its a beta... 'The legendary story'

[scrab queen]

Alright, I think I can safely say that my noobish tendacies have gone. I expanded my vocabulary, and actually wrote quite a few chapters. This is just a test, and I might leave you with a sort of cliffy(at that point my inspiration was shattered by the coming of a working computer and the operation of my old frankenputer for his new organs).
In the first chapter, there is a huge block paragraph, and I can't be arsed to fix it. Tt was supossed to be a character bio, but halfway through it it turned into the story itself. Now remember, this is just a test and first draft, and don't you worry about short chapters.


CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISIM IS REQUIRED!but after that you can put in your original short 'aww that's cute' comment.


I now present, the introduction.







Destruction: the prelude


It was a fairly sunny day, and she could finally see some bits of sky through the thick sheet of clouds. This was the day, the day that she went exploring in the last known wildlife area in the entire city, whether her mom liked it or not. She did not care about parasites or bug bites like the rest of the city. All their fears were just ridiculous. They were afraid of disease, and ever since that cancer scare they were afraid of sunlight. So they had the scientists find a way to block out the sun. The smart people died out long ago, and the stupid ones are filling the young one’s heads with nonsense for a whole new generation of idioticness. Now everyone thought that everything had to be away from nature or you will die, which is why they were scared of the reserve. Nowadays, everything had to be poorly sanitized and covered in metal. The world was coming to an end soon, and she knew it. “Either the humans will die, or they will die when the planet does, which should be in a few hundred years.” She mumbled to herself as she sneaked past security in hazard suits.
Even though she was a human herself, she couldn’t wait for the demise of her species. Or she was just the last real human on earth.
She was wearing what few would dare to wear A tank top and shorts. The people who thought low of themselves thought it was smutty, and the ‘normal ones’ thought it was dangerous to expose so much skin to the outside world. She just wanted to be comfortable while she got away from domestication.
All the animals were gone, and the plants were dying, except for one large tree, which survived the onslaught of technology. At least they were stupid enough not to build robots that turned against them and turned her life into ‘The Matrix’, except with a really bad and almost non-existent plot.
She let out a sigh, as she sat in the highest branches. Her contentment was short-lived, as she looked over the towering city and frowned when she thought of the shame they were bringing to themselves. She tried to get her point through at her graduation speech, and told every one how they could help. But the stupid bastards just stared at her with that usual ‘DUUUURRRRR????’ expression, and then attempted a pathetic insult, telling her that it was a gay idea, and then trash flew in her direction. ‘They’ll get what’s coming to them…’ She thought. All she had to do was be patient.
Crash the ground rumbled, and she smirked as she saw a green smoke coming out of the laboratories. Her patience had paid off. She was laughing sadistically as she saw the building writhe and topple over, knocking down several others with it. Ignoring the shouts of the security and the weak attempts at insults as she calmly walked through the smoke and rubble to pack her things and wait out the apocalypse in the reserve.

She looked unusually happy to her panicked mother, who was doing her afternoon ritual of screaming and running about the house panicked about something harmless, except this time, it was real.
She ignored her incoherently screaming mother and packed up several changes of clothes, a throw blanket or two, and enough food to last until the dust settled and the air cleared.
She then slung her pack over her shoulder and grabbed her mothers arm as she passed, silencing her screams. She looked into her panicked eyes and said, “It is coming. The destruction of all you’ve ever known. All you have feared will survive, but will you live to face them? Do you even want to?” Her expression was solid; her tone was solemn. “Uh…Yes?”
“Then you will follow me out of the city and into the gardens. And we will see if you even want to live.” She dragged her mother kicking and screaming, into the reserve, and carried her into a tree. Her mother wiggled her way out of the tree and with terrified screams, ran out of the gardens. She stopped her and silenced her. “Do you want to run from here?” She nodded hurriedly. “Than you will die. Go! Run into your death.” She resumed running and screaming, and as Yume perched in front of her perfect view of the city, watched as her mother ran into a collapsing building just seconds before it crumbled. She had a jolly time, watching those unworthy of their lives run straight into death’s arms and keeling over in sadistic laughter as the city crumbled around her. If she died then, she would have died happy.
Several days later, the dust had settled earlier than she had expected and set out to ravage the shops that had survived.










