Chapter Five
Anxiety Effect
Humans, are interesting creatures. The way they work together to keep each other strong. It goes against my very being. Prince Adam... he was born eight years ago, from today. Recently though it has come to my attention that he has a link to me I had not noticed before. More than just the way he speaks through my thoughts. How I can speak through his. Together the two of us have held each other up. My dragon kin resent the fact that I have become a familiar with a human. For me it has taught me that I don't always have to work on my own. I wish my kin could learn the same fact. Maybe if my dragon kin learned this word of 'teamwork' we would not be fighting against ourselves for survival. We would survive if we just worked together. In my heart... I know it will never happen. The dragon race will go extincted as we know it.
~Zu, Second Born of the High Lord King
It has been many years since I have been able to see outside my island. Many more years since my place became an island. That was back when the Original Family sacrificed themselves. Baransu would have been torn apart eventually, but they had actually saved our world from harm by tearing the landmasses apart. Lor... he had been a great human being his wife was as well. The truth of the matter is that it had all gone wrong when little Aura had stepped in. Adam and Aura, those two unknowingly had caused more harm than good. Yet, despite that even I could not have guessed that they would be the two to keep Baransu from being destroyed. By adding their powers they had made a change to the spell work. A change that made a curse on the Kages. It would now only take all of their elements to lock away the Kages. The question to it all though is that it may never be known how the Original Family was able to be reincarnated each time to keep Baransu alive. Something completely missed in the spell's calculations.
I believe though the reincarnations that started with the humans has to do with something else entirely. There is only one person who may know of the gap in the story. Unfortunately that person is now a foul creature of darkness. Pitifully? True. Yet, nothing can be done about the Master of Kages. As I am a spirit of light I can only find visions of the story that is in the light already. My balcony has a view of the other islands and of the grand castle. The island I live on is made of pure light, but still holds the balance of night and day.
The sunrise rises from in the distance and brightens up my dogo. The wood work is of the old Baransu. Not quite of the ancient times, but of the olden times. I pull on my cream robe and walk down the stairs and to the bright green outside my home. There is a feeling in the air. A feeling of balance. Is is possible?
There is only one way to know for sure. The shrine.
I have one mountain range on my island. For the sake of balance it is good that the mountain range was brought in to my land. Inside a decorated cave that holds ancient letters is a light blue crystal stone. There is a crack out of it from the very crystal that now hangs around one of the Sentaku's necks. The crystal glows when the other crystal is in distance. It is how I have come to know if the Sentakus are on Baransu. Today the crystal inside the cave glows a brilliant blue.
“They have come home Meka.”
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SPLASH
In most cases a drop from the height Link and A-May came from would have killed the average person. A-May had known it, the truth was that she needed Link to not know that she knew they would survive. She had felt his lips quiver under her's and his body go rigged as he realized they were falling. The problem was that she could only sometimes control the wind. Her emotions were too wild for her to truly control the birth right of the wind. She could only hope that Link would react in the ways to survive as she hoped he would.
When they hit the water she knew that she had predicted wrong. She had managed to hold herself from falling as fast with some wind, but once Link had let go she had no control on what he did. He had been a good five feet bellow her before she had heard her own splash into the water. He body screamed in pain from collision of the sea. A-May could feel her eyes closing and water slowly sink into her throat. Nothing could stop the inevitable now. She was going to die.
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Link had no idea what had happened to him after he hit the water. The first thing he noticed was the pain in his body as every bone seemed to ache from the drop. The second was that he was breathing. Water didn't burst open his lungs or anything. He was an excellent swimmer, but this was beyond skill. It had been a few seconds before the splash from A-May's body had come down. It sent him deeper into the water.
A slithering sound echoed against the cliff's wall and colorful reflections rolled around. It took a bit before he realized he had seen the shape perfectly. A mermaid in its full glory. His ears popped and he could hear, singing. He could hear clearly for that matter. For now he would not question, but later he would. “Link! Link! Where are you good ol' chap?”
