“Lucy run!” I yelled out as I turned to make my escape. “Motte follow me.”
I knew that whatever was going on, whatever was attacking the encampment was much too powerful for either of us to handle. We had fallen into the deep end of the quicksand and our heads were sinking fast.
“Not so fast you.” The scar-faced man yelled at me. “Pyrospine. Emberweave!”
The burning hedgehog Essemon growled, sucked in a deep breath and let out a tunnel of swirling fire. It burned the ground in front of Motte’s and I’s escape back into the woods. I managed to stop short of the licking fires and pulled Motte up into my arms before he got hurt. I had no intention of fighting the Pyrospine but before my eyes I received a new notification.
Essemon Battle Initiated!
It looks like we had no choice. Motte and I stood and faced our new opponents. They looked strong and extremely dangerous. I pulled out my ARC Band and hit the notification for Surveying the Pyrospine. Its stats popped up on my screen and my heart sank like a heavy stone.
Name Pyrospine Abilities Level 10 [Emberweave] ★☆☆☆☆ Rank 3 Stats Traits HP 16 Element [Fire] ★☆☆☆☆ ATK 10 Species [Mammal] ★☆☆☆☆ DEF 4 Territory [Unbonded] ☆☆☆☆☆ SPD 2 SPT 3 Rarity Common Form Needlespine
There was no way we could beat Scarface and his Pyrospine. We could not escape them as our only exit was now engulfed in flames. We could try to run past them, which I was sure we could out-speed the Pyrospine despite Motte’s SPD still not fully recovered. It was a strong Essemon; most of its stats were in HP and ATK but it was weak in SPD and DEF. That could be just enough of an advantage for us to deal some damage but unlike our fight with the Pondfang I wouldn't be able to paralyze it. My ARC Band indicated that my Stamina was still at one point. That’s what I get for not getting some sleep and being stuck in my head.
“Motte. I don’t think we can take them. I don’t know what else to do.” I said as low as I could so Scarface couldn’t hear me. I could see the man grinning from ear to ear, arms folded staring at us, waiting like a cat who managed to corner a mouse. He was relishing in the situation. He must have Surveyed Motte and realized how weak we were.
“I’m by your side Ben. Now and forever.” Motte crouched ready to fight. I planted my feet, smiled at him and felt a warm sensation fill my heart. The same courage I felt when Motte and I challenged the Pondfang. As we readied ourselves, I could sense the world around me changing. It was more subtle than the first time it happened. The ground flattened somewhat, the sky curved in on itself like a dome, and the world seemed to center around our battle. It did for about three seconds before the giant flying creature swooped down and fired another beam of energy directly at the Poacher and his Essemon. Before I knew it the Pyrospine’s HP had dropped to zero and the Scar-faced Poacher was knocked out.
Motte and I stared at each other eyes wide and mouths gaping open. That was completely unexpected. I got a notification that we had achieved victory for our fight, but I was granted no XP points. I made a mental note about that. XP gain was directly connected to the actual experience of the fight not simply participation.
“That was…” I started.
“Insane…” Motte finished.
The fire from the Pyrospine was starting to die down while the chaos in front of us was getting worse. Over and over again the dark shape in the sky flew over the top of the camp blasting any and all Poachers and their equipment.
I turned to run but I heard something that pricked at my heart. Turning to look back at the cages I could see that flames from the camp were spreading out from the central destruction and that there were still Essemon trapped. My heart was pumping so fast from the fear that gripped it but I couldn’t turn away. I knew that they needed my help. Motte knew it too. I could feel the two of us agree together that we were going to try and save as many Essemon as possible. Who was I? Running towards danger… impossible.
We hurled ourselves forward into the mayhem doing our best to keep away from the many Poachers running around and commanding their Essemons to attack the sky. There were so many new types of Essemon between the many Poachers that I wanted to stop several times and Survey them, but I knew that that wasn’t the time. I caught a glimpse of long alligator looking Essemon with mist rolling down its back, large birds that shot lightning from their beaks and even what I thought was the skeleton of a large cat with dripping black tar pooling from its fangs.
“Turn here.” I called to Motte as I ducked underneath a wide tarp and out into a semicircle opening. There were over a dozen individual cages each hosting a single Essemon stacked to over my height. “I’ll start breaking open the cages, you help them find a way out.”
“K sounds good. Be safe Ben.” Motte said.
“You too.” I ran to the first cage, pulled on the latch and issued the Essemon to follow Motte. I wasn’t sure if it understood me or not, but I felt like it did. Somehow. Most of the cages had no locks on them and were simple folded latches that I was able to quickly pry open and release its captors. A few of them, larger cages, did have locks on them requiring me to pick up a nearby rock and start slamming away. How I wished Locke was with me at that moment. It took me several minutes before I could break through the first locked cage and move on to the next one.
Another explosion rocked the earth as a plume of purple smoke curled up from the central area of the camp. The sound of large metal saws spinning could be heard in the distance and the yelling of Poachers were right around the corner. Words such as “Fire! Fire! Put that out! Run!” Echoed all around me. I could see the tips of the nearby fire drawing ever closer.
I needed to be faster. We didn’t have time before everything was up in flames. I slammed the rock again and again. I smashed my fingers a few times and even drew blood, but I knew I couldn’t stop. The entire time I was working on freeing the Essemon I thought of Lucy and Motte. I was hoping they were okay. That Motte was working to get the Essemons out safely and that Lucy somehow made it out of all this disaster.
Black smoke began to fall around me, and the heat of the flames drew ever closer. I could feel it burning against my skin as it peaked out from between a stacking of wooden crates to my left. Directly behind it another explosion shocked the ground and a burst of white energy fell from the sky.
