Authors: Jr H. Lee Morgan
“
I’ll think about it, but
before we get ahead of ourselves we need to make a second prototype
for this four shelled system. We can discuss monetary gain and
patent signatures later.”
“
Agreed.”
“
Were you able to make
sheathes for Steven’s…”
“
The Gravity Forge failed
before we could input his new spear and flail. Jake
did
say that with your
certainty of safety that he could carry the weapons and Stone could
get bound to those hatchets and a battle axe he’s been eyeing,
since those weapons are not ideal for sheaths like the knives and
swords are.” Stephanie said.
“
I’ll see about it…
tomorrow.” Oliver said with a roll of a shoulder. “Send me version
two of the prototype you’ve thought up and I’ll go over it tonight
if I get the time.” Jessica tapped away and he saw an incoming file
to quickly save it to memory.
“
Anything else?” Renee
asked.
“
Oh, almost forgot!” Jessica
paused after uncrossing her legs. “Oliver, your old room across the
hall has been redone as a trophy room. My brother put all the
skulls and skeletons inside it and framed them all.”
“
I want to see that.” Renee
got up too and was the first of them to cross and enter the room.
The bed, sofa and table were gone, but the barren idea of their
absence was mistaken. Situated artfully around stood proud and
deadly Beasts. Some hung from walls while those few that were small
and retained whole skeletons were immortalized and displayed.
Displayed on lacquered wood were polished and glossy skulls hung
around the walls while frames were erected to hold up the few
Beasts Oliver kept their entire skeletons of those exceeding
current held records. Renee was floored along with her jaw of the
magnitude of fangs and snarling postures. She thought
How the hell did he survive half of these things?
Many would swallow me whole…
“By the stars!
What in the universe is that skull?” Renee went up to one
resembling a gorilla who’s skull was twice normal size, but the
bone pattern looked as scaled as a snakeskin.
“
Oh, that was a silverback
Joint Ape. Squeeze its face between your hands.” Oliver’s smirk was
wolfish to say the least.
“
I thought Joint Apes were
myths. Like Bigfoot and Yeti.” Renee said as Jessica and Stephanie
came in to watch out of curiosity. She went up to the skull
displaying fangs twice as long and thick as her finger. An
omnivore, but preferred meat judging by its pristine teeth. Very
carefully Renee placed her palms to either side of the skull and
brought them together. It at first was resistant, but a little more
and the skull began to collapse. “Eww. It feels weird… like a
beanbag cushion.” As she let go the skull filled back out, barely
crinkling, but her pointy ears easily picked it up.
“
And he damn near killed me
more than any Beast in this room.” Oliver admitted. “He made the
Cerberus and Thunder Lizards seem like cuddly pets.”
“
You’ve got to be kidding.”
Jessica voiced.
“
Wish I was.” He came over
and took her hand, looking right into the empty eye sockets. “It
came eleven days after my first confrontations with two Cerberus’
spaced six hours from each other. It was as tall as me, had black
hair except for white down it’s back. It had long arms that reached
down to its knees with fingers like humans. And its feet had hands
which allowed for solid gripping… but it’s skin was stronger than
metal and had strength aplenty.
“
I was sleeping at the time
I heard a faint scraping sound and my dear Creelin friends kept
attacking me in my sleep so I was hyperaware and rather cranky. I
sat up to find them gone and the fire in my cave hadn’t been tended
for many hours. But that slight shifting sound had me look up
through the ventilation shaft and saw something squeezing down a
hole no larger than my head.
“
The Joint Ape’s skeleton
isn’t fixed. Its bones can collapse and allow it to squeeze through
the smallest spaces. It had hunted me right to my cave. I went for
my weapons, but sensed them far away as Netul and Callier took
them, knowing it was coming and not forewarning me.
“
So I start seriously
Gathering and I expected it to drop straight down, but it reached
out and dug finger grooves in the cave ceiling to keep itself off
the ground. Seeing it extract and grow thicker was very
disconcerting. Knowing it could destroy the Flare I ripped it
telekinetically off and threw it out the front. I flew out after it
and saw for myself how dangerous it was as its hard body broke
fully mature trees.
