The woods aren’t exactly the most pleasant place to be, in fact it’s rather horrifying. The sun peeks through the smallest of cracks of the leaves that dress the trees. It feels like something, or someone is watching me from afar. It’s been this way ever since we entered the woods so I’ll just blame my nerves. The pathway through is wide enough for us to walk side by side. Duron moves his hand in front of me, the sudden movement startled me. “What the hell…” “Quiet, I think I heard something.” He says while cutting me off mid-sentence. He’s prepared, with his hand is grasped tightly around his sword. I don’t hear a thing, it’s quiet, almost too quiet. Like the calm before the storm.
Something leaps at us from behind the trees, it’s claws nearly connect with the side of my face but Duron manages to slash whatever it is right before it can do any damage. I take a quick look at whatever it is that’s laying on the ground, it’s not large but it’s far from small. I can’t get too good of a look considering the woods are too dark to really see anything. All I see is a beast with black fur, four paws, and two large teeth hanging from its mouth. It doesn’t look like any kind of animal I’ve ever seen.
The beast wasn’t alone; I can hear movement all around us now. From behind the trees just waiting to pounce. We make a run for it. The beasts are tailing us, I can hear the pack inching closer and closer. I don’t want to look back, knowing how close they actually are it’d make outrunning them that much harder. I leap over a log that’s lying on the ground, it nearly trips me. Thank god I was able to clear its height. Duron does the same only much easier, he must have done this before. I think we’ve put a little distance on the pack. I can see the light at the end of the woods. “Wait!” Duron shouts right as we run passed the last tree.
He quickly turns around, pulls out his weapon and fires a shot above the creatures. They stop almost instantly, never having reached the end of the woods, they are lost in the shadows, I still get a good look at them. The pack of beasts slowly back away, still on the offensive but slowly going into defense mode. I pull out my gun and fire a shot of my own. The pack backs away even quicker now. We watch the woods for a moment, even after the beasts disappear behind the trees, you can never be to safe.
The second Duron and I turn around, we take notice that we are at the foot of our destination, the only way to go is up. “So when we reach the second cave, that’s where our dragon will be.” I tell Duron as we begin to embark up the mountain’s path. “What are we going to do once we get there?” He asks. “I don’t know; we’ll have to figure something out.” I respond truthfully, I guess I should have planned this out before leaving. “You know; you can’t always go into things blindly. You should always have a plan.” Duron says in response, he’s right. “Zira told me that the dragon has a weak spot, but the downside is he doesn’t know where. So I was thinking if we distract the dragon long enough we can find it.” Duron thinks on my response for a moment, it looks to me like he’s fond of my idea.
“It’s a start. But surviving that thing is going to be tough, you saw what it did to that town, imagine what it’ll do to us.” Duron tells me, I get what he’s saying but my god have a little confidence man. I think for a moment; he’s probably not going to like my proposal. “Your shield can withstand the dragon’s fire, so you can distract him while I find the weak spot to hit with an arrow. It’s full proof.” I say with confidence; however, he doesn’t return that same confidence. “Do you even know how to shoot that thing?” He asks, weary of my plan. “Obviously, I used to archery hunt with my father.” I say. “And that was how long ago?” He asks. But before I can give an answer an enormous roar fills the sky.
Duron and I take cover behind a boulder off to the side of the pathway leading to the first cave. Just up the path is the second cave, I wish Zira would have told us how close the two caves were to one another. The path leads straight into the second cave, which gives us a good amount of space to maneuver. The dragon emerges from the cave, it moves its head around, searching for something, or… uh oh. “I can smell you humans, I can always smell your flesh. It has become a stench I have grown to loathe.” The dragon speaks! Color me surprised. And the dark, heavy, voice sounds like he is a male. His voice is almost demonic. I look over at Duron, his body language says it all, we’re both at a loss right now.
“Come out, I know you’re here. There is no need to fear me. I will end your life quickly. Others have come here, you are not the first to seek glory, and I know you will not be the last. You can tell yourself you do not seek to be a hero, but I know this is what you wish. We all desire for something, what do you desire humans?” The dragon speaks and continues to approach us; I can feel the ground shake with each step. Duron makes a run for it, and of course, catches the dragon’s attention in the process. Duron steadies his shield as the dragon breathes a blast of fire, and like I predicted, the fire deflects off of it. Thankfully it worked. I exit cover and ready my bow. I search the dragon’s body but see no weak point, could Zira have been wrong?
The dragon inches closer to Duron, he’s gonna get killed if I don’t do something. I shoot one of my many arrows, I can afford to waste one or two. It hits and bounces off the dragon’s scaled body and does absolutely nothing. The wasted shot catches the dragon’s attention, he begins to turn to me, he doesn’t move very fast. “Are you so eager to die?” The dragon asks me. He opens his mouth; a ball of fire begins to build inside, swirling as it grows. I run as fast as I can away from the fire breath. I barely make it through, I could literally feel the heat from it! My heart is beating a million miles an hour. The dragon attempts to whack me with his tail but I manage to notice last minute and leap over it.
