10
For a half an hour, we wandered aimlessly in the large building looking for Sam. We had no idea what he looked like or where to find him.
“This is hopeless, I will ask one of the store servants,” Ogana finally spoke heading to one of them.
Now that was a great idea! Why didn’t I think of it myself? I certainly felt stupid to be outsmarted by a drunken tree giant for that matter. I had nothing against him. It’s just that my new pride wanted me to be always first to think of something and not be a follower anymore. As we waited while Ogana talked to a clerk, it felt weird being around Dashe. We had nothing in common at all and we clearly got along like a lion and a hyena. Our ancestors were mortal enemies and it seemed that it was a feud that had also been passed down from generation to generation. And yet here we were, two enemies joined forces for a greater purpose. Although at the moment I had no clue what that purpose was. That being said, I looked at Dashe curiously. He glanced back at me and looked away sulking. Deep down, I hated the look in his eyes. I think it’s a bloodline thing sort of hatred. If the circumstances were different we would have fought and probably killed each other by now.
“Okay gentlemen follow me I know where to find him,” Ogana said breaking the silence.
“Simply amazing Ogana,” I commented with a smile.
“Any fool could have done that,” Dashe looked away and snickered.
Having Ogana around was really great. He certainly broke the tension building up between us and always knew what to do. In my opinion he was the oldest and wisest amongst the three of us. We quietly followed behind observing the people in the shop. It certainly was busy during the day.
“Where are we going by the way?” I asked walking a little faster to catch up to him.
He laughed and didn’t answer for a few seconds and suddenly he pointed towards a sign that said, “Department of flight.”
“That’s where we are going and that is where we will find Sam,” he said stopping in his tracks. He pointed up and what we saw surprised us beyond utter words. It was incredible! This department had mechanical objects that could be used to fly although the prices were ridiculous. There weren’t too many people in this department because there was no way anyone could afford these objects. It was just too crazy. We walked some more and I quickly noticed a peculiar store servant near the reception table. He looked an awfully a bit like Suzanne in a weird way. This had to be him. I walked past Dashe and Ogana as I took the leading placing the note carefully into my hand.
I approached him and said in a whisper, “I’m looking for Sam.”
There was no reaction in his expression, he just looked at me and continued counting the money in the register. It appeared as if he was ignoring me on purpose.
“Well you found him so what do you want?” he rudely asked without looking at me. “I don’t have all day unless you are buying something.”
That rude manner and attitude, I knew by then that he was somehow related to Suzanne. I handed him the piece of paper Suzanne had given me and he was startled in a small way. No one noticed it, but me and Ogana. Dashe looked occupied by something else as he was blanking out more frequently.
“Interesting, follow me,” he said leading us to a backroom reserved for important people. The room was dark and chilly even though I was wearing a cloak. No one besides the four of us was in that room meaning we could talk more secretly. Dashe looked agitated as he looked at Sam with an expression of distrust.
“So you guys met my older twin sister?” he asked us turning on one of the lights, “In this letter it says you guys want to go to Danyen right? A bunch of fools that’s what you are.”
I had been called worse before, but I certainly was not offended unlike Dashe who responded in a rude manner.
“Speak for yourself idiot the only fool I’m seeing is you,” Dashe snapped, his face turning blue. That was another characteristic of an Iyenkan, a rude attitude and whenever they let their emotions cloud them their face changed colors. Within a fraction of seconds Dashe was punched in the stomach and he fell hard against the wall behind him. It was like Déjà vu all over again. First it was Suzanne and now her younger brother.
“I dare you to call me a fool one more time,” Sam snapped taking his servant verse off and popping his fists.
Would Dashe ever learn? Clearly he had problems and was easily provoked. Dashe got up with an angry look, his energy was rising fast with his mixed up emotions. He was getting ready to attack Sam. I extended my legs firmly ready to jump in and stop him in case he decided to attack Sam which seemed likely.
“Please we didn’t come to fight,” Ogana moved in quickly and held Dashe down with everything he had.
“Yeah please calm down both of you, we are all friends here,” I said supporting Ogana’s words. Attracting attention and causing trouble would only bring Katarina Fox here and I wasn’t ready to face her just yet. I’m sure someone might have heard the loud bang Dashe had made when he hit the wall. It was now just a matter of time till someone came to check it out. We reasoned with Sam until he calmed down while Ogana was still holding Dashe down. I was now certain that the white water mists had also affected Dashe in some way too. But how exactly? His anger now had caused his energy to skyrocket up. If Ogana had not stopped him he probably would have killed Sam.
