Chapter 2 A stranger in the wasteland

Chapter 2 A stranger in the wasteland

“You see something yet?”

“No.”

The same monotonous question, the same monotonous answer, again and again. It was the only thing Gladiox and Syronyx talked about to each other since daybreak. The two ponytaurs marched through the wasteland of Ödland covered by dusty, gray rocks and stopped for a short time only to survey thoroughly the area around them.

They were scouts for their pack of 18 more ponytaurs and their function therefore was always to go ahead and to look out for potential prey. It was a monotonous job which consisted primarily of one activity: Walking. Walking for kilometers, while the rest of the pack followed them slowly somewhere outside the range of vision. They should save their power.

But for the young ponytaur Gladiox, with his black coat, the yellow eyes and the silver black mane, and his companion from childhood on Syronyx, with his grey coat, the purple eyes and the white yellow mane, it was the only available function in their kind of society. They both had not managed the transformation into a behemoth yet and therefore they were like a millstone around the pack´s neck. To reach the transformation, the ponytaurs would have to cope with an unknown function where they see their assignation as fulfilled.

But that is not so easy when you’re living in an arid land with nothing but rocks, dust and creatures of their own kind.

“Let’s have a break,” said Syronyx and stopped. “I don’t believe that Gyrazzan will notice when we lie down for a short time.”

Gladiox agreed without thinking much for his tired hooves slipped off the rocky ground over and over as well and wore him out. The ponytaurs stopped and took a breather.

They didn’t talk, what should they talk about anyway? You didn’t experience much in Ödland you could talk about and the fact that Gladiox and Syronyx spent most of their time together while scouting gave them all the time in the world to talk about everything what’s worth talking about in any case.

Syronyx grubbed absent-mindedly in the grit with his front hoof and not long after he dug out a dried-up plant. Gladiox watched for a short time but his curiosity faded away again. The plant had no life force left which could be extracted, even the ants wouldn’t go for it.

And since the plants had disappeared from Ödland the gilataurs´ prey became rare as well. Therefore the functions of the scouts weren’t of good standing but still they were necessary ones. If there was a prey animal in this wasteland the scouts would have to alert the rest of the pack to call for hunt. For the scouts themselves only leftovers always remained, the lion’s share was the pack´s executors due. And since the prey had become more and more meager because of lacking plant food the times were less and less often when something was discarded for Gladiox and Syronyx. As cubs they had no possibility to compete against their older pack members and they had to bow to them, otherwise they might end themselves on the menu.

Something like family ties were seldom here, these things worked a little bit different among the ponytaurs. A female ponytaur, in case you could relate something like gender to a being of the primal chaos at all, coined new cubs from time to time. Afterwards the children were expulsed.

So after all a companionship like it was between Gladiox and Syronyx shaped up as a much better bond. They both were almost at the same age, they were treated equally and they did the same work, so they stuck together. But it was not more than that.

After the break that felt like five minutes the searching continued, Syronyx and Gladiox marched further.

At least there was some more hope in success for hunting today. It was only yesterday when a powerful, magical impulse had been triggered off somewhere beyond Mt. Ziz. An impulse so powerful that its force wave arrived over the mountain to Ödland.

That alone already was a rare event, since it was unusual for magical fragments to get lost in the land of the ponytaurs. Gladiox for example was only a few times so lucky to sample magic, but that impulse was so power donating like nothing before. And there was more. The magical wave had also carried potential prey into Ödland. Although the spectacle had been over pretty quick the entire pack was able to spot small, black creatures carried by the impulse over Mt. Ziz. They all descended somewhere in the wastelands.

If the scouts were lucky they would spot this prey before a rival pack. And packs like that were very numerous.

“There! You see that?” exclaimed Gladiox with a repressed voice and pointed to a distant point from them.

Syronyx strained his eyes and actually something was there. It was small but definitely moving. Thereupon the scouts crept ahead as quietly as possible to judge if the discovery was eatable and when they were close enough, they found out.

