[Tuddle]

Hey Ico, have you ever considered publishing?
NO

Spoiler

no? ...me neither...

YES

Spoiler

really? you should try...

[icowa]

well, yea, of course I thought of publishing..
but maybe only when it is done, I suppose..

time to get the juice flowing, grrrrrr!!

*squishes froggy again for no apparent reason*

damn, I love being evil...

wahahaha

*lightning strikes in the background*

[icowa]

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Chapter 3
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The Guild hall was packed with people. The Elder, an elderly woman with a big hat that swept almost to the ground, was standing on one of the patron tables, leaning on her cane.

Looking around grimly, she tapped her cane on the table and silence immediately reigned in the Guild Hall. All eyes turned to her, waiting to hear the grim news.

The Elder was silent for a while, as if wondering how to put this news out, though she was well aware that Blackjack would have certainly blurted out to anyone what this conclave was about.

"Last night," spoke the Elder in a raspy voice, going straight to the point, "a traveling caravan going through the desert was attacked by a creature."

Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

"Based on the description from the surviving caravan driver, I believe the creature is a Cephalos."

"Cephalos?" answered one man incredulously near the rear end of the crowd, "No one has seen one for the past few years, if it even existed."

"Oh it exists, and so do the other wyverns we have heard so much through the tales of our ancestors." The Elder spoke with calm, shaking her head slowly in sadness. "And it appears that we will be seeing more of them in the near future."

"So what do we do about it?" someone piped out.

"I want all travels through the desert to be prohibited at present. Blackjack!" she called.

The willowy archer pushed his way through the crowd to get close to the Elder. Giving her a brief salute, he waited for further orders.

"Have your party ready in an hour's time. I want you and your men to travel to Kyoto village and relate the news to them and inform them that the desert will be off limits to all travelers except hunters until we have this creature taken cared of."

BlackJack paled a little. Going to Kyoto village meant him and his men had to run across the desert.

"Don't worry my friend, I wouldn't put you in any unnecessary risks. If you were to chance upon the creature, do not fight it and run for it, record down the location and have it sent to us with your pet hawks so we can take the appropriate actions."

Breathing easier, BlackJack saluted and pushed his way through the crowds again. Once outside, the crowd in the guild hall could clearly hear him running away and calling out names.

"How many teams do we have at present?" All eyes immediately turned back to the Elder.

A tall man at the right side of the hall raised his hand, though there was really no need, being tall as he was. His name was Nemesis. Walking forward, he planted himself solidly to the side of the Elder, the tip of his large shiny GunLance peeking up from behind him.

Before Jax could even say a word, Neela pulled him and Gron through the crowd and came up to the Elder. "Jax's team, reporting for duty." She smiled politely up at the Elder.

The Elder nodded.

"The other teams are out in the volcanic regions, hunting Ioprey that have been preventing our miners from getting coal safely. We don't expect them to be back for at least another fortnight." reported Nemesis.

The Elder sighed inwardly. What an inopportune time to be faced with this dilemma, she thought to herself.

"Nemesis, get your team ready. I will give you the coordinates of where the caravans were attacked. You are to try and hunt down and kill the creature."

Nemesis gave a nod and headed for the entrance.

"What about us, Elder? We can go hunt for the Cephalos too."

"Neela!" Jax hissed at her from the corner of her mouth.

Neela jabbed her elbow into his mid riff. "We can handle it." She whispered back at him.

The Elder was looking at them intently now, as if she was sizing them all up for the task. Looking as though she was about to shake her head in disagreement, a movement near the Guild Hall door caught her attention.

Seeming to have received some form signal, the elder gave a small sigh that seemed to come from her shoes.

"Jax, how much time do you need to gather your gear?" queried the Elder instead.

Thinking the question over, Jax thought of the rations and supplies they would need to gather in preparation for the coming hunt since they were already armed and armored then. "Half an hour, Elder, that's all we need."

"Good, gather whatever supplies you need from Laura and head out to Zone 8 of the desert."

"Zone 8? Aren't we going with Nemesis on this one?" puzzled Gron. Clearly he felt strength in numbers a good advantage against something they have never faced before.

"No, I would like you and your team mates to recon Zone 8 for possible Cephalos encounters. I am planning to relay messages to the other villages to use that route in future to avoid any such incidents with the creatures. Winter will be setting in soon and we will need a reliable and safe route for supplies to reach us from the other villages."

Neela's face drooped. She was hoping for a chance to use her abilities on a real hunt. Just as Jax and Gron felt, hunting Giapreys and Velocipreys was wearing her patience thin.

Jax gave her a sympathetic pat on the back, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "Let's go."

Neela managed a brave smile for Jax and all three of them turned and headed out of the guild hall.

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End of Chapter 3
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[icowa]

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Chapter 4
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It was tough getting to Zone 8 of the desert. The back-breaking jog took half the toll on both Jax and Neela. Gron however, don't even seem to be breathing hard. Not surprising considering his excellent physical condition. His physique however, does not help in keeping him cool. Sweat dribbled down his face in big drops due to the intense heat from the baking sands below their feet.

