Castaway Planet

Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 153 of 365. Sol standard year]

Days after of Crash landing/ 2

Uninhabited Island / Ruins / Followers of the Great Beast[Beast Cult] Complex

Galactic Standard Time / 0900

Zezill slashed through the neck of one of the strange insect humanoids, he looked around. The others were holding their own, but the enemy was uncountable. They dealt with a room of them and more came at them. He couldn’t understand, just where were these things coming from!? These strange foes had the ones that they fought at the Battle Line, but how was that possible? He knew what the stories said, the ones they fought wanted the deaths of the Tribe for being different. So how could these things fight with other beings? It didn’t make sense!

Looking around, he saw the others panting heavily as they stood above the corpses of their foes. Some of the warriors had blood dying on their fur that they all ignored. He saw Guricall pulling one of his daggers free from the eye socket of one of the Insect things.

“Take a breather, everyone. We move onto the next room in a few minutes,” Zezill said softly as he sank to the ground. As the others all cried out in relief, Zezill eyed Guricall who nodded. He knew what his friend meant, and they all needed to rest. The only advantage he had was that the Power still burned within him. He had laughed but now he knew the truth, even when he was resting the Power was making him better. He could feel his strength returning as the Power stayed at the same heat level.

A roar from one of the giant things came from the door deeper in and stopped his thoughts. Zezill could only growl as he felt his rage start to rise. Looking up he saw one of the giant ones thunder into the room holding an Axe high. It looked at him as it thundered towards him. When it was five feet away from him, Zezill reacted. In a moment, he was behind the creature and flicked blood off his sword. Behind the creature roared in pain as its hands fell, having been sliced off by Zezill as he moved.

Zezill turned around and looked at the others, all of them staring in shock. For a moment Zezill almost opened his mouth be then he realized just what he had done. He felt that the heat of his Power was low, but it slowly grew hotter. With a small smirk, he thought of what he had done and within an instant, he was by the door they hadn’t come through. As his smirk grew wider, he looked at the others as Guricall just started to laugh.

“Always have to be that kit, didn’t you brother? Well, that’s enough rest for now! Can’t let you get that much farther ahead than me!” Guricall said as he got back to his feet. For a second he almost fell back down but he gathered his strength. “I’M NOT DONE! I’m still going to keep going!”

Zezill was about to speak up when a blazing crimson aura exploded around Guricall. For a moment he was just shocked, but then Zezill grinned. “So you plan that brother? Gain your Power with a speech?”

Guricall blinked before he slowly looked down at his hands.

Zezill only laughed as he saw his friend’s mouth drop open in shock. Zezill had to admit, that he was feeling the same. The Tribe always talked about how it was next to impossible to awaken the Power on your own, but here they were. Both of them had the Power, and it seemed like it was a gift from the Dead Makers!

His eyes went still as a strange and possible thing passed through his mind. If that was what this was, then he could never tell. It would be so disrespectful, and some of the Elders would want to do it!

“I feel amazing! Was this how it felt with you?” Guricall asked with a grin.

Zezill only laughed and shook his head, happy that his friend had gained this might. It would be the perfect thing. They could do so much more now.

“Maybe. Are you feeling that gift? How your strength is coming back?” Zezill asked as he laughed. He looked at the door ahead of them, and he tried to find any scent that told them they were on the right path.

“Yeah…… amazing. I mean….wait! This is how those with the Power were always able to outlast us in training!?” Guricall asked with a scowl.

Zezill looked up and nodded, a foul look on his muzzle. “I think so, my friend. I mean it makes sense. Can’t have your new deltas thinking their alphas.”

Zezill figured that plan was made a long time ago. With how Harill acted, he probably hoped that some of them would win. The truth was probably kept from him. And who knows what secrets were kept from the rest of the Tribe? And why? Somehow, he was sure that if he ever found out the answer, then he would just want to do one thing. Take out those who led his Tribe. What other secrets were they hiding?

Suddenly he felt a shiver go down his body as the worst idea ever appeared in his mind. Then he felt such rage he almost vibrated in place. If he found his thought was true, then he would kill them all!

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Guricall looked into the darkness as the others all got back to their feet. Even feeling the new Power he gained, he didn’t feel like this was a fight they would win. The enemy…. They just keep coming! The group had been able to kill them so far, but what if there were worse within? He didn’t want to let Nyllia die, but they were up against the near impossible! The Tribe had to know about these things. If they could travel these paths, then that was such a security risk. If the tribe was attacked from these paths, they would have no defense. Son many of their people would die, there was nothing that they could do to move fast enough to defend.

