Under Nirvana - An ARK

Chapter 13 (A): Raptor Rendezvous

Story by Bria!

Find the last chapter in QUETZAL and the next chapter in PHOENIX!

Nova and Borealis continued to walk deeper into the forest, led by Twinkle’s directions. As Borealis stared off into the distance, Nova shoved her hands into her white graduation robe pockets. She wondered how long she would have to stay in them.

“These things are so uncomfortable,” Nova thought. “Not to mention, just how unstylish they are. I wonder if Ruby could make me something more… fashionable.”

Borealis suddenly blurted, “You are unusually composed, despite this all. I would expect someone like you to be… more than shaken, to put it lightly.”

“Uh. What exactly are you implying?” Nova asked, raising her eyebrow. Twinkle chittered in disapproval at Borealis’ words. Borealis glared, looking away from her

“Forget it.”

A smile came onto Nova’s lips. “Trying to start small talk, I see. I guess the boredom finally got to you?”

“Boredom. Whatever do you mean by that?”

“The boredom of being someone so stubborn and grade-paranoid.” Nova’s smile twisted into a grin. “Tell me. How long has it been since you’ve had a meaningful talk with anybody?”

Borealis scoffed. “As if that’s your business. But if you truly must know, I always talk. The last time I talked with someone about something important was just yesterday– or shall I say, the day before, with Mrs. Mo. We were discussing my speech I would deliver on stage for our graduation ceremony–”

“That’s where I have to stop you,” Nova interrupted him. “By a real talk, I mean a talk that doesn’t involve school.”

Borealis growled. “Why you–”

“Yeah. I get it. You’re a bore,” Nova teased. She gasped. “Heya. I just realized, that sounds like your name. Get it? Borealis. Bore. That’s your nickname from now on.”

Borealis crossed his arms. “Are you done?”

“No. I’m not,” Nova said, scratching her chin. “I want to see just how much of a bore you are. What’s your favorite ice cream flavor? What’s your favorite flower? And what’s your favorite animal?”

Nova smugly leaned her head back, taking in all the sunlight while Borealis basked in the shade. Borealis thought for only two seconds before answering all three.

“Vanilla, dandelions, and dogs.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. That is the most boring favorite of someone I’ve ever heard. And did you just say vanilla? That literally tastes like nothing.”

“Vanilla tastes like vanilla, fool,” Borealis glared. “Do not judge my preferences.”

“Like you have any. Those could barely be called preferences. That’s so lousy. Come on! Isn’t there anything else you like? What about…” Nova paused. She cut herself off. It probably wasn’t best to mention his dead ‘lover’ during a time like this.

“Enough,” Borealis declared. “Your questions drive me mad. Cease your yammering.”

“You even talk funny,” Nova trailed on. “You sound like some knight from the medieval times. I bet you think that sounds tough.”

“This is how I naturally articulate myself,” Borealis said.

“Yeah. Right.”

Just then, Borealis’ gaze shifted to the skies. He spotted a pillar of red light coming down from the skies, quite a few whiles away. It looked rather suspicious– but also worth checking out.

“Hm. See that?” Borealis asked.

“No, I don’t,” Nova said dramatically, rolling her eyes.

“How odd. Perhaps you need your eyes checked.”

“That was sarcasm, you idiot!”

“What’s that?” Borealis mocked.

“How do you not know what sarcasm is?”

“Now that is what real sarcasm sounds like,” Borealis said haughtily. “Perhaps you need to get your humor checked too.”

“Oh shut up,” Nova said, but a smile naturally formed at Borealis’ retort. “Let’s go check that out, then. It might be something useful to note for later, when we regroup with Big Jack and his friends.”

Twinkle chirped nervously. Nova almost forgot she was carrying him in his arms. She looked down with a raised eyebrow.

“What is it, little guy?”

Twinkle chirped again, this time a bit louder. Borealis squinted, raising his hand in the air to demand silence. It sounded like fast footsteps were approaching. And then the bark of a raptor shot through the air.

KEN! KEN!

“Oh dear,” Borealis said, his voice dropping to a whisper. His eyes glanced at Nova's back, before remembering that her bow broke in the fight against Big Jack and the others. “We have a problem.”

Nova bent her knees, preparing to run, but it was too late. Two raptors already emerged from the treelines, their eyes pinned to the two humans. Borealis raised his fists, clenching them so hard it looked like his veins were about to pop. Nova had no choice but to raise hers too.

“We can’t just make a run for it, can we?” Nova inquired. Borealis shook his head. “A poor choice, truly. The boy told me that raptors naturally run faster than humans. Not to mention…”

He pointed at a bush behind them. It rustled, and another raptor popped out. It was an ambush, almost deliberate in nature.

“It appears we’re cornered.”

“Well sh*t me timbers,” Nova said, her voice shaking. She took a deep breath. Twinkle grew warmer, and Nova really hoped it wasn’t because he peed himself. She crouched down slowly, trying not to awaken any of the raptor’s instincts, setting Twinkle on the ground. Twinkle ruffled his feathers, his chest glowing.

“We’re just going to have to try and fight our way out of this,” Nova declared. Borealis let out another huff. He was breathing in and out of his nostrils so heavily that Nova thought he sounded a bit like a horse. She snapped at him, “Chill out.”

“There is no ‘chilling out’. This is life or death.”

“Yeah, true,” Nova whispered as the raptors approached closer. “But… if we’re gonna go, we might as well go out with a bang.”

