The sounds of massive roves of soldiers marching in perfect unison was only rivaled by the cheering of the crowd. Hundreds of thousands gathered on balconies, the sidewalks and rooftops to attend the parade. Right trough the main street of the capital, leading straight from the main gate itself to the Dimaryp, was filled with soldiers dressed in their iconic uniforms. Rifles held upwards against their shoulders and in between the moving squares of foot infantry was moving tanks. Rolling on their mighty treadmills, the dark gray titanium armored war tanks could blow apart a concrete and steel building the size of a warehouse in less than five minutes. Than the crowd grew louder and more excited when the iconic sounds of flight engines roared above them. Black jet with with extending from the roof and spinning blades near the very edge as smaller jet thrusters quickly moved across the sky. Missiles on the sides and a machine gun right underneath the cockpit, many raiders and mutant had been torn to shreds from the Mark-2 Black gryphon raining down fire. This was a true show of force, the might of the empire lived stronger than ever before and the people was reminded of just that today as confetti fell like rain from the sunlight sky. The Dimaryp rose far above the other buildings. In comparison to any other it looked like a mountain, casting its shadow over the entire eastern side of the command ring of the Capital, the only place more privileged than the upper ring.

It was built in the shape block stacked on top of each other,growing more wider the higher it rose until the roof was almost the shape of a giant flat, square surface, having only communication towers, satellite beacons and landing pads for various flight engines.

On top of that roof stood two generals alongside the minister of war, Reginald Von Valenheim. A quiet but stern elderly man, his gray hair always combed backwards and a dark brown coat covering most his body. The front and plenty of medallions and marks of honors attached to it on both sides of the opening.

‘A glorious day is it not boys?’

‘A glorious one indeed! Surely even the Empress herself is watching this parade, knowing her subjects remains loyal.’

‘Knowing but remaining unpleased general. Why has the cube not been found yet?’

‘The Shades have all been sent out and have picked up a trail already. The ship had quite a bit of activity in the desert to the south west. The last trail led them north, shouldn’t be long before they’re found.’

‘Good, I’d rather have this mission over with quickly. Our lady has given us almost complete power over the Empire but could just as easily take it away. Lets not forget that..’

The minister turned from his colleagues and traveled to a square platform with railings on the sides, attached to a crimson balloon with the yellow insignia drawn on the sides. The operator closed it and prepared to lift off.

‘Carry on boys. I got a visit to take care off.’

With a burst of heat from the engine the balloon lifted off a floated gently away from the Dymarip and away to the still sunlight western side, towards a giant gold painted cathedral, crafted by true masters. Towers rising like mighty spires, finely painted windows depicting humans of different kinds. Stone carvings of angels and mutants that was often referred to as demons by the priests, was along the walls.

When the balloon landed in front of the main gates he entered the silvery gates with the face of a lady carved right above it. The sounds of religious chants was heard in the distance, echoing trough the massive structure, past the pillars and benches, the tablets attached to the walls written in an ancient dead language. Bouncing of the windows and small balconies where some priests held speeches from time to time. He stopped in front of the altar where a large painting stood, held up by the marble stone carved preciously for this. The painting depicted a group of lost humans, dressed in rags in a dead wasteland. And down from the heavens came a lady, with golden hair and fine dress, her skin of pure light. She reached out her hand to deliver them from the dark ages, to unite mankind under her light. This depicted the Empress, the birth of the Empire...

Like all children born under the banner he had heard the story, how she created them as the painting showed. If it was true or not it didn’t matter to him. But he knew the Empress was real, locked in the heart of her palace. He was one of the humans to ever hear her voice, speaking directly into his mind. He still didn’t know how she did it but she did...

Was she truly a god? And where did she come from? Of course no one had the courage to ask, she had killed before from inside that chamber...Plenty of people in his position who went against her orders or tried to assume power beyond their station. He wasn’t ashamed to admit he was scared of her, only a suicidal fool would not.

‘So you came after all?’ he turned to the woman approaching from the side. She dressed a snow white robe with a golden chain linked between her shoulders and hanging below her neck.

‘I always come to my appointments. Shall we go?’

