Together Again

[Geelef]

It was a dark night, the moon's light was covered by clouds, rain steadily dripping down from the dark blanket which covered the skies. But as dark and wet the night may be outside, inside the tavern there is always laughter and warmth.

Only one man didn't seem to mind the weather, his long black coat prevented him from getting wet anyway. He just strolled past the tavern, not giving it the slightest glance. He had better places to be than a crowded and way too hot room, with only drunk men inside.

His wooden staff splashing in the wet mud every other step, he made his way over to a small house, perched on the top of a hill. A small paved road led him through the garden, only his own footsteps and the blowing of the wind could be heard.

 

If you would look at this man, walking so quietly through a garden which needed a good gardener, you would expect him to at least notice the black shadow following him.

But as blind as you might be, the man already knew of this shadow, it always followed him when he set out on adventure again, protected him if he was losing a fight, played with him when he was bored of the black nights. This shadow was one of his dearest friends, one he spent many years in prison with, one with whom he had fought to destroy the Black Guards of another realm with... The only friend which had travelled back with him, to this darkened place.

Her name was Catherina, or Cath as he mostly called her, and she was a snowwhite tiger, one of the cleverest mankind had ever seen. She understood what it meant to lose friends in combat, to save the life of someone you love. She went back with the Elf she knew as a friend, although she would never admit it to herself, only to meet other friends of him, people she had never seen, but heard much about when her Elf was talking in his sleep again.

 

'Yo, Cath! Get over here will ya?'

And indeed, the shadow moved onto the path, into the faint light of the house. Cath's white fur seemed to light up by itself, reflecting every beam of light, however faint it was.

'So, you're up to it?' the Elf asked her. A little nudge with her head and a soft growl told him she was.

'Now, we finally are gonna see Aira again...' the Elf said, a smile flashing over his face when he thought of his friend.

 

Together they walked to the house, they were only a few steps away when the door opened, and a redhaired Elf said:

'Hey Geelef! Long time no see! What's that tiger doing there?'

Geelef smiled once more, 'Aira! Good to see you again! I'll tell you everything inside.'

[Aira]

Aira beckoned them to come inside, waving a glass of mead infront of Geelef's face. With a drunken hiccup, he gestured for them to sit down and a table off to the right of the other travelers. Though Geelef had sat down by an elf, peculiar in the shadows with his cap over his head, fumbling with potion bottles and such, Cath stayed put, slightly groaning, the stink from a particularly dirty dwarf wafting around her.

 

The other taverners turned around, noticing her. Not knowing whether she was tame, and for another matter, friendly, they frowned and backed up slightly. Geelef, noticing the silence in the darkly lit bar, whistled for Cath to sit down beside him.

 

"Err... come sit over here Cath," he muttered, whistling to her, but she still sat there in defiance.

 

Aira shrugged, and stood, slightly swaying, another drunken hiccup issuing out of his mouth. He walked over to her, kneeling beside her.

 

"Don't worry about her, she won't hurt you," he said to the silent group of taverners, still backing up with wary eyes.

 

The tiger merely turned her attention to her paw, licking it, and stuck out a pink tongue at them. They looked about them, then decided to ignore her, and went back to their tables to continue laughing and chattering about past events of the day. Aira leaned over, his attention foccusing on the tiger's collar. She had belonged to his sister, Laena, and traveled beside her on their previous excursions and adventures. She never seemed the defiant type, but then again, Aira hardly gave any attention to his sister's pet. His curly red hair fell over his face as he bent over, running a finger at the fragmented Elemental marks that had been studded in her deep blue collar. They had once traveled freely about the collar, linked together, a spell unknown to Aira. But now, they were split apart, dead, their glow lost.

 

Frowning, Aira got back up, shook his hair out of his pallid, freckled face, and ears bent he walked back to Geelef, who was deep in conversation with Nardo, who was still fumbling with the potion bottles, books strewn about the dark mahogany table.

 

"Have you noticed Chatherina's collar," Aira said, unnerved. When he touched the collar, a deathly chill ran up his arm, snaking its way through his veins. "Geelef? Geelef!!"

 

Geelef turned, the hood of his cloak in the way. He threw it over his shoulder and looked up to see Aira, red faced, red eyes bright in frustration.

 

"Oh, sorry... I wasn't listening," he muttered.

 

"Precisely," shouted Aira, his ears still lowered, his face slowly loosing its redness. "Have you noticed that the spell on Cath's collar is broken?"

