Part 1 wrote:It felt like a scene from a movie, one of those fancy and dramatic ones about the soldier who goes off on his own to rescue his friend, except real. We are walking through trees and heavy undergrowth about two-thirds of the way through the rainforest. At our feet, fog swirled and rushed away from our legs with each movement. I was in the lead, well in a way. Ahead of me, my partner walked briskly, alert and focused as he sniffed the air for signs of gunpowder and other explosives. His name was Max, a German shepherd, and had been my partner since day three. Behind me, six soldiers walked in rows of two, all with their guns held up halfway in preparation to fire at an enemy. Not a word was said and not a word needed to be said. I was in charge of these men, or at least of their lives, and they obeyed my every action. It was a strange thought, I had never wanted to bear anyone's life on my shoulders. That was why I always avoided the matter of children with my wife and instead suggested just getting a dog or cat. Yet here I am, having run from a child for four years to now carrying the lives of six full grown men, most older than I am, on my shoulders.
Max stopped and sat. I froze up and stared at him, waiting for the signal. When it came my heart stopped. A small disk flew through the air and landed six feet ahead of me. Upon sight of it, Max barked sharply and his fur stood on end.
Bomb.
The soldiers behind me did not seem to notice and instead pulled their guns up all the way in preparation to shoot at a hidden enemy, oblivious to the true threat. My body moved before my mind could process what to do.
Usually in a situation such as this, I would get the troop and my dog away and low to the ground until it goes off, or if it was a trip wire get away and roll a steel ball to set off the wire from a safe distance. These were protocols to keep Max, the soldiers, and myself safe, and are not what I did. I threw myself on top of the bomb and wrapped my body around it to protect the soldiers behind me from shrapnel. That is when things began to slow down with the steady ticking of the bomb.
"Allan, where did you put the newspaper?"
I shoved the old paper behind me and leaned back on the couch. I grinned as my wife walked around the corner, confusion on her face. When her eyes rested on me, realization altered her expression into a slightly annoyed one. "Allan." She held out her hand. "The newspaper, please?" I smiled and shrugged at her and a slight smile appeared on her face. She walked over and sat by me on the couch. "You don't? So... then there is no way that this-" she swiped the newspaper from behind me and held it up triumphantly. "Isn't the newspaper?"
She waved it teasingly in front of me before leaning back and opening it. I frowned at the title and sighed heavily. "Why do you read that?"
"To keep up with the world. We have no cable and no radio, so if we don't have the newspaper we might as well be cave people."
"That doesn't sound half bad." She gave me a cold glare in response and I laughed a little as I continued speaking. "What? I mean, they're famous, and they didn't have to write any essays." I flicked my hand at the open laptop on the coffee table with the half-done five page essay glowing on the screen.
She laughed and gave me a light kiss on the cheek. "You know, that doesn't sound half bad anymore." She flicked the newspaper a little and pulled it closer to her face. "Some new people enlisted."
"Honey, I-"
"Alexander?? I thought he was against the war. And Tim? Isn't he disabled?"
"No, it's just diabetes- honey I need to-" She suddenly froze up and I felt her body stiffen beside me. My stomach sank to my feet. I couldn't look at her. "I was going to tell you..."
"Why?" Her voice was shaken and quiet. It was as though if she spoke any louder her vocal chords would shatter into a million pieces.
"I'm sorry... my brother was writing me an-" she suddenly grabbed me and force me to face her, her eyes pleading and wide.
"Allan..."
"I'm sorry..."
Slowly, defeat glazed her expression and she melted before me and leaned on my chest, her strength taken away. I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a slight squeeze. I didn't know what else to say, so I said nothing. I just held her and we sat there in silence.
"Do you have everything?"
"Yep, luggage and all."
"And the ring?"
"Of course." I smiled and held up my hand in an over dramatic fashion to where the gold band on my ring finger caught in the light and flashed her in the face. She smirked a little at me and I returned it with a grin.
