The Wraith's Lament: Retold: Chapter 1: Spook

Smoke hung heavy in the air, making it difficult to breathe, even for the element-breathing dragons carrying their riders through what was called “The Edge Of The World” by many.

 

All around the group were massive volcanic structures, most leaking magma from their openings and cracks in the stone. The sky was dark, which would normally indicate the nighttime, but it was harder to tell in such an environment. Not that it really mattered to most, they had bigger concerns to be worried about.

 

The three riders and their stryx had been tasked with locating and trapping a rather large, mysterious runner of some sort. It had first been identified by the Taura-Naji camp nearby, describing something lurking in the nearby forests, its eyes glowing a striking red while a dangerous, red haze seemed to emit from its body. The camp had been wary of this unidentified beast, but was caught by surprise when it attacked them. The Taura-Naji fought back, and once the intruder realized they were outnumbered, they fled. Fortunately, after a few inquiries by Kali, Sol’s city forces general, the Taura-Naji warrior guarding the makeshift recovery camp confirms that no-one was bitten by this monster. Good, that means whatever it was infected with didn’t spread to anyone. Yet.

 

Now, the three riders stayed put on the backs of their stryx while the dragons glided their way cautiously through the treacherous skies before them. Neo, the brightly-colored Draco Aves, looked around for any danger from atop the saddle of Jade, her harpia. Haseo, the feline-esque rider, was sat comfortably on his corva, Ruin’s saddle, taking the lead to scout the area ahead. A small companion struggled to keep up with the pair. The last of the group, Raisa, another feline rider, and her small harpia, Nutmeg, were hanging back to keep the area behind them in check.

 

The group of six (technically seven) continued at a cautious pace, maneuvering through the air around lava geysers and rock structures blocking their path. Finally, after another few minutes of no sign of movement, someone spoke up.

 

“We should split up, we’ll have a better chance of finding this… thing if we cover more ground.” Haseo practically shouted over the sound of a nearby geyser spewing lava into the air. Ruin had been instructed to stop, hovering in place.

 

“Yeah, but what if it finds one of us instead? Then we’ll all be separated with no one around to help if things go wrong.” Raisa yelled from the back of the group.

 

“Haseo’s right, we’ll find this thing sooner and get back to the others if we split up. We all know how to fend for ourselves, right? And we have our stryx with us, so as long as they don’t get bitten, we should be fine.” Neo reasoned. Raisa sighed in agitation, but complied. They had no time to fight about this. The three determined the direction each of them would take, and were off on their own.

“I don’t understand them, truly. Split up? Why would that be a good idea?! We’re on the hunt for who-knows-what kind of stryx, is it even a stryx? Who knows. Nutmeg, you agree with me, right?” Raisa ranted to herself, finally remembering her companion beneath her.

 

Nutmeg chirped consolingly. The harpia didn’t usually agree one way or the other, in favor of being ambiguous in her opinions and not choosing sides, so not to hurt anyone. Raisa often joked that Nutmeg needed to grow a spine, saying “sometimes you need to hurt people’s feelings in order to do what is right.” Nutmeg knew this was true, but it still upset her when someone else was also upset because of her.

 

Raisa patted Nutmeg’s neck gently, suddenly spotting something on the ground below. It was fast, whatever it was, and it was big. It left a faint trail of red in its wake.

 

“Nutmeg, descend. Be careful, there’s something down there.” Raisa instructed her stryx, who obeyed. Nutmeg instantly went into alert mode, scanning the ground as they flew lower and lower.

Ruin cawed in discomfort as Haseo scanned the land below for any signs of life.

Nothing.

Haseo was about to say something when Ruin swerved suddenly, narrowly avoiding being hit by another erupting geyser. Haseo shifted in his seat as it happened, legs suddenly dangling off of Ruin’s left side as he slanted his wings to avoid the magma. Nyx, Haseo’s little companion, screeched in fear as Haseo’s hands slipped, letting go of the saddle and plummeting to the rocky outcrop underneath them. Ruin righted himself and dove down, attempting to catch his rider. He folded his wings as close to his body as he could, picking up speed. At the last moment he snapped them open, lunging for his rider with his outstretched talons. He clipped the edge of his clothing, just barely out of his grasp. The world seemed to slow down, yet everything happened so quickly. Something darted past Ruin’s vision, big and fast enough to offset him with the backdraft from their dive. It grabbed Haseo in its talons, just barely missing being impaled by a large spire reaching up from the ground. Ruin stared in shock as Jade, Neo on her back, beat her wings hard to hover above Ruin and drop Haseo back into his saddle.

 

“Whew, you alright there?” Neo asked Haseo. Haseo nodded. He was a bit shaken, but otherwise unharmed.

 

“Jade! I thought you guys were on your own?” Ruin chirped at Jade.

 

“We were, but we saw you headed for the active geysers, so we tried to warn you to turn back and find another place to look. You couldn’t hear us.” Jade replied to Ruin.

 

“Oh… well, thank you regardless, I don’t know what I’d do without Haseo.” Ruin thanked Jade. 

 

“Guys!” Everyone turned in the direction of the voice, only to see Nutmeg gliding to a screeching halt and hovering nearby.

 

“What’s wrong, Nutmeg?” Ruin cawed.

 

“There’s something down there, I think it’s what we’re looking for!” Raisa pointed to the ground, where something was moving, having followed the feline-harpia duo. It ducked into the outcropping of stalagmites below where Haseo had fallen, leaving a trail of red behind it.

 

“We’ll need to be careful, like, really careful. We saw what that infection-thing did to Grimm back at Sol, we don’t need anyone else ending up like him, or worse.” Neo warned.

