Chapter 3

“First things first is to get our bearings right,” said Tanner as they raced into the forest.

The trio was running in formation with Tanner leading the way. Jack was in the middle of the pack with Soja following closely behind. Tanner who was leading the party, expertly navigated his way through the terrain, finding the easiest route for them to follow.

All of them were on alert, their eyes watchful for anything suspicious, whether it be beast or man. There was no telling what sort of dangers lurked in the forest at night. It was still hours away from daybreak but the chances of them running into some ferocious spirit beasts were quite high.

“What’s our heading, Tanner?” asked Jack looking around him.

The trees around them were still sparsely populated and got denser the further they traveled into the forest. In the dark, they stood like ghostly sentinels with their gnarled limbs stretched out to grab anybody who passed by. There was a faint mist that hugged the forest floor which made the whole area even more spooky.

Soja nearly tripped three times by the errand roots and twigs that were obscured by the mist. Jack had to look back to check on Soja from time to time, but he was able to keep up with the furious pace they were setting.

“We will make for that waterfall,” said Tanner pointing at a spot halfway up the hill. Jack had to strain his eyes to see it. He could barely make it out in the dark.

“A waterfall means a river. We’ll use the river to find our way up,” Tanner continued.

The waterfall was a small one and Jack didn't have Tanner’s eyesight. To him, it looked like a thin line on the side of the hill that shimmered a little as it caught the ambient light.

"Good plan," nodded Jack. That was one more thing he didn't need to worry about. Tanner knew what he was doing and he could take care of navigation. Jack looked behind at Soja again.

“Soja, make sure to keep an eye out back. Don't want to get ambushed from behind.”

Soja who was trailing behind everyone was assigned rear lookout.

“Got it,” Soja replied. He nervously looked back every once in a while, but all he saw was trees in the mist.

Jack jumped over a broken log as they ran. His boots made squelching noises as it met the moist soil. The mist was getting thicker the further in they went. On the trees there were giant claw marks of some unknown beast marking its territory. A large chunk of the bark had been gouged out, and judging by the size of the markings the creatures must have been about the size of a small car. The spirit beasts in the experimentation zone where all mutants that were bred for war. All of them were bestowed terrifying Gifts that boosted their already monstrous physiques making them the ultimate killing machines. This hill was a killing ground for these creatures and countless of them died until only the strongest survived. This happened again and again until the experiments were declared too dangerous to continue. The monsters that were made in the countless bio beast experimentation zones were too violent and savage to control, and the program was dropped permanently.

“The emperor protects.” Jack sighed as he looked around at the former testing area with mixed feelings.

This place now stood as an old relic to the past, only a shadow of its former self. Though the berserk, mutant beasts didn’t yield much fruit on the war front they provided a lot of insight on how the Gifts worked and led to many breakthroughs that boosted the current level of Psionics. All it took for it to work was the death and suffering of a few million mindless animals.

Dodging a low hanging branch, Jack spoke again. “I need you two to wear your gloves as soon as we get the chance.”

“What already?” asked Soja glancing behind nervously. He seemed to be taking his role as rear lookout very seriously.

“Yeah, I got a bad feeling. Better be prepared to go all out.”

Soja scanned behind him and saw nothing. “You’re tracking everyone, right? It should be fine.”

Jack said nothing. They made monsters on this hill and now here they were doing the very same thing. Running around hunting and fighting, for just the very same reasons. It seemed fate wasn’t without a sense of irony. They were the lab rats now, and they had jumped into the meat grinder so willingly. It was the same song with a different chorus.

“Dead end, ahead!” said Tanner suddenly. Their path ahead was blocked by several giant trees that looked like they were ripped out by their roots. Tanner had to change his route midway to avoid the obstacle and the two following him had to rush to keep up. Soja gave the torn-up trees a worried look as they pass them by.

Jack’s eyes narrowed. A few forest critters ran away from them as they approached. Looking closer, Jack saw a tawny fox and a few rabbits rushing away.

The dense forest broke off and they came across a trail. The path was muddy and it snaked up the hill towards the summit.

“Great. Now we just have to follow this path,” exclaimed Soja.

“Don't know about that. If there is a path then everyone will be on it,” said Tanner from up ahead, his long coat billowing behind him.

“More chances that we run into someone that we don't want to. The river is the safer option.”

“Make sense,” said Soja worried. He took a quick glance behind him before continuing.

“How many did you mark anyway, Tanner?”

“Fifty.”

“Right,” said Soja lost in thought, then he looked over to Jack. “You can handle fifty right.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Yes Soj, and there are none that are close to us, if that's what you are asking.”

“Hey! I'm just being careful” He said looking behind him.

Seeing the worried look on Soja, Jack checked his trackers once again to be sure. Putting his right hand on his forehead he half-closed his eyes. He felt a faint buzzing in his head and his skin tingled as he reached for his Gift.

The Infiltrator.

