Entering Contest Number 4(OH SO VERY PROUD OF THIS ONE...):
Regular is the Nephini's perspective, purple is the Sylvorpa's perspective, and green is the Ny'vene's perspective
Moon Warrior
I walked through the forest, the trees towering above me, looking down at me, whispering as the silent night wind weaved through their branches. My feet padded soundlessly across the fallen leaves and soft soil, the blue moon shining down on me, as if it were wishing me well, watching over me.
I kept following the pull the sylesti was giving me. It was one of the strongest pulls I'd ever experienced, and I didn't resist my powers, I let them lead me to the sylesti that was calling for help. Calling to me without even knowing it.
The Moon Warrior. That's what they call me. The one who saves. The one who puts her life in danger for others. The one who is selfless.
As I got closer to the point where the sylesti was, I realized it wasn't one sylesti, but two. Two that needed my help. I came across the first one, a Sylvorpa. Then I knew why it was calling to me.
Sylesti Hunters.
I spread my great feathered wings and flew up to the branches of a tree overlooking the clearing in which the Hunters camped. They sat around a fire, roasting a fowl on a spit, unbeknownst to my presence.
The Sylvorpa was in a cramped cage, the bars pressing up against it's black, white-ringed skin. The end of its webbed tail was sticking out from between two bars, bent at an awkward angle. Its eyes were wide with fear, fear of its fate.
Blending in perfectly with the moonlight, I swooped down and the fire went out as I whooshed my wings over it. The taller man cursed and walked in the direction of the cart, drawn by a large pack horse. Pushing away the horse's curious nuzzle, he reached for the flint and steel.
I descended upon him, knocking the stones out of his hands and stabbing forward with my beak. "Moon Devil!" he cried. That's what they called me. The one who steals. The one who brings destruction.
He grabbed at me, but I easily avoided his beefy hands.
The had never caught me, and they wouldn't tonight, for I am the Moon Warrior.
I filled with relief and excitement as the Moon Warrior pushed the first Hunter to the ground, cracking his skull. She zoomed at the other man, who had drawn a saber and was hiding a net behind his back. I wanted to warn her about it, but my snout was wedged between two bars, and it hurt to move it.
The Hunter slashed with his saber but the Moon Warrior twisted gracefully away, completely calm. The man hurled the net and she got tangled in it, falling to the ground. Her wings were pinned under her and her tail whipped back and forth, unable to get free. A sense of dread pushed away my hope as the Hunter loomed over her, raising his saber and aiming for the kill.
The turquoise Nephini wrapped her tail around the hilt of the knife and plunged it into the Hunter's chest, killing him instead.
The Moon Warrior cut herself free with the blade, and, tossing it away, she moved majestically towards me. She clipped through the metal with her beak as if it were a thread and helped me out onto the ground.
Thank you," I whispered. "Thank you, Moon Warrior."
An elegant smile spread across her beak and she said in a voice as beautiful as the night wind, "Moon Dust. My name is Moon Dust."
I could see in her eyes that it was a secret, and a secret to be kept. I nodded and she leaned her curved neck down and pressed her forehead against mine. "Go. Be as free as the sun and as swift as the wind."
Then she opened her great wings and flew off into the night.
Free as the sun? Swift as the wind? Those I would be, but I did not want to go. I didn't want to leave. So I slipped off into the trees after her, almost missing the glowing white mark on my forehead in the reflection of the water.
I flew high above the woods, following the pull of the second sylesti. Why had I told her my true name? Why had I given her my mark? Something told me she was different. I spotted the next sylesti, a Ny'vene.
Its jaws were bound tightly with wire, and its neck was cuffed to a stone slab, as well as its legs and tail. His back was bloody from his struggle, and as he tried to move, one of the three Hunters winded a sharpened wore around his middle, making it all the more painful.
These Hunters were clearly more brutal than the last ones, for they laughed as the Ny'vene tried to scream. The slim man whispered mockingly in his ear, and then tore it, creating a stream of blood. They weren't going to let him live. The were going to torture him until he died, then inject him with some chemical so he could still feel, and pleasure themselves with hurting it for the rest of their lives.
