by Dreagen
“Why does everything here try to kill me?” Rex asked as he coughed up water.
“Is everyone all right?” EeNox asked.
“We’re fine,” DiNiya answered.
“Speak for yourself,” LyCora said unhappily as she wrung water out of her fur.
DiNiya just rolled her eyes. “What about you two?”
“Still in one piece,” her brother replied, standing up straight. “Right, Rex?”
Rex, who was resting his hands on his knees and still breathing heavily, looked up and gave him a half-hearted smile.
Their attention was suddenly grabbed by the sound of splashing, and they turned to see the amphibious predator eating the fish they had caught that were floating on the surface.
EeNox sighed. “All that work and that bastard gets a free lunch on us.”
“What exactly did you two do to make him mad?” LyCora asked.
“What do you mean ‘what did we do’?” EeNox replied angrily. “We didn’t do anything! Besides, he shouldn’t even have been here!”
“He’s right,” DiNiya agreed. “ClorRax prefer warmer waters, so they usually stay far south or southwest of here.”
“Guess somebody forgot to tell him,” Rex said as they watched the final remnants of the boat sink beneath the surface.
EeNox cracked his neck and turned. “Well, I guess we better head back.”
As everyone began to follow EeNox, Rex realized he was still naked. “Hey, uhh…can I get something to cover up with, please?”
DiNiya took off her long-sleeve overshirt and handed it to Rex, who tied it around his waist.
“Why are you so afraid of nudity?” EeNox asked.
“I’m not afraid,” Rex replied. “Just not…used to it yet.” EeNox just sighed.
“Well, if it bothers you, then you should cover up too, EeNox,” said DiNiya. “LyCora, give him your cloak.”
“What?” the other girl replied with a look of surprise. “Why?”
“Why do you think?” she replied nastily.
“If you think I’m going to let him wrap my cloak around his…he can’t have it!”
“Need I remind you that my father has allowed you to stay in our home during your time in KaNar? Any appreciative guest would have a sense to want to repay their host’s kindness. Wouldn’t VoRenna agree?”
LyCora cringed slightly at the sound of her mother’s name. For as long as she could remember, she had instilled in her a strict code of ethics. She had heard it a thousand times, and as much as she wished she could just put it out of her mind, a nagging little voice in the back of her head always made her default back to it. “Fine,” she sighed as she took off her cloak and held it out.
“Thanks,” EeNox said, taking it from her, and like Rex, tied it around his lower body, eyeing himself curiously. “Hey, we match.”
“Fantastic,” Rex replied sarcastically. “So how do we get back?”
“Walk.”
“What? You mean all the way back?”
“Well, unless you can fly, then yeah.”
“It’s only about a three-hour walk,” DiNiya said cheerfully. “Besides, Rex, you still haven’t seen KaNar’s interior. It’ll be fun.”
Rex thought about it for a moment—strolling through an otherworldly forest filled with DyVorians. Sounds like an awesome way to spend my afternoon. “Lead the way,” he said, smiling.
So with that, the four set out into the heart of KaNar. Rex walked in relative silence, instead opting to listen to EeNox delight in telling him all about the inner forest from the age of the largest tree down to the lifecycle of the tiniest insect. The forest seemed so huge, with most of the trees wider and taller than the biggest of any found on Earth. He remembered going to the huge sequoias in northern California when he was eight, but these colossal titans dwarfed even those, feeling more like buildings than trees.
“Everything plays a role no matter how big or small,” EeNox explained, holding his hand out and letting a red and green avian DyVorian small enough to fit in the palm of his hand land in it. “Everyone works individually, but for a whole that benefits all.”
“You know a lot about the natural world, I take it,” Rex said.
“Who doesn’t? But I guess you could say understanding it is also a hobby of mine.”
“Is that why you come out here a lot?”
“Well, there’s that, but it’s also, well…I guess you could say I can think more clearly when I’m all the way in here.”
“What do you mean?”
EeNox glanced back momentarily before refocusing his attention ahead. “I don’t know why things get a little hectic back there. Everyone’s so busy doing one thing or another that sometimes I think they forget to take it easy.”
“That’s because it takes a lot of hard work to keep a community running,” said DiNiya, who was walking a few feet behind Rex with LyCora trailing behind.
“I know,” he replied. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun once in a while.”
“You don’t think we know how to have fun?”
“I didn’t say that. I just think people move too fast sometimes, you know?”
“I guess, but it would be nice to see you around the shop—and home, for that matter—more often.”
“And give up all this personal space?” he replied, holding his arms out wide and spinning around.
“Sounds kind of nice, actually,” LyCora said.
The three all looked back at the same time, almost having forgotten she was even there.
“What makes you say that?” DiNiya asked, somewhat surprised by her curiosity in anything LyCora had to say.
“Flame is born of the soil, the trees, the people—all that which makes up EeNara and the cosmos as a whole. Everything a blue flame represents and dedicates their life to, our union with the grand spark.”
Rex understood this to be their name for the big bang.
“Do all the flames connect with it differently?” Rex asked.
