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A KNIGHT LUMINARY

R.R. Virdi

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In a universe at war with the Amalgam machine hive-mind, humanity’s last, best line of defense are the Knights Luminary, warriors capable of channeling the divine power of Darklight. Novak is only a trainee: green, powerless, and out of his depth when a distant outpost goes dark and silent....


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Novak would either rise to be one of the Luminaries in the next twenty-four hours...or dead. It all rested on how the mission went.

There was no sound in space, so they made their own.

Armored fists pounded against the dropship walls like the distant drum of thunder. Novak added his own beat to the tempo, finding the basso bangs bringing a steady calm to his nerves.

A hand fell on his shoulder and shook him lightly.

“Nervous?” The speaker’s voice carried a mechanical warble, enhanced by the fact the noise carried through his comms as well as through the ship’s interior.

Novak shook his head. “I’ve been training for this for years. I only thought when I’d get a chance to rise, I’d be back on the Arbiter—weighed and judged there for the next step.”

“There’s still time for that,” Ilyus laughed and clapped Novak’s back hard. His chasseur armor betrayed no movement as he shook, bringing an eerie stillness to his form even though Novak watched the man’s shadow shift. The gray cloak and cowl, composed of interwoven mesh and more thin layers than he could count, billowed and sat with a leaden weight that masked motion.

The rest of Ilyus’s armor would be sleek and form-fitting, easier to hide under the cloak. Its colors would be the typical blend and patchwork of gray to black with some hints of white. The only break from this was the gold-foil faceplates and visor common to all the Knights Luminary.

“You still haven’t manifested your Darklight yet, right?”

Novak shook his head, not wanting to give voice to that fact. There was no embarrassment in the fact he hadn’t triggered the divine light, it was a common enough thing. But it still sat uneasy in his stomach that he was so close to his rise and hadn’t shown a speck of mystical potential.

Darklight had been discovered centuries ago when humanity met the Arbiter, an interstellar city-ship that had been abandoned. The first explorers settled it and became exposed to the Arbiter’s power source—Darklight, the ethereal energy that functioned somewhere between science and magic. It empowered the first knights to manifest celestial abilities that allowed them to channel the energy as a weapon and for defensive measures.

It gave humanity the edge they needed against the hostile forces of the galaxy, allowing them to compensate for the differences in tech advances with their Luminary powers.

They still didn’t know how it all worked, only that humans could access the magical source after being exposed to traumatic situations—the Snap, as it was called.

After spending enough time on the Arbiter, a person could eventually reach out and tap into Darklight.

Except for Novak. He’d spent his life on the ship, surrounded by its magical energy. And he’d never showed a spark of potential all through the years of training and missions. This would be his last to try, and it didn’t look good. In truth, he’d given up the idea of manifesting his Darklight. Most people at least experienced a Flashing once before their Snap. They would have vivid images of manifesting abilities before they happened. Or a spark of Darklight would appear around them, too weak to do anything with, but it was enough of a sign. And he’d never seen any of it. There were rumors that some had still achieved rank among the Luminary without using the magical abilities of the Arbiter, and he held onto those dreams.

“Don’t worry, kid. It’ll turn up. Always does. Most of us don’t show any flickers of it either until we have our Waking moment. Usually happens when things get really bad—out of control and then you’ve got nothing but your back to a wall.” Ilyus sighed and slumped on the bench, crossing his legs. His head tilted back to lightly thump against the wall, letting Novak know the man sought a short rest before their drop.

Novak thought to do the same, but a short static buzz jarred him from the momentary reverie, sending his heart lurching.

“Listen up.” The voice belonged to the OG (operation guardian), the one running charge of the mission. Parcis paced the length of the drop bay. He stood a head taller than most men, and the bulk of his armor exaggerated that greatly. His smooth and curved pauldrons flared at the ends into swooping arcs that reminded Novak of wings. Everything else about the man’s armor fit that theme—arced, angular, and all the room for heavy curves that appeared more superficial than anything else. “We lost contact with Ipacrus Relay Station over thirty-six standard hours ago. All hails were ignored, no bounce backs, and a visual survey run by drones turned up nothing but wildlife movement.”

“Nothing?” Zelkris leaned forward, resting his forearms against his knees. The deep plum of his bracers carried a glossy shine that seemed impractical to Novak. The coloring would be blasted off or fall to wear over the course of future missions. It would also draw unwanted attention to the man in the heat of battle, making him an easy target. Nothing in his flowing robes, all carrying varying shades of a similar color, brought the word stealthy to mind. Add to that the fact the portions of his armor around the joints all boasted thin strips of glowing light somewhere between stark white and turquoise. The man would be a bright beacon to any hostiles, but then, every magus Novak had seen went for similarly gaudy aesthetics.

“Just wind and water, Zelkris, but we know that’s never the case. They wouldn’t send us in otherwise.”

The magus nodded in agreement and even the almost dozing Ilyus tipped his head.

“We drop in ten. This is a recon assessment. Repeat: Recon. Scan and assess, keep on comms. Do not fire until told otherwise.”

