SoulQuest (5 page)

“So on a scale of one to ten, how pissed are you right now?” she asked.

Swul grabbed the cigar from his mouth and jerked his head at her. His grimace transformed quickly into a smirk. “Yer heavier than you look.”

Ekala coughed out a laugh and laid back on the ground. “You ass.”

The giant pterosaur carried Zarim in its talon, flying above Rolyeh’s verdant plains and jungles to one of the mountaintops. Hovering above a plateau, the pterosaur loosened its grip and Zarim fell to the earth. He struck the plateau, landing hard on his left arm and groaning as he attempted to push himself up. The pterosaur landed right in front of him, towering over him, staring down and screeching. Zarim’s hand moved slowly to the gun, waiting patiently for the beast to strike at him. He carefully moved back, pushing himself up against some kind of rock.

But the attack never came. The pterosaur just stared at him, cocked its head slightly to one side, and then looked to the skies. It began flapping its large, leathery wings, creating lift that produced a storm of dust and grit, then it flew off. Zarim exhaled, his muscles loosening. Now he had time to figure out where to go from here. But wherever he was, the presence of the Soulstone felt stronger than before. He placed his hand on the rock he had been pushed up against and used it to steady himself. But the rock started to tilt to the side. Zarim jumped back in surprise, then realized that it wasn’t a rock he had been up against.

It was an egg.

Zarim took in his surroundings for the first time since he struck the plateau. This was not simply a flat piece of land atop a mountain, it was a nest. A nest that clearly belonged to the pterosaur. And the nest was filled with large eggs, about the size of Zarim himself. He stared at the eggs with bated breath. And a crack began to appear along the top of one of them.
 

“Oh no...no no no...”

It was now clear why the pterosaur had grabbed him in the first place—the mother was seeking out food for her babies, who would be born soon. And this was the first. More cracks formed along the top of the shell. The hatchling inside poked a hole through the egg. Its beak emerged, slowly widening and letting out a little screech. More cracks appeared along the rough surface of the shell, and Zarim moved towards the edge of the nest, his fingers wrapped around the hilt of his sword.
 

Pieces of the shell fell away, and the baby pterosaur emerged from its egg. Its body was covered with mucous and it wiped some of it away with its tiny wings. As it lowered its wing from its head, the baby caught sight of Zarim. It stared at him, studying him carefully. Zarim remained still, hoping there might be a chance that the creature would think of him as something other than food.
 

And he saw it.

The egg had obscured his view before, but now he saw the large gemstone in the nest, pulsating with a pale, green glow. The only thing standing between him and the Soulstone was this baby pterosaur. Zarim stepped carefully to one side, keeping his back against the edge of the nest, which was formed from branches and broken saplings. The pterosaur’s eyes followed him and it took a tiny step in his direction.
 

“It’s okay...Uncle Zarim’s not gonna hurt you...”

The baby pterosaur screeched and opened its wingspan. It lunged for him, using its beak in a stabbing motion. Zarim spun to avoid it, his back now against one of its siblings’ eggs. The pterosaur screeched and lunged again and Zarim ducked, rolling to the side. The pterosaur’s beak pierced the wall of the egg against which he had stood. A muffled screech came from inside that shell. The baby pulled its beak out and the egg it had stabbed now shook and cracked itself.

“Some days, it’s just not worth gettin’ outta bed...” Zarim drew his sword and deflected another beak-strike. The pterosaur angrily wailed as it felt the tremor of the sword blow vibrate through his beak and into its young cranium. Still, the pterosaur’s belly was empty, and it was not so easily deterred from making a meal out of the pirate. It made another stabbing attack and Zarim deflected it again. The pterosaur’s beak seemed unaffected by the strikes, meaning it was just as strong as his sword.
 

The second egg now broke apart and another baby pterosaur emerged, shaking off the shell fragments and viscous fluid. It approached its sibling and screeched. The two creatures exchanged brief glances and with a bob of his head the eldest motioned towards Zarim. The younger pterosaur instinctually understood, and now moved beside its kin.
 