 

"Yes," said Geelef, looking down. "We need to talk, I'll explain it all. But first, let me go get a mead."

 

With that, Geelef got up, flipping a gold coin in his hand, and walked up to the Yvela, the tavern's keeper, who was busy handing out ale's to a group of humans.

[Geelef]

"A mead please," Geelef said to Yvela, glancing at the humans still hanging around the bar. Yvela nodded, turned around to get a mead then ducked hastily as she saw a knife flying her way in the mirror.

 

"Man, you can't even hit an elf when it's punching you in the nose!"

 

The humans started laughing, Geelef turned around, his face darkened by it's own shadows.

 

"Why did you throw that knife at her?"

"Who are you kidding?" a tall male human said, his hammerlike hands clutching his sword. "He aimed at you... He just had too much ale..."

"Ah. Let me rephrase the question then, what was the reason of this act of violence directed towards me?" A thin smile slid over Geelef's face when he saw the confusion on the man's face.

"Wha?"

"You don't even speak your own language... How very sad..."

With these words Geelef turned around, putting no further attention to anything but his mead.

 

Behind his back the group still stood confused, then the same guy spoke again: "You'd better leave this place, if I were you."

Geelef didn't respond, knowing he would be alarmed in time, if the man was stupid enough to attack him.

"Hey! I was talking to you!"

No response, but a little sip and a sigh of delight. "Nice mead Yvela."

Yvela smiled faintly.

 

Aira, who had been talking to Nardo while all this happened, looked up to check on his mate, and saw the human charging at his friend.

"Geelef! Watch out!" he yelled, but too late, Geelef had already turned around and raised his sword.

 

"Wouldn't try that. Not even think of it." the Elf said silently. "Unless you and your friends want to join your grandfathers in afterlife."

Without a word, the man sheated his sword again, his face white as snow.

"No, no nevermind. I'm sorry..."

 

Geelef also sheated his sword, it's rainbowcolored shine dissappearing underneath his cloak. Then he walked back to Aira.

With a nudge to the drunk humans he whispered sarcastically: "What ale can do to respectable men..."

Aira nodded, but still couldn't resist to ask: "How did you know he was attacking you, he didn't make a sound..."

"Didn't you hear Cath growling? She always alarms me like that." Geelef smiled, while patting his beloved pet on the head. "She saved me on many occasions. But now, you wanted to speak about her medallion?"

Aira nodded. "Let's go upstairs, I've got a room there. Nardo, you should come along too."

Nardo nodded and came along.

[Nardo Lala]

The wooden door creacked loudly in protest while Aira pushed it open. The room inside was quite bare except for a wooden bed, a rickety chair and a similar table with a burning candle on it and a heap of travelling bags in the corner. Without the murmer of the downstairs busstle the outside rain pounded even harder on the roof and the small window overlooking the muddy moonlit street. "Come in and make yourselves comfortable..." Aira nodded while he checked that the door was firmly closed behind them.

 

Nardo realeased the clip of his cape, shook it off and sat down on the floor. He took his beaker of mead and raised it towards his friends. "Good to see you again guys, as soon as I received the news I came here as quickly as i could..." A large smile appeared on his face.

[Geelef]

(Stupid me... Was waiting for Tum to post himself in, forgot he has't got the time )

 

 

Geelef wandered around a bit while Aira told Nardo about his discovery.

"You know it normally glows like the moon, and the runes move around it right?"

Nardo nodded.

"It doesn't do that anymore... The runes are as still as the ruins of my old palace, the glow drawn out of it, like someone put a straw in it and sucked..."

Nardo nodded again. "Maybe the spell just wore off," he said.

"No, that spell should fade slowly over time, like all spells do, not stop all at once."

"That's the strange thing." Geelef said, while walking through the sober room. "Before we entered this town, that collar was glowing as bright as ever."

He moved towards the window, a thin ray of starlight falling on his eyes.

 

Aira jumped up. "Hey Gee, your eyes!"

Geelef turned around. "What?"

"Your eyes! They glowed blue in the starlight!" Aira repeated.

"Huh? Oh yeah. You know I went to that next plain of being and all?"

Aira nodded, Nardo pulled up an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, Nardo, you don't know yet... Well, some travellers and I went to the next plane of being, after we were sentenced to it by the Tribunal of Life. When we arrived some monks gave us the stuff we lacked, but all the inhabitants there did have. Including these eyes. Makes me see better when the stars light my path." Geelef smiled.

