Alexei gritted his teeth as he pulled a silver feather on his belt. It changed into a spear as the figure leapt out of the crater. Surprisingly, the figure wasn't as big as he first believed. Perhaps only a head taller than Nix, holding a staff over his shoulder as he spat on the ground.
With every step the figure took the ground shook. When the dust settled she was looking at… she wasn't sure. The youth had glowing gold eyes, gold armor, a gold band around his head. His body was covered in a light reddish brown hair leaving only a fraction of his face exposed. His nose was unusually flat. Even with his overlapping armor his feet were bare.
The more Neolani looked, the less human the boy looked. "Who are you?" She demanded sizing him up.
"Where'd that cry baby run off to now?" Sun WuKong demanded looking around the area. Extending his staff he leapt over the noisy humans.
Rommel flinched as the golden eyes passed over him. Was this… another beast god? No, power might be radiating off this beast, but his human appearance was far from perfect.
"Looks like I'll be eating beggars chicken before the sun sets." WuKong said as he landed. Then he darted after the fleeing bird.
Alexei didn't even have time to brace as the shockwave from the beast jump sent them flying.
Neolani roared as she went after the beast.
WuKong destroyed the pillar the cry birdie was hiding behind. "I found you."
"Cheep!" Nix leapt out of the way, Caius still in his arms. He barely landed when the staff tried to smash him into the pavement.
Caius braced herself as the beast continued his assault. Each blow strong enough to shatter the core infused buildings. It had to be a legendary class beast! Worse, it was clearly one who relied on physical power. Every time she started drawing on mana something interrupted her!
Talvi leapt over a building, trying to intercept the beast. With a snarl she unleashed a dozen overlapping blizzard spells.
Caius wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes! The beast pulled a few of his hairs out… and they transformed in perfect copies!
Talvi wasn't even hit by the staff and she was sent flying! Hitting the building with an audible thud as she slumped to the ground. Her head spinning from the blow. She tried to stand only for two of the beasts to transform into a cage, pinning her to the ground.
Rahm barked as he and Liga leapt onto one of the copies. They were both caught by the scruff and the beast transformed into collars.
Neolani's eyes went wide, where they golems? Even drawing on Ashton's mana she couldn't even catch up. The palace was in shambles as Lucian finally showed up with Jaxon and Devlin.
"Running never solved anything!" WuKong laughed as his clones easily handled the rabble.
Nix glanced over his shoulder wide eyed, "He's angry, he's angry! Monarch of Sun, so long as he's angry, best I just run!"
Lucian stared in horror as one of the palace's crumbled under another blow! "SURROUND HIM!"
WuKong flicked his gaze over the gathering crowd. With an abrupt pivot he launched himself at the approaching humans.
Nix wrapped Caius around his shoulders as he stepped through a rift, gripping WuKong's wrist before the blow could smash Alexei to pieces.
WuKong grinned, "You always were a slow learner."
Nix blinked, "Cheep? Who me?"
Randal paled as the beasts started fighting. He'd thought Nix was strong, but this new beast was clearly stronger. Forcing Nix on the backfoot from the get go. Smashing through Nix's body when he failed to block in time.
The Mage was just as pale, if Nix's body didn't keep bursting into flame he'd be meat paste. The beast wasn't just using his staff either, even his kicks hit like meteors.
Alexei had to brace himself just for the after shocks. Nix was only able to block two out of every three blows. His fire slowing with each healing.
"NOT RUNNING ANYMORE?" WuKong demanded as he cleaved the cry baby in two once again. "WHAT HAPPENED TO HIDING? HUH?!"
Nix leapt to miss the staff, only for WuKong to kick him into a building. Covering Caius in his flames as he burst apart, then reformed a moment later. Before his body even solidified WuKong was on him again.
Caius snarled, but she still couldn't use her mana! She couldn't even change her size! Growling from her Pretty Birdie's shoulder she clawed at the approaching hand.
WuKong didn't take the kit seriously, reaching to flick it away only for Nix to grab his hand. WuKong then found himself flying out from a solid kick to his chest plate.
Nix was panting, patting Caius on the head coaxingly. WuKong pivoted his body midair, stabbing his staff into the building, then standing on his staff with a grin.
