//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 (Kyle’s Point of View) // Story: A Silver Lining after a Storm // by Juke Denton //------------------------------// Kyle stretched himself before he squinted his eyes to find that he was no longer out in the open ocean. But instead, he found himself lying on a couch right near a fireplace that only seemed to have recently burnt off the last of its fuel source. ‘Where am I?’ The boy thought to himself as his body was still waking up. Once he felt strong enough, Kyle sat himself up on the couch; only to be greeted to the sight of a strange creature just mere inches away from him a few seconds later. To say the boy was afraid would be an understatement. Not only was he speechless, but he was completely mortified at what was in front of him. He tried to stay as still as possible, hoping that whatever the creature before him was wouldn’t harm him. Just then, the creature did something that Kyle least expected. It talked. “Hello!” Kyle immediately jumped up from the couch and ran over to the wall and braced against it. Tons of questions were going through the boy’s mind. ‘What is that thing?!? How is it talking!?! How did I get here?!?’ The creature looked at the boy with a mixture of worry and confusion, but Kyle didn’t seem to notice. As the boy was trying to stay calm, another creature, that seemed to be the same species as the other but bigger and older, went up to the smaller one and seemed to whisper something in its ear. Kyle looked all around the room he was in and saw a door right near him and was ready to bolt until the older creature spoke. “I’m sorry if my daughter frightened you. She gets very excited when meeting new creatures.” Kyle could only stare back at the creature as his mind was still trying process what was happening all around him. “Y…You speak…my language…?” The boy asked doing his best not to move. The smaller creature instantly gasped and said, “It talks! IT REALLY TALKS!!!” “Silverstream!” The other creature said looking back at the other. Kyle couldn’t handle it anymore. While the two creatures were distracted with each other, he took his chance and bolted to the door. He quickly turned the handle, swung the door open and ran as quick as his legs could take him. Little droplets of rain hit the boy’s face and he could hear the smaller creature’s voice calling out to him, but he didn’t care as all he wanted to do was get away from whatever they were. But as he was running he couldn’t think but wonder where he was. Looking around, the surroundings were completely unfamiliar to Kyle as everything around him didn’t look like anything from back home. His train of thought was interrupted however as he ran into something and collapsed on the ground. He quickly got up to notice another creature, similar to the ones from before, staring at him and gasping before screaming. Kyle swiftly took off in a different direction, only to find more of the same creatures nearby; all of them staring at him and gasping. The human pushed himself even further to run and try to find someplace to hide. Several minutes of running later, the boy hid himself in a large bush in an open meadow. He did his best to calm his heart rate, but with each passing moment it only seemed to race faster than before. “What is this place?!?” Kyle asked to himself. In all his time since waking up, something finally dawned on him. “Wait! Where’s Dad?” The boy didn’t have long to dwell on it as voices soon approached. He could see three of the creatures entering the meadow and wearing what he assumed to be armor. What really alarmed him was the sight of the spears they were carrying. Kyle did his best to stay as hidden and quiet as possible while listening to what the creatures were saying. “You think this ‘thing’ we’re searching for is really that dangerous?” One of the creatures asked. “Physically, who knows? But I bet my helmet it has some connection to The Storm King’s remnant army in some way! And when I find it, I know just how I’m going to make it talk!” Another said with a clenched fist. The second creature’s statement only terrified the boy more as thoughts of being interrogated by it were playing out in his mind. ‘Where are you Dad?!?’ “No-griff is laying a talon on the creature!” The third member of the group said in a firm tone of voice. “Regardless of your desire for bloodshed, Wind Soar, our orders are to find the creature and try to bring it back to Lieutenant Beak, WITHOUT harming it! Is that understood?” “Yes, Ensign Sea Wave!” The second creature said while saluting. “Good. Air Burst, I trust you to do your duty and keep an eye on him.” Said the third member before heading to a different part of the meadow. “You really need to watch what you say around him. One of these days, it’s going to cost you more than just a lecture.” The first creature said to whom Kyle assumed was Wind Soar. “I don’t care! All I want is to find whoever has any affiliation with the remnant army, choke whatever information I can from them, and pay them back for what they did to Private Peacock!” “You’ll get your chance soon enough soldier. But taking that out on a creature we know nothing about, who very well may have no knowledge or whereabouts of The Storm King’s army, won’t bring your friend back.” Wind Soar only gripped his spear even more and said, “Even so, I’ll still have my revenge!” The two creatures walked deeper into the meadow and away from Kyle’s hiding spot. The boy breathed a quiet sigh of relief as even more thoughts were racing through his head. ‘Who is this ‘Storm King’ they kept talking about? Why would they think I know about him? Do I really look like someone from his army?’ An hour had past as the rain had stopped and more of the same creatures began patrolling through the meadows in their attempt to find the human. Kyle had laid himself on his stomach, in the same bush he’d been hiding in, doing his best not to make any noise. Hunger was starting to kick in for the boy, but he continued to lay still and tried to ignore it. But it was getting hard to bear as a low grumble from the stomach, only signaling the boy’s hunger more. One of the creatures standing right near the bush raised its ears and head as it turned right to where Kyle was hiding. The human’s heart nearly stopped and could only watch in horror as the creature stared at the bush. The creature then reached inside the bush with one of its talons and began searching through to see if it could find anything. Kyle held his breath, shut his eyes tightly and silently prayed in his mind as the talon continued searching blindly through the scrub. “Every-giff, assemble!” A voice called in the distance. The creature retracted its talon from the bush and gathered with the rest of the group. “Progress report!” A creature, who Kyle assumed was the search party leader, said in a military like tone to the others. “There’s no whereabouts of where it’s hiding, sir!” “We searched through all the flora, but found nothing, sir!” “It’s not in the trees or water, sir!” “I heard a noise from one of the shrubs earlier, sir!” “What?!?” The leader asked. “What sort of noise?!?” The human’s eyes went wide at what was said. His mind raced quickly while the creatures were still talking. “Where did you hear it?” “Over there, sir!” The group went over to the same bush the creature searched earlier. The leader did a thorough search, but found nothing inside. “Are you sure this was the bush, Corporal?” “Yes, sir! It was, sir!” “Well there’s nothing here! Alright every-griff, it seems whatever this thing is, it’s moved somewhere else! Spread out to the shorelines and make sure the train does not leave the station! Understood?” “Yes, sir!” All the other beings shouted in unison. Once all the creatures left the meadow, Kyle peeked from behind a huge rock and breathed a mental sigh of relief. ‘That was close…but how am I going to get out of here? And where even is here?!?’ The boy walked through the meadow, while making sure there weren’t any other creatures about, and looked to see if there were any possible fruit trees around. His stomach growled once more as he gave a disappointing sigh. “I know. Just try to hold out a little longer.” Kyle said quietly to himself. About another minute of wandering later, the boy saw another creature flying towards his location and quickly hid in a bush. He shut his eyes tightly and remained as quiet as he could until the creature either passed him or left. But this one did neither and instead sat on the ground nearby and began to…cry? Kyle opened his eyes and looked to see the very same creature that greeted him the moment he woke up in this strange place. He listened to what it was saying, while staying hidden. “Why…just why…? I didn’t mean to scare it away…I just wanted to help it. Now it’s gone…probably forever and I never even got to know its name. Why is this summer treating me like this?!? WHY?!?” Kyle felt a twinge of guilt hearing what the creature said, but was still cautious about what its true motives were. On one hand, it did seem like all it wanted was the chance to help him out in his current predicament and he simply ran out of fear. On the other, it could all be a ploy for the creature to gain his trust for something sinister later on. The human was at a crossroads. Either take a chance and reveal himself, or try to continue to survive on his own. The creature continued crying for several minutes until there was nothing left. It was about to fly away when, Kyle said in a different tone of voice, “Wait!” The creature let out a gasp before turning its head in many directions. “Hello? Who’s there?” The being asked a little scared. Kyle was silent for a moment, thinking of what to say next. “…I need help.” “What’s wrong? Did you lose something?” The creature asked in a sympathetic like tone. “In a way…yes.” Kyle replied shutting his eyes solemnly. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Why don’t you come out from behind there and you can tell me more about it.” “Before I do…I want your upmost promise that you won’t harm me, turn me in, or scream your head off. Deal?” “I don’t know why you’d think that, but sure. Deal.” ‘Well…no turning back now...’ The boy thought to himself as he did his best to swallow his fear. He then slowly stepped out of the bush and into the creature’s playing sight. The creature widened its eyes and gave a loud gasp as Kyle expected the worst. “You…you never actually left?!?” The creature asked while pushing its talons against its face in a manner that Kyle had to admit was pretty cute. It then grew a smile and wrapped its forearms around the boy in a tight embrace. “THIS IS A-” “Hey!” Kyle said clamping the creature’s beak shut quickly. “Remember our deal?” “Mmmhmm.” The creature responded and nodding in a yes like notion. Kyle then let go of the beak with the creature letting go him in the process. “I’m really sorry if I frightened you earlier! I didn’t mean to! Honest!” Said the creature while grasping its talons in an imploring manner. “I believe you.” The boy responded trying not to let his guard down too much. “But that doesn’t mean I completely trust you or your kind.” “I understand.” The creature said lowering its head for a few moments, before lifting it up again in excitement. “But still! I have so many questions to ask you! Like oh, oh, oh! What’s your name? Are you a he or she? Where do you come from? What kind of creature are you? How old ar-” “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up there!” Kyle interrupted once again, but without clamping the beak shut. “I’ll answer your questions. But I have questions of my own I want answered. Okay?” “Sure!” The creature responded eagerly. “To answer what you just asked me, my name is Kyle Robinson, but just Kyle is fine. I’m a male. I’m from Florida; a territory in a country called the United States of America which is on a planet called Earth. As to what species I am, the scientific term is Homo sapiens. But most of the time we refer to ourselves as humans. And I’m currently ten years old.” “Those sure are strange names.” The creature said bringing a talon under its chin. “But still, there is so much more I’d love to know about your world!” “I’ll tell you more later. But right now I need some answers. I suppose the first thing I should know is your name, what you and everyone else here are exactly and what this place is.” “I’m Silverstream! I guess you probably forgot when my father said it. He and I are hippogriffs, along with the rest of everygriff here! Though don’t confuse us with griffons. We’re like totally different species. I’m also a she, before you ask. And this is our home, Mount Aris in the land of Equestria! But we also have a second home called Seaquestria as well.” Kyle took in all the information before saying, “I’m definitely far from home.” “Can I ask you more questions now? Please! Please!” Silverstream asked in a cute manner that the boy couldn’t resist. ‘This is going to go on for awhile…’ Kyle thought to himself.