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Scar tugged at the bars of his cage, whining in fear. All he’d tried to do was be nice, help his fellow kin, save a life and what happened? He got branded a traitorous villain and locked away.
He pulled angrily at the bars again.
And they gave way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joel stared as cracks split the dry mesa into pieces, molten rock from the earth’s core spewing to the surface. He watched it lap at the walls of his domed palace, watched everything he’d worked so hard to build crumble with the quakes, watched his empire fall around him.
He turned. He didn’t know what to do.
So he fled.
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A month after Part 2…
The earth squished beneath Scar's boots as he strolled through the trees. The air smelt fresh with the scent of the soft soil, wet after the recent rain. The temperature was mild and it was the perfect day to go on a walk through the forest, so long as he didn’t stray too far. His small vex wings twitched behind him, wet with the dew that had fallen from the trees. He smiled, watching the wind whisk through the leaves. He loved going on walks like these. The pillagers and other vex at the outpost he lived at weren’t huge fans of hiking, but Scar really enjoyed it.
A noise caught Scar’s attention and he slowed to a halt, looking around and trying to find the source of the noise. It almost sounded like crying. After some searching, he spotted a small blue creature in the bushes a little way away, making distressed whimpers. Scar sprinted over and gasped when he saw what had happened.
It was an allay, stuck in a pillager hunting trap. Its leg had been snapped between the cruel jaws of the contraption and it was unable to free itself. Clearly one of the pillagers from Scar’s camp had set a trap to catch food and had mistakenly caught an allay instead.
Scar ran to the allay, “Oh my goodness! Are you ok?”
The allay looked up at him, its eyes watery, and snapped, “Do I look ok?”
“Sorry, that was a dumb question,” Scar admitted, “Here, let me help.”
He knelt down next to the allay and fiddled with the mechanism on the trap. He’d set and disarmed so many of these traps in his time with the pillagers that it was almost as easy as walking to unlock it. His hands worked quickly and dextrously, unscrewing springs and snapping coils, and in a few moments it sprang open, the allay flying out and rubbing its ankle.
“Thank you so much!” It said, staring at Scar, amazed, “But why?”
“Why what?” Scar asked, “Why could I do that? I’ve got a lot of experience see, because-”
“No,” the allay interrupted, “Why did you save me?”
“Oh,” Scar said, “Well, we’re of the same kin aren’t we? A vex and an allay? We’ve got to look out for each other!”
“I guess so,” the allay nodded, “Thank you, Mr… erm…”
“Scar,” Scar offered his hand for the allay to shake, “What’s your name?”
“I’m Cub,” The allay replied, “It’s nice to meet you Scar.”
“It’s lovely to meet you too, Cub!” Scar beamed.
There was the sound of a goat horn that bellowed across the forest.
“That’s the signal for dinner,” Scar said, “I best head back. Have a lovely evening Cub! Until our paths cross again!”
“Until our paths cross,” Cub agreed with a smile, “Have a great evening Scar. Thanks again.”
“No worries!” Scar skipped through the trees back to the outpost where stew was already being served. He sat down on a log around the campfire with the other vex and pillagers. The stew was warm and delicious and the way it warmed Scar up after his walk in the cool air was divine. He bolted it down hungrily.
“So,” One of the vex next to Scar asked, “What’s everyone been up to today?”
Scar swallowed his mouthful, “I rescued an allay!”
He was met with a cold, stony silence.
“You what?” A pillager demanded.
“I rescued an allay,” Scar repeated, “It had got stuck in one of our hunting traps so I saved it. It’s not like we wanted them caught so I thought I’d help him out, ya know?”
“But allays are our sworn enemies,” A vex spat, “And you saved one?”
“He wasn’t going to hurt us,” Scar reasoned, “And allays from the same biology as us, right?”
He shouldn’t have said that. The vex around him launched into uproar, hissing and yelling, “Traitor! Turncoat! Betrayer!”
“What?” Scar exclaimed, befuddled, “I just helped an allay! How is that turncoatery?”
“We have those traps to catch the allays to get rid of them, Scar!” Another pillager shouted, “And now you’re freeing them!”
“Lock him up!” A particularly angry vex yelled.
Scar cowered in on himself and yelped as they grabbed him and dragged him towards a cell by the outpost, snapping his hands in irons. They threw him into the cage, locking it and leaving him there.
