Chapter 10
Rage of the Alpha
*** 147 Years ago, ***
I sighed as I watched him trip again, spilling more than half of his food on the ground and scraping his already scar riddled knee.
He got up like nothing happened and ate the rest of his bowl, the annoying ever-present grin on his face, a grin I tried to wipe out every day, but it always keeps coming back to annoy me further.
“Come on boys, let's go” The sound of the high chief brought me back to my surroundings, making me switch my eyes from the round-faced green-eyed face of my little brother.
““Yes father”” we both sat up from the table, leaving behind our empty bowls and headed for the beast pens.
He’s even useless at beast riding I thought as I watched him struggle to ride his Kushabi, his small frame hopping off the ground, trying to catch the saddle.
“Amaar, go help your brother” Ordered the old man in his raucous voice.
“Yes, father” I helped the little goro, holding him from his hips and placing him on his small beast.
We reached the training grounds after a short journey through the forest. Wearing our training armor, father instructed us the daily boring basic training I hated so much, but I was in no place to object. Besides being my father, this man was the high chief of all the tribes, Loftar the Octamanus.
Few hours of punching, chopping, and grappling with air, the time came for the spar where I get to beat the little shit to a pulp.
He stood a few steps away from me stretching his body, his idiotic grin stuck on his face like always, few teeth missing from our previous spar.
“Begin!” Signaled the old man, allowing me the chance to break the little shit’s face and thankful for him never asking me to go easy on him despite the large gap in age, observing our usual one sided beating.
I wasted no time and charged the grinning boy, and did the same, ignoring the fact that I’m almost twice his size.
The little shit swung first, a swing so wide and slow I could nap before it reaches me, rewarding himself a counter in his wide-open abdomen, making him drop on his knees, letting go of the half bowl he ate a few hours ago,
Not giving him the chance to get up, I wrapped around him and grabbed him from the back and threw him in the air few meters high after a couple of swings, but the lucky goro miraculously landed on his feet, taking a few steps back to regain his balance.
He started to charge me this time, flailing both his arms around like the training we just did was nothing but a mere game to him. I dodged everything he threw at me easily and waited for a chance to teach him the difference in ability between us, a lesson he never seems to learn.
The chance finally came with another wrong chop from him, I caught his left arm and twisted my body, changing its direction and crouching down, preventing him from moving it completely while pressing away from its original position.
“Do you yield, Mahaar?” my father spoke to the groaning child under me, asking him if he forfeits the spar, but I already knew he wouldn’t, no matter how much I pinned him, punched him or broke his bones, he never did.
Father went silent again, watching me slowly pressing down the arm, his eight arms crossed with a satisfied expression on his face, adding fuel to my hatred towards the child under me.
Anger flared inside me, I pressed down the arm more until a loud crack echoed throughout the training ground, followed by a shrill of pain from the child. I got up and took a few steps back, watching the little shit holding his arm and twisting on the ground, wailing music to my ears.
After a few breaths of joy on my side, he got up again, his left arm hanging beside him, his grin is gone from his face, drawing another on my own.
He charged again at me in another futile attempt to even poke me. He jumped in the air with all his might trying to reach my face. I saw his usual wide swing coming and went on to counter, aiming for his face this time, but my body suddenly stopped as if something held me down in place. My muscles froze stiff, refusing to obey me and move.
The swing kept coming closer and closer to my face, sweat forming on my forehead like Nothal coming out of its hive. I gritted my teeth and moved my head back with all the force I could.
*Swoosh*
The swing went by my face, he missed.
Before a sigh of relief could come out of my mouth while I deliver a counter to the child’s face, my eyes widened in terror. Another arm was heading directly to my face, hidden behind the swing that just missed it by a breath.
Behind the arm, was another arm, and another, and another. Tens of transparent arms even larger than my fathers flew directly at my face as if inviting me to an eternal slumber.
I couldn’t dodge, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t even blink, death was coming at me.
