A cold touch pokes my shoulder, catching me off guard. Did I get distracted again?… Eris and her brother stand behind me; Equila’s expression right now has changed into fear, with sweat falling down his slick feathers, an unbelievable face considering how overly happy he was at the time of the last Speedorz Race; his orange goggles can’t be found on him, which reveals a worried and anxious look I’ve never seen on him before. He’s quiet.

Eris, on the other hand, is excited, chirping underneath her fluffy feathers. She has been holding a Chi crystal between her delicate talons. But then, she hands it to Equila.

“What do you want..?” He shrieks quietly.

Eris has not spoken yet, as she would only chirp merrily; a macabre suspense haunts the air around us, raising anxiety at each breath she takes. The bird looks at her awkward, scared brother, who reciprocates the visual contact. 

“I want you to eat the Chi.”

Equila gasps in response, his beak open wide; this terrifying demand pierced through Equila like a thunder and left him paralyzed from head to toe. It was only seconds later that he managed to sweep away the shock and snatch the crystal from Eris’ talons, placing it behind his back.

“Eris! What went through your head?”, his despair shoots through his screaming voice, “Where did you get that idea from!”

In the blink of an eye, Eris holds herself back but returns to her eager face; her eyelids shine slightly with a faint violet tint of the Purple Moon that’s far away into the sky, hidden in plain sight.

She sighs, “I’ve thought hard about this. I’m not doing a sort of gag— if I understand how the Chi works, we might solve the problems that cause the wolves’ aggressiveness.”

Equila is visibly unable to understand his sister’s words and chooses to not ask any further.

“Your sacrifice won’t go in vain! Please, help us free the Wolf Tribe from suffering.”

“S— sacrifice? I don’t want to die! Eris, I’m begging you, for the Phoenixes’ sake, leave this idea behind. I am not going to swallow a Chi crystal.”

My friend clenches her palms; she frowns her fluffy eyebrows; her patience is reaching its limit. In an outburst, she cries:

“If you won’t, then I will!”

She’s not willing to back down.

I swallow my saliva in anguish. There’s no way she would do that, I thought, but if she’s this determined…

I lay my paw on her tall shoulder. She freezes for an instant. 

Equila’s eyes twitch between the Chi on his grasp and his sister. He has a multitude of choices, but seems to only think of two. And so, with grief… he shoved the Chi down his throat.

He flinches in pain, gulping multiple times; he starts to gag uncontrollably afterwards.

Eris stands there, staring at her brother— who once was an extroverted, outgoing eagle— transform into a surge of uncontrollable anguish. As the Chi went down his throat, he choked for a bit— then, a blue, almost ghostic silhouette of his rose from the ground, and it pushed us away with a powerful blow. After that, Equila’s eyes shined like the Chi he had swallowed. He couldn’t hide the pain, wouldn’t stop screeching; his cries have been piercing our eardrums, along with the noises of his nails scratching the helipad’s floor. Tears fell down his face until he was unable to hold himself any longer. It feels like an eternity—

He pounces on me, but lands face first onto the floor. I quickly turn around and run up to Eris, who kept watching everything without moving an inch. Senses come back to her, she pulls me tight to her bulky chest.

The haze leaking from Equila’s beak transitions from blue to purple, and the screams that rise out of his lungs become more and more unbearable.

“Somebody help us, please! Equila, hang in there!”, Eris pleas, her voice blending in with the painful noise underneath. Her panting breath grows louder as she holds me strong in the air.

A flash turns at us, and, in the blink of an eye, we’re inside a jet. My head stumbles itself into a state of shock; all that surrounds me become twisted into a fuzzy mess hurting my brain.

Soon enough, my eyes return to normal, yet I feel light headed. To my side, where the passenger’s door is, I can see ten other jets surrounding the Eagle Spire’s helipad, beaming downwards blue fire to stay afloat in the sky.

“Stay where you are, Equila!”, a deep, breathy voice shouts, “We won’t hurt you— just be still!”

