Fan Fiction ❯ Our Own Paradise ❯ No Hope Left ( Chapter 1 )

I don't have much so far. It's just an idea I got from crazy doodles and the wonderful efforts of combining a cute blonde and a pink flamingo. That's right…flamingo…weird? Yes…but oh so adorable! *squeals all fangirlish*

As for Devlin...blame it on the wolf research I've been doing for Dark Forest Embrace.

Name meanings and origin:
Ildri: Fire, Peace; Scandinavian
Devlin: Brave, Fierce; Gaelic

Anyway, this is my little story where there are all these half animal half peoples that hide out with their animal counterparts, discovered around the 1800s, and have been hunted and captured in secret to be sold to wealthy gamers and privet zoos and the like. There's a better description in the coming chapters.

 

Enjoy!

 

All characters © Rin Flowers

 

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Ildri sat huddled in his cage, the smell of unwashed bodies and rotting corpses swam around him and it took immense control to keep what little he could eat from resurfacing. He had tried to push the memories out of his head, the poachers that had come to his home, the gunfire, and the horrible nets. He wanted to believe that things would okay, but the sight of her crumpled body, of those men carting her off to harvest whatever they wanted to sell from her tattered corpse… it was just too much. Then they had packed him along with his precious egg into a crate and carted them off to this place.

This place, this horrible disgusting holding area with so many different animals, it was all he had known these past few weeks. It was as if the world, the life he had once known no longer existed. Just some sweat fading memory before he was born again into this new reality. He could hear the threats of rival species being exchanged.

 

Now here he was, silently stewing in his own misery, waiting through the few moments left before he once again stood outside. That is…if anyone had the mind to buy him. She was well aware of how horrible he looked now. The odds of getting a fair price for him seemed remote. When he was so scrawny and starved looking a skeptical eyebrow was probably the only thing he would raise.

One of the damnable poachers came down with a ring of keys jangling in his hands; beside him was a tall muscular man. They walked along the lined of cages, stopping to pear inside one after the other. The man would nod, a small jerking motion that happened so quick it was hard to tell if he approved or not, then the poacher would say something about the animal and they would walk on.

 

Leaning back Ildri adjusted his position over his egg. He missed his little nest that he and his mate had spent so many weeks building. Here he had no nest, no mud to build with. Instead he had a pile of ripped out feathers and feces. He ached in the places his feathers had been torn out and his skin burned from the parasites who had taken up residence in the excrement. His heart slit just a bit more when he though of the world that would greet his little one when it finally broke through the shell. Sometimes he thought about just letting it die, save it the pain, but he just couldn't. Protecting his egg was all he had left. Caring for his little one was what kept him sane.

 

 

“And `eres our li`el beauties.” Came a voice just beyond his barred home. He grudgingly raised his head to gaze up into the kind, yet cruel eyes of the prospective buyer. He didn't bother threatening or getting angry, or even try to appeal to the buyer to get him out of here. He just sat there, looking just as he had to all the others: filthy, pitiful, and worthless. His once beautiful feathers clung to him in heavy, blood covered clumps showing the battered swollen flesh beneth them.

 

“What is this?” The man asked, speaking for the first time since he had entered the storage area. “You truly mean to sell this one? Looking as retched as he does?” The disgust was obvious in his voice and for some reason Ildri smiled, on the inside at least. No one had ever voiced their opinions, just sniffed, raised their heads, and walked away. As if it wasn't even worth acknowledging his piteous condition.

 

“`na man, `e's just ere for the incubation an ta take care o the li`el one. Once the runt okay `e's gonna be a gone. The li`el one is what we a sellen.” The poacher explained, but the look of disgust did not abate. If anything, it got worse.

 

“And you plan on the poor thing living long enough to take care of the hatchling. God man, it looks as though he might die any moment!” The man didn't quite look angry, just appalled. Shaking his head he turned from the poacher and glanced back into the cell-like cage, trying not to back away from the potency of the disgusting odor oozing from within.

 

“How much.” He asked quietly.

 

“Eh?”

 

“I asked how much you worthless little man.” The man answered, with a bit more force.

 

“em…fer both `o dem?”

 

“Useless! I demand to speak to your superior.” He raised his voice just a bit turning back to the poacher beside him, the soft kindness gone, now his eyes held all the cruelty in the world, and a bit of flame. Now he was angry, and the little poacher almost tripped over himself running up the stairs to fetch his boss. Hoping that it was only to inquire about a reasonable price and he wasn't about to loose his job, or worse, his life.

 

The big man turned back to Ildri, smiling a bit. “Don't worry.” He said. “I'll take care of you and your little one.”

 

The gentleness in the man's voice, it was something Ildri hadn't heard in what seamed like forever, though it had only been two weeks. He wanted to trust the big man, but he knew anybody who came here to buy his kind couldn't be trusted. When the poacher came back with another man he shrank back a bit, knowing that nothing good came when that man was called. Nothing good at all.

 

And just like he knew, after the sinister looking man and the big man talked a few moments, the poacher drew the gun and fired at him. The dart hit hard and stuck in his flank, just moments before the darkness overtook him.

 

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That stupid poacher made my vocabulary hurt. I had this big huge picture of the place and all these gruesome descriptions that were just horrible and, uugh! *shudders* I scared my self half the time; I decided not to put it up in the prologue. I'll leave it for flashbacks, nightmares, and when he opens up to Devlin.

Devlin comes in Next Chapter!