"Is my chicken dinner putting up a fight then?" WuKong laughed as he dug his feet into the wall, pulling his staff free. "Well, come on then."
Randal watched as Nix went on the offensive. The beast was clearly playing with him. Blocking hits, tripping Nix up, changing the size of his staff constantly to interrupt any semblance of an attack. Randal was just surprised Caius wasn't shaken free the entire time.
Even the blows that didn't connect sent shock waves, the ground was full of craters, the buildings left in rubble.
"Ye think we ken help? Trip em up fer Nix ta land ah blow?" The Ranger asked seeing Nix's hands were both carrying silver flames. Even with his enhanced sight, he could barely keep up with how fast they were moving.
"Nay, he jus be teasen. He coulda ended this before it even started if he wished." The Mage whispered as he nodded to their audience. The Satori had gathered, more than just the satori if his eyes weren't deceiving him. The palaces further away were overrun with monkeys of all kinds.
Randal turned in a full circle, they were surrounded. "He be a beast ah sin then?"
The Mage's lips quirked, "Nay Randy, he be ah beast king. I be thinking, King ah Monkeys, though never heard ah him leaven the east."
Randal whipped around when the beast's staff hit the ground. All of them were covered in silver fire as the ground fell out from beneath them. This time it wasn't a crater. The blow left an abyss!
The Mountain Man snatched up his four companions as leapt through a rift. With a roll, he landed on the far side of the palace. The monkeys were all screeching, thumping their chests in agitated excitement.
The Ranger gripped his longbow when the dust cleared. The beast was using a brown rope to hold Nix up by his legs… no not a rope, that was a tail. Lifting him up so they were at eye level. The Ranger wasn't sure when, but Nix was carrying Caius in his arms again.
"So, beggars chicken then?" WuKong asked with a malicious grin. The monkeys cheering so loudly the buildings shook.
Alexei groaned, releasing Neolani from his hold. He'd had to snatch her up when the ground fell out from under them. Then he landed on a protruding rock… his luck was abysmal that was for sure. Pushing himself up he saw the dangling Nix and Caius… Nix was… crying.
WuKong watched piteously as Nix's face crumbled into a familiar pout, then the first fat tear slid into his hairline.
"I don't want to be eaten…" Nix complained aggrievedly.
WuKong snorted, "Bad birds get punished, did Ru never teach you that?" Shaking the bird as he leapt onto the ground. "Here I am, wasting my time cause you want to play hide and seek? Why shouldn't I eat you?"
"You were so angry! So very upset! I wasn't wrong, why should I get punished?" Nix complained burring his face in Caius's back. "He's being so mean, so mean, so mean to me."
"I should spank you! Somersault!" WuKong called as he leapt over the debris, a wispy cloud shot out of the sky to circle the trio. He flopped onto his cloud. "You're still such a crybaby. Ugh, clean your face up." WuKong complained as he awkwardly as he sat Nix on the other side of Somersault.
Nix wiped at his face, still pouting. "You were so angry, felt rage from world's far side, why wouldn't I hide?" Nix pulled his knees to his chest while still holding Caius. "Then you show up, upset an understatement! You bully and tease, say you want to eat me."
WuKong rolled his eyes, "I would have been less mad if you hadn't immediately run off." Turning one of his hairs into a handkerchief he roughly wiped Nix's face. "Hey, no more of that. Before I smack your backside for offering up my land, someone wanted me to bring you something."
Nix sniffed aggrievedly as he waited.
WuKong patted himself down repeatedly, "Buddha Bless, where did I keep it. Hold on, ah, here it is."
Nix blinked as WuKong pulled out a basket… smaller than his fingernail. Nix glanced up at WuKong tilting his head, "Is it even big enough for a bird?"
WuKong knocked his knuckle on Nix's mask. "Don't be a bird brain." The basket spun as it grew. He'd taken a lot of effort to make sure it arrived just as he'd received it. When Nix didn't reach for the basket, WuKong lowered the handles and flipped the basket open.
Nix smelled it before he saw it. The steaming pie, lightly golden crust brushed with another layer of butter, then dusted with cinnamon and sugar. The crust was braided so he could just glimpse some of the sliced apples.
