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Druinnan
The Krawk entered the village, as an angry Maraquan Scorchio
shouted and waved to him. Druinnan sped on, knowing that he had probably done
something to offend the Scorchio, like he had to practically everyone. He didn't
stop until he neared a tall stone building. Druinnan sighed in disgust and readied
himself to enter. The building was not completely underwater, and although he
could breathe for a while without it, he absolutely hated going out of water.
It was so cold in the free air, and it always made goosebumps pop up on his
skin.
Druinnan gripped the handle and pushed open the
heavy glass door. He shuddered as he drifted into the narrow hallway, feeling
the cold air wash over his pale skin. He continued down the corridor to the
very end, where a fading plaque on a large wooden door read, 'Asiris.' The Krawk
knocked on the door sullenly and a voice called out lucidly, "come in."
Druinnan wafted into the dimly lit room and paused
before a Maraquan Draik shifting through papers at his desk. The Draik looked
up and Druinnan said listlessly, "sir, I have seen 5 Landers near the village.
They are a possible threat." He hesitated, wondering if he should go on and
tell Asiris about the odd green glow that let them breathe, or the Sea Slugs
attack, but for some reason, he felt he should hold back.
"Landers? A threat?" Asiris scoffed. "I highly
doubt that any Lander could be trouble for us. Go, I have important business
to do." He continued reading a lengthy document.
Druinnan waited, to see if Asiris had anything
else to say. When it became clear that he had finished, the Krawk reconsidered
telling his leader about the glow that surrounded the pets. As if suddenly struck
by an idea, the Krawk jerked around and floated out of the room, rather quickly.
"If you say so, sir," he mumbled, more to himself than to Asiris.
He closed the door behind him and paused, his
eyes narrowed. He tapped his long claws against his thin mouth, deep in thought.
The Sea Slug was awake again. It had been sleeping for ages, or at least it
had been staying away from the ruined city of Maraqua, giving them plenty of
time to rebuild a few well-hidden parts of the city, enough so that the survivors
could have a place to live. Now the Sea Slug might come back, and Maraqua would
be doomed, again.
Druinnan glided down the hallway, concentrating
on his thoughts so much that he nearly bumped into a Maraquan Acara, who was
carrying several clipboards with each of her tentacles. Druinnan would have
to escape. He had always been planning to leave, to live by himself like a hermit,
in the back of his mind. But it was hard to live on your own in such a place
with so many dangers, so Druinnan had stayed in the village, biding his time,
waiting. As the tribe leaders messenger, he always knew what was going on, and
that was an advantage. Now the perfect time to escape had come. By the time
the Sea Slug attacked, Druinnan would be long gone. And when the village had
been wrecked, Druinnan would come back to the ruins and take whatever remained.
The Krawk floated out the doorway and paused.
How was he going to survive, until then? He examined the nearest little huts
with beady eyes. If the village was condemned to be destroyed, then what would
they need food for? The village had a small stash that always had to be rationed.
It would definitely be enough for Druinnan, for the time being. Later, he could
come back and look for fine crafts to sell.
Druinnan skulked off towards the hut that the
food was kept in; he almost felt like a criminal, preparing for his next misdemeanor.
'No, I'm not a criminal,' he told himself. 'I'm just trying to survive.
It's every Krawk for himself, after all.'
Sea Slug
The water drifted pass and over him as he slowly made his way towards the 'intruder'.
As he came closer, he heard a multitude of voices that seemed to come out of
the boat. This unexpected surprise stopped the Sea Slug in his tracks before
he resumed swimming once again. He neared the boat, his anger starting to boil
up beneath him, and with one silent bellow he rammed into it's side.
After attacking the nuisance of a boat, he quickly
withdrew into the murky waters once more, hidden by the veils of the dreary
waves. He spotted eyes coming out from the bottom of the boat, and resentment
flew into his mind once more. He slowly started to rise, carefully hiding himself
behind the water's smoky depths, and it was in this fashion that he was able
to rise to the surface of the ocean. His eye stalks popped into the open air,
and the Sea Slug flinched at the wind's cool breath against his slimy eyes,
but he continued to float upon the waves. His eyes swiveled back and forth until
they finally rested upon the inhabitants of the boat...and most of them were
staring straight back at him.
The Sea Slug's eyes rested upon what seemed to
be a purple colored Uni who seemed to be completely absorbed in a mirror. Beside
her he glimpsed an image of what seemed to be a Shoyru with wings that resembled
a faerie's wing. An Eyrie, who seemed to have come off the coasts of Krawk Island,
looked incredibly dull, and nearby sat a rather ignorant Gelert who seemed to
not notice the ocean's eyes.
With a cold heart, the Sea Slug flew forward
and rammed into the side of the boat once more. Loud cries were heard above
him as the boat inhabitants bumbled around each other at the sudden impact.
The Sea Slug withdrew himself once more, only to come back at an even faster
speed and attack the boat again. He heard the crack of the boat as it started
to break apart and allow the water to rush within; all of the Neopets upon the
boat seemed to have gone mad, for they were all jumping into the ocean's swirling
waves. The Sea Slug gave another silent bellow before he rammed into the boat
once more, causing it to fully decapitate before his eyes.
After the Sea Slug finally ruined the original
cause of his distress, he floated calmly upon the ocean's waves; he was at a
loss at what to do next, but he knew that he shouldn't allow his body to float
fragilely upon the sea's surface, so he slowly started to sink into the murky
depths once more. The moment the warm water touched the dry skin upon his eye
stalks, he felt them loosen up and relax. The Sea Slug started glancing around
into the dark ocean; it took some time for him to realize that little objects
were moving in the waves...and they were disturbing him as well. He gave out
another bellow and swam after the nearest dark object.
Asiris
Asiris awoke a few hours later and rubbed his eyes, looking around his office.
For this one moment he was happy he had beige walls because he didn’t have to
be knocked back by a blinding color when he woke up or be in total darkness.
Blinking a few times, the Draik blinked numerous times, trying to wake up.
The Maraquan Draik got up from his chair and
started to float around in the little water that was on his floor. The water
was there so he could breathe a “water breath” as he called them. Maraquan pets
could survive in oxygen filled environments but needed water every few days
to expand their lungs to a normal Neopets’ capacity. In reality, their lungs
were smaller in the water because they didn’t need to breathe as much. Many
believed they had gills, but that was false. They weren’t anything like a Flotsam
or Jetsam who had to live in the water all the time and they would never want
to be one.
Asiris opened his door and walked out into a
long corridor, stretching from one side of the town to the other. The hall had
no water in sight except through the large window that covered the left side
of the hall (the offices were on the right). The Draik walked down the hallway,
heading for the doors that would lead him to the water and then after a big
of a swim, to his house.
He walked outside the doors and shut it immediately
to not the let water get into the building. Then, he started to move his body
and started to swim to his house. Asiris heard a crash, but shrugged it off
and continued walking.
“One of your own will betray you,” said a voice,
echoing across the room until there was an eerie silence.
Asiris was sitting on the floor staring in awe
at a huge beast that was in front of him. It had been blabbering on about this
for what seemed like years and it didn’t stop. No matter how hard the Draik
tried to silence it, it would continue on again after a few moments. This time
wasn’t any different. The Draik put his hands to his ears and screamed.
To be continued…
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