Heroic- Zero

by Ted L C

  A gale flows through the skies. The boy’s stare drifts to an alabaster tinged ball of fur, gripping its jaw into the girl’s leg.

  Flashes fill the sky.

  The duo’s bodies drop.

  The lad appears beside Alyssa and weaves his fingers into hers. They appear on the sand.

  Revelator manifests. It sways upward as the experiment’s body falls toward him. A ribbon of crimson fluid flushes from the experiment’s shoulder as the blade rips through her limb.

  “Barter rat!” Derek hurls his knuckles into the girl’s breast.

  “There, there,” Alyssa cradles the ball of fur. “You’re safe with me.”

  “What the hell is that thing?” Derek’s eyes move toward the white creature.“You know what? Forget it. Where’d the blonde dude go?”

  “I—” 629 murmurs.

  “Just a friendly reminder,” Revelator’s apex kisses the experiment’s neck. “your life is on the line if you do not tell me what I want to hear.”

  She purses her lips as a splash of liquid sloshes against Derek’s face. His legs carry him across the beige powder. The NanoLites forming his helmet and gloves evaporate.

  “Derek!” Alyssa’s body blurs as it moves toward him. “Derek, stop!”

  Curling legs under his waist, Derek’s gaze transfers to the ocean. Silhouettes of long-bodied winged creatures jiggling four legs flutters.

  “What is that?” in Derek’s peripherals, the beast buffs its brow against Alyssa’s chest while purring.

  “They’re called Arkans. According to superstitions, they’re a positive omen if you catch one.”

  “Seems easy to catch to me.”

  “That’s because it’s in shock. Otherwise, these things are nearly impossible to get a hold of because they can change their density. Kind of odd, though. These things usually live in colder environments. Wonder if it got carried off by a Griffin. Perhaps a strong wind gale.”

  “These things do what 629 does?”

  “Correct, which is why I’m assuming that one was used in her creation.” she moves her arms downwards.

  The Arkan caresses its thin tongue against her cheek. It hovers while emitting a symphony of squeaks.

  “May mother keep you within her warm embrace, little guy!” Alyssa’s gaze follows the creature as it drifts upwards. Her eyes drift toward Derek. “So, this is what I’ve always thought about ever since my first experience here. There are at least twenty known wildlife species on Faxian diagnosed with Adalfieri in their blood. Yet no theorists ever published any correlations. What do you think?”

  “I think this shit’s messed up. I just de-limbed a girl and punched the life outta her. Even though there was another way to get through to her, convert her to our—”

  “A way to convert her?” Alyssa’s eyebrow arcs upward. “How’s that?”

  “I-I—”

  “Right, there was no other way to help. You befriended her, defended her against me, then the second you let your guard down, she turns.” Alyssa brushes sand from her fingers with a black rag and pushes herself to her feet. “Think about it from this perspective. You are a father of three children—happily married, and have the privilege of living on a planet off Earth.

  “Suddenly, your village goes into flames. Some innocent looking girl who claims to be a slave yet has the skill to execute sixty-five percent of all HESTEKS by herself. She murders your wife and kids in front of you, then tortures you. She says it’s her command, even though it’s what she labels as ‘Play Time’.

  “Though you think you did wrong, you saved not only us but anyone else she encounters. I’ve witnessed some of the horrors she’s inflicted firsthand. Thank you—so much.”

  Alyssa’s arms lock themselves with Derek’s shoulders. She pulls his body against hers.

  “I guess it’s just something I’m gonna live with,” his eyes shift toward the cloud with the likeness of a vulture. “So what now? Should we worry about Faxian?”

  “Are you referring to Fujin?” her gaze transfers to the alabaster ball elevating upwards. “Looks like the Arkan’s finding his way home. If I remember correctly, the mountains are the border between the eastern and western halves of the continent. In the lower eastern half, there’s a city called Th-thede. There are two things that might be there. One, a bunch of inbred hicks. Two, the potential for an underground spaceport.”

  “So we need to get back up to the mountains?”

  “Yup! Hun, will you do me a huge favor?”

  “Depends on what kind of favor.”

