Krystal remembered a time when she was terrified of heights.
It was long ago, back when she was still just a little girl living among friends and family, and when she still had a place she could call home. She and her girl friends would often go out to play in the lush forest nearby; playing pretend, hunting for insects and other odd critters, and whispering wicked, little secrets to one another. (Well, wicked by a child's standards.) Those were always some of her favorite memories.
Occasionally, the boys would join in on their play, and whenever that happened, it was guaranteed that a tree-climbing contest would be held before the end of that day. Who could climb the highest, who could climb the fastest, who was brave enough to leap from bough to bough: All these and more were stipulations you had to prove yourself in before you could be crowned victor.
And Krystal hated every second of it. Not once could her friends ever tease her into scaling even the lowest and sturdiest of branches for fear of slipping and falling. As a result, she was always left watching their contests from afar, weighed down on solid ground with a heavy heart. Though a part of her had always itched to join in on their fun, the mere thought of pulling herself so far off of the ground used to make her legs weak, her head dizzy, and her stomach queasy.
How far she'd come since then, in more ways than one.
Now, she was clinging to the side of a sheer, icy cliff a couple dozen feet above solid ground, swiftly and gracefully scaling the giant wall of rock despite the chilling breeze sweeping across the snowy mountainside. Even glancing down at the ground below evoked no fear in her. No weakness, no dizziness, no queasiness. After all she'd been through over the past few years, and all the hardships she'd overcome, heights now seemed like such a trivial thing to be scared of.
Though, perhaps one reason the climb wasn't causing her any fear was that all the fear was being monopolized by her young companion.
"K-Krystal! Don't look down!"
Krystal sighed with some slight exasperation as she glanced up at Kyte, who was perched a few feet above her on a small branch on the side of the cliff. While Krystal had been scaling the cliffside, the young CloudRunner had been flying from perch to perch just above her, and from the terrified look frozen on her face, you could have sworn that the princess was the one without wings to save herself from a fall, and not Krystal.
"Yes, I know Kyte. You've said that already. Many times now." She added with a grunt as she placed her fingers into a groove in the rock and pulled herself up another few inches.
"I-I know. I just… Don't want you to fall. I-I mean, um, it's a really long drop, and…"
Krystal sighed again and shook her head in frustration. "Please, Kyte. I'd be able to concentrate better if you didn't speak."
"Oh… right, okay…"
Immediately, Krystal sensed shame in the girl, and she instantly regretted how condescending her words were. She was about to apologize, but as if it were blowing in to stop her tongue, another frigid breeze suddenly swept through the mountain range. The chilling wind cut through her fur like a knife and forced her to stop climbing for a moment and grit her teeth as a shiver coursed across her body.
She really wasn't dressed for that kind of weather.
We're almost at the top, she reminded herself, starting to scale the cliff again as the wind died. Not much longer now.
Her eyes turned upwards, searching for her ward with the intent to deliver her apology. However, she realized with a brief twinge of panic that she couldn't see the girl above her.
"Kyte!?" She called, looking along the ridge of the cliff to find her.
"I'm at the top!" The call came from somewhere above out of sight. She must have flown up when Krystal wasn't looking.
"Don't go ahead without me!" Krystal called back, immediately hastening her pace up the cliff. She was aware that the girl was probably fine being up there by herself, but Krystal still didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone for too long, especially in that cold weather.
A part of Krystal's mind was nagging her about that very problem. If the weather continued to get worse the higher they climbed, it might prove to be a real danger, especially if they were forced to camp outside overnight. Krystal could build them a fire to last through the night, but then again, sending a pillar of smoke into the air and marking their position was probably a bad idea with the knowledge that the SharpClaws had a war camp somewhere nearby. Perhaps they could find a cave, or some other shelter...
Despite the worries nagging at her mind, the vixen suddenly stopped climbing, and her ears perked up as they were met with a strange noise. A low, droning boom had echoed across the mountain range, much like the crash a falling tree makes as it strikes solid ground. Only a bit louder and with a blunter punch.
