Dead Star Rangers

There is no time for hesitation. As soon as Thorsen’s back hit the ground with a crunch, he flung the weight of every limb he could control to his side, flipping him over just in time for the beast’s arm to miss his battered body. The strike splintered the ground, sending broken rocks tearing into the flesh of Thorsen’s back. He curses under his breath as his entire weight comes down onto his shoulder forcing him to crumble into a broken heap. A wrathful roar tore through the dull nerves of his body before being drowned out by a deafening silence.

Thorsen was shocked back to consciousness by the familiar popping of his bones back into place and the searing heat of his skin mending itself. He dug his fist into the ground and forced himself up. Dirt and bile forced itself out of his mouth and suddenly the world regained its shape.

“Thorsen!”

He spun around in time for his cross-shaped eyes to catch the frail girl rising from the inky shadow of his frame. Viscous tar sloughed down her frail figure giving way to her pallid complexion. The hair that poured from her head and fell to her knees as coiled wisps was of the same void as the darkness she hid in. Mori, as the girl was called, was forced to crane her neck to meet Thorsen’s eyes. Though her stature suggested a degree of feebleness compared to him, her pompous demeanor gave off a vibrancy that far outclassed Thorsen’s solemn energy. Even the points of the horns that shot from his short, tired gray hair appeared worn no matter how many times they needed to reform.

The man’s voice was deep and rumbled with a hardness inherited from his prior life as a soldier. “Where’s my pistol?“

His voice was broken by the woman’s, ”The Rogue ate it.” Her voice, at least for the moment, was a peppy chirp that demanded attention yet no one could bring themselves to hate it.

”How—“

“Dok’ picked it up after you got ragdolled but before he got to you it just bent down and ate him.”

His cross eyes flicked up. The scene before him was painted in hues of soft purples and blues by the lazy light of the milky eye of the moon. The great forest in the distance dresses the horizon in a line of great scowling trees. This border of serene turquoise was broken only by the monstrous, wolf-like silhouette thrashing about the middle ground. Its claws that crown its lanky arms dig into the ground, splashing the landscape like water. That monster was the reason that he stands here now. It’s a rebel against the Laws of Death, a rogue immortal, the Immortal Beast.

”What do we plan—“

“I think we should just leave him. Dok’ can do way more for us inside of that thing.”

“Stop interru—“

The girl reached up on her toes and struck Thorsen across his rough stubble. ”Stop wasting time! We need you on the frontline!” She sank back into the sludge with a smug smile, leaving her scowling comrade in the droning ambience of the beast’s overwhelming cry.

Thorsen reaches up and grabs the base of his horns. One last vertebrae pops into place as he rolls his head around his neck. “Come forth, NIDHOGG!” Purple flames erupt at his fingertips, manifesting the handle of his secondary weapon. Light flickers off the short gun’s metal body, illuminating the face of the draconic crest embedded into the side of the jaw-like protrusions that clamp around the barrel.

The ranger dashes towards the battle. Tall streaks of wet soil flare behind him with every strike of his heel. His fellow ranger, Chitin, stumbles and flails his many four arms in an attempt to avoid the beast’s lashing claws while still trying to get a hold on its limbs. Chitin’s entire body was clad in pieces of organic armor. His arms, legs, chest, and shoulders were covered by dark green pieces of exoskeleton that seamlessly blend sharp edges with dynamic curves that make his body light but invincible.

The beast’s ears perk in Thorsen’s direction. His predatorial eyes locking onto the ranger with little need for thought.

”HA HA! I won’t let yer’ pack gang up on me, rangers!” The beast stabs one of his claws deep into the ground. The rest of his limbs twist and his body spins in a tight, lethal circle. Chitin is sent flying in the following wave of earth. His armor dutifully absorbs all impact.

The horned ranger promptly aims his barrel towards the ground and fires. The surrounding space fills with the sound of the roaring barrel and the flames it spews. Thorsen is sent hurtling over the encroaching wave of debris. He catches his shotgun in his left hand; his right is mangled from the recoil.

He flips in the air, regaining his bearings, only to bite his tongue when he lands. Blood and swears spew from his mouth as he continues his charge. He’s glad no one he likes saw that.

”How come y’all send the small fry after me, huh!? I want to fight big shots! Where’s Apollo!? Come on, give me Crownvalve! Give me Tsuki! I’ll even rip apart that Dullahan!” Obnoxious tendrils of saliva swing from the beast’s teeth as he raves in a booming voice filled with ravenous bravado.

“You couldn’t even begin to be worth a second of her time!!!” The way his enemy used that precious name, “Dullahan,” particularly pissed Thorsen off. The ranger wanted nothing more than to make the beast hurt, especially now.

