Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 

It was bright, the sun shone gracefully onto the forest, its face envious of the wild flowers below. The flowers blooming fire red across the forest, blue peeked through unto the sky to meet its cousin the trees, towering above them embracing them as if the protection of father figure. The evergreens all around, holding the earth in its touch, filtered the suns jealousy of heat and protected the flowers below helping them flourish in this hidden sanctuary. The filtered sunlight stretched across Damion’s healed body, showing his pale skin and skinny figure. The sun glared into his eyes. Damion squirmed and groaned, he was having a nightmare yet again. Damion had frequent nightmares since his mother had died and his brother was drowned. However they were not of his brother or his mother, but they were of beasts and demonic creatures grasping his mind with evil clutches. The sun finally awoken him, he opened his eyes slowly as if he had just been born again, the light was blinding to him. He groaned yet again and finally opened his eyes full to see the wild flowers around him hugging his body, keeping him safe from harm and danger. He sat up wearily and looked around him; the forest was different than it was last night. No evil shadows, no ferocious sounds of creatures lurking in the brush, just the sound of birds twittering and leaves rustling. A small Typhone bird landed no more than a few metre s in front of him, digging at the ground revealing small nut. It pecked at it with it sharp red beak until it cracked and pulled out the small nut inside, a juri nut. Damion smiled lightly as it looked towards him and hopped onto his knee looking at him with interested eyes. It chirped once and flew up into the tree a few metres away from him leaving the nut with two little baby birds. Damion could hear them chirping in the nest and stood up tall in the flowers. The bird returned from mothering its babies and landed back onto the floor in front of Damion, it revealed yet another nut and cracked that one too. I sweet smell suddenly broke free from the nut and caught Damion’s attention. He picked the empty nutshell up and moved it closer to his nose and took in a large breath. He took out a long satisfying sigh and smiled, he felt at peace in this natural wilderness. Damion leant down to the ground and put down the shell but unearthing another. He picked it up and looked down past it. He saw the bird, it had tilted its head to the side looking puzzled. Damion smiled and placed the nut shell between his hands and crushed it to reveal the sweet nut inside. He leant down once more and held his hand out to the Typhone bird. It hopped without question to his hand and looked up to him a second. Damion nodded and as he did the bird took the nut and flew up into the tree feeding her babies. Damion began to walk away from the spot but was meet with the bird once again, but this time it was holding something. Damion leant down and the bird dropped the small item into his hand and flew away. Damion watched as it fluttered up and nestled her children then looked back to his hand. He saw a small blue stone, it was smooth to the touch, and he rubbed his thumb across it in bewilderment. He put it into his pocket harbouring it safely.

 

The forest opened up to Damion like a ruin showing its most in-depth secrets. Damion enjoyed the sights of the flowers, all sorts of colours revealed to him, blues, greens reds, yellows and even a vibrant purple flower showed it to wandering Damion. However he stopped to a standstill seeing something he had never seen before. Damion’s eyes lay on what seemed to be the remains of a ruin. He started forwards through an old arch, with no wall to hold it together, to see over a cliffside into a large valley. It was a wondrous sight, a large lake was centred in the middle of the forest and what seemed to be a small village next to it. The sky was blue all the way to the horizon and huge birds only known as Mirons to Damion flew across the clearing. Mirons were huge birds, they had vibrant red plumage and yellow feathers showed from its long tail. The tail could be up to two metres long in a male Miron. Its beak shone in the sunlight and was a dark yellow in colour. Damion looked down and saw old crumbling steps leading down into the valley, the village was miles away but Damion could probably reach it in a day and a half. He looked worryingly at the steps however, it was a rather long way down and as a human if he fell he wouldn’t survive a drop that high. He placed one foot carefully onto the steps and it crumbled running stones all down the cliffside clicking of the side as they fell.

