Round Over

Yellow woke in the darkness to Green Runner rolling him over and mounting him. He tried to speak but she closed his jaw with her hand and began licking his neck. Despite his injuries still hurting, despite them having mated just a few hours ago, he gave in to her desires. He let his head roll over and found Grey and Patches sleeping nearby. He remembered they had asked to sleep in his nest after they had returned home. He sighed as he and his mate were about to begin their dance.

“Hey there brother.”, said Brown from behind them.

Green Runner jolted off him in fear and slammed his head into the ground.

“Oh Brown, you startled me.”, said Green Runner after getting her footing.

The world grew fuzzy as Yellow saw little mammals swirl around his head.

“Oh, Yellow are you okay?”, asked Green Runner as she lifted his head.

He nodded as his vision cleared and shot a deadly glance to his sister. She laughed at him and waved her hands.

“Sorry to interrupt, but its almost time to get started and Red asked me to get you four.”, she said, still laughing.

“It’s that time already?”, he asked with a yawn.

“Hey, you made this schedule after we finished gathering all of the shadows last twilight. Anyway, with that being said, you know just how tight our schedule is if we want to starve the remaining nests, so meet me at Red’s nest in a few minutes. By the way, I’m really proud of you, I’m sure our parents would be too.”, said Brown before leaving with a wave.

“Okay, just the nightwalkers, a few remaining nests, and the shiny before we control the entire forest and I can relax again.”, he thought as his grogginess cleared.

“Let’s wake these two and get going.”, said Green Runner.

Yellow watched her wake them and pick on Grey and they all shared a laugh before they began walking. He could feel his anxiety building up, the sweeping chill of unease and insecurity gripping him as he went over his plan for the feast in his head. There was another feeling though, as he walked with his friends, something that had been growing inside him for the last few days. Something keeping him calm, an island in his sea of uncertainty, the strength he found in himself was rooted in the desire to keep his friends alive.

. . .

“Well the gangs all here.”, said Red, surrounded by dozens of shadows.

“Does everyone know the plan?”, asked Yellow.

“Of course, at the forest’s edge we’ll dig and hide in the buried traps Green Runner specializes in, while the shadows wait in the trees. When the other nests arrive early, we’ll slaughter them. The shadows can eat them while we harvest the feast.”, explained Red.

“Everyone don’t forget to give them a chance to surrender. There will be plenty of food during the feast now that we’re all working together.”, instructed Yellow.

“We can always breed more numbers, but this is your show Yellow. I will say this however, if anyone breaks a truce we make, the risk-taking ends right there, and we’ll kill them all.”, said Red.

“I agree.”, said Yellow.

“Heh, really? That’s rather cold of you.”, questioned Brown, eyes wide in surprise.

“I think he finally understands the old saying, bloody is the mouth that feeds.”, said Red with a crooked smile.

“So, is everyone ready? Why are only we here?”, asked Yellow.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you, this is your hunt today, we’re all here awaiting your orders.”, explained Red.

“Huh?”, asked Yellow, his mouth agape.

Brown and Green Runner giggled at him.

“Did they know about this to? These females are vicious.”, he thought.

“Just consider it practice.”, said Red.

Yellow raised his brow at this, before witnessing Blackhead shoot a surprised glance at Red. Red nodded at him and Blackhead turned to Yellow, looking him up and down, as if sizing him up, before nodding as well. Green Runner put her arm around him while Brown smiled at him and Grey stomped his feet.

“Is there something everyone else here is in on?”, he wondered.

“No, I’ll ask Greener later, for now it’s time to lead.”, he thought.

“Alright then, as my first order I’m asking the shadows to wake everyone up and tell them to begin the plan. If anyone has questions tell them to ask Brown. Sister, when the last pack of hunters is on the move, come find us at the feast.”, instructed Yellow.

“Let’s move out!”, he yelled with his new-found strength.

“Excuse me?”, asked an unfamiliar voice.

