Ancient Wings, New Soul

by Kowlickkid

Chapter 11: In The Jungle, The Scary Jungle

In The Jungle, The Scary Jungle

I flew into the jungle, testing my flight abilities. As I weaved between the trunks, I couldn't help but silently thank Chaos for the flight training. Flare was continuously looking at the map, muttering to himself. I was doing good for a while, using my four wings to corkscrew and turn nimbly, until this one stupid tree just jumped out at me. I'm serious! One second I was flying along, the next, my face was planted into a trunk. Despite Flare's affirmations that the tree was perfectly immobile, I knew better. I held up two of my claws and traced a couple of lines from my eyes to the tree's trunk. Eventually I got to a pace where I could let my mind wander, and I found myself thinking about the dream.

'The Endgame. Doesn't sound too pleasant. That gigantic war scene. Who was there? Some griffins, a few dogs, a human with freakish powers, undead, some bear thing, barely any ponies. What else? Some sort of silvery humanoid with horns and a tail. Some others, but the details were fuzzy. Whatever it is, it's not gonna be good. And who were those others who were with me. I guess I'll find out when the time comes.'

I alighted on a large branch.

"So what are we looking for in here?", I asked Flare.

"Basically anything. This jungle is pretty big and is filled with practically anything you care to mention. Word of counsel: Don't touch the glowing blue flowers. Bad stuff."

"How do you know all this?"

"I don't know. I feel like there was something before I was in that egg, but I don't know what. And I don't like not knowing something like that."

I flapped into the air again. After a few minutes, I hastily grabbed the nearest tree and flung myself behind it, shielding myself from the view of what I had seen.

"Flare, identify.", I whispered.

The young dragon poked his head out slightly and then retracted it.

"Dragon. Green. Inclined to nature.

At that moment I sensed something else.

"Something is moving the flow of magic. Numerous creatures, inclined towards nature. Magic-based, but not overly powered."

"Look! I saw something!"

A quick glance to where Flare was pointing only showed me a small bit of pale green that vanished into a tree. Giggles were beginning to be heard, faint giggles that echoed slightly. I looked back at the dragon. It wasn't moving much, seemingly calm. It was quite different from the lightning dragon I had slain. It was green, slightly slim, and about half the size of Sparky, though it still was bigger than me by a good measure. Around it's body, and chiefly it's head, structures similar to green vines adorned it. I was cut from my observation by a giggle that sounded very close to me. I whipped my head around but saw nothing.

"Okay, beginning to get freaked out now."

"I concur."

Now I could see several flitting shapes going through the forest. Most were shades of green, but a few were brown. But all of them were ghostly.

"Wait a minute, I know what they are!", said Flare, pounding his right fist into his left palm in realization. "Dryads! Or hamadryads. I never could tell them apart. At least, I don't think I could."

A giggling green form crept around the tree trunk we had our backs to and nodded it's head enthusiastically. Now that I had a good look at it, it was basically a half-transparent greenish pony. All around us, they began to show themselves a bit more. It was pretty obvious that they were female.

"The spirits of the trees.", I softly said.

A female voice made me start.

"Well then, now that we've established that both of us don't really mean any harm to the other, come down so we can exchange some words."

I looked down, and there was the dragon. I did a mental facepalm when I realized she was female.

"She's right, Truenis. Dryads don't stick around malicious things for very long."

That said, he jumped off the branch we were on, executed a perfect front-flip and landed in front of the dragon. I followed on my wings, albeit quite a bit slower. I was a little uneasy around a dragon of that size.

"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am. You may call me Flare.", said the small dragon with a bow.

"Charmed. My name is Zephira. And you, winged one?"

"Just call me Truenis, miss."

"Glad to meet you. May I ask what you are doing in this forest?"

Flare responded. It was clear he trusted her well.

"We're traveling, and this jungle is where we're heading through next. And you?"

She gave a light chuckle.

"I've lived my whole life here in this jungle. I just woke up from being dormant for a few decades."

She paused momentarily and looked at me. To my slight embarrassment, she also sniffed me.

"That weapon you carry..."

I grabbed my weapon.

"It's name is Thunderhilt. Uh, I hope you're not going to kill me over this."

"That was the scale of my cousin."

A dreadful silence came over all of us.

"Good on ya. He was a completely idiotic, sadistic moron."

