Edward quickly devoured his bride on their train ride home from the honeymoon. The Prince had first filled his appetite for lust by first having many rounds of consensual intercourse with the victim. Before the murder he and her were inseparable on their brief tour of action. They had avoided many of the hikes, gift shops, and fancy churches of the sunny tropical vacation. Opting out of excursions to express themselves more intimately dancing to the latest hits at the clubs between make-out sessions in the back of taxis. Oh how he had pretended to love her, but the whole time he craved dancing her to the final act. He even subjected himself to doing tango with a group of seniors on a sandy beach beside a lighthouse in the name of love.
It was the perfect relationship on paper before he cut it short. After he savored her sliced roast beef meat in a sandwich with mustard and tomato slices between white bread. Next up he took a brief trip to the bathhouses to clean up his act. It was time he put the remains of the Mrs on ice and traveled to the dangerous core of the planet for an adventure.
"We gotta check those coolers for schlock," said the Kingdom's border guard, pointing to the bloody lunchbox seat buckled in a booster seat in the passenger seat.
The Prince whipped open the door on the luxury wagon. The chrome spinning rims and bright pink paint reflected the newly installed barbed wire, shiny metal sheet fencing, and the border station.
"No matter if you don't see any booze let my mother think I'm sober," said the Prince, winking.
Out the vehicle's window he flashed the offer of a fat banded bribe.
"Yes sir you know you've just made my year man haha,".
Edward burned rubber peeling into the highway of his mothers kingdom. The teleportation station was seven hours of top speed away. It was time to rock his eardrums and brain in the meantime.
There were exciting reports about soldiers dying in the cold mountains of the core of the planet. A top secret mission had been first attacked by a Sasquatch in the warmer forests. This had been false information. When all hope had been lost, good news of legendary creature spotting came in. A group of Princes and princesses had been devoured by hungry Yeti on a trek up a close mountain peak that they had set on a quest to claim. Only a single survivor had made it back down. Fortunately he arrived at camp to deliver the final account before finally succumbing to his wounds.
Edward, and his gang of fortune hunters had been adventuring far far north of Tenare's core for five days now.Their eager dogs fastened in their harnesses, with the sleds leaving camp into the unknown wilderness. An elite expedition of Knights joining the Prince on his adventure. Their rewards were too numerous to list for many important parts of society had come to shape around rewarding Knights for all their wonderful exploits.
The party arrived at what remained of a devoured corpse sticking from the frozen tundra. Edward commanded the others to a stop. He took a finger to the ground and had a lick of the tainted snow.
“That’s new… Yeti blood I'm figuring,” commented a royal hunter.
"Aye," agreed a few around.
A circle of Knights pushed in to sample a mixture of the blood, and the snow. Others took off ahead on their sleds to keep from the troop all becoming clumped up together at one big feast.
“Move out of the way!” yelled a sled driver, forcing a knight into the ditch who the dogs trampled over.
The knight stampeded by the sled hounds happened to be the last member of former King’s elite guard not dead, or run off into hiding among the roadside bandits for a life of crime. His name Sir Benny Blitz, Broncos son. He was not liked by many for all the successful alliances he had formed in his successful years had been defeated. In the upper ranks he became known as a poor judge of character and a fool that let corruption fester. On the other hand the lower soldiers still recognized he was the best of the best when it came to his career of soldiering built partly on reputation of a lethally hot temper. He closely studied the man speeding off who had wronged him from the ground where he had fallen with an icy stare. One more not making it off this mountain range alive.
“Break off some dogs and search the nearby woods for more blood. The men ahead will find us a campsite close,” instructed Edward, shivering underneath ten layers of sleek designer garments.
“Yes my lord” said a large knight heading to join a crew of six already gathering to venture into the frozen wood.
The sleds zipped along the side of the narrow wayward mountain pass. They had begun to climb at a steeper angle. The peak loomed over them blocking out the middle of the moon's light.
