End Boss

by Bryan Nyaude

  “What would I do if I was Rick or Dalla?”

  If I was them, I would continue the mission. That sounded like something they would do. I had the coordinates implanted into my armor and they knew that, meaning they were expecting me to follow and catch up with them somehow. According to Ali, the kingdom was east, about 500 miles from me. Possibly, Rick and Dalla were on their way there. It seemed like the most coherent answer, so I decided to head east for that kingdom. It was a long hard walk through the treacherous forest of the planet. At each turn, I kept looking cautiously in every direction for any enemy activities. I only had a few rounds of ammunition in Rick’s gun, and four each, in my emergency revolvers, which I could only use in desperate times. Although, this did count as a desperate situation. I felt my hands tremble down to grab them. My mind drove them away, allowing me to think clearly again. I couldn’t waste them on little situations like these. I paused briefly to take a break; the long travel was starting to take its toll on my weary body.

  Without a hover ship, it was going to take me days to catch up, judging by the speed I was moving. The blue woods were silent all around me as if it was all empty. Any ordinary man would relax and take a nap, but I knew better than anyone else what lay on this planet. I felt the silence as a signal for oblivion. I stood back after half an hour and continued, little by little, in the east direction. Every step bringing me closer to the truth, whether good or bad. I liked being alone, but this was truly ridiculous. Just beyond a hill, I came across the end of the forest. Below, a terrain missing trees and completely engulfed high by very tall blue grass. I sighed out loud, holding my knees; I had no idea how long I had walked for, but it was really getting a bit shady blue in the sky. Then suddenly it began to rain. This was not something I had anticipated. I looked at the falling drops of water in the sky as if seeing it for the first time.

  “Oh come on, not this of all things.”

  It was definitely strange to think it could rain on this planet, theoretically; nevertheless, I had seen weirder things like people with gray skin and ravaging blue monsters. The rain poured down heavily and quickly as if someone was pouring a bucket of water on the entire planet. This was great because it meant the terror beasts wouldn’t come looking for me for while, I mean, just until the rain stopped falling anyway. Before I knew it, my body was lying flat on the ground against the rain. Slowly, but surely I felt a sudden warmth in my gut as I began to drift away into sleep. “Don’t sleep,” I warned myself as I got drowsier and fell asleep.

  “Hey, Den, come here,” Joe said, standing next to a bench.

  He was sitting by himself, reading a magazine.

  “Wait, a minute!”

  Was this a dream? It felt like a dream, although I could be hallucinating. There was only one way to test it out and see if I was dreaming or not. I jumped as I high as I could while closing my eyes. As soon as I opened them, I noticed that I was floating in the sky, gazing down on the world. This was the best thing ever and I couldn’t wait to see what else I could do in this dream. I mean, it’s not every day one could manipulate and control his own dreams.

  “Yikes,” I screamed, noticing Joe floating next to me, looking at me with disappointed eyes.

  “What’s your problem, Joe?”

  He smacked his forehead like I had asked a stupid question and said, “you still don’t know what this is all about, do you?”

  If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me that, I’m sure I would be a rich man. “No, so tell me,” I demanded, looking back at him without flinching.

  I wanted him to know that I wasn’t backing down, no matter what, until he told me why he was here. He chuckled and began to float down in an irritating and annoying manner.

  “Darn it! This is my dream, you have to answer me because I rule this place,” I growled and appeared next to him on the bench.

  I flicked my finger and the bench he was sitting on disappeared; however, he didn’t fall. It was as if he was sitting on an invisible bench.

  “See that, I can do anything in here,” I boasted, folding my hands in a dominant manner, with my eyes closed.

  “If you are the boss of this place, then where is Rose?” Joe said without changing the tone of his voice—not even one bit.

  He hit me where it hurt the most. That question was worse than a stab to the heart with a sharp knife, figuratively speaking of course. Now I remembered why I really hated Joe. He was one of my good friends, but at times, I hated how he asked direct questions.

  “She was your fiancée and you were supposed to get married, but you don’t even know where she is now, do you?”

  I wondered if I could punch him in this dream or would it go right through him. “Well, it’s complicated and I’m sure she is safe somewhere on earth.”

  Joe suddenly stopped reading his holographic magazine and looked at me without blinking. “Just how much do you know about Rose?”

  He stood up and walked in the opposite direction, without looking at me. What did he mean by that? His mind games would not work on me.

  “You arrogant jerk, get back here—I’m not done with you,” I hissed, running after his faint shadow.

  Without warning, he vanished like nothing and all that was left was me, a cloudy sky, and a bench. Just what did he want to say to me? Couldn’t I make him reappear before me again? It was worth a shot since I had so many questions for him, and he had all the answers I needed.

  “Joe, appear,” I said, dazzling my hands but nothing happened. I tried more chants but nothing happened again. “Oh well, I guess there is nothing I can do.”

  I sat on the bench, thinking. He was right though, I actually didn't know a whole lot about Rose. I mean, I knew her favorite color was green, no I mean pink, or wait she mentioned blue.

