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As Time Goes By []
The first week with the children was excruciatingly painful. After the first day with them, even feeding, chewing, and providing apples to the baby gargoyle quartet seemed to be difficult; this was very odd as I'm Nike, the Luminex, the fastest, strongest, and most protective one that ever lived. However, I started to feel like my role has changed from a lone wolf to a leader to a growing tribe and becoming an adoptive mother would be hard.
Nightfall came and I had to find out a way to more easily protect the infants from the common predators of The Lost Island that would go night-hunting for meat while I night-hunt for plants. Sitting near the still sleeping children, I formulated a plan. Seeing that there were obviously no other suitable parents for these infants except for some few Puck on the island, that would be difficult. They were easy prey too, and disturbing one for asking a question might cause a fight. Building a structure out of wood, and plant cover, like a teepee, would be good as a camp is just what I needed to make. However, there were no organized or at least reliable guilds to do the job while I'd preferably watch over the gargoyle babies, so I would have to face many hardships to keep these babies alive. Knowing what was best, I quickly got up onto my hind legs and looked around the area, within eyesight of the gargoyles, and found a derelict old floating home in the clearing that I surprisingly never saw in my life. Plenty of good-conditioned, long branches were still left in the slew of mess, so I decided to prop those up together and use a few nearby boulders used for the foundation to add as the foundation for the camping structure. There were still many remaining smaller rocks I could use after building the large frame of the tent, so I laid out a circle of the small rocks somewhere nearby and dug out a pit in the center; this would be a fire pit, perfect for keeping away Tempest and Arboreal, the most common humanoid predators on the island, as them seeing fire just makes them blitz away as fast as the mother gargoyle in her flight. I then decided to just finish the large tent structure by weaving sturdy vines and leaves together. However, only the leaves and vines suitable would mean getting palm leaves from Shipwreck Shore or Bonfire Spire and defeating a Vinequeen to obtain what I need. I had to think for a bit, deciding to bait a Vinequeen over with some dew - oh how they LOVE dew; the earth monsters that use water spells as well are all needy of a daily supply of morning dew; and if they don't get any, it could give them dehydration and die on the spot. That would be very easy to kill a delicate Vinequeen; even though they have hypnotic powers and strong Earth spells, depriving them of dew would mean that I could control them. Therefore, I laid out a mat of leaves on some parts of the clearing, and if a passing River Caller or River Creator would just come by, this can be a trap for them as I can ambush the Vinequeen while they look at the dew with watery mouths. How easy! I hid the infants (still sleeping) and I behind a nearby tree, watching as some enemy monsters aimlessly walked around the clearing. An occasional River Caller or River Creator would come by, and I'd just wait until they'd get out of my sight. Eventually, at about midnight when I'd normally take a small nap, a Vinequeen slowly inched into the clearing and then stopped to look at the dew left on the mats of leaves. Jumping out at the Vinequeen, she was frightened and fell off her wooden throne adorned with bones and satin. Without her throne, her hypnotic powers were gone, and without her hands free, she won't be able to attack or use spells; her legs are useless. I pinned her down and I asked her, "May I please use a few vines for something, I really need them."
The Vinequeen hissed back at he, struggling yet still containable, "Maybe if you'd defeat me."
I reply, "So it's a challenge you want it's the challenge you get."
I quickly sprung off of her and landed on the other side of the clearing, her still trying to get back on her throne. I quickly relayed my information about her. As she was a creature of wits, like all other Vinequeen, she'd first resort to hypnotism easy avoidable if you ignore her taunts. If that fails, she'd use her strongest spell of her strongest element, meaning that Earthsprite is what she'd use most often. That was basically what she'd do, but I'd start out trying to make the air very hot, and even cause a small drought in the clearing. Simply after the Vinequeen will probably start using her Earthsprites, they'd miss in fear of having to get too close to a scorching ground. She then might try to use water spells like Rainy Day to cool the ground, but my relentless weather power cannot be beat, and she'll be open to attack.
After I finished thinking, the Vinequeen just finished getting onto her throne. The battle began when she charged forward on her throne, the wild roots moving around and getting closer. The Vinequeen Started with a taunt, "You can't beat me! Surrender now or an Earthsprite will attack you!" I simply smiled, and I summoned a drought on the clearing. The air started to sizzle and I felt a heat wave. All she felt was a heat exhaustion, trying her best to douse the ground with a Geyser and then an Angel's Fountain. I dodged the water, and the drought still was present, now visibly burning her throne's roots as they'd have to walk fast to stop from getting white-hot. While the Vinequeen was disoriented, I summoned a Storm's Coming, and she flinched badly, doubling over off of her throne and onto the ground after she was electrocuted by a swarm of high-volt lightning. She was clearly done for, and defeated. I ended the drought and the grass rapidly grew again. Walking over to the Vinequeen, I asked, "May I have my vines now?"
She answers, muffled by her face flat to the ground, "Fine. Just take it. I'm going away to Firefly Forest to get a better life."
She struggles to her feet (roots) and hands me a large coil of vines protruding from her hair. Silently and swiftly, she hops back onto her throne and craws away at top speed. I go back to my business and weave the vines around, creating a water-tight roof over the large tent. I set the four infants, starting to awaken from the noises of the battle, into the tent. I was surprised that I could stand to my full height in the A-frame tent, at least in the center. To make them more comfy and to attempt to make them go back to sleep, I hunted around for a few Tribeak feathers lying around the forest floor and decorated the tent with piles and piles of it, turning into a fluffy nest. It was still midnight-ish, so I went back to sleep while guarding the front of the tent.
I woke up at dawn to the awakening infants. I could hear them yawn and coo like baby wizards would do, and I got to my hind paws to look at their adorable smiling faces. That wasn't even the highlight of my day...they learned fast as I taught them how to speak the monster language and taught them the basics of survival in the wild. After a week of continuous training, they were experts of survival and how to fight/defend themselves, even without using spells. I trained them to travel around the island over the next month, with the children making friends in other areas and even defeating some easy prey like wild Neeks. They eventually grew in size a bit, learned new spells, learning their names, and more. I was their guardian, trainer, helper, and supporter; they eventually treated me as their alpha and I treated them as my tribal allies. Everything flew by so fast.
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