《The Lost World》Chapter 9: Predator
Advertisement
“Nothing would stop him. He fought with beasts. He travelled below the sea. Under the ground. He searched for ancient knowledge. Talked with Rasts that were even older. He discovered prehistoric ruins. He explored fallen civilisations. He brought forth untold secrets. He touched the world itself.”
==========================================================================
Edward felt the blood in his veins freeze solid.
“What? You thought I wouldn’t realize? It was really quite obvious after only the first night, you couldn’t make a shelter to save your life, and instead opted to ‘survey the area’ every time so I could set up camp, normally it would mean that you were just really lazy, but I noticed you studying the makeshift tents I made, as if you were trying to learn how to do it.”
Edward tried to stammer out a response, his brain working overtime, trying, and failing, to suddenly come up with a suitable explanation, one he hadn’t been able to think of the entire time he’d been here.
David was trying to force the answer out of him, and he was succeeding. He’d caught Edward completely off-guard despite him believing he had it up.
“You obviously try to not mention where you’re from, and you haven’t named a single area, landmark or even mountain since we started travelling, you’re completely ignorant of the landscape of the entire northern side, I’m certain the only reason you asked me to travel with you is because you don’t know where you’re going…And yet,” he paused, his eyes inspecting Edward's body, “you look and sound like Edward, fight like him too, the Edward that was famed in the army for his immense strength and deadly speed.”
“And that too, you keep calling it an army. We’re not an army! We’re a militia! There hasn’t been an army since the empire almost 300 years ago!”
He paused, “You have his strength and speed, easily cutting Rasts into pieces, but most importantly, I don’t care about that. You could be someone from a thousand years ago. I don’t care.”
He stepped closer, getting face to face with Edward, who felt immensely intimidated despite David being a lot shorter than him.
“What I want to know, why are you doing this? What is your reasoning for leaving the militia and infiltrating the warlords’ god-damn-fortress? Sure, it turned out to be quite easy, but we didn’t know that beforehand. We could’ve just as easily been spotted and shot down before even getting to the wall!”
“What reason does someone who has no clue about where he is and what he’s facing. Leave relative safety just before nightfall to travel a thousand-kilometres to the middle of what he’s told is quite obviously enemy territory?” He concluded, and smoothly stepped back, allowing Edward to release the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.
Edward could only give one unsatisfactory explanation, one that he had thought of beforehand, but found really wanting.
“I…” He started, David impatiently waiting for his answer, and raising an eyebrow, “I…Didn’t lie to you, and try not to lie about anything else.” He swallowed before continuing, “I am Edward,” he lied, “and I am really searching for my brother.” He said truthfully, “But I also don’t have any common knowledge, and no memories. I don’t have amnesia. I’m pretty sure my memories are lost forever. The Edward that was in the militia is gone.” He said, unsure.
Advertisement
David narrowed his eyes, and waited for Edward to finish, “I can only promise you one thing, the only thing I want right now is to find my brother, although I don’t have any clue of where I am without you, I will try my damn hardest to find him. I know, I know, that he’s a slave somewhere, and I will free him, and if possible, save your sister too, with or without you.” He said, resolute.
David said nothing.
Precious moments went by without either backing down, feeling like an eternity to Edward, he'd resolutely locked eyes with David, who stared back with narrowed eyes.
Then, David said, unwavering, “That’s all I need to know.” And stepped back, turning to face the road cutting through the trees.
Edward didn’t know when his limbs had gotten so cold, but they were freezing when he finally released a tense sigh.
“Let’s go, and I’ll teach you all the skills, since you might need them if we get separated.” David said, having already started walking ahead.
Edward followed, hectically trying to get some blood back to his limbs, so they’d function properly.
They travelled quickly, as usual, their strong bodies, though not as muscular as when they started, they were still as dangerous, and traversed the treacherous terrain with ease.
Edward thought that their relationship might chill significantly now that his secret was out, but his worries were mostly unfounded.
