The SkyWing Territory Forests, Five Years Into the SandWing Succession War
Contrary to popular belief, I hate trees.
Yes, I made them, but that isn't important. You've probably made something you hated. Like an elementary school art project, or a sappy and cheesy poem, or a cringe-worthy username.
Trees are just very pushy. They don't move, they're big, they block out the sun, and when you walk through a forest it's like trying to circumnavigate those people in the school hallway who are talking and moving incredibly slowly. You can't reason with a tree either. It'll fall on you regardless of any wise words you may have imparted. And yes, it is very embarrassing when your friends and a tiny MudWing have to pull you out from under a fallen tree. And yes, it is also very difficult to explain how your hind legs are not crushed without actually saying that they are made out of plasma!
All of that said, as a result of this dislike for the arboreal, I was not particularly fond of the Talons of Peace camp. It happened to be smack-dab in the middle of a giant conifer forest, apparently to serve as cover and detection avoidance. The whole thing was drab too, apparently being temporary as opposed to the normal base. Despite their name, it seemed the ToP had a list of powerful enemies, and that somewhat dampened their credibility.
Long story short, we reached the camp and Fen covered for us with her boss, who for some reason did not point out that he had never seen us before. We were now awaiting re-assignment, awkwardly mulling about the campsite.
Space and Motion were at each other's throats again over the ethics of interfering with people's lives and why SI-OCs are incredibly annoying and dangerous. Life was actually getting along with the other Talons at camp, fraternizing and doing some learning about the state of the world. This left me, ever the clueless one, to just hover around.
However, if you didn't catch on a bit ago, my little 'accident' had brought me some undue attention from Fen, who was a little too suspicious of my durability. She approached me up along a whorled and torn up fir tree.
"Matt, hey. How you feeling?" (She came up with Matt as short for Matthew without me saying so. Pretty cool.)
"Never better. I told you, it only fell enough to pin me. Nothing got compressed or anything." My legs in fact would have been squashed flat if they hadn't temporarily dissipated and scorched the tree in the process.
"Yeah. I meant more in general. Facing Nautilus after a job gone wrong isn't easy."
"You seemed to handle it fine." She did one of those little laughs. It wasn't like she had failed, assuming Lóng bought whatever that note said. But Nautilus had seemed pretty vexed just a bit ago.
"Let's just say it wasn't my first time." I smiled, pleased to have some dirt I could hold over my rival in sarcasm. However, she seemed our only ally here or anywhere, so being nice had its merits in the moment.
"I don't see how. You're crafty, smart, and pretty tough. Not sure how that translates to failing espionage." Fen rolled her eyes, but a frown appeared. I must have unintentionally brought up bad memories.
"Ask anyone else, and they'll say I have too big of a heart for this job. Spying I can do, but I hate when they ask me to twist the knife." Huh. That couldn't be fun.
"Sheesh. They've got different definitions of 'peace' then I do."
"Enlighten me." She was watching expectantly. The Matter of then was quite startled by the request. Such philosophy was more Life's jurisdiction. I wasn't the one to talk that much; I observed. Just like my principle. Matter is there in everything, but it doesn't do things with you, you do things with it.
But I couldn't explain that to Fen. Either it would ruin Time's policies and reveal the whole Corps, or she just would think I was insane. Which meant I would have to have a go at the speech.
"Well...to me, peace is not just the absence of war. Total peace should be complete satisfaction, the total absence of all conflict. It's utopian, and it isn't possible, but that's how it should be. Complete peace is that feeling where you're just sitting there, eyes closed, and you don't have to worry about someone attacking you. You aren't conscious of where you will next find food or water. You just...are there, enjoying the moment. With all of the types of matter surrounding you. Every individual molecule, at rest."
Oops. A bit too on the nose. But hey, it didn't sound half bad. Fen was content with the answer and dwelled on it for a moment. A few spatters of rain dripped through the branches. I hadn't even noticed the change in the weather. Another reason why I hate trees.
"Matthew, you are one special dragon." I nodded with a forced smile that hopefully didn't look too worried. Past me was anxious that she knew what I was, but present me knows this wasn't the case. At least, at that moment.
Ooh, suspense!
At this point, Life made her way over. Perhaps I was just being over-analytical, but I could have sworn that Fen frowned when she noticed. Chances were she was not very fond of Snowlily.
