Joy Pursuit: Steel Dragon [Sci-Fi Fantasy | Horror | Action]

Panic. The ranger's breath came ragged, each inhale etched with the pounding of his lungs as he staggered through the winding halls. Warning lights pulsed orange against the sea-themed walls, casting the carpet and low ceilings in frantic bursts of shadow. He slammed into a white wall, blood flecking from his shattered helmet. A cough tore his chest, but he forced himself onward, dragging his body away from death.

"OXYGEN RESERVES COMPROMISED. PLEASE EXIT TO THE NEAREST ELEVATOR." The mechanical voice blared overhead.

He steadied himself against the wall. He was close. The emergency elevator wasn't far. He pushed forward, stumbling through the flicker of light and dark. His breath clouded the frigid air, each exhale thinner than the last. The familiar hallways had lost the mundane drone of the ventilation systems. Leaving behind only the background churn of the synthetic sea pressing against the walls. He swallowed hard, his ears searching in the lull for any sign of them.

"OXYGEN RESERVES COMPROMISED. PLEASE EXIT TO THE NEAREST ELEVATOR."

Darkness smeared his vision. With a dizzying lurch, he tripped forward, chin cracking against the floor. A groan tore from him as he tried to crawl ahead—then froze. Something caught his boot. He turned, reaching into the gloom—

Cold. Wet. His fingers recoiled, wiping the slick substance across his uniform.

The alarm light flared back, bathing the hall in dark orange.

Terror filled his eyes. He scrambled back, yanking free—dragging the thing with him. A ranger's body slumped into view, half a head missing, a dark smear painting the wall where it burst. Vomit surged up his throat. He kicked the corpse away and clawed backward, bones aching from the cold, lungs clawing for oxygen.

His comms system suddenly crackled to life. But there were no words—just wailing. The shriek of compressed Kyyr crystals, long and mournful, blistered his ears in a painful alien noise. He ripped the comms unit from the jaw rim of his cracked helmet in a panic. The device still shrieking, its lingering cry stabbing into his skull.

He slammed himself against the wall and crumpled back, coughing violently as the ringing burrowed deeper, flaying the edges of his consciousness. Agony compounded—muscles trembling, head splitting, vision tunneling. Yet still, the desire for life burned within him. To see the sun again. To see his family. His friends. His lover.

"OXYGEN RESERVES COMPROMISED. PLEASE EXIT TO THE NEAREST ELEVATOR."

He staggered forward and slammed his hand on the biometric panel. The hiss of parting doors broke the droning of the abyss, opening the thin line between a steel coffin beneath an alien sea—and the faint hope above. He stumbled through the threshold, light from the bioluminescent deep washing over him—

Metal.

Cold. Sobering. It pressed against his forehead.

Slowly, he raised his head. A figure in a ranger uniform towered above, gun barrel fixed between his eyes. Tears welled. A hoarse cry broke from his throat—

BANG!

His body collapsed onto the grated floor, blood trickling down into the abyss below. Beyond the glass, faint alien lights drifted in silence.

The figure lowered the gun, bioluminescence painting their visor in shifting colors. A gloved hand rose to their cheek.

"Disposed of another. Over."

The figure holstered their gun. Behind their visor, unseen eyes tracked the lifeblood as it lifted, tugged upward by abyssal condensation. Rising. Rising into the black throat of the elevator shaft.

The crimson trail ascended through the pelagic dark, clumping as it went, rising higher and higher until it pressed against the hatch at the surface—

RUMBLE…

Okari wobbled on the catwalk of Post 30's Stolkglider hangar. The railing juddered beneath her grip, vibrating with the distant strikes of the Vai'tolant against the glassy surface. The impact rippled through the structure, rattling steel like brittle bone.

Instruments fell from shelves, clattering across the deck in a rain of broken gauges and cables. Rangers covered their heads as the overhead lights flickered, casting frantic shadows that stuttered across the walls. Okari looked out beyond the hangar's entrance, the bioluminescent life convulsed—the discord of alien lights reacting to something far off in the distance.

The catwalk lurched, nearly throwing her from her feet. She clung to the railing, the vibration gnawing through her arms. The air reeked of death from the rising globules of Caused flesh rising from corpses that had rained from the Inverse Sea.

A groan tore through the hangar—steel bending, bolts shrieking, the whole structure protesting under the Leviathan's wrath. Okari held tight, her panic doubling by the second as the rippling flesh began to take form under the constant living quakes. The Caused were rising from their mangled flesh.

Okari fumbled with her comms unit, but was only met with a garbled mess of screeching. She muted the device clasping the railings harder. What the hell? Comms are still down? Damnit, why is the Vai'tolant still at the surface? The railing shook with another blow. Something must've happened.

SHRAAANG!

A Caused crashed from above tearing through the roof, splattering on the floor below the catwalk.

