In a distant corner of Mako's jungle, Bernard, Julia, Beebee, and two others tore through the undergrowth, their breaths ragged, eyes wide with dread. The five cut through the humid air, vines whipping past, fear driving their legs.
Bernard, with his hulking figure trailing the group, gripped a blood-crusted axe, its blade gleaming with dried gore that matched the stains splattered across his torn clothes. Julia clutched a long dagger, its edge slick with crimson, nearly as long as her forearm. Beebee and the two strangers dressed in a white latex skin suit followed, each without a weapon.
Hours earlier, they had each materialized in scattered spots. Fortunately, they had appeared close enough to converge. Bernard's broad grin had lit up when he found Julia, and soon after, Beebee stumbled into them.
The trio roamed cautiously, mapping the jungle's dangers, until they spotted a crude village nestled in a clearing. That's when their trouble had begun.
Orcanas, hulking brutes, each worth 350 points, aggressive and towering over even Bernard's massive frame. The village crawled with them, their guttural growls echoing. The trio meant to slip away, but then they saw them, two candidates, bound and imprisoned in their white core latex skin suits.
Julia and Beebee urged they retreat. They owed these strangers nothing, especially since they were probably highlanders. Their loathe for the highlanders ran cold in their veins. But Bernard's soft heart wouldn't budge. He argued they saved them. Bernard had always been like that. He could never overlook a person in need. It was also why his friends loved him, and why he was able to convince them.
They watched, waiting for the Orcanas' patrol to thin. The creatures weren't very bright. They relied on brute force over wits. They had left a single guard at the prisoners' cage. Julia tossed a stone, luring the guard away, and the trio freed the Highlanders, unharmed for unclear reasons. Unfortunately, their luck ran dry as they crept toward the jungle's edge.
One of the patrolling Orcanas had spotted them, its roar split the air, and the village erupted, a mob of giants charging after them.
Bernard barreled into the nearest Orcana, his shoulder meeting flesh like stone. The beast stumbled, dropping a massive axe, and Bernard snatched it, swinging with desperate force. The blade bit deep, felling the creature in a spray of blood.
Julia, quick as a shadow, swiped a dagger stuck on a butcher's mound. Blood and raw meat stained its blade. When an Orcana flanked them, she struck, carving its side and clearing their path. The five fled, the jungle swallowing them as the Orcanas' roars chased, a relentless tide of fury pounding at their heels.
They tore through the jungle, lungs burning, boots churning the soft earth, but the Orcanas' roars continued from behind, Bernard skidded to a halt, his massive frame turning, axe gripped tight in both hands, blood crusting its edge.
"Keep running!" he growled, his usually soft face carved with resolve. "I'll hold them off."
Beebee, faster than Julia could blink, lunged back, grabbing Bernard's arm, trying to haul his bulk forward. "Don't be an idiot!" he panted, voice cracking. "You think I'm letting you die for me? Herman and Aldrich would have my head!"
Bernard's eyes flickered at those names, his brothers, their faces flashing in his mind.
"He's right," Julia said, perched on a gnarled root, dagger gleaming in her hand. "If we push far enough, the Orcanas might just give up." Her voice was steady, but her eyes betrayed a flicker of doubt.
Bernard met their gazes, his resolve softening. With a curt nod, he joined them, pounding deeper into the jungle. Barely had they cleared the spot when seven Orcanas burst through, snuffling the air, their hulking forms still charging after the scent.
Half an hour later, the five froze as the clash of steel and screeches echoed from the west. Carefully, they veered toward the sound, praying for allies. In a clearing, blades sang. A dozen Highlanders in sleek white core skin suits, just like the two with them, battled a swarm of over twenty Skitterlings. Sickles slashed, aiming for necks, but the highlanders moved with lethal grace, parrying, felling a few with precise strikes.
"Quite the party," Beebee quipped, catching his breath, eyes wide at the chaos.
"It's about to get louder," Julia muttered, the Orcanas' growls closing in from behind.
"That's Marlo Achanam," the Highlander girl, one of the former Orcana prisoners said, her voice cutting through for the first time since their escape. "He is from the Achanam family.They are rich, famous, not one of the ten greats, but close."
"Marlo's a beast in a fight," the Highlander boy added, nodding. "He could tip this for us."
"Well, Marlo's got his hands full," Beebee said, eyeing the Skitterlings' relentless assault. "Those bugs are nasty."
"If we jump in, we can help." The boy said.
Julia's gaze drifted beyond the melee, locking on a lone Skitterling, its carapace a dull red, unlike the green swarm. It stared back at her, unblinking, its presence a cold weight. "I don't think we have a choice now, anyway," she said, tearing her eyes away.
The clearing exploded into madness as Bernard, Julia, Beebee, and the two Highlanders crashed into the fray. Skitterlings screeched, their sickles slashing through the air, met by the highlanders' flashing blades.
Bernard roared, swinging his bloodied axe, cleaving a Skitterling's arm in two, black blood spraying. Julia darted low, her dagger finding a soft gap in another's flank, twisting until it collapsed. Beebee, weaponless but quick, snatched a fallen Highlander's shortsword, parrying a sickle with a grunt. The Highlander duo, boy and girl, also fought desperately. They had found weapons in the mix of battle, their white core skin suits stained with mud and blood.
