Ground of oam oams cry, p.25
Ground of Oam (Oam's Cry), page 25
“Ah, there you are,” a voice said from below.
Matthew quickly looked down to see Shandrom standing below him. He had no idea how he had found him.
“Shandrom, what are you doing here?” Matthew asked, surprised. He never regretted having Shandrom around. They had always been good friends.
“I heard that you had an interview with Bionine,” Shandrom said, walking forward. “I thought that I would come to give you moral support, but you haven’t even made it into the building yet.”
Matthew let out a laugh and said, “Yeah, I really need your help bad.”
Shandrom let out a laugh. “Hey, how can I get up there?”
“There’s a ladder to the side, come on up,” Matthew replied, pointing toward the ladder.
Shandrom disappeared as he walked to the side of the ruin. Matthew looked back down into his case and removed a neatly folded map.
“Is this thing safe?” Matthew heard Shandrom call from the bottom of the ladder.
“Yes, it’s perfectly fine,” Matthew replied. He carefully unfolded the map. Everything was quiet except for the sound of Shandrom climbing up the ladder. On the map was a picture of Tierikium and the island of Dritheena on the southern side of Tierikium. There were a few more islands around, but the map focused mainly on Tierikium.
There were spots on the map that were circled with a yellow highlighter. They were places that Matthew had been with his father. He spotted Haulacaun City toward the northern region of Tierikium. It was the first city that Matthew and his father had lived in on the island. There was another Bionine facility there and that was where his father worked before being transferred to the small town of Ambern.
“So, what are you doing up here?” Shandrom asked, once he was on top. He carefully moved toward Matthew.
“I used to hang out here a lot when my father was here,” Matthew replied, looking up at Shandrom.
“Yeah, I know,” he replied. “You’ve told me that about a million times now.”
Matthew smiled at the comment. He frequently told Shandrom about his father and his life story.
“My father and I would hide things up here, and I thought that I would see if they were still here,” Matthew said.
“Ah,” Shandrom said, while sitting down next to Matthew. “How did the interview go?”
“Alright, I was offered a job.”
“What, really?” Shandrom remarked in surprise. “When will you be starting?”
Matthew was silent for a while.
“I haven’t accepted it yet,” he replied.
“What?” Shandrom exclaimed. “You’ve always wanted to work for them, and you haven’t accepted the offer?”
“It’s ridiculous, I know,” Matthew replied. “I just don’t know if that’s what I want to do anymore. So many things have been happening lately.” Shandrom didn’t say anything but only listened. “I’ve been wondering if I should even stay here.”
“What do you mean?” Shandrom asked. “You want to leave?”
Matthew thought carefully about how he would answer that. He didn’t want Shandrom to come to the wrong conclusion.
“It’s just an idea, Shandrom,” he said. “I mean, we can’t hide here for the rest of our lives. The town will fall apart if we don’t do anything, and the Rebirtha will take us.”
“That’s true, but how is leaving going to help anything?” Shandrom asked. “You do realize that what you’re talking about is desertion from the army?”
Matthew remained silent as he thought about it.
“That is a crime,” added Shandrom.
“Not like they would come after me,” Matthew replied. As long as everyone chose to keep hiding within the town’s borders, no one would come after him.
The two of them were silent for a while.
Finally, Matthew said, “It’s like I said, it is just an idea.”
“An idea I hope will not come to pass,” Shandrom replied. “I don’t believe there is much good you can do out there.”
Matthew began to fold the map back up. He carefully placed it back in the case before closing it.
“Don’t worry about it, Shandrom, it probably won’t happen,” Matthew said, trying to calm his friend. He then stood up carrying the case in his right hand. Shandrom got up as well, still not looking quite happy.
“It better not happen, we have to leave again on patrol next week,” Shandrom replied.
“I might be starting work for Bionine next week,” Matthew said.
“Oh – well, then I will miss having you with us,” Shandrom replied.
