Chương 65: Episode 10: Meet Dominator

The Thunderous Summit was one of the worst places to live in the Thunderstark Kingdom—a ridge of jagged blue peaks whose tips spiraled upward into the storm clouds. What made the summit unbearable was the relentless lightning that battered the rock face every weekend. The Gammanite hiding near the peak was fortunate, however, that the weekend was still a day away. His name was Airies, a specialized doctor from another universe entirely.

Ten years ago, a lab experiment went wrong, warping him across realities into this world. He went into hiding the moment he realized that anyone originating from outside the planet—or the universe—was classified as an illegal entity. Returning home required rebuilding the multiversal generator from scratch, a task that proved impossible on an isolated mountain peak. Inside the mouth of a shallow cavern, Airies knelt on the cold stone and carved another tally mark into the wall. Ten years.

Three thousand six hundred and fifty days spent avoiding the local Avangardians. His original lab coat and trousers had rotted away after five years on the mountain. With no way to acquire clothes without risking capture, he relied entirely on his green owl wings, wrapping them tightly around his torso whenever the mountain winds turned bitter. Rebuilding his machine was a cruel joke. He looked down at the materials he had managed to scavenge over a decade: four plain, useless river stones lined up in the dirt.

Frustration boiled over. He slammed his fist against the rock floor, immediately wincing as sharp pain shot through his knuckles. He pulled his green wings around his shoulders, curling up on the bare stone to sleep. Sometime after midnight, the wind died down. Airies drifted off, only for a heavy thud to rattle the cavern floor, shaking loose dust from the ceiling. His eyes snapped open. He scrambled to his feet and rushed to the mouth of the cave, scanning the drop below. Outside, the night sky was clear.

Twin moons spilled silver light across the mountain range, casting long shadows over the rocks. Seeing nothing, Airies grunted in annoyance and turned back toward his corner. A second impact struck the ledge right behind him. The ground shuddered. Airies froze, slowly turning around as he pulled his wings tight against his back. A tall figure towered at the edge of the cliff. Massive wings flared out behind his back, casting a long shadow into the cave.

His face was set in a rigid expression as he stepped over the threshold, his dark eyes analyzing the Gammanite.

"Airies of the Gammanites, don't fret," Harbinger said, his voice flat and steady.

"I am not here to harm you." Airies raised an eyebrow, turned his back on him, and walked deeper into the cave. Harbinger didn't force his way in; he simply watched him leave.

"You don't want a way back?" Harbinger asked. Airies stopped, turning his head to lock eyes with the intruder.

"Lunaranite, I'm not interested. You don't know the first thing about multiversal technology." Harbinger stepped into the gloom, stopping to examine the walls covered in thousands of carved tally marks. He gave a single, slow nod.

"Your intellect will be needed," Harbinger said quietly.

"And I find it interesting that you recognize my faction on sight." He closed his fists at his sides.

"If you refuse to hear me out, my king will have my head. Give me a moment to explain why I tracked you to this rock."

"Go on," Airies said, dropping into a cross-legged sit on the dirt.

"Explain yourself, and I'll decide if it's worth my time."

"You've spent ten years rotting in a cave," Harbinger said, looking down at him.

"This is your chance to leave."

"You mean leaving this universe?" Airies interrupted. Harbinger stared down at him blankly.

"No. I mean leaving this mountain. The Lunaranites have known your location and studied your background for a long time." The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Airies stood up, his jaw dropping.

"You've known where I was this whole time? How did you track me?" A faint smirk touched Harbinger's lips.

"Some of us operate in the shadows." Harbinger turned back toward the ledge, bending his knees as energy gathered around his boots.

"The king wants an audience," Harbinger added over his shoulder.

"He believes you could be a valuable asset to the Lunaranite Military. He is well aware that illegals exist on this planet, and he intends to utilize your skills before you disappear like the others." Before Airies could respond, Harbinger launched himself off the cliff face. A heavy shockwave rattled the cavern walls as he rocketed into the night sky. Airies groaned, stomping his foot against the stone floor.

"Fine! At least I'll get a real bed for the night!" He sprinted to the ledge and dove straight into the abyss. Mid-fall, he folded his green wings, rolled through the slipstream, and flared them wide, shooting upward into the atmosphere behind Harbinger's rising trail.

