Kanatia: A Disturbance

Tremendous sand clouds were kicked into the arid atmosphere as the Guard ships touched down on Kanatia. The lead ship came to a complete stop, powering down the engines almost immediately so as to not throw more of the coarse sand into the air. The other ships followed suit, and soon all was quiet at the landing site.

The hatches roared open almost all at once, and the team of Guard Troopers stepped onto the dry surface of the planet. Red squinted against the sun, looking toward the direction of the main crystal mine. There was a slight breeze in the air, but it was a hot breeze and did nothing to provide relief from the heat. Thankfully, the troopers all sported specially cooled armor that made enduring the planet’s harsh atmosphere no task at all.

As the squadron began moving in the direction of the mine, they found the paved road that lead straight into the mine. However, Red’s thoughts interrupted him. Something wasn’t feeling right.

“This is wrong. Where are the trucks? Where’s the mining equipment?” Red thought to himself.

He cautioned his men to move slowly. As they followed the road, they stumbled upon an incredibly disturbing sight. One of the massive mining vehicles was overturned and ablaze. The troopers ran to it, hoping to find survivors. Oddly enough, there was nobody inside. Thankfully, it was either empty when it overturned or the occupants had escaped before it blew.

“Back down guys! The last thing we need is to be caught in an explosion.” Red yelled out.

“Sir, what the hell is going on?” One of the troopers responded.

“Beats the hell out of me. Keep your weapons at the ready. We need to get the hell over to the mine!”

Red and the troopers began to run down the road toward the mine. They were suddenly halted by the site of some miners running toward them from the mine’s entrance. One stumbled and fell right at Red’s feet.

“RUN! For Mihaele’s sake get the hell out of here!” He screamed.

“What in the hell is happening here?” Red yelled in response.

“The mine! There’s something in the mine trying to kill everyone! We made it out but some of our men are still in there!”

The troopers all reacted by producing bombs, ready to throw them at anything not wearing mining armor. The miner at Red’s feet appeared injured, his visor partly shattered. Blood trickled from his left arm. He stood up, and at once appeared to forget about his injuries once he glanced back at the mine.

“Dammit! The pits! We need to cover the pits! Those things are gonna come out here!”

“Pits? What pits?” Red questioned.

“We have large pits that travel directly into the mine from the surface. We use elevators to get down there, but it’s easier to haul the crystals up through the pits using a crane. If we don’t close those pits we’re all dead!”

Some of the fleeing miners stopped, appearing to hear what the miner had yelled. They moved out toward the control panels near the pits. Massive steel doors over the pits began to close, sealing any possible escape route for whatever was lurking in the mines below. Once all the doors were shut one of the other miners reported in to the injured miner.

“Caro! The pits are sealed! Should we be trying to go about rescuing the other men down there?!” He asked.

“Did you remember to seal Pit 7 to the west?!” Caro responded.

“DAMMIT! Quick! Get to Pit 7!” The miner screamed.

The miners began to sprint toward Pit 7, with Red and the troopers in hot pursuit. As they arrived at the pit, one of the miners began to activate the doors over the pit. As they began to close, a massive hand made of stone reached out and grabbed onto one of the doors. With one heave, it tore the doors clean off the pit. Red and the troopers weren’t going to back down. They readied their bombs.

The hand disappeared, and soon a mammoth stone beast emerged from the pit. It was made entirely of rocks, with huge arms and extremely stout legs. The body glowed with veins of magma, and the head sported two large, fiery eyes. The creature’s mouth roared open, revealing a few jagged teeth. Magma oozed out of the gaping maw, the lethal saliva scorching the sand as it hit the ground.

“A golem! Where the hell did that come from? This mine’s been clear of creatures like this for centuries!” Caro screamed.

“Steady guys! Prepare to attack on my orders!” Red called out.

“Don’t! You don’t have the manpower to fight something like this! Those bombs will only piss it off! We’re all better off evacuating!”

No sooner than Caro gave his warning, more golems emerged from the pit. These were smaller; perhaps double the size of a Bomber. They too, oozed deadly magma from their pores. The golems stood silently, eyeing their prey with voracity.

“You guys can run, but we’re staying. You can fight with us, or you can flee. Your choice.” Red said with tension.

“To hell with it. Arm the charges men!” Caro yelled!

The miners armed their depth charges, and charged at the golems. Red and the troopers followed, throwing bombs wildly. They meant to kill the golems by any means possible. A couple of the smaller golems were eventually blown apart, but all the bombs did to the large one was slightly chip the monster’s stone body.

This was going to be a hell of a fight.

Red moved his troopers to Pit 7. It was here that he felt they could get more leverage by distancing themselves from the monsters. It worked for a while, until two of the smaller golems noticed what the squadron was up to. They leapt over the pit and began throwing wild punches at the men. Some of the troopers were flung into the pit, while others were stricken to the ground where they stood. As the smaller golems moved toward Red and the remaining troopers, the ground began to shake.

“Watch it! It’s another quake!” Caro shouted.

