by Samuel Small
Looking up at the stalactites that hung from the ceiling, Jake thought it would be no easy task. Light droplets of water dripped from the pointed columns of stone and pooled on the floor. The guard, if he was paying any attention at all, would hear them if they tried to go for their weapons recklessly. They also didn’t know much about their enemy. Jake was hit with full force, but he still had no idea what the hell that man’s Sol was. It seemed to manipulate the very space they occupied, but that wasn’t possible – no Sol in history had ever been recorded doing that.
Jake flexed his ankles to see if his legs were bound and found to his dismay that they were, which meant that their primary method of movement would be hopping or crawling. He sighed silently, and turned to the others to see if they had a plan, although they only stared back as if it was his call. Jake moved his hands, feeling the harsh rope bite into his skin. Of course they needed his sword to cut the rope! If that was the case, he’d have to be the first to somehow get to his weapon, free himself, and fend off the guard, then cut the bindings of the others. There was a lot riding on him and he couldn’t screw up.
Seeming to sense that Jake had got the gist of the plan, Thun shouted as if he was in intense pain. The scream bounced around the cavern, and immediately the heavy footsteps of the guard echoed around the room.
“What the fuck are you complaining about?” The guard pointed at Thun, and water rose from the ground, gathering before his fingertip. Jake stared at the two, shocked. Was he supposed to go for his sword now? Hardly, as the guard would put a finger-width hole in his head in no time at all. Then Thun suddenly stopped screaming and gave a knowing smirk. His eyes were focused on the man’s finger and the water gathered there, although not a hint of fear rose within them.
Bolt shook his head and smiled, “Man, you couldn’t have had a worse Sol for this matchup, huh?”
The guard jerked toward Bolt, pointing his finger at him, and began to shout some form of command. Thun rolled to his feet then lurched forward and jammed his head into the man’s side, who coughed, stumbled, and fell. The water gathered in front of his fingertip dropped to the ground with a light splash. Thun fell on top of the man, causing him to let out yet another pained cry. Jake understood that this was the plan, and began to inch toward his sword.
“Like hell I’m gonna let you do that,” the guard shouted, and began to gather water once again. Jake turned his head back toward the sword, and began to hop frantically now, but all of his fear was erased when Thun said, cool and level, “Man, I didn’t really want to use this, but you aren’t giving me much choice.”
The guard’s pained cries filled the room as well as grunts from Thun. Some sparkling and crackling too, like the noises Jake’s comp made when it got wet. He reached his blade, turned around, and his suspicions were confirmed as flashes of electricity raced around both Thun and the guard. His mind snapped back to memories of pink lightning, but he quickly pushed the thought away and began to rub the edge of the blade against his bindings. His hands were soon free, and he began to cut through the rope that secured his legs, which took little effort. Once free he grabbed his sword, stood up, and turned to the door just as two more guards emerged.
“What the hell—” one shouted, but stopped when Jake slammed the hilt of his sword into his temple. The man fell to his side and stumbled into his comrade, who dropped his hands to catch him. Perfect, Jake thought, and made another jab, crushing the second guard’s skull with the hilt of his weapon. That man fell to the ground, his friend on top of him, and both writhed in pain. Jake ran to Bolt and freed him from his bindings.
“Okay,” he began to say, but Bolt got up without thanking him and dashed toward his weapon. He picked it up and fired at the two men who squirmed in pain on the ground. Jake cowered and covered his ears, as he didn’t like the sound it made in this narrow cavern, nor did he like the grim expression Bolt had when he walked over to the man and shot him in the head.
Bolt strode past Jake, not giving him so much as a passing glance, and came to Thun. He untied the boy’s bindings then scooped him up by the waist. Thun was hunched to his side, leaning on Bolt for support with an arm around the smaller boy’s neck. He didn’t look injured, rather it looked like his muscles simply refused to obey him.
