They made their way through the forest, Zepp trying his best to keep as much weight as he could off of Fang, who was helping him keep his balance. It was a silent night, not a sound for miles. All four of them found the silence rather majestic, and in their tranced states decided that their voices weren't needed. The only thing they heard was Koda, who periodically gave them directions as to where his home was, which they finally reached after a couple hours. "Alright Koda.. Good job." Said Zepp. They reached a cave, and surrounding it was a group of animals. From what Zepp could see it was made of three Mammoths, two sloths and two possums. This confused him.
"Koda... Are you sure we're in the right place?" Koda nodded, "Yea, this is my family. Come on I'll introduce you!" He jumped out of Zepps arms and ran towards the group, Edon stayed, sleeping in Zepps arm, which was curled to make a platform for him. Deciding that they had nothing else planned, they made themselves known.
As soon as they left the cover of the bushes they were met with a bunch of gasps, the female mammoth walked up to them. "Koda says you're the ones that brought him back. Is this true?"
Fang nodded, "Yes... Yes it is. He's lucky, my friend here was the one that saved him, I was unconscious at the time." The mammoth took one look at Zepp, who was facing the ground, exhausted. "Who's the pup?" Fang responded with calm, almost whisper like voice, "We don't know, he was the other child involved in the attack... Can we please get him somewhere so he can lay down? He's exhausted." The mammoth agreed, and Fang brought him into the cave so he could do just that. "My names Ellie, just so you know. Don't worry, he'll be fine. Now we're just waiting for Diego."
"You guys all live together?" Ellie shook her head,"Yea, we're a herd."
"A herd? Well... How nice. Excuse me though, I have to tend to him." Ellie nodded, "He looks pretty banged up, don't worry though, you guys are safe here." Fang walked into the cave, and as he did Diego and Shira came back, earning a warm welcome from their son."KODA! Oh I'm so happy you're okay, we were so worried about you!" Koda nudged Shiras leg, "I'm fine mom, Zepp brought me back." Diego looked around, "Where is he now?" Koda pointed towards the cave. Diego walked towards it, when he reached the mouth of it he saw a very banged up Zepp and Fang patching up his gashes. Fang looked over, spotting Diego, "Are you looking for an invitation, if so I'd be happy to give you one, for a fee that is." Diego chuckled, "I'm actually looking for a reservation." Fang looked at him, studying him and, finding his sincerity left Zepp and Diego alone.
"Diego, if you're going to thank me I am going to have to ask you to save it. I don't do well with that sort of thing."
"Okay, then would you give me some insight as to where you found him? Shira and I were looking everywhere."
Zepp looked up at him, Diego... Do you believe that there are things out there that we don't understand or just can't comprehend? Like, that there are forces at work that go beyond conventional and logical beliefs in this world. And these forces... When brought to the surface, completely boggle the mind, giving room for us to question and look at this world in a bigger, more extensive point of view?" Diego didn't know how to handle the question, but managed to reply the best he can..
"Yes. Yes, and I've seen some of these things. But... I don't see how that helps."
"It does help, because you now know that what happened tonight was something that was not of a logical force. I can't explain what happened... I should have died Diego, but that thing didn't kill e, and I think I know why... I... We answered it's call for help. It wanted to be known, as all things do. It not only wanted to be known, but to be recognized as what it is: a sentient being, just like the rest of us. In the end, that's all anyone wants." Diego sat there, pondering what he heard, "Get some rest." Be went to go leave but stopped, wanting to know something else.
"What about the Wolf?"
"I'll deal with it, could you send him in? His name is Edon." Diego nodded and left, a couple seconds later Zepp heard the pitter patter of little paws hitting the ground, followed by a friendly, "Hi Zepp!"
"Hey kiddo. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine now that it's over."
"Good. So.." Zepp hesitated for a moment, "I was wondering Edon... What.. Did happen to your family?" Edon sighed and laid down next to Zepp, who was on his side now, both animals facing each other.
"They.. Died. In a fire. The whole pack got separated. After it ended I went back to find them. I did.. But..."
"Yea.. I know. So what happened afterwards?"
