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Verintriqual... _a mystery to uncover.. __a world to unleash.. ___a home to discover.. prologue;; tragic end A feathered, batlike creature gazed upon the world laid out before her. Her world. A world of wonder, a world of hope, a world of homeliness. All hers. "Simplicity!" Another of her kind flapped in her direction. The animal's wings fluttered with such an advanced speed that on Earth the speed would have been a few hundred times that of your average hummingbird. "I've been looking for you." Two rudder wings in place of legs started flapping wildly to put the creature in a hovering position. Silver feathers glistened in the dim moonlight of the planet's single moon, Arshingle. However, his appendage was dull compared to Simplicity's beautiful plumage; emerald green mixed in with a tint of red, with black wings sprinkled with white specks. A pink ring of feathers collared her neck, and above was navy blue. Other than bioluminescent silver feathers and a crest, the male had nothing to sport. "What is it, Secretary?" Simplicity turned around, amber eyes gleaming. "I have a message from Carvaille. Do forgive me, Your Highness, but we've lost a gladiator- it was Kaleil--" "KALEIL?!" Simplicity's eyes burned furiously as she interrupted her secretary. "What is the meaning of this? Surely Carvaille isn't desperate enough as to slay royalty of that quality!" "Your Highness, please do let me send the message we received in trade for him." She still glared ferociously, but did not say anything. "It included Sir Utne's signature. It seems to be a riddle of some sort. 'When Arshingle's light touches the galaxy's stars, the world as we know it will be shredded to bits.' From the rumors spreading 'round, I beleive the same happened to all the colonies- as in, the sender killing a valued member and passing on the note- and look at this, Your Highness." He motioned with a wing to show a line of feather's prints along the edge of the note. These seemed to be for identification; it began with Sir Utne's secretary's print, and went all the way down to Carvaille's own messager's. "May I print my mark, too, Simplicity? The other colonies did so." "I give you permission, Secretary." She nudged a Leaf of Ink towards him. It was a large leaf curved at the edges, of which contained ink in the centre so the secretary could sign once they received a note. The secretary stepped with one foot into the leaf, then printed his mark at the very bottom. Suddenly, fear shone in his eyes. "The moon, Simplicity! The moon!" Her orange gaze lifted to the moon. Stars lined the edge of Arshingle. "'When Arshingle's light touches the galaxy's stars..'" the whisper of the Secretary quoted the suspected prophecy's first words, but his voice started to choke before he could finish. The air had stopped flowing into his lungs. The secretary's flapping slowed to a halt, and he fell onto the grass with a lifeless stare. Confusion was the last thing to cloud Simplicity's eyes as she, too, fell to the ground, never to rise again. The planet's crater started to quiver. The outer crust split all over the planet, finishing off the remaining life-forms, in a final earthquake. Then, flame flushed through the craters, and millions of tiny splinters flew in all directions as the planet Simplicity had loved came to an end, the most tragic explosion of a life-supporting planet the universe has known. |
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chapter one;; the beginning There once lurked a world, hidden from all views, which perished milleniums before Earth was created. It was called Verintriqual, and was home to a more vast, safe, and lively environment than Earth ever was. It was home to no sentient life to ruin its beauty, and its final scene was more tragic than that of any other planet. Its end is more secret, more unknown, even more interesting than what happened while it was still around. The life forms of this glorious planet? Well, of course, this chapter would swell to more than its worth if I were to list every single animal which lived across its span. However, I will give the name of the species which this story is centered on. Now, please do not laugh as they created this name far before humans had the chance to name a delicious fruit, but they were known as Cantelope. These, my friends, were very successful creatures. Their kind spread all over Verintriqual, and there was one colony of each subspecies. These were made up of Lords, royale, secretaries, gaurds, gladiators, fledglings, and simplings. Only one Lord was on Verintriqual at a time. They were always of the subspecies "Cantel. Diamond", which was the largest, strongest, and rarest subspecies of them all (Yes, each subspecies was "Cantel." and then a gem of some sort). The Lord was always male and was called Lord and then his previous name. They had upmost authority and were always in a line of Lords that went all the way to the very first Lord, who was called Lord Fringe. Royale were in every colony except for the Diamond colony. They were divided into a Prince and a Princess. These also inherited their rank. They had highest authority of their colony, and were usually rather young and passed on their rank right before they turned eight. Secretaries had secondmost rank in their colonies with one per colony. They were the