by GR Griffin
Someone gently tapped on Fleck's back, nudging them forward so slightly. "Go," whispered Danyell.
Walk into the dust tornado? Usually the accepted notion was to travel in the opposite direction, but in this case, Fleck would make an exception. Shielding their eyes, Fleck stepped into the heart of the tornado, feeling it tug on their clothes and hair. A gust of wind so powerful and concise formed under Fleck's feet, pushing them off the ground like a rocket getting ready for blast-off.
A few in the crowd waved. The humble ones held up open palms. Juhi saluted. "Farewell, Fleck. Godspeed."
All of a sudden, Fleck launched upwards, taking flight into the black sky. The Grey Ones stood there looking up, alone once more. All quiet. The future of their living relatives all in the hands of that one child.
"General," Dunmore spoke, "are you certain we cannot intervene?"
"It is for the best. The people must find their own strength in this dire hour." Juhi's words sounded true and just.
Danyell seconded him: "Back on Earth, we couldn't rely on the dead to help us. We had to fend for ourselves."
Rex grunted through clenched teeth. "Rex dead… but Rex not silent… None here… are silent…"
Juhi shook his head. "They must not know about us, Commander."
"Regardless of what we do, this world will still end," Overseer Eden said. "The living do not have a choice. We do."
* * *
Rushing through the air, Fleck dared to open their eyes. They were flying, funnelled inside the tube of swirling dust that weaved around the massive tree trunks like a threat, rising higher and higher toward beautiful light and fresh air. This must have been how the Man of Steel felt as he zipped across the sky, past skyscrapers and planes, toward bad guys, warheads, asteroids, and around the planet so fast that he turned back time.
Fleck allowed their arms to hover by their sides and bask in their weightlessness. They were reminded of when they first met the Outerworld, flying higher than the clouds, higher than anyone dared. This feeling was exhilarating, power tripping, consuming.
The first ray of light twinkled followed shortly after by the first drop of rain and the falling leaves, and the fake, damp scent of pine which was sweeter than nectar on the tongue. They arose from the underbelly, out into the pouring rain. It was worse than they thought. The millions of leaves in the canopy had whittled down to almost nothing, leaving exposed braches and nothing to shelter from the heavens.
There, in the horizon and over the connecting bridge between islands, was Castle Highkeep – a shade in the veil of misty grey. Being in this proximity was the utmost last thing Fleck wanted, but the first thing destiny demanded.
The whirlwind dropped Fleck off at the Forest's edge, at the foot of the bridge. There was not another soul around to witness it.
"This is as far as we can take you," the monsters comprising the whirlwind choired in perfect harmony, their voices cast to the wind. "Good luck."
The whirlwind retreated back down to the depths where nobody will find them and where their secret shall remain safe. Fleck was on their own again.
The last time they were here, they were running from an armada of men and women in silver armour. Now Fleck had returned. No more running. No more hiding. Those same people they ran from they were about to run towards. Zeus awaited; he must have picked up their scent by now and already ran a grinding stone against Heaven's Shard. Fleck swallowed. In their heart, they did not feel ready; however, it was as ready as they would ever be.
The water, hard and heavy, saturated their clothes and made its way to their bones. Cold, clean air cleared their lungs, chilling their blood.
If what Flowey said was true, then Fleck may have a depressing amount of time left to live. What they were staring at could very well be their tombstone. Fleck's superhero façade fell away, exposing them for the fragile human being they were. They were Superman exposed to kryptonite; Supergirl in red sunlight; Green Lantern seeing yellow; Captain Planet slimed in a thick layer of pollution; Sportacus on sugar. That metaphor would have sounded much stronger had it ended two examples ago.
Despite all this… Fleck was filled with Determination.
