Bahamut eventually came up with a method to rationalize their behavior. He never noticed anything advanced coming from any of the human food creatures. All of them thought only basic things, like the butterflies and bees in Ultima Nexus. For that reason, and also because Crusader was never mad when they accidentally sat on one or smashed one, he figured they were ok. Nevertheless, he didn't get rid of the hides of the creatures, even when they ate four more of the human food creatures.
They also ate another creature. While flying along, Wyvern smelled honey. They went down and tried to find the source, and found that there was a comb that a large creature was at. It was brown and had a lot of sharp teeth and claws. It roared rather loudly, and Bahamut thought this was a human. However, it didn't think any better than the other creatures they ate, and when they tried to talk to it, it roared and charged at them. Wyvern instinctively smacked it with his tail, and consequently killed it. They both decided that was self-defense, and ate the body to not waste the body left behind. They ate the honey afterward, which both of them realized was far inferior to the honey at home, and was almost unbearable in comparison. Both of them took off soon after and kept flying.
Regardless of those encounters, Bahamut and Wyvern didn't see anything they thought was a human. They saw no more of the beast creatures, and most of the human food ran away from them. There were a few other flying things, but they always ran when they came by. However, Bahamut did began to notice one thing. The sky seemed to actually be growing darker. And as it got darker, it got cooler out as well. Bahamut was able to see well enough in darkness, as did Wyvern…but both of them began to grow uneasy, and quickly. They had never seen the world get dark like this. Bahamut figured that this really was a world of darkness if this was the case, but why was it getting dark now? Had they done something? Or had everything that they had eaten come back for retribution? They both feared the second, and as the sky grew darker and darker they both swallowed and looked to each other.
"M-M-Maybe it's just nightfall…" Bahamut murmured.
"Y-Y-Yeah…that's it…" Wyvern echoed.
"We should get back."
"Yeah…but it'll take hours to get back to that hole."
"Oh…right…" Bahamut responded, and swallowed as he kept flying. He looked around again at the world below for a moment. At last, he exhaled. "Well…I guess we might have to stay here tonight."
Wyvern turned to him, his look fearful. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean…who knows what the dark world is like when it's dark out… Especially for people who ate other creatures…"
Bahamut swallowed at that. "I know…but we can't go back. I don't want to fly at night."
"Me neither… I guess you're right." Wyvern ruefully answered. He was wanting to land pretty soon. It was getting darker and dimmer outside, and it was starting to scare him. He looked around a bit, and then back to Bahamut. "Where should we land?"
Bahamut looked around at the ground for a moment after hearing that. After a few moments, his eyes rested on a slightly raised rock hill amid the large plants. It wasn't the best looking place in the world, but Wyvern and Bahamut were used to sitting on rock places. It was also higher above the plants, so they'd be able to see anything coming and sleep under the stars. Then again, Bahamut realized, with all the clouds in the sky, they might not see any stars. Yet it couldn't be helped. He motioned to Wyvern the direction of the rock hill. Wyvern nodded, and soon both espers swept down and began to make for it. They dove out of the sky toward the rock pile, extended their legs, and then touched down. They both collapsed on all fours immediately, Bahamut dumping his pile, and both hunched down close to the rock. Their wings collapsed, and they both lay still on top of the rock.
It was very dim outside now. Barely any light was still showing. The two lay silently, and looked around a bit. It was very quiet out. No insects were buzzing or chirping. The wind made an eerie noise… And both of them realized it was cold, and soon began to extend their wings and wrap them around themselves. Wyvern exhaled a misty breath.
"It's very cold…" He spoke out loud. "Isn't there any place better to sleep?"
"I dunno." Bahamut simply replied, though he wished there was some place else to sleep too.
"It's quiet too…"
"Real quiet…"
Both espers went silent after this. They lay on the rock, trying to cover themselves up as best as they could, and looked out around into the large plants. They were very tall, and as the last traces of light began to fade, they produced dark shadows and many spaces, nooks, and crannies within their branches and trunks. Bahamut began to quiver a little, partially from cold but partially from fear. This world was very still and cold. There wasn't anything alive in the forest. Nothing was alive where that cold white powder was scattered. Bahamut didn't like it, and he didn't like the world either. As the sky grew darker, no stars came out. The clouds blocked them. The world became truly dark now. There wasn't any light at all anywhere for them to enjoy, not even in the sky. It turned completely black as the sun went down.
Bahamut shivered a bit in fear. Both he and Wyvern could see well enough in the dark, but he had never looked in anything this dark before. And he had never looked within such dark things before. Everytime he heard a rustling or any other type of noise, he raised his head and looked to it. Wyvern did too. Both of them were anxious and uneasy for an entire hour after landing, not able to even begin to sleep. Their own fears kept them awake where cold couldn't. The coldness scared Bahamut. He had never felt his little claws and his beak feel so cold before. All the heat seemed to drain out of them, and he was afraid that maybe it was an effect of the dark world. He deeply began to fear the plants around them, thinking that creatures would come out of them…big monstrous creatures…all the creatures that Crusader had warned would eat them up if they ever went there. Bahamut shuddered more and more as time went on, passing so slowly. What if they never got back? What if they were stuck in this cold dark place forever? What if humans came and ate them the moment they went to sleep? One horrifying possibility after another filled Bahamut's head as he lay in the darkness, endlessly peering into the woods and shaking…waiting for something to come out and surprise him…and get him…
"Bahamut!"
"Ack!" The esper cried, thinking a monster had called his name. He jumped up, but quickly the limbs of Wyvern grabbed him and yanked him to the rock once again, hiding himself. His brother stuck his face into his, and made a shushing noise for him to be quiet. Bahamut panicked for a moment longer, but then realized what was going on, and began to realize that Wyvern had talked to him in a loud whisper. What more, once he went silent, he heard a rushing coming. A loud rushing. It was crashing through all of the large plants, and it was coming toward them. It sounded like something that was scared, and was running from danger. This instantly intrigued the blue esper.
Wyvern, who had noticed it first, pointed out and indicated where the noise was coming from. Bahamut looked as well, and despite the near pitch blackness, his advanced eyes could see what it was. It was a human food, and it was dashing through the large plants in fear. Bahamut knew that look. That was the same look they had when they fled from the two espers. Something was chasing it. Sure enough, when Bahamut scanned its thoughts, they were centered on survival and fleeing.
