บท 100: Chapter 16: Shield
Sadie finally understood what this being... an extinct Herculean 2 species is saying to him, but the entire scenario just became more and more confusing despite the final clarify of his 'speech'. He can indeed process it.
Sadie has his mouth open, but nothing is coming out. He looked at the greatly changing landscape around him, and wondered if he has accidentally taken any psychedelic pills some how.
'Can you process my speech?' This being repeated his speech, and Sadie simply nodded blankly.
'Can you process my speech?' The being asked again, the robotic tone giving no more information.
It is now that Sadie realized what is happening. After the ball has entered into his body, everything started changing. The being appeared around him as the environment completely altered itself around him. The being's first few tries of trying to communicate with him was impossible to understand possibly because they are from a different species and use a completely different language. Though Sadie did not realize it yet, it was not only that they were using different patterns of speech, but they also utilizes a different part of the audible sound spectrum, which explains why parts of his speech is distorted and cut off in the first few tries.
But for some reason, now he can hear him perfectly fine.
'I can process your speech, and I have a lot of questions.' Sadie said slowly, trying to move around and inspect the environment further, but realizing that his legs are glued to the ground. No, he cannot feel his legs. He tried to stay calm and locked his gaze onto the being in front of him.
'That is an achievable result. The inputs are many and many.' The being said with an understanding tone, or at least that's Sadie's interpretation, 'I am the guardian of Shield, ever since I obtained it suns ago. And you have re-turned this on.'
Sadie swallowed hard, his heart pounding so loudly within his chest that he could barely make out this being's weird speech pattern. And that's compounding on the weirdness that he is talking to another species that has been extinct!
'The Shield? That's what the ball is?'
'You are true.' The guardian said, 'Shield grants you power, too much power to bare and to bear for one.'
'Why should you possess it?'
The sound of the guardian's voices ring loud like a bell being struck at first dawn. Sadie's face twitches as his body feels uncomfortable by the sound of this very question. Why should he possess it? What is this question even, and does he not already have the ball within his body just by touching it alone?
'Do I not already possess it?'
'You are false. I can terminate the connection, and you along with it.' The guardian's stern voice maintained, 'why should you possess it?'
'Why...' Sadie thought back to the tale he heard about this guardian being, about how he used this artifact to shield his race of people in a time of need, 'why did you come for this item?'
The guardian was caught off guard by this question, and he fell into a short-lived silence before answering, 'disaster strikes, and the ancient legends tells of a tale of an item that can protect my tribe. I sought after it, and after it I sought. Across the seas I sailed, and into my hands it fell. I fought off its previous guardian, and now the guardian of it I am.'
'You wanted to protect your family, but I want something different.' Sadie said, 'I wanted to protect a value, a belief, a dying faith in this age!'
'People have forgotten the path they have taken to get here, and I wanted to protect our past from the present, and the future!' Sadie exclaimed, and his voice echoed in the drop. The guardian didn't say a word, and the surroundings that were bright a mere moment ago returned quickly to its original darkness. Sadie was startled once more by the change, but had forced himself to get his breathing back under control. Was his answer sufficient? Did the guardian agree with what he said and let him have the artifact?
The ground quakes, and Sadie almost fell to his knees. He spun around quickly, the flashlight back into his hands and dashing all around him to spot any possible dangers. He has experienced earthquakes before, and this doesn't feel like it. The shaking only happened for an instant. Sadie rose to his feet before another shake popped him off the ground lightly. He caught himself and stayed on his feet this time though. Then, a gigantic shape overshadows the rising moon, blocks almost all of the night sky's background light and came into the light cone formed by his flashlight.
It appeared to be some form of an gigantic mountainous monster, and it completely ignored Sadie, continuing in his steps as the giant foot of his pulled up from the beach down below and swung it towards the exact crater Sadie is going to camp in! Now the two meter vertical drop make sense!
There is no time to run, before Sadie realized what is going on, the feet is merely meters right above his head. Is this where his story ends? With his survival instinct, he raised his hands up over his head and prepared to be pressed into a meat pancake. There was a resounding bang, and he felt a like impact force that eventually distributes in an dome-shaped area above him. He looked up, and see the shape of a bubble forming right above where his hands are, and the squishy feet of this giant monster began leaking sea water the moment a contact force is felt. The streams of water continued to run down from the side of the dome into the ground and covering his sleeping back in mud and sand.
