A/N
Well, this story is moving quite along! I'm so glad to see so many wonderful reviews, thank you all so much!
death wish - the only wish that always comes true, whether or not one wishes it to
Curiosity-A desire to know about people or things that do not concern one; nosiness.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^^**^*^^**^*^
Angry.
Savagely angry.
What was I doing? Why did I keep going even though I knew that whatever it was would be less than happy to see anyone?
Because I was curious. That was all that it boiled down too. Curiosity.
Curiosity will kill me one of these days, if it didn't tonight.
Rushing headlong through the forest, I barely registered the surprised cries of animals that I woke up in my mad rush. My mind was totally focused on the signal.
It was strong now, it almost felt as if I could touch it, pull it right out of the air. But it was still disappearing. More than once I blindly ran forward until I heard it again.
I didn't really see the roots of the tree sticking out of the ground until too late. I had ignored my better instincts and rushed into a dark spot without slowing. I hit the ground roughly and tumbled down a steep incline, finally coming to a rest at the bottom.
I stayed still for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts.
!!!
So much for that.
I got back onto my feet. The ground felt odd. I looked down and realized that I was standing on rock.
Was this there before? I must have gone pretty far away from camp. I shook the thoughts off. It was easy to find my way back.
I stared at the darkened surroundings and I suddenly got a very bad feeling twisting in my stomach.
It must have been well over a thousand years old. It wasn't very tall, but its pyramid shape distinguished it from its surrounding in the most ominous way imaginable. The wall had long since crumbled around its perimeter, so finding a way through it was simple enough. Moving through a large hole in the wall I found myself on a stone walkway that was devoid of moss or plant growth.
Now I was getting creeped out. The entirety of the ruins was covered in green undergrowth, yet I could see them perfectly, and this one path looked like it had been cleaned of undergrowth this morning.
!!!
I could tell where it was coming from now. It was inside the pyramid. I wavered, suddenly having second thoughts, but steeled myself and went on, even as those thoughts niggled at the back of my mind. I walked down this strange path, passing buildings on either side. The buildings would put anyone in mind of altars, perhaps people sending grain to old gods.
Or maybe not grain.
The moonlight suddenly showed overhead. I had no idea it had been hidden. Beams of light crossed the ruined structures on the sides of these roads, and if it were possible, they started looking just as menacing as the pyramid I was still walking toward.
Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.
Scratch that. This is a horrible idea. I should turn around.
!!!
I stopped at the bottom of the pyramid. Steps, totally overgrown with vines and green grass, went all the way to an opening almost three fourths up the ruin. I breathed softly, and put my foot on the first step.
No sudden cataclysmic happening. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to check it out. Besides, just because I ran away didn't mean the signal would stop. It just means it would prey on my mind more.
Better to go up, see what it is, and get it over with.
*^^*^*^**^*^^*^**^*^*^^**^^*
"Why didn't you tell us?!"
"I didn't think it was that much of a problem, I mean she spends an entire day in her room at a time, this may be the way she speaks to them!"
"She only does that every great once in awhile. Which way did she run?"
"I can tell you that, 'Ro. She ran off Northwise. Right into the jungle."
Kitty fidgeted around the others. They blamed her partially for the younger girl rushing off into the wilderness. Wolverine got them into a circle.
"Here's the plan. She ran off into the North, and we gotta be careful in there. Spread out into small groups and find her."
"Logan, why don't you just sniff her out?" Scott asked.
"I don't think she's realized this yet, but she could probably throw me off her scent of she really wanted too. Besides, if she starts running around in circles or something, I want you guys to be able to catch her if the scents too muddy too follow." Wolverine sniffed the air again. "Okay, move out. Keep an eye out. There's nastier things than Doolittle in this jungle."
*^*^^*^*^*^**^^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^^*
Almost to the top. Just a little bit farther. Only five more steps. Two more and I'd be able to see through the bottom of the opening.
I went up the last steps and peered nervously into the opening. Just as I was about to look into the inner sanctum of the ruin, the signal I'd been holding onto for the last seven steps disappeared. And in the ruin, I saw…
Nothing.
A little anti-climatic. I went up the last three steps and put my foot into the room. In the moonlight that was shining I could see strange symbols across the walls and what looked like an altar, just like the altars outside, except smaller.
And like the path outside, it looked like it had been cleaned.
"What is going on?" I whispered to myself and took another step forward. This step did not yield any sort of damage, so I took another, and another. Pretty soon I was standing before that altar, staring down at stains that did not look like water marks.
"Okay…Now…is ….really good time to leave. Really good time." I whispered quietly and started to turn around.
!!!!
I froze. I didn't dare turn around, because what kind of beast is residing in a place they used for sacrificial ceremonies?
!!!
Maybe if I waited long enough, it would disappear. Then again, maybe it wouldn't disappear, and I was about to get eaten. In that case, it would be much better to face the threat head on.
Wouldn't it?
I turned slowly around. My eyes slowly touched across the walls, and then…
It was massive. It almost blocked the moon. But there was still enough for me to see.
