EntiQuest [OLD]

by Sputniik

CHAPTER 10: Part 1

Author's Note:

Two chapters were finished this month !
I think I'll be bumping up the schedule since summer's just around the corner, and I'll have a lot more time to jump up on here.
Plus, this is my longest chapter yet, and I'd like to keep it that way

It was stupid.

Utterly stupid.

How the rain slicked down the sides of the glass, slipping through the creases and crevasses between the window frame and the wall, and the poorly insulated white mess, of a dried liquid that now dribbled with the scent of pine and wet.
How the mess of the past storm left rubble and scattered nature about the freshly trimmed lawn, splattering the sides of the already dreary exterior of the little cabin of a house, sticking strands of grass and leftovers of the dead trees-- the little bits of leaf-- to the walls.

The trail leading back to the route they'd journeyed about just about a week ago, had almost vanished. Or so it seemed, as fallen trees and a mess of branches layered the paths, one of the fences surrounding Ivor's garden had been smashed to nothing but the remained of the rubble. Another part of the whole after-mess.

But now the storm had somewhat subsided, but refused the seize, as the sky still drizzled droplets of precipitation, as if it were still hanging on, trying to release every last drop...

Disgusting.

Danny huffed, eyes following the small blotch of warm air that formed on the pane as he did so. So he did it again, suddenly fixated on making sure the spot didn't fade away. Another breath. The spot reformed again, hesitating a bit longer before threatening to disappear again.

There was some sort of comfort as he watched the patch of warm air reappear yet again. Warm air, breath....

No. Nevermind.

The feeling of childish humor soon faded as the spot had, feeling the heat of the mug in his palm.

So Danny held up the glass to the window.

And a trail of fog followed the steam up the pane in soft waves.

Some sort of thought had somehow lead to the reminder that Ivor had failed to return. The half-deer man who almost never left the safety of his home.

Danny took a tentative sip.

His eyes cast over towards where the trail had once existed, pressing his face against the glass to see past the window mist that fogged the other side. The still sound of trickling rain had lightened, almost invisible. The storm had stopped.

Every instinct and molecule of his body was suddenly silently screaming at him, as Danny had no more than removed a foot from the bed.

Just get the heck out there!

Ivor. Trouble.

Storm.

He could have been--

"Ugh, coffee...?" A dreary voice emitted from one of two hallways. Swerving around, his vision caught Dipper, arms crossed in bemusement as he leaned tiredly against the wall. "This guy has a coffee machine, but he doesn't have a properly functioning bathroom,"

Rolling his eyes in an almost playful manner, Danny set his mug on the window sil.

"What're you having?" It almost sounded like a challenge.

"I dunno," The deertaur trotted into the makeshift kitchen, hesitantly placing his hand over one of the cabinet knobs. "What does he have?"

"Obviously not much if he only drinks tea,"

As if to prove a point, Danny lifted the half empty mug, glancing inside of it wistfully, "Even the coffee tastes like tea," But nonetheless, took another drink, embracing the warmth and the slight tanginess the unusual mixture offered.

The homely feeling returned, as the sound of kitchen clanging replaced every other sound in the room, all but the disturbed snoring in the corner wall, as Twilight blinked awake.

"Hmm..." she hummed, batting a hoof at the air, "Is that coffee...?"

The alicorn rubbed her eyes, removing her face from the sheet-pile and raised her muzzle to the air. She inhaled, stretching lazily, and eager to find the source of the wondrous scent. Forcing her eyes open she caught immediate sight of the mug, white-and-hazy red color obvious out of the mess that scattered the bedside table.

"We have... coffee?" There was a slight slur in there somewhere.

She shook her head briskly, only messying her mane further. Suddenly aware as to the creator of the such-wonderful smell, as she eyed Daniel as he swallowed down the last quarter of the drink.

"Dear Luna," Twilight breathed, "Daniel tried to make food."

"Tried?" Danny raised a brow, "Or succeeded?"

"Nevermind that," Twilight had pulled herself to all fours, already jittery, "Where on earth is Ivor? I'm almost sure that any sane mind wouldn't allow you two in the kitchen--"

"Out still," Dipper had replied from across the room, igniting a match, "He's--"

"Pines, the MATCHES?!"

