Sometime after midnight, Tor shook me awake. “Bad news, we have two humanoids incoming from the north, they are about one minute away and are headed right for us.”
I scrambled to my feet and drew the All-Weapon. I turned it into an air bow because I couldn't afford to make any noise in the middle of the night, who knows what's prowling around out there. I stepped out of the cave and triggered Gecko's skin and propped myself up behind a rock.
I could see two figures stealthily making their way right for me. I started to notch an arrow when they both drew up short and looked my way appearing to be scanning for me.
The one in front whispered, “I can't see you, but I know you are there, If you are human we mean you no harm. We just need a safe place to lay up for a couple of hours, we haven't slept in over two days.” They started to slowly walk towards me with their hands out in front of them off of their weapons. I focused on the one in front. His name was Paul Weller. The one next to him was John Stevens. They were the two hikers I had been sent out to rescue...
I cautiously backed away from the rock and lowered my Gecko skin, both men stopped and took a quick step backward, startled. I lowered my bow and raised a finger to my lips and waved them forward. They glanced at each other and trotted over to me. I walked them both in front of the cave and looked at them. They were a mess, clothes torn and dirty looking like they had been through hell, but they each had weird-looking, futuristic, rifles slung over their backs and some kind of laser pistols on their hips. Paul had a huge backpack made of some material I had never seen before. I noticed a sleek watch of some kind with a muted blue light on it strapped to John's wrist.
“Paul, John, my name is Brownbear, I am a ranger for the park and I have been searching for you.”
“Oh thank God!” John said looking at my uniform, “Do you have any idea what the hell is going on? We have been seeing aliens and fighting off monsters non-stop for the last day! Did aliens take over Earth? What is happening?”
I looked him in the eyes and right off of the bat made some kind of connection, my skill must have been doing something because I could sense that he was lying about not knowing what was going on. “I have as little information and am as confused as you two are.” I lied. “Have you guys eaten?”
Paul shook his head “We finished what we had in our packs yesterday, I am starving.” That was a lie as well. I went over to my pack and started taking out some Sterno and a small pan.
“I can help with that.” I say.
I pulled some meat out of my inventory and started cutting it up. Both men look over and noticed the sled with the fur covering it. “What's with the sled?” Paul asked. I moved over and pulled the fur aside uncovering the Elf and Cub. The cub looked up and started to sniff his nose straight up in the air.
“I found a couple of souls in need and am trying to rescue them,” I replied.
John and Paul looked wearily at each other and John said, “One of those Dark Elves, we have met one as well, they are scouting out the area.”
I looked up surprised at him, “You have met one as well? What happened?”
Paul looked down at the Elf and said, “This morning we came across a spaceship in a clearing. A man was fighting off a pack of Yeti. He had finished them off but was dying as we made it to him. He kept repeating that we should tell the Duchess where his body was so that he could be buried at home. He died and we locked him up in his ship and took his guns. It is the only reason we have survived. I think the dragon forced him to land and hide.”
Part of his story was the truth, but not all of it. My sixth sense was ringing with a warning. I could feel it in my bones when they lied to me.
In my mind, Tor said, “Be very cautious with these two, something is not right here.”
I sent back “Yeah, I can feel it too.” “Dragon?” I asked.
“Yeah, you haven't seen it? It's huge, been flying all over the place all day, just north of this mountain.”
I looked back at the Elf on the sled. “Nope, haven't been North of here. Huh, makes sense, I found this one in a crashed ship that was torn apart and scorched, just like she had been in a fight with a dragon.”
John and Paul got a little excited at that. “Did she happen to have a big bag like this one?” He asked, holding the bag in front of him. I shook my head, “Nope, in fact, she had nothing on her, she wasn't with her ship, I found her in a busted up escape pod of some type.”
Paul looked at John and said, “I bet it is still on that ship.”
I craned my head up at the two of them, “What is that thing?”
John hesitated a second and said, “Near as we can tell, it is some kind of alien tech, this bag can hold about a hundred times what it looks like. There is some sort of extra space in. Like a video game inventory bag.”
I stared at the bag wondering what was in it and knew that they wanted another like it. One from my Elf's ship. All I said was “Huh, neat.”
“So what happened to you two anyway,” I asked.
The cub was pawing at my leg smelling the meat cooking, so I gave her a small cut piece which she settled down on the floor and took between her paws and started gnawing at.
“It's stupid really.” John began. “Paul lost his phone in a fall, and mine simply ran out of juice.” He shook his head, “We never were lost actually, we just decided to go a little further than we had planned. We are both experienced hikers and knew that losing contact would cause a fuss and people would be sent out to search for us. It's really very embarrassing.”
I almost growled at the man, I was stuck here away from my family for these two idiots and they were never even in trouble.