  Suddenly, everything just vanished as I woke up. Another strange dream indeed! They seemed to be getting weirder and weirder each night. At least the rain had ceased falling. There was a strong wind blowing down against me, going west. The only thing that kept it from blowing me away was the rock behind me. My scanners were picking up something like a tropical cyclone passing through; it wasn’t exactly passing through, but dazing back and forth without a clear direction. This planet defied most laws of physics, and if I wasn’t in danger, I would be fascinated to study it more closely.

  “So this is where you are?” a familiar cold voice said, speaking to me.

  I knew this voice and I hoped it wasn’t who I thought it was. A dark figure came out of the tall blue grass, holding something that looked like a tracker. I was sure I had lost her hours ago. Her persistence was admirable.

  “You sure took your time,” I snickered nervously, attempting to sound confident. It was the girl from before and she was alone from what I could see.

  “It was traffic, but I’m here now,” she said, drawing out her magnificent spear that shot electricity. One burst of that spear had enough power to bring down a terror beast—and should I get hit with that, it was going to be trouble. It looked hopeless for me, so I gave up quickly and decided to surrender.

  “Are you going to fight me or come peacefully?” she asked, firmly gripping the spear tightly, while staring at me with a frightening look. Her eyes radiated flawlessly with intense craze.

  As tempting as it was to try and escape my way out of this situation, I did absolutely nothing, but just sit there and chuckle. “Fine, you got me.”

  Odds were less favorable if I kept going east by myself, because I could either get lost or killed. Best bet was to stay with her and learn more about this horrible planet. Granted the right opportunity presented itself, I would sneak away and flee back.

  “Get on your feet, now,” she commanded me, folding her hands out of distaste. “Follow me and don’t try anything funny!”

  Alright, I rose up and began to follow her, heading north, in an unknown location. My drones had not scanned that area, so I had no idea where we were going at all and whether it was safe.

 
“Where are we going?” I asked her, walking a few feet behind her.

  She took a small glance at me and faintly smiled: “you’ll find out soon enough.”

  7

  Hours passed by us so fast, I felt them in my legs as we walked through vast blue forestry. I was worn out to say the least. Despite having fought a hard battle against the terror beasts, the alien girl’s speed and stamina didn’t seem affected at all—she showed no signs of fatigue. I, on the other hand, could say I was at my limits and wanted to stop.

  “How far is this place you are taking me?” I asked, as I stopped walking and sat down to take a breather. “You can kill me if you want, but I need to take a break, right now.” My knees and feet ached terribly. She stopped in her tracks and stared at me, full of resent like I had killed someone. Oh yeah, that’s right, I had almost fried her brother to crisp. I completely got where she was coming from, and I would have probably reacted in the same manner. Question was why was she keeping me alive? What kind of maniacal scheme did she have in mind for me, once I got to their territory?

  “Are you sure you want to do that?” she snickered in a comment to scare me. “This territory is filled with those creatures and I don’t think you want to stay here too long.”

  That being so, I didn’t care even for a bit—as I was, practically, exhausted physically and mentally. “Just give me five minutes, okay?” I said, closing my eyes like I was getting ready to sleep.

  She jumped into the air and landed on the ground, with her right foot on my chest, in barely a second. It wasn’t long after before I realized what had happened and the fact that I couldn’t move. “You are lucky that my sister, our leader, wants to see you, otherwise, I would have torn you to shreds.”

  For some reason, I believed her—I meant the part about tearing me to shreds. But who was she talking about? I wasn’t special or anything; however, to have their leader want to see me was something out of the ordinary. Normally when a leader wanted to see you, it usually meant they wanted something from you and the bargaining chip was usually your life. But what could she need from me?

  Since I was already trapped, I decided to take a gamble and asked, “What does your leader want from me?”

  I could only hope I didn’t say anything to offend her, otherwise, I wasn’t going to like the results. Her eyes gave no answers away. She was almost lacking in emotion.

  “Good question,” she said and jumped back away, releasing me from her grasp. “We’ll just have to find out and then you can atone for your crime.”

  “As I seem to recall, it was your brother who attacked us in the first place,” I whispered, blinking slowly.

  “He was just a kid,” she growled at me, “it’s not like he was going to kill you or anything.”

  True enough, he had warned us not to move before he attacked. But I had acted on impulse as I thought he was a threat. Thinking back, I probably shouldn’t have. Well, there were a lot of things I wish I hadn’t done, like eating that dried up cake back at the main ship. That could explain why my stomach hurt so much like this. I looked up, towards the sky, which had turned an almost blue grayish color, in wonder and full of thoughts. Just what was I doing here of all places? I should have stayed on earth to look for Rose, instead of running around playing hero with a bunch of psychopaths. It was definitely times like these I wish life were simple and boring.

  “Okay, that’s enough rest, get up,” she said and launched me back to my feet roughly, with her left hand.

  Such strength, I couldn’t help, but think highly of her craze and intensity. I truly wished I had that kind of drive. As soon as I was up back on my feet, thanks to her helping hand, I brushed blue dust off my feet and took a long deep breath.

