“My god.” Doug looked down at the street below them in shock.
“That thing down there is one of your gods?” McKraken asked. He leveled his rifle on the building ledge and snapped off a meta-burst. The bolt of supernatural energy strafed the creatures shoulder. The oozing beast let out a roar, staggering back, but the shot did nothing to deter its rampage.
“No. I meant my god! As in ‘Ye Gads’ or ‘Jinkie’s.’”
“Oh.” McKraken looked at his weapon. The display was feeding through the information sent from the ammunition. “I thought you meant that you actually prayed to that thing. It’s all slime and tusks.”
“Preliminary analysis complete.” The display’s audio stated in a calm, yet stern, female voice. “Crustacean God from Hybrion Dynasty.”
“The thing is the god of shrimp?” Doug fired his own weapon and hit the creature in its big toe, or at least what he thought might have been its big toe. It was hard to tell through all the tentacles.
“Lobster’s.”
“Traditional weaponry nullified by evacuated fluids from pores on carapace, tentacular secretions, and shell encasement.” The picture of the hodgepodge creature appeared on the display. “Recommendation, attack the spiracles with Breath of Camulos.”
“The breath of Camulos?” Doug laughed in frustration. “How the hell are we supposed to find—“
“Breath of Camulos.” McKraken held the small vial in his hand. The black liquid inside the vial sloshed in irritation. Small tendrils rose as the sentient fluid tried to push the cork out of the ancient looking medicine bottle.
“Wow. How did you get a hold of that?” Doug looked towards a scream down the street. The monster god crashed into the side of Performa Bank. There were people fleeing from the building though some patrons were stuck to the suckers on its tentacles. Doug guessed they would become snacks later unless he and McKraken could stop the thing.
“I have my ways.” McKraken opened the bottle. “Go get ‘em.” The black fluid poured out of the vial and formed a cloud. The cloud hovered a moment and then took off away from the roof and towards the creature.
“Dealing with The dark market is a fool’s game.” Doug looked up at the glowing rift in the sky. “Who was it? Manny? Zardon?”
“If you must know. I got it from Gregorio.” The war god infused dust reached the creature, making a b-line to its airways. Within seconds the monster fell to the ground convulsing. “And dealing with Necromancers is not against ordinance.”
“Is that where you got it?”
“As far as you know? Yes.” McKraken grabbed up his rifle he’d leaned on the wall and zipped up his N.Y.R.D. (New York Rift Division) jacket. “We better get down there and make sure The Breath knocked that thing out. It’s gonna take all night for the Manuals to get that thing back to its home plane of existence.” He started to walk to the stairs.
“Fine, but we’re gonna talk about this later.” Doug huffed.
“Whatever lightweight.” Mckraken opened the door hard enough for it to slam against the brick wall and started climbing the three stories down to the main floor and the street below.
Doug looked up at the sky and the rift one last time before he turned to follow Mckraken down the stairs. More and more different species were finding the hole in the fabric of reality. He wondered what else might be out there. What might stumble across the hole and his world? “Hurry your ass up Fillion.” He sighed as he started his descent.
—
Kevin J. MacLeod lives in Missouri where he writes, works and annoys his wife and menagerie of house pets.
