Might's Odyssey (The Event Book 2) (18 page)

Three more leaps brought him to it. There were dozens of deadly looking creatures scattered across it. Most of them were unaware of his presence.

He lunged forward as the heads up display came up again. The arrow was pointing to a spot marked with a green X. That was the take off mark.

A faint green light lit up around his waistline. The transmission belt was designed to become active when it was within a couple of feet of the drop zone.

A flying lizard spotted him and roared, sweeping towards the grounds at breakneck speeds. It was massive, he knew it had the capacity to stop him if he allowed it to get any closer. Raising his left fist, he pressed the space in the center of his palm and the steel cable shot out burying itself in the thing’s chest.

The lizard shrieked in pain and soared in the opposite direction. When the cable became taut, he pressed his palm one more time instantly cutting it.

The path between him and the drop zone was free, about a hundred feet away and closing. As he drew within fifty feet to it the glass visor in his helmet gave out shattering into a million pieces.

His eyes widened in horror and he held his breath still running forward. Another winged creature zoomed down at that instant. He leaped to his right narrowly missing being craned by it.

The beasts roaming on the plains were now being alerted to his presence. Most of them had violent looks on their faces. They regarded him as a threat.

To make matters worse he heard the loud swoosh of aircraft engines. The soldiers of Viteolious were headed his way and fast. His face became purplish. He could not hold his breath for much longer. Leaping to his feet, he raced towards the spot where the green marker had been.

Since his visor was gone, the heads up display and the holographic map had disappeared too. But he had an idea of where it was supposed to be. The loud beeping in his belt line confirmed his suspicions.

Fifteen feet away from the spot, he could not hold his breath any longer. He let his breath out with a whoosh and took a lungful of the Viteolious air. The effects were instantaneous.

His airway clogged up and a stinging sensation ran down his throat. He found he could not breathe and almost instantly, his legs lost their strength and he collapsed in the grass five feet from his goal.

The roar of jet engines rang out directly overhead. Rolling on his back, he started to gasp. His sight grew poor and shadowy. Through his oxygen deficient haze, he saw several large shapes leaping from the disc shaped aircraft above him. The last thing he saw was a behemoth of a creature, reptilian looking with a grey heavily armored battle armor bearing down on him and he lost consciousness.

Hours later

His eyes fluttered open. He sat up examining his surroundings. The room he was in was small. It had only a bed and a funny looking tube like thing connected to the floor by a long pipe.

Directly ahead was a force field of energy blocking the rectangular shaped entrance. The roof above him was low with spikes on it. He stood up swaying slightly before he became stable.

Turning he sniffed the air experimentally. Wow he could breathe. The Viteolians were pumping oxygen into the prison. Something moved outside the door.

His eyes narrowed and he stiffened. Beyond the door was a shadowy gloom. Out of this gloom came an eight-foot tall creature with huge limbs, a long tail and pale green skin.

Its mouth opened and a barrage of unintelligent sentences spat out of its thin lips. Frowning Might made a few hand signals to try to let the creature know he did not understand.

Eventually it seemed to get the message and stopped talking. Reaching behind itself, it brought out a collar, which it promptly fastened around its throat. There was a red light on the left corner of it. Five seconds later the light turned to green.

Noticing this, it opened its mouth and began to speak.

“My name foul trespasser is Augion Gle. I am captain of the Austeriolious guard. You were most fortunate that our good lord and benevolent master wanted you alive, otherwise we would have slain you where you lay.”

Might blinked several times. Since he did not have an answer to that he kept quiet looking around for a way he could escape.

“I wouldn’t try considering escape if I were you. No one has ever escaped from this prison fortress and you are not going to be the first.”

Might’s eyes widened in surprise. Was the creature psychic?

“You will be taken to see the Austeriolious in a few hours. I recommend you pray to whatever god or deity you hold sacred. The Austeriolious never shows mercy to those who disobey his law. If you are lucky he’ll keep you alive for scientific experimentation. Rest well stranger.”

