Chapter 3-4: Victory, and Absolute Judgment

Cliff sifted across the ground, placidly shouldering his gun. The body of Cero lay on the ground before him, unmoving and quiet. Despite this, he was uneasy with the situation; dark as the night was, he was unsure of his kill. With a resounding click, he emptied the used shells and replaced them with canisters from his belt. He stalked towards his target with deliberation, but still nothing seemed out of the ordinary, besides the easy duel.1

Shrugging, Cliff relaxed and looked away, concerned for a moment about the other gunmen. Gunshots were firing from the bottom of the hill, and Cliff could see some flashes of light from the ignition of different firearms. The sound of the fighting settled his concerns, positive that everyone was still alive. In fact, now seemed like a good time to take over the high ground and finish the job from above. Scooting to the edge, he crouched down and squinted through the dark to make the locations of the little bursts of light.2

Within a moment, he had picked out which ones were from the contacts, and which ones from were from the group that had attacked them. Then, in a brilliant flash he saw a radical burst of a misfired high-caliber gun, its discharge shredding through the air and breaking apart in a convoluted radiance. In the flash, Cliff saw a bunch of people, making out everyone crouching and Ziggy facing someone down. 3

Who fired one of my guns? He thought, his thoughts fleeting for a moment, until a sudden uneasiness overtook him. Whirling around, he raised his gun and fired twice as he rolled to the side. Looking up, Cliff saw Cero surround in a translucent blue hue, very faint but sharp.4

“I hate shields,” He grumbled, his gun still pointing at Cero who was grinning, albeit with some blood flowing from the cusps of his mouth.5

“You were too cocky kid,” Cero grunted, coughing twice and pounding his chest. “Though, I couldn’t get it up fast enough.”6

“I'm sorry, I'm still young so I don't have that trouble.” Cliff grinned as he dug his hand into his cloak behind his back, and pulled out three cylindrical objects barely an inch in height.7

“Explosives; those won’t work.” Cero laughed, approaching Cliff with glee. “This here shield was provided by my employers as per our contract. It’s the latest edition, and nothing you have can break it.”8

Cliff grinned as he held up his hand, the explosive charges parsed between his fingers. “My mechanic would beg to differ, and she’d rip your head off if she heard you mock her designs. These are special; here, have a taste.”9

With a flick of his wrist, Cliff clicked the small objects together. Very quickly, they changed to a shade of red and continued to brighten with intensity. Cero paused, not as composed as he had been earlier; taking a step back, Cliff arched his arm and chucked the explosives. They detonated around Cero, engulfing the area in a short blast.10

As the dust settled, Cero emerged grinning, his shield still up and strong. “I guess they weren’t so special. You need a reality check, kid…”11

Cero stopped, realizing that he couldn’t see Cliff. Stuttering in his step, he whirled around but to his annoyance, Cliff was nowhere to be seen.12

“What is this?!”13

Cliff slid down the hill, cursing. “Where the hell did he get a shield of that grade?”14

He skid through the grass, his back arched down while keeping his head up the hill, ready for Cero to jump down the moment he realized Cliff had ran. Stealing a glance to his side, he saw Ziggy tangled with a large uniformed man. Ziggy had him pinned against a leveling, but the others weren’t around.15

“Ziggy!” Cliff called.16

“I got him.” His face was screwed up in a pained expression, and was covered in sweat, yet his voice was calm.17

Cliff took one more look up the hill before hurrying over to Ziggy. Taking a look around, he saw the girls were tending to Zackary some distance behind Ziggy. Offering Ziggy one more look of acknowledgement, Cliff quickly strolled over to the three. Zackary was clutching his arm and cowering over it as the girls were attempting to pull him apart.18

“Cliff!” Kelly exclaimed, in a partially startled and relieved expression.19

Her relief was not met, as Cliff stared past her at Zackary, who painfully looked up at him. His face was pale, contorted, and dripping with sweat. He was shaking, still clutching his right hand. When Cliff reached for it, Zackary tried to pull away, but Cliff snatched his arm and yanked it toward him.20

Zackary cried out in pain, but Cliff only took a brief look at the hand before dropping. He spotted his trunk had been opened, and one of his handguns lay on the ground behind Ziggy, resting in the breezy grass.21

“You tried to use it, didn’t you?” Cliff asked.22

Zackary looked away, but Dana met Cliff’s questioned with a trembling nod. With exception for the grunts from the pinned man, there were a few moments of tense silence as Cliff walked away, stopping only to pick up his gun and stick to his belt. The soft scuffle of his feet on the grass scratches the night air as Cliff walked toward Ziggy and raised his gun to his captive.23