*Thuck*
A light punch hit my cheek, Mahaar fell down on my shoulder in a hug after his swipe.
No, this can’t be happening. The hidden arms, a gift was directly given to the Alpha Grokati by Gola herself. No one has ever seen it before, but it was mentioned in ancient parchments.
“Why? Why does it have to be him?” Involuntary words left my mouth as I held the child by the throat, rage engulfed my whole being, I couldn’t think clearly.
*Slap*
“WHY?”
*Slap*
“WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE THIS USELESS BRAT?”
*Slap*
“ANSWER ME GOLA, WHY”
A large hand suddenly held mine, preventing its next strike on the unconscious child’s cheek.
“That’s enough Amaar, the spar is over” My father’s calm voice brought me back to reality, reminding me of his imposing presence with only a stare.
He snatched the child from my hand and held him with his top arms, and raised him towards the darkening sky.
“BUAHAHAHA! THIS IS A FINE DAY INDEED, A TRULY REMARKABLE GIFT, MIGHTY GOLA” Father delighted voice echoed through the air, his beaming smile covering his face.
And as if the heaven replied him, ear piercing thunder roared through the skies, only to widen his smile and turning it into a full-blown hearty laughter.
Resentment crept into my heart, adding more to the pile of hate I have for this child. I trained harder than anyone, worked harder than anyone. I was the perfect son to my father as best as I could. I was even on the verge of breaking into the overlord stage.
Yet, Mahaar was the favorite, father always loved the useless piece of shit more than me no matter what I did, and now, Gola herself.
My vision turned darker, throbbing pain in my head, my body was getting hotter by the second, I wanted to take back what was rightfully mine.
Let Gola be my witness, that I will take revenge on whoever wronged me, oppressed me and took what is mine. I, Amaar, son of Loftar, oath that someday, rule over all the Grokati and take what is rightfully mine, no matter the cost.
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*** Adam's POV - Kaiserstein ***
I watched in awe as Mahaar threw back the huge rock at the shocked Noran with one hand, aiming to crush him under his own creation.
The Noran quickly got himself together, the shock on his face had all but gone. He waved his hand, splitting the incoming rock into smaller crate-sized blocks before directing them back at the Grokati with even more velocity.
Hundreds of big rock chunks shot towards the golden Giant which in turn raised both his arms after taking a few steps back, shielding me and Ryola from the incoming hail with his own body. Thankfully, he was tough enough to get out with only a few scratches.
“So, the barbaric Grokati wants to play” sneered Shipol levitating above ground on a chunk of rock. “But first, let's get rid of this annoying thing over there” he added while forming a huge spear made of rock in front of his hand.
The spear started spinning and twisting like a bat out of hell, and with a rumbling sound, it shot forth from his hand in my direction, making a deafening screech sounds.
“Mahaar, Watch Out!” I shouted in a panic to the golden Grokati protecting us with his three-meter bulky frame, but all I got is a “Heh” coming out of him.
More muscles started appearing on his body before he raised his arms, intending to meet the spear head on.
The golden arms met with the screeching spear, pushing Mahaar back, his feet drawing two big lines on the ground. His body started shaking and blood particles flew out from his hands should be.
Mahaar stopped, so as the rock spear. I couldn’t see well from behind him, so I carefully put Ryola down and stepped forward to check on my friend, but before I get close, his bloody hand gestured me to stop and go back to the sleeping Laireen.
“This is my fight, Friend” He turned his head back to me, his face grinning, but this wasn’t his usual warm cheerful grin, this was a grin of madness and bloodlust like he was actually enjoying this.
With a warcry, he slammed his fists into the ground, taking out a chunk of rock the size of a small car and threw it at the floating Noran who didn’t recover from the shock of Mahaar stopping the spear.
The rock Mahaar threw collided with the one holding Shipol, making him lose balance and start to fall down, smashing into the hard surface with a loud thud.