“Letch!” Link went to feel his pocket. Letch must have jumped out while he had been falling. There was a six sense that told him to look up. Sure enough he saw his familiar swimming up by a few other figures. One being, “A-may...” Using he strength of his legs he swam quickly towards the fish people and the girl who had saved him. The mermaids hissed at him with two rows of sharp pointed teeth. They weren't trying to see what A-May was. Something darker reflected in the pupilless black eyes. He had to keep the girl alive. She was all he had right now. He sent a punch towards the mermaid in front of him. A quick blow to the stomach. His hand screamed in pain from the blow. The fish person's muscles were much stronger than his punch. Link would not give up though. He pulled at the shiny tail and found that he had greater strength in the matter of water skill. No that would be silly. These creatures lived in the sea. None the less he found himself using his hands to pull the- He was making a water current to pull the mermaid down.
Once again he found himself curious, but he vowed to protect his familiar and new bound friend. He kicked out and used anther water current to bring down the last two mermaids. They screamed in anger showing their shark like teeth. A-may was just in reach when one of the mermaids grabbed his leg. He screamed in the water, but again no water reached his throat. With all the strength he had he kicked powerfully at the mermaid's arm. It squealed from bellow him and he used currents to lower the mermaid and shoot himself to A-May. Letch was pitifully trying to raise A-May's still body towards the surface.
“I got it from here buddy,” Link grabbed A-May around the waist and used every strength to bring the two to the surface. He felt his lungs breathe in the fresh air as he reached the surface. A-May on the otherhand stayed still in his arms. Taking one hand he used the adrenaline in his veins to push him, Letch, and A-May through the water with a wave. Not too far from the cliff was a coastline of sand. Link pushed himself towards there and began to drag A-May out of the water.
A frantic Fang hovered above A-May before nuzzling her neck area. His eyes were wide with worry for his Sentaku. Link began to push with hand on hand on A-May's chest. She coughed once and water spilled out, but not enough to get it all out. Her body spasmed slightly before Link went back to work the water out. “Don't you die on me A-May.”
The girl coughed and sat up quickly before vomiting up water and small particles of food. She held her stomach and her eyes were the obsidian color from before. With no strength left to hold herself Link grabbed her back with one arm and held her in a leaned back position.
“Well, done good chap,” Letch nuzzled Link's arm and sat beside a worry-eyed Fang. “You saved the lass.”
A-May shifted her eyes to Link with the smallest of chuckle, “Saved me twice now. I'm going to have to repay you somehow.”
“No need,” Link ran his finger through the girl's hair and sat her up more. Her could tell the girly was in pain. She could easily hide the fact though. “I couldn't exactly let you die now could I?”
A-May replied back under her breath, but the boy didn't bother to ask what she had said. Right now he was just glad that she was alive.
The coast line around them was flat against the cliff they had fallen off of. He turned back to
A-May. She needed shelter and a place to rest for the night, or day. He had lost track of the days here. What else could he do? “Link, we need to get away from the coastline here.”
Link nodded, grabbed A-May into his arms, and headed the opposite way of the cliff and mountain range above them. With A-May's head held by one arm and her legs in the other he didn't stop to ask questions. He followed what he believed to be the right thing to do.
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One way or another Vanessa was going to find a way to the other island. She had to right? Marcus had made it clear that she was a selfish bitch for not thinking of her friend's first. It wasn't that she didn't think of them. The fact was she didn't want to think about it. When she saw her friends in her head all she saw was pain and death. After falling and the dangers that they had found in this new land. There was no way any of her friends could survive if they were left on their own. One or all of them had be on their own.
“V, get over here,” Marcus called from the makeshift tent he had built by the coastline. He was frying what looked to be a mix between a bass and a hawk. They had called it a flying fish. The thing was huge though. Easily it could feed at least three of them. Two huge wings and the fish itself. The big emerald scales could be seen from where she sat. At her friend's call though she slowly walked over.