"What?" He asked innocently, somewhat concerned from her outburst.
He hadn't had time to play step two, before Twilight had swept the box out of his hand, putting out the match with some sort of spell. Everything clattered to the floor as the mare glanced up in hysteria.

"Wh-- why are you using matches to make... what, oatmeal?" she glared accusingly towards the breakfast mix.

"The... stove doesn't work," he flinched as Twilight had glared up at him, "Fine, I'll just have... cereal, I guess,"

Cautiously placing down one of the spoons on to the table and keeping Twilight in the corner of his eye, Dipper hurriedly headed to the fridge to fetch a carton of milk, knocking over the napkin stool whist doing so.

Twilight sighed, finding herself an apple and heading into the storage room.

"Woah, where are you going?" Danny had sat up, placing the empty mug back on the bedside. "Through the guy's stuff while he's gone?"

"Of course not," Twilight stated, a matter-of-fact-ly, "He has some sort of spare room back there,"

Danny gaped, "A WHOLE room?!"

"Ah, yes," Twilight bit into the apple, with a satisfying crunch, "What's so--"

"But he already has like..." the halfa paused, pushing himself off the cots to count the rows of miniature beds that lined the smaller portion of the room, "...

"Like, twelve!"

It was almost naive to believe one who owned twelve beds, also owned a matching number of bedrooms. But Twilight coincided.

"Well, he probably just has a lot of... money, then." Twilight herself had sounded a bit skeptical.

"Where would a dude who lives in a freaking small cabin in the middle of the wilderness, get 'a lot of money' from, exactly?" He stood up now, arms crossed.

"Don't overthink things so much, Daniel. That's certainly not the most suspicious thing I've witnessed here." Twilight muttered, glaring up at the boy. After a brief pause, she watched realization dawn over his features, and for a moment, Twilight almost regretted it.

"Alright, so you're aiming me now?"

"I'm not targeting you, I'm just pointing out the facts," she took another bite, the sound of her teeth sinking into the fruit more fierce than necessary.

Dipper had taken a breath, gripping the sides of his bowl and scurrying out of the room, as silently as he possibly could have been as the sound of hooves camping the wood floor tracked his disappearance.

"How the am I being suspicious? I answered all of your stupid questions yesterday!"

"Stupid questions, Daniel?" The mare echoed, allowing the apple to hit the floor, thus removing it from her magical grip. "Even someone as careless as you would understand the seriousness of this situation! Information like this was absolutely crucial to not just my safety, but for your hopes of returning back home! And for all I know, you could have been lying to me!"

Danny had remained silent, but the absence of this retort had been loud enough, as the unearthly green had flickered momentarily in the corners of his eyes.

"Fine."

He held up his hands in mock defeat, before letting a hand free to grip the handle of the mug, now dangling between two fingers.

Twilight huffed, ears pinning back, "What?"

"I said, Fine," he repeated, trudging tiredly across the room to drop the mug into the sink with a loud clank, "I'm finding Ivor myself."

"What on earth are you doing that for? He said not to leave the house!" She stomped a hoof in frustration. "That has literally nothing to do with anything!"

A pang of fear pulsed in the mare's chest, as her heart dared to escape her throat, as Daniel had already placed his hand on the doorknob, stuffing a snack or two in a pocket with his free hand.

"Yes, it does." he'd protested , before cracking open the door, squinting a slight bit as a streak of light broke through. "I'd rather be any place but inside this house, in the same room with you in it, anyway."

Not another word was spoken, as Danny slipped out, the sound of his shoes sloshing in the muddied mess had mixed in with the creaking of the front door, as it hesitantly closed shut.

---

---

There was something about the warming rays of sun and the bright blue of sky with the clearing grey clouds that had filled Danny with a new sense of euphoria, in some form that wasn't as obvious as one would like it to be.

A few of the creatures hiding in the shadows of the trees were almost beckoned outside as they heard the sound of activity; crunching leaves beneath feet, which meant the scary storm had gone away.

A flock of ravens shuffled along a branch just barely touching the new light, one ruffling it's feathers as the rays had touched it's head, and the others pushing through to gather some of the shy light, as well.

