Void Beast Box Set

by Matthew Jones

  Kyra sat at the top of the stairs outside of the closed door to TJ’s room. She leaned her bruised body against the wall, her finger tips still tingling from the ice magic. She looked up at the speckled ceiling thinking about the Ravagers and their wild ways. There was almost a feeling of guilt associated with every death of a Ravager. They were, after all, technically shifters. They were just wild, too wild to tame. She had killed many of her own that day, and no matter what their name or wild nature, she would take that with her for the rest of her life.

  Behind the large carved wooden doors of TJ’s bedroom, Wagner stood watching over TJ’s human frailty. Kyo had managed to heal the burns and cuts but was unable to penetrate the magic that kept TJ in a dormant state. Sweat covered his forehead, and his face moved in expression as if he were fighting something deep in the recesses of his dreams. Wagner reached out and ran his hand across TJ’s forehead, whispering a calming shush in his ear. TJ fell calm once again at Wagner’s magical touch, but even Wagner’s full, strong abilities couldn’t break this spell.

  He was lost somewhere between sleeping and awake, and Wagner knew that they would have to wait it out. TJ was the only one that could bring himself from whatever plagued him. How long that would take, no one knew, but Wagner did know that it would take an immense amount of strength from TJ. The strength he was aware that his father had passed to him through the Void Beast.

  The sun had come up, and the sounds of zombies and wolves had abated. Wagner walked over to the window and looked out over the field. All of the shifters sat quietly looking up at him, waiting for a sign. In the background, the smoke from the city wafted up into the clouds creating an eerie feeling of loss. Wagner could still sense the masked figure as if he had imprinted himself onto Wagner’s soul. There was no way to shake the feeling of danger that all of them were in at that moment. Whoever this person, or being, was, they were a force to be reckoned with.

  Wagner stared off over the fields and beyond the city where lightning crackled from an approaching storm. The strong winds blew the treetops of the woods beyond the city, violently back and forth. He pressed his hand against the window and closed his eyes, wondering what was next.

  Off in the distance, in a deep corner where the forest met the sides of the steep mountain walls, the hooded figure sat perched upon a chair made of bone and flesh. Yasenia stood in front of him bowing deeply while the Ravagers took cover from the day in the canopy’s cover. She turned from the being and walked into the woods, thinking about Denise and TJ, and how they had, yet again, escaped. Revenge for her father burned deep in her chest and she let out a screeching sound, unlike anything heard before. The sound echoed off the mountains and floated through the air.

  Death was going to find these Shifters, she would make sure of it.

  Chapter 19: A Land Beyond Dreams

  All around him is darkness, darkness so deep it’s hard to comprehend. TJ can feel vibrations of energy pulsating in the space surrounding him, and he steps forward, unaware of whether he is even touching the ground. Flashes of dark blue light illuminate the space, but just for a moment. He squints his eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of his surroundings as the lights move like lightning in a storm. Within the refulgent impressions, he can see what looks to be bulging orbs of energy interweaving through the space. Voices encompass him, echoing as if he were standing in an empty tiled room, too muffled to understand or recognize. TJ pulls his hands to his head, the unfamiliar whisper of a stranger pulsating through his ears.

  “TJ,” the voice whispers.

  “Who are you?” TJ yells out into the darkness. “Show yourself!”

  “Soooon,” the voice hisses.

  “Tell me who you are,” he screams.

  Wagner looks down at TJ, laying still on the bed in his room. He watches as his eyes roll feverishly under his closed eyelids. Small whimpers escaped his pursed lips and Wagner stands, walking over and laying his hand on TJ’s forehead. He is clammy and seems to be fighting once again.

  “Korvo,” TJ whispers in his unconscious state.

  Wagner freezes, staring down at TJ, shock, and fear running through him at the sound of that name. He calls out telepathically to Kyra, Kyo, and Denise, asking them to meet him in TJ’s room. Wagner sits back down next to TJ, watching his retching face and hoping that something can be done. He feels so powerless, and he knows, if TJ is facing Korvo, there is definitely a war on the way.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” Kyra asks frantically as she and the others run into the room, half expecting to see Yasenia or Wrex standing there.