"Matt? The boss wants to see us." She delivered it with drama to make it sound more ominous. Yikes. Had he figured out our lies? "Just us," Life added with a glare at Fen. Geez. They really did seem to have some sort of vendetta. I tentatively followed with an awkward wave to Fen, and we picked up Motion and Space on the way. Once again, both of them managed some restraint but continued to silently harbor their hatred. We'd certainly have to talk about it later.
Nautilus was not a dragon you messed around with. He was very serious, and always gave the impression that he knew what he was doing at all times. Most people know someone like that. The top Talon was currently sitting rigid in his quarters, staring unflinchingly at us as we arrived with what seemed to be a fairly new black eye. A grayish IceWing was also lounging much more casually nearby.
"Welcome, failures." Ouch. He went right along, barely ever pausing and being very business-like. "Fortunately for you, I hardly recall whatever task you were last employed on, but that means it wasn't important. This job however, is. Now, you may be a group of idiots, but you seem to be a strong group of idiots. —Two traitors to the Talons are en route to the Kingdom of the Sea as we speak. You need to head them off, and...deal with the problem."
Did we just get a hit? Fen was right. One could smell corruption a mile away. We all exchanged expressions. Was it even possible to refuse? Conscientious objection did not seem to be on the menu.
Nautilus said nothing more. It was very brief, and it was obvious he hardly cared about us. Still, Life, Space and I, understanding authority, waited for something else or to be dismissed. Motion just zoomed out, whipping up the tent flaps on her way. "I'm glad one of you seems prepared to do what has to be done." Oh. We were supposed to leave. Why be so cryptic? Somewhat abashed, the remainder of our little team shuffled out, very unsure of what to do. Motion was already waiting for us. We were relatively alone, so discussion was available.
"According to other people around here, that's pretty common," Life mentioned, eyeing back at the tent with some disgust. She prioritized the beauty of all living things, hence her very being and the aversion to killing.
Didn't dissuade her from courting Death, but you know, that's not my place to talk. Who knows what sort of weird dynamic they have?
"I suggest we cut and run." Space wrung his talons, clearly very angry. "I dislike everything about this. We should just leave. What could this coward do about it?" That was a decent argument. Life could sprout plants from nowhere. I could spawn anything into existence at will. Space could probably melt people or manipulate the atmosphere, and if Motion applied herself, she could scatter molecules to literally tear someone apart. We were pretty boss down here. But again, why be tyrants? Why flaunt our power against beings who could do nothing about it?
We needed to be good powerful figures. People with morality. Not like presidents. (To the three of you oversensitive wet blankets who just frowned at me and plan to leave a nasty review, that's meant to be a joke.)
"But Space!" Motion nervously silenced herself when she saw a Talon walking by a distance away. "I-I mean, but Sam! What about these two traitors? Don't you want to know what's really going on here? Where's your sense of adventure?"
"...I'll admit, I'm curious," Life added, relenting. The cosmic SeaWing thought about it for a second.
"Matt? What are your thoughts?" I was surprised to be brought in. "You've just been going along with the flow. But what's your opinion on the whole deal?" There was a strange trend of people asking me for profound statements. Not necessarily normal.
"Um...well, the world seems to be in trouble with this whole war. Maybe we can help. Our job is to make the universe great. We can't do that when living beings are fighting each other and destroying. Besides, we can leave whenever." Space was holding his sentiments, but he respected the majority rule. Stay it was.
"Then it's settled. Sea Kingdom, he said? I can get us to the nearest beach." Motion was about to work her magic, but I noticed a few bystanders.
"Woah! Not in plain sight." We confusedly waddled through the trees to try and avoid any spying, which meant getting well clear of the camp. We didn't make it very far.
"Hey, there you guys are. Did it go well?" Fen again. What with her attitude, I hadn't expected her to be so friendly. To my surprise, Life nudged me forward to talk. In all fairness, I knew the other MudWing the best.
"Oh you know, we've just been sent on a hit. It's no big deal."
"Actually, those are important. Nautilus doesn't give those out to just anybody. You guys must have made an impression." Or he knew we'd muck it up and just wanted us out of the picture. Wasn't out of the question with the shifty fellow.
Fen awkwardly scratched at the dirt, looking uncharacteristically unsure of herself. "Well, uh...break a leg, I guess." Hm. I was not familiar with that figure of speech. She didn't mean that literally, right?
"Yeah. We'll see ya." A strenuous lull followed. An annoying bird squawked from a nearby tree to kill the silence. After a second, the small, round-headed dragoness looked back up at me.
