Previously on Protector’s of Worlds:

Our heroes have won a great victory!

After a long-fought battle with the Scavengers and the magnetic automaton, Magnopsy, the Glorarex bomb went off, damaging the hive and scaring off the amorphous invaders, causing them to retreat. This allowed the Rovernites to reclaim their home and rebuild finally!

While our two heroes were contributing their help, Marcel came across the same portal that brought Calem to Cybenetex. Knowing why it was here, Calem told his friend that it was time to say goodbye to Starman and the Rovernites. Marcel was hesitant at first, not wanting to leave his master and all the friends he made on Cybenetex but after a reassuring talk from Starman about how he’s been given a gift to help others, a more invigorated Marcel joins with Calem as both prepare themselves for the new world.

What new obstacles await them? Let us proceed….

X

An abundance of life was thriving everywhere in a vast area with lots of lush vegetation. One of the lifeforms, a small lizard creature, resembling a mix between a gecko and an iguana with purple skin, long back spikes, and yellow spots was idling by, cleaning its eyes with its tongue while resting on a stone.

Its eyes motioned around until the left eye locked in on a small insect that resembled a moth with red coloring perched on a leaf. The lizard slowly moved its head toward the direction of the moth and in the blink of an eye, shot out its tongue, grabbing it and pulling it into its mouth, crunching it multiple times before swallowing it whole.

In the middle of everything, a bluish light illuminated everything before forming a strange wall. This caused any nearby creature to flee away, scared by the whole thing. The wall turned out to be a portal as our two heroes, Calem Drewick and Marcel Lamunci walked out of it. As they checked their surroundings, the portal behind them vanished in an instant.

“Amigo, where are we now?” Marcel said, curious about where they’d been taken.

“No idea, but we’ll know more once we start moving.” Calem responded as the two start moving forward, getting through lush bushes and plants while animal calls could be heard in the distance.

X

Upon traveling for miles, the two got a better understanding of the environment around them. Judging from the numerous plants and wildlife, the massive trees that block sunlight, and the hot and humid atmosphere, they believed they are in some kind of jungle area.

The two then pushed some big plants aside and found themselves a new area to explore. It was a large open field of grass surrounded by trees, some above average while some were 150ft tall, with bushes bearing big blue fruit about the size of a basketball. They felt relieved that they didn’t have to go through dense plant life, trip on undergrowth, and deal with tiny pests that bit them repeatedly.

Walking through the grass fields, they came to a stop for about a mile when they saw a magnificent sight.

They came across a small herd of creatures that resembled stegosaurids with vermilion eyes and two sets of color schemes on their bodies: their entire front side was entirely ultramarine blue while their backside was a cerulean blue. The adults were about 12ft tall and 25ft long with sharp back plates and at the end of their tails was a spear-tipped blade. The young were about 7ft tall and 11ft long with spherical balls on their backs and no spear blade yet, but instead, a small ball hidden within the tip of their tails.

The strangest thing about them was that the back plates and the spear-tipped blade on the adults and the balls on the young had a metallic look to them.

The creatures were minding their own business with the adults eating grass and keeping a watchful eye for any predators while the young ate the fruit on the bushes and played with each other.

“They’re…They’re amazing,” Calem said with amazement as the two admired the creatures.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

In their astonishment, they didn’t notice that one of the young was approaching them, intrigued by them. When they snapped out of it, the young was circling around them, curiously sniffing them, causing them to stay still like a bunch of statues.

It didn’t take long for its mother to notice what was going on. While they weren't doing anything to her child, that didn’t stop her from thinking they were predators, waiting to deliver the killing blow. Driven by parental instincts, the mother charged straight toward them, roaring as loud as possible.

“Oh, shit!” Calem yelled out which caused him and Marcel to run away, leaving behind the young one while its mother chased after them.

They ran as fast as they could, but the mother, despite its massive size, proved to be quite fast as it was catching up with them. They braced for what was about to happen but slowed down when they noticed something wrong with the mother.

She stopped giving chase and was frozen solid, sniffing the air before letting out worried whimpers. She quickly runs back to her child, roaring to it as both rush back to the herd.

“What just happened? Why did it stop chasing us?” Calem said, confused by the mother’s reaction.

“No idea. Something must’ve scared it.” Marcel responded.

GRRRRRRRR…….

A low and heavy growling sound came from the trees behind Calem and Marcel, startling them both and having them stay perfectly still. Slowly as they can, they turned their heads back to see what was growling. In an instant, something big jolted out of the trees, causing the two to roll out of the way.

