Finding Solace (Ancient Origins Book 2) Read online

  “Arms not work right for sword.”

  “Arms not work right for a sword made for a two-hundred-pound-plus man. The village men and women are huge. Even my sword was smaller. So was Kiki’s and Luke’s, but they still slice through a hybrid like warm butter. Clarity can make you a sword that will fit you. Doom can teach you to use it.” She gave him a wry look. “Unless you plan to use it on Doom. You’ll have a problem then.”

  He raised his chin in defiance. “I not afraid Doom.”

  Solace chuckled. “Doom won’t hurt you. Clarity might stick a bomb up your ass.”

  “So would me,” Blue said. There was a scowl on his face when he stood inches from them, fists balled. Cole was soon beside his brother followed by Em and Nina.

  “There is enough out there to kill us. We need to stick together, all humans,” Nina said while the others nodded.

  Looks like the tides have changed, Peter Pan.

  Nick crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes. Bastian and Lochlan entered the plane with Joe and Joey. Tain was last, and he slammed the door closed as the other dinosaurs crept nearer. They were curious beasts. They might have noted the little strange animals could kill the bigger meaner dinosaurs. The scutosaurus were a little too close for comfort, and one nudged the plane. The dinosaur ran its face over the sleek aluminum metal, inching its body closer. Strange noises accompanied the actions.

  “Is that dinosaur crooning?” Solace asked.

  “Crap,” Lochlan said. “If that dino has the hots for the plane and makes his move, we’re all—screwed.”

  “Literally,” Solace said, eyes wide.

  Joe jumped into the pilot’s seat and started the engines which scattered the herd. All breathed a sigh of relief when the roar of the plane caught and held. The airplane jerked. The ground dipped sending shock waves through the passengers.

  “What happened?” Lochlan yelled to be heard over the noise the herd of dinosaurs was making.

  “It’s the planet,” Joe bellowed. “This era is coming to an end. A fiery one.”

  The children began screaming as the ground rumbled and the earth split as a volcano rose in the far distance. Three of the scutosaurus vanished over the side into the mass of lava. A horrific cloud of ash mushroomed into the air.

  Everyone jumped into a seat or squished into one. The plane turned from the volcano and started slow, gathering speed. A dinosaur bumped into the side of the plane jostling everyone. Chaos on the ground made it difficult to maneuver to the skies. A scutosaurus went down, trampled. The plane was heading right for it, boxed in.

  “Flight would be good,” Lochlan yelled, his voice an octave short of panic.

  “Working on it.” Joe gritted his teeth.

  “Really big dinosaur in our path,” Bastian said.

  “I didn’t think it was a speed bump,” Joe yelled back.

  “Um,” Solace piped up.

  “Up would be good,” Tain shouted.

  The plane jumped and rose by inches, higher, higher, until the wheels rolled, airborne, across the downed dinosaur. Solace released the breath she was holding. They were headed up, leaving the mounting pandemonium below. More volcanoes split the earth, vapors rose as ash accumulated. Soon they wouldn’t be able to see as a deep blackness formed. The volcanoes would set forth a change in the earth beneath them to last for tens of thousands of years. Solace watched as the surreal moment swept over her.

  “We need a hole now,” Bastian yelled.

  “Well, I’ll make one magically appear,” Lochlan shouted.

  “If you’re gonna use magic do it now,” Joe bellowed.

  “I thought I brought up the discussion we don’t have magic, no one listens to me,” Bastian grouched.

  “There,” Tain yelled. “The dark hole, it’s not ash, its ebony and sleek.”

  The darkness appeared from nowhere. Joe turned the plane sideways and slipped into the hole. They escaped as the world beneath went up in flames and the dinosaurs continued to die in volcanic ash.

  Chapter Four

  “I have to go after her.” Menace was pacing the main room. Others watched; the children were sleeping.