They both started moving toward the ladder. Matthew brought his case with him not wanting to leave it behind. He missed having those things with him.
“Have you ever figured out what this thing is?” Shandrom asked, referring to the tower.
“No, I don’t even know where it came from,” Matthew replied, stepping aside to let Shandrom down the ladder. His friend went down, and Matthew followed behind. They both started back to town, quiet most of the way. Only the sound of the breeze and birds chirping were heard.
It wasn’t long before they reached town. The streets were busy with people walking from here to there as usual. A stray dog or cat would hop out from an alleyway every now and then. Matthew and Shandrom headed to the other side of town where Matthew’s apartment was.
“You doing anything or do you want to come in for a while?” Matthew asked, as they approached the large apartment building.
“I can come in for a while,” Shandrom replied.
As they got closer, Matthew looked up toward the steps that led to the building’s entrance. A group of five men waited outside. They had their rifles with them, and the minute Matthew saw them he had one thought: trouble.
They were Griff’s buddies. The ones that had shot out his window by accident, and the ones that had caused all the trouble in the forest that night. Matthew didn’t see Griff anywhere. He and Shandrom slowed down to see what was going on. The men noticed them, and only nodded in recognition.
Matthew didn’t know what they were doing there, but he tried to ignore them and pass by. Shandrom didn’t say anything either. It was apparent that whatever the men were there for didn’t concern them.
“Matthew,” a voice said, from the apartment door. Griff stepped outside.
“Griff, what are you doing here?” Matthew asked.
Shandrom stopped next to Matthew, annoyed at the sight of Griff. He knew that the man and his friends were normally jerks and that they caused a lot of trouble, but he wasn’t worried about being attacked. The most trouble they made was when they were out drunk and hunting.
“Oh, nothing, I just stopped by to talk to Winston,” Griff replied.
Matthew was surprised to hear it. He had no idea what Winston would be doing with Griff. They had nothing in common, and Winston seemed to have too much pride to talk to Griff.
“And hey, I’m sorry about the window,” Griff continued, with a blank face, which made Matthew doubt what the man said.
“You almost shot me the other night,” Matthew said irritably.
Griff didn’t respond right away. He looked slightly embarrassed, maybe it was guilt written on his face. “I’m sorry, we were being stupid,” he said. “We will be sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
With that, Griff walked past them and his friends followed after him. Matthew and Shandrom watched as they walked in single file. It looked strange, unnatural.
“Didn’t even offer to pay for the window,” Shandrom said, annoyed.
“Well, you never can expect too much from them,” Matthew replied. He then hurried inside and up the stairs while Shandrom followed him into the apartment.
“I would offer you something to drink, but I don’t have anything,” Matthew said, as he walked over to the shot out window in the living room.
“That’s fine, I’m not thirsty,” Shandrom replied. He took a seat on the couch in the middle of the living room. Matthew took a seat next to him. There was no television to watch so they just talked.
Matthew and Shandrom had always been like brothers. They would talk about things that they wouldn’t talk about with others. After a while of small talk, Shandrom decided to head back to his place. It was around the middle of the afternoon, and Shandrom always had something planned during the day. He invited Matthew to join him like he always did, but he declined this time.
Matthew had a lot on his mind, and there was much he still had to figure out. After meeting the hermit that lived in the marshes, Matthew knew that something was wrong. His neighbors seemed to be keeping secrets for some reason, and he felt that he had to investigate, but he didn’t know how to go about it.
After saying goodbye to Shandrom Matthew thought about what to do next. There was still the Bionine job offer he had to decide on. Matthew remembered what Joniah Hector had said to him at the diner. He said that the town wasn’t safe anymore, and that he shouldn’t stay there much longer. Matthew had no idea what Hector was talking about, but there was the night when he encountered the monster. Matthew was sure that Joniah had been there that night, but the man hadn’t been seen since.