  “Alright then,” I mumbled, walking slowly in front of her, travelling to an unknown part of the planet.

  This didn’t feel right, it felt like she was leading me into a trap. It sure smelled like a trap, felt like one too, well that was what my gut was telling me. However, it was too late to try and escape, considering how far we had walked. I could have tried to fight her off, but with the battle experience in her favor, winning was out of the option. Besides, I was curious to know where her base was and if there was some connection between her and the people who took my crew. I had enough firing power in my armor left to take out as many of them as I could, but if I failed then it would be the end of it. Things definitely looked bad at the moment. All I could do, for now, was play along and follow behind her as the captured prisoner of war. Suddenly, my feet sank and I fell into what looked like water. I tilted my head down too late to react. Realizing I had sunk into a pot hole of clear liquid, I struggled hard to get out with no sense of direction. Zoning into my own thoughts had led me into this dire situation, exposing me to the harsh elements of this planet. Fortunately, I could still breathe, since my oxygen tanks were still on.

  I stopped moving and allowed myself enough time to think briefly. My heart was beating out of my chest, it was painful. I didn’t think my heart could handle all this stress. I tried looking in the direction of my bubbles, planning to follow them to the surface. Surprisingly, they all bubbled around me in a mini circle, which spooked me for a little bit. This sort of thing usually intensified my interest in the labs, as I knew all the properties of water or any other liquid of that sort. However, it was safe to say, I had never seen anything like it before, speaking in general of course. What was I thinking? I was trapped and all I could think about was science? My heart began to race again; I felt a sudden sage of adrenaline rushing through me. Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed me with such a force it dented my armor. I was pulled out of the water and onto the land, so fast, I barely noticed it happened. As I panted heavily, I looked around, embracing my freedom from oblivion and trying to look at the hero, who had saved me. Oh, I wasn’t exactly free yet. It was the girl who had rescued me. She was looking at me with a sinister smile, with her arms folded.

  “Were you expecting someone else?” she snickered in a comment and picked up her weapon, which had struck the water.

  Truth is, I really did expect someone else to be my rescuer. But then again, I wasn’t complaining either.

  “Admit it, you are growing fond of me,” I said, standing up as water fell from my armor. “You just couldn’t let me go, could you?”

  She stopped in her tracks and looked at me with such piercing eyes, “believe what you want, thank my sister. If she didn’t give me the order to spare your life, I would have left you inside there to rot.”

  Oh, at least she was honest—I liked that. Although, her words pierced me deeply like a spear, but that was to be expected. I staggered back to my feet out of pure exhaustion. Fortunately, my armor seemed to be working slightly below decent. I had at least two or three hours worth, before the power battery pack ran out.

  “Don’t fall behind or next time I won’t be here to help you,” she spoke as she walked ahead of me.

  Normally, it was a standard thing to thank the person who saved your life. Yet, I was not going to thank her at all. My pride wouldn’t allow such a thing. I took one look back to see where I had fallen, and I was surprised by my discovery. The pot hole had just vanished. It was still there, I was sure of it. I put the matter aside and hurried along to catch up with the girl.

  “Do you ever get tired of this blue color?”

  She didn’t reply, and because of that, I didn’t bother making an effort to ask her again. I could tell that she hated my guts and I was really pushing my luck by annoying her. Without warning, she stopped and looked straight ahead. I immediately stopped and looked in the same direction. Just what was she looking at? All I could see were trees in front of us. The whole forest was blue, just like everything else on this stupid planet. Something about this particular place seemed out of the ordinary to her, of course. My scanner system was going haywire from some electromagnetic interference.

  “We are here,” she said and pushed me down with such force I fell on
my face.

  “Hey, what was that for?” I screamed still lying on the ground.

  At the same time, she ducked on the ground as I saw something that looked like a laser sweep by us in a flash. Everything a meter above was cut in half—trees fell below, making a cracking, hard noise. “What had I gotten myself into?”

  The ground beneath our feet began to shift and change so suddenly, knocking me further off balance. Some big guns, I mean, really big guns appeared out of the ground and were pointed directly at us.

  “Just my luck,” I sighed and quickly got up, moving out of the way. “Would you mind telling your friends to stand down?”

  This was ridiculous, I mean—I was an enemy, but this was a bit extreme. The big guns began charging up what looked like proton rays, harnessing the power of an unknown natural element. The amount of energy they were emitting was absolutely incredible; it would take ten generators to produce this much energy.

  “It’s a test, so try not to get killed.”

  “What, are you serious?”

  It seemed I had fallen into the hands of paranoid psychopaths. I usually didn’t do too well under pressure, most of the time, I crumbled. To show them I meant no harm, I didn’t move out of the way. It was a risky move, but the most logical. Abruptly, the big gun on the left fired down, nearly taking my head off. I quickly moved, sensing the impending danger, and dashed forward for cover. The longer I stayed here, the more likely I would die. All the trees had been cut off, meaning there wasn’t anywhere to hide.