Fire's Child
Chapter 11 – Demon Son
The Forest of Haven was truly a haven. At least to Ezra it was. Here he felt safe, he felt protected. Nothing could hurt him now that he was in the forest, surrounded by the trees.
Ezra panted heavily and looked around the large tree he was leaning on. No one chased him anymore. They had given up long before he even reached the forest.
That red head had something to do with it. She was the only one who kept up with him. She clearly saw him go right, yet she told the others to go left. Although Ezra was grateful, he wasn't sure of her reasons or motive. Perhaps she was just being kind. Perhaps she was planing something else, like a surprise attack or assassination.
Well that won't work now, he though. Not now that he was surrounded my trees.
Ezra sat and leaned his head against the tree.
How did it all come to this? There wasn't much to him. He was just a plain boy, with his mat of brown hair and green eyes, nothing special.
But he was special. As special as anyone could get. From his birth his veins were filled with Green Eco. It was his parents' gift to him.
His father was Loren. He was the primary experiment subject for various Green Eco injections. Previously he was a loyal follower of Baron Praxis. But that was until the Demon Project.
Loren was deeply opposed to the Baron proposal, and voiced it openly.
"The Demon Project is an abomination!"
Ezra could not remember his father, but many old time companions of Loren had mentioned to him the extent of Loren's hate for the Demon Project.
The Baron began to see a threat in Loren. So, Loren became part of what he hated. He became the Green Eco Experiment, the earliest of the experiments.
Ezra knew plenty of the Demon Project. He had asked around, looked at archives, plus his mother had quite a lot to say.
Zaya was also part of the Green Eco Experiment as and Exposure subject. It's where she met and fell in love with Loren. She told Ezra all of what she knew.
As an Exposure subject, she what exposed to vast amounts of Green Eco with several other people. She, along with many others, acquired a telepathic link to the earth and plants, feeling what they felt. Others got remarkable healing abilities.
Zaya would dazzle Ezra about what Loren could do. Because Loren was injected with Green Eco, not exposed to it, his powers were much more potent. Not only did he have a telepathic link and healing abilities, but he was directly connected to the plants. They listened to him and did what he asked. At his urging, entire forests would spring up from the most barren lands.
Ezra always though she was exaggerating out of love for her husband, but as the years passed he began to believe that the stories were true.
These even lead to how Ezra came to be. With Loren and Zaya so tied to Green Eco, it made sense that their child was also Eco possessed. Ezra's powers far surpassed those of his parents. He used a network of roots to build up a mental picture of his surrounding for miles on end. He didn't even need the roots.
He owed his ability to control his power to his parents. Loren would spend hours on end with Ezra, close to a plant and teaching the trade. But this was long ago. Loren had died when Ezra was but 4 years old. Zaya did not have Loren's kind of power, but she tried to help her son as best she could. She would not let him forget his roots, so to speak.
Zaya, too, died. Not two years ago.
So Ezra was left on his own. He decided to learn not only more about Green Eco, but about all the other Experiments.
When Loren had died, Experiments were already under way in the field of Blue Eco. By the time Ezra was eight the Blue Eco Warrior was in its final stages of the experiment. Then came the Red Eco Warrior at his thirteenth birthday.
Two years later he had the pleasure of actually meeting the next victim of the Baron. Ezra was shocked to see who he had chosen. The chosen subject for the Yellow Eco Experiment was a female. And not just any female, it was a young female. She was at least a year younger than Ezra at the time. She was kicking and screaming, and putting up a good fight. But in the end she was carted away and died two years later.
Ever since the girl was taken in, Ezra had begun to fear for his own safety. With his mother newly dead, he had no one to protect him. So ran and hid. It was all he could do.
Ezra supposed that now, since the Baron was dead, it would be safe for him to return. But apparently it wasn't.
He heard Loren's name mentioned in that house in the Water Slums and got curious. Then the red head noticed him peering through the window. Ezra got scared and ran, and they followed.
They would not have given up so easily. They are still looking for me, he thought. Best to make sure.
And so Ezra began to view the world through the trees…
Jay made her way through the farming area, following the trail of the strange person from the Water Slums. She took her time, making no hurry, for she could distinctly make out his aural trail. It was strong, either telling her that he had been here recently or that he had a rather strong aura. Jay could decide which it was.
She remembered telling Torn, and Jak, and everyone else that she was making her way back to the big top. Well, it wasn't a complete lie. She was going to go there, right after she found this guy and confronted him.
Torn's intentions were still a blur to her. He said he wanted the Eco Demons to help exterminate the remaining Metal Heads. But why make them join the Krimson Guard? It didn't make sense.
Well, it helped to only focus on one problem at a time, and right now her problem was finding this Eco possessed being and getting his story out. Then perhaps she would find out what Torn was up to.
Jay waited while the large metal doors opened, then closed, revealing the Haven Forest. Her spirits fell.
Now that she was in the forest all manners of Green Eco appeared, obscuring the one she was tracking.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding." Jay massaged her temple. She could not discern one bit of Eco from the other.
Well, he's got to be here somewhere…
So she entered the forest and began searching, a lot more annoyed than when she came.
Some one had entered the forest. Ezra's heart began to beat quicker. Was it one of them? Ezra could not tell, which made him worry even more.
He focused his attention solely on that figure. If it got any closer to his hiding place he might be able to make out a face or something.
And so he waited, all his will concentrating on this person who intruded into his forest. They walked slowly and seemed to zigzag, as if searching for something. Or someone.
Ezra was so focused that the snap of a twig made his whirl around. He failed to notice anything else apart from the intruding figure, who was miles away.
