It took Atlas about 10 minutes of walking around the well, to realize that he does not have a single clue on what is going on. He couldn’t really say much about the well itself. Just an old well, which could be seen in fantasy or medieval movies and games. He could not really tell how exactly old it was. What style was it built in? Touching it made no effect, just a plain old well. The only unusual thing about this well, was that it was located here, on an unknown planet somewhere pretty far from Earth.
Atlas already tried using his ability, yet nothing new was found. Nothing could be seen around as well. It was just a random abandoned structure in the middle of the forest.
Looking inside the well, nothing special could be seen. No water, no bucket left or anything really. Just some lone plants and probably some debris or stones. Atlas knew that if there is a well, there should be a settlement nearby, it had to serve a purpose. He was curious. He was amused and amazed by the finding, yet he knew he did not have time to look for any settlement or its ruins around.
He had to go back. With basically no resources he needed to get back, back to the portal.
As he continued his journey, nothing special was happening. Just an empty forest. He occasionally saw something move in the tree crowns. Yet he kept looking back and around. Anything could be lethal at this point. What he most wondered about, was how inconsistent and consistent the forest was at the same time.
“Where is everyone? I mean, anyone. No creatures around, yet the forest seems so bland. Just the trees and nothing else.”
Atlas was trying to find the method to the calm madness of this world. The logic behind. Just like with the stonemoles and flying islands, there definitely must be something explainable going on.
The forest was still the same, just the trees which looked like different types of evergreens that were slightly blue colored. And unlike the tree that struck Atlas at the very start, these had little to no “magical” essence to them. They stored and transferred virtually no significant energy.
Atlas kept walking. It was probably a few hours already, since he descended from the flying island. After everything that has happened up until now, Atlas was expecting for something to happen at any given time. Yet, nothing happened. No sudden attack, no unpredictable event to occur. Just him and the empty forest.
At this point, Atlas started to doubt if he was making any progress. The silence and calmness started to pressure him. He tried to do different stuff. He tried counting steps, doing math or telling himself jokes. None really worked.
“Okay, what else could I do? What do I do?”
The more Atlas thought about it, the harder it got. The more blurred his mind was becoming. The more he tried to grasp for more air. The harder it was to move his limbs, which felt like they became numb.
“Am I panicking? No way Atlas. Just calm down, calm the hell down!” he desperately tried to get rid of the feeling. Yet the more he tried to calm down, the harder it became to actually do so. The shadows started to look like creatures, beasts… horrors. Everything was going through his mind. Yet he was in complete chaos of his thoughts. More shadows were creeping in on him. Taller the trees became. The sky turned red… Everything…
“STOP!” He shouted. He closed his eyes. He did not think of anything. He just took a deep breath… The silence felt like forever.
“I promised myself that I would tear the sky open. I would become strong, stronger than ever. Does not matter what the best excuse I could come up with, I don't wanna know. I will not care. I will not give in to my demons or any other creatures. Imaginary or not.” Not opening his eyes, he continued to breathe in and out.
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“You let your dreams become your horrors, I let mine become real
Scared of unknown you cried, I hardened my heart of steel
You created all the excuses to run, I opened the door,
Crying out loud I ran towards the galaxy core.”
Atlas remembered the song Alice used to sing when he was trying to sleep during the hospital time. She was singing different songs, yet this one stuck with him. It was her own song. Written and composed by her. He could feel his heartbeat was slowing. His vision became clearer. Looking up, the sky was beautiful. Blue with stars, even though it was still daytime. Trees were no taller than they should be. Taking a deep breath, he could feel the fresh air enter his body. He was back. He was in control.
This was a very important lesson Atlas learned.
“Thank you Alice” he smiled thinking of a certain person. “I wonder how she is. Did she manage to heal her body and energy core? And Bond must be confused as hell. Hope he does not stress out much. Although he does not look like that type of guy. He seems quite reliable. Now to think of it, is it a bit strange to just go and live with a guy I recently met? Well, Planet Zero must really be numbing me a bit. “ Chuckling, he continued to walk ahead and sing the songs. He never realized that singing was a great anti-stress.
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The body of a massive monster was lying on the ground. It was not moving. The air was hot around it and the water in the air was evaporating so fast, the steam was coming from the beast. It was about the size of a 30 story building. If it was lying down, obviously. The skin, or rather scales were black. They looked very hard and probably were. The black blood was pouring down the body.
People gathered around the body. They were wearing special suits and were holding some sort of equipment which meant they were not some strangers or bypassers. They were there for some kind of job. Yet they all looked at the massive body with eyes full of awe and fear. No one dared to come even a bit closer to the body. All they could do was examine from afar. Even though the horror was dead, the immense pressure was still in the air.
The most weird thing about the body was its head. Or rather the lack of it. No one knew what happened to the beast. No one saw the fight. But all were seeing the one who defeated it.
A silhouette was slightly visible in the steam. Not moving for a few seconds, the silhouette started to walk. All the people around could only watch as the figure emerged out of the steam.
A man wearing a mix of black and white was walking on the body of the beast. His strict face was looking somewhere at the horizon completely ignoring the crowd. His pitch black hair was very accurately brushed to the back. His eyes were full of determination yet had a slight hue of disgust in them. He did not look like someone who just fought the mighty beast, however everyone in the crowd was 100 percent sure that he was the one to take down the beast. Some knew because they felt the presence of this person. The presence as if he was a higher creature. Almost like a deity. Or a demon. And some, some knew his name.
“Arktur” someone whispered near a girl who was wearing the same clothes as the other. Her hair was pulled in a ponytail, but it was certain that her hair was much longer. Some people also knew her name, and were wondering what she was doing there. All the people around had a logo and a writing on their backs: “Post-horror cleaning corps.”
All they watched was a figure walk down a beast and towards the portal just to disappear. And even after the figure left, no one said anything for about another 5 minutes until someone shouted. “Quit the stare, back to work!”. And everyone started to get back to work. All the people started to approach the beast. Some were measuring something with tools, others were cutting the scales. So was the girl with the ponytail.
“Alice! Hold the damn saw properly!” a short man in his 40s approached her.
“Yessir!” she replied. Gripping the saw. Yet it was clear that her mind was somewhere else.
“Still thinking about him? Am I right?” said the man while looking at the beast. “To take down something so humongous. He definitely holds his title as the one of the constellations - Arktur. He is not a person who appears in public often. None of those folks actually. Well get back to work. The sooner we done with it, the sooner we go home and take a shower.” he said and left Alice all to her thoughts.
Alice was still in shock after what she saw. She agreed to this work to get a temporary job and some money, yet never expected to see the Constellation here. She could feel her heart beating so fast. She could not stop thinking about the hunter that she saw here.
“Arktur… I hope to one day, stand by his side, destroying the horrors with the same ease and grace.” She thought and continued to work.