"Hmm. Well either this is a very very smart duck, which means it'll be very good eating, or it's actually a human stuck in a ducks body. It knows Pi, Independence day, and what happens Dumbledore anyways. And it curses. Surprisingly, the only birds that curse are Canaries, Finches, and Bluebirds. So I think it might actually be a human." "human?! What?"
"Hmm. Well either this is a very very smart duck, which means it'll be very good eating, or it's actually a human stuck in a ducks body. It knows Pi, Independence day, and what happens Dumbledore anyways. And it curses. Surprisingly, the only birds that curse are Canaries, Finches, and Bluebirds. So I think it might actually be a human." "A human? Are you serious?"
human?! What? A human? Are you serious? "Well how many ducks do you know that can compute Pi and read Harry Potter? Only my owl, Athena, and my Great Auk, Einstein, do all that."
Marcus unknown of what was happening in the group was quite angered. He felt so angry, but he didn't know why. He thought he was angry with not being able to control the air correctly. He glanced over the trees and at one of the trees was a small mark. It was hollow from inside. Marcus moved closer to it and saw the mark. The mark was and M. The very kind of "M" he used to make. The very same. And for a second, endless reminiscences of his past came floating in his mind. The day his parents were killed. The day he swore to become stronger. The day he made this mark to signify that he had tried to destroy this tree. But he had failed.... "AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGHHH," yelled Marcus. He was so angered that he produced a very powerful storm. It had uprooted the trees over the area and then he saw. He saw a pit. Running, he jumped straight near the pit. The pit was now full of ugly creatures. He searched the place for a mark and he saw it. In his handwriting, it was written "Mother". "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Marcus shouted at the top of his voice. He fell to the side of it and lay, unconscious.
The duck proceeded to bite Terrance's hand, but he felt no pain from it, just pressure really. Then there was a conversation about how this duck was a human. "So if its a human duck, then it probably hates me right about now," he walked over to Aves and placed the duck on his head, "there ya go." All of a sudden a powerful breeze swept over them and he thought he heard the cracking of uprooting trees, "is there a draft in here or something?" "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" "That doesn't sound good," he rushed over to where the sound of the voice had come from and he found a pit, he looked inside and disgusting creatures were within, they didn't look like those shadow warriors, but they stank of decay, they were dead. He continued to look about and saw what looked like Marcus. "Hey! Marcus!" He jumped in and ran over to him, he was out cold, he hefted him back up and jumped out of the pit, running straight back to camp he shouted out, "Jules, first-aid, now!"
Britney hit the ground like a log. So tired, she told herself she'd just 'rest her eyes' a little. The others faded way, yelling and scurrying around. Something about a duck? By then, she was fast asleep. Not even a scream could wake her. "Jules, first-aid, now!" The Great Duck Fiasco of 09 had almost lightened Jules' mood. But taking orders from the bony Grim had soured it once more. She wasn't really taking orders. Jules would have come to Marcus' aid anyway, but it had the appearance of it, and that was enough. Jules glared, eyes that would pierce even his non-exsistant skin, but Grim didn't see. She scooped up her bag and walked calmly to Marcus' side. "Out of the way," she muttered to Grim, waving him away with her hand. Marcus was covered in dirt, making it impossible to find the cuts that had amounted. She stood and backed slightly, holding her hands over his body. It showered him with a rush of water, sweeping the mud back to the earth. Once clean, she found most of the cuts were minor, but a rather prominent wound still bled heavily. A few stitches was all he needed, though. Jules pulled out a needle. A douse in the fire to sterilize, she threaded it. A quick one, two and it was done. Nothing like a good suture in the evening.
"Out of the way," she muttered to Grim, waving him away with her hand. Grim stood up and watched her clean off his skin and suture one of his wounds. "How's he doing?"
Suddenly the planet shook with a mighty roar. An landquake? Or maybe it was something else. Suddenly as the group turned around with confusion as they fell to the ground. They saw from a distant a large dust cloud coming their way. A strange hum came from the dust cloud and a high pitch could also be heard. Roger squinted his eyes to see beyond the dust cloud. He saw odd creatures the size of men, but had the hybrid look of flies and locust. Enigma opened his eyes quickly. "Roger!" he said, "Roger!" Roger ran over. "What?" Roger said. "We need...." The dust cloud was to quick. The only thing Roger could was symbolize for everyone to find some cover. Their ears were pierced by the hum and the high pitch screech. All around them were flying strange bugs in a dust cloud. If the sands touched you, you'd get scraped. All they could do was either find a way out or stay hidden under cover. Jules looked over the rock she hid behind. And saw as the creatures ate her jeep. Now what?
