by M. J Kreyzer
There was one ability that Luke had never been able to grasp. Luke had mastered abilities that were far more difficult than telekinesis yet he still found it impossible to move even the smallest of objects. It started out as a small annoyance, but the more Luke failed at being able to exercise some form of telekinesis the more he found himself unable to focus on anything else. He began to put off hunting and collecting drinking water in favor of sitting cross legged on the floor of his cave and trying to move a small rock with his mind.
He never got it. No matter how hard he tried or how hard he concentrated he found himself unable to use any form of telekinesis. When it came to using his other abilities Luke was able to just hold his hand out, think hard enough about doing it and make it happen. But that wasn’t the case with telekinesis, and it was keeping Luke from a lot of things, even sleep. And it was a new thing for Luke to experience. He’d lived his entire life and accepted his not being able to use telekinesis as a simple fact of life and it never bothered him until now.
As time went by Luke’s daily routines became repetitive and monotonous. He’d wake up, work out for several hours, hunt and exercise his Elemental: creating small Grav-fields only strong enough to lightly counteract the moon’s gravity, blowing up rocks and stumps with Chargers, lifting enormous objects by channeling Furo through his muscles and everything else he was capable of. After cycling through all forms of Elemental he knew, barriers, fire, ice, plasma, and so on, Luke would then move on to increasing the speed at which he could use each ability in repetition. He’d fire off Chargers at a large number of predetermined targets. He’d rain plasma bolts from the sky in vast quantities until there were dozens of glowing white pinnacles striking down all around him with cracks and thunders that rolled across the valleys. Then, after practicing speed Luke would begin to work on the speed at which he could transition between abilities, sometimes creating several different forms of Elemental at once and getting them to work in conjunction with one another; for example creating a Grav-field that would pull him into the sky, creating a barrier that would protect him from imaginary enemy fire, incinerating the targets that he’d set up and hitting the ground on his feet with his sword at the ready. The more he practiced the more Elemental combinations he conceived, and the more combinations he conceived the more he would practice. And after several hours, he’d throw down a thirty to sixty thousand calorie Power Pack and continue. But there was still that nagging doubt in the back of his mind; he still couldn’t use telekinesis.
One night Luke was in the same spot he’d been for nearly a day trying to move the same rock that had been resting in the same place since he began attempting telekinesis. He was so concentrated on it that he about missed the fact that an large group of objects were slowly walking into view. Luke quickly put out the candle, grabbed his sword and moved to the entrance of the cave; they were Styklers.
Silently crawling through the dirt Luke moved through the opening of the cave, getting his sword in front of him and getting into a defensive position. Without the rocky cave walls surrounding Luke was able to get a clearer image of the approaching animals.
Styklers were bipedal lizards standing around eight feet tall and twelve feet long, their backs covered in long, rigid spikes which, when trimmed, made it possible to mount saddles and supplies. Long, razor sharp spines came out from the tops of their heads which curved down the back of their necks like a lethal mane, running down their arms, tails, and the front parts of their legs. Walking upon large muscular legs their strides were long, smooth and calculated. Their heads bobbed gently as they walked and their eyes had a greenish glow in the darkened night.
There were twenty of them making their way through the trees peering back and forth; Styklers lived in packs which never dwindled below five per pack while there were records of Styklers travelling in herds though that was extremely uncommon. Styklers were ferocious animals, extremely dangerous and short-tempered. Paradoxically they were also very social creatures, very attached, and very smart. They were fiercely loyal to those who lived within their packs, not to mention violently territorial. It was that reason that kept Luke in his cave. They posed no physical danger to Luke; he would have no problem dispatching them if it came to it. But they had no idea the kind of threat that Luke would present and would attack him en masse if they knew he was there. They were amazing animals, lethal, cunning and they had no reason to die. But it wasn’t their territory that had brought them here.