"Good." Her expression slowly sank and she gazed up at me. I frowned a little and did what she was thinking about. I pulled her close to me and squeezed her like this was our last moment together.
"I love you, so much."
"I love you too... You need to be safe, and remember all of the things I packed you for the emergencies, and don't forget about the photograph in your jacket." Her voice cracked at the last part and my heart shook with it.
"I will remember everything, but not as much as I will remember you. I'll write you weekly, okay?"
"That's not enough." She pushed back from me and gave me a hard look.
I smiled at her. "Daily?"
"More."
"Hourly."
"Better, I guess."
I laughed and pulled her close to me again and she returned the hug. Behind us the whistle blew for the boat and summoned me and the other recruits. At the sound, her arms tightened around me. "I'll be okay. They'll send you the money weekly, but use it sparingly. I don't want to come home to my side of the room filled with shoes, okay?" She laughed a little, but it was broken. She was on the verge of tears, and I couldn't blame her. So was I. "Hey, maybe even get a television so we don't have to live like cavemen."
The whistle rang out again and a man shouted from the ramp. Slowly, we let go and I picked up my oversized suit cases, which she packed for me. We smiled at each other one last time and I slowly began to back away, not wanting to turn my back to her. As we drifted apart I thought I could hear her whisper something about cavemen, but it was drowned out by the rushing crowd.
As the last seconds ticked down I heard three things. The first was shouting of soldiers. They were confused at why I was on the ground and thought I had been shot. The second was the sound of shots being fired. I hoped it was not at them. The third was the the worst and the one that broke me. The snuffling of a dog. I opened my eyes to Max, who stared at me with his tender brown eyes full of concern and curiosity. I opened my mouth to order him back, but then the bomb let out the final tick. It was deafening at first, a loud roar that burst from around my abdomen. I felt no pain as the shrapnel struck my spine and took out my nerves right away. The rest didn't last long. I saw vibrant red, orange, yellow, and finally black.
The black was strange, it held its own sort of texture, one like honey. It did not go away as the others did, instead only slid aside to make room for a shimmering silvery-white. I turned to the light source and squinted at a pile of crystals. I walked towards it, holding my hand up to shield my eyes. It occurred to me now how strange it was that I was able to walk, a moment ago I was cradling an exploding bomb. The crystal gave off warmth and forced the honey texture to fade away and into one more like air. I reached my hands out and hovered over the crystal, absorbing the heat from them. I watched the shimmering crystal for a moment, then lightly touched it. Strangely, it was cold.
A moment later, light burst from the other side of the crystals. I leaned a little to look at it and felt my blood grow cold as the light began to take the shape of a creature I had read about but never seen. A viscet. A huge beast with a raptor physique and a large mane of fine feathers. However, this one was different than the simple ones I had seen in books. Magnificent horns rested on her head and red and purple galaxy markings flowed through her mane and formed a wing-like pattern on her side. She watched me for a moment before turning and slowly walking around the crystals towards me.
I backed away as the massive creature approached me, her sheer height making me nervous. She stopped a few feet from me and spoke, and I felt a chill as I understood her. "Allan, your time is not yet up. Your service is needed in another world. The East of KeiNairi has been riddled with disastrous beasts a-"
"What?" The viscets eyes rested on me. "I- just... what?? Another world? My time isn't up? What are you talking about, where am I?! Wait... this is a dream. A bad, terrible dream. Micheal must have just read one of his stories before I fell asleep again, that is just what it is. A stupid dream caused by his sto-"
"Silence!" Her voice rang out sharply and I felt myself shrivel back. "I'm sorry, but this is no dream. You are tasked with the responsibility of ridding the world of these beasts and bringing back the peace along with your companion in your past life, who will help you in your battles." My heart dropped to my feet. Max... was he... my mind flashed back to the last moments, his sweet eyes gazing at me moments before the bomb exploded. A chill ran through me and I stared at the viscet in desperation.
