Remnants

Location: Kayon Island - Northern Forest

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If the trees had a voice, they would be screaming in terror.

Their pin-like leaves once danced along with the calm flow of the evening breeze, but now, they remained drooped and stiff. Hard as a rock. It was as though they were afraid to interrupt the eerie silence that permeated the chilled, now stagnant air. A silence introduced as an ominous blackness inched across the forest floor consuming the scant rays of light that pierced down through the treetops from the amber sky.

It was unnatural.

It spewed off a malicious aura so thick it could be cut. The vibrant greenery, once popping with color, shriveled at its touch and faded to a lifeless gray. It was a sign, an awful one, of something approaching...something sinister.

Death.

Somewhere amongst the trees, Raynor stifled a grimace of pain as a mild burn crept through his thighs. He had been running nonstop for well over half an hour, and fatigue began to grip him. His eyes burned of sweat, and the icy air rushed against his face, obscuring his vision. His entire body ached, but he thought nothing of it. He knew he couldn’t allow himself to relax, not even for a second. The looming blackness continued its fast approach from behind, and a cacophony of shrieks echoed from within its depths.

“They’re gaining on us!” shouted his squad-mate, Jaric, who ran beside him with his knees rising above his chest with each stride...his erratic breathing matching his quick pace.

Raynor ignored his obvious remark. He instead kept his eyes on the blurred path before him, resuming his desperate search. He did this in hopes of finding a familiar mark, one he had etched into the face of a boulder a little over an hour ago. But sadly, none had what he sought. Each empty boulder that zoomed by widened the small crack in his calm, iron-like demeanor causing him to do something he knew he shouldn’t have done; he glanced back at the horror that chased him.

Goblins.

A massive jostling horde, reeking an ambiance of pure malice and bloodlust. They remained shrouded beneath the blackness, dozens of their crimson glares piercing through. Their chilling shrieks resonated through the forest as they trampled one another, ramming into the trees and sending their flaky bark flying in all directions...their broken trunks creaking and collapsing with a loud thud.

It was a gruesome sight, sending chills down Raynor’s spine. He returned his eyes to the path ahead, more determined to find the mark he sought, refusing to let his growing nerves overwhelm him.

“How much further?” Jaric shouted.

Raynor again ignored him. A boulder had appeared through the tangled bushes, and it was important he didn’t miss it. If he did, he wouldn’t have spotted the “X” carved within its flat surface...the “X” he desperately searched for. It softened his glower into a weary smile.

“We’re almost there!” he shouted to Jaric, a new life filling his voice.

Behind them, a handful of goblins broke away from the horde and sprung into the trees. They leaped from branch to branch with ease and precision. Their scarred mouths stretched into a nasty snarl, revealing jagged rotted teeth and forked tongues as they filled the air with hisses and growls.

“Now!” Raynor shouted, sprinting past the boulder into a large clearing.

Jaric pivoted on his feet, slid to a halt, and shouted, “It’s about damn time!“, slamming his palms into the earth as a sadistic grin curled his lips. Within seconds, a powerful surge of lightning exploded from his hands and raced through the horde’s front line, frying many of the goblins to blackened corpses.

“Look out!” A familiar voice rung within Raynor’s head, but before he could react, the small handful of goblins burst through the treetops and crashed down before him, knocking him from his feet. He raised his arm reflexively and guarded his face as one of the gnarly beasts lashed at him, its black pointed claws tearing through his forearm. The sudden heat of pain caused a weak groan to escape his lips.

He cursed himself for his delayed reaction...for being careless. His mind had briefly traveled back to the unsettling discovery he made over half an hour ago, the one responsible for his current predicament: a strange cave and the mysterious black orb sitting within it. Because of this, he was left stunned as the goblin continued its attack.

“Focus!” The voice echoed again, this time, followed by a speeding arrow. It pierced deep into the goblin’s forehead.

Raynor gritted his teeth in annoyance. Now fueled by the frustration of his foolish lapse of concentration, he grabbed the goblin’s limp body and hurled it into the group, halting their advance long enough for him to regain his bearing.

