Tyranny: Onwards

Chapter 117- Imzana

"I don't know how to better explain myself. However, sometimes I do remember the damage and the pain of the whole thing caused by you Humans and grow angry, but every time I begin to turn cold towards you, I remind myself how you are so different from them and seek only truths and honesty." Phoenix finishes.

I nod slightly and focus on walking, thankful for his open mind and lack of grudge towards me, Rin, and Hester. The ridge has risen closer quite rapidly. We are awaited back where we first set foot upon the obsidian together, where we first entered this seeming fantasy, to me it feels I shouldn't get too attached, as though it is a daydream, waiting for the sun to melt it away like frost on a window.

"What was with that...that creature?" the mosses below are thick and tall, cushioning each step in a tame, tender manner.

"I'm assuming you mean the deer and the spider from the other day?" I nod when he checks. "We call them Imzana, though never have I encountered one before and I can only make my best guess from tales told and from the drawings made in dirt of them. Basically, the spider either finds a carcass or kills a living thing, eats the insides as though gutting it, crawls inside, and somehow controls the body. We haven't been able to examine them very well so far, but we know they can squeeze into very cramped spaces easily. They also use webs to repair the body so it appears perfectly alive and well."

"Although, there is another similar creature but is born in the animal, so lets use the deer and spider we saw as an example. They always are spiders, but their 'mutations' need not find or make a 'case' from a deer, they are born like that. It's hard to explain since I myself don't even know much about it." Phoenix explains as we reach the wide set of switchbacks at last. "We also know that these mutations were caused by Siron, he created many creatures to follow him and that he could control, they're meant to be puppets, so now that they lack a master, they are even more dangerous." It seems as though everything in my world now connects to this mission of mine.

"I'm getting so sick of Siron," with a sigh I leap with him up the switchbacks, using it more as a ladder. He gives a laugh as we land lightly back to the tunnel entrance.

Genesis spots me immediately and tackles me, licking my face and seemingly hugging me, not allowing me to pry her off for a while.

"We should hurry, I wouldn't want them to worry." Phoenix smiles and helps me up, I still giggle and rub Genesis as we begin our peaceful trek back.

Would Rin really be so worried? Will she worry less about me now that she has Hester? 

In offense to our knowledge we should hurry, we now admire how the sun has only just reached its throne over us. Clouds seem to be skidding towards us from the East; where Siron lays, on a wind we can at last feel, brisk and refreshing, the blue sky is comforting in a way and down below the lush greens appear tender and welcoming.

"Hey, look at these flowers," I point out, the bunched black leaves are like silk and velvet, deep and thick, black as the rock in which they stand, the flowers are held on tall thin stems so stern of a gold hue, the petals range from white, purples, black, yellows, reds, blues and on. Each flower is not large or small, simply the right size.

"They're gorgeous! Still I can seem to find things in nature no one else has seen," Phoenix bends down beside me as I put a few fingers delicately under a low laying leaf wide as my palm, using my thumb to strong the soft and almost fuzzy surface in awe. The hue is not simply a deep purple, but a pure and utter black.

"Yeah, no kidding," I answer quietly, feeling settled with the fragile yet strong and sturdy beauty. It would've had to fight hard to seed here and bloom, yet it feels more delicate than water being held from spilling over in a glass by surface tension. I feel that if I allow my voice to raise too much, a petal could drop or a leaf could brown.

Genesis gives a sniff to them and sits next to me before we stand again to move onward still. The snows about the feet of the rock and coating the lands before us are brilliant and reflect the suns light, adding a glitter and sparkle here and there. I feel so untouchable and free up upon this forbidden and impossible place.

"There you two are." Aegis pops up unexpectedly right before me and I stumble back when my heart leaps from the scare and tingles tang in my fingers and toes. His face expresses only the tiniest signs of emotion as per usual. Only if you are observant or look purposefully could you figure him out at all.

I can't help but wonder if he tries to be like this, or if that's how he became like this, maybe it's simply how he has always been or is.

"You can't scare me like that Aegis!" I shout in frustration, peering down the steep drops on either side of us and imagining the possibilities.

"Sorry, I thought you would have seen or heard me coming," Aegis apologizes and sees Phoenix behind me, "run into any trouble? Did you find an easy way down?" the inquiry begins already.

Phoenix clears his throat, "well we killed a giganta scorpion, then found a wide path of switchbacks leading all the way down to the valley where there's a river and lush mosses, then I killed an Imzana, we slept, woke, then came straight back here." I get the odd sense that Phoenix is trying hard to impress or satisfy Aegis in some way.

"Giganta isn't a word." Aegis simply replies.

"Why can't we just air bend down?" I suggest.