" I walked, I walked and didn't stop. After a couple days I found this area, and decided to settle down. Then they came and took me."
"So... You don't have anyone to take care of you?" Edon frowned, "No. No one. I'm all alone."
"Zepp smiled, formulating an idea in his head. "Well.. If you'd like, I could.. You know, take you in. I'm probably not the best animal for it, but who knows? You may even end up on the team. That is... If you want to."
Edon smiled at this, his shining orbs telling Zepp that his spirits were brightened. "You mean... I could fight the bad guys? With you and Fang?"
Zepp laughed, "Well, there will be a lot of training involved... But yea, yea that's right kid, you could."
"YEA! YES I WOULD LOVE TO!" Edon jumped around Zepp, overjoyed at the opportunity that has been offered to him. "Agent Edon is on the case!" He said in a proud tone. Zepp laughed again, amused by the energetic wolf. "Alright kid. Now, I'm kind of tired, so if you don't mind I think I'm about to pass out cold on this floor right now. I'll talk to you when I wake up."
"Alright Zepp." Edon left, happy about the outcome of the night. He met Fang outside by the fire.
"So tell us, Fang. What happened tonight?" Manny asked, wondering like all of the others.
Fang shifted in his spot, and rubbed his fingers along his chin, trying to find the right answer. " Well, I mean it's uh, the sort of thing you would have to see to believe...I couldn't tell you much about it, but... It uh... I, can't accept it. I know it happened but... I can't. Not yet at least."
After a while they all went to bed, and dreamed good dreams. In the morning Zepp, Fang and Edon left, returning to their home to find everything back to normal. The village had voted on a new King, and all talk of what happened that had officially become legend. It was, as it could be put, the dawning of a new way of thinking for the investigators, even more so for Fang, who had just finished writing the report on the investigation, in which his conclusion was, and I quote:
"An undeniably perplexing investigation into the singularity of our conscious state of mind, which after a new experience, be stretched to the point where it cannot return to its normal dimensionality at which it was previously positioned."
Fang put down the writing utensil, and stared at the sentence. After a brief moment of recapping the events that have taken place, he stood up and left, going to get some fresh air.
" Fang? Fang are you in here? Fang I-" Zepp stared at the vacant room. It left an eerie sense of calm. He entered, looking at all of the documents and files that were on Fangs desk. One entry in particular caught his attention. Feeling kind of snoopy, he picked it up and read it. It was a diary entry, dated today. His curiosity overwhelmed him, and he read it.
Dear diary,
It has come to my attention that, due to a rather extensive series of superfluous events I write this entry knowing that, as a fact my life will never be the same. After all of my years solving crimes, catching criminals and delivering justice to those in need of it I have never encountered such a thing so complex yet so... True. The intension of this life I take as my own, although I am not sure as of now if that's entirely true was at first one to take a hold of and control. Now it has been revealed that this is no longer the case.
My preconceptions as an investigator was that, even be it as logical as it sounds that things are indeed as they seem. But, during my encounter with nature I have officially decided that this in itself would be quite inaccurate, even more so the realization that who am I to proclaim such a philosophy. The things that I have seen, originally would have been put off as unlikely or ludicrous.. But it seems my partner has blown that off of the roof.
His preconception as an investigator is, it seems, much more adequate and acceptable, albeit not to the customs of those around him. He takes things, and instantly sees an unlimited amount of possibility hidden within them... A perfect unification between perspective and reality. It is this ideology, which before was seen as nonsense, had become more realistic than previously imagined:
"Nothing lies beyond the realm of extreme possibility, and the truth, no matter how professionally hidden, is out there."
There are forces, beyond our own reckoning, that have taken control of our lives. These forces define what we are, but not who we are.. And it is through the will of these forces that we question the very fabric of the aforementioned preconceived notion of the self...
Done! For now... Tell me what you think! Was it good? Bad? Don't be shy, I take everything you guys have to say into consideration. I will go ahead and say that without a doubt you guys reading these has given me enough motivation to continue to write. I'll tell you what, there is more to come with these three characters, I'm actually thinking about putting them down in my profile, everyone else seems to be doing it :3.