The sky was still a deep black of night. What she would do for some light. “What ya find Marc?” The boy glared at the girl for the shortened name, but said nothing. “Any idea on how we could get to the other island?”
Marcus looked around. The two familiars had both went out to find some small fruits to eat with the fish. “I think if we go to the most southern boarder we will be able to use the island in the south as a safe spot. We'd have safe passage around the castle.”
“You're smart. Sometimes.”
“Have to be sometimes. The trouble is though,” Vanessa smirked, “that you knew there would be a catch. We have no way of getting there unless we can convince-”
“You have got to be kidding me.” The blond nearly screamed in frustration. “Do we have any other way of getting there.” Marcus shook his head. Great just what they needed. A lousy familiar who could carry them both and refuse. What a wonderful familiar Marcus had. She might as well be a mouse with how well she actually helped out. “We don't know anything until we ask V.”
Vanessa paused and nodded. He was right of course, but still could there be another way. As if they needed anymore troubles the two familiars returned. Marcus quickly said they would discuss later.
“Hey guys the fish is almost done,”Marcus gave a small grin and licked his lips as the familiars opened up their pouches. Who knew animals could carry fabrics and bags. Blueberries, Strawberries, Blackberries, and even two mangos sat in the pouches. “Nice find.”
The two familiars gave giddy responses back, “So darling you've been thinking a lot. My brain has been going bonkers from the thoughts.” Vanessa petted her familiar apologetically, but hastily said they would talk about it later. Flare asked no more on the subject and waited patiently for the fish and wing meat to arrive.
Vanessa watched as Marcus passed the food out on large leaves. For now they worked as plates. The blond took a bite and was surprised by the juiciness of the fish in her mouth. They had Precious use one of her claws to cut the mangoes in half for all of them. The meal rested in her grumbling stomach with ease. Food could do wonders for am irritated person.
“We came up with an idea. Don't you dare tell Precious,” Vanessa took a bite of the mango as she sent thoughts to her familiar. She had learned how to make her thoughts more closed in and only send certain messages. Though she wasn't very good at it. Flare raised her neck from the slice of fish and gave a nod of understanding. “The island in the south. It'd be far enough away from Mejin not to spot us.”
Flare seemed to think about it in her head. She was smart and could catch on quickly. “It may just very well work hun.” The phoenix was sitting on a branch and using her talon to eat. Had they not been able to talk through their minds it wouldn't seem like anything was going on. Marcus looked between the two and shook his head. Precious eyes went wide and she lifted her head from resting on her paws. “I will not need to speak anything to Precious. Your dear friend has just informed her.”
“Thanks a lot Marc!” Vanessa stood up and stormed towards the makeshift shelter. It was made of large logs and palm tree coverings with a large leaf door. Far from a warm shelter. Marcus was smart, but sometimes it was better to just leave things well alone. Her hands felt warm to the touch and as she held one of the log pieces it sizzled. She had never pulled her hand away so fast before. There was only one thing left to do. Calm down.
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Marcus knew that Vanessa was quickly temperamental, but was this necessary? His familiar and his best friend were pissed. He decided to just sit there in silence for awhile. That would help. At least the fish and fruit tasted good. The sky continued to sparkle with stars and a crescent moon. Maybe time had stopped completely. There had to be an explanation. “Precious, we need to get to our friends. I wouldn't ask anything that would get us purposely killed.”
His familiar continued to stare with questioning eyes. Her beak twitched and her lion tail flicked from side to side. The griffin was thinking it over. Precious was a modern intelligence creature as the humans were. Her kind were known for their strategies and planning things out. Warriors of a sort, or knights.
“We would need to plan out a few things sweetheart. I can only take one of you at a time down there. I need to know the length between the two islands and my speed with your weight.” Precious stopped and looked in Marcus's eyes. “You have a way to figure all that out?”
