F-Rank Frank: Chapter 6 (Patreon)

Chapter 6

Frank’s body moved on its own, the moment the giant serpent turned its gaze away, Frank found himself inside the tunnels.

He didn’t even feel the movement, as his eyes never strayed away from his target, the snake. He always kept his head forward, while his body moved seemingly on autopilot, low crawling backwards with such speed that he even amazed himself. His feet crested the lip of the vent and then he was down, his body lowering, feeling somehow protected by just the inch of metal lining that now protected him.

Thump.

The minute his foot landed, he heard it, the distinct sound of something touching thin pieces of metal and causing a slight groan to be released.

Panic.

As soon as he made the sound his whole body tensed. This was good, as the serpent that had been moving forward lazily suddenly came to a complete stop.

Seconds passed, but to Frank’s mind this was an eternity. Everything was happening in slow motion. First his movement away, then how long the sound erupted from such a simple measure of him moving his foot. Then the slow way the serpent seemed to hover in the air, before turning to face Frank.

Badump, badump, badump.

The serpent turned to face Frank, and for a second it was as if their eyes locked and Frank could see the soul of the giant monster before him. A monster who was able to raise its head easily ten feet off the ground, or more than double Frank’s current height. Frank paused, his mind doing simple math that told him that the snake could only raise one third of its body from the ground, meaning that the rest of the snake had to be well over twenty feet long, and have a mouth that could easily swallow his body whole without even needing to unhinge its massive jaws.

As he stared the eyes were a deep dark green, a green that seemed to speak to Frank on some primordial level.

Like calls to like.

The old proverb rang out in his mind. At the moment he couldn’t remember what green meant, as his mind was filled with panic. History lessons on the different colors and abilities of powers would come later. For now, he needed to move.

Flicker.

The snake sent out its massive black tongue that also seemed to glow with a long green spine that ran down the center of the violently waving appendage.

There was a pause, and then Frank felt more than saw the moment that everything changed. His eyes caught the faintest glistening of coiling muscles, he saw the way the serpent’s body turned slightly, taking on a more direct course for Frank and his escape path.

Panicking, Frank turned, and began running away, his feet stomping wildly in the metal container, causing echoes of his steps to bounce around wildly. If the serpent and every other monster that lived in the old ventilation system were not aware of his movements before, then they definitely were now.

Thump, thump, thump.

His feet banged and echoed around.

Crash!

Instinctively, Frank automatically knew what the crashing sound was. That was the sound of the serpent crashing into the seemingly smaller opening than the snake was wide.

Rumble.

What Frank had not been prepared for was the sudden jarring burst of energy that shot forward, forcing Frank to fall to the ground. Gathering himself, he got up to his feet, and then looked back to see the serpent.

As he did, he saw the face of the serpent covered with dozens of motes of energy, as if they were little prickly briars that would attach themselves to your skin if you went into the unclaimed fields. Or the fields that had long since been abandoned by society.

Looking back, he suddenly understood how a path had been cleared from all the motes of energy, as the giant serpent seemed to attract them at an alarming rate.

Out of the corner of his yes, he saw that his own body was covered in no less than a dozen or so motes of energy as well. He remembered the way they were attracted to him earlier, but then discarded that train of thought as his instincts to run took over.

Rising to his feet, he quickly turned right, running down the first corridor that he found, hoping that the giant serpent was too large for the pipes that even Frank had to semi-crouch down to run through properly. That or he was hoping that he would be able to easily find his way out. Next right.

Rumple, rumple.

The snake moved violently through the metal vents, and as it moved, it sent shockwaves that shook the entire structure.

GROOANNN!

The metal supports groaned in only the way that metal could, that long metallic screech that metal was being forced past its optimal range of support and movement.

Next right.

That was now three straight rights, to where Frank would either cut through, finding the tail of the serpent, hopefully allowing him to double-back.

Slither, slither.

Yet, as he got close, he saw the giant undulating form of the snake at its largest moving and rippling its way through the metal area.

Panic began to grip him, as he realized he made a mistake, having apparently missed the turn off, as he now realized he wanted the second right for the last turn, not the first right.

This meant that he both felt the rumbling of the serpent as it drew closer, but he was also close enough to see the glowing green light of the serpent’s eyes and tongue as it came flickering out.

The serpent paused, tasting the air for a moment.

Frank saw in the corner a small alcove, maybe big enough for him to set foot in and hide.

Idly he wondered why such a place even existed, then to his confusion saw a metal rod hanging on the wall.

His mind instantly understood the purpose of the alcove, as it was a maintenance area. Though he didn’t know what the old tool was for, he was glad to have something, that he could use to defend himself.

Thump, thump.

He tried to grab the rod from the wall but found that it was fastened tightly to the wall.

Vibration.

