Chapter 7, part 2. The Goosdra!

The word repeated over and over in her head.

"Friend. He thinks he's my friend. He doesn't even know me. Isn't that a good thing? No pity, just friends." Eos conversed with herself while she was led out of the dungeons and to the colosseum. The goose guard next to her waddled at a quick pace. 

"Sooo....what's your name?" She asked, trying to shake any nervousness she had with some conversation.  

"Eleanor, miss. Sorry that you have to face your death today, but hey, you'll die with some resemblance of honor." The goose honked. 

"Gee... thanks." Eos was very much trying to keep up with her, since Eleanor grasped her hand and was pulling her along. Her leg hurt more with every step. She didn't think that kind of blaster would work this fast, eat slowly away at her, eventually taking her life. It was like a disease working slowly, but working nonetheless. She already decided she wasn't going to tell lonely, just another thing for him to worry about, and he didn't need those shadows under his eyes to grow darker. To be honest, he scared her a little bit now. The look in his eyes when he fights could make even the bravest warrior cower in fear. 

The gate in front of her opened slowly, and she was pushed into the large arena. The crowd around her jeered, and the sun made it hard to see as she scanned the crowds for the Emperor's box. She found it quickly, the box covered in colorful banners. The Emperor Commodus sat high and mighty on his throne, the brat Eros stood to his left, and sitting on a stool in front of the winged boy was Lonely, looking rather uncomfortable as Eros was saying something. 

Eos heard chains clicking from behind her. As she turned, she saw five geese with their wings clipped. 

"No escape for the lower class who dare speak out against the strength of their emperor." She thought, but realized that they held no chains; the noise was coming from a large gate that was slowly rising. She whipped her head around, looking for some sort of weapon.  

"Bones, rocks...AH HA!" She muttered, running to a wall with a small weapon rack barely hanging on. A sword, shield, axe, spear, dagger, and broken bo staff. As much as she wanted the axe, Eos knew she'd be better with the spear. She grabbed it and decided to nab the shield as well. Eos would win this, so she could go home, so she could try her best to be Lonely's friend if she survived this. 

Eos turned around just in time to see the giant beast emerge from the cave in which it was held. It stood tall, reaching the top of the wall. The creature had three heads, each with jagged beaks and haunting red eyes. It let out a roaring honk, and one of the heads quickly moved to gobble one of the geese. It was much larger than Eos thought. She knew about this beast; she couldn't kill it, she'd have to find a way to render it harmless. 

"Ah beans...." She groaned. This was going to be hard.

WE MADE IT TO 700 VIEWS! HERE IS THE PRIZE!

First and foremost! Thank you to all who shared the link to my blog or pointed others towards it! And now I have what I've promised you. Now I'm not much of an artist, but I feel honored to share this with you guys!

 First, meet our first protagonist! Lonely Harrison! 

And now meet Eos Rose! 

Meet the ghost we know and fear! Ms. Emily Grace of Whispwood!

And lastly, our newest friend coming soon, it's the Goosdra!

Now I have a new challenge! If somehow my blog gets 1,700 views, I will do a Q&A and release more art! Feel free to put questions on any of my posts, and I'll pick my favorites and answer them when the time comes! Till then! 

Love ya!-Z.D.

Chapter 7, Part 1. The Goosdra

 Lonely paced back and forth in his cell, waiting for Eos. He didn't know how long they had been apart already, and it felt weird not having her around, telling him to focus on finding a way out. She was his guide for these strange places. He wasn't sure how to act here, but he figured punching the king's ward was a big no-no. 

Lonely didn't like the bird dude that came up and started talking crap about Eos. It had felt good to punch him, to Lonely it felt like standing up to every single kid that bullied him for his name, for his clothes, or his dead mom and deadbeat dad. 

The jail door opened, and Eos was pushed into the small room. Lonely hurried over to her, trying to stop her from falling over. They had taken her crutch. If Lonely had ever been mad before, he sure was pissed now. 

"Who. Took. It?" Lonely asked, helping Eos move over to the small cot in the corner of the room. She sat down, her face twisted in pain from her leg, which seemed worse than before. She was staring at the wall across from her.

