The tiritrex, was a species, which would survive no matter their habitat. Their ability to become accustomed to their environment was unparalleled. If they needed strength, their bodies would adapt and increase their muscle mass. If they needed height, their bones would stretch. If they were required to fish, they would learn to swim, and if they needed to deal with humans, they would become smarter.
There was even a time when humans feared they would overtake them on the food chain. One of them would cause enough problems, but due to their intelligence, they all worked in large packs with almost no infighting. The tiritrex’s were once the scariest animals to walk the earth, but that would all end when the land they were living on froze.
The lushes land of what Fimbulwinter was before was turned into a frozen wasteland where almost everything died. Even the tiritrex’s were not unaffected by the bone-chilling cold; just like all life living in Fimbulwinter, they dropped one by one.
But like always, evolution takes place, and those who were able to adapt survived. Some learned to deal with the cold while others learned to store heat, and some increased their population.
Though the tiritrex’s didn’t have it so easy, they were able to adapt quickly due to the enormous amount of food they ate, but due to everything around them dying, they ran short on food and thus couldn’t become accustomed to their new environment. The only food source they had left was to fill each other.
tiritrex’s were one of the most intelligent species, but in their desperation to feed themselves became some of the most savage beasts out there, day after day they all fought to the death to see who would survive, and at the end of the battle, almost all the tiritrex’s had killed each other except one, a tiritrex who’s watched his parents fight to the death to feed him.
This tiritrex consumed the flesh of all the bodies day after day, year after year, until evolution took place and he could survive. As the years went by, his instinct and will to survive were more powerful than any other tiritrex, and he could even evolve past the issue of ageing. He carries the history of his entire race on his back and will survive no matter the cost, and even when faced with a horde of warriors, his willingness to survive hasn’t faded in his mind. He must survive no matter what.
And so, in a desperate attempt to break through the humans encircling him, he charges forward.
The king has started charging forward towards us. He shoots out his feather from every direction, and as they come towards me, Maple and Willow. Warriors come in quickly and pick Maple and Willow up with me, managing to get us out of the way. I heard Sequoia shout, “GET MAPLE AND WILLOW BACK TO THE VILLAGE!”
Then in a flash, they’re gone. At the very least, I won’t have to worry about them anymore, but there is a more pressing issue here, the king has been going wild and is attacking randomly. Still, all the warriors can collectively dodge his attacks. The warriors on the right side of the king can get close enough to land a few slashes. However, the king, even missing an eye, can still figure out their positions and hit them accurately. Even though we should have the advantage in this battle, I would say it’s almost even.
But as the Sequoia enters the battle, the tide turns. His speed was unmatched. He dodged all the feathers like it was nothing, and when he got close to the king, he started slashing deep wounds into him. Sequoia had a face of pure anger the entire time he was fighting.
After being cut, he started to focus on Sequoia to halt his advance, the king let out a giant earth-crushing slam, which forced Sequoia to back up, but while his attention was stuck on Sequoia, all the other warriors jumped in to slash him.
At this point in the battle, it seemed the result was decided, but in a sudden move, the king let out the loudest roar he had done today while shooting feathers simultaneously. Quite a lot of the feathers hit the warriors, which stunned them in pain, and as the warriors were dispelled, the king made his escape smashing through the trees and moving with all his might.
I hear Sequoia say to the dissolved warriors, “PULL ALL THE FEATHERS OUT NOW,” then he looks at me and says, “Orb, come help get the feathers out of all the warriors.”
I follow Sequoia’s instructions, but as I am helping the warriors pull the feather, I ask, “Is there something wrong with the feathers outside of the pain they cause.”
Sequoia then tells me, “If they fuse into one body, it guarantees death.”
“Sequoia, I think they fused into Willows’s back,” I say to him in a panic.
His looks at me shocked.
-Break-
Φ As Willow’s never-ending screaming echoes throughout the infirmary, I ask Oren, “Isn’t there anything we can do to help Willow.”
“Maple, the issue is that the king’s feather fuses into people’s bodies causing intense pain, but the greater issue is that after they take root, they spread roots that try to wrap around blood vessels and burst them, and I can’t just yank them out without possible ripping his blood vessels.”
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“What if we cut them out? They shouldn’t have spread far enough to the point we wouldn’t be able to do that.”
“To cut the roots, I would have to do that extremely fast and with precision which I can’t do, especially while Willow is writhing in unbelievable pain. I would end up just killing him”
“What about the muscle relaxer we gave to Cole.”
“That takes time to kick in. The feather would have already burst some blood vessels. I am afraid there is nothing we can do for him now except put him out of his misery,” Oren says while deeply saddened.
“No, you can’t do that. Willow, come on, we must apologise to my father. If you die, I will truly be alone, so come on, Willow,” I say while tears constantly fall down my eyes.
“I have to say your crying face is beautiful”, Willow says.
“I am so sorry I did this to you.”
“I had the choice to leave you and run away at any point, but I chose to stay. This is on me, and the consequences are my fault alone, so don’t apologise.”
“Willow, but I am so sorry.”
