Arrival

Dylan puked.

"Owhhnooo! I'm dying!" He said clenching his stomach.

"Relax man, it's probably just motion sickness... probably" Nazurak tried to assure him checking his own body to see if everything was intact.

Patting the sick man on the back Sora softly sighed.

"Sorry I don't have any ginger on me, they took me from the farm so suddenly. Otherwise, I'd make you some tea! It would help with your nausea."

She paused thinking.

"Oh, I don't have any cups or utensils to make it either way. Good luck!" Sora cheered.

They have arrived at planet Loctus, in the Forest Of Thorns region. The sky was blue with a hint of violet, the sun shining beautifully with trees surrounding them. It was a nice welcome...aside from the show Dylan displayed to them.

North of their location, a mound was resting high enough to break the treelines. To their East flowing water could be heard. South and West seem to be endless trees.

"3 months in this place huh? I hope it'll be a smooth ride" Nazurak wondered out loud.

The wind picked up and a breeze was felt through the trees. Listening to what Nazurak said Sora looked at the surroundings, and a slight smile appeared on her face.

"I actually don't mind this at all" Sora admitted.

Feeling the wind breeze through her hair she closed her eyes and let the natural sounds of the forest fill her ears.

"We never had wind in the farms...it's nice. Plus there are animals here, we can hunt our own meat!"

Nazurak thought about it. She was right, inside the dome wind was absent. Out here though, there was wind and heat from an actual sun that burned brightly above them, energizing him with that warmth, it felt empowering.

'it is different...in a good way' Nazurak thought breathing in the fresh natural air.

Sitting on the ground with his hands supporting him from behind, Dylan exhaled and then quickly took in a breath when he felt his stomach raising.

"I-I think I'm good" He groaned wiping his mouth, oblivious to the conversation they were having.

The group decided to head towards the mound and get a better look at the area they warped to. After silently walking for 5 or more minutes they reached the base and started their ascend.

In front of the group, Nazurak realized he doesn't know his allies much and broke the silence.

"Hey guys, since we'll be watching each other's back I think it's best if we go over our strengths and weakness. Have either of you received a Soul Trait yet?"

Nazurak assumed they did as the company usually buys those that have Soul Traits, but it didn't hurt to ask, plus he wanted to be absolutely sure.

"I have one, it's called conditioning, the more tired I get the stronger I become. Weakness for this would be that I only become stronger, so my reaction time or stamina won't change." Dylan casually answered.

"Whoa" Sora continued to walk but turned her head to Dylan "That's really useful! Surely helps with everyday tasks."

"Yeah, that's nice to have Dylan." Nazurak agreed

"Oh, haha, it's been with me for so long I've gotten used to it. Yeah it helps a lot"

Putting his hand on his head Dylan blushed slightly. Then pointed the question away from himself.

"How about you Sora, what's your Soul Trait?" He asked.

Thinking for a moment then looking at the ground, Sora picked up a couple of pebbles and focused on a singular branch sprouting from a tree.

"This may not be the best demonstration but take a look" Sora said smiling.

Looking at her target she threw all the pebbles she held in her hand. Each hitting the same branch until it broke off.

"My Soul Trait is called deadeye, I can hit any target I set my eyes on. It doesn't increase the strength or speed of the projectile though, so what I throw will only go as far as it can travel. As for downsides"

Placing her index finger on her chin she continued.

"hmm, I can only lock onto things that I can fully see in detail. Meaning if it's too far or goes out of sight my trait becomes useless."

Surprised by what he just saw Nazurak turned to her.

"That's actually a pretty strong Soul Trait, why weren't you recruited into the war?" Nazurak curiously asked.

Sora stretched her arms.

"Beats me, the company found me first I assume."

Reaching the top of the mound, their eyes lit up. In front of them, miles of land could be seen. Countless trees scattered the ground, and in the distance meadows, waterfalls, lakes, and mountains lay. Above in the sky far from them, a school of giant bird parasites were flying together. To their right side, a medium size river rushed to the edge of the mound flowing down its side far enough to where it didn't look like the water made landfall. The mound they were standing on settled on a cliff.

However, despite the view being stunning, they were on a planet filled with the unknown. Far in the distance slightly to the West, a gigantic ribcage of a snake-like parasite stretched across the land. The scale of it was hard to comprehend.

Taking in the gorgeous yet eerie scenery, the group stayed silent for a moment until Nazurak pulled out his scanner. Bringing it to his eyes he focused on the gigantic remains but nothing appeared on the screen.

