Fabrication

Sadly, my dream wasn't quite as hot as the last one. It didn't even involve my long lost friend. All I'll say is it had something to do with the Lunch lady at School, let's leave it at that. It was probably the one dream I was happy to be woken up from. What woke me up made me even happier. That familiar little yip sounded once, which stirred me. As I was slowly beginning to accept the waking process, another louder yip accelerated it. I sat up, still blurry-eyed and damp from last night's cold shower. I turned my head to the source of the noise and blinked a few times to try and clear my vision. The first thing that entered clearly was the fox that I had kept warm that night, and coincidentally kept me warm in return. Second, came the two fish she'd dragged back with her.

I smiled at the little fox. "You got me breakfast?" I asked, not expecting a response. The tiny fox yipped in confirmation before grabbing one fish in her mouth, separating it from the other. She brought it closer to me and dropped it near the hand that was supporting me. She then moved back and took her own fish, picking a random location to begin chowing down.

While her gesture was gracious, I couldn't eat a raw fish. "You know," I began. Surprisingly, she stopped just short of starting. She gave me a look that suggested she was inquisitive. "If I can start a fire, you and I could cook these up and they'll taste much better than they would now. What do you say, feel like waiting until I get what we need? It'll be worth it." I kind of felt silly talking to her as if she could understand me. I soon felt freaked out when she did understand me. She even nodded and everything. At that moment, the logical side of my brain was screaming 'Aliens!' while the imaginative side was shouting 'Awesome!'.

"Alrighty then!" I said casually, getting onto my feet. The fox did the same and even climbed up onto me. She scurried around all over me, trying to find a comfortable place to perch herself on. She finally rested on my shoulders. She slung herself around my neck like a fox-skin shawl, preferring the left side. Her claws felt ticklish in certain places, in others, they downright hurt. Fortunately, once she was comfortable, so was I. With that done, I carried us out of the cave in search of some fire wood. I wasn't much of a camper, so I only had the general knowledge to go by, combined with simple logic. These two things told me that wet wood wouldn't make for much of a fire. So dry and thin to start out with. We could get some fire log sized ones afterward.

"So, I guess you've decided to stick with me for a while, huh?" I asked the fox, striking up a one-sided conversation. Nevertheless, she nodded, nuzzling into me. I smiled, even going so far as to chuckle a little. She was cute, she was friendly, and she wasn't hiding alien probes anywhere that I could think of, or want to think of. I decided to brush the fact she could understand me off for now. "Well if that's the case, I'll have to introduce myself. I'm John." I said. I didn't bother offering my hand. She just nuzzled me again.

"Now, you can understand me, but you can't exactly talk to me. So I'll have to guess your name." I chuckled. She just looked at me, waiting for me to begin. "Now I'm gonna guess you don't have a traditional human name like I do... so I'm thinking you're a... Aria?" she shook her head. "Alia?" I asked. She shook her head again. "Okay, I know it's got Alia in the name." she nodded.

After a cacophony of names, I decided to take a shot in the dark. "Alright, last guess... Thralia!" To my great relief, she nodded, nuzzling me in congratulations afterward. I laughed hysterically. Of all the names. I was part of an animated web series here the main character was called Thralia. One of the characters I voiced had a crush on her.

The rest of the scavenger hunt was bountifu in terms of conversation and dry wood. With a small amount of help from Thralia, if you could call carrying a single stick in her mouth which she would then accidentally proceed to poke me in the face with it help, we made it back in one piece no worse for wear. The fish were where we left them and all seemed just so. I gathered some of our collection together and took the least thin branch I could find and began to stick it in the middle of the pile. I then placed both hands around it and began to rub them together really quickly. The trick was to have a bit of tree bark at the bottom and make sure that you rubbed your hands together as far down as you could get without displacing the surrounding branches. Of course, it helped if the wood was flamable. If it wasn't, I was fucked, and Thralia was ripped off over a warm meal.

Fortune smiled upon me constantly since I got here. smoke began to rise from the base of the fire and as soon as the smallest ember showed, I leaned closer and blew, trying to spread that ember. With that done, it was simply a matter of keeping the fire going. I saved two long sticks from the fire, instead having found a better use for them. I skewered our fish with them and dug them into the ground. The fish were now leaning over the fire. Smoked flake. I wondered if it would be anything like grilled flake, only without the batter.

Thralia watched in anticipation, licking her chops occasionally. It then occurred to me that I didn't know when the fish would be done. Usually, there would be some discolouration to signify that it was done. I began to look out for the sight of scales browning.