"A human food." Wyvern whispered aloud.
"It's being chased." Bahamut explained.
Wyvern hesitated a moment, and then grinned. "Maybe it's being chased by a human! Maybe we'll finally get a look at them!"
Bahamut recognized that, and quickly shushed Wyvern. "Let's be quiet! We don't want to scare one away."
Both espers went quiet, and watched the human food keep running. It drew closer and closer to them, darting through the trees. At last, it began to slow down, and eventually came to a stop. It panted, seeming to regain its breath. It hesitated for a short while, and relaxed from its terrifying run. But then, it perked up its head and looked back the way it had come. At the same time, Bahamut and Wyvern heard another sound…a sound of a larger, more clumsy rushing. They both turned their heads and looked to the plants, holding their breath...and wondering if a human would finally come.
At last…they saw a new creature. Not just one, however. There were a good twenty, stretched out through the tall plants and rushing forward. This creature, contrary to being odd looking like the others, looked remarkably like Odin and Starlet. Only they didn't wear any clothes like Starlet and Odin did. Rather, they were bare naked, totally hairless as they rushed forward. They were skinny and pale looking, not nearly as healthy appearing as Starlet or as built as Odin. Their hair was overgrown and stringy, filled with debris and grunge. Their bodies were covered with dirt, bruises, cuts, and other small bits of damage. They were rather pathetic looking compared to the other creatures. They couldn't run nearly as fast as human food, for their legs were too thick. They weren't nearly as powerful as the tooth and claw creature, as their minor strength indicated. And they couldn't fly or scurry like the other creatures they saw. They were panting and looked rather tired, some of them covered with sweat. Wyvern and Bahamut were genuinely puzzled, and blinked as they stared at the creatures.
"Uh…are those humans?" Wyvern asked tentatively.
"I dunno…" Bahamut mused.
"Can you read their minds?"
Bahamut hesitated a moment, but then decided to do so. He looked to one of the creatures, a large one who's face had hair as well as his head, and concentrated. After he thought for a moment, for the first time ever, the thoughts he expected to get from the strong minds of his brothers and sisters came easily forth from the weak minded creature.
Hungry…so hungry…have to catch it… Don't give up now. Tribe needs you… Keep running… Burning in chest… Tired…must eat…starving…
"Well?"
Bahamut blinked in surprise. "Their thoughts are clear… They're hungry for the human food… They must be human."
Wyvern looked genuinely surprised. "That's a human!" He nearly spoke out loud. He snorted afterward. "They don't look that scary…"
Both espers went silent after that, and watched what they were doing. In short order, they found that the humans were all chasing after the one human food. They were a wide variety. Some were men and women, and there were lots of older and younger generations mixed in with all of them. Bahamut tried to scan their minds, but all of their goals were devoted to catching the creature. The creature, however, freely exercised its superior ability. Despite the movement of the twenty humans in a line toward it, it merely turned and used the advantage of speed to get around them in a flash, making for an opening. The humans turned direction and tried to corner it again from the other side. Once again, the human food made an attempt to break around them. This time, however, five more humans came in and cut off its escape. It might have been a good move, except Bahamut saw how slow and weak the humans were. The human food had more than enough time to turn and go the other way and escape, leaving the humans frustrated and chasing after it again.
Wyvern frowned. "They aren't that dangerous. We can kill human food better than they can."
"They're hungry, tired, and cold." Bahamut explained. "They're not at their best."
However, despite this observation by Bahamut, both espers recognized something significant about the humans. They were remarkably intelligent. As the mass of humans chased the seemingly tireless human food around, other humans set themselves up behind large plants elsewhere. At last, another group of humans moved in on the human food, driving it toward the hiding humans. When the human food ran by, the humans leapt out and seized it. The human food never knew what happened. However, this measure was still largely ineffective. The humans had stunned the animal long enough to grab onto it, but they could do little else. The creature normally threw them off or battered them with its legs. Even if it didn't, the human could only pound or claw at it ineffectively for a few short moments before the beast threw it off and kept running, barely any worse for wear. Meanwhile, the rest of the humans in their relentless hunt grew more tired and cold all the time.
The two espers endured this for a while, but eventually Wyvern frowned again. "They're being too stupid. They'll never kill that human food. I'm surprised their weak little bodies could kill anything."
"They're tired." Bahamut answered simply.
"Then why don't they take a break?"
"The human food will get away if they do."
"And if they're cold, how come they don't wear clothes like Odin and Starlet?"
"Odin and Starlet didn't make their own clothes."
"Oh yeah…"
The fears of the two espers diminished as they watched the "hunt" take place for two hours. The animal was pretty much isolated to the one area they observed, but the humans could do little else to try and finish the job. The creature was simply too fast and strong for them. It slowed a little, but not nearly enough compared to the other humans. The human food wasn't affected by hunger and cold like they were. And though the humans did several brilliant attack patterns, ones that Bahamut noticed they seemed to convey to one another through some strange noises from their mouths, none of them affected the human food significantly. As time marched on, at last some of the humans began to fall to the ground, and didn't get up again. Bahamut figured that they were too exhausted…but he realized with time that it might have been worse than that. All in all, Bahamut was rather puzzled at these creatures. While they seemed hungry for other living things, they seemed to be the least capable to do any damage to them. The blue esper gauged their strength, and realized that he could kill them even easier than he had killed the human food. This was supposed to be the dark creature that Crusader had warned them about? They were a joke…
However, at last, two humans did something that stunned both Wyvern and Bahamut.
Bahamut was the first to spot them. While Wyvern was looking at the hunt, he noticed a group of humans setting up another ambush. But there were a pair of humans ahead of them, before the animal would have gotten into the thick of the other humans. This pair moved the most secretive out of them all, and when Bahamut read their minds, he sensed a great deal of secrecy and stealth movements. To his surprise, the two seemed to be wanting to avoid the humans as well as the human food. They were younger humans, looking rather small and thin compared to the others. They had no hair on their faces, and both of them had the same eyes and light-colored hair, a color Bahamut had never seen on Starlet or Odin. He gestured the attention of Wyvern to these two, and both of them watched them closely.
