Epic of Eternity

Book 1 - Part 73:  Escape?   He felt triumphant. He felt relieved. He felt that his giant’s strength had returned as he swung the weapon, probably due to the fact that his beloved hammer, his father’s final gift to him, was now working again! His father’s voice had been so loud in his mind that he had almost felt like his dad was there with him - guiding his hand as he smote down his enemies. He looked around, almost expecting his dad to be right next to him, slapping him on the back with an excited, “Attaboy, Jackie!” But his father wasn’t there - at least not in person. I didn’t spare the rod, Dad. Thank you, wherever you are, Jack said in his mind, his eyes closed, his heart grateful.

Though disappointed by his father’s absence, Jack felt well for the first time since he had entered the Nagrak ship. His fatigue was gone. His aches and pains were gone. His mind was clear. He felt fully healed. Seeing that the brutes made no sign of movement, Jack turned around to continue towards the exit-portal. He was certainly surprised when he found it right behind him! Another of that cleric’s tricks. Well, hopefully, I’ll soon be rid of him.

Just to be on the safe side, Jack turned his head to watch the dormant brutes as he pushed the panel to open the door. He heard the portal open wide and he moved cautiously forward, still eyeing the large Nagraks on the floor. Freedom at last! Jack sighed inwardly as he stepped out of the dark ship. Nuts! he thought, as he felt the cold point of a blaster pistol jabbed into his chest.

Book 1 - Part 72:  Hammer Time!   

The rectangular hammer-head of the rod grew out of the end of the handle, turning what had been a simple metal bar into a large long-handled war hammer. The surprised brutes pulled up short, but not in time, as Jack’s swing caught the reddish-black one square in the jaw, knocking him back into his companion and forcing his attack with his battleaxe to miss Jack narrowly.

Jack’s heart sang that his hammer worked again! The Nagrak brutes had nearly been on top of him as he had turned to halt their attack. His trusty hammer had saved him again! The force of his blow against the reddish-black brute sent him flying into the grayish-green one, causing them both to smack hard into the wall.

Thump! Thump! Went the Nagrak’s bodies, as they hit the floor.

Book 1 - Part 71:  MUST GET TO MY WEAPON!

Must get to my weapon. Jack thought wearily, pushing himself up to his hands and knees and starting to crawl towards his weapon, several yards away.

Thump. Thump. Sounded the Nagraks’ footfalls, close behind.

“Mustn’t spare the rod!” his father said again in his mind, more firmly this time.

Must get to my weapon! Jack thought more clearly, as he hobbled hurriedly towards the metal rod.

Thump! Thump! Came the Nagraks’ footfalls, even closer.

“MUSTN’T SPARE THE ROD!” his father shouted at him - so loud in his mind now that it was almost audible.

“MUST GET TO MY WEAPON!” Jack shouted aloud, as he ran frantically towards the rod, now within a few feet from it.

THUMP! THUMP! Boomed the Nagraks’ footfalls, now within a few feet from Jack.

“MUSTN’T SPARE THE ROD!” Jack yelled as he reached the weapon, picking it up, sliding his fingers into the correct position and swinging it wildly behind him.

Book 1 - Part 70:  MUSTN’T SPARE THE ROD!

So tired… Jack thought as he lay there. Need rest… Suddenly, with this final blow the Nagrak brute had dealt him, all of the pain he had been fighting off since entering this accursed ship came rushing back to him:  being suffocated and almost smashed to death in the shrinking room, being electrocuted over and over by the lethal eyes, being burnt and frozen by the otherworldly green flame, being shocked by the cleric’s magical staff - not to mention his fight with that group of Nagrak guards and their giant companions. All this buffeting and smashing and crushing and freezing and burning and pounding seemed to be more than even his remarkable healing ability could handle. He was at the utmost limits of his strength. Need to recover…just a few moments…

Just as he was about to give in to his pain and exhaustion, another thought entered his mind—a quiet thought. “Mustn’t spare the rod,” it said quietly. Mustn’t spare the rod? Jack thought, quizzically. That phrase sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite place its meaning. “Mustn’t spare the rod,” it sounded again, a little more firmly this time. Where had he heard that before? His mind and body were still clouded with pain, and it was hard to focus. He could hear the “thump-thump” of the Nagrak brutes’ footfalls as they were closing the distance towards him. “MUSTN’T SPARE THE ROD!” The phrase resounded suddenly in his memory:  that was what his dad had always said to him when punishing him for stepping out of line as a kid! 

