Nerquin/2

EQUIPOISE
It was seven point five hours when Kryn left, with him he had his blade, shoes made to run silently, light aluminum plate armour along with a helmet of the same material. He prowled in the lights, which were only off if they had been smashed. He liked to travel in the area that had been vandalized, it was easier to hide. He had traveled deeper within the Equipoise zone, and it was beginning to have higher security. He couldn’t sneak in now, he would have to run for it. Run until he could get to the doors, and by then he would be killed. Some were holding air guns, the pressurized bullets pierced through fabrics and were narrow enough to get through chain mail, only plates would protect one. Zerkaz had already known of this, and given Kryn the lightest of metals. Kryn’s thorough exercise had made the plate mail bearable, it almost weighed as much as his blade and was supported by his back.

A shot was blasted and Kryn jumped at the force it had pressed upon him, he hadn’t thought that they would create the guns to contain such pressure. Adrenalin spread throughout him and fear ebbed into his mind. He began to regret declining the leg protectors and ran faster. Zerkaz had warned him of the more dangerous pressure gun, the hydrogen gun. It was charged with a pump and set beside a tank of hydrogen, the seal was very tight and when the hydrogen let loose it fired the bullets at more then five times the force, his armour may take one shot of that, and get dented, but another shot in the same place and his armour would snap. One more shot through the hole in his plate and he would be shot lethally. Zerkaz had explained that he didn’t use guns because they needed to be pumped. If one were to shoot, they would have to pump their gun. By time it was charged they would be dead. If they had a gun and a knife, they would have to drop their gun. It would be stolen and brought to the attacking union, not worth the cost. If you use the gun as a club, the mechanics would break.

But now it was a danger, for he was being attacked by many and eventually even the air guns would break his armour. He ran as fast he could, his sword rose and decapitated the head of his offenders, other bullets were hitting his plate now and he knew they were calling for help, he had to reach his destination soon. The gun shots were loud, the air exploding as it released from compression, his armour echoing as it was struck and the walls making lower tones for when the guns missed. That was another disadvantage for guns, they weren’t as accurate.

He looked over his mental map of the zone, the next left turn would get him to the main doors. He feared that hydrogen gunmen were there, as they would likely be. In front of him though, stood five swordsmen. They would slash at his legs, if he let them. Fear led him to be impulsive, something vital in battle. He ran for the right side of the guards, and his sword sliced through two of their throats, only three remained. He set his now red blade to slice the back of the rest’s necks, slashing through their swords when they struck at him. They slashed at him, he killed them before they could do too much damage. They moved to surround him, and piled upon him. He had faced such attacks with his knife, his sword that was three times the length as his original knife finished them off the sooner. What stopped him was the ten hydrogen guns, placed along the five meter hall were lined hydrogen gunmen. They had held off when he was attacked, they did not want to hit their own, as hydrogen guns have an accuracy lower then an air guns because the pressure is so high that they have a slight angle to them that could differ between about ten degrees. As soon as he rose ten bullets came for him, the explosion of the released hydrogen so loud that he ducked back down to the floor in fright. They had been aiming for his body, the easiest target. He jumped up again, his sword at the height of the tanks. He randomly zigged and zagged, slashing at the tanks of hydrogen. The blast shot the tanks in directions, he jumped when they came for him. But the slashes he sent on the iron tanks, heavy so that the tank would not fall, sent them at the enemy normally. All they could do was try to shoot him, and few bullets even brushed his armour. One waited for him to come to him, so Kryn would be easier to hit. He dived into the gunman and his blade sent through the victim’s stomach. He took the gun, and aimed at the others, only three remained. One was shot, and he ran for the second. The second began to run, along with the third. He smashed his sword against the skull of the second retreating gunman, his skull cracked and he fell to the ground. Kryn slashed his sword into the stomach of the fallen guard as he turned to attack the third, who would bring more to kill Kryn, and soon the unarmed guard was also killed. Danger levels lowered and a little bit of joy masked the fear in Kryn.

