Immortal Darkness: Shadow Across the Land (6 page)

Taking notice of yet another pool of malid,
Molar’s pace quickened as his lion-like paws brought him to the
large puddle. Never having run such a long distance before, the
feel of wind brushing past his face was an entirely new experience
to him.

A halt came to Molar’s momentum upon making
his way up to the edge of the pool. At that moment, however, his
balance proved unable to keep him up on his feet—and he splashed
into the malid as a result. It was the first time he’d ever taken
sensation of a liquid overwhelming his entire body.
This is
amazing!

Jumping around in the malid swept millions
upon millions of little creatures away from Leyoht’s body in a
cloud of fear. It was until picking himself up on his feet when
Molar finally took notice.

The only one of these creatures Molar
actually saw was a large, scaly, non-blinking creature. Such a
creature wielded two strange flaps for swimming and two additional
tinier flaps visible on its sides. The creature’s body was almost
entirely covered with scales, its lips giving off the impression it
was kissing the malid. Such a creature was known as a fish—and its
very presence caused hunger to crawl into Molar’s mind.

Mocranians ate either bugs or fish, but many
preferred fish. The reason why was because fish contained more
protein—in addition to giving the Mocranians a fresh taste of meat.
Bugs, however, were nowhere near as delicate as fish were. Many
Mocranians despised eating bugs because of this simple fact.

Stalking the slippery creature, Molar noticed
its speed made it far too quick and its body made it far too
slippery for him to get a grip of. With a lurch, he brought himself
toward the fish—only to find himself with a bruised ankle and bones
covered in malid once again.

After many failed attempts at trying to catch
the gilled creature, he finally came to a spot where it seemed as
if the fish could not escape. Thinking this was his one and only
chance, he pounced at the fish—only to see it had slipped away and
accidentally swam into the jaws of another creature.

Hatred and resentment flared up in Molar’s
head at this sight. He felt as if he were about to blow his top
off. His anger built up until he found the strength to speak his
first words: “That was
mine
!”

Growling, the bear responded in an unclear,
feminine voice, “Too bad, runt.”

Just like many of the other citizens of
Mocrano, the bear in front of Leyoht held no fur, no blood, and no
brain. Instead all that remain of her body was bones. While much
lighter than a bear on Earth, this skeleton held enough weight
within her body to crush the life out of Leyoht.

Runt?
Molar wondered. Even though he
hadn’t any idea whatever the word “runt” meant, the insult still
scarred him. Wanting shred the bear’s bones apart, he walked up to
her awkwardly, his legs stiff. At the same time did he make sure
the bear wouldn’t take sight or hearing of him.

Jumping up on top of the bear’s large back,
Molar made an attempt to snap one of her bones with his small beak.
“Get off of me!” cried the bear. Releasing her grip on the fish,
she rolled over on her back in an attempt to remove the child from
her presence.

Unfortunately for Molar, his large foot
caught itself in the bear’s rib cage. As a result, he had no way to
escape from the bear rolling over him! It wasn’t until he jumped
out of the way—after that moment of struggle—when he escaped with
only a slightly injured toe.

After a slight pause, Molar picked himself up
back on his feet—legs shaking as he took a look up.
She’s
tough,
he silently stated. Only by turning his gaze upwards
when he took notice of the bear about to sink her teeth into the
fish he had just lost. Right at that moment did his fury rise up
once again.

Before she could take a bite from the fish,
Molar jumped onto her back once again. While he felt such an
attempt futile, Molar used all his strength with the aim for
bringing an end to his new opponent.
I’ll show you who’s a—what
was it? A runt! I’ll show you who’s a runt!

Upon feeling Molar’s presence on her back,
the bear started shaking him off—rather than rolling over. “Get
off, runt!” wailed she. It was then when she felt a strange
pressure on her spine; at the same time did Molar feel an
uncomfortable notion on the edges of his beak.

Ignoring the increasingly-obvious pain, Molar
bit down harder and harder on the bear’s spine—causing the notion
in his beak to grow worse. Just when he felt that his beak may
crack from the pressure he was placing on it, he instead found the
bear’s spine broken before his eyes.

