The Kingdom

Safe Travels

The powerful beast took off with a strong beat of her wings. Zoe scanned the sky to find the tailwinds. She noticed that a portion of the clouds were going faster in a certain direction than the rest. She gestured Tol to fly up towards the tailwind and in a matter of seconds, they were met with crisper and colder wind that blew against their backs.  The wind blew under Tol's wings, giving her more lift and acceleration. In a few minutes, a smaller, yet large island came into view. "We're here, Tol!" she exclaimed, soon followed by the Hyabum's growl; the growl both confused and scared Zoe. "What's wrong? Why don't you like it here?"
   
There was no response to the teen's question. She felt her winged companion tense up as they neared the island. "It'll be quick, okay? I promise," Zoe assured. They landed and she hopped off. Almost immediately, Tol let out a loud roar and got in front of Zoe. This caused the whole kingdom to turn its attention. "Hey! Calm down! I don't see what's wrong with this place!" Suddenly, a whole mob of what looked like royal guards came swarming around them with spears, swords, and axes. Tol's fur raised at the very tip, her back arched like a steep hill.

"Ma'am, we ask you to please step away from the beast," ordered one of the guards.

Zoe stood taller to protest. "No! You don't understand! She's with me! She doesn't mean any harm!"

They looked at each other, then back at her. "Ma'am, plea―"

In a flash, Tol had already snapped from what's been irritating her and pounced on the Viveren guards. "Tol! Stop it!" Zoe yelled, a rush of panic flowing through her body. However, the humongous beast showed no sign of ceasing her attack.

"Get the ropes! Immobilise the beast!" ordered who seemed like the leader. Their armor was a solid silver with laces of gold near the edges. Their helmets obscured the view of the top half of their faces, casting a shadow over their eyes. As if they were computers, they retreated emotionlessly back into their base to grab their resources. In no time, they came out with no regular rope. Instead, it had the texture of your average rope, but they had heavy metals on the ends to hold a large beast, in this case Tol, down.

Zoe wasn't at all happy. "Stop it! Let me calm her down!"

No one listened.

"Throw!" ordered the commander, and they threw a noose around the Hyabum's neck and pulled her down. This caused a loud thud throughout the island, almost shaking it. A painful whimper escaped her throat, but she still had anger to lash out. Her front claws clawed at the strong rope, but it wouldn't tear. Tol thrashed around, whipping her tail. Anything to wriggle herself out of the hurtful, itching rope.

She tried to again to get their attention once more. "Please! Stop it!" Only to be met by a shove from #one of them.

Mercilessly, one guard held their spear firm in their paws. "No! Please don―"

"What is this all about?" yelled a feathery winged Vivere from behind. "Did anyone send you to come after Civs?" His wings flared upwards, making himself look larger. There was a red cloak on him, so Zoe couldn't see him well.

The guards looked dumbfounded at this new Vivere, but they excessively apologised, begging for forgiveness. One brought up the courage to reply back. "N-No, Sir."

Then two other figures came down with the first one, and they had the exact same wings as him except for one. The other had only one wing. "Then why are you attacking?"

"We saw this as a hostile entity. As guards of the Malus, we―"

"As guards of Malus, you should follow bloody orders before you make haste to your actions!" screamed another winged Vivere. This time, he only hand one functioning black wing to raise. The other was scalded to the flesh. He had a black feather attached to a headband that waved in the wind.