Turtles of a Feather

Chapter 1 - Lost to Found

  Amongst the songbirds chirping in the treetops, the sound of snapping forest debris and footfalls were evident. A man was strolling through the peaceful wood during a warm afternoon, gently brushing away the branches and leaves that were blocking his path. He was fairly tall, with a mildly broad and muscular form. He hiked up a small hill of rocks, sweat beading on his forehead. Although the man was older, his muscles flexed under his clothing; the black haired man was obviously very fit for his age.

Sweat drenched his face, and he reached into his backpack to pull out a bottle of water. He took a few gulps of the clear liquid before sighing in satisfaction and putting the bottle away. The tall man continued his hike.

Although the water soothed his throat and quenched his thirst, his body was still burning from the sweat. The man stopped all movement and listened. His ears observed the peaceful sound of the woods around him. Many sounds were clear, like birds chirping, leaves rustling in the wind, or the occasional squirrel darting up a tree. Sorting through the music of nature surrounding him, he could make out an unmistakable sound, although it could barely be heard...

Flowing water.

The man quickly ran the rest of the way, nimbly jumping over any roots or rocks threatening to break his stride. He used his hands to delicately push the branches of a tilted birch tree out of the way, to see a small stream trickling amongst the rocks, smoothed stones at the bottom of the clear water.

He panted slightly due to his run through the trees, but soon recovered and kneeled on the edge of the stream, splashing his face with the water. He also washed off his heavily tan arms, cleaning them of the sweat.

The sigh of utter relief that escaped his lips was heard above the trickle of the water. He wiped the water from his eyes and looked down into the stream to see small fish swimming amongst the smooth stones and pointed pebbles.

"I have no doubt Tang Shen would've loved to stroll in these beautiful woods," the man mumbled to no one in particular. He shook his head to spare himself the sorrow, and was about to continue his hike, when a small cry was heard.

"That sounds awfully lot like a child," the man was baffled, looking around in all directions, "Hello?"

There was no response, and he assumed that it must have just been another forest animal making noise, but the sound repeated again.

This time the man searched the area, trying to find the source of the noise. The sound emitted somewhere by the stream. He was close, it practically sounded like the cry was ringing in his ear. He was about to move, when a small scratching noise was heard practically under his feet.

Pebbles fell into a crevice in the rocks; causing whatever stuck down there to cry out again quietly.

He got onto his hands and knees and peaked into the crevice, making sure his head's shadow would not block the sunlight from getting into the crack. What he saw down in the stone crevice caused him to jump back in shock for a mere second before slowly peeking down into the crack again.

There sat three large, yet unhatched eggs, covered slightly in twigs and feathers, but one was hatched already. The white pieces of eggshell were scattered around the inside of the crevice, and the man just stared in awe at the animal that the egg previously held. A reptile with a shell, most likely some kind of turtle was desperately scratching at the wall, trying to get any kind of grip on the smoothed rock surface.

But this did not look like any normal turtle. He had hands, fingers, an actual mouth, and gorgeous ocean blue eyes that went wide at the mere sight of the man. The tall man noticed something odd as the turtle turned around and cowered against the wall. Little fluffy limbs grew out of the turtle's carapace, tinted a light gray.