The sound of a cacophonous roar vibrated in
his ears at that moment. Such a sound almost made him feel a spark
of regret for having destroyed one of the bear’s vertebrae. Before
too long, the bear lost her balance and started tipping to one
side.

Deafening screams of terror came to their
end—as did the life of Molar’s injured adversary. With her breath
now gone, the skeletal bear crashed to the ground one last time.
All the while did the fish—formerly in her paws—come in contact
with the sandy ground below.

Now with his beak’s pain disappearing, Molar
leapt off the bear’s back in a frenzy. Upon doing so did he take a
look back at his rival, watching as she fell to an eternal rest.
“Who’s the runt now?” the mischievous griffin sneered.

Unbeknown to Molar, the bear would now be
reincarnated into either a bug or fish herself. Such was what Yofel
had commanded would be the curse of all Mocranians had they shown
weakness by being killed. Once she was eaten in this afterlife,
nothing else would follow. She would simply vanish from
existence.

For only a few heartbeats did a pause of
silence last. During such a time did Molar constantly exchange
glances between the deceased bear and the food she had just
dropped. Taking one last look at the bear, he crawled over to the
fish and began to wrap his beak around it, absorbing its taste and
energy into his bones.

Instead of passing through him—as was the
case of the soft, skin-covered creatures on Earth—his food found
itself coming in contact with many sharp, razor-like teeth in the
back of Molar’s throat. Each and every Mocranian was equipped with
these teeth for only one purpose: to shred their food into many
tiny pieces.

The case being with all Mocranians, a small
amount of a saliva-like liquid covered the surfaces in their
throats. As the teeth shredded the food into little dusty
particles, such salivation would give this dust the tendency to
stick to consumer’s rib cage. There, the ribs would take in the
energy of the dust until it was no more; such a process turned it
into energy.

Although almost every Mocranian was born
immortal, each one of them needed energy. Without any energy from
food, they would fall into a deep sleep until somebody woke them
up. The only way to have done so was to forcibly shove food down
their non-breathing throats.

Taking up the rest of the fish into his empty
stomach, Molar enjoyed its soothing taste for as long as it would
last. No attention was paid to the bear upon him, even when dead.
Mesmerized by his scaly meal, Molar seeped his beak further and
further into its appetizing meat.

Upon finishing the last of his food, Molar
ran back home, feeling incoming breeze brush through his bones. The
presence of such a breeze blew away almost all the malid from his
face.

Molar came to a pause upon coming
face-to-face with the front of the walls surrounding his father’s
castle. Had he any lungs—or even the need to breath—he would have
been panting right now. His large paws sore, he slowly made his way
into Carpla’s garden as whatever remaining mental presence of the
fish wore away from his mind.

Coming up to the front doors, Molar stood on
his rear legs as he used his aching front paws to push the doors
open. Once making his way through the doors, he kicked them closed
with his left rear leg. He then walked into an empty room where he
found an unlit fireplace. Near it was a soft, comfortable
carpet—such was something Molar demanded further investigation
of.

Finding a comfortable place on the carpet,
Molar began to curl up into a ball as he held his front paws near
his beak. Despite the pain put into his toe, he nuzzled it gently
with his head. All thoughts of the fish disappeared—slowly turning
into thoughts of sleep.

--

For what seemed like decades did Molar rest
his weary head upon his front paws. Thoughts of listlessness swept
out and about in his mind. Peace and serenity followed through,
dancing without any care in the world—until they were
interrupted.

After a long time of resting his weary bones,
Molar was awakened by the sound of laughter.
What’s going
on?
wondered he. Listlessness suddenly turned into
nimbleness—peace into chaos—when he took hearing of these chortles.
A million and one thoughts flew around in his head until he came up
with a single conclusion.

Quite the contemptuous griffin, he asked,
Is somebody making fun of my dad? I’ll show them!
Curiosity
turning to fury, he picked himself up on his paws and made his way
toward the nearest window. Poking his head through this opening,
Molar witnessed a sight like nothing he had ever seen before.

