Fated (Chapter Five)
Sunday, July 12th, 2015 06:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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mindcrackloveAlso, we meet some more people in this chapter. Including a mysterious one.
Chapter list: http://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/382.html
Map of the continent: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/F
Character status spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet
Chapter Five
Kingdom of Illian, Minecraftia. September 7, year 573. Time instance 483Z.
“We’re going in circles.” Tarsen complained. “I swear I’ve seen that tree before.”
“All trees look like that.” Adrian protested.
“Or it’s the same tree.”
“We’re not going in circles.” Shred insisted.
The six of them (plus unicorn) had reached Illian and were currently wandering through the forest. Velana had sent them off three days ago with enough food and equipment to reach Ashwatch, informing them that they would meet many others on their journey and to trust the unicorn’s judgment.
They had found no one in the last three days, but Shred had discovered that she liked practically no one in the group, as was proven by what Nia said next.
“We’re not going in circles.” Nia agreed. “We’re going in figure eights.”
“That doesn’t even make sense! We’re clearly in Illian and we weren’t this morning! We only got into these woods about five hours ago and we would have seen the same landmarks!”
“Tarsen saw that same tree that he saw a few hours ago.”
“Tarsen can shove a tree up his-”
“Hey!” Niel interrupted. “What’s that?”
Everyone looked over at where he was pointing.
A wooden shack was barely visible in the space between a few trees. It looked new and hastily set up, as if the owner had recently gotten it set up.
“Maybe there are people in there.” Baltbee muttered.
“Maybe they’re friendly!” Adrian said cheerfully.
“Beats being lost in the forest.” Nia grumbled, earning a sharp look from Shred.
“We are NOT lost.” The Ashenhorn informed her. “We-”
She was stopped by a man appearing out of seemingly nowhere, putting the point of a spear to Nia’s chest.
He looked a little older than Tarsen, also with brown hair and eyes, but was taller and possessed a brown leather hat on his head and clearly cared considerably less about how he looked. He was dressed in a mix of greens and browns, some of it cloth and some of it leather. He had clearly been living in the woods for a long time. His spear was made of dark, sturdy wood, with the pointed end being made of some grayish white material that was tightly secured to the shaft.
Dragonbone spear.
Nia froze the moment the point of the spear touched her and met the eyes of the man holding it.
Shred’s swords were out in a flash, Adrian’s only a moment behind. Niel dropped his sword in his haste to draw it, while Tarsen casually pulled out his. Baltbee, lacking a weapon, lowered his head as if ready to headbutt the man.
“Who are you? Why are you here?” The man said finally. His voice sounded somewhat like it often went disused, but there was a note of defensiveness in it- as if he didn’t want them to approach because he was protecting something.
Or someone.
“My name is Nia. We don’t mean you any harm- we’re passing through on our way to Ashwatch.”
The man looked them over because carefully lowering the spear. The others relaxed as well, but not enough to put away their weapons. Niel sheepishly picked up his sword.
“Move along, then. Sorry.”
Shred frowned at him. “Who are you, anyway?”
“Not important.” He said simply. “Go.”
“We-” Adrian was interrupted by the sound of another voice, this one much younger, shouting.
“Samuel, who are you talking to?”
The man- apparently named Samuel- sighed and looked frustrated. “No one. Go back inside.”
“But I want to know.” The voice came again, and the owner came around the corner of the hut and approached.
He appeared to be about eleven, with dark hair and brown eyes. He was short and wore a red hat that was a little too big for him, slipping down over his eyes. He fixed it and grinned at the others as he saw them.
“Samuel, look! People!”
“Yes. I see them.”
“And there’s- hhhhh! Samuel, it’s a unicorn!”
Samuel looked closer at the horse and realized his mistake. “Yes.” he said, voice dropping in volume. “Yes it is.” After a moment, he shook his head as if to clear it and raised his spear again. “You need to leave. Now.”
“You’re trying to protect the kid, aren’t you?” Nia asked softly.
Samuel simply nodded.
“We don’t mean any harm.” she continued. “We’re trying to get to Ashwatch.”
Teramelle nodded her head several times and walked forward, despite Adrian’s protestations.