“Let him go.”24

Obliging, Ziggy released himself from the hold, and took a few steps back. The uniformed man took the chance to slowly straighten himself up and dust his clothing off. He carefully eyed Cliff’s gun as he stared him down.25

“Oh, and an idiot is probably going to interrupt us sometime soon, be ready,” Cliff said, grinning as he stuck his gun at the man’s forehead. “Talk, who are you?”26

“You’re pretty rude, but I am Captain Chaz Peters of Minlan’s twelfth division, and you are ruining my mark.”27

Cliff, who had grasped the man’s collar, now let him go. Keeping his gun raised to Peters’ head, Cliff glanced at an insignia on the man’s shirt. It was shaped like a Cross with a double line instead of one. He didn’t recognize it at all.28

“Minlan, are you guys new, or something?”29

Peters grinned despite the large revolver pointed at his face. “This is what I get with a backwater area like this.”30

“What the hell are you saying?”31

“You’re in over your head here kid; you can leave now and forget this ever happened. It’ll be painless, instead of the alternative.”32

His grin dripped superiority, like a child whose bullies didn’t know of the dog he kept. 33

“Cliff, look out!” Kelly shouted.34

The area was quickly consumed by a barrage of automatic rounds. Cliff and Ziggy vaulted behind some wreckage, as a familiar voice cracked over the scene.35

“Liddl!”36

“Is that the idiot you were talking about?” Ziggy asked.37

Cliff only smirked slyly as he got ready. As soon as the assault quieted, Cliff stole a look over their cover. Peters was making his way to the shed while Cero stood between them, glimmering inside of his personal shield. Irate and disheveled, the hired man had two weapons aimed at the wreckage, waiting for a wrong move.38

Bolting up, Cliff fired of two rounds from his revolver before ducking back down. The sickening sound of ricochets did nothing to comfort the men.39

“I would be a little more urgent, my young friends,” Peters shouted as he reached the shed.40

A stifled cry bared rung through the air. The two underlings of Peters had showed up behind Dana, Kelly, and Zackary.41

“We got ‘em boss.”42

Peters opened the shed and turned around to look at the area. “You should have taken the offer kid. One: you can’t break these shields; you would need technology that you just can’t come by. Two: you are dealing with people with much more power than you. To put it plainly, you’re fucked.”43

Cliff slowly rose from his spot, his hands down but his head up in a cocky stare. Peters met his gaze, and his smile went away for quick irritation.44

“You have nothing to be confident about; these shields need a force greater than 1 thousand eros to break. Only people who have lived beyond these stars know how to do that. You’re quick gun skills have nothing to match power.”45

Reaching into his cloak, Cliff unhooked a long-barreled gun from his back and pointed it at Peters. Kelly and Dana grew quiet, as they recognized it as the gun Zackary misfired, but Kelly understood more as she helped make it. For the first time in the sprawl, she smiled.46

“You’re really dense…”47

It happened almost too quickly. Cliff’s arm didn’t even seem to recoil, and the sharp, grating sound that followed the activation of the gun resounded for only a second. However, in the next moment, Peters found that his generator had short-circuited on his hand, and as he grasped his chest he could almost feel the warmth of the blood trickling from the large hole in his cavity.48

“Boss!”49

“What the hell?” Cero had momentarily lost his concentration as he watched his employer fall to the ground. That was all Ziggy needed, who had snuck up on him, grasped his arms and spread them apart.50

“I don’t think you’ll need these.” A sickening crack could be heard in the air as Ziggy dug his foot into Cero’s back and pulled as hard as he could on the two arms.51

“I think you should go,” Cliff said, pointing his gun at the two subordinates. They looked at each other, and seemed to agree with Cliff’s assessment. They ran off, leaving their few weapons behind, which Kelly collected and took to the car.52

“What now?” Ziggy asked Cliff, as he walked up to him.53

“You go make sure Dana attends to Zackary, and tell Kelly to meet me up here.”54

“I meant in reference to that,” Ziggy said, motioning to the dead bodies in the shed.55

“I’m going to see what the cargo is. Our clients are dead; Peter’s associates must have taken them out when we weren’t paying attention.”56

“Don’t you think that with so much fuss about it that someone’s going to come looking for it?”57

“That’s why I want to know what it is. The bigger, the more prepared we’re going to need to be.”58

Ziggy took a few moments to look over his friend. He seemed normal, cocky and brash like usual. Something was different though, as if Cliff were unnaturally worried. However, years of being together had taught the big man that his smaller and feisty counterpart never talked about the layers of his personality. Along with Kelly, Ziggy had seen the most of him, and understood that sometimes he needed to do things for himself.59

