Embrace The Ether 34 Reunited

Deus stood over one of the clansmen, watching as the young man tampered with the radio, to the point of dismantling it's back paneling and ripping it open. Several wires dangled out of it as he twisted them together and cut their ends clean off. This, of course, was all in an effort to improve both the range and remove excess static.

"You're sure you know what you're doing?" Deus asked him cautiously.

"Mhm," he nodded, "This should help clean up the voices a bit… but I doubt the radio will last long once this is done. Consider this a last ditch effort, it'll pull all the strength from the wires but will most likely fry everything quickly. You'll need to send your message quickly before the wires short-circuit."

Deus understood what he meant up to a point, however, he was still unsure of the many intricacies that allowed the radio to work. Regardless, he nodded his head and spoke, "Right, understood."

The clansman cut one final wire with a thin knife as he reattached the back paneling, only then did he hand the device over to Deus. With a firm grasp, Deus lifted the device to his face as he called out. "Droh, do you read me?" After everything that had happened, he knew that he only had so long before the radio malfunctioned and died, especially after everything that the young clansman had done to it.

A clear voice came back in return, it was quite audible and crisp. It was a voice which Deus could recognize. He practically teared up on instinct upon suddenly hearing this voice. It was like a light at the end of a dark tunnel. "Droh… am I glad to hear from you."

"Deus… Deus, is that you? I'm so happy that you're alright. I saw the ship go down and I—"

Droh was interrupted as Mercer interjected, most likely lifting the radio away from the young Faun, "Enough of that. Deus, how goes everything? You said Elias was there, right? Put him on."

"Nice to hear from you too, Mercer…" Deus said, his tone so clearly sarcastic.

Deus turned to look, his sight stopping only once he caught Elias's attention. "Elias, it's Mercer, he said he needs to speak with you!" he shouted, tossing the radio over to Elias as he brought out his hand-cannon again. "If you need me, just call me over."

With that Deus walked a few steps to the side as he began firing once again at the enemy. 'Hm, all I needed to know was if Droh was still alright… good, now hold on buddy, I'll get you through this… somehow.'

Deus had grown attached to the young Faun, as he was the one who guided him through Midnight and into Direfell when he first arrived. Many of his thoughts and opinions had come from Droh, and he seemed to naturally share many values and aspirations with him.

Elsewhere, Elias stood there, holding the radio in his hands. "Mercer?" He paused for a moment before speaking again, "How are the defenses where you're at?"

"Mister Elias, I'm glad to hear you're alive and well… I've managed to secure a perimeter using the energy barrier you provided us, but we can't get anywhere without being overrun. Our only choice is to wait everything out and shoulder the storm."

Elias thought for a moment. "Do you have a radio that can reach long-range? All ours have died out, so if you do... I have a channel you need to use... you know if that is indeed the case."

"Pardon?" Mercer asked, "I don't understand."

"Do you or do you not have a radio that can transmit long-range? If so, I'll have you send over a message that I've prepared beforehand. It will reach the clan headquarters, and they'll dispatch the annihilation unit."

At the mention of such a unit, several of the clansmen who were nearest to Elias felt a frightening shiver move up their backs. They've heard this name before, but only through whispers and rumor, as none of them were high enough in rank to personally witness such a force in person.

The annihilation unit, or as it was more aptly referred to as Goliath within the clan. A special task force specially constructed by Roland, their clan's leader and foundation, to handle the most dangerous and severe risks, all the while typically receiving a relatively minimal loss of life in the process. That didn't account for the loss of life for their foes, however. That number was almost always astronomically high. They were a unique weapon which the clan had quietly stashed away, waiting for a special moment.

Even the elite forces of Direfell would find fighting this task force difficult, as they possessed a unique and sinister secret that only Roland knew of. Many considered them to be his secret ace, a true weapon he'd stash throughout Direfell in order to ensure his continued success and influence.

It showed just how little influence Elias truly held in comparison to Roland, that even he knew very little regarding Goliath. It would take all of his influence and perhaps even a few favors to summon them here, but once it was done, the operation would be a sure thing. Elias had hesitated to do this until the last moment, however, because he knew that the most valuable treasures would fall to them if they were involved.

He also knew that the moment Goliath was summoned, Roland would come to know of everything. This spelled disaster for Elias, as he was attempting to secretly acc.u.mulate power and influence so as to not be removed from power. If he failed, he feared for his safety, especially now that he had directly eliminated one of the deadly centipedes, a symbol of power for many Lords.

"So, do you have a radio that can transmit long-range or do you not?" Elias was losing his patience as he asked again.

Mercer paused for a moment, only replying after several long drawn out seconds had pa.s.sed. "Y-yes, battery life is estimated at half-charge on the radio, and it is capable of contacting long-range as long as it transmits away from the tower…" he hesitated before adding on, "The further away from the tower, the better."

"Understood… await our arrival, and keep that d.a.m.n radio safe, above all else."

Elias turned his attention back toward his small squad of men as he began shouting orders. They had been constantly under suppressive fire, but due to the effectiveness of the energy barrier, most of the damage wasn't too bad.

Deus simply stuck around, occasionally cooperating and a.s.sisting in holding off enemy strikes, but most of his time was spent on listening to Elias vent his frustrations as they very slowly made their way through the war-torn battlefield.

Deus had initially planned on warning Elias about his previously successful message, but he hesitated. He wasn't sure how the news would be received, so until the very last minute, he had decided to hold out and wait.

"Look! Boss, I can see them!" Nirox shouted as he remained in the frontal-most position of their group. An energy barrier device firmly weighing down in his grasp. The device was relatively heavy, especially for its size, and so he had to occasionally pause and recuperate his strength before they could continue on.

Unfortunately only Nirox possessed the upper body strength to single-handedly carry the device. They could have relied on multiple men to carry it in case of an emergency, but that would have required them to allocate several clansmen who held their defensive line to the task, thus weakening their overall strength.

To avoid such a loss of strength, they had ordered Nirox to carry the device alone. Allocating him to simply acting as their eyes while shuffling through the battlefield.

Elias turned to face where Nirox had called his attention to. What he saw was enough to twist his mouth into a smile.

The gunner team that they had placed only a few cliff-ridges away had come into view as they could be seen continuously holding off several enemy attacks. "Come on, we're at the home stretch!"

Deus knew the truth, though. This was only the beginning, and the road ahead was darker than anything else previously. Yes, Elias and his clansmen would be able to join forces with their reinforcements, but wasn't the same true for their attackers? Once both sides met, they could join their own forces together and strike harder than before.

They needed to hurry, or else they'd be nothing left of them but ash.