Lsyn

One year later... "Herm! Herm, are you ready? We must go!" The owl woke up on his bed, drooling on his pillow and smiling for a pleasant dream. Someone was banging at the door of his bedroom, and whoever it was seemed in a rush. "Coming! I'm not sleeping at all!" He got up a little stiff, but otherwise okay. Some time had passed since the terrible war: not much had changed, he limped all the same and he was just bigger, but when he ruffled his feathers there was no trace of his juvenile fluff. At his neck there was a wooden leaf charm. A very familiar smell hit his nostrils, and he smiled as he finished to prepare, then fluttered towards the little kitchen already full of life and of the warm light of the dawn. Their own home. Their place. Shoelace had not changed much either: she was bigger, her tail had grown back, she had a wooden leaf charm as well and she seemed to be very busy preparing some backpacks, helped by a fair-feathered little owl. The bulkier one seemed to be

The Opus army stood for some long moments in a stunned silence. Olive, her rose glasses cracked and dirty, was fuming. "What did you...do…" Chief and other Rockoons went to the cliff’s edge, trying to desperately grasp at what was left of the bridge, but it was useless. Their plan had worked. "Nooo Boss! How can we get Boss! Our Boss!" Hermes showed them his tongue, panting and completely exhausted, crashing on the ground when the good leg gave up without a warning. “Birdie!” “Herm!” The little owl coughed. "I think...I can't take you on the other side. I’m beat." Lace nodded. "Road it is, then. Come on Goose, get up" The owl tried to get on his feet, but all the exhaustion and pain had took its toll. He whined when he tried to put his bad foot on the ground, and fell again. Hissy caught him at the last moment, tail flicking like crazy. Now they were three against…how many? She didn’t know how to count, but they were a lot. "Fake Snake, Hissy think it was a really bad idea"

As they climbed out of the secret tunnel through the wall it was easy to notice how the situation was dire. They could spot in the distance foxes and rats scurrying over the walls, and the air was filled by barks and shrieks. Dandelion signed to them to stay low, walking cautiously towards the exit of the tunnel. "The road towards Braymire is a relatively easy one, though we don't exactly know our enemies’ position. It’s strange…” He scratched his head. “Usually they don’t get along at all. Something has caused them to band together. I wonder what it could be..." “Yeah…we wonder…” Shoelace and Hermes stared at each other without saying a word for a while, and they cleared their throats. They weren't in the mood for any jokes. Dutchess and Hissy were equally silent. It was pretty clear that the hognose still had to wrap her head around the big things that had happened "Hissy? Are you okay? She stood there, thinking for a while before shaking her head. "Hissy is afraid, and Hissy

Cluster six began the least stretch of their journey the morning after. The sun hadn't appeared yet, but the sky was clear and crisp. The mood was less somber: though the absence of Walkies and Teasel weighed on their hearts like a heavy blanket, the excitement was palpable. There was no doubt: their journey was approaching its end. After the green patch they had sought refuge in, the roads became smaller and way less crowded, so much that they were easier to cross, with no dragons or trucks in sight. There was less trash around, the buildings had more space between one another and enclosed gardens full of bushes and trees. Every now and then they heard some dog barking through the fences, but no one really bothered them much, and no human was in sight. Hermes was still pestering Cielle after giving the fig to her, and he was stretching his wings and hopping under her patient guide. He was still pretty unbalanced: though he was able to lift himself a few centimeters, the landing

No eye was truly closed that cold night. Dax, Oakley and Crepitus were busy preparing the last part of the trip, and no one was really in the mood to sleep, except maybe from Natter, who had dozed off a few times, snoring loudly, and Dutchess, who absolutely needed her beauty sleep. The others were scattered on the ground, silent or chattering with each other. Lace and Hermes had kept close to each other, tired and still heartbroken. The glass lizard was mindlessly playing the harmonica, the most comforting tune she knew. Her friend smiled, stretching his sore wounded foot as he began to hum along, a hum that soon became the song they both knew best: Hush now, my baby, don’t matter how your day may be. Sit down and now you listen the story of our travels how the tale spins, unravels to get us where the clear waters glisten, everything will be quiet and peace and all of our troubles will finally cease In Braymire-oh-oh Braaayyymiiiire! “Hey! That’s a nice song…” Hazel, sitting

