(Picture- Old sketch of the scene)
Dakelo emerged.
He was caught out when the raging fires reached where he was searching. Luckily he found an unattended burrow, large enough to accommodate him, and climbed inside. It was so deep that he managed to avoid the smoke and flames sweeping above.
Now he stood up and scanned around. The forest that was thick, green and full of life was now black and dead. The skeletal trees still smouldered, producing thick white clouds of smoke. Great giants were gone within minutes, no trace but a smouldering black stain. Every crunch was amplified with each step he took. He couldn’t see how anything could have survived such a devastating catastrophe. He tried to follow in the direction of the horn he heard before. He knew that didn’t belong to the search parties, but now, silence.
Don't think like that, he told himself, she will be here; just think, where would she go? He leapt up onto a ridge to get a better view. To the west, the remnants of the fire still burned, but they were slowing being starved.
Something emerged nearby, padding up behind him.
“Any luck finding her?” Froyza asked.
Dakelo shook his head slowly, “this graveyard of trees is so vast, that anything could have happened.” He sighed. Froyza threw back his head and howled. It was so mournful and sad, that even Dakelo wanted to join in with a cry of anguish. His stomach twisted again and his knee buckled. He clamped his hand over his mouth as he started to retch. The attacks were becoming stronger and more frequent. He stared at his shaking hand, and then clenched his fist to still the tremors. Froyza nudged him
“Are you alright?”
“Just what is happening to me?” he whispered, “what did they do?” Froyza’s ear pricked up as the wind changed. His nose twitched furiously. “What is it?” he asked.
“I smell her; it’s faint, the smoke is making it difficult, but defiantly her!” Dakelo’s spirits lifted.
“Lead the way. Hurry!”
* * * * *
“Are you sure?” he questioned. They stood at a small lake that was smothered with ash. Settled in the middle was the only tree that could have still been alive. Although its north side was burnt, the rest was still green. On the tree top there was a large bud swelling; so large that it was nearly double his height. It was the only thing that remained totally intact. He looked for a method across and noticed small mounds that he could use.
But once he had crossed, and Froyza had swum across, he doubted she was here. He circled the giant tree many times; he even managed to climb into its branches but all he found were the remnants that she was here; there were packs and even traces of make-shift nests that weren’t destroyed by the fires. Maybe Froyza just detected this. He slid back down the trunk and settled on the roots. He has been searching for hours but to no avail. Froyza settled down, wet and exhausted, unable to continue himself.
Something fluttered out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and saw a single blue butterfly; its wings appeared to be glowing with a mystic sheen. It looped around his head and settled on a knot of tight roots by his side. Another one appeared and landed next to it. Soon there were ten of them. They all seemed to be interested in something, yet there was nothing visibly different about those roots.
Dakelo stood up and stared at it. Was there something there? He waved his hand briefly to scare them off, and then brought his foot down on top. The roots didn’t shift, but the dirt below them did. He listened intensively and could hear something falling, rattling, like it was hollow underneath.
“It can't be.” He removed a small knife from his boot strap and started to hack at the roots. Froyza trotted over.
“What is it?” he barked. Dakelo’s knife jammed in the wood, which cracked and splintered. Dakelo grasped it with both hands and a small chunk tore away, revealing a dark hole. It was just big enough to put his hands through, but a sudden blast of air washed over him. Revulsion gripped him as he realised that the air down there was stale. Dakelo tried to quickly dislodge his knife, when the blade suddenly snapped under the pressure. Dakelo flexed his hands a few times, to rid himself of the shock.
Reaching to a pouch around his left waist, he removed a horn. Wetting his lips he blew into it, signalling the others. While he waited for them to arrive he desperately tried to remove as much as possible. Froyza growled and tried to frantically dig around the roots.
“Dakelo, did you find her?” Thiryqa’s voice echoed; as he dove out of the skies towards him. The strange, winged man’s landing sent a huge cloud of ash to blast in all directions, causing Dakelo to shield his face and cough as he accidently inhaled some. Fryoza shook himself with distaste, rubbing his nose against his left foreleg.
“I think I have.” He pointed at the small entrance and a look of horror crossed Thiryqa’s face. “We need someone big to blast through. I can’t dig it out.”
