Geelef

((A long time indeed I tried to contact you a while ago (a few months), and now I stumble upon this. I was actually trying to get some real storytellers back together again... Anyway, I couldnt mail you from here, you email seems to be outdated. Send me one if you ever happen to read this - I'll update the mail in my profile. Hope to hear from you! Edit: Hope to hear from you goes for everyone with whom I RPed on these forums ))

(Woops, sorry Tum, I also switched the R and the N... Heh... o.o Now, if you people don't mind, I'm gonna do as Tumaros told us (and which is very true), let's get back together again ) Only a few minutes after Matrixx had fled from his losing battle, Cath and Geelef entered Mynadar, to find Monore and Tumaros sitting next to eachother, holding hands, both of them happy that the other was still alive. Nardo was keeping a small fire going, while Jormane was nowhere in sight. "Hey guys! What did we miss?" Nardo, Tumaros and Monore looked around at the sound of his familiar voice. "As always, just a little battle," Tumaros smiled. "Yeah, and the fact that Matrixx seems to be evil itself," added Monore, her hand moving towards her neck, as if she could still feel Matrixx's grasp around it. Geelef raised an eyebrow, while he also sat down. "I thought he was possessed by Mortos?" "Well, it seems he is not." Nardo replied. "He kinda stated he had been consumed by Mortos, and that he's been acting on his own accord all along." Geelef let the air escape from his lungs. "My god... What do we do about him?" "We haven't got a clue where he is right now, so I'd say we'd better be heading for the horizon. Keep moving so he won't get in our way." Tumaros said. "But tonight we'll just stay here, we gotta get some rest." Geelef nodded. "Good plan." He looked around him again. "Hey, where's Jormane anyway?" "Hunting." Nardo said. "He was hungry." "Well, I think I'm just gonna get some sleep. Not hungry at all... Long run and stuff..." Geelef said, yawning. Then he stretched, lay down and fell asleep very quickly. Cath moved towards him, snuffed his face for a bit, and then put herself over his feet, one eye closed, the other one half opened, ready to wake her good friend at the smallest sign of trouble. But after a few minutes, ther tiger also fell asleep, leaving the three other Elves waiting for Jormane and the fresh meat he'd bring along.

Dutch, English (can you believe it, I tried to type "English" and made the same typo about four times :s), German, some French, can read Swedish a bit, and I've got a very poor knowledge of Latin and Greek.

(Thanks Jormane ) While Tumaros stepped through the beam, Nardo and Jormane followed. Geelef on the other hand was reluctant to touch the blue flashes of light. Nardo raised his eyebrows and asked: "Aren't you coming?" The Elf answered: "Well... I'd love to, it's just... we've left Cath near Tree Town, remember? I'd like to go get her before I do anything else." Nardo nodded. "I can understand..." He knew about the strange but close friendship between his friend and the highly intelligent tiger Catherina. Geelef added, a bit guilty: "Hey, I know you guys can handle this. Tumaros is an amazing fighter, just as Jormane, and your magical talents can't be outnumbered either." "You maybe right," Nardo replied, "tough we'll still miss your skills. Just head for Mynadar after you've found Cath, we'll wait for you over there." Geelef nodded, grateful for Nardo's understanding. "See you soon." Nardo then turned to Jormane, and the both of them jumped into the beam. With a sigh Geelef turned away from the sight of his friends getting ready for battle. He asked Fortean: "Say, can you send me back to Cath please?" Fortean answered: "Indeed we can. Just touch the beam and leap in it afterwards." Geelef nodded. He stretched out his hand, giving the beam a faint green glow, then he leapt in. A strange hot sensation ran through his body, then he was on the other side of what seemed to be the portal, standing right in front of a snow-white tiger, in the midst of Tirnwood Forests. "Well Cath, we've gotta run, maybe the fight's still going on when we get there." Cath growled, looking forward to a good sprint. Then Geelef turned around, speeding towards the coast, his green pants showing under his swaying cloak. Cath ran alongside of him, two friends heading for adventure again. *** Nardo and Jormane also felt the hot sensation, and when they landed on the other side, the saw Morone lying on the ground, her hands clutched against her troath. Tumaros was fighting Matrixx, Ta'Tir in his hands, ferociously fighting back the possesed Elf. "Go and help Tumaros!" Nardo said to Jormane. "I'll try to help Morone!" Jormane nodded, pulled out his sword and shot to Tumaros's aid. Nardo ran towards Morone, kneeling next to her. "Hey Morone! Let me take a look at that..." Morone's fearful eyes looked up to Nardo, and slowly she let go of her troat. While Nardo swiftly took a skilled look at Morone's injury, he pulled a few potions out of his bag, starting to mix them, chanting a low-voiced song, which seemed to drive away the noise of the others fighting. "Only a few seconds Morone, and you'll feel just as good as ever."

