Ribbontail: Enter Emalia
Chapter 10: Little Traveler O'liday

Author's Note: Please read my artist's comments before continuing. :3
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Ribbontail awoke groggily, as though from death, with the gray world about her spinning and vibrating. She coughed and hacked gratingly before opening her burning eyes, a stinging sensation overcoming her senses as she attempted to regain her consciousness.

Incredible fear and pain overcame Ribbontail as she realized just how much pain she was in; through her body an icy chill lanced through her veins, and her head throbbed as if she had fallen back on bare rock.

Another cough escaped the wolf’s lips as she shuddered and closed her eyes, sighing and praising herself that she was alive. But even that fact could not shield her from the pain that seared across her body; she grinded her teeth together in agony and whined, feeling no comfort from the cold air around her. To make things worse she could feel cold stone at her side, and around her the dripping and echoing repercussions of a cave setting pounded into her ears. A cave was no warm family room. It was no consolation for her injuries.

“You okay, kid? Need any help?” meowed a calm male voice from behind. It was laced with a slight accent- one that Ribbontail would have called a “surfer dude” accent, stereotyped in cartoons she once watched.

All Ribbontail could manage was a mumbled  “Ugh…” and a grumble of pain.

“Fine then, dude,” came the voice again, this time with a bit less interest, “if you need anything just say so.”

There was a soft series of crunching sounds from behind and Ribbontail froze, her senses suddenly filled with the delicate scent of fire and roasted almonds. Her limbs instantly locked. She was not alone in this cave, clearly.

“Who…who are you?”

Ribbontail yelped and her head shot up and around, eyes snapping open immediately.

Behind her a peculiar little creature about the size of a small housecat sat before a fire. Although friendly-looking at first glance, Ribbontail slipped and stumbled to her feet. She hurriedly crawled away in a crouch, putting a couple more steps between them.

The monster OmenBeast seemed friendly at first; who knows what any other animal here would do?

The little animal was strangely unique and glaringly not built for a forest like this. It was a small, white cat-like creature, with a thick curtain of fur much like the goddess Pola’s coat. The fringes of this coat, green and soft, twitched and swayed softly as the creature worked at an almond shell with his paws.

In any normal situation Ribbontail would have laughed at the red and green scarf that he wore about his neck. And on his head he wore a matching Santa-hat, complete with a tattered white puff at the end. His face was soft and cat-like, with a square muzzle and a tiny black nose. The animal’s eyes Ribbontail could not see, as he wore his bowl-cut blonde hair over them, shielding the entire top half of his face from sight.

He was unusual of course, and seemingly harmless.

“Darn…nut!“ the animal grunted, sticking his little pink tongue out in frustration. He hissed to himself and flung the walnut across the room, sending it clicking into a shadowed corner.

Ribbontail leveled a sharp glance at the little animal, her face full of fear.

“Hey dude, chill,” he added suddenly as he picked up another walnut that lay before him, “What’s your deal?”

Half-heartedly, Ribbontail dropped into a sitting stance, her eyes still trained on the little animal. She remained perfectly silent, entirely unresponsive. Her pain was too great to do anything else.

With a click of his long, snake-like tail- which appeared to be tipped with a large holly leaf- the little animal leapt onto his paws and padded over to her, a friendly smile worn on his face. He seemed friendly enough, but Ribbontail still cringed as he approached.

“Name’s O’liday dude, what’s yours?”

From underneath the thick mop of fur came a paw to shake. Tentatively Ribbontail reached out and traded off her greeting, her aching paw closing unsurely over his.

“I’m…” Ribbontail whined and winced in pain, her shoulder suddenly aching as she crumpled into a laying position, “I’m R-Ribbontail.”

“Totally awesome name.” O’liday held out the cracked walnut that he had been working at, “Nut?”

Ribbontail shook her head silently.

Shrugging, O’liday popped the nut in his mouth and sat before Ribbontail, looking up at her from behind his curtain of blond hair. “So Ribbontail, where’ve you come from? Not from around here I take it. Takes a real ditz to go running into a river, y’ know?”

Ribbontail’s ears rose at attention as she whispered, “You saved me?”

There was a pause.

