Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Aurora and any alterations to the original storyline plot her presence creates to various readers amusement everywhere across the globe.
Magic Of The Golden Flower 2 Chapter 2
Once his shock towards the fact Aurora can speak wears off Noa's attention turns over to her hair. Where Noa thought he'd been snagged by vines he now realizes it was hair that had caught him. Long, long, long hair that's spread everywhere from the ceiling and all the way down to various spots on the ground. He can't even see the end strands. Wherever they are the ends are hidden in a spot he can't clearly see.
Holding it in his hands, staring at it in awed astonishment, Noa said "Such long hair."
Grinning, Raka said "I'm guessing you've never seen the like before."
Nodding, allowing the hair strands to slip from his grip, Noa said "Never seen such long hair before. Not even on any other Echoes. Why does she not cut it?"
"Aurora has her own reasons," said Raka, deciding to keep silent about the magic she possesses for the time being.
Experience has taught them both to never to give that information out lightly.
So divulging sensitive information like that so soon is certainly not a wise decision to make.
Noa cast a questioning glance in Stefan's direction.
"He was outside alone when they arrived. Was caught without protection and no way back inside fast enough," explained Raka, soberly, stacking books in a secret spot in a neat pile to carry in a sack one by one.
"Did you see my clan," asked Noa.
"No," said Aurora, shaking her head.
"When we heard them arrive, we hid and survived," said Raka, tapping his knuckles on the books for emphasis. "Protected our work."
Work that is abundantly important to Raka, especially now that he is the last one.
Noa picks up one of the books and examines it with curiosity. The way he handles it makes Aurora smile, amused yet sad at the same time. It's obvious he's never seen any books before.
"They are books," said Raka. "An ancient way that Humans used to store ideas. Record memories and thoughts."
Approaching slowly with care so as not to unnecessarily startle Noa, Aurora gently removes the book from his hold. Placing it on the ground in front of Noa she opens it to a random page.
Tapping a finger on the words there, Aurora said "These are what we call the written word. A single symbol is what is called a letter. Multiple letters make words. Words you use to communicate every single day."
"The symbols have meaning. Apes understood this meaning in the time of Caesar," said Raka, proudly.
Hearing that name causes Noa to stop what he is doing in the midst of carefully turning a page, his posture stiffening.
"The masks in my village said that name," said Noa. "Caesar."
In offended dignity, layered with thinly veiled disgust and irritation, Raka said "Shameful. The Masks take his name. Twist his words."
Throwing the sack of books over his shoulder, anger, and frustration penned at Proximus Caesar, Raka heads off for a safer place to put them. Aurora and Shadow follow as does Noa.
"Who is he," asked Noa.
"Not is. Was," said Raka in unwavering devotion and dedication to Caesar. "Your clan does not know the true Caesar. Too many have forgotten who he was."
Intending to prove this wrong, Noa said "I know. Elders of my village, they made the law. That is everything."
Chortling in a sullen manner, Raka corrected "That is not everything. Long before your elders, it was Caesar who taught us what it means to be Ape. He was our leader, our lawgiver. Apes, together, strong. Ape shall not kill ape. Knowledge is power." He then fingers the medallion on his neck for further emphasis. "We, the Order of Caesar, follow his words to this day." Raka's demeanor then turns a touch grave as he addresses this fact. "I follow. I am now the last."
Shadow whines, licking Raka's fingers and Aurora touches his arm in comfort in order to remind him they are still here.
Aurora can proudly recall the day Maurice had founded the Order of Caesar before his passing. It meant a great deal to him back then that he could do something to keep Caesar's memory alive and ideals true. It would've left the gentle orangutan heartbroken to see the manipulations Proximus Caesar has done to the precious Laws.
Inhaling deeply, nodding, Raka said "The work continues."
They then walk up what used to be an escalator, not covered in leaves, vines, and other shrubbery.
Eyes roaming over the interior of their home in intrigue, Noa asked "What is this place?"
These ruins used to be the Los Angeles International Airport. Aurora presumes a full-on explanation would only leave Noa perplexed for the time being. So, she decides to give him a condensed version so he can understand a bit easier.
"We believe Apes built this as a refuge for humans. That humans were, perhaps, cared for here. Maybe even taught. Aurora here told us differently. This used to be a place, a stopping point for humans to gather and then travel. Now it is rare to see even one, but in Caesar's time, there were vast herds of them. Can you imagine," said Raka, becoming distracted when Noa suddenly stopped and stared at a painted mural with humans on it beside them. "What is it?"
Pointing at it, Noa said "Echoes."
Hooting with great intrigue, Raka said "You have seen one? Other than Aurora?"
Nodding, Noa said "One. They are scavengers. Like boars, only lesser."
"The ones who are not like Aurora are slow-witted, yes, but there was a time. When humans and apes lived side by side," said Raka, earnestly, eyes practically dancing.
This seemed to only add to Noa's skepticism and mystified bewilderment judging by the expression on his face.
Sighing, Raka concedes "Yes, it is a puzzle, I know. But they were important to Caesar. So they are important to me."
As Apes are important to Aurora.
Recognizing he's lingered here for too long, Noa said "I need to get to my horse."
