The Fractured World 5

  The Fractured World 5

  David Aries

  Copyright © 2021 by David Aries

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This book contains dramatic battles, overpowered threats, and plenty of fun with the sexiest harem of aliens anywhere in the universe. You’ve been warned.

  If you enjoy this, or any of my other stories, please consider signing up to my newsletter. I’ll send you updates about my new releases, so you don’t need to worry about missing out.

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  Author Notes

  More From Me

  Chapter 1

  The crashing ship sliced through the clouds as it plotted a powerless collision course with the plains.

  “It’s getting away,” Faris warned.

  Vay laughed. “Did you expect otherwise? Rocket is fast, but she is no machine.”

  Even at full pelt, our galloping mount couldn’t hope to keep up with the falling vessel, especially when she had three passengers coming along for the ride.

  “Don’t worry,” I responded, keeping a tight grip of Rocket’s antlers. “I won’t lose it. I’m not letting this chance slip through our fingers.”

  These were the kind of moments my heightened zerrin-gifted senses were made for. I kept track of where the shuttle was heading despite the countryside’s best efforts to shake us off.

  I don’t think so.

  For once, this ship is ours!

  After what couldn’t have been more than ten minutes, we were beckoned onward by a plume of smoke rising from our path. It arose from one of the few lakes we’d discovered on this vast grassland. The substantial body of water had done its best impression of a catcher's mitt and captured hold of our target. Along with the mangled forest nearby, it had managed to protect the spacecraft from the damage nosediving into the ground might have caused.

  A stroke of good fortune? Hardly. The ship wasn’t alone; black, winged pests swarmed over it like flies to rotten meat.

  “Metaleaters,” I said, snarling.

  “Looks like they just beat us here,” Faris replied.

  They’d hardly gotten a chance to sink their teeth in. All in all, the ship was still in one piece.

  “Which means we’ve still got a chance.” I drew my axe and pointed it at our battlefield. “Let’s do this!”

  “That’s what I like to hear!” Vay cheered as we charged into battle.

  Rocket bombed down the shore and hit the lake like an arrow. However, that was where her momentum floundered. Our reliable mount could handle most terrains without losing a step, but waist-high water was a different beast entirely.

  It didn’t slow me down; I dismounted early and pushed all the power I could into my legs. Then I sprung forward, leaping out of the water like an angry frog aiming for a big iron lily pad.

  A metaleater flittered between me and the ship.

  With a roar, I slammed it in the back—right between the wings—and drilled it into the lake.

  “Sorry,” I said as I landed on the ship’s roof. “We’ll be taking this.” I spun my axe around and walloped another metaleater in the beak.

  My axe shredded through, striking the winged monster between the eyes.

  The metaleater stumbled back, but its huge wings saved it from an early bath. It squawked, spilling screws from its shattered bill and demolished face.

  My lips curled in a half-smile.

  Tough git. That blow would have totaled any of the creatures around here.

  I guess that’s the difference between an animal and a robot…

  The damaged metaleater, as well as its allies, put their lunch on hold. They turned their attention on the interloper who had ruined their feast before it could begin.

  Also known as me.

  I grinned as I braced myself for a fight.

  If that’s how you want it, that’s fine with me.

  Well… us.

  A pillar of fire sliced from the sky like an executioner’s axe, driving the ring of metal apart. Faris flipped through the commotion, landing on my six, spear primed to do some damage.

  Before the metaleaters regained their bearings, one unlucky soul was caught from the side by a six-foot metal greatsword, more giant lump of metal than blade. The brutal impact crushed through its body and sent it flying across the lake like a skipping stone.

  “That’s one!” Vay said, guffawing as usual. “Hello again, my old friends! Do you remember me? I remember you… I remember how you devoured our ship then fled before I could get my revenge!”

  I chuckled under my breath. “Help yourself. There’s plenty to go around.” I stepped forward and swung.

  The metaleaters dodged away and scattered into the sky, where they circled overhead like vultures. One by one, they swooped down with their beaks open and talons primed.

  I held my ground, smashing away every incoming threat. It didn’t matter how sharp their nasty bits were, they were no match for my weapon.

  Sylvetty had outdone herself; she’d replaced my bog-standard hatchet with something more akin to a battleaxe. A heavy metal head sat proudly upon a matching shaft wrapped in a pelt sleeve designed to give me a better grip.

  It was the perfect tool for driving these swines back.

  Not that I was satisfied with trimming a few talons. I wanted bloo—oil.

  The metaleaters didn’t give me much of a chance to sate my desire for destruction. They were smart enough to keep out of my range, only diving in when my back was turned.

  Of course, that didn’t mean they got in any blows of their own. Faris flowed around my hits like water and supported me with a combo of deadly kicks, precise spear strikes, and bursts of trademark herix fire.

