When Kalexis woke up Marco, he had to take the new day in all of a sudden. She lifted her wing and the warm still air beneath it left her lover’s proximity.
Not knowing if it was trouble or not, he didn’t waste a moment and drew his sword.
She got up but didn’t move on the ghastly creature that was floating nearby. It was the digital representation of a levitating robot—the ghost the Elder spoke of, its polymorph material partly transparent, translucent, and gleaming strangely.
Its absent voice played out as it had no face nor limbs, so ethereal that Marco bet it could move right through the mangled underbrush.
“To the west of here—where lies the sea—there is a city by the name of Natuk. There you will find Gajik—from him you must buy your way through the desert, and seek the Keep of Treasures,” said the thing as it shimmered, faded into its parallel dimension. “You have two months’ time.”
The bringer of the quest didn’t hang about to be questioned—it took to the air like a child’s balloon, becoming totally unrecognizable against the overcast sky. The cryptic sentence it spoke contained more than enough information for Marco and Kalexis to know where to go. It just didn’t give a clear indication of how far the aforementioned city was to the west of there, though.
The first few days were easy-going as they traveled making use of the network of pathways. They penetrated deep into the hilled countryside, finding a larger opening at the base of that imposing outline of mountains they first saw on their arrival. Marco and Kalexis raided all the demon camps they found on their way there, having little trouble dispatching the relatively small numbers of foes. Marco always found either gems or gold when plundering—Kalexis approved of that, as they would need some form of compensation to purchase a way through the desert from that strangely named fellow.
At the end of the trail—right before the mountains—a fort blocked the way to an open valley. It was dusk when they scouted it, and right away Marco could tell Kalexis wasn’t convinced she could take on the couple of hundred fiends garrisoned there. A barrier with higher watchtowers prevented them from getting in without being detected, and however missing gates, the sheer number of swords and spears in that camp was overwhelming—Marco knew that compensated for both their size and rudimentary fighting skills.
There was no other way but to cut through the fort if they wanted to access the mountain pass behind it. The vegetation on the hill before the encampment walls, extending to both sides, made it impossible to move along the base of the mountain chain. Their only option was to retrace their footsteps and search for a lesser pathway, a way to the peaks who knows how far from there.
Right when they were about to turn back to discuss their strategy, Kalexis and Marco were caught hiding behind a boulder some two hundred yards from the entrance to the demon’s camp above. They were invisible to the demons occupying the towers, but were spotted from behind! This time the fiends were accompanied by two staggering masses of muscles. They had pillar-like legs, their skin like rock, and their cylindrical heads, cast over their broad flat shoulders, stared at the world through rhinestone eyes. These dreadful looking things lunged forward but were left behind by the much smaller fiends, some of which clanged brass bells.
Unprepared, Marco and his mate didn’t react to being flanked and were cornered against the wall of thorns. For the first time he knew the monsters had the upper hand, and in turning to Kalexis she clearly thought the same. He had to make use of his shield as the spears rained down, a whole dozen of them. She darted away, intercepting those closing in on her left side. Stepping back, he stopped a flying spear with his shield before catching up with her—to kill those that tried to get to her tail while she reaped havoc. The fight lasted for a minute or so before the fleshy golems reached them.
“More are coming from the camp!” cried Kalexis, and in turning around Marco saw a stream of colorful fiends rush out the fort.
Some sprinted downhill while others jumped from rock to rock to cover the distance. Those already on Marco and Kalexis made way for the golems to come through.
Before Kalexis had to dodge a slow but devastating fist, she pounced the nearest one, hanging on to it by grasping its shoulders. She attempted to rip the flesh over its belly with her rear talons, but it wasn’t working.
Marco killed the demons contending with him, and then dropped the sword and shield to switch to the bow. Three fiends close to him charged, taking advantage of his lowering of the guard. He ignored it, focusing on the other golem before it got to him. It was a fluke as his first arrow found its way through the creature’s right eye, cutting a dysfunctional groove in its brain—the golem flopped to ground like a big sack of meat.
Still wrestling with the remaining one, Kalexis shifted her body to get out of the way of its arms—those stony hands could’ve easily broken her. She could only take it down by swinging her weight, and managed to throw it off balance.
When he heard the golem’s thud, Marco had seventeen arrows left and not one to spare. Spinning and shooting with precision, he killed those nearing before nailing one that was running away from Kalexis. With the few arrows left he targeted the front line of spears that would be there in moments.
Even if the way for a retreat seemed clear, they didn’t leave the fight. Firing at the charging line, Marco saw the monsters tumble over those he dropped. They didn’t have time to get back up that she was on them. After checking that nothing was creeping up on them, Marco took focused shots until he ran out of arrows—making Kalexis’s job easier. When even the arrows that he recovered from the corpses were over, he picked up his sword and shield to join her in battle.
She pushed the remaining foes half way back up the hill, leaving a trail of gashed bodies behind her. She was extremely fast, much more than in training—she dodged the stabbing spears, and when she got a hold of one, she threw it back with tremendous force. She was a graceful, deadly, tail-swinging beast. Marco helped her work her way into the group of demons that was receiving reinforcements. She decimated them with her claws while preventing them from either folding or reforming a line, with Marco taking care of those she isolated.
Fighting below her, Marco dispatched a fleeing demon when he saw a lone spear traveling through the air. It was thrown from a near watchtower and was about to strike her! His pupils focused from the tower to her, and he felt helpless in realizing that she did not see it coming. The spear dug right through her left wing, planting itself in her flank.
Her cry of pain broke his heart, but her subsequent roar of rage made him want to destroy more. With heavy steps fueled by the cocktail of rampaging emotion, Marco sided her in a fight that continued despite her injury. Everything happened so fast in the bloody chaos that he couldn’t tell if she was moments away from passing out. Many of her foes sure were dying of internal hemorrhages, dozens fleeing to be replaced by fresher ones charging down to have their try at her.
Fencing for his life, Marco asked himself what would happen if they failed. Would they be shifted out of there before dying, as he remembered Agent Grey mentioning a long time before? Such were his passing thoughts, as Kalexis retreated with that spear still planted in her side.
Marco blocked yet another flying spear with his shield. The enemy was taunting but not pursuing, giving him the chance to fold back to her. It was with regret that she asked him to extract it, lowering down. There was little time before the monsters would respond, and he hated to be reluctant. She would have bled out faster than she already was, and even at sun down he could see the droplets of blood dripping from her wound.
“Quick! Remove it.”
Marco had no choice. He pulled on the rough spear, tearing some of her feathers in releasing it from her wing.
“Shit—how many more?” exclaimed Marco, looking back in horror.
From the only way back came more enemy reinforcements—in the form of four golems, accompanied by at least forty more fiends!
They couldn’t defeat them. Their only option was to make it back up the hill and into the crowded fort if they wished a chance at escaping alive from the pass on the opposite side.
“Get on!” Marco was already doing it but felt impelled to do so faster. He made it to sit on her shoulders and had to hang on real tight. She sprinted up the rocky hill putting ground between them and certain doom. The moments leading to the approach of the open gate—with the four turrets looming above the wall made of pointy logs strapped together—were awfully intense as he pressed his legs against her not to fall back. Sword and spear-wielding demons charged in a line, howling wildly. Marco and Kalexis were again the targets of spears thrown both from the front and above, but she found a way through, dodging enemies as he covered part of her neck with his round shield.
Marco scanned the area, just as she did when pausing for the best way through. More demons were coming out of the larger tents, but not to challenge them. For the first time he saw the disgusting figures of their females. He shuddered—even if they were only projections in his mind, he was grossed out by how those ravaging devils could spawn more of their wicked kind on the experimental planet.