Uncorking one of the many cool drinks they had in their possession, Jax took a few gulps from it and handed it over to Neela. Along with the cool drinks, Laura, the local trader in Pokke village, had even provided them with plenty of rations, some signal flares in case they ran into more trouble than they had anticipated and healing potions among other things.

Being a bit tight on money due to stocking up foodstuffs for the coming winter, Jax was surprised when Laura had put in a lot more items into their knapsacks than they had money to pay for. Surprisingly, Laura had said that the Elder had given instructions to have Jax's team supplied with all the necessary items for their upcoming recon mission and that all additional cost will be handled by the Hunter's guild.

Five hours later, they were resting on the leeward side of a huge cliff jutting out of the sand like the ribcage of a huge monster. Squinting his eyes against the bright light reflecting off the sand dunes, Jax related as much knowledge onto his fellow hunters in detail that he had read up on the creature they were suppose to hunt.

"Try to aim for their legs. The objective is to knock it down on its side so we can get in some good blows onto its body and head without fear of it retaliating on us."

"How big can these things get?" Gron is also squinting against the light, trying to see ripples in the sand caused by the passage of the land sharks through the sand.

"The younger ones are roughly fifteen to eighteen feet in length. Those should be easy enough for us, I just hope we don't run into their big daddies, the Cephadrome. Those guys are almost twice again in length to the normal ones. Those are the ones we have to watch out for."

"Jax?" the odd note in Neela's voice caused Jax to momentarily stop scanning the horizon and glanced at her. "Do you think we will see that 'thing' again?"

Jax turned back to scanned the hot desert again, a frown on his face. He did not answer her. There was no need for him and Gron to ask her what 'thing' she was referring to.

Ever since they have been accepted into the Hunter's Guild and sent on hunting missions, they would always have this distinct impression that something is dogging their movements, something strange and menacing. There was a few times where they caught sight of a figure far out in some distant tree top, or a distant mountain top. It could have been an animal, it could have been anything, it might not even be interested in them in the least, but they all have the same feeling that the tiny figure of far was intently watching them.

"What do these land sharks look like?" asked Neela, deciding to change the subject and continued to scan the surrounding areas for signs of the creatures.

"From one of dad's stories, they are almost sand colored, though the Cephadrome is in a darker shade. As to what it looks like, we are about to find that out. Look there!" Jax pointed about two clicks to the west.

Squinting their eyes to look in the direction that Jax indicated, they could faintly see a fin cut through the sand. If they sprinted for it, they could probably reach that spot in less than six minutes.

Nodding his head when he caught sight of the ripple, Gron gripped his hammer handle from above his shoulder, as if to reassure himself of its presence.

"Let's go get it."

And off they sprinted, their weapons still in their respective holders and sheaths so as to not impede them on their sprint towards the target area.

Reaching the spot, they all stopped and peered around cautiously with their hands on the hilts and handles of their weapons. The ripple was gone. Silently and efficiently, the group formed a triangle with each pair of eyes looking outwards, trying to locate the ripple they have spied before.

Neela gripped her sword hilt hard, feeling a tension she have never felt fighting Giapreys and Velocipreys before. Her other hand gripped her sonic bombs carefully, remembering in her mind what Jax had told her about land sharks on their jog here.

Almost instantly, she saw a ripple out of the corner of her eye and immediately turned her head around to look at it. A ripple has just appeared and is heading towards Gron from his front left.

"Gron, get down!!" she shouted and cranked her arm back. Gron without any delay whatsoever, immediately ducked down into a half crouch as the sonic bomb Neela threw flew over his head and detonated in the path of the ripple.

There was a loud roar and a sand colored creature burst out of the sand and landed about 10 feet away from Gron. The creature was ugly in Neela's point of view, with a head looking like half a moon and rows of jagged teeth underneath it. Jax's information was pretty accurate; this one was at least eighteen feet in length.

Without wasting any more time, both Gron and Jax already had their weapons out and were assaulting the creature. Jax's Iron Katana 'Grace' seemed to be doing considerable damage as he sliced onto the neck while Gron proceeded to smash his massive hammer down on its legs.

The hammer connected and there was a sickening crunching sound as the creature's thigh bones cracked from the fearsome blow. Roaring in pain, the creature managed to leap onto its remaining good leg and its movement sent the surprised Gron flying backwards and landing with a puff.

Jax backtracked a few steps as he saw the creature leaped back to its feet, he saw the Cephalos locked its gaze on the still form of Neela, who strangely stood there staring off to her right, totally unaware that the Cephalos they were fighting has suddenly focused its attention on her.

Balancing itself on its good leg, the creature reared its head up. Jax knew what it intended to do.

After watching the creature crashed onto the sands, a sudden vibration in the sands under her feet stopped her from drawing her sword from her sheath. She was certain it wasn't caused by the crashing Cephalos. An uncomfortable thought crept into her mind.

Could there be another Cephalos out here in Zone 8?, she thought.

