The Survivor of Felarya: Chapter 1

The Survivor of Felarya: Chapter 1
A New Family

Gray was at his knees. He watched as Subeta picked up Alexis and licked her whole body up and down, He tried to fight, tried to run, but he couldn’t. It was exactly like his dream with Deciah; he couldn’t move or make a sound. All he could do was watch as Alexis was slowly lowered down into Subeta’s mouth. Gray struggled with all his might to try and break free. But the more he struggled, the weaker he found himself becoming. He watched on in agony as Alexis was swallowed alive by Subeta once again and Gray couldn’t do anything to save her. He watched helplessly as the bulge in Subeta’s throat was pushed deeper and deeper into her chest until it finally disappeared. Gray fell to his knees and passed out.

He woke up sweating profusely. He sat up and looked around. It was pretty late out, it looked like the sun was almost ready to set. He took in his surroundings and tried to recall the events from the night before. He took deep breaths to calm himself down and try to think. His calm down session was interrupted when a voice from behind made him jolt.

“Geeze kid I just said good morning” said Kai. "Or should I say good afternoon, I mean I’ve met a lot of lazy people before kid and I can safely say that you’re in the top five".

She held out her hand for Gray and he walked on. She lifted him up on a table.

“So… what’s for break…err lunch?” Gray asked.

Kai answered Gray with a large wooden bowl plopping down in front of him. It was filled with all sorts of colorful leaves and flowers, not exactly something Gray found appetizing. Kai looked at Gray irritably.

“Eat it kid. It’s good for you. If you wanna be a warrior you do need strength and you need to eat the right stuff for it. Eat up and then I’ll get you started for what left of the day”.

Gray did not argue. The salad was pretty good.  The leaves and flower were quite delicious. The only bad part was when he would come across a chunk of pinecone every now and then. Gray suspiciously eyeballed Kai the entire time he ate. She was off to the side with her back to Gray. All he could see were two giant needles clicking together in front of her. He was a bit weary.

When Kai turned around she showed Gray what she had been working on. It wasn’t what he was expecting. It was a kimono. It was very pretty and about Gray’s size. The main thing that made him think it was for him was its camouflage patterns and colors. Gray pushed the salad bowl to the side and looked up at Kai.

“So master, what am I doing today?” Gray asked.

Kai looked at Gray confused. “You don’t need to call me master kid, just call me Kai”.

“Well… I’d just like to call you master. Anyway, are we like gonna be sword training or something like that today?” Gray asked rather excitedly.

“No way kid” said Kai. “You need to work your way up to the sword, your first order of business is to go to your family, let them know you’re safe, and apologize to them”.

Gray looked at Kai confused and with a small hint of anger. “Um… my family is gone in case you had forgotten” he said.

“Not your neko family” she said. “I’m talking about your family at The Giant Tree”.

Gray stood and looked up at Kai angrily. “They are not my family!” He shouted. “That fairy killed the last of my family!”

Kai placed her hands down beside Gray and put her face close to his. “No she didn’t Gray" she said sternly. Subeta loves you to death. I’ve only seen you two together once and I can tell you that". Kai backed away and took a deep breath. “Look kid, I told you everything that’s going on” she said much calmer.  “Subeta didn’t mean to eat Alexis. I’m still deciphering why Deciah made her in the first place. Right now you need to go see everyone at The Giant Tree and let them know your safe, let them know you’ll be with me for a few weeks, and most of all apologize to them”.

Gray looked at the floor. He knew that would be difficult. Especially after all he’d done to Subeta.

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Kai dropped Gray off in front of the entrance of the tree. He slowly crept inside and looked around. Crisis was the first to notice him. She swiftly cupped him in her hands and held him against her cheek.

“Oh Gray you’re alive!” She exclaimed with relief.

“Yah big gal’ I’m ok” Gray said comfortingly. Crisis cuddled him against her cheek until Anna approached her. She put her hand out flat and held Gray up to Ann

Anna looked down at Gray. “Don’t scare me like that kid it’s not good for my blood pressure” she said.  Gray smiled at her and held out his fist. She lightly tapped his fist with hers and left back to her room.

Gray looked down at the ground and saw Temi and Iris. Crisis set Gray down in front of Temi. He looked Temi in the eyes. She tried to look angry but couldn’t keep up the act for long and quickly broke down. She wrapped her arms round Gray and began crying.

“Don’t do that to me” she cried. “You have no idea how worried sick I was about you”.

Gray put his arms around Temi and they stayed embraced and silent for about a moment before they pulled away and Gray grabbed her right hand. He examined it and saw a good amount of stitches on her index finger, exactly where he had stabbed her. Gray looked like he was about to begin crying.

“I’m so sorry” Gray said quietly.

Temi pulled her hand away. “No, don’t be. I should have known better than to grab you in that state”.

Gray looked down at her hand with extreme guilt. “Still… I’m sorry” he said.

