Wild Beast Chase (Part II)

( Part three: Blazing trails )

“Well, we finally came to the shore…let’s cross the sea and make the camp…over there.” Nick said. The shallow sea between the islands was actually almost still. Though you can see the bottom because of seaweeds, and it is nighttime, but the moon is late. “Crossing the sea at night will kill you. What do we mean? You’ll see. Wait till moonrise” Kydie (lion) said in a weirdly funny voice, flying over the strikers and going back to its den. “We have to trust him. He knows better than any of us” Michael said. “it’s just water. What the…” Mike was amazed. The waters in the sea started to glow. Not in one but several colours. Like an aurora going into the sea. “I take it back. I change it too…it’s just glowing water, what harm could it do…” he said and put his left leg into the water. Mike got zapped and rocketed to the sky. “Will someone volunteer to catch that idiot?” Kaecy sighed and said. “I’m afraid, we can’t. He’s falling like a bed; the worst case is; he’s coming back to the sea.” Michael said. Mike fell down into the glowing sea and got zapped again, again, again, again, and a few more couple of times. “DO SOMETHING! Are you all waiting till I die by getting hit by tiny lightning shots?” Mike screamed for help while going up. Even the birds flying over that area started to hit Mike. “Gladly. Please die” Kaecy whispered. “YOU HAVE YOUR SCYTHE BUDDY!” Strike yelled. “Oh, you are right. THANK YOU” Mike screamed while falling. He used his scythe and went to the other side of the sea. Some bird feathers were stuck in Mike’s clothes. All the remaining strikers on the other side put their hands on their heads. “You stay there safe, Mike. Stay until we cross the sea to reach there.” Strike said. The stars in the sky were covered by clouds. the ground felt warm in Mike’s place, while the others kept freezing because they couldn’t find any dry sticks to light up.

The strikers in the isle of Ecronz suddenly woke up. The sky was clear. Stars were visible (Wait! What?). “WAKE UP ECRONZ!” Kydie (Lion) roared from its den. “It’s not even dawn. I’m going back to sleep” “Yeah me too” Sabrina and Kaecy said. “NOPE! We are crossing the sea now. The water isn’t glowing. In fact, Mike is GONE!” Strike said. And everyone gasped. The sea became troublesome stuff to them. Making them almost feel something pulling. Nick and Knightin Gale even slipped. Strike came in first to land. And he came to the place where Mike was last seen. Strike swiped away a few leaves and stood up. Zumi also looked at it and got amazed. “Zumi, you are worried just like me, right?” Strike asked. She nodded. “What’s the prob?” Nick asked, taking seaweed and seashells in and out of his boots. “There’s no markings or clues except, Mike’s footprints. Thought they were gotten a bit deeper into the sand. Maybe because he jumped here” Zumi said and assumed. “This isn’t because he jumped,” Strike said. “Something grabbed Mike from above. Probably the dragon but we Haeicrols trained as a dragon so the chances dragon got him should be slim.” Strike kept assuming. “You don’t think…” Knightin Gale hinted. Her body was shaking in fear, and so were all the girls. Michael didn’t realize what they meant, until. “I’m afraid, there’s a half a chance that a Crockalisk took him” Strike said, worried. Strike also trembled in fear to speak its name. The word is so fearful for none-Jweyines. “What’s up with saying jer” “Please don’t mention that freaky name, Nick,” Strike interrupted Nick from saying the words. “Separating is not a good idea in this state.” Strike said, putting his hand under his chin, thinking of a better way to ‘quickly’ find Mike.

Out of nowhere, a strange deep voice was heard by the strikers. “A SCHOOL OF FISH? BREAKFAST IS SERVED!” the voice came from the sky. And that something or someone whooshed towards the seven strikers. It was like a fast-moving shadow, attacking them, in the dawn. Strike as the leader drew his emperor’s sword to the front, holding it upright in both hands. The shadow stopped at once, a couple of inches away from the blade. The wind the shadow carried almost blew away the strikers. They felt like sand was picked up and thrown at them. The sun rose. Rays of the sun came from the sides of the mountain. The shadow of the mountain peak ended from the corner edge of the Isle of Ecronz. 

