Radiant Shadows 3: Angelic Demons

I follow Lightning through a plain, burnt forest, and mountain range. All the time she either was walking, jumping, or skipping. It's like she has infinite energy. Well, lightning does have enough energy to toast 20,000-100,000 pieces of bread, so it makes a little sense. We rested a few times, but Lightning kept pushing me to keep going, saying that it wouldn't be any easier getting inside the base. She really loved talking too. "Sooo.. where are you from? Do you like it here so far? My name is LightningFire because on the day I was born, a nearby grove of trees was mysteriously hit by lightning and caught fire! I like reading, do you? Do you like tea? Cupcakes? Muffins? Blueberries? Sorry about the blueberries, most bushes have burned."

It's like talking to a NPC that is programmed to constantly talk. I don't mind though. It seems like Lightning hasn't really talked to people much, so I'm willing to let her talk my ears off. After 3 hours of nonstop moving, Lightning froze. I didn't notice and walked into her. "Hey, why did you st-" Lightning slaps her hand over my mouth. "Don't... speak..." She hisses. This is waaaaaay different from the happy-go-lucky Lightning she was 5 seconds ago. The wind whistles, sad and low. For several minutes, there's nothing but whistling wind and Lightning's almost silent breathing. She finally lowers her hand, and I whisper to her. "Why did we have to be quiet?" She grins.

"Philomena told me that if someone trusted me enough to keep them silent for 3 minutes straight, I could let them in the base." She rolls her eyes. "Phoenixes. So mistrustful. She ALWAYS tells me: 'Blah blah blah, it's not instinct, it's experience! It's DIStrust!' But I don't really believe her." Lightning waves her hand, and elevator-like doors in the ground open. "Anyway, she only REEEEEALLY trusts me. I really hope you two get along!" She proceeds to talk about her best friend, while we go down, the door shutting close behind us. "ACK!" Lightning suddenly yelps. "My tail nearly got caught again. They really need to make that door close just slightly slower..."

"Base" for this area is an UNDERSTATEMENT. It's huge! Like you take an entire village, and put it underground. And still have room for... I dunno.. ANOTHER VILLAGE!? The ceiling's high too, because winged hybrids and myths? Anyway, Lightning starts dragging me into the village, and I have to gently make her let go of my arm so I don't get a face full of dirt and gravel. She waves to a lot of people, and they wave back. But when they see me, they stop waving and glare. "Umm.. should I be worried I'm getting death glares from these hybrids?" Lightning shrugs. "Only if you allow it to bother you. My happy personality confused people for awhile, and I figured that if I let them bug me, it would drag me down."

I listen to her advice, and ignore the stares. She starts to recognize more people around. "Anyway, welcome to our base! Little late for that, but- oh hey! Over there, that's Luna, Psycho, and Ray!" The people she pointed out were chatting happily near a tree. Correction, "Psycho" was hanging upside down by her legs from the tree. "And that's Medusa, you know her right?" The snake-headed myth was wearing a bandana around her eyes to prevent stone casualties. "She told me she's a legend on this planet called... EeeeARth? And our leader! Well, leader S . There's Celest, mostly watching the Hybrids, and the reason this place has so much greenery. Shiva is the leader of the Myths."

At the far back of the huge cave, there are two houses that are bigger than the other houses, but not by much. "Why are those houses only a bit bigger? And why are they bigger in the first place?" Lightning looks up, and shrugs. "Celest doesn't want to feel 'better' than the rest of her people, so she ordered that her and Shiva's houses are just a bit larger." "LIIIIIIIIIIGHTNIIIIIIING!" A piercing voice screams. It's slightly lower-pitched, and a bit demonic. A hybrid with wings made of fire and smoke suddenly hits the ground in front of us. She stands up. The person has wild orange hair, a gold and red hoodie, grey pants, and black shoes. She has an orange dragon tail, and her eyes are dark orange, with light grey pupils. "WHO IS THIS HUMAN!?" She screeches.

Lightning moves her wing so it blocked me from that person. "Chill, Philomena. This is Jaxson, or Jax." Philomena narrows her eyes. "And you can prove he's good how?" Lightning grins. "Jax. Catch this." "Wha-" I couldn't even blink before she suddenly tosses a sword to me. I fumble and slice my hand. "AHHH!!" I scream. The sword drops to the ground, with my blood on the blade. Lightning calls out. "Anyone have bandages? My dude here just cut his hand, proving he's not from the other side." A pixie - well, it isn't 2 inches tall, it's more like just a really short person - creeps forward, and, keeping his eyes on me, making sure I don't try anything, takes out a roll of bandages and starts bandaging my hand.

Lightning turns to Philomena, and smiles. "See? Any Human would be able to easily catch it. But Jax over here can't." Philomena shrugs. "Fine.. I believe you." She mumbles. "I'm the head of guard. I have to check everyone who enters here. I'm aggressive. That's why." She looks over at me, and half-smiles. "Sorry Jax. The name's Philomena, or Philo to some people." I kinda smile back, and ask. "Umm, not sure if this is not ok or not, but what hybrid are you?" Philomena nods. "It's fine. You can ask. I'm a pheonix-dragon." She then flew off. I look over at the pixie, and he's finished. I nod and smile. "Thanks." The pixie mumbles, and runs away. Lightning walks over to me. "Don't mind his shyness. All pixies are like that."

Lightning starts dragging me again. "C'mon. Let's go to the market, you're probably hungry." As if on cue, my stomach growls. Lightning laughs, and suddenly I'm the air. I yelp, and she laughs more. "Dude, I thought people liked flying!" "Uhhh, in an airplane, maybe!" I say, feeling really stressed. Lightning finally landed, and I'm just taking really deep breaths. She snickers. I look around, and we're in a marketplace. They are selling apples, sweets, lightbulbs, books, and a bunch of other stuff. Lightning and I were looking around and buying stuff, while hybrids and mythology characters tried not to stare. After a couple hours, I ask Lightning. "How do you tell when it's day or night?"

She points to a clock tower. "That both tells the time and if it's night or day." It had a starry design on one side, and a sun on the other. There was an arrow that was slowly moving, and it was starting to point to the starry side. "Don't you guys go outside?" I ask. Lightning lowers her head, and looks really sad. "No.. only patrols can leave, and even then they need special permission." Seconds later, she perks up again and is happy. "Well, since you don't have a place to stay, you can crash at my house!" She grabs my arm, and in a flurry of light green sparkles, we're in - hopefully Lightning's - living room. It's painted white with rainbow bubbles. I'm a bit woozy from the teleportation.

"You sick?" Lightning asks. "Sorry, I forgot how bad it is the first few times. You'll get used to it soon." She guides me over to the couch, and I sit down. "I'm going to put this stuff away and make ya some tea. No coffee, you don't want to stay up all night." She wanders off, and I lay on the couch, exhausted.

=+*To Be Continued*+=