The point of the story was to explain what happened at the breeding place, the Standing Stones, minimum 2500 words. Another task, to describe why a Berry Nut was teal, is also included.
Last filler, I swear!
NOTE: None of the content of stories for Aywas belong to me.
[Standing Stones]
Grey stones with cracks exposing the color of the sky towered over three visitors that stood in the midst of the huge rocks. Blue stained the stones where they came in contact with the ground. The stones created a ring of five, and in the center point of the ring they created was a small circular hole that shot rays the same light shade of blue as the stones.
Of the three visitors, a human female said, "This place feels... magical."
The words spoken from every visitor's mouth.
The other two visitors, one a Reve and the other an Oakl, glanced at the large rocks. Never had they imagined to gain the privilege of standing in the presence of the Standing Stones. Tales of this place floated among the Aywas' ears, carried throughout the air like bees pollinating. Magical place. Happiness land. Love Cove. The best place in Ay.
The glow never wavered, and the human female wrinkled her brow. After a glance at the stones, she removed an item from her pocket. The yellow, rounded object shined in the blue glow, and warm wind washed over the group. The visitors closed their eyes and took a breath, and in an instant, all the stress was exhaled from their noses, from their mouths, from their bodies, and from their minds.
Glimpsing the hole in the ground, the human female placed the yellow coin on top of it, still unsure of the correct placement or usage; like the two other visitors, this was also the human's first time at the stones. She looked down at the Reve and the Oakl, watching their reactions, and their eyes just returned the incredulous look. She took a breath and let go of the coin and stepped back out of the circle the stones created.
The coin now blocking the rays of blue from the hole, the Standing Stones' glow began to dim. The Reve and the Oakl glanced at each other as the human felt her breath quicken. The magical aura was fading, and it was because she misplaced the breeding coin! Her body lurched forward, but before a finger could breach the border of the ring, the coin was sucked into the hole.
The three visitors simply stared at the hole, which was, after all, smaller than the breeding coin had been. The air grew still, and nothing moved other than the rising and falling chests of the three visitors. Trying her best not to move her head too much, the human's eyes rolled this way and that, wondering if a critter snuck up on them and played a trick. But no outside presence was felt.
A low whispering voice slipped past the human's ears. "Your task is done. You may leave."
Not realizing her back had been bent since she stared at the hole, she twisted back to straighten her spine. She opened her mouth to speak to the Reve and the Oakl, but stopped herself in time. She simply smiled and waved lightly, and after the gestures, she turned and walked away from the pair.
The two Aywas glanced at one another and then approached the center of the circles. The cracks beneath the gigantic stones began to glow blue again, this time the glow brighter than a generic light bulb yet not any brighter than the sun that shone in the sky. The Reve noticed the glowing first and flapped a wing toward it. As it squawked out words, the cracks ingrained in the stones shone brighter and brighter until the eyes of the Aywas closed shut from the pain. A white light flashed, and a gush of heated air whipped past them, who, by now, had stood closer together for the sake of having another close in case of danger.
And the moment passed just like that.
It was the Oakl who first reopened its eyes; first one, slowly, looking around, and then the other. It nudged the Reve to open its eyes as well, and they could both see that the Standing Stones looked as normal as any other. Grey stones. Black cracks. Blue glows. Brown ground.
“Did that light do something?” the Reve.
“Doesn’t look like it,” the Oakl answered.
Before they could speak again, a hooded figure poked its head around one of the stones, unnoticed. It stepped away from hiding and sneakily approached the pair. On a belt hung three different bulged pouches, all tied shut with a simple strand of rope.
The figure smiled from under the hood. "I am glad you two are here."
The figure could not have been any bigger than either of the two Aywas, but the Reve and the Oakl jumped at the sight. "Shhh"ing, the figure lifted a finger to its mouth. "I am not here to cause you harm. I have received the payment of your breeding coin, and you two look delightful! Just saying."