The shadow was exposed to the sunlight and revealed itself. It was a big black dragon! From head to tail pitch-black scales and its belly was dark ash in colour. The tail end with a ‘drill’ - like blade structure. Making it able to cut down a tree. The nose was putting out smoke. But this wasn’t a scary dragon, nor was cute and friendly. The dragon was amazed and stunned. It shook its head, a couple of scales fell off, and landed on the shore on its island. “thousand apologize your majesty.” The dragon bowed to Strike. “Majesty? I’m not even close to be a prince” Strike said. “It is you the one who was destined to wield the emperor’s sword. the name itself makes you a great ruler. If my friend, Kydie sent you here it is to be important.” The dragon said. The dragon volunteered to give them a ride to his cave.

On their way, Sabrina saw smoke, rising to the sky from all four islands. “Hey, Mr. Dragon, do you have something to do with those fires?” she asked. “What fires?” the dragon looked around. “Oh those you meant! They were made by humans living on each island.” Dragon said. “Humans!? As like us?” Nick asked. “Yes. Yes. Those who got banished or exiled from their clan come here. I’ll put it like this…each clan has its fighting techniques right? That creature will be the leader or protector of them when they got exiled to this place, which means…” The dragon left a hint. “which means people got exiled from Blastrik island is here!” Strike said followed by a gasp. The dragon and strikers landed near the cave. “So tell me, your majesty, what exactly do you want from me?” The dragon asked from Strike. “We would like to get your support to stop the war” Strike said straight. The dragon scratched its chin with his claws. A couple of dried old scales fell off. “Yaeries…Kydie’s ones doing it, right? What did they say?” the dragon questioned. “Yeah! But how do you know?” Knightin Gale asked. “he said to tell the other beasts that he called for a grand summit.” Michael said. “well, if he’s calling, you better get ready the others. You only have three days, including today.” The dragon informed. “Well, we better get going. Looks like Crockalisk is having Mike.” Zumi said. “By Mike, do you mean that man over there? By the way, my name is Ragion.” Ragion the dragon said, pointing towards a shadowy person curled up and shaking. The strikers went inside and surprisingly it was Mike. Mike saw Strike, he grabbed Strike from his legs and climbed up to Strike’s belt. “Strike save me! The fear, The HORROR IS HERE!” Mike screamed in fear. “Am I that scary?” Ragion appeared behind Strike. “AAAAA! IT’S BEHIND YOU!” Mike screamed and acted as if he passed out. “Mike…you can’t fool me. Get up, it isn’t the Crockalisk, his name is Ragion, a dragon” Strike said. “The only dragon to be exact.” Ragion sounded wise and alone. “Come on, next we are meeting a JD.” Strike sounded the search will be fine. “Your majesty, be careful when meeting Vedsey. He’s one stubborn Crockalisk.” Ragion said in caution while moving to the cave entrance. When the strikers came out from there, the time was noon and the sky was totally blue. Not a single cloud to see. On the other hand, the ground was lighting up. Suddenly the earth shook. “What was that? Quakes cannot happen here, there’s no known fault lines near here.” Knightin Gale said. The strikers jumped off the cave, it was only 5 feet above the ground. “The ground shook because of the Spectra volcano. Masolo is where we are now, and close to the village too.” Ragion said. “Wait VOLCANO IN SPECTRA! Judging the size of the quake, and the distance between Spectra to where he said Noah to bank the ship…Oh no. no, no, no, no.” Nick said, more worried about his brother and ship (SHIP!? What about Naomi?). “What? What is it? Fill it in!” Zumi rushed. “the ship, is in the area of impact.” Nick said in depression.

“Damn it. All to happen now” Knightin Gale got lost in ‘many’ thoughts. Strike could see it in her face. Eyes went big, speechless all of a sudden. Strike touched her right shoulder and expressed that Naomi and Noah were going to be alright. Strike turned up to Ragion and nodded. And Ragion nodded back. “As you wish, I’ll drop them near your people. Meanwhile, your majesty, continue your quest.” Ragion said and shot to the sky with just one flap of his massive black wings. Strike looked where Ragion was going. “We can trust him too. Let’s head to the Isle of Uniive!” he said. 

