Chereads / Omicron Tales: Adventures Across Space / Chapter 22 - After that night

Chapter 22 - After that night

In the early morning light shines on a battle damaged town. Bodies of monsters litter the streets with blue stains on the stone streets from some battle during the night. A massive wall circles the town but it clearly got smashed through by a powerful monster. There's a man knocked out in the wall's rubble.

Graham feels sore all over his body as his eyes open. He doesn't remember what happened after over flowing like that but why did it happen? He can't sit up with his body refusing to move. It's painful and he barely feels any flow in his body. The feeling is awful throughout his body. He can only turn his head. There's a massive monster corpse a fair way from him.

A blue haired lady off in the distance looking through this rumble quickly notices Graham. She seems surprised at finding him in-between these two chunks of broken wall. His body can't really resist being lifted up by her but It helps him see the damage on this town along with people taking monster corpses outside whatever remained of the walls.

"Oh boy, You're much heavier than I expected... What's your body made of?" She says taking him to a series of tents and people handling rubble around the town square. It's clear to Graham what happened to this place, A monster attack took place but what did he do during this? His head droops from losing all his strength.

"Nea! Found another survivor in the rubble already?" A red haired man walked up and took notice of the weak Graham. He's greeted with a weak hand wave which takes more strength than needed in that state. He looks closer to Graham's beaten body, Something catches his attention about this guy.

"I'm just trying to help out with my best abilities, Sal!" Nea pouts at Sal's reaction but his sudden interest in this barely conscious guy. She gets a bit concerned when Sal looks closer to Graham which seems a bit weird to him as well. There's just a moment of realization for Sal. "What? Something about this guy?"

"That man... He was the one who held back the monsters!" Sal sounds shocked to see Graham even though he's shocked at learning this. He's freaking out seeing those eyes once again, Something deep in those pupils reminds him of a star symbol. It's not as striking but that image of his gaze with those eyes. "Y-you seem much more... friendly"

"Uh... Thanks..." Graham's voice is weaker and sounds dry. His strength has been so drained that speaking hurts his throat. It's disheartening to know he managed to over-flow like that and end up this pathetic. His friends must be worried about him at this point. He's snapped out of being deep in thoughts by water entering his mouth.

"We're going to the head doctor as soon as possible but drink up, You sound way too dehydrated." Nea has a nervous look as she just forces water into Graham's mouth. It's actually very refreshing to his throat, so he's annoyed at her forcing it but glad to get some relief. She starts taking him to one of the smallest tents. "Doctor Carver? I found that fighter from last night, He's still alive!"

The tent has this strange netted top part that's letting a lot of sunlight in. A lady wearing swimwear lays at the center of it on top of a massive towel. She sits up and looks towards him with amber eyes and her orange hair being messy. Graham looks around to find no one else, so this must be Doctor Carver.

"Ah, So you're that scary hero of the night... I expected you to be a wild man but this will be better for treatment." Dr Carver speaks in a happy tone at seeing Graham, the so-called hero. She walks up to him with a smile before taking him from Nea's shoulder despite her size, His weight is nothing to her strength. "Thanks, Nea! I will treat him real well~"

Graham raises an eyebrow when Dr Carver says that and his eyes open wide when Nea leaves the tent. He has no idea what that means and he doesn't like how she said it. His heart rate goes up when she takes off his shirt then lays him on that massive towel. She just pulls out a bottle of lotion and starts massaging him. "You body is super stiff and internal energy is moving like sludge"

"Whew, Thanks..." Graham slightly drifts off while his sore body gets some relief but his flow feels numb. It's definitely a side effect of Over-Flowing. His body's condition is severely degraded which means his flow has been greatly lowered. That must be why he couldn't move when Nea found him.

It's a strange notion to him that Dr Carver knows his flow status. She lifts up his arm to massage it. There's no doubt that she's studying his flow while doing this and something clearly catches her interest about it. That grin perks up as he drifts off to sleep, Something he can't fight off....

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Leslie stomps out of the ship with a massively pissed face. She's really in a bad mood this day after Graham disappearing and this serious stomach ache. Caelan rubs their eyes while walking behind her, If it wasn't for their body tough nature they would be blind right now. It left this uncomfortable chronic itch on their eyes. She turns to him and suddenly yells. "Caelan, Stop that! It can lead to more serious eye issues!"

"I can't help it, That strange yellow spirit left this strange itch." Caelan looks worried about this strange itch in their eyes. They start taking the lead as the two start walking into the forest with their worry shifting towards Graham. There's a slight atmosphere of worry just from Leslie's mood. "I'm sure that he's fine if you're worried, he managed to fight against the forest master"

"I know but... He's reckless! I don't like losing someone from that..." Leslie's rage melts away to show her worry about her new captain. It really hurts to lose anyone even if you recently met them, that's why she's in such a mood outside that stomach ache. There's also a pit in her stomach at the idea of losing such a supportive person. "Also he's my captain! I have crew loyalty towards him!"

Alloy comes racing out of the ship's loading door to meet up with the other two. She takes awhile to get this degrading android body running but she freezes seeing a glare from Leslie. She nervously looks around before letting out a nervous laugh. The android backs up a bit with her hands up at the clear death glare. "I didn't expect Graham to get lost... So.. Uh, Let's get looking for him?

"You're lucky that I'm saving my wraith for monsters in the forest." Leslie balls her fist in clear view of Alloy with a contained rage at her lacking attention to where their captain goes. She can let go of it after they find their captain. The forest is giving a different vibe than yesterday, something is wrong here.

The trio steel themselves before entering into those woods, A hope of finding Graham is shared between them. Caelan has some doubts in him being dead and Leslie is just scared of finding him dead. Alloy has a determined look to find Graham before anything bad happens to him. The group start their search stepping into the forest.

Alloy finds a monster corpse that looks torn apart by something powerful. Its internal fluids have already made foul mud around it but some familiar footprints lead away from the corpse. She turns to the other two who have found two other monsters smashed into trees. That surprises her since these shoe prints belong to Graham's shoes... "I found Graham's foot prints but does that mean he did this?"

"I know he's strong but not this strong... Uh, let's follow those footprints." Leslie seems unsettled at how brutal these monsters were killed. That nasty black ooze is everywhere around their corpses, No hesitation or strangle from whoever did this. She doesn't want to encounter whatever did this. She looks towards Caelan who's already tracking those prints.

"This is..." Caelan finds a dirt path that goes through these woods. Graham's footprints lead to this and It's pretty clear these tracks are from Graham stepping in that ooze. It fades after a while but the dirt path is loose enough to make up for this issue. The direction instantly shocks them. The other two catch up after finishing their investigation of those corpses. "He's heading towards my village."

"Well, that makes everything much better... We better head there to find him and get some answers." Leslie has a moment of relief if he's just at Caelan's village. She walks up on this messy path and follows Graham's tracks on it. The other two join in her walk but something catches her eye before they catch up with her... Something giant rests on the side of this path, It looks almost like a humanoid machine with a hulking frame.

"That's a Path Guardian, A gift from the great spirit but they went dormant after hundreds of years." Caelan says seeing her looking at the old guardian. It's covered in moss and partially buried in the dirt. It's a treasured landmark- The arm just moved... Its single eye starts to glow a yellow hue. They form twin blades out of electricity and prepare for a battle as it breaks the ground to stand up.