Chapter 6
After Rey had traversed the most dangerous depths of the Flametail Foxes' territory, she was able to retrieve the Boundless Orb of Wit.
It took about another week until Ben, Hermione, and Draco caught up and finally found a way to emotionally bond with the foxes. Those hoxian animals were ruthless-- they were constantly throwing flame-balls or sending bursts of fire from the holes and rocks around the land, often doing so in very sneaky ways. They were constantly being bombarded with attacks like with the Rainfeather Owls, except this time, the attacks were often done in surprise when they least expected it. They felt like they had to stay on guard for the most dangerous pranks every.
As soon as they finally found a way to bond with the foxes, none wasted time to move on.
They all headed into the central volcano of the island and traveled underground, making their way through tunnels until they emerged from a hole on the shores of a rocky land full of mist and hazy-colored trees.
Hermione noticed there were tall, ghostly-brown figures moving around, levitated from the ground.
The Translucent Giraffes.
They were in the territory of another Elite species.
As Hermione tried to approach one of the floating, faded giraffes, the giraffe immediately vanished into thin air. No doubt these are on the flighty side…Hermione thought.
Rey ventured away from the others, studiously watching some of the small groups of floating, faded giraffes hovering around a faded tree to eat. She could see through their faded forms as they motioned around the tree and each other.
Then Rey stopped and froze as she noticed Ben was already approaching them, sneaking up on them in the form of a Dustcloud Mouse, one of the quietest hoxian species on the planet.
However, as soon as he was within a yard from them, mist began to emit from the faded brown splotches on their pelts. The mist spiraled in front of Ben, and images began to form at its center.
Rey's heart stopped as soon as she noticed the images. She saw herself in the image, standing face to face with Ben. She was smiling peacefully.
Ben was also in the image, and he, too, wore a peaceful, yet intrigued, smile on his face. She almost didn’t recognize him. He stepped up to her, leaned forward, and they kissed.
A loud squeak sounded from Ben's Dustcloud Mouse form and he instantly transformed into his human form. He stumbled back in surprise, and bumped into Rey. The two of them fell back, gazed at each other with startled gazes, then shot up to their feet.
Rey's shocked eyes met Ben's, and then Ben turned to clumsily dash away.
Rey turned to the spot where the Translucent Giraffes had been. They were now vanished, but the mist that had revealed the image of…her and Ben….was still there. Thankfully, however, the images were gone and the mist itself was starting to fade away.
Rey's sense of shock and confusion, however, was not fading.
"Rey! Look out!" Cried a voice.
Rey whirled around and jump aside just in time to avoid a flurry of dagger-sharp icicles strike the ground. She looked up to see a white cloud hovering around. She recognized it as one of the ice-clouds Draco created when in his Snowfur Ferret form.
Rey watched as Hermione transformed into the form of the Flametail Fox and sent bursts of flames at all the ice-clouds that hovered around, causing them to melt, in addition to melting all the falling dagger-sharp icicles that fell.
Then Hermione leapt down and transformed into human form. "Sorry about that," said Hermione. "Draco and I were fighting again, and he made a bunch of ice-clouds to follow me around wherever I went. I thought I destroyed them all, but I guess some floated over to you."
Rey blinked then gave a small nod. "Thanks for saving me."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don’t thank me so quickly yet," her tone sounded rather dejected. "I…I was just saving myself. Absolving myself."
"Absolving?"
Hermione's eyes shifted to the ground, looking ashamed. "I've been envious of you. You've been acing this Quest without putting in as much effort like the rest of us, and it's been driving me crazy. I've found myself wishing to destroy you."
Rey raised her eyebrows. "Really…?"
Hermione huffed. She looked up and gave Rey a sincere look. "I hate it when I see people taking shortcuts to get what they want, rather than putting in the hard work for it. Like Draco does. But….I hate it even more when I see people getting what they want when they do absolutely nothing. Draco at least was just working smarter, not harder. But you….you seem to do neither and you still end up being the first one to bond with these Elite animals." She crossed her arms and looked down again. "There's nothing more that I hate than injustice….and injustice is something I want to destroy. It's why I felt the urge to destroy you….though deep down, I knew it was out of envy. Which was unjust on my part. And I grew furious with myself for it. I only saved you just now as a way to compensate for that….to stop myself from feeling such envy. To prove to myself that I'm not acting unjustly, myself."
Rey blinked. And all this time, she thought Ben was her most dangerous opponent.
An uneasy silence passed between them. Then she gave another small nod. "Well….thanks for being up front about it."
Hermione turned and walked away. "Don't thank me…." she muttered. "Like I said….I was just trying to….absolve myself."
