Book 5 - Chapter 12 - Further Explorations (1/2)

Hellflower began formulating a plan to plant these mushrooms throughout Greenland City for the next phase of her experiments.

Cloudhawk left her to her business. He returned to the fort, eager to continue exploring different dimensions. Thankfully, a scryspire had recently been completed in the city and there was nothing stopping them from taking another excursion.

They’d made a couple trips to the same place already, so they would need to be especially careful about making another. A whole host of strange spirit creatures had been centered around the ancient ruins they found. If they awakened a bunch of them at once, they’d run into the same dangerous situation they fled from last time. He decided to avoid the ruins for now.

“Oddball, you’re up!”

Oddball had become – for lack of a better term – a fat-ass. It fluttered around Cloudhawk before darting off through the alien environment. For kilometers in every direction there was nothing to see but enormous mushrooms. However, these mushrooms were not all uniform. Cloudhawk was confident there were some he could use.

This time, their main focus was a food source.

Cloudhawk had spied a number of small creatures before. If they survived here, it meant they had to be eating something. So, his goal was simple – find the animals, and you’d find where they got their meals. Not so complicated.

Oddball had eyesight ten times better than an eagle. It could spot a tiny critter dashing among the mushrooms from a hundred meters away. Under Oddball’s guidance, Cloudhawk and Hellflower crept toward their objectives, all the while collecting samples and skirting the ruins.

“This place is a treasure trove of alien life. I suspect each one plays an important role in their ecology. You know, the potential for life to adapt is limitless. While introducing outside threats can be destructive to an environment, it also forces native species to become stronger. The more complex and ruthless the ecosystem, the stronger the creatures that inhabit it.

“Is that so?”

“I found some amusing data in the old texts,” Hellflower said as they picked their way along. “Ancient scientists were working on something they called ‘designer venom.’ They took a number of very deadly insects and placed them together in a box without food and buried them in the dirt. Natural instinct caused them to release their toxins. They discovered that those who survived were the strongest.”

“If none survived?” Cloudhawk asked.

“Then they changed the box and started over. They continued the experiment until they got the result they wanted!” Hellflower glanced at Cloudhawk and saw the strange expression on his face. “What are you thinking?”

“Do you ever feel like humans are being groomed, like those insects?”

The question took her by surprise. What would cause Cloudhawk to suddenly come up with that idea?

Cloudhawk looked over the arid, abandoned landscape. “What’s the different here? This planet is just a big jar where all the animals fight and destroy one another. If whatever ‘designer venom’ isn’t achieved, the experimenters would just move on. I don’t know about you, but this place looks like an abandoned experiment jar to me.”

It was an interesting association, one Hellflower hadn’t expected Cloudhawk to make. As a scientist she was trained to see connections like this, and couldn’t help but recognize some similarities between this world and theirs. It was not unthinkable that gods and demons had once inhabited this place as well.

The more she thought about it, the more frightening the prospect became.

“I have a question I’ve been meaning to ask you.” Cloudhawk quickly changed the subject. “Why did you agree to help Wolfblade?”

“The basis of your question is flawed. I have never agreed to help anyone with anything. I’m here to help myself.” She offered the words casually. “Do you remember the first time we met? I told you my one aim is to understand our world and the universe we live in – present, past and future. I have always wanted to explore the world as it had been, just as much as I wish to foresee the wastelands’ future. To see the essence of life, to know these mysteries. I have so many questions, and I will follow whoever can help me satisfy my cravings. My association with Wolfblade is based on mutual benefit.”

Cloudhawk glanced her way. “You’re walking a path with no end.”

“Is the end so important?” She smirked. “So long as I have the courage and strength to keep moving forward, then I will. It’s what motivates me. If it wasn’t for my curiosity and thirst for knowledge, my body would have been buried in a shallow ditch somewhere a long time ago.”

Cloudhawk had nothing to say to that. Hellflower was a rare person in the wastes. Someone with her indomitable will was hard to find. Even Skycloud had only a handful of religious types with that sort of zeal. The strength she found to do what she did came from within her, somewhere deep in her soul. A second difference lay in constraint versus ambition. Hellflower wasn’t doing this because of any duty, she did it because it was her passion.

Her efforts were to make humanity strong. But it also made humanity frightening.

“It’s true. Like a flower in hell, my goals are rare and just out reach.” She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “But I chase them all the same.”

Cloudhawk nodded. “You’re really something.”

“From the moment I first met you, I knew you and I were cut from the same cloth,” Hellflower revealed. “I always felt closer to you than Selene or Dawn because of our similarities. The path you are walking is also a long one… don’t you think it would be easier with a partner?”

Cloudhawk coughed weakly. “For some reason, I’m afraid you’ll sell me off or something.”

She wasn’t angry at the implications. Instead, she thoughtfully replied, “Sooner or later you’ll understand.”

Oddball interrupted with a message. Found it! Something sneaking through the forest of mushrooms.

Cloudhawk motioned for Hellflower to follow and the two quickly moved toward their prey. They pushed through the towering fungus to an unassuming section, where they discovered an enormous mushroom that was perhaps sixty or seventy meters tall.