With that, Ziggy went to go tend to Dana. Cliff stood for a while, looking at the dead employers. They had been expecting trouble, and yet they still were taken by surprise. Peters may have been right and this could be way over their heads. Sighing, Cliff shook his head and chuckled before strolling inside to look at the package.60

Outside, Kelly had finished cleaning up. The parts would be interesting to look at, and she was sure Cliff would want to play around and see what he could salvage. However, she had made sure to hide the more interesting stuff for herself to look at. She saw Ziggy and Dana attending to Zackary, who now seemed less in pain and more complaining about his injury. Amusing as it was, when she caught Ziggy’s attention, he motioned for her to go to the shed.61

Lifting her tools, she made her way to the shed. She was still smiling. Only Cliff could use that gun that she and her had designed. For some reason nobody else could. She modeled it after Cliff’s relic, a dead gun that Cliff found once in a junked ship. It seemed like it was old technology, but the design was far more intricate than she could have imagined. A lot of it didn’t make sense, so she couldn’t completely reverse engineer it, but the two of them managed to fill in the holes. The result was what she called “The Buster.”62

It made her happy when her creations were needed. Now, she was needed in person, which doubled her good day. As she walked past the body of Peters, a splattered cough emanated from the man as he turned over, facing the shed. He was still alive, though barely.63

“No…” Peters gasped, clutching his wound. His eyes were scrunched in pain, as he breathed hard. He coughed again, this time spewing blood on the grass. For a moment, he was able to calm down enough to open his eyes.64

“You…” he said, looking at Kelly, who met his desperate stare with cold indignation. He coughed again, but this time his eyes traveled to inside the shed. It was then that a immovable fear took over his face.65

“Open?!” he exclaimed. “No, you must not open it!”66

Then, the night truly became black.67

------------4----------------68

Kelly gazed around, adjusting her vision. Everything appeared normal, but she couldn’t see anyone. The landscape was oddly serene in the night, in contrast to the torrential fighting that had undergone earlier. A slight breeze bathed the plane and helped wake Kelly up some more. There was a dead silence that allowed for the wind to scratch the ground with noise.69

Shaking her head, Kelly held her arms out as she steadied herself in her attempt to rise from the ground. Although slight, the breeze made her teeter in her still unbalanced state. The air was colder than earlier, seemingly slicing through the outer layers of skin, and helping to finally sober all of Kelly’s senses up. She rubbed her arms and walked forward hoping to find someone soon. Had she looked up, she may have moved with more urgency, perhaps having noticed the completely blackened sky.70

“Ziggy!” she called out, hearing her voice reach far over the landscape.71

There was no response. Suddenly, the feeling that she was alone began to creep invade her thoughts. The already dark night seemed to grow in its emptiness, further exacerbating her worry. The only source of light was the city in the distance, and even that appeared to be fading in intensity. 72

There was nobody in sight, when earlier everyone had been present.73

Yet, she felt as if there was something else in the shadows. It rattled her to the point that she needed to get up and whirl around to get a full view. This whole time, the anxiety of the situation was slowly building her heart rate up, but now she was truly scared. She was sure, that she was not alone.74

This time, the lack of response served to frighten her more. The two people she needed most were nowhere close, she couldn’t hear anything but her own voice, and she was slowly feeling the world around her empty more. She folded her arms across her chest, cold and tired now. With nobody else around, she didn’t want to be the responsible one anymore; she just wanted someone to come.75

An inescapable feeling now flooded her mind, one that she had tried to forget. Her wet surroundings seemed to melt away and 76

Her eyes watering, she took off running toward the direction of the city, trying to get away from the empty feeling she felt present.77

Cliff was stumped. For some reason, Kelly was on the ground, and not responding to anything. His eyes were open, and he would randomly open his mouth and try to shout something, but nothing would come out. Also odd was the fact that Dana, Zackary and Ziggy seemed to be suffering in the same manner. Through it all, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were doing more, but that he was having trouble noticing them.78

As Kelly’s began streaming tears, he began to worry more. She had also stopped moving after she had come running toward him from over the hill. Her eyes seemed filled with an indescribably fear, wide and darting from side to side. Cliff gently picked Kelly up and carried her over to where the others now lay. He didn’t know what to do, and felt that he was forgetting something important. Carefully setting Kelly down, Cliff retreated to the ground.79