"I guess we should discuss where we should go from here." I began, catching her attention. "While this cave is nice and dry, it doesn't do much to protect us from either the wind or any predator hungry enough to fix their vision. So we can either think of ways to fortify this place, or go looking for somewhere else. What do you think?" I asked. I didn't know how she would answer. I didn't even know if she could. I watched her look out into the forest with uncertainty, then back to me with that same expression. Clearly she found cause to worry on both accounts.

"I figure if we go first thing tomorrow morning, depending on how deep in we are, we could perhaps find the edge of the forest or even a better place to make camp." I suggested. Thralia simply nodded, going back to eyeing her fish. I looked mine over too. They seemed to be done. The scales were browning in areas. I took mine away from the fire and patted the surface. It was hot. That was a good sign, right?

I helped Thralia with her fish and she dug into it without waiting for me to remove the stick. Poor thing must have been starving. "Is it cooked all the way through?" I asked. she nodded without looking away. I took her word for it and bit down. I was too hungry to care about the fact that I was eating it's innards as well. Usually they'd have been cut out, but in the absence of a knife or the will to give a dead fish a prostate, I took what I could get.

Just as we were finishing off our breakfast, we heard a roar in the distance. It was far away, but the sound itself made us nearly break our necks turning to look towards the mouth of the cave. "That didn't sound like any predator I know of." I said. Thralia raced over to me, scurrying into my lap. She was shaking. I was surprised that I wasn't shaking with her. Whatever it was, it sounded big.

The roar came again, this time closer, but still far off. Not just big, massive, like Godsilla massive! My mind told me. I was inclined to agree with it. I began to wonder why we heard it now of all times. My gaze was drawn to the ceiling of the cave. The smoke from the fire had piled up and the only release was towards the mouth of the cave. Whatever that thing was, it must have seen the smoke.

"I think our minds have been made up for us, Thralia. Come on." I said, lifting her into my arms as I stood up. She circled around my shoulders again before draping herself around my neck like before. Clearly, she trusted me to protect her. I didn't want to let her down. I was always fascinated by foxes. I walked to the edge of the cave and stood for a moment. Looking back, I noticed that the fire was almost dead. It would be gone before whatever made that sound arrived, and the smoke might just have cleared in time. Still, that wasn't a chance I was willing to take. Together, we departed that cave without the intention of returning. It had served it's primary purpose in keeping us sheltered from the rain that previous night.

A few minutes into the forest, we heard the local wildlife around us. Some of it sounded natural, the rest sounded like the swamps of Dagobah from Star Wars. "We must be in an uncharted part of the Amazon." I said aloud. Thralia gave no comment. She just buried her head into my neck. She was scared. "You're not from around here either, are you?" I asked. She raised her head to look at me before shaking it. She then returned to necking me. With a sigh, I stopped to gather my bearings. The sun rises in the East and sets in the west. It couldn't have been later than eleven in the morning. Looking up, I squinted to see that the sun was just shy of directly above. Given it's position, I realised that we were heading West. What little natural instincts I had told me to head South from where I was.

After a moment of internal debate, I decided to do as my instincts told me. Just as I was about to take a step, I heard that roar again. It was coming from above. I hurried over to the nearest tree and hid behind it. Thralia and I both peeked out and looked skyward. A massive shape blew by, blotting out the sun for a moment. I caught my breath for a moment and went into a panic attack. I backed up against the tree and began to hyper ventilate.

"Wh-wh-what... the FUCK... WAS THAT?!" I yelled out. Thralia flinched and buried herself further into my neck. I placed both hands over my face and sighed heavily, pushing myself further against the tree.

"Ooooh my god, where.the.fuck.am.I?" I asked no-one in particular. I honestly felt as though I was in some sort of rendition of Jules Verne's 'The lost World'. I slid down the tree into a crouched position. "I think I'm gonna hurl!" I stated, leaning forward. Thralia did her best to comfort me. It helped a little, but the panic was still present. I felt incredibly cold. I realised I was almost scared to death. "H~oh shit!" I groaned, getting a grip on my hair. Thralia's worried whimper made me try to collect myself. I took a deep breath through the nose and exhaled slowly through the mouth. I repeated this three times before I managed to think properly again.

"We need to get as far away from that thing as we can." I said. I took a step forward, then another, and another. I picked up my pace until I was moving at a cross between a jog and a brisk walk.

It was an hour until I realised I was completely lost. The trees had blotted out the sun, so it couldn't be used to navigate us. I had to rely on the hope that I hadn't deviated from my course. My instincts were telling me that I was on the right path. Where it would lead, I didn't know. The roars had continued at the same distance throughout the hour. It was tracking us, slowly. And it didn't have any problem letting us know it. My mind was overloading, trying to figure out how it was tracking us.

