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    wahmbulance Chapter #4 wahmbulance


    By now the morning fog had vanished and the surrounding became clearer to Naia as she walked closely behind Crowprint. The barren rock grove was actually teaming with some traces of life. Varieties of mushrooms, ferns, and other bits of plants were growing out of cracks and sprouting behind big rocks. But Naia could not be distracted for long or else risk carelessly stumbling and falling over sharp stones.
    "A beauty ain't it?" Crowprint asked out of the blue. "Sunning Stones grow many plants the forest can't seem to grow. The tribe can find ‘nutritious value here’, and our mage can whip up some mighty potions with some of 'em mushrooms over there."
    Naia could see the boy was enjoying showing her the ropes but, if she was going to survive in this new world she must first learn the dangers that come with it. "Not to change the subject or anything but what where did that...Nightstalker come from?"
    Crowprint's once relaxed tone harden to a more serious one. "A Nightstalker is a demon that takes form of a wolf on nights when the moon shrinks. And like all the evil spirits around here, they come from the Demons' Pit over yonder. Far beyond the Dry Prairies and the Meadows of Gold. It's pretty rare to see 'em here so far from home.
    "My people have told stories before that many leaf-bares ago, before tribes came to be, demons once inhabit the land. And cast the sky in to an endless darkness. They hunted the people and animals down and devour their souls whenever they felt like it. Some demons would even enslave the people and make 'em journey deep into the Pit to work as coal miners. Both people of the land and the animals kneeled in fear before 'em. This didn't please the gods one bit.
    "Blinded by their greed for power, the demons wished to surpass the gods themselves! The demons gathered many creatures to help 'em in the growing army and it wasn't long before they challenged the gods for supreme power. This enraged the gods. And no sooner did the battle begin was it quickly over. As punishment the gods banished the demons deep into the earth, and encouraged the people to rule what they should've rightfully owned.
    “But even to this day, the demons continue to defy the gods and returns to wreak their vengeance upon us, in the cover of night and darkness."
    "Those demons must be cowards to attack people in the dark." Such sly tactics disgusted Naia to the point of near fury.
    "I thought that too," Crowprint admitted. "But the Old Ones once said that demons were at one point made from Nothing. And not just from not anything either! I got so confused when I heard that, did Brokenshadow whack the sense out of my head with her cane! She said that Nothing was a thick, smoky black death liquid that can only be found in the heart of the Pit the demons were banished to."
    "The Old Ones?"
    "You don’t have ta worry about ‘em. They're just really old people with gray hair, sitting around and complaining all day. But sometimes when they aren’t grumpy, they tell great stories!"
    "You mean your elders?"
    "...That too."

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    Crowprint lead Naia around a pile of rocks, and lying there in a small pool of blood was another boy about Crowprint's age. The boy's silver hair was soaked with scarlet along with his claw-shredded tan long sleeved shirt and pants. But what horrified Naia the most was the blood was bubbling out of the boy's left eye socket.
    "Poor Bearprint...he'll have a missing eye when his spirit leaves to join the Tribe of Endless Starwalkers."
    "...Your ancestors I suppose."
    He nodded slowly to this without taking his mind off of his fallen comrade. "He would've made a great fighter, with one eye if he wanted too."
    While the boy slightly sobs for his friend, Naia stared down at one of the casualties nature had to offer. The wild wasn't all fun and games she once thought when she was a kid herself. It was a constant matter of life or death. And Naia was thrown head first into all it.
    Some movement flickered at the corner of her eye. Bearprint's hands twitched, following with small rasping noises as he tried to breath. "Bearprint is alive!" Naia gasped.
    Crowprint was now frantically wiping the tears from his face while Naia dropped down to her knees. Placing her fingers on the boy's temple, a steady heartbeat could be heard. He alive alright but barely.
    "Crowprint how far is it to get to your tribe?"