Mountains Of Bliss

Chapter 2

"Hey! Wake up!" a tiny male voice rung out. Twitching his pointed ear, Taiya slowly opened his eyes. Soaking wet, he moved his fingers slightly to feel sand beneath himself. Dark brown eyes shifting about, he looked up over his head towards the sound of the voice. A gold and red haired male loomed over him, appearing roughly the age of 14 or so, feathers slightly visible upon his sides. Taiya slowly lifted his head, pushing himself up with his palm "Who're you?" he asked quietly. "Ah, so you're not dead! Good good, what your name?" he asked with a sort of excited tone, jumping back a bit. Raising a brow, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, before shaking his head "Taiya, and yours?" he asked in response, the diamond shaped stones upon his head twirling about, even as he'd been plunged into water, they'd remained in place. He smiled, stepping forward and extending his palm "Name's Kaida, nice to meet you" he spoke with a friendly tone. Taiya smiled, taking his hand before standing up "Same to you.. Where am I, exactly?" he asked quietly, peering around. "You're on the north coast of Pangea" he responded with a smile, cracking his neck as he looked towards scattered planks of wood washed up on shore. "Seems like your ship didn't get very lucky" he spoke with a tiny grin, before shaking his head "Oh right that's not a good thing, sorry". Taiya shivered, following his gaze, before glancing back "Did anybody else wash up!?" he yelled, setting his palm on the golden haired male's shoulder. "Not that I know of, but I'm not the only people here, maybe they did and somebody else found em?" he asked, backing up. Taiya nodded, slowly putting his head down "Sorry, thanks" he spoke quietly, realizing he'd sorta snapped at him. Kaida smiled "It's fine; Natural to be angry when all your friends die" he started, before lifting a palm to his mouth "Oh right that bad" he added on, before stepping back "If follow me, There many villages on Pangea! Besides, you die alone" he spoke with an optimistic yet somewhat careful voice. Taiya peered around, slowly approaching "Question.. I was told there's really big beasts here.. Bigger than mountains infact, is that true?" he asked, shifting his gaze to Kaida. "You bet! They get even bigger down south, around here there's a few Grand Dragons and big lizards, particularly giant snakes" he spoke, stepping back before spreading his arms out. "There's a few more.. 'People' by your standards up here than down south tho, once you get further south you'll find less and less of my kind" he spoke. Taiya stood still, as Kaida spread out his arms, feathers flew about, his arms having feathered wings attached to the bottoms so it seemed, each one gold with a dark red trim to match his hair color. Kaida turned around, facing away from Taiya as he put his arms back to his side, 2 feather coated phoenix tails lashed about behind him for a moment. Taiya bolted up to his side "Wait, what are you then? You're not human" he spoke with a somewhat nervous tone. "I'm a Vastayan; Vastayan Phoenix to be precise, there's a village of my type up ahead, I tell you about us there, human" he spoke with a smile, before turning and breaking into a run, feathers being tossed up behind him, some detaching from his wings and floating through the air behind him, before they drifted to the soft grass below. Taiya nodded, before running after him, lifting up his palm slightly as pointed stones shot up from the ground near his feet, before the ground lifted upward, elevating the brown haired male from the grass the slightest bit, his arms going outward as he kept balance. Kaida glanced back, before smiling "You're an earth affinity huh? Good for you!" he spoke with a playful remark, the colossal trees parting in the distance to show what seemed like houses. Kaida slowed, resting his arms at his side and looking up towards the houses "Follow me, we'll see about finding your friends" his voice was calm and collected. Taiya jumped up, spinning in the air as the rocks beneath him vanished, landing perfectly in the grass, before walking to keep up with him. "How big is this village?" Taiya asked with a tiny tilt of his head, half biting his lip for the moment being. "Eh, not that big anymore, we've lost alot of people recently so not as many villagers" he spoke, before stopping and turning towards the brunette. "As for amount of buildings, not many, but if anybody found any of your friends, they'd probably be in the Inn, if they haven't been found already..." he started before looking forward towards the big hut in the center, that stood visibly taller than the others in the village "Well, Our chief might need to be the one to break that to you, why don't you run around and find the Inn, I'll update him on your.. Situation" Kaida finished, before running forward towards the hut in the distance, sending up a flurry of feathers as his dash started. Seeing Kaida vanish, Taiya sighed 'I