Fated (Chapter Eighteen)
Friday, August 7th, 2015 04:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Character status spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet
Chapter Eighteen
Kingdom of Ilian, Minecraftia. September 24, year 573. Time instance 483Z.
Samuel stopped walking as soon as they reached the first dark oak tree. He put a hand to its darker trunk and looked up, then forward, noticing their frequency quickly increase ahead until they were the only kind of tree in sight. Their leaves blocked out the sun and the forest ahead was darker, more ominous.
“We shouldn’t all go in. The Vicious Wilds will destroy or expel anyone who they deem unworthy, and large groups tend to attract trouble.”
“Who’s going in, then?” Tarsen asked, frowning.
“The Davions, definitely, as well as any of our best fighters and survivalists. I was thinking Shred, Aldobiva, Vorna, and myself.”
“I want to come along.” Tarsen protested. “I’m a good fighter.”
“I doubt the Wilds would like you too much. And no, Tranpar, you’re staying behind.”
“Whaaaaaat!”
“It’s too dangerous.” Samuel reasoned. “The Wilds are filled with monsters unlike anything in the rest of the world.”
“Which is why you need me along.” Tarsen argued. “I’m good in melee combat and I’m damn lucky.”
Samuel argued with him for another five minutes before throwing his hands in the air. “Fine. But if the Wilds kill you, it’s not my fault.”
“Got it.” Tarsen grinned.
“Alright. The rest of you stay here, and don’t venture into the Wilds. Maybe you should even back up a bit.” Samuel instructed. “Teramelle can accompany us, but Mira should probably remain behind.”
“No.” Shred hugged the dragon tighter. “She doesn’t leave my side. I’m not leaving her alone at this young age. If I left her here and she ended up missing or dead…No. If something’s happening, it’s on my watch, because I wasn’t good enough, and not because I left her somewhere. Plus, this is Moranaax’s domain: he wouldn’t hurt one of the few remaining offspring of Vallor’roth.”
Samuel met her eyes and nodded. “Alright, then. Let’s go.” He motioned for the group to follow, and the seven- nine counting Teramelle and Mira- of them set off into the Vicious Wilds.
~~~
They had been walking for about fifteen minutes when their first challenge arose.
The trees shook and roots ripped themselves from the ground, wrapping themselves around the humans in the group. Teramelle snorted and pranced backwards. Mira shrieked and immediately started trying to claw the roots off of Shred, but to no avail. Her claws weren’t sharp or hard enough yet to do any kind of damage.
As the humans struggled to get free, a large wolf made entirely of leaves stepped out from behind a tree.
They froze, watching the being’s movements. Its eye sockets glowed a vibrant green, and the plants seemed to slowly, but visibly, grow wherever it walked.
A Sharrenvar, one of the pack of Moranaax. The child of a creator.
The being walked up to Samuel and sniffed him, then moved on to Shred. As it moved from one person to the next, the roots slowly let them go and retreated back into the earth. Once it reached Tarsen, however, it bared its teeth and growled softly.
“He’s one of us.” Samuel said, voice quiet. “Please spare him.”
The growl quieted and the wolf tossed its head. The roots pulled Tarsen, eyes wide and trying not to panic, out of sight. The wolf sniffed Nia last and let her free before looking at Samuel, meeting his eyes. Samuel felt a calm, but firm, presence in his mind, conveying a message.
Your friend has been spared, but expelled from the Wilds. He has been warned to never return. This mercy will not be granted again.
The wolf left Samuel’s mind the moment that it looked away, towards Mira. It trotted forward and the two sniffed each other. The wolf tossed its head back and howled briefly before striding back into the thickness of the trees and disappearing from view.
The six humans sighed in relief.
“What happened to Tarsen?” Adrian asked, concerned.
“He wasn’t worthy in the eyes of the guardian.” Samuel explained. “He was removed from the Wilds, but he’s still alive.”
“Shame. Shall we continue?” Shred scooped up Mira.
