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Part 6: An Ambush!!!
Monochrome picked up a scent.
"It's like Olympus'... But more fiery..."
He leapt throughout the canopy of Umbra Forest until he reached the edge of the woods. He saw several sylesties flying from the city and towards the forest. Hmmmm. There were the scouts and- WAIT. "Are those-!?" It can't be! Were those the Champions of Esior!? This. Was. BAD. He knew if Esior's guardians were to get to Umbra forest, it would be all over!
Monochrome shook his head in a panic, "I have to warn them! The Champions are coming!" He dove down,off of his perch in the trees and was off like a shot! He rushed through the undergrowth, effortlessly phasing through fallen logs, bushes, and other obstacles in his way to get to... wherever they were stationed. It was really just a clearing with a bunch of timber and fireweed.
He hit the ground so hard he was somehow able to stir up some dirt. "Monochrome!? Holy Faerina, what did you see!?" Frost asked in alarm. To Frost, Monochrome had always acted calm and collected around him, but now that he was freaking out, Frost was also freaking out. Alps was freaking out- wait, why is he still here? Oh, he was with Coral, who was asleep. That made sense. Coral bolted up in alarm from his slumber. Was it just him, or did Coral sleep a lot? Monochrome shook his head to clear his thoughts and began to explain frantically.
But all that came out was a jumble of words that didn't really make any sense, even to him. But Alps seemed to get it right away. "He's trying to tell us that the... Champions of Esior are coming this way!" Alps hurriedly explained, "Mono thinks that they've captured the scouts, and they're bringing along a cyan and black Vulnyx with flaming wings-" Frost fell over and fainted before Alps got to finish his sentence. Everyone in the vicinity looked over in confusion. "Jeez, we didn't even need Andromeda for this." Coral mused. Alps was soon calling out for a medic. Coral padded to Frost's side and began to poke him. " If it takes the mere mention of a threat to take him out, the pride must've become ultra-paranoid, or just he did after I was exiled." The young Vulnyx looked back at Monochrome, "What's so scary about the Champions anyways? They're just sylesties like us but probably more a little more organized?"
Monochrome froze up in shock. "You haven't heard!? They're some of the most powerful non-human magic users on this side of Sylestia! I heard they took down an entire regiment of Nightfall Bandits BY THEMSELVES!!!" Coral suddenly jumped back. Was that chuckling he heard? The clopping of hooves interrupted the forest's serenity around the as a healer dragged off Frost. A Qitari, as blue as dusk in winter, trotted into the clearing.
"It's lies. It's all lies." The Qitari said bitterly. Alps swung his head towards her, "Wait, aren't you the Qitari who deserted from Esior?" He said. His eyes were focused on the newcomer as though peering into her soul (which, to be honest, he inadvertently does all the time). "Flurry, was it?" The Qitari nodded. "You three don't know the full story, do you?" Monochrome shook his head, "Full story? There is one?" He asked as the Qitari sat down in front of them, glowering. Flurry shook her head. "You know about the trap I set, right?" "What trap?" Mono asked. He sure didn't remember anything about a trap! "The Champions defeated them all by themselves, right?" Alps shook his head at Monochrome's guess. "No, that's not exactly what happened." Flurry snorted and stamped a hoof on the ground.
"Well, I'm not gonna drag this on much longer. We still have a bit of work to do, so I'll cut this short." She snapped, immediately grabbing their attention. "Well, it was my plan to lead the bandits into a series of traps, but SOMEHOW MOST OF THEM DIDN'T WORK. My guess is that they were sabotaged the day before I put my plan into motion. The only way I could get these bandits off my tail was to alert the Champions. Sadly for me, they had already been warned by some guards and accused me of treason. They threw me out afterward." Everyone was silent for a second. "I don't blame them." Said a passing Zolnixi. Flurry galloped up to them and gave them a firm smack with one of her hooves. "Woooo- OK, let's just- uh-" Monochrome uttered with a twinge of fear, "Ahem, Flurry, do the Champions have any weaknesses?"