Zelkris grunted and Ilyus gave the OG a lazy thumbs-up.

“Yes, Guardian,” said Novak.

Parcis turned his attention on the initiate, weighing him. “You’ll do fine, son. First op with Luminaries?”

Novak nodded. “Yes, Guardian.”

Parcis bent at the waist and rapped a heavy-armored fist against Novak’s chest plate. “Eyes forward. Ears open. You do those two things and listen, you’ll make it home a Luminary yourself, got it?”

“And if you don’t, this backwater’s a nice enough place as any for burial,” said Zelkris.

Ilyus let out a light chuckle at that.

“Stow it.” Parcis fixed both men with a long look before taking a seat himself.

The drumming resumed on silent cue, falling in measure with Novak’s heartbeat.


“Dropping quick, knights. LZ clear.” The pilot’s voice cut off as quickly as it had come.

The drop door hissed open and air rushed to fill the void, buffeting Novak without reprieve.

“Ten and counting, knights!” the pilot’s voice crackled.

“Novak, you’re with me. Ilyus and Zelkris, lead the drop and take point from there.”

The chasseur and magus both nodded and headed toward the door. A handful of seconds later, they jumped.

“Alright, trainee. Let’s go.” Guardian Parcis grabbed Novak by the shoulder and they dropped together.

The world below raced into view.

Novak’s HUD—heads-up display—brought it into better clarity.

An endless expanse of pale green greeted him with dull swaths of gray in the distance.

They dove toward a bright red marker that flared to life in his visor, indicating the relay.

Ipacrus Station looked like a three-story spire of once brilliant white, now dulled in its luster by weather and time. It lacked any glass or windows around it—at least any that were visible. A long section sprouted out from one side of the tower and ran along the side for the length of a few thousand feet.

“On the ground. No movement. Nothing on visuals. Over?” Ilyus’s voice had come through clearer in comms than it had on the ship.

“Copy. Move into the station and keep hailing for a response. Remember, do not open fire until given the clear.”

“Roger.” Ilyus and Zelkris spoke in stereo.

The puck-sized boosters along Novak’s calves, ribs, and back all fired at once, generating thrust to slow his descent. He hit the ground, letting his knees absorb the impact. The kinetic barrier around him, created by his armor, took the rest of the landing’s brunt. Parcis landed by him.

“Let’s go, trainee.”

Novak nodded, shifting through his HUD to look at the world through infrared, then ultraviolet. Nothing. He finally returned to normal view and made his way toward the station, Guardian Parcis staying by his side.

They made it to the entry doors, but they refused to open.

Parcis keyed his comms. “Ilyus, Zelkris, anything?”

“Negative. Can’t even find a way in. Wait, one of the automated shutters just opened. Still weapons silent, Guardian? I can blast a way in and open the main doors.”

Parcis paused for a moment. “Do it. But don’t train weapons on anyone alive in that station. I want any eyewitness accounts we can get on why Ipacrus Relay is down and not broadcasting.”

“Roger.”

A high-pitched blast echoed in the distance. Then quiet.

“What do you think we’ll find, Guardian?” Novak looked at his ops leader, waiting for the answer.

“I’m not sure, trainee, but whatever it is, I have a feeling it’s not good. Ipacrus is the telemetry station we need in the sector to keep an eye on Amalgam movement. If this place goes down, we’ll be caught off guard if the Amalgam makes a move into the sector.”

Unless they’re already here. Novak quickly buried the dark thought as the main doors to the station vented and opened.

Darkness greeted him and Ops Guardian.

“Why aren’t the automated lights on?” Novak’s hand instinctively went to the heavy pistol at his side, drawing it. It held a reassuring weight even when gripping it in his armor and with both hands. The machine pistol had a frame nearly twice as large as his fist despite being only as thin as his thumb in width. Sleek, angular, and with a design like a skeletal frame measuring tool, it could still fire hundreds of rounds per minute with deadly accuracy.

“Don’t know, but that’s enough of a reason to have weapons up and heads on a swivel.” Twin beams of light flared along the top of Guardian Parcis’s helmet, illuminating the path ahead in a soft white. He raised his own weapon a moment later—a long rifle the length of his arm, all in black with a single core of neon blue glowing through the whole of the frame.

“Got movement, Guardian. Two hundred meters from your position. Moving in on them,” said Ilyus.

Parcis didn’t confirm, instead choosing to break into a full sprint toward the location.

Novak fell into step a few paces behind the man.

They crossed the distance with ease, rounding through a few corridors just as dark and without power as where they’d entered from.

“I don’t like this, sir.” Novak’s voice didn’t break over the sound of their footsteps hammering along the floor.

The ops guardian must have registered what he’d said, but the man didn’t bother replying.

They reached the rendezvous with Ilyus and Zelkris, coming into a room with data towers standing feet taller than any of them. All of the lights flickered through the machines, indicating they still had some connection to power.

Lights flickered intermittently through this hall, snapping across their vision with stark white.

Ilyus came around the nearest bend, weapon drawn. The hand cannon trained on Novak’s skull before the tip bobbed and lowered. “Sorry, kid.”

