A New Night

Romalla’s Rescue

Under cover of night and with a full belly, I glided over the city again, searching for the building of colors. I noted the large number of trees in the dwellings of the gods, seemingly placed in those places on purpose. Trees with fruit with were on the buildings, as well as on the ground. Curiously, I saw a few gods take these trees’ fruit and eat it directly. So they lived as fruit bats now … as if they had fully completed the cycle only to return to living as animals once again. I tried not to think about how disgusting the animal food must have tasted.

Instead, I focused on my search. It took some flying over the dwellings, but I eventually found what I was looking for. The colorful structure was located near a tame jungle, separated by a grass field from the other dwellings.

I flew toward the building and circled it, clicking in search of any sign of Scraa and Dro. An admittedly somewhat cruel idea occurred to me, and I let out a shriek. This elicited a pained demon moan. I flew toward the source, a grove of trees just outside the colorful building. A shadow ducked behind a bush as I landed on a low tree branch and hung upside-down.

“Quit hiding. This is urgent!” I scolded, remarking on a behavior that Bassello would later classify with amusement as them being ‘fraidy cats.’ (In his account, the gods of old kept miniature, feral versions of the Hunters as companions in their homes. Admittedly, this did seem like an amusing proposition, and their fur was rather soft. This also vindicated my belief of the inherent strength of the Night People, as he confessed that vampire bats could never really be kept in such a way by his kind.)

Dro and Scraa emerged from the night shadows of the trees. When I saw them, their eyes were wide. They looked as if they had looked upon Magolla, the goddess sun, for many days. They held what looked like squared white leaves covered in odd patterns.

“Romalla,” Scraa said, his face nearly blank. “You must be quiet, even if it’s hard for you. This place is a center of magical power.”

I scowled at his snide remark.

Dro nodded in agreement, however, and presented to me what seemed like bits of colorful bark that bound together more of the odd leaves. “The Alpha Predators created these to teach power to their young ones. They mark the leaves with symbols to communicate messages. The Alpha Predators have used the symbols to map out the stars so that one might never be lost, even in the infinite sea! There is the wisdom of mending bodies beyond even that of Bassello. They teach children how to fight and create healing tonal sounds. They mark down stories of indirect meaning that teach power. I only need decipher the markings on the leaves, and I will be able to unlock so many secrets.”

“And there are dragons!” Scraa said, showing a leaf similar to the carvings the Hunters had on the stones in their kingdoms. Portrayed was a giant and appetizing-looking lizard that projected flames from its mouth.

“That is not what dragons look like,” I replied, with much-deserved irritation at his ignorance. I had seen the dragons of the sea which herded the bloodbags upon our island, and they certainly did not breathe fire. “Anyways, it is not the time for your ‘magic’ tree leaves. The Queen made it up the frozen vine, and I can’t find Bassello anywhere.”

“The Queen,” Dro said, placing the papers and books into a pink pouch on the ground. He then closed the bag and strapped it to his back, putting his arms through the loops. Scraa also picked one up that was orange and slightly smaller. Dro lifted his head high as if to perceive where she might be. Maybe he could smell her or sense her evil aura; I didn’t know. “Yes, she’s here.”

“We need to find Bassello,” I said.

Dro shook his head and began to walk. “We must confront the Queen before she has a chance to access any of the secret knowledge of this place. Otherwise, she will take the tools of power and use them to expand her empire.” Then, without another word, he sprinted off toward the dwelling of the gods.

I watched the impatient demon go with my jaw agape and then looked at Scraa. “Are you the only Hunter who is not a complete fool?”

“Am I?” Scraa made a sort of smile, almost like an uncomfortable reflection of Bassello’s. The imitation was admittedly cute, yet the similarity caused me unexpected agitation.

I shook my head and said, “We must convince Dro to find Bassello.”

Scraa scrunched up his face like he wanted to protest. I stopped him with a look, and he backed down. He took off running on all four legs while I took my place on his back—sinking my claws into the padded orange straps of his mobile pouch so that I did not fall. We ran for several minutes, passing from the grove, to the beach, and then upon dark places between the various mountainous dwellings of the gods.

