college student blues
Silver wasn't entirely sure when the air began to get hotter and drier. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure when the normally blue clouds began to transition into a dusty brown and dense blanket. The thick clouds hung tauntingly in the air, bringing a sense of toxic dread and ill intent as the duo raced along the landscape. Shadow, not wanting to be saddled with average travel this time around, had opted for running to Savannah City - rather than walking painstakingly slow (to indirectly quote) for another four months. Which only made the transition between biomes more jarring.
Having slept through the night, the huge leap across a continental crack left a slight flutter in Silver's heart for the rest of the travel. It was not fun to lose grip on the armored shoulders when awakening to an aggressive jolt. Pure luck and perhaps a divine intervention had prevented the hoglet from toppling off the ranger's back and straight into the abyss on that rude awakening. Even reflecting on it through the harsh desert left a sinking pit in the child's belly.
Speaking of deserts, Silver had only heard tales of such places. The local bard had once stopped by the orphanage - singing tales of grand dunes and great worms that crawled through the sandy sea. It was hard not to imagine a shimmering ocean of gold - with camels and traders trekking across the massive dunes carrying wares of spice and fabric. However, the real desert was nowhere near such a mystical environment.
First of all, it was scorching hot. Despite his white pelt reflecting a majority of the heat, Silver still felt extremely fatigued; muscles melting and skin tingling from the sheer intensity of the sweltering sands. Cloud and dust hung heavily in the air, blowing harshly into the hoglet's eyes and ears. Despite the rate of travel, the brown void that was the Mazuri Desert consumed everything - bringing a feeling of stationary repetition that was only broken by the occasional dune or divot. Not a plant, animal, or even bird could be seen in the barren landscape. Which only left an eerie emptiness hanging over the hoglet's head. There was something wrong, and it was far too obvious what it was.
This desert. Was dead.
Too dead.
The air itself was thick with decay, with an acrid smell and dread inducing ambiance lingering in Silver's lungs. No matter how hard he held onto the adult's shoulders, the sense of eerie wrongness perforated his entire being. Something had happened to this place, and now everything was gone.
Shadow either didn't notice, or didn't care. Even though Silver was made physically sick by the ill intended vibe of the deceased desert, the elder hedgehog was as blank as ever. As Silver squeaked and squirmed through his anxiety and discomfort, the ebony hedgehog kept on running.
There were several questions that came to mind as the dust storm broke and the sand slowly faded to yellowed grass. What had caused such decay? Was Mephiles responsible for such destruction? Was there ever life in such an inhospitable place?
"Savannah City is a few hours from here." Shadow spoke, grinding himself to a halt onto a well worn dirt path. "We should walk the rest of the way to get your exercise in for the day."
Absentmindedly sliding off the ranger's back, Silver found himself staring at the environment around. It was much different from the desert, despite having a few similar qualities. For one, the thick yellow clouds and eerie emptiness still hung heavy over the landscape. However, with the addition of grass, no matter how brown, and sparse dead trees, Silver felt the loneliness to be far more tolerable. The flat landscape gave the hoglet a view for what seemed like forever - with the horizon feeling as if it could kiss the sky itself. Even as Shadow began to walk along the dirt path into the wilds, Silver found himself standing in place to merely gaze at the world around him.
"Hurry along." Shadow called. "I'd like to get there before curfew."
"Curr few?" Silver asked, jogging to catch up to the adult.
"A regional law that inflicts a time at which citizens should remain in their houses." Shadow responded. "However, in the case of Savannah city, it means the time which they close the gates."
"Why do they do that?"
"Because Stalkers roam here at night." Shadow sighed, shaking his head. "With the lack of animals in the area to compete for energy, monsters tend to congregate in the Mazuri Savannah after some time or another. It is a personal theory of mine that this is where they are created."
"Created?"
"Stalkers are inorganic creatures." Shadow explained. "They are made from crystal and shadow - the same material as Mephiles himself. Anything that they see, He sees. Anything that they do, He directs it. They leech the Chaos Energy of living things, draining from them through consummation to collect for the creation of more monsters. Savannah city is a populus place for living things, making it and the three other major cities a hotspot for stalker activity."
Silver only stared back out into the distance. Stalkers were sure annoying. Whatever nonsense Shadow was rambling on about must be important, but it was too complicated for the hoglet to even try to understand. The adult liked to use a lot of big words. That only made things less understandable.
Stumbling slightly, Silver found himself suddenly aware of two divots in the worn road. Though grass and trees were certainly shorter than the rest of the plain on the section of travel, there were two distinct depressions that occupied a good portion of the road. Silver wondered what it could imply, only to draw a blank. Was there something that traveled along the road more frequently than people?
Before he could think much more, the hoglet found himself wandering off into the tall grass. The dried strands rustled and hissed around him as a gentle breeze carried wisps of dried fiber through the air. It was...magical. He felt as if he were a giant in a mini forest of tall thin trunks that swayed and swirled in the wind. Feeling sneaky, he dropped himself to a crawl - pretending to be a tiger in the dense patches of blowing grasses.
As he crept along the dirt, Silver let out growls and hisses - peering through the dense dry foliage at the ranger like a predator to its prey. Flexing his spines like a hungry lion stretching its claws, the hoglet crept lower. As much as possible, he reduced the pressure on his hands and feet, attempting to be as quiet as a mouse on a silent morning. Ears flicking and teeth grinning, he stalked Shadow's footsteps. In his mind, he could see a wandering deer, casually meandering the forest floor as it foraged for acorns and grass. His cyan marked hands turned to great brown claws as he stepped along - feet twitching and legs preparing to pounce…
"RAAAA!" He shrieked, leaping from the underbrush with hands outstretched and spines flared.
"...What are you doing?" Shadow asked, turning his hooded head slightly to raise an eye at the grinning hoglet.
