FSE

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Where the Skies End

Chapter 12

“Scanning…”

*Clack!*

A small ping pong ball sized rock skipped across the ground, as Conner kicked it accidentally.

“No life signs detected, you can unchamber your rifle, sir…”

“Nah, I will keep my rifle chambered and hold it ready,” Conner said calmly as he navigated through the pitch black cave.

His helmet’s night vision allowed him to see perfectly in this impossibly dark and very large tunnel. After a few minutes of walking, Conner started to get suspicious, he felt as if he was walking endlessly in a loop.

“Am I fucking crazy or have I just entered a spacial anomaly?” Conner questioned as he noticed the same softball sized rock in the exact same spot to his right for the sixth time.

Grumbling to himself, Conner took a few quick steps towards the rock before kicking it just hard enough to send it skipping across the ground without breaking it. Conner heard the rock skid across the ground, the noise growing distant in front of him before getting louder behind him.

With a look of disbelief, Conner turned to find the exact same rock he kicked come to a stop just by his feet behind him. Frustrated, Conner bent down, picked up the rock, and chucked it down the tunnel as hard as he could. There were multiple loud popping sounds after he threw the rock before something struck him in the back of the head so hard, he was knocked off of his feet and his carbon crystal visor audibly clacked into the rock floor when he hit the ground, face first.

“Did I just nail myself in the back of the head?” Conner snarled as he jumped to his feet. The only response he heard was hysterical laughter playing through his helmet. “Glad you found that soooo fucking humourous…” he grumbled as he retrieved his battle rifle from the ground, this caused the AI to start laughing even harder.

“Alright, I’ve had enough of these fucking games! I clearly got through the damn doorway because this cave belongs to me, now let me through!!” Conner shouted into the dark tunnel ahead of him. All he heard was his voice echo through the tunnel for a few seconds before he was practically slapped in the face by a memory.

…

That damned rock, it was now the seventh time he had seen that fucking rock on the ground, how or why this tunnel was now suddenly an endless loop didn’t make sense. He could feel his anger bubbling, his skin beginning to crawl and shift, hardening and darkening.

“If this is your doing, Aurelia, I swear to God, I will feed you to the fucking demon!” he shouted into the tunnel.

“Now who will suck your dick if you cast me into hell?” a feminine draconic voice giggled in his mind.

“Let me out of this damn loop!” he grumbled back, clearly unamused by this prank.

“Sorry, Jake, no can do. You must figure out the keyword or phrase to break the spell,” Aurelia snickered.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me…” he groaned, never a dull moment, she loved getting back at him for every little thing. He needed to think, it likely would be humiliating or a tease at his expense….

“I-,” Jacob sighed, he had a feeling he knew what would break the loop, but he really didn’t want to say it aloud. “I am a bottom bitch!” he finally shouted out after about thirty seconds of hesitation.

“That's correct!” a large black furred dragon with amethyst eyes said from the now lit up tunnel in front of him.

…

“Oh for fuck sakes!” Conner groaned out loud, “Aurelia, whoever you are now, I hope you know, you’re a bitch!!” he shouted, trying desperately to suppress his laughter.

Sighing deeply, Conner pulled his helmet off before shouting out the words he remembered saying. After the words left his mouth, the tunnel in front of him lit up from a mysterious source, revealing an entrance room to the cave. “No idea why I feel this way but that seems like something Daniella would do…” he muttered to himself as he pressed his helmet against his chest. The helmet quickly deconstructed, nanites scurrying across his armour.

Conner went to check for his hat before his phone chimed, making him jump:

D - Did you just call me a bitch?

Conner cocked an eyebrow in confusion as he read the text from Daniella, ignoring the science on how his phone could possibly have signal inside a mountain, he fired a text back asking why. Daniella responded, claiming she heard his voice in her mind, telepathically, calling her a bitch. After telling her he didn’t recall doing so, he put his phone back on his vambrace and stared blankly at a wall for thirty seconds.

“You can call that coincidence all you want, but I think I’ve already connected the dots,” the AI chuckled from his armour causing Conner to sigh.

