ℓα∂у яανєη ανєℓιηα’s adventures: An Unsteady Beginning

Each betrayal begins with trust. –Phish

 

Pandora’s Adventures: A Sad Introduction (Part 1)

 

Chatventures!

Today on chat!

Vampire Lord found a map that gave him the location of the origin of the dark figures, and discovered that it was, in fact, on earth!

So Vampire Lord and Nireth got in a cab and were being driven along, when Vampire Lord realized that the cab driver was taking them somewhere without having asked them for their location. When the cab stopped, Vampire Lord dragged Nireth away and they climbed into a new cab, which did all sorts of crazy maneuvers to lose any pursuers.

Vampire Lord hen explained to Nireth that the cab driver had actually been a dark figure in disguise; that the dark figures knew that they were on earth and that they were trying to hinder Vampire Lord’s mission to destroy them at the source. The source is the Vesper family–a group of people who have chosen the evil way of life above the good way of life.

He also revealed that he was not really “Vampire Lord”: he explained that his real name is Tiberius Cahill, and that his ancestor Gideon Cahill’s ring will help him gain enough power to stop the Vespers. The Vesper and Cahill family have been feuding for a very long time, so this mission is a very personal one for Vampire Lord.

Unfortunately, the ring’s location was known by the Vespers, who had every weapon imagineable. The only hope was to get to the ring first–which Vampire Lord did!

But, once again, the Vespers unfortunately knew the ring’s location, so they were able to find Vampire Lord and Nireth. They were knocked unconscious by sleeping gas, and when they woke up the Vespers had stolen the ring!

Vampire Lord assured Nireth and Shadow-Rue, who joined them in their cell, that there was still hope: Gideon’s Serum, which he had in his posession, but it would only be of any help when combined with the ring.

Soon, though, Vampire Lord discovered that the ring–which had supposedly been stolen–had been dropped by one of the guards into a glass of water! Unfortunately, he discovered this by drinking the glass of water and getting the ring stuck in his throat.

Nireth and Shadow (who turned into Raider) struggled to save Vampire Lord, but their efforts were useless!

TO BE CONTINUED…

DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUN!

For the dialogue form (which may be a bit stylized), please click more! ^^

 

Nireth’s Adventures, Sixth Chapter

“Nireth,” someone shook her gently, “Nireth, wake up.”

Nireth groggily sat up. There wasn’t a trace of daylight shining through the window. “Mmph,” she groaned. “What?”

“It’s me, Iref,” Nireth managed to focus her eyes long enough to get a glimpse of Iref’s smiling face.

“Why are you getting me up so early?” Nireth asked.

“There’s someone I want you to meet,” he replied cryptically.

Nireth pulled on her tunic and tied the cord belt around her waist (she had slept in her leggings and undershirt). “Who?” she asked, feeling more awake.

“You’ll see,” Iref said, an air of finality to his voice.

Nireth sighed and padded after him, pestering him with questions; “Is he nice? Oh of course he’s nice–but what if he doesn’t like me? And what does he look like? Or is it a she?”

Iref took a deep breath and opened the door for Nireth, who nodded to him gratefully. However, the stream of questions kept pouring from her lips.

Iref held a finger to his lips and Nireth fell silent. “We will want to proceed with caution, Nireth,” he whispered. “Remember that the forest beyond my clearing is not a favorable place, and I will have a hard enough time as it is protecting you. Your constant questions will only stir up suspicion in those who may be watching.”

Nireth nodded, pressing her lips together as hard as she could. Her eyes were wide with fear, but she was eager to get going.

“May I ask you something?” she whispered to Iref as they neared the edge of the clearing.

Iref looked at her sharpy. “Nireth, what did I say?–”

Nireth cut him off, “I know, but we’re still in the clearing. I just wanted to know why the unfriendly whatever-it-is doesn’t like questions.” Nireth said simply.

Iref’s eyes narrowed, and he looked quite annoyed with Nireth.

“Sorry!” Nireth whispered, allowing a veil of golden-blonde hair to fall over her face, as if she were hiding from Iref’s gaze. “I just–I mean, I want to know…” her voice trailed off.

Iref smiled faintly and brushed Nireth’s hair away from her face before patting her on the head, “It’s all right. I forget sometimes how curious children can be.”

“I’m not a child!” Nireth defended herself, puffing out her chest. “I’m fifteen, thank you, and I can navigate any ol’ ship you give me! I’ve made it through storms, up heavily-guarded rivers, across the unforgiving sea–”

Iref shushed her quietly, and Nireth fell silent. “You may not be a child, Nireth,” Iref said, “but you’ve the spirit of one–full of faith in the world around you. This may sound harsh, but I fear that it is that faith that has sealed your fate.”

With that, Iref stepped cautiously into the forest, leaving Nireth standing alone in the clearing, the sunlight gleaming on her golden kransen.

“It has sealed my fate?” Nireth asked herself. “My fate is already sealed?–Iref, wait!” she raced after Iref, making quite a ruccus as she did. Clawing thorny brushes raked her legs through the leggings, and thin, reaching branches caught and broke in her hair.

“Iref!” she panted, finally catching up with him. “What did you mean–”

Iref whirled around, furious. “What have I told you about not asking questions?” he asked, hissing through his teeth. “Not here, Nireth,” he turned away, his brown robes flowing behind him as he marched angrily ahead. “And by the Sacred Earth’s sake, try to be a little quieter? A dead deaf man could’ve heard you coming from miles away.”

Nireth tiptoed through the forest, trying to keep pace with Iref. This was quite hard, saying as he was taller than she was, and Nireth was going bare-footed.

The woods seemed to get darker and more ominous the further they ventured in. It was no longer the trees’ canopies that darkened the path, but intertwining, gnarled branches that weaved a sort of roof above the path.

Nireth hopped along on one foot, trying to remove a thorn that had stuck in her other heel, when something flew past her face. She squealed and fell forward, grabbing Iref’s cloak as she went down. He let out a strangled cry as the front part of the hood pressed against his neck. Nireth let go of the cloak and fell to the ground. It was too late, however; Iref had also been knocked off balance, and he landed sideways on top of his traveling companion. Nireth gasped for air; Iref was heavier than he looked, and the wind had been knocked straight out of her.

“Are you mad?” Iref hissed, scrambling to regain his footing, rubbing his neck furiously all the while. While Nireth could not clearly see his face, the tone of his voice hinted at fury.

“I–I didn’t mean any harm!” Nireth said. “Are you all right, Iref? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you! I–”

Iref waved his hand, a gesture Nireth could barely make out through the thick darkness, and held out his other hand to help her to her feet.

Nireth was pleased that he had apparently forgiven her and took his hand, pulling herself to her feet.

“What were you thinking, Nireth?” Iref asked, his voice much gentler than it had been before.

“Well, I was hopping on one foot–I got a thorn stuck in my other one–”

Iref stared at her feet, “Why don’t you have shoes?” he asked.

“I lost them,” Nireth said simply. “But I was hopping along on one foot, and something flew past my face. I couldn’t see it, it was too dark, but–” Nireth paused, lifting a hand to touch the spot on her cheek where it had brushed her as it flew by. The spot on her cheek was warm, but she thought nothing of it. “I don’t know, Iref; it was something.”

Iref peered at Nireth through the darkness,”If you’re sure you couldn’t see  it, I guess my interrogation has no point–other than to attract the attention of those who would destroy us. Are you’re all right?”