message-deliverers among other colonies and species. They had a special ability to speak to other kinds of animal, which was very useful. They were very polite and always had ink-tipped feathers to distinguish them by. Gaurds were usually by the side of the royale. There were four per colony, which were always male. They were always very experienced and trustworthy, and were picked by the royale so as to be chosen well. Gaurds are always exceptional in battle and fight fiercely to protect the royale. Gladiators made up the bulk of the colony and were the ones who caught food and fought when needed. They could be male or female. They were divided into junior gladiators, which were younger, and senior gladiators, which had retired partially. Fledglings were always very young, between simplings and junior gladiators about, and were in the teaching process to become gladiators. Gaurds were always their teachers, so postponing the process of fledging was sometimes needed for simplings at their time. Simplings, as you have probably guessed, are chicks of the Cantelopes. These are highly valuable, and all members of the colony that are trustworthy would give their life to protect them. Their mothers are temporarily off-duty to take care of them. Let's zoom in a little farther. The subspecies the whole story focuses on is called Cantel. Sapphire. The very last royale was called Simplicity. She was rather young at death- five Verintriqual years, twenty Earth years. Cantelope, you see, have very long lifespans- twenty-five Verintriqual years and a hundred Earth years. But that was only the lucky ones who died of old age. Royale were very valuable, and if they were to stay a royale for too long, they would be killed in battle, so the rule that a royale must become a gladiator at the age of eight was for the good of the royale. Simplicity was your average Princess- kind, strict at times, intelligent, and bright. Another creature worth mentioning in this story which lived alongside the Sapphire colony was called the Squiggle, and peculiar as the Cantelope sound, Squiggles were even more extraordinary. They had the bodies of a snake, the gills of a fish (Which were used for breathing both air and water), the tailtufts of a squirrel, the plates of an alligator, and the undersides of a toad. There could only be one on earth at a time, which proved how fragile these seemingly indestructable creatures truly were. These creatures were also enormous- around three hundred Earth feet, to be exact. They didn't have a social orginazation as the only way two could be alive at a time was if one was an egg and the other was extremely old. At the same time as the senior Squiggle died of old age, the egg would hatch, and there was one special hideout the Squiggles had been using for years- the boot. It was a peculiar boot, rather, but it was describable as none but a huge, boot-shaped object. Its top had no hole, but the toe area did, and this was where instinct always told the newhatched Squiggles to go. They'd eat the odd Cubicle (A sort of small animal similar to a dragonfly) and would grow. The material of the boot was stonelike- but, as the Squiggles had no way of passing on the name, they didn't give the structure something to call it by. Now, I have referred to these creatures as 'was'. Verintriqual, the glorious planet of which this whole chapter described, is gone forever. The Cantelope, supposedly, are no more. Zilch. Zero. None. The Squiggles also are thought to be gone. But, unknown to a forming planet, a planet called Earth, this is not true. The Great Ancestors have demonstrated their mercy, as a few were chosen at the last moments. A single last chance has been given, and three species of the legendary Verintriqual remain in the universe. |
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chapter two;; last descendants Arluq suddenly raised his beaked skull, eyes scanning his surroundings with shock. He was cold- icy cold, so cold he felt he'd been frozen for the last couple million years. This, actually, was true. You see, Arluq had been resting in an extremely high, extremely old, tree when what is now known as the End had hit. Sleeping, actually, and because of the way Cantelope breathe, his circulation system was only barely moving. This made it so that the sudden emptiness of Verintriqual's atmosphere had yet to kill him, like a few other creatures on the planet. Then, when the earthquake began, he was not on the ground, so still- not affected at all. Then, the flame flushed through. If it weren't for where the tree had been placed, he'd have not been mentioned in this tale. It was right between two cracks in the crust, so the tree wasn't affected at all until the peice of land had been forced away and had disentigrated. As you can imagine, Arluq was immediately forced away. And Arluq owed his life to the way Cantelopes' bodies were arranged, because if it weren't for his upraised wings, he'd have split his spine clear in half. His species slept with its wings folded over all of the entire body, the front wings folded carefully over the head and body and the back pair taking care of the tail and talons. Arluq was thrown with such speed that it was twice as swift as the speed of a Cantelope flying, right through space, and guess where he landed. A large splinter of Verintriqual? No. A star? No. A crater in Arshingle, Verintriqual's