Chapter 6
Early the next day Lorcus was standing in the field observing its poor condition. Eric will be here tomorrow to help me plow and this field is not ready for that. There are way too many weeds and saplings that the roots will make plowing a nightmare. I see two options; either burn the field or remove it all by hand. I’m too lazy to pull them all up by hand and I doubt I could get all of that done in one day. I should try and save whatever is good first though.
With a game plan in mind Lorcus went to the shed and grabbed a few baskets to store the picked vegetables in. “Everything must go, any sapient plants growing in this field be warned this is your last opportunity to leave and escape the fire.” He then started making siren noises like he was warning the plants of an incoming bombing. I’ve only been here a few days, but it would seem the solitude of the farm is already driving me crazy.
After several hours of picking vegetables and singing songs to himself he had twelve full baskets of assorted vegetables. Last night I only ate a few carrots for dinner and no breakfast today. I think Deloris did it right by making a vegetable stew. “Just throw it in a pot and let it boil all day.” Finding a dark and dry section of the shed, Lorcus stored the vegetables then grabbed the pot from the hut. He then filled the pot halfway full of vegetables then walked to the stream in the woods. It was a beautiful day, and the birds were out in force singing. I wonder what kind of birds they are. They don’t seem like the kind of bird you would expect to live in a dangerous forest.
Getting comfortable he filled the pot with water then skinned and washed the vegetables with his knife. Again, he felt like he was being watched. This time he didn’t say anything aloud but searched the surrounding area. After a few minutes of that he decided if anyone was watching them, they must be really good at hiding because he couldn’t see anything suspicious. “Probably just another rabbit”.
Returning to the hut Lorcus stoked the fire and hung the pot over it. Satisfied that dinner was taken care of, he took a burning log from the fire and returned to the field. There he gathered some dead branches and debris to make a small fire so it would be there when he was ready to burn the field. He then went to the shed and grabbed a sickle which he used to cut a five-foot path around the edge of the field. The thicker pieces he dug up using his knife since he couldn’t find a shovel on the farm. “That should keep the fence from burning and the fire from getting out of control. Removing the trees that fell on the fence will be to much work for today, good candidates to send to Freddy though.”
Feeling that everything was ready Lorcus gathered the broken pieces of fence and threw it on the fire. Before long the brush in the field caught and the fire began to spread. Happy that the fire was spreading slowly, Lorcus grabbed his staff and began practicing the moves he came up with.
Roughly an hour later almost a third of the field was burned and the fire was really taking off. The flames rose at least fifteen feet into the air. The heat coming off the flames was getting intense and Lorcus took a few steps back to keep from getting singed. “Well, I wasn’t expecting the fire to get that large…”
Birds started flying out of the forest and began playing in the rising heat thermals. Lorcus was mesmerized by the beauty of the birds, so he took a seat leaning against a tree trunk to watch the show. He was surprised when a lizard jumped onto his shoulder. “Hey there little guy, come to watch the birds playing in the fire too? Back on earth people would’ve paid to see a show like this.”
The lizard jumped off Lorcus’s shoulder and ran towards the fire. “Hey buddy don’t get too close to that, or you will get burned.” Lorcus shouted at the lizard as it disappeared in the grass. Then another lizard crawled over his legs running to the fire. What the hell is going on here. This is quickly going from entertaining to weird.
When the next lizard attempted to run past him Lorcus grabbed it and studied it. It was just a normal lizard, it wiggled trying to get out of his grasp when Lorcus noticed its eyes trail a red streak. Brought back to the trail of silver from the rabbit’s eyes he dropped the lizard and wiped his hands on his coveralls while the lizard ran towards the fire. “I think this is going to be a problem.”
Just then one of the birds let out a piercing scream and Lorcus quickly looked up to see it diving into the flames. Are they all going to sacrifice themselves to the great fire? No, the bird came out of the other side trailing flames. Poor thing is burning alive. When the bird failed to die and hovered above the flames looking at them intently Lorcus knew he had a problem.
Another piercing scream and the rest of the birds all flew into the fire. “That’s not good.” Lorcus said while getting to his feet. Looking down for the first time since the first bird flew into the fire, he saw beetles and ants moving to the flames in droves. Slightly panicked Lorcus grabbed his staff and the bucket he brought just in case the fire got out of control. He looked up and the birds were all on fire now circling the flames.
