Chapter 2:
Alright this is the second chapter that has also been written by LoganJindrak X! Just to confirm he has written chapters 1-17! So chapters 18 onwards will be continued by me! So I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Blu's mind swam in the middle of an ocean of confusion. Not matter how many times he opened and closed his beak, no word could be produced by his throat. The poor Spix's macaw could just not proceed what happened in a matter of moments. One second, he was flying for the first time in Rio's rainforest, looking for a snack that his girlfriend could eat, the next, he found himself chased by some sort of... thing that got destroyed by a hooded Spix's macaw carrying two swords.
To sum it up: WHAT THE CHEESE AND SPRINKLES WAS GOING ON?!
"Hum, are you okay, young one?" The voice of his savior brought Blu back to reality, his eyes rising up to meet the light brown ones staring at him. "It seems like I managed to arrive in time. Did this Ghoul rip your tongue off?"
"G-Ghoul?" Blu finally managed to say after remaining silent for what felt like an eternity.
"So you still have your tongue. Good to know," the mysterious Spix's macaw said with an expression mixing relief and humor. Stepping forward, he then grabbed Blu's wing to help him back up, making the younger avian realize that, in his shock and confusion, his legs gave up on him. "We have no time to waste right now. You have a friend, right? Let us see her."
Turning around so that his hood and the two sabers tied on his back were facing Blu, the mysterious Spix's macaw started walking in the opposite direction. Toward the artificial jungle room, to be exact. This posed another question for Blu: this guy knew about Jewel? But how? Finally snapping out of it, he managed to find the strength to run after this hooded bird. "Wait, how do you-"
The stranger rose his wing as a signal for Blu to stop talking. "I'd ask you to remain silent until we're ready to go. I know you must have hundreds of questions to ask me, but we have to move. Fear not; I will answer everything once the time comes. But for now, we must go find your friend and get ready to leave."
Blu blinked his chocolate brown eyes. "Leave?"
"Hmm, what's taking him so long?" Jewel asked herself while rubbing her poor stomach with a wing. Blu had been gone for quite a while now, and she was getting hungrier than ever! He was better not to make her wait to slack off, or she would give him the butt kicking of a lifetime!
However, through the impatience caused by her hunger, Jewel couldn't help but develop some worry. While his flying skills were very promising, he only learned how to take to the skies a few hours ago. He was no aerial master the same way that she was. What if something wrong happened in the jungle? What if he accidentally hit his head on a tree branch or something and fell to the jungle floor at the mercy of all the nocturnal predators? Jewel's stomach suddenly became the least of her worries...
CLANK!
The sound of the room' entrance opening filled Jewel's soul with relief. She almost instantly jumped to her feet and rushed at the nest's entrance, peeking her head out. "There you are, I was getting worried... Blu?" Relief got replaced by confusion as Blu walked in after a hooded blue parrot. Was that a... Spix's macaw?
"Greetings, young lady," the hooded macaw said with giving a polite bow. "No need to come down; your friend and I will join you up here. Let us go." Opening his wings, he made his way up on the tree's branch and stepped inside the nest. Jewel stepped back to make some way for him. Giving one more bow, he gave an expecting look around the hollow. "There isn't anybody else with you?"
"Who's that guy? Where is he coming from?" Jewel asked Blu who entered shortly afterwards.
"I have no idea, but... Would you believe me if I told you that just a few moments ago, he saved me from a ghost?" Blu asked sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with a wing.
"... What?" Jewel asked, looking as if Blu had grown a second head.
The hooded macaw stopped looking around after a few seconds and turned back to the other macaws. "Alright, there doesn't seem to be any trace of evil in this room. I just had to be sure." He then bowed for a third time and finally introduced himself. "My name is Nightfly. Pardon me for not introducing myself earlier, but I had to make sure our surroundings were secure."
"Huh... secure from what?" Jewel asked.
"From lots of things. But to be more precise, Ghouls," the Spix's macaw whom they now knew was named Nightfly explained as if they were supposed to understand what the heck he was talking about. His gaze then zeroed down to Jewel's bandaged wing. "Wait a minute, you're hurt? Let me take a look at this."