Forgetting about Daniella’s text for now, Conner looked around at what was essentially the main/living room of the cave. Some of the furniture looked ridiculously old while other pieces looked to be from the nineties to early 2000s. There seemed to be an old windows laptop on the coffee table and instead of a couch, there was a large cushion. The complete lack of dust in this cave seemed to unnerve Conner as he inspected a plate on the table that had yet to be cleaned, remnants of food scraps still remained.

“This is fucking bizarre,” Conner muttered as he left the living room and walked off to the right, spotting shelves upon shelves of books inside another room.

Once he entered this library, he was blown away at the sheer quantity of books, walking down the aisles, he discovered that everything was categorized into sections; history, magic, different species, Elementals, and more. A subcategory in magic grabbed his attention and he grabbed the first book on that row.

He spent one or more hours, he didn’t know, reading over these books, Conner was currently reading through the Elemental Magic book when he spotted one “spell” that made him feel dizzy. The magical ability was called: “Echoes of Destiny”, this was the ability to see into the future through one’s dreams. It was very rare and not something that could be taught, but something that was gifted by the very Universe itself. Only a few Elementals have this ability and these Elementals are some of the most powerful in all of existence, but there’s a catch… they must be in a deep sleep and their Soulbonded must be making physical contact and in deep sleep with them.

Conner cocked an eyebrow at the word “Soulbonded”, he flicked through the book on Elementals before rediscovering what it meant. It was essentially a soulmate but much more complicated, a Soulbonded pair are created together by the creator of the Universe and are able to learn to use telepathy together very quickly. They reincarnate close to each other, guaranteeing they cross paths at some point in their lives.

As Conner continued reading, his eyes began to widen as he realized what all of this information meant, he can feel when his partner uses magic or gets an adrenaline rush and the same goes for his partner. It was described that when one’s Soulbonded used magic or had an adrenaline rush, they would feel a shiver down their spine and their veins would pulse a neon purple colour once.

“Daniella is my fucking soulmate…” Conner muttered in disbelief. “Why didn’t my parents say anything?” he added in irritation before flicking through more books to understand more.

After finding what he was looking for, he felt more confused. “Some Elementals are also linked to a set of parent souls, but most aren’t. Elementals with the ability to use “Echoes of Destiny” are never reborn from different parent souls… what?” Conner was even more confused now. After some more reading he ended up figuring out that not only were his parents his only parents he ever had, but Daniella was in the same boat.

He became mad at his own parents until he discovered that Elemental parents are physically unable to intervene and help an Elemental find their Soulbonded directly, but they can help indirectly.

“These rules are fucking stupid,” Conner grumbled as he tossed the book he was holding over his shoulder. After a few seconds, Conner felt an otherworldly presence and the book he just tossed was placed neatly back on the shelf. Startled, he looked around him frantically, briefly catching a glimpse of a figure in a black robe holding a large gardening scythe.

His eyes widened and he took a few steps back, his heart rate increased as he watched another book on the shelf levitate off of it and float towards him. Cautiously taking the book, he looked up to see the robed figure again, this time it stayed in his line of sight, waving at him before walking away. The second the figure was out of sight, the otherworldly presence faded.

Conner stood there for a few minutes, trying to understand what the hell just happened before deciding to ignore it for now and read through this old leather bound book.

He learned that Elementals were put here to keep the peace between species, but some, who had been chosen by Angels themselves to act as their disciples, had more purpose. The book went into detail about how one Angel in particular had chosen quite a violent Elemental soul, violent and ruthless but had a very strong moral code. Azrael, The Angel of Death or the Grim Reaper had chosen her Elemental to keep the peace, punish the greedy and the wicked who preyed on the weak and vulnerable.

Conner snorted at the idea of some people having a direct connection with the creator of the Universe. He placed the book back on the shelf before leaving the library, deciding that the sight of the robed figure was just a weird halucination. He stood in the center of the main chamber for a few seconds, staring blankly at the wall. Conner shook his head in disbelief with a sigh before leaving the main chamber and walking past what he presumed to be the kitchen.

Conner put his hands on his head as he walked through the cave, feeling drawn to a specific room. He could barely wrap his head around these crazy discoveries he had made, they were beyond absurd. He was deep in thought when he walked face first into something metal, knocking his hat from his head.