He felt the wind pick up and before long the fire was one big flame shooting up into the sky with the birds circling it. Lorcus imagined this must be what it’s like to be in a desert watching a sandstorm approach. Strong winds and unbearable heat while staring into your doom. Suddenly the birds all flew straight up then curled inward and dove into the center of the flames. It looked like a tower of fire reaching down from the sky. As the birds flew to the ground the fire bulged out then was pulled over the top and into the center. The tower quickly shrank until the birds came within ten feet of the ground then flew parallel to the ground in an expanding circle.
Lorcus thought it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Until he was engulfed in flames. The world turned red and orange, so Lorcus instinctually turned away from the flames and began rolling on the ground. That helped the searing pain, but his clothes were still smoldering, so he hastily took them all off and began doing a little dance while slapping various parts of his body. Regaining his senses he looked around and saw that everything was on fire. Thankfully the grass and small debris was burned up in the initial wave. So, there were clear spaces where he could stand.
“You fuckers!” Lorcus shouted, no longer considering the birds cute. A small object jumped off the tree next to him which turned out to be one of the lizards he saw earlier. The little lizard landed on his arm, unfortunately it was now on fire like the birds and quickly began burning his arm. Not thinking Lorcus swung his fist and crushed the lizard like a bug. Realizing he was now in a fight Lorcus found his discarded staff and prepared for battle.
Another lizard jumped at him, so Lorcus swung the staff connecting with the lizard sending it flying. Soon he was swatting them out of the sky like he was in a baseball batting cage. After doing this for some time Lorcus felt a lot of somethings biting his feet. The lizards were still coming in hot and fast, so Lorcus dove to the side, rolling over his shoulder to gain some distance. That’s when he realized the bites were the ants and that they were on fire as well. He brushed and slapped and stomped the little buggers until a lizard landed on his ass.
“Fuck!” Lorcus shouted, swiping the lizard off him, and running through the woods towards the still burning field. The fire was going just as strong, and the ground was uncomfortably hot to say the least. It had one good thing going for it though which was no trees for the lizards to jump off. Breathing heavily, the hot air seared his lungs. I’ve got to figure something out, there is no way I can stay this close to the fire for long.
“Fuck, you, you, fucking, beetles!” Lorcus shouted while crushing the beetles with the butt of his staff. They kept coming like their individual lives didn’t matter as long as they killed him. Then the lizards caught up and jumped out of the flames on the ground aiming for every point on his body. Lorcus turned into a whirl wind dodging, hitting, and crushing for an unknown amount of time.
Then the birds joined the fun. Coming in like dive bombers, their claws ripped open his skin. After taking a few good shots Lorcus figured out that the birds were attacking him in a predictable pattern. Soon he was bashing them out of the sky as well while still fighting the lizards and bugs on the ground. Always moving Lorcus bobbed and weaved until he heard a bird make a caw noise that sounded like “Wings of The Inferno”. “Oh hell no” Lorcus called out seeing the bird in question shoot blades of fire out of its wings towards him.
Lorcus ran. He didn’t know where he was running since all the dodging and fighting left him with no sense of direction and all the landmarks he knew were either burned or on fire. He successfully outran the birds attack, but they didn’t give up. The birds still took cheap shots at him, cutting open wounds all over his body. At this rate I’m going to die from blood loss before the fire gets me.
Breaking through a set of trees Lorcus saw the stream and dove into it. The cold water was a balm on his burning skin. Sooner than he would’ve liked Lorcus had to come up for air. The sight that greeted him was not comforting. The woods on his side of the stream was completely engulfed in flames and there was a line of burning bugs and lizards arrayed against him. Birds flew through the trees singing to each other while others were perched on branches watching him intently.
The stalemate lasted for several solid minutes until Larger burning creatures started showing up. First it was squirrels who threw flaming acorns and various other debris at him. Then snakes slithered up to the battle line, followed by things he didn’t have names for. This doesn’t look good. At this rate I’ll be fighting flame tigers or some shit like that. One of the creatures that looked like a monkey picked up a rock which caught flames in its hands and grunted out “Flames of the Meteor”. He then threw the rock in the air, when it reached its zenith it suddenly picked up speed and doubled in size heading straight for him.
Lorcus dove beneath the surface of the water again hoping he would be deep enough to not be hit by that thing. With a thump and sizzle the rock hit the water just barely missing Lorcus. Relieved to be alive and unsure how to get out of this situation Lorcus was getting desperate. That’s when he saw a giant frog swim through the water past him. Suddenly there were fish and other aquatic animals all around him. Deciding to go with the flow, he followed his new aquatic friends up to the surface just in time to see the frog pushing its palms out followed by a jet of water.
