For a mountain, Mount Helvede wasn’t very mountainous. Sure, it had a steep point, but the incline was relatively low, to the point that you could drive up parts of it with ease. In fact, that was kinda what had happened, since Kayel had been somewhat blindly just following the GPS and going where it had been telling him to go. They’d lost the scent Nyssi had picked up and they’d been following a few hours ago, as whatever they were tracking had taken off into the air, taking its scent and footprints with it, so they’d decided to go back to their original plan of heading up the mountain, where they’d seen a massive creature fly on their first day in the jungle.
Somehow though, the mountain path they were driving on seemed to stop on a rather large, flat area, somewhere three quarters of the way up the mountain. The only way further up though was a small foot path. It was accessible, the whole mountain was weirdly accessible, but it meant getting out and walking. And Tenuk did not want to do that.
“Are you really going to complain about everything?” Nyssi hissed as she helped grab only the essentials, packing things up into convenient rucksacks.
“Yes!” Tenuk was being particularly petulant right now. Throughout the entire trip up the mountain, he swore he had seen dark things moving in the bushes, following the team in their truck, however, every time they’d stopped to investigate, they’d found nothing. Kayel didn’t see anything and Nyssi couldn’t smell anything. Tenuk had ended up spending most of the journey glued to Retvik’s side, refusing to look out the window, then feeling nauseous and having to look outside anyway to settle his stomach.
“It’s just some backpacking!”
“I don’t want to go out there! There’s something out there! Something we don’t understand!”
“It’s no safer in the truck than it is out here!” Nyssi sighed. “You think this truck will protect you? You think-” Nyssi paused. Retvik was tapping her on the shoulder. “What?”
“May I try?”
“Fine.”
Nyssi gave up and went back to packing things up. Kayel had pretty much already finished though, so instead she just stood back and watched Retvik.
“Are you alright, Tenuk?” Retvik calmly asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I just told Nyssi. There’s monsters out there.”
“We have fought monsters before.”
“I don’t wanna get eaten though. That’s painful. It’s fine for you and Nyssi, you’re both from predator races. Sure, I can shapeshift into something like you, but my brain is still that of a creature that is a snack to most things here. And that scares me.”
Retvik shrugged and leaned against the truck. “If I am honest, only Nyssi is from a predator race. Us Rethavok were, well, bred, in a way, to be big, beefy, dumb soldiers, designed to protect others. But the good news is that you have a big, beefy, dumb soldier right here, who will protect you.”
Tenuk sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. You’ve always protected us in the past… Sorry, I’m being a big baby, it’s just, this place is… bothering me.”
With a small smile, Retvik opened the door of the truck and helped Tenuk out, then patted him on the shoulder. “It is fine, Tenuk. We have all had loses of confidence. But we have to be grown ups now, understand?”
“Yeah…” Tenuk hesitated for a moment. “Uh, Retvik, can I ask a question?”
“Of course.”
“Can I ride on your shoulders?”
Retvik glanced over to the large pile of bags he knew he had to carry. “Yes, but you will have to shapeshift into something smaller. I am already doing a lot of the heavy lifting here.”
Tenuk grinned, then immediately turned himself into a cat and leaped onto Retvik’s shoulder. Nyssi glared at Retvik, unsure how he had just managed to talk Tenuk into coming along, then started putting her rucksack on. Kayel had already sorted himself out and was busy strapping his rifle to his back and tucking his dagger into a sheath on his belt. Above them, the familiar camera drones circled, almost ominously.
“You all ready?” Kayel asked. “We’re burning daylight here.”
Retvik quickly grabbed everything, including Tenuk’s gear, and threw it on his back. Nyssi glared at Retvik some more, then started moving, towards the small path.
The path itself wasn’t too treacherous, in fact, one could have probably driven up it if they had a small enough car, but the edge was a little crumbly and it was slightly steep. The path though didn’t go very father before it suddenly became very thin, forcing everyone to walk in single file. Nyssi led the way, with Kayel in the middle and Retvik at the back, and Tenuk watching everything with caution while perched on Retvik’s shoulder.
