Chapter 14 : Miscommunication

Some distance away. Far deep in the desert.

The body of the builder can be seen. She has been isolated here for days, with no contact to anyone else. The Divine hammer is laying face first, on the ground. Her eyes stir awake and slowly take in the view. She feels groggy, like she has been sleeping for several days straight.

The blonde-haired woman finally awakens.

It feels like she has been asleep for far too long. She grunts, taking off her visor. She wipes dirt out of her eyes. She was sleeping in the desert, strangely. She is quite confused. The divine hammer has no idea how she even got here.

“What in the..What the hell happened! Where am I!?” She screams to the void, yelling pointlessly as she looks around.

She hears nothing.

A quick visual scan sees that she is in some kind of desert.

She begins looking inside her brain, trying to find matching planetoid objects that fit the composition of this planet. By simply grabbing a dirt sample, she can analyze its composition to tell where the dirt has come from.

Such was the power of the intergalactic planet cataloging system she had authored.

People on any planet could send in samples of dirt, raw material, almost anything to catalogue and record the different structures of each unique planet in the galaxy.

She was the creator of many newer planets and star systems.

But many worlds in the realms, that existed in the heavenly realm and the others, predated her existence. So, part of her task was keeping track of all of them. A tedious job. But one she enjoyed doing. Her thoughts shift, as she focuses on searching through her database

Quickly, she finds the planet she is after searching for a couple of minutes.

“Accessing galactic database...this planet is on coordinates delta #890387.” This is a planet called Exera, half of it is a desert planet, the other half is covered in forests, mountain ranges and deep vegetation in the southern hemisphere of the planet. She has landed deep in the northern desert half, in a mostly uninhabited region, only known for rare bird sightings.

Hunters would hunt the birds, Cuthcim, down for their unique rainbow-colored feathers for decoration and to sell on the galactic market.

She picks up her visor and puts it back on her face. She walks forward, looking for further signs of life. She remembers her TecCommunicator and flips it on. She instantly gets a response.

“Divine hammer! Thank goodness! We haven’t been able to reach you for two weeks!” A familiar voice rises out of the device. Anthony. A smile gradually appears on her face.

“I am so glad to hear from you. Glad that you aren’t dead, honestly.”

“Same here. We lost track of you once you entered the sky, after you killed that giant snake!” He exclaims. She has no memory of such a thing. Something in her body, however, tells her that Tony isn’t lying to her. She cannot remember what happened after she was knocked out that day.

“Hmm. Tell me more, Tony. The only thing I remember was being knocked out while I was fighting that powerful beast. And you said that I killed it?”

“Yes! With the help of a giant, steel golem, a great machine! I will get you up to speed shortly.” Tony begins recounting the events of what happened. The glowing golden eyes she showed him. The giant machine that she summoned. And the ease in which she not only dispatched the monster but helped the injured citizens in the city. There were many visual accounts of Omni knight’s exploits as well as camera recordings. Everyone knew who saved them from certain death.

On one hand, the builder was happy that she, with aid, easily defeated the beast.

On another, she was quite distressed by her memory loss. And the fact someone “else” took control of her body. Who could have possibly aided her, in her most desperate time of need? She can only guess as she continues to listen to Tony.

“And after that, you floated into the sky, vanishing only a couple minutes after you defeated the snake. We could not find you anywhere, we had search parties searching for you in every realm. Save for the abyss, naturally. It would have helped greatly if you turned on your tec communicator before you poofed, but I can’t be too upset. Good to hear you’re in one piece.” The tech communicator also has a visual function, but it uses more energy. Radio mode is more energy efficient.

“Did anything else happen while I was taking a nice, long nap, Tony?” He sighs as he listens to her question. This news won’t be nice to hear.

“Unfortunately, yes. We have reports that a village, near the capital city of Lunace, was decimated.”

“A dark red knight ambushed the village in the cloak of knight, wielding a squadron of battle drones. There were only two survivors seen that escaped. Half of the village was captured, so we don’t know their whereabouts.” Though they had their array of drones, it was always helpful to have manpower on the ground.

Tony has contacts everywhere. In every place, in every realm. He even has his own personal regiment of operatives that sneak around gathering information. Lucky for us, he only gathers public information and info about current events, she thinks. Imagine if Tony went rogue...the whole universe would be in trouble. These thoughts spook her. She shakes them off, returning her mind to the conversation.

“Any sightings on these two people?” Tony merely continues speaking, answering her question quickly.

“Yes. Drone arrays in your current system caught them on board a 3rd class commercial vessel not too long. It seems they were ambushed by the same dark armored individual that attacked the village a couple weeks ago. Several drones were able to detect a battle between her, that same machine golem that aided you, and the two girls that escaped the village. It seemed like they were fighting inside the ship. Video footage, along with other footage from some of the accompanying commercial vessels, shows the individuals attempting to protect the crew members from the armored ‘knight.’ As we like to call her.” Tony sighs, a bit worried about them.

Two young girls who somehow survived a village attack were again attacked by the same person. This does not add up in his mind. Why was the knight attacking them? Dark thoughts brood inside of his mind. He continues speaking.