He looked at the door, it was well locked and there was a monitor with a button and speaker to speak with the people inside. He was sure they had been warned, perhaps they would let him in thinking they could easily kill him. He pushed the button, a man’s face appeared at the intercom, he saw Kryn with the red hexagon on his armour. He spoke in a tone of anger, but the mixture showed a larger quantity of fear, "What are you doing? You think I am going to let you in while my wife is in distress? Do you not care for a mother? You truly show the traits of Kibosh, barbaric! Why have you slaughtered so many? How have you? You are simply one against my entire union yet you can get to the core of this place..."

In the reflection of the monitor, Kryn saw a man sneaking towards him, Vrelk was trying not to look at the man. Kryn turned, slashing at the man. He stabbed his skull and pierced his blade into the jaw. He decapitated the head with a graceful slash and picked it up, turning towards Vrelk face’s image, he said in his voice, "You see the empty tanks, you see the dead men and now you see another." At that he threw the head into the monitor screen, smashing it in the doing so, "Now, may I come in?" he spoke to a broken monitor now.

"What is wrong with you, why would I let you in?"

"Okay."

Kryn moved to the door, if they wanted him to do more vandalism he would. He raised his blade and hit where the lock should be. He scratched it, and his hilt pushed into his stomach, the door was titanium. He aimed for the spot again, and ran into it. The scratch became slightly more evident, it was now a dent. Kryn went to the hydrogen gun nearest to the door. It was aimed at the door and then at the dent, which lead to the lock which was now most likely broken so that it could not be unlocked. The pellet crumpled, but the door received its share of damage. Kryn rolled the tank over to the door, then stuck the end of the gun at the dent, he charged it and then released the compressed hydrogen. The pellet shot into the door and the lock seemed to be hurt enough there to lose hold, and the gun seemed to have received a backlash effect, its snout was slightly bent now and the mechanics of it were likely broken, so that even if the snout was straightened, the hydrogen would leak. He went over and broke the rest of the tanks

He held the handle, and turned the knob, a guard leaped out before Kryn had opened the door, the guard had opened it for him. But Kryn was acting on impulse and by time the guard landed, he was dead. Kryn hurried inside, and shut the door behind him, it opened inwards so he could lock it by pushing one of the shelves by it. Kryn hurried, he did not know the architecture of the building, but he followed the most likely path. Few guards were placed within the building, intruders are normally killed before reaching the core. Any guard he met was soon dealt with. Then he came to the hall that held Vrelk’s room, it was guarded heavily. Ten hydrogen gunmen were placed there, and they were experienced. They held their guns and aimed through the aiming scope, Kryn would be fired upon in an organized manner. Kryn dived to the ground, pushing the first tank into its owner, the owner was set off balance and shot into the ceiling. The tank began to automatically charge the gun, and Kryn grabbed it to shoot at the next guard. He stayed hidden behind the large tank, it was large so that refuelling was rare. Tanks are hard to move, you have to roll them, and while doing so you are vulnerable. The tank Kryn hid behind would hold a shot, and then the pressure would release and it would be useless. But hydrogen guns are not accurate no matter how good one can use them. Whether or not they are accurate, the others shot Kryn’s tank so that he could not shoot them. He ran for the next tank, one shot that tank, and another shot for Kryn, his leg was pierced and he fumbled in the air, turning in hope, as he was now desperate with his adrenalin high. He kept running, hurrying for the next one, he ran quickly and his armour was wrecked. Three bullets entered his body. But by time the next attack was made, they were being killed, a few tried to use their guns as clubs, but guns are meant to be shot and they proved to be useless. He slashed the guns and then the owners. The last one had had time to aim at him, and the bullet fell into his knee, Kryn fell. The gunman ran over and clubbed Kryn in the head a few times, while parrying Kryn's attempt to fend the guard.

