Of Past and Future: The tale of a Traveller

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Fox. Star Fox and all the characters (except Skysoar and his family; they belong to me) belong to Nintendo. Lawyers, put down the briefcases. I also note that I get nothing out of this. pulls out a shotgun I SAID, DROP THE CASES! Good. Thank you.

Long chapter. Took me the whole friggin´ day to write.

Chapter 4- The New Form

The sun rose slowly to bathe the mountain range in golden rays. Something moved in a cold mountainside cave. In the back of the cave was something that looked like a small blue conical tent with two curved bone spikes on the top. The leathery sides seemed to pulse slowly as if something had been breathing inside. Suddenly a bright sound was emitted from within the object and the pulsing stopped. The tent seemed to split in two.

What had appeared to be the sides of the tent proved to be the batlike wings of a blue dragonlike being with golden eyes, sitting on the floor of the cave and holding a bundle of white fur. The high-pitched sounds were coming from the bundle, which, on a closer look, appeared to be a small anthropomorphic fox child.

Skysoar awoke in the morning when the child he was holding began to cry. Groggily he rose to his feet and stretched his wings.

"Morning, dal´rann. You must be hungry. Let's see if I have any berries left.."

He proceeded to make more of the paste he had given her before and feed it to her.

"I cannot keep feeding you berries forever.." Skysoar thought. Foxes were carnivorous, after all.

"We need to see if there is anything useful in the caravan. Seeing to the dead will take nearly the whole day.."

The child whimpered at him and he looked down at her.

"What is it, dal´rann?" Skysoar poked her gently in the stomach and got back a small giggle. He smiled and brought the tip of his tail above the child. He wriggled the tip and touched her nose gently with it. Soon she was following every movement the leaflike appendage on the tip was making with her eyes, reaching up to try and grab it. Skysoar smiled at her, playing with her until she dozed off again.

"Hrmm.. let's see now.. We will need more food and some supplies.. and I will need to be able to mask myself if we are to find someone. No need to scare people looking like this.."

Skysoar sighed and shook his head.

"It is strange, actually.. So many worlds I remember, and many more that I do not recall.. and still the natives in all of them feared my appearance. It gets to be depressing.."

He sighed and wrapped the cloth she had been covered in back around the child.

"We must go outside, dal´rann.. Skysoar whispered to her. "Sleep well. We will return soon.."

Outside the cold mountain winds carried snow towards the still smoldering remains of the caravan. Skysoar spread his wings and leapt off the cliff. For a split second his wings fluttered before getting filled with the wind. Skysoar heard two loud slamming sounds like sails picking up the ocean winds and felt a sharp jerk as the wing membranes stretched to keep him airborne. He beat the air with his wings and took a sharp turn right. The leaflike plate in his tail suddenly seemed to grow as what had looked like solid bone turned out to be several long bone spikes bound together with a thin membrane. The spikes twitched and turned, unfolding the membrane and turning the plate into a kite-shaped pad Skysoar used to help guide his flight. Wind blared in his ears and his blood pulsed with his wings as Skysoar turned his long snout downwards and started to glide, first slowly, but gathering speed in his descent, towards the caravan remains to the north. Every cell in his body pulsed with the excitement of flight. A single mistake in turning his wings could result in falling for a good two hundred feet before meeting the hard, unforgiving earth.

Skysoar felt more alive then in ages. This was the reason he had been named Skysoar; The one who soars the skies. He was created for flying through the clouds, exploring the earth from the viewpoint of a bird. For a moment he pitied the creatures bound to the ground, Draconian and others. Only the Blue, White and Silver species of Draconian could fly. Black and Gold Draconians did not have wings at all; the Red, Green, Bronze, Copper and Brass Draconians had wings, but they were not strong enough for direct flight, and were only capable of hovering or gliding for short distances. So far Skysoar had not met any other sentient species capable of flying.

It was amazing to feel the wind tugging at his scales, the joy of diving, or the way he could see for miles away from the heights. He felt free of any earthly needs, only feeling the thirst of speed and the fury of the winds. He would fly higher and higher until he could see the entire world from above, he would..

