NOVEL NEXT Prologue
"The meek shall inherit the Earth. The rest of us are going to the stars."
– Robert A. Heinlein
The ground bucked, spitting lava. Luca threw himself behind a shimmering rock outcropping just as the Magma Golem slammed its fist where he'd been standing. The heat was a physical press against his armor, and the air tasted of sulfur and ozone. This entire cavern was collapsing, and they were running out of time.
"Danny, on your left!" Luca yelled into the comms, his voice cracking. "Draw its fire!"
Through the haze, he could see the bulky silhouette of his team's tank, a mountain of heavy power armor, swinging a warhammer to get the golem's attention. Good. That left the creature's head exposed. Luca raised his rifle, the casing already warped and half-melted, and squeezed off a three-round burst. The shots sparked uselessly against the creature's molten crown.
"It's not working!" Emily's voice shrieked over the link. "The armor's too thick!"
"We need to expose the core!" Luca shouted back, frantically scanning the battlefield. His eyes landed on Ryan, a blur of motion near the far ledge. Fast, reckless, and their only chance. "Ryan, you're up! Create an opening!"
Ryan didn't answer. He just gave a feral grin, ripped a grenade from his belt, and sprinted straight for the monster.
The Magma Golem's hand lashed out and caught him. A scream tore from Ryan's throat as its red-hot hand crushed through his armor, nearly tearing his arm clean off. Blood and scorched plating sizzled on the ground as he crumpled.
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"RYAN!" Luca skidded to his side, his boots struggling for traction on the hot stone. He grabbed Ryan just before the golem could finish the job. The arm was a mangled ruin of blackened metal and flesh.
Danny saw what was happening and roared, slamming a fist into his armor's console. A pulse of red energy rippled out from his suit, the Taunt ability, forcing the golem's burning eyes to lock onto him.
"Come on, motherfucker!" Danny screamed. "Try me!"
As the golem swung toward the new threat, Luca dragged Ryan back.
Ryan gasped through gritted teeth. "Shit… looks bad, doesn't it?"
"Just hold on," Luca said, his voice tight.
Danny dodged a clumsy swing and brought his warhammer down in a brutal arc, smashing into the golem's chest. Molten rock cracked and split, exposing a brilliantly glowing core.
"NOW, EMILY!" Luca screamed.
From across the cavern, a devastating barrage of energy bolts slammed into the exposed core. Blue energy wrapped around Emily's twin blasters as her [Power Surge] ability kicked in. The golem bellowed, a sound like a mountain breaking, and began to crumble inward. Its core pulsed, an unstable, blinding light.
"Take cover!"
The explosion sent a shockwave that threw Luca to the ground. Molten debris rained down around them.
His interface flashed with the familiar, anticlimactic notifications of a completed mission.
[Mission completed! Pyroclasm Defeated]
[+ 0 XP]
[+115,000 credits]
Emily was already at Ryan's side, spraying his mangled arm with a [Quick-Clot] applicator. "You absolute dumbass!" she yelled, her voice shaking with a mixture of fury and relief.
The exit portal shimmered into existence behind them, but Luca's eyes were locked on the wreckage of the golem. There, nestled in the cooling rock, was a sleek, impossibly advanced piece of technology.
"Holy shit," Zoe's voice whispered over the comms in disbelief.
Ryan, despite his arm, tried to push himself up. "We got it," he rasped, a bloody grin spreading across his face. "We actually got the damn thing."
The Vanguard Faster-Than-Light Displacement Drive.
His best friend was bleeding out on the floor of a collapsing volcano, but there it was. Their future.
And it had already cost them dearly.