Thanatophobia | Ao'nung

⋆˚✿˖°ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟛⋆˚✿˖°

"Norm, have you seen Tuk?" Ni'la asked, frantically looking around the laboratory for her sister, who seemingly went missing after she looked away for thirty seconds.

"Oh!" Norm said rather loudly, "Lo'ak told me she was going to explore the forest with them! I'm so sorry I forgot to tell you," He apologized, and suddenly it felt like Ni'la could breathe again.

"Why didn't they ask me to go with?" She asked in confusion.

"I'm not sure, Ni'la. I told them you had work to do in the lab, but that you were welcome to join them," Norm informed, and Ni'la pursed her lips as she felt a tug at her heart due to it feeling like her siblings purposefully left her out on their adventures. "Did Spider go to?" She asked.

"I believe so," He said, looking through his microscope. Ni'la nodded before leaving the laboratory without saying goodbye. She rushed past her family's tent, ignoring anyone who greeted her so that she could grab her bow and arrows, her earpiece, and the communicative device that wrapped around her neck.

As soon as she had everything she needed, she went to the side of the mountain the Omatikaya people resided on and called her ikran, Tarya. Tarya was blue, green, and black, with white speckled spots. The girl connected her queue and let out a war cry before leaving in search of her siblings.

Ni'la truthfully had no idea where they would go in the forest, so she was currently trying to rack her brain for answers. If Lo'ak and Spider were going together, it must have been somewhere they weren't permitted to go in the forest, and that was three areas that Ni'la knew of. They were never allowed to go anywhere near when the humans held camp, the old battleground was off limits, and the old site was especially on the do no visit list.

She knew that Lo'ak would never go to where the humans held camp, so that made her list of three go down to a list of two, but even then, that was still a lot of ground to search. There had to be a way to know where they were.

"Devil dog- Devil dog. This is Eagle eye. Over." Lo'ak's voice rang in Ni'la's ears.

"Eagle eye, send your traffic," Jake responded, and Ni'la held her breath, waiting for Lo'ak's response.

"I've got my eyes on some guys, Avatars, six of them."

"Where are you?" Jake asked.

"We're at the old shack," Lo'ak said, and she could hear the hesitation in Lo'ak's voice.

Please tell me he didn't take Tuk to the old shack. Ni'la thought to herself.

"Who's 'we'?" Jake questioned.

"Me, Spider, Kiri... and Tuk," He said, and Ni'la snarled at his answer as she turned her ikran to head towards the old site. Ni'la urged her ikran to go as fast as the animal could as she wasn't that far away from where her siblings were.

"Son, you listen to me very carefully." Jake paused. "Pull back now. Do not make a sound. Get the hell out of there. Go! You copy?"

"Yes, sir," Lo'ak responded.

It was a race with time as Ni'la saw that eclipse would be happening soon, and once she saw a spot where she could land, the girl willed Tarya to go down and land on a big branch. Ni'la hopped off her ikran, and said goodbye, "I'll be back, okay?" She whispered, leaning her head against the snout of her companion.

Tarya huffed, and the girl raced off to go rescue her siblings. She knew that once her parents found out she had come to rescue them by herself that she would be in trouble, but Ni'la couldn't bare the thought of any of them getting hurt.