I’m more concerned with what caused them to stampede than the creatures themselves,” no sooner had the words left his mouth than their pursuers rounded the bend. The thunderous flapping wings belonged to some of the ugliest birds which turned the bend in pursuit of the stampeding beasts that had just passed them. Five birds started to fly by when one turned its monstrous head and looked in their direction. Flapping and hovering like a hummingbird that was a million times larger, it began to move towards them.
Slowly, Clarissa pulled one of the daggers from the hidden inside part of her clothing and readied the weapon. As it moved closer, it let out a screech which caused both of them to cover their ears and her to drop the knife. The bird reached in while Azamel was still bent over from the piercing cacophony, hitting him in the head with his claw and causing Mel to temporarily black out. The large bird grabbed Azamel by the talons and carried him off.
“ No!” Clarissa jumped up and grabbed the talon of the creature that moved behind the one which had Mel. “Hang on!”
The bird screeched and tried to shake her off but she had a death grip on it. It started to rise but still followed the rest of the group. She looked down at the desolated landscape and frowned at the misery that covered it like a blanket. The cold air rushed past them as they flew higher up the mountain. She spotted a huge nest lodged between two protruding rocks. Mel swore as he slowly regained consciousness and saw their destination, still too groggy to flash away.
“Great, just fucking great. I’ve always wanted to be dinner to an ugly mother-fucking bird in an alternative realm trying to save a hot damsel in distress!”
At least they were headed in the correct direction for the doorway the goblins informed them of but despite that bit of silver lining, Mel still had to manage to not become dinner to a hell realm pterodactyl ugly ass bird. He realized what these birds were. It had been centuries since he had seen one. He had only been a child when they were banished from the upper realms. The Native Americans called them Nunyenunc but essentially they were cousins to the prehistoric pterodactyls. A giant predatory bird from Native American belief, the Nunyenunc preyed on humans, picking them up with their claws and stranding them in their nests to feed their young or devour later.
Trying to focus, Mel managed to slip a dagger out of his boot, wiggling it free despite the tightness of the talon around him. He was then dropped as the bird took off back the way it came in search of more food. Thankfully, he wasn’t dropped into an open and waiting mouth, or eaten by the bird which caught him and regurgitated for her baby. At least Mel stood a chance to get free. Standing, he looked around the nest that contained a couple of golden eggs the size of his whole body. Feeling semi-safe, he started to climb out of the nest to get a sense of his surroundings so he would know where to safely flash when another bird approached. Mel ducked back down but not before he caught a glimpse of Clarissa.
The Guardian let go of the bird, dove and rolled into the same nest Mel was in. Getting onto her feet, Clarissa dusted herself off and turned to him. “Are you hurt?”
Mel sneered at his surroundings. “Oh yeah, my day is just getting better and better.”
He refused to admit to her that his lungs were a bit bruised or he was a bit sore from the way he was gripped, therefore he shook his head.
“It looked like you had more fun coming over than I did but I’m okay. Nice thing is- they brought us somewhat closer to where we were going. I don’t know about you but I’m not really interested to see what they planned on doing with us.” Mel added sternly.
Nodding, she turned back around and started to climb the nest to get out. Mel took her shoulder to hold her back.
“Wait!”
He leaned over the edge of the nest, looking down and towards the east
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