He unhooked the gun on his hip, and set it in front of him as he looked at it. At times like these, where he felt lost, Cliff would look at this weapon as his good luck charm. It, along with his pendant, is one of the few possessions he has had his entire life, even though it’s useless. Dead technology, as Kelly called it; the weapon was a relic that neither he nor Kelly could ever get it to work. However, he liked having it around, as if some part of the past was with him, and that he could hold with absolute comfort.80

Lost in worried thoughts, he quickly snapped out of it when he heard the ground disturb some distance behind him. It was subtle, and disguised by the patter of the rain, but he heard it. Crouched as he was, his cloak concealed his left arm as it reach for his revolver while he still feigned attention to his charm gun. With no obvious shift in movement, he grasped it and deftly clicked a roll into it. Then, he whirled around as he leapt up, and fired a quick draw.81

Tumbling around, Cliff ran off to get behind something. He attempted to swear under his breath as he readied his gun again. There was someone out there. He hadn’t gauged the distance right, something that was normally easy for him, and missed the interloper. Either that or this guy had a shield too. Whatever the case, it was an easy shot that he missed. Whoever the person was, he was new. Peeking around, he could see some movement. The intruder seemed unarmed, but he was approaching Kelly and the gang.82

He tried to shout as he spun around and fired the buster at the man. Then, to Cliff’s surprise, it seemed that he could hear him, as he turned around to face the oncoming attack. In a moment of bewilderment, Cliff watched as his shot hit the ground in front of him. There had been a quick motion with his hand, and appeared as if he swatted it into the ground. The man just stood there, his palm facing down to where the attack had hit, with some smoke emanating from his hand, staring back at Cliff. He tried to shake off the thought that the man just swatted the bullet with his bare hand. However, before Cliff could think further, the man drew into his coat, and pulled something out. There was no hesitation, Cliff attacked before he could what was drawn.83

Kelly blinked, flooded with a rush of feeling. For a moment, she felt as if she were going to suffocate from the emptiness, but that went away. She trembled with the pounding of her heart, and slowly turned onto her side as she tried to collect her wits. There, in front of her she saw Cliff. She nearly jumped to her feet in disbelief.84

As she wanted to cry out to him, she noticed the man standing over Cliff. He stood alone in the rain, his focus on Cliff who was lying on the ground in front of him. His clothing had no markings that Kelly could distinguish, but he had such a significant face. Possessing pale green eyes, pitch black hair falling over his forehead in a clumsy way that only came naturally.85

“Damn…” he mumbled.86

He moved on, and Kelly tried to stay still as she watched him go from person to person, checking them. Everyone once and a while he would pause and look off somewhere, as if he were afraid of something. He was still close, so Kelly could hear and look at him well enough.87

“Which two?” he said cryptically. “Shouldn’t even be here…”88

The man seemed almost remorseful in his act, even if he was a bit hurried. He didn’t seem to notice Kelly, who was trying to stay low in the little ditch where she lay. Suddenly, the rain stopped, causing the mystery man to stop what he was doing. He seemed occupied with something; watching him, Kelly saw that he couldn’t be much older than Ziggy or Cliff…89

The realization hit her hard. She had overlooked it earlier, possibly out of denial, but she turned to where Cliff lay and her heart dropped as she saw that he had not moved. Unlike everyone else, he was motionless; she noticed that he held a gun in his left hand like he had been in a fight. She did not want to believe what she saw.90

“What do we have here?” A voice said from behind.91

Kelly swerved around right as a hand caught her shoulder and steadied her to her feet. Her shoulder was grasped firmly as the man looked sternly at her. Kelly noticed that he did not seem as tall as he did earlier, and his sleek clothes were more ragged up close. However, his demeanor was very strong and commanding. It was as if he were a wise older master, yet in a young body. She also noticed that he was a little pretty, with green eyes…92

She shook her head violently, “Who are you? What did you do to Cliff?” she shouted, clasping her hands over her mouth. She could talk again, and clearly he had heard her as well.93

“I tried to explain to him that I meant no harm, but I guess my movements were not so innocent.” He said, almost sadly. “However, it was his choice and his consequence as a result. He determined his fate today, as all of yours have been placed upon ‘Judgment’ now.”94

Kelly tried to keep her tears back, but she couldn’t. The motionless body was too much to see, and she broke down sobbing. However, she had not two seconds of crying before the man seized her shoulder turned her around. His stern and uncaring look snapped back her tears.95

“Tears are for later,” he said. “For now, you seem to be fortunate enough to break away from it. How you did it is unnecessary right now. Unfortunately, we have little time left, and you need to make a decision.”96

She nodded at him, almost controlled by his command.97

“You have four allies here who are still stuck,” he began, “with the time we have left here; I can only break one free. Choose which of your friends to save, and then you may decide what to do with your remaining time.”98

