An Apeiron Story: Delivery Doods Flying Up Mountains

Hey everyone! It’s been awhile, but we’re returning in this week’s blog post to the ongoing story of Critchens the Dragoon, Happenstance…

Hey everyone! It’s been awhile, but we’re returning in this week’s blog post to the ongoing story of Critchens the Dragoon, Happenstance the Summoner, and Tommy — Crit’s son — as they travel the Axis Mundi for the blessings of the Four Elemental Lords. You can find previous chapters of this particular story here and here.

This week our brave group of doods are taking a trip to the Land of the Soaring Winds to see if they can get the blessing of Lord Lark, Duke of Air. We hope you enjoy our little tale of daring doods~

Before we dive in, a quick reminder that rewards for our latest Hidden Lagoon Nebula Expedition can now be claimed by those who were successful on their quests! And be on the lookout for our next Expedition to an all-new Nebula — next Tuesday! Stay tuned to our Discord for more info.

Now then…let’s get to this week’s story!

_____

And so, there they were: Critchens the Dragoon, Tommy his son, and Happenstance the Summoner, making their way back to land on their tiny boat. It was nighttime in the Axis Mundi, and the stars above shone out a message of hope amidst the black stillness.

They had ascended back from the underwater realm of Protea, Elemental Lady of Water, and even managed to win her blessing…in exchange for Timmy, Tommy’s twin sibling and budding Mage. The crew was now tired and weary for their journey, as well as a little downhearted to boot. As Tommy dragged his stubby legs onto the shore, he sighed.

“AHHH, I MISS TIMMY-” he began bawling.

“There, there…” said Crit in support of his son. But the moment of shared sadness was cut short by a sudden-

“Gululululululu, grrrrooooo…”

“Ummm…sorry,” said Crit. “Feeling a little hungry.”

“Come on,” said Happy resolutely. “Let’s find somewhere to rest.”

They weren’t near the fisherdood village they had left from, but rather on an uninterrupted stretch of empty shoreline. It was peaceful…and a little creepy. Hurrying along, they came to a cliff that rose sharply above the beach. Tommy pointed out that — a short way up the cliff face — was an embankment that itself had a small cave opening, partially hidden by grass and a smattering of clinging trees.

It was good enough. They scrambled up the embankment and quickly made themselves at home, setting up a campfire in a dry-ish corner.

“Do we have any food?” asked Crit.

“Nope,” replied Happy sourly.

“Oh,” said Crit. He looked over at Tommy, who was curled on a blanket facing a cave wall. Happy’s eyes glazed over as she…meditated? Slept? Spoke with dead doods?

Having not much else to do, Crit found a spot near the entrance to the cave. He took a deep breath, relishing the cool sea breeze that gently caressed his cheeks (butt cheeks, that is).

“Mmmm the breeze feels nice.”

Some peacefulness washed over him; he felt somewhat better after taking a breather. A day spent pondering about Timmy and their quest ahead had taken a toll on him, and soon, he started to drift off. And as the moon made its way to the night sky, the worn out doods nestled in the heart of the cave and fell deep into slumber.

— — — — — —

Dawn broke, and the first shards of sunlight began to shine into the cave. Slowly, they were awakened by the warmth of the sun gently diffusing into the dimness, inviting them to join the morning’s grace.

“Shhhhhh!” Happy shushed Tommy, trying to not wake Crit.

But Crit’s ears perked up at the sound of a conversation echoing within the cavern.

“You told us we needed to get help from different gods. But Protea… I don’t know, she gives me the creeps! And we lost Timmy because of it!” Tommy argued angrily.

“It was no one’s fault! And we got the blessing, didn’t we?” said Happy, annoyed at Tommy. She made a final “hmph” sound and turned her back on the doodling, who stuck his tongue out at her back before turning to Crit.

“Dad, I’m starving. Should we just go get ourselves some food?” Tommy turned to the half-awake Crit.

Happy perked up. She turned around: “Oh yes! About that! Don’t worry about that.”

“But where’s our food?” the doods started worrying together.

Happy stood up, brushed the dirt off of herself, and walked to the cave mouth. “We need to find an EDEN.”

“An EDEN?”

“Yeah. One of those big…things.”

“Hmm…ok.”

