by Riley Tune
Perkins paused again to look at them. Such power and beauty all in one form. She had always been fascinated by them as a child but was never able to see them from afar. Only the resident of the sixth beast had that luxury. “The Sand Wastelands,” Perkins said as she pointed down below them, “Is the only area where they live now. No other section has a Great Beast. Only the East section has that honor. Now, all sections have remains of their bodies scattered around, though.”
The nonstop training had made him stronger. He would still be severely hungry when it was all over, but he was able to maintain for now. He also would rather struggle with a large force field than be comfortable with a small one. While a small force field was easy to maintain, he couldn’t tolerate the small enclosed space well at all.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” Danielle said as she looked out in front of them. “Same,” Flex replied. “Even after leaving where we just left. It’s… they’re...” “Beautiful aren’t they?” Perkins said as she cut Flex off. “I was thinking terrifying,” Hunter said to her.
Flex nodded as he took in her words. He didn’t interrupt with questions or comments. He just listened. Hunter, on the other hand, had tons of stuff he had to fight to keep inside his head, and not his mouth. He, once again, found himself learning from the example Flex provided. Sometimes it still amazed Hunter at how much Flex had changed over that last year.
A stiff elbow to the side made Hunter grunt. “What?” he asked as he looked at Danielle. “You okay, boo? You’re giving Flex the googly eyes. If anybody in this relationship is going to have a crush on Flex it’s me,” she said under her breath. “What? No. Pay attention,” Hunter stammered as he tried to not laugh at the dumb look, she was giving him as Perkins continued to talk.
“Even these five have healed wounds on their bodies that couldn’t have been made by any of the other living beasts. Because they have lasted so long, we always theorized that these five were the strongest once, even if they don’t look it now. Only the strong survive.”
Hunter snorted. “They look plenty strong to me.” “They seem so, tamed,” Flex said as he shifted in the force field to watch one that was walking directly under them. He had been watching each of the monsters as Perkins gave more details on them. Each monster walked single file behind another and continued to walk along a large worn path that was carved in the sand before them.
“That's because of the spires,” Perkins added. “The harmonic spires generate a low humming sound that keeps them peaceful, and in order. Hunter remembered the sound from when they first fled into the spire from the Warden. Perkins looked around and then pointed to one of the creatures that Hunter had a hard time identifying. “We need to land on that one. That’s where the base is. It’s also my home city. A little slice of East Section heaven called Ventibell.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Hunter said. “I just can’t fly us all there. I mean I could, but the chances of me crashing as we landed are pretty good. I’m hungry.” Flex nodded and grabbed Perkins in his arms. “Okay,” Flex said to Hunter as Perkins wrapped her arms around him tightly.
Hunter began to retract his force field. “Wait, wait,” Perkins screamed before the force field was completely gone. “We can’t just descend down in the middle of the city. We have to fly around the back of the beast, and,” she paused for a moment. “You know what, just follow Flex.” “It’s what I live for,” Hunter replied as Flex rolled his eyes.
“Okay, just lead the way.” Before the words were out of Hunter’s mouth Flex was already moving fast through the skies. Faster than he normally would, Hunter naturally felt like Flex was showing off. “You Ken Doll bastard,” Hunter said with a smile as he kept his force field a little larger than needed and exploded through the open sky like a blue bullet. “Uh babe,” Danielle said as she wrapped her hand in Hunter’s.
“I got it. I got it.” Hunter said as he followed Flex lower just below the Great Beast and flew around its legs. If Hunter was confused on if Flex was trying to show off or not, now he knew for sure he was. He could have gone around the legs of the monster, but instead, he bobbed and weaved between them with speed than an inexperienced flyer couldn’t match.
Hunter, however, had been flying for over half of his life and matched the moves that Flex displayed easily. Flex did seem to be moving a little faster than Hunter though. Even though he was carrying Perkins in his arm, Flex’s strength was so vast that she likely felt weightless. Hunter had Danielle, and even though he could manipulate the gravity inside his force field, she still was a drag on his top speed.
