Redstreak Valley

In Ryza, the Redstreaks are said to have existed here before the dawn of humans. Their domain of the sand dunes of Pandema, while brutal to other species, becomes their entire world, as the porous and eroding nature of the land allows anything from small pockets of sand to whole oceans for the creatures to filter, feed, scavenge, and hunt for any biomass available. Their size was impossible compared to other megafauna that thrived closer to the jungles. Thus, people have begun to believe they were larval forms of the true apex predator of Pandema, the Raes.

"Don't we need any weapons for this?" Sam asked, her hands grasping the glider's handles. "Those things are huge! You need, like, a cannon."

Vinisnu grabbed her waist, embarrassing her. "My dad showed me a trick on how to kill them quickly. You need to have a tail, though, so just fly me up and catch me."

"Catch you? How?"

"When I go down, you follow."

Sam's thoughts were running a mile a minute. She looked behind her.

"What about you guys!?"

"We're the dressing crew," Yapul folded his arms. "You two are the hunters here."

Maed-Laio stepped forth, observing the sunsetting sky. "I'll start the prayer. Snu will show you the way."

The group took their positions. Sam could already feel her hands clamming up, dripping with sweat onto the handlebars, and they were the only thing holding her to the flying machine. Suddenly, the weight of doubts held her to the ground, even more than Snu, who she could feel breathing down her back. She had been given a complete overview of the machine. She knew how it worked. Nothing was preventing her from flying except for herself.

The world went silent for a minute, save for the light rumbling of the machine. Maed stood over the ridge once again, eyes closed and hands clasped. Her voice overtook the gentle wind of the sea, then tore through it. What came from her lungs was not the siren tones from the morning but a dominating shriek that violently tore a couple of Redstreaks from the sand with coercion. They were smaller than the usual worms Sam had seen so far. They were the ones doomed to never reach the pinnacle.

"Alright, jump." Snu nudged.

"Now? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, go."

"Shouldn't we-?"

"Go!"

Sam's legs got the better of her, and she threw herself off the cliff face. They dropped. The dressing crew panicked, certain they had just fallen to their deaths. However, as they peered over the edge, they saw the glider take wind and ascend. Luckily for Sam, the distribution of weight and throttle on the handle encouraged the machine up. Their first brush with death was complete.

The glider banked and corrected course on one of the worms. "Okay, what do I do now?" Sam asked.

"Just fly over one of them and chase after me."

"Like a bomber, right?"

"You mean like a Staekar?"

Whatever analogy worked, she flew over one and waited for the drop. At least, she thought it was. Snu didn't drop.

"You weren't even remotely over it."

Sam sweated and turned around. She tried another one and did her best to coordinate, but she trusted her friend to dive once it went under her. He didn't.

"You're turning away from them." Snu yanked at her waist. "You gotta go this way."

"Wait, stop, don't pull on me!"

The glider swerved right and lost some altitude, putting them on the same level as the beasts' heads. In a panic, Maed-Laio gasped, and the hiccup changed the nature of the Redstreaks. The hypnotism broke, and a more enormous, black-skinned worm shot from the ground, reaching toward its prey.

Vininsnu's split-second decision banked the glider left, and the gaping maw slipped past the two beasts, but a stray feather brushed against their legs, the slightest touch yielding enough force to tilt the glider down. Sam held on for dear life, her mouth silently screaming as fear overtook her again when suddenly a weight fell off her.

Snu slipped, or he let go. Sam wasn't sure, but the glider went sideways as she tried to reach for him.

"Snu!" She could see him. The boy was trying to stabilize himself. Was he going to be alright? Sam thought. Could he survive the fall? Did she have to risk herself? For a moment, she froze, caught between fight and flight, trying to find a way to avoid the situation and make the bad dream disappear. It was exhausting. She cursed her nature, and she cursed herself. Why couldn't she save him? Why couldn't she return the favor and be the one to answer the call? It wasn't fair!

Sam blinked, and he felt his hands on his shoulders. The past few seconds were a blank, but somehow, she caught him.

"See, I knew you could do it!" Snu yelled.

"What!? I did it? What?" Sam was not there.

"Quick, let's pull up." Snu glanced to the right. "Yeah, pull up, now!"

Snu leaned her, and the two narrowly avoided the black Redstreak, who made it a mission to earn his meal. It chased after the two of them with twisting, coordinated motions, but in the air, a Redstreak was not as tactical as underground. The glider rose up on a burst of fuel, jetting like a rocketship. They were practically vertical, with snapping jaws not far behind.