  “TJ spoke,” Wagner explained. “He said the name, Korvo.”

  “Who is Korvo?” Denise asked, stepping forward from the back.

  “Well until yesterday I thought he was just a legend,” Wagner responded. “He is a mercenary, and his powers are pretty strong. With just one touch he can steal a power right from under you, and in more severe cases, he can enter your mind.”

  “Is that what’s wrong with TJ?” Kyo asked, a worried look on his face. “Can we fix it or get him out?”

  “Unfortunately, his powers are too strong,” Wagner said looking back at TJ. “And wherever TJ went, he took Korvo with him.”

  “I don’t mean to sound uncaring, but if there’s nothing we can do to help, then we need to focus on the troops for now,” Kyra stated. “Yasenia and the Ravagers are still out there and I know, with Yasenia’s temper, they won’t stay hidden long.”

  “I agree,” Wagner stated, standing from his chair. “We need to get the pack ready for another attack. We know now what we are facing, and that is where we need to focus our training. Denise, I need you to train the pack on how to defeat the Ravagers. Kyra, I need you to continue helping them build their powers.”

  “We can’t just leave TJ here, fighting on his own,” Kyo interrupted.

  “I know, Kyo,” Wagner said softly, putting his hand on Kyo’s shoulder. “That’s why I want you, for now, to take a shift sitting by his side. If anything changes, anything is said, you contact me right away.”

  Kyo nodded his head as Wagner patted him hard on the back and headed out of the room. Kyra kissed Kyo on the cheek and took another look at TJ before leaving to start training. Denise stood there staring at TJ, wondering what she could do to help. Whoever this Korvo character was, his intentions couldn’t be good ones. Kyo sat down in the chair next to the bed, leaning back and crossing his legs.

  “Take care of him,” Denise whispered as she walked from the room, a feeling of dread in her stomach.

  As Kyo sat watching TJ’s flinching face surrounded by the quiet of the mansion walls, TJ wondered through an unknown land, Korvo steadily growing closer. TJ continued to stumble through the darkness, looking for any sign of recognition. He could feel Korvo hunting him, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to teleport, but all that happened was a ripple of energy expelling from his chest and floating off into the darkness. Whatever Korvo did and wherever he was, it was not on the normal plane of existence.

  “It’s hard to use a power I stole out from under your pathetic little nose,” Korvo laughed, his voice echoing into nothingness. “But please, continue. Every time you send out a signal it makes it easier for me to find you.”

  “What do you want from me? I don’t know who you are,” TJ growled.

  “Don’t you understand, you kept me from getting Dr. Gutierrez’s cure you fool,” Korvo hissed. “You weren’t the only one who knew what the doctor was doing. He was so close. But you had to ruin it and stick your nose in where it didn’t belong.”

  “He was torturing innocent humans,” TJ argued angrily. “He had to be stopped.”

  “No, the only ones that needed to be stopped were the Paladins, with their constant meddling in things that don’t concern them,” Korvo whined. “That cure was supposed to be mine.”

  “What are you talking about? Who are the Paladins?” TJ said, stopping and looking around him.

  “Don’t you kn
ow anything wolf? The Paladins, the humans with powers. They don’t like the non-humans, but they oversee our worlds, make sure we aren’t causing too many problems,” Korvo said, his voice getting seemingly closer. “That cure would have cost us a lot. But I did found poor Yasenia, hanging on by a thread, so I turned her.”

  “Wait,” TJ interrupted, shaking his head. “You’re a Ravager? A Ravager who can steal powers?”

  “Very perceptive,” Korvo hissed, a blurry vision of his half-masked face moving slowly toward TJ in the background. “I changed Yasenia, and she told me everything. Wrex was just an easy wolf to get to. His bloodlust for your powers made him a simple target. Throw in some stolen powers and group of Ravagers and down went your little camp.”

