This is the continuation of my contest entry The Foragers that had been written for the Little Light Writing Contest.

Photo Origin

DISCLAIMER: The wings idea was taken from The Seven Sleepers: The Winged Raiders of the Desert (book five)

You don't have to read the og entry to understand the story, since the story starts earlier then the og. This is sorta how I would write this if I was making it as book :D

This will be updated (regularly?) I feel like the writing style is kinda different than the original Foragers. Oof. I'm not 100% satisfied with it but i just wanted to post SOMETHING already. Also thx to Supa_Michael AKA Frost Bite for the comment they made on Foragers bcuz it rlly made my day!

If u wanna draw art for this I will accept it (with credit to u of course) and put it on this blog no matter the skill level (but pls don't just send me nonsense!)

Also if you read the og and this story ruined it for you I'm sorry! (っ °Д °;)っ This might make Erna seem bad but the term "Underlings" literally was made by the Ironcrawlers so lol XD.

Anyway, here it issss!


It was a peaceful day in the Groom Forest. The sun was shining pleasantly through the trees, birds were chirping their merry goodbyes before they left for winter, and squirrels were scampering through the fallen leaves.

A red squirrel suddenly lifted its head and sniffed the air, its bushy tail twitching nervously. It shot across the foliage, startled by the small object flying towards it. The “object” was not a low flying insect, nor a falling leaf. It was a tiny person, no more than an inch long!

The person was soaring through the air on brown wings, her shoulder-length auburn hair flowing after her. Strapped to her back was some sort of a weapon, and along side it was a hook. Connected to the hook was a tiny lantern, and inside the lantern was a small firefly, no bigger then the palm of her hand. The girl was called Erna, and the firefly, her pet, Bede.

Erna was not a fairy, not an elf, nor any sort of magical creature. She was a Forager. A normal human being like you or me, except that she was small.

The wings in which she used to glide were not a part of her, instead strapped onto her tiny frame with multiple straps.
They were a mechanical wonder, achieving the dream of flight which many men in our world failed to master. If one looked closer, with a magnifying glass of course, perhaps you would see the thin, almost invisible strings which connected from the wings to the person; allowing them to be controlled by the slightest movement of the skillful flyer.

Of course, she wasn’t really flying; only the Highlanders had wings that could do that. She was instead gliding on the strong winds. However, it was a very controlled gliding, nothing like soaring aimlessly on a hang-glider.

Highlanders were still a Forager, every person in this world was one. Highlanders lived in the trees or on cliffs. They could live almost anywhere, the jungle, forests, savannas, cliffs, and deserts. Of course, if they lived in the desert, they would be referred to as Winged Nomads.

The only places where Highlanders didn’t fly were the Vast Plains, (since there are no trees or high structures to make their homes on), and the Snowy Mountains: the land of the Snowlanders,(since delicate wings would be useless against the harsh winter winds.)

Erna herself was a Forester. Foresters lived in pebble houses, large mushrooms, under rocks, or almost anywhere in the Great Forests or the Vast Plains. Her own village, Pymrod, was just below a Highlander village. But Erna herself did not live in her village. She lived with her parents in the hollow trunk of an old tree, thirty minutes walking distance from the village, but much faster going by gliding.

Erna had gone on an early morning flight. Soon the Academy would reopen, and she was determined to enjoy every bit of freedom before then. She loved autumn mornings with the crisp sent of cold in the air, the pleasant chill against her face, the beautiful fall colors filling the sky in the form of leaves, and the busy hum of animals diligently preparing for winter. Erna suddenly realized that her parents would need help preparing for winter themselves. She changed direction with a subtle, almost completely unnoticeable movement.

Erna landed flawlessly in front of the tree. Her wings folded themselves when she was safely on the ground. She rapped on the carved door softly before coming inside. There was her mother, Versa, her flaming red curls made into a simple bun. Versa’s orange-y amber eyes were just like Erna’s, except hers were filled with motherly compassion while Erna’s were filled with jovial mischief.

Versa now smiled pleasantly at her energetic daughter.

