New Day (Part 2)

New to the story? See New Day (Part 1)

It had been nearly five hours of steady, unending walking. It had been five grueling hours of careful stalking through the waist-high waters of the swamp. He had taken all precautions. It had been done to all specifications, done to the very highest of standards that could be expected from one of the Augmented. It had all been in vain.
When it came, he barely had time to react. When it came he was tossed away like a leaf in an autumn storm. He was taller than any man, and heavier too, he was clad in holy armour, and yet the monster threw him several feet, his trajectory only stopped by a tree that broke in half as he smashed into it. The half-rotten trunk fell upon him, sending him deep into the brown waters. Instantly his superhuman body reacter. His body twisted, his feet kicked against the muddy bottom, and within an instant he drew himself up from the water. Gavelo wiped his ruby eye-goggles, searching for the monster that had completely ambushed him. His enhanced senses searched for, his eyes that could penetrate even the darkest places and sense even the heat of the body, his ears that blocked out sounds that were irrelevant and prevented him from ever being dizzy or nauseus. His nose that could pick and recall more smells than he cared to think of. They were divine instruments given to him by the Many as he had suffered in the Pools of Augmentation. And his screams of agony had not been in vain; they located the being. This time, Galevo did not intend to be surprised.
Quickly, the power crystal located in his backpack began humming stronger. Galevo drove his hands into the side of the belt, two pieces arcana automatically strapping themselves to the hand’s wrists as he pulled it out again. A previously unnoticeable cable going the length from the housing of the power crystal to the wrist-mounted heads began crackling with energy. The heads glowed faintly blue. After a second’s aim, Galevo mentally ordered the heads to release their stored energy. Two short, glass-like blasts of blue energy flew from his hand, striking the water with a sizzling sound. Galevo stood still to verify a hit. He waited for the body to rise ot surface, or signs of a fluid either his eyes or nose could recognize as blood. Nothing happened. Then, just as he realized his terrible error, the monster erupted from the murky waters from behind, Galevo, wise from injury spun around and jumped sideways, his armour allowing him to leap far away before the crushing blow of the beast’s serpentine jaws hit him. This time he wasted no time, he raised the arm again, and the bolts of blue energy struck the swamp beast straight along its long, scaly body. It screamed in agony as they burnt into its flesh. Galevo could smell the scent of burnt flesh, but the blast did little else than rile the beast up. In crazed fury, it slithered towards him, lifting its head with the dagger-like teeth ready to strike. Galevo jumped sideways as he fired the bolts, but this time the monster dodged them and struck him with its massive tail. Again he was sent flying, descending deep into the muddy waters and the mud below before he could regain control. He fought with thick roots, ripped them apart as he tried to get up, but it was too late.
The giant serpent’s mouth closed around him, lifting him from the depths and into the air. Even though the armour did resist the piercing teeth, Galevo felt the force of the crushing jaws. As the armour moved slightly, a rib cracked. Galevo reminded himself to check the injury later, as he struggled for the mental command he needed. He straightened his arm and pointed towards the beast’s head. It dropped him as the energy bolts struck it in the right eye, its body flailing wildly about. By sheer accident, the tail struck his head and the world went black with a violent thud.

As Galevo and his brother ran into the village, they were met with utter chaos and mayhem. The east part had been completely eradicated during the fireball’s impact. The rest of the village had been knocked down by the shockwave, sending dozens of people to their deaths under heavy timber and stone. Several buildings were on fire, the volatile slavery of their fireplaces ended as the wood and thatch had collapsed upon them. People were screaming everywhere.
“Tom!” Galevo shouted, “Where’s mommy and daddy? I’m scared!”
Tom gave no answer, simply staring at the carnage with wide-open eyes, unable to comprehend the consequences of the situation.
“Tom!” Galevo was crying now, tears falling from his cheeks to the heated, ashen ground. Tom closed his gaping mouth, and turned to his brother. As their gazes met, Tom took a firm grip of his younger brother’s hand.
“Don’t worry, Gal, we’ll find them, I promise,” he answered at length. His voice was trembling though, his conviction only skin-deep. Galevo could sense him teetering on the brink of panic, and he knew they would both have to be strong for each other.
Hand in hand they ran through the ruin that had once been their safe home, shouting and hollering for their parents. Familiar faces stormed by with their own shouts and equally panicked expressions. People they had known their entire lives were suddenly like strangers, alienated by the trauma that had struck them to the very soul, ripping through their home, their families and their own body in order to reach it.
“Boys!” A familiar voice boomed. The two boys turned around, hoping to find the massive, safe frame of their father.
“Uncle Jem!” Tom cried, “What’s happening? Where’s mommy and daddy?” he asked, echoing his younger brother.
“Don’t worry,” Uncle Jem answered, gasping for air, “I’m going to take care of you. I made a promise, I swear, I’ll get you to safety.” He was talking to himself as much as to them. Galevo couldn’t understand what he meant.
“Why can’t they be here?” he asked. Uncle Jem looked at him with a haggard stare.
“Help me find a horse, boys. Galevo; you have to be strong now. You have to be strong.”

The voice resounded in his mind, the simple, desperate voice of a farmer from a world he had not seen in decades, a voice he had forgotten the owner of, insistently whispering a phrase he had could not recall the original significance of. It was a simple voice, and it was a simply sentence, but the way it was said made his every limb and muscle ache to move, to be put to use.
Be strong. You have to be strong.
Galevo opened his eyes, spending a second in complete disorientation. The Augmentation took over, the training he had recieved surging his being like cold water. Almost without understanding what happened, he straightened out his balled fist, making a flat shape with his hand. The two sylinders at each side of the wrist began glowing again, sending out their blue light, visible even when submerged in the muddy water. The light began crawling along the outline of his hand, creating a blue edge that shimmered like the bolts. Galevo felt the vibrations of the monster’s movement in the water through his enhanced ears. He tasted the monster’s blood through his enhanced tongue. He did not need his sight now. He knew what to do.
He did not think, he did not need to. The training did its job; he turned round underwater, leapt from the depths, rising like a spirit of vengeance towards the giant eel-serpent. His blade-hand struck true. With a last effort he drove it through its throat, and nearly beheaded in one clean sweep. Dark red blue washed over him, and the beast was caught in death cramps, but this time he dodged them, and soon they wore off. Then, in an anticlimactic turn of events, it simply died.
Galevo began feeling the immense pain from his head and abdomal injuries. The Augmentation would do its part, he knew. The wounds would grow faster than those of any normal man. Still, the ribs might heal incorrectly. And the head was a delicate thing. He needed attention.
As he was about to turn and call for aid through the Mindweb, his feet collapsed, sending the obsidian amoured figure down on the inert remains of the monster. Galevo took deep, painful breaths. The pain was slightly unfamiliar. Dulled by the training he had undergone.
Pain is an animal. Keep it caged and under control. Respect it, but be its master, he recited mentally.
“Arpratan Seimu to all nearby brethren. Require extraction. Possible serious head injury. Difficulty moving,” he sent. “Transmitting position,” he added.
He looke around, staring at the swamp and picking up every branch, root and rock. Every sight, smell and sound he could possibly sense. Then he sent the impression across the Mindweb to anyone of his brethren who would get it.
He then allowed himself to lay silent on the corpse of his slain foe. He felt little pride or satisfaction.
“Forgive me creature..." he coughed up blood some blood and phlegm before swallowing it again.
"...but I had to be strong,” he said at last with a rasping voice.