Might's Odyssey (The Event Book 2) (15 page)

They appeared in an underground cavern with high rough looking walls. The roof had jagged pieces of yellow rock embedded in it.

Long silver crystals hung from the roof secured by grey metal cords. These crystals shone with a bluish green light that illuminated the large cave. To the right flowing down from the roof was a tiny waterfall that emitted a blue glow as it ran down the sides of the smooth brown rock.

To his left was a cluster of two hundred inch monitors, in front of these monitors were half a dozen computers manned by six humanoids exactly like the one that brought Might to this room.

The only difference was, the one who brought Might was almost two times the size of the others. He towered over Might by almost four feet. Something told Might he was their leader.

Before Might’s surprised gaze, the leader started to unclasp his armor. It took him almost ten minutes to get everything off. When he was done, Might could not hold back the gasp that burst from his lips.

The creature was man shaped with lime green skin. Instead of ten fingers, he had digits, three large ones with a sharp nail on the ends. There were three digits on the hands and three on both feet. That however was not the most creepy thing. He also had two tails. The tails wrestled and grappled like snakes as he moved. There were holes along his side three of which opened and closed like gills.

His face was round and puffy with a sickly looking green about it. The green appeared blotched at some points. He had the thinnest lips Might had ever seen and even though he could not see his tongue, something told him that it was probably long and forked. He shivered just thinking about it.

“Would you like something to drink?”

Might frowned as he spoke. Whatever was translating his words into English had a screechy note that grated on the nerves.

“Not really hungry at the moment. I am more interested in finding what I came for so I can return to my home world.”

“Where are you from?”

Might was on the verge of responding when__

“
Don’t answer that question__ let it drift off__”

His eyes narrowed and grew puzzled as he considered Eleyon’s words. Looking up, he was not surprised to see the thing’s eyes on him.

“That is not important__ I want to know how I can get to the volcano I saw a few hundred kilometers away from here. What I seek is there.”

“I can lead you there__ before I do however, as we discussed earlier, you must do something for me.”

“Hey__ that wasn’t the agreement. At least not the way I understood it.”

“How did you understand it?”

“My understanding of the agreement was you take me to what I seek and when we are done, I help you with what you need helping with.”

“If that was what you thought, am sorry for misleading you. You help me first and then I will point you in the direction of what you seek. If you find my terms displeasing, I will swiftly return you to the plains we came from. My kin won’t be sympathetic to your cause. They are more likely to shoot you on sight.”

Might frowned, his furious gaze lingering on the creature for almost five minutes before his frown covered face became expressionless. He had no choice.

“Ok I promise. What is this thing you want me to do?”

“I want you to kill the Austeriolious.”

“What or rather who is the Austeriolious?”

“He is our leader and he belongs to the highest caste in our society. The Austeriolious is his post.”

“I think you have taken leave of your senses. You want me; a visiting stranger who I might add is not welcome here, to kill the leader of your world. Are you planning to ignite interstellar war?” We have enough problems where I come from without adding another war to the chaos.”

“You do not understand__ the Austeriolious and others like him in government are the problem.”
The creature said earnestly.

“And I should believe you why?”

“Because I speak the truth. Our society is built on a caste system. The Austeriolious belongs to the highest caste, which always produces the Viteolious rulers. I belong to one of the lowest. So, I and my brethren have no say in the manner which Viteolious is run.

“Several cycles ago, there was an uprising. The lower castes tried to overthrow the government and break the stranglehold the higher castes hold over our society. We did this to bring equality to our world. We lost of course. It was a blood bath. We that are of the lower castes were slaughtered in the thousands. The few that survived have lived in hiding ever since. I run the resistance now. This cavern and my brethren you see operating the computers in front of you make up this cell.

“We have thousands of such cells scattered around Viteolious. We carry out covert strikes against the administration, doing anything that undermines their authority. I am honest enough to admit that it will take something much greater than what we are doing now to bring any sort of change. That is where you come in. We cannot get close to the Austeriolious, but I am pretty sure you can.”

“I suppose I should be flattered by your confidence, but what makes you think I can even get close to the Auste__ whatever you call him. And even if I could why should I kill him? I do not know the man or Viteolian or whatever you creatures call yourself. I only have your word that he is the evil genius you say he is. For all I know you could be the evil one. Why should I kill someone on your say so?