Novak waved the man off. “It’s fine. You caught movement?”

Ilyus gestured with his gun to a set of double doors ahead of them. “This section has power, running on backup. Backups aren’t automatic on Ipacrus. They’ve got to be triggered manually.” He turned to face Novak and the ops guardian before focusing his attention back on the doors.

That means someone or something is here and turned the backups on. Novak leveled his machine pistol on the doors, waiting for orders.

“One of the scientists?” Zelkris looked at each of them as he spoke, clearly wanting someone to answer.

“Could be. Whoever it is, they’re the only lead we have as to what’s happened there. We need them.” Parcis pointed to the control panel beside the doors. “Get it open. Don’t fire unless hostile. We go in, restrain whoever it is, ask questions. Understood?”

Everyone confirmed in unison.

Zelkris popped open the panel and tapped a few digital keys along one of his bracers. Lights strobed through a series of colors and the doors let out a low moan of protest. They slid open, pressurized gas venting out of the sides.

Parcis signaled the team in with a curt gesture of two fingers.

Everyone filtered in.

A series of screens dominated one side of the room, all displaying camera footage of the areas surrounding the station perimeter. Some of the cams showcased the various darkened halls in a clear grayscale—night vision.

“Found her!” Ilyus came from around another section of data towers, hauling a young woman by the scruff of her collar.

She couldn’t have been out of her early thirties. Lean, bronze, with dark hair falling to her shoulders. Her clothing marked her as one of the scientists on the station, all clad in canvas overalls with heavy work boots. She let out a string of obscenities as she flailed, trying to bat Ilyus’s arm and break his grip.

She failed.

Parcis raised and extended a hand. “Easy. Easy. We’re here to help. Who are you and what happened here? Why’s the station dark?”

She muttered something unintelligible under her breath. Her eyes were wide and darting to each of them, then she focused on the open doors.

She’s scared, realized Novak. But of what? Not us.

Parcis lowered his weapon, stowing it at his side. He raised both hands in a universal gesture of placation. “Hey, hey. Look at me. It’s okay. But we need you to be clear here, yeah? What happened?”

Ilyus still held the woman firm in his grip.

“Let her go, chasseur.”

The man obeyed, breaking his hold.

The woman shook herself and shot Ilyus a withering glare before turning her attention back on the ops guardian. “I don’t know all of it.” She spoke with a thick and heavy accent, stressing the consonants harder than the vowels. “Tauna.” She placed a hand to her chest. “I work in the field—maintenance on telemetry posts we have across the local zone that ping data back to here. I was working two days ago when an alert came through communications. I heard screaming. Then everything went quiet. I couldn’t hail anyone.”

Parcis put his hands on the woman’s shoulders reassuringly. “Easy. Breathe. Go on.”

She nodded. “I waited for most of the first day, scared. I didn’t know if I should come back so I stayed out low in the fields. Then...then I came back. Power was out, the whole place was dark. I couldn’t get in so I went to the garage. It has a backup generator that runs on fuel. Enough power to work the motorized doors. I got in but then I couldn’t find anyone—anything. Just blood on some of the walls. I stayed in the underground maintenance halls until now. They’re heavily shielded and run off secondary power. Machines can’t pick up life signs down there.” Her eyes darted and speech came rapid fire as if still afraid and on edge.

“I saw your ship enter the atmosphere on the backup systems in the basement. When I knew people were coming, I came upstairs hoping for rescue. But they’re still here. I haven’t been able to hide for too long in one spot.”

Zelkris stepped forward, his gaze slowly moving from the woman back to the cams. “Wait, what machines? What are you talking about? Who’s still here?”

A high-pitched scream cut through the room, an odd metallic ring tingeing it.

Everyone turned toward the source coming from the other end of the room.

The creature stood half a foot taller than Novak with a body of bright silver. It was made of all swooping curves and glossy metal that looked at first glance to be polished plastic. A single lens served as an eye at the front of the thing’s face. Most of its head was a flat and wide disc in shape.

The machine charged the group, battering Zelkris hard enough to send him into the commander.

Another two of the intruders followed close behind the first, lashing out with a hydraulic strength to slam Ilyus into a tower. They used the moment to grab the young woman and barrel through Novak, sending him crashing to the ground.

“Amalgam!” Parcis rolled onto his stomach, retrieving his rifle and firing on the last of the trio that had rushed by. The machine had already turned out of line of the doorway, dodging the shots. “On your feet. After them!”

Every one of the knights sprang back into action, breaking into full sprints.

Parcis keyed his comms. “Ground team checking in. We’ve got confirmed activity of Amalgam at Ipacrus Station.”

Static buzzed through the line.

“Confirm again. Did you say Amalgam?”

“Roger.”

“Oh...hell.”

The group tore into the hall, spotting the trio that had kidnapped the scientist at the far right end.

“Run them down.” Parcis took the lead just as more of the machines filtered in at the end of the hall. “Take cover!”

The machines knelt and opened fire, their arms splitting as white-hot bolts of plasma arced through the air.