  “See that mountain in the distance?” she aims a finger toward a mountain with the upper half-eaten by gray clouds. A transparent fog surrounds the lower snow engulfed half. “Conjure a fireball big enough to give you the energy needed to teleport again. Then teleport us to where you can on that mountain, while maintaining the fireball.”

  “Gotta be kidding me,” an image of a fireball sketches itself with crayons within Derek’s mind.

  * * *

  Alyssa’s fingers pinch against a transparent rectangular sheet. Her eyes peer through it as a herd of fluffed spheres drifts by the two.

  “The wind patterns are changing in the northern shore!” clouds of vapor vent from the girl’s mouth as her lips flap. “Fujin. He appears to be sleeping.”

  “What?” the boy snatches the device from her hands and peers through it. “How do I use this?”

  “You’ve never used the binocular function on your phone?” Alyssa slides his fingers toward opposing ends. “You slide fingers to both sides. Swipe right to zoom in—left to zoom out.”

  The boy’s finger swipes. An expanded image of a figure appears. It lies on its back against the sand. He shifts his vision to the winged creatures. Eyes scan the black and white beasts with legs similar to a Cheetah. Its beak dives into the water. The binoculars slip Derek’s fingers.

  “Be careful with that!” Alyssa’s hands blur, appearing underneath the phone. “Are there sexy girls skinny dipping out there or something?”

  “No, just curious about the birdlike creatures.”

  “Griffins. I’ll tell you about them and any other creatures we encounter if you help me ice this bitch.”

  A gale slings the duo’s bodies into a stone wall.

  “I love ya, but you’re a dumbass sometimes,” Alyssa says while setting her gaze toward the water. “Feel any hydrothermal vents around?”

  “Nope,” Derek’s feet bombard the dust. The streams of liquid dashing through arena unveils a robed figure. “it looks like the bitch isn’t gonna run this time, though.

  Chunks of stone detonate from a circle of rock gyrating within a field surrounding Fujin’s body. A flash of light fills the skies and thunder echoes. A wall of tan tinged ash surrounds the beach.

  “Can’t use fire; otherwise, we’ll probably perish—”

  A gust runs through the back joints of Derek’s armor as the wall disperses. Three water spouts dance with each other off the coast.

  * * *

  Truth

  “Hey, honky,” Alyssa’s voice drowns the gales rushing by them. “We need a plan!”

  A gust of wind fires a cluster of pebbles into the rock shielding Alyssa.

  “Since you have no ideas, I’ll barrage him with vines to distract him,” she slides a finger across her neck. “Once he opens the shell surrounding his body, visualize the inside, ’port, and eliminate!”

  “Three—” Alyssa murmurs. “Two—”

  “Does that mean you’re going for it?” the Revelator forms.

  “One—” her palms burrows, sliding through the sand.

  The ground erupts strands of colossal vines. They dash at Fujin’s wall of pebbles.

  The orb enveloping the man detonates, firing stone shrapnel.

  Derek slings his SAP toward Fujin and bursts into ashes.

  As the sword arcs downward, the wind god spews an ear-piercing howl.

  What feels like an invisible hand hurls Derek’s body at the
beach.

  The cliff triangular stones erected from the cliffside expands. Roots sprouted from the beige ash materializes in the boy’s mind.

  “Shit!” Alyssa’s voice sends a ring through his ear.

  “Are you OK?” the lad’s eyes shift, facing several spikes wedged into her stomach.

  “Your SAP—”

  “Balls!” His dwindling pupils dashes across crimson splotches throughout her ebony outfit.

  An animation of the sharpened triangles evaporating streams through the boy’s mind. NanoLites swarm from the fissures lining her body. Upon reaching the dust, they vanish.

  She mashes a palm into Derek’s chest. With her other hand, she flashes a syringe and submerges the needle into her forearm.

  A quarter of the salmon-tinted juices in her vial vanishes as Alyssa’s feet pull the herself upwards.

  “You alright?” Derek utters.

  “You need to be aware of those spikes Derek—” she hugs the web of her finger to her side. “ex-eighty-two isn’t unlimited—”

  “I’m sorry—not used to having this SAP on.”

