A Sinner's Eden

***Tirnanog, Aerie Flagship***

***Felix Wolf***

The Thich were going all in. I eyed the hundreds of soldiers who were leaving Thich’s ships.

Bat riders carrying warriors and everyone who could move through the air thanks to their mutations were bridging the last gap between the two flagships. The gloves had come off.

“Ancient, please retreat into the airship. We will hold the line,” Savannah Gentry, Head Paladin of Jeng stepped forward and gently placed a hand on my shoulder. “We cannot lose you to a stray shot.”

My antennae swivelled and I flicked her hand away. “You may be Head Paladin, but I already knew where I had to be when your mother was nothing more than a babe. So far, we could rest thanks to Aerie and Hochberg coming to our aid. But this is different.”

I pointed at the incoming wave of enemies while my antennae tingled, warning me of countless threats thanks to precognition. “There are many powerful ones among them and Zacharias is leading the charge. This is not a battle to be won by holding back our most powerful combatants. And we will pay them back for what they did to the Mother Tree!”

Steeling myself, I looked down the row of Jeng’s finest who had been tasked with holding the flagship’s upper deck. “Don’t hold back, warriors of Jeng. Fight as if the Mother Tree itself was on the line. Pay them back for all our brothers and sisters who will never see the forest again!”

Savannah and her partner Ahmad let out cries of courage with the others and readied their weapons.

I also noticed the departure of our two speedsters Vanya had tasked with sabotaging the approaching airship, but I had no time to pay them any more attention. I could only pray for their success while Thich’s attention was on us.

Zacharias was going all in with his clones. A glance was enough to find three clones splitting off from the rest of Thich’s combat force. They lead a small group of warriors off to the side, probably intending to enter the ship from a less defensible angle.

They were shooting straight for one of the side entrances as if they knew the ship’s layout exactly.

For a moment, I considered abandoning my position to stop them. But doing so would leave the upper deck undefended. My paladins were strong, but they couldn’t hold the line against an ancient like Zacharias without assistance.

While I felt confident to win against a single clone, handling two at the same time would be a problem, and three would almost certainly mean my demise without Mary at my side. Unfortunately, she was still out of the game.

Closing my eyes, I resigned myself to trust that others would stop that group. When I opened them again, I fully concentrated on the two Zachs who were heading right for the upper deck. Each of them was leading an entire group of juggernauts.

Unfortunately, they decided to split up right before engaging us.

While one Zacharias stayed on course, the other clone swayed off towards the flagship's bridge, which was positioned further ahead. An entire contingent of warriors followed him.

It was infuriating to stand my ground a second time, but at least this time I knew Zacharias would have a hard time going there. While they had no ancient at hand, the flagship’s bridge was still protected by most of Aerie’s elders – each at the very least at the juggernaut level or above.

It would be akin to sticking his head into a night-terror nest.

“What do we do?” Ahmad asked. His eyes were also following the group which veered off.

“There is nothing we can do except trust in our allies,” I answered stoically. “If we abandon our positions, the enemy can do as they please here. We were tasked with holding the upper deck and that is what we will do.”

Then there was no more time for talking because our attackers unleashed a volley of gunshots with weapons which were probably also pilfered from one of those weapon stashes.

But there was a good reason why Jeng had long since abandoned all small calibre weapons, except for hunting monsters. The iobeetle was the first mutation all Jeng Paladins underwent, granting them the strongest known natural protection.

My Paladins held their positions without saying a word while bullets pinged off their armour. Only some moved their heads to protect their eyes when their precognition warned them of an impending lucky shot.

“Now!” Savannah called out and several paladins began hauling metal javelins at the approaching bats. Their force was more than sufficient to take down the large animals thanks to strength mutations. The range of such an attack may be reduced compared to guns, but the destructive force was a lot higher.

I hefted the long metal rod I had been using as a weapon for decades.

Then the bat on which the Zacharias clone rode got unlucky. One of the javelins hit it right in the shoulder.

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The animal heaved heavily with its wings, doing its best to stay in the air, but it was to no avail as it disappeared beneath the railing. Zach abandoned his mount without a second thought and jumped, landing on the upper deck with ease.

Some of his people had gone down with their mounts, but many made it onto the ship.

I pointed my metal rod at the man. There were no more words necessary as my paladins charged.

Ahmad was in the lead, almost ignoring the smaller Thich soldier who tried to stop him. It was akin to a toddler trying to stop an adult. There was no competition as Ahmad kneed the woman in the chest and trampled over her, going right for Zach.

Zacharias smiled and easily dodged the swing of Ahmad’s heavy war axe.

The clone slid past the paladin, relying on his precognition as he left his attacker to be dealt with by his men.

Ahmad turned and cried out in dismay at the disregard, but there was nothing he could do surrounded by enemies.

“Overconfident, just as you, Felix,” Zach said while drawing two long, thin daggers. They were more like spikes, to be honest, intended to be slid into the weak points between two iobeetle plates.

“Ahmad is young and enthusiastic,” I replied slowly. “He will learn.”

“Not if he is dead!” Zacharias charged forward while the two groups around us collided.

Some of the Thich were still relying on their guns, but being used at close range they had much more of an impact and my people began receiving wounds when a splinter or rebound bullet got lucky.

