Flying out of that geyser as fast I did made me think I would smash through the ceiling and still make it to the surface. My face pulled back, and my arms shot down as I flew upwards, trying to scream, but sucking in too much air to be able to so much as breathe. I thought my eyeballs would roll back into my skull, and it only got faster as I made it through the hole in the ceiling. The walls of the hole were about a foot away from me at most, at least from the looks of it. I kept flying upwards through the hole at a speed that would make a mustang jealous. Whatever was outside of this hole better catch me, and it better catch me good.
Finally, I darted out from the hole, being launched up into the sky. My eyes blinked and adjusted to my new environment as I slowed down. I was right in the middle of the Artlandian jungle, right over where the trees grew high as clouds... but if that was the case, then I must have been higher than the clouds as well.
The span of trees went on for as far as the eye could see, and it was cool looking at and all, but right beneath me was a cluster of clouds, and they didn't look like they were gonna catch my fall. At least I didn't think they actually would.
Once I began to fall, I fell right into a cloud, and it caught me, like a giant fluffy floating pillow. Slowly, I shakily got up, feeling a lump form in my throat as I looked down a hundred miles at the floor, so far down. I was stuck up here, and I couldn't find Rosslyn or Mamble.
I called their names, hoping they'd respond, but I didn't hear anything back.
I panicked, not knowing what to do, or where to go, or where my friends were. Surely La Lo wouldn't take us here to get stuck on a nimbus cloud high in the sky. I didn't have anything that could break my fall or help me fly, I really didn't have anything that would help up here at all. All I could see was a bunch of other clouds and a flock of three birds heading my way. Maybe I could send out an SOS signal and hitch a ride.
I felt hopeless. Completely out of luck. What could I even do in a situation like...
"Hey, kid! Need a lift?"
My eyes darted upwards at the voice. There were three giant pigeons flying in front of me, but they were some odd looking pigeons. One was red and small. They looked like they really didn't wanna be here. The second one was yellow and medium-sized for a giant pidgeon. They wore aviator goggles as if they weren't used to the wind being in their eyes. Lastly, the third one was blue and was the biggest of them all. They had muscles that popped out through their feather, making them look plump but ripped.
They spoke in order from red to blue, like they were going through the rainbow, with the red one starting.
"I need a new day job. This one gets old real quick."
The big blue one cracked his neck and let out a yelp.
"Oop... yep, you may be right. That, or I need to learn better cat yoga."
Finally, the yellow one spoke, seemed the most enthusiastic of the two.
"First of all, this is a great job! I get to spend time with you guys and give strangers a tour. Second of all, stranger! Want a tour?"
I got up from my puffy cloud, trying not to stumble off and fall before walking up to the three pigeons.
"Have you guys seen a cheese maker and a rat around here? We were just together a moment ago, but we got mixed up when we went through the geyser."
The red one perked up as I mentioned, Rosslyn, and the blue perked up as I mentioned Mamble. The yellow one must have perked up specifically because this would mean we could go on that tour he was talking about.
"I just dropped off a rat!"
"I just dropped off a cheese maker!"
"I just dropped a deuce!"
I tried not to question the third statement and instead looked to the red pigeon first.
"You dropped off a rat? Great, let's go for her first! Then we'll get the cheese maker."
The yellow bird flew up in the air while excitedly screeching before swooping in and picking me up from my shoulders and flying off and singing with the other two birds close behind.
"Tour trip! Tour trip! We're off to have some fun! Tour trip! Tour trip! Come on, everyone!"
The red bird led the way as the yellow bird tried showing off the wonders of the jungle as we flew between trees, nearly getting smashed into one as we did a barrel roll out of the way. Bad memories. Yellow nodded their head over at a field of geysers, blowing out blue smoke before going on about it.
"That's a sapcid geyser field. Some roots pull up the toxic acid underneath the Artlandian jungle and deposit them under weak parts of the ground, making pockets and creating these geysers. They're non venomous above ground, though, so you can frolic through those geyser fields as much as you want."