“Well,” O’liday coughed nervously, “not exactly. Found you sprawled out on a rock out there last night as the sun was going down, totally cold and wet. Thought you were dead, kid, but I managed to drag you in here with me. Round here is isn‘t the nicest place at night, y‘ know?”

“I…I know…”, Ribbontail gulped and shivered, dragging herself to her feet and stumbling over to the fire, which sat crackling and bright at the center of the cave. She crumpled there and sighed, taking in the warmth.

The shelter around her was a cave about the size of Ribbontail’s room back when she lived on Earth, with a low ceiling and wide, roomy walls.

The den was entirely enclosed save for a slit-entrance, in which the dreary and stormy daylight filtered through. The cave was neither comforting nor welcoming, but it was far more hospitable than the forest that lay beyond the stone walls. Outside the forest still hung under a thick curtain of rain; through the sound of the rain Ribbontail could barely distinguish the sounds of the thundering river.

What dim light could be discerned from the entrance, it appeared to be the next day- very early morning, to be precise. Ribbontail moaned with a sudden realization that she must have slept through the night without accomplishing a thing.

OmenBeast had sidetracked her, and now she ached and shook feverishly. She had not planned for any of this.

“So!” O’liday hopped over to Ribbontail, flinging himself down in a casual sprawl next to her. “Where you from, again?”

Ribbontail sighed, “Nowhere. Just…you know… just nowhere.”

It was a more humble introduction than Ribbontail had given to OmenBeast. She now no longer trusted strangers. Ribbontail rolled over to face away from the cat-like animal.

Again O’liday pranced around and flopped down in front of her. “Ah come on dude. You can’t be from nowhere.”

“I...” Ribbontail puffed at O’liday, inhaling sharply as another pang of agony shot through her body. “I’d rather not tell. Sorry...”

Ribbontail’s gaze shot around the room suddenly, falling upon the scroll and harness, which lay in a corner. Perfectly intact, the scroll looked as good as new. Magic, Ribbontail said to herself, I guess nothing can destroy the scroll.

”Oh fine,” sighed O’liday, “No biggie. You don’t have to tell me everything, dude. Chill.”

"I'm heading down south," she finally managed to rasp, recalling the mission given to her, “I’ve... just got to deliver that scroll to somebody.”

"Oh, so you’re headed south across the Sandstone desert?” O'liday picked his teeth for a moment before adding, "Kind of a long trip wouldn't you say? Don't you have a mom or a dad to come with ya?"

Her response came flat. "No... just me now."

Smiling suddenly, O'liday raised his eyebrows as though a sudden idea traced across his mind. "Hey Ribbontail! I'm headed to Bazaar-"

"Where?" Ribbontail interrupted abruptly.

"Wow...Bazaar! Do you live under a rock or something? Bazaar's the big marketplace at the center of Sandstone. My mum and pop live there, and they want me to go an' celebrate my big bro's birthday. I'm headed down there...totally not cool."

Ribbontail lay perfectly still, aching and chilled to the bone still. She waited for O'liday to continue.

"Why don't you come along with me, kid?" the feline finally asked, "If we’re headed in the same direction we can go together. I need a pal to chill with. Traveling's no fun if you don't have a partner, you know."

Bemused, Ribbontail was stuck for an answer.

When there was no response, O’liday rolled over to Ribbontail and batted her paw for attention, sending a surge of pain running through her leg. Ribbontail winced and glared down at him as he smiled and meowed, “Pleeeeease? It’d so totally NOT be cool to have to travel alone. Boring!”

Indecision held Ribbontail breathless. She had initially wanted to travel as a group with her alleged partners WereRibbontail, Fidei, and PuppetRibbontail, but now they had all gone their separate ways. On the other hand, though, Ribbontail did not know whether or not to trust O’liday.

“Well,” Ribbontail sighed, her lungs still chilled even by the fire, “I guess… but only if you’re Emalian.”

O’liday ran a small paw through his blond hair and nodded gratefully. “I’m all-Emalian, dude, just like you. There’s nothing you’ve gotta worry about.”

