The knight flew down the forest trail. The grey and white machine beneath him rocking and bouncing over every root and every stone. When the trail narrowed, branches smacked the visor of his helm causing the HUD to fuzz for a moment. His instinct was to reach up to push the branches out of the way but his hands were clenched to the black handlebars as he white-knuckled his way down the trail. There were two white metal lifters on the vehicle. Circles that ran parallel to the ground on the vehicle and propelled it forward. One in front, connected to the handle bars, cast a blue glow on the dirt as it past underneath him. The glow was fading in and out. Each time it faded out the machine dipped closer to the ground. Battery might run out any moment he thought. Metal frame and panel rattled and shook. The vehicle might fall apart before the battery died, he thought.
The trail opened into a wide clearing. Tall grass filled the space. The knight rode the lifter around the clearing once. He turned the machine off and dismounted swinging a leg over the white metal body. Leaning back with his hands on his hips stretching his sore jarred back, he let out an undignified groan. On the east side of the clearing, the knight found what he was looking for: The campsite.
The clouds parted overhead and a beam of sun shot down causing the grass to glow a vibrant green. Heat from the sun baked his dented armour plates and started to cook him in the black undergarment. The knight glared at it for a moment before returning his attention to the ruined campsite.
A wide circle had been cleared in the grass. Inside, shreds of a canvas tent were strewn about. The yellow fabric stained dark brown where the blood had dried. Burnt wood from a destroyed fire was mixed in with the ruins of the tent. Large dark spots on the ground where blood had soaked in. A blue blanket ripped in half. A green button shirt half stomped into the dirt. Cans of vegetables and meat laying unopened. A brown leather boot stained with blood. A hand half sticking out from the tall grass at the perimeter of the camp. The knight knelt down and pulled it along the ground. A hand and an arm. In the yellow sleeve of a jacket.
He knew why they were here. Desperate. Poor. Stupid. They braved the woods for looking something to sell. They were all dead. They had to be.
It didn’t take long for the knight to find the wide clawed tracks that lead into the forest. A crash behind him caused his heart to leap. But it was just his lifter falling over.
“Freck” he said and stomped after the footsteps.
Inside the forest, the knight stood at the beginning of a rather large game trail. The ground rose up on either side creating a small valley with steep sloping banks covered in moss and dark green ferns. Echoing throughout the forest, he could hear a rumbling sound that reminded him of a chaotic drum circle. The broad crown and green and red leaves of the trees blocked out the sky yet columns of sunlight still found their way down through the thick green foliage leaving pools of gold light on the ground. In the branches far over head, a herd golden furred teechu scampered from branch to branch. Their bi-pedal gait causing the branches to shake rhythmically as they traded seeds, nuts, and flowers with one another. The knight watched them and smiled. Until the adolescent teechu gathered above and started peeing on him.
“Squirrel monkeys” he cursed tossing a stone up into the trees scattering them in an explosion of angry chirps and whoops.
He followed the clawed tracks of the beast along the game trail as it narrowed. The small valley leveled out into a flat forest floor. Branches snagged his cloak and vines snarled around his foot as he shouldered his way through. He pushed a branch out of the way and it came swinging back lodging a narrow pointed tine into his visor, pulling his head to one side as he tried to move forward. The knight grabbed the branch with one hand and started to snap it off in anger when he saw what he held in his hand.
“Dragonopsis Avengara” he said. The branch was connected to what looked like a plain old green bush with broad oval leaves. When the knight turned the leaves over the underside was shimmering pearlescent. Oily pinks and oranges swirled under his finger as he pressed lightly on the leaf.
A clang rocked his head to the left causing him to stumble and fall to the ground. The heads up display inside his helm went fuzzy. He blinked the blur in his eyes away and got to his feet. There was a dent in the right side of his helm. At his feet, a large grey stone polished smooth. He picked it up and threw it deep into the woods. Fifty yards away stood the culprit.
The tree stood about twenty feet tall. Atop it’s crown was a great cluster of green spindles. At the end of each branch, a green leaf that resembled a hand with monstrously elongated fingers. That it floated three feet off the ground made it seem taller still. It’s roots hung down towards the earth. The roots searched the soil in slow back and forth movements. When it found a stone it brought it up into the centre of the root mass where it was sucked upwards and then spat out in a violent pop midway up the tree. The sound of the stone rubbing against the inside of the tree was the chaotic drumming that echoed through out the forest. The knight was just about to pull out his sword and chop the tree down when a glow in the forest caught his eye. He heard the rumbling again and took one step to the right as a fist size rock whistled past his head.
