Predators and Warriors

Chapter 4

A soft, cool breeze swept across the hill as a storm approached. The grass, the leaves, and the occasional dust bunny flowed with the wind. But it was eerily silent at the top. There stood Trousk, the feathers on his tail, arm, and head gracefully swaying in the breeze. His one eye stared at a multitude of graves that the village had put atop the hill and filled up for generations. One grave that has his attention is his friend, Tesa's, grave. Her death was sudden, swift, and brutal, and he knew whatever that thing was that came out of her was still out there.

"If only I had gotten there earlier, she would still be alive," Trousk whispered to himself. He closed his eye and let out a pained sigh. His hand curled into a fist as he turned around and made his way down the hill. The first drops of rain fell on his silky, black feathers as he made his way into town. The town was still in mourning of the deaths of the seven people that suffered the same fate as Tesa, and it was prevalent in their faces. From there he saw Vokun and Ubtia, waiting patiently by the side of the fountain. He figured they were wanting to see him, so he cleared his throat and approached. "Salwa."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Vokun mumbled. Trousk chuckled at his ally in war as Ubtia was fumbling around in a bag made of white silk...which confused him greatly.

"Where did you get that?" he asked as she pulled something out of the bag.

"Get what? This?" she questioned back, holding up a crystal arm.

"No, that bag." Ubtia's face turned red as she tried to think of a response. Trousk and Vokun looked at each other, only shrugging at her behavior.

"Lets not talk about that, please," she told them. As she dropped the bag on the ground, their focus landed on the arm she was carrying.

"May I ask where you got that?" Trousk questioned her.

"If what the Redredda has told us about the thing that killed Tesa, its that they can spread like wildfire. I think we may of screwed up by waiting this long...what has it been, a week?" Vokun began.

"I'm not going to get over how there is life on other worlds. I thought ours was the only one, for sure," Trousk said. Ubtia nodded her head in agreement. She, as well, was surprised that life wasn't just prominent on this realm. Vokun grunted to get their attention again.

"Anyways, me and Ubtia figured it would be wise to get you back into fighting shape, since you saved your nation from two invasions of equal magnitude before. So, over the course of this week, I had been working on a new arm for you. Say its a gift for your help against Hahvulon," Vokun continued.

"But how exactly are you going to put that new arm on me? I don't know any possible met-"

"Done." Trousk looked down to see the crystal arm now slowly attaching itself where his old arm was. It gave off a weird feeling as it connected, but it did so with no ill effect. He lifted his new arm up and moved his fingers. They worked like a charm.

"Well...alright then," Trousk joked. Ubtia smiled as Trousk wielded his sword in his new right arm. "Just like good old times."

"I have also outfitted that new arm with powers and weapons for you to use based off of my own capabilities, though they are weaker," Vokun growled.

"Thank you, reru. Now I can bring this chaos to an end," the general said with excitement and confidence.

"Its good to have you back on the team, that's for sure," Ubtia told him.

"But I have to ask. What are we going to do with the Redredda?" Trousk asked. Vokun grumbled before pointing towards another section of the plaza with his tail. There stood the Redredda, but with another crystal reru.

"We have important business, me and you. If we are going to win against these serpents, then we need an army. We are heading to Flean to ask the Kinex for assistance," Vokun finally replied.

"Why can't we use your armada? Wouldn't we be able to kick them back to wherever they came from with ease?"

"Obsidorah wouldn't allow it. He created me to protect the world from the devil dragons, not from things like this. Now get on. We must go now," Vokun ordered, lowering his wings. Trousk rolled his eyes at the reru before clambering onto his back. Vokun and the other crystal reru, which the Redredda were riding on, took off, flying westward towards the mountains.

An hour into the ride, they had gotten pretty comfortable. Trousk was lying on his back, watching the flying animals the island had to offer go by. The Redredda did not move a muscle. To Trousk, they seemed relaxed, so he took that as a sign. You may think he should have a grudge against them for cutting off his arm during their fight, but you'd be wrong. Fighting is a heavy part of Zlarca's culture, and losing an arm like, while humiliating towards the one who lost it, gives those who committed to the chopping a high deal of respect. He couldn't be mad at them. He has been around for over a thousand years now, and seeing an ancient general such as himself lose to a newcomer is something he should admire in the Redredda.