“Okay,” Sam cleared his throat. “So you want to get to Danyen right?”
I had not made up my mind just yet. It was a fool’s errand to go to such a horrible place. But I had no intention of abandoning my friends at all and yet I didn’t want to go to my death. What a terrible blunder! I took some time to think before I answered him. Ogana and Dashe watched me silently waiting for my answer. I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into; however one thing was clear to me.
“Yes I do.”
He laughed hysterically and paced around the room. Sam pressed something and a hidden door opened, he waved us to follow him as he went right through it. Just what was Saza? Something told me that all this mechanical illusions and sorcery had something to do with Katarina Fox. There was definitely a possibility that this city had been taken from the future or from another dimension. Her trident was very powerful, aside from creating worm holes I had a feeling it could take out things from the past and future. It was an assumption which I had to consider when I faced her in the battle yet to come. Ogana, Dashe, and I followed suspiciously behind blindly going to a place unknown to us, with nothing but trust in Suzanne. Hoping she wouldn’t betray us. I tweaked my neck as my eyes wandered towards the bottom, down beneath our feet. There was a bright red light underneath us about a thousand feet. Next to it were humans tied up in chains surrounded by what looked like men of metal. Just what was this atrocity? Where was Sam taking us? My eyes kept locked onto the bright red object as I had no idea what it could be. Just what on earth was going on? The fact that Sam was leading us straight down towards it made my heart uneasy and shaken. For the moment I couldn’t let Sam know I had an ability to perceive things hidden even behind walls. I had to keep him thinking that we were some unsuspecting people just touring the cities in Okaya.
“Who invented all this?” I asked Sam walking next to him. “It is simply astonishing and amazing.”
It was the only question I could think of. He kept walking at his normal pace and didn’t reply my question for some unknown reason. Okay! I guess some people didn’t like to talk very much. He definitely would get along with Dashe very well if they didn’t beat each other to a pulp first. Dashe silently snuck up on me and nudged me to slow down a little. His eyes were cold and calculating, constantly looking around with unease.
“Do you sense something strange about this place?” he whispered not wanting Sam to hear.
“Uh yeah,” I said in my mind, but only gave Dashe a quick node.
After seeing all those humans down there how could I be at ease? There was something dreadful happening in this city. I felt my hands trem
ble a little as fear latched onto me. To make things even direr, we seemed to be drawing close to the red glowing object. The floor seemed to be slanting down and yet we had not noticed it.
“Stop, where are you taking us?” I asked Sam halting in my steps.
This was beginning to look suspicious now. He was acting strange too, it was like he was a different person now. His eyes wandered around and his neck made much popping noises like rusted metal. I took silent steps away from him and observed him carefully not missing a single shred of movement he made. Dashe clutched firmly onto his two swords as he positioned his body for a frontal assault.
“Something is not right,” Ogana yelled taking his spear from his back. “I think we have fallen into a trap.”
Seemed like it, but Suzanne wouldn’t betray us would she? I didn’t want to believe; however all the evidence led towards that conclusion. A loud noise went off and the floor began to disappear behind us. Sam’s eyes were glowing, his presence felt clouded by darkness. It wasn’t his energy I felt, but something else. Something unearthly and completely impure to our feeble minds.
“What now?” Dashe yelled at me.
“Don’t ask me,” I responded backing away quickly from Sam as I could. “You can’t possibly think I saw this coming do you?”
I really didn’t need that kind of pressure at the moment. It was already hard enough to think with the floor beneath us disappearing. There was a never ending bottomless pit below the disappearing floor, not good.
“That’s an obvious answer,” Ogana panicked running ahead of us, heading downwards. “We go forward now or forfeit our lives.”
It looked like the only option left to us. Dashe and I followed behind him running quickly. Sam didn’t budge at all. It was very creepy and strange. I doubt this was Sam we were looking for, but possibly an impostor. I couldn’t explain it, my intuition seemed to think I was right.
“Sam come on, you will die if you stay there,” I yelled out to him glancing back for a mere second.