When Jack had been naughty or talked back to his dad, or proved time and again to his father that gentle words of reminder wouldn’t be enough to teach him a lesson, his dad had chosen to leave a more direct impression on Jack’s mind and backside - he’d broken off a dry branch and swatted Jack’s bottom until Jack was willing to be obedient - always repeating the phrase, “Mustn’t spare the rod, Jack, my lad!” during the spanking. It was silly that he should remember something like that at a time like this, but memories of his father had been brought up particularly poignantly recently in his mind by the old cleric. 

Book 1 - Part 69:  Attack from Behind

Jack went sprawling. His rod flew out of his hand and landed far out in front of him. He heard something else clang to the ground as he himself hit the corridor floor face-first. His vision went dark for a moment. He started to slip into unconsciousness. Just need a moment to recover from the pain…just a little nap…

“No!” Jack shouted aloud as he roused himself from his fainting spell. He refused to give in - not when he was this close to escape and freedom. He was sure that one of the beasts had caught up to him and hit him from behind. The brute was probably leaning over him at this moment, about to savagely finish him off. He painfully rolled himself over to fend off the attack, but no one was there. Jack was puzzled. He had been sure the brutes were about to overcome him, but a quick check showed that they were still far off down the corridor, hurriedly making their way towards him.

Book 1 - Part 68:  To the Exit!

He hurriedly got up, glancing around to see where he was, and realized that he was now in the end of the entrance corridor - the very spot where he had seen the small green whirlwind and been trapped inside the moving walls. Not wanting to be trapped again by either walls or large Nagrak thugs, he shot forward down the long corridor to the ship’s exit.

The Nagrak brutes, surprised by Jack’s expeditious departure, also exited the room by smashing through the rest of the wall, widening the gap that Jack had created with his initial egress. Jack glanced back once to see if they were following - relieved to see that they were slowed by having to make a larger exit-hole for their massive bulky bodies to fit through. He turned back to his goal of racing toward the ship’s exit portal, never glancing backwards again.

Alarms echoed off the walls and in his ears as he ran like a madman down the long corridor. How much further is it? He wondered as he huffed and puffed down the seemingly endless exit hallway. Was I really that immersed in my own thoughts when I entered the ship? The corridor hadn’t seemed this long, and I’d been slowly exploring then. Maybe this was another trick of that cleric - a final perverse joke of his. Maybe now that I’m so close to escaping from the Nagrak’s labyrinthine ship, the cleric will renege on his promise and never let me leave. I’ll be forced to run the length of this hallway forever - never daring to look back for fear that my pursuers are right on my heels. 

Book 1 - Part 67:  Break on Through to the Other Side!

Jack instinctively swung at them with the rod. The brutes stopped short, right out of reach of the headless weapon. Jack cursed silently. He’d expected the swing to knock their two heads together, but had forgotten that his weapon was still not working properly. The brutes smiled at him, just as their fallen comrade had, realizing his disadvantage. They rushed at him again.

Book 1 - Part 66: Two More Big Brutes 

Once his battle frenzy left him, Jack felt weary and cold. Why do I feel cold all of a sudden? He generally preferred the cold, but this chill didn’t feel natural at all. Or maybe this was his body’s natural cool-down from whenever he tapped that mysterious well of strength inside him - what he liked to call his “Giant’s Strength.” Ultimately, he dismissed the feeling. Probably a leftover from having his hands frozen by the cleric’s green flame, or maybe he felt ill over what he had done - nearly beating the big Nagrak to death. Whatever the cause of the feeling, his ponderings were cut short by a sudden shrill sound.

Great. Just what I need:  klaxons. Before he knocked them all senseless, one of the Nagrak guards must have set off a silent alarm that was now particularly un-silent. And here I was hoping to make an inconspicuous retreat. Jack’s hopes were dashed, however. As he moved toward the only exit from the room, two more Nagrak brutes entered. They were practically identical to the green giant he had just felled, except one had a light grayish-green skin tone, and the other was a dark reddish-black. Other than that, they looked just as mean and hard-headed as the first. Jack’s only comfort was that they weren’t wielding electro-maces, but rather more conventional weapons in the form of a metal war club and a giant battle-axe. The lack of electrical weapons, however, did not mean that he treated them as any less deadly than their incapacitated green friend, and so he put up his guard.