“All flames have their own unique way of communing with the world through different forces in nature, but the end result is always the same: A communion with the unifying fire that has burned since the dawn of the universe itself, the very essence of one self and all that is.”
“Haven’t you felt it since you’ve been here?” EeNox asked, redirecting Rex’s attention to the front.
“Felt what?” he asked.
“You know, the flame inside you stirring. Kind of feels like an arm or a leg.”
“Say what now?”
“Like a physical part of your body, only on the inside.”
EeNox’s words rang true. Rex had always sensed something deep inside all his life, but never had it been so tangible, so real as it was here. Even the voice he had heard his entire life had now taken on a more literal presence in his mind.
“I really don’t know what I feel,” said Rex, gazing up to the canopy where he saw several species of DyVorian running across the wide branches from one tree to another. “I just know that I feel, well, more connected with this place.”
“How so?” DiNiya asked curiously as she walked up beside him with her arms behind her back like an inquisitive child.
“Back on Earth, I felt like there was always something in the way. Like a part of myself was always being blocked, but here…here everything just flows. Does that make any sense?”
“It does,” she said, looking up with a thoughtful smile.
They walked for another hour, climbing over and under huge roots that looked like enormous archways rising twenty meters or more out of the forest floor.
Rex could tell that it was all just commonplace for them, but to him it was like being in the greatest playground he had ever set foot in. He felt low vibrations in the ground just as a DyVorian the size of an elephant and resembling a Stegosaurus, but larger, walked out from behind the nearest tree.
“Good afternoon, TolNy,” EeNox said, giving a slight bow with his head.
The majestic creature regarded them thoughtfully before replying, “Good afternoon to the four of you. How is your father?”
“He’s doing well. Busy as always. You should stop by the shop sometime soon. We haven’t seen you up at the gates in a while.”
“Indeed,” said the old DyVorian. “These days I find this old body prefers the tranquility of the inner forest more.”
“Guess I must be getting old, too, because I’m almost always in here nowadays.”
“So I’ve been noticing. KaNar’s inner forest, while perhaps more tranquil in nature than the gates, is no substitute for the joy one as young as yourself finds from spending time with his clan.”
EeNox looked as if he was about to say something, but just resigned to slumping his shoulders and nodding thoughtfully with a smile.
“Sorry about that,” TolNy said with a laugh. “I’m sure the last thing you want to hear right now is an old fossil like me giving you a lecture. You four enjoy the rest of your day.” With that, TolNy turned and headed off to his right. DiNiya called out to him.
“Excuse me, TolNy?”
“Yes?” he replied, turning to face her.
“Have you seen any newcomers to the forest lately? Particularly ones who normally do not travel this far north?”
“I have come across a few,” he said. “But nothing worth being too surprised over. Why do you ask?”
The four of them looked at each other awkwardly before DiNiya replied, “We were attacked this morning on the river by a ClorRax.”
“A ClorRax?” he replied in surprise. “Are you sure that’s what it was?”
“Oh, trust me,” answered EeNox. “We got a good look.”
“I haven’t seen one of them this far north in, well…not since before you were born.” He spoke in a deep, methodical tone while his thick tail tipped with four meter-long spikes swayed slowly behind him. “The waters are too cold and not nearly salty enough for their liking. I wonder if his being here had something to do with the rumors that have been circulating these past few cycles.”
“What rumors?” LyCora asked with a renewed sense of curiosity.
“The ones of something that was stalking the lowlands out west for some time and has now made its way up to the outer forest of KaNar. I hear talk from some of the new arrivals I mentioned earlier, but nothing specific.”
“Do you think what they say is accurate?” DiNiya asked.
“Up until now, I wasn’t really sure, but after hearing what happened to you, there must be something to the rumors if a warm water predator has been spotted in these parts.”
Oh, we did more than just spot him, Rex thought to himself as he remembered turning around and seeing the massive open mouth of the amphibious carnivore rushing towards him. He shuddered at the thought.
“Could you do us a favor and ask around if anyone has heard or seen anything else strange?” EeNox asked.
“Of course,” replied TolNy, nodding his long thin head. “I should probably stop by the gates in a few days, anyway, so I’ll bring news to you of what I’ve learned then.”
“Thank you so much, TolNy. We really appreciate it.”
“Oh, please don’t make it sound like I wouldn’t be happy to help,” the old DyVorian laughed. “I, however, would feel a lot better if you four got back home. If there are people out here from outside the tribe’s land, then it may mean danger, but given your earlier encounter, you probably already figured that much for yourselves.”
“True, but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded,” DiNiya said. “We’ll see you in a few days then?”
“That you will,” he replied as he began to turn around, but then he noticed Rex and abruptly stopped. He cocked his head to the side then said, “Ahh, so it’s you then.”
“It is?” Rex asked, raising an eyebrow.
TolNy walked up to him and lowered his head so Rex was gazing into his green grapefruit-sized eye. His large head shifted slightly to the left to glance over at DiNiya before saying, “The mystique of being one of a kind has not done you many favors in life, has it, Rex?” he said in a hushed tone. “I imagine finding one who shares that burden must have been instrumental in relieving you both of it.”
