《Transit through truth》


 Chapter 1 - Tragedy

    The sun is setting. Another day has gone by and yet it seemed as though life has slowed down. Leaves quiver in cold winds. Occasional chirping of song birds ever so slightly lightened up the depressing atmosphere. Taking long and deep breath of arid and pungent air, the smell compliments the scenery. The scenery is a landfill of corpse; piles of smoking of corpses. The air is dotted with endless amounts of tiny flies buzzing in the air.


    ¡°Dawn is drawing near. We should get ready for the evening.¡± Milorad said. As said, everyone gathered resources and set camp for the night. The shelter was set up with twigs, mosses, dead leaves. This optimises the foolery, blending in with crowd of trees. The sense of security dawns within the remanence platoon.


    Given the situation, hiding was the best option. Showing even the slightest sign of life may spell doom. The beast would be able to sniff though the foul smell of the mount of rotten flesh.


    Boza, ¡°Wash yourself in the rotten flash, it would not detect you.¡±


    Rufus, ¡°Gosh darn. That is a rotten idea¡±


    The rest of the platoon chuckled at the stupidity of the comment. However, the imminent thread still lingers at the back of their minds. Everyone still disturbed by the earlier skirmish with the beast. Men were lost, blood was shed. Many have not expected this much causalities and barely making a scratch on the beast. Such power displayed was unthinkable, unmatchable or even seem real.


    This creature alone may be very the reason that the Romik Empire was defeated. Knowing that the Romik Empire is the strongest country economically and militarily in the lands, or at least it was. Now the beast is on its way south, towards the country of Uronia. This sudden intrusion would add on to the already crippled country if Uronia, after a war. The redevelopment of the country has only just begun, with an addition of the lack manpower that was due to the Great war.


    To stop the invasion of the beast, the Emperor hand selected a team of twenty veterans to combat or redirect the beast away from the country.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t the Emperor just ask for help from neighbouring countries to organise a raid against this monstrosity?¡± Rufus said.


    ¡°The dignity of Uronia is at stake, if we were to get help from other countries. Anyways do you really think Darmund would make a difference against this beast? That country only cares about Art and some weird thing they call Math, who needs to learn what happens when you have two apples and you give it to two people?¡± Boza answered.


    The rivalry amongst countries runs deep into history. This rivalry was the cause of the Great War a few years ago. However, this was the past. Now, a new threat has arisen, many calls it ¡°the beast¡±. Its real form is unknown. Its physical body is hidden underground. No scholars or scouts have ever been able to catch of glimpse of the creature.


    In the evening¡­


    ¡°Now is my turn, get some sleep, Rufus¡± Borislav walked forward, with trails of drool still visible his cheeks.


    ¡°Alright, so far everything is fine, no signs of any abnormally¡± Rufus stretched and replied.


    Borislav sat down and stared into the vast and seemingly endless sky, eyes glued to the memorising night sky. The green dots; the blue dots; the white dots, sparkled at will. If only the rest of the platoon were able to marvel this breath taking view.


    The break of dawn unveiled the land with bright and warm light. The members of the team woke up bathing in the warmth of the sun. A new day seemed to rejuvenate the strength of the members.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Let us try to create a diversion for the creature and lead it into the harsh environment of the Surbidia¡± Milorad suggests,¡± It is not too far off here.¡±


    The small chat pursued among the team.


    ¡°How would we do it? Who would bait it?¡± Boza asked


    ¡°We are running short of men, we cannot afford anymore causalities.¡± Borislav stated.


    ¡°I have a plan, but you might not like it. It involves us hiding in our friends¡± Milorad announced.


    The plan was to wait on an unstable terrain, hoping this would slow down the creature, wait for the beast to come out of hiding and run north in inhabitable climates Surbidia.


    After some time of planning, everyone went to their positions. Milorad stood in the open sand. A stones throws away is the pile of the decaying corpse pile. The pungent smell would steal any man off their lives; it does not help with the boosted decay under the humid and hot environment.


    In the endless blue sky, vultures circled the sky like kids outside a candy shop. In a few moments time, the team may be the candy for the beast.


    Milorad looked across the baron lands. This place is a magical place to be in; the desert borders a lush forest. The occasional chirping and squealing of nature is amplified into the desert. The heat from the sun baked the ground, causing the surface to seem ripple, mirages form over the horizon.


    The ground starts to reverberate with a low rumbling sound. As moments went by, the sound gets louder. The ground shook violently. Milorad could not even stand properly, without any hesitation Milorad dive straight into the pile of rotten flesh. This was not according to plan. The beast was not supposed to attack from where Milorad should be. This was a possibility that they have not expected. The beast should not be able to with stand the heat of the desert.