To Bahamut's puzzlement, one of the two younger humans took out a long stick. It was straight and solid, coming not from dead plants on the ground but a strong one. The human then reached up into his long hair, fiddled a bit, and then came down with two items. One looked like a long, thin root that had been bent multiple times. The other was some sort of long, sharp stone. Both espers were confused by this action, but watched the human. Using the root, he stuck the sharp stone to the end of the stick and wrapped the root around it, then tied it down until the sharp stone was on the end of the stick and held fairly tight. After that, he passed the stick to the other human, and both pressed against the back of the large plant. At that moment, the humans began to drive the human food downward. The second human looked out from behind the tree for a moment, but then looked back and panted. Bahamut sensed great anxiety coming from him.
Wyvern grunted. "What are those silly creatures doing now?"
Bahamut, however, focused hard. "Keep watching… I have a theory…"
Thehuman food came rushing, almost straight as before. Unlike the humans, it did not learn from its mistakes. Ahead, the other human group prepared to ambush it again. But the two young humans against the tall plant waited. The human with the stick panted and sweat, just as they other did. He grasped the stick hard, and tried to listen for the incoming human food. His body tensed up, prepared to leap the moment that it came close. Bahamut watched in earnest, waiting, seeing what the humans had done…
Finally, the human food was moments from passing the large plant. At that moment, the second human, holding the stick, leapt out from behind the large plant, much the same way the ambushing humans had before. Only this time, the human merely stuck the stick out right in front of it with the sharp end pointed at the creature, and braced himself as best he could. Thehuman food, not able to stop in time, realized what was happening too late, and ran itself right onto the sharp stone. It held for a moment, but then ripped into its chest and pierced it, driving a foot of the stick into it. The human food let out a cry of some sort, spitting blood as it did so. But then, after one twitch, it fell over dead. The young human released the stick, and his companion came out from behind the tree. Both of them stood over the beast, and the hunt was finished.
Bahamut was totally amazed. His mouth hung open in shock. Wyvern himself blinked a few times, amazed at what he had seen. The former shook his head. "Truly remarkable… This is an intelligent species. Not only does it rely on its own power…it can use other things to give itself more power! Even I never thought of that!"
"No wonder Odin is always fooling around with that sword…" Wyvern muttered.
"Amazing…" Bahamut whispered on. "The human has inadequate teeth and nails himself, so he builds a sharp tooth big enough to destroy the creature for him. That was fantastic…"
"Yeah…" Wyvern went on. "Only how come they didn't just do that before?"
Bahamut was silent after hearing that, and puzzlement returned to his face. Why hadn't they done that before? It would have saved a lot of pain and injury, and especially time out in the cold weather. Nevertheless, that was a small inconvenience, and he was interested in looking to see the other humans complement the younger's ingenuity. Yet contrary to what he believed, an odd display took shape next…
The rest of the humans soon dashed to the area, noticing that the hunt was over. At first, they all rushed toward the carcass of the human food. The two who had been responsible for its demise also stepped toward it and looked down. Rather than having any joy or digging right in while it was still warm, the two both looked silent and still, and said nothing as they looked down at it. It seemed almost a solemn occasion. As the humans arrived, both espers were amazed at how they reacted. They first saw the dead animal, and were oddly quiet and still. Then, they looked up to the two young humans, and stared at them with strange cold looks. They were still and silent, coming to stand around the creature and looking at the two young humans strangely. It looked like a mixture of emotionless…and fear. Some of them actually looked a bit taken aback at the two young humans. Others, to Bahamut's amazement, frowned at them and babbled something at them. When two particular humans showed up, which Bahamut assumed was a man and a woman based on hair, they glared at both of them like they were monstrosities. The man rushed forward and smacked both of them in the face, screaming some language at them the whole time. The woman fell to the ground and sobbed. Soon, all the humans were gathered around the two young humans and the carcass. They all stood still and silent, somber and astranged from the two.
Wyvern blinked. "What's the matter with them? What are they doing?"
"I dunno…" Bahamut answered, but was growing rather curious himself. He started to probe into their minds, seeing what they were thinking. What he found was shocking. Most of them were thinking fearful thoughts, some even terrified. They were all thinking disapproval and even revulsion to the two young humans. Some were angry, and thought all sorts of dark thoughts about the two young humans. This was beyond belief for the esper. "They…they're actually upset at the two humans."
"What?" Wyvern hissed in a small whisper. "What's the matter with those dumb humans? Do they want to kill a human food or not? What, did they think they weren't going to kill it by jumping on it and beating it to death eventually?"
Bahamut continued to focus, and spoke again out loud. "They don't seem to be worried so much about the death of the human food…as how it was killed…"
Wyvern turned to Bahamut. "You mean, by using that stick and stone?"
"Yes." Bahamut answered.
Abruptly, both espers stopped talking as the humans around the young ones started to speak out. In particular, a few spoke out strongly, using bold voices and disapproving tones. As they did, the one woman cried louder, the man turned and went away from them, and both young men look especially ashamed. While one human was talking, the stick and stone was yanked out of the animal. To Bahamut's puzzlement, they instantly shattered the stick and stone and threw its pieces away. All who did so looked repulsed and scared.
"Those idiots…" Wyvern grumbled. "They got rid of a perfectly good…um…thing! It was helping them kill those human food a lot easier!"
"From what I can gather from their thoughts…" Bahamut murmured. "It looks like there's a rule against using that kind of stick to hunt human food."
Wyvern snorted. "That's stupid. The job was much easier before."
The humans abruptly stopped talking. After they did so, four humans came to the carcass and picked it up. Other humans surrounded the two young humans, looking like the largest and most powerful of the humans. After that, the ones who had been speaking went toward the front of the group, and the others arranged a line behind them, or some sort of group procession. Included in it was the surrounded boys, and the four that were carrying the dead human food. After that happened, they began to slowly march off through the forest. Whatever it was, it looked like the hunt was over. Wyvern and Bahamut both raised their heads a little at this, now that the humans had their backs turned to them and were walking away. They didn't notice them. The humans seemed to not have nearly as good eyesight as Wyvern and Bahamut, and the sky was so dark that no stars or moon was there to illuminate their way. Soon, the humans were making their way back into the tall plants, and were vanishing. Bahamut and Wyvern both blinked, and looked to each other.
"That was odd." Bahamut spoke aloud. "They didn't seem that evil."
Wyvern frowned. "I thought you could sense evil here."
