Demon Lord VII - Dark Domain Read Online Free PDF

the
gate in quick succession forced Arboran to look away. A moment
later, the shockwave hit the ship, along with the explosions’
massive, thunderous rumble. Valiant reared like a mettlesome steed,
and alarms beeped as the pilot’s hands flew over his console,
adjusting stabilisers and generators to counter the shockwave.
    The ship surged
backwards, the soft hum of its engines becoming a deep growl as it
fought to maintain its position. Arboran gripped the arms of his
chair, staring at the main screen as the flare died away. His mouth
fell open when the Great Gate emerged from the flames, its pale,
carved inner surface pitted and blackened, but intact. The bridge
officers gaped at it too, and some flung him astonished glances.
That number of missiles should have utterly destroyed a stone
structure, even one as massive as the Great Gate.
    Arboran said,
“Prepare a second volley.”
    “Yes sir.” The
weapon systems officer tapped keys on this console.
    “Signal the
fleet,” Arboran ordered the coms-op.
    “Yes sir.”
    The pilot
pointed at the screen. “Look!”
    Arboran
blinked, hardly able to believe his eyes. Some of the ancient
symbols carved into the stone around the gate were filling with
soft white light, brightening and dimming in a sequence that ran
around its frame from left to right. Sometimes only one lighted,
while others brightened in clusters, as if forming words in a
sentence. Archaeologists had studied the odd carvings extensively,
but had been unable to decipher the strange language, if indeed it
was a language at all. They had also been unable even to formulate
a theory about them, so mysterious were they, and what was
happening now was impossible. Stone did not give off light.
    “It’s closing!”
an officer shouted.
    The gate moved
with regal torpor, light glinting on it as it swung towards the
doorway.
    “Arm the
missiles,” Arboran ordered.
    “Missiles
armed.”
    “Fire!”
    A battery of
dull booms heralded a second volley of missiles that came into view
ahead of the ship a moment later, streaking towards its target.
Other projectiles joined Valiant’s salvo from the rest of the
fleet, drawing together as they neared the gate. The sequence of
lighted symbols around the portal ended, and flashes of white light
appeared on either side of the gate, no more than sparkles of
fire.
    “It’s the
weapons,” another officer stated. “They’re activating again.”
    “We’re out of
range,” Arboran said.
    A second series
of brilliant yellow flashes filled the main screen, and Arboran
closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the flares had turned
orange. The ship reared once more as the second shockwave hit it,
and the explosion’s mighty rumble made it shudder. The pilot
struggled to keep the vessel on an even keel as it yawed and
heeled. Arboran stared at the screen, waiting for the fire and
smoke to clear.
    When it did,
cold dread clutched his heart. A few chunks had been blown out of
the edge of the gate, but the damage was negligible. The gate was
half closed, and the sparkles of white fire around it became pulses
of light that shot towards them in a rising trajectory. No longer
merely webbing the gate with lines of fire, they struck out towards
the ships. Untargeted, yet deadly, they strafed the entire area in
front of the gate with bolts of white power.
    “Pilot, get us
out of here!” Arboran ordered.
    Valiant listed
as it swung away. Some of the other warships came into view on the
screen, most performing a similar manoeuvre. They were too late,
Arboran knew deep in his gut. The white pulses had no maximum
range; there was no way to escape them.
    “Take us down!
Emergency dive!”
    “Sir -”
    “Do it!”
    The ship’s bow
dropped as it plummeted towards the ground, and the rising lances
of light. It seemed like suicide, but there was a slight chance it
would pass through the deadly barrage without being hit. It was
their only hope. Arboran keyed a selector on his console,