The Digital Edda

Book One: The Dark World

Chapter Five

Gennai bent and, pushing aside the tall grass, brought the brass shell casing up to his face. He rolled it between his thumb and forefinger. It was warm, whether sitting under the midday sun or expunging its bullet, and the burnt powder caked on the neck held the same foul, unpleasant odor that permeated the river valley. Dissatisfied, he rolled the casing, about as long as his index finger, in his palm before letting it fall back onto the river stones with the dozen others littering the ground. An ill omen. Gennai was close, maybe several hundred yards behind. He stirred forwards and followed the riverbank. Somewhere nearby, Ben and Hogan followed on the opposite side.

"You think they ran into trouble?" Benjamin shouted across. For emphasis, he kicked into the riverbank, spraying glinting brass into the river or chiming against the stones in front of him. "There's a lot of metal."

Hogan whistled a low, impressed note. He collected a few still moving and shoved them into the folds of his robes. "They're great for necklaces. Enough here to make one for each of us," he said. "A little polish, cuff of the ole robe, and you got some eye-catching jewelry."

"We're supposed to be keeping an eye out," Gennai hollered back. He pointed further up the river to a bend surrounded by pine trees. "They might've crossed upriver somewhere. Keep your ears open for gunshots. Look for anything suspicious." Gennai's clones nodded.

Further up, where the flat river embankment turned into gnarled tree roots, and the sun dipped behind the canopy, Hogan let out another whistle. It was short, high pitched. He found something. Gennai stopped studying the bullet holes in a few of the pines and sprang towards his clones, shuffling across the ankle deep river, up the embankment, and found them standing on a dirt path yards away, pointing at an object out of sight at the base of a tree. As he closed the distance, the sulfuric aroma in the air thickened, smoke hazed the treeline. The object was a grenade.

Hogan stooped and cradled the sphere in the palm of his hand. It was oil black, fist-sized, with a single ignition switch on the top. The clone whistled again, impressed. "Suppose what happened to the poor fella it belongs to?"

"Probably dead," Ben replied flatly. He thumbed over his shoulder. "So's whatever killed him."

A handful of yards away was a faerie ring of blackened, scorch marks. The surrounding trees had their trunks peeled back jaggedly, gored by metallic fragments still smoldering in the wood-flesh. Gennai frowned. "This is bad. We didn't hear any explosions coming in, so they could be long gone by now," he said. He gestured to the grenade. "Probably back to the Real World."

Hogan shrugged. "There's always next time. They like this river valley, for whatever reason."

Gennai folded his arms, thinking. "I was hoping to see Leomon, or catch his nose, something," he replied. He shook his head. "I'd settle for anything at this point."

The other clones exchanged glances. Benjamin took a step forwards. "There's plenty of daylight left. Who knows, maybe someone dropped it during the fight and forgot to pick it back up. But Hogan's onto something," he said, casting his glance around. "All the human sightings are coming out of this valley for a reason."

Gennai weighed their options. The evidence around them looked promising but proved futile in past outings. At least they possessed a direction to follow, even if it would lead nowhere at the end. "What do you think they're looking for?"

"Loot?" Benjaming guessed.

"A scrap?" Hogan followed, indicating toward the grenade in his palm.

Gennai grimaced. "Get rid of that," he chided Hogan, gesturing toward the river. "Bury it in the river and set it off, if you have to." Hogan went, wounded, as if denied his favorite toy. "But no. There's something more to it, something we're not seeing." Gennai continued to Benjamin, who watched his clone brother disappear behind the embankment. "These humans are organized."

"They're not as trigger happy as we thought," Benjamin added. He looked down at the forest gore in front of him. "Well, not offensively, anyway. The locals had seemed pretty stoked to see them, so that's something, I guess?"

Gennai frowned. "Between the multiple sightings, the sheer amount of evidence they leave behind, and Leomon being whisked away from File Island, we have to get to the bottom of this. It almost feels like they're avoiding us on purpose." The dull thump of the grenade going off punctuated the conversation, followed by a surprised, even startled yelp. Gennai shook his head. "Then again, maybe that's a good thing." He glanced at Benjamin. "You would've tossed it in the air."

Benjamin failed hiding his smile. "Or put it in a tree hollow. I am part American," he admitted.

"Be serious," Gennai snapped. "Strangers with digivices are a bad thing."

Benjamin placated him with his hands for calm. "All I'm saying is that whatever the humans are looking for is somewhere in this valley, and they're not keen on wiping out every digimon they see while looking for it." He gestured towards the trees and the area in general. "The world still exists, and the sky is still blue, so it can't be that dire. We'll find them and have a chat. You'll see."

