Gargoyles after people
Gargoyles after people
Disclaimer: I do not own Gargoyles and I just wrote this because I was totally bored. My reason for writing this is that I became tired of reading about 'What would happen if' referring to this or that chapter in the television series. My formula for writing stories is mixing up fantasy with a big dose of logic or fact. Before written history our species actually shared this world with a different, non-fictional race (The Neanderthals). In the birth of our species we competed with them and that sentient race faced extinction, so there's a bit of reality in this entire story. I'll try to make this as different from the series as I can. Don't expect any magical stuff or the 'third race'. This story is also inspired by the Discovery channel series 'Life after people'.
Planet Earth: Circa 272,156 A.D.
It was an hour after dusk when a pair of young siblings, male and female glided effortlessly over the canopy of the dense forest. The light of the new moon wasn't helping much so they focused their attention to their ears and sense of smell as they scanned for any boar, deer or wild longhorn that they could bring to the clan's fire pit. The blue female pointed down at something moving on a forest clearing and both siblings glided down. Armed with yew bows and stone-tipped arrows, the young gargoyles perched on a redwood branch and wagged their tails impatiently as they listened for any noise that would pinpoint the presence of the spotted prey.
The horned male snickered when he saw a big, healthy stag gracing a few dozen yards from where he perched. Just as the young lad pulled the bowstring and aimed at his intended target, a branch snapped. The stag looked at the gargoyles' direction and ran away. The gray male just couldn't believe that his sister could make such an amateurish mistake, not after hunting since they were almost hatchlings. The female's cheeks turned pink when his brother glanced angrily at her. Both siblings climbed and jumped over branches and glided over the tree tops giving a good chase to the stag.
The female gestured to his sibling to prepare his bow and both youngsters got ready to aim at their future dinner, when the soil crumbled under the stag's hooves and the prey suddenly disappeared. It was like the earth became alive and swallowed the whole beast with one gulp. Not comprehending what happened, the two siblings treaded carefully, fearing that a puma or a hungry bear stole their prey. Any experienced hunter would have left and choose another game because fighting a hungry predator for just a kill wasn't worth risking their safety, but these young hunters were too proud to admit failure.
Both gargoyles had the surprise of their lives as they saw their surroundings and realized that they stepped into a strange looking 'cave', which soil (tiled floor) shone like a frozen pond and was as hard as granite. Most of the steel and glass structure was covered with vines, moss, and decaying vegetation. But the most intriguing feature inside that construction was some blackened marble statues. These statues represented a group of odd creatures with thin arms and short, 'deformed' feet. They didn't have horns, tails, wings or other physical characteristics commonly found on gargoyles. Was this some sort of sick joke? Why didn't the twins see those creatures before? Do those creatures still exist?
The gray male frowned when he realized that his sister was strangely mesmerized at the odd place. He whispered angrily at her: 'Snap out of it, will you! We must bring dinner to our brothers and sisters tonight, remember.'
The hunters shot their arrows at the wounded beast and made a branch pole to carry the carcass back to the clan's cave. The blue female asked: 'Shouldn't we discard the intestines first so the meat wouldn't spoil?'
Her brother replied: 'The smell of fresh blood will attract more predators than we can count and I don't want any nasty surprises tonight. We'll have to make a run for towards the nearest cliff so we can use it to take off. Once in mid-air we will have each of us to carry half of our kill in tandem. This carcass is too heavy for a single gargoyle.'
So both siblings hurried with their kill along the forest path. The female looked at the stars and said: 'We have spent too much time tracking our prey. Its two hours past midnight.'
Her brother answered: 'Don't worry sister! Once we're gliding we'll make up for any wasted time.' The duo made sighed when they returned to the cave safely, but little they knew that the communal dinner had finished and they would have to sleep with an empty stomach.
The young female spoke to one of the elders: 'Forgive us mentor, but we spent more time than necessary tracking our prey.'
The horned female smiled in appreciation: 'Don't worry my children. The most important thing is that you are safe at home.'
