Sustain Trial (PT pt2) - Taha, Elise, Mirage

The sun was setting as they wandered through the grassy terrain that spanned in front of them. The sky was a nice yellowish pink color, with the clouds pink and orange and the vegetation dripping down from the floating islands creating a canopy-like visual every time they passed in the shadow of one of the islands. The four reos were proceeding towards the city, with Miraak and Taha walking while Elise and Mirage were flying, enjoying the breeze that came from the mountains at their right side and let them glide with no effort, letting them rest their tired limbs and just enjoy the view from up above.

 

Suddently, Elise started descending from the sky, and Mirage followed closely, not knowing why but being aware that if she was willing to leave the peace up there behind, it was important enough that it needed the presence of them all. 

 

Elise landed and stretched her wings slightly, getting them used to being folded once again now that she was on land, and Mirage followed suit. "We've been walking for a while" she said, her voice calm but also giving the impression that there was more to that statement that met the eye. "We could keep going, but i don't think it's wise to keep going on an empty stomach."

 

Mirage and Taha nodded, clearly agreeing that they should eat something, maybe rest a little, before proceeding, but Miraak grumbled, puffing some air "You three should learn what portioning your rations means" he said, his tone full of irritation "We've eaten at midday and you were already complaining of being hungry then, you should save your energy instead of pointlessly twirling in the air or wasting it in useless complains, and maybe you'd be less hungry." he shot the last words at Mirage, who closed off, trying to make herself smaller with every word.

 

Taha however shot him a look that could murder and got in his face, her full body towering over him and her wings opening on instinct, making her appear even more as a threat. "Shut up. You don't get to decide how she should behave, you don't get to be almighty and judge her and put her down for being hungry, which, last time i checked, was a normal thing for any living being. And, reality check, look at yourself and look at me. Look at them. Do you notice something? Nothing?"

 

Miraak looked away from Taha from a second with his eyes, but his posture remained strung up, clearly aware of the fight that was about to break, and he stayed quiet.

 

"Of course you don't, so let me spell it for you: We have been portioning our rations as well as we can, trying to eat the same amount as you since we all could carry vaguely the same amount, but in case you really are this dumb, let me tell you something: I'm bigger than you. The other two are bigger than me. Did you make the connection already that bigger body equals to needing to eat more to fuel it, or do i need to spell it out for you? Because clearly you aren't as smart as you think."

 

"You're acting as if flying doesn't consume more energy, energy that you could be saving, instead of wasting it on going on the scenic route" Miraak replied, clearly not realizing how angry Taha was. 

 

Taha was about to attack him when Elise stepped in the middle, a huge wing sliding between their faces. "Miraak, i think you forget that our anatomy is very different, and that staying crouched for hours on end could and would lead to severe joint pain in any tyrian, so let's stop here. Our rations are low, and it's going to be a while before we get to the next city. We're in a huge grassland and I've seen animals roaming while we were flying. We can look for them and hunt ourselves a nice dinner, instead of slitting our throats."

 

The four reos quieted down, all of them trying to diffuse the nerves by shaking and scanning the open field, trying to find what Elise mentioned, but it was Mirage who decided to open her wings and fly again, since she too had spotted some movement when flying. 

 

"Around 1 km in front of us, after this small hill," she said straight down, her eyes narrowing as she tried to understand what animal she was seeing. It was right below the sun, so the outline was darkened, but after a while her brain could process that it was a zebra, it's head down as she grazed the grass, unaware of the four of them.

 

Mirage then dove down, and Elise said. "Perfect. Let’s get ourselves a nice dinner."

 

The four reos moved slowly but steadily on the ground, trying to save energy and not make any noise or any movement that could alert the zebra before they could assess the situation once again, when they were closer. 

 

As they got to the highest point of the small hill, Taha, Elise and Mirage spread their wings slightly, preparing to fly up in the air as high as possible when the zebra, who hadn't moved, turned her head away. Miraak, the only wingless one, stayed on the ground and stalked forward, trying to stay out of the zebra's line of sight by using trees and bushes.

 

As they drew closer, the zebra’s ears twitched, and it lifted its head, realizing with her sixth sense that something was not right, but not being self aware enough to look up at the sky, looking only in the direction where Miraak had been coming from, before lunging in one of the bushes to take cover. Taha, realizing there wouldn't be a better occasion now that the zebra sensed something,  whispered "now!" to the other two, and all of them started their descent towards the zebra, circling wide to flank it from above while Miraak, who had been looking up at them, darted forward to cover the ground and cut it's escape path.

 

The zebra looked up at the sound of wings flapping, and then right down at Miraak's form fast approaching, and sprinted away, its hooves pounding against the ground as it tried to flee. Miraak followed the movement, pivoting to the right, while the three tyrian swooped in low, their forms casting huge shadows around the zebra, a huge indicator to the animal that it was circled and that they were trying to cut off it's escape routes from above.

 

The zebra tried to zig-zag around, changing direction everytime a shadow placed itself in front of her path, its movements frantic as it tried to outmaneuver the three tyrian above it. Miraak pushed himself harder, his legs burning with effort. "Don’t let it get away!" he called out, his voice sharp.

 

Taha stopped flapping her wings and started gliding, her form putting her ahead of the zebra, forcing it to veer to the left, while Elise and Mirage kept their height and push from the right.

 

The zebra was fast, but the four reos were cutting out all the routes and pivoting it to run in circles, and they were all working together to push the zebra in Miraak's direction, trying to place him right in the zebra's path.

 

Miraak gritted his teeth as he closed the distance from the left, cutting diagonally instead of being on the zebra's tail, his paws pounding against the ground. The zebra tried to dart to the right, but Mirage was there, her wings flaring wide as she descended to cut off the zebra's escape. The animal stumbled in it's effort to steer without coming to a stop, and it slipped on the ground while trying to regain control of it's speed.

 

Elise circled above, her eyes locked on the zebra, while Taha kept the low altitude and glided closer to it. Mirage took to the sky once again and joined Taha on the other side. They kept chasing the zebra and Miraak kept trying to get close to it from the ground. It had gotten hard, exhaustion setting in his limbs, but he had to keep going, had to push himself to catch up to it, at least to bite it's flank or something.

 

He saw his opportunity a little while later, the zebra slowing down to avoid a rock, a fatal mistake since it put it in reach of Miraak. He pushed off the ground and closed the gap, his teeth landing on the zebra's thigh and making it stumble, and that was enough for Taha to glide down from the side and close her mouth on the zebra's neck.

 

The two empyrian came down too, and the four reos stood there, breaths heavy, over their dinner. 

 

One that would meet no complains.