He disappeared without another word fading into the gloom surrounding him. Might’s face hardened as he strode to the force field. Taking a firm stance, he drove a fist into it.

A shock ran down his spine flinging him away from the door so fast that when he struck the opposite wall he drilled a deep hollow into it. It took him almost five minutes to catch his breath.

His strength it appeared would not be enough to get him out of this prison. Rising to his feet, he went to the bed and lay down. He would have to wait for when the guards came to take him to see the Austeriolious guy. He could make his break then.

Glancing down at his clothes, he was shocked to discover that he wore a white robe. The battle suit he had brought from the light jump base had been taken away.

A sense of dread filled him. Without that suit, there was no way he could get back to Nephilim. The teleportation shift module could only lock on to the transmission coming from the suit.

That meant that his escape plans had to be put on hold. At least until he could discover where they kept his suit. He prayed they hadn’t destroyed it. If they had, he was trapped here forever.

The hours ticked by slowly. Since the captain of the guard came, he had had only one visitor; a shuffling mole like humanoid that brought him food.

The food looked disgusting but tasted delicious. What he had been most grateful for was the drink that came with the food. It wasn’t water, it was lime colored and sweet like nectar, quenching his biting thirst almost instantly.

Even now as he looked at the empty bottle, he wished he had more of it. He hadn’t tasted anything quite like that before. A clang at the entrance of the cell snapped him out of his thoughts.

Four reptilian humanoids stood at the door. In their hands, they held heavy looking steel cuffs. Might rose to his feet and braced himself to attack. It was now or never, the fact that he did not have the suit he needed to get back to Nephilim was temporarily forgotten.

He needn’t have bothered however. As soon as the shields on the door went down, the cuffs flew out of the hands of the guards and hurtled towards him snapping themselves around his wrists and fists.

A strong beam of energy similar to the one that covered the door now linked each cuff to the other. He could not break them. No matter how hard he tried. The guards watched his helpless struggles with amused looks on their faces.

When he ceased from his struggles, they walked forward seizing him around the shoulders and slipped a mask around his face. Cool air filtered into his lungs. Satisfied that he could breathe, they immediately marched him out of the prison.

Leading him down a long corridor, which stretched so far ahead it appeared to have no end. Ten minutes of walking brought them to a tee-junction. Heading right, directly ahead, there was a door made of a strange metal.

It slid open at their approach. The square space inside the door was wide enough for five or more people to stand inside comfortably. Entering it, the leader of the group pressed a button on the right. The room dipped lightly before it streaked upwards with a low hum.

A few seconds later, the door swung open. Beyond this door was a wide hall filled with more than three dozen Viteolians surrounding by almost a hundred armed guards. Eight of the kneeling Viteolians were shackled, bound in similar fashion to Might.

At the opposite end of the hall was a dais, eight feet in length and twelve feet in width. On top of this dais stood a giant throne and seated on the throne was the largest humanoid he had seen thus far.

This Viteolian was huge. His entire torso was almost four times the size of Might’s own, a worthy feat since Might was no spring chicken. The shackled Viteolians kneeling in front of his throne were wailing and moaning.

The behemoth on the throne seemed pleased by their distress. His dull red eyes rose up slowly locking on the Might and the five guards hovering in front of the elevator.

He rose to his feet with a thunderous look on his face.

“Is that the trespasser?”
He roared in fury.

“Yes!” The guards replied shivering at the rage they sensed in his voice.

“Bring him over for judgment.”

With short frightened shuffles, the guards dragged Might to the throne. Might noticed that all the guards, and the Austeriolious wore the translation collars round their necks. The crowd gathered before the throne quickly parted their ranks to allow them through.

When they reached the front of the dais, one of the guards drove a hard blow into the back of Might’s knees and he sank to his knees looking back at the guard with fury in his eyes.

The guard seeing his rage backed away slowly with his eyes wide with fear. Seeing this, the Austeriolious face grew even more thunderous and he stepped off the dais wrapping his cold slimy fingers around Might’s neck and lifted him high in the air.