They hadn’t ever seen a creature like this before, although it almost looked similar to them. Its figure looked like a ponytaur or a pony in general. But it appeared basically more shaky with its holes in the legs and tattered ears. It had a horn on the forehead but it was curved, not unevenly split like these of the ponytaurs. The creature had also fangs and these were so long that they jutted out between its lips even with the mouth closed. This really was a newcomer in Ödland and it made Gladiox curious.

Syronyx already wanted to discharge a call as a signal tone for the rest of the pack. But suddenly Gladiox stopped him.

“What is this about? This is prey.” complained Syronyx.

“Calm down, Sy,” Gladiox appeased him. “Have you ever seen something freaky like this? I, for one, want to see it close.”

Syronyx wanted to object but Gladiox had already left his cover and approached the stranger. What could possibly go wrong? The creature had insect-like wings but one of them was pretty demolished and shredded. And besides it was an ideal opportunity to do something different than walking and scouting all the time. Gladiox wanted to capture this prey and if necessary slay it himself. The creature snarled hissing as he approached.

“Hello, miss, you’re lost? Come and let me look at you.” commentated Gladiox.

He should have kept his mouth shut. The assumed prey animal went into attack mode faster than Gladiox was even able to realize and kicked its hoof right between his eyes. With the stunner of the blow he lost his balance, tripped over some rocks and fell into the dust.

The creature followed him for a second attack, opened its mouth and tried to end it with a bite into the throat when Syronyx rushed roaring into battle and hit it into the flank.

Both adversaries rolled over the ground while Gladiox got on his hooves again to help his companion. But when he was able to see clearly again there were suddenly two Syronyxies revolving each other threateningly and ready to assault.

Gladiox thought confused, he might have hit his head pretty bad when one of them suddenly opened its mouth and spit out a green, adhesive chunk in his face. It came so unexpectedly Gladiox couldn’t react and got dazzled.

Syronyx jumped at the chance to attack his distracted opponent who was insolently imitating him. But now, at the latest, it had to be clear that this alleged prey animal had a lot more combat experience than the young ponytaurs, even though they were stronger. It intercepted his attack, turned him on his back and kicked his ribs with full power. The pain stunned Syronyx, he wasn’t able to defend himself anymore, when suddenly something massive swept over him and mopped the shape shifter away.

An almost 20-meter big monstrosity with a mane of black flames covering it from the scalp to the bulky tail, giant bull horns and eyes red like blood. It had caught the offender with a single move of its arm and smashed it against a rock. It was Gyrazzan the pack leader.

And still the shape shifter wanted to fight further. It came back on its hooves trembling and insecure as the behemoth used its chaos power to finish it off. Gyrazzans eyes flashed up for one second, a screaming noise cut through the air and a compression wave knocked the enemy down relentlessly. This time it didn’t get up again.

Syronyx got up again and removed the green mass off Gladiox´s face. When he was able to see again and spotted the giant behemoth, his pack leader, he virtually congealed.

“You two got wind of prey and did not inform the pack!?” thundered Gyrazzan.

His quaking words unleashed a wind gust blowing a thick cloud of dust against Syronyx and Gladiox. They coughed but also tried to answer as fast as possible because if they let their boss wait for an explanation right now their chances would be pretty bad.

“Master, we uh… we just wanted to…” Syronyx began to splutter.

“Surprise you,” finished Gladiox the sentence. “We wanted to spare the pack from the work of-“

But the leader didn’t listen anymore. He had already turned his head away and gazed at the distance.

“They’re coming,” he said while listening attentively. “A hostile pack has heared your noisy fight. They want our prey.”

Afterwards the Behemoth took a deep breath and unleashed a thundering roar into the sky which now echoed across the land. A short time later numerous silhouettes appeared on the horizon, approaching in full gallop. It was the rest of the ponytaurs of Gladiox´ and Syronyx´ pack.