by Lucas Flint
Looking at the tribesmen again, Beams said, “We’re not invaders. Like I said, we didn’t even know there were people still living in Ariopolis.”
“Then why did you come?” said the old man. “Were you a thief like the last invaders, who broke into the heart of the city to steal the Dread God’s brain? Or are you simply treasure hunters seeking to make yourselves rich off our fabulous treasure?”
“We’re not thieves,” said Beams. “We’re here for the God Slayer.”
A harsh silence fell over the tribesmen briefly before they suddenly exploded into a flurry of whispers and mutterings. Beams couldn’t understand what they were saying, but he understood it had something to do with what he just said regarding the God Slayer.
The old man in the front looked like he was about to fall down from the shock, but he remained standing, clutching his staff with both hands like it was his only lifeline. “The God Slayer? Why do you seek that weapon?”
“Because the Dread God has returned,” said Beams. “And the only way my friends and I can kill him again is if we get the God Slayer.”
The whispers and mutterings from the tribesmen became even more hurried now, with a hint of fear, but the old man waved his staff and the tribesmen suddenly went silent.
Lowering his staff, the old man said, “I thought I sensed something like that, but … I did not think it had actually happened. It would explain … much.”
Beams’ eyes narrowed. The old man was clearly implying that things had been happening around the city which he could not explain. That was an opening Beams could use to save him and his friends.
“Yeah,” said Beams, nodding. “So if you could just give me and my friends the God Slayer, then we could use it to kill him again before he comes back to Earth and kills us all.”
“Why should we entrust the most valuable object in the city—which generations of our forefathers have lived and died to protect—to strangers like you?” said the old man. “How do we know you won’t simply take the God Slayer away and sell it for money?”
Beams hesitated. He wasn’t sure if this was information he should share—he hadn’t even told his friends about it—but he saw that he had no choice, especially if he was going to save Shade and Mr. Space.
“Because I’m a son of Arius,” said Beams. “And I’ve come to reclaim what is rightfully mine.”
Shocked silence descended on the tribesmen. Even Shade seemed shocked by this announcement from Beams. But Beams did not take it back. He just stood very still, showing no weakness or fear, because he believed that if this didn’t work, then he and his friends would be executed like past invaders had been.
“Impossible,” said one of the tribesmen suddenly. “You cannot be a son of Arius. Arius has no children outside of Ariopolis. You lie.”
But the old man raised his staff again. “Not necessarily, Joga. Legend says that Arius left Ariopolis many times after defeating the Dread God, traveling the world and romancing foreign women wherever he went. It is possible that this boy may indeed be a distant descendant of Arius.”
Beams could hardly believe his luck. “So are you going to let me and my friends go?”
The old man shook his head sharply. “Of course not. Anyone can claim to be a son of Arius. Few, however, can prove it. And even fewer can prove that they are worthy of wielding the God Slayer.”
“How can I prove my claims, then?” said Beams. “Is there anything I can do to show to you guys that I am not lying?”
“There is, yes,” said the old man. “We have methods, passed down from Arius himself to our current generation, to determine whether a person is indeed a son of Arius or if they are worthy of wielding the God Slayer.”
“Aren’t those statements the same, though?” said Beams.
“Not necessarily,” said the old man. “Not all of Arius’ sons have been worthy of wielding the God Slayer, nor have all wielders of the God Slayer been of Arius’ blood. You may be one or the other, but not necessarily both.”
Beams bit his lower lip. “What are you going to do, then? Kill us anyway?”
The old man shook his head again. “No. I will bring you before the Elders to prove your parentage. Once we can establish your ancestry … then we will decide what to do with you. In the meantime, we will keep you and your friends alive, but you will be our prisoners. And if any of you attempt to escape, then we will be forced to kill all three of you. Understood?”
