Fantasy Kaizoic: Earth Reborn

[Da Doofus]

Rufus was standing quietly with a faint smile on his lips.
"Beautiful." He finally said, calming a bit. "I think this leads straight to the canyon." He went to Kairo and nudged his back. "Let's keep moving."

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo stood up from his crouched position. Shaking his hand off of the water droplets.
“Aw but I like it here.” He said, feigning disappointment.

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus smirked and pointed at the direction the river carved through the jungle. Further ahead, ledges rose alongside the water to further empasize the naturally formed path.

"You're going to be seeing a lot of it anyway." He shook his head with a small grin and started walking.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo perked up at Rufus’s response. With a smile forming on his face, he jogged to catch up with the other man.

It was moments like these that he cherished. Times when nothing special really happened. Where he could have stupid banter or casual conversations with a friend. Nowadays, with seemingly so much on the line at all times, it was tough to feel that way. But walking along the edge of the river, with the constant splashing of the currents as ambience. Against all odds, he felt calm.

“You know what, being a carrier ain’t half bad.” He said, now standing to Rufus’s side. “If this is the kind of view we’ll see all the time. Then I say bring it on.”

 

[Da Doofus]

"Don't get too comfortable, kid." Rufus smirked. "Things rarely are this smooth in wild territory."

The watery path across the jungle was shaded by the canopy, and a gentle breeze swept between the massive trees; providing a pleasant coolness to the already warm air.

Rufus began humming a tune unknown to Kairo. His normal alertness softened in the wake of this natural splendor neither had witnessed in their time.

 

[Chai_T3a]

"I'm sure it'll be alright." He answered.

Kairo followed along. His eyes darting here and there as he took in the views and scenery. His knife had long been unsheathed and put back in its holster. He walked as though there wasn't a care in the world.

Kairo's was broken out of his trance as he heard the tune that Rufus hummed. He listened in, discreetly tapping his finger on his leg in rhythm with the beat. "The song. Where's it from?" He inquired after listening in for a while.

 

[Da Doofus]

"Old song from a storage drive my granddad had. From waaay back when before the Republic." He answered, humming the tune. "Had a lot of old stuff." He glanced at Kairo.
"Good stuff." His hand reached for his helmet. "Think I got it in this thing's files actually. Hope I didn't wipe it." He added quietly, seemingly dreading the possibility of not having the actual song available.

He pulled out a wire from his pocket which was attached to a handheld datapad, and plugged it into his helmet. The visor lit orange with activation and Rufus began scrolling through a list of files on the datapad until a warm smile grew on his face.
"Found it." He beamed, pressing a button and a harmonious tune began playing from the datapad. Rufus kept it in his palm as the two continued their journey, his smile showing his reminiscing of times long ago.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo was more then surprised to hear the tune play from the data pad. He hadn’t been able to listen to music in the longest time. His old music player had broken long ago, and he never really had the time to make a new one.

The smile on his face only managed to beam wider as he listened. Slowly but surely, he began to dance along, holding his fist next to his mouth like it was a microphone. He looked like an idiot as he lipsynced the song, not even knowing the lyrics. But that didn’t bother him at all. He looped an arm around Rufus’s shoulders, as the chorus came on.

Clearly, he was enjoying himself.

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus chuckled at Kairo's antics, and even sang along with him once the chorus kicked in. The two walked along the river singing along to the old song even by their own cultural standards.

Once it ended, the two were passing by a large, dome-shaped rock coated in moss in the water. Rufus was laughing heartily at their makeshift karaoke and patted Kairo's back.

"Thanks for that, man. You're alright." He chuckled again.

 

[Chai_T3a]

"Hey, no worries." He laughed, still not fully recovered. "We've been stressed out for far too long, I think we deserve to loosen up a bit." He added, meaning every single word. He'd realized at that moment how close he had gotten to the man right beside him. Not months before they'd had been absolute strangers, hell Rufus had flipped him off and then promptly held a gun at his face just a few days later. Now, Rufus had become a brother to him. Someone he trusted with his life. He wasn't entirely sure if he'd felt like that with anyone before.

It was surprising how the two of them could have come together like this. Kairo was pretty sure he wouldn't have gelled with Rufus if none of this ever happened. If he was to live his normal life working odd repair jobs for odd people, he'd probably brush him off as someone he'd never associate with. But now, when everything had already crumbled around them, it seemed that none of the past mattered. It was just the two of them, wildly different in upbringing and opinions, trying to survive together. Maybe losing the old world hadn't been such a bad thing after all.

"But dude, just alright? C'mon I'm more than alright." He joked, still happy as ever.

 

[Da Doofus]

"Well you still owe me for Cräga wiping the counter with my face." He smirked, then stopped abruptly.
"Hold up." He stopped Kairo with an arm to block him.

The gunslinger noticed it before he did, but the ground was trembling softly. Consistently and with no real pattern, the small tremors at their feet slowly grew more intense as the source grew nearer.

 

[Chai_T3a]

“C’mon that was an acci-“ Kairo’s speech was cut off as Rufus interrupted him. He was confused as to why he’d did it, but not seconds later it become very clear to him what was happening. The ground was trembling, almost like an earthquake. And it was getting stronger by the second. His hand clutching his knife hilt. He looked around alarmed, attempting to find the source of the sound.