"Max, did he-"
"Yes."
I paused and stared down before snapping my gaze back to her. "And the soldiers?"
"They all lived."
I felt a vast mix of emotions at this point. Max, my companion, had fallen, but the soldiers who's lives I bore lived. And that is when it hit me, harder than a freight train at full speed and square in the chest. My wife. I slowly turned my eyes to hers and stared into them desperately. I did not speak a word, but she seemed to already know my worries.
"She has not heard the news yet... but it is time for you to go."
A hole opened up beneath me and I was suddenly pulled up into the air. A moment later, I plunged down the hole. I flailed my arms and reached for the viscet, but instead of reaching for me she summoned a ball of fire and dropped it above me. The fire rushed down and began to swarm me. As it did I felt an odd feeling through my entire body, like when your foot doesn't get enough blood for a while and feels tingly. My vision went in and out as I fell and I saw bits and pieces of what was around me. Color shot to me all at once and I gazed at a pale teal sky. The next flash was the ground, hundreds of miles below me. The land was mostly connected in one massive continent but stray islands rested here and there. The third was of the continent to the east, but closer now. It was patchy and rough, trees scattered here and there and often mixed with dry earth or frozen snow. Patches of dead forests stood awkwardly in clumps on the continent and made the ground appear choppier. The final flash was when I struck the ground. I landed on my feet and flames burst in a perfect circle from me, then faded three feet away. I stood awkwardly with most of my weight foreword but with something large keeping my balance in the back. I shook my head and tried to stand normally, but found that my spine would no longer allow my usual vertical stance. Confused and dazed, I staggered in a crooked line to some water to wash my face and hopefully get my bearings. As I approached the water, the first thing I noticed was that the thing staring at me was not me. The second was that it moved at the same time I did. The third and final was that it was now me. I screamed, and not a manly scream, but more of a scream a teenage boy mid-puberty would release when his large uncle jumps around the corner wearing a wolf mask at one thirty in the morning. That kind of scream.
Part Three wrote:Once we got out of the thin forest, the entire land changed to that of a barren desert. The ground was covered in a soft power of fine sand which was only a fourth of an inch thick. Below the sand, the earth was as hard as rock and bore cracks from the lack of water. The land was flat and allowed me to see for miles across the desert. There were trees whose bark was the color of ash and bore very few leaves except for at the very top. They were shorter than the trees I had known on Earth, a sign that they were likely all young, which confused me. All trees were at the same height or smaller, so if my theory of all of them being young, then that would mean that all of them grew at the same time and any older than them were wiped out of existence at the same time. I questioned Max on this, but he simply told me that he knows just about as much of this world as I did.
The first thing we did was find shelter. Though it did not rain, lightning and thunder storms were very common, and when they came the lightning struck the ground directly, making it dangerous to be outside during these storms. It was nearly impossible to find a den within this land that was not filled to the brim with sand or ashes. I had begun to lose hope when I noticed Max’s annoyed stare. After a brief discussion with him, I set to work. He explained to me that I was able to control the fire I was given, and this included breathing it. With his instructions, I burned the sand and melted it to form a strange black glass. Once I finished panels of the glass, Max would carry them and stack them up. Soon, we had a hut of black glass to provide shelter from the storms of the world.
The next step was food and water. Water was easy, as I recalled the patch of it in that tiny forest close by, but food was a different story. There were no rabbits, squirrels, or birds here. In fact, for the first few days, I didn’t see any other life form. When my stomach got to the point that I felt as though it were trying to devour itself, I set off to search for something to provide food while Max guarded the shelter. I wandered for most of the day without finding anything. Without many trees, there was very little shade and the sun beat down on my back the entire time, making it harder and harder for me to keep going, but I did, the constant snarls of my stomach ushering me onward. When night rolled around, I decided it was better to return home empty-handed than be struck by lightning. On my way back, a chirring noise caught my attention. I turned my head sharply to the location and stared at what looked like the largest ferret I had ever seen. It seemed to have come from nowhere and now just squatted beneath the light of the moon, chirring and calling. I had never hunted before, but with this new body came instincts which guided me towards it. I lowered myself and slowly crept towards it. My chest began to warm and the warmth crept up my throat until I could feel it in my mouth. When I was close enough, the creature turned its head sharply to me and released the most blood curdling screech I had ever heard. It charged at me, still screeching, and I opened my mouth. Flames spewed out and enveloped it for a total of three seconds before stopping and fading into the night. The creature laid on the ground, lifeless, and fully cooked. I picked it up in my jaws and sprinted back to Max. I was eager to eat, but I could not eat without Max.