Rex was at first unsure of his meaning, but as his words sunk in, he suddenly realized the old DyVorian had hit the mark perfectly, forcing him to realize something he had not been aware of. “Yes,” he said, giving a slight nod.
“Then rejoice in this victory, lad, for small as it may be, it is still important to the both of you, and it’s how you two feel about it that truly defines its significance. Remember that.”
Rex just nodded once again, not truly knowing how to respond.
“And don’t be afraid to remind your worthy constituent over there of that from time to time,” TolNy said, rearing his head back up and turning so his tail passed high over Rex’s head. “All of you be safe. See you in three days.”
With that, he plodded off into the forest and out of sight, his heavy footsteps still resonating in the ground beneath them.
Rex looked at DiNiya, taking all of her in as he had countless times before. Aside from their eyes, though, they really did not seem very much alike. Still, he wondered if any other similarities they shared ran deeper than what could be seen with the naked eye.
“Shall we?” EeNox asked, motioning for them to continue.
The four resumed their trek through the forest, with Rex now wondering who else they might run into. Their first lengthy encounter of the day tried to eat him, while the second bestowed wisdom. If this was indeed the pattern these encounters were to take today, he was not looking forward to the next.
Further and further they walked for what felt like another hour to Rex but in actuality was probably only about forty minutes. He was used to using manmade structures as landmarks to determine distance traveled, but here everything was built from or simply was the natural topography of the environment. He still was adjusting to the concept of trees and rock faces as the equivalent of buildings. Then again, he found himself preferring it, so the transition was growing much smoother.
“How much farther?” LyCora called up.
“About another hour,” EeNox called back.
LyCora was feeling discouraged. She had agreed to come along on this little excursion in the hopes of digging a little deeper into Rex and learn if his power posed any threat. Her previous encounter with him had made her uneasy around him, and she feared what might happen if he was set off again. In truth, she had only acted against the ClorRax for fear of another incident with Rex, since before EeNox had begun coaching him on the finer points of control, Rex’s flame seemed to only ignite when he was under duress. It had been nearly half a year, but she still remembered that day he had attacked her. Still, she was hardly convinced that there was no longer any danger of a repeat of that incident, and that despite proving today that he could now draw out the power of his flame in a controlled state, she believed deep down that it was only a matter of time before he had another violent episode. She was not yet prepared to give up on her little fact-finding hunt, though, and knew that as long as the culprit behind the sentinel clones was still at large, her mother would not be leaving KaNar. This meant she had plenty of time to get answers. It’s not over yet.
Another twenty minutes passed when they heard a sound that sent an instinctive shockwave through them simultaneously, and made them stop in mid-step.
“What was that?” Rex asked, feeling alarmed once again.
“Shhh,” EeNox replied, listening intently.
The sound came again, this time clearer and much closer. It was the sound of fallen branches being crushed under pressure. The four of them drew closer with their backs to one another, looking in all directions.
“Could it just be someone else like TolNy?” Rex asked, even though he guessed the answer to his question by the looks on their faces.
“Whoever it is, they wouldn’t be trying to conceal themselves if they were,” DiNiya
replied.
“Whoever it is, they’re not doing a great job,” said LyCora. “They sound like a rookie juvenile trying to make their first kill.”
“And you’re complaining?” EeNox asked, furious that she could not see the value in that basic truth.
The ever-approaching sound of cracking and snapping branches came to a stop, and all of them, except Rex, knew what that meant.
“All right, they’re getting ready,” whispered EeNox. “The next time they move will be the attack. Get ready to run on three.”
Rex wondered if the ClorRax from this morning followed them through forest, stalking them the entire time, like a wolf would a wounded animal over a great distance until it was too weak to fend off an attack.
EeNox began counting, “One, two—”
Suddenly a rhino-sized theropod charged out of the thicket straight for them.
“Run!” EeNox cried as they took off as fast as they could.
“Damn it, I knew it!” yelled Rex as he ran up alongside DiNiya. “The last one was nice, so of course this one wants to take a bite out of my ass!”
“Up there,” EeNox called back to them, pointing to one of the large protruding roots leading up one of the enormous trees. Leaping on top of it, he turned just as Rex and DiNiya leaped up next to him.
“Quickly—up the tree,” he said as he turned to reach out a hand to LyCora, who jumped up and grabbed it just in time, avoiding the pair of snapping jaws.
“Looks like I owe you,” she said.
“You’re welcome!”
Below, the predator roared up at them with a wild look in his eyes. Rex could see that it resembled a species from Earth called Ceratosaurus, but this one was slightly larger.
“DiNiya, you recognize him?” EeNox asked.
“No. He’s definitely not from around here.”
“Look at him,” said LyCora with a stunned expression. “He’s completely emaciated.” The others looked closer and saw that the hungry predator was all skin and bones, with his ribs and hips protruding prominently.
“It’s a wonder he can even move in that condition,” DiNiya said, feeling a great swell of pity for the poor creature.
“He’s being driven by his hunger, I bet,” EeNox said. “Still, it looks like he’s too weak to even climb up here, so at least we’re safe.”