Winged Knights

Chapter Two : Impurity

               "FULGUR! WAIT FOR ME!" I beat my wings hard, trying to keep up with my brother. "Come on sis!! Ventus is waiting for us and we're late!!" We flew faster and faster. Finally, Fulgur spotted his friend, waving at him from the mouth of a cave. "Hey look! There's Ventus! Wait! Sis stop!" Too late. We crashed mid-flight, sending us spiraling down towards the Earth. THUD!!!!! "Fulgur! Tarin! Are you guys ok?!" Ventus rushed over, his pet ferret, Amica, trailing behind him. "Oh no, you're bleeding! Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Ventus shook Fulgur, who groaned. "Five more minutes." Ventus shook his head. "Well, I guess you're fine. Tarin?" I grunted. "I'm fine. But get Fulgur off."

               It took a lot of effort, but after five minutes, an unconscious Fulgur was off of my back and lying on the ground. I shook myself off and examined my wings, checking for damage. "Anything?" Ventus looked over at me, a slight pink tinge spreading across his silver snout. I noticed and smiled slightly. "My wings are ok, but," I held out my arm and winced. Ventus gasped. "You're hurt! Oh, is it bad?" I shook my head.  "No, but we need to wrap it up." I looked around while Ventus searched through his satchel. Suddenly, Ventus yelled, "I found them!" He walked over to me. "I brought some bandages just in case one of us got hurt. Give me your arm"

              I did as was asked. "Thank you Ventus, you're too kind." Ventus smiled and blushed. "It's nothing. I just like watching out for people. And I don't like it when," he stopped. "Sorry, I'm rambling." I looked at him. "No, you're fine, please continue." Ventus smiled. He quickly finished wrapping my arm, talking the whole while, and then went to check on Fulgur. I followed close behind him. I peeked over Ventus's  shoulder. "Is he going to be ok?" Ventus jumped. How was she so quiet? He tried to regain composure before answering. "Yeah, he just knocked himself out. He has a small cut right here but he'll be ok." He pointed to a place above Fulgur's eye where red liquid was oozing slowly.

               At my gasp, he quickly added, "It looks a lot worse than it is, don't worry. I just need to clean it and cover it so it doesn't get infected." I sighed. My brother was fine. "So, when do you think he'll get up?" I looked over at Ventus. "I have an idea," he said as he took something out of his satchel. It was a water pouch. I giggled. "Do it." Ventus bent over Fulgur, undid the water bag, and slowly tipped it. Finally, the clear fluid ran out and splashed onto Fulgur. "AAAHH!! WHAT THE HELL!!!!"  Ventus and I collapsed onto the ground with laughter. Fulgur blew out smoke. "Real funny you two! Haha!" But after a while,  he couldn't help but join in. We lay on the ground laughing for a very long time before getting up and brushing ourselves off. Fulgur was the first to speak. "So Ventus, what did you want to show us?" Ventus's face lit up immediately. "Follow me," he said excitedly while walking into the cave.

           Fulgur and I looked at him. Ventus sighed. "It's perfectly safe, come on." We followed him. After walking for about 30 minutes, Ventus put up his hand. "Hold on. Let me go ahead." Fulgur and I nodded as Ventus walked into the darkness. We waited. And waited. And waited. "Shouldn't we go check on him? He's been gone a while." I had begun to pace back and forth in the cave walkway. Fulgur sighed. "Let's give him a few more minutes, ok?" "Ok." They waited longer. I couldn't wait anymore. "I'm going after him!" Fulgur grabbed my forearm before I could leave. "Wait. I'm going with you." We ran in the direction where we saw Ventus go. Finally, we saw why he hadn't come back. 

         He was face down in front of a large, once beautiful, tree. It had once had large blossoms and sweet delicious fruit, but now had only sagging limbs and vile black ooze running down it's trunk. "VENTUS!" I dashed after his body. I gently lifted his head off the ground. Black ooze, the same that was on the tree, was covering his face and chest.  Fulgur ran over and gasped in horror at his friend. "Ventus!" He called his name to no avail. "VENTUS PLEASE!"  I heard a soft groan. "Fulgur? Tarin?" Ventus awoke, groaning as he strained to get up. Fulgur and I helped him. I looked at the black ooze covering him in horror. "Ventus, what is all over you? WHY is it on you?" Ventus looked down. "WHAT!!!! GET IT OFF OF ME!!!" Ventus panicked, trying desperately to get the ooze off of himself. But instead of wiping off, the ooze just spread, now covering Ventus' arms and legs. 

       Ventus screamed. "WATER!! GET THE WATER!!! HURRY!!!" I hurried and dug into Ventus' satchel and retrieved the water pouch. I dashed back to Ventus and thrust the water pouch towards him. "HERE!!" Ventus took the water pouch and poured the water on himself. Finally, the black ooze receeded. Ventus sat down and sighed. I sat beside him. "Ventus, what was that stuff." Ventus looked at me. "I... I don't know. But what I do know is, it did THAT," he pointed at the tree, "So I didn't want to see what it might've done to me had it been on me long enough." I stared at the tree that Ventus had mentioned. It was huge, several dragons high, and almost as wide as my Dining Hall. I gasped. "IT'S HUGE!!" Ventus gave a dry laugh. "Huge is an understatement."

Fulgur came from the back of the cave and sat between Ventus and I. "So, uh, is THIS what you wanted to show us," he asked, jerking his wing in the trees direction. Ventus shook his head. "No. Well, kinda. When I first saw this place, it was beautiful. It had flowers everywhere, strange colorful birds, sweet fruit, and glittering pools of water everywhere. But now..." He trailed off. I looked over to Fulgur, who was deep in thought. Suddenly, he gasped and stood abruptly. Ventus and I jumped. "Exactly! I knew I had seen this stuff somewhere before!" Fulgur ran over to the tree. Ventus and I followed close behind. "Um, what do you mean brother," I asked, fearing that my brother had gone mad. He looked at me, a glint of triumph in his eyes. "This ooze, I've seen it before, in one of moms books." 

I stared at him as he got a vile out of his bag and collected some of the ooze. Ventus cleared his throat. "What IS it exactly?" Fulgur turned to him. "This ooze was created years ago, before we were born, when Lord Erickr was at his most powerful." Ventus and I flinched. Lord Erickr was the most feared dragon to have ever been born in Draolf. "This oozes purpose was to destroy all life in it's path. Water could be used to ward it away, but not for long. It caused more destruction than Lord Erickr did himself. It took years, but Lord Erickr was sealed away deep inside the heart of a mountain, his ooze dying away soon after." We were silent for a long time. I finally spoke. "So if the ooze is returning, then that means Lord Erickr might have returned as well." Ventus gasped. "We have to do something!" Fulgur grabbed Ventus' satchel and handed it to him. "We are, we're telling the queen." 

With that said, we rushed out of the cave and took flight towards the castle, anxious to do something before it was too late.