A Rising Tide

by Ross Buzzell

  After he finishes repairing his bed Konner turns to see most of the soldiers are in bed, all but one who still sits up staring at him. Konner stands up. His knees, hips and back are stiff from crouching for so long. With a brief stretch, Konner loosens up his joints so he does not feel achy any longer.

  “Do you mind if I approach? Do you wish to speak with me?”

  Konner asks in a hushed voice. He takes a few steps over to the young man staring at him; he shakes his head and speaks just loudly enough for Konner to hardly hear him.

  “We have been instructed not to. Go to bed or they will return.”

  With that the soldier turns over and pulls his sheet up over his shoulder. Konner walks over to his bed. Laying down he tries to get comfortable but the bed makes that impossible. He tries to adjust himself but the bed seems to be made specifically to prevent rest. Throughout the night Konner tries to lie in different positions. He even attempts to take his cape off and use it as a pillow, a blanket even, as the slightest buffer between him and the bed that could keep stones awake. Without a wink of sleep, the Prince tosses and turns until the orbs of light begin to shine brightly waking everyone up. Konner sits up, weariness gripping him like the hand of death itself; quickly he climbs to his feet. Pressing a few glyphs on his bracer, his armor retracts into energy and back into the bracer. Grabbing his uniform, he quickly changes out of his royal pajamas and into the slim fitting, black fabric, uniform that each and every member has to wear.

  Without a word each soldier gets up and begins to get dressed, Konner looks at his bracer; taking a seat on his trunk he begins to cycle through the actively glowing glyphs on his wrist searching for a way to put it into a rest mode. A loud siren begins to sound, Konner flinches as the shrill sound is ear piercing, he looks up, the soldiers who are not yet ready begin to rush. A smile forms on Konner’s lips as he thinks to himself. ‘They set an earlier alarm, smart.’ Within the next sixty seconds Tal and Fi are in the barracks just as Konner presses his family crest causing the bracer to power down and cease glowing. Standing at the foot of his bed Konner and the other soldiers, erect themselves, hands to their sides and eyes straight forward. As Tal and Fi begin to walk up and down inspecting the soldiers, Konner, being an inquisitive individual yearns to glance over at them and observe the inspection but his mind screams at him to keep his eyes glued on the smooth featureless wall before him, he resists.

  As Tal and Fi get to the end of the barracks and in turn to Konner, he keeps his eyes forward yet he could feel their gaze boring holes in him like a woodpecker to a tree. Figuring it is a test, Konner does not look at them, only instead stays focused on what is before him. After a few moments of standing at attention in silence the clear attempt at intimidation not weighing at all on the Prince; Konner first breaks the silence and makes eye contact with the harsh gaze of Tal.

  “Sir, I am eager to start survival training, sir!”

  Tal gets right in Konner’s face. This clearly was what they were waiting for and something told Konner that they would be standing there all day had he not spoken up.

  “You think you have the right to speak first to your superior officer! You are a mere child; you will not survive an hour in survival training! You will stay here and scrub the barracks until they are spotless and your superiors will go out because I am not going to be the one that has to tell the High King that his pampered little princess went and got himself killed!”

  Konner bites the inside of his cheek as her breath rushes over his face; she is so close to him her spit splashes the Prince almost as soon as it leaves her mouth. The pains his teeth cause him prevent him from lashing out, holding in his frustration at those who are to teach him. A taste of copper fills his mouth as Konner’s teeth pierce parts of his inner cheek. As Tal and Fi step back and call out for everyone else to fall in line a fire begins to grow in Konner’s gut. He was there to learn, to train and that access to knowledge was being blocked for an unknown petty reason. Possibly it was in fact because of who he was that Konner is receiving the cold shoulder but something else felt as if it were in play. Deciding not to let the injustice stand, Konner takes a step away from his bed. Turning he faces the entire Cryptea squad. He reaches up and grasps his uniform by the collar so tightly he could almost feel the individual threads of the clothing.

  ‘Tal’lak!”

  Konner yells. The captain turns around to face Konner. As her eyes meet his, Konner gives a hard tug at the collar of his uniform and in the universal language for challenging another to a duel he rips his collar. Dropping his hand to his side, he takes a few confident steps toward the lady behemoth.

  “I challenge you for the right to experience survival training like everyone else!”

  Fi’Ran begins to laugh a little and shakes his head as Tal’lak looks over at him. In a nod of approval, Konner sees Fi’Ran motion toward him.

  “He challenged you sister. Have fun.”

  Tal’lak begins to approach Konner, stretching her neck to the left, then the right as sounds of it crackling echo through the barracks.

  “What are the rules of engagement then Konner?”

  she asks confidently, Konner slowly takes his battle stance preparing for hand to hand combat.