Bowing, the figure reached to its belt and took from it one bag, and upon doing so, it removed the bag. By now the two Aywas could do nothing but watch the hooded figure as it dipped its hand in the bag. The bag bulged in a few more places, from the figure's hand swishing around, and the figure chuckled as he glimpsed the looks of the visitors.
"Curious, curious I see. The mystery will not last for too long!"
With a swift upward movement, the figure removed its hand from the bag, gold glitter floating up into the air and falling down like sprinkles of snow drifting on a Christmas Eve night. The color glimmered in the glow glows of the stones, and the little flakes of the rich color fell on the Reve's feathers, on the Oakl's antlers, on the Reve's beak, on the Oakl's body, before their eyes, and on to the ground around them.
The impact of the movement displaced the figure's hood, and when the two visitors finally broke out of the trance initiated by the gold sparkle powder, they could see white locks of hair flowing down, not going past the figure's large yellow eyes. The eyes blinked, realizing they could see clearly without the scope of vision being cut by the hood, but made no movement to recover most of its black face.
The Reve gasped as it saw the entirety of the figure's face. It opened its beak to speak--
--but had to shut its eyes from the sparkles that bombarded its face. Again the Reve cawed at the creature with wispy hair, but it only laughed in reply. The creature now withdrew its second pouch. It untied it rather quickly and began to skip around the Reve and the Oakl in a circle, all by its lonesome when skipping is more enjoyable in a group. While skipping the creatures chucked more of the silver sparkes directly into the Aywas' face.
Sparkles got caught in the Oakl's open mouth and nostrils, and the Oakl began to cough and spew. His eyes blinked rapidly to avoid the sparkles from getting in his eyes, and the attempt was working. "Why are you throwing this at our faces?" the Oakl demanded.
The creature stopped moving and began to giggle. "Because magical powder is so pretty and fun to fling around! But do not worry, the sparkles will disappear in just a bit."
The Reve fluttered its wings about and narrowed its eyes at the creature. "You look too suspicious to lurk around the magical Standing Stones, let alone be a part of it, you Xaoc!"
The Xaoc blinked, and its smile did not falter. "But here I am in the Standing Stones, not lit aflame, not brushed away by their power, nor dropping dead. I am indeed welcome here at the Stones, for I am the one who oversees all breedings."
The Reve and the Oakl glanced at one another incredulously. But all the Xaoc stories they were told of consisted of evil beings, yet here was one that was in charge of such an honor as breedings? The day had been full of surprises so far. First, their owner was squealing in delight over a little yellow coin, then she ran off to gossip with others, flashing photographs of the pets in the lair, and then the owner lead the Reve and the Oakl to the Stones (which the Aywas still could not recover fully from the shock) and leave them in a stupor of wonderment and wariness. And to top the whole day off, here was a Xaoc skipping like a pansy and twirling powder from bags!
Analyzing the day began to make their heads hurt.
Distracted, the Reve and the Oakl did not notice that the Xaoc was removing its third and final bag tied around its belt. It removed the string holding it closed and pulled an object out. Only when clunking sounds were formed did the Aywas glance back at the Xaoc, broken from their headache trance. The sky dark, the night surrounding them, the Aywas could not see the object correctly; they only saw a shine that reflected smoothly off an object, one that they could assume was sharp or metallic.
A battle axe was the first to come to their minds.
"No!"
Their shout was too late, for all of a sudden, a sharp flash attacked their eyes, blinding them. The Oakl thrashed about kicking its back legs while the Reve flapped its wings furiously, letting itself fly inches from the ground and hover before dropping down again. In the next moment the Reve jolted from a sharp pain stabbing its left wing, and the Reve hopped back on its feet with a surprised squawk. The Oakl stopped pounding its legs on the ground and stared at the Reve with wide eyes. And it blinked.
"I'm so sorry for stepping on your wing."
"Why am I here to breed with you again?"
