By popular... nagging...
here is book 4 chapt. 1.
Chapter 1: Reflection
Jazz was thinking. He thought a lot more now, than before he joined the ranks of the Apocalypse. He gazed out of the small round window in the side of the spacecraft’s hull and watched the sparks of small dust particles burning up on the shield, and at the occasional H-Fighter passing by on a patrol. A question had been on his mind, turning over and over; “Was this really worth it?”
He remembered the bad times; the battle of Badel Run, where Lori lost her forearm in an energy mortar attack, and the Kazaar massacre, despite an overwhelming victory, Spaz had been hospitalized for weeks by stray fire, not to mention the fact that he would probably never see his home planet again; the war chieftains had been chosen before the, let’s face it, impeccable invasion.
But at least he was quite happy here. Besides, the forearm was replaced by a much quicker, stronger, mechanized one, Spaz was a mech commander now, and they had all got places on the table of honour, and had become well decorated soldiers. The Baron had personally referred to them as “an invaluable asset, captain”, in a personal discussion.
Yes, he was a captain. He slowly gazed down at his long jacket, at all the coloured bands, and the medals, fashioned from rare Ellvyn gemstones. Lori was particularly pleased with the faceted lilac stone that made up the brooch she was rewarded for preventing the destruction of a troopship supply depot. She wore it all the time, and kept it in a black, velvet lined box on the shelf above her bed when she slept. They were nice, too, the beds, the most comfortable ones he’d ever rest on, with gold trimmed paisley covers and numerous elaborate pillows were all silken, woven by the finest Metisson silk weavers the universe had ever seen…
The Baron got up, after getting bored of an antiquated arcane text and strolled over to the large viewing window in the front of his quarters. He sat down in a large Muukijal leather chair and tapped a button, which brought up a bluish holographic panel and checked his course. He peered over the panel, which wasn’t hard for someone as tall as himself, and stared at subspace. For a tinted visor on his helmet the image wasn’t half bad. There were no gaudy effects in subspace; there were no warps or streaking lines, just a reddish black void. There was not a great deal of danger when travelling in subspace, since you were below the actual fabric of space and time, so going from one place to another took virtually no time at all in conventional space terms, but at least a couple of hours in subspace terms.
The clock on the desk made a few small beeps, and flashed green, indicating it was mealtime, which was always good, especially the foods on offer, but throughout mealtimes the Magmavores stayed on guard duty, being made completely out of living molten rock, studded with crystals, as well as the two energy creature species, the Forci and the Halcidites, barely needed anything to eat, but the rest did, and there were a lot of them. From the backbone of The Baron’s forces, the Vekeis, who had sworn to serve him until their last breath, because he had rallied them after the crushing defeats of Fragonhal and Ramenlyn, and overcame their age-old enemies, the Sarbyd, to the desert dwelling Anudons, who had exceptional mêlée fighting skills developed over 7 ages on their planet, Egajipi, all had different tastes which had been specially mixed into a nutritious and extremely appetizing meal, with such delights as Sky whale milk, Caramelized Waamuic fruit, which was sort of like a cross between an apple, a melon, a strawberry and a pineapple, and a wide variety of meat in an array of flavoursome sauces, not to mention the fruit of the synthesized plants, which included chocolate coconuts, candy floss cotton plants, and nuts which contained many astounding things, like praline.
The Baron’s brother Vhudlex, which is a Vekei name for ‘Destroyer of All’, came up the central elevator into The Baron’s quarters; he didn’t have to go far, because his room was the floor below. ‘Are you coming’ he asked in a steely synthesized voice, from his helmet which was mostly visor.
‘In a minute, there is time.’
‘Fine. No-one will start without you. I will see to it.’
In the great hall, an area 10 times the size of a Viking fort’s interior and decorated in the same way, the massed army crowded around the tables decoratively carved from the heartwood of ancient adamant trees with Celtic knots, and inlaid with such hardwoods as stone wood and mahogany. The table of honour was about 3 feet higher up that the rest with chairs with much higher backs, and upholstered in elegant furs. The body of the table was slightly curved. From the giant blue-gray metal doors Vhudlex emerged, with at least 60 medals, including the coveted black diamond oval; only awarded to those who show incredible supernatural forces. He said
‘Do not begin. The Baron will be with us shortly, and has given me specific orders not to allow the beginning of this meal without his presence.’
Numerous crewmembers put down their cutlery, and in some cases withdrew their mandibles. It took a few minutes for The Baron to arrive, but when he did he simply said ‘you may begin’. No-one complained about the habits of The Baron, because most of the time it was him who had saved their species and taught them to fight. Vhudlex sat down at the Baron’s right, and the rest of those on the table of honour sat down afterwards. The food, still piping hot was served and the army dug in.
Lori leant over, wearing her assassin’s gear and looked at The Baron’s gauntlets, at the strange glowing carved crystals which seemed to change colour from purple to green to orange to yellow to red and back to purple. ‘What’re they?’ she asked, which drew Jazz’s attention, but not Spaz’s, as he was preoccupied with a large amount of mashed potato. ‘They look weird, are they some kind of rock?’ asked Jazz, who was peering at them, too.
‘These are no mineral.’ Said The Baron, ‘remember when I invaded? Hmm?’
Jazz and Lori nodded.
‘And when I burned the arcane library?’
They nodded again.
‘Then you’ll recognise the term “raw magic”?’
‘That’s magic in its purest form, isn’t it? Kinda treacly?’
‘Yes, at high temperatures, but this is crystalline magic, when it cools.’
‘What’s it for?’
‘It gives my magic a place to manifest, looks good, too’
‘Hm’
‘Now, be quiet and eat, you lot will need your strength.’
__________________
Man cannot create an earthworm,
Yet he creates Gods by the hundred!
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