— Chapter 2 —
Torment's words were ringing in his meathead for a while, then he forgot about them while devouring the meat that Butterfly promised she'd bring over, and then he remembered again as the three of them walked towards the library cave to have… Sigh, another lesson with Truth.
Now, Truthful wasn't a bad dragon, opposite of that, he has made clear more than enough times that there's few times he'd like more than to help others whenever he can, which is a perfectly fine way to be.
But what's not fine is at the same time being an insufferable know-it-all, that clearly considered the other four in actual need of help, and not even the fun kind, but a lot of scrolls and babbling about history or geography or whatever! Ragh!
Oh well, at least he could just completely ignore his lessons and only think about Torment's words, his mind trying to imagine the wildest of escapes. In one scenario the five of them teamed up and beat up all the guardians until they revealed how to leave. In another, their combined power was enough to shatter the boulder blocking the exit in a hundred pieces. And in another, Truthful would lecture the boulder until it shattered in protest.
When they reached the library cave, Truthful and Sorry were already there. Truth with his silver body lined up with gold speckles and big eyes of the same color. He had a tall, lean build, sadly more fit for speed than to punch someone's snout.
And Sorry, she… Was interesting. Being the smallest of the group by a very considerable amount, but in a way that only made her even more dangerous, as everyone around had already seen by themselves, and long gone were the days they might have underestimated her.
She was straight up golden. Fury knew that Sadwings could have shades of yellow and blue, but he never saw images this vibrant. And then she also lacked the barbed tail filled depression poison, and one of her eyes had a black color while the other was green.
Sorry was casually running laps around the library, flailing her tail around in a wild manner while her talons shuffled due to an excess of energy. All the while Truthful was just sitting in the middle of all this while patiently reading a scroll.
"Lo and behold, our friends arrived late again to their history lessons, luckily for them I obviously already knew they'd be late, and so I actually changed the time for it to start 10 minutes later. So congratulations, you arrived in time," Truthful said, his gaze leaving the scroll.
"So that means we get to leave 10 minutes early?" Fury quickly replied, getting Truth to glare at him.
"No."
And then, Fury suddenly had a headache as half a dozen scrolls, all of them still in their cases, were dropped onto his noggin and caused him to make a surprised sound.
"Ough!" He complained, looking straight up to Sorry, who had at some point stopped running and was hovering right above him.
"What was that for!?" Fury complained in a grumpy tone as Sorry laughed and landed on the ground.
"You heard him! It's time to get studying! It'll surely be fuuuun!" She said, grabbing two more scrolls, throwing one at Butterfly who barely got out of the way, and at Torment, who casually caught it mid air with her talons.
"Blimey, Sorry, is today's topic that interesting or what?" Butterfly asked in confusion.
"Every topic we've had is that interesting," Truthful corrected. "But today it will be especially relevant. And to make sure certain dragons don't fall asleep during such lessons, I will make it more "fun" for you and teach it another way.
Fury was taken aback by this, and he noticed Butterfly looking at him with a slightly smug expression, but he ignored it. Truthful didn't even say yet what exactly it'd be, and he wasn't being funny, but just saying they might do something fun.
"I wouldn't mind something different for a change. So what's in your radiant mind this time?" Torment asked with a perfect mix of curiosity and sarcasm.
"First of all, thank you. And second of all, today we'll be learning about that fateful day where a scavenger killed Queen Gloom and started this whole war… And we'll do method learning."
"You talk as if we haven't already heard all about it for our whole lives, it's only the event most relevant to our situation," Torment commented.
"Well if you're so sure about your ability to remember it, then take it as a test instead," Truthful immediately replied.
"I still don't get how going through this again helps us, but okay," Torment replied with a shrug.
"Oh it's very simple! Of course we already know, but we have to do this right now for the ones that don't so they can learn!" Sorry suddenly exclaimed, turning her head to the side as if there was something in that empty space.
"Sorry, what in the world are you talking about?" Butterfly asked, but received no answer other than a wide smirk.
"Okay so, what's method learning?" Fury asked, tilting his head and changing the topic, making Truthful shake his head.
"Fury, it's very simple, we just act out the events, and then hopefully by enacting them, they'll stick in your mind better than just reading about them."
"I'm going to be the scavenger that kills Gloom!" Sorry suddenly said excitedly, hopping on the spot with plenty of energy.
"What!?" Butterfly exclaimed, actually looking rather worried by the idea, and so did Fury.
"Oh yeah, we already decided the roles of the two of us. I'll be princess Misery, and Sorry will be that pesky scavenger, she offered first," Truthful explained.
Fury, Butterfly and Torment all looked at each other, and even he was able to tell what it meant: nobody really wanted the role of Queen Gloom.