The name of his skill echoed in his head. His skill activated silently and the air around him shimmered a little. There was no other indication that he had used his Gift, and unlike other skills the customary blue glow was absent.

Jack frowned, this was a lot harder to do when running. He had to sink into a semi meditative state for the skill to take hold and the further away the target was the deeper he would have to sink into his skill. Breathing steadily, he took his time to locate all the targets he had marked with the help of Tanner. It took a while, but he finally felt them in his mind’s eye. They were like tiny stars in a constellation and each of them marked a target that he was tracking. For a while Jack was mesmerized by the twinkling stars in his head, unable to look away. He never got tired of looking at his skill. It was with great reluctance that he stopped admiring his Gift and started focusing on his task at hand. He needed to know where all his marked ones were, and how close they were to his team.

The stars twinkled in his mind's eye. There were around fifty in total and they were scattered all around him. Most of them too far away to even matter. There were only two that were reasonably close but they too were a couple of miles away.

“Alright, checked again. There is no one close. Happy?”

“Yeah. You can never be too careful,” Soja said defensively. He was intently looking behind to hide his embarrassment. Jack just shook his head.

“Tanner there are two high-value targets about two and three km to our left. Stay clear off that area.”

Tanner turned his head east to the said direction. “Got it.”

A pair of golden eyes flashed in the distance and Jack felt a chill pass through his spine. No one else noticed the incoming danger. Tanner had his head turned away at a really inopportune moment.

“Shit! Incoming!”

A dark shadow came barreling out of the trees in front of him.

Tanner leapt out the way almost reflexively. His body moved before his brain even processed it.

“What the fu…?”

Jack grabbed Soja by the collar, who was still looking behind and moved as fast as his legs could carry him.

The hulking figure nearly took off Soja’s head with its giant paws, as it came out of the woodwork.

It roared and snapped as it tried to take a bite out of the boys.

Jack was running out of the trail and on to a tree by the time the creature had attacked. He let go of Soja’s collar and the boy was left spluttering and coughing on the branch that Jack was standing on.

“Idiot. Rear lookout doesn’t mean you stop looking ahead,” Jack muttered exasperatedly.

“Something… following,” coughed Soja but he couldn't get the words out.

“Damn close,” said Tanner from a branch above their own. He was the fastest among the three and was already looking down and examining the large figure below them.

Jack looked down and the golden eyes of a black leopard stared back at him.

The thing was huge. At least twice the size of a normal leopard and about the size of a small lion. Its gigantic size were the results of countless experimentations and was one of the tamer beasts within the region. The big cat looked like a formless shadow in the night with its thick black fur which made it nearly invisible in the dark forest.

“It's a Lebara,” Jack growled.

Even though the animal looked like a leopard there were some key differences. Other than its size the big cat had large ears like that of a lynx. The ears were standing on its end, rotating from left to right to check for any intruders. The paws were also bigger to carry its enormous weight.

The big cat was still on the forest floor watching its prey with unblinking attention.

Soja gulped.

“Think we should use the beast repellant?” asked Soja.

“Don't have any,” said Jack in a low voice.

“How do you not have any,” Soja squeaked urgently and nearly fainted when the beast growled at the noise.

“I ran out. Got three beast lures left.”

“Lures?” asked Soja incredulously. “You want to attract more beasts?”

Tanner snorted. “Let’s just blast the stupid cat and be on our way.”

The Lebara growled and was standing on its haunches prepared to attack.

“We need to save our strength for the real dangers,” said Jack quietly.

Getting away without fighting would be ideal. Jack knew that spirit beasts weren’t stupid, they wouldn’t take on a fight that they weren’t confident in winning. It was just about showing the Lebara who was boss and the cat would slink away.

The big cat who was watching the kids warily suddenly raised its head. There was a rumble coming from deep within the forest, and the leopard growled at the sound with its fur standing on ends. It took one last look at the boys and It started running downhill.

“What the hell?” Tanner raised an eyebrow.

“I guess it knew a losing battle when it saw one.” Jack shrugged. He watched the cat’s tail disappear into some bushes as it left.

Soja started coughing again and cleared his throat while watching the retreating figure of the Lebara. Jack patted him on the back.

“You alright, buddy?”

Soja wiped his mouth and said in a low voice. “Something is following us.”

Jack frowned. “What? Really?”

He looked back at the place the Lebara had disappeared with a gloved hand on his chin.

“Yeah. Look,” said Soja pointing into the distance. There was an orange glow that was coming from the mist.

“What is…”

The Lebara roared as a large torrent of fire burst out of the mist.

“Get behind the trees!” Tanner yelled.

The trio jumped for cover once again as the flames came rushing in. Jack, Tanner, and Soja hid behind the tree but the branches they were standing on caught fire. They clung on to the bark for dear life as they waited for the flames to subside.

Once the torrent of flames finally stopped, they jumped to the bottom to meet their new guest.