Craning her neck, Krystal curiously tried to find if the source of the noise was somewhere in sight, but she was met with nothing but a view of the peaceful valley far below her. Nothing she saw could have made such a noise.
What was that?
Sighing in resignation and putting it out of her mind, she turned back to the cliffside and began climbing again. She was reaching a spot that would be difficult to traverse. The handholds and footholds were sparse, and far apart from one another. It would take a bit of agility and a careful eye for her to pass safely. Even still, it wasn't too difficult for the young, athletic woman to find a path that she could traverse safely, even if that path required a few, short leaps to get enough distance to reach the necessary holds.
However, right as she was stopping for a quick moment to catch her breath, another, low boom echoed across the range again. With furrowed eyebrows, Krystal turned her head again to try to find the source of the noise.
What in the world…
Due to the echoing nature of the mountains, she couldn't narrow down the origin of the noises from sound alone. It didn't seem like they were too close, and yet, she couldn't even be too sure about that. Perhaps…
"Krystal?"
The vixen moved her gaze up to the top of the cliff again to see Kyte peeking over the edge further up.
"Did you hear that?" She called down.
"I did." Krystal responded with a nod. "I don't know what-"
However, her words were cut short as she slipped her fingers into a groove in the rock, failing to notice the slippery patch of ice hidden within until she had already put her weight on it. Before she knew it, her grip on the mountainside had slipped away, and she found gravity taking hold of her body with terrifying speed.
However, despite the harsh jolt of panic that shot through her chest, and the sound of Kyte's shrill scream as the girl watched helplessly from above, Krystal was still able to save herself from a nasty fall by grabbing hold of an outstretched tree branch, one that was clinging onto the side of the cliff almost as tightly as she was now clinging onto it.
By the gods… She silently cursed, closing her eyes and letting out a long, relieved sigh.
"Krystal!? Are you okay!?"
After taking a second to collect herself, Krystal quickly but carefully crept across the length of the branch, hand over hand, until she was close enough to the cliff that she could creep over onto the bare rock again.
"I-I'm okay! I'm okay." She called back, trying and failing to keep her voice steady. "I just… slipped."
The vixen sighed deeply and took a deep breath, trying to calm her beating heart. That was too close.
"K-Krystal? Did you-"
"I'm fine, Kyte!" She called. "Just… don't worry about me! I'll be there soon!"
Gods above… she silently cursed. Maybe she's right to worry.
Even still, the rest of the climb up was thankfully without incident. Though she could sense Kyte's steady anxiety somewhere up above, she was still able to make it the last few feet up the cliff until she was at the top.
With a final heave and grunt of effort, Krystal pulled herself up over the edge and onto solid ground. Almost immediately, Kyte dashed to her side, trying to help her up to her feet, even though her efforts didn't help all that much. Even still, her wide eyes and her mind clearly betrayed the fact that she was immensely relieved to see the vixen reach the top safely.
"A-are you okay?" She asked, her voice slightly shaky.
Krystal, despite her fatigue from the long climb, gave the girl a wide, teasing grin.
"Oh? Did you think I wouldn't make it?"
"No! Of c-course not…"
"I'm offended. After all we've been through, I thought you'd have more faith in my abilities."
"I do! I do! I-I just… just, um… that was r-really scary, and..."
Krystal laughed, bending down to rest a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. "I'm fine, Kyte, and I'm only joking. Honestly, I'm glad you care about me enough to worry."
"Oh, um, thanks. I-I mean, you're welcome… um…"
Krystal laughed again before standing back up straight. "Well, no reason to stand around. Where to next?"
"Oh, right! I just remembered!"
The girl suddenly jumped up in excitement, spinning around and pointing. "Look at that!"