Grumbling to himself, Conner bent down to pick up his hat and placed it back on his head before looking at what he walked into…. He had walked directly into a matte black tank, more specifically, he had walked into a M1 Abrams that was painted matte black. He rubbed his eyes a few times in disbelief as he backed away from the tank, he was about to say something when a strange object caught his attention from the corner of his eye.

He spotted a sword embedded into a chunk of rock protruding from the ground, he completely forgot about the Abrams and decided to inspect this sword. The old sword seemed fairly simple in design besides the fact it was covered in draconic runes and text. The blade and guard were a polished silver colour but the hilt was black. The hilt of the sword closely resembled that of an early medieval sword with that distinct curve in the guard and from what he could tell, the blade appeared to be taken from a viking sword. Putting on his sunglasses, Conner was able to see that the sword was one hundred forty centimeters in length. And the hilt was longer than a typical medieval sword, its length was a length more common for a bastard sword or longsword.

Conner noticed text carved into the rock the sword was impeded in, it was draconic and it read: “Only he who I shall become may wield this blade and only he who I shall become may grant permission to wield this blade.”

He eyed the blade with curiosity before grasping the hilt with his right hand, giving it a light tug. When the blade didn’t give, he retracted his right gauntlet, in case the magic had some funny rule. He pulled again, feeling the sword not budge again, he cocked an eyebrow.

“Maybe it has nothing to do with the armour and maybe I need to use both hands?” Conner questioned to himself, grabbing the hilt with both hands, he heaved as hard as he could. He heard the sound of rock cracking before the sword gave out and he fell back with the rune engraved blade held in one hand.

“That was fucking graceful,” Conner muttered in irritation as he dusted himself off. He lifted the sword to inspect it and noted the blade’s width didn’t gradually taper like a typical viking sword, the blade’s width remained the same before narrowing to a rounded point at the last inch of the blade.

Conner turned to his left to continue looking through this large chamber when he spotted something that made his jaw go slack.

…

“Captain!” a US Marine called out in distress as he continued firing back at the rebel soldiers firing on their position. “We are getting pinned down and running low on supplies!” the young man said loudly over the gunfire of the enemies and their own squad mates.

The Captain clenched his teeth in anger as he turned to watch their medic tend to a wounded comrade. “Fuck!” he exclaimed before picking up his radio and tuning it to the NATO Guard Channel, 243.0 MHz. "This is Alpha Two-Six, we’re taking heavy fire at Grid 34 Sierra! Hostile forces, platoon strength, need immediate close air support! We’re pinned down and can’t hold for long, over!"

“This is Blackout Actual, read you loud and clear, keep your heads down, coming in for hypersonic flyover,” a male human voice with a Canadian accent came over the radio.

The Captain turned in confusion as he heard a ground shaking roar from a jet engine, he could hear the sound of sonic booms continue getting louder before a streak of black zipped over their heads, kicking up sand and rocks as this aircraft passed over the enemy position at less than one hundred feet of elevation.

“What the fuck was that!?” the medic called out in disbelief.

“This is Blackout Actual, coming in for another passover, show of force,”

“This is Alpha Two-Six, no! You are cleared red, danger close!”

“Roger that!” There was a few seconds of ambient cabin noise before the voice of the mysterious pilot spoke again. “Lets see what this old girl can do,” he chuckled before the radio went completely silent.

The Captain watched this black aircraft begin approaching again at a much slower speed. “Is that an SR-71?” one of his squad mates asked in confusion. The Captain was about to open his mouth to speak before a loud BRRRRT shook the ground, dirt and vehicle debris went flying as this large black aircraft pitched up.

“Alpha Two-Six, more units approaching from the southeast side of settlement. Radar is picking up at least five aircraft and thermal is picking up platoon sized ground units, possibly more. Over.”

“Roger that, we are still unable to reach command, can you assist? Over.”

“Affirmative, marking LZ, keep clear, over!”

Landing zone, what the hell is this pilot thinking? The Captain watched in confusion as this matte black aircraft came to near stalling speed before the damn thing began hovering. The moment it slowed enough and began hovering was when the Captain and his entire squad realized this plane was indeed an SR-71 Blackbird, how it was hovering or even armed was one thing, but to be in an active warzone, in the middle of the Iraqi desert and flown by a person who had a light but still very obvious Canadian accent was baffling.

