Off The Grid: A War With No End Book 1
Chapter 11
When Lilly and I returned to the Void, soldiers gathered around us looking for the new addition to the army. I shook my head sadly, and they slowly dispersed. I took the time to look around the camp. The soldiers…no, my soldiers had built a large living quarters for themselves and appeared to be occupying their time by having two giant warriors fighting against each other in a large arena. As I watched, one gladiator ran the other through with his sword, bringing back memories of Cathy.
I grimaced, and looked away. Lilly smacked the back of my head.
“You can’t keep moping about what happened in Leron! It’s been a while since we got back, you should be over it by now. Don’t forget that the lives of everyone here rests on your shoulders, while the lives of those in Leron didn’t,” Lilly said.
I frowned. “A while? Lilly, don’t forget that time shouldn’t…ahem, doesn’t pass here.”
She frowned. “But I could have sworn at least a week has passed.”
“How can you tell?”
“Because I can. Anyways, get out of your mopey mood so we can go to our next stop and pick up some more soldiers. We don’t have all the time in the world. We have to help the Pisces Empire as soon as possible. For all I know, they might be on the brink of destruction right now!”
And what a disaster that would be. I shrugged and stretched my arms out. We walked over to the Grid, and I looked through the green plates. I tapped a dot near the center, and we were gone once again.
When this new world came into view, the first thing I noticed was the fact that we were in a field covered with shoulder high grass. The second thing I noticed was a large pillar of black smoke rising into the air in the distance. I grabbed Lilly’s shoulder, and pointed at it. She shrugged.
“Someone’s village is on fire. So what?”
“We should go help them! Maybe they could tell us where we can find the nearest ruling force.”
Lilly shrugged. “It's your call. But if you screw up, I’ll shoot you.”
I couldn’t have wished for a better partner.
I pulled the scanner out of my belt, and a wave of red flashed across the screen. There was a ping, and several villages appeared around us. For a moment, I thought a red dot flashed across the screen, but it was gone so quickly I disregarded it as a glitch.
Upon closer inspection, I realized that all the villages around us were on fire. I cursed, and located the nearest one.
“Quick! Let’s head to this one since it’s the nearest. We should help them put the fire out.” I said.
I pulled the Suspender from my belt, and Lilly pulled out her own.
“I got it from one of the people from Iropolice while you were moping around,” she explained.
When had she had time to? She hadn’t left my side since we got back from Leron. Oh well, I would deal with it later. We both floated into the air, and shot off towards the flaming village.
We landed outside it, and hurried inside. I ran towards the nearest building, and began hurling pieces of wood off it using my pistol.
I could faintly hear someone yelling something inside of it, but the roar of the flames was so loud that I couldn’t hear them. After about a minute of throwing burning wood away from the house, I located a stick waving around frantically from under a large log. I carefully blasted the edge of it, and hurled it away from the house.
A young boy climbed out from behind where the log had been, dripping wet. I gaped at him.
“How on earth are you wet?”
“Because I am a wizard. I summoned water to protect me from the flames.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised. I wasn’t aware that people could do magic. They could certainly be a great addition to my army!
“No. You’re not very smart, Mister. I was in the bath house when it caught fire. Can you bring me to my father? I am sure he will reward you.”
Oh great, I just got shot down by a little kid. My cool levels just dropped below negative ten.
“I like this kid,” Lilly said, and started laughing.
How could she laugh as the village burned down? You can’t blame me for buying it, I was worried!
“Whatever. Kid, I don’t know who or where your daddy is. Your whole village is up in flames, it wasn’t just your bath house.”
He paled. “If that is the case, please help save the rest of the village! Most of us should have been collecting food from the fields today, but the chief and a few other people are still in the village!”
“Right! On this map, show me where your friends are.”
I handed him the scanner, and he pointed at three houses, all near the center of the village. One looked to be the largest, so I figured it was the chief’s house.
“I’ll go! Lilly, you watch this kid, ok?”
I didn’t wait for confirmation, and shot off with my Suspender. I came down in front of the Chief’s house, and began hurling wood out of the way. However, it was taking too long. I would never be able to save the people in all three houses at this rate. I pulled the necklace off, and my gun arm erupted in flames. I blasted the whole house with the beam, and hurled it into the sky. By the time it hit the ground again, it was just a few specks of dust in the wind.