"How about an honorable game of… Rock, scroll, claws?" Butterfly quickly proposed.
"Best of 3," Torment agreed right away.
Torment casually beat the two of them by far, and then it was Fury vs Butterfly, he scored once, but then his impressive strategy of only using claws because surely she wouldn't expect claws thrice… Did not work, and so he lost and had to be Gloom. Meanwhile, it was decided that Butterfly will be Sorrow, and Torment will be Fright.
One minute later he grunted and ignored the amused expression that appeared on Torment's eyes as he walked to the middle of the room, head raised and with a straight posture.
"Oh, I am so big, strong and sad, and nobody will ever be as depressed as I am, because I am also so insanely rich and not even that can fill me with joy!" He said loudly, trying to act sad, but the regal kind of sad.
"Then you won't mind that I take some of it!" Sorry exclaimed, jumping in front of him while holding a stalactite on her talons as a weapon. "I mean, AGGRESSIVE SQUEAK!"
"Ugh, a scavenger, how sad and pitiful, but surely it'll be even sadder when it dies," Fury said with a scoff, menacingly looming above Sorry… Until she threw her rock weapon straight to his face and it hit with a hard smack. "OUCH!"
"Yes! Evil squeak!" She shouted before jumping up and bringing her legs around Fury's neck, latching on as she started to claw at the back of his neck and head as he screamed in pain, quickly bringing his talons to try pulling her off.
"You little… OUGH! Pest! How dare you-ungh! Strike a queen?" He tried to stay in character, prying her off his body with force and throwing her off to a side and against the wall.
"Squeak squeaky squeakers squeak!" She replied in a mocking tone, making him gasp before charging at her, raising his talons and striking, but she rolled out of the way, and with his leg being nearby, she gave it a quick bite.
He grunted in pain, and with everything that Sorry had been doing, he was starting to feel his inner energy spreading through his body as he took a deep breath of air while his body shook, and then with renewed strength, he lifted his leg while she was biting on it and slammed it against the wall!
She crashed hard against it and landed on the ground, a wide grin on her face as things probably got funnier for her, and then with a battle squeak, she launched herself towards him.
Fury reached his head forward and attempted to snap his jaws at her, but she barely moved to the side and then proceeded to not just punch or claw at his head, but she just slapped him then burst out laughing.
"A scavenger slapped me, oh I don't even feel sad anymore, I feel ANGRY!" Queen Fury shouted, doing a quick headbutt that sent her rolling back before he stomped over towards Sorry.
The Sadwing retaliated by… Throwing FIRE right at his feet, he did not expect her to just do that for his role, and so he stepped on fire and hissed in pain.
"Sorry! Scavengers don't breathe fire, as far as we know!" Truthful quickly called out to her in the middle of the show.
"Apologetic squeak!" She replied, at least realizing she made a mistake, right before Fury blasted her with a bit of fire. Sorry quickly closed her eyes and put her legs in front of her to block some of that short fiery stream and then she hissed as well.
"Angry squeak! I am going to kill you and take all of your treasures! Mwa ha ha!" She exclaimed and ran to the side, grabbing hold once more of the stalactite she had thrown earlier.
"I don't know what you said, but I feel offended by your tone!" He growled and tried to stomp down on Sorry, but she weaved around his legs and moved below, and after a few seconds she got behind him.
Wait, Sorry is behind him with a pointy rock, his eyes widened as he quickly tried to turn, but he felt an immense pain coming from right below the base of his tail.
"OOOOUGH!" Fury exclaimed, his body stiffening as he fell to the ground while everyone else besides Sorry winced.
"Oh goodness… Is that how the scavenger defeated Gloom in reality too? Tell me not please, that's a low blow," Butterfly asked, looking at Fury with pity.
"No, thankfully not, and there's no evidence for it, but not now, it's our turn," Truthful whispered.
The other three entered into the scene as Sorry left, giggling to herself while carrying a talonful of random rocks to act as the treasure, and Butterfly stepped forward, looking down in annoyance.
"Ugh, how saddening, mother is dead, and no heir to the throne had been decided yet. Oh well, it's so obvious that I was going to be it, that you two could just bow already," she hissed in a cold tone very unfitting for her.
"I have to disagree, you don't have the makings of a queen, and all that you'd accomplish would be making our tribe even sadder after they look at you trying," Truthful said in a sly tone, grinning to himself as he rubbed off some dust from his scales.
"Well now, those are some big words for someone much smaller than I am. And I'll let you know that I'd be the perfect queen: terrifying, the kind of queen that'd make any invader lose hope before even trying," Butterfly grunted.
