#212 needed an excuse, he needed an outlet for all the anger and frustration he had accumulated within his tiny body, he needed fight and he craved for it, one of the reasons he had started teaching the girls apart from the benefit for their survival was that he hoped that one day he could spar with them so he could let loose.
At core, #212 was a soldier, the only way he knew how to cope with pain was to battle and forget about the pain, but today, all of that conviction went to waste as the sparring partner that had chosen him a bit too formidable for him.
"This is your captain speaking, send in a beroopiya at my current coordinates" #212 mumbled in his antenna comms.
Soon after, what looked like a huge ordinary cloud of a dim orange color, appeared above them, covering the treetops, it was being pulled by the bees with strings.
#212 then looked at the Zar-e-zameen who stood still and unbothered. Casually chatting with Khadija
'Ah here goes nothing' He thought to himself as he flew at an incredible speed towards the cloud, He entered as a bee from one side and returned as a magnificient bird of prey from the other.
Beroopiyas were used as forced conversion tools for the bees, they provided them with instant fifteen minutes of transformations in case of emergencies, and this was forsure a grave one.
Next, Zar-e-zameen took flight, and the mere spread of her wings felt like the day had been changed into the night, the immense power she held made the plants around them, bow down in some deep reverence, it was a same effect that Queen Golden held on the creatures but different at the same time.
Her huge tail slowly unswirled around the trees as khadija stepped back, Zar-e-zameen looked at her compassionately and then flourished her violet wings, they seemed to dim the daylight around their edges. The dark Queen then rose into the air, her tail following.
#212 looked like an ordinary sparrow infront of her, it wasn't that he wasn't any less majestic but she was at another level completely, her presence demanded attention.
They faced each other off.
One, a legendary ancient being of a land lost to time, and other, evader of death.
"what are the rules?" #212 asked, his voice dim and submissive.
"Stay in my vicinity for ten seconds and you win"
that intimidated him further,
"Can i start from any point or i have to start from within the vicinity?" He asked.
"I will give you a minute to get ready, in any way you want. After that if you can stay within my vicinity for ten seconds, that will be enough" She replied.
#212 closed his eyes, then opened them and looked up at the sky and sighed. Then after some moments, he started pushing himself, flying deep into the blue sky at an oustanding speed, he got so far above that the grove looked like a small patch of grass now.
'Why me?' he thought to himself as he adjusted himself in a way that zar-e-zameen was straight into his vision, and jetted. He tore open the air until the metal beak changed its color to vibrant orange.
#212 had planned it well, he had timed it well, a minute was about to pass and that meant his enormous speed would break through whatever defense the dark queen had put to stop him, he was hopeful and he succeeded.
He passed through the vicinity and aimed right at the chest of the zar-e-zameen, his heart thumped loudly in his chest, and his vision was blurry. The excitement made him propel even faster as he crashed against the figure of his opponent and tore through.
He looked down at his wings, hoping to see some macabre scene of blood but instead all he saw was golden and purple butterflies, hundreds of them, he focused on them in amazement as their size started increasing, the land around him then changed to a white plain backdrop. And giant sized butterflies fluttered around him slowly. #212 got overwhelmed and starting huffing when suddenly Khadija's voice tore through the whole scene and woke him up, he gasped.
"What.. what happened" He looked around frantically.
"You slept midair and crashed right after rising." Isra said, her tone casual.
It appeared that zar-e-zameen hadn't even bothered flying up completely when #212 had slept and lost himself and crashed near the girls, and everything else he saw, he saw in a dream. He felt even more terrified of the dark queen now.
***************
Right around midnight, the headquarters at the grove suddenly blared emergency, they had recently recieved an extremely upsetting news. The gateway had been done in, that meant there was no way of going back anymore.
After waiting for almost a week, brushing off against one evil thing to another, the girls were dead tired deep within. They were keeping up the indulgements but it was already seeped deep within.
And now after hearing this ominous news, they were completely disheartened.
#212 had nothing to say, he was as shocked as they were. And Qatan was nowhere to be found. He had left them since the incident happened with the executioner.
Isra kind of missed him. These past weeks, things had just kept falling down in a downwards spiral for her.
First, learning about the bakery and the bankruptcy they were facing had left a hole in her chest, then all of this affair with the bees, it was a never ending nightmare. And now the gateway too, their only one option had been gone aswell. Isra just wanted it all to end.
Isra was depressed. She was angry and rightfully so, this was an unknown world for her and her foremost aim of helping her dad financially was nowhere to be done. Reeling from frusturation she clenched her teeth and walked through the trees.
She missed Miraaj and Haniya as tears started rolling down her cheeks.
In her absent mindedness she had strayed far away from the camp and was now somewhere deep south within the grove, she had already passed the gentle mushroom giant and was now walking in completely unknown territory.
Her left arm started glowing, with teary eyes she looked at it and a moment later, something started reeking of wrongness around her. Blood left her skin as she realized how familiar the wrongness felt.
She looked up to see a faint figure of white, shining brightly in the moon light, it had pointy ears and a humanoid face, its build was slender and In its right hand, It held a pocket watch. Before Isra could scream it landed near her and grabbed her by the collar.
Isra paled and almost fainted upon seeing it upclose, its black eyes were changing into bright red as if filling up with blood from within, and a moment later it felt lifelessly on the ground.
Isra fell down with it, as she started screaming frantically, completely losing herself in deep panic. She wanted to return. She wanted to go back. She started scraping the mud off with her nails and then punched the ground with her feeble fist.
"Its okay child, they wont hurt you. Look here now" A voice came from behind her, she looked back and instanly felt a deep calm settling in her heart as her conciousness faded.