Behind him, at the opposite end of the clearing, another of his squad-mates, Cora, perched upon a branch at the peak of a tree. It towered above the grassy area, providing her with the perfect vantage point to unleash a hailstorm of arrows down upon the emerging horde. Raynor exchanged a glance with her and nodded, for no words of gratitude were needed. This was merely another of the many combats they’d come to share.

He refocused his attention, fixing his eyes upon the Goblins before him, arming himself with the two iron daggers hanging from the sides of his waist. Their mossy-green skin and pointed ears deepened his already profound hatred for their kind and provoked memories of a time he’d rather forget. Memories of a childhood plagued with death and anguish...a childhood he loathed.

“Squad!” he shouted with a trembling glare, “Kill them all!”

He sprinted through the horde’s front ranks, and with a series of quick fluid movements the goblin’s throats were left gushing and severed. They stood little chance against him...against the hatred raging within his heart...and their shrieks faded into the evening sky as their bare chest flowed over with their blood.

The last member of the squad, Avery, wiggled her fingers over the brown leather bag hanging from her waist, and a glistening mass of winding water flowed up from within it. Her hands trembled as it swirled through the air, gathering into a giant oscillating ball between her palms.

She took a deep breath, and with a flick of her wrist, the water shot across the clearing. It morphed into a flat crescent blade and sliced through the horde’s left flank...all the while, her head was turned away, and her eyes were closed.

The brutal scene sparked a smile across Jaric’s face. His muscles bulged in excitement as he hauled his massive sword from across his back. He cracked his neck, and with a hearty bellow to the sky, he slashed his way through the goblins, their bodies falling apart like butter. A growing bliss replaced his fatigue...this was what he lived for...what he craved. His smile grew wider as the goblin’s blood rained down around him.

Avery, on the other hand, dared to peek at the gruesome sight, and her face twitched with regret. She cupped her hands around her mouth and fought against the overwhelming urge to spray the contents of her earlier lunch across the grass. She struggled to ask, “Why is he screaming?” through her stifled retches.

“Why does he do anything?” Raynor asked sarcastically, a hint of disdain coating his words.

“Ignore him. He’s nothing more than an animal,” Cora answered callously, her voice echoing within their heads.

Jaric grabbed a goblin by its neck, drove his sword through its chest, and said halfheartedly, “You do know I can hear you, right?”

“And?” Cora replied, her voice brimming with sass, “That doesn’t make what I said any less true.”

He wiped the goblins’ green blood from his face, and let out a hearty laugh, void of any trace of amusement. “Don’t act like you don’t know,” he said, his face now straighter than an arrow, “It gets my blood pumping!”

“All it does is alert the enemy!”

“Really?” he asked sharply with a mocking hostility, “Why don’t you take a good look around. We already HAVE their attention!”

Cora clenched her jaw and growled beneath her breath. “That’s not the point!” she shouted, aiming an arrow at his head, “Just shut up and get down!”

Jaric dropped low as the arrow passed a mere inch above his head, piercing the eye of an approaching goblin. “What the hell?” he shouted, his heart pounding against his chest, “That was way too close! Are you trying to kill me?”

Cora smirked. “I don’t know. Am I?”

He exhaled through a sigh, the look of terror still fresh on his face. “That’s not funny.”

All the while, Raynor tried his best to ignore their bickering. He had placed his focus on the fiends before him, but their minds were linked thanks to Cora’s telepathic ability. It was well suited for combat and proved to be a great help, providing a reliable means of communication, but it was a double-edged sword.

Their voices were in his head. He couldn’t drown them out.

“Can you two please focus?” he shouted out loud, the frustration shaking his voice.

“What?” Jaric shouted back, punching a goblin in the face, “She’s the one who shot an arrow at me! I’m the victim here!”

“You’re acting like you didn’t have it coming,” Cora answered him with a cheeky smile.

“I think--I might be responsible for this,” Avery muttered to herself, then proceeded to raise her palms above her head, directing a trail of water into the darkened sky. It expanded into a thin circular sheet, separated into many twisting globs, and solidified into dense shards of jagged ice. She dropped her arms and sent them raining down upon the remainder of the horde...her eyes closed as she did.

Raynor wiped his face as the goblins’ dying shrieks echoed through the clearing...a somewhat gratifying symphony. They toppled over, their shredded flesh hanging from their mangled bodies, as a massive quantity of their blood flowed together into murky green pools.