  “I am aware of your reputation. If I can stay conscious for thirty seconds against you, I get to participate.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Tal’lak says with a laugh before dashing at Konner and swinging for his head. Before she even moves forward Konner sees her weight shift and moves accordingly so as Tal’lak swings her fist at where Konner’s head was. He is already almost all the way behind her. With a powerful thrust of his hand, Konner slams his fist into Tal’lak’s side, aiming for her kidney and makes contact. This causes the soldier to flinch and take a step forward grunting a little bit from the blow. Without a moment’s hesitation she spins and swings her leg at Konner who puts up both his arms to block it. That doesn’t do much good as the force of the kick sends Konner sliding backward and bouncing off the barracks walls. Konner falls to his knees with a dull throbbing pain in his forearms distracting him from a lesser pain that covers his back. Using only his hearing Konner could tell Tal began to move in to punch him in the back of the head. Without hesitation the Prince dodges his head out of the way just as the fist passes by him and into the ground. Quickly grasping her wrist Konner spins around Tal’lak’s arm. Wrapping his legs up over her shoulder and using the ground as leverage he flips her over and catches her in an arm bar.

  Tal’lak struggles for a few seconds as Konner counts down in his head, he is approaching the last few moments of the fight. Three, Tal struggles against him. Two, he feels her body jerk under him allowing her leverage from her other shoulder. One, Konner feels himself lifted off the ground and almost before he can process everything flashes white as a shocked stun reverberates through his body. Holding onto consciousness, Konner shakes off the stun as a sharp pain in his forehead begins to make itself relevant. With a groan, Konner puts his hand on his head as he catches a dent in the metallic wall which was made by him. Konner brings himself to his feet. He staggers for a moment before righting himself and speaking with confidence to Tal’lak.

  “You may have beaten me but I am still conscious.”

  There is a brief moment of silence. Through Konner’s blurred vision, he sees everyone begin to move toward the door. He hears Tal’lak’s voice call back to him.

  “Fine, get yourself cleaned up and meet at the courtyard. There we will board a drop-ship.”

  It had been a while since Konner had taken a hit that hard but he shakes it off. Moving back over to his trunk, he grabs a replacement uniform shirt and changes. His headache subsides as he begins to jog down the barren hallways of the Cryptea training facility back to where he had first entered. As he exits the compound, the drop-ship has already begun to take off. The Prince pushes off the ground as hard as he can and enters a full-fledged sprint as the ship lifts past his own body height off the gr
ound. With a powerful leap Konner clears the bottom of the ship and slides in through the now closing door, catching himself with one of the hand holds from the ceiling. He looks around for a moment mildly frustrated but seeing the clear disregard for his presence he elects to say nothing.

  Ash the ship turns and begins to head south, Konner looks out the holographic window as it flutters with images of what they are passing. A knot slowly begins to form in his gut as he looks around. He knew survival training would be tough but where they were headed, it didn’t sit right. Konner stairs in disbelief, hoping that his fears are misplaced; the knot growing larger with every passing moment; he could feel his face go white so he kept himself turned away from the others while his grip on the hand hold tightened to the point his knuckles begin to turn white. Slowly the ship comes to a stop and the doors slide open. Konner looks out as the ship begins to descend and his fears are confirmed.

  “Welcome to the Dead Lands.”

  Fi’Ran’s voice echoes over the hum of the engines. Konner takes a deep breath. Knowing he is already at a disadvantage, without hesitation, he leaps from the ship into the small clearing hardly twice his height below. Not wanting to be outperformed by someone far younger than they, the rest of the Cryptea leap out and fall around Konner. Shielding his eyes from the dust and dirt that the ship kicks up, Konner’s eyes follow everyone else to the drop-ship as Fi’Ran takes his place at the entrance of the door and yells down at everyone.

  “You have two cycles to get to the edge of the Dead Lands for extraction. Those of you who do not make it WILL be left behind. It does not matter who you are. Good luck!”

  The ship turns and flies off into the horizon moving out of sight past the jagged rocks that protrude invasively from the ground. Without a word about half of the Cryptea take off by themselves in the direction of the ship. Something feels off though. Konner’s gut causes him to hesitate as if heading toward the ship is a bad idea. Closing his eyes Konner raises his hand into the air, feeling for the signature of the engines of the drop-ship. He opens his eyes, peering into different light wavelengths and sees the ion trail left by the ship. Even through the rocks he can see it raining down to the ground like fireflies. He looks and follows the sight of the trail only to see it begin to turn as the ions begin to disappear. He blinks and returns his vision to normal as a sharp pain fills the back of his mind. Konner ignores it in an effort to warn his fellow soldiers.

  “Everyone wait! The ship’s trajectory changed. They are headed south, away from Caelum. We need to go the other direction.”

  Most of the Cryptea initiates stop for a moment and actually listen to Konner, while two completely shrug him off and continue running into the forest of jagged rocks and billows of dark smoke that arise from crevices into the planet’s depths. One of the Cryptea initiates steps forward, his voice is soft but strong. Being one of the older soldiers the others had more respect for him and were more likely to listen.

  “Konner is probably right. Nothing in our training this far has been straight forward so why would this be any different? Divide up into groups of two and head south. I will go with Konner.”

  Without a moment to spare the remaining soldiers take off sprinting into the depths of the Dead Lands in groups of two. Konner looks over at the first person to show him a kindness from the Cryptea.

