A Dreamer's Worlds

Up, Up, Up (Part 3 of Mother Nature)

 Ritir awoke to a soft tittering sound and a single harsh cry. He disentangled himself from the cheif and crept out of the alley.

The tittering came from the small flying animals, the kitir or birds. Ritir growled at them. At least one thing was familiar: annoying animals that fly. They flew off at Ritir's growl.

The harsh cry came from a black bird. Length wise, it was about a third of Ritir's size. It didn't seem to be afraid of him, hopping closer and tilting its head for a better look. Ritir took a step back and snarled.

The bird cawed at him and Ritir brought his head down, ears pinning themselves back. He bared his teeth.

The bird watched him for a moment, then flew away. Ritir watched it go before returning the to alleyway.

Behind him, his group was waking up. The chief was taking a moment to stretch, but Alkar stood up immediately.

The kidri awoke with a shout, chattering in his own language. Ritir leapt back into the alley to try and calm the kidri, though Alkar was only on it. She sat him down against a wall and let him figure himself.

Ritir left the girls to calm him down, not wanting to deal with the emotional mess that the kidri was. He walked into the middle of the street instead. He needed to find parts to a transmitter. He couldn't see any; the buildings were too tall for him to see. His tail twitched in annoyance. He'd have to climb to the top of a building, or just get out of the city. He'd probably just climb up a building. That seemed easier.

The kidri's babbling was in common now. Ritir could hear him asking again and again why half his arm was gone. Ritir pressed his ears back, scampering to the other side of the street. He had better things to do than deal with a distressed politician. Plenty of things. Lots of things.

The kidri was quieting down now, but Ritir still didn't want to go back. The buildings here were tall, and the windowsills were close enough that Ritir would be able to climb them. Ritir flexed his paws and crouched.

He darted forward, leaping up to grab the first windowsill. He pulled himself up and leapt to the next one.

He continued in this way until he was on the roof.

The climb had been good for the daikin. Though tired, he actually felt like he'd done something productive.

Though there were many buildings larger than the one Ritir had climbed, he had a much better view. Mountains stretched to the north, a familiar sight that tugged at Ritir's heart.

He stared into the mountains, still unsure what to do.

Something stirred in his brain and Ritir realized something. Humans, like all intelligent species, tended to look to the stars for answers. In a city as dense and tall as this, no one would be able to see the stars. They'd have to go somewhere else to look for them.

Somewhere tall, isolated, and away from the city.

The mountains fit that description, lonesome and towering.

Decision made, Ritir started the long climb back down.

When he made it back to earth, the kidri had calmed down. All three of the politicians were standing in the middle of the street. Waiting for Ritir's return, probably.

The kidri was cradling what was left of his arm, and Ritir felt a pang of guilt. Sure, he couldn't have prevented it, but he still felt bad about it. He was a guard, and the kidri, though not originally his responsibility, was someone who needed a guard.

"Did you find anything?" The cheif was the first to speak. Ritir nodded.

"There's mountains outside the city. We'll go there first and see if we can find some sort of beacon." Though Ritir knew that they would only find observatories outside the city, they would at least be able to find a place to stay that wasn't surrounded by dead humans and the animals that took advantage of that.

The chief nodded. Ritir turned to the kidri.

"I'm Ritir, prime guard. Who are you?"

The kidri locked on to Ritir. "Solva." He whispered, as if merely talking would bring back danger.

Ritir ignored Solva, preferring to focus on finding a way out of the city.

"I'll be climbing the buildings every so often," he said, "but I won't leave you if I feel that doing so would put you at risk."

Though his group seemed doubtful about that, but Ritir figured they would follow him no matter what. They didn't have much choice.

And so they continued through the city. They would occasionally complain of hunger, but soon went quiet when Ritir told them they could either scavenge in the houses or help him catch one of the animals running around.

They made it through the city like that, with Ritir climbing up buildings every so often. A few animals made noise as the group walked, but a snarl and half-hearted chase from Ritir soon took care of them.

Solva seemed to be doing alright, not counting his missing limb. Alkar made sure that he stayed safe and didn't trip over any of the rubble.

Ritir stepped over some kind of carriage, not thinking of what it was for. Alkar stopped to right it and place it against a wall, picking up the toys that had once been inside.

Ritir turned away from her and the pieces of the past.

The chief walked close to him, her tail winding around his.

The city was large, but it wasn't insanely large. Ritir figured they could make it out sometime tomorrow. He led the group to an empty house and told them to rest as he found food.

He encountered a place where asphalt and concrete turned to sand and wood chips. Toys were scattered about, as if the owners had simply found something better to do.

Ritir glanced at a plant growing through the wooden border. It was flowering, a bright yellow thing that seemed extremely pleased with itself. He picked the flower, winding the stem around his finger. He stood there, listening for any sound of life.

There, under the slide. A creature peered out at him, gold eyes glittering.

Ritir approached it, knowing full well that it had seen him.

It was small, with black fur that blended with the shadows. It hissed at him before scampering away.

"Do you think many children played here?" The chief had snuck up on him. Ritir tapped his tail on the ground and fiddled with the flower.

"Maybe," he replied. No bodies rested in the playground, but whether it was because no one had died there or because the bodies had been moved was uncertain.

"Are the others close by?" Ritir asked. The chief nodded.

"They're exploring a house. Alkar wanted to try and find a body."

"Why?"

"She wanted to see what they looked like."

"Of course she did." Ritir dropped the flower. "Let's go find them."

The chief nodded, giving the flower a sad look before following Ritir.