After escaping with Ko through the everglow, Fischer awakens to a whole new world. They've no idea where they are nor where to go next. After being taken in by a pair of strange aliens, they make themselves at home and begin what seems to be a new l...
"Hey. . . j-just a minute. . . m-ma'am. . . can't. . . breath!' The alien gasped.
Quin tried to loosen her grip, but the imminent fall below wasn't exactly making that easy.
"Alrighty, that's a bit better. I think it's time we get back to solid ground hey?" He cheerily stated.
Quin rapidly nodded her head as she looked down at the cavern below. Even her tail was wrapped around the alien's waist, hanging on for dear life
"Right then, going up!"
There was a device on the alien's left arm that had a long bit of cable running from it. Slowly it started retracting, pulling the two of them up.
--\/--
Fischer, Ko and Kori all stood at the edge of the ravine, bewildered by what they had just seen.
"D-did. . . was. . .-" Ko began as she tried to piece together what it was that she just witnessed.
Kori suddenly put his hand up in a silencing motion and bent down to peer over the edge of the cliff face.
The echo of what sounded like a tiny motor struggling bounced all around the temple.
Kori stared at Fischer in disbelief.
"Quin? Quin are. . . are you there?" he called.
The voice of his girlfriend calling back to him filled his heart with joy. "Kori?"
Instantly Kori retreated back and ran over to the metal object. He grabbed hold of the cable and began to wrap it around it wrist in an attempt to pull up Quin and the mysterious stranger that saved her from death.
"Help me get them up here!" He called, beckoning Fischer and Ko. The two obliged and quickly ran over to help.
After many tugs, a blue hand appeared on the edge of the cliff. Kori dropped the cable and immediately ran over. He grabbed Quin's hand tightly and heaved her up over the edge. She eventually managed to planet her feet on the ground but fell forwards onto Kori who in turn fell on his back, Quin landing on him.
The two immediately grasped each other tightly and tears started to fall.
"Fucking hell Quin. . . thank fuck!" Kori cursed as he clutched the back of her head. She was silent and wept into his shoulder, still shaking from the ordeal she had just survived.
Fischer turned to the cliff to see the stranger slowly heaving himself over the edge and brushing off his knees.
The alien was quite tall, a little taller than Quin, but not quite Kori's height. He had a rather lanky build, not looking particularly muscular. Like both Ko and the two carcans he was a digitigrade and had two large toes with sharp claws on both his feet. On his hands were two fingers and one thumb, again with sharp claws embedded in them.
The alien's face was rather boxy, looking almost avian in nature. His eyes lay on either side of his sharp snout and a small horn stuck up just above his mouth. Long red feathers sprouted from the top of his head and ran all the way down to the bottom of his neck. What looked like a large scar ran just under his left eye.
The creature wore a strange coat that curled up at the neck. the right half of the coat was a deep blue and the other was a deep purple with two yellows stripes, one on the left shoulder and one on the left elbow.
He wore pants that were a similar shade of tan to Ko's but were a little lighter and more on the grey side.
After Kori and Quin had their moment and had gotten to their feet, Ko was the next to hug Quin. She ran up to her and dived into her arms, tears pouring from her worried blue eyes.
"H-hey Blue. . . I-I'm alright hey? It's ok," she whispered as she held Ko in her arms.
Like Fischer, Kori switched his attention over to the new acquaintance they had picked up.
"Hey. . . thank you, thank you so much. You saved her life I mean. . . I don't know how we could ever repay you, I-"
Before Kori had a chance to finish, the alien cut him off. "Ahh don't worry about it. I'm happy to help!"
Quin let go of Ko and turned to the stranger. "Sir. . . I owe you my life, I don't even know what to say. . ." she choked as she struggled to find the words to put in her mouth.
"Well, I couldn't let a fine young lady like you end up carpeted across the bottom of the floor now could I?" he jested. His cheery demeanour filled Fischer with concern considering what he'd just done. He would've thought almost falling to death would've been a rather traumatic incident for all parties involved, but it seemed to have only affected one.
"Thank you sir, we really appreciate that. Can I ask though, who. . . who are you?" He questioned.
"Oh of course, I beg your pardon, where are my manners? The name's Spatch."
Spatch bowed in front of them as he introduced himself.
Fischer picked up on what sounded like a faint British accent in his voice. It seemed to match his rather care-free personality quite well all things considered.
"That's funny. I wouldn't have expected to see a veranah all the way out in the middle of nowhere." Kori stated.
"W-what's a veranah?" Ko asked sheepishly.
Spatch gazed over at her with a look of confusion as well as cheerfulness. It was clear he wasn't just some random guy that they'd happened to walk into.
"That would be me, my lady. I'm a veranah. And I must say, I could say the same thing to you lot. Two carcans, a zaphermonarian and a human of all creatures all together at the edge of the Rift. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised."
"Yea well, I don't think we'll be out here much longer considering what just happened," Fischer stated as he looked over at Quin.
"Oh I didn't even ask, are you alright my lady?" Spatch asked motioning to Quin.
She let out a nervous chuckle as she looked back behind her. "I-I'm fine, thank you. Really, thank you so much. Although I don't think I'll be going across anymore bridges any time soon. Please though, call me Quin."
"Quin hey? Absolutely. And what are your names?" Spatch asked the rest of the ground.
"I'm Kori, this here is Fischer and Ko."
Spatch gave another short bow. "Ko hey? That's a very pretty name!" He complimented, sensing Ko wasn't exactly the bravest of the group. She flashed him a brief smile.
"Well, It's a pleasure to meet you all. But I must ask. By the stars, what are you all doing out here?"
