Adam shook his head to himself, laughing slightly. Though he knew he was surrounded by a group of what looked like eighteen to twenty-two year olds, he realized he didn’t know how old they actually were.
“Hey, Finn. How old are all of you?” Adam asked.
“I’m 24.” He said. “Ava and Caius are both twenty-two.”
Adam was surprised by that as Finn looked to be the youngest by far. “I could have sworn y’all weren’t older than twenty.” Adam said.
Finn shrugged. “Good genes, I guess. And don’t worry about Ava and Caius, you’ll get used to their incessant flirting. For the most part they do a good job of keeping the PDA to a minimum, but after absorbing a skill crystal they’ll be insufferable for a little while.” Finn said. “How about we go look around the surrounding area? We’ve seen a few Knight tiered beasts wandering around so it could be some good practice.”
“Knight tiered beast?” Adam asked. “As in Eldari?”
“I hope not.” Finn said. “It’d be horribly disconcerting if there was Eldari here already above the tier of squire.” Finn started off through the giant violet corn stalks as if that was explanation enough.
Adam stood puzzled for a second trying to workout what he meant before jogging to catch up. “Then what do you mean by Knight tiered beasts?”
“Sapient beings aren’t the only things able to absorb and utilize Primordial Energy” Finn said. “It literally makes up the universe. Animals, plants, bugs, birds, and anything else you can think of can all be effected and grow just as we can. They may not have skill slots as we have them, or maybe they do. That topic is still highly debated as some higher tiered beast begin to show abilities of the more magical nature.” Adam braced himself for one of Finn’s tangents. “But at the Knight tier they are just much larger and have hardier constitutions. That naturally makes them more dangerous, but nothing to be too worried about.”
“So, you just want us to go on a murder spree killing random beasts?” Adam asked, a little skeptical at the thought. He had grown up as a hunter, but he was raised on the idea that you never wasted anything you killed. If you weren’t going to eat it, you let it be. The idea of just killing things for training didn’t sit right with him.
Finn stopped and looked back at him like he was crazy. “What? No, Adam. We’re not a bunch of sociopaths.” He said as if Adam had asked the most ridiculous thing in the world. “Beasts who have progressed to the tier of Knight require increasing amounts of Primordial Energy to live and grow. They will passively absorb it through the ambient energy just as we do, but a much slower rate. In order to grow quicker, they actively search out rich deposits of Primordial Energy to consume.”
“Meaning us.” Adam said, catching onto Finn’s point.
“Exactly.” He responded. “The stronger the beast gets, the more dangerous they become. Not to mention, the more Primordial Energy absorbed by animals the less ambient Primordial Energy there is to be used by us. By killing the beasts who have already stepped on that path, you’re not only stopping a potential rabid beasts searching out helpless civilians for consumption, but also actively raising the ambient Primordial Energy in your immediate area. You can either let that Primordial Energy dissipate or capture it to be used as Caius did with the Eldari you and him killed.”
“So, it’s as much about stopping potential threats as it is improving the ambient primordial energy?” Adam asked.
“Well, that. And lining your own pockets with money. Primordial Energy in that form is the basis of our economy. It literally makes the world run.” Finn said. “How about we go find some things for you to train with?”
Adam shrugged. It made sense to him. As long as he wasn’t just murdering animals for no reason. “I guess if you don’t think it’ll be a problem. We don’t need Ava, do we?” He still wasn’t sure how big of a difference there was between the tiers, but if Finn seemed okay with it, he figured it wasn’t a big deal.
“Ehh. Should be fine. If anything, you can just hunker down in that in armor of yours and I’ll go grab Caius.” Finn said as if it wasn’t a problem. “As long as we don’t run into another Stone Sentry or Eldari we’ll be fine. Besides, you really need to learn how to put that armor to use. We need to learn its limits, and you can’t do that with Caius killing everything in sight.”
Finn walked off through the corn stalks, grabbing one of the large violet corns sticking out. He bit into it, a dark blue-violet juice dripping down his chin. “Ohh, that is just delightful. These must have been absorbing Primordial Energy for centuries.” He looked back at Adam who was watching him. “Well don’t just stand there. Help me pick some while we go find you some beasts to kill.”
Adam didn’t bother arguing. He had found that just going with the flow so far had worked out well enough, so might as well continue. He ran to catch up to Finn, placing his shield on his back where it shrunk to the size of a small backpack and clicked into place, making him feel like a turtle, and stuck his hammer to the outside of his right leg where it clicked into place as well. Adam had found he could essentially holster both his hammer and shield wherever on his armor, making it far easier than just carrying it and more convenient than putting it in his fanny pack, which he had looped around the outside of his armor making him look like a an extremely enthusiastic renaissance festival goer.