Everyone turned to see six nightwalkers standing at the nest entrance. They all reacted on instinct as they threw their claws into the air.

. . .

Justin leapt up to the platform, dried flakes of blood tumbling off him as he landed. He was covered in it, his pants were torn off at his knees, and his shirt was gone. Morcant was still sitting next to Taysass’es body. He had closed her up and put her baby in her arms. Tacktay was napping next to him.

“Well?”, asked Morcant.

“I killed about forty of them, but I’m sure there’s more.”, stated Justin with a cold, deep voice.

“So, this is your other side eh?”, asked Morcant.

“Mm, I’m surprised you could tell I’m like this. Most people just assume I’m strange and move on.”, he stated, his voice was quick and concise, as if speaking was a chore for him.

“My father taught me there’s two sides to every man. I guess yours are just a little more, eh…”, Morcant’s voice trailed off.

“Pronounced.”, he stated.

Morcant nodded.

“Sorry I scared you earlier.”, he said, looking away and scratching his head.

Morcant shook his head and turned around to face him with his red, swollen eyes.

“Sorry I pulled a knife on you, you were looking at me like you we’re going to kill me. I thought I trusted you the way I wanted to, but the way you looked right through me, it terrified me. Suddenly I forgot about everything you had ever said or done.”, explained Morcant.

“Morcant, so long as none of you seriously betray me in some way, I will never hurt any of you.”, he said, his eyes leaving their squint and softening.

“It’s not your fault, I’m just weak, I guess. You’re better than me in every way, it’s scary, and it makes me jealous.”, said Morcant, looking down.

“I understand completely.”, said Justin.

“Eh?”, asked Morcant, raising his head.

“I told you I just got this nanite shroud when I came here. Look at my build, do I look strong to you? On my world I’m slightly above average height, but I was always weak and passive. I don’t think I’ve ever seriously considered someone bigger than me anything but threatening, much less a friend, no matter how nice they were to me. So even if you never trust me, I promise I’ll keep defending you and trying to be your friend.”, he said.

“That right there is what I hate about you. You’re so compassionate, it makes my other half feel like your looking down on me.”, said Morcant.

“I’m not looking down on you Morcant, I’m like this with you not because your weak and need my help, but because I hate myself. My pride, my passion, my drive, I lost it all years ago. So, when someone comes along and is kind to me, I give them all of what’s left of me.”, explained Justin with a broken half smile.

“You’re a real piece of work, making me pity you. I guess I’ll have to add fixing you to my list.”, said Morcant with a laugh.

“Good luck with that.”, laughed Justin.

Morcant chuckled before dropping his posture and turning back to Taysass’es body.

“Are you ready?”, he asked.

“Mm, I’ll get the sled up here and we’ll move her. Want to eat first?”, asked Justin.

“Not really, but I guess I should force myself.”, said Morcant.

“I’ll bring some dried meat and fruit from the storage box at the mountain along with the sled.”, said Justin.

“Eh, before you go, I wanted to ask you something.”, said Morcant.

“Sure, what’s up?”, asked Justin.

“What was with you last night? You said something ridiculous and suddenly got super-fast.”, asked Morcant.

“Ah, that, I assumed the nanites were holding back and I asked them to stop. Luckily for us they were, and I shot faster like I wanted. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve even begun to scratch the surface of what this shroud is capable of. The body works in a similar way, the brain doesn’t let you use full force so you can’t hurt yourself, but once you accept that as necessary, you can preform pretty great feats. My people have a chemical called adrenaline that activates in times of great stress, it allows us to ignore pain and tear our bodies apart to accomplish whatever is necessary, we call it an adrenaline rush.”, explained Justin.

“Eh? I knew it, all of your people are overpowered assholes like you!”, joked Morcant.

“I’m sure your people have something similar, and it’s not a guarantee of success.”, said Justin.

