Amalgamation

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FOUR

Bolt gasped for breath. The giant branch which had fallen on his legs had to weigh a ton and he wasn’t sure if his legs had been broken or not. All he knew was that pain in his legs was shooting up into his brain, which he supposed was sign his legs still worked, but that was hardly reassuring. He heard the little girl screaming her head off, while the roar of the flames grew louder and louder with each passing second. The smoke was becoming thicker as well, making his eyes water and making it harder for him to breathe.

Gotta get up, Bolt thought, putting his hands on the ground. The longer I lay here, the more likely that both of us will die. The others won’t be able to save either of us.

Bolt pushed his hands against the ground, but the tree branch was so heavy that even with his super strength, he found the movement almost impossible to complete. It felt like he was trying to do a push up with a thousand pound plate on his back, not helped by the fact that his legs were either broken or severely damaged. He quickly gave up, panting and sweating fiercely as the fire raged all around them.

“Mister, are you okay?” said a voice before him. It was the little girl, who had stopped screaming now and was looking at Bolt with a mixture of fear and worry. “Can you get the tree branch off of you?”

“No,” said Bolt, shaking his head. “Don’t think I can. It weighs a ton and a half and my legs hurt too much.”

“Can I help?” said the little girl. She sniffled.

“Help?” Bolt repeated. “You’re just a little girl. What can you do to help?”

The little girl shrunk back, her eyes wide with terror. “I-I’m sorry. I just wanted to help you get out.”

Bolt sighed. He had scared her by yelling at her, so he said, in a calmer tone of voice, “I’m sorry, but I’m just not sure what good you will do. You’re just a little girl. Little girls aren’t really well-known for pulling off amazing feats of physical strength.”

“I said I would help,” said the little girl. “Here, let me show you.”

The girl walked up to Bolt and rested a small hand on his shoulder. Bolt was about to ask her what she was doing when, without warning, a jolt of energy went through his body. It felt like a caffeine rush, except much stronger than the strongest coffee Bolt had ever drunk. His senses suddenly became stronger and he felt a new strength enter his body, a strength that seemed to come out of nowhere.

With a roar of triumph, Bolt pushed up. This time, he successfully pushed the tree branch off of him, sending it tumbling off his legs and rolling a couple of feet away. Bolt then jumped up to his feet. His legs still hurt like hell, but he had so much energy flowing through him now that he didn’t care.

“Wow, this is amazing,” said Bolt, flexing his hands opened and closed. He looked at the girl. “How did you do that?”

The little girl opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly the flames burst through the tree trunk she hid behind. The little girl shrieked, but Bolt acted quickly. He scooped her up into his arms and then turned and ran through the flames, rushing through, under, and over any and all obstacles in his path. This would have been tricky normally, but with that boost from the little girl still flowing through him, it was almost as easy as running across a wide open field with no obstacles in it at all.

In seconds, Bolt reached Captain Galaxy, Aster, and Hypno, who were all standing roughly where he had left them before. The three of them nearly jumped when Bolt stopped in front of them with the girl in his arms, who was shivering herself, though whether it was with fear at rushing through the flames or excitement, Bolt could not tell.

“Bolt?” said Captain Galaxy in surprise. “You look, um—”

“Alive,” Hypno said, stroking his chin. “Not that you looked dead before, of course, but you seem much more energetic than you were before.”

“I know,” said Bolt. He thrust the girl into Captain Galaxy’s arms. “Take the girl. I’m going to put out this fire before it spreads throughout the rest of the forest.”

“How?” said Aster, looking at the roaring flames with dismay. “You don’t have water powers, do you?”

“No, but I’ve got a plan,” said Bolt. “You guys should probably head back to the main path, however, just to be safe.”

Before anyone could ask Bolt what he planned to do, Bolt shot up into the air. He burst through the treetops and flew until he was directly above the flaming trees, holding a hand in front of his eyes to protect his vision from the light of the flames. Even from up here, the heat of the flames was harsh, making it feel like he was standing in front of a blasting furnace, but he ignored that for now in order to focus on his plan.

