The Pioneers


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5 years, 9 months ago
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I crawled my way through the brush, leaping with strength from tree to tree. The family lingered behind me.. they weren't all that intent on exploring. My father was perfectly happy with just scavenging the forest floor and picking at whatever fruit he could and staying away from the water's edge. I was barely a three years old but I already knew that I loved to be exploring.

Ever since mother was taken by a crocodile I always felt this urge to explore. This urge to.. just be free. Humans roamed not too far all the time.. certain death if I got too close, but I wasn't afraid. Not anymore. Instead I swung from the groves of trees with ferocity. I was going to live- dammit- I was going to live before I died.. unlike father.

I don't know what compelled me to go.. but when I did I didn't hesitate. Lunging over crocodile infested waters, only to look back at father's disapproving look as his harem and my brothers gave me barely a noticed. I scoffed and continued on. My goal this time was simple.. that tree in the distance.. I had done this a hundred times before but this time...

this time I didn't stop at that tree.

I kept going. Setting more and more trees as my objective until I was so far from the family I couldn't hear their calls. I was alone.

Very, very suddenly I was afraid. I eyed the "logs" in the water waiting for them to transform and lunge into the sky - despite how high up I was - and snap at me and pull me down. I had seen those green beasts bask in the morning light.. I wouldn't be surprised anymore if they could do it. I couldn't head back now though. I quietly curled, feeling regret. Soon.. soon it would be dark. I figured the only thing I could do was sleep.. or try to find somewhere to sleep.

A little less enthusiastically now, I would leap from tree to tree. I felt something.. pulling me. I couldn't put my thumb on it, so I just went with it. I had nothing better to do anymore.. and quietly I hoped that it would be a sense that lead me back to my family. Eventually it would take me to this.. mangrove tree. The tree felt warm.. it felt comfortable.. and I felt tired.

I found myself curling into the branches, my thumbs curling into fists as I curled around and cuddled my stomach. The sunlight was dimming.. and I was alone. It had to of taken me an hour past nightfall for me to actually drift into sleep.

In my dreams, I felt warm. I was with my family again. Mother was there too. She hugged me like I was an infant.. held me close to her bosom. I felt loved even by father now. His hand would reach and touch my shoulder. He had always loved mother more so even than the other females who grew jealous of her. Mother was a bit older but so was he. They had grown up together by what I understood. It made sense for the females to be jealous that the only ones hitting on them was their sons. I had thought it funny at the time.

I found myself climbing into a tree a short distance from mother. Climbing through the mangroves and picking at their flowers and spawning fruits. Then.. a chill.

I looked up just in time for death to grasp me and pull me into the abyss.

I woke up with a screech, sweating. Quickly I silenced myself. I looked around.. something felt off. The tree was still irregularly warm, warmer now that I had slept through the night, but something..

I looked down to see myself a foot off of the top of the water.

I let out an alarmed call, jumping to the top of the branches. I looked hurriedly for nearby trees but there were none. None for a very, very long swim. How had I gotten here? I was shaking. The tree.. it kept and kept going under. Had there been a flash flood? No, that would of woke me up.. The only thing I could think to do was cry. Cry at the top of the branches. My feet were starting to touch the water now. I started shaking the branches. I didn't want to die.

I couldn't tell through my shaking but the tree.. seemed to stop. My fists and feet were in the water, I felt sick. Fear froze me. Fear shot through my spine as real as any venom or wound. I had to jump.

My hind haunches crouched, and then.. I tried my best attempt at flying. Naturally, it ended as quickly as it had started. The chill of cold swamp water shot through my back and covered me. For a brief second I thought I was going to drown as I gurgled in mouthfuls of fresh water. Somehow though.. I found myself back at the surface.

Just as quickly as I found myself at the surface I felt myself get swept up. For a brief second I caught something out the corner of my eye. Then, I reared around to see that the tree I had been on had suddenly resurfaced and now a white face with beady black eyes stared at me.

