The Marine

When Bill advanced on the menacing stranger the world stood still.

2 seconds.

Feet sinking into the stone, spring forward holding nothing back.

1.5 seconds.

Remove the war hammer from its holster and lift.

1 second.

Another step, shattering the road and kicking up tons of earth and stone.

.5 second.

Heart racing, eyes turned black.

Zero seconds.

One swing of a hammer with enough power to crack a mountain accompanied by a voice felt throughout the city:

“[TERRA SUNDER]!”

As the hammer came down the world seemed to want to take back the time it had lost, and the arm of the man who should have been taken completely off guard turned into a raging tempest.

As storm met hammer, for the briefest period a singularity was formed which caused an explosion that sent Captain Smoker and that familiar figure he was holding off into the distance.

However, one Marine had not fallen.

Thru the explosion he gave it his all to land one strike. He was sure it would only take one strike.

One swing after another, moving like two independent storms, the wind turned into blades and cut against iron skin, but not a drop of blood could be seen.

He was not going to retreat, when the hooded man took to the sky he was after him, clashing back and forth the hood flew off and reveled the man’s black hair and red tattooed face.

The instant he burned the red tattoo into his memory, the other Captain rushed towards the battle in the sky shouting out, spewing out smoke as he raised into the air: “Dragon! Today! Justice have you!”

What did he say?

Urged to move forward at all costs, the tall Marine looked through blackened eyes at the scene all around him.

Angular shapes bent and flew in every direction, it was the high tide coming in that swallowed the shore. Eroding the land with each wave, it was invisible to the observer who could not see the irresistible force that was made by unseen universal Powers.

But now he could glimpse it.

Like watching a collection of still-frame pictures, or, like when a movie is being ran too slow through the projector creates the sensation of progress and not progress.

With every swing, and every time the sharp wind strengthens cutting deeper into his stone skin, he could see those Powers little by little.

Then there came another, but it was not threat.

How was this known?

Watching the scenes fold out, one by one in front of his Mind’s Eye, he was an observer who saw how the tattooed face man Awakened the thing inside of him. This was the Power that caused the waves to erode the shores.

This was the Power that eroded reality!

The still-pictures ceased.

Reentering his body as it performed a wide sweep with the hammer, Bill was assaulted both physically and mentally.

First, he only now felt the blades of wind cutting deep into his skin.

Second, the twisted smell of ozone nearly left him gagging for breadth!

But it was fine. It was even fine when the tattooed faced man grabbed his mighty hammer and launched him far away from the town, and into the wilderness.

Even as he crashed through the trees and kicked up dirt, it was fine because now understood something he hadn’t before.

Standing up, now he could feel the ethereal shapes bending and twisting in the fabric of reality. He saw them as waves, and they stemmed from the battle not too far from the crater he had made.

As he saw them as waves, in his Mind’s Eye he saw himself as the stone shore which held them back. He saw himself as the reef who despite being thrashed by the waves shouted out: “I am here, I am real, You will never win!”

Jumping over the canopy, Bill turned black. Starting from his eyes, it moved up to his brain and then down until his entire body was covered and then covering his disfigured hammer.

As Bill zeroed in on the man, he saw the battle had been moved to the uninhabited side of the island and the surprise in the man’s eyes as he neared.

This was because, where Bill went, reality asserted itself anew.

Clashing once again, the storm which was now larger than the island itself, weakened.

When the man replaced his amused smile with a considered eyebrow, Bill didn’t care. He didn’t want to weaken the storm. He would break it!

Thunder crashed and lightning clashed all around the two as they fought, and Bill did not consider where his partner was.

More and more, the storm shrank until the tattooed man grimaced and made his final decision.

“Kid, you got spunk! I like that!

If only you didn’t side with the oppressors and the false god, you could have been great!”

When he finished this, all at once the huge storm was absorbed into his body.

Bill saw the man as two creatures now.

One creature was the normal man who had grown into a giant with lightning racing across his body and twisters underneath the skin. His eyes had become the centers of hurricanes, calm but slightly spinning.

