Broken Earth: Unveiling the Secrets of the Worlds

Cry of Victory

Without a moment’s hesitation, the group jump into the night and light up the three colored leaves a few meters away from the shelter. After accomplishing the requirement for their safety.

“Mr. Xerxes, we need to constantly light up leaves after a certain range where the smell of the leaves do not reach.” Flugar says while they sprint away before the monsters rampage all over the place.

“Yes, I thought that might be the case so I prepared enough for our journey.” Xerxes shows Flugar a pouch that is still brimming with leaves but due to the darkness of the night, Flugar could not see well.

They already passed the point, the first mountain that they need to pass before reaching their safest route to the native human settlement.  After a few hours of struggle, the group can already see the settlement when all of the sudden a behemoth showed up in front of them.

They could not see the entire body of the creature but basing on the sound of the rumbling alone and its heavy footsteps, they are almost certain of the creature’s identity. “What a trouble some thing that appeared.” Xerxes said since engaging against a creature that big will certainly alert other monsters to their location and risk the lives of the people inside the settlement as well.

“Mr. Flugar, you take the rest of the men with you. Rupert and Ramirez and I will deal with this beast.” Xerxes said to the others. Yusaf instantly protested that they should deal with it together. “Yes that would be great as well but we should consider the consequences. The settlement could be in danger if we fight it together. Now go!” Xerxes threw bags to the elves and humans so that they can fight with ease.

“When we ascertain everyone’s safety we’ll definitely come back!” Yusaf cried as they leave Xerxes and the others to their devices. “Is it time to roll boys?” Ramirez smiles and the charge at the creature without hesitation. “You better not be squashed!” Rupert warned.

BAM! RUMBLE!

The creature use its head to smack them away but the three humans fighting it are evasive and agile against it’s slow attacks. “Ramirez, Rupert! Injure its legs! That way it can’t move around much!” Xerxes orders and the two swing their swords on the giant’s legs. Upon injuring the creature, it immediately tries to step on the two whilst Xerxes on the other hands tries to ascertain the giant that they are fighting with and to his surprise, what he thought was the creature that looks like the elephant basing on the legs and feet but he was wrong. The creature that they are fighting with is the same creature that he and Casim manage to take down out of pure luck, the long-necked creature.

Its almost as if it’s a complete copy of Brontosaurus but this one is different. It is smaller in size and it is an omnivore, attacking Casim and now them proves that it does not only eats plants but also anything that moves.

Xerxes is shocked of his findings and warns the two almost immediately. “Watch out for its tail. It can easily break your bones!” the warning reach the two’s ears but the monster that is now moving around to get rid of them under it’s feet, making it hard for them to injure it without approaching near the monster.

“Get away from it for now. Getting stomped by that thing is certain death!” Ramirez and Rupert backs away and saw the monster that they have been fighting with clearly. Their eyes widen in shock after only realizing that they have been fighting an entirely different monster all along. “What is that thing?”

“The creature that Casim and I brought down last time. It looks like they found out that a part of their species died here. It must have wandered here and found us, a perfect timing.” The two are amazed of their master to have taken  down a monster like that in the past.

“Stay alert, that creature is not the only one we should be worried about. We can’t see the smoke from here so we don’t know when other monsters decide to show up. Flintlocks, ready them. We might need to use -!” Xerxes turns to his left and heard trees cracking and rumbling, that is when he realized that the long-necked creature used its tail to clean them off. “Run!”

Xerxes leads the way to where he thinks the creature is where the movement of the tail is slow compared to its end.

RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE! c***k! c***k! c***k! c***k! CRASH!

‘Please make it! Xerxes screams in his head as he continues to follow the sound of the trees and saw the silhouette of the creature sweeping down the trees on the mountain like a lawnmower. To stop the creature from ruining the area and destroying the landscape, Xerxes is forced to use his flintlock. And fired on where he think the head of creature is.

BANG! THUP! BRUUUUUU!

The creature groan in pain after Xerxes shot a part of it’s neck, a few meters away from its head. Xerxes did not see this as a waste and immediately reload his flintlock to make another shot when Rupert jump on him. In surprise, Xerxes points his flintlock to Rupert who then immediately pointed at the creature that almost landed on Xerxes’ back.

It turns out that that creature aims to attack Xerxes while he is busy reloading his flintlock, Rupert sees this and jump on Xerxes instead of warning him to reassure his safety.

GROWL!

The creature growls at them, signaling the other of its kind to come to its location. But before it can growl even more, Ramirez shot the creature dead.

 “That’s the price for aiming for the master. You prick.” There was no time to celebrate, that growl should be inviting the others to their location any minute to feast on the three, the long-necked creature also focus on them, trying to stomp the three flat on the ground but its efforts proved to be pointless. The three have already adjusted their eyes in the dark, seeing the silhouette of its legs as it moves in the darkness, the three are able to evade every single one of it’s attempt to kill them.

STOMP! STOMO! STOMO! STOMP!

