A New Divide (Science Fiction) by Nathaniel Sanders Read Free Book Online

interruption like none other. We waited for the ash cloud to settle and when it did I saw a tall, lanky man in a long trench coat. He landed directly between Arcoh and me.
                  He arose from the ground and even the behemoth on my back didn't move. I don't think they could believe what they were seeing. I had no idea but I began to feel something churn in my stomach, like butterflies. I couldn't see his face, but I knew that presence, I knew that dogged, unkempt beard he wore. All I needed to hear was his voice to know he was there to save me, like he had so many times before, long ago.
     
                  "Why don't you fight someone your own size, partna?"
                  Within a fraction of a second Virgil took his sword and cut off Ivan's arm. He fell over backwards clutching his new stump in agony. Then Arcoh reacted appropriately but not quickly enough.
                  "Kill that—"
                  Virgil jumped on top of me pushing us to the ground, then came the rain of bullets from the field across the way—it felt like a swarm of freight trains were flying above our heads. Those 20 mike rounds were a force to be reckoned with; they took out half the soldiers that surrounded us.
                  I looked back and struggled to free myself from Virgil, looking directly at Arcoh, who was being pushed back into his dropship by his soldiers. I'm sure his words were not too different from my own, as I began shouting at Virgil.
                  "Wait! Take me back! I need him! You cannot let him leave here alive!"
                  Virgil heard me but he had his orders. I would have done it myself, but I could not move on my own. He took a cylinder out of his pocket and planted it on the ground in front of us while I attempted to crawl back over to the fire zone.
                  "I need him, Virgil! I need to know!"
     
                  Virgil grasped my shoulders and shook me furiously. "You have this one chance to make a difference in your life! This is it, kid! I am giving you one chance! One chance to change your fate! Are you gonna take it, or let it fly? What's it gonna be, kid!"
                  I gave a very wide grin and grasped his forearm. Arcoh and the others rushed towards us as this beam of benevolent light surrounded us. It took us up, a gravity tug, and within seconds we soared through the sky, passing by the surface of Minerva and its smoke-infesting skies.
                  So I had made my choice. Arcoh had nearly convinced me at my highest point of despair, but what tore me asunder was the fact that he said, "You have no idea who you are," and he was right. Suddenly I felt all of my priorities shift; the thoughts of this great mystery of my origins and essence created a tempest of rampant emotion in my mind. The Remorans would feed the hunger, and they did everything they could to try and divert the desire I had to seek retribution for all that would happen.

CHAPTER 4 – ASCENSION
     
    {>-Legate Ivan Lennin-<}
    -Surface of Minerva-
     
                  Ivan quickly received a genome shot, and soon the agonizing state he found himself in ceased to be. He tried to remain alert to his surroundings, as the medics were doing what they could to stop the bleeding. But Arcoh himself had a far different agenda than worrying about his newly disfigured military commander.
                  Arcoh's transport had flown onto a large plateau outside the smoldering remains where Rayden One had collided with the earth. The airship stopped near a very large bunker in the ground whose blast doors contained a hangar capable of housing an entire fleet of ships, and Arcoh had used this to his full advantage.
     
                  Ivan moved slowly to the exit of the airship and looked over at Arcoh, who had summoned one of his generals over to