Beta Stone: Part One The Vessel of Glass 7 of 1

Beta and Nash argues into danger. Beta tells Nash she’s found a stone. A Giant Goat Man injures Beta. Nash and Beta agree they were wrong about something as he bids Beta farewell.

Three years had passed? I was keeping track of the days, and by my calculations we were approaching a year. I did not know what to react to. The fact that I had not found any stones to enhance my powers, or the fact we had been in here for three years!

“How do you know we have been in here for three years?”

“Because the bird monsters only come out every three days.”

“No they come out every day...”

“Dawn is a full day. Afternoon is a full day. Evening is one full day. Bird monsters only come out every three days. We’ve been here for three years. How could you not have noticed that?”

As I was leaving the tent I heard him say “I hope you’re going out to look for stones.” He was the first person outside of my family I hated. He had some nerve speaking to me the way he did. He welcomed himself into my trial, and then judged me. He didn’t know it, but I had been looking for stones. I could not find them. I spent hours as he slept searching in caves, underwater, and behind waterfalls. I climbed trees and dug up soil. There were no stones there. Maybe Atlas forgot to tell me something, because there were no stones there, not in that vessel.

I randomly started to search through the snow. I knew he was watching me, and I had to do something. There I was on my hands and knees fumbling through the snow as if I was looking for a ring of keys I had dropped.

I became distracted by a loud thunderous noise. I looked up and half of the sky was darkened with thousands of bird monsters. They screamed with terror. I was immobilized by the scene. The snow covered ground trembled under me. In the distance I saw a large goat like man monster. He roared with vengeance. The monster birds continued across the sky. I refused to believe that a creature existed in the vessel that made the bird monsters fear for their lives. Nash ran over to me. He order me to fly us out of here. I refused. I told him I found a stone, and now had the powers to defeat any beast. I pushed him back into the tent, and screamed at him to stay inside.

My heart was pounding. I could feel my blood rushing, and my blood pressure rising. I lied to my only friend. And that put us both in more danger. I knew Nash would know how to stop the snow giant, but I was Beta the stone finder. I had powers too. I saw the giant running eagerly. He could smell my pheromones. I ran towards the snow giant with courage. He camouflage well into the snowy haze. I could not fly, but I could feel him. I continued to run full speed. The snow giant recognized my powers and stopped. His abrupt halt flung snow into the air like and avalanche onto my head knocking me under the snow. I fought my way from under the snow. I stood to my feet. The word giant was not enough to describe the specimen that stood before me. He was in human form with goat horns and hooves, saber tooth teeth, his skin was speckled and thick. And his eyes were green with envy.

“I heard rumors a stone finder had entered my vessel,” he said grunting.

“You heard correctly.” I charged towards the giant hoping my senses would create a plan. He kick snow at me burying me alive. He kept kicking snow on top of me. I was confused. I could not distinguish if I was digging my way out or digging deeper into the snow. My breaths were short, and every corner of my body was filled with snow. My nose, ears, mouth, even my eyes were press so tightly against the snow they were not able to open. I was compressed into a snowy grave. Before my body entered hyper-sleep mode. The giant reached down, and grabbed me by my torso lifting me into his vision.

“You will never have my heart,” he said as he squeezed the human fluid out of me. The pain was unmatched. I could feel my spinal cord separating. The giant goat man roared. He threw his hands into the air and released me. He tossed me like a flag into the air. As I was falling I saw a monster bird coming towards me through the snow. I knew I was going to be an easy catch. A familiar hand reached down from the top of the bird, and smoothly laid me upon the snow. It was Nash. As usual he did not listen to me. He captured a baby bird monster, and followed me. He kept apologizing, but this was not his fault. I tried to speak to comfort him, but it was too painful to speak. He held my head up, and said “my time here is coming to an end.” I did not understand what he was saying. We always thought, because we entered this vessel together, we would exit together. He continued with tears in his eyes “we were wrong. I thought we would finish this vessel together. But I was wrong. My tribulation is complete. I’m sorry.” I watched as Nash vanished into the cold snowy air. The same way I met him, he left. Right in front of my eyes, he disappeared into nothing. It was as if I never shared the vessel with anyone.

The transparent walls of the vessel transitioned to its original glass appearance. Nash was stronger now. He blasted the double seal off the door to exit. Atlas was there waiting on him. Nash demanded to be sent back. He told Atlas the injuries I had sustained. Atlas denied Nash’s request.

“She is going to die!” said Nash.

“Her fate is not your fate.”

“We were a team in there. Nothing has changed.”

Atlas called for the guards to take Nash to the medical ward for treatment.