The New Underland

Cronicles

Book One

Chapter 1

Crynn glanced up at Rho as she trained in the air on her bond Atlas' back.

He couldn't help but watch as the dark blue flyer flipped over, and Rho sliced a blood ball in half, upside down, in a seemingly impossible maneuver. They were both very good.

He had not heard his next command as he was watching the two bonds somersault through the air, but he definitely heard what came next.

"What do you think you're doing, Crynn?!" A disgruntled Mareth shouted in Crynn's ear. Mareth, despite his prosthetic leg, was still as intimidating and authoritative as ever.

"I-I am sorry, sir. I got distracted." Mareth watched him for a couple seconds. "Get on with your training, Crynn. I don't want you missing out on anything important because of a little 'distraction'.

"Yes sir", Crynn got out. Mareth clearly knew what the 'distraction' was, which embarrassed Crynn, but he knew Mareth was not the kind of person to go around and tell people, least of all his own students.

He looked across the field to see his friends locked in a battle with each other. Wells was getting better and better with his sword in his left hand since he had his right arm ripped off by a gnawer in their siege of Regalia during the great battle against the Bane and his army eight years ago.

Wells' sparring partner Marrow, coincidentally a gnawer herself, was holding her own against him, but Wells was clearly more skilled in combat even with only his left arm.

Lapblood gave Marrow tips as she passed, helping the gnawers with their training as Mareth trained the human trainees. Crynn realized he had just gotten distracted again, so he turned back to greet his sparring partner, who just happened to be his bond.

Crynn looked down at the face of the giant stinger beside him. He was at least twelve feet long, and that didn't even count when his tail and pincers were extended.

"You ready for a fight?" Crynn asked the arachnid.

"I have been waiting," Acrab said back to him, with what might have been a slightly impatient tone. It was hard to tell with his English, as he had only just learned the language little more than a year ago. They were able to communicate with each other only because of Hazard, who had broken down language barriers with every species in the Underland. He could speak every language, from spinner to digger.

"Yes, sorry. I really must pay more attention. It will not happen again."

Crynn held his sword out in front of him with both hands in a defensive position, and Acrab did the same with one of his massive, heart-shaped claws.

Crynn could sense Mareth and Lapblood watching him as he and Acrab circled one another, so he decided to take the first shot. He swung at the stinger, and his blow was easily blocked by one claw.

Acrab used the other claw to smack Crynn ten feet onto his back, and then rushed in to finish him off. Crynn rolled over at the last second, out of Acrab's reach, and hopped to his feet. He ran around the back of his bond, lunging to touch the fleshy underbelly of the stinger with his sword, but Acrab was one step ahead of him. Crynn forgot that with the two big median eyes in the middle of his head, Acrab could see directly behind him. He swung his tail around and knocked Crynn's legs right out from under him, sending his sword clattering.

Acrab quickly turned around, and pinned the sword to the ground with one of his forelegs.

"Come and retrieve your weapon, Crynn!" He taunted.

Crynn contemplated his next move, and went for it. He sprinted forward, dodged the first claw, and grabbed onto the second, using it to swing himself under the arachnid.

He grabbed the hilt of the sword and was just about to yank it out form under the leg when Acrab did something he hadn't thought of: he just collapsed on top of Crynn, completely pinning him down. Then he quickly reached under, grabbing Crynn by one leg. He dragged him out, held him upside down in the air, and jabbed him right in the stomach with his poison stinger.

"You win," Crynn said to the scorpion, who lowered his leather muzzle-covered stinger, and Crynn, down to the ground.

"As you knew I would," Acrab boasted. "Hey! I got close!" Crynn retaliated. "If we had been practicing with both swords and daggers, I would have defeated you when I slid under you."

"True, that is. You got close," Acrab said. "But I still beat you! Again!" He did a little celebration dance, waving his big red claws in the air, and making sure that everyone around him knew that he beat Crynn.

"Acrab! Pay attention!" Mareth came walking over, snapping Acrab out of his dance. "When you are in a battle, you do not gloat or celebrate your victories, for you never know when you are truly safe. You can, and most likely will, be caught off guard."

At this, Mareth ran at Acrab, jumped off his left pedipalp and onto his back, and grabbed the end of his tail in one hand while simultaneously touching the tip of his sword to the the hard-to-reach weak spot just behind his armored cephalothorax. His missing leg didn't seem to hinder him at all.

"Which is definitely not what you want to happen," Mareth finished.

Crynn was so impressed by the performance Mareth conducted that he did not heed his advice. He was knocked to the ground from behind and pinned.

"That information doesn't only pertain to stingers, by the way," Lapblood said from on top of Crynn. She got off of him, and held out a paw to help him up.

"Thanks," Crynn said as he took it and pulled himself to his feet.

"Now," Mareth called out to everyone training, "I think we are done for this day. You all did very well."

Crynn turned to Acrab. "Let us go meet with the others." Acrab turned to walk with him.

After combat training, every creature in the fifteen to twenty-year-old range gathered in their own groups to converse before carrying on with their day. Crynn and Acrab gathered to the side to meet with Marrow and Wells. Wells' bond, Hestia, a pretty light orange flyer with bright red streaks down her back and sides, glided down from training on her own in the air.

"So, by what I could see, you two had a pretty even fight there... up until the end," Marrow said as he poked Crynn in the shoulder with the end of his tail.

"Honestly though, he got very close this time," Wells pointed out.

"Yes he did," Acrab said. "By our next battle, I am sure he just might defeat me."

Acrab never was one to make fun of Crynn for long. They were always as kind and honest to each other as an eighteen year old human and a three and a half year old stinger could be. Stingers aged fast, and lived to be about fifty to fifty five years old. However, the average Underlander life span was about fifty, so they were pretty even.

Humans didn't last long in the Underland, despite the still-running alliance with the gnawers. Because they had been at constant war.

Crynn had lost both his parents in a battle against the cutters three years ago. They were both torn apart right in front of him.

He was saved at the last second by a black bat with white stripes, and as they flew away, he watched his home, the Fount, be taken over completely.