Citizen 1255 Kysolampis

Kyso’s mumbling kept up as he watched Temnein move from tree to tree, tearing great chunks of detritus out of the branches with his magic, balancing precariously on those stupid stilts that he and Phino had cooked up. Kyso was even more upset by the fact the stupid plan was actually working. He had collected six buckets of sludge and wreckage to Temnein’s eighteen.  It had gotten to the point that Phino was now taking trips back to town to empty out the buckets, leaving Temnein and Kyso alone for longer and longer stretches as they moved through the forest. Kneeven hadn’t asked for too wide of a perimeter, but still… Even at Temnien’s increased rate, it was still going to take hours to get this done. Maybe even days if the perimeter got extended.  

Kyso groaned, climbing the next tree with much less enthusiasm as he had initially shown. His hands and feet were sore from being shoved into branch junctions that were much too small for them. His neck was sore from craning it around in the air to catch sight of various bits of detritus, and his magic felt weaker than it had this morning, as if carting around giant buckets of slop had drained it in some way. Regardless, he dutifully raised the bucket, and grabbed hold of what appeared to be a snapped bit of timber, coated in the same unknown goey surface substance as the rest of the detritus. 

Kyso started to pull, before the worst sound he could imagine exploded from the forest to his left. A scream that could curdle the scales off an elder rang through the woods, followed rapidly by several crashing sounds, each impact hitting the ground with such force that Kyso felt the vibrations in his teeth. The screaming cut off abruptly after the ground settled itself, sending a cold spear of dread through Kyso’s heart. There was only one thing in this forest that could make that kind of sound, and he knew it’s name.

“TEMNEIN???!” Kyso’s roar filled the air as he threw the waste bucket away from himself, leaping down from the tree as quickly as his bulk would allow. Thankfully the vibrations had been directional, so Kyso immediately knew which way to take off. Temnein shouldn't be too far away, it was only a few moments of climbing afterall!

The forest seemed to expand in front of him as the first sideway’s stilt came into view, shocking Kyso into a dead stop.  The three stilts lay in a haphazard heap, Temnein must have fallen, that was clear, but what had caused him to let out such an awful scream? Kyso snarled, cursing the undergrowth that blocked his view as he shoved against his mind, willing himself to keep moving even as his joints locked up. This wasn't the time to freeze, Temnein was going to need medical attention for the fall, let alone whatever had him screaming. Kyso cursed himself for letting Temnein get so far ahead of him, he should have been closer. 

Slowly, Kyso managed to force himself forward inch by inch, dreading what he was going to see when the ferns and bracken cleared enough for him to see his cousin. The cold spike of dread seemed to coil inside him, spiking through his spine as he walked forward slowly- far too slowly, he knew. 

Coming around the corner. Kyso suppressed a scream. Temnein was crumpled into a ball, his hands crumpled up underneath face as if he had stupidly decided to try and catch himself with his hands, falling from nearly double his own height. His tail laid sprawled across the top of the stilts, clearly broken from where it had been ripped out of the careful harnessing that held the stilt to it. That however, was not the most horrifying sight in front of Kyso, but blessedly the first one he noticed. The rest of Temnein had not fared much better, but the most terrifying wound was a large, broken and jagged shard of metal that had embedded itself into his eye- and all the black and green sludge that the wound and most of his face. 

Kyso’s frozen body managed to take a few more steps before he remembered what he needed to do in this situation. Taking just a moment,  Kyso tilted his head back and shot a large illusionary ball of his magic up into the sky, where it expanded with a loud pop into his halo with a medical icon in the center. Kneeven always had someone on lookout duty when there were teams out in the forest, he had no reason to suspect today would be any different… It was just… for right now, he was on his own. 

Right then. Broken tail meant dont move him unless necessary, as you don't want to mess with spinal injuries, and then… carefully Kyso leaned down, hovering his ear near Temnein’s mouth to confirm he wasn't already past saving. The breath came near immediately, but sharp and shallow. Kyso’s ears pinned back. How in the dome was he going to get Temnein to a doctor if he couldn't move him? And he couldn't leave him, because he had clearly lost consciousness….. Kyso sent up a second beacon, this time increasing the urgency the illusion displayed, using a flashing skull to denote the danger.

Kyso’s eyes traveled up Temnein’s broken being, categorizing each injury as best as he could, avoiding looking at the eye for too long. It was clear even to Kyso, if Temnein made it through this, he was going to lose the eye, at minimum. His left front hand was also badly crushed by his own body, his tail broken, various rapidly bruising places, several scales torn out of place and that damned eye wound. Shockingly little of it was bleeding, or… was the blood just the same color as Temnein’s scales? 

What could he do stuck here in the forest? He shouldn't move him, or touch the bit of metal, or…. Maybe he should tie off the broken hand? Kyso’s brow furrowed. It was impossible to get to the broken hand without moving him… Should he wake him up? Or was it better to leave him knocked out so the pain wouldn't send him into shock. Had the pain already sent him into shock? 

Another beacon went up, nearly without Kyso’s conscious decision, this time calling for as many people as possible. Kyso’s heart ached as he looked at his dear cousin. Had he wished this on him by making that bet with Phino??

Author: Babykitten