Then Jake looked to each guard in turn, their bodies now limp, cast in soft shadow by the pulsing blue glow of the stones. His brow creased and he turned toward Bolt.
“What the hell was that for?” he began, but his anger wavered when he saw how Bolt stared back at him. It was with the same dead eyes he had when he had killed those men. Jake’s mouth hung open for a moment, but then he got a grip and continued. “I hit them with the hilt of my sword so that we could get out of this without killing them.”
“You think,” Thun said, his voice strained and weak, “we can get out of this without killing anyone? You think we’re gonna overthrow the Republic by knocking people out?”
Jake stopped. He didn’t want to invade the Republic, but he didn’t want to fight Bolt and Thun either. Up until now, he had only killed monsters. The thought of having to kill people, although an obvious reality, had never crossed his mind. He was ashamed at how childish the thought was, but he could do nothing about it as it was the truth. He held his head down and lightly scoffed at his own foolishness.
Bolt, still holding Thun up, looked to Jake, to Thun, then back to Jake. “They wouldn’t have remained unconscious long enough for us to get Thun out of here safely. It was necessary.”
Jake looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity in them. They didn’t kill haphazardly, and only did so when necessary. “Right, I understand,” he mumbled in reply.
“Sorry about this, now I’m gonna be deadweight. I couldn’t think of a better way to create an opening,” Thun said.
“The powers that be played me a really shitty hand. I’ve got an electricity Sol but I haven’t been able to use it until recently. Honestly, I’m more comfortable with a gun than using my gift. Since the whole room was wet, well, you can see what happened.”
“That’s how we got our name and our cool symbol, it’s thanks to his trump card Sol. It always helps out in a pinch,” Bolt said.
“Well,” Jake said while rubbing the back of his head, “I guess it’s better than no Sol given the circumstances.”
Thun looked down at the ground. To Jake’s surprise he almost seemed ashamed at the statement, and Bolt chuckled a bit at the gesture. Jake raised an eyebrow, and as the pink-haired boy’s laughter continued he managed to smirk. He looked over at the bodies that lay in the path of their exit.
“With Thun like that, how are we gonna get out?”
Both looked at Jake with raised eyebrows. “What do you mean?” Thun said. “We walk out.”
Jake pulled a face, almost as if in disgust at the idea. Just walk out? They were captured and taken into the enemy stronghold and they were supposed to just walk out?
“It isn’t their stronghold,” Bolt said, “it isn’t anything but three guys here. I’m willing to bet they’re part of a larger group, but they don’t have any back-up with them. If they did, they would of shown up by now.”
“Then why did you kill them?” Jake said, gesturing to the corpses.
“We couldn’t be sure of that until now.”
Silence filled the room and Jake became aware of all the minute details. The water dripping off the stalactites and pooling into a puddle on the ground, his breath in misty clouds before him, and Thun and Bolt’s calm breathing, despite the presence of the three dead bodies. He nodded his head, keeping his eyes downcast.
Leaving the area was not so difficult, as it was only a branch off of the main passageway they had started in. Jake asked what the others thought that was about, since they hadn’t received any real explanation for their kidnapping, not that those men had the opportunity to explain their motives.
“Likely a small part of a larger organization known as the Dragon Fang,” Thun replied. Bolt still held h
im up, and as Jake understood he would feel weak like that for the rest of the day.
“Who or what are Dragon Fang?” Jake asked.
“They’re the biggest contenders for control over Deathridge,” Bolt said, “sometimes they try to overextend their influence. I never thought we’d catch them out here, though. Anyway, they usually make you pay to pass or try to recruit you into their gang, and my guess is they were going to try to recruit us. If they wanted to rob us they’d have left by the time we woke up. Must’ve seen our weapons and figured we’d be pretty useful.”
Thun nodded. “Guns aren’t a very common weapon and not many people know how to use ’em properly. They probably wanted that asset.”
“Which is strange when you think about it. I heard they only recruited Sol users, preferably ones with weird and strong talents.”