Nireth nodded, “I’m fine, thanks! Just a little jumpy.”

They walked along in silence for a few more minutes. Nireth began to notice that there was more light in the forest, but when she looked up she found that the trees’ branches were still woven as tightly as a basket.

“Do you see that?” she whispered to Iref, hoping not to get scolded for asking questions.”

“See what?” Iref asked.

Nireth looked around–the forest was definitely lighter now, as if the trees themselves were glowing faintly with an eerie red light.

Nireth shook her head–her mind sometimes played tricks on her. Instead of focusing on her sight, she, instead, decided to listen for the trees’ words–perhaps they had an explanation to offer.

My, what a lovely day, one tree whispered.

Yes, it is, another agreed.

It is such a lovely day, echoed one more.

Indeed, said another.

Nireth bit her lip–no matter how hard she listened, the trees’ conversation was going in circles! There was something definitely wrong–no tree she had ever heard had held such a boring discussion. They were usually lively gossips or wonderful story tellers.

Someone is listening, one of the trees said suddenly.

There was a moment of silence, and then a chorus of trees began:

Someone is listening, someone is listening, someone is listening!

Nireth jumped and looked around. The red light radiating from the trees was growning stronger, especially from the tips of branches. Small beams of red light roved about the forest as the trees’ branches waved to-and-fro in some ghostly breeze. It was as if they were searching for something.

Her heart racing, Nireth found she could no longer see Iref. She wanted to speak, but found  her lips were bound together by some strange force–it might have been magic, or it might have been her own fear.

Meanwhile, the trees’ chant grew stronger as their search lights criss-crossed one another; Someone is listening!

Nireth whirled around, terrified, searching desperately for Iref.

And then something stopped her in her tracks.

She found herself staring directly into a red light. It was so bright, and it hurt her eyes, but it was so mesmerizing. She couldn’t take her eyes away.

The chorus of trees died instantly, but after a few seconds a solitary whisper rang out in her ears: Someone is listening.

Nireth suddenly felt as if there was no hope–she was doomed to some awful fate; she was the listener, the commiter of some ghastly crime, and she had been caught.

Something hot burnt her side. She jumped and cried out, the silence binding her finally broken. She reached her arm into her tunic and slid it into the pocket she had sewn in her undershirt.

Pulling out the rock, she found it was almost too hot to touch, but was more distracted by it’s clear, blue light. She caressed the stone gently, letting all her fear slip away before replacing it in her pocket.

When she looked up, she found that the trees’ red light had returned to what it had been before; a faint glow–just a hint of red. Nireth continued down the path, calling out as she went, “Iref! Iref, where are you?”

Nireth had gone on this way for about a minute or two when she stopped in her tracks. An odd sensation came over her, and the back of her neck prickled. She turned, slowly, to look at the path behind her.

At first, nothing looked wrong. However, she noticed something odd–where she had been able to vaguely make out the path before by the trees’ red light, there was a patch of darkness.

And then it moved.

Nireth thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. But then she realized: it wasn’t a patch of darkness; it was the sillhouette of some giant beast, blotting out the light behind it.

It moved again, swiftly; growing larger and larger as if it was racing right for her. Nireth screamed and turned to run, but she ran face-first into something soft blocking her path.

Something wrapped itself around her and lifted her off the ground, hauling her off into the darkness.

 

Fern’s Adventures: Chapter 2: The Girl

(I decided to just go with first person for the rest of this, it’s much easier)

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Something wasn’t right. What was it? I wasn’t sure at the time. As I got up,  I felt some sort of… power upon me. I wandered around for a little while, then I saw a girl. She wasn’t there seconds before. The girl turned her head a little bit and looked at me. She was beautiful, her black hair was tied back in a messy ponytail and she was wearing a yellow shirt with a red dress over it. In her arms were a few pink lilies. I continued staring back as her forest green eyes stared at me.

Why is this stranger staring at me? I wondered, Who is she?

“Natalie,” the girl simply said. I continued staring at you.

“Uh-uh, how do you know my name?! Who are you?” I studdered.

The girl walked over and sat down next to me. “My name is Demetra. I’m just like you.”

I looked at the girl. “What do you mean ‘just like me’?”

“I witnessed you pick the golden flower. I have picked one too, and I ended up having the ability to do this…”

I stared in wonder as I witnessed something pop out of the ground: a flower. It slowly started to wrap itself around Demetra’s legs. Then, she murmered, “Retreat.” The flower returned back into the ground.

“I could… do that?” I asked.

“You picked the golden flower. You can,” Demetra said, “now concentrate. Focus your power visualizing on what you want the plants to do.”

I concentrated on visualizing the flower wrapping around my legs gently. When I looked down, I tried my best to remain calm, the flowers were blossomed around my legs. “Now retreat,” I said, concentrating on the flowers going back to the ground. It did. I stared, amazed.

 

Today on Chat…

Today on chat, we had a very fun Role Playing Session! (Please, fellow Role Players, correct me if I’m wrong on anything!)

First, we (Shadow-Rue, Tridah, Radiance, Vampire Lord, and Nireth) met our 2nd dimension twins, but many beings were unhappy with the situation so we decided on another course of action; we were going to climb the Mountains of Doom!

However, we were distracted from our goal when we were all kidnapped by The Dark Figure! When we regained consciousness, we found that we were turning into birds! The only way we could save ourselves was to sing.

Tridah, however, began having nightmares before waking up. When she regained consciousness, she started losing control and caught on fire!

Meanwhile, Vampire Lord snuck outside of the cage and let us all out. He attacked The Dark Figure, and found that it was only a decoy, and the whole place was rigged with traps.

However, Tridah grew exhausted, and was forced to reveal a secret in front of Radiance. Radiance, however, was very kind and supportive of Tridah.

Vampire Lord showed his “true form”–a cross between a dragon and a chicken–and then his REAL true form, which was a giant glob of goo. He ate Shadow-Rue, who began to eat him from the inside out, as well as a few others. He spit them out again, though.

A bit later, Vampire Lord was conjured up an army to help us defeat The Dark Figure! With this army, we ran through a portal and found ourself in the forest again. We were stopped, though, when a fight broke out between Shadow-Rue, Tridah, Vampire Lord, and Radiance.

Vampire Lord ran through the forest, followed by his pursuers, and led them right to where he had first seen The Dark Figure!

While we were there, we saw the souls of Grant and Nireth from the 2nd dimension trapped in cages! While we were trying to figure out how to free them, Machine Lord appeared!

Together, the group began ascending the Mountains of Doom again–however, progress was halted when Tridah took a fall! Luckily, Radiance teleported down and save her, although she was wounded enough to have to heal herself. Tridah’s astounding healing powers showed through as she used an elven spell to heal her wounds.

At about the same time, Vampire Lord got trapped by the Soul Sucker! Nireth, Shadow-Rue, and Radiance attacked the Soul Sucker, but they and the rest of the team had their souls sucked out as a result.

Our souls were transported into a soul cage with Grant and 2nd dimension Nireth. Vampire Lord snuck out and unlocked the cage, freeing the team, and we were reunited with our bodies!

(I can’t remember what happened here ^^” Sorry!)

Then, Randiance, Vampire Lord, Tridah, and Nireth were turned into Transformers, and Shadow-Rue was turned into a Lego cat!

(Sorry it’s so incomplete, guys; I really have to go ^^” Feel free to edit this post and fill in the blank spots!)