Luke had stockpiled all of his animal meats in a broad thicket on a downward sloping area in a group of trees and the Styklers had picked up the scent. Their noses were in the air, sniffing every which way and slowly converging on the spot where the meat had been hidden.
Luke cursed himself. That was every last bit of meat that he had saved and was the culmination of his food gathering efforts. He’d have to start over from scratch and now he’d have to deal with a large pack of Styklers which would no doubt make this their new territory due to the fact that they had found free food here, pre-cut and prepared for them. So Luke lay there, telling himself that there was a possibility that they would miss the meat entirely and move on. But it was only a few minutes before they had circled the meat cache entirely and slowly bore down upon it. Then, it looked like one of the Styklers- the large alpha male- had zoned in on the exact spot where the meat was hidden. Its head snapped in the direction and it froze. It made several high clicks in its mouth and the other Styklers turned towards the exact spot where he was looking. Luke cursed again and watched the Styklers immediately dash towards the spot with their razor sharp teeth bore.
They ripped the thicket to shreds. Leaves, sticks and dirt were tossed in the air as they devoured the meat that was stored there. The alpha-male waited until the other Styklers had had a chance at the food. Then, seeing that there was just enough for him he moved in. The other Styklers moved back without defiance and let him eat.
Though he was angry at himself for making such a stupid mistake, Luke admired the creatures. He had always had a liking for creatures such as Styklers and Razorbacks; many people preferred more benign creatures such as Quos, which were large, fat lizards used most often as livestock. Styklers had a certain grace to them, the way they walked, ran, communicated, even ate. Their brown, rough skin even had a luster to it that intrigued Luke. There was a certain majestic quality about animals whose speed and relative strength were unmatched, though also possessed the ability for self-control; being able to harness that aggression and use it to construct, to improve. They were wild animals yet they possessed a humanity that most humans lacked.
The first order of business the next day was, naturally, to dig out a small alcove in the cave where Luke would then store his meat in lieu of a surface storage. After clearing the rubble from inside the cave Luke went about collecting the supplies to fill the newly created space.
He travelled about ten miles to a large sunny green meadow. (At that point Luke wasn’t too concerned about missing the Legionnaire. He’d check back on the spot periodically.) Crouching in the brush Luke peered out across the rolling, flowery meadow and saw a herd of grazing Quos.
They were massive lizards, fat, meaty, and round. Looking at a Quo one would think that there was nothing wrong with the world. They were peaceful creatures, not at all like Styklers. Slowly they’d trudge through the field, quietly chewing away at the grass and flowers that they took in, flapping their proportionately small wings to swat the bugs away that buzzed all around them. Then, in various spots around some of the larger females there were disturbances in the tall grass. Every so often a fat, chubby infant Quo which looked on the verge of bursting would bound above the grass chasing the winged bugs that their parents found to be so annoying. They’d flap their wings, stay aloft for a second or two before their strength gave way and they fell back to the ground where they’d continue their chase. A couple of other baby Quos tumbled in the grass, playfully wrestling with one another and making high grunting noises whi
ch Luke assumed was the Quo equivalent of laughter.
It was somewhat regrettable killing a Quo but Luke needed the meat. He looked around the herd for a Quo that didn’t have young. There were several bull Quos that grazed along the outer ring of the pack and Luke would probably take one of those. But take a bull and you remove the potential for future generations. Luke was torn.
Then, as if to solve his dilemma, a large solitary bull Quo came in from the opposite edge of the meadow; it was scarred, dark eyed and mean looking. It didn’t have a herd. Perfect.
It started making heavy, waddling steps towards the other Quos, breathing heavily through its nose and keeping its eyes on one of the females. Luke grinned and removed his sword from the leather straps on his back, parted the bushes and strode into the clearing. Resting his sword across his shoulders Luke went to intersect the bull before it reached the female.
