by Ryan DeBruyn
This would hopefully debilitate the creature further. As Rocky swung with all of his might, the troll simply raised his foot like Jean Claude VanDam in The Quest, and his blade sailed right under the sole of its massive foot.
Who taught the massive creature martial arts!
Rocky was saved from a counter blow by the two simultaneous laser strikes which kept the troll busy. With the extra time, he decided to try for the right leg as he continued towards it at almost a full sprint. He had to reach the limb before the left foot came down and avoid a repeat of the last attempt.
Rocky did manage to prevent a repeat of his previous miss but was unable to beat the left foot’s fall. The massive beast turned his raised foot into a projectile aimed not at Rocky but at the ground itself. The strength of the tiny quake made Rocky misstep and set a swing at the ankle joint into a slash at the calf and shin.
With no proper anchor from his legs, he definitely wasn’t going to have the torque and power to sever the limb anymore. However, he was already committed to the slash and so tried to pull the sword, so he would only meet muscle. Eyes wild and thinking fast, he cast Dark Blade the instant his sword met flesh.
This was Rocky’s first time using the ranged skill at a close distance, especially when his blade was already touching the opponent’s flesh. The result was not what he had expected.
Instead of a phantom slash extending from his sword edge, the darkness coated his sword and trailed behind it as it parted flesh, leaving behind a dark roiling substance akin to his Dark Cloak in the deep wound. The troll, who had only screamed when his arm was severed, let out a massive, wailing roar.
Whatever, the darkness was doing, it was causing this beast an enormous amount of pain. Rocky slid to a skaters stop five feet from the creature, intent on turning around and continuing the battle. As he slowed, he reached into his bag of holding and extricated an Ether Potion, taking a moment after he stopped to uncork and drink it.
With the fairly exotic taste of electric blue lightning on his tongue, the first thing Rocky noticed was that the wound was fighting against the darkness, attempting to heal itself as the dark matter fought to spread. The troll, not used to prolonged periods of pain, fell to a knee and removed his arm from in front of his face to grasp at the calf.
This lapse in judgment by the beast was met with multiple ranged strikes directly at the creature’s newly exposed eyes by more than thirty humans. At first, it seemed like the monster would just bear the ranged attacks, but a few moments later, a sickening pop sounded as the internal Ether of the troll’s eyes lost to the damage it was sustaining.
Revolting, yellow liquid splashed the ground in front of the troll. A moment later, it bent at the waist in obvious pain and distress. Its one good hand, which moments ago gripped the wounded calf, slammed into the ground to arrest the creature’s fall, as its disabled arm dragged uselessly on the ground. Once the troll was vulnerable, the group of survivors were merciless, and Rocky was no exception. He took this relatively safe opportunity to approach the beast’s head and savagely decapitate the creature, finishing it off with a massive overhand chop once and for all.
After the battle, silence reigned, broken only by heavy breathing from everyone present. Rocky downed a second vial of his new Ether Draught which further bolstered his Dark Ether pool. The taste was intoxicating, but he knew that the three shielded individuals had sustained substantial damage and could probably use some help. Even Patrick, the final remaining tank, was looking rough with blood pouring out of a few injuries that must have been very near misses by the troll.
Rocky instinctively activated Stealth to reduce the cost of Dark Cloak. Then walked towards the first man who was unconscious, his limbs tangled around him, arm still strapped onto the oven door. Rocky first checked for a pulse and was happy to find one. He then took the man out of his yoga pretzel pose and laid him flat on his back before casting Dark Mend.
Glancing at his Ether pool, Rocky noticed it had risen to ninety points and that the Mend spell had taken forty-five of the pool since he had used two charges. Rocky decided to Analyze the downed man to at least learn his name.
Joshua Clowter
Apprentice-Gargoyle
Level 8
Unconscious
Multiple Broken Bones
Dark Mend
Stealthed and covered in dark shadows under a bright morning sun, Rocky walked to Nick’s body and analyzed him as well. He chuckled at his apparent choice of names and then cast a single charge Dark Mend on his eccentric friend.
Heartless Justice (Nick Petron)
Apprentice-Guardian
Level 12
Internal Bleeding
Unconscious
Dark Mend
By this point, a large group of people were panicking and beginning to form into a packed group. From the survivor’s point of view, a dark black fog was now walking to each of their wounded or dead and leaving the same black fog behind in his wake, covering the injured individuals. To the survivors, Rocky looked to be a reaper come to collect the corpses of the fallen.
Oblivious to all this, Rocky turned from Nick to find the united and growing group of people blocking his last ten meters to the final injured man.
“Listen, we can’t just let you take the wounded like that,” one of the few females in the group spoke, her voice shaking and her head twisting around looking for support.
Rocky tilted his head and analyzed her, unsure what she meant. This motion and his frown all went unnoticed deep in the shadows of his skill.
Stacey Jackson
Apprentice-Medic
Level 8
“Stacey, I am just trying to heal the injuries they have sustained. I can leave it to you if you prefer?” Rocky said, confusion written in every word. When he first spoke, the entire group recoiled in shock, but then a few of them began tilting their heads, trying to see through the dark fog that hid his figure.