Role Playing is fun! ^^

 

Nireth’s Adventures, Fifth Chapter

Once Nireth had gathered all the animals from their traps (the ones that had worked, anyway) and reset them, she headed back in. The task had taken longer than she had expected, and the sun had climbed high in the sky.

She found Iref placing some dried meat and various kinds of roots on two clay plates. When he saw that she had entered, he handed her a dish without saying a word. He picked up the other and sat down in one of the sitting room’s chairs. She followed and sat in another, a little bothered by Iref’s silence.

Iref began to eat, still refusing to speak to Nireth. Confused, Nireth followed his example. Maybe it was a part of his custom to remain silent for a part of the day.

Finally, however, her thought was proven wrong; Iref spoke.

“I saw you went into the forest today,” he said, trying to sound casual. Nireth could tell that there was another emotion hiding behind his cool temperment.

“Yes,” Nireth suddenly felt frightened. “But I was emptying out the traps–”

Iref shook his head, “You went far–I saw you.”

Nireth swallowed hard. She hadn’t thought that going out into the forest was bad! “I’m sorry! I heard–” Nireth stopped, unsure of whether or not to share this information.

Iref stared at her expectantly. Nireth felt foolish–Iref was her friend! Why was she so guarded, all of the sudden? “I heard that voice again.”

Iref’s back went rigid. “I’ll not have you going into that forest again, Nireth.”

Nireth opened her mouth to give her consent, but before she spoke she realized that Iref had no right to tell her what to do–that is, if she was a guest, as Iref told her she was.

Before the seeds of suspicion could take root, Iref relaxed. “I’m sorry,” he said rubbing his forehead. “You do realize you can do whatever you like, of course. I’m just being overprotective.”

Nireth shook her head, “No, it’s all right. But what is so wrong with the forest?”

“The land that surrounds my home is protected: it is, for some odd reason, immune to the dark power I felt stirring.”

“The same dark power you think is behind the voice?” Nireth asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking. How close had she been to death in her foolish venture that morning?

“Yes,” Iref nodded. “You are free to leave these grounds, but I’d prefer you didn’t–for your safety, and for mine.”

“For yours?” Nireth asked.

“I don’t want the–the whatever it is to posess you,” Iref explained.

“Oh,” Nireth said. “You’d–you’d know if it had posessed me yet, right?”

Iref laughed. “Of course! Don’t worry, you’re evil-free at the moment. But any more stunts like the one you pulled this morning–this conversation has taken an uncomfortably dark turn,” Iref interrupted himself.

Nireth swallowed solemnly, nodding.  She got the message.

“Um,” Nireth spoke up as Iref rose from his seat. The young man turned and looked at her, a question in his eyes. “I was just wandering–or, I guess wishing–please don’t make me empty the traps again,” Nireth pleaded, her voice sad. “I’ve never handled… never had to see, well, not up close like that–um–dead… things,” Nireth trailed off.

Iref was curious at first, but he soon nodded and smiled. “Of course! But you do realize I’ll have you doing other things instead, right? You’re not getting out of work just because you’re a wuss!”

Nireth laughed, “Of course! And I’ll do my best at , I promise.”

The rest of the day passed without event; Nireth did various chores for Iref, and while Nireth was grateful she didn’t have to empty any traps, Iref was very grateful for Nireth’s hard work. They had a hearty stew for their evening meal, and Iref gave Nireth a book to read before he retired to his chambers.

Nireth sat on her bed with the book in her hand. She stared at the page, the strange characters staring back with the same lack of enthusiasm. One thing that had intregued Nireth when she first arrived on Mir was the lack of a language barrier; she could understand the strange, chanting voice without speaking its language. The same thing was happening with the text; the runes were completely foreign to her eyes, but she knew what they meant.

However, the novelty of this had begun to wear off; in fact, it now almost seemed common-place. The only thing on her mind was the trap door she had wanted to explore that morning. She waited a few minutes after Iref had gone to his chambers, just in case he should decide to get up and wish her good-night again (or even make sure she wasn’t doing anything bad), then stood on her bed, trying to make the least amount of noise possible.

She examined the door, looking for a handle of some sort. She saw none, but after searching for a bit with her fingers she found a hole–the one that had annoyingly let light shine directly into her eyes. The very memory of the curious angle of the light made Nireth quiver with excitement; she was about to see what could possibly have caused such blinding light at such an odd angle to the sun!

She used the hole as a handle and pulled firmly down. Nothing happened–the door was jammed tight. She tried again, but it wouldn’t budge. Finally, frustrated, Nireth hooked her fingers and hung off the door like some kind of ornamental amulet.

That did the trick! The door groaned a bit, then swung open. Nireth dropped herself onto the bed, which made a louder noise than she would have expected. Afraid that Iref would enter and catch her, she laid flat on the bed for a moment, hoping that–if he did walk in–he would overlook the open trapdoor.

Iref did not come, however, and Nireth resumed her exploration.

With much effort, she hoisted herself up into the opening in her ceiling.

She found herself in a small, circular space. The dim light that shone through the trapdoor was hardly sufficient–Nireth could barely see her hand if she held it in front of her. She closed her eyes, hoping it would help them adjust to the darkness faster.

When she opened them again, and found that she could make out the vague shape of stairs. Her heart pounding, Nireth realized that she must be in the watch tower! She cautiously approached the stairs, being careful to tread lightly and make the smallest amount of noise as possible.

When Nireth reached them, she realized that they were much narrower than she had first anticipated. She ascended them with her body as close to the wall as possible.

She counted the stairs as she went–Twenty five became fifty, fifty became ninety, and ninety became one hundred and thirty before the top was in sight. Finally, exhausted but excited, Nireth hauled herself onto the landing at the top.

In contrast to the stairs and bottom landing, which were made of stone, the top landing was built from wood. Nireth took a moment to catch her breath, then looked around. There were six large, open windows, each facing in a different direction. Nireth approached one of them and stuck her head outside, very tempted to call out or sing. She hastily hushed that urge, though, remembering that Iref was unaware that she was in the tower.

She sat there for a while, just looking around and letting the cool night air blow through her hair. The moon was shining brightly, lighting up the world with an eerie but magical glow.

Something caught her eye. A tiny pinprick of light was visible through the forest. Nireth squinted, and leaned a little further out the window. It vanished, but not long afterwards she saw two more.

Suddenly, a whispering voice reached her ears. She couldn’t make out the words–they sounded like a garbled mess of noise–but she recognized the voice; it was the same one that had been chanting the incantation!

Nireth’s heart was racing. She couldn’t help but think of the dangers Iref had warned her of out in the forest. Maybe they could roam his protected clearing in the night! Nireth shivered, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on-end.

She realized that she was uncomfortably warm. ‘That’s odd,’ she thought, ‘it’s not warm out.’

Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she felt something vibrate against her side. She stuck her hand inside her tunic, feeling around frantically. There was a large knot inside her undershirt, and Nireth began to panic until she remembered: she had placed the stone in a pocket inside her undershirt! That must be the lump. She stuck her hand into the pocket and pulled out the stone.

A strange vibrating sensation shook her hand. The stone must have been what caused the vibrations!

The stone calmed her, for some odd reason, but she still felt uneasy and exposed. She hurried down the stairs and carefully lowered herself onto the bed, wedging the door shut after her. She quickly fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

(Sorry this took me so long to write! I’ve been SERIOUSLY slacking on my writing duties ^^”)

 

ML Camp Begins!