When I arrived back at the glass den, Max was waiting outside. When he saw the prey in my jaws, he did not seem to react and seemed almost unimpressed. I dropped it and flopped down next to him, out of breath and weak from the journey and hunger. “Max! I got some food! I had to wait for night for it to come out, but that thing was freaky. I swear it would have clawed my eyes out if I wasn’t quick… You can eat the first half, and-“
“I don’t need to eat that.”
I looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Pardon?”
Max nodded slightly. “While you were gone, I decided to chew on some twigs from a nearby tree. I ended up eating them and it filled me up, like a fire. So you go ahead and eat up, I am full now.”
From then on, I always made sure to bring Max several sticks whenever I went hunting, and he was right. When he chewed on them they turned to cinders and he was able to devour them, I even heard him burp after eating a few once.
On the ninth day of my presence in this world, I had a strange dream. I was back in the area where I had seen Ugin. The crystals were there, though they were red and yellow now. I approached them and reached out to touch them again. They were hot to the touch and I yanked my paw back. From behind me, Ugin spoke up, startling me. “You can’t have Max out like that all the time.” I turned around and stared at her, wondering where she had come from and what she was talking about. “Max is fire, and he needs to rest. At your command, he will vanish and reappear when you need him. His source is your fire, it keeps him alive the same as it does for you. Speak with him and sort out an order, but do not leave him out at all times or his flame will fade away. You need to let him recharge. Good luck, and find your purpose soon. Time is running out, and if you do not begin now you will be easily overpowered.” With the last syllable, everything turned to flames and I woke up slightly panicked. Max woke up as well and stared at me, confused and concerned as to why I had done that. I spoke with him about the dream then, and we figured out what to do. I would whistle to give him the return and come out command. We tried it a few times, and it worked. At a whistle when he was out, Max exploded into sparks and vanished. Another whistle and a fire ball appeared which he burst from. That night, I dismissed Max and let him rest. I was alone, but as long as Max was getting a good rest then I was okay with that.
Part Four wrote:I walked along the dusty ground in silence. It was getting dark now but I didn’t mind. I had grown more adjusted to the patterns of the storms and the darkness here, and it now brought me comfort to see the burning sun fall behind the horizon. It was day twenty now, and things had changed. The glass den broke after it was struck by the lightning one too many times, and so I had to flee. I became sort of a nomad after that and would only summon Max to help hunt or to feed him. At night, I would wait beneath trees. It was not proper shelter, but it kept me from being struck by lightning so it was enough. I wandered from place to place, searching for…well I don’t really know what. The command of Ugin to find my purpose before it was too late haunted my mind and led me onward. I did not know about what my purpose was, but it seemed urgent that I find it.
