"Everything looks good?" Voli asked.
Sweat dripped from her face as she stared below from the hill.
Luscious forests and evergreen trees.
"Yes, Five Kuticle herbs just up ahead, my lady."
Voli had brought her R.I to search for a supposedly rare herb. An herb that could reverse the process of aging… a very- very expensive herb.
Throughout the universe, many plants and animal species were almost identical. Some wondered if this happened because the universe only favored these types of life and maybe it was the natural progression of all life.
Others questioned, perhaps a greater entity in the distant past, spread the gift of life and the nature of that gift was the same in every planet's case? Perhaps that entity created life in their ideal image?
Perhaps.
Perhaps not.
And if such an entity did exist, why was there no trace of him left?
No one knew.
"But they weren't kidding when they said this place was dangerous…" Voli casually took out her gun and shot three flying birds headed her way- all three were perhaps the size of cars; eagles.
The Eagles fell behind her and she gradually started to slide down the slope of the hill. 'Just this monstrous heat wasn't enough?'
With a sigh, she kept on going.
She wanted a mission with John- so she could confront him. But honestly, maybe this wasn't so bad. She needed some time before she could form the proper stuff she wanted to ask, and the proper responses anyway.
So, for now- she shot some bugs that came her away and marched through the forest with a grin.
A grin that didn't quite last.
"A-are those tentacles?" She wondered aloud staring at the moving appendages of the trees ahead.
'Shit.'
***
Slam!
Glenn body-slammed a large bear like monster- it was the same size as a truck.
The bear crashed into a nearby boulder.
"Not bad," John said, kicking a saber-toothed tiger himself.
The tiger rolled on the floor, not quite getting up again.
"Not too shabby yourself." Glenn fired back, laughing haughtily. "But these monsters are something else."
'You two are the real monsters…' Monty was following the two from the sidelines.
They were going deeper in the canyons.
Large, red, cracked canyons.
There were predators everywhere.
Lions, vultures, bears, wolves… a lot of predators; large predators. And some of those things had extraordinary abilities. Some could leap really high, some could claw through pure rock, some could even dodge plasma bullets.
But as the two spearheading this journey decimated everything in their path- the animals just stayed back. Now, they were the prey.
"But are we sure it's just up ahead?" Monty asked, a bit dubious.
The three were nearly identical in build, but Monty looked like a kid following his big brothers.
"That's what this thing says." John smiled back. Flashing a screen on his hand.
Monty staggered a step back.
John wasn't hostile- but even now Monty couldn't really stand his gaze. Whenever John looked at him, he just either stared at the ground, or pretended like there was something in the distance. He couldn't look John in the eye.
The ground was hard.
The sky was far.
And in front of them was a large fork, revealing seven paths.
"One apparently leads to our destination and the rest to various places. And one specific place has large eggs…" John grinned. "Up for an omelet?"
Glenn grinned back. "Yeah, I'd be pretty hungry after the mission."
Monty grimaced as he understood what these two morons were talking about. 'Why the hell did it have to be them?' He started questioning his life choices all over again.
***
Clang!
John, Glenn, and Monty ravaged through the Sylvanide deposit.
A deposit of blue transparent crystals. Each one ranged from a few centimeters to half a meter in length but all were maybe two fingers thick.
They weren't expecting to find this much above ground. With things as they were- they didn't need to go digging.
"Well, didn't expect this to be this easy." Glenn wiped beads of sweat from his forehead.
"Yeah."
'How the hell is this easy?' Monty remained quiet, extracting the ore.
"But I think that should be enough," John said. "Now about that omelet." He grinned.
"Are you two serious? Did you even notice just how many predators are here?"
Glenn and John looked back, grinning.
'Monsters…' Monty's sweat went cold as a shiver ran down his spine. 'They really are the real monsters…' And it didn't take him a moment longer to understand- these two did know.
He gulped and shut up.
"You can just run back to the ship if you're scared," John taunted.
"S-scared? Me? I don't think so!" Monty tried to pretend but he wasn't convincing anyone. "I was just saying, maybe we should finish our mission first and report back to the captain..."
And though he wanted to head back to the ship- he couldn't just run away now. He'd look like a loser. And more importantly, to use the teleport, he'd first have to get out of these deep canyons. And there really wasn't any way for him to do it alone…
And he understood that these two weren't going to change their minds...
So, he chose to follow the two. More like he didn't have a choice.
Sufficed to say, it was perhaps the biggest mistake of his life.
***
In a distant corner of the void nebula, two men were sitting out in the open- at one of the top floors of the world tree.
Breeze, glimpses of sunlight, and a table of the finest wood there was.
"This is… is this the holy grail!!!" One of the men exclaimed with great excitement. He didn't have a nose- rather just three holes instead. He put it down and looked at the rest of the things.
"Holy grail…" A hooded man pondered. "I don't think it's been called that before, but I'm sure it's far from holy." He cleared his throat. "And these are illustrations, these are stimulants, and these are fine wine…." The hooded man showed the other man various things.
Some magazines… some white fluffy powdery stuff, and some drinks….
Nothing too extravagant.
The man without a nose just ravaged through everything. He'd never seen such things…
His life was boring but not anymore!
He forgot about his lofty tree sap that was going cold. Instead, he tried this amazing fizzy liquid.
It burned a bit as it went down- and yet- delicious.
There was no one in the vicinity and no one was permitted to come here- not even his brothers and sisters and definitely not his servants.
Oddly quiet- the only sound was the heavy breathing of the man.
"They-they're taking off their clothes? Ho-holier!" He exclaimed as he browsed through the pages… "This is… exhilarating!"
Needless to say, this was the first time he'd seen such magazines. And discovered things that were beyond his imagination till now. And this was also the time when he developed certain tastes, which he wanted to experience firsthand… but for that- he needed….
Meanwhile, the hooded man remained quiet, slowly sipping his portion of the sap. Very sweet, very fragrant. Deep within his hood, his lips curled up and formed a smile- a smile that was hidden from the world.