Because it's been a while since the last update, here's a summary of what happened: Leonardo battled the sand demons of his mind and body. He and Zera have been separated from each other; Zera is currently lost in an arctic wasteland. Their scatterbrained companion, Nipal, is the key to bringing the two back together, hopefully in the same place at the same time.
My apologies - life is hectic these days. I can't really do much about that. Thanks for sticking with me!
The Rook's power against the monster had been one of the most brilliant spectacles little Nipal has ever seen! Every strike was precise, delicately improvised, and superbly executed. The rabbit's crooked, droopy ears shivered with blazing excitement pulsing down to his unkempt toes. Victory would soon be theirs in no time with this greenly, high-flying, amazing Rook of Rooks!
But, Nipal had been mistaken, terribly so. It makes him sad inside his squirmy heart the Rook obeyed the dreadful monster, relinquished Sinai, and entered into the bowels of a treacherous Hell. As it all transpired, the radiant Sinai fell back to Anavrin, its precious light dimming, and gently landing in Nipal's tiny paws. He has never seen this magical weapon blanketed in such darkness, excluding the time when he and Zera were cornered by the drunken ghosts of giraffe aliens in a disastrous game of Magic Roulette and Pepper Salad. Absolutely terrible. Sinai was the gamble and pretended to be a mop. The foreigners never had a clue!
Now, on the highest point of the argent valley, Nipal treads through his memories and watches the moaning grey sky, for any movement or break through its puddled appearance. His neck aches, but he braves through it and waits on the hill, the loyal Reformer gripping the only connection between himself and his lost friends. A herd of black-striped, dynamite-tail valley kittens pounce across each other, playfully hissing and curving through the tall, chromed weeds. Nipal is familiar with the herd's sounds and behavior: wide and glossy eyed felines covered in bristled, chocolate fur; stumpy legs that hinder their jumping velocity, fast energy, and soft flowing black tails that, when aroused, crack and spin needles through the air. Loveable creatures, but best kept at a distance. Their exuberance in the valley, sharp cackles and jeers echoing shaves a bit of his anxiety. Even a bundle of needs whirring past his ear didn't flinch him so. The kittens' laughter fades from the land, and Nipal's tight grip around Sinai loosens as the grey sky shifts into a mischievous UnderLight: shadows dripping across the valley, rising from the ground, oozing under the rocks, and flapping curtains of the Dark wandering alone and unabashed.
Nipal shivers in his dirty, torn red suspenders and clutches Sinai again, blinking back his fright and desperately shutting out the low turbulence of Underlight's approaching pandemonium. If only he can disappear or see his brave friends return with their comforting faces at this moment, his heart can be at peace, oh the stars! His mind and body aren't strong enough to face the wickedness, for the little rabbit hybrid is the son of a porcupine masseuse and a barnyard masturbator, raised with many other siblings and cousins and neighborhood kids, and he cries when he's stressed and stutters when excited. Years back, a kind teacher advised Nipal of a small, growing community of loyal assistants to the courageous Retainers, and she said the experience would help him succeed in all areas of his fumbling life. The training was hard, and his transformation into the walrus form was the result of a horrible prank that he had nothing to do with but, keen to his soft personality, Nipal adapted and used it to the best of his ability. Surprisingly, he rose in the ranks, and during a protest, his small rabbit body was kicked and punted; a set of high heels crushed his arm, and the shoes' owner was the only one who checked on him.
"Are you mad, little rabbit? Give me your hand and we'll get to safety! Do you like being crushed under all this weight? You're not answering!" His insides rattled with the fast motion. "Stay with me. Speak!"
Their friendship was an unlikely one, marred with short nerves and boiling tongues, and he takes the blame for most of it because he is a coward and can make poor decisions. His ears are sensitive to noise, very sensitive, and her screams and rants gives him headaches for days, but she was a hero, and she was brave.
No, she is brave, Nipal corrected, blinking hard, and she'll return soon. Zera, the outcast like himself; she never joined group dates or of her own kind to even mingle, shedded no tears over anything, and focused solely on her assignments as a Retainer. For that, he refuses to leave her side as long as she wills it so. He doesn't want her to change and she's too stubborn to it anyways.
He feels a tiny smile wrinkle into his cheeks. The Rook is amazing again, in that he befriended both of the ragged walnuts and cracked their shells. Who is he and where does he live? He has a family, Nipal remembers, and the family probably misses him. Nipal misses him, too.
His bifocal glasses slip off his face, toppling on the rock, and he never moves. His handy frames, he takes care of with ample grace, but the hurtful tears are parting through his furry cheeks and it's getting tougher to lever his head. He leans on Sinai for support and watches the liquid splash on his glasses. He hasn't silently cried since he was a youngling, when his closest friend moved away and nobody cared that he was sad. Here he is dangerously alone in a heartless valley with not a single plan to save his toosh. A broken heart can't save his friends.
The guttural moans spilling around Nipal's quivering ball form weave a chilly nest in the air, eager and hungry for a warm morsel and empty mouths drive the shadows to a rapid attack, whirling, fussing, and squealing. Nipal's paws drum painfully as his grip is the tightest it's ever been, and his heart, the fastest, nearing a complete meltdown. On this Underlight, he whispers a dry, throaty song prayer from his childhood, and while he remembers very little lyrics, it gives him the safest passageway into his maker's arms.
Sweet Nipal can pray less now, for his heart will remain whole this Night.
The danger stirs the incubating Sinai, who heats under the shaky rabbit's hold and shatters those who desire to see the Reformer perish. Grand arcs of silver and gold light blossom from Sinai's head into an orchard of power. Nipal is temporarily blinded by the spectacle, fumbling one free paw around his seat, hopeful to find his bifocals. The magic is very tepid to the touch, but its release reminds him of the fresh ocean. Dreamlight Vista. Yes, he visited there as a youngling and enjoyed feeding the baby Littos flopping out of the water with their wispy fish tails and bulging maroon eyes. Standing on the shore feeling the ocean tickle his worn feet was the greatest.
