“There’s news from Klea. They need help in checking on an Orc Nest,” Emery said to his two friends Julian and Thrax, after receiving the message Klea had sent him.
“Orc Nest? Let me come! I wanna fight some more!” Thrax instantly said, excited by the notion of fighting the green-skinned creatures.
Unfortunately for the Thracian, the Roman disagreed with his exciting idea. “Our mission here is to deal with the rebels. We should not busy ourselves with the orcs. After all, they are not uncommon to be found on a planet such as this.”
The gladiator naturally became annoyed. “Are you serious!? All the rebels are locked and secured; what else do you need?”
“I really think there is still something amiss. We still have three days left, so I better be really thorough about this.”
“What is it? Tell us,” asked Emery, seeing the serious look in the Roman’s eyes.
“Looking at Stildar and the capabilities of his men, I can’t help but think that he’s not working alone.” Julian took a step closer to the two and spoke in a smaller voice. “I’m pretty sure there must be someone within the Nexus government involved in this; I want to know exactly how Stildar got his hand on the Replicator.”
While the three of them were discussing whether they should leave or not, two familiar figures were seen approaching them. They were General Kobe and Minister Otto.
“Envoy, the Principal just sent a congratulatory message on the success of the mission. He also expressed that he would like to see your team and the rebel leader back at the station.” With a respectful gesture, the minister asked, “When will your other two companions return?”
Emery noticed the look on Julian’s face before he turned to smile and responded to the question. “Soon. They will be here soon.”
Standing next to the minister, the general entered the conversation. “Should we send people to pick them up? We have ships ready in the hangar.”
“That won’t be necessary, General.” Julian replied. “And yes, Minister. Please give me more time. I will certainly report to the Principal as soon as my mission is complete.”
There was a bit of silence before Otto’s voice was heard in the air. “Yes, of course. Whatever is best for you, Envoy.”
When the two people left, Julian looked at Emery and Thrax again before speaking in a whisper.
“Don’t you see, their behavior only makes me anxious, I really don’t want us to return and found later that we made a mistake”
The Roman then put his hand on Thrax’s shoulder saying, “Emery needs to go to help Klea and Chumo, but I need some help here. What do you think, Thrax? Will you stay and help me?”
The gladiator seemed to be annoyed but still decided to accede with the Roman’s request. “Alright… only because you asked nicely”
A clap sounded in the air as a smile appeared on Julian’s face. “Great!”
He then looked at Emery saying, “I’m sure our queen won’t be content with just scouting an orc nest. Still, please keep in mind that it should not take more than 24 hours. Whatever you find, you must return when the time comes.”
Emery nodded and a moment later, he opened up a Spatial Gate heading to the direction where Klea was at.
*****
It took Emery about an hour of traveling via [Spatial Gate] to finally arrive where Klea and Chumo were. The current location was five hundred miles south at a sandy desert across the Nexus colony borders, a place the natives dubbed as the wasteland.
“Took you long enough,” quipped the beautiful Klea as soon as she saw Emery’s figure appear from the swirling portal.
While smiling wryly at her witty remark, Emery asked about the situation. Chumo then explained how the traces left by the orcs that they had been following had disappeared at this point, erased by the abundance of yellow sand around them. Hence the reason as to why his eyes could no longer track it.
Emery certainly knew the best solution to such a problem.
Once again, he brought out the two dependable Chizpur brothers and asked them to trace the last known track in line with the settlement that was attacked by the group of orcs, to which the two little creatures responded with enthusiastic nods.
“Alright, we are looking for an Orc Nest, so be very careful you two. Immediately tell me if you find anything.”
While the two Chizpur Fangs burrowed and traversed the earth beneath the sand, Emery and Chumo joined together with Klea on her thunderbird as it soared high into the air, looking for the Orc Nest from above.
100 miles
300 miles
“There!”
The group then starts seeing a small group of orcs, a dozen of them roaming across the desert. After swiftly killing them, they once again followed the track, but still couldn’t find the nest.
500 miles
700 miles
At this point, expressions of disbelief painted the faces of the three. The distance the orcs had traveled was much further than they had all originally thought. In fact, their current location almost reached the other side of the planet.
“These orcs have to walked more than a day, traveling hundreds of miles to reach human settlement”
Eventually, their journey reached the 1000 hundred miles milestone; approximately five hours after he joined Klea and Chumo in the hunt, Emery finally received a word from the Chizpur Fangs underground. They seemed to sense something.
Immediately, Emery used [One Mind] to connect his senses with the Chizpur Fangs’ and saw the nest they had been looking for.
He swiftly used his enhanced Spirit Reading, coupled with the two plant creatures’ vision, to start mapping out the interior of the caves. What he discovered shocked him to the core.
Noticing the look on his face, Klea and Chumo asked what happened.
“It’s like a maze down there, and the nest covers at the very least tens of miles. My Spirit Reading can’t completely map it..” Emery looked at the two, his expression grave, saying, “It’s massive”
Klea then asked the most important question. “How many orcs?”
Emery shook his head. “I can’t sense them all, but… hundreds of thousands.. maybe much more”
His words instantly made Chumo and Klea’s faces change drastically.
“We have to report this.”
Chumo quickly took out the telecommunication device given by Julian and dialed it. However, strangely he could not connect to the other side. On the other hand, Klea cast her spell and sent a shining green wind bird flying towards north.
“That should reach Julian in half an hour or so. In the meantime, let’s go check inside.”