(Thanks, since my birthday was on Tuesday, I didn't really got too many congratulations, so I really appreciate this one Oh, and, hehe, sorry to bring this to you Nardo, but I thought you were liveing in Amsterdam... If you want a real carnival, just come to Mestreech Though, on the other hand, I haven't been too much away this year, I must confess... I'm sorry, but I just love Limburg's heritage ) "Allright then..." Tumaros said slightly scared. Then his eyes turned rigid, and he firmly said: "We've been through worse together, haven't we? I trust we'll also get through this one." With these words, he took the few steps to the dark hole, when the tip of his left shoe hit the black, for a moment the Elf seemed to fade out of sight, as if a see through curtain was suddenly held before him, then he jumped in and disappeared in a swirl of black and silver. Geelef looked at Nardo and Jormane, nodding at each one of them. "Guess I'll see you two at the other side." He swiftly moved towards the hole, and jumped in. When his feet made contact with the dark mass, he felt as if the world around him was suddenly much more solid as usual, then the sensation was over, and he felt he was being pulled to another place. When he landed at the other side, he felt somewhat dizzy, his vision was fogged for a moment. He blinked a few times, then his vision got clear again, and he saw Tumaros standing a few metres away, but it seemed as if his sight was still blurred. Geelef walked over to him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked his old friend: "Tumaros, can you see already?" The other Elf shook his head. "No... Can you?" Geelef nodded, then realised Tumaros couldn't see it and said: "Yeah, only a few seconds after I got here." Tumaros looked surprised. "Huh? I know, maybe it's those strange eyse of you... What've you done with them anyway?" Just as Geelef was about to answer, a silvery light told him the others were coming. "Just a sec Tumaros, I'm gonna get Nardo and Jormane. Stay here, please." Tumaros nodded, trusting his friend would know best. A few minutes later, Geelef did return, flanked by Jormane and Nardo, who also seemed to have lost their sharp sight. "Here, sit down." Geelef said. "So," Tumaros started again. "What about those eyes of you?" "Well, after we parted, I went on some travels, got caught by some guards, it seemed I killed someone. Well, yadda yadda, whole story, then I got the chance to get out, with Cath, she's that white tiger of mine, really intelligent. It only meant I had to aid some little girl called Lolendalia in her quest. Didn't know what it was though, so I just helped her out every now and then, till we got back to my prison, and they sent us to the next plain of excistence." Jormane and Tumaros raised their eyebrows, though they said nothing. Nardo on the other hand had heard the story before, so he just sat and listened, knowing his friend told the truth. Geelef went on, "There are some really strange magical arts there, and because the High Priests didn't want us revealing other dimensions, they blessed us with the same gifts as most people in their lands. They let us keep our own gifts though, so we got out stronger than most. Anyway, I was gifted with their keen eyesight, when starlight falls on my eyes, I can see as bright as if it was full daylight. One disadvantage though, it makes my eyes shine in that blue you probaby saw when we ran to Tree Town. I guess you're right, and that's what makes me see, while your vision is still blurred." Tumaros nodded. "Seems Im not the only one who's grown a lot." He smiled. Geelef smiled back at him. "Now, where are we anyway?" Jormane asked.

(Nah, everybody's just waiting for eachother to post I promise I'll be posting again soon, just had a busy week, carnival from sunday till tuesday, and me b-day ofcourse Just wait till nightfall tomorrow. )

(I remember too, that was really long ago though... Heh... But on the other hand, I should remember about everything )

Back on the surface of the sea, the four survivers of the attack noticed Tumaros wasn't with them anymore. They had found some more floating logs, and a piece of canvas, which they used to form a sort of raft, held together by some simple stitching magic. "Where did he go this time?" Geelef asked, a worried look on his face, wringing his hair. Nardo didn't say a word, he just stared over the seemingly endless sea, worried about what fate had been bestowed upon them this time. Morone was also silent, scared as she was for the ocean, this was an event she couldn't cope with, her brother was lost on an endless mass of water... Giving him no credit for survival, she could do nothing but sit and softly cry. Jormane was the only one capable of answering. "It seems that after he'd cast that spell on Ta'Tir" - his eyes darted over to the sword which they'd been able to recover from the creatures neck - "he was drained of all power. I guess he just let go of the log and went straight for the bottom." "But we'll be able to save him, ofcourse." he quickly added, when he saw Morone's pained expression. Her eyes lit up on these words. "Will we?" she faintly asked. "Sure we will." Geelef stated, while he got up on his feet. "We've been through worse, haven't we, Nardo?" Nardo also got to his feet, nodding firmly. "Yes, we have. Now, I'm gonna find my backpack, I've got some nice potions in it." Geelef nodded, and watched Nardo dive into the water. A few minutes later a wet and exhausted Nardo pulled himself onto the raft again. "Found it," he quoted, while he quickly took out two vials. "This one's for me," he mumbled, holding up a vial containing a see-through liquid. "And this is for you guys. One sip should be enough for about a day underwater breathing." He passed the potion to Geelef, who took a small sip and gave it to Jormane. The human, not as familiar with the Elf's potions, took a sceptical look at it, but when he saw Geelef diving into the sea without any doubt, he took a sip too, only to feel a weird sensation flowing through his body. Then he handed Morone the bottle, who took it from him, and said, while looking at it: "I'm sorry Jormane, you know how afraid I am... I'll just stay up here and wait for you guys." Jormane nodded, then he waited for a totaly fit Nardo to take a sip too. Then the both of them dove for the bottom, following Geelef, who was a good bit below them already, leaving a troubled Morone behind.