Their equal status had been maintained, since Edward’s frankly inhumane strength still helped them when they were facing dangerous Rasts, whose territories they frequently passed through, and David’s skill in tracking and living in the wild, had probably saved his life more than once.
A skill he freely taught Edward whilst they were travelling, what berries to eat, what trees were ideal for building shelters, and where he should build said shelters in order to avoid the worst of what the weather had to offer. He knew so much, in fact, that he had a sneaky suspicion that David had a more thorough education about surviving in the wilderness than what most of the other militiamen had, but he assured him that wasn’t the case.
Most importantly, he taught Edward what Rasts to avoid rather than face, and rightfully chastised Edward when he got too lost in the battle, frequently having to snap him out of it, a quirk, it seemed, came with his supernatural body.
It was quite addicting, Edward recognized, he wanted to fight almost every Rasts and beast he laid eyes upon and got twitchy when he hadn’t fought anything for long periods.
The journey wasn’t as long as the journey to the fortress, and it wasn’t more than a week before a large clearing came into view, settled in a massive valley between two equally colossal mountains.
The clearing had 2 other roads leading to it, one going straight north and the other going southwest. They had no clue where the northern road was heading, but the southwestern road was likely where they caught slaves, as David confirmed the centre of the continent was the most populated.
The massive clearing was quite empty save for 2 buildings, 1 large and 1 small, a very large pile of rocks, and a giant pit.
Advertisement
David immediately frowned when he laid eyes upon it. “That doesn’t seem right. The ground should be mostly mud. That pile of rocks shouldn’t be there.
“That means it they’ve specifically moved those rocks here for a purpose. The only obvious interaction would be to eventually fill the pit with the rocks, but that seems pointless unless they’re trying to bury something specific with them.” Edward theorized, still not quite sure how magic worked in this world, although David had confirmed its existence.
“Look, a truck from the fortress is arriving!” David said, fixing his gaze on it as it speedily arrived at the clearing.
They tensed, waiting to see if the truck would continue on to either road, or if it would stop.
It stopped.
People came out from the larger building lifting the cages of the truck, they were too far away to see if they did anything to the animals specifically, but they placed the cages around the pit in the ground, and promptly stepped away, bunching together against the building.
“No, that’s not right, there’s one guy left, standing right on the edge of the put, look!” David pointed to the cages, and Edward could barely see a figure if he squinted his eyes.
Then, even at this distance in the sunlight they could see a bright green light emerge from him, then the world suddenly darkened around them, as if the sun was put out, and the moon was destroyed, a pitch-black darkness befell the world.
The green light brightly emanating from the man still remained, stronger than ever, as if it fed of off the light from the sun, absorbing it.
Suddenly, the light took shape, several strings suddenly materialized from the light, before Edward could really comprehend what he was looking at, they instantly pierced the Rasts in the cages, 1 string for each cage, probably spearing the animal inside, as the light was shining so brightly, they couldn’t be sure what was happening inside the cages.
Whatever happened, the light got stronger and stronger, as if it was the sun unto itself, feeling like they’d be blinded if they kept staring, yet refusing to look away.
Eventually, it shined so brightly that all they could see was a bright green before it abruptly dimmed.
The strings slowly retreated from the cages, and formed a dome with several layers of strings, eventually looking like they completely solidified, as they stopped wiggling.
The green light again began to shine brightly, though not as blindingly bright as before.
A strange sound was heard, it sounded as if wind was violently colliding with a window in a house, something he frequently heard in the harsh winters, where they lived, or where he used to live.
It was completely quiet save for that one sound, so he heard it quite clearly when David muttered, “It’s crying…” He’d have to question him about that later.
The sound of the wind, as well as the brightness of the light, intensified.
The wind was deafening. It was so loud that it felt like they were in the middle of a tornado, and their house was being torn apart around them.
Then, Edward felt heavy, like he’d just put on a very weighted vest, on his entire body, like the world was compressing every square inch of him, and it wasn’t being nice about it.
He tensed his muscles, barely staving it off the pressure he was facing. He heard David grunt, as he was no doubt experiencing the same thing.
