The time window is closing when gently, the armored otter's hands lift the body and face the little otter, who is looking curiously at the whole situation and especially at us.
'He looks so weak' the little otter said before the big otter stroked his head and began to explain to him as he led us into the little one's arms and giggled gently:
'You were like that too when you were little like him'
The little otter who suddenly held us with gentle strength behaved strangely:
'Gramps! I'm not small anymore' he said with mild annoyance while the big otter giggled:
'I know. But for me, you will always be small. He doesn't seem to want to run away, so I think he wants you to take care of him. I trust you to take care of everything he needs.
'What exactly does he need?' The little otter who held us in his hands began to advance towards the stone path, not before he saw how the big otter gathered some of the fruits they had picked and followed him not before he advanced beside him:
'I think we'll have to wait for someone with knowledge of birds until we know what he needs,' he chuckles gently, but his words show surprise:
'I suppose since it was on that tree, it eats fruit as well. I don't know how it got there, a bird with small wings can reach the branches without flying. I'm sure he's not magical or anything like that.
He chuckled as he led the little otter down the road.
At the same time, when the body was still being held tightly by the little one's hands, I saw a movement coming from the human, who seemed to have regained consciousness.
[It's too bad, I thought you died]
He looked at me before looking at the invisible barrier, seeing how the "body" was advancing towards him on the stone path as planned, unaware that we had been caught by the little otter:
"Where are we? Did you manage to escape from them?" He looks confused and looks to the sides, trying to verify what he thought:
"That.. that's great! I can't believe that for a change, you managed to do something reasonable and not go to places that according to common sense you shouldn't go to" he was happy and looked at me not before he began to float gently to see the information on the wall:
"More than that, without any problems! We don't see anything different than before. I'm proud that you decided to think right"
I look at him smugly that he doesn't understand him.
[Do you want me to ruin your joy?]
Moments after my tweet, they started talking:
'grandfather! How long do we have to walk until we get home?' He asked him, and the human's joy quickly dissipated, and he looked at me with a funny look of dread to me, wanting to grab me and probably slam me to the floor:
"I don't believe you" he advanced towards me, threatening to do what I thought he would do to me:
"I... I really should have thought you would do what you wanted to do. Maybe that's why I didn't see you before, you disappeared into the ground, and now I curs..."
His words were interrupted by the echo of the voice of the armored otter answering his grandson:
'We should have been there two sunsets from now if Betty had not given up her life, but I hope they will send us a new "Betty" to pick us up. Until then, we'll keep walking and maybe ask for a ride from a passing carriage' he told him in a gentle tone, not before we could see from the invisible barrier how the landscape rose to a height from our point of view until the rise stopped and you could see how the little otter's hands were still holding us, placed on his head and moving forward. You could hear the laughter of the little one enjoying the situation.
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The human, lost his words when he realized the situation, moved away from me and sat down in front of the invisible barrier, and just stared at the sky. As they continued to advance, he began to speak:
"You knew we couldn't escape them, right?"
He spoke without turning to me, while I just sat down on the floor opposite, out of boredom. There were moments of silence between the child's and the grandfather's conversations before he continued speaking, with a heavy feeling:
"I know I'm not able to understand your tweet, what's your motive as if you don't have basic fear instincts like mine do? It's even written on the wall there, but all these cases are just... outside of what I understand. I'm inside a bird's body, which doesn't I've seen a similar one before, which is similar to your description, in your baby version, which is now in the hands of an otter who can talk like humans and act like humans."
He lays down on the floor and his face looks at me with his face I've already gotten used to his ugliness, continues to speak:
"I don't understand anything anymore. I'm not able to contain any more things. I need a lot more time to digest"
He was unable to say any more words and continued to lie there while the otters continued to walk and talk until sunset. The little otter was still holding us while he sat on the side and while the body I commanded him to turn to him, he began to close his eyes from tiredness and the body also began to close its eyes. Before they were even fully closed, the armored otter started to light a fire and looked at us smiling before the sight went black once more.
The human looked at me and started muttering:
"Like a bird in a cage," he said and muttered for a few more moments until the body woke up together to the sight of Perry in front of us. The big otter looked at us and left the fruit in front of us. The little otter, who woke up before us, looked and tried to push a piece of fruit at us:
'Eat' he said not before my body ordered me to bite into the fruit. It tasted sweet but familiar to me. This is the same fruit we ate the day before. The otter was heard giggling at our eating, enjoying the situation.
Within a few moments later, the noise of loud footsteps began to get louder and louder coming from down the stone path. The little otter immediately gets up and walks towards his grandfather, who holds his body tightly, not letting go of us. In a short time, a large hog driving a large carriage comes swiftly to us and stops in front of us. The hatch of the carriage opened and another otter with armor came out and began to speak strangely:
'commander! It's good to see you together with your grandson!'
He stood in front of him in the doorway, waiting for the big otter to advance, and began to speak:
'You reacted faster than I thought, considering that the place where the ambush took place was far from the fork in the road and days away from Launcester. Is this something that was known to happen?'
'Yes sir. I will explain the details at the front of the hog'
They advanced to the front of the carriage as the little otter got into it.
Another armored otter was waiting, signaling the little otter to sit in front of him. In a few moments, the carriage began to move rapidly. The armored otter in front of us looked at us, looking surprised:
'Young Master, what is that you are holding in your hand?'
He picked us up and showed the body in front of him:
'This is a strange bird that Grandpa let me take care of. It has very small wings and it eats fruit!'
The armored otter smiles in front of us.
While they were talking to each other and the carriage was moving at a speed I didn't know before, the human all he did was lie down as if dead from the situation.
"I don't know what to say about that. Otters have replaced humans and they even have an army"
All we could do was just enjoy the journey. There was no way to escape or do anything except watch everything continue as it was. It didn't take long until they came to a stop near a stream of water, and let the hog drink, the otter released us for a moment in front of the flowing water, looking at us and waiting to see if we drink.
The human immediately jumps:
"This is a chance! Run away from them! Don't let them catch us!"
Should I listen to him?
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Name: ----
Title: ----
Species: Raphus cucullatus (Dodo bird)
Age: (14 days) - Hatchling | (93% growth)
HP: 100% | Stamina: 100% | Karma: -1
Abilities: Tweet | Climb | Run | Universal understanding | Info
Growth option path: Unknown
General information:
It is a moderately flightless bird. They are mostly herbivores that eat fruits, seeds, and roots but are also able to eat and crake mollusks, crustaceans, and fish when the opportunity arises.
Their large and powerful beaks are capable of causing quite a bit of damage and are adapted to the food they eat, but they will more often than not choose to flee rather than fight, even though they have no natural fear.
This is a bird that does not exist in this world and should not exist. There is nothing like her in this world.
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