Saros

by shortskirtsandexplosions

Stellar

The metal-laced hooves of the Lunar Imperial Rune Guard trampled loudly overhead. Myrk clung to the shadows beneath the bridge at the base of the Mid-Level Junctions. He could still hear Captain Stellar shouting orders as his voice grew more and more distant. Myrk had to be patient, anticipating a moment when the unseen bodies of the hunting party were spread out the most. If he was to make a break for the edge of the glassy plateau, it would have to wait until there were fewer sets of eyes around to see him.

The rune glowed just beyond the pillar to which he huddled. Myrk tightened the brown cloak around his body and the saddlebag clinging to it. Clearing his windpipes, he opened his mouth again, his throat undulating as he produced yet another high-pitched burst of sound. The reverberations split past the pillar, leaving the rune on the other side untouched so that Myrk's presence was not detected. When the echoes returned, he had a bifurcated picture of the landscape beyond the pillar, but at least it was enough to go by. He judged that most of the rune guards were still traversing the bridge, and the few that had descended to the plateau below were too far away to see him amidst the shadows of the cavern.

Myrk knew a true opportunity of escape when it lit his ears. He clenched his jaw and tightened his wing muscles. He wanted to save flying for a last resort. Besides, he knew the heinous tools that the Imperial hunters of the Guard had at their disposal, and he realized that even an experienced wraith stood little chance against the might of the unicorns' violent magic.

Captain Stellar shouted something else across the bridge above. From the trailing echoes billowing their way into Myrk's ears, he could detect the unicorn waving a hoof over his horn, giving the universal signal for his troops to relocate their search. Myrk fought the urge to exhale in relief. He clung to the shadows, his black eyeslits clenched shut as he meditated, keeping his breath evenly paced so that he could concentrate on the sounds and shapes reverberating overhead.

He detected several bodies lining up, climbing aboard the mana charged hovercraft that had brought them there. Captain Stellar issued another command to Lieutenant Razsaleen, but their voices were suddenly cut off from Myrk's expert ears. The steam engines of the hovercraft boiled, and a loud hiss filled the air, shredding the precious echoes apart before Myrk could determine whether the guards were leaving or not.

He winced, gritting his fanged teeth together as he waited out the noise. But, just then, another sound pierced the cacophony. He flashed his eyes open and looked across the shadows of the low-hanging bridge.

A young stallion stood atop the plateau besides the bridge, rattling in silver armor. He frowned with the typical, upper-lunar grimace, bravely pointing towards the hidden sarosian with an Imperial issued horseshoe.

"There! The wraith!" he shouted in a voice of mixed disgust and anger. "I found him—!"

Myrk's fangs glinted in the illuminating manalight. His heartrate increased, and the rune on the opposite side of the pillar began clicking madly. With a billowing of his cloak, his leather wings unfurled and flew straight down, shooting him like a black comet directly into the young guard.

"Ooof!" the unicorn grunted as he was tackled to the polished floor. Rivulets of cracked glass formed a cobweb beneath him as a loud siren magically filled the air.

Myrk flashed a look over his cloaked shoulder.

The rune stone was lit up, pulsing and wailing loudly in announcement of the sarosian's sudden movement. Above it, galloping towards the edge of the bridge, Myrk saw Captain Pierce Stellar. The tall unicorn gawked at the sight of the former wraith, his rich violet eyes wide as saucers. Then, with a growl, the angry guard pony shouted to his inferiors, "There! The exile! Shoot him!" The mana spheres in Stellar's shoulder armor glowed a bright blue as a phalanx of unicorn soldiers marched up alongside him and flicked their forelimbs. Crystalline barrels protruded from their shoulderplates; they shimmered from hotly charged manabullets deep within.

Myrk held his breath. With barely a second to act, he grabbed the helmet off of the young guard with his teeth.

The unicorn looked up, growling. "What do you think you're—Ooof!" He wheezed as all four of Myrk's limbs sprung off of him.

Myrk flew high into the air on flapping leather wings, flipped upside down, and tossed the helmet like a missile straight towards the plateau below.

"Quick! Take him out—!" Stellar was shouting, but soon his own voice was drowned out by the mutual grunts of his soldiers, all growling the same unholy word into their shoulder-mounted runes:

"H'rhnum!"

A solid wave of burning blue energy streaked towards Myrk. The edges of his cloak caught fire and blew out as he plummeted through the discharge. Miraculously, he dodged every single beam of energy, following the tossed trajectory of the helmet. The metal piece of armor flew savagely into the glass floor beneath the guard, shattering it. The sheet of translucent material gave way, and soon the unicorn was plummeting with a blood-curdling yell into the jagged, unpaved ravines of the lunar depths below. Gliding on midnight wings, Myrk soared down past him, surging speedily towards the tunnels lingering beyond.

