Hands of Fate - Survivors of Flight AA214

Chapter 28

Orion

Day 16 of Landing

Population of Thornhill - 45

How could you let yourself get sick? You only had one job Orion, and that was to protect your brother.

This was just one of the many reprimands I heard in my mother's voice as I started running through the forest.

A stampede of footprints made their way to the dungeon cave, making it impossible to track one over the other. But it didn’t matter. If I knew my brother, he would be at the beach to see the arrival of the pirates.

I know I come off as overprotective of Cass. Recently, I had gotten used to him running off on his own and becoming independent. I was becoming less and less worried about him getting lost and more and more worried about him and his obsession with getting a class and taking on more than he could handle.

If he saw a boar, I have no doubt he would try to go after it with his sling. The sling I made for him. If he saw pirates, I have no doubts he would try the same.

The first person I saw on my sprint to the beach was Marek. He was guarding the pathway to the cave, knowing that if the lobster-headed pirate standing before him got past, they would get to his children and wife. Marek wound up a swing as if he wanted to hit a home run, but it missed the pirate and hit a dirt ledge. The strength of the impact must have been backed by his Builder class strength since it left a vast crater where the mace landed, with dirt debris flying everywhere.

Despite his complaints, quitting smoking had improved Marek’s physique and appearance. He looked younger, and from what Ethan said, he barely ran out of breath anymore. That, combined with the strength imbued by his Builder class, had made him look like a classic strongman.

The lobster spat some kind of green liquid on the ground and swiped a cutlass at Marek’s lower torso, landing across his leg and leaving a huge gash across his inner calves, putting the builder on his knees. Marek gritted his teeth but immediately responded after the lobster came in close to strike with another swing of his mace, smashing it against the side of the lobster’s head, causing yellow goo to ooze out of one of the pirate’s beady black eyes.

I would have stepped in with a thrown knife, but I had no idea if my obsidian knives would do anything against the lobster pirate’s chitin.

“You facking crab!” Marek screamed, bashing his mace repeatedly at the fallen pirate’s body as crustacean mush splattered around him.

“Marek, get Ethan to check that leg. Go back to your family,” I said briskly, rushing past him.

When I glanced back, Marek had finished taking out his anger on the carapace of the dead sailor, caught his breath, and limped back to the cave.

In the forest towards the beach, I saw Cade being circled by two pirates. Using my Stealth ability, I snuck behind the one trying to get behind Cade while the other used his crossbow to keep the young guard in place. Cade pivoted, trying to get towards another tree and keep his distance from both of the pirates. The whole thing was a cat-and-mouse game, with Cade soon running out of room to maneuver.

No noise came out of the sneaky brown frog pirate as my knife tore into his gullet up toward his skull from behind. I removed his iron stilettos, which I deemed probably better than my copper knife for combat but probably not for cookery. I stashed my copper knives in a leather bag I looted off the corpse and planned to come back for them later.

I had a crossbowman to deal with.

After the red frog crossbowman loosed a bolt that grazed a tree Cade was hiding behind, it found one of my throwing knives lodged in its eye socket. Dropping its crossbow in shock and pain, the guard charged forward and speared the frog pirate in its gut, then activated his Spear Flurry skill to finish it off as it lay skewered on the ground.

“Where the hell have you been?” Cade asked, glancing up from his carnage to greet me.

“Have you seen Cass?” I asked, ignoring the question.

“Shouldn’t he be at the cave?” Cade asked, and I moved on. “Wait, I can still fight.”

“Go back to the dungeon cave,” I spoke rapidly. “You’re a guard. Go guard them.”

Not having time to talk, I rushed forward toward the beach, using my tracking skills to assess the fight. No footprints that a boy could make. Just ones that belonged to men, either scared and running away. On the beach, I spotted the bodies of Captain Alvarez and his decapitated copilot. Alongside the two pilots' dead bodies some distance away, two more human bodies of ours were found dead as well.

Crap, Marek’s gonna be pissed his assistant went up and died. I didn’t know the other one, though. Think his name was Joseph?

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go down. Why did they face them head-on? They should have ambushed them.