Paul said, “I got offered this Bushmaster class and John got Tracker and between the laser guns and our new skills, we have managed to avoid most of the monsters.”
“Huh, well, with three of us now we have a much better chance at getting out of the park. You guys have about seven hours before daybreak, I suggest you take it. I have already slept a few hours, I'll keep watch. We will need you as fresh as possible to get out of here.”
I passed the meat over to John as Paul started pulling sleeping bags out of his pack. John looked up sheepishly and said, “Hey man, I'm sorry you're stuck out here because you had to come to rescue us. I feel terrible, it's all our fault, but I will do everything in my power to help you get out of this park.”
He held out his hand. I slowly took it and shook it and stared into his eyes and triggered my Enthrall skill. My mind seemed to split in two, half of it went inside his and half stayed with me. I could skim his thoughts in visions and what was at the top of his mind was scary. It was a vision echoing over and over of him and Paul repeatedly stabbing a wounded Elf on the ground with handmade wooded spears...
“It's fine John, it's what I get paid to do and I'm good at it, we will get out of this. Now I want you to go get some sleep and not wake up until the sun has come up.”
He said, “Yeah boss, sure thing.” He went over and started unrolling his sleeping bag. Paul gave him a weird look and looked back at me. He finished his last bite of meat and dumped a little water in the pan and swirled it and dumped it to the side.
He walked over to me and said, “He must be wiped, he is acting strange. I want to apologize as well.”
He held out his hand also and I took it stared in his eyes and Enthralled him. “I want you to tell me completely and precisely what happened with that Elf you two ran across.”
Paul ran his tongue nervously over his lips and looked back to John who was already turning on his side and falling asleep.
He whispered, “It wasn't my idea man, I swear. We did come across that Elf when he fought off a pack of Yeti, and he was severely hurt, but John saw his rifle and wanted it. He..”
I could feel him fighting the compulsion, so I layered it on him again. “Go on...”
“We sneaked up from the side of the ship where the Dark Elf couldn't see us and John jumped in the air and drove a spear through the guy pinning him to the ground. He was already about 95 percent dead. We forced him to tell us what was going on. He explained how there is this “System” that has taken over the planet and turned it into a monster spawning machine, something to do with relieving mana pressure from other planets whatever that means. He was scouting this area for his boss and taking samples of precious minerals from this area. He had a tool that just reaches down into the ground and pulls stuff up. That bag is loaded with gold and diamonds and platinum and God knows what else. It is worth a fortune!” There are tons of metals inside of it man. TONS!
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We dragged him inside the ship and made him explain it. We can't fly the spaceship because we don't have the skill set, but we can buy it from these shops that are set up here now. We killed the Elf...he was basically dead when we found him. We looted the ship and then stealthed it and locked it up. It felt so wrong to me what we did, but he looked like a monster, and they are taking over our planet so... We planned on coming back for the ship later.”
My eyes narrowed. “Here is what is going to happen, Paul, you and John are going to help me and my wards escape this park. Even if it means sacrificing yourselves for us. You will tell John tomorrow that everything is fine, that you talked to me and I am cool. You will have no thoughts of betraying me and if John has any other ideas you will take him out, do you understand?”
Paul started nodding his head up and down. “I got it, I never wanted to kill anyone, you have to believe me. I got your back.”
I clapped him on the shoulder, “Good man, now I want you to go get some sleep, and nothing will wake you up for the next seven hours.” He nodded and made his way to his bag.
I sent to Tor, “How long will this Enthrall hold over these guys?
He replied, I'm not sure, but I will alert you a minute before they wake up and you can hit them with it again as soon as they get up. They will be groggy and that will be a powerful Enthrall.”
I cooked myself a little meat and gave the cub another piece. He chewed it with gusto and purred loudly and climbed into my lap. I laid down on my back and put the cub on my chest and stared into her eyes. “I have never seen anything as beautiful as you in my life.”
It was true, the cat had an ethereal kind of beauty to her. She was covered in stripes that were so faint that they were hard to see. The only reason you could make them out was that they were the slightest Robin egg colored blue, barely visible, they slowly flickered in and out of existence. Something to do with her Phasing skill, I was sure.
I stoked the cub behind her ears and whispered to her, “I am sorry you lost your mother, little baby, I promise I will not let anything hurt you, I will fight to my last dying breathe for you.” The cub looked at me and nodded and then mewled and licked my chin. A notification of blue text shot up before my eyes:
Congratulations!
You have bonded with a: Phasing Snow Leopard!
This bonded animal is now your companion for life.
This companion will level up with you and acquire its own skillset.
Please visit the shop and acquire additional information on this species as it has the ability to phase into the spirit realm at will and this could cause complications.
The cub purred even louder and rubbed its face all over my chin marking me as hers. I chuckled and scratched its ears.
