Chapter 2: Towards the Nest
Moskito carried Rayman and Ly safely on the other side of the lake. Rayman and Ly each climbed off of Moskito's back and looked around. Globox and Murfy would take a long while before even reaching this point. They were headed towards the river that ran into what was once known as Moskito's Nest, which was a somewhat good thing, as that was in the general direction of the tower portal that led to the Fairy Council, but also, it'd delay their trip even more. Swamps with thick mud lined both sides of the river, which could slow down anyone, know matter how fast of a runner they were.
“Do you think that we zzhould wait here for them?” Moskito asked. Rayman was wondering the same thing, and he was a little worried about them. Ly could tell that he was feeling at least slightly upset from his face.
“Don't worry, Rayman,” Ly said, “Murfy can usually find you, no matter where you are. Doesn't he always?”
“Yeah,” Rayman answered, giving a slight smile. “I guess we should keep going north then.” He started off with just a few steps before another voice pierced through the usual forest noise.
“GET OUT OF THE WAY! WHOA!” The three friends looked upwards towards the trees. The leaves shook, and some fell to the ground. “WATCH OUT!” Another ray suddenly flew out of the trees, gripping onto a swinging vine. Ly and Moskito quickly ran out of the way as Rayman stared on up above. The other ray smacked head-on into Rayman and both were knocked to the ground.
Ly chuckled slightly to herself and ran over to help Rayman up off of the ground. Moskito assisted the other ray. Rayman brushed himself off and looked at the other limbless being, who was dressed in a leopard-skin outfit and other bits and pieces made of leaves, and he had a gold ring stuck in one of the parts of his hair; it was Tarayzan.
“Hey, Rayman!” he greeted while rubbing the back of his head with his left hand. “It was nice to bump into you again, though maybe not so litterally. What brings you here again?”
“We need to get to the Fairy Council,” Ly replied calmly.
“Well, you'll need a lot of good luck to make it North. There's soldiers everywhere. I was spying on them. They just arrived: hundreds of them. They spotted me, so I headed this way,” Tarayzan warned. “If you want, I can help you back that way. I studied them enough to know some things about what they have here so far, and maybe with my help, you can avoid them a little better.”
Rayman nodded, “Sounds like a great idea. We need all the help we can get probably.”
“Let'zzz go then,” Moskito said. “You lead the way.” Tarayzan then stepped on ahead after recovering from their encounter, and the three others followed him into the swamps.
Rayman began to wonder why the stone he now had was so important. It looked valuable, but why send an entire army after one person for it? It didn't make much sense. The soldiers seemed very familiar too, just because of the language they spoke. Rayman didn't want to tell his friends just yet where exactly he was from. He ran away in the first place for a good reason, and he didn't intend on going back or seeing anyone from the place ever again, but now, it seems he has no choice.
The sounds of marching footsteps could be heard in the distance, and Tarayzan began to lead them off of the trail again. “We must be getting closer to the Nest,” he explained. He led them through the trees and the sounds became louder and louder. Drums came into the mix. Then there were other instruments. They could hear them, but they couldn't see them. What where they doing? A trumpet sounded now.
Tarayzan pointed up one of the trees and then climbed up its trunk. After reaching one of the branches, he motioned for the others to follow, and then he continued on even higher. Rayman followed by climbing the same way, and Ly jumped up from branch to branch. Eventually, they all reached the height of the tree, and they were up above most of the foliage. Tarayzan was balanced on the very top tree limb as Rayman and Ly found their own branches to stand upon. The dammage done to the area was now clear.
A giant fortress made of wood, metal, and stone sat in the center of the Nest. Beside it were several stone towers and small gray buildings made of cement or local stone. To the East, a large cement dam that stretched across the river like a humongous scar on the landscape, turning the once lively river into a dead trickling stream as it ran through the tiny vents, turning turbines inside to generate power for the fortress. A lot of the trees around the fortress were either cut down or burned. What was once a swamp was now turned into a dirt and cement wasteland. Ly seemed to be hurt by what happened here. Her magic was very closely tied to nature, and it hurt her to see destruction like this.
