Origins Unknown

by M K Hussain

  SURROUNDED

  “I hope you don’t mind, Neil, but I’ve made some technological advancements to your weapons,” Sarah explains.

  Neil, who had been looking for his bow for a while but couldn’t find it, could now see it upon a workbench in the corner under a sheet. He picks it up and presses a new button on it. The bow splits in a fashion that forms five bow extensions, much like mechanical spider’s legs and a small, circular barrel full of small arrows on the central bow whirls to activate itself.

  Neil takes an arrow from his quiver.

  “Fire from the central bow but aim at the door. At the same time, I want you to think about that empty can hanging on the windowsill right above us in the right-hand topmost corner.”

  Neil does as she says and finds that the arrow he fires moves swiftly from the central bow to one of the extension bows, shooting the arrow at the can on the windowsill, knocking it off.

  “Well done. Now I’ll hold the same can but I want you to stand around the corner, out of sight. You won’t be able to see me but I want you to think about the can as you fire the arrow in front of you.”

  Again, Neil does what Sarah asks of him. He fires the arrow randomly at the wall in front of him. The arrow curves mid-air and flies at the can that Sarah holds, knocking it out of her hand.

  Neil looks at it, then at Sarah as he walks back to her.

  “I’ve programmed your bow and arrows to fit your needs. At present, the items upon your person read your body language and your mental strike patterns, and engage with seen and unseen targets. We all need eyes in the back of our heads and I’ve given you just that.”

  Sarah smiles a little smile at Neil, proud of her accomplishments as he nods gratefully at her, putting the bow down onto the workbench again, the bow deactivating and reassembling once again into one.

  Suddenly, alarms blare loudly around the building. Neil motions Sarah to get back behind him and grabs hold of his weaponry. Sarah wheels over to a computer screen and sees a small, rectangular airship, metallic black and sleek, appear on the radar, bleeping away.

  Next, one by one, the screens start to go black, turned off by the external force arriving on the scene. Blind to the view of the opposition, Sarah activates her building to go into night vision mode, concentrating especially on the external perimeter.

  At that moment, the airship crashes through the wall parallel to them and comes to a halt on the ground before them. Neil and Sarah are at the ready, Neil with his bow and arrow and Sarah with the machine guns on her wheelchair.

  Silence.

  No one descends from the airship.

  An awkward few moments.

  Neil grips his arrow tighter in his hands.

  Sarah wipes away a bead of sweat running down her forehead.

  All of a sudden, twenty ninja soldiers rush into the building from behind the airship and prepare to strike at them with katana swords. Sarah presses a button on her wheelchair, bringing to life her automated guns on the internal and external walls of her temporary hideout. The guns, having been reprogrammed to no longer find Neil as a threat, now fire on the ninjas, stopping some of them dead. The black-clad ninjas continue performing their task, brandishing their swords to swat away the bullets flying at them.

  Neil fires his arrows from the central barrel in rapid succession at the ninjas. He also fires some of his speciality arrows at them too, causing an explosion to occur at the base of the airship to prevent more ninjas from entering, and an element of surprise for the ninjas who may not be expecting such a move. Despite the opposition, the ninjas still continue to get closer to their intended targets, using their trained movements to evade both gunfire and sharp objects.

  Then, the airship hanger bay doors open and a figure descends slowly from the ship – Dactyl.

  Dactyl throws a number of small darts at the wall-encased defences, rendering the gunfire inert. Sarah sees his presence out of the corner of her eye and fires her wheelchair-fixed machine guns at both the ninjas and Dactyl. Neil continues firing his arrows at the ninjas, ever ready to engage with Dactyl when he gets to him.

  Swiftly, Dactyl grabs hold of his katana sword and swings it in such a way that the bullets are deflected by the weapon expertly, and become encased in several areas on her wheelchair. Feeling trapped and in considerable danger, Sarah presses a red button on her wheelchair below a plastic transparent casing.