“Uh huh no way am I walking down that” Damion said to himself. He looked to his left to see a big stone, he picked it up and dropped it onto another step, it crumbled yet again and took out another three on the way down. It was just too unsafe for him to walk down. He had to find another way to descend, but there seemed to be no way for miles on end. Nothing but cliff protected the side, everywhere but the very end at the horizon but that would take weeks to reach.

“If I can’t get down there, I won’t survive out here for long without food” but deep down Damion knew what would happen at night and he knew he would feed somehow.

 

He had started back into the forest again, and began to walk across the cliffsides to, following it to find some way down. He had still not come across anything, but still was a whole mind away from climbing it. Damion was scared of heights and had no thoughts of climbing. The sun had climbed to the highest point in the sky, it was now truly the middle of the day and Damion was thankful he had the trees to shade him from the sun. His stomach growled at him asking for food that he couldn’t deliver.

For a large forest there wasn’t much food to eat at all.

He sat down upon a mossy rock; it was very smooth and no doubt marble. He was exhausted, the uneven ground made it difficult to walk with stumbling. He took a long breath and sighed out loudly, he looked upwards blinded by the sunlight penetrating the trees and smiled again knowing where he was, was safe at last. No villagers, no dangerous creatures, just gentle nature. The tranquillity of the forest touched Damion by heart and could even break a smile from the saddest of faces. He was happy and he felt at home in this natural world.

 

More time had passed as the sun began to fall further out of the sky; the air seemed to be getting thicker and more humid. Damion had been walking for hours along the ridge still finding no way down off the cliff, the sky started to become duller and the sky became a proud purple colour. Wisps of cloud streamed across the sky in groups and in shades of blue. The call of Mirons called from the sky, it was a beautiful chatter of the love song. Mirons were not only known for their size, but also their birdsong. Mirons were twice the size of a full grown man, so to Damion they looked incredibly huge.

“Uh! Still no way down” he said to himself “I’ve been walking for hours for crying out loud” he shouted. His voice echoed across the forest. Then suddenly the bushes around began to rustle, it wasn’t the sound of a small Typhone, or of any bird in that matter. Damion stood completely still and looked around at the bushes. Damion didn’t hang around and darted away from the area and ran through the forest. Trees blocked his path and hit him frequently as he tried to run through the gaps but frequently got scratched instead. He turned back to see a blur running across the ridge above him, the blur disappeared suddenly and appeared on his other side. Fear grasped Damion with a cold chilling feeling. He stumbled forwards and fell through into a clearing revealing only a cliff. There was no way to go from here, he couldn’t go either side, he was trapped. He turned after hearing a nasty growl; red eyes showed through the brush and steamed breath. He slowly took a step back but as he did the end of the cliff fell down into the valley below. Damion was startled and took a large step forwards, and turned to see the end of the cliff crumbling closer. A sharp pain struck his back as blood was drawn and wetted the floor red. He stumbled forwards and as he did the cliff crumbled further. He lost his footing falling into the valley but grabbed hold of a large stone sticking out of the cliffside drawing blood from his hand. The stone was solid and showed of sign of shifting any time soon. He looked up to see the cliff still falling, rubble fell past him splitting as the stones hit the hard solid rock below, all narrowly missing him. His hand slipped as he lost concentration falling further down but somehow honed his reflex to grasp hold of another rock. He held on tightly but truly in pain as dirt began to rub into he wound. But however this rock was not fasten tight and began to slip out of the cliff. He panicked and swung to another rock watching the other fall to the ground below. But no sooner that he had grasped hold of this rock he was struck by another falling from above knocking him from the side. This time he was too far, he couldn’t grasp again. He had at least 70 meters to fall to the ground. Damion cried as he knew this fall would surely kill him. Stone fell past him and hitting him further from the cliff, impaling him frequently.

 

Damion:

I could feel it, death was upon me. There was no way I could survive this fall, looking back to it, my life never flashed before my eyes, there was just darkness as the sky dulled into a black colour.