Jack had an annoyed look on his face as he dusted off the soot from his vest. The air smelled of ozone and burnt wood. Few of the bushes around them were still on fire. Tanner followed Jack into the open and a worried-looking Soja came up behind him.

They were hit by the smell of burning flesh as the Lebara stumbled back towards them. It was charred from head to toe with its fur completely burnt off. The big cat slumped to the side with a thud and stopped moving.

“That was unpleasant,” said Jack looking up at their latest attacker. He was standing on a branch looking down on them. His hair was red as the flames he wielded and his feet were smoking from the fire that they had just unleashed.

“Well, Well!” Jack broke into a grin when he saw who it was. “If it isn’t our little peacock.”

Jack took a step forward and muttered to Soja in a low voice. “I’ll cover you.”

Soja gave a small nod and stood behind Jack completely hidden from sight from fire boy.

Flame-boy had a smug look on his face, supremely confident in his Gift. Frizzy red hair curled around his pale face and his cheeks were dotted with freckles. His arms were folded in front of his chest as he looked down at them.

“Peacock? You are calling me that, Mr. Fancy Duds?” He casually put one hand in his leather jacket and brought a hip flask and popped the lid open.

“You know what they say about first impressions,” said Jack smirking as he adjusted the gloves on his hands. “You only get one chance at it.”

He moved slightly to his left to cover Soja more. He could feel a slight tingling on the back of his neck as Soja prepared his skill.

“And pardon me, but your Attire,” said Jack stressing the word. “Leave something to be desired.”

The boy looked angry and took a long swig from his flask. He was wearing all-leather in an ugly brown color. This was no doubt a measure to protect his clothes from his fire, but they made really uncomfortable clothes. The fire was sure to make it even worse.

Flame-boy glanced warily at Jack’s gloves for a moment, but after seeing that the others weren’t wearing any, he went back to his previous attitude.

“Nobles.” He cursed and stuffed the flask back into his coat. “Always finding ways to cheat.”

He looked disdainfully at Soja and Tanner. “What is a noble doing with us lesser breeds, I wonder? I didn’t know you lot worked on charity cases.”

He scoffed and his boots started smoking slightly. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Forfeit now, or I'll burn the forest down and you along with it.”

Jack had his mouth open in incredulity at the sheer idiocy of the statement and his brain broke down trying to process what was happening. What kind of idiot would challenge three Psyphers, with unknown powers, alone, in the middle of a dense, dark jungle with dangerous predators around waiting to eat you?

Also, anyone who was of sane mind wouldn’t mouth off to a noble. Insulting someone from the five great families was a really bad idea if one value their continued existence. Jack wasn’t one, but the moron clearly thought that he was. Jack stood in stunned silence with a single raised eyebrow, unable to speak at the sheer level of stupid. Tanner on the other hand had no compulsion in hiding his disdain.

Tanner snorted. “Burn what, Matchstick boy? You couldn’t singe our clothes much less the forest.”

The kid’s eyelids twitched at the statement. Jack caught that. He really didn't like being corrected by a ‘Noble’s lackey’. Jack got his blue screened brain to reboot and focused on the task at hand. Other than the kid being a complete moron, Jack couldn’t think of any reason this would be happening. This was clearly the case of an overinflated ego because of a newfound power. Probably dreams of the day he can look down on the whole world when he is strong enough.

Jack immediately pounced on the weakness.

“Come now, Tanner,” he said reproachfully. “It’s hardly his fault that he is stuck with such a lousy talent. An ant futilely trying to rise above his station.”

“Talent?” Flame-boy exploded. “I’ll show you talent, you noble bastard!”

Flames burst out of his feet and he was launched fifteen feet into the air. He was soaring above the trees now. After jumping up that high, he came straight down with fire gathering at his feet. He aimed for the center of the group to unleash his most powerful attack.

“Soja, now!”

Soja came up from behind Jack with his hands glowing blue. A dense white fog gushed out of his hands as he channeled his aura. It came out in torrents like a tidal wave and was soon covering the entire clearing that they were standing in. The bushes that were on fire were doused immediately and then the fog made for Flame-boy’s feet.

The redhead looked flabbergasted as though he couldn't believe what was happening. The fog that ran over to his feet hissed as it turned into steam. The fire went out and Flame-boy fell head first towards the ground.

“Aaahhh!” He screamed as he fell. He crumpled against the forest floor and there was a sickening crunch as his head hit the dirt.

“Yeah!” Soja pumped his fist in the air. “Take that dickhead!”

“Hardly worth the effort.” Tanner snorted.

Soja made for the body but Jack held him back. Jack had a scowl on his face and a hand on Soja’s shoulder, stopping him from approaching the body.

He stared intently at the still figure on the ground. The loud snap that his head made as it the ground echoed in his ear.

“Check if he is alive,” he said to Tanner.

Soja’s face paled in horror as the forest floor started dyeing red.