The old female chuckled briefly before saying with mock anger: 'Now bring that meat into the smoking room to be salted and cured, or else both of you will start to clean the whole rookery tomorrow!' Both siblings went pale as they hurried to the kitchen.
One of the soldiers told to the old mentor: 'Be patient with them, elder! Even I had problems in bringing food to this cave.'
The elder female giggled: 'I just wanted to scare them. I know that they're good hunters and that young female usually thinks before acting.'
The young, lavender soldier nodded: 'But I'm still worried nevertheless. I'll ask them tomorrow if by ant chance they have been into the old ruins.'
The elder pointed a finger at him: 'I'm warning you, don't do anything to arouse their curiosity. Young minds are attracted to anything that's unusual and exotic like a moth is drawn to a flame. You may ask them if they had any trouble during the hunt or if they had been chased by any hyenas or pumas.'
The winged trooper winced internally and sighs: 'I still remember the pain that I felt when I buried the bodies of both my mate and daughter, but I consider unwise that the hatchlings and young hunters are still ignorant about what lies in the north. If my daughter would be alive, those twins could be teaching her how to hunt if she had any warning about... Uh oh!'
The female mentor felt like berating at him, but somehow she kept calm. She icily muttered: 'I still have a hole that eating my hearth when I think about what happened to both your mate and my niece, but my decision still stands! Now I believe that you still have duties for the rest of the night. Before you go to attend to your duties I must tell you that you'll have to roost alone for five consecutive sunrises.'
The soldier grumbled while he marched towards his post near the cave's entrance. Curses! In spite of her age, the mentor still has a healthy body and a firm butt and breasts for her age. Oh, how he liked when she seduced and danced lasciviously in front of him before raising her tail. He will have to use his own paw to relieve himself now that he's denied of her kisses and intimate caresses. It wasn't fair that the hatchlings wouldn't know about the inherent dangers that those cities and abandoned factories have within them.
At the next dusk the twins lamented that they didn't have time to wash off the stench before they turned into to stone. Now they wouldn't be welcomed in any social gatherings thanks to the dry, putrid blood. So the twins dragged their tails into the pond. Once inside they took off their loincloths as they swam, splashing and roughhousing each other playfully until all the offending smell was gone.
When the twins finished playing, the lad started to collect twigs and dry straw for a campfire while his sister placed a fur rug over the sand. They brought some watery wine, bread and fruit for breakfast, but soon they started making out while they settled near the campfire. When the pair heard footsteps, they grabbed their spears and got ready to strike the impending menace.
Both youngsters yelled: 'Show yourself!'
The twins frowned when they saw the mentor's love-mate chuckling at them: 'I should be offended. Both of you started a party and you didn't invite me.' Both youngsters blushed as they realized that they were stark naked. The female quipped: 'You can join us if you like!'
It was the older male's turn to blush as both youngsters started to giggle. That comment broke the ice. The male asked: 'Did any of you saw something out of the ordinary while you two were hunting?'
The female hesitated before answering: 'We actually saw something weird when we were hunting last night. The soil above our intended prey collapsed and we saw a weird looking cave. We saw some figures that looked like gargoyles with-out tails, wings or horns.'
The old soldier commented: 'Those places are severely deteriorated and susceptible to collapsing. You must promise that you will never explore such places. Many gargoyles had perished went they went inside, looking for food or shelter.' The twins winced when they remembered what happened to that deer, and what could have happened to them. Seeing that the youngsters were paying attention to him, the gargoyle sentry continued: 'As for the statues both of you saw, those were the representations of a weaker creature that once shared this world with us, and competed with us for the domination of this planet centuries ago.'
The twin opened their mouth in disbelief. Now everything made sense, but why did that species make those buildings? The twin frowned when they heard the noise of someone rummaging on the food basket. They became alarmed when an orange hatchling tried to open a clay-flask full of moonshine. The gray male scolded the young intruder: 'That kind of drink is not for hatchlings, little dude. Take some honey-bread and go back to the rookery before one of the keepers hears about what you were doing.'