Hermione then felt a pang of hurt. After venturing a good distance away, she stopped and looked over her shoulder. Rey was now climbing over some faded-looking rocks in search of more giraffes. But then Rey slipped, since some of the rocks actually felt as faded as they looked.
Hermione rushed over, feeling the reactive urge to help her as she fell to the ground. But then Hermione stopped in her tracks, as she noticed four Translucent Giraffes were coming their way. The giraffes approached Rey, who was clumsily getting up and brushing herself. Then Rey looked toward the giraffes. They didn’t seem to notice her, as they were gathered around another faded tree to eat.
And as soon as Rey fixed her eyes on them, mist swirled out of their faded-brown splotches. Hermione saw that an image was forming on the mist.
She saw Rey in the image, on her knees by the side of a bed, crying. On the bed was a hazy image of a dark-skinned man lying down, looking deathly ill. But behind Rey, there was the hazy image of a woman with two swirling buns on either side of her head, and she, too, was crying beside a bed. A bed where a fair-skinned man was lying, looking deathly ill as well.
Rey let out a meek scream, horrified at the image. The Translucent Giraffes turned and noticed her presence, and as soon as they made eye contact with her, they vanished in thin air. Only the mist with the images remained.
Rey took one more look at the image, then ran off as well. As soon as she was out of sight, the image began to slowly fade.
Hermione then felt a pang of sympathy. So that's why she's on this Quest….she wants to help those vile Toxicspot Leopards since only they can cure the illness they caused those people. But then Hermione gazed at the image again, scrutinizing it before it faded away. But…she must be torn. The other woman and man….those are Ben's parents. Not from her colony. She….she knows that by saving her colony, she is robbing his colony from the chance to be saved.
Hermione was about to run after Rey, wanting to help her out somehow, but then she felt a breeze waft over her. She turned to see that the four Translucent Giraffes were materializing around her, fixing warm gazes on her.
"Huh….?" Hermione gasped, disbelieved.
One of the giraffes closed its eyes and lowered its head so that the faded, twig-like projections on its head poked into her right shoulder.
It was transfusing its blood into her.
As soon as the transfusion was over, Hermione gazed at the giraffes with wonder. "But….why?" She breathed.
The giraffe that did the transfusion spoke in hoxtongue. "Here in our territory, secrets get revealed." She looked toward the direction where Rey had disappeared to. "It's how we defend ourselves-- if a human gets close to us, and we do NOT notice it, our bodies automatically elicit Revelation Mist, which reveals the hidden things people want to keep to themselves. It's why Rey's hidden fear was revealed when she neared us. And why Ben's hidden feelings toward Rey was revealed…even better, it was revealed when Rey was watching him."
Another giraffe spoke. "But as for you, you shared your hidden feelings with Rey before she could find them out from seeing you in front of our Revelation Mist. And….we highly value honesty."
Hermione stared at the giraffes for another silent moment. Then she gave a small, modest smile.
Meanwhile, Ben was rushing through the faded lands, rushing straight through many of the ghostly, translucent trees and rocks.
She saw it….she knows….his head was throbbing with rage, embarrassment, shock, disdain….a wide mix of emotions. He was constantly replaying the moment where he had seen his own imagined fantasy playing out before him on the giraffes' Revelation Mist, right before his eyes….right before Rey's eyes.
Ben skidded to a halt at the edge of a cliff, glaring across the cloudy horizon. No…I'm not in love with her. That mist was wrong. That's not reflective of me. I would never fall in love with someone who is stealing my only chances of saving my colony….and becoming ruler of this planet!
A rustle sounded behind him, and he whirled around. He saw Draco was creeping up on a Translucent Giraffe who had its back turned to him, eating from a tree. Draco was holding a branch of soothe-berries, which was a common ingredient used to emotionally soothe animals and get them to bond with you. But as soon as he neared the giraffe, mist emitted from its splotches. The mist spiraled in front of Draco and revealed an image of himself in Snowfur Ferret form. He was racing after a Whirlpool Otter, and as soon as he caught up to it, the two of them rolled around, tussling and wrestling. Then they both transformed into their human forms-- Ben saw that the Whirlpool Otter was indeed Hermione.
But the two of them continued to roll around, tussling and wrestling. And they were both laughing, having a good time. Too good of a time.
Draco dropped his branch, let out a quick yowl, and raced away.
"NOOOO!" Draco yelled in desperation. "NONONONO, IT'S NOT TRUE! DON'T EVER REMIND ME!"
Ben watched him run farther into the distance, feeling both surprised and relieved. At least he wasn't the only one who had hidden feelings he was ashamed about.