One of those men spoke up, “We couldn’t and still can’t see you at all in that dark mist you are surrounded by. All we saw in the fight were flashes of a dark black weapon with glowing red pinpricks.” The instant that the man said this, Rocky facepalmed remembering that his Dark Cloak and Stealth ability were active.
Dismissing both Rocky walked a few feet forward to exit the dark cloud which finally allowed everyone standing there to see him. “Sorry, it’s a relatively new skill, and I am just starting to get used to it. Trying to figure out what it is good for, you know?”
Now that he was no longer shrouded in the Dark Cloak, Phil and Jeff recognized his voice and paired it with his tall frame.
“Rockland, is that you?” Phil spoke hesitantly because he still wasn’t sure. Phil was staring at eyes and had heard a voice that he recognized, but the rest of this man was covered in what could only be described as a thin, metallic scuba suit.
Rocky, for his part, noticed the incredulous look both Phil and Jeff wore and touched his ear, berating himself for further stupidity before nodding at them.
Okay, idiot, maybe sheathe your sword, too. You can’t just cut off some creature’s head and think rational humans are going to see you as harmless.
Rocky noticed that some notifications were waiting, but he ignored them as his mask came down and the looks on Phil’s and Jeff’s faces both eased in true recognition. Rocky sheathed his sword with a sheepish smile but wasn’t willing to stand around anymore, not when someone was injured.
So he looked to Stacey and motioned behind him. “Go check if you are still concerned. Add what healing you can offer as well.” As he did this, he analyzed the last downed man.
Chris Curtis
Apprentice-Warrior
Level 6
Dead
Rocky cursed, seeing that there was nothing he could do for the man. He prayed that wasn’t because of the delay. He couldn’t be sure from this distance, but it seemed like the man’s chest may be caved in. He chose to accept that finding and not look any closer.
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br /> Fists clenching beside his hip, Rocky quickly put some constraints on his quickly boiling anger and looked at Phil. That rising heat turning quickly to icy desperation as he summoned a question from deep in his heart.
It was a weighty question, and he barely got it out. “My family?” Rocky choked the words out, feeling a lump in his throat and a knot in his chest. He couldn’t even form a full sentence; the tumult of mixed emotions he felt was too intense.
Phil froze stock still, and maybe it was Rocky’s imagination, but he seemed to avoid his first reaction of shaking his head.
Phil took a moment more, and then he whispered, “They weren’t at home when this all happened. I woke up in my house across the street after the blue wave of light hit. Both of their cars weren’t in either of their driveways, and neither was yours. I had assumed you all had gone somewhere together, and then when things went crazy, I hadn’t thought of it again.”
Phil was a taciturn man who had been one of his brother-in-law’s friends and while Rocky got along with him with an easy familiarity, the brief time spent together meant they weren’t terribly close. Rocky felt tears try to build in his eyes, and he released the tight controls on his anger to counteract them while simultaneously refusing to blink. He chose to change the subject, but his voice was still thick with emotions.
“Why in the protein poops are you guys out here hunting for them?” His voice had an edge and was accompanied by a gesture over his shoulder at the tank and the three unconscious men. He was letting his anger rule and was too upset to beat around the bush and try to placate the group of survivors.
All Rocky wanted was answers, and then he wanted to go put an end to this dictator’s shitockracy. The round of bets that those three men had taken had really gotten to him.
His mind was also racing with possibilities of his family, about where they could have been, but the roiling fire inside of him kept coming back to how the militia that was supposed to be protecting the people of Ottawa wasn’t!
Phil grimaced before opening his mouth, but it was Jeff that answered, meeting Rocky’s gaze with a glare, “What did you do? Why are they unconscious? Why am I holding one of their rifles?” Jeff’s voice had an edge of anger that he tried to match to Rocky’s own; it even leaned towards demanding. Unfortunately, his anger was a waning candle held up to the blazing forge of Rocky’s.
Phil looked sheepish, realizing that it was Rocky who had probably just saved everyone’s life but also looked at the rifle, then behind Rocky at the downed men from the militia.
“Those gutter leaves were taking bets on if you all would live! You want to know why you are holding weapons that contributed to saving your lives?” Rocky was forced to pause and catch his breath as he realized he was yelling.
He turned his pause into something more prolonged, and his short breathing turned into a deep, centering one. Once he felt more in control again, Rocky continued, voice still laced with multiple emotions. There was only so much anger a breath could contain. “They weren’t going to help you! The hussar driving the tank was telling the other two to prepare to retreat if you all died.”
Gasps from the crowd could be heard, and murmuring broke out across all of the survivors that had heard him. The change in emotion was clear to everyone, though, and Rocky could catch a few asking their fellows what had just happened.
Due to Rocky’s accidental increased volume, most of the survivors had, in fact, heard, and the questions soon died off and quieted altogether when Phil spoke softly, “What do we do now? We can’t just go back to St. Monika without our escort, and if we wait for them to wake up, there will be some pointed questions about what happened.”
