• The hot clorineon sun beat down on the desert as Estar and his quiper traveled on. It was a good thing he wore his brown jacket; it was made of a special material that trapped cold air inside. Wiping his forehead from sweat, Estar squinted his eyes to see if he can see the jagged fissure. He was sure they were almost there; otherwise he’ll be cooked in the desert heat before he could even catch a glimpse of the village.

    It was a little known place called Dunsar, and rarely did anyone go there now. It was probably because of the low water supply. The quiper glided across the blistering sand, climbing dunes and jumping across sink holes on the way. Soon a couple of dome shaped houses came into view. Holding his reigns, Estar made the quiper speed up a bit as they came closer to their destination.

    Finally! Estar thought as he tied the reigns onto a post outside of Dunsar. He dug his hand into the pack on the quiper, and pulled out the old letter. Now to deliver it, he thought with a smile on his face. Estar entered the dry town, his mouth as dry and hot as the desert. He couldn’t stop now, this letter was far more important. He looked around, seeing the different shapes of homes. This town didn’t look like his home, it looked more ragged and beat up. It was rather sad and it made Estar feel uneasy about the place. He saw some of the residents, but he didn’t know any one of them, so he passed on, carefully maneuvering through the crowd. He could tell where the lord of Dunsar’s castle was, because it loomed over all the clay dome houses. What caught him off guard was that there were no guards posted in front of the doors. Suspicious, Estar opened the front doors slightly and slipped in.

    This was wierd; no one was seen in the hallways. Estar cautiously walked up one of the main halls, and found some spiral stairs that lead up to somewhere. He doubted he’d get in trouble for exploring, so he walked up the stairs, glancing at some odd paintings on the way up. When he got to the top, Estar saw three hallways that lead in different directions. One of the halls, he heard odd noises and saw flashing lights. Walking down the hall steadily, he noticed that there was a circular part of the castle, and it looked like a very big room, and where the source of the noise and lights were coming from. He carefully pressed his back on the door, and cracked it open and peered inside.

    Estar’s eyes widened, what was this? It was a big circular room, with all of these odd people in some groups of 3’s. In the middle was a gigantic bird, and he meant gigantic! Its feathers was as black as the night sky, and it’s wings, tail, and ruffle on its head were blood red. What stood out was it’s stunning yellow topaz eyes, that seemed to glare into your very soul. The bird screamed as it tried to hit the group of people with its wings. What were they doing? Estar squinted his eyes, and he saw something around its neck. A collar? Yes, there was no mistaking it, there was a thick gray metal collar with black rectangles and circles in the middle of it. There was also a thick chain leading down to the floor, shackling the creature into place. Shivering, Estar felt a bad vibe coming from it.

    “It needs to be weakened some more, I told you guys.” One of the guys said. They all wore black cloaks with hoods over their faces, some of the front of the cloaks had an opening in the front, others not. “Then we shall have to weaken it some more…” One of them replied. Estar tried so hard to see their faces, but he couldn’t. What he did see were the color of their eyes. One of them had charcoal black eyes, and the other that talked had one eye that was emerald green, and the other just black. The guy with black and green eyes said something in what sounded like an old language. The collar suddenly sparked, making the big bird roar in pain. “Wait! It’s too much!” Said the one with the charcoal eyes, showing a hint of worry. The collar made a vibrating noise, the bird growling and writhing around violently. It’s chain made clicking noises as it flew up and down rapidly.

    The collar suddenly morphed, and then it exploded, making Estar hold onto the door for dear life. The bird screeched, and it whipped its tail at the group of hooded people. The one with charcoal eyes jumped out of the way, and the green and black-eyed person slid on the ground, escaping the falling collar debris. Snaking its head, the bird flapped its wings and jolted for the door, knocking Estar out of the way. The bird hissed, and smashed it’s head into a big stained window and slipped out.

    Shaking his head, Estar quickly ran to hide behind a corner as the group busted out of the room and ran for the broken window. “Nice job fool, now our test subject has flown out the window! We’ll never catch it now!” The voice belonged to the green and black eyed person. Estar could tell because his voice sounded calm, but intimidating. All of them turned to one of the members. “We shall take our leave and try to catch our ‘guest’. We shall be back with word on our findings as soon as we can…my lord.” One of the, whispered and bowed. Most of them walked down the stairs, leaving one behind. Pulling his hood down, it revealed a relatively old guy with short gray hair. Estar guessed he was the lord of Dunsar.

    Looking casually, Estar strolled down the hall towards the lord. The lord turned and looked surprised to see Estar, but then looked like nothing happened. “My lord, I have a letter for you from the lord from sandfall. He said it was urgent, so he sent me here personally to deliver it to you.” Estar said, bowing slightly and handing him the letter. “Ah, thank you young one.” He said gratefully as he opened the envelope. Estar observed the lords eyes, as they started to twinkle in amusement. “Here, have a reward for bringing this news to me.” The lord pulled out some type of necklace out of the envelope. It had a charm on it, three Red Crescent moons with their backs to each other’s, and a yellow orb in the middle and on top of the moons. Studying it, Estar lifted the necklace and put it on. The lace was big enough for him to slip it through his head comfortably. “I thank you, my lord.” Estar said with a smile. The lord smiled back, then turned and walked up the hall. “Oh, and what was the news, if I may ask.” Estar asked. The lord stopped and seemed hesitant. “ You’ll find out once you get back home, my friend.” He said, walking away.

    Estar still had shivers when he walked out of the building. What did he mean he’d find out when he got back home? It sounded eerie to him, like a bad omen. As he walked up the hard rock road towards his quiper, Estar spotted some of the figures he saw earlier. One of them, he swore he saw silver hair, but he didn’t want them to get suspicious of him. Even as he got out of Dunsar and onto his quiper, Estar still felt like someone was watching him. Something…foul.