The Orange Puddle putrefied and formed as one. Ten fingers crept out of the puddle and an orange light came down from the Heavens.
"So.. You've managed to destroy a puppet... no matter. I am here now and you will have died a meaningless death. You should have just.. Stayed. Out. Of. It." With every word at the end of her sentence, more of the massive orange body pulled itself from the muck. When she came out, she was deformed and grotesque to look upon. If it had been depicted in an anime, it would have been censored. She was a horrid sight and her voice became like a vibration.
"COVER YOUR EARS!" Mursayade plugged her ears with two of her hands and grabbed the boy. She dove into an isolation formation with the others and they quickly stuffed their ears. Covering their ears did nothing to stop the stench that wafted out, it reminded everyone of a sulfur spring.
The Queen began to sing, it was horrible. Her voice was gurgling like a broken dishwasher and as she sang, more of the orange fluid came out of her body. She spewed across the castle stonework and liquefied the bodies that were laying around. Bones turned to minerals and dissipated, absorbed into the collective. She grew stronger.
"We need a plan guys." Mursayade was struggling to maintain the energy transfer to the shield. The drain on her strength because of the fluid pressing in was a problem, one she couldn't get around.
"We could leave." Vector said reluctantly. Cheonquq watched the castle turn to a soup bowl of death and turned away, hiding his face in Mursayade's robe.
Kuzunoha agreed, all of them spread their wings and flew to the ship. They had all the materials they needed and this political attack had been successful. No manner of reconstruction would resurrect their dead, the King was already missing and presumably dead, the kingdom of Hodda and all of its leadership had been killed off in that moment. Technically, the orange figured woman had achieved her goal but the presence of the group had put a stick in her mud.
Misozi knew the moment they had entered and flew away at her fastest speed. In four days, they could always return and try to break through.
The Orange Queen roared like a freight train, she lobbed big clumps of the goop toward Misozi's hull but she was a lot more agile than a thrown blob. She dodged with little effort and the group sped to a different landscape a few hours away.
The flight was filled with questions, the group wanted to know if Cheonquq knew anything about the orange figure but he was just a child. When Cheonquq said that he didn't know anything, they were forced to understand.
"You'll stay with us until we find somewhere safe to drop you. If you want to leave before then, that's your choice as well." Kuzunoha looked at the boy and climbed into the cockpit. "Misozi, show me the path we just took away from the city, make a ninety degree right turn and head that direction. I don't want to be followed."
It was a wise decision no matter who had made the call, Misozi put their position up on the HUD and Kuzunoha grabbed the stick to turn them. It was sharp but it didn't matter, the inside of the ship suffered no changes in their orientation.
The Ship pushed its speed tolerance as it tore across the landscape, it left sonic booms in its wake which was a little counter productive for their escape but there was little they could do to thwart thick air.
"We can continue on this heading for a hour and then I want to find a place to hide. We need to finish cultivating and that fight could have gone very badly." Vector looked at Mursayade. "Misozi, how many spirit stones are in the collection from Hodda?"
"There are currently 2216 remaining according to scans, I also require more fuel, please take time to add to the formation." Misozi rarely asked for fuel, usually she could fill up on what was present in the atmosphere, extending the time she required between refueling. The energy outside was never concentrated enough to directly fill it but the replenishment was extremely welcome and efficient.
"2216?" Vector grabbed a hundred and put them in a sack. "Misozi, make sure that kid tries to absorb these. The rest are for us to cultivate, use what you need. We can't afford to go out even for hunting until this is completed."
"Understood." Misozi kept her heading and watched the four of them disappear into their cabins. One of the puppets walked with Cheonquq to a spare room and showed him to a bed. "If you know how to cultivate, I suggest you do it." She passed the majority of the bag over to the former Prince.
She had about ten in the puppet's hand, they quickly found their way into the refueling formation. The energy levels peaked and Misozi was satisfied, it would be a while before she needed more.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Wu Hai was studying the Nuecrite collective, they were filled with quite a lot of curiosity and their colony function was fascinating. They were not herd creatures but they lived in a hive of family units. He did his best to get samples of plants and the water but there was no where to put the creatures without his leaving the Ultinian Heavens.
Some of them refused to interact with the others, they had a hierarchy that he didn't understand. Their color schemes did little to differentiate their pack habits.
A Nyankin woman arrived, she was very old and appeared to be somewhat blind, when she saw Wu Hai sitting among the trees, she was almost sure that she was seeing things that were not there.. "Who are you?"
Wu Hai arched his wings and came down slowly. He didn't want to create a panic in the old woman, it was never nice to make a hard time for the Elderly. "I am Zao. Are these your pets?"
"Pets?" She looked around. "I only see the Hilairen."
"Ah.. well, then perhaps I should go then." Wu Hai had no reason to stay and if someone came up with even an indirect ownership he wasn't about to steal them. The lady was somewhat kind eyed and gave no reason to build enmity.
"I've lost my Copyu." The Old Woman seemed distracted and weak, she stumbled.
Wu Hai caught her and supported her until she chose to sit down. "You shouldn't be out here, don't you have a home or some family somewhere to help you?"
"My family has passed, my tribe demolished many years ago. I haven't seen another but you in some time." She sounded sad and her situation was equally bleak. The Old Nyankin's bones cracks as she took a seat.
