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Earth Divided; PGNR, as usual
Topic Started: Wednesday, 6. October 2010, 08:45 (675 Views)
Dekky
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The Rock Raptor
Dekarnuva Productions presents
EARTH DIVIDED

CHAPTER ONE

For the fourth time that miserable, rainy morning, Alika found himself readying the flamethrower attached to his right arm. From behind the orange rocks he heard movement. Something scurried across the stony terrain, and its noises were becoming steadily louder. If it was a scout working for the Sea or Sky tribe, it was trouble. Suddenly, through the holes in his dark red helmet, he saw it. Clad in yellow and bearing the symbol of a golden star. With a sigh of relief Alika lowered his weapon. This was one of his comrades, known as Kopra.

Both of them were soldiers, warriors of the Sun tribe. After years of fighting they were cautious, wary and tired. But a rest was unlikely. Efforts to make the other tribes surrender had resulted in chaos. All three of the factions, Sun, Sea and Sky, wanted complete dominion of the land, but none were prepared to co-operate with the others. It seemed war was imminent, and Alika knew that was something his friend didn't want. Kopra had a wife on a different continent, and a home. He hadn't seen them for a very long time. Without a wife to care about, Alika felt he didn't have much to live for. If a war started, so be it. He knew he'd have to do his duty, even if it killed him.

“You shouldn't have moved so slowly, Kopra. I almost thought you were one of their scouts.”
“Sorry to alarm you. I've been checking out those caves nearby. They were definitely blasted, but quite long ago, probably by our own men. I did find this though.”
Something glinted in his hand, and as he straightened his arm out Alika could see that it was a blade. However he hadn't seen one like it before. It was boomerang-shaped and entirely silver, without any visible emblems. Who had used it, then? Soldiers of all tribes had special symbols on their gear. For the Sun it was a gold star, for Sea a carved wave pattern, for Sky a grey wing shape. Therefore this blade must have been used by someone not in army service. But then, why would it be in a cave so close to their outpost?

“I should go and look in those caves. You can take that to Vassaka. If anyone knows what it is, he will!”
“Sure thing, Alika, but be careful. I didn't quite explore all of them and there may be something hiding in the dark.”
“That's why I've got this,” whispered Alika as he tapped his flamethrower. A black tube connected the elbow-mounted part of it to a full gas cylinder strapped to his back. Also attached to it was a large claw, in case the hot stream of fire wasn't enough. Without saying goodbye he turned and departed, walking briskly through the drizzle. Meanwhile Kopra searched for Vassaka, another Sun soldier. Before he was hired he'd spent a lot of time studying weapons and tools used all over their planet. Maybe he could shed some light on the mysterious boomerang blade. It didn't take long to find him, as he was in a nearby chamber studying a map.

“Greetings! Not too busy are you, Vassaka?”
“Oh no, not at all. But I've just heard that a battalion of Sky combatants has retreated from this area,” as he pointed to a spot on the map, “and I might have to go down there tomorrow. Could you possibly accompany me then?”
“I could, but I've got something else. This morning I was in those caves you saw.”
“Oh yes! Did you find anything?”
“I did, actually, this weapon here. Alika and I can't see any symbols on it, so we don't know who might have made it. Can you help us?”
“Perhaps I can. I believe I've seen this before...”
Standing up, he accidentally knocked his map off the rock table. Cursing Vassaka reached his untidy desk and opened a drawer in it. Inside was a very thick volume containing his early research, and he pulled it out. Kopra put the strange blade down on the table to give him a good view of it.

“Yeah, definitely looks familiar. Can you tell me anything else about these caves?”
“They were blasted, quite a while ago I think. No large life of any kind. But there was a pool of water in the same place I picked up this weapon. It was pretty clean considering all the dust that blows in there most days.”
“Perhaps all the dust dissolves in that water. Anyway, I think I've found a reference.”
“That's it! Thanks very much.”
“Hang on a bit... you say Alika knows about it as well?”
“Yes.”
“Well where is he now?”
“He volunteered to explore the caves further. I think he's probably there by now.”
“Bad mistake, I'm afraid. You better have a look at this! Alika might be in a bit of trouble...”

While not in any immediate danger, their friend had indeed reached the caves. Inside one of them, the furthest from his outpost, he discovered a hole in the back wall. Darkness concealed whatever was inside it. So Alika used his tool to ignite a torch. Within the hole was some object the size of a coin, and then just rock. Maybe that object could help explain the bizarre blade that Kopra had retrieved. But before he could reach in with his fingers he heard something behind him. It was a loud footstep that echoed in the small space.

Quickly Alika spun around, his flamethrower releasing a burst of fire. However when it dispersed there was no enemy to be seen. Where had that noise come from? Suddenly he was getting the creeps and called out at the seemingly empty air.
“Who's there? Kopra? I must warn you, I'm armed!”
Instead of a spoken response, there were more loud steps. Because of the great echoes he couldn't tell where they were coming from. Alika activated his weapon and waved it in a circle around him, spraying flame in every direction. Still he saw nothing.

“So what you're saying is, this is used by a fourth tribe?”
“Well, it was... before all this fighting. But if you found this in a cave, and it had a pool of clean water in it, this tribe might still exist! And if they do, then Alika might have walked into a trap.”
“Now you're giving me a very bad feeling. We have to get to him! Come with me!”

His right arm blazing, Alika searched for the source of the sounds. Light from outside illuminated most of the cave, but part of it was still in shadow, and he was standing there. Surely if something else had entered he would have been able to see it. He looked again, left, right, ahead and behind. But then a chill ran down his spine. Finally he'd realized where it was: right above his head. With a cry he dived forward, but it was too late. A silver boomerang-shaped blade was at his throat, and from the gloom a single orange eye stared at him.


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Edited by Dekky, Sunday, 18. August 2013, 05:20.
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Cow!
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Moojestic Queen Moomay the Resplendent and Hot
So that was excellent. Congratulations! You are not an elephant!

I really have nothing to criticise you for here, except your epic sig, which made me lose like three times. Dialogue, tone, backstory, and characters are all great. As you progress the story, make sure to differentiate K&A even more. But overall you did quite well and I'll be looking forward to reading more of this.
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Phovos
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Medicating Raptor
Oh... Nice...

One thing I must point out is that you, like me, always seem to use Bionicle-y names and ideas. Apart from that, very nice. I'm very curious as to what might happen next, and that's exactly what you want in a story.
I have a whole website. It's kinda lame though.
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Dekky
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The Rock Raptor
I use BIONICLE-y names because BIONICLE is awesome, and it's basically what inspired me to do this sort of thing in the first place.

Watch this space.
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Warrior Poet
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If you lead me, I will go.
I used to be into Bionicles. Very into them. Then I started reading actual mythology and realized most of it was a ripoff. Still, the Bohrok swarm was great. And a few other things. But where are you coming up with these names?

Also, this is only the first chapter so I'm not expecting to know much, but I have no idea what's going on at all. Gotta go, I'll finish this post later haha
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Dekky
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The Rock Raptor
I'll just update this before NaNoWriMo begins, so expect more in early December. The names I'm using, prometheus, are a bit BIONICLE-ish but are, I assure you, invented my me. Most of them have been names of characters in my really old short stories.


CHAPTER TWO
Quickly the weather became worse, and before too long torrential rain was coming down from the dark clouds. Carrying his trusted scimitar Vassaka had to be careful not to slip on the wet rocks. At last he reached the entrance to that cave. Its cool interior provided relief from the freezing rain. His eyes took several seconds to adjust to the gloom. When they did he was glad to see Alika, sitting on the ground with his back to him. Obviously he hadn't heard his friend enter.

“Alika! Have you found something?” There was no reply, which was odd. Usually he'd be more than happy to chat. “You better get out of here,” continued Vassaka, “don't know what might be lurking.” But there was just silence. A sense of dread began to grow within Vassaka. He cautiously moved forward, deeper into the blackness. Then there were loud steps behind him, and fear almost overwhelmed him. He instinctively spun on his feet, scimitar at the ready.
“Relax man, it's only me.”
“Kopra, you beep, you almost scared me to death! More importantly, something's happened to our companion.”
“Wait... you're right. Hasn't he even said hi?”
“Not a word.”
“Maybe he's fallen asleep or something. It's happened before.”
“Not likely. I'll grab him and we can return to some proper shelter. But remember why we came and stay alert!”

Turning his back on Kopra, he took several strides and tapped Alika on the shoulder. Immediately it was evident that he wasn't asleep. His eyes were wide open, seemingly in fright, and his mouth kept moving without making a sound. This alarmed Vassaka and he called out to Kopra, who came running. The two of them seized their friend by his arms and pulled him up onto his feet. Finally Alika snapped out of it, and coughed violently. His expression became one of confusion.
“Are you okay, man?”
“I think so Kopra. Vassaka. But what are we doing here? I thought you were the one who went to check out the caves.”
“You can't remember? That's it, we have to get back now!”
“But it's raining outside, Vassaka. Hang on a minute, did I just see something move?”

In unison Kopra and Vassaka looked around and spotted an orange object in the darkness. It was an eye, and it regarded them with great interest. Suddenly it moved forward, and there were sounds from the feet of the creature it belonged to. But they saw no feet sprinting toward them on the ground. Somehow it was running along the stone ceiling. Vassaka raised his weapon, Kopra stepped back and readied his axe. Alika had obviously forgotten his earlier experience, but seeing the reactions of his comrades he aimed the flamethrower on his arm.
“So do you guys have a plan for this?”
“Kind of. It mainly revolves around us three running like hell out of here.”

That's what they did, making a mad dash for the world outside the cave. As Kopra dived underneath the animal he felt something sharp connect with his helmet: a silver boomerang-shaped blade. But they escaped intact, and paused in the heavy rain for breath. After a minute Alika spoke up.
“So Vassaka, what exactly is going on?”
“I will tell you everything once we're out of this foul weather. That thing shouldn't follow us through this, but I'm not taking any chances.”

It was a short trek back to the outpost, up on a hill covered in huge boulders. Behind one of the biggest, an oval orange stone, was the hidden entrance to one of the Sun tribe's bases. Because it had only been constructed during the last few weeks, with much under the surface, it had yet to be named. Within were many subterranean chambers heated by closely guarded fires. One of them served as Vassaka's study, where he could continue his scholarly research mostly in private.

“There are many more of those cave-dwelling beasts,” began the scholar, “and now I have some idea where. Listen carefully, Alika! I must share something with you. Hundreds of years ago, before the formation of our Sun tribe, there was another race who lived on this planet. I doubt you've heard of them. They were called Kentaries.”

“Everyone was interested in these Kentaries, because they each had a hypnotic eye. Actually they have two eyes, but only one is kept open, the one that can hypnotize prey. The other is useless in the dark, where they still seem to live. At that time they could speak to some degree, and had their own language. However they refused to interact with our society. Much later, when the three tribes of Sun, Sea and Sky formed, they all moved off into the far west of the land. This is still centuries before we were even born.”
“While hiding away, the Kentari race were oblivious to their doom. A meterorite struck that part of the continent and it burned for weeks. Our ancestors survived because they hadn't persisted in efforts to unite with the Kentaries. As a result the two had moved very far apart. Now we are fighting as three separate armies. I recall a group not long ago who tried to seek out any last Kentaries to employ them in the war. That was when we realized there were none left. But now...”

He finished with a cough and sat down on his chair. Alika took this all in quickly, while Kopra had gone, having already heard the tale.
“Question, my friend. How did you learn all this?”
“My family has stayed interested in those creatures for generations. They spent some time collecting Kentari artefacts, like that blade you found.”
“But they're still around... and right next door to us! How come we didn't notice them move into those caves? And what happened to me in there?”
“You were captured and held in one's gaze. It wiped your memories of the last hour or so and then left you in its cave until we showed up. And they are stealthy animals. Shadow is their friend, it hides them from us. I have no idea how long they've been in this area.”
“So they retreated centuries ago, but now they're really close to us?”

“They retreated because, Alika, the Sun and other tribes weren't separate back then. We were one large society, and they probably feared us. Now though that society is almos at war with itself. I think the Kentaries must have realized this by now.”
“Those monsters should still fear us!”
“Quiet! Their warriors are stronger and sneakier, and bigger, than any of us. Trust me, if you couldn't take one on, none of us can.”
“Then what is the Sun tribe supposed to do? Sit around and wait for them to pack up and shove off?”
“Not likely. You don't know them like my family does. If they know now that we are in this state, they could just attack tonight and kill many of our soldiers! I have an idea, and you won't like it, but this is a drastic situation. We can't fight the Kentaries on our own, we don't know how many there are, and our army is too small to worry about them while battling two other tribes at the same time.”
“Oh no... I think I know where you're going with this. It's not going to work!”
“It must work! We have to unite with our enemies, and remind those bastards why they vanished in the first place!”


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Edited by Dekky, Saturday, 24. August 2013, 11:55.
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Warrior Poet
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If you lead me, I will go.
More words. I want more.

First of all, block formatting. This thing was actually one block of text and it was kind of scary to look at. Harder to read. Try making each paragraph its own block. It'll be a lot more manageable. Also, in those big chunks of dialogue have the characters doing something, and what's our main character thinking about what's being said?

"Is the sun tribe tribe supposed to..." "Is the Sun supposed to..." Anyway, there are a million words for real things. Try expanding the vocabulary of your world a little, but don't go overboard. There's a delicate balance. I'm glad that you came up with your own names, BTW. Do they have meanings or are they just random stylized syllables?

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“Everyone was interested in these Kentaries, because they each had a hypnotic eye. Actually they have two eyes, but only one is kept open, the one that can hypnotize prey. The other is useless in the dark, where they still seem to live. At that time they could speak to some degree, and had their own language. However they refused to interact with our society. Much later, when the three tribes of Sun, Sea and Sky formed, they all moved off into the far west of the land. This is still centuries before we were even born.”

Man, that was only four sentences. Anyway, have your characters talk like real people do. Or the way people might in the future. You don't have to invent a crazy amount of slang or anything, but this is a future time. Make it feel a little more alien to me? Anyway, this whole chunk was pretty awkward and it could use some streamlining and rephrasing. This isn't the only one either. You have an interesting idea and I hope you work on it a lot more because it's good. You mostly just have to work on your prose...and the plot. Did anything actually happen in this chapter?

