Might's Odyssey (The Event Book 2) (16 page)

It seemed he had just closed his eyes when the rumble of the earth beneath him roused him from sleep. His eyes opened quickly, his entire body became alert when he realized the cave was shaking. Bits and pieces of rock and debris fell from the roof of the cave.

He leapt to his feet grabbing the staff weapon and made his way to the entrance. Pausing at the entrance, he carefully peered out. The grass-covered plain was wet and muddy because of the storm of the previous day.

Several hundred humanoids and their beasts were being attacked guerrilla style by about fifty others. From what he could make out, this platoon or army unit of three hundred had walked into a trap.

The creature that propositioned him to kill the Austeriolious hadn’t been joking when he said he had cells scattered across Viteolious. That however wasn’t the most disturbing thing. The creature he rode to get here was nowhere to be found. The battle probably sent it scurrying for cover.

This realization made his face-harden. It probably had not been the best idea to stop here. He should have continued moving until he found the volcano.

The soldiers had heavy tank like equipment, which moved into position and began to pound the surrounding wood line where their attackers were hiding with hard fire.

Seeing no one was looking, Might crept out of the cave, heading right. The heads up display in his helmet came on showing the distance to the volcano. He was not far from it now.

The edge of the tree line lay twenty paces away. He broke into a run. A shout rang out behind him. He did not stop to find out what was happening.

He just reached the tree line when a cannon ball hurtled past him, disappearing into the trees. A massive mushroom cloud explosion deep within the forest immediately resulted making a concussion of air and dust hurtle out, shaking him violently. He was barely able to keep his balance.

He had been spotted. He rushed into the trees ducking and weaving between the heavy trunks and boughs as weapon fire seared all around him.

Above, he heard the chattering and screeching of more than two dozen beasts as they leaped from tree to tree to escape from the explosions and fire.

There was a clearing up ahead. He increased his speed, bursting out a few moments later. The land sloped down, the sand on it loose and slippery. There was another explosion, which shook the earth, and he lost his balance slithering down the slope. The weapon he held disappeared into the trees as he fell, twisting in midair several times before he struck water. The current was strong and unforgiving. He was swept along with it losing his bearings all together.

Weapons fire continued to explode around him. Before long, it stopped as the current of the river he was in carried him out of range. Water bubbled around his helmet making it difficult for him to see clearly.

The heads up display on the glass visor came on. The temperature of the water was minus seven degrees centigrade. He had to get out of the water.

How to do that remained to be seen. His legs did not reach the bottom of the river. If it did, he could have fought the current and perhaps leaped out of the fast flowing water. He was Might after all.

Looking grim, he fought his way to the riverbank. At first, it appeared as if he was not making any progress. Then slowly and gradually, he started to drift towards the right bank.

He put in more effort. The flow of the river became faster. His eyes widened when he realized that the water was flowing down a slope. The water slid over the edge about four kilometers away. The word waterfall came to him, sort of like whispering into his subconscious. He started to fight his way to the riverbank more aggressively. He could not afford to go down that waterfall.

Not that he worried about his safety, but it might cost him time that he did not have. He did not want to have to spend more time on Viteolious X6 than he needed.

The harsh current dragged him closer to the edge in spite of his best efforts. He thrashed his limbs violently like a man who was drowning in a bid to pull himself closer to the riverbank. The only thing his thrashing accomplished was to bring him much closer to the waterfall.

His eyes widened in horror as the distance between him and the edge shortened to about a foot. The water swept him over the edge a few seconds later and he plummeted, falling hundreds of feet into the swirling foam of churning water.

A hundred miles away, two large humanoids stood on top of a small hill. They wore formidable looking battle armor, pitch black in color. Two-winged lizard like creatures stood a foot away from them. A displeased hissing sound came from their large jaws filled with six-inch razor sharp teeth.

The humanoids were not concerned about their displeased mounts however. Their attention was fixed on something that they stared at through binoculars like glasses. The lens in these instruments were so powerful that they could zoom to within an inch of whatever you focused on.

They watched intently as Might’s struggling form fell over the edge of the waterfall lowering their glasses when they could no longer see him.

A barrage of unintelligible words burst out of their thin lips. This was what it meant when translated into English.

“Do we go after him?”

“Are you insane? You want to enter G-sector? You must be losing your mind. We don’t have to pursue him. The creatures he encounters there will do our job for us.”

“Are you sure? He does seem quite formidable.”

“No one in over a hundred years has ever crossed into G-sector unarmed and without transport and lived to tell the tale. He won’t last beyond the next sunrise.”

“What do we tell Austeriolious?”

“What else? We killed him.”

“What if he asks for the body?”

“We tell him the truth. We shot him and his body went over the waterfall into G-sector.”

A sinister smirk lifted the corners of each humanoid’s thin lips. A heavy silence ensured.

Might spluttered as he came to. He lay on a wide riverbank covered by a purplish colored carpet of grass. He sighed rising to his feet slowly examining his surroundings.

Thirty paces ahead lay a thick coniferous forest. The trees were tall, almost too tall; their crowns appearing to touch the turquoise colored clouds that gathered in the blue-black skies. These clouds were still heavy with rain. He knew another downpour was imminent.

He turned in a half circle. The waterfall lay to the west. He could just make out the clouds of steam rising into the sky from the churning water frothing in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall.

He turned again, this time facing eastwards. The tree line and the river stretched on as far as he could see in the distance. A couple of hundred kilometers out, the forest grew on the opposite end of the river making it impossible to see what lay beyond that stretch of land.

He could do with a digi-map right now or at least a homing beacon, so he could get his bearings. The heads up display in his helmet hadn’t blinked since he came to.