The day grew closer to evening, and he once again lost track of time. He still hadn’t bought any groceries, so he would have to go out to eat again. He heard something bump in the hallway outside his apartment.
He got up from the couch and walked over to his door to peek through the peep hole. He couldn’t see anything except for the tips of someone’s feet on the floor. The rest of the man’s body was hidden out of view because of how far to the right he sat from the door.
Out of curiosity, Matthew opened his door and stepped out. He saw Winston sitting down on a chair outside of his own apartment room. He sat crossed legged in the chair and faced Matthew’s door from an angle.
“Matthew, good evening,” Winston said, when he saw him come out.
“Good evening,” Matthew replied confused. It looked as if Winston had placed his chair out in the hall to keep an eye on Matthew’s door. “What are you doing out here?”
Winston slowly stood up before speaking.
“Nothing, I was just getting some air,” Winston replied.
“In the hallway?” Matthew asked.
“Ah – yes, I just needed to get out of my apartment for a while,” Winston replied.
Matthew felt suspicious about the man.
“Oh yeah, and by the way, have you seen Joniah Hector lately?” Winston asked, changing the subject.
Matthew didn’t know why Winston would care about Hector. “No, I haven’t. Why?” Matthew answered.
The chubby man put his hand up to his chin and started rubbing it. “I don’t know why, but I just have a bad feeling about the man,” Winston said, looking Matthew in the eyes.
Matthew felt like saying, you mean like the bad feeling I’m having about you. He didn’t say that though. He wanted to hear more of what Winston had to say.
“I mean, I’ve been thinking. People say that the Rebirtha almost look like we do, how do we know if someone’s really human or not?” said Winston.
“I’ve seen Rebirtha before, and trust me, they’re too ugly to be mistaken for a human,” Matthew replied.
“But I hear that the ugly ones are only ugly because of all the fighting they have experienced,” Winston said, in his low pitched voice. “I also hear that some Rebirtha are actually quite pretty looking.”
Matthew didn’t even know how to respond to that. Winston had never talked to him much before, and now he wanted to talk about the Rebirtha.
“What are you saying?” Matthew asked. “That Joniah Hector is pretty?”
Winston grabbed the back of his chair in order to move it. He said, “No, I’m just saying how often do Rebirtha come through our town, and we don’t even know it?”
“I don’t know,” Matthew responded, feeling irritated. He didn’t trust the man, and he was beginning to get the creeps around him.
Winston then opened his apartment door. “Have a good evening Matthew,” Winston said, while stepping into his own apartment. He dragged the chair behind him. “Oh yes, and remember to be on the lookout for pretty people.”
After a short pause of awkward silence, Matthew said, “Okay, I will.”
Winston gave him what looked like a forced smile and closed the door.
Chapter Thirteen: Nigarious the Prince of Raiders
The valleys are filled with their charred bodies. Their flesh burns under the darkened skies, and I have turned their armies to ash. The aroma of death is great in this place and I savor the taste of it left by their bodies. This is my handiwork. I have brought ruin to the inhabitants of this land, and I shall bring the good news of a satisfied vengeance to he who sent me—The Pydreean
It was early afternoon now and the sun was almost in the middle of the sky. Levi looked up and could see the blue sky peeking through the trees which were covered with brown bark and bursting with green leaves.
The ground was covered in long green grasses and other types of plants ranging from greens, reds, and yellows. Moss covered the rocks and climbed up the trees making the place seem damp and cool. A small narrow dirt path curved through the forest.
Large mountains towered around Levi and the group he was with. The fort was no longer in sight and they knew not what happened to it after they left. Did anyone else make it out alive, was the fort able to push the Rebirtha back, or was the war still being fought? All these questions went through Levi’s mind and he was sure the others wondered about it as well.
Levi stayed toward the back of the group. They all walked, tired of all the running they did earlier. Levi’s legs were getting sore, but none of them could stop moving. Although they were now in safety, fear still drove them.