“Well I’ve never heard of anything like that, but I have decided that I’m hungry. So, let’s hurry this up so we can do the burial and… eh…”, Morcant said before staring into space.

“Mm, after the burial, we’ll build a boat and sail away.”, said Justin before leaping from the treehouse.

. . .

The nightwalkers threw their hands into the air, and Yellow noticed how battered and beaten they were. Several of them were freshly maimed and they were all covered in blood. Everyone put their claws down as they realized the nightwalkers weren’t here for a fight. Yellow couldn’t find any words as he studied them, having never seen one before. He had only been told that they never contacted the other raptors, hunted at night, and were jet black with glowing eyes. Their appearance was correct, and it wasn’t yet twilight, but Yellow was still confused as to what prompted them to make contact.

“We’re here to accept your invitation Red.”, said the central figure, standing slightly taller than the rest.

“Oh, is that still open, or did the deadline expire? I can’t seem to recall.”, sang Red in a feminine, sarcastic tone.

“I apologize for our tardiness and beg your mercy. Your messengers also warned us about the shiny as well, but our old Alpha ignored your invitation and wisdom by proceeding to attack the shiny.”, the nightwalker explained.

Red and Brown burst into laughter at hearing this and Blackhead sighed. Yellow was finally able to turn to Green Runner only to find her still ready in a battle stance. Grey and Patches had gathered between them. Once again Yellow wondered if they knew something he didn’t.

“Are they just paranoid or is there something else going on here? Haven’t the nightwalkers surrendered? Perhaps they don’t follow those rules, like how we broke the Alpha fights. Then again”, he thought.

“Let me guess, you all thought there was an uncontested meal waiting for you out there by the mountain.”, Red managed to slip in between his cackling.

“Yes, that’s exactly what he told us.”, said the nightwalker, his head low in shame.

“I had my suspicions the moment we arrived and found a long claw hanging dead in the canopy. Our Alpha assured us it must have climbed there on its own in search of food and gotten stuck, but its sheer weight made me question that. The story told by your messenger hung over our heads as we attacked, but we learned the truth to late. Despite our combined forces, we lost over a dozen fighters in seconds, and almost a dozen more within the minute. Our command structure broke down, no one had any idea what was going on, and we’ve never had to retreat before. I finally made the call after the second attack group was decimated.”, he explained.

Red cleared his throat and put his hand on Brown as they stopped laughing.

“Pardon our rudeness, the fact that the situation was so easily avoidable struck us as funny. If you can forgive us, I would be more than happy to bring you all into our grand nest.”, said Red.

The nightwalkers nodded and quickly bowed before him, casting a killer grin on Red’s face.

“So, finish your story. We’re all curios as to whether you lead that thing here.”, said Red, tossing his head in Green Runner’s direction.

“Oh, no we would never. It definitely left before we regrouped and came here. You see, it chased us throughout the forest for hours. I thought to gather support from the other nests, we had begun working together after hearing of your growing nest, but the shiny slaughtered them.”, said the nightwalker.

“I hope for your sake your right about that. So, this is what’s left of the nightwalkers in the forest?”, asked Red.

“There are a couple of nests left, we can show you their locations or attempt to gather them peacefully, whichever you prefer.”, said the nightwalker.

“I would prefer peace, we’ll discuss it after the feast, for now why don’t all of you get some rest. You can stay here today and nest when your ready. By the way, what’s your name? I assume you’ll continue to lead this pack.”, asked Red.

“Chipper, apparently I made bird sounds as a hatchling.”, said the nightwalker.

“Alright, well you’ve given us quite a surprise Chipper, but a welcome one. If that’s all then…”, Red said before being interrupted.

“There is one last thing.”, shouted Chipper.

“Oh, let’s here it.”, said Red, grinning.

“I barely know the nightwalkers by my side, but I have chosen to take responsibility for them and to lead them. So, it’s for their sake that I ask you, what do you plan to do about the shiny? It’s completely immune to our claws and teeth, it killed six nests within hours. We thought we were damaging it, but we only tore whatever it was wearing over its skin.”, asked Chipper.