I’m not able to clear the height of the tail, and I hit the ground hard. Ouch, this is not good. Not good at all. “So weak, so frail.” He says as he readies another fire breath. Just as he fires his kill shot, Duron steps in front of me with his shield steadied and deflects the blast. The dragon begins to take flight. Now out of our reach, how are we going to pull this one off? He fires another large fire blast; we dive out of the way before it crashes into the ground. “Get to the cave.” I command Duron. He doesn’t say a word, he just listens.
We take off toward the cave. Dodging an array of short blasts that cause tiny craters in the ground with each collision. We get to the cave, sweat is pouring down my forehead, a combination of exhaustion and nerves. We’re safe from the raining fire. Shaking the ground like an earthquake, the dragon stares us down as it enters the cave and inches closer to us. I survey him as he approaches. There’s a small gap on the side of his neck, it’s noticeable enough for an observant eye to see. I turn toward Duron. “His weak point is the side of his neck!” I tell Duron. “Can you hit him from here?” He asks frantically. “I can try.”
The dragon swipes at us with its arm, we both dodge a few of his swings but he is slowly backing us into a corner. I have to do this now. I run in the direction of the weak point in the dragon’s neck. As I run I fire an arrow at the dragon, it misses. If I was only an inch more to the left, I would have hit my target dead on. I run until I’m behind the dragon completely. Duron cries out in pain after the dragon clobbers him with one swipe of its arm, knocking him into the wall. No, no, no. This isn’t happening. “Duron!?” I call out but I get no response.
The dragon begins to turn around, relishing what he’s done. He begins to walk up to me. I shoot a few arrows in his direction, but nothing does any damage. It has to be that weak spot, that’s the only way to take him down. And there is no way I can get into position now. The dragon begins to charge up a fire blast. I’m pretty much cornered right now, without anywhere to go except backwards. The cave isn’t big enough to run around and dodge the attack, and the distance from here to the exit, well, there’s just not enough time to get there.
Duron runs up the dragon’s back, and with all his might jams the sword into the Dragon’s weak spot on its neck. The dragon struggles, as Duron puts all he’s got left into keeping p
ressure on the sword. I pull out an arrow and steady it. I’m shaking but I manage to calm myself long enough to take the shot and pierce the tender part of the dragon’s neck. It’s enough to finish him off for good. As he falls, Duron is tossed off of him and hits the wall of the cave. He hits the ground hard.
I run up to Duron and kneel over him hoping he’s still alive. “Duron are you alright?” I ask as I slowly turn him over to face me. “Did we win?” He asks. “Yeah. He’s dead.” I inform him, this brings him joy. “Good.” Duron answers, he laughs for a moment but feels the pain while doing so. “Can you walk?” I slowly help Duron up. He’s not seriously injured, just a few broken bones and maybe a wound or two on his head that need to be taken care of. “You might have to carry me back to the village.” He jokingly tells me. “Yeah? You’re on your own then.” I tell him in the same manner. We share a laugh. I help him the best I can as we make our way out of the cave.
The village is lined up, waiting on our return as if we’re some kind of heroes or something. They cheer and clap for us as we walk passed them and into town. Aura, T, and the Admiral walk up to us. Zira is standing at a nearby distance. “Look at you, I love the new look.” Aura jokingly says about Duron’s facial wounds. “I’m glad you like it.” Duron responds. T lets it be known that he was worried. “Glad you thought about me while I was gone T.” Duron tells him. I look over at the Admiral, he does not look happy. Oh boy, I’m in for it now.
The admiral closes the door behind us as we enter the hospital, the towns people are still celebrating gleefully. “Doesn’t take long for word to spread around here does it?” I say as we help Duron get to an empty hospital bed. “Not so rough.” He says as we boost him up and onto the bed. “Oh relax, you only broke a few bones.” Aura responds. I can count on one hand how many injured villagers there are in here. There were dozens before we left for the mountain. Aura gives Duron a shot of Alleviation. That explains it, it’s crazy how much farther ahead our medicine is from this planet’s.
The Admiral pulls me to the side. Away from everyone, he wants to speak to me in private. He’s heated right now. “What the hell were you thinking? Disobeying my orders, you could have gotten yourselves killed.” The admiral says, demanding answers. “But we didn’t. We killed the dragon, pretty much saved this town, and now Zira is going to help us find Tion. I’d say the whole thing was a success.” The Admiral looks over at Duron, “You call that success?” He asks me. “So he sustained a few injuries, nothing that can’t be fixed.” Admiral Richards scoffs at my words.
“I don’t think you understand the consequences that your actions could have had, how do you expect to become a captain when you can’t even follow orders? You put yourself, and your crewmate at risk…When we get back to the ship I’m taking the two of you back to Transcendence space station. From there you’ll be transported to your home world…You’re done here.” The admiral tells me.
I can feel the tears swelling in my eyes, I’m holding them back. My heart is heavy; it takes me a moment to even fathom the thought of being sent back home. “And just so you know, Zira is Tion. He came to me after you left the village.” Says Admiral Richards. What good is that information now? I could give a fuck less who he is to be honest. I don’t even say a word.