I stopped in my tracks and sniffed the air. Something was different. There was a creature I had not smelled before which reeked of sweat and dirt. I decided to investigate and approached the location. After a few minutes of wandering, it silhouette could be seen from the horizon. It was large and reminded me of a bull. Its head was low, close to the center of its chest, and its body was bulky and rested on six broad and short legs. On its back, something rose up about half of its body height and pointed skyward. I frowned a little, but picked up my pace as I moved towards it. It noticed me as I grew closer, though due to the darkness I could still not see any particular traits. The thing on its back moved when it noticed me. It seemed to twist a little as though to directly face me. I squinted at it as I walked, confused and curious. It held completely still, but I could feel as though it were watching me. I kept moving forward, and then a sudden feeling struck me. Danger. I rolled to the side the instant that a strange thing shot past where my head had been and stuck into the ground behind me. I looked back at it and then returned my gaze to the creature, shocked. So it was hostile, and it could shoot something which resembled broken and sharpened tree branches. I scowled at it and charged full speed ahead, deciding to get a closer look at it. As I ran, I could sense when it was about to fire another stick, and was able to dodge each one. The closer I got, the more frequent the sticks became until suddenly they stopped all together, as though the beast had run out. I lowered my body as I ran, leaning forward to give myself more speed. I decided to aim for the lump on its back, as that area was safe from horns, and if it was the source of the sticks then it was out of ammo, at least. When I was close enough, I jumped up and aimed at the lump. As I was in the air, the creature became more than just a silhouette and I found myself staring at a human who rode the beast as they raised some sort of cross bow and shot a final stick. I was unable to dodge it, and it sunk into my stomach, throwing me off balance and causing me to hit the ground beside the beast. I was in agony and struggled for breath as my paws searched for the weapon. I was unable to get a grip on it to pull it out, but I still struggled with it anyway. The pain had tightened my throat, and it was a struggle to breath, let alone whistle for Max. The human jumped down and tied my hind legs and tails together with some strange cord. The beast then used its head to roll me backwards and behind it. I snarled and tried to snap at it, but the pain had already weakened me. The beast stopped rolling me when I was on some strange mat behind it. The human then attached the mat to the beast and mounted it. With a strange noise, they kicked the beast into a jog and it moved off to wherever it was going, taking the mat with me on it as well. I struggled to keep my eyes open but the exhaustion was too great. There was no way that this was just a stick… My thoughts started to slow and things grew dark as I lost consciousness.
[quote="Part Five]“A viscet?! We haven’t seen one of these since the storms came!”
I heard the voices before my eyes could open. A groan escaped me and I moved slightly. Everything hurt.
“It is a viscet, I promise. However… It looks familiar.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know just before the storms started? How I told you that I saw a family of three, two parents and a young viscling? And I shot the child through the head? This one looks exactly like that child, except for the tails.”
“What are you saying?”
I grunted and rolled slightly, struggling to get my paws beneath me.
“He’s awake!”
“Calm down! I tied his legs together, he won’t be able to hurt us.”
At the mention of it, I recalled the bonding on my legs. That must be what is making me so slow. I focused and sent heat to my legs. Quickly, the bonds fell off, the edges of them charred slightly. The people started to talk louder as I stood up, finally getting my feet beneath me. However, I was dizzy and everything was just shapes and light. I staggered to the left and hit some sort of wall with shelves. I fell down along with several strange wooden and ceramic bowls and pots. One broke nearby and the sound made me turn my head sharply to it. Things were coming into focus now, and I was starting to be able to see thing a little more clearly now. There were seven humans here, three close by me and four near the back who held spears and strange weapons. One of the ones close by I recognized as the person who had shot me. It was a female. Her hair was tied in a long braid which wrapped around her neck once and then hung in front of her. She wore brown cloths with a white cloth tied around her waist to make a tattered triangle. Behind her, her crossbow was strapped to her back and several of those sticks stuck out horizontally from behind her, likely attached to the white cloth. Next to her was a man. His hair was cut very short, except for one part which stuck down in front of his face. It bothered me. He wore brown as well, but had a black vest which stopped halfway down his torso and was tied together with twine. He had a club strapped to the back of his waist and had a mean look on his face, though I couldn’t tell if it was intentional. The final was another man. He had paint on his face which marked strange symbols. His hair was gone from his head, and he wore white and grey clothing, though the ends of them were tainted a soft brown from the sand. He had no weapon, but I felt as though he did not need one.
