Amalgamation

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

Bursting through the treetops, Bolt stopped in midair, floating in the sky as he blinked several times, his eyes adjusting from the change in lighting. The forest below was quite dark due to how thick the tree cover was, while the sun above the trees was bright and beautiful. The contrast was almost too much for Bolt, but eventually, his eyes adjusted, allowing him to see exactly where he and his friends were.

Below him, the Endless Forest—which was what Captain Galaxy called this place—stretched on, seemingly forever, in every direction. Massive tree after massive tree, which looked like a combination of oaks, cedars, and coconut trees, stood in tight formations, their leaves forming a sea of green that looked every bit as intimidating as the ocean itself. Bolt half-expected to see a shark fin slicing through the treetops, but of course, he saw nothing of the sort. He didn’t even see any birds, which seemed odd, though Aster had warned him that they wouldn’t likely see much life out here.

But Bolt did see their destination: A massive castle, rising from the center of the forest. It looked indescribably ancient and well-kept, which was a clue that the castle was still inhabited. Bolt couldn’t imagine the kind of upkeep that such a massive structure would require. He thought it would take the entire Hero Island Janitorial Team just to keep it presentable, and even that would require hiring a whole squad of extra workers.

Another thing Bolt noticed was a massive cliff in the other direction, but Bolt didn’t care about that. After taking in a deep breath of fresh air, Bolt descended back into the trees, their soft leaves rubbing against his suit on his way down. He had to be careful as he descended, because these trees had multiple large branches sticking out in every direction, but soon Bolt reached the ground again.

As soon as Bolt touched ground, Captain Galaxy, who stood with Aster and Hypno not far away, walked up to him and said, “Well? Did you see it?”

Bolt nodded. He pointed north. “Yeah, I saw it. The Castle of Dimensions or whatever. Looked pretty big.”

Aster sighed in relief. He wore his usual blue-and-yellow IEA uniform, but also had a thick helmet on his head now, along with some kind of energy blade that was currently off. Aster had used the energy blade to cut through the flora of the forest after they arrived, but Bolt had a feeling the blade would be useful for more than just cutting tree branches.

“Good,” said Aster. “That means she wants to be found. Usually, whenever any IEA agent goes here, the Castle is gone. Maybe she’s willing to help us find the Starborn after all.”

Bolt frowned. “So that castle can hide itself? How? It’s even bigger than the Tower of Heroes. How can a castle that big hide itself?”

“We don’t know how it works, either,” said Captain Galaxy, shaking her head. “We only know that it does and that none of our technology is advanced enough to find it whenever it hides. We suspect that she teleports it to another dimension whenever we show up, but we’re not sure.”

“That’s a novel way to avoid someone you don’t want to talk to,” said Hypno, scratching his chin. “Simply teleport your house into another dimension entirely and then come back when the person you dislike leaves. That would have been helpful when I was dealing with my crazy ex a few years back.”

“Well, it’s a good sign regardless,” said Aster. He drew his energy blade from his side and turned it on, causing the white-hot energy blade to explode into existence. “Let’s keep going and get there before she changes her mind and decides she doesn’t want to talk to us.”

Aster resumed their trek through the forest, hacking and slashing through the undergrowth with experienced ease. Captain Galaxy and Hypno followed and then Bolt took up the rear. Although it was unlikely that anyone would follow them here, it was agreed that Bolt should stay in the back of their group to provide defense against possible ambushes. So far, they hadn’t run into anyone, hostile or friendly, but it was better to be safe than sorry. At least, that was what Aster had said, which surprised Bolt because he would never have taken Aster as a cautious type.

Maybe becoming the new Agency Chief has made him more responsible, Bolt thought, glancing at the back of Aster’s helmet as they walked. Kind of like when I became the leader of the Young Neos. Guess leadership means you can’t just do whatever you want without risking the lives of your subordinates.