After looping around the back legs of the beast, Flex zoomed upward in the air around the rear and landed just behind a patch of trees in what appeared to be a field inside of the massive stone wall that encased the city. Flex gently placed Perkins on the ground and looked towards the direction where Hunter would appear. Sure enough, seconds later the blue bubble landed a few feet from them.
Perkins walked to the stone wall and placed her hand on it as she closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She hadn’t been in his part of the city in years. Mostly because of the smell. You couldn’t be so close to the rear of a massive creature and not smell a hint of stench in the air. Yet she was still flooded with memories of herself running through this very field being chased by her brother. The thought of him made her open her eyes and snatched her happy memory away.
“Nice flying,” Flex said as he smirked to Hunter. “I do what I can,” Hunter said as he looked at Danielle who was bent over and breathing hard. “She almost hurled inside my force field, though.” Hunter rubbed her on the back supportively, but she waved him away with a hand. “What in Atlas was with all the loops and shit,” Danielle finally said, even though her face was still hidden. “He’s still my intern. I have to test his skills whenever I can.” “I knew you were doing it on purpose,” Hunter said in a voice a little louder than he intended. “Had me flying damn near inside this thing’s ass, which I’m guessing is why it stinks so bad around here.”
“Would you shut up,” Perkins said as she glared at him. “We just landed over a wall that people aren’t allowed to be outside of unless they are officially allowed to travel. That smell is the only reason we were able to get in unseen. So, shut it.” Hunter was so surprised at this outburst that he actually jerked his head somewhat before he apologized. “Sorry. I was just saying.” Danielle smiled at Perkins so big that even her teeth were showing. “I like it when she’s feisty.” After she said this, she looked at Flex, who in return had a passive look on his face as he took in his surroundings.
Danielle exhaled. “Really Flex?” Flex turned to her with his brow raised. “What?” “I set you up for a perfect joke and you say nothing. Not even a so do I answer,” Danielle said as she shook her head at Flex. “Shouldn’t we get going?” Hunter asked as he tried to save Flex from embarrassment. “My thoughts exactly,” Perkins said. “It’s getting brighter and people will be out soon.”
She took off at a quick pace and navigated through the small field of trees, and led them all to an abandoned, yet very clean street. Hunter looked down at the ground and was surprised to find millions of what seemed to be polished smooth stones. With the smell around this place, he was expecting a nastier looking aspect of the city but he was wrong. If this was the area that people avoided because of the smell as Perkins said, maybe that was why it was so clean.
As they ventured further into the city, and the smell faded away, he realized he was wrong. Every street, building, alley, and vendor cart was spotless. Not a single piece of trash was scattered on the ground. To be a city on top of a monster, it put their dimensions cities to shame. “It’s not far now,” Perkins said as she glanced over her shoulder to look at her team. Many of whom were looking around in amazement.
She stopped walking and asked “What’s wrong? Our buildings, for the most part, look like yours, just from an older time.” “It’s just so damn clean,” Danielle replied. “Like the city was just created c
lean.” “I agree. I haven’t seen anything quite like it. I always assumed the Diamond District was as close to perfection as possible. I was clearly mistaken.” Flex said.
“I was thinking the same,” Hunter replied. Perkins turned around and began to walk again and as she did, she quietly and quickly said “Omega demands it. Presentation is everything, and anything less than purity will not be tolerated.” Hunter realized he had endured enough. He was tired of trying to figure out what or who Omega was.
“Can we finally get some clarification on what an Omega is?” “Yes,” Perkins replied. “Finally,” Hunter said as he raised his hands up. “Just not here,” Perkins continued. “We need to get off the streets, and into some clothes that are fitting for people of the city. We look like commoners of the Sand Wasteland, and would stand out or be kicked out.”
Hunter took in a deep breath. “Fine, the rescue mission, laced with suspense and half details continues.” As they moved once more, Hunter noticed what looked like a flyer on one of the buildings. He was surprised to see it considering how clean the area was. He was even more surprised to see a similar flyer off in the distance about four buildings down.
