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hyper-writes · 6 years ago

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Chivalry is Dead: Chapter 3

Thank you to everyone who has shown interest in this story so far, it means the world to me that my silly story has reached so many amazing people!

Oro could not remember a time he ran as fast as he did at that moment, a little hop to his step as he bolted past the wyvern guards almost before they could step out of his way. Though there would be no reaction on their end as he whizzed past them at blazing speeds, there was no need after all. It was not as if they could see him.

As Oro slipped by the nest’s first line of defense, he turned his head back and grinned. No longer would his mind be bound to the queen’s control, he was free to think whatever he ple — “Oof!”

The tyrak yelped as he smacked into something, stumbling back he started to growl until he saw what he had run into — or who, rather. “Maple!”

Maple had been knocked onto his butt with the impact, he looked up and gasped at who he saw before him. “Oro! Are you alright?” The other tyrak asked, giving his head a little shake before he stood up once more.

“Huh? Oh, yes! I am great actually,” Oro chuckled, his wings fluttering at his sides as he looked his dear friend in the eyes. But then, he hesitated. In those ember eyes he had come to trust so deeply, was a red glow that encircled Maple’s pupils even as the other smiled so genuinely.

“That’s great to hear! So the meeting with the queen went well?” He asked, taking an excited step forward before pausing when Oro backed up two extra paces. Gone was his smile, his expression turned into one of deep concern. “Oro… what’s the matter?”

Oro shuddered, though he soon realized that he had to put on a show. No reason to give the queen a reason to be concerned. “Pfft, yeah. I was just thinking…” He scanned the area behind Maple anxiously, tensing when his friend leaned forward a bit. “… uh, dinner!”

Maple rolled his eyes with a chuckle, “You and your stomach,” He mumbled, though he quickly returned to the present when Oro tried to sneak past him. “Leaving so soon?”

“Heh, yeah sorry. I’ve got to get back to guarding Erska and all,” Oro forced a smile before he trotted down the tunnel that led to the dungeon.

Maple sighed softly as he watched his companion leave his side once more, he was about to walk away when a thought suddenly occurred to him. “Wait, Erska?”

---

“Erska!” Oro barked into the dungeon with his maw peeked open in a grin, he skidded to a halt at the entrance to the cavern. His eyes wide as he took in the scene before him, small flowers of all different colors were sprinkled around the cell that the god inhabited.

“Oh hello, Oro.” Erska said softly, setting down a newly blossomed plant at his feet before walking up to the bars and extending his hand between them. When the tyrak tip-toed up to the grate and nuzzled his arm, his fingers brushed against the beast’s cheek. “Well, you don’t look injured, I hope the meeting went well?”

Oro pulled away with a happy whine, “It went great! I mean, the queen thinks you’re a threat and all, but — !” He bounced on his paws a bit before finishing his thought quietly after prompting from the god. “I don’t think they can hear my thoughts anymore!”

He winced, his eyes shutting as he braced for impact. Though Erska’s gentle laughter caused the enlightened to peek open one of his emerald eyes. “It’s alright, Oro. They will not invade your thoughts anymore. Not as long as I’m here.”

Oro’s body relaxed, his head tilting off to the side with a soft warble. “You… did this?”

“Yes, when we connected, I was able to block out the queen’s mind from yours. It will only last if we keep building our own link. It’s kind of like I am replacing the queen’s connection,” Erska explained, quick to add more when he saw the distressed look on Oro’s face. “Our link won’t be like theirs, the queen uses fear and power to control their subjects. The bond between a god and their partner is voluntary, one built through trust.”

Oro sighed softly as his wings rested on the floor beside his paws, “Oh, thank the gods.” He muttered, settling down into a lying position before the cell before speaking back up. “Y’know it’s odd, I just met you what yesterday? And already, I feel like I’ve known you for years.”

“Well yes, you’re —”

“Yeah I know, I’m ‘Valor’ or some shit. But I still don’t understand, why would I not remember you?” Oro questioned, watching as Erska too sat down in the midst of the flowers.

“The queen wiped your memory, and before you ask: I suspect it was to lure me here without you fighting their will. I am led to assume they wish to reverse the damage done to the planet which is why they allowed you to come and see me.” Erska said, waiting until Oro gave him a nod before proceeding.

“Now that their connection is threatened, they will become more desperate. But we have they beat, the power transfer cannot be forced without the risk of killing us both.”

“And that is good how?” Oro groaned, his ears laid flat against his skull at the mere thought of death. Granted, he didn’t know what such a thing entailed, but judging by the prey the hunters brought in plus Erska’s reaction to the flesh of that very animal: it wasn’t pleasant.