Temi smiled and gave him a reassuring nod. Iris walked up to Gray and hugged him tight. “I thought you were a goner” she said. “I wish I could’ve gone out and looked for you but I just… well you know” she said pointing to a large scratch on her wing. Gray hugged her back and held her tight.

“I would’ve much rather had you here where it’s safe than out there looking for me”. Iris smiled and squeezed Gray tight before pulling away.

“Gray?” said a small voice beside him. He looked down to see little Seliky looking up at him. “You’re Alive!" she said happily.

“Hey girly” Gray said happily. “Good to see you”.

Gray looked over to the side and saw Aurora standing next to Anna. She had an extremely faint smile on her face, trying to hide the bit of joy over Gray’s return.

“I knew you'd be fine all along" Seliky said. Gray smiled and wrapped his arms around Seliky.

"So did you use your sword yet? I'd like to know if it works good?" Seliky asked

“Well I haven’t had to use it yet, but something tells me I will soon” he told her excitedly.

Aurora slithered over to Gray and he lifted Seliky up to her. He had one main order of business that he was yet to fulfill. He asked Temi where he could find Subeta and took off to meet her.

**********************************************************

Gray entered Lea’s room but found nobody inside. He searched around and eventually found them through an open window. They were sitting outside on a branch with their legs dangling over the side. Subeta’s head was leaned against Lea’s shoulder. They had obviously been out there for a while. Gray climbed out of the window onto the branch and walked up behind them; Lea noticed him and scooted over. Gray sat down next to Subeta.

She looked over and opened her eyes. She became instantly scared when she saw Gray’s face and backed up. Gray was heartbroken at that move.

“Subeta… I’m not going to hurt you. I promise”.

She curled up into a ball and looked at him. “You should” she said. “I deserve it”.

“What do you mean? You don’t deserve to be hurt. It was an accident I know. You really don’t need to be afraid of me. Please come here, I want to talk to you”.

Subeta uncurled from her fetal position and scooted over to Gray. Gray stretched his legs out over the edge of the branch and dangled his feet over the side. Subeta took the same position. She rested her head on Gray’s shoulder and closed her eyes. Gray wrapped his arms around her and they sat in silence enjoying the sunset.

Subeta spoke up after about half an hour. “Would you like to talk about her?” she asked.

“Talk about who?” asked Gray.

“Alexis. I mean you loved her so much and now she’s gone I just though you might… like to talk about her. Like, what did you love most about her?”

Gray was silent for a moment but then smiled. “Well that’s an easy one, it was her smile. That smile could lift me up to heaven and beyond even on the worst of days. I’ll never forget it, not as long as I live”.

Subeta smiled big. “Tell me some more about her, what was your happiest moment with her?” She asked excitedly.

Gray thought for a moment. “Well… that’d have to be when I kissed her for the first time” he said excitedly. “It wasn’t to long ago; as a matter of fact it happened in The Fairy Kingdom on the shore of that beautiful lake. That was the best moment of my life. Our lips met and I knew my life was near completion” he sighed deeply. “Too bad it was interrupted by that damn Gypa” he said with a scowl.

Subeta was excited now. She wanted to know all about Alexis. “Oh tell me more, tell me more!” she squealed.

“Well, what do you want to know?” Gray asked.

Subeta stuck her tongue out and thought for a moment before an idea struck her. “What was your favorite thing to do with her?”

Gray’s thought for a second. “Huh, well there are so many things I loved doing with her that I can’t really name just one”.

“Oh come on” Subeta said. “There’s gotta be one thing you loved doing with her more than anything else” She thought for a moment. “Oh! I bet it was kissing her wasn’t it” Subeta said in a playfully mocking tone.

“Well that was definitely a fun part, but no” said Gray. “If I really had to say there was one thing I enjoyed doing with her most it would be dancing”.

“Dancing? Like waltzing and tangoing!” Subeta said excitedly.

“Exactly that” Gray said. “Alexis absolutely loved waltzing”.

“Wow” Subeta said in astonishment. “I wish I knew how to waltz”

“Oh it’s really easy” Grays said excitedly. “Come on I’ll show you”. Gray pulled Subeta to her feet and took hold of her hands in a waltzing position.

“Um... Gray I’ve never really danced like this with a partner before are you sure about this?”

Gray didn’t answer. Instead he pulled her close and stepped to the right. Subeta repeated the movement. They did the exact same thing over and over in a dance pattern until Subeta finally had the hang of it and she was dancing like she had always known how.

The two danced on the tree branch for a long time. They span in circles as the moon began to descend over the jungle. At one point Gray put his hand around Subeta’s back and dipped her to the point that almost half of her body was hanging off the tree branch.  Hey finished up when they grabbed hands and span around at high speed until they were both dizzy.

It was the first time Gray had been truly happy in while. He felt the exact same way he did on the last day before everything changed. He wished tomorrow could be just as great.

To Be Continued…