It was too late, the floor beneath his feet vanished and yet he did not fall. Okay, that was startling how he was doing that. Could this Sam imposter fly? I stood there for a second impressed by his great display of a trick. He definitely had to show me how he was doing that later. All of a sudden, his skin turned metal and his face took on another shape. His body got larger and bulkier without warning. He looked similar to the metal men I had seen when I looked down. Either this was not Sam or I was a monkey’s uncle.
“Run faster guys,” I yelled out to Ogana and Dashe and turned to run past them.
Nothing had prepared us for this shocking outcome. With the floor disappearing, all we could was run for our lives. The Sam impostor started to chase us from the air shooting what looked like red energy from his eyes. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. I felt no human presence coming from him at all. Just what was he? He persued us relentlessly halfway across the remaining floor without any mercy.
The impostor shot a energy light that burned Ogana’s bottle. The gourd broke into small pieces, sending a drench of liquid down. I heard a terrible scream followed by a huge clunk. Ogana had been provoked and he attacked the Sam impostor with his spear. His spear thrust the imposter directly in the chest deeply. “What in the?”
There was no blood, instead he exploded it into blue light and vanished into nothing. I had never seen Ogana so angry. There were tears in his eyes like he had lost something valuable.
“Why the booze? I can’t go on,” Ogana cried looking at the broken bottle. “My life is over.”
If this was some sort of joke then it was clearly not a funny one from my perspective. Ogana had stopped running, without time to think I grabbed Ogana by the arm and dragged him across the floor. Was booze really the only thing he cared about? Whilst dragging him, Ogana didn’t seem to care and fortunately he didn’t struggle to go free because there was nothing behind him. The floor had already vanished behind him as we came to another opened door. We kept moving until we came to another section beneath the surface, it was hard to believe we had survived all that.
“This has been the worst week of my life,” Dashe commented hitting his fist into the wall. He looked agitated and restless as he kept pacing back and forth with his hand firmly on his sword. “Thanks Ken for telling me to go with him.”
That felt cold, I didn’t force him to come and yet it sounded like all that happened to us was my fault. We couldn’t go back since none of us knew how to fly and it was the only way to the surface we knew. Ogana’s spirit seemed down and Dashe was complaining, so all the thinking was going to be done by me. Looking around floor, I noticed doors leading to many rooms. It looked like an inn floor, but it wasn’t. We had to be careful since we were now on enemy territory. Sam had attacked us so I could only assume the other metal men were hostile too. What was I to do now? Saza was turning out to be more than I had bargained for. I mean who could have predicted a situation like this happening? There was a big secret hidden beneath this magnificent city and the truth behind it was slightly in my grasp. By now, I was certain the enemy knew of our presence. But did they know who we were?
Under my cotton clock I looked different and ridiculous. However, rumors spread fast among these small cities meaning…..! No, perhaps I was thinking too much on nothing. Anyway, we needed to barricade the floor and secure our ground for the time being in case they decided to come in after us.
“Check those two,” I signaled Dashe to two doors on the right while I opened the others on the left.
Ogana was out of it, asking him to help seemed to be a waste of time. He seemed like one of those alcohol addicts my father used to warn me about. Alcohol had become a major part of his life that it was impossible for him to live without it. But then again how had he survived when he had been caught by those monsters without alcohol? We left him standing in the middle of the floor as we started investigating the rooms for hidden clues. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the first room, except for a table full of dubious equipment. I didn’t make much of it until I came to the second room. There, I spotted two figures inside. I snuck in and hid silently. One seemed to be a child while the other was a metal man that looked like the one I had encountered. The child was tied up good and the metal man was holding a mechanical sword in its hands. Was it about to cut the child’s stomach up? I didn’t understand the situation, but I had to help him. This wasn’t the time for fear although I felt it as I dashed in and grabbed a hold of the metal man’s neck. Surprisingly it was incredibly strong as it broke free of the neck hold I had it in. Its skin was hard as steel from what I felt. I could tell that it wasn’t going to be easy to defeat it. I tried yelling out for Dashe, but the room seemed to repel sound. No one was going to come help me. I was in real trouble.
“I think I bit more than I could chew,” I chuckled to myself laughing to relieve my anxiety.