“That sounds like a job for me,” came a deep voice. They both turned and saw the giant man, called Fire Tongue, leaping over. “Get out of my way.” They both stood aside and watched. Fire Tongue’s fist was nearly twice the size of Dakelo’s as he withdrew it, preparing to punch. He let out a deep yell as he threw all his strength into the impact.
The wood shattered instantly, erupting into a cloud of splinters. The tunnel opened up to a deathly silence.
“Isi?” Dakelo shouted, but he got no reply. Dakelo slid down first to check it out, in case it was too cramped for everyone to follow. But he couldn’t see a thing. He scrabbled down on the floor and found a chunk of the root. He held it at the entrance.
“Light this for me.” Someone grasped the tip, and when he brought it back down it was alright. He didn’t like what he saw. There were six figures, the largest of which he recognised as Isildilia. He rammed the root into the ground so it held on his own. Stepping over the smaller figures, he put a hand close to her face. He waited a few seconds before he managed to detect a small breath. She was alive. He checked the children as well. They were faint, but they were all still there.
“They are here!” he called up, “but we need to move them immediately.” Trickles of soil fell as Thiryqa also joined him. He picked up the nearest child and started to push him up the tunnel. Fire Tongue grasped them from above and pulled them out the full way. Three of the other children went the same way, but the fifth proved difficult. She had suffered extreme damage to her right side and they were concerned with moving her. To begin with they started to hollow out the tunnel further, making it easier to move her. By this time, the others had arrived to help. It took minutes to move her, but the entrance tunnel was now wide enough to walk out at a low crouch.
“This one needs treatment immediately,” he explained as he helped to move her outside.
Once the girl was safely removed outside it was her turn. Dakelo grasped Isildilia’s left side, but she suddenly went ridged and started to squirm, pulling away from him. He released her and looked at Thiryqa. Thiryqa brought the flame closer and they saw the burns on her arm and face, her skin covered in soot and grime, as well as her hair. Tears welled up in Dakelo’s eyes as he shakily traced her face, her beautiful face. Wherever that fire lizard went, I will track it down and kill it, he snarled. He then noticed her hair was cut up short. Why did she do that? He wondered. Did it burn off? He sniffed as a sickly smell caught his nose; the wounds didn’t smell good, even with his nose, he could tell.
“She must be taken outside,” Thiryqa told him. “She can't breathe right down here.”
“I know that,” he growled. He hooked his arms underneath hers and Thiryqa grasped her ankles as they manoeuvred her outside. The injuries looked much worse in the light, compared to the darkness below. They burns covered her face from her brow to her neck on one side. Her clothing was singed around the edges and in some places it was burnt through completely. Her arm had a texture much like that of raw meat, the skin puckered, red and seeping, compared to the usual smooth and pale-ness. Even her other arm wasn’t completely unharmed. It was covered in scrapes and scratches from the event, like she had a fight with a prickle-bush
He looked at all of them, formatting a plan in his head. There were five children and six of them, including Froyza. The others wailed when they saw the damage done to her. He turned to them and started to snap orders.
“Enough of that! I need each of you to take one of child each. Get them back for healer’s treatment as fast as possible! If you meet someone from the flying clans, get them to take them, as they will probably be faster.”
“What about Her Highness?” asked the nimble Grey Paw, who kept shifting from foot to foot in agitation. “She’s in a bad way herself.”
“I will take her, after doing initial treatment here. Again, if you meet someone from the flying clans, send them to me as well.” They agreed without questioning. They re-bandaged the injured girl before strapping her to Froyza, securely. Apart from Thiryqa, the rest decided to run with Froyza, in order to keep an eye on each other. Thiryqa was to fly ahead and spread the news, as well as prepare the healers to receive the injured.
Dakelo crossed the waters carefully, with Isildilia on his back, and settled her on the other side. Beside them, the water bubbled. His hand flew to the daggers at his waist, just incase something emerged. A bubble rose and popped, showing what he thought was blue blood.
Tearing his cloak into pieces, he tried to clean and bandage the wounds as best as he could using his waterskin, since no other water source was lean now. It was a difficult task, for she kept flinching when he touched her, despite being unconscious.
“Just a little longer,” he kept telling her. Her lips were started to lose their blue colour by now, although her face still remained very pale. Once he finished he stood up and stretched.
Out of the blue the sound of singing came filtering through the air. He looked around for the source, but only the two of them were here. Then he realised, it was her. She was still unconscious, but it was like something else had hold of her tongue. Starting with a hum, she sung louder and louder.