After a while though, the path sloped upwards and turned into a set of stairs. This did cause Kayel to grumble somewhat, but he held his tongue. After all, he didn’t want to sound like Tenuk. The stairs didn’t last long though, and the path looped back on itself, leading to the entrance of a large cave, with a flat open space in front of it, perfectly large enough for something massive and winged to land on. None of that was a problem. The problem was that there was a wooden door blocking entrance to the cave proper.
“Are you really telling me that no one has ever noticed this?” Kayel tutted. “It’s pretty fucking obvious.”
Nyssi glanced upwards, higher up the mountain. There were trees scattered around, but she could also see the edge of a satellite dish and some solar panels.
“Eh, with enough camouflage, maybe?” Nyssi shrugged. She glanced around once more, then decided to approach the massive door. The door was so large that it looked like it was meant for something larger than Retvik.
“Wait wait wait wait you’re gonna knock?” Tenuk hissed, trying not to be too loud.
“Yeah, why not?”
“It’s a fucking massive door!”
“It’s just a door!” Nyssi turned to Kayel. “Just in case though, is there anywhere nearby you can jump us to?”
Kayel glanced around, looking for the nearest, darkest spots. He peered over the ledge, where he could see the truck down below. It was parked under a tree, in the shade. Not the best, especially since the next closest dark area to him was inside the cave directly ahead of them, but at least he had an out if they needed it.
“We should be good.”
Nyssi smiled, then walked up to the door. There was no bell, so she decided to just knock. Already, she could hear movement inside. Kayel reached for his rifle, but Nyssi suggested that he stay put, however everyone stepped back a bit.
After a little too much rummaging around, the door swung open, revealing a very, very large Thraki. Most Thraki were basically wyverns with extra fingers on their winged front arms, allowing them to hold objects as well as fly, and they mostly walked around on all fours, manipulating a lot of things with the long, nimble mouths on the end of their long necks. All Thraki had horns on their heads, and males also had a horn on the tip of their snouts. The average height of a Thraki though was about 2m tall and they were rarely more than 4m long from snout to tail tip, and the Thraki standing before them was at least 4m tall and stupidly long.
The majority of Thraki were also covered in large, reptilian, scale-like plates. However, this Thraki was incredibly smooth, with snake-like scales that were smaller and finer than the scales Nyssi had. This colossal beast was also a pale, baby pink, with reddish eyes and the occasional patch of purple, as well as gold claws and horns. Not at all natural colours for a Thraki.
“OH MY! VISITORS! THIS IS NICE! COME IN!” the Thraki’s voice boomed. “PLEASE! I SHALL PUT THE KETTLE ON!”
Tenuk whispered something to Retvik, but Retvik simply tutted.
“This Thraki is clearly intelligent, we should just do as it asks.”
Kayel and Nyssi both looked at Retvik, having lost their confidence, but Kayel quickly relented.
“If it wanted us dead, it would have already spat fire at us already…” Kayel sighed, then led the way inside. However, the camera drones remained outside, hovering uneasily and unable to navigate any further.
The cave wasn’t much to look at. It was very dark, dark enough for Kayel’s tastes but too murky for everyone else. Small lights lined the walls but did nothing to actually penetrate the darkness. The back of the cave was filled with a massive mixture of coins, gems, cushions and blankets, while a large flat screen TV and an oversized keyboard were plugged into a nearby computer, and this was connected to a handful of adapters and extensions that led to another handful of adapters and extensions that trailed off outside. There was also a small kitchen to one side with a fridge, stove, large metal caulron, sink and microwave. Along the far left wall was a long pool of cold water that trickled from the ceiling and down a small channel out of the cave. As stated, the Thraki had already put a massive kettle on the stove, and was fetching some mugs from a nearby cupboard.
