Chapter Eighteen

A Shot of Fate

One bullet, at the right time, at the right target, can eclipse a thousand canons

Elisium

The Fifth Loop, Year 491, 5th February (5L/491/2/5)

"Remember son, you are here to just observe. Stay away from the action." George repeated the same thing for the umpteenth time.

Moses, alongside Nathan and George, was hiding behind thick bushes on a small hillock. He had an unobstructed view of Clovefield, a village on the looter's hit list.

Looters had attacked Clovefield five days ago, beaten up its residents to gain information about the killers of Arthur, and plundered their houses. Most residents of Clovefield knew the looters would return to torture them so they had already left for the Refuge.

For David's Army, the location of this village, surrounded by thick bushes, small hillocks, and only one access road, made it the ideal place for an ambush. If that single exit was blocked, the looters would be trapped.

David's army had to camp for a week in Clovefield before enemies came out of their burrows for the second round of plundering. Enemy vehicles approach the road towards Clovefield just around noon. There were twelve armored vehicles, they generally used six vehicles for such raids but after Arthur's assassination looters had doubled the strength of the raiding parties.

Moses noticed that George was fidgeting with his gun and biting his lips.

He's got the numbers, the element of surprise, the Transitioner, and still he's nervous.

Come on, he's actually fighting a battle for the first time.

By the way, when'll you get a chance to fight?

Moses had to admit that despite this being George's first battle he had the brains for war. He had meticulously planned this ambush. He evacuated the village to keep civilians out of harm's way, but he also asked them to leave behind some supplies and livestock. The bait. The looters hiding behind their armored trucks were no good. He had to drag them into the open to shoot them down.

Clovefield looked like a ghost town when Commander Roger's truck entered the village. This was nothing new, most villagers abandoned their settlements in fear of persecution.

Roger got out of his truck and looked around. "Looks like these worms left in too much of a hurry. Load this livestock in trucks, finally, we will have some fresh juicy meat instead of the dried garbage we have to eat. A barbecue night. Search the houses for anything useful."

Plundering was a regular feature of these raids. Empty villages were a blessing. No bickering or crying, just looting. The looters swiftly began ransacking the houses. Some of them removed the protective vests around their chests to beat the heat. A fatal mistake.

George's bait had worked. His prey had dropped their guards. Now it was time to hunt.

A few minutes into the raid, the looters heard simultaneous loud bangs. Some of them saw a wound open up in their bodies, felt a searing pain, a burning sensation—and boom. They were blown to pieces.

Roger immediately sprung into action. "Take cover, we are under attack, take cover," he shouted to his men, but they were like deers caught in headlights. There was incessant firing from all sides. His soldiers were exploding like balloons.

Roger had made a tactical blunder. As per the normal routine, many of his soldiers had put down their guns and removed their protective vests to speed up the stocking. They had done the same many times before and no one had dared to even throw as much as a stone at them. But here many of his men got killed without even getting a chance to pick up their guns.

"Get to the trucks quickly. We must retreat." Roger was desperate to save as many men as he could.

The looters scramble toward their vehicles. Star-Rock pellets rained at them from all directions. They aimlessly fired in the direction of the gunfire, but George's men had good cover. The looters kept falling—or rather exploding.

The gunfight went on for about half an hour, and in the meantime, around fifty soldiers somehow managed to climb into six vehicles. Their drivers floored the accelerators in a last-ditch attempt to escape this trap. They had only driven a couple of miles when a few fallen trees blocked their exit—a narrow road surrounded by thick bushes where no vehicle could go. They were stuck. There was no escaping the death today.

Roger's men in the first vehicle came out to clear the roadblock. Another mistake. The ambush had messed up their brains. Pellets fired from either side of the road blew up three more soldiers.

Roger grabbed the radio inside his truck. "Lock yourselves inside the vehicles and just hold tight. Do nothing."

David's army, hiding in the bushes all around, were puzzled by this tactic. They waited for enemies to come out but nothing moved for the next twenty minutes. Meanwhile, George, Nathan, Moses, and other soldiers who were in Clovefield arrived at the spot in the trucks abandoned by Roger's men inside the village.

Nathan immediately understood what their enemies were up to. "The commander has sent out a distress signal to the headquarters and is biding his time, waiting for reinforcement."

"But he is out of range," George argued.