*Flies in front of everyone, lands right in front of everyone* Welcome to ML camp. As you have noticed, we are in the middle of the valley of the Livid Dead. Don’t worry, there’s a forcefield around the main camp. Here we have the most advanced training equipment in the world. I have weights made out of the same material as black holes, giving them the weight of  millions of pounds. We also have fighting simulators that create the most realistic and intense battles. If you wish, you can also exit the main camp and go zombie hunting. *Smells air* Don’t you just love the smell of undead flesh in the morning!  Anyway, watch out for the zombies, they haften to be remarkably powerful. You are free to roam wherever you wish in the valley, but don’t go near my vacation home. I just love it here.

Anyway, it appears that you have already made a training post, but it is not ML game regulation, so you will have to train here (Comment on this post to train) ML camp will last one week, then the ML Games begin. I will accept late entries.

 

Finally!

It’s FINALLY done!

I tried to make Radiance’s background look as chaotic as possible, and I tried to make Camile’s look kind of like the evening sky. Although I think I did it upside-down ^^”

I AM SO SORRY I MESSED UP YOUR DESIGN, NITROSHEEP! Your Machine Lord is BEAUTIFUL, and I tried to copy it, but it was too complex for me and I accidentally colored the wrong things ^^”

Also, that lightning bolt-ish thing is supposed to be like a divider that separates; Machine Lord’s face isn’t getting cut in half ^^”

I got kind of sloppy shading Nireth, and also with Machine Lord’s color scheme (Sorry, Machine Lord and Nitrosheep!).

On a completely random note, I found Shrink Ray Island to be QUITE disappointing. It was a lot simpler (and easier) than I expected, and I found myself overthinking a lot of things. GAH! I hope I’m not getting to old for Poptropica! But anyway, the whole time I was playing, I was hoping the theif would be that Joey (I think that was his name; I can’t remember ^^”) guy that CJ had a crush on, but it wasn’t TT_TT And that made me sad.

 

Announcing The ML Games!

 

Please send your registrations below.

 

Nireth’s Adventures, Fourth Chapter

Nireth woke to a bright beam of sunlight shining into her eyes. She sat up quickly, blinking furiously. At first, she did not recognize  the room around her, but then she remembered how that monk man–What had his name been, again?–had let her stay in his home.

The first thing she noticed was that the curtains were drawin shut; only a soft light filtered through the drapings.

‘So what woke me up?’ Nireth wondered. She looked at her pillow and saw a bright splotch of sunlight. She looked above it and saw the trapdoor that lead into the lookout tower. There was a small crack in the wooden door that was letting the light in.

With a start, Nireth realized that–judging by the angle of the sun–it was about mid-day. What a lazy, useless creature she would seem like to Iref–Iref, yes that was his name!

Nireth jumped out of her bed and threw aside the drapes–stunned, she realized the sun was just peeking over the horizon. Curious, she ran back to her bed and stared up at the door in the roof. The light was definitely shining directly down–but it couldn’t possibly be from the sun, could it? Curious, Nireth was inclined to open the door. She reached for it, but found it was just a bit further than her arms’ length.

She realized she could reach it by standing on her bed. She hopped up and was about to open the trap door when the door to her room swung open. Quickly, Nireth collapsed onto the bed, hoping she looked like she had just been nonchalantly sitting the whole time.

Not a moment too soon, either; a moment later, Iref poked his head in.

“Oh, you’re awake!” He exclaimed. “I didn’t realize you’d wake up so early! You could’ve slept late, if you wanted.”

Nireth shook her head, “Oh, I really couldn’t! That would be rude of me,” she tried to hop off the bed nimbly, but her still-tired legs caught in her skirt and she ended up having to cling to the bedpost for support. She smiled at Iref, who; noticing her distress, held up a finger and quickly left the room.

As Nireth regained her balance, she couldn’t help but wonder how she was going to do the chores she had promised in her nice dress. She didn’t want to ruin it–but upon looking down, she realized it was already very dirty, and that it was tearing in many places (especially around her feet).

She looked longingly up at the trapdoor on the cieling. Now that her curiosity had been awakened, she felt she couldn’t go another minute without figuring out what was behind that door.

However, when she looked down at her bed again, she saw that the blotch of light on her pillow was gone! She stared back at the crack in the door and found that it was dark. Had she imagined the whole thing? Nireth could remember that sometimes, back at home, she would wake with blurry vision. Maybe light had just caught a fuzzy spot in her eye and made it look like there was a bright light shining into her eyes.

Nireth looked back at the curtains over the window. There was enough light to see by, but it was nowhere near as bright as the light she had seen. It had to be something else.

Iref re-entered the room, the creaking of the door startling Nireth out of her thoughts.

“I got something a little more comfortable for you to work in,” Iref said, holding up a light-blue tunic with an intricately woven belt of brown cord, some brown leggings, and a long-sleeved slip. “And you can throw that in with my dirty clothes,” Ireth nodded to her dress.

Nireth took the clothes from his arms gratefully, “Thank you so much, Iref! I’ll do your laundry, if you want.”

Iref smiled, “That would be wonderful! I have so much else to do–”

“I’ll help as much as I can,” Nireth assured him.

“Thank you for your help,” Iref said. “I’ll leave you to change.”

Once she was sure the door had closed, Nireth slid out of her dress and fancy underclothes and felt the clothes that Iref had given her. She was glad he had given her a slip to wear under the tunic; it was made out of rough, itchy fabric. The leggings were made of coarse material, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. The slip was less of a slip, and more of just a short under-dress for the tunic. It was made of closely-woven material, so it wasn’t itchy, but, like everything else, it was tough and stiff to the touch. Upon picking it up, Nireth realized it had a built-in corset, and that it laced up the back..

As Nireth put on her leggings, she thought of the stone in her dress pocket. She didn’t want to leave it there; what if it fell out? What if Iref found it, and then she had to explain that she had lied by omission?

She pulled it from the pocket, not sure of what to do with it. She pulled on the brown under-tunic, fastened it up the back, and gave a sudden breath of surprise. She had never worn a corset before, and she wasn’t sure if she liked it or not. It was a little large for her, so it didn’t squeez her waist, but it did dig into her rib cage when she bent over. Nireth winced and guessed it was for someone with a fuller figure.

After Nireth had pulled on the blue over-tunic and tied the cord belt, she realized the corset was going to be more of a problem than she had realized. It rubbed her when she walked, and poked her if she tried to twist or bend in any direction. She was embarrassed to have to ask Iref for anything more, but she supposed that a knife, a bone needle, and some thread couldn’t be too much to ask.

She ventured outside of her room, “Iref?” she called. “Iref, are you there?”

Nireth didn’t want to go wandering, fearing she might find something she wasn’t supposed to (although she guessed that Iref would be fine with it, it would just be embarrassing for her). The stone was beginning to grow sweaty in her palm, and she figured it would just be smarter to leave it in her dress. After all, she couldn’t work with a pebble in her hand all day.

Before she could return to her room, Iref came running down the long hall that lead to her room at the base of the watchtower.

“Yes?” he asked. He sounded very out-of-breath.

“Um,” Nireth found herself beginning to blush. She hadn’t meant for him to stress himself to help her! “Well, this corset doesn’t quite fit right, and I was wondering if you had some sewing material–”

“Of course!” Iref said, looking appalled. “Oh, I am so sorry! I should have remembered how tiny you were–I’ll be back!”

