Drabble-- Hercher of the Void

Hercher of the Void.




I could hear the sirens blaring, but the muffled cries of my comrades was what caused me to finally yank my sorry ass from the medic bay and head towards gate 43. It was chaos. Bodies, mechas… everyone and their dog was literally on the ship, how? Who knows. But what I did know was that the Hercher of the void was here - releasing an endless trail of Honkai onto the Hyperion. “Terri” the words left but to no avail, it was like finding a needle in a haystack. The woman was that small, but she was extremely powerful and had no doubt gone directly after Sirin herself.
“F***” fondling with the radio before backing back up into the lobby. “Jason, wheres’ Terri? She’s not on deck and I can’t see Kiana '' my stomach hurt, my body ached– after all I was in recovery from an attack just a few days ago. But I couldn’t leave them all to fend for themselves, my energy would have to make do as I ran out into the crowd full of alien f***ers; pulling my gun free and one shotting as many as I could. “Vienna. K423. Answer'' my radio was going off but I couldn’t answer, I was surrounded by these bastards and had nowhere to run to.

“K423, answer!” Jason continued to yell, this time prompting me to reach for it. But in that moment I could hear the sadistic laugh from the Hercher, turning slowly to see the same hatred I had witnessed the very first time we met. “Sirin, right?” turning to face her, god she was beautiful but so very deadly – her lithe frame hovering above us all. With her void powers we couldn’t even have our mecha take fire, for she would simply rebound it straight back at them.

“Humans, despicable insects. Surrender your ship now, surrender the serum and I ‘may’ let you live” her venom laced words echoing around me as she manipulated the space around her. Forming an invisible staircase to bring herself closer.

“Oh, now why would I go and do a thing like that Sirin. How about you take your alien friends here and go back to whatever realm..or planet you came from, and maybe I will let YOU live” hissing through gritted teeth as Terri made her way up behind her. All I had to do was keep this creature distracted. Something easier said than done when she had eyes pretty much everywhere, yet Terri being so small was able to sneak through bodies and take place behind a disabled mecha aid. However,  given the last attempt at taking down the Hercher, I held little hope in success this time.

— flashback.

We were docked on the space station when Amelia walked in, she’d been out collecting particle samples and yet something was off about her. She almost looked possessed. That evening as we sat and ate our meals she moved with such speed into the dining hall– which wasn’t uncommon given the fact she was a Valkyrie; but it was the look in her eyes. Hatred!. Pure hatred towards us as she stood there, staring. After what felt like forever a gutteral groan came from deep within, the words spoken were not her own as a purple mist exited her nose and mouth.

This was the moment Sirin was born, she’d taken over Amelias’ body and the mist was nothing more than remaining vapour of what we now know to be called Honkai– a virus that these parasites use to take over and claim human vessels. First Amelia, then Cleo and finally Jones. At that point we had to dock on Earth and call for assistance from the delta ground patrol. Believing we had contained the spread we decided to stay docked and work on what materials we had already. But the virus hadn’t stopped, it had now been released upon Earth and was slowly beginning to take hold.

–Back to the now

Her presence was overwhelming, Honkai levels were going off the chart – noted by the indicator I wore on my arm. Terri had now slipped around to the side of the mecha, her claymore resting upon her back with the chains of destruction strapped around the handle. A crystal sat in the middle, thus making the weapon a key of destruction; powerful enough to severely damage-- if not capture the Hercher. But as the small blonde stepped over broken glass, Sirin noticed. About to turn her head back I managed to reach for my own weapon and pull the trigger; enough to bring her focus back to me. We didn’t have long, the levels were continuing to rise and purple lines soon decorated my flesh, it was starting to corrupt me.

Now or never.

“Terri, NOW” my final words before she swung the claymore around, chains becoming loose for her to manipulate and encase Sirin within. I knew I had to move now, taking my gun and sliding under and through the legs of the Hercher; spinning back up to grab the claymore with Terri. Our powers combined, bringing the key to life. Illuminating the deck, it shone brightly as we swung in unison, ducking from continuous fragments of Honkai that spewed from her alien minions. We had to do it and we had to do it fast. SMACK!! The key whacked Sirin through her chest, piercing through flesh and bone before twisting and tightening all the chains that held her.

She laughed, she always laughed.

“You think your little toys are enough to stop me. You failed last time child – this time shall be no different” the fear I felt made me physically sick. Not for me, but for all the people we had vowed to protect, as if she got out of her bind we knew she would go after the human race herself. We couldn’t allow it, Teresa couldn’t allow it. I knew the look in her eyes, she was ready to give her life to take this creature down. We had both seen our old Commander do it before, always trading lives for so called victories… but before I had a chance to speak the girl had moved.

A blackness spread across the ship, a void portal had opened and Terri pushed with all her might to take the Hercher and herself through, knowing that once there she could keep her from coming back. As long as she remained close to the key that imprisoned her, for as soon as she was seperated- the chains would dull and fall. With no time to react I watched it all happen so quickly, unsure if what I saw was real my body collapsed – Kiana's voice along with everyone else could be heard cutting through the aliens towards me.

This was a day I would never forget, promising them all that when we had answers I would bring Terri back.