AN: I did this right after chapter six, as I needed a way for the city to die.

[scrab queen]

Trust me, I don't care if you review or not, I just want to brag about how my story got on the internet. /sugar and homework induced sarcasm\My frakenputer died today! This is the last thing it wrote before it died. crappy, isn't it? my diolouge sucks too.







A story: chapter one
Yume started out as any human child would, (her birthplace is still unknown) she had loving parents and a fascination with nature and other such things. But because she had lived in a rapidly developing area, such things were not allowed, and soon her interests were viewed as nonsense. Soon the villages and communities had cut themselves of from the outside world, and Yume was no longer able to even see the sky, for it was clouded with smog, casting the cities in a hellish red glow. It had been like this until she was 15, when the city had choked on it's own waste and diseases. Somehow she managed to survive, but she was left alone, in a deserted city, and if she had ventured out, the alternating sandstorms and blizzards would surely kill her. Living off the scraps in the deserted shops, she was alone for three months. One night while trying to find shelter, she heard what sounded like wings flapping in the distance. She passed it off as her going crazy, and continued to work on the tent. Later while she was sleeping, she had been startled awake by the feeling that she was being watched. She questioned her sanity once more before trying to go to sleep, but the feeling kept her awake. Something caught her eye and she tried to minimize any sound, slowly turning and lifting the closed end of the tent so she could confirm if there was any movement. As soon as she got her head out, her breath caught in her throat as large green eyes stared out of the darkness, it's owner shifting occasionally. She stood there frozen to the ground, a tense silence hanging in the air. The eyes were fixed upon her, curiosity showing. Soon the creature smoothly walked out of the shadows, it's tail swishing gracefully behind it, spread it's wings and held them there, keeping it's eyes locked on her. It flapped it's wings a few times and lowered it's head to her eye level and showed part of it's fangs, as if to test her. She was startled into fleeing when a rumbling growl reverberated from the strange animal, as it rose its head and shook its wings. As she ran, she could hear flapping behind her, and the sound was quickly gaining. She looked back for a moment to see where the creature was, only to find out it was only a few yards away. Unfortunately, she forgot to look where she was going, and tripped on the uneven pavement. Landing on a pile of old garbage bags, she suppressed a loud whimper as it passed overhead. Burying herself for a temporary hiding place, she tried to think of a way to deter the creature. 'Let's see, probably carnivore, and if it flies, it would cover a lot of land, so it's most likely territorial. And if I've never seen or heard of the thing around here, it's probably expanding its territory. Which means it either wants me to leave, or it wants me for a snack. Being that I’m no obvious threat to it, the butcher's shop is only about a block away, and being that the tail and the scales suggest that it's a reptile of sorts, it shouldn't be too picky.' By this time, the creature had landed and was trying to track her, but the overpowering scent of the rotting garbage had deterred him from that area. As soon as she knew the thing was at least ten yards away, she bolted out of the garbage and ran for the butcher's down the street. To make sure it couldn't fly ahead of her, she took the path under the low bridges and cluttered alleys. After several minutes of straight sprinting, she dodged the charging beast and locked the door. Looking around, she took the keys behind the counter and unlocked the cases of meat, picking out the few pieces that didn't rot. Stopping for a moment to allow a realization, she hurried to the back of the shop and checked the livestock cages. If anything survived, she could use it to distract the beast so she could escape to another part of town. When she opened the heavy steel door, the streak of light washed over the forgotten room, and dust flew everywhere. The stench of rotting corpses hung thickly in the air, and even all the flies were dead. Stomping the floor a few times to provoke a sound from a survivor, she shrugged when there was no