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Chapter 493
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Leesa's Advent Chapter 494
I awaken to find my cheek pressed against a layer of damp sand. For a moment, I have no idea where I am or what I’m doing here, but it slowly comes back to me. I remember the kraken’s furious attack upon our ship and the blow I took to my head that knocked me over the side and into the ocean.I reach up with my fingers and gently probe the right side of my scalp, hoping perhaps that it was all just a bad dream. Sure enough, I find an egg-sized lump and some dried blood in my hair. I wince. It’s painful to touch, but it doesn’t seem too bad—at least it doesn’t seem to be bleeding any longer. The cold salt water undoubtedly helped reduce the seriousness of the injury.Moving carefully, I push myself up into a sitting position. Even that gentle movement causes a brief spell of dizziness to wash over me. Closing my eyes, I wait for the dizziness to pass. It doesn’t take long. When I open my eyes again, I scan my surroundings, turning my head very slowly as I do.I’m alone on a narrow, cre
Leesa's Advent Chapter 495
It was not a dream. When I first open my eyes I’m momentarily confused, but when I see the glowing embers that are that remain of my fire it all comes back to me. It’s morning now, but I don’t know how early. I’m still in the shadow of the cliff, and I can’t see how high the sun has risen in the sky. The air is cold, though, so I know the sun hasn’t been up long enough to begin heating up the day.I reach into my emergency pouch and pull out the special blanket. Unfolding it quickly, I wrap myself inside it, then carefully place a couple of sticks and small logs on top of the pile of orange embers. I blow softly onto the coals, feeding them more oxygen. In just a few moments the thinner sticks catch fire, followed by the thicker ones. Between my newly ignited fire and my foil blanket, I’m soon warm and comfortable.I’m also very hungry. I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday, and my stomach feels like there’s a
Leesa's Advent Chapter 496
I turn back toward the ocean. From my new vantage point, I can see a much broader swath of water than I could from down on the beach, but it doesn’t matter. As far as my eyes can see, the sun-dappled sea is completely empty. I swallow my disappointment. I knew the odds were small, but I had been hoping for a sight of The Star of India, or at least one of the lifeboats. But there’s nothing. The huge, seemingly endless expanse of ocean drives home just how alone I really am. If any of my party survived, they’ve come ashore somewhere beyond my sight.I crawl slowly toward a small clump of leafy shrubs that offers me at least some concealment and push myself up into a sitting position. I’ve been so consumed with getting off the beach that I haven’t really given any thought about what to do next. Well, I’m off the beach now, so it’s time to decide, no matter how futile any decisions might seem.I guess a good place to start is by fi
Leesa's Advent Chapter 497
The road in front of me has disappeared, swallowed up by a giant landslide. Tons of rock, dirt and other debris have come crashing down from the steep hillside, completely covering the highway. Green, stringy weeds and small plants sprout up from the soil, telling me the slide occurred several years ago, at the least. It would take a team of bulldozers to clear the way, and there are no bulldozers anywhere in sight.This section of road is one that skirts the very edge of the cliffs, so there’s no going around the blockage on the ocean side. I’m either going to have to climb the ridge to my right to find a way past it, or pick my way over the remains of the landslide. Neither looks like a particularly appetizing alternative.The hill above the road is bare and almost vertical for the first twenty feet or so. Above that, the terrain is steep and seems to be more thickly wooded than any I’ve passed so far. Maybe that’s just because for the first time I’m seriously considering trying to
Leesa's Advent Chapter 498
I’m standing face to face with a monster. It’s a giant lizard-like creature that looks something like a cross between an iguana and a crocodile. The beast is twenty feet long if it’s an inch, with a long, tapering tail making up more than a third of its length. Thick, slimy green scales cover its body. Four short, bent legs lift it a foot or so off the ground, but its arched back and thick neck raise its elongated snout higher than my waist. The huge head is fully as large as my torso, and a two-pronged red tongue darts in and out between twin rows of yellow, dagger-like teeth. The thing has positioned itself diagonally across the road, blocking it completely.Whether this is a creature that came through a portal from There or is simply a mutant from my own world doesn’t matter. Its bulbous eyes are fastened directly on me, with a look I can only describe as hungry. I hold my machete in front of me, gripped tightly in both hands. The weapon seems puny
Leesa's Advent Chapter 499
The sun is beginning to sink low in the sky. I’m guessing I’ve got maybe an hour of daylight left—enough time to cover two or three more miles before I’ll have to start looking for a safe place to spend the night. “Safe” being a very relative term out here in the wilds, of course.In one section of the western sky, the high clouds have been twisted by upper level winds into an angry-looking vortex of gray and white. At least I hope the clouds have been shaped by high winds. The alternative is a giant Anomaly about to open in the sky and spew forth dangerous monsters. While flying creatures are rare, they’re not unheard of. Rocs and wyverns have been seen by people I’ve talked to, and tales are told of fire-breathing dragons, though no one I know has ever encountered one of those.Speaking of monsters, the reptile creature has still not appeared at the bottom of the hill, for which I’m profoundly grateful. With luck,
Leesa's Advent Chapter 500
I quickly drift off to sleep. Not surprisingly, my sleep is filled with nightmares, each one more terrifying than the last. The visions are incredibly vivid: snarling werebears surround me in an ever-tightening circle; a giant roc ensnares me in its talons and carries me to its mountaintop nest; fearsomely ugly ogres tie me to a spit and begin roasting me over a blazing fire. The dreams all have the same thing in common—I’m about to meet some horrifying doom. I sure hope that my as yet unrevealed Power doesn’t turn out to be precognition!I wake up in the middle of the ogre vision, my heart racing and my body covered in sweat. Opening my eyes to utter blackness only adds to my terror. For a few panic-filled moments, I have no idea where I am and why I can’t see anything. I only barely manage to catch myself before I let loose a scream for help.I force myself to draw in slow, deep breaths of cold night air. They were only dreams, I remind myself
Leesa's Advent Chapter 501
My heart sinks. From where I stand, it looks like there’s no way across the gap in the bridge. I turn my gaze inland. The fold in the topography is deep and cuts far back into the hillside. Climbing down the sheer sides of the ravine and then back up would be much too dangerous, which means I’d have to go around it. I can’t tell for certain, but it looks like I’d have to travel a mile or more out of my way, through the woods and up and over the hill, before turning back down to the road on the other side.That’s a detour I’d prefer not to take. I decide to make a closer examination of the broken section of road first. Maybe there’s a way across the break that I can’t see from here.Once again, I carefully check my surroundings before exposing myself to view out on the bridge. I don’t see anything moving anywhere, and the only sound I hear is the faint crashing of the ocean upon the rocks far below me to my left.
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