It was an infodump, so not much goes on. Conversations and idle chapters are good for getting to know your characters, but the infodump basically tells me stuff I don't care about yet - I have to care about the characters before I'm curious about their world.

Sorry for being tough, but that's my job ;P
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Harket
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asian
Hey i like it!!! Its intriguing, anyway :3

And i dont have a problem with your paragraphs. Unlike Prom there :P

Luv Luv :ballerina:
Birds don't like to fly, they have to fly.
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Dekky
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The Rock Raptor
Woah, I've been away for ages! Sorry chaps, really busy, but here at last is chapter three.


CHAPTER THREE
Only Vassaka could have suggested it without being called a madman. As something of a historian, he was used to looking at the bigger picture. More importantly, he was one of Kopra's most trusted friends. Those were rare in times of battle. Occasionally crouching down behind a boulder, the yellow-armoured soldier made his way southward through the rain. Already he'd passed the cave where Alika was hypnotized by that Kentari beast.

Behind him were Vassaka and Alika themselves, keeping him covered with their weapons. All three of them had left the outpost unnoticed. Nobody else knew what they were doing. Nevertheless their mission was of vital importance. Earlier that day the historian had told Kopra of a group of Sky tribe members who had retreated from a canyon in the south-east. There was a chance they'd been driven out by another Kentari. In that case they might listen to Vassaka. He insisted that unless the three tribes of Sky, Sun and Sea worked together, they would all be slaughtered.

They didn't talk in case something was around to hear them. So far Kopra's keen eyes hadn't spotted anything. However he knew how stealthy warriors of Sky could be. Soon he reached a low hill at the bottom of the massive shinglefan they'd been traversing. Beyond it was a wide plain with their destination running across it like a scar. Certainly that deep canyon was a good place to hide. Like the caves just north of them, it was a great place for Kentaries to move into.

“Keep going man, why've you stopped? Too much rock dust in your lungs?”
“I'm fine Vassaka... just don't like the look of all this. What does Alika think?”
“I think it's time for a wee bit of action here!”
“Oh quiet.”
“Can't stay still for too long, in case there are still Sky soldiers around here. We must press on, but remember not to be conspicuous. It isn't too far away now.”

Back at the Sun tribe outpost another of their comrades had at last realized they were gone. This was the usually more observant Jura, owner of a very expensive plasma gun. Immediately he felt a bit worried. Looking around in all the chambers, he found something on Vassaka's desk. A map showing the surrounding area. That brought back a memory, a piece of conversation he'd overheard that morning. Suddenly Jura knew where the trio was headed, but he didn't like it. His superiors had just given him some bad news. A quick word to another soldier, “I'm off, let the general know I'll be back with those other three.” Then he set off down the stony slope as fast as possible. Sneaking wasn't necessary, for he knew exactly where the enemy was.

Unfortunately for him they were already entering the canyon. Between two vast rock walls about 100 metres apart and 60 high, Vassaka was still a bit annoyed by the light rain that pelted his helm. But it was cooler there and darker, the afternoon sun out of sight. Still no signs of other life, which unnerved the historian.

“You notice how quiet it is? Somehow I feel like we're being stalked, which would make sense. If there are Kentaries here, these are ideal conditions for them. Um... what's that?”
“I don't see anything, Vassaka.”
“Right above you! Does that look familiar?”
“Not really, no. But it's made of metal and it's sticking out of the stone. Kind of looks like a shield!”
“I notice you two aren't being quiet. But there's a symbol on that thing, the symbol of the Sky tribe. It's pretty hard to see because it's dark, but I can see it from here. That's not a shield.”
“You've seen one before?”
“They're not that common, guys. Sky soldiers plant them in specific places so they can send signals to their base in the far east. You see, this is a special mirror. When it's bright enough they open up a panel in the top, revealing really shiny metal, and light bounces off it and can be seen by other Sky tribe members. That's how the bastards know where their comrades are.”

Vassaka recalled somebody else explaining the device to him, years earlier, but he hadn't actually seen one. When the Sky soldiers retreated from the canyon they must have abandoned it. A special mirror, Alika called it. Both of them discussed the idea of stealing it, however a shout from Kopra ended their talking. Apparently he'd seen something move behind them. In unison all three Sun warriors spun on their feet, weapons raised. “Do we try and hide?”
“Shut up!”

It was Alika who had snapped that command, for two reasons. First, he hated the idea of hiding from enemies, which would be hard to do anyway when sandwiched between two huge rock walls. Second, he could see a shadow moving, back in the direction they'd come from.
“Ssssssssh- I can see it!”
“Is it-”
“Sssssssssssssssssssssssssh!”

The next voice didn't belong to any of the trio, but was one they all recognized. A man's voice, “Get the heck out of here you muppets! Messengers came back with some bad news.”
“Is everybody trying to scare us today? Good to see you, Jura.”
“Do you have any food? I'm hungry.”

Only Vassaka stayed silent, being neither scared nor inconveniently hungry. Already he had an idea of what Jura was going to say, and it would disrupt their plan quite a lot. With his scimitar still unsheathed he approached the newcomer. “I have a rather bad feeling about this.”
“Our scouts got their original message wrong. A retreat was never ordered in this canyon. You've come into Sky tribe territory, which could be heavily defended, thinking nobody's left here. I know you were keen on reconaissance, Vassaka, but it was a silly idea to check out the area today. Besides, why'd you bring Kopra and Alika? I thought they had another job.”
“That job was done, although it almost cost Alika his life. His sanity, at least.”
“I was hypnotized by some freak who walks upside-down.”
“Our real mission is of great importance. We're not just here to do recon. We're heading south-east to make contact with the other tribes-”

His speech was cut short by a snort from Jura. Then he burst into laughter, clearly forgetting that they were in a danger zone. Even though they hadn't strayed too far into the canyon, the prescence of a signal mirror meant enemies could be near. However, for a full minute, there were echoes of hilarity. Despite efforts from all his allies to make him shut up, Jura just wouldn't. Until, that is, his helmet was knocked off by some green projectile. It had been launched from behind him with stunning accuracy, a thin throwing knife. There was an emblem engraved upon it: a sort of wing shape. The symbol of the Sky tribe.

“Four Sun tribe idiots just wandering around, waiting to be shot. How stupid are your generals? Eh? Well, it doesn't matter, because now you may consider yourselves prisoners.”
“Are all of you airheads blind or something? There's four of us, and one of you. Bit of a bad ratio on your part, I'd say.”
“Turn around, Kopra.”

He did. A green thing was flying at his face, no, his neck. Very large and very strong. Two claws attached to it clamped around his throat before he could bring up his axe. The thing was a massive pincer-like tool covering the arm of another Sky warrior, wearing a green helm and carrying a dart gun. About half a dozen others closed in on them. For a moment nobody said anything. Then Alika spoke up. “Crap.”
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Dekky
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The Rock Raptor
CHAPTER FOUR


By the standards of the four Sun tribe fighters, the area was pretty pathetic for an outpost. 'Encampment' might have been a better word. Whatever the Sky soldiers called it, it was theirs, occupied by two dozen of them. All of them slept inside caves they'd blasted into the rocky sides of the canyon. Much dynamite must have been used, for those artificial caves were very deep. Perfect for a Kentari to hide within. Originally Vassaka's plan had involved a warning about the hypnotic beasts, but his objective changed while stars were appearing in the sky. New goal: to not die.

Even Alika had been eerily quiet while his comrades and himself were escorted further into the deep canyon. They'd had their hands bound as soon as they reached the encampment, situated at the deepest, gloomiest part. Apparently it was impossible to climb directly down into. That made sense. On either side were vertical, jagged cliffs, occasionally punctuated by daggers of stone. If somebody slipped down it at any point the Sky tribe men would need hours to clean up the bloody mess.

Bikral was the guy in charge of the team stationed there. Earlier on he had ambushed the prisoners and stunned Jura with a throwing knife. A shiny grey helmet disguised his face. One hand, his left, was fiddling with the hilt of a sheathed knife. The other carried some kind of huge gun, almost as long as his entire arm and twice as wide, but its function was unknown. Not even Vassaka had seen a gun like it: with a gigantic body portion but two tiny holes in the front. Couldn't even tell whether it had a trigger or not. “I don't need to explain my weapon to you,” Bikral had said, “and if you ask, or even open your mouth at all, you'll find out the hard way!” Like most of the Sky type, Bikral had come across as being a bit grouchy. One's enemies usually are.

Once again he spoke to his captives in that harsh, gravelly tone that made him sound like he had some kind of lung condition. “This is our outpost, built specifically to monitor your movements. Today we were rather surprised by your idiocy. My team has been tracking you all afternoon. Now listen up! We need to know why you morons suddenly showed up here. Did you think we'd just left? Eh? Talk, darn you!”

His gun thing was pointed at Kopra, whose axe had been confiscated. Considering the two guards on either side of him, he spoke unusually loudly. “We're not here to fight you. Sun scouts reported that you'd retreated and we came to find out why. But then Jura, the owner of that helmet there, followed us and warned that the message was wrong. That's the only reason he's here. If you let him go, we'll explain everything to you.”
“Jura's not much of a warrior anyway, so you've got nothing to worry about.”
“Shut up, Alika!”

Beneath the helm Bikral was obviously scowling. “Let him go? Ha!” Jura was thrust forward by the soldier with the massive green claw on his right arm. A boot kicked him down and pressed his face into the ground. “For that, this mud worm will be the first to perish! And you will explain yourselves to me, while you watch his ugly head being removed. Name's Jura, right? I'll remember that when I scratch your RIP message onto a dried dropping.”
“Do not even touch him! Here's another name for you: Vassaka. That's my name. Soon you shall be screaming it!”
“Speak when you're bloody well spoken to!”

A dark green gauntlet slapped across Vassaka's face, then somebody had him in a choke hold. The historian had expected that. It meant nobody was watching his feet. His legs were free. Vassaka made a faked cry of pain. Before anybody, including his own friends, knew what was happening, he had twisted around and brought his knee up into the Sky soldier's stomach. Both feet flew into the air. Unlike most Sun tribe members, he always wore a pair of red armoured boots. Being struck by those is rather painful. One of the guards was winded. Bikral and his allies closed in on Vassaka, Kopra and Alika.

That left Jura by himself, his nose bleeding and his hands tied up. As soon as Bikral's attention was diverted he rolled sideways, to where his trusted knife had been abandoned. Pushed himself swiftly into a sitting position, got the blade between his fingers and tried a trick Alika had showed him months before. The rope around his wrists was sliced through with ease. In the middle of a Sky tribe outpost, with twenty or so enemies trying to bring down his comrades, but free. And his other trusted weapon hadn't been left very far away.

“Get the heck off me!”
“Claw, Kopra, watch out for the claw. Hey you, don't grab me there!”
“Darn it, we're still bound and I can't see where my hands are!”
Although the morale of the Sun men was there, it was obvious they were about to be overwhelmed. Just as Vassaka expected. Smarter than most, he'd made a plan in his head. So far it was working. A fist sent him crashing to the ground, but that was fine. Through the legs of those scurrying toward him he could see Jura standing, looking through the sight of his plasma cannon. Suddenly Bikral's face was staring into his. If it was too late, Vassaka's life would be ended at the hands of the Sky tribe.

It wasn't too late. Without a word, Jura pulled the trigger, and a superheated orange sphere the size of his head shot toward Bikral. At the last possible moment it hit, engulfing him, the strange gun dropping from his hand. He screamed as liquid fire consumed him. Instanty his military clothing caught and black smoke soon rose into the twilight air. Unearthly shrieks distracted his allies, who rushed to his aid. Vassaka ducked out of the way, regrouping with Kopra and Alika. Both of them were breathing heavily and Alika had a black eye. A knife had torn open Kopra's jacket. Jura sprinted to them, then the four made a break for it.

They ran and ran, into the shadows of the canyon, as the sky turned black and the pale moon appeared. Several tried to pursue them, but lost their way in the darkness. Just outside the outpost, the canyon itself widened significantly, with an unnaturally flat surface at the bottom, punctuated by random outcrops of sharp rock. All it took was a little quick thinking. They'd escaped. And from then on, the four of them could only go further away from the Sun tribe.

CHAPTER FIVE


Within a day everything had changed. Kopra, Vassaka, Jura and Alika had abruptly found themselves in Sky tribe territory, trying to make peace with the same people who wanted them in pieces. So far it hadn't gone well. They'd already been captured and, while escaping, Jura had probably killed one of the Sky soldiers. That wouldn't look good at all. What they had to do next was to find a different outpost and make contact with those inside. Preferably before their own base got overwhelmed by Kentaries.

An unforgiving sun beat down on the four Sun tribe members. Not a single cloud could be seen above. Worse, they didn't spot shade of any kind. They'd reached the middle of a great open plain, flat as a pancake. Only hardy grass grew there. Once upon a time there'd been animals to graze on it, but they were exterminated during all the fighting. This vast area had served as a battlefield many times. As Alika noted, there was one advantage to crossing it: they could see incoming danger. Hopefully before it saw them.

Jura kept his plasma cannon in his hands, sure that the Sky tribe would be after them. Beside him marched Kopra, and they began to talk.
“So Kopra, tell me. What exactly is a Kentari?”
“Big freak with a hypnotic eye that runs across the ceiling. Vassaka will know better than me; his family used to research them.”
“Right. Darn it's hot! Surely there's a faster way to get to wherever we're going?”
“Either we go this way or we end up in the canyons again. Trust me, we'll be fine if we stick to the open. Even if it's hot enough to boil your brains.”
“Where does Vassaka think we're headed, anyway?”
“He told me there's a big woodland a few kilometres away. In the past, there's been a lot of evidence of Sky tribe activity there, so it's where he wants to go.”
“Wait... not Fazatchio Forest?”
“The same.”
“Ha! Go there and we won't last a day without reinforcements. There's an entire battalion of the Sky tribe stationed there, and with any luck, they'll already know where we are! Can't be done, Kopra.”
“Either we head for the nice, cool trees or we go back to Bikral's buddies, who are annoyed enough as it is. Which way do you want to go?”
“Umm...”

