《Aliens vs The Elvish Empire》
Summoning 101: Do not allow Alien Interference!
The war against the Demon Kingwas growing ever more intense. Every single day of peace within the Kingdom of Alberastros was paid for in the blood of its brave soldiers. It had gotten so bad that even the younglings had to start to pick up arms, it pained the heart of Queen Vidas to know that those who had barely seen the end of their second century had to see the horrors of war.
Such was the cost of peace, and it was steep indeed.
Why must her people suffer? For what reasons had the Gods deemed it fit to bestow the gift of life upon those filthy creatures unworthy of it?
Death and destruction, that is all they leave in their wake. Void of any goals or reasons other than mayhem in and of itself! The invaders did not seek territory, nor had they need of resources, no. It was only to satisfy their sick lust for blood and chaos.
Madness, sheer madness.
Truly if there was ever a mistake in the Divines'' masterpiece of a world, it was the terrible plague known as Demonkind.
She has had enough. Scourging through the Ancient Royal Library, whose age made even her considerable centuries of life seem almost infantile, she had found tomes that had provided her an answer to the vexing war situation.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
It seemed so simple that she was almost embarrassedto have not even thought of it. Others might consider it impossible or outlandish, but her people''s fame for their aptitude with Magic was naught for nothing. Yes, the answer was simplicity itself!
Why must her people suffer? Why must they perish?
Why not somebody else? Another''s sonto bleed, another''s family to be broken.
If there are none capable or willing... Hero, to be found here, in this world... Well, then they must simply find elsewhere, wouldn''t they?
A ritualto summon a being from another world, one without ties or attachmentsthat would be willing to fight the good fight, for the just cause, and what cause could there be that was more just and noble than saving the world itself? What higher honor or higher cause was there than to offer oneself in service to The Elvish crusade against the monsters infecting this beautiful world with their sinful existence?
A plan was made, a secret ritual was prepared, and everything was ready.
Yet no plan survives first contact with the enemy, especially so when said enemies had used wormholesto launch a sneak attack on the planet. A third fraction had joined in the war between Demons and the Alliance of Light of the Elven Folks.
The disturbances in Space-Time had disturbed the spell.
Science and Magic violently collided.
The outside, strange, andAlien interference had made changes unpredictable to either side. One that would change the fate of the world itself.
I Shouldve Stayed in Bed Today...
Today was not his day it seems.
He should''ve known better, should have just went back to bed after he stubbed his toe on the door, but nope. He had to try and maintain a positive attitude. Alan had been going about his day as a part-time Super Hero and everything was fine. Patroling the neighborhood, stopping a thief, even getting a kid''s kite out of a tree. Nothing too exciting, just the way he liked it.
After all, he was paid by the hour.
He could''ve been full time or even joined one of the many corporations or teams, but honestly, it seemed like too much of a hassle. He liked his freedom and didn''t want to be tied down.
Too bad that being born with such strong Psychic powers made him a target for constant recruitment, aka harassment, from Heroes and Villains alike.
The good thing about being a part-time hero was that he basically made his own hours. As long as he turned on his Camcord and showed proof of his activities he could get paid. It was 10:30 and he was just walking down the park when he heard or rather felt it.
Something was calling to him. It was strange, while he had been able to sense people calling for help from far away before, it had never sounded quite so... Muffled?
Or rather should he say distorted? He couldn''t understand them, and he knew practically every language out there thanks to his mental abilities giving him a cheat in learning. Yet he could practically sense the sheer desperation in the tone, the raw emotions.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Just as he sent a prob with his telepathy it happened. As if an invisible giant had grabbed onto him he was paralyzed in body and soul. A golden portal opened in front of him with strange symbols surrounding it as if etched into the air itself. He watched helplessly as his body was slowly dragged into it. He tried everything he could to send out a call for him, all of his considerable might as the most powerful Telepath and Esper in the world crashed against his mental bonds. Tendrils of raw energy lashed out and sought to connect to someone, anyone, for aid. His right foot was in it now, and he realized with horror that he couldn''t feel it. Sensing the area around it showed him nothing as if it simply didn''t even exist.
In his panic, he didn''t realize some of his mind had traveled through the portal and indeed latched onto something. The connection was weak and feeble. He wasn''t getting through, no matter how hard he tried, it was as if he was trying to shout through a body of water.
Finding a shred of hope he didn''t let go, he pushed and pushed and forced every bit of power he had into strengthening it, breaking through and sending his everything.
Suddenly it seemed as if... Space itself... Rippled. The perfectly smooth circle shook, its crisp edges becoming ever so blurred before a crack appeared. Blacker than pit it seemed to devour everything in its surroundings, from the grass and dirt to rocks and litter, nothing escaped its hunger. The air shook as it seemed not even the elements were safe from the void, not even light itself as dense darkness started growing.
As his torso disappeared in the void and he could only watch as it slowly surrounded him and engulfed himas if he had entered the maw of a starving beast.
And so Alan Spacer, one of the world''s strongest Hero, disappeared without a trace. Nobody even knew the lost that had occurred today, and perhaps nobody ever would.
Now you see me, Now you dont! (But seriously, anyone know where I am?)
Green.
What a curious sight, that everything was so awfully green. Unlike other planets they have been too this one seemed to be an almost completely green marble.
Using their vast psychic powers the Swarm had detected signs of life in this distant galaxy.
It was a strange region of space. A single sun. A single planet within thousands of light years orbited by a pair of moons. There was a curious aura surrounding the planet, naked to the visible eye but not to their senses.
A barrier of some sort?
Observing it showed that it did not stop physical objects, for meteor and other objects passed through unimpeded. No, it was more metaphysical than anything else. It seemed to lock the world in place. There was a... Denseness to the atmosphere.
How curious.
They wonder how it would taste?
Would it be Chewy? or Perhaps Crunchy?
The swarm buzzed in excitement.
Whatever it was would surely prove to be most delicious
The Swarm has arrived... and they Hunger
"Dragon''s Heart, Heavenly Stone, First Morning''s Dew, Everlasting Ice..."
A cloaked figure read out loud from an incredibly long list of materials whose length reached pass his ankles and he was not a short figure by any means. Standing at just over six feet he quickly went through the list, and although his face was concealed one could tell it would''ve been pale from the slight tremble of his hands. It was with good cause too, for the ingredients used in the ritual were simply too mind-boggling!
Each and every one was worth a fortune. To call them a king''s ransom would be the highest of praise to that king. That any single man could be equaled in value to any of them.
Their great empire prided itself upon its ancient history and longevity, but even he could barely believe what was on the list. Some of them came from monsters long extinct, others he didn''t know existed! They were of Myths and Legends!
Yet the Queen had ordered them to bring out such vast wealth?