moon? Yep! A splinter of the tree he'd been resting on had landed right over the crater, blocking out the elements. And it was so cold, it could've frozen a human in seconds, let alone a much lighter Cantelope such as Arluq. The shock had paralyzed him, which stopped his aging, which in turn slowed his breathing so he was barely even circulating the air at all. And if it weren't for the fact that the portion of wood still translated carbon dioxide into oxygen, he'd have not had enough air and would have died without even knowing why. A large weight on the roof of his crater had collapsed on top of him, causing him to be woken up. Arluq shivered a few times to help unstiffen his muscles, then tested his wings. They hurt so bad, the pain shot through his body like bullets. He held back a yelp and put them back in their folded place. The creature on top of him was serpentlike, coiled creature. It was about five feet long, and beautifully emerald-green colored scales covered its body, with a slight sapphire-blue tint. The creature immediately slithered underneath the wood, put it back in place so that it blocked out the view, and coiled in a corner of the crater. Its forest-green eyes glimmered with intense fright. "Hello?" Arluq tested his voice, which was already starting to be accented by the inmistakable authority that he'd inherited from his father. His blue eyes glinted with nothing more than curiosity at what the creature that coiled before him was. He'd heard of creatures like that before, and he knew the name, but a blanket of other knowledge sheilded it from view. If he just heard one little part of it, he'd remember.. The creature's eyes became even more petrified that he could understand what the Cantelope was saying, but he tentatively made the slightest hiss... That was all it took for Arluq to remember what his father had told him of what the animal was. Squiggles are peaceful fellas which eat nothing more than Cubicles, and if you do see one, you are very lucky to do so. Only one can be in the universe at a time- why, no one knows. He'd asked, 'Not even you?' and his father had replied, Yes, not even me. His father's lecture only made him miss the Cantelope even more. Because his mother had died while giving birth, he'd been extra-attached to him. Arluq sniffed, and wondered exactly where he was. And, another thing bothered his thoughts- Why on Verintriqual was a Squiggle here and only five feet long?! Another part of his father's lecture rang through his mind. Squiggles can grow up to three hundred feet long, as they never stop growing like we do. At young age, they are at extreme risk of being killed by larger carnivores and even a pack of our species when they've been recently born. Not once in all the milleniums the Cantelope- Sapphire and Diamond, Ruby and Emerald, Amythest and even the Pearl outcasts- has existed has a Cantelope seen a Squiggle below twenty feet, ever. We beleive they get to be smaller and hide out someplace until they're safe from most predators, but no one knows how large they are at hatching or what the size of the egg is. Mothers seem to choose the place to lay their eggs very carefully, and I don't blame them since it's their job to make sure the species survives- one mistake, and gone, just like that. Then he'd split a peice of bark in half easily with one snap of his beak. And as for gender; There being only one Squiggle in the world at a time, each one is both male and female. They produce an egg in the womb when the time is right, and lay it when the time is right. They don't have the choice to choose whether or not they can produce an egg, like we do- they must do it, for it's in the species. If a crook in the genetics were to happen which caused them not to lay an egg or if they were careless about choosing where to lay it, no more Squiggles. They absolutely have to lay that egg in a perfect spot where it can't be harmed at all. Arluq felt sorry for the Squiggle before him, for not having parents. Also, it looked hungry. Arluq still was stuffed from the meal he'd had before his rest- he started to regurgitate some of the food, just enough so the Squiggle would be satisfied. The Squiggle looked unsure for a moment, then started to lick up the food. He was completely uncoiled now, all caution gone now that the strange thing that was Arluq had given some food. Then, for the first time in two generations, Arluq heard a Squiggle speak to him. "Thank you." The voice was soft-spoken and quiet from rarely being used, and Arluq was surprised to know it knew the words already. "Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Carat, child of Eclipse and grandchild of Saturn." Then, it dipped its head in a gesture of politeness. Arluq was now stunned with the large amount of intelligence in its voice. He thought back to another part of the (Extensively long) lecture his father had given him. Squiggles are quite intelligent, about as formal as a Secretary is by the time it's twenty feet long. We've developed a new way of telling them their relatives' names so it can be part of their introduction sentence by request, which started two generations ago- that was the last time one of your descendants has spoken to a Squiggle. Arluq was about to introduce himself when a voice sounded. And then, he remembered. He knew that voice. It was Tria, the daughter of Simplicity. |