The others followed him as fast as they could, Jordane and Matrixx staying right behind Tumaros, Nardo and Geelef staying behind a bit, they were carrying the Priestess's body with them. It didn't take long for them to reach Tirnwood Vale, the ancient city of the Elves. There they were welcomed by a inquisitive crowd, whhich wanted to know what happened to the Priestess. Not for a moment these Elves believed it could be true that anyone of the group could've killed her, no Elf would've have the guts to even think of such a horrible thing. And the fact that they carried a human in their midst only meant that this human could be trusted, should be treated as a friend. The Eldest of the Elves stepped out of the crowd, beckoning the five friends to follow him. As they walked through the crowd, which left a path wide open for them, the Elder didn't say a word, or looked to anything but his feet. He seemed to be drowned in grief. A few minutes later they entered one of the bigger tree-houses, as they are so common for Elves to build. Inside was only the most sober furniture. For the first time, the Elder spoke, and his voice was as clear as the water running from a mountain spring, though a slight tone of great pain ran trough it, almost invisible, like a deep pool won't reveal the secrets at it's bottom. The five words he uttered sounded so commanding they couldn't do else but obey. "Let me take the body." Geelef and Nardo nodded, and as the Elder cast a new spell with a small movement of his hand, the two let their spell fly into the night air, gone until cast again. The Elder slowly moved the Priestess towards a stone tablet, just big enough for the body to rest on. On this altar he lay the killed Elf, and said a small prayer to Aluwen. Then he turned around to the adventurers who had brought him the body. "I wish to thank you for bringing her here, I cannot say how much it means to me. You four should know, but you" - he looked at Jormane - "might not understand what a great gift you've given this Elf." Jormane bowed his head. "Elder, believe me, I know." he said silently. The Elder raised his eyebrow, but didn't ask anything about it." "Ofcourse, you must forgive me for asking you this, for you've given more than we could ever dare to ask for, but I'd like to know the story of her death."

"Well, I guess we've got two options." Jormane went on. "Either we explain everything and risk getting kicked out of here because they don't believe us, or we get the hell out of here now and take the body with us, so nobody really knew what happened. Leaving the body behind is even worse, they'd be convinced we killed her." Tumaros nodded. "I vote for running away. We might be able to catch up with Eldwen a bit later then, though I don't really trust him yet, I think there was some truth in his words." Nardo, Jormane, Matrixx and Geelef nodded in agreement. Geelef cast a quick hovering spell over the body of the Priestess, then they all ran over to the gate, rounding the crowd, the flew by the guards and fled into the forest near the City. "To Tirnwood!" Tumaros said, panting slightly. "Tirnwood?" Geelef said surprised. "Yeah.. God, even I knew." Tumaros said with a smile. "Lately that's the new name for Treetown." "Heck... Didn't know that." Geelef stated. "What was wrong with the good old Treetown?" Tumaros didn't say anything, his smile went bigger, and he sped towards Tirnwood.

The man, his hands firmly holding his sword, looked at Tumaros, his eyes darting over to the others once in a while to make sure they didn't make to attack him. But at Tumaros's words, everybody paused for a moment, wondering what he knew about this mysteriously fast figure. The Elf lowered his hands, who had still been ready to deal out a quick blow, and looked back at the man, his mouth open, a surpised look in his eyes. Mumbling that it couldn't be, Tumaros slowly signed the others that they also could lower their weapons. Reluctantly, they did, for even though they saw this stranger as a threat, they trusted Tumaros. Tumaros's judgement proved to be right, the man followed their example and sheathed his fiery sword again. Geelef stepped forward for a bit. "Well, since Tumaros thinks you wont hurt us, how about you tell us who you are, what you're here for, and what's so special about that blade of yours." Tumaros slowly shook his head in disagreement, he clearly didn't think this was the right way to say 'hi' to someone of this importance. Geelef saw this from the corner of his eye, but he chose to keep his slightly daring attitude, half because he didn't really like someone knocking him to the ground, and half because he'd like to keep some of his dignity. The man seemed to like this, he smiled then said, "Let's wait for your small friend, the axwielder who didn't join your fight." A bit surprised, Geelef looked over his shoulder, following the man's eyes. Indeed, Eldwen was walking towards them, as if he'd run away from the fight. Still surprised Geelef turned back again, trying to see through this man, what was going on inside of him. And all waited for Eldwen, who was still confused about what the purple prophet had said to him.

(Jens, just shut the #$!@ up if you don't have anything good to say...) Eldwen introduced himself to Geelef. After that, Nardo told Geelef about the blade of Ta'Tir and the conversation went back to Tumaros's strange shot once more. But as Tumaros didn't seem to recall anything, or at least didn't want to talk about it yet, they all emptied their mugs and stood up to go to their room to get some sleep. While Geelef was soflty cursing the new bartender for his bad skills, they went up the stairs. Geelef removed his robe, revealing a light green shirt and dark green trousers, along with a pair of brown boots. On the back of his shirt, in a glimmering black, was his family's sign, a leaf, flanked by two twigs of an oak. Below that sign was another small sign, one of a kingdom long forgotten, long destroyed, in which he had served. But the Elf didn't like to think about that too much. When he was pulling of his clothes, getting ready to sleep, Nardo suddenly remembered something. "Hey Gee, where's Cath gone?" he asked. "She's waiting outside the city, didn't want her to disturb the peace or anything." Geelef replied carelessly. "She'll be alright." Nardo nodded understandingly. "A wise thing to do." Eldwen looked from Nardo to Geelef and back again, then turned to Geelef and asked: "Who is this Cath? Is she some villain that you do not want her to enter the city?" Nardo vaguely laughed at this question, and Geelef answered: "No, not at all. Catherina, or Cath as I mostly call her, is my pet." "Your pet?" the dwarf said curiously. "Yeah, she's a tiger." Geelef said. "She's really smart, I guess you'll meet her tomorrow. She doesn't hurt anybody without a reason, though she saved my life a couple of times." "A - a tiger?" Eldwen slowly muttered. "Well, that's something I've never seen before..." Geelef just smiled and lay down on his bed, falling into a deep sleep only seconds later. Eldwen on the other hand couldn't catch sleep, he was thinking about how someone could ever get a tiger - a tiger to be his pet. And next to that was the strange blue light that emmitted from the Elf's eyes everytime the starlight fell on them. Not to mention Tumaros, who had shot him, but didn't realise he'd done it. He sure met some strange people today.