“We have a plan in place, or more specifically, Yellow here does.”, said Red, motioning to him.

“If all else fails we plan on retreating to the red river lands.”, he continued.

“I see, I can accept that. “, said Chipper, nodding to his comrades.

“Wonderful, then let’s continue, shall we?”, asked Red, prompting the nightwalkers to run out into the nesting grounds.

. . .

Justin and Morcant released the sleds as they arrived at the graveyard. The night had given way to twilight on their walk and long overlapping shadows emanating from the canopy were stretching and dancing all around them. It was desolate as always, with no flowers, animals, or even footprints dotting the former forest bed, only the short forests mosses and grass stretching between the tree lines. The breeze was back however, gently blowing the red leaves against the gravestones. They had already decided how to spend their time there.

Tacktay went looking for ammo around spawn hill, swimming away in the air with her spear and empty, holstered pistol, while Morcant began digging the grave. Justin wanted to help him, but to save time, was slicing down trees with his hands and loading them on the sleds. Morcant had the only rifle with ammo on his back, but they brought the other two as well in hopes Tacktay might find more ammo. They had wrapped Taysass’es body, along with her baby, in skin cut from the Therizinosaur, but the stench had clearly been getting to Morcant during their walk. Justin tried to work fast in order to relieve him, and so they could leave as soon as possible.

It took some time to cut off the branches and leaves, hours passing before the sleds were full. Justin had just finished cleaning his watch with his saliva when he noticed Morcant walking up to him.

“I think that’s deep enough, but I still need to carve a headstone.”, he said, panting.

“Alright, well I’m done with the logs, need some help?”, asked Justin.

“No, I just need a break, sorry.”, said Morcant, taking a seat.

“It’s alright bud. Don’t push yourself to hard.”, said Justin.

“It’s just annoying, I’ve barely dug a grave, and you’ve cut down a dozen trees.”, said Morcant.

“Well I do have infinite strength and stamina, so its not really a fair comparison.”, said Justin, sitting as well.

“It’s not really that. I’m mad at myself for not being able to deal with it, but the smell is just unbearable.”, explained Morcant.

“Ah, well this place has a high oxygen content, so I guess decomp is faster. I can take over if you’d like. Maybe you can start shaving off this bark, we’ll need to after all.”, suggested Justin.

“I can’t back out of this.”, said Morcant, shaking his head.

Tacktay flew down to them and crawled up Justin’s backside, onto his head.

“Are we finally taking a break?”, she asked.

“I guess so, did you find anything?”, laughed Justin.

“No, sorry, the whole place is picked clean.”, she responded.

“Why don’t you two drink and rest, maybe eat a snack, and we’ll finish up here.”, he stated with a sigh.

“I guess I could take a minute, we’ve got plenty of time in the day’s here.”, said Morcant.

“I’m going to finish the grave, Morcant, you make the headstone and find your sapling. Tacktay, keep an eye on him.”, said Justin, getting up.

“Understood.”, she said, gliding to the ground.

Justin walked over to the shallow grave and began fiercely digging as the smell penetrated his nostrils. He knew he didn’t have to breathe, but the unconscious desire still nagged at him.

“So, can you really build a boat by nightfall?”, asked Logic.

“You tell me.”, said Emotion.

“Maybe a shitty one, and maybe you could build it up on your travels but is that really any safer than staying here?”, asked Logic.

“I don’t want to stay here, simple as that. I know we killed a lot of the raptors, but who knows how many more there are, and the Carno’s are still around, along with unknown threats.”, explained Emotion.

