Three days after Teraphon had defeated Ehrus at Arach Arena, the Keanoan armed forces reached the western border of the Crustacean Domain. For four days, fierce battles took place, and the Second Phylo war was officially underway. Both sides had a clear objective. The chordates wanted to force their way in and the arthropods fought to keep them out. The arthropod’s crustacean defense proved to be too strong and the chordates eventually boarded their ships and retreated. Neither side could truly claim victory as both groups sustained a small number of casualties. This was merely a warm-up. The real bloodbath was yet to come.
Even though the chordates retreated, not all of their men were fortunate enough to escape. Seven men were captured and transported to the Spider Domain. One of them was a mammalian general named Jubo, the wildebeest. He was granted the special honor of meeting face to face with Teraphon. They sat across from each other at a table inside of a dingy dungeon. Rubax stood close by. Jubo’s hands were tied together and resting on the table. He was a seasoned warrior in his late thirties, yet he looked tired with bags under his eyes and stubble growth from days of shaving neglect. The journey to the Spider Domain was clearly a rough one.
“Welcome to Zitonia. I hope you’ve been enjoying your time here so far,” said Teraphon.
“Cut the crap. What do you want from me?”
“Isn’t it obvious. I need to acquire some intel from you so I can gain an advantage in this war.”
“You won’t get any info out of me. Do your worst.”
“I can tell by the look in your eyes that what you say is true. I’ve seen it before. The look of a warrior with unbreakable resolve. I know that you would take your knowledge with you to the grave. Nonetheless, I’d be a terrible ruler if I didn’t at least try to get you to talk. Rubax, bring one of those chordate troops in here.”
Rubax left the dungeon and returned in less than a minute with one of the captured warriors. He wore the steel armor of the amphibian land semiaquatic unit. His lips quivered, eyes roamed rapidly, and his body trembled. Teraphon stood up.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have any room for Keanoan prisoners, so we’ll have no choice but to execute you all. I actually already have someone in Keanos who can give me all of the war details that I need.”
“There’s no way that an arthropod could sneak into our land and report back to you without being caught,” Jubo insisted.
“He’s no arthropod. He’s one of your very own-a respectable man in a position of power who has ideals similar to mine.”
“Lies! Who is it then?”
“It would go against our agreement to tell you. I may have gotten carried away and told you too much actually. Anyway, there is one thing that you might be able to tell me. If you can give me the answer that I want, I will spare your lives and have you all work as slaves. Lying would be futile and I will find out if that’s the case. How does that sound?”
“What is it that you want?”
There was a brief pause as Teraphon’s face shifted to a glooming glare. Then he asked, “Where is the Vixenium Star?”
“What do you want with the-“
“Answer the question.”
“If I knew, I sure as hell wouldn’t tell you.”
Teraphon stepped away from the table, taking a few moments to pace back and forth. Then he looked back at Jubo.
“I was hoping things didn’t have to come to this. Rubax. Do it.”
Rubax’s skin changed to a metallic, black tone. His spider legs were like the bars of a prison cell, stern and rustic looking. The man standing beside Rubax was no longer a warrior after looking into the obsidian eyes of a demon. His soul was lost forever.
Rubax sank his fangs into the man’s left shoulder. It was a bite from the Sydney funnel-web spider, the deadliest spider in the world.
Jubo was horrified as he watched the man drop to the floor and begin to convulse while foaming at the mouth. Within seconds, his eyes rolled back completely and the convulsions ceased. He was dead.
Teraphon showed no emotion when he said, “Rubax, bring in the next one.”
# # #
Mory was undergoing battle tactics training at the bird base. Twelve days had passed since the game of sharks and minnows. He had spent most of those days working on his fighting skills and improving his physical fitness. The training was difficult at times, but he enjoyed every bit of it. The drills, assessments, and teachings from Sannis and Rubi were top notch. He couldn’t wait to put his new skills to the test, but he knew there was a lot more room for him to grow as a warrior.
He didn’t have to grow by himself though. The members of his training group were the coolest people that he had ever met. Bomba, the fire-bellied toad who tagged Mory out during sharks and minnows, constantly gave Mory some fighting tips. Sobat was one of the nicest people there when he wasn’t in his raging bull mode. Zeylan was the name of the carpet viper girl who almost tagged Mory out with her incredible strike speed. She often challenged Mory to a few rounds of a game called slapsies, which required one player to try to pull their hands away before the other player could try to slap them. Mory lost every single time as both the hand slapper and the hand puller.
He was also able to interact with spora from other training groups. He would even still run into Viro, the man who showed him the way to the bird base, from time to time. Hundreds of unique people and personalities made his time at the bird base a blast.
When group G finished training for the day, Sannis approached Mory.
“You ready for your first mission?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Here’s your mission note, which has all of the instructions and details.”
Mory took the small sheet of paper from Sannis and read it. There were only three brief instructions written on it.
“This is it? I thought I was gonna get to do something cool.”
“You’re not ready for cool yet. Now get going.”
Instruction number one was to go to the Hatchling Forest in Blue Jay Village. Blue Jay was the village to the north of Stork, so Mory didn’t have to walk for very long to get there. Hatchling Forest was a typical temperate forest, but it contained one thing that no other forest in the world had. Palli trees.