The brunette tapped his sunglasses and pulled out his phone. He may not have service, but the calculator would still work. Precious tilted her head and eyed the device quizzically. “What's your speed?” The griffin looked up and gave about 30 mph. With his weight it would be about 25 mph. The island was about a mile or two away. “Give or take it would be about 12-15 minutes each way.”
“The griffin society could use one of those devices.” The two gave a chuckle and Marcus held his hands in his pockets. His phone beeped and he made sure to turn it off before it beeped again. The bad thing about phones were that they only kept a charge for so long. “The time lapse would be dangerous, but I think I can do it.”
The plan was set then. All four of them would get to the other island and stay there before going to the island across from them. A journey that would either get them killed or save them from great pain. Guess they wouldn't know until the deed was done.
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With grumbling stomachs and damp clothes Allisson and Zavier were curled up together below the red-oak wood tree. Rex had been talking non-stop to Zavier about absolute nonsense. Some thing about a king and queen. By now it was going in one ear and out the other. Allisson had been able to stand up now, but she had a huge limp. It would be like her to find the only hole inside above ground roots.
“I'm going to go on a look out to find the others. You be okay?” Allisson nodded and Zavier got up with Rex entail. There had to be a reason they had not seen the others on this worthless land. Always a gap in the story. In this case in the logic of the situation. The lake was now behind him, as well as his familiar.
“Oh goodness oh goodness! I can't wait to meet your other friends. Are they tall, short? Maybe they're all really talkative.” Rex rambled through Zavier's thoughts. This creature seemed to have no aim in what he spoke about. He just jumped from one conversation to the next. “So this one time I had to get from this island to the southern island. Daddy needed me to get this awesome fruit for my mommy. It can cure any injury and mommy had broken her back.”
It took a bit before he realized what Rex said. Southern island... fruit, “Repeat that!”
“Repeat what? The whole thing about how hell-bender slime covers the whole body from the time of birth?”
“Gross. No, the part about an island and fruit.” How many topics had his familiar switched into in just the one second? The bigger question was how many important things had his familiar said he had been ignoring?
Zavier could feel Rex think through his thoughts. An island in the south and fruit. There had been many stories Rex had went through that held such things. “My mommy. She had broken her back a long time ago.” His voice was slow, more intelligent sounding. “I had to go to an island in the south for a fruit to cure my mommy. The sun shined. It was the first time ever seeing the light.”
“Light?”
Rex nodded, “Sunlight and moonlight. The cycle of time was still there.”
“That is where we need to be, Rex. Show me.” Zavier watched as his familiar ran to the left. The boy shook his head and grabbed his familiar into his two hands. “I walk faster than you run. Now, show me the way there.” The familiar tilted his head, but told Zavier which ways to turn. He could tell that they were heading mostly south. Soon, the trees began to decrease and the ground beneath his shoes became softer. There were no beaches around here he lived back on Earth. Darn, that sounded weird to him. None the less, he could tell they were coming to water and sand. The trees diminished to only a few when he could finally see the ocean in front of him. It was a beauty against the moonlit sky.
In the distance he could see another large land mass. A castle structure sat between it. The two weren't close enough to see any details around the two land masses. “Look to the left Master Zavier. The only lace left on balance.” Zavier turned his head to see the last land mass available. If he hadn't been told that it had sunlight he would have taken the shimmering of the water there as a mistake of the eye. Yet, very lightly he could see a shimmer on the ocean in the distance.
“How can we get over there, Rex my friend?” Zavier refused to just talk in his head. The sound of his voice gave him some sanity from the quiet world he was left in.
Rex wagged his tail rapidly before calming down to answer his master. “I had to grab a piece of a tree and used that to get across. Tied myself to it and swam. We could try that.”
If it wasn't for Allisson's foot he might have went with it. There was noway she could make it over there in her condition. Even a bigger no way in leaving her there by herself. “We will need to find a different way across. Come, Allisson will be wondering what took us so long.”