It was strange, Gennai thought, arguing with yourself. Seeing his blue eyes arch and furrow, and his expression stretch into various emotes in front of his eyes felt pleasantly surreal. Before Gennai could comment further, Hogan crested the embankment, robe a sopping, wet gray, clinging to his frame. His eyes were wide and mirthful. "Whooey," he said. The hem of his robe sluiced river water. "That's some ordnance. Knocked me flat on me backside."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Hogan said. He grinned. "River's got a new fishing hole. So, what's next?"

Benjamin jerked his head in the direction of the faerie-ring scorch marks. "Looks like they went closer towards the mountain. Who knows what awaits up there."

Hogan's eyes lit up. "You think?"

"Absolutely not." Gennai cut in. He flicked Hogan's forehead. "You don't touch anything. And you," pointing at Benjamin, "stop enabling him."

"Bugger," Hogan grumbled.

Benjamin frowned as if insulted. "I do not 'enable' anyone," he groused.

Gennai and his clones had been chasing the mystery humans for months. It originated at the western-most point of the Eastern Quadrant, on File Island, where Centaurumon and the other inhabitants informed Gennai about a mysterious human and his Leamon partner spiriting Leomon away. A breadcrumb trail of rumors, sightings, second-hand accounts, a lot of Gazimon, and the odd fortune-telling from a traveling Vademon, led them directly east, against the mountain range that separated the Eastern and Northern continents. They narrowed the search to a handful of river valleys and small, rocky bluffs overlooking them.

Throughout the hunt, Gennai was unsettled. All his efforts had been in vain. Humanity discovered digimon and the Digital World. Worse, if the rumors proved true, humans could travel freely, carry digivices, and abduct digimon. They brought their weapons, their ordnance, and if the particular rumor proved correct, armor-encased soldiers. Their aftermath was abundant, yet the physical humans eluded his detection. It frustrated him. He prayed this outing revealed more than dead sky and scorched earth.

Above, the sun arched above an open sky, bright as midday, falling towards the western horizon. Climbing atop a bluff overlooking the river valley, Gennai and the clones found more evidence of human activity. Extinguished campfires dotted the exposed cliff side. Hogan discovered indents around them, where the soldiers likely sat and ate and rested before continuing their ascent. Benjamin kicked through a pile of bleached coals. Gennai found an empty, battered medical kit sitting precarious on the cliff edge, catching an unobstructed, panoramic view of the valley, the grasslands beyond that, and then the shapes of Log Town in its center.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Hogan said to Benjamin, pointing at the medical kit.

Benjamin examined "That it must've been one angry digimon?"

Hogan nodded. "Too right, mate."

Gennai let the box clatter to the stones. "Nothing makes sense," he said, gazing around the small bluff they stood in. "Even if there was a Digimon attacked, Ultimates don't roam these parts. They like to sit out on the plains."

Benjamin folded his arms. "Flymon swarm?"

Again, Gennai frowned. "With all that destruction? What about Monochromon?"

"In the mountains?" Hogan countered, "It's gotta be a bird, like Birdramon or Wingdramon. Heck, it could even be more than one type of digimon."

Behind them, a quiet, subdued voice called out. "Who is there? Is that you, Gennai?"

Gennai's heart skipped a beat. He exchanged looks with the others. "Yes, little one," he shouted, facing in the direction. "You can come out now, the humans are gone."

His excitement dropped when an Agumon limped out from a hidden alcove in the mountainside. The orange dinosaur, tall as his knee, was wrapped in bandages from nostril to tail tip, his left leg caged in a wire, metal cast. It struggled forwards, green eyes pained at every step, until Gennai embraced him. All three clones knelt, guiding their sudden guest to sit on the dusty ground. Benjamin produced a flask from his robe and offered it. The rookie digimon thanked him before taking a long, long drag of water. Gennai's considered Agumon's condition.

He placed his hand on the reptile's snout. "Take it easy," he began. "What happened? Did the humans do this to you?"

Agumon shook his head. "No, no! It was the Ogremon!" he replied, voice strengthening. "They attacked us without warning, where the forest meets the river. The humans managed to fight them off, but some of them, well," he looked in the direction of the river. "Some didn't make it."

"Ogremon?" Gennai echoed. Any optimism he possessed about a positive meeting with the humans withered and died. Ogremon were savage in nature just to digimon. He shuddered at what their raw strength could do to a human. Touching Agumon's hand, Gennai commanded his attention. "The humans. Where are they now, and what were you doing with them?"

Agumon held his head using his free claw. Whatever aid the human gave had faded, and the orange reptile trembled. "They arrived in Log Town earlier today," he began. "The lead human said they needed a guide around the area. Swanmon refused, but I volunteered, against my better judgment." The reptile wiggled his left toes. "We just got to the river when the Ogremon attacked." He took another generous swig. "I've never seen so many before. They leaped out of the trees," Agumon recalled, looking distant. "The humans never saw the bone clubs coming. Just didn't think to look up."