Jewel couldn't help but take two steps back as Nightfly approached her, taking her broken wing with his. Sure, he did look like a gentleman and apparently saved Blu from a... 'ghost'. However, he did act strange, wearing a hoodie, and carrying two swords. His brown eyes inspected Jewel's injury and his face slowly twisted in a frown.
"This is very bad indeed. Too bad medical magic isn't my specialty. But I will do what I can for you." Nightfly closed his eyes, allowing some words to come out of his beak in mumbles. No matter how hard they tried to listen, Blu and Jewel could not tell what he was saying - it sounded like a foreign language But then, things got even strangers as his wings started glowing a faint greenish light that slipped within Jewel's bandaged wing. She didn't know what this was supposed to be... but it made the pain of her injury slowly melt away. This was a miracle!
"Here, that's all I can do," Nightfly announced and stopped his magical trick before all the pain could disappear, much to Jewel's dismay. "You're not gonna be able to fly like this, so we're gonna have to travel on foot. Let us go," he demanded and made his way toward the nest's entrance.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a second!" Blu exclaimed, grabbing Nightfly's wing and stopping him in his track before he could leave. "What are you talking about? Why should we leave? Where do you want us to go? Are we in harm's way? What is going on?!"
Nightfly pushed a little sigh and rubbed his forehead, his brown eyes closed. "Of course, what was I thinking? Nobody would want to follow a complete stranger without knowing anything. It's not like you folks actually know who I am or what order I'm part of." Turning on his talons, he walked over to the nest Jewel laid on moments ago and sat down. He tapped the spot before him, inviting the two Spix's macaws to join him.
Blu and Jewel did just that, lying on their rear end over the soft moss the medical team used to build Jewel's nest. "First of all, where do you come from? Blu and I thought that we were the last of our species in the entire world. At least, that's what the human doctor said. How can you have gone around without being caught?" Jewel asked.
"Oh yes, I forgot that my species was rare in this world," Nightfly mumbled to himself before clearing his throat. "I will answer your question with another question, young lady: have you ever heard about the theory of multiple universes existing outside your own?"
"... Hum, no?"
"I did! I did!" Blu exclaimed, shaking his wing with excitation. "This theory is very popular within the scientific community; I did read some articles about it, but nothing has ever been confirmed due to a lack of-" The Spix's macaw stopped his wagon of nerd boy enthusiasm before he could get too far. "Hum, anyways, why do you ask?"
"Because I can confirm this theory is true. I am from a world different from yours. In yours, Spix's macaw are close to extinction, but in mine, they are quite common. In fact, we even have a royal family that is constituted of Spix's macaw. But in our world, they are called Cerulean Parrot because-"
Blu's mind stopped registering the information given by Nightfly. Another world? For real? This caused a tsunami of questions to hit the young macaw. What was this world like? Did they have unique animals or creatures not seen on Earth? How was the ecosystem? The food chain? Was the sky of the same color as their?
"Anyways," Nightfly said just as Jewel nudged Blu to make sure he'd pay attention, "onto the reason of my presence. I happened to travel across your world as a little patrol with the intention to report anything that could be qualified as out of the ordinary to the order I'm serving. At one point, the disgusting presence of a Ghoul reached my senses and that is when I found you about to become a monster meal."
While these explanations brought some light on the whole situation, also bringing some excitation to the macaws with the idea of not being the last of their species in the process, they also brought even more questions that required answers. Right now. "So, what was this creature that attacked me back there?" Blu inquired. "Will it come back?"
"First, this creature is called a Ghoul; a creature that was once a living being, like you and me. However, it consumed the meat of its own species and underwent a terrifying transformation which left it with nothing but murderous instincts and hunger for flesh. Second, no; I killed once and for all." Nightfly crossed his wings, and rubbed his chin a little bit. "The funny thing is that Ghouls like this one usually like to hunt in groups and stay close to cemeteries, ancient crypts, or any place with lots of corpses. This guy was probably a deviant."
