The Wyngling Who Wasn't... a Warptide Tale (pt 2) by Ascynd

Continued from this:   

Pollux hardly noticed when he crossed over into the forest... trees whizzed by in a dark blur as he raced to catch up with his brother. Inch by inch he was gaining ground until finally, as he burst through a particularly thick wall of underbrush, he realized he was ahead.

"I'm winning, I'm winning!" he cried proudly... then one of his front paws hit a large, twisted root and he tripped, tumbling and skidding across the ground. When he finally came to a stop in a pile of damp, musty leaves, Pollux got back to his feet, stunned. In a flash, Kastor was there with him. 'Are you OK?' his brother asked.

Pollux examined himself. Scraped and sore, he wasn't badly hurt, but the wind had been knocked out of his sails a bit. Still, he managed to pipe up some cheer when he answered, "I'll be alright... and hey besides, I was beating you!" then he stopped and stared, tilting his head quizzically to the side. "Kastor? you're glowing!" Indeed, in the dim evening twilight his brother, normally visible only to Pollux himself, seemed to be illuminating the nearby trees and grass with an eerie green glow, and he seemed to Pollux as if he were wreathed in green fire. "You're lighting up everything! I wonder if mom and dad could see you now. They'd be so amazed!"

'I am?' Kastor said, looking down at himself. 'I can't see it.' He smiled sadly, 'That sure would be nice if they could see me. But I don't know... if they can't normally, why would they be able to now, just because I glow? It might just be you that can see the light.'

"You're probably right..." Pollux admitted, sounding a bit crestfallen. "But we should head back anyway. It's gotten awfully dark! Uh... where are we anyway?" He looked around, realizing for the first time that he had no idea how far he'd run.

'Is it dark? I hadn't even noticed! I guess you're right, it does seem like it's not quite so bright.' Kastor looked around as well. 'I'm not sure where we are either. But if it's dark, we can look for the lights of the town to find our way back.'

Pollux glanced around again, looking for a light source, but he couldn't see anything through the trees. "Let's double back the way we came, we can't have gotten too far into this forest," he said, then pushed his way back through the hole he'd made in the underbrush when he plunged through. He tried to follow his own tracks, but the fallen leaves and the dark made it difficult. Just when he began to panic that he might be well and truly lost though, he glimpsed some light through the trees and cried, "This way!"

Pollux ran toward the light, with Kastor not far behind. But as he got nearer and nearer the light, he slowed and came to a stop. He'd found not the distant lamplight of Wynsiph, but a strange circle of standing stones in a clearing, with runes seemingly carved into them. And those runes were glowing brightly with a silvery luminance that looked much like moonlight. The surrounding trees stretched naked limbs to the sky as if reaching for the moon, and the air felt strangely charged, almost tingly. "What is this place?" Pollux said, looking around in wonder.

'I don't kn- uh oh...' Kastor cut himself off as he replied. A baleful new glow overshadowed them both as a fireball descended from the sky like some kind of slow moving meteor, bringing with it a sense of impending doom. As it drew close, it unfurled a pair of clawed arms, and smaller,  brighter flames erupted from its center, looking much like sinister eyes. A tear formed below those 'eyes', white hot and  issuing forth a hiss and crackle that sounded like a cross between roaring flames and scratching, popping bones.

Pollux was frozen in fear, staring at the flare wisp that had entered the clearing. "Wh-what is that!" He hardly had time to speak before the fiery specter lunged at him, swiping a blazing claw. But before the claw could rake him, Kastor leapt in a green blur and latched onto the wisp's arm. The wisp hissed again and swiped his arm from side to side until Kastor vanished in a poof of green fire. "Kastor!" Pollux cried, fear for his brother snapping out of his fugue, but in a moment a cloud of green flames reappeared and reformed into his brother's ethereal form.

'Better run!' Kastor cried as he faced down the wisp of malignant orange flame.

Without thinking, Pollux spun around and dashed back into the forest, keening in fear, with the sounds of shrieking and hissing behind him. His skin stung and burned as he felt claws rake across it and he cried out in pain, but after running and running he began to realize the pain he was feeling wasn't his own. Somewhere behind him, his brother must be fighting the wisp. He skidded to a halt and turned around again. "Kastor!!" He could feel the sense of his brother fading, and all at once he regretted the thoughts he'd had earlier of Kastor being the reason he had so few friends, why the other wynglings thought he was strange and creepy. Kastor was his brother! Losing him would be worse than all the strange stares, sad looks and whispers behind is back in the world. "Kastor, I'm coming!" Pollux dug in his claws, determined to come to his brother's aid. But before he got even halfway back to the clearing, he heard the wisp shriek what he could only imagine was a cry of victory as he felt the last vestige of Kastor's presence slip from his mind.

"Kastor..." Pollux sobbed as he slowed to a walk, then sat down in despair and cried. He didn't even care if the wisp might find him, or wonder if he could find his way home on his own, all that mattered was that his brother was gone. But, after an amount of time that he couldn't determine had passed, he felt a warmth like a hug wrap his shoulders.

'Why are you crying, brother? We need to get out of here and get home.'

Was it possible? Stunned, Pollux tried to process what he had just heard, but it was only in his mind. Still, the  presence filling his mind now was unmistakeable. He could feel Kastor nearby, but he could not see him anymore. "Where are you Kastor? I can't see you, I thought that thing got you! I'm sorry I ran, I was so scared... but I was even more scared when I thought you were gone!"

'Silly Pollux, as long as you're alive I know you won't let anything bad happen to me!' Kastor chided, the tone of his voice making it obvious that he was trying to cheer Pollux up. 'It's a good thing you ran! Because you can't carry me home if you're hurt, you know.'

"Are you hurt? I still can't see you..." Pollux asked worriedly.

'I'm okay. I'm just tired. I think you'll be able to see me after we get some rest, now come on! Mom's going to be worried and we'll miss dinner.' Kastor's voice said comfortingly. 'I think I can see the lights of the town now, isn't that it just down there?'

Pollux looked around, noticing his surroundings again. He had run so far that the trees had gotten thinner, and indeed, he could see a warm glow through them down the hill and in the valley below. "It is!" he replied, perking up. Getting back to his feet he started to pad through the grass and leaves toward Wynsiph, and thought about the strange circle of stones he'd seen. He should tell someone about it... but who would believe him, and what should he say? "We won't be able to talk when we get home of course..." he said regretfully.

'I know, but it's okay, I'll see you in dreamland and then we can talk all we want.'

"Yeah, that's true..." Pollux said, thinking about how he was going to explain his scrapes and bruises.

As he walked, the little wyngling never noticed how his footprints glowed dimly green in the leaves... but the farther he got from the nexus of magical power that was the circle of standing stones, the more the faint glow faded, until at last it vanished entirely.

The End

+4/278 coins (+2 for full body full color of Pollux, +1 story, +1 background).

Pollux (c) Me
Wyngro species (c) Nestly

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