I screeched. I had never seen a crocodile like this. I paddled sharply but to no avail. My arms were starting to get tired. The.. the thing seemed to just be following me. Amused. Very abruptly it dippped under and I was sure it would spring up with its jaws around my body, but when it didn't and I instead felt soft but wet fur under my palms I froze. It lifted me up, my wet body shaking as it suddenly met the cold air. Water spewed past my teeth as I shook.This thing.. seemed to be carrying me.

"Don't be afraid." The creature seemed to speak and my mind snapped to attention.. I could understand it!

"... what are you?" I asked in retort, trying to relax atop its head but I still found myself shaking.

"I'm helping." The creature responded and I tried to calm down.

This creature.. was warm. It was warm. Was that why the tree had felt warm? Despite the coldness of the water it was comforting. I curled into its silky fur. I even ceased shivering. The creature pulled itself and its body towards the shore, which I then reluctantly stepped upon. I would back up a bit as the massive figure would pull its frame onto the earth, revealing to me long strands of wet fur. The mangrove tree on its back seemed to embed into their skin.. I awed quietly in confusion and admiration.

This had to be him.. the one the forest animals called Weary.

"You're Weary aren't you?" I asked as I shivered.

"I'm tired, yes."

I looked at it and examined it in full. I had once been worried it would eat me but I quickly saw that it had no mouth. In fact, it had no nethers either. I paused and gawked slightly.. I had never seen a creature like this before. My family wasn't from here so we never really heard of the things around here. The most we could hear over the past few years were the gossips of the birds.

"How did you get here?" Asked the creature,"... I have seen your kind around but you do not feel like you're from here."

"I... " Pausing, I thought,"I don't know. That is a question for my father. I was born here. That is all I know."

The creature paused. Its dictating membrane washing over its eyes for a brief second before it continued to respond despite its lack of a mouth and probably vocal organs.

"Where is your father?" It asked.

"I wish I knew." I responded.

Then silence would settle. Long enough for me to start to think. If this creature did have this tree growing on their back like it was a piece of their living hide.. then how had they not felt me climb up? Had the creature been a deep sleeper or was it really, really dense?

"I wish to meet your father." It responded after a minute of silence,"... let us go find him."

Hope filled through my chest. I got up and enthusiastically said yes before climbing onto the creatures shoulder. I would rest between its blades and feel it begin to shift. When the creature would pull into the water this time I would be mostly dry. Despite knowing I was (probably) safe, I climbed higher into the tree. The creature seemed to notice I was uneasy, because it asked.

"Something the matter?" It spoke.

I paused, looking down at it from its highest branches. I wasn't sure how comfortable I was just.. revealing my life's story to this thing.

"I'm worried-" I lied.. kind of,"- that we won't find my father."

The creature seemed to briefly relax and focus on what was ahead of it before it responded.

"Don't worry. I know where your father is. Its just you guys are always so enthusiastically jumping around on the trees and I have a hard time getting your attention if I even get close enough to get your attention to begin with." The creature sighed.

I laid silent for a few seconds. Thinking back I had never really thought about that. The most I did when swinging from tree to tree was check to make sure there were no pythons. I had a brother get eaten by a python before I was born and it kind of scared mom a lot. Of course, that kind of stopped too when mother died. Thinking back I realized I'm really wreckless.

"You didn't tell me the truth." I jumped when the creature spoke this time,"... you're afraid of water?"

"... Yes." I responded as I looked into the murky green,"... my mother was eaten by a crocodile."

The creature seemed to stop briefly, and I swore I could see in its eyes it daze out. Fade mentally from the world as if reliving something from its past. Something it couldn't quite remember. Then, as quickly as it stopped, it started back up.

"Understandable." Would be the last thing it would say on our trip down the murky green.

We would snake down the river for some time. Visibly I could see us pass crocodiles. They eyed me like the piece of meat that I was to them. I shrunk as deep and climbed as high up into the creature's tree limbs. It wasn't until I heard the calls of my family that I came down. I would see my father.. his typically stern gaze would soften and I would run to his embrace.