|
Vackran the Shadow Lupe widened a curious eye at the sword
pointed at his nose. The rain that rushed around them bounced harmlessly off of
its steel surface, sharpened to a hair-splitting point. "Is this really necessary,
old friend?" The Prince of the Shadow may as well have been inquiring over the
weather. Then again, the weather was quite evident enough.
Gavdrael did not even blink beneath the hood
of his cloak, but the sword slowly retreated back into the cloak. He didn't
say a word.
Vack straightened and cleared his throat, but
the sound was drowned out over the sound of thunder. "You are doing well?"
No response.
Vack was not easily put off-balance, but this
Scorchio would make a boulder twitch just by walking past. Looking at him, Vack
realized maybe the Scorchio would have to walk past five miles away -- walking
past any closer would make the boulder tremble to pebbles. "I've come here because
I have a rather interesting… friend with me." He resisted the urge to glance
away from the shadowy Scorchio, or to wipe his sweaty paws on his fur -- not
that it would do any good. He was wet all over, by now.
Gavdrael only raised an arm and pointed across
the garden to the overgrown path. Vack nodded and swallowed in spite of himself.
"Th-thank you, Gavdrael." He wanted to bite himself. Stuttering like a weak
fool, now, was he? Just as he had begun walking across the wet ground, Vack
turned to snap at the dark Scorchio only to find him gone.
Vackran couldn't help it. He shuddered.
*
Outlast kicked open the door of his pitiful shack and burst from it, not noticing
the rain pounding against him. "I told you not to come here, Sabin! You were
to leave me alone!" He began to stomp angrily down the muddy path out of his
garden, with Sabin the Darigan Krawk fluttering happily behind, jumping in every
puddle, and there were more than enough of those.
"But I like you, Outlast!" he chirped. "I have
nothing else to do, anyway." He bounced into a puddle beside the other Krawk,
causing Outlast to growl.
"That's because you're useless and I have no
time for useless airheads!" Outlast snapped.
"What's an airhead?" Sabin cocked his head to
one side as he bounced along beside Outlast.
"You!" Outlast cried, but it was drowned out
by a loud crack of thunder. His head instantly snapped to the small figure silhouetted
from the preceding lightning's light. Outlast groaned as the rain increased.
"What do you want, Triano?"
Triano hesitated, and then froze, turning slowly
to look behind him, where a shadow reared from the trees, two glowing golden
eyes visible in its depths. He yelped and jumped away, tumbling and splashing
into a puddle. Shivering, he sputtered, "Shadow Usul, sir, madam… Thing? I didn't…
I didn't mean to disturb…"
The shadow barked a laugh and fully materialized,
barely visible, even then, in the stormy night. "Now where are the witnesses
for this?" Vackran grinned. The rain began to thin, but did not cease to pour.
Triano hissed and gained quick composure, shaking
the mud off of his scales. "What do you want, Vack?"
Now the Lupe turned serious, and he was strangely
hesitant as he glanced around in the woods. "I have… I have a petpet, Zajen.
She's… Different. Not like other Whoots."
"A Whoot? They're all crazy! If she's your first
petpet, you may think her strange, but for Whoots, that's normal," Triano scoffed.
"Whoo! Whoo!" Sabin cried, bouncing around in
circles in the mud and puddles.
Outlast grumbled as he was splashed and stepped
away from the childish Krawk, knowing better than to try stopping him. "Well,
what do you think's wrong with her?"
Vack shook his great shadowy head - he really
was quite large for a Lupe. "She's quiet, for one."
"Whoots are quiet. They're all scaredy-Aishas
that hide under beds and chirp and whine that the Pant Devil is coming to steal
your soul." Triano muttered.
Vack shook his head once more. "Not like that.
She doesn't speak at all. Just points with her scythe - she's Halloween, you
know - and shudders."
"So?" Outlast grumbled. "She points with her
scythe and shudders - what does it matter if nothing happens when she does?"
"But something does happen, Outlast!" Vack cried.
"Every time she points and shudders, some new terror comes to attack us. It
got so bad that Keeta sent me here, to get Zajen away from the Neohome. There's
only so much Deadele and Moonstriken and I can fend off, you know!"
Triano shook his head. "What do you mean 'some
new terror'? Ghosts?"
"Some," Vack explained darkly. "Sometimes it's
the Ghost Lupe, sometimes it's the Shadow Usul - who usually listens to me when
I want her to - and sometimes it's Vira and sometimes… Well, the list goes on
and on and on!" He shivered. "We heard more than one Monocerous roaring in the
distance yesterday, and that's when she sent me here with her. You take in petpets,
and you've got a whole team in your Neohome, not to mention all that it's made
out of and everything…"
Triano puffed up, and his blue scales began
to turn a purplish-red. "So you all just think you can send your rejects to
us? Like we want all these evil things at our doorstep? Who do you think we
are?"
Vackran stared at Triano levelly. "I think…
I think she summons them to us. Whether of her own accord or not, I have no
idea, but I think if she could at least speak… Well, I think if she could talk
to these things, they would listen. I didn't tell Keeta that, but I think it's
true."
"And since when did you want to help us?" Outlast
asked quietly.
Vackran turned to look at the Krawk, a small
grin breaking through the grimness on his face. "Since I realized what it meant
if I did."
"Pretty birdie!" Sabin cried suddenly, stopping
his frolicking to gape into the trees. "Pretty, pretty birdie!"
And there, in a tree on the side of the path,
a shivering Halloween Whoot was perched, her scythe in wing, pointing north,
towards the Neohome.
To be continued...
| 
