Chapter 51

Tobias and Cid's rucksacks had each been unloaded, their contents arranged side by side in a neat square.

"Always check yer kit before you go into the shit. This is no time for fear or failure, boy. You make sure you're ready, you know what you have, you know that it can perform, so you can perform. Leave nothing to chance," Cid lectured.

Tobias nodded, staring down at the various pieces of gear with a look of stern but nervous resolve.

"It doesn't seem like it should be as heavy as it feels," Tobias wondered, his eyes falling on the potion vials.

He had two of each needed, stamina, mana, and health. Next to them was a dagger for his belt, flint and steel, which seemed superfluous to his mind, and bandages with strands of a green leaf woven into them. There was even a sewing kit, with a large bore needle useful for repairing leather armor, a folded wax tarp, folded tight, and a light crystal set into a fabric strap resting on top of it.

"It's a balance; you'll customize your load out as I have once you've gained some experience and found your own way. Rangers are as individual as anything, boy. Now, is everything in good repair? This is not just cursory; this is serious," Cid insisted.

"It seems good to me," Tobias answered, checking everything over.

"Then belt on your sword, set your dagger, and let's get packed and ready. Leave out your headlamp; you'll need it," Cid replied, already loading his gear into his dimensional sack before shoving it into the rucksack he had pulled off his mount.

"Give it here," Riley projected just as Tobias finished loading up.

With a focus of will, it vanished into her inventory space, taking up eight slots.

"Wow, it unpacked everything," Riley marveled, willing the pack to manifest, saving her one space, "Is it ok to leave this here?"

Cid watched, rubbing at his chin, "Yes, good thinking. "

All hint of his harsh demeanor had evaporated, replaced by an intense focus and concern.

"Zorna come, beast, drop that bramble wall. We'll leave the mount here. This will be our fallback point should all else fail. If something occurs and I am incapacitated, there is a com crystal to Ranger Central in the left saddle bag. Make contact and hold for extraction; are we clear?" Cid insisted, his tone one of deadly seriousness.

"Yes Sir," Tobias nodded stoically.

"Then strap on your crystal and let's get to bug hunting," Cid ordered.

On the other side of the bramble wall, the blue lights of the glowing crystals cast a ghostly pallor upon the ground, the light stretching out wide, casting long shadows.

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"This place is even creepier in the middle of the night," Riley projected.

"Shush! Keep it quiet." Cid insisted.

"But my voice doesn't make noise?" Riley wondered, keeping it to herself.

With Cid in the lead, they moved stealthily forward toward the houses they had cleared.

The reason became clear soon enough. A straight swath of field cut out an almost perfectly straight line, tearing off towards the woods as if someone had decided to begin construction on a new road.

"Walk beside, not on; it'll be soft," Cid whispered as they stalked along, heading towards the darkened wood, the canopy so thick it sheltered whatever lay within from the scant moonlight.

The path of destruction only continued. Even trees had been attacked in the monster's paths, having been chewed down to stumps, driving Riley's worry higher.

"It's like a river… A river of bugs?" She said to herself, keeping her thoughts within, all as she kept her magic within reach, listening for any sound that wasn't the rustling of branches in the chill night breeze.

Yet, only a mournful quiet greeted her with all the warmth of the dead.

Finally, after almost a half hour of pure, preternatural silence, a cavern yawned ahead, with dirt piled up over an entrance at least ten feet in circumference.

Riley trembled, "What now?"

"We wake 'em up!" Cid said, flexing his hands within his gauntlets, "Now, draw yer sword, take up position over there, but do not engage. I'll draw them out and lead 'em on a merry chase through the woods with Zorna here. Once three waves have passed, you'll enter in and deal with the rest. Got it?"

"We're going to face this alone?" Tobias balked.

"I've got Zorna, you've got Riley. Trust in your companion, boy!" Cid slapped his shoulder, then drew a magistone out of a pouch upon his belt.

"Don't give into your fear. One day, you're gonna die, but the way you respond to fear determines if you'll meet it standing or kneeling. Rangers stand until the end," Cid said. As if that settled things, he chucked it into the hole while Tobias took up his position with Riley at his side.

"Clear!" Cid dove away as a massive boom shook the ground, followed by an intense flame bursting out the entrance, lighting up the night.

Scrambling to his feet, Riley saw Cid take out another and begin counting.

A rumble shook the ground like a growing earthquake.

"Oh dear," Riley fretted as Cid chucked another down the hole.

Another boom followed, and flames screamed out into the night, and with it, the rumbling only grew stronger.

A series of high pitched shrieking wails ripped through the night.

"Here we go!" Strangely, Cid did not draw his sword; instead, he took up a boxer's stance, centering himself in front of the yawning mouth of the artificial cave with Zorna at his side.

Her tail was up, the claw tip pointed forward like a scorpion's stinger pulsing with a dull yellow light.

"His hands, they're glowing blue again!" Riley whispered to Tobias.

"The old man is committing suicide," He worried, rooted in place, refusing to disobey his orders.

The first drones emerged, six legged and seven feet tall, covered in a spiny yellow exoskeleton. They were jointed like mantises, with the jaws and head of a stag beetle.

Cid crouched, then launched himself up in the air with a powerful burst of magic, rocketing at least fifteen feet up, only to descend like a meteor, his feet angled for the first charging insect.

Landing upon it, it exploded. Unfazed, Cid pivoted on his heel and threw a punch, detonating the head of the second. Methodically, he began to work through the oncoming wave, fighting towards the hole, throwing furious combinations of jabs, uppercuts, and kicks. With each strike, to Riley's eyes, a blue pulse of magic flashed.

Zorna lagged back like an artillery platform; yellow arcs of lighting sparked from her tail, ripping through the monsters and decimating the first wave.

Cid leapt back, breathing rapidly, with a manic grin on his face, covered in bug slime, twenty five corpses of antlions laid out in a ring around him,

"That's wave one! Go in on wave three," Cid cried.

"Holy shit, he's Chuck Norris!" Riley boggled, her eyes wide.