"I can." Bahamut answered. "But the humans didn't seem to have any more evil than we do."
"Well, where is the evil coming from?"
"I can't tell… It seems so strong…that I'd almost think it was coming from everywhere."
Wyvern sighed and looked to the way the humans had left from. "Well, let's not waste anymore time. Let's follow them."
Bahamut was surprised by this comment. "Huh?"
"Oh, come on, Big B." Wyvern answered with an air of danger. "You want to know where they're going and what they're doing too, don't you? After all this time we finally find these humans, so don't you think we should see what's so evil about them? They're the most interesting thing on this world. Let's see more of them."
Bahamut still looked uneasy. "I dunno… If they're so evil, we shouldn't tag along with them. They're dangerous and-"
"Would you rather try to sleep here?" Wyvern asked, a bit of a crafty look on his face.
Bahamut, at the thought, swallowed hard. "Er…I guess we could watch them a little…"
Bahamut and Wyvern were soon taking to flight and in pursuit of the creatures. Flying made them both feel better, to get pumping their muscles and feel warmer in the cold night. It was still cold, however, and they weren't in the best spirits. They could hardly see how the humans could endure it. They soon discovered that many of them couldn't. Some of them fell down when they walked along, and had to be helped up by several other humans. However, Bahamut and Wyvern didn't watch them too closely. As they dropped, the flapping of their wings was easier to tell from the wind, and the humans looked up to see if they were there. They had to rise quickly when they did that, and afterward try to glide silently rather than chase after them closely with numerous wing flappings. Still, the two espers were able to follow after fairly close.
The humans walked for a while, their trip taking them several hours, through many tall plants, and up and down large hills. Some more humans collapsed along the way. It grew colder, and as it did, the mist intensified among them all. Eventually, one of the humans fell, and didn't get back up. The young seemed to have the hardest time. However, when one of the older humans went to pick one up and carry it, another human slapped that one, and all kept walking alone. Bahamut was puzzled at this. That seemed rather mean, so maybe the humans were evil after all. But overall they still didn't seem that sinister, or even odd looking.
As they continued to go forward, Bahamut and Wyvern started to notice something. A red glow was coming, poking from behind the hills and through the tall plants. The humans were headed for that. Bahamut and Wyvern, on the other hand, were nervous and held back a slight bit.
"Is that the dawn?" Wyvern asked.
"It's too early." Bahamut answered.
"Then…what is it?"
"…Beats me."
"…You fly first."
"No, you."
The humans approached without fear. However, Bahamut didn't feel too good about that if they were evil creatures. They could be going into some big piece of evil or something. He had never seen a glow like that before. As the espers and humans drew closer, and crossed the next hill, Bahamut and Wyvern saw that it wasn't coming from the horizon, but actually from the ground beneath the tall plants, on a high hill in the distance. Now, both espers were rather frightened.
"What's that?"
"I…I…I dunno…"
"Uh…maybe we…er, should…"
"Are you getting scared, Wyvern?"
"What! Me? No way!"
"Yeah. M-m-me neither…"
However, both espers were more tentative in their flying, holding back as much as they could as the humans approached. They stopped watching the procession of humans all together after a while, and focused instead on the red light coming from the forest. As they drew nearer, it seemed to be more like light from the sun, only at all times of the day rather than simply noon, afternoon, or anywhere in between. Both were considerably frightened by this, and grew more nervous as they closed in. At last, Bahamut turned to Wyvern.
"Uh…I don't know about you, Wyvern…but I'd rather go over that place from a distance and at full speed to see what it is before I risk walking right into it."
Wyvern turned to him, hesitated a moment, but then nodded. "Yeah. That sounds like a good idea to me." He spoke, more shakily than his claimed bravery indicated. After that, both espers forgot the people below for a moment, flapped their wings harder, and began to ascend from the procession and head toward the light from a safe height.
The two espers flew forward a bit, shooting ahead of the procession, and then circled around the light from their height. They were rather amazed at what they saw. Some sort of moving substance (Bahamut couldn't tell if it was solid, liquid, or gas) was flaring up on a bunch of dead plants. It looked like some sort of ball with a lot of tongues, but it glowed like it was a piece of the sun. It made the light that they saw from a distance, but moreover it made heat, just like the sun did. Still, both espers kept their distance. They saw that there were more humans around it…much more. Most of them were huddled close to the substance, obviously absorbing its heat. Regardless, however, they were still pressed close together, huddled in huge masses for warmth. Some of them were at a farther distance, and those people were covered with fur. Yet as Bahamut got bold enough to look closer, he saw it wasn't their own, but rather the fur of human food. Obviously, the humans used their hides too. Yet the ones that had it looked very pale and weak. Some of them seemed rather old. Bahamut thought they didn't have long to live.
There was another thing too. This stood out from the others like a sore thumb. For a moment, Bahamut thought it was a living thing in the midst of the humans, yet distinctly different. It was a shiny color, and it gleamed in the light of the substance especially brightly. It seemed to have four limbs and a head, a monstrous head that looked like that of a terrible monster. That had startled both Bahamut and Wyvern both. Rather than having any legs, it looked like it was mounted onto a stone platform. It looked over all the humans, and all of them lay or sat in the path of the eyes that had been made for its head. Both Wyvern and Bahamut were puzzled as they swept around the area, but for some reason because the humans weren't scared of the warm substance, neither were they. In fact…it felt pretty good.
"What's that?" Wyvern asked when he pointed out the four armed shiny thing.
"It looks like it's alive, but it isn't." Bahamut answered. "Maybe it's a dead thing."
"It shines like Starlet and Odin's stuff." Wyvern commented. "Maybe it's made out of the same stuff, and it looks like something that's alive."
"Wow… Pretty neat that something that looks so alive just formed so randomly…" Bahamut murmured. "Let's find a place to land."
Wyvern was hesitant. "I dunno… That glowing stuff looks strange… And besides, they might see us in the light."
"Let's get on top of some of the thicker plants." Bahamut answered. "I think they'll hold our weight."
Wyvern agreed, mostly out of wanting to get closer to the warm substance than anything else. However, both young espers descended. They moved quietly, not wanting to arouse the attention of any of the humans below. Once they were low enough, they gently stepped onto the large plants, trying not to make too much sound. Bahamut was a bit afraid the plan wouldn't work, as they both were pretty large. However, though the branches looked too weak, some of the trunks were thick enough to support them. By wrapping their limbs around them and their tails, they were able to hold on pretty well. What more, they had a clear view of the humans gathered around the glowing thing and the shiny thing. After that, they were silent, and waited.
