By JBV and Joel Quill
Kins stood before them triumphantly, giving off this vibe that he was a hero… 5 feet tall, but a hero nonetheless. Lily and Jay did not share the same vision as Kins, while they just saw amazing power displayed before them; the wielder of that power looked like he was 8 years old. The situation was daunting and other matters were at hand, but in the confusion Jay couldn't help but ask…
"Are you a little kid? How do you have so much power!" Jay seemed to yell out, he thrusted his hands forward in confusion. Kins looked hurt but laughed the same as ever.
"First of all, I am 13 years old, probably older than you. Second, is this really what we should be worrying about right now because we have a lot of soldiers coming for us." Kins said. More voices were heard coming down the corridor. As many questions as Jay had, he knew of the more imminent threat. Currently, they were at the end of a one way hallway with who knows how many enemies being alerted to their position.
"What do we do…" Lily asked. She had her hand on her shoulder with her magic ignited in order to keep her emotions steady. Kins put his hand on her shoulder, giving a smile to the obvious strength this girl had despite her age.
"We need to make it to the deck. I can get us there but I will have to use a lot of my magic along the way, meaning that once we get to the deck, it could be dangerous. I need the two of you to follow me, doing whatever you can to protect me so I don't go overboard with my magic. Once we get to a hatch I will explain more." Kins said then turned his head to Jay, "Once we are out I will keep my promise and answer any questions you have. Now…" Kins's eyes glowed an even brighter green, he opened both his hands in front of him and a symbol that looked like three spiraling coils connected in the center appeared in green energy in the space between his hands. Jay was perplexed by what the symbol was and how it manifested, but in the spirit of moving forward didn't take the time to ask. All of the plants and vines from the room and that had taken out the men digressed in size until they were absorbed into the green symbol. When the last bit disappeared into the green, the symbol dissipated and became six seeds in Kins's hand. Kins smiled and took one of the six seeds in his hand while placing the others in his pocket. Kins took the single seed in his hand and with a quick thrust, chucked it through the air towards the oncoming soldiers. Around the climax of the seeds height, it began to transform and grow vastly. Tendrils spread and twisted forming a green vine body with multiple limbs of the same kind. As the growth continued, it finally came to a point at the head of the mysterious and terrifying plant creature that looked like a gigantic mouth. Kins laughed and clapped at the creatures full form, Jay and Lily looked in horror. The thing before them looked like a creature of nightmares, they saw no need to be happy about its presence.
"Oh come on!" Kins said punching Jay in the arm, "how do you not find this thing awesome! I have never actually gotten to use this spell before and I am extremely impressed with my work."
"What...What is it...It" Jay said, trying not to tremble. A volley of bullets exploded from the oncoming soldiers guns towards the creature. As they hit him, they absorbed into his green form doing little to no damage. Kins smiled brightly, extended his fingers and snapped. Upon the click of his fingers, the monster flung forward at the troops and began to take out the men who harmed it. Jay covered Lily's eyes, and Kins covered Jay's.
"This my friends," Kins said, "Is my living plant ability: carnivore configuration." Screams, bullets, and a disgusting crunching noise could be heard at the end of the hallway. "Its a mass of plants that is an extension of myself. I found a way to release enough of my energy into a seed to make the sentient form that emerges from it follow one direct purpose depending on the primary emotion that is placed within each seed. This one is the rage seed." Kins looked puzzled as he watched the carnage, "although, I have no control over how the form the seed manifests. We are super lucky it turned out like this huh guys!" He turned to look at them and realized they couldn't see because of the hands obscuring their view. After another minute or two of horrible noises, it finally stopped and the creature seemed to leave. Kins released his hand from Jay's eyes, and Jay did the same in turn to Lily. Jay expected to see a corridor of blood and disaster, but surprisingly no blood, or even bodies were in the hallway. Even the bodies from when Kins first came through the door were taken away as well. "Yeah I am a bit of a neat freak, I guess the monster follows that sentiment and cleans up after himself. What a good boy, can you two think of a good name for…" Kins looked and Jay and Lily but they both were still trembling slightly. "Right," Kins continued, "not the time. We gotta go. I have to stay within 300 feet of my carnivore or else it will dissipate so…" Kins began to run down the hallway and within a couple of feet fell on his face. He got back up and pointed to his legs, signalling that it had been a while since he used them, and continued to run after his carnivorous magic. Lily and Jay both sighed and couldn't help but to laugh a stifled, scared laugh to relieve a little tension from their situation. The two of them took a moment to compose themselves, then ran after their odd "savior" in hopes of finally leaving this ship.