“No! Please!” Scar pleaded, “I haven’t done anything wrong! Please let me go!”
His pleas went unanswered as the pillagers and vexes all headed inside. Night was drawing in, and they needed to sleep.
Scar tugged at the bars of his cage, whining in fear. All he’d tried to do was be nice, help his fellow kin, save a life and what happened? He got branded a traitorous villain and locked away.
He pulled angrily at the bars again.
And they gave way.
With a gasp, he tumbled out, face smooshing into the ground. He pushed himself off of the floor and looking around blindly, began to run. He sprinted towards the forest, hoping that he hadn’t been spotted. The pillagers would learn of his absence in the morning.
But the further Scar ran, the colder the night became, and soon it felt like ice crystals were stabbing at his lungs as he ran. He had to slow to a jog, and then to a walk, and then he could hardly take a step, exhausted and freezing cold. Vex really don’t like the cold, it freezes their wings up and fills their chest with tiny ice shards. Scar coughed and staggered on, but the chill was getting almost too much to bear.
And then, he saw it.
A cabin, small with light shining through the gaps in the curtains in the windows. Maybe, just maybe there would be someone there who was willing to help him.
Scar dragged himself to the front door, knocking once before his legs gave out beneath him and he crumpled to the ground, curling up on himself to try and keep himself warmer. There was the sound of chairs scraping and footsteps closer and the door swung open.
“Oh my goodness!” A voice said. It was female, and Scar couldn’t place the accent, “It’s a vex! Frozen and half dead by the looks of it!”
There were more footsteps and a few other people came to stand by him.
“Poor thing,” Another voice said, “What should be do with it?”
“We should help it! Obviously!” The female voice said.
“I dunno,” A third voice interjected, “Vex can’t be trusted. I say we leave it out here.”
“Martyn! What has it done to hurt us? Look at it, it’s helpless and clearly looking for shelter.”
“But Pearl, we can’t be so trusting all the time.”
“If we weren’t so trusting, we would have left you to die in that forest!”
“Stop arguing you two,” A fourth voice said. Scar watched a figure push past the others and kneel down next to him. He had sandy blonde hair and huge purple wings. An avian.
“Do you come in peace?” The avian asked.
“P-p-please,” Scar could barely force the words out of his mouth, he was so cold, “I m-mean n-n-n-no harm, I’m j-just look-king f-for s-s-sh-shelter.”
A pair of arms scooped him up and Scar felt himself get carried inside.
“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you,” the avian soothed, placing Scar down on a bed. It was warm and soft and Scar sighed in relief. A fire was crackling quietly in the hearth.
“Martyn, put some more logs on the fire,” The avian ordered, “Pearl, get the vex something warm to drink. Scott, grab me some more blankets.”
The other three busied around doing what the avian had asked. Scar watched them from the bed, his eyes half lidded. A man in green with semi-long blonde hair tossed a few logs on the fire, looking a little suspiciously at Scar whilst he did with piercingly cold blue eyes. This was Martyn, Scar assumed. He smiled weakly at him, which seemed to ease Martyn’s cynicism slightly, since he smiled back.
Scar glanced over to see a man grabbing blankets from a cupboard. His hair was short and dyed cyan, long and pointy ears poking out from his curls. An elf from one of the regions up north. If Scar had to guess, he would have reckoned he was from Rivendell from the clothes he was wearing. This must have been Scott, since he was grabbing the blankets.
That left Pearl, who was coming over to Scar with a warm mug of something. She had long brown hair and a sweet smile, her eyes brown and soft.
“Here,” she handed him the mug, “This should help.”
Scar nodded gratefully and took a sip. Whatever the liquid was, it was thick and sweet and hot and it felt like his tongue was getting wrapped in a hug.
“Thank you,” he whispered, taking another sip, “Thank you so much.”
“It’s nothing,” Scott said, coming over with the blankets, throwing them over Scar, “We pick up strays all the time. You’re nothing new.”
“Why’d you end up here?” Martyn asked from by the fire. His tone was sharp, “What happened?”
Scar felt tears pricking at his eyes as he explained, “I saved an allay from a trap and the other vexes didn’t like it. They called me a traitor and locked me up, but I managed to escape. I ran all the way here, but it was so cold I almost died.”
The answer seemed to satisfy Martyn, who hummed and nodded, “Good thing you found us then.”
The avian walked back over to sit on the edge of the bed. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Scar,” Scar said.