It was still a few more minutes before the procession arrived. But when they did, the other people gathered around the glowing substance readily rose up. They left the nearby warmth of the glowing substance and rushed out to meet the people as they came. They seemed rather happy and enthusiastic, and the only ones not joining them were those who wore the human food hides. They smiled too though. However, as they approached the procession, the human in the lead held up his hand and cried out some sort of babble. On doing so, the other humans became just as grim and as lowly as the other humans were in the procession. Readily, they parted, letting the people come through. Bahamut and Wyvern watched them intently.
Wyvern whispered to his brother. "Can you tell what they're saying?"
Bahamut frowned. "How can I? I don't speak human."
"Their minds, genius." Wyvern spoke in a sigh. "Read their minds."
"Oh!" Bahamut called out mildly in reply. "Right, right!" Immediately, he formed a look of concentration and focused on them. The humans continued to walk, unaware of the probe, as they headed closer and closer toward the glowing substance and to the shiny thing beyond it. After focusing a moment, Bahamut looked back up to his brother.
"I can't read exactly what they're saying…" He answered. "But it looks like the big one called a meeting. And it's something serious. All of the humans are thinking fearful thoughts and are really nervous."
"About what?"
"I dunno."
The two espers were left with only one choice, to keep watching the humans until something happened. Luckily, the whole mass, save for the sickly humans, moved toward the glowing thing, went around it, and then began to approach the shiny object behind it. By doing so, they were putting themselves farther and farther away from either esper, giving them a bit more room to speak more loudly. Yet they said nothing for now, and Bahamut detected no change in the humans' thoughts. They kept watching them go, until they reached the stone pedistal with the shiny thing.
Once there, the carcass of the human food was placed out in front of the object, and the bigger humans shoved the two young ones in front of the object. Once that happened, the one human who had led the procession stepped up until he was right behind the two young men. After that, he suddenly stretched out his arms in front of the shiny object. The whole group of humans went silent, and all was still. After that, the one human began to call out. Bahamut and Wyvern listened closely, but of course couldn't understand. The human spoke for a while, then quit, and Wyvern looked over to Bahamut.
"Well?"
"Really strange…" Bahamut spoke with a puzzled look. "They're talking to that shiny thing like it's alive. They're saying something about wanting to be forgiven, punishing bad people, and talking really highly about some person called Griever."
Wyvern was confused again. The humans continued to stand in silence, all looking to the shiny object and waiting. At last, the esper shrugged. "Who's Griever?"
Suddenly, something happened. The ground began to shake slightly, and the two espers both forgot about the humans and looked surprised to each other. Everything was still silent in the night. The few creatures in the area still silent got up or flew off, leaving just the crowd of silent humans and the two espers. Both of them sat in the trees and tried to withstand the shaking, all the while wondering what terrible thing it was and hoping they wouldn't fall out of the trees. This went on for a short while before the ground shaking suddenly stopped. When it did, both of the young espers looked back to the statue…just in time to receive another shock.
The statue was talking!
It spoke out in a huge, blasting voice. It echoed through the night, scaring more creatures, and was deeper than five Odins. It resonated with power and spoke boldly. The humans trembled and recoiled in its sight, bowing their heads to it, and some dropping to their knees in front of it. Wyvern was pleasantly surprised. "You were wrong, Bahamut…that thing is alive!"
Bahamut didn't respond at once. As the thing continued to talk in the midst of the people, Wyvern turned his head toward his esper brother. He saw a look of confusion on his face as he stared at the thing. "That's strange…" He whispered aloud. "If it's alive, I should be getting thoughts from it. But I can't read anything from it. Yet it is talking to the people…"
"Can you make out what it's saying?" Wyvern asked.
"Not from it…but the people are thinking about the words…" Bahamut spoke in reply. "It's hard to figure out…but the people are all scared of that shiny thing. I think it's the Griever person, because they all think it is. They also are fearing something…like being punished…like they're being told that someone broke the rules or something…"
At that moment, the shiny thing stopped talking. When it did, the cringing humans, all looking scared and frightened, hesitated a moment. But then, the lead human got up and stepped forward. With that, he began to get his confidence back, and pointed an accusing finger at the two young humans, yelling out something as he did so. He then pointed to the dead human food, also before the shiny thing. Wyvern was already looking to Bahamut, waiting for the translation.
"Well?"
"Give me a minute! It's confusing!" Bahamut answered back with a grumble.
But while Bahamut was still trying to figure things out, the shiny thing suddenly spoke out in its booming voice again. After it did so, both of the young humans fell to their knees and began to speak out in pleading voices. Both of them were nearly on the verge of tears, and seemed very scared indeed. Wyvern scowled, angry that he couldn't understand at all what was going on. At last, Bahamut turned to him and spoke.
"I'm not really sure…but it seems that killing a human food with one of those stick things is really bad." Bahamut answered. "This Griever person doesn't like it. They all look up to Griever or something. The two humans are apologizing right now. The one that stabbed the human food is talking about the other human as if he's a really bad and lying person. The one who made the stick is talking about his sick little sister or something. She's one of those people in the group. They don't have any human food skin for her or enough food for her to get better, so he wanted to kill a human food easier using that stick."
Wyvern thought for a moment, and then shrugged. "Sounds good enough to me."
"I don't think that Griever thing thinks so." Bahamut answered.
Suddenly, the leader human stepped forward and began to speak again. Wyvern readily looked to Bahamut, hoping for an explanation. He soon got one from the young esper.
"The leader is begging this Griever person that they get to keep the human food. Everyone is hungry, and they need the hide."
After the plea, the humans recoiled and groveled some more before the object. Bahamut thought it all rather strange, not just the object talking but also them all cowering before it. Yet though they were scared, they all seemed to have great affection in their minds for the shiny thing, something that only confused Bahamut more. There was silence for a long period of time, during which everyone looked scared and recoiled from the object. But then, at long last, the object spoke again, once again in a big, booming voice. Bahamut immediately went back to reading the minds of the humans, while Wyvern blinked and struggled to try to read what was happening from body language. After the statue boomed something for a while, the humans seemed to be slightly relieved and very thankful. But then, the thing went on a bit longer, speaking in a more harsh tone. After that, the thing suddenly stopped talking, and something very surprising happened.