As if it could hear his thoughts, it came to life. His face fell with dismay. The river had carried him almost three hundred miles beyond where he wanted to be, which was at the volcano.

The display did not show much of the terrain, what it showed was the location of the keycard that blinked continuously like a homing beacon. An arrow pointed forward. Directly ahead was the coniferous forest. So that meant he had to go through it.

He sighed as he realized this. His expression hardened and he strode forward with long measured strides. He drove a hard fist into the first tree he came to. The tree snapped like a broomstick and collapsed with an earth shaking whump. Measuring a foot away from the broken end, he punched the trunk again breaking it off. Walking for another three feet he repeated the action.

This thick chunk of tree trunk he quickly divided in half. He picked up one of the halves and held it up. He now had a sizable club. Slamming it into his other fist, he started for the tree line quickly disappearing into it.

The temperature under the cover of the trees was cooler than the temperature outside it. He knew this because the heads up display showed him that there was a temperature drop of about ten degrees as soon as he walked into the trees.

The darkness here was almost complete. A light from his helmet came on illuminating the gloom in front of him. The arrow on the heads up display still pointed forward. A sigh burst from his lips as he looked at it.

His lips and tongue felt dry. He could do with some food now. The green nectar he consumed in the cave several hours earlier would be so welcome now.

He had two choices. Find the keycard as quickly as possible or find a safe way to drink water. The water in the river looked promising, but he could not take off the helmet because of the atmosphere. Even if he could, how was he sure it would be safe to drink.

A creak in the darkness to his right roused him from his troubled thoughts. He looked in that direction his hard grip tightening over the club. Dull red eyes shone out of the trees. He jumped backwards blinking in fright. When he looked again the eyes had disappeared.

He frowned in consternation. What was with this place? Having no answer to that he continued, keeping a wary eye on his surroundings.

A light lit up in the distance. He frowned walking forward faster. As he got within six feet of the light, he suddenly had the inexplicable feeling that something was watching him.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he looked up. The first thing he heard was the hissing growl, then he saw two large red eyes about a foot above him. Inches beneath this were a pair of razor sharp fangs.

Something flung itself off its perch, the weight of its body slamming into Might’s face as it sank its teeth into his shoulder. They hit the ground hard in a flurry of limbs.

Might struggled to get a grip on what was biting him. He found the body to be quite slippery. Why this was, was what he did not know. Eventually his large hands seized it around the mid riff and he tore it in two flinging both halves in opposite directions.

The ground underneath him trembled and two trees several paces ahead collapsed in the dirt as if something pushed them. He spun around raising the lights on his helmet to shine on the new threat. 

His eyes widened as he the light settled on massive blue-black limbs, six-inch claws and dull red eyes. He was not able to examine it any further because it started racing towards him at breathtaking speeds.

Taking a firm stance, he swung the club in his hand like a man trying to hit a baseball. The club connected with the chest of the creature with a dull echoing thud.

The force of the blow flung the creature backwards where it promptly disappeared from view. A strangled cry burst from its lips as it vanished. Its cry gave Might great satisfaction.

He frowned looking at the jagged remains of the club in his hands. Tossing it aside, he raced forward bursting into the light.

He stood in a wide clearing. Beyond this clearing was a ring of trees. Bigger and taller than the ones he had just exited. Deep within these trees something moved. His eyes narrowed as he struggled to see what it was.

From the little he could make out in the gloom, its body was massive and it pushed the tree trunks aside the way a man’s body would part blades of grass as he walked through them. The neck was long, almost twelve feet and this made the head rise above the crown of trees like some prehistoric giraffe.

The arrow he was following pointed beyond the creature. That meant he had to go past it. His face fell as he realized this. The creature kept walking, heading east. He ducked low keeping his eyes fixed on it.

It moved slowly, it did not behave as if it had seen him. Suddenly, it paused for the briefest of seconds as if it heard a sound. Might held his breath. He did not much relish a fight, especially when it was highly debatable that he could win.

In what seemed like centuries later, the creature continued to move forward. He heaved a sigh of relief freezing instantly when he heard the hissing sound behind him.

He spun around but was not quick enough. Something slammed into his midriff so hard that it knocked the wind out of him. He hit the ground hard with something strange clinging to him. It looked like a cross between a snake and a giant panda covered in slimy black fur, which had scales in between. Now he understood why he had found it so difficult to get a grip on it. Something told him it was same sort of creature he battled earlier.

The thing lunged forward, its fangs aiming for his visor. Moving at a speed that surprised both him and the creature, Might seized its neck and ripped the creature off his body.

The ground trembled. He did not have to look back to know that the behemoth behind was now alerted to his presence. Leaping to his feet, he slammed the head of the creature into the dirt about half a dozen times, until it became a bluish green paste. Breathing heavily he turned, his face falling in dismay when he saw the behemoth standing a few feet away looking at him with red globe shaped eyes.

Their gazes locked and held for the briefest of seconds before it spun around with a speed that took Might’s breath away and slammed its long tail into his mid section.

The force of the blow flung Might across the clearing and into the opposite forest. The fortunate thing was that it was in the direction he was headed.

He hit the ground hard taking down almost a dozen trees before he came to a halt. Groaning he staggered to his feet. The heads up display in his helmet came on at that instant. This time however it was fuzzy as if there was a bad connection.

The puzzlement on his face quickly turned to horror when he noticed a long crack on the glass visor of his helmet. It lengthened a couple of centimeters even as he watched it.

The creature that swiped him with its tail was headed his way again and fast. He turned and raced northwards ducking low as he ran to keep out of sight.

The creature turned east attracted by a flurry of activity from the crown of the trees. Still keeping low, Might raced off into the distance following the arrow even as the sun rose over the thick forest.