 

Star clusters in the sky, the darkness of the sky, enhancing their everlasting beauty. No moon showed tonight. Time moved slowly as he fell to the ground ever so slowly gained closer. Roots grew out of the cliff he could see, leaves glowed off the vines and lit up the cliffside green. The glow seemed to fade as he fell past them. The ground approached, when a sudden cry echoed the sky. Damion looked to his right to see a Miron swoop under and caught him merely a few metres from the ground. The Miron began to fly higher to the sky but was suddenly impaled by falling debris as a large rock stabbed through its wing. A flash of red came off the Miron as all the feathers began to glow brightly showing off its true beauty. They both fell, Miron and Damion, closer to the ground but as they did the Miron threw Damion off just to be caught by yet another Miron. This one took to the sky away from the cliff Damion grasping hard onto the magnificent bird. The feathers glowed red lighting up the forest as it gliding with grace and had a tranquil essence about it. The Miron flapped its wings powerfully and gained more air taking it up into the sky, Damion found it hard to hold on as it did so. A Miron cried out in the distance and the Miron, Damion grasped so tightly, returned the call. The feathers of the bird faded until it was no longer glowing. The air was quiet, nothing stirred, no wind blew through the sky, just……silence.

 

Damion:

Just when I thought I was safe again, wow I was wrong. Even the skies aren’t safe, there I was thinking that Mirons were the biggest bird to roam. Gentle, elegant and wonderful creatures. Turns out not all the birds were so friendly.

 

An ear piercing cry suddenly destroyed the sound barrier of silence in the sky. A horrendous screech gave Damion goosebumps. Everything was still, then the impossible happened.

“Wha-?” Damion was in shock “They sky, its moving” Damion rubbed his eyes to see if he was seeing things. A large piece of the sky in front seemed to move, the darkness of black moved at a swift speed around the Miron. This was big the black patch was bigger than the Miron, three times the size even. A chilling wind brushed past his face. Mirons all around began to swoop up to where Damion and the Miron flew, they all began to glow and let out a simultaneous screech. The light around revealed a horrifying sight. His eyes grew, his jaw dropped but soon scrunched back up as a loud high pitched screech attacked his ear drums. A Shadow Drycan a bird of legend, only few have supposedly seen it, and even fewer survived who had. The Shadow Drycan was made up of layers of matte black feathers, its breast daemon red. Its eye shuddering green, the sight of Miron but enhanced. A black aurora glowed around the Drycan in the effect that black tar dripping off the legendary bird. Its talons sharper than knives and swords put together. This creature was legend of a sign of evil and heartlessness. Shadow Drycan struck at a small female Miron tearing its beak through the wing. The Miron pummelled to the ground, tearing up the ground below. A fellow Miron in the sky took up into the sky further and took a shot at the Drycan but merely pulling a feather from the wing. The Miron took off distracting the Drycan but ended up being chased. The Drycan hunted it down and wrapped its beak around the leg of the Miron throwing it upwards. The Miron panicked trying to escape but failed as the Drycans beak pierced the wing tearing a hole through and threw it to the ground.

The Miron carrying Damion took off to the trees in an attempt to escape the same fate; the Drycan focused its gaze onto Damion and the Miron and darted downwards too, to meet them at the bottom. The Drycan was intercepted by a small Miron pecking at its back, the Drycan stopped to attack back but couldn’t acquire a target, the small Miron was swift and could avoid the gaze of the dreaded Drycan. The Drycan finally acquired a target but was attacked from behind by yet another. The whole group had taken to the Drycan and pecked, pulled and pushed the Drycan. It was outnumbered and in a desperate attempt took off up into the skies again. The Drycan blended to the sky and disappeared, but Damion knew it was still lurking. The Miron had now taken shelter under the trees, hiding and keeping quiet. Damion slipped off the back of the blessed Miron and got down low in the bushes.

