Creatures Of Sonaria: Sands Of Time

Part 14: Change

       "Dune?"

       "Dune, wake up!"

       "Come on, move! You have to see this!"

        Something was shaking her shoulder. Dune was starting to come back into conciseness. Dune's vision started to come back to her, but the brightness stung. Everything was so... white. The ground felt unnatural. It didn't feel like sand, rock, or grass. It felt smooth, evenly polished. 

       She saw Arche trying to put Dune's weight on his back to lift her up. "Arche, where... what happened? How did we get here?" Dune asked, using the muscles in her legs to stand on her own. 

       "I-I don't know," He replied, groaning. "But that doesn't matter. I mean- It does but- Dune, just look behind you." He said, stepping to the side and turning himself around. Dune did the same, and what she saw shocked her. She froze, and stopped breathing.

        There were so many knalrikies here. Of greens and blacks, oranges and teals and sandy browns and yellows. Elders, kids, juvies, adults, all of them were here. Of course, there were a few glimmers here. But all of them were looking up at two creatures that stood above white stairs, looking down at every knalriki in Sonaria. One of the creatures was an archalium. It was white, long and majestic with creamy brown veins weaving around its body. it had no antlers, so they must've been female. 

       Next to them stood a creature that looked... weirdly like a knalriki, but at the same time, it wasn't. It had more features, details, and two extra thinner legs behind its front ones. It had a long tail with an oddly shaped stinger on the end of its tail. It was gazing at all of them. 

       "Wait," Dune said, partly to herself. "Some of these knalrikies are sand-colored like me. Are... are my..." Dune didn't finish what she was about to say. Instead, she ran for the crowd. Arche called for her, but he reluctantly followed behind her. Dune was shoving between everyone, apologizing every time she touched someone. She craned her neck above the crowd, scanning and looking for a few specific knalrikies...

       There! Over at the far right, different groups of knalrikies were huddled, talking with one another. There were about five groups. They all had to be sandswept knalrikies. Dune immediately started to run for them. Arche shouted for her and growled, following her.

       Dune made it out of the massive crowd of regular knalrikies and stood to the side. Looking closer at all the groups of five to six, none of them looked to be glimmers. Some knalrikies looked up at Dune and stared, and soon, all five groups were looking at her. Self loathing started to snake its way into her. Did they all think I was odd? Arche came stumbling next to her. Just at the sight of the teal colored regular, the sandswept knarikies gave odd glares. 

       She had to say something. She had to find them. "Uhm, h-hello. My name is Dune," She introduced herself. Arche was about to say something, but Dune slapped his shoulder with her tail, signalling him not to say anything. "I, uh, I'm looking for some sandswept knalrikies named-"

       "Dune?" A voice called from one of the packs. Dune looked around, trying to see who the source of the voice was. To her left, she saw two elder knalrikies step out in front of their packs. A female with dark, sandy brown and black stripes. A male, who was a dark sand color, looked almost as if they had no stripes, but they were there if you looked close enough.

       The three of them started to get closer, warily. Many moments passed before they were face to face, staring at each other. The elder female, brought one talon up to Dune's chin, stroking the glowing spines on her jaw. It felt... comforting. Like a mother finally seeing her child after so long...