  Suddenly, a belt on her wheelchair fastens to her waist, the metal parts of her wheelchair extend and fix around her arms, legs and torso to provide a tougher, outer protective shell. The metal from the shell around her hands forms huge clubbed fingers, which Sarah uses to smash the ninjas to and fro. Weaponry on the existing wheelchair fixes itself to several parts of the casing; the machine guns attached to the previously normal-looking wheelchair now move to the arms of this shell.

  Sarah, covered from head to toe by this metal beast, spins wildly around, shooting at random at the enemy.

  Just then, having subdued most of the ninjas surrounding him, Neil fires his arrows at Dactyl furiously, which again his opponent manages to deflect away from himself. Dactyl leaps towards Neil, his sword inches away from his face. Neil uses his bow to keep Dactyl’s sword from striking him but in the process, finds it being struck from his hands and to the ground. Neil quickly grabs two of the razor-sharp arrows from his quiver, one in each hand.

  Dactyl and Neil face off against each other, each sword strike meeting a deflection from Neil’s arrow strike expertly in a fast but almost blurry fashion. The all-encompassing chaos gets to such a stage that it is hard to decipher who will be victorious.

  Dactyl kicks unexpectedly at Neil’s left knee. As Neil falls to the ground to balance himself on his other knee, Dactyl thrusts his sword at him, which he blocks by crisscrossing his arrows, positioning the sword in the centre of the metal ‘X’ where the most resistance is met. The pressure being exerted from both of them suddenly comes to a stop as Dactyl cocks his head to one side, as if disturbed by an internal message in his head.

  Dactyl backs away from Neil but not before kicking him in the chest powerfully, skilfully avoiding his arrow strikes and knocking him to the ground in the process. As Dactyl turns to back off, Neil stands up as best he can and lunges towards Dactyl, furrowed brow indicating his anger.

  Just then, Neil stops and drops his arrows to the ground. Having fought off many ninjas, Sarah also stops in her tracks, as do her opponents, and they all look towards Neil.

  Brutus is at the entrance off the building, staff in hand and an arm outstretched to control Sarah and Neil’s movements.

  “I have them, Commander,” says Brutus into an earpiece.

  “Very well. Bring them in for questioning…”

  17

  RICAFA

  I fall through the door, faster and faster. Looking down, I see mounds of caramel-mocha-coloured thick tar below me.

  Aaaaat least it’ll be a soft landinggggg!!!!

  Next, from behind me, still in mid-air, there comes a deafening and beastly roar.

  The sea monster is gaining momentum.

  I turn mid-air and see this most horrifying sight in all its glory. This murky beast of the wild seas has somehow approached me more quickly than I have previously imagined. Its shadow crosses mine entirely. I do my best to evade its ferocity.

  I use my powers to throw shockwaves at my adversary. The beast continues to roar horribly as it is attacked by the waves. This move buys me enough time to use my powers on myself, to push me further away from the monster and into the tar at a greater distance away from the creature so as to prevent the monster leaping into the tar on top of me seconds later.

  I heave myself out of the thick tar to the surface using my powers before I pass out. Swimming out of it to the surface without the use of my particular skill set would be nigh on impossible. I consider myself lucky as I breathe hard. The collision has had an effect on my body, now aching with the utmost tiredness and anxiety.

 
; Out of the blue, huge amounts of tar begin swaying rhythmically as the creature swims underneath the surface, searching for me.

  It senses me, as I do it.

  After a few moments, the monster rises out of the tar, its protruding, ghastly-looking teeth on display as they circulate in its mouth, ready to chomp down on its only victim – me!

  That’s exactly what happens next.

  It swallows me whole!

  At the point of being swallowed, I avoid the beast’s gnashing, sharp teeth as best I can by throwing a force field around myself. The teeth bounce off it, but this needs continued mental pressure from me, a luxury I can’t afford right now.

  The force field bursts, popping like a bubble. I quickly throw shockwaves at the teeth as a desperate secondary attempt. When that doesn’t work, I then throw a force field around the monster’s teeth to try and separate them, to stop them from clenching down on me. However, the beast’s long, spiralling and nasty tongue grabs me around the chest, squeezing tightly and shoves me deep into itself; into its stomach.