There had to be a way out of this mess I had put myself into. One of my fingers broke when I tried to block a frontal attack from it. I felt a jolt of pain rush to my brain instantly. In a contest of strength it seemed to have the advantage, even though I was faster. The hardened skin was going to be another issue, however one thing at a time. Just what were they? Their eyes glowed red and their teeth were pointed and as sharp as those of a shark.
“Help me please,” the child cried out struggling to get free.
The metal man took its attention from me and went for the crying kid. This wasn’t going to be good, whatever it was planning I had to stop it at all costs. A rush of energy went through me. It felt really great and different. Something within me was different. A feeling of courage was radiating from my whole body. My arms began to glow yellow with energy. It was coming from the gauntlet itself. I could not understand it, but that wasn’t the time to think. The metal man had raised its hand to attack the little boy with its fist.
“No don’t,” I yelled at it raising my hand towards it.
A s
trange yellow energy surged furiously out from my hand and knocked the metal creature into the wall. This energy was so powerful that when it shot out it pushed me back a few feet away. Moments later, I saw the creature explode into blue light like the other one and vanish into nothing. The energy I was feeling was immense and strong, far too powerful to control. Was this the power of the gauntlet? I had never felt anything like it. It was rather thrilling.
The power coursing through my veins was just so incredibly pure and raw. I felt like I had unlocked a portion of the gauntlet’s power. Only problem was I didn’t know how I had done it.
“Can you please untie me?” the child whispered, he seemed tired and pale.
Oh! I had forgotten about him for a second because of the excitement I was feeling over my newfound power. Although, I honestly don’t think I would ever get used to how colossal the power was.
“This is strange.”
I moved quickly towards him and began to pry off the metal chains strapped all over his tiny body. Strangely, the chains on him were much tighter than normal ones. There seemed to be no hook which I could use to unlock them. It bothered me as to why they would tie up this child like a hardened criminal. Was it a bad idea to let him go without interrogating him first? I had a gut feeling that told me to do so, he seemed harmless enough, but I had to be sure.
“Who are you kid?” I asked him pretending to try to free him. “Looks like you got yourself into a bit of a bind.”
It was funny to me, but he didn’t seem to be laughing or getting the metaphor joke. I stopped laughing and looked him straight in the eye. The child was roughly five to seven years old and looked very thin. He looked at me for a second then looked in another direction. I doubted the kid would tell me what was going on. His silence only further urged me to question him even more.
“Look kid talk now! If you don’t tell me something I will leave you here,” I threatened him pretending to leave.
Luckily he bought my bluff and said, “Okay Okay I’ll speak.”
Honestly though, it seemed everyone around me had trust issues and wouldn’t speak unless they had to.
“My name is Kaya,” the child whispered silently. “I came to Okaya from Rigudaya a few days ago to visit with my brother. When we entered Jafounds we were led to this hidden door as they promised they had a valuable item to show us. Excited, we followed only to find out it’s a trap too late. My brother was captured and taken away somewhere in Danyen. They left me here to be turned into one of those creatures. Moreover, I am grateful you showed up and stopped it from turning me. Now can you untie me please sir?”
“I see!” I replied him and took my eyes away from him.
So that was it! It explained why I couldn’t sense half the city. His story completed what I was guessing and now I was sure. By my assumption, most of the citizens had been turned into those metal things thus rendering them undetectable to my new ability. Meaning Suzanne’s brother had been a victim of whatever was doing this. I could only hope he had been turned into that blue light and transported to a peace place. Openly, I didn’t want to be the one to tell her the bad news. Just thinking about it made my jaw hurt. I looked down and realized I was getting nowhere fast. Those chains were really not going to budge on my time. It was impossible to break them with my brute strength so I tried a different method. I left the room and came back with Dashe who was thrilled at the idea of testing his new weapons on something.
“Just be careful Dashe,” I warned him and stepped away from the reach of his sword.
“Don’t worry, I am an expert,” he grinned and swung his new blade with his eyes closed.
My heart skipped a beat as I panicked a little in fear. Was he that skilled or incredibly stupid?
“Are you out your mind?” Kaya cried out loud. “Were you trying to cut me too? If I wasn’t tied up I would so kick your rear right now.”