hope they're ok..' he thought to himself, before walking along the wooden planked path. The sound of wind chimes echoed through the air, it had a soft tone, the sprinkling sound of bells soothing to Taiya's ears. Closing his eyes and lifting his chin for a moment, he listened closely, shifting his position atop the wooden planks. "Hey! You're a human!" a feminine voice rung out. Opening his eyes suddenly, he glanced over, a woman stood at what seemed like a food stand, or perhaps a butcher's shop, maybe both. Her hair was short and black, she had small horns barely visible upon her head. Her shirt was purple and black, with a cut near her neck, metallic spikes of sorts going over her right shoulder, the sleeve on that side long, but on the left there were no spikes and it was short sleeved. Taiya nodded "Uh- Yes I am!" he responded with a nervous tone, approaching slowly. "You're from that ship that got devoured yesterday, aren't you?" she asked with a tilt of her head. Taiya flinched, backing up "Devoured?.." he asked quietly, small stones appearing around his wrists as if to keep himself calm, somehow. "Heh, yeah after that dragon split it in half, he ate it whole, always does that" she started, opening her cyan eyes and fixating them on the young male "Me and my best friend were on the beach watching, we even had a cookout to watch the show" she added on, before grinning. "My apologies, that must sound rude, Let me make that up to you" she spoke with a somewhat creepy tone, before standing up straight instead of leaning against the desk. Taiya's pupils shook, frozen still as he kept his gaze on the female. Turning around, she grabbed a skewer of meat, visibly still hot that was sitting on the bench next to her, before handing it over "I bet you're hungry" she spoke with a friendly tone. Taiya slowly reached up his palm, taking it before stepping back "Can I ask something?" he spoke with a meek tone. The girl merely nodded in response, her gaze more calm and not so intimidating. "Where's the inn at?" Taiya asked, lifting his head up somewhat, averting his gaze. Smiling, she lifted her palm, pointing towards a trail made of wooden planks that led uphill in the village "At the end of that path, first building on the left" she spoke calmly. Taiya nodded "Thank you!" he spoke now more determined, turning and running up the trail, which was at a more or less dead end, turning sharply right, the first building on the left having a large doorway with no actual door, bunk-beds inside in a large ring. Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside, peering around, the beds were all empty. Narrowing his eyes, he got closer to the center of the ring, peering around warily when something caught his eye. Red hair, the same shade as Landon's; Smiling, he charged forward "Landon!-" he blurted out, reaching forward, when suddenly, he heard a hiss. Turning to face them, a male had been leaning against the bed but sitting on the floor, black horns on their head, they lashed out with their palm as if going to scratch the kid. "The hell do you think you're doing!?" he yelled, his black colored eyes locked on Taiya. He had big pointed ears, 7 golden earrings in each ear, their horns came out their forehead and pointed back only the slightest. They wore a brown and gold bandanna, their shirt was light brown and ripped just above the stomach making it sorta a belly shirt. Short sleeves and black finger-less gloves, darker brown long pants and crappy black moccasins, a bandage wrapped around their neck, chest, and shoulders. Taiya recoiled "Oh sorry- Your hair looked like somebody I know-" he was cut off mid sentence by the red haired male. "Congratulations kid! There's more than just one person in the world with red hair, I oughta kick your ass for disturbing m-" he cut himself off, sniffing the air for a moment before suddenly standing up, spotting the meat skewer that was now pinned in Taiya's belt. "Give it and I won't tear out your throat" he spoke bluntly with a cold, threatening tone, his black eyes narrowed to a serious expression. Taiya backed up, before narrowing his eyes "It's mine!" he retorted, stones pointing up out of the ground beneath his feet. With a huff, the male shifted his position, flashing a tail he'd concealed prior, and not a normal one; a scorpion tail. Suddenly, footsteps distracted them both, Kaida sliding in and stepping infront of Taiya "Pardon my friend!" he spoke urgently, turning around and grabbing the skewer, before handing it over to the male. Smirking, he snatched it quickly before lifting it up to his jaws and ripping off a chunk without second thought, backing up and sitting down where he'd been before "They've been pardoned, now get the hell out of here" he spoke in a low growl. Kaida took a deep breath of relief, before turning to Taiya, who looked visibly irritated. "Come on, the chief wants to speak with you personally" he spoke calmly, before turning away, and leading out the doorway.