by Jesse Wilson
“The man was an impressive hunter, what do you say we meet up here this time next year in memorial. You know, if we're still alive and all,” Boz said to them and for a few seconds there was silence.
“If they let us up here I'll be here,” Evie said with a knowing smile, she was sure it wouldn't be a problem. She turned to look at Calibri. “What about you, you did really well these past few days,” she asked her and Calibri sighed.
“I never thought myself as being a talented unicorn hunter but sure, I'll be here. I liked the guy. He was cool,” she said and Evie smiled. “Yeah, he was, and still is. I think we can save him, but I'll need some time,” she said to the others but none of them were interested in raising their hopes.
In this job hope was something that would either get you killed or drive you insane.
“Come on, let's report back to the castle so we can finish this,” Drask said to them and one by one they started to stand up. “Can we fly back down? I don't think I want to see what that monster did to the inside of this tower,” Boz said, having seen enough death and destruction.
For once no one complained. Evie casted the spell, despite her loss of energy and the group slowly floated back to the ground. It wasn't long before they landed and began to make their way back to the castle and avoiding the military and their battles.
The group stood in the water filled throne room. King Lexam sat on the throne looking over the people who had just saved his kingdom, and likely the world.
“Sacrifice is often what is needed to make a good thing happen, our legends of the past are filled with larger than life heroes giving everything and today the children will know of a new legend. How Commander Rex was willing to give it all up to save us all. May the gods protect him where ever he is,” Lexam said and sighed, not getting out of his chair.
The group knew better than to say anything. “Thank you,” he said to all of them and smiled. Lexam swam out of his throne and stood on the floor.
“If you want anything, just ask. You've saved us all and it's the least we can do to reward you. If you want anything, ever, just ask,” he said to them with a glint in his eye. The line of people remained silent. Then Calibri stepped forward. “I would request one thing,” she said to him and Lexam, expecting them to want nothing in return looked at the young necromancer.
“What would you like?” he asked her as he walked over.
“We necromancers are seen as an evil people, and there are some of us who are really insane. But we are not all that way. I would ask for a diplomatic channel be opened up. I don't want to be feared for a choice I made, and I don't want my people to be hated. I believe we can start making things better,” she said to him, nervous because Calibri knew that he could have her killed in an instant.
“Done,” Lexam said with a smile.
“You're the ambassador now between our people. It won't be easy but I believe the Delrax Necromancers and the Elroxians can get along. What is peace for if not everyone can enjoy it?” he said and nodded. “Anyone else need anything. You've more than earned your reward. If you can't think of anything now please, feel free to come back at any time. The offer stands forever,” he said and crossed his arms, continuing.
“In the meantime, I grant you the highest award I can give,” Lexam said. He snapped his fingers Silver Coral medal pendants appeared around their necks.
“Go now, take some time off,” he said to them and swam back to his throne, sitting down. The began to kneel but he stopped them.
“You saved me, no need to kneel or bow to me or anyone else in the kingdom ever again,” he said and smiled. “Let's get out of here this is getting weird,” Nymie whispered and Tayne smiled. “Yeah I'm with you,” he said under his breath.
The group walked towards the airlock to get out of the castle and in minutes they were back in the air, in the main hall.
“So, this is it, I guess we go home now,” Drask said and seemed sad about it. “Hey, no need to worry. We're only a phone call away,” Boz said and smiled.
“Well if you don't mind I am taking Unie home with me. She doesn't have a place to go back to,” Tayne said and everyone raised their eyebrows.
“What?” Tayne asked, oblivious.
“Nothing, don't worry about it. Well, it's been fun but I hope I don't see any of you for a long time,” Calibri said with a smile and disappeared into a black column of smoke. Evie smiled. “I need to meditate in my chambers for a week after this. If you need a mage, you have my number. I'll keep you posted about Rex when I find something,” Evie said and with a tap of her staff was gone in a beam of bright blue light.
“See you at the memorial, don't take it personal but I don't think I'll need your help any time soon,” Drask said with a smile, put her rifle over her shoulder and walked off. She did her best to look calm but her encounter with the two terrifying unicorns left her shaken to the core and she wasn't sure she could do this job anymore.
Tayne and Unie walked off in the same direction. Tayne waved as he took a left turn and disappeared out of a door opposite of Drask.
Boz looked at Nymie. “Your place or mine?” he asked her, after coming so close to death so many times, he decided that this wasn't a hard thing to ask anymore and Nymie vaguely remembered what a mess her place was. “Yours,” she said and the two of them walked out together.