Laughter caressed their ears, and on the ground not far from them was the Xaoc, bright open mouth open to reveal whiteness (that was not teeth, as far as the Aywas could tell). Sitting upright the Xaoc brushed an imaginary tear from its eye. "Priceless" it piped. "Such beauties, but you don't seem fond of one another. And it seems its against your will too, all up to the human who dropped you two off here. Such is the burdened life of the gorgeous and desired!"
The Reve was ready to scrutinize the Xaoc when a familiar gleam hit her eyes again. Unharmed next to the Xaoc was a black, complex, old fashioned camera. "What is that?" the Reve asked.
The Xaoc looked over and picked up the camera. "It looks old, but it behaves as if it was just created yesterday. It works like a modern camera, and it's purpose is to take your pictures for the breeding."
The Oakl frowned. "If only pictures were needed, then what was the use of coming here?"
"To retain the Standing Stone's magical reputation, of course," said the Xaoc, expression unchanging and still pleasant. "You did not actually think anything truly special happened here, right? You see, Aywas of any species may come here, but that is not too logical when thinking biologically, is it? Breeding is a lovely word, for it creates images of smiling little offsprings cooing 'mommy,' 'daddy,' and any other variant if gender is unrecognizable. But the truth is, there is nothing intimate that happens. This place is not magical (if anything the magical being here is yours truly) because what happens here is simply not a miracle.
"Again, think to yourselves, how would crossbreeding be possible biologically? Thing is, it does not. Pictures are taken because they are the only things that matters. How the breeding process goes is that we take your pictures, mix and match colors, unique perks, and markings and merge it into the same species, a hybrid, like in your case, or pick and play with the genus of a parent. What realistically tarnishes the once beautiful image of breeding is that the breeding process is all completed by humans under my control. Humans who sit and slave for me to design your babies. Humans do all the work that tear away intimacy replaced with professional business. Then I order another human to send all of the babies out so that the parents of the offspring become delighted. The humans will do anything if you threaten to eat their brains out."
The final breath of the truth left the Xaoc as it returned to simply standing and smiling at the Reve and the Oakl. The Aywas stared, dumbfounded even more, as their slow, spongey minds soaked in the information. Several times, the Oakl's mouth would open, hesitate, and then close, and the same movements happened with the Reve and its beak.
Moments passed before the Oakl could finally let the words out. "Why are you telling us this horrible truth when we will end up telling all the other Aywas and never give you business again for your dirty little production?"
The Aywas gasped internally as the Xaoc's hair rose threateningly and its mouth became crooked and menacing. "Why the hell else would I tell you other than the fact that it's deliciously fun to see your blasted little reactions?"
Before the Reve and the Oakl could run away from the Standing Stones, the Xaoc stuck out its black tongue and revealed its opaque eyes. Like the camera, a sharp flash was released, and the Reve and the Oakl fell to the ground. The Xaoc covered its face and hair with its hood again and walked away quietly, whistling to itself.
"Memory wiping is a delight."
The Reve and the Oakl returned to their lair with a human female walking in front of them. In between the two Aywas was a freshly hatched Ippo, which, as an egg, traveled from the hands of magic to the Phoenix Tree to the hands of the human to the Standing Stones (where the magic began) and finally in between its rightful parents. The Ippo smiled a babyish smile even though it was larger than both of its parents; but age-wise, it was as tiny as a fauna.
Once at the lair, the Ippo plopped down in an empty area and giggled at its parents, who sat down before him (and by now the human had left). The Reve and the Oakl looked at each other and nodded, knowing the perfect story to tell. The Oakl retreated into the lair and returned with a teal Berry Nut, and it held the nut up to the Ippo's crossed eyes.
"There have been many theories behind the reason berry nuts are teal, but the real reason berry nuts are teal goes back many years. It has been said that there is a tiny bunch of blue seeds inside the nut which can be used to grown your very own berry nut trees. These blue seeds, although tiny, are what make the nut blue and provide the flavour, but after a witch cursed them all with plant leaves, it turned them all teal and they have never been the same since.
"And this, my child, is magic."
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