  TJ’s chest tightened, and he could feel Korvo’s straining presence. He turned slowly in the opposite direction and watched as Korvo lurched toward him, his eyes gleaming in the dark. He put up his arms to shield himself and heard several voices behind him yelling.

  “TJ, get down,” a familiar voice yelled out.

  TJ ducked and covered his head as beams of energy shot forward. He looked up through his arms and watched as Korvo took a strong assemblage of power right in the chest. Korvo yelled out angrily as he flew backward, a surge of light opening and swallowing him into the dark, the lights glistening off his golden mask as he disappeared. TJ slowly stood up, still unsure of where he was, but relieved that Korvo was gone. But where did he go to? TJ scratched his head, not understanding anything he was seeing. He felt like he was in a dream but at the same time, could see his muscles bulging and could feel the pain in his shoulder from where Korvo had touched him.

  The space around him contracted and expanded, shimmering blue electric waves shooting around him. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes, trying to use his teleportation to get out of wherever he was. But it was no use. Whatever Korvo had done, he had blocked his ability to escape.

  TJ turned and looked behind him, his shoulders releasing at the site of his grandfather standing behind him, smiling. The others all shared similar characteristics, and TJ could feel their void beast powers. They were his family, well at least some of them. He didn’t recognize everyone, but he knew if his grandfather was there, his father had to close. Nerves ran through his chest at the thought of seeing his father again.

  “Where am I? Am I dead?” TJ asked since the shifters standing behind him had all been deceased for years.

  No one answered him, they just stood smiling at him from a distance. TJ looked around wondering if they could even hear him. Suddenly the crowd began to move, creating a path through the center of them and a voice pierced the silence.

  “No son,” TJ’s father’s voice echoed from the back. “You’re in the Void Realm.”

  Chapter 20: The March

  “Dad,” TJ shouted out at the sound of his father’s voice.

  He squinted into the group of people staring back at him as a man began to walk forward through the crowd. A vibrant aura swirled around him, and as he approached, TJ let out a deep breath of air. It was his father, younger than he ever remembered seeing him and walking instead of using a wheelchair. TJ ran forward toward his father, throwing his arms around him and holding back the emotions that strained in his chest.

  “Dad, you're walking. Your breathing,” TJ said, pulling back and looking at his father’s spry body.

  “It seems that way, doesn’t it?” He said smiling, looking down at his feet. “You don’t have to bring the pain of your worldly life when you come here.”

  “But where IS here? What is the Void Realm?” TJ asked, looking around him at the lights flashing by.

  “I want to tell you everything, but we don’t have a lot of time,” his father replied, reaching out and taking his arm with a serious face. “This is the place where it all began, where it all continues, and where it all ends. Centuries ago when the first Void Beast came into existence his powers were so strong they created this realm. It surrounds everything and everyone and gives you the powers that you have in life.”

  “Wait, hold on,” TJ said putting up his hand. “In life? So, I am dead then.”

  “No, no,” his father replied, shaking his head. “Somehow you were jolted into the Void Realm. I think it may have been some sort of protective reaction. But when you came you brought that Ravager with you. As you may have figured out by now, I was a Void Beast when I was alive.”

  “Then why didn’t you use your powers?” TJ asked.

  “Right before I was hurt, I shunned my powers back to the Void Realm to be kept until my passing,” TJ’s father tried to explain. “When I died they were transferred to you. If I hadn’t done that, they would have been recycled back into the Void. I regret not taking advantage of my powers more than I did. If I had understood, I might not have ended up in that wheelchair.”

  “I want to spend more time with you, dad, but I know that my pack is being attacked,” TJ said, reaching out for his father’s hand. “How do I get back?”

  “That’s just it, TJ, I don’t know,” his father said looking around. “Only family can come here and usually once you’re here…well, you can never leave.”

  ***

  Dust and leaves flew up in the air as Korvo appeared next to Yasenia. He shook his head, his hands clenched in anger, and looked around at the others. He howled loudly, teleporting back and forth through the camp, trying to expel his frustration. When he landed back next to Yasenia, she reached out and touched his sleeve.