Chapter 31: The Return
Patrolling the walls in this terrible rain filled the stationed guards with mountains of dread. Everything was wrong. A bad feeling ran across their souls, showing in full force on their faces, striking like a spear thrust to the gut; nothing was going right here. The soldiers had this nagging feeling, a feeling that would not go away, that they were doing something wrong simply by standing there on duty. The canopy of clouds so grey and the rain so brutal it simulated the end of the world. They should be elsewhere: helping citizens to shelter, handing out supplies, maybe rushing back to their own families, and not keeping the fortress secure.
The lookout on the northern gate, Kiya, shivering and wet, looked out glumly at the curtains of water, seriously doubting anyone would possess the gall to stage an assault at this time. Dawn strikes? Common. Night-time infiltration? Popular. Undercover activities? Hip and now. Fighting in the rain? Not so much. Rain rattled on her helmet and dampness had seeped under the folds and links of her metal leggings.
Ice Island and the Forest had become lost in the gobbling mist, enough to make the easily intimidated believe that their world was fading away and Highkeep Enclave was next. Little did she know, though, of the fates occurring on those islands; the leafy shavings of the gigantic canopy now in mounds and mountains on the bridges and halfway toward the Forest floor; the snowstorm reached dangerous levels with flakes slicing into tree bark and rock, and the temperature dropping low enough to freeze the air in someone’s lungs.
All of Kiya’s senses screamed to abandon ship. This world above the clouds, held up purely on magic, was falling apart at the seams, and here she was guarding a giant door when she should be doing something more important like rushing back to her husband and kids to hug them and cherish these last moments together. She would make a move, but the presence of her allies at her sides, Kaiser and Oswall, disarmed those urges. The kind whom Kiya hardly knew outside of work hours, but were easily able to get along with, she would not have been surprised if those two were contemplating the same decision as her. However, she dared not confess it in case of the opposite.
Kiya thought she saw something – a shade across the path leading up to the gate. She quickly nodded if off as a concentration of cloud in the falling haze. Upon her second look, it was still there but closer. Someone was out there. A lone figure, walking in the downpour with no umbrella.
“Hey,” Kiya broke the silence which held their tongues, “there’s someone out there.”
Kaiser stood at her left. A tall and wide gorilla, his ego was bigger than he was. “Is that our reinforcements? Since went did we have friends in the Forest?”
Oswall was stationed opposite, jadedly poking the top of the brick with an arrow. Originally Oswald, the last letter looked like an ‘L’ on his birth registry, so his parents just rolled with it. He was a tortoise; his shell as much his armour as his armour. “We don’t. And one person hardly qualifies as the cavalry.” He finally looked up from his weary act. “Who would show up at this time, anyway?”
Kiya reached for the binoculars pinned to her belt. After a quick yawn and wipe on the lenses, she brought the eyepieces up. The weather limited the range of her scope. Fortunately for her, all she had to do was wait a few seconds for the lone figure to draw closer. After which…
“Hey, uh, Kaiser,” she asked without lowering her sights, “what was the description on that human again?”
“The one brought in the other day?” Kaiser gazed at the puddled floor, thinking to himself how many humans were brought to the Outerworld altogether. The posters were everywhere, making it hard to forget. “Short. Brown hair. Pudgy face. Blue shirt with stripes.”
“That’s what I feared.” Kiya lowered the bifocals. “Because I think that’s them.”
“What?” Oswall l
eaned forward, almost toppling over in his haste. “Here? Right at our gates? No way.”
The trio of sentries above the gate watched as the lonely figure approached the gate and the raging moat which formed a secondary barrier between, now raging much more rapidly thanks to the torrent from above.
Each influence had a knock-on effect. The rain made the river run wilder. The river rushed over the waterfall harder. The waterfall crashed into the river of the Plain-plain, overflowing it to the foot of Sam an’ Rita’s abandoned, half standing house.
Kaiser asked, “What’re they doing here? Shouldn’t they be, you know…?” He repeatedly thrust and retracted his hand back and forth, cutting the air with an invisible saw. “Going away from the castle?”