For a moment, Kelly just stared back at him, shocked by the order he was giving. Then, she lowered her head, and started shaking. As he tried to comfort her shoulders though, she reeled back, and slapped him hard across the face.99

“Ow!” he screeched. He grasped his face and started rubbing it. Suddenly, Kelly didn’t find him so commanding anymore. In fact, he seemed quite silly in demeanor. Whatever mood he was in had been broken by her slap, and had turned him into a complaining young man.100

“How dare you ask me that,” she lectured. 101

“I’m trying to save you, damnit!” he yelled.102

“You shut up!” she shouted. It was a complete reversal of roles. He had before seemed tall to her, now he looked little. “How can you ask anyone that? How can you value one person’s life over another? There is no choice, I stay here and you get the hell out of my sight!”103

Kelly was heaving in anger. Perhaps it was grief that caused her to explode, but now it seemed whatever energy she had gained had left her as she collapsed onto the ground, and began crying again. The man just stood over her, his hand running through his hair with a confused and worried look on his face. He sighed and mumbled something, before yelping in surprise.104

“You really have a death wish, buddy.”105

Kelly looked up incredulously, as she saw Cliff standing behind the man, his gun jamming right into his back.106

“Cliff?”107

“Sorry to worry you partner,” Cliff began. He removed his cloak, which had a gaping hole in it. “I still got nicked, but I managed to avoid it. However, what I want to know is how this jackass avoided three of my attacks in a row.”108

“This isn’t the best time…”109

“Cliff, the others,” Kelly indicated. Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked away from him, and Cliff finally took a hard look at everyone’s condition. They were unresponsive now, grounded and almost catatonic in appearance.110

“What’s going on?”111

“Judgment,” the man said, walking forward. His head seemed off in contemplation, melancholic in his gaze.112

“Come again?”113

“I don’t know how it was triggered, but this planet has been exposed to what is called Prioriaura, ‘light from before.’”114

Once again, the command of the scene switched to the newcomer, who began pacing around the fallen group.115

“It is light from creation, from before the beginning of time. Throughout the universe, there are still grandfather particles that contain a direct line to the beginning. Technology to harness that energy exists, though it is mostly dead from a much darker day. However, this light is a harbinger for death, and soon everyone on this planet will be dead. Those stuck in the doomed state cannot be removed from their place of judgment.”116

Then, turning to Kelly, he said, “That is why I suggested that you leave now. Though you two are not stuck in a condemned state, ‘They’ will be here soon enough. Already this planet is being plundered by opportunist space pirates and organizations, but when ‘They’ arrive; everyone on this planet will die.”117

“Who are ‘They’?” Cliff asked.118

“…I don’t know…”119

The three of them stood there, staring at each other for a minute. The faraway fare from plunderers could now be heard through the dead silence of the night. After a while, Cliff walked up to the man stared face to face. Then he punched him.120

“Ow!”121

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”122

“I’ve never witnessed this event on a planetary scale. Nor have I more than heard about such a catastrophe happening…” he paused for a moment, looking at Cliff, who appeared even angrier. “However,” he interjected, his mood darkening, “I can tell you with 100 % certainty, that this doom is real. For this reason, you must leave this planet at once, unless you want to die alone, cold, and enraptured in the most terrible fear you could ever imagine.” 123

“Why didn’t we end up like our friends?” Cliff asked. 124

Kelly looked away as he asked his question, reminded of the state she was in earlier. His description of the cold aloneness was a painful reminder of what she felt. It suddenly occurred to her that Cliff must not have experienced what she did, and that somehow she was pulled from the situation when the two men had fought. In this way, he had no idea that she could validate what this man was saying.125

“I can’t answer that.” This time, the man really did look somber.126

“It’s all because of that stupid package, isn’t it?” Cliff said.127

“What package?”128

It took a few moments, but they showed him the mysterious box that had been the catalyst for the night. He spent a long time looking at it, without touching it, often times coming within centimeters of its surface before backing off. Finally, as he turned away from it, he addressed Cliff.129

“Who has touched this?”130

Cliff pointed at himself, and then to Ziggy.131

“Pick him up and come with me,” he continued. Then he extended his hand. “You'll have to trust me as I'm the only one who can get you out of this mess.”132

"Wait a minute," Cliff stopped him. He stared the man down, frowning, before standing up straight. "I'm Cliff Liddl, outlaw and the best duelist on this planet."133

The man smiled, almost too amused at Cliff. "I'm Brody Kruez, space pirate, and private explorer."