"Lost? Copyu? Is that the name of your Hilairen?" Wu Hai had a hard time keeping up with all the names of things, people called one thing something that their neighbors called another. Playing along like he understood made things move a long a lot faster.
She nodded and pointed to one of the others. "She looks like this one but she has a star on her back."
"Got it." Wu Hai had no idea if she was crazy or just playing with him but he jumped into the tree and looked around. "Star.. looking for a star." He spoke to himself and searched over the fields from the treetop.
When he was unable to see a single star, he flew overhead and scanned them with his new eyes. When he was about to descend, he saw a trail outside and leading away. Five Nyankin were running at their fastest from the area and whatever they were carrying was struggling in their arms.
Wu Hai had the ability to out run them, yet, he chose to follow behind from a great distance. No prey would escape his sight easily, they dashed toward a cave.
'Oh, they went in huh?' He flew down and pulled his wings in. 'I just saw them enter, where did they go?' Feeling around with his senses, Wu Hai located a pocket space at the base of a giant stone head. The head was wearing a headband, carved from the same stone and between its mouth was a shimmer so faint it was almost imperceptible.
"Damn." He understood exactly what had happened. They had run into a pocket space, it couldn't have been large and since they had gone in so quickly, the barrier was easily penetrated. Inside, Wu Hai saw a village. There were many Nyankin that fled when they saw him, many immediately opened fire on his position. Most of the Nyankin in the Village were water specialists, they sent out a flood of forceful water blasts in Wu Hai's direction. The ones carrying Copyu were among those running.
Sighing heavily and rushing into the crowd, he overtook them and grabbed Copyu from their hands. None of them had any idea how he moved so quickly but he had her. Wu Hai planted his feet and turned on a dime, shooting outside of the barrier out of instinct. Time mattered and he couldn't stick around in pocket dimensions.
"Get him!" They shouted among themselves and raced toward the portal exit but the intruder had a huge lead on them. Outside, he rose into the air with Copyu in his hands and flew back toward the old woman and the Hilairen colony.
Copyu was squirming in his hands and struggling.
The Elderly Nyankin woman saw Copyu and called out, "Oh! You found her! Good, Good. Now.. Give it to me.." Her face twisted and a wide grin crossed her face. Her tone had changed mid sentence and she grew claws at the end of her fingertips. "Give me what I've come for!"
'Great.. What the hell have I gotten myself into?' Wu Hai wondered what to do but she had already jumped toward him. He dodged the old woman and flew higher, Copyu looked down and then tucked itself into Wu Hai's robe. 'Oh?' He noticed the creature's fear and knew what had to be done. He pulled the crusher off his back and swung it at the old woman. It was only meant to scare her but she didn't bother to move and came straight for it, intent on deflecting it.
She was struck in the ribs and folded like a cheap chair.
'Why are they always so confident?' Wu Hai didn't know what they would be doing once they caught up but Copyu didn't seem like she wanted to be with any of them. "Lets go." Wu Hai patted his chest lightly and flew away, ignoring the old woman entirely after she had been beaten down.
As she laid there in pain, dozens of the Hilairen came rolling across the grounds.
All of them beemed when they saw her, she made them salivate. As they encircled her, the first group latched down on her stomach and tore it open. Once the others arrived, the old woman was torn limb from limb.
'So... are they Crites or Hilairen? Either way, that was sort of hilarious.' Wu Hai wanted to laugh but he had one in his possession and it was notably special. Gulping loudly, he fumbled through his storage and found a beast cage. He didn't bring it out but made sure that he had at least located it.
Wu Hai flew for what felt like a few hours, the sky changed to darkness.
Finding a place to land was simple, he had actually found a town. Wu Hai kept Copyu hidden and bought a room at the Inn with spirit stones. The Village was filled with a number of winged races but they didn't seem to care about appearances, hundreds of different types of Qilinkin, Aeralian and winged races congregated in the City. Most of the buildings were located within the trees. If it had not been dark then he might have even missed the City entirely.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
The Nyankin Villagers were terrified at what they found in the grasslands, the Hilairen had torn apart the old woman but she was already a fugitive to them, an outcast for having entered the sacred grounds.
"We must recover the Copyu, otherwise the Patriarch will perish." The group had to recover its heart but they did not know where to look, one of the leaders, Aaub, called out to the others. "Spread out and gather information, I want him found. You have three days, if the beast is not in our possession by the solstice the Patriarch will die shortly after.."
The Patriarch of the Nyankin Village had heard tales of the Hilairen, their brightest and strongest could take the form of another. They were a type of Echinemon, shapeshifters, only, there was a special quality to the Hilairen, once a form was assumed they would keep it forever.
Copyu was a term given to by the Ancestors of the Nyankin. Once, long ago, a princess had caught one as a pet. She loved it dearly and then, like clockwork upon the solstice, the Hilairen took her form. They were like twins and spent every moment together growing up and even having children side by side.
Indistinguishable, The Hilairen was exactly the same in every way. The princess gave her the name Copyu. When the Princess was killed by an enemy faction, it fell to Copyu to take her place for the remainder of her life. The original Copyu was dragged in front of the masses and paraded around to keep up appearances. Even if they looked the same, to the villager elders, it was still an outsider and not of their race. Those that knew the truth used their influence to keep her isolated and hidden away until her death.