  When a snapping mouth came for the back of my neck, I didn’t turn; I left it to her.

  She delivered, hitting the metaleater from beneath with an uppercut of a kick.

  Once I saw my window, I spun and drilled.

  My axe ripped through the metaleater’s body, driving it into the lake like some high-tech comet.

  Vay laughed as she waded through the ab-stroking waves, swinging for the metaleaters hungry for green xioth flesh. “Excellent job, stud!”

  “Don’t mention it,” I said. “You okay down there?”

  “Of course!” Vay replied, coming within millimeters of scoring another home run. “A little water never killed anyone.”

  “Factually incorrect, but I get the point.” I glanced over my shoulder. “Duck!”

  Faris did just that, leaving a metaleater biting at nothing but air.

  Before the robot cou
ld close its maw, I fed it a rock fastball pulled from my pocket.

  The metaleater gagged on the throat-shredding stone.

  Carrying on that same movement, I twisted my entire body around and scythed through the monster’s torso, exposing its inner workings.

  Tsk! Shallo—

  Faris’s spear was buried in the wound before I could finish admonishing myself. She flipped through the air and brought an axe kick down upon the shaft. It ripped the lance’s head through the robot’s innards.

  The metaleater’s skull popped off and flew into orbit, while its body pinged off the ship and into the lake.

  “One,” Faris said.

  “What?!” Vay replied. “You’re seriously counting that?!”

  “A kill’s a kill.”

  Vay growled. “Fine! Have it your way. I still won’t lose.”

  “What are you two talking about?” I said as I deflected another set of claws.

  “Don’t worry about it, stud!” Vay replied. “Just a little friendly competition between warriors.” She swung her greatsword—another Sylvetty creation—and came within a hair of landing another hit. “Oh, you tease. Come and fight me properly! Don’t you see I’ve got a contest to win?”

  I smirked. As long as it didn’t get in the way of this operation, I wasn’t going to complain. If anything, it motivated my mates. Together, the three of us knocked metaleater after metaleater out of the sky until a pitiful duo remained.

  Outnumbered, the remaining robots ascended into the clouds where we couldn’t do much to them.

  And they could do even less to us.

  “That’s what you get for trying to take what’s ours,” I said, taking the chance to catch my breath.

  Well, not technically ours.

  Sure, we wanted it to become as such, but the ship hadn’t come here alone. Someone had to own the thing.

  As we had the chance, I said, “Faris. Any sign of the pilot?”

  “Here,” she said after a quick scan.

  It was a sign, sure, but not the kind I’d expected. The cockpit window was smashed open, and the pilot’s seat was missing.

  If anything, it was an anti-sign.

  “This the metaleater’s handiwork, or maybe an escape gone wrong?” I asked.

  “Probably the latter. I can’t see any blood,” Faris said.

  “So there’s a good chance the pilot escaped,” I mumbled as I surveyed our surroundings.

  There was a large yellow tarp spread out across the lake’s center, a location I’d previously had no reason to look toward. Its center was sinking, as if it was being dragged down by a whirlpool.

  Or someone trapped beneath.

  A sinister coldness pricked at my instincts. “I think the pilot’s in trouble.”

  “You go!” Vay called from the shallows. “We can handle these two.”

  Faris glanced up. “Not two.”

  I growled. My senses felt it too: reinforcements.

  A fresh flock of metaleaters—at least thrice as big as the crop we’d destroyed—descended on the area.

  Oh, come on!

  How many of you bastards are there?!

  I braced myself for a fight, but my eyes couldn’t stop glancing at the distorted yellow parachute. The pilot needed help; I could tell that much. If I didn’t do something, they wouldn’t make it. My inaction would lead to their death.

  A feeling I knew all too well…

  But, if I go, how are we going to keep these at bay?

  The metaleaters circled overhead like a great metal vortex. There were more than enough of them to make short work of the ship.

  Short work of a way off this planet.

  My heartbeat grew louder and louder as my eyes shifted between two options: putting the ship in jeopardy or condemning a stranger to death.

  Dammit…

  “Girls!” I said. “How much time can you buy me?”

  Vay chuckled. “I thought you’d asked as such. Why, as much as you need, of course!” She climbed onto the ship, making it groan beneath her weight. “Run along, my darling stud. I’m eager to see how my little competition will fare without you holding her hand.”

  Faris spun her spear as she prepared for battle. “Make sure you don’t slow me down.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it!”

  After I was done internally reminding myself how much I adored the both of them, I nodded. “I’ll be back ASAP!” Without wasting any more time, I dove into the lake and set off toward the parachute.

  Swimming had never been a speciality of mine, but the last few months had changed that. Thanks to my incredible boon, I cut through the water like an Olympian and made short work of what should have been a long plodding journey.

