A/N: might as well publish all the unedited chapters that I wrote a few months ago. Enjoy! :)
Kyle's eyelids slowly blinked open. His head throbbed, and his entire body ached. He felt sticky from sweat, and the overwhelming scent of burning filled the air. Blurry colors filled Kyle's vision. Orange, red, gray, black. His sore muscles groaned as Kyle pushed himself up to a sitting position. As his surroundings came into focus, something wasn't right. Kyle's heart leapt into his throat and he jerked his head back slamming it painfully into a rock. Wincing as the pounding pain in his skull doubled in intensity, Kyle tried to make out what it was that had scared him. He felt a tickling sensation on the tip of his nose as the violet blob of color shifted slightly in the center of his vision. With his heart still beating violently, Kyle strained his eyes to figure out what this thing was. He slowly lifted his hand towards his nose to touch it, but with less than an inch between the hand and the purple object, it darted away through the air. Kyle snapped his head in the direction of the mysterious nose decoration, but it was gone. He touched the tip of his nose and drew his hand away. His finger was covered in an odd shimmery substance. He rubbed his fingers together, and the silver particles drifted down to his knees. It almost looked like what Kyle would imagine fairy dust to be like.
The fascinating new substance captivated Kyle's foggy mind for several seconds. He stared at it in awe until a horrible memory broke him out of his daze. Amaya. The titan! The events flooded back into Kyle's brain. Tears welled up in his eyes as he was overwhelmed with emotions. Where was she? Did she survive? Kyle frantically looked around to see if he recognized his surroundings. He was on a small, rocky ledge overhanging a river of lava. Upon peering over the edge and deciding that the magma was uncomfortably close, Kyle quickly scooted into the cave behind him. It was only a few feet in circumference, but it was better than being on the precipice of burning to death. Directly in front of him was a sheer cliffside that seemed to grow taller for eternity. Kyle wracked his brain. The last thing he could remember was being hit off the edge of the cliff by the giant magma titan. He must've fallen into the ravine and landed on this ledge. Kyle shook his head in disbelief. How was he alive? If he'd fallen just a few more feet in any direction, he'd be toast. Kyle hoped this was his last near death experience for a while.
Kyle took a deep breath to calm down and winced as a sharp pain shot through his chest. He felt around his torso and groaned in pain as he discovered a particularly tender spot on his back. He concluded that it might be a broken rib. Maybe multiple. He quickly felt around his body and found only minor cuts and bruises. Trying to stay positive, Kyle reminded himself that he was lucky to get out of that fall alive. A broken rib was nothing compared to getting stabbed in the stomach by a homicidal cat. Kyle smiled at his own joke and rested his head against the cave wall. Suddenly, a dash of purple caught his eye. He looked towards the entrance of the cave and slowly inched his way forward. Perched on a rock was a gorgeous violet butterfly. Kyle's eyes widened. He'd never seen a creature so beautiful before. It almost looked mythical. Its delicate wings slowly bobbed up and down as if to show off its silver-speckled pattern. Instead of a black body, this creature was royal purple. Its antenna seemed to be too long for its little body, and they curled upwards almost like a ram's horn. Below its delicate legs was the same metallic silver dust that Kyle had found on his nose.
"What are you?" Kyle whispered to himself.
The butterfly turned its head towards Kyle as if it had heard him. Its glistening black eyes stared at him for a few seconds before it quickly flew out of the cave. Kyle stood up to follow the creature and gasped as he was painfully reminded of his injury. With a hand cradling his chest, Kyle carefully walked out onto the ledge and looked to the right where the butterfly had flown. His eyes scanned the area, but he didn't see anything except lava and rocks. His eyes darted to the wall of the ravine that he was on as the butterfly flew around in tight circles before landing on a rock about 10 feet away from Kyle and staring at him expectantly. It was almost like it wanted him to follow its lead. Looking at the space between him and the insect, Kyle realized there was no path.
"How am I supposed to get to you?"
Kyle immediately felt silly for talking to a bug, but to his surprise, it promptly hopped on several rocks jutting out from the sheer cliff leaving a trail of dust behind it. It came to a stop at Kyle's feet before flying back to where it began. Clearly this bug wanted Kyle to rock climb over to it. Kyle uneasily looked at the perilous terrain. One mistake and he was a goner. Behind him was safety but with no resources for survival. Ahead of him was imminent danger but with the possibility of making it out of this hellish environment.
"You seriously want me to do this?" He muttered under his breath.
Determined not to look down, Kyle tested the first rock with his foot putting a bit of pressure on it, and when it held up, he pushed it harder. It seemed sturdy. A chill ran down his spine. He'd survived two life threatening situations in two months. Hopefully he was just as lucky the third time. He thought of Amaya. She'd believe in him. He tried to channel her bravery and skill as he carefully grasped a notch with his hand and put his full weight on the first stone. He held his breath in anticipation. Nothing happened.
"Okay... Maybe I can do this," he told himself.