“This is so tiring!” Ramirez complain as he rolls on the ground like a log. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the leaves rustling and the bushes moving. His fears came true, a creature just like the one he shot a few moments earlier appeared, but not alone. This time, there are a whole lot of them, a pack of wolf like creatures. With barely any fur left on their bodies.

GROWL! SNARL! SNARL! SNARL!

They saw the lying body of their member on the ground and immediately sees the three as a threat and proceeds to attack them. Luckily for the three, the long-neck creature stomping on them made it for the wolf-like creatures to attack them hastily, it was fortunate for Xerxes and the others that the creatures that arrived knew what danger looks like but that does guarantee the three’s safety.

Xerxes unsheathe his katana and pierce the creature’s legs which then made the creature panic and stomp the ground even faster than it did before. “Stab its legs!” Rupert and Ramirez then did so, with three legs wounded. The creature slowed down. Unable to reach the creature’s neck no head. The three are forced to injure it’s legs to the point that a single step can make its wounds bleed so bad that its blood even splash on the ground.

‘The ground is becoming slippery because of the monster’s blood. This will be bad if the wolf-like creatures attack us-!’ Xerxes turns to the wolf-like creatures and saw that they are now fewer in numbers compared to the first time they appeared.

‘What in the world?’ Xerxes sees a smoke in the horizon, two mountains away from them. ‘Is it them?’ he thought to himself when he remembers that he is still fighting against the giant creature.

The wolf like creatures started diminishing and eventually disappeared from their sights. ‘Yusaf and the others must have lured the other monsters to keep them away from our locations.’ Xerxes smiles, feeling assured that the group have definitely helped then greatly.

“I hope you three are okay. This is the only help that we can give. Take hold of this opportunity properly.” Yusaf says to himself as he and his group face of against the monsters that appeared after they light the three colored leaves that Xerxes accidentally handed over to the other elves. “This is our time to shine! Show them the power and might of elves!” Yusaf cries as they engage with the monsters in a fight.

A few hours earlier,

“What in the world happened?” the marquis ask his officers who returned without the hunters. “Those bastards, they turned us into bait. They left us to die! Xerxes’ report was true. There are even more threats inside the portal!” the officer without any intense injury. “What?!” the marquis exclaim in outrage. He then turns to the hunters’ subordinates who immediately denied their knowledge of their leaders’ act. “They really are rotten bastards.” Hunter Benedict says as he appears among the crowd.

“Have him treated, we need his confession as proof.” The other soldiers then carried the wounded officer to the nearest clinic where he can be given immediate treatment. “What happened inside?” the marquis ask his officer who did not immediately answer due to his overflowing anger towards the hunters that left them, a pair of officers who knew next to nothing about the portal alone to die at the hands of the orcs.

“At first it was peaceful, like nothing out of the ordinary monsters there. But all of the sudden, a large crow looking creature appeared. It flies so fast that one of the hunter got snatched away. We were forced to stay still, but then more monsters came pouring in, especially the monster that Mr. Xerxes and the others were trying to get away from. It crushed the insides of another hunter in a single attack. It was inevitable death. That place is crawling with monsters. That is not something that we should waste our time worrying about.” The officer said.

“So you confirm Mr. Xerxes’ report?” the officer nod his head in response. “Yes, no- I guarantee it. It was also because of him and his men that we were able to survive. They killed those orcs in just a short time and even waited for our time to pass so that we can get back here safely.” He then turns to the subordinates of the hunters that they went inside the portal with and glare at them.

“Looks like I am indebted to him more. But thanks to him, you both were able to get back safely. I will need to reward him when he get back.” The marquis said but the officer come close to him and whispered something in his ear.

“Is that all? Are you certain of it?” the officer nod his head. “Yes, he told me the safety of his employees residing on his shop takes more priority. I gave him my word that I will see to it that they are safe. If you don’t plan to dispatch a group of soldiers to safeguard that place, I will go and guard them myself.”

The marquis is surprised of his officer’s actions. He knows that this certain officer has been loyally following him ever since he is dispatch by the king to address the problem with the portal. And for him to act out of character, it was shocking.

“You don’t need to go that far. Of course I will honor his wishes for the safety of your lives. I owe him that much.” The marquis smiles knowing that his officers experienced something that they did not experience in the past. 

The soldiers then returned holding a horse loaded with corpses of orcs. “Its their carriage. They must have made the horse return right after we entered the portal.” The officer said when all of the sudden they heard someone screaming that the hunters have returned.

“Seize them.” The marquis ordered and the soldiers brought the hunters back. Only to find that only three of them were able to return alive. They gasp in fear and horror when they saw the officer glaring at them. Without a moment of hesitation, the officer punched the one that told them to die.

“Take that you bastard, there’s more where that came from.” The other soldiers pull him away from the hunters. “Now I’ll have you be punished for that evil deed. Where are the others? Don’t tell me they kicked the bucket before I can punish them.” The marquis says with a cold tone.

Morning came and Xerxes and the others manage to take down the giant creature by bleeding it to death.

“Huraaaaa!” Xerxes cried when the giant finally falls to the ground.