So, the acid we saw beneath the cluster actually was acid. Seeing the geysers blow randomly, spewing sapcid gas into the air, made me think about what else this jungle had to offer. Just on the flying trip alone, without yellow even telling me about them, I saw so many different plants. Some grew on trees, some hanged from trees, some grew from the ground, and some even grew in the rivers. There were clusters of fungus with full rows of teeth, fields of daisies that sung and swayed, and even little mushroom men running across tree branches. Attlandia truly was breathtaking.
Next up was the village of the Klumpfs. Bridges crossed from tree houses in trees that made up a little colony that looked a lot like the cheese mills village. Jumping from tree to tree was what looked to be frog-like people. They had green skin, bulging black eyes, and blue clothes. Some of them jumped from tree to tree, sticking on with their webbed feet stuck to the bark.
"Right here is a Klumpf village. There's a few more in this area, but they've been getting attacked lately."
The red pigeon chirped in, no pun intended, looking around more often than before.
"I dropped her off around here somewhere. When we told her about the conflict, she just had to get in on it."
She had time to get a full tour while I came up the tunnel right behind her? Something didn't feel right.
"And what about Mamble? The cheese maker."
The blue one spoke up, dodging trees while yelling to me.
"Well, I took him to the O' bloo. He said he wanted to see if the legends were true."
"The O' bloo? What's that?"
Blue scoffed as if I was stupid for even asking.
"The land of lunch. It's a completely edible wonderland full of rare spices, animals, and plants. It's any food enthusiast's dream. Especially if you have a pocket full of cash to buy some spectacular food approved by the best chefs in the land."
As he finished, red stopped, then pointed their talons down at a wooden platform.
"I left her there before I heard about you coming out of the tunnel. I don't know where she could've gone."
I could think of a place she would have gone. It would be a little hard to find a little rat in a jungle, but if I was right and knew where she went, then my scavenger hunt would definitely be a lot easier.
The pigeons took me to the nearest village that she could have gone to. As we landed, the Klumpfs looked at us strangely but went about their business as usual. They must not get visitors often, which wad fair since they were all the way out in the jungle. They had themselves arranged nicely. They had stores, houses, and outposts that could see for miles. Children played in the streets, while the adults ran errands and worked on the village. Whether they worked towards fortifying their security and defenses or fixing broken walls and roofs, they were clearly busy.
Some of the houses had large holes and slashes through them, while trees had arrows stuck in their bark. They had been raided recently and seemed to be repairing, but besides this, the children still played happily as if everything was alright. The adults still seemed content and concentrated, not even showing a hint of stress or worry. These were clearly resilient people, which would perfectly explain why Rosslyn would be here.
My bird guide's and I walked through the village, looking for a rat in a purple scarf preaching to the townspeople about our cause and how we needed them. The further we walked into the town, the weirder looks we got. The Klumpfs seemed on edge, as if we were strolling in to attack their village from the inside. I tried not to make eye contact or look unfriendly, but it probably came off the other way and put them more on edge.
I felt yellow tap their beak on my shoulder while looking around with a dodgy expression.
"The Klumpfs are cool and all, but they won't hesitate to take you down if you seem like a threat."
I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
"Yeah, I could've guessed. Just let me handle this, I got it... ahem. Attention, please!"
I may have asked for attention and expected to get it, but when I did get it, I felt my legs get shaky, and my throat got numb. All the Klumpfs around me stared at me with an edgy expression like I would try and do something insane in the next minute or so. Their buggy eyed looks were enough to disarm me from thinking about doing anything, sure, but it wasn't helping my stage fright.
Eventually, I snapped out of it and got going with my speech.
"Uh... so, I got this friend, right? She's a mouse - I mean rat - she's a rat... right? I'm friends... with a rat... and........ um.... you know what, never mind, I'll find her on my own. Never mind, guys... thanks, uh... for your... time.... bye."
