“Bones?”
A soft male voice broke the silence.
Nobody moved.
The newly formed skeleton remained where Sid had assembled him.
Then his enormous skull slowly turned.
Left.
Right.
The furnace.
The stream.
The piles of bone.
The skeletons surrounding him.
His gaze finally settled on Kaya.
She approached cautiously.
“Hello.”
Kaya raised one hand.
“My name is Kaya.”
A pause.
“Ah.”
The stranger mirrored the gesture.
Then stopped.
He stared at his own hand.
Human fingers.
Human wrist.
But beyond them—
A massive predatory frame.
Several seconds passed.
Only then did he reach forward and shake hers.
“Lucius.”
His voice remained calm.
Measured.
Kaya released his hand.
“I want you to know that you’re safe here with us.”
She gestured toward the others.
“We’re all trying to survive this place.”
Lucius nodded.
“I understand.”
His gaze drifted downward again.
His arms.
His ribs.
His legs.
The enormous claws where feet should have been.
He stood.
Slowly.
Bone shifted against bone as the gorgon frame unfolded to its full height.
Nearly seven feet.
Lucius looked down at Kaya.
Then at himself.
“These don’t appear human.”
“No.”
Kaya glanced toward Sid.
Lucius followed her gaze.
“What am I?”
Sid waved dismissively.
“The effect is what matters.”
Lucius stared at him.
A pause.
Then another.
Sid tilted his head.
“So…”
He gestured excitedly.
“How do you feel?”
“Great.”
Lucius continued staring at him.
“Yet there is a complete absence of physical sensation.”
He reached between his ribs.
A small piece of dried flesh remained attached to the bone.
Lucius scraped it free.
Watched it fall.
Nothing.
“No pain.”
He flexed his hand.
“No temperature.”
Another pause.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“No pressure.”
Sid’s eye lights brightened.
“Remarkable.”
“Past occupation?”
Elias had appeared beside them.
Lucius turned.
“I was a professor of psychology.”
Silence.
Elias nodded.
“Useful.”
Lucius looked around the clearing again.
At the impossible cavern.
At the glowing crystals.
At his own monstrous body.
“But I don’t think I know what I am anymore.”
Sid nodded thoughtfully.
“Ah, yes.”
A pause.
“The brain truly is fascinating.”
Lucius looked at him.
Sid pointed toward his own empty skull.
“Speaking of which, do you have any ideas as to how we exist without—”
“No.”
Sid stopped.
Lucius shook his head.
“Not yet, anyway.”
A pause.
“I’ll give it some food for thought.”
Sid’s jaw rattled.
“Ohh.”
He pointed at Lucius.
“I like the sound of that.”
Eventually, everyone returned to work.
Everyone except Barbara.
She approached Lucius with the spear resting against one shoulder.
“Do you have any combat experience?”
Lucius looked up.
And up.
A pause.
“Wow.”
Barbara folded her arms.
“You are quite large.”
“I’m aware.”
Lucius examined her frame.
Dinosaur bones.
Human skull.
Enormous arms.
He looked back at himself.
“I suppose I’m not in much of a position to comment.”
Barbara chuckled.
“So?”
Lucius nodded.
“I trained in Japanese jujutsu for several years.”
Barbara’s eye lights brightened.
“A black belt?”
“Third degree.”
Barbara went still.
A pause.
“Right.”
She adjusted her grip on the spear.
“Weapons?”
“Some.”
Lucius looked toward the crystal spear.
“I received basic training with Japanese swords.”
“Katanas?”
“Yes.”
Barbara pointed toward Edgar.
“He’s a toolmaker.”
Then toward the furnace.
“And apparently we’re entering the Iron Age.”
Lucius followed her gesture.
His gaze moved across the clearing.
Coal.
Clay.
Bone.
Bellows.
Crystals.
The unfinished furnace.
A goblin skeleton working beside it.
A surgeon covered in dried blood.
Lucius stared.
“Interesting.”
Barbara nodded.
“When Edgar gets enough iron, I’ll ask him to make you something.”
“That would be appreciated.”
“For now…”
Barbara pointed toward the bellows.
“We need arms.”
Lucius looked at his.
Then at hers.
A pause.
“I presume that was not metaphorical.”
“No.”
WHOOSH.
Lucius compressed the bellows.
Flame surged through the furnace.
He released.
The hide expanded again.
WHOOSH.
Again.
And again.
And again.
It wasn’t like labour.
Not really.
There was no fatigue.
No aching muscles.
No burning lungs.
No sweat.
Only—
Repetition.
And thought.
WHOOSH.
Lucius watched the others.
Elias worked beside the furnace.
Something had failed.
Again.
He was already rebuilding it.
Sid sat over another carcass.
Dissecting.
Again.
Barbara moved between everyone.
Giving instructions.
Moving materials.
Solving problems.
"Yet nobody had appointed her leader."
"Interesting."
His thoughts echoed.
Kaya worked nearby.