"No! Blast it, no!" Captain Stellar slammed his hoof onto the edge of the bridge. He motioned towards four of his most heavily armored guards and jumped off the edge. "You, you, and the two of you! Follow me! Lieutenant!"

"Y-yes, sir?!" Razsaleen shouted in response from the bridge.

Stellar barked over his shoulder while galloping towards the freshly shattered hole. "Make your way to the Highways above! He'll want to ascend the lateral tunnels if he wishes to reach the surface!"

"Aye, sir!" Lieutenant Razsaleen motioned towards the remaining guards as they all filed into the steaming hovercraft.

"Rune guards!" Stellar flicked his head in mid-run, extending a sheet of glowing goggles over his upper helmet. "Take wing!" That uttered, he and the four other unicorns shook their forelimbs. Shoulder-mounted vials full of lunar dust emptied, spreading a cloud of fine powder around them as they leapt fearlessly through the gaping hole below.

Descending in a murderous glide, Myrk glanced behind him, his eyes narrowing on the sight of the five guards.

Captain Stellar and the unicorns fell through the cloud of dust above. One after another, they shouted into their runed armor: "Y'mnym!" Bright auras of manalight pulsed around them. Energy bolts spouted from their horns, circulating through the lunar powder and solidifying it into the crystalline framework of translucent blue gliders. The freshly conjured vehicles sparked to life, fastening to their forelimbs as they gripped glowing controls and imbued them with pure magic. A dim hum filled the air, building up to a high-pitched squeal as the five fliers sailed violently after Myrk.

Myrk gnashed his teeth and clung his leather wings tighter to his cloaked body. The compressed air of the lunar canyon whistled tightly around him as he made for a solid wall of white tunnels.

Captain Stellar led the diving squadron. He hissed into the wind, lining the sarosian target up in his glowing sights. He was the first to shout the runic command. "H'rhnum!" His four wingponies followed suit, and soon the five fliers were launching a barrage of manabullets through the wing-mounted cannons of their summoned valkyries.

A cyclonic stream of energy burned its way after Myrk's silver-streaked tail. He held his breath and rolled to the left, dodging a slew of the blue energy as it streaked past him. Another volley was launched, and he darted to the right, avoiding them with a twirl, all the while desperately maintaining his mad dive for the jagged corridors up ahead.

"By Entropa!" one of the guards shouted. "He's going to reach the tunnels!"

Captain Stellar howled, "Stay on him!" His horn glowed and he grunted, "H'jem!" With a flash of blue light, a crystalline cannon materialized on the belly of his vehicle. "W'nyhhm!" The cannon came to life, swiveling left and right with a crackle of static mana until it trained intelligently on the distant figure of Myrk. Squinting his eyes, Stellar growled. "L'jymnh..." The shoulder mounted mana spheres on his armor glowed brighter and brighter, filling the ravine with a pale blue fury.

Myrk's black eyes twitched upon observing the edge of the venomous glow. He flapped his wings and gave himself some last-second lift.

The image of the sarosian jerked sharply upwards in Stellar's sight. Nevertheless, the Rune Guard Captain charged the cannon to the bursting point. Sparks danced from his mana spheres as he gnashed his teeth and shouted into the sparkling air surging past him: "Y'hnyrr!"

Murderous, unfiltered magic fountained out of the cannon, burning a violent blue swath directly at Myrk from afar. However, the former wraith was well prepared, and he flung his descending arc into a spiral, literally dancing around the surging stream of the weapon’s discharge. Instead of burning him to a crisp, the mana-beam slammed hotly into the cavernous wall, causing an avalanche of lunar dust to collapse over half of the looming tunnel entrances.

Myrk took advantage of this. Holding his breath as if to dive underwater, he folded his wings inward and glided forward, accelerating past the velocity of the falling rocks and swooping into the centermost corridor before the passage was blocked entirely by the collapsing debris.

"Captain—!" one guard shouted.

"I see it!" Stellar was already yanking at his controls, swerving to the left. "Split up and overtake him!"

"Aye, sir!"

The Captain and the four rune guards flew into separate holes, sailing up the corridors adjacent to the blocked passage that Myrk had taken. The screaming hum of their pursuing vehicles were swallowed by the dense body of the moon as they zoomed after their lonesome prey.

Comments

[Csquared08]

Manabullets! Rune magic! Yeah!

[Future Regret]

Ooo... so this is EoP. Maybe this will give insight on what happened.

[Revan]

And escapes...

[AppleTank]

I wonder if bleaks plummet have any of these things.

[FOXTrot2]

Im reminded of where I left off in the Austraeoh series. I wonder if those old bats are using any of this technology? Or if this is what inspired some of the sci-fi stuff we see in it?