"I'm a tiger!" Silver shouted, waving his hands around with glee.
"Well…as a tiger, you should know that roaring and making loud noises will only scare away your prey and not get you a solid meal." Shadow spoke, turning back around to continue walking down the road. "A tiger uses stealth and surprise to take down its food - not loud noises and a large display."
"You're no fun…" Silver grumbled, folding his arms and looking away.
"So I've been told."
As the hoglet contemplated biting the ranger's ankles to prove that this tiger could take down prey, a soft sounding noise started playing in his ear. Turning to look down the road, the hoglet began to make out a shape in the distance. Whatever the noise was, it was coming from that strange thing down the road.
"Don't fall behind." Shadow called, further down the road when Silver last checked.
Turning back around, Silver huffed and jogged to catch back up to the ranger. Grasping onto the leather glove, the ivory child closed his eyes and listened. The noise was rhythmic, moving like waves in the air with an unidentifiable pattern and cadence. It sounded so…pleasant? Was that the right word. Yes. Yes it was. It was a sound Silver had never heard before, but it was a lovely sound and the hoglet found himself smiling. It had to be music. Although.. It wasn't singing? The local bard often sang songs with a lovely tenor, and birds often twittered away in the trees, but what was this noise? As it slowly got closer, the more a voice could be heard in melody with it - striking a chord in the heart of the young hoglet.
Over and over I sing my song
And with ev'ry hour I play along
A wandering song for you
With every tree and blade of grass
I play my own song with high grade sass
The wandering minstrel Brew
Sun and stars all pass along
I travel the world to play for yonder
City and seas
And winter breeze
The wandering minstrel Brew
"Ho there! Traveler!"
Silver turned to look who could be addressing them, only to be met with a horrifying sight. There, on the road behind him, was a massive creature. It stood three times as tall as Shadow himself, with a huge, tossing head and massive stomping feet. Blood drained from his face, Silver wordlessly slunk under Shadow's cloak - hiding behind the adult's legs as the horrid animal tromped up alongside the two. Its long sturdy legs pushed its massive plate-sized hooves into the ground as it huffed and snorted - hot blasts of air shooting into the air and tossing its unnaturally thick hair from in front of its massive palm-sized eyes. A low rumble emerged from its chest as Silver stared up at the belly of the beast - so high off the ground an adult hedgehog could walk underneath it without even dreaming of ears brushing against the coarse looking pelt.
"Oh! A ranger!" A voice called from somewhere on the back of the beast. Looking up further onto the huge creature revealed a brown cat sitting lazily upon a leather structure - strange wooden box in hand. What was that box? It didn't look like it had any function than to be a strange shape with a collection of strings for a lid. Feeling even more scared, Silver gripped onto the tops of Shadow's boots.
"Where's your pack?" The cat smirked, leaning on the palms of his hands and slinging the strange box over his shoulder.
"Dead." Shadow responded bluntly, eyeing the wagon strung behind the massive animal. "Lost to creatures and clocks."
"Ah, that's a shame." The cat sighed, shaking his head.
"You had a pack?" Silver asked, poking his head out from under the cloak.
"Oh chaos- there's a youngin'." The cat choked, visibly taken aback by Silver's abrupt appearance. "Is that yours?"
"No." Shadow answered without hesitation. "I found him under a burning building."
"And you can't get rid of 'im."
"I don't wish to."
"Better to build a new pack than wallow over the old one I guess." The cat shrugged, unslinging the strange box and pulling his fingers across the strings. "Let's lift the mood a bit, shall we?"
The massive beast tossed its head, snorting at the musical plucks that erupted from the box. With a cry, Silver retreated back under the cloak.
"Silver, it is merely a horse." Shadow spoke, reaching into his cloak to coax the child out. "It bears no ill will towards you."
"But it's so big…"
"Ah, I can give you a lift into Savannah if you want." The cat shrugged. "Get the young one used to large work animals before there's a lot of them.
"I don't see any objection." Shadow shrugged.
"Name's Brew." The cat smiled, leaping off the back of his steed and onto the ground in front of the two. "Musician and bearer of news."
"Shadow." The ranger responded, with a nod of his head. "This one is Silver."
"Well, Silver." Brew grinned, crouching down to the hiding hoglet. "Let me introduce you to Brandy - she's a real sweetheart and loves kids."
Nervous, Silver clung tighter to Shadow's boot.
"It's alright Silver." Shadow coaxed, reaching down and hoisting the hoglet up into his arms. "You're safe."
Before he could protest, Silver found himself face to face with the massive beast easily five times his size. The chestnut furred head lowered to look at him, soft brown eyes peering through tufts of blonde locks. Anxious, Silver retreated backwards into Shadow's chest - feeling terribly tiny and vulnerable against this large creature.
"Silver, this isn't nearly the size of a goliath." Shadow soothed, adjusting his grip to hold the hoglet tighter. "This is an herbivorous creature whose diet consists of vegetables and grasses."
"You can pet 'er if ya want." Brew encouraged, stroking the knee of his significantly larger companion. "She loves her nose rubs."
Cautiously, Silver extended his paw towards the muzzle of the massive animal. As if sensing the anxiety, the horse held completely still - letting the child reach on his own time. Slowly, the hoglet brushed his fingers against the soft skin of its nose. As the gentle creature pushed back into his tiny palm, Silver felt a wave of wonder wash over him. Looking up the massive nose of the horse, Silver spied the soft brown eyes staring back - seemingly endeared by the tiny hedgehog showing reluctant affection.
"Woah…" Silver breathed, running both his paws across the twitching muzzle. "She's so nice…"
"I told ya." Brew laughed, scaling the wagon harness to sit back upon Brandy's massive back. "You two jump in the back there- i'll strike up a song for the road."