“What about the search for your friends?” Rex seemed to not understand. Zavier knew though that they would have a better chance finding their friends with the help of his best friend. His other friends would have to wait for just a bit.
“For the greater good, of one. The others will have to wait.” Zavier turned to his familiar, “And I will need your help Rex.” His familiar nearly jumped out of his hands with joy. Maybe, for once, he didn't have to do everything for himself. Even more, maybe he never did.
~Zu, Second Born of the High Lord King
It has been many years since I have been able to see outside my island. Many more years since my place became an island. That was back when the Original Family sacrificed themselves. Baransu would have been torn apart eventually, but they had actually saved our world from harm by tearing the landmasses apart. Lor... he had been a great human being his wife was as well. The truth of the matter is that it had all gone wrong when little Aura had stepped in. Adam and Aura, those two unknowingly had caused more harm than good. Yet, despite that even I could not have guessed that they would be the two to keep Baransu from being destroyed. By adding their powers they had made a change to the spell work. A change that made a curse on the Kages. It would now only take all of their elements to lock away the Kages. The question to it all though is that it may never be known how the Original Family was able to be reincarnated each time to keep Baransu alive. Something completely missed in the spell's calculations.
I believe though the reincarnations that started with the humans has to do with something else entirely. There is only one person who may know of the gap in the story. Unfortunately that person is now a foul creature of darkness. Pitifully? True. Yet, nothing can be done about the Master of Kages. As I am a spirit of light I can only find visions of the story that is in the light already. My balcony has a view of the other islands and of the grand castle. The island I live on is made of pure light, but still holds the balance of night and day.
The sunrise rises from in the distance and brightens up my dogo. The wood work is of the old Baransu. Not quite of the ancient times, but of the olden times. I pull on my cream robe and walk down the stairs and to the bright green outside my home. There is a feeling in the air. A feeling of balance. Is is possible?
There is only one way to know for sure. The shrine.
I have one mountain range on my island. For the sake of balance it is good that the mountain range was brought in to my land. Inside a decorated cave that holds ancient letters is a light blue crystal stone. There is a crack out of it from the very crystal that now hangs around one of the Sentaku's necks. The crystal glows when the other crystal is in distance. It is how I have come to know if the Sentakus are on Baransu. Today the crystal inside the cave glows a brilliant blue.
“They have come home Meka.”
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SPLASH
In most cases a drop from the height Link and A-May came from would have killed the average person. A-May had known it, the truth was that she needed Link to not know that she knew they would survive. She had felt his lips quiver under her's and his body go rigged as he realized they were falling. The problem was that she could only sometimes control the wind. Her emotions were too wild for her to truly control the birth right of the wind. She could only hope that Link would react in the ways to survive as she hoped he would.
When they hit the water she knew that she had predicted wrong. She had managed to hold herself from falling as fast with some wind, but once Link had let go she had no control on what he did. He had been a good five feet bellow her before she had heard her own splash into the water. He body screamed in pain from collision of the sea. A-May could feel her eyes closing and water slowly sink into her throat. Nothing could stop the inevitable now. She was going to die.
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Link had no idea what had happened to him after he hit the water. The first thing he noticed was the pain in his body as every bone seemed to ache from the drop. The second was that he was breathing. Water didn't burst open his lungs or anything. He was an excellent swimmer, but this was beyond skill. It had been a few seconds before the splash from A-May's body had come down. It sent him deeper into the water.
A slithering sound echoed against the cliff's wall and colorful reflections rolled around. It took a bit before he realized he had seen the shape perfectly. A mermaid in its full glory. His ears popped and he could hear, singing. He could hear clearly for that matter. For now he would not question, but later he would. “Link! Link! Where are you good ol' chap?”
