The Lands of Ralosia & Ranuulo- Short Story Collection

~Fight or Flight Chapter 3~

~Chapter 3- Flight~

He's a waste of resources. Someone so weak has no place among us. He'll only hold us back.

Valr sat high on the trees in the woods, looking out at the landscape around them. It was rough terrain in every direction, but far in the distance, he could see the Denomi sea, glistening in a purple hue just like the sky.

Through that terrain, he could see some of the creatures that lived there. A stampede of the same beetles they often hunted. Massive bats flying. An even larger insect, solitarily moving through the higher skies. To the south was a great mountain where a burrow of ants lived, creatures that could easily cleave him in half with their pincers.

When Valr thought of leaving the woods, he could anticipate his end. He simply wasn't strong enough to live out there.

"Petri is just thinking about the future," Gweneva's voice echoed in the trees around them.

"The future isn't going to matter if we don't live that long," Mills chirped back, moving through the trees with her, "I think Edi's right."

Valr could hear the disappointment as Gweneva replied, "I just think that Petri has the right idea about having the whole tribe get stronger. That's why I've been trying to improve every day."

"Me too! I'm not gonna stop till I get as strong as Edi or Petri. But that'll take a while," Mills expounded. He was surprisingly thoughtful in situations like these. "Until then, I feel like we should listen to Edi and do whatever we can."

Gweneva snipped, "I'm not sure..."

Mills swung around a tree and landed near Valr, "What do you think?"

Valr winced. "I don't know."

Mills squinted his eyes, "That's boring."

Gweneva swung around and clung to the side of a tree near Valr. She took one look at him and asked, "...Are you alright?"

Valr sighed, "Edi said I was a waste. Maybe he's right."

Mills climbed alongside Valr and looked at him, "Hey, Edi doesn't know what he's talking about."

"You were just saying you agreed with him," Valr replied.

"I agree with him on most things... not that."

Valr simply looked at him... Mills wasn't usually nice like this. He was typically obnoxious and rowdy. But moments like these reminded him that they were friends.

But then that devious look reappeared in Mills, "I did have an idea for how you could help out though."

"Yeah...?"

Mills leaned in and placed a hand on Valr's shoulder, "If you could fly."

"My mom hasn't had time to teach me yet-"

Without warning, Mills grabbed Valr and pulled him out of the tree. The boy's brown hair flew back as he fell through several branches towards the ground.

But before he could make impact, he felt the weight of his body vanish, and he arched up through the air in between the woods, slowing his movement. But that feeling of flight left him as he dove into a bramble of bushes on the ground.

Valr was merely scratched up, but he was furious. He tumbled out of the bushes and saw Mills and Gweneva swing overhead.

"You idiot! You could've killed me!"

"I would've caught you!" Mills reassured him with a devious giggle.

Gweneva jumped off a tree and onto the ground, "I had a feeling it was some sort of survival instinct that triggered it. Whenever you get scared, you fly."

"So, we just need to scare him real bad?" Milles asked with another laugh.

"That's not useful if I can only do it when I'm scared," Valr said.

Gweneva knitted her hands behind her head and began to pace, "Well, your mom isn't scared when she flies. If we could just scare you again, maybe you could try to keep flying."

"I'm not a fan of that plan..." Valr said.

Valr felt a hand on his back, and with it came an obnoxious shout, "Boo!"

Valr jumped and turned to see Mills with that same devious look. How had he gotten behind him so fast?

"That's it!" Valr shouted, darting towards Mills, but the young red and black Arachna jumped to a tree and climbed a short distance above him. Valr tried to jump up to him, but Mills was too far up.

"Aww, if only you could fly. Then you could get me."

Valr jumped again, gripping the tree as well as he could before climbing after him. Mills made sure to stay just out of reach as he came after him.

"Ooh... almost got me!" Mills teased as Valr nearly grabbed his leg.

Valr's grip gave out, and he began to slide down along the tree back to the ground. He looked up at his friend and scrunched up his nose. He flourished his arm, pointed, and a thin beam of purple light emerged from his fingertip. A Focus Beam.

Mills' eyes widened as the beam came at him, but he moved out of the way. The beam struck the tree, knocking a piece of bark off.

"Come on, bud. Is that the best you got?" Mills taunted further.

Valr nearly lashed out at him again. He would've probably just embarrassed himself again. But then, he had a better idea. He shrugged and walked away, "Whatever."

Mill squinted, and climbed down the tree back to the ground, "W-Wait, don't give up!"

As soon as Valr heard his footsteps on the ground, he pivoted and sprinted at the young Arachna. Mills didn't have a chance to react before he tackled him, knocking both of them into a trench within the forest. The two wrestled along the ground as each tried to overpower the other.

Perhaps, it was because he was a year older than Mills, or maybe it was the training he received from his parents, but either way, Valr was able to overpower his friend, catching him in a headlock from behind.

"Gotcha!"

Mills wriggled about frantically, "Hey, that's not funny! Lemme go!"

Valr chuckled, "Oh, but you can do it! You almost got away."

"You're being a sore sport!"

Valr and Mills continued to wrestle around. As they tussled, Gweneva clung to a tree above them. Her demeanor suddenly became more alert, looking out into the forest.

"Hey, you two, knock it off!" Gweneva said with a hushed tone.

The two continued to wrestle, and Gweneva grew impatient. She expelled a strand of webbing from her hand, and it landed on Valr. With a jerk of her hand, she pulled him away from Mills.

"What was that for?"

"Just be quiet..." Gweneva insisted as she looked out into the forest, her eyes wide and alert.

Mills brushed some leaves off himself and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"I-I'm not sure."

The three children looked out into the forest. Then Valr spotted... something.

A mass was moving through the forest. Something larger than any of them, quickly scurrying along the ground. When Mills spotted it, he jumped up to a tree and clung to it as Gweneva was.

When Valr finally realized what it was, he knew his only choice was to run.