This wasn’t anybody's first adventure. All the men who had come to gather glory on the yeti hunt were veterans of many wars, hunts, and even heists. It was what they all collectively thought to be true except for the one among them who had lied about all exploits. He would have his first exploit soon enough however. It was a moment that he had trained by the best for years, studied under them extensively, and fitted with a poison capsule hidden away in his mouth. There was no going back from this one once something went wrong.
Edward Longbottom drew his shining crystal sword that could cut through almost anything but got dull fast. It had to be sharpened in a special device of rocks of its own every time he bit off more than it could chew. The Prince was starting to become self aware in that his thrill seeking was losing the same cheap thrills that it used to have. His latest marriage had been his fastest ever, and what a boring girl in the end.
There must be something out there to satisfy the void. My never-ending urges are never filled, and seem to be escalating in shock factor. Edward checked in both directions before sneaking off into a clearing by himself. Here he brought out his dwarf device, and rocks for another consultation. Whatever the quest of all the quests that would logically set him up for the crown. It had to be located somewhere unexplored here in the core. And his band was going full shock rock to match.
Ned woke to a peculiar feeling in his legs. The phantom pain of not being able to feel anything at all. His fire had gone out while asleep.His body was beginning to frostbite like the rest of his surroundings. He grunted, struggling to stand. At least his arms still worked.
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He dragged himself closer to the empty fire pit. The center where the magma had burned a hole directly into the rock below. The edges had remained half charred. Ned's arms shook involuntarily fighting against him to stay warm as he began building a fire. He grabbed a bag of remaining starter hidden inside a cloak pocket. He hastily threw it into the ring, and finished the magic trick by lighting a flint with two claps of the hands.
“Poof” It burst into fire crackling.
Ned dragged himself back a safe distance while his nostrils filled with the scent of burnt beard hair. His numb hands worked overtime extinguishing the burning sensation. Next he put his feet as close as they could thaw without catching a flame. His vision was beginning to return and his stomach was rumbling.
This frozen wasteland of the core would be the end of him soon. Outside the blizzard blew fierce winds up against the mountain with temperatures that would surely freeze anything alive. The gusts hit funny angles of rock producing an eerie whistling. It almost sounded like natural cries for help.
Some time had passed, but the wind hadn't died down any. The dead girl was nowhere to be found since departing. She hadn’t been much help anyway. He was on his own when it came to engineering a fix to this mess. A single beast treat remained in the satchel. He had some shelter but food was going to be impossible to find. If he was lucky a hare or other tasty animal would wander here seeking shelter. That would be an easy thing to roast, but for now he munched away working on a frozen stub of bread.
“Well might as well dig in to the main course” the wizard said, before letting out a madcap laugh. "Hahaha".
In his mouth he plopped the last remaining dried mushroom favored by his donkey. It tasted stale, yet funny.
“Guess I'll chill here by my fire until morning” said Ned, putting his hands behind his head. "when my stomach forces my hand, or feet to move I need to have a plan dreamed of best surviving".
The energy produced by the crystals in this place was too powerful for one to be exposed to long term. It was some kind of insidiousness that slowly crept up on you like an invisible smell-less gas making one mad. Even being aware of all this unfortunate reality Ned could do about it except laugh. . Death was always going to be coming inevitably he supposed. Hopefully he would still have a chance to explore this strange land of the core before going. The very things that he had dedicated a life to researching and what made it so beautiful to behold. At some point crystals would drive him demented. There were worse ways to go than becoming freezer burned. He remained lost deep in thoughts while the flicker of the fire on the cavern walls caused strange shadows to dance.
Nearby Nancy had found her corpse captured by a patrol of soldiers. She floundered in a net hung from the ice castle, while nearby Queen Elizebethy the 13th stood holding the rope, and smiling from above. The Jester could be spotted watching on from a safe distance in the tallest ice tower that towered above them.
“You die again and this time it's too hot for anything in the galaxy to resurrect from” said Elizebthy, playing with her crown.
