Chapter Eleven
The woods were deathly silent. Snow clung to branches and pine needles. A thick gray blanket blocked out the sun. Sans breathed to scent the air, finding it cold and refreshing. He ambled along behind the others, though still felt Daezl's watchful gaze upon him to make sure he didn't make a run for it. They wandered about for time unmeasured until Mizera's ears perked up.
"I hear…"
"What?" Daezl looked ready to explode from impatience.
"A baby bird!"
Daezl's eye twitched. She ran off on all fours to find it, and Daezl sprinted after her yelling at the top of his lungs. Sans, Oro, and Juni shared a look of confusion. He was no expert on ecosystems, but an infant bird in winter didn't sound quite right. There the trio stood for a few seconds before he shrugged and lead the way after them.
Sans trudged through frozen undergrowth. Oro called out for the missing monsters. Their voices had faded away moments after they'd run out of sight. Feet found the ground with soft crunches. Fur whisked against bare branches. Wings brushed against gleaming tree bark. Sans found keeping his slippers on a difficult task when every step was a challenging escape from dead, tangled grass.
He lost his footing, and his soul skipped a pulse as he fell forward. A hand found the back of his jacket to halt his fall, and he knew without seeing that it'd been Oro's. He muttered a thanks and continued.
They eventually came to a stop in a small clearing, one that the three of them could hardly fit inside the boundaries of. He scanned the landscape with narrowed eye sockets, finding it stranger and stranger that they had disappeared so easily, so quickly. It was as though the forest had swallowed them whole.
"Daezl!"
Sans jumped at Oro's call. Juni rose her own voice in a vain attempt for an answer. He shifted, his soggy shoes falling quieter than before on ice and rotting leaves. The scenery changed ever so gradually, going unnoticed in the midst of this growing feeling. Just what the feeling was, he didn't know at first.
Juni's wing found one side of his back. Oro's tail found the other. Again they'd gone silent, seeming to share in this odd sensation. He pulled a hand from his pocket and tried again to summon an attack. A few bones flicked in and out of existence.
There was something here. Something was pinging on their collective radar, something they failed to see. Could it be nothing more than an error? A malicious program by the name of paranoia? His soul seemed not to care either way, and it pulsed in sync with-
"Guys!"
Mizera emerged from a group of leafless bushes, tail a blur of excitement. Cupped in her hands was a ball of downy gray fluff. Among the small feathers was a pointed orange beak and a pair of round dark eyes. It was a baby bird alright. Where in the name of the starship Enterprise did it come from?
Daezl appeared behind her, shoving her out of the way as Sans exchanged a look with Juni. The shadowy monster said, "so, we found the stupid statue. Let's go."
"Cool," said Oro in a wary tone. He joined them.
Juni trotted up to the canine, quietly squealing over the baby. Sans ambled up to them asking where she'd gotten it. Mizera ignore him, leading them away into a dark stretch of forest that he was sure wasn't there a few moments prior. Sans looked around at the bare dirt and the curved trees which formed an arching tunnel. There was no snow; it hadn't been able to breach the tangled roof looming over them. He looked back to see a bright light, which was slowly growing farther away. He heard thunder.
His feet unconsciously quickened his pace to catch up with the others.
They walked a long, winding trail in dim light. Juni and Mizera whispered excitedly to each other about the little fluff ball's level of cuteness, seemingly unaffected by the foreboding setting they found themselves in. Ruby eyes flashed in the darkness.
"Sans, do you wanna hold it?"
"Not rea-"
"Sure ya do!"
Mizera thrust the bird into his hands, causing it to chirp. Thunder roared just above the tunnel. He cast a glare in Miz's direction and adjusted his hold on the hatchling so it could settle more comfortably. It quieted, and he had a few moments to analyze the creature. It was heavier than he'd expected, looked healthy from what he could tell in this light, and he admitted reluctantly to himself: yes, it was cute.
"Pet it while you can," Daezl told them. "Because it's going back to the giant friggin' nest we found it in, and staying there."
"But I wanna pet and it's so small and cute!"
"One: that's why it wouldn't survive with you. Two: I'm not cleaning up its poop. Oh, and did I mention the tiny little detail that we're being hunted by a murderous cult?"
Mizera whined.
"It's okay," said Juni, wrapping a wing around her. "We'll get you a pet someday."
"She's lying."
"Just not right now and not this one," she finished.