The bull didn’t see Luke until look stood directly in front of him. Though Luke was no more a nuisance than any of the surrounding wildflowers the bull stopped, began making frustrated grunts and pounding its front feet. The more Luke seemed unmoved by its attempts at intimidation the harder the Quo tried to scare him. Soon it was spreading its wings and rearing back, throwing all of its weight onto its front feet and pounding the ground so hard it shook. The herd of Quos began to get jittery and had started forming up closer to one another while the males kept towards the outside in defense.
The bull Quo roared. It got into Luke’s face and continued to roar. Again, Luke didn’t budge. Then, the moment that Luke had been waiting for. The Quo took several lumbering steps backwards and it attacked.
Channeling Furo through his legs Luke leapt into the air and landed on top of the bull, grabbing one of the rounded spines that came out of its back and getting himself steady on its back. This made the Quo even more furious. It bucked and jumped and shook as hard as it could to break Luke’s grip. While it struggled Luke crawled his way up towards the top of the Quo’s head. Then something happened Luke hadn’t intended: the Quo took flight.
It spread its wings and beat them with amazing force, sending waves through the long grass and forcing any loose object and debris to go tumbling away in the wind. Luke was thrust to his stomach with the added gravity of the liftoff.
The meadow began to get smaller as the Quo flew higher, his rumbling, deep-throated roars echoing through the valley. Luke regained his footing and looked down to see the trees zipping below them. The Quo shook its body and banked in the air in attempts to toss Luke from its back.
Luke was being tossed back and forth. Quos weren’t like Razorbacks. They didn’t have the large, armored scales that Razorbacks had which made them convenient for riding. The Quo’s skin was devoid of any handhold save for the small bumpy spines that rose up on its back.
The wind whistled explosions in Luke’s ears. His long coat flapped like a flag in a coming storm. The wind drew tears from his eyes and streaked them across his cheeks. The tendons in the back of his hand bulged as Luke’s fingertips held on with all their worth.
The Quo arched its back and started trying to bite at Luke. It barely had a neck to speak of and the attempts were harmless. But the attempts made the ride even rougher, which didn’t help Luke at all. The Quo was massive though. Luke would’ve had no problem standing on its back if it weren’t bucking and tossing in the air. But it was, and Luke could barely keep balanced.
He had only one choice but he didn’t want to kill the Quo in the air. And jamming his sword into its back for a makeshift handhold would only make it struggle worse, and since his sword had a frictionless edge it wouldn’t have stuck too well anyhow. And killing it that high in the air would have crashed the beast into the hard ground and ruined half the meat.
With Furo coursing through his hands, Luke grabbed the spines with all his strength and climbed towards the Quos head, fighting the winds and keeping his body close to the Quo’s. He’d get to the head and force it to land at which point he’d kill it. It was a plan. Not a good one, but a plan nonetheless.
The Quo barrel-rolled.
Luke held on with three fingers as it spun, doing a single rotation and returning upright. He renewed his grip and was shocked. He had no idea an animal of that size could maneuver like that.
The forest had disappeared into sharp rocky quarries that reached to the horizon. Now a hundred feet up, the ground disappeared beneath them and reappeared almost a thousand feet lower. The cliff was perfectly pale and flat, like the drywall in a dirty house.
Luke had no idea which direction was which now; north, south, east, it was all the same right now.
The Quo barrel-rolled again. Luke yelled at it in vain anger. His grip was loosening. He could barely hang on now. His forearms burned. His fingers were numb.
Luke could feel the Quo’s body tensing up. It was getting ready for another barrel roll.
It would lose Luke if it rolled again. Knowing this, Luke mustered every last bit of strength he had in his arms, pulled up hard on his hand hold and lunged for the Quo’s horns.
It dove as he did. The Quo disappeared out from beneath him.
He hung there for a moment giving him plenty of time to realize how high he was.
Looking down and starting into a fall, he saw the Quo in a hard dive, its wings tucked, barreling towards the ground. Dumb animal. How could something that big move like that?
Luke was picking up speed, falling faster and faster towards the hard, rocky ground below. The Quo had evened out and was skimming the surface of the rocks.
