Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 154 of 365. Sol standard year]
Days after of Crash landing/ 3
Uninhabited Island / Underground tunnel/ Circle Cavern
Galactic Standard Time / 0705
As Jinn led the way through the forest, he tried to keep calm. So far the last ten minutes had been easygoing. The beasts were all leaving them alone, and there didn’t seem to be anything that might ambush them. All in all, this path was looking good, but they were still far from the river, and anything could happen. So far they had been making good time, and the path was easy to travel. If they could just make it to
Looking ahead, he watched as Burt led the way. Five minutes ago Burt had taken the lead, and Jinn was watching him like a predator. All Burt had to do was act like he was leading them into an ambush and he was done! He hated that his old personality was surfacing again, but for his friends, Jinn would bear it.
“So what’s the worst thing you’ve seen before Burt?” Jinn asked as he looked at Burt’s head.
“Well, that’s a long list. Now I’ve never really recorded them but offhand, I’d have to say the Valley. Yeah, that place,” Burt said with a smirk in his voice. “Every time I think about that place, my knees shake.”
“The Valley?” Al asked. Burt just chuckled and nodded as he moved a bush out of his way.
“About, a hundred or so years ago, one of the ships of your faith crashed here Scholar. Unfortunately, they crashed in a warzone. In the middle of a war between slavers and filth really. Both sides sent people to salvage anything to turn the tide, slaves or weapons. Then something happened. No one knows what, but the end? Machines marched out of the crash and started killing. Currently, the place is a killer Robot zone. They take any vehicles and materials of travelers, leaving corpses behind. But if you're fast, smart, and brave you can escape the bots,” Burt said with a chuckle.
Jinn only looked at Burt as he chuckled.
“Nice story, but how do you know it was one of my people? And how’d you hear about it?” Al asked stiffly.
“Simple. When I passed through it while escaping a Beast, I saw the remains of the ship. Same sign as on your face. But slavers aren’t the ones who back down. So the two sides just kept throwing lives at it until the bots claimed the whole area... After the leaders all died the survivors escaped and told stories. Those made the Valley one of the most feared areas in the Mountain Realm. Bad thing, it used to be on a major trade route,” Burt said with a sigh
Jinn kept a frown off his face. The story might be true, but it might not. He remembered reading about old ships like that once. He thought he figured out what it was, but he couldn’t say anything. Burt probably knew what he told Racha, and that was enough.
“Scavenger Ship had to have been. But all this time? How? The AIs in those ships were supposed to be limited! And it’s still active?” Al demanded and Burt nodded.
“Saw it myself. Had to get away from a gang of bandits. Saw a few of the bots kill them to get their vehicle. And me on a local mount was able to escape alive. But it was a small chance, and if it wasn’t for a Gateway I’d be dead. But luckily I was able to leave that Realm after that. But then I hit the City Realm. And that was trouble,” Burt said with a laugh.
Against his will, Jinn found himself liking Burt. The way he talked about his old adventures and the way they talked. It reminded him of a few old teachers he had growing up. But then he had broken those habits to escape. Still, Burt might be someone they could trust. But he might not.
A rustling in the nearby bushes to Jinn’s right caused him to pull out his knife. “Danger, guard yourselves!”
The others all went still and looked towards Jinn, seeing him look at the bush. A moment later a small green lizard with a spiral horn. It looked up at them and Jinn stared back, but then a knife impaled the lizard through its head.
“What?! Who?” Jinn snarled and then went back a step, falling to the ground. He looked and saw Burt had pulled him away. Before he could say anything Burt pointed at the remains of the lizard. Looking back Jinn saw a black liquid dribbling out of the lizard’s horn.
“Call these things Horn Shooters. Those horns are a kind of organic gun. Green is an acidic poison from what I’ve seen. One shot of high-pressured liquid that melts your flesh. And these are some of the prey things around here,” Burt said bluntly.
“Thanks,” Jinn said softly.
“Thank me by moving, those things hunt in packs. So let’s move!” Burt said as he pulled Jinn to his feet.
Before anyone could speak, they all heard the sound of rustling and Jinn felt his pulse quicken. “MOVE!”
No sooner had they started to move than blasts of the same black liquid hit where they had been. Looking over his shoulder Jinn saw the liquid splash onto some plants. To his horror, he saw the plants start to melt as soon as the liquid hit.
“Wait, what preys on those things!” Al blurted out as they ran.
“Anything with a shell that the poison doesn’t kill! And but most of those things aren’t fast!” Burt said.
As the group ran Jinn felt the urge to activate his ability and go vertical. Find out where the river was and maybe find a way back to the cavern. But no, they needed to stay together for now.