He landed with a crash onto the ground not far from the flames and turned around to face them. The flames were burning high, but so far they seemed confined to this one part of the forest, which was good because it would be much easier to handle that way. He activated his super strength and, pulling back his leg, kicked the earth as hard as he could.

The impact of his blow sent tons of earth flying through the air toward the flames. The earth crashed down onto the fire like meteors, immediately putting out a small portion of the flames, but it wasn’t enough to put them out entirely, so Bolt kept kicking the earth, sending chunks of dirt flying through the air. The dirt covered the flames wherever it hit, and within minutes, the fire was put out entirely, leaving nothing but blackened, smoking earth and flora where a raging inferno had been just minutes previously.

Bolt estimated that he had kicked the ground at least 100 times, and it showed. There was a deep crater where he had kicked the earth, but he didn’t feel tired at all. True, his costume was covered in dirt now and his hair was probably even dirtier, but he didn’t care. He just flew up into the air back toward the others, who had indeed retreated back to the path, though not as far back as he would have liked. The three of them looked up at him with a mixture of awe and surprise as he landed before them, dusting off the lower half of his costume with a big grin on his face.

“Did you just put out the fire by kicking dirt on it?” said Aster, his eyes so wide that they looked like they might fall out of his sockets.

Bolt nodded. “Sure. Dirt is an excellent way to put out fire. Dump enough dirt onto fire and you can put it out just as easily as water. I mean, I would have preferred water, but you got to work with what you have.”

“Amazing,” said Hypno in a soft voice. “Director Smith told me you had super strength as one of your powers, but that’s the first time I’ve really seen it in action.”

“Cool!” said the little girl, clapping her hands. “You saved the Forest! Yay!”

Bolt couldn’t help but smile at the little girl’s enthusiasm. “No problem. I could do that all day. Any other fires I need to put out?”

“No,” said the little girl, shaking her head. “That was the only one.”

Captain Galaxy, who seemed to have been stunned into silence by Bolt’s action, shook her head and said, “Well, good job, Bolt. It would never have occurred to me to do that, but then I’m not a superhuman like you.” Then she looked down at the girl in her arms. “But the real question is, who is this girl?”

“Me?” said the girl. She suddenly looked a lot timider now as everyone’s attention turned to her. “Um, can you let me down, please, nice lady? I can stand on my own.”

Captain Galaxy bent over and let the girl down. The little girl then stood up straight, though it wasn’t a very impressive sight due to her shortness.

“Who are you people?” said the little girl, looking up at all of them with curiosity on her face. “I’ve never seen any of you before. You’re not with him, are you?”

“Him?” Bolt repeated after exchanging a puzzled glance with Captain Galaxy. “Wanna be a bit more specific?”

The little girl clutched the hem of her dress and looked down at her feet as if she was afraid someone might see her face. “The Dread God.”

“The Dread God?” Bolt repeated. He knelt down before the girl, putting one hand on his knee. “Is he here? Now?”

The little girl shook her head, still without looking up at them. “No, but his servants are. Or were. They might have left, but I’m not sure because I was hiding from them.”

Bolt exchanged another look with Captain Galaxy, as well as with Hypno and Aster before he looked at the little girl again and said, “Did the Dread God’s servants create that fire?”

The little girl nodded. “Yeah. They came here to destroy the Endless Forest. Said the Dread God wills it. They were scary.”

Why would the Dread God want to destroy the Endless Forest? Bolt thought but did not ask that question aloud, because he didn’t think the girl would know the answer.

Instead, he said, “Where did they go after they started the fire?”

“To the Castle,” said the little girl. “They might still be there. I don’t know.”

“Where is the Spirit?” said Aster, interrupting suddenly. “Do you know where she is?”

The little girl suddenly looked up at Aster, a frown on her face. “The Spirit? Oh, you mean Mommy. She’s dead.”