I aimed my rod at the clone’s eye and charged forward, intending to end it right then and there. Once the clone was gone, I could leave my people to deal with the rest while I hunted down the other clones. There was no way I would stop before all of the clones were dead and I could gloat over Zacharias' final body.

My opponent stepped from side to side, searching for an opening while throwing off my aim, but thanks to precognition the tip of my weapon impeccably stayed on point while I prepared myself to deflect the daggers. Just as long as Zacharias died a moment before his daggers could reach a lethal spot, I could take a wound or two.

I was about to stab Zacharias right in the eye when he suddenly sped up and slipped to the side faster than I had ever seen him move. It was… impossible!

One of his daggers scraped over my carapace without doing much damage as Zacharias sped right towards Savannah who had been protecting my back.

She swung her club but missed as the clone jumped and stabbed right at the joint between her chest carapace and her head. Jeng’s paladins were widely regarded as the most sturdy of warriors, but a hit in the right place could fell even them in an instant.

“No!” I hauled my rod after the clone, clipping his shoulder just enough to prevent a lethal blow as he sped up again and slid to the side, laughing.

“You have been too confident, Felix.” Zacharias grinned as he circled us and came to a stop next to me. “You never considered I could have a trump card.”

I grunted, bending over backwards more spryly than my old bones wanted to move so I could dodge the dagger coming right for my eye as Zacharias tried to return the favour of what I tried with him just seconds ago.

Then the clone had to roll to the side, dodging Savannah’s club. She was injured, bleeding heavily from her neck, but thanks to my intervention she was still in the fight.

“You took on another mutation!” I exclaimed as the truth dawned on me. “Just like Mary.”

What insanity! Gurney loaded our genetic code to the maximum when he designed our mutations. Each additional mutation was an incomparable risk compared to anyone else.

“Not like Mary!” Zacharias spat with an insane glint in his eyes. “She risked her life when she took on that worm mutation. I only risked a clone. And when it didn’t work out, I killed it and made a new one to try again!”

I ground my teeth and drew the combat knife I had at my side. “Still takes years for your clones to grow up. We just have to take them down one by one as you run out of hiding spots. Not even you can survive indefinitely in the wilds.”

“Ah.” Zacharias raised a finger. “That may be so, but I had years to assemble the perfect team of clones, each a perfect counter. For you, for Mary, and some other high-value targets. And the difference between you and me is: you don’t come back.”

And with that, Zacharias sped up again, going right for Savannah as the reality of this battle dawned on me. I could only throw myself against the paladin to divert the perfect angle Zach’s dagger had on her chin. It still scraped over the soft tissue, leaving another deep wound bleeding red.

Then I struggled to keep up with the speedster clone, giving it my all to keep Savannah alive – only to realize that I couldn’t keep up with Zacharias.

He hadn't been fighting us seriously at the Mother Tree. The clone he used back then was utterly normal, but now he was fighting to win.

Many battles between enhanced humans were not a matter of who had the most courage and ability. More often than not, pitching the right mutation against an enemy would almost guarantee victory.

Jeng’s paladins were the perfect tanks, but all of us were comparably slow. Even I, although Gilbert had ensured that I wouldn’t lag too much behind the other ancients.

And for this clone, Zacharias had gathered the perfect mutations to fight against us. I doubted that he had only added a speed mutation to his kit. His movements were too smooth and his situational awareness seemed perfect, so there had to be some mental augmentations in the mix.

I could only guess how many years and attempts it had taken to improve just a single clone to this level.

If I didn’t do something, he would slaughter us as soon as I fell. Or worse, once he decided to kill all the others and leave me for last.

I could only protect Savannah as long as she was next to me. Even with me protecting her, he was slowly chipping away at Savannah, despite my best efforts. There was only one thing I could do.

I stopped protecting myself as Zach danced around us with ease, intentionally leaving myself wide open. This made it a lot easier to keep Savannah alive. If someone made it out to keep Jeng going, then it had to be Savannah and Ahmad, not some old revenge-driven idiot like myself.

The dagger slipped into my side just a moment later, finding a weak spot beneath my arm. Zach hadn’t been able to resist taking the opening.

I grunted and clamped my arm down, holding onto his wrist with both hands as I brought both legs up and clamped them around his thigh. There had been no intention to hurt him, so Zach’s precognition didn’t warn him of his impending doom as intensely as it should have.

He tried to pull away, but I stubbornly held on. Now I was the one who was grinning.

“No speed-up with an old geezer hanging onto you, eh?” I let out a deep breath despite the pain and relaxed slightly, utterly confident in my strength. “Why don't you carry me over the street, old friend?”

The truth finally dawned on Zach’s face and he manically stabbed his dagger at me, trying to kill me so he would get free. I only dodged to a small extent, trying to stay alive for a moment longer while I held onto him. All I had to do was to avoid the instantly lethal blows.

It was only a moment, but it felt like an entirety.

Then Ahmad and Savannah were finally there, grabbing Zacharias and pulling him away while they tore him limp from limp like maddened animals. Once caught, the clone was no opponent for the strength augmentations of Jeng’s two Head Paladins. Even as Zacharias screamed, they didn’t let off till he was silent and lay in pieces.

Seeing the clone’s end made me smile as I slid to the ground, kneeling as I tried to take another breath. At least one… last… breath.