Nipal finds his glasses, and as they pluck on his button nose, a confident, gentle voice prances in his ear, "To have summoned me means you hold great strength."
"M- me?" he squints, shielding one eye with his ear. "Is that you, Sinai?"
"Mastery is not determined by size; it requires all of who you are."
Nipal relaxes, nodding a response.
"Then, go." The floating orchard dims, and Sinai fades through a static breeze, "The ocean is yours."
Can strength pool in my heart and drain from my hands, Nipal ponders as his feet touch the ground, Sinai in his grasp, and guidance possesses his legs once again. Vision successfully returns, and Underlight has crawled back in its stuffy holes leaving the valley in an oil painting. His footprints smear into the crinkled weeds, and his paws press against the sky, leaving behind his fuzzy, impenetrable mark. Heartbeats flare and a tail puffs at the excitement stemming from a different yet happy place for Nipal. It feels like Dreamlight, soaking into his skin and pulling the mocking shadow out of him.
The beautiful landscape washes into a muddy backdrop, dripping into puddles on the ground and casting a gray sky-over. He nervously awaits another threat, and only by Sinai's soft, pushy hum does Nipal straighten up and faces this brooding new turn. In the far distance, shapes blend into a recognizable form and push forward, rapidly, where Nipal and Sinai stand. His heartbeats sing the tired, scared tune, especially as the gray shaves the edge of the objects and reveals a landfill of broken skeletons, marred and forever screaming in terror.
"Brave, brave me," the Reformer whispers flow between Sinai and the gray, "can you stand tall and push the danger? I am nothing, but I need to be more!" The stronger his heart feels, the more light pours from his shield, Sinai; ribbons of cool power shades the bleak over-look, wilting the harsh, dead skeletal fragments. Nipal marches through the landfill, breath catching in his tiny throat, but each step more, the courage balloons inside him. He will survive, and he will find his friends!
After traveling for long periods causing blisters on his feet and a twisted ankle from plowing through skeletons, Sinai halts, jerking Nipal to a standstill. A small amount of fear returns in his chest. He peers at Sinai above him, the beautiful fierce torch allowing a lowly Reformer to bare it, and he is intrigued by the intermittent buzzing. Nipal's ears rise under Sinai's alarm, sketching his curiosity more, and it is within a few moments the rabbit realizes his guide is temperamental over his indecisiveness. "Look ahead of you, Reformer. Now." His ears shrink under the demand. Slowly, his eyes roll in the targeted direction and widen immediately at a small, wavy spotlight over a distant, jagged hill, the only one among its more smooth brethren.
The anticipation rushes over him in hot spurts, gunning Nipal's feet off the ground before his mind spins its first cycle. The Master is there, his heart knows for sure and Sinai wouldn't lie either, and he can see their faces again! They'll pet him between his ears and allow him on the bed to snuggle with them and keep their feet warm. Oh, if only his legs can fight against gravity faster! He can't feel the pain in his feet anymore; they are barely on the ground as he flashes through piles of bones and dust. The trail left in his wake lingers and crawls behind the zesty rabbit. It has no chance of catching up with the runner's willpower.
He keeps with the momentum until he reaches the bottom of the oddball hill and stares into the light. While his heart is ready to burst from the adrenaline, Nipal marches forward, bulldozing the bones and, suddenly now, pushing automobile parts and broken electronics out of the way. He hears moaning from the ground and the hill rattles, slow at first then gains fierce strength. Every obstacle wants to hurt him, but it will not be so! Hoses rocket out of the pile and nose-dive around him, computers explode and the smoke blocks his view, and car parts whir and whiz, hitting ear-splitting decibels; the skeletons gradually melt into sinks of thick, smoky liquid, boiling and reaching for him through ricochets of acid catapulting over his body. One drop scorches the tip of his ear, and while his first instinct naturally whines, he's almost to the top. Almost to success!
A rogue hose snatches his ankle in mid-leap and smashes Nipal into a group of sizzling electronics. They bite and claw at his face, crushing his glasses and sending him into a panic. The elusive Sinai raises back and saws the hose in half, giving Nipal the freedom to stand on his feet; however, his hands drop into pools of the bony acid, and the sky is shaken from the cries of a frenzied, injured rabbit. Sinai arches a pair of incandescent wings, takes hold of the whimpering rabbit, and swoops to the top, leaving every obstacle angry in its path; their nest has been greatly disturbed.
At the head, the spotlight is cool to the touch. Nipal welcomes its relaxing energy and slides off Sinai's back, relieved at seeing Leonardo the Rook at last. His master is suspended in mid air by rubbery teal vines, almost magical by sight, but Nipal shudders at the decreasing temperature while his whiskers droop from growing icicles! Since his glasses are gone, he tiptoes closer to the spectacle, sniffing the thin air, and he suddenly jerks when the vines rumble and rotate around every part of Master's body.
Those are not vines, Nipal realizes: those are tentacles and they belong to the giant beast they previously battled in the sky!
Noticing at the same time, Sinai smacks itself against Nipal's head, silver glitter scattering around them, and alerts an echoing "Up!" as the tentacle monster's teal extensions glide into its well-known macabre emergence. Nipal heart's thunders again, staring hard into the beast's scaly floating form and he knows it's not letting go of the Rook that easily, evident from the tentacles squeezing the Rook tightly and the warning growl trembling every hill for miles.
Next chapter: The frightened Nipal makes use of a few magical tools to help defeat the monster.