The spoiled hatchling didn't like to be lectured in such way. Now his dirty little secret was discovered, and to add insult to injury by an older sibling. But what those grown-ups were talking about? The hatchling crawled near them to hear their conversation. At first, he didn't comprehend what they were talking about.
The young huntress spoke: 'So you're telling me that those humans lived in artificial mountains made out of glass and metal (skyscrapers), and they had devices that turned the night into day? How that can be possible?'
The sentry responded: 'They constructed those devices and fueled their machines using the minerals from the earth. They cut the forests to build the artificial mountains where they lived, but their 'achievements' came at a terrible price for them. Most of the areas where the humans lived in are still poisoned with chemicals and now a dry and withered wasteland. From the evidence I've found in the ruins, the end of the human race started with a series of great epidemics, and even Mother Earth itself rebelled against the parasitic exploitation of its self proclaimed master, throwing storms and earthquakes at those primates.
The guard continued with his story: 'Finally, the stars fell from the sky (meteor), sending a tidal wave in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. That tsunami washed away all their cities in the East coast of the United States, Great Britain, parts of Europe and Africa. The deaths from all those calamities caused havoc on the already weakened human's gene pool and prepared the demise of these primates. Their race gradually disappeared and our species took their place as the sentient race of this planet. In part they did what they did because that weak race needed technology to survive and stay healthy, but our race doesn't.'
Did the hatchling hear right? Do a device like that really exist? A object that can defeat the darkess? Way cool! He would be the most popular gargoyle in the whole clan if he bought one of those devices into the caves. He knew the hunting area of those twins, so with a few questions with the right gargoyles he would deduce the location of the ruins where he could find those devices.
The blue-skinned female tossed a handful of sand and yelled: 'You stay away from that cursed wineskin! I swear to the dragon that I'll go to one of the elders and tell them about your bad behavior.'
The eldest gargoyle frowned: 'That hatchling got it all wrong, because the wineskin is in another basket.'
The young male begged to the sentry: 'Honored elder, would you please make sure that that little pest made his way safely into the rookery?'
The older gargoyle sighed: 'Well, if you asked so nicely, I can't refuse.' The female smiled while she brushed some geometric designs with an insect-repelling pigment all over his brother's body and herself before they went hunting again. During the rest of the night, the siblings killed a pheasant and checked half a dozen pit traps, finding two wild boars, filled one basket full of apples and catched eight mackerels. But when the twins went back after a productive night, they heard scream of anguish and commotion that make them realize that something wasn't right. Has some predator sneaked in and attacked at someone?
To the twin's horror, one of the rookery keepers told them that one of the hatchlings went missing. The mentor was emotionally torn into pieces while she kept sobbing: 'Why I didn't have the balls to tell him. Why?'
The young blue female spoke: 'Dear elder, we want to know who was was the hatchling that went missing?'
The old gargoyle didn't respond and just kept weeping: 'Elder! Please respond to us, it's important!'
Both siblings were at loss about what to do. The mentor's mate appeared: 'All the hatchlings were accounted for at sundown, except for the orange hatchling that both of you saw last night. I'm at loss at why he could have abandoned the security of the cave. What was he searching for?!'
The gray male cracked a smile: 'Moonshine?' His blue sister gave him a murderous glare: 'That's not funny. I should have left you inside the ruins with our last kill.' In that moment both males opened their mouths in horror as they realized were could that hatchling be. 'Did you say ruins!?' The red sentry felt miserable when he realized that he caused the hatchlings disappearance.
The blue female frowned: 'What's going on? Why all of the sudden those worthless ruins are so important? Oh fuck, by the dragon!' The three gargoyles decided to bring a watch-beast to help them track the lost hatchling. It was a race against time and the dangers that lurked both in the forests and inside those cities.
The yellow mentor knelled herself in front of a carved, obsidian gargoyle statue. 'Oh venerated dragon, protector of our race as we are protectors and restorers of the ecology of our forests. I come to you to request the protection of this hatchling, not for my sake but for the sake of the clan...'
To be continued...
End of part One