Piercing the Bleak Chapter Five

Xacquan meets Ragmon's rival

CHAPTER FIVE

            In the morning, we continued our trek skywards, up the mountains and above the clouds.  I was fascinated upon seeing that the bright, flying orange flows were skybound once again, and even more fascinated to see that the whiteness upon the blueness of the sky were actually more clouds, high above.  Did it go on forever?

            “It’s called ‘the sun’,” Ragmon told me when I imparted my plan to him.  “It’s way too high in the sky… you’ll never be able to catch it!  When the sky grows less cloudy, perhaps I can show you the moon, too… it’s much tinier than the sun.  And it appears even tinier than it’s supposed to.  That’s because, you see, a long, long, time ago, some big, hard rock called an asteroid knocked it out of its natural orbit.  But when winter comes around, it’ll seem so big to us that even the sun looks smaller.  During the time when the moon is small, about this time, we hold the Moon Dances.  The more a person exercises during this time, the stronger they get.  So they are extra strong when the moon becomes big again.  We mountain people… our enemies fear us during that time.  Especially those living on the shores, apparently.  I’ve never seen the shores.”

            Ragmon still had the red liquid spattered all upon its arms, face, and clothing, and it carried the putrid bundle of fur by tying it to its belt.  I didn’t ask what it was, but I was afraid that I knew.

            “We’re almost there…” Ragmon said after awhile.  “Promise me that you’ll stay at my side until I tell you that it is okay to leave.  I’m the only one who can make sure that it’s safe for you.”

            “Promise…?”

            “Yeah.  That means a two-sided guarantee, with… erm… sentimental value.”

            “Hmm…”

            “So do you promise?”  Ragmon tilted its head to the side, staring at me with big eyes.  It held out its hand, but I didn’t know what to do.

            “I guarantee that I will stay by you until you say to leave,” I say.

            It held out its hand closer to me.  “Next lesson,” it said, “the handshake.  People do this to say that they are friendly to one another.  Either that, or they do this,” it bobs its head up and down, “which is called a ‘bow.’  But for the handshake, you’re supposed to put your hand in my hand, and then we bring our hands up and down.  Like this.”  It takes my hand and jiggles it.  “See?”

            “I see.”

            “Alright.  Oh, and one more thing.  T-This is kind of a gender thing so just b-bear with m-me.  People like this,” it makes an arc over its chest, “you address as ‘she’ when talking to other people.  People like t-this...,” it slides his hand from its neck to his midsection, “you address as ‘he’.  In simplest terms.  Okay?  T-that is, unless they’re about my size or smaller.  Then it could be different.”

            I stare at Ragmon, not thoroughly understanding.

            Finally, it shakes his head and wipes the back of its hand against its forehead.  “Gah.  Well.  You’ll learn.  One day.  I hope.  Maybe the oracles can teach you.  Come on, let’s go.”

            After a moment’s hesitation, I follow its lead.  I really despise my lack of understanding sometimes.

 

***

 

            “We’re here.”  Ragmon heaved the pack it wore upon its back to the ground.  “Okay.  Follow me closely.” 

            We walked for a bit, with Ragmon darting its head every which way and occasionally shouting foreign words I had never heard before.  Names, perhaps?  “Alabaster!  Meeju!  Kamikazi!  Randeka!  Ojourn! … Gaviel!  Eirdiel!  Natoben!  Hector! … Jameru!  Enigarra! Vinethesus!  Kodiramen!  Galimistos!”  After awhile, Ragmon turned to me.  “It’s pretty quiet today.  I wonder why?”

            “You forgot me again, Raggy,” said a tinny voice behind us, causing me to startle and rake my hands across the air in front of me.

            “Her-her, her-her,” went both Ragmon, and the Ragmon-sized creature. 

            “And I told you!  Don’t call me Raggy!” Ragmon snapped after the her-ing died down.  “And its Scout Raggy, thank you very much!  You poop-scooper.  Pee-burier.”

            “Now who’s this?  Did you go and find a girlfriend out there, too?” said the stranger creature, gesturing toward me.  “Following in your cousins’ footsteps, eh?”

            Ragmon immediately recoiled, its dark grey face developing a reddish hue.  “No…!  Girlf…! Peh.  Gimme a break!  Damn you, Ophithellos!  No, what the heck?  She’s like… six years older than me, maybe!  How dare you!!!  Bad Oppy.  Bad, bad, bad!  I’m gonna steal your dinner tonight!”

            “You better not, bark-collector.  Imma keep my eyez on youz tonightz, and youz knowz it.”  The stranger covered its eyes with two fingers before pointing those fingers toward Ragmon. 

In response, Ragmon’s face crinkled, and its lips parted to reveal a tongue, which waggled out at the stranger.

“What an unusual display of affection,” I said before I could stop myself.

Both of the creatures froze and stared at me, their eyes unusually large.  Then, the stranger, ‘Oppy,’ burst out in obnoxious “her-her, her-her’s’ while Ragmon’s lips clamped shut, quivering.  Soon it couldn’t help it, and joined in on the ‘her-her’s.’  I admit, I had a difficult time resisting, as well.

“I liieek this one,” Oppy said, grinning up at my face.  Its eyes suddenly widened, and it pointed down at Ragmon’s belt.  “I see you got a scalp there, eh?”

“Ee-yep,” Ragmon said, giving me an anxious look before grabbing the putrid fur from its belt and holding it into the air.  “My very first one.  But he attacked first.  Luckily he was just a small one.  I wouldn’t have attacked if he didn’t first.  And I didn’t even get hurt!”

“You’re a softy, Raggy,” Oppy her-red.  “I would’ve knocked the scalp right off that guy the first chance I could get.”

Ragmon looked at the ground.  “He wore the tide emblem,” it whispered.  “Well.  I got stuff to talk to the Elders about, Ophithellos.  I’ll rival ya later, yeah?”

“Yeah.  I’ll be guarding my dinner tonight, bark-collector!  And you should guard yours, too.  Her-her-her.  Well.  Hurry up on it, man!  The people are suffering.  They need their barkwoods.  Stop being such a limp-foot!”

“So long, poop-scooper,” Ragmon said to Oppy before looking my way.  “Come on, Xacquan.  You’re going to love it here, you’ll see.”

 

“That creature… it was a strange speaker,” I said once we got a good distance away.  “Many zzz’s.”

“Yeah, but you can’t take anything he says personal,” Ragmon told me.  “He’s just like that.  And you can’t take anything that I say around him personal, either.  We’ve been rivals since we were eight years old.”

“Rivals…?”

“Yeah.  That means that we say mean things to each other, work hard to outdo each other, and then laugh about it.  See?”

“What is the point?” I asked.

“Self-actualization!” Ragmon said, puffing its chest out.

“What?”

“No, don’t ask me what that is.  That’s just what an oracle told me once.  I don’t really know.”

Author's Note

Comments and suggestions are appreciated!

What age do you think Ragmon and Ophithellos are? I know, haven't revealed it yet, but what age do they come across as?