Long Grass

In the vent Felix pulled himself through to his library. Now on the edge, he threw his crutches down on the library floor. The creature was right behind. Felix reached up to a vent shelf for his lantern. He turned it up and the room was filled with warm white light. The creature's eyes adjusted by dilating a little. 

"You wanna go first or?.." Felix asked. His arms hanging off the ledge. The creature looked to him and went down the ladder as a response. When he got to the bottom he stood up on his back legs and held his charred left arm. Felix slowly followed. When he got to the bottom he picked up his crutches. 

Una did have a point earlier, maybe it wasn't the time to visit Error. Felix couldn't even run.

It wasn't like Una wanted to come and help out either. Maybe this was just how it was going to be. He had bad luck in worse conditions. In order to survive he was going to have to be way more observant.

He had to prove he was capable in what he considered to be his home. Besides, he didn't know how to deal with such severe burns.

Felix handed his lantern over to his tail to hold. At the same time his ears swiveled to a sound outside the library. It wasn't just one, but many. Some new ambiance was echoing. It was a sort of buzz he somehow didn't notice before, like electricity's hum but a completely different sound. 

He faced his entire head to the exit. Like always, a carpet slab was put in place of the door. He swung over to it and pulled it down a crack. At first it seemed just as dark as before, but his eyes adjusted. What once were small and sparse green glowing mushrooms now grew up against the walls to the ceiling. Their glow was much more prominent, and their roots followed the floor around like veins. 

How could this be?? This simply didn't happen. Mushrooms weren't meant to be that big. Monsters? But how did that correlate?

What was its purpose?

No matter.. he was going to have to pass them if he wanted to help the creature.

He looked back at him. The creature was still on his hind legs. He was reading the spines of the books on the bottoms of shelves.

The creature didn't seem to be as bothered by his injuries as painful as they looked. He pulled a book out with a claw. The book fell into his arms but poked a soft spot on his left. He dropped the book and held the injury, grimacing. 

"You ok?" Felix asked him. 

The creature shrugged in response, still making a grimace. 

Felix looked to the book on the floor, "Oh hey!" It was a frogen book. He swung himself over and picked it up.

The title said 'Frogens: ancient beasts of the tower'. The cover was red with a shiny silver frogen skeleton roaring in triumph. Felix held his lantern up to it and flipped through a few pages. The edges were yellowed and fading, but the rest of the book was perfectly preserved. Pictures of collected skeletons filled the pages. 

One image had a picture of a book written by frogens. The caption read 'this ancient text goes back thousands of years. The highlighted passage: "Guhh dad. He never does anything for me. He just comes home and bosses me around while he naps. Like? I have homework to do and my part time job. He takes away the very little time I have left." Translates roughly to "Father doth give me a chore. Tis a bother." Although the entire passage has not been fully translated.'

"I guess that's one way of saying it," Felix breathed. He closed the book, "Focus. We gotta start heading over." 

The creature stood on his tippy toes toward Felix, opening and closing his hands. Felix gave the book to him.

"It'll be a little ways. Can you walk?" Felix asked him. 

The creature thought about it before shaking his head. He put a corner of the book in his mouth and raised his arms, opening and closing his hands again.

"Uhhg" Felix sighed. He picked the creature up from his armpits and placed him on his back. Suddenly he got an idea. He swung to the back of the library where there was a table with his drawings and gear. His backpack was also there. He picked up his bag and spilled out the contents of the largest pocket. The creature got the idea and leapt off him onto the table. Ripping some skin the creature held his leg and let out a whimper. 

"You really need to stop jumping around. Here," Felix picked up a towel that fell out of the bag and lined the inside with it. He then showed the open bag to the creature. The creature crawled in with the book in his hands. Felix put the bag on his back, "Comfortable?" He asked, looking back to the creature.

He made an unsatisfied face, shrugged his shoulders and held his hands out, "Oh please. I'm just gonna go," Felix sighed. 

He swung himself to the exit door and stopped to move the carpet slab out of the way. He then went out into the gwenen sized Lost Chamber. It seemed to just be old apartments on two floors with a balcony. It wasn't very large. Felix assumed it used to be a part of the ADC. 

He swung down the hall, but slowed when passing the first mushroom. Would it snap at him? Would it explode? Would it start to flood the room with slime?

Luckily nothing happened. Felix sped up a bit until he made it to the hole at the end of the wall. He took his crutches off and shoved them in. He then crawled down the hollow wall until he got to the next hole. Now he was in the City Chambers filled with skyscrapers, but now it was covered in giant vines with great big leaves. The mushrooms joined them.