-
Nearly an hour passed before they were able to find a way to the top of the deck. Many soldiers came for them but were stopped by the carnivore that Kins had taken to calling "Carrie" along with minimal effort from Jay and Lily. Every once in a while Jay would have to take someone's gun away from them or slam a soldier against the wall, but overall his efforts were very minimal. Around forty minutes of searching through the ship, the soldiers stopped coming entirely. Lily and Jay celebrated the loss of their pursuers, but Kins did not seem so convinced. The trio and Carrie wove and worked their way through countless passages and doorways, following signs that Kins interpreted under his breath but Lily and Jay had no way of knowing if they were truly going the right way. At one point Jay became fascinated with the interior of the ship. Through different doorways Jay could see a variety of different rooms filled with mysterious devices. Some rooms contained large cabinets filled with many vials, others strange devices and equipment. The enticement of new discovery was almost enough to redirect Jay from his path, but the carnivorous plant eating people kept his mind on task. It had been many years since he had gone outside to explore, and over that time becoming a scientist became more of a dream than a real goal. But now, Jay was starting to realize the world he was fighting. The stories of Einstein the great and the technological advances he made were not just stories, the world which he came from was literally right where Jay was. The more he moved around the ship, the more the ship reminded him of the picture book he was read as a kid. Granted, the ship was in now didn't look like an illustration, nor did it seem to be of the same era, but the influence was clearly there. The discoveries of this new world brought a new excitement within Jay, one that renewed his childhood aspirations of possibly becoming a scientist. At one point Jay completely came to a stop while looking into a room that had a large machine that allowed someone to get inside. He was brought down to earth by Lily grabbing his hand and pulling him along. Lofty ideas of scientific grandeur would have to wait for better circumstances.
Finally, they made it to another dead end, but this one had a ladder that lead to a hatch at the top of the ceiling. Kins looked sporadic with a mix of excitement and anxiety. He decreased his magic and in turn Carrie withered away into nothingness. Beads of sweat started to fall down Kins's face and he began to hyperventilate. Lily went to grab him but he shooed her away.
"I'm alright. That spell has an after effect where I can feel the amount of energy and damage that Carrie just did," Kins had a hard time talking to them, his speech was slurred from exhaustion. "It won't kill me, but apparently it makes me very tired. I will need to write that down when I get the chance." The group got a chance to rest for a moment as Kins tried to slow his breathing. A silent sound of air and entering and leaving the lungs was the only thing that could be heard. The calm before the storm. Kins took a black pen from his back pocket and grabbed Jay's arm. For a moment Jay protested but Kins was persistent. There was a lot of tickling and squirming as Kins wrote but eventually he was able to write what he needed. To Jay the writing appeared to be strange symbols, but they were actually the foreigners language.
"What is this for?" Jay asked in confusion.
"All the Yaks computers work relatively the same on this ship, those are the different commands I am going to need you to find and and press them in that order." Kins spoke in a manner as if everyone understood what he was trying to say.
"I don't even know what a computer is…" Jay replied. Kins chuckled a little to himself in embarrassment and annoyance.
"Listen, once we get to the deck, I have no way of knowing how many Yaks will be out there. Since the ship was put on high alert, I imagine that we are going to be getting a good amount of Yaks coming back to protect their ship. Especially since they stopped chasing us they have probably accumulated in one place to have more power in numbers…" Kins talked fast. "Also I have not felt Solus's rays in years. While they will make me more powerful, I imagine I will be blinded for a little while given that I am used to the darkness." It wasn't until that moment that Jay had realized Kins bodily health. He was extremely pale, skinny, bruised, and looked more tired than any man he had ever seen. Small incisions and holes were all over his body like he had been injected and cut with different things. Kins may be an extravagant and boastful person, but the moment Jay saw past that facade, there was a kid who had been tortured and exposed for years standing before him. Kins clapped his hands together to get Jay's attention. "What I need you to do is to run across the deck to a large orange device that looks like a ship that will be on the deck. In front of that orange device will be a board filled with many symbols, I need you to press the same symbols that I wrote on your arm in order, then get onto the ship. Do you understand?" Kins had a look of desperation in his eyes as he spoke. Lily nodded at his words but Jay put his hand on Kins shoulder. He had seen that look of sadness and confusion in his brothers eyes many times over the years. Jay had formed a sort of sixth sense when it came to seeing that loss of understanding of the world, and to want something so badly and have it just out of reach. All those years had been training for Jay to feel the emotion of others and be able to try and help.