However his efforts to grab the rod did not go unnoticed, as he could feel the serpent coming down the last pathway he had gone.

Flicker.

A glowing green tongue flicked out shining on the walls and surrounding area.

Groan.

At that moment, he finally managed to rip the long metal rod clear of the wall. At that point a lot of things happened all at once.

First, a tear began to form right where the metal rod had been in contact with the wall. While the rod itself had not touched the wall, the metal coils that were now easily sliding off the rod had been fastened to the walls. When Frank managed to rip the rod away from the walls, he inadvertently created two tears in the wall that began to buckle. While the rod being removed normally wouldn’t have been too much for the older products to bear, the added weight of the giant serpent caused the tears to begin spreading at an alarming rate.

Hiss.

Simultaneously, the serpent became alive seeing Frank suddenly stumble right in front of it. On instincts more than anything, Frank saw the serpent begin to race forward at him. Moving with reflexes and movements that would have been impossible just days ago, Frank stumbled back, stopping his backwards momentum by landing in the far wall. At which point he, seeing the serpent making a lunge forward where it eyes glowed with a green milky hue as it moved to strike. Frank leaning back, kicked off the wall and jumped over the opening maw of the beast.

He also found his upward momentum helped by the fact that he had the pole to press up and off with, using it to help him get his body up and nearly parallel to the top of the ventilation system.

Chomp.

The serpent, unaware of its location, or maybe not stopping until it chomped down on the item it had wanted, lunged forward and under Frank. Lunging forward and biting into its long undulating body that had cut off Frank’s own escape path.

Bucking wildly.

At that, Frank felt his arms give out as he dropped onto the head of the serpent. At which point the serpent began violently ripping into its dense scales, with its oversized teeth, and tearing deep gashes in the skin. Gashes that clearly caused the creature to writhe in pain, as vibrant green energy met a deep black energy that glowed to Frank’s enhanced sights.

Wham, bam, thump.

Unfortunately, Frank didn’t have much time to react or notice everything as the snake’s bucking caused two things to happen simultaneously. First Frank was forcefully thrashed against the top of the shaft, and the second thing was that the already groaning metal of the ventilation shaft cracked open and began to tear and rip itself apart under the relentless thrashing.

The tear began first in the wall rift that had appeared where Frank removed the metal pole. This caused Frank to roll right, over the head of the monster that was just now realizing that it had bit itself and that the container it was crawling around in was now being torn apart.

Looking around, Frank saw that the small enclave was lit up like a holiday festival tree at the center of town. That gave Frank more than enough light to see the still protruding pole from the ground and reach over to grab it as quickly as possible.

The serpent trying to back up, found that its body was stuck, realizing that it couldn’t move backwards due to it spiraling inward on itself. If given enough time Frank was certain that he might be able to make his way out of here, crawling along the back and undulating muscles of the beast. Another thought also filled his mind, in that the serpent if given enough time might also be able to work his way free of this situation as well.

Unfortunately, neither of them had enough time to react to the predicament that they now found themselves in, as the tear that began to spread throughout the ventilation shaft ripped quickly.

Frank held onto the long metal pole, hoping to use it as a brace to block his descent, while the serpent’s head was the first part to begin to slide gracelessly out of the ever widening shaft.

THUMP!

Frank fell, before he even realized what was happening. Fortunately, he had a death grip on the metal pole that had served as his only form of a weapon in this whole ordeal. Now the long thin metal pole served as the only component that kept him from falling to his death.

Frank watched, his body swinging from the metal pole as the snake slowly slide further and further down the opened slot and towards the bottom that seemed so far away.

At this moment, Frank realized the problem with having a vision based Talent, and that was the fact that he could see an exceptionally long way away. He saw the way the long serpent that had been glowing with power slowly descended and vanished a few hundred feet away from view. More frightening was the way that the serpent seemed to just disappear into nothingness.

In his mind, Frank knew that there was a limit to his ability, that after the point where his powers would no longer work, all he would see was darkness. Yet, that did nothing to assuage the fear that now began to build within him.

Fear that, he slowly began to let go as more and more of the long serpent began to flow past him, until finally the serpent went at a critical speed. Frank watched as the body of the serpent slowly began to shrink, going from the size of a doorway, to that of a window, then finally to the size of his body in prone form, then he noticed the snake’s tail whipping about violently, desperately searching for purchase on anything.

Thwack!

That was when the tail lashed out, catching Frank, forcing the wind to be expelled from his lungs. He could swear that he felt his ribs crack from the impact, then worst of all, he felt his body slide sideways. One second he was dangling on the metal bar with his entire body dangling wildly. Then the next, he desperately clung to the bar, his only chance at surviving this ordeal.