Deep in the woods, a white glow appeared. It pulsed in and out as it floated behind trees and through the tall ferns. What seemed like several separate balls of glowing energy were in fact one long creature. As it got closer, the knight could make out the long snout ending in two round nostrils. Great round eyes, half-lidded, took in everything around it. Sickle-length claws at the end of each hand and foot tucked up against the body as it swam through the trees. Scales shimmered and changed colour from green to brown to grey. The glow itself was actually a cloud of tiny motes of light that followed and flowed with the great beast. The forest paused to watch it as it passed. When it was out of sight, the knight realized he was holding his breath. He exhaled, found the tracks of his quarry, and headed off towards another forest clearing.
The knight entered the clearing hopping backward on his left foot while a trying to shake a stubborn vine off his left. When the vine finally gave way, he fell onto his back, knocking the wind out of him.
“Freck” the knight wheezed as he got to his feet.
In the middle was a small hill with a cave entrance. The cave entrance was lined with thick boulders. To the knight it looked like a primitive arch. Each boulder was larger than he was in height. In font of the cave entrance were three bodies. Massive clawed feet made indents in the grass heading towards the cave. The sky overhead was blue. Not a single cloud in the sky. The knight could feel sweat soaking the under-layer of his armour. Sun baked his helm. Without taking his eyes off the cave, he removed the sword from it’s magnetic catch at his belt.
The Zor came barrelling out of the cave with a high pitch scream. It raised it’s front pair of legs high in the air. Yellow and black stripped chitinous armour covered it’s body. At the end of each leg, clawed fingers large enough to wrap around the knights head and pull it from his body. The creatures eyes were expressionless orbs set in a head filled with gnashing mandibles. The zor crab walked to his left then back to his right. The knight raised his sword pommel to his belt. Sword pointed towards the beast.
The zor smashed its raised hands in to the ground and flung them up into the air. Chunks of soil and rock and grass erupted up over them both. The knight side stepped to the right to avoid a head-sized rock.
The knight inhaled and exhaled long and slow. The HUD placed a small green circle on each of it’s hands and one on the creatures mouth. He took a step forward. Before he could blink, there were four of the creatures in front of him. The heads up display flashed red. They formed a circle around him. The knight could feel cold fear washing over his arms and legs and up into his chest, tightening into a knot.
“I release my fear” he said. The words in his head, his lips moving silently with them. He smiled.
“I release my fear.” The knot in his chest loosened. He could feel the world around him. The zor, a pressure on his body as they moved around him. He inhaled and exhaled long and slow.
“I release my fear.”
They rushed him. One in front. Two from either side barely in his peripheral vision. One from behind. His helm screaming silent warnings. The knight closed his eyes and let go. Pressure from behind. Spinning around, the knight raised his sword up knocking the clawed right hand away as it reached for his head. He leaned forward. His legs tense. He could feel the grass beneath his feet. The knight leapt forward and tucked into a roll. The zor hammered the ground where he just was with a clawed hand. He stood up and drove the sword deep into its torso. It screamed. He cut the sword free out the front of its belly. Green blood and ichor exploding onto the grass. The zor put a clawed hand over the wound and swung at the knight. Alarm bells rang inside his helm but he was too slow. A hand hit him like a great stone in the chest knocking him off his feet. The creature backed up towards the cave entrance. It screamed one final time before it collapsed and died. The knight inhaled and exhaled long and slow. He felt a crack and pop in his ribs.
He walked over to the zor and knelt down beside it’s head. Dull and cracked teeht. Scars from a life time of battles lined it’s yellow and black skin. The left orb-like eye was cracked. The razor sharp claws ending each of its fingers were dull and caked with dirt. The knight placed his hand on the zor’s head.
“I am sorry.”
A whirring sounded from the tree line. A large black lifter skimmed along the tops of the trees. The vehicle was a long black rectangle, the front of which came to an angular point. Under the vehicle short bolts of blue and white lightning arced from the metal discs when they came close to contacting the tops of the trees. Through the glass of its square cab, he could see the red and white helmet of a city guard. In the back, the heads of ten additional guards dipped and bobbed as the vehicle flew towards the clearing. The lifter landed fifty feet from the knight. Ten guards in white and red armour and helmets that covered their faces piled out from the bed in the back, five on either side. The guards groaned and stretched. One hammered his lower back with a white gauntleted fist. Another slapped his armour trying to chase out the dust. They stagger stepped towards him into a loose half-circle formation, black rifles held over the shoulder or dangling from their slings behind them. By the time, they reached the knight all rifles were held at the ready.