Mesoterra; Badge Event
In the cold night air, the warm breath of the female formed small clouds that disappeared into the shadows of the dark forest. Her paws were all dirty and scratches covered her legs, something rustled in the bushes, and the blind Gigglepup turned to the sound, the chick-fluff that covered a great part of her growing wings fluffed up. There was a sound she wasn’t sure of what it was and a scent she couldn’t identify, it somewhat smelled like iron- but there was also the smell of burnt leaf’s. A loud screech made the kid flinch once again and stumble in the opposite direction. For Ilulu it had been just another walk in the woods, following the well-known road when suddenly loud sounds disturbed her, scaring her off her road until she got lost in the dense forest. By now she had been stumbling through the unknown territory for about an hour. Ilulu took out her inhalator shaking it before taking a deep breath from it. A light cough got triggered by the albuterol. While the albuterol binds to receptors on the surface of the smooth muscle cells that line the airways, Ilulu listened to the sounds that surrounded her, hoping to find something that could hint her where she was… but the girl was completely lost. The last sound she had heard was the screech- which had now turned into a small whimpering sound, this being her only orientation point she started to approach from what she had run not long ago.
At the same time elsewhere, Illeo was sleeping in his bed, his blanket tightly wrapped around him when the screech woke him up. The young adult straightened up, looking to the window where a flame could be seen to dissolve just above the forest roof. His first instincts were to check on his little sister, the Gigglepup rushed out of his room to her door knocking on it. “Ilulu- are you okay?”, he asked, as he got no answer he knocked again, when still there was no reply he opened the door and peeked in. Her window was open and the bed empty. Illeo rushed over to the door of the small hut, taking a robe to keep him warm outside. “Where are you going?”, his mother asked, it seemed a lot of Mesoterrians had been woken up by the screech. “Ilulu isn’t in her bed, I’ll go look for her”, he told her, leaving the house and immediately taking off. The village was in alarm many Mesoterrians gathered on the small streets leaving their houses. The long feathers of the winged Gigglepup rustled in the cold night air as he soared over the dense forest. Looking for her fragile silhouette or her calming colors between the black and green.
Far from Illeo, Ilulu was getting closer to the source of the whimpering and cries, She could hear the heavy breaths of something that needed to be far bigger than her. The closer she got the stronger got the feeling of a small breeze on her skin. Then… a loud rumble sent vibrations to Ilulus feet and she flinched in surprise. Whatever was laying there between the tree and bushes, it needed to be big.
The oversized lizard woke up when it heard the footsteps of another being approaching its location. It was well aware that it would die soon, after fighting for the life of herself and her eggs she was at loss. Most of her eggs were taken away from the mourning mother and severe wounds separated her vibrant colored scales, thick and dark blood poured from the wounds creating a pool of blood in which the dying creature lay. Waiting for the inevitable. Seeing the small creature abroach the dragon lifted its head, turning to meet the eyes of the gigglepup, the nictitating membrane flashed over the open eyes of the reptile. Although it was just a creature who didn’t know words it could tell that the young girl in front of it was no threat- more so it seemed to shiver in fear. The Drake tilted its head to the side as it scanned the body language of the female gigglepup. Taking notice of the odd eyes that stared at it, the giant mythical reptile blew hot air out of its nostrils, never taking the eyes off the girl. It knew it would die soon… but that wouldn't make it lower its guard.
Ilulu was hit by the wall of hot air, her natural reaction was to flinch, the night was cold yet the air that was blown towards her was hot like a summer day. She blinked confused before giggling amusedly. Stepping closer she tried to find what had scared her before. The Drake nosed the gild back as it came closer, but this only laughed and walked forward again. This amused the mother and she gave the young kid a playful push once again. This one seemed to be just okay. For Ilulu, who had no idea of what she had approached, the soft scales and warm nose was the most interesting thing to feel on this cold night. She laughed at the creature before stumbling over the very tip of its long tail that curled around the dying body. The girl fell and let out a surprised ‘Oofff’, the Drake hovered with its head over the fallen child, trying to pick it up by gently pulling on the small wings. Ilulu soon raised back and shook her small body, her wings rustling and her fur bristled in rebellion against the cold midnight air. Seeing her small shiver, Drake nosed her again, this time rubbing Ilulus cheek with its snout. Pushing her small shivering body against the warm scales of itself, resting the snout on the legs of the Gigglepup as it sat down it slowly closed its eyes. Gentle pets guided it into a deep slumber it would never wake from again. In the comforting warmth of the great beast, Ilulu slipped into a deep sleep as well.