Beams knew better than to question this man’s words. He could tell, even without being able to see the old man’s face, that he was one hundred percent serious about killing Beams and his friends if they tried to escape. He had a feeling that the old man would do it even if Beams turned out to be both a son of Arius and worthy of wielding the God Slayer. Such seriousness would have scared Beams a while ago, but he found himself respecting it more than anything because it meant that this man was honest about wanting to protect his people.
“Understood,” said Beams.
“Good,” said the old man. “Then come with us down to the city, where the Elders are. There, we will determine not only your ancestry but also your ultimate fate.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Bolt gasped for breath. The giant branch which had fallen on his legs had to weigh a ton and he wasn’t sure if his legs had been broken or not. All he knew was that pain in his legs was shooting up into his brain, which he supposed was sign his legs still worked, but that was hardly reassuring. He heard the little girl screaming her head off, while the roar of the flames grew louder and louder with each passing second. The smoke was becoming thicker as well, making his eyes water and making it harder for him to breathe.
Gotta get up, Bolt thought, putting his hands on the ground. The longer I lay here, the more likely that both of us will die. The others won’t be able to save either of us.
Bolt pushed his hands against the ground, but the tree branch was so heavy that even with his super strength, he found the movement almost impossible to complete. It felt like he was trying to do a push up with a thousand pound plate on his back, not helped by the fact that his legs were either broken or severely damaged. He quickly gave up, panting and sweating fiercely as the fire raged all around them.
“Mister, are you okay?” said a voice before him. It was the little girl, who had stopped screaming now and was looking at Bolt with a mixture of fear and worry. “Can you get the tree branch off of you?”
“No,” said Bolt, shaking his head. “Don’t think I can. It weighs a ton and a half and my legs hurt too much.”
“Can I help?” said the little girl. She sniffled.
“Help?” Bolt repeated. “You’re just a little girl. What can you do to help?”
The little girl shrunk back, her eyes wide with terror. “I-I’m sorry. I just wanted to help you get out.”
Bolt sighed. He had scared her by yelling at her, so he said, in a calmer tone of voice, “I’m sorry, but I’m just not sure what good you will do. You’re just a little girl. Little girls aren’t really well-known for pulling off amazing feats of physical strength.”
“I said I would help,” said the little girl. “Here, let me show you.”
The girl walked up to Bolt and rested a small hand on his shoulder. Bolt was about to ask her what she was doing when, without warning, a jolt of energy went through his body. It felt like a caffeine rush, except much stronger than the strongest coffee Bolt had ever drunk. His senses suddenly became stronger and he felt a new strength enter his body, a strength that seemed to come out of nowhere.
With a roar of triumph, Bolt pushed up. This time, he successfully pushed the tree branch off of him, sending it tumbling off his legs and rolling a couple of feet away. Bolt then jumped up to his feet. His legs still hurt like hell, but he had so much energy flowing through him now that he didn’t care.
“Wow, this is amazing,” said Bolt, flexing his hands opened and closed. He looked at the girl. “How did you do that?”
The little girl op
ened her mouth to answer, but suddenly the flames burst through the tree trunk she hid behind. The little girl shrieked, but Bolt acted quickly. He scooped her up into his arms and then turned and ran through the flames, rushing through, under, and over any and all obstacles in his path. This would have been tricky normally, but with that boost from the little girl still flowing through him, it was almost as easy as running across a wide open field with no obstacles in it at all.
In seconds, Bolt reached Captain Galaxy, Aster, and Hypno, who were all standing roughly where he had left them before. The three of them nearly jumped when Bolt stopped in front of them with the girl in his arms, who was shivering herself, though whether it was with fear at rushing through the flames or excitement, Bolt could not tell.
“Bolt?” said Captain Galaxy in surprise. “You look, um—”
“Alive,” Hypno said, stroking his chin. “Not that you looked dead before, of course, but you seem much more energetic than you were before.”
“I know,” said Bolt. He thrust the girl into Captain Galaxy’s arms. “Take the girl. I’m going to put out this fire before it spreads throughout the rest of the forest.”
