Xion the Author: I'm back! :D
Buck: Dude, where were you?!
Xion the Author: I've been hanging down writer's block lane. Actually, I was caught at the corner between Uninspired Boulevard and Laziness Street. Excuses aside, here'eth the new'eth chapter!
FORGOTTEN WORLDS
Chp 10: Mae Treialon Dechrau
The great dragon swooned down from the air, diving as he knifed through to air. Heading straight towards the ground, Amelia closed her eyes from fear of being squished on impact. However, Drakon swiftly flapped his wings with a hard stroke, causing himself to repel the force going down and stop in mid air, making him drop down gently in a short distance.
"We have arrived," Drakon said in a welcoming tone.
As Amelia relentlessly tried to break away from his clutches, he simply loosened his grip and Amelia sprang out and distanced away from him.
"Where did you take me?" Amelia retorted.
Drakon made a somewhat malicious smile. "Where else, but the Promised Lands? Here is where I have always been trying to take you-"
"I don't want you to take me here! Take me back!" she demanded.
"But look around you my dear. Look at the grand spectacle of scenery," Drakon smiled.
Amelia made a cautious look before slowly turning around. At the glimpse of the moment she was caught breathless at the momentous display. In front of her was a meadow, surrounded by trees that grew around twenty feet tall. On its crown were blue crystal-like objects that shimmered mesmerizingly, growing at every seam and inch of its long brown branches. Going down to its body it was emanating an orange light, glowing between bits of bark along the trunk.
The weasel curiously approached the tree, tracing a finger down the radiating orange light. To her discovery, it was warm and liquid, appearing to come from the tree itself. Feeling it suddenly cool down on her finger, she quickly wiped it on a bare part of the tree.
But in only a few moments, it cooled and solidified, turning into a gem-like object. An object all too familiar to her. Drakon smiled saliently behind her, but like a small critter living in a forest, he detected a slight disruption within the place.
"…amber?" Amelia muttered, only noticing a sudden gush of wind behind her. She turned around only to see the giant dragon flap its wings as it rose to the sky. "H-hey! Where are you going? I want you to take me back!" she shouted.
"I will give you time to explore this place on your own, my dear. For now, I have business to take care of," he said, before looking towards the distance. "Appointments that should be avoided"
"Hey. Hey!" cried Amelia. She started running to chase after him, but in a split second saw the large chasm below her only an inch from making her fall. She gasped as she quickly looked to her sides, only to see the chasm stretch around her.
Unknown to her, the entire "paradise" Drakon talked about was sealed off with a large chasm, making escape impossible for her. There weren't any vines to fashion rope, rocks to make axes to chop wood, nothing to aid her to an escape. The paradise he brought her to was simply a better cage.
Buck tried to decode the now unfamiliar text written on the book Amelia had. Some words he'd get immediately, some he could barely read but not understand. He kept the book in safekeeping as he crossed a shallow river, and simply resumed reading it after bringing it out of the knapsack
The weasel was busy reading as he traveled through the forest path when a nice squish exploded under his foot. Buck looked down to see his foot covered in green mush.
"Yuck!" Buck spat. He closed the book for a while as he squatted down to inspect the little accident.
Within simple glance, it looked like another giant insect. It had white skin with green rings and had a smoother Picking up one end of the squashed little thing and examining it further. Upon close inspection, he could tell that it was at least something like a giant slug. But in his gaze he noticed the part where its face was. It didn't have any eyes, had short antennas, and had tiny holes in its sides for what looked like its nose. But what couldn't avert his notice was its large round mouth, covered in sharp teeth.
Upon putting the insect down, he went to Amelia's book and flipped the pages swiftly for a drawing of it. In a few leaves he caught sight of a rough drawing of the specimen. Buck began to read it out loud.
"Carnivorous slugs. Easily squashable. Resistant to fire (but toasts nicely with dragon fire). Travels in… ho-ha-hordes?" Buck took a while to digest the word before realizing what it meant. He quickly looked around to see more of the white green-ringed insects. He hastily read it down as his situation began to get dire. "Very slow, avoid quickly before surrounded. Can't swim," he read.
