Dashing towards Zigga, Rai snatched the blade from the ground, but before he could manage to close the gap in time, he collapsed, writhing in agony, covering his ears with the palms of his hands.
Lily's face expressed concern, but she didn't want to give away Rai’s position, his face still being concealed by the helmet.
“What’s wrong?” Zigga asked. “You seemed so sure of yourself earlier.”
“Ahh!” Rolling around in the mud, veins surfaced across Rai’s forehead, while his face turned red, enduring the pain.
Zigga gloated, “I merged with the Screecher Root, derived from screeching orchids, my favorite flowers. When plucked, they scream!” Zigga stated, stepping on Rai’s hand. Rai screamed, when a sudden a mud ball struck Zigga’s face.
Realizing the sound in his head dispersing, Rai retreated from under Bandit Lord Zigga. “The hell was that?” he questioned out loud. His ears were ringing.
“Who threw that?” Zigga demanded, wiping the mud off his face.
Rai looked over at Lily, who shrugged innocently, not knowing who had thrown the mud ball.
Approaching Zigga once again, Rai commented, “Nice trick you’ve got there.” He figured Zigga’s ability was sound-based, but he couldn’t afford to counter it incorrectly again.
“It can be quite handy, especially against folks like you,” Zigga replied, his hair vibrating again.
Tossing a hidden mudball Rai gathered in his retreat, he smacked Zigga across the face, just as the random ball had done before, frustrating him further. Sliding under Zigga, Rai appeared behind him, looking to gain an angle he didn’t have a view of.
Wiping the mud from his face, Zigga activated his powers, his hair vibrating, causing Rai to fall once more to the ground. With a heavy kick, Rai was sent rolling through the mud.
Digging his fingers into the wet soil, Rai gripped the stick earlier and threw it, infused with flux, directly at Zigga, nicking his neck, and causing blood to seep down.
“YOU!” Zigga responded by using his power yet again, making Rai fall to one knee.
Rai’s scream signaled what many knew to be the start of a brutal death.
“Enough of your dancing around, this ends here,” Zigga said, standing over Rai. Lily slightly tugged away from the person holding her, eager to help. Using his ability to its highest capability, Rai’s screams of pain transformed into continued for a short period until laughter, baffling everyone. “How?” Zigga questioned.
Rai grinned, clenching his fist and charging flux force; with an upward thrust, Rai’s fist collided with Zigga’s chin, sending him hurdling back into the crowd of bandits.
“Man that felt good,” Rai said.
“Lord Zigga!” the bandits shouted in shock.
Coughing up blood, Zigga couldn’t believe the strength of his opponent. Another hit like that and he could be done for. Glancing at Rai, Zigga’s eyes opened wide.
“If you’re curious about how it’s simple,” Rai explained, crushing dirt in his hand. “After figuring out your ability to be sound-based, I grabbed some mud and packed it in my ears the moment you weren’t looking, after throwing the stick,” he snickered. Zigga and the guards all looked upset, but Rai couldn’t hear them. What part of ‘packed it in my ear’ don't they get? Rai glanced at Lily, who was gesturing to her head. Touching his head, Rai realized he wasn’t wearing the helmet any longer!
“The first one to kill the intruder keeps the girl!” Zigga declared, as his men brought him Lily.
“Wait, let’s talk about this,” Rai said picking up the helmet from the floor and placing it back over his head.
The men roared, creeping in on Rai from every angle.
“Get out of here!” Lily yelled.
“Guess the jig is up,” Rai said, preparing to fight.
Another bandit stepped out in front of Rai, actually defending him. His face was also hidden under a helmet.
“What is the meaning of this?” Zigga said, but the bandit didn’t respond. Frustrated, Zigga used his power, but nothing happened. “So you’re blocked too? Fine, you can die together,” he said.
Pulling his fist back, the mysterious figure punched the air, creating an invisible shockwave that cracked the earth beneath them in a straight line, making many bandits collapse instantly.
The others stopped in their tracks, shaken by the sudden invisible attack, even Zigga looked paralyzed.
“One punch!?” Zigga said.
“You’re kidding?” Rai said in disbelief. Just who was this person?