"Keep going up like this." Snu grinned. "We're not getting a small prize tonight. I'll ask Mom for forgiveness later."

"What are you going to do?" Sam asked. "Please don't let go!"

"I trust you, Sam."

Before she could protest, Snu kicked off the glider and divebombed. The death only took a second. The beast saw the morsel approaching, and it opened wide, expecting a taste, but no such victory came. It couldn't conceive of a prey dodging in midair, but Vinisnu Vinisoya was a human and had trained to master the sky, using the wind to his favor and whipping past the beak and between the creature's eyes.

Snu's tail pierced it instantly. With his sheer willpower and visualization of what needed to be done, his tail grew to three times his body length and as sharp as a molecular spear. The Redstreak didn't know what hit it before it stopped thinking, but as it reached its breach's crescendo, it fell like a brick. Vinisnu found it challenging to stay on its head, so he went airborne. Looking around, though, he found himself alone. He had ten seconds to impact."Okay...I should be fine," Snu said, facing the ground. "This is nothing. "

He thought this until, for a second time, Sam dove from behind and caught him.

"Hang on!" She yelled. "Please don't fall!"

The glider swung up and grazed the ground. The great Redstreak crashed behind them, muscles twitching and swinging in its death throes. Driven by fear of death, the thrashing worms came to their senses and dug underground, returning to their slumber at last. Yapul and the crew were on the move and heading down into the sea, leaving the glider to land alone at the top.

Snu clasped his hands. "Thank you for this wonderful gift, Dozae-Rae. May its flesh nourish us so that we may serve you well." He sighed. "That was pretty smooth flying, Sam!"

Sam responded by twirling him around like he was a stuffed animal. "Oh my god, we did it!" She cried. "I can't believe it! That was incredible! Did you see me!?"

"Sam, please." Snu felt like he was about to faint. Her joy was too much. But then again, the female attention felt nice. He managed to find his footing. "You didn't get hurt, did you?""No, you?" She saw that his tail was bloody, but it didn't seem like his. For some reason, it made her laugh. Out of shock or excitement, she wasn't sure. She just wanted to hold him. There was so much to process she could talk to him all day about it. She did it. They did it together.

The Redstreak had stopped thrashing and lay still when Snu brought Sam into the valley. He held her hand to keep her from running.

"So, uh," Sam asked. "How do you know if it's dead or not?"

"Hmmm." Snu considered explaining it, but she raised a good point. His tail extended in length, and he sliced into the worm with a whip-like swing. Its head came clean off, spraying oceans of blood and soaking the valley red. "Okay, now it's dead."

"Right."

"That's my boy!" Yapul pulled up with harpoons ready. "Help us slice it up, my boy. You can keep the rear end for yourselves."

"Are you sure, captain?"

"You chose this one to slaughter," said Maed-Laio, eyes stern and judgmental. "You must take responsibility for it."

The harvesting of the Redstreak took until all night for Vinisoya Manor to complete. The job wasn't perfect. There would be a lot left to waste, but the Redstreaks weren't against eating their own. Hopefully, the creature would return to nature in the morning, and others would take his place on the path to godhood.

In the end, though, the haul was good. Yapul thanked the family for their help and shook their hands, giving kind words to Sam for her good work. He and his small band had in tow several hundred kilos of premium meat, most that would make the men of Rydia rich, and the remaining meat was brought to the basin cave for smoking and salting. The family was now wealthy, but the number of chores would increase.

By dawn, the gore-covered Sam and Snu returned to the farm not to rest but to bathe. Sam got the first round of hot water and would switch with Snu after, but Snu refused to leave her side. Sam, against her better judgment, reciprocated.

"We're going to take that glider and explore all of Ryza," Snu beamed, his hair floating in the hot water. "There's so much I want to show you."

"I never imagined it'd be like this," Sam replied, using a linen cloth to dry. "I've been thinking. If you're associated with royalty, I'd like to meet them. My great-grandfather was an ambassador when Kanians came to Earth. I always dreamed of becoming someone like him, but-."

"Of course we can!" Snu pumped his fist. "Szeer's an awesome guy! You'll get along great!" Snu's excitement got to him again, quickly infecting Sam, too. "Yeah, once Yapul's crew returns, we'll make your dreams come true, Sam."

Those words swell Sam with joy. It's what she always wanted. "Thank you, Snu."