“Well now little one, it looks like you are my newest family member. Your big brother will be thrilled to meet you. You will need a name tho yes? Hmm, let me think... My Grand Mother used to be quite the wild woman and ran over these very mountains for most of her life. My Grandpa had an old Native word he used for her nickname. It was Yepa, it meant Snow woman. How do you like that? I always thought it was a beautiful name. YEPA! I love it, what do you think?”
The cat purred deeply and started to lick my face with a raspy tongue. “I'll take that for a yes, Yepa it is then. You must be getting tired no? Let's get you back under the warm fur with... Err, we better name her too, I feel rude calling her Elf all the time. How about Onida, It means searched for.”
The cub jumped off of me and scrambled out in front of the cave and peed and then trotted back to me. I got up and grabbed her and put her back in the bed with the Elf. She wrapped her paws around the Elf's neck and closed her eyes.
I was getting stiff sitting on the rock for hours with my Gecko on and I started to stand up to get my sleeping bag to sit on when Tor sent me a tell. “Oh boy, we have big trouble incoming. Five humanoids of a very high level. I would guess that they are here for the Elf and you are hanging out with two Truinnar murderers!”
I slowly stood not wanting to get myself in any trouble and watched five huge humans walked up to me. They stood anywhere from 6'8'' to 7'4''. They were not Dark Elves, they reminded me of Native American Indians, although their features were off. Eyes too slanted and cheekbones too sharp. They stopped in front of me silently and looked me right in the eyes.
“Hello, I’m Bowen Brownbear, are you here to kill me then?” I said.
The one in the back seemed to smirk, but the rest didn't move a muscle. The one in front, and the biggest one, looked down at me and said, “Quite the opposite Brownbear, we are here to train you.”
I tried to hide my shock and said, “Train me? Who are you guys... Why would you want to help me, I am just a park ranger.”
The one in front held out his hand. I went to take it in a handshake and he grabbed me by the inside of my forearm and shook that instead. “You may call me Kodiak and we are your progenitor's!”
“Progenitors? What does that mean, you're our Elders or something?”
Kodiak shook his head. “Not exactly Brownbear, you are the same race as we, although a bit different because of the gravity of your planet. We are not your Forefathers, more like cousins.”
I looked up at the sky. “So all of the ancient stories are true then, you are of The Sky People?”
The man nodded, “That is what you call us? Apt I suppose, we did come from the skies I guess.”
I stared up at him with an open mouth not believing this. “Son of a freakin bitch, Ancient Aliens was right the entire time! Hahahahaha, I can't believe it!”
Kodiak looked at me like I was crazy. “What is Ancient Aliens?”
I stared back at him, “It's a TV... Umm, it is an entertainment program we have here that talks about Aliens from outer space. The Natives always talk about “The Sky People” who seeded them on this planet and gave them knowledge. Most people think that they are crazy.”
Kodiak shook his head back and forth. “They are not crazy... Now let us talk about why we are here and what you will be doing the next few weeks.”
I took a step back from him. “The next few weeks? Umm no, thank you Kodiak. I have a Wife and Son that I need to get back to as soon as possible. I'm sorry, but I can't help you.”
Kodiak stared at me “You have no choice I am afraid, You have been granted the All-Weapon. It is a powerful legacy weapon of our people and the owner must be trained in its use.
“Tell me the names of your Wife and Son and where they are. I will dispatch Otter at once to make sure they are safe. He will be with them in mere minutes. Not even you can provide protection such as this.”
I looked back at a man and he nodded at me. “Why can't you just take me now to them?”
Kodiak started to look a little impatient and said “Because you are going to be busy and we can afford no distraction. You hold a named legacy heritage artifact! Now tell me the names and location at once.”
I asked, “Do you have a map?”
A blue map jumped into view in front of my eyes. I moved it until Juneau came into view and zoomed down until I spotted our street. I zoomed further in and touched on top of my house. A way point dinged on it and I looked at it. “That is my house, My wife's name is Sammy... Er Samantha and our son is named Billy.” I heard a noise and waved the map away to see Otter turn and take off.
Kodiak stepped forward and grabbed my shoulder. “If they are still alive Otter will get to them, now let us go inside and sit, we have much to discuss.”
We sat in a circle and the men were introduced, Eagle, Condor, and Bison. They all looked nervously back at the sled.
Kodiak immediately focused in on the sled. “Who is that back there under the fur?” Kodiak asked.
I ran down the story on how I found Onida and Yepa. As soon as I mentioned the bond with the cub Bison stood up and ran back and lifted the fur. He placed a hand on both of their heads and I could softly hear him swear. He came back shaking his head and said to Kodiak “Too late, already started.”
Kodiak looks at me and shook his head. “So be it, it is nothing we can change and although it complicates matters, it is already done.”
I looked at them confused. “What is already started?”
