Zer0
Haiku Hitman
- Cliffdrift Village -
"The Highlands"
"This is Whipped Cream." said Kenren. The white chocobo kweh at Isa in interest, nibbling his hair. Its eyes, plumped by its chubby cheeks seemed to slightly look at different directions. "He's not very bright, but he's brave and loyal." he patted the chocobo's neck. "Take good care of Isa now, alright?"
Kweh said the chocobo, nibbling Kenren's hair, before staring at Isa, then flapping its wings sending a powerful gust of air and dust around them and trilling, Waheehoo!
The two other chocobos trilled waheehoo! loudly. Kenren smiled proudly.
Once Renee and Echo picked their mounts, James gathered them all. "Here's the plan." He spread out a map of The Highlands and the eastern borders of Windshear."The monster last sightings were here chasing your friend two weeks ago," he pointed at the eastern border close to the Thousandcut Badlands. "And here, four days ago where it attacked Cliffdrift village." He pointed at a spot in the mountains south of the Merchant's Highway and very close to the badlands. "We'll begin our search there, but if we ever encounter anyone on the road, we must ask them if they've seen the monster. If all goes well, we'll get to the village in two days. Now, is everyone ready?"
Once all the question were answered, and they said their good-byes and well wishes: Johnny gave Echo a tight hug that felt like he wasn't going to let go anytime soon, kissing her face all over; Seifer kept caressing Renee's hair and cradling her in his arms worriedly, before kissing her hands and saying may they be strong and bring her and everyone back safely. James cantered around them on the silver stag, and said, "Let's ride!"
And off they sprang down the dirt road, pass the Templar camps, trailing dust and wind in their passing.
The weather was clear and sunny. It was quite different from the harsh foggy weather of Windshear. The Highlands was a jungle, great sprawling roots and moss on the muddy leafy floor, rising into root bridges with huge umbrellas of mushrooms growing at the side of the giant bark and flowers that smelled very sweet. The wide fan like canopies of the trees and curtains of vines cast their cool shadows on the riders, as the chocobos happily trilled as they leaped over the gaps of giant roots, following the bounding stag.
Night came early under the thick trees. The air warm and humid, with the smell of wet vegetation, and the calls of exotic creatures waking up into the night. James summoned floating wisps of ember flames, saying that they will press on through the night and just rest in the morning. The chocobos looked tired after a whole day of riding, but obediently kept going at a slower more careful pace, as night blanketed them.
Every now and then Whipped Cream would look back at Isa, or the sky, or something at the side of the path, while still somehow managing to see where he was running, as he followed the others; James always sent Sasha ahead of them, and once or twice he led them off the path, around the thick undergrowth that scratched at their boots or forced their chocobos to duck under arching roots or wade through swampy water, and then back on to the road again. He seemed to know his way around well, for though they spotted predators in the distance slinking around, they did not encounter them head on in their journey.
That night Moss didn't message Isa again, and the morning after that. Finally on the sunset of the second day, they reached the foot of the mountain where a roaring waterfalls stared down at them from a sheer cliff side. Here wooden homes, with plants and vines covering their roofs with oil lamps glowing from their windows, hung precariously from the rocky mountain side on wooden platforms that jutted out in the open air and supported by zig-zagging wooden stilts. Rope and stick ladders hung everywhere, many of which, connected to a small floating island about a ten minute jog away from the cliffs.
Isa could see that this floating island was like a jigsaw puzzle to the cliff side as though it had once was part of it, but was now floating away. He could see, as the mountain ranged moved northwards, that this part of The Highlands was were the land got its name, for in the distance, chains of floating islands hung above the half shattered mountains. It was beautiful. If he looked back towards the bird village, he could see the silhouette of more of those floating islands above there too, flying much higher than the ones in this mountain range that they were above the clouds.
"Alright, everyone," said James, "we'll make camp close to Cliffdrift village, there and rest for a while, then we'll begin our investigation. Renee, Echo you two ask around the lower cliffs and talk to the elders, me and Isa will search the higher cliff residences and talk to the survivors of the monster attack."
Katsuya
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