Faux Realm Ch. 11

'One For All' flew down towards the planet. The landing site was in dark. Sun has set and yet their lights did not help. Illumination from the ship was not enough to provide vision down below. They could only navigate using Momoa's com signal. Reaching him in record time. During this crucial time Lindsay proved to be an excellent pilot.

The ship sat on the ground. Pushing rock and gravel with its engines. Gentle curves of the ship's surface gave it almost a natural feel as it sailed down to its destination. The ship seemed to fit in like a missing piece of a puzzle in the area around it. Momoa shielded his eyes as to not get any debris in them, but the gust of air was almost enough to bring him down.

Minutes passed.

He felt like a caged animal. Pacing left and right. Waiting for those blasted women.

Then the ship opened its cargo doors and 5 fully equipped figures emerged. He again shielded his eyes someone powered on the lights that shined everything in the area. One of the feminine figures approached him.

Ericha watched the man fidget. "Take me to him. Now."

She barked her orders.

He led her back through the forest. Path in front of him illuminated enough by the combined light sources of the 5 EV suits behind him. He did not stumble while he was treading the path back to the place where the hole was.

Ericha looked and with her wrist device marked the area they were going through. Her military experience was kicking in almost automatically. Autonomous nerves were trained to do just this and she took her training very seriously and this was the result of it, mapping an unknown area for future reference. That was essential. She snarled few times, noticing poisonous plants and insects that looked menacing, but held her tongue in an effort to get to her beloved as soon as possible.

Liza and Lindsay felt similarly. Muscles poised and ready to strike. Gun's at the ready, they just needed a target.

Even though they hated that nomenclature, eventually they found it had a certain charm. Given the choice of staying behind, or rescuing their benefactor, they held nothing when expressing what they really wanted.

Tigga hated woods. She was a creature raised on concrete and around technology. So any step away from that she found unnerving. She happily stayed behind and watched the children.

They were running by the time they reached the hole in the ground, she noticed the dug up soil, the violent explosion of dirt that came from beneath it, and it unnerved her. She looked down and saw nothing but pitch black darkness.

They strung up a rope right above the hole and lowered another rope down the hole. Then she took a mechanical tool that she wrapped around the rope. With a click it received it and she tugged on it few times making sure it was secured in place.

***

"Strength in numbers." Booming voice echoed through the valley as the man in front of her started barking in a rough drawl of a voice. A passerby would mistake his voice and words to come out of a creature that did not possess high IQ, but they would be wrong.

These creatures were often thought of as simple, relative picture of their forms would've provided to the uneducated the illusion that they acted before they thought. Hulking figures that could change shape relative to their excitement.

Beside him stood another. Almost the same as the one that was in charge of the cadets but more human-like. His graying hair was the only testament that the two figures were bonded by genes.

His body began to slowly change. Usually an emotionally calm creature, visually appealing as any beefy humanoid usually was, now slowly started looking like an enraged animal seemingly wanting to murder everything in its wake. The air suddenly started to feel heavy as the man started to exude primal power the cadets never met before. His partner watched with rapt attention. Waiting for his cue.

"Pushing your own limits is something only fools do, but doing it alone is incredibly dangerous not to mention moronic. Your enemy will find any weakness to exploit. That was not the only rule you broke today." The voice barked again.

He nodded, giving the younger man his blessing. As if waiting for it the man started to change. His arms and legs began to morph into a slightly weaker version of the ones that the older solder had. Veins and muscles began to shape around his larger hands that started to look uncharacteristic to the botean physiology.

Ericha watched. Younger figure disappeared.

She was worried, its figure moved rapidly, at first she thought it was incredibly weird given his bulky body and also since his nature was incredibly violent. Mix breeds had this unfortunate defect. They could not control the volume of their emotions as their pure counterparts did, usually it would take many decades of training to achieve absolute mastery of their emotions. That alone would make them stronger, but only few could do this. A mix breed of alien and Botean made it hard for this person to control his more violent emotions. A perfect pick for a soldier going to the front line, but not something you'd group with cadets expecting a loving and nurturing hand of their senior.

She was first. A large fist collided with her solar plexus leaving, throwing her out of combat almost instantly, down on her knees she gasped for breath that would not come.

The hulking figure moved with purpose, the better of the bunch was isolated and unable to continue the combat so the man ran towards his next target.

The man watched, confused as Ericha dropped gasping for breath. He started to move away. Slowly

"Wear the right gear." Her 5 companions were scared shitless as the burly man got more agitated with every passing word.

He was pacing up and down just where they were. Like a caged animal looking for a way out. Suddenly stopping, looking at them and yelling another rule of his, "And you broke one of my cardinal rules. KNOW YOUR LIMITS."

The voice made the cadets shiver with fear and anticipation. But nothing happened. He was done revising his 3 main rules. "Now." He continued in a tone that seemed to contradict his previous mood.

A much calmer and poised creature stood before them. "I want you to go back to barracks and write an essay. What went wrong here? I'll be reading and if I'm not satisfied by your answers I'll be mighty mad." He said. The last few words betrayed his usually poised and calm manner of speech, they all saw that he was deeply and emotionally hurt.

***

She shivered.

Looking back at that moment in hindsight made her a better soldier. The need to be better, she used to be emotionally detached from her usual missions, but right now she was not on a strange battlefield fighting the strange enemy. Right now she was trying to get to her beloved as fast as she could. She found it incredibly hard to be emotionally detached from this.

Ericha took few moments and dropped down a few glowing sticks. Watching them fall and eventually disappear in the darkness, but still oddly hearing that faint 'thud' sound as they reached ground.

Slowly positioning over the hole she noticed the deafening silence. Everyone watched her every move. "When I reach the ground I'll call out if I can, if not I'll fire these." Her hand was showing several long, round, thin tubes. Each one of them had a different color.

"Green is for safe. Blue is for I'm sending him and red is for I need help. When you see Red do NOT climb down, rather send me that." She pointed to a cube that was on the ground.

Everyone nodded. Silently agreeing, following an order that came from this agitated woman.

Preparing the rope, slowly letting it untangle while she started her descent into the pitch black crevice.

Taking one foot below the other she eventually, as fast as she dared reached the bottom. Only to find... NOTHING.

"Oh no." she said quietly as her frantic attempts provided nothing but confusion.

"WHERE IS LUCIAN?!" She screamed in her comms.

Breathtaking silence took over. She waited with batted breath for someone, something, to explain where her beloved was, nothing but silent omission. She knelt on the floor, trying to figure out where she was. Maybe she descended down a wrong hole. Ericha saw a bloody trail on the ground but she was not sure if it was left by Lucian coming into the room or by someone dragging him out. She listened closely to her comms and heard nothing but static.

Nothing but deathly silence.