"...I guess I'll have to concur on that one. He was trying to destroy a zebra village."

"Ugh, what a guy. I'm ashamed to say he was related to me. So how did you kill him?"

"You might not believe me, but I first tore out one of his eyes with my claws-"

"That's believable."

"Please allow me to finish. After his eye was taken out, I kinda just punched a big hole through him with a spell."

"You're right. That doesn't sound very plausible."

"Believe it or not, it happened. I could scarcely believe it myself. I think it had something to do with ancestor help."

"The ancestors can be quite powerful. But that still doesn't explain how you're able to do magic."

"Though at first glance I might be confused for a griffin, I'm really a ventolian."

"Ohhhhh! What?"

"Ancient lord of air."

"Never heard of them."

"I don't blame you."

"Well, I have a little pest problem in my home that I must take a step towards confronting. Darn bumblebones..."

"Don't you mean bumblebees?"

"No, no. Bumblebones. They're similar to bumblebees, but they're about the size of Flare there. Their stingers can puncture steel and their hide is quite durable. Contrary to bumblebees, they're incredibly aggressive, attacking anything they see that isn't another of their hive. And if you so much as touch the nest, they hunt you down wherever you go until either they die or you die. Dragons normally don't have much of a problem with them due to fire breath and near impenetrable scales, but these ones just won't die. I suppose I might see you around at a later point. Have a good afternoon."

With that, she left, leaving me and Flare thinking about deadly insects. After a few minutes I shrugged, picked up Flare, put him on my back and started flying off. For a while the journey was uneventful, but suddenly, I heard a scream. Immediately I darted towards where I heard it, dodging trees and vines as best as I could. Soon I came upon the place. A gigantic bird, bigger than me, black as the inside of a closed cardboard box, was standing over an orange-ish figure. Upon closer examination, it was a sort of a cat person, clothed with an unknown material and carrying a basket full of what appeared to be herbs. My mood darkened, and various black storm-clouds rolled in menacingly as Thunderhilt found his way into my claw/hand thingamabob. Looking over my shoulder, Flare also had a fire in his eyes and was holding Viper. He gave it a little spin, professionally, I might add, and nodded to me. By now, the thunderstorm was all over the sky, and a fierce wind was whipping around. The cat must have thought it was her end, because she was shaking like a leaf. The big bird was confused for a while, but then returned it's attention to it's would-be prey. I screeched, loudly. I could see the sound waves coming out of my mouth and heading towards those two. Immediately, attention was on me. I noticed that Flare was off me, glaring hard at the bird, and my entire body was sparking with purple-blue electricity. I took a step forward, and the grass beneath me was singed. Dimly, I noticed that my eyes were completely purple-blue, tendrils of energy sparking from them, though I don't know how I knew. I took more steps forward, and the roc('cause what else would it be?) calmed down considerably and attempted a sort of a bow. I wouldn't have it.

"You.", I said, pointing a finger at the bird. "Make like da banana and split, before I split you in half."

Immediately, the roc sped away, leaving a comical pattern of feathers hanging in the air of the same shape as the bird. The storm clouds left as quickly as they had come and I was left normal, no energy crackling around me, albeit slightly exhausted. I turned my attention to the cat. Flare was already there, gently speaking to(now I could see it was a she) her. I approached. She noticed, and scooted a little bit away.

"There's no need to be frightened.", I said, my tone of voice softening. "I won't hurt you."

I held out a claw to try and help her up, but she still cowered away from me. Flare approached from the side.

"There, there. He's not really that scary. He just changes whenever he gets mad at something bad. If he wanted to harm you, he wouldn't have chased away the roc."

The female finally consented to be lifted up by my claw. I hoisted her up. She stood at pretty much my exact height.

"Wh-who are you?", she timidly asked.

"You may call me Truenis. May I ask your name?"

"I'm Jurida, of the Rhodan tribe. I came here to get herbs and was attacked by the roc. Thank you for saving me."

"It was no trouble at all. Do rocs often attacks you?"

"At times. We have a defense over in the village which none have managed to penetrate, but I lost my group out here and turned into an easy target."

"Do you need an escort?"

"That would be... nice."