Levi was thankful for being out of the battle, but felt guilty at the same time. He glanced down to the pouch that held the message from Dr. Timothy. Levi wondered how important it really was. Was it that urgent for him to leave the fort right away?
Levi still held the automatic rifle that he had taken from the Rebirtha. He didn’t know what kind of gun it was but it was black, and a small scope sat on top of the stock. The rifle was actually a little shorter than his previous rifle, but it had a large magazine in front of the trigger. In front of that was another grip that you could hold it steady with.
Levi was proud that he was able to obtain such a weapon and kill as many Rebirtha as he had. Throughout the whole battle he had been running for safety. It wasn’t until escorting the convoy that he was able to put his practiced skills to use.
He was still disturbed though. So much had happened that seemed bizarre. With the white smoke that caused those weird outbreaks, and then what he had heard when he was unconscious. Two men had been speaking about something called the Orbule Eye, and one of them seemed to know who Levi was. The man called him their enemy, and talked as if he was in some way dangerous. Had Levi really overheard someone speaking about him, or was it just a dream?
He was confused. The whole incident didn’t even make sense to him. One of the men had obviously been wounded in some way. Levi was able to tell by the man’s voice, and the other man even confirmed it when he talked. So one of them was in some sort of trouble, and Levi remembered that the man’s name was Carthus. The name of the other man he never heard. Whoever the unknown man was, the guy obviously knew about him. He had basically described Levi’s situation.
This gave a little bit of hope as well as added frustration to Levi. If what he heard really happened, then that would mean that there was someone out there that knew who he really was. The frustrating part was that the man viewed him as a threat for some reason.
He began to get paranoid. What if he was a threat of some kind working for the bad guys? Perhaps his amnesia was a part of some kind of evil plan, and he was being used by someone without realizing it. Could it be that he was a bad guy? Then it struck him, just because he was referred to as the enemy didn’t make him the bad guy. Maybe the two who had spoken were the real bad guys, after all, the bad guys could view the good guys as bad guys.
It was the only thing Levi could think of that made sense. He had no evil motives, or desires to hurt anyone. He couldn’t imagine himself working for anyone bad, and even if he had, who would they be? Surely it wouldn’t be the Rebirtha. Levi had just killed multiple Rebirtha a few hours ago.
Levi began to feel silly after thinking about it for a while. The thing was ridiculous. How could he work for someone without knowing it? Besides, the unknown man told Carthus that Levi would probably do anything he could to prevent him from getting the Orbule Eye. He didn’t even know what an Orbule Eye was. The man also said that the thing was hidden on Mount Pieriom, which Levi knew nothing about. He wouldn’t even know where to begin to search for it. So if he didn’t know what an Orbule Eye was, or where Mount Pieriom was, then how could he be a threat to anyone searching for it? The whole incident must have been a dream, Levi thought to himself. There was probably no such thing as an Orbule Eye or a mountain named Pieriom.
After coming to that conclusion, Levi tried to shrug it off, but he found it hard to do so. It just seemed more to him than a dream. He continued moving forward, ignoring his thoughts and worries. There were more important things to concern himself with at the time.
The group continued to move forward still taking no breaks. They moved up and down the slopes that filled the trail making the trip all the more tiring. It wasn’t long before he started getting the crazy sensation that someone was watching him. Every now and then he would think that he felt something moving behind them from a distance. The feeling would vanish quickly though, making Levi wonder if he ever felt anything in the first place, but then it would be back again somewhere else, only to vanish again.
Of course, the thought crossed his mind that perhaps it was the man named Carthus hunting him. Glancing behind himself occasionally, Levi would try to see if anyone was lurking behind the trees. Maybe he would be able to spot the man named Carthus hiding behind a bush, or maybe he was up in a tree. For all Levi knew, the guy could have been a monkey swinging from branch to branch. Levi almost laughed at the thought of it, but the humorous thought didn’t stay for long.