When we finally reached Dro, he was staring up between two towers. There he watched a torrent of gods, strange flying objects, and lights surrounding a dwelling that looked indistinct from any of the others. When Scraa stepped next to Dro, however, it was like walking into a heavy fog that saturated our minds and souls—a dark cloud made of dizzying despair and confusion. I knew this feeling; it was the same one I’d felt when the demons had targeted Bassello and me in the jungle. So I began humming a melody to block out the darkness.

It seemed the gods had already found the Queen and her demons, who had taken residence in that sizeable brown dwelling. Some of the gods who entered after her were stone-like and hollow like Bassello, while others seemed made of flesh like the one I drank from earlier. All were dressed in yellow as they went in and out of the many entryways.

Then, a god with brown flesh stumbled out of an entryway with a wild look in their eyes. Flying stone gods with yellow lights approached this confused flesh god. However, the confused god clawed at them like an animal. Then, a flying stone god flew out a window and began flying directly into the sky. More of the flying gods chased it.

Finally, a demon stuck its head out of the dwelling. It held something long in its hand, like a silvery vine. It pulled on this vine until it revealed another one of the yellow flying creatures like the ones that had just flown off. The demon fastened it into place, almost like Bassello had done to pull fish out of the water. Then, the demon moved its lips while dancing its tail before the god. Then, the demon moved to the next window with another of the same flying yellow gods tied to a silver vine.

Some floating gods tried to approach the one stuck in the window. When they did, the bound god released an arc of lightning in their direction, striking the closest one and sending it plummeting to the ground. This god shattered into pieces when it hit the stone street. The surviving gods pulled away and hovered at a safe distance.

“We’re too late,” Dro said grimly.

Scraa’s jaw hung open.

“I told you!” I said, trying to sound angry but honestly in too much awe that the gods seemed so ill-equipped to deal with the demons. How could these people, even if not divine, not be able to deal with the demons when the numbers were in their favor! Bassello and I had dealt with more demons than this by ourselves. We needed Bassello to explain to the gods how to defeat them.

Dro gave an urgent look. “You were right; we need Bassello.”

“Obviously!” I hissed, resisting the urge to claw his face one good time.

“The last we saw him, he was chasing you,” Dro said, cocking his head to the side. I could sense him trying to pry into my mind. “Where did he go?”

I let out a good screech, which pushed his probing, dark energy away. Then I replied, “He wanted to find a way to fight the Golems, the monsters who visited our home. But he seemed lost.” I didn’t describe the rest of what happened, that he had been in great despair. I realized that I felt a distinct feeling of shame over the matter. But I didn’t know how to address these feelings … and there wasn’t time.

“There is a place that the Alpha Predators say to go to when you are lost,” Scraa said with bright eyes. He opened the pink pouch he kept his bound leaves in and began to search through it. Then he found a particularly colorful depiction of a visibly wounded god with a sad expression going into a dwelling. This dwelling was tall and white, with intersecting red lines in front of it.

I had seen those lines! “I’ve seen a building that looks like that,” I said, pointing at the colorful paper with my claw. I spread my wings and flew, going just slow enough for Scraa and Dro to follow. It was somewhat easier not to be seen due to the commotion; the gods were much too occupied with the attack to worry about the three of us sneaking through the dark.

After a few minutes, I saw the red intersecting lines from before. I flew straight up and then around the dwelling. I looked into each visible room for any sign of Bassello. I did not see him, but my clicks and shrieks revealed something familiar about the outer wall of the dwelling. I flew back to the Hunters and dropped onto the ground in front of them.

Dro, however, had found something. He pointed to the ground, where there were three small divots in the rock the size and shape of Bassello’s clawed feet. Dro said, “We must enter and find him quickly,” Dro said. He beckoned us to follow him around the dwelling until we reached a large, bright entrance. He pointed at a door that opened, as if by magic, for all the gods who passed before it.

I flew to perch on Dro’s shoulder and whispered, “The gods will surely see us. I think it best if I am the one who speaks to them. After all, your kind has already attacked them.”