I went back to the defenseless Ryola, settling for being a spectator for now, watching Mahaar walking in slow steps towards the fallen Noran.
“FINE! HAVE IT YOUR WAY” Following the thud, rocks all around us started to fly towards Shipol body, sticking to his skin as if being sucked. Stone by stone, some kind of exoskeleton formed all over Shipol’s body, covering it completely.
Holy shit it’s a stone Golem
The golem kept growing with every rock added to its body until it became twice the size of Mahaar. It was Mahaar vs Komaal all over again.
The Grokati didn’t give him any time to grow more and immediately charged him, streaks of golden light following after his figure.
A storm of punching, kicking and headbutting rumbled over the place. Shipol’s punches leaving small bruises on Mahaar’s body, while any damage the Grokati did instantly get replaced by more stones, healing the golem back in no time.
I truly believed that Mahaar was going to lose. His punches were much stronger, but any damage he inflicted healed immediately, it was a useless effort, at least that's what I thought, and he proved me wrong again.
“Cordi is he-”
“Yes Adam, he’s getting faster by the second” Interrupted the AI, confirming that my eyes were right. His mad grin grew larger and his intense bloodlust filled the air, he also knew it was a matter of time before the golem crumbles, and crumble it did.
Punch after punch, Mahaar arms turned into a Gatling gun, chipping away the golem piece by piece till he reached Shipol’s body inside, punching him faster than the stone reformed.
“Ugh! ENOUGH!” shouted the Noran, jumping back as the Golem completely fell apart, his robe tattered and his body and face full of blue bruises, but Mahaar didn’t give him any space, and dashed towards him with another one of his heavyweight punch.
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“Time to end this, filthy creature” Hesitantly clamored the bloody-faced Shipol, spitting out broken tooth and wiping the blue blood from his face. His eyes started glowing light blue, his brown hair flattering along with his robe, he was doing something dangerous.
“Mahaar, watch ou-” I tried to warn my friend, but it was too late.
Mahaar suddenly stopped mid-punch.
“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” he started howling in pain without the Noran even touching him, holding his head with his hands like he had the most intense headache.
“NOOOOOOO! PLEASE NOOOOOOOOOOO!”
“AMAAR, I BEG YOU, DO NOT DO THIS. KOMAAL, PLEASE!”
“SOMEONE HEEEEELP!”
“FAAAAAAAATHEEERRRR”
“Mahaar, what’s wrong with you? … MAHAAR! ” I shouted at my friend in pain, preparing myself to put Ryola down and move to help him.
A thick stone dome suddenly formed around me and Ryola, cutting off my shouting and my normal vision. I immediately activated night vision and X-ray vision, but I still couldn’t see anything, there was not a single fleck of light around to guide my eyes.
clenching my fist and punching the stone, I kept hitting the half meter thick wall until I made a small hole allowing me to see what’s outside, but Shipol didn't allow it, he glanced at me and the stone instantly reformed, closing the hole like it never existed in the first place, throwing me back to the darkness of the dome. But I too, couldn’t let it be.
I raised my right hand where the space ship thing is to the wall.
“Go little one, eat that stone like you did at the beach,” I asked the ship to free me like it miraculously did this morning. However, this time, it didn't move an inch.
“Come On, turn it to dust, please!” I pleaded the motionless coiled snake
“You fucking useless dildo, do something!” I slammed my wrist to the wall, but it didn’t look like it had any effect on the rubber bracelet. But it gave me one of the most stupid ideas ever.
I kept punching the wall until I remade the hole, but this time I shoved my head in it. I knew it was dangerous, my head was my most vulnerable area, but I didn’t give a damn, my friend was in danger and my tongue was strong enough to hurl a stone at him to hopefully break whatever illusion he’s in.
From a stone dome with a human head sticking out of it, I watched Mahaar on his knees, looking at Shipol like he was his God or something.
