“I hear voices.” I whispered and pointed off ahead of us. Kevin gave me a look, but then shrugged and kept walking. I could see her confidence growing with every step, returning to the Kevin I knew.
The sounds of talking grew louder as we continued and we hurried through the trees. I paused when I saw a motley assortment of five individuals arguing with each other on the banks of the creek. One was a powerfully built sanask that towered over the others, his scaled hide glimmered with stunning yellows, oranges, and reds the color of a vivid sunset. He wore a thick fur coat, insulated pants, and heavy leather boots laced halfway up his shin.
“Get a grip!” He rumbled with a deep, yet airy voice. “We’re stuck in a monster-infested forest! None of that matters!”
A female sek’heli with tan and brown coloring shrank away from the large lizard man. She was dressed in an identical garb to Kevin and carried a small wrapped bundle in her arms. A closer look revealed a sek’heli infant peeking out from the bundle of furs. Less than a year old if I were to guess.
“How does it not matter! Were a bunch of fucking Muppets!” A male vul’heli spoke up from beside the sek’heli. He wore the same simple kilt and vest as myself, but his fur was tinted a more rusty brown in contrast to my red-orange. White fur growing around his muzzle betrayed his age.
Across from the vul’heli stood a female wood elf with blue eyes, dark black hair, and an impatient look on her delicate features. Much like the sanask, she too wore a thick coat, pants, and heavy boots that tapped impatiently on the forest floor. Her clothes failed to hide the sturdy muscle packing her frame.
“We’re not Muppets! We’re adorable. Learn to enjoy yourself, old man.” Said the last member of their circle, a young female vul’heli. From the color of her fur, to the way she held herself, she could have been my twin. Her speech and mannerisms convinced me beyond a doubt.
“Sarah!” I yelled, dashing through the trees to join the group.
Sarah and the rest of the group turned in my direction. Sarah’s face shifted from confusion to grinning delight when she saw me.
“James!” She squealed, opening her arms. I took the invitation and embraced her in a bone-crushing hug. We broke apart with me gasping for breath - my scrawny arms the loser in the exchange.
“You had to choose the vul’heli, didn’t you?” I accused, struggling to suck air back into my lungs.
“Long time no see brother.” Sarah smirked at me. “Though it looks like you chose the same species as me. I must say that I’m surprised.”
“The system forces family units to pick the same race.” I shot back. “I bet you didn’t even try the others.”
Her eyes widened and she looked faintly guilty. “Really? Erm, well, of course I chose vul'heli first!”
The older vul’heli cleared his throat, cutting off our conversation. “Who are you?” He demanded.
“I’m James.” I said. “Sarah’s older brother if it wasn’t obvious.”
“As long as you’re more useful than your ditzy sister.” The old man muttered. My rising anger at the comment faded when Sarah gave me a hidden wink. Her usual ploy then, the cunning little twerp. Never underestimate Sarah and her ditzy girl mask.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Paul.” He grunted. “Paul Handler.”
I nodded, my eyes swiveling to the tan sek’heli and her child.
“I’m Jennifer and this is Weston.” she said.
“I’m Mirrin.” Said the wood elf. “At least that’s what you can call me here.”
“Karl.” The sanask rumbled “Spelt with a ‘k’ not a ‘c’.”
All eyes turned towards Kevin who had sauntered up behind me. I expected hesitancy in her manner, but instead she stood with confidence; her head held high and her eyes filled with fire.
“Call me ‘K’ for now.” She said.
“As in ‘K-a-y’?” My sister asked. “Or the letter.”
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“The letter.” Kevin said. “I’ve not decided if I’m going to use my real name or not. I’ll let you know.”
Sarah narrowed her eyes. “I bet your name’s Karen. I’d be embarrassed too.” Then Sarah smiled and held out her hand. “I’m just kidding, it’s nice to meet you K.”
“A handshake? What about me?” I grumbled. “Not happy to see me?”
Sarah turned to face me, her charming smile only growing. “Fuck off James. I already gave you a hug.”
“This is nice and all, but can we get back to the topic at hand?” Karl rumbled. “We’re still stuck in the middle of a forest.”
“And none of us have wilderness survival training.” Mirrin agreed. “Unless?”
“We don’t.” I confirmed.
“So we still need a plan.” Karl said.
“K and I were planning on following the water downstream until we hit civilization.” I said. “Do you all have a better idea?”
“Stay still and wait for help, isn’t that usually what they say?” Paul grumbled.
“As I said before, that only works if someone knows where we are and cares enough to get us out. I’d rather not spend my nights starving to death in a forest.” Mirrin’ sannoyed voice told me they’d been through this all before. Likely several times.
They needed a leader. They needed someone like captain-of-the-lacrosse-team-Kevin. Kevin, however, remained silent, so I stepped up instead.