"Good for you, but why would we even need to be invaded? I am so much smarter that after enough alliances and negotiations, nobody would even consider it," Truthful said smugly. "Oh and by the way, I also know 238 ways to make someone depressed."
"That's it, I hate you and I want you dead, and so I declare war on you because waging war sounds fun," Butterfly said, taking a step forward.
"War? Good luck with that, and hopefully you don't start an attack on your own allies by accident," Truthful quickly said, taking a step back. And then both of them turned to Torment.
"And what about you?" Butterfly asked.
"W-Well, I want to be queen too, but…" Torment started to talk, doing a surprisingly good scared voice for someone that he'd never seen scared, then she cleared her throat. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Screaming in fear in the absolutely most unfitting display for her, the Painwing ran out of the cave, still screaming, while the other two looked in bewilderment. And then Torment poked her head from a side of the entrance to look.
"Huh, well, great job everyone, I think this performance went as well as it could have for none of you being famed actors," Truthful said with an approving nod.
"I got stabbed back THERE, and then you'll insult my performance?" Fury questioned with a groan as he stood up.
"Not insulting, just take it as constructive criticism to become even better," he replied.
"Oh this was funny, let's do it again!" Sorry said, stepping back into the cave, with Torment being a fair distance behind.
"Maybe, but not right now, Fury deserves a break before he truly loses it," Torment said, looking simply mildly amused.
"What's with all the ruckus over here…?" A tired voice appeared from outside, as Pain slowly limped into the library. "Why is everyone screaming?"
"Oh we're just enacting the death of Queen Gloom!" Sorry eagerly explained.
"... And did it have to include such loud screaming?" He complained.
"Considering it's about the death of a queen, I think it would have more than that," Torment said, and as usual when she talked, the guardian made a small step back.
"In that case, even if historically accurate, could all of you just tone it down?" He grunted, still tired, and Fury wondered if they woke him up or something.
"We're all really sorry for this, I promise it won't happen again," Truthful quickly apologized, giving a firm nod to Pain.
"I hope so… Ugh, my head, I think I'll need some tea…" He grunted and slowly limped away, to find Lemongrass most likely.
"Well, this was fun, so I vote for having more lessons like this in the future," Torment said after he left.
"Yeah! Will keep things much more engaging for everyone than having us just constantly reading!" Sorry agreed
"I think I'd be fine with a balance, honestly," Fury admitted. He'd like having more lessons like this than less, but if it meant more chances of Sorry doing painful stuff, he was fine with a split instead.
"Hm, I guess I'll consider it," Truthful said after a moment of thought.
And with that, the history lesson was over and everyone was free to leave. Sorry ran off the cave first of everyone, going to who knows where. Butterfly said she was going to get some tea as well, and Truthful just stayed at the library to read more.
So Fury and Torment stepped out, with her giving him a look that was signaling to follow her. And although Fury was quite sure that if a Painwing asked you to follow, the best course of action is to not get any closer, he decided he trusted her enough.
They walked in silence, Torment at the front, and Fury realized they were approaching the main cavern, where the giant boulder blocking the exit is at.
"These last few days, I've been coming here when I know nobody else is present, looking, searching, for anything that might move it," she explained in a whisper. "So I thought maybe you could help me look, perhaps the contraption is hidden somewhere that needs significant strength.
He nodded at this, not having much else to do, and this is at least something simple after Sorry humiliated him so badly. So the next 10 minutes were spent with both of them looking around this cavern and by the boulder, trying any spot on the floor or the wall, with him trying to pull or push random spots.
Sadly they found nothing, but Fury actually enjoyed this little time spent doing that, just trying something alongside Torment, which is a rare occasion, united by the same cause. She stopped looking and just shrugged at him.
"Guess not, or at least not that we've seen. It's possible that maybe it's some mechanism right outside, but one could hope it's inside, no?"
"Yeah, but… If it's outside, then the guardians couldn't leave, no?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "Still dense I see. In all these years, did you never notice the long key that hangs around Pain's neck? Obviously it must be for this."
"Wait, for real? He just has a key right there? Then why did you even try looking?" He asked, very confused.
"Because we lose nothing by trying, better to be sure than not, so now I could try thinking of some other plan we could perform eventually."
That did make sense after considering it for a whole minute, so he just nodded at her, and then Torment turned her head and looked around for a few seconds.
"We've been here for several minutes, we should probably head back to avoid suspicion for being this close to the boulder. We'll try something again whenever its possible," she warned and being both quick and silent, she walked out.
Fury followed after her, although he stopped for just a moment longer, staring threateningly at the boulder, which didn't even flinch. The boulder that held a whole world that the guardians had been hiding from them, and it made him angry.
He will make sure this boulder won't be a problem ever again, eventually.