  Darkness swirls around me. I believe the monster has entered into the tar again. At times, light engulfs the outside of the beast, illuminating its insides.

  Aargh!

  Something begins burning my left foot. Light-blue stomach acid starts bubbling underneath me from certain crevices in the stomach. I move my foot out of it quickly to avoid its destructiveness.

  From the mixture of light and darkness outside, I am able to make out something sitting in one corner of the stomach. A skeleton; a previous victim of the beast’s cunning. Something glows in its partially covered bony hand. As I move closer to it, carefully sidestepping the acid, I observe the glowing object.

  It’s a Gem and it’s in the shape of an ‘E’! A small, yellow Peridot…

  Looking up at the skeleton, I can see shards of green clothing tattered and hanging loosely about its body.

  An ex-prisoner?

  “Thank you, my friend. Rest now in peace forevermore.”

  Gently, I take the Gem from its hand. A strange surge of power engulfs me and strangely, I find myself hurtling upwards rapidly. Clutching the Gem tightly in my hands, I rupture through the monster’s skull and brain and fly towards the kys…

  ***

  Rebecca clutches her Emerald tightly to her chest as she falls to the seabed, her body aglow with a strange light tinge of green. Her continuous efforts to breathe underwater eventually culminate in her passing out.

  Suddenly, the glow gets brighter around her body and she jerks about uncontrollably. Rapidly opening and closing her eyes mid-jerk, she glimpses the ravenous mermaids approaching rapidly, returning to feast upon her now-powerless carcass.

  Out of the blue, Rebecca’s body is pulled upward and out of the sea in a mighty unforeseen display of strength towards the kys. The jolt out of the water wakes Rebecca up now, but she is still only half-conscious. Just then, a figure in the distance, wrapped head to foot in an odd yellow-coloured tinge, approaches with his hand outstretched.

  It’s Max…

  She grabs for it and both of them fly towards a clear patch of dry land not too far away. As they land, they fall through a grated opening in the ground below them and straight into a sewer. Both of them cough, splutter and struggle for breath, having been in one of the most extreme situations so far but glad to be alive.

  Where are we?

  Rebecca looks at her CUT device. It informs them that they are in Ricafa. She covers her face with her hands, trying to think of the ordeal they just went through.

  That was close…

  18

  INTERROGATION

  Neil sits on a brown metallic chair in a sterile, grey room by himself; his hands are handcuffed behind his back. Brutus enters and sits on another chair on the opposite side of a table, in front of Neil. Brutus speaks.

  “Don’t try any funny business. I know what you are capable of.”

  Neil struggles in his chair, itching at the chance to break free and wring the neck of this pompous excuse for a being.

  “Now, now, I haven’t finished yet. What I was about to say is you’re the reason I found you. From the security tapes situated around Raeth, I’ve been able to tell that you are better suited to many other tasks using skills you have yet to display. Judging by the tapes and by the sight of your fighting skills in that dingy warehouse, I think you would be the ideal candidate for the next stage in my… our plan.”

  Neil throws a quizzical look at Brutus.

  “I want you to be a mole. Our mole. I want you to use your skills to find prisoners Max, Rebecca and William and infiltrate their group. Once this has been achieved, you will notify me of this.”

  Neil tenses as he shakes his head, determined of his next thought.

  I ain’t doing your dirty work for you, you ****.

  Brutus outstretches his fingers. Neil’s whole body goes as stiff as a corpse. He tries to shake off this overwhelming power but he can’t. Brutus grits his teeth.

  “DON’T even think otherwise. Just like them out there, you will be my puppet. I am your Master from this day forward. If you want to spare Sarah’s life, I heavily suggest that you do solely what I say.”

  Brutus relaxes his fingers. Neil’s body relaxes also. As Brutus leaves the room, Neil breathes heavily through his nose.

  Woah. I can’t go through THAT again.