“They need us both alive, so they can’t risk hurting either of us. Which we can use to our advantage.” Erska smiled proudly, already tracing lines in the scattered dirt in front of him.

“Uh, yeah I have no idea what you’re talking about. Advantage for what?” Oro pried, resting his wings down at his sides with a soft snort.

“To escape,” Erska replied matter-of-factly, though he did hesitate at the wide-eyed stare from the tyrak. “You… do want to escape, right?”

“I mean, this is the only home I’ve known. Besides the one you may or may not think I once had,” Oro paused, looking back to the god with stars in his eyes. “What is it like out there?”

“My home planet is gorgeous, flora and fauna as far as the eye can see. You loved it there, when you were Valor.” Erska mused, tears rolling down his face before he wiped them away with the sleeve of his robe. “Your and my bond was once one of a kind, setting an example of peace between our races. There are more now, those that have followed our lead.”

He once again reached his hand out between the bars and Oro’s snout moved to meet it, soft snorting filling the air before the tyrak opened his eyes once more. “I can’t say I fully understand, but I have felt a pull towards you since you’ve arrived. I feel like… like we were meant to be together…”

Erska opened his mouth to speak, but Oro beat him to it. “I… am afraid, but if I am to perish, I want it to be by your side rather than defending a tyrant.” He said softly, purring when Erska extended his other hand to scratch his nose gently.

“It is so good to have you back, my friend.” He gasped out a short laugh, curling his arms around the expanse of the beast’s skull before he sighed. “Let’s get out of here.”

For a good hour, the two were deep in conversation about how exactly to go about this. It was only in those last few minutes that they decided on one of the many failed plans. Once it was decided Oro stood up and reached for the bars.

“Are you sure about this?” Oro whispered, every muscle in his body tense as his claws wrapped themselves around the cold metal of the old dungeon bars. A soft green glow emanating from his chest as he looked through the grate towards his companion.

“We’ll be fine, you’ve just got to calm down. If someone sees the glow, they could alert the queen,” Erska said, smoothing his fingers over Oro’s snout as the tyrak took in a deep breath. Slowly the glow in his chest disappeared, and he shuffled his wings.

“I can do this.” He promised, pulling the door open as carefully as he could manage. Releasing his grip the enlightened stepped back to allow Erska space to step out of his prison.

The god slowly approached the tyrak, stopping a few feet from his lowered head with a sincere smile. “I know you can,” He said, chuckling lightly as Oro extended his snout to meet his shoulder. At this point, Erska wrapped his arms around the beast’s maw.

Fresh tears slid down his face and onto the smooth bone that made up Oro’s head; for a few moments that was where they stayed, huddled together in that tearful embrace. But then they finally separated long enough for Oro to kneel on one side to allow the god to scramble onto his back.

Erska knelt close into Oro’s fur, taking a deep breath as the creature’s wings raised ever so slightly to further disguise his passenger. “Here goes nothing.”

#;Chivalry is Dead #(( the next chapter may be a bit delayed #but I will get to it as soon as possible! ))

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hyper-writes · 6 years ago

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Chivalry is dead: Chapter 2

Please don’t forget to comment if you enjoyed this chapter!

---

The mess hall was nothing overtly special, at best it could be described as a massive room filled quarterly with civilized enlightened near the entrance and the rest of the room crowded with the eyeless beasts fighting over scraps. But the enlightened were not bothered, they talked and ate peacefully just as Oro and Maple entered the hall.

“Here, we can just keep my kill. C’mon, let’s go find a corner to--” Maple started, only to be stopped when one of the enlightened approached him from behind.

“HI MAPLE!” Thistle screamed, causing the orange-eyed tyrak to leap into the air with a screech. Oro looked up from the floor just long enough to see what was going on before he laid his ears back and tackled the other with a hiss.

“Ow! Maple get it off me!” Thistle cried, yelping when Oro bit onto their fore-paw as hard as he could manage. Maple quickly recovered from the scare and yanked his friend off the other with a shout.

“Oro! Hey, hey!” Maple held Oro back despite the young tyrak continuing to growl and snarl at who he thought to be an aggressor. He gently grabbed Oro’s shoulders with a hushed tone, “Easy, take a deep breath…” Maple modeled the technique, waiting for Oro to follow his lead before exhaling in tandem with his dear friend.

Meanwhile, Thistle got up and limped towards the other enlightened. After a few moments of talking, all the tyraks glared at Oro even as he walked passed them with his tail between his legs.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. You didn’t know, just… don’t attack our own, okay?” Maple said, sitting down in an empty corner of the room before setting the carcass down between him and Oro.

“I thought you were in danger,” Oro mumbled, plopping his rump down before tearing off a piece of the animal before them. It vaguely looked like an earth deer, except it was light blue and had six eyes in total.