“Yeah,” Jake said, “like that guy that knocked us out. I couldn’t even tell what his Sol was.”
Bolt stopped walking and looked ahead, his eyes wide as if something had just dawned on him.
“Was…” Bolt said, “was that guy with them?”
“Was who?” Jake began to ask, but then it occurred to him as well. There were three men they encountered, only one of whose Sol they saw, and that was water-based. Jake didn’t get a good look at the other two guard’s faces as he was too busy knocking them out, but if one had been the man who took Jake, Bolt, and Thun all at once, certainly he would have put up more of a fight. But if he wasn’t with the others… “Then where did he go?” he finished.
Bolt looked down for a bit, his face tightened in concentration. Despite the area’s silence, Jake was aware of his senses flaring up. He listened intently to every sound, careful to hear any footsteps that were being suppressed.
“Maybe he captures then goes somewhere else. If the guys are already bound, he might deem his presence unnecessary,” Bolt said.
“Yeah,” Jake agreed, “that seems most likely. They didn’t even keep a guard in the room we were in, so they must’ve not thought of us as much of a threat.”
“Likely on account of the weapons,” Thun said, “they must’ve assumed that since we didn’t have Sol we didn’t know how to fight. Big mistake to underestimate the enemy.”
“Oh, you’re one to talk!” Bolt said. “You totally underestimated that cane asshole!”
The three of them laughed, the sound echoing throughout the cavern. It felt good to laugh, even in times of trial. Despite the looming threat of that cane asshole, they could be happy, briefly.
Devastation
Strewn across the grass in large clumps were shattered planks of wood, the materials for what were once buildings but were now just ruins. Alongside them were the bodies of what not too long ago were living people. Some had the relatively quick death of being crushed under the collapsed homes they had worked hard to build, but others were less fortunate and had their top halves completely removed, the rest of them somewhere else, although Dante couldn’t locate where.
It wasn’t as if just one or two houses were destroyed either, this entire village was gone. Dante paced through the rubble and called out, hoping to get a last testament from some dying villager but he got no response. The whole area remained silent, the only sounds being the crunch of Dante’s feet, the low tremble of his voice, and the occasional sliding of wood.
Whatever fucked over this village did one hell of a job, he thought. Not a single survivor, not so much as someone on their deathbed who could bear witness. Initially, he thought whatever it was had sought out to destroy the village and any people who died were just a happy accident, but it seemed the reverse was true: it aimed to kill the people and the damage to the village was the collateral. He placed a hand on his chin, trying to mull it over.
How the fuck did it manage to get every single person? It had to have some kind of sensing ability to do that, right? Dante looked around the village once more, and the utter destruction that faced it. It had to be a big one. A really big one. He continued walking, now at the opposite gate of the village, or what had once been the opposite gate. Ahead of him lay a dense forest, a clear path through knocked over and crushed trees. Dante’s eyes narrowed and he began to follow the trail of devastation.
Chapter 5
The rest of the journey to Deathridge was uneventful; the most danger they faced was avoiding the obstacles put in place by Mother Nature herself, which to Jake was a welcome change from dealing with a group of mercenaries who could knock him out without him even knowing about it. When they came upon the village just before the ridge, the sun had begun to dip in the sky. Jake continued toward the rocky area beyond the village, but Bolt pulled him back by the collar and shook his head. Thun leaned into his ear and whispered, “We need to sneak in, remember? It’ll be a hell of a lot easier to do that when it’s dark.”
“Well then, what are we supposed to do in the meantime?” Jake whispered back. He shifted his eyes to the area around him to see if the villagers caught on to their suspicious little exchange, and the few raised eyebrows of people passing by indicated that they indeed had. He pouted, then turned to Bolt who still held him by his jacket collar.
“Re-con-na-sance,” Bolt said, “Split up and see what you can find out about the Dragon Fang. Try to find out how much pull they’ve got around here.”