Krystal's eyes followed the girl's digit until they found whatever it was the young CloudRunner had seen. Far off in the distance, four, black pillars of smoke were slowly drifting up into the sky, being slowly carried off into nothingness by a lazy wind. And not only did the pillars appear to be higher up on the mountain, it also wasn't hard for Krystal to connect that smoke with the strange booms they had heard earlier.
Explosions? Was there some kind of fight?
"Strange."
"Do you think we should try to follow them?" Kyte asked.
"Well…"
Krystal's knee-jerk instinct was to say 'no'. When seeing smoke on the horizon, it was usually foolish to start moving towards it, no matter how curious one may be. However, given their current objective, it was also probably naive of Krystal to expect that they'd be able to completely avoid any danger.
"I suppose we should at least see what it is. It might give us a clue where the SharpClaw's camp is, if it isn't out there in the first place."
"Alright! Let's go!"
Krystal reached out an arm for Kyte to hop up onto, but the girl shook her head.
"It's okay, I can walk."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
"Alright then. If you get tired, just tell me, okay?"
"I will."
Krystal smiled as the two began walking across the cold, crusty snow toward the distant smoke. Once again, she found it funny that a child could show such bravery and fortitude in the face of so many challenges, and yet simultaneously suffered from a second-hand fear of heights. Krystal supposed it made sense. If one had lived their whole life with wings, then everyone who didn't must seem especially vulnerable to gravity and all its dangers. So in that respect, she understood Kyte's fears.
In fact, it very much reminded Krystal of herself when she was younger. Once upon a time, her older brother was the reigning champion of those tree-climbing contests she hated so much. It didn't matter how tall it was, or how flimsy the branches, if her brother decided he was going to climb a particular tree, it was going to happen, and nothing and no-one could stop him.
And Krystal could never stand it. Whatever fear of heights she suffered from was multiplied when watching her brother climb. Every foot, every inch he ascended was torture for her. Even though the rational part of her mind always knew that he would make it up and down safely, the rest of her had always been stricken with terror. What if he fell? What if he hurt himself? What if he died? They were childish fears, sure, but she had been a child then, so they had made sense.
It all stemmed back to the fact that, even then, she didn't want to lose him...
She blinked, and as she did, she realized there were tears in her eyes. With a deep sigh, she raised her hand and wiped them away, lightly coughing to try to hide them from her ward. However, as she unconsciously snuck a glance at the girl to see if she had noticed, she stopped as she realized that the young CloudRunner was crying too.
"Kyte?"
Krystal stopped walking and bent down to inspect her friend. Tears were streaming down Kyte's pointed face in veritable streams, and her small body was being seized with silent sobs that seemed to be threatening to break through into uncontrollable bawling. She glanced at Krystal, then quickly turned away, trying to hide her wet eyes.
"I'm just… I-I don't know..."
The sobs broke through, and the girl seemed to be in danger of crumpling in a heap on the ground as they wracked her body. Krystal was stunned, so much so that she wasn't sure how to respond for a moment. What could have possibly caused the girl to have been overcome by such severe sadness, and so suddenly?
Wait. No, of course. Kyte wasn't the one who was sad, at least, not really. This was a byproduct of the ability that the two shared. She just must not have known how to handle the emotions that she was sensing in Krystal.
The realization broke Krystal's heart. She would never want to force some of the things she felt onto anybody, much less a child.
"Oh, Kyte." Krystal wrapped her arms around the sobbing princess in a comforting embrace. "Shhhh, it'll be okay."
In an attempt to give Kyte something more positive to focus on, Krystal tried to force her own emotions into a more positive place. It was difficult, all things considered, but it was made easier by the knowledge that Kyte would feel whatever shreds of joy she might feel. She tried focusing on happy memories, thoughts of simple pleasures and little activities that she enjoyed, and faces of old, treasured friends. She wasn't sure if she succeeded, but after a moment, she began feeling the sadness on Kyte's mind begin to diminish slowly but surely.
