Crystalline Dreams | An Original Story

Rough Beginnings

"Ok, he's in sight. Ready, Bane?"

Monikka's voice was hushed as the two hid behind some bushes. Her friend nodded, eyeing the resting thief a few feet in front of them, whom was just out of earshot. Monikka's coin pouch was clutched tightly in the winged man's hand.

Monikka tensed as the man looked around, faintly catching a sigh of relief before he sat down, convinced he was safe that far from the village. He had snatched her pouch when her and Ailsen were at the market, and she had caught sight of him running away with it. ,Only a few trees could be seen before the land dropped into a sea of grassy plains.

After about a minute, Monikka grabbed her spear. "Three, two, one-" she whispered.

"Go!"

The two lept out of the shrubbery, Ailsen with his rapier in his hand. The quick rustle of leaves was soon drowned out with a series of grunts as the two tackled the thief.

The coin pouch was dropped onto the ground. Monikka grabbed it quickly as Ailsen put his needle thin sword to the man's throat, pinning him down. The girl stood up with her reclaimed coin pouch, looking down at the thief.

The guy couldn't have been much older than her and Ailsen, maybe nineteen or twenty years of age. His reddish-brown hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, held up by a tightly wrapped strand of twine. He bore a few scratches and such on his face, probably from running through the forest a few moments prior.

A few freckles dotted his cheeks and a maroon red scarf was wrapped around his neck. He wore trousers and a white button up shirt like Ailsen, but his were slightly stained.

His wings, which were quite large, were speckled with various shades of brown and a few black feathers towards the tops.

The thief looked at his attackers, his eyes filled with more emotions than Monikka could read. About a minute passed of exchanging glances between each other before he sighed.

"Fine, you win." He grumbled. Ailsen went to move his rapier away from the man's neck, but Monikka stopped him.

"No no no, wait a second," she said, crouching down. "Were not just going to let you go, idiot."

The guy looked at her, squinting as the sun shone down through the trees. "Then what do you want? I can't really do much with a sword to my throat." Ailsen blinked through his discomfort in the situation.

"Well, I'm sorry I don't trust you after you stole my money, sweetheart." Monikka sighed. "Anyways, you need this," -She motioned towards the pouch- "For something, obviously. No offense, but I think the two of us can tell you're not really a thief."

Ailsen cleared his throat, quietly joining the conversation. "That's... Only you, Monikka."

She rolled her eye. "Fine. /I/ can tell that you're not really a thief."

"Ouch-" The man replied sarcastically. "Maybe I just /wanted/ to take the da-"

"Liar." Monikka cut him off. "A terrible one, too. Y'know, it wouldn't hurt to just tell the truth." She replied in a tone she would use whilst talking to a child, almost in a teasing manner. "Now let's try this again."

With a moment of hesitation, the man finally replied. "... I'm on my way somewhere... And I ran out of money, so I just kinda... Stole it from the nearest person. Or tried to, obviously." He glared at Monikka, and then shifted his gaze between her and Ailsen. The feathers behind Ailsen's ear quivered as a breeze blew through the trees.

Monikka nodded. "There we go." She smiled faintly. "So where we you headed?"

Another pause before the reply.

"... Sagein."

The girl's thin, feather-tipped tail flicked. "Really? That's funny- we're headed there too. Still a ways away, though." She sighed. "Say, what's your name?"

Both Ailsen and Monikka perked up in curiousity.

"Caphriel. Chessking."

/Chessking? Chessking... She'd heard that name before, but she couldn't recall when or where she had heard it...\

Monikka nodded. "Well then, maybe we could all travel together. Whadya say, Caphriel?" She smirked. Ailsen cocked an eyebrow up at her, trusting his friend's judgement, but keeping some of his suspicion close. Caphriel looked up at Monikka as Ailsen finally sheathed his rapier again. He sighed before cracking a small smile.

"Sounds good to me."

Ailsen glanced at Monikka with a hint of distrust in the thief before them, and for good reasons too. He understood the reasoning behind Monikka's choice, to let the other travel with them- but his gut told him otherwise. He always felt like that in a new situation.

Caphriel stood up, brushing himself off and adjusting his scarf.

"So, how are we gonna get off this island? Do you have a ship or something?"

Ailsen sighed as Monikka smirked.

"No, I have a better idea."

The winged man blinked. "If this has something to do with me flying, then it's not happening." He grumbled.

"No, no- not at all." Monikka chuckled before turning towards the sea of clouds. A small ship could be seen docked on the side of the island.

"It has something to do with /that/."

•

And that wraps up episode one and my trash writing skills, woOP!🙌

This took a while to write, but I've had this scene running through my head for MONTHS, so it was a bit easier.

Anyways, I don't have much to say for now, so I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! The second will be released in the near future. Thanks for reading! ^-^