    The low rumbling was heard under the breathing of Milorad. The unbearable bodily odour was drowning Milorad, even though the extreme smell of the decaying bodies. This must be the smell of death. Milorad could hear the heavy beating of the heart. The blood rushing in the ear screamed at a deafening pitch.


    The beast walked towards Milorad. Milorad is now accepting this fate that death is inevitable. Milorad squeezed shut both eyes.


    The next moment, the sound of bone crunching reverberated in the vicinity. Milorad instantly opens his eyes to see what was going on. His heart skipped a beat. An eye ball staring intensely into his; as if life has been sucked out of it, it hung loosely in the socket.


    Milorad¡¯s heart skipped a beat.


    There was no reaction¡­


    Then blood starts to ooze out of the eye, right into Milorad¡¯s face. The eye dropped out of the socket, hanging carefree on a strand of nerve.


    Upon closer inspection, it was a shredded face of a platoon mate. Such gruesome way to die, Milorad thought to himself. The face of the lifeless being was a layer of pale blue skin coated with blackened dried blood, yellowish part of what could only assumed as brains splattered around the head. This was not how any of these soldiers want to end their lives. What a pity.


    As the beast was busy gouging on some of the soldiers decaying limbs, Milorad waited. Waiting for the most opportune moment to run and distract the monster. Milorad want to jump out when the beast was taking a new decaying body to feast on. It was going to be a difficult task as the beast was taking the bodies from behind the pile, just out of the line of sight.


    Milorad closed his eyes and felt the vibration of the pile of ex-mates.


    Then the pile moved violently.


    "Now!", he thought.


    He leaped out of the pile. With all his might, he stepped hard on to the soft sand and sprinted into the direction of the next position. As he ran, he caught a glimpse of the beast. This was the first time he sees the appearance of the beast. It was huge, the size of a full grown camel. It has the colour of clouds. Its head is a shiny surface, probably polished by constant traction with the ground. Its arms are thick as tree trunks. Shovel-like claws attached to the arms. Layers and layers of hardened scales lined its skin. Its legs looked streamlined. Its appearance fits the description of what drunken seamen says to be sharks. It is a bipedal land shark, that thought flashed into Milorad mind.


    The beast turned, to see a moving ¡°corpse¡± rushing into the forest. It dove into the ground, leaving a trail behind Milorad. Milorad ran. Not for his life, not for his team, but for the safety of his country.


    The edge of the forest is within arm¡¯s reach of Milorad. The ground shook. Suddenly, it gave way, forcing Milorad to fall and see the land shark eye to eye. Milorad was certain. This was it.

 Chapter 2 - Trouble

    Milorad lay root to the ground, all four of his limbs were stuck to the ground. The beast raised its claw, the sign it was going to pierce Milorad with its¡¯ harden claw. Milorad wince his face, waiting for his impending doom.


    Whoosh.


    Milorad shut his eyes waiting for the guillotine to end his life.


    Then there was nothing.


    Milorad slowly opened his eyes.


    Rufus was on the creature¡¯s face, violently bashing the creatures harden forehead. Borislav rushed to Milorad and picked him up, carrying him away from the creature.


    ¡°We can take care of that bastard here; you can stay out of this now.¡± Borislav explained.


    Milorad was still in awe by what has happened, he could only assume that Rufus left his post and jumped down onto the beast to save his life.


    He stood up and brushed off the dirt and dried blood off his shirt. He still felt light headed. He spat up the mixture of his spit, blood and dirt. It tasted foul. The experience of meeting a creature that had killed most of the top most experienced men was too much for Milorad to handle.


    In the distance, Rufus was furiously trying to attract the attention of the beast. He shouted, waved his arms and taunted it. The creature, still in daze from the sudden attack by Rufus, looked at Rufus precariously. Once Rufus has attracted the attention of the creature, he ran Northwards; towards where the rest of the team positioned themselves. Though the members were few, a total of eight men strong, the team have created a well elaborated plan to lure the beast northwards.


    Back to Milorad, he had to move on, in order to carry out the plan.


    ¡°Urg¡± an unusual pain radiated from his stomach. He looked down. Warm, thick red ooze began dye his sand coloured clothing. Milorad removed his shirt. What he saw shocked him. A deep, gaping wound is slashed across his stomach. A mixture of yellow and red bodily fluid, of blood and fat, began to spill out as if someone had emptied a packed bag. A sudden rush of light headedness overwhelms Milorad. Within his extreme exhaustion, due to the massive loss of blood, he used his shirt and tied it against his wound. He was desperately trying to catch his breath, grunting with the sensation of great pain. He tightened his abdominal muscles to restrict blood flow.


    Borislav had finished surveying the area and return to a pale man caked in a thick, darkened red blood. He rushed over to Milorad.


    ¡°Oh dear, you need stop this bleeding immediately!¡± exclaimed Borislav. ¡°Don¡¯t move, I will go find some moss to stop the bleeding.¡± Off she went to find the life-saving plant.


