Arun'How did I get here again?', he asked to the universe and maybe himself as his vision blurred and threated to go completely black on him. Was this really the end? His tribe, not to mention his mother and sisters would be ashamed of him to have failed like this. He wasn't here for the treasure, though that was a perk sure! He was here for the adventure, the sheer challenge, but most of all he was there for the scorpions themselves.
Crazy right? But no, his tribe were a special type of dancing troop. His mother was an expert snake charmer, as was one of his sisters, the other sister, focused more on the lore and stories of the tribe. Arun he branched and was the first to charm scorpions or he was going to be, he hadn't succeeded yet.
He had heard tails of a treasure in the ruins near where they were camping currently though of a rare glowing blue scorpion. Tales tell that it was a sort of king of scorpions and if one could 'control' it you could control any scorpion. Arun took it as a challenge and set out early one morning for the ruins. When he arrived, he was taken aback by how vast they were, he wasn't expecting something quite so large. This might be harder than he thought to find the little creatures.
He had brought water and food in a satchel not knowing how long he would be searching. The sun was scorching but after entering the ruins he was in shadows and it was much cooler, he worried about being able to find the creepy crawlers if it was too dark and cool, but he continued to search for any signs of them. He was wondering if he should've asked one of his sisters to come with him but at the same time he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if they got hurt. He pressed on.
He finally got to an open space that held a sun dial and pillars around with mirrors that seemed they were to reflect the sun light towards a small reflective piece on the center of the sundial. He stepped closer to the dial, but it looked as if something was missing. A gem of sorts seemed to fit in the center, he looked around to see if it had fallen. It was likely that it had been taken.....he looked but couldn't find anything. He took a piece of his adornment off, if was shiny like a gem and was in a shape similar to the dial. He was able to get one piece and picked at it with his claws a bit to perfect the shape a little and placed it on the dial. He looked to the mirrors and angled them to reflect the sun to hit it and waited.....
What seemed like ages he waited and he thought he would have to leave empty clawed, but just as he went to turn and leave he heard a loud scraping sound as a wall moved. He about jumped out of his feathers with excitement. He almost forgot about the scorpions as he pushed the door open more and passed into the room, As he entered he came face to face with what he was looking for and more! There are scorpions everywhere! He was happy but nervous as well, but this is what he came here for. His youngest sister had been able to get some scorpions and used their venom to make a serum for him to take to try and boost his immunity to their venom but they weren't sure how useful it would be.
Arun took a couple of slow deep breaths and calmed his heart rhythm, he slowly opened his large wings and reared on his back legs and then bowed low and slow. The scorpions seemed to stop their skittering and hissing , maybe it was his imagination but he was running with it. He made slow fluid movement and swayed back and forth in rhythm until he saw the scorpions start to sway in time with him! Was it working, was he doing it?! He made his first step forward and the scorpions instinctively moved for him. He kept going, swaying and moving to the music in his head that he had practiced so many times.
He made it half way when he saw it! The blue glow, it was the king of scorpions, it was watching him, studying him. What would he decide? It was then he saw another amid the black mass on the floor, a brownish red stood out, out of sync moving against the others towards him. He tried to focus as it stopped and also studied him. He looked to the blue one from the corner of his eye, but he didn't see it anymore. He lost focus and he felt a sharp pain on his back ankle and heard a mass scurrying. He looked to his ankle and the reddish scorpion had stung him, seemingly not approving of him. 'Damn it!', he felt himself falter as he found his shoulder against the wall. All the scorpions had disappeared! "Sorry mother, Kasa, Nia. I let you and the tribe down! I let myself down....", he said to himself as a single tear ran down his check.
He thought back to his foal hood learning to dance and enjoying it so much, "So stupid....I didn't have anything to prove!. Arun you're an idiot...", he scolded himself. He thought he had something to prove, just because there weren't many males that were dancers in the tribe he thought he had to add something to it. His family always accepted him as he was. He laughed dryly at his stupidity, then something caught his eye. He saw a table and now noticed the small vial. He couldn't be sure it would help with the poison but it couldn't hurt right. He shoved off the wall, but found he had no more strength. He wouldn't let this be the end, he had his family to live for!! His vision was going in and out, he tried to edge himself with his wings when he heard a 'tink, tink' and the vial rolled to him. He quickly, though weakly took it and unplugged it with his claw and gulped it down.
He sighed as he collapsed as the medicine in the vial seemed to be taking effect very quickly and his brain was unfogging and his vision returning. It was then he saw by the vial was the blue scorpion, seemingly concerned. Arun smiled "Thank you friend, say would you and any of your friends like to join a dance tribe?", he chuckled. He wasn't sure if the creature could understand him but it seemed to hop in joy and Arun held a claw out and it a pincer and they shook. Once Arun was fully recovered he left with his new found friends and tribe members.
(Word Count-1,171)
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