He looked at the others walking and then quickly read the flyer before they were out of view. “In my shadow, or at my feet,” Hunter said just below his breath as he looked at the flyer with its bird-like creature on it. “In my shadow, or at my feet,” Hunter said once more to himself as he scratched the back of his head.
He wanted to think about the flyer some more, but decided it was better to catch up with the team. Perkins took them down a side road and came to a sudden stop as she stood in front of a building that to the rest of the team looked almost like any other. It was two stories high, square-shaped, and made out of what seemed to be clay or plaster. A small sign hung on the door and had very basic drawings of food on it.
“I thought we had to get off the streets,” Hunter hissed. “My questions can’t be answered but we can sight- see?” Flex glared at Hunter who in returned glared back and inadvertently flashed blue energy in his eyes for a second. “Everything okay?” Flex said as he leaned down to Perkins’ ear. “I thought we had to keep moving.”
Perkins nodded her head but didn’t say anything at first. “Is this it or something?” Danielle asked as she looked up and down the empty street. “Looks a little small for a base, but size doesn’t matter.” As she said these words, she earned a side-eye glance from Hunter to which she responded with an eye wink and blew him a kiss.
“No, it’s just a restaurant. One of my favorites actually. My brother and I used to come here all the time.” Hunter and Danielle both grimaced. “I didn’t know you had a brother,” Hunter said. “Neither did I.” Danielle chimed in. Hunter looked to Flex to see if he shared their surprise. He didn’t. If anything, he tightened his lips and looked to the ground as his shoulders dropped slightly.
“He died just before I came to your dimension,” Perkins said. She placed a hand to her eye quickly and then without a word began to move again. In the next few minutes, she stopped once more at a building only slightly larger than the one they recently visited. “Here we are,” Perkins said as she placed her hand on the knob of the front door. As she did so a slight buzzing noise was barely heard, followed by three clicks.
The door opened and Perkins stood aside. “Everybody in.” Danielle was the first to enter. Hunter and Flex then followed, and Perkins brought up the rear as she shut the door behind them. Once again, the faint buzzing sound followed by three clicks.
“I wasn’t expecting this at all,” Hunter finally said.
CHAPTER 14:
BRAVADO
I nsects that seemed to be only alive in their current dimension crawled on the walls, and a smell of damp mildew lingered in the air. Various counters had faded and discarded chunks of unfolded fabric sprawled across them that were neglected over the years.
Danielle touched one counter and removed a layer of dust several inches thick. Flex eyed some machines in the back of the room that had spools of thread and clothing attached to it, and Hunter simply raised a brow as he tried to not touch anything. “Alright, I’ll say it if nobody else will,” Hunter started. “Your base needs some work. This entire place looks like a home for mold and rats.”
“One, show some respect please,” Perkins said. “This home for mold and rats, whatever those are, once was run by my family. It was passed down to my brother and myself from our mom.” Perkins smiled as she looked around the room and them moved towards the machines in the back that Flex now stood beside.
While the others saw a place abandoned by time, Perkins saw her youth. A place where her family was once happy. Where she and her brother would play and get in trouble for said playing. It also still left a sour spot as she would remember her brother and the simple life he used to live. How everything had changed so fast, she didn’t know.
“We had planned to renovate it into a house but clearly that didn’t happen,” Perkins said as she turned a dial on each of the machines. As she did her turning, she didn’t speak but instead focused on her turns. On the final machine turn, a click could be heard and a section of the wall opened.
“And two,” Perkins continued, “this isn’t the base. This is merely the entrance. We just adopted the hide in plain sight model when we were trying to figure out where to set up shop, as you would say.” Perkins motioned for them to follow her with a wave of her hand as she twisted some and moved through the new opening in the wall.
Flex looked at Danielle and Hunter and gave them a slight nod, as he followed Perkins. “How has she been in our world for a year, and not know what a rat is?” Danielle asked Hunter in a whisper. Hunter shrugged. “No clue. I am starting to realize we didn’t know as much about our dear Perkins as we thought we did.”