Then he missed the moment when the bar either turned just enough, or the broken metal gave way just enough to let the bar through. In either case, the result was the same, Frank felt his body do a half turn, as his body was momentarily weightless. The near exhausting fatigue he had been feeling in his arms, fatigue that only now made themselves known began to flare up.

Frank felt his body turning the green motes of energy he had absorbed earlier getting pulled directly into his body. He could feel his body going about the regeneration process of trying to selfheal through cultivation, when gravity took him and caused hi to fall downward.

Whoosh!

The air howled into his ears as he began to feel his body fall.

His body felt colder, the faster he began to descend. Then he noticed it, glowing motes of energy began to appear far in the distance. Seeing the golden lights randomly appearing through the darkness, his mind was reminded of old stories about people who used to live their entire lives on the surface. There he remembered past stories where people looked up to the stars, which appeared to be like bright shining lights that twinkled in the darkness of night.

What night was, Frank didn’t know, as that was still a concept he had a hard time understanding. Just as he had a hard time understanding what the sun was.

These were the lights on the distant walls that slowly seemed to grow and increase with regularity. While there were plenty of dark patches in between, the rate of energy slowly began to increase. In his mind, Frank took this as a sign that he was getting closer to the inevitable bottom.

Looking down at the glowing lights, Frank felt two things.

First, Frank felt alive.

He knew adrenaline was pumping through his body. He knew his body was releasing endorphins and other cultivation chemicals that made the thrill and exhilaration of being near death worthwhile. He felt all of these emotions and more.

Then the second thing he felt was the inevitability of death.

“Immortality is a myth.” Frank muttered to himself, as he began falling faster and faster towards his death.

With that realization in his mind, Frank couldn’t help but let a smile come to his lips. He going to die, of that he was certain. There was no way he could fall from such a great height without taking sever internal injuries. Even with his body already working with the healing energy that he had amassed throughout the day, his body was still weak, still recovering.

Yet, rather than feeling dread, Frank felt alive.

Thud.

The snake crashed below him, at least that is what Frank attributed as creating such a loud sound. Realizing that the snake had been falling a lot longer than he had, he felt fairly confident that his crash and subsequent death would follow shortly.

Realizing he had nothing else to lose, he gave in to the sensation, to the overwhelming fear, to the overwhelming adrenaline that told him that he was nearing death and how his mind was doing everything within its power to slow down the perception of time, in order to give him a chance at surviving.

Yet, rather than giving into fear, Frank took it a different way.

“AHHHOOOOO-IIIIEEEE!”

He cried out, embracing his last moments at life.

The further he fell, the more lights he began to see. He could also hear the echoing of his cry of defiance at death bouncing around the caves below and echoing back up to him.

Hearing his own cry, he let a smile fill his lips as he let out yet another cry of freedom.

“AHHHAHHHHAA!”

Once again, his voice echoed, but this time, there was an extra sound.

Hissss.

There just below the rumbling of his cry, he heard it, a sound that caused his heart to beat in panic.

Then he saw it, movement.

A bright green blur was making its way through the dark fog that seemed to permeate the edge of his sight.

Seeing the new source of energy, Frank didn’t quite know what was happening. In his mind he had many different thoughts, everything from a giant pool of water covered in algae, to many different thoughts.

Grip.

At this point, Frank remembered the rod, a rod that had been seemingly welded into his hand by a mixture of fear, adrenaline, and forgetfulness that it was there at all.

That is when his body moved on its own, first he grabbed the pole with both hands, then angled the tip downward.

Downward at the quickly rising mass of glowing green and black energy.

Time was slowed, or maybe time never sped up after the initial release of endorphins. In either case, Frank saw his death, somehow the giant serpent had survived falling from this great height. Not only that, but the serpent was now rising up, mouth opened wide as it attempted to swallow Frank whole.

Grinning maniacally at how absurd the whole situation he now found himself in was, Frank could only smile widely as he waited for the inevitability of what would come next.

Being this close to death, Frank let out a deafening scream as he saw his whole miserable life flash by. His saw his friendship with Luther, then Luther’s betrayal when his parents taught him the importance of status. He remembered being friends with Luther’s little sister, Maddie, how he always had a crush on her, even though she was younger. He saw a lifetime of regrets flash by, everything from only gaining two cultivation levels, to needing to sign up for a dead end job that would likely lead to his death.

Then his mind went back to Maddie, and he made a promise that if this ended, and he somehow made his way back, that he would try his luck with Maddie.

A smile crested his lips as he realized how much Luther would despise him making a move on his little sister, which only seemed to further reinforce how right the idea was.

With that in mind, of sticking it to Luther, Frank knuckled down and prepared to defend himself. Frank wanted to scream out something both amazing and fierce, something he would be proud to tell his kids of, but all that came out was a deep guttural scream of defiance.

“GHAHHHHH!”

And then the rest, as they say was history. Or at least this is where Frank’s story truly began.