Abruptly, the eyes of the shiny thing started to glow. One of the young humans suddenly cried out in terror and began to cry and whine more. The other young human also cried, and spoke out in a pleading voice as well. However, none of their pleading would help. The object's eyes glowed as bright as the glowing object. Then, abruptly, two long rays shot out of the eyes, and landed right on the young human who begged first. To Bahamut and Wyvern's horror, the young human screamed in agony as he was suddenly covered with the glowing substance. He screamed a terrible tone, and the humans recoiled in terror. Some of them, however, merely turned their heads down with stony faces. Wyvern gasped and blinked, never having seen anything so terrible. Bahamut shuddered in fear, and turned his head away, feeling sick. One human, a female, cried out in more agony than anyone else. Bahamut and Wyvern recognized her as the woman from earlier. However, the man from earlier quickly ran up to her and smacked her. She wouldn't stop yelling, so he smacked her again and again and again. Blood came from her face, but eventually she was beaten so badly that she fell to the ground and was unable to cry anymore. The young human's own screaming died after a while, and he fell to the ground, nothing left in the glowing mass except for a black shape that looked mildly like him.
Both Wyvern and Bahamut gasped.
"Is…is he…is he dead?" Wyvern asked in terror.
"His thoughts stopped…terrible thoughts of misery…" Bahamut spoke, his eyes almost tearing in terrror.
Wyvern exhaled sharply. "Oh…Crusader was right! This place is evil! That glowing stuff is evil! Man…why would the humans ever go near that thing if it does that to them?"
"Because…" Bahamut spoke slowly in reply. "…they wanted the young humans to be punished."
Wyvern turned to Bahamut in shock, but the esper continued. "The young humans broke the rules. They brought them to this Griever to punish them. They all feared the whole time that this thing would happen…to all of them, not just the young humans. They hoped that they would be punished instead. That Griever thing said they could keep the human food, but that the two young humans had to be punished. Griever said that the one who stabbed the human food had to be killed like that… The other young human begged for mercy, but Griever killed the other one anyway."
"That was cool looking…but horrible!" Wyvern exclaimed. "Do you think Griever is the nanny down here of the humans?"
Before Bahamut could answer, the booming sound went out again. It went a big longer this time. The humans managed to get back up and look more confident again. However, the one young human left had turned to the black remains of the other young human, and was crying considerably. The Griever thing continued to speak for a short while longer, but then stopped. When it did, the eyes went dark again, and the object was totally lifeless once again. Wyvern once again turned to Bahamut.
"Well?"
"The other young human has to be punished too because he made the sharp stick." Bahamut went on. "He's supposed to be left out for Griever, or something. They're taking him out to some tall plant that has these hard pieces of ivy on it…and putting him on it…or something…"
"Or something?" Wyvern spoke in amazement. "I barely understood one word of that last part!"
However, after a moment or so later, the huge humans went on the young human again. They grasped him by the shoulders and tried to pull him to his feet, rather roughly too. He wouldn't get up to begin with, and when he didn't they hit him hard. Bahamut was confused as to how that would make him get up any sooner, as he instead went face flat in front of the statue. But the huge humans pulled him up anyway, and began to drag him off. The lead human turned and pointed out to the distance, calling out to them to move that way, at least the espers assumed. They began to leave the area. The other humans quickly grabbed the human food carcass and began to drag it back toward the burning substance. The woman who was knocked down was left on the ground, and no one moved to help her up. Wyvern and Bahamut watched this movement again for a moment, staring intently at all that was going on and more confused than ever. Bahamut inhaled and exhaled.
"This place does seem evil after all…" Bahamut murmured. "But more to the humans rather than because of them."
"Let's see where they're taking the young human." Wyvern spoke. "I'll get a cramp if I stay up here much longer, and I want to see what you were trying to tell me."
Once again, the two espers were in the sky. It seemed colder in an instant, but not just because of loss of the burning substance. It was mostly because of the fact that it was getting colder as it got later. Nevertheless, the two espers were far too curious to break off now. They continued to follow the smaller group of humans as it walked off.
They walked a considerable distance, far away until the glow of the burning thing could no longer be seen. They got visibly colder. All of them were shivering, and wrapped their arms around them as they walked. But they were determined to fulfil their task, whatever it was. And so they continued to walk onward endlessly. It only grew colder as they did so, and Bahamut and Wyvern were both started to shudder as well as they moved along. They could only imagine how the humans felt. They couldn't see how they could stand to walk inthewhite stuffor be out this late. But they continued to leave, always putting distance between themselves and the other humans.
At length, they began to approach a large plant. This one was much thicker than the others around, it's trunk diameter easily three times as large as the other trees around it. It was silent out here. There wasn't a creature anywhere. It was dark and cold too. Luckily for Wyvern and Bahamut, there was also a rock cliff nearby, overhanging the area and dropping a constant shadow on the area below, dripping withfrozen waterfrom all of the cold weather and lack of sunlight. Both espers rested on top of it and looked down below. There, both Wyvern and Bahamut saw the "metal ivy". There were some sort of daisy chains made out of something hard attached to the tree. It was to this place that the humans went, silently and somberly.
Once they arrived there, the young human was roughly pushed against the tree. A few of the larger humans yelled at him, and hit him in the stomach or struck him in the head. By the time they were finished, the young human had blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. Also, something strange happened. White powder seemed to begin to fall from the sky. Both Wyvern and Bahamut were shocked by this, and looked up and around in wonderment and anxiety. But none of the other humans seemed to care much. After they had struck the young human, they put the hard daisy chains across him, binding him to the tree. The young human accepted this, and Bahamut found a great deal of resolve and a feeling of deserving in his mind. Once they had bound him, the lead human walked before him, held out his arms again, and spoke out something out loud again. With that done, the lead human and the other strong humans turned and walked away, moving quicker this time, and returned toward the direction of the town. The unseen espers were left with the young human tied to the tree, and silence in the night.
