“I’m just searching for someone,” I muttered. I pawed the ground again, a habit I developed early in my life. “And no, I don’t recognize you. You just came out of no where and won’t tell me how you know my name.”
I looked at the greenwing sulkily. “At least tell me your name.”
“I suppose I’ve changed quite dramatically since you last seen me eh? I wasn’t a Greenwing back then. Zest, it’s me, Marthis. Come on, you must remember me!”
He sat silent once again, although there was a glimmer in his eye that he had finally recognised me, I continued until he admitted it though. Come on, how many Greenwings are there out there called Marthis?
“You remember me? From when we were just hatchlings? We used to hop after each other and play tag. Do you not remember our favourite game Hunters and Us? You always used to go as the hunter because you’d always manage to catch me but hey, doubt that would happen now. You know, considering I can fly and all! hahaha So who is this you’re looking for? Has Zesty got a giiiiiirlfriend?”
“Zest, it’s me, Marthis.”
What?
A chill ran down my spine. My feathers bristled, and my eyes went wide.
It felt like my body was [i]frozen.
I couldn’t breathe.[/i]
She was saying something, something with such a happy expression on her face.
How…
“M-Marthis?” I croaked.
Her eyes sparkled.
Suddenly, all the breath came rushing into my body and my mind was kicked into gear again. I slowly stood up, then growled, “Marthis…”
I inhaled deeply, then screamed, “What did you want from me? Did you want to take advantage of me, now that I didn’t know who you were?” I backed away, fear making me slightly off-balance. I fell into the bush. “I-I… I hate you! How could you do this to me?”
I was so foolish for trying to find her when I haven’t even evolved yet! How could I defend myself now? Why couldn’t I have waited more patiently?
I growled in frustration. “It ends here, Marthis! It’s you or me! One of us isn’t coming out of the forest alive!”
All this time, Marthis looked extremely confused.
I wasn’t buying it.
((dun dun dunnnnnnn))
“I howled as loud as i could, hoping the others would hear me,” the coldheart was closing in fast, gaining on my with every step i took. I prayed that someone would find me, anyone. I looked behind me. It had violet eyes, a red pattern of swirls and lines glowing all the way from its paws to its shoulders. ‘Thats strange,’ i thought to myself, ‘coldhearts dont normally look like that, come to think of it, they don’t even live in this climate’ it growled, the fiercest sound i could imagine. I could hear my heart beating in my chest, my blood pumping, running as fast as i possible could. I howled again, hoping to grab someone, anyone’s attention.
Zest recognised me but his reaction was not what I expected. He stood up aggressively, cursing me, terrifying me. He flared his feathers and wings out, threatening me.
I stood up, towering over him,
“Stop this Zest. We’re both going to be fine, what are you on about? Sit back down and we can talk this out Pearex to Greenwing. I know it must be a bit of a shock to learn your old friend has changed so much but you’re still the caring Zest I know, behind that aggressive facade. I can see it in your eyes.”
I could see his feathers making their way back to their unruffled state, his wings slowly coming down.
“Okay, so I maybe sprung that on you a b-”
My calm voice was completely drowned out by the loud distinct howling of a Beowolf. I could only guess it was the one I found Zest with earlier, and he sounded like he was in dire need of help.
Zest had already sprung to his feet and was facing where the sound came from.
“Come on, we have to hurry!” I yelled out,“I’ll take a quick flight into the air and see if I can spot him, he must be upstream of his. You go run towards it and I’ll land back with you once I find out what’s going on. Just stay in the open!”
Zest quickly ran off up the river as I shot up into the air. I knew the longer I stayed up here, the less defence I would have but this was Zest’s friend, and I couldn’t let him down, not like before.
I didn’t trust her.
Of course I didn’t.
How could I? After I had so foolishly placed my life and heart and soul into her hands, she ripped it up like it was nothing.
That hurt most of all.
But I banished the thoughts for now. The beowolf was crying for help, and Marthis looked like she was trying to help him. But was she really?
I clenched my jaw and quickened my pace. I had to get there before Marthis did.
“Does this coldheart ever get tired!” I said to myself, gasping for air. I looked behind me once again. The patterns. The patterns were glowing bright red, its teeth were jagged, designed for cutting into meat, and its eyes, glowing a deep violet. “If i dont get you he will,” he said with a snarl, slowly gaining ground. ‘Who is “he”?’ I thought silently, ‘what is “he”?’ “If help didn’t arrive soon, im a goner,” i thought.
Soon, I arrived at the scene. The beowolf was crouched low, his eyes narrowed and his breathing ragged. The coldheart, on the other hand, didn’t seem fazed at all.
Quickly, I looked around. Marthis didn’t seem to be here yet, so I leaped over next to the beowolf.