In the meantime, the village was starting to worry sick as no one could find Ilulu, the blind daughter of a farmer pair that grew most crops for the villager's bakery. Almost everyone knew them, their adoptive children Illeo and Ilulu would often be seen together. There was no one in the village who hadn’t seen the two together. So the village set out to search for the girl, always worriedly looking up where a worried Illeo soared under the shining stars of the night sky. While scanning the ground Illeo suddenly spiraled down, the young adult landed with his heart racing. He could see a large amount of blood and a giant beast curled around the body of his beloved sister. “Ilulu! Ilulu!”, the terrified Gigglepup cried out, his feathers rustling as he folded them behind his back.
The calls and cries shook Ilulu out of her peaceful dreams and she slowly cracked her eyes open again, first confused about where she was as this didn’t smell like home but soon remembered. As she raised back up her hands touched the scaled shoulder of the beast and she could feel an odd warm wetness on her hand. The fluid was kind of sticky and seemed to dry quickly, she didn’t dare to move, she could still feel the head of the Drake resting beside her but she could hear the breaths nor the loud beating of the creature's heart that would pump blood through the scale-covered body. Terrified, the young female turned around crouching down to the head of the mythical being, touching its checks and trying to wake it up. Tears burning in her eyes, what was wrong with the gentle creature? “It’s not waking up!”, Ilulu whimpered, shaking their head. “Please wake up!”, she cried, it was just a moment ago that this intelligent being had shown her a kind and gentle side of nature and now it was suddenly so cold and didn’t react to any of her attempts to wake it up. Illeo carefully got closer, soon realizing that the beast was dead, he climbed over the scaled corpse and picked up his younger sister taking a few steps away before setting her down. “What were you doing out here? Are you not hurt? Show me your hand- there is blood on your feathers show me”, he muttered worriedly. “No- let me go I need to help it- it is not breathing!”, she resisted crying, Illeo was confused at first before looking at the dead drake. Realising that the blood wasn't hers and that the Drake had never harmed her. He silently picked his sister up and gave her a tight hug. “There is nothing you can do Starfire. This creature has passed on to a different place”, he explained, by now other Mesos arrived at the scene inspecting the dead beast, one overheard the cries of the girl the visiting Artican approached the duo. He gently put his hand on the young girls forehead. "Don't be sad… it's free from the pain that haunted it and thanks to you it had not suffered to be alone. So cheer up little girl, you made its last moments special", he cooed before walking over to the corpse examining it. Illeo meanwhile handed his younger sister to their parents. "We bring her home… don't stay out too long Illeo", his worried mother said as she held her young daughter.
After his parents had left with Ilulu he walked up to the Artican. "What beast could have done this?", he asked in disbelief looking at the several deadly wounds that were scattered across the female Drake body. "Not what… who, Hunters did this. Probably for the eggs this female guarded, Drake are valuable companions", the Artican closed his eyes in distraught, these hunting had become a serious threat to the ecosystem. "We found something!", one of the Villagers called and the Artican walked over to examine the finding. It was an oval-shaped egg, with a small crack in its shell. The Artican let out a long sigh. "May I", he asked, and the villager handed the egg over. "This was probably the only egg she could save… but wasn't able to save herself. The young Gigglepup that was with her, she was your sister you said?", he asked looking at the Gigglepup. "That's right… Ilulu is my sister", Illeo mumbled, the Artican turned to the young Adult and carefully placed the damaged egg in his hands. "I am sure the Mother would rather have her, have her last kid. Hold it warm and guard it well until it hatches", he spoke, placing his paw on Illeos shoulder. "I'll take care of things here, go home young one", the stranger demanded, Illeo nodded slowly returning home.