by Samuel Small
“Annoying,” he said then punched out at Sara. A gun-like attachment sprung from his forearm and fired a net, which soared through the air and engulfed the ice princess. She clawed at the edges of it then raised her hands to the sky, but no Sol came out.
“It’ll match the wavelength of your Sol,” the man said to Sara. “There’s no point resisting.” He turned his head from Sara to Elizabeth, who laid on her stomach with her arms outstretched. The man’s blade was in front of her, but if she attempted to grab it he’d stab her with her own weapon, something she must’ve known as she lay docile. The visor shifted to Jake, who tensed his features and gripped his sword tighter. “I’d recommend surrendering, it’s your only option.”
Jake didn’t know why, but he charged at the man. Was it fear? Bravery? Some natural instinct that told him to protect his comrades, regardless of the danger presented to him? For whatever reason Jake reached the man and swung his sword, but the movement felt sluggish. The man didn’t move his feet at all, using Elizabeth’s blade to parry each of Jake’s pathetic attacks. His sword felt heavy in his hand, only Jake hadn’t used up that much energy in the fight. Was it just the air of intimidation this man displayed that kept him from using his full strength? Jake looked at his reflection in the man’s visor: his eyes were wide open, his face panicked.
At last the man brought up his own blade and activated its unique ability, sending Jake’s sword tearing out of his hand. Jake only gave it a passing notice as he fell to his knees. Likewise, he only vaguely recognized the blade that was now pointed at his throat, his mind somehow more preoccupied with the realization tangled within. This guy’s strength: it was unreal.
The sound of feet softly padding through the grass filled Jake’s ears but he was still in too much of a state of shock to turn his head toward the sound. That is until a familiar voice cut through his hazy mind. “There ain’t nobody this way. Nobody any— what the fuck?”
Dante had stopped just shy of the plaza, looking at each of his comrades with more surprise than concern. His eyes shifted to each of them before resting on the mercenary.
“Dante?” he said.
“Montasir? No way!”
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Eh? I could ask you the same thing.”
“Well, I came to help this village out, found there was no one here so then ran into these brats. I tried to question them but… that didn’t work out so well.”
“Ah, shit,” Dante said, and scanned the area. “I gotcha. But these guys are kinda with me, so couldya let ‘em go?”
“Er… right,” the man, whose name was apparently Montasir, said, removing his blade from Jake’s throat and taking a few steps back. Elizabeth shakily rose to her feet alongside Jake then exchanged a glance with him. Although she appeared to be acting tough, her eyes were wide with fear.
Montasir crossed the area to where Sara had been, Dante meeting him where she lay. He sat and began poking the net, much to Sara’s anger and confusion. “So this is that net thing you were braggin’ about?” Dante said as Montasir grabbed it.
“Yeah,” the mercenary said and tore it off Sara. He opened a contraption on his forearm and stuck the net inside, which sucked it up like a vacuum. He offered Sara a hand, but she stared at him like he was crazy, rising to her feet and dusting off her uniform.
“Anyway, I’ve got a few questions for your teammates… and I guess you too. First of which is what the hell are you doing here?”
“Eh? Oh,” Dante said, “well that’s a long story.”
“That’s okay,” Montasir said as he grabbed his helmet. He removed it, revealing dark skin and curly hair. He shook his head until his hair was out of his face then smiled at Dante. “I’ve got time, considering I came all the way here.” His dark eyes locked on Jake. Despite his calm smile, Jake could sense a dangerous intent radiating from his slightly narrowed eyes. “You guys are free too, yeah?”
Jake wasn’t exactly going to refuse a request from the guy who could kill them all in a heartbeat, so he made his way to him with shaky steps. Montasir nodded then continued further into the empty village.
***
“Off to fight some mysterious monsters, eh? Who’d of thought we had the same objective!” Montasir burst into laughter, spilling his beer across the wooden table. His entire figure hunched over, Jake had to take the opportunity to survey just how strange their situation had become.
They’d made their way into one of the local bars to discuss things but they hadn’t been in the place for more than five seconds before Montasir raided the bar, scanning bottles, mumbling dates, and placing what he desired into his bag. It wasn’t long before the thing looked like it was going to burst, the many bottles pressing against the fabric as if they wanted to escape.
On top of that Montasir’s personality had done a one-eighty. He was arguably the most fearsome person Jake had ever encountered, maybe even more fearsome than an angry Major Miles. That is until Dante showed up. Once his… what ever Dante was to him showed up Montasir began acting playful, even though some kind of uncanny fear still struck Jake with each sudden movement the man gave. It was like he was a gun halfcocked, ready to go off at any moment. It reminded him of Dante.
Montasir finished laughing and raised his head to Dante while wiping a tear from his eye. Dante sat back casually, the only member of the team who wasn’t unnaturally stiff, before firing back, “Nah it’s true, those shits are real. These guys’ll tell ya!”
Montasir looked to each of them in turn but none spoke. Jake couldn’t speak for the others, but when the man’s cold, assessing eyes glazed over him the boy was left speechless. It wasn’t until his eyes reached the last in the row that someone bothered to speak up.
