Re: Sky Angels
CHAPTER 4!!!! WOO!!!!! Lol, enjoy:
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Chapter 4: Waterlings
The next morning, Dawn awoke refreshed and renewed. Volos did not try the illusion again and the relaxant had completely worn off. She awoke to find Tito’s head fast asleep on the side of her bed. She smiled. Despite just starting to get to know him, he always seemed to want to protect her. Dawn snickered and gently stroked his soft red hair. He moaned slightly but didn’t wake. Quietly, Dawn slid out of her bed then quietly snuck into the bathroom with a change of clothes.
When she returned, clean and dressed, Tito had awaken and brought Dawn fresh breakfast. Once again it was fruit and bread. After the illusion she had been in, Dawn was really hoping for bacon and eggs.
“Don’t do that.” Tito said sternly.
Dawn looked up, half way through eating her bread slice. Was she eating her bread wrong? Was there actually a certain way to EAT bread as a Flyer?
“Don’t think back on Volos’s illusions. Do not think of them as a better life. It was just an illusion…one that was designed to keep you away from whatever they don’t want you near. You’re a threat to them.”
“Me? B-but…” Dawn began.
“You’re just a normal girl? You didn’t want this? Why were you chosen?” Tito finished.
“Y-yeah.” Dawn replied sheepishly.
Those were the exact questions running through her head. She felt like one of those characters from those books where they were thrown into an unwanted adventure. Next, Tito would be telling her she has some sort of huge destiny to save the world.
“Look, this may sound cliché but it’s your destiny.”
Yup, there it was.
“A female Earthling, with the name of the rising sun, shall rise to the skies and defeat the Darkness.” Tito recited.
His voice seemed to fade a bit at the end. That was it? Tito said no more and Dawn felt like saying nothing. It was nearly ten in the morning when Tito took Dawn down to the bottom of the castle. Unlike Earthling castles, the bottoms of the Flyers’ castle were large hangars but not filled with planes. They were filled with various strange gears. Tito walked over to the wall and pulled a thick, long yellow lever which was followed by a loud screaming cry from the machine.
The hangar shook slightly as half the hangar began to tilt downwards. The wind suddenly slapped Dawn across the face. They were flying quite fast over the ocean. Dawn cautiously peaked over the edge, looking out into the sea which they had just passed over. Tito appeared by her side smiling. In his hand he held a rubber skin tight suit, a pair of thick goggles, a heavy belt and flippers. They were going swimming.
But, there was only one set. Where was the other?
“Get changed then meet me back here.” Tito instructed.
Dawn nodded then hid behind a large tank thing. She quickly changed into her new suit then gazed at her reflection in the wall. The skin tight suit really brought her tall, thin figure. A normal teenage girl in a normal teenage body on a not-so-normal adventure. She clicked the belt around her waist then moved her hips around adjusting to the new weight. She knew the weights were to keep her down but not enough to drown her. Buoyancy. Dawn combed her hair with her fingers before slipping the goggles over her head. She strapped the goggles to her forehead, for now, to see where she was going and look slightly less ridiculous. At that moment, Dawn thought she looked like a thin, blue seal with a thick belt.
Sighing, Dawn stepped out from behind the tank only to find that in place of Tito, stood a tall red scaled boy. Reddish-yellow fins rippled from his elbows and the back of his calves. His feet were large and webbed, similar to frog feet as well as his hands. Gills breathed along the sides of his stomach and neck. And a large, wavy, yellow dorsal fin rippled down his spine. He looked like a giant half man-half coy thing.
“Hi Dawn!” The fish spoke.
If Dawn had been holding something, this would have been the part she would have dropped it. The boy standing before her didn’t REPLACE Tito, he WAS Tito. He had traded his wings for the fish form.
“It’s another Flyers’ power. We can trade our wings for any species form, except for Earthlings since they have nothing really special to trade for.” Tito explained, reading Dawn’s mind once more.
With that a power too? To read the minds of other species? Dawn hoped not.
“Don’t worry, I can only read your mind sometimes. You’re just thinking too loudly at the moment.” Tito said, doing it again.
Note to self: Don’t think too loud the thoughts you don’t want read. Tito walked over to a large, maroon box on the wall. He twisted some sort of knob and suddenly a ball of disgusting gloop plopped into his hand with a gut wrenching squish. It was green with black blobs and Dawn could have sworn it was moving. Tito unexpectedly appeared in front of her and shoved the green blob into her mouth.
Not only did it look revolting, it tasted revolting. But no matter how hard Dawn tried, she couldn’t throw it back up. It tasted like a bad combination of raw fish, liver and vinegar all in a slimy little green package with chunks.
“Guts of Breather Fish. Eat one and you’re set for a few days of under water breathing.” Tito smiled licking the little bit off his fin (hand).