Both young espers watched the white stuff fall from the sky, and watched the human as well. He kept his head bowed, and a sad look on his face. Once or twice in the period to come, he cried a bit, but mostly just stood silently. Bahamut listened to him and sensed his thoughts constantly. Both espers looked to the heat coming from him, as well as monitored the noises coming from him. An hour went by, and the two espers swept their wings around them. The powder fell faster, and began to mount up around the young human's feet until he was ankle deep in it. The human shook more and more violently the whole time. His lips turned blue, and his skin turned paler than before. Bahamut was fascinated by this. Apparently…if the humans were cold enough…they got sick, perhaps even died. He wondered if the same thing applied to espers, as he didn't feel too good either. The powder slacked off and eventually quit over the next hour. But the young human was very pale now. His eyes slowly shut. His breathing slowed down considerably, and his heart did too. The young human's shivering ceased, and he became a limp, cold mass against the tree.
The whole time, the two espers were silent. But after this happened, they waited another few minutes, then looked to each other. "Well?" Wyvern asked.
"Well what?" Bahamut answered.
"What now?"
Bahamut hesitated a moment, then looked to the human. Yes, the human was definitely dying now. He was sure of that. Yet inside him…Bahamut felt a bit of regret. He never felt anything for butterflies or bees when they died. Yet he did for this creature. It intrigued him. Probably because it was the first non-esper, non-Crusader he had ever seen that he could read the thoughts of. Still, he marveled at the creature's ingenuity. It was remarkably intelligent…and it seemed to share much of the emotions of espers. Bahamut hadn't seen anything so remarkable since ever, be it evil or good.
While he was thinking, Wyvern suddenly leapt down from the rock cliff and landed in the white powder, right in front of the human. Bahamut snapped out of his thoughts and looked in shock at his movements. He was terrified, thinking the human would suddenly spring to life and cut off Wyvern's head. But it did nothing, only resumed dying. Wyvern went up close to it, and hovered his head over it. He sniffed the pale, blue body for a short while, and then snorted.
"Doesn't smell that tasty." Wyvern stated. Then, abruptly, he grinned at it. "Ha! Big mean human! You aren't so tough now! Come and get me!"
Bahamut winced, and instantly jumped down after his brother. "Would you stop it!" He called out, still whispering. "You might wake it up!"
Wyvern didn't answer, but reached his hand over and poked its pale body. "Aw man…this ain't nothing bad! It's skin's all thin and soft… It can't hear or see that good… Stupid human. Why'd you let them tie you to this tree anyway?"
"I told you, they're punishing him!" Bahamut answered. Yet even as he did so, he moved forward next to Wyvern's side, and looked down at the creature. He hesitated for a moment, blinking at it, and then shook his head. "Man…what a pity…"
Wyvern raised his head and looked puzzled. "Huh? What was that?"
"It's really an intelligent creature." Bahamut replied. "And it feels emotions like we do. It's too bad that it's going to die."
"Hey, weren't you the guy who said these things were evil?"
Bahamut hesitated a moment, and thought for a second or two. In all honestly, new thoughts had come up about that possibility. He frowned slightly, and then finally turned to Wyvern and shook his head. "You know…" He spoke out loud. "I'm not really sure anymore…"
Wyvern wrinkled his brow.
"I'm serious." Bahamut answered, staring at the creature. "It's really unusual… I can't see any overwhelming amount of evil in it. The most evil thing I saw was that Griever thing, if you ask me."
Wyvern shrugged, and looked back to the creature.
Bahamut inhaled deeply and sighed. "I…I just wish I could talk to one…" He spoke out loud. "Maybe I can see why it likes evil so much, or what's so evil about it or this world. Who knows…maybe it's only because they huddle around that glowing stuff that they're called evil. They are smart… They could tell me so much about this world and about this Griever thing and about everything I don't understand…" Bahamut stopped a moment and sighed. "It doesn't really seem fair either. It only wanted to help the other humans. Now they have to kill it…" At that, Bahamut trailed off. A great longing and disappointment was in his eyes, regretting his inability to carry out his wishes and his regret that a perfectly good specimen of human had to be put to death here. He stood silently, and stared at it for a long time, not saying a word.
Wyvern also stared at it, and looked up to Bahamut. He saw the longing look in his eyes, and then regret. Then he turned back to the creature, and looked at it for a short moment. After a while longer, he suddenly smiled his mischevious look, and turned back to Bahamut.
"Alright then…" He spoke calmly. "Let's take it."
Bahamut's melancholy vanished, and he soon snapped back to reality and turned his head to Wyvern. "Pardon?"
Wyvern grinned and gestured to the human. "It's perfect. All of the humans want it gone anyway. Let's take it with us. You can ask it anything you want."
Bahamut's eyes widened. "What! Are you serious!"
Wyvern kept grinning. "Sure I am." He turned to the creature, and then went to the hard daisy chain against the tree. He grabbed it with one claw, and began to pull on it. It didn't give right away, but he continued to pull.
"We can't do that!" Bahamut exclaimed.
"Why not?"
"It's a human! It's…it's evil!"
Wyvern sighed and kept pulling. "You were the one who said you weren't sure anymore."
Bahamut hesitated…and then gasped. "Yeah…but…but…but I didn't think this one! I didn't think you were just going to take this human! I mean…that Griever thing thought it was evil…what if that pointy stick was evil? What if…"
"Aw, you're a wimp, Bahamut." Wyvern gave one mighty tug on the chain, and suddenly where it was fastened to the tree ripped out. The bonds that held the young human against the tree fell down, and the limp body collapsed to the ground. Wyvern reached down and grasped its head and pulled it up by it. Bahamut continued to look outraged at Wyvern. However, as he saw that the human was now free, and saw when it was being held badly, Bahamut couldn't help but wince and have a crisis of wills. He suddenly shot out and seized the human from his grasp by holding it around the waist.
"Be gentle with it!" Bahamut shrieked. "You'll kill it!"
Wyvern grinned back. "Same old Bahamut. You never change."
Bahamut merely frowned and lowered his gaze, muttering and turning a slight shade red. As he did, Wyvern motioned to the sky, and began to flap his wings immediately.
"Come on. That human won't last another hour out in this cold weather. We need to find someplace warm."