"Please, don't be mad about what I'm about to tell you." She muttered, combing her fingers through her hair worriedly. Lonely moved to crouch in front of her. 

"It honestly depends on the thing, but I need you to tell me what happened in there. Please." Lonely tried his best to speak calmly, but he'd never seen anyone act like this before. She seemed cold, distant...alone. Frustrated, he felt like punching the wall she was staring at.  

Eos took a deep breath in and let out a shaky sigh, "Eros took me to see the emperor, but when we stopped outside the main doors, they took my crutch, claiming that it could be a weapon and that I could have it back when the suns on Starlin stop shining."

"Those dumb sons of a-!"

"LONELY! FOCUS!" Eos snapped. 

"Sorry."

"Anyway... I went in and explained our journey so far. All of Whispwood and such. And then that numb skull, Eros, told the Emperor about our landing and how you punched him in the gut. So for hurting the Emperor's ward, you earned the punishment of fighting their worst monster in captivity, controlled by the greatest evil called foe, and if you defeat it, we get the passkey that they've hidden, but if we lose, we'll be fed to the beast." She groaned, lying down on the cot, staring at the ceiling now. 

"Okay, I...I can probably do that. It can't be any worse than Emily Grace - I mean, the ghost." 

"Well...uhm...please don't hate me or be mad at me. You're not fighting... I am." She rolled onto her side and looked him dead in the eye, waiting for him to say something. 

"What..? But your leg! You can't!" Lonely protested.

"Shut! Up! You saved my life back on Whispwood, my turn to try and save yours. I'VE had battle training. I know how to fight! You've got to let me do this!" 

"I can't in my right mind, let you do something so dumb!"

"WHY NOT!" Eos yelled. 

"BECAUSE I FINALLY MIGHT HAVE A FRIEND FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE AND I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU, OKAY!" He snapped.

She stared at him blankly and whispered, "We're friends?" 

"I hoped so." He shrugged dejectedly and leaned against the wall, contemplating why in the world he would ever say that. She clearly didn't think they were friends; Eos hated Lonely. She opened her mouth to say something as the jail door swung open. Eros stood there with an evil grin plastered on his scarred face, 

"Time to die, princess.".

Chapter 6, Part 2. An egg?

Eos really didn't want to be back here. These bloodthirsty soldiers of ancient geese never liked any of the other ruling planets. They had only made one peace treaty in the history of their planet, and that was with the Amaswans. Now those guys were mean. 

Eos remembered the day she first came here years ago on a diplomatic mission, hoping for a peace treaty between Starlin and the emperor. She knew his right-hand man from some old meetings,  used to think he was quite funny, he looked rather interesting in the sense that he wasn't from Ancient Geese. Abandoned on the planet, the emperor took him in as his ward. He himself didn't know where this winged boy was from. 

She was not looking forward to seeing him again. 

The spaceship came down smoothly, landing in an open field. The engine sputtered, then conked out. 

Eos kicked the control panel, then said some words she would have gotten her mouth washed out for back at home as she kicked it with her bad leg. 

"WHOA! Geez! Don't do that, idiot!" Lonely gasped and immediately ran to her side to make sure she didn't fall.

"Don't touch me!" She snapped and stumbled back. She was stressed and didn't need him, making it worse. 

"You can't stand on your own, E." He handed her the crutch that had fallen on the floor, "It's clear that you’re stressed. I'll give you space if that's what you need, but we're supposed to do this together, okay? So I'm not going far.".

Eos let out a heavy breath and nodded, silently telling her brain to calm down. They exited the back of the ship and were immediately surrounded by geese warriors. Hissing and honking, they tightened the circle.

"They're actually geese..."  Lonely gaped, staring wide-eyed at their opponents with their spears drawn. 

Someone pushed through the crowd, looking human-like, but dark wings spread wide. Purple eyes piercing through Eos's soul. 

"Hello again, princess. It's been a while. Still playing knights?"  

Lonely scowled at him, and Eos was pretty sure she had the same expression.

"Eros, still following under daddy's orders?" She tried to keep her cool, "Remember what happened, it was his fault. Move past it, get the passkey, get outta there." Eos thought. 

"I'm supposed to bring you to the emperor, but I could just kill you now." The winged boy snapped, his blue hair fellow over his scarred eye. 