Inside, Kryn awoke laying on his chest, with his shirt missing, he stared now not at an image, but at the actual face of Vrelk. Vrelk was in his thirties. He was a very stern man, his build was of average weight and high strength, and held a very high air of authority. His hair was bleached and kept short, dyed also in the pale bleu of his union. Upon his arms was drawn the double loop of his union also. He had bit of a glad frown on him, glaring at Kryn in triumph. His arms were placed on his hips in a way that intimidated any who stared at his bleu eyes, which held a serious look that made anything he said get through the first time with immediate action, no questions were ever asked either.

"Well, I’m surprised you got that far, but my gunmen are top class. I don’t know why Zerkaz doesn’t use guns, hydrogen guns are the strongest thing we have in Doom, though I understand how few can produce hydrogen. But air guns, air is all around us. And Kibosh can get hydrogen, I am sure. They can extract it from the water. Now I can see your sword is of diamondium, quite rare and valuable. And I am sure Zerkaz isn’t going to hand it out. What status do you hold?" Vrelk held a voice of high ego, and he obviously carried the honour and glory of it.

"I am at his service and ready to do all he wishes, along with being his heir."

"His heir! We have Kibosh’s heir...now that is interesting. Zerkaz truly is barbaric, sending his heir here to kill me, such a high risk is held in that. I am about to have a heir, and I would not send him alone to Kibosh, that is for sure. Now, I want you to tell me all about Kibosh, got it? Do realize that you are in a chair made to torture, in many ways."

"I will not tell, you will kill me after this either way and I don’t care much for the torture part at the moment."

"Isn’t that funny?" Vrelk let out a sinful laugh at that, "you do not care about being tortured...Want to know what I can do to you?"

"Go ahead, you will either way."

"I can turn this chair into a horizontal board and stretch at you until you are ripped apart. I can make it be vertical, and hang you by your arms. I can whip you with an iron tip whip. I can take red iron rods out of the fire and burn you with them, poking at your stomach and later sticking them into your mouth, ears or eyes. I can take an air gun and shoot at your non-vital organs for hours. I can drip water on your forehead for days, or better yet, acid. I can beat you with a bar of iron, or even use one of my heated iron rods. I could punch you for hours, which I would love to do just out of sheer stress relieving. I could cut you up with a dull rusty knife, take out some non-vital organs perhaps. Or better yet, I could take your intestines and wrap them around a spiked turning post, let them get stretched around it and then feed you, if you are still alive. I could slash at your entire body and let you sit there and bleed. I could pick out your eyeballs and then stick two long pins down your ears. Or I could give you an easy death, say a bullet from a hydrogen gun straight into your head, you’ll be dead before your nerves have time to let you know the pain."

"I’m not going to tell you anything, no security details or anything of the like, do what you wish with me. I don’t really care."

"Fine then, you had a choice. Shall we start with the whip?"

"Why not, though I would prefer to be freed."

"Shutup you fool, you had your chance to not endure the pain I promised I would give you otherwise."

"I know, I’m not of low intellect."

"You think you’re smart, eh? You obviously are too stupid to know that you are stupid then..."

Vrelk pulled a lever by the chair, and it straightened vertically. Vrelk took a whip out from a pocket by the chair, and let it unravel. He glared at Kryn. And in the doing, he raised the whip, and smashed it into the bare back. Kryn's nerves sent the message of pain to him, and he felt it engulf him, he started to feel afraid of what the other treatments would do. He yelled in the darkness of that fear, "Are you ready to talk again, smart enough to see that was only a sample of what I can do?" Vrelk asked in his egotistic voice, now holding back laughter, "Tell me all you know!"

Kryn didn’t say anything, he was just trying to cut off his brain’s communication with his nerves. Again the whip lashed at him, but the pain could not be blocked. He had been able to block pains in the past, small ones of course, like when someone once was bending his fingers back. But this pain was too much, the pain so powerful that he couldn’t stop his brain from reacting. Again the whip struck him, red lines were becoming evident and the tip of it also brought the whip down faster, harder, "Tell me, we can get this all over with. I have tortured people for days before they have died."