While the three Elves and Eldwen all four quite astonished by Tumaros' action, at the other end of the city another Elf made his appeareance. This was the fourth Elf wearing a robe, black this time, and a soft shadow followed his path to the gate of White Stone. The guards were surprised when they saw the Elf move into their view only a few meters before the gate. Though this Elf had walked over the road the whole time, they had not noticed him, for the black robe perfectly blended in with the blackness of the woods, the skies and the sand surrounding the city. This Elf also glanced up at the guards, and smiled at them. But this time the guards did draw their weapons, for the eyes of the Elf were shining brightly in the moonlight, emitting a bright blue, pulsating light, as if a blue heart was beating in his eyes. "Who goes there?" one of the guards shouted down the walls. The Elf stopped in his movement, freezing as if he was stabbed form behind. Then his shoulders relaxed, he removed his hood and sat down in the middle of the road. The guards, totally surprised by this course of action, gazed down at the stranger, not knowing what to do. One of them got back to his senses, and shouted once more: "Who goes there?" The bright eyes looked at them again, but next to that, the men at the wall feared the fact they couldn't see the Elf's hands, or if he was carrying any weapons. "Answer me!" the guard shouted down. "I will not tell you my name." The voice sounded strange, as if the Elf was standing right in front of them, but it sounded calm and friendly. "I will ask you to let me pass though." the Elf continued. "You can check me if you want." With these words, the Elf lightly got on his feet again. He said something to the dark behind him, and for a moment it seemed that a shadow moved deeper into the woods, swiftly moving out of sight." Then the black Elf slowly walked to the front gate. He stood there, just below the guards, for a moment, his face screwed up in concentration, and the next moment he stood right before the perplexed guards. It took a while for the good men to fully understand what had happened. Then one of them coughed, and said: "Well, yeah... Erm.. We must ask you if you're carrying any weapons, and if so, report them, along with any magical influences to us, so we can decide if you can take the item into the city." "So, basically, you want to take a look at my weapons and see if they're dangerous." the Elf replied. "Sure, here they are." Swiftly he unsheated his sword, and offered it to one of the guards, the he also pulled out a dagger, offering it to the other. The sword was without a doubt magical, it was glowing faintly with various colour, pointing out it was enchanted with a very powerful and complex spell. The dagger on the other hand seemed normal, except for the runes carved into the polished blade. After inspecting the two weapons for a moment, and asking a few standard questions to the Elf, the guards conlcuded the dagger was harmless enough to enter the city, but the sword had to stay under their supervision. To the guards' relief, the Elf nodded, held out his hand for the dagger, and climbed down the ladder when he'd put it back in place again. One guard took up the sword, walked to the tower to stash it away until retrieved and couldn't help but think what a wonderful sword it was. Perfectly balanced and a grip that seemed to form to his hands. He shook his head when he closed the door behind him, how could anyone leave a sword like that behind? The guard didn't notice the swirl of green light in the tower behind him, taking the sword right back to its sheath. The Elf smiled, the guards were still the same as they were that long ago. "Now, here we go again..." he said softly to himself. "The last time I was here, this City led me to many unseen adventures... Maybe it'll do the same this time." And as old memories of the City and all the adventures he'd lived to see slowly passed his mind, he strayed to the Inn were his heart lay - The Happy Spirits Tavern and Inn. When the Elf stood in front of the Inn, he wondered what had become of Tumaros, the bartender of the tavern. Then, with a smile, he remembered the bartender's excellent brews, and was sure the new ones wouldn't be the same at all. No one could make'm like Tumaros once did. He put his hood back on, made sure his clothes and weapons were covered by his robe - he didn't want to be recognized by anyone - and pushed open the door. The Tavern looked the same to him. Because he didn't want to draw too much attention to himself, he walked straight to the bar, and asked the bartender - who, which the Elf saw with a sigh, wasn't Tumaros - if there were any rooms available, and if he could have something to drink. When he'd gotten his drink, he walked to a table in the corner, sipping his ale once every so long, and started looking around. When his eye fell onto the table left to him, he couldn't believe his eyes. Was that really - was that really Tumaros and Nardo sitting there?! Along with Tumaros's sister? And who then was that dwarf? He didn't look familiar. He took up his ale, emptied the mug and walked to the table next to his. When he arrived the whispered conversation fell silent, and four faces where looking at him. "Can I join you?" the Elf asked simply. "Wh-" Tumaros began. "Hey... Is that you?" he said. Then he stood up, and whispered to the Elf: "Geelef? Is it really you?" Geelef smiled, put down his hood and hugged his old friend. "You know it is." On the other end of the table Nardo also stood up. "Long time no see, my old friend." When Geelef had also greeted Nardo and Tumaros's sister, he sat down, and friendly asked the Dwarf sitting opposite of him: "Hi, I don't believe we've met yet. May I ask who you are?"

