Journey to Sacrum City: Meeting

Jade took cautious footsteps, talons clicking on the stone beneath her feet. Neo moved her torch around near the walls, making sure they were not in danger.

The two had been walking through the Sacrum cavern systems for about an hour and a half, trying to get to Sacrum City. They’d of course gotten lost along the way, taking a wrong turn after their map had fallen into a puddle and got soaked, forcing them to leave it behind. It had taken the bulk of their time in the caves to figure out that mistake and correct it.

Now that Neo was certain they were going the right way, they trekked onward at a faster pace than before, having heard that the local cave monsters were more active at night.

Jade, being nocturnal, had no trouble seeing in the dark. Neo on the other hand had issues with seeing to begin with, her red eyes not helping much with that. Hence the lit torch in her left hand, right hand free. The bag on Neo’s back was packed with small essentials and some food, while Jade’s slightly larger saddle bag held some of the larger items. Jade didn’t enjoy lugging around something so heavy, but she knew it would benefit them in the end, so she pushed through.

As the two continued their journey, Jade began to feel… strange. As if they weren’t alone.

She heard scuffling nearby.

Stopping and turning her head got Neo’s attention, causing her rider to stop as well.

“What is it?”

Jade sniffed the air, trying to pick up any unusual scents. Not much.

She furrowed her brow, but turned back to face the direction they had previously been going, and continued walking. She kept her guard up however, not wanting to be caught unaware.

A little bit further ahead, a shadow moved just out of sight, right at the edge of the torch’s light reach. Neo stepped back, silently snarling. Jade swung her tail in front of her partner protectively, eyes locked on the spot that the shadow had just been.

Claws clicked on the stone floor in the distance, drawing closer with each quick breath Jade breathed. Whipping around, she caught sight of a pair of bright blue eyes darting out of sight.

“Who’s there?” Jade’s call boomed and echoed in the nearly silent cave, but the footsteps didn’t stop.

They seemed to be circling the pair, and it sounded like there was more than one being surrounding them. After a few more seconds of fearful quiet, Jade locked her eyes on one of the moving shadows and lunged. It leapt out of the way just in time, leaving Jade to snap at the air where it had been.

“Show yourselves!” Jade called again, finally receiving a response.

“Woah, chill dude!”

A very dark-colored raptor strode into view, and behind him was another, somewhat lighter colored raptor. The two kept their eyes on Jade, who had taken a defensive stance in front of Neo.

“Who are you?” Jade growled.

“My name’s Tiko.” The darkest raptor chirped.

“And I’m Tuk.” The second one followed shortly after.

Looking closer, Jade could now see their colors of -plumage now that they had stepped into the torch’s light range.

Tiko was actually a dark blue color, with some lighter blue on his topside and a prominent yellow under his neck and on his face.

Tuk was a dark brown, with green where Tiko was blue. A grey patch covered each side of his face.

“And why are you following us around?” Jade inquired.

Tuk seemed rather timid, but Tiko stepped forward to answer for him.

“We’re not specifically following you guys, we just decided to tag along and see where you were going!”

Tuk spoke up. “We’re actually kind of lost. Our home is much different from this cave system, we’re only here to see what all the rumors were about this place. People say there’s actually a city laying in a giant skeleton down here.”

“Yes, there is. It’s called Sacrum city, and it is indeed sat in a giant skeleton of a creature long passed.” Jade replied, starting to feel less nervous. “We were just on our way there, when you two started making noise.” Jade said that last bit with a hint of salt.

“Oh, well we’re sorry for disturbing you guys. We just wanted to be safe from the monsters also said to live down here.” Tuk said quietly.

“The monsters don’t usually come this far out, we’re pretty safe.” Jade replied.

Just as each party member went silent for a moment, roars and snarls broke out into echoes around them. Tiko and Tuk jumped, ready to begin running if need be, while Jade flared her wings out and circled around Neo, able to grab her and take off at a moment’s notice.

Voices could also be heard, but they were shouting. Some in pain, some in anger. What was going on?

“We’d better get to the city, it must be close by!” Jade shouted over the noise to the two raptors. She picked up Neo in her beak, who seemed startled by all this herself, and placed her on her saddle and ran. Tiko and Tuk followed closely behind. Jade, being nocturnal, was able to see in the darkness fine, but Tiko, Tuk, and Neo could not. She blasted her firebreath in order to light up the area around them, making it easier to see where they were going.

After a bit more running, They began to see a flickering light up ahead. Rounding a corner, they were met with a horrific sight. Sacrum city, the one they had spoken of earlier, was under attack. Strange shadows darted throughout the area, lit up by the flames consuming the outer defenses. Citizens cried out in fear from within the heart of the city, even able to be heard from all the way out here.

“We have to do something!” Neo leapt off of Jade’s saddle and rummaged through the saddlebag for her weaponry. Jade signalled to Tiko and Tuk, silently asking if they were prepared. The two raptors nodded, setting their stance. Neo finally pulled out her blades, snapping the ends together to create one weapon. Jade screeched at the nearest beast, getting it’s attention.

The beast turned, snarling with it’s ugly, slobbery jaws and ran at the group. Jade leapt up and slashed it with her talons, earning a horrific whine from the creature. Neo ran past it and into the fray of battle, ready to assist the city’s defense forces in the fight. Tiko and Tuk stayed with Jade, using their unique skillsets combined to team up against the bigger monsters. The fight was in full swing now.