“Teramelle, the man has a very sharp very pointy object and he’s clearly not afraid to use it! Tera-“
“I won’t hurt her.” Samuel said softly, moving the spear to his left hand and lowering it further to reach out and pet Teramelle’s fur. His eyes and voice had lost their edge, instead gaining a clear radiance of awe.
An understanding seemed to pass between Samuel and the unicorn. “You can stay for the night.” He said finally. “It’s safer here than it is deeper in the woods. But then you need to move on.”
Nia nodded. “Thank you. We appreciate it.”
Samuel nodded, then held out his hand to shake. “I’m Samuel Soares. Sorry about the spear. I’m just trying to keep Tranpar safe.”
“Tranpar?”
“Me!” The kid said cheerfully, bouncing a little. “Are you royalty? You look like royalty.” He motioned vaguely at Nia and Adrian.
“No.” Adrian said immediately, but then hesitated. “Well, I mean…a gargoyle recently told us that we’re Davions, but…”
“Huh. Cool.” Tranpar fixed his hat and looked at Tarsen. “You’re a bandit. That’s a sheepman.” He stepped forward to look at Shred, who had yet to sheath her swords. “You’re a Skullblade, aren’t you?”
“…Yes.”
“Ashenhorn, right?”
“Yes.”
“Sweet.” He bounced over to Niel. “Are you a shadowwalker?”
“…Not exactly. I…I was, but…”
“Not too good at it?”
Niel shook his head.
“Well, that’s okay. I’m not good at sneaking or fighting either. I’m a thinker. Maybe you’re a thinker.” Tranpar grinned at him.
A good amount of cheering up.
Niel smiled a little too. “Maybe. Hey, I’m Niel.” He held out his hand. Tranpar shook it eagerly.
“My name is Adrian. You met my cousin Nia. The Skullblade is Shred, the ex-bandit is Tarsen, and that’s Baltbee.”
“Am I just ‘that’?” Baltbee demanded. “I have not been directly addressed by anyone lately!”
“Let’s just get set up.” Shred muttered, finally sheathing her swords. “I doubt we could all fit in that shack, even if Samuel would let us.”
“You wouldn’t. I just set it up over the past week. We got here recently.” Samuel sighed. “Forest fire.”
“Why are you looking after this kid, anyway? Is he-“
“Not mine.” Samuel assured. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Nia nodded and went silent. She wouldn’t pry.
Samuel glanced at Niel and stepped over to him, lowering his voice. “You know, if you want to blend in better, wear something that isn’t a solid color. Just a tip.”
Niel blinked and then nodded. “O-okay. Thanks.”
“No problem.” Samuel smiled at him briefly.
Shred hissed quietly at Nia. “See? We’re not going in circles or figure eights or whatever.”
“Yes, we are!”
“We would have run into these people!”
-~-
Paul and Seth had entered the room a few minutes ago with their newly-activated orbs, looking excitedly at their descendants.
“Mine’s, like, eleven.” Seth finally said. “I feel moderately disappointed.”
“Samuel seems very capable.” Paul noted. “Is that spear dragonbone?”
“It is.” Blame confirmed. “I’m familiar with the material.”
“Why?” Etho asked, looking at him oddly.
Blame tapped his swords and then his mask.
“Right. Vallor’roth.”
Blame nodded simply and looked back at his orb.
Nebris shrieked suddenly as his own lit up, humming softly as they did when they first activated. The others looked up, confused, and shifted over to look at it.
“What the…” Nebris looked at it oddly. “They’re not anywhere near the group.”
“No, she’s not.” Etho agreed. “Wait. No. There’s that tree that Tarsen pointed out.”
“Stalking them?” Bdoubleo suggested.
“Maybe.” Nebris looked more carefully at his orb and watching his descendant approach the others, then quickly climb a tree. “Maybe.”
-~-
Nebris’s descendant peeked through the branches of the tree she was perched in, hoping that she wouldn’t be seen. Fortunately, no one seemed to be looking a person wearing a camouflaged cloak that high up in the trees, so she was safe. The Ashenhorn had almost noticed her as they scrambled up the tree, but she hadn’t investigated.
Good. She wasn’t quite ready to be discovered yet. She wanted to follow and find more out about this bizarre group.