Luke moved his arms in the air, trying to reorient his body in the right direction. There was nothing but rushing air.
Luke swore. He didn’t have the energy to use elemental much without risk of killing himself. He hadn’t anticipated using so much elemental and hadn’t adequately prepared.
The ground was only a hundred feet below, the small objects getting larger and the large objects getting enormous. Luke shook his head, oriented himself towards the Quo and exhaled deeply. He was going to die anyway. The hell with it.
Luke thrust an arm out, read the path of the Quo and created a Grav-field as a deep, dull pain seared through his body.
Luke’s pained shout echoed across the quarry.
The large black and purple orb appeared ahead of the Quo, starting small and growing quick. Luke’s trajectory switched in a blink, ripping his extremities to the side like a rag doll. He now fell almost parallel to the ground, the distance between him and the Quo closing faster as he accelerated as though he were falling towards the ground.
The Quo was flying low; only fifty feet or so off the ground.
Perfect.
Luke fell in a straight line towards the Grav-field, streamlining himself to move as fast as possible. The Quo had passed under it and had continued flying casually and calmly, having no idea that Luke had returned.
Luke passed through the Grav-field like it was a dark cloud of mist, his momentum carrying him out the other side. Now with the Grav-field behind him, Luke began to slow down, appearing as though he were connected to the Grav-field by an invisible rubber bad. The instant Luke felt deceleration he waved his hand and the Grav-field dissipated.
He was free falling once more, aiming for the head. He prayed he was as accurate as he hoped he was.
Luke’s shadow shot up the Quo’s back; he was only a few feet above it now.
The Quo sensed him. With a roar, it prepared to make a sharp turn.
At breakneck speeds, Luke readied his sword.
The Quo made the turn. Hard.
Luke almost missed it. The sword buried into the thick skull of the Quo and disappeared up to the hilt. The body of the animal went limp and fell to the earth. Luke got to one knee, got a good grip on his sword and prepared for impact.
The other moons were high in the sky by the time Luke had made it back to his cave. The atmosphere of the planets that their moon orbited glowed against the navy sky while the planets themselves obscu
red a good portion of the sky, one behind the other. It was bright enough that, if he could see, he wouldn’t need any light besides that of the moons. By the time he’d got a bearing on his surroundings it was already dawn and the wildlife was coming out. The same pack of Styklers that had invaded his camp stalked all around him as he pulled the dead Quo back to camp by its massive tail.
Upon limping and wheezing into camp, Luke was surprised that he had the strength to pull something that massive; the average quo was the size of a forge tank and weighed a solid ten tons even after he had gutted it and removed the head. And due to the sheer size of the animal Luke couldn’t make a straight line towards his cave; the Quo would have gotten stuck between trees and rocks. So naturally it was a good thing that meat didn’t bruise after the animal died because after hurling the body over several cliffs and sending it bouncing down a number of rocky slopes Luke was more than convinced that he had tenderized the hell out of that thing.
Carving it and carving it quick was Luke’s first priority. He wasn’t sure how long he could go before the Styklers’ anxiety over his presence became secondary to their desire for his kill. So Luke pulled the body as close to the entrance of his cave as he possibly could and blocked the Styklers from seeing the entrance to his cave. After carving off all the lean meat from one side of the animal Luke found he still had room in his cave for a bit more. He covered the hole, rotated the body around and found a young Stykler gnawing at the other side. Luke shooed it, looked around in the dark at the crowds of glowing green eyes that peered at him and concealed his position once more. He carved off what more meat he could, climbed into his hole and covered it. Once in the cave Luke piled his gear in the corner, climbed into bed and relaxed to the sounds of twenty plus ravenous Styklers devouring the mountain of flesh no more than a few feet above him. And as he fell into a deep, much-desired sleep, Luke remained uncertain of his immediate future. With his meet he could survive, but at the moment, as he had been for the last while, he was merely existing. However, the moment he was now living for would be coming sooner than he thought.