Panicking, Zigga shouted, “What are you waiting for? There’s only two of them!” Grabbing Lily, he marched toward the backside of his tent.
“Rai!” Lily called out, disappearing around the corner.
The masked bandit helping him stuck out his hand, giving Rai a thumbs up.
Nearby, a guard swung his blade, narrowly missing Rai. Nodding, Rai dashed after Lily, saying, “Thank you!”
“Let me go!” Lily shouted, squirming in between his arms as he carried her away. Her hands were still bound; Rai never got the chance to undo or loosen the bindings.
“Shut up,” Zigga said, tossing Lily onto a horse. Jumping on himself, he took off towards the forest in the south.
“Get back here!” Rai shouted, appearing around the corner with many bandits in hot pursuit. Lily looked like she was trying to say something but Rai couldn’t make it out, only watching as she disappeared towards the forest. Jumping onto another horse, he chased after Zigga, removing the dirt from his ears as he did.
The bandits tailing Rai, paused short of a horse.
“You gonna go,” one bandit asked the other.
“I’m not going into no forbidden forest, you go.”
“No way, I’ve heard the rumors.” Turning around, both bandits decided to join the other fray.
Inside the woods of Kalumi, the gigantic trees, including many plants and animals, illuminated the entire surrounding—even the algae in the small river glimmered in a light blue luminescent!
“Let me go!” Lily screamed, wailing and kicking.
The man before had to be an elite, and I’m not planning on living behind bars. “Stay still, will you!” Zigga said to Lily, who kept trying to throw herself from the horse.
“No!” Lily barked back. The horse, spooked by something in the woods, quickly flung them both off, leaving the way it came.
“Help!” Lily got up and ran through the forest as fast as she could.
Zigga looked at her, attempting to use his powers. “Out of range,” he said, scowling and chasing after her.
Sprinting through the dense woods, turning sharply around a tree decorated with delicate pink fuzzy balls, Lily ducked, examining her restraints. She understood that Zigga, with his ability, still posed a threat even if she managed to remove them. Leaning against the tree, Lily inadvertently triggered a small plant in the shape of a pink ball, releasing a small puff of pollen that induced instant drowsiness; and so she collapsed.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“There you are,” Zigga said, his hands reaching toward her defenseless body.
A knee smashed into Zigga’s face, propelling him into a trunk many feet away.
Hovering a small tube by Lily’s nose, she soon woke up. “Are you okay?” the guy asked, holding Lily in a protective embrace.
“Get away!” she said, pushing him aside and scooting backward.
“I don’t mean you any harm,” he said, raising his hands and taking a step closer.
“Don’t touch her!” Rai shouted, emerging from beside a tree, and fending off the stranger.
“Wait! Stop!” Lily shouted, but her pleas fell on deaf ears as the skirmish escalated into the depths of the woods. “At least untie me!” Spurred by the distant howling of a wolf, she quickly found a sharp rock nearby, cutting through the bindings as fast as she could.
“I’ll never let people like you have your way!”
“Like me?! You’re the one taking advantage of a girl while she’s asleep!” Rai responded to his accuser.
“I was not!”
The exchange of punches between them ended in a simultaneous expulsion backward.
Both combatants paused, panting heavily, when Eiji suddenly stopped, wearing a look of confusion. “Rai?” Eiji said.
“How do you know my name?” Rai questioned.
“No way, it’s me, Eiji, from the orphanage!” Eiji ran over, placing Rai in a playful headlock while twisting his knuckle into his head.
“Cut it!” Rai shouted, shoving him away.
Lily, armed with a rock, intervened with a well-aimed strike to both of their heads. “Next time, have some common decency before you leave a girl stranded in the middle of nowhere!” she scolded.
“What’s your problem? I came to rescue your ass!” Rai protested.
“I actually rescued you...” Eiji added, nursing the bump on his head.
“Hm,” Lily responded, folding her arms and turning away.
A sudden gust of air brushed past the trio, followed by a low rumble from the dense amount of plants behind him. Stepping through a supersized bush, the emergence of a very large creature… Its back had many shapes and lengthy horns, completely covered in moss.