Marcus had slipped into a sleep. In his mind, he was somewhere in a dark that had neither land nor ending. "LET ME OUT OF HERE!" yelled Marcus. And as he yelled in his mind, he yelled in reality too. "WHERE THE HELL AM I?" continued Marcus. Furious, he made a thunder fall in the void. It fell straight over him in reality. He was not harmed but the area was badly destroyed. The creatures were thrown back. Their attention was now turned to Marcus. Leaving the jeep half eaten they moved towards Marcus. Thunders by thunders fell over Marcus. They were shielding him from the creatures. In his mind Marcus knew nothing. And then a huge tornado had started but just over Marcus. In his mind, everything suddenly turned white and a man dressed in black from head to toe faced him. "Don't worry. You are in my world. Every time you slip unconscious your mind comes to my place. I am your guardian. While you are unconscious you are protected. But there are a lot of people with more power than me, so I cannot protect you for all. You would be needing some help. Aleisa farmcius," said the black man and Marcus was back and he was healed. He was among the thunder and the tornado. He did not remember anything at all and rushed for cover.
The ground shook, stirring Britney from her slumber. She sat up, still groggy, rubbing her eyes. As the screeching sound grew louder, she squinted into the distance. There was no smile as she saw what approached. A quick scan of the area gave no hope. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere she could run in time to escape the approaching swarm. The sound became unbearable, stinging sound, and Britney covered her ears. She crouched on the ground, hands still covering her ears, eyes squeezed shut. She felt a knick at her shoulder as the first flew past, then… Jules knelt to keep from falling as the ground moved beneath her. She watched the approaching… what are they?... and darted towards her cousin. But they were moving too fast, she wouldn’t make it in time. She screeching burned her ears, and she took cover behind a rock, hoping it was enough to protect her. Jules peeked from her hiding place, and watched in horror as the swarm consumed her jeep. Her heart jumped to her throat, and she hoped that somehow Britney had been able to find cover. … Britney opened her eyes into darkness, muted sounds still screeching overhead. A fortress of wooden planks, tight winding bushes and vines protected her from the swarm above.
The ground began to shake with a terrible force, he saw into the horizon a large cloud of dust and within it, something human, but inhuman. He quickly pulled up a hexagonal barrier of dark energy around him. The things flew over him and he felt the scratches on the barrier, he could only hope that they would pass in time otherwise he would fall unconscious from too many blows. He looked about him and others seemed to have found cover, should he die today, he knew the others would be safe, and that was all that mattered.
The ground shook and roared. Azul had seen earthquakes before, but nothing like this. As a dust cloud rolled toward them, it began to whine and hum. Squinting, she could barely make out small shapes within the cloud. Before it reached her, she called upon the fire and drew a circle around her self, pulling the flames around her like a cocoon. With luck she might even burn a few bugs.
"Oh this is not good," Aves said as he watched the swarm cloud approach them. "Come here ducky!" He yelled as he grabbed the duck and started to wheel for cover. Unfortunately wheelchairs aren't the fastest of vehicles. "D***! I really liked this wheelchair too!" Aves yelled as he felt the swarm eat through the tires of wheelchair. Aves knew he couldn't outrun the swarm, and he knew he couldn't get to shelter in time. So with a single motion he threw himself out of his chair and at the same time melded the wheelchair into a metal dome which surrounded himself and the duck. "D*** this swarm. It's going to be a pain in the gizzard to fix this chair... You okay ducky?"
"You okay ducky?" Scott nodded. ("Yeah, thanks. Guess saving my life kinda makes up for trying to eat me.") For a second, he surveyed the damage. ("Sorry about your chair, though.")
"Ehh. It's only the culmination of my entire lifes work and my only means of moving by my own free will... I'll do without... Although... If we don't get rid of these things soon it won't really matter... Maybe. If I could just get the the chair's Drive function's power conduit..." Aves reached out with his arms toward the edge of metal dome, but he couldn't reach the side. He'd have to scoot over there. "Blast it! If only i could still use my legs!" Aves tried to push himself over to the side, but was stopped by an excruciating pain from his legs. "Gah! Even when they're broken they still break!" Sweat was starting to bead on Aves's brow from the pain of trying to move. Finally he gave up and lied back down. "Haa... Haa... I'm too old for this..."
