The Story of Jerboa the Unexplored Animus

Chapter One~
Jerboa
Jerboa was at the back of the small group of adventurers that called themselves the FindWings. She had been with them for two years, hoping to erase himself from the memory of the SandWings, his tribe. Now, Jerboa had seen the deepest corners of the rainforest, climbed the highest mountain in the Claws of the Clouds, and had, with the help of a little magic, explored the depths of the Bay of a Thousand Scales. Now, the FindWings were flying farther from Pyrrhia than any dragon had ever gone before- because their leader, “Queen” Salamander, had decided that Pyrrhia couldn’t possibly be the only landmass in the world.
Jerboa had been flying for days, and had to admit she was quite tired.
“Queen Salamander?” panted an exhausted SkyWing named Drift. The MudWing at the head of the pack turned her head to face him. Drift was always complaining.
“What now?” Jerboa also had to admit that Salamander was quite grumpy for a MudWing. How she became queen of the FindWings Jerboa had yet to discover.
“Well, we’ve been flying for awhile and I need a break,” moaned Drift.
“Is there any land in sight? If there is, I welcome you to rest on it,” Salamander snapped. We’re all tired, Drift, Jerboa thought assuringly, knowing that speaking up would earn her a place at the front of the group, making short work of the energy Jerboa had managed to save. I could always enchant something to give me energy, thought Jerboa wistfully. But what would I enchant? She fingered the pouch strung around her neck that carried all of her belongings, most of them animus-touched. I can’t risk taking them out now, Jerboa thought firmly with a glance at the sea far below.
“Jerboa,” she heard a hoarse whisper to her left and turned to face an elderly NightWing named Starskimmer.
“What do you want?” Jerboa replied. She had found that it was best to be a tad harsh with Starskimmer to avoid him following you everywhere, possibly to the point where it was necessary to throw a coconut at him.
“I don’t particularly want anything, but I know Salamander could use a land-compass that points her in the direction of islands,” he suggested
“One: I have nothing to use as a land compass. Two: Queen Salamander is the queen of the FindWings, not the FollowWings.” Jerboa responded firmly.
“Fine. I won’t let her borrow mine either, then.” Starskimmer said haughtily.
“Wait, what?” Jerboa grabbed Starskimmer’s talon as he tried to fly off.
“In my age, I’ve acquired a couple animus-touched objects. Especially as I was part of a pirate crew in my youth,” Starkimmer nodded knowingly, attempting to shake off Jerboa’s talon. Jerboa gripped him even harder, her eyes wide with excitement.
“Pirates? Like from the scrolls? Three moons, you’ve been around,” Jerboa released him.
“Yes, Pirates. It was me, a couple SkyWings, three IceWings, and the love of my life,” Jerboa cringed at the nostalgic expression on Starskimmer’s face. “Jerboa, love is an unusual and unexpected enigma. It is far from disgusting,” Those words simply succeeded in making Jerboa cringe again.
“I don’t ever want to fall in love if it makes me think like that,” Jerboa muttered. Starskimmer laughed softly.
“I think I’ve taken a liking to you.” he stated as he pulled open the neatly stitched leather pouch hanging from his neck open and pulled a small, round object out.
“Careful! You don’t want to drop it!” Jerboa warned Starskimmer as he dangled the object by a thin metal chain that looked impossibly small for a dragon to make. Jerboa knew animus-made objects, however, and this didn’t look like one.
“Scavengers, Jerboa. Scavengers made this,” Jerboa was shocked for a moment at Starskimmer apparently reading her mind before realizing he probably was. Then, the realization that a simple scavenger could make such a beautiful object washed over her and she found herself grabbing it when Starskimmer offered it to her. It appeared to be a long necklace with the curious disk dangling from it. Turning it over, Jerboa discovered yet another pleasant surprise. The disk seemed to be hollow with wood at the bottom, and a clear, smooth surface protecting the inside. The wood Jerboa could see beneath the glass was etched with strange symbols, looking somewhat like a clock. In the center of the disk was a double-sided arrow that was half red, half white.
“What is this?” Jerboa wondered aloud, expecting Starskimmer to shrug and be unhelpful as always.
“A sort of direction-finder used by explorer scavengers. This one is unique, however, in its use as an animus-touched land-compass. Would you like to keep it?”
“Me? Keep this?” Jerboa stuttered, her jaw dropped.
“I asked if you would like to,” Starskimmer reminded Jerboa.
“Three moons, yes! Can I?” Starskimmer nodded, smiling. Jerboa, forgetting for a moment that she was conserving energy, did a loop-de-loop in the sky, attracting the unwanted attention of Queen Salamander.
“Jerboa! What do you think you’re doing?” she roared from the front of the group.
“Uh, sorry!” Jerboa stopped celebrating and quickly hung the land-compass around her neck. Salamander continued ignoring her.
“You’re welcome, Jerboa,” Starskimmer whispered from Jerboa’s left.
“Oh! Thanks, Starskimmer!” Jerboa added quickly. “Uh, how do you…?” she asked uncertainty.
“Ask it to point you toward land,” Starskimmer instructed. “It’ll always work,” Jerboa took the land-compass in her talon as Starskimmer flapped away like an overgrown bat, laughing to himself.
“Point me,” Jerboa whispered to the disk excitedly. The needle started spinning around wildly, never pausing. Suddenly, Jerboa felt the air around her vibrate with pure energy as the other dragons near her became less focused. A SkyWing named Fleet seemed to be pointing in her direction, but Jerboa could hardly tell anymore.
“Help me!” Jerboa tried to scream at him. “Starskimmer tricked me!” but from the swirling blurs of color crowding her vision, no one heard. The world was slowly fading to white.
“I’ll get you back, Starskimmer, if it’s the last thing I do!” Jerboa couldn’t even hear herself now. The world seemed to have turned upside down and inside out, and Jerboa was caught in the middle, like a scavenger in a sandstorm. She put her head in her talons, screaming as the white-hot pain rocketed into her. 
Suddenly, there was ground beneath her feet and the pain vanished. Jerboa opened her eyes and realized she was standing on a flat, rocky, plain-looking area with not a tree in sight.
“Uh… hello?” Jerboa called outCategory:Fanfictions
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