LAL2: Return of the Missing - IC

LIFE AFTER LOSS 2: RETURN OF THE MISSING

Long ago, a dominating race called the Invaders captured a peaceful land known as Kerrattoi. They ruled the planet for many years without trouble – but that didn’t last forever.
A small group of heroes formed… And so began their quest to rid the evil Invaders of the planet, and be free at last. This task was no small feat; and it was nowhere close to being easy. Over months, the heroes had to deal with the consequences of their mission: being wanted by the powerful empire of Invaders. Numerous attacks from armed ships; mistaken betrayals; defective jetpacks and poison in place of a fire extinquisher. Even death.
It wasn’t simple, but in the end, they won their war and the Invaders fled from the planet.

However… Little did these heroes know, their adventure was far from over.

Despite the quiet, peaceful years that passed after the war; despite their sureness that they were safe; more was yet to come.

And this was only the beginning.



When we left off, the group - consisting of Safyr3, Faez, Opajik, Vienna, Ekko, Parell, Rhey, Shaenn, and Kalia - had been locked in the Dim, the immense underground network that houses a vast majory of the Overwold's prisoners. We left them working their way towards the exit with the intention of escaping and return to their home planet, Karettoi.
Meanwhile, Kydi's plans were a little different. Having been convinced by the Overarch that his friends had done nothing more than use him, he decided to stay with the Overarch and the Hunter to keep luxurious job in engineering.

......

"Let's just focus on getting the heck out of here," Safyr3 said, impatience returning in her voice. "I haven't had a swim or a decent meal in far too long."

Parell, who was riding on Faez's back, started counting all the shiny objects they passed.
Faez joined in, and soon a game was going.

"You're one to talk," Saenn said, "I haven't really had a whole lot of food in YEARS."
Kalia did something besides sighing. She wanted food too. "At least you got used to it... I'm starving."
She thought for a moment, "Hey, any idea where we could get food?"

Shaenn shrugged, "I always st- bought it, never actually got any for myself. Sorry."
His stomach grumbled, but he couldn't do anything about it. It would be... Really sad... If they starved to death. They should at least be... Uh... Nevermind.

The path ahead curved to the left, around another pile of trash.
There appeared to be a light.

Safyr3 tried to be optimistic; maybe it wasn't a death laser.

As the group rounded the corner, yet another village came into view. This one seemed to be in even worse condition than the previous ones.

There were not even huts in this village. There were lean-tos, piled agains the mountains of trash. The center of the village was a blazing firepit that looked to be on the verge of going completely out.

The resident Syratopes were lying on mats of cardboard or scraps of cloth. Little ones played in the dirt, with watchful parents glancing nervously over their shoulders.

There were no Kyrenien guards in sight, unlike the last villages. Safyr3 wondered if this was a renegade sanctuary, full of those who had escaped into the wilds of The Dim.

A couple Syratopes looked up when the group came into view. Some of them scrambled to their feet, holding up makeshift weapons such as spears and a poorly assembled crossbow. The rest of them just lay there. A few of them even looked dead.

Safyr3 cringed. These people... They looked so hopeless.

A concerned expression spread across Rhey's face as his eyes settled on the village, rather unlike many of the others' reactions to the sight of it; most of them displayed looks of shock and pity.
Rhey only frowned. For residents of the Dim, it wasn't very surprising. He'd seen things like this more than once, and even experienced it at a time.
Still, it was unsettling to see. He kept himself silent.

Ekko wasn't as accustomed to this sort of thing, even though she'd seen some pretty awful things during the Invasion when she was younger. She gasped, staring at the trembling people, evidently starving and, most of them, sick.
She glanced to the Invaders, who both looked horrified.

Shaenn looked away. Even after so long he couldn't bear to see his people suffering like that. If he was honest with himself... His thoughts faded out as he pushed his ears to the back of his head and kept walking.

Kalia, on the other hand, stopped for a moment. She couldn't look away. Those were syratopes, and, though they didn't know it, they were her responsibility. Back home, they had called her a hero for her help in the war, but now... She didn't think she deserved it, to have let this many be captured.

But there's always time to make things better...

"Guys," she spoke up determinedly, "do you think we could help them... At all? I have an idea."

Faez was greatly saddened by the suffering too. He looked up at Safyr3, who was a frew steps ahead of him. He opened his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by someone yelling at the top of their voice.

An old, ragged-furred Syratope who looked like someone had torn half of her face off hobbled up to the group. Her azure fur hung in clumps, and she was babbling with insanity.