“How long did it take this to develop?” Rayman asked.
“This was originally built by the pirate invaders, but it was taken over and added on to for suiting their needs,” Tarayzan explained. “And do you see those towers?” Soldiers were marching into the front gates of the fortress. There seemed to be two large courtyards surrounded by high walls made of timber. In the Northern courtyard behind the fortress, there were two towers with numerous wires attached onto them. Rayman nodded. “I figured that's where their power sources are controlled. If you manage to shut down whatever's there, you can most likely disable their security, which you'll have to do in order to get by here,” Tarayzan continued.
“Why do we need to shut it down to continue? Can't we just go around?”
“No, they have electricly charged fences stretching for miles.” Rayman looked towards the sky. The twin stars was setting now, and purple, orange, and red colors stretched across through the clouds. “We should probably rest here and wait until early morning.” With that comment, Rayman then realized that himself and Ly haven't slept for almost a whole day now. Come to think of it, now he was getting tired.
Moskito hovered infront of Rayman. “Zzhould I invezzztigate more? It could make thingzzz eazzzier,” he proposed.
Rayman nodded and smiled, “Great idea.” He then zoomed off into the forest again, waiting for the soldiers to disappear before coming out and looking around for himself. Maybe they will have less to worry about with whatever information he brings back. Rayman looked over at his friends again. Tarayzan was already asleep now. Ly had her hands on her forhead with her eyes closed. “What are you doing?” he questioned.
“I'm trying to concentrate to find out where Globox and Murfy are, but I just can't. It's as if a curtain of darkness is covering their path. I'm becoming very worried myself now,” she answered.
Rayman began to wonder what it could be that was masking Ly's vision. “I hope you were right earlier about being able to find us. There's already a lot more here than I expected to see,” he frowned. Globox was annoying sometimes, but he was a good friend to have around. He didn't want to see them fall now.
Maybe it's my fault they're here. They're all after me. Rayman began to drift off the sleep as the sky darkened further, and the stars shined more brightly in the sky.
Chapter 3: the Second Path
“Why did you have to go this way?!” Murfy complained as he dodged a tree branch that flew towards him as Globox waded his way through the denser parts of the forest. The ground was extremely muddy here, but it seemed to be drying out as they continued further to the north.
“I'm sorry,” Globox apologized, “but I just can't help it.” His foot sank into a deep patch of mud, and he pulled it out and shook the muck that stuck onto it off.
“Well, if we're quick enough, we can meet up with the others at Moskito's Nest.” Murfy flew a short distance in front of Globox and flew backwards, facing towards him while talking. Globox was becoming more and more tired. It was almost dark again, and they haven't slept for an entire day. The trees were blocking the moon and star light, making it more difficult to see in the darkness. Globox spotted a fallen tree trunk and sat down on it. “What are you doing?!”
“I need a break,” Globox said as he messaged his right foot and picked off the mud that stuck to his webbed feet. “Why can't we just rest until morning?”
“Fine, I'll let you rest now, but we need to really keep going to catch up with the others at the Nest!” Murfy hovered in the air as Globox rested on the fallen tree trunk. Looking around, Globox observed that the tree trunk he was sitting on fell because part of the center had rotted out over time. It was nothing too unusual. He looked up, and he could see the stars through the small breaks in the trees, but for the most part, the sky was well hidden by the leaves above.
Murfy was wondering exactly why the mud was drying up as they traveled further along the river. Before, this whole area was mud-covered swamp. The trees here were drying out aswell, and the river was becoming more static rather than free-flowing.
A noise began to fade in the from the distance. It was the sound of rotating helicopter blades again, like they heard back from Rayman's home in the Pink Plant Woods. When the noise came from directly overhead, a bright search light came on, illuminating the very top of the trees and some parts of the ground below. The helicopter continued to just hover above them, scanning over the same spots again and again.
