"You said you've yet to get a weapon here, right Haq?"
He nodded to Nadia's question as they wandered through a narrower section of the Canyon, the walls just meters apart for several hundred steps.
"What do you think you'll find?"
She glanced down at the sword strapped to her waist. If unexpected things were common here, it would be hard to guess what might pop up next. However, she wasn't the only one of them curious as to what he might find. Elavale turned, walking backwards at the front of the group, tilting her head ever so slightly.
He put his arms up, hands clasped behind his head, and grinned wide.
"I know exactly what will end up in my hands," he stated, confidence oozing with each word.
"Oh?" Abana commented, lifting a brow with clear skepticism.
"Mhm. I had a dream about a crossbow."
"So…"
"I know it. It'll be a crossbow, wait and see."
"You actually got a dream about a crossbow? You're kidding." Abana stopped walking, turning to him with horror.
"It wasn't the first."
"Multiple?" Elavale remarked, surprised by his admittance. "Are you sure it's not a fetish or something?" she muttered quietly, as she turned to face forward again. Only Lyruk bore witness to the words with a shake of his own head, trying to eject the thought as soon as it entered his mind.
"You're actually serious? You get dreams about crossbows?" Abana reiterated, flabbergasted by the confession.
"Technically, it's a crossbow and a dagger, but for, you know, that's for close quarters combat." He closed his eyes briefly, seeing it in his own mind. "They were even aesthetically pleasing to the eye. My expectations are so high!" He exclaimed. "Maybe I'll even be able to summon them into my hands!"
Though it was an exaggeration, Haq emphasized his words with wild gesture, acting out the scenario of them returning to his hands. The others, laughing and shaking heads, brushed off his words and his prediction.
As the long narrow stretch widened out again, the first truly diverged pathway choice for them to make on the journey. There were three options, with two of them leading to the left and one continuing on forward. As they'd made the decision from the start to stay along the outer edge until the first possible exit, the choice was obvious.
It was then that something popped into existence next to Lyruk, a small purple and black bird. The small animal wasn't alive, rather it was closer to an illusion, flapping its wings twice before vanishing the same as it had arrived.
"Was that..." Elavale started, staring at the space in which it had existed a second before. She looked at Lyruk, finding something in his expression to confirm her suspicions. "That was quick," she commented, hands resting on her hips as she considered the new situation at hand.
"What's going on?" Haq interjected, crossing his arms over his chest with a frown. "That was a message, right?"
"Who's it from?" Abana added, stepping confidently in place next to him without realizing.
Lyruk said nothing for a long moment. Eventually, he sighed.
"Haq take them on ahead."
"Who?" he demanded, not budging despite Lyruk's instruction to lead Nadia and Nomma along the path.
"My father."
"Ah."
Haq, giving in, began walking. Nadia and Nomma, continued to look between each other, Haq, and the trio they were leaving behind. For his part, their leader didn't give a backwards glance to the others, now focused on his mission, eyes focused on what lay before them with a new intensity.
"Why are they staying behind?" Nadia finally managed to ask him as they rounded the next corner, cutting the line of sight for both sides.
He stopped, frowning at the question.
"I'm not one of them."
"What?"
Shaking his head with a chagrined smile, he turned to briefly meet their eyes.
"There are things..." He sighed, running a hand roughly through his hair. "Things aren't shared so easily between sides. And since my parents are standing on the side of the Valley belonging to the Goddess, it means I'm also there." With a shrug, he began to step forward again. "My presence is a hindrance to them speaking openly with Lyruk's father."
"And we're outsiders as humans," Nadia added, realizing why it was only the three of them together.
"Right."
He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his shorts, something Nadia was now bearing witness to for the first time in her limited time knowing him. An uncomfortable tension in his shoulders, a determined but glum rhythm and pressure as his sandals touched the ground.
Haq was one of the beings of power, born with abilities beyond the gifts a normal human could possess, yet as the sole child born exclusively on the side of the Goddess of Life, he became an outcast of sorts among those his age. Occasionally, he forgot just how big and important the divide of the Valley residents was.