I hope she won’t be too against this, Versa thought. Versa knew how stubborn and strong-willed her daughter was.

Gofan, Erna’s father, set his wooden mug down on the skillfully carved table.

“Sit down, Erna,” he said kindly. Erna had the unwavering feeling that they were about to have a ‘talk’, and that she wouldn’t exactly like it. She silently settled into the comfy cotton that had been stuffed into the large hollowed acorn.

“Did something happen?” Erna asked nervously.

“You’re not in trouble, Erna,” Versa said with a bit of a laugh.

“Oh, then, what is it?” Erna asked in impatience.

“Well, do you remember your Aunt Herina?” Gofan asked.

“I remember you telling me about her,” Erna said slowly. Aunt Herina was her mother’s cousin. She had visited once when Erna was a baby, but “middle” Ironcrawlers tended to stay in their underground tunnels.

“Her son, Tycho, is coming to stay with us for a while,” Versa said, choosing her words carefully.

“What?” Erna exclaimed, standing up, “You- you- you can’t invite an Underling here! Why, I-I’ll absolutely die of embarrassment!”

“Erna,” Gofan said sternly, “I will never hear you use that term again, do you understand?”

“Yes, Father.” Erna bit her lip.

“Erna,” Versa began, “You must get that idea of “Underlings” out of your head. The Ironcrawlers are good people and smart too. Nevertheless, Tycho will probably be confused here, as I’m sure you would be if you went to his home; so I want you to be patient with him and to help him around. You will do that for me, Erna?”

“Of course I will! But…” she added hesitantly, “couldn’t he stay anywhere else?”

“We are his only family here, Erna.” Gofan said.

“Why- why can’t he just stay in the Tunnels?”

An awkward silence followed her question.

“It won’t be too bad, Erna,” Versa suddenly said, “He is only one year older than you, and I’m sure you would like to have somebody to converse with.”

“But what about my friends?”

“What about them?” Gofan asked, knowing all to well what Erna meant.

“N-nothing.” She lowered her gaze to the floor.

So that settled it. Tycho would come to live with them until further notice. Erna sighed. He would probably be such a bore.

She couldn’t believe her parents. How could they invite an Underling? A “high” Ironcrawler, sure. Erna had heard that they weren’t too different then Foresters. But a middle Ironcrawler? Everybody knew that Underlings, (middle and low Ironcrawlers), were dumb and hardly said a word.

Oh well, there was nothing Erna could do about it. She had gotten her stubbornness from her father, after all.


Tycho stood in the midst of the dense crowd, pulling his bag as closely to his chest as possible. He had never liked crowds.

He looked up and around, observing what he could through the sea of heads, which was mostly just a stone ceiling and stone walls, containing the bored and impatient passengers. The place would have seemed like a modern subway station in our world and was called a Snakestop.

Tycho had no idea what a “snake” was but had heard that they resembled worms. He could not see the snakes through the crowd and finally submitted to waiting.

The “Snakestop” was made by taking large square-ish stone slabs and arranging them in such a way that creates a long rectangular stone box with a gap on one side which makes the exit.

bad concept art :/

As the crowd shuffled to the exit, Tycho anxiously clasped his ticket. He couldn’t lose it, for if he did he would be stuck here. His palms were clammy as he clenched the old feed sack in his other hand. It contained all of the wordly possessions he had left.

The man in front of him suddenly stopped, and Tycho just barely missed colliding into him. He had no idea what decided when the crowd moved or stopped, and the process seemed so random that he could never get used to it. He would constantly bump into someone or be bumped into.

The crowd finally shuffled to the snakes.

The snakes were not what he had expected. They were extremely long and some of them were odd colors he had never seen before. They were a variety of different patterns and sizes. Some just looked like long, colorful worms that had big, black eyes; but others were horrendous creatures with thick, muscular bodies, triangular shaped heads, and evil, glistening fangs.

Tycho found that, to his dismay, his ride was a true monster. It was a red snake with bold, black lines swirling around its thick, scaly body. Its long fangs dripped some sort of venom and its tail flipped violently, as if to whip anyone who came close. It had seven saddles, plus the driver’s saddle, firmly strapped to it.

