Universal Warrior: Before Red Morning Read online

identities, even from each other. Between them was Lillian, who looked worse for wear. They were all at the border, prepared to hand her off to indescribable monsters. Reginald almost stopped, horrified at what his sister was about to be handed off too, but then pressed onward. The bursting of his aura caught the attention of the officers, who stood with their backs to him.

  They’d cut Lillian’s hair; the highlighted strawberry blond hair no longer ran to the small of her back, and instead had been cut to the middle of her neck. She looked more like Cala, her twin, now. When Lillian turned to see her brother rushing towards her, she gasped.

  Don’t stop, keep moving--

  As the first officer raised his or her hand in surprise, Reginald, lowered his shoulder and barreled into the officer with the force of a mad bull. As the officer grunted in pain and surprise, Reginald lowered his shoulder and rammed into his or her chest, and Reginald, seized the hapless, flying officer. He then turned, pivoting and hurling the officer back into the relative safety of Heaven.

  Reginald then turned to the second officer, stepping past Lillian and shoving her back into Heaven. “Forgive me…” Reginald whispered as he punched the officer with enough force to lift them from the ground. The officer gasped and doubled over, grabbing Reginald’s muscular arm. He then brought his other hand down, as Maximoff had taught him, striking the officer on the back of the head. Although the Heimdall went down without a fight, Reginald grunted as the shock of the blow reverberated back through his hand, up to his shoulder. He struggled to open his fist and realized he could not do that again, as he’d nearly broken his own hand.

  “Reginald…” Lillian breathed. A moment later, in the south, the ground began shaking.

  Once again, his hand flew to his axe. “What the…”

  “You idiot!” The first officer spat in an unnatural, monotonous voice that disguised their gender. “You should’ve stayed out of this--”

  “Shut up.” Reginald commanded, “And get back.”

  Two creatures—that was the only word he could think of to describe them—were racing towards them on short, stubby legs that were mismatched in length, causing them to lumber along awkwardly, but rapidly. Their skin was a dark grey, like marble, their bodies were horribly misshapen, shaped like odd triangles that peaked at where the head should’ve been. Only, there were no heads. No left arms, either; only small, thorn-like points.

  Their right arm was massive; a muscular stalk that was easily four feet long, and drug along the ground behind them. At the end of the stalk was a bulbous mass that looked like a clubbing weapon…

  They closed the distance fast and showed no signs of stopping as they neared the invisible border. The last thing Reginald saw was what looked like an upside-down Y that appeared carved into their bodies.

  “Where is the exile…?” Their telepathy was like nails on stone, grating in all of their minds. Lillian whimpered and clasped her hands to her ears. Reginald tightened his grip on the axe and tried to suppress his excitement at what was soon to happen. “Give us the exile!!”

  “GET BACK!!” The officer warned.

  The monster on the left moved faster than Reginald anticipated, raising that python-like stalk and flinging it towards his head. Reginald was equally quick, dashing towards Lillian, who shrieked in surprise as Reginald shoved her to the ground, out of harm’s way.

  He raised his head back to the creature and in one fatal moment, froze, his mind refusing to process what his eyes were seeing.

  At the end of the bulbous stalk was what appeared to be a horribly conjoined face; yellow cat-like eyes that glowed as they took in their prey. The center eye—where the two faces had been forced together—was larger than the two that flanked it, but it was its mouth; its horrid, jagged, gaping mouth that had caused Reginald to cringe in terror.

  Its mouth was only a thin line until it opened, and when it did, there was an audible sucking noise and the face opened like a tent, preparing to envelop Reginald and swallow him whole.

  Reginald held the axe above his head protectively and tried to push through the fear, but all he could see was oncoming blackness, all he could smell was sulfur that threatened to put him under--

  “NO!” A woman bellowed with authority, barreling into him with the force of an advancing bull. Reginald grunted as he was knocked to the ground, the axe torn from his grasp.

  He was surprised to hear that the Heimdall officer was a woman. She’d charged him so quickly that she’d shed the hood that concealed her identity--

  When Reginald turned and looked, the woman had been enclosed up to her waist in the creature’s stalk. Her body bulged within, her feet kicked violently, and over the sound of a faint hissing, she kicked violently, her fingers curled as she tried to force the stem off of her. The hissing was growing louder.