Book 1 - Part 65:   Giant Strength and Battle Frenzy

Jack stood panting over his opponent, who lay defeated on the ground at his feet. Jack held the rod triumphantly in one hand. The brute didn't stir. His electro-mace was no more. Jack had knocked it away out of annoyance at it's continuous zapping and it had shattered as it hit the far wall. Even disarmed and knocked down by the force of Jack's explosive attack, the brute wasn't dead, only momentarily incapacitated. Jack would have marveled at the Nagrak's resiliency, had he not currently been so blinded by his hatred of them. 

Book 1 - Part 64:  Never Knew What Hit Him

Jack relentlessly attacked the brute with the rod, ignoring every spark from his desperately swinging electro-mace, and countering every blow that the beast managed to swing on target. The smell of brimstone filled his nostrils as he fought perilously close to the enormous Nagrak, the mace's electrocutions igniting his clothes in patches. For a moment, Jack felt more like a dragon himself than the beast he was facing - taking out his wroth for all the grievances he'd suffered at the hands of the entire Nagrak race on the giant creature. The giant should have looked green to Jack, but all Jack could see was RED.

Book 1 - Part 63:  Home Run Hitter

His card tricks having failed him, Jack dodged and weaved around the room to avoid the giant's angry attacks, and frantically thought of something else that might be effective against the seemingly-indestructible brute. Avoiding a particularly savage thrust from the giant guard, Jack tripped backward over the Nagrak's gambling table and crashed severely un-gracefully to the hard floor. Rolling over quickly to get up, a glint of grayish-silver metal caught his eye. It was the thing he had been holding when he appeared on the table. The thing that had been his whole purpose for chasing the Nagrak halfway across the star system to eventually lead him aboard this accursed Nagrak ship. He’d left it behind the table when he’d hid there from the explosion that had never come:  a long cylindrical metal object with intricate ancient patterns on it.

Jack picked up his hammer-rod. He held it with authority - like a home run hitter about to knock one out of the park. He stared the green brute down. The green brute paused uncertainly, eyeing Jack's newfound weapon. Jack gripped the rod in such a way as to prepare it to activate its "special" features. The rod's surface designs moved intuitively, almost intelligently, to match his fingers' movements - recognizing its master's familiar touch. He hoisted the rod higher, menacing the brute. The brute frowned. Jack's fingertips clicked perfectly into place. He slightly depressed the metal surface. The rod clicked again and...did nothing. He clicked the rod again. The rod clicked back at him, and still did nothing. He clicked it a third time for good measure. It clicked back at him, as if to spite him. The brute was smiling at him, brandishing his perfectly-working electro-mace.

Jack was more than upset - he was livid. What had the Nagrak thugs done to his rod?!?! Coming all this way, having tracked these jerks over half the star system, having snuck into this monstrosity of a ship, having passed through all the tricks and traps and lies of that weird old cleric, having passed through the Nagrak lion's den, and having finally gotten the rod back, only to finally find that his prized possession was broken! It was worse than never finding it at all!

And the brute still smiled at him.

WHAM!

POW!

WHAP!

The brute never knew what hit him.

BAM!

Or what continued to hit him.

Book 1 - Part 62:  Suicide Jack

Jack looked up from his position on the floor, behind the overturned card table, where he had just thrown himself to avoid the expected explosion. The Nagrak thug was still standing there, not stunned, but perturbed. He scowled down at the card on the floor, wondering if it was about to go off. Jack stared at the card as well. They both continued to stare at the card. For another tense moment or two, the card remained unexploded. Then, very un-suddenly, something happened: Jack picked up the card.

“Lousy dud,” Jack muttered. He picked up the card and shook it. He realized this might not be the smartest thing he could do, but it still didn’t go off. He frowned at it. Frowning produced no response from the card, either. He looked up at the brute, who was frowning at him. The brute stuck out his hand, and gestured that he wanted the card. Jack no longer had any use for it, so he shrugged and handed it to him. To his surprise, the brute opened his mouth and swallowed the card! To his greater surprise, Jack now realized why the card hadn’t gone off: as he’d handed the card over to the brute, he’d finally recognized the face on the card:  the Suicide Jack. He had thrown it at the brute, originally thinking it was the Lucky Jack, another explosive card which would have produced an explosion equivalent to that of a hand grenade. The Suicide Jack, on the other hand, had hidden in it a tiny-but-quite-lively larger yield explosive device.