A small bead of sweat dripped down his brows at the thought of the other lesser kingdoms ever finding out about this. Although they were powerful, not even he was arrogant enough to think they would be able to fight against the world by themselves. Especially when the Demon filth were sharpening their claws.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
How many legendary elixirs could the Great Alchemist Ragur make with these?
Still, it was not his place to question the Queen. He would simply do as he was told.
After helping the others place the artifacts he got into position.
8 figures on 8 tall stone pillars aligned with the 8 stars of Light and Creation. The holy symbol of Luxalis, the Sun God. Runic words carved deep within the floor circling each pillar and connecting to each other in a decagon with a star in the center of them all.
Within the star was a small twig. It may have seemed pitiful in comparison to the items around it sitting at the base of the pillars, but it was, in fact, one of the rarest of the materials here.
A branch of The World Tree- Yggdrasil.
After all, what better to be a catalyze of a dimensional gate, than for something which can bypass the boundaries of the realms?
And so for 8 days the 8 strongest mages of the Elvan Empire chanted and channeled their battery. Non-stop without any breaks, they acted as living batteries to power one of the most obscenely powerful and complicated spell in the history of the world.
To go past the limits of the world, to fight against the wall of spall and flow of time, to call forth a soul from the great beyond.
The brightest minds had gathered together, spending countless time and sleepless nights researching and perfecting their ancestor''s ancient spell. Calculations after calculations were made to ensure absolutely no error could be found.
Yet, nobody could''ve foreseen the sudden arrival of invaders from a distant galaxy. They showed without warning, their own strange power permeated the world as soon as they made contact with the atmosphere. The sinister aura was hunger and madness given form, it reached out everywhere it could and perverted the forces of the world, twisting it and mutating it.
Unfortunately, their ritual wasn''t spared.
Across the world, a sudden sense of sheer dread filled every being to their core, even in the distant Demon Lands on the other side of the planet were not spared. Those maniacs who gladly laughed at the loss of a limb, who went into battle with naught a care, even they who were lost in their bloodlust and insanity felt a foreign sensation take hold. One they had not known since almost the beginning of creation itself.
Fear.
And yet as sudden as it came so too did it went
In fact many weren''t even sure that it had even existed at all and gone back to their daily lives, unaware that had fate been just the slightest bit more fickle, things would''ve taken a most disastrous result.
"..."
Yet how could the greatest 8 of the mighty empire fail to notice such a disturbing phenomenon? Even drained and tired as they were, they were far from stupid and unaware. However, they could no longer sense whatever had caused it and their main focus was now on the ritual.
Or rather the failed ritual.
There was no explosion thankfully, but the disappointment was clear on everyone''s face. The beautifully engraved runes which had taken a hundred master craftsmen were cracked and charred. The materials all gone, having been converted to Mana during the course of the ritual. All that was left was the twig. Except now there was not even a single hint of mana left in it, nor any life force. Indeed it appeared to have turned into a simple ordinary twig and no manner of scans over it produced any other results. The only difference it seemed, was that it had gained a purple hue.
Frustration and regret filled everyone there.
All that work, all that time and resources, and there was nothing to show for it.
The first rock
Tristian had never seen a Demon before and never would have if things had gone as planned. He was a simple farmer''s boy living far away from the war front. At dawn, he would wake up and feed the chicken and pigs, when the sun had just peeked over the mountain tops he would work on breakfast for himself and his father. From noon to when the sky had just begun to darken he would tend to the fields.
It was simple work, just the way he liked it. Nothing required thinking, just hard work and sweat. Best of all?
No people.
So how did he find himself in such a predicament? Instead of golden fields, all he saw was dyed crimson. The life essence of his father blooding out nonstop from between his hands. He tried everything he could to plug in the hole, but it went through the other side.
It. Just. Won''t. Stop. Leaking.
He stared at a pale face so similar to his own was it not for a well-trimmed beard and small smile lines near his eyes. Even bleeding out and in pain on the cold hard ground as he was the man never stopped smiling for his son.
Just like he always did he endured any and all suffering just for his only son.
I love you
Words breathlessly mouthed, yet they might as well had been shouted right in his ear.
Chest stopped heaving. The man stilled and the boy shook in sorrow, yet he did not let it consume him. There was a time and a place for everything and now was not the time for tears. It was time for action. For Rage.
He would show these otherworldly visitors the toll of trespassing on his father''s land
He will make them pay a price most steep, with their lives.
He will butcher every last one of them like lambs to the slaughter!
Qwartzar was a star officer from the prestigious Blue Star Academy. Top of his class. The best of the best. So, when he and his crew had discovered a rare bearing planet he knew that he had to claim it before anyone else. He could already see it coming, the flashing lights, the golden medal, the promotions!Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
This was one for the history books!
All he had to do was do some preliminary scouting of the area and send a report back to HQ.
So why did things go so wrong?
As soon as they had entered the atmosphere something fried their system. The anti gravity generator, the communication systems, even the escape pods weren''t responding. Not only that but it was as if something was pulling them, like a metoer they were sent crashing planetside.
Thankfully the ship''s emergency landing protocol did not require any assistance from the ship''s A.I and they were none the worse for wear.
He had taken lead to see the damages.
Things were not looking good as the mechanics couldn''t figure out the issue. Perhaps there was some substance in the air that interfered with their tech? He didn''t know and it sure as hell wasn''t his job to find out.
Yet before they could come up with a plan of action they were interrupted by the natives. A strange bipedal creature that seemed to be coated in a sort of metallic substance. He could see that behind it was half a dozen others, although they seemed to be holding onto a curved object with a string pulled. Notched on was another stick although this one was straight with a pointy tip.
How odd? He idly wonders what they are, was this some sort of customary greeting?
"Hello, my name is Officer Qwartzar, of the Gulivan Alliance, may I please request your assisstance?"
Some of the men flinched, others took a step back, and he was still as confused as ever. Was it something he said? Maybe his accent was too strong? He never was good at languages back in school, especially the universal common tongue. (Nobody had to know he copied off Salazar''s homework...)
He raised his arms slowly.
"Hello, friends, I come in peac-"
He couldn''t finish his lines before something knocked him down. Huh, the sky here was such a beautiful blue. Not like the hues of gold and green he was used too back home.
"AH! The Demon''s is trying to cast a spell! Quick kill it!"
"Its blood is blue, it is not natural!"
"Charge!"
Taken by surprise the reptilian aliens were not able to respond in time before each having arrows sticking out of various parts of their body. They were a peaceful people and the concept of war had not even existed since the time of their great great great forefathers. Of course, even taken by surprise and being pacifists that did not mean they would simply roll over and die.
For they were quite stronger than these primitive and violent barbarians.
They had no weapon, but suppressed instincts were released in the face of life and death. They species natural ability to harness solar energy and store and emit it finally saw usage for reasons other than as flashlights in the first time in centuries.
