Lo and behold, here is the next chapter of Their Story!
Seriously guys, I really am sorry about not upddating for such a long time. I, uh, well I really don't have an excuse except for school, which is downright hectic. Thanks inferno for helping keep this fic alive while I go through the long and winding road of school. And keybearer_yoshi, thanks so much for your gracious compliments. New readers are always gladly welcomed! So, without further ado (because we've already waited long enough!), here is the next chapter to Their Story! Good luck and enjoy!
Chapter 28
"Um, Roaricki? You can put me down now."
There is a funny thing that happens when you are about to die. Contradictary to what other people say, you life
does flash before your eyes. You realize that you will never fulfill your hopes and dreams, and that you will never see certain people ever again. You also think to yourself,
So this is how I die? I haven't even lived a full life yet! This, however, was not the case with Sora, as everything was going much too fast for him. He just looked up at the crumbling ravine that was about to crash down on him not even able to think straight. He had no idea what he thought about all this.
His search for the right thoughts was cut a little short when Roaricki yanked Moonflow from the rock face and started plummeting down the last hundred feet of the ravine.
Sora was becoming extremely light-headed as they fell at what felt like the speed of sound (which was simply impossible).
"What the heck are you doing?" Sora managed to yell as they rocketed down the ravine, afraid that they wouldd crash into the ground as soon as they got there.
But, of course, there came no answer from Roaricki. He was much too busy figuring out how he would pull this off while keeping Sora alive. Plus he probably wouldn't have answered anyway.
They fell further and further down the ravine, headfirst, just a few dozen feet out of reach of the collapsing topside of the ravine.
Sora had let go of Roaricki by now. He just couldn't take it. He had been clinging to Roaricki's trenchcoat so hard that his hands were now stinging from having the blood flow through them again. But this pain was nothing compared to the stomach-wrenching sensation of diving down a thousand-foot ravine, just dozens of feet away from a falling, crumbling cliffside.
As they fell, Sora saw that they were falling slightly faster than the roaring apocallypse of falling boulders, and the further they fell, the farther they became from the crumbling cliffside.
When they were far enough way from the falling cliffside, Roaricki screamed, "Grab on!"
Instantly Sora locked his arms around Roaricki's waist. Immediately after he felt Sora's arms wrap around him, Roaricki raised Moonflow, and with a mighty heave, plunged the glimmering blade back into the wall of the ravine. But they weren't jerked to an abrupt stop as Sora thought. Instead the tremendous momentum they had gained while falling made the translucent blade slide down along the rock wall, with Roaricki, who gripped Moonflow, hitching a ride with it, and Sora, who held onto Roaricki like an idiot.
As Moonflow sliced through the rock, sliding down the wall, friction started to take control, and Sora saw that slowly, ever so slowly, they began to slow down as they finally neared the bottom of the ravine.
When they were twenty-five from the bottom, Roaricki increased the pressure of Moonflow on the rock wall, and sparks started to shoot out from the rock wall, the friction heating the rocks up so much that they almost caught fire and melted. And then, with a final lurch, Moonflow stopped, ten feet above the bottom of the ravine, the sensation of friction finally gripping the blade.
They dangled there for a second, looking a slight bit awkward; Roaricki held onto Moonflow, and Sora held Roaricki's waist in a death lock. Then, after a few moments of catching his breath, Roaricki jerked Moonflow out of the rock and they fell to the ground, Roaricki landing gracefully on his feet, while Sora hit the ground hard on his back.
For a moment the bewildered teen coudn't believe it. He was on solid ground! He would have kissed the grass, but that would have gross, not to mention lowering Roaricki's view of him even more.
As he looked up just then, still lying on his back, he knew that he had spoken (or thought, if anyone wanted to get technical) too soon, because at that moment he heard a loud rumble, and saw the whole gigantic, crumbling ravine crashing down upon them. He tried to get up, but he couldn't move. He was too much in shock.
Roaricki, with a grunt, picked up the scrawny teen up off the ground as if he was a bag of feathers, and then ran full throttle away from the collapsing ravine and to the outer boundaries of a nearby forest. Turning around, he saw the whole ravine finally give way and then collapse in on itself, the falling ship-sized boulders crashing down on top of the mountain of huge rubble that would have crushed them in seconds. The Crenshaw Ravine was no more.
As Roaricki stared upon the settling rubble, he knew that his beloved Kingdom Clasm was buried somewhere underneath all of it, now nothing but a long, jagged piece of bent and twisted obsidian, trapped under serveral tons of rock.
A discordant voice broke him from his remorse.
"Um, Roaricki? You can put me down now."
Roaricki's eyes went wide in embarrassment as he set Sora down on the ground, looking at him for a quick second.
"Uh, yeah, sorry," he stuttered, barely audible. He rubbed the back of his furry neck in awkwardness.
Sora felt a little awkward as well. He was also thinking of how they had just survived a gigantic, crumbling ravine. He looked up at Roaricki, trying to meet his stern, golden eyes, but then looked to the ground.
"Yeah, it's okay," he mumbled, barely audible as well.
There was another moment of silence as they stared at the ground, both feeling extremely uncomfortable.
It was all interrupted when a crow let out a sharp, twanging caw on the tree above them.
They were both snapped back to their old thoughts and ways, and they turned away from each other.
As Sora turned back around to face Roaricki, the tall, black-furred superior abruptly turned his back to Sora, facing the forest.
"There is a pass back up into the cliffs through these woods."
There came no answer from Sora as he stared at Roaricki's back. The tension between them was still there.
"Oh," he finally said, not knowing what else to say.
Roaricki then started to walk into the woods.
"Just stick close and follow me, kid," he said flatly.
Sora stuck out his toungue and gave a face to Roaricki's back, and then followed him grudingly into the woods, the ravine delimna behind them. --