The strikers moved along the Masolo village, which had a giant tree filled with fruits right in the middle and two small water fountains. The villagers weren’t much welcoming and looked scared of them. Some of them even pulled their door mats and closed their doors and windows. However, the traders and some people were outside, trying to hide their fears. Making sure they can grab anything like a weapon, in case any of the strikers attack them. Strike signalled the team to stop. And looked around. “WATCH OUT FOR THE BOULDER! FIRE!” from the strikers’ right-hand side, a catapult-launched a giant stone boulder. A girl and a boy were playing in the zone, where the boulder landed. Mike aimed his Scythe towards the kids and threw it. “you can’t grab the kids from the scythe!” Kaecy said but Strike didn’t let her go near Mike. (imagine in slow motion) Mike didn’t express nor say anything. “My children!” The kids’ father covered the kids to protect them from the scythe. Scythe was inches away from the kid’s father. The scythe rocketed and hit the boulder, right on time, before the boulder was hit. At that moment, the boulder was about ten inches away from the crash zone. The hit from the scythe was massive to generate a shockwave of wind and turn the boulder into stone grains. The kids were jaws dropped and their father was surprised he didn’t die. Strike let Kaecy go. She ran towards the old man (the kids’ father) and helped him to get up. “Who…who are you people?” the kids’ father asked. “We are the strikers. Nothing about it, are you okay?” Kaecy asked. “I’m okay, thank you so much for protecting them,” the old man said, pointing to his children. “I owe my life to you. You people are from Blastrik island too?” he asked. “Only me and Mike.” Strike came forward pointing Mike. The old man recognised Strike’s face. “Master Strike…” he said in a low volume. Strike tried to recognize the old man…and he was Strike’s very first teacher in sword arts. Strike and Mike both ran and bowed in knees. “Please don’t bow.” The old man forced them to stand up. “It is I who should bow to you, Your MAJESTY.” The old man shouted the last word and bowed, after seeing Strike having the emperor’s sword. the villagers came out and saw it too. They all bowed to him as well. “WILL YOU PLEASE STOP BOWING TO ME!” Strike shouted and villagers stood up. “Stay normal, we meant no harm. Please.” Strike asked.

“Your Majesty, is there anything us villagers can do to help?” the old man asked. “Is there a quick way to the Isle of Uniive?” Mike asked. The villagers gasped. The old man changed his face, eyes closed and cleared his throat. “Isle of Uniive, ha?” he said. “There’s a sea-rail that goes directly to Titentiza, few feet away though…” the villagers gasped again. “Great! First, they start bowing, and now, gasping. What next? Jumping on one foot?” Sabrina crossed her arms and complained in a low volume. “We’ll take it. To the sea-rail!” Strike commanded. The strikers rushed to the rail-cart. “Your Majesty…there’s a thing you need to know…” old man tried to tell, but they ignored him. All boarded the rail-cart. Strike pulled the lever and the rail-cart whooshed. “THE PLACE you guys landing is a …” the old man’s voice faded. “What did he try to say?” Strike asked. The rest shrugged. 

( Part four: The beast of perennial massacre )  

The strikers were now so bored, they even thought of jumping off the cart. But there was no way of going to either of the islands because, they couldn’t see the isle of Lawk…but began to see a blurred shadow of the isle of Uniive. The ride took them two hours. The whole island was covered by a huge dark smoke. “So…, this is why it’s called island of shadows…ah…” Nick said. “really! You are saying it right now?” Sabrina complained while slightly shivering. “What’s the big idea?” Nick probed. “Though they are warriors they’re still afraid of the dark.” Knightin Gale said looking down on them. “DON’T SAY IT LIKE THAT NG!” the girls complained to her. “We are about to enter the land of the Crockalisk.” Nick’s eyes went so big and adorable looking when he said that. (get killed by seeing it).

