a collection of tales [[ chronocompass writing ]]

- brand new adventure -

Raphael hadn’t left Terra’s side since the rider had decided to come to Salvus with all her dragons to keep an eye out for trouble. While her other dragons had been off and away on their own adventures, mingling with the people and looking for trouble, Terra had chosen to walk the borders, keep an eye on the various visitors, and patrol the forest. The river brigade could watch the parts of town where the water flowed - but adventuring through a brilliant, green wilderness? That was all her and Raphael.

On this particular day, Terra arose bright and early, to the sound of birds singing and the chattering of dragons. The constant sound of Salvus was incredibly confusing to her, still - she was used to the quiet of the desert, full of stone and cactus and the bright sun. Teeba had given her and her dragons the third, and top, floor of a newer metal shack near the edge of town. It was a stellar view of the place, and seeing all the people she was being paid to protect gave her purpose in her life. After so long wandering aimlessly, she loved having something to focus on in her life.

Raphael did too, she could tell. The orange scaled dragon was already awake, and standing by the open window. “Strong breeze today,” he said to his rider, quietly, so as to not wake the others still asleep. “Feels like a day for trouble.”

Terra got to her feet, stretched, and turned to grab her armor. While strapping on her boots, she nodded. “We’ll have to get out there to stop it then, won’t we?” After throwing her cloak over her shoulder and grabbing her gear, she walked towards the window. “Maybe we’ll stick the landing this time.”

Raphael thought that this was a little bit ridiculous, and perhaps quite risky, but he wasn’t going to back down from a challenge, a chance to prove himself. Terra hopped out the window, grabbed on to the windowsill, and dropped gently down into a pile of leaves she had put below for herself. The larger and heavier Raphael simply brought the earth to him, creating a series of floating earth platforms that he precariously climbed across to reach the ground.

The duo headed right for the forest. Terra hopped up on her dragon’s back, and they headed out towards possible danger. Raphael already was getting the feeling of being watched - and he wasn’t wrong.

The Walker had still been nervous about visiting the town after that odd five headed dragon, the Company, came by and offered them a warm welcome. It was a kind gesture, to be sure, but after so much time hiding away with his thunder dragons, he just wasn’t ready for so many people so soon. So he had spent quite a lot of time on the edge of town, observing. Today Agate and Duck were with him - Duck on Walker’s shoulder, rubber duck in hand, and Agate standing next to his rider, full of curiosity.

“Who’s that coming this way?” Agate asked, his gaze fixed on the cloaked human and horned dragon marching toward the forest. “They must be a recent arrival.”

Duck looked towards the strangers in interest. “Hmm. You’re right. They look fierce,” she said, clutching her duck closer.

The Walker narrowed his electronic eyes. He sent his thoughts to his dragons. *Let’s stay hidden, then. Maybe follow them, see if they’re friendly or not. The town already knows we exist, after all.*

Agate, frustratingly, laughed at the fact. “Stay hidden? But they look so cool!” He flapped his wings and rose into the air to get a better view. “That night dragon looked pretty scary, and they were all fine.”

The Walker felt he already knew what was going to happen. *Agate,* he thought furiously in his dragon’s direction, but it was too late. Duck ducked behind Walker as Agate flew out towards the mystery rider and dragon, calling hello in a marvelous ruckus.

“Hey! Hey, you! Hello there!” Agate yelled as he hurried through the short patch of field that separated the forest and the metal houses of Salvus. The Walker sighed internally and started following. He just couldn’t stay hidden without his dragons running about.

Terra, startled by the sudden sound that pierced through the other early morning noises. One hand went towards a potion flask at her waist, while Raphael ducked into a stance to protect his rider atop his back. Shards of rock flew up into the air. Raphael’s gaze darted around and finally landed on the tiny, colorful dragon heading towards them. They didn’t seem to have bad intentions, so the two relaxed in relief, though Terra was still prepared to send potions flinging if she had to.