“What are you doing to him, you furred fiend?” I snarled, baring my fangs. “Whatever you want from him, you won’t be getting it until you get through me!”
My wing was still in a lot of pain from my fresh wound and flying had become a hard task to achieve. In fact, Zest was abe to travel quicker than I could and soon he was well ahead of me.
I followed the howling and could hear I was getting closer until finally I reached them. Looking down, I could see the beowolf crouching in fear behind Zest, there was violence in those eyes, a violence I had never seen before and it was all directed in one direction; straight into the vivid violet eyes of a coldheart.
Suddenly, the coldheart reared back, ready to strike. Zest was in trouble, I had to do something. Without hesitation, I quickly pulled back my wings and dropped straight down, landing between them. As I. reared myself up and spread out my wings, the coldheart jumped back and hurried away, at least for now he wasn’t going to be trouble.
I turned around, Zest and his beowolf friend had obviously also been just as startled, jumping behind the rock they had previously been cowering against. I brought my wings back in and made my way around the boulder.
“Hey you two, don’t worry, that coldheart isn’t coming back any time soon. Oh Zest, how rude of you to not introduce me to your friend here.” I said jokingly, reaching my hand out to help the beowolf up, who looked visibly shaken.
"Let’s just camp out here tonight, there’s a nice moonlit cove just round the corner if we follow the river upstream a little.
And just like that, Marthis appeared out of nowhere. I was startled, and despite my mind constantly throwing insults at me, my instincts made me jump behind the boulder in alarm.
“Hey you two, don’t worry. That coldheart isn’t coming back any time soon,” Marthis’s voice said. She walked around the boulder, and I tensed again. But she didn’t attack me. All she said was: “Oh Zest, how rude of you to not introduce me to your friend here.”
I glared at her, but she ignored it and helped the beowolf to his feet. “Let’s just camp out here tonight, there’s a nice moonlit cove just round the corner if we follow the river upstream a little.”
“How do I know if I can trust you?” I said rather rudely.
A little piece of my heart ached when I snapped at Marthis, but I was convinced that part of my heart was just mistaken…
I looked at the beowolf, and suddenly I felt insecure. What if he was with Marthis? What if this was all just a plan to capture me?
I was getting paranoid. After a few frenzied look between the greenwing and the beowolf, I was ready to bolt away.
((He has trust issues.))
It hurt me that he didn’t trust me, it hurt me that he was being so mean,
“Well look at your options Zest. They’re rather limited. You can either stay out here alone, isolated, cold and open to attack by both monsters and the elements…or you could trust your old friend and come with us and have a place to rest your head. It’s up to you, but it’s dark, and I know which I’d choose.”
I turned away and begun walking, the beowolf following behind me. As I neared the corner, I heard a thump as Zest stomped angrily on the sand, followed by the sound of his feet trudging through the sand reluctantly. It sounded like he had finally put our past to the side in favour of common sense.
((Can you please not control my character so much? Sorry to ask so rudely. Most people don’t like others influencing their character at all, but I don’t mind you influencing mine (ex: making my character recognize yours) but I would prefer if you don’t control him, and I’ll try not to control yours. Note: Marthis didn’t really do anything bad. I mean, you could make her bad if you want to, but I was thinking that Zest THOUGHT she did something bad when she really didn’t. That’s why he’s so angry at her.))
I was angry at Marthis. She had always been the more logical one, and it ticked me off to realize how much smarter than me she actually was. How could I defeat her like this?
I stayed close to them, but not too close. I was constantly flexing my claws, nervous and anxious about any attacks Marthis, and possibly her accomplices, would make on me. And it was night. How great.
I stared at the greenwing’s back. Even though I now knew she was Marthis, she didn’t seem very… malicious. That surprised me. It went against her personality-- no, how she was supposed to act. It was like this Marthis was… the old Marthis.
A part of me wanted to run up to her and hug her and tell her I was sorry. It wanted to trust her again, to be her friend again.
But the other part told me to not trust her. It told me to hate her, to remember the things she did…
I shook my head. I was tired and exhausted. I couldn’t care less right now. All I wanted was rest…
The beowolf and I continued on towards the cove. He didn’t talk much, in fact, he didn’t do much at all for the whole walk, he looked frightened and confused, not really surprising considering what had just happened. However, I figured we should look after him, being Zest’s friend and all. I couldn’t tell if Zest was even following us anymore, not that it mattered mind you, he was always an “independent young pearex and he didn’t need no direction” or so he said.
We turned the corner and made our way to the cove. I used to come here as a leafwing and now being much larger, it somehow felt more cozy, and safe. I went in first to make sure everything was well in the cove and layer out the beds of leaves I had laid out to make it more homely.