Perhaps Jura may have been about to change his mind, but something happened then to interrupt him. First a violent shaking of the ground. Next Alika appeared beside him, cursing loudly. Between them and an alarmed Vassaka, the ground itself bulged. For a moment the shakes intensified. In that time a great mound rose up, like a pimple in the earth. With a colossal rumble, something smashed through the surface. What emerged looked like a drill. Only this drill had been made from super-strong fullerite and painted dark green. More importantly, it dwarfed Vassaka, its tip rising above his head. All four of them struggled against the trembling to get away from it. As they did so, this drill stopped rotating. Underneath it, a huge iron cab rose up, with a distinct symbol engraved into the metal: a wing shape. “Sky tribe!”

Six explosions tore through the soil around this extraordinary contraption. More large, metallic things reared up from the underground, things that threw up a thick cloud of debris. Quickly Vassaka re-joined his comrades. One of those six mobile units returned to earth with a bang, its tip only a metre from them. “Woah heck, Bikral's buddies are annoyed, all right! They've sent a mining vehicle after us!”
“Looks like it's equipped for more than just mining. That thing there is a leg! It's a freakin' massive drilling spider dude, and we're right in front of it! RUN!”

Three of them followed that advice, but Alika stayed put. Before him, what appeared to be a drilling vehicle hoisted itself up on the six legs, dirt cascading down from its voluminous cab. Said nothing. All he did was adjust the flamethrower bound to his right arm. Finally observant Jura realized he hadn't moved. From a few metres away, he called out. “Move it, you muppet!”
Still said nothing, didn't even turn around. Alika simply stared up at the vehicle's business end. That drill had been rotated so it pointed horizontally, joined to a gigantic, armoured car. That had been raised two metres above the highly disturbed ground by six insect-like legs, each one looking a bit rusted and with several reinforced joints, tapering away from the ground. It did indeed look like a deadly spider. Most spiders, however, can be squashed with the foot. Whoever piloted this had the ability to squash Alika.

Did that scare him? Only slightly. As a hatch swung open above him, Alika bravely readied his flamethrower. For years he'd thought a situation like this would occur. Friends fleeing, extremely strong enemy facing him. For him, there'd be one logical option. “Come out, come out, and we'll see exactly which tribe is fit to run this country. BRING IT!”
Strangely enough, there was a reply. “Good luck, you sun-scorched freak. I'll die before you idiots put yourselves in charge.” No doubt about whose voice he'd heard. That gravelly, rough tone sounded unmistakable – and impossible. Clambering out of the dank cockpit was a man who should have been dead. Yet there he appeared, fried by Jura's plasma cannon, but very much alive. Bikral himself. What's more, he had that odd gun of his pointed directly at the Sun soldiers.

“Fire only makes those of the sky stronger! I've survived your tricks, ack... and I've decided there's a new thing I hate most on this planet. It's caled Jura, and I see it right behind you. Get out of the way, then you can watch me tear his ugly face off!”
“No can do, air-brain.”
A steel-plated arm smacked Alika aside. Suddenly he reacted by squeezing the trigger of his weapon, and a burst of flame caught Bikral. “I have fire too, must have forgotten to mention that to you at your lovely campsite. Now you're alone against four elite warriors of the Sun tribe, so I suggest you forget about your little vendetta and go crawl back into your hole. Also, you appear to have neglected me earlier. Because my name... is Alika. Now BRING IT ON!”
“You're about to get your freakin' guts kicked out, you-”

Seemed certain the next word would be a swear, but luckily it wasn't said. An axe swung at Bikral's neck, and he barely avoided being beheaded by it. Kopra stood there, with his two friends not far behind him. With a roar, Alika tackled their enemy, trying to pin him down. A mighty punch forced him off, then Bikral had sprung back up. Before he could be stopped, he'd brought his heel down on Alika's chest, then reached down and swiftly removed his helmet.
“Hey, shove off man!”
“Your hatchet scares me not, so YOU better do that!”

With incredible speed, Bikral spun around and his great, heavy gun crashed into the side of Kopra's face. Just at that moment, Vassaka and Jura pounced on him, but he'd been expecting that. A violent kick sent Vassaka sprawling and, before any of them could get back up, he'd pressed his gun to Jura's head.
“This, silly morons, is a disintegrator tool. One click and your friend turns into dust. Then my associate will crush all three of you. How do you like that? Would you rather be burned alive instead, so YOU know how it feels?!”
“His associate..?”
“There's somebody else piloting the driller!”

Indeed there was. Loud whirring noises came from above, and an iron “foot” plunged into the soil between Jura and his allies. Fear erupted within his mind. Death had suddenly become a mere trigger pull away. However he still put on a brave face, even though his helpless hands began to tremble. “Well then? Is it to be quick disintegration, or slow burning? Either way, you wretched Sun soldier, it's death by heat. No other options, I'm afraid – your silly allies are separated fom us by a highly mobile vehicle. Quickly! I may have to decide for you.”
“Although it might appear I'm about to die, there's one other thing you haven't considered. Those guys came across you because of some animals that can kill with their gaze. We call them Kentaries. Check your history books, Bikral, and you'll find you also have a name for them. It's very familiar to you. It's Jura.”
“What?”
“I am the Kentari. And I'm therefore the one in control of death here.”
“Bah! Fair last words for a crazy sun-scorched-”
“Dwano kablak khran! Get your bloody gun AWAY FROM ME!”

That loud shout diverted Bikral's attention for long enough. His gun went off just as Jura wrenched it away from his head. A beam of intense energy shot out and struck one of the large mining vehicle's legs. The whole limb vapourized instantly. Another leg had been lifted slightly to cover Jura's friends, so the whole spider-like thing had become very unbalanced. Inside it sat an alarmed pilot. Alarmed because his machine started to topple. Once on its side, it could never get up. Bikral's own weapon had, in a flash, created mayhem – and left him exposed. Three Sun soldiers lunged at him from behind as Jura continued to yell words in an odd tongue. His face contorted into a rather alien expression. A wound from the night before made the display look convincing.

At last they had the fiendish Bikral trapped, held by four pairs of hands and with his precious disintegrator discarded. Nearby lay a wreck. A mountainous heap of worn metal collapsed onto the plain. Somewhere inside it, a member of the Sky tribe desperately tried to get out. That would be difficult. The exit hatch had been buried. As Kopra and Vassaka kept a grip on their enemy, the other two sprinted over to this heap and discussed.

“Dwano kablak khran? Where'd you hear that?”
“I read it on a cereal packet once. Amazingly, my quick plan appears to have worked. If in trouble, Alika, pretend to be the thing everybody's afraid of!”
“You told him you were a Kentari, and that distracted him?”
“Exactly! Only you know what a Kentari looks like, so I figured it would be worth the act. We're so lucky his gun hit that vehicle, otherwise it would have gone a lot worse. Against the Sky tribe, it looks like we've got some luck. Now I agree with Vassaka. To continue we should pass into Fazatchio Forest. If you guys are trying to make peace, though, we've actually got off to a bad start.”
“Not if I can melt into Bikral's cockpit and rescue his cronie. That guy will have to surrender and join our crew. Better start now – the night will be upon us soon!”
“That's excellent, but what are we going to do about Bikral?”
“Jura, you're the one who set him alight yesterday. Use your imagination.”

With a near-full gas canister strapped to his back, Alika set off to rescue the Sky tribe's driller. So far it had been chaos for the team but, as he'd said, Jura considered them pretty lucky. If a fierce brute like Bikral couldn't defeat them, surely those waiting in Faztchio Forest wouldn't prove any more of an obstacle. Night indeed fell and the four Sun soldiers could rest easily. When dawn arrived, they'd decide the fates of two people who considered them enemies. However, all wasn't well. Unknown to them, Kentaries moved as well. That night the creature responsible for hypnotizing Alika left the caves for the first time in its life. Its destintion: their outpost up on the shinglefan. That night it drew blood, and a lot of it. That night, before anything could be done about it, the Kentari had slaughtered several Sun tribe troops with its blades, shaped like boomerangs. That night, a single orange eye skulked through the darkness, fixed on the place where its prey slept noisily, flamethrower by his bruised side.


TO BE CONTINUED IN 2012

- Dekarnuva
Edited by Dekky, Monday, 15. August 2011, 01:25.
This week: I am now taking requests! If you want me to model something for you on 'Art of Illusion,' just send me a message. If you'd like to see samples of my work, check out my Art Topic! (hint: it's in the Art forum)

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The Rock Raptor
CHAPTER SIX


“This is pretty heavy-duty, isn't it? What do you suppose they set it up to catch?”
“Not sure, Kopra, but I'd be careful. Partly because it might take your hand off. Mostly because it looks new, and its owner might be close by.”

The owner happened to be very close by. Raphil was her name, and she'd been listening to the two Sun tribe members for several minutes. What they were talking about was a steel trap set in the forest floor. With a diameter of two metres and enough power to crush bone, that trap could decapitate somebody. As Raphil peeked around a scarred tree trunk, she saw her enemies for the first time. One of them had a long stick poised above the trap. “Actually, we probably shouldn't do that. Trap's here for a reason, y'know.”

Indeed it was. Certain overnight disturbances had prompted those stationed in the nearby Sky tribe outpost to position traps all over Fazatchio Forest. Within that shadowed woodland, something ghostly had begun moving. Maybe the Sun soldiers would know about it. Raphil would ask before she impaled them with her spears.

Kopra was the yellow-clad one, his outfit making him stand out from the surrounding foliage. A square-bladed axe rested against his right leg. There seemed to be some large gashes in his military jacket. His partner, called Vassaka, wore similar clothing but in red colouration. Plates of metal had been affixed to his muddy boots. He waved a rusting scimitar at his comrade, speaking through a helmet styled like a dragon's head.
“Trust me! If anything in the world can catch a Kentari, it'll be this. Sometimes you have to admire what the Sky tribe comes up with.”
“Yeah, but I bet they can't waggle their ears.”

Not with our helms on, thought Raphil. These two imbeciles were making no attempt at all to conceal themselves. Seemed rather stupid. Fazatchio Forest should have been an area to avoid at all costs for them. Whatever their goal, Raphil would figure it out before she had to kill them. At that point both were facing away from her. If she brought down Vassaka first, then Kopra would probably be scared witless. She knew how these types usually reacted. Kopra would either freeze or run blindly into entangling branches at the sight of his comrade being slaughtered. Yes, good plan. But better do it now.

Not a sound came from Raphil as she raised one of the spears above her shoulder. It was barely a metre long, but its head, fashioned from greenstone and tipped with neuro-toxin, had proven lethal numerous times. Kopra chatted quietly to the target, not turning around. She could no longer make out their words. Didn't matter. Just ahead, Vassaka's red back invited her strike. Spear was shifted backward slightly, ready for the fatal shot. In milliseconds it would be delivered.

“Oh, and can the young lady behind us please drop her weapons and step away from the tree?”
Raphil gasped. It had been Vassaka who'd said that. How on earth did he know she was there? Both the Sun soldiers began to turn around, and her surprise wore off. In a flash, the spear shot forward at its original target. He raised his fists in a blocking posture. Suddenly something big and green stopped the projectile in mid-air. As it fell into the dead leaf layer under their feet, another soldier came into view. Again Raphil gasped. This newcomer had deflected her spear with a giant metallic pincer, and she recognized him.

Pyritehk. A Sky warrior. One of her own tribe.

“What the heck is going on here?!”
“Calm down, Raphil.”
“Raphil. Pleased to meet you then! I'm sure you're a little confused, but that's logical. Everything's going to be explained. I'm Vassaka, by the way.”
The person she'd just tried to kill extended his right hand for a shake. She didn't take it. Something was extraordinarily wrong. The Sun, Sky and Sea tribes were on the verge of war, each group trying to destroy the others. Yet right in front of her were two Sun members and a Sky member, co-operating. Was she stuck in some sick, twisted dream? Had she gone far, far back in time somehow?

It got stranger. With his mighty pincer, Pyritehk gestured into the trees to his left. Immediately crunching footsteps were heard – from three others. Another Sky soldier, Bikral, was the first to emerge from the dense greenery. Behind him, two more Sun soldiers charged down to join the rest. One of them carried a plasma cannon, the other an ornate flamethrower. Pyritehk introduced them. “This here is Jura, and the burly guy with the flamethrower is Alika. That's our motley crew. All had a few hard knocks in the last couple o' days.”

Still shocked, Raphil looked around at the group quickly, then readied another poison-tipped spear. “You are impostors!”
“'Fraid not.” Pyritehk swiftly removed his lime-coloured helm. His face, minus a laceration down the cheek, looked as familiar as her own hands. Before Raphil could lash out, or do anything silly, Vassaka came forward. His boots swept clouds of dead leaves aside. His question only added to the unnerving mystery. “Do you know what a Kentari is?”
“I do not.”
“Nocturnal quadruped, carries unmarked crescent blades. Has an orange hypnotic eye and limited gravitational manipulation capabilities.”
“What?”
“Have you noticed any strange animals skulking around at night?”

Kentari. While spying on Vassaka and Kopra, she'd heard him mention that name. Although not familiar, it looked likely that the 'Kentari' was the same entity that Raphil's allies had apparently observed. Which meant the Sun tribe members had intruded Fazatchio Forest for a reason. “Okay then. I'll give you people time to explain yourselves. Walk by me, Vassaka, everybody else walk in single file ahead of us with Bikral at the head. Try not to make too much noise. This woodland isn't forgiving to strangers.”
“As you wish, m'lady.” Alika shuffled past her showing a friendly, yet sickening, grin. His smile resembled that of a person on the verge of insanity. Then Raphil shifted her gaze downward, and realized how muscly and tough this man was. His bulk reminded her of a bear. In his left hand he clasped his own dirtied helmet. With the flamethrower strapped to his right arm, he appeared truly formidable. As she'd learn soon, he also happened to be the only member of the group who had been hypnotized by a Kentari. Since it had wiped part of his memory in the process, it was an experience he couldn't even remember.

So a party of seven began to trudge through the undergrowth, shaded by the mighty canopy. Prickly ferns swatted at their trousers as they walked. All around, the tree trunks were blade-scarred. Remnants of a time when Sun and Sea tribe forces were a bit braver and often fought in this region. His heavy disintegrator in his hands, Bikral led the group forward. Bikral's first meeting with the Sun soldiers hand't gone terrifically. In fact, he'd almost been burned alive by Jura and his plasma cannon. They'd tried to settle things since then, but Vassaka still didn't think they could co-operate fully.