As the group tried to steady themselves on their feet, the two smaller golems threatening Red and his men were suddenly pulled into the Pit 7. Their shrieks got the larger golem’s attention, and it sauntered over to the pit to investigate what happened to its comrades. As it peered into the pit, a sudden explosion of rock and sand surged out of the pit. What appeared to be bits of rock were in reality bits of the smaller golems. The head of one of the golems landed at the feet of the large one, and it backed away in what appeared to be a combination of fear and sadness over its fallen comrade.

As everyone tried to make sense of what they just saw, another large and rather imposing figure burst from the pit. Everyone stood in awe as the figure glanced menacingly at the large golem.

Molok was the Elemental Knight of Earth, and he took the golems’ attack very personal. They were abusing earth power and trying to kill innocent people. Red stood frozen, wondering if he was truly seeing this.

“The elemental Knight of Earth! If Molok is here, that must mean the other Elemental Knights aren’t too far away!” Red thought excitedly.

Without saying a word, Molok released an explosive beam of energy from his chest. It struck the larger golem, blowing it apart and leaving nothing left to the imagination. The smaller golems tried to flee, but Red and the troopers weren’t having it.

“Move out men!” Red commanded.

The men began throwing bombs at the smaller golems. Explosion after explosion rang out, and eventually all that was left were bits of rock and sizzling puddles of magma. Molok looked down at Red and the miners.

“Your men are safe.”

With that one proclamation, he flew off into the sky. As the troopers surveyed the carnage, Caro ran up to one of the intercoms located near the main elevator. He pushed the button frantically, trying to establish communication with the men below.

“Can anybody hear me?! Are there any survivors down there that can hear this?!” Caro yelled into the intercom.

The sound of the main elevator spooling up drew Caro’s attention to the elevator’s doors. Everyone watched tensely as the giant winch above the doors hoisted the elevator to the surface. As soon as the machinery stopped, the doors creaked open to reveal several miners as well as the troopers that had been flung into the pit. The troopers appeared to be slightly hurt, but it was shocking to see them alive with the fall they had taken. What was even more shocking was the fact that the group had three Dragon Clan members with them.

Red ran up to the group.

“Is everyone ok? What are these three Dragon Clan members doing here?” He asked one of the miners.

“We found them in a cave below. They were with this sorcerer and he was still chanting when we found them. Those creatures had to have been summoned by these criminals.” The miner responded.

Red looked down at the three Dragon Clan members. The sorcerer was dying, an ironic victim of his own magic. Those golems didn’t care who summoned them. They were out to kill, and it was apparent they had attacked these Dragon Clan members before breaking out to the surface. It was no matter, for Red intended to find out why in the hell these three summoned those golems.

“Speak up, Sorcerer! Why are you intruding on this planet? Speak up!” Red demanded.

“We must…fight…the onslaught…”The sorcerer trailed off before dying.

“Ok, do either of you wanna offer an explanation? Or are you guys gonna die on us too?”

One of the accomplices spoke up.

“We need to do everything possible to stop the Bombers from prospering. It’s too much of a threat to our succeeding at ruling the Nebula!” The accomplice replied.

“You’ve failed. Kanatia will not fall, and it looks as if the Elemental Knights have taken offense to your intrusion in the Nebula.”

“It’s all for nothing. We must keep our master safe. Not even those pathetic Elemental Knights will be able to stop us!”

“You’ll have plenty of time to think about it in prison. Thantos is perfect for scum like you.”

The two accomplices were hauled off. Red walked up to the troopers that had come up in the elevator. He wanted to make sure they were ok.

“What happened down there? Is everyone ok?”

“We fell down that pit, but that big, stone Elemental Knight caught us. We have a few cuts and bruises but we’re ok.” The trooper responded.

“And what about the miners?”

“They found those Dragon Clan members shortly after the golems rampaged through our tunnel. We had all hid in a smaller tunnel, so thankfully they didn’t see us. As soon as they broke through the surface, we knew things would get bad.”

“Did Molok, that Elemental Knight, say anything to you?”

“He told us to wait by the elevator and we would be safe. He told those Dragon Clan members they would die for using dark magic on the sacred earth. Once the chaos up here subsided, we brought them to the surface.”

“We’ll head back to the ships soon. Those two scumbags are headed straight for Thantos. I’m going to report to Nitros so I can let him know we can consider this planet secure.”

Red connected with Nitros through his communicator.

“Red, good to hear from you. Is everything ok on Kanatia?” Nitros inquired.

“We were attacked by golems summoned by a few Dragon Clan members. We were in a bad spot, but things changed when Molok showed up.”

“So, Bomberman was right. The Elemental Knights are in the Nebula.”

“Having them on our side is one hell of a pleasant surprise. I can tell you now that we can declare Kanatia secure. With Molok here, nobody is gonna mess with this planet.”

“Good. Prepare to move out for Thantos. Bomberman and his team were also able to capture some Dragon Clan members on Primus. He will accompany your fleet to Thantos to transfer the prisoners. He has a mission on that planet as well, so stay sharp. The Genesis is prepared to move out for Gold 1, so I’d like both you and Bomberman’s fleet to look out for any trouble along the way.”

“Will do. Red out.”

Red secured his men and prepared to lift off Kanatia. The Genesis was ready, and Red knew that all involved were hoping and praying for a safe voyage for the Genesis and its crew.

Time would tell.