“Zoe’s been out for an hour. Are you sure we shouldn’t go looking for her?” Ezra said as he swatted a bug buzzing near his neck.
Audrus put a finger to Ezra’s mouth to quiet him. “She knows the signal. The plan doesn’t change until the red flare goes up.”
“What if the other groups find it before her?”
“They won’t,” Audrus said with flat confidence. “The fewer people in danger, the better. Now, stay quiet.”
The spindly branches of the bush they crouched in brushed Ezra’s shoulders as he shifted into a new position. Between the floppy leaves, he gazed out into the clearing. A dimly lit vine trailed from the branches of one tree and up into the next. The part that snaked across the ground was covered by foliage so most people wouldn’t suspect a thing. He hoped that would be the same for the beast.
The leaves shook and as soon as Ezra glanced to his right Audrus was already crawling through the undergrowth a few paces away. He whispered something to Ryan who signaled to Malack a few paces away. Malack’s scar folded as he furrowed his brow in concentration and tinkered with something out of Ezra’s sight.
“What’s going on,” Ezra whispered as Audrus returned.
“Zoe’s on her way back.”
“How do you know? I don’t see any of her flares.”
Audrus pulled a flashing rectangular screen from his pocket. A green light strobed across the surface, no bigger than Ezra’s palm. “Some artifact we found a while ago. Seemed pretty useless at first, but the ancients never make anything completely useless. It's just up to us to figure out how to use them.” He flipped the device over, and a cylinder protruded from the back. “You move the cylinder, and the display lights up a different color. Zoe has one, and I have one.”
A loud pop and then the sound of gas expanding through a thin tube whistled from the horizon. Audrus shoved the artifact back into his pocket, and everyone squinted past the clearing. A green trail of smoke was barely visible between the ginormous trees, and a small figure in orange darted towards them. Beneath him, the ground rumbled with terrifying intensity.
It was here. He couldn’t see it but Ezra knew it was coming. His heart pounded as if trying to outpace the ominous noise ahead. Audrus held still, eyes fixed on Zoe, mind running over the plan. He had to make sure it worked. He had to bring it all together. Just thinking about the pressure made Ezra forget to breathe.
It was all conjecture. At this moment, Audrus showed nothing but sharp concentration. Every assumption Ezra made plunged him deeper into self-doubt. How he wondered. How can he be so calm? He looked past Ryan, to Malack, and even further down to Leo with his wide-brimmed hat as still as stone. They have to be. Their lives depend on it. My life depends on it.
Zoe was closer now. Ezra could see the expression on her face. She seemed thrilled, ecstatic beyond belief. Is she actually having fun? Before he could answer that question, a steel cable burst from her left sleeve, and she zipped into the lush canopies.
“How, did,” Ezra began.
Audrus cut him off. “Remember, just one spark. We got the rest.” He lept out of the bush, loose leaves trailing behind him.
Ryan gave a sloppy salute to Ezra and emerged from his hiding spot. The ground lurched beneath him. Birds darted through the air, and grass rustled as small critters scattered across the forest floor. He surveyed the clearing again, and less than a dozen trees away, he saw it.
Orange eyes flaming with an ancient unknowable rage glared at him. Several gleaming tusks protruded from an unnatural body that was neither animal nor machine. The tusks splintered at the ends like they had been sharpened by thunderous bolts of electricity. Its face made Ezra want to stay hidden. Metal and fur twisted into a skull that had been refused any elegant life. The mouth warped into a shape that seemed only capable of screaming for the life it was robbed of.
But that was the terrifying part. It didn’t make a sound. Metal joints screeched, and wet flesh sloshed across its monstrous structure, but nothing came from the mouth. For maybe silence was the most intimidating cry a predator could make.
A gust of wind slammed into Ezra, sending him flying from the bush. Branches snapped, and leaves rattled as if applauding the fact he had survived the first blow. The forest blurred around him, and Ezra rapidly blinked to regain his senses. Mud covered his hands, and his butt stung like fire, but that didn’t matter now. He was much further from the bush than he wanted to be.
The beast was getting closer, and without a fire, the rest of them would be helpless. He pulled the Thorin-sphere out of his pocket and rushed back. A loud click reverberated across the forest that signaled ammunition was already being shot. Wood snapped, and a tree plummeted to the ground. They're already fighting. Ezra slipped on the moist ground but kept going. They need me.
He pressed the top of the Thorin-sphere, and the inventory popped up. Quickly, he selected the items. A lighter and bottle of alcohol appeared in the air and were falling fast. Closing the screen, he lunged forward and snatched the items, precariously balancing the Thorin-sphere in his outstretched fingers.
Ezra’s foot slammed into a gnarled root. All he could do was grunt and forget the swelling pain. All the gruesome ways the Void Piercers could die strangled his mind. Every single way more agonizing than his stupid stubbed toes.
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The fighting was getting louder. I have to do something now.
He unscrewed the cap of the alcohol. The liquid splashed from the opening and briefly stung his hands. Fiddling with the golden lighter in his other hand, the Void Piercers were now in sight. Malack had given him the lighter. The anger on the pyro-tech’s face burned hotter than any fire. Ezra assumed at the fact he had already messed up. Yet, thankfully, right now, all that anger was directed towards the beast and not at him.
Another thought popped into Ezra’s head about how terrible it would be to light a bottle of pure alcohol without a fuse. He shoved the Thorin-sphere into his pocket and rearranged the items in his hands. Violently, he tore a piece of cloth from his sleeve. Stuffing one end of it into the bottle, he began to click the lighter again and again. Sparks formed, and it finally caught.