“I guess I shouldn’t have expected a super logical answer from you, but perhaps you’re right. If the herbivores are migrating along the riverbed, as all the footprints there would indicate, then in-between where they’re going and where we are might be the safest. Here there’s the drop, and somewhere along the river the herbivores have stopped, with the predators along with them. As for unknown threats like the Titanoboa and the Therizinosaur, I doubt we’ll be any safer anywhere. This whole biome must be littered with them.”, rambled Logic.

“I’m hoping we’ll find the spaceport down the river and be done with this.”, said Emotion.

“Well I guess there’s no reason that can’t be the case, but you shouldn’t get your hopes up either. I have a feeling Tute plans on challenging us quite repetitively before we’ll be allowed to leave.”, said Logic.

“Well we don’t have a reason to stay, here do we?”, asked Emotion.

“Perhaps we’re meant to gather drop victims and build a base camp here as our first test.”, said Logic.

“If only the bastard would tell us what he wants, he sure was cryptic when we met”, said Emotion.

“Yes, I wonder why we weren’t allowed to know the reasons behind all of this. He kept saying everything was classified.”, wondered Logic.

Justin had finished the grave after a couple of minutes and slowly lowered the body down, careful not to jostle the baby. Logic mentioned he shouldn’t worry about it, but Emotion insisted that she remain upright. He leapt out and began covering it with dirt as Morcant approached him, dragging a rock behind him. He wiggled it into the ground before planting a sapling behind it.

“Anything you want to say?”, asked Justin.

“Shouldn’t we wait until we’re done?”, asked Morcant.

“Should we?”, asked Justin, stomping down the dirt.

“I’ve got to write her name, and Tacktay should come down.”, explained Morcant.

“Tacktay doesn’t care for this kind of thing, but we can wait if you want. Honestly, I just want to get this over with.”, said Justin.

“Eh?”, asked Morcant.

“I don’t know what to say is all.”, said Justin with a sigh, scratching his head.

“That’s why I wanted to wait, am I supposed to apologize, hope she’s resting in peace, tell her we’ll find her again like you mentioned before?”, asked Morcant, shaking his head.

“I guess she already told us goodbye. Maybe we should just leave it at that.”, suggested Justin.

“It’s hard for me to accept that their all gone.”, said Morcant, turning to him as he finished carving the headstone.

“You can write something as well if you’d like.”, he said, holding out his knife.

“I just want to leave, I hate funerals.”, said Justin, waving his hand.

“You know we may never see this place again, maybe we should build a fence or something? So, the graves aren’t trampled.”, suggested Morcant.

Justin grunted and looked away. Morcant sighed with a nod and waved for Tacktay to come down. He glanced back to Justin as he stood up and walked towards the sleds.

“Guess we’re done talking huh? Not much left to say after all. We failed, I failed.”, thought Emotion.

“Mm, time to move on, we’ve got a boat to build remember?”, asked Logic.

“Right, just one last thing.”, thought Emotion.

“Taysass.”, he whispered into the wind.

“When I’m done here, could you teach me… how to fly?”, he asked the silent grave.

. . .

Yellow sat with his pack along with Red and Brown in the canopy on the edge of the feasting grounds. Twilight was ending soon and with the sun being fully revealed the feast would begin. Everything had been quiet in the feasting grounds, with none of the remaining nests appearing and the horned ones resting along the forests edge. He had expected it to be this way and was preparing for the remaining nests to attack at the last possible moment, probably during the feast. He was running through scenarios in his head when Blackhead climbed up to them.

“Blackhead, report.”, said Red.

“Still no sigh of the other nests, but we did find activity in that clearing the shiny made.”, said Blackhead.

“Oh?”, asked Red.

“They made a line of fresh, upright bark around it, like it’s a nest or something.”, he continued.

“Were he and his pack still there?”, asked Red.

“No, thankfully there were tracks leading out towards the mountain on a depressed strip of dirt. It’s as if they were dragging something heavy, and it was quite large.”, said Blackhead.

“Interesting. Yellow what do you think?”, asked Red.