 

They waited for forty seven minutes in the bushes. The skies became quiet, creatures began to stir in the forest again. Birds ascended to the sky feeling safe and at ease. Damion had fallen asleep, the night was too much for him, hunger began to hold his weakness. The Miron had waited with him and fought off all creatures who attempted to make Damion their prey. Damion lay rested and calm under the safe watch of the Miron. Night was nowhere near from over though, the stars still shone brightly onto the forest. The guardians of Zynia, there sometimes called. Damion nestled into the Mirons wing, the warmth of the hot blooded animal seeping into him.

 

Damion:

Sleeping under the wing of the Miron felt safe, the warm and the protective essence of a mothers embrace. I couldn’t believe how in tune I was with nature, maybe one day I’ll find out why me and my mother share this gift.

The morning had come to the forest however today no sun shone; just grey clouds circled the skies today. Rain drops fell down onto the forest and wetted the ground and hampered the skill of walking. Damion had been up for a few hours now, the Miron still sat close to Damion and feeling the hunger he did too. The new light had opened a whole different world unto the forest. Small streams flowed through the forest the gentle sounds of water droplets hitting the soft earth; the gentle trickle attracted much wildlife to this spot, luckily to Damion the gentle wildlife. Trees swayed in the wind creaking as they did so. Damion heard waves crashing along a coast not far away, but as he did so adopted a rather puzzled look.

“Wait, an ocean, here?” he questioned himself “How is that possible when there is no coast for miles?” Damion looked to the Miron and saw that it had notice the waves too. He looked through the trees to see if he could see the ocean at all but nothing seemed to exist past the trees except more and more trees. He started off towards the direction of the waves, the Miron followed close behind staying no more than a few feet. The waves got louder and louder to Damion as he found his way through the trees avoiding branches and fallen logs. The sound grew louder still until he reached a clearing, and then silence. Damion looked around the clearing; all to be seen were moonlight flowers and a small arch in the centre of a small water basin. The water around the arch rippled off to the sides until they disappeared into the mother earth. The Miron soon appeared from the trees to see the clearing too, it stopped and just stared into the arch. Its head cocked to the side as it stared into the empty doorway. Pollen seeds floated across the open area, the yellow pores landing to the floor and frequently got caught in the branches. Damion stepped out into the clearing into the flowers. The flowers around glowed as he walked through them, the moonlight glow bewildered him. The ground was soft underneath him and cushioned his feet. The yellow pollen seeds lifted off the flowers and brushed past his face, it felt smooth to Damion. As he reached the centre of the clearing the Miron looked puzzled and watch as Damion stood at the water edge. Damion looked in awe at the arch and tilted his head looking rather confused almost as much as the Miron. He looked down and spotted a stone on the floor; he picked it up and ran it through his fingers. It was a smooth pebble; the grains ran horizontally and were bluish green in colour. He skipped the stone across the water until it skipped through the arch, it left a ripple behind but as it entered the arch it disappeared and left no trace behind.

“Whoa!” Damion's eyes widened with surprise, “Where do it go?” he looked back at the Miron as if it was to answer back but just got a returned puzzled look in his attempt. Damion stood and stared into the arch; he looked down in to the water and placed a foot in. The water was not deep and only reached just above his ankle. He moved forwards slowly as more of his body became submerged into the water; the water was not cold but surprisingly very warm. He reached the arch; the water only reached his waist. He stopped and looked back to the Miron and saw that it had stepped forwards into the clearing looking intently at him. He nodded at the bird and entered the arch.

