Galileo (Battle of the Species) Read Online Free PDF

standing shoulder-to-shoulder, forming a circle around Desh.
    Tig yelled into a wristband, “Quintessence, I need an exit portal, right now!”
    Dipped arrows , Desh projected. The Torans exchanged their arrows made of bone, with arrows dipped in Baylorblood — a lethal poison that burnt its target from the inside out within seconds.
    Desh’s palms illuminated, snapping electricity. Bushes and trees began to shake as the screeching became deafening. His eyes widened when large black, eight-legged arachnids, with long heads and jagged teeth, came into view. Their tails were six feet long and all muscle, covered in sharp bony spikes, strong enough to splinter frozen bark, just by swiping their tails at the tree trunks.
    While the Aranea looked like massive, dumb spiders, their proficiency and speed at crawling up trees and over rough, rocky terrain was startling. They opened their mouths, screeching as they ran, ready to tear their enemy apart.
    The Aranea, however, weren't the unwelcome visitors everyone was worried about. They were just transportation. It was the Eminites, who rode them, that gave everyone nightmares. The Eminites’ heads had three sets of teeth, which they used to devour their enemies. They had forest green-scaled skin and eyes gilded with burnt yellow. If an Eminite caught its prey while it was still alive, it would keep it for its victory feast later that night, but that’s only if it made it that long. They usually killed with bombs from long distances, switching to laser guns once they got closer, then to swords when in close proximity of their prey.
    Desh had, however, never heard of Eminites or Aranea wearing thought blockers, but now saw that their ears were lined with silver.
               The Toran soldiers released their arrows the moment they came into sight. The first wave of Aranea skidded in the snow, stiffening before they came to a halt in a heap of charred hide. Their riders scrambled to dismount and stormed the Torans as if imminent death were nothing but an honor. More Aranea jumped over corpses, getting closer and closer to the soldiers.
           “Rye, get Desh out of here!” Tig yelled.
           “I can take him!” Kia said.
           Tig grabbed Kia’s arm. “You can’t carry his weight. Rye, take Desh now!” Tig said.
    Desh was abruptly swept up in Rye’s arms and pulled into the air.
    Kia followed closely behind, barely missing a blast that raced past him.
    Desh followed the blast, to see it pierce Tig’s temple. “No!” Desh yelled, as Tig slumped to the ground at the feet of the other soldiers.
    Rye, Desh, and Kia landed high in the trees and fired down, but the Aranea crawled from every direction. Desh released lightning bolts and created energy shields when the soldiers came close to being bitten or fired upon.
    “He’s out!” Rye yelled down to the soldiers.
    The soldiers dispersed, but didn’t take flight, choosing to remain beside the soldiers who were too wounded to fly. A Toran screamed as an Aranea ripped into his shoulder. The arachnid released its bite and then took off for another.
    Desh watched the Toran fall to the ground and scream louder and louder. “What’s happening to Temma?” he asked.
    “Aranea’s venom is an incurable hallucinogenic,” Rye replied, firing a Baylorblood-dipped arrow into Temma’s chest.
    Temma stiffened while his flesh turned black as the Baylorblood spread throughout his body.
    “We have to get you out of here!” Rye yelled to Desh over the screeching.
    “We can’t leave them,” Desh yelled back and continued to fire down.
    “If you die, then their deaths were in vain. Let’s go!”
    “No!” Kia yelled, then looked towards Tig’s body. “The Quintessence won’t be able to find Desh.”
    “No! Don’t do it. Kia!” Desh yelled.
    Kia jumped off the tree into the swarm of Aranea and dove for Tig’s body.
    Desh panicked and created thick walls of energy around