Chương 12: Chapter 11- A Trail of Corpses

The day passed by quickly as the miles passed beneath his feet, with the newly found danger of the deeper woods looming large in his mind as Elias stuck to the riverbank as best he could where the trees thinned as they approached the foothills on the far side. It was not all dense cover, and would often open into stretches of spotted copses of denser woods.

One such clearing hosted a group grazing deer on the far side, well, if deer were as large as cattle and had antlers that tapered to sharp metallic point, Eli mused. The clearing was nearly a mile wide with only a few large spreading oak trees along the hilly grassland. When possible, Eli stuck to the water's edge, and when the tree cover picked up he would take to the trees to break up his trail padding along the absurdly large branches forming a winding path through the canopy.

As twilight approached he started looking for a campsite, but after remembering the more dangerous wildlife from before, Eli decided to pass on a fire for tonight and settled in for some cold jerky in the canopy as was becoming his habit. Watching the sun setting to the west over the sparkling ribbon of the river Elias's mind eased as it drifted over the events of the day, and as the sky darkened trading the sun light for ring light he began to wonder how far he will have to travel before finding intelligent life.

The beautiful landscape is nice, and while he could easily spend hours cataloging the alien wildlife, he found the excitement wane and lost a bit of its wonder with the realization that he had no one to share it with. It's true that he may not have had a ton of close friends, or spent a ton of time with his family, one of the things the military definitely had going for it was the constant companionship of his brothers in arms.

Not only were you rarely truly alone, but the others who surrounded you often had a thread of similar experiences and training which bound you all together and created a bond of implicit trust and brotherhood that he often took for granted at the time but appreciated far more in retrospect as time passed. If nothing else he would always have Vivian to commiserate with. Man, Viv would have loved the teeny dragon, Eli thought as he gazed wistfully up at the alien sky. Who am I kidding?

She would have loved this whole place, everything here, I hope I can show her some day. Eli never thought of himself as a people person but as he considered the prospect of being alone on an alien world with no one else around, he realized that maybe his view on life was a little too narrow. What was the use of the excitement of exploration and discovery, or the thrill of battle, when there was no one else to share it with?

Viv may never have felt the thrill roaring through her veins the way he did when rocketed down a mountain slope at a reckless speed, or when climbing through a dangerous pass in the backcountry, but she would always share in the exhilaration of the breathtaking vista at the end or in the satisfaction of a well performed athletic feat. Now that the possibility is gone, he realized a joy shared far outweighed one experienced alone.

He realized that not only had he not appreciated what he had, but also that it was taken from him in the blink of an eye before he could learn how much it meant to him. Some distant politician, with the power of life and death at his fingertips, wielding power leagues above anything Eli could ever muster, wiped out his entire life, and likely many others, with the push of a button.

As this sobering realization settled in his mind, Eli resolved to ensure that not only would he not take this second chance at life for granted, he would live his new life to the fullest, and that he would cherish whatever he had going forward before it was taken from him. He resolved to find a way to ensure this would never happen again to him if he could help it, he would fight tooth and nail for control over his life, and to find the power to ensure no one ever took that control out of his hands again.

A single tear tracked down his face with a muted sob, and a surge of pain in his chest, as he resolved to not only protect himself, but as he thought of his sister's smile to not let anyone else close to him suffer the same fate either. With a mental effort he wrestled his emotions back under control and reminded himself that he had no proof of the devastation spreading beyond the city.

For all he knew his sister was fine, probably drinking Mai-tai's at some shitty beachside dive and complaining about him not answering his phone. Elias realized this was probably no more than a fantasy as she most likely would have seen the new coverage of the bombing and with the radio silence from him put two and two together. I wish I could tell you I made it, and that I'll be ok.

Eli settled in for the night, nestling into a divot between the branch he was sitting on and the trunk of the tree as best he could, Nothing I can do about it now. Elias found himself drifting off to sleep in the soft evening breeze, and as his eyelids started to droop, Eli drifted off to sleep. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

After an indeterminate period of time, Eli startled awake, his eyes snapped open in surprise He could have sworn he heard a faint shout drifting on the breeze. Coiling upright into a crouch and gripping his spear Eli leaned into the wind holding his breath and straining to hear, in the distance just at the edge of hearing he could barely make out a wordless cry and a series of clanging noises akin to metal striking metal. A shiver of excitement ran through him. That has to be people!