"Haa... Haa... I'm too old for this..." For a second, Scott watched the old man struggling. I can't be of any help, he reasoned to himself. Best to just stay out of the way. After a moment, though, his guilt overpowered him. I can't just stand by and watch him struggle like this. I could at least offer to help. ("Anything I can do?") Scott waddled over to the conduit and stared puzzled at the array of knobs and switches. ("Well, I can't reach all of these and can't exactly do much without hands, but walk me through it and I'll do what I can...")
The ground began to shake, groaning and roaring along with the motion. Kaethe glanced up and with horro saw some huge dust cloud, except it wasn't dust. She had no time to contemplate however because they were fast approaching and she needed to move or find cover. There was nothing nearby to hide behind. She threw a sphere of water towards the mass of dust but it it didn't flew at them, instead it flew in a wide circle around her, encircling her with a caccon of swirling water that would hopefully be enough to stop the cloud.
Ted was walking along the path, nestled up in the mountains where the night met the day. What belongings he could carry on his back were with him--some food, water, and clothing. Just the bare essentials. He didn't know where he would go. He'd been wandering for a few days, stopping in small villages to barter for food and water, or a warm place to spend the night. The ideals of time a mere illusion to humanity. Why does humanity want time so much? What is there to grasp? Why don't you turn back and go home? Will you stop and leave me alone? "Time? An illusion? No, it's waking up every day wondering when I'll be forced to start over. Every time I've lost a home, a life. Every time I've stopped my wanderings just to be forced back on the road again. It's all too much." Those words had echoed through his head the day before, spurring him onward. He walked and walked with no set destination--simply allowing for fate to take him where it would. And judging by the sounds he heard, off in the distance, it had. He heard screams, and the wingbeats of a thousand swarms of locusts. A group of people fought the miniature beasts, and the mayhem was hard to follow. For whatever reason he felt compelled to enter the fray. And so he did. He stooped to the ground and picked up some rocks, closing his fists around them and closing his eyes, a look of deep concentration spreading across his face. With each hand he moved in a spiral, spreading outwards then upwards creating a thin jar. Then, he took his hand and held the top of the jar with one end and blew through the other as though he were filling it with air, and with a flick of his wrist covered the lid. He jammed a piece of cloth into the new lid, and with a lighter from his bag, lit the end and tossed the jar into the middle of the swarm, where it exploded, igniting massive amounts of the beasts, knocking those which had not caught aflame out of the air with its concussive blast.
The human sized locust flies settled down from the dust. They had looks of anger and looks of cross behavior. "Which is the leader?" asked one of them, "Which is the leader of this group?"
Terrance was panting in exhaustion, his shield wasn't going to hold out much longer, but then they stopped and settled. The locust had angered expressions on their features. "Which is the leader?" asked one of them, "Which is the leader of this group?" "What the hell? You things talk?"
"We are not things," said the one that spoke...the guess is that this is their leader, "And how dare you attack us as well...in our culture visitors on our land provide us a sacrificial meal...so, was this sacrificial meal a hoax?" The fly, locust man fixed his odd bug like hands. And stared at them. "We are looking for a wanted convict," they said, "He has blond hair and stole some clothes from one of our human guards...the only thing of his that would be his normal is a scarf...have you seen this convict?"
"Wre not things," said the one that spoke...the guess is that this is their leader, "And how dare you attack us as well...in our culture visitors on our land provide us a sacrificial meal...so, was this sacrificial meal a hoax?" The fly, locust man fixed his odd bug like hands. And stared at them. "We are looking for a wanted convict," they said, "He has blond hair and stole some clothes from one of our human guards...the only thing of his that would be his normal is a scarf...have you seen this convict?" Carefully Kaethe lowered her water shield. She was felt drained from the effort, but she stayed tensed ready to strike, she definately didn't trust these bugs. "What are you talking about? We don't know anything about this convict of yours."
The swarming stopped, and Jules cautiously raised herself from the rocks. They were huge beings, and they spoke! She peeked around, straining to hear. They seemed intent on Grim, perhaps thinking him the leader of their little group. "We are looking for a wanted convict," they said, "He has blond hair and stole some clothes from one of our human guards...the only thing of his that would be his normal is a scarf...have you seen this convict?" Blond hair and a scarf, she thought. This could turn bad fast. She saw Kaethe move, and for a moment feared she would give up the boy. It wasn't that she was protecting Rogue; she was protecting herself. Harboring the boy could mean being accused of wrongdoing herself. "What are you talking about? We don't know anything about this convict of yours." Jules knew she had to get rid of them, caught with a convict would give them all trouble. She walked out into the open, fiegning confidence. "There's no one here like that," she told the huge locust-like men. "Your convict must be elsewhere." She dared to hope it would be enough to send them on their way...