Kalexis avoided the demons that tried to prevent her escape. One tossed a spear, and riding Marco raised his shield, his arm recoiling as it deflected the weapon that bounced off like a preloaded spring.
The sight of the exit was a welcome one, especially since it wasn’t as well guarded as the entrance. But what was beyond was considerably less so—the forested valley rose to a high pass with a glacier, and it was getting dark. They had to keep moving if they wanted to evade the swarm of pursuers even though she was quite severely injured.
She increased her pace by lowering her head and pointing her neck, Marco leaned using his whole body to grip hers as she made a dash for the woods some three hundred yards up the back of the fort. He just hoped not to find more of those golems as they followed an unkempt trail were he could hardly see a thing. But it was a relief for him to find there was plenty of room to move around now that the vegetation changed—no longer a gargantuan overgrowth impeding their way. After five minutes of riding he started relaxing, and however it still required all of his effort to stay on, it was a very different one than that of fighting.
His body felt sore and his back burned in pain—with his shoulders and hips he had to keep not just himself, but also his large backpack, in balance to avoid falling off the dragoness. At first more focused on putting the camp behind and no longer catch sights of incoming foes, Marco became seriously worried about her. He could tell she was putting a strain on herself, tripping and almost falling on her chest a few times. He implored her to stop.
When she did, she collapsed on the bedding of dry leaves and with her eyes closed, her mouth open, and her fat tongue dangling out she just panted uncontrollably—Marco never seen her so exhausted before.
Close to her, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before asking her to show him the wound, no matter he almost couldn’t see. He got a glimpse of her pained expression when she lifted the wing, paled touching the coagulated blood against the pierce in the leather armor—as far as he could tell the bleeding stopped, but only for as long as she kept still. Her armor had to be taken off, and if that was an accurate simulation he had to clean, or even better find a way to disinfect, the exposed flesh.
“I will be fine,” she claimed after a minute.
“Getting a rusted spear in your side is fine?” asked Marco. The tip of the weapon missed the bottom of her natural interlocking plates by a few inches, ripping the thick leather to dig a two-inch deep hole in her dorsal muscles.
“My immune system can handle it,” she struggled to say, “but I... I can’t get up right now.”
“Have the rest of my water.”
She accepted it, and Marco had her drink from his flask. He stood by Kalexis as she searched the woods, staying quiet to catch any suspicious sounds while she recovered. Marco could feel the air was bringing rain, and lots of it.
They slowly resumed. He was glad her senses were more suitable than his own to get them out of those woods. It irked him how he exhausted all of his arrows, and however uninjured establishing how Kalexis—a much more experienced fighter than he was—got the punishment made him fall under the impression that he wasn’t doing enough to protect her. He timidly suggested it, but the conversation was cut short after over an hour of silence.
“We were ambushed,” replied she, quietly.
He avoided talking for a while. Finally they were out and on a desolated incline of rocks and dry bushes. Fat cold raindrops came pouring down of the black. Kalexis told Marco it was going to take another four or five hours climb to the base of the glacier.
He had a bad feeling, and more than anything else he wished to find a place where to hide and take off his armor which he really hated having to wear all the time. But he was man enough to ignore the pain from the blisters he got from riding Kalexis without a saddle.
“I’m getting off,” said he when the incline became too steep.
She didn’t complain about letting him down, and side by side they made it up in the dark as the falling rain drenched them.
“We’re almost there!” exclaimed Kalexis, breaking the silence and giving Marco strength as with brick legs he slipped on the icy rocks—he had to stay very close to her if he wanted to avoid taking a deadly fall. When the path reappeared it was narrower, zigzagging up the almost vertical rock face before the tall glacial plateau. Once up there he could barely make out the massive slab of white ice rising to a sharp peak on his far left. It was promising how they were making progress downhill, going toward the top of a valley created by a stream fed by the many springs surfacing from the plateau.
It was snowing.
While missing beneath the glacier, a trail marked by piles of rocks showed the way to a narrow path that went along the drop and into that vale. After Kalexis drank water from one of the springs, she told Marco to stay there—she would go on alone to create a false trail. He would have to wait until she came back, and then they would follow the mountain crest to look for a safe place to camp to the north.
“It’s dark and snowing, they’re probably onto us, and you want me to stay here by myself?” had to exclaim Marco, forgetting to mention how he was also tired beyond belief, and she was injured.
“I have to do this. Stay here, and don’t sleep.”
Marco agreed—if it really was their only way to shake those on their tail. It wasn’t the best of solutions, but he found shelter in between two rocks. He couldn’t help shaking, weak and cold as he thought he heard voices and steps muffled by the wind. But, in looking out from his makeshift shelter, he could only see the flakes of snow before catching one in his eye. In clutching the handle of his sword, with the shield in front of his legs and curling up, Marco’s hands touched. He was so tired that he couldn’t think of anything. To fight it, he began to rock himself backward and forward but he was urged to sleep.
Kalexis nudged Marco and woke him up. He hated having lost control, and for a few minutes the heat of his embarrassment was enough to keep him warm. With him she moved through the night in the blowing wind. They must have come across six valleys descending to either side when Kalexis finally made it down to an altitude where the snow turned to rain. The light of morning shined its pale glow through the clouds before they reached the tree line, and over grassy hills they spotted something that grabbed both their attentions—it was set within the steep face of the mountains rising to their right, an inviting cave.
It’s hard to describe what it’s like to find shelter from the elements after being forced to face them for a life-endangering amount of time—Marco patted Kalexis on the neck when she invited him to dismount, and that was as soon as they were inside. He was no explosives expert, but thought that cave was not natural and actually obtained by placing dynamite charges, with the rounded edges of the ceiling being composed of irregular hard rock. The tunnel started down and without a torch he would be groping in the dark if he ever decided to venture alone—Kalexis said she would check it herself.
He took the backpack off, as well as putting all of his weapons down—then was so broken he couldn’t help himself up. He really had to sleep but Kalexis was the one to have put in the greatest amount of effort. Now she couldn’t trust him with the task of keeping guard after she found him snoozing—it was the first mistake on his part. Resting his back against his pack, the sword by his side and next to his right arm, Marco kept his closing eyes fixed on the rain dripping from the ledge of overhanging rock of the cave entrance. He thought the sky to be weeping for his dreadful fate.
“The tunnel takes all the way to a door,” she, too, was exhausted when she returned to Marco, and he painfully made it back on his feet in hearing it. They had to investigate it, so he followed Kalexis... and she stopped him from going any further, as he only took his sword and left his shield behind. He didn’t argue as she was absolutely right it wasn’t a good idea to proceed without it.
When he got back Marco couldn’t even see the damn door. “Should I guess where to knock?”
“This could be anything, from someone’s house to the secondary exit of an underground facility.” She expressed worry without having to raise her voice—but suddenly they heard a locking mechanism and both stepped back. He readied himself to either fight or flee as the door was pulled open from the inside, revealing a bald, fat human with reddened cheeks. He had a clean apron on and smiled fairly with his lips closed.
“Marco, what a pleasure,” he said, in Italian.
“Who are you?” asked Marco, very surprised.
“I’m not the Elder. I’m human, just like you. I used to be a merchant, so I was asked to manage this shop.”
“Do you know Gajik?”
“Who doesn’t.”
Marco peeked behind the man and caught glimpses of a warm and bright room with items on display—it displeased him Kalexis couldn’t enter from its door. “How do we get to him?”