I looked for the biggest stone I could find, wrapped my tongue around it and threw it as hard as I could at Mahaar.
The stone hit his back, doing absolutely nothing, it was like he wasn’t aware of anything around him, his eyes widening and his big arms dropping beside him. Shipol just looked at me like I was a pebble observing the scene from distance.
“F-Father?” Declared the perplexed Mahaar, his attitude changed completely.
“Yes child, it’s me” Replied the smirking Shipol while walking slowly to my friend, the last droplets of blood leaving his nose.
“H-How? Father, I saw you die that day” asked Mahaar with a breathy voice like he was going to cry.
“I didn’t die, son. I was saved by Gola, we’ll speak about that matter later, but now, be a nice boy and accompany me to smash that human head over there” The Noran pointed a blue finger at me and ordered the mind-controlled Mahaar. His smirk is getting bigger, probably satisfied that he just hit two birds with one stone.
FUCK!
“Yes, father” Mahaar said before turning and heading in my direction. It was so faint one barely could notice, but hints of anger could be seen on his face.
The Norn followed right behind him, his eyes shimmering, probably maintaining control over my friend.
“Now, crush it son” Ordered Shipol as soon as they reached the dome, the golden eyes stared at me for a few seconds before Mahaar did something I did not expect… he closed his eyes and opened them slowly as if nodding to me that he understands what was happening.
“Father, this man over there has always been nice to me, and you always said that I should always be nice to people,” asked the Grokati, veins popping out on his reddening forehead one after another.
“Yes son, but this man is actually have been using yo-” Before the Noran could finish the sentence, Mahaar instantly turned back and held him by the throat and slammed him violently into the ground.
“HOW DARE YOU! YOU FILTHY GORO!” Roared the golden giant in extreme rage I never imagined that could come from him before. My sweet caring friend with a bright grin was gone, replaced by something that even hell wouldn’t dare spew out.
I have no idea how he broke the illusion, but that Noran must have done something that really pissed him off.
*BOOM*
The Grokati rode the lying body of Shipol like an MMA fighter, punching him with slow yet powerful punches conveying his fury. The dawning golden tattoos on his body shaking violently with every blow.
*BOOM*
“YOU DARE TAKE THE IMAGE OF MY FATHER?”
*BOOM*
“HOW DARE YOU, SHOWING ME THAT SCENE AGAIN”
*BOOM*
“THAT FACE OF THAT BACKSTABBING BASTARD AMAAR, THAT FACE THAT I SWORE TO GOLA THAT I WILL CRUSH IN MY HANDS SOMEDAY, HOW DARE YOU SHOW IT TO ME”
*BOOM*
“AND YOU EVEN LIED IN HIS VOICE” His punches became even stronger, I could hear the Noran bones breaking, his skin tearing out, blood and pieces of organs making its way out of his body
*BOOM*
The stone dome around me collapsed, freeing me from the annoying prison the Noran created, I watched as Mahaar’s fists drove the Noran further down, burying him into the ground more after every punch, making me actually feel pity for the poor thing.
After moments of hesitation, I walked up to the small crater Mahaar made and put my hand on my friend’s shoulder, praying that he recognizes me and stop. I wasn’t sure that my body could even handle one of these punches.
“M-Mahaar, I-I need him alive,” I was almost certain that he was already dead, but what I really wanted is to have my old kind friend back, not that golden monster brutally punching Shipol inside out.
As soon as my hand touched his shoulder, his head turned to me and I saw his face. A frown that could scare the bravest of men wore his tear-filled round face, his eyes full of sadness and sorrow, that Noran couldn’t do any worse.
He stood up and turned his body in my direction. I looked up at him with serious eyes.
“He’s gone now, it’s alright Mahaar, it’s alright. Good job my friend” I sternly said in a calm voice while raising my arm for a fist pump, it was either him not recognizing me, and in that case, I’ll be lying here near the blue mush in the hole, or he’ll be back to his senses.
