*Slinks in unseen* Ehhhh... I told you?
I'll stop - WTK. WHY IS MY TEXT UNDERLINED? DX Anyways. The main reason it took so freaking long to update? Ehhh... Skype addiction? MapleStory/Mabinogi addiction? School? Any of those a good answer? If not, then what about organizing my own segment for a podcast I'm in? (Please let that one work! My segment is dedicated to both writing and the unknown writers! XP)
Anyways. I'm starting up several colleges courses. Yes, yes, while in high school. Nutty, no? Anyways. Just don't expect any fast updates. - Mostly cause for one class I'm officially part of, requires me to be there two days of the week, and I have to leave at 1:30 to get to school, and get back at somewhere around 7. (Ya'll are lucky your even getting an update! D: I got a whole packet due on Friday, and I'm gonna be gone from my house from 10 to 5.) Didn't even start the packet yet... .-.
Chapter 14
Unity groaned, for once feeling her muscles screaming at her. Rolling onto her stomach, she felt them stiffen, making it far harder for her to move around. Eyes rolled around in their socket, the mind behind them processing everything that had happened to her. Gold eyes, earned from her mixed heritage, replayed earlier scenes in front of them. Finally, she located the mistake she had made in battle. Mistakes she knew Amber had told her of. Grinning, Unity rolled back onto her stomach, despite the protest of her muscles. Her tail wagged once it was freed, the only part of her that wasn't stiff.
Letting her head fall back to the ground, Unity closed her eyes. Allowing her ears to move around much like a felines ears, albeit slightly heavier, she listened to the noises produced by the outside sources. Hearing several winged animals heartbeats and breathing, she opened her mouth, letting a low whine traverse the cavern, barely loud enough for the creatures to hear her.
"Come to me."
The rustling stopped, and Unity heard the heartbeats of the creatures increase. She gave them several moments, before hearing their reply.
"You speak our language?"
Unity chuckled. The animals where she lived were intelligent beyond comparison, and it was common knowledge that all Enmalians could speak their language. Having never left her home world before, whenever she spoke to a Rahi, as the Matoran called them, it was still ever so slightly surprising they didn't know that she could speak their language. She always prepared her mind for it, but it still came as one.
"Of course." She said slowly, and then attempted to move. Her muscles once again groaned in protest, but this time she forced herself to sit on her elbows, propping her body up. "How else could I ask a favor of you?"
The creatures looked at her suspiciously, before flying towards her. Caution was thick in their wing beats, as they came to her slowly. Unity's animal instincts could also sense the emotion, so that if the Rahi's movements didn't indicate to her, then the atmosphere of the room did.
"What kind of a favor would that be?" The creatures asked her, the Rahi chirped in their language asked. Unity looked them in the eye, before grinning.
"Tell my friends that I'm okay. And that there's no need to come and get me. I am merely letting myself regain strength." The creatures turned their heads to the side curiously.
"Do we get something out of that?" One of the smarter creatures flitted closer to her.
Unity's fur rose on end slightly. Of course, She thought, Animals, or Rahi, as this place calls them, have high tendencies of wanting something in return. Her mind returned to the conversation at hand.
"You won't be eaten by my friends." She barked back to the birds. Unity understood all animal language, however, she could only speak the main language shared by all Enmalian canine sub-species. Fortunately, all animals understood the many different sounds their language made.
The birds chirped angrily at her. "Why should we risk being eaten by them when we could remain here? And we could always accept your deal, leave this cave, and never return."
Snorting, Unity growled at them. "If you remain here, I will kill you. And if you leave, having pretended to accept the deal, then I will hunt you down. It'll be very easy for me. Your scents are already stored in my memory.
"Besides. One of them is training medically. She has learned the art of medicine well. She will give you whatever she feels you deserve."
The birds, at this point, appeared to be close to attacking her. However, a few seemed rather interested in what might be offered to them. Unity's gaze switched to them, in the hope they would accept. "Think of it. It could be something that can help you, make you stronger, or something that benefits your species. Even I can not tell."
Then, what appeared to be among the smarter of the few that appeared interested, spoke. "What if whatever it is she gives us is useless? If she gives us anything at all."
"You underestimate her." Unity said, barely keeping in her calm appearance and snarl, "She will give you something in return for your services."
The birds looked at her, before appearing to nod their approval, and took off flying through the small bars of the cave. Unity sighed, somehow crawled towards the wall to lean against it. Closing her eyes, she felt her body pounding with pain and exhaustion. Leaving herself in the position, she felt the rim of sleep surround her vision.
Suddenly, she heard a cackle. Jerking awake, she saw one of the older birds sitting on her lap. It looked at her, black eyes glinting sharply in the darkness. It's feathers vaguely resembled that of a blackbird, but it was far smaller then one. The eyes looked at her, showing both contempt and relief.
"Your species is well-known…" It croaked, "However, there are no legends of your species among the Toa and Matoran. No. Instead, it is a knowledge buried deep in the farthest corners of our minds."
Unity stared at the old bird, surprised at what it was saying. "I could have sworn only the animals we represent had a faint awareness of us in all our minds." Unity said, cautious eyes examining the bird slowly.
