A World of Despair(Book One)

Chapter One (Rhylo)

   Hot. Everything was hot. It was very unpleasant to Rhylo. He was already thirsty enought without the incesant head. Panting as usual, he padded on. Usually Rhylo would just skip coming to the city, would even go near it. Except she had been there. Emilia, that was her name and it was the only thing that Rhylo knew about her. Besides having to find her of course. Rhylo sat in the middle of the road on his haunches. Long ago he would've never thought of even doing such a thing, never would've even dared. But times had changed and in the city the roads were safer than the sidewalks. He ran his coarse tongue over and around the outsides of his mouth trying to get his salivary glands working, however he only succeeded in drying his tongue faster. Oh how he hated this world and the people that had done this to him. Very little water was untoxic enough to drink and food was almost nothing. There were no safe structures to sleep in and the rain stung like acid bullets. This world was lonely. Lonely and dying. He let out a pitiful howl and listened to the echoes. His only thoughts though were of Emilia. Who was she? Why did Rhylo have this burning desire to seek her out and never let her leave his side? Why was she still here? And how could she survive in such a terrain? 

   An insect laid its fangs into Rhylo and made his back leg immediately shoot up to kick the vampire bug away. The bug buzzed angrily at him and charged. Rhylo however was faster and in a matter of mere seconds leapt high into the air and like a bullet shot through the beast. With a hiss the bug turned to ash and then disipated. Scratching his ear once more Rhylo shook his head and continued on with renewed vigor. His blotchy slightly blue fur rippled with annoyance. He wanted nothing more than to drop this obsession and just walk to the outter wastelands to die, but something was fueling him on. Past his hunger and exhaust. His muscles felt stiff and Rhylo broke into a trot as he heard the structure of yet another building groan. Rhylo knew when it was time to get out of a place. And that time was now.

   The groaning got louder and Rhylo broke into a full out sprint as he heard the familiar rumbling sound. A shadow passed over him and he pushed faster. The terrain blended into one giant blur as he easily sped away from the immediate danger. When he finally stopped he was on a tall hill and the building had just hit the ground. He growled but then a sweet scent hit his nostrels. Shoving his nose to the ground he inhaled three quick times and confirmed what he thought. Emilia had come this way. He was certain of it. He turned so his back was to the 'sun'. If you could really call it that. Even with it 'shining' the world was nearly pitch black. He'd walked only a few feet until he noticed that there was a small piece of paper that reeked of that sickly sweet smell. Feeling that he needed to open it he split his tail and had both ends come around. Picking up the note with one tail he used the other to open it. 

   Rhylo looked at the note and smiled. Well as well as he could. For he loved the fact that he could read.

          'If you're looking for me, you're going in the right direction. Three days trekk, get started.'

   That was all it said. But it was enough, for now he knew the direction in which he'd have to travel. In three days time maybe he would finally be able to figure out just who this girl was and why his thoughts were plagued by her. 

   The savage sun beat down on his back as he walked. Rhylo was rally quite glad the daiation he had made his metabolism slower. If it didn't then he'd have most liekly died a long time ago. Water, right now that was a main priority. If he didn't get some soon then he'd perish. He stopped for a moment and he gazed up at the sickly sun. Many times he had stared up at it. For whatever reason it comforted him to be blinded. It was like if he couldn't see he could imagine that this reality was all but a dream. It really was just another thing that he didn't understand. This thing though didn't bother him all too much. After a few minutes of just sitting there, Rhylo got up to get moving yet again. He needed to make some good time in order to get to hopefully Emilia as quickly as possible.

   Over the moore Rhylo caught a sickly sweet scent once more. This one however was different from the other sweet scent. This one had an underlying bitterness to it. Curious Rhylo followed that scent, maybe it meant some food. As he started to get nearer to where the scent was coming from, he gagged. This scent was getting more bitter than sweet with every step that he took. Male, that was the scent. He hacked and coughed slightly and not from the toxic wind. Other than his coughing no other noise echoed around. What was another human doing here? Was he with Emilia? Rhylo growled slightly, yet another thing that he couldn't comprehend. He didn't like not knowing things.

   Staring up at where he was he saw that it was a huge cave. The bitter stench was eminating from there. Rhylo looked back and judged that he was about six or seven miles away from where he had found that note. Turning back to the task at hand he sniffed gently. Aside from the bitter smell of male there was also a pungent smell of a slight change in radiation. For the best of course, but the problem with less radiation in a place was that every creature seemed to sense it and move toward it. Normally in a situation like this he would just rocket into the cave and then out, but he was too weak for that. Walking in somewhat fearlessly Rhylo found himself enjoying the cool floor on his paws. It was a welcomed change from the blazing temperatures from the unsheltered spots. Snickering slightly, he moved further into the dark reaches of the cooling cave.

   Rhylo had to stop for a second to collect his wits though. He was just outside of where the smell was coming from. The bitter scent was overwhelming and nearly made his eyes roll into the back of his head. It was the most god aweful scent he'd ever been forced to smell. It seemed to sear his brain and singe his nostrels. Moving on, focusing on putting one paw in front of the other he moved into an open cavern. The walls were dripping mosture that he wasn't all together sure was non toxic, causing a cooler temperature around the room. The ceiling arched into a high curve and at the very top looked a bit like quick sand or something. Other than that there wasn't anything else out of the ordinary. Then, there in the middle of the floor sat the source of the foul bitter scent.

   A man was lying on his back, front facing the huge ceiling. He had multiple open cuts just starting to fester and several deep gashed across his arms and stomach. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were closed. Rhylo inched closer, very cautious. He had no idea if this man would try and eat him or not. Personally Rhylo had no interest in becoming a snack, that was not on his agenda. Eventually though he had inched close enough to the man that he was pretty much right over him.  Sniffing the man's soft brown hair gently. Only to shake his head to get the smell out of his nostrels. It was amazingly disgusting and horrid. Sitting back for a couple of seconds he stared down at the strange man. Did he want to save him? Should he try? He honestly didn't know which he should do. Eventually Rhylo decided to heal him. Licking the cuts gently, they began to hiss and close up.

   Rhylo didn't particularly want to heal him because one, he didn't know if he could trust this human, and two, the taste of his skin was like acid to Rhylo's tongue. He only did this because maybe this man would be able to help him find Emilia quicker than if Rhylo did it alone. Once Rhylo finished licking all of the putrid lacerations closed he went to the mouth of the cavern to wait. Hopefully this strange human wouldn't die on him.