I disabled the barrier around the campfire and sighed, “Here we go guys, down the river. We have no clue how long Haley has left, or what Brent's plans are.”
Lory came over towards me and hugged me. “It is alright Steve, we both failed, it can happen, failure is always an option.”
Abby grunted, “I will be ready for that trick the next time. Whatever that thing was that the man in purple robes used, it slowed my healing powers, it also hurt my ears a lot.”
Funk looked at her, “I think it is some kind of artifact, he must have used it because he did not want a physical confrontation.”
Lory looked at me, “We should head out.” I nodded and we started walking.
“He used five kinds of elemental energy. While we make our way towards the capital, we need to think of a strategy to take Brent down.”
Funk nodded in agreement, “First things first, we follow this river downstream and cross the ocean. Otherwise we are never getting to that capital.”
Abby looked at me, “How is your balance? With one wing missing?”
“I am doing fine, it should regrow in the future.”
Lory looked at me, “And what about that thing inside of you?”
“He is keeping calm, staying nicely on his side, he is even lending me power to help me, even if it is very limited.”
Lory nodded, “It is good to hear he wants to help out to get Haley back.”
I cracked a grin for her, “However, once she is safe, I am sure we will be at each other’s throat again.”
Funk pointed somewhere, “I think that is the small ocean.” All of us nodded and kept following the river. At the end we came out near the ocean, it is not enormous, we could see the other side.
Lory looked at the ocean and seemed to be looking for a bridge, “What is our plan?”
I smiled, “I have a plan,” I grabbed a huge wooden plank out of my inventory. “This should float,” I spawned some oars. “We should peddle to the other side.”
Abby hung her head, “This is not going to injure me, is it?”
Funk chuckled, “History tells me, you are the most likely person to get hurt, or even die. You take insane risks.”
Lory sighed but she let a grimace form on her face, “There is no time to waste, we should just get on and track Haley down. We have no idea how long that king dude is going to take to build the execution stage, or if it is ready.”
With Lory’s words, I nodded and pushed the plank into the water and jumped on it. The others followed me and we started peddling. The current is forceful and started dragging us along. “Just keep paddling guys!”
Some kind of crab with fur jumped on the wooden plank, it seemed to be fuzzy as it had hairs, creepy crawly hairs. It also had four claws and pinched me. I grunted, “Get off me, you stupid crab.”
More and more crabs jumped on top of the plank. I got up and started hitting them and kicking them back into the water. Lory looked at me, “Are you alright Steve?”
“Yes, keep paddling, these crabs are trying to halt our progress, I will keep them busy.” Our plank bashed against a rock and Abby almost fell off. I managed to grab her by her arm and pull her back.
She looked at me, “Wow, thanks Steve, you saved me, even I need saving sometimes.” I chuckled, “keep paddling, you would have been fine anyway, though, I would rather not add drowning to your list of deaths.”
I kicked another crab away. Suddenly, a colossal fuzzy crab emerged from the water, it was at least six times my size. “Guys?”
Funk looked at the giant crab, “Don’t tell me you have been kicking her babies!” The giant crab started snapping its claws.
I spawned a red blade and jumped away from a giant claw, but the other claw already came for me, I had no place to maneuver and got hit and landed in the water. The current immediately dragged me away and the giant crab ran after me. I got bounced around and dragged under. I heard rushing water behind me, it was the waterfall. With a lot of energy and steering while dodging the claws, I managed to land on a small rock, near the edge of Stratos Isle as Brent called it.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Another claw came for me, I shot a huge red beam and the crab’s claw got evaporated. I heard the voice of Captain in my head, “Don’t use too much red energy, I don’t have a lot, and it takes time to regenerate!”
Another claw came for me, I blocked the claw with my red blade and fired a small red beam at the claw. It got hit dead-on, and it fell off, not as fancy as evaporating, but it will have to do. That is when I noticed the giant hairy crab has only one big eye. I grabbed the red sword differently and threw it like a dart, right in his eye. It screeched in pain. Another claw came for me and I used my right wing to block the attack, the claw pushed me to the edge, I grabbed the claw and started heaving and pulling. I managed to rip it off and blood started pouring out, but the backlash made me slip, and I fell backwards, down the waterfall.
As I fell down, water rushed over me, Captain shouted out loud, “Use your silver energy to teleport closer and grab that branch with red energy.” I focused my silver energy and imagined being closer, and I teleported forward for the first time, it was an odd sensation. I launched a red tendril of energy towards a branch as a whip, and it successfully wrapped around the branch.
Slowly I pulled myself up and grabbed the branch. I managed to get myself to land near the jungle with a lot of trouble. As I landed on the shore, I fell down and rolled on my back. “See, if we work together, we can actually achieve shit.”
Captain chuckled, “We are only working together until we have saved Haley. Then the war is on.”
“Great, I am looking forward to that, want to pin date? Perhaps we should find the others by following the shore? That seems more important.”
Captain did not respond, I got up and started following the shore. After walking for about twenty minutes, I found the others pulling up the wooden plank. I waved and Lory ran over towards me. “Thank god Steve, you are not dead.”
I chuckled, “Some stupid crab is not going to beat me.”
Funk looked at me, “Are you alright?”
“Yes, Captain helped me, the guy inside of me.”
Abby looked at me, “How did he help you?”
“If he helps me, I can use red energy, like Alice. He also gave me some sound advice about what I can do with silver energy.”
Lory sighed, “Can’t he always be this friendly?”
I shook my head, “He cares about Haley, no matter how strange that sounds. Once she is saved, he wants to unpause our battle.”
Abby looked at the jungle next to us, she sighed, “Tell me about this jungle Steve.”
I looked at her, “Seriously?”
She nodded, “Yeah, I am starting to appreciate it, just a little.”
Funk chuckled, “It grows on us.”
“Alright, let me see, The forest is small, gloomy, and primal. Its canopy is demanded by plants that resemble hemlock, holly, and juniper, who are permitting ample, shimmering lights to descend for a plethora of herbs to flourish in the rich grounds below. Swooping vines are waving from many trees, and a medley of flowers, which grow in a sprinkled and disorderly fashion, enhance the otherwise brown and green forest grounds. No animal sounds can be heard, it is also devoid of smell.”
Lory sighed, “Something is wrong with this forest.”
I nodded, “Indeed it seems there are no animals at all. I bet Bella did not exaggerate about this jungle being lifeless. Abby, are your wounds okay?”
She looked at me, “Yes, I have been healing, it is slowly returning to normal.”
I nodded, “Funk, how is your shell?”
“I am fine Steve, thanks for asking.”
“Lory?”
“I am in pain, but I will be fine.”
“We should wait for at least thirty minutes, then we are all replenished. We have no clue what is waiting for us. It is probably best if we wait for a while to make sure we are ready. If we go into this situation half-baked, it is not going to help anyone.”
All of them agreed, and I pulled out some sandwiches for everyone. “Once we had some food, have dried ourselves, and replenished some energy, we are going to tackle this jungle.”