Silence still was in Kryn, he would not tell him the lowest security areas, the combination to Zerkaz’s room’s lock. Or anything else he had learned, like the escape shaft that lead to the core of Kibosh. And in return for his loyalty, the whip was slapped upon his back, scaring the flesh, "This isn’t going to do is it? Fine then, we’ll see what you think of the next thing I have planned for you."

Metal was lifted, red metal. The iron had raised in heat and was set upon Kryn, it was worse then the whip, not only did his flesh get harmed, but his inner organs heated up. He still was quiet, "That is not good enough for you? Alright, let me do the honours of letting it get inside you, even more."

The iron rod, with it’s dull tip was thrust into the back of Kryn, he screamed in pain of his body’s damage. The rod was left inside him, and the whip lashed him again, "Are you still not ready? I know you know the combination to Zerkaz’s lock. He was smart enough to barricade it so that it could not be broken. Him and taking diamondium and building a room with it. He had to steal so much of it, and even create the alloy to do such a thing. And now he is passing out swords of it. Of course, you are his heir."

Vrelk’s anger consumed him, and with his strong arms he pummelled Kryn. He took the rod out and beat Kryn yelling in rage, confused to why Kryn would not speak. He smashed the bar furiously, breaking bones. Kryn began to realize that he was about to die, and then his arm was set loose. In the fury, Vrelk had decided to plunge the bar at Kryn’s head. It had smashed the arm hold though, and dented the lock. Kryn took his hand out, Vrelk stabbed Kryn again out of anger and that gave Kryn time to grab the whip, which Vrelk had set back into the holster. Kryn whipped at Vrelk, hitting the man in the arm. This made Vrelk even more annoyed, he took the bar out and while plunging it back towards Kryn’s stomach, was whipped again, he dropped the bar. This let him have some common sense, he went to grab the whip from Kryn threw it away. Vrelk was so lost in the mist of his emotions that all he remembered of what he wanted to do was get the whip, he went running for it. Kryn took the moment of freedom to unclip his other hand, and then to get his legs freed, but Vrelk came back now while Kryn was undoing his second foot. The whip smashed into Kryn’s skull, he kicked at Vrelk, but Vrelk was standing away from Kryn. Kryn decided to ignore the pain, to ignore the blood that was coming of his body, to focus on his foot. In moments he had undone it, ignored the pain of the whip’s lash upon his back, the hot iron rod he had received in his arm and the pain of his broken bones. In a moment he had taken the whip Vrelk had and whipped his foe, in that moment he had ran, grabbed his sword from the table beside him and tried to kill Vrelk, but Vrelk had ran for his sword, and Kryn knew that he must run now. In the next moment, he had ran in full instinct out of the room and charged out of Equipoise. He had ran, any who tried to attack him were killed, if they stood in his path or ignored. Bullets chased after him, but they were not able to hit him, or at least kill him, his right arm was limp and his left held the sword loosely. He ran until he reached Kibosh, where adrenalin finally calmed and he fell over, Equipoise guards had given up the chase when they saw the speed he ran at and where he went. He fell in Kibosh, and awoke in Zerkaz’s room of defence, he was crippled.

His stomach was blanketed in a long bandage and his right arm was in a cast that gripped his shoulder and went down to his hand with a soft black texture. The elbow had a mechanism to bend, while relieving stress on the muscles and skin. It was also very soft at the joint. His fingers were let out, and placed in a soft tubes. Once again, Zerkaz sat by Kryn, his eye in an arc before he began to speak, "Well, you followed your first priority. You got back alive. Your back blistering, your insides burned and your bones crushed, but somehow you ran on beaten legs and reached here, and you were still alive. You always seem to get yourself a nice scar. But still you refuse to die...You might find it hard to eat, your stomach was just tied together and a lot of the stuff inside you seemed to have drained. We had to do a blood test on you, your AB. If everyone was that it would be easy, and it is good for you. We gave you some blood, but your bones are just held by some sterilized glue, it is calcium based so that your bones can get into it and it will turn into bone, hopefully."