Jack cursed himself for having mistaken the one card for the other. Why do I even keep that card around? And where did I put the detonator? Wherever it was, he didn't want the big brute to accidentally trigger it, and he really wasn't sure what effect the brute’s stomach would have on the explosive card, so he decided to put as much distance between the two of them as possible. The brute, unintentionally willing to help Jack get away, hit him hard in the middle of the shoulders as Jack turned his back to escape.

At this point, Jack wasn't sure whether to be more concerned about the immediate shocking pain that now coursed through his back, or the imminent pain that would occur when he abruptly smacked into the far wall. He ultimately didn't have to choose between the two, however, as one of the previously unconscious guards staggered up, placing himself squarely in Jack's flight-path. Jack hit the guard hard, sending the Nagrak flying, and allowing the guard to find out for Jack what the experience of hitting the far wall actually felt like. In a fair trade, Jack took the newly unconscious guard's place, falling onto a pile of the guard's semi-conscious Nagrak brethren.

Painfully, Jack rolled over, hoping not to disturb the guards any further from their light slumber. Unfortunately, at least one had been roused by this rude awakening, and Jack found himself staring a displeased Nagrak guard right in his scaly face. Jack gave the guard one of his best, widest, most pleasant grins, then promptly socked the guard in the mouth. A lullaby might have worked better for Jack, however, since the guard failed to go back to bed, and several other of his friends were rousing angrily as well. 

Just when it seemed that Jack would be subdued by the gang of surly Nagrak, he was reminded of the brute. The brute had not forgotten about Jack, and was still upset about his earlier card pranks. The great green giant charged into the group of his fellows, bringing his mace down squarely in the middle of the gang - right towards Jack's current position. Jack seemed to be the only one who noticed the giant in time, as he deftly ducked out of the way between a confused guard's legs, leaving the Nagrak gang to take the full brunt of the electric mayhem unleashed by the green giant's weapon.

Book 1 - Part 61:  Pick a Card! Any Card!

The card exploded in the brute’s face, filling his eyes with black smoke and soot. Unknowingly, the brute had fallen for an old trick that Jack had invented back in his military days. Tempers would occasionally flair with the other soldiers, and Jack had cobbled together a trick deck if he ever needed to lighten the mood. Luckily, he still carried around the old deck for sentimental and, at times, practical reasons (or, at least, practical joke reasons).

Unfortunately, though stunned, the guard was still blocking the exit door with his massive bulk.

The other guards, upon seeing Jack attacking the brute, raised their pistols again and aimed at him.

“Give us the cards,”they said, menacingly.

“Sure thing,” said Jack, and promptly threw several of the cards at the unsuspecting guards.

“Pick a card, any card!” Jack said loudly, laughing and coughing as the room filled with black smoke from the exploding cards that he continued to throw. Fortunately for Jack, the guards no longer had a direct line of site at him with their blasters, so their shots went wild. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see them either, so he quickly threw himself to the ground as a few wild shots narrowly missed him.

He wasn’t long safe in that position either, as the large brutish Nagrak, who was extremely upset from being blasted in the eyes with soot and ash, brought down his electrified mace very near Jack’s head, striking the floor soundly. Sparks scattered in all directions and electricity surged out, knocking the other guards back through the thick smoke. Jack sprang away from the brute’s heavy blow. Catching a quick breath, he was surprised to find himself unharmed from the electric blast. Perhaps he had built up some sort of an immunity to electric bolts by being zapped so many times by the green electric eyes? Whatever the reason, he was glad to be unfazed and even more glad that the lesser Nagrak guards had been stunned instead of him. However, there was still the big brute to deal with. 

As the green giant lifted his mace for another strike, Jack frantically searched in his pack of cards to see if any were left. He feared that he had used all of them up in distracting the guards. But, no! Here was the last card of the deck, and it was the one card he had hoped to pick:  The Lucky Jack. He turned to the brutish barbarian and proclaimed proudly and loudly, “My good green sir, it’s been a pleasure doing business with you! Unfortunately, I have to be leaving, but here’s my card!” and he promptly threw the card at the green thug’s head.

Book 1 - Part 60:   BANG!