"I-I-I…" Kyte stuttered, trying to get words out through the sobs, though those sobs did seem to be lessening a bit. "I don't know w-w-why…"
"I do." Krystal said, breaking the hug and resting her hands on the girl's shoulders. "It's because of your gift. You were feeling what I was feeling."
"B-but… But…" The girl sighed and took a deep breath, wiping her wet eyes dry with her wings. "But, why were you… so sad?"
Krystal faltered for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't think that's important right now. Instead, I think it's time I kept a promise."
"What? What promise?"
The vixen forced a smile onto her lips. "I told you that I was going to teach you how to control your gift. Well, I think it's time I started doing that."
Kyte seemed surprised, but she nodded. "Okay. W-what are you going to teach me?"
"Well, I think our first lesson should focus on what just happened. Now, if I were to make a guess, I'd say that this happens to you a lot. You're feeling fine one moment, then suddenly you're feeling sad, or angry, or terrified, or a hundred other powerful emotions. And there's no good reason why you suddenly feel that way. Am I right?"
Kyte nodded. "Yeah. That… that does happen sometimes."
"And, I think you know why, right?"
"It's because I'm feeling what someone else is feeling. Even if I don't want to." She sighed. "I wish I could just turn it off."
Krystal smiled. "I understand that. I was once where you are right now: Feeling things I didn't understand, and sensing things I didn't want to."
"How did you fix it?"
"Well, I can't say I 'fixed' it. I can't even say I got used to it. I…" She sighed, trying to think of the words. "I began to… understand it. All of it. My abilities. My emotions. The emotions that I could sense in other people. I learned how to sort them, and how to make them make more sense."
She paused for a second. "Kyte, this gift we share, it's not the burden that you might think it is. Have you ever heard adults saying something along the lines of 'I know how you feel'?"
Kyte nodded.
"Well, for others, that's rarely ever true. But it is true for us. We know exactly how people feel. Sometimes we know the things they're feeling better than they do. It gives us the ability to relate to and sympathize with the people around us to a level that most people couldn't even imagine. We are perfect empaths."
"Empath?"
"Someone who knows what the people around them are feeling."
"Oh. Okay."
Krystal paused, gathering her thoughts for what to say next. "Now, this can be a good thing. An amazing thing in fact. There's few things people like more than to be related to. But before you can do this, you have to learn how to separate your emotions from their emotions."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that you can't always get sad because someone else is sad, or angry because they're angry. Sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes all people need is somebody who is willing to cry with them, or mourn with them, or even rage with them. But even then, you can't…" She paused. "You can't cry their tears for them."
Kyte gave Krystal a confused look, which made her chuckle.
"I'll try to explain. See, even though you can share their feelings, you can't share their experiences. You might know how they feel, but you probably don't know why they are feeling that way, and because of that, copying them won't get either of you anywhere. Before you can really start utilizing your power for good, you have to learn how to separate your own emotions with other people's emotions, or else they'll get all mixed up and leave you dazed and confused."
"But, how?"
"Well, that's a bit harder to answer, mostly because there really isn't a good answer. That's…" Krystal hated that she had to say what was coming next. "That's just something you'll have to figure out for yourself."
"Oh…" Her gaze fell to the ground in clear disappointment.
"I'm sorry. I really wish I could do more. But there are things that I just can't teach you. But don't get discouraged. I figured out most of this on my own; I know you can too."
"Did you have someone to teach you?"
Krystal faltered. "Well, yes. I did."
And he knew so much more than I do now… she thought with a frown.
Kyte thankfully didn't hear her. "So you had help too." Her countenance suddenly grew much lighter, and Krystal could feel a sense of relief flood her mind. "Maybe this won't be so hard then. Especially if I have you helping me, right?"
The optimism in the child's voice caused a smile to grow on Krystal's lips, even though a part of her was worried that optimism was misplaced.