"I would of been okay, if one of the gunmen hadn’t shot my leg and beat me unconscience."

"He must of done more, how did you survive if he drove you to faint and how did you get in such a shape, you have internal burns..."

"After he punched my head a few times, I awoke in Vrelk’s torture chair, he wanted to know the combination to this room and anything else I might know. Either way, he planned on killing me. But in anger he accidentally broke one of my arms loose. I escaped eventually."

"I see, well you did fulfill your top priority..."

"And I still have my blade."

"Good."

A few months later, Kibosh had expanded on some of its arrogantly large unions and made a few new allies. Equipoise had attacked once, but it still was held back. The population had dropped by a few, but some enemy union members had also joined and some others had come from the society, it kept it all balanced in the end. Kryn was now able to move, though he wasn’t advised to fight with anyone. Instead, he was sent to get people from the society, the entrance was near Kibosh and it was slowly trying to expand on to it, but the elevator was a prime spot. Kibosh planned to have it soon, until then they would send people there, kill the guards and wait for awhile. Kryn also had been set into a high respect level, and with that he was asked if he wanted to have any markings like Zerkaz had. And of course, he did. It was a custom and though Kryn didn’t care for it, he knew that it would only have positive reactions. He stopped with his arms however, unlike Zerkaz. Zerkaz sent Kryn on the final battle, to take the elevator. Zerkaz had been leaving it alone, but he planned now to expand around it, allowing no one there, to that particular elevator of the ten that existed.

The area was strongly guarded, Kryn was given thirty soldiers. They moved quickly, killing everyone they came by. Zerkaz followed later, bringing ten soldiers. Quickly, they moved along the borders. Kryn moved on the interior of the battle, finding intruders until he also went to cover the net of halls. Slowly, only one person was covering a hall. Zerkaz withdrew, sending word across. The zone border took a smaller area and Kryn was left there, with his thirty guards. They stayed and recruited from the society that allowed only one child per family because of the large population. Most of the people were murders, rapist and in some cases thieves. Kryn never met a person who was as innocent as he was, no one came from Nirvana even. Zerkaz had open arms to everyone, no matter what they did he allowed them to join Kibosh or be executed. He would set them in a state he saw fitting and then forget about them, just see them as another person. He had one talk with them, and if he found them to be a ordinary person, never talk with them again. A few were set higher then a guard, but most were just left as they came. Soon, Zerkaz switched Kryn and sent in someone else. By then the population of that area had gone from thirty to forty and had gained two more barracks. Zerkaz was pleased by this, and decided to reward Kryn, even if he wouldn’t care about it.

"Hello Kryn, I remember you asked for more diamondium. Do you want to know how we make it?"

"Okay."

"Alright, come with me."

"Okay."

Zerkaz moved along the halls, to the forgery, there he pulled out a diamond and some titanium, "Do you know what diamonds are?"

"Yes, I was an intellect, they are pure carbon. Carbon is the atom to melt last, subliming at 3775K and has 12 protons."

"Yes, now the heat would melt the furnace so we have to grind this diamond, which also the strongest thing we know of," Zerkaz dropped the lump of carbon into the grinder, "Once it is fine enough we will put it into the diamond furnace." A few minutes passed, during so Zerkaz had set the furnace alight and put the titanium in, which melted into the sub furnace, and then the diamond was turned to dust, Zerkaz poured the dust into the diamond furnace, "Then we must wait for it to melt into the funnel, would you like to play a game of chess while we wait?"

"Okay."

The two moved to a corner across from the furnace and Zerkaz left to get his chess board. When he came back, they commenced in the battle of wits. Zerkaz was a good player, he played it on the database with the computer’s artificial intelligence updating itself frequently. But still, Kryn manoeuvred Zerkaz into a check mate within an hour, making moves within five seconds and waiting for Zerkaz to decide on the best of choices, even though they were not the best. Kryn utilized the queen and slowly worked on Zerkaz’s front line of pawns, while his knight moved about attacking the back lines. Soon Zerkaz lost his queen, and broke out with an all offence that focused on taking the king out quickly. Kryn took advantage by taking out the rooks and bishops. The king was quickly moved into the corner.