Landing on the plants and taking off were little bright bugs buzzing around. They were hard to look at, almost like little suns.

Great birds, fast bugs and slimes. Running in the middle of the road a caecusraptor stopped to look at him, but it was three feet taller than normal, and its teeth were so long it stuck out of its mouth. It was like a fox had suddenly grown to the size of a german shepherd. 

Felix gasped and stood still. Caecusraptor's were predators, and now that this one was taller it could possibly think of Felix as prey. The raptor flared its nostrils at the boys. It then popped off and ran down the road behind them. Felix kept his eyes on it and started swinging again. Almost familiar birds flew out of his path. Slimes were getting bigger eating the vines on the walls. 

Felix continued past them. Such wonders shouldn't be celebrated should they? It wasn't natural, was it even right? 

He arrived at the entrance to the Stature Chambers made of cinder blocks and filled with ancient graves. He passed the entrance room with its two ways, waterfalls and one somber dragon-like statue. It seemed this place hadn't really changed. 

The slimes were still larger than any he had ever seen. What once was the size of cats now stood up to him. The halls were narrow, but slimes were passive, so he just slipped by them. 

Felix entered a larger room a filled with graves. The light from his lantern caught the dark hairs of a devil wolf just a few feet in front of him. Felix jumped back, the creature's wings clapped on instinct, but he stayed in the bag.

Taking up all of the space in one hall, it almost seemed like an attacking shadow. The monster barked and shuffled forward. Its claws and barks echoing in the silent drip.

Still stepping back, Felix took his revolver out of his holster, pulled the hammer back and shot the devil wolf. It yelped and scratched at the wound on its head. It backed off and ran to another hall, farther than the lantern light could reach. Splatters of blood followed it, mixing with the dripping water from the oozing walls.

"You ok?" Felix asked the creature in his bag. He nodded, but his wings were open and all of his feathers stood on end, "Alright, let's continue."

Felix shivered as he began again. He led with his gun first, yet the hand that held it vibrated up and down. His heart was racing. He could hear it in his ears. There didn't seem to be a way to calm down now. He stopped and decided to check his gun's chamber. Pressing a button on the side, the chamber rolled to the side showing off its utter emptiness. 

Felix reached into a pocket on his holster. He pulled out six loose bullets and dropped them into the chamber holes. He popped the chamber back in place.

Somehow that seemed to calm him. Did he already use six shots? Or was the gun never fully loaded? Felix hoped he wasn't the type to begin unloading chambers often. What would it say about him if he came back to Maxwell asking for more ammo only after a few days? Maybe Felix was more trigger happy than he thought. Even if he wasn't, what would Maxwell think? 

Need to focus. All his shots were justified right? And it probably wasn't even fully loaded before.  

Felix swung himself past the room he was ambushed in to continue down a hall to a high ceilinged larger room.

He was getting close to the stairway down to the abandoned town. The floor here was covered in moss, green fluffy moss. Felix stood in front of it, not knowing if it was safe.

"Darn all this new stuff…" He mumbled. He poked the moss with a toe before laying his whole foot on it. It sprung back, but less than the rubber ground on the third floor. It was wetter too. He swung himself over it. After a few swings he realized it was safe, unless the water on his feet was really acid and his fur would start falling off. He tried to keep his feet from touching the ground just in case.

He hated feeling this way, like the environment was something to be afraid of. He wanted to run through the halls, feed little birds and raptors, and watch the clever hunt of dragons. Being scared of moss wasn't fun. All these new rules were going to take time to get used to. Error told him to be afraid, and Felix didn't want to die. 

"Hello," a shadow said at the threshold of a hallway. It almost looked like glowing red eyes in the dark, but Felix's lantern light caught the shape of another devil wolf. He was standing on his hind legs holding something. 

"...Hey.." Felix said. He didn't really want to talk but maybe he would save bullets if he humored the monster.

"We're making a new restaurant," the devil wolf said without enthusiasm. He took a step toward Felix into the room and showed him a sign he was holding. It stated, 'Coming Soon: Terrible's Cannibal Buffet. STARVING? REALLY CHEAP!!'. Now slightly closer, Felix realized the devil wolf had horns sticking out of the sides of his head. He also had back spines like a lizard, but otherwise was the same as all the others he'd seen. 

"...Cannibal Buffet?" Felix asked. 

"Mnnyeah," the wolf groaned, "We eat one another.." 

