Various Trials: All Good Things Come to an End

Life was peaceful in the village, a series of small homesbuilt with driftwood firmly anchored into place by heavy rocks, kelp and other firm materials. They held fast ensuring thattheir smaller makeshift buildings stayed tied together. There wasn't too many,but just enough to make the whole place feel... Quaint. Peaceful. Tranquil.They even had fish, eels and other small critters roaming the sandy pathwaysbetween homes and trails. Nur and Dell gave a small sigh, resting against asmall bank of warm sand, which was raised much higher and was looking out overthe little village.

It hadn't been easy to convince them to let him stay, but hewas glad that Their caretaker... That lovely spined orange lady, did. Thatsomeone like her took the pair of them in. She didn't treat them as strangers,but as they were. An Aqrion who needed help. Even thecommunity she was a part of had actually acceptedthem. Nur lowered his head, sighing again.

"Sigh and louder and the sands gonnafall, what's on your mind?" Dell asked, making Nur flinch. Sometimes, itwas easy to forget that Dell was there. And for Dell... Well, how could he everforget his shy Nur!

Nur shook his head, "I'm just thinking, it's so niceout here. It's nice to have a home, somewhere that appreciates us."

"Your sighing shouldn't be so mournful." Dellcommented dryly, making Nur just give him sly smile, inhaling slowly,dramatically, as Dells eyes narrowed...

"Hey kiddos, what are you doing our here?" Thevoice spooked them, Nur whipping his head around and staring up at the shadowyfigure, Dell actually managing a surprised yell as heturned, his eyes wide... Before he burst out with laughter.

"Spess!! That wasn'tfunny!" Nur scolded her, the larger Giant giving a small laugh, joined inby the chimes of her little Slug companion that never seemed to leave hershoulder.

"Yea, you gave us a fright! That wasn't very kind ofyou." Dell backed up, using a flipper to scoop up a small portion of sandto gently and playing throw it at her. It didn't even make half the distancebefore it sank slowly back to the ground. Spessy raisedan eyeridge as the slug chittered in amusement, it's little antenna moving up and down as it seemed towatch.

Nur shivered. He wasn't the biggest fan of the slug, butDell seemed to like it.

"Well I'm sorry, that wasn'tmy intention. But what are you both doing up here, I've been looking for youfor ages. You do know what day it is, right..?" Spessy asked, an eyeridge raised.

Nur and Dell loomed at each other, puzzled for a fewmoments. Nur knew that there was no birthday's coming up any time soon, andDell knew that there was no special season or anything else nearby. But whatwould be important enough for her to ask that? It seemed important at least...

Silence fell upon the trio, seconds stretching out intominutes, a silence stimulated by their thoughts racing in their heads. What wasso important? Dell glanced over to her, swallowing hard. Why would it besomething she looked so serious about...?

Waiting until the silence almost became too much to bare, Spessartine gave a small laugh, "Oh you two! It'sbeen six months since you've been here."

The pair exhaled in relief, "That's all?!" Dellblurted out, while Nur asked at the same time, "Already that long?"

She smiled, nodding again, "That it has been... You twohave been doing an awesome job helping the Elders setting up the new hall, andwe have been busy all morning preparing a small feast for you, to celebrate you're arrival here and all the hard work yo-"

She was cut short as a bell chimed through the air. Nur andDell loomed at each other for a moment, confusion on both of their faces,before they turned their attention towards where the sound came from, slowlypushing themself off their warm sand, confused by what the noise was for.Moments later, that's when they heard it.

Screaming.

The scent of blood touched his nose before he could see it,Nur beginning to panick as he saw the streams momentslater from behind one of the houses, before they saw movement. Movement which was completely abnormal, Aqrionswhich shouldn't be anywhere near their village.

"If someone even looks like they're coming over here,you have to run, understand? Run away, as fast as youcan. I know it's scary and I know that you don't want to be left alone again,but you've got to do it! If you don't, you'll be killed, they won't spare achild." Spessy said earnestly, "I knowyou're scared about leaving, about running away, but I promise, you will beokay. You've learnt so much from when we first met! So go when you see them,don't try and hide, just swim."

Spessy instructed, before shedarted down the hill, her shoulder crunching against a door as she disappeared from view.

Moments later... They came into view.

They were clad in leathery and steel armour,from head to flipper, black as jet. Metal weapons attached to their blades asthey attacked those villagers who took them in.

Fear built in Dell and Nur's mind, before he looked to histwin, his face pale, "I don't wanna goDell..."

But Dell wasn't having any of it, "You heard herthough! We have to go, right now! We can see them, they've probably seen us."

But could he? How could Dell convince Nur to flee when allhe wanted to do was help, try and get his friends, theelders, the other Aqrions, out to safety. The huntingparty hadn't returned yet, so they were left with barely a handful that couldfight back or even had any experiences with weaponry.

"But they're our friends! Who will look after them?After us..." Nur mumbled, but Dell raised a flipper, gently touching itagainst the worried ones face. For the first time, Nursaw the tears in Dells eyes. "I don't want to go, but you heard Spessy... We can live out there on our own, we just have totrust what we were taught."

