Finding Contentus

Chapter 163: See?

Neo was saying that she wanted to close her Head-to-Head with Ayata on a high note, not a low note. So Neosa disarmed the ammunition of her laughter quicker than an eye blink. One. Two. Low. High.

She was pleasantly surprised by how much of a pineapple Ayata was. Prickly and hostile on the outside yet tart and sweet on the inside, tingling the tongue and burning the cheeks.

The smirk on her lips overstayed its welcome. How couldn't it? There was something fitting about their bumping, aside from the snappy trash talking. A likeness to facing things head on. Being face-to-face with your grievances. Headbutting issues before they spread out of control.

Something you've been ignoring. Turning a blind eye. Neglecting the harsh reality to make your situation bearable. Neo sniffed.

The smirk fell once Kenosi dropped down and landed on the West coast of Mettro. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. She could smell it in the hot, rotting air, inhale it in the poisonous chemicals, see it in the way the churning clouds held the bleeding sun hostage, taste it when her tongue slipped out her mouth and collected powdery residue.

Volcanic ash rained down from the sky like black snow, staining the terrain and damaging the scores of agricultural fields. Where the sand dunes rose, the piles of ash grew even taller. Where the wildflowers sprouted, the heaps of ash buried. Where bodies of water flowed, the ash poured its substance of contamination. Where the sandstorms raged, the ash flared, like all the mountains were mimicking Mount Killes.

Obelisks of smoke rose to join forces with the clouds as though the world had been bombed to smithereens.

Neo doesn't want to say she told you so, but... Neosa bit the inside of her cheek. Neo wisely chose to spare her from the waves of anguish that rushed to her feet, hiking up her arms. Wisps of smoke steamed from her skin. The ash from out here burned like acid, fitting for the corrosive pain that followed when Neosa hissed.

Kenosi kept shaking his fur and growling as if the flakes of ash were acidic fleas. He looked at Neosa expectantly.

Neosa made a sound, telling him to go.

Kenosi hesitated, one paw raised.

"Neo says that I'll be shap." She gave him a weak thumbs up.

Kenosi continued to peer into her eyes. "Have you considered Ayata's advice?"

Neosa stared right back at him, ignoring the flaming arrows of ash. "Neo—"

Kenosi stomped his paw on her left foot.

Neosa looked down, then back at him, wetting her dry lips. "I have."

Kenosi freed her left foot and jumped to lick her face. "As have I."

The saber-tooth didn't elaborate further, though it wasn't hard to guess what he meant. Neosa watched him run off into the blackened haze.

She looked up at the cloaked sky, reptilian eyes adapting to form a protective eyelid. The ash kept plunging down. The landscape was completely dark and gloomy despite it being daytime, like there'd never be sunshine again.

She kept her head raised as she scaled up the tallest sand dune, never blinking, as if constant eye contact would instil fear into the falling ash. But all it did was make it sob even harder like a child that had never gotten used to the abuse received from their parents.

That's when the sandstorm hit her at full force. It was high, several thousand feet in the air high.

"So this is Ramoth season," Neosa croaked, a lump in her parched throat, eyes sliding down to glare at the venomous sandstorm that left blisters and burns all over skin.