Zarim glanced over his shoulder and could see the Soulstone’s soft glow behind him. It seemed brighter now than it did before. He thrust forward with his sword, impaling one of the pterosaurs in the neck. While it wriggled on the point, squawking hoarsely, its sibling wailed and charged towards Zarim.
 

The pirate drew his gun in a rapid motion and fired at the second, the third bullet bringing down the pterosaur in a snapping, writhing heap at his feet. Zarim leapt away from the beak of the pterosaur, for even in its death throes the powerful beak might be able to snap his thigh bone like a dried twig. His leap carried him next to the Soulstone, and Zarim holstered his firearm and reached for the glowing gem. The Soulstone was as big as a large man’s fist, but Zarim was able to grip it with just one hand. He tucked it under his arm and jumped over the edge of the nest and went skidding down the sloping, jungle-covered mountainside.
 

A screech came from above. Zarim turned and saw the mother in the midst of a dive directly towards him, anger obvious in her eyes. With the Soulstone in one hand and his sword in the other, Zarim considered his options. The cliff wasn’t too steep, he could likely make it down quickly—maybe too quickly, should he miss a step. But the question was whether or not he could make it down fast enough to avoid the pterosaur.
 

It came to Zarim’s attention that the Soulstone’s glow was brighter than ever. He stared down at it, and it was now a steady light. His own eyes reacted, matching the glow of the Soulstone. Zarim felt something flow through him. He stared at the Soulstone, feeling its power flow from his arm, through his body and into the hand that held his sword. Looking to his blade, he saw green lines of energy slowly flowing down the length of the steel—all the way to the tip, which now flickered with the same glow as the stone.
 

The pterosaur seemed frightened by the effect. She roared, but it sounded like there was fear in her noise. Zarim narrowed his eyes. He raised the sword, pointing the tip at her. The pterosaur screeched again, wheeling towards her nest, trying to protect her remaining children. Zarim held the sword back, his eyes flashing with a power he’d never known before. He rushed her, placing one foot on the edge of the nest and then pouncing up. The height of his leap was greater than he’d ever reached before. Zarim raised the blade over his head, locked eyes with the creature, and brought the sword down upon her head. His steel pierced through her skull easily, then continued on, slicing through her body and cleaving her neatly in two halves.

Though he had vanquished the matron pterosaur, Zarim’s leap had unfortunately carried him far out over the edge of the nest, and now he plunged into a thick screen of raking foliage, and began bouncing down the cliff-side. Finally, bruised and battered, Zarim tumbled to a stop. The strange fire in Zarim’s eyes flickered and subsided. He looked at the sword, still clutched in white-knuckled grip, and found it was now back to its regular steel form, nothing out of the ordinary. Even the Soulstone seemed to cease its pulsating glow and now seemed like nothing more than an ordinary jade orb, if ever there was such a thing.

Ekala placed her hands in the stream, lifting the water up and cleaning the dragon’s blood from her face. She wiped her arms down next, scrubbing as best she could with the palms of her hands. She splashed some more water on her face, then shook her hands semi-dry. Standing from the stream, she went back to the spot where the dragon once stood.
 

Only half the dragon had been destroyed in the explosion. The other half was more or less intact, and Swul stood over it with a large knife, slicing the scaled pelt from the bones, cigar protruding from one side of his mouth. Ekala came by his side and watched him work.
 

“This stuff valuable, huh?”
 

“Yup.”
 

“Anything I can help with?” she asked.

“Think you can find our fearless leader?” asked Swul.
 

Ekala reached for her belt and drew the communicator. It has clearly seen better days, dented in several spots and the antennae bent in two places. “Got damaged while we were dealing with the dragon. All I get is static.”

Swul grunted. “So what now?”
 

She shrugged. “Guess you stay here. I’ll scout around, see if I can pick up trail.”

Swul removed the cigar and shook his head. “Uh-uh. We stick together, sister. I ain’t losin’
you
, too.”

“What you got in mind?” asked Ekala.
 

“Let’s give ‘im long enough for me to finish up with this thing. If we still haven’t heard anything, we head back to the ship, I’ll grab a radio an’ see if I can find Zee from the air.”

Ekala frowned. “You want me to sit on my ass while my man’s lost somewhere on this godforsaken rock?”