Nireth stared after him, a little bit indignant. Some of the younger girls at her home village had made fun of her for her small size–in fact, her own younger sister had been the same size as her–but she wasn’t tiny! When he returned with some sturdy, brown thread, a small bone needle, and a knife, however, Nireth forgot her anger and had to restrain herself to keep from giving him a hug.

“Thank you so much!” she exclaimed.

Iref waved his hand dismissively, “It’s no problem at all. I can’t have you being scuffed by a corset all day long!”

Nireth retreated back into her room, removed the outer tunic and gathered the extra fabric in her under tunic at her sides. She sewed the fabric together, the cut off the surplus. Too late, she realized she had made the seams along the outside, but she didn’t mind much. After all, it was only going to be covered by another tunic; and seams on the inside would have scratched her, anyway.

Nireth stretched this way and that, making sure that the seams would hold. They did; the thread and her sewing were both sturdy. Upon inspection, however, Nireth found that there was a place just beneath her right armpit that she had cut off, but neglected to sew together. As she reached for the needle to fix it up, she realized that she might have a way to carry her stone around, after all! Taking the extra scraps of fabric, she sewed them together into a little pouch. She then carefully sewed it into the open part of her top, making sure that the opening was small and at the top of the new pocket, so that the rock wouldn’t fall out while she was working.

To check her work, she slipped the rock inside. Although she knew she should feel the rock pressing into her side, Nireth found that its presence gave her no discomfort. She slid the over-tunic back on and was pleased to see that it covered both her sloppy, inside-out hems and her new secret hiding place. Finally, she added the finishing touch to her outfit and placed her golden kransen atop her head.

Nireth gathered up the extra shreds of fabric, the needle, the knife, and what was left of the thread (and her dress, as well) and carried them out with her as she left her room. Feeling a bit bolder this time, she walked down the hallway and found that, at the end, there was a small kitchen, a sitting room with a hearth (although it looked as if it hadn’t been used in a while), and a door at the far side of the kitchen. Nireth knocked on the door, but no one answered.

She opened it and found a large, metal tub in the center of the room. Cloth hung around it in large, draping clumps. Nireth couldn’t help but let her jaw drop; they were the richest colors she had ever seen.

Deep crimson and midnight blue cloth wound around each other in a graceful, flowing dance, and burgundies and deep purples joined in along the way. Large swathes of forest green and royal blue occasionally appeared, and fabric as black as night accented the colors.

“Nireth?” Iref’s voice made Nireth jump. She nearly dropped all she was carrying.

“Oh, Iref, I’m sorry!” Nireth exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to intrude, I just wanted to look–this room is so beautiful! And I was wondering; is this where I do the laundry?”

Iref laughed breathily, “It’s all right, Nireth, you don’t have to worry! Yes, this is the laundry room. Here, let me take this–” he took Nireth’s dress and said, “I can wash this; I’ve already done the rest of the laundry. You can just put that–” Iref nodded to the sewing material Nireth held in her arms, “in the chair by the hearth. I’ll put it with the rest of my sewing things later.”

Nireth felt useless, “Is there anythign else I can do?” she asked earnestly.

Iref stopped to think for a bit, then said, “Yes, actually! I have a couple of traps set around the edges of the clearing–nine, to be exact. I’d be very grateful if you checked them for me.”

“All right,” Nireth said, feeling a bit better. “Are you sure you don’t want me to wash the dress, as well?”

Iref smiled, “Yes, ,” he winked and grabbed a bucket. “I’m going to fill up the tub; don’t mind me. It doesn’t take much.”

Nireth nodded and put the sewing things in the chair in the sitting room, then followed Iref out of the door.

It was still early morning, but much brighter than it had been when she first woke. She watched as Iref filled the bucket from a well right beside the front door, then retreated into the house. He did this a few times, but Nireth lost count of how many; besides, she had, by that point, begun to look for traps.

She found the first trap with no problem; he had caught a rabbit. She removed the rabbit (a bit sadly, too; she had never enjoyed hunting much, even if it was with traps), reset the trap, and went on to check another. To her curiosity, she found the next one sprung, but with nothing inside of it. She figured it might have just malfunctioned, or maybe whatever had triggered it had been small enough to get away. She reset it, and moved on.

The next two both contained squirrels, which she took, but the fifth one was just like the second; it had been sprung, but it contained no game.

As if on cue, a soft breeze wafted out of the forest. It smelled musky and old, like a rotting fallen tree.

For some reason, Nireth felt drawn into the forest. She stepped into the forest, and was struck by how dark and cool it was compared to Iref’s clearing.

The wind suddenly grew stronger, as if her presence had provoked it. Nireth listened closely and found that beneath the whispers of the trees, the murmuring of the far-off ocean, and the hearty song of the ground, there was another voice–the voice she had first when she first landed in Mir!

It was whispering something, Nireth couldn’t quite tell what. It sounded distorted, as if it was talking to her from under the water. Nireth took a step further into the woods, and the voice grew clearer. Nervous, she glanced back at Iref’s house. She could still see it, which reassured her a bit. She ventured deeper into the woods, and the voice became more and more distinct as she did.

She could almost tell what it was saying–almost! The whispers were beginning to resemble speech, she could recognize the hissing of the ‘s’, the tick of the hard consonants.

Almost out of nowhere, a warm wind blew through the forest. It smelled almost sickeningly sweet, and completely overpowered the damp, musky smell that had pulled Nireth in earlier.

The whisper vanished with the scent. All that Nireth could hear now was the whispering of the trees as they spoke about the forest animals in hushed voices; some laughing at the tickling sensation they recieved as a squirrel crawled up their trunks, others–the older, rotting ones–singing sad, slow songs of the long lives they’d lived; retelling all they had seen.

Nireth retreated from the forest, vaguely aware that something frightening had just happened.  When she arrived back in Iref’s clearing, she thought she saw the shine of a bright light in the top of the watch tower, but when she glanced up to look, it was gone.

(Sorry that was such a long chapter, and I’m sorry I spent so much time on her clothes! ^^”)

 

Origin of Magesto ; Part Dos

I remember one night, RN and I were discussing our BotB characters. She and I both agreed that they seemed like they could be possible friends…well, I went for a much different approach.

He’s getting comfortable in his treehouse sleepy, when a special guest appears to persuade him to fight in the war. These seem like very short collections of paragraphs, but I hate typing something never-ending.

 

Grant and RA’s Adventure…WRITTEN TOGETHER!

Grant started through the forest where he always met RA and hoped RA would be there. And RA was, but she wasn’t in much of a mood to socialize with anyone. In fact, right there, in the middle of a dreary clearing, was RA herself, sprinting around as if to avoid an invisible force. Far off on the other side stood a dark, brooding figure, blades curved in his hands. Grant noticed RA, and noticed she was looking at something, but he wasn’t sure what. The figure gave one look at Grant, and flicked his fingers. Immediately RA fell over, like a pesky bug the man had flicked over. RA bellowed something in a strange language, almost as if cursing him, but the man paid no attention. He gave Grant a strange look, as if analyzing the best way to destroy him.Grant noticed the man, and stared at him, and wondered what he was doing. Out of comfort he activated his lightsaber, although it would be of no use. The man removed the hood that covered his face. His eyes, the most clear color of green, dripped like poison, and he smiled his the smile of a crook. RA gave an inward groan, cursing the man’s power, and gave Grant a look, warning him of the man’s strange abilities. Grant knew he had to do something, but nothing would pop into his head, so he closed his eyes, and thought. Quickly he thought he could use the Force on the strange man, but wondered what would happen. But the man, clever as he was powerful, merely laughed off Grant’s force.