“I’m Grian,” the avian replied, “This is Scott, Pearl and Martyn.”
He gestured to each person in turn and Scar nodded, yawning. He felt exhausted.
“If you need to sleep, feel free to,” Grian said in response to Scar’s tired state, “We won’t mind.”
“Thank you,” Scar snuggled further down into the blankets. They were soft, and the fire and quiet chatter of the others was soothing.
He fell asleep feeling safe and warm that night.
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The ground beneath Joel shook and he staggered, propping himself up against the wall in an attempt to stop himself from falling over. Tremors coursed through the floor and ripped the earth apart, splitting through the terracotta.
Mezalia was collapsing.
No one had been expecting the rapture but it had shaken the entirety of the Empires, sweeping through and destroying their kingdoms brick by brick.
Joel had never experienced anything like this, and he was absolutely terrified. People were missing, some having disappeared a couple of months ago and a few who had vanished all of a few hours ago. Scott, Jimmy and Saint Pearl had completely disappeared a dozen or so weeks ago and Pix had also gone missing a few days prior. No one knew where they were or if they were safe.
But now Joel's wife Lizzie had completely vanished, he was truly panicking.
He’d looked what felt like everywhere for her. He’d checked the Ocean Empire, a couple of the other Empires and nothing. Now he’d returned to Mezalia to look there, but he’d been unable to find her there either. All he had found was that his Empire was crumbling to the ground.
Then, the fissures happened.
The cracks grew, splitting further into the earth, tearing through the clay. Spilling from it were rivers of hot lava. Joel had to sidestep as a fissure formed right below his feet. He yelled, feeling the heat emanating from it.
Joel stared as cracks split the dry mesa into pieces, molten rock from the earth’s core spewing to the surface. He watched it lap at the walls of his domed palace, watched everything he’d worked so hard to build crumble with the quakes, watched his empire fall around him.
He turned. He didn’t know what to do.
So he fled.
He ran. He ran and ran and ran, forcing down guilt in his chest at leaving his friends behind, especially Lizzie, his sweet Lizzie, but he had no choice. He had to survive.
Eventually, by sundown, he stopped for a break, tired from running. He leaned back against a tree to catch his breath, wiping the sweat off of his forehead, shutting his eyes.
Suddenly there was a sharp point at his throat and his eyes snapped open.
“Move an inch and I’ll kill you,” There was a man with a knife pressed to Joel’s neck, “We don’t like trespassers.”
The voice was instantly recognisable, and when Joel looked closer, so was his face. His eyes were blue and his hair was cyan, his ears pointy.
“Scott?” He asked.
The person blinked, “How do you know my name?”
“You’re the Prince of Rivendell,” Joel replied, “Or were. You’ve been missing for months!”
Scott stared closer, then gasped and pulled the blade away from Joel’s throat.
“Joel!” he exclaimed, “What are you doing out here?”
“I had to run,” Joel explained, “Empires is in chaos Scott. Something happened, it’s destroying everything! People are missing, the kingdoms are collapsing, I couldn’t stay!”
“Is everyone safe?” Scott asked, concern scrawled across his face.
“I don’t know,” Joel admitted, feeling guilty, “I really hope so.”
“Then we have to go back,” Scott said, eyes wide, “I’ll get the others. We have to save them.”
He sprinted away for a moment to a small shack probably a few hundred yards away, yelling loudly. A few moments later, a handful of people came out, following him. There was a blonde avian, a woman with long brown hair, a man with blonde hair tied up in a ponytail and a brunette vex.
“This is Grian, Pearl, Martyn and Scar,” Scott introduced, “Everyone, this is Joel, an old friend. He needs our help evacuating my old home.”
“An evacuation? What’s going on?” Pearl questioned.
“Some kind of rapture, I think,” Joel said, “Everyone’s in danger and we need all the help we can get.”
“I’m down!” Scar chirped, “It sounds adventurous!”
“It sounds dangerous,” Martyn corrected, “Count me in.”
“Me too!” Pearl said.
“Let’s do it,” Grian agreed.
Scott turned to Joel with a smile, “You can stay with us whilst we help sort this all out. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Mind? Scott you’ve saved us!” Joel said, “Thank you so much!”
“It’s nothing,” Scott grinned, then turned to the others, “Alright, let’s get going.”
As the six of them ran off towards Empires, Joel felt something calm settle in his chest.
It was going to be alright.