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“The planet now belongs to you, human. Leave us.”
The Daemon King sat upon his obsidian throne. The elaborate structure had been carved from the base of a volcano that rose behind the royal courtyard. Black smoke spewed from its numerous vents. Rivulets of magma were channeled into angular designs as they flowed down the mountainside.
A flight of craggy stone steps descended from the throne, and at its base stood a dark woman concealed in a violet cloak. Gray ash dusted her shoulders and cowl. On her back was the symbol of the Cooperation, an ornate ‘C’ in the color of white. Beside the dark woman stood a man with umber skin who was in a suit of pliable armor, its white surface reflecting the warm colors of the nearby lava flows. The plating around his left arm was fashioned into a small cannon.
A shadow lurked somewhere nearby in the darkness.
“What is it you want in return, King Aladon?” asked the woman.
“No stipulations, Senator,” said the King in a slow growl, each word bleeding into the next through one long, grumbled breath. “Planet Thuun now falls within humanity’s spacial boundaries as was dictated by the Senate. Consider our peaceful acceptance of this robbery as a gift to humanity. Congratulations on joining the intergalactic community, Senator. Use Thuun as a tool to aid in the expansion of your species.”
“Forgive me for being so blunt,” said the Senator, “but what are you hiding from me? A planet with an atmosphere such as Thuun’s is a rare find. I cannot expect the Daemon to forsake it so easily; to give us a world that you could make use of.”
“Thuun is uninhabitable by my kind. Humanity, however, will not find its atmosphere a hindrance. Your people are more adaptable than ours. Take the world, Senator Folami. It is yours by decree of the Senate. Colonize it. Harvest it. Sell it. I care not. Use it as you will.”
“I accept your amicable forfeiture of Thuun with caution, King Aladon. With this you win no favors from my people, only gratitude.”
“I expect nothing more,” said Aladon. The King paused as three sharp, thunderous cracks exploded from the mountains behind the courtyard.
“What is this?” demanded Senator Folami.
The Daemon King moved away from his throne. Aladon’s bulbous body was like a giant ball of dough atop numerous spider-like legs, but despite his size he was able to hustle down the stone steps toward the human Senator in a hurry. “It’s the Ashfallen, savage rabble from the underworld. You must flee.”
Folami’s bodyguard stepped between her and King Aladon, standing half as tall as the alien being. The Daemon royal guards escorted their leader out of the courtyard and into a nearby corridor as balls of white-hot lava rolled down the slope of the nearest volcano and launched themselves into the air, crashing down onto the obsidian floor.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Beings emerged from the explosions of lava. Hard, black rock unfolded into living extremities that were held together by the molten material that filled in the gaps.
Folami and her bodyguard ran after King Aladon toward the corridor.
The Ashfallen followed.
Two of the Daemon guards turned and held at the corridor entrance, ready to fight. Senator Folami nearly tripped over her own feet as the approaching Ashfallen shook the ground with their every step, but with the aid of her bodyguard she maintained her footing and together they ran into the corridor.
The Daemon guards lifted their enormous morning stars and swung them at the stone bodies of the Ashfallen. Metal collided with rock, the weapons bashing craters into the volcanic beings. One of the Ashfallen leapt into the air and smashed into the ground between the Daemon guards, sundering the obsidian beneath, splitting the ground like a fractured glacier. The Daemons’ spider-like legs kept them from falling into the crevice, but they were left distracted and open to attack. One Ashfallen punched a fiery fist deep into the fat body of one of the guards, then lifted the Daemon and slammed it into the widening crevice, stomping it down farther with its stone foot.
The smallest of the three Ashfallen took a fatal blow to the head from the remaining guard’s morning star, causing the other two Ashfallen to become further enraged. Their bodies shimmered as their temperatures rose, the waves of heat distorting their forms. They leapt upon the remaining Daemon guard and ignited its flesh with the extreme heat of their own bodies. The Ashfallen left the corpse to burn as they made their way into the corridor.
King Aladon continued to flee deeper within the structure as his remaining two guards turned to fend off the warriors of the underworld. Folami’s bodyguard did the same. “Keep moving, Senator,” he shouted. Without hesitation, Folami continued running in the same direction as was King Aladon.
The bodyguard’s arm cannon whined as it powered up. He raised the weapon and shot energy blasts at the Ashfallen, but the electric blue pulses were absorbed by the red-hot heat of the fire and brimstone creatures. He stepped back behind the Daemon royal guards as they moved forward to attack. The enormous aliens battled as the others had before, clashing metal with stone, but the Daemon’s fleshy bodies were unable to endure close combat with the molten monsters.
Seeing the Daemons falling in front of him, Folami’s guard fired his energy blasts into the ceiling and walls of the corridor, collapsing the hall on top of the Ashfallen as the mountain caved in.
“Davi,” shouted a voice from the shadows, “run to the ship!” He turned and ran as he was instructed. Within seconds, the Ashfallen had barreled through the blockage and continued their hunt.
Davi turned a corner and was able to see the end of the corridor. He noticed that Senator Folami had not yet made it to the safety of her ship, so he turned around and threw everything he could muster at the approaching Ashfallen.
His volley of blasts was ignored. Davi closed the armored visor of his helmet and charged forward, retracting the plating of his arm cannon to reveal a reinforced fist which he used to strike at the first sulphur-sucker in his path. His punch knocked a chip off of one of the rock bodies, but he was brushed aside by a flaming arm as the Ashfallen ran past him.
Davi picked himself up and chased after the beasts. It was impossible for him to see around their bodies, to know if Folami had made it to safety. He watched as the Ashfallen reached the end of the corridor and entered the room beyond where a hailstorm of ice and foam erupted from every direction. Curtains of frozen precipitation fell from the spaceport’s rafters. The fiery beasts collapsed to the ground, subdued by the moisture. Davi caught up to the rock-bodies as their flames extinguished and their molten elements stiffened. One of the Ashfallen already appeared to be lifeless, but the other could still manipulate the fissures which appeared to be its face.
“Lies-s-s,” it whispered in the steam that escaped from its body. “All lies-s-s. No trus-s-st.”
“Leave!” shouted King Aladon from a secured platform across the room. “More underworld rubbish may soon arrive. Our dealings are done.”
Davi opened his visor and watched as life left the last remaining Ashfallen. They hadn’t crushed him, hadn’t killed him like they did the Daemon. They weren’t monsters. The Ashfallen were on a mission; one that they had failed.
“Don’t dig too deep, human,” growled Aladon, “or else an enemy worse than this may befall you.”
Senator Folami’s starship buzzed with energy. Davi turned away from the bodies before him and jogged over to the ship’s loading ramp. Inside the craft he saw that Senator Folami was strapped into her seat, and next to her in the pilot’s position was a shadow operating the controls. The dark figure piloted the ship out of the spaceport. Once free of the Daemon atmosphere the shadow peeled off its skin-tight headpiece, letting loose its long, white hair. The young, pale woman turned to Davi and met his smiling face with her striking red eyes. “Good job back there, Davi.”
“Thanks, sis.”