“It’s on now bitches!” Lorcus shouted as he climbed out of the stream brandishing his staff and charging the battle line of fire creatures. The jet of water fired by the frog had put the battle line in disarray and extinguished the flames in a path stretching thirty feet into the woods. Just before contacting the enemy dozens more streams of water were shot at the fire creatures and Lorcus grinned as he swung his staff. Just like that he was once again a whirling dervish cutting down anything in his path. As he was reaching his stride a stream of water hit him on the back of the head sending him sprawling on the ground.
“Not cool guys. I’m on your side.” Raising his head and crushing some fire ants Lorcus saw chaos. Water and fire lizards were fighting like kung fu masters, spinning kicks and palm strikes made him wince at the ferocity. Frogs were eating bugs with their long tongues, while the flame birds swooped in to cut the fish while they shot streams of water at the flying foe. One of the monkey like creatures appeared by Lorcus’s head holding a rock up high. It was obvious that the thing was going to bash his head in, so Lorcus swept his staff around taking the creature’s feet out from under it.
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Lorcus quickly got back up to his feet and struck it with the butt of his staff. The staff went through the monster’s eye, and it let out a scream. When he pulled the staff back the monkey’s head came with it like the staff was stuck in the creature’s eye. Lorcus drove the staff back down which split its head open like a melon making a squelch sound.
There was no time to celebrate, as a long tongue wrapped around Lorcus’s neck. The frogs grip with its tongue was incredible, quickly cutting off his air. Lorcus swung his staff again, but it just bounced off the tongue. Several more swings provided no better results and Lorcus found himself on his knees while his vision closed in. In desperation Lorcus dropped his staff and grabbed the tongue with both hands. It was no good, he couldn’t break its grip.
Lorcus heard someone yelling his name and thought he knew who it was. There, another voice calling him, it was Todd. Lorcus turned his head and saw Eric and Todd fighting with their staffs. They came for me; too bad they were late. Lorcus thought sadly. Fury blossomed in Lorcus’s chest, and he both pushed with one hand and pulled with the other. The tongue snapped like an old piece of string. Gasping for breath Lorcus unwrapped the tongue from his neck watching as a bird completely covered in flames hit the frog beak first, cutting through the frogs entire body and coming out the other side.
Grabbing his staff, Lorcus stumbled onto his feet and made his way over to the father son duo. “What the fuck is going on Lorcus?” Eric asked angrily.
Todd said “We saw that pillar of fire from our farm and rushed over here to see what’s happening. I wouldn’t be surprised if they saw it in town. Good thing we did, it looks like you won’t last much longer out here by yourself. And why are you naked?”
Lorcus said, “No time for that now, we need to get out of here. Look, the water creatures are pushing back the fire ones. We should be able to get back to the field. This way.”
The three of them started fighting their way towards the field and were making good progress until another group joined the fight. Holes started appearing all around the battlefield and moles threw clumps of rock-hard dirt at everything in sight. The three men scrambled for cover when Lorcus heard a squeak.
I know that squeak. Lorcus thought. Instinctually Lorcus raised his staff in a blocking position. He was just in time to block a kick from a rabbit. The rabbit rebounded doing a back flip and landing in front of Lorcus. The two stared into each other’s eyes with no love lost. “I won’t go down as easily as last time” Lorcus said. Lorcus could see the rabbit’s muscles tense preparing for another leap when a flaming lizard landed on its back. The rabbit’s kinetic energy was used to send it straight up in the air due to it’s surprise. Lorcus didn’t miss the opening, he quickly swung his staff overhead and helped the rabbit find its way back down to the ground.
A crunch followed as the rabbit’s bones were destroyed. Looking around Lorcus saw Todd jumping around swatting fire ants off his legs and Eric battling what looked like a very large chicken. Lorcus was impressed, Eric clearly knew what he was doing with the staff, using it like a master. The chicken thing was jumping around like a jedi master scoring cuts here and there on Erics body with its spur. This was no honorable duel, so Lorcus ran over and swung his staff like a pro golfer sending the chicken into a tree. The Chicken’s neck snapped on impact.
“Let’s get out of here!” Todd yelled running past the two men and not stopping to see if they were following.
“Dad! Don’t get separated from us!” Eric yelled after him. Eric started running after his father when Lorcus saw something big running through the woods. It looked like a deer, but its eyes were glowing green. The deer jumped over the stream trampling down any creature in its way until it headbutted Todd, sending him sprawling on the ground, unmoving. “Dad!” Eric shouted again. “Why is there a wood element beast here? They shouldn’t be this close to the forests edge.”
