Eclipse Event Stories (NOT CANON)

Kezme stares at the Mayur in front of him. Its fur was a pretty, bright shade of green, but it has obviously become dull and filthy over time. Its red glowing eyes wander around frantically, looking at everything and nothing in the room, seemingly at the same time. The mad gaze and demonic snarl show clearly that this creature was out of its mind and it was difficult for the spotted male to think about if it even noticed what was going on. The saliva dropping from its muzzle has made quite a big puddle on the ground and Kezme tries to stay out of it while walking past the poor Saliko, a cold shiver running down his spine when the beast tries to snap at him and only misses by a small margin. Cirith told him what happened to it in the meantime, but he can't really concentrate on what she's saying.

«So…they got to close to the sun?»

«Correct.»

«But you saw me getting carried to the lake by one of those crazy birds, is this gonna happen to me too then?»

The female hesitates.

«There’s no saying yet how this plague will develop. Some Salikos don’t turn at all, some turn insane almost immediately. We’re just gonna have to keep an eye on you.»

«And what are you gonna do if I…turn?»

She doesn’t answer him but keeps walking forward. Kezme stops and stares at his paws. Suddenly, before he can think of what else to ask her, a stranger comes up and stands next to him. It’s an athletic, male Kumba, that introduces itself to him as a healer called Athelas.

«You know, everyone around here believes this is some kind of curse. Do you, stranger, believe that too? In my opinion this is just some weird form of the rabies. A newer, stronger form for sure, but still a normal sickness that can be cured if we try to find the right herbs instead of praying to nothing.»

While the male kept talking, Cirith gets visibly more and more mad. She digs her claws into the ground and squints her eyes together, mustering the scene and keeping herself from shouting at the other Kumba. With clenched teeth she hisses at him.

«Enough, Athelas. It’s already bad YOU have such stupid ideas - don’t corrupt others with them too.»

Suddenly a thundering, but calm voice echoes through the dark area and both Kumbas turn silent. The stranger tells Athelas to do whatever he thinks is right, but there was obvious doubt in its voice that he’s gonna achieve anything at all. Apparently, almost all Salikos of the Rockdweller Tribe are very faithful and assume the plague is of supernatural origin.

«Come on, Kezme, let’s go to the speaker,» Cirith says, turning away and walking into the darkness.

Then the male Kumba decides to speak up again.

«You know, you could go with her but if you prefer to find a REAL cure to a REAL disease, you're mare than welcome to come with me instead. I could certainly use the help. I’m all alone here trying to find something, anything, to confirm my theory and further our knowledge of this situation.

The female had not returned and Kez was debating on what to do. He really wanted to find out who or what was talking before; who that voice belonged to that was able to easily stop the strangers from going at each other’s throat.

But despite also believing that this was a curse, Kezme decided to stay with Athelas. He tried to avoid Cirith since the beginning and the healer seemed to be a much nicer and smarter fellow than she ever was.

«So what do you plan on doing now?»

«Well, first of all let’s get out of this skull. The air is quite heavy in here, don’t you think too?»

Only then did the lime-colored one notice that it was actually pretty difficult for him to breathe. The smell of the stressed out, insane Mayur from before made him feel a little sick too and his head had started to hurt from all the strangers talking him into their plans.

He agrees and together they trot towards the exit. They leave through the eyesockets, the same way he got in before and the bright sun from outside blinds Kez for a second. The climb down was still as long as he remembered, as the skull was huge and he was starving for hours. Athelas had already reached the bottom and looked up to the Mayur, that usually had no problem climbing at all. But suddenly he feels dizzy and his vision starts to turn black.

«I can’t…stay on my feet…» he calls to the stranger before completely blacking out.

He wakes up at the bottom of the skull. Athelas had pulled him in the shadow of some rocks and has put some cool, wet moss on his head.

«What happened?»

«Well, you dropped like half of the way down and landed right on your shoulder. Are you alright? Does this happen often to you?»

«No…I can’t remember this ever happening before» Kezme says but his mind flashes back to what happened back at the swamp. He tries to get up but pain flashes through his shoulder and he slumps back down again, grunting noisily.

«You better stay here for a minute, there’s no rush. You might faint again if you get up too fast. So, I was actually making a plan on what to do to find the source of either the plague or the birds. Not sure if we will be able to do that today since you’re pretty worn out…»

«No, no. I’m fine, I just need something to eat and to drink.»

«Of course! You mustn’t have eaten in forever, right? Why didn’t I think of that sooner. I’ll go get you something. Stay here and don’t do anything stupid, alright? I’ll be right back.»

And with that Athelas runs off and Kez is alone.

He still hears a ringing in his ears and feels a tingling in his paws. The headache had become even worse, maybe he had also hit his head on the way down. The thumping in his mind is strong and distracting and for a second the male wasn’t sure if he heard a voice in it. Kezme became more and more uneasy, scared of what happened to him, when he felt a rush go through his body. It feels as if he'd use his possession skill, but he can’t control it and in his head he hears a distinct, sorrowful cry. The stag is back for some reason. Back to haunt him. Maybe he was behind all of this after all, controlling the birds? Tears start to fill his eyes as Kez desperately tries to block out the sounds. He thought he won over the demon and is more hopeless now than ever, knowing there was no escape from it after all. Then he also sees the vision of the stag in front of him again, just as he remembers it. The beast is making its bloodcurdling scream towards the Saliko and looks at him with its empty eyes. As it walks towards the Mayur, its antlers get closer to Kez’ throat until he feels them against his skin.

Suddenly he jerks awake and thinks he's falling again. His panicked flailing stops when he notices that he had fallen asleep and the slim Kumba is standing in front of him again, carrying some kind of reptile in its mouth. He drops it next to the sweating, still confused Mayur and looks at him worriedly.

«You had a nightmare?»

«Yeah…guess so…how long were you gone?»

«Only like a minute or so. We actually keep the prey pretty close by.»

Kezme quickly devours the lizard and thanks Athelas for helping him.

It didn’t take long for him to feel better then and after standing up and getting checked over by the healer, they both go on their way out of the tribes camp. They take a little trip to an underground spring in a cave, where they drink some fresh, cool water and talk about the next step.

«You sure you’re already capable for this? It might be dangerous» the Kumba says and still looks at Kez with concern.

«We have no time to lose and this climate around here won’t make me feel better tomorrow, so we should get started as soon as possible.»

«Well alright then, let’s go.»