I will stay away from that pond for a while and return there later. For now, I should explore other areas as well. I turned around towards the Valley and started walking. My destination this time, was the other side of the Valley. I wanted to see what other animals and things, could be hidden in here.
As I walked and admired the sights. I heard something behind me. When I turned around, I saw the Water Lizard following me. I was confused and asked "Why are you following me?". The lizard made some noises and motioned with its arms. "Don't tell me you want to travel with me…" I said. The lizard nodded its head and came closer.
It reminded me of my old friend, Shelly. I looked at it and shook my head. "I can't allow that. A turtle that used to follow me, died because of me. I don't want the same thing to happen again" I said. The lizard seemed sad, maybe because I lost my friend, but it still insisted on following me. I asked "Why do you want to follow me? Is it because of those stones?".
The lizard shook its head and pointed at me. To be precise, it pointed at my right arm. I asked "What about my arm?". The lizard took a breath in and exhaled strongly. First, I was confused but then, I noticed that the grass, ground and whatnot that the breath touched, became frozen.
"So you have the same ability, that my arm has. Is that the only reason you want to follow me?". The lizard shook its head and pointed at me again. This time, it pointed at me, not my arm. I was confused and asked "What about me?". The lizard started making some gestures and noises, trying to explain its reason. I had no clue what it tried to say, I had no such problems with Shelly, but that was mainly because I lived with it, for a long time.
I shook my head and said "I don't know what you mean". The lizard gave up and came closer. It extended its arm and made a simple noise "Mah". 'Just what the hell does it want? Food?' I thought to myself, confused. The lizard stood there and motioned with its arm, at my right arm. It extended its arm again and made a "Mah" noise again.
I didn't know what it wanted but I guessed, that it wanted for me to extend my arm as well. I did that and the lizard put its arm onto mine, then shook it. I was baffled at this stage, but what happened next stunned me even more. The lizard started being absorbed into my arm. I shouted "Wait!" but it was too late, the lizard got completely absorbed and disappeared.
"Just what the hell happened!?" I shouted, confused. When I looked at my right arm, there was a blue tattoo on it now. It depicted some sort of lizard, coiling around my whole arm. From my palm, up to my shoulder. I didn't know what to do or what to say 'Just what the hell was that lizard?' I thought and examined my arm. There was nothing happening to it, besides the lizard like tattoo appearing, my arm was fine.
As I looked for a while confused, the tatto started glowing and moving towards my palm. I felt no discomfort, but what happened next, shocked me even more. The tattoo disappeared and the lizard appeared in front of me. 'What kind of sorcery is this?' I asked myself. The lizard again made some noises and motioned with its arms. I felt helpless at that stage and said "Fine, if you want to go with me, then come. I can't guarantee your safety though. If you are willing to take the risks, so be it". I decided that there was no point asking the lizard about its ability, I wouldn't be able to figure out, what it was trying to say anyway. The lizard became happy and jumped onto my shoulder. It then slithered down towards my arm, and became a tattoo again.
'This guy is helpless. Although, I guess that it will be much safer here, compared to simply following me on foot' I thought, and resumed my journey towards the other side of the Valley. The Valley itself, was not very big. I arrived at the other side rather quickly. What I saw over there, were loads of caves, carved into the cliff's face. 'There seems to be around 300 of them. Do these caves belong to Avians?' I thought. It was be possible, that place might've been their dwellings. It was hard to imagine, how they could reproduce in the skies. 'These caves should be their homes' I thought.
I got closer and one adult Avian came down from one of the caves. He asked "Human, what is your purpose coming here?". I was confused and said "Your King allowed me to explore Vulture Cliffs. I thought all Avians knew this". He responded "Yes, you are allowed to explore, but what are you searching for here, in particular?". 'Are they keeping something secretive here? Like those rare herbs or something?' I thought.
I said "I just wanted to see, what is at the end of the Valley. What is this place by the way?". The Avian responded while pointing at the caves "These are our personal quarters, so please don't enter them. You are free to move around as you like, but this area is off limits to you". I said "It's fine, If this is were your home is, I won't invade it then". The Avian nodded and flew up, back to his cave.
'So this is where they live. I think there is more to that, than just simple caves, but I don't want to enrage the whole swarm, just to find out' I thought and left. I went back into the middle of the Valley. Inside, I found another new creature. It was a moth like creature, but it was the size of a dog. They didn't seem to be aggressive, as they flew past me, as if I didn't exist. They seemed to be collecting some stuff. I watched the creatures for a while and noticed that, they were indeed collecting stuff. To be precise, they were collecting herbs. The common herbs, that could be used to sooth the pain.
These moth like creatures, would collect some herbs and then return to their hive. The hives were as big as trees, because they built them inside the crown of the tree. One tree could house at most 30 of them. Of course, this also depended on the size of the tree, but the ones available in the Valley, were not that big.
I noted all the details about those Moths, and decided to call them Grey Moths. 'Right, I wanted to ask an Avian about the creatures here. Whatever, I will ask different one, that guy seemed to be impatient and in a hurry. Maybe his partner was waiting for him… I don't know' I thought and headed towards the exit of the Valley. 'I explored most of the stuff inside. The amount of animals living in here, should be enough for at least 4000 Avians to survive. Besides, they also eat herbs. I didn't collect anything really, but I'm not done here. I still need to return to that pond, where the Water Stones are. I also need to get some food for the future journey' I thought and headed back.