“I can’t attest to that as I have yet to encounter any, although when we were dispatched on this mission the existence of the creatures wasn’t in question,” Elizabeth said firmly.
“Soldier boy,” Montasir said with a snap of his finger, pointing at Jake. “I don’t speak fancy. Translate.”
“They’re real. Sara and I fought against them yesterday. Dante too.”
“Damn Dante,” Montasir said and leaned back in his chair, “the fuck have you gotten yourself into? I thought these things were superstition, considering they sounded like something right out of ancient mythos or some shit, but I guess they aren’t. What the hell are you doing going against them for free?”
“There’s something I gotta do,” Dante answered firmly. His playful mannerisms were all gone and he looked the same way he did when he’d slammed Jake against the wall when they first met. “Can’t do what I gotta do if I’m worrying about the end of the world, y’know?”
“Somethin’ you gotta do? That why you were in the Republic?”
“Yep.”
Silence filled the room as Montasir once again grabbed his beer and took a few large chugs of it. He set it back on the table with a thump then swept his forearm across his lips. “All right, I can already see by your attitude that you won’t tell me up front. No problem, I’ll do some digging where I can and find out for myself. But I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to get wrapped up in this shit. It looks like this is gonna be a whole thing and there’s only so much you can do unarmed and without Sol—”
“Without Sol?” Sara said. “Dante has plenty of it.”
It was apparent that this caught Montasir off guard as his dark pupils expanded ever so slightly. He took another swig of his beer in what had to be an attempt to bide time. Jake tilted his head at Dante to see what the hell that’d been about, and the way he looked to the ground indicated that Jake wasn’t the only one staring. But Jake’s attention was brought away from the orange-haired boy, courtesy of Montasir’s bottle once again slamming onto the table.
“I don’t know why you’d keep that a secret from me but I trust you got your reasons. Still, can’t say I agree with it. If you’re going up against hell itself you’d might as well get compensated
for it… but I guess that’s your decision.” Montasir stood from his chair then crossed the room to his duffel bag. He hoisted it over his shoulder, the many bottles inside clinking, then began to walk into the shadows cast over the exit.
“Wait, you’re not going to come with us?” Jake said as he sprung out of his chair. Montasir’s figure, cast in dark shadows from the arch of the exit, stopped but did not turn to face him. It was enough to make Jake feel the color drain from his face. Despite this he persisted. “This mission is looking like it’s going to get more and more dangerous and it isn’t just the Republic at risk, it’s potentially the whole world. I mean, if whatever this is can make this whole village just… disappear… I’d hate to see if a major nation were invaded in numbers.”
At this, Montasir did turn around, although he made no attempt to retreat out of the shadows. From where he stood, they covered the top of his head almost completely, the only part of his body protruding being his lips. He parted those lips, saying, “What the hell has the world ever done for me? Or for him for that matter? This shit’s a joke,” he said and turned. Before he even took a step out of the door, Sara’s voice called.
“You’d just abandon your friend like that—” but she stopped. Dante had grasped her shoulder. The door opened, flooding the room with light from outside that stung Jake’s eyes. On his way out, Jake could’ve sworn he heard Montasir mumble, “Is that what you’d call it?” under the creaking door.
As soon as the door shut, all eyes in the room turned to Dante, who immediately got out of his chair. Before anyone could ask him any questions about the new revelations Montasir had imparted on them, or what his relationship with the man was, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed for the back entrance, mumbling that they should go. Jake exchanged a glance with Sara, who seemed genuinely concerned about Dante’s curt attitude for whatever reason, then followed. As they shifted through the dark bar’s narrow hall for the door in the back Jake took out his comp, which lit the area they were in so much that it strained his eyes. But that was only briefly, as Dante soon opened the back door and filled the room with light.
“And what are you doing with that thing?” a voice said from Jake’s side, prompting him to jump. It wasn’t that he wasn’t prepared to hear a voice, it was that he didn’t recognize the one speaking to him. Elizabeth walked to his side, an eyebrow raised at his strange outburst.
“We’ve gotta give the Republic a status update on the village. See what they want us to do.”
“And what is it you want to do?” Elizabeth asked.
“That’s up to the Republic. If they want us to continue or—”
“I’m not asking what the Republic wants to do. I’m asking you.”
“I’m not exactly as capable as an entire country. I’ll have to trust their judgment.”
With Jake’s answer, Elizabeth pursed her lips. Initially Jake had thought it was disdain, hate for the trainee who was still loyal to the Republic, but then he glanced up. There was a hint of sympathy radiating in her eyes, one that made him want to continue the conversation further.
“You rebels have them all wrong. The Republic is a great nation, arguably the most prosperous in the world.”
“Sometimes I wonder that myself…” she said, looking at Dante and Sara in the distance. They paced further into the abandoned village in silence, although it was apparent by Sara’s posture that she wanted to strike up a conversation. Dante’s posture, slumped with his hands in his pockets, indicated that was the last thing he wanted. Quickly, Elizabeth whipped her head back to Jake. “But you said prosperous, that they’re the greatest. But that’s all via their own information, isn’t it? Surely you can think of something the Republic has done well objectively, for you personally.”