"We are all going to make it off this ship…" Jay said with intensity, he looked Kins right in the eyes. Lily put her hands on Jay's side and Kins's other shoulder. For a moment his facade broke and he smiled.
"Of course we are, I have no plans to sacrifice myself for two people I just met. I still have a lot I want to accomplish and so much more I want to discover." His words were not meant to just fill an empty void, they were truly his desires. The intent and determination Kins had gave Jay hope that he was looking at someone who had a desire to live, not to be a martyr. Lily used her magic to relax the three of them so that the group could breath steadily. Kins climbed the ladder and grabbed onto the hatch. He spun the handle until it unlatched then looked at the other two in his group and said "stay together," as one last reminder. Kins flung the hatch open and light burst through the hatch blinding the three of them. After a moment of disorientation, Kins climbed onto the deck with Jay and Lily in tow.
-
As Jay put his first foot onto the deck, he expected to immediately hear gun fire and Kins's plant magic to be tearing through a crowd of soldiers, but instead it was silent. Solus was high in the sky, signifying it was midday, the breeze that came over the ship was refreshing, and there was not an enemy in sight. The deck itself was absolutely massive. On different sides of the ship were the giant guns that shot at the castle, but in the middle was just a large area with different shipping containers that covered the area. Where they came out of the hatch was near the front of the ship that faced Illverstand, they were on a raised platform that looked down on the various forms of cargo on the deck. Kins muttered to himself in confusion and Lily seemed dazed by the ship, but Jay was horrified by what he saw behind him. The place where Illverstand used to be was completely in ruins. He knew that it would be gone but nothing could have prepared him for seeing it with his own two eyes. The castle that he once called home was now craters and rubble up on a hill. The rest of the town was in an even worse state. There were no longer any buildings in sight, just rubble and darkness. The greenery and life that once persisted were now gone. The home of his childhood and his very kingdom was now ruins of ash and failed expectations. His world began to shake beneath him once again, and tears silently streamed down his face. He was in no position to be crying or obsessing over his kingdom at the moment, but he had no way to feel like he could maintain himself. A large groaning and shifting was suddenly heard through the ship. Jay's vision was drawn away from Illverstand. Suddenly they heard the sound of an object being thrown through the air. The three of them all looked around in confusion wondering where it could be coming from. The sound grew louder, and louder, and even louder signifying an imminent approach. Jay looked above him and saw a large metal cargo container falling through the air right towards their position. In an instant reaction his eyes ignited white and he caught the cargo container just before landing on top of them. Immediately Jay's nose and eyes began to let out little drops of blood. Jay had lifted a lot with his telekinesis, and was proud of his strength with it, but this was more than he could handle. Kins threw out another seed and threw it down at the ground. It began to form tendrils like the other except these were more brown and sturdy. They covered the container until the entire thing became a massive tree with the container in its center. When Jay could finally let go with his magic he fell to one knee and breathed heavily. Lily grabbed onto him and her magic began to flow through his body. His vision went from blurry to being able to make out figures with the help of Lily's power. Thoughts bombarded his head, what if I hadn't caught that container, was I too distracted, where did it come from, am I going to die. These thoughts ran over and over in his head until their impact was no longer shocking and became legitimate. Despite the terror of the situation, Kins began to laugh louder than he had before and put his hands on his sides.
"You know, druids that completed the rite of passage can see life signatures, you know that right?" he yelled out across the ship. For a moment Jay believed that Kins had finally lost it since he seemed so confident his enemy was a wisp of the air. But almost like clockwork, on a second raised platform about fifty meters away, two figures appeared out of thin air. Both wearing black, long, hoods so that they couldn't be identifiable. Jay could only tell that once was a very burly and muscular woman, and the other was a skinny man. "Is this how you are going to attack? A sneak attack? No true combat!" The two figures did not respond to Kins's provocations. They just seemed to stare with deep murderous intent. The burly woman's face couldn't be seen, but the silver glow of her ignited magic could be seen from underneath her hood. She lifted her hand into the air and a couple of cargo containers ascended as well. Jay and Lily both looked worried, but Kins's smile could pierce the night. Kins threw another seed at his feet and his eyes glowed with wispy trails of magic. From the seed, vines sprouted and amassed forming themselves behind Kins giving him tail like arms. Jay watched in astonishment and horror, he was about to witness a battle between giants.