I...Really...Hate...Bugs!
"Sonovabitc-"
His cursing was cut off short as an unholy screech rattled his ears. Another of the bizarre creatures he has been fighting for the past two days ever since he landed on this strange world. He had only been here for half a week. How did he know that he was in another world when he had found himself in the middle of bum fuck nowhere?
Maybe it was the size of the enormous trees in the forest around him? Earth did not have many such natural wonders and surely not of this size.
Maybe it was something in how the taste of the air was ever so subtly different?
Or maybe, just maybe it was because of the fact that there were THREE GODDAMN MOONS?!
He didn''t even have time to get his bearing before a monster attacked him. A strange type of creature appearing to be a hybrid between a lizard and a bear. On steroids. And crack. And everything else for that matter! Oh, and did he forget to mention it could breathe fire? Because of fucking course, it did.
Nothing in this godforsaken forest was normal.
Even the plant like tried to eat him.
Thankfully his powers were able to make short work of everything around him. Despite their scary appearances and the odd arrangement of powers, they still didn''t quite match up to his average Tuesday villains once he got over his surprise.
He had even managed to find a small village in the less dense area of the forest, secretly pulling information of the local language and customs from the inhabitants.
It was nice all things considered. Although they were medieval in style the standards of life was deceptively good. There was no lack of interesting spices and herbs growing around in the wild, magic took care of the basic needs of heat, light, and sanitation.
Thank Gods for that last one, no need to go full Tarzan and use any leaves to finish his business. He had been holding back on that particular need for hours now. A simple hypnotic suggestion, a gift of a wild horned boar, and he was welcomed with open arms as a hunter amongst them.
It was actually quite relaxing and just as he had settled into a routine and begun to enjoy the simple life, that was when the universe decided to kick him in the face. It had been a good couple of days too.
An enormous psychic pressure bore down. It was absolutely soul-crushing, and he meant that quite literally. Already he could see some of the villagers begin to faint, their minds not able to handle the strain and has withdrawn into itself in hopes of weathering the storm.
"John, evacuate the village! Something''s coming!"
he still couldn''t get over the fact that even in another planet/dimension/ wherever the fuck he was, that the people had such common English names... Perhaps it was because their two worlds were tied somehow, perhaps he was a character in a shitty novel and the author couldn''t think of anything else, but he did know that these people needed to get the fuck out of here yesterday.
"W-what?"
Double shit. He was almost in shock. He sends a pulse of power to push back against the pressure. Another to forcefully kick everyone''s flight or fight instincts into overdrive. Empathsies on "flight".
As soon as they were gone, and he had to... Persuade some of the more stubborn ones why it was decidedly not a good idea to attempt to bring everything with him and leave behind the livestock, the creatures had arrived.
Now, he was used to some freaky shit considering what his job was and everything he saw recently, but this... This was on another level.
Imagine a Horseshoe Crab. Make it as large as the largest sea turtle and be 7 feet in length. Give it a dozen legs on each side. Add in two pair of arms similar to a praying mantis, except ending in giant scythes. The final touch being burning crimson eyes. Congratulations you now have a perfect living nightmare that will haunt kids, and himself, for years to come!This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Now multiply that by 100 or so and you will have his current situation.
He tried to scan their minds looking for any information he could get, weaknesses, habits, strengths. All he got was a deep sense of hunger, a drive to Consume, Adapt, Evolve before he was forced to cut the connection. It was as if he was in a concert with a thousand heavy metal band all playing at once while hung over. There was just... So... Many voices.
His distracted state cost him, as before he knew it one of the insectoid aliens had bowled him over. It was only years of experience and ingrained reflexes that saved him from being a head shorter. His eyes shined blue as a nimbus of power surrounded his fist before exploding outwards.
Trees fell and rocks shatter.
The shards of shell from the first one acted like a frag grenade and ook down half a dozen more behind it.
Yet even as he got up he saw more coming from the woods to fill up their ranks. Like a spark had been lit everything exploded into chaos.
He fought and fought and fought, yet there was no end to them. They did not hesitate, did not stop, did not fear death. In fact, they thrived in it! They marched over the corpses of their fallen and charged mindlessly in order to get their pound of flesh from him. No matter if he ripped their limbs or crushed their organs, as long as they had a single breath left they would continue crawling towards him.
Which was why he was currently running through the forest at a breakneck pace. His powers burned so bright that he appeared to be a blue comet tearing his way through the forest, sometimes quite literally as he simply plowed holes through any boulder or unfortunate tree in his path. He couldn''t afford to waste even a nanosecond of time to move out of the way and their flyers were hot on his trail.
He learned quickly that if he didn''t completely atomize the creatures, their fellow monsters could consume the fallen and heal at ridiculous speeds.
He had to find their nest. He had tried to use his Psychic blast to effectively make them brain dead, and it worked for a time, but these assholes were an advanced hive mind and the others would simply wake them up. He did manage to find a weakness during this moment of vulnerability though.
Their Hive/Nest/Shithole they called home. If he could kill the queen then he could stop them from reproducing. Without a greater consciousness directing them, they would be no bigger of a threat than any other wild animal.
He was cut out of his thoughts when something shot him out of the treelines.
Looking down he could see something that looked like a mix between a spine and a harpoon. Shit, that hurts.
Still he didn''t have time to sit and patch his wounds. From the initial hundreds, the things were now in the thousands, and that was with him continuously plowing through their ranks non stop. How knows how many people are being killed every moment?
Yet as he tried to get up he found himself eating dirt.
Double shit, there seemed to be some sort of neurotoxin in the spine.
A series of chirping could be heard before some rustling from the bushes revealed another branch of the creatures he had never seen. Was this a new evolution or did he simply not encounter it until now?
It approached him slowly to make sure the poison had time to activate it seems, after a few moments it was satisfied and began to drag him by the leg and deeper into the forest. As he looked around he could see that the green of the grassland gave way to a fleshy red substance and piles upon piles of snow. Lovecraft, please never stop taking your meds, because this stuff was off the rails.
Giant towers of flesh and bones, strange cancerous looking floating eyeballs and sacks of pus. He almost couldn''t stop himself from hurling. Thankfully the trip through eldritch wonderland did not take too long before he was brought to a large cocoonlike structure. The main hive he assumed and there was a giant serpentine creature waiting for him.
The Queen was probably over 15 ft, but he couldn''t tell too well from his position of being on the floor. I call her serpentine because she looked similar to a Naga mixed with an assortment of insects. 6 arms, 2 pairs of which were Mantis-like and the other like a spider''s with spear tips. An ugly maw that split her face in half vertically and filled with all manners of saw like teeth.