  The day played over in his mind. The war, the plane, Solace. They lost some of their villagers but thankfully not many. Other villagers suffered much more. It was clear from the fallen the hybrids lost the fight, but their clash wasn’t over. The hybrids now knew what to expect, surprise was no longer on the villagers’ side. The ground ran in rivers of red from the blood in the field and forest. The trudge home was weary, and all were exhausted. Kiki cried herself to sleep while Luke lay on the furs wide-eyed until ever so slowly he closed his eyes with his tiny T-rex friend stroking his forehead.

  They were inside the main hall. Food was spread out, barely touched. Fermented drinks flowed but not in celebration; it was to calm frazzled nerves. With Solace and the children gone, there wasn’t much reason to take part in victory. Menace could see the faces in his mind of the little twins. Thankfully, Solace was with them. Did she think the plane would take them back to her Earth? Nick was injured and Solace explained doctors on her planet could heal his arms. She hadn’t wanted to leave—she smiled at him, was heading toward him. She must have thought the children would be safe.

  “It’s been a long hard battle, Menace,” Doom said. “Wash, eat and sleep, and in that order, my friend. We will talk soon. We all know now that the hybrids have seen flight. Something inside them mixed with the human DNA we sacrificed might stir a memory, or already has. We all saw the hybrids champing at the bit to get to the strange machine. It’s imperative we fight harder. Clarity is almost positive the plane won’t be back. The hybrids must not have any type of flight. Solace isn’t dead.”

  “She’s lost to me,” Menace said. Her life may as well be as elusive as death.

  Menace stopped pacing to gaze at Doom and the others. All were weary, and the children lay haphazard across the floor on furs. Kiki lay cuddled up to her massive hyena Bongo, her brother Luke, and his tiny T-rex. The dog, Bubble-gum mourned the loss of Flight, his favorite child while Muffin, the female cave bear-dire wolf-wolverine hybrid groaned and settled near the children. Many of the village children were gone, and though missed by all, everyone felt the loss of Solace harder—except one. Flight’s mother sobbed in her husband’s arms. Edge shed no tears for the son they’d had for less than a year. The boy always knew his real father would come for him. Menace was as astounded as the others but deep down not surprised. The idea gave him a tiny flicker of hope. Clarity could be wrong. There was a chance the plane might come back.

  Menace went to his room and took the steps up to the high outside door two at a time. The scent of blood was heavy on the breeze. The cold air on his bare chest raised goosebumps. It was the ice in his tortured heart that chilled him to the bone. He ran to the cave where the hot springs waited. He tugged at his leather belt dropping it to the floor where it clattered. The tools on the belt were better than he ever hoped to own. Steel blades, not stone or bone. Knives that could slice with little thrust. Weapons Clarity introduced to them all. His hide pants were next to drop to his ankles, then hide boots, and he stepped out of them and into the sunken roundish depth of a water-filled hole, up to his chest.

  The hot, spring-fed pools were numerous. Many families or couples could bathe together at the same time. Menace was alone. The rocks beneath him lit when touched by flesh. The florescent light aided him finding the soap they used in the wooden containers. He washed at his flesh, ridding it of blood and muck. He dunked under to submerge wanting, wishing, to scrub the day’s events from his thoughts. Menace gasped when he came up for air. Underneath the rippling water were the same tattoos he always wore on his flesh. The same damning images of his betrayal to humans while he tried to save his lost village. The tattoos were for nothing. His people were long dead, and their loving remains gone but not forgotten. He had no one to protect when he was the lone survivor, and yet, he wasn’t ready to hand over hi
s life. Something inside of him knew there was a bigger purpose.

  Nothing mattered except Solace. Bowing his head into his hands he damned himself for not running faster. Solace explained what a plane was but to see something larger than any bird on his planet fly and devour live humans was indescribable. Clarity said the people within weren’t injured or eaten. Every strange thing Solace said to Menace enveloped his mind.

  If a plane came through, why not the weapons Solace said were guns? There must be more to the sinkholes than first thought. Were they being manipulated by a higher force? Soon his head was pounding.