He’d been kneeling on one knee whilst he was watching the events unfold, and he felt himself be pushed into the ground.
‘Gravity, gravity has increased, that’s what’s happening.’
He refused to let his head fall, staring intensely at whatever was happening before him.
Then, as quickly as it appeared, it vanished.
The weight he’d been experiencing was gone, and gravity returned to normal. The sunlight, too, shone down on the valley below, as if it had never left, the previous darkness almost feeling like an illusion.
He jumped a bit up into the air because he’d been under such high pressure but was able to stop himself before he’d completely extended his legs, so he didn’t entirely lose his balance.
Edward warily glared at the pit and felt his bones chill when he saw the empty cages.
Completely empty, as if the Rasts had never been there in the first place.
The people bunched up at the large building scurried over to move the cages back onto the truck. Edward and David glancing at it as went southwest, meaning it was probably going to the populated areas.
Only glancing at it though, not daring to take their eyes off the figure still standing on the edge of the pit.
They were at least a dozen kilometres away from the clearing, and yet they still felt the effect of his magic. If it was that strong so far away, what must it be like up close? They shivered at the thought.
The figure turned, much easier to see now that their view wasn’t obstructed by the cages and faced their direction.
Then they felt it.
His gaze.
A predator's gaze.
He was definitely looking at them.
The surrounding temperature dropped to the freezing point, the blood in their veins froze solid.
Edward felt himself become pale, all the blood draining from his limbs collecting in his torso, trying to save his life.
Then, the figure smiled.
And they fled.
Like prey.
Like their very lives depended on not stopping.
Every single instinct in Edward's body told him that he’d be devoured if he turned around. He’d vanish from existence.
Every fibre, every blood cell, screamed at him:
“Do not turn around, run, because your very life depends on it.”
Advertisement
Birth of an AntiHero
AntiHero's FIRST REWRITE IN THE WORKS - thanks!! :] EDIT 2/28/22 - sorry, health problems right now, but I will post after rewriting the first 80-90,000 words or so and start fresh from there! Expect the change to be uploaded before summer! So long as I can keep using my hands, that is~! ^_^ X] This story will indeed get fleshed out as my vision improves for the better. But I feel the need to emphasize that a lot of parts are written in improvised comic book format as my primary writing style, and this first book is actually the entry point and starting novel for an entire very vast series I am in the works of developing. Many side characters here will eventually be main characters with there own stories; long or short. But this one particularly will be focused and centralized around Noel. Because of this, I do plan to leave the introduction for side characters as still having a special flow for readers to witness a tad of their background, so keep that in mind after my 'obviously many' rewrites from now and going into the future! Sorry for the troubles! I will improve on my style and implementation of the story!(Although I DO plan to keep parts as 'play style' or rather, comic book style, since I find it easier for certain dialogue instances as well as the fact that the novel is inspired by that 'feeling' you get while reading comic books. But my style is still evolving, you were warned!) Thank you! - Noel Tyler Malierano. He's the youngest 'son' to receive approval from 'The Malierano Family': A Criminal Organization of hitmen and hitwomen that specialize in killing, even maintaining success within a vastly superpowered society. Noel finally manages to complete his training as the newest 'Elite' killer his family created...but, there's just one problem - He doesn't want to kill! Come along and delve into a society of conflicting morals through the eyes of a boy, desperately searching for a new path to follow. Can he even manage to free himself from his father's engrained teachings and ideals? Conversely, will killing prove a lot more difficult to ignore? --- --> Thank you very much for reading! It would be helpful for me if you all consider leaving me a comment or an inbox suggestion, a review or even a full rating wherever AND whenever you believe I need to improve on anything or if something I wrote irked you! I appreciate EVERYONE that comes to read my story, however I DO want to improve my work as a writer. I hope all of you who don't like my work will let me know somehow, so I can edit and IMPROVE my story as a whole! Thank you everyone for your time! --- JUST