She had countless eyes not only on her face but across her body and tail. A tail which seemed serpentine in shape but really more like the body of a centipede and ended in a vicious point. The tail was currently inserted into one of the Scaled Bears I had previously fought, the creature was still alive and screaming in pain.
At least for all of 2 seconds before it was mummified before my eyes.
The queen then laid a translucent yellow sack with scores of eggs.
I normally don''t curse this much, I swear! But holyfuckwhattheabsolutefuck
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"Yesss, a most promising specimen. You shall Herald the Swarm to new heights! Place him aside and keep him subdued and alive."
"Yeah, I don''t think so."
These fuckers were the literal embodiment of "whatever doesn''t kill you" So he had to nip this in the bud NOW, they were too dangerous and ridiculous that he didn''t think the planet nor the universe would survive.
"How are you able to move?!"
The Queen seemed to be taken aback. She should be if has seen what he had done to her minions. There was no way in hell she or the other creature to stop him before he ripped them molecule by molecule.
His hands glowed with azure energy, crackles of tendril flowed from it as if he as holding a storm in his hands. He couldn''t actually move or feel his face, but when one''s power involves literally moving and rearranging matter by his mind... Well physical limitations tend to go out the window.
"Telekinesis, bitch"
A very Shitty day
He had fucked up. The Queen was far from the helpless creature whose only purpose was to lay eggs like he originally thought. In hindsight that should have been fucking obvious by just looking at it...
Before, although he massacred endless amounts of them, they were still holding back. Observing him and then attempting to take him alive. After all, what was a couple of thousands or even tens of thousands to a race that could consume entire galaxies in their hunger?
Yet, he crossed a line he did not know existed. He attempted to kill the Queen.
The very ''ground'' he was standing on had buckled like a raging bull after sensing the threat. It was not enough to harm him, but he managed to shift his position ever so slightly that he missed the center and only managed to vaporize the right side of the Naga creature''s chest.
He should have gone for the head.
Because as soon as it was hurt it released a scream empowered by its vast Psychic power, thousands of lesser beings cried out in reply as they charged towards his location. His ears bled and it was only by virtue of his own abilities that prevented his brain from turning into mush.
Greatest Esper of Earth of not, even he did not know how to deal with such foreign methods. He did not become number 1 by virtue of his well of powers, but because he knew how to use every tool in his arsenal. He could out think and out skill everyone he came across even decades his senior. With his psychic scan he had practically no blind spot, he could calculate and predict almost any and every possible move of his opponents. Heck one could even say that for short bursts of time he could even see and visualize the future! THE FUTURE! None of which helped him jackshit.
But there was no president for this. There was far too many of them and everything from their abilities to biology was simply illogical. It defied science and boarded on the lines of straight-up Sci-Fi or Fantasy! He could not even rely on his usual style as it simply wasn''t meant to be used against such situations.
Two heads were better than one, he could only imagine how much better at processing information this collective was. Trying to outsmart such a thing and keep track of some many factors was impossible.
After his fucked up shot the monster that had dragged him here in the first place pounced, like a twisted bat from hell it unfurled leathery wings and tackled him out and through the fleshy walls.
It then exploded.
The suicide attack had covered him in a potent acid and soon ate away at his flesh. Using telekinesis he managed to pull it off him in moments, but that was all it needed to devour inches of flesh. It looked as if his body was covered in third-degree burns, yet even that was only the beginning. The strange spires of bones he had seen in the distance suddenly shrank before expanding rapidly and launching largeyellow sacks at his location. Wherever they landed, there was a series of sharp bone bullets. Fan-Fricking-Tasic. The things have Frag grenade launchers now. With a dozen of them being launched per minute and hundreds of such tower around him, the sky was soon blackened by their shadows.
He tried to blow them out of the sky, launching nearby boulders and even smashing them into each other, yet there was simply too many to count.
Left, right, up, every direction he looked towards was filled with death via projectiles or hordes of monsters.
Guess that only left down for him now.
Shifting the earth he made a small tunnel that opened into a cavern before sealing the entrance behind him.
"This kind of bullshit was why I didn''t want to become an S class full-time hero."
Yet even as he complained the thought of running away never crossed his mind. Spacers like him don''t run from their problems, their problems ran away from him, damn it!
With the earth being his cover he made a mental scan of the battlefield before finding his orientation. He had to squash the Queen asap before it wised up and ran away. After all, if the thing just decided to hole up in some caves and bid its time he would be swarmed before he could even react. Even as he was moving he could feel the increasing difficulty in scanning in using his more subtle powers. It was as if the entire damn area was buffered in a current of Psychic energy and it was messing with his control.
Suddenly a shift in his mind''s eye caught his attention. The earth was shaking ever so slightly he almost thought it was simply the marching army above him, but no it was a bit farther away. A couple of miles at least. He couldn''t shake an ominous feeling as he continued to shift tons of dirt and rock out of his path.
"Gods have mercy."You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"...I don''t think even loving Amorelis will answer your call now."
If anyone else from Earth was here they would most likely die from a heart attack. If they did not, and somehow manage to avoid shitting their pants, then they would probably scream out in shock at the creature in front of them and compare it to a dinosaur.
At 38 meters long, it was even larger than the biggest animal in Earth''s history- The blue whale and easily quadruple its weight. With a height of 12 meters, it was more than double the height of the infamous T-Rex.
The worst part of it all? The thing had crawled out of the ground. One moment the pair was gathering some herbs in the forest, the next the ground broke apart as if crumbling dirt and revealed a gigantic monstrosity. Such a creature seemed like something straight out of nightmares and myth, belonging next to Krakkens and EarthShakers, not near their small little creek village!
Monsters such as these were supposed to be found deep in the Demon''s Land or the Lost Kingdom! Places saturated in evil and Mana, and most importantly, far farfar away!
It had two muscular arms with grotesque bulging muscles, so red they seemed as if a man''s arm had been flayed and skinned. Its head had no eyes, in fact, the entire skull was shaped as if a bird''s beak if worms had infested it as there were long tentacles thicker than his waist and longer than the length he could sprint.
Its lower body was simply a collection of countless spindly pale grey arms, similar to humans if not for the fact at every intersection of joints there was an orange eyeball, from the elbow to every finger. To say the hands were numerous would be the understatement of the century. They were akin to strands of hair on one''s head.
Suddenly it let loose a roar that could shake the heavens itself before using its two front arms to launch itself forward into the sky. Deep trenches were carved in the ground where he had dug its claws in. Dirt and rocks flew everywhere.
Still, in shock the duo watched as the creature cross the distance of miles within moments, each time it landed it simply repeated its action but faster with the built momentum.
Sometimes when there was something particularly tough it int''s way it aimed its skull downdove into the ground as if it was made of water before launching itself back up and leaving a gaping chasm behind.
The two promptly fainted.
Red
That was all he could see, could think of, as he moved along his corpse filled path.