“You’re a bit off track but I can imagine the reasons.”
“Quite the chance for us to find you—for how long have you been living out here?”
“Oh, not that long. You’ll find shops like this all over the place. I teleport from one to another to serve you,” said the merchant. “Your training is paying off, as you have gold and gems to trade.”
Kalexis went to recover Marco’s backpack and bring it to him while he browsed the stuff for sale. He studied the selection of bows—wondering about the prices—then he remembered about Kalexis’s wound.
“Do you have medical alcohol and sterilized rags that I can use?”
“I sure have some at the back, doc.”
“Right. What’s your name?”
“My name is Giorgio,” said the man, “I come from the province of Agrigento, but you’re actually older than me.”
“How much for that bow?” asked Marco bluntly, and Giorgio laughed.
“What have you got?”
Marco excused himself. He went to Kalexis, who stuck her golden head in through the door.
“Are we in danger here?” asked she of Giorgio, while Marco opened his backpack to reach for all the treasures he found—in total he had about five ounces of gold and a dozen small gems.
“No,” replied Giorgio as he moved to the coal-burning stove at the far end of the shop. “You can rest in the tunnel, and I have a bunch of sheepskins I can sell you to sleep on—they’re softer than rock, you know.”
“We don’t want them, Marco.”
“Speak for yourself,” he said, jokingly. He moved up to the glass counter to show Giorgio his goods.
“I can give you that bow for six of those emeralds, with twenty hunting arrows.”
“I’ll need an extra twenty arrows and a couple of sheepskins, plus the medical gear.”
“Ah, yes, good. That would cost you half of the gold you have.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I buy things for a price. I can sell you some sweet rum to take on your journey, perhaps? And since you’re dripping all over the place, I’ll give you a free set of extra-large towels to go with it.”
Marco grunted—the merchant really knew how to barter. He had to take the offer, also deciding to buy a fresh set of light clothes, new socks, and underpants. He also bought himself a waterproof cape, and ended up with but a few rubies and half of his gold when he finally refused a pair of boots.
“We just need to dry up as with the rest of our stuff. Can we let it do that in here?” asked him.
“For a fee—” Giorgio laughed at the faces Marco and Kalexis made— “you bought so much from me, consider it free. I’m guessing it will take a while, but nobody else is coming, so I don’t mind spoiling the look of the shop by having your clothes and armors hanging over my display cases.”
“Thanks,” said both Marco and Kalexis.
He brought the sheepskins outside, and Kalexis carried them in her mouth to the entrance of the tunnel where the ground was smoother. Marco excused himself as he undressed in the shop, dried up with a towel, and put on the medieval style clothes he just bought. With the rags and the alcohol, he medicated Kalexis but only after he convinced her to take off her armor as well. Having been on her for two weeks it left markings in her skin, which was irritated from the constant rubbing of the tightened leather. With the biggest towel Marco gave Kalexis a body rub focusing on her neck first, her arms and legs, and then her belly and tail. When he was done with the towels, they were so dirty and wet and stank of her that he had to throw them out.
He then asked her to lift her wing so he could intervene on the wound beneath it. It was a dirty deep hole, and it pained Marco to see the irreparable damage the spear caused to her wing. All he could do was to clean and disinfect it while she moaned and bled. Due to the position of the wound, the bandage he fashioned wrapped around her body. At the end of his strength he needed help from Kalexis to carry her armor inside the shop, then with Giorgio he hanged the heavy and wet thing over the cases nearest to the stove.
He implored Kalexis to keep watch on him as he could no longer keep his eyes open. The last thing he did before sleeping on the sheepskins and under her wing was to chug down a few gulps of rum—and was instantly knocked out.
Even if Giorgio promised they were safe, Kalexis stayed awake. Marco had his new bow and good old sword ready in case she woke him up. But nothing of the sort happened and it was around midday when he got up to keep guard on her, and she slept most of the day. It kept raining and raining. He didn’t leave her or the bottle for a moment, and when she got up it was late in the afternoon—it was time for them to catch something to eat. While having to scavenge for the fiends’ meals in the hills, it was once again possible for Kalexis to hunt in open forest—the only problem was that Marco believed there could be things out there able to turn them into food.
They decided to leave their armors to dry some more, no matter the danger. He rode her out wearing his raincoat, wielding the new bow as he balanced on her shoulders, anchoring his legs to her sides. She explored a friendly forest that went down to a lake. As he practiced everyday back at the villa, it was a piece of cake for Marco to kill a deer—a clean heart shot, with the arrow recoverable and more meat than Kalexis could eat. She had it right there, cutting some tenderloin by making use of her claws like an expert butcher before offering it to Marco.
She satisfied her hunger like a beast, snapping bones with her jaws, tearing tendons until she was full. She dragged the rest of the carcass up the hill and out the forest and Marco, wrapped in his thick waterproof cape, covered her on her way out and back up the field to their resting spot. To eat the meat Marco had to start a fire. Dry branches were hard to come by, especially in the dark. It wasn’t without her help that he gathered the wood for a fire he lit by the cave entrance. It took him all the way into the night to make cinders hot enough to cook the meat he sliced through with his sword.
Together by the fire, Kalexis and Marco pressed against each other and relished the heat. It was only natural for them to make love—simple and quick, but something they both deeply enjoyed as they deprived themselves of it for a long fourteen days. Marco used her inner thigh as pillow and the expensive sheepskin as bedding. The heat coming from her was most comforting to the sore back of his neck. She kept watch until she woke him up early in the morning. Under his guard she finished the deer, water not being a problem as there were constant streams of it. He kept guard all the way to the end of morning when he went to knock on Giorgio’s door to retrieve the armors, among other things.
“To reach Natuk, you must go back and follow the mountains north before taking a sudden turn to the west, to the Plain of Giants.”
“How appalling,” said Marco in hearing that from Giorgio. “How many days on foot?”
“Oh, by riding Kalexis, I would say about ten days. Just follow the river, it will take you there. You might want to consider going by boat, takes less time, but the giants do like to throw rocks at them. You can try and coast the woods, but you will find communities of werewolves in them,” disclosed Giorgio, smiling as if he already knew the solution to such inconveniences.
“Great,” said Marco. “So what can we do?”
“To the west of here there is a valley—behind that camp you had to cross to come my way. If you follow the path down, you will find a locked door. I have its key, but I can’t tell you what awaits you inside the mountain other than it takes directly to Natuk.”
“So I should get rid of each and every penny I have to get that key from you?” asked Marco.
Giorgio laughed because that was exactly what he had in mind.
“I guess we’re taking your advice and heading to the Plain of Giants.”
“Do you like running away from flying rocks? You’re far off if you think you can buy a ride from Gajik with the insignificant treasure left on you. If you go underground and search the dungeon there, you will find what you need to pay him. Maybe I’m wrong, but you won’t be as lucky by going through the Plain of Giants.”
“Damn,” said Marco, convinced by Giorgio to give up on all of his gems and gold to get a hold of a shiny silver key with an engraved skeleton.
He then helped Kalexis wear her armor, and when he was done, it actually stopped raining! It wasn’t hard to get to the glacier, considering they found no foes on their way to where she left her false tracks. So far undisturbed, he was sitting on one of the sheepskins set over the plates interlocking on her back. On that makeshift saddle he went down into a forested valley that ended in a rock face with a portal as described by Giorgio.