“Luckily for us. The two girls managed to save the lives of the crew. They relayed messages to their superiors, and their superiors spoke to me about this incident. This happened about four days ago. The whereabouts of the two are unknown so...” The divine hammer chuckles.

“You want me to search for them? Sure. I’m probably close to at least one of them. Also, what about the others?” She inquiries. Tony again sighs.

“No idea where Ellis, Silis, or that frail goddess are, sadly. We got nothing on them. Still looking but. No good news on that part.”

“I guess I hoped for too much. I’m going to search for these two. I will contact you again if I find one of them.”

“Roger. Good luck.” He finishes, closing the connection line on his end. He breathes a sigh of relief.

He is sitting in his desk chair, in their office, back on the capital planet. He spins around. He begins typing on his keyboard messages to several people. That the divine hammer is well and okay. His duty is done, for the moment. All he can do is wait. The divine hammer clicks off her StarTec communicator. She then puts it back on the side of her waist.

“It is time to fly.” She shakes more dust off of her body. It is in peak condition.

She begins to hover off the ground, then flies slowly into the sky. She quickly gains height, soaring over the clouds.

She touches her visor. She is performing wide area scans, searching for two energy signatures.

Some distance away. The red-haired youth, the Divine hammer is looking for, is walking forward. Nameless walks through the desert alone.

Not noticing a red orb following her. A “gift” from her nemesis. A chaotic cyber spirit.

It will quickly prove to be a problem, unbeknownst to her..

She recounts the events that led her to being here. She was piloting the vessel through the atmosphere which gave her sister the chance to deploy the escape pods.

Omni knight essentially held and drove off the Chaos Knight. Her sis sent those two escape pods catapulting into the air not too long after the ship entered breathable atmosphere.

She saw her sister deploy one escape pod successfully. The other she had to manually eject. She leaped after it in the air, trying to slow its descent. She could only see her sister drift far away in the opposite direction the ship was going.

She hoped that her sister saved those people.

And that she was okay. She had a feeling that both were true. She could just feel it, somehow.

A gust of wind picks up, hurling fresh sand and dirt into her face. She covers her face quickly. She has made some makeshift face covers with cloth left over in the ship. She continues walking slowly.

She further thinks about what happened. She managed to crash land the ship, in the middle of the desert, with a bumpy landing. Luckily, the ship landed in one piece.

But it wasn’t flying without repairs, anytime soon.

The battle onboard had damaged internal systems, as well as frying two of the ship’s four engines. There was no way that ship was flying again without serious repairs, she thinks.

Nothing she could do. So, she gathered what goods and food she could and stashed them away in her portable cube device. She was extremely grateful to have that thing right now. Especially in the middle of a desert by herself.

She continues walking slowly. A desert storm is starting to rise.

“Today is going to suck ass, isn’t it?” She speaks to herself, annoyed at her current predicament. Her thoughts return to her sister.

Her sister, as well, was thinking about Nam.

She is quickly running through the tops of trees, hurriedly running north.

“I can...feel her presence. Faintly. She’s somewhere in that desert.” She stops, standing on top of a one hundred-and-fifty foot tall tree.

North of here is a sea of trees. About one hundred kilometers between her and the edge of the desert. She continued jumping between trees, moving without rest.

After resting with the crew members for the better part of the day, she quickly hurried off, in search of her sister. She was grateful that they gave her a new pair of boots and gave her a new dress, to replace the stuff that burnt to a crisp on landing.

She was slightly sad; that dress was a gift from Maggie for her sixteenth birthday. No matter, she thought.

Time was of the essence. She did not know exactly where her sister was, but she had a feeling she needed to find her quickly. She continues moving, getting closer to the edge of the forest.

ANOTHER TWO DAYS PASS.

The divine hammer has been periodically scanning the last few days. Searching for energy signatures in the desert.

There were very few locals, due to the vast harsh environment, the lack of natural resources, and the dangerous local wild beasts. So, these two would definitely stick out like a sore thumb. She continues soaring through the air, scanning the ground as she is just below the clouds.

There, the android goddess sees a young girl.

She sees a red-haired woman slowly trotting along by herself, in the desert. Seemingly aimlessly wandering forward. She moves quickly. The divine hammer teleports. She lands in front of the girl, who jumps backward as she sees something appear in front of her without warning.

“Whoa! Who are you?!” She exclaims. The builder responds calmly.

“I am the Divine hammer. Maybe you have seen me somewhere before? I hope so; the gods of the realms are supposed to be known by everyone...” She sighs. The red-haired girl responds back quickly.

“Ah. Yeah, now that I think about it, you do look the part. Blonde hair, crusty old armor, some visor always on yer face. Checks out.”

The girl seems rather blunt with her words, mildly annoying the builder. She does not show it on her face, though.

“Anyway. I’ve been looking for you and your sister. You survived a crash landing after repelling an unknown enemy foe. I wanted to—” She starts to say. Nameless merely is looking into the sky, her thoughts are drifting elsewhere.

“You know, you should pay attention. I am your elder.” These words only serve to irritate Nameless. An elder.