RMMMMMMBLL…

The ground shook as the Caused's flesh coalesced into its alien form. Its empty white eyes caught a glimpse of a ranger that was holding on the railing above it. The jumble of flesh surged with motion, its malformed claws grabbing onto one of the ranger's legs from below.

"AAAAGGGHH!" A ranger let out a painful shriek. "NO! NO NO NO SOMEONE GET THIS THING OFF ME!" The ranger screamed, as he smashed his fists into the monster's claws.

"NO!" he let out another wail. His body slammed against the metal grating as the warped claws peeled skin and muscle from his leg, tendrils flowing through them and shredding his legs and thighs, blood vessels bursting in a rain of blood. The ranger's scream rattled through the hangar until he lost consciousness and died, his body crumpling under the strength of the Caused that dragged him down to the first floor.

The rangers watched in stunned horror as the Caused vomited a mess of writhing flesh that stretched over the bloody remains.

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Okari's horror turned to rage, and she took a deep breath.

Kyyr.

Her eyes shot away from the carnage, her body shrinking in response to a wave of eerie energy that wafted throughout the hangar. Rangers and Caused all froze on instinct.

The distant rumbling of the Vai'tolant paused for a second. Giving way to an interlude of quiet suspense as the distant echo of bone clattering against the glassy surface of the Tectonaphis echoed through the night.

A Caused was sent crashing into the hangar, its body exploding all over one of the Stolkgliders. It was headless; the fleshy mess slumped to the ground. The Caused beneath the catwalk stared at its fallen brethren. Its empty white eyes locked on the mess of flesh.

Alien wails filled the air as Caused ran away from an unseen pursuer just beyond the hangar doors. A massive bone javelin ripped through the air. It caught a Caused, the beast's flesh causing the javelin's momentum to stutter as it spun out of control, crashing into a glider with a loud boom.

The Caused beneath the catwalk froze, its milky eyes locked toward the rising wails outside. The noise swelled into heavy thuds—something vast tearing its way through the neighboring hangar. Then the wall split open with a shriek of metal, a blade of bone forcing its way through, dripping with writhing black flesh.

The growth raked across through the metal wall with a shriek of tearing steel. Shards of metal rained across the hangar. The massive bone growth dragged itself violently across the length of the hangar until it crashed into the catwalk, bending the metal.

The catwalk shuddered, its frame quivering under the weight of the impact.

Bolts screamed one by one, popping loose in a stuttering chain. The railing bent first, then the supports below, the entire structure sagging under the strain. Rangers on the catwalk staggered, their boots slipping on the trembling deck, eyes wide as the floor tilted beneath them.

For a breathless instant the catwalk hung suspended, then the end nearest the break gave way, shearing free in a shower of sparks and twisted metal. The rangers had only enough time for a single, collective cry before the section collapsed.

"HOLD ON!" Okari shouted. She lunged forward, sliding down the tilting deck and seizing a ranger's arm just as the floor dropped away beneath them. Her grip held—but her eyes caught the figure of another ranger plummeting into the dark.

CLAAAAANGK!

A massive bony arm burst from the mangled wall, slamming into the hangar with a thunderous crack. The falling ranger never hit the ground—the arm had caught him?

Silence consumed the hangar. Every ranger stared, breathless, as the wall tore wider and ivory broke through the steel. Dust and scrap rained down in a deluge as a colossal beast forced its way inside.

Berserkrios.

The Coarseblood crashed through the steel like paper, shielding the ranger in his arms. With a single step, he drove a taloned foot into the deck, crushing a stunned Caused, its guts erupting from its throat. The hangar groaned under his weight, the leviathan's rumble rising as if to answer his roar.

Berserkrios scanned the hangar, his shattered visage locking on the Caused. The monsters froze—then he charged. His armored bulk swung with terrifying speed carving just wide of the cowering rangers. Ivory spines erupted around his body weaving through the room in a jagged storm, fencing the humans behind a shield of bone.

With a fluid motion he set the rescued ranger back onto the catwalk—almost gentle despite his monstrous form—before pivoting and crushing another Caused, his jaws clamping down on its bulbous skull until the black mass writhed and burst.

His growl rumbled through the hangar as the Vai'tolant struck again, shaking the structure. Berserkrios's Kyyr flared in response, a bony spire bursting upward from his side to brace the swaying frame.

In a low inhuman voice the Coarseblood roared, "LEAVE NOW!" Before resuming his rampage as he caught the escaping Caused with massive bony glaives, the sound of groaning metal and snapping wet bone echoing through the chaos.

Okari studied the beast for a second before making up her mind. "Everyone evacuate—calmly!" she shouted, her eyes still glued to Berserkrios that was ripping into another Caused. She opened her mouth, but no words came. Dread began to cloud her, but she noticed something. Amidst the chaos the ivory giant, though vicious in his carnage, was almost elegantly avoiding the panicked rangers. She drew in a sharp breath. "C-C… Coarseblood?"