"Our SAVIOURS!" she cackled, pointing at the group. She seemed to single out Opajik and hobbled toward him. Upon further examination, Faez noticed she had a wooden leg.

"You!" she wheezed, pointing at Opajik. She limped toward him faster, and then collapsed on the ground. "You're the ones who'll save us! Ahaha save us save us!"

After an uncomfortable moment when she babbled incoherently for far too long, a younger Syratope came over and helped her up.

"Sorry about that sir," the youngster said. "She's believed to be a psychic, but never has such a fit come over her like this..."

"I-uh-..." Opajik didn't know how to react. He extended his arm a bit, as if to help, but realized the other syratope had it covered and stepped back.
His eyes were wide, and he stared into space for a second.

"Savior...?" he said, just under his breath.

He blinked himself out of the trance and looked back at the woman, then around at all of the other the struggling prisoners.
A young man, trying to coax some food out of another family so he could share it with his brother.
Two parents wrapping a coughing infant in scraps of blankets.
A girl by herself, shivering in the cold, without any shelter to keep her warm.

Not one of them deserved this.

He coughed, and stood a little straighter as he tried not to focus on the tragedies surrounding him.
But in his head, ideas started to swirl.

Kalia took a small step back, nervous despite being a good amount taller than the syratopes. This... psychic... Unnerved her. It was odd, but she knew one thing. She sincerely hoped the old syratope was right. She wanted to help.

"Alright then," she said after she collected her thoughts, "It's fine."
She smiled down at the syratopes, trying to reassure them, "My name is Kalia, I'm... Well, I guess I'm trying to get out of here."

"We're all trying to get out," Safyr3 said.
"Yeah!" said Faez and Parell together. They both smiled happily and continued their game of counting shiny objects.

Much to their disappointment, there weren't many shiny objects in the village.


"There's a way out?" asked the youngster, while the elderly psychic tried to claw her way through him to get closer to the group.
Suddenly his face grew confused.
"...Wait..You.....You're not guards?" he stammered, taking a step back.

"No," Opajik said. "We're prisoners too."
He blinked slowly, realizing how unusual that must be to the people here. All of the Invader captives seemed to be kept behind actual bars, up above in the building.
He laughed a bit, adjusting his helmet.

The youngster smiled slightly.
"Then she is right," he said, indicating the old syratope.

Kalia bowed her head for a moment. There must be something- wait, yes!
"I know something that might cheer you guys up," she said with a grin, "We were captured during a time of peace, after the Invaders left Karettoi. They've been rebuilding their cities for the past few years."

She hoped the news would brighten their spirits, though at the same time she knew that it couldn't be peaceful back at home anymore...

Shaenn smiled slightly even though he already knew that his home was safe. It was good to hear it again.
He did stay hidden behind the others, though, creeped out by the psychic.

Opajik didn't say anything for a minute.
He stood quiet, thinking, as Ekko joined the conversation and started telling the syratopes about the great state Karettoi was in.

She was mid-sentence when Opajik interrupted.
"What if we could get all of you guys out of here?" he blurted out, stringing his words together quickly.

Vienna's head turned abruptly to him, surprised. She kept her voice low, even though the syratopes could probably hear. "Opajik, we can't--"

"Well if we're going to steal a ship anyways..." he said. He looked at her, his eyes lighting up. "It could work."

Safyr3 looked at Opajik curiously, thinking over his words.

Her first reaction was that the idea was insane. It was crazy to think they could get all of these Syratopes out...

...but then again she wanted to help them as much as anyone else.

"....How would we do it?" she asked Opajik.

"Yeah, how?" asked the youngster, hope gleaming in his eyes.
The old psychic grinned.

"Well think about it," he said, glancing at Safyr3, then Vienna and the syratopes. "If everything goes according to plan and we get Kydi and steal a ship..."
He nodded to himself as the idea made more and more sense in his head.
"We could stop by here and pick you guys up at the main entrance."

Vienna frowned. "They would be no time..."
"Not if they were already there," he explained.

The young syratope's expression brightened.

"There's a message system," he said quickly. "We could send messages to the other villages. We all be there in a day or two, depending on our transportation...."

"Transportation?" Safyr3 said, arching a metaphorical eyebrow. "What transportation? You can't possibly mean travelling on foot. It took us days to get here."

"Oh we wouldn't be going on foot! Seen the creepy critters with the large wings?" asked the Syratope. "Some of them have been tamed. Some of us can get around by flying...It's just not common because the guards don't like it..."