The other creature was what he saw with his Mind’s Eye. It was a frightening wraith which had no body but was made of floating wheels with eyes that starred directly at him.

If before he had stood against the waves of high tide, now Bill stood against a tsunami.

But Bill could not be daunted now; especially not now! Urged to go forward, his Mind’s Eye echoed: “I am the stone shore, I Am The Stone Shore, I AM THE STONE SHORE”

Lifting his hammer, Bill knew the thing wouldn’t last much longer and prepared his body as he rushed towards the storm giant, whose tattoo now spread across his body.

He Willed his ribs to fuse. He Willed his knees and elbows to sharpen. He Willed his knuckles to protrude. He Willed his heart to beat slow and powerfully.

Starting from the storm giant’s waist, he dodged upwards through the twisters and lightning and wind blades.

Knowing his black hammer on had one good strike left, Bill was determined not to waste it as he reached the giants head and shouted: “BLACK STONE CRASH!

As the hammer fell down on its target, Bill felt that this was it. The moment he would hold back the waves and the moment reality would reassert itself.

Swinging down with everything he had, Bill unconsciously let out a yell that could be heard miles around.

Then… as the singularity reappeared… the hammer disintegrated into dust.

“HUH?!”

In that very instant, when Bill was confused about the scene in front of his eyes, his opponent was not.

The creature made of floating wheels spun, but its eyes stayed trained on the Marine.

The storm giant’s arm formed a drill of solid air. Spinning at a rate Bill hadn’t the time to consider, he watched as if in slow motion as the tornado drill hit him square in the chest.

Pushing against Bill’s blacked stone skin the power diminished but was simultaneously replenished by the creature with the still eyes.

Both body and mind worked in overdrive, but he had been caught off guard. First, he felt the drill penetrate an inch into his body. Second, he lost the ability to stay still and so himself spun around.

Third, he heard the storm giant grunt angrily and slammed him deep into the ground.

Then laying there at the bottom of a deep gully Bill was stunned into stillness.

He had felt his brain damaged, his skin broken, his organs scrambled, his fused ribs and back cracked.

As water rushed into the hole Bill couldn’t consider breathing, he laid there like that old man in his hospital bed. Unable to sit up, unable to move.

The only difference between now and then was now he was not content to go. Yet, what could he do?

‘My heart is beating.’ He said to console himself, although by now the water had completely filled the hole and added even more pressure to his head.

Using every ability, he had he tried to repair his damaged brain. First the bleeding, then the swelling, then the bruising.

Nearing the end of this process, he hadn’t noticed for how long he had been healing himself, Bill had the mind to hear a splash and wondered if this was the end.

‘What was that person’s name?’ he thought. Not knowing why he should want to know the name of his killer.

Hearing the swimmer closing in at speed, Bill wanted to fight. What was he? He was the stone shore and could not possibly break here.

But his body was wrecked. He did not blame himself for losing concentration at the end, he did not blame or think anything until he felt a hand digging around the sediment.

The hand was moving fast, but never deep. Bill felt when his foot was hit.

‘I’m upside down?’ he thought.

Once his foot was hit the swimmer dug the rest his body out of the mud. Taking his time to be careful the swimmer hurried up and Bill felt himself ascending up a deep deep tunnel.

His eyes were closed when they breached the water, but though he couldn’t breathe, he could feel the sun on his skin and that calmed him.

Feeling pressure on his chest, Bill heard shouting and yelling from all directions, and he wanted to get up and see what the fuss was over… but his back and brain and organs prevented him.

And then, smelling that familiar ozone there was a dull ‘bang’.

Instantly his already cracked ribs cracked further, and in doing so pressed on his lungs hard enough nearly collapse them. There was pain, but after that, Bill felt something come up, and being turned on his side, threw up something that had the consistency of a milkshake.

Then there was no more yelling, and the smell disappeared. Even though he couldn’t move his body, Bill took in the most satisfying breath he had ever taken.

‘I’m going to live’ he thought while he continued to repair the damage.