But nothing was there, not a soul. Ezra held his breath, willing his heart to stop pound so fast within his chest. He looked around. Another snap came. Ezra fixed his eyes on where he though he heard the sound came from.
Nothing happened for a moment. Then a small area of earth sunk, as if pressure was placed upon it. Then came the smell. A horrible, putrid smell. Ezra was so stunned with fear that he could not even raise is hands to cover his nose.
Then he saw it. A familiar distortion in the landscape. Trouble was seconds away.
The Metalhead slowly revealed itself. It was an awful looking thing, like all Metalheads are. It's bright yellow skull gem glowing against all the green.
Ezra looked on at the creature as it raised its weapon and pointed it directly at him. The spear-shooter charged up and was ready to fire.
At that point Ezra's whole mood changed. He was no longer frightened, he was annoyed, angry. He was tired of running and he would run no longer. And it starts here.
He slammed an open palm on the ground and sent his power surging.
Jay impulsively raised her hands and grasped her head and eyes. A wave of Green Eco had just been set loose, and through her aural vision it was like being hit by an intense bright light. And she knew exactly where it came from.
The spear-shooter was sent flying out of the Metalhead's hands or paws or whatever it was those creatures possessed by a root from underground. The Metalhead seemed disoriented, thus had no chance to defend itself against what was coming up next.
This time, Ezra sent a clutter of vines to wrap themselves around the Metalhead, to prevent it from moving. Next he will a tree to grow, and then another and another, in a circle around the Metalhead. Then the trees began to wind themselves into a rope-like form, crushing the life out of the creature.
Satisfied with himself, Ezra stood and brushed the dirt off his palm. But the victory was to be short lived. For now, he was surrounded by Metalheads, all looking menacing and all pointing their weapons right at him.
Ezra swore under his breath. There were at least a dozen of them, and those were just the ones that he could see. He saw no way of getting out of this alive. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable.
Instead of the inevitable, which was death, and explosion came. Ezra opened his eyes. One of the Metalheads' weapons had exploded in its face, thus blowing up the Metalhead. Another explosion came and another Metalhead died. The weapons were blowing up one after the other. Screams of confusion rose up and metal heads soon began dropping their weapons, making the connection that their weapons were malfunctioning and killing them.
One Metalhead began to charge, screaming with fury. Ezra took a step back, eyes locked on the Metalhead. He was hoping for another miracle.
The Metalhead stoped. Just stoped in what seemed like midair. If a Metalhead could show a look of surprise then this one was doing just that.
Ezra stood and waited for what seemed like an eternity. The Metalhead was suddenly thrown back with such a force that it lifted off the ground and did not land until at lest a minute after. Another shocking factor was that it was on fire.
Ezra took another couple of steps back, until someone grabbed his arm.
"Run." Came the voice of a woman.
But he did not run. He wanted to see what this woman was going to do. Surely she could not take on an army of Metalheads alone. He could see no weapon on her, which made her appear even more venerable. Oh, how wrong he was.
A ball of fire grew in her hand, intense heat rising from it. Ezra had an urge to go over a touch it, to see if it was real. Before he could it was thrown at the Metalheads. They burst into flames immediately, several at a time. Another fire ball was ready and waiting. It was thrown and the remaining Metalheads perished.
The woman exhaled. She looked rather pleased with herself. She turned and picked up a discarded bag and slung it over her shoulder.
About the offer her thanks, both Ezra and the woman stoped.
Metalheads began appearing out of every corner and crevice and any other place they could have been hiding.
The woman backed up against Ezra. Ezra's breath caught in his throat. It was a magnificent sight, and horrific at the same time. The entire scene before them was covered in Metalheads.
A scream from one of them and they all began charging towards them. They both began to run in the opposite direction as fast as they could.
To try and bide some time, the woman quickly raised a wall of fire. Thinking they were now safe, she began to slow down. But they were far from safe.
The fire had no effect. The Metalheads kept on coming.
Ezra could see she was in trouble. There was no way she could out run them now. Acting on pure impulse, Ezra once again reached for his power.
The ground before them shook, first softly and then violently. Then it stoped. Ezra held his breath, hoping that what he had just tried had worked.
The woman screamed as the ground between her and the Metalheads opened up. Ezra lunged forward and grabbed her arm, dragging her away from the gaping hole in the earth, which grew and grew. It swallowed up many Metalheads.
Ezra shifted more earth, causing the remaining Metalheads to be thrown in with the others.
Several moments passed before either Ezra or the woman moved. Ezra closed up the hole in the earth and made his was to the woman, who was sitting on the ground nearby, still shocked.
As Ezra neared, she regained some composure and stood. That is when Ezra realised who she was.
She was that red head from before. No one could mistake her, not with that flaming red hair. Ezra forgot all that had just occurred and began to scold.
She began to smile, enraging Ezra even more. Her smoke grey eyes shone with mischief.
"I was hoping to meet in a less dramatic situation." She admitted.
"What made you think we would ever meet?" Ezra retorted.
"I was looking for you." She said. "There are people looking for you, because of what you can do."
Ezra bit his lip. Had they come for him? Were they going to take him away and experiment on him?
"I wanted to warn you. That's all."
Ezra frowned slightly. "Who are you?"
Her smile widened and she extended her hand at him. "My name is Jaria-Kai."
Holy crap! Jaria-Kai has risen from the dead and now seeks brains as sustenance! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! On another note…
YAY! The long awaited Chapter 11! This calls for a bubble party! has a bubble party with SpongeBob and Patrick
Thank you, to all those how have been patient with me. I hope I have not let you down.
Luck and Love,
Anita