The strikers’ rail-cart crash – stopped, a few feet away from Titentiza. Actually, Titentiza was a dark place; a withered forest. Looked pretty much like the journey would be in a labyrinth at night. The sun was about to set, and Ragion just showed up in the skies of the Isle of Uniive. “Special delivery!” Ragion spoke and dropped Noah and Naomi, right on top of them. Naomi fell on Kaecy and Noah, was on Strike. Kaecy luckily grabbed and managed to get Naomi and herself safe but Noah fell on Strike’s face and slammed him on the soil of the withered forest. “Sorry Strike.” Noah quickly got off and apologized while Naomi thanked Kaecy.

The sun had begun to set and Ragion’s body was getting camouflaged with the night sky. “Why does our timing make this place feel more and more spooky?” Mike said and the girls were brushing their hands by themselves in fear of darkness and eerie environment. The place began to feel cold like snow and ice. Eerie fog appeared out of nowhere and it was so thick that strikers couldn’t see their boots or shoes. More greatly, thunder clouds appeared and it began to rain. “Great! Just great! The fog is still not wearing off, thundering, lightning show in the sky, and it’s raining.” Knightin Gale complained. “What’s up with that?” Mike probed. “Yeah, what about it? We are just going to meet a beast that can KILL US, while we can’t EVEN SEE STRIGHT in a SKYSCRAPING withered PINE TREE-ed forest!” she yelled back at him. “I still don’t see the point” Mike said and looked at Strike. Strike bent his knees slowly turned and stayed in a ‘ready-to-attack’ position. Strike slowly pulled his old sword. “WHO ARE YOU?” Strike was looking straight and asked a question. “Strike are you okay? There’s no one there…at least, maybe I can’t see properly with the heavy rain.” Noah asked. “You gonna pay for what you done!” Strike yelled and ran into no one. When Mike tried to run after him … “How did I end up here? No! please stop! NO!” Mike fell down and kept crouching back, still, from no one. (that’s messed up and awkward and weird) As so, everyone kept trying to kill someone or running or trying to get away from something or someone, but not each other. Nick and Noah couldn’t understand the situation. “Brother…they are all gone nuts! What do we do?” Nick asked. “You stay here and look after these nuts. I’ll find Strike.” Noah told Nick and ran towards the direction where Strike went. Noah felt he was getting closer when he saw it was two red eyes, luring Strike closer to it to freeze and eat him, from the shadows. “Stop it right there crockalisk!” Noah yelled. Strike looked at Noah, and his eyes are different in colour. Strike thought Noah was another enemy, so he drew out the emperor’s sword and jumped to attack Noah. Luckily he dodged but something else happened. Strike was in some sort of rage and the blow to Noah was hit to the ground and it came with a bonus. A lightning bolt struck to ground via the sword. Force from the impact made the pine trees bend radially. So as Nick felt that force, and it helped the others including Strike to come to their senses. After the impact, can’t stand straight. From another’s perspective, Strike looked like a drunken man; while the others, with Nick, were stunned about what had happened to them and where they were now. The red eyes came out of the shadows and revealed themselves as the crockalisk. Noah ran towards Strike and shut his eyes. “Strike, whatever you do…do NOT open your eyes!” Noah warned him. Nick came to Noah with the others. Nick was holding Mike’s hand and they came as a human chain. They all grabbed someone’s hand and at the end was Knightin Gale. All except Nick and Noah closed their eyes.

