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Chapter 4: My team is ambushed by cryptids and I lose my cousin
Wednesday the 11th of October, 2006 – Shields Crossing, Ontario
“What the hell is that?” Ursula asked.
“I think ‘Hell’ is exactly what it is,” replied Grant.
I could tell neither of them had heard the scream through mindspeak, which meant it was Sylvie. “The other group’s in trouble, we’ll look into this place later.”
Turning to run, I hoped they would follow.
Al, get over here. I don’t think I can fight this off for much longer. Sylvie’s voice sounded strained but also excited.
Give me a sign as to where you are, I said. The woods were huge, and other than south, I had no idea where they’d gone.
The mosquitoes seemed to get thicker. They buzzed and bit before suddenly disappearing. I attributed it to the dropping temperature. Between the sun setting and moving away from the house, it was getting colder fast.
A bright pillar of light slashed the sky. Thanks. We’re on our way.
She didn’t reply and a few moments later the light went out. The forest got thicker and I fought my way through until we reached the edge of a cliff overlooking the shore. I almost fell but managed to stop.
“Where are they?” asked Grant between breaths. He needed more running practice.
“There!” Ursula said, pointing at a cave on the rocky beach.
The sunset turned vivid red and a cool wind swept up the river. Just as I was going to argue, a small bear-like creature came out of the cave and started howling. Its jaws opened to a ninety degree angle and froth dripped from its mouth.
The sound of its howl sent a shiver of fear through me, and just as quickly as it had started, the howl was replaced by the most amazing sound. Like music, love, and warmth had been combined. I wanted nothing more than to go toward that sound.
I heard Grant swear and felt him try to grab me, but I fought him. I ran straight for the cave, not caring that there was a six foot drop to the beach. I felt the freedom of running on air followed by a fall but not the landing.
The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the cave with the rest of the group, covered in blood, with a massive headache.
Grant stood over us wearing earbuds and brandishing his sword. “Are you okay?” he yelled.
I patted myself down and gave him the thumbs up. He took out the earbuds and gave a deep sigh.
There were three creatures around us. Each had been hacked by a sword, none were moving.
Seeing the creatures closer up, I recognized the short soft grey-brown fur and the shape of its head. Mostly I recognized the large venom sacks under its neck. “Grant? How did you take out three adlats?”
Adlats are some of the most dangerous cryptid creatures on earth. They lure people in with their song and then pump them full of venom that both paralyses and heals. They slowly eat a person’s quintessence, their soul, and drain their blood. The older the adlat, the longer they can feed on one person.
“I put in my earbuds the moment I heard the howl and blasted The Kings of Rock. I tried to stop you from running off that cliff but you fell, and wow were you broken. Like, your legs were both bent the wrong way and I saw you wheezing really bad. Then one of those things bit you, and your legs popped back into place like an inflatable mattress but, like, gross.”
“Gross,” Ursula repeated in a flat voice. “Stick to drawing because your descriptions are terrible.”
Robin gave a little shriek from the other side of the cave and my heart sank until she said, “I’m fine, but I think we’ve found our killers. There are two more bodies back here that are desiccated like the man in the morgue.”
“Can we sound off?” I asked and each person said their name and that they were unhurt, except for Sylvie. “Sylvie? If you’re dead, I’m going to bring you back and kill you.” I was hoping that if she were unconscious, my voice would wake her. I repeated the same thing in mindspeak in case she was out of earshot.
“Can he do that?” asked Grant with fear in his voice.
Once again deadpan, Ursula answered, “Probably not.”
I got up and gave him a stern look. I reached into my pocket for my phone and found it in pieces. I needed light and summoned my sword. It glowed softly and with a thought I turned up the light. The cave was illuminated, showing me my team, two desiccated corpses, dirt, the hacked remains of the adlats, and lots of blood.
“What happened?” I asked Robin.
“We were searching the woods when we heard a roar behind us, and then there was this beautiful music. That’s all I remember.”
“No idea what happened to Sylvie?” I asked.
Clifford said, “No,” and then suggested, “What about the tracking spell?”
I shook my head and said, “I didn’t make a packet for her.” We each had a bag with hair from the others. It allowed us to use a tracking spell if one of us goes missing. In general, Gatekeepers don’t have magic like a wizard but we can use some minor ritual based magic.
“She’s your cousin. You share blood. Assuming she’s physically closer than any other relative you should be able to find her,” he explained.
It was worth a shot. I took my sword and pricked my index finger. Rubbing the blood on my sword, I said the words, “Let me protect my chosen family, let me have the strength to save them, and let me find the one who was lost.” The words weren’t necessary, only the intent, but they didn’t hurt.
The sword swung me around in a full turn and then pointed firmly toward where we had seen the building called “Luc’s House of the Rising Sun.” I was fairly certain that Luc was short for Lucifer and that whatever we were walking into was going to suck.
“Everyone clean yourselves off and let’s get out of here. We’re going to get my cousin and meet the Devil.” I wasn’t a religious man and I didn’t believe in the Devil, but enough people did that an Aetherborn version could be just as bad.
Read Chapter 5 (May 2025)
While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:
- 2024 – Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises: A Sun Speaker Story (Space Opera)
- 2023 – The Suns of War (Sci-Fi, Epic)
- 2022 – Birth of the Aetherverse (Fantasy)
- 2021 – Diamond Stars and the Galactic Heist (Sci-Fi, Heist, Romance)
- 2020 – Point Zero (Superhero, Sci-Fi)
- 2019 – Seren Plentyn and the Secret of Hokulua Station (Sci-Fi Adventure Mystery)
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