Chapter 6: The Tatski Hara

The southern reconnaissance team was fractured and temporarily without leadership. Many of the Tatski Hara who were with Thompson and Novak had abandoned them and fled for the tanks. With lightning crashing overhead and very strong winds bending the trees, the soldiers knew that Tyrannus was still in the area and according to the sudden stop in its footsteps something had happened. Without Thompson and Novak responding to communications, Kai, Liam, and Fred were the new ranking members on the chain of command. Kai came across the radio:

'To the den, we have to see what’s happened.'

Call it courage, call it stupidity, the Tatski Hara never were good at leaving anyone behind. Into the Den they went, as they passed through the blitzer tunnel the fairies attached themselves to their armor, they gravitated towards Kai the most. As the team congregated outside of the den, the deep growl of Tyrannus made them want to reconsider. Fred looked into the opening and said:

'There’s Novak, and Thompson! They’re frozen still. Where is everyone else?'

They knew what they had to do. Kai then motioned for them to go forward despite the rumbling low growl and shaking of the earth. When they emerged into the clearing they saw Tyrannus. It stood frozen like a mime, with its head peeking out of the trees. Its peaceful yet devilishly intent gaze from its eyes was focused on them. On sight, Kai shouted:

'We are not afraid!'

Almost as if the Forest itself replied, other species slowly came out of the shadows into the den. The Tatski Hara drew the sympathy of the blitzers who stood beside them, along with some alligators, fairies. Even a decimator, and some giant serpents appeared. Tyrannus' didn’t seem to react, remaining still, but blinked and observed all the different species.

Then, it took two slow steps forward, preserving the earth. Its scales showed scars, battleworn obsidian illuminated by the lightning. Although they were certainly terrified, true to their order, they held it together as the deity looked curiously at them. You could hear the fairies say 'Oh please, please don’t hurt them!' Tyrannus waited for thirty seconds, frozen still. No one knew what the deity was thinking. Suddenly, it decided to show them a memory. The next moments were mesmerizing. The world around the Tatski Hara transformed in an instant, they were transported to a different millenia.

The forest and other creatures disappeared before their eyes and turned to dust. All that was left around them were all kinds of corpses on the blood-stained ground and the open plateau. This looked like a memory of war. The trees had died and the sky was red.

A post-apocalyptic scene. Then, everyone heard a low rumbling noise, like an earthquake. Suddenly, a gigantic being burst out of the ground north of the forest. It looked like a translucent squid flailing about, but it wasn’t. Like something from a nightmare, its hundred tentacles flailing in the air. It was shrieking and emitting a high-pitched frequency that caused all species of life to run away in fear. However, it wasn’t there for them. Then, footsteps. Faint at first, growing louder with each occurrence. A low growl, a territorial bellow came from just inside the forest. Tyrannus had come to defend his land.

The abomination in the vision writhed its way to the treeline, but as it put its tentacles on the first few trees to enter the forest, Tyrannus struck with a giant stomp and attempted to bite the creature. The creature quickly moved out of the way and showed no fear of Tyrannus. It immediately grabbed Tyrannus’ legs with two of its tentacles, pulling itself closer. Tyrannus slashed and bit through the tentacles, although the dark screams of the creature surely expressed pain, it started to evolve. The creature's body started to spasm even more and it started to turn black.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

It appeared to absorb Tyrannus’ DNA and was growing stronger every moment it was in the battle. With a bite from Tyrannus that pierced the body of the Leviathan, it shrieked and struggled to break free from Tyrannus’ teeth. It started to wrap its tentacles around Tyrannus’ neck, choking the life from the deity’s lungs. Then, its cytoplasm spattered the ground as Tyrannus wrenched a large piece of flesh from its body. The Leviathan realized that it could not win.

It put the last of its energy into one strike targeted at Tyrannus’ neck. A sinister strike which slashed right through Tyrannus’ obsidian scales, was made more damaging by the trashing of its tentacle in the wound, causing blood to spray everywhere. The deity slashed the tentacle with its claws, severing it from the Leviathans body. The Leviathan let out an ear-piercing scream and quickly retreated into the tunnel from which it came. Tyrannus did not take its eyes off of the crater, and after a few moments waiting to see if the Leviathan would return, slowly retreated back into the shadows of the forest.

The vision then took them away from the battlefront. They were being taken beneath the Tyran forest, deep below the surface. Down under, it was waiting. That thing from centuries ago was resting and growing stronger. It had made its way a thousand meters under the earth, but why?

The vision ended and everyone was brought right back to reality in the forest as they were before. Fred whispered to Kai:

'I don’t know. I think this Leviathan is the real enemy, not Tyrannus. He’s just protecting the forest. He would have killed us already if he wanted to.'

Liam took a step forward and looked at Tyrannus. Kai pulled him back. Tyrannus inhaled deeply and in a glorious moment of acceptance brought down his claws and touched Novak and Thompson on the tops of their heads, causing a shining bright light. He had brought them back to life.

Right away, Kai jumped in front of them and looked into their eyes. They were slowly regaining their senses but they weren’t physically harmed. The next second they both collapsed to the ground unconscious.

All of the Tatski Hara surrounded Novak and Thompson with their weapons drawn to protect them from all of the creatures that surrounded them in the clearing. They had appeared to protest Tyrannus’ but they were eager to taste human flesh. The Tatski Hara whispered among each other:

'How the fuck can we fight our way out of this?'

Liam whispered:'What’s the point of this?'

'We should just escape with our lives, be smart.'

Kai motioned for all of them to be quiet, then turned back to Tyrannus and shouted amidst the thunder and spoke proudly, he said what his best guess was to get them out of the situation.

'We have an accord! We will help you deal with the Leviathan’

Lightning crashed down after his attempt at diplomacy. The obsidian guardian looked back at them with a devilish grin. With that motion of diplomacy Tyrannus disappeared into the forest with its earthquake-like steps, sparing them from his wrath. The sound was concealed by the rain and lightning.

The conditions weren’t getting any better. The fearsome creatures that surrounded them were inching closer with each passing second. Kai held up his hand ordering the troops to hold their fire. Lightning crashed down from overhead once more. The fairies seemed to be the only ones on their side as they flew above them. That was, until the familiar sets of orange eyes appeared in the brush surrounding them.

Those eyes belonged to the blitzers, which started to snarl and growl. The serpents and decimators took notice but they remained in the clearing with the Tatski Hara. One of the blitzers made their way out of the shadows and joined the Tatski Hara, standing between a soldier and a decimator twice its size. It crouched down with its claws out displaying a willingness to fight. First it was one blitzer, then it was two, three, and then it was all of them. They formed a barrier between the Tatski Hara and the other predators, hissing and snarling, crouched on their hind legs with their claws out in a threatening display.

The decimators and serpents were twice their size yet the blitzers came to protect the Tatski Hara, putting their lives on the line. After a standoff that felt like an eternity, the serpents and decimators slowly retreated back into the forest. After the predators had left, the blitzers chose to remain and stand guard around the Tatski Hara, waiting for Thompson and Novak to regain consciousness.

As soon as Thompson woke up he shook his head to gather himself, looking around confused. Apparently he saw the vision of the Leviathan as well.

Then he said to the troops 'All right everyone. Novak will report to Caleb and the rest of us will find a way to stop this... Leviathan. That means setting up camp.’

‘Squadron 13, find Rilling and Lacoy then report back to me.'