    Milorad looked around. In the corner of his eyes, he spotted a familiar plant, the goldenseal plant. He reached using his left arm, whilst his other arm pressed hard against his stomach. The mixture of desperation and pain is depleting Milorad valuable energy. Yet, the plant seems so far away, even though it is just out of reach for him.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Milorad looked in the sky, thinking to himself ¡°This is it. I could not go on anymore. This creature would destroy the world and it is my fault that it happened¡±


    He barely had the strength to even keep his eyes open. He was slowly drifting away. His breathe gentled each breath. To a point that it felt as though there were nothing.


    Rufus was rushing towards Boza, where Boza would carry the baton towards the Subordinate F and so on and so forth.


    The manoeuvrability through the densely packed forest is extreme difficult of Rufus, this is even more so for the beast. It could not swim through the thick layers of tree roots and the complex tunnelling systems created by the roots. This gave Rufus and Boza enough time to prepare their exchange and carry on the marathon. Rufus stopped running just before Boza, thinking that the creature would surface again to see where he went. This would give Boza a window of opportunity to carry on the run.


    However, unexpectedly, there was no movement under the ground. Rufus was puzzled. He tapped the ground multiple times. The response was a low rumbling underground. Rufus gestured Boza to start running. And Boza set off and continued to run north.


    No one dared to mess this operation up. This was a detrimental task that the Empire has set on the squad, the lives of innocent men and women were at stake. To fail is to doom the Empire.


    Keeping this in mind, this hardened soldiers proceeded on with this plan. The idea of the plan was to lead the creature to the cold climate of Surbidia. This would lead the creature to extreme coldness and die to hypothermia. Then afterwards resupply at a nearby town or village, than return back to Uronia.


    Boza was ecstatic at such experience being chased by an almost invincible beast. Being a young chap and extremely adrenaline fuelled youth, he could not hold in his excitement. He ran in a zig-zag pattern and the same time screaming as if a young boy playing tag, just that getting caught spells death.


    Rufus looked from a far and shook his head. ¡°Youth¡± he muttered under his breath. Then, he turned to the sky and looked at the sun, roughly gauging the time. It was almost sun down. The plan should take about the next sun rise to reach the Northern hemisphere, which is about fifty thousand more steps to reach.


    Rufus decided to back track to the where Milorad was and to assemble with him to go to the next point and set up the next part of the plan. He climbed upwards into the branches of the canopy and navigated through trees.


    Finally, he reach Milorad. Shocked to see Milorad laying unconsciously, he asked ¡°What happened?¡± Borislav replied ¡°Must have been that damned creature stabbed him, but he will be fine, I have already applied medication and stopped the bleeding. However, seeing how the wound is, it might take some time before he could actively work in this operation.¡±


    Having a dead weight in any situation is a huge problem for the team. However, Milorad is the most experienced amongst the eight. His advices would be very valuable for the succession of the mission.


    Suddenly, Milorad took a long deep breath. As he opens his eyes, he stood up instantly. ¡°Where is the beast now?¡± he asked in great concern. ¡°It only has been a while since you fainted¡±, replied Borislav ¡°you are greatly injured, and need to rest¡±.


    Milorad tried to seat up, but felt aching sensation at his abdomen. He turned to Rufus.


    ¡°Just before sun down, I passed over it to Boza, looking at how it is, we might be able to reach Surbidia by day break.¡± Rufus said, Milorad nodded.


    ¡°Borislav you go north to where the team should assemble, Rufus and I would follow behind later, we would set out very soon¡± Milorad ordered, ¡°pass me a map¡± Rufus took from his waist pack a crumpled piece of paper, it was in terrible condition. However, the content was still readable. ¡°By day break, team should reach here¡± Milorad circled the paper, ¡°We should reach there about the end of next day¡±, followed by him pulling out a Shamshir and passing it to Borislav. ¡°In case there were any trouble use this.¡± Borislav reached out and accepts the offering.


    And just like that, they parted ways. Rufus supported Milorad and walked upwards. As the sun sets, the temperature turned nail biting chilly. The plan was set back by this unexpected turn of event.

 Chapter 3 – Terrible Luck

    Day breaks, the sky was breaking a beautiful orange hue. The air was dry with the smell of shrivelled grass and rich earth. Milorad staggered, with the assistance of Rufus, towards north, were they agreed to meet, in a town not far from where the beast should end up in. It was going to be a long walk from where they were to their destination, but this marathon length walks was what the platoon was accustomed to for they were required to run the circumference of the Empire for the practice of readiness, in case of an invasion by neighbouring tyrant ruled countries.