  “Better adjust fast. Before the next person you hug is stabbed. Alternatively, you accidentally may stab my heart with your unawareness.”

  “So grim—”

  “I was stabbed in the abdomen with three large spikes by someone who’s supposed to be on my side. Do you expect me to maintain composure? You need to be taught a lesson—”

  “What kind of lesson?

  “By the way, where are we going next? Chilling at the beach doesn’t seem like a wise choice in getting us to a spaceport.”

  A marble flashes from Alyssa’s pouch. It slides from her fingers, sinking into the sand. The hologram of a landmass shaped like a piece of pizza materializes.

  “We started at the Western section of the isle,” she taps a cluster of mountains and drags her fingers upwards. “We went less than a finger’s length to the north. According to this map, we’re even closer to where we started than when battling Diablo.

  “To answer your question. The lesson you’re gonna be taught is indeed sexual. We’re going to jog up those hills. Sticks slamming into your cock. Branches probably riding up your ass. A great time, right—”

  “What?”

  “Up there,” Alyssa’s fingers at an arbor of trees ascending toward a hill. “We need to go through that forest to get back into the mountains.”

  “Can’t I just teleport?”

  “Nope,” Alyssa’s palm clasps Derek’s shoulder. “For stabbing me in the chest, I’m going to make you go through a little workout.”

  “I didn’t even shoot those spikes, though—”

  “I know,” Alyssa’s knees bow as her palms shifts toward the ground. “that little blonde bitch blew the spikes toward me. I was testing you to see if you had the spine to defend yourself, which you did. However, we need a brisk jog, anyway. Need to keep in touch with our physique.

  “Keep your armor activated, Derek,” she arcs her arms downward. The tips of her fingers flatten against her toes. “I highly recommend stretching. There’s nothing any amount of ex-eighty-two could do about a cramp.”

  “I’ve never gotten a cramp in my life,” Derek’s legs heave him toward the hills.

  * * *

  “Stick me with a twenty-one Reiv lawsuit!” clenching sensation blossoms from Derek’s calf. “This is the most painful cramp I’ve ever had!”

  Like blurs, their bodies carry the two through the forestry. Their feet pull them uphill. Necks yank both sets of heads in every direction while evading a myriad of branches.

  Waists’ dance with the air as they shift in different directions.

  An ivory tundra materializes throughout the spaces between the forestry.

  The trees swivel as a vibration reverberates throughout the mud. A snowball the size of a small house inflates as it spirals toward the duo.

  “Don’t use your abilities,” Alyssa hurls her chest into the ground while sliding both palms through the brown sludge.

  A searing sensation fills the center of her hand. Numerous wooden chains erupt from the girl’s palm. They gyrate toward a one-story tall fir tree.

  Arms spring from the plant’s side. Its trunk, along with the lower half of the stem molds into a pair of human-like legs.

  As the colossal being’s foot descends, the ground trembles. Other forestry swivels. Alyssa leaps to her feet and heaves her shoulders back. She thrusts both palms at the living tree.

  The conjuration swipes its peg arm at Derek. Chunks of soil and foliage fling itself throughout the forest. Its fingers rake through the mud.

  The wrecking ball of snow hurls itself into the creature. The many branches encasing its hand dig into the ivory sphere.

  “I am sorry,” globules dribble across Alyssa’s cheek. “Thank you for your service.”

  “You can control that?” the Revelator emerges and aims at the tree.

  “Only if the tether remains intact—” an oil-like substance seeps through Alyssandra’s forehead. Sections of her skin turn translucent. “otherwise those with manipulation abilities will lose control to the specific elemental you create. We have to keep going, follow the snowball’s path.”

  Crimson fluids ooze from Alyssa’s hand as she yanks out the wooden chain.

  “Derek,” Alyssa flashes a vial. She releases a pile of obsidian dust into the gash on her palm. “As a reward, I’ll create any plant for you.”

  “A reward?”

  “Yes, every once in awhile, we need to reward ourselves. Otherwise, all the work we do is for nothing. Right?”

  “I wanna strand of White Flare Oh-G marijuana.”