Thorsen recklessly fired himself forward with a wave of amethyst flames. Ribbons of skin trailed behind him where his left arm once was. Muscles reconnected in his right just in time to catch his projectiled weapon.

With less than an arm length between him and the beast’s face, Thorsen pulls the trigger. The giant’s instincts had only enough time to flinch. Flames spewed from Nidhogg’s jaw and instantly ate away at the rogue’s snout.

A pile of rubble bursted apart as Chitin stumbled to his insectoid feet. His compound eyes caught the sight of his comrade plummeting to the ground from the gaping hole in the rogue Immortal’s missing maw. The ranger starts at a sprint to intercept his partner but stops to flinch when Thorsen hits the ground with a dull thud.

Vibrations lashed through the air as the Immortal Beast howled with mind-breaking pain. He reaches for his face only for his claws to find the tender flesh of his open throat. His mind spins with rage and confusion now that his skin and bones refuse to regrow. Ground shatters and terrain is upheaved with every thrash he makes in his outburst.

Within the dark pool cast by the floundering giant’s figure against the soft light of the moon, the slender form of Mori seeps out reaching for his shaggy fur. Smooth tar clung to her arms and legs, taking the shape of the beast’s long claws. She made her way up his muscular, flexing legs, towards his head. Her imitation claws sunk into the beast’s flesh and fur with every hold she took. Once she reached his back, she smiled to herself, fantasizing about the praise she could get from Thorsen for her clever strategy.

The Immortal Beast’s ears twitch as he sensed an advancing presence climbing along his body. The sensation grounded him, dispelling his stupor. He stabs his front claws into the ground. Using his momentum, he pumps his hind legs, propelling his body over the axis of his wrists.

A deep crater is forced into the ground by the thunderous impact of the rogue’s body. His mind races now that he feels nobody beneath his broken back.

The organic plates surrounding Chitin’s ankles clacked together, absorbing the residual impact of the rogue’s distant attack. Chitin offered a segmented hand to help Thorsen up. The horned ranger grumbled, gingerly rubbing his head while streaks or heated sweat tumbled down his brow. Exhaustion is quickly setting in from his rapid use of regeneration. The other ranger speaks in his hearty, chittering voice as he looks on at the giant struggling to writhe in pain from his smashed spine.

”If only you brought Yggdrasil today; we could’ve struck him down from here.”

Thorsen sighs. He nodded his head, motioning for the two of them to return to the fight. “I won’t be able to have Yggdrasil rebuilt for another month or two. She’s not meant to be used for every fight.” Yggdrasil, his “sniper rifle,” is currently laying in pieces all across his room, waiting for maintenance and reassembly. Even the barrel had yet to be rebuilt from scrap by the rangers’ resident Immortal Gunsmith, Rowdy.

“Clearly . . . “ Chitin adds as the two break into a jog.

”Whatever, where’s Mori?”

”She was climbing up the rogue’s back, when I last saw her.”

”That’d never work with how keen this freak’s senses are.”

”Right?”

The beast had already gotten back upright and was now glaring at the oncoming rangers with murderous eyes. Smooth, white stumps were protruding out from where the base of his jaw once was. The flesh Nidhogg had devoured was regaining its ability to regrow. The two freeze when their enemy’s eyes go blood red and he violently lurches forward. Thick, dark red vile trickles out of the hole leading down his throat, accompanied by choked gurgling. Identical fluid is expelled from the opposite end.

Chitin anxiously fidgeted with his furry, jagged antenna. “What the hell’s going on with him? He’s not getting ready for a second transformation is he?”

Thorsen shook his head, dismissing the thought. “That’d be the worst case scenario. But I think this is the best.”

” . . . And that is?”

”Dok’”

The name had barely left Thorsen’s lips before the beast lurched again. The giant tried to lift a claw to nurse his stomach but can hardly maintain his balance through his spasms. Slowly, the beast’s waist started to hang low. The fur around his stomach became damp and sagged further and further from his spine. All at once, the flesh gives way to a torrent of steaming, clear fluid. The surrounding grass and the thin layer of damp soil disappeared beneath the stretching wave.

A figure fully clad in a thick leather coat drifted atop the crest of the wave on his back. A bird beak made of the same material and two glowing, piercing orbs peered out from the hood draped across his head. Their fellow ranger, Dok’, was washed right before their feet. His head jerked up before he clambered upright. The clear fluid rolled right off his clothes.

”Ha, ha! I turned that bastard’s stomach into a vat of superacid!”

Chitin took a hesitant step and reached a worried hand towards the hooded ranger.

