~~~Superstes~~~UNDERGOING MAJOR EDITING

Toruk Makto

I needed to go save Dad, though. It was the only thing on my mind. 

Discreetly, I made my way over to where Paysiy was sitting. Rain had begun to fall and the little drops that slid through the canopy of trees splattered onto his blueish green skin. I climbed onto his saddle right when I was about to take off, Sephora ran up to me. She had stitches all along her arm. 

"Where are you going?" she demanded. 

"Nowhere important." 

She scoffed and gestured to the people in the back. "Uh, yeah. Wherever you're going right now is pretty important. We need you here." 

"They'll be fine, they have you." 

Her cheeks flushed, though her eyes were defiant. I wanted to tell her the weight of leaving my father out in the elements was too heavy for my heart to carry, and that Tarsem's death was partly my fault, because I could have saved him. But instead, I kept it inside. 

"Tell my mother I'm going to save my bow." 

She held out her hand, "Wait." I watched her attentively as she took off dainty necklace and held it up. It was a thin string with a pale, milky river stone in the middle. She held it out to me. 

I reached across and took gently. It was light as a feather, the only once of weight was the small, smooth stone. "It's a good luck gift, for wherever you're going." she informs, as I slide it on. "Don't lose it, my mother made it for me." 

Guilt nagged at my gut. She still has no idea about her parents. In the midst of the two-day chaos, I had forgotten about the hushed conversation between Norm and Trudy. 

"I won't."

I was flying for hours. The place where we had fought was burned to a crisp, the thousands of trees, homes and plant life dissolved into grey ashes. From my view up above, it was a dessert of destruction. A ghost town is what it was. Even the air up here was thick, clouded with smoke rising from still-burning wood and leaves. It was difficult to breathe, but I wasn't leaving until I found Dad.

Finally, I spotted a blue frame stuck against a tree. Paysiy and I landed roughly in the middle of the wasted forest, I ran to dad as fast as I could.

When I came up to him, he wasn't awake. He was perfectly still, as if he was asleep, only he was covered in ash, old, bleeding cuts, and bright red marks across his skin, not to mention the spear wedged into his shoulder. I placed my hand on his chest and shook him, "Dad, wake up, it's me." 

However much as I wanted to collapse and lie there beside him, I had to get him home. "Dad, it's me, Neteyam. I got the people to a safe place; I did what you asked. Dad, wake up." 

The scent of burned flesh infected my senses, making me want to gag. It wasn't a good mix between my panicky emotions and my twisting stomach. 

I heard a terrible screeching sound coming from nearby. It was a loud, alarming bellow that rang in my ears. I turned to see what it was, and I saw a giant ikran crawling on the ground, climbing over fallen trees. She wasn't a regular sized ikran, though--she was almost the size of Toruk, and she was phantom black with vibrant purple patterns, maybe even some shimmering gold spots dotted along her huge wings. 

My jaw dropped for a moment and my ears flipped back in fear. That wasn't an ikran I'd ever seen before.

She grabbed longs with her talons and moved giant logs out of her path. Repeatedly, she whipped around to grab more things, turning them over and squawking miserably as she did so. I watched her and I felt chilled by the sound. She was beyond upset, and I could feel it deep within my bones, but I didn't understand why this pain was radiating from her.