What just flew out was a massive theropod-like creature that stood around 15ft tall and 7ft long with a roundish body, yellow skin, small green eyes, a viridian green underbelly, short stubby arms with a single claw, long toes for which they walk on armed with long sickle claws, and hard brown ridges on its back.

The herd quickly noticed the quick and deadly predator coming their way and went into a panic, scattering about everywhere. The alien theropod roared viciously while chasing other herd members away, disorganizing them even further.

The carnivore comes to a stop as all the alien stegosaurids have escaped…..save for one, who had an injured back left leg. Its strategy worked: launch a surprise ambush attack, which will cause the herd to go into disorder, having them flee until the slowest or most injured is left behind.

Now that it has prey within sight, the predator swiftly catches up to it. The injured herbivore, realizing it's alone and the others have fled, decides to fight. The two beasts roar at each other, not backing down. The carnivore moves back left and right, looking for a perfect chance to strike while the herbivore stays on the defensive, rearing its tail back.

With a quick bluff attack, the theropod was able to have the stegosaurid swing its tail, having it miss and with a clear opportunity, strike with its right sickle claws, hitting the body as they cut deep into the herbivore's flesh while roaring in deep pain. With the spear-tipped tail coming back in quickly, the carnivorous theropod, using its amazing agility, jumps back and quickly manages to get in a claw strike with its right leg, this time managing to claw into the stegosaurid's back leg.

The wounds on the herbivore proved to be deadly as red blood bleed from them like a waterfall, nearly dozing off and their legs shaking. Now that the prey is weakened, the alien theropod didn’t waste any time, looking to finish the hunt.

While this battle was going on, Calem and Marcel were watching this whole thing unfold. It was at this point that the alien theropod clamped its jaw on the body and relentlessly struck, leaving deep lacerations. The cries and wails from the poor creature made the two feel sorry for it.

“Shouldn’t we do something?” Marcel asked.

“No….” Calem responded slowly, knowing deep down that he wanted to help the alien herbivore, but knew that this was nature taking its course. “Let’s go…..”

As he said, the two venture on but Marcel stopped after a mile to look back at the two battling monsters, only to see the alien stegosaurid collapse on its right side, dead from losing copious amounts of blood. Now that its prey is finally finished, the carnivore starts feasting, slicing big chunks off before picking them up with its jaws and swallowing them whole. Having seen enough, Marcel catches up with his friend.

X

Our two heroes, after traveling for so long, have now come across a new location: a beach area that extends for hundreds of miles with water washing in every now and then. Walking for so long has exhausted them that they decided to sit and rest for the moment.

“Nowhere else to go. What now? “ Marcel said while massaging his aching legs as Calem brainstormed a few ideas.

He didn’t want to go back and risk getting attacked by some carnivore and he didn’t see any signs of land for miles in the open sea. Suddenly, an idea came to mind!

“Why don’t we build a raft?” Calem suggested.

“A raft?” Marcel said while chuckling a bit. “That’s the best you can think of? Have you ever built one before?"

“Not really, no,” Calem said. "But by doing this, we could find another island, maybe one with less hostile creatures,"

“I guess so………” Marcel said slowly, hesitant at first with the idea. “But we don’t know what’s out there.”

“Well, it’s either that or we stay here and become something’s lunch,” Calem responded.

Once the word “Lunch” came into mind, Marcel turned his head back, looking at the jungle, and thinking of the vicious alien carnivore he witnessed before. He figured that that one was just the beginning, that there are other predators, larger, scarier, and more ferocious than the last.

“Alrighty,” Marcel said before getting up and doing a bit of stretching. “Let’s get to work, shall we?”

Now that they have a plan, the two summoned their armor, went into the jungle, and proceeded to fetch supplies. Marcel would try to find logs that were about 8ft long and 7 inches thick and using his strength, bring back around one or two to the shore while Calem used his sword to cut through thick vines that could hold the logs together. For hours and hours, the two traveled back and forth, bringing in any supplies they can until the sun is gone and night comes in.

Tired after a long day, Calem and Marcel sat next to a fire, relaxing while eating some fruit. Having had their fill, the two then go to sleep. With all the materials they have, they believe they can build the raft tomorrow and venture out to the sea but for now, it's time to rest……….

Now that they have what they need, will our heroes be able to find new land? Find out in the next chapter!