Marco’s training became particularly intense, so much he got injured again during the forest trial. Iugid, Vashim, Tael, and Kalexis were more demanding, their blows faster and harder during sparring.
But he was getting better at everything he learned—unarmed combat, fencing, archery, and at managing larger, monstrous foes.
While at first always being around, Marco saw Gianluca and Letice less frequently, as they led a private life in the villa. On the other hand, Yvala, Gon, and R’kek left to go where more advanced training was possible—the very same place where Marco and Kalexis would go once he was ready.
First Marco developed the muscles, or better, the mind’s equivalent of them, to rapidly reload the powerful bow, and as Kalexis suggested he worked more on his feet. He tried his best at walking and running shots that failed him in hilarious ways.
Still having lots of room for improvement with Tael, thanks to Vashim’s training Marco became proficient at holding his ground when surrounded by foes. He kept scoring kill after kill even though the Elder made the demons stronger with each new attempt of his. What was most interesting—other than learning how to evade almost any kind of grip, and hardening his punches and kicks—was sparring with Kalexis in the orchard.
Even if it was Kalexis to teach Marco the spear, Dod and Quin were always present to observe.
Instead of moving back while trying to either block or deflect her swiping attacks—something that would only lead to being run to the ground by a head-butt—Marco took some of Dod’s advice. He barrel-rolled sideways, and not yet on his feet he flung the spear and struck her close to the armpit—there where her flank wasn’t protected by her wing. He failed to control the force of delivery, something cracked and she puffed.
Before he knew it, Dod came in between the two, congratulating Marco and checking on Kalexis’s well-being. She wanted to resume sparring as they waited for Sathkela to arrive and fix her busted rib.
During the next round Kalexis was visibly pained, and Marco scored when she reared to evade his attacks.
“That’s right,” she said, as soon as the round ended. “Take advantage of any disadvantage. There will be no place for pity, rules, and no such thing as fair play on the experimental planet.”
Then Sathkela arrived on the scene—that wasn’t the first time Marco saw injuries vanish the moment the godly robed figure—beautifully bald, purple, and reptilian—intervened with her powers. “So, Marco, how is your training going?”
Just as all other perfectly rendered atmospheres and sensations, the crispy fresh air of that summer afternoon fooled him into believing everything was real. Up until Sathkela—by delivering her cure with but a motion of her hand—broke that illusion.
“You should know, since you can read my mind. I am beginning to see the results, if you want me to say it,” replied Marco, after Sathkela was done with Kalexis.
“You have yet to master the forest trial before you can move on to the final stage of your basic training. Your lifestyle will change then, becoming entirely focused on survival. As long as you stay with Kalexis everything should be fine, but you won’t be able to sleep together. Only that way can we simulate the conditions and fully train you for the lurking dangers of the experimental planet.”
“All right, you got it,” said Marco.
“Goodbye Marco,” she concluded. “See you in four days.”
And that was how much time had to pass before he faced the demons again—and he became truly devastating at it. He dropped five with his bow, then drew his sword to kill those upon him and take more ranged shots. Wearing his modern light armor and with his Viking shield strapped to his back, he had to keep his respiration in check to be an instrument played without interruption. While in the very beginning he faced little creatures that were agile but didn’t possess much strength, stamina or skill, now the apish beasts knew how to anticipate feints and launch coordinated flurries that he had to counter, fast. That made him extra focused on having a damaging effect on the mass rather than getting trapped in close quarters.
Sathkela was very proud of him—he achieved the intended score, killing each and every of the fifty horrible things in the course of forty slow passing minutes.
“Maybe you should take a week off,” she suggested.
“I will continue my training and face this challenge again before I leave.”
Sathkela took a deep breath, raising her purple hairless brow. “Marco, you will regret it. Soon you will have to be at your max for six consecutive months. That is the least amount of time before we can recover you in case you’re recaptured, and the place where you will go to is in many ways similar to the experimental planet.”
“I’m aware of that,” replied Marco.
Sathkela was among the trees of a forest where many colorful devils lay peacefully stiff.
“But if I have a week’s time, I want to use it to review my training.”
“All right, but you won’t have to face this test again,” said Sathkela, smiling in admiration. “Now go and celebrate your victory.”