“Letch!” Link went to feel his pocket. Letch must have jumped out while he had been falling. There was a six sense that told him to look up. Sure enough he saw his familiar swimming up by a few other figures. One being, “A-may...” Using he strength of his legs he swam quickly towards the fish people and the girl who had saved him. The mermaids hissed at him with two rows of sharp pointed teeth. They weren't trying to see what A-May was. Something darker reflected in the pupilless black eyes. He had to keep the girl alive. She was all he had right now. He sent a punch towards the mermaid in front of him. A quick blow to the stomach. His hand screamed in pain from the blow. The fish person's muscles were much stronger than his punch. Link would not give up though. He pulled at the shiny tail and found that he had greater strength in the matter of water skill. No that would be silly. These creatures lived in the sea. None the less he found himself using his hands to pull the- He was making a water current to pull the mermaid down.
Once again he found himself curious, but he vowed to protect his familiar and new bound friend. He kicked out and used anther water current to bring down the last two mermaids. They screamed in anger showing their shark like teeth. A-may was just in reach when one of the mermaids grabbed his leg. He screamed in the water, but again no water reached his throat. With all the strength he had he kicked powerfully at the mermaid's arm. It squealed from bellow him and he used currents to lower the mermaid and shoot himself to A-May. Letch was pitifully trying to raise A-May's still body towards the surface.
“I got it from here buddy,” Link grabbed A-May around the waist and used every strength to bring the two to the surface. He felt his lungs breathe in the fresh air as he reached the surface. A-May on the otherhand stayed still in his arms. Taking one hand he used the adrenaline in his veins to push him, Letch, and A-May through the water with a wave. Not too far from the cliff was a coastline of sand. Link pushed himself towards there and began to drag A-May out of the water.
A frantic Fang hovered above A-May before nuzzling her neck area. His eyes were wide with worry for his Sentaku. Link began to push with hand on hand on A-May's chest. She coughed once and water spilled out, but not enough to get it all out. Her body spasmed slightly before Link went back to work the water out. “Don't you die on me A-May.”
The girl coughed and sat up quickly before vomiting up water and small particles of food. She held her stomach and her eyes were the obsidian color from before. With no strength left to hold herself Link grabbed her back with one arm and held her in a leaned back position.
“Well, done good chap,” Letch nuzzled Link's arm and sat beside a worry-eyed Fang. “You saved the lass.”
A-May shifted her eyes to Link with the smallest of chuckle, “Saved me twice now. I'm going to have to repay you somehow.”
“No need,” Link ran his finger through the girl's hair and sat her up more. Her could tell the girly was in pain. She could easily hide the fact though. “I couldn't exactly let you die now could I?”
A-May replied back under her breath, but the boy didn't bother to ask what she had said. Right now he was just glad that she was alive.
The coast line around them was flat against the cliff they had fallen off of. He turned back to
A-May. She needed shelter and a place to rest for the night, or day. He had lost track of the days here. What else could he do? “Link, we need to get away from the coastline here.”
Link nodded, grabbed A-May into his arms, and headed the opposite way of the cliff and mountain range above them. With A-May's head held by one arm and her legs in the other he didn't stop to ask questions. He followed what he believed to be the right thing to do.
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One way or another Vanessa was going to find a way to the other island. She had to right? Marcus had made it clear that she was a selfish bitch for not thinking of her friend's first. It wasn't that she didn't think of them. The fact was she didn't want to think about it. When she saw her friends in her head all she saw was pain and death. After falling and the dangers that they had found in this new land. There was no way any of her friends could survive if they were left on their own. One or all of them had be on their own.
“V, get over here,” Marcus called from the makeshift tent he had built by the coastline. He was frying what looked to be a mix between a bass and a hawk. They had called it a flying fish. The thing was huge though. Easily it could feed at least three of them. Two huge wings and the fish itself. The big emerald scales could be seen from where she sat. At her friend's call though she slowly walked over.
The sky was still a deep black of night. What she would do for some light. “What ya find Marc?” The boy glared at the girl for the shortened name, but said nothing. “Any idea on how we could get to the other island?”
Marcus looked around. The two familiars had both went out to find some small fruits to eat with the fish. “I think if we go to the most southern boarder we will be able to use the island in the south as a safe spot. We'd have safe passage around the castle.”