Confident that Gron and Jax could both make short work of the Cephalos without her aid, she peered around painfully, the bright light straining her eyes. Suddenly her eyes opened wide for she now spied another ripple through the sand, off to her right. This one was a bigger ripple. A much much bigger ripple.

She whirled her head around to shout a warning, but at the same time, something rammed her on her side, knocking her off her feet.

Gron got up just in time to watch Jax bowl Neela over, the spout of sand spitted out by the Cephalos originally aimed at Neela hitting Jax directly on the back. Even at this distance, he could see the sand rip through the layer of scales and metal and tear through the flesh above the left shoulder blade. The momentum of his forward movement, plus the force of the sand that hit him on his back, sent Jax's body, still hugging Neela protectively, to twist in mid air and land in the sand.

Gron shouted in anguish and started to run towards the Cephalos, intending to continue hitting on the injured leg so that he can distract it from his wounded friend. But before he could even get close enough, there was another explosive burst of sand right behind him and he found himself being flung a good fifteen feet into the air, causing him to fly above the wounded Cephalos and landing with a painful thud on the other side.

Neela was crying now. She felt a hand clutch her heart painfully as she watched Jax struggle painfully to get back on his feet. But all he did was managed to get into a half kneel, his right hand gripping the arm of his left. Neela could see clearly from her standing position where the sand had ripped away both armor and flesh, leaving the exposed shoulder blades to show out in stark contrast to the dark red blood flowing from the wound.

"Jax! I'm so sorry!!" she cried with tears rolling down her cheeks.

But Jax couldn't answer her. He gritted his teeth in pain and clutched his limp left arm with his right. He could literally feel and hear his shoulder blade crunch when he tried to stand up.

A roar resounded and Jax painfully forced his reddened eyes to opened and try and determine what to do next. All he saw was Gron flying head over heels over the Cephalos and landing with another puff of sand to the right. Spinning his head left to see what had send his friend flying through the air like that, his eyes widened in shock.

The new creature that stood to the left was not the big daddies of Cephalos as he had feared. It was something far worse. The massive monstrosity clearly dwarfed the petty Cephalos standing in front of it.

It had one huge and wickedly sharp horn jutting out from the front of its nostril and a mane of hardened bone shaped into the very likeness of a massive shield. The grayish body itself looked to be more like armor plated bones than skin. It flapped its huge wings once and roared another time, and then charged at the vulnerable Cephalos.

The Cephalos knew its danger and attempted to make a leap for cover into the comforting sand. But its injured knee hampered its movement. Moving with remarkable speed, the new monster rammed its massive horn straight through the hide of the Cephalos and lifted its trashing body clear off the ground and shook it viciously.

Gron, stunned by his un-expected fling through the air, could only looked up in horror and flung his arm across his face as a rain of blood from the mortally wounded Cephalos fell all about him.

Making a powerful whirl of its massive body, it flung the impaled creature on its horn to fly and land with a massive thud where it lay still, obviously dead. Its movement put its eye sight on the wounded Jax and Neela who stood beside him.

Oh my God! That's a god damned Monoblos!, Jax's mind screamed at him.

Giving another ear splitting roar, the Monoblos lowered its armored head and prepared to charge at them.

"Neela! RUN!" Jax shouted at about the same time when the Monoblos roared.

Gron struggled desperately to move, but his landing has caused his feet to sink into the desert sand almost up to his upper shins. He desperately tried to pull his leg out and cursing at the Monoblos for ignoring him at the same time.

"No! I'm not leaving you behind!" screamed Neela, attempting to pull Jax to his feet.

Jax watched as the Monoblos puts its left foot behind him, preparing to propel its massive two metric ton body in his direction. Without wasting time, ignoring the searing pain of his shattered shoulder blade, he used his right arm and pulled Neela's body over his right shoulder and with a strength born from desperation, heave with all the muscles of his long legs and send Neela flying a good twenty feet away from him.

Dropping back down on his knees, his right hand once again gripping his left arm. He gritted his teeth against the pain that almost made him pass out, he glanced to his right and watched as the Monoblos lumbered towards him with increasing speed.

As if watching a scene in a dream, he watched the Monoblos charged him in an almost slow like motion when suddenly, a figure stood in front of him. It was not Gron, who was finally free from the sand and is charging after the raging monster, roaring his battle cry. Neither was it Neela, who lies far away from him, having the breath knocked out of her when she landed in the sand after being un-expectedly thrown away.

It was a tall man who stood between him and the raging Monoblos. It was a man with a reddish armor on, carrying a massive vicious looking Greatsword. As if without fear nor worry, the man readied his massive sword onto his shoulder and suddenly Jax felt some kind of energy being charged into the tall figure who stood before him. Even the sword seemed to suddenly glow angrily red.

With perfect precision, the man roared and brought his sword down in a devastating overhead swing, landing a powerful blow right as the tip of its lethal horns is about to gore him. The swing cracked the horn in half and sent the head of the Monoblos slamming downwards into the sand, effectively stopping its running charge and sending a spray of sand to fly in all directions in a wide radius.

