Life-like Fear

Sherbet looked around the city in fascination, it was their first time seeing the big structures of the Ortusi. Though many of their friends and family were the larger Enivi, the young Lunasei never had a reason to go this far into the city. The only other time they had been around here was to see their dad’s shop. There was a small squeak of shock. In the glory of the city, Sherbet had almost forgot their companion.

“Sorry my friend, it’s probably really overwhelming for your senses with all these buildings and people.”

Both creatures were albino and stuck out like a sore thumb in the crowd. The bat, who Sherbet had named Echo, clearly did not like all the hustle and bustle. It buried itself deeper in Sherbet’s mane.

“Let’s go someplace a little quieter for a bit, I’m with you on this being too many people.”

Sherbet was used to the quiet of his home near the woods. All pretty their family, and most of their friends, lived on the outskirts of this area. They were an odd bunch and not the favorite of the more traditional Ortusi. Well, Ios was, but he at least appeared to follow the ways of the older generations. Their Ortusi father, as well as their aunts, were less worried about appearances and more interested in living their life.  Having grown up around so many unique adults, Sherbet and their best friend Delphi tended to ignore what others thought as well.

Walking away from all of the Enivi in the main part of the festival, Sherbet found what appeared to be a small stone garden. It was quieter with only a few stragglers wandering about. One even stopped to ask Sherbet for directions as they entered, not that they were any help. Moving deeper into the garden there was a clear theme throughout the stone. Dragons.

From what little history the pale Lunasei could remember, the Ortusi was said to have slain the dragon at some point. Beyond that, there was no recognition for them. Despite their other dad’s best efforts, Sherbet could care less about history. Though they understood it was important, they just could not stay focused during the lessons. The only lesson they ever did focus on was Mara’s first aid lessons.  Well and her plant lessons, but Ios was more knowledgeable than her which the warrior readily admitted.

Looking around the garden again, they marveled at the large stone dragon in the middle. It towered over the rather small Lunasei’s head. Granted, its massive size probably towered over even the largest Ortusi. The statue was masterfully carved with each scale displayed. It appeared so life-like that Sherbet swore it could come to life at any minute. Shiny stone eyes, jewels maybe it was too tall for them to know for certain, seemed to follow them wherever they went.  Its face was ferocious and the body was sized after the living beast.  At least what the artists believe to be the size of it, the large lizards were no longer around for scale. Shivering and with their mane on end, Sherbet continued to walk past the terrifying statue. Echo let go of their mane and flew above their head, chirping and looking for the threat.

“It’s okay Echo, just the statue giving me the creeps you can calm down.”

The white bat stopped circling, but stay flying.  Letting him do as he wished, Sherbet changed their focus to the other statues. All of the dragons, but none as terrifying or large as what appeared to be the main piece for the garden. There were other shapes as well, circles and benches, all of stone. The dragons carved into the wall all had swords pointed at them by Ortusi. Those stone works were worn with age and they paused to wonder how old the carving was. Suddenly their pondering was ended by someone yelling their name.

A little startled Sherbet whipped around to see Delphi at the entrance of the garden.

“Here you are! We have been looking everywhere for you! Your dads were worried sick. They almost got my dad involved,” his best friend chirped at him.

“Sorry! I got overwhelmed and just looked for a quiet place. Please tell me they haven’t bothered him yet? He hates crowded places more than I do.”

“Nah, mom convinced them that between all of us and their companions we could find you on our own. Which she was right of course!”

Letting out a big sigh of relief that they hadn’t bothered the elusive Ortusi Sherbet trotted over to Delphi, “Thank goodness.”

With a snort, Delphi turned towards where their group was, “Mara is gonna kick your butt though, you know her and safety. She’s fusing about how many times you’ve been told never go alone and yet you did.”

“Of course she is, I’m gonna have to run laps for this aren’t I?”

“Probably, but hey, you know Ignis probably will be too.”

“I will never understand why that straggler hangs out with us,” Sherbet wondered out loud.

“Because we are cool, duh,” Delphi said with sarcasm in her voice. “It’s not our place to ask, you know everyone has their reasons. I’m just happy he’s not as grumpy anymore.”

“That’s fair…” Sherbet trails off then start again. “Hey, when you looked in the stone garden did anything look… off to you, like almost too life-like?”

“No, everything was just the normal dragon art you see in this city.”

“Even the big one?”

“What big one?” Delphi asked stopping ahead of the albino and turning to look at them.

“There was a dragon statue bigger than your dad in there!! How did you miss it?”

“Sherbet, I think the stress of the crowd had you imagining things. There wasn’t a statue that big anywhere in that garden. Now come on, let’s get you back to your dads they are probably still freaking out,” with that Delphi set off at a run to wherever they were meeting.

Sherbet turned around in shock and stared at the large wall around the garden for a bit longer before Delphi yelled their name again. Pulling them back to reality and with a shake of his head he set off. Still unable to get the dragon's terrifying facial features out of his head. Maybe he should have paid more attention in his lessons, he might have known a little bit more about the statue.