  Sure enough, pulling away the parachute revealed a gasping stranger struggling to keep himself surfaced.

  “H-help,” the guy spluttered. “Swim… can’t swim.”

  Looks like my senses were right again.

  “Come here!” I said, throwing him over my shoulder.

  “Than—”

  I bolted toward the nearest shore before he could get a word out. His gratitude didn’t mean nearly as much to me as a working ship would.

  As soon as I got him onto dry land and was sure he didn’t need any further help, I took off running back to where my girls were waiting.

  My jaw tightened as I approached.

  The ship had vanished beneath a cocoon of midnight black. At least thirty, maybe forty, metaleaters were laying siege to the shuttle. Some ripped into its extremities while others focused on the warriors giving as good as they got.

  Glimpses of fire flashed through the flying black wall, along with the sound of metal striking together.

  “That’s seven!” Vay said.

  “Hardly. That one was mine,” Faris replied.

  “In what universe? It was long dead before you got your claws on it.”

  “Keep telling yourself that.”

  “Girls!” I yelled as I charged into the waist-high lake.

  A trio of metaleaters shot toward me.

  I snarled as I tried to pluck them out of the air, but it was a near-impossible job with the water stifling my movements.

  “Is that you, stud?!” Vay yelled from within the swarm.

  “Damn right! I’m getting you out of there!”

  “What about the ship?” Faris replied.

  “Forget it!” They might not have been able to see it from their location, but it was already too late. We were no longer fighting over a shuttle; all that was left was a big useless steel box.

  “Head toward my voice!” I said as I pulled my last remaining rock from my pocket and fired it at the metaleater straight ahead. Before its partners could pincer me, I jumped from the water and smashed into the living hurricane.

  My blow opened a small window that Vay cleaved her greatsword through. Faris followed up with her flame breath, widening the gap further.

  I grabbed their hands and pulled them out of there and down into the lake.

  The metaleaters didn’t follow. Instead, the mob clenched around the ship and focused on finishing the job they’d come to do.

  I ground my teeth as we watched from the outside.

  Dammit. Things were supposed to be different this time…

  We had Vay, some impressive new weapons, and I was feeling stronger than ever. All those things were a big help in their own way, yet nothing had changed; we still couldn’t stop the metaleaters.

  I still couldn’t get us the way home we needed.

  By the time we’d trudged back to shore, the ship had been devoured down to the last bolt.

  Job done, the metaleaters took off, returning to wherever they came from.

  As they flew off, pounding steps boomed over the horizon.

  Gemus burst from the forest, bringing us ill-timed backup who had done their best to find this place after being burned off by Rocket’s superior speed.

  “Brandon!” Demi said as she galloped closer, le
ading her herix warriors and one out-of-place tiger boy. “Were those metaleaters? Does that mean what I think it does?”

  I bit my bottom lip. “I’m afraid so…”

  It meant we’d failed; it meant I’d let all of Ulium down.

  Demi lowered her head. “Apologies. If only I’d been quicker…”

  “It’s not your fault,” I said. “This is on me. If I’d stayed with the ship, we might have held on.”

  No… we would have.

  “You did nothing wrong,” Faris said. “You left the ship to us. We’re the ones who failed.”

  “Because I put you in an impossible position.”

  “You didn’t have a choice.”

  “I must agree,” Vay said as she looked down the bank. “Would you have felt better if you’d left that man to die?”

  Joobee, everyone’s favorite faux-tiger, helped the saturated pilot I’d save hobble our way.

  “Thank you,” the man said. “You saved my life.”

  I bit my bottom lip. “Hey, it’s not like I’m trying to say I regret saving you. It’s just… how often do we get an opportunity like this? I’m pretty sure this is the first ship crash we’ve seen since you guys joined us.” That being Vay and all the herixes, bar Faris. “That’s… what? Two months? Three?” I scrunched my hands into fists. “How many more chances are we going to get before the big day? I can’t keep letting them slip through my fingers…”

  I’d always wanted strength so I could protect those dear to me. If I still couldn’t do that after all this time, what was the point of me having such power?

  Saving one life wasn’t enough; I needed to help everyone.

  I can’t let history repeat itself…

  “There’s no point dwelling on this,” Faris said, breaking the awkward silence I’d created. “Let’s return to Ulium. Eret will want to check up on…”

  “O-oh!” the pilot exclaimed as Faris looked his way. “I’m Ruple. A check-up would be lovely, thank you. But, first, I was wondering if I could, maybe…” He looked at where his ship had been.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked.

  “It’s just… all my stuff was kind of on that ship. I was hoping, maybe, some of it survived?”

  From where we were standing, there was nothing to see but water.

  I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. “It’s a long shot, but… wait there. I’ll check.”