“I just told you to say sorry,” Willow burst out in another agonising scream after saying these words.
What am I going to do?
I see Cole run through the crowds of people outside, who were gathered because they were worried about Willows’s safety. Then, after rushing into the room, he says, “I think I should be able to help.”
“How so,” Oren asks.
Cole then turns to the crowd outside and says, “Would I be able to borrow some of you guys’ plant, it will be necessary to save Willows’s life.”
“OF COURSE,” They all shouted in unison.
I was a little worried they wouldn’t trust Cole. I thought he was still treated as a suspicious figure around here, but it seems my guess where wrong. So, we all head off to collect plants. After a little bit, he finds the specific plants he is looking for.
We then rush back to the hospital, where Cole then puts the leaves together in a bowl and grinds them up until all that is left is mulch. He then adds some hot water. When he is done, he makes Willow drink this.
“Cole, what are you giving him exactly.”
“It’s an anaesthetic made by mixing different ratios of certain leaves. When Sequoia brought me around the village, I noticed you had some of these plants though they were a lot bigger than normal with this, Willows’s pain sensitivity should be low enough to operate on his”
Moments after Cole tells us this, Willow completely stops wringing in pain and says, “Huh, I don’t feel it anymore, I don’t fell anything,” then he composes himself.
“Willows, all right, Cole anaesthetic thing worked,” I say running over to Willow.
Φ What the hell, this shouldn’t be this strong? The version of these plants I usually come across only offers slight relief. Is it because of the Fimbulwinter environment they evolved to become more potent? All the plants I see have been bigger than their variants on the outside.
“Cole is everything ok,” Maple asks.
“Yeah, I am fine, just lost in thought.”
“Now, Willow, it’s time to cut you open,” Oren says.
“But I am fine now,” Willow says, frightened.
“No, you’re not. You don’t feel any pain now, but who knows when that will wear off, so I will remove that feather now, Maple, hold him down.”
“Aye, sir,” she says as she follows his instructions.
As Oren starts preparing himself, he says to me, “Thank you for doing this. I have seen many people die to my lack of knowledge, and I am happy that I don’t have to add Willow to that list.”
“No need for that. You guys are the ones who patched me up. I am only returning the favour.”
-Break-
Φ As Sequoia, with me on his back, rush back to the village to see what has become of Willow, we eventually get to the marker and make it back. As soon as we do we run to the hospital to check on Willow and Maple, we see Willow lying on the bed, looking as if he had seen hell.
“Willow, are you ok,” I say as I run over to him.
“Orb it was.”
“It was what answered me, Willow.”
“IT WAS SO UNCOMFORTABLE!”
“Huh.”
“I couldn’t feel any pain, so when they cut me up and were screwing around inside me my mind was going to different places. It was horrible.”
“Willow, you DUMBASS, I was worried about you.”
“Hey, I was trying to tell you, my friend, about a bad experience I had. I thought you would want to know.”
“Willow, how are you ok? The feathers weren’t pulled out straight away.”
“Oh, you have him two thank,” after these words are spoken, we see both Cole, Oren, and a bandaged-up Maple walk through the door.
Sequoia immediately runs up to her and hugs her, saying, “Thank god, you’re ok, I was so worried for you”, he says with tears in his eyes.
Maple starts crying and says, “I’m so sorry, dad.”
“Cole here gave me some medicine, allowing them to operate on me and remove the feather. It was a disgusting process.”
“Stop whining, you big baby.”
“You're only saying that because you don’t understand how it feels to be ripped open.”
“Whatever, you big baby.”
“Baby, I happen to have been fearless in front of the forest king.”
“So what? I was able to take his left eye out while keeping you and Maple safe, so if anyone was fearless today, it was me, especially with my broken arm”, but then, while waving my broken left arm around, I noticed, “My arm isn’t broken anymore.”
“What do you mean, arms don’t just fix themselves.”
“I don’t know why, but I don’t feel any pain, nor do the arms look weird anymore.”
“Orb, it is quite a feat that you were able to take the king’s eye. I didn’t think your skill had advanced to such a level,” Oren says.
“Well, something weird happened.”
“What would that be.”
“Well, during my fight, I suddenly felt like this weird tingle in my leg, like the tingle you feel when you need to shit, and after tightening that feeling, my leg suddenly went bam,” I say with significant action, “And next thing I knew it changed shape I also felt a bit stronger.”
After I finish my explanation, I see everyone with shocked faces except Cole and Maple. I ask, “Why do you guys look like that? What’s wrong.”
“Orb, look at your right hand,” Willow says.
I turn my head to see that it has transformed much like my leg before it. I let out a scream out of amazement but then started to fiddle with it. “Where did this mass come.”
“Orb, you probably shouldn’t touch it,” Willow says.
“Hey Maple, do you remember the description for a legacy in Magnolia books,” Sequoia says while looking amazed at my hand.
“Sometimes the wills of strong people who have died can’t stay in the afterlife, and they descend on random people and live in their bodies with them, giving them not only their knowledge but also their powers”, Maple responds.