Bolt finally let his jacket free from his surprisingly firm grip. Jake hung his head and nodded his understanding.
“And don’t make it obvious you’re asking around about them either. If they find out, it’s gonna spell trouble,” Thun said.
“Acknowledged,” Jake said.
The two scampered off in the direction of Deathridge, and Jake realized they were going ask the Dragon Fang directly. They placed him here because they thought he was too much of a novice to be speaking with hardened criminals. Sighing, Jake figured that they were probably right – he was incompetent.
He turned his head from his comrades and began to survey the area. Around him were homes constructed of stone, likely on account of the sheer availability of it – the entire area was somewhat rocky, but very few people lined the street. There had to be someone to ask a few questions regarding the Dragon Fang, but that old lady wouldn’t know anything, neither would that child, perhaps he could ask her—
“You new in town, stranger?”
Jake jumped and turned around. He stumbled a bit on the uneven ground and began to fall backward, wheeling his arms in wide looping circles in a futile attempt to regain his balance. Before he fell, a hand grasped his wrist and pulled him upright. He sighed and thanked whoever it was that saved him.
Before him stood a girl, dressed oddly in a sort of outback attire. She wore a jacket made out of some sort of animal hide, although Jake didn’t know enough about the region to discern what animal exactly, and she had on tight-fitting jeans. The boots she wore made Jake immediately envious; they looked like they were built specifically for this type of terrain.
“Are yuh just gonna stare at me all day?”
Jake took his eyes off her boots and back to her face. Despite her curt statement she didn’t seem annoyed, and stared back patiently waiting for a reply. Jake winced – she probably thought he was checking her out.
“No, no,” he said, waving his hands before him and shaking his head, “I was just looking at your boots. They look good for traversing this type of area, so…”
She leaned in a bit and despite the forward movement, her blonde hair didn’t fall out of place. Jake trailed off, now only mouthing strange syllables to words he couldn’t quite decipher.
“My boots. It’s a unique one, I’ll give you that.”
Jake tried to defend himself further, he was honestly just checking out her footwear since he had traveled here from far away, and he considered telling her that, but then Thun’s advice ran through his mind. He should be careful not to reveal too much about himself. Aside from that, the way he trailed off while explaining himself killed any hope he had of seeming like he
wasn’t ogling her. He slumped his shoulders, defeated. Then, the girl once again grabbed his wrist and shook him.
“It’s all right. I mean, you’re in a new place, yeah? You’re only checking out your surroundings.”
Jake clung to the line she offered him. “Yeah, just new in town. Got caught a little off guard.”
“So where are you from?”
Dammit, that’s exactly the type of question I was trying to avoid. “Um, you know. Somewhere from way out of this realm.”
“Like what realm specifically?” She looked up, and Jake thought for a second that her eyes had gotten bigger. They looked at him with a shining inquisitiveness that he couldn’t deny.
“Somewhere near the Republic,” he found himself saying, his voice barely audible. He peered away, unable to make eye contact, and aware that the statement wasn’t a safe one. Then something warm wrapped around his arm, tugging him forward. He raised himself to a more upright position to see the girl clinging to his arm like a child to a parent. Or a parasite to a host.
The feeling she might be some kind of dangerous entity began to creep its way into Jake’s mind, if only briefly, before she peered up at him. “A big tough city man? You ever been?”
Jake scratched the back of his head bashfully. “Maybe once or twice.”
“You must tell me more!” she said, then pulled Jake in some random direction without his consent. He resisted her for a bit, then realized she was a determined girl who would get what she wanted whether he liked it or not – a real female Dante in that regard – and so he matched her pace. She led him to a building, a square one flagged in stone with a wooden sign hanging askew at the top. ‘Tavern,’ it read simply.
The doors were something right out of a book, two wooden ones that swung inward. The girl released Jake from her grip and shoved them open, one with each hand, while shouting her greetings to the patrons inside. Jake, running on a sort of embarrassed autopilot, slowly brought up the rear.