What a curious site, that creatures so bizarre would share the same color running through their veins as himself. He wasn''t sure what to expect, maybe a neon green? A glow in the dark blue? Horseshoe Crabs had blue blood from the high copper content in theirs and these do seem to resemble them very much. Well, at least the first and most numerous types he had seen did.
He felt like an artist, painting the pure snow white canvas, although he would most likely be a mad or deranged one as his medium was in blood and flesh.
If there was a speck of color not the vivid crimson of alien ichor then he would immediately ratify it. He was a simple man painting a simple picture. Just dye everything red! After all, there was an allure and beauty in the simpler things right? He was a simple man following a simple philosophy.
If it moves, it dies.
He didn''t know how long he has been at this, his clothing had all but been destroyed and he was waddling through literal oceans of blood. At first, the gunk and gore had bothered him, but humans really were an adaptable species it seems as he had become desensitized to them hours ago.
He didn''t bother attempting to keep it off him anymore, after all, he would be covered with a fresh coating of viscera within moments.
It wouldn''t matter. He would manage to reach the stupid overgrown centipede soon. Or so he hoped, his eyes were getting heavy and fighting non-stop for the past half week meant he hasn''t been able to eat, sleep, or even use the bathroom!
How the hell did other heroes do it?! Did Momentum Man simply shit his pants and nobody noticed during the Zombie invasion of 1996? Did Bolt simple outrun his need to pee? Did Poisedon simply took his whizz in the ocean and nobody called him out on it? Was there a protocol for this kind of shit? How did the others do it and why did the movies make it seem so easy?
He could handle hunger and fatigue, but stomach cramps while fighting for his life and humanity? What the actual fuck God?
Thankfully, with very creative use of teleportation which the world must NEVER know, he found a quick fix to his main issue.
Now if only he could do something about this goddamn bug infestation.
"OH CMON! GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!"
What prompted this new outburst you may ask? It seems the Queen hadn''t been sitting on her ass twiddling her thumb all this time nor chosen to run away.
Because the ground next to him just exploded in an all too familiar green acid spray. It had hidden itself behind one of the yellow sacks and if there was one thing he learned about the Swarm during his time here, it was that they never came alone.
Sure enough, he was proven correct as more of the suicidal acid bombs flew towards him.
He couldn''t keep this up.
If he couldn''t win in his current situation then he would just have to flip the board of this bloody game, wouldn''t he?
He took a deep breath before concentrating all the power he could for one quick, but powerful, burst of pure telekinetic energy. It exploded out of him like a tidal wave, pushing, crushing, everything in its path backward until 50 meters around him was clear.
Once more he drove into their collective consciousness. He searched around and doing his damnest to break through their mental defenses. It was a dangerous gambit as not only was his physical body now more vulnerable as his mind was focused on its task, but such a deep connection linked him both mind and soul to these abominations. He had no choice, it was the only way he could gain a quick enough understanding and influence to accomplish his goal.
He caught a glimpse of it, like a phantom just at the edge of your awareness, but before he could manage to lock on and grab it he was knocked out by an interruption in the physical plain.
Behemoth. That was the only term he could think of that would fit the description of what he was seeing.
He didn''t have time to make a further observation before the creature rushed at him.
What fresh new hell was this?
What a Crap-tastic day this was turning out to be.
A most Fatal case of Indigestion
Ping pong was pretty fun to watch. He had always preferred it to other sports, and yes it was indeed a sport, but it sure as hell wasn''t fun being the ball.
He barely managed to put up a barrier before the creature''s immense body smashed into him, turning him into a murderous bowling ball as he ran over and through scores of the lesser aliens before ricocheting off the flesh towers. With every bounce, he could feel his head throb and his shield develop spiderweb cracks.
This wasn''t a space bug, this was a biological impossibility. How does its bones and muscles support such mass? How does it function with such pressure on its innards? But like with everything else in this swarm, it gave a middle finger to him and biology with its sheer existence.
To say he was angry was to put it mildly. He hasn''t showered in days, his feet were caked in slime and guts, there was the most annoying itch on his back that his arms couldn''t reach, and he smelled like rot and milk left in the sun.
He has had it with these bullshit things that refused to die.
To quote a wise man, "KILL IT WITH FIRE!"
Thankfully for his plan, the atmosphere on this world was quite similar to Earth, bearing a slight difference in composition and a strange element or two he couldn''t identify.
A small test, a couple of blown up buggers on the side, and he was ready.
"You know I have heard that some Asian countries roast crickets and other insects as a popular snack...I wonder, would you taste delicious?"
Perhaps the answering roar was one of outrage that "prey" such as him would even suggest eating a physical embodiment of hunger, perhaps it was just mindless rage. He chose to believe in the former.
The fearsome cry was cut short.
Not from a lack of effort, but rather because of crushing pressure, as if an invisible giant was attempting to squeeze its guts out and make some bug juice.
With a groan the massive beast sunk to its knees, the ground caving not only under its weight but the rapidly increasing atmospheric pressure.
The concentration of Oxygen and Hydrogen along with frankly any other flammable gas he could find within miles was being forced into a sphere around it.
A bead of sweat dripped down his brows despite the blizzard raging around him.
Making a tunnel beneath his feet he sank once more into the earth, hardening and compacting the direct around him, before supercharging the air molecules above.
The biggest thermobaric bomb had just been created.
The explosion almost threatened to cause the earth to crush him even with him being half a dozen mile underground. After 10 minutes he thought it was safe enough to return to the surface.
What was once snow-covered hills tainted with mountains of corpses and rivers of blood was now a plain of black. Molten rocks and craters without end stared back at him. Even as he stared, there was no sign of movement in the blazing hellscape he had created, and with the ongoing storm, even that would be buried with time. Nothing would be left to stand testament to the week-long war he had waged and that was just the way he liked it. No need to troublesome natives to pester him. Get the task done and get on with life was his new motto.
It was a job well done in his opinion. Even the army of bugs seemed to have been vaporized or turned to ash in the aftermath. He would have to scan the perimeter later and a couple of sweeps to be sure, but it was confident that the end was near.
"Heh, how did ya like that? Space Cockroaches 0, humanity 1!"
He really should''ve learned by now not to tempt fate. Especially considering all the mystic mumbo jumbo present in both his previous world and this one. For all, he knew an embodiment of some cosmic aspect or some shit really was out there and had decided to fuck with him.
After all, how else would you explain the giant monster now swimming out of the lava towards him? Did he mention that it was almost none the worst for wear and was now on fire?The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Because of course, it was. Nothing could ever be easy for him.
He had been trying to kite this ridiculous walking battlecruiser for the past few hours, even as he was fighting it he could see more of the lesser ones coming from the direction of the hive. So far they had decided to sit back and shoot him with pot shots after he had led the monster charging through their ranks the first few times.