“I hate closing eyes.” Mike complained and opened his eyes. And the crockalisk’s red eyes turned him into a stone. The crockalisk’s red eyes started clearing. And the rain stopped, the fog cleared (crockalisk can’t manipulate weather). “You can open your eyes; I guarantee you will not turn into stone like the stupid human.” The crockalisk spoke and turned Mike back to a living person. “He’s right guys, you can open your eyes” Noah said in relief and they all opened their eyes. The girls who were scared of darkness screamed after seeing the crockalisk. Zumi on the other hand fainted and fell onto Naomi’s hand. “What do you humans seek by coming into my island?” the crockalisk questioned. “We are here to say that Kydie called for a grand summit and soon that will be held after we informed the phoenix right after you come to your senses after I finished saying this right now.” Mike said it swiftly. All the scary looks of crockalisks washed away and he was amazed by Mike’s speech. So did the strikers. They gasped; for he was saying all the facts that quickly. “That’s a lot to take in. Well if Kydie said so… Inform the phoenix. To cross the island, you need to ride around five to six human miles. You’ll get to the closest point between the Uniive and Orave as you humans named them.” The crockalisk said. “You are easy to reason with one sentence. What do you mean by ride?” Nick asked and crockalisk smirked and pointed strikers’ back with its wing. A herd of reindeer came up dividing the crockalisk and strikers making a loud noise, which helped Zumi to wake up. Naomi explained everything to her. “Better grab one before you make yourselves walk six miles …” “WHAT’S YOUR NAME?” Naomi asked crockalisk. “Everyone, grab a deer!” Knightin Gale shouted. Everyone grabbed a deer they could and kept riding and disappeared. “THE NAME is Vedsey” the voice faded and strikers went towards East-Southeast.

Around fifteen minutes later, Strikers came out of the Titentiza forest and were able to see the shallow sea at a distance. “Why am I feeling my legs senseless and why am I feeling so tired and sweaty?” Sabrina asked. “You are not the only one” Zumi backed her up. And so the others realized they feel pain in their thighs, ankles and knees. A couple of moments later the reindeer vanished into thin air. And all of them gasped and rolled over to the gravel sea shore. No harm done. “Damn it! I should’ve seen it coming.” Noah got mad. “These are all Vedsey’s illusions, aren’t they? We’ve been running non-stop for fifteen minutes.” Nick said. “Then how did we feel getting onto the deer?” Strike asked. “Those were all fake feelings. It manipulated us by ourselves and detour our mind’s senses!” Noah explained. “That explains what happened earlier in the forest.” Knightin Gale said and the others nodded. The strikers struggled to stand up but they couldn’t; after all, they did run five to six miles in fifteen minutes.

( Part five: Cycle of life and death )

The strikers crossed over and now came to the Isle of Orave; the land of the phoenix. The ground is hot as the isle of Lawk. Remarkably, there’s a volcano bigger than the Spectra volcano. They carefully went inside the island until … “Hey look! a chicken!” Mike shouted. “Stop bluffing. How could a chicken stay in this place?” Naomi probed mockingly. “I don’t think he’s bluffing.” Nick pointed. “That thing is as big as a turkey!” Knightin Gale said in amazement. It was a chicken as big as a turkey, not that fat but walking on the ground. An easy catch for a good meal. “I’m done eating seaweed” Noah said. “We only did it once…” Strike said. “Easy for you to say, you don’t know what Naomi cooked for me while you guys going on a thrilling adventure in isle of Ecronz.” Noah complained and Naomi grinned. “It’s escaping to the volcano! Chase it down.” Mike said and ran. So did Nick, Naomi and Kaecy. “The chicken is leaving a trail of feathers after it!” Mike commanded as the leader of the chicken hunt group. The chicken stopped near the mouth of the volcano and died. “Because he died, we don’t need to kill it, grab the chicken!” Mike shouted. “Stop it NOW!” Knightin Gale yelled to all of them. “Get back here and wait till the volcano tremble, just once.” She said. The chicken hunt team retreated towards Knightin Gale. “Mike, be a good lad and jump, so that’ll make a streak of four amazing things you’ve done” Kaecy said. “KAECY! This is not a time for joking,” Knightin Gale yelled. “What? First, the electric sea, then getting captured by the dragon, turned to stone by the crockalisk and finally saved from lava by a dead chicken may be…” Kaecy mocked making Mike piss off. The moment they arrived, the volcano trembled, the area shook, and the giant featherless chicken body fell into the volcano. The volcano weirdly erupted lava shot out of it, straight up and fell down back to the volcano, without a single drop leaving outside (well… maybe a couple of drops were outside, but not much to flow down and harm). The volcano's mouth started glowing in a bright yellow colour like the rising sun. The symbol of ‘tomorrow’, the symbol of the circle of life, symbol of … (Strikers: WE  GET IT!). The Phoenix majestically flew out from the volcano showing off its reincarnation. The chicken hunt group gasped, while the rest shrugged while sighing. “Am I seeing stuff or did the Turkish chicken get incredibly bigger?” Mike asked. Kaecy slapped his head. “It’s a phoenix, idiot, not a chicken!” she said. “you tell me. You were also hunting it not even realizing that even after being a ‘Descendant’.” Mike mocked. Kaecy looked at him with narrowed eyes. “say that last part again sweetheart…” Kaecy flirted. “Fine, never mind, you win” Mike backed off the conversation.

