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By a Campfire on the Trail [Solo]
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Post by Bezil on Mar 12, 2022 9:36:46 GMT
It had been a long day for Bezil the Gumdramon in Rosewood. His father Owen had tested and inducted the latest member of the 7/71st and that had required his presence, mainly because Bezil was the one that had prepared Rory the Coronamon for such. And to his delight, Rory had passed, both evolving on the spot to his Adult level, and even coming close to defeating Owen in combat. Of course it ended before it got to that stage, with Owen deciding that Rory had nothing left to prove and accepted him among the ranks.
So after the celebratory party, Bezil decided that it was time for him to make his leave and return to Ys, where the Gumdramon’s primary duties were. So Bezil spread out his yellow wings and took to the sky, flying to the north-west back to home. The sun fell in the west, but he was hoping to make it eventually… until he received a communication.
”Uh, hey, big bro Bez?” Matty’s voice spoke into his ear through the headpiece. Bezil switched the communication line open.
“Yeah, Matty? I hear you.” he replied. “What’s the matter?”
”Well, if you’re planning on flying here tonight, you’d best change your plans.” Matty replied. ”There’s a blizzard picking up ahead of you. You won’t make it if you fly through it.”
Bezil cursed silently, but knew the truth of it. He could sense some heavy weather ahead, and judged he would never be able to make it through it. Still, he had to hide this weakness from his little brother. “Okay, Matty. Loud and clear. I’ll land and seek shelter for tonight. Is everything okay in Ys?”
”Yeah, we’ve got it all covered here. Colin and his partners are visiting, so we can handle you, dad and grandpa being away.”
Bezil was thankful for that. The Gumdramon was glad of the alliance between them and AEGIS, meaning they could spread their responsibilities between each other. But still, here he was, stuck halfway between Rosewood and Ys, with no civilization in sight. And with a blizzard ahead, he’d have to make a shelter fairly quickly. Thankfully his father Owen had taught him enough survivalist skills that he felt confident of that.
But before Bezil settled on a landing spot, he noticed something. A plume of smoke from a fire. It seemed some other person had decided to make camp for the night. Well… if they already had a camp set, Bezil thought that it might be a good idea to land there and offer to share the duties of maintaining a camp in a time of dire need. So the Gumdramon spiralled in for a landing, and eventually did so in the snow in front of the fire. As expected, the person who lit it launched themselves up to challenge him.
“Who are you and what do you want?!” the digimon snapped. Bezil saw them as a bird digimon, about the size of a fully grown human, dressed in loose red clothes and holding a curved sword in his hands. Bezil folded his wings and made a polite bow.
“I apologize for landing without your leave, sir.” he answered. “My name is Bezil. I was informed that a blizzard is approaching tonight, so I landed near your fire in hope that you might be willing to accommodate me until it passes.”
“Hm. A blizzard you say? Yes, that is an emergency…” the bird digimon reasoned, withdrawing his sword. “Well, we’re going to need to prepare this camp a bit better in that case. Bezil, you say? Are you skilled with fieldwork that would help in this situation?”
“Yes, I am, sir.” Bezil replied. “My father Owen taught me a lot about survivalist skills. But you set this camp, so I’m willing to follow your direction.”
They made eye contact here. Bezil’s yellow eyes locked with the bird digimon’s also yellow eyes. For a moment, there was familiarity, but the bird digimon quickly broke it off.
“Well, good.” he said. “Also my name is Buraimon. Nice to meet you… Bezil.” he decided to think on other things. “In a blizzard, the worst danger is wind, so let us set up shelter from that.”
Bezil agreed to that, and helped Buraimon set up a protected shelter that would keep them out of the wrath of the upcoming blizzard. Yet, there was something about this digimon that made him think that they had more between them than a passing acquaintance. His thoughts were distracted again.
“You came prepared with food I see.” Buraimon remarked, noticing Bezil’s stocked food pouches. “I’m glad to see that. Admittedly I don’t have much in the way to pay for exchange for it, only perhaps some information for your generosity?”
This offer made Bezil suspicious at once, but, he supposed that any other digimon in distress would say something like that, so he was willing to put that aside until he knew the full story. “Okay, I’m listening to what you have to say.” he answered.
