Threads of the Soul

"Welcome, to Ravenkeep."

"Your wall... says wall on it. Isn't that a bit on the nose?"

"Yes... Yes it is, unfortunately it's something we can't really help. It's spawned from one of our residents abilities, Literal Onomatopoeia. Since we are still slowly expanding our boarders, it would be far too tedious and labour enducing to keep building proper walls as we went, and without walls we can't be sure the areas will stay clear.

So, the resident uses their abilities to spawn new walls as we expand. The name being proudly displayed across it is an... unfortunate side effect of how their ability works."

As one of the riders eagerly answered the question, and quickly found himself sliding into a drawn out, well practiced speech about the wonderful things they could expect to find in Ravenkeep, he was quickly interrupted as a titanic shadow was cast over them.

Their heads quickly snapped into the air, eyes widening as they saw the colossal creature filling the sky and blotting out the sun with its body. Understandably, that sight sent a wave of panic through the civilians, screams echoing out as a few simply broke into a run.

Chaos ensued as they slammed into each other, accidentally tackling each other to the ground and causing many to land squarely on their butts, creating an epidemic of bruised coccyges and wounded ego's as they fell over each other.

Most of the runners were grabbed by the riders, which only made them afraid that they had been lured from safety by a tantalising honey pot straight into the jaws of death. Tears streamed down cheeks, more screams echoed out. It was all very melodramatic, in the rider's eyes. But then again, most of these people had never seen a regular monster, never mind one so large and domineering.

One of the runners managed to slip away from the group, shoving others out of the way as he sprinted back the way he came. Unfortunately he didn't get very far as the shadow of looming death swooped down from above and slammed down onto the ground before the running man.

The man stumbled back, letting out stifled cries and whimpers as he tripped over his own feet and landed squarely on his ass, as he stared down the creature looming over him.

It was larger than a bus, with a long tail that swished gently across the ground. It's talons, which were almost as big as his arm, dug into the ground like it was butter. Black feathers covered this beast, which glinted menacingly as it slowly walked forward, supporting its body on its forearms which also acted as its wings.

The black feathered Wyvern reared back its head, opening it's beaked mouth and exposing the rows of razor sharp, crocodilian teeth. It loomed closer, like it was about to bite the trembling man in half, who could only sit there paralyzed in terror and hope wetting his pants would be enough to dissuade the beast.

Just as it was about to snap his head off, the Wyvern leaned back, closed its mouth and puffed a cloud of smoke into the mans face.

The man coughed and wheezed as the smoke hit his face, waving it away as he heard a strange noise coming from the creature. It was like a guttural grunt happening over and over, its breath wheezing. Was it... Was it laughing at him?

It wasn't the only one, a cacophony of hysterical laughs broke out from behind, mainly from the riders that had been escorting them but a few of the civilians joined in, as if they hadn't been just as scared of the beast.

The man looked over his shoulder at the hysteric group, an absolutely baffled expression on his face, which had been dyed black from the soot within the smoke.

Eventually it was the dirt man, Bob, that finally enlightened those who were still lost. Dismounting his beast, by simply turning into a cloud of dirt and black sand and reforming on the ground, Bob strolled over and began to gently pet the beast on its head.

An act that it seemed to thoroughly enjoy, as it let out rumbling purrs that sounded like a diesel engine. It's foot even twitched against the ground as he scratched it under its chin.

"You have no reason to fear. This is the Lord's mount. He simply likes to play pranks on new people sometimes. Everyone, meet the great and powerful, Omelette. Scourge of the skies and... sigh and slayer of rats."

Omelette lifted his head high, puffing out his chest as Brother Bob let the humans know of his majesty, regaling them with his titles just as he had been instructed to do. Yet the sound of a stifled laughter made Omelette snap his eyes open, right in the middle of the time that should be spent basking in his awe.

"Pfft, Omelette? Really? That's such a du- duh... Delightful name. Very terrifying."

For some reason, the man who had wet his pants at Omelette's might, thought that it was a good idea to laugh at his name. Perhaps hearing that it was someone's pet made him confident, or simply diminished the fearsome might that he had experienced seconds before. Perhaps it was his wounded ego lashing out.

Whatever it was, his sentence was cut off in the middle as he was quickly put on the receiving end of a dreadful, bone chilling death stare from the beast with the 'dumb name'. He felt that if he were to utter those words, then it really would eat him before anyone could stop it.

Letting out another puff of smoke, this time as an act of smugness at the sight of the man cowering beneath him, Omelette turned his attention to Bob. Words manifesting themselves in Bob's mind as Omelette's thoughts were transferred to him through their shared connection with Seth. Their 'Brotherly Bond' as they called it.

{Come along Brother, Father wants to see you. He told me to bring you to him if I found you on my hunt.}

'Aren't you returning from your hunt though?'

{Bah! Details. I have found you, so you will come. Come!}

Bob felt like this was the time when a human should roll their eyes, although his version was different. He had only heard the expression, so he simply spun his manifested eyes in a circle on the surface of his face. That felt right.

Having successfully rolled his eyes, Bob turned into another dust cloud and quickly flew through the air, until he manifested on Omelette's back. Wasting no time, as soon as Bob was situated on his back, Omelette lifted his arms and beat his wings, lifting high into the air once again.

The civilians gawked at the beast as it quickly rose into the air and flew over the walls, leaving them behind to walk the rest of the way.

Alfie simply laughed softly, although he knew they could communicate somehow, since he had seen them do it dozens of times over the last few months, he didn't know the details of their conversation. Then again, he didn't need to.

Letting out a sharp whistle to gain the attention of the civilians, he gave them a warm smile before explaining,

"Come on, We've still got a bit more of a walk to go. We need to get you lot registered so you can get your initial rations, then we can see about residence and jobs from there. Who knows, maybe some of you will be tagging along with another rescue team in the future."

With that, he gave his mount a gently nudge and turned the reins backwards the wall, spurring the group back into movement once more when he heard a wonderful question being asked by one of their retinue.

"So, who is this Lord anyways?"

A smile spread across Alfie's face, a smile he shared with the other riders as they exchanged certain knowing looks. Alfie cleared his throat, doing his best to sound regal and proper, like he was about to perform a sermon.

"Well, I'm glad you asked. It all started when we saw a giant tortoise approaching our camp..."

***

Soaring high into the skies, leaving the rescue group in the dust and sailing over the wall as if it didn't exist, Bob had to concentrate on keeping his body together as they moved. It's not that Omelette was inconsiderate, he was going as slow as he could.

Unfortunately "as slow as he could" was still close to 60 mph, which meant Bob was being blasted by wall after wall of air. Having a dust based body in wind was not a nice experience.

He had to focus intensely to keep himself composed, otherwise he would scatter to the wind and have to find new parts to surround his core with. A task he was not eager to do again, after the last disastrous flight. It was like constantly tensing every muscle in your arm or else your arm would simply fall off, except it was his entire body.

Hopefully the flight wasn't going to be too long.

'Did Father tell you why he wanted to see me?'

{No, He did not. I apologise for not asking Brother}

'Where are we going anyways?'

{Father is currently overseeing matches within the Taming Field. We will join him.}