"Only problem is I'll get seen sooner too. Two blue lights in the middle of the forest draw people's attention... I kinda hoped that when Cath and I got back, the effect would wear off. It didn't."

"Yes, we can see that." Nardo said. "Now, let's get back to that collar of Cath."

 

"I wonder where my sis got it in the first place." Aira said. "And why she hang it around her tigers neck..."

"Ah, let me correct you." Nardo said. "Around Cath's neck, this isn't Laena's tiger if I am correct." He looked at Geelef.

"Indeed. Cath and I met in the prisons of the Tribunal. Long story, happened just after Aira blew up the castle."

"N-not Laena's tiger?" Aira asked shakily. "I thought she left her tiger with you, so you'd be with her all the time... or atleast something like that."

 

"Erm.. not really. She took her tigerwolf along with her, they couldn't part after such a long time."

 

(Sudden break More tomorrow...)

[Geelef]

"Where is Laena anyway?" Geelef asked.

"Yeah, erm... we don't actually know." Aira said.

"She seems to be somewhere north of here, around the Forests of Kah'lihmera. We wanted to go look for her, after we readied ourselves a bit." Nardo added.

"Well, as far as I'm concerned, I'm as ready as ever to get going. And so is Cath." he lay his hand on his pets head. "Like always..." he murmered.

"You two seem to be pretty close..." Aira added slowly, his eyes widened.

"Yeah... after what we've been through... Ah well, I'll tell you later on. How about we get to those Forests of whatever?"

"Forests of Kah'lihmera." Nardo said. "Sounds good. I heard an ancient Elven lord is living somewhere deep inside it, he might know more about Cath's collar. After we've found Laena, we could go find him too, see if he's got anything to tell us."

 

Aira nodded. "Let's leave right now, after Nardo and I've packed. We'll draw the least attention. That group of humans downstairs, even though they're stupid, it would be a shame killing them."

"You're right, we'll leave through the window. You still know how to fly, right?" Geelef joked.

"Ofcourse we do." Nardo smiled. "We've been practising quite alot before you arived."

"Yeah, check this out." Aira said. He held up his hands, palms towards the ceiling, a small red ball formed above it.

"Just a fireball..." Geelef said dissappointed.

"Just wait." Nardo said.

And Geelef looked in amazement as the fireball took the shape of a unicorn, which started to run around the room, leaving a fiery trail behind.

"Hehe, nice one..."

Aira smiled. "It's not much, I've seen that bartender do an entire show."

[Aira]

Aira looked around the room once more, checking to make sure everything was accounted for, and they didn't forget anything. As he rounded the corner of the bed, ears drooping, he glanced at Cath's collar again. It gave him an unsettled feeling and the metalic aftertaste of evil. Something wrong was happening here, and he could feel it. Cath merely raised her head as if to frown in silent puzzlement.

 

Aira broke his gaze away from the runic collar and continued to search under the bed. Nardo was already packed and impatiently waiting in the hall. Again he caught the chill of the collar, and supressing a shiver, he lept up and walked to the door and stepped into the hallway. Cath led the way as they descended the steps and walked into the tavern, met by the dry stench of ale.

 

"Aira, Nardo," Geelef shouted over the laughter of the other people, waving at them. "Is everything ready?"

 

"Yeah," Aira answered, managing to push through the crowd to get to him. "Everything's packed. The sooner we leave the better. I'm curious about the secrets this tiger is holding."

 

Nardo nodded in agreement, and they walked out into starry night.

[Aira]

They were greeted by a cool breeze and a full moon. The stars showed bright in the sky. Geelef smiled, and turned to the others, his eyes blue with a light of their own.

 

"Well, it looks like we'll be heading north," Geelef said cheerfully. "There's a path a little east from here, but it'll be a shorter journey to just cut through the farms and head through the woods." He pointed directly ahead of them, and then moved their attention to the several houses built along the crops.

 

"I've asked a dwarf in the tavern, and he says there's a stream behind the houses they've diverted for irrigation," he continued. "We can cross there and head north."

 

They other two nodded, and they set out for the farms. Aira looked over at Geelef, as he'd done before at the Inn, and frowned. Geelef looked troubled, as he had before. He clearly missed Laena.