Flurry smirked, "They do. A lot, really."
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Atlas was beginning to notice things about the Champions as they flew through the sky towards Umbra. Wisp was quite chatty and liked to tell stories about herself. She especially talked about her time she spent in the Plane of Shadows and how horrible it was. Apparently, her parents favored her brother more than her by a large margin, even though she was more magically talented! How strange! She stuttered a lot, which made it almost impossible to understand her. She seemed to be shaking with fear as she retold her tale. He didn't blame her. Whatever had happened must've affected her a lot.
Perch seemed shifty. Although he held his head up with pride, there was something in his facial expression that signified that he didn't really want to be here. His wings twitched a lot as he was flying, and he constantly looked over the team. Atlas wondered why he was doing that. Maybe he was just worried for the well-being of his fellow champions? "He must really care for his team..." Atlas thought.
The singular avian of the group, Constellation, seemed the most calm and collected; determination sparkling in his eyes as they gilded on. He tried to put on a brave face like Constellation did. Dark clouds were beginning to form over the horizon, though.
Suddenly, they soared above the canopy of Umbra Forest. Woah, were they really flying this fast? They soon landed in a clearing, still quite close to the treeline. "Fan out!" Perch bellowed, "Stay vigilant and keep an eye for any traps those poachers might have set up and make sure to dismantle them!" Everyone immediately ran off all in different directions from where they had touched down. Knowing how poorly this maneuver normally went in the stories circulating around Esiors Haven, he took Perch's words to heart. "Stay vigilant; keep an eye out." Despite Perch's warning, he was almost immediately distracted. Upon seeing a clearing next to a small, narrow stream, he was swiftly taken aback by a wave of nostalgia. This was where he had run off with his adopted brother Coral used to play! The scuffs in the large tree they used to climb were still there, and the rocks they pretended to fly to and from still had their claw marks embedded into them.
He padded over and gingerly touched one of the rocks. "Oh my Faerina, how much time has passed?" He said, his voices just barely above a whisper. The claw marks seemed so small compared to his paws now. Everything around him was peaceful. Suddenly, a shrill scream broke him out of his thoughts. "Was that Wisp?!" He didn't even have time to think as his wings carried him into the air. "Oh my stars, oh my stars, OH MY STARS!" Unfortunately, when Atlas finally got to where Wisp's voice came from, he wasn't too graceful on the landing, smashing right into the ground amidst his panic. But where was Wisp? Oh, wait, there's a hole next to him. And inside it was Wisp.
She did not look good. One of her orbs was gone, meaning that she was just five orbs away from fizzling out of existence! There was a deep gash in her side, and it seemed a few of her gems got torn off in the scuffle. "Wisp! Wisp! Oh my Faerina, are you ok!?" Atlas shouted to the ryori in worry. "A-Atlas?" She weakly lifted her head to face him. "What happened?!" Atlas gingerly reached a paw down the pit. Wisp grabbed onto his paw and was pulled up. Taking a closer look at her, he was shocked to see her misty pelt riddled with cuts and scrapes! Wasn't she adept in magic and also half incorporeal??? Oh wait, magic takes energy to perform, and energy was DEFINITELY a thing she had right now.
Atlas looked up upon hearing a rustling noise coming from the bushes. Unfamiliar scents swirled around him, but there was one thing they all had in common. An air of danger. Glowing eyes stared at them and suddenly, they were attacked. A swarm of sylesties of all kinds came charging out of the bushes and before long, the duo were surrounded. "Hold on!" Atlas yowled, hoisting Wisp onto his back and dashing straight towards the wall of claws and malice. With a tremendous leap, he shot into the air and above the canopy, with many of the attacking sylesties giving chase. "We need to find the other Champions!" Yowled Atlas in alarm. "We need to find them now!"
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IT'S DONE
IM DONE
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
TIME TO DISAPPEAR FOR UNTILL IM READY TO WRITE THE NEXT CHAPTER |