‘Yes, the chamber is prepared for you.’ they left for the meditation chamber built as a private space separate from the main area.

Reginald liked to go there to get his head together, to calm his mind to his burden of leading the lady’s military didn’t overwhelm him. So far it had worked for decades, there was no plans of stopping now despite how much troops looked down at this these sort of things.

They didn’t know what he knew, nor knew his burden. The burden of hundreds of thousands of souls...

*

For days they flew endlessly, fuel was starting to run out and they had to stop and take food whenever they could. Often from raiders and bandits not to mention the ever rarer Empire outposts.

They left the wasteland desert behind and the air started to become more cold, the ground more green as they progressed.

At one of their stops Caleb took in as much as he could. For the first time in his life he saw trees...actual trees! With leaves and everything!!

The ground was far softer than anything he could have imagined and the air seemed fresher this far north.

And the gushing water of the nearby river, it was actually clear blue, not toxic bronze like back home. Somehow there was still some beauty left in the world..

They set up the rain cover on the roof balcony, connection the dark blue material from the top of the back engines to two small poles on each side on the front.

Just as they predicted the rain started falling down on them. Caleb didn’t mind tough, the sound of it hitting the trees joined in well with the birds chirping and the wind rustling the leaves. What he wasn’t used to was the cold tough. The Capital could get cold but not to this extend and there were never ever wind there thanks to the cramped spaces. And the desert was constantly dry and burning hot so this was completely new. Yet very relaxing in a way, he was hoping to retire to place like this, assuming he ever made it that far.

He stood underneath the ship, by the hangar door and just listened and looked at the weather around him, taking in the new surroundings.

‘What are you doing out here?’ Kel asked him as she walked down the lowered door.

‘I have never seen anything like this before. This..nature right?’

‘Ya...it may seem nice at first but there are far to many ambush spots here for my liking.’

‘Do you believe we’re being watched?’

‘Nah...not by people anyway. But the wildlife out here are sometimes even worse.’

‘There are no giants out here are there?’

‘Giants?’

‘Ya! Like giant four legged gray mutants. The kind that towers over this ship easily.’

‘Oh you mean the Gargan right? Ya no they’re not out here. I don’t think they like terrain. Why? Have you seen one?

‘Just before I met you in Darktown I got lost in the dead city. Was lucky to hide behind some old scrap wall as that giant thing moved past me.’

‘Ya I heard rumors of one being spotted there. Pretty crazy how things like that can exist right?’

‘How can they even? I mean they must surely be the largest creature in existence right?’

‘On land probably. But I heard some real fucking horror stories of things spotted at sea. Fishermen and fleet patrols sometimes seeing monsters appearing from the surface and scaring them shitless.’

‘Fuck...we’re probably better off in the air then.’

‘You fucking said it..’

Jack however wasn’t enjoying the area quite as much. She stood in the cockpit, looking over the map and trying to decide their next. Their fuel was gonna run out at this point and they were miles away from the nearest station. She really should have planned their escape better..

The nearest place she could tell was a tiny settlement called The Misty Harbor, along the eastern coast. She doubted that there were proper fuel there but they really had no other choice, it was either that or getting used to live as forest hermits.

And she wasn’t willing to make campfires to old fashioned way just yet. She plotted the course, it was near impossible to say where they were now but of she just kept flying east she should reach the coast pretty quickly and from there it was a smooth journey north.

She checked the ramp and told those two to get on board, it was finally time to move on from this fucking wilderness.

*

Cloudy yet again this morning, like very morning. Was there even such a thing as sunlight anymore? And the cold...the fucking cold that just crept underneath the clothes, sinking in layer by layer like water. The only ways to stay warm was to stay by a fire or always stay on the move, keep the blood pumping.

Malmer, the old man working the fuel station sat by his barrel with burning wood and old leaves in it, underneath the roof of a old world gas station. His chair, a miracle it was still standing, was one of the few comforts he had. Not many passed trough here since the troubles started. Bad weather was a constant but loosing all their fishermen? Their town was dying and they had nowhere to go. To many miles to the nearest settlement and the road was dangerous...the places that had roads anyway...he heard a strange noise in the air, heading towards them. He got off his char, readied is rifle and looked up. Approaching him was some kind of flying vessel, it had been a great deal many years since he saw a flight vessel. Not since the Empire pulled out all their troops from this doomed area.