"Argh! I just don't get it! How could it have picked up our scent?! The smell of the fish alone should have... covered our scents... Son of a fuck!" I crouched down, covering my face again. "The damn fish! It's coated us like bad odour and that thing's tracking us that way." I explained to Thralia. She obviously hadn't realised this either as she began sniffing me then herself. She looked worried as she confirmed my suspicion. "We have to find a water source. Water masks all scents. He shouldn't be able to follow us afterward." I said, moving Eastward.

My sense of direction was impeccable. We came upon a river just deep enough for me to get my entire body under. I grabbed Thralia and went through what we were going to do. "Alright. You're going to hold your breath for ten seconds. In that ten seconds, I'm gonna dunk you in the water, scrub you down and pull you out. That way, you won't drown. Okay?" I swear, if animals could blush, she was doing it at that moment. She hesitantly nodded. "I'll keep to the edge so I don't lose you to the current." I said. "We have to move quickly. I want to get as much distance from whatever's following us as possible." I concluded.

I knelt down on the edge of the river and slowly placed Thralia in. "Okay. On three. One, two, three." I said. Thralia sucked in air and closed her eyes. In that instant, I forced her down and began to just rough her up like you do when playing with a dog. As the tenth second approached, I grabbed her tighter and pulled her out of the river. To say she looked funny was an understatement. Her tail looked like the branch of a weeping willow. Sadly, she was shaking profusely. I removed my tank top and wrapped it around her, proceeding to dry her off.

As soon as she was done and fluffed up, I removed the rest of my clothing and folded it on a rock near the edge of the river. I ran in, wailing as the cold bit me all the way. I ignored it to the best of my abilities and focused on scrubbing myself down. I held my breath and just flailed about in the water, rubbing my entire body all over. Time was of the essence and I didn't have the luxury of being graceful. I scurried out of the river and shook myself dry like a dog. It wasn't enough to completely dry me, but I had little choice. Choosing to forego my tank top, I threw my underwear and pants back on and continued on my way with my tank top over my arm and Thralia over my shoulders.

I smiled as the next roar we heard was far off and pissed. It had worked. The creature couldn't track our scents any more. That victory was short lived, however as another roar came and it was much closer. "How the hell is he doing that?!" I cried out, going into a full-on run. The creature kept up, even began closing in. It obviously knew that its prey was intelligent and wasn't going to risk losing another means to track us. Oh, how I hated that big bastard.

Pretty soon, Thralia began to yip frantically. I turned my head to look at what she was going off at. It was a massive tree, big enough not to be uprooted by the monstrosity that was tailing us, but small enough for us to hide in. I broke the line Southward and headed towards the tree. Among the roots, they formed a sort of thin archway. I was just able to squeeze through with Thralia. And not a moment too soon. The surrounding trees from the North crashed and the source of the roaring arrived. I leaned against the side of the small space, the archway just next to me. I held Thralia in my arms, ready to shush her should she be startled by any sudden sounds.

I heard the creature stepping around the tree, as if it knew we were in here. Before I knew it, the creature shoved its nose through the archway, blocking off most of the light. I saw crimson scales, rows of sharp surprisingly white teeth and smoke billowing out from its nostrils. There was no doubt about it; that was a dragon chasing us. Three things went through my mind. The first thing saw 'Thank god Thralia and I were out of reach'. The second thing that went through my mind was 'Where the Fuck am I?'. Finally, 'How the hell did it know we were in here?!'.

Some hours went by before the thing finally seemed to give up. I knew it was hours instead of my imagination because when the dragon finally pulled it's face out of the archway, very little light shone through. The sun was setting by the look of the hue. The creature gave off a loud roar before everything was quiet. A minute passed and there was still no sound. Thralia began to fidget and squirm. Either she was claustrophobic, or didn't want to be anywhere near here. I couldn't blame her, but something about the situation made me uneasy. Granted, the dragon took up most of the day trying to catch us in its mouth, but without knowing how smart it really was, I wasn't willing to bet it just left like that, even after having persisted as long as it had.

"Wait!" I whispered to Thralia. Thankfully, she stopped to look at me. "I don't think it's really gone. The other animals should have started communicating by now. It's too quiet. He's waiting for us to come out." I kept my voice down, not sure how good the dragon's hearing was. Thralia gave me a very sad look. I found it strange how I could interpret her facial expressions, then again, she was very good at it. I crouched down, my back to the side of the arch way, out of reach if the dragon tried it again. Thralia was curled up on my laps.

It was well into night-time before I felt it was safe to come out. Though none of the animals around had begun to chatter away, there was one sound I was quite familiar with, even if it was incredibly deep due to the sheer size of the dragon's lungs. Snoring! The bastard was asleep. And that was the perfect chance for Thralia and I to am-scray. I whispered to her as such and lifted her onto my shoulder where she assumed her now regular position around my neck. Having a living shawl was very convenient. Perhaps no more than a regular shawl, but at least I could talk to this one.