“Alright.” I said, raising my voice to carry across the continued bickering. “I’m going to start heading downstream with K. Splitting up is probably a bad idea, but I think we can all agree that arguing all day won’t get us anywhere. Feel free to join, the rest of you can do whatever you want. I don’t care.” With that I pushed through the group with all the intention to carry about my words.
“James is right.” Kevin said. “But we do need to stick together, and it does need to be a group decision. How about we discuss what to do while we walk?”
The rest reluctantly agreed and the entire group fell into step behind us.
“You shouldn’t give ultimatums.” Kevin hissed in my ear. “Ultimatums are childish and people will ignore them out of principle.”
“That’s why you should be the leader and not me.” I whispered. “I don’t have the patience to deal with people.”
Kevin’s expression betrayed a hint of her inner turmoil, but she replaced it with her usual mask of determination. “Yeah, alright. I’ll try.”
**********
The seven of us and the young sek’heli child made our way downstream. I listened to the chatter of the others as I walked and learned a bit about them. Karl was an ironworker from New York City, Paul an office worker from Montreal, Jennifer a single mom who managed a small café in Delaware, and Mirrin who wouldn’t say where she was from, but claimed to compete in martial arts. All four of them except for my sister had left their acquaintance list blank before we arrived. It probably explained why the seven of us ended up being stuck in the middle of the woods somewhere.
Throughout the journey the tiny Weston remained quiet, either staring at the forest around us or mewling piteously at his mother. He sounded more like a kitten than a human baby.
An hour after we set out, my ears picked up the sound of rapid wing beats emanating from beyond the far bank of the brook.
“I hear something.” I announced, pointing across the brook. The group stopped and peered as one into the empty trees.
The sound gradually grew louder until Mirrin pointed to something between the trees.
“I see something!” She exclaimed. “It looks like... a large beetle of some sort.”
Then I too saw it: a black chitinous shape some two feet long with a single massive horn wound a lazy path towards us through the trees.
What kind of beetle got that big? I wondered.
In answer to my question, a box of silvery text appeared beside the creature:
Obsidian Horned Beetle: Level 24.
The beetle hesitated then, seeming to spot our curious group watching it from the riverbank. Then without warning, the beetle shot towards us, crossing the creek in the space of a breath.
With shouts of surprise, all seven of us scattered in panic.
I sprinted downstream along the riverbank only to glance back over my shoulder when I heard a loud thwack followed by a bellow of pain. I looked back to see Karl flying backwards to land in a heap at the base of one of the large trees. His thick jacket was torn and a shallow gash in his side had begun to seep blood. He groaned
Dazed from the impact, the beetle spun in a slow circle before setting its eyes upon the injured sanask once more.
Karl was going to die.
I spotted Kevin already sprinting back towards the beetle, large stick in hand. She would never make it in time.
I cursed under my breath and scooped up a fist-sized cobble from the riverbank. With a yelping cry, I leaned back and heaved the rock with all the force my pathetic 2 in strength could muster.
The rock arced through the air in slow motion and by sheer luck clipped one of the charging beetle’s wings. The oversized bug wobbled, trying to correct itself before slamming head first into the tree inches above Karl’s head. It quivered there angrily, its horn stuck fast in the wood.
Kevin arrived with her stick leading her charge. She took a vicious swing, not at its armored torso, but at the delicate, fluttering wings.
The stick broke in two with a loud snap, leaving a single pair of wings mangled beyond repair.
Wood, splinters, and bark scattered through the air as the beetle’s legs found the tree trunk and ripped itself free. It tried to launch into the air only for Mirrin to send it careening to the ground with a vicious kick.
Before the beetle could right itself, the pointy, broken end of Kevin’s stick swooped down directly into its compound eye. The softer organ deformed inwards before giving way with a sickening pop, the stick penetrating several inches into the creature’s head.
The beetle twitched, clear fluid leaking from the wound. Just as I thought it dead, its two remaining wings began to vibrate and the ear splitting shriek of a thousand dying grasshoppers filled the air.
THWACK!
The beetle's wings stopped vibrating with the sudden finality of crunching chitin. Karl stood above the bug, his scaled hands holding the edges of a large stone block. Horrible brown fluid dripped from a triangular-shaped hole in a carapace.
Level up! Vul’heli has increased to level 2.
Attributes:
+1 Intelligence
+2 Free
Ignoring the notification for the moment, I breathed a sigh of relief and hurried over to check on the others.
“Are you ok? Sorry I wasn’t much help.” My sister said, joining me.
“I’ll live.” Karl said with a wince. “That thing packed a punch but sanasks are built sturdy. Thanks for coming back.”
“Where are Kevin and Jennifer?” Kevin asked, her voice trailing off as the sound of rapid wing beats filled the forest around us. The five of us glanced at each other, our relief replaced with fear. We heard not one set of wings, or two, or even five.
We heard dozens.