May 31st, 2018. 7:10 PM.
Elio breathes heavily as he leans his back against a tree, slightly shivering due to the colder temperature of the mountainous forest adorned with towering spruce trees as their lush green branches reach skyward. Amongst the rugged terrain, large rocks and boulders form natural sculptures as flat cactus plants are scattered amongst the evergreen forest. Their paddle-shaped segments contrast against the coniferous backdrop as the crisp mountain air carries the scent of pine, a harmonious blend of fragrances enchanting the wilderness. Elio looks back toward the coast and gazes at the sky, seeing the Levacean; “Shit… given the sun’s position… I only have fifty minutes. I really gotta pick up the pace. Hold on, Reggie, I’m almost there!” He shouts to himself in frustration as he pushes himself away from the tree and walks his way further up the mountain. He spots a large, almost, almost pterosaur-like creature that flies to the top of a rock wall, its body a silhouette from the sunlight.
Elio continues to trek up the mountains until he comes over to the towering rock wall that looms overhead with jagged edges jutting out as though they’re ancient spears. Harsh shadows play on its rugged surface, concealing treacherous crevices and daunting overhangs. Sinister, dark recesses between the massive rocks, sending signals to Elio’s brain that there are dangers awaiting him, while the sheer height instills a foreboding fear of what lies on top. The cold, unyielding texture of the stone exudes an unforgiving nature, as the ominous silence amplifies the feeling that any misstep could lead to perilous descent.
“Mind over matter. You’re almost out of time. Who cares if you’re out of breath? It’s just a flock, or legion of devil birds you gotta deal with.” Elio pep-talks to himself. He taps his face with his hands; “Alright, here goes nothing!” He begins climbing the rock wall. Against the cliff, Elio’s muscles tense as he ascends the vertical symphony like a spider, as though he were defying gravity. His every move is like a rebellion against the sheer drop below.
While making progress, his ears pick up a noise from above, he gazes at the top of the cliff, his mouth opening in curiosity; “Huh?” He asks as he remains still, a devil bird walks toward the ledge and stares down at him. It drags its foot on the ground and kicks some gravel off the cliff; “Shit!” Elio shouts, tightening his grip on the rocks to avoid slipping from the gravel. He looks back up when the gravel stops falling, even seeing the devil bird walking away from the cliff.
“Thank you…” Elio sighs in relief before resuming his climb. He begins to hear loud noises, the staccato orchestra of heavy sounding machine gun fire echoes with a relentless percussion, reaching Elio’s ears in a thunderous cadence. Elio realizes that it’s the sound of multiple devil birds, he sees that they’re taking turns in an attempt to push a boulder toward the edge of the cliff. Elio’s eyes dart toward a rock jutting out, he makes an attempt to perform a dyno, but as he jumps, he’s greeted by a harsh cracking sound as a devil bird from a distance swoops down and ensnares his body with its talon. Elio’s able to get a good look, seeing the sheer size of the monster’s body, taking in the demonic avian’s obsidian plumage, its sinister fists extending from its feathered wings, adorned with razor-sharp claws that speak of infernal potency. Its patagium, dark as the abyss, billows beneath its shadowy shroud. Piercing yellow eyes and its beak radiate an otherworldly intensity as its ivory horns curve with sinister elegance, a stark contrast against the abyssal blackness of its body.
“I know these things are cunning, but seriously?! They coordinated that fast?!” He quickly realizes that to prevent him from dodging, the one flying is going to throw him under the boulder once it falls down. Elio holds his palm up, channeling his heat into it; “HEY!” Elio shouts, causing the devil bird to glance at him, he then fires a gust of hot wind from his palm. The wind begins drying its eyes out, the monster’s voice crackles as its eyes close, letting go of Elio subconsciously. He grabs onto the rock wall, feeling the rush of adrenaline kicking in. The boulder falls, but instead of trying to perform the dyno once more, Elio jumps back and turns around, grabbing onto one of the devil bird’s horns, he pulls himself to land on the top of its head. “Going down?!” Elio shouts cockily, he then jumps off of its head, sending it off course. As the devil bird plummets, Elio reaches out and grips onto the root of a tree sticking out of the cliffside, swinging himself up and landing on the giant root.
The falling devil bird recovers after a few seconds, looking up at the others and crackling, they get the signal and begin flying as well, quickly surrounding Elio. Elio braces for an attack, but they stop and begin to fly in place, one of them flaps its wings as hard as it can, releasing a strong gust of wind in an attempt to blow him away. Elio holds onto the branch tightly; “Wait… this actually works in my favor! Ok, Elio, be so fucking careful…” He takes a deep breath. Suddenly, in less than a second, Elio stands up and throws his hands downwards, releasing a powerful gust of wind from his palms, Elio shoots himself upwards in a diagonal direction, reaching high in the air and creating space between him and the devil birds.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
Elio hurls through the air, the world becoming a spinning top to him. He sports an insane grin as he yells in sheer bliss; “YES! THERE WE GO! IT’S ALL EASY FROM HERE!” He aims his arm off to the side and fires one last gust of wind, propelling himself to the side and landing on top of the mountain’s peak where the nest is, he takes a quick breather before getting into his fighting stance, preparing to get into close combat with the devil birds once they get back up. One flies up, diving toward Elio, he dodges by jumping forwards and grabbing it by the neck, swooping under the devil bird and landing on its head, grabbing the horns to hold on. It reacts by trying to fly higher.