"Hey. Be safe. Don't die." How sweet. Unbeknownst to me, the rest of the Corps had scuttled away a moment ago, and I didn't know that these words were addressed solely to me. Fortunately though, I was certainly able to fulfill Fen's request.
"I've got that covered. And good luck to you too."
"Mmhmm. Here's to true peace." I liked the sound of that. We shared a last nod, before I was mortified at the realization of being alone and rushing off after the others.
Don't think I don't see that smile on your face. Picking up on that hint of romantic tension there, aren't ya?
Then don't you worry your little ship-loving heart. This won't be her last appearance.
That said, we continued the walk to a place safe from prying eyes. We reached a clearing, and while it was still raining, I could tell it was late afternoon, close to evening. Our first day in this new world had already been so eventful. Meeting and then immediately ditching the Talons of Peace. Now it was time to go to the beach.
I had a bit of a realization.
"Guys?" No one listened. Maybe I had just been quiet.
"Space," Motion started, cutting off my second effort to ask the question. "I'd like to apologize. I understand your worry, about protecting everything we've worked for. And while I don't think we should just keep sitting around like useless little statues, that doesn't give me the right to step over your opinion." Hm. Well-worded. She must have been working on it.
Space himself had calmed down significantly after our decision to stick around, and he nodded respectfully.
"Mm. Then accept my apologies as well. I understand that perhaps I wrongly saw myself as an authority figure over you all, despite us being equal at the Corps. I will be certain to weigh your input more severely in my future decisions." Yes, yes, lovely lovely. One learned respect and another learned humility, but there was a real problem at hand.
"Guys!" They all turned.
"You know, only one of the people you're addressing is a male," Life stated with that aggravating smugness.
"You get that we don't have genders and you just designed us to sound and act slightly differently, right? Who's the sexist one now?"
"From where I stand, still you." Fine, whatever. But I still needed to get this off.
"Okay, how about this. Individuals! I have a serious question. We're going to the Kingdom of the Sea, right?
"Does anyone know how to swim?"
The Reality Corps
He fiddled with his talons again, drumming them on the couch. Surely it couldn't be that hard. It seemed so simple before. Just tap the little buttons.
Death groaned as he rolled onto his back, at a loss. Matter always made this look so easy. He had gone through and pressed every single one three different times, and still that stupid electronic screen wouldn't turn on. Judging by the clock, it had been around eight hours.
This was maddening. What could she be doing for a whole third of a day?
Death had looked through every room in the Corps, for it was indeed a very small building. Nothing. Not just Life, but everyone except Time was gone without a trace.
The only thing he could figure was that for some ridiculous reason, Motion had transported them all to the planet. Normally, this would have been manageable with him able to see the action on the surveillance device.
Alas, the aspect had no clue how to operate it.
This was so embarrassing. The literal force of death itself couldn't operate a handheld remote! However, he had a much stronger worry driving him to panic.
The last time we saw each other was in a fight. Death was aware that his love could never make it to his Stream. None of them could. He had it as a fact that they would return. Eventually. Maybe not in their gifted physical forms, but they would be back. However, Life had a steel-trap memory. She knew the name of every single living dragon! And right now, wherever she was, she was no doubt stewing on the anger they had both expressed. It was probably driving them apart even further!
The thought was too much to bear. Imagine having to live with your ex for eternity. They needed to reconcile—and honestly, Death was just missing her in general. They had quite literally never been apart before. And if those rascals weren't coming back soon, that meant Death had to go to them.
How, exactly?
Time would probably know.
In his fervor and efforts to appear heroic, the NightWing-like entity dashed swiftly through the halls of the Corps, beelining for Time's room. It was impressive that she hadn't acted yet or even said anything; she had future sight for up to ten years. However, Time was a very strange being. If everything was progressing as intended, she would say absolutely nothing. The only way for things to not go as intended was for one of the other Corps members to mix something up. This would of course result in a firm talking to, which kind of cemented Time as the boss of Reality.
Death had made a mistake like that once, actually fairly recently. He had taken a dragon, apparently named Hvitur, into the Stream out of pity for a fatal injury he had received. He had thought it best to end Hvitur's suffering; the ordeal seemed unsurvivable. However, it was apparently before his time to go, and Time was pretty livid. She had been able to improvise though, and kept things on track.
Trying to put the tragic error out of his mind, Death reeled around a corner and arrived at the simple black door. He was about to barge in, but remembered her policy. One knock for visit, two for request, three for urgent. He decided to go for two, as the criteria for urgent was probably much more severe than this.