Kalexis could pass through the smoothened tunnel taking underground. Lit by those eerie blue floating torches, the polished rock vaguely reflected her figure as he dismounted to walk beside her down an unknown from which came just a light breeze. They got to a round chamber where the water trickling from fissures in the dome ceiling created magnificent stalactites, some of which in excess of ten yards. The fallen material also created weird rock formations on top of which stalagmites rose up to the ceiling, and in exploring the place they discovered three passages. Having had the good sense of locking closed the portal, they took rest but didn’t speak to detect something if it came from either tunnel.
Marco opened his backpack and told her they were all out of food.
Kalexis looked at him as if the not-too-obvious answer to that question was not worth speaking out. She concentrated listening to the silence after he said that, something she did though her ear-holes. Marco never really paid any attention to them but they were easily distinguishable beneath her short straight horns, to the back of her golden snake eyes, in the blue light of the levitating torches. For a moment he was just happy to be in love with that feral dragoness from space, and thought his many adventures with her to be simply amazing.
She was puzzled by his looks. “Follow me,” she said.
After finishing the water he retrieved his bow and backpack. They were off to the tunnel straight ahead from the entrance, going even further down in the earth. Keeping his bow cocked, he smiled wondering if there really was something alive there, something they could eat—but, as far as he could tell, that cave was completely dead. It was an odd and quiet mineralogical marvel that lead into more impressive chambers. The ground was cleared of stalagmites to allow for passage, with a slippery floor of rock that was sometimes in excess of sixty yards wide. Those floating torches became gradually less as Marco and Kalexis proceeded. She stopped in her tracks, turned around, and looked at him sternly. “I don’t like this at all.”
Marco laughed out loud as he was sure nothing lived there—he already made up his mind about it around half an hour before she said so! “This is a grave.”
Kalexis nodded before turning her neck and head back in the direction she was going. “A breeze is coming from this passage and not the others, so I thought this was the way.”
When she stopped, they just happened to be in one of those larger chambers—when all of a sudden the floating lights, some of which high up, flickered and died.
“And now we’re chiefly fucked.”
“I can see in the dark, Marco,” replied she, trying to keep calm.
“Right—I should have said I.”
“Shape up! They’re coming!” she cried.
But Marco couldn’t see a thing! “Fuck! What’s coming?” In panic he released an arrow, hitting something close and not a far stalagmite. From the sound of it, it broke into many bony bits.
“Skeletons!” she cried in horror, and Marco’s heart almost stopped.
One of the blue lights was restored at a forty-five degree angle above him, casting its eerie light on four skeletons armed with shield and scimitar. Menacing as they advanced their shadows obscured Marco and Kalexis. If it weren’t for the singular look of the opponents he would’ve already taken another one down with an arrow. But he desperately reached for his sword, and didn’t have time to arm his shield as he fought as best as he could against those ghastly devices. Only when he delivered his first hit did he realize that the skeletons were held together by synthetic ligaments and by no means driven by magic—but they were exceptionally authentic and very capacious fighters, even without eyeballs within their stripped human skulls. While Kalexis fended off more coming from the other direction, he had to step up his game—it was fight or die as he surprised the skeleton by swiping at its legs with a kick. It gave him the time to get the strap of the shield over his head and his left forearm within the two leather handles. Swinging it he delivered momentum in blocking a scimitar blow and shattered the skeleton. Another light turned on in the distance—more came from the way back, one of which wearing leather armor and pointing a spear.
Marco had to step back as he parried the joined attack of the two skeletons still on him, countering in a way that had never been possible against the fiends. He barely had the time to check on Kalexis as all he could hear during the fight were her battle cries and the noise of bone smashing on stone. The skeleton with the leather armor knew its doing, backed by its skinless sword and shield companions with frighteningly dislocated jaws. His only defense was to fold back and block. When ready he turned his shield to a side, deflecting the skeleton’s blow. The spear now blocked by his sword, Marco moved up fast and cut its arm off. He was fast enough to parry two scimitars almost at once, using a single roundhouse kick to clear both enemies. He didn’t have time to rub the dust off his shoulder, though—he let go of the blade and shield to recover the bow, draw an arrow with great speed to try and stop the incoming horde of horrid things! He dropped something like ten until they finally got to him—he had no time to crouch and grasp the hilt of his sword.
Kalexis intervened, having the skeletons all figured out. She made a circle around the line that turned to her, while he helped by taking more down with his new and powerful bow. That way he created openings for her, and while shooting one after another he could tell she was enjoying the fight as well.
She didn’t refrain from using her wings and tail in battle, using both her predatory instinct and her knowledge of four-legged martial arts to destroy her foes. She pounced on those she caught unprepared, studying those in guard before eliminating them in brutal ways.
When all the floating lights came back on, the number of abated skeletons made the place look even more like a tomb. Marco knew that Kalexis destroyed by herself three times the skeletons he did—but he was right to assume how she was there to train as well. On the downside, he found nothing worth stealing or salvaging from the creepy things.
“I’m getting my money back,” he said.
“One of these channels should take us to Gajik.”
“Yeah, and pay him with what? Bonemeal? We can’t stay here, we’re going to starve.”
Kalexis nodded gravely.
“If we don’t get attacked on our way back! I don’t know if I can fight more of those monsters ten to one.”
Kalexis didn’t reply and that was enough to worry Marco as he followed her back and all the way out of the dungeon.
Out in the tight valley the forest grew until the rise was too high for the trees, a stream cutting through its middle. Marco and Kalexis weren’t going to challenge the mountains on that day. Instead, very near the entrance of the cave—where the rock face rose high and vertical—was a meadow with a spring and the woods themselves had game in the form of deer and hog. Camping by the entrance to the underground equaled being at a dead end—they could always retreat through the portal, something that didn’t bother Kalexis as long as she had meat in her. Marco wasn’t the only one to suffer about having to sometimes go a whole day without having eaten. Since their survival in the underbrush they also had the berries growing in the clearings to get their vitamin C, and she seemed to know what he could or couldn’t eat that grew from either the soil or some of the trees—alien fruit of strange taste both he and she had to cover the rest of their nutritional needs.
In the following week they made their way down each of the tunnels, fighting more challenging skeletons that fortunately didn’t respawn when they returned every day for more exploring. They camped outside at night and, even if they had to keep watch, it seemed the fiends had given up on finding them. Yet, after encountering those skeletons, they couldn’t rule out something totally unexpected appearing when they took rest in the clearing at the far end of that shaded valley. Hoping to find more than the mere weapons and armor of the enemies they defeated, Marco and Kalexis thought that venturing down the other tunnels could bring them a substantial reward. Their teamwork paid out after covering over four miles and defeating skeletons in dozen of chambers, there were twisting columns born of the flowstone were magnificent calciferous formations. The floating blue lights turned off moments before any of their hostile encounters, progressively turning on as they destroyed more of the foes until they reached the end of one of the tunnels—they felt the heat way before entering an oval chamber with a red hot lake of lava. On its wall were many holes, and the top of the dome ceiling was bored out—part of an air ventilation system that allowed them to venture in there.
He was amazed to see how a little island resisted the molten rock around it. Just like on the island, to his left stood a metal tower—a zip-line joined it to the one erected in the middle of the lake.
Only Marco could climb up the ladder that was hot to the touch even with leather mittens on. When reaching its end, he found a quick-release harness that would take him down to the platform on the island after traveling over one hundred yards of molten rock—thankfully it was the kind of zip-line that could be traveled upward thanks to a manual pulley.