Just behind Bikral came Alika, Kopra and Jura, all of them young and alert. Out of these three, Kopra had the sharpest eyesight and the greatest speed. Coupled with his axe, these qualities made him a useful sentry. First line of defence against any Kentari beasts. After them came Pyritehk, he who fought with the huge mechanical pincer. They'd first met him inside the smoking cabin of a wrecked mining vehicle. Grateful for Alika rescuing him from there, he'd been strangely eager to aid those of the Sun tribe. Their mission was of critical importance, as Vassaka explained to Raphil at the end of the group.

“You see Raphil, these Kentaries constitute a fourth tribe of unknown size. Hundreds of years ago they isolated themselves from the other tribes: Sky, Sun and Sea. But then their land was decimated by a meteorite impact. Everybody assumed they'd gone extinct.”
“Is that why I've never heard of them?”
“Yeah. My ancestors were among the few people who wrote records about the Kentaries. Since I used to be a historian myself, I picked up on their research. Recently Alika there strayed into a cave which turned out to have a darn Kentari living in it. It hypnotized Alika, fiddled with his memory, then hunted Kopra and I when we came to get him.”
“So you've seen it yourself?”
“No. Only Alika did, because he had lit a torch. These animals stay hiding in dark places.”
“Like this forest at night! But... what if it's just a similar creature, and not an actual Kentari? I mean, if they were wiped out before-”
“We know it was a real Kentari, because Kopra brought me one of its blades. They're using the same weapons they did centuries ago. I'll admit there are some details that differ. For example, the creature we encountered walked across the ceiling, which is a behaviour my family's records never show. Gravity manipulation is possible, though.”

A lot for the female Sky warrior to take in. However she wasn't satisfied. “So what's your mission then? Trying to track the Kentaries?”
“Not exactly. While it would be very useful to know where they all are, it's also near impossible. No. Our mission is one of peace. We wish to make contact with your generals... and unite the three tribes of Sky, Sun and Sea.”
“Can't be done.”
“Scoff all you like. But in time, you must realize the dreadful truth! Maybe I sound like a preacher, Raphil, but those Kentaries could potentially overwhelm us. They know now that our old society is split into three factions. We're sure they'll soon launch attacks on those factions, bringing them down one at a time. Do you see?”
“Are you saying if the three tribes join together, it'll be enough to defeat them?”
“Precisely!”
“Can't be done.”

From ahead, Bikral's gruff voice issued a warning. “Keep it down, why don't you?” Kopra scanned the surrounding foliage, searching for signs of stalkers. When Vassaka and Raphil resumed conversation, they did so in whispers.
“Why do you think it can't be achieved?”
“Because while you may have Bikral and Pyritehk with you now, our generals are not so kind. And good darn luck trying to get the Sea tribe on your team. Step into their territory and you'll be engulfed instantly by an ocean of swords. Those guys don't take prisoners.”
“Ah, but do you?”
“Sometimes. When those prisoners are... valuable. Regardless, your plan is incredibly unlikely to succeed. Our tribes are almost at war with each other. It's surely too late for unity. Tough luck if Kentaries get involved too, we can find a way of getting them out of the equation. Assuming they're really alive, of course.”
“What I tell you is true, all of it. The Kentari tribe has returned somehow.”
“Prove it,” said Raphil with a sneer.

Next minute Vassaka was on the ground, his hands above his face, hardferns scratching his body. Perhaps he should have been expecting such a situation. Tensions between Raphil and the newcomers were volatile. Shouts and cries erupted from the others as Raphil lowered a spear toward his pulsing jugular. “Why should I believe a sun-scorched one like you?!”
“Because if you don't you will die. Simple as that.”
“You'll die first.”
Expecting a spear to pierce his windpipe at any second and slay him, Vassaka felt sudden despair. And doubt. Doubt about his plan, and doubt about whether any of his companions would survive.

These thoughts were interrupted by a shriek. Vassaka's vision focussed on the woman who had just tried to kill him for the second time. More specifically, he focussed on the pincer clamped around her own neck. Fortunes had turned once again. Pyritehk had just restrained one of his own people to save Vassaka. That was encouraging indeed. Raphil swore at him, somebody wrenched the spear from her grasp.
“Dying at your hands isn't my idea of a mission accomplished, okay? We're here on a peace mission. So I hope we can learn to get along quickly. Release her.”

With a click, Pyritehk withdrew his weapon. Welts showed around Raphil's throat and her expression was one of pure hatred. When her open palm slapped hard across his sweating face, Vassaka wasn't in the least bit surprised. But then she calmed, folding her arms and preparing to continue walking. Without a word, the party moved on. Pyritehk lagged behind and Vassaka eagerly approached him, almost tripping over some kind of root.
“Just wanted to say thank you.”
“Ah, don't worry about it. Or her. I'm sure Raphil will see sense before too long.”
“Actually I'm worried she'll see a Kentari's hypnotic eyeball before she sees sense. Damn these plants... how far away is the Sky tribe outpost?”
“Funny how you assume they'll let you into the outpost. It's not terribly far, but it's well concealed. Let's hope it's too well concealed for Kentaries, eh?”
This week: I am now taking requests! If you want me to model something for you on 'Art of Illusion,' just send me a message. If you'd like to see samples of my work, check out my Art Topic! (hint: it's in the Art forum)

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The Rock Raptor
PART SEVEN

General Santos had built up a formidable reputation as an elite fighter of the Sky tribe. Supporters said that he'd never sustained any injury in battle. His skills in unarmed combat were superb, and his sword only made him more dangerous. From his forest stronghold he could defend the other Sky troops from those of the Sun tribe. One of their bases was some distance to the north. Apparently some problems had arisen there, the kind of shake-ups that Santos' soldiers could be mobilized to exploit. For the moment, things were looking good in his world.

That was about to change. Somebody knocked on the door to his hut; a sentinel previously stationed at the northern gate. Said sentinel needed a moment to catch his breath. He'd sprinted across the area bearing urgent news. Although fearsome in a fight, Santos was neither impatient nor dumb. He allowed this man plenty of time to compose himself.

"Two things, General. We've just been met by two groups who came from beyond the plains. One of them is two dozen strong, it's the battalion that was led by Bikral. They have retreated from the canyons!"
"Never authourized. Where is Bikral, then?"
"That's the thing. Bikral came with the second group. It's only seven strong and... it's extraordinary..."
"Yes?"
"Raphil and Pyritehk are both with him, why I don't know. But the other four... they're Sun tribe soldiers!"
"Four Sun soldiers?!"
"Saw them myself, General. Vassaka, Alika, Jura and Kopra, all from the area we codenamed Shinglefan Base. They were all shown the way up by Raphil."
"Madness!"

Both of them exited the hut. Everything around them, floors, ceilings and walls, creaked softly as it was all composed of wood. Wood filled in with dirt, then covered by heat-proof fabrics in case of a fire. In a woodland this resource is cheap, accessible and renewable. Building a wooden fortress in such a place is convenient and there's a simple way to protect such a place. Construct it up in the trees. Santos' base was, in fact, entirely suspended in the dense canopy, which also hid his soldiers from ground attacks. Some serious engineering had been required, but the solution was ingenious. For most of the time Santos worked high off the ground.

Holding chamber. The General was directed through a trapdoor with a metal bolt upon it. Within sat four strangers, surrounded by a ring of his own allies. Most of them were part of Bikral's team. Pyritehk rose to meet Santos, his clothes filthier than a sub-terra bog. Something very strange must have occurred to induce such a congregation.

"Very well, what is happening?" Why do I see four living Sun tribe members before me? Raphil, you were given kill on sight orders. Bikral, I didn't authourize your retreat. And Pyritehk, where is your miner?"
"Destroyed. We will explain everything."
"Then do so! This is exceedingly peculiar."

Bikral nominated himself to recount everything. His canyon team had been chatting to him in a frightened manner, explaining why they'd come back. First Bikral himself had encountered and imprisoned the four Sun tribe men. They'd escaped, Jura almost frying him to death. Later a mining vehicle was used to pursue them, with Pyritehk and Bikral on board. After a deadly fight and the vehicle's destruction, they ended up joining forces and heading for Fazatchio Forest. There Raphil met the group and, after some scuffles with Vassaka, reluctantly agreed to lead them into the treetop stronghold. Why?

Vassaka and his friends had left their own outpost, heading out on a peace mission. Rather than invade enemy territory, these four had tried to ally with the enemy Sky tribe. Although each faction wanted to bring down the other, both of them had a bigger worry. Another force, of unknown size, consisting of ghastly creatures called Kentaries. One of the Kentari's traits is hypnosis ability. Alika had personally been a victim of this, but he couldn't remember the experience, as it had wiped part of his memory.

Until being re-united with his team, Bikral hadn't had any idea of what occurred after all that. But as he explained to his General, there was more to the story. Two days after he left the canyon his soldiers had been attacked. Something had ambushed them all during the night. Something with a glowing orange eye, armed with arcane blades stained with blood. One man had suffered a long gash down his arm. Another had lost his helmet to the beast. Their descriptions smelled of Kentari. Vassaka felt sure that serious trouble was on the way, and he hoped to get a message back to his fellows across the plains. For all he knew, they could be dead.

After the full story had been told, Santos put a hand to his unshaven chin and cursed under his breath. Now he understood what had driven these people to the stronghold. But could he really trust four Sun soldiers, representatives of an enemy tribe, within his territory? Two words would initiate their execution. That could be entertaining... but if a Kentari creature was about to strike, as they said, their loss might be disadvantageous. "You there," he said, "What are you planning to do about this?" Jura was the one he'd asked.

"Well General, my friends and I have a good idea of how this enemy may operate. Together we can keep an eye open for it, be your advance guard. That way all Sky tribe members shouldn't have cause for concern."
"So where does your alliegance lie?"
"With anybody who wants to help deal with these bastards."

The General nodded slowly. Next he addressed all four Sun tribe men. "Consider yourselves lucky. If Bikral's team weren't here to back you up, I may well have killed you. However this isn't simple. I'd like you four to meet outside my hut for a test. Then you'll need to be introduced to the others who are stationed here. Also, I'm afraid I can't allow you to carry your weapons within this fortress' walls."
"Way about of you, man!"

Alika raised his hand, then pointed to where his flamethrower was stashed. Pyritehk was watching over it in the corner. The others allowed Raphil to stride over and remove their weapons. Into that corner were passed several knives, an axe, a scimitar, a plasma cannon with scope and a length of greasy cheese wire. "Excellent. All those of Sky, you may do as you wish. You can stay here in the fortress until further notice." Off the hook, all those guys (and Raphil) climbed back out through the trapdoor.

"As for you, please follow me. Single file." Outside the purple sky indicated night approaching quickly - and night was when Kentaries became active. Last person out of the chamber was Kopra. As he pulled the trapdoor shut he spotted a wing-shaped emblem carved into its surface. That served as the Sky tribe's symbol. It was unusual to see it there, in a place Kopra would have otherwise tried to burn down. Strange; he no longer had any desire to fight these guys. What was it about anyway? Why did these factions have to be so close to war? All because of land domination, control of resources, economic stuff that suddenly didn't seem important. Not with a Kentari army potentially resurrecting itself.

One by one, they entered the General's hut. Santos spent around ten minutes with each soldier, not permitting them to talk to each other. When Kopra's turn came, he had little idea of what constituted this 'test.' Stepped inside to find a desk with a box-like machine atop it. Several needles protruded from its side, tracing straight lines on a rotating roll of paper. In Santos' hands were a few black fibres; electrical wires. His hut had a power source of some kind! That was unusual, as nobody in the Sun tribe had been brought up to trust electricity.

"Sit down please. Name?"
"Kopra."
"Very good. This shouldn't take long, it's quite simple. I'll connect you to this device, ask a few direct questions, then it shall analyse your answers."
"Um... what exactly is said device? We're not technologically minded, us Sun types."
"It's called a polygraph," tapping the machine. Kopra still looked confused. "Or, in basic terms, a lie detector."
"Does it hurt in any instances?"
"No, I'm not that cruel. Otherwise you'd be being interrogated while suspended upside-down above a toxic peat bog."
"So you have a good imagination as well."
"Come on now. I'm going to stick these bits, electrodes, onto your face."

Next minute, Kopra looked like the black wires were coming out of his head. Those needles on the polygraph, or whatever it was called, had started flicking around somewhat. They appeared to be displaying a pattern of brainwaves or something equivalent. Very interesting.

"Okay Kopra, we're ready! First question. Have you seen a Kentari yourself?"
"No sir, but Alika has. One of them chased us out of its cave. It was hidden by shadow the whole time, so..." Santos studied the paper readout for a few seconds, then turned back to his subject.

"Second question. How many people at your base know where you are?"
"None. Jura had the chance to tell them what we were doing, but he didn't as far as I know. We figured that a team of four was the right size to travel undetected, but not unprotected."
"But then you made a mistake, didn't you? You strayed into the canyons."
"A logistical glitch, we had no idea Bikral was down there."
Another glance at the polygraph readout. Then, "Finally, would you have any reason to, say, misguide me?"
"None."

Santos took a moment to disconnect the wires from Kopra, then have a close look at the paper. Suddenly Kopra felt very nervous. An abherrant signal, an unexpected spike in the readout, could incriminate him with fatal consequences. When Santos looked up again he had his pokerface on. Then a grin split it. "Your team have all passed, Kopra. For a while you may stay in my company and help us prepare for whatever comes from the north. Welcome to the forest fortress!"

Just like a friend, he then extended his hand so that Kopra could shake it. These so-called mortal enemies were actually quite nice when one got past the knives and claws.
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The Rock Raptor
PART EIGHT


"Fighters of the Sky tribe, I have something of high importance to share with you! Last night four men from the Sun tribe were allowed into our stronghold. They pose no threat." General Santos addressed his troops upon a large central deck, where the floor and walls were made of wood reinforced by carbon-fibre. This served as the safe room; all its doors could be locked electronically. "But they have brought a message of real danger."
"How do you know they're right? To what extent did you trust these enemies?"
"Please don't speak out of turn."

Next Santos took a breath and thought about his following words. "You see, our canyon team led by Bikral has also returned. They were able to vouch for what these Sun people had to say. What I have learned is... disturbing. Something lives to the north, something that is powerful and potentially numerous. This has a name: Kentari. What's more, it is making its way down toward our forest. Soon we might be in trouble."