It was such a beautiful song, even if he didn’t quite know what she was saying. But it was filled with such sadness, so much that she even started to cry in her sleep. The tears streaked down her cheeks, dripping onto the ground. Dakelo watched as the ground around her rippled, then cracked as small shoots started to grow through. He watched in amazement at the magic, as they formed a circle around her, blooming instantly into a colourful display amongst the ash. But they suddenly withered and died. He’d never seen her do anything like that before. She was trying so desperately to re-grow the forest. Her voice trailed off as it failed her, breaking into a faint crackle. He crouched down next to her.
“You can stop now,” he whispered. “You’ve done enough.”
Once the final note ebbed away, there was the sound of a whip being cracked. He looked up at the large bud on the top of the giant tree. The waxy sides had split open and had unfurled to the sound of her voice. It revealed an enormous, red flower, which enveloped the whole top of the tree. Its petals drooped over the sides, dashed with yellow and vibrant orange. The stamen stood bright-blue in the centre. Upon its opening, a fountain of pollen was ejected, in a thick yellow cloud. It started to drift down like snow, blowing out in all directions, unnaturally ignoring the winds. The air also became heavy with the sickly, sweet scent. The forest was already attempting to grow again.
He looked down and saw something standing beside the tree. It was tall and spindly; looking like it was made of bark and leaves. It was looking up at the flower. Reaching out it let a few spores drift onto his hand. It blew softly, scattering them. Dakelo raised his sword at it, just in case it tried to come over. It looked down at him. A shiver ran down his spine, this creature didn’t fit feel like it fit into the normal pattern of the world. It waved at him slowly, telling him to lower the sword. He felt compelled to do so, letting it fall to his side. It smiled and walked away, melting into the ashy background.
He went over and gently shook Isildilia.
“Wake up! You have to see this, please.”
Isildilia groaned and turned over before opening her eyes. The whole world appeared as a blur before finally focusing. She had felt someone lifting her out before, but she couldn’t recognise them, not even her sense of smell responded well. She tried to move, but even taking regular breaths was just too much pained effort. She looked down at her burnt arm to see it had been bandaged. Something sweet smelling tickled her nose. She slowly looked up and saw the Ovili had come into bloom, with a flower so bright and vibrant in the ashy landscape. She looked to the figure that now stood facing it on the water’s edge.
“What are you doing here?” she croaked, not that she wasn’t happy to see him. Dakelo turned and smiled.
“That’s a nice thing to say to your rescuer,” he said sarcastically. Isildilia tried to push herself up, but found she still didn’t have any strength left to move. To regain so little must have meant she wasn’t out for long.
“How are you?” Dakelo asked.
“I ache right down to the bones; some of them are still broken.” His eyebrows lowered in concerned. She blinked a few times, but couldn’t shift the hazy-ness in one eye, like someone had slipped a piece of frosted glass over her eye. “Why is my vision half-blurry?”
“Because you have a burn on your face,” he explained. “Your eye is rather swollen.”
“Ah, yes, I remember now.” She looked all around her. “Where are the children?”
He crouched down next to her. “They are fine; the others have taken them back for treatment.”
She let her eyes drooped. “Good,” she muttered. “But…why are you here? Did they let you out?”
“See...” He took a deep breath and explained everything. Isildilia eyes widened and quickly looked him over, he didn’t look physically different.
“What did they do? You look no different. What did they tell you?” she quickly demanded.
“Nothing but...” He didn’t finish as something appeared to strike at his insides. His face contorted in agony as he fell to the floor, doubled over, clutching his stomach. The attacks came again and again, making his body heave and shudder. The sudden change terrified her.
“Dakelo! What's wrong?” she yelled. His body gave another shudder and went still. He spat out a globule of blood on the ground in front of him as he caught his breath.
“This has been happening ever since they took me away, but I haven’t had one that bad before,” he gasped. He lifted his head and looked at her. His eyes were no longer pale blue, they were bright pulsating yellow. Isildilia recoiled a little.
“What's wrong?” he wheezed after seeing her expression.
“Your...your eyes!” He crawled over to the waters. He almost leapt back when he saw his reflection.
