by Huth, Jacob
“That’s good thinking. I can take a look at all of this later. Are you alright? Is the poison in you still?” Jet asked.
“I feel alright. Pan said he cured me. He also showed me a plant that can be used in medicines that numb pain immediately. He said I have a few fractured ribs but I don’t even feel it from the medicine he gave me,” I said sitting down at the table.
“You have broken ribs?” Flare asked.
“I guess so,” I replied.
“How did you break your ribs?” Frost asked.
“I’m not sure. I woke up in Bosque City and Pan told me that I had them,” I replied.
“Bosque City?” Flare asked.
“Pan is the leader of a city in the trees called Bosque City. It is a bunch of huts in the trees connected by walkways and bridges,” I replied.
“How have we never heard of it?” Flare asked.
“They are deep in the forest and they have agents inside Marsh City that spread rumors about how dangerous the woods are. It deters people from going into the woods,” I replied.
“Oh well, I can start looking at these things you brought me. You need to rest,” Jet said. She picked up the bag and took them to the armory to work.
“I’ll go work with her. I’m trying to learn from her,” Flare said.
“We’ll catch up with you later,” Frost said. Flare went to join Jet in the armory. I took off the shirt that Pan had given me to assess the damage to my ribs. The bandages were tight against my bruises. I unwrapped them and revealed the carnage. My skin was dark blue and black. The discoloration caught Frost’s eye.
“Good lord,” he said, “What really happened out there? I know this didn’t happen just from that plant.”
“It partially was. When I was shot with the barbs, I passed out for a while. When I woke up, I saw Hades,” I said.
“Hades? What was he doing out there?” Frost asked.
“It wasn’t really him. The plant makes you hallucinate pretty intensely. He talked to me. He told me that I couldn’t save anybody and I would fail. I lost it and my spike acted up,” I replied.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
“The power just exploded out of me. I couldn’t stop it. I created a singularity and…” I said but was interrupted by Frost.
“A singularity?! How is that possible?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I have a feeling that most gene spikes are controlled but when you completely lose it, the power just takes control of you. I woke up in a crater. The singularity must have ripped a hole in the ground around me,” I said.
“Do you think that if we can get the amplifiers working, you could use that power, but control it?” asked Frost.
“I’m not sure. We will find out I guess,” I replied. I grabbed a towel by the sink and ran it under warm water. I wrapped it around my bruises. The warmth soothed the soreness and tenderness of the contusion. I heard a gasp from the other side of the room. I looked over and saw Jet standing in the doorway looking horrified at the discoloration. She ran back into the other room quickly. After a minute Flare emerged and saw the bruises. She walked over and examined them.
“Why didn’t you tell us about this?” she asked.
“It’s not a big deal. I’m fine,” I replied.
“That is not fine! You look like you got stomped on by a horse,” she said.
“It’ll heal up in a couple days. I can wear armor to protect me too,” I said rewetting the towel.
“That’s not the point,” she said rubbing her forehead, “You keep things like this from us and it upsets Jet. She worries that you are going to get yourself killed when you disappear for days at a time.”
“I didn’t mean to worry anyone,” I said.
“I know you didn’t but you need to be upfront and maybe not run off by yourself. We can’t lose the face of the rebellion,” she said walking away.
The face of the rebellion. I can’t believe she was referring to me when she said that. It didn’t feel like we had really done anything. I had spent most of my time in Sanctum and in Bosque City.
“She’s right you know,” Frost said.
“I know. I will be better about not going alone or letting someone know where I am,” I said.
“You won’t have to anymore,” Jet said coming into the room.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“I looked at the earpiece you brought back and it is still functional. I figured that we could use our own earpieces to communicate so we won’t have to worry about not knowing where someone is. The best part is that I can calibrate our earpieces so that we can listen in on Kraken transmissions and talk to each other without them hearing us,” she said.
“That’s good thinking,” Frost said.
“Thanks,” she said walking back into the other room.
“I was thinking,” I said.
“What about?” Frost asked.
“I feel like we need to do something. Something to make a mark on Kraken. To show that they are vulnerable. To show people that Kraken can be hurt and that they aren’t invincible,” I replied.
“What did you have in mind?” he asked back.
“I’m not sure. It has to be something more substantial than raiding a supply caravan,” I said.
“I can’t think of anything,” he said, “We can talk to Flare and Jet later about it. They might have an idea.”
I nodded and winced as my bruises began to ache again.
“You should go get some sleep,” Frost said, “Nothing exciting will happen I’m sure.”
“Let me know if anything does,” I said standing up. I walked into the room where Jet and Flare were working. I made a groaning sound as I laid down. Jet looked over and saw me lying on the bed.
“Do you want us to leave?” she asked.
“No. You can keep working if you want, it won’t bother me,” I said.
“Whatever you say,” she said turning back to her work.
I lay staring at the ceiling for a few minutes before finally falling into a deep sleep. I found myself in a horrible dream. I was standing in the square staring up at the balcony where Pipes was tied up. Hades was looking down at me with an evil smile on his face. I knew what was coming. I tried to lift my arms to stop Hades but they felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. Pipes opened his mouth and was just able to squeak out, “Help me.”