“We don’t got much choice.”

“I could take the sky-cycle and we could split up, cover more ground,” said Ekala.
 

“Whole reason we didn’t take one in the first place is ‘cause Zee said it’d draw attention from the flyin’ buggers around here,” said Swul. “An’ he was right. At least, if I go up, the sound of my wings won’t cause a big ruckus.”

She huffed. “Don’t like this one bit. This whole job is goin’ to pot.”

“Oh ye of little faith.”

The third voice took both Swul and Ekala by surprised. They spun on their heels to see none other than Zarim calmly strolling towards them, a smile on his face. His torn hood hung around his neck, revealing his short, dark hair and green eyes. Ekala nearly knocked him over as she threw her arms around him.
 

“Whoa, whoa!” he said with a chuckle. “I take it you’re not mad at me anymore?”

She smiled as she playfully and lightly slapped his scratched cheek. “We thought you might be dead, that gets you a stay of execution.”

“Speaking of executions...” Zarim glanced at the bloodied clothes worn by his companions as well as the remains of the creature. “Looks like you gave that dragon what for, huh?”

“One way of puttin’ it,” said Swul. “Yer woman’s crazier’n you.”

“Why do you think we work well together?”
 

Swul motioned to the dull piece of jade beneath Zarim’s arm. “Is that it?”

He nodded, holding it out for both of them to see. Swul squinted as he examined the stone with his eyes. Ekala stared at it as well and she shrugged. “That’s it? Some hunk of marble?”

“Doesn’t look like much now, I’ll give you that,” said Zarim. “But you should’ve
seen
what this thing did earlier.”

“What’d it do?” asked Swul.

Zarim patted his bald head. “Buddy, you would not believe me if I told you...”

The city of Serenity served as a marvel of modern technology, walled off from the rest of the world. For many who lived within its walls, it was the closest one could be to Heaven without dying.
 

Although one might expect the most extravagant and centralized building to be the Imperial Palace, that building was in fact dwarfed in size and magnificence by the cathedral. The central home of the Church of Illumination, presided over by the High Priest Vortai. He emerged from behind the altar, one bony hand clutching an elaborate staff. When he came into view, the entire congregation got down to their knees and bent forward, arms outstretched in front of them. The pews, by design, possessed enough space between them to allow the congregation to bow in the correct manner.

Vortai appeared to lean on the staff ever so slightly, using it to help him walk. His skin was pale and his face lined with the wrinkles of time. His tiny eyes sparkled scarlet and the vestments of gold and red he wore over his thin, frail body cast off a hazy glow as he moved.

Deacons flanked Vortai and as he approached the altar, one of them stepped forward. Vortai passed over the staff and the deacon took it with a bow. He stepped to the rear, never turning his back to the Priest and then returned to his spot in line with the other deacons. Vortai held his hands up with the palms facing the sky, the sleeves of his robe sliding down the almost-skeletal arms.
 

“Please rise, my children.”
 

The congregation slowly stood, yet still kept their heads bowed. Vortai clasped his hands together and bowed his head as well. “Let us pray.”

“Let us pray,” the congregation and the deacons repeated in unison. All of them followed their leader’s example, their hands clasped together.

“For the blessings the Presence has bestowed upon us,” said Vortai.

“Let us pray,” they repeated.

“For the glory of the Emperor.”

“Let us pray.”

“For the hardships to strengthen our faith.”

“Let us pray.”

“For the continued pursuit of illumination.”

“Let us pray.”

“And for the age to come.”

“Let us pray.”

Vortai looked up and smiled, his hands still clasped together. “Praises be unto Him and all who serve in His name. Amen.”

“Amen.”

Vortai stretched out his arms towards the congregation, and laid his palms face-down. He slowly lowered them as he said, “Please be seated, my children.”

The congregation took their seats in the pews and Vortai gently laid his hands on the altar. “My children, there are dark times ahead of us. A great power rises to threaten our faith. The threat of the Desolate One should never be diminished. The Illuminists must remain ever-vigilant against this threat. Must be ever-ready to combat the evil and the temptation brought forth by the Desolate One and his False Gods.”