Heaven or Hell

Chapter 10, Murder in the First Degree

Ripper's POV

I hate detours. I'm supposed to be hunting these twerps, not letting them lead me around like a blind man. Why are they searching for some kind of temple out in the middle of nowhere? There is no temple, why can't they face facts. At the least, even if there is one, they won't find it in this fog. Hey, where did they go? My speeder sped forward into the fog, unknowing of where I was going. A strange eeriness crept over me. I did not know what it was, but something told me I was not going to enjoy this ride. Though the fog did not affect my hearing, it sure affected the rest of my senses.

The elders say that fog enhances your combat ability by taking away your sight, so then you will focus on using the rest of your senses. I never found this useful when I was on a hunt, because we rely on our sight to find our prey. There was only one Yautja I knew of that could hunt without his eyes. His name was Yu'an'thwe. But his know by his nickname, Demon. No one knows what happened to him. Five years ago he went off on a hunt and never returned. Some say he is dead. While others say he is still out there, still trying to catch his prey. What do I think? I think his ship malfunctioned on the way back from a hunt, and he is now just floating in space unable to call for help because of his shorted out systems.

I remember when he first left five years ago. I was a Youngblood back then. I had listened in to him asking the Elders if he could use a planet to hunt. The reason given was not the usual expected one. He had said something about the fate of the world he wanted to hunt on. It was something like, "The fate of this world rests in the hands of a Youngblood." His thought process was that he would hunt until the Youngblood showed up and teach him all the tricks he learned. The Elders reluctantly let him go. Two years later the Elders lost contact with him. From what I have heard, when he called he was bleeding to death. But that is a bunch of bullshit. A Yautja would never willingly standby while bleeding to death. They would never go out without a fight. That is why I say he was on his way back from the hunt and his ship malfunctioned, it is much more believable.

We will see him again one day, unless he is killed by the humans. And we know how crafty they can be. I know in my heart, he is not dead at least on the outside, yet; but he sure is dead on the inside. It has been like that for a long time now. Thinking back to it, it seems to have happened so long ago. Pulling myself out of my thought, I saw the fog had gotten thicker.

Out of nowhere a rock formation appeared out of the fog. Thinking quickly, I made a hard turn left. I slowed speeder to a stop. I cloaked the speeder and me, and brought it level with what appeared to be a manmade formation. It looked like a courtyard; I landed the speeder behind a tower like structure and hoped off the speeder. When I walked into the courtyard, I saw that the flying, six-legged creature was there. It growled a little bit, acknowledging my existence.

I now just had to find the children. The infrared vision was not helping, so I changed it to the human vision and I was able to see much clearer. I started to walk towards the temple like structure. As I entered, already I could see paintings on the walls. I walked around. These people were obviously technologically setback. I silently cursed these now extinct Neanderthals. As I kept walking, I came upon an open door. It seemed to be the middle of the temple. There were statues lined up. I walked to the center of them and there was one, this particular one seemed to give off a weird feeling, almost like it was alive. I switched to thermal. What I saw amazed me. The heat signature it gave off was that of a living human's signature.

I heard loud clatter. Then there was a voice. It shouted something about something being dinner. I switched to human vision and ran towards the voice. I caught a glimpse of the children before they were out the door. I kept running towards them. They ran to a railing. The bald child jumped over the edge, while the hunter child stopped. I ran and jumped over the edge. I jumped from rock to rock until I was at the ground. I walked around until I heard a noise.

I came upon a doorway with a torn, what looked to be, a curtain fluttering in the wind. I walked through the doorway, and saw the bald child there. Surprisingly the hunter child beat me here. Then I saw skeletons all over the snow covered ground. I could not make out what they were saying it sounded like a gargled mess; due to damage to the earpieces from the fog, I need to fix that problem. Whatever it was, it sounded sad.

That is when the bald child started to glow blue again. I took up a stable stance and prepared for impact. My dreadlock like appendages flew back behind me when the air wave hit me. The hunter child hid behind an object near me. I swiftly looked at him, and then I turned my attention back to the bald child. A blue orb like structure formed around the child. I changed to infrared. His readings were off the charts. The female child entered the room. At first the female child looked like she did not know what to do. Then she moved towards the child.

I figured if someone wanted to find them, this was one big beacon. I watched as the female child got closer to the bald child. The bald child stopped glowing as the female child hugged him. The wind calmed to a near stop. I noticed that the hunter child eyeballed me for a second. Perhaps he just speculated that there was something standing in my spot. As he looked away, I rook the opportunity to leave the room. I walked over to a rock and sat down. I took off my biomask, revealing my horrid face. I clicked my mandibles in thought. I could not help but wonder about what the Youngbloods were up to. I fixed my earpiece. I looked at my biomask. Why do I hide myself behind this mask? I did not know the answer until I looked around, revealing the reddened world around me. I remembered why. I placed the mask back over my face.

I followed the children back to the bison thing. I walked to where I hid my speeder, and mounted it. I started it up and cloaked it. I waited for the children to take off and followed suit. Following them I knew I was in for a long trip. I looked forward and knew we were not going to reach our initial destination any time soon.

Nobody's POV

Fire Nation

In the throne room, the Fire Lord sat on the throne thinking to himself. He had let his mind wander again. He called the guard that was outside his door.

"Bring me Demon," he said.

"Uh, yes sir," the guard answered. The guard quickly ran out of the room. He knew what power Demon contained. 'What could be so important that the Fire Lord needs to send it on a mission,' the guard thought. He quickly returned to the throne room with Demon in chains.

"Take the chains off him," the Fire Lord said.

"What?" the guard said scared for his life.

"Are you questioning me?" he asked the guard.

"No, my lord," the guard apologized, and did the task he was command he was commanded to do. After removing the chains he allowed him to leave the room. The guard swiftly left. The tattoos on Demon's shoulder flickered.

"I have a task for you," he said. Demon looked at the Fire Lord. Demon cracked his knuckles.

"What is your bidding my lord?" Demon asked. The Fire Lord smiled.

And there my friends and loyal readers is the end of the chapter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Remember to review this chapter and keep on reading. I'll update soon. That is all for now. Peace.