Adam picked corn, placing them in the seemingly endless void of his fanny pack as they walked, Finn doing the same. The terrain rose and fell, and for the first time, Adam noticed that there was an odd ambient sound constantly in the background. Almost like coins clinking against metal underwater.
“Finn. Do you have any idea where we are? I’ve never seen anywhere like this on Earth before.”
“We didn’t get much information before coming. The King and other high tiered researches had seen enough fluctuations in the Primordial Energy that they knew a new Kingdom was rising, but that’s about it. There are histories of prior events happening, which is why we vaguely knew what to expect, but every Kingdom rising is different.” Finn looked off toward the pyramid in the center which they could still make out over the cornstalks. “That pyramid is odd though. I’ve read about gathering arrays, and that doesn’t seem to be quite what it is. Plus, it wouldn’t make sense why a gathering array would be on a newly enriched Kingdom. The variance in dimensional devarialization is actually quite interesting. If you take into account…”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Adam coughed. “Finn, I’m sorry. But I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. I really wish I did because it all sounds extremely interesting. For now, just imagine that I’m an ignorant child that doesn’t know anything.”
“Right, sorry about that Adam. Regardless, there’s something off about this new Kingdom. The corn, the Stone Sentry. Even the ambient Primordial Energy is far higher than we expected. Not to mention the presence of Knight tiered beasts. It’s like this area has been sitting in low levels of Primordial Energy for centuries.”
“Is it possible we’re not even on my home planet?” He asked. To be honest that made more sense to him than this being somewhere on earth. But at the same time, the first Eldari he had seen looked identical to Anubis from Earth’s mythology. “Or is there a chance that my world once had Primordial Energy? Long ago. Has a planet ever lost its access to Primordial Energy?” The questions coming faster now that he really had a chance to think about it.
“That’s an interesting thought, but the withdrawal of Primordial Energy from any world would be catastrophic. It would be an extinction level event even for those who never absorbed a skill crystal. I suppose it’s possible that this isn’t your world, but highly unlikely. The portals required for planetary travel are prohibitively expensive.” Finn looked around, head tilted back and eyes toward the sky. “Does your world not have a sun?” He said, changing the topic abruptly.
Adam was stunned by the change for a second, stopping and looking over at Finn. “What? Yeah, we have a sun. And a moon. I don’t know why we haven’t been seeing it. That’s why I asked if you knew where we were. This is like no place on earth that I’m aware of. It’s like were in a giant bubble that’s trapped underwater.”
Finn just shrugged and kept walking. They continued in silence for a while. Adam thought about what Finn had said. That the withdrawal of Primordial Energy would essentially cause a mass extinction. He knew there was multiple extinction level events in his planet’s history. Could that have been the withdrawal of Primordial Energy that he was talking about?
Eventually, Finn came to an abrupt halt as they came to the edge of a cliff.
The cliff had a steep drop off with a clearing one hundred feet below. In the center of the clearing was a massive mound of loose dirt the size of a football stadium. There were ants milling about the mound in the center with a few crawling in and out. Only the ants had to be the size of cars. It was perhaps the most terrifying thing Adam had ever seen. The only thing that would make it worse was if they could fly.
“What the hell are those?.” Adam said, looking over at the nightmare fuel skittering around on the ground beneath him.
“You don’t have ants in your kingdom?” Finn asked, genuinely confused at Adam’s response.
“We have ants, but they’re normally barely larger than a grain of rice.”
“Hmm. Well, I think these should do nicely.” Finn said.
“Nicely for what?” Adam said, peering over the edge of the cliff. There was an ant directly below them, far away from the others.
Adam heard a chuckle before being shoved forward, sending him careening over the edge. He plummeted to the ground below, falling like a golden meteor in his armor. He flipped over, managing to get his feet under him just before he hit the ground. It was a fall that surely would have killed him a few days ago, but in his new armor he barely registered the impact as dust flew out around him.
“Careful!” Finn yelled from above. “It looks like they’ve seen you and they’re not known for being the most welcoming of beasts.”
Adam heard a chittering sound emanating through the dust cloud billowing out around him. He pulled his shield off his back, the tower shield growing to cover his body and clicking into place on his left forearm. He grabbed his hammer, increasing the length to roughly the size of his arm. The lightness of it still threw him off.
“That little sociopath.” Adam muttered to himself.
The chittering intensified, an eerie cracking and turning of clicks that reverberated inside his armor. The dust cleared and Adam found himself only a few feet away from a shiny brown ant the size of a minivan. Its dark beady eyes locked onto him, its antenna probing the ground in front of it.
Adam never expected to be put in the position that he might be eaten by an ant, but the clicking mandibles of the beast in front of him gave him the distinct feeling that it might actually happen today. “I guess this is karma for throwing rocks on all those anthills as a kid,” he muttered to himself.