Maple overlooked the mess hall with tired ember eyes, “Yeah, I was the same way the first few years. But you’ll get past it, it just takes time…” He explained, looking back to his friend before he quickly spoke back up. “Wait, here take the stomach. That’s the best part,”

Oro looked up towards his companion with a slight tilt of his head, but then obeyed. Tearing out the belly of the prey before dropping it in front of his feet with a soft sigh. This earned him an exhausted smile from Maple, “I know, this was not what I imagined our first date being like--”

“WHAT!?” Oro shrieked, a deep blush appearing on his face as Maple laughed joyously. The young tyrak ducked his head with a grumble, prompting the other to relent.

“I was only teasing you, gods!” He chuckled, lowering his head to break off one of the deer’s antlers. He then lowered onto his stomach, the bone wedged between his fore-paws before he ground his teeth against it.

“I have too much on my plate already! I’m still not allowed to leave the kingdom, and after I attacked that tyrak--”

“Thistle,” Maple pitched in.

“Whatever the fuck his name is, doesn’t matter! I attacked him and now the queen is gonna have my ass. I already made them mad with the human, and now--”

“Whoa wait, what happened with the human?” Maple asked, wide-eyed.

Oro immediately piped up, glancing down to his meal without so much as a peep. His friend didn’t say anything else for quite some time, searching his mind for something… anything to say. Then he finally blurted out, “I wonder what they’ll feed the prisoner.”

Oro gasped as if suddenly realizing something, he swept the stomach off the floor and quickly ran back towards the hall entrance. “Sorry, Maple gotta go!”

Maple watched the other go, sighing softly before laying his head on his paws. “Of course you do…” He mumbled softly.

---

Erska was lying in the back of the cell, trying his best to get some rest despite the constant bustle and snarls of the tyraks on the other side of the wall. He used his arms as a pillow and tried his best to ignore the biting cold. Then, a familiar voice spoke up from outside the cell.

“Erska, I brought you something to eat!” Oro said proudly, dropping the stomach on the floor with a toothy grin. Pausing as the other expressed, not joy or gratitude, but grief. “S-Something wrong?”

Erska swallowed hard as he stared at the torn stomach just in front of the bars, he sat up slowly and cautiously. Inching towards the front of the cell before reaching out his hand, he touched the flesh and then pulled back in disgust. Anxious emerald eyes looked towards the tyrak as the beast scrunched his face up in concern. “This is really sweet, Valor. But… I can’t…”

“Huh?” Oro asked softly, looking down at the morsel he had offered the god before smiling shyly at Erska, “No, really it’s okay. I brought it for you.”

Erska shook his head, tears streaming down his face as he choked out. “T-This was one of my children…” This earned him a wide-eyed stare from the young tyrak before he quickly draped his wing over the organ awkwardly. “I-It’s okay, I know you can’t help it. You have to eat, I just… can’t…”

“Oh shit, I had no idea!” Oro said quickly, looking around the dungeon quickly before turning back to Erska. “Um… do you want me to… finish it?” He asked, only after blurting it out did he realize his possible mistake. “I-I mean—!”

“It’s alright, Valor… Yes, I would prefer it if you just ate the stomach, please.” Erska said quietly, which was only delivered thanks to Oro’s excellent hearing.

“Okay…” Oro mumbled, dipping his head and carefully picking the organ up before swallowing it whole. Though it didn’t taste as sweet as meat usually did, instead it went down like a boulder. Just knowing that he had upset the god was enough to cement that regret deep in his soul.

With an anxious shuffle of his wings, the young tyrak scoured his mind for something to say. Luckily Erska butted in with that gentle voice of his, “Hey, you kept the flower?”

“H-Huh? Oh yes, of course.” Oro said softly, looking back towards his mane as if that would allow him to see the precious cargo. Though he quickly ducked his head with a soft whine, “I crushed it though…” Erska stood up, reaching his hand out and between the bars to stroke Oro’s shoulder. “But it looks just fine to me,” He said, picking the plant from the tyrak’s fur much to the creature’s dismay.

“W-Wai—!” Oro’s voice caught in his throat as he caught sight of said flower, it was as if it had just bloomed all over again. He was speechless, though he did venture a little sniff at the remarkable plant.

“Hey, it’s okay!” He grinned, his wings giving a little flutter of excitement before he heard Erska chuckle softly.

“I guess this new body has channeled your powers even more than previously,” Erska mused, gently placing the bud back into Oro’s mane before turning his attention back to the tyrak’s face as he spoke.

“You keep talking like you know me, but we just met?” Oro grumbled, looking off to the side with a frustrated snort as he shuffled his feet.

