Mirucullus – Episode 4: Do not mess with Trott – Klx chopped some more leafs on his way, using his sword. It’s the first time he travels so far outside the main continent, but his cause is justified, tied by a promise he made three weeks ago. The heat of the tropical island and the humidity don’t bother him at all, a fact that gives him the advantage to move freely in the sandy paths of the jungle; an ever ending landscape on Zinea island’s surface.
He is here to find Trott, the first recruit on his long list. She is a unique creature, maybe the last of its kind. She is half water elf, half horse, and long sharp fangs replace her hands. She was born on this island, raised by a local village as a creature of worship and later kidnapped by pirates, which they sold her to an arena master of Cojarna desert. She became a champion for a short time, and after years she was a legend amongst the gladiators. Her name was bringing terror and unwillingness to fight the most powerful warriors. Until one day, she disappeared, for an unknown reason.
Last time she showed signs of her existence, was in the same port that Klx hired a smuggler to transport him. Rumors were saying that she had metallic and robotic transplants on her, mainly her fangs, which were replaced by laser-guns. When Klx asked the smuggler if he knew Trott, he said that he had only heard about her, going by the name Nature’s Defender. He knew it was a difficult job to convince her to leave the island, but he was willing to do all it takes to win her over. It was not only the promise he gave Daphne, but also the route up to this point. He had to pay a handful of Karanas to a smuggler to help him travel here, and he had to deal with his storytelling along the way. In spite the rest of the cyborgs, Klx can’t stand the too much talking. Is one of the gifts -if the gift is a proper term- he gained after the incident with young Joshua.
A sudden sound of cracking branches got his attention. Swiftly, he turned his gaze to the trees behind him to see the person he was looking for the last three hours, pointing one of her guns to him. Before he made a single word she fired, but, luckily for Klx, the beam traveled behind him, making Trott’s real target scream in pain.
Turning his gaze on the opposite side, Klx could see the dead body of a strange creature lying six feet before him. It looked like a nine-feet-tall gorilla, with arms made of steel and one of its eyes consisted of red glass. On its right arm, it was engraved a mark of three straight lines, one next to the other. I hope it is not your rank, Klx thought while he was staring at the enormous body of that gorilla, I don’t want to confront the rest of your group. His head turned back to Trott, who was pointing her gun towards him.
“Thanks for saving my life …” Klx said, “… I guess.”
“What are you doing here, cyborg?” she asked him with a curious gaze.
“I am here for you” he responded.
“What would someone like you, possibly want from me?”
“I have come on behalf of Daphne, the last Cyber Gnome, to ask for your assistance in a challenging quest.”
“I am not following strangers that easily …’ she said, lowering her hand, “… Especially ones that are programmed … in mysterious ways.” She felt in silence and for a second her gaze dropped behind Klx, “More than everything, creatures that I saved recently do not qualified to be my favorite partners on a quest. Nonetheless, you got me on the time I was about to leave in a personal quest for the mainland.”
“What …” Klx started asking but before he completed his query, various sounds around them of leaves moving and branches cracking interrupted him. Using his thermal vision, Klx detected five of those gorillas surrounding them. They seemed aggressive, taking offensive positions and preparing for an assault. “Can you see them?” he asked Trott. She nodded in response while she was pointing her hands towards the directions of her foes. “Do you know this kind?”
“Yes …” she nodded again, “… they used to call themselves Bram’ Dam. But for some unexplainable reason they have changed; starting with this laser-beam eye.”
“How lethal are they?” Klx asked again while his hand was reaching the hilt of his plasma sword.
“You have two seconds to avoid the beam after you see their eye shining brightly. If you don’t, you will not have time to think twice.”
Before Klx spoke another question, one of the Bram’ Dam started running towards him with its enormous hands raised, ready to crush him. Trott immediately turned her left hand on it, but an unexpected critical hit from above stopped her from shooting. The slam on her hand caused such severe damage, and the rifle became unable to fire another beam for the rest of the battle. Using her right hand, though, she managed to shoot her attacker in the eye and successfully kill him. Until she turned her head to see how Klx is doing, he had already beheaded the Bram’ Dam that was ramming towards him, and he was flying towards her spot. With an exceptional acrobatic maneuver, he tumbled above her, aiming for the creature he had detected. Landing, with a single swing of his sword he cut in half the Bram’ Dam behind Trott.
“Two to go!” he shouted to her.
“I underestimated you, cyborg,” she said with a giggle.
A roar from the trees above them and a shadow closing down made Trott raise her remaining weapon and shoot the incoming Bram’ Dam. At the same moment, she saw Klx’s sword passing next to her head, landing on the skull of the last foe, who was hiding under the ground twelve feet before them.
“How did you know?” Trott asked Klx surprised.
“My thermal vision failed to detect him, but I can identify mechanical objects also” he responded while he was recollecting his weapon, “His eye betrayed his position.”
“They are not the only ones …” Trott said with an alarmed expression on her eyes, “… the entire nature has gone crazy.”
“When did you start noticing this … bizarre alterations?” Klx demanded.
“It was a little more than a month ago. It started suddenly when a flock of mud-crows flew from the mainland to die on the eastern shore of Zinea. It looked like they were trying to escape from something. The next day, a wolf pack went crazy, after growing some weird steel fangs from inside their shoulders. Whatever it was, it was spread across the entire island in less than a week.”
“This is what your quest on the mainland was about?”
“Yes,” she answered with a nod, “I was going to investigate the source of this strange phenomenon.”
“I think we might have a mutual concern, my friend.” Klx said and reached Trott’s hand.
“Why? Are you looking for the same source of evil as I do?” she asked.
“I might know the cause already. But it is not an easy foe to oppose.”
“Who is it?” she yelled with a grin, coming from the pain Klx caused while he was mending her left hand, “Do you have a name?”
“All I know is that he is a Dark Summoner. His name is unknown, but I he is dangerous enough to make Daphne run to his presence. And, now, we are recruiting warriors to re-build the demon hunters guild.”
“Demons you said?” she asked astounded by Klx’s last words.
“Mostly.”
“I have never faced Demons.”
“Here is your chance then. Are you in?” Klx asked hoping for an affirmative answer.
“Yes,” she said with a handshake and an enthusiastic nod, “I want to find this son of a Dampa and slay some damn Demons!”
“That’s the spirit, my friend!” Klx raised his fist high.
“Since we are talking about spirits …” Trott said in a low voice.
“I know …” he interrupted her, “… don’t mention it to the others. Please.”
Trott nodded, and once again she gazed behind Klx. Thanks to her race’s Spirit Look ability she could see the Cyborg’s best friend and guardian Angel following him: A young boy.