Hogan whistled another impressed tone. "Yikes," he said. He exchanged looks with the others. "Suppose they're still around?"

"It was a pretty large group," Agumon answered. "When the Ogremon retreated, they came up here, patched me up, and told me to return home when I recovered. They went up the mountain, towards Big Sign Six. It's not far," he pointed to an ascending slope cutting through the cliffs. "But that was hours ago. I hope the lady that bandaged me is okay. She was nice." Gennai inquired him about Big Sign Six. "Well, it's a big sign. Swanmon told us never to go because an Ultimate made its lair there."

Benjamin puzzled with the others for a moment. "What now?"

Gennai pointed at Agumon. "One of you take the little one back to Log Town, and we'll go see if the humans are at this 'Big Sign Six'."

Hogan and Benjamin exchanged wordless dares. They stuck their fists out and began counting, bobbing with each count. "Rock, Paper," they chanted. Gennai resisted groaning in embarrassment. "Scissors!" They cried. Hogan took his 'rock' and bopped Benjamin's 'scissors'. "Rocky wins again, ay!" Hogan announced. "Don't worry Ben, I'll bring back a souvenir."

Benjamin frowned. "Rats." He looked down at a bewildered Agumon. "Alright, up for some walking, or do you want me to carry you?" The orange reptile replied the latter and the two shambled back down the mountain.

Gennai shot a glance at the Australian. "Don't. Touch. Anything," he punctuated, poking his shoulder.

Hogan rolled his eyes. "I promise. Scout's Honor," he assured. He even gave Gennai the three fingered salute.

The two of them ascended the mountain range. It had a name, but it eluded Gennai. Information around the mountains that separated the continents into their quadrants was scant at best. Even the most esteemed libraries held only maps or pictures, nothing about its origins or any landmarks, just forests, rivers, and rocks. It struck him odd that such a geological wonder was a literal blank slate. Everywhere else possessed an origin, before and after the reformations, except the mountain range. He mentally noted to look into it later.

As the day continued forward, the sun dipped below the horizon. Amber and warm pink light blazed out of the west, against the mountain, setting the shale and granite aglow. Gennai's shadow stretched long and up the sheer mountainside. The air grew thinner. A wind, slight, but ever present invaded the sand-blasted outcroppings and produced an ugly monotone that irritated the ear upon hearing it. The two continued on. Signs of conflict dotted the narrowing path up the mountain; a blast crater in the wall, great heaves of blackened stone, and hundreds, if not thousands of brass shell casing scattering after every footfall. Hogan, to his credit, kept his hands in his robe pockets the entire walk.

When the two crested the final bluff, the sun set at their backs, illuminating the landscape before them.

"Bugger me," Hogan breathed. He took a step forward. "Humans have certainly been here."

"What happened?" Gennai asked. Burnt sulfur and cooked meat assailed his nose, gagging him.

Words left him. Seeing the cliff walls splattered in dull, crimson streaks left him speechless. The flat, open ground before him was pock-marked with sizable craters, growing larger as it approached ridges of boulders and shale, bathed in the dried blood. When Gennai looked behind the natural cover, thousands of bullet casings littered the ground. Hogan waved for him at the opposite end. He held up a long tube in both hands, the unmistakable head of a rocket still jutting out from the barrel. Above the carnage, illuminated by its recessed lights, an aluminum sign set into the cliff face. Platform Six, Hydroelectric, the legible text read. The rest had been worn away from time.

Hogan crossed along the ridge, spilling brass as he went, and joined Gennai. "This is," he set down the launcher on the rocks. "This is their last stand."

"Maybe," Gennai agreed. He shook his head, averting his gaze from the walls around them. "I hope not." An unsettling warmth rose from the stones, the casings at his feet, and the craters. "What in the four Sovereigns happened here?" Gennai repeated, frustration and revulsion competing for prominence. He jabbed an accusing finger up at the sign. "And what in Azulongmon's beard is that?"

Hogan plopped down on a clean surface. His care-free attitude morphed into near vomiting. "I don't even want to think of the numbers, human or Ogremon," he said.

A door rusted open, somewhere behind them. Gennai whirled in that direction. Hogan stood. Footfalls, and a strange, melodic hum floated down from further up the ridge line. They exchanged wordless instructions. Gennai reached for his sword pommel attached at the hip. Hogan plucked up the launcher, and when Gennai gave him a skeptical side eye, the Aussie shrugged, pulling the arming pin on the rocket. Might as well, Hogan's expression told him. What appeared above the two shocked them both.