reply. Soon she turned to leave, but she heard one of the smallest sounds she had ever heard. A weak screeching was making its way through the floorboards of the far corner. Ignoring the sick corpses, she hurried her way towards the sound. Carefully peeling back the rotting floorboards, she revealed a nest. Several eggs were broken, the contents either rotted or eaten. Sitting amongst all this was a strange looking creature, obviously just a chick, and severely malnourished. It didn't have any visible eyes, and it had a long sharp beak. It didn't seem to have any 'arms' but it's four legs each ended in large claws that the chick had trouble balancing on. Cautious of its beak, she dropped a piece of the meat next to it. The creature looked at it for a moment, then without warning started jumping and screeching all over the meat as if in rejection. When it was finished with the little dance, Yume tried to take it back, but it snapped at her fingers, and started scooping up the pulverized meat in it's beak. When it was done, it turned to her questioningly, and squawked for more. Seeing what those little claws could do, she picked it up by it's waist and took it out of the hole in the floor, placing it next to her and watching it skitter about, as she gathered the meat in one bag, and the remaining eggs (supposedly alive) in another. Carefully, she picked up the baby and placed it in her pocket, folding its legs up to avoid getting hurt, and to avoid any more unnecessary holes. Picking up the bags to leave, she headed for the backway to the stockyards.
Several minutes later, the enraged beast had found it's way into the shop, and crashed through the walls. Snorting, it inspected the open cases and the stockroom, tracing the scent trail of the human with that strange aura. Coming here, he expected this place to be deserted, dead. But obviously his mission here isn't all for nothing…
About a half-mile away, the girl stopped to rest in the large opening of a dead tree, the only apparent plant life for miles around. Before she was forced to fend for herself, she had visited this tree every day, and called it the god tree, because it seemed huge and infinite, indestructible, like the essence of the soul itself. But now it didn't matter. It was a shell of itself, and could crumble to dust at any second. Taking the baby out of her pocket, she let it roam free for a bit, while she climbed the tree to reminisce about good times, and to see if her diversion worked. Looking off into the direction of the stockyard, she could see the large speck roaming the yards, sniffing her trail, coming closer to her. She prayed the wind wouldn't blow her scent in that direction, otherwise she wouldn't be able to get away in time if the creature started running after her. She saw it turn to the left, and start to run into the thick, dead bushes. Confident her plan had worked, she dropped down, scooped up the baby, slung the pack over her shoulder, and headed for the old lake.
Confident the human wasn't looking, he took off into the sky to hunt for her.
Just moments later, a chase ensued, and her belongings were abandoned. The baby was hiding in a hole, and the beast had her pinned to the ground with its claws. Snarling and growling, it lowered its face to hers, and narrowed its eyes, as if to say that crappy one-liner about prey getting away. They locked eyes and a strange thought entered her mind, it was completely foreign and not her own. 'You're coming with me.' It flapped its wings and started to take off. The noise startled the baby, and it chased after her, as if she were its mother. To her dismay and relief, it painfully clamped onto the webbing of her fingers as she reached out to it. Pulling it from her hands and holding it tightly to her shoulder, the beast flew off into the air, and soon the city was far behind them. She closed her eyes and held onto the chick as they hit one of the many sandstorms whirling around the outskirts of the city. She felt like the sand was tearing the very flesh from her bones, and the baby was screeching in pain. When she felt she could take it no longer, they were finally past it, and heading into another one. Just before they hit it, she stuffed the shrieking baby in her pocket, and squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation. This one was agonizingly longer. Exhausted and in pain, she fell limp in the creature's claws, unconscious. In response, he held her tighter, and pushed on through the storms.