He witnessed two creatures—much of his
likeness—as they chased a third one with a fish in his beak; each
of these creatures were his age if not younger. The one with the
fish in his beak seemed very enthusiastic and competitive over the
other two, his energy seemingly unlimited.

Fighting against the urge to jump through his
window, Molar turned around, passed Carpla’s walls, and rushed up
to the three griffins in a flash. It was then when he noticed the
griffins were not mocking anybody, but rather having fun with each
others’ presence. Interested by the game they were playing, Molar
asked them “What are you doing?” upon catching their attention.

The one with the fish in his beak spit out
his prize, placed it into his paws, and answered, “We’re playing
Capture the Fish
!”

Confused, a pause occurred as Molar wondered,
“
Capture the Fish
? What’s that?”

The boy standing furthest from the one with
the fish replied, “We first choose somebody to be the chased. He
has to hold the fish while the rest of us chase him. The one that
is able to capture the fish first will then be chased by the rest
of us.”

“Can I play?” Molar asked excitedly hopping
up and down on his paws.
And to think they were just another one
of my dad’s enemies!

The one with the fish placed the fish back in
his beak when he mumbled in response, “Okay, but you have to chase
me
if you want the fish!”

--

After the game, the four boys introduced
their selves. The one who had been the first for them to chase was
Caeo, the one standing next to him was named Mesd, and the one
standing furthest from Caeo was named Toakld.

Through the course of that day did the four
children played many different games Molar had never taken any
knowing of before. Not only could they make up games with the fish,
but they could also make fun with nothing more than rocks—but that
was just because Toakld accidentally swallowed the fish. It was
after which when one of the griffins threw a rock into the air and
allowed another to try and catch it with their beak before the
stone could hit the ground.

Exhaustion gradually swept its way over the
griffins’ gaze as they tried time and time again to come up with
something fun to do. Eventually each of them burned out, lying on
their backs—all the while beneath Mocrano’s ceiling.

“You’re a laugh, Molar!” exclaimed Caeo,
nudging his new friend on the shoulder.

With a glint of agreement flashing in his
eyes, Toakld popped in, “Maybe if I hadn’t eaten that fish, I
could’ve shared it with you all! Sorry, guys.”

At that moment a moment of laughter was
shared between the Caeo, Mesd, and Molar. Mesd was the only one
made no such noise—but instead wheezed in response.

“Well, I guess I better head back home,”
yawned Molar while picking himself up on his feet.

“Bye!” Caeo and Toakld called out in
unison.

After a long time of playing with his new
friends, Molar decided to head back into the castle—whose top floor
Carpla was philosophizing on. Completely unaware of what Carpla was
doing or thinking, Molar rushed toward home—running until his head
crashed into two wooden doors.

Dizziness swept over the child’s gaze as he
sat in the midst of the entrance to his home. With a shake of his
head, pushed the doors open with a small start of hesitation.
Gradually did he make his way through the doors and entered himself
back into the castle.

Upon making it back inside, Molar took sight
of many antiques sitting on the walls and on the floor—antiques he
hadn’t remembered glancing at before. Molar took witness of a pot
with the colors of fire stained on its outside; while the inside
was stained with a rosy-red color. He also saw a round and black
onyx; in it was carved a mysterious language of which he had never
before seen.

These are beautiful!
the child
silently exclaimed, growing tired once again. It was then when he
remembered how he’d forgotten to finish his sleep. With a small
yawn escaping from his beak, he trotted back to his carpet without
a care in the world.

--

Days and days had passed for the young child.
During such times did he remain in his walls’ grasp—never
understanding just what could happen around him. Why he didn’t
simply go back to his friends during that time was beyond his
knowing. All he knew was just how afraid he was.

Molar felt constrained by something—yet he
hadn’t any idea what it was. Perhaps it was his own ignorance
holding him back—or maybe the thought of being trampled on by
another bear was what caused his fear.