“Was this what they meant...?” Again it racked him, but this time it got worse. He remained crouched completely over, with his hands flat on the floor in front. The nails on his hands cracked and splinted, thicker ones growing underneath, extending and curling like huge claws. The knuckles started to shift and change shape, becoming thicker and moving position, his thumbs pulling back on themselves in a gut-churning manner. He then seemed to start outgrowing his clothes as his muscles on his body started to swell and tighten. He clamped his hand over his mouth like he was going to vomit; the sweat dripping down his face, his eyes wide in utmost terror. But when he eventually removed his hand, she saw that his canine teeth had grown out of proportion, like a pair of massive fangs overlapping his lips and the others were also starting to sharpen.
Lily! She called out, but she got no response, White Lily was still unconscious.
He gave a huge groan and his clothes suddenly tore under the strain, she could hear his belt stretch then suddenly snap. His spine cracked and started to alter. He gave out a howl as the tip started to extend beyond the base of his back, further bones forming on the end. His feet elongated so much that it burst through his boots; they also had large claws protruding from each toe.
“Help me,” he begged her, “make it stop!” But Isildilia didn’t know what to do. She just stared aghast as the changes kept continuing faster and faster. Above the sounds of Dakelo’s moans was the continuous sounds of his bones breaking and reforming. He hid his face from her view with his hair, but every time she got a glimpse she could see his jaw was protruding further forwards like a snout. His body doubled, nearly tripled in size. His skin cracked much like granite and fell away like old bits of parchment, revealing thick black fur spreading over his entire body. Dakelo’s moans and screams started to break up and become a deep snarl, in his throat. His ears tapered into points through his hair, then moved as his skull started to alter shape, moving further to the top of his head. Isildilia shut her eyes, refusing to look at it any further, but she couldn’t move to cover her ears from the sounds. She bit her lip hard as she heard every crunch and every part of his screams.
But soon the sounds stopped, and things became deathly quiet. Then there came a rumbling of something breathing deeply, something big. Isildilia felt insecure with her eyes shut so she opened them again. Tears started to crawl down her face when she looked at what he had become.
He was a creature that was part-wolf, part-man. He was like a wolf in face, fur and claw, but stood and had the muscular structure of a human. His entire body was deathly black but had gold marking in the fur; His large tufted ears were slick back in distress, as he peered at her through his golden eyes. The bleach ivory claws on his hands and feet were like knives, each as long as her fingers. He even had a long black, busy tail swinging behind him. Around him were the remnants of his clothes, his previous life, scattered and shredded. His large black wet nose twitched as he started to look around. Isildilia recognised him as the creature she saw in her nightmare. He took a tentative step towards her and lent down so he crawled on all fours. Isildilia shook; she had no idea if this creature in front of her was Dakelo anymore, and she was defenceless.
He paused about a foot away from her face. She pressed herself far back against the tree, even though she knew it would do not good. His gigantic maw opened and revealed a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Isildilia let out a squeak of terror and Dakelo suddenly retreated. He tottered like an unbalanced child, learning to walk.
“Dakelo?” she whispered. The ears flicked in her directions. He kept taking steps towards, then away from her; he was unsure what he should do. She couldn’t take her eyes off his, they may now be shining amber, but it was the same stare. Isildilia shifted slightly and steadily managed to lift her good hand.
Dakelo crouched back down to her and paused inches from her hand, waiting. She placed it on his upper jaw, rubbing back and forth comfortingly. He lent in close and brushed his nose against her neck, and started to whine deep in his throat. His body was wracked with shaking. She didn’t know if he was in pain, terrified, or both. This was her fault.
“I'm sorry,” she told him. “I'm... so sorry,” she cried, resting her head against his jaw. “Oh why did I bring you with me? You should have just gone home. I'm so selfish.” After a while, Dakelo pulled away. He stood at full height and looked around, ears swivelling, nose twitching furiously.
“What is it?” she asked, knowing that his senses would probably be even better than hers, but he didn’t reply. “Dakelo?” His jaw snapped nervously. Then, leaning down, he tentatively lifted Isildilia up with one arm, as easily as a rag doll. She whimpered as every injury became apparent when she was moved. He stood still and shuffled her about so she was more uncomfortable. He made a small grunt noise, as if to say sorry.
“What are you doing?” she asked. He held her close to his chest, so she sat along one gigantic arm. Isildilia suddenly felt tiny in comparison to his new size, and vulnerable. She wrapped her tail around his arm for a more secure position; he made a small grunt sound as the spines dug in a little too deep. He made sure to hold her so her damaged arm remained furthest away. He reached down and picked up Lillarth and handed it to her, before he started to walk in the direction of the mountain.