Nova grinned. She snapped her fingers. Twinkle seemed to take it as an order, because he looked at Borealis, and a gentle light carried from his chest to his body. Borealis took a deep breath.

“A bang, huh?” Borealis almost laughed. “Okay, okay… let’s see how this goes.”

The three raptors growled as they circled the two, snapping their jaws and barking at them like rabid dogs. Borealis let out an exhale, his eyes glazing over with an eerie, overwhelming feeling of ecstasy. Nova rooted her feet into the ground, setting her eyes on one raptor in particular. The question is, who will strike first?

“Prepare yourself,” Nova told herself.

KREEE! A single raptor barked, sprinting forward and jumping at Nova. Nova let out a giggle, rolling out of the way. The raptor stumbled, its talons scratching the grass. As it recovered… WHAM! Borealis slammed his powerful fist into the beast’s. The beast let out a cry as three sharp teeth flew into the dirt. Nova let out a roar and hopped onto the raptor’s back, plunging her fingers into its beady eyes.

KREEEEEE! The raptor howled, throwing Nova off its back. The other two raptors wasted no time diving in to attack. One raptor went for Nova, the other went for Borealis. The raptor that went for Borealis was quickly manhandled. With surprising strength, Borealis managed to wrap his arms around the raptor’s throat. He let out a roar, squeezing tight. The raptor thrashed violently. One of its claws even scratched Borealis on the arm, but he barely noticed. The raptor became weaker and weaker, its eyes rolling to the back of its head.

“Hyah!” Nova shouted, punching the raptor she was facing in the eye. The raptor cried again, scratching at its eyes with its talons. The first raptor that was maimed rose from the ground to help its kind, but Borealis lifted his boot and slammed downward. PUNT! Its head was sent flying back into the dirt.

THUMP! Borealis dropped the raptor he was manhandling to the ground. Foam frothed at its mouth, looking more dead than unconscious. He slammed his boot into the skull of the first raptor afterward. Blood spurted onto the bottom of his black robe.

“Pitiful,” Borealis said with a low chuckle. “You may be correct after all. This wasn’t so fun–”

“AH!” Nova shouted. The raptor had created two large cuts on Nova’s robe. Nova quickly retaliated with a jab to the throat. The raptor cried, convulsing and collapsing to the ground, unconscious. Before Nova could lift her foot to crush it, her robes slipped off her body, leaving her upper body quite bare, to say the least. She let out a high-pitched squeak, covering her chest. Borealis turned away.

“Don’t look, jackass!” Nova barked. She cursed under her breath, “What the ever-living f*ck is wrong with this place…”

She walked behind a large tree, quickly snatching what was left of her robe from the grass. She seemed more embarrassed than anything. Borealis didn’t turn back to look once. He let out a sigh, shouting out, “Are you done?”

“No, dude,” Nova retorted. “That stupid thing cut through my shirt too. God damn it all! For f*ck’s sake, that was my favorite one too!”

Nova’s head peeked past the tree, looking at Borealis’ back. Her cheeks were flushed red, surprisingly, for someone so tanned. He didn’t seem to notice that she was staring at him.

“Hey, lend me your robe.”

Borealis’ black robe landed on the ground next to Nova. She picked it up and scampered behind the tree again. A few seconds later, she peeked her head out again, shouting, “Thanks, I guess.”

“You are very welcome.”

A few moments later, Nova came out from her ‘changing room’, donning the new black robe. It was rather baggy on her, but she seemed to enjoy it more that way. She lifted her arms, seeing just how large her sleeves were.

“This thing is nice, Bore,” Nova said. “I personally don’t think it’s fair that any of the other graduates get something this comfy. I quite like it.”

“I don’t have a say in graduation ceremony attire. That is all Ms. Mo’s doing,” Borealis declared. Nova looked Borealis up and down. He seemed to be wearing a white compression t-shirt and baggy black sweatpants. A rather basic attire, but Nova expected nothing less.

For a moment, her eyes landed on Borealis’ abs. They were quite compact. Nova considered poking fun at it for a moment, but her jokes were interrupted when Twinkle walked up to Nova, pecking her on the leg and hopping over the unconscious raptor.

“Oh right. This thing,” Nova said. She lifted her foot, placing it on the raptor’s arm. “We’re killing it. And we’re gonna make it hurt, too.”

Borealis nodded, understanding her reasons. “Fine. Just do not take too long.”

But before Nova could begin her fun, the soft crunch of branches echoed and quicked from a distance.

“I would advise you not to kill that raptor.”

Nova spun around to see a woman casually approaching them with her hands in her pockets, an emotionless smile plastered on her face. A pair of golden aviators covered her eyes, and her golden-brown hair was tied into a messy bun, some bangs hanging down her forehead and sideburns. Half of her white graduation robe was cut off, exposing the blue baggy jeans she wore underneath, along with brown hiking boots that looked brand new. Nova spotted black leggings underneath her jagged jeans.

“Damn,” Nova thought, “She has good taste, for sure.”

“Um. Who are you?” Borealis asked, at a loss of words at the newcomer.

The woman scratched her head.

“Oh. Yeah. Right. You can’t recognize me. After all…” she paused. “Anyway, I’ve been looking for you guys. You don’t know me. Which is fine. You’re not supposed to.”

“What are you talking about?” Borealis questioned. He asked again, “Who are you?”

“Right, right,” she said, trailing off. “I have to introduce myself. Uh, you can call me Bria, I guess. Yeah. That’s my name. Definitely.”

Nova and Borealis shared a look of suspicion.