At Aira's request: here's the tale of how The Diary of a Common Man was found --- Panting, she ran through the forest, away from those evil creatures. No, she wouldn't be killed now, not when she was so close. She had lived a life only to find it, those beasts would not destroy all the work she had done! It was just a legend, a myth one might say, passed on from mother to daughter, never spoken about to a man. One of her female ancestors once had a boyfriend, who left her without saying why, without ever explaining or coming back. The two of them were about to marry, she was pregnant of him, and she couldn't bear the thought that she would have to raise his child alone, or with another man. So she waited until he would come back. But he didn't, even when her child was born, he didn't show up. But the day after, a tall man with black clothes knocked on the door. "I've got news for you. It's about the father of your daughter." Of course, she let the man in, and he started telling things, about how her love had tried to rid the world of evil, but how he had not succeeded, that he had died trying. That that was the reason he hadn't come back. He couldn't give details though, but he said our hero had written it all down in a diary, titled 'The Diary of a Common Man'. Then the man left, leaving the woman puzzled. When her daughter grew up, awkward questions were bound to be asked, and when the daughter was ten, she knew all about "how her father tried to save the world and left behind notes of it". And she passed the story on to her daughter, and so on, until it reached the ears of Aigenia Aigenia was the first in almost a hundred generations to take this story serious, and she started to long for the Diary, she wanted to know what happened so long ago. So she began to read, legends, myths, stories of the old days - everything that might help her find a clue about the Diary. And she found some clues, small ones maybe, just notes of a man with great magical powers passing by certain places, a forest that had burned down without a reason, bloodstains and footsteps in places no man had ever been before... After almost a decade of reading, she set out, at the age of thirtyfive, trying to find her the Diary of her ancestor. (more tomorrow )

--- Unfortunatly for Aigenia, Tiwo's little prophecy came true. Two days after they'd left the cave, Aigenia already practised with her sword, trying to hunt down some little and harmless rabbits. Although they didn't pose a real threat to her, Aigenia did learn the best places to land a sword, and the easiest way to wield it. Even though the sword was as light as a feather because of the spells Tiwo cast on it, the same spells required another sort of strength to push the weapon in the right direction. The second day, they came to pass a snake. Aigenia saw it, then ignored it because she knew the snake was poisonous, and she didn't want to risk getting badly injured so soon. But Tiwo, showing that same odd grin again, lay a hand on her shoulder. "It's just a little snake, what harm could it do to you?" Aigenia instantly came up with a hundred of reasons why they could better just leave the snake alone, but just sighed, as she knew Tiwo would always have a better reason at hand to attack it anyway. So she drew her sword, and swiftly let it land just an inch behind the snakes neck. "Very nice," Tiwo mumbled. "Though I'd like you to do it again." Again? Aigenia was perplexed by that question. When she turned around, she saw that the snake was right alive again, its decapitated body had grown a new, maybe even more ugly head as before. "What the -?" she uttered, but before she could strike again, the snake shot towards her, biting her just below her left knee. Aigenia screamed, then rapidly hit the snake again. She turned around to face Tiwo. "Will this do then?" she whispered, her vision blurring. Tiwo nodded. This is the best way, believe me. Then Aigenia fainted because of the snake's poison, still wondering what Tiwo though he was doing. A few hours later she woke up, transpiring. She called for Tiwo, who answered from her right side. "You're safe now, that snake was my doing, but for a reason. You should practise your magical skills. And I found the best way to do that, is to try it on yourself the first time. Nothing can go really wrong that way." "Oh, you little -" Aigenia grumbled. "You did the same to - to" "Yes, I did indeed. Though I stabbed him in the leg. Here, wait a second." Tiwo held up a ball of pure, pulsating energy. At Aigenia's shocked look he simply said: "A sigil, what'd you expect?" before he lay it on her chest, and gave a punch on it. Aigenia could feel the energy flow through her body, this was something completely new to her. Then Tiwo held up another glowing ball. Althouh this ball seemed to be less powerful than the sigil Aigenia just saw, its center was still too bright to look at. "And one Health Essence for milady." Tiwo smiled softly when he said it. "Try to heal yourself with it, it shouldn't be too hard."

Heh... long time no see... I just tend to forget falling on a snowboard at highspeed isn't a good idea, especially my wrists seem to hate it :s So, sorry. But I hink I'm just gonna go on with this one, my second just-not-good-enough-to-make-it-as-official-piece-of-work ~G --- Tiwo nodded. "Sure, that's what I intended to do in the first place." "But Aluwen just told me I had to -" Tiwo raised his hand to interrupt her. "I know, but this 'new' quest is just a part of your main purpose in this world, to do the the sole thing your grandfather tried and failed to do." He offered Aigenia his hand. "Come, let's get going." Aigenia took his hand in hers, and let the man pull her out of her bed, making her a little bit dizzy. She stood still for a moment, mumbled I'll be allright. and looked around her once more. The cave was just as dark as the first time she'd seen it, the small fire only lighting the entrance. She searched for her clothes, changed swiflty into her traveling outfit, then started to pack her bag. "Just take the few things you really need with you." Tiwo said silently. "We'll travel fast, food can be found everywhere, magic will cure your wounds and keep you dry. Weapons and some tools are the only things you'll need." Aigenia nodded, put down her bag, rumbled through it to find a small box with some enchanted crafting tools which she put in the pocket of her coat, then looked around for her magic dagger. She found it under her bed, next to a sword and a staff, both engraved with magic spells. "Those are for you", Tiwo said. "I made them while you were resting." Aigenia looked up at her new friend. "Thank you," she said sincerely, "thank you so much, but I don't really know how to use them." "You'll have plenty of time to practise along the way." Tiwo said with a evilish look on his face. "Since you'll also need to learn how to use magic - the real magic - we can combine these things quite easily." Then he turned around, walked out of the cave, into the woods, followed by Aigenia, who was wondering what in Aluwen's name Tiwo could've meant by that.