After this the cave fell silent, with the droning of the rain like a symphonic melody in the background. Still lying by the fire, Ribbontail stared into the welcoming flames. Their glowering embers danced and flicked in her eyes, and she felt her aches gradually ebbing away. She still hurt; her legs were aching still, and her paw-tips and nose still remained chilled, but her pains were tolerable now. She was lucky she had not died- she owed it all to this little O’liday for dragging her out of the rain.

The vision of OmenBeast crossed her mind; his powerful muscles still rippled and his horrific face still glared at her from the back of her memory. Ribbontail lifted her head to O’liday and blinked with a sudden perplexity.

“O’liday?” she asked to him, “What’s the difference between an Emalian and an Eclipsian?”

“Uh…” the look that glanced across O’liday’s face told Ribbontail that she had asked a very unintelligent question, “dude, do you live like a hermit or something? You don’t know the difference between an Emalian and an Eclipsian?”

Ribbontail opened her mouth slowly, with the intent to repeat her story about being a human on Earth, having died and just returned to this world. Then she shut her lips and lay down her head, nodding. “Yeah…I never got out as a kid.”

“Oh, that explains it. Poor little dudette,” O’liday intently began licking his fur, turning and taking in a long breath, “Well you see, if you’ve never met an Eclipsian before just know that they’re the nastiest, most disgusting things you ever wanted to see. Totally uncool. Just nasty, ya know? Most of ‘em are all big and deformed, definitely not somebody you want to meet at night. Chyeah.”

Intently, Ribbontail nodded, rolling into a lounging position as she listened.

“Basically dude, Eclipsians are bad. We Emalians are kinda…good. Friendly, ya know? Most of us totally get along. Totally rad. But still- Eclipsians are bad and Emalians are good. Got it?”

Ribbontail nodded.

“You can TELL whether or not something’s Eclipsian by looking at its forehead. They’ve got this totally cool symbol on their foreheads for some reason. Here, let  me draw it out, dude.”

Watching with curious eyes, Ribbontail observed O’liday draw an intricate- albeit messy- symbol in the cave’s dusty floor. It was a circle of some sort, with a moon and star at its center. Along the outside of the main circle jutted tall spires, like rays of the sun. After much staring at it Ribbontail concluded that it symbolized an eclipse- a moon standing before a tribal sun.

“Eclipsians supposedly worship this big dragon dude called Eclipse and they think they’re all out to kill us and stuff. Got it?” O’liday grinned his toothy feline grin before cracking open one final almond and popping it into his mouth, “So you just got to watch out for Eclipsians. They’re no good.”

She turned to ask O’liday another question when her voice was drowned by a sudden chilling howl that echoed through the forest, its distant sound piercing through the morning rain. It was an untimely din. Untimely, and ironic. It was OmenBeast’s mighty roar.

O’liday adjusted his hat and scrambled to his feet, his face suddenly alert. He turned and peered, and Ribbontail followed his gaze to the tiny entrance where the dim morning light fingered into the cave. Thick sheets of rain still roared outside, obscuring any hopes for seeing clearly.

“Sounds big,” O’liday seemed to assure himself, sitting back down and turning to Ribbontail, “Eclipsian or Emalian, it can’t fit through that hole. No worries, Ribbs, just chill.”

As O’liday returned to the luxury of the fire, Ribbontail shivered and winced the little cat. “That’s OmenBeast,” she mumbled to him, the uncomfortable chill returning to her veins. “He tried to kill me. I fell in the river when I tried to run away from him!”

Gradually, Ribbontail realized that O’liday had fallen into silence, his face void of expression. He seemed to be thinking deeply, his expressionless features void of any sign of attentiveness.

“Well he can’t get in here, got it dude? No worries.”

“I…I don’t think so.” Surely the slit was far too small for OmenBeast to pass; it was barely large enough for her to enter, let alone a hulking monster.

O’liday laughed, this time sounding less genuine and far less relaxed. “Totally. We’re way safe in here.”

Not willing to respond, Ribbontail kept silent. She kept her eyes fixed on the split mouth of the cave, with the gray-white rain pounding down outside. With the slight exception of the spitting, crackling flames and the continuous hum of the rain and river outside, the room was perfectly silent now; this was not at all consoling, though, as soon another defiant roar rumbled through the forest.

Ribbontail’s heart sank. The howl was closer now, barely half a mile away.