Heaving its head out of the sand sputtering, it has barely cleared its ringing head when it suddenly felt a sharp object slashed across its face, notching its bony mane, obliterating its right eye into a bloody pulp and severing its already cracked horn at its base.

Jax watched in disbelief, his pain totally forgotten in his surprised as the man stopped the Monoblos' charge. While the monster still appeared stunned, the man made a whirlwind slash and cut a bleeding horizontal slash across the face of the Monoblos, taking out its right eye in the process and sending a piece of the massive horn to fly and land not far away from the stunned Neela.

With blood pumping out of the bleeding mass that used to be its eye, the Monoblos made a desperate swing with its knobby tail at the man. Bracing his sword with both his hands, the man blocked the tail swing without even flinching. Both hardened tail and sword made contact, and the desert was filled with the ringing sound of its impact. Even Gron, standing a few feet behind the Monoblos flinched when the sound reverberated across the desert.

Without seeming to pause in his attacks, the man suddenly slipped under the tail, sheathed his sword behind his back smoothly and made a dash towards the right leg of the monster. Bracing his shoulder, the man butted his shoulder into the monster's right thigh, his spiky shoulder armor plates digging in painfully into the massive muscles.

Balance thrown, the Monoblos was literally butted off its feet by the man and landed into a heap where Gron made a desperate roll to the back in an effort to prevent getting himself crushed by the falling Monoblos.

That's a two metric ton monster the man just knocked the feet off, Jax thought to himself in a daze, wondering at the same time whether he is dreaming or not.

Brandishing his sword again, the man stood calmly and braced himself. But the Monster has had enough, painfully getting back on its feet, the massive creature dipped its head and burrowed into the ground right before Jax's astonished eyes and in a matter of seconds, even the tremor of the creatures passage under the sand soon fades away.

Sheathing his sword again, the man turned and faced Jax. Recognizing the man at last, he gasped in pain. And with his recognition, the pain of his injuries flooded him in a huge wave as he passed out.

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End of Chapter 4
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[CrossXchaos]

I'm only an etc? *sad*
*recedes into the shadows*

[icowa]

crossxchaos , err... not trying to sound rude but...

who r u?

????

[Tuddle]

He R Fred

As of... Right now I am taking a temporary vow to make all my words on this new forum blue because its the color that turtles in the ocean live in

[CrossXchaos]

icowa, on 21 July 2010 - 09:25 PM, said:

crossxchaos , err... not trying to sound rude but...

who r u?

????

Now this is just depressing, you mean the avatar doesn't remind you of anything??

ITS ME!!! FRED3035!!!
/wrist


Vandalize Hate

This post has been edited by CrossXchaos: 03 October 2011 - 02:09 AM

[Usul]

So Fred, how's Hiroshima? I hear it's a bit chilly there this time of year.

[icowa]

what hiroshima??

I ate hiroshima several years ago...

<,..,<"

[Coma]

Don't you think its better to make a new thread for your fanfic?

[Virtuos]

creativity sections. great articles feel awkward on rm.

POST EET ON CREATIVITY. NAO.

[icowa]

well, since I put it here.. i'll just link it up like i did here at creativity.. ahha

[icowa]

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Chapter 5
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Jax looked down at his hands, and realized that the hands he was looking at does not belong to him. The hands he was looking at is short, plump and pudgy looking. He is also holding a baby rattle on his left hand and shaking it vigorously.

Then he felt himself being lifted up by his armpits and he found himself face to face with an old man. He was smiling widely and using his iron gray mustache to tickle Jax on the abdomen. Jax squealed in joy and smack his rattle against the side of the old mans head.

"Ho ho, you have such a strong arm for a two year old." the old man chuckled. And with that, the man shifted his hold on Jax and held him securely by the crook of his arm.

Jax squealed again.

'Whats going on?' Jax wondered.

The man holding him, though old, is still hale and hearty, with muscled arms and a jolly face. His hair is the same iron gray as his long bushy mustache. Though jolly looking, there was a sense of power about the old man.

"Grandpa!" Jax squealed in a high pitch baby voice and hugged the face of the old man tightly. The old man chuckled to himself and gently detached baby Jax's hands from his face.

"He's a clever one, speaking his first words at the age of two." said a feminine voice to his right. Turning to face the voice, he beheld the pretty face of a woman, probably in her late twenties. Smiling sweetly and in pride, the woman began to rub a soft handkerchief over Jax's face.

"MAMA!" Jax squealed again, as if trying to show off his speaking skills to them.

Mama??!! Jax thought in panic.

The woman was laughing along with the old man at this when the loud sound of bells began to ring throughout the small village.

"What in blazes…?" began the old man. Quickly handing baby Jax to the woman, the old man headed for the closest window and peered out, trying to figure what is going on. The ring of the bells ended all of a sudden as a split second later, a house about two blocks away from theirs suddenly burst into flames.

The old man gasped and suddenly jerked his head away from the window as an arrow thudded onto the window sill, shivering from its force of impact.