Sadie cannot believe what he is seeing with his eyes. That must have been one hell of a mushroom.
Somehow, someway, he manifested a dome that shielded him from the impact of the monster's step. And now, everything started to make sense. This shield is indeed capable of such metaphysical powers, and this is exactly why he can succeed. Now all he had to do is to wait until the monster take another step and he will be set for the rest of the night.
Strangely so, the force he feeling from over his head is increasing by the second. Even though instincts tell him that the actual weight of this monster is much much heavier than the amount of force he is currently experience, he was still able to push against the unstoppable force and at least hold on for a bit. Now, he is struggling to even stay upright.
The monster seemed displeased and unsatisfied with how the last step felt. It was a pitiful contact, and now it is starting to put all of its body weight into crushing this annoying pebble!
Sadie screamed out as he strained to maintain his body position, his back bent, knees now sinking into the mud underneath his foot as the doom he was creating was bring pressed deep down into the dirt.
'Why should you possess the shield?' The familiar voice rumbled from beside him, 'WHY!'
'Now is not the time!' Sadie just struggled to let the air out as he held his breath and tried to push back against the crushing force.
'Why should you possess it? Why do YOU deserve the power? Why would YOU carry it!' The guardian reappeared next to him and his voices continued to become louder and louder, to the point that it's the only thing inside Sadie's mind.
Sadie's downward momentum stopped as he thought about his purpose in this galaxy, why he started his journey, and why he came to Hercules 2 to begin worth. With his knees having nowhere to go in the mud other then up, Sadie yelled as he grinded his way upwards, slowly inching away at the unstoppable force that's now been deterred. He will not give up until the truth is revealed to all, he will not give up until all realize the importance of his message, and he will not die before his mission is completed. He is the messenger, and he will spread the message of the one human truth. Of what made us human.
If he failed, he failed all of humanity that came before, and he cannot be stopped here, not by an unknown monster on the tiny planet of Hercules 2.
'I will change the galaxy! I will show everyone the one truth that defines us! I will walk the path of Hercules!' Sadie said, now fully erect and shaking. Then, he dipped his knees and threw his hands upwards, tossing the monster to the side. He expected the ground to shake once more due to the impact, but there was nothing. The lights went on once more, and the guardian appeared in front of him.
'I have seen your truth.' The guardian said slowly, as he approaches Sadie, 'our species may not have crossed paths, but our history remains. Go on and spread the truth to the galaxy.' Then, he walked right through Sadie's body and disappeared forever. The environment returned to what it was before, and Sadie could barely stay on his feet. He stumbled back to his 'camp' and sat there in silence for at least fifteen minutes. Then, he gingerly touched his sleeping bags, expecting nothing but filth. To his shock, it was clean and dry.
That must have been one hell of a mushroom.
Even still, before Sadie went to sleep tonight, he has moved the camp to a rock just outside of the drop, just in case any monster would walk by and crush him in his sleep.
Sadie would later come to realize that his life is indeed changed forever. This very item, though he did not know is one of many powerful artifacts, was able to serve as his raft on his way back to the equatorial regions. Initially, he could merely hold the shape of the dome for minutes before running out of energy and having to release it. The control of the Shield is very simple, and it is a mere trade off of intensity and duration. Sadie knew after the first day and using the power of the Shield would be the only way for him to make his return, and so he started practicing it.
Within a month, he was able to become fairly adept at moving on top of water, though any waves taller than him and dumping thousands of liters of water over his head will still crush him after some insignificant resistance. It was a slow process with visible but not sufficient improvements. Soon, he will run out of rations, and will need to fish for it.
Another two months have past, and Sadie is now extremely familiar with navigating the local waters. His underwater pistol have run out of ammo a week ago, though he has figured out a way to attack using the power of the shield. He would simply have to swim among a group of Herculean fish before activating the shield. The dome would instantly project and bounce both the surrounding water and the fish away. When he got good at this, he can throw a fish all the way back onto the shore with a well-timed activation.
This will at least make sure he can stay alive for the time being before the toxin neutralizing agent is out. When that is all done, it is time for him to return.
Sadie Allen spent the next two months going out into the sea right after sun set as the waves are about to pick up, and even went into some of the smaller whirlpools to test the waters, quite literally. With more practice, he was able to resist higher and higher forces, and last for longer and longer. Now being able to do it days at a time, though none like what he felt on the very first day of having the Shield, the steady improvements was still enough for him to set the day of his return.