Smart little shits they were, Alan would give them that.
He was down an arm, having lost it when the Behemoth had taken him by surprise by extending its long arms to burrow through the ground and ambush him. He would smack himself in the face for such a rookie mistake, of not keeping his Psionic detection activated, but he had been running on fumes for far too long.
He couldn''t keep this up. He simply wasn''t strong enough as he was.
He would just have to change that wouldn''t he? Either they died or he did, and we all know what they say about drastic times.
Which was how he found himself flying towards the sea of arms surfing through the air on a large boulder. He had sharpened it to a point and made it as dense as he could, as if he was some Eastern Wuxia protagonist he used it as if it truly was a flying sword.
Anything that blocked his way he would slice through them, whatever he couldn''t deflect or block, he made sure would not stop his momentum. He gave flesh to cut at the bones of the enemy, a reckless charge with only the tiniest consideration to defense in an effort to cut down the travel time by even the smallest second.
The arms were more akin to tentacles as they seemed to have no bones, using their length to act as whips and their eyes to track his every twitch. Their fingers extended into nets as they tried to tie him down. The creature might have sense something off about his behavior as he would normally try his best to avoid coming into such close distance with it.
It wasn''t a stupid beast. It didn''t stand its ground and let him have an easy time with his plan, no the clever bastard decided to go for a swim in one of the bigger pools of lava.
Fun fact, Lava is made of molten rocks.
Duh, but what most people don''t consider when they watch videos of Supers with invulnerability swim in them on Youtube was... Rocks are frigging heavy and dense!
He felt like he was being crushed and every inch he moved felt like crawling a fly trying to crawl through maple syrup. This was ignoring the fact he couldn''t see jack shit and the blistering heat. He could, of course, drain the heat elsewhere, but then they would solidify.
It was a lose-lose situation, Thankfully by the time it had reached the lava he wasn''t too far away and he managed to find what he was looking for.
An opening.
Scanning inside for any other monstrosity in wait he let out a sigh of relief. No alien tapeworms or guts coming to life to eat him was good enough as he fell flat on his face. The creature was currently running rampage outside in a berserk rage as it sensed him inside of it.
That was the easy part of his plan.
Now for the hard part.
His eyes turned a solid blue as he focused.
His body which was only mildly pink from the heat of the impromptu lava bath was now a steaming red, veins around his neck and especially his eyes bulged and wiggled as if there were thousands of centipedes crawling just underneath. His body was drenched in sweat yet he didn''t move a twitch, dared not too for the consequences were far too dire.
What was he doing you ask?
The equivalent of doing open heart surgery. While blindfolded and wearing mittens. While on a dirty crowded subway. And since that was far too easy, lets factor in that it was going off the rails at 200 mph. Maybe then you would come close.
He was in basic terms reprogramming his mind and giving himself a lobotomy.
Did ya know, that like a person''s muscle, there are limiters to our brains? We only use around 10% of our capacity! Isn''t that wonderful?
And a steaming hot load of shit. That was some bullshit people use to sell you bootleg "brain booster" pills. Some idiotic concept of how Psychic powers worked back in the 20th century. An explanation that lazy fanfic writers used for their hero''s powers.
The brain, in fact, uses every part of it. One of the most complex organ in the damn body and people actually thought there were spare parts? Idiotic.
What, did God or evolution just decided "Hey, Michael, since we have some spare bits of flesh left, lets just shove it in...What has space? Oh I know! the cranium!"
Every part, every fold of grey matter, every strand of nerves, had a fucking purpose. There are sections of our heads used for different purposes. Math, Languages, etc.
He was simply rewiring everything.
Even the Cerebellum and Medulla. The things required for motor control and involuntary functions needed for life such as heartbeat and breathing. Hopefully, he could use his powers to manually pump his heart long enough to finish this complete SNAFU.
He was going all in, do or die.
He really didn''t want to die though.
After all, he still never got to finish his degree! Never went on that trip to Japan with Sarah. Never got to apologize to John for taking a shit in his house and not flusing. It wasn''t his fault he forgot! Some asshole was trying to turn people in human-animal hybrids and he forgot in the aftermath of the city clean up!
Fucking furries... He didn''t even get to see a single cat girl! And they were more animal than human anyway... Still, it was the principle of the matter!
He thought over his life, the mediocre, plain, simple life he forced upon himself. He had so many things he still had to do... He was scared...
With the red cavern of flesh above him being the last thing he saw, Alan Spacer closed his eyes and he focused on the biggest gamble of his life.
Within The Belly of the Beast.
They say a person never truly dies until they are forgotten. For one such as himself who had done everything he could to avoid public eye ever since the incident, he sure hoped someone out there would remember him.
Hopefully, they could tell him more about himself.
It has started out slowly, a hole in his memory there, a half-finished song there.
But it got worse. So much worse. Like poking a hole in a ship the gap only grew as water widened the hole. It was terrifying, knowing, feeling, yourself becoming empty. Becoming less than you once were.
If this was what Alheimzer was like then he felt really bad for those weird and wrinkly advanced people. It must suck being born with white hair and failing memory.
He didn''t know how much time he had spent, lost all but the vaguest idea of the concept in fact, but after what seemed like a really long time he finally got the taste of purple out of his mouth.
The light surrounding him only grew with every moment. What a nice shade of tuna fish. Oh! Look! The black spots are coming back along with colorful dots.
How nice.
Wait, no, that was bad wasn''t it? He must have forgotten to keep squeezing his squishy ball inside of his body.
...Wait why was he squeezing it?
Right. Blood. He needed...Needed...Oxytocin! No, that wasn''t quite right...Oxiclean...? Man he gave up, Oxymoron or whatever it was.
Ops, there goes his sight. Man, he liked seeing too, now what would he do? None of his 5 senses were available to him anymore.
Suddenly a wave of clarity came over Alan.
That was far too close for comfort. He made a note to himself to avoid crossing those wires again. He needed to at least save some core of himself and remember his task.
So he imprinted a directive in his mind, a greater subconscious want, need, to destroy the bugs, along with other things.
On the bright side, he learned how to avoid sending his body into a spasm or seizure. Punching himself in the face and almost shitting his pants once was more than enough, thank you very much.
And so within what passes for a large intestine for the giant alien, a young displaced boy would try his hardest to not accidentally turn himself brain dead or spontaneously combust.
Finally.
He thought he would''ve gone insane if it took even a minute longer.
Imagine being completely deprived of all your senses along with a constant panic attack that never ends.
Ironic since he barely even remembers why he was panicking.
Something about... thingies...Big things? Small thingies? He wasn''t sure. Just that there was a lot of them and he had to kill them before they laid more eggs. Eggs... Chickens? Maybe he was looking for chickens.