“
Next thing I know is it
jumps like a damn flea and crackled with electricity like a Thunder
Lizard. You need to know that gravity was like Zerika so jumping
high as the mountain I camped in was a feat I could never copy. I
was so shocked of its strength I didn’t get away in time as it
shattered my shin in a crushing grip and opened its mouth to shock
and bite my leg clean off. It would have had my armor not gotten
harder, but its bite shattered my femur like a cracker.” That was
saying something since his bones were nine times denser than a
normal human. “The pain broke the shock of its jump and I stiffened
a finger to poke out one of its dark brown eyes. It let go and fell
with a scream, but it too got more angry and even missing an eye it
came back as I flew.
“
Kinetic blasts and streams
did nothing except burn off its hair. His tough hide and electrical
gathering made for a perfect psionic defense. Add to it his bones
being so pliable and you begin to see he was impossible to cripple
by breaking its bones. Without my sword’s slicing wave I was unable
to cut it in half like I normally did. I was relying too heavily on
my weapon I realized. Having blades so sharp nothing could resist
limited how to improvise. I hated Netul, but I saw the wisdom in
his motives while being jumped at so fast and accurately I couldn’t
stand still. Relying on my sword had blinded me to use what laid
around me.
“
Since the Joint Ape was
damn near indestructible I began searching for methods without
being caught again. I literally lifted and dropped a mountain on
its head and he dug himself out madder than ever, cutting through
the granite like Sand Sharks, Moles or Vipers. I compacted a tree
as best I could, thinking of the Gravity Forge” He looked to
Jessica and Stephanie entranced by the story. “and threw it like a
spear, but the wood shattered and knocked it away. He got up
unharmed and leapt again.
“
But then I began to think
that it was still an animal. It lived and still had limitations to
environments. Throwing it in space would do no good as Beasts
merely go into hibernation inside a vacuum. Space was cold so that
was no good. But then I remembered about some Beasts being
susceptible to hyperthermia. Overheating.
“
With that idea in mind I
flew to where the far away mountains I had used to try and crush
the Joint Ape earlier. It was following, but I had a good minute to
spare so I Gathered some more an used a large kinetic stream half a
kilometer wide to punched a hole straight down through the mantle.
The planet’s molten core came surging up through the hole I made.
But before it erupted I telekinetically grabbed the Joint Ape and
threw it down my new hole. I kept a tight hold and felt it thrash
as lava bathed it. It fought hard for ten minutes, even after I got
away from the eruption filling the ground like a lake from where
the mountain once stood. It put up a good fight, but lava proved to
be too much. It finally died and I plucked it out of the lava and
waited for the rock to cool before breaking it apart.
“
To my surprise the skin
wasn’t the least bit burnt and I was afraid it was going to wake
up, but I already integrated a scanner into my suit and found no
signal of brain activity. Netul returned my sword and I ate its
essence and saved the head.
“
For the next entire month I
was unable to put weight on my shattered leg and got quite a bit of
use of your synthesizer. I won’t ever be a medic, but I’m capable
enough for small injuries.”
“
Damn. He sounded like a
tough bastard. Later I want to see the recordings. I never imagined
using lava to hunt Beasts.” Renee said as she kept holding his hand
and moved to the next great displayed Beast.
“
Won’t work for all of them.
I tried it on a Fire Wyrm and lava made it stronger and faster.
Fire and water types aren’t able to be killed. Like this Blade
Whale. It may be no larger than a beluga whale, but it swam in lava
like water before it tried cutting me to ribbons throwing its many
scales that act more like throwing stars.”
“
You went through hell to
save me. Thank you.” Renee gave a little hop and kissed his
cheek.
He could only smile, but it was forced as he
still was saddened by how she was treated. He wished he was able to
bring the rapists back from the dead to slowly torture them again
and again till he was satisfied, and then kill them again.
