Blood Bonds

Part 1 - Stranded

Deep in the jungle biome just a few hundred feet away from the sunken Angel Island, an old, broken-down airship sat embedded in the forest's hard dirt floor. Vines and other various forms of overgrown vegetation creeped along the aircraft's numerous scars and inventions, giving it an abandoned appearance. However, the forest concealing it was dying, the long months lacking rain weakening all the plants' roots and stems. Even as the airship sat in stillness, with the sound of the ocean in the distance, a tree fell over. The whining bark snapped in half, sending the top-heavy plant over and landing it right atop the aircraft. Audible cursing could be heard from inside the machine as it dented even further under the tree's impact. Then frantic squeals of young creatures reiterated from the same source. One of the machine's rusted doors banged open, and an odd creature completely unlike the beings typical to roam Mobius emerged.

Its skin was an inky blue, with bizarre red stripes running along its tripod head that connected with the markings around its eyes of black sclera. The sickly yellow irises of the beast gazed with intense disdain at the fallen tree, their oddly-shaped quivering black pupils trained on the snapped trunk. The brightest part of the being, besides its glowing eyes, was its white muzzle. The otherworldly creature planted its three clawed fingers on its hips, spread out its red-spiked arms, and sighed, its humanoid body displaying a posture of weariness. Even as its red-tipped tail whipped behind it irritably, the spike on the end zipping about dangerously, four more strange creatures emerged from behind it, floating through the air. One resembled a cube with dangling tentacles and a glowing blue eye for each side of its head, minus the top and bottom; another a disfigured music note with a bright pink eye centered on its bulbous face, one an electric eel with two narrow teal eyes, and the last one was an odd tripod-shaped head that sported two wings and three shining red eyes. All had flesh the same inky blue as their caregiver. The larger creature regarded them with some weariness, having been living with these smaller anomalies most of his life and all of theirs, and he even felt a fondness for them a parent might feel for their own children. But still, their needs overtook his own, and he had to care for them, feed them, clean them. This planet they were trapped on had none of the right resources for his fledglings to grow or morph, so they were all in a weak state. He had planted some red fruit trees upon their arrival, but the saplings were all left behind on the Angel Island, which had fallen into the sea some time after the sky had turned vermilion.

The music-note-shaped fledgling bumped gently against his shoulder, knocking against the red markings across his chest, and he sighed and pulled it from the air, rocking it gently in his arms.

"It's just a tree, Rhygenta, we're not under attack. Don't worry." His voice was strangely raspy, as through he were dehydrated.

The other three fledglings all voiced their distress despite the reassurance, complaining instead about their hunger.

"I'm doing what I can, guys." Their caretaker said with minor irritability. "You know I can't risk you guys getting captured or hurt, we're the last of our kind. If we weren't nearly extinct, I'd be slightly more willing to let you out of my sight."

The block-shaped anomaly made a small retort out of earshot. His older companion shot him a severe look. "I heard that, Blurk. Keep those words out of your trap or I'll give you a reason to use profanity."

The eel slithered through the air as though it were immersed in water. It floated over the tree, inspecting it for potential food, but in vain.

"Not too far, Cyzer." Its companion called after it. "And Gregal, if you don't stop mocking Blurk, I'm going to lose it."

The three-eyed anomaly shrunk back, somewhat embarrassed to be caught. They all remained outside for a few more minutes, taking in the decaying nature all around, when suddenly storm clouds began to block out the light of day.

"Huh, wonder if it'll rain..."

The thunderclap answered his question. Panicking, he threw Rhygenta back into the aircraft.

"Everyone, inside, NOW!" He yelled at his younglings. The other two darted back in at his command. Cyzer, however, decided to ignore him, eyeing the sky with defiant curiosity. He hadn't experience rain before.

"Cyzer, if you don't...!" His elder looked up at the sky incredulously. It had been so long it last rained, he wasn't entirely sure it actually would. The clouds were an irregular shade of red, odd for Mobius, but a comforting reminder of his former planet. He gazed at the streaks of blue lightning, dumbfounded by their intriguing peculiarity. Then he winced as a raindrop landed directly on his forehead. The creature backed underneath the safety of the airplane's roof, wiping the burning droplet off his face. It was rain, alright. Cyzer, too, felt a sharp stinging pain on his body, followed by several more, and slithered back inside the shelter begrudgingly, finding that he did not like rain, either.

The five creatures sat huddled by the door, watching the rain pour outside their aircraft, as the dry ground immediately soaked it up. After a while, the ground began to struggle to keep soaking in the rain, and the larger being shut the door to prevent the overflowing water from getting in. They listened to the storm anxiously, trapped inside the semi-emerged capsule with no way out. Quietly, Rhygenta began to hum a melody.

"Good idea, kiddie." His caretaker said with a smile. "Let's distract ourselves. Why don't you sing us a song?"

Together, they satfor hours, listening to Rhygenta's little quivering voice beautifully stringingtogether a song, trying to block out the sound of hundreds of raindrops peltingthe roof of their shelter.