As he explained to his troops, the Kentari could be a serious danger. Santos felt the tension rising among them. Most of his men didn't believe what they were hearing. When he'd finished speaking, one soldier asked, "What did you do with these Sun tribe ones? Where are they now, General?"
"After being disarmed they were subjected to my polygraph."
"And so..?"
"Currently they are just next door."

An uproar began in the safe room. Soldiers raised their fists and stammered in outrage. They thought it preposterous that four people of Sun had survived, let alone been allowed to stay within the treetop stronghold. In his mind, Santos had been expecting this reaction. "Okay men, quiet now. Quiet!" Still shouting. The General reached down and unsheathed his mighty sword. Doing so produced a sound that rang out inside the room. Suddenly everybody was quiet. Santos lifted his weapon and rested its blade against his shoulder pad.
"That's better. Now I'd like to introduce to you... Team Solaris."

Behind him the wooden door swung open and seven figures entered. First came two familiar faces: Bikral and Pyritehk. Then emerged a man clad in dark red, bearing the symbol of the Sun tribe on his chest. In his hands he carried a dragonoid helmet tarnished by woodland dirt. This was Vassaka, nominated as leader of the newly dubbed 'Team Solaris.' Behind him were Alika, tank-like infantry, and Kopra the yellow-clad new sentry. Jura followed; a sharp-tongued man with a quick mind, he and his plasma cannon provided reliable reinforcement. Finally Raphil backed up the group with her neurotoxic spears. Together they'd hopefully be able to defeat a Kentari creature.

While they came into the chamber, Santos' men looked on as if these visitors were poisonous. Their very prescence seemed repulsive. What was their General thinking? One particularly vexed soldier began fingering the hilt of her knife. Then she drew it and, without a word, threw it straight at Alika's head. They were ready. Alika rolled sideways just as Santos brought up his blade. With a well-timed swing, the sword connected and sent the thrown knife spinning across the room. It stopped, embedded firmly in the wall.
"Charming to meet you too, uh..."
"Her name's Surkral. Excuse me Raphil, could you please escort your sister back to her normal post?"

Raphil came forward and grabbed the guilty party by her wrists. This girl, Surkral, did nothing to resist. She'd just lost it in front of everybody else in the stronghold. As they left the room, Alika noticed a slight resemblance. They were sisters all right, but the look on Raphil's face hinted at a rocky relationship. After a moment they were gone. Then Jura decided to speak out.

"Good start. Now I'm no muppet guys. My friends and I know very well the current circumstances. Alika here has just been subject to... a rather childish attack. Our leader Vassaka was introduced to your Raphil by her chucking a spear at him. Myself, I've almost been killed by Bikral there. Although I did set him on fire once. Long story."
"What's your point?"
"My point is, as General Santos has already stated, all of us have the same problem. There is another group which is going to try and wipe us out. What makes this even more problematic is that we're trying to wipe each other out at the same time! So some changes need to be made. At the moment both the Sky tribe and the Sun tribe are behaving like bands of monkeys. Who else reckons we need to act more productively?"

Pause. Then a green-clad warrior stepped forward. "Alright mate. If you were lying, he would have killed you by now, " pointing at Santos. "But here you are, Solaris! So I think it's time to start aiming in the right direction."
"Agreed."
"I'm with you guys!"

One by one, the Sky soldiers submitted and declared their loyalty. After so much conflict, they'd finally succeeded in uniting with Santos' forces. Vassaka's 'crazy' plan was working! However the even harder part would soon begin. Somewhere outside those wood walls lurked a Kentari. With alien abilities and ghostly stealth, this animal was capable of lethal destruction. It could strike as soon as the sun set.

Evening found the members of Team Solaris stationed on platforms around the stronghold. This building, along with all occupants, was entirely suspended in the thick canopy of Fazatchio Forest. There was no way it could be seen from ground level, especially at night. Six platforms, built for sentinels, had been constructed in the trees at the base of the stronghold. Each of these platforms was composed of a wooden raft, its underside protected by a titanium plate. Woodland foliage concealed them from outside view.

Upon one such platform, Alika held his post with assistance from Kopra. As darkness descended these two realized that somebody could die within the next few hours. Now that was a dark thought. When the duo talked, they did so in nervous whispers.
"Are you okay, buddy?"
"I'm doing fine. But... there's something I need to tell you, Kopra."
"You're hungry."
"No, it ain't that. I've been thinking. Back at that cave, where all this started, the Kentari hypnotized me and destroyed part of my memory."
"That's what it looked like, yeah."

"Well I must have used my flamethrower just before that happened. When you woke me up, I remember my finger being stuck to the trigger. That means this Kentari can identify me by my weapon. I'm the only person around who uses a flamethrower." Alika eyed his tool; it had been given back to him before he went on duty. "What's more, I've been using this on the way to the forest. Wherever we've burned something, a signature has been left. I think the Kentari might be following us based on these traces of fire."
"But then... it's following you."
"Yeah."
"And it might be very close."
"Hmm. Problem."

They stood in silence for a bit. Kopra thought about his friend's idea, trying to guess what exactly their enemy would do. Waiting for it to come to them could be a bad idea. On the other hand, it might not show up at all.
"Hey, how long are we supposed to be here?"
"Until dawn, that's what Vassaka promised. We need to secure the trust of these guys."
"It ain't too warm up here though. I should have brought something to read."
"But it's dark. And you're on duty, sentinel."

With a grunt, Alika moved away slightly and looked out into the darkness. By then his eyes had adjusted to the night. He could make out the outlines of leaves all around, shaken by a miniscule breeze. Alika recalled that the Kentari's eye was luminous. If it looked at him, he'd know about it. Except it was almost certainly not dumb enough to navigate with glowing gaze alone.
"Alika."
"Yeah?"
"Nature's calling. I'll be away for a second, will you be fine up here alone?"
"Sure. Try and be quick."

One member of team Solaris (and his axe) was occupied. Although Alika didn't realize it, he was suddenly very vulnerable. There came an unusual sound from a neighbouring tree. It started quiet, almost inaudible, but escalated in volume. A long noise strangely like a purr, only far more menacing. As it ascended into a beastly growl, he started frantically scanning the surrounding woodland. "Kopra, get up here!" Too late. Something seized his right arm, tearing that flamethrower away. Then the orange eye of the Kentari was right in front of his face.

When Kopra heard the cry, he readied his axe and charged back to the treetop platform. He somersaulted off a branch back onto it, not finding Alika there. His heart started skipping beats. Cold sweat chilled his back. Just below him, a distinctive object had been tossed. Alika's flamethrower. Picking it up out of the foliage, Kopra felt something wet trickle onto his fingers. Brought them up to his nose and sniffed. Blood. His friend had just been snatched away, possibly slaughtered, while the rest of his team were oblivious. "Oh crap."
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The Rock Raptor
PART NINE


For a long time the only footprints on land had been those of the soldiers who had decimated everything else. Certainly nobody had observed a Kentari track for centuries. When Vassaka searched for such tracks, his findings left him puzzled. Tell-tale gouges and scratches in the thick bark of trees. Branches splintered by something heavy grasping them. Only a Kentari could have made these marks, but all of Vassaka’s research told him that Kentaries had four limbs. Kopra said that this animal must have had six.

“Only insects have six legs, Kopra.”
“Yet this Kentari does as well! As a guy with trained trackin’ eyes, I can assure you that we’re not actually dealing with a quadruped.”
“But we’ve seen that it can manipulate gravity… why need any legs at all?”
“I reckon its gravity field has a very short range.”
“Even so…”
Team Solaris had lost one member during the night. With terrifying ease, the Kentari had snatched Alika and left only his flamethrower behind. Since daybreak, his allies had been scouring the depths of Fazatchio Forest, desperate to find him.

So far they’d faced much frustration and confusion. Being active only at night, this Kentari was a truly enigmatic beast. Not even Vassaka knew what it was physically like, or where it would be during day time. Alika could have been taken anywhere in the woodland. They didn't even know whether he was alive or not. Those Sky tribe soldiers in the team knew the forest like the tops of their boots, but knew nothing of where he was likely to be. Everybody involved felt a grave fear.

For one person searching, there could be digression from this dread. Surkral had been disarmed after throwing a knife at Alika the day before. Reluctantly she’d agreed to look for him alongside her sister Raphil. If anybody still mistrusted the Sun soldiers present, it would have been these two. Since they’d been united under Vassaka’s command, Surkral had to hide any dark emotions and concentrate on the ‘common enemy.’ She doubted their search would yield anything though. Last thing they’d heard from Alika was the kind of scream emitted by a man sinking into a bog. Chances were, they’d never see him again.

Another Sun tribe comrade arrived, crashing through fern thickets and swatting away scaly vines. This was Jura, tough in battle and a surprisingly quick learner. He’d gained experience by watching those of Sky navigate the forest environment. For a moment Surkral’s face showed a playful smirk. Then she called out to Jura; he jumped onto a decaying log and sprinted across to her. “How can I help?”
“Well, I better say sorry for what I did yesterday. If I’d known this would happen to Alika, I wouldn’t have-“
“None of us could predict this. And we understand why you chucked a knife at him. I tried to kill Bikral not long ago… back then even Vassaka thought our goal was ridiculous.”

A pause, then “That was a good shot, by the way.”
“What?”
“The knife! Any muppet can pick up a piece of metal and throw it. You seem to have a pretty strong throwing arm though.”
“Oh. Well, I didn’t want to be a spearman like my sister. So I just made my own blades when I was a teenager and started training with them. The General said I’d got a useful skill and hired me as a soldier. That really made Raphil jealous.”
“You don't like your sister?”
“My sister’s really up herself. She always thought that, because she was older, she’d be better than me at everything. Well she’s wrong…”

Jura turned away from Surkral, aware that their chat had distracted him from the search. Bright sunlight was shining into his face, despite the dense canopy overhead. A strange, reflective object lay on the ground ahead. “I hope that ain’t what I think it is!” Together they ran forward, a risky action in the knee-high undergrowth. Said reflective object appeared to be a curved mirror. Alika wouldn’t have carried such a thing. Too big to be a visor of some kind. This mirror must have come from something else.

“Anomalous, that is.” Green-clad Pyritehk leaped off another log and met the duo. “This looks a bit familiar though.”
“It was just sitting there, at the base of this tree. Why would there be a mirror there?”
“Not sure…” Beside them stood a gnarled trunk. Pyritehk’s eyes scanned its surface and spotted something high up. “Of course! Look, it’s a signal mirror!” He pointed and Jura noticed a circular plate of metal affixed there. One of these had been located in the canyon system to the north, where he and Bikral clashed for the first time. “A signal mirror,” said he.
“Yeah. There’s a series of these across the forest; we use them to communicate with Sky tribe battalions outside this territory.”

They’d found a signal mirror with the mirror component removed and dropped out of that tree, rendering it useless. “Oh no,” said Surkral, “that must have been the Kentari! It’s tried to cut off our communications.”
“It’s a clever bastard, ain’t it?”
“We better assemble the rest of the team. I reckon Vassaka will want to see this. Alika’s got to be around here somewhere!”

At that moment Raphil appeared out of the shadows. Surkral took a step closer to Jura’s side, not wanting to be near her sister at the best of times. “Pardon me, but aren’t you assuming too much that Alika isn’t dead?”
“For my practical intents and purposes, he’s alive.” Jura then edged closer to Raphil, who sounded angered by her own fruitless search. “You want this team to work out or not? If my friends has been killed, away goes our hope. We sit around like muppets waiting for a Kentari to chop our heads off. But as long as we’re together, Alika is alive.”
“I see. You Sun types think that morale and hope are all that’s important.”
“What are you sayin’?”
“You need to face facts, Jura. This creature has evaded us. Ask yourself this: if Alika were still alive, wouldn’t he be tying to find us as well?”


Dusk came and sparked the sky’s transition from blue to red, then to purple. Nights had become steadily longer since Vassaka originally set out from his northern outpost. So much had happened in that time, so many lives altered or lost. Alika’s abduction was the most recent in a sequence of testing events. Fortunately that’s all it was, an abduction. As darkness drew closer, a very alive Alika woke high above the forest floor.

This warrior had been unconscious since his capture, so he had no clue as to his location. Except he still seemed to be in Fazatchio Forest. Fading sunlight revealed a screen of leaves surrounding his head. Below him could be seen a thick branch covered in scratches, then just impenetrable foliage. Bundles of vines were wrapped around his arms and across his chest, securing him to the cold tree trunk. Tiny insects crawled upon his damp clothing. The Kentari must have concealed him quite high indeed. Alika couldn’t see anything near ground level.

The sun dipped at a faster pace, preparing to plunge his surroundings into darkness. A noise came from below; the sound of a blade scraping wood. Sounded like his Kentari tormentor was returning. Placing his feet on the bark, Alika tried to wrench himself free. In frightened desperation he struggled like a fly caught in a spider’s web. His bonds refused to break. Suddenly a monstrosity was upon him, glaring with a single orange eye. It issued a reptilian hiss that chilled Alika to his core. Then, incredibly, it spoke.

“Entire day pass and still they’ve yet to find you.” Little in this beast’s tone made it sound human. Its scratchy yet sadistic tone resembled nothing he’d heard before. “Now night arrives, my turn. Explanation to you.”
“You… you speak?”
Without warning, the tip of a curved blade was buried in the bark next to Alika’s right ear. “Kentari speak and you listen! We speak since humans change us. Explanation if you stay silent.” That eye had moved closer. If Alika didn’t keep his mouth shut, the Kentari could shut it for him.

“Meteor come, Kentari hide. Many of us dead. You think we’re all dead and you forget us. Except human from Sun, he come to us. He use genetic engine and he change us. Kentari grow and learn to control earth-force.” It spoke very slowly, letting these words sink in. Somebody had genetically altered these creatures? Nobody had used such technology for centuries… not since the Kentaries themselves went ‘extinct.’

“Man with gene engine, he have descendants. Most dead. But some live and fight now. Some have mind of him. One of them I find… Alika!” Some creaking noises were produced as the Kentari adjusted its grip. It hissed again, its hypnotic eye blinking. What it had just said was significant, but didn’t quite explain why Alika was tied to a tree, on the verge of wetting himself. Talk again and he’d probably lose his head. A foul smell wafted from the blade already slammed next to him. The smell of dried blood.

