Bad-Lore • A Series of Short Stories About a Sky Kid Called Badwolf

The Sport of Krill Dodging

The stark contrast between the Isle of Dawn and the Golden Wasteland was shocking to anyone new to the realms of Sky; The Isle was all clear skies and sunlit sands, white fluffy clouds, and creatures of light such as butterflies or birds all around. It was beautiful, calm, peaceful, welcoming... it embodied the very feeling of starting something new. 

Whereas the Wasteland-

Well, it was quite the opposite there. It was shadowed in dark clouds, the air was consistently hazy with dust, and the sands were cold and rough, unlike the soft warmth of the sun-kissed sand in Isle of Dawn. Even the living things in the Wasteland were stark opposites to the creatures of light seen elsewhere... Here, there were dark crabs strewn about that would rear-back and ram straight into you to attack, if you got too close. There was also large pools of polluted water everywhere, that smothered light away into nothing upon touching. That wasn't even the worst of it, either.

Badwolf was sure to wear a cape that had already weathered through a lot of dangerous adventures, instead of their regular rainbow-scarf, which left a colorful trail behind them as they flew across the skies. Today's cape was red on the inside, and blue on the outside, with some subtle golden details along the hem. It had several ripped and torn spots across one shoulder, revealing their sky blue shirt through the slits. The bottom of one side was tattered and worn as well, giving the cape a slightly uneven look... Perfect for the purpose of today's excursion into the Golden Wasteland.

  "Let's go have some fun," they said with a slight chuckle, right before jumping headlong into the stormy abyss that lead straight down to the Golden Wasteland below. They swirled furiously through the eye of the storm at a velocity that would alarm most, but they kept their arms tucked in and their legs streamlined for maximum speed, and rode their way "down the drain," as they affectionately referred to it. Right before they were about to hit the ground, Badwolf flipped over twice rapidly, then forced their cape open like a parachute to catch their fall, gracefully landing on both feet. 

  "Yes. Stuck the landing," they whispered to themselves. They pumped their fist in celebration, after glancing side-to-side real fast to make sure they were alone, first, of course. Then they started walking through the golden sands of the Wasteland, taking in the view of the dilapidated ruins that once stood strong before the calamity happened, and the endless repeating of life cycles were set into motion...

Badwolf shook the thoughts of such things away, not wanting to dwell on the dark history of the Sky realms at that moment. Not when their whole reason for visiting such a desolate place was to go have some (mostly harmless) recreational fun-time! They frowned just slightly as they approached the dark, murky, oil-filled pool of polluted water. They decided perhaps it was best to fly the rest of the way through, so they launched into the air with one big gust and soared high above the polluted lake, which teemed with dark plants and angry crabs. Then they slipped through the giant, imposing entry doorway, and into the ruins beyond. 

This area had clearly been a very large temple of sorts at one point, in the distant past, but now it sat crumbling with only a small amount of the original structure still left standing at the entrance. Badwolf was already prepared for the danger that lied ahead of them, as they casually walked out into the open air of the main structure, which was completely missing a ceiling. They were unphased by it all, at this point in their lives.

"Ha, lives. Plural," they chuckled silently to themselves again. After a while, they became numb to the fear that most Sky Kids felt upon entering such an area. Even the deep, rumbling roar of the dark beasts wasn't enough to shake Badwolf in that moment. This was all part of the thrill of being there, after all... Out of the corner of their eye, they saw a lone little manta flying in from the west side. It was so graceful in its movements, flowing through the air as if it were swimming in water.