Chapter 11

MILLENNIUM

PART 2

“Kali. Kali- Come on, we’re packing up.”

Feeling the hand that was shaking her retract from her shoulder, Kali blinked and squinted through tired eyes to find her friend Mara kneeling next to her in their tent.

“Mm- Morning.”

Wringing the sleepiness from her face by dragging a hand down across it, Kali could hear a lot of noise from outside their tent- Primarily consisting of two masculine voices arguing over, what sounded like, how to store their tent.

Raising her eyebrows in a gesture towards Mara, the two shared a grin as they eavesdropped on their companions continued struggle- It wasn’t like they hadn’t setup and broke down that very same tent at least a dozen times now.

When a lull finally set in the between the heated discourse outside, Kali opted to break their own silence, feeling somewhat called to talk about what she could remember of her night’s events.

“So… I dreamed of Millennium last night- It was… Different this time.”

Interest immediately piqued, Mara cocked an eyebrow and dropped down from her squat to sit completely on the floor, here for every bit of it.

“Different how? Were you still in the white city of leaves?”

Nodding, Kali sat up, trying to grasp what she could from the fading dream.

“Yeah- It wasn’t the location though, but that eight-eyed mech I’m always following. We went down into… The- The ‘Metro’, that underground train idea I told you about before. Everything was normal at first, but then, once we were on the train, I swear to Somni, it looked at me. Straight at me. And the feeling… It still gives me shivers- Something like fear, but… Rooted in a sense of awe that defies analogy. I’ve never felt so petrified like that in my life, let alone my dreams- It felt like I was at its mercy- Then… Something happened. The train went dark in the tunnels, and… That’s it. You were waking me up.”

“Mm… Well it is just a dream, so I doubt there’s any cause for concern, but then again, best to be on our toes- If it looked at you, it might have started to notice, making ‘you’ a target, and figments of our imagination can hold sway over our lives, especially if it gets a taste of mana.”

As the last bit of the dream fell into hazy memory, Kali sighed, unable to place what had happened at the end, for all she knew, the shaking in her dream might have just been Mara trying to rouse her.

“Yeah… It was just a dream… But why were you waking me up? Did I oversleep?”

“Mm- No. That miasma up north? It’s still up there, but the animals in the jungle aren’t. We’ve got a stampede a few kilometers out- Spotted it this morning, so the other two are picking up camp and we’re gunna can sail out before the hoard gets here.”

At just the mention of the word, Kali’s eyes went wide as her mind shot from just-waking-up to full-alert. Stampedes were typically classified as one of the worst natural disasters, on par with eruptions and tsunamis, and potentially worse- At least those didn’t target people as food.

Short of obliterating an ecosystem just to endure the waves of creatures swept up in the roving tide, the best course of action was to get out of its way long before it noticed you. If you’re lucky, the stampede won’t wreck your home.

Sweeping the hair from one side of her head, Kali leaned over and placed on of her pointy-ears against the ground, more out of curiosity than confirmation, and… There it was- A deep rumbling in the distance, at least three, maybe five kilometers out, just as Mara had said.

Sitting back up, Kali thought about all the scrap she still had left to salvage out in the wastes- Now having likely lost her chance to collect any more of it. Mara, however, seemed to be reading her mind.

“Don’t worry- I picked up a few more choices pieces last night when I went out on a walk. Jackle was nice enough to watch the camp for a while, so I took my time ‘shopping’ around for you- It’s all on the ship already.”

Grinning, Kali still couldn’t believe she’d found a friend not only willing to put up with all her nonsense, but seemed to actively encourage it- A rarity in her culture.

“Am I really that easy to read? Jeez Mara, you can slack off sometimes… I don’t suppose, with all the urgency of the morning, there’s any breakfast?”

Bursting out laughing, Mara seemed a little too pleased with herself.

“What do you take me for, a fool? Of course I made breakfast- How else was I gunna motivate those two, let alone get Anvi out of bed?”

Nodding and smiling, Kali could see Mara was, as usual, a few steps ahead of everyone else.

“Haha, alright- Well I’m up, gimmie a minute to get dressed proper and I’ll get our tent packed up.”

“No no. You get dressed, go have breakfast- I’ll get our tent when you’re out.”

Nodding, Kali exchanged a parting smile and reached to grab her pile of clothes as Mara shuffled her way out of the tent. It seemed, for both of them, they’d struck upon a very valuable thing, a friendship that brought both of them a bit of joy in the never-ending ride that was life.

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Neither of them were young, far from it, and with such age comes a mix of survival habits and trust issues that tends to manifest towards solitude. Not unwanted in most cases, but companionship was rare for elves, and lasting friendships were even harder to find.

Yet, somehow, they’d both found another that seemed to perfectly match the other’s ‘weird’, and then paired it with a decent amount of conversational chemistry and mutual thoughtfulness.

All in all, it was a little cheesy, a bit much, and certainly toed the line on ‘friends’, but as far as she knew, Mara had zero interest in men or women, and for her… Well, twelve years together was a drop in the bucket for both of them, and some part of her still wanted to give it more time before she even considered something like that.

Tugging on her boots as her mind swam with thoughts she usually kept to the side, Kali was about to finish lacing them when the image of the eight-eyed mech staring into her flashed into her mind once more, startling her for a moment until it passed.

Shaking her head, Kali knew Mara was only trying to be helpful, but it was her who’d told Mara that it was ‘just a dream’ in the first place. Yet… Lately, it had definitely been getting harder and harder to believe her own words, this latest vision was just more evidence to the contrary.

Feeling the premonitions of hunger rattle her insides, Kali gratefully thanked her stomach for the much needed reminder, and consciously set her mind to matters more material- They had a stampede headed their way after all.