Parcis spread his arms wide, a purple ethereal light pooling around the outline of his body. It coalesced into something like flames. The world flashed lavender before a translucent film spread wide before the guardian and the group. His entire body continued to strobe with the otherworldly light.

Every shot the Amalgam had taken struck the barrier, dissipating harmlessly against it.

“It won’t hold for long. I didn’t call on that much Darklight to summon it.”

Ilyus stepped forward, leaning past the edge of the barrier to fire twin rounds in succession. His energy bolts struck one Amalgam twice through the machine’s head. He fired another quick trio into the torso of another of the constructs.

Every single machine remaining twisted and rained fire on the spot Ilyus had been peeking past.

He spun back behind the barrier. “What the hell? Those freaks all focused on me at once.”

Novak recalled something from his training research on the machines. “They have a unified mind—gestalt consciousness. They just registered you as the greatest threat.”

Ilyus swore, then peeked back again. “I’ll give them a threat.” His body flared as a brilliant blue light, tinged with a tint of purple, flashed out of his core for several feet in each direction. The aura instantly collapsed into his core before spreading up his arm and into his hand cannon. The chasseur fired a single shot into the midst of the group.

The Darklight-empowered orb arced to the ground, strobing once before detonating. The world flashed a violent streak of colors. Nothing remained in the aftermath of light other than charred surfaces.

Parcis dropped the barrier. “Nice shot. Let’s get back after them. Zelkris, with me. Ilyus, take Novak and circle around the other end of the station. There are never as few Amalgam as we’ve just seen. If there’s one, there’s hundreds. And if they’re in the system, then more are coming. We need to get that scientist back and call in a capital ship to dust the planet’s surface.”

Ilyus visibly froze. “We’re scorching the whole world?”

“Tact Protocol is clear. Amalgam incursion on a planet without enough knights to destroy them in full warrants planetary dusting. Move.” The guardian’s tone was harder than any of their armor, leaving no room for argument.

Ilyus nodded, motioning for Novak to follow him.

Parcis and Zelkris tore off into a sprint in the direction the scientist had been taken.

Novak ran off with Ilyus in the opposite way, all the while realizing the mission was effectively over for him. He’d encountered the Amalgam, a perfect moment for him to Snap. And he hadn’t.

Ilyus directed him down another hall, signaling to a set of closed shutters ahead.

“Shoot ’em open.” The chasseur-class knight holstered his pistol, drawing a slender tube only as large as his forearm. It quickly expanded, a flat stock popping out of the back and a narrower barrel from the front. He leveled the shotgun and blasted one of the shutters.

Novak peppered the other with rounds from his machine pistol before driving an armored fist through the remains. They hopped through the openings, hitting the ground hard.

“We’re going counterclockwise from Ops Guardian and Zelkris. We’ll clear the other side and rendezvous back where they end. Got it?”

“Got it.” Novak followed behind Ilyus as they ran along the station’s immediate perimeter. They came to an open field of tall grass. The sky rumbled above. “I think we’re in for crystal hail.”

Ilyus grunted. “Kinetic barriers can handle that, but it’ll be a pain to see through it, especially when pieces shatter and spray dust everywhere. We’re going to need to end this—fast.” He picked up his pace and Novak doubled up as well.

A chorus of shrieks pierced the air and more Amalgam filtered out of a part of the station.

Ilyus skidded to a halt, dropping to one knee. He slung the shotgun back into place and drew the hand cannon. A trio of shots rang out before he channeled another burst of Darklight. His body flared with the familiar light before he snapped his wrist in the direction of the Amalgam group. A net, conjured of violet and white flame, sailed overhead to tangle a pair of the machines. It bound them in place, the ethereal plasma burning through their metal with ease until only molten chunks of their bodies remained.

Novak released a set of slow controlled bursts from his machine pistol. Each of the superheated energy rounds peppered some of the Amalgam. None had fallen from his attack, however.

More of the machines came into view, quickly adapting their strategy. They broke into pairs, maintaining good distance between themselves so to keep from being easy targets for another net. They moved wide and around the duo of Novak and Ilyus, encircling them.

“This is bad.” Ilyus drew his shotgun, spreading his arms out wide, a weapon in each hand.

Novak followed suit, pulling out the compact S-shaped submachine gun he had been outfitted with. “They aren’t firing.”

It happened as soon as he’d spoken.

“You had to open your mouth, kid?” Ilyus dove to the ground, avoiding a stream of steady plasma sailing overhead. He fired the shotgun, throwing an Amalgam to the ground with a hole larger than his head sprouting in its torso. His hand cannon punched a fist-sized crater into another.

Plasma pooled into Ilyus, battering his kinetic barrier. The unseen field finally shimmered to life in an electric blue static pulse, showing signs of failure. It crashed a second later and the remaining shots hammered into Ilyus. His armor charred and sections peeled away.

Novak howled, unleashing a torrent of fire in every direction before he succumbed to a similar fate. The barrage of fire staggered him, nearly knocking him concussed. His vision blurred as one of the Amalgam approached and clubbed him to the ground with a vicious hammer-handed blow.