Twenty more minutes were spent explaining the
best Beasts that had been saved and would be treasured. The three
women listened to it all, mostly because this is as close as they
could get to these Beasts without being the next meal otherwise.
Most had never gotten so close to the rare skeletons outside a
museum. They certainly had never seen some outside a holographic
display from a recording.
Eventually Renee yawned and both Jessica and
Stephanie took it as their cue to give her a long hug and kiss on
the cheek and tell her how glad they were to get her back. Renee
smiled contently as they left.
Together they went up to her father’s private
wine cellar showing tens of thousands of wines and more thousands
of beer’s, bourbon and mead. Wanting something sweet and
deceptively strong Renee selected a barrel of mead more than five
centuries old by the label on the traditional oak barrel. She
pointed and Oliver easily lifted it to carry it under an arm. Being
Jake’s private stock, few could enter the cold room and rarely did
he use the drinks for celebrations. Being immortal meant aged
liquor done by himself could ripen for much later enjoyment. Next
to being a scientist, Jake Dorgen is a brewmaster in fermenting
liquor. He’ll buy the ingredients and cook it himself. Every drink
in the cellar was bottled or barreled by himself.
Back in their bedroom Renee had their large
pewter mugs and scooped out the drink. Oliver laid down just in a
pair of long pants and Renee wore a long shirt laying down on him,
her head using his chest as a pillow as they drank in silence,
watching the transitioning colors speed past the wall window.
Oliver quietly sipping in the good drink and enjoying the feel of
her weight upon him. Renee though was enjoying the feel of
something treasured and familiar.
They laid like this for hours till Renee
levitated her mug over to the nightstand where a beige dagger laid.
The cutlass and shield lay propped against the wall.
Oliver’s long reach dropped his beside her
mug and felt her turn and sit up. His soft glowing amber eyes
watching. She said “Olly, I haven’t said it since you saved me, but
I love you so much.”
“
I know you do. I love you
more than anything. You are my sole reason for existing.” He gently
covered half her face with a calloused hand. Renee noticed it
before, but more so now. His hands had always been soft and strong,
but now with all he too had suffered, she liked it. “Lay back down
and let me hold you?”
She nuzzled into his hand before grabbing it
and kissing his palm. “Not now. I want to make love.”
“
You sure?”
She nodded, her crimson locks bouncing some.
“I want you in me and to make me feel loved. I know you’ve been
long overdue for my embrace too. I want my man.”
“
You’ve always got
him.”
Oliver leaned up and gently scooped the back
of her head and ass. Renee opened her legs to wrap around him as he
sat her on his lap and threaded her finger through his hair for a
passionate kiss. Oliver tasted her flavor as well as the drink that
had done a little to inebriate her needs. He could smell the
arousal moistening her sex and it made him moan as his heightened
senses were assaulted. Her heartbeat hammered into his chest as
well as his hearing now able to listen on the furious pounding. He
had sorely missed this. His hand lowered from her hair and as it
traveled down her spine, clothing parted so he could touch the
silken skin of a woman in her prime.
The kiss was amazing and she sucked on her
own lips when it was separated from his. He leaned her gently on
her back feasting on her with his eyes as she willed all scraps of
clothing into her bracelet. Oliver stared over perfection, even
with the minor malnutrition. He was at a loss again to find someone
so perfect. He laid a hand on her tone belly and leaned in for a
kiss as a thank you for the time spent together. She eagerly and
softly returned the gentle start.
From her lips he kissed her cheek and licked
her neck at the pulse to enjoy the salty sweetness. His hand
continued to massage her belly as his kisses got down to the swell
of her breast to kiss and suckle on the aching pink nipple perfect
for him. Renee’s head went foggy as his tongue swirled around the
areola and the firm nipple before he made her gasp with a graze of
the teeth on the sensitive peak. His hand traveled gradually down
and up hairless thighs that needed no grooming. But the way her
legs moved guided him right to the moist silken folds.