“Welcome, welcome!” I invited them in,“Please, make yourself comfortable”
The beowolf sat down on a small bed of leaves in the corner. Zest finally appeared at the doorway and just stood there. I don’t know what he was doing but he looked very lost. I sat down near the beowolf but Zest still just stood there. It was like he was waiting for something. I invited him in again but still nothing.
((alternate storyline: I had a massive brain aneurism and died. Must’ve been that curry last night.
“Let’s see how Zest gets by on his own from now on…” I thought to myself as the lights faded away.))
((Yeah, I’m moving the story along or else we’ll be stuck on the beach for the next week or so))
“Listen,” i said, “Have you heard anyone besides us on this island?” “I know i haven’t.” also,“coldhearts dont live in this area and this one was like nothing ive ever seen before.” “It had red, glowing patterns from its paws to its shoulders and had violet eyes.” “That’s completely abnormal, a-and he said something to me before he ran off,” i said tentatively. “H-he said that if he doesn’t get me ‘he’ will.” “Who is ‘he’? What is he?”“i have a feeling we are all caught up in something way over our heads.” “I have a bad feeling about this place,” and i know im not the only one who does.
(lets pretend i already introduced myself, im cerus. it would kind of ruin the mood of the post if i posted it here)
Marthis motioned for me to come in.
I hesitated, and she beckoned again.
Tentatively, I crawled in and sat down in a corner. As soon as I did, Cerus began to ask questions. He looked quite upset.
“There used to be a lot of monsters here,” I said quietly. “Much, much more than how much there is now. We wouldn’t be able to get here from that clearing without passing by at least five different monsters, but now it’s almost… deserted.”
I didn’t raise my gaze from the floor. “I saw a raptorex, though. But even he looked lost. He might as well be one of the last raptorex living on here, or until I evolve, that is.”
I grit my teeth. “I don’t know who that coldheart was, or why he was here, but it’s unnerving. You were the first monster I’ve seen in a long time, Cerus. And then… then I met Marthis… again.”
“So,” i said, " a beowolf, a pearex, a greenwing, and a raptorex, a mutated coldheart, and a mysterious he all happen to meet on a seemingly deserted island, me with no memory of my past other than my name, and you two with a past that causes you (motioning to zest) to distrust him (motions to marthis)." “So, 2 enemies, 1 unknown allegiance, and 3 ‘good guys’” "this almost seems like- my sentence was cut off as an overwhelming headache came over me. Yet again i saw flashes of my past, me and a boy exploring a dungeon, a red plasmorex sending red balls of light at us. The boy suddenly dissapears. ‘These arent just visions anymore,’ i thought, ‘im inside them.’ The plasmorex turns towards me, sending a hurtling ball i light at me. I woke up with a start. My head was still pounding, but a least the vision stopped.
The beowolf’s body was suddenly wracked with pain. He let out a soft groan, and I almost walked over to him, but he quickly recovered and looked back up.
Ignoring the fact that the beowolf did, in fact, accurately portray my emotions towards Marthis but inaccurately labeled Marthis as a ‘good guy’, I asked, “Are you okay?”
“i don’t know,” i said," does having visions of my past and a splitting headache qualify as ok?" “in my vision…i saw…you know, i think i know part of how i got here,” i explained, “it had something to do with a red plasmorex. me and my hunter, we were in a dungeon, and he got hit by a ball of light from a red plasmorex and dissapeared.” “the plasmorex then turned to me and shot another one, and then the vision just stopped.” “but the one thing thats bugging me is that the red plasmorex had the same markings as the coldheart that we saw.”
Hearing the beowolf explain his vision, it sparked something in the back of my head. There was something, I could feel it, it was as if I shared his pain, as if I shared the same experience. If I did though, I couldn’t remember it, although to be entirely honest with myself, I never have had much of a memory. Maybe there was something more powerful at work here, more powerful than any of us could comprehend. I had called this island home since a young leafwing, but living an isolated life, I never really monitored the other monsters but the beowolf was right. Knowing the island was as big as it is, it was incredibly desolate…
I almost fainted at the realisation. Even I didn’t know how I got here. This whole thing had become very mysterious all of a sudden, but at least we were together.
“Cerus”, as I said it, I felt like I already knew it…“Do you want to lie down? Do you remember anything else? Perhaps this boy’s name, or where this dungeon was?”
i started to think about my past, it seemed the harder i tried the worse the headache got. “sorry, i cant remember anything else, it was just my hunter and a random dungeon,” i said dissapointedly. (is that a word?) “the visions come and go,” i explained, “i cant really control them, even if i try to delve into my past i get a headache and the more i think about my past, the worse the pain gets.”