“You're smart. Sometimes.”
“Have to be sometimes. The trouble is though,” Vanessa smirked, “that you knew there would be a catch. We have no way of getting there unless we can convince-”
“You have got to be kidding me.” The blond nearly screamed in frustration. “Do we have any other way of getting there.” Marcus shook his head. Great just what they needed. A lousy familiar who could carry them both and refuse. What a wonderful familiar Marcus had. She might as well be a mouse with how well she actually helped out. “We don't know anything until we ask V.”
Vanessa paused and nodded. He was right of course, but still could there be another way. As if they needed anymore troubles the two familiars returned. Marcus quickly said they would discuss later.
“Hey guys the fish is almost done,”Marcus gave a small grin and licked his lips as the familiars opened up their pouches. Who knew animals could carry fabrics and bags. Blueberries, Strawberries, Blackberries, and even two mangos sat in the pouches. “Nice find.”
The two familiars gave giddy responses back, “So darling you've been thinking a lot. My brain has been going bonkers from the thoughts.” Vanessa petted her familiar apologetically, but hastily said they would talk about it later. Flare asked no more on the subject and waited patiently for the fish and wing meat to arrive.
Vanessa watched as Marcus passed the food out on large leaves. For now they worked as plates. The blond took a bite and was surprised by the juiciness of the fish in her mouth. They had Precious use one of her claws to cut the mangoes in half for all of them. The meal rested in her grumbling stomach with ease. Food could do wonders for am irritated person.
“We came up with an idea. Don't you dare tell Precious,” Vanessa took a bite of the mango as she sent thoughts to her familiar. She had learned how to make her thoughts more closed in and only send certain messages. Though she wasn't very good at it. Flare raised her neck from the slice of fish and gave a nod of understanding. “The island in the south. It'd be far enough away from Mejin not to spot us.”
Flare seemed to think about it in her head. She was smart and could catch on quickly. “It may just very well work hun.” The phoenix was sitting on a branch and using her talon to eat. Had they not been able to talk through their minds it wouldn't seem like anything was going on. Marcus looked between the two and shook his head. Precious eyes went wide and she lifted her head from resting on her paws. “I will not need to speak anything to Precious. Your dear friend has just informed her.”
“Thanks a lot Marc!” Vanessa stood up and stormed towards the makeshift shelter. It was made of large logs and palm tree coverings with a large leaf door. Far from a warm shelter. Marcus was smart, but sometimes it was better to just leave things well alone. Her hands felt warm to the touch and as she held one of the log pieces it sizzled. She had never pulled her hand away so fast before. There was only one thing left to do. Calm down.
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Marcus knew that Vanessa was quickly temperamental, but was this necessary? His familiar and his best friend were pissed. He decided to just sit there in silence for awhile. That would help. At least the fish and fruit tasted good. The sky continued to sparkle with stars and a crescent moon. Maybe time had stopped completely. There had to be an explanation. “Precious, we need to get to our friends. I wouldn't ask anything that would get us purposely killed.”
His familiar continued to stare with questioning eyes. Her beak twitched and her lion tail flicked from side to side. The griffin was thinking it over. Precious was a modern intelligence creature as the humans were. Her kind were known for their strategies and planning things out. Warriors of a sort, or knights.
“We would need to plan out a few things sweetheart. I can only take one of you at a time down there. I need to know the length between the two islands and my speed with your weight.” Precious stopped and looked in Marcus's eyes. “You have a way to figure all that out?”
The brunette tapped his sunglasses and pulled out his phone. He may not have service, but the calculator would still work. Precious tilted her head and eyed the device quizzically. “What's your speed?” The griffin looked up and gave about 30 mph. With his weight it would be about 25 mph. The island was about a mile or two away. “Give or take it would be about 12-15 minutes each way.”