  He sat soaking, watching the moon through the foot-high gap on top of the draped leather partition. The position of the white planet called a moon rose higher. Was Solace on that moon? She claimed it didn’t have life. Solace claimed there were many planets in her universe and more were being found. How could Menace’s planet not be in Solace’s universe? She was mystified and mentioned the sinkholes might be gateways to portals. She could be anywhere or any-when, in time.

  Nightmare scenarios plagued Menace until Doom joined him. Menace was dragged from his thoughts. Together they sat silently watching the same stars through the cracks in the hides protecting the pools from drafts. The three bulwarks outside, the same as Muffin—two male another female—would warn them of any intruders. It was highly unlikely any hybrid lurked, they were off licking their wounds, regrouping. The mass killing field where bodies lay would keep the other predators busy. In the distance was heard the roaring of many meat eaters. No remains would be found come morning. The blood would be licked clean. There was no doubt more would soon be spilled.

  Menace gazed at Doom, noting he was submerged as was Menace to his shoulders. There was something different about Doom he hadn’t noticed. His burden appeared lighter. Something had changed. Then it struck Menace. From Doom’s shoulders to his neck, his skin was without any blemish. Doom was shirtless in their dwelling, and Menace was amazed he’d not seen the phenomenon. Was he so overwhelmed with his own loss he saw nothing else? The idea woke him to reality.

  “Where are your tattoos?”

  Doom sat higher and with a thoughtful expression rubbed a hand over an unblemished chest. “I think I died on the battlefield today. Clarity said there are aliens who created twenty Earths, all in different places of growth, all with a changed situation. She says an alien is a different being. Perhaps these have a little more knowledge. I’m not sure how to describe what an alien is. Clarity explained the name is given to someone not of your own place, a foreigner, but this one was from another planet or galaxy. I’m still trying to wrap my head around what she told me.

  “She met with one of the aliens. It appears she had an interesting time of it. The alien healed me and took those I thought I wronged with him to their new destiny. The marks you bear are not your own. We are not to blame. They are deaths, not your fault.”

  “Then why do I still have them?”

  “I don’t know. Clarity saved me. She thinks I may have needed to be dead to connect the other souls with their new destiny. She fought with the alien to a degree and demanded I be returned to her. The aliens are having a difficult time placing people where they need to be. She thinks they are manipulating the sinkholes but not all. There are beings out there who are far more dangerous than the one Clarity encountered. That is why the hybrids must never have space flight.”

  “Will these aliens talk to me?” Menace’s heart beat faster.

  “I don’t know. Clarity thinks they’re gone. Or at least will no longer interfere with the changes in our world. They sent the first human by accident, or maybe Alice came by accident, then the aliens continued to send others to keep our extinction at the proper rate. Clarity said we were meant to die and leave the hybrids this planet, but something went wrong. The aliens cannot allow the hybrids to win.

  “With the coming of humans, our world changed the hybrids, and now us. The hybrids want space flight, but they can’t have it. If they are given the knowledge of flight, entire universes will be at risk. Clarity must be protected at all costs; she has within her the designs of spacecrafts. The monster that took the children and Solace is called a plane. Clarity hopes the plane will return to her Earth. She says if it does, then Solace has a chance to find the sinkhole that brought her here before. But she isn’t certain. We need to continue to wage war until every last hybrid is annihilated.”

  “I need my Solace back.”

  “I know, because I can’t live without Clarity.”

  “Finding Solace is the most important thing I need to do.”

  “My friend I don’t know how to open a sinkhole. Neither does Clarity. If a chance arises for you to leave, take it, but for now we need you.”

  Doom stood and grabbed a hide towel. Menace did the same. Doom had brought clean deer hide pants for Menace. The ones he shed were covered in blood as well as his foot coverings. They dried, dressed, and barefoot, walked back to the hall where the others slept. Menace dropped his soiled clothing. They needed a good washing. Clarity sat at the head table with food for Menace. He slumped in a chair and absently broke pieces of bannock to push past his lips. He chewed mechanically, looking around the large expanse of the main hall. His gaze then fixed onto Clarity.