And when that faithful day finally came, he took his new raft, the empty supply box into the ocean, and created the shield around it. By taking advantage of the outgoing current, he easily completed the first stage of the journey, but what comes next will be the hardest challenge yet.
Within the next day, he found himself in the midst of the chaotic sea, completely disoriented and void of sense of direction except for the compass he kept in the box showing him the way south. He battled with the waves for days and night, making small steps forward in the seemingly endless voyage. His entire body is aching, but there is no time to stop.
The relentless waves only continued to pile onto him without mercy.
There were a few times when his arms almost give out as the breaking waves piled on tons of water right above him, but the words of the guardians brought him back onto his feet. He cannot perish before his mission is completed.
His body finally gave in when the shores of the islands reappeared on the other side of the chaotic seas as the waves began to die down once more and the currents starting sending the floating box towards the nearest island. When it touches down on the rocky beach finally, Sadie simply rolled out of the boat and blacked out. He made it, but he cannot feel his entire body at this point. Some of the local fisherman that are coming back from a day's hard work took care of him right away, and Sadie heard from them afterwards that he was out for a good six days or so.
He left the island Sadie Allen, and he returned the bearer of the Shield, and he brought forth his message.
If not for the unimaginable amount of effort and work he went through both to get over and back from the chaotic seas, none of these would have happened. The hardworking fisherman immediately brought into his message when he demonstrated what the shield is capable of. He wished for them to spread the message as he leaves this island, but they instead worshiped him as someone who can conquer the rage of the ocean, and prayed to him every time they go out to the sea.
This is when Sadie realized that his actions speak louder than his words, and consequently people focuses more on what he can do with the Shield rather than what he want them to do through his preaching.
Nothing is ever straight forward when it comes to humans, and this is when Sadie made up his mind to fully commit to making his dreams a reality, through whatever means it necessary. So far, his power are merely another aspect to him while his message makes up another unrelated part. He needed to create a story to tell, a narrative that people can buy into very easily.
Thankfully, the very first two islands are his beginning, for every island after, he starting doing things a lot differently.
When Sir Deva landed in his ship onto the Hercules 2 planet, one of the two inhabited planet in the Hercules system, he immediately came to like the raging oceans. Even from the windows of his spaceship, the turbulent winds of the chaotic seas sends him all the way to the equatorial regions where he landed in one of the bigger islands near a structure that appeared to be a space port, or at least an airport like facility.
There is a certain fighting spirit occupying the endless oceans on this planet, the primitive ocean fighting back against the occupation of humans. Or rather, only the strong can survive in such an environment. Such developments are actually quite rare in this case, as most planets with too harsh an environment will simply be terraformed or have either orbital or ground-based habitats be built. Those planets that may be harsh but will still enable human occupation may be one in a million, and are actually left mostly untouched.
If the wheels of fortune happened to come across such a planet, then extravagant facilities will be built as traders and merchant ships frequent the space ports and can bring in the latest goods and product from the nearest systems or mining facilities. The alternative option is what's happening with Hercules 2, where it's mostly left on its own and some might settle here for one reason or another.
The last planet he visited was nothing but a bunch of mining colonies. To say Hercules 6 is 'settled' would be an overstatement. It was nothing but an mining base on the planet's surface with space elevators connected to various small space stations that are central points of mining and material gathering. The entire compound is mostly automated, and a small crew of maintenance and research workers reside in the small base. They were not exactly expecting a visitor, and it became clear right away that Sir Deva's target this mission is not on this planet.
Thankfully so. If it would have been even a moderately sized planet, then Sir Deva would have spent the next year or so tracking down this mysterious being capable of supernatural feats. In the age of cosmic scientific wonder, religion and beliefs are actually making a come back as the advancement of technology has far surpassed what would normally make sense to an uneducated mind, and the history of science and technology have become a subject of itself.
'Is there anything happening that you might deem unnatural?' Sir Deva asked around with little positive response. He waited until the fishermen have returned, and heard about the one man that returned from the chaotic seas in a floating supplies box.
He departed for the second island, and not too long after he arrives, Sadie Allen walked out of the clashing waves and stepped foot onto the island. His body completely dry, and his eyes sharp. Their gaze met, and instantly knew that something is up with the other person.
The seeming clash of the Shield and the Mass Projector begins!
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