 

“I’ll head down first, since Ruin’s the smallest and can maneuver better in the slim spaces.” Haseo motioned for his small companion, Nyx, to stay with the others, and for Ruin to dive, but quietly. The red trail couldn’t be seen anymore due to the magma oozing from between each stalagmite. If it was down there, it was sure to be hard to get at. The others watched him from above, keeping an eye out for danger.

Nothing so far, just lava and rocks.

 

Ruin’s head jerked around, looking for movement anywhere. He saw nothing but fire and death at every turn. Gods did he hate places like this.

Just then, someone yelled.

 

“Haseo, Ruin, look out!” Raisa and Neo both shouted. Haseo looked up, only to see the monster leaping from atop a hidden cliff behind him, blocked from view by the largest stalagmite in the bunch leaning over it. Ruin screeched, jerking out of the way, almost pitching Haseo off his back again, but the rider managed to keep his grip on the saddle. The rogue stryx just barely missed nicking Ruin’s flank with its razor-sharp talons, falling and grabbing into a stalagmite nearby. It leapt from spire to spire, chasing after the corva and his rider.

Haseo was about to call for help, before he heard the hissing of elemental breaths firing up. A fireball from Jade was launched at the attacker, knocking it down from the spire it had leapt to next. The monster fell down, scraping its shoulder on one of the smaller spikes on its way down. Nutmeg swooped closer to it, releasing a cloud of poisonous gas, one that was intertwined with small jolts of red lightning. The cloud absorbed the opponent stryx, settling on its feathers and turning into a thick, tar-like substance. The creature screamed in pain as the scent of melting feathers consumed the area around them. Raisa wanted to throw up at the stench, but had to focus on the situation at hand first.

The monstrous stryx that had fallen to the ground was injured, and in no fit state to fight. This meant they could bind the stryx while it was subdued and carry it back to Kali and the others for assessment.

 

“Come on guys, let’s get this thing out of here.” Neo instructed Jade to dive cautiously, making sure the enemy was down before closing in. Neo pulled ropes from her saddle compartment behind her, watching as Haseo did the same, and Raisa and Nutmeg headed for the ground.

Once everyone had landed, they approached the injured stryx carefully. It hissed loudly in defense, leaving its beak open, ready to lunge and bite at a moment's notice. Its feathers were tarred up and seared, but that was the least of their concerns right now. It had an open wound on its shoulder from the fall, blood bubbling at the surface from the heat of the area.

 

“We need someone to distract it while the others bind it.” Everyone but Haseo turned to look at Nyx, the small companion of Haseo’s who had tried their best to keep away from all the danger.

 

“Oh no you don’t, Nyx will not be a snack for that thing.” Haseo stamped his foot.

 

“Nyx doesn’t have to get too close, just keep its attention away from us for a little bit.” Neo said.

 

Haseo stared her down, but Neo didn’t budge from her standpoint.

 

“... Fine. Nyx, do your thing.” Haseo conceded, keeping a close eye on the now trembling companion.

 

“Ruin, Nutmeg, take these ropes and drag it over the torso, make sure to cover the wings too. We need it to be unable to move in order to bring it back safely.” Jade instructed after Neo handed a rope to the stryx.

 

“Here guys, while it’s watching Nyx, tie it up. It won’t stay like this for long, so be quick.

 

Ruin gulped, side-eyeing Jade as they all turned towards the injured stryx.

 

It was very large, much larger than any runner Ruin had ever seen. Was it a mutated raptor or something? No, it was missing the sickle claw and the pointed beak. This one had a rounder beak than a raptor, and its torso was shorter. Maybe a new breed?

 

The injured stryx kept its eyes on the approaching companion, not even noticing that Haseo had started sneaking towards it from behind, holding a rope out. Nyx got as close as possible before being snapped at by the stryx, who then had its beak roped closed by Haseo, who quickly tied the ends of the rope tight, but also loose enough not to hurt the beast too much. Ruin, Nutmeg, and Jade, with Neo and Raisa’s assistance, quickly confined the rest of the stryx’s body before it could get up and thrash around too much.

 

After the whole situation was said and done, the three stryx and their riders lifted off into the air, the two harpias carrying their bound cargo while Ruin guided the group out of the volcanic wastelands.

 

They finally landed back on solid, non-burning ground nearby the refugee camp for the Taura-Naji, placing the injured stryx on the ground carefully. Kali came running over, alongside her was the Taura-Naji warrior they’d spoken to earlier, and Tazmyn, who was forced to stay behind due to some urgent matters to attend.

 

“This is the monster?” Kali asked, looking at the stryx.

Jade shook the soot from her feathers as Neo slid out of her saddle.

 

“It is indeed, we managed to subdue and capture it. No one was bitten, although everyone’s a bit sick of the heat now.” Neo replied. Ruin and Nutmeg crouched down for their riders to dismount. Haseo had carried Nyx with him the whole way back, comforting the companion and praising his good work.

 

“Hmm, I see. It certainly has the same corruption elements that Grimm had been infected with. They must be connected.” Kali pondered. Tazmyn piped up.

 

“I fear they are also related to something much bigger. Something like… her.”

Tazmyn fell silent at the mention of the gendered word. Everyone knew what they meant by it, but no one wanted to acknowledge who she was. Finally, Kali broke the silence.

 

“Well, we should be getting this one back to Sol for purification I suppose. Maja should have her potions ready to at least calm them down. Then maybe we can figure out what they are, as I’ve never seen anything like them.”

 

The monstrous stryx growled as it was mentioned.

 

Everyone mounted up on their stryx, having the stronger of them lift the injured stryx into the air, and headed back to Sol for some answers.