A Piece of the Pie (Chapter 59)

Chapter 59 – Betrayal

All across the city, Noruav's people descended from small ships to snuff out their own allies. For some time the shapeshifters didn't even react, solely due to the fact they were taken by such surprise, and so swiftly.

"Rodm, WHAT is the meaning of this?!" a shifter commander roared at the man with the badly scarred face.

"The end of our agreement," Rodm said coldly, shooting the commander in the head and walking past his falling limp form without breaking stride.

The shapeshifters came to the realization they had been betrayed, but it was far too late. Any shifter airships hovering in the city airspace exploded in flashes of light. They fought back against their former allies, but even taking on the forms of dragons and other such powerful creatures was no match for the terrifying efficiency of the mysterious newcomers.

The townspeople watched on in horror, not knowing what to make of it – the shifters already devastated their city and these new terrors were simply strolling through and eliminating them like a wildfire during the dry.

What will they do to us when they are finished with the shapeshifters? was the primary thought on everyone's mind. Some took to fighting the new enemy, but Rodm and his followers did naught but cast them aside, so focused on eliminating the remainder of the shapeshifter force.

Things quieted down significantly. The fighting stopped. Every last shifter lay dead, or on the verge of death. The only sound was that of a baby crying in a building nearby.

Feo stood ready for what inevitably was coming next.

"People of Luno Versa!" a tall man with long, dark hair and heavy robes announced himself as he stood on the wall of the town square fountain.

"This can go two different ways. We cannot leave without having made some progress. So, we can do this the easy way, where you cooperate and we simply enslave you – that is until we launch you into the heart of the nearest star once it takes our fancy," he said all this through a terrifying smile.

"Or we can do this the hard way, where you make a futile attempt at defending what little you have left, and we eventually end the life of every last Versanian, slowly and with relish. It's your choice really," the man let out a dry chuckle.

People peered warily out from shop windows and park benches.

Jake started to make towards the man. Strad rested an arm on his shoulder and stepped in front of him.

"What do you want?’ the king moved forward until he stood face to face with the man.

"What do we want? Well, that's easy. We want you, Almeht," the man smiled his twisted smile again, "six feet under the dirt."

"Well, I guess you're going to have to get your own hands dirty to put me their."

"I was sooooo hoping you would say such a thing," the robed figure brandished two deadly looking blades with a somehow even more menacing grin.

Uly separated from us to try and find Ott, and Jake and I were left behind a fallen wall, staring out in disbelieving horror at what had happened.

I hadn't even considered things could get worse.

There was no reason for us to feel for these menaces who ravaged our home, but seeing the shifters so methodically wiped out by people meant to be their allies sent chills up my spine.

At a most basic level, it just wasn't right.

An armoured shifter lay nearby, most of his armour cracked and fallen off. I went to his side warily, my hand resting over my blaster.

"What is your name?" I asked him quietly.

He was barely breathing.

"My na... why?" was about all he could muster at the moment.

Jake joined us and crouched at the man's feet. Blood flowed out of a large hole in the man's chest. I carefully pressed my hands on his wound and applied as much pressure as I felt I could without causing further damage.

"Why would you help me?" the man choked.

"Because... this isn't right," Jake echoed my sentiment.

"What we've done to you isn't right either."

"No, it's not," I said, and tried to focus on stopping the bleeding.

The man looked into my eyes, then at Jake. In them I could feel his thoughts, of a much better place than the one where he was now.

"My name is Rocwuul. We left our home with these men," he spluttered.

"They are part of a group called Necrocyl. They want to destroy..." he paused and coughed up a lungful of blood.

"We were so foolish."

A look of regretful anger crossed his face, before he painfully said, "do not judge my people based on the actions of those here."

"We are not all like this – not all of them are like me... my son... is not like me... I'm proud of him for it..." he grasped Jake's shoulder as firmly as he could manage.

Then Rocwuul's arm dropped as his head fell back to the ground, and he exhaled one last time.

"Hey guys," Mouk whispered to us as he and Kaya approached.

Myself, Vera and Uly, along with Ott, James, and Jake were crammed into a small stretch of alleyway, trying to come up with some sort of plan of action. Petey's Pizza's young delivery kid Pako and his older sister Mena had joined us as well.

"It's not looking so good out there," Kaya said.

"No. I've never seen dad so upset."

That really scared me – dad's not afraid of anything.