"Thou ate a frog? Hissy dear, I don’t think I understand what..." Dutchess couldn't hide the momentary pang of fear in her eyes, but all that she needed to do was stare at her friend after she took a step back from her. The snake stood where she was, harmless and confused, coiled pitifully, head resting on her body and blueish eyes full of sadness. She would have pouted if only was possible: that stopped the albino frog, who tried to calm down, drawing a big breath and hiding her torn expression in the moss scarf. "How can thou be so certain of this? Thou art not a murderer. Tis cannot be!" Hissy clearly did not know what to think about that, and she twitched nervously her tail. "Hissy dreams about a froggie. Lily Peaches. And Lily met a snake in the dreams, and the snake…was Hissy!” She protested, unsure and concerned. She tried to slither towards Dutchess, and she froze the moment she noticed how tense her friend seemed to be, divided between fear and incredulity. “Hissy does not

"Phew!That was close!" Olive, the young fox, giggled to scamper towards the street as they got out of what seemed like a church and the hilarious commotion a little group of forest animals had caused. Days had passed since the four friends had run from their families in Eremile, and their shenanigans had left them with some bruises and many, many stories. "Did you SEE their faces? So. Epic!" Birch the red squirrel, the oldest among them but still a teen by their standards, patted Oakley on his back and the owl coughed. "And you flew for the first time directly in the face of that human wearing a black robe! How do you feel, champion?" "Huh..." The owl scrambled a nervous smile. He was still in his fledgling colors, his feathers still had the softness of young age. He had no scar and bright eyes. "You sure they won't be following us, right? Mom said..." Both fox and squirrel groaned. Olive trotted in front of him, brushing his beak with her tail and giggling when Oakley

That strange place was moving indeed. Eri, Lace and Hermes kept huddling to each other as the strange cube stopped vibrating, with a startled jump when the doors opened again to reveal…sunlight. “Is this…outside? The exit…?” As they clearly noticed once out of that thing, it was not. They were on the flat roof, near the glowy human writing. The three turned back when they heard a weird ding! The elevator’s doors were closing again. “Oh no!” This time they weren’t quick enough to jump in back. The metal doors stood closed, no matter how they tried to pry it. “Damn it!” Eri threw her half spear to the ground, but she was quick to retrieve it. She looked around: seeing the blue sky again was somewhat comforting. It was very late in the morning, almost midday, and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. She sighed. “At least we got rid that thing…” The vole was quick to assess the situation. She managed to jump on the flat roof’s edge, and scout what was around them. She could see the other

The structure was clearly old, with marble halls and plants every now and then, but it was enough to stun them. “...everything is so...big. Look at that!" "It has no sky! I can’t see the sky!" Eri skidded on the marble floor, now giggling. "Look! Slippery like ice and so. Shiny!" "Everything is so unfamiliar…” There was faint music coming from somewhere on the roof, and a confused Hermes looked around, bobbing his head and turning it as much as he cold, in search of the source of that noise. “...who's there? Who's singing? Oh man, the mell is so confusing..." "I think it’s mill, Young Herms…and I really dislike this garbled song. Who’s singing it? I bet I can do better…" Natter opened his mouth to sing, but Oakley snapped at him, clacking his beak. The toad scrambled to hide into Lace's backpack, as the Elder mouthed a very determined. "QUIET." The owl seemed immune to all the amazement; he hadn't uttered a word since they had set foot in the corridors. He gulped, then

As they left behind the ill kept labyrinth of smaller streets, it was easy to notice how everything was changing. There wasn’t much trash around, the roads got gradually bigger, with dragons idle and silent at the side…and then something majestic caught the attention of the small group. “Woah.” It was a building. Like almost everything around that part of Opus it seemed quite old, but…it was big, one of the biggest they had seen until that moment. It had many floors and gigantic, shiny glass walls. On the flat roof there was something big, a glowy, tridimensional figure. Oakley screeched to signal them to stop, then he glided ahead to scout the more open surroundings. There wasn’t much to do, besides looking while they waited, humming a few songs and listening to the still far but growing roars of dragons, nothing else but car engines. “Woah! Look Eri, look how much ice that doesn’t melt! Guess you never fished from your pond something like that…”. Hermes was the most amazed, eyes