  “Thank you for…”

  he gets cut off.

  “Don’t. I did not agree with you for you. I did it for my guys. I don’t want them to be left in the Dead Lands. Let’s move.”

  The soldier begins to march south. Konner turns and follows close behind. Tal and Fi walk in silence for a few hours; as they walk Konner notices something about the terrane. The ground breaks apart under their every step as if they are walking on stone made of glass. The heat in the air has raised significantly, enough to cause even the two soldiers to begin to sweat. As the two begin to ascend a small rocky slope, Konner decides it would be best to try and get in with at least one of them, as being an alienated soldier is the easiest way to die on the battle field.

  “May I at least ask your name?”

  The soldier stops, adjusting his footing to compensate for the ever shifting slate of rocks under his feet. Turning to Konner his voice has a mild agitation to it.

  “Look kid, we have heard about some of the things you have done and it is impressive, don’t get me wrong. We have been working our entire lives to be part of the Cryptea but you get in, one of the youngest initiates ever, with the only other one being part of the royal family as well… it doesn’t look good. Plus Tal’lak and Fi’Ran threatened us with expulsion from the order if we connect with you, so it is nothing personal… well too personal. Just brace yourself for a few really lonely years.”

  Without another word the soldier crosses the ridge. Konner takes pause for a moment; it was one thing for the leaders to dislike him but to threaten others with expulsion just for connecting with him? Something felt off about it but now was not the time to worry about something trivial like that. An insatiable thirst begins to grip Konner as he and his companion descend the disintegrating slope into a valley whose heat is far beyond anything Konner had felt before. His throat begins to feel dry as he breaths in the scorching air that gradually fills with plumes of sulfuric smoke.

  The air begins to wreak as the sun sets on the first day. Tal and Fi pause when they reach the top of a small ridge, possibly the only stable ground they had set foot on all day. Konner rotates as he looks over the Dead Lands. Nothing fills the air but occasional sound of a small eruption or the soft roar of a mutation that has gotten loose fills the air. The soldier nods for a few moments as if prospecting and having a conversation with himself before he speaks up.

  “This will be a good place to set up camp for the night.”

  Konner pauses for a moment. Growing up he had read extensively about the Dead Lands, learned more about them than what was typically taught in schools and if there was one thing he learned it was that while in the Dead Lands the worst possible thing one could do was stop for an extended length of time.

  “Respectfully sir, I disagree. We should not stop. We need to keep pushing forward; from everything I’ve read about the Dead Lands, if we stop we die.”

  The soldier pauses for a moment. Konner’s face has a sincere urgency on it. After a moment the soldier nods and begins his descent calling back to the Prince.

  “You’ve been right so far. Why should I question you now?”

  Konner follows and just as they reach the base of the hill and take a stance near two massive razor sharp spikes that protrude from the ground. The ground they had just been standing on collapses in on itself replaced by a now raging orange river of molten rock that begins to creep their way. The solder laughs and shakes his head as he grabs the edge of one of the rock spires to pull himself through. Konner follows suit. As he steps through, however, his foot slips causing his hand to slide on the edge of the rock slashing it open. The Prince grunts to himself as he pushes his way through and follows his superior through the ever scorching dead lands. With a trail of bloody handprints following them as they shimmy from crevice to crevice, Konner uses the sharp rocks to cut a hole in his shirt.

  After hours of pushing through what felt like corridors designed to crush not only the body but the soul of whomever enters, Konner is finally able to rip the sleeve from his uniform and wrap it around his hand. His companion notices Konner’s predicament and stops walking long enough for the Prince to finish wrapping his hand. Without another word they press on. The night sun begins to set as the day sun rises, signifying the last solar cycle the initiates have to reach the extraction point. Having been thirsty before the sun went down, Konner is now so exhaustingly desiccated that the thought of the glacial trials from his childhood begins to sound inviting. Being so sidetracked on the thought of the torturous cold, Konner does not notice the soldier he was with has disappeared.

  Coming back to reality, Konner begins to look around. He
notices pieces of the rock are shattered and sliding away from their original resting homes. Konner quickens his pace as he follows the evidence of foot-falls before him. Rounding a ridged corner, Konner sees the soldier bent over a small pool of what appears to be water causing him to pause. Putting two and two together he realizes it is far too hot for any water to exist on the surface in this location. Quickly Konner dashes at the Soldier.

  “Sir don’t!”

  Before Konner can reach him, a massive surge of electricity is discharged from the puddle and into the soldier which sends him bouncing off the rock face directly behind him. The river of blue sparks keeps flowing into the soldier until Konner throws himself between them. Putting his hands up he catches the waves of energy and begins to absorb it into himself. With each watt of power, Konner feels himself begin to be revitalized as he begins to pull it from the creature. As the last joule of energy is drained, Konner looks down to see a shriveled Nelaka before him; with his strength renewed he turns to the clearly injured soldier. Grabbing him, Konner throws him over his shoulder. Smoldering and groaning in pain, Konner is able to make out just a few words as he continues to walk south carrying his companion.