The fresh scent of rain had been stronger, now outside, and the moss that sprouted on the trunks of demolished trees and the forest floor was sprinkled with dew, sparkling to be made obvious out of the rest of the wood's green. Withered blanches plucked at each other, entangled with the damp vines hung loose from the treetops.

Suddenly, a wider clearing was evident, towards the shorter end of the trail, that Danny was almost certain, hadn't been there before.

He glanced back, aware of how far the safety of Ivor's home had become, as his little cottage was no longer visible past the glistening foliage.

Just keep walking. He's bound to be around here somewhere...

The thought hadn't been comforting enough; in fact, possibly more discomforting now that it pronounced the fact that Ivor had been nowhere near his home, which was alone, very unlike himself to ever even leave.

The other half of woods behind his house, just wasn't possible for him to walk in that direction through; it was a mess of greenery back there, and no one, especially of his height, could crawl through that mess.

Picking up his speed enough to make an audible beat of crinkling on the forest floor, Danny traced his fingers across the trees, out of superstition, often glancing behind him at the noticeable tracks left behind in the muck. He'd almost tripped as the path slanted downwards under his feet, grabbing onto a thin birch before his boots had lost traction.

The splayed branches of an old sycamore that had been pulled halfway out of the earth caught itself between two strong rooted trees, providing almost some sort of handle, as Danny wrapped his fingers around one of the twigs as he tentatively stepped into the shallow part of the dark river his reflection and everything around it appearing distorted.

The branch eerily bent forwards, dipping into the river as it made ripples that faded out in a matter of seconds, each time.

Tap.

Tap..

And suddenly, as a group of clouds had parted ways, the sun had sent a glistening light over the river, revealing the shallow, muddy bottom, as small fish and sparkling trout swam out of the direction of the light.

Convenient...

Without any hesitation, the teen had skipped through the thin stream, kicking up mud behind him as he leapt back over to the other side, hanging on to one of the exposed roots of a large oak.

A new layer of moss was visible now, untouched and pleasant-looking. And sprinkling the woods with another addition of green.

Standing just before the river, Danny had paused, as the sound of wildlife had rustled through the brush.

Thump.

Thud.

Something about the ear-throbbing sound had brought the halfa's hand up to his chest in breathlessness.

The weak and thin-legged form of an animal had broke free; a fully-grown deer, ears perked and alert. Sense wide awake, and prepare to flee from harm.

Suddenly it's head swerved in the direction of the halfa, now backed against a tree in poor attempt to blend in.

It'd captured the scent of a predator. Danger. A wolf.

There'd been no more room for thought, as the animal had headed in Danny's direction, blindly brushing it's hide past him, as if he hadn't existed at all.

...

Yeah, that was definitely a thing that happened.

Pushing that momentary confusion behind, Danny sprinted across the clearing, making way to the east part of the woods where the sun broke through the thin spaces between the trunks, a new ray of hope beaming in multiple directions.

Nature brushed his jacket with it's bitter pine scent, as he pushed through the remainder of wood, oblivious at first to the mangled hedge that created a boundary between the darkened forest and the true outside world.

Clamping a boot into the old hedge, and hand securing himself as he gripped onto a thinned vine, Danny had hoisted himself up, cautiously but quickly swinging to the other side, playing the deadly game of gravity, unwilling to release the vine until he felt the ground beneath his feet again.

Then he broke through.

The woods had vanished behind him, as the new reveal of sunlight burst out, having the halfa squint, releasing one of his hands from the vine to shield his eyes.

And Oh-ho-ho dang...

It was suddenly obvious why Ivor had left the territory of his home in the first place; because just beyond the hedge was a cliff, leading the explorer to an entire scenery. Thin streaks of the clearest water trickled down the edge, from the old murky pond, collecting inside the glass-like river that snaked between the two halves of what looked like evenly divided parts of a new type of forest. One that basked in the light of the after-storm, leaves swaying gently in the sudden breeze.

Life scattered about, little white specks that looked like rabbits scurrying to the protection of the wood, a herd of deer grazing under the shade as well, though their heads were still touched with the heat of sunlight. Uncountable flocks of birds scattered the new clearing, from the night-black ravens that perched over the ground, gripping onto twigs and careful not to move a muscle, to the few snow-white, mourning doves that seemed eager to scatter, as if claiming every inch of the land theirs'.