Bolt looked around the massive forest as they walked. He was never much of a nature guy like his friend Treehugger, but even he had to admit to having his breath taken away by these massive trees. Even someone as ignorant about nature as him could tell that these trees were older than anything else he had seen, maybe as old as the Dread God, though he had a feeling they predated even him.

Maybe I’ll come back here someday to see more of this place, Bolt thought. This would make a great place to take Blizzard out on a date. She’s always loved nature walks and you can’t get more natural than this.

But Bolt shook his head and refocused his attention on his surroundings. Although the Endless Forest was supposedly devoid of sentient life, Bolt knew from experience that letting your attention wander when traveling in a new and unfamiliar was always a recipe for disaster. His fingertips crackled with red electricity as his eyes darted around, keeping a close eye for any suspicious movements in the trees above or around them.

Despite that, Bolt’s thoughts wandered back to the reason they had come here in the first place.

According to Chief Aster, this place was called the Endless Forest. It was some kind of interdimensional hub, where portals appeared between the trees, linking the different universes together. It was so-called because the Forest, as far as anyone knew, stretched on forever and ever in every direction. It was in some ways a physical representation of the multiverse itself, a massive, infinite sprawl that no one could ever even hope to explore in its entirety even if they lived forever.

But they weren’t here to admire the scenery or study the mystical properties of the Endless Forest itself. No, they were here to meet the Forest’s sole inhabitant: A being who Aster referred to as the Spirit of the Woods.

The Spirit of the Woods was supposedly the ruler and protector of this realm. Her true nature and origins were a mystery even to the IEA, but what was known was that she was very powerful and knowledgeable about the multiverse. Some sources even suggested that she was literally omniscient, aware of everything going on in every universe at every time. She never acted on this knowledge, though, or ever did anything other than occasionally guide travelers who somehow ended up in her forest back to their homes.

Aster claimed that if anyone knew where the Starborn were, then it would have to be the Spirit. That made sense to Bolt, because if the Spirit was omniscient, then she logically should know the location of literally everything in the multiverse.

Even the Dread God, Bolt thought. Perhaps we can ask her where he is, too, once we find her. That would be helpful.

The only problem was, apparently, that the Spirit and the IEA were not on particularly good terms. Bolt had pressed Aster for details, but Aster had been very reluctant to explain what they had done to piss off the Spirit. Captain Galaxy wasn’t any more willing to speak of it than Aster, only to say that relations had soured before she joined the Agency and that was about all she really knew about it, though Bolt knew that she was only refusing to give him any details because she was following Aster’s lead.

The only thing Bolt knew for sure was that whatever the IEA did hadn’t been bad enough to make the Spirit want to kill them all if they showed up in her realm. Instead, the Spirit usually hid her castle anytime someone from the IEA showed up so she could avoid talking to them. It had been decades since anyone from the IEA had spoken to the Spirit, which was part of the reason why the files on her were so sparse.

One thing they did know, however, was that the Spirit was generally benevolent and that she would most likely be willing to help them if they told her about the Dread God. It was highly probable that the Spirit already knew about the Dread God and his resurrection, but the Spirit did not seem to have acted against him yet. Why that was, no one knew, but it didn’t matter. As long as the Spirit was willing to tell them where the Starborn were, Bolt figured they would be okay.

Hope this works, Bolt thought. Because if it doesn’t, then we’ll have to depend on Beams and the others to find the God Slayer. And if they can’t do that … well, we’ll figure something out, I’m sure.

“Does anyone besides me smell smoke?” said Hypno, coming to a stop suddenly.

Aster stopped and looked over his shoulder at Hypno. “Oh, you’re probably just smelling the smoke from my energy blade cutting through the trees. It’s nothing to worry about.”

“No, it’s something much stronger than that,” Hypno insisted. “Can you smell it? It’s very close.”

Bolt raised his nose to the air and sniffed. Hot smoke entered his nostrils and he grimaced. “Hypno’s right. There must be a fire nearby or something.”