Everything was dark, wind whipped around Damion as he stood in the centre of a freezing cold water basin. He jumped as he went from warm to suddenly extremely cold; he rushed forwards out of the water and reached the water edge. He darted out of the water and sat down on the side of the bank. The cold wind strangled Damion and chilled him all the way through, grasping his soul and crushing it. Damion suddenly felt like he was in a panic, his heart rate rapidly increased, his breathing became shallow, his eyes showed terror and his muscles tightened. Damion looked around as all the flowers around him were night black, the sky was red and harboured no stars, but above did harbour many Shadow Drycans. Damion fell to his back and squirmed in pain clenching his fists, his muscles tensed and his skin began to sweat. Damion knew what was happening, he was becoming the thing he feared most and tried to hold back, but the pain was too much to bear. All the signs came apparent; he was a werewolf again. However this time it felt different, there was no lack of control and he knew what he was doing. The beast lurking in the dark shadows of Damion’s mind and his fear broke lose into the open light. Control was in his grasp at last and Damion took advantage of this. He turned and ran on all fours back through the arch.  Damion reached the edge and jumped across the water through the arch but to his surprise didn’t land in warm crystal water, but landed in still chilling green cold water. He leaped out of the water and shook off the water out of his now soaked silver fur. He looked back in sheer confusion at the arch wondering why he didn’t go back through to the other side. Damion looked backwards into the forest, it was dark and eerie. However only silence came through the trees. Damion took a few steps forwards into the flowers and they began to glow red. The red dimmed into amber and the flowers crumbled into ash and floated past Damion getting caught in his fur. He looked cautiously into the brush and vegetation but could see nothing but darkness for miles. Damion stared endlessly deciding in his mind whether it was sensible to enter the forest or whether he should find another way around. It suddenly occurred to him that he was a werewolf and without any hesitation walked forwards on all fours into the forest. The forest was different, dark and completely devoid of light. It went on for miles if he could remember clearly. Damion found he could not speak but only growl, one of the disadvantages of being a werewolf he guessed.

 

Damion roamed the forest slowly, the trees around purely shadows of the others from the light world. The ground below his feet was hard and cracked; the earth had been in that state for more than a few years he knew. The sky red with anger and despair struck the forest with rays of light. All around Damion creatures roamed but none seemed to be of the friendly sort, he had noticed a about half an hour small wolves known as raptos seemed to be following him keeping close to him at every move. Raptos were slim creatures, there skin covered with a hard outer coating of reinforced skin. They were black in colour and no bigger than a woman but however their numbers were great. Damion could see at least ten of them and knew there were more lurking in the bushes. There weapons, sharp claws and blood soaked teeth, the sheer speed and power gave them a great advantage. However it was odd, none seemed to get close to him as if they were just an outer ring of protection for him. The kept in formation circling him but showing no sign of aggression, no snarls or growls exited their mouths.

 

It wasn’t long after until Damion reached what seemed to be the edge of the forest, but how could that be? The forest seemed to go on for miles in the other world but this stopped within five of them. Damion loomed forwards to the light and looked out cautiously. The sight gave Damion a shock. Ahead of Damion was a large clearing the ground cracked beyond any chance of healing, the earth’s weak spot. Flames burst from the cracks and the sky flashed red with bolts of lightning. It was what could only be described as a Fire Tundra. However on the other end, Damion’s superhuman sight served him well, was another arch jammed in a crack in the earth. Above in the sky Shadow Drycans dominated, above was purely a massacre of nature. Shadow Drycans fought each other above; the sky was raining showers of blood. Damion conferred with himself in his mind whether that trying to cross this plain was a good idea.

 

‘I must cross here, who knows when I’ll find another arch, but also what’s telling me that the arch will even work, the last one didn’t. But looking above I swear this could be murder for me, if they even spot me that is. I guess if I run as fast as I can across this plain I might be able to reach the arch before they even notice.

 