[scrab queen]

HEH! well, poo too you too! I hope the tree raping squirels get you non-commenters!

Like I said in the first post, THIS IS A SERIOUS PROJECT AND I NEED FEEDBACK TO SEE WHETHER OR NOT ITS GOOD! otherwise I might stay in my noobish thinking paths.

Here's your chapter.







Chapter two

An earsplitting screech awoke her from her pain-induced sleep. She tried to sit up, but pain shot through her entire body, as the raw skin ground against the strange looking bed. Wincing, she settled for shifting to the side to see what made the sound. It was the baby, being chased by smaller versions of those flying things. Knowing they were probably little ones themselves, she let out a low growl, knowing that shouting would probably frighten them. Stopping in their tracks, the little chicks looked at her questioningly, and she growled again, a little more intense this time, to make her point. They started scurrying away, and the baby ran towards her, chirping and squawking. It wasn't as weak looking as before, and a little bigger. Its lower jaw had grown out a little bit, and its movements were less awkward, as it seemed to have no trouble walking on those claws (which were far sharper than she remembered). She remembered the other eggs that she brought, and felt behind her. They were broken. Sighing at the small loss, she hoped the one she rescued wasn't the last one, and started petting it, trying to figure out a name. "Hmm, how about Helix? Talon, maybe? Or perhaps Cyrus…" The not so small chick chirped in the direction of the cave opening, and in walked a creature similar to the ones she saw earlier, but this one was black, and had gold chains around it's wrists, ankles and neck. It had a rich black mane, and its eyes were purple and silver. It looked straight into Yume's eyes, and she felt a strange feeling wash over her. A voice echoed in her head, but no one was talking. "Can you walk?" A smooth voice asked her, obviously female. "Y…yes." She cautiously replied. "Then come." The creature, without breaking eye contact, turned and waited for Yume to follow. She stiffly and painfully got up and started to walk alongside the creature, who led her out of the cave and into the clearing of a lush, healthy forest. The baby tagged along, and chirped in awe at the huge tree.
Gathered around it, were several of those creatures, and one human. He had jet-black hair and a marking on his forehead and a few coming up from his neck to wrap around his jaw. His hands ended in claws equally sharp to the creatures. One of the creatures (who was huge and sage like although worn in appearance) Looked at the man with commanding eyes, and the man nodded and whispered something to the creature, and waked up to Yume. He handed her a bag with all of her things. "Good morning. I hope you rested well." She nodded.
"Thank you. Um, may I ask, where am I? And what happened?"
"Of course you already know that your city died, and we knew that more life could take root there if the area was cleared. When we sent out Lorth" - He gestured to the creature that chased her earlier - " he found you along with some of the sacred animals that were native to the area before the city was built. As for where you are… I cannot tell you right now. Do you know if any of your family survived?"
"Sorry, no. As far as I know, there is nowhere else I can go at the moment."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"No, you don't have to be sorry, that just means I'm free."
"…?"
"Well, the city walls kept me there for all my life, and all I had for company was a nearly dead tree. Now I can just roam and enjoy the world for what it is."
"Don't you need a place to stay?"
"That's a good point…"
"Well, the dragons have agreed to take you in as their own, so you have a home."
"Dragons?"
"You don't know them?"
"I've lived in a naturephobic area most of my life, so of course I don't know of any wild creatures!"
"Well, all of them gathered around the tree are dragons."
"Ah."
"While you're here, the elder, Xanarios, will teach you the ways of this particular pack, and how to defend yourself."
"Self defense?"
"Well, when you're old enough, you'll be living in one of the lord's courts, and a lot of their people aren’t accepting of humans."
"What are they then?"
"Demons. You might be able to live in the western court, the lord there has recently taken in a human child as his ward, so he might be persuaded to accept you."
"So, who is Xanarios?"
"That big one over there. He's lived for thousands of years, and has almost infinite patience and wisdom. You can learn a lot from him."
"By the way, what's your name?"
"Oh. Excuse my manners, I'm Ryuusaye, heir to the eastern court, but you can just call me Tsukoi."
"I'm Yume."
"Well, it's getting late, I have a meeting with the counsel soon. The annoying twits. Maybe I can cut it short and slit a few throats so I have more free time."
"…? But wouldn't you get in trouble?"
"No. I'm the lord's only son, so I can kill who ever I want, except for anyone in the other courts. Then there would be another war. But out here, nobody cares whom dies, and killing is frequent, which is why everyone here has to know how to take care of themselves. Until you know how, Xanarios and the others are willing to protect you with their lives. I don't know why, but he sees something special in you."
"What do you think it is?"
He scratched his head in contemplation. "I have no idea. I've asked him, and he isn't willing to tell."
"Hn."