Dro shrugged and began his walk toward the door. For a moment, I feared that the magic doors would deny us entrance, but they opened for us just as easily as for the gods. So we entered and found ourselves in a white room with surfaces, several sitting gods, and a blinding amount of light from the ceiling.

We were met by a god with warm brown skin who wore something white like thin fur. It was similar to how the Servants used skins to cover themselves from the elements. Several dozen more gods also looked at us from further inside the room. These wore different materials and patterns. The god in white looked at us with wide eyes.

“I am Romalla,” I said, peering at him. “Priest of the Sleeping God, Bassello. We are searching and must find him immediately. Otherwise, the demons may very well reduce your city to ruin and cause it to fall from the sky!”

With my final word, Dro lifted his staff and smashed it on the floor hard enough to shatter the square stone we stood on. This caused the creature in white, along with other gods who had walked in to see us, to gasp and take several steps back. Then, one of them pressed a red stone.

Immediately, two gods made of stone appeared. Like Bassello, they walked on two large legs and seemed proportioned like the gods of flesh. Unlike Bassello, however, these were larger and had soft-looking claws like those of crabs. It did not take much thought to figure out what those soft pincers were for.

“They’re trying to capture us!” I shouted.

The first stone god ran towards us with its soft pincers extended.

Dro arched his staff over his head and slammed it upon the crab-god’s claw.

I launched myself into the air, circled around the room, rolled, and kicked the crab-god in the face. This knocked it further off-balance.

Dro followed this up with a sweeping staff strike to the backs of its legs, which sent it crashing to the ground. We regarded each other for a moment; I think both of us were surprised at the success of our coordinated efforts. Then we turned around when we heard a yelp.

The second crab-god had its soft pincers wrapped around Scraa!

I screeched and dive-bombed the god—to no effect since it had not been knocked off-balance. Still, I attacked again and then a third time.

The crab-god opened a hole in its own chest and extended what looked like an ultra-thin transparent fang, like that of a serpent. The tooth pierced Scraa’s skin as he hissed in fear. Then, venomous liquid moved through the transparent tooth into him. Within seconds, Scraa stopped moving and was released by the crab-god.

“Scraa!” I screamed and dove onto his unmoving body. I found myself unable to do anything but shield his heavy body as the venomous tooth descended again. I cringed, heard Dro’s deafening roar, and then felt a ringing explosion. I opened my eyes to see what had happened.

Dro’s staff hovered where the crab-god’s head had been. I felt an icy hurricane of dark power begin to brew around him. It made my skin burn and my muscles tremble uncontrollably. It filled the room so suddenly and overwhelmingly that everyone froze. The Hunter’s dark powers promised death and blood in words that one could only understand through their beating heart and the fur standing stiffly on the back of their neck. The gods were going to die for what they had done; I knew it.

Then, Scraa pulled in a sleepy breath.

“He’s alive!” I shouted.

My words seemed to wash away the frosty torrent that filled the room. I bowed my head and pressed both ears to Scraa’s chest. There was a sleeping heartbeat, and it did not seem to be slowing. “The venom only put him into a sleep.”

Dro seemed to be taken off-guard. He awkwardly nodded as if none of what had just happened were real. Then, he turned away from me and faced the door silently.

I groaned in exasperation and said, “You’ll need to carry him so we can find Bassello and-” Then, I was cut off by a gust of air and something piercing my side. I looked down and saw a miniature of the same venomous tooth, now empty and piercing my leg.

The world began to spin. Around us, floating yellow emergency stones entered through holes in the corner of the room that I hadn’t noticed before. They spat at least five teeth at Dro, and he fell.

Then, another god appeared out of the mist. She looked different from all the others, with fur on her head and coverings that did not match the ones the other gods wore. Maybe it was my haze and the venom which confused my vision, but she seemed to apparate from nothing. Yet she seemed so real in my haze.

I couldn’t think. The darkness was filling my senses because the sun was now up. The jungle pulled me into the ocean, where the waves would not let go. Then I was swimming weightlessly in a gentle and dragonless sea.