That’s when Lorcus realized what was so odd about the creature. It was made entirely of wood. The deer had an impressive rack of antlers that were razer sharp at the tip. Its body was made of thick branches that were twisted together. It pawed the ground standing between Todd and Eric. “Get my dad out of here. I’ll take care of this beast.” Eric said with bravado while twirling his staff.
The deer charged, Eric roared and ran towards the deer. Lorcus took the opportunity to run to Todd. Focused on reaching Todd, Lorcus didn’t see the fight, but he could hear grunts of pain and the sound of wood hitting wood. Finally reaching Todd, Lorcus thought this doesn’t look good. He is bleeding from his ears and his heart rate is low. I’m afraid to even move him in case his neck is broken. “Don’t you die on me old man. I still have a lot to learn from you and your family needs you.”
Eric yelled and Lorcus turned around to see that he had a large cut across his chest. “I’m sorry Todd, your son needs me. Don’t give up old man.” Lorcus jogged over to the two combatants asking, “What are we doing here Eric?”
“I don’t know. My staff just bounces off it without doing any damage. I’ve only heard about these things in stories, and they were killed either by being cut apart or burned.”
“We don’t have any way to cut it so maybe we can lure it into one of these fires.” Lorcus suggested.
Eric replied “We can try but they aren’t stupid, and I doubt they will die from a mild exposure to flames. What about my dad?”
“He’s… He’s not well, I’m afraid to move him in case he has a broken neck.”
Hearing this Eric yelled and rushed the deer. The deer lowered its head ready to gore Eric. Eric managed to block the attack but stumbled onto his knee. Lightning quick, the deer spun around and kicked Eric in the head. Eric went down like a sack of bricks.
This isn’t good. Now I must fight this thing while protecting those two from all the other creatures still fighting around us. It looks like the other creatures are avoiding this one though. What can I use to fight this thing? The antlers must be close to four feet wide, it will be hard to dodge at close range.
The deer lowered its head and charged. Lorcus stood firm for a few moments before noping out and jumping to the side. “Fuck that!” Lorcus yelled as he started running. I haven’t even bought a single modifier yet. I can’t just leave Todd and Eric to die though.
With his newfound morality Lorcus spun back around. The deer wasn’t far behind him, wood antlers lowered and ready to gore him. He leveled his staff with the ground which was caught in the deer’s antlers. The creature was strong enough that the block didn’t stop its momentum and Lorcus was picked up off his feet and carried on its head.
Before long Lorcus was bashed against a tree. The force knocked the wind out of him, and he thought he cracked a few ribs. The deer didn’t let up and began thrashing its head back and forth. Cuts were opened all along his arms. In panic Lorcus tried to push the deer’s head away from him when his thumb was caught in the creature’s eye. Not thinking about it Lorcus pushed harder and harder until he felt a squish and the deer let out a howl. Green slime covered Lorcus up to the elbow and splattered his chest.
The deer reared back and began to turn around to get distance from him. “OH no you don’t. I got you now.” Lorcus pushed off the tree and threw himself on the deer’s back. Soon he was holding on for his life as the deer ran. Trying to stay on the creatures back was difficult so Lorcus put his staff under the deer’s neck and pulled.
“It looks like you have to breath, asshole!” Lorcus yelled as the deer began struggling for breath. Unfortunately, the deer wasn’t looking where it was going, and the staff got caught between two trees causing the deer to come to a sudden halt. This sent Lorcus flying over the deer’s head and landing painfully on his hurt back.
Rolling onto his stomach Lorcus looked back at the deer. It was a mess; green goo was running down its snout and it was obviously trying to keep pressure off its front left hoof. The two stared at each other for a few long moments while Lorcus tried to come up with a plan. I lost my staff and have no other weapons, on top of that I’m naked, bleeding and burned. This doesn’t look good. I have to get back to Todd and Eric.
Lorcus began wheeling to the side to get behind the deer. Its head swiveled not letting him out of its sight until it had to move its body. Once that first hoof left the ground it charged again. In a blink it was on him, Lorcus grabbed the deer at the base of the antlers but that didn’t do anything as he was knocked to the ground again. Holding it with one hand to keep its sharp antlers away from him Lorcus groped for something to hit it with. His hand found a rock and Lorcus began bashing the side of the creature with it.
“Loose!” Lorcus heard before a dozen flaming arrows hit the deer on its side. The wood deer let out a howl and reared back. Not liking the look of this Lorcus rolled to the side just before the hooves came back down where his head was. “Charge!” the same voice called. Suddenly it sounded like a stampede and Lorcus looked over to see dozens of centaurs charging the deer.