On the beach, only two fighters were left there standing. Alex was fighting off a giant lobster man, which I ignored. He could probably take it. The giant lobster man activated a skill and somehow grew even bigger, slamming a hammer that sent shockwaves around Alex.

I had no way to deal with that lobster’s chitin, but I trusted Alex to deal with it.

I activated my Tracking skill, analyzing the footprints on the sands of the beach. There were four tracks I had not marked yet going to the right side of the forest. Two of them were chasing one person. The other one was a smaller path that looked to be made by a man walking with a stick of some kind, following a man’s hurried footprints, which went in zigzags.

I followed the first two tracks toward a pair of laughing gnoll pirates who were throwing rocks up at the tree. Looking at their target, I saw Sasha on a high tree branch with her bow drawn threateningly toward the forest floor at her two pursuers. Anxiety backed with anger was in Sasha’s voice as she snapped, “Come up here, and I’ll shoot.”

The two gnolls just continued to laugh, picking up rocks and trying to dislodge the woman from the branch she was sitting on. A rock was thrown by the gnoll on the left, which smacked the girl on the shins, causing the branch to shake as she held on for dear life. I readied my Deadly Shot, but before I could strike, a rock from a nearby bush, thrown by a hidden figure in a green baseball cap, hurled itself into the face of one of the gnolls. The gnoll struck by the slung rock held his bleeding cheekbones as blood gushed out of it.

Looks like I found Cass.

Gritting my teeth at the situation, I launched a Deadly Shot at the other one, my knife implanting right between its shoulder blades. I rushed up to the one clutching his face where the rock had slung and ended his misery with my new stiletto across his throat, ear to ear. My boot came down on the one with the knife between his shoulder blades, smashing his skull into bits of gray matter and bone before I wiped my boot off his leather armor.

My head pounded and my muscles ached as I stopped to catch my breath. A potion in a glass test tube was on one of the corpses, which I took and downed. The thing tasted like a stale energy drink and felt just as strong. Over by the bushes where I suspected Cass was hiding, the leaves rustled urgently, and the boy was running away.

“Cass, get over here!” I barked, but the boy was gone. I sighed.

I ran to follow wherever he had gone, but not before Sasha came down from the tree to ask what to do.

“EITHER HELP ALEX OR GO TO THE CAVE!” I shouted back as I ran to catch up to my brother.

I could see his green baseball cap in the distance rushing past fallen trees.

“WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING, CASS? GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!”

“We have to help Clark! A wizard was chasing him,” Cass said. I could hear the breath run out of him.

He didn’t have the buffs that I had on and I would catch up to him soon.

“I’ll go get him. Get back to the cave!” I yelled, but there was no response as Cass disappeared into the foliage of the forest.

Following him led me to a dense forest with unnaturally fallen trees. Not by natural causes or manmade tools. These felled trees were burned at their trunks as if high-intensity lasers had blasted them. I hoped Cass was well hidden now because what I was up against would require all my concentration.

Out of nowhere, I picked up the sounds of unnatural humming coming from the canopies of the tree. Missiles of energy came from the treetops to where I was standing. Already on high alert, I dove into a trench surrounded by thick roots. Trees came down behind me, which I fled away from. I would continue in the thick undergrowth using my Stealth ability.

When I thought I had lost sight of him, I pulled out my Stealth card, now realizing it was at level 3.

The cards presented to me were:

Shadow Walk - C

In shadows, you move 20% faster and are harder to detect by magic.

Silent Plate - C

The armor you wear makes less noise.

Noisemaker - C

You make noise in a different direction to distract enemies. 90-second cooldown.

I thought about getting Noisemaker, but in this situation, I was up against a magic user, and survival in this fight was everything. I picked Shadow Walk. My eyes scanned for shadows to sneak through as I circled where I thought the wizard was. A firebolt came out near me, but it was clear at this point he had lost track of where exactly I was, with only a faint clue of my general vicinity. I moved through a lower ledge onto the undergrowth and snuck behind the shadows of the fallen tree trunks and other foliage. It grew silent as I crept slowly toward the magic user, readying a throwing knife. Dozens of wisps came from the top of the trees, and one flew toward a bush where a rock slung out toward the origin of those wisps.