It landed right by his station, the jet engines roaring loud in his hears and his clothes flapping from the winds it created.

When they died down a ramp was lowered and a dark haired woman with some kind of face tattoo stepped out.

‘Hey! You got any fuel?’ she asked him.

‘Ya I do. How much money you got?’

‘As much as you want. We need this bad boy full.’

He sighted as he stepped out into the rain, getting to work. Walking over to the large, rust colored tank he took out the long fuel pipe, dragging it over the ship as the woman opened up a small panel, revealing the fuel intake. She inserted it as he walked back and turned the, now barely red, round handle and the tank rumbled to life, pumping fuel into the pipe.

It took only a few minutes before it stopped and he took it out.

‘What the fuck? That’s not even halfway!’ the woman said as she looked at the round fuel tank meter right above the ships intake point.

‘That’s I got sorry. Haven’t had any restock here for years.’

‘Then were can we find some?’

‘Not here that’s for sure. We’re basically cut off from the rest of the world.’

He put the fuel pipe back uncaring for the woman’s troubles.

‘Fine! Then we’re not paying for these lousy drops!’

‘As if that will matter, money has little meaning in a dying town.’ The sheer cynicism just radiated off him. Still she could hardly dispute that, all she had to do was to look down the tall hill and see the shithole they just landed in. From a distance this town could be confused for abandoned ruins.

Kel went back inside and told Jack, seemingly further disturbing the captain. Without fuel how would they even get to the next town? They were barely at 20 percent already!

‘Someone in town gotta know something. If not then we just steal some from the others. Not like we done worse already.’

Kel, Juan and Jack went to the town to look around. Caleb tinkering away in the workshop, still trying to get that computer up and running.

Only while doing that that damn cube started humming again. He really needed a better place to keep it, that damn sound was gonna drive him mad.

Not to mention he ran into another big problem. To finish up the motherboard he needed fibreglass. That was pretty damn rare material, the old world had the stuff on mass, as showed by their insane amount of computers, but after everything went to shit most of it just seemed to have vanished into thin air. And he wasn’t even to close to having the stuff necessary to make it himself..

*

The town was expected as such...a mess. The old style wooden houses was run down, some of them abandoned even. The harbour had only three fishing boats standing docked, the people looked at them with suspicion and surprise. It was obvious that they rarely ever had visitors. Jack speculated that the boats could have some fuel to take but for now it was best to keep looking. They soon came across a bar, the Blue whale inn. A whale that’s blue..what a ridicules name! Inside was hardly any better. Just a few people huddled around a table speaking in low tones. One old guy came out from the back.

‘What will ya have?’ he asked them.

‘Information, who’s in charge here?’

‘Do we look like a town that needs a mayor or something?’

Jack leaned on the counter, her cybernetic eye staring right at him.

‘Answer the question.’

‘No we don’t have a guy in charge. The closest one is that rich girl Matilda but ya don’t wanna deal with her.’

‘Why not?’

‘Cause she’s the town local mafia boss! Her family used to be feared, respected. Even the Empire came to them for deals way back when...before they pulled out that is.’

‘Why? The emps don’t just surrender territory.’

‘To much trouble to keep this place. Our fishermen all started dying and without our only export the economy collapsed. The emps failed to fix the problem and deemed us to troublesome. So they got back onto their giant ships and left, never to be seen again.’

‘Why did the fishermen all die then? Was the storms to much?’

‘There was no storm lass.’ they turned around to a old bearded man, dressed in the typical fisherman gear. A blue overcoat over the gray turtleneck. He breathed out a puff of smoke from his pipe and looked up from under his hat.

‘It was the Leviathan.’

‘The what?’

‘Leviathan, lass. Its the biggest, meanest and toughest creature in the sea. It kept bringing down ship after ship we sent out. Not even the emps armored boats, full of machine guns and torpedoes and such could match it. That thing has single handedly doomed us to a slow death.’