Sans watched the scene play out, gently petting the animal with a single finger. He agreed with Daezl on all points made. Mizera was too rough with it, they were in danger until this thing was solved, and he wasn't about to clean up baby bird waste. His nerves had settled to some degree, but his systems were on high alert for any unwelcome eyes.
A soft glow illuminated the path ahead. There was a light on the far end of the tunnel. Low branches hung over the exit like fangs, and thunder growled at regular intervals from the gaping maw. The light was blinding to stare at, and he failed to make out anything beyond the wall of sheer brightness.
"How'd ya find this?"
"We just did," said Daezl, and Sans could sense him shrug.
"Uh-huh. And what exactly is this?" He gestured above them with his free hand.
"A hidden magical path, duh," said Mizera as she took her temporary pet back.
He shook his head at the absurdity of it all. "But like, scientifically, how can this be a thing? What kind of magic is it and how did we find it when uh, presumably nobody else could?"
"Comes with the territory," said Daezl, the trees engulfing his voice. "It's just the way things work for us. Things just sorta happen."
"That's vague."
"That's all we got. There's some stuff we can explain, but that's not one of 'em."
Mizera whispered in a dreamy voice, "we tried a bunch of times to figure it out. I never found anything in the history books about people like us. But I'm gonna keep looking until I solve the mystery!"
"None of this makes any sense," he said with a sigh.
"Many things don't. But that's okay," said Juni. "Maybe not every question has an answer."
The idea nagged him for the rest of this little trip.
They stepped out into a huge glade. Patches of fresh snow littered the ground, and new flecks of ice were steadily making their way down to the earth. The air felt thin and sharp, and the noise of their footfalls was deafening. At the center of it all was an old carving, massive and foreboding. A lion reared on its hind legs, standing upon a huge block of stone. The statue was ancient and weathered, but held fast to each and every little piece of its form. Not a claw was out of place; no cracks to be found. A sizable nest rested on the block, beneath the lion's outstretched paws. The depiction bore a vicious expression.
"Okay," said Daezl. "Now put it back."
Mizera stared at him with puppy eyes before reluctantly making her way to the nest. Sans gazed around at the clearing, wondering just where the ring was supposedly hidden. The trees here were thin and dark, and shadows clung to every space between them. Something clicked in his skull.
"There's a guard."
Nodding, Juni said, "maybe they'll help us now that their baby's back home."
Right on cue, the thunder picked up again, distant at first but soon growing near. Sans moved automatically, joining the others and keeping an eye socket to the sky. His soul pulsed quicker, and with that feeling he couldn't identify. He felt oddly reassured by their closeness as he stared expectantly at the clouds.
A pair of massive black wings blocked what little light there was. Thunder roared with every tiny movement they made. A screech pierced the air and rippled through the woods. The bird circled them one, twice, three times. At last it lowered itself enough to fall into its nest. Twigs snapped beneath its weight. It looked at the chirping infant as it hopped onto the nest rim, and a pair of bright blue eyes raked across them, waiting.
"Um, we're sorry for bothering you, ma'am," said Oro, taking a wary step forward. "Our friend's kinda weird."
"I want one," she whispered into Sans' skull. "I want one so bad. I can fly around on it!"
"We were sorta looking for this special ring. We need it so we can keep the universe in one piece. D'you happen to know anything about it? Supposed to be some kinda magical ring?"
The bird's crest of feathers drifted slightly in the breeze. It took a long look at each of them, freezing when its eyes landed upon Sans. He scanned the expression on the animal's face, running the results through a program that decided to function this time. But what was different about him? What did the bid see in his soul that he wasn't aware of? He shifted awkwardly beneath the weight of its stare.
Finally it rolled its eyes, reaching down into its home. It leaned down, and from its orange beak dropped a small golden circle. Oro thanked the guardian while his brother took the ring and began to depart.
The ring was a bit dirty, but gleamed beautifully in spite of that. It was a simple golden piece with a ruby embedded within. Mizera caught up to Daezl, peering over his shoulder at it in the midst of the tunnel.
"Ooh, that's yours, Juni! It matches and everything!"
"I'd prefer something pink," said Juni. "But that's all right."
"I'm so sorry the key to saving the world isn't fashionable enough," Daezl said flatly.
"I guess," said Sans, a humorous gleam in his eye sockets. "That was a pretty bird brained thing to say."
"I hate you. I hate you so much."
But even though he couldn't see it, he knew Daezl was smiling.