As the feline pulled him in, he began use his feet to control his balance, moving his way to the top. The wind blew more dust in his eyes, he had relatively low vision due to the heavy streaks of air blowing in front and around him. As he felt the solid ground, relief came into him, he bowed his head down towards the feline in appreciation, as he saved his life from a terrible fate. As the feline told him that they must escape fate, as replied "We must find shelter in within the populated trees or settle within the heights of the mountains" the bear suggested.
Ri'do thought for a moment, then nodded, "We will run until you can no longer move." He looked over the creature, "we shall take shelter at first chance we get," Ri'do shifted towards the mountain. "I hope you can keep up" Ri'do took off running from the bursting wind, the dirt and wind didn't mind him it was the trees and leaves that worried him, they seemed to rip from their branches and roots and nearly come flying at the runners.
Kubukk nodded in agreement, as he began to walk, the ground began to latch onto his feet, the weeded arms began to bound around his legs, trying to pull him into the ground. He had heard about the weeded arms before, they ate living things every so often. Kabukk was weak, he could not simply fight off the weeded arms himself. The gods must have wanted him right now! Panicked, Kabukk tried to walk away, but the weeded arms grew tight on him. "Look, you must save yourself, I am wanted here." he told the feline.
Ri'do turned to look at the weeds, he had never had a problem with them. It was a sign that the gods wanted to do all they could to prevent him from being happy, Ri'do crouched down and watched rubbing his jaw thinking. If the gods would go so far as to take the life that wants to live then he truly did anger them. Ri'do would only continue to anger them more, he withdrew his sword "I cannot leave you, if you wish to live then you shall." Ri'do swung hard down at each of the weeds, swinging fast enough to almost blur his large blade.
"I wish to live and I wish to survive!" he announced to the world around him. "Please, let me be! Let me be amongst the plants and animals and let me live to see another day. Let me live to have hope. Let me live to see my family" he said as tears ran down his eyes, he was at mercy, hoping that the gods will forgive him. As the feline used his weapon to plead his escape, he pounced up as the the feline cut through the deadly weeded arms. He began to run away, not looking back.
Ri'do turned to watch the creature take off, he waited a moment and sheathed his sword once again then took off after the creature. "You must want it!" Ri'do yelled after him, hoping to only inspire him to live for himself. To fight the gods with Ri'do and any others that they may come across. "If the gods demand your life, you must deny them!" Ri'do quickly caught up to the creature and stayed a step and a half behind him, "You are the master of your life, the gods cannot stop you." Ri'do jumped onto a tree and continued to run across the trees as they wiped back and forth violently. "Defy them now, and we shall prosper against them, and show all of those here that we are stronger than any. Stick with me beast, and you shall grow stronger than you have ever before..." Ri'do smiled as he spoke, he was a natural leader and always felt better knowing he could eventually lead once again.
"I want it" he yelled back, he found the motivation from the feline quite invigorating. No one had ever been so persistent with him before. When he grew up back in the kingdom, he was left to do his own thing; he commanded others what to do, rewarding them for their assistance and smiting other others for their inadequacy. As he saw the tiger run up the trees, he continued to follow the feline feline on the ground, as he thumped along. "I agree with you, you are bright star within the darkest moment of my life. I shall follow you where you go, I shall go!" he said in triumphant praise.
Within moments of Kabukk deciding on his following of Ri'do the wind stopped and the storm almost instantly calmed, as if the gods were upset and knew the could not stop the two. "Then you shall learn," Ri'do looked up to the sky as he jumped on top a tree that had cracked in half, staring at the bear. "My name is Ri'do, you may call me that as you please." Ri'do stared at the creature unsure of what would come of him, but he had angered the gods into something they could not alter. He pulled his weapon from its sheath, "This is my blade, it is my greatest strength. It's name is carved into the blade."
He was amazed of the agility of the feline, it had gone from tree-to-tree, rampaging in rhythm. "The name of mine is Kabukk. I am from a land much different from this one... Exampora Toudoux" he said. "I am a prince from where I came. I was assigned a peacekeeping mission and the ship I was on sunk in a storm. I have been here for an extended period of time.. I have lost time, time has lost me." he said. "My strength has gone poor since my loneliness has grown" he told his new friend.
Ri'do's eyes gleamed at him, and narrowly watched him after he called himself a prince. "I will not be your servant, Kabukk. You are far from home and you are not on your land, if ever a day comes you return to your land you may become a prince once again." Ri'do placed a hand on the branch he was crouched on, "We will be equals, you may speak of your home but you shall not tear for it." He jumped close to the bear, sword still in hand he was much shorter than the creature but at the time his strength was probably twice as much. "You must first fall to rise, Kabukk and I shall push you to your bottom and I will help you up." Ri'do looked at the creature, "But first we must find you food, you appeared starved..."
"Believe me, I know my place. I am no longer royalty in this island, I am one of many and I lived with my own merit. I do not see you as a servant nor a slave. I see you as an equal" he told the feline, Kabukk wanted to clearly state his genuine interest for the feline. Kabukk stepped on a rock as he looked upon the trees where Ri'do was, "I am too thankful for what you have done for me, we shall search for food, I am too weak and hunger has grown."
Ri'do nodded now happy that they were on solid grounds with one another, "We shall wait until night, where hunting is easier for me. My species hunts better at night, and the best tasting ones are the ones that believe they are on the top of the food chain." Ri'do looked around, hoping for a large enough space to use as a camp. Normally he would sleep in a bush and relax but if Kabukk was to become strong, he would need to see what strong looked like. "We will need to get to the plains, they are the best place to sleep, the Moons provide enough light for you to see. You will be able to see what is attacking you..." Ri'do jumped to the ground and began walking towards the rolling hills and empty plains.
"Night we shall meet." He agreed that the darkest hours would benefit the two creatures the very best, his own experience provided a vote of confidence for himself. "I have never been to the plains before, you shall offer me the way, I shall take your lead." he focussed back. He was not sure what to think about being attacked, he stayed away from danger for the most part. Kabukk usually hunted animals smaller than him, so he felt like the feline will put him in a learning challenge. He was up for the obstacle, learning new surroundings and develop a sense of survival. He had to learn to stay fit, this was ultimately beneficial to him.
Ri'do started to slowly walk to the open field, "Kabukk, you say you were here not by choice and neither am I. The gods put you here for a reason, I on the other hand am not here by choice. But I have made my life here beneficial, I have only grown stronger here." He was looking eagerly around for prey to strike at him, using kabukk's large frail body as a type of bait. The creatures knew Ri'do to be strong he had been here long enough to establish himself among the chain but Kabukk was fresh, he seemed to only be here a few days. The largest creatures would surely strike soon.
Kabukk listened to feline with great attention, he was curious about the gods. In his old life, the Shorchitt was never raised to listen to the gods. The citizens of the Ice Empire did not have a church or a religion, they were simply taught to love each other and care for each other. Living by himself, he began to listen to the world around him and began to change perspective as his life revolved more into living with the wild, his refocussed his thoughts and began to believe that the some sort of sprit world was watching over him. Kabukk believed that the spirit world was hungry for him, as living alone became a thought of depression for the white bear.
"Are you one as I am?" he asked the feline, he wondered if Ri'do was a loner as he was. It did seem like the feline lived independently and separate, but the feline was strong and balanced, Kabukk felt that his mind was straight like a tree.