The Chronicles of Riddick
Triple Helix
Book 1 of 3
The Dark Obelisk
Not Furya: A few hours after Krone left Riddick for dead
Riddick sank into the column of liquid sulfur facing up as blood rose to the surface like angry red storm clouds spreading through an blue sky. The arid winds blowing across the planes dried the barren cracking land, driving the mud demons deep into the still moist soil far below. Not Furya was hostile world overrun with a host of creatures evolved to hunt and feed on the weak. And thanks to his enemies, Riddick was weak.
Here I am again, he thought, sinking into the murky depths below, left for dead. Counted out by lesser men with no honor. You're wrong, he thought. I will survive; I will have my vengeance and I take the blood you owe me.
Riddick's self-imposed code wouldn't allow him to give up. No, he had to much self-respect for defeat. Besides, Krone had broken the deal Riddick made with Siberious Vacco. Riddick had given up his claim to the Necromonger throne in exchange for a ride to his homeworld of Furya. For his trouble, Riddick received a slew of broken ribs, a shattered wrist, a compound fracture of the right femur, multiple contusions, lacerations and a myriad of internal injuries that left him vulnerable to attack.
In the life giving air high above, the pack of feral dogs that chased Riddick into the pool circled the rocky banks waiting for their next meal to resurface.
But the deflated air in his burning lungs wasn't the only problem. He had little hope of fighting off a pack of savage attackers. Riddick held his breath, bided his time and sank into the safety of darkness.
A hundred hungry slimy eyes lining the narrow column watched his decent with growing interest. The intoxicating red nectar wafting through the liquid sulfur called to the sulfur eels hiding in the porous walls. The wriggling eels slithered from the security of rock to investigate the juicy morsel passing through their home like a juicy nectarine falling from a branch. It sank into the darkness dragged down by the weight of its own twisted armor.
As precious seconds stretched into perilous minutes Riddick's heart raced, his lungs longed for air. But still, the slobbering pack circled the bank peering down at the growing frenzy below. The eels swarmed their feast taking mouthfuls back to the safety of their holes. And with each nip, each nibble, the storm clouds rose higher.
Riddick closed his mirrored eyes, calmed his racing mind and the sound of a staccato heartbeat slowed to a near stop. He needed time; he needed a safe place to get away from the pack; but more than that, he needed a miracle and that is why he did the unthinkable; Riddick prayed.
Shira, he thought, I don't know if you can hear me.
A sound came from the distant horizon and the impatient pack bolted off in search of less illusive prey.
"Now!" A woman's voice urged him upward. "Get to the surface."
He kicked hard to the edge of the pool and slowly broke through the surface of the bubbling pool resisting the urge to gasp in air giving himself away. Riddick's eyes rolled, darkness swirled around his head as howls sounded in the near distance. Safety seemed so far away but he knew survival depended on a speedy retreat. He couldn't survive a battle.
A long mournful howl gave way to the sound of a feeding pack tearing something to shreds. Riddick rolled out of the water as a wave of pain filled him with the urge to scream in agony. But Riddick resisted the weakness of flesh in favor of a stealthy escape.
The dogs barked and howled nearer now. Where they returning? Was Riddick's journey home at the end? He resisted such thoughts looking around hastily formulating an escape strategy.
The pool beside him bubbled red with his blood and the ground beneath his many injuries wept a crimson puddle that rose into the arid wind calling all around him.
"Slipping into shock. Running out of time." He said to himself, struggling to keep from admitting Krone had almost won.
The course ground brought unimaginable pain with every effort to move; a pain no man should endure. But endure he did. Riddick's lips faded grey, his extremities went numb to the touch and ice filled his veins. But still, he clawed his way across the jagged landscape in search of cover and one more minute of life. He rolled onto his back as the sun forced his uncovered eyes into paper thin slits. His vision narrowed to a pinhole as the remaining moments of his life slipped into the vale of darkness.
"Riddick," a voice hollered from an outcropping of giant boulders in the near distance. "Over here!"
He looked to the sound and felt his blood boil. Siberious Vaako stood a hundred yards away motioning for him to come at once. Vaako pointed down at the top of the large boulder he stood on and yelled, "Get inside."
Anger crept through Riddick's limbs fueling him with the will to go on. He wanted to reach Vaako; he wanted to ring his neck for Krone's treacherous betrayal. Moments from death, Riddick scuttled across the ground feeling like a fool and blaming himself for trusting an enemy.
Struggling to maintain his waning faculties, confusion set in and everything seemed out of place. Vaako looked different, gone was the pallid look of death and the morbid Necromonger armor. New were clothes that looked ordinary. Almost familiar.
