Mark of the Ranger

X. The Final Jewel Creature Fight

And Now...

          We all jumped back, not necessarily ready to be torn apart by a jewel centipede. The rumbling continued as we all armed ourselves and stood together. I could hear Elena breathing heavily. She loved animals, but she knew that the jewel creatures were unnatural. 

          The rumbling had increased in volume, becoming unbearable. I gripped my lances tighter and swallowed, unsure about my choice of being an Outland Ranger. I heard from one of the commanders that fighting jewel creatures was just the tip of the iceberg. What other monstrosities were there, if we nearly got killed by a jewel centipede?

          A crack formed in the ground in front of us, indicating that the centipede was getting close. I waited to see those bright violet jewels that the centipede had for mandibles. David had told us to kill that thing on sight. I looked again at the ground. It was becoming soft, and the cracked pieces started to move upward. I readied my lances.

          With a loud CRACK, the centipede's violet jewel mandibles burst from the ground. Now that it was finally here, I got a good look at it.

          The centipede was not unlike the scorpion and the spider. Its outer shell was a deep black, and its body was segmented. On each segment, there were two legs, one on each side. The legs were tipped with purple crystal, and crystals lined its back. From the pictures I had seen at the Academy, it also had two jewel tails like the scorpion did. Not to mention, the centipede was known as the most powerful jewel creature.

          I remembered what it had been like at the headquarters, about four days ago. David had come to us, saying that he had just signed us up for the killing of a jewel centipede. We had all reacted reasonably and asked if he was absolutely insane. Well, all of us except for Ko, that is. Ko was excited for a challenge.

          My mind jumped back to here and now. The centipede had turned, as if it had detected our presence. Its jewel mandibles were wide open, and the centipede was charging straight for us. Filled with some unreasonable courage, I leaped in front of the others. I could hear even Ko gasp with surprise.

          I cried out in rage as the centipede approached with the speed of a train. Once the centipede had gotten absurdly close, I stabbed with my right lance. The first segment shattered, but the centipede simply kept charging. That's what the centipede did: keep charging until every segment was destroyed. Each segment was its own head, which is what made it so powerful. It could even split to divide and conquer.

          I jabbed with my other lance, breaking another segment. I jabbed again, again, again, growing in speed. Each strike shattered another segment, but my strange confidence was fading. I began to lose my certainty that I could break every segment. Finally, I, beyond all odds, broke the last segment. I looked at the ground, searching for the core. It wasn't there.

          "Where is it?" I cried out, searching the cave floor frantically. Then the idea dawned on me. "That wasn't the whole centipede, was it?" I looked at my teammates, who just stared at me in surprise. I guess they hadn't gotten over the fact that I had just jumped in front of them and killed half a jewel centipede. I was a bit shocked myself, but there were more important things here, like the fact that that wasn't the whole centipede.

          "Guys, that's not the whole centipede. We still have to find the other half!" I yelled at them, right before I heard a rumbling again. I turned slowly, seeing the other half of the centipede charging straight for us. It must have planned this. Jewel centipedes were highly intelligent, after all. I lifted my lances up, dreading having to kill the other segments while my teammates, including our makeshift leader, just stood there in amazement.

          It turned out that I didn't have to do all the work, however, as Elena leaped in front of me, her bowedge drawn and an arrow nocked. I looked at the arrow, seeing its slender shaft and smooth, pointed end. That was a penetration arrow, made specially for going straight through things. Elena was planning to kill the centipede in one shot!

          As the centipede drew unbearably close, its mandibles open wide, Elena released her arrow. Seeing the arrow, the centipede rushed into a side hall. Elena was able to cut off one segment, however, and the half centipede split again. A small jewel centipede, not much larger than two or three segments, continued its charge while ran about unseen.

          Elena quickly knocked another penetration arrow and shot the small centipede dry. We heard a rumbling, indicating that the centipede was burrowing through the rock. It was somewhere to my right.

          We all turned as the rock cracked with the pressure of the centipede's power. The wall broke, unleashing the jewel centipede. Its mandibles opened wide again. I looked at Ko. He and Karen had unsheathed their daggers. They threw them into the mouth of the centipede. The daggers destroyed one segment, but the rest kept going. David, not one to not be excluded, rushed the centipede, slicing the segments into pieces. The core dropped onto the floor.

          Jeff took out his hammer and smashed the core. We all sheathed our weapons and stood in silence for a short minute. "Well, how are we going to get out?" Elena asked, reminding us of how deep we had gotten. As soon as the words escaped her mouth, however, a purple bit of smoke floated from the jewel centipede's core. The smoke began to float through the halls of the cave, and we silently made a unanimous decision to follow it. 

          "Thank goodness for Deus ex Machina," Jeff joked about the smoke as it led us through the halls and to the entrance of the cave. As soon as we exited, the purple smoke disappeared. I looked forward, seeing Tombstone, our Outlandish falcon, waiting for us. "Well, at least Tombstone's here," I told everyone. 

          Outlandish falcons were giant birds. They looked like ravens, but they actually could achieve much greater speeds than a raven could. Not to mention, Tombstone could fit all six of us on his back and still fly at a reasonable speed. "How do you think he fed himself?" Elena asked. I pointed to the cow corpses along the surrounding fields. Elena nodded, looking like she was about to vomit.

          "Well, guys, let's head back," David commanded. We all hopped on to Tombstone's back. With a short command from David, Tombstone flew into the sky. We all held on for dear life, considering the much greater speeds that I mentioned before. Once Tombstone concluded his melodramatic ascent, he began a fast, long glide towards the headquarters.

          I knew that the ranchers that had given Tombstone to us a few weeks ago had told us not to look down while riding him, but it was so awesome to just stare at the countryside going by in what seemed to be an instant. 

          About half an hour later, we reached the headquarters. Tombstone landed like a true expert. Once we reported our mission completion to a pleasantly stunned Oculus, we headed up to our quarters and laid on our beds, enjoying the short rest before David signed us up for something else dangerous.