He thought, and after a moment of listening he realized those were the sounds of battle and a cold realization washed through him. He knew nothing of this place or any people who inhabit it, and while he knew next to nothing about the creatures who filled the forest, he had seen their power and anyone who would be willing to challenge them would have to be exceedingly dangerous.

With a glance down to his bare feet, thin clothing, and primitive weapons that provided barely any protection from the elements, much less an armed and intelligent adversary, Eli realized any contact with others would come with a huge risk. If they were friendly, and he could communicate with them, they could help him figure out where he was and what happened to him, and just maybe figure out a way home.

If they were hostile however, he would be hard pressed to defend himself, and with the ringing of steel on the wind he doubted he would be able to fend off cold steel wielded in a direct confrontation. He would need to be exceedingly careful and rely on stealth, wit, and speed. Eli grimaced to himself as he realized he didn't have much of a choice, it was a terrible idea to continue on as he was, and as his gaze drifted towards the clamor he realized it didn't matter much.

Someone out there was in trouble and he was trained to run towards danger not away from it, if whomever was fighting in the distance needed help, he would answer, buck naked if he had too. Eli dropped from the tree and shuffled quickly to the river bank, scooping mud to reapply the covering he had washed from his exposed skin prior to settling in for the night.

After a couple quick moments to reapply the dark mud to mute his skin in the ring light drifting down from above he set off towards the distant sounds of battle at a run. He made sure to moderate his pace so he wouldn't arrive winded and unable to help, and as he traveled he realized the nearby hills and river may have ricocheted the sound allowing it to travel further than expected.

After a few minutes of running the clamor settled and the silence following it caused his heart to drop into his stomach as he hoped he wasn't too late. A few minutes more and he could see the glint of fire light through the trees up ahead and Eli slowed as he approached a clearing, halting in the brush just on the edge of the treeline. Silence greeted him and as he slowly crept forward to get a better view through the edges of the brush only to find a demolished campsite that was clearly the site of a battle.

Across a small stretch of grass there was a small scattered fire under the drooping low slung boughs of a pine that looks like it has been kicked over. As Eli padded towards the fire and stamped out the embers smoldering among the loose pine needles, he felt [Tracking] trigger as he searched the ground for signs of what happened. There was a streak of blood running up the trunk of the pine, scuffed boot prints all over the place, and more splashes of blood in the grass.

Given the size of the fire the camp was most likely only for one person, maybe two, and given the amount of blood on the ground and the lack of bodies it was definitely more than a two person fight. Anyone who lost that much blood would have to be dead, so whoever was camping must have been attacked after settling in, and apparently put up one hell of a fight.

Stooping down Eli dipped a finger in one of the blood splatters, finding it still wet and not even sticky yet, he parsed that the battle must have been very recent. His head snapped up as he heard more cries and the ringing of steel deeper into the forest, and he turned towards the sound and started to trot softly into the forest.

Rushing towards the noise Eli's eyes widened in disbelief as he passed over a severed arm on the ground, pale-skinned in color, hair on the back of the hand, and covered in a leather sleeve from the wrist to where it was cleanly severed above the elbow. He surmised it to be a man's arm, and with a bit of guilt, felt a surge of relief that it looked human. Well thank god the locals aren't some crazy xenomorphs or something.

Elias found his suspicions confirmed quickly as he found the person the arm belonged to a short ways up ahead propped against a tree. Well more of a body at this point, as the large puddle of blood and the stump he was clutching pointed to the cause of death, if the stink of urine, glassy eyes, and the frozen rictus of pain on the face wouldn't have given it away. Eli paused to take a moment to study the man.

His features are vaguely Mediterranean and could have passed for Greek or Italian with tan skin, a clean shaven face, light brown eyes, a patrician nose and cheekbones, and a tangled sweaty mop of curly hair covering half of his face. As his eyes drifted downwards Elias arched an eyebrow as he took in the attire of the dead man, a dark brown leather jacket fitted with a dull and dented steel breastplate above fitted leather pants fitted with matching steel greaves and sturdy leather boots.

When paired with what looked like a hand and a half short-sword sidearm belted to his side and a nearby discarded spear, Eli mused that he could have easily fit in with a museum display from the early middle ages. A loud cry and a series of clangs in the distance jolted Eli's attention back to the urgency of the moment, and he muttered.

"No time for the dead when the living are at risk."