  Reginald cast a quick glance to Lillian and saw that she was still safe, curled in a fetal position with her arms covering her head. Reginald dashed to his feet and grabbed his axe, and then turned. He couldn’t believe that he was about to save one of the Heimdall.

  The creature didn’t seem to notice him as he charged, and he noted that the second creature was still too far away to be a threat, but that would change in a moment. He raised his axe and took careful aim. He wanted to sever the stalk, not decapitate the woman who’d just saved his life.

  The axe struck true, and he’d used more force than necessary. Cutting through the stem was like chopping through soggy, dead wood. Reginald fell forward to the ground as the creature wretched, pulling back half of its arm as it screeched telepathically.

  Reginald glanced down to the part of the stem that held the woman. She was coughing violently, pulling herself up, out of the stalk. She was covered in a green, mucus-like fluid that had burned away part of her uniform. “Are you okay?”

  The woman coughed so forcefully that she was unable to speak. Reginald assisted, pulling her from the stalk. She immediately fell to the ground, clasping her neck with one hand and using the other to keep her up. Reginald turned back to the flailing creature, assessing the situation.

  The one he’d injured was still thrashing, dealing with the agony of having a limb severed. Spurred by the injury of its comrade, the second one hobbled eerily, taking giant, unnatural strides to close the distance. Lillian was just getting to her feet and the first officer Reginald had encountered was unconscious.

  “Lillian!” Reginald yelled to his sister.

  Shocked by his voice, she leapt, turning to face him. “Help her!” He commanded, “Get her back into our lands!”

  Lillian looked to the convulsing officer and began to shake her head. She was terrified of crossing the border and entering the Southern Lands. “But…”

  It was a valid fear, but he didn’t have time for it. Not with that second monster bearing down on them. “Lillian, you’ll be fine!” Reginald persisted, “Just take her and go.”

  Lillian nodded quickly and raced over to her brother. She looked up at him as she took the woman from him. “I’m not leaving without you.” She declared.

  Reginald turned and glowered back down to her. “Yes, you are.” He growled, “Listen to me; this entire event has been planned. Go to Dayna and Uriel. They’ll know what to do once you get there.”

  Lillian’s eyes widened in horror. “You involved your family in this?! Do you know what’ll happen to them?”

  Reginald pushed her, trying to get her away from the situation. Lillian, stubborn as always, planted her back foot and was only moved a few inches. “This only fails if we get caught! Now get out of here!” He hollered.

  He knew Lillian was still protesting, but time had run out. The second creature had arrived. Although it had no visible orifice, Reginald could’ve sworn that he heard the creature panting.

  He clenched his axe and remembered what Maximoff had drilled into his head; it’s just like chopping wood.

  As the second creature reared back, ready to strike, Reginald gave a furtive glance to the first
creature. It had fallen to the ground, its writhing slowed. A deepening pool of dark green fluid, spewing from the wound, was slowly engulfing the monster.

  It would be dead soon.

  And you killed it.

  He pushed the thought away. He knew he’d answer for it later, but only if he survived the day.

  The second creature was unnaturally fast, raising that heavy stalk as though it weighed nothing. Reginald dodged to the left as it crashed to the ground a moment later. He would’ve been crushed if the thing had hit him.

  Reginald turned, swinging his axe down at the exposed stalk. The creature was ready for the move and yanked its limb back. It raced across the ground like a snake.

  Reginald leapt, throwing himself into the Southern Lands and raising his axe for a critical strike. The creature raised its whip-like stalk again, preparing to swat Reginald out of the sky like an insect.

  Years of lumberjacking paid off; no one was faster with an axe than Reginald. Before the stalk could reach him, he landed and sank the blade directly into the creature’s side, hitting with enough force to lift it from the ground. Before the thing could do whatever it did to communicate, Reginald withdrew the axe and swung again, this time low, aiming at one of its legs. The blade found its mark just above where its knee should’ve been, and Reginald drowned out the telepathic shrieking it emanated as it melted to the ground. Reginald then jerked his blade