When he fought with Abana, it was hard to brush it aside completely. It was knowing that any sort of relationship, had one chanced a tiny bloom, was destined to be filled with secrets, of things they couldn't share with one another, or that one of them would have to switch sides. Elavale's parents stayed as removed as possible from the strange politics between the God and Goddess, but not once had Elavale showed her face on Life's side of the Valley as she was growing up.
If it wasn't telling enough that her parents introduced her to those on Death's side, then maybe the fact that the same was never done for the opposing side was plenty in favoritism. Though, he couldn't exactly blame them for keeping her free of Life's chains. Despite not being literal, like that of an oath, they still remained heavy on the mind.
The three of them wandered slowly, Haq staying silent while Nadia and Nomma answered each other's everyday kind of questions. It was when they rounded the second corner that Haq lifted his arm, stopping them from continuing forward, that they fell just as quiet.
It was a creature none of them had ever seen before, not in books nor reality.
With a body segmented in a way that resembled an ant, it had a different and sturdier bulk to each part. It had two long antennae protruding from the sides of its head, glossy black eyes, and two visible mandibles on either side of its mouth. The whole of it was a dark purple-red color.
"What is that?" Nadia whispered.
Haq shook his head, frowning.
"I don't know."
The creature almost seemed foreign. Of all the places on the planet, the Canyon seemed most fit to be a habitat for the creature. However, the Canyon of Fire wasn't the true home to any of the animals it housed.
Haq continued to subtly shake his head, confused. He'd traveled the planet. He'd come across all different kinds of creatures. Not once had he seen anything remotely similar to what slowly eased closer to them, chattering as it noticed them.
"You two stay back," he said, drawing his dagger from its place on his belt, stepping forward with more confidence than he felt.
To him, it mattered not what the creature was, everything had a weakness. In the back of his mind, he knew he wasn't the most suited to this situation, equipped with something that required moving into the area of danger that close-combat always provided.
He approached with cautious determination, ducking around the wild swing of the creature's large mandibles that aimed to knock him aside. With a few running steps, he launched himself up using the creature's leg as support and sunk his dagger into it so that he could swing up onto its back, much like how he'd done with the Serpiscertis to access the back of its head and neck regions.
As the blade landed deep in the side of the creature, a pocket of liquid burst, a reddish-purple blood leaking out to cover most of Haq's forearm. He flinched at the feeling, the slap of wetness against his skin, compounded with the knowledge of the source, an unknown creature.
There was a sound akin to throwing a bucket of water stop a blazing fire. When Haq realized what was happening, the origin of the sizzling noise, he was already falling back to the ground with the remnants of a handle still within his grasp. Tucking and rolling on the ground, he stood, taking several large steps back away from the creature. He chucked the remaining piece of his dagger aside in the dirt, a small piece of the handle useless against almost anything.
The creature whipped around, opening its large mouth to take a bite of the prey that has so willingly entered its space. Haq leapt aside, lacking the ease and grace he'd shown in previous battles. He backed off, his left hand twitching, his arm burning. A glance at his own skin wasn't necessary to discern the creature had acid for blood.
It was strong enough to melt a regular dagger. The stinging in his arm was simply an extra confirmation.
As he observed, the drool emerging and falling to the ground at the corners of its mouth landed in steaming puddles on the ground.
Not only blood, but every piece of the creature was some kind of acid. An ordinary blade or weapon stood no chance. Close combat was impossible. Lyruk's magic would have been the best option for defeating it, had he not been occupied at the current moment.
Haq glanced at Nadia and Nomma before looking back at the creature. Lyruk wasn't with them. Abana's axe nor Elavale's plants could help. It was up to him. Just Haq, weaponless and heavily relying on just his right arm. His left was an odd mix of numbness and pain.
The creature wasn't focused on him anymore, nor was it moving forward. Noticing the neck move as if it were preparing to eject something, Haq's stomach dropped. He sprinted toward Nadia and Nomma.
"Get down!" he shouted, throwing his arms in front of them protectively as he reached them. It was the same time something shot out of the creature's mouth toward them.
Haq gritted his teeth and braced for the impact.