"Oh... What if you get eaten? Isn't working at a cannibal resturant dangerous?" Felix asked, struggling to find a way to talk about cannibalism without directly pointing out how wrong it was.

The wolf shrugged. 

"If I got eaten I guess that would be too bad..." He grumbled. He put the sign's post down on the floor and began hitting it into the ground with a mallet.

"Are you doing anything else?" Felix wanted to ask if the wolf planned to hurt him, but he didn't want to give the monster ideas. 

"... Not really. Just following orders. I was born yesterday so.." He sighed, his movement slow and careless. 

"Oh wow. Born yesterday.. You're already fully grown too," Felix faked a chuckle. 

The wolf stared, and then opened his mouth to smile with all of his knife-like teeth. He then closed it, almost as if he was faking too, or even mimicking.

"I'm a child? But.. fully grown..?" He asked in the same time.

"Yes..?" Felix said. 

"Oh… I didn't know," The wolf's big red pupil dropped to look at the floor, "Thank you."

"Are you ok?" Felix asked. 

"Just… confused.. Thanks anyway." The wolf turned around and shuffled back down the hall. His tail dragged on the ground as he disappeared into the dark. 

Felix looked to the creature in his bag. The creature didn't make much of a face. 

After swinging through two more rooms the entrance of the stairwell tower was ahead.

The stairs were already such a long way down, it was going to take forever now that he was in crutches.

Felix swung himself over to the stairs and sat down on a step. He decided to slide down one step at a time.

After about ten minutes a sweet sound suddenly filled his head. He turned to look at the little creature in his bag. In his hands was a box, but in the middle of the two sides was a flexible part that grew and shrunk as he played. To most people it would be an accordion, but to Felix, he had never seen such a thing. 

The song was slow, sweet and uplifting. The bass held long and filled Felix's soul as it changed chords, and the melody carried his mind home. The song then paused, and introduced a more fast paced umpah beat with a carefree melody. 

Felix could barely breathe. He didn't know sounds could make him feel this way. He didn't even understand where the creature got the instrument. Kids in the ADC banged on drums and bins to make cool beats, but this music actually spoke to him. 

"Oh gosh!" Felix said to the creature, "That's beautiful!" He tried to keep composure but tears filled his eyes.

The creature stopped playing to look away and blush.

"No, no, keep going. I'm really enjoying it," Felix said, blinking the tears away.

As they continued down the spiral stairs the creature continued playing uplifting and wondrous songs. Felix still couldn't believe what he was hearing. It didn't seem as long by the time they reached the bottom. From the windows above it looked like there was more moss on the ground of the town. When he finally made it to the last step he quickly realized he was wrong.

At the end of the stairwell the town couldn't even be seen. There was a wall of ten foot grass blades that filled the entire space.

Felix gasped. The blades swayed back and forth with the air flowing through it. Anything could hide in this. It was going to be easy to spot him with his lantern on. In hallways and chambers it was ok because there wasn't much of a distance between him and other creatures, but now in the open space he would be spotted for sure. It wasn't completely dark, as the vibrant bugs still floated about like street lights, but Felix couldn't see a foot in front of him with grass like this. He was sure to bump into something, or even step off the town's platform entirely and fall into a void. 

He took a step back, afraid. 

The creature in his bag looked at him. He pushed a bunch of keys and buttons on his accordion and smashed the bellows together in a loud ugly sound. 

Felix jumped and held his ears. 

"What was that??" He hissed. 

The creature only smiled at him. 

Out of the grass popped more of the same type of creature. A lot more, maybe even twenty, no, thirty. They were all about the same size but they all had different faces, skin colors, hairstyles, and wing patterns. They peeped like flinches, parrots and jays.

"More of you!" Felix gasped. His eyes widened at them. Just one was enough to throw him for a loop but seeing all of them made him feel enlightened. He was the only one seeing this right now. He couldn't wait to tell Una. A special signal created by a magical instrument to call out to the flock. He wanted to get to know every single one of them. What amazing animals.. or monsters?

"...Are you guys monsters?" Felix asked. 

They shook their heads at him, "Hmm.." 

They could also be lying. For now it didn't matter. What mattered was the first creature's wounds. That was important to everyone. Felix would have to remember to watch his back when their business together was over though.

They squawked to one another.

They seemed to be communicating, but whatever they were chirping didn't seem to be something Felix understood. Felix wondered if he could ever learn their language or if it was more than that, and the language barrier was something he could never begin to comprehend. Watching reminded him of being awkward and never bring able to contribute to conversations. Sad. 