Everything dimmed, and through his darkening vision, he made out two of the machines dragging Ilyus away.

The storm broke out overhead and his world fell to blackness.


“Novak. Hey, son, do you hear me?” The voice felt familiar to him, but he couldn’t peg it in the moment.

Dizzying pain swam through Novak’s skull, muddying his thoughts until it felt like a static blur inside him. He groaned and tried to shake himself to his feet.

“Easy. You were out when we found you.” The source of the voice clarified in his mind and he realized it as Guardian Parcis. “Any sign of Ilyus?”

Novak tried to answer but Zelkris cut him off. “None, Guardian. Picked up residual Amalgam particles, though. Can’t make out anything in this crystal hail past that.”

The steady susurrus of hailfall only worsened the pounding in Novak’s head. His vision cleared and throbbing eased a bit. Enough for him to register the young scientist in their presence.

Parcis and Zelkris had succeeded in rescuing her, then.

“I think they took him, sir.” Novak got to his feet, shaking away Parcis’s supporting hold. “I’m not sure why. But they could have killed us. Last thing I saw was them dragging him away.”

Zelkris swore under his breath. “Experiments? Been hearing reports back home of missing knights. All MIA. Few mentions of people figuring that the Amalgam have been trying to study our Darklight abilities. Technology they get. Divine abilities, less so. Don’t think they can wrap their tin-can heads around them, so they’ve been trying to take our guys alive to find out how we tick.”

The thought filled Novak’s belly with molten iron, heat rising into his core. His hands balled into fists. “We’ve got to...find him.” He staggered forward as the world spun under him. A hand steadied him but he brushed away.

“Can’t do, trainee. Capital ship’s en route. Ipacrus Station and the rest of the planet’s about to be turned into hot glass. We can’t let an Amalgam incursion spread off this world.” Parcis moved away from the pair. “We’re heading back to where we dropped in.” He put two fingers to the side of his helm. “Four-oh-one Hardfang, this is Ops Guardian Parcis. Copy?”

“Hear you loud and clear.”

“We need immediate exfil from drop location.”

“Roger.”

“Let’s go, men.”

Novak recovered his fallen weapons, giving them a quick visual inspection before holstering the pistol. “No.”

Parcis stopped and Zelkris watched both men in silence. “What was that, trainee?”

Novak straightened up. “No, Guardian. I’m going after Chasseur Ilyus.”

Parcis crossed the distance between them, placing a heavy hand on Novak’s chest before pointing a finger at him. “You’re turning around and heading back to the pickup with us, trainee. This is not up for discussion.”

“Then don’t discuss it. But I’m going after Ilyus. Otherwise why are we here? What’s the point? Everything we’re doing is to stop the Amalgam. If not outright, then their incursions, from spreading, from something—anything! And now that one our knights is gone, we’re going to write him off and just glass a planet?”

“Hold on. It’s not like that.” Parcis brought the finger up before Novak’s visor, holding it there almost as if in accusation.

“How’s it any different? Hell, how are we? Because from where I’m standing, that’s how the Amalgam think, Guardian. They’re all cold numbers and math. Facts and figures. Maybe they’re right to think like that. Maybe that’s why they’re so damn efficient. But me? I don’t know, Guardian, but I think it’s wrong. Because they would burn this planet if it meant losing it to us. They wouldn’t go back for a hundred—a thousand of their own.

“But maybe that’s what makes us humans. People are numbers. There’s no math. No trading. No calculations. I don’t need to know the odds. And I don’t want to. I do know what I want to do and what I’m going to. Maybe it’s dumb, but I know it’s the human thing to do. And that might just make it the right thing to do, Guardian. Because if I’m dying, then it’s as a human. Not like one of those things.” Novak’s chest heaved as he finished speaking. He gave his machine pistol one last look over, his HUD displaying it to be in perfect working order.

“I don’t have any Darklight abilities. I haven’t ascended, but I’ve got this”—he raised his gun—“and I’ve got this.” Novak put a hand of his heart. “It’ll be enough.” I hope.

He pulled away from the guardian and began filtering his helmet to track the Amalgam particles through the crystal hail. It beat down against his kinetic barrier with a sound like splashing water.

“Hey, kid, this isn’t a—” Zelkris started, but the guardian cut him off.

“Magus Zelkris, head back to the drop point with Tauna. Your orders are for immediate exfil with her and to relay everything you’ve heard back on the Arbiter. You get off this world whether Trainee Novak and I return or not, understood?”

Novak froze, realizing what the ops guardian had said.

Zelkris stayed silent for a ten count before nodding. “Yes, Guardian Parcis.” He put a hand on the scientist’s shoulder. “Come on. We’ve got to move fast.” He broke into a jog, Tauna behind him.

Parcis clapped a hard hand to Novak’s shoulder. “Come on, trainee, let’s go find our man.”


They tracked the particle trail to the mouth of a cave system.

“Picking up faint armor signature from inside, trainee. Ilyus is in there, and he’s alive.”

Novak exhaled in relief. “How many do you expect inside, Guardian?”