Tycho swallowed hard. Am I really going to do this? He shook his head as if to shake away his doubts and fears. I have to do this! There was no turning back. No other option.


“I can’t believe your parents would do that to you!” Dianna exclaimed.

“I know, right? What were they thinking? An Underling of all people!”

Erna was talking to Dianna and Artina as they sat on a branch, waiting for the sunset. Dianna had been Erna’s friend since they were babies and were truly best friends. Artina was a Highlander that they had met only recently.

Artina reluctantly added,

“But he is family! You can’t just abandon family! Besides, my sister stayed with Ice-Diggers for a while, and they are very smart.”

“He’s only a cousin once removed! And you can’t exactly compare an Ice-Digger to an Underling.”

“Why not? Isn’t an Ice-Digger an Ironcrawler?”

Erna was forced to recognize that was true.

“Oh c’mon, Artina. We aren’t saying that Ironcrawlers are bad! Just Underlings are a bit, how do I say this, a bit lower on the mental scale. We are not being rude, exactly. But they have to realize where they are on the mental scale before they can, um, improve!” Dianna slipped in with her usual air of wisdom.

“Hmm…”

No more was said about the subject, since the sun had just started casting its rosy colors on the sleepy forest. The three girls sat there in a peaceful silence, swinging their legs contentedly.



Tycho bit his lip as he mounted the snake awkwardly. The snake driver was rough and impatient, doubly so now that he was running late.

“Underling,” he had muttered when he had taken Tycho’s ticket.

Well, at least I’m on this thing. Tycho had been scared that the man would refuse him.

I guess I do look kinda dumb here, he thought dejectedly. Well, what did they expect? I don’t think they would be perfect if they went to the Tunnels. The thought seemed to cheer him up.

“Hang on tight, all of you. It’s gonna be a rough ride when she starts going, I tell you. Heee Heee Heeee!” The man laughed, seemingly pleased with his passengers’ displeasure.

Tycho noticed that the girl in front of him also seemed uncomfortable. The man behind his seemed unsettled. In fact, the snake driver was the only person who did not feel ill at ease on the beast.

Tycho grasped the saddle horn nervously and hoped that he wouldn’t loose his bag. The snake started unexpectedly and sped through the forest in a dizzying slither. Tycho was alarmed at the snake’s speed, but the slithering almost reminded him of riding a worm. To his surprise, the other passengers seemed to be getting sick. He didn’t feel dizzy, but he couldn’t exactly call this enjoyable.



“Ernaaaaa!” Dianna called.

“What is it?” Erna asked, her head popping out of the carved window.

“Let’s go flying! Artina said she would teach us how to use Flinter Wings!”

“Sorry, Dianna, I can’t. I’m helping Mom clean the house. Tycho should be here tomorrow.”

“Ugh! Seriously? You can’t do anything fun because of an Und-”

“Shh! My dad would kill us if he heard you say that! I can go flying later, ok?”

Dianna put her hands on her hips and bit her lip, obviously annoyed.

“Fine! Meet us at the branch when you’re done,” With that, she glided away.

Erna sighed and rested her face on her hands, putting her elbows on the windowsill for support. Today would be the last day of freedom and she had to spend it inside.


Tycho clumsily dismounted the snake. The snake had slithered over large rock and the slanted incline made it harder to dismount.

Tycho was relived to finally get off the snake, but this was just a pit stop. He didn’t know if he could make himself go back on that beast again.

Tycho grabbed a canteen from his bag and gulped the lukewarm water. The Tunnels were relatively chilly, and Tycho wasn’t used to the heat in the Surface World. He wiped his brow with his sleeve and drank again. After he was satisfied, Tycho used a long piece of grass to tie his bag to his back.

He suddenly noticed that the girl who had been in front of him was having trouble getting down from her saddle. She was, unfortunately, right on the top of the large rock, struggling to get down without dropping her small bag.



To be Continued.


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