Lonely stepped in front of Eos, "Look, we're probably already going to die at the end of this mission, we're here for one thing only, and that's a passkey to defeat Foe. We don't need sickos like you making our quest worse. I figure you and Eos have some sort of past, and you can figure all that out when we're done. Okay? Now, if you could please take us to the emperor, I'd be grateful."    

There was silence before the geese warriors, and Eros broke into fits of laughter and honking.  

"Where'd you find him, Princess? He's a riot!" Eros gasped through fits of laughter. Lonely walked over to him, and before Eos could stop him, Lonely punched him in the gut and grabbed Eros's ear. 

"The longer you make us wait, the more people die. Take. Us. Now." He whispered violently in the winged boy's ear. A dark look passed over Lonely's face; he looked ready to punch Eros again. Eos saw him differently for a second, a human who looked wimpy stood up for her. Lonely had gained some respect from Eos in that second.  

"Fine." He spat, grabbing Lonely's shirt collar and throwing him to the soldiers who grabbed his arms and pinned them to his back, "The emperor will only want to speak to the girl. Take the boy to the dungeons. She'll meet him there after our meeting." 

The geese honked in reply, and Eos watched as they pulled Lonely away. "I swear if you hurt him, there will be another war." Eos threatened. 

"Do you care about him?" Eros asked with a scowl. 

"He saved my life. I can't repay that debt if he's dead." 

"Hmm." He mused. He grabbed her shoulder and guided her to the palace. She had a meeting to attend.

Chapter 6, Part 1. An egg?

He was sure he had heard her wrong. Lonely looked at the star girl sitting on the pull-out bed. Her eyes glowed, or maybe it only seemed like they glowed because of the color of her eyes. They were the color of the sky when the sun rose on earth each morning, then they changed to sky blue when she caught him staring. 

He kept thinking about when the ghost, Emily Grace, was dangling Eos over her mouth, ready to eat her. When he saw Eos's face full of fear, with her eyes shut tight. He probably would have been next if he hadn't found the blaster in his pocket.

 Now he looked at her, the girl who wouldn't meet his gaze. Her hair had fallen out of the ponytail she normally kept it in. The scars on her face and arms stuck out, battle wounds on her dark skin. Today she just got another, and it was because of him. 

He felt dumb for firing without thinking. What if she had landed in its mouth? He caused another person pain, now more than once.

"Hey, help me to the captain's chair, will ya?" Eos smiled, "And don't worry about my leg. It'll be fine."

Lonely nodded and slid his arm under her armpit to get her upright. Her hand rested on his shoulder, and he felt her as she tightened her grip when she put weight on her foot. Her face was scrunched in pain.

"You okay?" He asked

"Adrenaline wore off. Just get me to the seat, please, quickly. Before I pass out." Eos muttered

He nodded and helped her limp to the captain's chair. When she sat down, she told the console to chart a course for Ancient Geese, then turned to Lonely.

"I think there are a pair of crutches back in the closet. Can you grab them for me?"

"Yeah.." He muttered, running off to find them. He had just touched the handle of the closet when the ship jerked to the side, tossing him into the wall. Scrambling to his feet, he yelled,

"EOS! ARE YOU OKAY?" 

"Y-YEAH! I THINK SO. WE HAVE A PROBLEM THOUGH! MIGHT WANT TO HURRY BACK UP HERE!" She hollered back. 

He hurried to grab the crutches from the closet and made his way back to her. 

"What's going on?" He asked, dropping them next to her chair. 

"We're being attacked." She groaned, flipping switches and pressing all sorts of buttons, "I'd sit down and buckle up, L." 

Lonely flopped into the seat behind her and strapped himself in. 

"Please be like that, Lucas George film. Please be like the Lucas George film." He thought, crossing his fingers. 

"I'm going to flip on the boosters. You buckled in?" She warned

"Aye Aye ma'am!" He replied. 

She flipped a switch, and they shot off into the sky like a bullet. It was painful going that fast. Lonely felt like he was splitting into a million pieces. This couldn't have been good for Eos's leg. 

The computer counted off.

"5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Welcome to Ancient Geese."

Lonely felt his mouth fall open. The planet was shaped like a giant egg.