  “In Sekhemet’s blasphemous name—”

  “I need to indulge. I haven’t smoked or anything in a minute.”

  “Fine,” Alyssa’s fingers slide within the soil. A stem erupts from the mud. Leafs, along with a shamrock tinted cylinder spring from an emerald stick. The girl’s thumb hovers above the plant. “I’m sorry—”

  “No—” Derek rests a palm atop of her hand. “I know how to pick these. It seems like you care a lot for plants and don’t even wanna pick them. So I can pick it while you go ahead.”

  “Thank you,” Alyssa’s feet make their way toward the petrified wood creature. “Even though I eat vegetables and step on plants. I feel horrible for all the nature I’ve damaged.”

  “I understand,” Derek’s fingers clip the stems from the plant as he flashes the buds into his pocket.

  As they enter into the field, the boy’s calf anchors into the snow. A frigid gale scrapes against his shoulder.

  “This cold feels so good on my cramp!” ivory flakes orbitally bombards the two. “Hh-how do I create a tether?”

  “Does this look like the time to ask that?” Nanos swarm toward her mouth as a brisk sensation seeps into her teeth. “We are in danger of freezing, Derek. If we don’t make it across that field in five minutes, we’re boned.”

  “Tell me on the way,” the lad’s voice smothers the roaring winds. His long legs escalate himself over the snow as he passes Alyssa. “Last one there is—”

  “Stay behind me!” her knees nudge forward, inching her body through the snow.

  Derek’s shrinking pupils dashes toward Alyssa. She attempts to plow into the thickened white substance up to her lower chest.

  An image of his SAP flapping upward in a 90-degree angle forms. Nanos crawl from the wrist device to form a large flap.

  As the concoction oscillates like a windshield wiper. The snow ahead of him flings to the side.

  Plowing through the ivory fluff, his legs trudge toward Alyssa. Colorless dust fills his vision.

  “Follow me if you want to survive!” Derek flaps a hand behind his back. “Tell me how to make a tether on the way.”

  Alyssa’s knees arc as she uses Derek’s body as a shield. Snow flicks to their sides as the boy drives forward.

  “Wow,” vapors gush from the vents aligning Alyssa’s fac
e mask. “this is the most creative use for NanoLites I’ve laid my eyes upon.

  “As for the tether. I’m sorry, but no—do you know why? Because it took me three years and two months to build up the focus. The skill to keep within my thoughts, along with the conjuration to control my first pine tree put me in a minor coma.

  “If you can’t control your mind to keep a man-made object from harming innocents, why should I trust you to manifest a creature from plasma?”

  “Because,” the snow flinging to the side comes to a halt. “though it might sound impossible—”

  Derek’s voice transforms into a condensed echo. The frosty arena surrounding the two transitions into darkness.

  The flaps flee from the boy’s wrist to form a Revelator, resting on the cold blackened floor.

  As he strikes the tip of a spike attached to his SAP against the sword, a spark bursts into the lad’s face. A ball of fire materializes in Derek’s hand. The blaze dance along his arm.

  “Balls!” Derek envisions dancing flames swiveling toward his palm. They do so in real life. “people have the ability to change. Whether it’s for better or worse—Alyssa. You can be in a worse state of life in one second, then the next, you’re a bit better off.

  “My point is, though I might come off as a dumb-ass, I’m not actually that stupid. There’s more to me than what meets the eye.”

  “I understand, Derek,” Alyssa’s eyes scan the rock walls surrounding them. They shift to Derek as the NanoLites shrouding her mouth defuses. Her lips blush as they drift toward the boy’s face. “You are as a matter of a genius in your own way. I see a lot of potential in you, Derek. You can even surpass the most powerful HESTEKS if you put 100 percent effort toward your training.

  “I do understand we’ve on the move ever since we’ve arrived. Yet, experience serves as a method of learning—a method of training. Once I feel you’ve gotten far enough in your training, I’ll let you in on some—secrets.

  “As for what you should be doing. You should get some rest.”

  “What about you?” Derek’s mouth float in the path of Alyssa’s. “Aren’t you gonna sleep?”