De'Vas Chronicles Book 4: Chapter 1

SPOILER WARNING FOR BOOK 3!!!!________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ash’s heart raced as he stared at the cat made of Lightning Magic before him. Sparky just sat there in front of the dead rabbit, his tail lazily swaying back and forth. When a few seconds passed, Ash was sure the elemental wasn’t going to attack him.

“Not a fan of rabbits,” Ash asked cautiously.

FOOD.

The voice wasn’t in his head this time, but it sounded like static. Still, Ash had understood what it had meant. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the translation ring or his connection to the elemental.

“Well, enjoy your meal,” Ash said, turning to walk away.

He made it one step, then felt his legs start to shake before he collapsed to the ground. His body trembled, and he felt weak. A quick glance at his arms showed lightning-shaped burn marks on his body. His hands moved to the pocket where he kept his potions, only to feel dampness and knew the vials had broke in his fight with Victor.

“Shit..” Ash cursed.

FOOD FOR YOU. WEAK.

Ash shook his head.

“I need to find the girls,” he said through gritted teeth as he tried to stand.

He knew Selena and Haylee were out there, Ella could be as well, though he didn’t see her after Victor rifted them to…to…Vas.

He collapsed again before even taking a step and looked around himself. Trees stretched toward the sky, and the ground was covered in fallen leaves. Most of the trunks were so large that Ash could wrap his arms around them and his fingers not touch. Despite their size, the forest was thick with them. The place screamed ancient and primal, as if he were the first person ever to set foot here.

His gaze was brought back to Sparky as the elemental dragged the dead rabbit toward him. Again, the blue cat stared at him as its tail swayed lazily.

WEAK.

Ash sighed as he pulled Riptide from his belt and grabbed the dead rabbit.

“I hope those survival shows Bo liked to watch weren’t complete bullshit,” Ash said as he used the chitin dagger to gut and skin the rabbit.

By the time he had it gutted and cleaned, the last thing he wanted to do was eat it. He grimaced at the thought as he used a spark of Lightning Magic to ignite a fire from some sticks and brush he gathered nearby, some even brought to him by Sparky. He skewered the rabbit’s carcass on a stick and placed it over the fire.

When the smell of the cooking meat hit his nose, he realized just how hungry he was. He eagerly rotated the meat over the fire, and when it looked cooked through, he devoured it.

The taste was very gamey and bland, but he didn’t care. As soon as he took the first bite, his body demanded that he eat more. He stripped the last of the meat from the bones, throwing them into the fire.

When the hunger was sated and he had time for his adrenaline rush to settle, Ash took stock of his situation.

“I’m on Vas,” he said to himself with a chuckle. “Damn it.”

He thought about the fight with Victor in his dragon form. The flash of blue light outside the kitsune restaurant. How had the dragon known he was going to be there? Had he been spying on him, or was Ash set up?

“Damn it.”

Faylen, Lilly, and Naomi would be worried about him. Would they be safe if the Coalition moved on District 114? Changelings had already tried to attack his mother, even posing as his best friend. He needed to get back…but how?

“DAMN IT!” Ash yelled.

He grabbed a rock and hurled it into the forest, venting his frustration. Sparky watched him curiously from the side of a tree, but otherwise the elemental didn’t react. Ash took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves.

Focus on what I can do now, worry about the rest later.

He exhaled and stood up, thankful his legs no longer felt shaky. He took a step, then looked back at Sparky, who was still staring at him from a sitting position. The elemental was fully formed now and, thankfully, hadn’t tried to kill him again.

“Thanks for everything. I wish you luck out there,” Ash said, trying to say his farewells.

Sparky’s body became a bolt of Lightning Magic that rushed toward him. Before he could react, he felt Sparky slip back into his elemental scar and settle down there, much like a cat would in its favorite sleeping spot.

“So much for farewells,” Ash said, touching the scar.

He kicked dirt onto the embers of his small fire, then looked around. He had no idea where to start looking for Selena, Ella and Haylee. His gaze shifted to one of the large trees.

If I could get to the top, I could probably see the damage from my fight with Victor.

Though the tree was massive and without any low branches for him to even attempt to climb up. Ash pondered what to do when he recalled that Sparky had given him wings during his fight with Victor. Could the elemental do so again?

“Hey, Sparky. Can you give me wings?” Ash asked.

