‘’Good morning, love’’ Kane said, stroking Janine’s hair. She snuggled closer
to him, absorbing his warmth into her own body. ‘’How did you sleep?’’ he asked.
‘’Morning, love’’ Janine replied cheerfully, her eyes closed. ‘’Awesome. Have
you slept well?’’ she added.
‘’I slept like a log. In fact, i haven't slept so good since i can remember going to
sleep’’ he said, laughing. ‘’Let us get up, the day will be a hard one and we need
every moment we can get. Janine lift herself off him and sat up straight, her naked
body gracing his eyes. A smile appeared on his face, but she just winked and stood
up, getting dressed as fast as she could. He did the same a few moments later.
Thanis approached Kane after they got up and were dressed.
‘’Good morning, master’’ he said and he bowed his head slightly out of
respect. It kind of startled Kane. He wasn’t used to that kind of behaviour.
‘’Good morning, Thanis. U slept well?’’ Kane asked cheerfully.
‘’As good as one could sleep with all the noise you were making with my
sister’’ he murmured. Kane just greeted his comments with a broad smile.
‘’Oh boy, she is worth every breath. Trust me when i say that’’ Kane teased.
All he got in response was a flat look coming from Thanis.
‘’Breakfast is almost ready. Since you two woke up so late, i took the liberty to
prepare food for the women already and your own breakfast is waiting for you at the
fire. Do you want me to heat it up for you?’’
‘’Sure thing Thanis, we would appreciate that a lot’’ Kane said and nodded.
‘’Anyway, master, i have an idea. Behind the cave, there is a small stable i
have built myself. There are two horses which i used for getting groceries or other
stuff and a cart. We could use those to travel from here. Do you agree?’’ he said,
hoping Kane would say yes. Kane could see it in his bright little eyes.
‘’Sure thing, Thanis. Need help with setting them up?’’
‘’No sir!’’ he yelled. ‘’Everything is already prepared, sir!’’ he yelled again.
‘’We are not in the military Thanis.’’ Kane said amusedly.
‘’I know. Its just, i’ve always wanted to say that’’ he said and smiled.
‘’Ok then. Go fetch the horses. We will prepare the bags and tell the women to
prepare their own stuff in the meanwhile. Will they all fit?’’
‘’Ok master, right on it. Regarding the women, i think so. The cart is pretty
large. It will be a little cramped, maybe, but they should fit on. I will ride on front with
Janine and i assume you will ride Alpha? Anyway, i am off heating up the food for
you. Eat up fast and don’t do anymore naughty stuff for the morning!’’ he said and
ran away. Kane walked over to Janine and kissed her on her forehead.
‘’Ready to eat?’’
‘’Yep. Let’s go eat, i’m already dressed for the trip, so dont even think about
undressing me. Eat, now!’’ she said and pushed Kane towards the fire. His head
drooped like a little cub’s, but he complied. Thanis had put the food already into
plates and was gone, getting the card ready as they sat down to eat.
‘’Say’’ Janine broke the silence as they ate. Kane looked up at her, awaiting
the question but Janine kept dragging it out.
‘’Yes?’’ he finally said, annoyed by the long wait.
‘’Don’t give me that tone or i won’t give you something else’’ she said. His
mouth opened wide up as he almost choked, giving her a mean look. ‘’Why did you
take the man up on the plea to check in Ithice?’’ she asked finally. The question was
something he hadn’t really expected so it took him a few moments to reply.
‘’Well, i honestly have no idea. Life was dull for me. All i did was live a day at a
time. Go kill a monster, sell some necessities, drink, eat, get laid.The people at
Homitage more or less all know me and they know my skill. It just evolved from a
check it out to a search and destroy to a rescue operation. I just basically went with
the flow’’ he answered.
‘’Liar, you ain’t really telling the truth, but you are close enough’’ she chuckled.
Kane stood up and leaned forward, kissing her forehead.
‘’You have no idea how much i love you. It’s basically over night, but, there just
is something between us no one can deny. Poor anyone if they dared to take you
away from me. You are everything i want and desire, so they better not dare try to do
anything, whoever they might be’’ he said, honestly. Janine smiled gently and kissed
him back.
‘’I love you too. I have no idea why or how it came to be, but i sure am glad,
my love’’ she replied. At that moment Thanis came back to clean up.
‘’Let me clean this up. You gather your stuff and i will go get the cart and set
up the women in the meanwhile. We should depart within half an hour’’ Thanis said
and turned away.
‘’Everything done, Janine?’’ Kane asked.
‘’Yes. We can leave whenever the other women are done, which should be
soon’’
‘’Good. We are waiting on Thanis to come with the horses and cart’’ Kane said
and walked over to where Alpha, a tiger and a hawk were seated.
‘’Hey there big boy’’ Kane said tapping him on his broad shoulders. ‘’Slept
well?’’
‘’Guess so’’ he answered, somewhat sluggishly. ‘’Been all night up, talking to
Hawk and Tiger’’
‘’O, Janine’s familiars?’’ he asked.
