Chapter XXXVIII

  The Hunt

  Adria ran away, irritated with herself. She hadn't thought about the ocean being toxic and felt stupid; they would have been dead if it hadn't been for the gevurah. The dictadurians sprinted together around a curve and passed by the hidden umbras she had knocked out earlier. It was easier to see now that the sunlight had taken over.

  "How did you get here?" he asked after observing the surrounding wreckage, not understanding how they would cross to the shore.

  The woman pointed at her ingraviboots with pride.

  The tumult of the battle made that side of the boat tremble. If it hadn't been because she was trying to escape from both of them, Adria would have paid to stay and witness the match between Gorbat and that woman. That didn't happen in Dictaduria everyday.

  "Are you coming or not?" Corven stepped opposite to her and climbed down the rail to a giant crystal chain going into the ocean. It anchored the yacht to the port. He stopped before touching the water, made a bold jump, and landed on a boat's wreckage a meter away. His whole body was sore; every muscle hurt, but it worked.

  Adria believed there was a chance they could survive. She activated her boots, jumped from the edge of the ship, and landed close to Corven on a broken, half-sunken concrete wall. The woman used that ground to propel herself towards her protégé.

  His shock was enough for her to smile when she clashed with his body, turning him ingravitas, using that impulse to take them together and land on some other wreckage, safer and closer to land. They created a lane through the remaining parts of those forgotten ships and got to a market in the port when everything turned dark.

  ****

  Minutes earlier, when the dictadurians left the small cruise ship, Zanda flew upwards, ready to tackle Gorbat at sonic speed and take him away from there. The gevurah had no problem showing more of her abilities. Changing directions, she burst towards him, reaching Mach 1 before hitting his chest.

  The supersonic punch made every nanite of that tattoo merkabah tremble, sending it to the bottom of the seabed. A great wall of water grew from where he fell.

  Gorbat remained at the bottom.

  Her instinct assured her he was not giving up. And it was right.

  The water vibrated.

  Almost too quick for her to catch it, Gorbat got out from underwater with incredible propelling force and went straight towards the gevurah, throwing a war cry.

  She smiled, expecting him. A fraction before their impact, Zanda attached an altnoc to his chest and escaped, faster than his reaction.

  The capsule exploded on Gorbat and expanded everywhere.

  A dome made of nanite darkness reached a large portion of the bay, and everything in a hundred meter radius was swallowed by it, inverting the colors on everything inside it.

  The gevurah and the dictadurian became white silhouettes in a sea of blackness.

  Gorbat's trajectory stopped when he hit the dark wall, tough as the hardest diamond yet bouncy as rubber. With the force of its own repelled strength, the man fell on top of the ocean water, trapped inside her trick. He didn't understand that technology.

  "That was an altnoc. I'm going to let you imagine what it works for," Zanda rose from the ground and moved further away from the ship. She got close to him with a double-edged crybine ax in hand.

  "Why are you here?" The dictadurian lifted himself, walking on water.

  "Isn't that obvious?" She could swear there was defeat in his voice.

  "I've done terrible things, and the Sephirot kept themselves on the line!" With a horrible laugh, he yelled with pride. "I've killed, raped, destroyed, and corrupted hundreds of dictadurians that serve under my wing; what changed?"

  His outburst made Zanda's blood boil.

  "The alters. We can't risk extarri breaking away from Sectum," Gorbat would have been sent to Eslavia decades earlier if it had been her call.

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  "I've been smuggling with the alters for years! It doesn’t make sense. It was my insurance out of here, and some random furkan like Corven ruined it!" he had one last hysteric laugh.

  "Some furkano like Corven, huh? Well, it turns out he has friends more intelligent than you," there was an irony to his ignorance.

  "What do you mean?" His pride wouldn't allow him to ignore that comment.

  She mocked him.

  "You know Corven didn't do it all by himself! He got help all along, from women a lot more competent than your umbras. What a pathetic excuse for an army. No wonder all your act is falling apart...."

  Without warning, Gorbat turned around, flew above the ship, and onto the sunken harbor, inside the altnoc's radius.