They came out of the forest into a large field, fifty feet wide. Looking around Jinn went pale as he registered what he was seeing. The field was full of long grass at least two feet tall with a large tree at the center. The tree had to be at least twenty feet tall and had long vines all over it. However, it was the numerous large organic pods hanging from the branches that let him relax.
“Oh depths crush me!” Burt said softly.
Jinn turned and saw Burt slowly pull out two sleek-looking pistols. He was looking around, and he had a wild look on his face.
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“I’m sorry! If I had known!” Burt said.
Jinn looked at him as Sara and Al started to get their weapons out.
“Known what? What’s here?” Jinn asked
“One of the true terrors of this planet! How had they even stayed here so long?” Burt said with horror in his voice. From all around the clearing, ten humanoid figures started to stand up. Each one was a solid green being, with what looked like roots where their fingers and toes would be. Their heads are nothing but empty blank spaces with wide lipless mouths.
“False Plants. Listen, we need to kill them, so activate your Power! And Yes I was listening to you!” Burt said fearfully.
“Why, what are these things!?” Sara asked. They could only watch as the False Plants started to move towards them. As the False Plants stumbled towards them, other figures came up out of the long grass. Jinn felt horror as he saw a pure green insectoid like the ones that he had killed appear.
“Body takers,” Jinn whispered in horror.
As the creatures screeched Jinn removed his pistol and called up his power. As the energy engulfed him he fired. One of the creature's heads was blown off as the others charged
“Nice, even wordless too! For me, I’ve gotta use words! Blast Enhance; Flame!” Burt called out. As red energy engulfed his pistols he started to fire. Each shot hit caused flames to engulf each creature from where it was hit.
Jinn drew his blade and turned it into a sword as the green insectoid reached him. He ducked under its claw strikes. His blade swung up and he cut through the creature, cutting it in two. As the two halves fell to the sides, they gushed a green paste-like substance. As more of the plant insectoids stood up Burt, Al, and Sara kept firing as Jinn moved back to rejoin them.
“How do we kill these things!?” Jinn demanded of Burt.
“The big tree! Break it in half and we can kill it! But those pods will just hatch more of them! And it can grow more pods fast if it wants to! See!?” Burt said fearfully.
Jinn looked at the tree and he felt the blood leave his face. There were five more pods, smaller than the rest that had grown larger and started to shake.
“If we can make it at least forty feet away from the clearing, they might turn around!” Burt said in a rush.
“Might?!” Sara demanded.
Burt only chuckled and shrugged. “The stories about them are…… at odds with each other.”
Jinn looked at the creatures coming at them and tried to think of what to do. this path to the river was out, but they might still survive. If these things stayed by the tree that birthed them, then they had a chance. But the one thing that he couldn’t figure out was what the mobile things fed on….
“Sara, Al! Drop back and cover us! Burt, we’ll block these things until they can let us retreat!!” Jinn barked as he slashed at a charging green humanoid, severing it from right shoulder to left thigh.
“Oh, sure! Give us the easy job!” Burt said jokingly as he shot another two charging green humanoids.
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Al grabbed Sara’s arm as he fired his pistol. So far they had been able to handle these things but for how long? As he moved he saw the larger pods on the trees shake more before they started to fall. Moments after they hit the ground more humanoid green figures appeared. With screech the new monsters charged, only to be met by blasts from Burt.
Al had seen and learned much over the years. His class had been ones who were only united by their dormitory. Some days he could come down to breakfast and see holograms of extant creatures or raw plants. But something like this, a tree that created mobile ‘offspring’? This….. it was beyond anything he had ever heard of.
Sara stopped and fired her rifle. And her shot hit one of the smaller pods, puncturing it. Al looked at the tree in the distance activated his record nanites. If they could just get out of here with some information, then maybe they could learn to kill this monster. “Good shot, but aim at the ones closer!”
“Got it!” Sara said as she aimed again, this time hitting one of the creatures coming at Burt in the chest. It kept moving but the shot jolted it enough for Burt to kill it with two shots, the flames destroying it.
Al only looked at the tree, trying to gain any insight. But all he had were questions, and none of them were anything good. For a few moments, nothing made sense about this thing, but then everything did. As he aimed and fired at one of the things attacking Jinn, he tried not to think about what he had figured out. There was a chance he was wrong, but if he was then those left behind were in danger, terrible danger!
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As he bisected another of the green creatures, Jinn tried to figure out anything to get away. But the only thing he could think of was the hope that they could escape the tree’s range. As he looked around, one of the basic green humanoids came at them with a savage screech. Jinn moved forward and he slashed its head off. To his horror, it still kept coming, even when Burt shot its arms off. As came near him, Jinn dropped down and did a sweep kick that knocked the green humanoid off its feet. As it fell he came up and slashed down, severing a leg but it still ‘lived’. “These things are relentless!”