Neither of them wanted to leave. But neither had a choice.It was a decision which could lead to death in a few days, but... "Come onNur, we have to go, and we can only go when we work together, remember? We haveto trust each other, you know that..."

Nur took a shaky breath in, nodding just as worriedly. Hedidn't want to leave, but he was right, they needed the courage to take thefirst step, the first leap, before they'd, hopefully, be safe. Dell also had agreat memory, he would be able to tell and talk Nurthrough them if something went wrong.

Together, the Aqrions workedtogether as they turned away from the screaming people, turning their backs onthem. Those who had helped them so much... But with Spessartine there to helpthem and maybe with the hunting party returning soon, they would be okay...right? Nur paused with his strokes for a fraction of a second, Dell quicklymoving to mimic his motion, to make sure they didn't just face-plant into thesand.

"Don't stop, Nur, you know that we need to leave, areyou trying to get us in trouble?" Dell hissed, slightly scolding Nur,before the second shook his head, his pinkish eyes looking a little downcast,"I just ... I don't want to go."

"You have to, please, I don't want us to ge-"

"There you are! You cursed scum!" A voice cut Delloff, angry, close and gruff. They weren't friendly orsomething they recognised. But that name... That darnname chilled them, the name that followed them wherever they went, it scaredNur to his core and angered Dell as the orange-eyed Aqrion looked behind them. The Aqrionhad the same, similar armour, blades lining hisflippers, a mace strapped to his tail, deep gashes around his shoulders whichwere barely visible underneath the armour.

Dell snarled softly, "We've got to go Nur, NOW!"

The earnest tone of his voice spurred his counterpart toact, the pair working together to try their best to swim, to get away from the Aqrion. The moment they moved,they felt the water right behind their head bubble as the steel cut through theair right where they were floating.

"Darn brats!" He snarled, twisting himself aroundagain, diving towards them with his blades at the ready.

Nur and Dell kept swimming, twisting underneath fallenbranches, diving through thick kelp, trying their best to stay ahead of the Aqrion, their heart hammering in their chest. They triedtheir best to keep ahead, forcing themselves, pushing themselves to keep aheadof that murderous Aqrion, trying to make sure theydidn't lose ground against the larger one. If they stopped, even for a moment,they'd be toast!

A tinge of pain went through Dell's flipperand he yelped out, freezing for a moment in his strokes.

Instantly, they crashed down into the sand, buryingthemselves several inches into it. They panicked, panting heavily as they triedto pull themselves away, but they were stuck. Trapped. They couldn't get awayas the shadow of the large Aqrion moved over them, awicked smirk pulled over their face, their rusted iron blades gleaming dully inthe low light, laughing softly at how pathetic they looked. But, to his ownsurprise, he slowed down, the look in their eyes...

Rage. Anger. Frustration. Murderous. So much emotion intheir eyes, pure and untainted anger from being betrayed and hurt by the world,simply by existing. The names, the teases, the exiles. How was that theirfault? How was that something they could control?! Inhaling, the pair of themexhaled explosively, screaming at the Aqrion,"What did we do to deserve this?! Why are you hunting us down like afish!? What did we do to this great ocean to deserve your curses!"

He screamed, pure, anger, rage just pouring out of the youngAqrions mouth, the sound so loud it pierced throughthe ocean, vibrating even the sand at the village now almost kilometres away. The Aqrionscreamed in pain, their flippers moving to cover their ears out of pureinstinct.

In that moment that they were distracted, another shadowloomed over them, a roar of anger sounding as a blade sliced through the air,cracking straight through the Aqrions neck, slammingthem into the sand. They didn't stand a chance as Spessyused her spines to slice into the Aqrion, tailcracking through their armour with ease, pushing themdown into the sand, her scythe making quick work of the rest of him, silencingthe Aqrion once and for all.

Bloodied and panting heavily, Spessyrose her eyes to Nur and Dell, giving the shaking, shell shocked pair a smalland reassuring nod, "Go... Get out of here. You're not safe hereanymore."

Tears stung Nur and Dell's eyes at those words, but theyknew she was right. Deep down, they knew. Not all villagers would be so kindand understanding. They knew that she was right, but they'd done somethingwhich they hadn't done before. They'd truly and completely trusted in oneanother in that brief moment when their elementactivated, stunning the Aqrion long enough for Spessy to deal with them.

The Aqrion shakily pushedthemselves out of the sand, knowing that the others likely heard them and they turned, swimming as fast as they could, theparalysis of their fear slowly ebbing away, finding the strength and couragethey needed to going. To keep moving forward. To never look back, despite thesounds of screaming Aqrions behind him. But that wasexactly what they found, dashing away from them, not sure if they were ready toface the world alone, but they knew what they had to do.

They would do it together. No matter what.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A trial featuring Spessartine and Nur and Dell, a twinheaded Aqrion. This was quite the challenge, but Ihope I've gotten this across well

Nur and Dell -https://www.deviantart.com/aquella-imports/art/Nur-and-Dell-0387-864017407

Spessartine -https://www.deviantart.com/aquella-imports/art/Spessartine-0317-857139841

Word Count - 2025

It's a bit of a mix but uhh...

Prompt/s:

Depict your Aqrion facing hisworst fears.

Depict your Aqrion finding thecourage to do something right, even if it's against the wishes of their peers.