“Dude’s not going away, is he, man?” O’liday asked dryly.

Again Ribbontail held her silence. It’s okay, Ribbontail assured herself, He’ll just go away. He’s definitely not hunting me down.

Ribbontail turned and glanced down at O’liday in time to see him raise his eyes- or rather, his hidden eyes- to hers. The cheerful, contented light that was once in that smile was gone, and in its place clung a look of desperation. They both had the same thought, the same fear: OmenBeast was indeed coming for them.

A sudden air about her shook off the paralysis that gripped her body. Ribbontail’s keen senses were far greater than she had thought possible, but now she was feeling a presence, not hearing it. Outside something moved slowly along the bank, approaching their way. She could not hear what it was, nor could she see or smell it, but she could feel it. Its energy was big, it was miserable, and most of all it was angry.

“OmenBeast,” Ribbontail breathed.

Suddenly, from outside in the rain, a menacing groan split through the rain. Deep and permeated with a concentration of contempt, the canine growl stood prominent in Ribbontail’s mind.

“That’s him,” whispered Ribbontail to O’liday, turning and shying back into the further depths of the cave, “That’s OmenBeast. Right outside.”

O’liday dropped down to the floor and followed Ribbontail’s suit, backing away from the entrance. Just as he did this a massive gray form crept into sight, shadowing the entire horizontal-entrance to the cave. It was the wet, sopping, barrel-chested frame of OmenBeast’s front. Due to the slit window of the cave mouth she could not see any more than his broad chest, but Ribbontail knew that it was indeed the Eclipsian OmenBeast.

“That’s him?” O’liday whispered to Ribbontail, tearing his eyes from the beast that blocked their entrance.

Without a single word Ribbontail nodded down to the little feline.

“Dude,” he hissed in return, “I am SO NOT going out there!”

Outside in the pounding rain, the sound of OmenBeast’s inquisitive moans seized, and his looming form backed away. In its place his large, scarred nose appeared, and not long after the snarl-encrusted muzzle came pushing into the mouth of the cave. The mouth was barely large enough for OmenBeast to fit his nose through, and the black tip twitched and quivered.

"Ribbontail…" came OmenBeast’s voice in Ribbontail’s head, “Come to me now and I shall make your death painless.”

Scrambling back until her hind end brushed against the icy walls behind her, Ribbontail backed from the dripping muzzle. She watched in terror as his nose withdrew; this time the pair of globular, yellowed eyes appeared, their cross-pupils gazing at her from outside. Even in the maddening rain they did not blink.

A frustrated howl suddenly escaped from the beast’s mouth, and in a maddened rage OmenBeast threw himself against the stone cave mouth, ebony claws tearing and ripping heedlessly at the rock. Bit by bit those cruel claws shredded the stone with ease, shearing away at the once-tiny slit.

“Holy crap dude, he’s coming at us!” O’liday yelped and retreated behind Ribbontail, his long snake tail tucked fearfully under his legs.

Ribbontail’s mind raced as her eyes darted back and forth, but before she could find a single thought the OmenBeast came screeching again, his entire head pushing into the cave. Rain-soaked jaws clicked and tore at the air as OmenBeast wriggled free of the small cave entrance and continued tearing at the hole.

Claws rent the stone with ease, hacking away at the mouth of the cave.

Ribbontail whined and threw herself onto the ground. “It’s over…It’s over already.” She cried to herself as the killer’s entire upper torso came crashing in, seizing Ribbontail with massive paws.

The mighty Eclipsian howled triumphantly as he reared his great head higher. White fangs gleamed down, shining in the dull light.

Ribbontail choked and writhed as the crushing claws grew tighter, but she was far too tired and far too weak to fight back. All she could do was feebly thrash her legs and scratch helplessly with her nails.

Then suddenly OmenBeast released her and reeled back, a lowing wail escaping from its rending mouth. The tumultuous beast snorted furiously, thrashing at its face with a single paw about as though he had been stung by something.