Safyr3 was speechless.

Kalia was stunned. "Those things tried to kill us!"
She squinted slightly, thinking. "I've never tried to tame anything, really, I'm not sure why... How do you- no, nevermind."

She was amazed, and wanted to learn more, but it wouldn't do her much good now, considering she had her own wings.

Shaenn popped out from behind the rest of the group, suddenly grinning, "Can I have one?! That is SO cool!"

Vienna shook her head, ignoring Shaenn, and said, "If it's going to work, you guys have to be ready at the exit as soon as possible." She looked at the syratope, a bit skeptically. "Are you sure you can make that happen? We won't have time to go and get you if you're not there."

"We will be there," the youngster said confidently.
The Syratopes were tough, almost destroyed...but even in this state, they still had the fire of hope.

"You should both get going," he said.


Safyr3 was suspicious. "...I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but why are you so confident that this will work?"

The youngster looked at her.
"Fraethre," he said, pointing at the psychic clinging to his arms. "She has predicted you will save is. She has given us hope. I think we all believe it is possible, and none have ever seen such a group as you."

"Yes," agreed the psychic. "Go."

Rhey was also a little doubtful.
"And if we don't make it?"

Opajik swallowed. He turned to Rhey, and looked him directly in the eye. "We have to."
Rhey stared back for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay," Vienna said. "Let's get a move on."
She addressed the two syratopes. "Spread the message. Make sure you're ready. You may only have a few days. We don't know what's going to happen."
She turned away. "But we have to leave now. Kydi's waiting."

"See you soon," said the young syratope.

Safyr3 nodded, and walked past him and out of the village. Faez followed behind her, confused at the conversation that had just taken place.


Under her breath, the psychic mumbled to herself.
"...They are the ones who truly need rescuing."

Nobody heard her, and she waddled away babbling to herself.

Vienna lead the way, and started to walk forward into the midst of the "village".
She kept her head up and tried not to look at the prisoners, in fear of cracking and stopping to help.
There's no time for that, she forced herself to think.
And if all went well, these syratopes would be safe soon enough.

Personally, she was unsure about Opajik's plan. It would be just another thing weighing them down...
But they needed saving. No one could argue that.
They had to try.

Considering the miniscule size of the area that was inhabited here, they were soon on their way out. Vienna shoved away the thoughts of all the syratopes behind her that might have needed medicine, or bandages, or...
No time.
She didn't look back.

They walked for maybe three minutes when a shrill, piercing noise split the air, and then all was still.

There was a great whooshing noise, like thousands of bats taking to the air at the same moment.
Safyr3 realized they weren't bats. She glanced upward, and gave a low growl.
The same creatures that had attacked them before were amassing, heading towards the village they had just left.

Most of them took no notice of the group, but others bared their teeth and folded their wings in a clear dive of aggression.

...And there were a lot of them.

Opajik looked back and saw the creatures swooping in out of the darkness hanging above.
His ears flattened slightly, and he tensed as a few of them looked their way. This did not feel safe.
He turned away, telling himself not to worry. These monsters were tamed, despite their ragged and hostile appearances.
Of course, he couldn't help but turn back around when the growling and aggressive noises behind them didn't cease.

His eyes widened as he saw that a few of the monsters were straying from the flock and heading their way.
"Um. Safyr3?" he gulped. "Are they supposed to--"
His voice was cut off as one of the things charged forward with surprising speed, in a furious mess of gnashing knife-like teeth and leathery wings.

"Um," Safyr3 said, arching her back, "I don't think so..."

She reared up, growling fiercly. These creatures were smaller than her, but she feared they would overwhelm her with their numbers. She lashed out at the air, to show she would fight if they came any closer.

A couple Syratopes from the local village came running out, watching the fray. Some of them came running forward to calm their beasts, which they led back into the village. Later, these were seen flying away over The Dim, transporting the Syratopes to their meeting location.

There were only a few diving at the group now, being held at bay by Safyr3's long claws and lashing teeth.

"Should I fly up there and scare the rest of them off?" she hissed. "I am not sure these ones are tamed..."

Opajik was about to spew out some half-nonsensical reply when a loud rumbling noise shook the air.
"That- that's really not a good sound--"
As the sound got louder, it was became more and more clear that it was not just a rumble.
"I REALLY DON'T LIKE HOW THIS IS GOING--"

It was a roar.

With a lurch, the source of the noise swooped down from somewhere in the blackness above.

It was a monster, not unlike the others snarling towards them.
Except this monster was huge.