Hades pulled the trigger and Pipes was gone again. I tried to move my arms but they stayed motionless. Hades turned his gun on me and began to laugh in his horrible, deep voice. I tried to run but my legs felt as if they were chained to the ground. I stood there powerless as Hades pulled the trigger. In an instant I shot up in bed, covered in sweat. The room was rumbling as I looked around. I found Jet looking at me, not at all shaken by the rumbling room. “Are you alright?” she asked calmly.
I tried to regain my breath. “I think so,” I replied.
“What were you dreaming about?” she asked.
“Pipes,” I said.
“I know that must still be hard for you. What was happening in it?” she asked.
“I was reliving the moment where Hades executed him. I knew it was coming but when I tried to move, I was frozen. I watched him die again and then Hades shot me,” I replied putting my head in my hands. She came over and sat on the bed. She put her arms around me and laid her head on my shoulder.
“I feel powerless. I couldn’t save Pipes, I couldn’t save my parents. Who else is going to die before I can stop Kraken?” I asked.
“Nobody. You will stop Hades and return peace to the city,” she said.
“What if I can’t?” I said hopelessly.
“You can. You can’t afford to think like that,” she said, “Try to get some sleep. I bet you’re exhausted. Everything will look better after a good night’s sleep.” I nodded and laid flat on the bed. She laid her head across my chest and curled up next to me. I felt her warmth as I drifted into sleep again. I couldn’t explain my stupidity
to her. I would do anything to protect her and make sure she was safe but I knew from the outside it looked like I was being reckless and purposefully distant. I wasn’t though. I had a hard time expressing intimate feelings. I think Jet knew and that is what frustrated her. She just wanted me to be straight up on everything. I wished it was as easy for me as it was for her.
I slept better than I had in a while that night. I awoke the next morning feeling refreshed. I heard a loud noise in the other room, no doubt some sort of mechanical work being done by Jet. I sat up and was immediately halted by the stabbing pain in my ribs. I stood up carefully and grabbed a shirt from the footlocker from the end of the bed. I slid it on as gently as I could. I walked into the main room and saw Jet using a blowtorch, welding something on the workbench. I sat down at the table in the kitchen and started eating some bread that was sitting on a plate. I figured that they had left it out for me to eat when I finally woke up. I wasn’t very hungry and couldn’t eat more than a few bites.
I looked over to Jet and yelled, “What are you working on?”
She shut off the torch and held up the spike amplifiers. She removed the goggles she was wearing and brought the amplifiers to the table. “I was adding some cushion to the inside of them. They seemed uncomfortable. I may have solved the issue that the original design had,” she said.
“How did you fix it?” I asked while examining the amplifiers.
“The original design had the amplifiers running off of two power sources, the fusion cell and the host. That is why there were adverse effects. I guess they figured that if the user had power, it could sustain the amplifiers. Instead it sapped energy and killed hosts. I was able to change the power intake so that it runs off of a second fusion cell instead of the host. The problem that we will face is that we will burn through cells twice as fast so we will need to find a way to acquire more cells,” she replied.
“We could use the radios to listen in on Kraken and see if they mention any technology or labs where they store it,” I said.
“Oh that reminds me. I calibrated the radios so that we can communicate with each other without them hearing us,” said Jet. She handed me one of the radios. It was small and gray. There was a red button on the outside that activated the speech function. I slipped it into my ear and heard chatter coming through. It was mainly coded transmissions about daily operations. I listened for a few minutes before removing it. I turned my attention back to the amplifiers. She had attached a sort of pad inside the amplifiers to keep the metal on the gauntlets from rubbing away at the skin of the wearer. I slipped them on and felt the sensors on the inside touching my skin. The sensors picked up the cellular makeup of the user and was able to identify the gene spike. It enhanced the power by stimulating the cells and somehow affecting the spike. It was very advanced and I had no advanced knowledge of the process.
“What are you doing with those?” asked Jet?
“I was going to go test them,” I replied.
“You can’t. I don’t know if they are ready to use yet,” she said.
“There is no better time. If they don’t work, we need to keep working or find another weapon to use against Kraken. Besides I trust you and your knowledge,” I said. She blushed and stammered as she tried to think of a way to stop me. Before she could, I walked into one of the empty chambers. She followed closely behind me. I turned and faced one of the walls. I held my arm out towards it and started focusing my power. A strange feeling coursed through my arm. It felt almost as if electricity was flowing through my body. I focused and felt the release of power through my palm. It shot into the wall and a cloud of dust exploded out of it. Jet coughed as the room filled with dust. When it finally cleared, a tunnel three feet in diameter and perfectly smooth inside sat about two feet off the ground. It had worked. I was able to focus and enhance my power. Jet stood speechless staring at the hole in the wall. I stared at the silver pieces on my arms and felt a small bit of hope rising in me. We finally had an advantage against Kraken. I wanted to test them further outside where I didn’t run the risk of destroying Sanctum.
“Let’s go outside and test these further,” I said.
“Maybe we should hold off and let me run some diagnostics on them,” she replied.