Anyway, the flock all changed their heads into the last creature Felix's creature made to scare Una. It was the one with the big mouth, bulging round eyes, round ears, hairless snout and orange fur. Felix's creature gasped and put a hand over his mouth. He then pointed to the flock, and pointed to his eyes and ears. The flock nodded, and dashed away, deep into the grass.

His creature pulled Felix's face up to his. He put a finger up to his mouth, and held his other hand up in pause. 

"Wait?.." Felix asked.

The creature nodded. He poked his accordion and it shrunk down into a little quartz carved necklace version of itself. He had been wearing that the whole time huh? Felix saw it shrink but still didn't fully comprehend it.

He saw that happen and didn't even flinch. If this was mind altering smoke he was going to humor it for now. Maybe he was dead and all of this was his ghost slowly being absorbed by a monstrous hell. He didn't like either option so maybe a bird creature with a magical instrument necklace was a nice pastime and not anything to be questioned.

After a few minutes the creature put his hands down. 

"Uh.." Felix didn't understand. 

The creature pointed into the grass. For once his expression was hard and focused. It didn't really paint confidence into Felix's physique. The creature was so playful and full of vigor despite his injuries, but now he stared like a hawk into the unknown. 

Felix swung his crutches into the grass. The creature reached out of the bag and took Felix's lantern out of his tail's grasp. He turned it off and hid it in the bag. Now the only light was from the bugs, but most things were still in shadow.

"... I don't know where I'm going.." Felix grumbled. He tried not to sound shaky. The creature looked to him and gave a thumbs up. It didn't really make Felix feel better. He knew basically the way around, but now he felt like he needed to count steps. He wasn't even stepping, he was swinging through the grass in crutches. Moving through grass made noise, especially when committing to swinging around. 

The flapping of wings far off forward. Felix couldn't see where it was coming from. The grass was too high. 

The scream of an aerial violin. Felix ignored it. The creature did not, and kicked Felix in the back. Felix stopped. 

"I'm pretty sure the way's still forward," Felix said. 

The creature shook his head and changed his face to a visage of the big mouthed monster. He pointed forward. He then shook his face back to the way it was, and pointed left. 

Dread. 

"A monster is out there?" Felix's ears stuck down to his head. He couldn't keep his mouth closed with the grimace he was making. He looked back. The creature grabbed his head and forced it to look at him, "Right.. right," Felix's demeanor didn't change, but his determination returned. He positioned himself to the left and began swinging himself that way. 

Another burst of flapping wings, but even further away now. An ugly bellow of a cello echoed in the air in the same place. Felix understood now. He had to listen if he wanted to stay safe. He continued to the left because the signal still bellowed forward. Eventually he was going to have to go forward again. The grass in front of him was so dense and dark it really felt like he was walking blind. As he passed the blades they cut his sides every so often. 

Flapping wings yet again. A nasally honk of a tuba. This one was so much closer than the first. Felix swung himself a little quicker, keeping his eyes in the direction of the last signal. He couldn't actually see anything if it was coming, but keeping his eyes over there reminded him of where not to go. 

Another clap of wings. The banging of keys on a piano. This signal was so close now. Felix froze up. Whatever it was might be able to hear him at this distance. The creature in his bag kicked him and pointed to the left. Felix began again, but in an effort to be silent slowed to a tip-toe. 

It wasn't a good pace, and the creature didn't like it, but if being annoying kept him alive Felix wanted to go for it. 

The flapping of wings, way too close, Felix looked up. He could see a creature up in the air. It took out a trumpet and blasted out an ungly squawk. The creature in Felix's bag put a hand in front of his face, telling him to stop. 

Felix paused. The grass stood still with him, and then sutley, began to waver. He could feel the footsteps of the beast pass him. It stopped. Felix held his breath. The creature didn't. It heaved heavy just a few feet away. It then continued walking away behind Felix, breathing big and taking slow steps. 

When the monster was far enough not to be heard. The creature in Felix's bag put his hand down and pointed straight, the direction they were originally heading. Felix looked back to where the monster went one last time before changing direction. 

He had to stay slow, but he wished to be faster. He just wanted to be as far away from the monster as possible. 

Flapping wings far off behind made him relax. A flute scream followed it. For now he was safe, but who knew how fast the creature could run if it suddenly wanted to be in proximity with him again. 

In front of Felix was a dark shape. At first it might've been a creature, but when he got closer he realized it was only an abandoned building. He was at the back of it, but he could look into a window. Inside laying down was Error! Felix gasped.