He actually seemed to like it. Dawn didn’t. Her stomach twisted into a hundred knots and growled loudly in disgusted protest. And unfortunately, being in a Hangar, there was nothing to wash the horrible taste down with. She finally managed to force herself to throw up but no such goo came out.
“Yeah… once it’s in, it’s in.” Tito said, slightly grossed out by the clear puke on the floor.
Dawn glared at Tito. For two reasons: 1. for making her eat that stuff and 2. Because he made her eat that disgusting stuff without telling her she couldn’t throw it up. Once calming down a bit and getting most of the taste out of her mouth, Dawn joined Tito’s side clutching her stomach. Tito only snickered.
“Let’s just get this over with.” Dawn growled slightly, glaring at Tito.
Tito shrugged and walked closer to the edge of the tilted platform with Dawn behind him. They were moving quite fast still. Dawn now wondered how they were gonna get down. Surely not jump. The fall would kill them. She looked around hoping to see some sort of craft or ship beside them. No such luck. It was just her and Tito. Dawn gulped. Tito stepped behind her as if sensing she was about to turn and run. Or not.
“Keep your legs straight when you hit the water!” Tito shouted above the howling wind.
“Wait what?!” Dawn screeched.
But it was too late. Tito suddenly pushed her forwards into the drag wind. The wind carried her for a bit till gravity took hold and began pulling her down. She seemed to fall for eternity then for only a few brief seconds. She quickly slapped her legs together, plugged her nose and straightened her body for impact. The first thing that came to mind on impact was…was she alive?
For a brief second of shock, Dawn floated below the surface staring at the distorted light sky. Slowly reality began returning as the weights dragged her down a little more. She then realized she was under water…and breathing. It was like breathing normal air yet she was underwater. Everything seemed strange underwater…and even stranger once she got her goggles on. This underwater world was both beautiful and mysterious.
Dawn pressed a button on the side of her goggles and a small light suddenly came on illuminating this haunting sea bed. She floated up right and moved her head slowly, “soaking” up every detail. She caught a glimpse of her shadow from the light above and giggled at the sight of her hair dancing up and down with the currents. Tito appeared next to her. For a second, he almost looked like a large fish. Well…he was a large fish but for a brief moment he looked more fish than half man, half fish…thing.
“Follow me.” He said normally as if talking on land.
There was no distortion in his voice. It seemed the water had no effect on it. Dawn was a little afraid of speaking. Even breathing for that matter. She held her breath as if, well she were underwater. Her whole body told her, she was underwater. She could feel it on her skin. She could see it through her goggles. She could feel it in her weight. Dawn was underwater. Tito swam up to her and placed his “hands” on her shoulders.
“Dawn, relax. Just breathe normally. Nothing will happen, you won’t breathe in water.” Tito reassured calmly with a smile.
Here goes nothing. Dawn took in a deep breath and found she was actually breathing in air or some form of air. Whatever it was, it defiantly wasn’t water, which was good. Now for talking.
“Wow.” Dawn gasped, once again not breathing in water.
Tito smiled. He always loved watching people underwater when they discovered they could breathe normally. Dawn relaxed a lot and began spinning around admiring her surroundings much better. Spinning was interesting. Usually whenever Dawn would spin underwater she would be forced to swim back up for air. Not now.
“I bet this is how astronauts feel!” Dawn exclaimed jumping weightlessly (and carefully) from solid coral rock to solid coral rock.
“Oh yes. Spacelings live in very similar conditions to Waterlings.” Tito responded swimming casually on his back.
Dawn stopped jumping. “Wait, there’s more species?!”
“Yup, five to be exact. You know of Flyers and Earthlings and now of Waterlings. Well there’s two more. Spacelings whom, from the name you’ve probably figured out, they live in space. Then Underlings.” Tito clarified still swimming around Dawn like it wasn’t such big news.
“You mean Australians?”
“No, further down then that. Try a few miles in the Earth’s Crust. A small group of humans who have developed advance ways to live comfortably underground. Sort of like moles.”
“Wow.”
“Now come on. We have quite a ways to go before night fall and believe me, the ocean is the last place you want to be in at night.” Tito said swimming away into an Easterly direction.
Dawn shrugged and followed. There was so much to see. Large, shiny schools of fishes swam by, beautifully deadly coral and the dancing seaweed. Dawn had completely forgotten she was breathing without a mask underwater. There were much stranger things about. She had seen many HD movies about undersea life but actually experiencing it was a different story. Dawn looked at her hands and realized they weren’t pruning like normal.
“Another Breather Fish gift. The oils hydrate your skin. That will last as long as the breathing.” Tito explained.