Hunter moved and held the door so Danielle could go inside. “Not that I don’t trust her, but let's be careful while here.” Danielle nodded her head a few times and leaned in to kiss Hunter. Even in their moldy surroundings, with unknown creatures crawling on the wall, Hunter still felt his heart skip as her lips touched his.
Once the kiss was over, he could hear himself release a long breath that he once again didn’t realize he was holding. She didn’t say anything, she just smiled at him and walked through the passageway. When they were finally inside, Hunter followed suit and closed the portion of the wall behind him. As soon as the secret door was closed, he could hear loud, unseen levers clicking into place.
Lights began to flicker on around them as the final levers of the closing door locked into place. “Now, this is an improvement,” Hunter said as he moved past Flex and Danielle, both of whom stood in the corridor.
The smooth metal walls and floor clicked below their footsteps and was an overwhelming contrast to the dilapidated shop that they entered. This wasn’t as nice as the base they had left behind in their dimension, but it was still a close contender. Perkins led the way down the corridor and quickly came to a spiraling staircase.
“I’ll make sure you get the tour later. I just have to find Cord first.” Hunter looked down different halls as they made their way down the stairwell. For it to be a large place, it seemed very empty. Danielle, as if she read his mind, voiced the same concern. “Where is everybody?” Danielle asked. “Most of them are dead,” a deep voice came from the bottom of the stairs.
Perkins froze as she heard the voice, and then began to run down the steps towards it. Flex fought down the hint of jealousy he was feeling as he watched his lover run towards the voice of another man. “Cord,” Perkins said in more of a sigh of relief than a scream.
Hunter, Flex, and Danielle found themselves at the end of the stairwell where Perkins still had her arms around a tall, brown skinned man, with short black hair. Flex watched the man’s muscles bulge in his shirt as he released Perkins, and felt ashamed of himself when he smiled some at the fact that he himself was clearly more built than this man called Cord.
“I didn�
��t expect you to bring help, but I’m glad you did. You must be the Imperial Lords that Impervious went on and on about,” Cord said as he shifted towards the team. “I honestly expected more. You’re nothing but children.” Hunter glared at him as Perkins raised a hand to signal him to calm down.
“He has a direct way of expressing his thoughts. You’ll get used to it,” Perkins said out loud as she pointed to each of them and made introductions. “That’s Danielle, Hunter, and Flex.” Her words lingered in the air as she pointed to Flex. “My boyfriend.”
Flex felt his stomach turn as he tried to not react to Perkins’ words. Unbeknownst to him, Perkins was trying to control her reaction, too. It was the first time she had actually given what they had a title. Everybody just knew they were together. They didn’t slap the names on it, because they felt they didn’t need to. Now she had, and Flex felt all the concern he had about the good-looking, deep-voiced man, fade away in an instant.
Cord shook Flex’s hand and gave him a smile. “The strong one, huh,” Cord said in his deep voice as he looked Flex up and down. “And the nerfing boyfriend too,” Cord said as he laughed under his breath slightly which caused Flex to frown at the man. “Impervious says you’ve got heart. I’m thankful that you came.” Flex nodded.
“Wouldn’t have missed it. We owe it to Perkins and Impervious.” Cord said nothing in return. He had turned from Flex before he was even finished talking. The fabricated smile Cord had on his face shifted to almost a frown as he extended his hand slowly to Hunter.
He cleared his throat some. “Let’s get something straight right now. I don’t tolerate hotheads, and I don’t tolerate egos. Cayden’s enough to deal with. I won’t have it from you, too. If you’re here to help then I welcome it, but don’t live up to the stories I’ve been told about you.”
Hunter grimaced some as he glanced to Flex and Danielle. He already had to deal with a similar introduction from Commander Lopez, now this guy. “Take it down a notch, Cord,” Perkins said from beside the man. Hunter was a little surprised at the picture Impervious had painted of him to the people of this world. A part of him even felt hurt that his uncle viewed him in such a way.