He progressed to the next stone the butterfly had marked for him. The back of his legs became uncomfortably warm as the heat rose up from the lava. He took long, deep breaths as he stepped from rock to rock, grasping the side of the cliff as he went. He tried to occupy his mind with anything except the painful awareness of the danger he was in. He replayed the happiest times of his life in his mind. He wondered what Soren, Claudia, Callum, and baby Ezran were up to... They were probably safe and sound in the kingdom playing in the courtyard. Soren was probably messing with Callum as Claudia watched and giggled. And Sarai... Kyle hoped she was happily watching her children grow up and tending to her queenly duties instead of... Kyle squeezed his eyes shut to get the thought out of his head, but the image of Sarai weeping over her sister's body was burned into his mind.
Kyle was brought back to reality by a tickling on his hand. He opened his eyes to see the butterfly go from his hand to a platform that was about as big as the one he'd come from. He eagerly stepped back onto solid ground and let out a sigh of relief. He made it.
"Hey, thanks little guy! You really know what you're doing, don't you?" Kyle said to the butterfly while trying to catch his breath, "I feel like I need something to call you."
Before he could even come up with a suitable nickname, the creature took flight and entered a cave that Kyle hadn't even noticed. He curiously followed it in and was amazed to see it glowing on the dark wall. It started flying in strange patterns and began leaving dust on the wall. It took Kyle a few seconds to realize it was writing. The words 'Dux Sovara' shimmered on the stones as the butterfly sat at the end of the phrase like a defining period.
"Oh- wow!" Kyle stuttered in shock, "I uh, didn't know you could do that! So you want me to call you Dux Sovara?"
The butterfly stared intently into his eyes before nodding once and swiftly flying deeper into the cave. Barely processing what had just happened, Kyle followed the little glowing orb into the depths of the cave. Unlike Kyle's former shelter, this cave had no end in sight. Although Kyle knew next to nothing about the fauna of Xadia, and this innocent looking bug could very well be leading him to his untimely demise, it was probably his best and only option to follow it.
"So can I call you Dux?" Kyle asked while speed-walking to keep up with the butterfly's erratic flight pattern. He received no response, so he decided to take it as a 'yes'. As they continued farther and farther into the cave, the light from the fiery ravine dimmed. Kyle could barely see save from the soft glow of Dux. The little butterfly often zipped out of sight as Kyle was stumbling through the rocks trying to find a stable path, but he always came back a few seconds later to fly a couple laps around Kyle's head before hovering ahead of him impatiently. Kyle smiled at Dux's energy.
"You're a hyper little guy, aren't you?" He laughed.
Dux stopped mid flight and turned to face Kyle. It shook its head violently.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kyle asked in confusion.
His bug pal looped around his head a few times before stopping right in front of his face. It's white glow turned a soft shade of pink.
"Oh!" Kyle said, still amazed at the communication skills of this little insect, "you're a girl!"
Dux nodded excitedly. She suddenly produced a burst of white light leaving Kyle temporarily blinded?
"What was that about?" Kyle asked while rubbing his eyes.
Dux dove towards the ground and began hopping from rock to rock, leaving little glowing silver footprints. She didn't show any signs of slowing down, so Kyle followed her trail. As he put his foot on each stone, it stayed in place, and he was able to travel much faster than before.
"You're clever, Dux!" He chuckled.
It was a good thing Dux came up with that idea because the ground quickly became very steep. What started out as a walk through a mysterious cave turned into a strenuous hike. Kyle felt sweat drip down his back. The cave was stifling and unbearably hot. Kyle became acutely aware that he didn't have a water source. He tried not to think about it, and he just followed Dux's path.
After several minutes of walking, Dux came hurling back at Kyle, and he had to duck to avoid collision with her. She doubled back to him and perched herself on his shoulder. Her wings relaxed, and her head rested on him. He smiled. He was growing fond of this excitable creature. As he continued his journey, every second seemed longer than the last. His breathing got heavier, and the ache in his ribs that he'd been trying to ignore was becoming unbearable. His hair was sticking to his forehead, and all he could smell was the salty scent of sweat.
"How much farther am I supposed to go?" he asked as he leaned against the cave wall.
Dux looked at him and produced a soft yellow glow.
Kyle let out a weak laugh, "okay, fine. I'll go a little farther."
Before he had taken even 15 more steps, he thought he felt a soft breeze brush his cheek. He froze and looked at Dux. She nodded excitedly. Kyle felt a surge of energy come back into his body, and he followed his friend's path with a renewed excitement. As he turned a corner, he was greeted with a bright ray of sunlight. Kyle shielded his eyes and tried to get used to the aggressive light.
"You did it!" Kyle laughed in disbelief, "you got us out!"
Kyle quickly scaled the hill leading him from the dark cave into the overworld. He spun around and took everything in. He was still in a barren, rocky terrain, but he couldn't be happier to see no lava in sight. In the distance where the sun was beginning to set, he could just make out the tops of trees. Dux alighted from his shoulder and excitedly flew a few feet in the direction of the forest before turning back to face Kyle.
"I'm guessing we're going that way?"
Dux's head bobbed enthusiastically before she zipped on ahead of him.
"Okay!" Kyle chuckled, "here goes nothing!"