At that, Wyvern took to the sky. Bahamut hesitated a moment, and looked down to the human. It was true… Now that the thought had occurred to him to save the creature's life, he wasn't so eager to let it go again. With a sigh, he pressed it close to his own body in hopes of giving it more warmth, and then unfurled his own wings. He took to the sky as well, and soon joined Wyvern in mid-air. Wyvern smiled at him again, and then looked around a bit, now that they were both above the large plants. After a moment, his red brother saw a bit of rockier hills in the distance. He instantly thought that was a good bet. If they could get into a cave, then Wyvern and Bahamut's body heat would be conserved better, and make it warmer on all three of them. He motioned to Bahamut, and began to fly. Bahamut started to follow him, still holding the hides and the young human.
They didn't get far.
They had barely began to fly, when suddenly the ground began to quake. They didn't feel it this time. They heard it. A great rumbling came from below them, and all of the trees at once began to shudder. Both espers hesitated, and looked to each other in fear. For a moment, both of them were terrified. They thought they had broken some rule and should have let the young human die. In terror, they both swallowed, and turned their heads back to the ground, in particular back to the place where they had taken the young human down. The ground continued to shake as they did so, growing louder and fiercer.
A great ripping sound suddenly joined it, like a huge piece of rock was being shattered. Both espers looked to the source, right in front of the large trunk. To their shock, the ground itself was cracking open, and the crack was getting wider and wider. Both espers gasped, and went as silent as they could while maintaining their flight in mid-air. They saw the ground continue to crack, and a great swelling appeared from below it…as if something was coming out from underneath. They continued to stare and watch for a few moments, watching the ground continue to swell and crack. The shaking grew harder, and the sound grew louder and louder. Both began to sweat, and began to fear the absolute worst. Especially Bahamut…because for the first time he could sense a very potent evil coming…
Then, it came. Abruptly, a huge form burst out of the ground and landed on its feet. Both Bahamut and Wyvern were shocked and had to struggle not to gasp. The creature was hideous, looking like a large deformed mutant version of the humans. It had gray skin, was rippling with muscle, and had massive forearms and tiny legs. It had a totally bald head, which had great sharp teeth and burning red eyes. They were so obvious that even in the blackness a human would have been able to see them. The creature was brimming with evil and power alike. Bahamut could sense it almost dripping from the thing. He was instantly terrified.
The thing's mouth dripped with drool, and with a ravenous look it turned to the trunk of the large plant. However, the moment it did, it gasped and looked bewildered. It drew closer to the large plant, and began to look around it. But it saw nothing. After looking around for a while, it finally snarled. Then…the most startling thing of all happened.
It spoke in Bahamut and Wyvern's language.
"Damn that Griever!" It hissed. "Where's the meat! Those stupid humans should have been able to drag its scrawny carcass out here by now! It's bad enough that I have to eat cold meat!" The creature hissed and fumed for a few moments longer, looking around in anger. Bahamut and Wyvern stared in surprise the whole time, but said nothing.
At last, the creature grumbled and looked back to the hole it had made. It began to walk back toward it, grumbling aloud all the way. "I got to have a word with Master Griever. When I'm sent out for a meal I expect my food to be practically frozen and waiting for me… Some damn wild animal better not have gotten the runt…" The creature reached the hole, and readily dropped into it. After it had done so, much to Bahamut and Wyvern's shock, the rumbling started again. But this time, the crack sealed itself back up in the ground, and the swelling went down once more. The rumbling went away rather than got closer, and within a few moments all was silent again. There was no sign of any damage at all left behind. The creature had left without a sign of having ever been there.
Both espers blinked in confusion, flapping in stunned silence.
"…What the heck was that!" Wyvern spoke after a moment.
"I…I think it was sent by Griever…to eat the human." Bahamut answered.
Wyvern grumbled. "Hmph… I guess they do taste good after all… Wonder if I should run back and grab me a few…"
At this, Bahamut whirled his head quickly to Wyvern. "There's something else." He told him darkly. "None of the humans thought that this human was going to be eaten. They thought that the shiny object, or something that looked like it, was going to come and take the human away. None of them ever thought that the creature would come and devour it. None of them have ever even seen that thing before."
Wyvern turned in puzzlement to this. "Huh? How's that possible? The thing called Griever its master."
Bahamut hesitated, a troubled look coming over his face. No…something was not right here. That didn't make sense. Something else had to be at work…but what? He had no idea. He had no idea what any of this meant. All he knew was that the first sensation of evil, the first thing that he knew was truly evil, was that creature, not a human. And that creature was working for Griever… All of the humans looked up to Griever…did that mean they were serving evil too? He didn't know. Too many questions, no answers.
"Let's just get out of here for now." Bahamut answered. "I don't want to be here when that thing comes back."
"What're you doing?"
Bahamut didn't answer right away. He merely extended another hide over the pale human's body. However, he figured that three was enough. Any more and it would seem overkill. Plus he was laying on the thicker hide of the tooth and claw creature. He set the other ones at the side. Now, the two espers and humans were safe in a cave. Wyvern had steered them right, taking them to a rocky chain of hills. It hadn't taken long to find a cave large enough for all of them. The enclosed area did trap in the heat of the two espers, and the room was growing warmer all the time. Bahamut was glad, for the human probably couldn't take another second out in the cold weather.
"They put these around their sick." Bahamut answered. "I think it helps keep them warm."
Wyvern thought a moment, then shrugged. "Makes sense, I guess."
"Still," Bahamut went on, stretching out next to the human as he did so. "I think it's best if it sleeps between the both of us. We're both big and warm."
Wyvern frowned and crossed his arms. "What if it wakes up in the middle of the night and eats our brains?"
"It won't." Bahamut answered. "It's too little."
"Fine." Wyvern grumbled, turning and beginning to lay down as well. "Don't blame me if you wake up and your brain got eaten."
Soon, both large espers were laying on other side of the human. Bahamut was glad for him already. His lips were turning less blue, and he stopped shivering. His heart was beating more strongly. Yes…the human would be fine. And tomorrow, he could ask it all sorts of things. But what he wanted to ask most of all, he realized as he lay down, was what exactly that thing was. How did that pertain to Griever? And what was Griever anyway? So many questions…so many things to learn about the new world. Bad or good, Bahamut could no longer deny his curiosity with it. It was growing every day, and was reaching an almost unbearable level. In the end, the only thing that managed to make him go to sleep was how tired he was. Otherwise, he might have stayed up all night, waiting for the human to awake, so he could start asking questions.
To be continued...