    The nights rest has freshened Milorad. He limped forwards with Rufus. After what seemed as ages, in the far north, they saw something; something odd protruding out of the sands plains. Upon closer inspection, it was a ghost town.  Dilapidated shells of once lively buildings emit an ominous aura from within.  Modern Izbonian architecture lined the strip of flat earth, with not a single soul to be found, but the structural integrity of the buildings were in shambles. Evidence of violence tainted the streets.


    ¡°This is what was left behind the Great War, it seems. They don¡¯t even spare settlers¡±, Rufus was shocked by the scene. Vivid splashes of darkened blood coated the walls; the colours did not match the walls. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can describe this as painting the town red¡±, Milorad looked around, reliving the scenes of the Great War. Bold, hungry, restless vulture starts to gather the area.


    Taking in a deep breath, Milorad inhaled a mouthful of foul history. He peered back and forth and saw a well sitting awkwardly in the corner of the settlement. He staggered to it to refill his half emptied bottles. The roof of the well was made of scrappy and browning metal sheets. The base of the well was lined with stones. Attached to the side of the well was a thick but visibly used rope. At the end of the rope lay a bucket. Milorad threw down the bucket.


    ¡°Splash¡±, reverberated the well


    It was a deep well, rather odd for a well to be such manner.


    Without as second thought, Milorad pulled up the rope. However, he paused upon seeing the content. There in the bucket floated a large bone, the content of the water was black with a tinge of green. What hit him the most was how odourless the water smelled. Milorad threw down the bucket, stepping a few steps and few on to his knees. He could barely hold in the contents of his stomach. Even as a battle hardened soldier as himself, he never expected this. Such inhumanity. Such horror. Such disturbance. The people responsible for this was sick to the core, thought Milorad.


    Rufus walked towards to the dumbfounded Milorad and picked him up. Milorad had weak legs, upon walking a few steps, he fell over. Milorad lay flat on the floor, in a sprawl. Like a ragdoll, Milorad looked blankly upwards. His mind was disgusted by the genocide that has occurred. Under the hot sun, his head spun. Words starts echoing in his mind, colours start flashing against his eye lids. Rufus bent over and picked him up. Milorad ¡®s head flopped backwards.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    There, in the distance, glistened an emblem. It was on a mug. He Milorad squinted his eyes. A lion surrounded by patterns of flames. ¡°It seems so familiar, where have I seen it?¡± he mumbled


    ¡°Come on Milorad, we have to make it before the night sets¡± Rufus grunted.  It was a terrible place to be in, out in the middle of no man¡¯s land, on a hot plate. They were merely a quarter into their journey, but they only have half a day remaining. Milorad mustered all his strength. With the support of Rufus, his quickened his pace.


    ¡°I saw an emblem in the bar, it looks like a burning lion¡± Milorad opened his mouth.


    Rufus stared at Milorad for a second and forced a chuckle ¡°You must be insane, that is the emblem of the royal guards of Izbonia, what is a royal guard doing in a deserted town like this?¡±


    Milorad nodded in acknowledgement, he gave it some thought. Why would the guards that serve under the royal family of Izbonia be doing in this worthless town, this town has nothing going for it. Its position in the middle of nowhere makes it literally worthless to visit. This town just hosts travelling merchants. It borders two countries, which makes it a great town to be placed to serve there merchants.


    Milorad frowned upon this realisation. He was now concerned about the leadership in Izbonia. Which beast would sacrifice his people for his troops to be in a better strategical position?


    Both soldiers trotted slowly to their destination.


    On the literal beast, the members of the troop or now nearing the northern hemisphere. The beast is slowing down. It could barely keep up with the member¡¯s constant switching position. With the addition to the fact that the atmosphere is gradually cooling down even in the day, the beast was uncomfortable with the new environment.


    Boza looked up, using one arm to shield the glare from the sun. ¡°It is about three quarter to night time¡±, he noted to himself. The squad has been running for almost the whole day. They were exhausted, with the fact that their declining rations, they have to succeed more than ever now.


    Lucretius, who was preparing for his turn to relay the beast, suggested,  ¡°Once we see the first sign of frost, find a water source. So that we can lead the beast to it and force it in to the water body it should take care of it.¡±


    ¡°We are very close by to the freezing zone, I will scout for the water body¡± volunteered Fabricia, the rest of the troop nodded. ¡°Once you found the lake, use your whistle so that we could go in the general direction¡±, Boza said.


    With this Fabricia set off on her way to find the water body.


    The beast was still obediently following Garyald. Garyald look forwards, at the corner of his eye, he saw Lucretius standing by. Garyald took the chance and dashed towards Lucretius. Lucretius took a long deep breath and prepared himself.


    Suddenly, he raised his ears. A howling sound is heard in the area, a strong wind is blowing into the direction of Lucretius. Snow that felt like razors grazed skins of the troops. It seems the end is closing in. There is not much time left to finish the operation.  The sun is slowly crawling into the depths of the void over the mountains.