  Got the information I wanted. Time to go.

  He pinches a sharp dagger through a secret pouch concealed within his prisoner’s outfit to bring it outwards to one of his hands. Using the dagger, he unlocks the handcuffs one at a time. He stands up and walks over to the door, going for the handle.

  It’s locked.

  Using the dagger again, he picks the lock on the door. Neil walks out and spots many similar-looking rooms, all lining a narrow corridor in front of him.

  They’ve captured who knows how many prisoners.

  At the end of the corridor, he sees Brutus leave another cell and disappear around the corner.

  Is that Sarah’s room?

  Cautiously, Neil walks over to the door at the end of the corridor and unlocks it. Sarah sits in a chair not unlike his in the other room, again handcuffed much like he was moments ago.

  Sarah looks up. Her red eyes suggest that she has also undergone some form of torture, just like he had.

  “Neil?” she croaks, her throat dry from lack of water.

  Neil steps forward, using his dagger to unlock her cuffs and grabs her around her waist, hoisting her off the chair and getting her to push her weight onto him as they attempt to walk.

  “No, Neil. I can’t do this. Just leave me here. You go. Run. It is everyone for themselves now. I’ll be fine.”

  Neil looks into her eyes and shakes his head a few times. He then hoists her onto his shoulders and carries her out of the room.

  Neil hurries as fast as he can down a number of corridors, luckily not running into any guards as yet. Eventually, they reach the flight deck and see many rectangular airships just sitting there, presumably empty.

  All of a sudden, guards pour out of every nook and cranny, with the Commander and Brutus at the centre of it all. The guards attack them; punching and kicking at them both as they fall to the floor and writhe there in blinding pain.

  “That’s enough,” yells the Commander at his guards. They back off.

  Brutus steps forward and places a foot just above Sarah’s head. Neil grabs hold of his overhanging leg and looks up at him.

  “How pitiful it must be to save your friend here. I’ll not harm a single hair on her head anymore if you are ready to do what I say. Deal?”

  Neil reluctantly nods his head. Neil places Brutus’s leg on the floor and grabs hold of Sarah, who seems to have passed out from the pain she has endured. He passes her over to some guards, who put her onto a stretcher.

  Brutus turns now to the Commander.

  “Excellent, he is ready.”

  “Good job. Once the three are caught,
I’ll keep my side of the bargain.”

  Brutus smiles at him and nods.

  After I’ve caught them, then I’m coming for you, Commander. Mark my words…

  19

  EXTREME MEASURES

  Meanwhile, on another part of Raeth, a female prisoner shapeshifts herself to look like one of the Reds. She realises that in doing so, her prison outfit doesn’t really shapeshift to stay hidden as her skin and hair does. She remains calm, quickly walking into a clothing store and managing to secure herself some clothes from a rack. She puts them on over her uniform, covering the name ‘Emily’ on the badge on her uniform as she does.

  Just then, a Red shopping manager alerts the guards via a silent alarm. With all eyes on her, Emily runs out of the shop quickly towards a central courtyard and gets shot in the leg from behind.

  She falls into a fountain in front of her and swims to the most central part of it. She stands up in agony, exerting pressure on the statue in the centre of the fountain. She turns around. The guards who had followed her from the prison fire at her rapidly as she turns.

  She shapeshifts into a guard and then the Commander, this time managing to blend her borrowed clothes and her not entirely invisible prison outfit into her disguise. She tries to shout ‘Stop!’ in the Commander’s voice just before she falls down dead, face first in the water.

  The guards respond to another message, hop onto their hover racers and speed forward on them. The message from Number 9 is about the capture/destruction of another potential major target, a prisoner even more stealthy than the last…

  ***

  William jolts awake screaming “Rebecca!” He is tied to a chair with strong ropes around him.

  Correction, the ropes were tied around him before.

  Now, they are strewn about on the ground, loosely hanging off his limbs as he continues to sit in his chair, very groggy.

  A sudden flashback enters his brain, making him close his eyes in pain and grab the sides of his temples in agony…