I sit here in the crew quarters; the Admiral was serious about what he said. We’re heading back to transcendence space station. Admiral Richards doesn’t want to hear any excuses, not that what I did on Maeve is an excuse. I saved that planet, without Duron and I, that Dragon would have killed everyone who inhabits that village. Zira, or Tion rather. He’s become the chief engineer. I don’t blame him, even though it is partially his fault considering all this could have been avoided had he just come out and told us who he was.
Duron sits here next to me with T by his side observing, he’s not nearly as upset as me. But in a way he’s not happy, even though he’s pretty much getting what he wanted. “I’m sorry about what happened, I didn’t think it would go down like that. The Admiral was more pissed than he should have been.” Duron tells me. “You don’t need to apologize. I fucked up, we should have just stayed in the village…” “No. We saved those people’s lives. So you disobeyed his orders, who cares? We found our man, we did what we went there to do. What else could he ask for?” He asks. “I guess you’re not going to have to worry about playing the hero anymore, seeing as though you’re pretty much free to go.” I tells him, he’s not as ecstatic as I expected.
“You can come with me if you want.” He says, I don’t know what to say. “I can’t.” I respond. “Why not? You’re pretty much out of Transcendence, this battle isn’t yours to fight anymore. Think about it. You, me, and T on the search for earth, we don’t have to report to anyone, we’re free to do things our way. To me, that’s how you’re supposed to live your life.” Duron puts forth a convincing argument. I don’t know, it’s an interesting offer but I doubt it would be a good idea. I’m no criminal. T gives his input, he’s happy by the sounds of it. “See? Even T thinks it would be awesome to have you along. Look, just give it some thought okay?”
He expects me to say something but he hit me with this so suddenly, I’m not sure what he expects me to say right now. “Okay.” I tell him, hoping this is a viable answer, which it is. He doesn’t seem to notice my hesitation. I leave the crew quarters; And now I’m standing in the elevator staring at the buttons on the wall. I notice I haven’t had the chance to explore the engineering deck yet, with all the craziness of the mission I haven’t had the chance to check out the area I should feel the most at home in. I press the button on a whim.
I’m instantly taken aback. The room is massive, there are two sides connected by a bridge that overlooks the ship’s Core Drive. Basically the engine that keeps the Endeavor afloat and gives it warp capabilities. It connects to thrusters that allow the ship to move in any desired direction. The Core drive is under the bridge and it’s a sphere surrounded by a machine that is latched around the outside of it. Engineers are working to keep the core drive in optimal condition; I watch for a moment before continuing down the bridge.
There isn’t much else down here, tools, tables, chairs for resting when needed, and of course a VI like on every level for communication reasons. I spot Tion from afar, he’s wearing the transcendence uniform. He shaved his beard completely off, and his hair is buzzed. He looks much younger, although he still looks to be in his late thirties, early forties. He takes notice of me as I approach him, he walks in my direction and meets me halfway. “I’m glad you’re here, I was actually going to come looking for you once I finished up in here.” He says to me. “What for?” I reply.
“Come, sit down and we can talk.” He tells me, we walk over to a table at the rest area and sit down. “I wanted to thank you for what you did. I also wanted to apologize, I heard what happened and I didn’t expect the Admiral to react the way he did. You saved a lot of lives slaying that dragon, including mine. I never had the balls to do what you two did.” Tion is sincere, I can see it in his eyes. “You don’t have to apologize. I was happy to do what I did regardless of the consequences. And I’ll admit, looking back on it, being able to say I killed a dragon is pretty awesome.” I tell him, we share a laugh.
“I know how you’re feeling right now, there was a time when Transcendence did me wrong, just like they’re doing to you.” He tells me, he just piqued my interest. “How so?” I ask. “I was about your age, graduated top of my class. I was assigned to a ship, the TSS Marauder if I’m not mistaken. Well during routine maintenance about a week before takeoff I noticed the temperature of the core drive was rising at an alarming rate. This was before technology became what it is today. I informed Transcendence, and they told me that they’d look into it. Well on the day of departure, about a few miles off Alpha, something went wrong.” He explains, I think I remember hearing about this somewhere.
“The core drive overheated, and eventually exploded, killing hundreds on board. I remember hearing abo
ut this somewhere. It was pretty big news.” I tell him. “That’s right. I was one of the lucky ones, if you want to call it that.” He lifts his shirt, revealing a massive burn scar across his back, it’s horrific and it covers his entire back. He puts his shirt back down so he can continue his story. “Transcendence didn’t take me seriously, either that or they failed to do their job. Maybe a bit of both. They were overconfident in their technology at the time, which caused them to overlook pivotal details.” He continues his story; he has my undivided attention.
“Then the media got involved and Transcendence needed a scape goat, someone to make it seem like it wasn’t their fault.” He hesitates for a moment, almost as if he doesn’t want to continue his story. “And they used you, made it seem like it was your fault didn’t they?” I say with sincerity. “Yeah. There was a long, excruciating trial period, they wanted me to serve jail time but that didn’t happen. Instead they took away my license to fly, and I was banned from transcendence until now. Admiral Richards had the council reinstate me, I guess circumstance proved to be a powerful defense.”
Starfall Page 10