It was clear that she was still nervous around me, even though she was good at hiding it. She led me through the forest, apparently knowing the jungle around her. Soon, we reached a village that was of a good size, mostly made out of wood. What surprised me was the defense set up. There was a really expansive pit all around the area, filled with jagged poles of wood that looked sharp. Directly around the village was a large fence made out of trees, the tops sharpened. At various points, there were openings in the fence where catapults lied, to my surprise. I thought I even caught a glimpse of a huge crossbow-like machine. It was obvious that these kitties weren't to be messed with. A single pathway trailed up to the village, a normal pathway most of the way but also with a few areas where it was different, such as a classic worn bridge with wide gaps and a small pit with big watermelons resting at the bottom. I was confused as to the watermelon, but I fully understood the wide gaps. If something resembling a spider came along, it would have a hard time getting across. Eventually, we reached a gate, where Jurida waved at a sentry. The gate opened, and out came running a brown cat, clearly masculine, who embraced Jurida energetically.

"Jurida! Oh, thank the maker! I was afraid you were lost when the others came back!"

The female detached herself from the arms of the other.

"Father, I was rescued by this man. He frightened the roc away."

I gave a modest smile while the pop sized me up.

"Greetings. You may call me Truenis. I heard a scream when I was flying through the forest and saw your daughter being attacked by the roc."

"In that case, I thank you, Truenis. You have made this old man smile again. How did you frighten a roc?"

Flare popped up, perched himself on my head and spoke.

"Trust me, Truenis may look like a ball of feathers, but when he gets mad, he scares anybody."

"A young dragon! Yet another surprise. Please, step into our village. I must somehow repay you."

He took me by the arm and started pulling me inside.

"I don't really need any payment. Rescuing someone isn't something I do for wealth."

"At least allow me to show you around."

"Very well. I suppose you're not going to back down."

During the next few hours, he showed me around the village. It was even more expansive than I had first thought. They had whole agricultural fields, filled with huge plants.

"The Rhodan tribe is very advanced in terms of agriculture. Using magical herbs, we make special plants that grow fast and big."

He wasn't kidding. There were grapes the size of eggs on some of those vines. And the wonder was increased when I saw tomatoes bigger than my head and he explained what they were used for.

"We load the catapults with those. Upon impact, they burst open. The flesh is acidic enough to burn most organic material and when the seeds smash against something, they explode, causing minor damage while at the same time, they release a toxic gas."

Anyone want ketchup? I thought not. And their aim was impeccable. Seriously, a roc came into view and the shooter hit it while it was still about a mile away.

Torom(the father) was married and his children were Jurida and two other very young twins, whose names I didn't catch, who, to my amusement and Jurida's chagrin, insisted on calling her 'Juju'.

After the grand tour of the village, during which I caught many an eye, he put a meal before all of us, which was received quite well. I believe the exact words of Flare were: 'Nectar and ambrosia taste like brussel sprouts compared to this.' And that was just the appetizer! After that he prepared to see me off.

"It was wonderful having you, Truenis."

"I had a good time here, Torom. Thank you for the hospitality."

But then, disaster struck as I prepared to leave. A voice suddenly shouted:

"I HAVE CHORTLES!!!"

Dark energy slammed into me, sending me sprawling backwards.

"You are hard to find like a needle in a field of haystacks! But I have been finding you! Now the revenge will be served hot after a cold wait! I HAVE CHORTLES!!!"

I stood up and suddenly recognized the voice, even if the speech pattern had been set to 'Fawful'.

"Trent Higst!?"

A fist slammed into me and sent me flying backwards.

"I HAVE ANGST! No more am I the Trent! Dark power has been given to me and I am now VEX!! And now, I HAVE FURY!!!"

Whoa, this summer has not been productive. Sorry, but I've been hitting a bit of writer's block and don't have a lot of time. Anyways, ketchup, anyone? Dem tomatoes are lethal. Thanks for reading, and keep your stick on the ice.

Comments

[thefluffyone]

FURY FURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURYFURY.

hE HAS IT.

[RubberBrony]

1175651 WhAt YoU sAiD

[Doctor D]

Feel the awesome!

[Dusk Apollo]

So that's where Fawful went after BIS...
pinkie.ponychan.net/chan/files/src/134535710922.jpg

[The outcast]

blogs.ocweekly.com/heardmentality/fawful.JPG

[IkioStar]

His name is 'standard'?