“Besides have you tried dialogue? I am sure if you really talked to each other, some amicable solution can be reached.”

The look the creature gave him could have soured milk.

“You do not know the Austeriolious. If you did you wouldn’t make the statements you are making. Besides, I do not have the time or the inclination to try and convince you of how foul a creature the Austeriolious really is. All that is important is the deal we made. Is what you are searching for worth killing a Viteolian for? If you determine that it is you will do what I ask. If it isn’t, then allow me to return you back to the plains of Ashisi.”

Might’s face grew grimmer as he considered the creature’s words. He was in a tight corner and he knew it. Killing anything for no just reason was abhorrent to him. The few times he had killed, it had been in self-defense and that did not really count because most of them had been supernatural creatures to begin with.

On the other hand, he really wanted to get back home. Wherever home was that is. He did not know who he was. Beyond the name Might, he had nothing to go on.

All that mattered to him now was discovering who he was and where he came from. But was he willing to take a life to achieve that? Even if that life wasn’t human? A shiver ran down his spine as he thought about it. In that instant, he knew. He could not do it. Not even to find Darwin and escape from Nephilim.

“I cannot kill him for you__ I am sorry. Return me to the plains. I will take my chances with your kinsmen.”

All the Viteolians in the room turned at that and gave him shocked and surprised looks. He got the sense that none of them expected that response.

“You would die to save a Viteolian? The lowest scum of a creature who would just kill you on principle and gather his friends and have a laugh about it. That is the sort of animal you are risking your life for?”

“I am not risking my life for him. I chose this because of my own principles. Not too long ago in my own world, I and the companions I travelled with risked our lives for people we just met who told us a story similar to the one you are telling me now. We undertook the quest only to be betrayed losing one of our members in the process. I will not make that mistake again. So if you are going to help me, then help me. If not return me to the plains.”

The silence that engulfed the cavern was heavy. It was eventually broken by their leader who reached for the green button on his belt.

“Farewell stranger__ you have made your choice.”

He pressed it with a grim look on his face. The cavern and the creatures within it instantly vanished. There was a surge of white light and Might found himself hundreds of feet above the carpet grass covered plains streaking towards it at breakneck speeds.

The threads in his suit started to harden. It was armoring up in preparation for battle. The creatures beneath him were racing in a northwards direction. He was falling straight for them. He slammed into one with a dull crunch, flinging it and its rider several feet to the right where they crashed hard smashing into the hard packed earth.

The humanoid rider was knocked unconscious, the weapon he held thrown some distance away. The creature it rode however leaped to its feet a few seconds after going down. Loud shouts rang out behind. They had spotted him. His heart started to race.

Seeing no other recourse, he leaped on the creature grabbing the rider’s weapon as he did so and dug his heels into its sides. It leaped forward with a strangled screech exploding from its mouth.

Laser fire streaked by on all sides, he ducked low and urged the creature to go faster. It raced forward doing almost two hundred miles per hour.

The fire kept coming. He ducked lower closing his eyes as an explosion hit just inches away from his left foot. Annoyed he turned and raised the weapon in his hand, shaped like a staff.

The unfortunate thing was he did not have a clue to how the damn thing worked. Looking at it more closely he noticed a tiny button close to the opposite end. He turned the staff around and pressed it. A burst of flame exploded from the end digging a deep hole in the ground.

So that’s how it works? Twirling the staff around he squeezed several bursts from it creating massive explosions behind him.

“You did a good thing back there__”

Eleyon’s voice coming at that instant startled him so much that he almost fell off the creature he was riding. But he wasn’t done yet, not by a long shot.

“Could you explain to me why you took that decision even though you knew the trouble it was going to land you in?”

“Eleyon in case you haven’t noticed I am running for my life. Do you think we can have this conversation another time?”

A long silence followed. For a second Might thought Eleyon agreed with his suggestion, but when he felt no peace within him, he knew Eleyon was waiting for a response.

“I am not sure why I did not do it ok?” He spat out through clenched teeth as a flying creature circled around a few miles ahead its rider aiming a large cannon at him.