"Of course, we'll take you to it. Follow us," said Aurora, struggling to contain her laughter from the unsure glance he sent her from Raka's words.
Raka does have that effect.
She, Raka, and Shadow take Noa back outside. Once Shadow gives an all-clear bark they then step out of the sheltered home.
Leading the trek down the hill, Raka said "You do not know Caesar. You do not know books." Getting an idea, sensing an opportunity with this chance meeting Raka turns to look at Noa with an eager look on his face. "You should stay here. There is much I could teach you."
Before Noa can answer and refuse a noise draws all their attention to Noa's horse. As soon as they all look a feral human runs away in the opposite direction.
Without hesitation Noa chases her off, angrily, he shouts "Go away! Pest!"
Aurora prevents Shadow from joining in, keeping a restraining hand on his back fur.
"No! Come back," said Raka, trying to get the feral human to stay. "Wait! Come back! There is no danger!"
But the feral human is long gone, not looking back.
Checking his packs for anything missing, scathingly, Noa said "That is the one that stole from my village."
Raka instantly catches onto the hidden meaning there.
Interestingly, Raka said "She follows you from your village?"
Noa nods.
The significance hasn't gone unnoticed.
Aurora and Raka move off to the side to speak with each other privately although they can catch snippets here and there.
"-timing too convenient."
"Proximus Caesar must be stopped-."
"-similar birthmark on his chest in the exact same spot as I remember."
At that Noa fingers the mark on his left shoulder Aurora is referring to in contemplation.
What does his birthmark have to do with anything?
Finally, a decision is reached.
In agreement with her, Raka said "Perhaps it's time that Caesar bids us travel." He then speaks to Noa decisively. "Wait here. Work continues."
Shaking his head, Noa said "I have no time for it."
"Will not slow you down. We, too, keep horses," said Raka, releasing a joyous laugh.
Noa rolls his eyes heavenward in annoyance.
As Raka is retrieving the horses Aurora's mind is on something else.
The human girl that just ran off, is wearing clothing not made from animal skins as the feral ones do now, but actual clothing made from fabric. They're not supposed to be smart enough to do that.
What is going on here? Aurora's got a feeling there's far more to this than meets the eye.
Authors Note:
For those of you on fanfiction I'm sure you've been facing the many unwanted ads when you're reading a story. Well, yesterday, I finally had enough, and I got an adblocker app. It worked! No more ads on any level! The one I got is Adblock Pro: Safari Ad Blocker. It really works. Just follow the instruction video that it attached to it.
Heads up everyone there's someone on fanfiction you need to seriously watch out for. Early a couple of months ago after I woke up I was checking my email and I saw I had a new guest review on my A Dog's Purpose Is Strange Magic 2 sequel. I took a look at it and got a very big shock. Some random person I've never spoken to before on here or anywhere else in my life was basically threatening me. Intimidating and practically ordering me to write a threatening letter to someone on their behalf, telling to stay off of for life or else they and everyone else close to them would be killed, disgustingly telling them to kill themselves. And at the bottom of the message this crazy person wasn't done. Warning me that if I don't send the letter then they would kill me and for confirmation to email them to make absolutely sure I complied with their demands. Of course I did nothing of the sort. Instead of doing what they wanted I reported them to the website, sent copies of this deplorable guest review message to police officer cousins of mine so they could have it on file, and I went to a nearby police station and reported it.
When I spoke to the police officers and they checked everything on the message they saw, that while the address and names of business were accurate the people and their names were not. They agree it was more than likely a scam because of the email address on the bottom in order to perhaps get access to personal information or potentially hack my computer. Despite that I'm still very happy they took it seriously as I showed and told them everything. All the same I'm still very happy that I brought this to the attention of law enforcement. Even though the entire thing might be fake I'm still very happy to have brought this to the attention of those who can do something about it if it was legit in some way. This may have been a scam, but it's obvious these people are beyond irresponsible if they try to goad people into sending death threats to random strangers just to get access to info.
Be that as it may if this does unfortunately happen to you do not send any messages to the email addresses they put down and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you bring the message to the authorities immediately whether it is legit or not.
Because it's a guest review it might not be visible for a couple of days as it loads if it is sent to you. But when it does you should definitely pressing the report abuse button and send it to the email that leads to the support staff that is available.
Just a heads up to those of you who aren't aware of this yet, Email alerts for this website are now only active if Email opts is enabled in account settings.
I hope you all like this one! I certainly did while writing it for your vast enjoyment! ;D
For those of you just starting out with my stuff there are other works on my profile that may catch your interest. I highly recommend you take a look as soon as the opportunity presents itself to you. Who knows, you may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.
Stay safe everyone. Especially with all of these crazy natural disasters occurring a lot lately due to global warming and climate change everywhere for sure. I swear it's like they're getting worse and worse all the time and it's like officials are simply just ignoring it or pretending it doesn't exist entirely just to go on with their daily lives. Especially those in multi-million dollar companies that rely on certain elements of our planet that we rely on to naturally keep us safe instead of adapting and finding new safer ways to keep in business. There are so many options out there where they can adapt, but they just refuse to see it because all they care about is money. Climate change is altering so much faster than anyone can really keep track of.
So, in light of all this, it is important to live life to the fullest as much as anyone can.
I know I am. ;) See you guys next time.