‘’We are right here, you ignorant fool’’ the tiger said.
‘’So it seems. You sure got her temper, kitty’’ Kane teased. The tiger stood up
and growled and to whose response Alpha stood up and growled a bit louder. The
tiger lowered his head in submission and sat down again, the hawk standing on his
head.
‘’Turns out i’m superior to them. Who would have guessed’’ Alpha said and
roared out in laughter. Something was off with him. He was too cheerful this morning,
but Kane decided not to pry any further. Suddenly, a scream could be heard. It came
from the general direction Thanis ran off to.
‘’Shit, Alpha, move it! You two as well!’’ Kane said as he started running
towards the way Thanis went earlier. ‘’Soul forge! Weaponize! Materialize!’’ Kane
yelled, arms out to his sides as he was running. Two bčades appeared in his hands,
glowing white. He gripped them firmly as he was getting around the bend to the spot
the stables should have been. When they rounded the corner, from the earth
emerged a monster. A silvaren, and a big one at that.
A snake like monster, up to thirty meters in length, generally up to three
meters thick. The general populace usually just called it an earth snake or earth
dragon. Its skin was slick with a greenish fluid, giving it abnormal slickness. It glided
through the earth like through water. The head was wide and thin, giving it the
necessary form to be able to glide through the soil. It had eyes on both the forehead
and on the back of its head. Three on each side, huge, half a meter in diameter, with
hundreds of small eyes inside of them. Believers even compare them to Gods
forsaken children. The snakes could foresee movement with all of their eyes. Given
enough time, they could deduce patterns and foresee what the opponent would do,
before he even knew it. The tongue was long, rolled up and razor sharp. It looked like
metal, but it was organic. It could spew poisonous mist as well as just dart out its
tongue at extreme velocities, to pierce opponents. The tail was razor sharp and very
thin. The body was generally brownish and the head was pitch black with red
markings. As Kane was absorbing the view, Thanis was leaning on the stables as the
silvaren was taking its time strolling towards him, probably wanting to enjoy the fear
Thanis was showing. Kane couldn’t help himself, he just had to stop to look at the
thing. It was huge, maybe even bigger than the biggest one observed yet. Maybe
even forty meters long and five thick. It looked like a huge, crawling meat wall.
‘’Thanis!’’ Kane yelled. ‘’Snap out of it. Run towards Janine and do not look
back!’’ He was still standing still, afraid to move. ‘’Thanis!’’ Kane yelled, even louder
this time. Finally, the boy snapped out of it, turned around and started running. By
then the silvaren had noticed the newcomers, Alpha, Hawk, Tiger and Kane
approaching and it moved its front body upwards, as if readying for a frontal blow.
Thanis had cleared the back of the cave already so at least he wouldn’t get in the
way.
Kane snapped out of it as well and ran towards the silvaren, Alpha right behind
him. Hawk and Tiger transformed, partially, as well. They’re bodies became almost
translucent and double their size. Hawk’s talons grew longer and his wings turned
into steel blades. Tiger’s paws turned into big claws, half a meter in diameter. His
whole body had somehow morphed as well, but stayed the same. He looked like a
giant razor. And finally, Alpha yelled, ‘’soul forge, immortalize’’ and summoned his
own soul gear, projecting a monstrosity as big as twenty meters in height.
As if knowing what Kane was thinking, Alpha hit him with one of his paws,
sending Kane flying towards the silvarens head, while he kept moving towards the
general part of the silvarens body. Kane could hear the trio scream and roar as well
as they were going in for the battle.
‘’What the hell?’’ was all Kane could say as he flew at the silvaren a lot faster
than he thought he would. Alpha collided head on with the silvaren, knocking it
backwards, it fell onto the ground on its back, what it seemed like. Again, as if Alpha
could read Kane’s mind, he pinned it to the ground with his huge paws, clawing at the
thick meat. It was slick so the attacks just bounced off harmlessly. Hawk and Tiger
had closed in as well and tiger jumped on top of Alpha, running all the way towards
the silvarens head, jumping down on its head and shredding into it. The head was
different and didn’t deflect blows as well, so every now and then a chunk went flying
through the air, blood and meat spraying him. Tiger seemed to enjoy the moment
and kept on it until a tentacle that appeared out of its head sent him flying, at which
moment Hawk flew in and severed the tentacle with its wing. A number of tentacles
grew out of its body now, going for hawk and Tiger was there again, shredding at the
tentacles.
‘’Good, they are keeping it busy’’ Kane thought. ‘’Blood forge, incantation’’ he
whispered, as if afraid someone would hear him. Kane’s blades turned a slightly red
tinge, imbuing them with a new power, a moment before he landed on the silvaren.
Upon landing, he stabbed his blades into the beast. ‘’Blood surge, explode’’ Kane
yelled, not even knowing what he was saying. A few meters in diameter of where his
blades had embedded themselves inside the silvarens body, the silvaren exploded
into red mist, shaking violently, trembling in pain, hissing uncontrollably. When Kane
looked at his blades, he saw that they were absorbing the blood and gore. The
chunks of meat, instead of flying all around them, floated in mid-air, disintegrating
into a fine red mist and flowing into his blades.