As if in response, the ant charged. Its six legs stabbed into the ground as it propelled itself forward toward Adam. He set his shield, flexing his knees and preparing to meet the beast.
“It is paramount that you remember your training.” Adam heard Finn call from above.
The ant arrived in a chittering scream of clacking mandibles. It bent down, open maw searching to bite into his head. Adam rolled under the attack, finding himself on the underside of the ant. He swung at the joint of a back leg and the hammer connected with a loud crack. A shock ran up his arm as if he had struck steel, but the ant’s joint collapsed on itself, the leg cracking nearly in two.
The ant emitted a pain filled bellow, its other five good legs slamming down in the dirt around him as the beast attempted to skewer him. One took him on the left shoulder, the blow glancing off his pauldron and sticking into the ground just by his foot. He swung out with his hammer again, crippling another joint and rolling out from underneath the beast.
The ant teetered for a second before finding its balance again. It charged once more, this time a little more cautious as it sent its antenna in sweeping arcs in front of it. They looked to be covered in thousands of needle like filaments that would turn him into a pin cushion.
The antenna swept closer and Adam met one with his shield. The antenna bounced harmlessly off. Adam grinned at the small victory, loving the feeling of invincibility inside his armor. He stayed in front of the ant, shrugging off blow after blow with his shield, a plan slowly forming.
The ant approached again, an antenna sweeping at Adam from his right. He caught the blow on his shield again like all the times prior, but this time spun to his left, hammer swinging in a backhanded arc. He was seeking the beasts head, hoping to cave it in and end the fight, but before his blow landed, he was slammed off his feet as a leg connected with his chest. He flew through the air and came to an abrupt halt against the cliff wall. His armor absorbed the impact well, but his breath was still knocked out of him.
The ant lifted its head, chittering a victorious roar before advancing on him once more. Adam wheezed out a breath and climbed to his feet. “Note to self. Don’t turn your back on the enemy.”
This time Adam didn’t wait for the ant to come to him. His armor had proven it could take any hit the beast could dish out. He thought about putting his shield away and using his hammer with two hands, but figured he should learn how to move and fight with it instead. Not all beasts would be as week as this ant was.
He parried a sweep from an antenna with his shield and ducked a piercing stab from one of its front legs, moving back underneath the carapace of the ant. It tried to skewer him with its razor sharp legs, but he either dodged the blow with a quick side step or took it on a pauldron or his shield, countering with a quick strike of his hammer.
The ant’s legs were quickly whittled down to oozing stumps until it collapsed onto its stomach. The angry chittering from before remained, but the beast grew more frantic with each passing second. Adam stepped back, placing his shield on his back once more. The ant tried to crawl toward him, but its shattered legs wouldn’t support its weight.
He almost felt bad for the beast. Almost being the key word. If it hadn’t tried to eat him, he might. He approached the ant once more, hammer held in two hands like a baseball bat. An antenna swept at him and he met it like he was swinging for the fences in little league, his spiked stone hammer head connecting with antenna and completely shattering it. The other antenna swept at him and was met with the same fate.
He ran toward the beast’s head and leapt, a faint webbing of purple appearing around him as he jumped. He soared into the air a good fifteen feet before he felt himself being pulled down toward the ant. It felt like he was on a roller coaster, his stomach dropping in his throat. Still, Adam managed to bring his hammer above his head and swung down as hard as he could on the ant’s head, connecting with a thunderous boom.
The head exploded as if he had smashed a watermelon, black ichor covering his armor and the entire surrounding area. Adam breathed out heavily, a sense of exhilaration overcoming him. He had never felt so alive. Despite nearly becoming ant food, for the first time since he left the SEALs, he could become something… useful. He no longer felt broken. He wasn’t hiding out on his boat away from the world so that he didn’t make a fool of himself. Adam felt like he could take on the world and it would be the world that broke before he did.
He no doubt had gotten help from Finn with the final attack though. He recognized the purple webbing that had appeared around him as the same that had formed around Caius during the Stone Sentry fight. It had felt like gravity itself had been eliminated for a second and then tripled at the peak of his jump, pulling him downward rapidly.
He looked over the ant’s crippled body as a few ethereal black particles started to rise into the air. They were mesmerizing. Adam could just make out a small rise in the ambient Primordial Energy as the ant decomposed. It was the sensation of finding a a piece of shade on a stiflingly hot day.
“You better get ready.” Finn called from above. “It looks like there’s a lot more coming.”
Adam looked up toward Finn who was pointing toward the massive mound of dirt ahead of him. On it, tens of the massive ants poured out of the opening at the top and were charging toward Adam. A cacophony of angry chittering filled the air, all directed at Adam’s location where he stood on the mutilated corpse of one of their kind.