 

[Da Doofus]

The ground quaked even moreso as whatever the cause was approached.

"Get ready. It's big." Rufus advised, drawing his pistol and activating the laser charge.

Branches snapped, and footsteps approached by multiple thuds. There were definitely more than one.

Rufus took note of that detail and tensed. "Better not be those Tyravi again."

 

[Chai_T3a]

It was definitely not an earthquake. That was pretty clear with how the thuds began to feel more and more like footsteps. Something big was heading towards quickly towards him.

Kairo unsheathed his knife. By the sound of it, the knife probably wouldn’t help him much, but it was his only form of self defence.

“We don’t talk about them. At least not now.” Kairo said, trying to control his body from shaking.

 

[Da Doofus]

A figure moved behind the wall of foliage across the river, and Rufus began to aim his weapon.
Before either could get a proper look at the creature, another appeared further to the right of the first. An elephant-sized creature with a scaly hide and an armored head that bore two great forward-curving horns. Around its weaponized skull was a mane of bright feathers of blue and purple that ran along its neck until its shoulders. The first one appeared, with feathers of duller blue and a beak full of a leaf covered vine.
Two more appeared along the riverside across from the men until it was clear this was a herd of herbivores coming for a drink.

The blue-and-purple feathered one had the largest horns, and it stared at the men with beady eyes bearing hints of brown to their color. It let out a huffing groan, like a cow mixed with a crocodile.
It didn't sound aggressive, it sounded more as though the creature was announcing itself to the two.

In minutes, over a dozen of the four-legged jungle grazers were standing at the water's edge either kneeling for a drink or taking bites out of nearby water plants. Kairo would then recognize these beasts as Cerataurs.
The boulder they passed earlier floated between them and the humans, and bubbles popped from below it. A slender neck rose from beneath the rocky shell and a turtle-like head stared at the men as it chewed on a slimy leaf of a river plant. It swallowed and continued to swim along the river.

Rufus sheathed his own weapon, and only appreciated the scene before them with a smile.
"They look like dinosaurs, don't they?" He asked Kairo quietly, not wishing to disturb the herd of Cerataurs.

 

[Chai_T3a]

After seeing the creatures. Kairo sighed, letting out all his previous stress. His mind had automatically gone to the worst outcome, and considering everything the two had gone through, he wasn’t wrong to do so. He was more relieved than he’d ever been in his life.

“Cerataurs.” He mumbled, in astonishment as he observed the creatures. “The ones with the feathers, there Cerataurs.”

 

[Da Doofus]

"They aggressive?" Rufus asked, glancing between the duller colored females and the one bright-feathered male. The buck kept his gaze on Rufus as well, but stopped to take a drink from the river.
The giant turtle diguised as a river rock, swam on down the river after ducking its head back below the water's surface.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo smiled, watching as the turtle like creature swam away.

“Nope. Their herbivores.” He said. “Don’t think they’ll harm you if you don’t harm them.”

 

[Da Doofus]

"Fine by me." Rufus holstered his pistol and patted Kairo's shoulder. "Let's keep going."

He turned to continue down the path just as a pair of Cerataur calves bounded into the water and splashed about in their play. The nearby adults snorted in slight irritation at the behavior, but resumed in their water drinking and chomping at hanging leaves.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo followed along, but it didn’t last. The sound of lighter, smaller foot steps made Kairo turn his head. Behind him, he saw the two calves, engaging in their play, and his heart instantly melted. The small Cerataurs were probably one of the cutest things he’s seen in a while. Watching them play almost made him miss the critters.

“Look at them.” Kairo lattes Rufus’s shoulder. “Theirs babies too!”

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus glanced behind him, to where the calves were rolling in the mud together.
"Cute." He smiled but the destination ahead was prioritized in his mind, so he quickly returned his eyes to the path.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo watched for a few more moments, before following along as well. They got to keep on moving, considering the amount of distant they needed to cover.

 

[Da Doofus]

Ever onward the pair moved alongside the river, glimpses at the wildlife passing by in the form of scittering mammals or land-dwelling birds the size of children.
A few more hours, and thunder began to rumble overhead just as the jungle cleared away into a wide plain. The river pooled into a lake with mist on the horizon meaning the massive canyon lay ahead.
Next to the lake was a fortified building of brick and metal bracings.
A dirt road curved around the lakeside and muddy ground toward it.

Rufus sighed, the distance they'd traveled beginning to weigh on him.
"Guess that's the place.
Glad we took the river." He chuckled. "Saved us a day."

 

[Chai_T3a]

After the long journey. Kairo was beginning to tire as well. He wasn’t the type to get fatigued quickly, but the walk definitely wasn’t a short one. In addition to that, any longer and it probably would have started to pour, and he really wasn’t feeling up to walk in the rain. Seeing the building in the distance brought more joy to him than he would have admitted.

“Yeah.” He agreed, a hand resting on his hip. “Last thing I’d want is to be out here any longer, let’s get this delivery done with.”

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus backhanded his shoulder with a smirk.
"Winded after a little hike, Kairo?" He laughed and stretched his back.
"Come on. Maybe they'll have some chairs we can wait out the storm in."

He started walking along the marked path, and he wouldn't share this with Kairo, but his instincts were wary of this place. A history of working similar jobs may have left him paranoid, but still he felt it best not to worry his friend and companion about an inkling.