“Who are you?” Terra asked, noticing the other two who were following along behind the bright thunder dragon. “We’re out looking for trouble, you wouldn’t happen to be causing any, would you?”

Agate flew a couple loops in the air. “I’m Agate! My rider and I live in a treehouse near here. We haven’t come into town all that much yet, so I don’t think so. How about you? Do you like it here? Are you like the police? What sort of trouble?”

The Walker offered a friendly nod towards Terra and Raphael. Duck still stayed mostly hidden. Terra was quite overwhelmed by all the questions being thrown her way. Raphael answered in her stead.

“Raphael and Terra. We’re guards for the town. Quite a change from the desert we hail from, but it’s honest work, and that’s all I need in life.” Raphael knew that, perhaps someday, he’d want to do even more to help - but for now, he was feeling quite fulfilled. Making a difference, that’s what he cared about. With so much wrong in the world, he was grateful to have a chance to do anything at all to help.

Terra finally found her voice again, after a moment of trying to comprehend the sudden meeting. “The militia’s been out and about, never mind those seeking trouble or bounty hunters. We’re here to stop them all.” She smiled proudly from atop Raphael’s shoulders.

Duck frowned at that. She ventured away from her rider fairly often, so long as she had her rubber duck with her, and there had been some strange things afoot in the woods. She had assumed that the shadows in the forest and the odd mechanical devices she had found were from the townsfolk. She slithered over Walker’s shoulder and spoke up, voice timid.

“If you’re looking for suspicious things, I might know of a few. Not from us, of course, but just things I’ve noticed in the forest. Spooky things.”

The Walker would have frowned, if he had a mouth. He knew what Duck was talking about - in many ways they shared the same mind, after all. He, too, had suspected nothing more than the Salvus citizens exploring the forest and setting up ways to keep an eye on things. Perhaps, however, someone else was doing the looking. Someone unwanted.

Terra wasn’t sure she liked what the new folks were telling her. Something was very wrong in the forest, she felt, and there was only one way to find out.

“Take us there.”

- uncovering mysteries -

Agate rambled gladly on as the group headed towards the forest. The bright dragon really was full of energy. Walker sometimes felt that perhaps the dragon had picked the wrong rider. Walker was a quiet fellow, full of melancholy and deep thoughts. He was simply someone who stayed in the background and took things slowly. Right now, he felt things were going anything but slow. Terra and Raphael seemed like intimidating folks, and while he trusted that they had good intentions, he still wasn’t sure he liked being around them.

Terra was also a bit concerned about the Walker. The fellow didn’t speak - he reminded her of Fox in that way - but instead of his dragons saying things for him, he stayed quiet and let his dragons say whatever to carry on the conversation. Agate was clearly a good fellow, if a bit too energetic - and Duck, who had offered information willingly about odd going-ons, seemed a kind soul. But the Walker, with his mechanical parts and dark eyes, was hard to read. The fellow didn’t seem to have much body language. Fox could convey what he was feeling with a look, or a wave of a paw, but Walker was much more like a statue, moving when he had to and probably thinking whatever ominous thoughts he had in that head of his.

*I don’t like him,* Terra admitted to her dragon mentally. Raphael hummed thoughtfully in return. *There had better not be an ambush waiting for us.*

*I understand your reservations,* agreed the scaled dragon. *I’ve got a good feeling about these folks, though. Not like the wanderers in the desert who always gave us trouble.*

Duck remembered the location of one of the odd cameras she had spotted a few days back, and she happily led the way towards it. She could certainly feel some of the tension between folks, but she really just wanted to help, and hoped that her honesty could help bring everyone together. “There was this really weird contraption up ahead. I checked the electrical currents and there was this whole web of machines in the woods. Like cameras, almost.”

Terra, from atop her dragon’s back, nodded, eyes narrowed. The forest around them was getting lighter and lighter, sun shining through the trees and dappling the ground below. Weeds and bushes grew all around. It was certainly a new experience for her, but she didn’t really have the time to focus on all of that, not when there was something for her to do.