He was all strapped up and ready to go when he heard Kalexis cry out from below. Skeletons were coming from the tunnel, and she was fighting not to be pushed into the lava! Counting on her skill, Marco wasted no time and zip-lined across the chasm. More of those skeletons teleported on top of the platform he was about to land on. He knocked one off with a kick to stop himself, releasing the hook to contend with the remaining three. Crossing blades with them, he fought one step away from the lack of rail, so very close to a steaming death. The skeletons he fought were relentless, but he toppled one by kicking its shield—it fell back and slipped off the metal platform, losing its weapon as it hanged from the ledge by its bony fingers. With no time to kick it down, Marco evaded a longsword that would otherwise rip him apart. He jumped back and to the center, more focused on defending himself rather that contemplating his prize—a diamond so large he couldn’t wrap his fingers around it! It was safely stored inside a glass case on top of a metal stand that became the pivoting element of that fight. More skeletons appeared right after he dispatched the longsword wielder—yet he found the time to kick the skull of the skeleton that was trying to get back on the platform, sending it to oblivion. He wished he heard the monster scream but no sound came from it as it melted.
Not really knowing what would happen if he attacked them when they materialized, Marco picked up a near sword and tossed it into the rapidly forming shape of a skeleton. It resulted in a destabilization, with bones scattered at high speed in all directions from the collapsing vortex. Considering how a tibia went dangerously by his face, Marco reminded himself not to do that again. He had another three with which to keep up, so busy he yet had to turn and see how Kalexis was fairing on the opposite shore of that broiling lake. Kicks were really effective against the skeletons—blocking with the sword he brought one off balance before delivering a side kick so devastating it cracked its spine. With just one left, he had the break he needed to arm his shield. He fenced with the last skeleton, having no trouble forcing it all the way to the edge. There he intentionally gave it the chance to deliver an attack, only to disarm it—it dropped its arms in defeat when Marco kicked it clean off the platform.
It was then, before collecting his prize—or having to fight any more teleporting skeletons—that he could turn around to check on Kalexis, finding she was in serious trouble. A goddamn army of those skeletons was pouring out of the tunnel, and his heart froze in realizing that she was fighting desperately, keeping away the foes with her tail and using her sheer size to knock them down—so they wouldn’t push her in. It maddened him that the Elder was beating her up like that—scimitars bruised and cut her, and the spears she interjected with her wings were tearing them to shreds!
Horrified, he took over ten seconds before grabbing his bow, intervening even if the distance from the many targets was daunting. He aimed in the general direction of the ten or so that were contending with her tail. He simply cocked another arrow after taking the first skeleton down. He kept firing parabolic shots that packed a serious punch. It helped Kalexis fend the enemy away from that charred beach of pumice layered in bone on the other side of the red lake. The sound of steps on the metal tiles of the platform impelled him to draw his sword and launch himself with rage this time, eliminating three more skeletons before snatching the diamond. Only then could he hitch himself to the harness and make it back by actuating the pulley.
When he made it down the ladder of the opposite tower, he was angered by seeing the state she was in. She collapsed, and he could tell she was in a world of pain. To ordinary medicine her wings were totally irrecoverable, the membranous layer on which the feathers rested torn and flapping in various places. Marco worried she was critically injured but that fear soon dissipated—yet one of her legs was pierced by a spear, and the sheer number of blows landing on her armored arms, neck, and chest debilitated her.
“Can you get up?” asked Marco, both angry and concerned.
“I think so,” said she, and she did. But she could only limp back up the tunnel and chambers through the remains of the skeletons they fought over the past week. Marco wondered what was of the fleeing ones. He was quiet about it on his way out until he told Kalexis. “I found a huge diamond on top of that platform. But I almost fell off when I was fighting the skeletons, what do you think would have happened if I did?”
“The Elder would have teleported you out,” she said.
It may have been a virtual reality, but Marco thought they were being overly challenged. He hated the state in which she was in, and right then couldn’t see any other way of fixing her but to have Sathkela intervene.
“We should call this off—your wings need to be fixed.”
“Can you sew them up for me?”
“What?” Marco looked at how badly and damaged they were. “I don’t have the needle and thread, but are you sure? I don’t like the idea of you going around wearing my needlework.”
“I don’t want to fail,” replied Kalexis. “With the diamond we’re one step closer to our goal.”
“We should head back to Giorgio so I can see if he has it. I’ll fix you up at the cavern.”
“I don’t think I can make it there tonight.”
“I’m not leaving you at the camp, and you are in no condition to take me out hunting. I’ll take care of you and tomorrow we’ll head off, if you feel like you can walk. Are any of your ribs broken?”
“I don’t think so, but the pain is all over.”
“Don’t you think they’re throwing too much at you?”
“No,” replied Kalexis. “These skeletons are no match for me... unless they amass.”
“I could tell.”
“Good job,” she added.
“Thanks, but I don’t agree with stitching you up. You will be in constant pain if you don’t take time and rest, your other wound still needs to heal.”
And it was indeed oozing through the bandage and out the rip on her leather armor.
“I’m not too sure what I can do about your wings. I’ll have to take a better look at them outside.”
Two more weeks went by as it took that long for Kalexis to get back into shape. Only then could she continue with the journey as a fighter, even though her wings gave Marco the chills. The skin wasn’t going to heal and the feathers wouldn’t grow back, but at least the tissue was cicatrized. Kalexis’s bruises and cuts were almost entirely healed when she made it back into the dungeon with Marco.
In search of more than just a diamond, they decided to challenge more of the skeletons down another unexplored tunnel. At the end of the passageway was a whole ghost town. Some of the stone buildings were smashed by the stalactites that detached from the high ceiling. They fought their way in, and searching the ruins Marco found gems and a sword hanging from the wall of the ancient dining room of a nonsensical underground mansion. It replaced his own as it was better balanced.
They took a few days rest before going down the first channel again—Marco was amazed to think they first went in it three weeks ago. After a long walk they reached a platform with empty benches, and square columns reaching up to an arched ceiling—a modern open subway train was waiting for them inside a single tube.
Kalexis had to squeeze in but could just about fit, followed by a bemused Marco—they both were startled by the closure of the automatic doors. He had to hang on to one of the handles as the carriage began to move, gathering speed along the strait. The sound of metal parts, the rolling vibration of the wheels, the shaking, the sound of the forced air passage, the continuing darkness out the windows. Marco didn’t like how Kalexis couldn’t turn around—he couldn’t see beyond her, and she could only get out the train by stepping back. After about ten minutes of waiting for someone to show up, Marco decided to relax and take a seat on one of the red plastic tip up chairs—it was a relief to look at his backpack on the aluminum floorboards.
It was a very long train trip—so long he had to resist the urge to fall asleep. He said so to Kalexis.
“If anything comes up from behind me—”
“Right,” said Marco, interrupting her. “It’s time for twenty squats, then.”
And so he did those and other exercises that helped him stay up for the following couple of hours. Finally, the train slowed down and the doors parted, allowing them in a subway station larger than that they’ve entered. But there was no endless underground tunnel to traverse on foot, rather a ramp of cement stairs taking to the surface.
They found themselves on a sidewalk by the ocean. There were fancy residential apartments, casually dressed human pedestrians and slightly retro cars driving down the boulevard—it followed the curvature of a sandy beach separated from the city by a line of palms.
To Marco it was extraordinary. The strangest thing was that when they started walking—not really knowing where to go—the people talking on the phone or walking their pets didn’t even turn around to look at them. It must have been late at night when he stopped a random man, only to realize he wasn’t quite human—he had little horns on his head and seemed pleased to help and not at all bothered by Kalexis’s ominous presence.
“Are you one of the Elder’s manifestations?” asked Marco of him.
“Yes,” replied the man, “but I also live near here—I work at a bar down the road, and since it’s three in the morning you can call it closed.”
