A funny. :D -- The Middle of Nowhere

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Date Posted: 12:30:57 06/08/04 Tue
Author: a Hajrar
Subject: A funny. :D

It's a big thing for a Hajrar to be exiled from his clan. You know? Especially on Nishao Kalimn, where there aren't many clans to begin with, and none of them takes exiles in. Especially on Nishao Kalimn, where there are reptiles big enough to eat even the biggest Hajrars in one gulp, where even the plants want to take a bite out of you.

I think they're just overreacting. I was exiled a few moons ago (that judging from Eral, original home to all 'rars like me), and I'm doin' just fine. And I'm not even that spectacular a 'rar, either. Just your average black. Grew up on this planet, survived it... got kicked out for somethin' I didn't even do... the usual. And I really don't see what's so difficult about living alone here, in the world of green and gold and serpents.

But then again...

Thunder shook the ground, a low crash that seemed to last forever and a day. Eventually, the nonstop rumbling woke a shaggy mass of ebony, and he tilted his long, powerful muzzle to groggily eye the sky.

The clear, jade-emerald sky. The one without any clouds, or lightning. The clear, cloudless sky that just made thunder...?

Nggll made a disgruntled noise and opened his other eye, flexing random muscles until his head swung off the fertile earth, bits of moist soil sticking to his lower jaw and chin. Long, expressive ears splayed to the side, giving him quite the comical expression, the Hajrar peered perplexedly at the sky and listened to the thunder rattle his bones. The ragged edges of his wing membrane were vibrating in a most ticklish way, and he hauled his bulk upright and twitched his wings until the edges ceased to pool limply on the shaking earth.

His thoughts were processing quite slowly, but they went something like, Now, why is there thunder without a storm? A pause where the black squinted and lowered his muzzle. Why isn't the thunder stopping?

A sharp crrrack! made the predator jump in surprise, wings halfway to flaring defensively before he caught himself. Lightning must have struck a tree.

Only... when he looked up, there still weren't any clouds. And there hadn't been a flash with that noise.

Nggll made another disgruntled sound and pawed at the end of his muzzle with one heavy, vaguely feline paw to clear the dust out of his nostrils. He snorted, sneezed, snorted again, then sniffed the pollen-rich air and sneezed again. In spring, even a Hajrar can't smell much other than flowers and greenery.

A sleepy yawn pried the black's deadly jaws open, revealing rows of razor-sharp, curving teeth to the no one that was watching. Blinking repeatedly, he slowly realized that the thunder was getting louder. His long, leaf-matted fur was beginning to ripple in messy waves, and a leaf drifted to the ground from the vicinity of his long, arched neck. He blinked again at it, then lifted his muzzle. Trees leaps and leaps wide blocked his view.

Another crrrack! and no flash to accompany it. And the thunder grew louder. For a moment there, his teeth actually rattled.

Finally, his long ears swept upright, and he wrinkled his expressive muzzle. Then, in the tree farthest from him that he could still see, a hairline crack appeared in its trunk; tiny flakes of bark drifted to settle on its thick, gnarled roots. Huh? Nggll thought intelligently, one furred brow arching in confusion.

There was a creaking sound like trees swaying in a hellacious storm, and then the tree snapped in two and toppled towards him.

A startled, half-terrified shrieking howl escaped the black Hajrar and he leapt into the air, massive wings flaring out and with one downsweep sending him forty feet up. Several more strong beats took him out of the tree's range, but he kept flying until he was above the gargantuan trees and could look down at them.

At the moment, his thoughts went something like, WHAT BROKE THE TREE?!

Hajrars, unfortunately, can't hover easily, so Nggll cast himself in tight little circles while the dust, thrown clumps of earth and bark and shredded roots, and bits of leaves settled. When it did, he nearly forgot to keep his wings beating.

Serpents. Serpents broke the tree.

Serpents with a girth wider than the tree trunk, which was wider than the black's entire wingspan. Serpents half a mile long, by the looks of them--serpents with eyeballs bigger than the black's body (not counting legs and insanely long tail, of course).

Serpents that were marked in gold and orange and purple, and one that was more black than anything else. A herd of serpents, all moving with languorous ease through the huge forest, leaving a trail of broken trees and deep, slithery tracks in their wake.

Nggll raised one forepaw to scrub at his eyes. It's too early for this.

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