“That’s what the stories say!” Burt said with a savage grin.
“GET OVER HERE!” Al called out.
Jinn looked ahead and saw another two of the green insectoids rise from the tall grass. “Burt fall back! I’ll be there in a moment!”
Burt looked at him and grinned. “Got a transport power then? Good! I’ll cover ya, don’t be late!”
Jinn only nodded as the creatures came at him. From behind the insectoids came a single green humanoid. But what made this one different was that it was still wet from its birth. As the insectoids came at him from both sides. “Better try his trick, Aether Comet!”
As he felt the power surge through his body suddenly gain an edge, Jinn grinned. He jumped upwards and spun vertically. But at the top of his jump over twenty feet up he saw over twenty he looked down. He paled as he saw twenty of the green creatures just lying in the grass.
As soon as he landed he looked by the others he looked at them. “Run now!”
Without a word, Jinn moved, leading the way as the others followed behind him.
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Burt looked at the right corner of his vision, trying to make sense of what he had just seen. That thing back there, the stories didn’t do it justice. The very idea had been something he laughed at once or twice, but to see it in the flesh. He hoped it wasn’t luck that they had all been able to survive, they needed that luck now. If the stories about how far the Plant-borne would follow them, then they might be able to live after all.
“Wait, what’s? Ahead, there’s a rock pillar! We can fight with that to our back!” Sara exclaimed as she led the way.
Burt looked ahead and smiled. there was a large rock, at least ten feet wide and tall. It looked blocky and the moss on it told him that it had been there for a long time. The few cracks here and there told him that things had fought by it, and that was something that they could use.
“Better idea, we fight from it! Hold on!” Jinn said.
As Burt watched, Jinn called up his power grabbed Sara, and jumped. As soon as she was on the top of the rock Jinn was moving and grabbed Al. Burt swallowed and was prepared to run off into the woods alone when he was carried off and dropped next to Al. Burt fell to the ground and panted, his mind whirling at the fact that he had been brought with the newcomers. Anyone else would have left him behind.
As he caught his breath Sara started to fire into the forest. Burt looked up from his mental spiral and saw the False Plants coming towards the rock. For a moment he felt fear, but then Jinn and Al joined Sara in firing and the horde started to slow. Burt looked down and fired at the monsters.
After the monsters were either died or retreated Burt just sighed and put his blasters away.
“So what was that?” Jinn asked dryly.
Burt swallowed and looked around. “The Mother Tree. The tale goes that a long time ago a lone traveler had come to a trade hub at the top of a mountain. The tale goes that he paid for a meal with a strange seed. He said that his caravan had been destroyed by monsters. The seed was all that remained of a tasty fruit that his people found. The man died after a merchant took the seed to look at it. The merchant shrugged, ordered the man’s body to be prepared for burial, and threw the seed away.”
“And let me guess, when new travelers came to the city, a giant tree and those things were all that remained?” Al asked sarcastically.
Burt only chuckled darkly. “Well, No. The story goes that over months people started to disappear. This world is dangerous, the idea was a new threat had migrated to the region. There were stories about a strange tree. Then an army of those things attacked from within. A refugee convoy made it to another city. One of the last surviving guards saw the same man with another seed. The guard killed the man and the man bled that black goo the False Plants did. When the seed was found they burnt it and screams came from the forest. Now they whisper that the Mother Tree sends out False Plants to turn the world into nothing but her spawn.”
“Great, just great! Now we have the monster plants that steal DNA!” Sara spat.
“It’s worse than you think. If I’m right,” Jinn said and looked back towards the clearing they had escaped from. Even here the lone tree at the center towered over the others. As Jinn looked at it the idea of using this place to keep an eye on the clearing made sense. But then he felt the looks he was getting and sighed. “I think that was what the beast from the Cavern was spawning an army for. And if that creature knew about it, then it had to have been in range of an attack. So Roy, Racha, and Paige are in danger.”
At Jinn’s words, Burt felt his heart freeze. The way this place was, if something like the Mother Plant got into the underground tunnels! The only thing that he could do was hope, hope that his friends had a plan if something attacked them from there.
“We need to get out of here soon. Jinn, think you’ve got another jump to see where the River is?” Al asked.
“Yes. But I don’t need to,” Jinn said and he started to laugh.
Turning Burt looked at Jinn and saw him gazing at the opposite side of the rock. Turning Burt grinned as soon as he saw their goal. The river was twenty feet away from them, and then Sara started to laugh.
“Look, there’s the clearing with the Cavern!” Sara said.
“And I can see a quick route to it! We just need to make it to the river and then we can go back and get them!” Al said.
Burt felt a spark of hope. Maybe these people would survive and make a home here. It wasn’t his home but this place might be a nice place to help out.