“Fire,” Ezra yelled, hoping his voice would reach over the chaos before him.
The flaming bottle spun through the air and hit right where he wanted it. Vines trailing through the undergrowth exploded around the clearing. Molten liquid splattered and charred the trees. Ezra ducked as a mist flew over his head. Uncovering his neck, he gazed into a sea of flames dancing around the Void Piercers and the beast.
“One,” Ezra muttered under his breath. In thirty seconds, he could reverse the fire. Any longer, and the whole forest would go up in flames. They all knew that too. Despite white ash swirling around their heads, the heat didn’t seem to bother any of them.
“Two.”
The beast froze in its blazing prison. Multicolored tendrils flickered across the metallic parts of its body. Liquid erupted from a nearby tree and covered part of the beast’s hide. Fur shriveled and burned away, exposing more mechanical structures.
“Around Leo now.” Audrus waved to the four others to flank him. “Ten seconds before there’s not enough left.”
Leo nodded and crouched at one of the few lush spots that remained in the ring of fire. In Ryan’s hands, he held a massive vibro-crystal gun like nothing Ezra had ever seen. Malack dragged the end of a black quarter staff through the flames. Once the top of the weapon was ignited, he slammed the other end to the ground. The top folded out into a blazing hammer.
“Five,” Ezra whispered, his voice filled with awe.
Suddenly, a massive spear flew from the treetops and into the beast’s eye. The mechanical monster flailed around, causing tremors with every stomp. Ezra glanced up and saw Zoe nestled in the treetops. The beast seemed to notice too. Its whole body violently vibrated, and in a massive puff of air, it leaped into the sky. Flames fanned out and immediately returned their scorching sights to the center.
“Nine.”
With unexpected agileness, it settled into the thick branches above. A torrent of air nearly ripped Zoe from her perch just as she swung to a lower branch. Sweat poured down her face, and the look of joy had turned to solid concentration.
“Not on my watch, you blasted excuse for life.” Ryan unloaded a hail of bullets that created shrapnel across the trees. Splinters of wood and sparks of metal rained from above.
Audrus turned back to the hunter crouched on the ground. “You ready Leo?”
Without a word, Leo stood up and aimed the palm of his hand at the sky. The plants around him were gray, but the fire still hadn’t reached them. Energy sizzled at his fingertips and crackled along his knuckles. A blast of bright light streaked with green hurtled toward the leaves above.
“Fourteen.” Ezra covered his eyes with a forearm as cinders and dirt flew from the ground.
The massive branch collapsed and with it the beast. With the extra fuel, the flames towered nearly as tall as the trees. A wave of heat slammed into Ezra, and he backed off. It seemed impossible to handle it in the middle of the inferno. But there they were. Six figures in the fire. So these are Sky-seekers. He stood a little straighter to see above the rising fire. And they’re only the rank of Morltin. The legends of Voyagers no longer seemed like an exaggeration.
“Fifteen.”
Malack yelled something, but the roar of the fire covered his voice. There was blood running down Zoe’s arm. Caleb pushed up his square glasses and rushed in behind her. A soft glow emanated from his hands, and Zoe’s face relaxed.
Maybe a healing skill, Ezra noted.
Another round of bullets flew from Ryan’s gun. The beast was squirming in the fire, almost back on its feet. Malack gripped his hammer tighter. Waiting. For what, Ezra wondered.
“Eighteen.”
“We’re running out of time,” Audrus shouted.
“I know,” Malack growled. “The damned thing’s in the fire. I can’t get to it.”
“Twenty.” Unconsciously, Ezra reached for the Thorin-sphere.
The beast was back on its feet. The furry and metallic exterior began to bubble, and a jagged but hollow tube burst from its back. Purple ooze dripped from the lip of the tube. An image of Milo’s leg flashed through Ezra’s mind. He glanced back at Malack. They won’t be able to get a clear shot.
“Twenty-Two.”
The beast recoiled and poisoned shrapnel sped toward the Void Piercers. Caleb pulled Zoe to the ground, and the rest of them dove in different directions.
“Twenty-Five.” Ezra’s heart pounded. Five more seconds. I have to pull the flames back in five more seconds.
Ancient joints groaned as the beast prepared to charge. Ezra gripped the Thorin-sphere so hard his knuckles were going pale. His breath caught in his throat.
Only one more option.
“Twenty-Seven.”
One of the beast’s legs buckled as Ezra fell back from the recoil of the pistol. It was the first time he shot one, and his ears were still ringing.
“Twenty-Nine.”
Malack saw the opening and rushed forward with his blazing hammer in hand. Sweat glistened off his head as he jumped above the beast.
Ezra gasped for air. He pictured the bottle of alcohol down to every minute detail. “Time-Scale!”
Flames roared, and Malack screamed as he came crashing down through the beast’s skull. Pieces of steel burst into the air as fire was sucked from his hammer. The crunching of artificial bone was deafened by a fiery tornado that tore through time. Particles of neon liquid whipped past the void hunters and back into the trees as embers gave life to plants and charred wood folded back into organic perfection. A screen popped up in Ezra’s peripheral vision.
Assisted kill, Lumber Catcher 54X
Level 12 achieved
Would you like to distribute points to your skill or robustness?
Ezra closed the screen. He would worry about that later when he had time to think. For now, he stared at the fading orange eyes until his fear of the beast became a memory. One day, he would be unbound from the laws of the abyss, but today, he knew fear had dug its claws in deeper than he wanted.