"Error!" He hissed to keep quiet. Error's ears perked up and he faced Felix in the window. He was playing with a pipe in his claws. 

"Felix! I told you to stay in your home. What are you doing out here in cru…." He trailed off when he spotted the creature. His eyes widened. 

"What? Oh this guy. He needs your help Error, he's not a monster I'm pretty sure so I think you can help him.." Felix rambled. 

Error got on his hind legs and picked Felix up by his armpits through the window. He placed him down in the skeleton of a house. 

"Felix that creature is an artifex!" He squeaked. He went back down on his fours. 

"Can you help him?" Felix asked.

"Of course, but Felix! Artifexes are mythical! I never thought I would ever see one," Error said. He looked at the artifex in specific, "Hi there… You need my help? I'll do anything for you." He put his snout to the artifex, and the creature held it lovingly. Error stepped back. 

The pipe he was playing with was walking out the door. With a swipe of his tail he tripped the pipe. It fell over and retracted its legs. 

"The pipe's alive," Felix said, surprised.

"Yes. It's a little monster I caught in the long grass," Error picked it up. It was straight with a curve at the top, almost like an upside down 'J'. It was only around a foot in length, and the pipe was four inches in diameter. He gave it to Felix to hold. It was surprisingly warm. 

"Release me you fools! I am no creature's plaything!" The pipe hissed from within. It had a female voice. Felix's ears went up. He could feel her speak within the pipe.

A flap of wings far off. A random tap of xylophone keys echoed aways.

"Don't worry about her, she's harmless. She's got no magic or claws or venomous fangs. If she had any of those things she probably wouldn't be hiding in a pipe. I also checked," Error said, "The biggest thing she might be is a snitch, so don't say anything around her you don't want the whole world to know." 

".... I know he's Felix…" she said softly. A grin on her face could almost be heard with it.  

"So what? Are you gonna make a wanted poster with that information?" Error snickered. 

"No! His name! It's!.." the monster started.

"Can it or I'll cram you into a smaller hidey hole!" Error snapped. 

The pipe quieted. 

Felix became curious.

"What about my name?" He asked. 

"Err nothing, let's get back to your artifex," Error said. 

Felix didn't like being lied to, but he didn't think he could ask again now. Besides, the artifex was important too. 

The artifex outstretched his left arm as best he could to show Error. 

"Those are some serious burns," Error observed, "Why would anyone do this to you?" 

The artifex shook his head and remade the face of the monster in the grass. Big mouth, bare snout, orange hair, bulging eyes, bear ears. Error jumped back and gasped.

"What? What is it?" Felix asked. 

"It's Dog! Is he here?" Error asked the artifex, his mouth agape. The artifex shook his head back to its original form and nodded, "Oh geeze..."

"Yeah I think he's actually in this grass. We were just avoiding him," Felix said. 

The artifex nodded to that too. 

Error backed up into the corner of the room and held his head. It seemed the very fabric of his being was coming apart and spiking like a heart monitor. He breathed out of rhythm in quick and long ways. 

"Error?.. What's going on?" Felix swung himself back a step. He held his arms close.

"...Sorry.. sorry.. I'm just anxious.. I can't be caught in Dog's sight. I can't, I just can't," He held his face. 

Felix was hit with pity. He swung over to Error. 

"We won't get caught. The artifexes have been keeping lookout. It'll be ok. We have to get back to your apartment to take care of this one before he gets worse," Felix said. Error's spiking body began to flatten but he didn't say anything, "Wanna hold my hand?" Felix asked. 

Error peeked out from his claws. He gave him his claw to hold and closed his eyes. Felix did the same…. They stood there for a good while, and then longer. 

"...Wow, I'm so touched," The pipe mocked. 

"Shush pipe," Felix whispered.

"Never!" She hissed. 

"..Mn, thank you," Error said. He took a single deep breath and let go. He sat down, back to normal again, "We should go back to my apartment before Dog discovers us."

Felix nodded. Error walked out the front door of the structure. Felix followed, before placing the pipe monster on the ground. 

"Bye Pipe," Felix said. He waved before leaving.

The bottom of the pipe sprouted legs. They were hooved and shaped in a way where if brought together, they would perfectly seal the bottom of the pipe. She wobbled and thrust up to a standing position. Her knees were still in the pipe, so to move around she needed to tilt a great deal to compensate for not being able to use her knees. She looked to the empty room, and then to the splitting grass out the doorway. 

A flapping of wings far behind. A calanet scream. 

Pipe dashed through the front door.