“Maybe,” Kiya said. Not ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but ‘maybe’ because it was all she could deduct from it. “Unless they’re here to turn themself in.”
“Probably got tired of running,” Oswall suggested.
“Or realised there’s no way off these islands…” Kaiser seconded.
“Or probably figured they’ll get the one million prize money if they hand themself over. Not like it would help much in the dungeons.”
“I dunno.” Kaiser thought about it. In the moment, deep in his mind, he forgot all about the weather and the rain and the empty tin can rattle on his shoulders. “Even the prisoners need some basic necessities. A little mula could buy them a nice rug, or a blanket, teevee perhaps, or—”
“Hey, guys,” Kiya interrupted, “while we speculate, that human kid is getting closer.”
Oswall looked back over the side. “Oh, right.”
The human was at the edge of the moat. So they meet again. Those swelling waves of white teeth chomped at the soaking air, truly ravenous, making any attempts to cross it implausible. From up there, the grimace was clear upon Fleck’s face. The first introduction between this child and the river almost left them lying on Death’s doormat. Given the chance, the moat would do that again except there would be no mummy monster to rescue them this time.
Kiya levelled her binoculars down on the target. “And it turns out they’re armed. Looks like a sword and shield.”
Kaiser shook his head, a grin on his lips. “One heck of a siege. We better start rationing – fill up the fat ones as a last resort.” After finishing, he let out a hearty chuckle.
Oswall nudged the bowstring slung diagonally across his shell chest. “Should I put an arrow in them?”
The suggestion made sense. The human was worth quite a bit, both in money and the Emperor’s need. The Emperor was obsessed with finding this creature, going so far as to place the bounty and all those thousands of posters across the seven islands. It did not feel right, though, to shoot at a single person when these walls were built to hold back monstrous armies and towering siege weapons. On the other hand, the human could turn and run, and then those three would need a pretty good explanation as to why they spotted the target but failed to react.
Kaiser flippantly waved it off, not showing the least concern for the most wanted individual in the whole of Outerworld history turning up on their doorstep. “No need to rush. Just keep an eye on ‘em for now. We’re on top of a wall of four foot thick bricks and, besides, they’ll never get past the moat, not when the weather has made it this treacherous. It’ll tear ‘em apar—
“They just froze part of it,” Kiya disturbed him mid-sentence.
Her two comrades squinted down to find a section of the moat completely frozen over, waves halted in time. Ice spread several feet to both sides of the gate, forming a pathway which the human ambled over carefully. A head of steam hovered from the sword in their left, turning raindrops into instant snowflakes.
Kaiser whispered, “Well, that didn’t work.” He glanced at Oswall. “On second thought, that arrow sounds awfully nice.”
Oswall threw the bow over his head and into his hands. A single arrow appeared as he pulled back the string and lined the sights with the target below. After gauging the wind direction, speed, and acting force of the rain, he let the string go and the arrow fly. It was a beautiful shot, straight toward the human named Fleck. At the last moment, they raised their right arm and the arrow bounced harmlessly off the shield.
Back up at the posts, Kaiser could feel his cocky attitude melt down his neck and form a red hot tingle on his spine. “Okay, that didn’t work either…”
From their vantage point, it was becoming more difficult to keep their eyes on the lone attacker as they neared the wall, eventually losing track the moment they made it over the uneven, makeshift bridge and under the giant arch where the massive gate of timber, iron and chain stood.
Kaiser leaned on the wall in a vain attempt to win back his stride. “No matter. They’ll never get past the drawbridge. It’s—” Down below, an eruption, like a laser sword being drawn, sounded. The buzzing that followed and the faint thread of smoke rising over the lip forced Kaiser to brusquely shove Kiya and Oswall across the walkway. “Downstairs – hurry!”
The trio from the Monster Military rushed across the wall and down the nearest stairs to the soppy ground; rivulets of tiny waterfalls fell from each step and formed growing puddles to slosh in. By the time they reached what they wanted to see, a small gathering of other troops were already there, keeping a firm distance. In the gate, a red laser blade was cutting a line in the wood, starting from the bottom and waving its way up four feet before curving around and making its way back down – the human slicing their own way in.