Parcis raised his rifle. “Enough. More than enough.” He triggered the excessive charge system on his rifle. The glowing core intensified in its light, strobing violently. The change in function would force the rifle to overheat its core and dump every ounce of energy potential into a single and devastating blast.

Novak took that as a sign to make small adjustments to his own gear. He quickly tuned his machine pistol into a three-round burst instead of full automatic, minimizing the recoil of it.

They moved into the cave, their headlamps activating and bringing their surroundings to light.

A voice echoed down the hall, garbled—distorted.

“Think that’s our boy?” Parcis hadn’t lowered his rifle as he rounded a bend in the cave.

“I don’t know who else would shout so much, Guardian. Amalgam just scream and chitter.”

The ops guardian failed to properly stifle his laugh. He sobered a second later. “They’ll charge us if they can. If they’re taking Knights Luminary, then they’ll try to grab me too. If this goes sideways, you are ordered to leave. There’s no point staying. The planet’s due to be glassed. Get out. Get off world. Get back to the Arbiter.”

Novak said nothing, having no intention of doing that, but knowing this wasn’t the place to argue. He’d meant what he said earlier: if he was to die here, he’d die as a Luminary, even one in training.

They came to an opening larger than the one they’d entered from.

Flashes of electric blue and green light filled the open room ahead.

Various Amalgam bodies had been reformed and shifted to create apparatuses Novak had no familiarity with. All manner of machines he could only guess were used to run diagnostics and collect data through. A makeshift table, all in the color and style of an Amalgam body, stood in the center of the room. Chasseur Ilyus lay bound to it by thick steel cabling.

He shook and thrashed what little he could. “Untie me and I’ll blow a hole in each of your freaking heads, sentient trash cans.”

Novak counted at least two dozen Amalgam standing idly around the other machines, a few watching Ilyus. Something about the stillness of them made him wonder if they were paying attention to anything other than whatever data filtered through them.

The machines shared a network mind, and while they could process near-infinite data, they were single-minded in their focus at times. A focus that left them blind to other things at times.

Parcis leveled the rifle on a group of Amalgam standing nearly in a perfect line. He fired. The rifle screamed and a lance of brilliant blue energy darted through the room. It slammed into the first of the line, disintegrating it before taking the rest with it.

The other Amalgam snapped alert, twisting and training their rifles on the pair.

Novak fired off a series of quick bursts, putting only a pair down. More filtered into the cave from other paths behind. “This isn’t looking too good.”

Two dozen Amalgam opened fire on them.

Parcis reached out, slamming the back of an armored fist against Novak to throw him to the ground. The ops guardian spread his arms wide again, channeling Darklight. The familiar barrier erupted into life, ethereal light and fire warding them.

Novak stayed on his back, firing blindly through the haze and light, knowing his shots connected from the sounds of damaged Amalgam filling his ears.

Ilyus cheered from where he lay fastened.

“I can’t hold this for long, trainee. Not with this much firepower coming—” The barrier failed. A torrent of energy crashed into Parcis, throwing him to the ground.

Another hail hammered Novak down. His helm fritzed, static blurring parts of his vision. Bits of his armor cracked and he tasted salt and copper in his mouth. His ribs ached and breathing brought new pain to him.

One of the Amalgam lowered a hand toward his throat. The limb quickly reconfigured as if made of liquid instead of metal. The new claw grabbed Novak’s neck and hauled him up with ease.

From his new vantage, he saw another Amalgam walk over to Parcis, grabbing him the same way. And a pair of the machines now moved to Ilyus, reshaping their arms into something like swords.

I guess they realized we’re too much trouble to keep alive.

One of the Amalgam primed its arm to stab Chasseur Ilyus.

A scream built in Novak’s chest, but it never left him. His vision exploded and something in his mind snapped. All thought left him and the heat from earlier resurged in his core. The world flashed a vibrant purple and he threw his arms wide. Ethereal fire burst from him, swallowing the Amalgam holding him whole.

He fell to his feet, quickly steadying himself. The fire ebbed and coalesced around him, coating his body in its protective glow. Something shone at the edges of his vision and he twisted to see a pair of wings, all made of the same flame, manifested behind him. An odd tingling weight filled his hand where his pistol had been. He now found a brilliant rod of fire, taking new shape before his eyes to resemble a sword.

The newfound energy buoyed him and washed away his fatigue. Novak screamed and lashed out in a horizontal cut with the blade. An arc of Darklight fire washed through the room, taking every standing Amalgam out from the chest up. Some of the machines still moved in their last functional throes, but they collapsed seconds later.

Parcis coughed and got to his feet. “Well...I’ll be. Look at that. Been a long time since a knight’s manifested as a seraph before. Knew you had it in you.”

Seraphs were the class of knights who could manifest explosive amounts of Darklight energy and use it for both defensive and offensive purposes simultaneously. Their bodies manifested so much of the material that the excess power took form around them as wings most traditionally, lending to the old angelic reference of name.

“Yeah, I knew it too. Now get me out of here!” Ilyus thrashed again.

Parcis ran over to him, freeing the trapped man. “You okay enough to fight our way out?”