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Post by Bezil on Mar 14, 2022 6:52:42 GMT
As Bezil prepared the meal with this stranger, preparing a steel grill over the open flames where fresh fish, sausages and skewers of poultry dripping with marinade would be cooked, Buraimon began to share what he had to say.
“You seem like a digimon aware of the world, given you had advance warning of the blizzards setting in.” the yellow bird samurai stated. “I can feel them myself, the wind definitely is rising. It’s good of you to help me with this shelter.”
“Well, I would’ve done it for anyone else…” Bezil answered, making sure the food was cooking properly. “And yeah, I keep my eyes out, although I mainly keep between Rosewood and Ys. I’ve already visited the other major cities. Terminus, Whitewater, Rustport, ah, and Snowflake counts too.”
“I don’t know of these cities.” Buraimon admitted. This made Bezil tilt his head curiously, a habit he had got from Owen when he was confused about something. “I take it that you know nothing of the city of Skysands?” Buraimon continued.
“Uh… no, I don’t.” Bezil answered, the meats sizzling merrily on the fire, the scent quickly filling the shelter. “Do you mean Luminas?”
Buraimon shook his head. “No. The capital was always known as Skysands. Named for the clear white sands it was built on, and the crystal clear waters that flowed through it.”
“Oh, the Shining Sea?” Bezil asked, his ears perking up as he realized what he was talking about. “We’ve explored that place as much we can, but there’s no city there other than Ys. But that can’t be it, there’s no free flowing water there other than what we can get out through the mountain springs.”
“Hmm. Then I suppose it no longer exists.” Buraimon mused. “Why do you call it the Shining Sea?”
“Because the sands and all the crystals there seem to glow at night.” Bezil answered. “It just sort of fitted, you know? Like a sea, there’s nothing really else there.”
“And like a sea, plenty below.” Buraimon added. This caught Bezil’s attention.
“You mentioned that Skysands was a capital.” the furred Gumdramon said, carefully. “The Capital of what?”
“I don’t suppose you’ve heard of the DWR?” Buraimon asked. Bezil expected this answer, and nodded. “Yes, well, that was our capital. What do you know of the DWR?”
“I know that it collapsed in a civil war over 100 years ago.” Bezil replied, rotating the cooking meats. The fever dream he had experienced months ago lingered in his memories. “I know my father and grandfather fought in it, but, my father was destroyed toward the end of it. He was fighting against a rebel general.” Bezil looked directly at the bird digimon. “My father’s name back then was Jaelin, and he fought against the forces of Tactimon.”
This made Buraimon lift his head, staring back at him. The feeling of familiarity returned. Increasingly, Bezil thought he was beginning to know just who he was talking to here.
“I thought you said your father’s name was Owen.” Buraimon said, cautiously.
“Yeah… he decided to change his name when he was reconfigured, leave his life as a soldier in the past.” Bezil said. “So I’m curious, Buraimon… have you decided to do the same?”
“Heh…” Buraimon let out a small chuckle. “I suppose I have. The feelings that drove me as a soldier in the past… no longer seem to be there. Here I am, given a second chance, in a new world I don’t recognize. No, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about me leading armies to march to destruction this time, given from what you’ve told me, all I fought for seems to have disappeared and been replaced with a civilization where strangers in the wilderness feel free to provide shelter and food to each other.”
By now the food was ready. Despite Bezil knowing who he was talking to here, he offered Buraimon half the cooked food, and he accepted with a small bow of his head.
“You said you had information for me, right?” Bezil asked as he took his own skewer of meat. “Before all this talk of the DWR, when you said I seemed like a digimon aware of the world. What were you going to say?”
Buraimon hungrily bit into the fish fillet he was given, then he answered after he had washed it down with a liquid from a waterskin he wore on his hip, then answered.
“Then you should know, things long forgotten are coming back to life.” the samurai digimon stated. “All around the digital world.” he took Bezil’s pause as an answer. “You’ve seen it yourself, haven’t you?”
“Yeah… a Black Digicite Lab.” Bezil said, having seen it for himself when with his father Owen and a small party in the Sunken Elysium. “And Nik, Brad and Toki finding the digimental lab…” he looked at Buraimon. “Are you saying there’s more things from the DWR that are appearing around the digital world?”
