Creatures Of Sonaria: Sands Of Time

Part 19: Understandment

       It took a lot longer to find Sane than Dune anticipated, but she guessed she should've expected that. There were a lot of aereis too. Turns out, there were a lot more aereis than creatures said there are. And most of them were pretty stuck up, too. Dune was starting to get annoyed of snarky comments from other aereis every time she asked them if they saw Sane.

        Only four hours till dawn... As soon as Dune was about to give up, she felt something tap her tail and she turned to see Sane, staring at her rather... blankly. There didn't seem to be any emotion behind her darkened, staring eyes. Dune stood there, laboring her breathing. She still wasn't fully comfortable with seeing an aereis like her. 

       Dune let out a breath she was holding and turned her body around to face her so she wasn't turning her whole neck. She sat down, and Sane did the same. 

       "So... how are your wounds?" Dune asked, looking at the dark yellow scars all over her body. Some of her fur was coated with her own dried blood. 

        Sane looked at one of her scarred arms, turning her paw around and dragging her other paw over the wounds. "They're better," Sane said, not looking up at Dune. "I... I didn't think a sar would be that bad, but- but they were huge. Three heads, three times the damage..." Her voice was shaky, and Dune could see that she was trying not to cry. But there were small droplets of a black tear threatening the corners of her eyes.

       "Why'd you even try, though?" Dune asked, tilting her head. A cantapodi ran around her legs, making her jump. "I mean, you sort of asked for that."

       "I wanted to fight one Sar'Hingaro," Sane said in a firm voice, bearing her teeth. "Not five."

       Dune gasped and leaned forward. "Five? That's beyond unfair!" She said, reaching one front talon for her but pausing. She put her talon down on the ground, not wanting to get physical with her. "Why do you even want fights to begin with? Your species is supposed to be a symbol of peace and judgement between right and wrong."

       "My horn is broken," Sane said, bringing a paw up to her shattered, obsidian-black horn and tapping one small claw on it. "I no longer care about right and wrong, only being powerful and constantly being hungry..."

       "Oh," Dune said, sitting still. Both of them sat in silence for a long time, staring at the creatures around them. Every minute, the oasis got more and more unsettled and scared. Even Dune felt the same way. She couldn't tell if Sane was scared or confident. She didn't even know which side she was on.

       She coughed to get Sane's attention. Sane turned her head and narrowed her eyes at the glimmer knalriki. "What?"

       "Uh, whose side do you belong to?" Dune asked.

        She must have said something wrong, because Sane snarled and dug her claws into the sand. "I belong to nobody's side!" She snapped, flaring her wings. Dune didn't even realize there were more scars on her wings. "Nobody tells me what to do, and that's final."

       "I never said you had to follow anybody," Dune said. She would've rolled her eyes if she had any. "But if you choose to fight against the oasis and not beside them, nobody will hesitate to kill you," she explained, waving a talon in the air. 

       "Hmmm..." Sane hummed, laying down and resting her head on her pawpads. "I definitely don't want to help fight the Sars. They nearly killed me." She took a deep breath and sighed, sparks of yellow stars exiting her back abyss of a mouth. "Fine, I'll fight alongside the oasis."

        Dune felt a wave of relaxation hit her. "Thank Erythia, we're going to need all the help we can get." 

       "Yeah, I guess," Sane said blankly, sighing and looking up at the sky. "Maybe this'll be my chance at redemption."