I looked around where the house had been, but spotted nobody there. Just when I was about to decide that I had accidentally shot the poor sap in the house, the ground near the middle of the house rattled, and an old man climbed out of it. He was covered in soot, but seemed otherwise fine.
I sighed in relief, and turned to the next house. This one wasn’t even on fire yet, so I turned to the last one. It had already burned to the ground, but I could hear panicked sounds coming from inside it. I ran over to it, and threw a few beams out of the way. I then noticed that several beams I had not thrown were flying out of the way. I threw a floorboard into the sky, and a door hurled into the sky with it. I barely managed to dodge the door when it crashed back to the ground, and was less successful at dodging the enormous, gray, furry mass that slammed into me and slobbered all over my face.
I managed to shove my unseen assailant off of me, and get a good look at it. A huge dog stood before me, its thick pointed tongue hanging loosely. It howled at the raging sun, and licked my face.
The boy I had saved earlier ran over to it, and threw his arms around the beast’s neck.
“Dog, I’m so happy you’re all right!”
I sighed. “You named your dog Dog?”
The boy twirled his finger around his head and pointed at me. Lilly smirked and nodded. Even my partner took the other guy’s side.
“No, Dog is the name of my Devil Hound. He isn’t a dog.”
I just stared at him, and mimicked the motion of twirling my finger around my head and pointed at him.
He shook his head in exasperation. “We don’t have time to explain right now. Did you save everyone?”
I shrugged. “I think I saved the chief, and I saved your mutt. The other house you showed me is fine, it wasn’t on fire.”
The kid immediately ran off towards it, the dog loping after him happily. Lilly glanced at me.
“Are you happy now? We saved them.”
I nodded. “Yeah, but there are other villages that caught fire too. We should help them out as well.”
Lilly groaned. “You realize we have a time limit when we’re outside of the Void? We can’t go save every single village here! We just don’t have enough time. Not to mention that I don’t want to waste that much energy.”
“But they could need our help! We can’t just abandon them because you’re too lazy to move your butt unless it serves the overgrown tyrant called the Pisces Empire!”
“Maybe you’re right! But it’s better than serving an idealistic fool like you!” She spun around and strode into the smoldering ruins of the village.
“Not again!” I groaned.
The boy emerged from the house closely followed by a plump old woman wearing a stained apron. A vision of Cathy suddenl
y flashed through my head, and I shook the vision from my mind. I would never let someone be killed because I failed to react quickly enough again.
The old lady waddled over to me, and tilted her head in my direction.
“Young man, thank you so much for helping our humble village. My grandson and the chief owe you their lives. I’m not sure if we can ever repay you. Kip, run along and gather the rest of the village, would you?”
The boy nodded, and leaped onto his dog Dog. I smirked at the thought, but my features became grim once more when I looked back at the burning village. This was like a broken record that had started in Iropolice. Everywhere I had been was burned to the ground and the people in it slaughtered like sheep.
“We should start by getting some water over the village. Do you have a large water source anywhere nearby?”
She nodded, and pointed in the direction of the chief’s house. “There is a large lake in that direction, not too far from here. I’m not sure how you can transport all the water though. It might be better for us if we just relocate.”
I grinned. “Don’t bother, I got this under control. Ah…Do you have a way for me to secure some wood together well enough to hold water?”
“I’m not sure, but the blacksmith might have something you can use in it. I’m not sure you could do anything with it. No offense meant, but you don’t look very strong.”
“Oh, you’re totally right. I’m as weak as a dandelion. However, my partner could probably pound steel into a pulp with her bare hands.”
The old woman chuckled. “I feel sorry for you then, young man. The blacksmith is easy to find, it's the only building in town that is made from stone.”
I thanked her, and activated my scanner. It pinged to life, and a little red dot appeared moving slowly through the town. A square building stood right in the dot’s path, and I grinned. Lilly acted tough, but she was a softie on the inside. Like, way inside. Somewhere near the bottom of her heart, hidden away in a little locked box and guarded by a thousand warriors.