“A fire?” said Captain Galaxy with a frown. “Here? Are you sure?”

“Why would the Spirit start a fire in her own forest?” said Aster. “It must be something else.”

“No, I’m pretty sure it’s a fire,” said Hypno. He walked off their beaten path into the bushes off to the side. “It’s coming from over here. It’s very strong.”

Bolt walked after Hypno and Captain Galaxy and Aster followed, but they didn’t go very far before they emerged from the trees into a small clearing and saw a sight none of them would ever forget.

A massive fire was burning through the trees eating through the roots and burning up the grass. As they watched, one of the massive trees suddenly creaked and then fell over backward, causing a small tremor to shake the ground, while one of the massive branches of another nearby tree burnt off. Huge flames crawled up the trunks of several trees, while one tree was nothing but a pillar of burning flame, all of its leaves burned off and its bark blackened as dark as midnight.

Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, forcing Bolt to cover his mouth and nose to avoid inhaling it in.

“What the hell?” said Captain Galaxy, staring with disbelief at the massive forest fire raging before them. “Where did this come from? Bolt, did you see it when you were flying earlier?”

Bolt shook his head. “No, I didn’t see any smoke or flames at all. Of course, I wasn’t up there very long, but it’s still weird how I missed this.”

“Doesn’t matter,” said Aster. His expression was set in a grim frown. “Forest fires never happen here. The Spirit would never allow it.”

“Has something happened to her?” said Captain Galaxy worryingly. “If this massive fire is raging and the Spirit is nowhere to be seen, then doesn’t that mean she might be in trouble?”

“I don’t know about the Spirit, but I do know that she’s in trouble,” said Hypno, pointing into the fire. “Look!”

Bolt squinted and saw that Hypno was right. A scared little girl who couldn’t have been older than six was crouched underneath the trunk of a dead tree, her arms wrapped around her knees and tears streaming down her eyes and snot leaking out of her nostrils. Her hair was a bright green, even in the light of the burning trees, and she seemed to be crying. The trunk was holding up against the flames, but Bolt could tell that it wouldn’t hold up much longer and once it did, it would fall on and crush her.

“A girl?” said Aster in disbelief. “What’s a girl doing here? Where are her parents?”

“Does it matter?” said Bolt. “If we don’t step in and save her quickly, she’ll die.”

“But the flames are too hot for us to approach,” said Captain Galaxy, gesturing at the massive flames tearing across the clearing. “We’ll get burned to a crisp.”

Bolt’s hands balled into fists. “You guys might, but my costume is fireproof. I’ll run in and out before the fire even touches me. You guys just stay here and, if I can’t outrun the fire, just keep going to the Castle. We need to find the Starborn no matter what.”

Before any of them could stop him, Bolt rushed into the flames. The fire bit at his feet as he ran, the heat scorching his exposed skin, but Bolt ignored it as he ran at super speed directly toward the girl. He dodged a falling branch that was on fire and leaped through a gap in the flames before landing on the ground and rushing toward the girl again.

Stopping in front of the girl, Bolt knelt down in front of her and said, “Hey, kid, it’s going to be okay. I’m here to save you. Just take my hand and I’ll get you to safety.”

But the girl, apparently startled by his appearance, backed up against the tree trunk’s wall. Her eyes were huge and round, tears rushing out of them, and that was when Bolt noticed an odd tree-like tattoo under her left eye. It looked very professionally done, to the point where Bolt almost mistook it for a natural birthmark. But the colors and design gave it away as artificial, which made Bolt wonder where she had gotten it.

Pushing that thought out of his mind for the moment, Bolt held out a hand and said, “Come on. I’m not going to hurt you. I know you’re scared, but—”

A crack like lightning made Bolt look up and see a massive branch falling toward him. Before he could dodge, the branch fell on him with a loud crash, pinning him underneath its weight.