"I hope there're still a few asses left for me kick," Sam rounded the corner into the alleyway with a big grin on his face.

He was panting and had a giant bandage wrapped around his ribs and chest. He held himself up against the wall.

"What happened to you?" Jake asked, eyeing the bloodstained cloth wrapped around his friend's body.

"What? This? It's just a flesh wound."

From the grin on his face I could tell he'd been waiting for a moment all his life to say that. I couldn't help but smile a little.

It felt really good to do that.

"So, what's the plan? And why's it so quiet all of a sudden?"

Mouk explained what had been going on, how the shifters had been all but eliminated, and about the new impending threat. Jake and I explained what Rocwuul had told us about Necrocyl, and how they have plans to destroy something - or everything.

Starting with us.

All of us.

"Well that sucks," Sam pretty much summed it all up.

"It really sucks," Kaya kicked at the dirt with her shoe.

Jake took her in his arms and brushed her hair between his fingers. I think he needed that as much as she did.

I smiled a sad smile, really hoping that was not the last time he would be able to do that.

"So where's Dim at?" Mouk asked, "Strad's back, but I haven't seen Dim yet, I just assumed he was with one of you guys?"

"Yeah, where is that crazy dude?" Sam stood up and looked about, as if expecting Dim to walk into the alleyway to give us the details of a brilliant plan that just came to him.

A lump rose in my throat – I have to go.

Jake was having trouble getting it out, but I'd already started to walk out the back of the alley.

"Hey, Feo, where're you..." Sam started toward me but I broke into a run.

As I made my way around the corner I heard anguished cries – the cries of friends learning that one of them was gone...

"Not Dim man, no way!" Mouk kicked at the brick wall in the alley.

Kaya sank further into Jake with a muffled cry. Jake held her tighter, his face set, staring at something far away in his mind.

Sam slid down the wall and pressed his palms into his temples, a silent cry leaving his mouth.

He didn't even know what sound to make.

An unfriendly face appeared around the corner.

"Okay, you have spent enough time alive now, it is time to put an end to this miserable scrap of rock."

It was one of the Necrocyl.

I wandered down the street. Downtown was empty, most of the shops' windows had been shattered – some buildings entirely collapsed.

It was just too much to take in – it had been two weeks since I fell asleep on the beach with Dim. I remember the light breeze and the ocean lapping at our toes. I thought things were going to be perfect, and stay perfect. Luno Versa was once again peaceful, people were happy and safe...

And now this...

Dim is dead.

Our beautiful city lies in smoldering ruins, so many of our people killed...

I looked around me again as I wiped the tears from my eyes. Smoke filled the air and shattered stone and splintered wood lay scattered about. Even in the darkening evening I could see the crumpled forms of those who were once my friends and neighbours, lying lifeless in corners and sprawled across the streets, fallen amongst the scattered remains of shifter armour and weaponry – dropped there by their owners who now too lay unmoving amongst the ruin.

My throat grew dry and I just stood there, trying to gather my thoughts.

I should turn back to the others. Necrocyl are ready to attack at any moment and our situation is looking pretty grim.

"Hey there sweetie," two men lurked out from the shadows.

"A little one like you shouldn't be wandering out at night all by herself," one of them chuckled hollowly.

"Never know who you might run into," said another as a group of three climbed down from a half-collapsed rooftop.

I drew out a short sword and tried to get into a position where I could face them all at once.

"Oooh, what a brave girl! You'll be more trouble than anything, so I think we'll just kill you straight away," one of the men with terrible scarring all across his face pulled a small gun from his robe and leveled it at me.

"Goodbye, Feonor – AHH! What the fuc–" he dropped the gun as a blade glinting with the golden light from the Moon struck his arm.

A dark shape caught him on the chin and he was flung backwards.

Without thinking, I struck the nearest man with my sword, he fell to his knees and I dealt him a swift kick to the head. His friend moved quickly, but I saw the flash and heard the hiss of an energy weapon and he too fell to the ground.

The man who had been about to shoot me took back to the rooftops and disappeared in a hurry, leaving a trail of blood from his wounded hand.

The remaining two closed in. One was quickly dealt with by the mysterious newcomer, who swung a piece of what sounded like a fallen pillar as it made contact with a soft body.

The last assailant held a sword but was no match by himself and quickly fell to my own.

Now I turned to my shadowy ally.

"Hey Feo, I figured you might've missed me..."