There was another party at the villa, and Marco got hammered in the company of Gianluca and Letice, Dod and Quin, Tael and his two other masters. Iugid could drink almost as much as Kalexis while seemingly not suffering the same ill effects. Seated at the table with the special transparent chairs, Marco thought it was very different from his first time. Different because it was the last informal moment with friends he wouldn’t see for a while. He was over a month in, and in between beers he thought how six months really meant little in the end—especially there. Sipping the foam he considered how, just like his friend Gianluca, he could have been forever—until the Zigs caught up with them and, all of a sudden, he would be in a very real and very dangerous land, far from the benevolent Pranksters. Fortunately enough, Marco rest assured that virtual world was accurate enough that all of the effort he was putting in would eventually pay out. The evening extended itself into the night—it was so nice to just hang in the spacey hall and have drinks, rambling about how life was back on Earth and how much he would love to show the Zigs what he could do to their show first, and to them later.
Kalexis was so intoxicated that she didn’t stop Marco from talking Vashim’s ear off. She was sprawled over the polished wooden tiles and stared at the ceiling, narrating stories of Arak lore to Dod and Quin who sat on the couch beside her.
Marco vaguely recalled how he made it out of the villa, having to walk up the wet field on that pleasurably warm and early summer night—that was because Kalexis was in no condition to carry him to the house. He was trying to remember if it was Gianluca to want him out at a certain point—when he slipped, fell down, and heard Kalexis’s drunken laughter.
She was wobbling all over the place, even on all fours. Ahead of her, on the path through the darkness, she nuzzled his back. Marco didn’t mind until she prodded him with her snout. Then she gave him a push that almost knocked him down.
He improvised, applying the knowledge he gathered from Iugid. Being on higher ground, he spun on his toes and jumped toward her, passing by the side of her head so fast he completely missed her look of surprise. With his whole body he speared hers, grappling her neck with both arms so to throw her completely off balance.
She tripped, about to roll over the grass on the moderately steep side of the path. He barely managed to clear her by pushing himself away, something he could only do by digging his boots into her feathers.
He acted on cue under the influence—Marco watched her being sick. He told her how sorry and stupid he was. But she was only concerned about not having managed to counter him.
“Are you hurt?”
She raised her neck before testing the wing. She stretched it all the way out to twist and flap it. “Yes,” she stated, “but it’s nothing serious.”
“I could have snapped your neck.”
“In here? You worry too much,” she replied, folding her wing. She then moved down the field where she sat. There she turned on her back and asked Marco, rather imperatively, to fuck her.
He could barely see her. The stars in the sky, where they showed through the clearings in the clouds, were bright but their light very dim. Yet her outline was enough to arouse him, and in unzipping to mount on her tail he had a question. “Are we having sex outside because you’re too drunk to get home?”
She laughed.
“I’m sorry...”
“About what?” asked Marco, waking up with reasonable surprise.
“For asking too much of you,” she said.
To cheer her up, Marco hugged and rubbed her in the nest. “You’re not,” he said. “I love you and all the things we do.”
She gasped. “I love you too, Marco,” said she, gazing into his dark eyes with her golden ones. “But could you make some coffee for me, please?”
“Sure,” said him, getting up and away from the cozy spot. “I’ll get my breakfast going.”
That was how a strangely uneventful day started, Marco only having to hunt with her before they both relaxed. He went outdoors again later in the afternoon, for a walk to where they haven’t been in a while—up the near ridge to admire the panoramic view of the mountains and valleys around the volcanic lake.
The wind blew, and in being alone it started with a simple kiss. There was one ultimate spectator but it didn’t worry Marco—there was an agreement of mutual respect, finally wanting to believe he conquered a share of freedom.
Someone knocked on his door early the following morning. Before going to sleep he had time to clean up the house, but he wasn’t expecting visitors. He got out of Kalexis’s nest and dressed to open the door. It was Iugid and Vashim, and Marco insisted they came up and into the kitchen upstairs.
After saying hello, Kalexis didn’t mind being left alone in her room, as the upstairs apartment was never intended for her.