“Fresh bark and a large depression in the ground, as well as the strange looking nesting grounds I saw after the ordeal with the snake.”, thought Yellow.

“Was there any trace of blood or a fight?”, he asked.

“Nope, no sights or smells to indicate that.”, said Blackhead.

“Was anything there changed?”, asked Yellow.

“Sorry it was our first time seeing it, so I haven’t a clue. I suppose there was an unusually large pile of tree branches and leaves, but I figured they were for the nest.”, said Blackhead.

Yellow sighed and scratched his neck.

“If there wasn’t a kill then what were they dragging? Think Yellow, a nest, bark, something heavy…”, Yellow’s thoughts tried to piece the scene together.

“Wasn’t that clearing full of healthy trees just a few days ago?”, he asked.

“Mm, I’ve been through there a lot.”, said Green Runner.

“Then the answers obvious, they must be moving trees back to the mountain to build their real nest.”, said Yellow.

“Huh, you expect me to believe that thing no larger than Red is moving fully grown trees around? No offence.”, said Blackhead.

“None taken, but I think Yellow is probably correct. You haven’t seen that things power up close like we have. That long claw, it almost tore it in half in a single blow and took a strike from it without suffering any damage. Our scouts discovered the bodies of a great snake and a fin back pack by the river that we think it killed as well.”, explained Red.

“You can’t possibly be serious, what if it comes here?”, stuttered Blackhead.

“Relax elder, we’ve got a plan for that.”, laughed Red.

“I’m not that old yet, don’t lump me in with those leaches.”, snarled Blackhead.

“Hm? Did I strike a nerve there? You got a problem with elders Blackhead?”, asked Red.

“They just sit around pretending to be wise while they eat our food. I assumed you didn’t care for them yourself, considering what we’re all doing here.”, said Blackhead.

“I asked them for their advice before beginning the grand nest, and still speak to them daily. So far, they’re enjoying the results with caution optimism. That reminds me Yellow, I’ll have to introduce you to them sometime.”, said Red.

“Hm, me? To the elders?”, asked Yellow, temporarily dumbfounded.

Red nodded.

“Well I guess times are changing, perhaps they shouldn’t only speak to the Alpha.”, thought Yellow.

Brown and Green Runner giggled. Yellow glanced at them, and then to Grey, who simply shook his head.

“Am I still missing something?”, he thought.

“So Yellow are you going to inform us as to what your plan is?”, asked Blackhead, speaking through clenched teeth.

“Ah, sorry of course, but I don’t think it will matter now. It’s clearly busy building its nest with those trees.”, rambled Yellow.

“Yellow, I’m afraid you aren’t seeing an obvious option.”, said Red whilst clearing his throat.

“Huh?”, asked Yellow, tilting his head.

“We know that most of it’s pack is dead, did it not occur to you it may want to change that?”, asked Red.

“Of course! Why did that slip my mind? It may come here once it sees the feast begin to gather more subordinates. Also, we don’t know if it knows when the feast begins, it could appear at any time!”, Yellow thought in panic.

He felt Green Runners hand grasp his shaking shoulder and he realized his whole body was shaking.

“Are you okay honey?”, she asked.

Yellow attempted to calm down and take back control of his run away breathing.

“Yes, sorry to worry you Greener.”, he managed to say.

“Looks like that thing has him scared shitless.”, laughed Red.

Brown and several shadows began laughing as well, prompting Red to stop rather quickly.

“And you all should be too.”, he said in almost a whisper.

All the raptors in the canopy hushed in an instant as Red continued.

“Yellow’s right to be scared, that thing is completely and utterly overpowering. We already told all of you to come get us and sound the retreat if you spotted it, but how about we let you in on the rest of the plan. Yellow, would you mind?”, asked Red.

“Um, sure, of course.”, he stuttered as the thought of loosing his friends gripped his heart.

. . .