Ribbontail stared in horror as she noticed that O’liday had thrown himself onto the creature’s face, his teeth sunk tightly into OmenBeast’s black nose. The little feline was clamped firmly onto the Eclipsian’s nose, and the beast could not dispel him. Blinking its wild eyes and biting aimlessly, OmenBeast set up a thin wail before attempting to retreat. But the beast was too large, too bulky, to slip out with ease, and began scrambling backwards and out of the cave.

Ribbontail watched as O’liday released himself from the creature’s face, and her frightened cries were quickly replaced with elated cheers.

Omenbeast, his now-bloodied nose oozing with steaming red blood, was deterred finally out of the cave. He squeezed out and fell backwards. He wrinkled his nose at them, vile gold eyes glaring through the showering storm. Then with a huff of rage he bellowed and retreated, whirling about and charging away, vanishing amidst the curtain of rain.

The two of them stared in relief through the yawning mouth of the cave as calm quickly returned. Like a harmonious song, the rain pattered and chimed from outside, its pleasant tunes now like heavenly voices in Ribbontail’s head.

With a deep sigh of relief Ribbontail crumbled to the wet floor, shivering as a wave of peace crept over her. She shuddered in half-delight and half-despair, aching but relieved that the monstrosity had been fought off. So simply, she thought to herself, closing her eyes and sighing.

“Hey kid!” O’liday yowled, shifting over to Ribbontail. His thick coat of fur was tangled and sopping with water, and steaming blood of Omenbeast stained his fur; as Ribbontail had expected, he quickly got to cleaning himself. “You ever hear of fighting back? Dude, you must’ve really been a wuss when you were a pup, huh?”

Though she did not want to, Ribbontail had to agree with that statement. She had never in her life been trained to fight. The most physical work she’d ever done was physical education class in school, but running and playing kickball would not help her in the wilderness. “Yeah, I guess so…” Ribbontail shrugged.

“Well then you’re gonna have to just totally learn to go tooth and claw on them. It isn’t that hard, just flail around until you scratch somebody. Totally works. Eclipsians aren’t all that tough if you’re fast and small.”

O’liday then added, in between licks as he cleaned himself, “Or you can get yourself a guardian spirit. I think you can buy those at a magic market or just steal one, but they’re really helpful. You know…totally nasty ghosts and zombies. Way uncool, but rad at the same time. They’re like slaves, kid, and they protect you!”

Ribbontail could not help but think of PuppetRibbontail as he mentioned this, so she spoke clearly and quickly, “Like this one thing called PuppetRibbontail! My mom gave her to me as a slave and she said that she could protect me, but I kind of…left her back at this lake…”

“Well why’d you do that, dude?” O’liday pawed down his hair and messed with his fur, fluffing his coat proudly. “Gross or not those things are totally a big help. You should be lucky you even GOT one!”

Rubbing her eyes, Ribbontail thought of how foul PuppetRibbontail had been- gaping eyes, a nasty stitched-up grin, and a skeletal body that dripped with decaying flesh. “Let’s just say she was really, really gross.”

“Ah,” O’liday got up and shook his head, “no see, spirit guardians are supposed to be that way. Otherwise they wouldn’t be invulnerable. See dude, you can totally beat up zombies and dead things because they don’t feel any pain and don’t die. That’s why they GUARD you. Because… they can’t die.”

Ribbontail felt bad, all of a sudden, having left PuppetRibbontail behind in the rain. If she had disobeyed her and left, then that was fine. But spending the whole night there by the lake, in the pouring rain waiting for Ribbontail to return. That would be torture, both emotional and physical.

“Should we go get her, then? I think PuppetRibbontail will still obey me if we go back and get her.”

“Dude, that would be so cool. Nothing’s as helpful as having your own bodyguard, right?” An assuring grin lit O’liday’s face. He fixed his festive Santa hat, getting to his paws and taking in a relaxed breath.

As O’liday spoke Ribbontail nodded, a sudden liking for the feline warming her heart. He had saved her life so fearlessly, this little ball of fur and surfer dude, and she owed him much. Ribbontail stretched, yawning and shaking away her aching muscles.

If he had retreated from them, OmenBeast should be long gone by now, at least for the time being. The sun had begun to finally rise, and even though rain still poured it was now possible to see clearly. Rain or not, they would have to continue.

“Well, come on O’liday,” Ribbontail announced finally, “Let’s go.”