I peeked my head out from behind the archway and confirmed that the dragon was indeed asleep and not just snoring as a means to trick me. He sounded like my dad with a megaphone. Motioning for Thralia to keep quiet, I crept out from behind the cover of the tree and tip-toed Eastward, away from the Dragon.

Things were looking good. One step at a time was key. One step at a... *snap* ...FUCK! That snort, famous for its use during someone's awakening, rattled my skeleton. I dared not move just yet. A few sounds followed before total silence. Maybe the dragon's vision was based on movement, meaning it couldn't see me if I didn't move. Thralia obviously had the same idea.

I didn't bother testing that theory though, as I felt the bastard's snout press into my back ever so slightly. It might have had the intention of knocking me over, but I was like super-bouncy rubber. The second I felt it, I shot straight forward as fast as my legs would take me. "WHERE'S THE FUCKING CHAMPION OF KIRKWALL WHEN YOU NEED HIM?!" I cried out. Without a doubt, the dragon followed. I heard his massive footsteps behind me, as well as the creaking and bending of trees as he shrugged them off.

"I probably shouldn't ask, but did you do anything to piss him off before we met?!" I asked Thralia. She shook her head, clutching onto me for dear life.

Our escape attempt was cut off however, as I noticed in the upcoming clearing, a huge gap in the ground. I was running for a cliff. If this was Narnia, Aslan could fucking keep it! With seconds to think, I contemplated the ways I could die. I could wind up a bloody mess on the other side of a river, or I could get eaten by a dragon and come out the other end a steaming pile of- oh wait, there's a bridge!

I altered my course, huffing and puffing. I didn't care about the fragility of the bridge, it was the only chance I had at the moment. I shot across that bridge like a streak of piss. I heard the dragon come to a halt behind me. He had wings, so why didn't he just fly? It'd be like something out of Jurassic Park 3. I didn't stop until I got to the other side. When I turned to look, he was already retreating back into the trees.

Feeling we'd crossed the threshold of his territory, Thralia and I let out a deep sigh, followed by heavy breathing from myself as I took the chance to catch my breath. We were safe. Taking a moment to look around, I noticed that it wasn't a cliff, but in fact a chasm. Turning around, I noticed a silhouette in the distance. It was fairly close, maybe five minutes walk? The overall structure looked like some sort of construct, but it was too far to tell what kind.

"Least it's a roof over our heads for the night." I said to my fox friend as I began the trek.

Through the darkness, I could make out the tell-tale signs of a castle ruin. I knew it was a castle because of the sheer landscape it covered. And I knew it was in ruins because it lacked any complete towers. Knowing it would be deserted, I took us through the front gate. The doorway was slightly ajar, but that was to be expected. In fact, I half expected the doorway to lack any doors. I pushed on the door. It creaked open like only the door to a haunted castle could do. If that wasn't creepy enough, the rain started to pick up once again the second I stepped through into the castle.

The interior was surprisingly well intact. Some drapes of the sun and the moon, although dusty and missing the bottom section, were still in good condition. It gave me a good idea of how the people here thought. They were worshippers of the sun and the moon, celestial bodies in their own right. The medieval castle had portraits and statues of armour, all representing horses with surprisingly human expressions, not to mention the clothes.

There was a hallway to the right, which I followed. It lead to a small personal library. Taking one of the books, I found that the text was not what I'd hoped it would be. I couldn't understand the lettering. Although I did notice a children's section. Going towards it, I spotted what might help me decipher the language. There were two charts. One held the numerical system in Roman Numerals, which I had a moderate liking for. I understood up to 'XXXIX' (39). The other was what I could only assume to be the alphabet. It had the symbols I'd glanced at the book, but placed in order. "I'll try to memorise that tomorrow. In the mean time, let's look for a place to sleep." I said, turning to leave the Library.

The exploration led me through the kitchen, the mess hall, the war room, and finally to the chambers. I walked to the end of the hallway which was on the topmost level still intact. Opening the door, Thralia and I noticed a room like nothing we'd ever seen before. It was a dual themed room that had colours that fit the traits of the sun and the moon. One side of the room was painted a night theme with a Queen-sized bed in the middle of it, the other side mirrored the layout with a sun theme. And in the middle, a faint violet hue connected them. It was surprisingly well done for a medieval era. I almost thought the painter to be as artistically skilled as Michelangelo. But then again, he painted the Sistine Chapel.

I looked down at Thralia who gave me a puzzled look. "So are you gonna call dibs on the night side, or shall I?" I asked.