Her purple eyes narrowed slightly as she watched the small one in the red hat approach the edge of a pit that was nearby, the bottom of which was shrouded in darkness as the sun set. She couldn’t hear the conversation he was having with the boy with silvery hair, but he was securing the end of a rope, with markings showing every foot, to the top of the pit. She frowned slightly. That didn’t seem quite right.
~~~
“So,” Tranpar was saying, “if I tie the rope here, and then jump down, I can see how deep it is. Then you can just pull me out.”
“Why would you want to know how deep it is?” Niel asked, frowning. “And I don’t know if I’m strong enough to pull you out.”
“You could get one of your friends to help.” Tranpar reasoned. “But look, if we want a ladder going down there, we need to know how deep it is. Plus, I want to see what’s down there! There might be something cool.”
“Why do you want a ladder down?”
“So we can get up and down easily, silly.” Tranpar picked up the other end of the rope. “I’ll jump down, then you pull me up. Got it?”
“You know how to fall safely?”
“I’ll be fine!” Tranpar assured, and stepped towards the pit.
Teramelle charged out of nowhere, shoving her head between Tranpar and the pit and pushing him back with the side of her horn. She snorted at him and then turned accusingly to Niel.
Samuel looked up at the commotion and raced over. “Tranpar, what are you doing?!”
“I was going to jump down the pit to see how deep it is!”
“You didn’t stop him?” he demanded of Niel. “He could have gotten hurt!”
Niel flinched and looked upset. “I’m s-sorry! He told me that he would be fine, and I mean…I can fall that far okay, so, I mean, can’t everyone?”
“No! Not everyone has had shadowwalker training!”
“I’m a really terrible shadowwalker, though!”
“That doesn’t change anything.” Samuel growled. “And- Tranpar!”
Tranpar had tried to move around Teramelle towards the pit again, but she pushed him back. He sighed in defeat and sat down.
Samuel suddenly was hit with the realization that Teramelle was more than capable of keeping Tranpar safe, and he seemed to listen to her better. He generally ignored Samuel’s efforts to keep him safe and instead had to be stopped at the last second.
Salvation.
Samuel dimly wondered if they could come with this odd, but friendly, group that was passing through. Tarsen and Shred were adults, or at least close to it, so he’d have people around his own age. The others seemed like they could help him with Tranpar, as well.
Samuel wondered if he didn’t have to look after Tranpar alone, like he thought he would have to.
~~~
Nebris’s descendant relaxed in her tree and sighed softly when the unicorn intervened and kept the young one from falling to his death. She had been about to leap forward and stop him, somehow, but she hadn’t needed to.
As much as she didn’t want to show herself, she would in order to save an innocent life.
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Date: Sunday, July 12th, 2015 11:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, July 12th, 2015 11:45 pm (UTC)Nice chapter, not crazy excited about any of the new descendants like I was for Baltbee and Tarsen, but they're nice additions none the less I suppose :)
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Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 12:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 01:25 am (UTC)G.C. (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)
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Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 03:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 03:45 am (UTC)And I'm loving Shred more and more. Grumpy characters are da best.
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Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 06:25 am (UTC)NEBSY DESCENDANT.
IM SO EXCITED!
RAWRRR
ahem.
Good chapter tana. Really looking forward to what happens next!
(Niel is still my fav but I feel Nebris' is gonna come a close second)
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Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 01:15 pm (UTC)You haven't been getting many cookies lately. Fated chapters deserve cookies too. (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)
-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 01:57 pm (UTC)HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Every chapter is marked with a charachter death warning. She said herself that fated is BRUTAL. I predict deaths will start at the hatching.
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Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 04:28 pm (UTC)*Scar voice* BE PREPAAAAARREED
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Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 07:29 pm (UTC)I've read all of Monstrous and Residual twice, so I know you're evil, but I've never commented. Now I'm scared. I've interacted with the Tanadin, and I'm scared.
Be careful who you kill. Kill someone I like and your cookie supply gets cut off!
-TLL
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Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 08:14 pm (UTC)and noooooo my cookies ;a;
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Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, July 14th, 2015 12:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 07:32 pm (UTC)-TLL
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Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 04:29 pm (UTC)Nooooooone of the common sense.
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Date: Tuesday, July 14th, 2015 12:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 08:04 pm (UTC)...Wait for it...
...Wait for it...
*puts on subglasses*
Subliminal... Circles...
no subject
Date: Monday, July 13th, 2015 08:14 pm (UTC)