Caliche just snorted, and without waiting for further debate, turned and pushed her way into the treeline. The large fan looking leaves of the first plants parted easily around her, slapping wetly against her golden scales before springing back into place. Vireo followed, with Peyote and Barchan close behind.
The transition was crazy. From an open beach to a forest. There were so many scents Vireo couldn't name, it was almost overwhelming. It was the complete opposite of the dry air of the desert he was used to. Twigs snapped under their weight, and the rustle of their bodies parting through the undergrowth seemed louder than it should've been. For creatures their size, the forest was less an obstacle and more of a curtain, easily brushed aside, so it made sense they made a lot of sound. But they heard many new bird calls, and distinct hoots from an owl.
"I'm calling it now after hearing that hoot," Peyote announced. He puffed out his chest as he shouldered past a thick, dangling vine. "I'm going to be the first one to find a totally new species. They'll write about me in the study scrolls. 'Peyote's Great Discovery.' Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
Vireo rolled his eyes. "Yeah I'm not sure." he countered, his own voice low. "Knowing you, you'll probably just find a weird-looking frog and declare it the king of the island."
Caliche and Barchan both laughed. Though Barchan's was more of a nervous laugh.
"Hey! It could happen!" Peyote shot back, jabbing a talon in Vireo's direction before turning his attention back to the path ahead. His head swiveled eagerly from side to side. "And I can't wait until we see a exotic monkey! I'm sure it'll happen. Keep an eye out."
"Hopefully," Vireo said. That's really what he was most excited for.
They walked deeper. It was as they rounded a colossal tree with huge roots that Vireo saw it. A soft shine in the darkness ahead. He paused, his talons sinking slightly into the ground. It wasn't a reflection from the moon, which was mostly obscured by the thick canopy above.
"Hey," Vireo breathed, stopping the others with a sweep of his wing. "What is that?"
They all fell silent, peering at the sight. There it was a shimmer of blue color, and there were dozens. Huge, patches of soft blue light, some clustered on the trunks of trees, others seeming to float in mid-air.
"It's some kind of glowing bug." Caliche observed. "That's insane!"
They were all completely amazed. Nothing in the harsh, land of Ventifact had prepared them for a sight like this.
"They're completely different from the fireflies at home." Barchan said. He narrowed his eyes. "Those are fireflies, right?"
"Probably," Vireo replied. He moved forward slightly. "Might as well get a closer look. I don't think it'll harm us."
"Good idea," Caliche said.
Slowly, and very hesitantly, they moved forward. As they drew nearer to one of the brightest clusters, they were able to identify the kind of animal it was.
"Yeah, definitely some kind of firefly," Vireo said. He blew on the glowing patch and it quickly dispersed into the air in tiny particles."
"Yuck!" Peyote yelped. He looked at Vireo. "Why would you do that."
Before Vireo could respond, Caliche nudged Peyote with a wing. "They're pretty. You don't know what you're talking about."
Peyote just pushed her back with a slap of his tail on her side. "Yeah, whatever."
Caliche only replied with a smirk.
After admiring the scene, Vireo's gaze locked onto movement that appeared from behind a tree stump.
It was a creature, about the size of a desert rabbit, but that was the only similarity. Its fur was a fiery red. It was perched on its hind legs, nibbling at the edge of some kind of mushroom with tiny, little paws. But its most striking feature was its tails. Not one, but two of them, both impossibly long and bushy. It was like it had red ribbons attached to it.
Vireo didn't move. He could hear Caliche's small gasp beside him. For a short moment, the creature was oblivious. Completely lost in its meal. Then, one of Barchan's claws scraped against a stone as he stepped forward. The red squirrel creature's head snapped up. There was a split second of wide-eyed shock on the rabbit's black eyes. And then it was gone. In a movement so fast it was almost a blur of motion, it ran away and vanished into the vegetation in front of them.
Peyote whipped his head around to glare at Barchan. "I knew you were going to scare it!" he said with a sharp tone.
Barchan just shrugged, his darker scales making him a little harder to see. "So? It doesn't matter. It was just a squirrel."
"Just a squirrel?" Peyote asked, gesturing with a talon towards the thick ferns where it had disappeared. "Did you see it? It had two tails! Two! I wanted to catch it!
This seemed to confuse Barchan. He tilted his head, his black eyes unblinking. "Why?" he asked. "What would you even do with it?"
"I don't know what I'd do with it, but why not?" Peyote shot back, throwing his talons up. "It was cool! We could have... looked at it more!"
Caliche chuckled stepping between them. "You get so jumpy, Peyote. It was gone before any of us could have moved anyway." She then glanced in the direction the creature had fled. She turned back to the group. "So, what's the plan? Do we try and follow that little red thing, or do we pick a new direction and see what else this place has?"
"Let's follow it," Vireo said. He met Caliche's gaze, then looked at the others. "We definitely won't see it again, but we'll probably find something else cool. Might as well."
"Yeah, but what if there's something cool to our right?" Barchan asked, gesturing with a wing in said direction.
"I think forward is better."
"Laaaaame," Barchan replied.
Caliche looked from Vireo, who was pointing in the direction the creature had fled, to Barchan, who was gesturing into an equally dark and unknown patch of forest. "Alright, what's it going to be then? Do we follow the trail of the mysterious two-tailed squirrel, or do we take Barchan's scenic route to nowhere in particular?"