 

"We'll get there soon," Aira told him. But Geelef merely gave him a fake smile and looked back down as they walked. Laena had been with Geelef for their past journeys, and were unseperable. It was his turn to frown now, and his ears lowered, poking through his red hair. She was also Aira's sister, and he still wasn't sure what he felt about their love for each other. But he shook his head, and willed his thoughts away. They had reached the farms, and he could worry about that sort of thing later, after they had found his sister.

[Geelef]

They reached the stream not much later, finding it was much deeper and wilder than they had thought before. The water was running through it at high speed, white foam flew through the air, as if the stream spat it out.

"Well, we'd better fly over this one..." Nardo said stiffly.

Aira nodded, fastened his backpack a bit more and started to fly over the river. When he reached the middle of the stream, he fell down, right into the icecold water, and was swept away immediatly.

 

"Aira!" Geelef shouted, but no answer. He looked at Nardo, and his purple-cloaked friend said: "We should go after him, shouldn't we?" speaking Geelef's thoughts as well.

"Yeah, I guess that's the end of that delicious bread Yvela baked for us..."

He dropped his backpack while saying it, took out his sword, sheated it at his side, rumbled through his bag some more, pulled out a rope which he used to tie his staff to his side, then looked up at Nardo.

"I've got everything. How about you?"

Nardo, who was searching his bag as well, said: "Just one more thing... It should be in here somewhere... I'm sure Ive - ah, here it is."

He took out a wooden flask, which he took a sip of and handed to Geelef.

"Take some, you won't get too cold in there..."

Geelef put the flask to his lips, and as the liquid flowed in his body, he could feel a pleasant warmth spreading through him. "I'd better save this one for Aira."

Then he dove into the stream, the same way Aira went, leaving Nardo to do the same.

[Aira]

Aira was plunged deep under the running water. Air escaped him, and he was left to struggle with the current, to try and make his way to the surface. But before he surfaced, he sensed something at his heels. Something was coming his way. With a quick push and kick of his feet, he broke from the water, gasping for air. Coughing and sputtering he looked about him, but he couldn't see anything. His eyes, glowing an intense red from anxiety, darted to a hand sticking out of the water, followed by a head. Bright blue eyes shown as the figure came towards him.

 

It took Aira to recognize him. "Geelef! How do we... get... to the other side?!" His head was bobbing and going under water, and it was hard to speak. An intense cold was washing over him, leaving his hands and feet numb. His lungs felt weighted, and it hurt when he breathed.

 

"Try and fight the current," Geelef called, trying to swim over to the shore beside him. Nardo appeared behind him, sputtering, and was helping him. But Aira was already drained of energy, and his legs felt like jelly. It was taking all he had just to remain on top of the water. He felt, knew, that he just might drown. He looked to his friends to see that they had abandoned the shore and had taken back to the water. They were catching up to him, slowly. Aira turned around as he noticed the current was getting even stronger, and was hurled into rapids. Geelef and Nardo caught up to him, grabbing his feet. They were nearing the rock now and Geelef, one clasped tight around Aira's ankle, reached out to grip the stone.

 

His hand slid over the rock's slippery surface, but his fingers found a niche in its side. Nardo, holding onto Aira's other ankle, was thrown about and dragged under the water, but managed to swim over to the rock as well.

 

They stayed there for a while, Aira's head resting against the smooth texture of the stone, red hair sticking to the side of his moonlit skin. His royal robes still floated about in the water in a black mass. His left leather boot was slipping off, but he managed to keep it on by twisting one foot around the other, pushing it back up. He was now gasping, falling in and out of consciousness. All he could feel was an intense cold rushing about him, forcing into his mouth and down his throat. He coughed, and turned over to the side.

 

"We've got to get onto of the rock," Nardo yelled. "The potion will fight the cold, but it won't work unless he's out of the water." He pointed to grip holds etched into the side of the stone, and holding onto Aira's arm, he climbed. They had reached the top, and Geelef managed to push Aira up so he could continue his climb. When he too had reached the top, he collapsed, and looked up at the stars above.

 

Nardo was already giving Aira the potion, he coughed on it occasionally. His lips were blue, his skin paler than usual. His red hair was everywhere, and his ruby was flashing in spastic pulses. But they slowly subsided, and Aira opened his eyes once more. His iris regained it's natural red, as bright as ever, and his lips were loosing their blue. Shoving his hair out of his face, he struggled to sit up.

 

"We could stay here the night... I'm exhausted... we need some time to figure out how to get across," Aira muttered. "Damn this river!" With that he fell back, asleep.