“Grant,” said a clear voice in his head. It was RA. “You cannot win this fight. He has the ability to create illusions and mess with your mind. He is immune to most powers and has as much brains as power.” Grant could feel his confidence waning, but he knew that this man would not allow anyone to leave the forest alive. He raised his lightsaber, feeling its power, and prepared for the man’s next move.

But it never came. He watched as RA barreled into the man, a scowl on her face. Grant watched, hoping this meant the man would be hurt even though he knew he probally would not be hurt. He wondered if RA and the man had encountered before, because they seemed to share a mutual hate. RA grabbed her daggers, stabbing forward but the man took his own and counterblocked. Grant ran and tried to stab, but he jumped away. Grant knew that his daggers would be worthless against lightsaber which would slice it to bits, but RA didn’t have a lightsaber! Grant knew 2 against 1 wasn’t supposed to be a fair fight. If the law of logic played out RA and Grant would win for sure. But then he realized this was no ordinary man, and that what if…RA, her powers as a sorceress combined with his lightsaber power could defeat the man? But then Grant remember something he shouldn’t have forgotten. He had 1,200 lightsabers, although he mainly used one. He yelled to RA, “Close your eyes,” RA clamped her eyes shut, though decided to watch through her mind. She still wasn’t very sure she trusted Grant.Grant , sure that RA’s eyes were shut, pulled off his chestplate and pulled out one of the extra lightsabers he kept. He Forced the chestplate back on, and then yelled, “I’m ready now,”

TO BE CONTINUED

 

Grant’s Adventures: Next Chapter

This chapter has thrilled me writing it. Most of it comes from the BotB RP chat! Well, thanks for everyone who inspired this!!

Coming tomorrow from Grantm56: GRANT’S FAVORITE MUSIC PARODIES!!!

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Here’s the backstory. If you have already read this, click more to skip to the new chapter…

This story is made up by Grantm56. All relations to Star Wars are © Lucasarts. This story © 2010-2011 Grantm56, aka Grant McLravy. Do not copy for it is against the law.

I look out of my Jedi starfighter. I see darkness, evil, so much fighting. I remember my mission, to keep peace, as there is a new war in the galaxy. I remember how the evil Machine Lord used his sinister robot army to take over a planet, which was unnamed.  As I sit it the cockpit while my droid, R7-S9, pilot the starfighter. Suddenly he swerves, as I realize we have found a asteroid belt. “Arseven, I’ll take over. “ I grab the control, swerving after each asteroid SEEMS to hit us. Then, I see the planet, my new home. I again start remembering. This time I remember how my planet was destroyed in this war. Then I start to hate, but then stop myself. “Jedi aren’t supposed to hate,” I think, but really it is quite hard when somebody destroys your home. I have my droid take over again, and think about my life before I became a Jedi. Before I got myself into this mess. I was liked then. I now am wanted for disobeying the empire in 56 planets.  I get ready to land, and then see a hungry desert monster below. I had wished I wasn’t sent to Tatooine, a desert land where many crime lords ruled, including Jabba the hut. I notice the sand people around, also known as Tuscan Raiders. I watch as they gather marveling at my ship. I had 1,200 lightsabers. I could take ‘em! Or so I thought…

TO BE CONTINUED!
New Chapter
I thought I could take them. I pretended I knew
I could take them. I decided not to use my lightsabers because that might startle them. I took out my small blaster, but I would use the ship’s cannons as much as possible. I look at the cannon data section of the screen. Still 81 blasts left. I turn them on. “Arseven, you keep aim at the Tuscan Raiders, and I’ll contact the rebels. “ I pull out my com, and tell the rebels quickly,” I’ve landed on Tatooine. There are sand people here. I’ll find Luke soon.” I looked out the cockpit windshield.  I could see a bunch of dead Tuscan Raiders, and could see more coming. “Arseven! How many shots do we have left?” He beeped which meant, “Right now we have seventeen. “ I shouted back,” Reload at five. I’ll fire my blaster while you are reloading.” He beeped an affirmative.  I got ready for fire, and then R7 beeped, so I open the hatch and fired at the raiders. I have had a bad experience with the raiders, so I shot with extra precision. I shot six with ten blasts! Then R7 beeped the cannon was loaded and we now had 100 shots. Then, all the blasts from the raiders stopped. I looked down to see Luke Skywalker with his lightsaber, deflecting about all of the shots. The R7 shot the rest of them with ease, because it is much easier to blast with getting blasted. Then I went down to see Luke, although R7 beeped he couldn’t see him. I pull out my com again and tell the rebels I have found Luke.I open the hatch  and hop out of my ship. I watch as Luke pulled out his lightsaber.The way he did it ,  it didn’t seem like the Jed way.It looked like it was almost out of anger.I looked and I wondered.He didn’t seem like the Luke Skywalker that the Rebels used as a spokeperson. R7 beeped that he couldn’t see anything. I wonded it R7’s photoreceptors needed work. R7 had never had this problem before. Then I had an idea. I yelled to Luke,” Want to do some lightsaber practice?”He yelled back,” Sure!”  I fired, he blocked. I fired again , and it hit , and he fell over bleeding. I had killed Luke Skywalker.
TO BE CONTINUED!
I watched, wondering why I had even become a Jedi in the first place. I wanted a family , offspring, and just a normal job, like a pilot. I had found love once, but yet I chose not to marry. I chose to be a Jedi. And now I was a traitor. I aimed my gun at my head, ready to shoot. But then, Luke weakly raised up one arm and stopped me. And then….
I woke up from my dream.I was still in my house in Mir,even though my dream seemed so real. I was still a Jedi, even though I had not been sent on that mission … yet.  And Luke wasn’t even born ! Yet I still had that dream. I wondered if it had been a prophecy, but I doubted that. But I still wondered. Then I hopped into my spacecraft, and headed off to the Jedi temple.

At the Jedi temple, Master Yoda gave me the dreaded assignment, just as I thought he would.  One question I asked him was, “ Can I have any allies? Master Yoda replied, “ Mistrustable, sometimes allies can be. Choose wisely, you must,” After this I thought very deeply.I had read about the war in the Mir Daily. I thought maybe Ninja Girl or RCG.

I hopped into the spacecraft again, this time will R7 at my side. Now that I had my allies picked out in my head, all I had to do was to hope that they would accept. R7 got into the Astromech droid section of my craft. “Start her up, R7!” My ship started up, and jumped into hyperspace to the planet where Machine Lord was.
Then I get a new assignment. The com says, “ Plans, we must change. A being with a lightsaber has been spotted on Tatoonie . I grab the controls, and start heading towards Tatoonie.
On Tatoonie, I find the lightsaber woman almost immediatly. She was a mind witch, the one who had made Luke in my dream. I just felt it in my gut. And normally a Jedi’s gut is a trustable thing… to be continued.

I stared at the woman who looked fairly nice, but then I remembered that mind witches could control anything related to the brain.  So I guess she was making herself more pretty than she looked.
“Hello,” she said in a sweet voice.

Suspiciously, I said, “Hello” back.

Then I looked down.  R7 was missing.  I remembered that he came with me.  I wondered if this mind witch had anything to do with it.

I asked, “Have you seen a droid around?  He’s an astromech droid, and he’s red.”