"Man!" Barchan protested. "My direction is just as good as yours. We're exploring. The point is to go where we haven't been. Following that thing is just going to lead us in a straight line. What if there's a cool waterfall or something to the left?"
Vireo turned to him. "But what if there's a whole family of those red things in that direction? Or their den? That's more interesting than a random waterfall we might not even find." He argued, gesturing again to where the creature had vanished.
"Buuuut," Barchan countered, tapping Vireo on the head. "There could be a den of giant, angry badgers that way for all we know."
Vireo opened his mouth to argue again, but then he paused. Peyote and Caliche were seemingly amused with their playful little banter, and he wasn't planning on entertaining them. The truth they both knew was, they had no idea what was in either direction. The way the squirrel went was the same as any other path they could choose. It didn't really matter. He let out a huff of air through his nostrils. "Yeah," he conceded. "Right it is. It doesn't really matter anyway. We'll find something cool."
Peyote finally chimed in. "I'm fine with whatever," he said. "I just hope we find something I can actually catch this time. I really wanted to catch that squirrel, but we definitely could find something even more crazy to the left!" He shifted with excitement.
"Alright," Caliche said. She turned and began pushing her way through the thick undergrowth to the right. The others followed shortly behind.
The forest for sure grew denser as they moved forward. The spaces between the colossal tree trunks shrank quickly, forcing them to weave and duck under low-hanging branches thick with moss. The air felt extra damp, and there were so many animal sounds Vireo couldn't name. Suddenly, a loud, explosive sound boomed through the quiet.
"A-CHOO!"
Vireo and Barchan both jumped, startled, their heads whipping around. Peyote stood frozen, his snout wrinkled as he rubbed it with a foreleg.
Caliche just laughed, the sound echoing softly in the enclosed space. "Gods, Peyote, you allergic to something in here?"
"Probably," Peyote grumbled, sniffing loudly. "Weird little dust particles are making camp in my nose."
As he spoke, a flash of impossible color caught Vireo's eye. He looked up. Perched on a thick branch just above them was a bird unlike any he had ever seen or read about. Its feathers were iridescent blues, greens, and purples But what truly stunned him were its wings. It didn't have two. It had four. Two large, powerful wings were positioned as they should be, but a second, smaller pair was just below them.
"Whoa," Peyote breathed. His eyes went wide with a hunter's gleam. "Okay, new plan. I'm catching that."
Before anyone could stop him, he lowered himself into a crouch and began to creep towards the base of the tree, his talons digging into the soft earth. He placed one clawed foot onto the trunk, then another, preparing to climb. The bird, however, was far from oblivious. It tilted its head, fixing its eyes on the large predator below it. With a single, sharp cry that sounded like a melodic chime, it launched itself from the branch. All four wings beat in unison as it soared upwards, and vanished out of sight.
Peyote slumped back onto his haunches a groan. "Are you kidding me? Everything on this island is too fast!"
"Come on, Peyote." Caliche said.
They continued on. A few minutes later, Caliche, who was in the lead, stopped dead. "Huh. Now that's weird."
Vireo peered over her shoulder. On the trunk of a tree right in front of them was a spider. It was a big one, easily the size of his talon, with a bulbous, hairy abdomen patterned with swirls of black and purple. As they watched, it did something truly bizarre. Two thin flaps unfolded from the sides of its body. They weren't legs; they were… wings.
"Does that spider have wings?" Barchan asked with a repulsive tone.
Caliche leaned in for a closer look, her snout just inches from the creature. "I think it does," she whispered.
That was apparently too close for the spider's comfort. At lightning speed, it launched itself from the tree. It flew directly at the nearest shape, which happened to be Barchan's face.
"AARGH!" Barchan yelped, stumbling backwards in a panic. He fell onto his back with a heavy thud, his talons flailing wildly as he swatted the winged arachnid away. The spider just buzzed off into the darkness, Barchan on the ground and the rest of them in hysterics.
"That is not funny!" Barchan grumbled, pushing himself up and brushing imaginary dust off his body by shaking himself. "It flew right at me. I did absolutely nothing!"
"Your face, though!" Peyote wheezed. "You looked like you'd seen a talking tree." Peyote looked up in thought. "Actually those do exist."
After the laughter subsided and Barchan had regained his composure, Peyote looked around at the forest around them. "You know," he said. "Walking in a straight line isn't really working. These trees are getting too thick. The left looks a little more open."
Everyone agreed. Their straightforward path had been more and more difficult. Caliche nodded. "Yeah, let's just take a left here and see where we end up."
"Let's do it!" Peyote cheered. "I can't wait to see a wolf monster!"
"Stop." Barchan grumbled.
He was only replied by a little chuckle from Peyote
"Your face, though!" Peyote wheezed. "You looked like you'd seen a talking tree." He looked up in thought, tapping a claw against his snout. "Actually, those do exist."
"Stop." Barchan grumbled, shaking his head like he was trying clear the image of the spider from his memory. "That thing scared a scale off me."
Peyote's eyes lit up. "Did it really?" He craned his neck, trying to get a look at Barchan's hide.
"No, I was joking," Barchan huffed, turning away from him.