“Now I tell you. Friends at outpost all dead. I kill them. You have no home. But you can join Kentari, you come from man with gene engine. Join Kentari! If not, friends in forest dead. Then you dead. Alika help us to rise again.” Another blink, then “I explain. Speak.”
“Okay… you’ve killed everybody back at my base?”
“Yes.”
“So you want me to join your tribe in order to betray my own, as a relative of somebody who bred you in secret?”
A pause. “Yes.”

Two things stopped Alika from trying to throttle this beast. Firstly, he was still just as tied up by vines as he’d been before. Second, although it was almost pitch black, something below them had tugged at his attention. Very subtle, but just what he’d been hoping to spot. He faced the Kentari’s eye and declared, “Let me down right now and I’ll help you clear out this forest. Those other soldiers aren’t my friends anyway.”

Another boomerang-shaped blade slashed through his bonds, freeing Alika. Support came from the great branch underfoot, which he grabbed with his hands. Quietly the Kentari moved downward, Alika clambering behind. He’d seen something that it hadn’t. As they neared the forest floor, he halted his climb and rested on a bough. However the Kentari didn’t stop. It touched the base of this tree, not anticipating what happened next. A flaming torch sailed through the night air. Then eight soldiers erupted from the dark, all of them armed and ready for a fight to the death. Team Solaris had found their target at last. Alika jumped down and his flamethrower was tossed to him. They faced a deadly Kentari together for the first time, prepared to bring it down. “You’ve got a lot to learn about human types, haven’t you? For instance, how friends never give up on each other.”
Edited by Dekky, Thursday, 10. January 2013, 07:41.
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The Rock Raptor
PART TEN

Pain had become a familiar sensation to Bikral. He'd begun to accept it like a backstabbing friend. During his years he had been stabbed, set on fire, electrocuted and dropped into a mine shaft. This time there was no pain. Bikral could taste dirt and decaying plant material in his mouth. He could smell his own blood seeping into the soil. He could hear the ghoulish cries from the creature behind him. However he didn't feel pain. They say that there is no pain in death.

Moments before, a boomerang-shaped blade had been sliced clean into his spine. Elsewhere lay the crushed remnants of his disintegrator gun. Pointing it at the Kentari beast had resulted in a death sentence. Survival was out of the question for Bikral, but that relieved him in his final seconds. Since meeting this band of soldiers from the Sun tribe, he'd been thrust into a hellish nightmare. For those trapped in it there were only two ways out. Vassaka's way involved the three human factions on the Continent to stop fighting each other and co-operate. Bikral was inadvertently taking the other way. With a slow breath he made his farewell to the earth.

As it lashed out again, the Kentari hissed and its eye glowed intensely. Raphil was sent flying backward with a splintered spear in her hands. She landed near Bikral's corpse, seeing the deep gash in his back. It had been a brutal shock, watching his end. Far worse than anything she had witnessed before. To his white face she whispered, “Rest in peace sir.” Then she stood up tall and charged forward again. “Tonight will not be our end!”

The Kentari slashed at Pyritehk, its blade meeting his giant pincer and being deflected. As it tried again it hissed at him like a python. Pyritehk tried to jump back but it caught him, throwing him into the ferns. Blood began to seep out from his jacket, but the damage was minimal. Two of the other Solaris fighters, Jura and Vassaka, struck from behind the Kentari, but it knew they were there. Two of its arachnoid legs hit them square in the chest. Vassaka’s scimitar was torn from his grip and Jura was sent flying into a tree trunk. “Ach, thorns! We really should have thought that through better.”

Indeed. Even with seven soldiers against it, the beast was holding its ground. General Santos took a swipe at it with his broadsword, but the Kentari parried his blow and then kicked him in the face. Raphil screamed at it, trying to unnerve it before going in with another spear. That was less successful than her last attempt. All this left Kopra and Alika, who came at it from the left side without warning. The gas cylinder on Alika’s back clanked as he ran. The Kentari stood perfectly still, a hideous six-legged silhouette in the fire from Alika’s flamethrower. Somehow the heat didn’t seem to affect it, but it kept Kopra from getting too close. Alika made the mistake of looking too closely. His enemy’s orange eye flashed at him and suddenly he was trapped in its gaze. “You go. Hide in dark.” It had taken hold again. Shutting off his weapon, Alika turned around and walked away from the fight. As he did so, Kopra watched him in bewilderment, losing focus on everything else.

“Kentari!” That brought Kopra back. He saw the Kentari’s head snap around to look at Jura, whose plasma cannon pointed right at it. Probably a good time to step back. Jura shouted, “You think Bikral went down easy? This is the gun that almost destroyed him, it will destroy you!” Without hesitation he pulled the trigger. Nobody else moved – not even the Kentari. All it did was watch as a superheated ball of plasma rocketed toward it, lighting up the clearing in orange. “You not see,” it said. To their amazement, the plasma shot began to slow down. Just before it struck its target, it stopped in mid-air and froze. Their leader Vassaka slapped himself, having failed to expect that it would use its gravity control. They wouldn’t get anywhere by shooting at it.

Having retrieved his scimitar, Vassaka leapt up onto a log. “Team Solaris, charge!” With Bikral slain and Alika under hypnosis they’d have to end it quickly. All six of them sprinted at the Kentari with their various knives and instruments poised. Quietly the enemy moved away from the floating plasma ball, waiting for them all to reach it. It stared at Santos, trying to hypnotize him, but he held his eyes low to avoid that trick. They were starting to be careful. From all sides the soldiers attacked, but it still had no reason to worry. With one leg it thumped the leaf litter and reversed their gravitational fields. All six of them were sent hurtling upward, crashing into each other. General Santos was shocked to see the beast below him and feel only air around him. But this effect was very limited; four metres above ground level they began to fall down again.

Santos hit first and the other five landed on top of him. He bellowed in pain, prompting the others to get back up. Raphil looked back at him and spotted a dreadful bend in his right arm. The bone there had been fractured. The Kentari knew this, having heard the crack. Only five soldiers were left. However these five were becoming more and more determined to slaughter it and bring a stop to the chaos. They were fighting for their friends and for their entire species. No longer did they feel fear, only rage. The woodland echoed with their roars as they tried to strike again.


Surkral and her friends sat upon the floor of the treetop fortress, waiting in anguish. They’d watched Team Solaris leave to do battle with what sounded like a demon. Some doubted that hope existed for them. “You know, they didn’t have to come here. Why did that Vassaka bloke have to lead it to Fazatchio Forest?”
“He didn’t realize it was following them,” retorted Surkral.
“He should have realized. Bloody Sun types.”
“As I’ve already explained to you guys, the Kentari does its best not to be noticed.”
“How come Vassaka thinks he knows everything about it, anyway? Darned dodgy, if you ask me.”
“Maybe he just made it up.”
“What, a hoax?”
“Yeah! I mean…”

The three girls with her began chatting among themselves, all of it nonsene. Surkral had seen the tracks left by the Kentari, she’d heard the scream from Alika as he was snatched away. She knew what they were up against. One of her friends said aloud, “And that Jura bloke, what about him? He looks like the type to go around asking for trouble.” That annoyed Surkral; she felt something for Jura.
“Hey, what have you got against that man?”
“Who, Jura?”
“Yes.”
“Where do I start…”

It was obvious that the Sun tribe members hadn’t got complete trust after all. That would displease Vassaka, assuming he hadn’t been killed already. “I’ll have you know that those men are out there fighting right now, making sure that we can keep living here!”
“Pah! You’d have to be an idiot to believe them.”
“Then call me an idiot.”
“Besides, what are you going to do about it, Surkral? Your sister’s the one who’s a good fighter.”

That really got to her. Surkral loathed her older sister Raphil, the one who had let Vassaka and his companions enter Fazatchio Forest in the first place. She swore at the girls, screwing up her hands into fists, but they just giggled at her. “I’ve had enough of this! You know what I’m going to do? I’m going out there!”
“Oh, but there’s a Kentari out there! Ha ha ha…”

She would waste no more time on these three. They could laugh all they wanted, as long as they stayed in the wooden fortress where they belonged. Surkral stood up and left them in the chamber. Shafts of moonlight penetrated the ceiling, the hilt of a throwing knife glinting at her side.


For the third time Jura’s head smacked into scaly bark and he collapsed into the undergrowth. Pyritehk tried to revive him, but the Kentari didn’t give him much time. It beat back Kopra and Vassaka simultaneously, then advanced on him. Raphil leapt out from the scrub behind Pyritehk and jabbed at its head. Her last spear failed to hit and inject its neurotoxic payload, as the Kentari swatted it out of her hands. The mechanical pincer closed around its arm but Pyritehk couldn’t keep a grip. With the blade in its other hand, the Kentari wrenched itself free, then knocked him into Raphil. Both of them tumbled back and became entangled in the bushes.

By then Kopra had revived and he snuck up behind it again. This time the Kentari took longer to notice him there, but it realized just before Kopra’s axe could come down and split its spine. It whirled around with incredible speed and a second later Kopra was on his back with a gash across his forearm. Turning onto his front, he lay on the dead leaf litter and coughed blood. Intense pain washed over him for a moment. His only comfort was Vassaka’s voice taunting the Kentari, distracting it for a moment. Kopra drew in a deep breath and forced himself up again. His arm trembled and his feet were unsteady, but with his trusty axe in one piece, he wasn’t yet out of the fight.

Four ragged soldiers lurched out of the shadows like zombies. For the last time they charged at their enemy, meeting it head-on. Vassaka’s scimitar and Kopra’s axe slashed at its neck. Pyritehk tried to clamp his pincer around its body and Raphil kicked at its legs. Their energy had all but run out and their perseverance would have surprised Bikral. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough. The Kentari swiped, lashed and shoved, and too soon all four of them were lying breathless. Vassaka had been flung furthest from the Kentari, almost colliding with the plasma ball that still hovered at eye level. His weapon was still in his hand, which made him the most likely threat. He became the Kentari’s next target.

As it moved toward him, Vassaka backed away, crawling along the forest floor. His strength wasn’t sufficient for him to stand up, let alone defend against such a monster on his own. To him it seemed that the strength of the team had failed. There was doubt in his mind, doubt about the survival of the Sun, Sky and Sea tribes. He’d been a fool to think they’d have any chance against any number of Kentaries. As its curved blade reached for his throat there was only one thing left to say. “Bollocks.”

Through watering eyes, he saw the ball of plasma suspended just behind the Kentari, held there by a small sphere without gravity. Something else appeared in his vision next to it. A cry came from Kopra. There was some rounded red item sailing through the air in the direction of that glowing ball. What luck; it was Alika’s gas canister! A container of flamethrower fuel had been thrown from outside the clearing. Too late, the Kentari realized what Vassaka was looking at. Too late it turned to see the canister, virtually in slow-motion, collide with the frozen plasma ball. Nothing could stop what happened next.

An explosion of volcanic proportions illuminated the woodland, tearing branches off the surrounding trees and sending them into the sky. It produced a shockwave that flung Vassaka into the fern scrub, then rained dirt upon him. Had he been any closer to the epicentre it could have been a lot worse. A plume of intense heat shot up and ignited leaves in the canopy above, bathing the trees in fire. He had no way of knowing whether the others were okay. Only the Kentari had been closer to the plasma ball, so his comrades should have been fine.

Once it all stopped, the debris falling back to earth, Vassaka couldn’t see the Kentari anywhere. If justice did exist, it would have been vapourized. Not so; a smouldering stench told him to look at one of the tree trunks to his right. Sprawled across it was the smoking six-limbed form of the Kentari. “Serves you right, you freak.” But then its head turned, the eye glowing very weakly. Somehow it was still alive, despite being caught in the middle of the explosion. Its body tumbled into the leaf litter with a crash. He couldn’t see its two boomerang-shaped blades.

“Look out man!” Pyritehk reached them, his clothing undamaged and his breath returning. Of all those involved, he was the only one who still had enough energy to act. His pincer clamped onto the Kentari’s neck very tightly. Its eye closed for the last time as he took a knife from his belt. Against all odds, Team Solaris had come out on top. That made Vassaka sit up and remove his helmet, watching as Pyritehk secured their victory. However the costs to them were too heavy. Bikral’s life had been lost.

Kopra had blacked out with a gashed arm, General Santos suffering a broken one. Jura would wake up with a concussion and dozens of thorns in his back. Raphil needed new spears to fight with and she was bruised all over. Somewhere in the forest, Alika had been put under a trance again and his flamethrower no longer had fuel. All of them had suffered during the night, but it was over. His thoughts took over as a question occurred to Vassaka. “Hey… who threw the gas bottle?”
“I don’t know,” replied Pyritehk. His pincer snapped open and a corpse fell from it. Black blood dripped from his knife.

Somebody else entered the area, her movements tentative. Fire revealed her face, which looked a lot like Raphil’s. Of course, it was her sister.
“Surkral! Spot-on timing if ever I saw it.”
“Thanks Pyritehk, but… what is that thing?!”
“This is the Kentari.”
“It’s a monster.”
“So you see the complication we faced. But it’s over. Our stronghold is safe.”

All around there were groans of agreement. Surkral could see the members of Solaris in varying states of health, with her sister tangled up in a fern thicket. One person couldn’t be seen. “Tell me, where is Bikral?”
“Uh… it ain’t pretty.” Vassaka pointed across to a distrubance in the undergrowth. Peering closely, she spotted a lifeless figure there. “Oh my god.”
“He died as a hero, that man. We should remember Bikral as the one who fought a Kentari. I say we take him back to the treetop stronghold and preserve his body.”
“Okay. How about we get out of here?”
“It’ll take a while. Half of us are unconscious.”
“Then let’s get started.”