Might gasped and spluttered as the Austeriolious strong digits blocked his airway.

“You think you are powerful don’t you? Foolish interloper! Do you know who I am? I am the Austeriolious! The most dreaded ruler of the Viteolians. I am a god and you a mere mortal from a strange and unnamed planet dare defy meeeeee?????”

The last words were barked out in a screech. With a loud roar of rage, he flung Might in the opposite direction. He hurtled over the crowd of people smashing into the wall close to the elevator at the opposite end of the hall.

He’d had it. Might’s eyes blazed with fury as he rose to his feet once again. The Austeriolious was powerful but he had faced worse. His angry defiance only served to enrage the Austeriolious more. He leapt forward punching aside half a dozen people in his haste to reach Might to give him the beating he deserved.

Might crouched low and leaped forward his head aimed at the Austeriolious midsection. He rammed into him with a vicious head butt and he hurtled backwards clearing five of his guards in the process. He slammed into the dais shattering it and the huge throne sitting on it and became still.

One of the guards raised a staff and fired a laser burst from it. The blast struck Might’s midsection, bounced off shattering the cuffs around his wrists. The strong beam connecting the two cuffs fizzled out and died.

He leaped forward again slamming into the guard. He knocked the guard aside like a skittle and the staff dropped on the floor with a loud clatter. Might crawled forward picking up the staff. He aimed it at the cuffs on his feet and opened fire.

The cuffs exploded opening with a loud clack. He leaped to his feet as the Austeriolious rose up again. The lime green color of his skin mottled with red. He was enraged. Flexing his muscles, he started towards Might with hostility shinning in his eyes.

Might frowned and braced himself as the blows started coming. The Austeriolious moved with a speed that was breathtaking. Half a dozen blows slammed into his torso before he could make a move to block them.

The force of these blows sent him flying backwards where he rammed into the opposing wall. The Austeriolious did not relent. He lunged forward smashing into Might with his right shoulder. The force of impact brought the wall crumbling down as they hurtled into the passageway beyond it.

Might managed to grab the Austeriolious huge fist. He squeezed it as hard as he could until he heard a satisfactory crack. The Austeriolious screamed staggering a few steps back with his arm held at an awkward angle.

Might roared and lunged forward with his fist swinging. A pulse surrounded it a second before he slammed it into the Austeriolious jaw in a vicious uppercut.

The Austeriolious streaked like a bullet back into the main hall. He smashed into the shattered remains of the dais, crumbled that and struck the wall beyond it digging a deep hole into it.

Sliding to the floor in a crumpled heap, the leader of the Viteolians lost consciousness and became still.

Might leaped back in the hall raised both fists high and brought it crashing down into the floor of the hall. The floor collapsed downwards, flinging everyone including himself two stories down smashing into hard floor. Most instantly became unconscious. The ones still conscious were winded.

Might rose to his full six foot four inches height and yelled at the top of his voice.

“
DOES ANYONE ELSE WANT TO TEST MIGHT?!!!!!!!!”

No one responded. The guards who still held weapons quickly dropped them and held their hands up.

“Now that we have an understanding, why don’t you lead me to my battle suit?”

No one moved for about three seconds and then with a flurry of limbs, four guards leaped to their feet and hurried out of the hall beckoning for him to follow. What Might did not see as he exited the room was one of the shackled Viteolians slink over and slit the throat of the still unconscious Austeriolious.

Thirty minutes later

Might rode on the back of a winged creature flying back to the drop zone. The Viteolian guards were very eager to lend him one of their flying mounts.

He had gotten his suit back and the guards helped him replace the broken visor. When he reached the drop point, he leaped off the creature, plummeted about thirty feet before hitting the ground. He raced forward for a bit and stopped, looking back at the creature that brought him as it flew back to the capital.

He turned starting to race forward. Increasing his pace, he leaped, jumping on the green X. The heads up display was back online now.

A bolt of light shot from the sky striking him in the chest, seconds later the world of Viteolious vanished and he was once again part of the light.