10 Minutes Later, 5 Metres out from the Monolisk

I gulped the eggs down with delight, something I could very much appreciate, they were free range gathered from our farm back at Rasen, not that it was there anymore anyway. I lay down my bowl and take a breath of fresh air, birds singing and tweeting around me.

The forest is warm this morning, the sunlight shining through the canopy of red leaves overhead, unique to the trees here, Fola trees they’re called. I look back to Carl and his tight expression immediately dulls the moment. “So a Machina, cried? Then it talked… and then it wanted to save me?” I ask, bewildered.

Carl nods slowly, “I find it hard to believe myself, but that’s definitely what happened.” I shake my head and rub my eyes, still groggy from my sleep from earlier. “So where is he now?” I ask tenderly, breaking the small moment of quiet between us. “He headed towards the Monolith, which is why we’re here now.”

I look back towards the giant metal… block to our left. “Hard to believe he could get in, or that it’s active.”

Carl nods again, “I agree, I find it surprising we know so little about the enemies we defeated.” I sigh. “There’s no going back, is there? The village is… gone.”

“I know, I’m having a hard time too,” Carl says, resigned. I walk towards my gear, a simple bow I put together with some flax from the shore and a couple of branches from a nearby tree, not too strong, but it will do for hunting some game.

Carl looks at me curiously before opening his mouth to speak, “I thought you were just a barber.”

I glance at him before I begin to walk into the woods, “My father taught me when I was young, how to survive, how to hunt.” Carl yells out behind me, “Don’t get lost!” I smirk, “My father taught me how not to do that too.”

***

I keep an eye out as I stalk throughout the woods, looking for a boar or a fox, or anything that could count as game. After all, we aren’t leaving until my saviour comes out, then he can answer some questions. I couldn’t leave him, he hadn’t left me, not even in my darkest moment.

I see it then, a red blur in the corner of my eye. Quickly and silently I spin around and crouching low in one smooth movement, pulling my bow up towards the direction of movement. I focus carefully on the point I saw it, listening to any sound that might give away my prey’s position.

It appears again, its large red tail making a show from behind the bush, and now I realise I’ve made a mistake, I am not the one hunting. The red tails tell tale triangle pattern is a clear sign that this is a Beakle, something my father had warned me about many times.

“Beakles are different from your average critter, they are attuned with the element of wind. Beakles are best known for three things, their teeth, their legs, and their wings. Beakles will make a large leap with their powerful hind legs before gliding down, much like a flying squirrel, to make a nasty bite with their full force behind it. It’s agile, keeping one grounded, or in a large open area, is key to taking one down, not that you should ever try, but if you ever find yourself against one, well, let’s not worry about that…”

Immediately I take a shot where it’s wings should be, and judging from the incredible shriek that sounds throughout the forest, I definitely hit it in the wings, they find damage to the wings extremely painful. I know I have no time to knock another arrow so I run as fast as I can in its direction, dropping my makeshift bow and bringing out my knife to strike it. Just as I close in on the bush the Beakle jumps up above me, closing its wings and diving down to me, quickly I dive to the left, swinging blindly in its direction as I dive.

A loud thump resounds as I hit the ground and the air rushes out of my lungs. I slowly bring myself to stand and, as my breath returns to me, I begin to wonder why I didn’t hear the Beakle land. I look towards where the Beakle was before but it’s not there. Always be thankful you aren’t dead.

I hear a muffled gurgle from behind me and quickly spin around to see my knife embedded in the Beakles throat, it landed with me. “Holy shit.” I let out a resigned laugh before taking my knife from the Beakles throat. “Guess we’re having Beakle tonight.” Just as I turn to walk back to Carl, the entire Monolith explodes, orange and red flames engulfing where the monolith once stood, an intense heat reaching me even from where I stand. “Carl!”

5 Minutes Earlier

As Kate walks away I find myself surprised that she’s so capable, a hunter even. Well that’s not to say my father didn’t teach me a thing or two about fighting himself. I recline back on the log, resting my head. Last night was… intense, and sad. I can’t believe that my family… Kate’s family… they’re gone. The Lyventian Empire had been oppressing us for years after the purge of the machines, with their new technology and mastery over the elements we stood no chance, forced to work the jobs they refused to do themselves. They had thought themselves invincible after their victory, but now they keep investing in useless things, the economy is in constant decline and the rich are getting richer.

Only those willing to lay themselves down and listen to their every whim are spared. The empire is eating itself out, and there will be nothing left. I sigh, there’s no use thinking about that right now, maybe this Machina can help us. Last night when me and Kate ran into the forest, we heard a crack and a scream coming from near the monolith. We figured that’s where he was, but, by the time we got to the monolith though, our mystery saviour was gone. Kate wants to stay here for a few days before giving up, which is nice enough of her.

BANG! The sound of an explosion booms directly in front of me and my eyes burst open. Smoke surrounds me as a mysterious figure runs directly towards me, other silhouettes taking shape behind them. I hear it say “RUN!” just before gunfire opens up towards the figure. Immediately I jump to my feet, turning in the opposite direction and pumping my legs as fast as I can. Fear bubbles up inside me as metal whips past my ears, “What the HELL did you DO in there!?” I scream at him. “I don’t FUCKING KNOW! RUN!” He says, speeding past me. If I keep running this slow I’ll be riddled like goats cheese in moments, “Hey, I need some help back here! I’m not as fast as you!”

A furious “SHIT!” sounds ahead of me before the Machina stops, waiting for me. Without hesitation I hop on his back and immediately after the environment around me blurs. Human eyes are built for humans, to be able to track what they need to at a humans max speed, but the Machina are built differently, far faster than humans, or at least those of us without magic anyway.

“Holy crap this is fast!” I yell half in excitement, half in fear we’ll hit a boulder. The machina quickly spins on his feet, pulling a full 180 degree turn to face the Machina behind us, a bit further back now. “What are you doing?” I ask.

“I’m heading back.”

“No fucking way.”

“They’ll keep coming if we leave that monolith standing.”

“So what! It’s not like you're going to blow it up!”

Silence falls upon us as the Machina chasing us in the distance begin to become visible on the horizon.

“You cannot possibly be SERIOUS! Even Machina aren’t that dumb!” I yell in desperation, trying to persuade him that this is an impossibly bad idea. “I’m not Machina.” Is the only response before we begin moving again, speeding up at a rate impossible even for a fully fledged mage, and rush past the Machina ahead of us. Dumbfounded by the lack of brains we have the Machina stand there for a moment, trying to process what to do before running towards us again.

The Machina below me raises his arms and the ‘skin’ opens up like a trapdoor, revealing two strangely shaped… things. They almost look like an arrow but ridiculously thick, even so they look quite aerodynamic. “What are those?” I ask tenderly. “Missiles.”

KA CHUNK, the ‘Missiles’ release themselves from his arms and almost immediately a roaring emerges from them, they spew fire from their backs as they travel through the air over the terrain, faster than any arrow could fly, and finally make contact with the monolith ahead of us.

I feel blinded for a moment and am forced to close my eyes as the echoing boom of an explosion fills the land around us and as the fire and smoke clears, the entire monolith is gone, as well as a good 20 metres of whatever was around it.