“How?” said Aster, looking at the roaring flames with dismay. “You don’t have water powers, do you?”
“No, but I’ve got a plan,” said Bolt. “You guys should probably head back to the main path, however, just to be safe.”
Before anyone could ask Bolt what he planned to do, Bolt shot up into the air. He burst through the treetops and flew until he was directly above the flaming trees, holding a hand in front of his eyes to protect his vision from the light of the flames. Even from up here, the heat of the flames was harsh, making it feel like he was standing in front of a blasting furnace, but he ignored that for now in order to focus on his plan.
He landed with a crash onto the ground not far from the flames and turned around to face them. The flames were burning high, but so far they seemed confined to this one part of the forest, which was good because it would be much easier to handle that way. He activated his super strength and, pulling back his leg, kicked the earth as hard as he could.
The impact of his blow sent tons of earth flying through the air toward the flames. The earth crashed down onto the fire like meteors, immediately putting out a small portion of the flames, but it wasn’t enough to put them out entirely, so Bolt kept kicking the earth, sending chunks of dirt flying through the air. The dirt covered the flames wherever it hit, and within minutes, the fire was put out entirely, leaving nothing but blackened, smoking earth and flora where a raging inferno had been just minutes previously.
Bolt estimated that he had kicked the ground at least 100 times, and it showed. There was a deep crater where he had kicked the earth, but he didn’t feel tired at all. True, his costume was covered in dirt now and his hair was probably even dirtier, but he didn’t care. He just flew up into the air back toward the others, who had indeed retreated back to the path, though not as far back as he would have liked. The three of them looked up at him with a mixture of awe and surprise as he landed before them, dusting off the lower half of his costume with a big grin on his face.
“Did you just put out the fire by kicking dirt on it?” said Aster, his eyes so wide that they looked like they might fall out of his sockets.
Bolt nodded. “Sure. Dirt is an excellent way to put out fire. Dump enough dirt onto fire and you can put it out just as easily as water. I mean, I would have preferred water, but you got to work with what you have.”
“Amazing,” said Hypno in a soft voice. “Director Smith told me you had super strength as one of your powers, but that’s the first time I’ve really seen it in action.”
“Cool!” said the little girl, clapping her hands. “You saved the Forest! Yay!”
Bolt couldn’t help but smile at the little girl’s enthusiasm. “No problem. I could do that all day. Any other fires I need to put out?”
“No,” said the little girl, shaking her head. “That was the only one.”
Captain Galaxy, who seemed to have been stunned into silence by Bolt’s action, shook her head and said, “Well, good job, Bolt. It would never have occurred to me to do that, but then I’m not a superhuman like you.” Then she looked down at the girl in her arms. “But the real question is, who is this girl?”
“Me?” said the girl. She suddenly looked a lot timider now as everyone’s attention turned to her. “Um, can you let me down, please, nice lady? I can stand on my own.”
Captain Galaxy bent over and let the girl down. The little girl then stood up straight, though it wasn’t a very impressive sight due to her shortness.
“Who are you people?” said the little girl, looking up at all of them with curiosity on her face. “I’ve never seen any of you before. You’re not with him, are you?”
“Him?” Bolt repeated after exchanging a puzzled glance with Captain Galaxy. “Wanna be a bit more specific?”
The little girl clutched the hem of her dress and looked down at her feet as if she was afraid someone might see her face. “The Dread God.”
“The Dread God?” Bolt repeated. He knelt down before the girl, putting one hand on his knee. “Is he here? Now?”
The little girl shook her head, still without looking up at them. “No, but his servants are. Or were. They might have left, but I’m not sure because I was hiding from them.”
Bolt exchanged another look with Captain Galaxy, as well as with Hypno and Aster before he looked at the little girl again and said, “Did the Dread God’s servants create that fire?”