‘A sea monster?...are you serious?’

‘He’s dead serious.’ the barkeep said.

‘We have several witnesses here who caught a glimpse of it. A giant beast, dwarfing even our biggest boats, attacking and dragging them down to the depths never to be seen again. They say the only warning you get is a deep rumbling noise from beneath the surface, followed by a roar and then...death.’

‘Well as scary as the sea is I never once heard of a monster quite like that. Were can I find one of these witnesses?’

‘Markus and Joe are a little all over the place, no way to tell for sure. But granny Crockett spends her days locked up in her house further down the street, right by the old statue. Poor lady has never been the same since the attack.’

‘Thanks.’ they left the depressing bar and headed there.

‘So a sea monster? What do you make of it?’

‘Well cap I wouldn’t dismiss it entirely. The old world created a lot of fucked of horrors.’ Juan stated.

‘If that thing tries then we just drop the siege missile on it, not even a Behemoth survives that.’ Kel dismissed it.

‘What about a Gargan?’

‘Those things borders on legendary and has terrible vision. Why bother worrying about them when hiding from them is like stupidly fucking easy?’

They kept walking until they saw the statue. It was of a man facing the ocean, dressed in a rain coat and hat. A harpoon in his hand and compass in the other. It was in obviously bad shape, no one clearly bothered taking care of it anymore. Jack knocked on the door of the red brick house. Its windows covered by thick curtain stopping anyone from seeing inside.

‘Say why are we visiting this old woman? I thought we were looking for fuel?’

‘I’m curious about this Leviathan.’ the door opened and a grizzled, bitter looking old lady stood there, dressed in many layers of wool and cotton clothes. Her hair a tangled mess and glasses sitting on her nose.

‘Are you Crockett?’

‘Who are you?’

‘Jackelynn. I wanna know about the Leviathan.’

‘You’re a fool then..’

‘You gonna talk or not?’

The old lady sighted and let them in. The house was a mess, old books stood in high roves along the walls. The hallway was cramped, the kitchen to the right was filled with unwashed dishes. To the right was the living room, barely illuminated by a weak chandelier hanging over the dinner table. To the other side was a open fire with a cat laying in front of it, enjoying the warmth. Crockett nodded for them to sit in the couch by the fire while she took the armchair in front of them.

‘I’ll tell you what I told the others. I wasn’t supposed to survive that encounter. For that creature is death itself, and it has laid claims to these oceans..’

*

Leina Crockett was on the fishing boat SS, Hawk along with her three other crew mates. Yellow coats, red hats and nothing but water in sight.

‘Are you sure its safe out here??’

‘Are ya scared? All these “monster” stories are nothing but old wives tales.’

‘But Kaldor’s crew was confirmed dead.’

‘We lost fishermen before, ya its dangerous but so is living. Lets just do what we came here to do!’

The crew kept working, the captain refused to admit it but today was different. There was tension in the air, no one could explain it but there was something odd about ocean that day. Leina raised the net out of the water, now only half filled with fish. Usually these waters had plenty of game but the numbers had been dropping for over a year now.

‘Well that’s a shame. The town’s not gonna be happy.’

Then a deep rumble was heard all around them. ‘Joe..was that you?’

‘No...Bobby?’

‘Not me either!’

‘Captain?’....

‘Captain!’ he didn’t answer. He just stood there on the far back of the boat, staring out into the ocean.

‘What is going on captain? Whats out there?’ Bobby asked, moving next to him to check.

Then the rumble was heard again, louder this time. So much so that they knew it couldn’t be one of them. Everyone stood in dead silence, not daring to move a muscle. After what felt like an eternity they almost jumped out of their skins when out of nowhere, a massive roar sounded all around them. They felt the very shockwave’s of that sound against they whole bodies, as if the very air trembled. The crew clutched their ears and Leina began to scream. Right in front of her, on the opposite side of the ship where she stood, rose something massive. A large darkness dwarfing the tiny vessel. She barely had time to look up at the creature before it descended and suddenly there was water. Bubbles clouded her vision, her body spun and was pulled down by the force.

