Cid Masters and the Unholy Engine

This was another contest story. I was given a blimp, a tombstone, and adventure as my location, object, and genre. Word limit was 1,200, I believe.

Again, not a perfect story, but original and fun. I enjoyed writing it. - CM

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  Cid Masters pulled himself up the thick ropes of enormous armored zeppelin with difficulty, partly because of the heavy rucksack strapped to his back and the double barrel shotgun dangling from his shoulder. The other difficulty was the terrified behemoth of a man climbing the rope beneath him. Cid whispered loudly. “Stop. Looking. Down.”

 

  Otis Clydesdale, all seven and half feet and three hundred pounds of him, was a good twenty feet lower than Cid, but still a good fifty feet off the ground. Sweat ran down the dome of his massive bald head, his face trained down towards the ground.

  “Otis, if VonDeer activates the Deadstone, the world will end. That should be great motivation.”

  “Go, then.”, Otis said, his voice deep and booming. “I'll get up there eventually.” Cid smiled and winked at Otis before continuing his ascent the hundred or so feet to VonDeer's fortified zeppelin.

 

  An excited and dangerous voice echoed through the cavernous halls of the zeppelin. Oh, how VonDeer likes to talk, Cid thought to himself. He gripped the shotgun in his hands and longed for the moment he can place both barrels against VonDeer's pasty white skull and pull the trigger. For Amy, he thought and her smiling eyes and broad smile appeared briefly in the forefront of his mind. He crept along an extremely long and straight hallway towards where VonDeer's voice issued, from where the tombstone must be.

 

  Something clicked behind Cid and a ring of cold metal pressed against the back of his head. “Give me that”, a gruff voice said. The shotgun was pried from his grip. Cid scratched his beard and ran a hand through his long hair before putting both hands in the air.

 

  Cid was bound and placed in front of staircase leading to a platform where a silver and ivory wall of carved skulls and bones stood fifteen feet high, with a rectangular impression in the base. The Unholy Engine

 

  “Yes!”, came the slimy, silky voice of Scendric VonDeer, who appeared from behind the wall of bones and skulls, long black robes flowed behind him as he walked. His skeletal face broke into a toothy smile. “Mister Masters. I'm so glad you could join us.” He looked to the guard that stood behind Cid. “Leave us”.

 

  Cid heard footsteps and then silence reigned for a moment. “I know what you're doing, Scendric. Don't do it.”

 

  VonDeer laughed. “Don't do it? Why?” He gestured and a masked figure wearing robes similar to VonDeer approached. He carried the tombstone in his arms and presented it. VonDeer took it and leered. “I will create a new world. My world. A world free of pain and --”

 

  Cid shouted “Life! If you start the Unholy Engine, you will burn every soul in the afterlife to create a new world! You'd burn Amy!”

 

  “She died to feed the engine! I would free all of them from the pain of life and an afterlife is still life.”, VonDeer sneered and he raised his arms and brought the tombstone down onto the platform like a hammer. The stone split like a walnut and revealed a silver and ivory slab, much like the wall behind it. VonDeer lifted the glowing stone, and turned to the wall. “Now, behold! The Dead Stone”.

 

  An explosion rocked the zeppelin and Cid was knocked off his feet. The tombstone fell from VonDeer's hands. It tumbled and slid across the room and into the hallway from which Cid entered. Cid saw his opportunity and was getting ready to run when something hard and heavy ran into his head with a dull thud.

 

  Pain shot through his skull as he hit the ground and rolled over to stare into the crazed eyes of VonDeer, whose face was contorted into a mask of rage. “What did you do?!”, he screamed. “Do you really think that you can stop me after all the times you've failed? I will achieve my glory!”.

 

  VonDeer raised his steel scepter and, before he could bring it down again, disappeared from view, with a loud thud, a grunt, and a blur of silver and white. Heavy footsteps stomped up from outside of Cid's vision. He felt a pair of strong hands slide under his arms and pull him irresistibly to his feet. “Couldn't climb any higher”, Otis' strong voice said. “So, I shot the blimp down and used the stairs.”

 

  He patted Otis on the back as he turned towards VonDeer. The dead stone laid on the ground, resting on the black robe's VonDeer had worn. VonDeer was nowhere to be found.

 

  “Where'd he go?!”, Cid shouted. “Dunno”, Otis answered. “He was there when I threw the stone at him. I know I hit him.”

 

  “Fuck me!”, Cid grunted. He picked up his rucksack from the ground and unlatched the top. He withdrew a small crucifix, a bottle of clear liquid in a small glass vile, and a sledge hammer.

 

  He knelt in front of the dead stone. He poured the liquid on the stone, which sizzled and smoked on contact. Then, he laid the crucifix on top and, with an almighty downward swing, he brought the sledge hammer down onto tombstone, causing it to shatter into pebbles and fine powder.

 

  “Easy”, Otis said and put an arm around Cid's shoulders. “I kind of thought something more exciting would've happened.”

   

  “Amy.” Single tear rolled down Cid's cheek and was quickly wiped away. “I need a drink.”, Cid said, weak voiced. “On me”, Otis said. “But we should hurry. That wall is about to blow.” He reached behind his back and produced a cannonball-sized wad of plastic explosives wired with charges. He slung it the twenty or so yards to the wall, where it stuck and began to beep.

 

  Cid and Otis looked at each other and both smiled before they turned and ran.

 

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