Epilogue III (Patreon)

Epilogue III

Admiral Lemitov had done the unthinkable. He had fired upon and killed one of his own kind. It was all to take out one of the biggest problems his kind faced, the Goldmans. Both Goldman brothers were equally frightening, but this one was so much more so. See the brothers were always meant to be a pair, overcoming their differences to unite the universe. Fortunately for Lemitov and his kind, that partnership never happened.

But the chance was always there, which was why the Heralds always had one high ranking member within the military. This way, they could always guide the older brother to act on his nature. With the brother distrusting each other, their resistance would be minimal at best. Yet, something had gone wrong in this timeline. Every time the brothers did not fight, they did not argue, they did not mistrust each other. Worse, they seemed to completely avoid each other. There were concerns of the older brother no longer being able to be managed, but even now it seemed that he was for whatever reason cowed.

This of course only left the younger brother, a constant thorn in their side. He had gotten strong, so strong that only the Behemoth would pose a challenge for him. There was just one problem with the Behemoth, it would mean that the Admiral and the others either must be dead, or willingly sacrifice themselves for its release.

A cold chill, rand down the Admiral’s back at the thought of self-sacrifice. While it was an option, it was the last option. The idea itself would all but guarantee victory, but at what cost? What was the point of conquering a universe if your vessel was destroyed. That was why he took alternate means to end the one true threat of this universe. The true threat that was this mutated Kyle Goldman. Each time he turned around the Kyle Goldman of this universe became more powerful and stronger than the Admiral ever thought was possible.

But he had done it, he had killed the monster known as Kyle Goldman. Better still, he was being praised as a hero for taking out a Prolaxian Infiltrator that could control minds. Recordings showed how Kyle Goldman fought the monster. The monster was clearly seen controlling the minds of first responders and innocent bystanders in the area. All directing them to strike at Kyle Goldman.

Just watching the video of the fight sent chills down the admiral’s fight. The boy was so impressive, that he was able to create a tornado to cut him off from the other bystanders. Then he was able to singlehandedly defeat the Senator Grylan, otherwise known as the puppet master. Originally the Senator, or at least the herald in control of the Senator’s body sent his own son to start fights with the boy Kyle. But the boy was too strong, too controlled in his retaliatory attacks. It got to the point where even the Senator, with his vast influence over his son couldn’t get the boy to lash out against Kyle. The reasoning behind this? Simple, show Kyle Goldman to be an unhinged bully. But things went wrong, he managed to balance out his powers. He gained far more control over them, and now he seemed to get stronger every day.

But that was all in the past, Kyle Goldman and his fellow classmate Jessica Childers were both pronounced dead. Eviscerated by an intense beam of death sent their way. He had done it, killed off the single greatest threat his kind had, and only at the cost of his former associate.

This was a good thing, as it further distanced him from the Mave incident. Hopefully if everything went well, there would be nothing tying him back to those experiments. Even if the girls were eventually found, all it would do was cause the first responders and the house itself to be ground zero of the plague that Herald Mave was working on.

As for the Admiral, he too had his part to play. In a way, Admiral Lemitov almost found it funny that he was the one who managed to stab the Herald Senator in the back.

“Serves you right for not checking on your project with Mave.” The Admiral said to himself under his breath.

“Admiral. We have confirmation feeds showing a direct hit on the monster in question. There is just one problem.” Tech Sergeant Gregor said, pulling the Admiral out of his own musings.

“What is it?”

“Well, we think there is a one hundred percent fatality rating for the area. The driver, two guards, and two students have all been assumed dead.”

“Assumed?”

“Yes, what was left after the impact was little more than dark silhouettes. There was just one anomaly, well two technically.”

“What is it?”

“I cannot see the silhouettes from where the two students were standing.” Gregor said, pointing to the two spots.

“Any chance they escaped?”

“That is unlikely. No one reported two students anywhere in the area. If anything, it is more likely that our silhouette mapping is not complete. That or the two might have first been thrown upwards before the beam hit. Either way they are listed as KIA as well.”

Hearing that, the slight bubble of fear that had been rising in the admiral slowly faded. This was good, this was very good news. Still the Admiral couldn’t let his emotions show on his mask. This was easy enough, for Heralds didn’t smile. The whole concept was a human emotion and one that the Admiral found hard to mimic.

“Keep up the good work.”

“Yes sir.”

With that the Admiral left the deck, feely rather content with the way things had gone. There were now only four of his kind left. Worse, the puppet master had been the final boss, the hidden figure behind the scenes. The one who could summon the Behemoth alone with his ultimate ability. An ability that only required a personal sacrifice on his part. Yet, even at the brink of death, he was so overconfident that he likely never even thought to use such a measure.

Such a shame. You were already going to die anyways. The Admiral thought to himself, but then stopped himself, he had bigger fish to fry and a whole universe to conquer. With his first major hurdle out of the way, it would be clear sailing until the end.

***

MEANWHILE, in an alternate universe a team of heralds worked together they were led by none other than General Sharma’s chief of staff. While everyone gathered wore masks with presence obfuscating runes and technologies, everyone knew who was whom, at this meeting.

“I have held this meeting so we can discuss the recent advents, and what our plans are moving forward.” General Sharma’s Chief of Staff, Lane Uldridge began.

“As you know, we have lost two of our kind. This time it appears their deaths are permanent. We do not know how this is being done, only that it is being done. With that, we need to make sure we are not exposed. Also, we need to find out how these timelines keep getting reset. Thoughts?”

With that the five other cloaked figures turned first to each other, then looked back to their leader, their Puppet Master for advice and guidance.