When it stopped she heard the low rumbling beneath her as she quickly swam to the surface, taking a large gasp of air as her head poked out of the surface. She looked around in panic, the ship was nowhere to be seen. Only a piece of floating driftwood which she swam to, grabbing on for dear life. As she tried to calm hear breathing, to conserve her strength, she looked down into the water and saw something that froze her entire insides to ice. Briefly, for barely two seconds, she saw a light down there. A light the shape of en eye, and it moved. Turned downwards and after it left her sight she wasn’t sure if she saw something else. Something huge moving beneath the surface, but that light was real so why not the movement? By gods the rumors were real...

*

‘I floated out there for hours, how I survived is beyond me but eventually the others found me. They had sent out rescue crews to find us since our signal died. We made it back shore and I declared to the whole town that it wasn’t rumors, it was real. The Leviathan is real and is hunting down everyone who dares to fish its waters. Its only death out there.’

She then lifted some of the garment surrounded her legs, revealing shiny metal instead of human skin.

‘But of course the cold still took plenty away from me. There’s little to no warmth in the waters this far north.’

‘I see...thank you..’ Jack rose out of her seat and was headed for the door.

‘Don’t say you weren’t warned youngsters.’ They left the house with only more questions than answers.

‘So there’s a giant sea monster, a lack of fuel and a town who’s slowly starving to death. What a depressing shit show you landed us in cap.’ Kel said in her usual complaining tone.

‘Its not looking good for sure. But we might have an extra source of fuel. If the fishermen isn’t using their remaining boats we can just take some there.’

‘What if its still not enough? The Dreaded lady is a lot bigger than a tiny fishing boat.’ Juan asked.

‘Then we check on this girl..Matilda right?’

‘Where does she live tough?’

‘My guess is the biggest house in town. Which is clearly the one up there.’ Jack pointed to a huge mansion up a hill, a bit further away from the town. Even from there they could make out the wall around it, stopping intruders from entering.

*

Caleb fell asleep on the desk in the workshop, feeling tired far to easily lately. Maybe a part of him was still getting used to this lifestyle?

As his mind started to drift, falling asleep for real, he suddenly felt cold. Very cold even..

A strange wet feeling at his feet, reaching up his ankles, up the knees.

He flew awake to find the workshop drowning in water. The whole floor was covered and the levels was rising quick! He shot up from his chair and headed for the door, as he opened it a sudden black mass of tentacles reached out towards him. He screamed as he fell back, hitting the back of his head against the wall. As he looked up again the water was gone, and in the doorway stood Doc.

‘Something to matter my boy? You look..unnerved.’

‘A bad dream...just...a bad dream..’ he tried catching his breath as his body recovered from the sudden panic attack.

Doc walked in, looking curiously at the locker. ‘Say what is that noise?’

Caleb then realized that the cube was humming again. Only much louder than usually. He took it out and it even glowed brighter. He held it up to Doc, explaining how he found it.

‘Curious little thing. So the Empire and Javelin battled over this tiny thing?’

‘They could have attacked just because it was Javelin.’

‘True...still no idea what it is?’

‘I tried everything. At this point its mostly an annoyance. But if Javelin wanted this then it has to do something right?’

‘I think you’re right...I’ll try to send out a message to some old friends of mine. See if anyone knows a way to open up this...secret.’

The cyborg was about to walk off when he remembered why came there in the first place.

‘By the way! I was hoping you’d fix something for me.’

‘Ok..’

‘Its the breathing machine I use for my patients. Its having a bit of difficulty working.’

‘I’ll take a look.’

‘You’re a good man and true!’

Caleb wondered if he’d ever get used to doc’s altered voice...or his unique way of speaking for that matter..

*

They stood in front of the tall iron gate, blocking of entrance to the mansion. Above the gate was a sign, party rusted but still readable.

Warwick’s home for the mentally unwell...so it was a slightly nicer name for an asylum. And whats more was that there was no light in any of the windows. Plants and mold were growing along the walls, the garden grown out of control probably centuries ago into its own little forest.

‘Well I guess its not here then.’

