-Break-
Location: In the forest by the eastern edge of the area
Φ Through the threes a swarm of beastkin dressed in black ropes move from tree to tree, each coming from different directions but all of them converging to the same spot.
Soon all of them land in front of a beastkin, a bursting bear beastkin. Then in that moment, they peer their heads up where they see their leader and an entire army of men in front of them.
The man who sits at the front of the army says, "Speak."
All of the men in the robes shut their mouths except one, who says, "I have located Culainn and the human, they are currently in a small village and are isolated from any other people."
"Good, it seems we should be able to carry out Ciarán's request easily enough on the former head of his house."
Getting up the man says, "Everyone gets your weapons ready; we will be leaving when the sun sets."
As the man walks away one of the beastkin dressed in robes says, "Is this a good idea?"
Their leader stops and turns around, then asks, "Who said that?"
The other beastkin move their gaze towards the one who spoke up, so he says, "It was me."
"I am not familiar with your smell, you're new here."
Standing up, doing the formal greeting the young man says, "I am one of the many beastkin who aspires to stand on the battlefield with members of the house of Laoch."
"So, for what reason did you question my orders?"
"I am unsure why we have to be so grand while doing this. Both Culainn and the human would be better assassinated rather than making a giant scene out of this, in all honesty, this could just bring trouble with the Faoláins."
The bursting bear moves towards the man in robes and strikes him on the base of the neck breaking it, which causes the man to fall to the ground paralysed, but worse than that is the blood that flows from his broken major veins into his throat which starts to suffocate him.
"Choke on your own blood for your cowardice, Laoch men have no need to fear the Faoláins."
As the man walks away, he says, "Decades ago that fool Culainn gave humans weapons that lead to the death of many beastkin including my wife. And on the name of the second son, and brother to the head of the house of Laoch, I Dáire Ó Laoch will bring his head as penance for the dead! Gather the people, we will make this a spectacle."
-Break-
Location: The grand Library of Rathcroghan
Φ Sitting beside Ruairí I read through the records, and I say, "It really is complicated how much of our culture beastkin is actually our own?"
Niall beside me says, "It is all lies!"
I look at him who is tied up with three times the restraints than earlier today, and I say, "When you can be in a library without having to be restrained, I will give heed to your words."
Findabair who has been hanging around the room says, "There was a time when all of us Tuatha Dé Dannan were scattered around the world completely displaced from our land, and when the world entered its age of chaos which caused all of us to try and come back.
We took some of the things from the people who we stayed with because to the Tuatha Dé Dannan living with them, it was completely their own by that point."
Ruairí says, "Doesn't that make you kind of upset as a Biorg? I know you people are not fond of things getting mixed up with the human tradition."
"Of course, I am not happy that it is hard to differentiate what is ours and what is not. But in all honesty, lying to us about it and simply saying everything has beastkin roots is a disservice to ourselves."
With a smile, she says, "Besides, I think it is really interesting how in different parts of the world people can come up with similar things."
Niall says, "I respect you for all of the work you people put into this research."
I look at him with disbelief and say, "You have enough cognitive capacity to understand what she was saying."
"The way you talk little wolf, it is like you're begging me to put an axe to your neck."
In the saviour's song, I say, "Try and you will lose your life along with your pride, you monkey."
"Stop speaking in nonsense, I cannot understand you."
In our normal song, I say, "That's the point, you idiot. I swear how do you even function if you cannot even understand the human language."
"Glic Ó Sealbhóir handles most of that for me."
"I wouldn't rely on a Sealbhóir for anything if you ask me."
Ruairí says, "Why is that? Bricriu and my father have been best friends since I was young."
Sighing, I say, "What would you do Niall if your father's body was taken and thrown into the bottom of the ocean?"
"I will obviously go swim and get it."
Looking at Ruairi, I say, "Now what would you do if your father stood in the way of you marrying the girl you wanted."
"I would speed up my plan to overthrow him."
"My point exactly. If the house of Cathal wasn't constantly watching Sealbhóir and Eire, there is a good chance that they would have already tried to overthrow the high king."
"I promise you Setanta I won't try and overthrow you when it's time to become the high king."
I rub his head, and say, "That's nice but I won't become the high king, and make sure you stay away from the Sealbhóirs, and you too Niall I don't feel like dealing with your house becoming a puppet for their ambitions."
Niall says, "I welcome the Sealbhóirs to try and manipulate me. I can handle anything they throw at me."
I would mock him, but he seems to be prideful enough, that no one would be able to stop him from doing something he wants. But who knows if someone won't trick him into thinking he wants something he actually doesn't.
"Just don't let your gaggle of idiots get corrupted."
As I return my eyes to the book in front of me, I give it a strained look as I try to understand what is written down. "Who the hell is this referring to? I can't tell if it is the king or his brother."
Findabair says, "Let me take a look."