Before he had breakfast together with the masters he assumed that was their farewell visit. Working the pan, his hand was steady in the light of all he learned from them.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever reviewed your trials,” said gray Vashim, and Marco had to deny as it honestly never occurred to him. “From what I’ve seen on your last attempt, you are doing all the right things.”
The table looked puny with Iugid sitting at it with four foot tall Vashim by his side. “You never allowed your enemy to disarm you, or to get a hold of you—it’s good that you’re prepared for it, but you did better to avoid it. And I like how you’re using kicks.”
Marco never really got used to the odd proportions of Iugid’s face. “Thanks,” he told him, serving hot food on three plates and pouring the tea. “I still prefer to inflict damage from afar, whenever I can.”
Iugid nodded, and Marco sat at the table with them.
“Your mastery of the bow is impressive,” said Vashim—as always, he wore his black kimono. “And I’m sure that starting to hunt with Kalexis every morning has done you good.”
Iugid sounded supportive. “If you’re looking to learn how to fight while riding Kalexis into the heart of battle, Darvon is probably the best one to teach you.”
Vashim knew whom Iugid was referring to. “You may think that riding a dinosaur in times of intergalactic spaceships and meson guns is pointless, but on his home planet Darvon competed in the most brutal fighting competition I’m aware of. This was before the Kronian invasion. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind helping you take your combat skills to the next level.”
Marco took a bite and so did the others. Iugid nodded, silently congratulating Marco for the goodness of the meal.
“I’m sorry,” added Vashim, and the sound of forks and knives stopped. “I forgot to mention Darvon can only train you after you complete a six months round in the simulation.”
“You mean the simulation of the experimental planet?”
“Yes,” replied Vashim. “In parts it’s wild and wickedly overgrown, in others it’s a barren place full of strange surprises. I would suggest that you study it, but I’m afraid it’s not possible.”
“And why is that?”
“The Pranksters don’t know what any of the experimental planets will be like until they configure it. They created challenges in the simulation that could be those we face, but certainly aren’t.”
“I see.”
They finished breakfast, and when Marco walked back down the stairs Kalexis was waiting for him. He hugged both Iugid and Vashim before he let them go, as they were about to leave the villa and Marco behind.
“I won’t forget to tell Darvon about you,” said Vashim, then his look was of stone as he said. “Remember—never give up.”
Marco saw Tael down to the last evening, but not to practice the bow but for just a couple of drinks with Kalexis, Gianluca, Letice, Rex and Dod down at the villa. Leaving before he became embarrassing, Marco went to his friend Gianluca to rest a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for everything, pal. Take care of yourself, all right?”
“It’s you who should worry!”
Marco laughed and shook his head. “What do you know—when I’m away, we could all be recaptured by the Zigs.”
“That’s why you’re still here. See you tomorrow morning, Marco.”
And so Marco left riding a sober Kalexis.
The morning after, it was quite interesting to find a committee at his door. They didn’t have to wait too long outside—nor did they mind, as it was a nice sunny day—for Marco to wear a shirt and a pair of light trousers before he welcomed them all in.
There was the Elder, too, followed by Sathkela—it mind boggled Marco that he and she really were nothing but two manifestations of the same being that also was the very world around them. Among all the others there, Dod had a backpack for Marco, containing survival necessities to make the journey.
The Elder wished to sit down at the computer screen table in Kalexis’s room while the others either stood or rested against the stone walls. As Marco spoke with the Elder, he saw Dod inspected Kalexis’s leather armor—still brand-new, it hanged on the racks beside the entrance.
“You and Kalexis will now leave this section of the world through a portal. As soon as you cross it, your new trial will begin. Just like on the experimental planet, your task is to complete challenges. After you arrive, you will be approached by a ghost—it will reveal the objective, provide an expiration time, and give you some instructions.”
Dod started to take parts of the armor off the rack, and Kalexis joined him so he could help her wearing it. Marco was watching her when the Elder addressed him. “You will be given a different bow, a different sword, and different armor to take along.”
Marco didn’t like having to swap the weapons and armor he’d been getting used to, but he saw the good reasons—only that way would he learn what it is like to adapt to unfamiliar gear.
All of his new equipment was brought there. The sword was long and lighter, well balanced as he tested it by spinning it from hand to hand. The new armor and shield were entirely medieval.