"Narla, get below the kitchen table. I think the village is under attack!" snarled the old man and he quickly shifted a massive oak table in the living room and barricaded it against the front door and window.

Baby Jax began to cry loudly now, as the woman quickly rushed into the kitchen and ducked under the huge table with him in her arms. The kitchen was huge, big enough to have fifteen people dining inside at the same time. Thankfully, the kitchen did not have any rear doors nor windows so any attacks coming from anywhere else other than the kitchen door was impossible.

In just a few minutes, fierce sounds of combat began to emanate from the living room and not long, the old man slowly backed up into the kitchen through the door, a gigantic heavy bowgun in his hands. Lips set into a thin line of determination, a determination to protect the woman and her child hiding in the kitchen, the old man pulled the trigger and fired several rapid rounds of bullets through the doorway. Instantly, there was a boom and the suspicious sound of splattering meat parts.

Grabbing the door and slamming it shut, the old man backed up several more steps and begun to reload his weapon, and looked at the woman hiding under the table. Reassured that the woman and baby was safe at the moment, the old man grimly braced his weapon and aimed it at the door again, confident that nothing was going to get through that door without getting pass him.

Then the sharp smell of smoke began to permeate the room. The old man's face grew grimmer as he realized the damn creatures were burning down their house as well.

"Evan!" shouted the woman.

"Stay down, Narla. I know they're burning the house. We have to hold them off till help arrives." The old man snarled.

"What if they don't make it in time?" the woman began to cough from the rapidly thinning air.

The old man did not answer, keeping his face grimly faced towards the door. Then the sound of chopping resounded above them.

"Oh dear god, they're breaking their way through from above!"

There was a loud splintering crash and heavy wooden planks began to fall all about them from the smashed ceiling as several figures dropped in from above. Almost instantly, a battle began to rage.

Roaring in anger, the old man butted the handle of his weapon onto the face of one of the figures just as it landed, splinters of smashed teeth flying away from the blow. Before the body had even hit the ground, the old man leaped after the falling body and stomped down on its neck with an audible crack.

Then he stabbed his weapon into another of the creatures, causing blood to spurt when the sharp edges of his weapons barrel penetrated the scaly skin of the aggressors. Muscles bulging from the strain, the old man hefted his weapon, the creature still impaled in front and flung the body at another of the scaly creatures.

A sword swing sliced across his back, opening a deep gash and causing him to stumble forward a few steps. Without turning around, the old man hefted his weapon onto his shoulder, its barrel pointed towards the back and he pulled the trigger. Another explosion and soggy sound of splattering meat quickly followed.

A creature in front swung his arm back, intending to swing his lethal blade and sweep the old man's head from his shoulders, but it did not get the chance. Without pause, the old man swung his weapon over his head from his shoulder and brought it down onto the creature's pointy head. Bone collapsed and brain matter splattered in every direction.

Flaming cinders of wood began to rain down, sparking small fires all around the kitchen, making it increasingly harder to breathe. The creatures, as if unaffected neither by the smoky air nor by the intense heat of the raging fires, continued to battle the weakening old man.

Clearly winning the battle, one of the creatures turned around and focused on the kitchen table. Flinging it off to the side, the creature stared with narrow eyes at the cowering woman holding the baby.

"Kunari hak naruso kra!" it hissed.

The terrified woman didn't know what it said and quickly bolted for the kitchen door. The living room was probably an inferno by now, but she had to try and make a run for it. She almost made it when a blade thrown with accuracy thudded into the small of her back, sticking solidly into her back bone.

Without any chance to even scream in pain, she stumbled and dropped onto the floor, blood dripping down the corner of her mouth. Weakly she huddled baby Jax close to her body. Even dying, she sought to protect her only child.

Behind her, the battle with the old man was drawing to a rapid ending. His weapons splintered and rendered useless by all the melee attacks that he has been using it for, the old man is having great difficulty in breathing and having trouble focusing his sight in the smoky air. Two blades slid through his muscular back simultaneously and he dropped down onto his knees.

Spitting out blood, he turned his head and saw Narla lying face down on the floor, a curved blade sticking out of her back.

His vision rapidly fading with his pain, he stretched out a hand towards Narla as if he wanted to reach for her. Another blade slid through him, and he saw no more.

One of the creatures pulled it's sword from the dead woman's back and roughly shoved her onto her back. In her arms, the baby still clutching pathetically to her mothers neck, crying and wailing all the while.

Baby Jax watched through teary eyes as the creature reached out its hand to grab at him. But it didn't get the chance. For suddenly a new figure had stepped into the scene and the next thing he knew, the hand of the creature flew off in a bloody splash and the creature reared back in pain, dropping its sword and clutching at the stump of its bleeding severed hand.

Shocked, baby Jax wailed louder as the sounds of battle picked up around him again. There were clashes of sword against sword, grunts and hisses of pain surrounded him. And in a matter of minutes, all the sounds suddenly ceased except for the roaring of the raging fires.