"Come in, Death." Typical. She always knew who was at the door. ...Why did she use the knocks if she knew what someone was going to ask? Why not proactively fix all problems? Just more strange Time things.
He obliged and opened up. Her room was cast in stereotypical sand, which was constantly flowing and moving around. Creepy-looking clocks hung just about everywhere on the green walls, all ticking in rhythm. It was pretty ominous on the outside, but the being within was okay.
Time had her own Stream, the Time Stream, that she was always vigilantly watching for any slight change or deviation that needed correction. It made her a bit secluded and closed off, but she was a generally amiable person who would hear you out. Wait. We aren't people. Why do I keep forgetting that?
It made him think of the bodies Life had made for them. And of course, that made him think of Life. "Whenever you're ready," Time commanded with a bit of annoyance. "It's not like I have eternity to wait for you to work up the nerves."
"Alright. Everyone's gone." She hardly reacted, likely believing it wasn't possible. The 'SandWing' was busy drawing in the sand around her and muttering things. She could at least act like she was paying attention... "Life and everyone except us. They aren't here."
"And where are they?" Time asked nonchalantly, as if she didn't know. Death growled, disliking the feel of grains crusting up in his talons.
"My guess is the planet. Probably one of Motion's dumb schemes."
"That's not inherently a problem. They're just curious, is all. I'd know if..." She trailed off. With Time, who always spoke in a calculated rhythm, losing her train of thought was always a bad thing.
"Talk." She stared intently at the Stream, something only she could see much like his own.
"Something bad is starting. Check the door." For a second, Death thought she meant the door to the hall. Then he remembered. He hurried to the heavy metal barrier, sequestered in a dim corner of Time's room. Thank goodness; it was still securely bolted and chained.
"Locked tight." Time breathed a sigh of relief and finally came to a stand, leaving her imprint in the sand below.
"Approximately a year from now, the rest of the Corps will still be on the planet—" Death nearly collapsed in shock, barely able to comprehend as Time went on. "—and they will change something. Something that desperately needs to remain as intended. We need to get down there and pull them back. And if that's not an option, I'll need you to set things right. ...Death?"
A year. A whole year?! She wouldn't want to come back to me for a year...and how much longer? Is—is what we have gone?
Time clearly knew his struggle, as she compassionately placed a paw on his shoulder. "When I observe the future, I only know certainties. You are one of those guarantees. Life is another. You both are incredibly essential. She knows that. I have also observed something else. On that planet, true love occurs when two individuals follow each other both in life and death. They go to any extreme, and suffer the fiercest grief, all for love. You and Life are love."
Death actually felt a compulsion to cry, though it wasn't possible.
Yes. Their companionship could not change. They were linked by destiny. So it's my job to get her back.
"You said we need to get down there. Just point me in the right direction." Time smiled at his newfound confidence, a rarity for her. She found a particular pile of sand and scooped some up in her claws.
"I'll admit I've never done this before. However, this should place us on the planet between now in the current Time Stream, and the time of the event that we need to rectify. Get ready for anything." As if he needed to get ready. This was Death himself. A foe could fall at his whim.
Time took the sand and slammed her front paws together before rubbing slowly. It became more vigorous, and the sand gradually began to glow. "Come closer, you idiot. I'm not going by myself." He obeyed with courage, intent on reuniting with his lover. The light grew and enveloped them both. The clocks in the room began to spin wildly as time was manipulated.
Finally, with a flash of light, both aspects of reality vanished. The Reality Corps was now empty.
Not quite.
In the corner of the sand-covered room, a heavy bolt slid away from its hold, and thick chains slipped to the ground with ease. The door creaked open, and a RainWing-like dragon strolled out, stretching with a yawn. They tromped through the sand and left the room into the hall. After only a short walk, they arrived in the main lounge and laid leisurely on the couch, resembling Rose Bukater's infamous 'French Girl' pose. The RainWing grabbed the remote and switched on the screen.
There, Death and Time appeared in a forest clearing at night, about six or seven months after the end of the SandWing Succession War. Both aspects glanced about their surroundings, before reacting in shock to the presence of others in the clearing.
A dragon was holding a spear, poised over Matter and prepared to stab him in the heart.
"Nice," the RainWing murmured to themselves, enchanting the screen with animus so it could now produce volume for their hearing enjoyment.
"This is my favorite show."
