A Construct in a Box: Godspawn - Run, Boy, Run

Prompt 11

Running was easier said than done. 

The ground shook as the brother sank some of his tendrils deep into the ground. Paiko could hear the trees on the edges of the manor groan and creak before they started moving. 

“On the left!” he shrieked and K80 just barely managed to propel the both of them to the side as a root snapped from out of the dirt, slamming back down where they would have been. 

“Expletive, Expletive! Expletive!” K80 cried, just trying to keep the two of them moving. 

He pumped his legs faster, trying to make sure Paiko was always in sight as the forest began to shift and creak, roots and tendrils pulling themselves out of the ground and reaching for them. Curling and snatching. 

K80 flinched as one of them snapped like a whip above their heads, just barely missing the two of them. K80 wished he was anywhere else. He wanted to be in a cozy inn, he wanted to be spending time with Momo and Oria, he wanted to be in the market places looking over scrap metal and parts to see if he could make anything interesting for himself or make tools he might need to repair his bodies, but most of all he wanted to be home. He wanted to be back cleaning the server rooms and organizing scrolls and spell books and listening to his dad sing while he worked on making K80’s Android body even better than before.

A huge tree root slammed down into the path behind K80, brushing against his back and making him involuntarily scream for his father. 

He shook his head and ran faster as Paiko had regained his bearings. 

Paiko yelped and held his arms up, crystal shards forming overhead to stop another tree root from slamming down on them. 

The crystal shattered but gave them just enough time to run through. 

K80 picked Paiko up off the ground entirely as a thicket of briars and thorns scratched up at them, trying to ensnare them, though K80 kicked through just fine with his metal legs and put Paiko back down. They needed a plan. They had nowhere to go. 

Just as that thought crossed his mind, a more fleshy tendril broke through the ground and wrapped around his hand, jerking on it hard enough that it came out of the socket. 

Hours of work and laughter and careful material crafting with his dad flashed across his memory banks and K80 turned, reaching for his hand to get it back. Sure, he could find something to replace it, but it was more than just a hand. Right now, he couldn’t bear to lose anything else of his father’s. “GIVE THAT BACK!!!”

Paiko slid to a stop in the leaf litter and dashed back, jumping and slapping a hand on the tendril. K80 saw the color fade out of the tendril as it came to a stop. He snatched his hand back, the end of the tendril snapping off as Paiko had petrified the tendril from the inside. 

“Thanks,” K80 gasped, turning and they ran again, fighting to fit his hand back into the socket. The tendrils were more hesitant to attack now, but the tree roots were still attacking each time they passed another tree, but they were much slower and clumsier. 

They broke out of the treeline and had to slide to a stop again as they reached the rocky shore of a fast flowing river. 

K80 looked back over his shoulder, eyes wide as roots and tendrils worked on crawling out over the stones. 

He looked at Paiko. “Can you swim? Please tell me you can swim.”

Paiko’s eyes went wide and his ears pinned back. He shook his head quickly. “No, no, we’re not going in the water.”

K80 looked back at the tendrils coming. “I think we’re going to have to. The only way out is to let the river carry us out. I won’t let you drown, I won’t let you go. Please, we need to get out of here!”

Paiko trembled but, after looking between the river, K80, and the approaching vines, roots, brambles, and tentacles, he nodded. 

K80 returned the guesture firmly, taking this moment very very seriously. Paiko was trusting K80 and K80 was not taking that for granted. 

K80 turned, presenting his back. “Get on!”

Paiko hopped up, arms going tight around K80’s neck as the android stood up straight, and raced out into the river, careful not to go under and dunk Paiko more than was necessary. Once in the water, he didn’t need to hold onto Paiko’s legs, the water taking the drakon’s weight. 

“Hold on,” K80 said, only getting a whimper from Paiko in response as the drakon curled his fingers in K80’s shirt by his throat. 

K80 let his processors work a bit harder to keep himself and Paiko warm and focused on keeping  them both above the water as much as possible.

The stars above seemed to watch the two as the river carried them past shifting trees that turned and reached for the darkening skies. 

Eventually, though, they did wash out of that cursed forest and K80 went from floating in the river to swimming when he saw the lights on the banks. 

Together, he and Paiko climbed out of the water and onto the bank. K80 let what water had collected inside of him spill out from his lips, sitting back on his heels and looking at the warm inviting town they had washed up at. 

“You okay?” he asked Paiko. 

The Drakon knelt with his hands on the ground. He shook himself, water flying off his ears, tail, and clothing. “I’m fine,” he said, sitting back as well. 

K80 gave a small smile and got to his feet, offering his hand. “Cool. Let’s go get warm and dry.”

Paiko nodded, taking his hand to stand up. 

They started walking up the path together. 

“We didn’t just unleash something terrible here, right?” Paiko asked. 

“I don’t know…. I hope not. We’ll just let the guild know. They can send someone stronger to deal with it. I’m just a mechanic and programmer, not an eldritch warlock or whatever.”

“Programmer?”

“Yeah. I make computers think.”

“Oh….. Kay?”

“A common response. But anyways, someone else can definitely deal with that.”

“Agreed,” Paiko said firmly, tail flicking as he took the lead down the path to the tavern with the best smells spilling out from the doors.