Releasing Caius, Nix crossed his legs as he pulled the pie out of the basket and into his lap.
WuKong leaned back on Somersault. "He's baking again. Nothing too fancy, but… for the last decade or so he's been leaving an apply pie in the window. Same day every year too. Doesn't go to work, doesn't meet with anyone. He just makes apple pies until he's satisfied. Doesn't eat it, doesn't give it to anyone." WuKong didn't admonish Nix's tears this time. Even as Nix ate the piping hot pie with his hands.
"I dropped by, seems he remembers a bit. And after all that trouble you took to have him drink granny Meng Po's soup." WuKong stared past all the souls, looking up at the sun. Even as Nix started to sniffle. WuKong's lips quirked, a thousand years later and Nix still hadn't figured out how to eat a pie without making a mess.
Caius sat on the other side of the apple pie. It… didn't look special. It just looked like an apple pie. Crumbs and the gooey center were all over her Pretty Birdie's crying face. It was a wonder he could taste anything through his tears. The silent tears… Caius could relate.
WuKong glanced over, then back up at the sky. "He's happy, well as happy as a human can be. Wood working now, making tables and fancy screens. He's got a hand for carving though. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was carving you into all his work. The occasional eagle shows up, flowers. He really likes carving birds with flowers."
Munch, munch, plop. Nix continued to eat every last crumb. Belizaire… the forgotten one. Wiped from human history, erased from almost everyone's memory.
Neolani watched as Ashton's hair turned red, his frame shrank… he looked even younger… even through the mess he'd made his features were softer. His eyes were rounder, maybe it was just how he was stuffing his face, but he even seemed to have some baby fat.
Alexei stared at the apple pie… he thought back… he couldn't remember Ashton ever eating an apple without one of them handing it to him. Or him eating any of the pies the snake god made.
"Hic, hic, sniff, does he have nightmares, sniff, does he still hurt, are such memories… of any worth?" Nix asked with his head still baod. Using his fingers to scrape out the last bits of pie filling.
WuKong shrugged, "Who's to say. If you want those kinds of answers, maybe instead of just flying by, you could sit down and talk to him. It's been a thousand years. Now, stop being a scaredy cat, and go visit him. It's pitiful really, seeing him sit under an apple tree, all alone. Waiting, only for the one he's waiting for to never show up."
Nix felt his heart lurch… was Belizaire still waiting… even after a thousand years? After several incarnations?
WuKong sat up, using one of his hairs to make a fresh handkerchief. Wiping Nix's face, "I think he isn't the only one who remembers that promise. Even if he doesn't realize it." It took four handkerchiefs to clean Nix's face up. Then the crybaby cried himself to sleep. With a long suffering sigh, WuKong picked Nix up like he'd cuddle a newborn babe to his chest.
"Sighs, such a crybaby. Really, are you sure your mom didn't mix up the eggs?" WuKong asked to no one on the ground. A golden walnut fell out of a ring of fire, if he hadn't been on guard, it would have struck him in the forehead.
"I'm just saying, every other bird in your clan is a bloodthirsty, flesh eating, war mongering beast of legend… then this crybaby shows up… doesn't eat meat, doesn't fight, heck he doesn't even look like any of you." Three more golden walnuts flew at him. WuKong grinned as he snatched them out of the air.
Neolani stilled… this beast… knew Ru? Spoke to him? Knew where they came from?
WuKong signaled for his kind to approach. His eyes crinkling into a smile as he called them all by name.
More than a dozen Satori approached the nest. Each with fruit, flowers, some even carried leaves.
WuKong ruffled each of their heads, listening as they spoke about everything under the sun. When they started chattering on about the Winned god showing up WuKong started snacking on the walnuts. Learning Nix's piece actually captured the giant serpent, not only captured made sure they were compatible for baby making! WuKong laughed so hard he was tearing up.
"Ru must have had a heart attack! Hahaha hahaha! Ru, uncle to the new generation of their greatest enemies! Hahaha!" WuKong was rocking back and forth he was laughing so hard. He wiped his eyes as everyone started exaggerating about everything Nix and his piece had done to woo the giant snake.