Skysoar shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts. He had work to do. Skysoar glanced around to get his bearings and corrected his flight path. He turned down to gain more speed. He dived towards the caravan remains and folded his wings slightly to accelerate his descent. Gradually picking up speed, he dove towards the wagons like a giant falcon swooping down to grab its prey. Seconds before he would have crashed into the snowy ground he spread his wings to the fullest and pulled his nose upwards. A loud WHAM! echoed off the mountains the second time as his wings were instantly filled with air. Skysoar felt a strong wrench in his body as his descent stopped abruptly some mere five feet off the ground. The momentum actually pulled him slightly upwards before he fell on his feet into the snowy earth. He folded his wings and looked around.

He had landed straight to the middle of the former battlezone. The remains of the caravan were still untouched. The flames had burnt out during the night, but the remains of the burnt wagons in the middle of the road were still smoldering. Several still intact wagons surrounded them. Guard and bandit corpses were strewn all around. The cold climate had slowed down any decomposition- they had not yet begun to smell. Skysoar set the still sleeping child onto the table of a nearby wagon and set to work. He would need all the wood he could get to build a pyre, meaning he would have to take apart the still intact wagons. He decided to first gather all the supplies he could before building the pyre.

He looked longingly at the deep blue sky and growled. Already had a flock of birds begun circling the caravan remains. Vultures.

"Filthy creatures.." Skysoar growled and took aim. A bolt of lightning lanced out of his mouth at the flock. One of the black birds spun around and fell, leaving behind a trail of smoke and feathers. Three more fell before the rest got the hint and scattered. Skysoar blew away the thin wisps of ozone-smelling smoke rising from his nostrils and set to work.

For the next hour he scoured the wagons for anything useful. Soon he had gathered a neat pile of food, bowls and such he could need near the wagons. He had found a map from one of the larger wagons. He was unable to decipher the text on the map, but judging from the distance between the hills he had appeared in and the mountain ranges, it would take him nearly a month to travel to the nearest city. Skysoar frowned. The cities were far enough to make travelling difficult with a small child. He would need all the food he could carry to support the child during the travel.

Then there were the people. Skysoar had noticed that all the bodies surrounding him were approximately five feet tall. Skysoar himself was nearly eight and a half feet tall- if not counting the wings or the horns. His size alone, let alone his appearance, would make it impossible to fit in.

"I will have to use my magic.." Skysoar thought.

He was a warrior, not a mage. Though most Draconians were unmatched in magical power, Skysoar had never been exactly talented in channeling arcane powers. At best his powers of spellcraft were usually at the level of an average Human mage. The spell he needed was a relatively simple one, but would make him vulnerable. As much as he disliked the idea, he would have to resort in magic.

Skysoar set to seek out a fitting body. He would need a relatively unharmed, male fox corpse. After searching through all the bodies on the site he had come to the conclusion that the only fitting candidate was the fox warrior that had given him the child.

Skysoar studied the body intently and sighed. He did not know how he could desecrate a noble warrior like he was about to, but he had no choice. Skysoar only hoped that the fox would not have minded had he known. He sighed and spoke to the fallen fox before initiating the rites.

"Forgive me, friend, but this must be done.. Aa, Dachar, dar´ger´sha´wyr Schaa´Zor chrall dar´shraam.." "O Dachar, thy humble servant Skysoar seeks thine aid.."

Skysoar kept chanting in ancient Draconian as he made a small wound to the forehead of the fallen one with his claw. His hands danced as he drew arcane Draconian runes in the air above the fallen warrior. His golden eyes shone their own eerie light as his voice grew in strength. A flash of golden light was emitted from Skysoar´s eyes as he completed the spell. Something like white mist seemed to rise out of the eyes and the mouth of the corpse and enter Skysoar´s body through his mouth.

Skysoar´s eyes glowed brightly for a second as he rose and swayed from exhaustion. Skysoar closed his eyes and whispered silently to the body and to his deity, Dachar, who had lent him power.

"Chavass." Thank you.

Skysoar closed his eyes and concentrated. Something within him was pulsing with power, something he had not had before. Skysoar touched the.. essence.. now within him with his mind and activated the newfound ability.