With her hands off the rope the net dropped down the ice walls of the castle. The zombie girl wrapped like spider's food took a plunge. She fell in the lava sinking into the heat in her Elven plotting armor never to return. The crystals all around the cavern lit up a green glow as they absorbed something. Probably zombie essence.
“Cheap stuff that rotten flesh” said Queen, cracking her knuckles.
She strode back inside her palace of ice wearing high heels, and a black-ice colored puffer jacket.
“SnAAAAAGY come here at once” she cried, entering the throne room.
Far above Snaggy was hiding in the tower library. A dark place known to contain the largest library of torture diagrams, and snuff manuals ever assemble. His sensitive jester ears had already picked up his master's call to action. He leapt to arms, and out of the ice tower. He surfed down support beams, and crystal shingle waving to keep balance. The Queen turned as he bounced twice across the courtyard, and then somersaulted rapidly a dozen times before standing in front of her.
“What will it be on this fine day, your majesty?” he said.
“Yes, Snaggy, please summon the dungeon master through the communication tower, and tell him to free our previously agreed prisoners from the dungeons, and double the supplies deposited into the portals at once!” ordered Elizebethy.
“Let me set it up here, your majesty, so that you can call anyone anytime from your lair,” said Snaggy, taking out pen.
“I already told the installation team to handle that a dozen times, and then they all left the job to go yeti hunting” she complained.
Far above the building tension taking place in the core was the jungle with Jed still stuck in it. He was walking along using his short sword as a machete to clear a path ahead.
“AAAAA” a familiar voice screamed across the jungle.
Jed shook his head. It had been weeks out here, and his friend who had been gravely wounded before becoming lost in the jungle had no chance of being currently alive. Lately he had started to hear and see a lot of things in the past few days that he suspected were not actually happening outside of his own head.
He descended the familiar banking, before hitting the stream drinking some of the clear waters diving in the deep end. It was a collecting pool overflowing into a small jungle waterfall. Jed emerged out of the water holding a trout. He smacked it into a nearby birch tree and wrapped it in the bark for dinner. He put the fish under a pile of rocks lying directly in the light provided by multiple suns. He briefly sprawled out onto the sand to be quickly fried with the fish, before jumping back in to cool off.
Sometime later he came back up over the bank dry with a red chest and a cooked fish. Thankfully the watering hole also had plenty of shade. Jed would have lived here if not for the other animals who also shared in the waters. So far the savage gangs of monkeys had been his biggest threat from above. They always kept an eye on him, and when he didn’t keep his eyes open they would swoop down to steal something.
When the soldiers had all traveled together, before the breakup, and betrayal they had told stories around the campfire. On one of these occasions one of the oldest veterans among them had said that other beings lurked in the jungle. Things that you didn’t fear because they just crept up on you quietly, shapeshifted, and ate you alive before ever showing true form. Jed was hoping this was just a false tale, and lived like it perhaps in complete denial.
The train cars had fallen off the track from above and vines had already grown over the walls. It had evidently been some kind of party train for the royalty with a schlock, and hookah bar car. At least the heavy doors still latched sheltering him from outside threats. Unfortunately there were still a lot of little vents built into the train, and holes that had been opened. Jed had discovered the problems the first time he had tried to store food and the ants had eaten it all in a night. Luckily none of them appeared poisonous like he had been heard about. He had filled some of the vents on the floor with rags, and built a self contained section from wood, and scrap metal to sleep in.
He entered his room after climbing a ladder onto the 2nd floor, and stashed his sword. In his hands what remained of the cooked fish was salted from the condiment bar. There were even pickled lemons remaining, and required the sword. Jed drank his citrus brine to keep healthy. He then climbed into his hammock and sprawled out while tearing off a section of dried fish in his teeth.
Sometimes being in a survival situation wasn't so bad. A man could find himself in many worse situations like the prison system. Maybe some weaklings might say being dead was better than living alone off the crystal grid. Regardless of the dire circumstances he was subjected to, Jed was going to keep on living for as long as he could.