A Hundun Grand

 

Table of Contents

Chapter 1—A Galactic Emergency

Chapter 2—Help Arrives

Chapter 3—Stretched Across the Cosmos

Chapter 4—A Quiet Place for Cryptids

Chapter 5—Terra Firma, Indiana

Epilogue

 

 

Chapter 1—A Galactic Emergency

                In the middle of the night, Mariah was awoken from delta sleep.   She wasn’t peeved since she knew it was more than likely an alert trying to grasp her attention.   An odd quarter shaped device had somehow slipped its way past her window and into her bedroom.  If that wasn’t unusual given her connection to the Twilight Meridianers and other Crusader chapters either in the physical plane or beyond it.   This time, it was something unexpected and different.   

                In a cryptid conservatory, the zookeeper had not slept well the previous day.   Young Percival was usually so diligent about minding all the cryptids that were rehomed in the ‘CryptoZoo’, but his second shift switcher, Amal had forgotten to call in sick.    In Zur, this was unheard of but not uncommon.     Fighting sleep tooth and nail, Percival forgot to keep a hundun behind lock and key.    The chaotic agent began wreaking havoc upon everything it encountered.   A blue avian named Millet did all he could to enclose it, but it was no use.   Employing his psychic talent, he got hold of the Cryptid Crusaders, and they immediately sprang into action.  

 

Chapter 2—Help Arrives

                The hundun itself was an unpredictable source of chaos, causing mayhem wherever it went.    Luckily, it didn’t have a chance to kill anyone righteous although it had its sights set on the Crusaders themselves.     Once more Millet employed a psychic force field to hold the unstable quadruped in one place before it broke out and tried to attack Cha, but he shielded her from the brunt of its stampede.    

                The hundun was a squirely, unstable beast that could only be held back by the SCP’s superior technology.    Cha was a little stunned at what had just happened and the quick thinking of the blue avian who was applying for work at the CC.    He had more than proven his worth and altruism.     As the hundun was being processed and teleported away, Millet introduced himself again.

                ‘Excuse the abrupt introduction.   I wasn’t expecting to hold off a rampaging hundun !’, he said, charmingly.    Cha was utterly smitten with the blue avian.   She had heard so much about their kind.   Any and all conspiracy theories she had believed in had become fact in the short time she had been employed at Crusaders, but she had to admit she could see the irony in being the second grey there with her mentor Xch who blended into Terran life unbelievably well.  

 

Chapter 3—Stretched Across the Cosmos

                That had been the first and last time the Crusaders had seen a kaleidoscopic hundun and they were glad they could put it behind them.   The encounter had shaken Cha, but she was decompressing, inhaling, and exhaling to ground herself.    Millet inquired if she was stable and she simply nodded her head.

                ‘I owe it to your quick thinking.’, she said.   Millet pulled one of the fastest pick up lines in the history of the universe.  

                ‘It was all for you, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.’    From that second onward, she knew she and the blue avian were bound to be soulmates.   Pretty soon Millet connected them with the Galactic Council.    The Merdianers had heard of them, but it had only been a byword, nothing concrete to understand what their mission was or who their members were.   Millet happened to be one of them, an ambassador sent from higher realms.  

                ‘We were really impressed with the work that the Crusaders have done over a matter of time.   According to our information, you are the most reliable and up to date source people contact or search online concerning crytpids.’, Millet said.    He then elucidated on how he had a plan for escapees like the hundun (that the SCP handled) and why the Cryptozoo existed.

 

Chapter 4—A Quiet Place for Cryptids

                Much like the Merdianers, the avian could take the whole team anywhere and anywhen he could imagine.   It was a very dizzying and difficult concept for a finite mind to grasp; however, he could really showcase the zoo and the good it was doing for ‘creatures who had no other place to call home’.  

                ‘This is the conservatory.  There are all kinds of species here.   We can come to learn, observe, and enjoy these beings in their natural habitats.’, Millet said.   It was a compassionate way to tend to the creatures, much different from the ‘hunter’ mentality.   None of them possessed this, not even the SCP.    They had a moral compass when engaging a crytpid and containment was always done with the cryptid’s wellbeing in mind.  

                ‘How long has this facility been running ?   Why don’t others utilize it more ?’, Mariah questioned, clearly moved by how well they tended to the animals were and how they were treated with the utmost care and tenderness.  

                ‘Alas, it hasn’t been running for so long as the SCP.   Your organization isn’t the oldest, but the merdianers have been watchers, stabilizing agents among the chaos.’, Millet said.  Chakra had to agree; she and her kind had lived for millennia but human beings still managed to fascinate and frustrate her.   It was because of Millet’s kind, tender and charming way that she knew this was the right thing to do in the expansion of the Crusader’s influence.    They were one local, but now, they were completely interstellar. 

 

Chapter 5—Terra Firma, Indiana

                Coming back to Ravenswood this time around had been a bit jarring, admittedly.   With the encounter in the back of their minds, the posse was reclining and rewatching old episodes of Ted Lasso before the new season began.   Everyone in the building found the series uplifting, particularly when their nerves were still a bit jumbled.  

                Millet was making himself comfortable among humans and the affection he had for Cha was more than obvious.  His love language was gifting her with little post-it poems, lovely haikus that reflected how he felt about her on a daily basis. 

                ‘Those two are headed for weddin’ bells.’, Sharon prognosticated.   Nine times out of ten her visions were usually correct, but everyone could see the two getting hitched at some point next year.  

 

Epilogue

                School was back in session and summer had come to a ceremonial close with the onset of Labor Day grilling at Crusader HQ.   There were always ebbs and flows in activity, but none of it was ever dull.    Mariah remembered Emory and the Fates before her, gladly continuing her legacy for as long as humanly possible.   It wasn’t so much a service as it was a privilege and a deep sated satisfaction that came out of helping the community that kept her and the others ambling on.    That, in essence, was what it meant to be a Crusader.

 

To Be Continued…