Samuel frowned but nodded. “Let’s get moving. Hopefully that will be the only test that Moranaax sets for us, but somehow I doubt it.”
~~~
Another thirty minutes passed in relative quiet and safety when they noticed the lokolang.
It was walking when it heard them and looked to its left, red eyes locking on them immediately. This one was smaller than the one they had fought in the forest previously, but still looked dangerous.
It growled at them before moving off, vanishing into the trees.
“I think it knows the guardian wants us to succeed.” Vorna muttered. “Maybe.”
“Or it’s not willing to harm Mira within the boundaries of a creator’s domain.” Nia put in. “That seems just as likely.”
“Or it doesn’t like cats.” Adrian added.
“What?” Samuel frowned. “Where did you get that idea?”
“Look!” Adrian pointed at a black cat that was casually strolling towards them from the direction that the lokolang had come from. It rubbed against Nia’s leg and meowed, walking back towards where it had come from. It paused, looking behind it, and meowed again.
“It wants us to follow.” Nia started after it.
“My mother did say that we’d find someone to help us. Maybe they had a cat.” Shred shrugged, putting Mira down, and followed the Davion. The others hurried to keep up.
Nia burst into a clearing containing a hut and two people, making her pause to take in her surroundings before acting further.
What appeared to be a hut constructed by one or two people was set up with an herb garden off to the side. It didn’t seem to be too large, but it was big enough for one or two people and a small animal to live in without too much difficulty. Out front there were two chairs, each containing a human.
The one on Nia’s left appeared to be a man in his early twenties with brown hair and eyes hidden behind some kind of odd, dark glasses. He was twirling some small rocks in a circle over his right hand with some kind of magical energy, but let them fall the moment he noticed Nia. He looked oddly familiar, but Nia couldn’t quite place why.
The woman on the right, however, caught her attention even more. She appeared to be a little over six feet tall and looked almost exactly like Nia, with black hair and blue eyes. The cat was curled up in her lap and she was petting it absentmindedly as she clearly looked over Nia with the same intensity that she was receiving.
Nia’s friends entered the clearing a moment later and froze as well, looking over the other two.
“Welcome.” The woman said after a short time. “I’m glad you got here quickly and without too much incident. Moranaax clearly wishes for you to succeed.”
“Hey, wait a minute!” Adrian shouted suddenly, pointing at the man. “You’re that earth elementalist, aren’t you? The one that made us find the bow in the first place!”
Sudden recognition.
He smiled. “Guilty as charged. I hope I didn’t hit you.”
“No, you didn’t. But why were-” Nia was interrupted by the man making a vague jerking motion at the woman with his head.
“She asked me to.”
“Why?”
“It was important.” The woman answered, speaking as if this was obvious. “You needed to find Kaen no Mai.”
Nia gave the woman an odd look. “Who are you, anyway?”
“That’s not important- I’m not really relevant.”
“You look like me, though.”
She made a vague dismissive gesture. “We’re distantly related. It’s not important how or why- I’m here to help you, but not for long.”
“Help me? How?”
“I’m here to tell you what you’re supposed to be doing. All hell has broken loose across Minecraftia, and it’s important that you do things in a very specific way.”
“And if I don’t?”
The woman shrugged a little. “The world ends.”
Nia fell silent as the group exchanged looks.
“But let’s not worry too much about that.” The woman stood, dislodging her cat. “This is Zel Hylkrai. He’s one of you- a descendant of Avidya and part of the prophecy.”
Zel stood and insisted on shaking everyone’s hand before speaking. “I hope you won’t hold a grudge against me for throwing those boulders at you.”
“No, of course not. We only almost died.” Adrian said sarcastically.
Zel shrugged. “It happens.”
The woman clapped her hands together. “I’ll get some supplies and the map real quick, and then I can explain what needs to be done.”
“Fantastic. Instructions from a weird lady in the woods.” Aldobiva muttered.
~~~
“What kicked you out of the Wilds?” Baltbee demanded.