They left the cave and started walking down the shore again. The weather was cloudy and gray, but it wasn’t raining at least. Before too long, they spotted the familiar sight of an EDEN rising up to the heavens. EDENs were all over the Axis Mundi. They marched up to its base. The air fizzed with Mana and magic. Happy put her hands on her hips.

“Hmmm…ok. The old dood ghost said…if I just…” She started to hop back and forth on her feet and waving her arms around. This continued for several minutes.

“What are you doing?” said Tommy.

“Dancing!” said Happy. “Come on, help!”

“How is this going to get us food?”

“Less questions, more dancing!”

Crit and Tommy shared a confused look, trying to understand how this would play out. But Happy seemed serious so they too started to dance.

Their stomachs were growling, and while they still weren’t sure if they were waiting for something, there was a brief moment of stillness in the air, and shortly afterwards an unexpected breeze began to willow along the waves. It only took moments before the wind started intensifying…

“A tornado? Was it summoned by a god?!” Tommy screamed in fear, clinging to a rock to resist the strong pull of the wind.

Suddenly, the gust of wind ended abruptly and a doodette wearing a winged helmet, sporting a cool green badge and carrying a full basket of food appeared.

“Hiya! I’m from the RFDDS, which stands for Royal Food Delivery Dood Service. Here’s the food that you said you needed!”

From the basket, she served up some BBQ Meat Skewers and some Stinky Spikefruit which looked appetizing enough to satiate the hungry doods.

Happy smiled at the delivery.

“Wait, how can you fly?” Crit, still recovering from his shock, asked curiously.

“I’ve never seen a dood flying like that before!” said Tommy, while munching on some groat skewers.

“I got these wings from our god! You should come and visit sometime,” the delivery doodette grinned, flashing them a thumbs up.

“And what realm is that?” asked Tommy.

“The realm of Lark, our Elemental Lord of Air!” she replied cheerfully. “Now, if you’ll excuse me doods and doodette, it’s time to take off!”

A gust of wind picked up around the delivery doodette, lifting her off the ground and carrying her into the sky, leaving no trace of her ever being there.

“That’s so cool!” remarked Tommy, squinting against the blazing sun.

“C’mon son, we gotta get movin’. We need to get the blessing from Lark, and if we can get some of those wings as well, we can fly to Cosmos’ temple and tell the High Goddess about the chaos outside of Axis Mundi!” said Crit. The food had really done a number on him. He felt ready to face the world. Also, those wings seemed sweet.

Happy while munching a piece of meat off the skewer, said emotionlessly, “I saw something in your dreams last night… something about the breeze blowing on your cheeks. It must be a sign.”

They wasted no time packing their things and setting off on their next adventure. There was some debate about exactly how many Stinky Spikefruits they were going to take, with Crit and Tommy strongly against and Happy strongly for. She ended up carrying the extra herself.

As they got ready to depart, Happy couldn’t shake off a feeling of unease. She felt there was something out of the ordinary with the delivery dood’s wings. But maybe it was just her mind being clouded by the smell of the Stinky Spikefruit.

— — — — — — — —

After journeying for a couple of days, they finally made it to Lark’s realm, the Land of Soaring Winds, a place of tall mountains, steep valleys, and even flying islands, hovering amidst the scudding clouds. The doods could feel a constant gust of wind swirling past them, caressing them, tickling them, inviting them forward.

But there was something else as well…the sound of…what was that?

“Is someone crying?” asked Tommy.

“Sounds like it,” said Crit. “Let’s go check it out.”

They were walking at the bottom of a steep valley, the walls of tall cliffs rising up on either side of them. A small stream tinkled along the bottom musically, the tinkling echoing off the rocky walls and creating an ethereal kind of music. As they walked forward they could see…yes it was a crying doodette, plonked on a bit of moss next to the stream.

“Oh, it’s the delivery doodette we saw last night!” Tommy pointed at the crying doodette, recognizing her from the green badge. By her side, her wings lay oddly out of shape.

Feeling their eyes on her, the distressed doodette wiped her tears away, recognizing in turn the familiar faces of her past customers.

“Oh…it’s you doods. Something happened on the way back. As I was flying back to base, my wings — THEY BROKE! I’m a failure as a Royal Food Delivery Dood,” she sobbed, clutching onto her broken wings, “Now I’ll never fly again!!”

Tommy inched closer to inspect.

“Don’t worry. We’ll help you fix them!” said Crit.

“Why would you help me?” the delivery doodette asked.

“My boy Tommy has a doody heart,” Crit said with pride.

“You’re right I do!” said Tommy, crossing his arms boldly in front of himself.

“I’m not sure we have time to-” began Happy, before being interrupted by-

“Wow, you guys are really nice!” The delivery dood stood up and shook their hands, “I’m Feeby, nice to meet you!”

“Hey, Feeby! Tell us what we need to do!” Tommy stood with arms akimbo, acting impressively, flexing his (small) muscles in a few handsome poses, and smiling confidently.

Happy tried to pull the wings out of Feeby’s hands so she could examine them.

“Hey, be careful! “ Feebly exclaimed,

Feeby managed to wrestle her wings away from Happy, who hmphed, then started to explain:

“I was told that my grandpa was a dreamer dood. He dreamt of flying high in the sky just like our Lord Lark does, so he made his own wings. Of course they didn’t really work, but Lord Lark was so moved he blessed the wings. He told him to always follow his dreams (and also to make deliveries for other doods). There’s even a poem about it:

Within a dreamer’s heart, wings took flight,

Against Hollow Rock, danced in pure dood light.

The boneless sky his fast age fair,

To waltz with Lark, Lord of Air.

Dreams dood-ed into a daring guy,

The dreamer’s spirit, the winds corn-fly.

I dunno about what it means, but we all had to read it before joining the Royal Food Delivery Dood Service.”

“Surprised that you even remember,” Happy and Tommy were chewing on their skewers and spikefruit, giving Feeby the side eye.

“Alright, so what do we do now?” Crit asked.

“But that’s just the thing! I went to the Hollow Singing Rock and performed the Whoosh Breeze Dance to give the wings back their magic windy power, and it didn’t work! So now I dunno what to do…” she erupted in a cascade of sniffling again. Crit fished out a handkerchief to give to her and she tooted her nose clean.

“Lark.”

They all turned to look at Happy. She stared them all down as if it was obvious. “What? We need to find Lark. We need his blessing. And he can probably fix those wings too.”

“Oh! Good idea, Happy! I was also going to say that.”

Feeby sniffed, but with just a little bit more hope. “Hmm…I like it, but…Lord Lark isn’t known for staying in his temple. I have no idea where to find him,” she confessed.

“But we must try, we need to find him too!” Crit pointed his spear toward the sky, trying to lift his new friend’s spirit, “We’ve already found and faced gods before, like Lady Protea.”

“Yeah!” said Tommy, also striking a heroic pose next to his dad. It didn’t have quite the same impact without the spear.

“OK, if you guys think it’s the right thing to do,” Feeby nodded. Gathering her courage, she stood tall and reclaimed her spirit. “Off we go!”

Guided by Feeby, they continued to journey across the realm. As a dood born and raised in the Land of Soaring Winds, she knew every nook and cranny of the mountains, and she even knew how to get to some of the floating islands in the realm.

“HERE WE GOoooooo!”

— — — — — — — — —

They first arrived on a floating island — riding on the back of some ferrying Hippersquishes, small chimerical-looking creatures — with a majestic lake in the very middle. Strangely, there wasn’t as much wind here compared to the other places. The atmosphere was serene, and the sky reflected beautifully in the water’s glass-like surface as if the two had become one.

“Hmmm, I don’t see Lord Lark anywhere. They say he loves to paint here…” said Feeby.

Tommy dipped his hand into the water as he looked for Lark, but he saw no god resting in the area, only a reflection of himself in the lake. He gave himself a devilish grin. Then frowned.

Seeing no one but themselves, they moved away from the lake and made their way to the next stop — a village called Lullaby Vale. The place had a small population. As they were walking past, they saw doods living happily and contentedly. It seemed the village doods had a habit of daydreaming — they were walking around with their heads in the clouds, occasionally giggling to themselves. None of them had seen Lark in ages.

They kept wandering, and found themselves at the foot of an incredibly tall mountain — Vortex Verge. In fact, it was the tallest mountain in the realm. It was two-pronged — like a fork — and had some sort of large circle in the middle that made a kind of deep humming vibration.

“We don’t have to climb that, do we?” asked Tommy.

Feeby looked at him with glistening eyes. “Well we could always give up on our dreams, I guess…”

Tommy sighed and shook his head. “Off we go then…should have gotten another doodburger back at that village…”

The mountain was a huge test for them. It was very steep. Crit almost died from exhaustion. Tommy and Feeby had to huff-and-puff haul each other up. Happy basically fainted. They must have climbed for a whole 10 minutes before they finally reached the Hippersquish riders who would carry them the rest of the way up.

At last, with Tommy doing a final belly roll and flopping himself to the ground from the Hippersquish, they all reached the top.

“So tired…” he moaned.

“Oh no…he’s not here either…” Feeby burst into tears.

They toured the mountaintop for a while, but all they found was a patch of grass and some sightseeing doods.

And it was certainly a sight to see — and hear! The humming up here permeated the air right down to the bones. Something about it got Crit’s feet tapping. He wanted to sing a song as he looked out over Lark’s kingdom. He liked it here. It was so peaceful. If only the whole godiverse could be like this…

The sun started to set, the light transforming the mountains and valleys into a dazzling partnership of shadow and gold. They sat down together and watched as the shadows slowly consumed the gold, which faded into orange, then violet, before finally a patchwork gray.

“Hey Feeby,” called Crit.

“Yeah?”

“Why do you work as a delivery dood, even in a place as easy and merry as this?”

“Oh, that’s because my grandpa inspired me!” Feeby proudly lifted her head, “He was such a brave dreamer dood. Without him, I wouldn’t have my wings!”

“And so your dream is to deliver food?”

“You bet! I think it’s cool to travel around the Axis Mundi, and to deliver food for doods!” Feeby tapped her feet energetically.

Crit gave her a thumbs up. “Hope that Tommy can learn from you Feeby. You’re a cool dood.”

“Hey Feeby…would it be ok if I could see your wings?”

“Hmmm….ok…” said Feeby cautiously. She passed them over gently to Tommy.

Tommy gently picked them up, and started to inspect them closely again, trying to see if he could fix them. Honestly, he had absolutely no idea. But then-

“I wonder if we should try to fly,” said Tommy. “Maybe the only way to meet Lark is to fly. We have to prove ourselves!”

Tommy then went to the cliff, and stood by the edge. It was dark below now, with night beginning to cloak the land. That made it slightly less scary, at least. He could make out the lights of a twinkling dood village far below. The humming from the mountain above him seemed to intensify.

“Son, that’s too dangerous…” Crit stepped forward and grabbed his doodling son back from the cliff.

“Yea, yea, the wings are not working now! You’ll fall and… become a dood ghost?” said Feeby.

“Ugh…we’ve already been traveling for so long and got nothing. I think the wings are testing us to be brave!” said Tommy angrily.

The other doods tried to tell him to back away from the cliff. But Tommy stubbornly shook them off. Even Crit found it difficult to control his son. Tommy had grown very strong.

“You can’t fly with a pair of twisted wings-”

“You don’t have to do this-”

“AAAAAAAAAA!!!”

With enough courage gathered, Tommy yelled, “I’m King of the World!”

He had jumped off the cliff, but of course, the wings didn’t work and he tumbled down like a yellow beach ball and into the depths of the darkened parts of the mountain.

“OH NOOOO!!!”

“Tommy!!!”

“I know where he’ll be! Follow me, quick!” Feeby hallooed a Hippersquish rider and they all shot off after him.

— — — — — — — — —

When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, they saw a commotion. A crowd of doods were gathered at the center of the village, watching two doods in the middle of a quarrel.

Crit led his friends and made their way into the crowd. He saw his son standing in the middle of the crowd, scolded by a dood who was positively red with rage. Tommy had crossed his arms stubbornly, but Crit could tell he was nervous. And he looked kind of dizzy as well.

“Oi dood! You need to fix my hut and gimme your stuff!” The angry dood yelled at Tommy.

“Umm….I don’t have any food…” Drops of sweat could be seen on Tommy’s nervous face.

Feeby pushed her way to the front of the crowd. She wasn’t pleased either. “Tommy! Where are my wings?!”

“Hey, hey! Everyone just calm down. What’s happening here?” Crit interrupted the angry dood and tried to rescue his doodling. “Why are you yelling like that? That’s not the doody way!”

“This dood fell from the sky and crash-landed through my roof! I was sleeping peacefully on my bed, but then a dood came flying down, right on top of me!!” The dood huffed while stomping his feet and punching the air. “Buy a dood a dinner first!”

“Hey, it was an accident, let’s all just-”

“He’s gotta pay for my food for 10 years!” The dood roared.

“10 years?! That’s robbery!” Crit’s face turned red.

“Huh, who are you? Are you telling me what to do!?” The dood was even more irritated.

Crit stood up tall and banged his spear on the ground. “You bet I am!”

The angry dood quaked a little, but some of the other villagers rallied to support their friend. “It’s all your fault! You need to pay for it!”

“Yeah! Yeah!” shouted the crowd.

“You son of a bood-”

“How dare you-”

“Come here!”

“TOMMY WHERE ARE MY WINGS-”

“Well, they’re not LESS broken, but they’re still-”

An almighty clamor broke out as the doods began to fight. Chairs, tables, and food went flying.

Happy sighed. This was all so dumb…but then she noticed something. There was a light breeze on her cheek…getting stronger. And stronger, and stronger. It was a wind, then a gale. The doods stopped fighting: the village doods — and Feeby — got down on their knees in prostration. Crit and Tommy stood their mouths agape.

“Whence come these clamors so full and loud?” boomed out an unfamiliar voice.

All doods huddled together in fear, hoping for the best, but it wasn’t long until the wind died down. A sudden tornado spun into existence, and from it emerged the elegant elongated figure of Lord Lark, Prince of Winds, the Captain of Zephyrs, and the Elemental Lord of Air. He gave them all a flashing grin that lit up the night, and a theatrical wave as he hovered over them. His white hair floofed around his neck like a cloud, and his long turquoise waistcoat suggested he had just come from some White City party.

“It’s Lord Lark!” Feeby exclaimed with a squeak.

“All hail Lord Lark!” the crowd of doods recited.

“Lord Lark! Please forgive us!” Some doods cried loudly, including the formerly angry dood, Crit, Tommy and Happy.

The god stretched his long limbs and cracked a wide yawn. Then, he combed and twirled his fluffy silver hair that was glistening in the moonlight, and dusted the leaves that had landed on his shoulders.

“So. What’s happening here?” Lark asked nonchalantly, but the doods were all trembling. They didn’t want to be punted off.

“They were arguing,” Feeby answered in honesty and with dignity, standing right in front of Lark.

“Arguing? About what?” Lark was confused.

“There was my friend who tried to fly with my wings, because…” Feeby hesitated for a while, “…because he wanted to help me repair them. But we failed and he tumbled down the hill and crashed into a dood’s hut.”

“Oh dear, that’s horrible,” Lark gasped, then looked at the doods. The doods could feel the pressure of being glared upon, so they trembled even more intensely. Was Lark planning to punt them out of his realm?

“Please, don’t punt us! We know what we’ve done now, please forgive us!”

“Yea! We promise we won’t argue anymore!” said a dood from the back.

“We can’t live outside your realm! We’re too used to the relaxed lifestyle here!” said a rather larger sized dood.

Lark closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, while the doods were waiting nervously for their punishment. However, after a long wait, nothing happened.

The doods didn’t understand, had their god fallen asleep?

“Um, Lord Lark?” Feeby asked tentatively.

“Oh, right. Arguing,” Lark suddenly came to and looked at Feeby. Everyone was holding their breath. But then, Lark continued with an uncaring voice, “Well, if it’ll make you all quiet down…”

Lark raised his hand. Within a blink of an eye, the dood’s hut and Feeby’s wings were repaired. Witnessing the miracle, the doods were shocked but also relieved, they jumped up and down exuberantly. Some of the doods were dancing the God-Given Jig.

“We love Lord Lark!”

“Lord Lark’s da best!”

“YAYYYYY-”

In fact, Lark was unbothered by all those commotions. His eyes scanned the crowd, picking out Feeby.

“Feeby, is it?” Lark remarked.

“Yes, Lord Lark,” Feeby nodded rapidly.

“Come with me,” said Lark. It was not a question, or an offer, but a command.

“Can my friends come along?” asked Feeby.

Lark shrugged. “Sure, why not.”

Then he hoisted Feeby, Crit, Tommy and Happy onto his shoulder, and flew towards the direction of his temple.

— — — — — — — — —

At last, they arrived at Lord Lark’s temple.

The temple was floating high up in the sky, on an island hovering above all the rest. The doods could only make out the Vortex Verge below — everything else was hidden in the night. The temple was so high up that there was no way for a mere dood to climb up to reach it without first meeting Lord Lark. It was a place suitable for only gods and worthy doods.

As they took their first step into the temple, the sublimity of it all overwhelmed them. The temple itself was merely a circle of stones surrounding a very still pool of water with just the thinnest sheen of clear ice over its surface. It was a kind of natural mirror that reflected the sky, so that it seemed, upon stepping onto the surface, as if one had stepped into the sky itself. The golden edge of Lark’s turquoise robe gently skated over the surface, creating a shimmery trace as the God of Air flew across the thin ice.

He reached a certain spot and signaled the doods to come join him.

It was as if this place had its own timeline, and was unbothered by the agenda of the outside world, filled with serenity and peacefulness. The doods walked over nervously, huddled in a small group. It was somewhat too much for them. Only Happy seemed unphased by it all. She looked around wondering at the stars and their reflections.

The doods made their way to Lord Lark who was enjoying the tranquil moment, bathed in moonlight. The god was quiet even when they stood before him. He seemed to be relaxing, but he didn’t speak a word. Feeby stared at him. She had questions, but she was uncertain of whether she should raise them.

“Lord Lark, aren’t you mad?” Feeby asked, “About me breaking the wings you gave me.”

“Oh no, not at all. That doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things,” Lark shrugged his shoulders, “I remember the day when you told me your dream of becoming a delivery dood.”

“That’s a long time ago! I was just a doodling at the time!” Feeby’s eyes widened, “But why did you give me the wings?”

“Because I knew you’ll become a great dood,” Lark raised his head with a coy grin and looked up to the starry night sky, “So did your grandpa.”

“I want to know more about my grandpa, did he really invent the wings?” asked Feeby.

“Well, yes. But…your grandpa never made his first delivery. An accident happened when he was testing to fly with the wings.”

“Ohhhh…” Feeby lowered her eyebrows and looked down. She looked distraught. Her grandpa had always been her role model, but now she discovered that everything was just in her head. Was she a fool to believe in these stories for so long?

“Your grandpa was a brave dood. He dreamt of flying in the sky for such a long time, so that he even tried to invent a pair of dood wings.” Lark started uncovering the story. “Unfortunately, he died when trying to fly with his wings. I only learnt the story after it had happened. After his death, I kept his wings. I was touched by his persistence and courage, and I love doods who dream. So I blessed the wings and granted them the ability to fly.”

He looked at Feeby’s wings and grinned. “Then other doods asked for some and I thought…ah, a delivery service for doods! That would be funny. So we set it up.”

Feeby was still wrestling with the shock of her grandfather’s death, his failures. “Why…why didn’t I know? How come no one ever told me?”

“You’re so bright and full of hope, even since you’re a doodling,” Lark praised, “Your grandfather’s dream inspired your own. And well…I love doods who dream,” he said with a wink. “In fact, I wrote a poem about it, which maybe you’ve heard before. All delivery doods are supposed to learn it:

Within a dreamer’s heart, wings took flight,

Against Hollow Rock, danced in pure delight.

The boundless sky his vast stage fair,

To waltz with Lark, Lord of Air.

Dreams distilled into a daring glide,

The dreamer’s spirit, the winds confide.”

Of course, Feeby remembered the poem but she felt something special this time around. She didn’t know her grandpa had failed miserably, but the story didn’t stop there. The dreams of doods were infused into the truths in the godiverse, they were part of this fascinating starry sky.

She seemed to be peeking into something very complicated, something that wasn’t supposed to be understood by a dood, therefore she couldn’t bear to think.

Instead, she sighed with relief.

“So, grandpa never danced with you in the sky?” Feeby looked at Lark with glistening eyes.