Three beings; one a small child flanked by two Karatenmon, one of white plumage and the other black, stood above them. The child Gennai could only describe as stark white. White was her long, flowing hair framing a snow-white face. White was her robes clean of dust and rocks. White was the wand in her delicate right hand, casting no shadow. Her silver lantern hung in the crux of her arm, ephemeral blue light as unnatural as she both in presence and color. She bore into Gennai with shock-blue eyes crowned by a white brow.

The Karatenmon were Tengu demon-men, Ultimate level digimon; crows in the shape of men, walking on two legs and three talons, resting their two hands on the pommels of their two swords. Though their armor was their original purple, each one had strange, unique runes emblazoned on the breastplate. Their heads were bare, revealing a crow's head and a monstrous beak. They towered over everyone. Human-like intellect regarded Gennai and Hogan behind black doll's eyes.

The girl continued humming, sliding her gaze between the two digital men until the song, which Gennai could not place, finished. "What might thee be doing here?" she said. Her voice, high and adolescent, held no warmth. "This battle concluded when the sun was cresting this very mountain. Why would thee be here as it sinks below the ocean?"

Gennai's mind raced. She wore the trappings of a human, but felt no more flesh and blood than the nightmare soldiers at her flanks. "Who are you?" he asked.

If the girl was annoyed at him ignoring her question, she didn't show it. Instead, a wire-thin smile graced her lips. "Whom am I?" she repeated, "A shepherd, a guide, a ferrymen. Does thou wish a name?" Again, her lilting tenor carried bitter cold. "Hodr. Long forgotten in this land of savage beasts, though I suspect thou will make sense of it, maybe." she said, backhanded.

Hogan let the launcher fall back to the ground. If the Karatenmon had been aggressive, they would already be dead. "We're just looking for humans."

The girl, Hodr, smiled broadly. In that smile, Gennai realized who held the power between the three. "Gone, unfortunately. Coached back to their world. Thou should've been witness to the battle 'tween Orgremon and human." She cast her gaze around the bluff as if admiring an art piece. "How the Ogremon struggled, and struggle mightily they did."

Gennai paused. "The humans were the aggressors?"

One of the Karatenmon, the white-feathered, chuckled. A torturing, grinding noise. Hodr tilted her head at Gennai, mocking puzzlement. "Is thou surprised? Savage is an Ogre's nature, but even the dullest beast flees before man's fire. But nae, twas not the humans that struck the first blow. The Ogremon thought them nothing more than Rookies, flocking through the forest like tender, yielding prey. Little did the tribe understand the deception of numbers," she said. She gestured at the aftermath. "And here we stand, at the end of the Red-Tusk tribe."

"Oh," Hogan blurted. Bewilderment plastered his expression. "Well, Hodr. Can you tell us what they were doing, or what this place is?"

Hodr cast her icy gaze upon Gennai. "Is thou a sleuth in the absence of evil? Surely, not." she teased. "But no. This is a place of the distant past, where ancient curses and rages sleep, where humans must tread." She dipped her free hand in her robe and pulled out a book, covered and bound in black leather. "What thee really seeks lies in the pages of thine company's books. Here is the first. Therein the pages lies the answers of why, what, and when. Thou will have to find the other tomes, lost to the ages."

The black Karatenmon pinched the book in its fingers and delivered it to Gennai, who, out of complete habit, thanked the Tengu and gave a stiff bow. "I don't understand," he began, holding the tome in both hands. "What will this tell me?"

The child gave an impassive shrug. "Less than you want. More than you know. Be careful, servant, the truth of those words cannot be undone. Now go," she declared, shooing them with her hand. "Begone from this mountain before light's end, or Huginn and Muninn will depart you from this digital coil." The Karatenmon flexed at their names, giving their wings an errant, threatening flap.

"Can," Hogan started, placing a hand on the handle of the launcher. "Can I take this? It's for a friend," he said.

Hodr turned to him. She smiled. "Of course. I too possess a need to collect timeless things," she replied.

"Choice," he picked the weapon up and inserted the arming pin at the neck of the rocket. "Benjamin's gonna be so jealous."

Gennai shook his head. He noticed Hodr's gaze fell back upon him. "We have no choice then," he said, "But I will get to the bottom of this. If you do anything to the Digi-Destined—"

Hodr's revealing smile cut him short. Pearl white teeth set in pallor pale gums menaced him. "Such is the plight of the children enslaved by oaths forced upon them. I challenge thee to stop the fates unfolding such clandestine soldiers. Thou would surely see how divine his presence truly is; a fresh pebble shorn from the ageless rocks."

OOC: Spur of the moment urge to write a follow up chapter that's winding gears forward and setting up for more spectacle and action for our clueless heroes. Please read and review! It helps me a ton on writing and prose.