Dawn looked at him swimming beside her. She almost forgot he was there. He looked so different without his wings. Dawn avoided staring at his scales; they freaked her out a bit. So she focussed on his silver eyes. They were deep and sensitive with a hint of playfulness left. He was still a child. Dawn figured he had to be at least nineteen then again he could be in his forties for all she knew. She was only just beginning to explore the world of Flyers and now she learned their were many other human species.
Waterlings, Underlings, Spacelings…it was all…new to her.
“There’s one more specie.” Tito responded, reading Dawn’s mind again. “The Dark.”
“The…Dark?”
“Dark creatures. Humans whom have fallen into darkness. They change into Dark Beasts. Half of them usually do anyways. Some are destroyed others are powerful enough to maintain their forms such as Volos and the Dark Lord.”
Tito’s expression grew dark. Dawn could tell those names brought him pain. He was so up beat and happy it was hard to tell that he probably lost so much to them. They didn’t say anymore and kept quietly swimming. Suddenly the beautiful deep blue didn’t seem so beautiful. Its beauty had been stripped by sadness. But Tito bounced back fast. Especially when they were half way up the underwater volcano.
“We’re almost there!” He exclaimed, kicking his legs harder.
They had been swimming for over three hours. Dawn had hoped they’d be close because she was getting really tired. With a new energy from excitement, Dawn kicked her legs harder and swam up next to Tito. They weightlessly stood on the edge of the volcano and looked down into….nothingness. It was pitch black. Tito’s mouth opened in horror. Were they…too late?
Breathing heavily, Tito swam down hoping to find something that proved him wrong. From the ruins, Dawn could see that this was a huge underwater city like those cartoon pictures of Atlantis. But now, it was all ash. A city graveyard. Although, Dawn did not see many bones which hopefully meant the Waterlings had escaped. Then another thought occurred to her.
How could fire destroy an underwater city?
“Boiling water.” Tito answered.
Dawn was getting used to Tito reading her mind. She was sad though. She knew how dangerous boiling water was. The poor Waterlings who got trapped must have suffered a great deal of pain. Dawn now wondered had all the people in her city died. Tito and she left in such a hurry she didn’t get to see the full extent of the damage. Maybe that was for the best.
“Jud, bring a boat over. The Waterling City has been destroyed. I will discuss it more when you pick us up.” Tito ordered into his crystal.
Dawn sighed then stared sorrowfully at the extreme damage. The warm water suddenly felt very cold against her suit.
“Waterlings have back up cities. Empty cities where if something like this were to happen, they could go there secretly. We have to find them.” Tito said. “We’ll swim to the surface then wait for Jud to come pick us up.”
Dawn nodded then followed Tito to the surface. There they floated silently till a half an hour later Jud appeared on a really fast speed boat. It was much faster than Earthling speed boats. Jud was really tall and well built. Unlike most of the Flyers he wore a simple black tank top and black trousers with thick, brown combat boots. He had fairly dark skin with dirty blonde hair and dirty blonde wings.
Tito and Dawn climbed aboard once Jud stopped the boat. They were both handed fuzzy warm towels to dry off. Now on board, Jud appeared to be at least seven feet tall and very muscular. But also very friendly. He had a warm smile and a hearty laugh. However, he appeared very strong and not someone you want to be an enemy of. He probably could snap Dawn’s weak spine in half without breaking a sweat.
Dawn looked to Tito who had changed back to his normal Flyer self. Lucky. Dawn was gonna be stuck in her wet bathing suit till they got back to the castle.
“So, you’re the Earthling whose been roaming the castle. Hi, I’m Jud. Tito’s best “friend” coughbuttsavercough.” Jud greeted wrapping his arm tightly around Tito’s shoulder.
“You are not my butt saver!” Tito playfully retorted struggling to get out of Jud’s strong grip.
“Look, don’t believe a word he says, I’ve saved his butt countless times.” Jud joked to Dawn.
Tito finally wriggled out of his friend’s grip, glared at him then burst out laughing. Jud shared the same hearty laugh. The two of them reminded Dawn of Elva and her. Elva was always looking out for Dawn. She really missed her now. Seeing her saddened expression, Tito stopped laughing and his expression grew grave. He explained to Jud how most likely the city must have evacuated to their hidden city. Problem was finding it. Jud grew serious too. Play time was over.
Tito took Dawn below deck. There was a small bed, a sink, a very small kitchen and a small door leading to the bathroom. Dawn had a feeling they’d be there for a while. The boys spent all night gazing over tons of maps trying to configure where the Waterlings could have gone.
It would have to be somewhere close enough to the original city for fast escapes but also secret enough for no one to look. At the break of dawn, Tito came back to Dawn’s room and woke her up.
“We leave to find the Waterlings' secret city at noon." He said.
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I'm glad you guys are enjoying this series. I think its turning out quite nicely. I have off next week so I might be able to get up a few more chapters.