Eclipse Event Stories (NOT CANON)

Cheon had a rather calm and dreamless sleep, even though she didn't feel very safe in this foreign environment. Sun-Hee on the other paw didn't seem to sleep much at all. She kept looking around, too nervous to fall asleep and cuddled closely to her protector.

Suddenly, still in the middle of the night, Cheondungchida jolted awake after she has heard a loud thud. She raised her head and looked around, still having to adjust to the darkness and confused about where she even was. Finally she remembered Minas, Cuvrar and the strange, blind tribe and her panic subsided. Then she noticed voices outside of her den and listened intently, curious about what was going on.

«No, please, have mercy! I though you would help me, what is all of this?!»

«We offered you help but you turned it down. Now there's nowhere else for you to go.»

«NO! I don't want to become like them, I'm different, I swear! I've made a mistake, give me another chance!»

«Mother has no time for second chances, you made your choice.»

Then, another loud thud, the sound of something hitting someone and then what seemed like a body falling to the floor and getting dragged away. Cheon concentrated, thought hardly about whether she was still in a nightmare or not and if so, she wanted to wake up. But it seemed as if she already was awake. Then she tried to convince herself she had misinterpreted the noise and that her mind was only playing tricks on her. She wondered what else the sounds could've been, but for some reason, she only saw a Saliko getting attacked in front of her eyes. For a minute the female thought about just running away, off into the forest, but her limbs were still so heavy that she couldn't move. She closed her eyes to focus, but quickly dozed off again.

As the jill awoke once more she noticed she was still alone. The light of a late sun was flooding the room and Cheon noticed she had almost slept a whole day, yet she still felt kinda tired. Her pelt felt warm and nice under the rays of the sun and she enjoyed the moment until she realized that something weird had happened the night before, but she couldn't make sense of it at all. Noeu could only remember an eerie feeling, but not what exactly she had witnessed or if it had been a crazy dream. She remembered loud voices in the darkness and the sense of impeding doom.

After getting up and stretching herself, knowing she wouldn't find the answers in her mind right now, she then proceeded to clean her pelt and waited a while longer, but she got a bit too bored from staring into the void. She walked over to the hole in the wall and looked outside, observing what was going on. She saw the crowns of the trees below her, all smaller than the huge tree she was in right then. The tree tops were shaking slightly in a soft breeze, swaying back and forth, almost hypnotizing her. She heard low voices coming from below, either from one of the other rooms or the ground, though she wasn't sure if she'd even be able to hear that so high up. In the sky, many birds were circling and some arriving at the tree with something large in their claws. They were too far away for her to see properly, but occasionally she thought she had heard something like a call from there, but she told herself she was just imagining things. After a while Noeu began playing a game, where the birds were going, how many would fly by within the next moments and if they were carrying something or not. It wasn't particularly interesting at first, but the longer she did it, the less she seemed to care about the boredom or whether someone would come by or not.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, she heard paw steps outside of her room and slowly turned her head around, only to see the kupfer jill from the day before again.

«Here, I brought you some food, as promised. Wild berries and Nuts, hope that's alright. I've been here a short while ago but you were still asleep so I left you a bit longer.»

«A...short while?»

Ren nodded, then noticed how slow the jill suddenly talked.

«Are you alright? You seem a bit off.»

«I'm...okay.»

«Hm. Seems you have been staring at the sky for too long, I've seen it many times before. We need to get you to mother as fast as possible. Come on, follow me.»

The Tatra stepped towards the door and Cheon followed her for a few steps, but then hesitated. She didn't want mother, she never did. Something was very wrong here.

«I'm sorry Ren, I don't...feel so well. Could I rest for a while longer before I go to mother? The long journey has really gotten the best of me it seems and I need to eat some first, I'm starving.»

«Of course, if you wish so. Though I highly advise against waiting much longer and don't look outside anymore either, you hear? I will check on you later if you feel better.»

And with that she disappeared again, giving Cheondungchida a bit more time to think about what to do.

She shook herself and tried to calm down, but then took a look at her companion. Sun-Hee was still sitting in the nest, but she looked disturbed, too afraid to move. It seemed like this place was getting to her too.

The tribe was simply too strange and though Noeu still wasn't sure whether her fears and concerns were appropriate or not, she knew she had to leave before Ren would return. The jill had never been interested in talking to mother from the get-go, but now she wanted nothing more than to get to safety with her bird. After the kupfer Salikos pawsteps had disappeared, Cheon carefully put her head outside the room and looked around. It was so dark inside that she could hardly see anything at all, so she followed the blind Tatras' example and concentrated on shaking ground or noises. When she felt like there was no one else around, she quietly sneaked out of her den and began walking downwards. She remembered the guards that had been patrolling when she and Cuvrar had arrived and moved cautiously, always sticking to the shadows in the wall.

Whenever she noticed something, she disappeared into one of the paths branching off to the side, pressed against the bark of the tree and holding her breath, praying to the gods no one would find her and surely enough, she didn't get noticed. Or maybe she did but the guards ignored her, she really didn't know or care. Sun-Hee was gripping her fur tightly, shaking in fear. The little bird had gotten worse and worse since they had arrived, obviously feeling something in the air that the jill couldn't quite put her mind to. Noeu was worried the little avian would suffer from the shock, so she carefully picked her up with her muzzle and sat the bird down between her feet, holding her closely and cleaning her feathers with her tongue, calming her down at the same time. Of course the Mayur wanted to get out as fast as possible, but her companions health was more important and right now, Sun-Hee needed her. After a few minutes, the bird had stopped shaking and a weight had been taken off of the Salikos mind as she saw her get better. The companion climbed back up the Mayurs back and nestled itself in her neck mane once more, hiding its colorful body between the black fur, as Cheon continued her way downwards.