“I really wish you’d keep that big trap of yours shut,” Kiya remarked. “Incidentally, you got any other plans?”
“Just one,” Kaiser answered. “Drop the bridge on ‘em!”
It took a second for his shout to register with the guards posted near the end of the windlass. No need for safety or subtlety, they just released the winch and let it spin out of control. The massive drawbridge tumbled down in a deafening clanking of chains, crashing down thousands of pounds in weight, turning the icy path into slush. Those same chunky chains snapped upon the bone crushing slam, trailing like limp octopus arms outward into the mist. When the pandemonium ceased, the bridge lay flat save for the tiny, roughly sliced section upright just off the centre.
The human poked their head out from behind the standing piece – the hair matted to their head – and then stepped around it, taking their first soggy steps within the boundaries of Castle Highkeep since yesterday. Up close, Fleck’s appearance was to be expected. The threads of their favourite shirt stretched close to the ground, heavy on their shoulders, loose around the collar and sagging around their wrists.
Fleck looked at the scattering of troops and the troops looked back, unmoving; this lone creature being the utmost last thing they all expected to see that day. Fleck counted ten of them.
No more room for niceties. No more room for flirting. Fleck demanded to be taken to Emperor Zeus.
And Kaiser responded to this with, “Perimeter breach! Our defence has been compromised.” He drew his weapon in one hand and a spark of magic in the other. “Take ‘em down!”
His battle cry, his call to arms was met with turning heads and hesitation from his peers. With that same roar fuelling his fighting spirit, Kaiser charged alone. As he drew near, Fleck’s sword came alive with a surge of blue energy and the tip was thrust into his belly. The strike launched Kaiser into a wall. Electricity ran through his armour and smouldered off his dark fur, paralysing him with a thousand volts of pain.
The other men and woman glanced at their downed comrade, then to Fleck, and then they too drew their weapons – swords and spears – and commenced their attack. They charged toward the target and their charged weapon. Fleck slipped through the middle of them and made a break up a nearby flight of stairs, knocking down anyone who got in their path.
* * *
Up high, from one of the many plain glass windows situated around the castle, Brute stood as directed by the advisor perched on his flat head. From their posi
tion, Advisor Flowey had a perfect line of sight through the alcoves down below, watching as a lone human child fended off over a dozen well-armed troops all twice their size. Streaks of rainwater running down the exterior distorted the view slightly.
Another soldier braved forward and was rewarded with a swift electric jolt to his belly, knocking him back, whereupon Fleck broke through an opening and moved further up the alley and deeper into the heart of Castle Highkeep, dodging blade and magic alike. Two soldiers in their path swung. Fleck blocked their attacks with their sword and shield.
Flowey grinned ironically. Outnumbered, the odds stacked against them, and yet rely on Fleck to stick to their code. How easy would it be to resort to ending those lives, all in the name of the greater good, that the ends justify the means? Anyone else would do so, but not this one.
Adjacent alcoves, streets, and paths which always ran heavy with the steeled souls of the Monster Military now lay devoid of life, very few sightings of reinforcements going to help against the intruder. The military had been spread too thin; large numbers stationed on the walls, outside the castle grounds and among the common folk; exhausted from too much work and too little rest; scattering to the wind at the apparent closing of this world’s book.
From all the way up there, Flowey could see that the Monster Military was in shambles. Leadership had gone out the window and morale was at an all-time low.
Fleck’s arrival was of no surprise; he already knew they could overcome anything, even the dead. To hope that Fleck would someone meet a grizzly end down in the dank, dusty forest depths was wishful thinking on his part. Flowey the Flower creased his brow. If he had fists, he would clench them. What was even more wishful thinking was hoping one of those shmucks in heavy armour could somehow take down Fleck before they reached the Emperor.