But then he caught a scent that caused him to stop and take another sniff. There. That was Nyllia. So she had been pulled this way after all. And there were more scents with her, others had gone this way. This path must have been used a lot, and recently too. Whatever this was, it might be near their barracks. That would explain a lot, and it might be the reason for the numbers. Well, they were in too deep anyway by what he smelled. Time to be a hero then.

“There she is bro. You got her scent right?” Guricall said and as he heard Zezill take a deep breath, he forced back a sigh.

“Yeah, and the others. We’ve got one chance, we need to kill fast and move on. We can’t do anything else….. do you hear that!?” Zezill asked with a scowl.

Guricall looked around, trying to catch what his friend had. He had heard that those with the Power were just better. He had thought it was boasting, but now he wasn’t so sure. After all, how then was he able to smell Nyllia’s scent before Zezill? But then how had he heard something that Guricall couldn’t?

“No, what does it sound like?” Guricall asked. Part of him didn’t want to know.

Zezzil looked at him as the others gathered around him. With a scowl on his face, he looked over his shoulder at the group. “Drums and chanting.”

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Nyllia moaned softly as she fought her way back to the waken world. For a moment she didn’t understand where she was, and why she couldn’t move. Then she did as everything snapped back to her. Those things that attacked them, they had kidnapped her! She remembered seeing Harill attack some of them, but then she blacked out.

She opened her eyes and moved them around, and as she did she started to feel fear. She was in a large chamber, at least more than two hundred feet wide and long. She was on a platform, and ahead of her was a large pit that went down beyond her sight. The pit had to be a good fifty feet around, and there was a large door with a strange slim, and long creature on it. She had never seen anything like it before, but just looking at it made her feel fear. She tried to move but she was tied tightly, and she could feel something holding her up.

Then she realized that she was hearing a loud rhythm, like many drums. Her eyes went around the room and she saw something to her right. There were twenty of the large bulky figures, all dressed in large robes. They were in two rows, each one before a large drum and they were beating them with black hammers.

A small strange sound next to her caused her to look and notice that there were two figures next to her. Both looked like the enemy, but they were so young! They had to be children, what was this!? One of them smelled like a male and was in a full-body outfit with a mask on. She couldn’t tell anything more about him, but he smelled like he had the Power! And to her horror, she saw that like her he was tied by ropes. She saw that the ropes were connected to a piece of wood connected to a post, and that explained why she couldn't move.

Beyond him was a girl with jade hair, dressed in a simple-looking smock hanging from a pole like them. She had scents, scents that smelled like the others in the chamber. She couldn’t understand, what this was meant to be. These strange figures weren’t the Enemy, they couldn’t be. The girl told her that much. These must be other beings that fought the Enemy. She must have been captured, but what was happening?

But then the drums went silent. She looked up and saw a basic humanoid figure walking down the rows. But to her shock, the figure was one of the Enemy! Just what was this?!

As the figure stood there, he started to speak the Enemy's strange tongue. The more this continued, the more she couldn’t understand what was happening.

But then she heard a loud scream, as if from a maw come from behind her. The way that the speaker stopped, something had happened. All she could hope for was that this keep them from moving along with whatever this was. The more time to figure out what was happening, the more time to get free.

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As Zezill ran along the corridor, he tried to keep calm. His thought from before was still in his mind, and he couldn’t get it to die. The very idea was against everything that he ever believed in! How could any being or beings do that!?

“You okay bro?” Guricall’s voice caused Zezill to look at him. He blinked as he looked at Guricall for a few moments before he shook his head.

“Yeah, I am. I was just lost in thought. Bad habit, ya?” Zezill asked as he looked ahead. He had to keep in the game, he couldn’t let his focus shift. He had to save his friend, and then he could deal with what he figured out.

“Must be something big bro. Gonna tell me?” Guricall asked and Zezill only laughed.

“Keep your focus on this. You don’t want to know my problems right now,” Zezill said as he looked ahead at a door. The scents that came from it showed that Nyllia had been carried this way, and that was enough. Once they had her, they could escape and find a place to hide with the others. Then he, Guricall, and Nyllia could use their Power to break through the birds making a nest in that chamber. Then they could go home and show the Tribe what they had learned, and he would even use the Honor Duel to get them to listen.

But then to his horror, the door opened while the group was ten feet away. From the open door out came five members of the Enemy. Each one was wearing a purple robe and they looked at the group like they were ants.

“What are they doing here!? Are they allies with the monster people?!” A warrior hissed in confusion.