A few games later, of which the result did not differ, the sub furnace on the side of the furnace echoed with the drops of liquid carbon. Zerkaz moved swiftly, waiting for the furnace to empty the carbon and then shut the lid of the sub furnace with an iron pole. The titanium had already melted, and would evaporate under the carbon. But the carbon would hold some of it, just merge with the gas. The gas would slowly cool as the heat released slowly from the no longer heated, but sealed, sub furnace. A few moments was all it was given, it was drained right onto a thick block of ice. The ice would melt, and that would not give it a large chance to get into the alloy. Well melting, it would cool the slush into a block of diamondium. This process was very hard, the energy was hard to come by with the many batteries which stored it. Diamond was also hard to come by, the pressure of a volcano had to be emulated. Titanium also isn’t the easiest to find. After all this effort, diamondium was not the easiest material to create. If the titanium gas escaped, you would lose the titanium and the carbon would remain as it was before, a waste of energy. And after all this is done for the material, it still needs forgery.

Zerkaz added the successful diamondium with his other lump. He now had fifty cubic centimetres. But Kryn wanted an entire meter, something that Zerkaz did not have. Kryn was fine with the facts, practical thinking had left him to only know that he had to wait for such things and focus on them, not hope that they would be handed to him. And for that, he needed to find some, and Zerkaz knew exactly how to. Equipoise, they collected resources for there people to use, and they saved a large sum of it. If Kibosh took Equipoise, they would own a tenth of Doom, and that was rare. Zerkaz had been collecting a large population recently, as was the result of having Kryn stabilize the elevator’s zone, which had always been unclear of who owned it. With Equipoise under constant attack, there allies would come in. The allies would be weaker, leaving it open to attack them. Kibosh would bring in their allies also, and the enemy allies would fight with their allies. That would leave Kibosh some time to focus on Equipoise. Eventually, after a few of the allies were set free Kibosh would have reinforcements. While Zerkaz fought with Kibosh against Equipoise, Kryn would take on the enemy allies. If all went right, Equipoise would be left with no allies, while Kibosh had some survivors. The surviving allies would come into Equipoise, along with the recruits from the elevator. Kryn agreed with it, a bit bold but that was required in this society.

"Zerkaz, before you plan on attacking Equipoise, might you happen to have the following, and may I have use of them; black powder, requires a large stick, flat filter of about a thirty centimetres square, cloth, water, alcohol, powdered sulphur, ground charcoal, granulated potassium nitrate and heat resistant buckets that can hold four litres each. Brass, gasoline, corn starch and thirty centimetres long cotton threads?"

"Why would you need those? We have some though, and I trust you enough to use them."

"Okay, I’d like to use the furnace for awhile too, to make the black powder."

"Can you explain what this is all for, Kryn?"

"I plan on making an explosive, not many people know of them. They were used in historical times as weapons but now are just accidents in chemistry. I’m going to make it so that when a thread of sulphured cotton is lit, an explosion will occur."

"Interesting, I look forward to when you have finished it."

Kryn spent some time with the ingredients and soon was able to get Zerkaz to see an explosion, Kryn lit the fuse with a spark, as he had dipped the end of the fuse in gasoline, and threw the bomb as far as he could, pulling Zerkaz back as it exploded. Zerkaz only grinned, turned to Kryn and told him, "Make sure nobody here except for you knows how to make those, if Doom started using those as standard weapons we would all be dead soon."

"Don’t worry, if we leave the people ignorant, they won’t be able to duplicate such power..."