Berserkrios stopped, tilting his head with a dog-like curiosity. Relief filled her.

"Hey, big bastard!" she shouted, forcing her voice steady. "Could you give us a hand!"

Berserkrios raised his head, the limp skull and spine of a Caused sliding down his jaws and down his throat. His body pivoted fully toward Okari, who was clinging to the catwalk, knuckles white from the weight of an unconscious ranger.

A soft growl thrummed through his armor. "Oh—of course." Bone erupted from around his feet, twisting upward until it formed a jagged platform that rose to meet her.

Okari was able to let go of the unconscious ranger, as the building shuddered under the pressure of the Vai'tolant.

Okari exhaled as she hauled the ranger to safety. The structure shuddered under another strike from the Vai'tolant. She knelt beside the limp man, checking his breath. "Thank you…" she looked up at Berserkrios that was spreading his jaws as an impaled Caused was dragged into his jaws with a loud crunch. "Why are you here? Did Morray send you?"

Berserkrios shook his head, the bone around his jaws shattering as he swallowed another Caused. "No. Some weirdo by the name of Draell did."

Okari stiffened, her face twisting between relief and shock. " Fucking Draell? Where the hell is he? We've been looking for that coffin-dragging maniac all night!"

Berserkrios gestured toward the spreading shadow of Cetarro. "He's up there."

Okari felt an apprehensive relief, while she helped the panicked rangers lift their unconscious comrade down the makeshift bone staircase. "All our lives in the hands of that lunatic. Ugh." She sighed. "Wait." She looked back up at the Coarseblood. "You were up in the tower right? What's the situation up there? "

Berserkrios leaned in closer, his head alone eclipsing her. The warm wet stench of flesh wafting through her. His voice rumbled, as he gave her a disjointed recounting of what had happened.

Okari let out a sigh of relief, "At least Serfet is with them. Morray and Draell bring out the worst in each other. Having those two in charge has always felt like a crime." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Wait… How did you even get down here?"

Berserkrios's auricular organs twitched. "I sorta jumped…" he raised one of his massive legs, revealing massive shatter marks climbing up his body. The Coarseblood let out a whimper. "I almost died before even getting here…"

Okari looked at him in disbelief.

"Worth it though. I managed to save these people…and I got a better idea of where It is." His jaws began to salivate an acidic slime that hissed as he stared out into the Vivathecca.

"It?" Okari raised an eyebrow. "Don't pull cryptic shit on me!" She jabbed a finger up at him. "Explain clearly."

Berserkrios internally shuddered, "Ah—sorry!" He instinctively covered his jaws like a person, before shaking his massive head causing bone shards to rain down. "There's this Caused out there that's not like the other ones. It feels like it's crying. Its Kyyr is all messed up, kind of like mine."

Okari's eyes narrowed. "What are you planning?"

Berserkrios rattled his brain, "It's pretty simple…" He picked up the decapitated body of a Caused. The remains convulsed in his grip as he opened his jaws, stuffing the body into his mouth before snapping his mangled jaws shut. "I'm going to put it to rest." He said, black blood dripping down his jaw's cracks.

The rangers shrank back as the massive Coarseblood walked to the edge of the hangar. Okari followed behind making sure to avoid his massive tail.

Outside, the hangar was a graveyard of stains and shattered ivory. Caused were hanging like black willow leaves, impaled on structures of bone.

Okari stepped away from Berserkrios, finally getting a clear view of the massive faux-dragon. Rangers scattered away from the Coarseblood. Their savior a monster in their eyes.

RUUUUMMMMMBBBBBLEEEE…

The ground shifted again, pitching rangers off balance.

Berserkrios remained unmoved.

His ivory frame glowed between the crimson night and the bioluminescent haze of the Vivathecca.

"I did what I could," he growled. "But this feeling is driving me insane…" He raised his chest, his jaws parting toward the crimson-shattered sky. A thunderous howl ripped from his throat, drowning distant gunshots and the lingering cries of the abyss.

Okari covered her ears as he roared, unable to talk to the Coarseblood any more as it lunged onto the glassy surface of the Vivathecca, claws scratching the surface as he bolted towards an unknown in the distance.

Okari watched him vanish, her bravado leaking out with her breath. She crumpled to the floor. "That was a lot scarier than it should've been," she muttered.

Turning back, she saw the ruined hangar—torn equipment, black flesh staining the walls, light flickering. But, there were people. A lot more had survived than she'd expected. The tower of the Sky Metropolis loomed above, swallowing the bay in shadow.

"Sweet Symbols, please help those idiots," she whispered, rising again.
Then, louder. "All right, everyone! Roll call!"