He was glad to have Surkral there to help out. They worked with Pyritehk and Raphil to carry the others back through Fazatchio Forest. Their state would settle the argument of whether or not Kentaries existed. By the time Bikral’s body had been removed it was morning. Dawn revealed a scorched, smouldering patch in the woodland. Much had been lost. Vassaka could find comfort though, because they’d won it by working together. Jura fired his plasma cannon, then Surkral set off the blast. Soldiers from two different tribes had come together in combat and they’d won. That was exactly what he’d wanted to achieve. Whatever the losses, Vassaka’s plan had worked. His earth no longer seemed divided.
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Hi, this is now my reading project for my free time at work. I haven't looked at this before, so I'll be doing this from the start. Would you be interested in comments on your earlier chapters? So I know where to expend my effort :P
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The Rock Raptor
Uh, sure. The earliest chapters were written two to three years ago and more recent ones are much better written, but do whatever floats your boat. Cheers :)
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The Rock Raptor
PART ELEVEN


Dawn. As the insects' morning chorus began, shafts of reddish light pierced the canopy of Fazatchio Forest. They formed a brilliant pattern of points upon the leaf litter. Between the trees there had been utter darkness moments before, but now those spaces were illuminated. Many kinds of beetle and wasp buzzed from within pockets of vegetation. Leaves of all sizes rose toward the sky, heavy with condensation and ready to make the most of the little sunlight that reached them. Massive conifers shot upward, then burst into arrays of branches, meshing together to form the forest's patchy ceiling.

In one spot the dawn chorus had competition. A bubbling pool of black fluid in the middle of an otherwise normal clearing, steaming and popping like a hot spring. This pool drew the attention of a being larger than any insect. He came crashing through the fern undergrowth, moving with surprising speed for somebody so bulky. Copper and red-coloured plates of armour protected his stout body and his face was obscured by a round helmet. In his right hand he carried a flamethrower.

This man bent down to inspect the pool. He was careful not to stand directly over it, lest some black ooze spurted onto him, as it was hotter than boiling water. He tilted his helmet and sniffed at the gas coming off. Satisfied, he placed his weapon on the ground and removed a metal cylinder from his back. The two were connected via some heat-proof tubing. Disconnecting the tube from the cylinder, he left it open and held it carefully over the pool.

“Alika! What are you up to, man?” His yellow-clad friend bounded after him, axe in hand. Alika didn't look up from his work. “Nice of you to drop in, Kopra. I'm just refilling my gas.”
“With that stuff?”
“Phlogiston. That's what it used to be called. I suspected there might be volcanic activity on this side o' the jungle, which would mean little pools like this would spring up. The gas they give off is more inflammable than the cheap stuff I used to burn things with.”
“Ah. Well you better be quick here. General Santos is expecting us back at the fortress soon. It's time to plan the next part of our trip.”
“I'll be with you in ten minutes.”

Eleven minutes later the pair of Sun tribe soldiers were heading back in the direction they'd come. It had been eight days since their arrival in the forest, so they were becoming adept at navigating through the dense foliage. Kopra hopped from one fallen log to the next with the grace of the extinct mountain goat. Alika just ploughed through it all, but with such speed that he could keep up with his companion.

After a quarter of an hour of this, they came across a sad sight. In this particular clearing there were signs of a terrible event. Dirt had been kicked up all around. Every tree at the edge of the clearing had been scorched and blackened by fire, and most had ghastly slash marks in them. This was where the Kentari had been fought and destroyed, courtesy of an explosion triggered by Alika's old gas tank. Hence his need to siphon off phlogiston.

Their victory here hadn't been a total success. In the centre of this scene were many thin pieces of bark, arranged in the outline of a coffin. At its lower end lay two crossed boomerang-shaped blades, the Kentari's weapons. “Here lies our brave Bikral,” said Kopra as he crossed himself. “Gives me jitters, remembering how it happened.”

Bikral had died in an awful manner; the thick, dried blood coating one of those blades told the story. Those who had survived would remember him as a hero. Grouchy and hoarse-voiced, but still a hero. When the madness was over he'd be given a proper funeral in the faraway city of his birth. Said Alika, “It was a short an' unlikely alliance we had. But an alliance it was. Nice knowin' you.”

After leaving the grave, Kopra and Alika made their way toward the fortress. By this time the sun had risen high enough to light up their surroundings in golden ambiance. Soon they stopped moving and Alika looked upward. “We're back! Ladder please,” he shouted at the treetops. As if by magic, a twisted wooden ladder fell from the sub-canopy and planted itself at his feet. “Much appreciated,” said Kopra. They climbed up, hand over hand, hearing a quiet murmur coming from overhead.

At the top of the ladder was a trapdoor, cut into a fantastic ceiling made of bamboo. This was the underside of the great fortress. It was all made from renewable materials provided by the forest itself, suspended out of sight among the trees. Inside was a battalion of warriors belonging to the Sky tribe. When Kopra and Alika first came here they were met with hostility, for the Sun and Sky tribes had long been close to war. However it was the threat of a Kentari attack, as well as some help from their General Santos, that brought co-operation.

Once inside the extraordinary building, they hoisted the ladder up and were met by two more Sun members. Vassaka had been nominated leader of the team, since he knew more about Kentaries than anybody else alive. They also had Jura, a muscular chap whose wit and plasma cannon had seen them through several tight situations. Previously these four had been stationed in an outpost high upon a shinglefan to the north. After leaving the place in secret, they'd met Bikral and his gang, giving a rough start to their mission.

“Anything to report, guys?”
“Alika has refilled his flamethrower, so we're all fully armed again. Apart from that, not much.”
“Okay then. We better get moving, Santos is keen to speak with us and the rest of the team. He's still in pain but he's okay to talk. Very soon we'll have to leave this forest!”
When their leader referred to 'the rest of the team,' he meant the three Sky tribees already assembled in Santos' hut. Two women, sisters, and a young man were waiting for them. Together with Alika, Kopra, Vassaka and Jura, they made up the motley Team Solaris.

Pyritehk was the man, formerly pilot of a giant mining craft. His enthusiasm and quick mind had held the team together long enough for them to learn to co-operate. The two sisters were Raphil and Surkral, the former an expert spearwoman, the latter deadly with a thrown knife. Of all the members, these two were the most likely to upset the balance, as they despised each other and Raphil had a hard time trusting Vassaka and his buddies. When the group did leave Santos' territory, a close eye would have to be kept on the sisters.

General Santos himself was seated at his makeshift desk. His right arm was in a sling and he had an infected cut across his chin. It would be many weeks before he could be expected to fight again. “Well, well. You're all looking well.”
“Are you feeling alright, sir?”
“Just fine. Not great having a smashed forearm but, apart from that, I'm fine. But it's time we turned our attentions to your plan.”

He spoke with a slight wheeze, his usual commanding voice hidden by overtones of weakness. Pain was evident in his words. What stopped him complaining about it was his rank, as well as the memory of Bikral's death, a fate he was grateful to not also have faced. “Team Solaris... the time has come for you to move on. So far you have won the trust of the Sky tribe. However-” Santos let out a sudden cough, sounding like a cat trying a eject a hairball. “Sorry 'bout that,” he said.

“As I was saying, your mission must now progress to the next stage. If your plan is to work,” gesturing at Vassaka, “you must also make contact with the Generals of the Sea tribe. Their territory is mostly to the south-west of this woodland. I wouldn't recommend trying to walk into that territory; it's quite heavily fortified. Soldiers of the Sea tribe are not only skilled with swords and guns, but they include the most ruthless people in this world. And they never take prisoners.”

“What, then, would you suggest?” Jura asked him.
“To approach them in much the same way as you approached us. Find one of their outposts, close to our land. There is one such place I know of. My intelligence officers have been keeping an eye on it for some months now, it's a large cavern on the southern coast. Potentially it could house an entire battalion but, as far as we know, the Sea soldiers haven't made much use of it.”
“But there's always somebody stationed there?”
“Yes. I believe it's being considered a sentry post, where a small group can stay and look out for an attack from my forces. Which won't happen, now we're only interested in attacking Kentaries.”

So far it was good news. Vassaka nodded slowly, considering how they could best gain entry to this outpost. What would its occupants make of seven foreigners, four from the Sun tribe and three from Sky? They'd have to be careful not to look like scouts heralding an invasion, but it could be done. Things were never so simple though. Santos had more to say.

“My intelligence officers have also given me some darker reports in the last few days. Some of them have found tracks in the western half of the forest, tracks that match those left by a Kentari. Two of them had to sleep in a tree overnight and were woken by some large animal sneaking by underneath them. Almost certainly a Kentari. You told me there were likely to be more than just the one. Well, now we know for sure that there are more Kentaries and, what's more, they're moving. Chances are they'll infiltrate the Sea tribe's property before you do.”

That sounded bad – but there was one advantage to the Kentaries going ahead of them. If the observations were correct, Team Solaris would arrive in a territory where their enemies had already been sighted. In that case members of Sea would be more likely to believe their story and not kill them at first sight, which would be convenient. Getting them to help drive off the Kentaries would therefore be easier. Said Alika, “Ve'y good sir. Imminent danger and improbable odds. We may as well leave right now.”
“Am I to understand that you have some connection with the beasts?”

This time Santos' question was directed at Alika alone. He said, “Apparently. That freak said one o' my ancestors had genetically modified the whole race. I ain't got any idea why.”
“It's true,” added Vassaka, “the creatures have at some point been altered. All my research showed they used to have four legs, for instance.”
“Well that is... disturbing.” Another loud cough. “It will be necessary to keep Alika safe from them at all costs. He's obviously a target for those Kentaries.”
“Do you think we should try and figure out why?”
“Curiosity might get in the way of your job. If you succeed in joining forces with the Sea soldiers, you might find the answers. But I wouldn't bet my bones on it.”

He'd finished talking. As the seven left his hut, their last memory of the General was a barrage of coughing. They had no time to say goodbye. Raphil led the way through the treetop fortress, seeking out one of the aforementioned intelligence officers. Once they got the location of this cavern outpost from him they could get going.


Within an hour they'd left the fortress behind. Some parting words from Pyritehk; “It's a nice place to stay, really. When you're not being abducted or stabbed in the back. Let's get outta here.”
Raphil's inquiries had been answered with some reluctance, but they'd been instructed to head due south until they reached the edge of Fazatchio Forest, then turn to the south-west and reach the coast. Beyond that was a great ocean separating their battle-ravaged continent from all civilization.

Although he knew Kentaries were nocturnal, Vassaka found himself looking back over his shoulder every minute or so. He walked along at the back of the group, watching as the others slipped between the trees. In his head he was thinking of all the things that could go wrong for them outside Santos' land. It was a long list. But he had no fear, because he knew that so far the plan had worked. With one human life lost, yes, but it could have been worse. As Team Solaris left the forest behind, its seven members knew they weren't on a wild goose chase after all. That was their one comfort.
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Sleepy Kat
First two chapters:

Good hook! The situation and premise are fascinating and I got through reading very smoothly. There were a few rocky transitions, like when Kopra went looking for Vassaka, but you wrote this three years ago so I'm not going to bother with those, I'm sure it gets a lot better.

I felt the conflict that was established in the first chapter was resolved too quickly in the second. What was the point of the Kentari attacking Alika? If that builds into a bigger plot point later it should be pretty interesting.

I don't know very much about the characters yet, but you made their personalities distinct enough at a basic level. Alika seems the brash one, Kopra is more cautious, and Vassaka is the smart dude. Cool. It would be boring if they were all the same, so it's good that they aren't. I hope their speech patterns start varying a bit more as the story progresses though!

It's nice that you don't go too far before establishing the central plot point. I'm looking forward to finding out more about the other tribes and the inter-tribe dynamic, and more characters from outside Sun too. To be continued then, good stuff so far!
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The Rock Raptor
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There were a few rocky transitions, like when Kopra went looking for Vassaka, but you wrote this three years ago so I'm not going to bother with those, I'm sure it gets a lot better.

I should edit those bits... that doesn't happen later on, as you shall see.

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I felt the conflict that was established in the first chapter was resolved too quickly in the second. What was the point of the Kentari attacking Alika? If that builds into a bigger plot point later it should be pretty interesting.

Yes, this is like a precursor event for something much bigger. Perhaps I can stretch it out though. Thanks for pointing that out!

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It would be boring if they were all the same, so it's good that they aren't. I hope their speech patterns start varying a bit more as the story progresses though!

Cheers. I think you'll find that the characters' speech patterns do start to vary; Vassaka tends to use long words to describe things, Alika's speech gradually descends into redneck vocabulary. Then there are some other characters introduced with particular sayings.

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To be continued then, good stuff so far!

Thank you very much, for reading and for critiquing! I have no updates at the moment, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for you yet. Cheerio :D



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The Rock Raptor
PART TWELVE


Team Solaris stood together at the edge of a low escarpment, looking out over a rock-strewn beach, the great sea beyond. All of them stared at the distant horizon. They remembered their old lives on the continent so far out there. Kopra thought of his wife, who he hadn't seen in years. Raphil and Surkral recalled the glass factory their parents had been running. Vassaka had held a position in the leading scientific institution. Pyritehk had made a small fortune working as a miner. As for Jura, his mind focussed on the dying cousin he had left behind.

Only one of them stared into that ocean and felt nothing. Before being drafted as a soldier, Alika didn't have anything worth living for. He was single, without work, previously living on the streets with no idea of who or where his family was. So he didn't feel the longing of his companions; he could only see it on their faces. Their anguish was lost on him. He didn't look and think of home. Instead he thought of how to get down the escarpment.

“I'm goin' down there,” said he to Vassaka.
“Be careful.”

It was a fifteen-metre drop from where Alika was to the rocks below. Jumping from that height could result in cracked armour or bones. Not far away was a vertical face leading down, a column of soil studded with small boulders. He proceeded to climb down this. Digging his feet in, then lowering himself down, he was able to support his great weight on it. However, when he next tried to move his leg, something gave way and he found himself tumbling. Next second, he lay on his front with his flamethrower by his side.

When he stood up again, he didn't feel any pain. Dirt covered his boots and he had a few scratches, but the damage seemed to be minimal. Alika looked up at the rest of the team, who were watching him in stunned silence.

“I'm okay!” They didn't look reassured. With a sigh, Vassaka led them along to find a safer place to descend. Kopra stood still for a further moment, then stopped reminiscing and followed them. A few minutes later, all of them were assembled on the beach.

Raphil asked, “Now where do we go?”
“We need to track along these rocks and look out for the Sea tribe's outpost. Trouble is, there are two possible ways we could go,” said Pyritehk.
“So should we split up?”
“No,” replied Vassaka. “If we split up the people in the outpost might be able to overpower us. We'd have a group of three and a group of four; what if there are four of them camping here?”
“Good point.”