“He looks dazed. I don’t think he can hurt us right now.” The male with the club spoke. His voice was scratchy and gruff. It reminded me of a sergeant back on Earth.
“Look at those eyes… he is thinking, you can tell…” Baldy knelt down and gazed at me from a squatting position. The look in his eyes bothered me a little, as though I were a wild animal. I suppose that to these people I was, though.
“Of course he is daze, I struck him when he tried to kill me.” The girl spoke up. She had a high pitched voice and sounded rude, like the girl from high school that wants to be popular and to do it ends up shoving others around and pushing them beneath her thumb.
“How many did you hit him with?” Baldy did not remove his gaze from me when he spoke. I decided to stare back at him. He glanced away from me for a moment and I felt a little triumphant. Doesn’t feel good when it happens to you, huh?
“Just one. He’s a wimp.” I turned my gaze to the girl and bared my fang a little. Give me a break, I am still new to this stuff.
“Did he just… understand you?” The man with the club spoke up and I turned my gaze to him and snorted. Yeah, bub. I can understand you all very clearly, but apparently you can’t understand me.
Baldy laughed a little. “It feels like he is talking back to you.” I did not bother responding to that.
“So, what do we do with him? I swear he is the viscling I killed..”
“Are you sure you killed it?” Clubby turned his head to the girl and I followed his gaze. What she had said earlier… was it true? Was this the body of a dead viscling? And if so… what of its parents?
“Positive.”
“Perhaps they had another child?” Baldy scratched the back of his head as he looked at me. I kept my eyes on the girl, but watched him from the corner of my eye.
“No two viscets will ever look alike, they don’t have twins.”
“You have a point… So here we have a viscet who has risen from the dead and gained two tails and fire in doing so.” Fire? How did baldy know about my fire? Oh… right, the bonding.
“Should we kill it?” Clubby rested a hand on the handle of his club and I bared my fangs. I’d like to see you try, bub. Even like this I could still take you down.
“No. Let’s let it rest, give it some food, and see what happens.” I turned my eyes to baldy. He wasn’t so bad, I guess, but I could sense the anger in the others at his statement. Something seemed to have happened, and either they hated me alone or they hated viscets. Either option did not sound pleasant. I couldn’t stay here long, with the aura of the others I felt as though my life would soon be in danger. I also couldn’t just run out with all of them here… I had to think up a plan, and the one I came up with involved Max.
They left after a while, though I could still smell the four that did not speak standing outside, guarding it. Was it to keep me from leaving, or keep others from coming in? I shook my head and stood up. I stretched out my muscles and shook out the stiffness. Whatever was on that stick, it was not pleasant. I took a moment to examine the room, ensure that not too much was flammable, and then whistled. In a puff of fire, Max appeared. He took one look at the room and then turned his attention to me. He was upset. “
Allaster, what the heck were you doing?!”
“Long story, okay? We just have to get out of here and fast. There are humans out-“
“Humans?!”
“Yes, I was just as surprised as you but now is not the time. I can sense a bad aura from some, we need to get out of here.” As I finished the sentence, lout shouts began to echo from outside. Max and I glanced at each other and then looked to the door and listened. The humans were shouting, some giving orders and others screaming. I feared that they were being attacked by another tribe, but the sound that came next disproved that thought. It was a roar, one so powerful that I could feel the sand beneath my paws rattle a little. I did not hesitate, and instead ran out, breaking past the guards. It was massive. A bipedal beast with spines which ran all the way down its back and an armored stomach. It reared up and roared. As it did, lightning pulsed from its body in a loud humming noise. Something inside me began to stir up as I stared at the beast. A sort of blind determination and energy, similar to the one I felt when I has seen the bomb roll into view in my last few minutes as a human. Words drifted into my mind as I stared at this beast, and I suddenly knew what I needed to do. “Find your purpose,
Allaster, and hurry up with it. The longer you wait, the stronger it will grow.”
[/quote]
To be continued c:
Super congrats! ^U^
