Chapter 20: Arrow versus bullet (1)
There were very few people who still used projectile firearms. Many thought them to be outdated, favoring beam weapons due to their versatility and flexibility. They could be used in different environments, and not even space affected them.
However, many still favored the novelty of projectile firearms. Even then, gunpowder was extremely obsolete technology. Carzola's pair of handheld firearms were the state-of-the-art Maglev pistols. Their propulsion, power, bullet speeds and even noise reduction was on a whole new level. Even the most powerful assault weapons of this kind were relatively quiet, but they still packed quite the punch.
As he strapped them on, Carzola made his way to the gate. As he walked out with his carefree attitude, the lack of baggage and the sluggish stroll, anyone looking at him would have guessed he was going on a leisure walk, not a dangerous mission. Despite that, he made sure to exit early morning before the crack of dawn, while most people were sleeping off last night's party.
By the time the sun was overhead, Carzola was already deep in the forest, climbing up one of the mountain ranges. His comms indicated that he was within a mile of the newly formed crater. Intelligence indicated that this might be the new shelter for the shepherds. Naturally, that was where he'd start his investigation.
After the age of cybernetics, bodily advancements were not uncommon. Humans learned to fuse their bodies with machines, leading to the rise of cyborgs. Some were purely machines, having been made rather than born. The vast majority, however, were once creatures that got turned into machines, retaining a piece of their intelligence.
Carzola had several mods running in his body, and due to his high machinery affinity, he merged well with them. More than anything, he was a galactic warrior, which meant that he had experienced many more similar situations than those he was hunting.
Already, after waking another 100 meters, he could make out some shepherds milling about.
According to his intelligence, the shepherds were little more than creatures. They had some level of self-awareness but quite limited. Intelligence also indicated that they were almost always never seen, remaining underground and unseen. Now seeing them walk around without a care in the world, he wondered how the intelligence could get things so wrong.
Not wanting to jump to conclusions, he continued to monitor them. They were 5 shepherds. Based on his strength and field reports, Carzola knew he could easily take them down. He didn't want to rush into anything.
The 5 were followed by another group. Over time, he saw more and more shepherds milling around the area, which made him believe he was close to their lair.
Carzola had had a long day and an even longer night. However, all this was not new to him. Surveillance was the least interesting part of his job description but it was very vital. It couldn't be overlooked, any elite will tell you that, so he bid his time and continued watching.
By now, he had found his a perch overlooking the entrance to the shelter. From there, he could see the entire valley where the shelter's entrance was located. He had already sent 2 reports back to base, one on arrival and another during the night. Similarly, He even set up small detectors to help him with surveillance. Nothing was escaping his detection.
Reaching for his canteen for a gulp of water, he could feel his body begin to strain, calling for some action. The sun was coming up, hitting him just right. He took the time to enjoy the vitamin D coming his way without taking his eyes off the prize.
A small chime came off his device. It couldn't be heard from far, and if it wasn't for its earpiece being firmly fixed in Carzola's ear, he wouldn't have noticed it.
Carzola had many devices and mods all over his body. Some could keep him concealed and avoid detection, while others notified him in case he was being encroached upon. The comms link was connected to the satellite systems in the spaceship orbiting above, keeping him up to date. However, the device that was ringing was different.
The chime seemed to indicate that something other than mayi was coming out of the shelter. One of the cool features of this device was that one could map out the body's signature and filter it out or in, unfortunately, this was only limited to species. Most species were too similar in terms of physiological and biological make-up.
This did not affect Carzola one bit. He wanted to see if he could pick out the rotten potato before it spoiled the others, but so far he had no luck. There was very little to indicate that his target was in this shelter, though all educated guesses pointed to that fact.
As he watched the shelter, shock, and then elation could be seen on his face. He had just gotten confirmation of what he was looking for.
Chege was excited to start learning another spell, but he wondered which to learn. If he chose a difficult one, he would be unable to understand, much less learn it. What he needed were basic spells so that he could learn how to control his magic abilities.
Unfortunately, there was no way of learning which was a simple spell and which was not at first glance. This meant that he had to read through every spell, analyze its requirement and determine whether it was easy to learn.
Many magical texts and runes were more than just ink and scroll. They infused with the ambient mana, influencing it. If a mage with a high affinity to the element in the scroll, his or her ona would interact with the mana. This would greatly appeal the reader to the text they read.
As Chege reached for another scroll, he noticed this one was called WindShield. Curious over what that was, he unfurled it and started reading. To his shock, he couldn't keep the scroll down. It had such a great appeal that he decided to just learn it disregarding everything else.