The scattered corpses sparked a vague look of content upon his face, and although he would never dare admit it, he enjoyed bringing death to the vile creatures of The Nether...something that was obvious of Jaric...something they both shared.

“Good work,” he said, burying his excitement beneath monotone words, “but we must remain vigilant. I have a feeling this isn’t over yet.”

His attention shifted down to a goblin clawing its way across the ground. It left a fresh streak of pungent blood in its path, and even though it was rapidly approaching death’s door, it still exuded an intense level of malice. So much so, it caused Avery to stumble backward, almost tripping over her own feet as it approached her.

Seeing this made Raynor’s mind drift. Avery was the rookie of the bunch and he feared her early exposure to the brutal and unforgiving nature of combat would inflict irreversible mental trauma, something he could profess to.

But like him and the others, she had no choice. The world as they knew it was in turmoil, oppressed by the unspeakable evil that originated from The Nether: the dark realm of the Fallen God, Kaldaron. It threatened the extinction of humanity and left no room for the weak of heart.

Peace and innocence were reduced to a fantasy.

Survival and savagery had become their reality.

Cora shouted, “I got it!“, aiming at the crawling goblin.

Her voice brought Raynor back from his thoughts, and without hesitation, he hurled one of his blades into the back of the goblin’s skull. It died instantly...an undeserved mercy.

“Never mind,” she muttered, lowering her bow.

Jaric flicked his sword down, sending the dripping blood covering his blade splattering across the grass. “That one had some fight left in it. I respect that,” he said. His expression then turned impish as he scanned Raynor and Avery’s faces. “Alright. How many did you kill?”

“Of course, you’d ask that,” Cora said, dropping down onto the branch and releasing a heavy sigh, “Why can’t you just grow up?”

“I’ll take that as a proclamation of defeat,” he replied without hesitation then proceeded to ignore her. “Not to brag...” He stared at Avery (startling her). “But I killed at least twenty of those little bastards.”

“This is not a game, Jaric!” Raynor scoffed.

Jaric strolled to a nearby corpse and gave it a kick, provoking a light stream of blood. He smiled, and said, “That doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun. You do know what fun is, right?” He chuckled mockingly. “You need to loosen up a bit.”

Raynor ran his blade back into its sheath and sauntered to the goblin’s corpse. He jerked his other blade free from its skull. “Just stick to the mission,” he said through a deep sigh.

“Yeah, I know. There’s been an increase in fiend sightings lately, so they sent us out here to deal with it,” Jaric drawled, “But we’ve been at it for hours and all this running around is starting to take its toll. I want to head back, hit the sack, and rest my feet.”

Raynor clenched his jaw and fought back a look of annoyance. “The quicker we deal with the fiends, the quicker we can return to the camp. But we’re here to put the people’s minds at ease. So, we’re going to do this, and we’re going to do it right.”

“How can you possibly be thinking of sleep right now?” asked Cora, her voice echoing through their minds.

“How about you stay out of my head!” Jaric shouted out loud, “You’re giving me a damn migraine!” His remark was swiftly greeted by a stiff middle finger and a foul smile, to which he smirked. “And here I thought you were a lady.”

Cora was about to snap back at him when the squad’s attention shifted to the sound of snapping branches in the near distance. It traveled toward the clearing at an alarming pace.

She sprung to her feet and peered into the dark forest but saw nothing. Then suddenly, a massive boulder erupted from beneath the tree line through an explosion of scattered leaves.

“Incoming!” she shouted, almost biting her tongue.

The boulder rocketed down into the clearing. It moved at such a speed that it crashed into the base of the tree she stood in before she could even blink, the resulting boom swallowing up her voice.

Large splinters blasted in all directions as the tree’s shattered trunk collapsed under its weight. Cora shifted back and forth along the shaking branch, but with no place to run, she braced herself as it toppled over. Raynor and the others threw themselves out of the way mere seconds before it crashed into the earth, sending a thick cloud of dust surging through the clearing. A roar boomed from amidst the trees, and the earth trembled with the sound of heavy footsteps.

Something was approaching...a new threat.

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