Chapter 32: Breaking the Silence

  Marcus stood silently in front of the smashed beetle and slowly his body started to cool down. Every part of his body hurt, he had broken many bones and cracked even more, muscles had ripped and blood was dripping on the ground. But Marcus was not worried, his vitality would keep him alive, he would heal. Right now his head was empty and he was able to breath freely again.

  “Marcus?” Achara’s voice reached him and he turned. The rest of the team was several meter behind him, watching him with large eyes. “Are you okay Marcus?” Kou slowly moved closer as if he was trying to approach a large animal. Marcus nodded but somehow now he started to feel dizzy. Ms. Russell quickly moved to him and Kou helped him to sit down. The priest checked his status while Kou looked him into the eyes. “What was that?” Marcus listened inside of himself. “I don’t know, something that wanted out. It is gone now, I feel better.” he said and Mason laughed. “Awesome, that is what that was. I have seen a lot of people go HAM but nobody so hard and survive it. Dear lord you trashed that thing before we could even do anything about it.”

  “How bad is it?” Kou asked the priestess. “Nothing serious, at least nothing his ridiculous vitality can’t handle. Most is superficial, and minor broken bones. He will heal by himself.” She said and moved away. Marcus watched her and knew she was angry with him but this had to happen.

  Somehow this was needed, HE needed this, to break through a blockade in his mind. “Is this going to happen again?” Kou asked and looked very worried. “No, I don’t think so. But it definitely has changed something. Don’t know what yet.” He said truthfully and felt very tired. They brought him to his tent, helped him with his armor and then he slept like a dead man. Even when another green beetle showed up, later that night, Marcus did not wake up as the rest of the team took it down.

  The next day he woke up in his tent and already felt much better. Not only his body but his head felt clear and focused. He had slept for over twelve hours and he was hungry like a bear. But first he spent two crests into vitality, two levels from that monster seemed a fair reward, Marcus thought. He left the tent wearing his civilian cloths and looked for food.

  The news of the battle had spread in the camp and people were looking at him with curious eyes. Marcus found food, and company. “Marcus I’m very worried if you need help that please tell me.” Kou was next to him while Marcus shoved a large piece of bread into his mouth. “A lot of things came together but I’m better now, I swear. Look.” He gave him a big smile and a pad on the back. “I know you worry I will go nuts and do something stupid but that won’t happen. I’m good, no I’m better than before.” Marcus said and continued to devour large amounts of food.

  “To be honest you going nuts might have saved our asses. If we had fought that thing the normal way we might had ended with several wounded, or dead. By the way, there was another, a green one, but we took it out no problem.” Kou seemed to have calmed down too. “But I would never have though you would go full Rambo.” Kou laughed but Marcus did not understand “Rambo? What is that?”. Kou looked like his heart was about to give out. “You wound me sir. How can you not know Rambo. Did you grow up in a white void?” His dramatic performance was hilarious. “This can not stand! I will teach you all about true manhood, tonight in my tent.” Both laughed until they realized Achara stood behind them with an open mouth.

  The rest of the expedition went without major problems. Somebody fell into a hole, another broke an arm and the volcano rumbled a few more times. Marcus was back in the middle of the group and did make up with Ms. Russell who was angry about him ruining his body so thoughtlessly. After a talk about his reasons she seemed happy enough he would not lose his mind again. The corpses of the bugs were sold off and large transports showed up to take them away. Marcus watched the process with the joy of a young boy and also took a good look at the guards of the transport. Three class holder, level 40 to 50 Marcus guessed, made sure nothing went wrong. They looked tough and each of them could have taken down the brown bug alone, at least Marcus thought so.

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  When the expedition finally left the dig site, Marcus felt a strange melancholy. He was not sure when he would be able to step on another planet in the future. Still, the moment they went through the portal and returned to Earth was celebrated by everyone, including Marcus. Since the “incident” Marcus felt lighter around the heart. He had a nebulous feeling that he had changed in some way but he could not put his finger on it. They returned to their building and they got their final payment. Together with all the bonuses he was now sitting on over 500k dollar. That felt unreal.