When I first saw it, I though immediately of a deer, or maybe a horse, but it seemed to be more deer. Though on second thought, most deer are not about six feet at the shoulder. But as I allowed myself to take in all of the features that I could see by the dim moonlight, I knew that it wasn't something as harmless as a deer. The front hooves, or rather, paws, were locked in armored black scales, and at the edge of those paws were claws so sharp and tough that they were leaving claw marks in the floor. Traveling up from those paws, the scales gradually were replaced by dark, short hair, just like a deer or horse or other hoofed mammal. The back half of the creature was even more deer like, even down to the cloven hooves in the back legs. Those hooves were really shiny, I noticed. Where, had the template stayed true to form, a tiny white tail should have been, there was a whipping black tail. It seemed smooth, I think that it must be covered in hair. Sprouting from the shoulder blades (which, incidentally, seemed to be armored with bony ridges) lay two massive black wings, bat like in stature. The neck was powerful and arched, the under part of it lined with iridescent scales. The head had the features of a horse, long, but there seemed to be a draconian element to its shape. Of course, the two antler like horns piercing up from the brow only served to help that assumption along. Scales seemed to flurry down from the sides of the face till the tip of the nose, which seemed to cater to a horse's soft nose.
Not that petting it was crossing any part of my mind right then.
And the eyes. The eyes were red with rage. I had never seen anyone's eyes go truly red with rage before.
I don't think I want to experience it again anytime soon.
!!!
It reared and bucked. It tossed it's head, baring teeth that would put any big cat to shame and using it's front paws like a bear swatting the air around it. It took me a moment to realize that it didn't seem to see me. It was more busy trying to attack something I couldn't see. And suddenly, I realized something else.
I couldn't hear it.
I could hear it, in my head, it was still screaming its strange signal that was neither cry nor voice, but I couldn't hear it with my ears. It was as if I was watching some sort of movie.
Though to my experience, movies don't leave massive gouges in the floor with their claws.
I scrunched up beside the altar. If it couldn't see me, there was a better chance that it could mistakenly hit me and still not know what it hit, making it angry. I wasn't quite sure, but I'm pretty sure making it more angry could be detrimental to my health.
As I hunkered down, hoping fervently that some vengeful paw didn't take out my existence altogether, I noticed some other strange things about the creature.
As if the things I had already noted weren't enough.
Wrapped around it's neck, ropes, long black ropes, were looped around and around its neck. In the middle of these ropes was a medallion, which had some sort of picture on it that I couldn't make out. And hair. The mane of the creature seemed to be bound in some sort of rope braid. As if the hair was being kept in place because someone took special care to braid the mane, and then cover it in leather so it wouldn't get loose. Looked like it was working.
The creature reared up suddenly again, though this time, it seemed to rear up in response to something else. As it tossed its head, something warm splattered across my face. I touched it.
Definitely not a water mark.
It was hurt now, spreading its wings in an effort to look big and scary, but even I could see it was hurt too badly to fight off what was attacking it. Dark liquid was pouring out of a wound that had opened up across its chest.
I felt an intense wave of pity. And horrible fear. What if the monsters that attacked it turned on me? Were they even here? Were they monsters?
What the heck was going on?!
A sudden thought hit me. What if I touched it? If it could claw up the floor, it was obviously here, wasn't it? Maybe it was like Kurt, teleporting back and forth. Maybe it was stuck.
Maybe if I grabbed it, it would stay instead of disappearing again.
Maybe that was an incredibly stupid idea. Why, oh why, would I want to grab onto something that looked like it walked right out of some horrible fantasy?
Because I was curious.
"This is going to be one of my regrets in life, I know it." I surged from my protected spot beside the altar and grabbed onto the ropes around the beast's neck. They were real. I could touch them and feel them.
And it screamed.
^^**^*^*^**^^**^*^^*^**^*^^**^^*^**^^**^^*^*^*^*
Wow, there was a lot of thoughts in this chapter. I hope you guys liked it!
Tune in Next Time: Something Wicked in the World or Stirring of The Morphos
Asteria: Glad you liked it! It was just a funny sidenote, but I liked it.
Radical-Seto: If you liked the last chapter for its ominousness, then this one you should love. Glad you like it!
Chrissy: Thank you, I always was under the impression that talking to animals would be something really difficult to translate. Thank you for the compliments!
Arin Ross: Actually, I think I may have been a bit harsh, I hope I haven't scared her off, and I don't think the 72 point thing will work, it may look like I'm trying to compensate for something. I'm really glad you liked it! Tell Anee I'm glad she likes it too!
Anon(girl):I hope you and Fishy liked this chapter too! I'm always glad to see new reviewers, especially if they leave such nice reviews!
Raliena: I'm glad you liked the bug, I thought that was pretty funny myself. You know, a lot of people ask me who's taking reviews…
Drunk on Tang: I'm glad you love her, and I'm glad you like what I'm developing. This chapter was a little on the heavy side, but I'm going to start pulling towards humor again soon.
Rogue77: The definitions I found on the net. The Butterfly effect thing has been in existence forever, it occurred to me that it might be a good story idea when I heard some of my classmates talking about movie titles. Now, now, *waggles finger* if I told you the impact it has on the story as of yet, then it wouldn't be a surprise.
Aicha: Thank you, it eases my mind greatly to know that. Sorry about the Arcane bit, but you may find something just as good in the works. And he may show up in the Camping Effect, I don't know just yet.
Well, people seem to miss the review takers, so I shall leave reviews in the hand (claws? Wings?)of little Herman, who has not shown up for my last few stories.