“I haven’t heard about anyone setting up cameras in the woods,” Terra mused out loud. “And that certainly feels like something worth telling your town guards about.”

“Doesn’t it?” agreed Agate. “Makes your job a lot easier if all you have to do is look at some cameras. Instead you’ve been romping around town. Weird.”

“Agate, they’re not the town’s cameras,” Duck explained. “Oh, this is it!” The blue dragon hurried a ways ahead, and Walker followed suit. By the time that Raphael, Terra, and Agate had caught up, the Walker was uncovering a bundle of wires and metal from where it had been hidden under some bushes. He held out the device to Terra, who carefully took it in her hands.

The Walker studied the machine carefully. He hadn’t been too concerned about them when he’d seen them before, but now he was sure they weren’t what they seemed. Though he wasn’t the one holding the camera any longer, he still connected with it electronically, to try and see how it worked. Diving deep into the code, he saw a link - a link back to Sherok. *They’re spies,* he thought towards his dragons.

“They’re spies?” Agate yelped back.

“What?” Terra asked. She was turning the cube shaped object around in her hands and had no clue how the dragons had figured that out so fast. Unless they’d used their magic in some unseen way… or if they were already part of the spy network.

“Walker’s a machine, technically, so he can link up with other machines,” Duck explained, rubber duck still with her, as always. “There’s code in that thing that sends a signal back to Sherok.”

“Computers can do that?” Raphael said. “Send a signal all the way to a different planet?”

“This means they know where Salvus is,” Terra said with growing dread. She dropped the camera to the ground in horror. “They could be here any time.”

“We’ll fight off whoever comes to battle, Terra,” Raphael said proudly, though he knew that even every person in Salvus fighting was no match for the might of the militia, if they sent their best. And with how many people there were who had escaped that group, or who had gone against them, he felt that Salvus was a fairly large target right now.

The Walker was quite worried by what he heard. *Tell them I can try to disable the link, buy the town more time,* he sent to his two dragons. Agate relayed the information gladly. The Walker could tell that a discussion was taking place, but he paid it no mind. When the camera was placed back into his hands, he closed his eyes and focused on the link back to Sherok. He imagined it shattering into a thousand pieces, unfixable, and the same thing happening with every other camera in the forest. With immense concentration and a jolt of electricity, it was done.

The cameras - he reached out with his mind and counted about a dozen - had stopped functioning. Hopefully for good, but he still felt it would be a good idea to gather them all up and melt them down into nothing. He came back into awareness of the real world to someone shaking his shoulder. It was Terra, the other rider. The Walker was on his knees. Odd. He didn’t remember falling.

Terra said something, asked if he was okay, from what he could hear. Walker nodded and eased himself back up onto his feet. Hmm. Perhaps that was something he shouldn’t do on a regular basis.

“We’ve got to go gather up the rest of them, that’s what your dragon said, right?” Terra spoke again, and this time he could comprehend the whole thing. Her dragon - Raphael - behind her, kept glancing around the forest. Perhaps looking for danger? Either way, he nodded once again, a stiff movement, and headed in the direction where he knew there’d be yet another one of the strange cubic cameras. Duck was back to her perch on his shoulder right away, a show of support.

*I think he’s a good fellow, Raphael,* Terra mentally told her dragon. *Maybe I made a bad assumption earlier, but he did a good thing, didn’t he?*

Raphael responded after a moment. *Certainly. He’s an interesting fellow, but not a bad one by any means. But come on, we’re falling behind.* He trotted after Walker and his thunder dragons, and Terra followed gladly.

*Do you think Teeba will be willing to let us borrow his forge? If we’re melting these things we’ll need it.* Terra pondered.

*When we explain what we’ve found, I’m sure he will,* Raphael agreed. *Now let’s go.*


- safe one more day -

It took an impressive hour and a half to gather up all the cameras, so spread out through the forest they were. Duck led the way and tracked the fading electrical currents from camera to camera, each one harder to find than the last. Agate even pitched in best that he could, though he was far less able to sense things than Duck and the Walker. Perhaps it was his lack of mechanical parts, or perhaps he merely lacked the patience. Both were possible.