An animal that ate its own kind and became a monster? Before nausea could follow the shiver that went down Blu's spine, he decided to follow with the next question: "Okay, now tell us, what are you doing with a hood and two swords? Are you a monster hunter, a knight, or something?"
"Not exactly, I'm part of a much more prestigious organization." Nightfly's features were illuminated by an air of pride. "I, Nightfly, am a master of the legendary Order of the Sacred Sword, sworn to protect living beings and keep peace across my world, and all the others."
Blu crossed his wings together with his eyes closed, taking the air of someone proceeding a lot of detail. "Ok, so let me get this straight: you're some sort of wizard coming from another world, you serve a group of other wizards, and you hunt scary monsters for a living?"
"... Well, that's a basic description, but all in all, yes."
The younger Spix's macaw eyebrow twitched, the corner of his beak rising up in a little grin. "... Alright, I believe you..." He suddenly shot up to his feet and darted at the hooded bird, his face stopping itches from his. "ARE YOU MOCKING ME?!"
"Blu-"
"GET OUT! GET OUT! OUT OF MY NEST AT THIS VERY INSTANT!" Blu yelled at the top of his lungs, pointing at the nest's entrance with his wing, startling the two others with his sudden hostility.
"... Why? I just told you that I was here to help," Nightfly pointed out, his brown eyes blinking in confusion.
"And you really think I'm gonna swallow that?! Sorry, but your story doesn't make any sense; it's against everything science has taught me! Magic, pff! I'll believe that one when I see it."
"Well, you did see me kill that Ghoul and heal your friend's wing, didn't you?"
"He's right, Blu; my wing doesn't hurt as much as before," Jewel confirmed, doing a few movements with her damaged wing as a proof.
Blu rubbed his two eyes with his feathers. The existence of other worlds, monsters, wizards, magic... That was too much for his brain to proceed. Why did it have to happen now, when he was about to start his new life in Rio with his mate? But then again, maybe it was no excuse to act so hostile toward the bird who saved his life moments ago. That creature who chased him down the corridor really wasn't going to give him a gentle hug.
"Okay, I suppose you're telling the truth... But can you go now, Nightfly? Jewel is wounded, I am tired, and we both need to rest. You took care of that... thing, so everything's fine now."
Nightfly, however, shook his head. "I'm afraid it's not that simple, my young friend." He pointed a feather from his wing at Blu's body. "Before I could kill it, the Ghoul managed to make physical contact with you. In doing so, it left a specific smell on your feathers that will attract creatures of evil toward you."
"... WHAT?!" Blu exclaimed, panic rushing to his heart. "Are you saying I'm now a prey for all of your... monsters or I don't know what?!"
Nightfly nodded his head a yes. "I'm afraid so. It is impossible to wash the smell away, but it should go away with time. However, until then, I will have to protect you from all the creatures who will smell and come for you." He then rubbed his chin with a wing. "The only problem is that this aviary isn't exactly the ideal place to keep monsters away. We will have to move out of here."
"Leave? To go where?" Jewel asked.
"I have a friend who doesn't live too far from here. If we leave right now, we can make it there before it gets too late. I'm sure he won't mind receiving us for the night." Nightfly walked over to the nest's entrance. "Let us go."
As the hooded avian jumped out, Blu and Jewel just stood there with hesitant looks. After a few seconds, the female decided to speak: "What do you say, Blu? Think we should follow that guy?"
Blu rubbed the back of his head, thinking about the whole situation. "... I think it would be the smartest thing to do, Jewel. This guy has no reason to lie to us. He saved my life, and if he wanted to do anything wrong to us, he'd already have done so by now. I'd rather not take chances with monsters coming after us. Plus...," he took Jewel's wings with his, "... I don't want you to get harmed because of me."
Touched by his care, Jewel gave Blu the heartmelting smile that he loved and pressed the 'lips' of her beak against his for a loving kiss. The very same sensation that invaded his whole being when he learned how to fly returned, filling him with more determination than ever.
Yes, she definitely was his significant other, and he would protect her from everything...