TOO WEAK.

The voice this time came from within his head. He frowned at the elemental’s words.

“I ate the food,” Ash tried to reason. “I’m no longer shaking.”

TOO WEAK.

Ash’s frown deepened. He felt a twinge of anger well up inside of him. Was the elemental referring to his fight with Victor? A jab about how he had been too weak to defeat the dragon?

That thought was squashed as Ash caught sight of his arms again. The lightning shape burns that covered it.

“Oh, I need to recover before we can do that again,” he said, staring at the burns on his arm.

YES.

“Great…” Ash replied, wondering how long that would take. “I suppose you don’t know what direction the girls are?”

Sparky was silent.

That figures. Most likely, Selena and Haylee are looking for me.

That thought was the start of a plan, and Ash began to gather more wood and leaves into a pile. Once he thought it was big enough, he used some of his magic to ignite a fire, turning the pile into a small bonfire. He then threw some green leaves into the flames to produce smoke and watched as it climbed passed the tree line into the sky.

“Hopefully, they will see that,” he said.

He watched the smoke a little longer, then used Riptide to start hacking away at some of the surrounding vegetation. When he had a clear spot, he gathered larger branches and even used the magic sword to cut and trim smaller trees.

His plan was to build a shelter in case the girls didn’t come to find him before night fell. The task also gave him something to focus on. It also kept him from dwelling on his situation or the situation his girls were in back on Earth.

“I’ll kill Victor next time I see him.”

He gripped a branch tightly as the thought of his girls entered his mind. He had to return to them.

Hours later, he sat in the shelter he had built that hopefully wouldn’t collapse on him. The sun was already setting, and the last batch of green leaves was burning in the fire. He felt a knot in his gut that the girls hadn’t come for him. Perhaps he was too far from them for the smoke to be visible. He had decided that tomorrow he would try to find a river or creek and follow it downstream in hopes of finding a town. Something he recalled from one of Bo’s survival shows about what to do if you’re lost in the wilderness.

As the night fell and the fire was little more than embers, Ash lay down in his small shelter on a bed of leaves and tried to sleep.

“Well, what do we have here?” a voice called out.

Ash frowned as the voice was unfamiliar to him. He stirred and moved to touch his girls, only to feel a pile of leaves. His hand grasped the leaves and formed a fist. Anger welled in him as he recalled where he was and what had happened. He pushed himself up from his makeshift bed and crawled out of his shelter into the morning light.

Five orcs stood around his shelter, each wearing armor and brandishing a weapon. Ash looked at each of them as he stretched. The shelter hadn’t been a comfortable place to sleep.

“He’s an odd-looking elf,” one of the orcs said. “He’s got more muscle tone than any I’ve seen, and his ears are short. Did someone cut your ears, elf?”

Ash didn’t answer. Instead, he looked at the chained collar one of the orcs was holding. The orc smiled at him and started to sway the collar back and forth.

“Oh, he’s already noticed it and wants to wear it!” the orc sang.

He started laughing as the collar moved in the air like a pendulum.

“He… he looks like a human, but…” a female orc said, staring at him curiously.

A large orc with over two feet in height on Ash stepped closer and started looking him up and down. He held a massive greatsword in his hand that was even larger than Torrent, but lacked any runes like Naomi’s magical weapon.

“Those the creatures from the horny elf novels you read?” the large orc asked the female one.

She blushed slightly and nodded.

The large orc turned back and grinned at Ash.

“Well then, he may be an odd elf, but if he looks close enough to one of those creatures, we might find a good buyer.”

Ash took a deep breath. He was in a very bad mood right now.

“Two questions. First, I just woke up, so let me make sure I’m not misunderstanding anything. You’re slavers and want to take me as a slave?”

Laughter erupted from the orcs, and the large one even wiped away a tear from his eye.

Ash took that as confirming his answer.

“Okay, second question. Are you related to an orc named Bo? He used to work as a mercenary? Horrible singer?” Ash asked the large orc.

The large orc scowled as he shook his head.

“Even if I were, it wouldn’t save you,” he snarled.

Ash nodded. Then he pointed his index and middle finger at the large orc, pulling on his magic as he did. The green bastard frowned at his fingers until he saw the blue sparks of magic, and his eyes widened. Then the sound of thunder echoed throughout the forest.