“I kind of lost track of time. Do you know where we can find Gajik?”
“The wheeler-dealer? Sure. But I don’t think she can ride a cab—” only with his dark eyes did the man point out Kalexis— “it’s down the other end of the city, a long walk. You both look tired.”
“I don’t think I can get in any of these buildings,” said Kalexis.
“I know one you can enter, please, follow me.”
They headed into the city where the neon lights became blurred and Marco was so tired he couldn’t tell the passing cars apart. Somehow they made it into the city library. Marco and Kalexis rested among books that night, planning on visiting Gajik the following morning.
After stopping at a nearby take-away place for breakfast, Marco and Kalexis were happy to be shown around by that kind person. Strange as it sounded his name was Robert, and as they walked down the pretty promenade with the modern flats facing the sea, he explained what it was like to live in that city. He said it all started about three years ago, when a virtual world was created for the rescued prisoners. He started off as a young man with memories of a past life, though fully aware of also being the being behind the universe he was a part of—apparently it was the case for the largest majority of people living in Natuk. Marco replied that everyone in the real universe is made up of the same basic elements and shares the same energy, so he couldn’t rule out something similar being true for him and Kalexis.
It was an interesting philosophical digression, so Kalexis had her say. “The rawness of existence makes it resemble a predator, both stunning and merciless. Cowering away from it only protracts an inevitable destiny.”
“In envisioning the perfect being the Zigs were trying to embody existence itself,” said Robert, and both Marco and Kalexis were quite surprised to hear it said that way. “Here existence can protract itself.”
“Call me crazy, Robert, but I am not going to forsake what little I can call real in exchange for what to me seems like a dream. By the way, do you know if Kalexis’s wings can be cured anywhere in this city?”
She was walking behind them, and as they got closer to the other side of town the dunes of the desert extending beyond the beach became visible—surprisingly, the weather was mild.
“I don’t think they can do much more than you did already—over here we aren’t equipped with the miraculous curing devices you’re used to.”
“I can live with it,” stated she, and finally they arrived at Gajik’s workplace. It was a machine shop at the edge of the desert, with a fenced lot containing all sorts of different vehicles. Their conditions varied greatly, from pieces of junk to brand-new rides and in size as well, ranging from quads and off-road bikes, all the way up to a motor-home equipped to contend the adversities of the elements. Robert was so kind as to leave Marco his own cellphone, a little more modern than Marco’s ancient Motorola, saying he would give them a holler as he knew of some other place where him and Kalexis may spend the night. In the lot with the cars he was curious and had to ask where it was.
“It’s a surprise,” was the reply.
“I that thought all I’d face would be adversities. Here,” said Marco, taking out some gold from his backpack to give it to Robert. “You’ve been kind to us.”
And Robert really was, also having paid breakfast out of his own pocket. “All of this gold gives me some interesting ideas—I’ll ring up a restaurant and a few friends of mine, and we’ll go have some fun at The Club—the place where I work.”
“Are you still planning to take us to that other place you didn’t mention?”
“Certainly,” said Robert. “I just happen to know the mayor. There is nothing official about it, but everyone here knows you’re in town and we like to share our hospitality before you leave.”
“Nifty,” said Marco, and shook hands with Robert who then put the gold nuggets in his pocket. Just as Marco was about to make it to the office section of the shop, someone from inside raised the door revealing vehicles jacked up for maintenance. Peeking in, Marco could tell the place was well stocked but there seemed to be only one man attending it—large and with a gray mustache, wearing oil stained work clothes. Holding a one-inch spanner and with a welding helmet on his head, he seemed very keen to impress Marco and Kalexis after welcoming them inside the last building at the end of the stretch of tarmac before the sands of the desert.
The shop had all sorts of tools to redo engines, and lathes to machine new parts. Marco had a general conversation with Gajik about the kind of work he was doing on the equipment—a couple of motocross bikes to tune up, a dune buggy with a busted transmission, and a pickup truck that needed new shock absorbers.
“I’m aware that you’ve cleared the Skeleton’s Dungeon,” said Gajik, rather suddenly at one point.
Marco’s eyes widened in hearing that, and even Kalexis, who had made her way into the shop and was looking around, turned to him.
“That’s an interesting name for it,” said Marco. “Tell me, are you a manifestation of the Elder like Robert?”
Gajik shook his head. “I don’t know any Roberts.”
“Interesting name you picked for yourself, then. Are you enjoying the work you do here?”
Gajik put his dirty hands onto his broad waist. “Sure beats the shit out of hiding from the fucking Kronians. By the way, I know you have a big diamond other than a fair bit of gold and gems. I have exactly what you need to cross the desert—I personally made sure everything is in order. You’ve seen it outside.”
The motor-home was massive, and its tires looked ridiculous. The vehicle had a good two-feet clearing from its transfer case. There was a carriage-wide opening with an extending ramp on the back that allowed Kalexis to live inside a rather cramped space with a bedding, and that was mostly it—but to the front, Marco had a kitchen bedroom and bathroom with lots of storage space in the floor compartments and cabinets. When he tried the bucket racing seat and put the eighteen gear transmission in neutral, Marco only had to hear the thing turn on and sound like thunder to part with his diamond.
“Only one problem remains,” said Marco to the man as he handed the diamond. “I have no idea how to get to the Keep of Treasures.”
“You just drive out the back of my yard and head up the dunes. Keep going west and you will see it on the horizon. You need to get in touch with someone who can set you up with water and food, though. And be ready for a lot of fighting when you get there. To the back of the tower there is a secondary entrance, so that’s your best bet in making your way in.”
“Thanks, that was all we needed to know.”
Gajik winked. “You just gave me a diamond, Marco—that’s the least I could do.”
And then Marco’s cellphone rang and it obviously was Robert wanting to meet up some place in the center of town. The motor-home didn’t have a sat-nav, so he had Robert tell him the way.
He loved to drive in traffic for a change. It was early in the afternoon when he parked the big rig in front of an old-fashioned cinema. It had a beautiful facade, built near a park with many exotic, cleverly irrigated plants. On main street the buildings stretched along an angled vanishing point, and Marco turned his eyes from the cinema down to Robert who stood in front of the closed doors of the venue.
Marco and Kalexis followed him through the empty marble ticket room and into a theater—it was cleared of seats, prepared to privately enjoy a movie on what Marco could only call the biggest cushion ever. With all that was going on, Marco and Kalexis had not removed their armors even though Robert and the peaceful people living there seemed totally harmless. But on that display of generosity he really felt it was the right time to undress himself and Kalexis, and Robert—the super-friendly guide—suggested they both bought some clothes to wear that evening.
Kalexis was more interested in eating and drinking from the banquets set on tables on both ends of the theater.
After accepting Robert’s offer, Marco had something to eat too, a little red wine with cold cuts and some creamy cheese that really was to his taste. Oranges and bananas were also welcome after the unusual fruit he ate to survive in the wilderness.
“Thanks for setting this up for us, pal.”
Robert put a hand on Marco’s shoulder. “With the gold you gave me I’m going to get an early retirement, so don’t worry about it!” he exclaimed, smiling in pulling out a big bundle of paper money—he insisted Marco took it after he kindly refused it.
“This is not mine, it’s to you from all the people. The place where I work serves some really good drinks... we’d love you to be our guests tonight, are you two coming?”
“Why not,” replied Kalexis, temporarily interrupting her feast.
By the way she sounded Marco thought she looked forward to getting intoxicated as much as he was after all they’ve been through.