Once upon a time the Gods were bored with almost everything except themselves. So they just created another universe, really complex. At a certain space they created two worlds, which circled around each other, almost if they both were the moon of the other. One world the Gods called Gaia and this was the planet on which they planted the first few Seeds of Intelligence, along with friendly creatures. One creature found these Seeds and ate them, a few years later every creature of that race was Intelligent. This was a humanoid race, and after they became Intelligent they named themselves the Gaians. For a few years the Gods watched the Gaians with the tiniest of interest. Then the Gods - who weren't that nice, but rather evil - divided the Gaians into a few hundred tribes, who made war to each other. In the course of history some tribes grew stronger, they conquered more territory and created more powerful weapons, other tribes were annihilated before they invented the wheel... The Gods were amused by this, and they laughed at the stupid Gaians, who knew about the Gods and worshipped them, to get help in the war (which they didn't get). The one thin the Gaians didn't know was that the Gods they worshipped were the cause of all their pain and misery... At a certain point in time, the war came to a halt, only three nations were left, each of them almost exactly as strong as the others. The PL's (a sort of presidents on Gaia) of the nations knew they couldn't annihilate another nation, as that would weaken them and give the third nation the chance to destroy what was left of the two others... So, the three nations didn't attack each other, but they didn't trust each other either. The PL's came to a solution; each nation would get 1/3 of the land, the recourses, the sea, basically of everything. When this was done, all weapons on Gaia were taken and stored in a safe place, which didn't belong to any of the nations. This was sort of a fortress, which couldn't be destroyed and could only be opened if all three PL's would willingly cooperate. But, of course, not all weapons were taken... The new situation worked for quite a while, but then some people started to complain. They wanted real peace, not some half-peace, where no-one trusted each other. More and more people wanted this peace. A Resistance was made. At first this Resistance tried to talk to the PL's peacefully, but the PL's were too fond of their current power to give it up, or even split it with someone else. Only one PL was willing to give up his power for the benefit of Gaia's inhabitants. Then, the Resistance bought a few guns and tried to talk with the other two PL's again. And again these PL's wouldn't listen. So the Resistance planned the assassinations of the two PL's, so the third PL, who was willing to give up his power, could rule over Gaia. They did not fail, and that was the time that Gaia became one nation. After a while the people started to realise the Gods were the cause of all the evil that reigned on Gaia for so long. But the Gaians were really advanced in defensive technology, after all these years of war and hate. They build a giant Shield which defended Gaia from the Gods. The Gods knew they could only penetrate the Shield if they used almost all of their powers, which would weaken them. Because the Gods wanted a new war to pass the time, they made a deal with the Gaians. If a few Gaian volunteers offered themselves to the Gods, to create a new war, somewhere else, the Gods would leave Gaia alone. Forever. If the Gaians declined, the Gods would destroy Gaia and everything on it. Of course, the Gaians accepted and a few brave men and women volunteered. The Gods told them to go to the other planet, near Gaia, which was known to the Gaians as Eternal Lands, because the old religions of Gaia spoke of spirits of dead hero's who roamed there forever, in peace. When the Gaians landed on Eternal Lands, the Gods decided to try a different approach this time. They destroyed all the technology the Gaians had taken with them and then divided the volunteers into five groups. The Gods used the Intelligence in the Gaians brains to make five new Intelligent species: humans, orcs, elves, goblins and dwarves. They couldn't create any more smart beings because that would require more Intelligence and they hadn't any in stock. Grow new Intelligence would take ages (even in the terms of the Gods). Each of these five races received special abilities, which would help them destroy the other races, and the monsters... The Gods had created monsters too, out of thin air. They didn't have real Intelligence, the only thing the monsters knew was that they hated all Intelligent beings and that they wanted them dead... The funny thing was that these monsters looked just like the friendly animals on Gaia, only with larger fangs and claws, their eyes were bloodshot and they had more muscles. Maybe the Gods taught it was funny if a rabbit attacked an elf, or maybe their inspiration ran dry... That's one thing we'll never know. The only thing the Gods needed to do know was to create a great hate between the five races. So they did. And a great war began on Eternal Lands, the five races against each other and against the monsters. At first everything worked out just as the Gods had planned it. But there was one thing flaw in their plan; they made the monsters work together... In the beginning the monsters were just as strong as any of the Intelligent races. But later on, as the monsters multiplied faster than the Intelligent races, the monsters became stronger. The Intelligent races were suppressed by the monsters, but they found a solution to their annihilation. They might hate the other races, but they liked their own lives even better. The humans came up with the following idea: they would send a messenger to the elves, to negotiate for peace, maybe even an alliance. The elves, whose territory lay against the human lands, accepted the peace, a bit unwillingly, but they were forced to, because else they would've been destroyed by the monsters. But still, there was hate between the men and the elves. After a long time the elves and the men began to realise they relied on the protection of the other. A sort of trust began to grow between them. After a lot of small and heavy conflicts with the other races and the monsters, the men and elves trusted each other completely, they lived in each others cities, the children were having fun together, the women made clothes and talked about 'that boy with that elegant smile' and the men went out hunting together. They formed one nation, with one army and they grew more and more powerful. They could easily handle with the monsters now and the other races weren't a threat either. The dwarves saw how well the plan of the men worked and they decided to join the Alliance. These three races became friends and together they killed lots of orcs, many monsters and dozens of goblins. The Gods didn't like this at all. So they began to plan a horrible thing: they would kill everyone, make them Undead and without feelings. But this plan needed preparation, about a hundred years. Slowly the Gods grew the Ingredients they needed. But on Eternal Lands the four remaining nations were still in war. The orcs and the goblins knew they couldn't defeat the Alliance by themselves. So they formed another Alliance, known as the Second Alliance. But still, the combined force of the orcs and goblins couldn't defeat the First Alliance (that is how the Alliance of men, elves and dwarves was known after the Second was formed). So they did a desperate thing; they asked the monsters to join them. At this point, the Second Alliance could've easily wiped out the First. If the races trusted each other. But they didn't. The orcs, goblins and monsters all taught the other races tried to conquer them, after the First Alliance was destroyed. So the war went on. It seemed like the First Alliance was winning, but later the Second had a tiny advance. This went on for a few decades. But then the Gods finished their preparations and started their Plan. They sent a huge energy ball at Eternal Lands, which would make everyone Undead, without feelings, only with hate. But the Gods hadn't calculated one thing when they made the energy ball: the fast growing trust between the races of the First Alliance. That's why the ball didn't work correctly, it didn't kill all the feelings, but it did make the people partially Undead. Partially, because they could still die, but they revived almost instantly. Also, the people didn't look like green zombies, drooling all over the place; they just looked like their normal selves, only invisible. The people could see each other, in a vague kind of blur, as if they were ghosts. But if any Gaian would ever explorer Eternal Lands, they wouldn't see any living being. Of course, the force that the energy ball had taken away, didn't vanish into nowhere, it stayed on Eternal Lands. A part of it formed a barrier, much like the Shield on Gaia, only much stronger, so even the Gods couldn't interfere with anything on Eternal Lands. But there was another thing; some stones sucked up bits of this energy. A bit later the First Alliance discovered that when one combined some of these stones, the stones would provide the creator with magic abilities. Also, a few very rare stones sucked up special bits of this energy. When someone touched any of these stones he would partially return to his former state. He'd become visible again, but he still could see the other people. And of course, he'd stay Undead. Only if someone succeeded in finding all of this stones, and combine them, he would almost fully recover his former state of living. Legends say this person would be reborn, visible and with the ability to see the Undead. This person couldn't die as he could before the Energy ball hit Eternal Lands, but he would be reborn in another body, somewhere else on the planet. Also, if this person would share the stones with everyone who wanted them, thus creating trust between the races, which might lead to global peace... Only the place of one of this stones is known, deep down in a cavern, deep inside the sea, unable to get to at this point of time. The whereabouts of the other stones, or even how many stones there are left, is still unknown...

I like it. That's about all I've got to say about it. One thing though: I can imagine that every race favours one or two gods to worship, we should pick those carefully. Aluwen goes for the elves of course, since the elves protect life. Glilin and Dvar for the Dwarves; Unolas for the Draegoni; Well, the other Gods don't really seem to fit with any race, they're just not completely right, if you catch my drift...

"How do you know that?" Aigenia asked. "Well, Gods don't show themselves without a reason, either you've done something really good, or really bad, or you've got a big task to complete." Tiwo answered. "Believe me, in my young days I've also been called to Aluwen, she set me out for a jewel Mortos had stolen and hidden from her, in return I asked her to keep me young. She made me stay about fourty though, it looks better." Tiwo smiled softly. "Yes... The most Honest one. She really loves life at it's peak." His eyes turned a bit more blue-ish as they already were, his thoughts obviously going back through time. "Tiwo?" Aigenia carefully asked after a few minutes. "Tiwo, can you help me with my quest?" "Huh?" Tiwo stared at Aigenia, as if he didn't know who she was. "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking. What did you say?" "I was asking you if you could help me with my quest." Aigenia said, smiling at the old man. --- I'm sorry, I know this is way to short, but I'm just too tired to write more atm... I'm really busy this week, I don't know if Ill have enough time to write a bit more on this story... Hey, I know, how about a little misc story I wrote for EL's main plot a long time ago? It'll need some editing ofcourse, but I'll put it up here somewhere. It'd be more a myth then a historical story, but hey, who cares I'll put it under "Two Worlds".

I'm with Quinticus on this one, just like the Romans took the Greek gods and renamed them. The god stayed the same, only its name and some small things changed when the Romans took them over. Same could go for the races, just think up a god, then add very small changes for the different races and rename 'm. The changes should mainly be in small stories, not in the bigger stories gods play a role in, or in what the god stands for (Aluwen for example should always stand for life and truth.) This would mean that every race acknowledges every single god ingame, and every hero or halfgod, but that different races favour different gods. Freedom to choose your own gods wont be affected this way, though choosing a race does influence the names you get to see, and the stories you'll hear a little bit - which encourages more characters to play quests with, just to find out those tiny differences. About the more worshippers more power thing: Mainly agreed, again just like Quinticus, though I guess one or two gods which are barely worshipped should get alot of power, but don't interfere with life on the Lands much. A God(ess) of war for example could only show up when there are huge battles fought, but isn't worshipped in all-day life, cause war is not your all-day routine.

Hold on! Don't you dare dying on me, Aigenia! Aigenia? Aigenia! *** "What happened? I don't remember. How did I get here? Strange place, all that white... But how did I get here anyway?" *** Yes, that's it, open you- *** "Huh, what was that? Maybe my imagination. Where am I anyway? What happened? Oh yeah, I've fought some wolves... No, not wolves... Hmm... And there was a mage... I think I knew him... Weird... He knew me, that's for - hey wait a minute... Who am I?" "You're Aigenia." "Huh? Who's that? How do you know who I am?" "I am Aluwen, Goddess of Life and Truth. I've send one of my priests to get a Diary, but he failed, and to protect others against that Diary, he put a shielding spell around it, which I broke when you threw a rock against it." "Yes... I think I remember that..." "Good. That Diary belongs to you, descendant of its writer, that's why you can keep it without going mad. I have one thing to ask of you, you must bring that Diary to my priest in Treetown, Tirnwood as you might call it." "Why?" "So I can drain the magic from it, and your people will be able to read and learn from it. It's important that you remove the fog yourself, so your people know it really excisted." "Okay, I'll do that." "Good. I'll send you back now." "Send me back?" "Yeah, this is just your spirit, your body is still trying to recover from the attack." "Where am I now then?" "Till we meet again, Aigenia." *** Aigenia? Aigenia! "Oh, my head hurts..." "Of course, after such a fall. Welcome back though, I almost gave up on you, your body was starting to get cold already." Tiwo smiled at the girl, he'd been taking care of her for days. "Yeah... Aluwen called me to her, so sorry I made you nervous." "Aluwen? Then you really are the chosen one..." Tiwo said. "Did she give you a quest?"