‘I don’t see why anyone would wanna live in this shithole. Its fucking creepy!’

‘Creepy...that’s one word for it.’ they turned around to see a man dressed in a almost oversized coat.

‘And you are?’

‘Doesn’t matter, I’m just here to deliver a message.’

‘Which is?’

‘Matilda heard there was outsiders in town and she wants to see you. Like right now.’

‘How convenient. Lead the way then.’

He took then back trough town to another larger house, almost looking like three houses connected to each other via more recent hallways. Armed people patrolled around it and guarded the doors, its garden fenced off and big dogs wandered around there, keeping out all uninvited intruders.

‘I got them here.’

‘Weapons.’ one of them said as he pointed to a table.

Reluctantly they discarded their weapons, saving only the tiny backup for situations like this. Inside was much more cleaner and well decorated than the others. Paintings of fine art hing the walls. Curtains of fine, clear colors hung along the sides of the sides of the windows. In a large room, filled with people and smelling of cigar smoke, sat a woman wearing a silver, glittering dress. Her hair tied to a flawless bun at the back and hanging along the sides of her face in the front.

Her gloves reached above her elbows, instead of a cigar she held a long smoking stick with two fingers. She spotted them and blew out a small cloud of smoke.

‘Ah you’re finally here! Good, sit down my dears.’ Her voice echoed of overwhelming arrogance and self assurance. As they sat down in front of her glasses of whiskey was poured for the.

‘I’m Matilda Coppermount. The last of my family, and this is of course my town.’

‘I’m Jack, captain of the Dreaded Lady. We don’t intent on staying long. We’ll leave as soon as we refuel my ship.’

‘That’s a shame to hear really. We barely have any visitors this days.’ She took another cusp of smoke and blew it out upwards.

‘So what’s the outside world like these days? The Empire still in business?’

‘Growing bigger every year. Its hard being a non citizen back south.’

‘I can only imagine... Now for this fuel conundrum of yours I do have a solution. I happened to have a very large stockpile of fuel just sitting in my warehouse. Do a small job for me and you can have as much as you can carry.’

‘Your gas station ran out and you just happened to have a lot?’

‘All fuel normally comes from me but the old man stopped paying so I stopped delivering. Unfortunately there’s no one else to buy it so I had to halt my entire production, it was starting to take up to much space you see.’

‘Uh huh...So what’s the job?’

‘Simple really. When all these troubles of our fishermen dying off my father was transporting a rather large supply of Izperin. He almost reached shore when that thing attacked and all communication got cut off. Now we both know that Izperin doesn’t expire and the containers should protect it from the saltwater, the trouble is getting there and back..’

‘Cause of the Leviathan?’

‘Precisely! If you survive and get back that supply you can have all the barrels you want. Its not like the town got any use for it these days.’

‘Then how do you propose we dive down there with minimum risk?’

‘I haven’t got functional diver suits if that’s what you’re asking. Just some really sold things that stopped working years ago. I keep them as decor now.’

‘Then perhaps you would let us borrow them? We got a skilled engineer who can take a look.’

Matilda shrugged her shoulders and ordered one of her workers to show them.

*

Caleb had just finished up docs breathing machine when the three crew mates returned, dragging a large box each up the ramp.

‘So found any fuel?’ He asked them, climbing down.

‘No, but we found a job that grants us a massive amount of it. First tough I need you to fix these up.’ Jack said opening her box.

Inside was a folded up divers suit. Mostly copper brown ish with a lighter bronze helmet as round as a ball with a wide, circular shaped window to see out of.

‘I’ll see what I can do.’ He started unpacking them and got to work as the others went up to the living room.

‘You seriously don’t her crap right? How do we even know the fuel is real?’

‘We don’t, but she has no alibi against us. Its possible she could kill us if we somehow complete it.’

‘Then why do we do it?’

‘Cause I’d rather not fight someone with that many numbers yet again. Plus Izpering is worth a lot of money. If a double crossing happens then we stand to get more out of it. Juan get back to town and find the fuel storage. I wanna see if she lied to us or not. In the meantime I’ll work out a plan for the diving.’