Whoa! That was some bad mouth the kid had although I would admit that to be a frightening experience. Once he was free, he snapped at Dashe and tried to attack him. I had to hold him down with all I had, pinning his chest away with my arms. Finally, he calmed down a few seconds later, but he wouldn’t stop whining. It felt like I was in a room with two versions of Dashe.
“Shut it kid,” Dashe rattled at Kaya smacking him in the head. “I’m tired of all your whining.”
Oh no! It started all over again and this time I didn’t interfere. Wasting energy on fools was not in my schedule of the day, I had better things to do with my time. A brawl began and strangely I did nothing to stop it. Amazingly, Kaya and Dashe exchanged punches on equal footing. Kaya was incredibly strong for his age, barely four feet and yet fighting like a master. There was something about him that gave me the chills, his hidden energy felt big and raw. Yes, I could sense even hidden energy emanating from strangers, one of the advantages of wielding the gauntlet I guess.
“I have to keep an eye on him the whole time,” I thought silently.
I watched for a little while to see how it would all play out. Of course if Kaya had been weaker than Dashe I would have stopped it, but he wasn’t. I wanted to watch this unusual battle a little longer; however, time was not on our side. We were not safe in here, even if the metal men were not attacking.
“We need to leave now,” I said going between them.
That was a bad idea! Kaya kicked my knees and Dashe punched me in the chest. I felt like I had been hit by two steel plates. I groaned in pain as I fell on one knee.
“I’m sorry,” Kaya knelt next to me. “I didn’t want to hit you. I was aiming for that meanie.” Well he had aimed great, but at the wrong target. I was waiting for Dashe to apologize. but he didn’t.
“Come on! That was barely half my strength,” he commented forcing me to my feet. “Shake it off, you are alright.”
Describe alright?
I really hoped I would get the chance to kick his ungrateful self before our journey together was over. I felt like he deserved it. The pain still wouldn’t go away as it kept throbbing fiercely. Suddenly, I noticed that the yellow energy once flowing from my body had disappeared. Could I ever use it again if a need appeared? How would I summon that power again? I had already forgotten the circumstance that allowed it to manifest from within me. Somehow, I found my eyes wondering down towards the red light again. It was then I noticed a large group of metal man come up, there were two floors between us and so it gave us a few minutes before they arrived.
“We need to go now,” I spoke in a low voice panting radically. My leg throbbed badly as I put some weight on it. And Dashe’s punch had knocked my breath out which was really not good at the moment.
“Okay,” Kaya said holding my hand.
I took a glance at him and smiled faintly. He really was just a small kid and yet he fought and acted way past his age. What bothered me was when he said he was from Rigudaya and he had come here a few days ago. That was the city I awoke up in after I had been kidnapped by those slave traders.
“Hey Kaya,” I began, “before you came here did you encounter some mist?”
He looked shocked as if I had uncovered a deep secret of his. Startled, he didn’t reply at that moment. I put the matter aside seeing as it was bringing bad memories to the poor child. With the metal men coming up, we had to move out now and find another refuge on the other floor. Just as we were about to exit the room, I spotted Ogana asleep near the door leading to the next floor. Like being trapped in the enemy’s layer wasn’t bad enough, now we had to worry about Ogana too?
None of us had the strength to carry a tree giant up and we really needed to get moving.
“I’ll wake him up,” Dashe smiled taking out the sword next to his right shoulder. “This is going to be good.”
“I really wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I whispered knowing well what the idiot was about to attempt.
I wanted to stop him from his reckless act, but I was too weak to move properly. From the corner of my eye,
I saw Kaya eagerly giggling. Like me, he knew exactly what would happen next instinctively. Dashe crept close and poked Ogana in the butt with his sharp blade.
“Ow! Ow! Ow!” Ogana screamed and swung his right massive hand instinctively at Dashe knocking him against one of the doors. “What was that?”
He really sent Dashe flying hard into a wall with unrestrained power. For a minute, I thought Dashe was dead, but he moved a little as he was breathing. Bummer, I wanted to do that for a while, but it looked like Ogana beat me to the mark. I laughed silently to myself unlike Kaya who was laughing out loudly.
“Who is that kid?” Ogana said yawning. “And who did I knock out with my fist.”
I didn’t know which to answer first as they were clearly good questions.
“This is Kaya,” I said quickly, “and that was Dashe you knocked out.” I didn’t feel like explaining anymore than I had.
11