  Zanda had spoken too much, driven by emotions and ego.

  ****

  Adria heard Gorbat breaking through the air as she tried to understand why they appeared as white silhouettes while seeking shelter. Everything inside the hallways had turned black. She jumped to the left, holding her protégé in her arms, and narrowly dodged the attacker.

  There was no time for the umbra leader to stop his merkabah and avoid crashing onto the pier. His body destroyed two empty buildings and tumbled across an abandoned market. The dictadurians ran while dust and wreckage fell on them.

  A half-second later, the gevurah arrived, as nanites detached from her merkabbalah; they reached the dictadurians and surrounded them in a thin layer of puple crystaphene. They were elevated towards her and, together, flew away to land on a mechanical hangar outside the altnoc’s reach.

  With such speed and a turn of events, Adria became nauseous. Zanda landed behind the massive structure with her and Corven behind. She released them from their confinement.

  "Get away from us. Gorbat wants you; he knows you helped diminish his umbra forces and steal the alters. Hide. He will try to kill you again," she warned.

  "I didn’t help steal anything, and yes, Gorbat tried to cut off my head; I’m aware of his intentions…" Adria responded.

  "It doesn’t matter if you did or not, Adria. Corven, leave!" Zanda insisted with determination visible and her helmet regenerated around her face and hair. Corven and Adria resumed their escape as the gevurah turned her back on them and flew back to Gorbat.

  Both dictadurians ran through corridors of concrete debris that once belonged to the stores and offices that kept the port alive.

  “We need a path to the forest,” Adria declared, knowing what they had to do.

  “How are we going to find it?” Corven voiced his concerns.

  “With our eyes. I’m sure there’s a door somewhere.” Adria's boots were almost out of energy. There was enough power for five more jumps, so she conserved it, matching Corven's pace, searching for an exit through that concrete maze.

  ****

  Zanda’s thirst for justice led her to the leader of the umbras in a heartbeat. Gorbat’s body showed signs of tiredness as he lifted himself from the concrete heap he had created. She had to finish him right there, before he could leave again. Her weapons grew once more in each arm, sharp and dangerous. As she landed her attack, he generated a shield that absorbed most of the energy from her axes and enclosed himself in a nanite chrysalis that repelled her. The altnoc reduced its radius, it’s effectiveness running out.

  Gorbat approached after absorbing his nanites, ready to attack with double swords in hand, clashing against the axes, reverberating. His merkabah was heavy and pushed her with tenacity. Zanda focused to move away so that he tripped and fell. On the ground, he turned, unwilling to give up.

  The gevurah flew towards him, weapons unfolded. Gorbat blocked them with a thinner version of his amber swords, clashing crybine against crystaphene. A loud clunk of sound vibrated, echoing across the surrounding space. As they opposed their weapons, Vis energy on them reflected the strength absorbed by space with multicolored strands that spread like lightning where they collided. They pushed and lashed at each other, axes against swords.

  Surrounded by the black dome of the altnoc, the ground beneath trembled; Zanda smelled the dry, old particles coming from the crumbling structure around them. It would not survive the ongoing battle. The gevurah planned a strategy analyzed by her kabbalah.

  "Excellent…" Zanda's merkabbalah adapted, absorbing both axes; she didn't glance at her fists as they became thicker; her gaze locked on Gorbat, who was struck even harder than before. She punched left and right, giving him no opportunity to fight back. His double swords were insufficient with the rain of powerful hits.

  With her enhanced sight, she noticed how six tiny crystapheres departed from Gorbat’s arms and flew towards her. Zanda broke through the dictadurian’s defense in milliseconds, re-emerging an ax from her left hand to distract him. With her right hand, she caught him by the neck. Her weapon landed on his left wrist with precision while immobilized the right, causing both swords to fall, damaging his merkabah.

  Surrounding his neck, she restrained the man against her, right before those micro grenades fired with an electrolaser discharge. Zanda flipped their bodies and made all six beams land on the man’s chest, creating a reactive explosion so vast they were both blasted away. She drifted through the energy wave while Gorbat was flung back onto the shore, destroying everything in his path. The altnoc closed on him, restraining his movements to a dark sphere.

