It was not every day that the flying pig saw cats in the deserts. It liked the fluffy animal, even when it looked about ready to pounce on him.
Oh, the pink, brown dotted, animal knew what it saw before it. That was a murder muffin!
Or, as any scientist would tell you: a desert cat.
The flying pig had a plan. The murder muffin was going to deal with the sand demons for it! For they feared cats. Surely, one so ferocious as the murder muffin was going to manage to get rid of them?
The flying pig oinked in greeting, as it offered the murder muffin the standard package Karma let it give out once in a blue moon.
But it had not taken one thing in account. Murder muffins normally had young during this time of the year.
The murder muffin wiggled it's but, stretched its claws, its target before its eyes.
The flying pig tried to fly away, but it could not. As it felt teeth digging into his feathery wings, taking feathers off, it knew that it was in dire straits.
The flying pig flew higher, the murder muffin dropped to the ground on all fours, no signs of damage to it.
The flying pig began to fly with only one wing. It was not a big pig, but its bulk was still heavier than it could manage to carry with just one wing.
It landed, looked around, and then said a prayer to Karma.
Karma did not respond. Why should it?
It had already replaced the flying pig with a flying cow. Thinking that it would be better for its PR.
And so, the flying pig faced a fate most dire. It refused to die, vowing that it would get back at Karma.
Its only hope being the quest it had managed to give to Lin.
It knew that it was doomed.
And yet, it still made a step forward on the heated sand. Then another. One step at a time, the flying pig proved that the will to live was the strongest one of all.
0000
Lin and Kai were no longer atop the wasp's nest. No, they were now inside it.
The courtroom was dimly lit, and it smelt of honey. Kai thought how it was ironic that they would be sued over something like kicking a wasp nest, so to speak, when it was obvious that the wasp had robbed a beehive blind at one point or another.
"Many died because of your lie!" A wasp said, who was wearing a suit and tie. Kai did not see many battles in his past.
"The goblins were going to kill you all off anyway!" Kai snapped. It was not like the wasps were not enough that no one could so much as shake a stick at them.
Besides, the wasps were going to die in about 22 days, anyway.
"I know what he thinks!" A wasp in a gown more intricate than some noble ladies wore in the capital snapped. "He thinks that my children were going to die anyway! That we are meaningless!"
Kai bowed his head. Not because he was shamed, but because he was calling reinforcements.
Sure, the undead and living hamsters were not going to do much against a wasp army, but they did not have to. Besides, if the wind elemental was to be believed, then they just needed to buy themselves a day of stalling.
"Yes, we are the worst," Kai began, not looking at the queen wasp. "We used you to slay the goblins! The blood of your children is as much on our hands, as it is on the goblins'!"
Lin blinked. He had never been sued before, but he was pretty sure that this was not what Kai should be saying.
"Kai?" Lin asked, turning his head around despite the shackles around his neck.
"Lin, let me speak," Kai finally tore his gaze from the ground, and leveled the fairy with a look.
Lin did not know what that look was supposed to mean, but he relaxed. Kai was his champion, his guardian angel.
Surely, he could keep them out of prison.
"Oh, so you admit your guilt?" The queen wasp rubbed her hands together, the frills of her gown making her look ethereal.
"But what about the blood on your hands, my Queen?" Kai raised his voice just a tiny bit. So, as if he was exposing a great injustice.
He was not.
He was just commenting on the natural order of things. But these wasps had the delusion they were human. Kai was going to shamelessly abuse that little fact.
"What do you mean, you rouge?" The Queen snapped. She could feel the vinegar and honey trap near her, but she did not bow her head.
It might be that she could live only for a year, but she wore the purple. Her mandate was given by Karma himself!
No one was going to bullshit her and walk away from their due punishment!
"Wasps are strong and brave warriors!" Kai continued, his voice booming in the courtroom. "And yet, you allow goblins to pass through your lands! All the dead travelers, animals, and yes, even ants, stain your hands with so much blood, one could drown in it!"
Some wasps began to mumble. Out of all the human traits they had taken, empathy was the most meaningless in Kai's opinion, for these creatures were called to war at least five times per week.
But he was not going to argue if they set him free.
The queen knew that she could not get to kill the two. One was a fairy, and her brethren were going to go up in arms if she wiped that species from the world.
That did not mean that she was going to let matters lay.
"Then, brave hero, lead us in the war against the goblins!"
Kai blinked; the queen smirked.
The flying pig oinked its fury to the world, as it made its way to where it believed the desert ended.
Not noticing how the winds picked up in speed around it…