Damion had got his plan and needed no more conferring he was sure this is what he wanted to do. Damion dropped onto all fours; he dug his back feet down into the dusty crack, his front light ready to push off. The pupils in his eyes contracted and focused a path through. He worked out his route and his destination was set. He then looked up to the sanguine sky and watched for the moment that the Shadow Drycans would be most distracted. He stopped for moments, his heartbeat raced faster picking up more beats by the minute, and the moment grew more and more intense. His focus wavered more and more as the minutes passed and with that decided it was time. His back feet dug violently down into the earth and a cloud of dust burst from the crack as it spilt in two full he stumbled forwards but kept running, his speed magnificent and his power incredible. He knew where he was going as he set off down the tundra, flames burst in front of him, blood rained down onto his fur and lightning struck above. Damion focused as dust picked up behind him at the path ahead, but in doing so didn’t notice the shadow that suddenly passed over the sun. The sky became dark and the heat died. It became cold and bitter; Damion muscles tightened and his speed decreased. He was metres from the arch; he could taste freedom but was not going to get it. He jumped at the arch but was thrown to the side almost sliding down into one of the cracks; he regained his balance and turned to face his foe. It seemed to be another Shadow Drycan, but it wasn’t like the rest. It was bigger, a lot bigger.

The wingspan of his wing was incredible probably at least two times more of a regular. The black aura dripped off but vanished as it did its claws the size of Damion himself and its height was remarkable. A Tundra Drycan. The Tundra Drycan screeched and the air became cold and the ground around, began to freeze. A burst of fire exploded form the ground but froze before Damion’s eyes; the fire in side was still burning but the ice outside dominating.

Damion made the first move before the cold hit him and rushed up towards the Drycan. He launched at it and dug his claws in to the stomach of the Drycan drawing blood, the Drycan screeched loudly in pain and darted upwards. The wind force pulling Damion down was great and dragged him down ripping the flesh of the Drycan. It cried in pain even more each second and barrelled rolled flinging Damion off and blood followed him and stained his fur once more. They were up high and Damion didn’t think he would survive the fall. He turned and latched onto a close Drycan and dug in not letting go. His anger flared and his fur stood up slightly. He roared loudly and pushed himself of the Drycan and latched onto another higher, he did so repeatedly climbing higher and higher. Damion thrusted off one more, but narrowly missed his target. He fell a few metres but grasped hold of another below. He regained his focus as the Drycan thrashed trying to throw him off. He helped himself and jumped up higher once more. The Drycans swarmed all trying to land a hit on Damion but Damion kept climbing using them as common rocks for climbing. They began to peck him, leaving small wounds on him but then healing within seconds ready to be pierced once more. All that could be seen from the outside was what seemed to be a swarm fighting for their latest meal. Damion’s anger got more intense and his patience had worn completely thin. His anger became a frenzy and lashed out tearing the Drycans limb from limb. Drycans fell from the sky and blood rained across the plains. He tore his claws through one after another but also in the long run was running out of Drycans to hold on to. He was down to  about twelve left and latched on hard onto a Drycan. Damion looked above and could see the Tundra Drycan hovering above. He used all of his left over strength, he was tired and hurt, and jumped up higher and pierce the Tundra Drycans skin but was only holding on with one paw. It thrashed and began to attempt to throw him off. The Drycan succeeded but not for long, instead of holding onto another he used it as a ledge and jumped back up actually landing both claws in. He climbed higher on the Dyrcan digging his claws in and leaving injuries as he did so. The Drycan became weak and began to fall, the loss of blood too much; it hovered down for a few metres but as it got lower began to fall more quickly. Damion rode the Drycan down to the floor. It pummelled into the floor and ice shattered and lodged in its injuries. Blood dripped out and formed a puddle on the ground. He stepped off and darted for the arch; he launched up and finally reached it. He went through and disappeared at that, but who knows where this one would take him.

Reviews

[Silent Wolf]

Interesting. It did move a bit fast again, but it had quite a good bit of injuries. Still, I'm not really fully able to guess at the size of each of these creatures. I could get it relatively, but that's about it. A few grammar mistakes and sentence structures are a bit off in places, and the paragraphing again. Otherwise, this is really good.

[Forgotten]

You have a good point there, there is no reference into the size of them. Something I can think about in the edit :)

[Silent Wolf]

Lol cool deal.

[Coyote Poetry]

I like the beginning of the chapter. The description of location and animals made the story stronger. I like the thoughts of Damion. Good to add history to make the characters stronger. Thank you for a excellent chapter.
Coyote