“Dok’, are you alright?”

The other ranger whips his head back and forth. The leather beak in front of his face flaps limply with the motion.

”I haven’t had fresh oxygen in about—“ He looks down at his wrist where a watch used to be. “—about ten minutes.” He falls onto his back.

The two step over their unconscious comrade and begin a charge with renewed fervor. They were nearly beneath the paralyzed giant when Chitin’s back bursts open. Thin, jaundiced wings beat against the air with blinding speed. The pointed tip of his armored feet hovered above the air as he sped ahead of his partner. He spun around and lowered his four clasped hands before him. Thorsen sprang towards Chitin, angling his boot into Chitin’s hands. Chitin threw his arms upwards as Thorsen jumped once again, propelling the horned ranger impossibly high into the air.

Thorsen easily clears the Immortal Beast’s head. He takes his shotgun into his hands and prepares the attack for his descent. The odd marks that line the edge of Thorsen’s iris extend to the center of his cross eye. His pupil begins to spin, dragging the marks into a winding spiral. He envisioned the skull of the beast beneath and his arms automatically angled towards it. Thorsen’s nostrils flare as he takes in deep breath to prepare his commanding voice.

“Hear and despise the constant pulse of life

Bite and tear and scratch the origins

Give all worlds the great gift of your gnashing teeth

Here you come, the warm wriggling end of all things

Give all worlds your sweet bliss of oblivion”

The gun shrieked. Its iron jaws opened wide as if preparing to swallow the beast whole. The barrel stretched and narrowed, reaching down towards Thorsen’s target.

”Nidhogg!!!” Purple light poured out, narrowed into a thin stream by the barrel. The thin pillar moved in a jagged pattern like a bolt of lightning, giving off rapid clicks every time it changed direction. The streak reached its target before the rogue immortal could react. The beast’s skull caved in, falling to the ground in a mess of decayed slop. The rest of his body collapsed, shaking the ground. The Immortal Beast was no more.

Thorsen was caught by Chitin. The insectoid ranger tucked his comrade between his torso and two of his arms. The horned ranger’s burnt limbs hung limp and swayed with Chitin’s steps while they slowly regrew. Nidhogg’s grip was held between Thorsen’s teeth. The two made it to where they left Dok’. His unconscious body was being impatiently prodded by the toe of Mori’s boot. She squeaked when she caught sight of Chitin carrying Thorsen.

Thorsen pushed himself from Chitin’s hold. “Alright, I can walk from here.”

”Y’sure?”

Thorsen looked down at his arms. The charred muscle had healed, but the skin was refusing to return. His brow furrowed. His regeneration has been taking really long to speed back up after he’s exhausted it lately. He looked up to meet Chitin’s compound eyes and nodded. “Yeah.”

Chitin shrugged his shoulders. “All right, come on Dok’—let’s get you home.” Chitin scooped up the unconscious ranger and held across his lower pair of arms and began his trek back to the ranger’s base. Mori nervously stepped towards Thorsen. She had a knuckle pressed to her lips while she mumbled, not wanting the others to hear her voice.

“Um . . . are you really okay, thorsen?”

He meets her eyes with a tired smile. He enjoys talking to this quiet, bashful side of Mori far more. “Yeah, I said you’d never have to worry about me, remember?”

She nodded, reassured in his resolve but unable to dismiss the apprehension settling at the pit of her stomach. “Did you see me during the fight? Was I cool?” She looked up at Thorsen with wide, expectant eyes.

He cocked his head to the side and let out an amused sigh, not wanting to let a hint of his honest feelings show. “Yeah—uh, actually I was unconscious.” He panicked when he caught her frowning. “Oh, but I caught the way he tried to kill you! You slipped into his shadow at the nick of time, right? You’ve got a pretty awesome set of powers. I’m kind of jealous, Immortal Recluse. I’d like you to be a bit more confident in them. You could do some really impressive stuff if you tried.”

Mori’s pale face flooded with a bright red. She starts to respond but Chitin cuts her off from ahead of them, in an uncharacteristically urgent tone. “Guys, seriously, I think Dok’ is gonna stay brain dead if we don’t get him back!” The two hurry behind their comrade.

The dark sky gives way to the day’s juvenile light, painting the firmament in a blend of dull purples and weak reds. The sun and the moon’s eyes are both heavy, one with sleep and the other with exhaustion. An Immortal had defied the laws of Death and the Dead Star Rangers had enacted divine justice. The sun and moon have witnessed these events countless times and they will continue to witness the same for their dreary eternities. After all, there is nothing new underneath these heavens.

Immortal Beast: Deceased Mission: Complete