Fantasy Kaizoic: Earth Reborn

[Da Doofus]

He turned his head to look at the human, bringing the scar on his left-side lip into the light. The exposed teeth glistened, the top row poking over the bottom, a reminder of his unexplained injury to his jawbone.
"Technically, even though it's only been two hours." He corrected.

Another bellow from the predator, followed by rattling responses from similar vocalizations.

"The Tyravi have been more active lately." The Guest looked back to the forest. "Your ship must have aggravated them in their dens."

 

[Chai_T3a]

“That doesn’t sound good.” He commented. He had no clue what the Tyravi ever were, but he wasn’t completely sure if wanted to know either way.

He as well looked into the forest surrounding them. It brought upon a feeling of calm and peace, a stark contrast to what actually happened in here.

“Is there anything we haven’t seemed to provoke?” He asked, sarcasm laced in his tone.

 

[Da Doofus]

He lazily pointed to the effigy mounted to the tree.
"Kavera for one." He said with a stale tone. "Although she hasn't been seen in almost a millennium, from what I've read."

 

[Chai_T3a]

"That's one more than I expected." He said before looking at the effigy that was carved out on the tree. He now had a name to match to the figure. Whoever Kavera was, she seemed like someone of high status. That was probably a given seeing as she seemed to have her own little dedicated shrine. Perhaps she was a religious figure? A strong leader? Might as well ask the Guest about it, seeing as there wasn't much else to do.

"Sorry for all the questions. But who is she anyway?"

 

[Da Doofus]

His toothy maw widened into a sharp-tipped yawn.
"Mother of Bountiful Harvest, Life Giver . . ." He mumbled tiredly. "She is the patron god for the Great Hennasian Forest." He sniffed the air, and settled back into a resting posture.
"According to myth, she built her nest when this land was scorched and dead, and planted the seeds to allow this jungle to flourish under her protection." He went on. "That's from local mythology, mind you."

 

[Chai_T3a]

He nodded in response. He definitely felt a bit too calm. Just a few hour's ago, the guest had pressed a knife against his throat. Now, Kairo was listening attentively to the reptile, without any kind of fear being elicited.

Either things could change really quick or he was just really lacking in sleep.

"Don't think we had a lot of that kind of stuff." He added quietly. "Guess people were too busy being scared to believe in anything."

 

[Da Doofus]

He hummed.
"Think I remember something about her being young in your time." He said quietly, curling his tail closer to himself.

 

[Chai_T3a]

That seemed to perk his interest. His eyebrow cocked in surprise. He looked at the effigy again, using its figure to try and maybe recall something similar of his memories in the past. He was pretty sure he'd never seen a creature like that back then.
"Young?" He asked. "She was alive then?"

 

[Da Doofus]

"All of the world's gods were. They reshaped the world after awakening in a time of destruction. Created what's called the Global Ecosystem among each other." He readjusted his position again, careful not to disturb his pets. "Again: much of what is written locally is fluffed with myth."
His eyes opened to glance at him with a piercing look.
"No more questions. Stop talking now."

 

[Chai_T3a]

Even if being killed wasn't on the table, the Guest still unnerved him with the look. He'd originally thought Stryx had been intimidating, he was nothing compared to the Guest.
"Yeah. Sorry." He said, before effectively shutting up. He knew sleep would be hard to come, but with nothing better to do, it was probably a good idea to try again. He laid down on the jungle floor again, back facing the Guest and again closed his eyes for sleep. Hopefully their wouldn't be any more interruptions tonight.

 

[Da Doofus]

When next he woke, it would be to the feeling of clawed toes shading his body while applying small pressure.

"Up. It's near daybreak." Guest's voice would boom into Kairo's ears.
Another shake.
"Move or I'll leave you, and spare myself the trouble."

 

[Chai_T3a]

“Okay. Okay. I’m up.” Kairo mumbled, his eyes still shut. He didn’t feel any less tired than he did last night.

A few seconds later, he reluctantly got up from the floor. His eyes felt heavy, and his body still ached for sleep.
“We leaving right now?” He asked groggily

 

[Da Doofus]

"Yes. I don't want to be seen and shot by any more of you." He growled, snatching him by the shoulder and hauling him to face their current route.
It was the familiar sight of the Cricket's bulldozed path through the jungle, already beginning to grow back with sprouting ferns and branches.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo let the Guest manhandle him with little resistance. He did admit that it wasn’t the most pleasant thing in the world to be pushed around so often. He didn’t expected to be treated any better. With everything that’s happened, It was only fair that the Guest remained hostile to him. In fact, Kairo probably should have been more agressive too. But that feeling from last night seemed to persist. He couldn’t bring himself to see the Guest as the enemy.