"Right, I have to go now. If you need anything, Zora over there is willing to help you." He pointed out a slender looking dragon, which had a long flowing, silver mane, the softest blue scales, and its wings looked like an angel's. Surrounding her were several of the dragon's pups, intently watching her as she showed them how to dig up some edible roots.
"Um, how do I speak to them? I haven't seen anyone talking…"
"They speak with their minds. You have to look them straight in the eyes to hear them though, and until you know how to speak like them, you will have to speak out loud."
"Uh, okay."
"I'll see you later this year to see what you've learned. Goodbye." He turned and started to walk into the forest, and then he disappeared. He was replaced with a slender, snake like dragon with no wings.
"Bye…"
It took off, soaring over the trees and disappearing behind the mountain. She stood and watched the spot where he disappeared, and contemplated how a dragon could fly without wings. Then she felt a slight prickle at the back of her neck, and wheeled around to find the black dragon towering over her, at which point she fell on her back in surprise. The dragon caught her eyes again and said, "Are you okay? I hope I didn't scare you."
"Uh, no, just surprised." Yume tried to scramble to her feet only to end up tripping again. She felt something on the back of her robe, and she was lifted onto her feet by the dragon. "Uh, thank you." Feeling the pull of its eyes, she looked to the dragon.
"You're welcome. You should be careful with that bag. The eggs are still inside."
"They survived? They were broken last time I checked…"
"You probably saw someone else's eggs. I'm Akago, and you must be Yume."
"Yes. May I ask something?"
"Yes?"
"Why do you have chains on you?"
Akago looked distant for a moment. "That's something that shouldn't be answered."
"Sorry…"
"No, it's okay."
They stood for a moment, Akago still looking in the distance and Yume looking at the ground. A thunderous sound resonating from Yume's stomach broke the silence, and Akago startled in surprise.
"I think you should go and see Zora now. She should be in her nest by the tree."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Akago walked off into the darkness of the cave; the golden stripes on her tail lighting the inside as the sunlight hit it.
Yume climbed over the roots of the tree, their enormous branches curling out of the base. She came upon Zora, who was tending to a few eggs in the nest hidden inside a small dome of roots. Hearing Yume approaching, she sniffed the air and was suddenly gone in the blink of an eye. Yume, puzzled, turned to go look for her again, but was tackled and pinned to the ground by a snarling Zora. The snarl soon softened into a disapproving look, as she got off of Yume and said, "Don't approach another nest without warning or permission like that. You could get killed for it."
"Sorry about that."
"It's alright. So what do you need, I'm sure you came to me for something."
"Well, I just haven't eaten in a while, so I was wondering if you could tell me where I could get something to eat."
"I can't tell you, but I can show you. Follow me." Zora reared up slightly for a moment, and gracefully jumped onto a far branch, and snaked her way down the trunk, clearing the tree and settling on the other side. Yume could only climb over the gigantic roots, taking her at least five minutes or so to join Zora.
"Here, climb on my back, its going to be dark soon, and we don't want to be late."
Zora knelt down, and Yume got on her back. Zora, unable to make eye contact, snorted, which very clearly meant to hang on as she reared up on her hind legs and spread her wings. Yume startled and grabbed Zora's neck as they took off, climbing higher with each passing of her wings. Soon they were over a thin layer of clouds, overlooking the forest. The flight was short, as Zora was in an obvious hurry, She made a nosedive straight into a particularly thick patch of trees, and surprisingly, she landed smoothly on the ground, stumbling slightly from the impact.
Yume still had her eyes closed and was tightly gripping Zora's neck, trying not to be sick as the sudden stop had disoriented her. Zora rumbled calmly, trying to tell Yume that it was okay to get off now. Yume slid off her back, stumbled a little, and then wheeled around to question Zora, but fell right on her behind. Zora picked her up onto her feet.
"You were saying?" Her eyes held amusement.
"I was saying, why did you have to go so fast?!"
"Well, if you're going to ask for food that late you had better get used to it. Now hurry and get your fill from that tree, its about to close up."
Yume turned to find a dark looking tree, but on closer inspection, it was a steel color. The fruits were small, about the size of plums, and like Zora said, the leaves around them were slowly starting to encase the fruits. Yume hurriedly picked about 2 dozen of the fruits, and getting a small cut from making a close call with one of the leaves. Wrapping them in her sash, she got onto Zora's back and returned with the fruits.
Many of the dragon pups were happy to have such a rare meal, and Zora lightly toasted a few for Yume, as the strange fruits turned out to be partially meat.
When nightfall did come, Yume looked through her bag and found the tent materials that she had packed earlier. She cautiously searched the area for a suitable place to sleep for the night, and ended up sleeping in a narrow passage that she found in the higher parts of the tree. Carefully, she tapped the entrance to see if anyone had taken the space already, but there was no reply. She slid in, the entrance smaller than the space itself. Lying down her blankets to avoid getting splinters, she pulled the covers up to her neck and fell into a deep sleep.

[scrab queen]

ALright. just...just..comment. really. I don't make idle threats. Im actually that tetris block that rapes everyone on gaia online. see? now either blackmail me or comment. either way, I get a message proving that I exist. if I don't...then why the hell am I going to school if I don't exist!!!???




Chapter three


She once again awoke to a screech, and it took a moment for her to realize it wasn't the baby, especially when she looked up into the ceiling of the alcove. There was a strange creature, a bit different than the hatchling she had found. It also didn't have eyes like the baby, but instead of standing upright, it was positioned on its claws like a quadruped, two larger ones in the front, and two smaller ones in back (Which were obviously for weaving webs, like the one it was hanging from now). It was small and muscular, about the size of a large housecat. It was a forest green, black stripes accented its back, legs, and mandibles (Which oddly enough, made its head look like a hand). It screeched before crawling down the web line. It was going at a fair pace, so she had time to stuff her things in her bag and sling it over her shoulder before it reached the floor. It snarled (if its mouth could ever make the sound…), and then charged at her, at which point she dropped out of the tree, and tried to grab onto a branch, but kept slipping until she hit some roots, but kept on going down into one of the root domes. The creature just as quickly followed, its fairly sharp legs digging in and gripping the trunk.
When she finally hit the bottom, she was met with a labyrinth of tunnels and domes made under the tree. She ran through them until she thought she could climb out and run to get help, but she just slipped helplessly back into the pit. Trying to run again, she was met face to face by the creature hanging from a web. (Just like in the movies) It 'stared' at her for a moment before opening its mandibles and screeching loudly in threat. She ducked under the creature and ran; tearing off a stiff root to use as a weapon should it get close to her again. Get close to her again… it did. This time it greeted her from the ground, just about cutting her ankles with its jaws before she jumped out of the way. She landed a smack or two on the thing's head, (if you could call it that.) before it lunged and snapped the root in two. Still undeterred, she managed to kick the creature in the side, hurling it into the wall. Disoriented, it pulled itself from the wall and hissed and clicked its teeth at her, obviously irritated at the loss of a fresh meal. As soon as she was sure it was gone, she carefully picked her steps and climbed out of the pit, relieved that she was at the front of the tree. So she set out in search of any dragons, checking Zora's nest and Akago's cave, but found nobody.
'Maybe, they had moved? Or migrated? Or maybe they're looking at something spectacular like a morning performance from the dragonflies? Which ever it is, I had better wait it out at Zora's place. She'd be willing to give me some sort of explanation…'
So she ambled back to the nest, her injuries from the chase and from falling from so high in the tree was starting to throb. She knew better than to call for help, any smart predators and demons would come after her. The strong scent of shed blood might alarm them to her injuries, but even the vegetarians knew it was a huge sign that said "FREE MEAL!"
And so she waited, snacking on the sweet fruits of the tree, and took time to sort through the spoils she had taken from the deserted shops. She doubted she would ever see chocolate ever again, so she savored the broken packages and saved the ones that were still sealed, hiding the last two dozen packages in the bottom of her pack for much later. Then she changed into some cleaner clothing, that one pair of pants and that one shirt worn for three months might be offending their sensitive noses, so she got into some shorts and a tank top, carefully disposing of the over worn clothing.
When she noticed the eggs in the bag, she carefully inspected them, checking for any signs of decay, and found none. It was still surprising to her at this point that they didn't break from the fall, and all those times she had dropped her bag or roughly swung it over her shoulder. Holding them up to the sunlight, one could see the developing creatures inside. She observed Zora's handy work, carefully checking if there was any warmth left on the eggs to confirm if there was any life under there. Then she went out and collected a few soft grasses, and brought them back to create a makeshift nest. She then lined it with a small throw blanket she had warmed in the sun. Placing the eggs into the nest, she admired her work. Than a thought hit her… "Where's the baby!?" The whispered thought echoed off the walls, as she quickly set out to find the little one, being sure to cover and hide her eggs.
Now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen it since last night. She must have been so tired that she forgot to find it a place to sleep. She searched around the familiar areas, and found nothing. She then found a trail of holes in the thick dirt leading away from the tree. Those were definitely its footprints. She took one of her over worn pieces of clothing and secured it to her ankle as she searched for it, leaving a strong scent trail to follow should they come back before she did.
It took her three hours to find the baby, and it probably cost her more time when she almost lost the trail as it led off the path and into thick grasses. Sooner or later, she reached a dry area, with mostly dirt and sand, and there were strange skeletons everywhere. They looked like the bird skulls she had found once, but without beaks, and a more frog like jaw. 'This is a burial ground. Why would the baby come here?'
She found her answer when she found it trying to find its footing on a giant statue next to the entrance of a carved temple. The statue looked just like the baby, except its lower jaw was grown out further and had carved symbols on it. It also had a bigger torso and was more muscular. On the other side of the opening was another giant statue that looked like that spider thing she had driven off this morning.
Climbing the statue, she snatched the baby up and dropped it to the ground, before dropping back down herself. She then started making her way back, running through the distinctive trail that she left so she could get home.
'Home. Where is my home now? The place where I grew up? Or a place that offers comforts and shelter? Or will I just roam about, making the entire planet my home? I wonder when I'll start this training? It's really bothering-'
She stopped in her tracks. Right in front of her was an adult version of the baby, tall, muscular and obviously pissed, it lowered its head and contemplated her. This one was a bright red compared to the baby's dulled orange hue, and had angry, jagged, sand colored marks across its back and legs. Its head was adorned with a sort of spiky frill, like the ones that are often seen on dragon's backs. It was now walking toward her, so she forced her heart rate to go down and kept a calm air about her. All of the adornments might mean that it is the alpha male, which is why it was checking her out, and paying close attention to her pocket, which was occupied by the baby. Plus, she probably smelled like it by now. It jumped back a bit when she flinched while it was prodding her arm, which now had blood dribbling down the side.
It screeched once, and then circled her. She straightened her back, and tried to form her vocal cords to make the sound. She made a loud attempt when it nudged her in the back, pushing her forward a few steps. The sound was good, but a bit garbled. At least it had the affect and volume she was going for.
It stepped back, walking in front of her and turning to leave, and then squawked back at her, as if it wanted her to follow. So she did, completely unaware and confused about what just happened.
It led her out of the denser woods and into some fields, where it was greeted by several more of the creatures. These were probably subordinates, as their hides were just a solid red.
'I don't think I'll ever find my way back at this point.' Right now she was very grateful for the strongly scented cloth tied to her ankle, and hoped they would find her soon.
The other creatures approached her and did the same thing the alpha did, but without drawing blood, and they were very insistent about checking out the baby; one managed to push it out of her pocket. The baby ran behind Yume, seeking protection. She hissed when they tried to approach it, and they backed off. For the rest off the day, she followed the pack around, and every time she tried to sneak away, the alpha would herd her back into the middle of the group.
'I think I just became a member! This is odd. I heard of this happening with wolves, but with these things?! I don't think I'm on the same planet anymore…'
Her trail of thought was interrupted when she noticed the pack was running. The alpha male stayed at the top of the hill overlooking a hunt in progress. They were chasing down two of those spider things. They weren't protesting her staying on the hill, so she assumed it was because she had the little one with her. They finally brought down the spiders, and were carrying them (in pieces) back to the alpha. Of course he got first dibs on the hearts and livers, and picked on some of the front legs while the rest of the pack worked on the rest. Yume didn't have any of course. Trying to start a fire would alarm the pack, and she wouldn't be able to get some of the meal anyway, what with their sharp beaks and all. She watched them crowd and pummel the corpses, smashing it to swallowing consistency before scooping it up and devouring it.
When nightfall came, She was tired from trying to keep up with the pack's relentless pace and making a solid trail at the same time, so she was relieved when she was able to sneak away while they slept. Trudging through the forest, she found a suitable tree to sleep in for the night, and made sure the baby was with her.
'I think I might have to find my own way back, because I don't think they would pass by that giant tree anytime soon…'
Yume drifted into an exhausted sleep, not sure she would ever wake up for a long time.


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n'other chapter, n'other reason to hate the humans. BLARG I SAY!!! BLARG YOU SHISNOs IM GOIN' TO TACO BELL!!!