A familiar keen cut through the cavern halls.

“Yeah, and I’m itching to. By the sounds of it, looks like I’ll get my wish.” Ilyus ran over to another table, retrieving his gear. He trained the hand cannon on the table holding him and fired two rounds, slagging the construct instantly. “Don’t want their pals to come by and reconfigure that particular trash can.”

Amalgam poured into the room as soon as he finished speaking.

Novak swung again and again, cutting through swaths of them.

More continued to filter in, though, with no end in sight.

Parcis summoned his own Darklight, bringing the fire to pool around his fists. “Get down!”

Novak and Ilyus obeyed.

Parcis stepped forward, clapping both hands together with thunderous force. A concussive blast of Darklight took the room, shaking the cavern and reducing many of the Amalgam to dust. The ops guardian fell to one knee, breathing heavy. “I’m tapped. We need to get out—now!”

Ilyus came to Parcis’s side, helping him up. He used his free arm to fire off a couple of blind shots down the halls behind them.

More Amalgam screamed.

“Go!” Novak gestured for the two to go ahead. “I’ll hang back a bit and slow them as long as I can hold my Darklight!”

Ilyus didn’t argue, helping their leader hobble forward.

Novak lashed out, taking parts of the cavern roof down. It collapsed to block some of the path. Then he turned on a heel and ran after his squad.

Energy blasts still sailed overhead as they ran, and Novak did all he could to hold the storm of power flowing through him and his mind. It threatened to rip away from him. The inner scream from earlier still rolled through him, pushing almost at his skin as if it wanted to burst free. He held to that feeling and, instead of reining it in, fed it.

His power surged and ebbed in that moment, caught between leaving him altogether and fanning into something greater.

Novak turned and pointed the tip of the ethereal blade down the tunnel behind him. The wordless scream finally found voice and left him. A gout of hellish fire burst from the blade and scorched the walls of the cavern, screaming through into the room they’d left behind.

Sharp Amalgam screams echoed back down the way, letting him know he’d turned a good portion of their numbers into molten slag.

The fire around him pulsed, losing a shade of its brightness. His last attack had taxed him severely. He knew from his studies that Darklight channeling didn’t usually last this long; it was better saved for powerful and intermittent bursts when the knight needed it. But enough data suggested that during their first Snap, knights had shown far longer use of their abilities. It had something to do with their emotional states during that time and the adrenaline that went with it.

Some, however, never survived the first use. They burned out and succumbed to the new and hard-to-control surge of power.

Let’s hope that’s not me.

Novak felt the power fluctuate inside him.

The mouth of the cave sat ahead.

Not too much farther.

Ilyus and Parcis had made it out up ahead, the pair turning to signal him to run.

He did so, lowering his sword to his side and sprinting hard. The muscles in his legs protested and burned from the action. Acid seared him inside, but he fought through it. The duality of strain from his Darklight abilities and physical efforts stretched him in ways he had never been used to.

I can do this. He gritted his teeth and put the culminating pain to the side, knowing he’d pay for it later.

More Amalgam screams rolled through the cave behind him.

This time he refused to turn around and deliver another blow to them. Another expulsion of Darklight energy as hard as he’d been channeling would leave him drained beyond measure.

He broke through the mouth of the cave.

The world around him howled, more Amalgam keens filling the air.

He looked around to see hundreds of their shapes breaking into view through the fields, some storming down from the nearby mountains, their lights strobing through the crystal hailfall.

“Four-oh-one Hardfang, this is Ops Guardian Parcis. Confirm pickup of Magus Zelkris and our rescue.”

“Can confirm, Ops Guardian. Still in the air. Need a ride?”

“Yes we do, and let the passengers know we’ve got Chasseur Ilyus with us.”

“Will do. Glad to hear it.”

“ETA on capital ship?”

“You don’t want to know. It’s better you move it and get to a clear LZ—fast!

Parcis cut the comms and looked at Novak. “You heard him, Seraph. Let’s move!”

Novak stared at the growing numbers of Amalgam sweeping over the area. Yeah, sounds like a good plan. He moved with Parcis, raising his submachine gun in his other hand. The steady stream of fire did little to deter the horde of machines, but he could see some succumb to the torrent of energy blasts.

Parcis followed suit, unleashing what looked like never-ending lances of fire. Ilyus joined in and sent heavy shot after shot when he could. Some of his carried the distinct flame and color of Darklight empowerment.

“Four-oh-one Hardfang inbound. It’s gonna be hot!” The dropship roared in overhead. Its odd shape, something between a distended bulb and blunted triangle, broke through the obscuring sky and hail. Two heavy guns swiveled under the cockpit, training themselves on the largest mass of approaching Amalgam. They opened fire with a trilling scream that only rose in volume by the second.

Novak nearly deafened his helmet’s audio sensors. He looked up to see the drop bay open and a figure standing on the ramp.

Magus Zelkris had his hands shoulder width apart, purple light and flame coalescing in the empty space between. Then the entirety of the mass morphed in shape and matter. The fire vanished and now resembled something like pure plasma streaked with bands of white lightning.

