Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 544: Departure

Victor spun around and swung up with one of his axes. Deflecting one of the orange spikes. Then blocked another strike as he brought up his other axe. This creature was aiming to cripple him, not kill him. But everywhere he went reality was strange.

It was like everything was frozen. Even he felt sluggish as he moved around. He was still making slow progress as the creature attacked him.

{How are you doing this? You are just a shadow.} The creature screeched out in anger. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

A shadow? That was not possible. Unless, when the ship started jumping through a wormhole his abilities activated. Not all of his abilities. But the vampire’s natural ability to transfer between two spots.

It is nicknamed the shadow step. Most vampires learn how to do it when their life is threatened. But vampires with lesser bloodlines struggle to unlock the ability. Victor, despite having a distant bloodline, was able to unlock most of his abilities without struggle. It was as natural as breathing for him. Which was how he was even able to climb the ranks despite his bloodline being considered tainted.

"I am not just a shadow." Victor responded as he began understanding.

He turned around and raced down the hall before arriving at the escape pod he saw. He slammed an axe into the door panel and the doors started opening before stopping. Freezing in time like the rest of reality had.

He dodged to the side and kneed the creature in the side as he pulled the doors open with his other axe. As it staggered to the side after it failed to stab him, Victor rolled inside the escape pod. Sheathing his axes quickly as he slammed the nearest button and the pod shook and the doors slightly closed before stopping.

The creature slid in and tried to stab Victor. But slid to the side and elbowed it in the face.

Pzzztt!!

They both looked toward the source of the noise and saw the console sparking before time seemed to speed up as the door to the escape pod slammed closed and the pod launched with enough force to launch them into a wall.

They could see through the clear window as they flew away from the ship. They were already through the black hole and the pod was spinning and gave them a view of a blue and green planet along with the Mortella space craft that was falling apart.

He looked to the side and frowned as he could much more clearly see the creature’s appearance. It had a metal mask with spots for eyes. It had spots of black armor covering its body but between it was its orange skin that almost seemed to be glowing. The glowing sword was just a metal sword, the spikes were probably the same. He could barely see the side of its head which had black spots.

It slashed towards him with its weapon but Victor leaned back and managed to pull away. But then it jumped forward and he grunted in pain as it pierced his midsection. He grabbed the sides of the creature’s mask and then quickly twisted.

Snap!

Its neck snapped easily enough. Then he leaped towards the controls. But as he did the area exploded and he flew back and blacked out. The next time he woke up was when he was barely conscious.

—-----------------------

Victor blinked and groaned as pain rippled throughout his body. "Arrghh! Damn, that hurts." He cursed as he pulled himself up.

Eduta was still sitting across from him but the other one had left. {How was it? Have you figured out what injured you?}

"Uhh... yeah. Something that mentions the Daemons and Mortella by name. It had black armor but orange skin. It had spots near its neck and I assume on its head. It also did this thing to freeze time when we were falling through the blackhole. But for some reason I was unaffected." Victor explained in confusion.

{Hmm... that sounds like... We will go toward your crash site tomorrow. I need to check something.} Eduta declared. {I will inform the head monk, he will want to accompany us.} He stood up and crouched through the door as Victor laid back and flinched in pain.

He needed to get down this mountain. But he also needed to get in contact with the others about what he had seen. There might be an additional threat they missed.

—---------------------

Liz waited at the end of the doc with Gaz invisible next to her. The last few days had been a mix of chaos and confusion as she dodged the patrols while looking for a way off the island. It turned out that there was a ship that was coming soon.

To be exact it was a smuggler. Who was willing to take her to the Northern Continent. Apparently she was not the only one who wanted off the islands. She did not know the exact amount but it was enough that it would be profitable for the smugglers.

"Kraa!" The cage that was in her hand screeched and shook as the water at the end of the doc started parting and a flat metal surface rose up out of it. She immediately jumped from the dock to the ship. She could hear the metal dinging as Gaz walked with her.

Near the middle of the metal platform, the metal started rising and parting as a figure rose up out of the submarine. It was a woman with an eyepatch, very tanned skin and a number of scars visible on her limbs. "Welcome to the Submarine Poseidon! Now then, do you have-"

Liz held up the cage as the creature inside screeched again. "Passage?"

"Welcome aboard! Your mount?" The woman asked as Liz walked past her but then she froze and her eyes flicked to the side. "Nevermind. There is plenty of room in the cargo hold. I suggest to keep to yourself though. We have all sorts aboard. Even some that would die for a chance to get one of those."

"They should have just got a parrot. Those are easier to find." Liz scoffed as the platform began lowering into the ship with the three of them and the caged animal that the woman was now holding.

"Ha! Maybe for someone like you. But most people can not travel that deeply into the forest without running into the various deadly forms of wildlife that are out there." The woman answered as the ship opened up into a large cargo hold while above them doors sealed shut the opening. "The journey will take a week at least. I hope you packed food, because I doubt you will trust anything my people would feed you."

Liz grunted as she looked out over the cargo hold and spotted an array of people. Most of them looked like civilians or immigrants. Probably a bunch coming from the Cartel islands. But there were also a large number with visible weapons. Even one with a small mech armor made from construction equipment. They looked far more grizzled and hostile.

"LISTEN UP PEOPLE! WE HAVE ONE MORE STOP AND THEN WE ARE HEADING TO THE NORTHERN CONTINENT!" The woman’s voice spoke through what must be the shipwide speaker system. It was followed by groans of annoyance.

"I thought you said this was the last one!" Someone called out.

"Yeah... we got a last minute contact about some people who needed off the islands quickly." She explained before it reached the bottom.

Liz immediately started walking towards where she saw an open spot from above.

"Hey hot stuff-" One of the mercenaries that was hideous and scarred in appearance approached her. But before he even took his second step he was smacked in the chest and sent flying back towards his friends. Crumbling in pain and with probably internal damage.

"I told you before. Keep your hands to yourself Kalish." The female captain of the submarine chuckled out as she walked towards a wall where a number of armed guards were watching over the cargo hold.

Liz walked past the mercenaries and into the dark area of the cargo hold.

"That bitch..." The man groaned.

"Leave it." One of his buddies told him. "We will get back at her when we arrive on the Northern Continent."

Liz sighed as she sat down and leaned back against Gaz. She opened a bag and pulled out the small book inside. The language and coded messages were interesting. But in a way it was like reading a history book from an outside view. She did not get enough of it. Hopefully his friends were still on the Northern Continent when she arrived there.

"Grroorr..." There was a quiet groan and she leaned back and pulled out a piece of jerky and tossed it to the noise before it disappeared as Gaz swallowed it whole and quieted down. She had packed plenty of jerky for them to last. But now the hard part was keeping herself busy while also making sure the other occupants did not cause her problems.