Elio aims upwards with one palm and fires a burst of wind, forcing the devil bird’s head to face down, it faceplants. Elio backflips off of it and immediately pivots on his foot as another tries to fly in to claw at him. He jumps over the claw swipe, performing a spin kick, only for it to be interrupted as one of the others speeds by, grabbing Elio’s leg with its talon. It swoops upwards before flying in a loop, gaining speed and letting go of Elio, making him fly to the ground. “Umph!” Elio groans as his back slams onto the hard, rocky surface.
Elio rolls over to the side to recover from the attack, getting up quickly, his eyes dart toward a tree on the clifftop, spotting several eggs in a nest at the base of the tree. Elio’s grimace on his face from the pain suddenly turns into a grin; “There they are! Well, then, I think it’s time I use their bait and punish tactics on them to end this!” A devil bird attempts to perform a falling stomp attack to crush him, Elio rolls out of the way, he looks up, seeing that it stopped falling, flying in place; “The birdie’s stopped falling, which means…” Elio shoots a gust of wind from his palms, instantly rolling backwards, a devil bird lands in the spot he was in before moving; “...they tried to bait me out. There’s a reason these beasts are part of the Monster Class.”
Elio then dives forward and slides between the devil bird’s feet, he pivots on his hand and leaps up, performing a helicopter kick, staggering the bird. He then leaps toward the one still in the air and puts his hands together in a hammerfist, he strikes down on the devil bird’s head, sending it straight to the ground. “And it’s as simple as that! Bait them out by not fighting strategically!” Elio lands on the ground, quickly cartwheeling into a backflip, reaching the bird’s nest. He picks up one of the eggs; “Woah! These are hefty!” He laughs a bit out of slight surprise.
One of the devil birds that was just struck looks over at Elio, immediately, its cold, bloodthirsty face turns into one of fear and bargaining as the others give out the same reaction. Despite being frightened, one of them tries to make a last ditch effort to kill Elio to protect its egg, Elio weaves from the attack by casually stepping to the side. He then looks over the towering cliff, the vast expanse of the world unfolds below as he sees the surreal tapestry of the desert-forest landscape. The deep orange sky casts an ethereal glow, painting the world in warm hues as a now purple sea stretches beyond the horizon in a mesmerizing contrast. The silent dance of the rocks and trees capture the essence of this otherworldly panorama, giving the devil birds a sense of the sheer drop as Elio steps forward, chucking the egg.
The sounds of their screams make Elio feel almost like he’s in a warzone with how loud they are. He turns around while holding the egg in his other arm, revealing that he never threw the egg at all, his posture is relaxed as he speaks more calmly; “Hey uh… your egg’s still here.” Though he’s not given a reaction due to them still freaking out, he fires a gust of wind to get their attention; “I didn’t throw your egg!” Elio yells. They stop crying as they see the egg, befuddled as they believed Elio was there to eat their eggs.
He puts his hand up to his mouth and clears his throat, now having their attention, he takes off his backpack and opens up one of the pockets, putting the egg inside. He then points to the sky where the Levacean is; “Take me there.” Elio orders them through body language. Desperate to keep their eggs safe from him, listen to him, but making sure that they’re on the same page, one of them points its claw in the same direction. Elio nods; “Yes.” His body language affirms it, the devil bird nods back and Elio smirks, knowing that they’ve now come to a compromise.
One of the devil birds gets down on all fours, allowing for Elio to get on, Elio puts his backpack back on as he climbs on its back. He looks back at two of the other devil birds and points his index and middle finger, beckoning afterwards to let them know to come with as well. Elio gently pats the devil bird on the head, letting it know that he’s ready to take off, it runs to the ledge and jumps off, flapping its wings and becoming airborne. Elio holds onto the devil bird tightly, and in a short amount of time, Elio’s even higher in the air, able to see the very curvature of Kosmesen.
He’s left in awe as he looks at the planet below, speechless for a moment as he’s lost in his own head. Processing that in just a couple of hours, he went from a simple high school graduation ceremony to riding on the back of a monster. He stares for a moment more before snapping out of it as his body, clothes, and backpack all get soaked as they’ve flown straight through the clouds. His grip tightens and gets more serious. “Right. I can gush about the view later. For now, I need to save Reggie, and as much as I wanna bring down Gendross, I don’t want to risk his life. Damn… this just begs the question; what can I do to pass this test? Gendross is too powerful, and even if I leave after getting Reggie, they’ll be long gone in Ganymede. Actually, wait… wait a minute!”
“Why am I just limiting myself to one option on stopping Gendross? If they’re planning on leaving for Ganymede, then I’ll just thrash the engine room and report it to the recruitment center. That should not only force them to have to land, but it’d be much safer than actually having to fight Gendross myself, then because of the egg, Reggie and I can just escape on their backs. Yeah, that should work!” Elio grins with excitement, knowing that there’s a chance for him to succeed. His grin goes away as he closes his mouth, his face boasts determination; “Alright, there’s no time to waste! Fly faster!” Elio orders as the devil birds begin to soar closer to the Levacean.