Instruction number two was to find a palli tree and obtain one kilogram of twigs and small branches. It seemed like a simple task, but it wasn’t. The palli was the rarest tree in the world. About one in every two thousand trees in the Hatchling Forest was a palli.
Mory searched for a little while, but it was like trying to spot a hamster turd in a pile of pebbles. His focus was shifted by the growling of his stomach. He realized that he hadn’t eaten since before training at the base. There was an apple tree just up ahead. It called out to him like a siren, singing for a sailor. When he reached the tree, he switched to his squirrel form and climbed up high so he could get one of the good apples. He grabbed one and took a bite. It was mainly sweet with a bit of sourness, exactly how he liked it.
As he enjoyed another satisfying crunch of the apple, he heard the whistling of a soothing tune. He searched for the whistler and found her standing below, just about a dozen trees away. When he realized who it was, he jumped off of the apple tree and floated towards her.
“Sona!” he yelled.
Startled, she dropped a basket that was filled with some plants. Mory landed right in front of her.
“Mory, what are you . . . Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Sona said while her face turned red.
“My bad.”
“Well, I’m glad it was you. What are you doing here in Blue Jay?”
“Uhm . . . I’m gathering firewood for the family.”
Sona looked puzzled. “You came all this way for firewood?”
“I hear Blue Jay’s got the best quality wood in the Land of Birds. Why are you here?” he asked, eager to dodge skepticism.
“This forest has all kinds of herbs with wonderful healing properties. I’m collecting them for work.”
Mory eyed the casual sky blue dress that Sona was wearing and noticed the letters “BLAU” embroidered over her heart.
“You’re in the air unit?”
“Yes. The medical division. I went in right after graduation . . . Wait a minute. Were you flying just now?”
“Not exactly. It’s more like gliding.”
“Whatever that was, it was cool. Can I see it again?”
“Yeah, sure. I just gotta climb up something tall first.”
Sona looked around for a moment and then pointed at a tree.
“I’ll meet you at the top of that tree.”
Sona quickly morphed into her part human, part robin form. Her wings were a grayish-white hue and she had a small, yellow beak. She flew to the top of the tree. Mory climbed the trunk of the tree until he reached her.
“Now I just gotta jump,” he said while trying to stabilize himself on the tree limb.
“Are you sure this is safe? I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”
“Yeah, it’s fine. Now sit back and watch.”
Mory got his hands and feet set just right against the tree. When he was steady, he breathed in deeply and jumped. He was gliding smoothly. Hoping that Sona was enjoying the show, he tried to look extra cool as he slid through the air. To Mory’s surprise, she did more than just enjoy the show afar. Mory looked over to his left and there she was, flying right beside him.
” I thought I’d tag along. Now I have a better view of you.”
Mory was speechless. To see someone flying from next to him was a riveting experience. It almost made him feel like a bird himself.
He remembered that he was a squirrel when he realized that he was getting close to the ground. Like always, his time in the sky was disrupted by gravity, and he would return to Earth soon. It was Mory’s pitiful reality, but it wasn’t Sona’s. She grabbed Mory’s hand and pulled him up high with her. When Sona had let go, they were well above the forest.
To Mory, the forest looked like a shaggy, green carpet beneath them. He had never been so high over a forest. Seeing nature from above gave him a rush of joy and energy. He felt even more like a bird. Mory was grateful for Sona. Not only did she allow him more time to fly, but she had also taken him to a place that he couldn’t reach on his own. That place was paradise.
Gravity did its thing once more, and Mory descended towards the trees. The peak was already reached, and there was no need to resist this time. They landed in a tree with silver-colored bark and then sat on a strong branch.
“How long have you been able to glide like that?”
“Close to twenty days.”
“I thought it might’ve been longer. It looked so natural for you.”
At that moment, there was just something about Sona that had him hooked. In just minutes, she was able to make him feel like the king of the world. Her midnight-colored eyes deserved nothing but his undivided attention. Even with that big ol’ bird beak, she was a beauty. The thing that freed him from her hypnotic gaze was the feeling of the rough branch under his hand. His face changed to the expression of a kid who forgot to do last night’s homework.
“You okay, Mory?”
“I can’t believe it. Out of all the trees, we landed in a palli!”
“Oh yeah. The wood that smells like cinnamon when you burn it.”
Is that why Sannis sent me to get this?
“I gotta get this wood back home before sundown,” said Mory. “It was great flying with you, Sona.”
“Yeah, that was fun. Hopefully, we’ll run into each other in the woods someday so we can do it again.” Sona stood up on the branch.”You see those mushrooms down there. Those are zucashrooms. Zucasroom soup is delicious and can really put your mind at ease. Take some of those to your mom.”
“Your amazing, Sona.”
She smiled and said, “I’ll catch you later, Mory.”
She flew off to retrieve her basket. Mory watched her until she was out of viewing range. His paradise flew away, leaving him wanting more. Mory got back to the task at hand. He filled his craftsack with palli tree sticks and then climbed down to collect some zucashrooms. When the items were obtained, Mory pulled out the mission note.
Instruction number three was to return to Sannis with the palli tree wood.
Fantasy
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