Wolf of the Tesseract

Chapter 23

The TRX718 exploded with a flash of light; its concussive fireball flattened the ragged remnants of The Seven. James shielded his eyes against the intensely bright eruption which seemed to suck all sound into the detonation. From the smoldering crater, Jacob Sisyphus struggled to rise; he shook under his own weight, and finally collapsed.

In the moment of silence that followed, jaws dropped and the faces of the on-looking Heptobscurantum members fell. A rally cry rose up from the vyrm army and they charged against their fleeing human enemy. The cultists routed in terror, scattering in any and every direction.

Rob walked towards James tentatively, like a mongoose stalking a cobra. Vyrm slinked around him, giving the sword wielding lycanthrope wide berth.

Behind the warlock, the tear through the fabric of space squirmed with the writhing of tentacles. They clawed blindly at the air in their vain attempt to pull Sh'logath into this realm.

James lifted his two blades in challenge. "I've been killing members of your family for generations now! And it ends today!"

"One way or another!" Rob howled back, bringing his massive blade to bear.

James blocked and swung while Rob dodged and parried. Rob's heavy glaive proved slower than the light blades of his enemy but the brute force behind his blows knocked the sorcerer back with each strike. James tried to keep a tight grip on his weapons.

Rob swung mightily with a slice that could have cleaved the sorcerer cleanly through. James blocked, but the hooked athame clattered out of his hand and skittered to the ground.

Summoning his dark power, the warlock blasted Rob's face with burst of searing flame. Rob flailed his weapon wildly, momentarily blinded.

James somersaulted away and scooped up the athame. He whirled around just in time to catch Rob's next ferocious strike. James countered with five blows of his own; the final one lodged the nasty occult blade in the meat of Rob's arm.

Rob growled in pain, recoiling slightly. He yanked the athame from his wounded flesh and threw it back at him.

The warlock ducked and it sailed across the open pavement, lodging firmly in the spine of a vyrm who tried to pull open the semi-truck's cab door. Claire and Jackie sat inside the locked vehicle, obviously arguing with each other over how to operate the big rig.

James darted towards the vehicle, his prize threatened escape. Rob leapt over the warlock and stood between the two, barring the way, yet again. James ducked the werewolf's clawed swipe that would have taken his head off. The deep cut from the athame had nearly stitched itself back together.

With a two finger strike that crackled with white lightning, James stepped inside Rob's guard and jabbed a nerve on the lycan's torso. Rob's sword arm fell dead and he dropped the Stone Glaive, roaring as James slipped past him.

Rob swung around with his other arm and smashed the disengaging warlock with a massive blow, pivoting his hips like a baseball batter. He knocked James back across the asphalt, flinging him far over the stage, altar, and out of sight.

Shaking out the numbness from his arm, Rob picked up the rune-covered blade. He looked up and saw Claire reach over the wheel and locate the ignition.

The semi-truck chortled and belched diesel smoke. Claire revved the engine, intimidating the vyrm near the hood with the Peterbilt's mechanical thundering.

Rob circled around the truck and slew any vyrm who threatened the girls. He cleared the area immediately surrounding them and spotted a pair of enemies crawling on the roof. Using his powerful lycanthrope legs, Rob leapt clear to the top of the cab. A second later, two stone statues shattered upon the pavement beside the truck.