(18A) The Lands of Ranuulo: Fight or Flight (10.5k Words)

A timid young boy named Valr grows up in the harsh Lands of Ranuulo, living among the Arachna people. He discovers his latent ability of flight but has trouble refining this technique. When creatures of the land attack their wooded settlement, Valr and his friends try to combat the feeling of helplessness surrounding them.

The Lands of Ralosia series takes place in a world with individuals capable of incredible feats of strength, animals of abnormal size, and races of people with distinct anatomy and cultures.

This story acts as entry 18A in the Lands of Ralosia & Ranuulo Series. Despite being steeped in the series, it should work well as a standalone entry. If you've read part of the series and are interested in the Arachna or the character of Valr, this should be a good one for you too.

A story that follows the same characters featured in this one is

The Lands of Ranuulo: Webs of the Arachna

The story that precedes this one is

The Lands of Ranuulo: Rebel Regenek

Self-edited, Audio Edited, and Peer Edited (11/18/2023)

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~Chapter 1- The Arachna Woods ~

~ Age 983B ~

A dark purple and red sky loomed over jagged and cruel terrain. Lightning spurred from above, striking the earth. All manner of creatures fled from the impact. Massive beasts with hard outer shells and pincers and rodents that could gnaw cleanly through trees. Massive beings flew through the sky, each beat of their wings creating reverberations throughout their world.

This was the Lands of Ranuulo, a cruel place where only the strongest could hope to survive.

In the northwestern regions of these lands lay a forest made of trees with black bark and blue leaves. Strands of webs were scattered around the woods. A hunting party comprised of the clan's warriors emerged from the forest.

The group were members of the Arachna people. They had slender bodies with a wide range of colors. Their eyes were large and round without irises and pincered pedipalps were over their mouths. The warriors of the hunting party shrugged their shoulders and from their backs emerged four thin insect-like limbs with pointed tips.

They flourished their arms and propelled webbing from their hands, attaching them to nearby trees. Using them, they swung out in the hostile lands.

While the warriors left to hunt, most members remained in the safety of the woods. Among them were three children.

An Arachna boy and girl swung through the trees, whooping with excitement as they pushed how fast they could go. But another young boy traveled through the foliage of the forest beneath them, struggling to keep up.

This young boy was unlike the others. He was not one of the Arachna. He had sand-colored skin, overly long brown hair, and bright green eyes. He wore rough, dark clothing and a hood to help blend in with the environment. The eight-year-old's name was Valr.

The boy sprinted through the woods as he tried to keep up with his friends, who swung overhead. He ran through foliage, only to be tripped up by a root and fall over into a bush.

The young Arachna boy swung to a tree above him, clung to it, and began to scale it down to him. He was slightly smaller and younger than Valr, with red and black accents across his body.

"Need help?" The Arachna boy asked with a squint.

"I'm fine, Mills." Valr responded dejectedly, climbing out of the bush.

From a strand of web, the Arachna girl with black and teal accents across her body descended near them. She was older than them by a few years.

"We could slow down if you want." She offered with a soft voice. Her name was Gweneva.

"Yeah, you'll never keep up otherwise!" Mills replied with a chuckle.

"I can keep up!" Valr declared as he bounced to his feet. He figured with all the foliage and obstacles on the ground, he'd have too much trouble keeping pace with his friends. But if he was able to travel among the trees, he'd keep up with Mills and Gweneva.

Valr picked a tree, wrapped his arms around it, and began to climb.

"Be careful..." Gweneva cautioned.

"I'll be fine," Valr said, gritting his teeth as he held firm to the tree.

Mills swung to the same tree and grabbed onto it, watching as Valr struggled to climb. The Arachna could adhere themselves to surfaces, while Valr had to use brute strength to climb.

Mills tapped his foot impatiently and remarked, "Come on, slowpoke! Let's get moving."

Mills vaulted off the tree, fired webbing from his hands, and used them to fling himself wildly into the air.

Valr frowned and gripped a sturdy branch of the tree, pulled himself up, and stood. Up there, many strands of webbing covered the forest, some set up like tightropes. He glanced down; his heart sank as he saw the height he climbed.

Gweneva gracefully swung to a nearby tree, "You ready?"

Valr nodded.

"Let's go then!" Mills shouted as he zipped along the length of a web he just fired, shooting through the trees. Gweneva gracefully followed after him, and Valr chartered his path behind her.

Valr jumped in between branches and traipsed along certain webs as if they were tight ropes. But the Arachna children were slowing down for him. Mills stayed just out of Valr's grasp, making sure to give him taunting looks.

Valr jumped for a branch, but it snapped from his weight. He fell with nothing else to grab onto between the ground.

"Valr!" Gweneva shouted. She pivoted around to try and catch him.

Valr could do nothing as he drew closer to the ground. He closed his eyes and waited for the harsh impact... but it didn't come.

He opened his eyes, only to see the ground a mere meter away from him. He looked around, guessing Gweneva had caught him. But he was suspended in the air without anything holding him.

"How...?"

Valr suddenly dropped the short distance to the ground face first. He rolled over and looked up at the branch that he'd fallen from.

