An Untitled Novel

Basil felt blood rushing to his head; he wasn’t dead apparently, at least not yet. He opened his eyes to a spinning dark and dusky sky, Lizard King stepping away. He coughed and felt warm blood draining away from his mouth, the same warmth that emanated from his chest. He could tell he didn’t have long, doubly so as the Lizard King turned back after hearing the cough. There was one thing he had to do, and he had to do it quickly.

The Lizard King looked on in astonishment and Basil tried to stand up. The moment he started to lift his head he began to feel even more dizzy and wondered if the only thing keeping him conscious was his head being level to the ground. However, the Lizard King raised his blade again and adrenaline hit, allowing Basil to make it to his knees.

“Do not move any closer; you have already lost, but you may be able to save your life.” Basil tried to say something, but his words only came out as a gargle. “Please” repeated the now unnerved looking Lizard King, but Basil only glanced at the fallen shotgun. The Lizard King seemed to realize what Basil was planning, taking a step forward, and Basil dove headfirst for it. He landed face first, coming back into view of those stuck behind the invisible door; hands on the weapon and a vague sensation that he had hurt his nose. Taking all his strength he rolled onto his back, now pointing the gun vaguely at the Lizard King.

“We have already tried that” the Lizard King shouted at Basil while he racked the next round into the chamber. “The Elthrice seemed to think they were immortal too” Basil said, or thought, he wasn’t entirely sure. The Lizard King started to charge, but Basil fired a single depleted uranium slug. He hit the ground, knocked over by the recoil, and a red mist erupted from the Lizard King’s body. Basil crawled over, now lacking the strength to rise to his knees, and saw a very decorative pendant around the dying man’s neck. He extended his left arm and put his hand around the pendant, hoping that contained the (object), and held the shotgun under his right arm still pointed at the man below him.

“What are you doing?” asked the Lizard King as Basil knelt there. “Giving it a chance to heal you before I take it” Basil replied, starting to feel dizzy again. “Kill him!” Cicero shouted at Basil from behind the invisible wall, apparently able to hear or interpolate enough of the conversation, but Basil paid him no attention.

An invisible tendril reached out from the dying man’s chest, an abyss of a different kind, and wrapped itself around Basil’s arm and began to work its way toward his chest. He wasn’t sure what was real and what was the madness of dying, but he was sure of two things: it felt real, and his vision had just failed. With no vision and a rapidly clouding mind he did the one last thing he could - reach out to the second abyss.

A warmth began to creep up his arm, then up his spine, and finally throughout the injuries on his chest and face. Suddenly his vision began to return and it became less difficult to stay upright. His energy continued to build gradually until it suddenly grew extraordinarily. Basil blinked, and he realized he was yelling some sort of war cry, then blinked again, and the three were standing around him, having somehow passed through the invisible wall.

You okay?" Spiro asked, seeming unsure of what to make of the situation. “Well fucking RIP to the pain pills I was on, but yeah!” Basil exclaimed, still trying to process what had just happened. Cicero ran over and kicked the Lizard King several times, but before Basil could yell at him ACE came over the radio. “Radiation levels just spiked and are rising exponentially. I am bringing the craft over now.” Basil suddenly heard Grey’s voice over the radio. “Basil, focus.” Basil was confused. “What?” but Grey responded as if she was trying to calm or de-escalate somebody.

“You’ve taken control of a very powerful device; you need to focus and not do anything rash.” Basil responded jokingly. “Well, I was on a lot of downers; that should even it out, right?” Grey seemed to carry a lot of worry when she replied. “Just focus and be careful, please.” ACE came over the line again. “I have instructed the Wizard to land in the Redcap’s courtyard. Get in the craft now.” Basil watched the craft land on the roof and quickly spoke up with an objection. “But the other ships, we could-.” ACE cut Basil off, seeming to carry a lot of concern in his otherwise monotone voice. “Leave them. You must leave now unless you want to become a radioactive mush.”

“You’re coming with us” Basil said to the Lizard King as he went to grab him, but the large man struggled to his feet and stepped onto the craft of his own volition. They felt no motion, and only a few seconds passed to them, but ACE relayed that they were entering Domum’s atmosphere and seconds away from being in the Redcap courtyard. The door on the craft opened and Basil began to step out. “Do not do anything to him” Basil said, words directed at Cicero. “We need to be very careful about how we end all this” Basil continued, fighting the urge for a violent resolution that suddenly lingered in the back of his mind.

Basil stepped out of the craft, beginning to admire the bright blue sky, but suddenly fixated on the crashed and burning craft that had left moments before theirs did. “Fuck fuck fuck!” Basil yelled as he sprinted across the courtyard. He realized that he was sprinting fast, much faster than he even thought possible when healed, and he had just had a sword driven through his chest moments ago. Basil made it to the burning craft well before anybody else and struggled to bend a partially opened panel on the side of it. His hands oozed dark red blood as he made an opening, his newfound strength pitted against his newfound durability. That wasn’t important, however, since he could now see the inside of the craft through a hole big enough to crawl through.

Basil began to squeeze through, smoke bellowing out as he forced himself in. The Wizard was frantically trying to pick up the barely conscious son of the Lizard king and seemed to be panicking – first from their predicament and further after seeing Basil moving towards him quickly. “Get him out of here!” Basil yelled, and the Wizard wasted no time getting the kid out through the small hole Basil had made in the craft. Basil ran deeper in and saw the two bodies of the Redcap King’s heirs lying in a pool of blood. A crate had crushed the young prince, who seemed nearly decapitated, with the princess lying on top of him, unconscious but seemingly less injured. Basil quickly picked up the girl and pushed her roughly through the opening before climbing out himself as more smoke streamed out of the craft.

The small group of redcap soldiers, General Edwards, Cicero, Casio, Spiro, Grey, and the Lizard King finally made their way over, looking on in horror. Basil turned to Gray. “Did we just create another super weapon?” Gray looked puzzled, though not much more than everybody else present. “What?” Basil re-phrased his question, struggling to find the best way to word it with his cloudy mind. “That thing go boom?” Grey seemed unsure. “What? No. I’m not sure, but I don’t think so.” Basil turned his attention to the Redcap soldiers who had surrounded the group. “Put that fire out, it’s your top priority.” The guards appeared unsure whether to follow orders from Basil, but after glances from General Edwards they ran off to presumably get water. Top priority dealt with, Basil turned his attention to the next one: the girl.