She then noticed how much she was struggling to stay awake; she was still exhausted from fighting earlier. “‘Dakelo, I'm just going to take a quick nap. Is that ok?” He said nothing, so she closed her eyes to the rocking motion of his heavy strides.
What seemed like only minutes later, he suddenly stopped, jolting Isildilia out of her slumber.
“What is it?” she mumbled, rubbing her eye lazily. He didn’t say anything; in fact, she doubted that he could. He settled her against a group of boulders and stepped away to have a look. She was amazed to see how quickly Dakelo seemed to have overcome what had unexpectedly happened to him. But she still felt tense around him. She didn’t know what he was thinking. She hated to admit it, but she was a tiny bit afraid of him.
She quickly glanced around; there was no sign of the Ovili anywhere on the horizon. He must have covered more ground then she thought. The air was still swimming with smoke, making breathing heavy and painful. It also made her feel sick, she couldn’t continue in it for much longer.
Minutes passed with Dakelo persistently sniffing the air, waiting for something to appear. Something did.
Out of no-where, with a rush of air, Valin unexpectedly appeared in front of her. His swift appearance took them both by surprise. But Dakelo’s reaction bordered hostility. The snarl coming from his jaw petrified her. His fur lifted, much like Froyza’s did, and his muzzle wrinkled up, giving him a fierce appearance. Isildilia looked Valin up and down, wondering why she didn’t smell him coming. She noticed the Valin’s entire right hand was bandaged, each finger done individually so he could still move them. With Valin’s healing abilities, why would he need to bandage his hand? It troubled her.
“Valin! What happened to your hand?” she asked, rather than ask why he was here, or even how. Valin didn’t say anything, but threw back a reassuring glance, before returning his stare to Dakelo. He seemed very intrigued and not at all surprised.
“So it seems you survived the final process,” he noted. “Interesting. I had a say in picking the animal form that would best suit you, but it seems it didn’t fully go through. At least you and Froyza will have even more in common.” Dakelo snarled again and took a dangerous stride forwards. Valin’s hand flew to his sword and he moved so he stood between him and Isildilia.
“Now now, are you struggling to remain in control of yourself, or does this form now reflect you true beast-like nature.” Despite Dakelo now being head-and-shoulders above Valin- and nearly three times the width-Valin still sought to tease him, unafraid. Dakelo bent over and leant on all fours, eyeing him severely. Isildilia was getting the feeling something had happened between them earlier.
Valin took small steps backwards so he stood next to Isildilia. Without taking his eyes of Dakelo he sheathed his sword and picked her up. As he did so, the growl emitting from Dakelo increased. Isildilia held her breath the entire time, unsure what to do in the situation. Valin looked down at Isildilia’s arm and face. He grasped her arm a little too forcefully as he inspected her and she yelped as a result.
Dakelo snapped.
He lunged across the cleaning in one bound, but Valin’s reactions were just as fast. He managed to step aside as Dakelo crashed where they were a few seconds ago. He turned and bellowed at them, exposing ever fang as his lips pulled back. Isildilia shrieked at the sight and buried her face into Valin.
Dakelo stopped and stared at her. He looked down at his own claws, almost in a moment of self-realisation. Valin’s grip on Isildilia tightened and changed his stance, as he prepared to fight Dakelo off. Dakelo stepped back, shaking his head and scratching at his arms. Isildilia glanced at him; his eyes were filled with such sorrow that he looked like he could suddenly break. Without warning, he turned and fled, leaping across the fallen trees with such effortlessness, before vanishing from her sight. She realised what she had done.
She reached out to him.
“Dakelo! Come back! I'm sorry!” she howled. But he was gone. She reached out with her mind, but he was already out of reach. Valin didn’t linger. He immediately headed back home, without a second glance back.
“Valin! We have to go back for Dakelo. I won't leave him here!” Valin grunted.
“Leave him be, he is starting to become unstable. Give him time to get control of himself. Don't worry we will keep an eye on him.”
“No! Turn around! We have to bring him back with us!” She tried to squirm out of his grasp.
Valin sighed. “I'm sorry about this.” She knew what he was going to do when he put his hand on her forehead.
“No! don’t you da...” Her body went limp as he forced her into an artificial sleep. But before the world went black once more, she heard, echoing through the air, the howl of a lone wolf.