Danny had sighed a laugh in exhilaration, tightening his grip onto the further thinning vine until it snapped under his grip, the crackling sound of it's release the only sign that the vine had long been dead.

"What am I supposed to do from here...?"

It hadn't really come out as a question, but it hadn't mattered much; no one was there, anyway.

The sudden reminder of that had set an oldish feeling in the pit of his stomach, but exhaling had made it vanish.

"Right.... um, Ivor..."

Playing hesitantly with the dead vine in his palm, his eyes cast down into the wonderland just below. Into the river that stretched out beyond miles of what he could see. Vast life, carefree and bright as the sun loomed over them, but in protection, and warmth.

The cliff was steep enough; and for any regular human to fall from a height such as this would mean something somewhat close to death. Not like that was an issue...

But...

As if to mock, the eruption of sound of beating wings had interrupted the teen's train of thought, as a white dove flickered past, gliding downwards with ease, brushing past the lining of forest as it prepared to land, flittering it's wings in desperation as it miraculously clung onto a thin branch with grace.

There's no way I'm going to---

"Dang it, I'm climbing."

And without a moment of hesitation, Danny had leapt down onto the closest ledge, one that almost resembled a miniature overhang, but certainly not much of one.

The breeze began to pick up, suddenly making it more difficult to focus on the ledges. Hopping down onto another one, lightly scraping his palm as he forgot to let go of the rocky wall. His fingers slid over a few holes indented into the rock, making as a grip to secure him from loosing his footing.

Another leap.

Almost half the way down already.

The wind whistled, frightening a few of the scattered rabbits, and ushering them back into their burrows. Danny urged on further, palms cold as he dared another hop to the next shelf, the tightness disappearing as he felt foot hit surface yet again.

Pressing his head against the stone wall, Danny glanced down, only to find that the remainder of ledges were drowned in water.

He would have face-palmed if it wouldn't result in falling backwards into a river.

Fingers tapped the rocks anxiously, searching for some sort of resolution.

But there was none.

Finding himself a small footspace inside the cliff, He dug his right foot into the hole, in hopes that there had been another solution to getting his way down-- excluding option A, of course.

This is gonna be reaaally stupid.

So death-gripping onto two protruding pieces of stone, Danny released his foot from the space, releasing enough ghost energy into his palms, encasing his hands in a thin layer of ice. One that obviously wouldn't last long with exposure to sunlight such as on a day like this one.

Then he waited.

And in a matter of seconds, the ice began to crackle away-- his left hand first-- and quickly re-secured it to the stone as his right hand was then released from the ice. Icing his hand back to the lower part of the stone, he repeated the process as his right hand had melted out again. Freeze, wait, melt, repeat.

Progression was nice.

Until a fatal mistake was made.

A hand was missed, and it was a matter of seconds until--

Danny laughed, his body wracked with utter fear, nonetheless.

"Hah, I'm screwed--"

His right hand gave before action was taken, rubbing his palms against the stone wall for support as the halfa began slipping, the ice chipping away as his hands stung; the rock continued to claw at his hands, waiting desperately for the hurting to finally--

THUD.

The second the teen's back had collided with ground, he was completely unsure whether to be laughing, or huddled over in pain.

He grabbed his wrist, as the open wounds from his finger tips to the end of his palm had bled, slithering over his hand and now his arm, as he lay breathless in the grass. He'd only hissed in pain as a response, suddenly drained of the euphoric feeling that had been left abandoned at the top of the cliff.

Releasing his hand, he gathered enough strength to sit upright, glancing inside the stream as a drop of green and red leaked into the crystal blue, inking out a blotch of sickening color before it vanished away with the ripples.

Danny sighed, leaning over the stream.

"Was this really worth it...?

"I don't even know where the heck the guy is.

"For all I know, he could literally be in some sort of Candy Land, compared to this," he chuckled silently.

"I knew it was stupid."

He resisted dripping his hand into the cool, trickling stream, as the stickiness of blood remained on his fingertips.

"Hey."

Danny visibly jumped, slamming his palm into the grass is poor defense, as he flickered around, meeting with a curious pair of violet eyes and a full head of sunset-brown hair.

Exhaling, he held a hand up to his chest for the millionth time, this time leaving a handprint of a red-green mixture of color in the center of the hoodie.