From above, all three of us looked like tiny dots walking through a massive desert that seemed to stretch on forever. Rocks lay buried beneath the sand while a heavy gray sky hung overhead, clouds hovering low as the wind whipped past us. My torn green hood and hoodie flapped in the gale, green light flashing beneath my eyes as I gripped my axe tightly. Eddy and T-Ex followed behind me. T-Ex walked nonchalantly through the storm, while Eddy had his face completely covered to keep the sand out of his eyes.

He had spent the entire one-hour trek complaining about sand stinging his face and getting up his nose. T-Ex was walking strangely. Ever since I pulled the sword out of his ankle, he had been moving with a awkward limp, slowly adjusting as the injury healed. As the three of us trekked through the wind, I felt my boots sinking deeper. The sand was growing softer and thicker the further we walked. I sighed, keeping my momentum going.

"At some point, we're going to have to rest here for the night."

"Really?!" Eddy exclaimed.

"With him?!" T-Ex snapped his jaws in Eddy's direction.

"Yes, T-Ex is sleeping with us," I said.

"He deserves it." Eddy waddled closer and hopped onto my back as we kept moving. He cast one more glance at T-Ex, who was glaring right back at him, before leaning in to whisper in my ear.

"Jaws, claws, teeth… what if he tries to kill us both in our sleep?!" I stopped, bringing T-Ex to a halt as well. We stood at the crest of a massive dune, sand blowing past us as darkness settled over the Decimated Desert. Did I have trust issues with T-Ex? No. But I understood why Eddy did. Eddy had known him longer and understood what T-Ex was capable of before we found him in that cave. I had seen his dangerous side, but I knew there was good in him too.

When I was lying weak and helpless on the ground, he had the chance to finish me off, but he turned around and left instead. I was down, and I was no longer a threat to him. He was not just a mindless beast. He could understand basic speech and remember things better than most creatures. He was almost like Eddy, except he roared instead of talking. Both of them possessed average intelligence. Eddy had even mentioned having a family back when we first met.

It made me wonder if there were other creatures out there that were truly alive in the same way. A deafening crash shattered the silence. Our heads snapped to the right as dust bloomed into the air in the distance. The ground vibrated, sending a heavy shockwave rolling outward in a cloud of grit. The massive wave of dust tore past us before the shaking finally stopped. I slowly raised my head, letting my arms rest near my sides.

"What the…" A dense wall of dust shrouded the area ahead, obscuring whoever had landed. I took a few steps forward along the ridge of the sand dune, raising my axe and preparing to strike if whatever was in there decided to attack. Seeing my stance, T-Ex readied himself, lowering his body with claws spread and jaws parted, ready to blast the target. Eddy scrambled around, looking left and right before sprinting toward a heavy rock. He picked it up, waddled back to my side, and aimed it at the haze.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Heavy stomps echoed through the desert, slow, deliberate, and deep.

"It could be something much larger than us," I said, channeling energy directly into my axe.

"I've trained for this. I can handle it." Eddy and T-Ex both looked at me.

"I can help!" Eddy offered. I grinned.

"I don't think so." The stomps continued, drawing closer. All three of us locked our eyes on the fog, hyper-focused and ready for whatever was about to emerge. Behind the dust, a red emblem flashed into view. My eyes widened in confusion.

"What? A red Lunaranite insignia? Aren't they always purple?" Then the full figure stepped out of the haze. He was a massive fifteen-foot warrior. He spread his enormous draconic wings, which were purple on the outside and pink within. His red eyes flashed, and his long white beard and hair whipped in the wind. He wore battered silver armor paired with a torn violet cape that dragged along the sand behind him. He brought his foot down with one final, earth-shaking step and stopped.

Slowly, he lifted his head, staring at us from across the dune with a cold, unreadable expression. He gritted his teeth, his presence so overwhelming that Eddy and I felt our souls leave our bodies. T-Ex did not fully grasp the scale of the threat, but he remained locked in his combat stance, ready for a fight. The towering warrior bellowed across the desert, his voice thunderous.

"EARTHNITE! THIS SHALL BE OUR LAST AND FINAL STAND!" I quickly evaluated the massive threat standing before us, a warrior unlike anyone I had ever encountered in my life. Eddy looked up at the towering giant, his voice trembling.

"We're about to never witness tomorrow, aren't we?"