The text was straight forward, and he found that he was able to understand it. Luckily, this too was also a basic spell. After his experience with the previous spell, he didn't need to learn so much again, and by afternoon, he was ready. He knew what he needed to do, and he'd do it.
As the name suggests, WindShield formed a shield from the wind element. One had to first manipulate the air around them to become wind(moving air) before using this wind to form a shield. This was a 2 part skill.
Chege stayed the whole night learning how to manipulate air into becoming wind. Since this wasn't very destructive, he didn't leave the shelter that night, preferring instead to dine on some food that had been prepared by Oyoo. The excitement even made him call out his pets and share a meal with them. The pets, in this case, were the 2 humans. As long as they behaved, they were under his protection.
Doctor Hanni was by far the more friendly of the 2. He even tried making conversation with the mayi. Other than Chege's posse, the others seemed extremely wary and hateful to them. One thing he was now crystal clear about was that these beings not just some beasts, their sentience was off the charts.
Watching them laugh, dance, speak and go about their lives, Dr. Hanni wondered if he was in a human settlement where everyone else was wearing costumes apart from the 2. He never switched off his academic mind though, always observing, taking notes. One could say this was a way to maintain his sanity.
At daybreak, Chege felt he had mastered the skill. Unfortunately, there was no way for him to prove his knowledge and reaction unless he tested it, and to do that, he needed to be in a position of defense.
Chege then had Kassam, Kiel, Oyoo and Doctor Hanni follow him. The other pet, Dr. Weere, was too antisocial and hence was left behind.
The moment they stepped out of the cave though, Chege got a very weird feeling that he was being watched. Scanning the horizon, he couldn't make out anything off about the place. People came and went all over, functioning as they always had been these last few days. How could he know that a very dangerous predator was currently looking at him with the fire of murder dancing in his eyes?
Nevertheless, he continued walking, no point in alarming the others for just a feeling. Chege still chose to remain vigilant. He had learned to trust his instincts which had never been wrong thus far.
This time, he went up the cave and continued walking. Further and further he went, but he still couldn't shake off the feeling.
"Why far?" Oyoo's strained question was a reflection of what everyone was wondering. They thought they were only stepping out for a moment, only to end up walking for hours away from the shelter, with no signs of stopping.
"Keep the shelter safe." After the fireball debacle, Chege had a good reason to keep walking as far as possible, and it made sense to his travel companions, as soon as Oyoo relayed what he had said.
Chege wondered what could be making him feel this way. His first suspect was, of course, the humans. Maybe they had surrounded the shelter and were waiting for an ambush. To test his hypothesis, he walked for miles away, and still the looming threat he was feeling did not go down.
Chege wondered if he was imagining, but he finally ended up in a large open place. There were no hills, rocks or trees around him, just an open grassland. It almost reminded Chege of the cliff he'd woken up on that fateful day. For the longest time, Chege had been meaning to go back there, but that was a long trip and he still needed to sort out issues before making the journey.
For now, Chege concluded that if there was an ambush, he'd see it coming. Carzola nodded approvingly, not sure if it was dumb luck to pick such a spot, or he'd been discovered. There was nothing to indicate the latter, so he concluded on the former.
He remained vigilant of such a cunning foe, watching from afar. Taking out his equipment, he started recording Chege and his companions.
For a moment, it seemed as if the wind had decided to go on a break. Not a single whiff could be felt against the skin. Chege closed his eyes and sat down. Oyoo, who was very familiar with this posture, immediately pulled back, lest she became collateral damage in a training accident. The others followed her lead.
It started small like last time, but a slight breeze could be felt against their clothes, for the humans, and fur, for the mayi. It built up steadily until a raging whirlwind surrounded Chege. With joy in his heart, he dispelled the spell and called Dr. Hanni forward.
The reason why he'd come for the trip was that, as a human, he was weaker than others. Chege wasn't sure how strong wind can be, so he wanted to test out different attack strengths, and how his shield held up against these attacks.
After a combined effort of both Oyoo and Chege, Dr. Hanni understood what was expected of him. He took a stone and readied himself. Chege cast his shield and called out to Hanni to throw, who did as he was bid.
Dr. Hanni never paid much attention to his physical strength. That being said, he did put his back into it, and that stone had considerable menace about it. It didn't hit its mark and was immediately deflected by the powerful whirlwind.
All the other lined up and tried their best, arranged in order of strength. Even Kassam's stone did not penetrate, but there was one thing he needed to test. Kassam had his spear at the ready. The whirlwind was blowing gales of dust all around, but Kassam kept his eye on Chege's silhouette, ready to strike as soon as the signal was given.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone