Hey! People reminded me that I need to upload this crap! Guess what? I'm uploading this crap!
I'll try and insert breaks in the previous chapters too, just because I like this story too much to make it look like some thirteen year old wrote it. Seriously what is wrong with dashes to signal a change in scene? That makes no sense. Regardless, I shouldn't whine anymore and just keep going!
Read on!
Daylight broke the next morning, and Fuel refused to awaken. Duster rubbed his eyes and yawned widely, and Kumatora was looking over the teenager with a worried look in her eyes. "Fever," she said simply, looking at the man who had poked his head into the tent to check up on the two.
"Should have known," Snake Rope said quietly.
"Hey Fuel, how're you feeling?" Duster bit his lip as Fuel flailed in the tent, moaning about being too hot.
"We can't just wait here forever…" Kumatora groaned, "You stupid moron, you didn't want to slow us down and that's just what you've done!"
"Don't chastise the kid, he only wanted to help." Duster thought long and hard about what to do, and he nodded. "We'll pack up. Kumatora, can you heal him?"
The young woman shook her head sadly. "Not much. I may be able to ease the pain, but moving him may make it worse." She flailed angrily in the tent. "Dammit, I HATE being useless!"
"Do what you can then, I'll carry him," Duster said, "It's the best we can do." The former princess tried to speak to him, but he had already disappeared from the tent, intent on packing up what he could.
Kumatora sighed. "I-I suppose…" she moaned. She reached out and placed her hand tenderly on the teenager's forehead. It was hot. She didn't know what to do. With a sigh, she placed her index fingers on his forehead and concentrated. "Lifeup Beta! Healing Alpha! Lifeup Beta!"
The tent flashed with dull glows, and when Duster was ready to pack the tent up, Fuel had at least sat up. The teenager looked much worse for wear, but at least he was cognizant now. "Hey Duster…" he muttered.
"Good morning. You think you're up to being moved?" Duster asked.
"As I'll ever be… Can I at least walk?" Fuel asked, "I don't want to be carried like a chi…" He stopped and turned to Kumatora, who was, once again, giving him a death glare. "Yeah, I can be carried…"
And so, Kumatora took most of the luggage, and Duster found himself carrying the fevered teenager along the river with a snake on his shoulder, looking down on the feverish young man. Every once in a while, Fuel would grunt about his head hurting, and eventually the two got smart and began placing wet cloths on his forehead.
Suddenly, there was a cry from the woman. "Duster! Duster, look!" The two looked over the horizon; the morning mist was beginning to fade, and off in the distance was none other than… "We made it! Duster, you were right! There it is! The ocean!" Duster was never happier about being right than now.
Kumatora gave a whoop and rushed off towards the water. It took a little longer for Duster to walk there, but for Fuel's sake he moved a little faster. The teenager turned his tired head towards the ocean, and he smiled. "It's… just as beautiful… as I remembered it…" he murmured in delight.
"Want to take a rest at the shoreline?" Duster asked as he began to step onto the sandy beach.
Fuel grinned back at the musician. "I'd like that."
The group took a short break at the beach. Fuel took off his shoes and socks and placed his feet gratefully in the tide and Snake Rope basked in complete ecstasy on the heavenly hot sand while Duster and Kumatora planned their next move.
"It was quite obvious we wouldn't be finding Lucas immediately, but now where do we go?" Kumatora wondered as she let a handful of sand flow through her fingers. She looked angry but also a little sad about the way things were turning out.
"Well, we could go up one way…" Duster pointed towards the north, from which an older teen walked towards them. "…or the other way," and he pointed down south, from which no one walked towards them.
"Either way, we have no idea where any people are…" Kumatora muttered, grabbing her head in anger as the stranger walked up next to them, picked up a shiny seashell next to Duster, pocketed it, and continued on.
"Yeah, if only we could find some sort of settlement. Maybe they have some sort of medicine for Fuel…" Duster agreed, "but I really doubt there's anyone here for miles and miles."
The two sighed and sunk down, feeling rather put upon as the strange teenager continued on his way, searching for more seashells on the shore.
"Wait!" Kumatora shouted, leaping up and pointing an accusing finger at the stranger, "Who are you anyway!"
"Me?" The boy suddenly turned around. He had a woven bag filled with seashells, and he smiled brightly. "I'm just looking for seashells! Who are you?"
Duster stood and wiped his rear of sand, "My name is Duster. This is Princ… Kumatora." Snake Rope interrupted him as the snake slithered up his arm, and Duster stroked his friend's chin, "This is my friend, Snake Rope, and that's a fellow villager, Fuel. We've been traveling to search for someone."
"Maybe you know him," Fuel began. He turned a tired head towards the other teenager, his eyes half banked from tiredness. "You know… you ever heard of a person named Lucas? We're looking for him…"
"Lucas!" the stranger cried. The group nearly jumped at his sudden outburst, and, realizing he had spoken too loudly, quieted a bit. "You… you're searching for Master Lucas?"
"Master Lucas?" Kumatora turned to look at Duster, who stared back at her. They then looked at the stranger. "I know Lucas, but I don't know if he's a 'Master'. He's just a regular kid, you know?"
The teenager shook his head and smiled brightly at the thought of who he was talking about, "Master Lucas made this world. He's so wonderful for giving us this world to live in. In fact, Master Lucas was the first person I saw when I woke up in this world!"
"Really?" Kumatora asked, looking a little excited at meeting someone who knew where Lucas was. Even Duster and Snake Rope were looking up expectantly. "Who were you before the destruction of Nowhere Island?"
The stranger blinked, and stood for a moment in silence, as if thinking really hard on the subject, "I… I'm really not sure. I just met Master Lucas… and he explained to me that I was the first person he had met in the new world, so he gave me a name."
Duster's hand went instinctively to the Hummingbird's Egg's hiding place. Perhaps this guy just needed a jolt from the egg to remember who he was? "What did Lucas name you?" Kumatora suddenly asked.
Duster dropped the thought for then as the teenager puffed himself up. "My name's Bion!" he proclaimed loudly, pleased with his exclamation, "Isn't it the coolest name?"
"B…Bion." Kumatora blinked. Bion nodded in response.
"Yeah! That's my name! I really like it. So Master Lucas told me to live happily, and he even asked me to be his guardian!"
Duster opened his mouth and spoke a little too quickly, "A Guardian? Wait. Do you know where Lucas is right now?" He stopped speaking when Fuel suddenly began to cough. It was a rather long coughing fit, and Bion realized something was wrong.
"Is your friend sick?"
"No duh…" Fuel muttered, coughing into his fist again, "Hey Bion… could you take us to Lucas? He can probably heal me."
Bion looked like he was in thought. He crossed his arms, creased his face in concentration, and thought deeply, "Well… I can't take you to Master Lucas unless you're worthy, but if you know him, then I think he wouldn't mind if I took you to a place you could get some help."
"Really? A settlement? People? Some place of sanity?" Kumatora brightened at the thought, and she picked up her stuff. "Come on, Duster, let's go! Finally, other people to talk to!" Duster sighed with a light smile on his face. He wasn't really expecting this, but it was a blessing in disguise.
Thanks Lucas, whether or not you heard me… thanks.
Fuel was napping in Duster's arms as Bion led Kumatora and the musician into a rather normal looking cave in the cliffs near the beach. It was rather dark, but Duster found that it wasn't that hard to see; it was as if the cave glowed with some otherworldly light. At that moment, the former princess gave a cry and clutched her head. The musician stopped everything to tend to her, and Bion shook his head knowingly. "Kumatora, Kumatora, what's wrong?" Duster asked.
"It's been… so long since I felt this kind of pressure…" she groaned, "last time I felt it, the world was ending…"
"What kind of pressure?" Snake Rope asked; he had popped his head out of Duster's bag to get a survey of what was going on.
"Psionic pressure, obviously," Bion replied, cocking his head, "It's really thick here, can't you tell?"
"Uhm…" Duster adjusted Fuel in his arms, "Not everyone in this world is psychic, Bion." The teenager blinked in surprise. Obviously he didn't quite know that. "So, will you be okay, Kumatora?"
"Ehh… it just feels like blocked sinuses. Really blocked. And it's in my head instead of my sinuses… I'll be fine."
"Either way," Snake Rope continued, feeling a little put upon that no one had listened to him until now, "Where's this settlement? I can't wait for these guys to get some decent food so they'll stop killing my live victims."
"It's right here!" Bion proclaimed, standing on an outcropping that overlooked the magnificent cave. Too bad the magnificent cave held nothing.
Kumatora winced from the pain in her head. "I don't mean to be a downer, Bion… but there's nothing here…"
"But you can feel it, right?" Bion asked. Kumatora shrugged. "It's here, you just need to concentrate…" The young man closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and raised his hand as if attempting to grasp something. There was a bright flash… and…
To Be Continued...
Hope you guys enjoyed it! It's short, but it's getting to some other parts. I may have another part up soon, once I work on those breaks in the other chapters. See you around!