Parting the flap of her tent, Kali poked her head out to find just two of her three companions near the morning fire- Mara was heating up her breakfast while Jackle set about breaking down the magic wards they’d erected around their camp.

Stepping out, Kali looked about until she spotted their fourth- Beneath a gull sailing out above the waves, Anvi was loading up their ship with what remained of their haul- Mainly her stuff by the looks of it, three more burlap bags had joined her initial one, courtesy of one gray-haired benefactor.

“Oh, good you’re dressed- I’m afraid you’ll have to eat out of the pan, dishes are already packed up, but at least your eggs will stay warm this morning, and if you want extra seasoning, just hold it up to the salty breeze.”

Intercepting her gawking, Mara had walked over to pass the warm skillet to her, along with a fork, and patted her on the shoulder before making her way to dismantle their tent.

With a light sniffle and a couple of blinks to adjust to the cool air and bright light of the morning, Kali looked down to see the breakfast she’d been handed, then back to Mara, who was already pulling anchors from the ground around their tent.

Shrugging, Kali made her way to sit at one of the salvaged logs they’d dragged next to their camp, nodding to Jackle as she passed him- The man too focused on untangling the weave of protection wards to even notice her gesture.

The eggs weren’t anything special, though, as recommended, the salty breeze helped. With little else to watch but the fire in front of her and the birds flapping out above the ocean waves, Kali took to watching her stocky companion, Anvi, as he had finished loading and was now setting about unfurling the sails.

Walking up behind her, dragging their tent behind her in the sand, Mara saw she’d confirmed she’d finished eating and glanced to their north before turning back to Kali.

“We’ve got maybe twenty minutes, can you douse the fire? We should probably head to the ship.”

Nodding, Kali stood up and began to shovel dirt atop the cinders with her foot as Mara turned to observe her pupil’s progress.

“Jackle- Time’s ticking. You almost done?”

Hearing a confirming grunt from the aging archeologist turned mage, Mara turned to Kali and gave her a shrug, it was probably the best they were going to get, and mutually opted to head to the ship without him- Kali lifting the other end of the tent behind Mara as they set off.

Approaching the coastline, Kali could hear Anvi rustling about, but couldn’t place the noise until the sharp screech of a bird cried out, and she looked up to see an aqua-gray bird with a long neck bolt from the deck of the ship, followed closely behind by the sudden sound of Anvi’s cursing.

“Bliman Bleepin Blasted Bards! Chewin on mah ropes? Not on this ship!”

Clattering to the edge of the hull in pursuit of his winged angst, Anvi looked down to find the fairer two of his companions staring at him with startled looks.

“…Wha? That there’s violay’ted t’ sank-titty of t’ boat! ‘Tis bad luck!”

Climbing up as Anvi attempted to defend his actions, Mara was the first to reach the deck and gave Kali a helping hand up as they exchanged a mutual look of mock disbelief before cracking up at their ‘barbarian’.

Turning towards the dwarf, Mara glanced about the ship, giving it a once over herself before double checking with her first mate, only to see he was still staring off into the distance, desperate to find the winged beast.

“Pfft- It’s just a bird silly. How we looking?”

Turning back to his captain, Anvi gestured up to the sails then back towards the beach.

“The winds be fine, and lumens grin down upon us- Sea should be fair, but t’ omens beseech. Birds of number, beasts astir, and too many quiet nights… You feel it too, no?”

Nodding, Mara had to agree- The signs were there. On the horizon, Mara could see the dust and debris rising into the air, heralds of the many feet pounding away beneath the sandy clouds. But it wasn’t just the stampede, that wasn’t even a factor. No, it was all the other bits that only she was collectively privy to.

The Obelisk had been quiet ever since her departure, which was both good and bad, but there was a feeling to the air that tended to only accompany great disasters. So if it wasn’t the stampede, and Dante had little reason to lash out at them, then something else was coming their way, it was just a matter of time.

Approaching the rear of the ship, Mara cupped her hands around her mouth to boost her voice and yelled out to raven-haired idiot still walking circles around the beach.

“Oi! Jackle- Leave it and get your boney butt on the ship! We gotta go!”

In the distance, the black robed figure threw up his hands and screamed, his little book in one hand and a quill in the other, but all together, too far away too make out much more than distant grumbling from his outburst.

Looking out to the north, the rigorous mage-in-training heaved an exaggerated sigh and turned to shuffle his way back to the ship, morphing into a jog half-way as the sound of the creatures began to shift into concerning rumblings.

As he made it to the side of the ship, Kali started to haul up the rope ladder, with Jackle on it, as Mara began to summon up water beneath their hull to lift them off the sands.

In mere moments, the rumbling had progressed to trembling quakes as thunderous amounts of paws, hooves, and pads clamored down upon them, but turned just short of the ship as the water swelled between them, pushing their craft out to sea.

Sparing one more glance behind them, Kali could see naught but dust and sand swirling above a tempest of chest-thudding blows, pounding the ground flat beneath their tracks.

Staring down at it all, Kali couldn’t even begin to fathom fighting such a swell, it was like fighting the rain, you’re bound to get soaked eventually.

Suddenly, a screech cried, an animal trampled underfoot, and Kali’s mind was sent right back to the carriage in the dark tunnel, just as the wheels derailed- Same screech, the same pitch.

Without warning, Kali was torn from her mental vision as a monolithic explosion bloomed out from where the forge had been sitting- Large enough to push their entire craft to the side in the unprecedented gust of wind.

Racing to her side, her companions joined her at the banisters as a tremendous red-orange cloud sprouted up into the skies above their heads, turning to a deep dark gray as it spread out far above the crazed birds that fluttered about the coastline.

“Ohh… That’s quite the dent.”

Simultaneously, all three of Mara’s companions turned towards her, all equally unsure if she was to blame for this, or if she truly was just that nonchalant.