“Thanks man,” added Marco, “but I need to get food and water for my journey. Do you think you can help with that?”
“Sure thing—I know someone who’s going to be at The Club tonight. He owns a wholesale, you just got to drive up to his storage and get what you need.”
Marco and Kalexis hit the streets on foot to a shop down the road that had some decent clothes Marco paid for with part of the money he was given.
“I can get some clothes for you too, Kalexis,” said Robert but she was reluctant.
“I only wear clothes if strictly necessary—they detach me from my natural self.”
Marco turned to her with a rather sad look and she was quick to smile and say he was an exception.
He resorted to the tiny but effective shower in his motor-home to get rid of all the accumulated dirt on his body and slightly longer but still short black hair. After a while he put on the new clothes, really appreciating their light and soft fabric over his skin that was used to wearing something much coarser. He felt elegant and respectable. Later he accompanied Kalexis to the beach where she washed her wounds in the warm salty water. There were couples with children and lots of human-looking figures on the surf who didn’t pay any attention to them, perhaps just respectful enough not bother them.
Marco swam with Kalexis in the warm and pristine waters, and oddly enough there was no sign of ship traffic on the horizon—not even a sailing boat.
She seemed to really enjoy not making Marco enjoy his time in the water—he had to get away from her while she tried to get a hold of him to playfully stick his head under the waves.
He was making it back to shore when he heard her say she was sorry. She sounded sincere so he swam back to her, only to be pulled down. When she let go of his leg Marco made his best attempt at sinking her, but she became his personal mattress, and together they floated to deeper and fresher waters. Far out, the stubby skyline of that coastal town stretched the few miles of beach, desert to the west and mountains to the east.
“If it’s so easy here, we might have a hard time at the Keep of Treasures,” said Marco.
“Did you leave the keys of the motor-home in the pocket of your trousers?”
Marco almost drowned in worry while swimming on the spot. “I did, but I left Robert with the stuff back on the beach,” he said, then sighed in relief.
“Good. But, what exactly are we looking for in the Keep of Treasures?”
“The ghost just said we had two months’ time to find it. I’m guessing we’ll be driving there, go inside, and take a look.”
She didn’t reply, and they went on for a relaxing swim together.
“I’m surprised with your performance,” said she, all of a sudden, “you’re only mistake was below the glacier.”
Marco’s heart sank as they never spoke of that incident.
“I was done as dinner.”
“I am partly to blame, I could have carried you down to the vale and then back up.”
“You had to save some energy. I think the Elder is throwing a lot at you, those skeletons almost got to you.”
“You always took care of your share of foes. I only survived because of your efforts.”
“What? Don’t tell me the Elder would ever let those bastards kill you.”
“Actually, Marco,” she said, and he stopped swimming ahead. “My species can tolerate higher levels of unreality thanks to our six lobe brain. That’s why I have arranged so that I may be fatally wounded in combat.”
“But the Zigs would never let you die on the experimental planet! They would shift you out before they lost their precious show.”
Kalexis shook her head. “The Zigs planned to kill our people if we failed the challenges. Once out of hostages they would no longer recover us in the event of mortal danger. I read all about it in the dossier given to me by the Elder when I got here, I thought you read it as well.”
“I just didn’t think you would be risking your life here.”
“That’s how I arranged my training with the Elder. By the way you’re the one risking the most by going through it.”
“I know. If something goes wrong and I get killed I may have to be removed from this simulation.”
She nodded, invited him to get on her back so they could return to the beach.
A happy couple finally getting to socialize after that alone time, Marco and Kalexis enjoyed the music and the drinks, then it also came down to business.
Robert introduced Marco to Jax, a very dark skinned, tall and thin guy with almond eyes who shook his soft hand with Marco’s smaller and calloused one. With the loud music playing, they somehow arranged to meet the following morning.
Later in the evening the cinema screen was switched off and the lights lowered to ten percent. Marco and Kalexis made love on the massive velvety pillow, finally forgetful of the hostile worlds they had to contend with.
Marco’s expectations were upturned as he showed up with his motor-home at Jax’s storage. Near there was the access to the highway going up north from which came all of the products that Jax—as the man himself explained—was dealing.
“Aren’t you afraid of monsters coming from the mountains to attack the city or the shipments on the highway?” asked Marco, walking with Kalexis among high shelves.
Jax laughed fervently. “That’s because you haven’t seen the likes of the eastern fence. The mountains are cut off, and the few monsters that make it through from the sea are shot by the coast guard.”
“How could we cross the fence if we came over here from the Plain of Giants?”
“You would have been recovered by one of the patrols, and there are access points that the monsters know not to approach. By the way, can I interest you in purchasing some guns?”
“Guns? I thought I would only find primitive weapons, so buying guns from you would go against the rules.”
“It’s you who is making that assumption,” replied Jax with a salesman’s smile. “I can mount a fifty caliber machine gun on top of your motor-home, which I believe to be already armor plated.”
“Something I could man?” asked Kalexis.
“Can do,” said Jax. “I’ll get your vehicle all ready to go and install an intelligent rocket launcher while I’m at it.”
“I don’t have much left on me...” said Marco, showing Jax the rubies he found in the ghost town, as well as the sword.
“Pretty neat,” said Jax, “a power cell in its hilt shocks your opponent, you tried it? It can be handy against larger ones, you might want to hang on to it.”
“What can I get for all these rubies, then.”
“A bunch of ammo, pistols, submachine guns, an assault rifle, as well as improved body armor for both you and Kalexis. I will also do the modifications and equip your motor-home with the food and water you were after.”
“Sounds like a deal.”
Jax smiled before shaking his bigger hand with Marco’s after requiring half of the payment in advance—getting the motor-home outfitted for war in the desert would take a good week’s time. Marco and Kalexis relaxed watching Earth movies or went for a stroll around town with Robert. They also really liked going to an ice-cream place—Kalexis never had a large bowl of it before, and since she loved it they returned there almost every day. Afternoons at the beach and evenings at The Club were fun, but night time with Kalexis at the cinema was way better. It was some of the most enjoyable time Marco ever spent with her, a time during which they both didn’t bother with training or hunting or checking if someone was staring at them.
Marco got a call from Jax when all the stuff he ordered was ready. He and Kalexis had to walk seven miles through the city to get to his storage and retrieve the motor-home. It was now fully prepared, looking meaner with those gun and cannons on it. Every single nook and cranny in it was stuffed with food and weapons, fuel and water tanks added to ensure the arrival at the Keep of Treasures—hoping there was fuel for their return as they couldn’t carry so much of it.
From her cabin Kalexis could comfortably stand and spin the turret to take on incoming enemies—it was also possible to aim the machine gun up to the sky in case of an aerial assault.
Marco was thankful about the reach of the FM radio broadcasting from the city, pumping out quality alien rock music while he drove for over ten hours a day. It required a week to get there, and the efficiency of the diesel engine was essential to cover over eight hundred miles of seemingly identical dunes. There was no going back, his fuel below half when the jagged outline of the structure, staggeringly tall, was finally recognizable against the horizon.
Marco circled around from afar, going all the way until he could see that rear opening—their plan was a head-on assault. He flipped the safety switches off and kept his finger on the trigger, accelerating on the flat stretch before the Keep of Treasures. When he distinguished the figures of golems, skeletons and fiends coming at him from the tower, he pushed the button. The erratic smoke trails of two rockets left behind the front of his post-atomic motor-home, tracing lines all the way to the grouping monsters guarding that dark and evil looking tower.
The explosions were all on target. He kept the accelerator of the aspirated diesel engine buried underfoot while driving through the devastation and running over survivors.