Marion was sitting at home when the power came on late at night. Ten minutes after that, the phone rang and she picked it up. Rex wasn't back yet and she hadn't heard from him since the last call to try to get her to leave. The ring had a bad feeling to it. “Hello,” she said into the phone.
“Yes, Marion. I have some bad news, so, I'll just come out and say it. Rex is missing. He was thrown into the portal to another world to save us all,” the voice on the other end of the phone said and he almost knees gave out on her, the news was devastating.
“I'm sorry, but we'll do everything we can to find him,” the voice said and Marion was in shock.
“Okay, I, I'll wait for you to call,” she said and hung up the phone. She looked out the window, the coffee Rex drank out of was still on the counter from before he left. She wasn't sure why but she didn't have the willpower to get rid of it. She walked to it, picked it up and dumped the coffee down the drain.
“Damn it, why did you have to give yourself up like that, wasn't there a better way?” she asked herself and just then she could have sworn that she felt a phantom hand rest on her shoulder and a distant voice trying to call out only for a second, but when she looked around nothing had actually changed.
“I'm already losing my mind,” she said sadly and slumped into a chair.
The reality of the situation hadn't dawned on her yet, the shock was still numbing the pain of not knowing what actually happened. Even though the announcer on television droned on about a Unicorn dirty bomb attack in the capital, in her mind, a plan of her own was beginning to form to get her husband back from whatever hell he had banished himself.
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Best regards,
Jesse Wilson and the Creativia Team
About the Author
My name is Jesse Wilson. I live in South Dakota and I am 36 years old.
I am also a lifelong Godzilla fan.
A long time ago, I realized that the world inside my head was more appealing than the world I lived in on a day to day basis most of the time and real life was something I was never particularly good at. There was always something missing and I never seemed to find it.
I had dabbled in the art of writing since as long as I can remember. Silly stories that never really amounted to anything, while most people give this up and move on, I just kept moving forward. Never stopping, by the time I was 13 years
old I had managed to create my first Godzilla fan fiction stories. None of them were that great, but not too many people are at the beginning of anything.
At 15 had started to role play online, free form role playing, they called it. This is where I learned how to show things and not just tell them. This was way before the online games they have today. For fun I used to help other people create their character profiles, I got rather good at it, too. This is where I became addicted to writing.
I wrote my first “novel” when I was 16 years old in High school, it started out as something I just wanted to try, but the thing ended up saving me in English class when I told the teacher and she allowed me to turn the thing for extra credit. I still don’t know how that ended up working, but it did. I managed to turn the thing into a trilogy before I graduated high school.
Unfortunately, the whole thing was lost when a storm rolled through, teaching me the importance of backing everything up.
After graduation I just got a job and committed myself to “real life” everything that wasn’t needed took a back seat, writing included.
In 2006 I rejoined the online world of roleplaying and rediscovered why I liked to do it. From 2006 to 2010 I managed to create one of my favorite characters, Bob the Supervillain.
In the summer of 2010, I began the thing that would unknowingly become an epic. The Delta Squad series, inspired by the people I worked with at the time. It started out as two thousand word drop in the bucket. By the time 2013 came along, the series had evolved into a thirteen-book series! However, it was all a hobby. Something I wanted to see how far I could take it.
2013 was a major turning point in my life. I contracted a near lethal MRSA infection. I was in the hospital for three weeks and almost didn’t make it. Up until then I had just decided to “do my best to get by,” facing death in such a painful way and making it this time, made me want to try a little harder. I decided that I would do my best to get the Delta Squad books published. Not self-published, but actually done by a real company.
However, I wanted to do more. Delta Squad was my main project but writing offered so much more. So, I dived into the world as deeply as I could. I discovered NaNoWriMo in 2015 and gave it a shot. I’ve done it three times and won each time, I’m happy to say.
In 2016 I discovered Kaiju fiction was actually a thing. So, I wanted to try my hand at it. I created a monster called Narbosaurus! Everyone I told the name to, thought it was one of the worst names they had ever heard, and idea too, even though I never revealed very much.
So, I wrote it anyway, edited it the best I could and sent the thing in. My very first book I had ever sent in. I had no expectations. To my surprise they accepted it! My very first book was accepted, the thing everyone I had told in advance had said was a bad idea, it worked out way better than I hoped it would.
Now, in 2018 I hope to see my writing career go further than I ever thought possible, and with time I know this will just be the first steps into something truly amazing.