Zezill could only nod his head, not understanding this. But this made his theory that much more possible, and he hated that he was happy about that! But if it was true, then maybe they could talk to these ones. All they wanted was to get their friend, and then they and their allies could do whatever they wanted.

“Anyone knows how to talk their tongue guys?” Guricall asked, his voice having a note of humor in it.

But before they could even try to say anything, the Enemy figure’s bodies started to shift. As they watched the five figures became more the Bulky ones.

“What fresh horror is this!?” Guricall stammered as the Bulky figures ran at them.

Without a word, Zezill shot forward, a green aura forming around him. He jumped at the first one and only the question of Nyllia was beyond them kept his Power leashed.

The Bulky figure roared and stung its arms at him but he jumped over them slashed. His blade cut deep into the Bulky figure’s neck and blood gushed out. As the first figure tried to stop the bleeding, Guricall was there.

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Guricall only grinned as his knife shot into the Bulky figure’s right eye, sinking deep into the organ. He felt it hit something and as the Bulky figure’s other eye went milky, he pulled his blade free. As the body fell forward, he pushed off it, flying through the air towards the wall. He looked and saw Zezill slashing another of the Bulky figure’s throats. He didn’t was a moment, as soon as he hit the wall, Guricall pushed off it. He flew towards another of the Bulky figures, it saw him coming. It was locked in place, and it could only try to block Guricall. But Guricall twisted and called up his aura, the crimson blaze ignited. He could feel his knife heat up and he smirked as he cut through the Bulky figure’s neck.

“Two!” Guricall called out as he landed on the ground. The two Bulky corpses were behind him, and the others were charging to join the battle.

“Just two!? How’d that happen? I mean I killed two and there are two left!” Zezill said with a grin in his voice.

“We shared a kill. That one was stopping the blood,” Guricall said with a laugh.

As the last two of the Bulky figures looked at them, Guricall thought he saw something in their eyes for a moment. They charged forward at the two Felines as other screams came from the door to their right. But that was for later, for now, they had to handle these two.

“I’ve got right, you’ve got left!” Zezill called out as he ran in front of Guricall.

Guricall followed after him, aiming at the other one. There was nothing that would stop them from saving their friend, nothing that could stop them.

As he ducked under the blow of his target, he stabbed upwards with his dagger. It sank into the arm before swinging up towards the Bulky figure’s face! As he pulled free his other dagger, he locked eyes with his foes and saw nothing but animalist rage in them. He almost stopped but he stabbed forward and slammed his dagger into the creature’s right eye.

Beside him, Zezill had cut off his target’s head. As the blood squirted up out of the stump, Zezill jumped backward and landed on the ground facing the new door.

“Always have to finish with style, don’t you bro?” Guricall said, shaking his head.

“What? If you do something, end it with your mark,” Zezill said with a grin as the others came up behind them.

Looking at the door, Guricall felt something. He didn’t know what it was, but there was something beyond that door that bothered him. He almost said something before suddenly, white thin things shot out from it! In seconds every one of the Felines was covered in it, and to his horror, Guricall fell to the ground. He heard Zezill roar and the sounds of him breaking free as another of the Bulky figures thundered out of the door. This one was holding a large war hammer in its hands while wearing a purple robe. It slammed into Zezill and sent him flying down the corridor.

From the doorway came five of the insect-like figures and a new horror. This thing was a humanoid with a spider's lower body. Its humanoid body was sticking forward and it was covered in black chitin. Its hands ended in two four-fingered claws. Its head had a line of multifaceted eyes below a maw that had wisps of the white stuff around the Felines in it.

As he watched, Guricall saw one of the Insect figures raise its claws around the body of one of the other Felines. In a second he realized what it meant to do and he reacted, feeling the warmth within him calling out to him.

“NO!” Guricall bellowed as a red aura formed around him. As the webs were burned away, Guricall only looked at the creatures. With a yell, a storm of red darts flew out from his aura, striking the figures. When each dart hit, there was a small explosion of flames and heat, explosions that slowly killed them all.

Guricall fell to the ground, panting as he felt such cold within him. For a second all he could do was keep breathing, waiting for the warmth to return. Once he could look around, he stared in shock.

He had killed all of their foes. All the beings were dead, and the others looked at him in shock. He started to shrink down when they all started to cheer him softly.

Zezill only looked at the corpses for a moment before he looked at Guricall, smirking. “So bro? Got enough Power left to help me get the others down?”

Guricall only laughed a little and shook his head. “What? Mr. Style needs some help from me to finish this?”

“What can I say,” Zezill said with a smirk as he grabbed the white stuff around one of the others and started to pull. “I want to spread the work around the group.”