  “Tell me about the aliens.”

  “They seem to be some kind of overseers for twenty Earth worlds. The planets were spread out on a screen of sorts in a projection. They moved around the walls. They were all different sizes and not all were round. I don’t know if we are all in the same universe or galaxy. One planet was dead, and one will be soon. Each planet is in a different stage of development. Some are filled with varying DNA. I was told your people were set for extinction, but the hybrids were never supposed to have space flight or the capabilities they possess. When their intelligence began to improve rapidly, the overseers became concerned. Your Earth is in possession of all the materials mine is. If the hybrids succeed, they will join with other aliens in other universes. All worlds will suffer. It’s now hybrids that need to become extinct.”

  “Why doesn’t the alien wipe them out?”

  “I think its balance. It’s why you and before Doom and a few others carry the tattoos. The aliens take the DNA of the dead and send them to other planets to form. Their introduction has to be slow and the planet must be prepared. You can’t take a group of people and introduce them to a new world when you haven’t prepared for them. It would be cruel. If there are others on the planet, those already there shouldn’t expect a strain on them. It causes intolerance, fear. The alien overseers are learning from mistakes. Look at my world. When the new humans appeared on Earth, the Neanderthals went extinct. I’m not defending the alien’s actions; I’m trying to understand. They aren’t responsible for all of the sinkholes.”

  Clarity gazed into his eyes and her sorrow reflected his. Solace was her friend. She was missed by everyone not just Menace. Dropping his bread, Menace took her hands into his. Like Doom, Menace had been born a leader, color blind and ambidextrous. The features were how the people knew who must lead.

  “If I call out to these aliens will they hear me?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure. I was microchipped because of them. They removed the chip once Doom was healed. Solace is from my Earth, and the alien was interested in her. She might be in their radar. I hope in my heart they mean her no harm and will protect her until you can be reunited.”

  “We are still at war. We need you, Menace,” Doom said.

  “I will fight, but after I must find her.”

  “I’m certain you will,” Clarity said.

  Clarity squeezed his hands and rose from the table. She went to lie down on a large fur, Doom joined her. The floor was littered with sleeping bodies. Menace sat alone at the table. For a while, everyone would remain together for safety. Menace picked up his food knowing he would need his strength in the days to come. Everything was tasteless, it was as though his senses were disconnected. He was right; lov
e came in every form and left a void when those you loved left. Solace left with his heart, his flesh, his soul. Though a fire burned not feet from him it was no wonder he was still chilled and upon his arms remained the goosebumps.

  ****

  Outside the homes, the villagers gathered. The bulwarks patrolled the area. The beasts stood at little lower than Menace’s shoulder height on all fours with Muffin the smallest. The name Muffin was given to the huge beast by Clarity. Menace thought back to when he first heard Doom speak the animal’s name in a derisive tone. Menace had almost smiled. The idea of him smiling, because he never felt the need before, was such a surprise he had fallen for Clarity. It was soon apparent she had eyes only for Doom, but she and her ideas opened his heart for Solace. For that he would be grateful, he just needed to find Solace.

  Clarity said the beasts like Muffin resembled furry tanks, then went on to explain what a tank was. Menace could only dream of being a warrior on her Earth. The weapons she described would kill the hybrids in droves. Guns that shoot a single bullet could drop a hybrid if aimed at the heart or head. The concept made his mouth water with the power Solace’s people had. He wondered why the aliens didn’t send these weapons through the sinkholes. Unless they feared the hybrids would intercept. Clarity mentioned balance. Perhaps the new weapons the villagers possessed tipped the scales.

  “I have no doubt the hybrids are planning a counter attack,” Doom shouted. “This would have been the time of the sacrifices with each village taking a day until all humans were handed over. No more. Never again. We have seen the hybrids can’t handle the huge number of humans unless they appear daily in smaller groups. We must be relentless. Yesterday was our victory, don’t let today be theirs. They will be on the defensive. We must remain diligent in our efforts, and every day after until every last one of them has fallen. It’s time we took this planet back.”