Jake opened his mouth to counter her but then thought better of it. He wasn’t one to give out his life story just to prove a point to someone he barely knew. He lowered the finger, which seemed to disappoint Elizabeth ever so slightly, as her lips dropped flat. He thought she’d gloat but she didn’t say anything at all. Instead she picked up her pace to catch up to Dante and Sara, allowing Jake to focus on the device in his hand.
Chapter 6
“What? Completely abandoned?” Major Miles said on the other end of the comp.
“Yeah,” Jake answered, “not a soul. There were a lot of improvised weapons lying around in the center of the village and some evidence of a battle, but there wasn’t a single drop of blood so I’m not sure what happened.”
“It’s almost like they were spirited away…” Major Miles mumbled, more to himself than to Jake. Suddenly, the trainee’s mind shifted back to the lecture he’d watched on his comp no more than three days ago. “You don’t think the Voids are… spiritual in origin?”
“My job isn’t to think, trainee, it’s to find. Currently these Voids defy all explanation and we don’t have any evidence as to their origin. Our job, or more like your job, is to find out more. Hit up the next village, see what intel you can gather.”
Jake glanced across the wooden buildings that lined the grass walkway, a rutted trail of matted dirt running through from frequent carriage traffic. Further up the street, Sara talked to Dante who had his arms folded and didn’t bother to look at her. Elizabeth read a book in the shadows of a nearby tree then flipped a page. A squirrel leapt off a branch and landed on her book, prompting her to scream and drop it as the rodent scurried further away. Across from her, Dante burst out laughing. “Wait a minute, Major. I think I might be able to find something useful. Just keep your line open,” Jake said.
“Understood. I’ll be waiting,” the Major replied just before Jake clipped his comp back onto his belt and walked over to his companions. Dante continued laughing at Elizabeth, who made a big show of ignoring him, burying her head into her book even though she clearly wasn’t reading. When Jake came into his sight, Dante howled, “Bedhead, did you catch that?!”
“Actually,” Jake said calmly, hoping his attitude would rub off on Dante, “I did. It’s why I came over.”
“Okay? What did Major Miles have to say,” Sara asked. She looked at Jake suspiciously then to Dante, who was just then heaving out the last of his laughter. She glanced from one to the other, apparently unsure of which to be more wary of.
“Well, it’s about the presence of the squirrel.”
“Squirrel? What’s the big deal about some rodent?” Dante said.
“That’s what I’m trying to find out. If there are still animals here,” he motioned to the imprints in the ground from the carriages then looked to Dante, hoping he’d get it. The boy didn’t and stared blankly at him.
“You think there’ll still be horses?” Sara said.
“Right,” Jake said.
“And,” Elizabeth said, having left her resting place underneath the tree. She stepped next to Jake, her scowl indicating she thought he was crazy. “What is it you propose we do with these horses? Ride them? I doubt the buffoon over there would know how.”
“Hey, I resent—” Dante began before Jake cut him off and continued. “No, but their presence would be very telling. It would mean whatever made this village disappear didn’t target animals at all – it just hit humans.”
“Well, I suppose it’s a start. Now where could the stables be?” Elizabeth said.
“I know where they are,” Dante said then took a few steps forward, motioning for them to follow. “I saw it when I went into the village for the first time, although I didn’t go in. Smelled too much like Sara’s ass.”
“And how do you know what that smells like!?” Sara shouted and chased after him. She shot ice at him, prompting the boy to lead them to their destination even faster. Jake picked up his pace and followed, laughing. At his side, he thought he heard something similar, although when he turned to look Elizabeth’s mouth was pursed. They followed Dante around a corner, where there was a barn with two large doors split open. The fresh scent of hay and manure drifted into the street.
Dante and Elizabeth continued inside like they were used to the odor. Jake didn’t want to be left behind and followed, making shallow breaths so that he didn’t take in too much polluted air.
Inside, their suspicions were confirmed. There were about six stalls on each side, fenced off by three wooden planks, wherein horses stood, their black eyes following the group across the barn. This was pretty much all Jake wanted to confirm, so he pulled out his comp and started to go outside, expecting the others to follow. But Elizabeth made a beeline to the far end of the barn and disappeared behind one of the horse’s stalls. It wasn’t long before she returned with a bale of hay in her arms, which she hoisted over a stable and threw in. The horse promptly dropped down and ate. She returned to the other end, apparently intending to do the same for the rest of the horses. Dante and Sara caught on to her plan and followed. Jake was ready to help too but Elizabeth gave him a look as she left the area once again, saying that he should continue his call. So Jake stepped out of the stable with his comp in hand and contacted Major Miles.
“Trainee, I’ve been expecting your call.”
“Right. So it turns out this entity is only targeting humans. We just made our way to the stables and all of the horses seem to be there.”
“Good digging, trainee. I’ll be sure to forward that information to General Iroh.”
“Right,” Jake said absentmindedly as he watched his teammates struggle to get hay to all of the horses. They were giving each plenty to eat and drink, but once they left for the next village the animals wouldn’t get any more. “Um, about the horses…” Jake began. It was louder than he liked, the sound carrying into the barn and echoing. Elizabeth’s head shot up like a curious dog.