"Dude, you almost gave me a heartattack."

He laughed, playing with his hair, "Hah, sorry... Just...." he clasped his hands nervously, "I don't really see many, uh, visitors, down here,"

Visitors?

"Wait, you mean you live here?" Danny inquired, as the younger boy had placed himself beside him.

"I live everywhere?" he tilted his head, breaking a cocky smile, "No one truly lives anywhere,"

This kid's younger than me AND more complex. Where have I seen this before? Danny thought, wistfully.

He scooted a few inches further, out of discomfort, "Er, yeah... whatever you say, I guess."

Breathless again, the kid had shoved his head just under Danny's, eyeing his hands with a gasp.

"Ooh, that looks bad." he tilted his head again, this time bumping the halfa's shoulder with one of the horns that sprouted from his head. "Why's it look like that?"

Suddenly his eyes had twinkled, a look of realization forming in head head.

"Oh, you're just like me!" he got onto his knees, glancing the older boy up and down, "A... A werewolf or something, right?"

Ah yes, I forgot about that. Danny sighed internally.

"Uh, yeah. Something like that..."

"Your ears are cool; can you like, hear a lot of things? Far-away things?" He began questioning, getting a look at the white pair of canine ears that matched in perfect harmony with the grassland's bright wonder. At least in his eyes, it did.

"Werewolves have tails. Why don't you have a tail?" His brows furrowed in suspicion, as Danny continued his own internal monologue. "Are you new here? Well, of course you are," he dismissed his own question.

"I would've seen you before, of course!" The dark patch of fur on his lower back was now obvious, as he got onto all fours, shifting into some sort of monsterish form, one that wasn't much bigger than cat.

Danny raised a brow, Is that what he meant by us being the same?

"Oh! Come on, I want to show you something cool!" It was almost cute how the little black creature in his place squirmed with excitement.

Danny felt as if he just wasn't permitted to say no.

"Uh, where, are we going, exactly...?"

"Over to this really cool cave thing just by the edge of the river-forest!" He'd wagged his 'tail', or more likely, a tuft of fur that had three thin tails attached to it, with menacing eyes at the ends that stared dead.

"There's like three caves conjoined to it, and I want you to check out this super cool one!" he made a high-pitched yapping sound, that had been a mixture of cute and horrifying. "But you have to use your feral form to get in! The crawlspace is reeeally small,"

"Feral form?" the halfa parroted, "What are you talking--"

"Your wolf form, silly!" he laughed, as if it was such a silly-obvious question, "Most of the mutants have them, especially werewolves! Or..."

He trailed off in thought, his beaded eyes dodged to the ground as if he was searching for his words again. "Oh, have you not... Do you not know how to do it?"

"Uh..."

The kid shifted back, standing up and brushing off his tattered shorts. "It's alright, I'll show you!"

And as if the answer was just that simple, he shifted back to his feral form again, sticking his tongue out in amusement.

"Like that; it's easy!" he wagged his tail again, beaming up at Danny, who only sighed. "Your turn!"

I'm actually about to take one-step advice from, what, a ten year old?

I'll just...

Reaching for the similar buzzing sensation in his core, a wave of cool swept over his form until, the little mutant-monster yapped in excitement.

"See, easy!" he squeaked, closing in the space between the two to get a close look at the glowing, luminescent, black-and-white wolf that now stood before him.

Danny had shifted on his feet-- no, paws, awkwardly, as the creature stared up at him in wonder.

"Woahhh..." he breathed, taking in the appearance, "I've never seen a werewolf up so close before! They look so cool; even far away!"

He started circling him, his little form buzzing in amazement. His body even began to emit a bright red glow.

"Uh..." Danny had blurted, still partially unable to form a proper sentence, "D-Didn't you say we were gonna go look at some... uh, cave thing, or something...?"

"Oh yeah! We gotta go soon, so we can catch the lights at sun-fall!" he swerved around, as his tail swung around in a graceful motion behind him, before he stopped, and turned back around.

"Oh! And my name's Daarin! Juuust so you know," he smiled, twisted back around, and skittering into the distance, as Danny stalked unevenly behind.

TBC

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

If the main OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like?

[Sputniik]

9568414
Main ocs ?
(which ones?)