The bird suddenly cawed. "How strange. You are young. Therefore, your eyes are poorly observant. Do you not see the familiarity in us?"
Examining the bird, Unity took in the feathers and the Rahi's appearance. It's sharp, pointed beak looked at her menacingly, while beady eyes showed more knowledge and greed then most animals. The last part that stood out to her were the feathers. Black feathers gave her the rest of the hint.
"So you really are a blackbird." Unity spoke in her canine language in surprise, "That would explain as to why you recognized me."
It's eyes glittered, slowly filling with greed. "Yes. Although we are not native to this world. Our ancestors were brought here forcefully some time ago. To ensure that we had a better chance of survival, they breed our ancestors with some of the other natives to this world. For that, we still resent them, as the memories are passed down."
Unity looked at the bird cautiously. "So why live down here? In tunnels? Birds always naturally preferred the air to the caves."
The blackbird snorted. "Of course we hate it here. We loathe it with every fiber of our being. But what other choice did we have? To allow the Matoran to hunt us down and put us into stasis? We may have been breed with other Rahi forcefully, but we are still weak, and have not changed. The only reason we live in tunnels is because of that reason. When we recognized your species, we almost rejoiced, and flew through the bars in the hope you will take us out of here. Imagine our disappointment when we recognized you as being inexperienced in the way of opening portals."
By the end of the rant, the blackbird was panting heavily. Winded from the fast talk he had taken to when in a rage, he glared at Unity, as if both his misery, and the other blackbirds misery, were her fault. Unity felt she could not blame him, as it was her species fault that they were in this place in the first place.
"What happened to your ancestors?" She asked softly, "They should still be alive, considering the fact that they were brought through portals. Anything that goes through the portals are able to live until killed. Not to mention their children also are affected in the same way, since portals effect everything that enters them for life."
The bird lowered its head. "Dead. Swallowed by a hungry Muaka several thousand years ago. I was their firstborn. After me, they could only reproduce with other Rahi."
It looked up into Unity's eyes.
Alena was sprawled out over the ground, having had Amber beat her into the ground again. She looked up out of the ground painfully, having scented something that she was familiar with, but had not been expecting. Ambers head was turned to the direction the scent was coming from also. Alenas' sharp eyes saw tiny specks of black in the sky, far away.
The specks of black slowly turned into dots, and then outlined the shape of birds. Blackbirds, or something similar. There were mild changes in their appearance, but nothing drastic. Alena picked herself off the ground, looking at the flock curiously.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Amber, who was curling her fingers around her fist, careful of the sharp claws on each fingertip. She also noticed, faintly, that her ears were folded back, as if she weren't sure whether the approaching objects were danger or friend yet.
Turning her eyes back to the specks, she continued to study them, their shape revealed more and more as they approached.
"Staring at the sky like two old Husi wondering whether its going to rain or not?" Said a rough, joking voice. Alena turned her head towards the Toa of Stone.
"We're not that old." Alena told him cheekily, "Yet."
"Yet?" The eye ridge for his mask moved up, as if it were an eyebrow.
Her ears twitched, suddenly hearing the sound of blackbirds. Turning her head suddenly, she nudged Onewa in the stomach, pointing the black specs out to him.
"You see them?"
"See what?" He demanded, sounding slightly out of breath.
"The black specks."
"What black specks?"
"The ones that sound like a bird!"
"It's obvious. You two are going nuts." Onewa snarled, his good mood ruined.
"It's obvious Alena." Amber intervened. "He can neither see, nor hear them. Yet, at least. Remember."
Alena went quiet at Ambers rebuke, turning her head to look towards the spots, closer then when she had looked away. She heard Amber jump from her spot, and land onto one of the pillars. Ignoring Ambers movement, she jumped up, nimbly landing on Onewas shoulders.
Feeling the Toa buckle under her weight slightly, she adjusted her position so that her feet were on both his shoulders, ensuring that her claws were nowhere near his armor.
"See the dots now?" Alena asked Onewa, "They should be specks for you now, since I can see them clearly."
She heard him grumble, and snickered at the fact that he was wrong.
Unbeknownst to either of the Enmalians, there were two small ears poking out of the water, oily and clumping. Underneath the protodermis, was revealed the owner of the ears.
A sharply pointed tail paddled furiously against the protodermis, while webbed fingers paddled gently against the protodermis, in contrast to the tail. Beady, black eyes were pointed towards the land, while the whiskers along its face twitched against the current of the protodermis.
Its jaw opened to reveal teeth like that of a humans, pointed to a certain degree at the front, degrading to molars in the back. The rest of it had a human appearance. The brown fur lining its body appeared to be black underneath the water.
And faintly, one could see a smile had formed behind its open jaws.
Mysterious? I hope so. Can anyone guess what I was hinting to at the bottom? The next update might be a tad bit delayed, since I'm still planning the next character out. I have most of it down, fortunately. I just need to get a tad bit more info on that cursed otte- Whoops. Almost spilled the beans. XP
Anyways. Must I ask you people to R&R? It seems I must. .-. And I don't like begging. D: (Also, I started a new story. if you enjoy the Inheritance Cycle and dragons, hopefully you'll love this one.)