Still, it would be just that little bit better without the constant jostling.

“You don’t have to push me around ya know?” He said lazily, lightly kicking a few of the ferns as he walked along the fading path.
“I’m not gonna run or anything.”

 

[Da Doofus]

"I would hope not." He snapped, keeping pace behind Kairo.

The two would walk the carved path for almost another hour before the distant lights of Rufus's camp came into view. The Cricket was silhouetted before them.

"There." Kairo's scaly kidnapper nodded. "Now go join them until they take you back to camp." A clawed hand rested on his shoulder. "Anyone comes looking for me, I will protect myself, and all that implies." He said with a soft growled untertone.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo looked back at the Guest, giving him a quick nod.
"I'll make sure they don't look for you." He said, he wouldn't know what he'd explain his presence to Red Team, but he'd try his best to keep them away from the Guest. For the sake of all parties.

He began to walk towards the cricket, ready to head back to his people. The last 12 hours had been a real dilemma, and he was absolutely glad that it seemed to be coming to an end. Suddenly though, he seemed to stop in his tracks. Almost as if he'd forgotten something. He turned back to look at the Guest.

"Hey. I realized I haven't gotten your name yet." He asked awkwardly.

 

[Da Doofus]

The Guest's eyes narrowed in on Kairo threateningly. He pointed a single claw at the camp beyond, and curled his mauled lip into a snarl.
At his feet, the triplets hid behind their master as he growled.

 

[Chai_T3a]

He half expected the Guest to do something like that. In fact, he had prepared for such a reaction. But for some reason, he never could keep a calm demeanour when the humanoid threatened him like that.

“Yeah okay. Got it.” He said. His speech being so fast that it came out more as an incoherent mumble. He turned around and walked away, letting out a deep breathe the moment he was facing the other direction.

He was pretty sure that this wouldn’t be the last time he’d see the Guest, and he didn’t know if that would be a good thing or not. Whatever happened later on, he’d rather not think about it right now. Instead, he kept his mind focussed on what to tell red team as he reached the cricket.

 

[Da Doofus]

Once inside the camp, the Guest's eyes were no longer shimmering in the distant jungle.
The camp itself was eerily quiet. No sign of Red Team anywhere, and a few of the supply crates looked like they had been broken into.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo raised an eyebrow at the sight of the completely empty camp. It was odd for the place to be seemingly deserted, especially since the cricket was still nearby. He was beginning to feel a bit uneasy. Maybe they'd been attacked? Or even worse killed?

"No. They'll be fine." He said to himself, shaking the thought out of his head. Worrying about this wouldn't help anyone. Besides, the boxes being emptied probably signified that the team was probably on track with their mission. Instead of overthinking things, he should probably take a look around. Search the entire camp. Then he'd be able to gage the situation. Or even better, maybe stumble upon someone from red team.

With a focussed demeanour, he set out towards the boxes to examine them.

 

[Da Doofus]

They bore a strong resemblance to the weapon crates Rufus had back in his storage unit aboard the Noah. Many had the locks broken into and the contents emptied. The radio equipment had been disconnected, and the campfire smoldered from not being properly tended to.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Something that concerned him a bit was the fact that the locks were broken into. He'd figured that if these crates were from the Noah, then Red Team would probably be provided with the means to open them? Hopefully that wouldn't mean much.

Next, he made his way into the tent. Besides the half finished house, it was the only place he'd think that there would still be equipment. Opening the flap, he made his way inside.

 

[Da Doofus]

He would see signs of a violent struggle in many places, indicating multiple attacks. Torn holes in the tent signaled small arms fire shot in the duration.
Amidst the shell casings and broken equipment were spatters of drying blood.

 

[Chai_T3a]

“Shit!” He yelped in surprise. This place looked like a war zone. He could feel his breathing getting more shallow, his body begin to tense. The only thing keeping him from full on panic is the fact that there weren’t any bodies here. It appeared that everyone involved seemed to have come out alive.

He wanted to shout out to them. Yell as loud as he could until someone from Red Team would hear him. But that wasn’t going to be a good idea. As much as he wanted to find them, it was much more likely that someone or something unfavourable would find Kairo first.

With much more urgency, he began searching the tent. Trying his best to ignore the abundance of blood he found almost everywhere. He hoped to find something he could radio camp with. Or at least something salvageable that was of use.

 

[Da Doofus]

All that was useable had either been damaged or scavenged.
More blood had been spilled, on one spot it had gathered in a disturbing puddle soaking the earth.

The morning was still dark, and nothing was left to do but to hunker down.