TO NOTE!! When a character has a cultural name like, say, a Japanese or Russian name, that is because that character IS Japanese or Russian! They don't have to be FULL of one ethnicity either - sometimes they will be mixed. This story mainly takes place on an artificial continent where all countries have sent over their respective talents, meaning characters of ALL cultures and ethnic backgrounds will show hints of that in their names. Please don't assume I'm just randomly naming characters names that don't match them. And feel free to talk to me about whatever in my story troubles you - no matter how small! I love to improve. ^-^ X] --- Just to note: Characters will slowly grow as time passes. Slow pace. THANKS for reading! Enjoy! :] --- Decided to post 2 chapters every Tuesday and Friday instead of taking a small break, but I MAY upload once in a while on different days, such as Sundays, in addition to those two. :]
8 613This Devil Grants Wishes
Mira was a devil who decided to leave the prosperous upper realm and instead lurk at the cold abyss. In this darkness, she waits for regretful and resentful souls, turning their memories into stories that she could read. When she chances upon an interesting life, she travels to the soul's world to fulfill their wish in exchange for a fragment of their soul. For thousands of years, Mira journeyed through different worlds, striking deals with these unresigned souls. Magic worlds, apocalyptic worlds, martial arts worlds, modern worlds, interstellar worlds, beast worlds... upon spending many years in each of these worlds, Mira realized that the lives of mortals were much more lively and fun. With the idea of living such interesting lives, Mira decided to collect enough soul fragments so that she could infinitely reincarnate as a mortal. However, at the most critical moment, her luck suddenly took a turn for the worse. Just when she finally collected enough energy to support her wish, an accident happened. Oh, it seems that Mira won't be able to escape the pursuit of these obsessive souls~
8 172DREAM DEVOURER
Life is so beautiful and everlasting. So unfathomable and filled with mysteries. Yet so fragile and heart-wrenching. Filled with darkness and suffering with the universal law of survival of the fittest.Sky is given another chance at life, but is this really an opportunity from Heaven? Or is it an abyss from Hell waiting to devour him? Will he walk down the same path as his previous monotone life, hidden and cast away? Or will he take the helm of power and walk the path of immortality?Read along to view Sky's adventure in his new life!!!
8 112Cultivating To Apex
A story of a reincarnator with Cultivation System . He is low profile person . Let's venture the journey with our Yuan Dao .
8 79Oh darn it! I fell into an anime world
Nayani, Diana,Caxandra and Ana are normal teenage girls. They live in a life where there is no imagination, no magic, no capes. When they walk to a park they accidentally fall in a Well. when they wake up they realize they are in a anime world! A world where there is Imagination, a world where there is magic, a world where people can where capes. They fall into a game where they must defeat every villain in every anime. When they go to the final round...they come back...not normal
8 95True Love [BxB] (Unedited)
Jeon Jungkook , the only heir to The Heartless Dragon mafia is exactly what you would expect from a future mafia leader. He's ruthless, vindictive, heartless and cruel. He derives pleasure from hurting others and cares for nothing and no one but power. He has not a single thread of humanity in him, and after recently being betrayed by his right hand man and having to personally execute the man he came to love, the last bit of what could be called as humanity left within Jungkook , has been sniffed out. He closes himself off with the belief that no one can truly love him as he recalls the last words of his love.."You're unlovable"Kim Taehyung, a poor college student struggling to make ends meet along with working three jobs to pay for his sick mother's hospital bills and medication after his good for nothing father walked out on them finds himself with an opportunity of a lifetime when the head of one of the most dangerous mafia gangs in the whole of South Korea, knocks at his door with the proposal of becoming a right hand man to his son, the heir. The job would pay for college as well his mother's expenses, but that would mean losing himself in the process..Can he truly be what the young and ruthless heir needs? Can he sacrifice what he believes in to survive in the mafia world or will it eventually all suffocate him?NOTE: THIS BOOK IS TITLED "BXB" MEANING THERE IS DEFINITELY GOING TO BE SEXUAL INTERACTION BETWEEN MALES.
8 87