Zerkaz moved silently ahead of his large unit, with him were three escorts and he held a bomb, along with his escorts also. He began to review everything in his mind, reviewing his profiles on everyone who played a vital role. He wished he had Kryn as an escort, Kryn was reliable. That was why he was in the position he was in, not here. Vik, Zerkaz’s most unreliable escort out of his three specially chosen, was at the end of the triangle, two more escorts covered Zerkaz from the front. Zerkaz wore an titanium plate, his escorts took the light aluminium. Anyone who had been able to get some aluminium armour had worked for it, the gear’s value had increased recently. Few wore iron though, it was valuable on normal occasions and heavier. Anyone who couldn’t get aluminium had tried to get some aluminium-tin alloy, even if it wouldn’t hold well. They were nearing the border, soon they would need to move into combat. In the beginning it would be easy, fifteen guards against a hundred. But slowly word would get out and reach Vrelk. He braced himself for the battle that was to come.

Kryn moved a bit quicker, he went to Gailith and had asked that that they repay there safety now by helping take down Equipoise, that they invest in more safety once Equipoise is gone and that they prove their loyalty. Any who declined would be lowered in allied rank, with all those reasons, they gathered the small militia they had and moved for an enemy ally. Kryn also gave them a list, wrote Gailith on it and asked that they send one person with the list to another ally of Kibosh or theirs who would add their name to it and pass it on. At first thought, they wondered why they didn’t use the database, but Doom only had one network. That meant that if Kibosh planned an attack on them with computer messages, Equipoise could easily see what they were doing. After the first ally group was told and they began relaying the message, Kryn went back to Kibosh and made some bombs. He put them on a cart and decided to deliver them to Zerkaz before heading to help the allies. There he would negotiate with Zerkaz in not going to the help their allies.

"Oh, Kryn, you are here with a cart of your lethal containers I see, come into this room we secured."

"Okay."

Inside the former Equipoise room, the double loops were being painted over and soon the crest would be replaced with a large red hexagon, "So Kryn, is word being sent?"

"I have begun the ripple effect."

"Good, when do you plan on going to help the other unions?"

"I believe that I should stay here and help you with Equipoise."

"If you think so, then I will agree."

"Okay."

"Will you be my escort then?"

"Okay."

"Good."

The next morning, Zerkaz sat down with his most respected elites and Kryn to decide the units. Each person who came had brought their profile, and each one was being passed around and placed in a pile beside the profiles of certain elites. Kryn saw his go beside Zerkaz’s, though he didn’t have any interest in the profile, he hadn’t looked at it for more then a glance during his life in Doom, though it was memorized. Each unit was revised after, they wanted the units to be balanced and able to cooperate easily.

By the afternoon, the units were set and Zerkaz moved out with now five escorts. Vik was in the back, along with another one of Zerkaz’s escorts, Kryn led the group. They passed along the routes, Zerkaz had sent units to surround the area. He moved along, following Kryn. Kryn grasped his blade, he felt a little tint of emotion, enough to make him want to suppress it. He fell back into neutrality. Kryn paused, the next turn would have guards. He turned and whispered so to Zerkaz. Zerkaz nodded. Kryn slipped ahead, a shout was heard and Zerkaz lead his four other escorts with him. He jumped behind Kryn, guarding his heir’s back. Vik was slashed lethally, another escort stepped in, holding his dagger in defence. The glass floors were soon abandoned with only the carcasses of death and Zerkaz set a defence in the intersection. They would have to wait for someone to replace Vik. Zerkaz had planned to go as deep as he could until such an event occurred, and then hold the passage, and that time was now.

But Kryn had planned on a full attack. Not a slow territorial battle that would slowly close in on the enemy. He could get into the core alone, but with a large group they couldn’t sneak into the core. This made three rash options available. Firstly, Kryn could stay with Zerkaz and wait for Zerkaz to advance. Secondly, Kryn could move to advancing units and aid them in battle. Or he could move on alone, reaching the core early.