"Come on, let's keep moving." She said, standing up to her full height. "We're losing daylight, and I don't want to stay out here until nightfall if we can…"
She trailed off, and her ears suddenly perked up. Kyte meanwhile gave her a confused look.
"Um, Krys-"
"Shh." She said, covering her lips with a finger. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
Krystal's eyes were narrowed in concentration, and her eyes were scanning down the valley below as if searching for something. "I don't know. Something."
Indeed, there did seem to be a noise on the air. A low, droning roar that, unless Krystal was mistaken, sounded as though it was coming from some kind of powered engine. Perhaps more than one.
But, that couldn't be right, could it? The people of Dinosaur Planet didn't seem advanced enough to develop such devices. Then again, Tekamus had mentioned that the SharpClaw had somehow come into contact with powerful technology. Perhaps this was-
"Oh, Krystal! Look!"
Krystal followed Kyte's digit up the mountain until she saw what the girl wanted her to see. Not too far in the distance, there were three… somethings, moving at extremely high speeds down along the edge of the mountain, faster than anything Krystal had seen before. She couldn't tell what exactly they were from this distance, but it was clear that her theory that they were advanced machines was accurate. Nothing organic could move that fast.
"What in the…" She muttered.
"W-What are they?" Kyte asked with a shiver in her voice.
Krystal couldn't give an answer. It was probably a good guess that it was the SharpClaw, but she couldn't be sure.
"They're getting closer."
Indeed, they seemed to be drawing closer and closer to where Kyte and Krystal stood near the edge of the cliff. She couldn't tell if they could see them or not.
Suddenly, Krystal didn't feel too comfortable standing out in the open like they were. "Kyte, we need to hide."
Likely sensing Krystal's sudden fear, Kyte had no complaints, and followed in her footsteps as the two dashed over to a tall, gnarled tree. The duo dove behind the old tree out of sight, and Krystal carefully peeked out to see what was happening.
The three machines were speeding closer and closer, and the roar of their engines was quickly becoming louder and louder. And they came closer, Krystal soon saw that one of the three machines was far behind the other two, despite keeping a close pace with them. It seemed as though the one in the back was chasing the other two, likely trying to overtake them.
Suddenly curious, she focused her mind toward them to see if she could sense their intentions. Time seemed to slow down for her as she brushed over and examined the surface of their distant minds. From where she was, she could sense a flurry of emotions that were hard to separate at first, but after focusing a moment, she began to get a better picture.
She could sense fear, desperation, and the odd, focused, disorientated feeling one gets from pumping adrenaline. These sensations confirmed that what she was seeing was indeed a frantic chase. But she could also feel a different sense of fear. This one seemed… more basic. Almost child-like. It was… the feeling of being trapped. Alone. Hopeless. Walls closing in… No air... Pitch blackness.
She shook her head, trying to clear her head of the sensations. Strange, she thought. That felt like a… child.
She frowned as the dots connected. Could the prince they were looking for be in that chase? Perhaps trapped in one of the machines? It was possible. Barun mentioned that the SharpClaw might try to move the child soon.
The chase was getting closer. She could see the two machines in the front madly swerving around trees and exposed rocks sticking out of the snow, trying desperately to escape their pursuer. But the machine in the back was relentless; following in their path like an afterimage.
They moved so effortlessly. As if they weren't touching the ground. But how was that possible? Krystal had seen flying machines like that, but only once before, long ago and very, very far away.
Curious about the intentions of the chaser, she focused her power towards the machine in the back, but what she was met with almost knocked her down.
What she felt from this mind was the most intense, laser-focused, and fervid determination she had ever felt. It almost didn't seem real. No hint of distraction or fear or pity or even of anger. It bordered on the emotionless. There was nothing but a resolve that seemed nigh-unbreakable. And other than that… almost nothing.