“No, I do know you. You just don’t remember…” Erska explained, resting his palm against Oro’s snout with a soft sigh. His fingers curled slightly against the smooth skull of the beast before him, more tears welling in his eyes as he spoke. “Your name is Valor, you are a flare. You were murdered by a tyrak and now are the queen’s prisoner just as much as I.”

Oro could feel a soothing energy over his mind, an eerily calm wave washing away the nagging pain constantly invading his body. For once, he could breathe. And breathe he did, a long drawn out inhale filled his chest and as he exhaled a sudden bright emerald light enveloped him. He tensed for a moment at the surge of energy from his body, but Erska’s gentle voice quickly put him back at ease.

The tyrak couldn’t decipher exactly what the man had said, but once again Oro closed his eyes and listened to the god mutter things in a strange language. The warmth in his chest grew slowly until all of a sudden he could feel the power slip through his feet and into the floor. The whole dungeon lit up with that same green glow, and Oro could vaguely hear the distant growls of the wyvern guards behind him.

Though, as the tyrak came to from what felt like a beautiful dream, he saw that the god looked completely renewed. Gone were the bags under his eyes which now shone with the strength of a child, he looked so much better than when Oro first saw him. And, it almost felt like he himself had changed as well.

Erska, with his palm still rested on the tyrak’s snout, whispered; “Please, you must remember. You are not a slave, you are my best friend.” He then pulled his hand away again, holding it close to his body whilst Oro lifted his great head and blinked slowly.

His tail swished behind him, then he said. “I must trust my queen, even if I was someone else before. Now I am part of something much bigger, I work for the hive because I want to. Not because I have t—”

“Oro,” This caught the tyrak’s full attention, which only made the rest of what the human had to say. “The queen is killing this planet, they only seek power. They will drain this world dry and move on to the next.”

“W-What? No… no that can’t be true!” Oro cried, frowning as he stood up and shook his head. “They would never do something like that! Y-You’re lying to me!”

“V-Valor, I—”

{ Oro, report to the nest immediately. } The queen’s ethereal voice filled the tyrak’s mind, and Oro stomped out of the dungeon with tears welling in his eyes once more. His mind racing with all the possibilities.

Could his leader, the one who gave him life, really be lying to them all?

---

It was rather unsettling to walk past all of those drones on the way to the nest, even without eyes each one bore into Oro’s soul like they were looking at a slab of meat. As best as he could, Oro avoided any eye contact as he padded down the tunnels. Though this steely focus was shaken when all of the sudden the ground shook with tremendous force; that was when the enlightened really started to worry.

The ground only ever shook for one reason, when the queen raised their head. And that in itself was a bone-chilling sign. Usually the queen just kept their head down against their back, only lifting it if something — or someone — required their full attention.

With a gulp, Oro passed by the last line of wyverns and was face to face with the massive irises of his queen. Immediately, the tyrak lowered onto his front half whilst ducking his head, “My queen.”

{ Rise, we have much to discuss. } Their ethereal voice rumbled through Oro’s head, causing him to stand up in attention as the queen shifted their head towards the other side of the rock outcropping their subject now stood upon. { I understand you have been conversing with the prisoner. }

“M-My queen, I—”

{ Silence, if I disapproved of such an activity you would know. } They hissed, the ground trembling under Oro’s feet as the monumental tyrak flicked their tail.

“Of course, my queen.” Oro mumbled softly to himself, his ears laying flat against his head as he watched the queen’s head snake around the cliff side to observe him.

{ I merely have concerns } They started, slowly blinking all nine of their eyes before uttering a ground shaking purr. { This human… he is trying to mislead you. And I don’t like it when someone tries to turn my children away from me. }

Oro nodded, speechless as the queen continued on their venture. { He claims that you are something you are not, and I wish to make sure that you know where your true loyalties lie. }

“With you, my queen.” Oro said, though in the back of his mind he thought back to how he felt around Erska. And he paused to look up fearfully towards the queen at his own slip up, only to find that they didn’t so much as slow in their speech.

{ I know you are trustworthy, Stella de Oro. I simply wished to reassure you of my love, not just for you but all of my children. } They said, earning an eager nod from the tyrak. This did cause them to pause, but after a moment of staring, they went on speaking much to Oro’s relief. { You may leave now, keep an eye on the prisoner. But Oro, remember who enlightened you. }

“Of course, my queen.” Oro bowed once more, turning around to leave the cavern when suddenly the queen added.

{ See if you can get any information out of the prisoner, find out the location of the one named Nuyt. } This name caused a tinge of pain in Oro’s chest, but he merely nodded once more before walking as casually as possible past the nest’s first line of defense. One thing on his mind at that moment, could the queen no longer hear his thoughts…?

#;Chivalry is Dead

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