Twilight was nearing an end as they worked the wood with their makeshift saws. They had been taught by Yujark to make rope and Churburret showed Justin how to make sturdy nails with rocks. The birds sang in the canopy as the gentle breeze blew the fresh smell of the river past them. The shadows of the giants they had killed days before still hung over the blood-stained ground, despite them being picked clean by scavengers. Justin had just finished gathering some of the bones after his tests revealed they were stronger than the rocks they had.

“Hey, did you forget which boat we’re working on here?”, asked Morcant.

“We’ll need these when our tools break.”, said Justin, dumping the load of bones next to the boat frame.

“Eh? Just how much do you expect this thing to carry?”, asked Morcant, tying planks together.

“Well these bones are lighter and stronger than all the rocks I’ve found, and I don’t think hunting down huge predators for them is the safest idea. We won’t exactly need to carry water on the boat, leaving just food, tools, and clothes as our supplies.”, explained Justin as he helped hold the plank in place.

Morcant tied the bottom while Tacktay flew in to tie the top, and with that the frame was complete. Now they just had to slide planks into it and tie or nail them in. The boat was rather small, less then thirty feet long and less than twenty across, with two rooms and a deck. They planned on sleeping in one room and storing supplies in the other while they paddled or observed from the deck during the day.

“So, after we find this building we win?”, asked Morcant while he tied more planks down.

“Essentially yes.”, said Justin.

“Doesn’t that seem a little too easy to you? I thought that thing wanted to challenge you or something.”, Morcant continued.

“Well I’m kind of assuming he’ll catch onto what I’m doing if he hasn’t already.”, said Justin, scratching his head.

“Eh?”, said Morcant, tilting his head.

“Basically, I expect him to through everything he has at me before we make it there, probably more huge dinosaurs or alien monsters. He seemed to imply that his civilization couldn’t defeat this Eternal Tide, and I figure they lacked a good ground game. He was rather cryptic and implied there was more going on, but without more information to go on…”, Justin’s voice trailed off.

“So, you don’t really know what happens next, and we’re going headfirst into even more danger if we’re even going in the right direction?”, asked Morcant.

“I wanted to make a safe place for all of you and then leave, but that didn’t seem to be working out.”, said Justin, looking away in shame.

Morcant sighed.

“Don’t worry about us, we’ll just hide when the monsters attack, or better yet I’ll just kill them all for you while you flounder about trying to unlock more powers from your cloud.”, laughed Morcant.

“Hey, I was serios about that, they completely took control of me when I asked them to. I’m sure now that there’s more to them than just making me punch super hard.”, said Justin.

“Eh, twilights over already, guess it’s time for lunch and a…”, Morcant’s voice suddenly stopped short.

Justin looked over to him to find his hair sticking out again and his mouth agape, looking to the sky. He followed his gaze to see an enormous reflective sphere hovering above them at the cloud level. He was stunned too at first but shook it off and began looking in the reflection for the spaceport, to no avail.

“Eh, is this by chance what we’ve been looking for?”, asked Morcant.

“Nope, just get back to work.”, said Justin, grabbing a plank.

“The hell do you mean get back to work? What is that thing? You can’t tell me that’s normal, why aren’t you freaking out right now? Tacktay this is crazy right?”, Morcant rambled on.

“Justin’s the kind of person to get anxious over a passing leaf while trying to keep us safe. If he doesn’t have a problem with whatever that is, then neither do I. Besides, I think the answer is obvious.”, said Tacktay, getting back to work on the boat.

“Eh? Obvious? You calling me stupid or something?”, Morcant shouted.

“Morcant!”, Justin interrupted him.

“It’s another drop.”, he continued after a pause.

“You mean…”, Morcant began.

“Yes, more people are coming.”, Justin interrupted him again.

Morcant stared at him with a look of disbelief, shaking as he mouthed words.

“Then what the hell are we waiting for? We’ve got to go and help them.”, he shouted.

“Not a chance, they’re dead and if you guys go there, you might be too.”, said Justin, squinting at him.