The squad of Marines watched as an area near their position was marked with a ring of light from the Blackbird before the canopy opened and a humanoid in all black gear climbed out and dropped from the plane. The heavy thud of the person’s boots hitting the sandy ground made a few of the Marines flinch, expecting the pilot to crumple. Instead of doing what they expected, the pilot stood up and turned in the direction they had been getting shot at from, the SR-71 overhead turned in the air as its canopy closed. The jet black plane released a barrage of small projectiles that zipped towards the approaching hostile forces, like angry hornets honing in on a perceived threat to the hive.

The buildings that the hostile forces had taken up refuge in vanished in a cloud of dust, rubble and shrapnel. Wheels, doors and what looked like body parts went flying in every direction as these projectiles that were obviously missiles hit their mark.

The second the missiles hit their mark, the Canadian pilot took off, pulling out a rifle from Lord knows where, firing pot shots at enemy positions as he made his way towards the Marine’s positions. In no time at all, the pilot slid through the sand behind cover next to the Marine Squad’s radio operator.

“What’s wrong with your radio?” the pilot questioned, holding his rifle in a way that signified this person was very knowledgeable of firearms safety.

“It took a few hits after we got ambushed and now I have no way of getting in touch with Command. We managed to get out an SOS but the signal wasn’t strong enough to go far,” the radio operator responded.

“Could only ping a short range signal before kicking the bucket…” the armoured pilot said more to himself than others as he looked at the radio equipment.

There was an eerie electrical humming as the pilot put his rifle on his back and moved to grab the radio, inspecting the damaged equipment, he poked and prodded at it, seemingly unbothered by the stray bullet that flew over his head every few seconds. After a few seconds, the pilot let go of the radio, shaking his head, like he was disappointed.

“Hate to break your spirits, but you can’t do shit with this thing…. You guys all have ISRs right?” he asked. There was a sharp hiss of air as his visor pulled up over his face to reveal a mask covering his mouth and nose. His vivid green eyes pierced into the squad Captain’s soul as the armoured human scratched his forehead.

The Captain nodded as the pilot’s helmet closed with an audible clang, “That’s good, at least you can communicate amongst yourselves….” The pilot turned to watch the SR-71 level the rest of the buildings the Iraqi rebels had been hiding in, he let out a grunt before tapping something on his left vambrace. He flipped his left hand over to reveal an object, it looked like a basic matte black satellite phone or walkie-talkie… the pilot turned to the Marine Captain. The Marine gave the pilot an odd look as he relaxed his grip on the small radio and extended his arm towards the Captain’s direction.

“Use this to contact High Command, it’s a satellite phone…” the man said as he handed the Captain the phone. “Look alive, stay alive! I know damn well, I’m the only one clad head to toe in tungsten titanium armour,” he chuckled before pulling out a sword covered in intricate engravings and stepped off of the ledge the Marines had been using as a scouting position and cover.

…

“Don’t you think it would be a wise choice to get out of here?” the AI said calmly into Conner’s helmet.

“Meh, I’m not worried about when the reinforcements arrive, they aren’t catching me,” Conner chuckled as he ripped the door of an armoured Insurgent clean off the hinges and blasted the inside of the vehicle with his Tek suit’s flamethrower. Super heated chemicals sprayed out of a small nozzle on the side of his right wrist. The chemical mixture reacted with the air inside the truck, turning the interior and occupants inside to smoldering ash in seconds.

“That seemed to be a little overkill…” the AI commented flatly as Conner turned away from the ruined interior of the truck, catching a glimpse of a mostly burned skull. Most people probably would have felt guilt, remorse or had been utterly destroyed mentally by incinerating six people, but Conner had done similar things countless times in past lives and none of the people in that truck had been good people. Thanks to his AI, he could have background checks of people done in seconds. In his opinion, the occupants of that truck deserved a worse fate than nearly instant incineration.

“Her fire breath is terrifying…” Conner muttered as he walked away from the smoldering truck.