The sun shone high in the sky and Raphael was quite tired of following people around in seemingly aimless patterns through the woods. At the least, though, Terra and he had gotten done what they wanted to do. They had checked out the forest, kept an eye out for trouble, and even done something to help solve a problem! Not a bad day's work, and it wasn't even done yet.

Agate let out a celebratory cheer when the last camera was picked up and summarily destroyed by a determined Walker. "Are we headed back now? I haven't seen much of the town. And what about Teeba? Is he a cool guy? He's not going to be mad or anything, is he?"

Terra tried to imagine Teeba being angry. It just didn't fit his character, not the way she saw him. Teeba was bravery like she could never be and kindness unlike anything she knew. The fellow was like a saint on Eredia by the way people talked about him. She knew he had flaws - he was prone to working himself to exhaustion, to constantly fretting over others, to not taking care of himself. So with confidence she was able to say "Not at all. You did everyone in the town a favor, didn't you? He'll probably just ask you to come by again for tea or something. That lizard's too kind for his own good."

Raphael turned in the direction where he knew the city lay and flicked his tail to beckon the others to follow him. Idle chatter was all well and good, but there was a job to be done. "It's just a town," he said to Agate. "Nothing special."

Duck glided down from the Walker's shoulder and alighted on Raphael's head, much to the larger dragon's chagrin. Agate hurried ahead - no matter what Raphael said, he was excited to see new things. It had been quite some time since his rider had brought them to the forest, and several long weeks since they had run into the Company.

As the group passed the threshold of the city, the Walker felt a wave of apprehension come over him. There were so many people here, so many sounds and lights and colors. It was a bit overwhelming to his sensors, but he pushed it all back and stepped forward anyways. These were people to be trusted. He repeated that over and over in his head as Terra and Raphael brought them on a winding path through gardens, slanting buildings, and an impressive amount of ducklings that Duck happily chased after.

At last, Walker and dragons were led to a humble shack in the middle of the town, with a tree growing idly on top and a large, stern dragon on the roof, guarding the doorway. As Terra approached, the large dragon let out a grumble of akgnowledgement. The group waited by the door perhaps several minutes, Agate bounding around all the while, until at last the door opened, and a certain Tsotska stepped out.

"What is it?" said Teeba, discerning gaze glancing over each dragon and rider in turn. "Ah, the Company told me about you!" he said when he saw the Walker. "A delight to finally meet you in person." He held out his hand for a handshake, which Walker hesitantly accepted.

"We found these in the forest and want to melt them down," Duck explained, and Walker held out the broken cameras. "Terra said we should ask for use of your forge?" The little dragon was still perched atop Raphael's head, and a duckling - real, not rubber - was on her own back.

Terra offered her own explanation. "Walker and his dragons discovered a Militia plot, sir."

"I already told you to just call me Teeba, didn't I?" the tsotska said, features light, though his eyes had gone dark with worry. "Here, I'll heat the forge and we can get rid of their meddling."

It didn't take long for Teeba-ei to get the flames of the forge roaring. Agate stared into the fire with an awed expression. "It's so bright," he said, joy in his voice.

"Drop in the cameras and let's be done with it," Raphael said. Unlike Agate, he seemed entirely serious, ready to put an end to one bit of trouble and move on to the next thing.

The Walker dropped the multitude of cubes into the flames and watched as they all slowly burned away. The metal bent and turned hot, the wires charred into ash, and every link the Militia had with Salvus slowly burned away - at least, for the present moment.

Raphael knew it wasn't over, that there would be new spying, new forms of attack. But no matter what, he and Terra's other dragons would be there to fight back, best they could. He only hoped that they could hold back the tide.

Like drawing words in the sand of the beach and trying to stop them from being washed away, the Abrendese Militia seemed quite inevitable.