I give her the book and she gives it a quick read, then she says, "I don't know what this word is supposed to even be?"
Niall like a caterpillar wiggles his way to her side, looks at the book and says, "It's referring to the king's brother. You see it is a combination of the terms brother, and fool with half of the start of both words switched."
Taking the book back, I say, "I see it now, but why the hell is it like that we already have a way to refer to those words?"
"Back when we were inventing Danu's song, we wanted to make more complex fusions of words. So, we thought that if we wanted to fuse two words we should figure out a special way to combine them to make some distance between this and the saviour's song. Though we settled on a simpler version of doing such a thing."
Shocked, I turn my face towards Findabair and ask, "Did those plants make him grow a brain?"
Findabair responds, "Didn't you know it was the Laochs that came up with Danu's song?"
"Huh?"
Niall says, "Of course we did. Why would we allow our people to speak the same language as those beasts."
Findabair says, "The house of Biorg is actually an offshoot of the house of Laoch, filled with the people who wanted to bring the beastkin back to their roots."
"So, you guys were so motivated by your hatred of humans that you decided to devote your life to this?"
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Niall laughs.
Findabair with glowing eyes, says, "So have you learned anything important?"
With a frustrated expression, I say, "Kind of, but I would like to do more research."
"Go ahead."
As I walk forward to grab more books I feel a nasty feeling inside me.
I hate this, I hate this so much. The more I read the more I struggle to find the difference between humans and beastkin.
If we are so much smarter how come humans have made so much more than us? if we are so much stronger how come humans dominate this planet and we don't? If we are so much kinder how come humans have contributed so much to our people? If our wills are so much stronger than theirs how come humans were able to sacrifice themselves just to reduce other humans suffering, and how come Aurelius is able to smile in despair while Minagrain can't?
Putting the book back, I say, "I just don't know."
Suddenly through the doors, Fráech bursts through, and says, "We have an issue, and I need Niall!"
"What?" Findabair says.
"Dáire Ó Laoch has appeared with his arm on the other side of the land and has gathered up a series of beastkin to chase some people."
"Doesn't he know this is Biorg land?"
"He does, but despite our warnings, no one is stopping him. Because the people he is chasing is Culainn with a human."
I instantly run past everyone and star tot manoeuvre my way out of the inside of Ellén.
Culainn and Aurelius got found out, and are going to be killed! Right now, they are currently somewhere in Rathcroghan, with an army of soldiers chasing after them in the middle of the night.
"SHIT, I NEED TO MOVE!"
As I try to escape, I am grabbed by a series of Ellén tendrils, and I say, "ELLÉN I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS RIGHT NOW."
But ignoring my words she tightens her grip on me and brings me to the out of her body where the three giant cockatrice heads are.
She places me on top of one, and then it detaches itself from the amalgamation of the different beastkin, and then she waves me goodbye.
"Thank you Ellén," I say as the cockatrice takes off into the air.
On the back of the Cockatrice which glows golden, I notice that as it flies it starts to shrink to a normal size and speed up, so I say, "I guess Ellén must have the ability to enlarge the other wonderbeasts that make up it's body. Still, this is good now the Cockatrice can fly faster!"
Facing the cockatrice, I say, "Please look out for a man who cannot walk, he is a bird beastkin like yourself."
The cockatrice lets out a little noise and soars through the sky.
Φ "What the hell was that does he want to join in the hunt that bad?"
Fráech says, "If he joins up with the crowd, no one would be able to calm them down."
Sighing I say, "Looks like we just have to do damage control, I guess."
Ruairí chimes in and says, "I think I heard rumours of Setanta travelling with Culainn the blacksmith."
"Eh?"
Suddenly it hits me, and I say, "He is going to try and stop the army! This is bad, this is really bad?"
Fráech holds my head and rubs it then says, "Honey don't freak out, the moment they learn that it's Setanta, anyone who has heard the rumours of the high king would surely leave him alone, and someone of Dáire rank must."
"You're right," I say calming down.
With a joyful expression, Niall says, "Dáire has been looking for a political excuse to King Culainn for decades now, due to him causing the death of his wife. I am sure that even if Setanta told him to stop he would continue and a fight would break out, ending in Setanta's death. I would like to see it."
All my anxiety reaches its pinnacle and I say, "WE GOT TO MOVE NOW!"
Name: Cockatrice
Height: 7m
Type: Carnivorous, Wonderbeast
Description: A Four-winged three-tailed blue beast that has the head of an eagle, and the body of a wyvern. Its three tails are sharp whips it can use to slice its surroundings, and also grab a hold of things, and it's for whing allows it to move at high speed throughout the sky. Its most unique ability is the ability to hypnotise any animal that looks it in its eyes, it does this by sending a small electrical signal to its brain which messes up the concentration of its target.
Fact: Just like many other flying wonderbeasts it originates from the den of the sky, and in the den it is a guard that only ever hunts wonderbeast that overconsume others.