Instantly he felt a change. It felt like his whole body was squirming, stretching and boiling. He fell to his knees writhing in pain. It began with his wings. The thick membrane between the bones of the wings started to shrink away, leaving two skeletal arms sticking from his back. They writhed and shrunk, the bones slowly dissolving into his back. The strong muscles previously moving the wings shrunk along them, aligning to become a part of his back muscles. His scaled seemed to turn soft and shatter, turning into long, soft fur. His tail shrunk into a thin, short ghost of what it had been and long fur blossomed over it. His hands felt like on fire as his strong claws lost their vicious talons and turned into thin and long fingers. Smaller fifth fingers grew out of his hands, turning them into humanlike contraptions with a short layer of fur. His feet lost their long claws as the legs changed into more humanlike proportions. His horns shrunk and molded to be one with his skull as his ears turned triangular and moved up onto the top of his head. His snout changed into a short, thin muzzle and the teeth changed into a vulpine configuration. His eyes seemed to move closer to each other as his skull changed shape from a reptilian, long and low form into a short and high vulpine form. All over his body bones shrunk and changed form as he seemed to shrink nearly four feet.

When he had regained control the eight-and-a-half-foot Draconian had been replaced with a five-foot-tall fox. It looked just like the fallen guard except his fur had been white, whereas the fur of this being was deep azure blue. Also the eyes were bright gold instead of dim gray.

Skysoar shakily stood back up and studied his new body. The spell had been completely successful. It felt strange to lose some limbs and gain others. The muscles in his back twitched furiously as he fought back the urge to spread his now nonexistent wings. His hands felt strange with five long and slender fingers instead of four strong and sharp claws. Skysoar flinched as strange new sensations washed over him. He felt suddenly very vulnerable without his hard scales and powerful claws. At least he still had fangs.

Strange trickling sensations washed over him as his fur reacted to the cold wind. Skysoar looked at himself and decided to look for something to cover himself with. Some.. things.. were much better protected -and concealed- in the Draconian body.

By the time Skysoar had found some clothes fit for him, he had gotten quite used to his alternative form. He glanced at his mirror image approvingly. Black leather trousers and a sleeveless, black leather jacket covered his body without restricting his movement. He had found a pair of black leather boots reinforced with steel to cover his paws. Unlike his Draconian claws, his paws were soft and vulnerable. Much of this new body was. The fur, though soft, felt warm and silky to the touch. Skysoar liked the way his fur and clothes felt.

Skysoar smiled and concentrated. His clothes seemed to melt and become one with his fur before the process that had changed his body was replayed in reverse motion. Moments later he was standing there in all of his Draconian glory. The process had still felt painful, but not as disturbing as before. He closed his eyes again and transmorphed back into his fox form. Fox, with clothes on. Draconian, with no clothes. Good, it seemed to work.

"Hello.. what have we here?"

Skysoar had noticed a pair of black steel bracelets with silvery decorations. He tried them on and they seemed to fit perfectly, covering his furry arms between his elbows and wrists. Skysoar glanced once more at the mirror and reverted back to his true form.

The sound of a crying baby startled Skysoar back to reality. He had nearly forgotten about her. He had found some milk in sealed containers that, miraculously, had not spoiled yet. He fed her until she had had enough. Skysoar smiled at her, mentally scolding himself for forgetting the passage of time. Evening had already come. He would have to hurry.

Skysoar did not know the ways of burial typical of this world, so he resorted to his Draconian teachings. He gathered all the bandit corpses into a nearby clearing. Onto the fallen bandits he gathered a funeral pyre from the remains of the caravan wagons. As the evening grew darker, Skysoar moved the fallen guards and caravaners onto the pyre. He gathered all the weapons he had found onto the pyre and laid them at the feet of the fallen warriors.

Skysoar sent a short prayer to his god. "Dachar, let their souls move on in peace.."

He lifted the child up to his chest and ignited the pyre with a well-aimed lightning bolt. As the flames burnt high and bright, Skysoar raised his gaze up to the sky where some stars had already appeared. He opened his mouth and drew deep breath, closing his eyes.

A long, bright and clear call ensued and echoed off the mountains. The single voice slowly turned into a wordless, haunting melody the echoes multiplied. Reverberating off the cliffs and trees, the echoes made it sound like there had been hundreds of Draconians in the valley, mourning over the fallen champions in an ancient Draconian ritual.

Through his near-trance state Skysoar suddenly heard a second voice join his. Amazed, Skysoar glanced down at the child he was holding while continuing on with the song. The pup had raised her small muzzle and was following along Skysoar´s melody nearly flawlessly.