Whispers broke out, followed by a deafening silence. Everyone who heard what Phil had just asked turned and stared at the three men, their entire bodies statue still. The sound of the wind through the grass was so loud it could have been a gunshot in the middle of the night.
Rocky hadn’t thought about any of that before he had jumped into the battle with the troll. He had only thought about saving the four men and, by extension, the group. Rocky frowned as he admitted to himself that saving them wasn’t his only motivation.
Guilt rose up in his stomach for a moment as he internalized the thought. Then it vanished as he discovered that it wasn’t the only reason he had saved the group. Rocky’s inner-self was telling him he would have defended the group either way, but that yes, his first gut reaction was to make sure he saved any connection to his family’s location.
It’s not like that worked out.
“Look, guys,” Rocky started lamely, his voice finally calming, “the bets and talk from those three men were not the only reason I chose to knock them out.”
Rocky told the group of his arrival in Ottawa and his discovery of the butchered group of survivors who had made the choice to leave. When he finished, most of the survivors had called him a liar or had mouths hanging open. It took Phil, Jeff, and Pat’s reassurances before the group finally calmed.
Once the group was under control, Rocky told them of the three boys back at the cave and about what they had gone through. He continued with his suspicions that Corsair and a group within the militia were abusing their power, that, currently, they were building a power base to enslave the rest of the people of Ottawa and create a workforce for their perverted seat of power.
After Rocky’s initial explanation and a flood of questions, the survivors had turned the discussion into an internal one, not ignoring him entirely but mostly arguing amongst themselves as to the best course of action to take. It was at this point that Rocky took an opportunity to ask Pat if he knew where his family was.
The pain was just as sharp when Pat repeated an answer so similar to Phil’s it could have been parroted. Rocky had changed the subject, asking Pat to go tie up the three militiamen before they woke up. He handed him a set of his old clothing to rip up and use as a binding.
In the end, with a suggestion from Rocky, the group of survivors chose to accompany him back to his temporary camp. They weren’t convinced, but they did want to question the children themselves.
Rocky felt his eyes narrow and his head tilt back in surprise when they refused to collect the remaining survivors from the school. The survivors clearly didn’t want to believe him, and they were holding onto a false hope that he was one insincere man instead of acknowledging that everything to this point was a lie.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Rocky could feel his exhaustion from the previous day, and staying up all night was starting to catch up with him. His eyes felt heavy, but he knew he was in for a long day as he considered the militiamen currently tied to their own tank, which was following at the back of the group. It wouldn’t be until later tonight that he would be able to rest. There was too much to do and too little time.
The group and Rocky walked through the lush forest, its vibrant colors and dense foliage new to this area. The group all took it in with different emotions—some with narrowed eyes and frequent head turns, expecting the denseness to hide horrors that they had come to expect of this new world and others with wide eyes and caught breath, still somehow holding onto a small piece of innocence despite the death they had seen.
For his part, Rocky walked in the lead of the group with fluid grace, each footfall claiming the ground it tread but only seeming to float on anything it touched. The survivors didn’t know what it was that was tickling the backs of their reptilian brains about the man. However, as he led them through the deep shadows of the canopy, each person cast furtive glances at him before quickly averting their eyes.
If the number of people in the group had been less perhaps, they would have realized what it was that was causing the misgivings. The people right behind the man cracked fallen twigs and rustled leaves, but the dark-clad figure ghosted over the ground, seeming, to the untrained eye, to leave no trail or indication of his passing.
As the group walked, Rocky told them all about his experience the night
before, his wariness increasing as he saw the glances many of the survivors were giving him. It would seem that whatever Corsair had done had been very effective at brainwashing them. When he told them he was in the shop, he was rudely interrupted.
“You can’t enter the shop at that time! It proves he is lying. The shop is only open from noon to one every day. That’s why only the military goes in!” The man who had interrupted him was unfamiliar to Rocky.
Rocky bit back his immediate retort and, instead, just looked at the man, pausing in silence for an uncomfortable amount of time. The man grew very stressed under the hard gaze of his masked form. When Rocky thought it had been long enough, he merely stated, “Do you really believe that?”
The entire group had paid attention to the exchange, and while some initially thought the same as the scared little man, Rocky’s question and reaction made them truly consider if they knew that as fact or if it had just been something told to them and they had accepted.
Rocky chose not to continue his story after that. The kind of blind trust this man had for the militia might just mean he would run to report on him. It’s not like there was anything to tell, but if he brought up the purchases and running from the patrols and search party, there would be.
The sounds of rustling leaves and breaking twigs had alerted the three young men who had been up and waiting for Rocky’s return. Jason, who was the oldest in the group, had done his best to plan out an ambush for whatever was coming in their direction. Alex was behind a massive trunk of a tree which was about five feet from another large tree.
Alex’s position was the most likely entrance to the grotto that the cave resided in. While other entries could be used, Oliver had concluded that this path had the highest probability for a large group to traverse. Both trees had large boulders snugged up to the back of their trunks almost as if the trees had grown to the limit the rocks represented.