The wizard’s head bobbed back on the impact of the slung rock. Fury arose in the elf’s face, and a card that looked like “Magic Missile” appeared before its held staff. I pulled out my card of Deadly Shot and aimed a knife directly at the heart of the elf. I couldn’t risk hitting a headshot with whom I think he’s aiming his missiles at.

Before the elf wizard cast his offensive magic, he pulled out another card with the drawing of a blue magic barrier on it. My throwing knife smacked against the blue walls of the magic shield before falling uselessly onto the forest floor.

The elf smiled and cast a magic missile card again. Before it could, another rock from Cass hiding in the bushes had slung in the back of the wizard's head, causing blood to trickle from its bald gray pate. The elf was being assailed in two directions, knives from me and rocks from Cass, and had no barrier up to block Cass’ projectile.

Furious, it ignored that and continued to cast. But then something strange happened. As if an EMP hit the area, the cards that the wizard cast suddenly had no glow to them. The magic card showing the Magic Missiles on it was blacked out as if on cooldown, despite the wizard not casting it. An incredulous expression spread across the gray-skinned face of the elf.

Furious shakings of his staff and summoning a different card did not change it at all. When he tried to charge his staff one more time, the tip of the staff flickered in blue light like a dying light bulb and disintegrated into ashes.

And then, without the magic keeping the wizard levitating, it fell from the trees and onto the ground, smacking the floor with a thud. My brother came out of hiding from the bush with a knowing smile. Blue light was in his eyes.

He must have just gained a class? Is Cass now a magic user? Did he counter-spell the wizard?

Cass twirled his sling and belted one at the downed wizard. The wizard without access to magic was now cowering as Cass reloaded his sling with another rock. The sudden sense of superiority was gone from the elf. It was now without access to its power, and it cowered before us. I would cuff Cass to stop him from delivering the finishing shot and end the wizard myself. The wizard feigned helplessness and lunged at the last second with a hidden blade. Not fooled, I pulled out Parry, which blocked the wizard’s attack, stunning him. My stiletto would rip through his eyes and end up at the back of his skull.

After the battle, when Cass revealed his class and ability to me, I felt happy for him. Then I realized the implication. I realized this world was going to shift. An overwhelming weight settled on me.

Class:

The Anti Mage - S

Ability:

Void Field - S

Turn on/off a field that disables magic in your area. This area grows larger as you level.

“S! I pulled such a good class, Rye!” Cass cried. He held the card proudly.

I felt like I wanted to cry. It couldn’t be.

“You can’t tell anyone about your class, Cass. Promise me,” I held my brother by the shoulders, my voice shaking, and a terrible terror filled my gut. “On our mother’s soul. Promise me you won’t reveal your class to anyone.”

“What? Why not?”

“Did you see how dangerous this lone mage was? He was what? Some low-level pirate nobody? He had that much power?!” I cried. “If there are other mages in this world and they find out about your class, they’ll hunt you down. Everyone here is in danger!”

“But... if I’m an anti-mage, I can stop them. They won’t be able to use magic,” Cass asked, confused.

“That one mage was part of a ragtag group of pirates. He was the lowest of the low. Imagine how many men someone actually powerful can control. Do you think this village can stand up to an army? You’re smart, Cass, you know what your class means. Promise me you’ll keep it a secret.” I implored, hoping the desperation and fear in my voice got to him.

“I promise...” Cass said, and I checked his hands to make sure none of his fingers were crossed. “Can I still level?”

“Do it in secret. Don’t ever reveal your cards, at least... not in a non-life-and-death situation.” I sighed, burying my face in my hands. “Oh god, what am I going to do?”

Why did this happen to him of all people? Why? My poor brother.

What’s going to happen to all of us?

With the wizard’s corpse looted of another minor health potion, a few leather bags, and a robe, I followed the trails that the last missing person made to a body hidden behind a fallen tree. The trunk of the tree was ashen, broken into splinters. The body hiding in the crater of the tree trunk was bloody; two burned shots painted on Clark’s chest. His face looked peaceful. He left the world with a faint, hopeless smile.

Oh, I’m so sorry, Herman.