“The griffin society could use one of those devices.” The two gave a chuckle and Marcus held his hands in his pockets. His phone beeped and he made sure to turn it off before it beeped again. The bad thing about phones were that they only kept a charge for so long. “The time lapse would be dangerous, but I think I can do it.”
The plan was set then. All four of them would get to the other island and stay there before going to the island across from them. A journey that would either get them killed or save them from great pain. Guess they wouldn't know until the deed was done.
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With grumbling stomachs and damp clothes Allisson and Zavier were curled up together below the red-oak wood tree. Rex had been talking non-stop to Zavier about absolute nonsense. Some thing about a king and queen. By now it was going in one ear and out the other. Allisson had been able to stand up now, but she had a huge limp. It would be like her to find the only hole inside above ground roots.
“I'm going to go on a look out to find the others. You be okay?” Allisson nodded and Zavier got up with Rex entail. There had to be a reason they had not seen the others on this worthless land. Always a gap in the story. In this case in the logic of the situation. The lake was now behind him, as well as his familiar.
“Oh goodness oh goodness! I can't wait to meet your other friends. Are they tall, short? Maybe they're all really talkative.” Rex rambled through Zavier's thoughts. This creature seemed to have no aim in what he spoke about. He just jumped from one conversation to the next. “So this one time I had to get from this island to the southern island. Daddy needed me to get this awesome fruit for my mommy. It can cure any injury and mommy had broken her back.”
It took a bit before he realized what Rex said. Southern island... fruit, “Repeat that!”
“Repeat what? The whole thing about how hell-bender slime covers the whole body from the time of birth?”
“Gross. No, the part about an island and fruit.” How many topics had his familiar switched into in just the one second? The bigger question was how many important things had his familiar said he had been ignoring?
Zavier could feel Rex think through his thoughts. An island in the south and fruit. There had been many stories Rex had went through that held such things. “My mommy. She had broken her back a long time ago.” His voice was slow, more intelligent sounding. “I had to go to an island in the south for a fruit to cure my mommy. The sun shined. It was the first time ever seeing the light.”
“Light?”
Rex nodded, “Sunlight and moonlight. The cycle of time was still there.”
“That is where we need to be, Rex. Show me.” Zavier watched as his familiar ran to the left. The boy shook his head and grabbed his familiar into his two hands. “I walk faster than you run. Now, show me the way there.” The familiar tilted his head, but told Zavier which ways to turn. He could tell that they were heading mostly south. Soon, the trees began to decrease and the ground beneath his shoes became softer. There were no beaches around here he lived back on Earth. Darn, that sounded weird to him. None the less, he could tell they were coming to water and sand. The trees diminished to only a few when he could finally see the ocean in front of him. It was a beauty against the moonlit sky.
In the distance he could see another large land mass. A castle structure sat between it. The two weren't close enough to see any details around the two land masses. “Look to the left Master Zavier. The only lace left on balance.” Zavier turned his head to see the last land mass available. If he hadn't been told that it had sunlight he would have taken the shimmering of the water there as a mistake of the eye. Yet, very lightly he could see a shimmer on the ocean in the distance.
“How can we get over there, Rex my friend?” Zavier refused to just talk in his head. The sound of his voice gave him some sanity from the quiet world he was left in.
Rex wagged his tail rapidly before calming down to answer his master. “I had to grab a piece of a tree and used that to get across. Tied myself to it and swam. We could try that.”
If it wasn't for Allisson's foot he might have went with it. There was noway she could make it over there in her condition. Even a bigger no way in leaving her there by herself. “We will need to find a different way across. Come, Allisson will be wondering what took us so long.”
“What about the search for your friends?” Rex seemed to not understand. Zavier knew though that they would have a better chance finding their friends with the help of his best friend. His other friends would have to wait for just a bit.
“For the greater good, of one. The others will have to wait.” Zavier turned to his familiar, “And I will need your help Rex.” His familiar nearly jumped out of his hands with joy. Maybe, for once, he didn't have to do everything for himself. Even more, maybe he never did.