The little girl nodded. “Yeah. They came here to destroy the Endless Forest. Said the Dread God wills it. They were scary.”
Why would the Dread God want to destroy the Endless Forest? Bolt thought but did not ask that question aloud, because he didn’t think the girl would know the answer.
Instead, he said, “Where did they go after they started the fire?”
“To the Castle,” said the little girl. “They might still be there. I don’t know.”
“Where is the Spirit?” said Aster, interrupting suddenly. “Do you know where she is?”
The little girl suddenly looked up at Aster, a frown on her face. “The Spirit? Oh, you mean Mommy. She’s dead.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Beams allowed the tribesmen—who identified themselves as Ariopolitans—to bind him, Shade, and Mr. Space as they made their journey down to the city. This was to show to the Ariopolitans that he and his friends weren’t dangerous, though he found the rope tied around his wrists very tight and rough. It didn’t help that the Ariopolitans forced him and his friends to keep walking, poking them in the back with their spears every now and then to make sure they kept moving.
Beams expected them to take the cliff pathway which Mr. Space had pointed out earlier, but instead, the Ariopolitans led them through a secret underground tunnel, its entrance hidden underneath a thick layer of snow not too far from where the edge of the cliff. They went down a secret underground staircase/tunnel that was clearly not natural because even in the weak light of the Ariopolitans’ torches, he could see the marks where tools had bitten into the stone as workers from ages past carved out this tunnel.
The tunnel was dark and narrow, with barely any room to fight or run. Even if Beams, Shade, and Mr. Space broke their ropes, they’d have to go either up or down in complete and utter darkness, because aside from the torches held by the Ariopolitans, there was no lighting in here. Beams suspected this was a deliberate design decision on the part of whoever built this tunnel because it would be easy to defend this tunnel from intruders due to how dark and narrow it was.
It didn’t take them long to emerge from the tunnel back out into the frigid Antarctic air. Though the tunnel had been cold enough, the open air was much colder still and Beams, Shade, and Mr. Space shivered despite their coats. The Ariopolitans, of course, didn’t even flinch when a particularly powerful gust of wind tore through. Even the old man, who still hadn’t
given them his name, didn’t show any discomfort whenever the wind blew and sent his robes flapping.
That, more than anything, was what convinced Beams it made more sense to play nice with these guys than fight them. They did not seem to have superpowers of their own, but anyone who could stand in the face of the harsh Antarctic wind without flinching was basically superhuman anyway.
Trudging through the snow, the party soon reached and passed the city limits. The temperature did not rise when they entered the city limits. If anything, the temperature seemed to drop through the floor, although the ruins of the various tall buildings around them shielded them from the worst of the blizzard.
But as they walked through the ancient city, their steps barely audible above the howling winter wind, Beams realized that the city was not as abandoned as it seemed. He caught glimpses of Ariopolitans peeking out through windows or open doorways or from around the corners of buildings. Some of them looked like the big, burly hunters escorting him and his friends to the Elders, while others looked like women and children based on their size and shape. He even saw a woman holding a bundle of robes in her arms that was obviously a baby, but the woman quickly vanished into the darkness of a nearby building before he could get a good look at her.
“A rather shy bunch, aren’t they?” Shade muttered to Beams as they walked.
“The Ariopolitans are not a shy people,” said the old man without looking over his shoulder. “We are a proud and brave people, afraid of very little. We are simply cautious around strangers, especially when it comes to letting strangers interact with our children.”
Beams could understand that, but he still didn’t like being treated like some kind of criminal even though he hadn’t done anything wrong yet. “So, you Ariopolitans are the descendants of the original founders of this city?”
“Correct,” said the old man, again without looking over his shoulder. “Our distant ancestors were enslaved by the Dread God and his worshipers, forcing us to do slave work and worship the Dread God as our own god. Because of that, we Ariopolitans value our freedom highly and have done everything in our power to ensure that we and our children never have to live under the yoke of slavery to anyone ever again.”