I walked away as fast as I could, feeling like the least dangerous target in the village. Red was right behind me, snickering like it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen.
"Oh my mama bird, you should have seen the look on your face! Priceless, I tell ya."
I could tell Yellow and Blue were holding back laughs as well, just to be nice and spare my feelings. Humility was a part of my life I knew all too well, and when I started this adventure, I hoped it would go away, but clearly, it hasn't. I was about ready to forget about Rosslantica and the other five kingdoms and call it quits before jumping off a mountain, but someone called to me. I turned around expecting to get made fun of by a group of kids, but it was a Klumpf that seemed like she wanted to either deal with me or deal with me.
She was a blue Klumpf who looked just like any other in the village, only she wore a captains outfit. Their voice was commanding and imposing. If she ordered me to drop and give her ten, I would without a second thought.
"You said you were looking for your... rat buddy? Is that right?"
I felt my head nod for me as I spoke up to make myself not seem as creepy as I was making myself out to be.
"Yeah. You know where she is?"
She nodded sternly, with a little dirty look, proving to me that she definitely did meet her.
"Your friend likes to talk. Sounds like she had a lot of ideas... helpful ideas, at the very least."
I kept forgetting that Rosslyn used to be a dragon who looked over the lands problems before Zyloff. She definitely came here to help these people out the best she could.
The captain Klumpf took us over to the main house where the leader resided. The house was high up in a tree and had a least three floors. Some of the buildings branched off to other trees for support, making it look like a big commanders building being held up by tree branches and suspensions. The inside looked like a proper office building mixed with the inside of a battle boat sent out to sea.
The walls were metal on the inside and wood on the outside, making it hard to break in or try to attack the leader or any of their people who were inside. We walked down what felt like an endless hallway before walking into the main office. The first thing I noticed was Rosslyn, sipping a cup of coffee while talking to another blue Klumpf with her feet up on her desk. Their room was decorated with trophies and war memorabilia like helmets and weapons. They clearly fought for the kingdoms and were proud of it, too.
The captain coughed loudly, halting Rosslyn and the leader's conversation abruptly.
"I found this boy asking for a talking rat. Do you two know each other?"
Rosslyn crossed her arms grumpily while looking at me like a disappointed parent.
"About time. I haven't seen you or Mamble in hours!"
Hours? I flew up the geyser right before Mamble, and he was right behind her. It definitely didn't feel like an hour, but who knows. This jungle was meant to be magical and unpredictable, so maybe there was some time magic in the tunnel we flew up.
Rosslyn caught us up to date on everything from the moment she flew out of the tunnel to right now. After she was dropped off, she made her way to the nearest village, the one we were in right now. She snuck her way into the main office to talk to the Klumpf in charge, and they happened to recognize each other, just like she did with Vivian.
It made sense. After all, she was the Guardian. She should know just about every leader.
The lead Klumpf and the captain had their differences. Not every Klumpf looked alike. For example, the Captain wore a uniform, and the leader wore a tropical shirt with shorts. For a leader, she looked very laid back and carefree.
She took off her sunglasses and looked over at me while toying with its prongs.
"Hm. So... this is the hero? I expected someone a lot more... you know, more."
Rosslyn rose to my defense, putting in a good word for me so I didn't look bad.
"He's actually pretty cool. Ooh, there was this one time he fought off one of the coliseum's top fighters and won! Obviously, with me and Mamble's help."
The leader perked up upon hearing Mamble's name.
"Oh, speaking of which. Where is the other hero?"
Rosslyn glanced at me expectantly, waiting for me to tell them that he was just waiting outside, chilling with the other Klumpfs. It didn't take her long to notice that I was just standing still, hoping she would know instead. She let out a long sigh and rolled her little rat eyes.
"Welp, it looks like we gotta go find him too. Come on, Amphia, let's get ourselves a heroic cheesemaker."