“Keep still! They're looking for movement,” Murfy whispered to Globox; saying this was for the most part unnecessary, as Globox was already frozen in fear. The lights passed over them at least five times until it disappeared, and the helicopter began to move out, flying away with its sounds fading away back into the distance. Murfy let out a sigh of relief, but Globox was still uneasy. He nervously looked around. When he looked behind, he saw someone riding on a four-legged hoofed animal, which was galloping very quickly towards them through the mud. Globox quickly got up from the fallen tree trunk he was sitting upon and ran towards the North once again. Murfy followed, glancing behind him occasionally. Whoever it was, he was gaining a lot of ground between them.
Murfy went on ahead and flew in front of Globox and just kept going. He quit glancing behind and just continued to fly as he heard Globox running behind him and the mysterious rider galloping behind. At some point as he kept on flying, the sounds behind him just suddenly stopped. Murfy glanced behind once more, and Globox nor the rider were there anymore. He looked around, and all he could see were the trees throughout the forest. “Globox?!” He lost him. Murfy quickly turned around and flew back the way he came. “Globox? Where are ya!?” He was flying so fast away from the rider that he traveled quite some distance before realizing that Globox wasn't following anymore, but after a few moments, both Globox and the rider came into view.
Globox was on the ground with a little mud on his face and all over his body, and the rider was now standing just behind him next to the animal he was riding. The hoofed animal was covered in brown fur, had two curved horns on its head, and hoofs specially designed for running through the mud.
Murfy flew to Globox's aid, trying to help him up off of the ground, when the rider spoke into their minds. *Tell your friend, Rayman, that I'm looking for him.* The voice that echoed into their minds was eerily like Rayman's, only darker and slightly sadder in a way. The rider reached up with his black-gloved right hand, with his other hand still hidden in the long black cloak he wore, and pulled his hood from his head. His facial features were very similar to Rayman's, not in the sense of being just another ray either, but seemingly like a close relation. He had long strawberry blonde hair that covered some parts of his face and hung over his eyes. His eyes seemed creepy. They had bright-colored red irises and darker red pupils that glared at him from the darkness. Murfy and Globox could see the bottom parts of his boots or shoes. They had bright orange souls that were covered in mud, the main part was gray, and there were red swirl patterns on the left and right sides, like how Rayman's yellow colored shoes were now.
“Who are you?” Murfy asked. Globox was still on the ground, just in the middle of pushing himself up off out of the mud, but stalled, still staring at the mysterious rider.
*I am called Phoenixan. Rayman will recognize my name. Tell him that I know that he has the Stone, and I'm not afraid to follow him as far as the Fairy Council. Most might be afraid to even enter the boundaries, but I am not.* The rider, Phoenixan, then formed a small ball of fire in his right hand, which was now hanging at his side.
*And tell him that I haven't forgotten anything he's done to me.* He positioned his hand, ready to throw the fireball now, which had grown in size. It glowed a bright blue color and lit up Phoenixan's face, cloak, and parts of the surrounding area. He then spoke to them with his own voice. “Now go!” Phoenixan threw the fireball towards Globox and Murfy, intentionally aiming above their heads to miss them.
Globox quickly got up out of the mud now, and he and Murfy continued running North, never looking back. The rider didn't follow this time. He simply stood behind as the two ran off further into the forest towards the Nest. After they were completely out of view, Phoenixan lifted his left hand out of his black cloak. He down at it. It was made of metal, colored red and silver with three spikes on the back.
He may be your brother, but he stands in the way of our quest.
“He's not really my brother anymore. He already betrayed me.”
You have my powers. You can feed off of his pain and suffering; the same he's caused you.
“And I'm not afraid anymore to make him suffer either. He left me scarred, betrayed, and alone. I hope to do the same to him somehow... but I still have a doubt about one thing.”
And what is that?
“We are of the same blood. As much as I grew to hate my family, I'm still afraid at times. I know I said that we were no longer brothers, but I still wonder about his potential...”
These remind me a bit of GameNerds fanfictions