And I knew they were going to do the same thing to me if I was caught. But I could never be caught, even if I was taken, my spirit would fly free, watching over the world.
I dove at full speed towards the Hunter that was currently tormenting the Ny'vene and stabbed at his eyes with my beak, popping one out. As he fell to the ground screaming, he thrust a minuscule needle at me, which I hastily avoided.
I charged at the next man, short, but hard with muscles. He managed to grab my back foot and stick me in the flank with one of the needles. I went limp and he easily tossed me onto another stone slab, tying me up like the Ny'vene next to me.
He bashed me on the head with his fist as I tried to move, the needle now extracted from my flank. Red and white lights flashed in my vision. He left me alone to go look at the wounded man still lying on the ground, clutching his face.
I glanced sideways at the Ny'vene, who was watching me with sad but hopeful eyes. I'm sorry, I thought. I failed.
I looked up at the moon, straining my eyes to see it once more, and then closed them, defeated.
I watched as the Moon Warrior closed her eyes, accepting defeat. The Hunters were leaving us alone, and I thanked her for that. In fact, I loved her for it, and I loved her with all my heart and all my soul. Blood was still flowing from my ear, blinding the eye looking away from her, but that didn't matter to me. All I wanted to see was her, right by my side.
There was a flicker of movement by the blinded eye and I felt the wire being unwound from my middle. Whatever it was was friendly, and I was glad for that. Eventually, it came to my vision and I saw that it was a black Sylvorpa with white rings on her skin. There was a glowing white mark on its forehead, the mark of the Moon Warrior. Soon she freed us both and the Moon Warrior was even angrier than she had been when she had come to save me.
Now we were three strong against the Hunters, and there was no possible way they could defeat us. The Nephini's feathers brushed me slightly and a nervous but excited shiver went through my scales. It was a feeling I had felt before, but then....
The Moon Warrior launched herself at the unsuspecting Hunters, grasping the wounded one's throat as she went, flying up and then dropping him, breaking his neck and killing him. I jumped onto the third Hunter, while the Sylvorpa and the Moon Warrior battled the shorter, stronger one. Flames boiled inside me and I let them loose on the man, burning him in several places. I scratched and hissed, angry and wild, fighting for my life and for the other sylesti that fought by my side.
I finished off my Hunter with a snap to the neck, squeezing until he screamed and couldn't fight back any longer. I left to go help with the remaining one.
The Sylvorpa was twisting swiftly, easily avoiding the Hunter's blows, and biting at him in return. The Moon Warrior screeched as his saber flashed across her side, letting loose a flow of blueish-silvery blood, staining the ground. I reared back and the Hunter was engulfed in flames, and he ended at last.
I ran quickly to the Moon Warrior's side, along with the Sylvorpa.
I was lying on the ground, my breathing shallow. My vision was flickering, and my blood was going quickly. I didn't have long.
"What should we do?" the Sylvorpa panicked. "How do we fix this?"
I strained my neck to look up at her, and I looked into her eyes. "I... won't live. Not with... a wound... like this," I choked out. "I... can no longer... fight... nor can... I manage to... stay alive... any longer. You... will have to be... the Moon Warrior."
The Sylvorpa shook her head. "No, no you can't die. And I'm not a warrior. I won't----I can't---- fight. And I'll never be as good as you. There has to be another way, there must be a way to save you. I'll, I'll..."
I cut her off. "No. It's... too late ... for me. And... besides. You have... him."
The Sylvorpa nodded finally and accepted. "I shall."
"What are your names?"
"Abyss," said the Sylvorpa.
"Obsidian," the Ny'vene answered.
I nodded slowly. "Obsidian, lean down."
He did.
I placed my forehead against his and whispered to him, "I love you as well, and I shall be in your heart for all eternity, and you in mine."
When he pulled away, he too, had a mark on his forehead. "Now go. Go and save those in need. But first, I shall give my powers to you...."
With my dying breaths and the last of my energy, I pushed my power from my soul and heart and put it into the hearts and souls of Abyss and Obsidian. And the life left me.
And the Moon Warrior flew free up to the moon and watched over the world, just as she had promised.
The End
 |