Well, I think the fist pump idea was ridiculous.
I found myself flying up to him, my chest smashing into his face in a bear hug, he didn’t say anything as silent tears fell down from his golden eyes. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew that he was in great mental anguish, so I just hugged his head in turn, patting him on the back, trying my best to ease his pain and showing him that he’s not alone.
A muffled cough coming out from the small crater broke the brotherly embrace, Mahar dropped me down and walked up to where what remained of Shipol is. He reached out with his arm and held the Noran from the back of his robe with two fingers like a tissue full of snot.
“Here, he’s all yours,” Said Mahaar calmly. the tattoos on his body disappearing, his arms regaining its original platinum color and his eyes turning green again. He threw the body at my feet and walked back to where I left Ryola, not even bothering to look back at his work.
I crouched down to what used to be Shipol’s face, he was regaining conscious with one eye opening, the other one only god knows where it is now, maybe it was wrecked along with the missing half of his face.
“Looks like you fucked up big time, Shipol” I sneered at the dying Noran. His eye turned to me, but he didn’t remark, so I continued with my question.
“Where. Is. Mekshima?” I asked very slowly glaring back at him, trying to be as intimidating as possible, but I doubted that I was even close to what he just experienced.
His swollen bloody lips curled like he was mocking me.
“Okay, have it your way” I raised my hand and brought out my claws, intending to end the miserable creature’s pain in one blow, but his eye suddenly glowed blue, he was going to do to me what he did to Mahaar, slight pressure in the back of my brain could be felt, a distant voice I recognized echoed throughout my head.
“Bad move, little cockroach”
*Splat*
Shipol’s head exploded, covering my face with gray matter and pieces of his brain.
I stood there, stunned at what just occurred.
It was HER, just like what happened to the soldiers on TV
A billion-question started brewing in my head, I wanted to know. No… I needed to know.
“GIRL, WHERE ARE YOU? SHOW YOURSELF RIGHT NOW” I cried in anger, hating that I was always in the dark without any answers.
“CANCER, COME THE FUCK HERE AND EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!” I kept shouting and cursing, yet nothing happened.
<” Listen you pile of wires, step into my domain gain, and I will fry every worthless circuit of yours, are we clear?”>
<...>
<...>
<” Good girl, he he he he”>
“Adam, what’s wrong?” The voice of Mahaar brought me back to my senses, he held the still-sleeping Ryola with one hand from her belly like a banana and the wrapped weapon with the other.
“Wh-, Nothing my friend” I replied sheepishly, looking back at the headless corpse under me.
“You sure finished that goro for good, by the way, who is that cance-. Adam, up there beyond that tower” before Mahaar could finish the sentence, Cordi was already drawing dozens of red circles few kilometers away, along with the big hovercraft Mahaar pointed at.
Tens of black-robed Noran scattered across the buildings around us, along with hundreds of people in almost every window on the nearby buildings watching the battle. Sirens and the buzzing of the security eyebots approaching filled the air, it seemed that we were completely surrounded after the mess we just created.
“Cordi, how do we get out of this?” I quickly asked the AI for a way out, the number of red circles in my vision now in hundreds.
“I calculated every single route, Adam, there is no way out”
“Great! After all this, we stil- WHAT THE FUC-”
My arm started buzzing, the coiled thing on my wrist stirring rapidly. It suddenly shot forth and floated in front of me.
“Shashuaha shamastaaah” it spoke as a thin like formed on its tip.
“What?” I didn’t not only understand it but also didn’t fathom the situation as it started inflating like a balloon while slowly approaching me.
As soon as it got to the size of a shipping container, yellow eyes with black slits started appearing all over its body, the line where its mouth should be expanding and opening, revealing a pair of toothless gums and a black tongue in an endless darkness of a mouth.
“Mashhhtaaaa” it spoke again, as the tongue moved so fast and licked me from toe to head, nearly lifting me above ground.
