I would like to thank Jadedragoness for giving me the idea of this story with her One-Shot writing contest thread. You can visit it on this link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=38462&page=1 Enjoy the story!(Warning: if you don't like tragic stories with sad stuff, be warned. This will possibly be full of it).
Even though the nephini is technically shown as a male, I am writing it as a female. Regular type is the nephini's perspective. This color is the sylvorpa perspective, and this color is the Ny'vene perspective. My story got deleted... hang on let me think on this... 4-6 times. It took me forever to post this! I am going to edit the same post every time, so you can always come back to this post for the updated story. Enjoy!
Moon Warrior
Prologue
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 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 it's webbed tail was sticking out from between two bars, bent at an awkward angle. It's eyes were wide with fear, fear of it's 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 through the 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 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.
It's jaws were bound tightly with wire, and it's neck was cuffed to a stone slab, as well as it's 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 form 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 it's 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.
Part 1(Now Abyss/the sylvorpa is in regular type. Obsidian/the ny'vene is the same color as he was)
I licked the gash in my side exhausted from the previous night. It was just like that night a week ago. It was just like the wound that had killed Moon Dust...
A screech as a Hunter's blade flashed through the air. Blood. Silvery-blue blood spattering all over the ground and all over me.
"You... will have to be... the Moon Warrior."
I shook my head, my eyes glazing over. I couldn't keep fighting this pain. Fighting the reality that there were people that would kill and kill and kill and that they had taken a life right in front of my eyes. A life that should have lived longer. A life that should have been standing here beside me, cleaning her own wounds.
I looked over at Obsidian, who was licking his bloodied scales with his rough toungue, his single ear flicking back and forth at every sound, every chirp of a bird, every leaf that fell. He had been completely paranoid since Moon Dust's death. He had roared his misery to the sky so loudly, I had been worried he would have attracted more prowling Sylesti Hunters. But he hadn't. He just kept roaring and roaring, completely heartbroken. His love had been crushed, and his pride along with it. It had been a horrible sound. It had been full of despair and pain, like a bird's last choking song, strained and sad.
My useless, stubby claws ground into the dirt beneath my webbed feet.
You could have saved her. You could have done something.
My thoughts taunted me and I screamed silently to my brain, Stop it, stop it, stop it! Leave me alone!
I didn't want to remember it, how she died. But if I forgot that, I would forget her entirely. You can't remember happy things, without remembering the sad ones.
I flicked a feather from the Aurelon we had rescued off of my tail. It was a shimmering yellow, like the afternoon sun. Rocky was his name. He had flown away hastely, explaining over his shoulder that his friend was in worse trouble than he was.
Why then, hadn't I felt the pull, the longing pain of the second Aurelon, the one he had spoken of?
I would dwell on that later. First, I thought. I need food.
I looked into the giggling stream, seeing nothing but a water bug. Disgusting. I thought. Walking further down the stream, I spotted a large cluster of mussles. My heart leaping with joy, I yanked them off of the algae-covered rock the clung to. I pushed them back to where Obsidian was sitting and sat down, swishing my tail.
"Want any?" I asked him.
"No," he replied glumly. "I'll go see if there's a deer or something over in those woods."
"Whatever."
I cracked open the mussles, using my anger and confusion to give me the strength. I swallowed the suculant meat, savoring it's tenderness. Then I soved down the rest, unable to contain my hunger. This was the largest meal I'd had in days, and I didn't want to waste it with my own worries. Obsidian came flying out of the trees, carrying a large deer(I was thankful it had not been a Faelora) and dropped it on the grass, grunting as he landed. Disgusted as he tore it apart, I turned around and drank from the stream.
How I wish I could forget...
Part 2
I tore apart the carcass of the deer, putting my anger and grief into every bite. I pretended it was a Hunter. I pretended I was tearing one of them apart limb by limb, piece be piece.
Them. They had killed her. Them.
I couldn't live with the fact that she was dead. She died before my own eyes.
The only thing that kept me from tearing out my own heart was her last words to me. Not to Abyss. Only me:
"I love you as well, and I shall be in your heart for all eternity, and you in mine."
She loved me.
It had been love at first sight.
But the Hunters had taken it from me, from her, from us. And I despised them for it. Despised them with all my heart and all my soul.
I swallowed part of the deer's middle. It tasted bitter. Bitter from my hatred. Bitter from the way life pushed me and pulled me, threw me around. I think that life despised me too.
Full, I looked at Abyss, who was finished with her shellfish. Her eyes showed too much of her. Even someone as stupid as---
No. I wouldn't think about him. Never would I let my own thoughts destract me from my wishes to forget. I only wanted to forget him. Both of them. No not Moon Dust.
Empty eyes. Empty of their fire. Empty of---
Flashes of memory plagued me. They'd plagued me for years, taunting me, breaking me.
They would break me no longer.
I walked over to Abyss. The moss squished under my talons. "We should find some kind of shelter before any Sylesti Hunters come along," I told her.
She nodded. "I know." She looked aaround the valley. Her big eyes were at least good for one thing, because soon Abyss spotted a small cave in a cliff side. I flapped my red and black wings to get at least a little bit airborne, then lowered myself slightly over Abyss, grasping her slippery middle. She helped me get some momentem by pushing off the ground with her surprisingly strong back legs, and soon I was touching the clouds, low enough so Abyss could still breathe. I flew as fast as I could while carrying her weight, but it took me a good twenty minutes to get to the cave.
It was not necessarily a large one, but it gave us enough room to each have separate areas, though I didn't mind having Abyss near me. A crack of thunder startled her, and I almost laughed at the look on her face, but then I remembered that where she had come from there was little rain, but plenty of water. She had lived in
Hello. I am still going on with this story, but I need certain info an sylestia that I currently don't have. I am working on trying to figure it out, but it may be a few days. If you are enjoying this story and would like to continue reading it, your are welcome to give me your username so I can ping you when I am continuing. Thankyou!
to be continued...
Abyss
Obsidian
The Moon Warrior/Moon Dust |
