(34) Power of Ego |5|
May 19th 3019
5:23 P.M.
Cambridge, H.A.S. Arena
Max and I arrive at the foot of the tree and look around, we see marks of a battle on the bark around us and hear a faint noise from above so we begin climbing. Max makes a fist as he gathers as much hair and energy as he can on his arm then swings it upward shooting a massive rope of hair into the branches above.
"Common jump on" I do as he says and hold onto him as he shortens the rope making us go up.
"I only hope we aren't too late" I say
"Hey if there's no announcements they should be good"
"Can't you go faster?"
"If You want to risk it breaking then sure why not?"
We arrive on a higher branch but don't see anyone, the noises are closer to us though.
"I think I hear them follow me" I reach the edge of the platform and gaze at another a distance from us.
"I have a plan" I kneel and slam my hands on the ground as I make vines shoot out and tie to the other side making a vine bridge. We run across and hear fighting. I see a hole in the main trunk and decide to go in.
"What are you doing?"
"I have a feeling this will let us get closer faster" I crawl in and hit a wall.
"Huh?" I look back and find myself in an empty room and Max is nowhere to be seen.
...
"Kris? What the hell?!" Max is looking at the trunk, he swears Kris went through it and now he's alone. The fighting seems to get closer, Max hesitates but he has a feeling it will be alright, he runs towards the noises and joins the fight.
...
"Max!? Anyone!? HELLO!?" I yell but all I hear are echoes, what happened? one moment I entered the hole where the noises came from and now I'm here? I wander the area but I can't see anything.
The place is pitch black, I can clearly see myself as if I am being lit up by something but there's no clear source of light anywhere. I make a ball of light in my hands and the surroundings blur like if the whole area is spinning around me.
Once I clear my head I find myself in what seems to be the inside of a hut. The walls are wooden, there's no windows or furniture apart from a single chair and a table with a book on it.
'What is this?' I reach for the book and it floats toward my hands. I get startled and nearly drop it.
It's in a different language but it doesn't seem to match the one I learned. The cover has a picture of a massive ash tree that's rooted deeply into a planet, with branches spreading out into space.
There's 9 circles with images of different places.
The first image depicts a food hall with people drinking and eating.
The second depicts what seems to be light and dark elves.
The third depicts a dwarf hammering away at an anvil, he seems to be in a forge and there's a giant labyrinth in the background.
The fourth seems to show regular humans in the fields with livestock in the foreground.
The fifth shows giants fighting against people within a destroyed landscape.
The sixth shows a field near a lake, with people casting some sort of spell or at least that's what I think the spell circle on the floor is for.
The seventh image is a canyon completely covered in ice, there are black humanoid creatures at the bottom reaching up.
The eight image is a volcanic landscape with a giant covered in flames directly in the middle.
The last image is a shadowy place covered in dust and bones, with a woman riding a three legged horse looking straight ahead.
Suddenly both the book and my core shake as the area around me blurs again and I find myself outside where I originally entered. I look for the book but I can't find it. My core shakes again and I find the book resting inside.
"What? How did-" I feel a tremor and a loud explosion nearby. I hear an intense battle going on.
"Crap! the match!" I forget about what happened and book it towards the battle.
...
The man stares at the holo-screen as Kris vanishes into the trunk. Suddenly a pair of ravens burst into the room cawing at him.
"Yes... I see... it has finally chosen a wielder. It seems we can finally be at rest" He sighs and strokes his eye-patch.
"Let's go" He stands and the ravens land on his shoulders. "Let's go home now"
The man waves his hand as a portal opens and he steps through.
...
"Did the kid go through the trunk?" Asks John
"I think he was the destined one for the treasure" Richie nods.
"Interesting" John writes something down and looks back at the screen.
"What do you think it'll be?" John asks
"Who knows? But whatever it is, it must be something good, my Ego tells me so" Several minutes pass before Kris reappears near where he entered the trunk looking around confused.
"He's out"
"I wonder what he will do now?"