"Oh... fuck you didn't," Riddick raged up at the sky. "I ask for help and you send him."
"Move!" the woman's voice commanded. "Now!"
As Riddick clawed his way towards Vaako, the elements grated away at his drying flesh. He collapsed inches from the edge of the boulder and shouted, "I'm gonna kick… your ass… you fucker." No reply came, Siberious Vaako had gone, or perhaps, Vaako had never been there at all. Perhaps Riddick's mind was playing tricks. Either way, he had reached a safety.
The sun was setting on the horizon when Riddick noticed the thinning bloody trail leading back to the sulfur pool.
"Shit," Riddick thought aloud.
He knew the dogs would follow the trail straight to the source and if they reached their goal before he reached the safety of rock, the fight was over. Forcing himself to his feet, he fought the urge to scream as the jagged bones in his broken leg ground together beneath the perforated meat barely holding them inside.
Riddick clung to the edge of the searing boulder, found a line of small handholds and pulled himself upward using the remaining strength in his arms. He was a few feet above the ground when the first dog came into view. It saw him and took off at a full gallop bounding in 10 foot strides. Riddick reached the top of the boulder just as the dog lunged at his feet.
"Where are you dammit?" he called out, standing up and scanning the rock's dirty surface for footprints. Just a hallucination, he thought narrowly avoiding a ring of round shafts cut through the giant boulder's surface.
The rest of the pack reached the rock moments later lunging and jumping trying to scramble up the steep sides. The pack massed in one spot as Riddick watched the first dog run out a hundred yards. It circled back running at full sleep preparing to use the mass as a spring board to reach its prey.
Riddick forced his feet inside one of shafts disappearing from sight, just as a large dog bounded over the edge. It snapped into the hole as its quarry slid out of sight. Riddick fell from a hole in the ceiling like a lifeless doll trying to right himself to no avail. Dust rose into the cool air as he crashed down back first on a stone pedestal ejecting a geyser of blood from his mouth. The broken ribs jabbing his lungs made every breath feel as though a vice crushed his chest.
He sat up in a large chamber carved inside the boulder gasping for air, choking on blood thinking now is hardly the time to give in to pain. An narrow entrance carved in the side of the stone wall let in a stream of light. The opening was to small for a dog. But a determined animal could push its way through. Riddick needed shelter before the final attack came in force.
The chamber was fifty feet round with a domed ceiling 25 feet high with 6 perfectly smooth circular shafts hue through the top of the rock. Brilliant beams of light illuminated a ring of ornate offering pedestals directly below them. At the center stood a large black obelisk carved from a single piece of obsidian. The dust kicked up on his arrival circled through the beams of light as if the obelisk was positioned in the eye of an unseen cyclone.
Riddick sat in the dirt watching the large shadows running from hole to hole trying to get in. He was weak; far to weak to fight off any dog lucky enough to find its way through the entrance. He pulled himself up using a pedestal for support, noticed an indentation in the floor behind the obelisk and darted towards the center of the room.
Balance failed him, he slammed into the heavy stone monument and let out a blood curdling scream as the bottom half his femur reemerged through the side of his calf. The dogs above heard the scream and jumped down heading for the entrance.
Something strange happened, It was as if a high voltage line had coiled around him releasing an enormous surge of energy through his body. No matter how hard Riddick tried to push himself away, he was stuck to the monument like a hunk of heavy steel pinned to an electromagnet. He was trapped.
Two dogs reached the entrance at the same time, both fought to get in only to get stuck half way through the opening thrashing and biting at one another in an effort to be the first to reach the prize.
In a last ditch effort, Riddick heaved with all his remaining energy and fell over backwards with the obelisk in his arms. It slammed the ground trapping him beneath 2 broken halves as the frightened dogs fled the entrance chased away by the loud noise and a cloud of angry dust that melted everything in its path.
All the light in the room faded away as time slowed to a stop and when Riddick's faculties returned the pain in his body had subsided, his injuries had healed and he was as clean as if stepping from a shower.
Riddick pushed the lesser half of the obelisk to one side, crawled out from beneath the makeshift refuge wiping dust from his glowing eyes. The fact he wasn't thirsty or hungry never entered his mind. Nor did the fact that all his injuries had vanished. No, his only thoughts were of catching up to the enemies who'd wronged him and the need for vengeance when they met again.
He sat on the obelisk, staring at the light flooding in through the entrance forming a plan of escape, thinking about the inhospitable world outside and noticed a fragmented shard of black rock lying at his feet. It was long and thin like a razor-sharp blade. "This will come in handy," he said to himself picking it up and heading out to face whatever came next.