians began to run after me. I recognized some of them as former police officers as they drew their pistols and began firing at me.

Their aim is better than the average person. They’ll hit me for sure!

But before they could, two Rosarians got between the bullets and me and took the shots.

“Gah!”

“Ugh!”

As their body began to fall, they grit their teeth and returned fire, immobilizing the officers. As all four bodies fell to the ground, the full gravity of the situation began to sink in for me. I suppose it doesn’t matter about the truth of what happened in that stagecoach anymore. For all I know, the girl could’ve just said she had a scary ride with a Rosarian. But somewhere, the truth got muddied. The muddied truth of “the savage Rosarian” will be taken as the real deal in every situation.

Except one…

The situation in which the Rosarians become the victor. That’s why you gave me that look, right Enyeto? Because you knew how bloodied this path will become…

As I approached Enyeto’s tent, a familiar figure bursted out of its curtains.

“Dan…eil…”

The familiar figure was none other than a bloodied Aiyanna. Her beautiful dress was ruined by splats of blood and bullet wounds. I yelled out her name as I ran to catch her.

“Enyeto told me…this was important a while back…and then that thing he said just now…”

“Save your breath, Chief Aiyanna!”

“Ah…if only I was a bit stronger…what have I been doing all of this time?”

“You’re a Chief for a reason! You’re one of the strongest out there! Do you understand me?!”

But my voice wasn’t reaching her. The light from her eyes have already diminished. She was already gone. And in her hands was a suitcase in the shape of a rectangle. This must be it. The “stemata” that Enyeto was talking about. He must’ve been in talks with those terrorist groups regardless of what the Holians said. It was a good call on his part. Thanks to him, we have a chance of fighting back. I released the latches on the suitcase to reveal what was inside: a scepter with a blue orb attached to the top.

As I looked at it, I heard rummaging going on in Enyeto’s tent. Chief Aiyanna’s killers were in there. It isn’t enough for them to take innocent lives. They feel the need to even take from the people they killed. To me…these people are the savages.

And the rage bubbling within left me damn near speechless…

I took the scepter from the case and pointed it inside of the tent. I barely knew how to use the thing, all I did was follow a certain tingling feeling it gave when I put my raw emotions into it. The feeling that pulled the most energy from it though was my rage. The stemata began to glow and as it did, Chief Aiyanna ran past me and into the tent. For a brief moment, I was surprised. But was returned to the reality of the situation soon after.

“GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

“AHHHHHHH! H-HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!”

Chief Aiyanna was the loving, nurturing type. She would never use her hands for violence. This stemata apparently has the power to bring the dead to life. Not only that, but enhances their physical capabilities. I walked into the tent to see one of Chief Aiyanna’s killers on the floor dead. She had the second one in a choking position.

“People that fantasize about killing others should be ready to die themselves, right?” I mocked the second killer as life left his eyes and Chief Aiyanna finally got her revenge.

“You can rest now, Chief Aiyanna…I’m sorry…” I said as I let go of control of her. I only let her go off at that moment for her vengeance. Anything else would be disrespectful to her.

I instead targeted my stemata towards every fallen villager outside of the tent. It seemed like the villagers managed to kill some of the mob, so I’ll use their bodies as well. As I did, it felt like every rising corpse was a part of me. It was like I was put into the body of a centipede. At first, all of these extra limbs were a hassle to move, but I quickly got the hang of things.

I left the stemata and could already feel the tide of the battle changing as I ran back to Enyeto’s position. I ordered some corpses to put out the fire, while I ordered others to continue fighting. I could feel it! With this stemata, we have a chance to win!

As I finally made it back to Enyeto’s position, I zeroed in on his distant figure through the fog of war.

“Enyetoooooooo!”

As I got closer though, another harsh reality dawned on me.

The chief was impaled by several spears as he stood lifeless in the middle of the battlefield. Even Enyeto, the strongest of us…even Enyeto, the man that showed kindness to all the children in the village…Enyeto, the man humble enough to take an arrogant son of a chieftain like me for rounds of practice with the blade…even him…

I can’t take it anymore…peace is such bullshit…

I couldn’t help at that moment but see nothing but red. My vitriol and hatred spilled forth as I let out a malicious roar worse than any beast. My stemata with its blue orb began to grow a bright red and as if answering and synergizing with my rage, Enyeto screamed out and shot each one of the spears impaling him out. As the last two were shooting out, he grabbed them and got into a dual-wielding fighting stance. Immediately after, we dashed forward and finished off the final embers of this mob attack.

===

“Talk about a slaughter! They didn’t even know what hit ‘em all those years ago!”

“Huh? Were you doing that thing where you reminisce on the day the village fell?”

“Uh…” I looked to the side to avoid eye-contact as much as possible.

“You do that a lot, you know. It’s not good to be in your head 24/7—” Enyeto immediately stopped in his tracks and narrowed his eyes. “Someone’s here.”

I looked ahead to see that someone was in fact here. In the large, dome-shaped exhibit of the Rosarians that stood in front of us, there at the steps sat a young man with red hair and a metallic lower jaw. I almost would never recognize him if it wasn’t for the fact that we share some of the same facial features.

“That’s not just anybody Enyeto, that’s Jack! That’s my brother!” I pushed Enyeto out of the way and ran towards my sibling with a smile on my face. As soon as we met eyes, I sensed a hint of sadness…and regret.