“PHOENIX!” Knightin Gale called out. “What’s your name?” she asked. “My name is Xillia.” Xillia the phoenix said and flapped its wings, generating a ball of fire and shooting it at Strike. Strike drew the emperor’s sword and blocked it. Xillia got surprised and its golden-red body started flaming. “Why did that sword choose you!?” Xillia questioned. “It chose me because I’m not who you think I am” Strike defended himself. “Xillia, Kydie called for a grand summit…so would you…?” “Ah, that’s why all Ragion flew different today…should’ve thought about that” Xillia interrupted what Naomi tried to say. Suddenly Xillia’s flames went off; crash-landed to the mouth of the volcano to the foot, rolling down like a feathered barrel. Strikers ran towards it. “What happened?” Mike questioned. “I was poisoned by his kind” She pointed Strike while coughing and crying in pain. Strike was astonished at being suspected of something he hasn’t done. “Poisoned? That explains why you died instead of turning into ashes.” Knightin Gale said. “Have these silvergreen leaves. It has a curing effect for lot of diseases occurring to us, humans.” Strike grabbed some leaves from a bag Mr. Wiscurd gave. “Why should I trust you?” Xillia asked angrily. “Would you keep dying in such pain or try what you’re given? After all, you are immortal. The volcano just gives you a boost” Strike said. “How do you…never mind, Xillia you have to at least try.” Knightin Gale said offering her hand full of leaves to Xillia’s beak. Xillia had to have faith in at least what it was offered, so it ate all the leaves at once. A couple of moments later, Xillia’s body turned into flames and from tail to head, she was decayed and turned into ashes. Knightin Gale grabbed Strike from his shirt collar and lifted him up. “You killed the beast, didn’t you? What is your problem?” Knightin Gale was crying and she slammed Strike to the ground. “NG you are overreacting…” Nick said and the boys tried to stop her, but couldn’t. She kept hitting Strike in the face and when she was done, she pulled out her kerises, aimed one and kept the other, closer to Strike’s neck. “If you want to live...Bring back Xillia!” she kept crying. “Fine…Xillia, would you come to life before she kills me…” Strike said in a normal way, ignoring he was about to be killed by the person he secondly, most trusted. “Are you taking me as a joke…?” she asked and at a swift, the ashes rotated in mid-air like a tornado glow in flames. The swirl become bigger and bigger, and Xillia majestically showed off again. Golden-coloured dust is emitted from Xillia’s wing every time it flaps. “Let’s head to North-northwest as you humans refer directions. That’s the place we are having the grand summit. Kydie and Vedsey should come close to the ‘closest place’ between Ecronz and Orave. But me and Ragion can stay in our territory.” Xillia said in brief. “Hop on let’s go!” Xillia invited the strikers for a free ride. The strikers got onto Xillia.

Xillia took them to the place called Lamox, on the map. Naomi saw the village in isle of Orave. “Is that a…” she tried to ask and Sabrina said, “yeah it’s a village. There’s one in each island”. The first light showed up in the sky. It was so beautiful to see from moment to moment, how the rays of the sun fall on XOULE islands and light it up. “We are almost there to Lamox, humans.” Xillia told. “So Xillia, how does this summit work out?” Knightin Gale asked. “The summit was conducted by the protector of the sea, Ehykronz. His name is Zail.” Xillia said. 

To be continued