“They work fine. Relax,” I said. I started off down the tunnel and made my way outside. The sun was shining bright and beating down on the terrain. I stood for a moment and let the warmth wash over me. Being inside Sanctum was hard sometimes because it was so dark and cold. I stretched my body out and loosened my muscles as best as I could. I clinched my fists as they hung down at my side and focused on channeling my power. I slowly increased the power release and began to hover. The gravity fluctuation was pushing me off the ground into the air. I felt a power unlike any I had before. I increased the power and flew a foot higher.
Jet looked up and said, “Be careful.”
“I am. I want to see what I can do though,” I said. I forced more power out and shot off at a diagonal angle over the forest. I tested increasing and decreasing my speed as I flew. The sensation of flying was amazing. I came to a stop in the air and noticed a pillar of black smoke coming from the center of the forest.
“I wonder if that is Bosque City,” I thought to myself. I increased speed and flew towards it. I descended into the canopy and perched on a branch. I saw Kraken agents raiding the city and burning the houses and trees. Some of the agents were rounding the citizens up on the ground and gathering them into a group. Suddenly, Pan was led out by a man with body armor on. I recognized him as one of Hades’ top men. His name was Jekyll. He received his name based on an old story about a scientist who would change back and forth between a beastly creature and a man. Jekyll had a gene spike that allowed him to morph between a beast and himself at will. He was one of Hades’ generals and was famous for ruthlessly executing people to make a point.
He pushed Pan to his knees and pulled a strange weapon out. It was obviously one of Kraken’s advanced weapons. I had no idea what it could do but I knew that I had to stop him before he could do anything. “Look upon this man,” he bellowed, “He led you and defied the great Hades. He will now pay for his defiance and you will see that Kraken will destroy anyone in their way.”
Before he could even aim the weapon at Pan, I shot out of the trees with my power and tackled Jekyll to the ground. The force with which I hit him pushed him a foot and a half into the ground. I sprung up and helped up Pan. “Get your people to safety,” I said.
He nodded and started barking out orders to the group. They began to run into the forest. Jekyll rose and brushed the dust off of his armor.
“So, the great Zero associates with the forest mongrels,” he said in his raspy voice.
“I protect those who need it. I will stop Kraken and restore peace to the city,” I said.
“You think you can stop Hades?” he asked, “There is nothing you can do that will upset the tight grip that Kraken has on the city.” He started to morph before my eyes. His armor broke off and revealed his skin that was changing from bare into wolf-like fur. It was apparent that underneath the fur was a rock hard layer of muscle that would protect him from many things. Claws began growing from his fingers and his ears became pointed. The most disturbing feature was his face. It stayed halfway between man and beast so it became grotesque. He finished his transformation and rolled his head around to stretch his neck out. I bent my knees slightly to brace myself as I began charging my power. He started walking towards me with his horrific visage and when he was about ten feet from me, a flurry of arrows stuck in his chest. It halted him for a moment. I looked back and saw Pan standing with his bow still drawn.
“What are you doing here?” I yelled.
“I came back to help. My people are safe,” he replied firing another arrow into Jekyll’s body. I turned back to Jekyll and stretched my arms out to my sides. I let the power run into my hands before I slammed them together to create a force blast. It hit Jekyll square in the ches
t and launched him back into a tree. The trunk cracked on impact. He was dazed for a moment, but recovered and sprung back to his feet. Pan ran up a tree, grabbing branches and pulling himself higher. He perched himself in a tree stand and began to fire arrows at Jekyll again. The speed at which he could fire arrows was astounding. I turned and launched myself towards Jekyll. When I was right in front of him, I swung my arm to land a punch. I threw a gravity fluctuation behind it to add extra force and when it struck, his head turned so forcefully that his body spun completely around. I continued throwing force punches against Jekyll until I was sure that he couldn’t withstand anymore. Just as I was about to throw my final punch, his clawed hand grabbed my throat. His nails were sharp against my skin. He pulled his other arm back with his claws drawn to strike when a flaming arrow struck him in his open hand. It caused him to drop me and once I hit the ground, I launched myself into his stomach. There was a series of cracking sounds as I struck him. He stumbled back and was hit again by another flaming arrow, this time in the chest. His fur began to ignite and he fell to his knees. I stood about five feet from him and raised my hand. As I raised it, he lifted off the ground. I found the task of honing my abilities becoming easier by the minute. I clinched my fist and his neck snapped. Jekyll fell to the ground in a smoldering pile. I looked over to where the agents had been standing and only one remained alive. Six of the seven had arrows through their helmets. One was on the ground at Pan’s feet being held at arrow point.
“Let him up,” I said to Pan. The look on his face was one of confusion. He pulled his bow away from the man and pulled him up by his collar. I looked at him and said, “You go back and tell Hades what you saw here. Tell him that I stopped one of his top men and that I will stop anybody he can throw at me.”
The fear in the man’s face was intense. He stumbled to his feet and sprinted away. Pan looked at his city as it burned. “I can’t believe it is gone,” he said solemnly.
“Why were they here? How did they find you?” I asked.