Kalexis had to lie down for Dod to fasten the straps that held the padded leather cover against her tail, belly, and neck. He realized why she never wanted to wear it before—putting it on was a time consuming and complex procedure. Marco wondered how often she would take it off—if ever! Her armor’s underside had a slit where needed, with Marco actually having to unbuckle and pull his pants down—a vulnerable but inevitable position.
Nasty details aside, he found the bow was way too underpowered, something obvious to him as soon as he pulled back its string. It had no pulleys and was by all means a rudimentary composite bow. A quiver with forty arrows came with it, and the Elder cautioned him. “You may find hidden stashes, but the way to them is dangerous. That’s why you must use your arrows sparingly.”
“But this bow sucks!” exclaimed Marco, holding it in one hand.
The Elder replied with a shrug. “Only if you stay ahead of the game you can get a new one, but my advice is to stick to it and try to avoid unnecessary danger.” He rested his elbows on the unlit table as the ample sleeves of his gray robe dropped down his forearms revealing pale, wrinkled skin covered by thick white hair. “Kalexis masters the art of wilderness survival. Stay close to her, protect her, and she will protect you as the great warrior she is. Only fight your way through the monsters alone when there is no other way, and if you can run, just do it. Always listen to her, and do as she says—but don’t fear speaking out if you have any doubts on her strategy.”
“I trust Kalexis with more than my life,” Marco told the Elder, and Kalexis heard it.
Once they were both strapped up, Marco expected the Elder to do some hocus-pocus. To his surprise, the situation proved to be a little more realistic than that. There was a bus waiting at Gianluca’s villa, and they would have to take it to get to the transfer location.
Marco carried all of his gear when he got out of his house along with the rest. It was a short walk down the fields and to the villa. Beside Kalexis, Marco saw how Gianluca and Letice were waiting for them in the parking lot. Marco and Kalexis had another chance of saying goodbye to their friends. A simple hug, a pat on the shoulder—and they left.
The bus had a large automatic door, and a front space cleared of seats for Kalexis. Marco got on with the Elder and Sathkela. They went east on their way out of that familiar valley.
After a winded drive, the destination was a round concrete building. A tower laboratory with a dome, only accessible via a narrow track hanging over a gorge.
Marco got off the bus carrying all of his gear, and the Elder told him to proceed inside along with Kalexis. Enrobed musicians played hypnotic oriental music, and a black hole opened in the very fabric of that digital world. Marco felt himself fading, irresistibly attracted by that void. It sucked him and Kalexis in—to spit them out in the middle of a flat desert of clay.
The clouds hanged low in the sky, indigo mountains on the horizon where the rising heat created the illusion of many lakes. There was no trace of the portal and that place stank of death, ridden by foot trapping mud as it was.
“We have to get out of here, find water. There’s much light left, come, get on—it’s this way.”
Already feeling in good hands, he readied his bow. He scanned the dead land while she moved toward those distant mountains, slowing down only when she had to test the mud.
She was looking for a safe way out of that swamp, silent and focused. “I can see if someone is coming, if you face back it would be more helpful,” she said, after a while.
He turned his head around, his face riddled with drips of sweat. “I can’t see much with your wings in the way.” But she couldn’t hold her wings any lower.
“Try lying flat on my back.”
She did not have to stop for Marco to spin on her shoulders and reposition himself. At least he was being somewhat useful by acting as sentry rather than just being a weight she had to haul around.
The hours passed, and he had a bad feeling about the total absence of life. His flask of water was almost empty because he shared it with her, and it was getting dark.
She said she could see a tree line, but another half an hour had to pass before Marco saw it as well. She was visibly tired when he got off and thanked her warmly—he would still be in the swamp, otherwise. Kalexis revealed a spring in the tight bush she carefully cleared with her claws. By tasting it she deemed the water, which ran straight out of the mother rock, to be drinkable. Marco quenched himself, filling his flask before following her around the edge of the tangled woods—there she suddenly was alerted by familiar markings.
“It’s crawling with those little monsters,” she said.