Marlo, lean and sharp-eyed, moved like a storm's heart, his twin sabers a blur. He parried a Skitterling mid-lunge, then spun, decapitating it.
"Tighten the line!" he barked, voice cutting the din. They rallied, forming a tight circle, but the Skitterlings pressed even harder.
Julia's eyes flicked to the red Skitterling, still lurking at the clearing's corner, its gaze cold as it watched the battle like a war general.
"Stay sharp," she hissed to Beebee, who nodded, sweat beading on his brow.
Bernard's axe swung again, felling another, but his massive frame drew more of his enemies. A Skitterling lunged at him and he blocked, but the force staggered him, boots slipping in the gore. Another skitterling got behind him and pierced his flesh, albeit the surface. He grunted painfully, before he smashed his axe into it. The skitterling's carapace cracked as it tumbled across the ground. Bernard felt his knee buckle. He dropped to the ground, using his axe to support his weight.
Then, the jungle shook. Orcanas burst through the trees, their roars drowning the screeches. Clubs and crude blades gleamed as they charged, not caring who they hit, skitterlings or humans.
An Orcana's club smashed a Skitterling flat, and another crushed a Highlander's shoulder, bone snapping. Bernard tackled an Orcana, his axe biting its thigh, toppling it with a bellow. Julia weaved through the chaos, her dagger flashed as she saved Beebee from a Skitterling's sickle.
The red Skitterling King stirred, its carapace glinting like dried blood.
It surged into the melee, sickles moving like a crimson blur, and in a heartbeat, two Orcanas fell, heads severed, bodies twitching before they hit the ground. Its mandibles clacked, a guttural command, and the Skitterlings rallied, their attacks sharper, more coordinated. Marlo cursed, sabers parrying the King's strike, but the force drove him back, boots skidding. "It's their leader!" he shouted, eyes wide.
Bernard's group tightened, back-to-back with the Highlanders. "We can't take that thing head-on," Julia said, voice low, dodging an Orcana's swing.
"Then we don't. We need to isolate it." Bernard nodded, heaving his axe into a Skitterling's chest, buying space.
The red Skitterling King appeared. It pranced like a predator, sickles raised like an executioners' blades. Marlo was closest to it. His eyes narrowed as he charged, sabers arcing for the beast's neck.
The King moved faster, a blur of red death. Its sickle parried one saber, the other slamming into Marlo's chest, hurling him back. He hit the dirt hard, sabers skittering away, as he gasped for breath. The King lunged, sickle poised to impale, but Julia darted in, dagger flashing. She deflected the strike, and shoved Marlo clear, saving his life by a heartbeat.
"Move!" she snapped, her green eyes blazing.
Marlo scrambled up, stunned, as Julia faced the King. Her stance shifted, low and fluid, dagger twirling like an extension of her arm. She moved, a dancer in a storm. Each step was a sway, each strike a glide, her blade nicking the King's carapace gaps, drawing black blood. The beast roared, sickles slashing, but Julia spun, ducked, and countered, her cuts shallow but relentless, a death by inches. Marlo watched. His sabers were back in his hand, his jaw tight with awe, as he watched Julia dance with her blade.
The King's strikes grew wilder, but Julia held firm. She sliced a deep gash across its flank, blood spraying, and in return, the king grazed her arm, carving a bloody furrow. She hissed, staggering, but kept moving, her dagger finding another soft spot, severing a tendon in the King's leg. It screeched, a sound that split the air, shaking the canopy. Marlo lunged to aid, appearing behind it. Thanks to him, the pressure Julia felt was now reduced by much.
After a dozen exchanges, her blade sank deep into the King's shoulder, nearly crippling an arm. The beast shrieked again, deafening, and retreated, limping into the jungle's shadows. Its remaining Skitterlings, fewer than ten scuttled after, their screeches fading. The clearing fell silent, save for panting breaths and dripping blood. No Orcanas remained, their bodies crushed in the rumble's chaos.
Julia sank to one knee, clutching her arm, blood seeping through her fingers. Marlo approached her, offering a nod.
"You're no ordinary fighter, you and your friends" he said, voice low. "However, it was foolish of you to not fight with your skinsuit activated, it would have conserved more energy," Marlo said flatly.
"Not all of us have the luxury of a white core, asshole," Julia snapped. Her eyes flared with heat, sharp enough to cut through him.
Marlo's lip curled downwards. "You're coreless?," he sneered.
Julia rose to her feet slowly, jaw tight. "And what if I am?"
He looked her up and down like she was beneath notice. "A shame, I would have loved you on my team. Quite unfortunate," he muttered, then herded his group of highlanders away. Even the two that had been saved by the trio, followed him without blinking an eye.
"What's his problem?" Beebee muttered, steadying Julia against a tree.
"He knows we're lowlanders," she said, her voice laced with anger.
"Oh," Bernard murmured. Then, more softly, "Julia, are you okay?"
She offered a faint smile. "I'll live." Only with Bernard did her cold mask ever slip. He was different. She let him see it.
"So… what now?" Beebee asked, scanning the horizon.
"We keep moving," Julia replied. "We need to find shelter. Somewhere we're not surrounded by highborn scum."
"And Aldrich? Herman?" Bernard asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
"And my cousin Aiden," Beebee added quickly. "We still need to find him."
"We will," Julia said firmly. She tore a strip of cloth from her shirt and began wrapping her bleeding arm. "But first, we find allies