A figure walked over and stooped over baby Jax. It was another of those creatures, but this one looking slightly lighter in color and taller, with a purple gemstone dangling from its neck. The creature reached out its bloodied hands for him.

"GRANPA! MAMA!" Jax screamed.

"Jax! Wake UP!"

Gentle hands grabbed hold of him and shook him. Jax sputtered awake and almost instantly reach out and gripped his left arm in pain. His own battle came back to his memory in a rush, the Cephalos, the Monoblos, the man in red armor.

'THE MAN!' thought Jax, his eyes widening in remembrance.

Gritting his teeth in pain, he raised his head and saw both Gron and Neela watching him in concern. Helping him to sit up slowly, they gently moved him to sit with his back leaning against the cave wall.

"I'm alright." He answered through clenched teeth.

"I said I'm alright!" he snarled when he saw both Gron and Neela still looking at him in concern. Gron frowned and Neela's face crumpled in hurt.

"I'll go get you something to drink." Neela quickly dashed out of the cave in a hurry. But not so fast enough that Jax couldn't noticed the tears pooling in her eyes.

He sighed. Gron was looking at Jax with an angry eye now.

"What's the matter with you, Jax? Do you know what she has been through the past few hours while you were passed out?" Gron scolded Jax softly.

Jax didn't answer. He shamefacedly stared down at his legs while he self consciously rubs his sore left arm.

"My arm!" Jax's head snapped up as he remembered his injuries. Looking over at his left shoulder, he noticed that it was bandaged heavily up to his elbows. He quickly looked at his hand and experimentally twitched his fingers. His fingers moved and he breathed a sigh of relief.

But something wasn't right, the injuries was pretty severe the last he remembered. He should be out cold for a few days at least from the pain, if not dead. He looked at Gron questioningly.

"You should thank the big guy over there," Gron jerked his thumb to his rear. Jax looked over Gron's shoulder and saw the imposing man sitting crosslegged across the burning camp fire, arms across his broad chest with his eyes closed.

"What happened?" Jax asked quietly.

Looking out the cave entrance, he saw that they were back in the cave which they had left all their supplies in before they headed out searching for the land shark. It was now night, he must have been out cold for at least seven hours from the looks of it.

"You do remember 'him' driving off the Monoblos, don't you?"

Jax nodded.

"Never in my life would I ever think that I would see a man stand up against something like that and leave off without a scratch on him." Gron answered with an incredulous shake of his head.

"Anyway, right after the Monoblos fled for its life, the man just picked you up like a sack of potatoes and brought you back to our cave, like he knew we were planning to camp here till we find the Cephalos."

"He used some kind of potion on you, greenish gold in color and poured it over your shoulder and I swear to you, your flesh seemed to regenerate before our eyes and your wound closed partially."

Jax listened quietly and when Gron stopped speaking, he tried gingerly to lift his left arm. His shoulder blade still felt like it is in a million pieces, the pain however was not as severe as he last remembered.

There was a sound near the entrance and both Gron and Jax turned to look. Neela was just stepping through with a small metal bottle filled with water in her hands.

"Hey!"

All of them startled, they all stared at the imposing man. Picking something out from his own knapsack, the man flung an object at Neela and she slopped the water all over her hands while freeing her right hand to catch the object.

It was another bottle of potion, greenish gold in color and over half full.

"Have him drink all of that down. We will start moving back to Pokke Village at sunrise."

"I'm in charge of my team here." Jax suddenly spoke out, annoyed with the man for giving orders to his team mates.

"Oh really, and where did your leadership nearly ended you this afternoon?" challenged the man. Jax flushed an ugly red and opened his mouth to shoot back a retort at the man.

"It's not his fault." Neela piped out in a soft voice, staring down at her boots. Jax clamped shut his mouth, watching in silence. Neela's grip on the water bottle tightened unconsciously.

'She's blaming herself for the incident,' thought Jax, remembering Gron's words and feeling sorry he snapped at her earlier all of a sudden.

"Whoever's fault it is," continued the man mildly, "We have to get all of you back to the Elder and report. Or do you intend to pick up your slim pig sticker and go after the Monoblos?" This he shot at Jax with narrowed eyes.

"I don't see how what ever I planned to do with my team mates have got anything to do with strangers." Jax retorted back.

There was a brief moment of silence as the tension in the small cave seemed to build up. The man then suddenly stood up, walked over to Jax, grabbed him roughly by his collar and lifted him clean off the ground, his legs dangling off the ground by a good two feet plus.

Jax gasped in pain as he was lifted off the ground. Neela could only watch in stunned silence. Only Gron came to the aid of his friend.

Grasping the man's hand, he tried to pry the fingers off the collar of his friend. Without any indication whatsoever, the man's other hand shot up and grabbed Gron by his neck and effortlessly lifted him off his feet too.

Dangling both young men in the air, one by the collar, one by the neck, the man coolly watched as one gasped in pain, while the other tried to gasp for air. Just when Gron thought he was going to pass out from lack of air, the man released him and he dropped down onto his knees, gasping in huge gulps.

Bringing Jax closer to his face, the man stared intently into his eyes.