The feral white eagle can be seen clenching himself from afar; he’s really trying to not go against those orders. However, I have a gut feeling that it won’t take too long for Equila to lose his control.

A sudden gust of wind races from Equila’s wings and wobbles the jets, including the one I’m in. At this moment, I turn around and notice that Ewald was the one who saved Eris and I from any further harm. He, the leader of the Eagle’s Ruling Council, put his life on the line for our sake. Right now, he looks horrified. His son has gone into a state of madness because of the Chi.

Eris cries with her hands over her face, “D— dad! I’m sorry! It’s all my fault.”

“What do you mean?”, her father shuddered.

Then, Equila punches his wings around the sky and they push the air at every flap, but it seems like he can’t keep up with the flight— the bright electricity on his body begins to sizzle, and the eagle has become unable to maintain his position. He lands on the Eagle Spire’s ground, exhausted.

When our eagle jet roosts down, Eris pushes the door open and sprints towards her unconscious brother. I follow suit, walking behind her.

The bird’s face rests emotionless, besides the pain felt wrinkles near his eyes. My friend lays her head on his chest; the tears that fall across her feathers would soon hit her brother’s apparently unmoving keel. His wings are spread across the floor, tainted with dust. However, Equila’s body is not stiff; when I lay my fingers on his wrist and press it for a bit, I can feel the blood crossing inside of him.

I smile in tears. “He’s not dead”, I cry.

A navy blue eagle— the one who helped us just now— leaves his flying vehicle. He walks up to Equila and, with a red magnifying monocle, analyzes his every feather.

Ewald whispers, his voice weak, “Eglor… Tell me that my son is alive!”

“Yes, he is. It would be a lie to say that he isn’t!

Eglor pokes Equilas knee, and the tendons jerk in reaction.

“Now, call the paramedics! I can’t help him all by myself”

Both Ewald and Eris screech with every strength their lungs can muster; thereafter, from a faraway building at the Eagle Spire, blue-tinted raptors slide in the air towards us, and four of them seem to hold a stretcher; they quickly come by, laying their golden claws down on the helipad. Equila is placed on top of the stretcher, disappearing alongside the other adults.

For a fleeting moment, I saw Eris' eyes shed tears, but she fled just as fast as the other eagles while mumbling to herself; each step she took was too fast for me to keep up with, and her words got lost in between her despair. I could see her silhouette from afar, getting farther away from me.

She continues to sprint without looking back; one of her talons twist right at the edge of the ground— and Eris has fallen in front of my eyes. As I reach the same edge as she did, my heart starts to punch down my guts. However, she's flying fine— a bit disoriented, I'd say— straight up to the library. I run around the stairs of the mountain, trying to reach the same destination as my friend; they are long and hard to climb for a lion like me, though bearable enough right now; at my top speed, I drift along the stairway a few times and enter the library.

Absurdly tall bookshelves corner me akin to a maze, yet they cannot stop me from overhearing Eris' weeps that echo from left to right. I go through the jungle of books; the sections vary by subject, like religion and geography. Until, something catches my eye: Eris is removing a book from a shelf; her body quivers a lot, shaking the arms without control; she opens the book, trembling, which reveals pages filled with child-like handwriting.

"I— I can't believe! Where is it?" She wails, the sound of flipping papers whispering beneath her tears.

The eagle seems to land on a specific part of the book, one that makes her stop and read; afterwards, she drops it and herself onto the wooden floor.

My soul can't stand looking at Eris like this!

"Eris! Don't worry, I'm here... Please—"

"I almost killed my brother!"

I can’t wipe the image off my mind— Equila’s reaction to the Chi was awful, and I suppose the pain he felt was horrible too. Though… I still don’t understand how this was influenced by the Purple Moon. Is it even a moon? And Equila ate a crystal, instead of drinking a liquid. Anyhow, now’s the perfect time to ask questions. Cragger and I have been waiting for our other friends to come, in hopes of discussing what to do next.

During our time doing nothing, Cragger kept nagging me about what games to play next.

I told him, “We’re in a critical situation right now, Cragger. It’s not safe to play out there!”