If he took the first option, Zerkaz would remain safe and be able to advance more quickly, but more units would be killed. If he took the second option, advancing units would be able to advance safely and less units would die, but Zerkaz would be in more danger. If he chose the third option, he could quickly kill Vrelk, or he would be killed. Either he would be successful in his last meeting with the Equipoise union or he would have a repeat of his last meeting with Vrelk, and he wouldn’t be as lucky. Vrelk would contain his emotions and be prepared for Kryn’s neutrality on matters. Kryn decided that he would choose the first option, Zerkaz was his first priority. The best way to make sure Zerkaz was safe was to stay in Zerkaz’s unit.

Zerkaz had just finished dealing with another enemy unit, most of his escorts were new ones now. Only Kryn and Ezel were left. Vik was dead and Greg had been sent back to the poor clinic they had set up at the border.

Ten minutes later, another enemy unit came. Zerkaz moved swiftly and Ezel covered him. Kryn ran ahead of Zerkaz, killing the gunners ahead. Kryn moved over and took one of the foes from behind well they went after Greg’s replacement, Joshua. Another foe had been chasing Kryn, but Zerkaz had taken care of his heir. The blood stained floor that Zerkaz had taken refuge at was stained even more, it was getting a bit sticky in places but also slippery. That fact had killed one of the foes, who hadn’t taken that fact into his strategy. Zerkaz had his unit move the dead bodies into the entrance that the enemy was using, the barrier was catching them slightly off guard and making it another hurtle. Of course, they still crossed, Zerkaz was on the other side and Equipoise would greatly appreciate the death of Kibosh’s ingenious leader.

Another five minutes later, another unit came. They were at a loss now. The unit was large now, word must have reached Vrelk that Zerkaz was here. The unit held ten now, each holding an air gun. Zerkaz yelled for retreat, but as he yelled the order, Joshua was shot in the stomach. Another gunmen aimed at Zerkaz, and Kryn could tell that the foe had a good aim. Zerkaz was running, and the diffuse of air came from the old gun, it would still shoot though. Kryn ran forwards into the line of fire, uncaring whether he die from this shot or not. The adrenalin had died and he was now in his void, and fighting. The shot flew forward, it would have hit Zerkaz lethally, but it hit Kryn instead. The lead bullet pressed into the Kryn’s arm, he fell. In the moment, another shot was taken at Zerkaz as he turned back to see Kryn struck. The bullet dug into Zerkaz's heart. He lit his bomb and ran with Kryn, Ezel lit hers also and threw it among the dead bodies. While the sulphured wicks slowly burnt away, Ezel hurried to run away with Joshua.

A little while later, Kryn was facing Zerkaz. Kryn was in an arm brace and Zerkaz was just staring at Kryn in pain. His blood was being artificially pumped for the short time he wished.

"Hello Kryn, this is probably going to be the last of our conversations. I was infected with a lethal venom they can’t treat. You probably don’t care much, just noticing the fact that Kibosh will be weakened. You’ll be the next leader though, you’re a good heir. Before I die, which will be some time later today, I want to know that I leave Kibosh in good hands, and that this attack succeeds."

"Okay."

"I never got to know what your life was like very much, though apparently you are one of the innocent ones. I was born here, in Kibosh. I was the heir via monarchy, but I like to be progressive, right? So I hope you keep the same despotism I held."

"Okay."

"If you want my blade, it is under this death bed of mine. Promise you will keep the union in tact, alright?"

"Okay."

"Good, you always seem to think practically...So much to say and so little time..."

"What is it like having intense emotions?"

"It is wonderful, in life all there is to go after is happiness. Without that, what are we living for? Nothing, Kryn. You have some emotions though... Maybe that is why you care to act practical...Enough emotion to have some drive, and not enough to act unpractical...I am getting a bit tired now, hold Kibosh together, Kryn..."

"Okay."

And with that, Zerkaz decided that it was time that he took his last sleep, and Kryn decided to take Zerkaz’s blade, it was a bit different then Kryn’s though, it was slightly shorter and more thick, but it would do. He picked it up in his left hand, he took his own work of art in his right hand and focused on balancing. He would train like this, the light diamondium was a bit heavy, but Kryn could carry it. For the people of Nerquin were more developed in strength then the average human, and Kryn was above average with the elites.