“Thorn.. drake...” Eiji cautioned, retreating bit by bit, and everybody carefully did the same. A leaf subtly fell from the sky, gracing the tip of Eiji’s nose. “Ah-chew!”
The creature roared, lifting its legs to the sky, and stomping the ground where they stood.
“Run!” Rai said.
Rampaging through the forest, it easily toppled smaller trees while smashing rocks.
The trio weaved between its legs, narrowly avoiding being crushed as they evaded its destructive path.
Lily, sprinting away, tripped on a protruding root beside the thorn drake. Its legs crushed the ground next to her, leaving a hole where it slammed into the ground. Lily tried to crawl away, but she couldn't get away in time. With only a few yards separating them, it charged in the direction of Lily.
Luckily, long yellow elastic vines hanging from the tree’s above, hand entangled the creature's many thorns on its back, yanking it another way just as it was bout to crush her, giving her enough time to quickly find somewhere safer.
“Guys!” Lily shouted, pointing to the gum gums all around, limiting the creature's movements.
The other’s nodded, changing course towards the thorn drake, rather than away.
Each grabbing a vine, Lily and Eiji maneuvered between its legs once again, while Rai used the elasticity to propel himself higher among the trees.
“On my signal,” Rai instructed, jumping across the branches of the trees. The thorn drake tore through many branches in an attempt to crush Rai. Nearing the one closest to it, the moment Rai’s foot left the branch, it burst into countless smaller chips from the impact of the thorn drake ramming into it. Swinging between its long horns on its back, Rai found footing on the thickest of them all.
The creature attempted to shake him off, frantically thrusting its body around. “Whoa Nelly,” Rai said, attempting to gain his footing. Pulling back on the vines he had in hand, Rai stretched them like a slingshot, saying, “I should have stayed home.”
“Finished!” the two below yelled. The raging creature found kicking its legs to grow increasingly difficult as the gum gums wrapped its body up.
“Here, we, g-” launched high into the trees, Rai held a firm grip on the gum gum vines, stretching them to their max. This caused him to come hurtling back down at an alarming speed. Simultaneously, the other two pulled their vines to their maximum stretch, causing the creature’s front legs to buckle.
“Sit!” Rai commanded when his feet connected with the creature’s head. Slowly, the thorn drake fell to the ground, shaking the earth as it succumbed to the restraint of the vines.
“We did it,” Lily said, breathing heavily.
“No kidding,” Eiji sighed a breath of relief.
“Uh, my nose has got dirt all up in it.” The creature moaning as if saddened, incited Lily to say, “We can’t just leave it like that.”
“The people of Kalumi will handle this, but first, you guys need to go, quickly,” Eiji urged.
“Why?” Lily asked.
“These are the woods of Kalumi,” Eiji stressed. “They don’t take kindly to unannounced guests.”
Meanwhile, having successfully stopped the rampaging drake, after removing the bandits disguise, Rai went to look for Zigga. “Alright buddy hurry up in,” Rai said of Plu whose little legs squirmed about until he was successfully within Rai’s inner coat pocket. Circling the woods, he noticed a faint pink glow amidst the usual blue and green hues. Approaching, he discovered it to be an extremely rare flower. Lumi’s! Rai plucked it, placing it in his pocket for later. What a find! Wait till Grace finds out. Heading back to deliver the news of Zigga's disappearance, a sharp point pricked him, sending chills down his spine.
“Dammit,” Eiji said as Nefarian figures clad in red, rushed onto the scene, surrounding everyone present.
“Eiji, what’s going on here?” Birchet, one of the Nefarians asked, glancing at Rai, he recognized the distinctive coat.
After Eiji explained to the best of his ability what had happened, Birchet responded, “So, after leaving the village without permission, yet again, now you’re aiding trespassers,” Birchet stated. “Did you learn nothing of the potential consequences of mingling in the affairs of humans?”
“No!” Eiji exclaimed, holding his finger up in a ‘matter of fact’ type of way. “But, I learned that fried twinkies are a thing,” Eiji said, “and that was pretty amazing.”
“He went past the border,” one Nefarian gasped.
“Oops… Oh come on, she was in trouble,” Eiji said, gesturing to the girl. “I can’t just stand around while someone needs help,” Eiji argued.