"Looks like the Threat Scanner only works on living beings" He shared.

Seeing this Dylan and Sora did the same and looked through their scanner. As expected, nothing appeared on the screen.

"I wonder what rank would be of such a creature?" Sora openly asked.

Putting down his monocular Dylan shuddered.

"It had to be high...I don't even want to imagine what killed it."

Breaking them out of their gaze, distant sounds of trees breaking and low rumbles of growling were heard. Acting out of instinct the group lowered their bodies and turned their heads behind them. It sounded far, so they weren't in immediate danger.

Looking at each other the group stay quiet for a bit until the noises stopped.

"What on earth was that?" Sora whispered.

Keeping his eyes forward Nazurak slowly stood up

"I'm not sure but it sounded like a fight between two parasites." he said.

"I think we should check it out." Dylan said getting up.

Hearing this Sora jumped up.

"Are you guys crazy? we're not soldiers!" She muttered.

"I'm with Dylan on this" Nazurak admitted taking his eyes off the forest to look at his companions. "There's only one way down this cliff and it's the same way we came from. It would also be better to slip by the parasites while they're busy fighting each other rather than when one is feasting on their kill. Not to mention other parasites probably don't want to draw attention from beasts that can snap trees like that. So we shouldn't have issues being attacked."

Sora stared at him for a long time, debating on if she should go with them on this suicidal mission. She absolutely did not want to get close to what was making those noises, but what choice did she have? It was better to stick together.

Letting out a deep sigh she closed her eyes and then took a breath in.

"...Ok, let's go then."

All three of them nodded then slowly made their descent leaving the cliff behind. The sounds of the beasts fighting appeared once again and the natural white noise of the forest was long gone.

Moving tree to tree each of them quietly made haste until the sounds of fighting were too close for comfort. Creeping forward they kept their eyes and ears alert. All they needed to do was slip by.

Suddenly a large branch came flying in their direction. With their hearts pounding they swiftly found shelter behind the trees holding their breaths.

The fight had found its way to their location.

Looking at the situation Sora threw a murderous glance at Nazurak, seeing this he avoided eye contact by looking up and slowly moved his eyes to Dylan.

Dylan however, was excitedly peaking around the tree enjoying the fight in front of them.

'This guy...' Both Nazurak and Sora subconsciously thought.

Taking a look from behind the trees, Nazurak wanted to see what was going on. Two parasites could be seen fighting for their lives. Standing at around 12 feet tall, both looked to be the same species. They stood on two legs with 4 arms, two from each side of their body. The parasite had an abundance of brown hair throughout its body and their face looked similar to that of a gorilla.

Pulling out his scanner Nazurak checked their power ranking.

[Threat Level: Monster]

He had no idea what to compare this information to as he never fought a parasite in his life. He continued to watch the battle while keeping quiet.

The parasites clashed and each punch that landed made the ground rumble. Swings that missed easily punched through trees making the battle up close alarmingly loud. At one point one of the gorilla-like parasite roared grabbing onto the other and throwing it 200 feet. There were a couple of trees in front of the airborne monster but they simply snapped like a branch from the sheer force of the throw.

The fight was now further away and the group signaled to each other that it was now time to move. Picking themselves back up they moved from tree to tree staying as quiet as possible. However before they could get further from the fight, something strange happened.

The sound of fighting stopped and the hairs on their bodies stood up, a tingling sensation was felt embracing their hands and feet, and the taste of metallic appeared on their tongues. That was when they saw two flashes of light crackling in the sky, then immediately after two deafening booms vibrated through every inch of their body and spread for miles throughout the land.

The next 30 seconds were pure panic, on the ground, everyone was holding their ears and groaning. Ringing inside their heads was all they heard, they felt dizzy and disoriented.

It was lightning.

Trying to pull himself together Nazurak slowly got up and then looked in the direction of where the gorillas were. What he saw next, froze him. Every cell in his body was commanding him to stay absolutely still.

Standing at a distance away from him stood a black bird taller than a 2 story house, ominously staring directly at Nazurak with its head slightly tilted. Its talons were pierced deep into the two gorilla parasites that were now lifeless. Their whole bodies were now burnt and smoke rose from their hair. The bird's eyes were black and its dark feathers had patterns of numerous circles wrapped around its body. Electricity could be seen dancing around the giant bird, but it didn't affect it whatsoever.

Somehow gathering the courage, Nazurak pulls up his scanner to eye level and scans the beast.

[Calculating...]

[Parasite title: Thunderous Mountain Keeper]

[Parasite threat level: Fiend]