NovaForge by Scott Toney Read Free Book Online Page B

existed in his time, at least not that the people of his time knew of. Were they fighting some adaptation of humans brought on by the meteor?
    A screech deafened him as the first creature thrust into the glow shimmering off their weapons. A vast static charge burst over him as Riad discharged his gun and energy consumed the creature’s body, exploding into fiery particles as flame flecked smoke weaved into the atmosphere of the chamber.
    Ivanus discharged his guns simultaneously as more of the creatures charged for them. Two of their bodies exploded, spraying the walls with matter.
    “How many are there?” Riad called from nearby.
    Ivanus didn’t have the time to register what he was seeing . “Enough, but we have to get through!” He turned, watching Riad pull a mine from his arm, pound it to the front of his gun and then blast it into the coming beasts.
    BOOM!
    The blast shook the cavern; knocking Ivanus to the ground as he listened to the high-pitched cries of the creatures. His head was foggy and he realized the future he saw skipped somehow. A taloned hand clutched his arm, knocking his gun free and dragging him across the cavern floor. “Riad!” he shouted for the borg.
    Crack! He heard the sound of the creature’s neck breaking above him and then watched as its body tumbled to the ground. Riad’s glowing hand reached down to him and he took it, using the borg’s strength to stand. He grabbed his second gun from the ground nearby.
    As he regained footing Ivanus felt sickened by the bodies of the beasts littering the room. There was no time to think, or to second-guess. “The others of their group have fled deeper into the catacombs,” he said. “We have only a short window because they will return. We take this passage.” He pointed to a wall a distance away from them. A line in the stone trailed its edges, but otherwise the passage was hidden from view. As they reached it he stopped, trying to remember how he saw himself opening it.
    Ivanus felt a surge of power as he touched the crevice in the stone, running his fingers down its edge until they came to a groove that dipped into the crevice and gave a handhold on the door. He leaned back on its heavy weight, putting all of his back’s strength into opening it. With a moan the massive stone opened. Stale air puffed out from the new passageway, causing him to choke before leading Riad in.
    They closed the door behind them and continued down a spiraling stairwell chiseled out of earth and rock.
    “Are there more creatures here?” Riad asked him. “I have never seen anything like them before. To think, these beasts have lived beneath Kaskal for all this time and never emerged.”
    “There should be none in this chamber. It was hidden from them, and I sense no-one but ourselves here.”
    Soon they were on a level stone floor once more walking through the dark. Ivanus stopped, knowing they had arrived to their destination, and turned into a dark room.
    As the light from their weapons faintly illuminated the walls of the room the two men saw dusty bottles, books and statues lining shelves. Cobwebs disintegrated as the light touched them. “Their age is so great that even light destroys them,” Ivanus said.
    “What are they?” Riad asked as he moved toward a corner of the room. Vast webbing blew away as dust as he neared with his lit weapon.
    The depth of distance he had traveled from his time, struck Ivanus. “Insects called spiders used to create those. Do they not even have those here?”
    “Yes, yes I do remember spiders. But they have been long gone,” Riad remarked. He took a filled bottle and held it close to his cybernetic eye, a red light in his inner eye fluxing as he held it there.
    Turning from him, Ivanus moved to another portion of the room, taking a metallic box from a shelf, and then clicking it open. There, inside, was a glowing orb. He wanted to touch it, reaching his fingers out to do so, but then stopping himself, as he knew he had