“And what if doing so brought ruin to Kalumi,” Birchet asked Eiji. “Actions can have consequences far beyond yourself, best keep that in mind Eiji.”
“Ugh,” Rai, grabbed his aching head.
“Boy from the slums; and all grown up. How’s your sister?” Birchet asked.
“How do you know my sister?” Rai questioned firmly, his eyes narrowing.
Sniffing the air, Birchet looked towards Lily.
“Don’t move!” Zigga emerged from behind a large plant, holding a knife at Lily’s neck. He had been hiding, concealing his flux until the right time to strike.
“Darn it!” Rai gritted his teeth.
“I demand safe passage out of this forest. In return, I’ll spare this Nefarian’s life,” Zigga proposed, with a crazed smile.
As one of the Nefarians approached him, Zigga activated his powers, but before the screech wave could reach its target, Rai intervened, taking the full force of the blast.
Birchet raised his arm, pointing his fist directly at Zigga. “Ikken,” he said, and a small ethereal blast of flux force burst out from it, striking Zigga in the forehead. Zigga collapsed dead, dropping the dagger beside him.
Lily, bewildered by the turn of events, stood in silence, confused, as the man holding her hostage suddenly fainted. Noticing Rai getting up, she rushed to his side to help him.
“Are you okay?” Lily asked, concern across her face.
“WHAT?!?” Rai shouted.
“Alright,” Lily said, holding her hands out while taking a small step away.
Fragments of Zigga’s body turned into flux bit by bit, until it completely vanished, leaving behind a little shiny oval seed. It was orange with a white wavy line on it.
“Thus is the fate of Abminus,” Birchet said, staring at the seed from which Zigga’s body was left behind.
“My ears are going to be ringing for weeks,” Rai stated, looking around for Zigga. “Where’d the other guy go?”
“Not sure,” Lily said also looking around, dumbfounded.
Birchet, walking towards the thorn drake, raised his fist again.
“Hey, wait! I wouldn’t do that!” Lily said. They barely managed to tie it up...
“Your eyes have much growing to do, little Nefarian,” Birchet said, dismissing her warning. Using the same technique, he severed the vines binding the creature.
The drake stood up, shaking off any remaining vines. Crying out, from the shadows of the woods, three smaller versions of the thorn drake emerged; their tiny roars resembling their mother's.
Lily’s eyes lit up, “How cute,” but right after she crossed her arms, upset; sticking her tongue out at Birchet. Curious, she turned to Eiji and asked, “Why didn’t you know it was harmless?” Lily asked Eiji.
“He puts more effort chasing the outside world than he does learning about it,” Birchet spoke for Eiji. He whistled, and other Nefarians surrounded Rai and Lily.
“Birchet, what are you going to do with them?” Eiji asked.
“That’s for the council to decide,” Birchet responded. “We’re heading out, bring the prisoners.”
“Prisoners?” Lily said, tears welling up in her eyes.
“That’s not fair!” Eiji protested, positioning himself in front of Birchet.
“I said prisoners,” Birchet said, glaring past Eiji as he too was handcuffed and placed alongside Rai and Lily.
“What did I do?” Eiji asked.
“Aiding a foreigner from the outside is a serious offense, not to mention passing Kalumi’s border,” Birchet explained.
“I miss the outside,” Eiji whined.
“This is the outside,” Birchet replied.
Nefarian urged Eiji and the rest forward.
“I mean the outside of the outside - or the inside of it,” Eiji said, confusing himself. “Point is, if I had known coming to the village would mean being stuck here forever, I would’ve gone back to Nitehood...”
“You made the choice, not me,” Birchet replied, to which Eiji slouched over.
“Hey Eiji, what exactly is the penalty for trespassing into Kalumi territory,” Rai asked.
“Shouldn’t be that bad, at least for you, but I did hear they once handed out a life imprisonment to a guy for plucking a flower,” Eiji said.
Rai began to sweat.
“Wow, only a flower?” Lily said.
“Yeah, supposedly it was a super rare flower sacred to Kalumi,” Eiji replied, sarcasm in his voice.
Sweat dripping from his forehead, Rai slipped the flower from his pocket to the one inside his jacket instead. What are the chances, right?