“That is correct.” Buraimon replied with a nod. “And they are things that would not be suitable for a peaceful world. You must warn everyone you can, Bezil. Toward the end, all the makings of the DWR were meant for war. You do not want to know the full extent of their capabilities, but you must know that they must be secured and contained wherever they appear.”
Bezil mulled over these words in silence as he finished his meal. By now, he could hear the wind howling from outside their shelter.
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Post by Bezil on Mar 15, 2022 8:37:08 GMT
By the time they had finished eating, the light outside had faded, and the winds made a low howl as they blew over their shelter. However, Bezil and Buraimon had built it strong enough to withstand such an event. Noticing the fire was burning a bit low, Bezil placed a chunk of firewood onto the middle, contenting himself in watching the flames heat it up and add it to its fuel.
The Gumdramon was still cautious of this digimon he had met, though. While he hadn’t said it out loud yet, he had a strong suspicion that he was talking to the reconfigured form of the digimon his father had fought to the death in their time in the DWR. Yet… he didn’t feel he was an enemy. Bezil remembered what he had seen from his dreams of Jaelin, that Tactimon was a traitor and Jaelin was fighting loyal to his oath, but, he didn’t feel it was right to challenge Buraimon over it.
Thankfully, Buraimon provided the prompt to that conversation.
“You know, you have your father’s eyes.” Buraimon remarked. “I gathered that from the moment our gaze met. I remember those eyes well. I gather you’re smart enough to know why?”
“...they were the last things you saw when you died in your previous life as Tactimon?” Bezil answered, forcing the words out in a monotone, not wanting to think about the implications.
“Yes. That’s right.” Buraimon answered, sounding surprisingly calm, given what Bezil had just said to him. “The last eyes I saw in the past, and the first eyes I see in the future.” he took another drink from his waterskin, then resumed his gaze on Bezil. “I’m curious, Bezil, what are you thinking right now? Do you hate me for what I did? Do you carry the vendetta of your father? We seem to be stuck here for the time being, and I imagine you’d prefer to talk about something substantial, rather than remark on the fire or exchange fairy tales…”
“I like fairy tales.” Bezil splurted out. “My dad read them to me when I was very young. He’d rest me on his lap, take out a book of fairy tales he got from the humans and read them to me. And I liked that.”
These words made Buraimon seem lost for words for a few moments. Eventually he found his words.
“Did you say… humans?” he asked. “You know of humans?”
“Yeah. I do.” Bezil answered, growing a little less flustered and relaxed as he thought of his human friends. “There’s lots of humans in the digital world now. They’ve been doing a lot to help keep the peace… as best they can at least.”
Buraimon seemed a little lost for words at this information. Eventually Bezil had to prompt him back in the silence, other than the wind outside. “Have you ever met a human, Buraimon?”
“No, I have not.” the bird digimon answered. “Only heard of them in legend, that their arrival in the digital world would be an amazing thing, that they would be the ones to bring peace to it. Through the wars of the DWR, all of us were waiting for the humans to arrive and save us, but they never came in that time.”
“Well, they’re here now.” Bezil answered, taking a drink of water himself. Eventually, Buraimon asked another question.
“What are they like, these humans?”
Bezil pondered from the ones he had met. Nik, Tetsu, Yuuki, Colin, Vergil, Adrian, Sophie, Yui, so many others.
“They’re about your height.” Bezil began. “They don’t have much fur, except on their head. They wear clothes of various types, and they’re very strong. And warm. And good. I haven’t met one yet that I think is bad.”
“Do they carry digivices?” Buraimon asked next. Bezil nodded. “I see… so the chosen humans have come, as the old legends say.” he momentarily chuckled. This confused Bezil, so Buraimon explained. “Gods, we were praying for them to appear through the whole war, but to hear they finally appeared decades later. Ah, fate is terrible like that.”
“There were no humans in the DWR?” Bezil asked, curious.
“No. Not one. Yet we prepared for their arrival until the very end, we even researched things that would help them help us, but it all came to nothing.”
Bezil didn’t know what to say to that. There was silence for a while longer, until Buraimon spoke again.
