The Gate Saga: The Landing

Part One

Colton Cobb stood on the bow of his ship called The Silver Gale. His blue eyes scanning the unexplored landmass on the horizon. Searching for any sign of life other than the trees spanning from North to South as far as the eye can see.
"I know you are out there," he muttered to himself.

"Talking to yourself again, I see," came a cheerful voice from behind him.
Colton turned to see his childhood friend, the blue skinned hellborn Imbrose walking up behind him with a sheepish grin on his face, His prominent horns encircling his head like a crown.

"Is it everything you expected, Mirage Knight?" Imbrose said as he draped his arm across Colton's shoulders. Colton smiled, pleased that his friend decided to join him on this adventure like so many before.

"It'll do, I think this is just the surface, my friend, and don't call me that silly nickname. I swear I'll smack you if you spread it around."

Imbrose laughed. "Yeah, yeah, if you can catch me old man." Imbrose jabbed his friend in the gut and backed away, taking a fighting stance.

Colton rubbed his abdomen and pointed at Imbrose with his free hand, "Don't make me get Ember involved. Seriously though, I really appreciate you coming with me, man. This place is both beautiful and terrifying. The idea of facing it alone... well, I'm not sure I could have."

Imbrose relaxed and walked to his friend, placing a hand on his shoulder, "new continent with my two best friends? Wouldn't miss it for the world!" Imbrose turned and looked at the rapidly approaching wall of trees, "What kind of critters do you think live in there?"

Colton scoffed, "Nothing, we've ever seen before."

The rowboats pushed into the sand bar, the massive trees only 20 feet from shoreline casting monstrous shadows over the disembarking crew. Colton was the first to hop over the side of the boat, with his boots crashing into the surf as he heaved the boat further into the small stretch of sand.

A rustling of branches caught his attention as he looked over his shoulder into the darkened canopy. He searched for the source of the noise but was quickly pulled back to his task as more of the expedition members began to jump out of the boat.

"Secure the boats and prepare for a quick retreat. If things go wrong, let's be ready." Colton said as he took a step toward the treeline. "Imbrose, take your scouts and find out if we have some observers."

Imbrose nodded and disappeared into the treeline without hesitation, followed by five other scouts.

Colton panned his vision up and down the coast, watching as the various boats were being secured by their teams until suddenly a low growl and an ear piercing scream echoed from his left. He turned to see a massive bear-like creature with six legs pinning an adventurer to the ground while also tearing into his chest and abdomen. The other members of his team quickly surrounded the creature and began hacking as the unfortunate victim was torn apart in seconds, leaving nothing but a bloody mess on the sand. Colton was already running along the sand toward the commotion when branches snapped in the trees to his left. He just barely pivoted in time to avoid a mass of teeth and claws as another large creature tried to pin him to the ground. This one looked like an oversized wolf with long fangs protruding from its mouth as it snarled at him. Colton quickly lashed out with his whip and caught the creature in the snout, causing it to stagger backward in pain as the long blade on the end cut a deep line. Colton quickly summoned a shadow version of himself behind the creature, preparing for it to lunge. A moment later, the wolf did just that, leaping for Colton's throat with startling speed.

Colton immediately closed his eyes and swapped places with his shadow familiar, appearing just in time to see the wolf passing through where he was standing only moments before. Without pause, he lashed out with his whip. It coiled around the neck of the massive beast, and with a quick snap of his wrist, the blade dug into its throat. The wolf howled but was cut short as Colton yanked the whip with all his might, tearing the wolf's throat open. With a spray of blood and yelp, the creature crumpled to the sand, dead.

Breathing hard, Colton surveyed the scene around him. No one was free of the sudden ambush. Every landing party had at least one monstrous beast tearing through them, leaving most wounded and some eerily still. Colton looked at the treeline, then back at his compatriots. They were all going to die if they didn't get out of here now.

"Back to the boats, now!" Colton roared over the clash of claw and steel. Then he moved to where he last saw Imbrose enter the forest. "Where are you, you sneaky blue bastard?" Colton scanned the forest but couldn't make out any movement. A yell to his right drew his attention as he saw a young guard woman being slashed across the arm by a large jungle cat. He lashed out quickly, catching its hind leg and pulling the beast away from her. As the large cat turned and snarled at him, the woman took the opportunity to bring her massive battleaxe down onto the base of its neck, killing it immediately.

"Thanks, boss," she said, "names Genivieve."

"A pleasure miss, you best get yourself to a boat now. Something tells me we are going to need as many guards we can get to survive this place."

"Right behind you, sir." She said while looking him directly in the eyes.

Colton looked at her a moment, then back into the woods where his friend had gone and stared for a moment, willing him to appear. Colton took a step toward the forest right as a purple flash splashed into the sand next to his foot. Colton looked down to see a purple dagger embedded there, then suddenly Imbrose appeared crouched, holding the hilt of the blade with one hand as he carried a wounded scout on his back Imbrose had a large wound on his right leg as his struggled to stand, but the scout had long claw marks that dragged down his back. Both were bloody mess as Colton moved to help them.

"You weren't kidding about the shit in there, Colton. Barely made it back in one piece, " Imbrose said as he handed over the wounded man.

"Let's get back to the ships and take stock. We have already lost too many." Colton began moving for the nearest beached rowboat as the sounds of fighting echoed all around.

Imbrose slid into the boat with the pained grunt as Colton set the wounded scout in the boat next to him.

"Help me with this boss," said Genevieve as she shoved her shoulder into the boat, attempting to dislodge it.

Colton quickly moved to help and heaved the boat free of the sand, then jumped into the now floating vessel. As he turned to look at the beach behind him, all he saw was horror. So many bodies of his allies were strewn about the sand, and many were being drug into the forest to become a meal for some horrible monster. The screams of pain reached him as he saw many boats leaving the shore, but many were still being left behind.

"This was a massacre. We never stood a chance." Colton turned to see the scout looking at the carnage with a pale face. The scout turned and looked at Colton dead in the eyes "You led us here to die, all of their deaths are on your head you fucking mons-" the man was caught off as Imbrose crashed the butt of his dagger into the mans temple knocking him unconscious.

"That's enough outta you" Imbrose lowered himself into the seat and began tending his leg, "Don't listen to any of that shit Colton, he's just afraid and people who are afraid say stupid things. We all knew what we signed up for."

Colton turned from the unconscious man and looked back at the red stretch of sand. "But what if he's right?" He whispered under his breath as the beach and the screams drifted further away.