  ****

  That's it for Chapter XVII!

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  Malkuth: Planet Earth and Tenth Sephirah. It is the material and physical realm, its inhabitants seek to protect and preserve nature with a focus on equity and respect for natural resources.

  Aequiteism: It is a system of values and principles in Malkuthian society, based on the Kabbalah and the Edictum Vitae. This approach seeks to promote equitable, sustainable, and harmonious coexistence between technology, nature, and human beings.

  Naadi: Side effect of synthesis that allows humans to project their aura, enabling individuals to share their energy and emotions.

  Vis: It is the primordial energy that permeates everything. It represents the life force that flows through every being and element, connecting the macro and microcosms in an interdependent network.

  Sectum: Continent where the Extarri, the exiled, reside outside of aequiteism and hence, Malkuth. The continent is divided into four countries: Capitalia, Dictaduria, Imperia, and Eslavia, each representing different social systems.

  Dictaduria: Characterized by a dictatorial social system, where a group of leaders and elites exercises absolute control over the population, its resources and political decisions. Dictaduria stands out for the suppression of individual freedoms, exploitation, corruption in all levels of government and the lack of citizen participation in decision-making.

  Negativus: Clandestine subterranean city thriving under Dictaduria.

  Imperia: Reflects an a feudal and imperialistic social system, where a single central power controls other territories and societies. In Imperia, dominance and expansion of this power are prioritized, often at the expense of the autonomy and cultural diversity of its inhabitants.

  Eslavia: Follows a slave-based social system, where certain individuals are subjected to forced labor and exploited without respect for their rights and dignity.

  Capitalia: Represents a social system based on capitalist economy, where resources and wealth are controlled by private companies, and there is a marked economic inequality.

  Gatvits: Currency of Dictaduria.

  Onis: Currency of Imperia.

  Kabbalah: Technorganic entity guide and and companion that provides information and assistance to each individual in aequiteist society, promoting knowledge, equity and harmony as intended by the Edictum Vitae, the law of Malkuth.

  Merkabah: Advanced suit designed to assist the Sephirah in their individual tasks. It is specially created to improve efficiency in their day to day work.

  Crystaphere: Fusion of crystal and graphene through synthesis. Resistant, lightweight, and conductive material for various technological applications if activated.

  Sephirah: Refers to each branch of intellectual emanation in The Tree of Life (Yggdrasil) and the Kabbalah. Each Sephirah represents a fundamental principle that guides the life and worldview of this society.

  Gevurah: Fifth Sephirah in the path of the Kabbalah. Protectors of Malkuth, it's inhabitants and the Edictum Vitae, it's law. In charge of defending justice, and enforce the principles of an Aequiteist society. Seeks collective harmony and balance.

  Binah: Third Sephirah in the path of the Kabbalah. Applied to architects, shapers and planners, it highlights their role in the malleable construction of sustainable infrastructures in harmony with nature.

  Tipharet: Sixth branch in kabbalistic knowledge. Experts in agroecology and permaculture in aequiteist society. They work on sustainable food production, promoting environmentally friendly agricultural practices, in line with the principles of equity and harmony with nature stated in the E.V.

  Fishtank: Vehicles made of crystaphere with ingravitas technology.

  Levitator: Individual platforms for short distances. They use ingravitas technology to fly, offering efficient and eco-friendly personal transportation.

  Ingravitas: Advanced technology that controls and regulates gravity, allowing the creation of weightless zones and adjusting gravitational force of both small and large bodies of mass.

  Porter: Transportation method that uses the repelling forces of dark matter/energy with quantum stabilizers. It allows transporting any human or matter between two connecting points, creating an instantaneous bridge regardless of distance of time.

  Porterum: Collective of Porters, many times part of a larger structure with other services.

  Stagnum: A piece of land, could be anything from an individual space, a neighborhood or city floating in the sky thanks to Ingravitas tech.

  Domus: Levitating, houses powered with Ingravitas tech, often linked to a larger stagnum.