"With me around, you will not be allowed to ask how or why unless I gave you permission to ask. When I tell you to do something, you will do it without fail. When I asked you to jump into the gaping maw of an Akantor with nothing but a dagger, you WILL leaped in without hesitation. Is that clear?"

Jax stubbornly clamps his mouth shut, not intending in any way to give in to this man, whom he had come to actively hate.

Narrowing his eyes, the man shook him sharply, prompting a gasp of pain to burst forth from Jax's lips.

"IS THAT CLEAR?"

A few more shakes issued forth and dizzied by the pain and the shaking, Jax realized he had no other options available to him against this hateful man.

"Yes Sir." gasped Jax.

"Good, see that you remember it all the way back" The man surprisingly set Jax back down onto the floor gently and leaned his body against the cave wall. Finally catching his breath, Gron backed off and leaned against the wall himself, rubbing his bruised neck and looking at the tall man with both a mixture of awe and fear on his face.

Walking passed Neela on the way back to his sitting spot, the man paused. "Have him drink all that potion up." He ordered.

Neela could only nod her head dumbly.

Jax perked up. Without really knowing how, he just seemed to notice that though the man ordered Neela to do something, he seemed to order it in a much gentler voice.

Sitting down again cross legged, the man crossed his arms across his impressive chest and closed his eyes again.

Walking over to Jax, Neela knelt down and popped open the cork on the potion bottle. A bitter smell tickled Jax's nose. Resting his right hand over the arm of his sister, Jax looked at Neela straight in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Neela."

Neela smiled as if she understood it all and didn't mind the least. Moving to have Jax drink from the potion bottle, Jax surprised her when his right hand stopped her.

"Who are you?" Jax asked through gritted teeth, for his wounds seemed to have reopened in the brief showdown with the man. "And why do you bother with us?"

Without opening his eyes, the man was silent for a while. "You may call me Tylor. As to you, I once promised a man that I will look after you no matter the situation."

"Promised a man? Who?" Jax eyes narrowed.

"A man who taught me everything. He was my sensei." Tylor opened his eyes then and glance at Jax through the corners of his eyes, making him look particularly menacing in the orange glow of the burning camp fire.

The words he spoke next sent Jax head spinning in shock. "His name was Evan."

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End of Chapter 5
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[icowa]

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Chapter 6
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The Elder was standing next to the Sacred Mount, a huge chunk of Machalite ore upon which the village of Pokke was founded on. Staring out and watching the sun rise, the elder felt an uneasiness that has been bothering her ever since the report of the cephalos attack came to her via the surviving caravan.

Unknown to most everyone, the elder was one of the very few people left in this part of the world to have remembered the carnage and desolation brought about by the fearsome wyverns. Having fought in quite a number of those battles, the elder bowed her head with closed eyes as she remembered the people who lost their lives then, remembering the loved ones she herself had lost.

As far as she was concerned, those battles were fought to a stalemate, having repelled the evil ones while dozens of villages were totally wiped off the map. Not all wyverns are evil of course, most attacking only when their territory was intruded upon. But so great was the fear and hatred from the populace that huge armies were gathered and sent to destroy any that were in the local vicinity.

Then came the time of peace where everybody firmly believed that all wyverns have been exterminated. None was seen for decades. But the elder sense the untruth of those words. She had secretly believed that the wyverns were not exterminated, they had all simply gone down to hiding, healing their wounds and breeding their young in secret.

And it seems that they have finally come out of hiding to once again roam the surface of this planet. She was still contemplating on this matter when a female messenger arrived with a hawk clutching firmly to her shoulder.

"Excuse me, Elder, but I have received a missive from Blackjack and Nemesis both that requires your attention." Bowing solemnly, she held the small messages in her hands out towards the Elder.

Grimly, the elder woman took and unrolled the small messages. First reading one message, then the other, her face grew grimmer still. The messenger waited politely for further orders.

"Send for the hunters protecting the miners in the volcanic regions. Have them return to us with all speed. No delays, no excuses."

"Yes ma'am." The female messenger sprinted off.

The Elder turned back to watch the magnificent sun rise, knowing that many people in the coming weeks might not have the chance to watch it rise again.

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At the same time the Elder was watching the sunrise at Pokke Village, Neela and the rest was slowly crossing the scorching desert, traveling near rocky outcroppings that provided some cover from the burning rays of the sun.

Supporting Jax pain-filled trek through the desert by having his good arm around her shoulders, Neela felt her heart squeeze painfully each time a stumble caused Jax to grimace in pain. She couldn't understand her feelings.

True, it certainly seemed to everyone that there were no siblings in Pokke village that were as close to each other when compared to her and Jax. Sisterly love, most would jokingly say, but Neela wasn't certain of that.

But as the hours crawled slowly by, Jax began to recover miraculously and even walked without Neela's aid, though she was always near to reach out a loving hand whenever it seemed that Jax would stumble.

And as always, Gron walked steadfastly beside Jax, his concern for his dear friend apparent to Neela.