The ride there was silent, but Trousk had this feeling like they were being watched. The Redredda seemed to have the same feeling. The crystal rerus, however, did not realize what was going to happen next. From the depths of the forest bursts upwards, slamming itself into Vokun and sending the reru and the general plummeting towards the ground. Vokun crashed, face first, into the dirt, but was only shaken up from the fall, while Trousk landed like a bird, using the feathery flaps under his arms to glide downwards safely. After spitting a mouthful of soil from his jaws, Vokun realized what had caught them. As the other crystal reru, with the Redredda, land, the impostor shows its face.

It was...a dragon!? But at the same time, it didn't look like a normal one. It's mouth opened as it let out a loud, menacing roar, revealing a second mouth that was inside the normal one. Trousk and Vokun looked on in disgust.

"Okay...definitely not what I expected from these serpents."

"If what those Redredda said is true, we got to stop this thing NOW before it can spread its plague across the island," Vokun told him.

"...wait, you didn't tell me how I can use this arm-"

"Find that out yourself!" Vokun roared, charging the beast. He slammed his head against the creature before biting down on his prey. It roared in pain and slammed its large foot into him, sending him through a couple of trees. The Redredda and the extra reru were soon to fight. The three beings threw their star-shaped weapons at the creature, getting some good gashes on its side, but not good enough to make it bleed. It charged at the three, with the reru intervening and slamming its foot on the creature's neck. It only pissed it off even more as it bit down on the reru and flung it at the Redredda, sending them flying while Vokun came back, his mouth flaming with blue fire.

A torrent of blue fire streamed from his mouth at the creature, but it was smart enough to get out of the way. Vokun mentally cursed himself as a pile of crystals formed where the fire hit, and he chased after the Serpent as it took off into the air. Trousk growled in annoyance as he tried to get the arm to do something to no avail. He became enraged, and slammed his fist into the arm, causing a bolt of energy to streak down to its hand and collect into some sort of ball. Trousk was surprised by this, but knew he couldn't revel on this power for long. As the reru came to its senses, Trousk jumped on its back, followed by the Redredda, and they took off after Vokun and the Serpent.

Vokun and the creature had been sparing in the air for a few minutes now, each one not being able to damage to each other, which annoyed the reru commander too much for him to bear. He then saw the other reru with Trousk on its back. The ball of energy in his hand was a sign he was beginning to understand how his new arm worked.

"Perfect." Without warning, the Serpent unleashed a volley of acid balls. One hit him in the face, sending him spiraling towards the ground below...again. After letting out a loud roar, it began to flee, feeling as if its energy is starting to run low. Trousk could not let it get away. He ordered the reru to go faster, and it did so. As they passed over clouds, the two "dragons" finally flew parallel to each other. With his target now in striking distance, he aimed his arm at the beast's head. Before he could take the shot, the beast slammed itself into the reru, throwing him and the Redredda off balance and straight off the reru's back.

He tried to unfold his feathery flaps that were under his arms, but only one came up, as the other one didn't have the feathers necessary to glide. Knowing that he is falling for real this time, he decided to take this opportunity. He positioned himself, facing upwards as the reru and Vokun, who had recently came back, was fighting with the Serpent. The ball of energy in his hand grew larger as he took aim, trying to get the perfect shot. However, the two rerus sort of ruin his chance since they were getting in the way constantly. He growled in annoyance before he decided to take his chance.

He let the energy go, releasing a beam of light towards the three. Said three stopped for a moment until they noticed a red glow from under them. Knowing what they meant, Vokun and his lackey fled the scene. It hit the Serpent straight on, slicing through it like butter on a hot day. An explosion soon followed, releasing a torrent of body parts and acid all over the place. He held his arm up to block the acid, which suddenly caused a shield made of Vokun's crystal to form in front of him. The acid fell on it, but did nothing, unlike last time when it melted his claw.

"Well...that was interesting," he said to himself. He then rolled over, trying his best to slow down his fall as best as he could. However, he knew that he couldn't slow himself down in time. Before he passed the bottom cloud level, Vokun sped through, grabbing him by the length of his tail and throwing him on his back. Trousk didn't even give a reaction at how quick that was.

"About time," Vokun roared. "Though, I don't know why I didn't do that myself..."

"Maybe you wanted me to kill it instead?" Trousk joked as the other reru flew up beside them, carrying the Redredda.

"No, not really. Whatever, we still have a mission to do, do we not?" Vokun growled.

"I know. We lost precious time because of that attack. Lets get going!" Trousk ordered.

"Don't tell me what to do human!" Vokun roared before flying off at incredible speed.

However, down below, unknown to them, the plague has already begun.


Hah! 2 chapters in one night! What about it!?

I hope you enjoyed it. if you didn't, that's okay as well ;)

This is Sporedude135, signing off...