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I only had one more cage to go, inside was one of the walking mushrooms I had seen when I first woke up. It was crying, “Bggggboooiii! Bggggboooiii!”, over and over again as I worked to break its lock. The metal hinge had cracked and was starting to break away when my rock shattered in my hand and fell.
“No! No…” I gripped the lock with my hands and tried to pry it open. My palms were sweaty, and I could see blood dripping from my fingernails. The mushroom looked me in the eyes, small tears came streaming down its round body. “It’s okay. Everything will be fine. I am going to get you out of here no matter what.”
I pulled with all my might and when I though it wasn’t enough, I felt the metal lock begin to give way. I gritted my teeth, held my breath and wrenched with all my might. As I felt the lock begin to break another blast came shrieking from the sky right behind the boxes to my left. The force blew everything away. I fell back several feet and the cage with the mushroom crashed down next to me. Everything went dark.
As I laid in the endless darkness, I could hear a voice call out to me. “Ben… Ben… Where are you?”
“Mom?” I cried out, my voice cracking. Everything hurt. There was a great pressure in my head, my arm had lightning shooting through it and my hands were sore and raw.
“Ben! Ben where are you?” The voice continued.
“Mom. Mom is that you? I’m over here. I’m over here mom.” In the darkness I stretched my hand. Far away I saw an open door. Light was bleeding from it and a shape stood at its threshold.
“Hang on Ben. Hang on a little more. I am with you.” The figure, a woman, reached their hand out to mine. She was too far for me to reach. Too far for me to crawl too but crawl I did.
“Mother… Mother!” The darkness faded away and I was greeted with the buggy eyes of Motte standing in front of me surrounded by a wall of fire.
“Ben, we have to get out of here.” Motte said pulling on my sleeve with his mandibles.
“The… the mushroom. We can’t leave it.” I pointed over to the cage next to me. Motte let go of my sleeve, hopped up onto the cage and slashed at the lock. With a loud clank the lock broke off and Motte opened the door. The little mushroom Essemon hopped out still yelling out Bggggboooiii and ran for the treeline. “It’s safe Ben. Now let’s get you out of here.”
Motte did his best to lift me up and help me to my feet. There was blood dripping down over my left eye and I couldn’t move my right arm. Slowly we began to walk away from all the destruction. The entire camp had been flattened. All the structures, machines and cages blown apart or disintegrate.
I stopped Motte for a second as I looked toward the center of the Poachers encampment. All of the Poachers seemed to have run off except for one. A tall man with slicked-back black hair, wearing a nice suit. At his side was a massive lion with its head reaching above the man’s shoulder. It had an ebony-violet mane over a dark pelt with gray glowing eyes. It stood staring up at the sky, same as the man. Both of them confident and unmoving.
I quickly pulled up my ARC Band and Surveyed the lion.
Name Shadowmane Abilities Level ?? [Undetectable] ★★★★★ Rank ?? [Undetectable] ★★☆☆☆ [Undetectable] ★★★☆☆ Traits Element [Shadow] ★★★★☆ Stats Species [Mammal] ★★★☆☆ HP ?? Territory [Storm] ★★★☆☆ ATK ?? DEF ?? Rarity Epic SPD ?? Form Lordmane SPT ??
An Epic Essemon?
It was insanely powerful. All of its traits and abilities were nearly maxed out. Some were so strong that my ARC Band couldn’t even tell me what they were. Maybe my ARC Rank wasn’t high enough to detect the details of the Essemon? I couldn’t help but watch the Bonder and his Essemon as they stood defiantly in the middle of the chaos.
What were they waiting for? Why were they just standing there?
My answer came shortly after as a large gust of wind picked up around the field as a grand shape emerged from the dark sky. The creature that had been attacking the Poachers finally descended in front of the Bonder in the suit and his Shadowmane.
It was a massive butterfly. Its wingspan was at least forty feet across and fifty feet high. It had deep blue eyes that glowed with a fierce energy. That same energy flowed across its wings like a shimmering coat of power as it flapped its wing and came to a rest. I had to see what this Essemon was. It was beautiful, magnificent, the grandest thing I had ever seen. I Surveyed the Essemon and only got two things back. Its name and its rarity.
Name Lunaris Monarch Abilities Level ?? [Undetectable] ????? Rank ?? [Undetectable] ????? [Undetectable] ????? Traits Element [Undetectable] ????? Stats Species [Undetectable] ????? HP ?? Territory [Undetectable] ????? ATK ?? DEF ?? Rarity Legendary SPD ?? Form Undetectable SPT ??
I couldn’t look away. It was the most beautiful and terrifying thing I had ever seen. It was supposedly the strongest Essemon I had seen so far. So powerful that my ARC Band couldn’t see any of its stats. I wondered how much stronger it was than the Shadowmane.
“This isn’t over.” The man in the suit called out. “We have found you. We will find you again. Mark my words.”
The man in the suit lifted his ARC Band waved his hand and both him and his Shadowmane disappeared in a blur of energy. Shortly after the Lunaris flapped its wings sending dust and putting out all the fires. It let out a strange rhythmic cry like a wave of beating drums. Its attention than fell on me and Motte. I felt its power flow through me like a tidal wave of energy. I knew that if it wanted to it would wipe us off the face of the planet. It cried again, beat its wings hard and started to fly over us. It was a majestic sensation to feel it soar directly over our heads. I felt small, insignificant compared to its terrific might.
As its form folded into the night, I caught a glimpse of something shimmering slowly downward till it landed before me. I picked up a beautiful glowing scale. As I held it in my hand it suddenly disappeared and I received a new notification.
Monarch Scale Acquired
Monarch Scale Inventoried