Chapter 43: Official Entry
A massive heap of earth, compressed to become stone, reaching as high as two kilometres. Its peak and base were more or less similar in breadth, like a pillar, but mountainous in size. Such mountains littered the area, each with steep cliffs, causing the narrow gaps between each to become ravines.
Due to the arrangement of the mountains, the ravines formed a sprawling maze covering millions of square kilometres in area. Some of these ravines became canyons due to the many rivers entering the region, as a result causing its monicker—Dieng Canyon!
The peak of one such mountain was littered with Baobab Trees. Sporting thick stems filled with water, they were a special variety among trees. Scuttling between the trees like squirrels were Zingers, numbering in the thousands.
A Zinger leapt onto a Baobab Tree and pierced its claws through the stem, poking a wide hole. It opened its mouth and galloped the water that gushed out. Once it had its fill, Prana gushed to its palms and condensed an egg-like sphere that it used to cork the hole.
Many Zingers did the same, drinking water from the trees and corking the poked holes following that. Usually, a Zinger didn't use a hole created by another Zinger, usually.
But because of their high death rate, once the Zinger dies, its imprint on the egg-shaped cork vanishes. And when that happens, another Zinger makes an imprint on it and uses it to satisfy its thirst.
"Kekeke!"
"Kakaka!" A horde of Zingers let out various cries as they rushed towards the edge of the mountain and crawled towards the cliff walls.
Strong winds were blowing through the ravine, fluttering the fur that covered their bodies. One such Zinger was slightly more developed than the rest of its brethren. Its eyes glistened with sentience as it hung on the cliff.
The claws in its legs lodged into the cliff walls, anchoring itself to the place. Its left hand held the dangling roots of a Baobab Tree while it placed its right hand over its eyes, like an umbrella, mimicking humans when they wished to observe things afar.
This ravine spanned a width of five kilometres, one of the widest in the Dieng Canyon, forming one of the major roads of entry into the region, frequented by many, especially Empyrean Tusk herds.
And currently, one such herd entered. As the majestic Empyrean Tusks walked into the ravine, they slowed down. The Empyrean Tusk at the very front, the leader of the herd stopped, observing the tens of thousands of Zingers waiting on the cliff walls.
It raised its trunk high up in the air, seemingly sucking in the air. Even though it was only inhaling slowly, the direction of wind in the ravine changed.
"Kieek!" A group of Zingers close by shrieked in fluster as lumps of rock in the cliff wall broke around the locations their claws were lodged in. They were being pulled in by the suction force.
The Zingers hurriedly bit onto the Baobab Tree roots while their claws repeatedly dug into the cliff walls, barely staying rooted. Some feeble ones were unfortunately sucked into the trunk.
The Empyrean Tusk soon finished inhaling as its eyes shot to the side and glared at the cliff walls covered by Zingers. Its trunk calmly faced in the direction where the Zingers were the most concentrated and unleashed a powerful trumpet, exhaling all the air to further escalate its might.
"Krrr-Rahhh-Laaaa!" Shockwaves blasted throughout the ravine, echoing off the cliff walls as a thick layer of compressed air, visible to the naked eye blasted for hundreds of kilometres.
"Kieee!" The Zingers shrieked as their eardrums ruptured from the shockwaves. Large pieces of the cliff walls collapsed as the bodies of the Zingers and any other Pranic Beast within a ten-kilometre vicinity of the Empyrean Tusk were smashed into pulp.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login