Surkral, Jura and Kopra all scratched their heads. Then Surkral said, “In that case, why don't we just stay here? They could find us first.”
“Only if they go scouting,” replied Jura, “But it's a good idea.”
“They might just stay in their cavern all day and not go looking around, in which case it wouldn't work,” said Pyritehk.
“In which case...”
“We'll have to move, all of us together.” Vassaka looked around at his team.

When his eyes fell on Alika, he noticed the man studying his left hand. “Is there a problem, Alika?”

He looked up from his gauntlet. “It's nothin'. Just a scratch from mah fall.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay then. Let's choose a direction and get going.”

They decided to head eastward first, away from the Sea tribe's land. The directions they'd been given had led them to the right area, but pinpointing the exact position of the outpost would be difficult. As Pyritehk mused, “it must be somewhere concealed, but able to accommodate a number of enemy soldiers.”
“Enemy soldiers? Not enemies for much longer, I hope.”
“My dear Jura, until peace is made they'll be considered enemies. Sea soldiers will try to kill us at first sight, which is why we need to stick together. Mind that rock there!”

Too late. Jura stumbled and put out his hands to stop him slamming into the ground. His plasma cannon fell with a clunk. The stones they walked across were round and very hard, eroded over eons by the ocean. They were loose and slippery; a potential trap for foreigners. “I can see why they have an outpost here,” said Surkral as she helped Jura to his feet. He smiled at her, then picked up his weapon.

At the front of the group was her sister, Raphil. She reached a point where the embankment curved around to the north, the shore disappearing out of sight. Around the corner was a sheer cliff, with a narrow waterfall running down it. It was composed of black rock and devoid of plant life. At its base was white water, a turbulent whirlpool fed by inflow from the sea. They couldn't go any further east. To the rest of the group she called, “They're either here or back west!”

With caution they approached the black cliff. No openings could be seen in its surface, at least none large enough for a person to enter. Brownish seaweed had accumulated at the spot where it met the shoreline. Past that, the cliff extended into the sea for a short distance.

“This doesn't look promising, does it?” Pyritehk lifted his great pincer and rested it on his right shoulder.
“Not at first sight,” said Vassaka, “but there might be something else here. Look carefully.”
“That whirlpool...”

Surkral and Jura were staring at the whirlpool at the base of the cliff. It churned and fizzed, a turbulent eddy created by the forces between sea and rock. “May be a trick o' the light, but does the water there look deeper than it should?”
“Let's 'ave a look,” said Alika.

The team moved closer to this vortex. Seeing into the water below was difficult, but there was a definite shape there. Wary of a trap, Kopra volunteered to dip his hand into it. When he did so, he felt a stone rim, but no bottom to this feature. “It is pretty deep. Seems to be something like a cave entrance in there as well. This could be the place!”

Vassaka nodded. If they were right, a fight was likely to occur soon. “There's likely to be an air-filled chamber inside. We'll have to enter it.”
“Very good. May I go in first? I can hold my breath for a fair time,” said Raphil.
“Okay, but be careful!”
“I'm always careful.”

Once again Alika seemed distracted. Vassaka asked him, “Problem?”
“Uh... just thinkin' o' the last time I went into a dark cave.”
“Oh. Well, if there is a Kentari in there, you have six friends ready to fight it off with you.”
“Much appreciated, man.”
“Let's go.”

“Sea tribe, here we come.” With a metre-long spear in her hands, Raphil stepped right up to the edge of the whirlpool. She took in a deep breath. Then she jumped in and disappeared from sight. “That is deep,” mused Vassaka. “A very deep pit at the base of this cliff. There's something unnatural about that... the Sea soldiers must have carved it out or it would be filled in by now. Maybe they carved the cave as well... a lot of work for just a small group of men...”

His mutterings were interrupted by Raphil's return. She came up gasping, but not due to lack of air.
“Back so soon?” asked her sister.
“Run. RUN!”

With the speed characteristic of one from the Sky tribe, she took flight. The others followed her lead. From the little skin showing underneath her helmet, they could see she was pale-faced. Together they reached the bend in the escarpment, preparing to duck around to the west. Something was heard bursting from the water. At the back of the group, Alika stole a quick glance at it. Then he glanced again. What he saw wasn't a person from the Sea outpost. But it wasn't a Kentari either. “Bloody heck...”

What had spooked Raphil was a new creature. On four sprawling legs it charged across the beach toward them. This animal looked like a gigantic lizard, a monster from a forgotten era. Its claws scattered rocks in all directions and its massive head darted from side to side. Alika could look straight into its mouth, which hung open to show its yellow, blade-like teeth. With astonishing speed it drew closer. He decided not to look any more and chased after his friends.

Running away from the beast was difficult. Weighed down by his gas canister, slipping on the rocks underfoot, Alika wasn't going fast enough. He could hear the breathing of the monster behind him, and its scrabbling feet coming closer. He'd seen it first-hand and thought it was more than capable of tearing him to pieces. That thought kept him going as fast as possible... but then he found himself falling again.

Stone fragments flew everywhere. Alika flipped onto his back. His flamethrower was ready. Above him were those ghastly jaws. He could see right into its throat, a black hole blasting hot air at him. Only one thing to do. Closing his eyes, he aimed into it and pulled the trigger.

For a moment he felt searing heat, then a roar like nothing he'd ever heard. “Crap, I'm dead.” But not so! A burst of bluish flame had convinced the beast to back off, puffs of smoke now bursting from its jaws. Its roar rattled Alika, but he was no longer scared. With a yell, he leapt to his feet and launched another fireball. For a moment, his target was enveloped in flames, screaming to the heavens. It was a good deal taller than Alika, even though it had a sprawled gait, with a slender body and tail. Upon its forelimbs were sturdy claws that looked like scoops.

Suddenly something else hit it: a blue flash of light that dispersed the last of the fire. From behind Alika came the sound of a gunshot. All this was too much. The creature roared for the last time, then skulked back to its hiding place. For a second Alika was relieved. Then he realized he didn't know what had made the blue flash. When he turned around, his friends were nowhere to be seen, but there was a figure standing there. They were too far away for him to make out any detail, but they seemed to be wearing white armour.

Another flash came, too fast for him to see. It struck him in the chest and sent an electrical shock through his body. Alika cried out in surprise. Then he was shot again, this time in the helmet, feeling a much more intense shock. It caused him to crash to his knees. With care he rested his left hand on the ground, his gauntlet cracked as a result of the earlier fall. Through it he could see his own dark skin, the muscles beneath numb from the attack. Finally a third shot came. This time it was too much to bear. No longer could Alika stop himself from fainting.


This week: I am now taking requests! If you want me to model something for you on 'Art of Illusion,' just send me a message. If you'd like to see samples of my work, check out my Art Topic! (hint: it's in the Art forum)

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Phovos
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Alika has a habit of getting himself into trouble, doesn't he?
I have a whole website. It's kinda lame though.
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Dekky
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Alika has a habit of getting himself into trouble, doesn't he?

Well, it can't help being targeted by something as powerful or as sneaky as a Kentari. At least he isn't dead yet, right? On with the story!


EDIT: Sorry chaps and chapettes, I'm going to re-write this chapter and post it again some time in November. I get the feeling this won't inconvenience many people, but my apologies if it does.

In the meantime, here's a link to my Art Topic, where 3D models of some of the characters can be viewed: http://s7.zetaboards.com/buddingwriters/topic/883730/3/#new


EDIT EDIT: Okay, here we go!




PART THIRTEEN


Never before had Surkral been chained. She enjoyed being free to run around, unconstrained by rings of metal. Now she felt such things around her wrists and cold stone on her back. It was awful.

While coming to, she had a faint recollection of being shot by somebody. Friends' screams had filled her ears and blue flashes her vision. Before then, they'd been running from a hideous cave-dweller. All had seemed like a nightmare since the events in Fazatchio Forest. Maybe she'd wake up from it and find herself back in the woodland, or better, back at home. The chains reminded her it wasn't any kind of dream.

“Are we awake?” Something waved in front of her face; an armoured hand. The gauntlet covering it was painted icy blue, typical for one of the Sea tribe. Surkral had heard frightening stories about these people. They were supposedly as ruthless as a stormy ocean, killing outsiders on sight and never taking prisoners. That little statement gave her a little comfort. If the Sea left no survivors, where did those stories originate?

Before she knew it, the hand had ducked out of sight. A man stared into her eyes, peering through his thick visor. It was then she realized her own helmet was gone. While the rest of Surkral's green armour was in place, her head was unprotected.

“You're the first up, darlin'. Apologies for the trashy accommodation. My comrades and I thought it necessary to keep you in chains for a bit.”

“Where the hell am I? Where's my team?”

“Don't worry, you're all here. Look around!”

She did so. On either side of her, the rest of Team Solaris were displayed with their helmets also removed, some of them snoring. For the first time she saw Jura's face. Several weeks' stubble were there, but in the dim light she couldn't see any detail. However there was a white line running across his left cheek, a prominent scar, which left her wondering about all the battles he'd been through.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“What?” She snapped back around to look at her captor.

“You've been staring at him for a good minute, darlin'. Best not to get too attached to people in these times! Especially people from a different tribe... most interesting,” he looked at each chained soldier in turn, noting the different symbols of the Sun and Sky factions. “What an assemblage. I'm Feigum, by the way. Nice to meet you!”

“Where are we?”

“Oh yes, this is our lovely outpost! You did well to make your way here, as other enemies have before, as this is the easternmost point in our territory. Looks like you underestimated our firepower though. That digging dracax at the end of the beach? It's just part of our fortifications. We have to set traps here, keep sentries operating, feed the dracax, all to keep our little cave safe. Did you think this place wasn't worth anything?”

Her eyes had adjusted to the gloom by then and Surkral could see the magnitude of what faced her. The entrance to the cave was a mere pinpoint of light. It might as well have been a distant star in the night. From what she could see of the walls, the cave itself was narrow, with a low ceiling, but because of its length was nevertheless spacious.

Then she took in Feigum's appearance. She had considered Bikral to be a bulky man, but this exterior made him look like a stick. Feigum needed a series of hydraulic pistons to help him move his limbs and the incredible plating that covered them. Rivet heads were visible all over him, as if he'd bought the components from a ship-builder. Beneath the rock dust, it was all painted in shades of blue and his tank-like chest showed the Sea tribe's wavy symbol. Barbs stuck out from his ankles and shoulders, the only places that looked even slightly vulnerable.

“What's the matter, you afraid to talk? I'm a nice guy,” said he.

“I just-”

“Hey, leave her alone!” That was Jura's voice. Coming straight from the mouth, it sounded crystal clear.

Feigum heaved himself over to the source of the interruption. “But we were getting along so well! I fear you've misunderstood me.” Then he chuckled and turned back to Surkral. “Are you sure you two aren't in a relationship?”

“This is ridiculous,” muttered Jura. “Well, what are you going to do now? We don't want to stay forever.”

“Wait until you're all awake. Then I will explain myself. Until then, would you two like some time alone?”

“Get lost.”

“I'll take that as a yes. See you soon!”

He left Surkral and Jura among their dormant comrades. They were too far apart to talk without fear of being overheard, so they just kept quiet and waited. It was a long time to stay silent.

***

“Wake up Alika!”

“Ugh, five more minutes man.”

“NOW! Come on, you're in chains here,” shouted Kopra.

That made Alika's eyes snap open. He looked disoriented at first, then he looked around, tugged at the links around his wrists, saw Feigum approaching from the shadows. “Oh crap.”

“Now you're all listening,” said Feigum, “I can tell you why you're here. My name's Feigum and I'm in charge of this outpost.”

“Hello Feigum,” said Pyritehk sarcastically.

“Finally, some manners! Right then. As you should have noticed, I'm from the Sea tribe. You are all from elsewhere. You've probably been trained to think of my kind like savages. Oh, I've heard all the stories. Some of them are quite flattering. But most are myths. Lucky for you, or you'd have all been butchered by now.”

Two other people had entered the cave and were striding toward them, unseen. Their feet clanked with each step, the sound echoing along the rock walls. Feigum gave them a wave, then continued speaking. “Personally, I prefer to settle things with a bit less violence. These are very violent times, aren't they? You can't have too much wasted blood in one day. So I'm going to do a deal with you all.”

“Oh, just kill us then,” snapped Raphil. She'd been placed just to the right of Surkral, which visibly annoyed them both.

“What would that achieve? No darlin', I have a job that needs doing. It's not a one-man job, or I'd have done it already. I try to be efficient like that. But this time it's a real problem that I think you can help us with.”

“Wait... Kentaries?” Vassaka had already guessed the monsters would strike.

“Kentaries, indeed! These six-legged night devils. I thought you'd know what they were called,” pointing at Vassaka. “I tried to think of why four sun-gazers and three sky-climbers were working together. But it's obvious. You've been fighting these Kentaries, haven't you?”

“Yes,” said Vassaka, “we are known as Team Solaris.” He went on to introduce each member of the team, finishing with himself.

“What a crew. You'll be perfect for this job!”

“Perhaps. But we actually came this way because we wanted to enlist the help of some Sea soldiers as well. Will you help us?”

“Help you? I fear I can't. I've been ordered to return to our capital... but my friends here will be accompanying you. Ordix and Natryn!”

The two newcomers came to a halt next to him. How deep the cave was could be estimated by how long they'd taken to walk down it; a great distance indeed. One of them carried a massive rifle, a powerful laser weapon, the sort of thing Vassaka had always wanted to use. Its owner pushed a button and electric blue light shone from the rear end of the rifle. There they saw a woman, her armour smooth and simple, recognizable as the individual who had shot them on the beach. As Feigum indicated, she was Natryn.

Ordix had no such gun, but he had a shield strapped to his back and spikes welded to various sections of his armour. His helmet was crude in design, barely a bucket with more spikes and triangular eye-holes cut into it. His right arm could be moved by a piston, similar to the ones Feigum used, which made Surkral suspect that he used something heavy in combat.

“Okay, I'll get you out of these chains. Then we'll go over what needs to be done.”
Edited by Dekky, Tuesday, 29. October 2013, 03:43.
This week: I am now taking requests! If you want me to model something for you on 'Art of Illusion,' just send me a message. If you'd like to see samples of my work, check out my Art Topic! (hint: it's in the Art forum)

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