“A wolf made of leaves.” Tarsen repeated. “It summoned some tree roots and dragged me out. Apparently I was unworthy.” He huffed. “Look at me! Do I look unworthy to you?” He struck a ridiculous pose.
“Very.” Carl said dryly under his breath, leaning against Vynx. Trymdas snickered quietly but shut up the moment that Valkan looked at him. Carl noticed, not for the first or last time, that Valkan’s eyes seemed to flash dangerously blue for a moment in the fading light. He frowned slightly but didn’t address it- he figured it was his imagination.
“I think it’s stupid that none of us could go.” Valkan muttered, sitting on a log.
Carl was silently not surprised that Tarsen had been kicked out. He definitely did not seem worthy to go into such a place. Then again, Carl figured he might be biased, as he was a bit annoyed with Tarsen for trying to hit on him the previous night.
That had not gone well, almost ending in Vynx mauling Tarsen’s face off.
Now, however, Tarsen seemed to be talking quietly with Valkan, and judging by how often Valkan looked around to make sure they wasn’t being watched, Tarsen was trying a similar thing with him, and with at least some measure more success.
Carl rolled his eyes and moved to sit by Trymdas, taking the opportunity provided by Valkan being stuck in a conversation with the trashbag to talk to the shy younger brother. After a few attempts at starting a conversation, he realized that Trymdas didn’t want to talk and fell silent.
He hoped that he could help Trymdas break free of the hold his brother had over him. If Trymdas couldn’t get out, he would probably never have a full, happy life.
Carl sighed. Why was shit always up to him?
-~-
“Yeah, yeah, you guys were right.” Vechs sighed, setting down the orb. “It’s my mom.”
“She’s cheatier than Nebris is.” Etho noted, dodging a swat from Nebris. “She’s been alive, what, three hundred years?”
“At least.” Blame sighed. “She’s younger than I am, though.”
“Don’t remind me of that. It makes me feel weird.” Vechs muttered, pulling a second orb out of his toolbelt.
Blame snarled quietly. “Where did you find that?”
“Under your pillow is a shitty location.” Vechs switched into his monstrous form and batted Blame away as he tried to snatch the orb from him. “Let me just check up on them!”
Blame sighed and sat down. “I will get that from you.”
“Sure you will.” Vechs mumbled, flipping through the Hostiles. “Sure you will.”
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Date: Friday, August 7th, 2015 09:45 pm (UTC)TARSEN TARSEN TARSEN TARSEN TARSEN TARSEN!
Also Valkan is cool. :p
And totally called Skera still being alive.
But my favorite thing this chapter? (Besides Tarsen)
Zel is 1 letter away from Zen. Clever Tanadin (assuming this was on purpose)
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Date: Friday, August 7th, 2015 09:58 pm (UTC)wait, if carl's busy with trymdas, valkan's busy with tarsen, nessy's injured and niel and baltbee are doing their own thing, who's watching tranpar? XD
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Date: Friday, August 7th, 2015 10:01 pm (UTC)Niel: Tranpar, I don't think this is a good idea...
Tranpar: What are you talking about, this is totally a good idea! What could possibly go wrong!?
an explosion is heard in the distance
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Date: Friday, August 7th, 2015 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, August 7th, 2015 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, August 7th, 2015 10:32 pm (UTC)It's probably Niel tbh XD
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Date: Friday, August 7th, 2015 10:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, August 7th, 2015 10:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, August 7th, 2015 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, August 8th, 2015 03:12 am (UTC)G.C. (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)
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Date: Saturday, August 8th, 2015 07:48 am (UTC)/#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/ /#/
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Date: Saturday, August 8th, 2015 06:52 pm (UTC)SKERA
(::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)
-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: Saturday, August 8th, 2015 10:26 pm (UTC)Samuel and Tarsen want to do BroTP stuff, but Samuel can't since he has to watch Tranpar. And Niel volunteers to watch him, so Samuel just shoves Tranpar at Niel making it his responsibility. This totally isn't ooc for Samuel.