CHAPTER 4 : FOREST IN FLAMES

Nyluss breaks one of the sacred rules of the elves . . .

 

CHAPTER  4

FOREST IN FLAMES

 

 

     Running as fast as his legs would carry him, Nyluss rushed towards the Mons Trench. After a few miles he finally reached the trench to see first hand what he saw on his hand-screen. The hover-car parked on the edge of the trench illuminating Jardran captured in a containment orb high over the Mons Trench.

     Nyluss moved next to the car, placing his hand-screen back into one of his belt compartments and running a hand down the car's side. "Good girl," he said as he lifted the spider device towards Jardran. "Souls can't run and hide forever, Jardran, not even you."

     Fighting frantically to escape the containment orb, Jardran pounded his translucent fists against the power streaks. "This is not the end, boy!"

     "Believe me, number thirty-two," Nyluss said as he put the powered up spider on the ground and stepped away, "it its."

     With his ghostly eyes widening, Jardran let out an eerie scream as the spider began to let out a siren like cry and a bright red light shot forward, blasting through the containment orb and Jardran himself. Nyluss lowered his head, using the wide brim of his hat to shield his eyes from the intense light of the spider, then lifted his hands to cup over his ears; the sound was like a thundering storm destroying the skies.

     After a moment, all went silent. Nyluss lifted his eyes. The containment orb was gone and so was Jardran. Only a drifting cloud of smoke remained. Nyluss went to the spider, kneeled before it and lifted it from the ground. The light that glowed red to power it was now yellow, and Nyluss quickly pressed it. Suddenly the hundreds of tiny legs retracted back into the body of the small device and the top of it spit apart, and a small glowing yellow tube rose from the interior of the spider.

     Nyluss gently removed the tube, its contents glowing yellow, and pressed the yellow button again on the spider, which shut the device off. Examining the glowing yellow tube, Nyluss had to smile. "How does it feel in there, Jardran?"

     Placing the tube in one of his belt compartments and rushing to the car and sitting firmly at the controls, Nyluss looked up as a loud roar came from the Mons Trench. Nyluss peered intently through the windshield of the hover-car into the night that the lights of the car attempted to brighten. Again, another loud roar sounded, accompanied by small tremors from underneath the car.

     Suddenly, the Cyclops golem leaped up from out of the trench, nearly causing Nyluss to have a heart attack in shock. Nyluss took control of the car, backing up, turning and rocketing away. Cursing himself for being so naive to think that a fall into a trench could kill a Cyclops golem giant,  Nyluss realized that there was a much easier way to rid himself of the golem. Fire.

     The Cyclops roared angrily as it reached the car. Lifting a massive tree out of the ground, the golem used it as a weapon, swinging the tree towards the car. Nyluss tried to dodge the incoming tree, but it was too late, the tree impacted the front of the car and knocked it up into the air over the forest.

     Checking the power supply left in the hover-car quickly, Nyluss saw he had enough for more power to sustain flight for a moment. "Divert all power to the hover-thrusters!"

    The car obeyed his command and, hovering lightly over the forest. A ground shaking roar came from below. The golem was not going to stop. Nyluss scanned the trees below. He needed to destroy that golem. Reluctantly, Nyluss pressed one of the glowing red buttons on the steering control, and a flat, square device dropped from underneath the car.

     Falling out of sight into the forest, the device landed next to the Cyclops. Nyluss pressed another button on the console, which ignited the square device below. The explosion was tremendous, causing Nyluss to raise the car higher into the air over the forest as it began to burn out of control.

     An intense fire ripped through the forest in all directions, destroying everything in sight for miles. Sadness struck Nyluss as he watched almost in a trance as the flames raveged on, burning down the forest. Below the car the fire produced a clearing. Nyluss could see the flaming body of the enormous golem, laying lifeless on the ground. The flames eating away its skin.

     A thick cloud of smoke surrounded Nyluss and the car as the fire continued. Nyluss was sure his homeland could see the smoke by now, and suddenly he regretted his decision to use fire to kill the Cyclops. The burning of forests of any kind was strictly forbidden by the elves, and he had just broken one of the most sacred laws of the elves. "That is why they despise you, because you still think like a child, Nyluss." The voices of his mentors, peers, and family seemed to all speak to him at once.

     Nyluss dropped his head in shame, realizing he had made a horrible mistake, and would have to face the punishment for it.Tarnall, Dydruss, and his mother would not be pleased. Letting out a deep breath, Nyluss reduced the power of the hover-thrusters and lowered the car back down to the burning ground, then checking slowly to see if the spider device was still containing Jardran; a blinking white light confirmed it was. Moving the car slowly through the flaming forest, Nyluss could feel his heart sink. The drive home would be a long one, for certain.