The Hovering Ingress: The Hidden World

Chapter 8

A Testing Battle

The Next Sune Cycle

Marsh quietly rested in one of the many caves in Mender's Den, slowly beginning to gain consciousness. As soon as Jasar returned from the strange tunnel, the other three were explained to about the previous events. They quickly got themselves to rest elsewhere in the cave, since they had nowhere else to go. A new sune cycle had come with new experiences along with it. An ophoris quietly walked into the room, careful to not disturb the felines too badly from their sleep. Its markings were on its neck and ankles and its tail was feathered. It had horns sprouted out of the top of its head and they were jagged. The gray fur on its body seemed to be a little brownish, a weird combination with its teal markings. Stepping past a few leaf piles, it easily got to the group, lowering its head to them. It stared at them for a short while before gently nudging Marsh. He flinched and quickly got up, shaking himself and looking around in confusion. Once he found the ophoris, he turned toward it and his eyes started to glow.

"Uh, who might you be?" He asked.

"My name is not needed at the moment. However, I am indeed here to retrieve... one of you, who I am not entirely sure..."

The male lynx furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head a little.

"You... wouldn't happen to be a Sinister in disguise, would you?"

Immediately the ophoris reared its head back with an offended look on its face.

"No! I am not a Sinister, I don't have a single ounce of insanity in my veins, let alone a single patch of fur missing! Have you even seen those hideous things?! I wouldn't even want to associate myself as a species close to them!"

Its outburst caused the others to startle awake, looking around in confusion, Xengu's fur puffing up.

"Sinister? Where?" She growled, then squinted at the ophoris in front of them.

The ophoris' fur bristled, and it let out an exasperated growl, close to a roar.

"I am not a Sinister! How have none of you seen a Sinister yet? You arrived the very sune cycle they recently attacked!"

"Listen, I'm sorry I assumed, but we've only seen glances of Sinisters, never full-fledged good looks of them, so we don't know what they look like. Never the less, whether or not if they live on Fulgor's Island," Marsh quickly growled, holding up his hands a little reluctantly.

The ophoris then relaxed a little, then dipped its head and sat down.

"I guess they rushed you to safety so of course you never got to really look at them," it said with a sigh. "Anyway, now that I have awakened all of you, I have something I need to explain as to why I'm here."

The other two curled up by the alert felines, who stared at the ophoris with deep intent.

"So... what is it that you want?" Favi sleepily asked, rubbing an eye.

"I was told by Merit to retrieve one of you for a test battle. What for I have no idea, but obviously it was a big deal, so she told me every detail about one of you. However, I think I may have dozed while she was explaining and so now, I have no idea who to take with me. So I think I'm going to take all of you with me to Arena Rocks."

Silently the four stared at the ophoris with blank gazes, confusion slowly crossing Jasar's eyes.

"What are Arena Rocks?" He asked.

"It's a large ring of rocks we have decided to use as arena grounds, especially if we decide to have small battles to up our skills in a fight. The warriors around here don't use it to train though."