  “What happened?” she asked with concern. “You disappeared, no one could find you.”

  “I chased him down,” Korvo grumbled. “He took me to some other dimension. I was lost, but the stupid mutt leads me straight to him.”

  “So, you did it, you killed him,” Wrex said walking forward.

  “No, his father showed up, along with an army of Void Beasts and sent me flying back to this dimension,” Korvo answered, irritated by his misfortune. “But I did manage to keep his teleportation powers.”

  “Well, it's done then. I am going over to the house right now to eat his heart from his sleeping chest,” Wrex said, wiping the sweat from his brow and walking forward.

  “Not so fast,” Korvo stated, holding his arm out. “I’m not quite done with him yet.”

  “That was not our agreement,” Wrex growled. “You promised me his powers.”

  “That was before I knew everything,” Korvo barked.

  “The deal was, I help you find him, and I get to absorb his powers,” Wrex said through gritted teeth as Blaze and Torrent walked up behind him.

  “Don’t make me angry,” Korvo warned.

  Wrex stomped his feet and quickly transformed into his wolf, clenching his giant shining sword. As soon as he changed, so did Blaze and Torrent, and the three of them began to circle Korvo. Yasenia bent down, growling, still in her human form.

  “Should I take care of this?” She asked, cracking her knuckles.

  “Let him come,” Korvo said, an evil laugh escaping his lips.

  Wrex began to move toward Korvo, snapping his sharp teeth in his direction. Korvo waited until Wrex was almost upon him before teleporting to the other side, pushing Blaze to the ground with his massive mechanical gloves. The gloves clicked and clanked as the gears inside them turned, creating two weapons, unlike anything Wrex had seen before. The long shimmering swords protruding from his gloves reflected his surprised face as he picked himself up from the ground. Time after time, Wrex charged and Korvo laughed as he disappeared, reappearing just out of Wrex’s reach. It was like a game for the Ravager, and he made sure Wrex knew. Just as Wrex began to grow tired, Korvo teleported one last time, retracting his metal gloves, and grabbing Wrex by the neck.

  Korvo picked Wrex up above his head and slammed him into the ground, watching his sword fly from his hands. Wrex growled, shaking his head but wasn’t fast enough, yelping as Korvo picked him up again and slammed him back down, creating a crater of dirt and rock beneath him. He reac
hed down and placed his finger on Wrex’s chest and closed his eyes, feeling Wrex’s powers transferred into him. He stood up high, rotating his shoulders and put his foot on Wrex’s neck, looking down at him as he struggled before fading out of conscious. The Ravager moved his foot and dusted off his hands, laughing to himself.

  “You won’t be needing this,” Korvo said, picking up the sword and turning to Blaze and Torrent. “Get him out of here before you find the same fate.”

  The two wolves transformed back into their human and raced over, picking Wrex from the ground and carrying him off into the woods. Korvo looked around their makeshift compound, running his plan through his head. Yasenia watched from a safe distance, having pledged her allegiance to the Ravager, but still fearing his great powers. Though he hadn’t been able to save her father, Yasenia felt bound to Korvo for saving her life. Part of her wanted to be done with all of it, but the other thirsted for revenge from the woman who made her an orphan. Denise’s smug smile flashed through Yasenia’s mind, and she stood up straight, ready for Korvo’s next order.

  “Get ready,” Korvo stated, walking away. “It’s time to bring the fight to their doorstep.”

  Yasenia bowed in understanding and turned toward the camp. There were dozens of Ravagers at her disposal, and she planned on taking every single one of them. Whether TJ lived or died was not on her mind, but ending that human disgrace, Denise was where her passions surged through her. The first time she faced Denise she was weak and frail, her suit being the only thing keeping her from death but this time was different. Yasenia took in a deep breath and let out a howl, her body shifting and morphing into her wolf. One by one she could hear the Ravagers respond, ready for the next phase in her plan. Korvo may think she is there solely to get him to TJ, who she was looking forward to watching him have his heart ripped from his chest, but she knew Denise and Kyra were the first two she had her eye on.