  When the time came to disband the group they exchanged numbers and contact information. Even Mason, who played hard to get, took part. Marcus watched as the others moved out and wondered if this was how things would go in the future. You meet people a short while and then they leave your life again. He felt a strong longing to return to Finland base and the people he knew.

  But before returning to Finland Marcus wanted to do something and decided to stay a few days longer. He paid for the room in the dorm and then got to work. In the local stores he got himself some special equipment and he created a new social media account PunchHarder2. Marcus had decide to tell the world what he knew about the Fighter. His ideas, thoughts and strategies. He would not talk about the alien artifact of course. Marcus had never made a video or presentation before but he copied from the best and then tried to work out a script.

  He made a 30 minute video titled “Fighter, all the basics.” and it took him two full days. Clicking the upload button took him another hour but in the end he went through with it. The video was shared on several platforms and automatically linked and tagged. Then Marcus leaned back and closed his laptop and swore not to look at it again for at least a week. He did not expect a lot of interest in it but at least he had done his duty to the other Fighters.

  He packed his belongings and walked out on the sun filled street. Marcus used his phone to check for flights and plan his journey. Two men with a surf board and a ball nearly ran into him and for a moment Marcus was confused until he remembered that he was on a tropical island. He looked after the men for a while then he put his stuff back into his room and walked towards the beach. He was on a tropical island and he had forgotten about it. Marcus needed a break.

  It was late afternoon and Marcus sat down in the soft sand and buried his toes in it. He had nothing to do and just watched people coming and going and listened to the sound of the ocean. After a while two young women in bikinis talked him up. Marcus enjoyed the small talk and the view. There was lots to see and very little cloths hiding it. The girls moved on with a vague “Maybe we see each other on the happy mile.” and Marcus watched them leave still enjoying the sight a lot.

  The sun slowly moved towards the horizon but Marcus felt no drive to leave his little spot as another woman walked up to him. “Marcus.” Ms Russell greeted him with a warm smile. She had a wide hat and wore a long red skirt and a white blouse. She carefully sat down next to the large Marcus “I did not expect you still being here.” She said and Marcus explained he decided to have a day off. They talked about the last days and the dangers of the expedition. Eventually the topic shifted towards the future.

  “I will go back to my team. There are people I miss and then… I don’t know yet. Maybe taking a real break would be good. After that, I have a few ideas but I want to talk with somebody about that first.” Marcus talked and the old woman listened with a faint smile. “What are you going to do?” Marcus said feeling he was only talking about himself.

  “Well, I think I will return home and then find rest.” She said without much fuzz. Marcus looked at her and needed a second to understand what she meant. “Are you ill?” she denied it. “Then why? As a class holder you can easily live for 20 no 30 year more years. And if you gain more levels you might actually start to recover and become younger again.” Marcus was suddenly upset.

  She smiled and padded his arm. “It is all okay Marcus. Do not worry.” But Marcus felt not okay. Ms. Russell was a very nice woman and a capable priest, he liked her and respected her. She saw his distress and shook her head. “My husband died two years ago Marcus. There is very little in this world left for me.” she said and Marcus wanted to say something but no words came out.

  She looked down the beach and for a while they both said nothing. “There were a few things I wanted to experience and see. The last was to walk on a different planet and see another sun. And I have done that now” She laughed as she saw Marcus’ look. “Please don’t worry about me. You are far too young to understand this and you have not yet met the one person who means the world to you. You will understand later.” Marcus looked at her and no intelligent answer came to him. Just sadness swirled inside of him.

  They spent more time sitting on the beach talking about nice things and then they parted ways. He watched her leave, walking over the beach at sun set, and his heart grew heavy. Marcus wanted to go home.