And it honestly terrified Krystal. This mind felt so cold, and so callous. So hell-bent on whatever task it was trying to achieve. Not a trace of emotion that made it seem mortal. What kind of person…
The roar of the machine's engines reached a peak, and as Krystal blinked out of her daze, she realized that the two machines in the front had zoomed past the tree the duo was hiding behind, giving Krystal a split-second to see that there were indeed two, scaly SharpClaws riding the flying machines. They continued on past towards the edge of the cliff and careened out over the cliffside, sailing out towards solid ground below, disappearing somewhere into the forest.
And the pursuer was only a second or two behind, speeding past their hiding spot like a flying bullet. However, Krystal was still able to catch a fleeting glance of the rider before he sped off the cliff to continue to give chase to the two SharpClaw.
And what she saw was like a punch to the stomach. It was so quick, yet she could still see the figure riding the bike as plainly as a picture. Light red fur, pointed ears, pointed snout, a furry tail behind, a focused gaze that seemed to bore through rock ahead. It was a...
No…
The pursuing machine flew out over the edge of the cliff, following right behind the two machines in the lead. As they disappeared somewhere in the forest below and the distant sound of their engines faded into the distance, the duo slowly crept out from behind the tree.
That… I must have seen wrong. That couldn't have been… Krystal thought with parted lips.
"Krystal? What were they? They were so fast..."
The vixen looked down at her young companion to see Kyte's face in a look of slightly terrified wonder. It was clear the girl had never seen such advanced technology before. And unfortunately, Krystal wasn't in a mindset to explain it to the girl at the moment.
"Come on." She said instead, making towards the cliff's edge. "We need to follow them."
"But… but what about our mission?"
Krystal shook her head firmly. "Didn't you feel it? The queen's son was with them. He must have been a prisoner on one of those bikes."
"Are you sure?"
To be honest, she wasn't. It was a possibility, but she didn't think Kyte needed to know that. Instead, Krystal was already swinging herself over the cliff's edge and beginning the long descent back down.
"K-Krystal! Wait for me!" Kyte tried to call, flapping over to try to catch up with her.
Krystal barely heard her. She was too focused on what she had seen, trying to make sense of it. Was it a pipe dream? Was she imagining things? She didn't know. But she knew that she had to find out, no matter what it took, and no matter how terrifying the prospect might be.
It had been years.
In all her travels, she had never seen signs of another. Until today.
She may not have been the only survivor.
Author's Note: Guess what? I actually have a half-decent excuse this time. Two excuses in fact. Over December, I had to focus on a huge work-related project that took up pretty much all of my free time, so I was unable to write anything recreational for a little more than a month or so around that time.
And after I wrapped that up, I ended up turning my attention to something else. See, I've been feeling like my writing skills and confidence have been improving these past few years, and because of that, I've finally started work on something a bit more exciting.
See, I've had a story floating around in my head for... geez, around 11 or so years at this point. And it's not just another fan fiction I can play around with in my free time. No, this story has got all original characters, an original setting, partially-original themes, and is something that... possibly will end up getting officially published somehow. I don't know, that kind of thing is always hard to predict. But it's certainly a dream of mine to one day publish it and put it out into the world, once I finish it.
Of course, this isn't going to be an instant process. It's probably going to take a few more years before I can completely finish that story, and in that time, I'm certainly not going to abandon any of the fics I have on this site. (*cough* the ones that aren't abandoned already *cough*) Even still, I'm incredibly excited to really get working on this little project of mine. I'll try to give as many updates as possible to those of you that might be interested.
Anyway, for those of you who don't care about that, this chapter was a little tough for me since I was a little worried it felt a bit too slow as it is. As you can tell, I've been in the process of building up for "the" moment that I'm sure you've all been waiting for, and as you can guess, we're pretty close at this point. Hopefully I'll be able to discipline myself to get the next chapter finished in a timely manner so you all don't have to wait too long. As always, fingers crossed.
That's all for now. Thank you all for viewing and reviewing, and I hope to see you all soon.
Yours truly, Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman.