Venturing: Canipark

Overnight. The moon hangs
above us like some ornament in the bleak skies. Stars surrounded it wherever it
goes. With the cold breeze washing over our scales like some water, we gathered
ourselves upon the entrance gates of the park. All looking forward through the
grassy plains. Staring in silence and anticipation of what we would be seeing
that would help us end the case. I was the last to walk towards the entrance
gate. For upon my presence, everyone turned to me. I met their eyes. Yet the
silence prolonged on. As I joined the small group, I shifted my attention
towards the parking lot that was in front of the entrance gate and the park
behind it. It was bigger than I had expected. Thousands of white lines created
equal distance from one another which allowed vehicles to enter into them
without a problem. Yet no vehicles appeared upon the midnight hour of the new
day which was odd even for me.

But I tried to ignore it
anyway.

As I turned back towards
the group, Kyro and Zander were the first to walk up towards me. Their claws
rose to their foreheads, saluting me. I just responded with just a nod. Saying
nothing more as Kyro took over the conversation and filled my head with the
necessary details that our boss, Yang had debrief them about. I constantly nod
as if agreeing with them. But lowered my head to the ground as I pondered over
something which caught the attention of both dragons at once. For they stopped
and blinked, lips were sealed in silence as their eyes were onto me. I said
nothing in their say for silence. Just another simple nod before drifting my
attention leftward and away from them, towards the park. A lone dragon had just
arrived upon the scene. Landing upon the ground with its wings folded behind
himself. Upon such a arrival, we all turned our attention to it with smiles;
knowing who it was however.

Zephyr walked to us.
Joining us as he planted his feet upon the grounds underneath himself and rose
his head, meeting my eyes. I nodded at him. He responded with his own. The
silence returned to us again as I turned my attention back to the entrance gates
of the park.

Ahead of us was a huge
amount of space where the majority of it was just the grassy plains. A far away
park playground was found over the horizon. But deem too small for view from
the position of where we had stand. From the distance, only the basic primary
colors clashed against one another to create an illusion of a circle, blob or
something unnatural to our eyes. It was hard to figure out what that thing is
without knowledge of such a park.

I returned my sights back
towards the other dragons. All eyes were upon me now as I hanged my head and
nodded silently. With some spoke words to them, “Just remember your assigned
positions of this park." “We are to clear this park in seconds, maybe in record
time if we are lucky." Kyro stated, following my voice. Everyone else nodded
including Zephyr as we all splitted up amongst ourselves into teams, spreading
out through the largest park settling before us. I headed leftward together
with Natty where we had found a river immediately afterwards. It was at a good
distance away from the entrance gates, perhaps far additionally from the cabin
at the very end of the river however. As we had spotted it, we landed adjacent
to it. We folded our wings and glanced upon the waters of the river, noticing
quickly our reflection against it. We were in silence, yet out feet were noisy
as we had went to follow the river down towards somewhere.

We bypassed some trees,
some playground parks that we had not noticed however until we had arrived
safely upon the lake before us. “Here we are." I say with a grin, turning
towards Natty as she stayed in silence. Nodding as she met my eyes in silence
and glanced away back towards the river and lake to her side and in front.
“Luckily, I never brought my bathing suit." “You did not need one however." I
countered as she laughed so suddenly, headed forth to the edge of the lake and
kneeled. She stretched her neck further out, noticing her reflection against
the lake as she peered upon the surface of the waters. As she investigates the
river and lake, I turned my attention towards the surroundings of both things.
Noticing the trees closer to the lake than the river as my head was tilted to
the side. These trees were different than the normal trees that I had seen back
upon Vaster however or from the grassy plains of the park too. With their
branches hanging lower than normal, perhaps due to the weight of the leaves or
something else. The color of the branches and the bark of the trees looking
similar; but were in different shades of the same color. The leaves itself was
not leaves when I squinted my eyes, taking a second look upon them.

“What are those?" I
questioned Natty as she rose her eyes from the lake waters, turning to where I
was pointing towards. She answered me without hesitation, yet with a frown also
however, “Those are whispers woods." “Like a tree from a certain game?" “Do not
get us copyright, please." She counter back at me and I stayed silence, nodding
rather quickly as I joined her at the lake. I lowered my head, eyes upon the
surface of the waters as my voice was dropped to a low one. She sudden respond
to me, showing a different kind of voice as she rose her claw and pointed down
into the lake surface below us. “I thought I saw something there. But due to
how dense the water was, it seems impossible." “What you see?" “Bones of
canines and reptiles alike; perhaps a bit more a dog could buried upon his
backyard however." “Bones?" I questioned without hesitation or thinking as I
glance back upon the surface for another look. Indeed, I saw something pure
white underneath all that thick and dense waters that I thought that I was just
seeing things however.

My eyes squinted, but
shook my head while closing my eyes afterwards. Then leaned back with my claws
hanging behind me, digging against the ground while raising towards the bleak
skies above. A pause of silence had fallen between us. Yet turning towards Natty,
it had seemed that she was more interested in that pile of bones below. So with
an exhaled of a sigh, I spoke perhaps muttering to her “We will get Kyro or
someone else to gather those bones from the lake. For now, we need to see how
the others are cooping up with this case of a mess." “Where shall we look?"
Natty questioned me, sharply ripping her eyes off from the river surface.
Turning her attention towards me as I smiled rather faintly. Thus, we rose to
our feet. Our wings spread again and flew off eastward, away from the forest,
lake and river. Towards somewhere simple and perhaps easy on our brain than the
ripples of the water lake however. As we had arrived onto our destination,
rather quickly than I had expected, we landed upon the grounds. Behind a small
cabin that was in front of us as we circled around and headed forth to the
entrance where Kyro and Zander were located.

We were a bit surprise
into seeing the two, already done with their investigation of the cabin that
Natty insisted me on having a lovely chat with them at once. I nodded, leaving
her be as i went through the cabin door. Entering into what seems to be a pitch
dark room. I turned on my flashing which illuminated the room a bit and
frantically searched about. The cabin room was smaller. Much smaller than the
normal looking rooms beforehand at different other parks however. It was even
messer too that I never knew if the two officer dragons had anything to do with
it or it was someone before them and they left it as it is. With a growl and
some narrowed eyes, I peered through the mess before me as I weaved through it
like a sea. Navigating myself towards the very end of the cabin where a box was
upon the surface of the ruined exposed table. The table reached from one wall
of the cabin to the other. It was ruined and exposed to the natural air that i
started seeing some marks imprinted upon its surface. Ignoring the table at
least for a moment, I turned my attention towards the box and reached out for
it.

I grabbed onto its flaps
and pulled it downward. It suddenly ripped and break apart from it. I was
startled that I flinched but kept my claws upon the broken flaps before letting
them go. Dropped to the grounds on either side of me, I rose my head back to
the box in front of me and take a step forward. Grabbing onto the edge of the
box, I tilted it towards me and looked inside. Despite the pitch darkness
inside, I noticed something colorful contrasting the black and I went to dig my
claws inside the box. Pulling out what seems to be the missing body parks of
canines and reptiles. It had everything from arms, legs, head and even the
feet, paws and claws. The head's eyes were closed or wide opened which
disturbed me at best as I found myself uncomfortable and grossed out by them. I
dropped the heads inside the brown box instead and stepped away from it,
shivering as a result.

As my eyes closed,
reopening again, I turned back towards the surroundings of the cabin walls. I
had noticed a lot of junk about. But something amongst that junk had caught my
eye however. A saw laid upon the grounds adjacent to a dead lanturn. The saw's
teeth were dried blood mixed with dirt. The handle of the saw was darkest of
brown perhaps exposed to the air for too long however. As I found myself
staring upon it, I frowned and shook my head. My eyes closed and avert from the
saw just as the door opened and revealed to be Kyro, Zander and Natty. All
three were looking directly upon me as I have met their eyes so suddenly. As
Kyro stepped inside the cabin walls, I walked towards him in response. Grabbed
tightly against his collar of the uniform that he was wearing and brought him
up towards me, I whispered into his ear. Directing his attention towards the
saw at the ground and he answered  “No,
never saw that saw beforehand. This place was clean when we had arrived. So we
thought about messing up the place in order to-" “Enough." I growled, shutting
him up completely as he looked at me without hesitation, “Ling?" “We saw body
part inside of that box. That saw is the connection to that because of the
mixture of blood and dirt upon the teeth of that weapon." “You really think
that a saw is a weapon?" “Well what else would it be?" I counter back, growling
with my fangs expose to him as he backed off again and held his claws between
us.

A long silence fell
between us before I held myself back and shook my head a bit. I found myself
frowning, eyes returning back towards that box behind us as I pondered about
the body parts found inside. For then at the end of the silence, I whispered to
Kyro revealing what we had found upon the river and its lake. “We found bones.
White pure bones underneath the surface of the lake." Upon this, Kyro was
shocked. But he remained in silence as he allowed me to continue speaking which
I did. I spilled everything that we knew. But only that white bones. We never
saw anything inside the river nor the path that it leads us straight towards
the lake at its end. I hanged my head and shook it upon the following silence
as I felt a claw upon my shoulder, I rose my head and met his eyes as he smiled
faintly at me before departing from the cabin. I walked to follow him down.

So now we knew two things
however. The white bones at the lake and the body parts inside the box. But
this only left a question for us which Natty expressed it upon her words,
“Where is the rest of the body? The brain and body." “Its curious to see why our
culprit rather use these body parts of a canine and reptile than the two most
important things." I commented while Kyro nodded with a faint smile upon his
face as if agreeing with me as we gathered around in front of the cabin's door.
Natty nodded too but remained silence as she looked between us, giving off
small but important details that were related towards the two clues that we had
seen so far. We had an ongoing discussion that sometimes breaks into smaller
different pauses of silence as if we had nothing else to reveal or discuss.
This kind of conversation does happened between us dragons, at least for quite
some time however too. For by the end of our conversation, we were upon the
silence. Neither of us had any chance to take as either of our words would
bring us to a different topic or circle again to a previous discussed topic at
hand. I frowned. But remained in silence while the others avert their eyes away
from me.

We were upon the peace of
silence as our ears heard the crickets chirping somewhere in the distance.
Ringing echoed in my ear additionally as Natty flapped her wings. Kyro and
Zander hanged their heads and pointed their snouts upon the grounds beneath us.
Eyes closed as if they were thinking about something; perhaps unrelated to the
case at hand. For the longest time in peace and silence had Natty obnoxiously
exhaling a breath and shaking her head as she looked over to me. “Where are
Ozkun, Takati and Zephyr? The trio was suppose to meet us here for a debriefing
right?" I shook my head, “We are all to meet at the entrance gates of the park
again. But it had seemed that they had indeed finished up for some reason too."
“They have?" Questioned Kyro as Zander perked his ears up and glanced towards
me, I nodded back at them and smiled. Grabbing onto my waist as I spoke towards
them in response “Yeah. I have not heard from either of them ever since."
“Guess they accomplished their task then, we should go and meet up with them
then." Started Natty as she, along with everyone else spread their wings and
take to the black skies overhead. Flying southward and back towards the
entrance of the gates where indeed the remaining three dragons were located.

But to our surprise, they
seemed a bit occupied with something. As we landed adjacent to them and perhaps
at a distance, we walked up towards them. Kyro tapped upon their shoulder.
Takati was the first to quickly notice us as she smiled in response towards us,
mainly towards Kyro in turn while Zander crossed his arms. I stepped forth
between them and spoke, “What have you guys found?" “Inside the park?"
Questioned Ozkun after looking up from whatever she and Zephyr were looking at,
“There is a flag near the cabin over to the right of the entrance gates. Its
doors were closed however, so it was hard. Perhaps impossible to enter through
its doors without trespassing inside." “Another cabin?" Kyro asked, tilting his
head to one side as he glance to Ozkun who nodded, “Yeah. Came as a surprise,
even for us. I do not even know which is the real or fake cabin anymore." “Why
were there two? Instead of one?" I asked towards Kyro and Ozkun. Both of which
shrugged, saying nothing more as the silence fell between them. I exhaled a
stress exhale before turning back to Ozkun, nodding as I was curious about
something else.