Realizing the situation was now against it, the deer ran away and before long it jumped the stream and disappeared into the forest. The centaurs charged past Lorcus except for one. “What caused this and what happened to you?” Agarora asked as she looked down on Lorcus. She was wearing far more than her chest wrap today. She was decked out in leather armor from her human neck to her horse rump. A bow and quiver were attached to her back, and she held a lance in her hand.
“You’re a beautiful sight to see.” Lorcus said weakly dropping his head to the ground with a thump.
“You have a lot of explaining to do. For now, we need to finish the rest of these beasts. Can you stand?”
“Yeah, just give me a moment.” Lorcus said while looking up at a burning tree canopy. “Did you find Todd and Eric?”
“What? They are out here too?” Agarora said with surprise.
Lorcus got to his feet and said, “They are, last time I saw them they were both unconscious and Todd was barely alive. Come on they were this way.”
“Wait, grab your staff.” Agarora called after Lorcus before he got a few steps. Spinning around Lorcus scooped it up and began running again. When they reached the two men, they saw Todd covered by fire ants eating his flesh. Eric was still unconscious but thankfully unmolested. Lorcus ran over to Todd and began brushing the ants off him. Blood covered Lorcus’s hands before long, when the ants were gone he checked Todds pulse but didn’t find one.
“He’s dead.” Lorcus said sadly.
“There’s nothing you can do for the dead.” Agarora said while she knelt in front of Eric. “This one is still alive. We should defend them while the centaurs kill the rest of these beasts.” Time passed as they defended the two bodies and before long it was over. Lorcus dropped to the ground panting for breath when no more beasts were seen.
Cecrix approached him with the rest of the centaurs at his back. His eyes blazed as he went straight for Lorcus. “You filthy, stupid, reckless, human! Do you realize how disastrous this could’ve been? If we hadn’t showed up when we did…”
When Cecrix was a few feet from Lorcus, Agarora stepped between the two and said “Calm down Cecrix, we don’t even know what happened yet. Give him a chance to explain himself.” The two stared at each other as Cecrix visibly tried to regain control of himself.
“Fine, talk human.” Cecrix demanded.
So Lorcus did. He started with the field burn then the birds showing up. He told them how they caused the fire to get out of control, followed by the evolving battle. He told them how Todd and Eric showed up with a long pause as he stared at Todd’s lifeless body. “You know the rest of the story.”
Agarora spoke in a calm voice, “Almost anywhere else what you did would’ve been fine. Unfortunately, we live on the edge of the great forest. Have you ever heard about beast waves?” Lorcus nodded his head indicating that he had. “Well, this is how beast waves start. You see for whatever reason a group of beasts get riled up and attract their counter element. When they meet a battle ensues. Before long other elements are drawn into the fight and it grows like a snowball rolling downhill. Eventually a strong enough beast will emerge and take control of the beasts and give them purpose. Usually that purpose is killing sapient species like humans and centaurs. They see towns like ours as targets of destruction.”
Cecrix cut in saying, “You hear that asshole; you almost caused the destruction of the entire town and everyone in it. Thankfully you only got one of your friends killed.” while pointing at Todd.
Lorcus couldn’t respond, he just stared at Todds body.
“Enough of this, I’m going to drive this lesson deep into him.” Cecrix said as he strode towards Lorcus again. Agarora tried blocking him, but Cecrix just pushed her aside. He grabbed Lorcus by the neck and pulled him to his feet. Then he began punching Lorcus. Fatigue, relief to be alive, sorrow for Todd, and shame for almost causing a beast wave left Lorcus in a lethargic state. He didn’t try to resist and before long he was unconscious.
“Enough Cecrix, you will kill him!” Agarora shouted.
“I should’ve killed him the first time I saw him.” Cecrix said while still striking Lorcus.
“The Count said not to kill him.”
Cecrix turned to her with fury burning in his eyes. “I know what the Count said. I also know the Count makes mistakes! Maybe if you did your job we wouldn’t be here right now.”
“He hasn’t even been here a week. No one could complete a task like that so soon. I need time! You beating him near to death won’t make that task any easier.”
“Fine!” Cecrix said while throwing Lorcus at her hooves. “You can take care of him then. We will patrol the area and put out the rest of these fires while making sure there are no more beasts in the area. Thank the Console I didn’t see any metal aligned creatures, but I need to make sure there are none in the area.” He then pointed at two of the centaurs standing close by and instructed them to return Todd and Eric to their farm.