I totally agree with Grum, there's nothing wrong with gay marriages, or being gay at all, as long as they don't keep saying how cute your ass is if you don't want that - but the same goes for heterosexual people, if a guy tells a girl her ass is cute and the girl doesn't like hearing that, the guy should cut it out - and the other way around of course I've had a really interesting conversation with Izzy about this subject, and he actually came up with a fact-based piece which stated that being gay is an illness - though some of his conclusions were false (imo) we didn't come to a clear answer, I think Izzy's still convinced being gay is an illness, but I don't. Heh, don't know why I pointed that out, it jsut makes my pov seem odd... Guess what I'm trying to say is: you should be able to think and say what you want, be who you want to be, as long as you don't harm others. Since there's nothing harmful about gay marriages, they should be allowed. (For those Dutchies among us, *Theo van Gogh* should be a nice subject to discuss too...)

Thank you There's gonna be more of course, i'm thinking of what's going to happen next... Thanks for the list of errors too, but i think 'yours' (going to aid you in yours) is correct, the ' would suggest an abbreviation for 'your is'. But maybe I'm overlooking something, English isn't my primary language so I tend to forget little rules

She ran over the road, the cave in which Tiwo was waiting for her was just around that turn, she just had to make it. But she tripped over a small rock, slamming her body into the dry dirt. Her head hit a tree and she blacked out. *** Blue light... No wait... Red...And yellow... Screams... Aigenia could only see vague blurs and alot of black when she tried to look around her. Where was she? Still in the forest? With those fearsome creatures? The thought of the black wolves which had hunted her brought her back to her senses. She opened her eyes, ignored the pain in her head and stood up, still groggy. Everything was surrounded by a red blur, when she put a hand to her face she felt blood running down her cheeks. She wiped the blood out of her eyes and looked around once more. The wolves were still there indeed, but they didn't pay any attention to her, the only thing those ugly beasts were interested in was a mage in long red robes, wielding a blue shining sword, fighting the vicious creatures. He seemed to be a good match for the wolves, for he had wounds over his hands and face, his robes torn where claws had tried to rip through the thick material. But his the blue light of his sword was dampened by black blood dripping of it, and every time the mage hit a wolf with the sword, more blood trickled onto the ground. The blade seemed to be enchanted, each cut it made lit up before the flesh directly around it scorched away. Aigenia shook her head, she had to help that man! He'd saved her, and she was just standing here, watching while he was fighting of four of the most feroscious things she'd ever seen. Although she didn't have a sword, she did have a small knife she'd been given by her father. It was enchanted by a traveling mage to poison everything it touched. She took a quick glance at the runes carved into the blade, which were glowing faintly green, before she charged the nearest wolf and struck it right in the back. The creature let out a cry of pain and surprise, it hadn't suspected a stab from behind. It slowly turned around, its red eyes fixed on Aigenia. Aigenia backed away a step, the wolf moved along, clearly suffering from its poisoning. Aigenia, encouraged by the thought that these creatures were mortal, threw her knife at the beast, hitting it in the left eye. The creature let out another howl of pain, this time ending in a mournful cry when the wolf realized its death was upon him. Aigenia pulled out the knife from the dead body, and returned to the fight. The mage had also succeeded in killing one of the wolves, and was busy finishing of his third, so Aigenia faced the fourth, cutting its side. A terrible cry to her left told Aigenia that the mage had killed his wolf, but she was still struggling to keep out of reach of hers. She backed of a little each time the wolf set a step towards her, knowing that if she'd try to cut the wolf, he'd go directly for her arm. She looked in fear as the wolf bent a bit through his hindlegs, getting ready for a jump, but the mage's blue sword also made an end to the life of her opponent. "Thank you Aigenia," a familiar voice said. "Tiwo?!" Aigenia asked in disbelief. The mage nodded. "Didn't recognize me, did you?" "No, not really, you're wearing different clothes," Aigenia answered, still panting, "And you've got blood running all over your face. I couldn't see it." "Well, you're bleeding pretty good too." Tiwo said with somewhat of a grin. "Me? Ah, that's nothing..." She put a hand to her head. "Darn," she mumbled. "That's more blood than I thought..." She sat down, suddenly very tired. She heard Tiwo say she had to hold on, then everything went black again.

What might be a good idea about the immortality thingy is if there're avatars of the gods wandering around our little nice Lands, they wouldn't be immortal, but if you slay an avatar, the spirit of the God just returns to the plane they belong (not choosing celestial or elemental ) This'd be nice for quests, since you could get some highlevel players or a guild to slay Centau's avatar to get a huge blessing from Elandria. Maybe not standard quest, but more eventlike things, but still, it'd be nice to work on, and it'd make the stories behind the gods also more accesible forthsoe not too good at english, or those who just want to play the game, without going through all the forumstuff. Just my two cents.