The Wild Lands: Legend of the Wild Man Read Online Free

only dabs of almost
washed off eye liner besmirched his face. He didn’t even have on a
custom habiliment. He wore the standard, loose fitting, silver one,
like everyone else in the Spire. Urea had never seen him so under
dressed. She had scoffed at Ntelo’s appearance, but seeing Rufus
Aurelius so unkempt set her on edge.
    Beside him was Tennay, the engineer who
managed the electromagnetic transformers that kept Spire City
running and safe from the Scourge. His head was hairless as the
rest, though darker, olive colored like Jacob’s, and more wrinkled.
His back was stooped and his gnarled knuckles clasped a cane, an
ornate artifact from the surface. It was made of ivory he claimed,
elephant tusks. It would look less fine in hands paler than his. He
was the oldest citizen in Spire City. He claimed to have seen the
Scourge released. Urea rarely saw him at these meetings, an odd
sign he was here. Losing this elk was more important to Baucis than
she had realized.
    At the far end of the table sat young Phoebe.
She was barely ten, (and proud of it), a beautiful skinny little
girl. She had a smile too big for her face, a nose too small and
big doughy eyes. Most striking was her sparkling hair. It was as
black and thick as Urea's, but it shone like biselk antlers
when the light struck it. Under the ancient chandelier it sparkled
a thousand shades of dark purples, greens and navy blues. Not a
soul in the Spire had hair like Phoebe's. She risked Baucis’s wrath
and waived at Urea.
    Seeing Phoebe gave Urea the confidence she
didn’t realize she’d been looking for.
    “I told you, I dreamt it.”
    “Do you mind if we delay the dream
interpretation for your next congregation Councilor Ntelo? There
are more pressing matters at hand,” Rufus interjected.
    “Indeed. Something down there's using tools!
Just think of it!” Tennay said, his voice was a low purr, like a
very old, well cared for engine.
    “What are you talking about?” Urea asked.
    Baucis snapped his finger and just like that,
Urea was the elk, running through thick woods she had never seen.
She didn't like how the Master Ecologist could override her own VRC
so easily, but the footage commanded her attention. Something was
chasing her, as the elk. It was not like her dream. It was not a panthera , the patterns it moved in were different. The
predator stayed completely hidden. Jacob swore he had seen it at
the beginning of the chase, but had not been storing the data.
    He had been infiltrating a wild herd of elk
and was working to introduce fresh genetics, loaded with the
bio-metals. Interbreeding in the garden caused occasional birth
defects to arise, a simple solution was to incorporate the wild
animals that lived in the nearby plains. Jacob had impregnated wild
elk dozens of times, it was a routine procedure. There Jacob was,
or rather, there was the biselk he had been controlling,
when he claimed to see it. A beast that ran on two legs and threw
weapons attacked the herd. He maimed Jacob's elk, and in a moment
of abject terror, Jacob lost control and the elk ran. He regained
control late in the race, after hours of feeling the elk's terror
in his own mind. Urea wouldn't have believed it if not for the last
few minutes of footage. Fortunately Jacob was able to synchronize
and record the final pursuit.
    It-- he in Jacob's words-- threw a
blade from the dark of the woods. All that could be seen was a pair
of red glowing eyes, floating well over two yards off of the
ground, and the hand that threw the blade. The hand changed
everything Urea thought she knew. It had five fingers, an opposable
thumb, was huge, hairy, and deadly. It should not exist.
    Jacob managed to parry the flying blade, then
charged at the predator, whatever it was, but it had vanished from
sight. The elk stumbled and Urea guessed that the predator had
landed on its back. Then, barely a minute later, the elk careened
into a tree, and the feed went dead. Urea opened her eyes. The
entire room was