"There are other ways to send a distress signal. Let me tell you, if they suspect foul-play they may send hundreds of looters and we won't be able to take them on. We must finish off these troops right now."

"Friend, our pellets can't penetrate these armored vehicles."

"Then we must find out a way to break open the doors of these vehicles," Nathan said, walking towards the last truck in the line. Nathan looked at it from every angle hoping to find a chunk in its armor and after a close inspection threw up his hands in exasperation. "Can't find anything. They are like moving bunkers. I just don't know what to do."

Moses who was quietly watching until now, came forward.

Here's your chance.

Are you sure I won't make a fool of myself?

It's time to show your people the powers of the Transitioner and make them believe.

"I've got an idea but I'd like you all to move back a little."

George raised an eyebrow and Nathan frowned, but both of them saw a glint in his eyes—a spark. They stepped aside and told others to do the same.

Moses closed his eyes, the amulet twitched in his neck and he felt some divine energy coursing through his veins. Tension built up in his body and it started to glow. He took a deep breath, and then without any warning, kicked the armored truck in front of him.

There are strange occurrences. There are weird incidents. And then there are events that cross the boundaries of believability. Incredible. Unimaginable. Mind-boggling. A truck, weighing several tons, flew off the ground and bounced a couple of times like a giant football before landing in the bushes. No one could believe their eyes. Their mouths fell open and they were at a loss for words. Finally, the Transitioner had awakened—and how.

Moses walked towards the toppled truck and kicked its door. It broke off its hinges. The looters were sprawled inside the truck. Twisted arms, fractured legs, broken limbs, and dazed minds. They were in no position to react. They saw death in front of their eyes.

"Friends, we don't like to kill, but you haven't left us much of a choice." George signaled to his men who swiftly finished off the looters.

Moses then moved to the second truck.

This is fun. Very easy.

Five more trucks to go.

Wow! Moses the Savior has become Moses the Basher. Come on let us kick some more trucks.

***

The soldiers inside Roger's truck were trembling. They were next in line. This was beyond understanding. What kind of a monster could just kick a truck and make it fly?

"Troops, it's time for battle," Roger bellowed on the radio. "Better die fighting like heroes than getting slaughtered like animals. Open the doors and charge. Let's go out and kill a few worms. Let's die with honor."

Before Moses could kick the third truck, Roger and his men opened the doors and came out with their guns blazing. George's men were startled, a couple of them were hit, but they quickly took cover.

Roger's motivational speech hardly did his men any good. They were caught in the open while their enemies were targeting them from all sides. They blew up one after another.

Roger saw the writing on the wall. He always thought the Amulet of Transition was some fantasy story but quite ironically, he was about to be killed because of a person wielding that absolute power. However, despite his defeat, he still had a chance to make an everlasting impact in this war of two worlds.

When Roger's soldiers had come out firing, their enemies had scampered for cover. Moses was preparing to kick their truck so he was very close to them. While most of the enemies scurried to their right to take cover in the thick bushes, Roger saw this superhuman dash in the other direction to hide behind a tree. His chance to eternal glory was just a few meters away from him.

Four soldiers were crouching behind a truck alongside Roger. He quietly signaled to them to follow him. They stopped the firing for a few seconds, gathered their breath, and charged toward their target. Enemies fired at them but this surprise move caught them on the wrong foot.

Roger's eyes lit up when he reached the tree. His treasure was right there. The mystery man was standing all alone and, quite surprisingly, unarmed.

Roger looked at Moses and broke into a devilish grin. He could end the Dance of Two Worlds by pulling a trigger. He could break the Wheel of Transition in one blow.

"I think Tenebrian barbarians will kill me but Adeners will have the last laugh." Roger pointed his gun at Moses's head. "And I, not you, will be forever remembered as the man who changed the fortunes of the two worlds."

One bullet, at the right time, at the right target, can eclipse a thousand canons.

Roger fired that shot of fate.

***

Moses saw the enemy commander level his gun at him.

You shouldn't have come here. You weren't ready. It's over.

This can't be happening. Please think of something

You can do nothing. You're going to be killed.

Shut up and let me...

Roger's shot rang louder than a bomb. The bullet hit Moses flush in the center of his forehead. For a moment there was a sharp pain but then there was bliss. A feeling of nothingness. Darkness gave way to bright light.

Gracefully, as if in slow motion, Moses's body hit the ground.

The hopes of a whole world fell with him. The dreams of millions died with him.