Path of the Sun: The First Grassland (A Dragon Adventures Story)

Chapter 8: Acies

 !!! GORE, VIOLENCE !!!

     The sun was rising. As sunlight covered the land, it felt like summer again. Nevaeh woke up from her hypothermic coma. The light on her eyelids was painful, yet also calming. She laid there in the cave for a minute, then opened her eyes.

     She moved her hands out from under her and pushed herself up, then crawled over to the opening

     She peeked out of the cave entrance, the Saurium was gone.

     "Finally." she whispered to herself.

     She crawled out of the cave to find a crocodile sunbathing on a nearby rock. She decided it would be best to not bother it. Walking forward, she found another person laying in the grass in a nearby field. The Saurium from earlier was laying next to it. Her eyes went wide. Without thinking, she grabbed a stick from one of the nearby bushes and sneaked towards the Saurium and the person. She crouched behind a bush and looked in horror, as she realised the person was already dead.

     He had gashes along his back, and was laying face down. The Saurium looked content, and was probably asleep. Nevaeh moved from her bush to another bush closer to the Saurium. She didn't know what she was doing, it was like she was on autopilot.

     She looked at the beautifully colored Saurium, and gripped the stick in her hands tighter. Without thinking, she took a deep breath, and shoved the stick into the dragon's head. It's eyes opened, then darted around, the pupil dilating.

     The Saurium tried to move its arms, but quickly let them fall. The eye fluttered shut. Nevaeh stared at what she had done, thinking. She knew she did that, just then, but it didn't feel like it.

     It's just a Saurium, they're artificial. They don't have the same kind of conscience as us. No, they don't have any consciousness. They're not real. She tried to convince herself.

     She backed away from the corpse and went back to her cave cubby. She looked around the entire time, looking for anybody who could've seen that.

     She still didn't see anyone else. She was in the clear. She knew that it was completely fine to do that, there were no laws protecting them, but it still felt... Wrong.

     "Hello?" she called out into the empty husk of a once highly populated world. She wanted to find somebody, she wanted to admit to what she had just done, but she didn't know if she would find the words to say it.

     She figured she'll cross that bridge when she gets to it.

     There was no response. She figured it was useless, and she would have to find people herself. Nevaeh kept walking until she reached the waterfall area.

     She then remembered that she could just fly around on Chirp, although much more visible, it would be better than hurt ankles.

     Before she took him out of his pod, she shook off the distressed emotion on her face, then took a deep breath.

     She took Chirp out of his pod, then got on his back.

     "I never got taught how to do this, but hopefully I'll figure it out." Nevaeh said to Chirp, all in one breath.

     As if on command, Chirp took off.

     "Oh, okay." Nevaeh said nervously.

     Chirp began heading towards the dirt wall, as if their minds were linked. The flight went smoother than she imagined. Even though this was probably Chirp's first time flying, it was like he knew how to do it his entire life. Upon reaching the top of it and landing, she realized just how tall it was.

     "Wow, I can see everything. I can't possibly imagine the view from the floating islands." Nevaeh said, then smiled. She was already beginning to forget.

     Saying that, Chirp once again took flight, towards the closest floating island. When they landed, Nevaeh dismounted from Chirp, standing and looking off into the distance. She could see everything around her, including the Saurium.

     Chirp walked over to her, an empathetic look on his face. He looked down at the spot Nevaeh was avoiding, and saw the body. A saddened look fell on his face as he realised why Nevaeh was sad. To the average Rocirus, they would see both the dragon and human as the victim in this situation, and as much as Chirp wanted to doubt that he was just like every other Rocirus, he felt exactly the same way.

     He moved his head into Nevaeh's hands, and she rubbed his head. Chirp and Nevaeh both knew that the other knew what happened, but neither wanted to say or do anything. Chirp trilled at Nevaeh, and she responded by getting on his back. Chirp flew over to the top of the dirt wall.

     Nevaeh got off of his back, and looked at the grass under her shoes. Why was it that she only remembered the things she wanted to the least?

     She brought her head up. The sun was bright, but altered enough to be able to look at it for long enough.

     Chirp walked past her to a nearby bush, picking leaves off of it.

     "Hmm?" Nevaeh turned to Chirp, who was gathering sticks, leaves, petals and other miscellaneous foliage from bushes, small trees, and out of the grass.

     Chirp made a whistling sound, followed by a head gesture at the small field next to where they were standing, as if to justify himself. Chirp brought back all the items he collected then laid it at her feet. Nevaeh instinctively picked up the foliage and put it into her backpack.

     Nevaeh looked back up at the horizon, moving her eyes to the waterfall just feet away from her. The waterfall was beautiful. She never saw a waterfall before this, she knew they would be beautiful, but this blew that out of the water. No pun intended.

     She looked back at Chirp still collecting things from the bushes.

     She smiled, walking towards him. Chirp looked up at her and cocked his head. Nevaeh patted his head, then stepped back. She sighed deeply, wondering.

     Then there was a rustling sound. Chirp turned his head to face the sound.

     Chirp growled, baring his jagged teeth. Nevaeh froze.

     No. Not again. She thought. She wanted to move, but something in her wouldn't let her.

     A crocodile lunged out of the grass, latching onto Chirp. Nevaeh stepped back, not wanting to get into the cat fight. Chirp swept forward, quickly turning around to bite into the crocodile's neck. The crocodile stepped back to retreat from the searing pain of the Starter's jagged teeth. The Rocirus breathed its element, in this case, grass. The grass that the Starter breathed went towards the Crocodile, severely cutting it with the sharp edges of the jagged leaves.

     The crocodile stumbled a bit before falling down dead.

     "Dear god, I didn't know you could do that." Nevaeh said, shook.

     Chirp looked at the deceased crocodile then back up at her. Chirp then trotted over to the body then harvested the meat and bones from the corpse. The body wasn't bleeding, but it wasn't not bleeding either.

     It was actually, not gorey at all. It was more like a prop, just plastic. The bone was very cartoonish looking, with a simple circle acting as the bone where one of the legs was removed for meat harvest. There was no blood, it just looked like raw meat that you would get from the store.

     Why would the Saurium bleed, but not the crocodile? Nevaeh thought. She decided maybe it would be best to not think about it too much.

     Chirp carried over the salvaged meat and bones from the crocodile and placed it at Nevaeh's feet. Nevaeh bent down, picked up the meat and bones, and put them in her backpack without question.

     Looking back up at Chirp, she gestured for them to go. She didn't feel welcome anymore.

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(a/n: Does this make up for last chapter? Actually, I made this note because I added the Nevaeh kill thing in during editing, so if it seems clunky in future parts this is why.)