But she spent almost as much time watching the others as gathering vegetation.
Edgar rarely spoke unless something needed correcting.
Rosella spoke even less.
Her movements were rigid.
Deliberate.
She remained near Barbara whenever possible.
WHOOSH.
Lucius compressed the bellows again.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Iron changed everything.
At first, only small amounts emerged from the furnace.
Ugly.
Porous.
Impure.
But workable.
And Edgar made use of every piece.
The first proper tool took hours.
A hammer.
The glowing iron sat upon a broad stone while Edgar struck it repeatedly with a crude mallet.
CLANG.
Again.
CLANG.
Again.
The misshapen lump gradually became rectangular.
He reheated it.
Hammered it.
Reheated it again.
Eventually, he punched an opening through its centre.
A handle followed.
Dinosaur bone ground down and reinforced with glue and plant resin before being compressed into shape.
Crude.
Ugly.
Functional.
Edgar fitted the pieces together.
Then raised the finished hammer.
Silence.
Sid stared.
Edgar looked at him.
“What?”
Sid pointed.
“We have a hammer.”
“Yes.”
“An iron hammer.”
“Yes.”
Sid’s jaw began rattling.
Edgar immediately turned away.
“Don’t.”
CLANG.
The new hammer struck hot metal.
Sid’s jaw rattled harder.
CLANG.
Again.
A longer piece of iron gradually took shape beneath Edgar’s hands.
Lucius stopped pumping the bellows.
His eye lights narrowed.
“Is that…”
“A sword.”
Edgar struck the metal again.
CLANG.
Lucius stared.
“Oh.”
Time passed.
CLANG.
CLANG.
CLANG.
The sound travelled endlessly through the cavern.
Kaya gathered another armful of vegetation.
Then wandered toward the edge of the clearing.
Barbara noticed immediately.
Her gaze moved past Kaya.
Toward the plants.
Then—
She stiffened.
“WAIT!”
Everyone stopped.
Silence.
The vegetation shifted.
Rustle.
Kaya backed away.
“What is it?”
Another movement.
Closer.
Barbara lowered her spear.
The plants parted.
A four-legged predator emerged.
Low body.
Broad skull.
Two enormous canine teeth.
Barbara’s grip tightened.
“A gorgon.”
Edgar turned.
Then—
Another emerged.
A few metres to the left.
“Uh…”
Rosella backed toward the furnace.
Vegetation moved again.
A third predator stepped into the clearing.
Silence.
Sid slowly raised one finger.
“Interesting.”
Barbara looked at him.
“Not now.”
The three gorgons spread apart.
Lucius watched them.
One moved left.
Another remained still.
The third lowered its head.
His gaze moved across their bodies.
Shoulders.
Legs.
Necks.
Distance.
Barbara raised her spear.
“Everyone behind—”
Lucius stepped forward.
She looked at him.
“What are you doing?”
Lucius reached down.
A green crystal rested beside the furnace.
He picked it up.
Tested its weight.
Turned the edge away from himself.
Then looked at the nearest gorgon.
“I believe you wanted to know whether I could fight.”
Barbara stared.
“This isn't exactly—”
The gorgon lunged.
Lucius moved.
Not backwards.
Sideways.
One step.
Nothing more.
The predator’s jaws snapped shut where his ribs had been.
CLACK.
Lucius rotated with it.
His arm moved once.
Fast.
The green crystal disappeared into the side of the animal’s neck.
SQUELCH.
Lucius immediately pulled it free.
Dark blood sprayed across the stone.
The gorgon stumbled.
Its front legs buckled.
It tried to turn.
Couldn’t.
Then collapsed.
Silence.
Lucius stared down at it.
The entire exchange had lasted seconds.
Barbara stared.
Sid stared.
Elias stared.
Edgar slowly lowered the hammer.
“What?”
Lucius examined the blood coating the crystal.
The second gorgon charged.
Barbara moved.
Her spear snapped forward.
CRUNCH.
The crystal point punched directly through its eye.
The animal froze.
Then collapsed beneath its own momentum.
Barbara ripped the spear free.
Sid stared at the corpse.
Then toward Lucius.
His eye lights narrowed.
“Interesting…”
Lucius looked over.
Sid pointed toward the first gorgon.
“You went for the throat immediately.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Lucius glanced down at the predator.
Then at the blood spreading beneath its neck.
“It was available.”
A pause.
Sid’s eye lights brightened.
Lucius looked toward the vegetation.
The third gorgon was still there.
Watching them.
Its body had lowered.
Its yellow eyes moved between Barbara—
Lucius—
And the two corpses.
Lucius tightened his grip on the crystal.
Barbara raised her spear.
Neither moved.
Several seconds passed.
Then the predator slowly stepped backwards.
Once.
Again.
It disappeared into the vegetation.
Silence.
Lucius watched the plants settle.
Then looked down at the crystal in his hand.
“I think I’d still prefer a sword.”
Edgar nodded to himself thoughtfully.