“Are you kidding me? You’re just going to let them all die?”, asked Morcant.

“Well it’s not like I can keep them safe!”, yelled Justin, clenching his teeth.

“But we’ve got to try, you’re the only one who can save them. If you hadn’t been there before, we all would have died.”, argued Morcant.

“Everyone but you two is dead, I refuse to get to know another group of people just to watch them get torn to shreds. I refuse to watch the two of you die on that hill while we futilely attempt to stop a horde of monsters.”, explained Justin.

“I understand that, but as a man I can’t just sit by and watch as people are killed, especially after having been saved by you. This is my choice to make, and I’ll make it with or without you.”, said Morcant.

“No, it isn’t, try and run and I’ll tie you down with this rope. Even if you hate me, disown me, never speak to me again, I made a promise to keep you safe.”, said Justin, looking down on him.

“Fuck you! I am not a coward.”, roared Morcant.

Justin exhaled, his now wide eyes beaming at Morcant, before returning to a squint.

“Are you implying I’m…”, he attempted to say.

“Everyone called us cowards for fleeing conscription, that pointless war. Well I’m not! I Morcant will not stand by while this happens, even if it ends like you say it will. There is no other path for me, the moment I took these blades I swore to follow the knights code of old. If there is a single person in danger, if I can reach them, then no matter the odds, I must try and save them.”, Morcant explained while slamming his fist into his chest, his face clenched, twitching in rage.

Justin looked down with his hand covering his face and began chuckling. This quickly escalated into laughing, and then to hysterical cackling. He held his chest as he snickered and bellowed. Morcant made a tsk as his face twisted and he stormed over to him, raising his hand as if to slap him.

“There’s nothing I can do is there?”, Justin asked as he suddenly stopped laughing.

“To stop you.”, he said.

Morcant shook his head and grunted while lowing his hand. Justin raised his head, revealing his teary face as he looked Morcant in the eyes.

“Every mans got a code, I already knew how you were, that’s why I didn’t want to tell you what that sphere meant, cause I knew I’d lose you. I’m sure this is selfish, but I don’t know if I can take another hit Morcant. My mind, it’ll break.”, said Justin.

“I’m sorry, truly I am. I want to go on your adventure and reunite with my family, but this isn’t a choice for me. There’s nothing else I can do besides this. I know you’ve felt that before too. You want to save everyone with the advancements made here, right? What is your code exactly Justin?”, asked Morcant.

“I try to save whoever is closest to me, physically or emotionally. I’d sacrifice whole worlds for the people I love. I’ve been told my whole life that’s not right, but you know what? It’s not wrong either! There’s nothing wrong with protecting people you love over strangers!”, Justin spat through his tears.

“There’s nothing wrong with protecting them either.”, said Morcant.

Justin made a tsk while grinding his teeth.

“I know this is selfish of me too, but I’m going to ask anyway. Please come with me, please help me.”, asked Morcant, stretching out his hand.

A wide smile stretched across Justin’s teary face as he threw his hand into his friends.

“Morcant, even if you through yourself into the fires of hell, I’m definitely gunna save you.”, he said.

“So, this is your play huh?”, asked Tacktay as she crawled up Justin’s back and onto his outstretched arm.

“Tacktay, you can stay here and nap, we’ll be back soon.”, said Justin.

“No, you’re not the only one with a code. It’s the job of every member of a hive to defend each other, especially a guard like me. It’s also our job to follow our… leader. If there’s a fight, you can count me in.”, explained Tacktay as she passed glances to them.

Justin laughed and nodded.

“Understood.”, he said.

“Somethings happening.”, said Morcant, looking to the sky once more.

The sphere was emanating a dancing light of arrows, carrying with it a hundred bodies slowly falling towards the ground.

“Guess we’re out of time, Morcant, Tacktay, gear up, we’re moving out.”, said Justin as he released his friends’ hand.

. . .