Well, no point waiting around.
His body levitated before it raised its arm. There was no sign, no glowing light or build up. One moment he was simply pointing his fingers, the next half of the monster that had given him so much trouble previous was gone.
It was not blown up, there was no blood or fire, it was a simple erasure of existence. Broken down to the smallest of atoms before scattered across the wind.
If I was a chicken... where would I be?
... Thinking was too hard. He''d know it when he found it. With a mental shrug, he flew away.
Thankfully his aimless flight bore fruit when his target had chased after him. A vague sense of familiarity and an unexpected amount of loathing took over.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
How annoying, won''t these assholes shut up?
He could''ve simply crushed them with his mind or ripped them limb from limb, but that would be far from enough to get rid of this itch he felt in his heart whenever he saw them.
Time to take things close and personal.
As he landed on the ground he was instantly mobbed. He didn''t recognize these at all, although frankly he couldn''t remember or recognize almost anything besides how to use his powers and an urge to find and eliminate these "chickens".
Said chicken was tall. At least taller than himself by a good amount. 7 ft tall, six clawed hands, and covered in a shell with deadly looking spikes. Like a twisted demonic knight, it charged at him along with a platoon of followers.
He charged right back with arms glowing with pure concentrated power. With a bit of focus, it extended outwards and sharpened.
Psionic Blade
It didn''t cut flesh and bone so much as shredded the bonds between molecules holding whatever was stupid enough to block his path.
He diced the unfortunate warrior in front of him before using its decapitated head as a cannonball, plowing through the stomach of another attempting to get him in a cheap shot.
Ranged attacks were rendered completely useless as he could simply shift their directions or toss one of their own in the path as counter missiles.
Huh, so that''s what it looked like when you turned a chicken''s insides into outsides. Neat. For something so ugly they sure had made a pretty shade of red smeared on the ground.
Eventually, he grew bored ofsimply slaughtering them and decided to find the most creative or interesting way to kill them. Could these Chickens even feel ''fear''? He wanted to find out.
Fun fact, Chickens had 5 hearts. 3 main one located in their upper torso, and two auxiliary ones at their pelvis near their spines.
You had to destroy all three main ones to kill them. Even then, if the other two were relatively intact it could still survive quite some time! That had been a surprise, almost as much as when one of the warriors tried to punch him in the face when he had left its decapitated body alone.
Teleporting its entire innards outside was pretty funny. Especially when the dumbass tripped over his own guts.
Oh, look! It was another of the big Chickens! He hadn''t seen one of those for a while. Normally they send a whole bunch at him at once, but it seems even they can''t keep up pace with him. Sending new ones as they were made. This one looked particularly strong and large! Its shell also seemed a lot thicker with sharp spikes.
How neat.
Looking to his left he pulled a white hill from the distance towards.
As he lifted it up however the innocent hill revealed its gruesome contents. It was a perfect sphere, but one made of countless corpses of the aliens. Their mangled forms preserved perfectly as the blood had long since drained and been washed away by the snow.
With a mischievous grin more fitting on a child about to play a prank, he closed his fist, and the giant celestial body made of the dead acted in sync. Bloody rain fell upon the battlefield, drowning and crushing those unfortunate enough to be directly beneath it.
Finally satisfied with his work he turned back towards the charging beast. He stuck his tongue out and closed one eye, then taking a pitcher''s stance he tossed the mountain-sized moon.
If you have ever seen a kid hit by an 18 wheeler, then you might be able to imagine the scene that occurred as the Behemoth tried its best to stop the attack.
"Fetch boy!"
Alan didn''t know what the hell the phrase meant, but it felt right in the situation.
Suddenly he felt something prod his mind. Before he could figure out, what it was much less stop it, it turned into a tsunami of thoughts and sensations drowning him
Impossible.
This was impossible! How could a child do such damage to the swarm? How could such a small creature be capable of such power? A single lowly creature, some primitive primate barely qualifying as sentient life, could match the combined might of the Swarm? Granted she and her brood were but a minuscule part of the collective. Skin cells clinging to an infinitely greater entity, but she should''ve been more than enough to consume this galaxy to and to the great Swarm!
How could one mind, one soul, match the countless thousands she had thrown at him?
Where did he get such power? Sure, he was a mighty warrior before, but never had he previously shown such strength. Days of continuous fighting surely had weakened him! She saw with her own eyes his haggard and broken form as he desperately fought against her minions. That was no mere act, couldn''t be!
It was impossible to kill him with normal methods. She had to get rid of him before he stopped playing around and decided to end her. Running from him was impossible, she felt the Psychic pulse he had given off, he would be able to detect her halfway across the world and she was far from being able to create anything able to traverse space in their current condition. She needed more time.
Time he wouldn''t give her.
Taking a gamble she decided to attack him while he was still careless and had his guard down. The source of his greatest strength and weakness.
His mind.
While she sent her greatest warriors to buy even a second more she focused. The entire hive structure she was in glowed with a bloody crimson as the collective Psionic energy of millions of minions followed into her with the Hive, an organic and living alien itself, as a catalyst.
She observed him through the eyes of her children. Countless eyes, even more frame of reference, until she saw her chance. The filthy little ape had focused on the monolith he made out of the corpses of her offspring.
She seized the opportunity with a vice grip in all her six arms.
She forcefully made a connection between them before pushing the collective energy directly into him. Surely no singular mind could withstand such immense power?
As if one was trying to download the entirety of the internet and every game in existence with an iPhone they were trying to overload his brain and fry it.
Battles end
Pain.
It was all-consuming.
Every thought burned to mindless white as he tried his best to stay afloat. He failed.
Like Icarus, he fell from the heavens, glowing with Psychic power. It lit a fire within him, pouring out of his every orifice in an attempt to escape.
Nerves and synapsis fired rapidly, hundreds, thousands, millions of connections a second.
He thrashed on the ground and the land shuddered with him. He screamed himself hoarse and the winds howled in turn.
A seen more befitting a painting of the end of times or a movie depicting natural disaster. The earth churned as if clay and a new mountain of ice and snow formed on top of him.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
A faint hope that it would numb him even the slightest bit. It was in vain.
Every breath was sheer agony that words failed to describe. There was no word for it, for it was something that was beyond human comprehension, a terror that transcended mere flesh and bones.
His very soul was being pierced.
He could feel it intimately. A gaping hole, a festering wound, and the countless ants crawling in to feast upon his sanity.
He had to stop them.
Had to make to the pain stop.
But he couldn''t move.
Could barely think.
Frying his spinal cord didn''t help.
Nor did removing it.
Something. He had to do something.
What though?
Why won''t they stop?
They... They were eating him. Fine...Fine! He''d just have to bite them back.
Although Alan didn''t know it, a large smile shone upon his bloodied face. It was all teeth.