I felt like crying but couldn’t. Not in front of Cass.

I carried his body to the beach to lay him with the others who had fallen. Miguel. Joseph. The Captain. The copilot. Clark. Cass had stared silently at the fallen carnage without an ounce of emotion. Alex was standing over the corpse of the giant lobster he faced when I found him on the beach. Together with Sasha, we would arrange for the dead to be ready for burial.

We did a count of all the bodies of pirates that landed on our beach to find one was missing.

My tracking and suspicions led to the stockpiles. Upon reaching them I had found smashed clay pottery. It seemed like the culprit was searching for something to loot, resulting in the smashing of our empty water pots and other pottery in their attempts.

When I looked at the few meager possessions that were broken into pieces, an icy anger filled my veins. There were fresh tracks that came from the stockpile up towards the river.

The tracks led me towards the mess hall. With thoughts of the possibility that whoever did this might vandalize our mess hall and other shelters, I panicked and rushed toward the mess hall.

I came here to see a yellow frog pirate sitting there, eating a roast fish without a care in the world, with a cup of water on the table beside one of our water pots. He paused mid-chew when he saw me and readied his cutlass, but a thrown knife struck one of his arm tendons as he reached for it.

His frog eyes bulged as he gripped his bloodied arm in disbelief.

The frog got up to run, but two more knives from me would pin his leg tendons. He fell face-first onto the floor, wailing in some unknown language. I kicked him over to watch him beg. Tears were on his face while he shook his head as if it was all some misunderstanding.

“Sorry, we already got one captive,” I said coldly before my stiletto went through its neck.

I didn’t look away as I watched the life go out of him.

With the threat gone, the refugees in the dungeon cave all gathered at the scene of violence on the beach. Sloane and Herman both ran, screaming hysterically towards Clark’s body, the sight of which was difficult to witness. Herman grabbed his helper’s body into an embrace and sobbed into it. The sight of the old veteran weeping like a baby filled me with guilt.

The older folks both came crying to the Captain’s and Kestrel’s body. It was especially hard to see Marek fight back whimpers when he saw the body of Miguel, his helper.

I rounded up the ones who smartly ran away from the battle, hiding in the forest. A tearful Bianca had still seen fit to do her duty as she gathered three new people who spawned from the beach. Aaliyah would not come to help her as she was recovering from her traumatic experience, understandably.

The new arrivals’ first impression of their new world was the dead bodies of the pilot and copilot and the carnage of the pirate invasion.

Oddly enough, one of the new arrivals was a priest. Funny timing by fate to have a pastor come in the wake of such death. Many people were already praying for a way out.

We dug a mass grave with Slate beneath where we would end up placing our garbage dump and compost, and we stripped the pirates of loot and burned them to prevent disease from spreading.

In another area, five more graves were dug beside Bryden’s, our graveyard growing ever bigger.

At the service, one of the new arrivals, a young male with curly black locks and a lovely tenor voice, who came today, would sing “Amazing Grace,” and Herman would deliver the speech. Herman’s words came out between sniffling and hiccups.

"I’ve seen a lot of death in my time. A lot of death. It doesn’t make sense for the Lord to take such young and bright people before he took me, but the Lord works in mysterious ways sometimes, doesn’t he?

In that way, I feel some comfort knowing he’s still here with us, even here in this strange place.

I’ve seen people die in senseless wars. Wars that didn’t make sense. Wars that lined the pockets of politicians. These young men didn’t die for that. They died because they believed they were protecting all of you... this community they help build up.

I don’t know what happened to us in the real world. I don’t know if we are still living there and we are just here as copies. I don’t know if our loved ones are still wondering if we’re alive or dead. I don’t know if we’re hallucinating everything.

I just don’t know...

You have to ask a scientist that. I just know that we know that we are here. I know you are here. Y’all know I’m here. I knew those poor folks in those graves... these people were here. They lived here.

The only people in the entire world who know their memory and their sacrifices are us. No one back home knows. Only us. We have to carry their memories with us. Because, my friends, no one else will.

The living must live to remember the dead. To remember to never something like this happen again. To remember to protect and cherish each other every single day. To remember how valuable it is to live."