But then he got down to his knees and looked at me with big, watery eyes, begging me to race at least once.

“I have cool tricks to show you that Papa taught me! …Pretty please?”

“Okay, okay”, I grunted, “We’ll play later, just promise me to not do anything hasty.”

Well, at least that made my buddy calm down… He’s leaning on the same rock as I am, somewhere in the route between the Lion Temple and the Eagle Spire.

To think that I’ve been frequenting this area quite a bit…

Eris and Worriz arrive on their Speedorz, and we greet them.

“Good to see that you kept your promise, Laval…“, Worriz laughs, “You’ve been keeping a keen eye on this Chi stuff.”

I sigh, “Only keeping a keen eye… Since Eris is the one doing the actual research.”

My fur looks unkempt; I barely had the energy to tidy up, as the recent memories of Equila’s agonies haunted me down to my core— it made my paws tremble, and I needed to hide from Dad whatever happened beforehand by lying through my teeth that I was fine. I’m laying lies after lies; this will not end well. Dark circles cast from underneath my eyes, very much so, to the point where not even makeup could make them less visible.

“What are you going to do next?”, the pup asks Eris, snarking, “You guys are catching up some pace, but are still nowhere. Sacrificing your brother won’t do much.”

She puffs up, frustrated at Worriz’ words. “I’m planning to bring a bucket of Chi where the Purple Moon is near.”

Cragger, who was distracted with the rattling leaves from above, becomes startled with our conversation. “Where is the bucket of Chi? Don’t we just have crystals?”

“Or so you’d think— but I let the Chi simmer on hot water and melt for a long time. Oh, also, I thought that you could take notes with Laval during our experiment. We have to document everything we see... Everything.”

He nods. 

Eris speaks with a melancholic tone of voice, “Great... Let’s go at the West side of Chima tonight, the three of us.”

Worriz huffs while hopping on his Speedor without afterthought and quickly leaves the area. It’s surprising that he spoke so little during our short meeting— perhaps it’s another jab against us? Or is he wimping out like a coward? … Is it my appearance? 

The sky is pitch black, but It doesn’t bother us for the experiment. Instead, this might as well be the ideal scenario for Eris’ plans. From above, the only source of light remains the Purple Moon, and from below– where we are– dances a tiny flame at the eagle’s palm; a torch brightens the liquid Chi inside this bucket on the floor.

“When the moon moves, it might pull the liquid Chi. I made sure to come here when the normal moon was unable to be seen”, says Eris.

I— I can’t believe we’ve come this far. Equila's temporary sacrifice of his well-being showed itself to be the key for our experiment. We will save the wolves, I’m sure of it. If this water sways along with the Purple Moon, Chima will finally have some peace of mind.

I poke Cragger’s shoulder and point upwards. “Are you keeping track of the moon?”

He looks at me, slightly startled, as if I had caught him off guard, then returns his gaze to the bright, cursed sphere that hangs atop the horizon.

I stare deep at the Chi. Adrenaline pushes my heart back and forth. Pencil and paper in hand, my paws shake as sweat begins to crawl down my forehead— I swipe it aside with the back of my wrist as to not let it fall into the bucket. But the liquid wont move.

A sudden force pushes my arm.

“Look! The stars, they’re shinin’.”

At that moment, the Chi shook— it moved!

“Take notes!”, Cragger shouts.

I rapidly push my pencil on the paper and scribble down what I witnessed.

Eris and Cragger rush towards the bucket, observing it with all of their energy. Again, it moved!

Tears slide down Eris’ eyes. Cragger shoves us into a hug. We start to jump around and frolic.

Who could’ve thought that this was so easy, so quick? It’s amazing!

Thud!

Something hit the bucket; it’s circling on its own circumference. The liquid rocks violently, and it’s pushing the metal object.

Thud!

The bucket falls down. All of its insides flow out, being absorbed by the grass.

Then, a gust of dust blinds us for a second, before our surroundings tremble. Worse— I can see that a huge stampede runs at our direction.