Kodiak shook his head “The bonding of course. You have bonded with that cat as a companion.”
I nodded “Oh that, yes it happened earlier tonight, is that such a bad thing?”
Kodiak shook his head, “No, in fact, that is a good thing, a great thing even. Those Phasing Cats are extremely rare and quite powerful, but you put the cat in with the Truinnar.”
I searched all of their faces. “Truinnar?” “And?”
Kodiak chuckled, “And, The cat is now bonding with the woman also as we speak. It rarely happens, but the cat is dual bonding. You are a kind of Mother and Father to it now.”
I said, “I'm still confused, so the cat is bonding to the woman also, what's wrong with that?”
Kodiak gave me a frown “Are you dense? You will now have a shared bond with the Truinnar. I hope your first wife is a strong woman!”
I stood up and looked down at them “WHAT? Wait a second! A shared bond, what does that entail? My wife will kill me if I come home with another woman, especially one that looks like that?”
All four of them started chuckling knowing exactly what I meant. Kodiak waved me down “Looking like what? Exotic and sexy?”
“YES!” I sputtered out. “Exactly that, exotic and sexy, How do I get out of this bond?”
Bison spoke, “I am an animal expert and I can tell you how if you wish to end this, but you will have to do it now. It will become much much more painful for you if you wait much longer.”
I looked at him, “OK, I will do it now, what must I do?”
Bison said, “I must warn you, It will you hurt badly, and take you out for a day or two, but you must kill that cat cub right now if you want the bond to be broken. Be warned though, you might kill the Truinnar as well in her current state.”
I sat down with a thud, “Kill Yepa?” I looked over at the cat wound around the Elf's neck and shook my head, “Not a chance, I swore a vow to protect her, that's not happening.”
Bison nodded, “Good, I would think much less of you had you decided to do that.”
I stared at the sled and the bodies in it. “Sammy is not going to be happy.”
Kodiak pointed to the two men sleeping in the bags, “What is the problem with these two, I see you have them Enthralled.”
I nodded and told him the entire story of how I was searching for them and how they killed the Elf. They were all shaking their heads by the end of the story. Eagle stood and went over and started taking their weapons and putting them in an invisible inventory.
Kodiak shook his head and looked at me. “This is bad Brownbear, very bad. I will explain as much as I can, there are things I cannot tell you, but there is only one way this is going to end. You must kill them both.”
“What do you mean I must kill them!”
Kodiak said, “Number one, we are not supposed to be here. At least not secretly as we are doing right now. We are breaking truces that have been in place for ages and breaking them would allow excuses to be used to war upon our peoples. Thus it must be you. And before you say anything else know that this is not something that may be debated.”
I thought about that and said, “And number two?”
Kodiak sighed. “These people, the Dark Elf scouts, are all royalty of the Truinnar, sent as political prisoners if you would... They are here on behalf of a powerful Duchess who would make a very ugly enemy to you and your people. There are skills that can tear the truth out of you, and if it was discovered that you knew what happened here and let those two go, it would be a disaster for all of us.”
I shook my head “But how would they know? How would they even tie me to this?” Kodiak just pointed at Onida.
I thought it thru. “You think Onida was here looking for the other Dark Elf?”
Kodiak nodded “Surely. This is no coincidence. Two of them in the same area at the same time? Impossible. The fact that you are shortly going to be bonded to the Truinnar will help keep you alive, but if it was found that you aided these two murderers? Not only would you, your family, and everyone you know be hunted down and killed, but maybe your entire city. You don't know these two men, there is no reason to sympathize with murderers. They have no honor, cutting down a wounded being. We shall wait until they wake and do it.”
I looked at the two men, a pit growing in my stomach. I was going to be forced to do this and there was nothing I could do to stop it. The lack of concern these men had over forcing me to murder was concerning to say the least.
Kodiak handed me a book called Thrashers. “Now, I want you to read thru this in the meantime, It will explain much of what is happening.”
A few hours later and John and Paul were waking up. I was there as their eyes opened and layered another Enthrall on both of them. I put them in a relaxed state and had both of them on their knees as I questioned them. Tor recorded the entire thing.
John smiled the whole time as he described to me how he killed the Truinnar. It seemed he had gotten a taste for murder and liked it. It helped me a little bit with what I was going to do. Paul on the other hand really didn't want any part of what happened, but he was scared of what John was becoming and he caved in and joined in the killing. He was a coward.
The time had come. I felt like I was going to vomit and my hands were shaking. As both men were on their knees in a state of unawareness I took the Truinnar staff and slid it into the back of their brains executing them. I felt sick to my stomach but kept a stoic face on for the camera. This video might save my family's lives someday. I got their loot including the bag and Eagle and Bison dragged the bodies away.
Kodiak gave me a grim look and simply said, “It is done, let us go train.”