“Never.” Lark paused for a short moment. “But his spirit probably did. And he’s always flying with you, Feeby, with that pair of wings.”

“Thank you, Lord Lark,” Feeby could feel a bup-bup feeling in her heart. She was finally content and smiled at her god.

— — — — — — — — —

The next day when the doods woke up, they found themselves still in the temple. Lark was not sleeping, but he had entered into a state of deep meditation. The doods were not sure if it’s a good idea to wake him up, so they remained absolutely silent, until Lark eventually opened his eyes.

“What a nice day-” Lark stretched his limbs then greeted the doods, “Oh, you doods are still here? I’d completely forgotten about it. What are you doing here? You’re free to go back and grab some food!”

“We came here for your blessing,” Happy stepped forward and said politely.

“Hmm, I’ve not heard of your stories yet. I told you a story last night, now it’s your turn to tell me your story!” Lark turned to them with his vivid emerald eyes.

And so, Tommy and Happy told Lark about their adventures. They started to describe how they went from meeting Bobo and Rara on Susanoo’s planet, to being split up by the tainted boods when traveling across the godiverse. Then, how they tried to talk to Cosmos in the White City but failed epically, and how they went to Protea’s realm to get her blessing but lost one of their friends, and ended up…here.

“You’re some interesting doods, and you’ve got big dreams,” Lark nodded amusedly. “Sure! You have my blessing. I hope Lady Cosmos will hear you out.” He extended one of his long, slender hands — a whoosh of air and viridian light shot out and surrounded the doods in a mini-tornado of magical power, before suddenly disappearing.

“Woah!” said Crit.

“Excellent,” said Happy.

“Thank you!” Tommy exclaimed. The other doods also had their happiness written on their faces. They had done it!

“OHHH WE FORGOT OUR DINNER,” Crit suddenly realized his stomach was stirring, and remembered that they had skipped dinner last night with all the commotion. How ridiculous it was for doods to forget their dinner time! “We should go and grab our lunch now! A big one, to celebrate.”

“Wanna grab some food together, Feeby?” Happy turned to their delivery dood friend, “Where are you going after this? Do you want to come with us?”

“Thanks for the invitation, but I gotta get back to work. After all, that’s the responsibility of a Royal Food Delivery Dood!” Feeby said proudly, feeling refreshed by the story last night. “I want to fly around all the Axis Mundi again! It’s time for the Royal Food Delivery Dood to take off, see ya next time!”

“Wait! Before you leave, can you please deliver this to someone in Protea’s realm for me?” Tommy handed a letter to Feeby. It had some colorful pictures drawn on it.

“Of course, you’re my friend!” Feeby carefully tucked away the letter and smiled, “I’ll make sure it’s delivered to your brother!”

For one last time, they saw the sight of wind surrounding Feeby. She waved goodbye to her friends, flapped her wings, and skyrocketed into the air. They’d certainly miss her, but they also knew that every time they ordered food, they would meet again.

The doods gazed into the far distance of the sky — what a beautiful sight, the perfect day for doods to dream of flying.

END

And that’s the end of this one! Hope y’all enjoyed it — what did you think of Crit, Tommy, and Happy’s adventures this time around? Would you like to take a tour of the Realm of Soaring Winds? Let us know! We’d love to hear your thoughts — come to our Doodaria Discord and tell us — or tweet (x?) at us on the (dead) bird site.

And as always, thanks for reading, godlings. We’ll see you next time.

About Apeiron

Apeiron is the world’s first NFT-based play-and-earn god game. Apeiron will feature a unique card-based action-adventure combat system combined with god game simulation gameplay inspired by classic god games like Populous and Black & White. Players will be able to build up planets from above before descending to the ground as a powerful Avatar to solve the mysteries of the universe. Players will grow their planet to the point of developmental stagnation, then reset the planetary cycle via an Armageddon event to allow for even more advancement and thrilling late-game alliance level GvE and GvG activities. Apeiron will use a tri-token architecture, which means that there will be three separate tokens to navigate their ecosystem: a governance token, a play-to-earn token, and a premium alliance token.

Visit Apeiron’s Website | Official Marketplace | OpenSea | Youtube | Discord | Twitter