“SO WHAT BRINGS YOU LITTLE ONES TO THE HOME OF THASSALIN?” the Thraki asked, grinning a little too much.
“Is Thassalin your name?” Kayel asked. “We’re kinda here to, I dunno, stop you from killing the local Thrack population or something?”
“YES, I AM THASSALIN, THE SINIC THRAKI. ONE OF YISINI’S OLD PARTNERS. AS FOR THE FALSE DRAGONS? I AM NOT KILLING THEM, I JUST TAKE THEM FROM THE CORRUPTIIDS! PLEASE, SIT DOWN!”
Thassalin pulled out several large cushions from his bed and threw them towards the team. Everyone did as they were asked, with Tenuk shapeshifting back to normal but remaining close to Retvik.
“What are Corruptiids?” Nyssi felt rather uncertain, but at least this Thraki seemed nice. She’d worked with Thraki before, they weren’t nearly as dangerous as they looked. “We’ve not heard of them before.”
“NASTY, NASTY CREATURES! SOMETHING LEFT HERE BY THE MEAN OLD SPACE LIZARD LADY. THE ONE THAT USED TO BE IN CHARGE!” Thassalin rushed around the kitchen before returning, clumsily handing everyone a mug of something hot and steamy. Tenuk had assumed it was tea, but as he sniffed it, he realized it was a meaty soup.
“Uh, which old space lizard lady?” Nyssi continued with the questions, while Kayel had grabbed a pen and some paper and was writing everything down.
“OH, I DO NOT REMEMBER. WAS A LONG TIME AGO. TIME WAS WEIRD THEN. SHE WAS GREEN. OR WAS SHE PINK? OR RED? THIS WAS BEFORE MY DEAR YISINI STOPPED BEING PURPLE.”
“Do you mean the Goddess of Life, Sini?” Tenuk interrupted. “Because only us Spasts have ever called the Goddess of Life Yisini, and that’s an ancient name we no longer use.”
“YES, SINI. SHE IS MY KEEPER, MY DARLING. BUT SHE DOES NOT VISIT ANY MORE. SHE IS BUSY. ASKED ME TO KEEP AN EYE ON THE MONSTERS THAT OCCASIONALLY SPAWN HERE. AS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE ARE CLOSE.”
“Close to what?”
“THE UNIVERSE’S EDGE, OF COURSE. WELL. A FOLD. SPACE TENDS TO GET FOLDED. BUT SPACE WAS NEVER MY DOMAIN. TIME IS MY DESIRED FUNDAMENTAL. BUT YISINI LETS ME PLAY WITH LIFE. THIS MAKES ME HAPPY.” Thassalin eagerly downed his mug of soup. “ARE YOU HERE TO HELP ME? YOU ALL HAVE A SCENT. ONE I LIKE. BUT ONE I CANNOT PLACE.”
Nyssi nodded. “Yeah, we can help! We don’t really know what they are though, apart from the fact that they’re killing the local wildlife.”
“I SHALL SHOW YOU. AFTER WE TALK SOME MORE. AFTER-” The mighty Thraki paused, then snarled and turned to the three smaller beings. “YOU. CLIMB ON MY BACK. WE GO NOW!”
“N-now?” Tenuk stuttered, then let out a squeak as Thassalin grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him onto his back, before doing the same with Kayel and Nyssi. Thassalin then charged out of his cave and took off, flying into the distance, taking the three heroes and the two camera drones that had been waiting outside with him.
With a tut, Retvik climbed to his feet, made sure that the stove was turned off, then left the cave, closing the door behind him. Although he was somewhat concerned, Retvik at least knew that his friends were all wearing GPS trackers. All he needed to do was get back to the truck and find out where they were going.
“I hope this does not become commonplace…” Retvik sighed to himself as he picked up his pace. “Being left behind is not as amusing as I thought it would be.”