Careful not to be surprised, they coasted the trees until they reached hills dominated by a layer of thick thorns. It didn’t take them long to find the trail through the bramble. The demon’s axe work, it was dotted by hoof-prints and led right into those hills, being just about wide enough for Kalexis to pass.
“It brings us closer to their camp,” she said after sniffing the air.
Marco never saw her in full combat mode, if not when she intervened to save him in the trial grounds. He could tell that she welcomed the idea of bringing hell to those devils.
“If this is the only way,” said Marco, “it means a head-on charge.”
“We have to find something to eat. There are many of those monsters up ahead. They’re surviving here, so they must have what we’re looking for.”
With eyes well trained to low-light conditions, Marco had little fear. He dismounted Kalexis and walked behind her so to cover her back with the bow.
She moved stealthily on their final uphill stretch, getting to a vantage point. From there, they could see a dozen tents and bonfires in a clearing with thirty, maybe forty of the vividly colorful monsters. Just a few sat on top of rough wooden turrets to guard the entrance to their camp—as well as the exit on the other side, which lead to paths reaching deep inside the otherwise impenetrable wilderness.
Marco cocked an arrow, and even if the bow was easy to pull, his grip was not as firm as he wanted it to be while calculating the shot. Guards on the rudimentary watchtowers clanged their bells when armored Kalexis came charging down, leaving Marco behind. His first arrow disabled one of the towers while the monsters communicated with horrible screams.
Fifty yards below, Kalexis clashed into a line before it formed, devastating five demons in less than three seconds.
Marco missed his second shot, but with his third he saved Kalexis from being struck by a spear. He no longer had a clear target—her body and wings obscured the foes she fought down by the entrance. He unsheathed his sword and bravely charged the enemy.
By the time he made it to Kalexis she was massacring demons inside their camp. A good number of them still worked together but she moved faster, chasing the fleeing ones into the flesh-ripping barrier of thorns.
A group converged on Marco, and he didn’t shiver before their horrible faces. Sparks traveling across the air, he had a little bread into which to sink his teeth.
Kalexis took care of the rest of them, using her tail to stop those lurking behind her and cast them into the bonfires. With every enemy dead she was spent. “I think you can eat that hog over there.”
Marco inspected Kalexis, worried that she got hurt and was hiding it from him.
She understood why he was concerned, shaking her head to reassure him. “I also walked all day with you on my back, so wake me up at the first sign of trouble. Are you okay with that?”
“You got it,” said Marco, cleaning his sword on the crude canvas of one of the tents. “I’ll have some hog, recover my arrows and search this place for stuff while you catch some sleep.”
Marco was upbeat after taking possession of that rudimentary camp with force and skill. While Kalexis slept he found some gems—a small ruby and an emerald—hidden under a hide in a tent. He placed those valuables in his backpack to keep them safe, wondering if there was somebody out there friendly enough to exchange them with something more useful. He was sitting beside Kalexis when early in the morning he heard noises coming from the exit of the camp. He woke her up by just tapping her broad shoulder to then ready his bow. One of the monsters, holding a torch at the head of a small group behind it, entered without spotting them. The dwarfish creature was terrified when seeing the dead bodies—Marco shot it down with a lethal arrow through its head. The rest screamed as they invaded the camp without knowing what kind of trouble they were getting into.
In the low light of a fire thirty yards away from where they came in, Marco was yet undetected. He downed one more, but his third arrow was dodged. Only four demons were left—with his right hand he drew steel, with his left he signaled her to stay put and let him do the job. He put the bow down and unfastened the shield from the backpack, arming himself for the fight. He answered the demons’ charge but with a leap Kalexis overtook him, and Marco was amazed by how easily she made the demons fly across the air. She still had to kill them, so he dropped his sword and shield to recover his bow. He corrected his stance, drew and fired an arrow that found the crotch of a demon close to Kalexis. She never was in the way of the arrows during training with Tael. With the scouting party dead, Marco apologized for taking such an unnecessary risk.
Kalexis was very stern when she replied. “If I find myself surrounded your shots must be accurate. I trust that you won’t hit me, but don’t let that make you hesitate.”
“Right,” said him. “I think it’s my turn to sleep.”
He didn’t remove his leather armor, yet it was nice to rest under her wing while she was on the lookout.