A loud whooshing sound came from behind. He whipped his head back alarmed to see half a dozen flying crafts shaped like discs. Three partitions on their underbellies slid open revealing formidable looking cannons.

“ELEYON!!! A LITTLE HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED.”

“Look ahead__”

He looked ahead and saw a storm racing towards him at great speed. The humanoid on the flying beast was so intent on turning Might to dust; he did not notice the fierce winds bearing down on him until it was too late.

The almost 200mph winds swept him off his flying mount and he plummeted to the ground like a stone. Might guided the creature he rode on to the left and right without it breaking stride. He was not a moment too soon because the planes fired off half a dozen bursts before they had to turn to avoid the crippling winds.

The creature beneath Might increased speed heading into the bluish grey clouds of dust and dirt rising ahead. Might ducked down wrapping his arms around the creature’s neck as it plunged into the storm.

A wall of fire followed him into the storm. The creature he rode on ran for almost ten minutes before the fire retreated. Raising his head slowly, he looked around.

He could not see a thing. Everywhere he turned, he saw the madness of the storm. A green light shooting out a few feet ahead caught his eye.

He looked at it tracing it back to its source. It came from the eyes of the creature he was riding. The light shone like some sort of night vision goggles. Something told him that the creature could see even in this terrible storm.

A frown roughened his brow. Now the problem was how did he get the damn thing to head for the volcano. With the speed at which it moved, he knew he could reach the volcano in a matter of minutes.

“
Make right__”

“How do I do that? I have no control over this damn creature.”

“Have you tried steering it?”
Eleyon asked mildly.

The frown on Might’s face grew harder. Sarcasm, from the great Eleyon? Who would have thought that was even possible?

His eyes drifted to the steel collar around the creature’s neck. With the roar of the storm around him it was difficult to make anything out. Leaning down until his nose was almost touching the collar, he took a closer look.

There were some knobs and buttons on the sides of the collar. Maybe that was how the humanoids were controlling them. He reached down and pulled the chain around the neck, pressing the button on the right as he did so.

The creature growled and quickly tore to the right. A holographic image popped out of the collar showing the terrain around it, a rocky escarpment appearing about twenty miles away.

“Make your way to the structure.”

Might nodded and dug his heels into the sides of the creature to make it go faster. It responded promptly its running feet eating up the miles between it and the escarpment.

It covered the twenty miles in less than ten minutes. As if it sensed this was where they were stopping it pulled to a halt going into a low crouch to allow Might climb off with ease.

The raging storm instantly stopped as if someone had pressed a pause button. The black cloud covered sky turning to a deep shade of turquoise.

The flaming yellow sun had now turned to a greenish yellow color. Might knew what that meant. It was almost nightfall.

“Enter the cave in front. There is food in one of the bags on the side of your mount.”

Might turned surprised to see the leather satchel like bag hanging from the saddle of the creature he rode. Pulling the satchel off, he walked towards the cave mount with the creature following closely behind.

The cave was large, with a very high roof. The roof was so high that in the gloom of the cave he could not see it. Large rocks were scattered at varying points. One lay a few paces to his left. He sighed making his way towards it. Stretching out, he lay his head against the rock and closed his eyes.

His eyes opened after a couple of seconds. Taking a deep breath, he examined the glass of his helmet. It was scratched at some points but otherwise undamaged. Worry stole into his heart. How much longer would the air in his suit last?

He hadn’t even considered it. And there were no replacement canisters that he could see. What if he ran out of air?

“You do not have to worry about air. The carbon dioxide you are breathing out is recycled and quickly converted back to oxygen. The only thing you have to be careful of is the glass visor in your helmet. Should that break__”

Eleyon’s words drifted off. He did not need him to spell it out. If his visor broke, he was dead. That was all that there was to it. He opened the satchel staring at the food. How did he eat it now without taking off his helmet? Reaching a quick decision, he unclasped his helmet and took a deep breath. When he was certain he had enough air in his lungs, he took it off and quickly took several bites of the greenish clump like food. It tasted like nectar and was very filling. He could only take a few bites of it. He slipped the helmet over his head once again and fastened it tight.  His eyes closed again and this time he started to feel very sleepy. Giving into the urge he drifted off.