“You surprise me a little, Bezil.” the bird digimon remarked. “I would think you would be scared in my presence, considering what you know of me, yet you seem quite calm. How is that?”
“My dad taught me the value of temperance.” Bezil answered.
“Your dad Jaelin? Sorry… Owen?”
“No, my other dad, Hikaru.” Bezil corrected. “He’s a Dorumon, King of Ys. He married Owen a little while after I was born.”
“A soldier and a prince…” Buraimon remarked. “I think I understand now. And… they’re happy together?”
“They are.” Bezil said, smiling. “I have over a dozen brothers and sisters. Their love made us all.”
Buraimon was the one rendered into silence from that, the bird digimon musing for a few minutes before he spoke again. “I think I understand now why you don’t fear me, Bezil.”
“What’s the reason?” the Gumdramon queried.
“I was born a ghost, cursed with my past.” Buraimon clarified. “So was your father, it seemed, so much that he sought to cast it away with a new name and a new life. Not you though. You were born from the love of two digimon. You have no reason to fear ghosts of the past, other than the fragments of the data that made you. You are a new life, Bezil, that’s a gift many digimon crave. You must know this.”
Once again, silence filled the shelter, other than the crackling of the fire that kept them warm, and the howling wind outside. Eventually, Bezil felt his eyelids grow heavy, but he forced himself awake.
“Getting tired? I can stand watch if you like.” Buraimon offered. “I did little flying today, I feel like I can make the night.”
Bezil hesitated, and Buraimon took that for an answer. “I see, you have difficulty trusting me. Very well. Bezil, I solemnly vow that I will keep you alive, unharmed and protect you and your possessions tonight. Do you take me at my word?”
The Gumdramon regarded him seriously. In the end, he supposed he could do so. If he cut his throat and destroyed him, he’d have his whole family out for vengeance. After all, he knew that digimon of the DWR saw loading data of others as taboo. “Alright. I’ll trust you with the watch, Buraimon.” he eventually said.
Sleep came not long after, Bezil was very tired and weary from the evening’s events. He dreamed of little, and when he awoke, he saw the sun rising in the east. The winds had faded, and there was clear sky above. The fire was reduced to embers. Bezil yawned, stretched and sat up, supposing he should bid Buraimon good morning, but the shelter was empty apart from him.
It seemed Buraimon had kept his promise. He was alive, and suffered no harm in the night. The blizzard had whipped up incredible patterns of snow and ice, but already it was beginning to melt, as it was meant to with spring approaching.
The Gumdramon quickly checked his pack to make sure nothing was missing. His father Owen had drilled it into habit that he always check his inventory whenever he was uncertain of something, and, nothing was missing. In fact, there was something in addition. A piece of folded paper. Bezil unfolded it, and saw that it was a parting message from Buraimon.
”Bezil,
I think of it as a sign of good fortune that you were the first digimon I met in this new world. You granted me trust, kindness and hospitality, and even though you are the son of a digimon that was once my enemy, I have learned enough from you to know that we should be enemies no more.
I apologize for not saying this to you in person, but these are words that you can show to others, and I think this important. Remember what I told you. Things long forgotten are coming back to life. Things that would ruin the peace of the world you told me about.
As for your father, well, despite the manner of our last meeting, I assume from what you told me that he would like to move on from what happened before. I would like to meet him again, peacefully. I don’t assume he would consent, but I would appreciate if you told him of my intentions. I don’t mind the conditions of the meeting, just that I would like it to happen.
Lastly, I would like to reiterate that I am glad to see the son of my former enemy has grown in such a manner. You seem like a soldier that knows the way of princes, and I trust that peace will reign so long as you do not fail. Remember that, Bezil. You know who I was, and what I did when leaders before you failed. Do not fail your world.
I thank you for helping me with all you did tonight, in helping to protect us from the blizzard, and telling me of this new world I now live in.
Kind regards, Buraimon.”
Bezil read the letter multiple times, shaking a little as he did so. It seemed Buraimon had left shortly before he had awoken and departed. Bezil stepped out of the shelter, looking around, but could see no sign of him.
Supposing there was little more he could do at the moment, he retreated inside, making a new fire to prepare his breakfast. And from there, he would continue home to Ys, trying not to forget a moment of this encounter.
[Thread End]
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