Chapter 4 – Enter the Destroyer
Gondwana Dimension, 2007. A gigantic, orange figure with a rock-like body towered over a small consortium of unlikely heroes, and laughed tauntingly. This was Aquilifon – the legendary Destroyer of Worlds that was both feared and respected by those few that chose not to ally with him. The Sovereign of Gondwana, Charnaiz dir Castillon and his wife Primrose Marie Gadlene lay helpless before the monster, with the bodies of their comrades sprawled dead or dying around them. Many seemed out of place and time, and others seemed to belong in the distant future.
Suddenly, right behind the giant, a Japanese ninja from the Middle Ages leapt from out of his hiding place to attack the creature. This was Shruiken, a great mercenary from his time, but an unknown figure here in Gondwana. The ninja soared in the air, sword raised, ready to strike – but Aquilifon saw him coming, turned to face him, and was about to blast him with powerful heat waves from his hands when, as if on queue, a black hole opened up behind Aquilifon and immediately sucked the World Destroyer inside.
Vladivostok, Krasnorussia, 2025. Members of the Red Electronic Warfare Division were trying desperately to shut down the wormhole before it flooded the entire chamber with inglorious debris. Then, suddenly, a large orange hand appeared through the wormhole.
“What in the name of General Semen Timoshenko is that!?” shouted Kazansky. He stared as the rest of whatever was on the other side came into view. The large, fishlike head, the granite-like torso and shoulders, and finally the feet with strange, ancient-looking markings on them came into view. It was out.
“Oh my…” Voronov murmured. He could’ve been saying this because of the monster, but he was actually saying it because of the error message that appeared on the display screen: CRITICAL ERROR – PLACE AND TIME COORDINATES LOCKED. SHUTDOWN MAY RESULT IN PERMANENTLY OPEN ENTITY.
“Well, this sucks.” He muttered.
“What’s going on, captain?”
“We can’t change the date and place, and uh… if we shut the machine down, the portal’s going to stay open for a pretty long time because of machine error, Comrade Major.”
“We’ve got bigger problems, captain. Look up from the screen.”
Voronov looked up, and his mouth dropped open. Aquilifon, the Destroyer himself, a thirty-foot-tall abomination, was staring right at them in their place in the tower.
Murad al’Khefar, who was still in the tower, looked upon the intruder defiantly and drew his blades, shouting, “You come here to die at the hands of Murad al’Khefar! You have chosen your demise well!”
Aquilifon laughed, the terrifying sound filling the whole room; and said, “On the contrary, Murad bin Abdulhasib bin Mahmoud al’Khefar… it is you that will meet your end this day.” The giant’s voice didn’t seem to fit him – it was clear, and almost gentle in a way – something like a voice one would hear from a salesperson trying to deliver a pitch, but with a great echo.
Murad, undaunted, replied, “We will see which one of us speaks the truth! Allahu akhbar!” And with that, he leapt out of the tower, breaking the glass windows, and landed on Aquilifon’s head, slashing at his eyes. The giant grunted, but quickly grabbed Murad and threw him to the ground. The Muslim was like a cat, and landed on his feet.
“You pester me so, human. I have yet to acquire my true form before bothering any more with the likes of you.” Aquilifon said, somewhat annoyed. He then started walking towards the large vehicle exit.
Russian chemical troopers rushed up behind him and began opening fire with their AKM rifles, but Aquilifon took no notice of this. Murad continued to harass the great being and leapt once more onto him, this time, climbing him like a mountain. Aquilifon grew impatient and grabbed the Turk with his right hand, extended it towards a wall, and then, with the warrior still clinging on to his fingers, released a tremendous energy blast which shot the body of Murad like a rag doll into the concrete infrastructure. Murad hit the wall with a loud crash of cement and bone, and fell to the floor below.
Aquilifon turned then to the chem troopers who were still firing at him. He let loose a great heat wave that fried the lot of them, chemical suits and all, to ashes. He then proceeded to walk through the vehicle exit, virtually unopposed.
As they watched him stomp out into the city, Kazansky and Voronov reappeared from under their hiding places. Being unarmed at the time, they could not fight. Voronov breathed a sigh of relief.
“Voronov…” murmured Kazansky.
“Yes, Comrade Major?”
“You cannot begin to fathom the depth of the shit that you are in right now. The Chairman is gonna have your head – provided that he hasn’t lost his in the fight.”
“SNAFU, sir?”
“Mega-SNAFU, captain.”
Voronov hung his head in despair.
Kazansky shook him and said, “Go check on the Chairman. If he’s dead then the whole thing was for nothing.
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