"Let''s see who gets to eat who?"
And so Alan got to work on counter-attacking. The connection that was forced upon him didn''t only open up his soul for attack, it also gave him a road directly to the Queen and the hive.
And so a final battle, of will and minds, occurred. There was no longer any signs, no outward explosion nor shaking of the earth, but by no means was it any less intense than the previous battles.
Despair and Hope
He did it!
He won!
Ha! Take that ya damn overgrown chickens!
Humanity 1, Cocksucking cocks 0!
... That sounded cooler in my his head.
Whatever, Scoreboard!
Alan grinned at the broken and shivering remnant of the Queen''s mental projection. Nothing more than a worm crawling on the ground bleeding as it spasmed. How amusing. He floated there and watched until he decided to put it out of both of their misery. He ate it.
It was poetic justice at its finest as far as he was concerned.
Finally done dealing with the nuisance and assured of its demised he decided to return to his body.
...
Any minute now...
...
Wtf?
His eyes widened in concern as he could no longer feel his connection back. Like a phantom in the night, he dispersed into the air and raced back. He didn''t truly have a heart in this form, but it sure felt like something was stuck in his throat as the giant cocoon of the hive grew into nothing more but a dot in the distance.
There it, he, was lying just where he left his body.
Something was wrong though. It wasn''t moving. A small remnant of his mind whispered the equivalent of "No shit Sherlock, there''s no mind in it!", but it wasn''t just that. It was unnatural how still it was and as he came closer the truth he saw but wished to deny came to the front.
His chest wasn''t moving. His skin a pale blue. He was dead.
No... This can''t be. It has to be a lie- a mistake!
Yes, he was sleeping! Unconcious! Haha, what a lazy body he has, get up. Cmon now, it''s cold out here. The mean old Chickens are gone, so why don''t you get up? There was stuff to do! Things to see! To try and remember! L-Like school! Yes, get up! We''re gonna be late for school! And- and Sarah is going to be mad.
She''s going to be really mad if we don''t get up. We still gotta do that thing with her... That thing we can never do or remember if you don''t. Get. Up. NOW
Frantic he decided to attempt what he did when he first woke up inside of that large creature. He pumped his heart. You needed a heartbeat to live, right? That''s it! He just needed to pump his heart again.
Ba-Bump... Ba-Bump... Ba-Bump...
It wasn''t working, but he won''t give up. Maybe he had to do it faster? Harder?
Ba-Bump Ba-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-Bump
He was gasping for breath now, not out of exertion but a growing sense of hopelessly.
BA-BUMPBa-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump
Please. Get up. Please.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump
Ba-Bump... Ba-Bump... Ba-Bump...
It wasn''t working, but he won''t give up. Maybe he had to do it faster? Harder?
Ba-Bump Ba-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBA-BUMPBa-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBA-BUMPBA-BUMPBA-BUMPBABUMPBABUMPBABUMPBABUMPBABABABA-!
Finally, Alan Spacer''s body jumped once in the air with his spine arched before he slumped back on the ground, a newly made foot wide gaping hole in his chest and the pulpy remains of a heart plopped down next to his face in the snow.
A scream echoed through the night.
Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-Bump Ba-BumpBa-Bump Ba-BumpBA-BUMPBA-BUMPBA-BUMPBABUMPBABUMPBABUMPBABUMPBABABABA-!
Alan Spacer''s body jumped once in the air with his back arched backward before he slumped back down, a foot wide gaping hole in his chest and the pulpy remains of a heart plopped down next to his face in the snow.
A scream echoed through the night.
Tristan glared at his opposition as if it was his most hated enemy. With a shout that came from deep within his chest, he charged forward, his sword aiming for the neck. Two swipes left them reeling backward but he didn''t let them escape. He took a step forward and continued his barrage.
The back of the right leg, a stab to the kidneys, a chop to the left arm severing the bicep, he continued unto his willy foe retaliated with a full body tackle.
How clever!
But not clever enough, for he dodged, but alas that was merely part of the scheming bastard''s plan for they promptly tripped him after his overextended strike.
"...Are you a fucking moron? What in the nine hells was that?"
The dry and gruff voice knocked out of his concentration as he stared up at clear blue skies and the half-lidded eyes of his instructor. A scarred hand waved towards where his deadly nemesis stood, a scarecrow stuffed with hay and bobbing from the force of his blows. It was mocking him, he knows it!
With a huff of equal part exhaustion and frustration he snarked back "I''m training my swordwork, what does it look like to you old man?"
Sudden a loud barking of laughter that seemed much too loud to erupt from such a small frame was heard in the field. "Was that it? I thought you were trying to imitate a drunken monkey. To call the fumbling you did "swordsmanship" would be the equivalent of calling my shit a work of art!"
Tristan''s face was set into a hard grimace as he knew the truth behind the old man''s words. He was pathetic. If only he wasn''t so weak maybe things wouldn''t have turn out the way they did. So in spite of the ache in his arms and the burning in his thighs he got up and picked up his "sword" once more. It was the straightest branch he could find, being too poor to even buy a makeshift training blade.
"Didn''t ya hear me, brat? You''re wasting your time, might as well give up and go back home."
He ignored the man''s word as he focused on swinging his blade. With each hit, he tried to imagine it was not a lifeless scarecrow tied to a wooden post, but a scaled head with a mouth filled with wicked fangs.
Twack
Twack
Twack
It''s getting late and I''m sure your parents are worried."
Twack
A particularly hard blow echoed. He didn''t look back but decided to answer the old man anyways, even if only in hopes that it would get him to begone.
"I don''t have any. Not anymore."
"Huh? What do you mean-"
"I''m from Nottingham."
The man''s eyes widened as he recalled hearing about the tragedy that had occurred there. 300 villagers, all massacred by strange scaled creatures capable of wielding destructive light magic at a moment''s notice. This lad must''ve been one of the few survivors that the Lion Knights had managed to rescue.
A tense silence filled the field but the boy went back to his exercise.
He could faintly hear the sound of footsteps even in his focus. Good. One less distraction.
Yet he had spoken too soon as a few minutes later the man had returned carrying a few things in hand. One of which sailed through the air and landed itself upon his head and knocked him over.
"Come," With a nod with his head, the man walked away without a single glance back. In his right hand was a beautiful wooden practice blade, so well polished that it was better-suited hanging on some Noble''s wall as an art piece than as a tool of battle. Although the man''s hand was blocking it, he knew there was a crimson sun symbol on the handle. How did he know this? Because an identical one sword was resting on his lap after hitting him in the head.
"Hurry up, kid. I don''t have all day and I only asked to borrow their practice room for two hours."
With a start, Tristian hurried up on his feet and followed after the man. Their destination the source of the sword now in his hands, local Crimson Sun Mercenary base.