“Do you guys see a flag
anywhere within the park?" “What flag?" Questioned both Kyro and Ozkun as they
turned to face me so suddenly. I stayed silent, tilting my head to one side as
I asked them “You guys saw no flag?" “There was not one however." Kyro answered
back as he frowned, wings hanged back as he turned his head back towards the
entrance gates again. Looking out towards the horizon. Within the second
silence, my head started forming some questions that my head was starting to
ache. Growling lowly, I returned my sights back to the reality of things as I
turned towards Kyro and Ozkun as well as the other dragons. “We need to find
that flag. It is colored black with a paw mark at the center of it." “There was
one like that at the center in front of us," Responded Natty, directing our
heads pointing towards the center where a single flag was located, surrounded
by the grass and plains. “How did we not see that?" Kyro questioned, a bit
surprise while I smiled faintly. But remained silent after all. “It was in
front of us this entire time." Answered Natty to Kyro before turning to me,
“What do you need from it?" “Just something rather important." I say while
flying forth towards that flag.

Indeed it was a short
distance away from the entrance gate. For soon I had arrived upon the flag pole
in front of me. Up close and personal, it was bigger than I had expected. 'But
how was it easier to see from far away?' I thought to myself, before shaking my
head and thoughts before returning to the task at hand. The black flag was laid
to rest against the brown pole besides it. No winds blew surrounding it in
hopes of unwavering it. As I grunted in frustration, I motioned my tail and
allowed Zander Kyro and Natty to arrive forth towards me. Stopping rather
behind me. “That is rather unprofessional, Ling." Started Zander despite being
hit on the side by Kyro who growled at him. I just rolled my eyes and hovered
closer to the flag. Grabbing it quickly with my two claws, I forcefully
unfurled it as Kyro and Natty stared at it suddenly and silence before either
of them spoke out, exclaiming in the silence at hand. “That is not a paw print.
That is a directional pad!" “A what?" Me and Zander synchronized as we turned
our attention towards both dragons who kept their eyes at the flag.

Yet Kyro was the first to
speak, explaining to us about a directional pad that was used in the early days
of our hatch hood. I just tilted my head to one side, listening to what he was
explaining about. Then shortly into the silence, I nodded my head and faintly
smiled towards him. Looking back towards the flag as I questioned him, “So what
does the directional paws mean to you then?" I saw indeed a paw in front of me.
Four smaller circles were overtop of the bigger body. The color of the paw was
white. Pure white like the bones that we saw at the lake beforehand. Inside
each of the four smaller circles was an black arrow. It was easier to see due
to the white background. Each of the arrows point at a different location.
Left, Up, Right and Down. There were even some weird gibberish labeling each of
the circles too. With the black background before the white paw print, it had
indeed trigger something inside my mind.

First, I had remembered
about the white bones both me and Natty had saw upon the lake shores. They were
canine or reptile bones. Pure white too same as the paw print upon the flag.
Next came that cabin; it was pitch dark and messy that it was rather impossible
to see or navigate inside without some sort of flashlight. According to Kyro
and Zander, at the end of the cabin was a brown box sitting overtop of the
exposed air of a table. Inside the box was a bunch of canine or reptile body
parts. The flash was still intact upon the bones. I stayed silent while I
process this whole; but then something clicked in my brain. I let off a gasp as
my claws released its grip from the flag that I was holding. Zander Kyro and
Natty all gasped in shocked; but pointed their eyes to me with curious than
anger as I explained my theory to them.

However, before I could;
our walkie opened up with static and the voice of Ozkun came from the speakers.
Explaining about Zephyr who had suddenly appeared in front of them and upon the
entrance gates. Additionally, she did stated about a turmoil happening at
Vaster which sparked our interest as all three of us look upon one another. A
mixture of smiles, dread, frowns and angerment were drifted between the three
dragons in front of me as I just looked onto them with a concern look upon my
face. But I lifted my walkie from my waist, pressed onto the button at the side
of it before answering Ozkun.

“We will be there. Sit
tight."