I slipped the scanner back into my belt and pulled my Suspender out. I launched myself into the air, leaving the old woman gaping at me from the ground, and zipped towards the building. After an ungraceful landing in the scorched dirt in front of the blacksmith, I stood up and looked around for Lilly.
I spotted her staring at me in shock from a house a few feet over. I raised my hand in a mock salute, and she rolled her eyes. “What do you want, Jinx?”
“I need you to help me build a bucket.”
“Oh, that’s easy. I’ll chop that hollow block you call a head off from your shoulders, and turn it upside-down!”
“First, you shouldn’t be talking, rocks-for-brains. Second, I need someone with more brute force than brainpower. This bucket is going to be really big. Like, the size of your ego big.”
Lilly whistled. “That big, huh?”
I nodded solemnly. “I was hoping you could help me make a bucket to put out the fires. There are still a few buildings left standing, and I wouldn’t mind keeping them that way. As a little incentive, this might convince them to throw their lots in with us and help us out.”
“Fine. I’ll help you build your bucket, but I’m not going to collect the wood. I figure you can use a roof for the bottom piece. Those are already nailed together, and it should be fine if we lose a little water on the way. Hell, use only roofs. Nobody said the bucket had to be round. It’ll be quicker that way. Now hurry, or this whole village will burn to the ground while we sit here arguing!”
I rushed off and began ripping the few houses left standing in the village. After I had ripped five roofs from their rightful places in life, I levitated them over to Lilly and set them down next to her.
“Try to put the holes near the top, would you? The only way I can levitate stuff is by blowing holes in it with my trusty death ray here.”
“That’s the worst name for a weapon I have ever heard.”
“Don’t make me blast you with my death ray.”
She snorted, and raised a pot of large nails above her head. She tossed a large hammer with her other hand. “First, I need you to split these roofs down the seam so we have flat pieces instead of triangle shapes.”
I aimed at the first roof, and blasted it several times down its center. Lilly stepped on one side, and ripped the other one off easily. I gulped, suddenly glad that she was (probably) on my side.
We did the same to the rest of the roofs, and then I lifted one of them into the air above the edge of another. “A little lower.”
I lowered it a little, and she grabbed it and shoved it to the side and pulled it downwards. She knelt down next to it, and motioned for me to hold the opposite edge of what would be the floor of the bucket. I braced myself against it, and she begun hammering one of the nails into the wood.
It splintered and cracked, but it held. Of course when I say held, I mean it stayed connected by the grace of God alone. She hammered a few more nails into it, and then we rotated so that she could work on the next side.
When we finished, there were probably only two or three houses left standing in the whole village. I wasted no time in shooting the makeshift bucket with my gun (Near the top, obliviously), and shooting off towards the lake.
I accidentally crashed into a seagull on the way, causing it to spin to the ground like a damaged plane. My eyes followed it down to see the bird blast into the ground with a puff of feathers. Next to it, a small lake shimmered innocently. Lake, I know you’re laughing. Don’t try to hold it in. We all know that nobody likes seagulls.
I lowered myself over the lake, and filled the bucket with water. It immediately began to leak, so I zipped back to town and threw the water over the nearest burning buildings.
I repeated this cycle for who knew how long, until I finally managed to put out all the fires. I dropped the bucket on the ground, causing it to shatter into a million pieces, and collapsed to my knees gasping for breath.
“I’m not sure why, since my Suspender and death ray did pretty much everything for me, but I’m so tired,” I muttered to myself.
Someone put their hand on my shoulder and shook me. I groaned, and flopped onto my back to see who was jiggling me like a bowl of Jell-O.
Kip was staring with wide eyes. “Mr. Angel, are you alright?”
I burst into laughter. He was calling me an angel? Ironic for an angel to travel with a demon, isn’t it?
“Where’s Doc?” Kip called.
I vaguely heard some muttering, and a man with a funny hat came into view. He poked me in the side a few times, and smacked me with a little club. When I started cursing him out, he shrugged.
“This man is physically fine, he just needs some rest. Why don’t we let him use one of the remaining beds since he was the one who saved them?”
There was some vague agreement, and I stopped listening after that. After all, I had much more important things to do. Like dream about throwing cream puffs at the Council of the Pisces Empire. Cream puffs that were filled with nitroglycerin. And dynamite.