New World, Old Foes July 28, 2014

Jack awoke the next morning with his two companions: hunger and thirst. His saw no reason to delay his best course of action and transformed into a large viper. The wait proved long, for humans can not come close to matching a true serpent’s patience. He had considered returning to human, when a black squirrel raced down from one of the tangled oaks.

Fangs struck and he devoured his prey. Once completed, he returned to his human form. Rubbing his stomach, he said, “Better than nothing,” and began to gather his weapons. Looking over his new spear, made him pleased. Jack considered lashing a dagger to the end, but it already had a strong tapered point, so he just left it alone.

The clouds appeared darker and he wondered if he might actually get some rain. With one last look at the cluster of trees, he headed deeper into the mountains.

New thoughts plagued him as he marched and climbed over obstacles. So far I’ve just been focused on finding water and surviving, but I need to find a way off this brutal world. But who am I kidding? It isn’t like I’ve ever met anyone besides that bastard Vile that can travel between worlds. Unless some mystic shaman is chanting around the next bend, this world might be end up being my new home, but if I’m trapped here, what will happen to my Earth without me to help protect it?

He moved into a narrow rocky ravine. The bushes grew thicker here and required more effort to pass through. Drop offs, which he wished held waterfalls, stretched before him. More climbing would be required and already the day’s heat built.

He had just finished scrambling over the first thirty foot cliff, when something occurred to him. I still have that scroll—I leapt through the portal with Vile’s scroll.

As he pulled it out of his pocket, he wondered over two things. Could this scroll somehow be used to create a portal back to his world, but then another idea appeared like a burning dagger in his skull. Vile had created the scroll to destroy all the Stalwart incarnations, but could there be a way to alter it so they could destroy all of Vile’s incarnations?

But gazing at the scroll told him something at once. People more learned than I are going to have to figure this one out. The scroll was covered in a script of characters which meant nothing to him. Some appeared more like drawings than language.

With an angry grumble, he thrust it back into his half-shredded jacket pocket. “Well unless I run into this world’s Loskeep, I doubt I’ll be able to make it back to my world, let alone find a way to cure the whole Multi-Verse of Darken’s blight. Oh well, doesn’t look like Jack will be saving every living creature across the universe today, oh darn.”

He almost didn’t hear the footsteps until it was too late. Turning at once, Jack instinctively held his spear before him. The figure batted it aside, with a war club, but the move had still bought Jack a second to take his savage adversary in.

The man was covered in angler stripes of red paint and several red feathers hung from his rough belt and were tied to his arms with strips of leather. He had a weapon in each hand. One had a club with circles of flint napped stone embedded into it. His left hand held what might have been an obsidian dagger. The man’s tanned face leaked anger and a scream escaped from him as he swung his club at Jack’s head.

Jack managed to duck under the attack and tried to bring his spear up, but the man lunged forward with his dagger. Jack tried to dodge back, but the blade pierced three inches into his shoulder.

This guys’ moving to fast to be normal.

With a growl, Jack pushed him back with the length of his spear. The figure yelled a guttural series of words and then came at him like a whirlwind of feathers, stick, and stone. Jack took a step back and fought a defensive battle where he used his spear to keep his enemy’s weapons from finding his flesh.

A dagger slash across his knuckles left Jack seeing red. “Alright asshole, you want a fight…” Switching tactics, Jack turned his spear sideways and brought the base of it up into the warrior’s chin.

His mouth slammed shout with a loud click and his neck jerked backwards.

Pressing his attack, Jack slammed the length of his spear down on the man’s collar bone.

The man’s grunted and dropped to one knee. A primitive shout escaped from his lips and his club batted the spear away and he leapt forward trying to drive his knife into Jack’s heart.

He underestimated Jack’s speed. Primus took and step back and raised the bottom end of his spear. The blunt side took the charging man in the neck.

The man tumbled to the ground, hacking and clutching his throat.

Jack used the point of his spear to move the man’s weapons from his reach and then cast Detect Darkening. After bring the point of his spear down over the man’s face, he said. “Fucking Ripperkah, huh? Why do you bastards have to be everywhere?”

Under him, the man struggled just to draw air through his damaged throat. “Usually I just kill pukes like you. After what your kind did to Darlene, your kind have always topped my shit list, but I suppose that I should try to learn something from…”

His words died as a stone dagger shattered inches from his right foot. Another caused him to duck.

Looking back up, he saw four more of the red painted Ripperkah tribesmen running full out toward him.

“Oh yeah, here we go!”

To be continued next Monday

Find out how Jack’s Adventures Started Here!