Buck instantly sprung off of his feet, kept the book in his knapsack, and started sprinting forwards, skipping over the screeching slugs. Though blind, they could easily sniff him down.
The deeper he traversed into the jungle, their numbers seemed to multiply. Their screeches began to grow louder as more of them continued to follow him. Once Buck would see too many of them in front of his path, he would travel sideways in search of another path. He started breathing heavily from running in what seemed like circles.
After a while of running, Buck came upon the edge of the land going downhill. There he could see hordes of them, making traveling down almost impossible. But at the bottom of the hill he could see large river, large enough for him to be able to completely evade the horde of carnivorous slugs.
It was a gamble he had to take, but though he used to love having chances of survival slim in situations like these, now wasn't the time to be having fun. Buck quickly glanced around until he came upon a hollow tree trunk.
The one-eyed weasel wondered if there were any other alternatives, but the slugs chasing him from behind weren't as slow as he thought. "These buggers just don't know when to quit," Buck said to himself. Without any further ado, he grabbed the hollow trunk and affixed it unto the edge.
Buck immediately mounted and began to slide down without hesitation. "Yeeehaaaa!" he bellowed. Old habits of fun still thrived within him, and he would be lying to himself if he'd deny his hunger for adrenaline. Sliding down, the tree trunk rumbled from the amount of slugs being inhumanely squished beneath it. Buck positioned himself like on a skateboard, simply angling his ankle to change direction. He skillfully swerved through landmarks of rock and stone that impeded his way. But smooth riding changed immediately as even he couldn't evade them all. A close inch bumped unto of the tree, making his ride turn and roll down horizontally. Carnivorous slugs were now the least of his problems.
"Woah, woah!" Buck shouted. Traveling on the rolling trunk was more difficult as it was covered in slippery green mush that made it a tad bit harder, and more so as the ride was rough. Without the ability to navigate, the hollow tree would hop up and down, making him jump up and drastically try to get back on. The weasel even held his knife in his mouth, simply so he could balance waving his arms in the air.
As if things couldn't get any worse, Buck spotted a rock pointing up parallel to the slope. Wide-eyed, he braced for impact until he jumped up in the last second. The tree trunk broke vertically in half, the longer half flying in the air, and the shorter half continued to twist and roll on the ground. Buck barely caught hold of the shorter half, grasping unto its edge. The adventurous weasel tried to keep the trunk slide straight down without rolling with only his two hands, and his feet dangling in the air.
Buck cringed and muffled out loud as a searing pain went through his left foot. He looked back to see one of the slugs biting down at the side. He kicked it off with his other foot before finally climbing back on to his ride. When he thought that was the end of his troubles, the longer half of the tree trunk bounced around and hopped at the other side. It eventually bounced angularly and up into the air. Buck predicted it to fall on top of him in less than a few moments.
Instantly, he leaped up as the rolling trunk was just about to land on him. Grabbing on from below, the tree trunk rolled to around until he laid on top and crash down on to his original mount. The impact made him and his ride leap once again into the air, this time broke into dozens of pieces. Time slowed as he thought, and from a short distance he could see the final lap of the race. With whatever long piece of wood he could grab, he rode on it and continued down as a sleigh. The smaller ride made him more vulnerable to the slugs that appeared in his way, but being able to navigate through it easier, he could simply evade them instead of savagely flattening them. But that would only work for a while.
He was only a few seconds short from getting away, Buck could almost escape into freedom. After killing so much, you'd think they'd run out by now. Sliding up through a ramp, he flung into the air and over the designated river. Though crash landing into the ground, Buck was happy enough to be safe on the other side of river. Those things weren't your average dinosaurs, and Buck never thought that it might be what would kill him in the end.
"Phew!" Buck let out as he lied down on the ground gasping breathlessly for air. "Tha' was one long raide!"
Hearing the familiar screech of the insect, Buck looked towards the piece of wood he had left from the expedition, and he saw perhaps the last of the white green-ringed carnivorous slug he would ever encounter. Buck made sure of that, as he threw the piece of wood along with the slug into the river.
"Score one for the mammals," said the mammal chauvinist. Buck took one last breather while staring at the still following slugs that blindly lead themselves into the river.