“You had the resources and it seemed like something you’d want, having flamethrower fuel that was an exact chemical copy of Daniella’s dragon bile,” the AI responded flatly as Conner started searching through the disabled vehicles that his SR-71 had done a number on.

“Oh, I absolutely love it, but it’s terrifying how hot the mixture gets… hot enough to melt titanium,” he chuckled as he drew his ancient sword.

Conner continued scanning the ruined vehicles, not finding anything other than the odd survivor with a clean enough record to be spared or a corpse. After a few minutes of walking through the ruined streets of this desert town, he nodded in approval before launching into the sky, kicking up a cloud of dust and shattering the sound barrier in less than two seconds.

“This is Blackout to Alpha Two-Six, how copy?”

“This is ALPHA Company Commander, go ahead… Blackout…” the voice of a different man said over the radio, by this person's tone of voice, they were anything but pleased.

“Ah, I have gotten the attention of Alpha Company Command, your welcome for saving your Marine’s asses,” Conner grunted.

“Anything you need to report?” the Commanding Officer grunted back.

“Ah, yes, spotted an enemy encampment about nine klicks North East of Grid 34 Sierra, over.”

“Copy that, Blackout. Now if you would be so kind and be escorted by our F-22 pilots back to base, over.”

“No can do, Command, this civilian does what he wants… Blackout over.”

“We would prefer you comply willingly,” the ALPHA Company Commander grumbled.

“Well that’s a shame,” Conner chuckled as he pitched up and shook the sky from his speed. “I know you don’t see anything on radar,” he added with a chuckle as he approached the Ozone layer. “Blackout Actual, out!” Conner said just as he exited Earth’s atmosphere and lost radio contact.

…

D - Hey Conner, it’s becoming increasingly hard to be living with you after my admission and I think I’m going to spend a few days at a friend's house.

Conner’s heart sank after reading the text, his hands trembled as he attempted to grab his phone from his Tek armour’s vambrace. He pulled his phone free before fumbling it, the device slowly landing face down with a piff. Conner sighed before bending down to pick up his phone, brushing off the moon dust that still clung to its surface.

“It’s a good thing I decided to launch my own satellites for internet and cellular data,” Conner chuckled dryly as he unlocked his phone. Daniella sent another text and he read it.

D - I still love you and want you, but I want you to make a decision, either we date or we don’t. Please just come to an answer, if no, that’s completely fine, I still want you in my life.

“Fucking hell…” Conner sighed, lowering his phone, he looked up, watching the Earthrise occur from the lunar surface. He looked down at his phone before typing up a response:

C - I’m sorry it took so long for me to decide, pick a time and a place, I feel it only makes sense for us to go on a proper date to start our relationship.

D - OMG, how about now!? I’m in Toronto and I’d love to go bar hopping with you and some friends. We can start the night with a one on one date first though.

C - Ha ha ha, it might take me about an hour or two before I can get into Toronto.

Conner smirked as he sent the text before taking a picture of the Earth, making sure that the Moon’s surface was visible at the bottom of the photo. He sent the picture to Daniella and watched the pending text bubble pop up before disappearing.

D - Are you on the moon!?!

C - Yes

Conner chuckled as she immediately called him.

“How are we even able to communicate?” Daniella asked in shock, her beautiful voice making Conner feel relaxed and at ease.

“Really good satellites with really strong signal strengths, we own ten as of now,” Conner chuckled as he stood up from the large rock he had been sitting on. “Here let me change this to a video call and I’ll switch my camera to my helmet cam,” Conner said quickly, he smiled when he spotted Daniella’s face appear in the top left corner of his heads up display. The look of amazement in her bright red eyes made him chuckle as he looked around at the lunar surface.

“When can you be home?” Daniella asked, her facial expression conveyed that it wasn’t a question, more of a demand he get home ASAP.

“About five minutes maybe less, if I didn’t have to worry about exploding apart from g-forces and wind resistance, it could be instant,” Conner chuckled as he launched from the surface of the moon.

“How about I meet you at home in like an hour and we go for our date and bar hopping tomorrow, Treena and Karyna are busy tonight.”

“Sounds good, see you in a bit,” Conner chuckled before the call ended. He had a feeling he knew what would happen tonight once Daniella got her paws on him.