She replied, “I thought I saw him go that way.”  She pointed westward.

I looked that way, and all I saw was sand, but those tracks did look a little familiar.  I ran that way, but in my head I kept thinking it was the wrong way.

Suddenly, something slammed into my leg, and then I realized that R7 was beside me the whole time though I could not see him.  I told him, “Go see if you can slam into the witch.  Maybe see if you can make her lose her concentration.”

Although I couldn’t see him, I knew R7 was doing his best to slam into the witch.

After a while I saw R7 again and the galaxy’s ugliest woman.  Then the fair looking woman appeared again.  So then I knew it was an illusion.  I decided to stop playing games.

“I know your tricks, you mind witch.”

She stopped making herself pretty, and R7 reappeared by my side.  I activated my lightsaber only to have the witch cough.

“Don’t like pineapples?” I laughed.

The mind witch suddenly blurted out, “Would you please stop calling me the mind witch?  I have a name, you know.  It’s Syb’l.”

With my lightsaber in my hand, I ran, but it seemed like I couldn’t.  It was like hitting a big brick wall.  Could she control my nerves, too?  If so, I was stuck in one place.  I ran back to Syb’l.  I would have to fight hand-to-hand combat except it wasn’t exactly a fair fight.  Without my senses and my reflexes, I wasn’t sure I could beat Syb’l, but I would have to try.  Just as I was about to strike, an idea popped into my head.  Rather than fighting head on, I could use the force to keep Syb’l from reacting to my fight.  Although I would eventually wear myself out from using the force for so long, it would probably work.  I tried forcing Syb’l, and eventually I did wear out hoping I would not fall asleep while Syb’l was around.  Then somehow I felt blood.  I looked down.  Blood was oozing out of my stomach area.  Then Syb’l punched me right on the face, and everything became black . . . to be continued.
“Grant,” a voice said.  “Grant,” the voice said this time a little louder.  “Grant, come downstairs.  I made eggs and bacon.”  I opened my eyes.  I was at my house in the 21st century, so my Jedi adventure was just dreams, so I hoped.  I walked down the stairs, savoring the smell of bacon.  Yummy!  I looked at my mother.  She looked as though time had stopped while I was gone, or was I even gone?  Maybe Syb’l was making me back home just in my head.  I slapped myself hoping to get out of my house, and then I realized that Syb’l was probably being my mom, and I did not want to find out.  So I just played this little game.  Once I was at the table, mom said to me, “No toys at the table.”

I asked, “What toys?”

She looked at my belt.  I noticed my lightsaber was still in its holster.

“But, Mom,”  I started to groan.

“No buts.  Now give the toy to me, and eat your breakfast!”

Then I knew Syb’l was being my mother but in a clever way.  I still wanted to play along, but it was kind of hard at that moment.

I said, “Mom, I’m 27 years old now.  Don’t you think I can move out of the house sometime?  I mean, I need my tools at the table.  Stop being so overprotective.”

Syb’l tried to look hurt but wasn’t very good at that look.

I smiled.  “You can stop playing your games with me, Syb’l.  I figured you out.”

Syb’l said, “You are better at this than I thought.”

My house turned into the dusty surroundings of Tatoonie.  Suddenly, a boulder flew at me, but I closed my eyes because I knew it was only in my head.

“Want to know a secret?” Syb’l asked.

“What is your secret, Syb’l?”

“Mind witches are more powerful than you think.  Is this fake?”

Another boulder slammed down on the sandy ground.  I touched it.  It felt real.

“She must be manipulating my nerves, also,” I thought.

“If you can do that, I give up,” I said.

Syb’l looked surprised.  My plan was working.  I did flash of my fingers and said, “You will go to a distant planet to stay.”

She said, dazed, “I will go to a distant planet to stay.”

Yes!  My Jedi mind tricks actually worked.  I didn’t think they would work.

Finally, I climbed into my starship and blasted into hyperspace to Mir.  I went looking for RCG to be in an alliance.  Almost immediately I found RCG near a rain forest standing outside the forest staring out at the open nature.  (insert alliance stuff here).

A little disappointed that we couldn’t be in an alliance, I then met Ninja Girl who was looking for RCG.  They talked for a while, and when RCG left, I talked to Ninja Girl, saying, “(insert alliance talk here).

A little discouraged that neither one wanted to be in an alliance, I met RCG again (insert RCG talk here). . . to be continued

 

Rainbow Nightmare’s Adventures: Chapter One

Nrgh. I decided to start again because I changed my character (hopefully I’ll stay with this character). Some people know about why Ariah and RN look exactly the same – it’s called parallel universes, man. And RN’s real name will be uh Ariah! Oh, and a question. Are we allowed to put OCs in our adventures? Not to help in battles – because that’s unfair, but just to make it more interesting. And um there’s parallel universes in the BotB universe. And finally, I edited my adventures page nau.

–

“She’s dangerous.”

The scientist looked down at his clipboard and continued speaking to the small crowd of twenty in front of him. He was standing behind a small podium, to the far left. Beside him, his son. Mr. Happy was getting old; there were more grey hairs on his head than brown, but his son who was around twenty and was named Feltar, would take over as director soon. Feltar didn’t look like a scientist, for his body was covered in spiky armor, even though the entrances were tightly shut with high security.

“She’s different to any human being on this planet,” Mr. Happy continued. “She’s more than different, she’s not even from here!”

A whisper spread through the crowd. Mr. Happy cleared this throat. “We must team up with the governments and police of every single country in the world.”

They all uttered a little gasp and a louder whispering started up between the crowd. One Chinese man in his thirties called out.

“We can’t team up with the police! Or any government! We would have to give away all our secrets, and what we do!”

“Mr. Ying, she may very well destroy us all if we don’t get a larger force. Don’t worry, I have a plan of what we’re going to do after she is destroyed.

“Please, everyone, settle down.

“This thing – it’s not even human!”

An image was projected onto the wall beside Mr. Happy and Feltar. It was of the thing herself. She actually looked a normal person, but her hair was coloured all seven colours of the rainbow, and it looked natural. Her eyes were blue and she had normal skin. But her clothes were amazing, they were different fabrics and patterns stitched with so many amazing colours, it was a kaleidoscope of rainbows.

“Looks human to me,” someone in the crowd called out.

“Ah, yes. This is her normal form. A rainbow caster, I believe they are called. They are in charge of casting rainbows everywhere in the universe.”

At the thought of rainbows, the crowd flinched as if someone was scratching their nails on a chalkboard.

“Next slide, please.” A new image appeared, and it was of something completely different. It had a human figure, it was just that body was only white and black, oozing something black. The eyes were red buttons, and the mouth scared even this evil organization.

“You are still looking at the same person.” Again, everyone uttered a little gasp.

“She’s a half-demon.

“And her final form – next slide, please – is what is called a music whisperer. They sing the song which objects of nature sing, which normal humans cannot hear. They are very rare; it is estimated that only twenty exist in the whole of the universes, and we don’t even know if they’re dead or alive.”

Everyone gazed at the picture. She was beautiful, yet frightening. The girl was hovering in the sky, wearing billowing, pale blue robes. It was as if gravity didn’t exist. Two small balls of golden light were floating out of her mouth.

“You see, ladies and gentlemen, she is much more powerful than we had first anticipated.

“Her name is Ariah. But everywhere, she is called ‘Rainbow Nightmare’. We must get her.”

–

Ariah coughed hoarsely and it sounded like something in her throat was rattling. Salty water came out of her mouth.

Her eyes were closed; she was too weak to keep them open. She was lying down, clutching a thin powder in her hands, and could feel it all over her body.

A small tear dripped from her eye.

She tried lifting her head up to see where she was but didn’t succeed, and her head fell back.

Ariah realised she wasn’t breathing. She tried and tried to suck in air, but nothing was coming in. She felt like she was slowly fading away from the world…

She kept trying and trying – in, out, in, out. But she wasn’t inhaling anything. Something was blocking her airways. Or was there no air to begin with?

Ariah felt something cool and liquid-like lapping at her legs. Maybe it was liquid. Her colorful hair seemed to be less bright, and stuck to her like plaster. Her whole body was limp.

Still she wasn’t breathing. She was coughing  fiercely and rolled onto her stomach. It just made the coughing even worse. She was coughing like crazy until she could do no more and passed out.

–

The first thing Ariah saw were the feet. All type of feet; small, big, brown, tan, pale.

A hand opened her jaw and water poured onto the same soft, now damp powder. Sand.

The same hand helped her sit up and she blinked, trying to clear her blurry vision. Slowly but surely she made out a grey sky, and cold, dull sea water. She was on the beach. Around her was a crowd of both children and adults, all their expressions the same. Scared for Ariah’s life, worried, sad. Maybe watching someone almost die was very traumatizing. But Ariah didn’t know.

Ariah realised a few things. She was breathing again, there was a man with a scar on his face who was holding her up, and she didn’t know where she was. The soft breeze made Ariah cold and she shivered. A woman ran somewhere and came back with a towel. She wrapped her in it and she hugged it tightly.

The woman and man talked to a tall man, then carried Ariah somewhere. She assumed it was their home. They set her down on a bed.

“Oh dear, are you okay?” the woman asked. The man brought soup over her to her.

“Here. It’ll warm you up.” He fed Ariah a spoonful of delicious, warm chicken soup. It melted in her mouth and lingered in her tastebuds after she had swallowed.

Her voice came out raspy and strained. “Where am I?”

“Welcome to Mir.”

–

I was almsot crying writing the bit where Ariah can’t breathe. I’m such a crybaby D: I got the inspiration from this ad:

But this is the whole song:

You like? (The chapter, I mean.) I aimed for 1000 words but got 987 and I was like adasfg;hk close enough.

 

Nireth’s Adventures: First Chapter

The first thing Nireth noticed about her new surroundings was the voice. She was used to hearing voices–the soft, whispery voices of the forest, the comforting, rich voices of the earth, and the emotional and moving voices of the ocean were all sounds she had learned to tone out or listen to, depending on what the situation required. There was a new voice on this shore, however; it was much fainter, barely distinguishable beyond the others. But when she ignored them all–ocean, forest, and earth–one remained.

It was speaking a strange language she didn’t recognize. She heard snippits of it that sounded like her own, the rest was completely foreign. Like the voices of the ocean, earth, and forests, however, she still knew what it was saying. The segments she could hear seemed to be whispering a song:

Older than the oceans blue,
Older than the mountains east,
Older than the land itself,
Old as that am I.

Forgotten by the Charems first,
Forgotten by the humans next,
Forgotten also by the Mir,
Forgotten by all am I.

Legends say that I am fierce,
Legends state that I am cunning,
Legends say I still exist,
Legends do not lie.

O, had I not been so old,
O, had I not been forgot,
O, had I not been called a legend,
O, the help I could provide.

To the Charems, ‘fore they fell,
To the humans, though ’tis too late,
To the Mir, to help them unite,
To whomever, they would thrive.

That was all Nireth could hear–the rest was just incoherent mumblings without a tune.

Nireth took a step to her left, wondering if maybe there was some underground being messing with her. The whisperings remained at the same volume, however, as if they were coming from the earth itself. She wiggled her bare toes in the sand. Was it possible that this earth–the earth that made up the island–was magical somehow? Perhaps it was all that was left of a great civilization, worn and beaten down to tiny grains by the wind and weather, and perhaps the voices were lost souls lamenting their fate to the wind.

Nireth took a deep breath. The familiar smell of the sea couldn’t banish the frightening mystery of the island she had wrecked upon. She picked up her dress so the hem wouldn’t collect too much sand and walked a little further inland. She listened hard, but there was no difference in the voice’s volume. She had gotten used to it by now, it was gradually turning into background noise–she could tune it out, like she could the earth, forests, or sea.

She put the voice aside and concentrated more on the physichal aspects of the island. A cliff made of dull grey stone rose ominously and impassively before her. The rock was slick with sea spray and devoid of any decent hand or footholds.

Nireth gave up trying to climb it–she realized it was futile. She focused her attention on the coast that stretched far beyond her sight. Without further ado, she headed down the sandy shore, humming to herself as she went.

She enjoyed how the water washed over her bare feet. If she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend she was back at her home. Almost. The difference was the voice–that odd, chanting voice. She had let it sink into the background, but it still stuck to the back of her mind like an egg yolk stuck to clothing. Now that it was running through her head, she couldn’t get it out.

“Old as the oceans blue, older than the mountains east, older than the land itself, old as that am I,” Nireth whispered a segment of the song. It was so soft, she could barely hear it over the gentle rushing of the ocean.

A sudden grating noise pulled Nireth’s head right out of the clouds. It sounded like two giant boulders were being scraped together. Nireth’s hands flew to cover her ears, and she spun around to look at the cliff face. However, it was no longer a bank of solid stone–a hole had opened up in the side! There was no sign of a door, nor was there any rubble to suggest a cave-in. Nireth cautiously crept towards it, expecting a troll to leap out and grab her. She peered into the cave. From what she could see, there were no trolls waiting for her.

With a start, Nireth realized the world was silent.

She stopped short. She couldn’t hear the ocean’s fluxuating voice. She couldn’t hear the hushed whispers of the forests. She couldn’t hear the deep, constant hum of the earth. The only thing that remained was a whisper–a whisper so faint that if it hadn’t been for the slight whistling of the s’s, she wouldn’t have been able to hear it, either.

The absence of sound frightened her. A sudden blast of wind burst down the coast, and Nireth’s wet dress slapped at her legs. A wave of fear washed over her, and she suddenly desired nothing more than to tuck herself away inside of the newly discovered cave.

Without much more thought, she darted into the dark opening. Her heart was racing and she could hear her blood pulsing in her ears. The air was filled with the screaming of the air as it whistled by the cave’s opening. Nireth could have sworn there was a man’s voice yelling carried with it, but she dismissed it as her imagination. Her heart was yellow with fear.

Another noise overpowered the sound of the wind. Her blood turned to ice as she turned to look at the cave door. She really didn’t need to–she knew what was happening–but she couldn’t believe it.

She yelped and threw herself at the exit, but it was too late. The door was closing. She stumbled towards it, but her foot caught on the hem of her skirt and she fell. Her knee hit the floor first, and fireworks of pain erupted in front of her eyes. She gazed up in dispair at the swiftly disappearing beach.

Soon, not even a sliver of light could be seen. Nireth was alone in the dark, with only her panicky breath and the whispering voices.

Nireth was used to voices, but there was something different about this one. A shiver ran down her spine. She had a feeling she was dealing with something she couldn’t comprehend–something with greater power and knowledge than she could ever imagine.

(End of Chapter 1)

(Shorter than the other chapter, thank Thor ^^)