Matter and shape transformation of Darklight took great skill and twice as much energy investment. Some knights went decades before being able to even perform it much less master it.

Novak didn’t know what the magus had in mind, but he knew it would be devastating and drain the man to the point of no longer channeling Darklight for the day at least.

The dropship lowered, still firing blasts to level a swath of the army.

Ilyus and Parcis still fired as they backpedaled to the landing zone.

The world exploded into a prismatic light show as a storm of Amalgam fire arced toward them, and radiant Darklight blasts of all manner soared back in respone.

Ilyus fired fist-sized blasts empowered by his ethereal flame. He fell to one knee, channeling something larger than before. Twin streams poured out from his gun as it bucked. They danced around each other before striking the ground between a dozen Amalgam. The ground erupted into a line of horizontal fire that swallowed the group.

Parcis stowed his rifle, bringing Darklight to pulse around clenched fists. He raised them overhead then fell to the ground, slamming his hands down. The ground shattered and roared. Darklight fire surged through the earth, tearing it apart as it raced toward a second group of Amalgam. The length of fire sent the machines airborne, shattering their forms more from the strength of the explosion than the flames.

The dropship almost reached the ground, but the increasing numbers of Amalgam and their unending fire would tear through the ship’s shields and leave them trapped.

“We can’t keep this up. There are too many!” Parcis waved the ship off. “Abort. Get out. Copy?”

Static blurred the line.

Magus Zelkris sent the ball of lightning-charged plasma toward the closest chunk of Amalgam.

It detonated with the force of a bomb, filling the immediate area with a blinding light and the sounds of electricity.

A crater formed in the aftermath once Novak’s HUD stopped dimming the world to protect his vision from the blast.

The single attack had taken nearly one hundred Amalgam out of existence.

The ship touched down. Zelkris collapsed on the ramp, the scientist coming to his aid and struggling to drag him back inside the bay proper.

Ilyus and Parcis ran, reaching the ramp.

But Novak knew lifting off would be impossible without another attack like Zelkris’s to clear the area.

He stood in place, breathing heavy, thinking about what was left to do.

“Come on, Novak!” Parcis had used his proper name. No longer a trainee.

So he decided to no longer act like one. He looked to his sides, taking account of the burning wings at his back. Let’s hope they’re not just for show. He willed them and leapt. The ground grew farther away.

“Well...that’s something.” Iylus’s voice cracked through the comms as he crossed into the bay.

“Liftoff! I’ll meet you in the air!” I hope. Novak leveled the end of his blade at the encroaching horde of Amalgam. His body throbbed and he willed every ounce of Darklight he could into the next attack. Every bit of light left his shining outline but for his wings and the flaming sword. The weapon pulsed, taking in so much energy it no longer resembled a blade but a solid pillar of pure light, all without proper form. He screamed and the light bucked in his arm, sending rows of hot pain through the limb.

A comet of celestial fire burst from him, sailing toward the ground with one clear result to come.

The dropship lifted off, taking to the air with more speed than deemed safe for the small craft.

Electric violet washed with stark white took the whole horizon, blinding the world in a screen of light. When it cleared, the entire advancing front row of Amalgam had been turned to a lengthy puddle of slag. The burning remains streaked down from the mountains all across the field for as far as a person could see.

The Amalgam numbers hadn’t been diminished enough to win the battle, but it bought them time.

Novak grinned, but the expression left him just as quick. His body failed him. The Darklight snapped out of existence and took his wings with him. The sky fell away from and he realized he tumbled in freefall.

Everything blurred.

“Hold out your hand, Novak. Novak!”

He did what little he could as he tumbled.

Something in his shoulder screamed as the ligaments nearly tore. His body snapped, then stopped in the air. He realized someone had caught him by the forearm, holding him in place. He looked up to see four hands clasping hard to the length of his arm.

Ilyus and Parcis both stood at the very edge of the landing ramp as the dropship soared higher. The two men had anchored themselves in place with cabling running from the ship bay ceiling.

“Good job, kid.” Ilyus let out a little laugh. “I guess I should stop calling you that now.”

Both men heaved, doubling the pain in Novak’s shoulder, but he swallowed it. A small price to pay for what had been achieved. They brought him up onto the ramp, then helped him to his seat. The door closed.

“Good job, son.” Parcis bumped a fist to Novak’s chest plate. “Can’t wait to bring you back home to the Arbiter and introduce everyone to the newest Knight Luminary, Seraph Novak.”

Ilyus thrust his chin up in an acknowledging nod. “Proud of you, kid.”

Zelkris managed a shaky thumbs-up.

“Look out the window, Seraph, and enjoy the show.” Parcis gestured to the wide length of clear metal running along Novak’s back.

He turned as they broke atmosphere and quickly reached the dark of space.

A capital ship came into view, taking up nearly a kilometer of space. Orbs of energy formed all along its length and streaked toward the surface of the world.

“No Amalgam’s escaping that. Job well done, Knights.” Parcis had said it to everyone but he kept his stare on Novak.

The new Knight Luminary smiled.


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