Mills swung to the ground and crouched near Valr, "That was cool! How'd you do that?"

"I'm not sure..." Valr responded as he stood.

Gweneva swung down to the two boys, "Just before you hit the ground, you stopped in the air... Can't your mom fly?"

"Yes," Valr replied.

"Maybe you can fly too!" Mills excitedly added.

Valr dusted himself off, "Maybe..."

"Do it again!" Mills pressed him.

"Umm..." Valr jumped as high as he could straight up. He went two meters into the air before dropping back down.

"That's not flying! You're just jumping. Even I can do that!" Mills heckled.

"I don't know how to though..." Valr said.

Gweneva jumped onto a tree and looked in the direction of their settlement in the woods, "We could ask your mom how she flies."

The three kids traveled to an Arachna settlement in the woods, with mant floating orbs of lights illuminating their way. There were many homes made of compact webbing. At the center of the settlement was a pond acting as a source of water.

They passed by the house of the carver, who cut up all the food that was gathered for distribution to everyone. A few days before, there was the body of a frog outside his home. A massive slimy creature with long back legs and a stout body. Valr had heard that frogs would jump so high that they would shake the earth around them when they landed. With the size of the creature, it could easily crush the three children all at once.

But today, there was nothing outside the carver's home. The last few hunts had been unsuccessful.

One of the clan leaders, an Arachna named Petri, always made sure the children like them ate first. Many of the adults went hungry though.

Valr found a woman who was casually floating through the air as if it were as normal as walking. His mother, Diva. Her brown hair had twigs caught in it, but she didn't pay it any mind.

Usually, she was out with the hunting parties, but today she was teaching some of the other Arachna how to use Focus. She put out her hand, and a purple orb of light appeared in her palm, A Focus Light.

Diva spoke to the Arachna she was instructing, "This is a basic Focus technique, one you can use anytime to provide yourself with a source of light. Just be careful; it drains your stamina. Depending on your level of strength, it may affect you more. Never overdo it. After you all try this, we'll move onto other Focus techniques."

Valr watched as many of the Arachna tried to procure their own Focus Lights. Some jutted their arms in the air wildly to no avail. Others created their own orbs of light, but he could tell they were winded afterwards. Valr couldn't help but think that the technique was a simple one.

The three kids approached her, and Valr greeted, "Hey, mom."

Diva turned away from her class and stepped onto the ground. "Hey, hun. How're you kids doing?"

Mills jumped over to Diva and asked loudly, "How do you make yourself fly!?"

Diva tilted her head at the young Arachna, "That's... a good question. But I don't know anyone else who's been able to fly like me. I don't think it's something that can be learn-"

"Valr flew in the woods," Gweneva spoke, quickly gathering Diva's attention.

Diva looked at her son, "Is that true, honey?"

Valr nodded meekly, "I think so. Just for a moment."

"He almost fell from a big tree and stopped himself before he hit the ground," Mills blurted out.

Valr scrunched up his brow, "Mills! Why'd you have to tell her that!?"

Diva let out a sigh, "I told you to be careful playing out in the woods, Valr."

Valr lowered his head, "...Sorry, mom."

Gweneva spoke up again, getting the conversation back on track, "We were wondering if you could explain how you fly for Valr."

"Of course! You just..." Diva paused. She stepped off the ground and began to levitate into the air, slowly drifting from side to side before stepping back on the ground. She did so one more time, with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"So... how do you do it?" Valr asked.

"... It's hard to describe. I've never had to teach anyone before. I just learned for myself," Diva said as she floated up and down.

"No one else from the Lands of Ralosia could fly like you?" Valr asked.

"No, not that I knew at least," Diva responded as she swayed through the air, paying close attention to herself as she did, "I guess when I'm moving in the air, I always move with my shoulders. Whatever direction they're heading is where I'll go. But I never have to think about leaving the ground, I just do it."

Diva did a flip in the air before stepping back onto the ground. "Maybe, just try to float?"

"O-okay..." Valr mumbled. Not knowing what else to do, he rose to his tiptoes, trying to 'will' himself off the ground. He did a jump, hoping he'd remain in the air, only for gravity to pull him down.

Diva's eyebrow raised as she said, "Are you sure you flew?"

"I-I think so."

An Arachna approached Diva with a loose orb of light in his hands, appearing as if it'd dissolve at any moment. His breathing was strained and his arms shaky. "I don't know if I'm doing this right."

"Whoa, whoa, let it go!" Diva frantically said. The Arachna immediately allowed the orb of light to dissipate, and his legs looked unsteady. "You shouldn't have to exert yourself to sustain it. It should hold its form on its own."

Diva put an arm around the Arachna, walking them to a tree to sit. She turned to her son, "Valr, I'll try to teach you later. I'm busy now."

As his mother returned to the Arachna, Valr turned to his friends, "Maybe I didn't fly..."

"You did." Gweneva stated confidently, "It couldn't be anything else."

Not long after, Valr noticed a group of the Arachna's warriors re-entering the woods, towing the remains of a beetle - a large horned insect. It was the hunting party that had left earlier... but Valr noticed there were fewer of them now.