Having salvaged for materials from the dead cephalos and retrieved the huge broken horn from the injured Monoblos, Gron was quite eager to see what armors or weapons could be made from the materials.

And throughout the journey, Jax seemed to be constantly deep in thought, occasionally raising his head slightly to stare daggers at Tylor's broad back. He had been this way ever since last night when Tylor had told him about a man named Evan being his sensei.

Suddenly Tylor raised his hand, signaling the small band to stop. Curious, they all peered around him to see what had caught Tylor's attention.

Neela gasped. They all could see the far off tiny figure of a cephalos out in the desert, spitting sand at what appears to be a small band of travelers. Gron growled deep in his chest and Jax moved to grab his sword hilt.

"Gron, you're with me. Neela, stay here with Jax." And with that, Tylor sprinted off towards the cephalos. Gron, totally caught off guard, hurriedly sprinted after him, his hand on his weapon's handle sticking out from behind him.

Jax, gritting his teeth in annoyance, could only stand idly by watching as Gron and Tylor leaped into battle. But thinking it over for a while, he guessed he don't have much choice in the matter anyhow. Though his wounds had healed more or less throughout the journey back to Pokke village, going into battle now would probably reopen his shoulder wound. There was also the uncomfortable remembrance of having Tylor dangling him by his neck, thus he didn't dare disobey the tall man, though he wouldn't have admitted that to himself, much less to anyone else.

Tylor was amazingly swift for such a tall man. His superior long legs quickly ate at the distance between him and the cephalos. Gron was hard pressed to keep up with him and was a good three to four paces behind.

Up ahead, Tylor could see the cephalos continue attacking the small band. The band seems to be nimble enough to avoid getting hit at the moment but it would seem to be a matter of time before a blow connected, or a sand spit connected.

When the hunters were close to the battle scene, the cephalos caught sight of the approaching hunters. Quickly diverting its attention, it reared its ugly head and spat at Tylor.

Expecting this attack after seeing the creature rear its head, Tylor dug in his feet into the shifting sand and quickly rolled to his left. The sand blasted onto the desert sands, sending sprays of sand to fly in all directions. Rolling smoothly back onto his feet, Tylor dashed for the kill.

One of the travelers, having taken advantage of the situation while the cephalos's attention was diverted, sprang towards it and hit it with a soft thwack from his small travelling staff.

The surprised creature stared down at the small traveler near its foot. Opening its maw, it was about to mangle the traveler. Tylor, reaching the cephalos at last, swung his huge sword and neatly sliced off one of its side fins. Screeching in pain, the creature swiveled its head back to look at Tylor.

Gron, also finally reaching the scene, made a running leap into the air and brought down his massive hammer down onto its head, dead on target. The limp body quietly slumped down onto the shifting sands. Grinning, Gron realized he was actually having fun killing these things.

"Permission to carve the body, sir" Gron spoke to Tylor.

"No time for that." Tylor was looking off into the desert and Gron, following his sight, saw a number of ripples moving further off in the desert.

Turning his sight from the desert, Tylor looked at the band of travelers. It was a band of Melynx travelers, consisting of one male elder, two younger females and one male child. The Melynx elder was the one who snuck up and attacked the cephalos.

The Melynx seemed about to thank them for their aid, but Tylor cut him off. "Gron, let's get them out of here. You! Get on my back." this being said to the elder Melynx. It meekly nodded its head.

Crouching down to make it easier for them, the Melynx elder leaped onto Tylor's back, while the two females leaped onto Gron's. Holding securely to the Melynx child with his hands, Gron leaped to keep up with the tall man who was already racing back towards Jax and Neela.

Upon reaching them, the two hunters stopped for a breather. Gron went to Neela and held the Melynx child out to her. "You're going to have to hold the child for me, Neela. I need to free up my hands for my hammer just in case."

Neela nodded and took charge of the child. Shivering with fear from the attack, the small creature has red eyes from crying and huddle into a small ball in Neela's arms. Eyes softening in concern, Neela held on to it tenderly.

"Where were you headed?" Tylor asked the Melynx hanging onto his back.

"Nya! Our village has been destroyed in the desert, we have no real destination in mind. Nya!" purred the Melynx.

"Then that's settled, your group will come with us to Pokke village, I am sure they will have safe houses for you there."

"Nya! Thank you very much."

"Jax, we may have to make a run for it, Can you make it?" Tylor asked."We have to report this matter to the Elder as soon as we are able."

Struck speechless, Jax was caught off guard. This was the first time Tylor had asked something from him instead of ordering him about. He found he can only nod in acknowledgement.

"Good, then let's go." And off he sprinted. The others quickly followed.

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End of Chapter 6
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[froggy]

Hey Ico! Send you a message at your profile



and...


*squishes Ico*

[Tuddle]

me too!

[traeg9418]

crossxchaos, on 21 July 2010 - 08:03 PM, said:

I'm only an etc? *sad*
*recedes into the shadows*

I'm an etc. as well. So sad, so sad.

[Coma]

*tries to compensate*

[Virtuos]