‘’More, more, more, more, more, more!’’ a voice in Kane’s head screamed to
the point of his head almost bursting. The silvaren was trying to get free from Alphas
weight, cringing underneath him, trying to move the wounded part away, but it was
engaged against four enemies who were drawing its attention constantly. It
succeeded slowly as it slid underneath Alpha towards the hole in the ground,
probably wanting to run.
‘’What the hell was that voice?’’ Kane thought. He shrugged it off as he had no
time to think about it now as the silvaren’s head was gaining ground after slipping
underneath Alpha’s weight. It opened its mouth and snapped towards Kane who got
saved in time by hawk, who had lifted him off the ground at the last moment. Tiger
was climbing up its body towards the head again, Alpha trying to get a hold of its
body again, now also covered in the slick green stuff.
‘’Hawk, lift me up towards its head where Tiger is, hurry, i have got an idea’’
Kane said. About ten seconds later, he was landing next to Tiger and ran straight into
the silvarens mouth. Everyone was stunned at the moment, including the silvaren,
who hadn’t expected that move.
‘’Explode, explode, explode’’ a voice kept yelling, becoming louder and louder
each time. The silvaren’s body kept shaking and it screamed in agony, a painful
sound of a dying animal.
‘’Blood surge, explode!’’ Kane yelled out over and over again and finally he
exited at the monster's side. Kane was covered in gore and bile, blood and intestines
of the beast. Everything that kept exploding was being absorbed at an extremely high
rate. The silvaren was already shuddering and in extreme pain, but still had some life
in it.
ed me, as i had no idea what was going on.
‘’Again!’’ Alpha yelled at Kane, trying his best to keep the silvaren down.
Suddenly, the silvaren rolled around, bringing its wounded part to the other side and
threw Alpha off of its body. He brought the tail down and hit Alpha fully into his right
leg, cleaving it almost straight off. Alpha howled in pain and rolled on his back, the
soul particles flowing outside of the stump. Kane’s mind went blank at the sight of
Alpha being wounded so badly, and then, the blood lust took over. He tore his gaze
away from Alpha who was being protected by Tiger and Hawk, subconsciously
knowing he wouldn’t die even if his soul forge died. He would just be severely
wounded, so Kane lunged at the silvaren.
‘’Blood forge, exodus’’ came out of Kane’s mouth, and suddenly, the two
blades grew a good meter in length and some thirty centimeters in width but
remained still as light as a feather. He cut into the silvaren’s body and every time the
blades connected, a chunk of meat flew into the air and vaporized, the swords
becoming a darker red by the moment. After a long minute, there were gashes and
holes in half of its body. It kept trying to catch Kane eat him, but every time,
instinctively, his body moved of its own and evaded, cutting the beast up even more.
The silvaren’s moves were less and far between, it was obviously dying, but
still dangerous. Kane ran up its body towards its head, cutting the body up as he ran
upwards, slipping almost with every step, as it turned its head towards him and went
for a bite again. The gush of air warned him a moment before its tail struck him to
jump aside, so instead of hitting Kane, the tail stuck itself into its own body, cleaving
it almost in two. Kane dropped to the ground a moment after the collision, and the
silvaren followed a few moments later. Before it even had hit the ground, Kane was
already running towards its head, and the moment the head hit the ground, he
jumped on, stabbed the swords into both halves of the head and said ‘’blood forge,
explosion’’. The head exploded and chunks of meat were flying in all directions.
‘’Next time just call me’’ a voice in Kane’s head said. ‘’Just say the magic
words, demon appear, and i will take over, and in the meantime make sure to do the
job, since you yourself aren’t very capable of doing so’’ it said and laughed
maniacally and disappeared. Was that a dream or was it real?
‘’I heard it too’’ Alpha murmured through clenched teeth.
‘’You in a lot of pain, big guy?’’ Kane asked as he ran towards Alpha who was
trying to get up with the help of his new friends.
‘’Not really. It will be over in a few minutes. I heal fast. What about you? What
was with that voice? I heard it as well’’ he said.
‘’No idea. When you got hit, i froze up. Suddenly, my body started moving from
itself. It was as if i was just a spectator, looking through my own eyes and doing
nothing else, the body moving on its own accord’’ Kane said and slumped to the
ground. Janine came running towards him, screaming. He couldn’t understand her
since she was too far away and he was exhausted, but she was trying to say
something with her hands. As if dreading the act, Kane looked back, slowly, afraid to
even think about what was happening there. As he turned around, a huge fang
pierced right through his chest, leaving a gaping hole in its wake. The world became
blurry and his eyes began to tear. A fuzzy feeling like drowning in quicksand came
over him and his thoughts were drifting away. The last thing he could see was Janine
dropping to her knees, her hands over her mouth and weeping. ‘’Damn, wish i could
have been a bit longer with her’’ were his last thoughts.