Shit’s getting crazier by the second I thought as I looked back at the eyes of the creature staring at me like I was its mother.
“Adam, what is this?” Asked the slack-jawed Grokati next to me, only to be met with a scary growl from the creature, making Mahaar take a step back while holding Ryola tighter in his hand.
“Stand down, this is my friend” I ordered the black creature to stand back, declaring that Mahaar is not an enemy.
“Adam, this is a Bioship. An extremely rare breed of creatures only a handful of civilization have access to, but I never encountered such strange ship before, nor it is registered in my database. This one seems like it's in infancy stage though” Elaborated the AI about the enigma that just came out from my wrist before continuing with an alert.
“Adam, hostiles incoming” The Noran in black robes started to move, some were jumping down from roof to another while some flew directly at us, the police force also came into view, approaching fast with eyebots, hovercrafts, and some big robots I didn’t recognize, but it looked dangerous enough to me.
“Shit, what do we do now?” I blurted as enemies started approaching, Mahaar shoving Ryola over his shoulder while looking at me as if he’s expecting that I tell him to run any moment.
He seemed to be very tired from the earlier fight, but thank God, the awakening or whatever he just did had no effect on his like last time.
So, other than fatigue, he seemes just fine, probably it's the golden arm's doing.
“Adam, behind you” I turned around after hearing Cordi’s warning to find another whirling spear like the one that just tore into Mahaar’s hands moments ago darting at me, but this one was made of ice, and before I could react, the black creature jumped to receive it with its body in my stead.
“WATCH OU-OOooo?, neat” I stared in amazement as the spear disintegrated before it could touch the creature's body, but before I could praise it, a hail of more lances, boulders, laser and plasma shots rained upon us, the previous lance was only a warning shot.
Okay, we’re fucked! I thought as I helplessly watched as our doom approached.
*ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAR*
A deafening roar rang in my head, making me cover my half ears with my palms while thrusting a finger inside to block the sound even more.
The creature started growing more in size, everything that was thrown at us got sucked into its black body as the eyes looked in every possible direction, a pair of black tendril-like wings shot out of its body, giving him a look of some kind of a mythical dragon.
I turned around to see Mahaar on the ground unconscious, but still holding into ryola and the weapon. My head felt so light like I was going to faint anytime soon.
“What did you-” before I can even speak to the now house-sized ship, its tongue wrapped around Mahaar and shoved it inside of its body.
“NOOOOooooo?” I stopped talking as it did the same to me. I found myself flying into the toothless dark mouth, pumping into something soft and slimy as I fell down its mouth.
The light of the outside disappearing as I fell, but I felt that we were going up as the creature moved at unrealistic speed. The last thing I saw from its open mouth before I faint was the image of one of the bright moons getting closer and closer.
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I opened my eyes slowly, only to find myself back in the green meadow again, the number of animals increased considerably, giving the meadow a feel of a tropical jungle.
Small wooden house erected on a hill near the ocean, probably the little girl's work. I started heading in the house direction but a munching noise coming from my right halted my steps, I turned to see some hyenas nibbling on some blue flesh so I curiously walked up to the cackle, knowing that in this place, animals treated me like its owner.
One of the hyenas came up to me and licked my hand, dying it with a dim blue color and making me more intrigued about what was being eaten.
“Oh God” I gasped as I saw the motionless corpse of Shipol getting torn to bits, his eyes wide with a look of horror and agony written all over his face like he was eaten alive, slowly.
“Why is he even here?” I murmured in disbelief, thinking that I’m clearly going mad.
“He did something he shouldn’t have done” The little girl’s voice came from my back. She finally made her appearance.
“There you are Cancer, you owe me so-” She put her finger on her lips, signaling me to stop talking.
“First off, don’t ever call me that again my dear, it’s offensive. Second, this is no place to have a proper conversation, let’s head into the house. Would you like some coffee?”