With that over, he decided to continue on moving. He tried to stand up before a shot of pain pierced in his left foot. He inspected it to see that the bite might have been deeper than he thought. Seeing that the light was about to flee from the ceiling of ice, Buck decided to simply rest for time being.
Time passed quickly as Buck gathered firewood and made camp, limping around with one leg. It was no different for Amelia. She had decided to make camp a few hours earlier, and all she did was poke at the embers and stare at the flame, feeling lonely and worried. That night she cried herself to sleep. Buck in the other hand couldn't. Or perhaps tried not to.
So much had happened, and so much he could lose that he was determined to get back. Buck wondered what would happen in his sleep. Would his nightmares resume once again, continuing off into a new branch of despair? Or perhaps let him have his sweet escape, removed from all the worries he had and was truly lost in paradise.
He could only wish, because he drifted off into sleep either way.
But in the still of the night, a beast with giant wings stalked the residents of the valley. Drakon spotted the one-eyed weasel at a distance, and perched himself on one of the peaks that stood out in the valley.
But instead of taking immediate action, he simply stared and watched deeply. Demonic eyes of evil intent glowing in the dark, a sinister motive was afoot.
"Oi, be careful now lassy!" called out little Buck as the young Amelia balanced herself on the woods that built the dam. "You shouldn't try doin' anythin' reckless," Buck said. It had been there for over all their lives. The giant dam that held the seemingly shallow river that supplied them of their water. It being abandoned, the first settlers must have decided to build their homes right near the original now-dried up banks.
"You worry too much!" Amelia shouted back as she happily skipped through the wooden platforms. "You're just like the village elder!" she giggled.
Buck raised an eyebrow. "I am not!" he protested. Buck innately followed after her, perhaps too immature to realize that he was really worried about her. The wooden platforms creaked as they stepped on it. Buck remained a bit cautious, watching Amelia stride in a happy-go-lucky manner.
"I really don't think this is a good idea," Buck tried to convince.
Amelia turned her head towards him. "If you think it's a bad idea you shouldn't have just followed me," she said cockily.
But while she wasn't paying attention, her foot stepped on an unevenly placed plank making her shift out of balance. She waved her arms as she drastically tried not to fall down the dam. She was successful, but she carelessly made her body force to the other way. Amelia was about to fall down the other side of the dam when Buck quickly grabbed hold of her hands.
"Hey!" Buck cried, trying to get her back on her feet. Amelia felt a bit shocked from the experience, but she took in a breath to calm herself down.
"That was close," Amelia said, "Thanks"
"I told you'd get yourself hurt if you keep doin' reckless things," Buck said in a worried tone.
Amelia sighed. "Fine," she replied. She fell silent for a while before mumbling to herself. "I'll just do reckless things when you're around. That way I won't get hurt."
"Wha' was that?" asked Buck, who couldn't really hear what she said. Amelia simply smiled back at him.
"In any case, let's go," said Amelia. "Before you get wrinkles from all that worrying,"
Buck scrunched his eyebrows. "I am not like him!"
Xion the Author: The flashback here is to give more meaning to their past relationship (and also highlight a bit on Buck's past itself. My version of course), as might the rest of the flashback/dreams that will follow in the next chapters. Seems a bit desperate but I try to keep the essence of my story. It also adds sense to the story being in the romance genre.
Manny: Oh yeah, and the thing with the multi-lingual titles. It doesn't necessarily mean that the author(I'm not saying that I'm not him nor the opposite) knows these languages. He simply uses google translate, which translates everything very rough. He's just doing it for fun really.
Xion the Author: I'm starting to forget which languages I've already used actually. I might even resort to using my native language xD
Diego: Also, if you have any suggestions as to what Buck would encounter next, feel free to drop it with a review. Whether your just saying you read and enjoyed it, the best help you could give is encouragement from just saying that you loved the story.
Xion the Author: Right. Oh, and I pray that Buck will be put in Ice Age: Continental Drift. The current news only says there's a love interest for Diego namely Shira, voiced by (Jennifer Lopez). Though as happy as I am about that news, I STILL want Buck in the movie. It would break my heart to not see any dinosaurs being wrangled by a mysterious one-eyed could-be-pirate weasel.