Jack smiled back, reacting in a way the brute had not expected. “Aw, so you’ve come to join our game!” said Jack enthusiastically while spreading his arms wide. “Well then, by all means, let me be the welcome wagon!” The brute furrowed his brow, a little taken aback by this reaction, but he quickly scowled again and was not amused by Jack’s pleasant demeanor. Jack could tell he was also probably the stupidest Nagrak he had ever met.

“Turn that frown upside down my friend, and don’t feel put out to join our game! Here, I’ll even let you use my card!” said Jack boldly, and produced a card from seemingly nowhere. The brute really scowled at this, but was surprisingly interested in the card, as he had never seen one like it. It was just an ordinary One-Eyed Jack of Spades, but it fascinated the brute. Never dropping his electrified weapon, he peered closer at the strange card.

Book 1 - Part 59:  A Big Brute

Unfortunately, the guards weren’t swayed by Jack’s winning smile and it didn’t help his case that he was now brandishing a weapon that he had so recently used to club senseless one of their number. Even worse, Jack had made the mistake of not hiding the amulet in his pocket immediately after recovering it, and was still obviously holding it in his left hand for the guards to see.

“Shoulda grabbed that blaster, instead of whipping it away,” Jack muttered to himself, regretfully, as the guards once again raised their blasters.

Just as soon as they had raised them, however, they lowered them again. They stood there relaxed, with wry smiles on their faces.

Jack, not understanding their sudden change of heart, but grateful for it nonetheless, said, “Alrighty then, I guess we’re settled. See ya ‘round.” He waved at the guards and turned, smacking face-first into the stomach of the largest Nagrak he had ever seen.

Book 1 - Part 58:  A Big Spill

Six blasters were now pointed at him.

“I guess not,” Jack said, shrugging.

“Drop the rod,” demanded the scowling Nagrak with his blaster pointed straight at Jack’s face.

“With pleasure,” said Jack, and he promptly dropped the rod near one edge of the table. However, he exceeded the grim guard’s orders by also dropping himself, as well. The table’s slim legs buckled and collapsed on that side, the opposite edge of the table flipped up, knocking the blasters out of several of the guards hands, hitting one of them in the jaw, and sending cards, coins, and assorted golden trinkets flying into the air.

The surprised guards (except for one who nursed a bruised jaw) popped up to grab at their scattered winnings. Apparently, the game had been very high-stakes, as the guards completely ignored Jack to quarrel among themselves over whose coins and whose cards were mixed with whose, and several fights broke out among them. With the guards preoccupied, Jack triumphantly held the amulet that he had deftly snatched out of the pile of winnings during his fall. Unfortunately, he was now sprawled upon the lap of a Nagrak whose legs had become trapped under the collapsed table.

Jack gave the scowling guard a big grin and swung his recently re-acquired rod around to simultaneously knock the guard out, and to knock his blaster out of his hands. He scrambled up out of the heap to try and make a break for it while the guards were distracted. Unfortunately, the blaster he had just sent soaring smacked one of them in the back of the head. He and the rest of the guards immediately remembered that Jack was the real cause of their dispute. It didn’t help that Jack had fallen directly onto their main pile of gold.

Book 1 - Part 57:  Deal Me In

A large cloud of green smoke puffed up from the flame, accompanied by a loud “POOF!” noise, startling Jack and winding thickly around him. Jack coughed on the sulfuric green air while waving around his one free hand to disperse it. Once it was dispersed, he discovered why he only had one free hand. The other was holding a long, heavy metallic rod. The cleric had kept his promise! He had returned what Jack had come looking to reclaim! Now where was the amulet? Jack noticed a golden glint and looked down. The eye-amulet was lying on the ground between his feet, amid what appeared to be a pile of golden coins. It looked like the cleric had been faithful to that part of the bargain as well! Jack stooped to pick up his prize, and realized that, as he had feared, there were a few addendums to the cleric’s deal.

Stooping down brought his face directly in line with a high-powered blaster pistol. As the Smoke cleared, Jack realized that he was correct about not actually being in the musty old cathedral; neither was he in the ship’s hold, as he had hoped. Apparently, he was crouching on a small round table in the middle of a group of seated Nagrak soldiers, who themselves were in the middle of a high-stakes card game. The guards seemed none-too-pleased to find an intruder suddenly appear in a puff of sulfuric smoke and interrupt their jollification; especially since he was squatting squarely on a large pile of gold and other trinkets that would go to the winner of the game.