Her whole life she had to listen to her elders. To listen to Maggie. To live bound by the rules of the village and the world she lived in. She was tired of listening to them.

She was tired of obeying orders.

In a better state of mind, she would not think like this. She would realize something is influencing her thoughts.

She would have paid attention to the orb of red energy that had floated behind her, right after she left the crash site. That stuck itself on her spine as she fell asleep, unbeknownst to her.

Nameless would not be so easy to anger, even if she is impatient. With the lack of her sister and this red spirit orb, which has attached itself to her spine, her mental state was deteriorating fast.

This orb was a spirit of chaos.

Unbeknownst to her, or Divine flash, or even Omni knight, the Chaos knight secretly sent this spirit, from her side, as she was forced into the hangar.

Sending the spirit right to latch onto Nameless.

Easy prey for a young woman who was in an unstable mental state. Nameless stares at the builder, her gaze forming into frustration.

“Why the hell should I listen to you! Where were you when my village was slaughtered?” She speaks, hurling daggers into the builder’s chest. She frowns at this display.

“I was...unconscious. I am sorry for your loss. But what good will it do you if you blame me? I wouldn’t have been there to help. It was a surprise attack, based on the report I received earlier.”

“Aaaah. As always. You gods have some excuse. Excuses, excuses, excuses!” Her frustration is quickly turning into anger.

Further displeasing the Divine Hammer. She thinks pensively, eyeballing the red-haired youth. She seems easy to anger. Easier than she should.

This woman did have quite the resolve, since she helped her sister protect those people from the dark red attacker.. Tony told her about her exploits that happened a few days ago.

So, why was she acting like this? Something wasn’t adding up. She continues looking at her, this time, she activates her scanner.

Her visor begins scanning her entire body and the area around her. She catches it in the corner of her eye.

The unusual red energy is hiding on her spine.

The divine hammer grimaces. This could be troublesome.

A rogue spirit has attached itself to Nameless.

The worst kind, too. The malicious kind.

Cyber spirits are wandering energy balls made of pure spiritual energy. Some can help people, while others bring malice and misfortune.

It is rare to see them outside of the heavenly star realm, where they are usually born. The builder has experience with some of them; she is not acquainted with this type.

By her instincts, she can feel that this is trouble.

Something about it is chaotic, uncontrolled.

It is a powerful spirit. She would have to get close to her to remove it.

“An unknown spirit? In this far off rock of a planet? Most of the cyber spirits reside in the upper realms...how the hell did one attach itself to you?” She has a bad feeling. She walks towards Nameless, but Nameless simply steps backwards.

The foreign spirit is influencing her judgement, poisoning her mind. Nameless, in her warped perspective, thought the Divine hammer was here not to help her but to stand in her way. Stand in the way of finding her sister.

“You! What are you on about? I bet one of those spirits attached itself to you. How else did you get knocked unconscious for days? And how do you know so much about what happened? You weren’t there when I fought the Chaos knights.” Nameless spits out angrily. She clearly is not of sound judgement. The builder tries to reason with her.

“Look, I was told by my assistant, Tony that—” She gets interrupted.

“Oh! Oh! Was he watching? Watching us suffer, on a drone camera, perhaps! How can I trust you? Trust that you aren’t working with the damn bastard that killed most of the people in my village.” Her anger continues to rise, her reason in turn is fading.

A small red star appears on her cheek, strangely.

Almost to signify something. Something that might happen if she continues down this path.

The builder is conflicted. She wants to reason with her but. She can tell her words aren’t effective. She may have to knock her unconscious if she wants to help her. Not an ideal scenario. This girl just barely escaped with her life and now she must fight her?

Whoever is writing this girl’s fate is a cruel, cruel mistress, the Divine Hammer thinks to herself.

Forcing such a young girl to have to fight for her life to survive. Separating her from her sister. And now, feeding lies into her heart. The divine hammer can only resolve herself. She must stop this from becoming worse. She does not respond.

“Oh? Not defending yourself! Just what I thought, working with that devil. That monster!” She screams, yelling her frustration at the builder. The builder merely steps backwards.

“If it is a fight you desire, then you shall get one. Not that I want to fight you, naturally but...” She cracks her knuckles.

“If I need to knock some sense into you, then I will. No, I must. I won’t let you keep mouthing off like this to me nor will I let you insult me or my friend, Tony! I came here to help you, not fight you!” Golden energy begins to form in her left hand, as she assumes a combat stance.

“Then come at me! I’ll cut everything that stands in my way into pieces.” She draws her blade from her scabbard and holds it in her right hand, pointing it directly at the builder.

Fury emanates from her eyes.

The spirit laughs. His job is complete.

He has made the young girl lose sight of reason and draw the builder into battle. The more the Star warriors battle, the stronger they become. And the more fun the battles will be for the warriors of Chaos.

They thrived in this play. Corrupting the pure and turning them into unreasonable, rabid beasts. The Chaos knight would be pleased with his work.

He was merely a pawn, anyway.

Of the Chaos knight. And her senior, the “chaos” god.

All a means to an end. A way to form a meaningless yet meaningful battle

The forced battle between Nameless and the Divine hammer has begun.