More of the monsters came out from the tower—Marco dodged the golems as he drove right in, Kalexis firing the spinning machine gun on the roof mounted turret. Many foes hopelessly charged the motor-home to be either ran over or mowed down by Kalexis’s effective work.
The time to get out and act was upon them. Marco had the equivalent of an AK-47 with an extended magazine, a belt with more clips around his waist while wearing his new bullet proof suit. With the shocking sword in a custom made leather sheath, Marco sold the bow preferring a selection of automatic weapons.
Kalexis’s turret was all out of ammo when she got out of the rear ramp of the motor-home wearing her new armor and carrying a special .44 in a holster below her left shoulder.
The massive tower was hollow, with a spiraling rail-less ramp taking to the topmost section. To make their way up Kalexis and Marco shot monsters coming from above and below—when they were both out of rounds they relied on martial arts to gain those last yards, finding themselves before tall adorned doors.
The top chamber of the tower consisted of an enormous glass dome with a stunning view on the desert. They had to challenge a dreadful beast guarding a chest—a three-headed hydra that wasn’t much to Marco’s liking. Their survival really went down to investing in the armors they were wearing.
The hydra clasped attacking Kalexis with one of its three jaws, but Marco intervened with his sword. Finally he could tell what it was worth—the monster recoiled from the shock, giving Kalexis the opportunity to tear open the base of its necks. The monster bled to death with Marco’s sword still buried in it.
When he inspected the chest he only found a strangely cracked piece of metal in it. It was then, as he held it in both hands to show it to Kalexis, that the ghost came in through the glass as if it wasn’t there.
“You have four months’ time to retrieve the other two pieces of the key,” it revealed with its absent voice. “The first is located to the north, on Frozen Peak. The other is further west of the Keep of Treasures, deep inside the Jungle of Doom in the Temple of Evil where you must also face the ultimate challenge.”
Marco and Kalexis acknowledged the being’s word, and then it left as it came. He stashed the piece of the key in his backpack, wondering what kind of dread it would unlock at the Temple of Evil.
With no more monsters blocking their way down, Marco and Kalexis found some diesel tanks on the bottom level.
Their food and water were low when there was coverage, and Marco used the cellphone to let Robert into what they were up to. He refused hanging at The Club that night as both him and Kalexis wanted to restock the motor-home and move up north to search for Frozen Peak as soon as possible.
Robert said that it was an incredibly long journey to get there, with the advantage of being within the confines of a friendly zone. Not once did he have to mend the vehicle he purchased from Gajik while traveling on the highway beside the long eastern fence line. This stretched for hundreds of miles before Marco no longer saw it. He was heading further north of it, on straight slabs of tarmac across the fields and coniferous forests upland. It reminded Marco of Canada, a true imitation of Americana with its prefabricated towns and buffalo-like cattle grazing the summer grasses in the many ranches.
Staggering peaks began to appear, with perennial snow and ice on them, meaner than the eroded ones closer to the sea. Without really knowing how to get to Frozen Peak but by staying on the highway—gradually less traveled by traffic—Marco decided it was the right time to take a break. He pulled in a city enclosed by mountains and reaching around a great lake that bustled with activity. He couldn’t wait to stretch his legs, so he unlawfully parked the armed motor-home in an uptown bus lane.
Just like in Natuk, Marco and Kalexis could walk the streets as if they weren’t there. They found an alley that brought down to the lake, where they could admire the beautiful view on the blue waters, the stretching city and the partially lumbered forest above it—Marco wondered if any of the people strolling or cycling on the pedestrian road that went all around the lake would be as friendly as Robert.
Marco had informal clothes on and was carrying a concealed submachine gun while walking down the promenade. Kalexis, beside him, chose to wear no armor, being good enough without a weapon. Marco was quietly taking in the sun and the setting when he recognized someone very familiar sitting on a bench next to one of hundreds of lampposts running the circumference of the lake.
He immediately stopped in his tracks and squeezed his brain to make sure it really was him. The familiar android then turned to him with his Colgate smile, and Marco didn’t reach for his gun right away, turning his head to Kalexis instead. She was frozen on the spot, all of her muscles tensed as she wildly stared at Agent Grey.
The agent got up from the bench to start moving weighted steps in Marco’s direction. The people walking on the street seemed to exist on a different plane, totally unaware of what ensued in a way that frightened Marco. Why was Agent Grey so happy and malicious while he approached wearing his usual suit, carrying no visible weapons—how could he even be there, or why would the Elder want him to face such a demon? He truly feared he was actually dealing with Agent Grey and not a representation when the shady character spoke. “As you can see I am here, and you can see me. This construct is still unaware of my presence.”
The android walked all the way up to Marco and Kalexis on the pedestrian lakeside road with the lampposts and the benches and the metal rail, the bins and the bin tossers, the sound of bicycle chains on sprockets, and the casual conversations of bystanders.
“I don’t believe you,” said Marco. “How can you be doing this without the Elder knowing?”
“He will know, soon enough,” said Agent Grey, “Did you really think we could only try to stop you from the outside, Marco?”
Marco felt like drawing his gun, but there were children and other innocents that he could kill if he tried to drop Grey—he held his hand, listening to that side of him that wanted more information about the doings of the Zigs.
“We will recover you, and we have to thank you for it. By their attempted boycott at Site Three, the Pranksters revealed their secrets behind the extra-dimensional pathways. We also discovered about their unique way of life, later of how you all been integrated into it. That’s why I was developed—to penetrate the mainframe of the ship that is carrying you, so to take control of it. I’m afraid the process is almost complete.”
Marco felt totally defeated by the virus standing before him. Kalexis beside him was unable to take action. “What now?”
“Battle,” said the virus, extracting his concealed pistol. Kalexis pounced him before he fired, but Grey got out of her way with a super-fast cartwheel. Marco quickly moved to the left, drawing his concealed submachine gun to open fire—bystanders panicked, screamed, and scrambled. There was no blood where the virus went down.
He heard police sirens turning on far away. He approached the still body, mortally struck through the head and chest, and turned to Kalexis. “We have to get in touch with the Elder—immediately.”
“If the virus he spoke of is still working there may be no way,” she replied, cold.
The broken corpse of Agent Grey twitched, and Marco was so startled by it he emptied the magazine in it. The bullets drove clean holes in what clearly was composite synthetic material.
“I can’t believe this shit,” said Marco, looking up to Kalexis.
“Do you think we should wait for the police, or run away from it?” The sirens were near and no longer on the move, armored cops stormed out of the alleys taking down to the lake promenade. Kalexis and Marco surrendered—a couple of police boats approached fast from the waters, a helicopter circling above.
One of the anti-riot cops walked up to Marco, with the others closing off the area, and pointing at the dead agent on the ground he said it wasn’t supposed to happen.
“Do you know what’s going on?”
“We have lost touch with the Elder,” said the cop, looking very worried.
“Does this mean that the Zigs are attacking us?”
“Probably,” said the cop with uncertainty. It was then that Marco’s phone—or better Robert’s—rang.
“Answer it,” said the cop, frightful.
It was Robert’s number.
“Hello?”
“Marco, this is the Elder,” said the old wise voice he recognized as that of the venerable recluse. “This world has been compromised, shutdown procedures are activating and more of us outside are converging onto our position. Three hours before the blackout, and I’m afraid we don’t stand much of a chance against the enemy vessel that is onto us.”
“You can’t take on one enemy vessel?”
“I am trying to stop the virus from disabling our shield and drive systems. You must get away from the city—I only have direct control over this single body.”