[Aira]

[ I have permission from Draca to write her in, and use her in the story since she doesn't want to post. And someone needed to post soon anyways... so I added this. ]

 

Geelef woke to the tweet of a bird flying overhead. He looked around, realizing he was the only one awake, and got to his feet. It was morning now, he saw. The sun was already up, the waves shining in its presence. He heard Aira's robes ruffle as he sat up, and he turned around to greet him.

 

"Morning," Aira said, shielding his eyes from the sun. He was about to say more when they heard someone shout from the other side of the river. He smiled, thinking it might be Laena.

 

"Ugh! You're still not off that rock?," it shouted. His smile dropped, it wasn't Laena.

 

"Draca... is that you?!"

 

"Yeah," she shouted. She pulled her hood off her head, threw back her black hair, and stood up. Her long, fuzzy ears were sticking straight up. She had been kneeling on the grass, looking out at them, a smile stretched across her tanned face. Her hair, so black it seemed blue in the light, kept flying in her face, so she kept swatting around in front of her.

 

"What are you doing here," Aira said, puzzled, and still frowning. His clothes were still a little damp, but he didn't seem to mind.

 

"I was.. erm... well... following you," she mumbled, trying to find the right words. "I watched ya'll all night... I was in the bar, and saw you leave."

 

"Well... how did you get accross the river?"

 

"There's a bridge a little west from here," she said as she pointed, her voice raising over the roar of the rapids. "That's where I crossed. I watched you guys fall into the river."

 

"Why didn't you try and help us out?! How are we going to get off this rock?"

 

"There are stepping stones over there," said Nardo. He was fully awake, and had been listening to the conversation. Aira shook his head, aggitated, as he looked behind him. Large rocks rose from the water, above the waves, and led to the shore.

 

"You could have pointed that out sooner!" he snapped, and his ruby sent of a flash of light.

 

Nardo laughed, and shrugged his shoulders. "I was exhausted. Besides, the rock wasn't too uncomfortable."

 

Aira looked back at Draca, gathered his bags, and took a large leap to the first stone. It was wet, and he felt himself loose his balance. But he quickly steadied himself, and lept again. When he reached soft, green grass, he looked back. Geelef and Nardo were right behind him.

[jjk]

k lemme read it

[Tumaros]

Aira laughed slightly as Geelef slipped on a rock, flying into Nardo, causing them both to crash to the ground.

 

"You guys need to learn about this thing called AGILITY!" roared Aira, caught in a fit of laughter, jumping from a rock. Before he could spin around, he felt himself slam into someone.

 

"And you should learn about this thing called humility, old friend."

 

Aira's eyes opened wide, as he managed to get back up onto the rock. Before him stood an elf, clad entirely in brown leather armor, a greenish-brown cape flowing in the wind behind him, his familiar shoulder-length golden hair and sparkle in his brilliant green eyes bringing back memories Aira only visited in his sleep.

 

"Tumaros!" he gasped.

[Aira]

[OOC: Finally! We were wondering if we should write you in somehow...]

 

 

Aira gave him a playful punch in the arm, smirking. But Tumaros was looking around, puzzled.

 

"Where's Laena," he asked, "I see Cath is here..."

 

Geelef stood up and walked over to him, brushing a piece of grass out of his hair. "Well, we're on our way to her right now. It's nice to see you again!"

 

"Yeah. It's nice to see you guys again too." He nodded and laughed. "I had a little, err... trouble getting here."

 

"Where DID you come from anyways," Nardo asked. He was standing beside Aira, a large smudge of mud trailing from his forehead to his chin, dripping off onto his boot. But Tumaros only shrugged his question away, frowning.

 

"Never mind. So, we'd better get going... oh!" He had just noticed Draca, who was bent over the edge of the water, dipping her finger into the moving froth. The current was still strong, and kept splashing up to spray her face. She only giggled, and kept swinging her finger around in the water, like some sort of pendalum. Tumaros caughed, but to no prevail. She only giggled and wiggled her finger around some more.

 

He stood behind her, looking down over her back. He caughed again, louder this time, making her jump again fly back into him. She let out an "OOH!" as they fell backward to the ground.

 

"Err.. hi," he said. Her head was in his lap, and she quickly struggled to get to her feet.

 

"Umm.. hi." she stammered. When Tumaros looked at her questioningly, she quickly continued. "Oh, I'm Aira's friend, Draca."

 

"Yeah... nice to meet you.. I'm Tumaros." He gave her one last odd glance, and walked back to the others.

 

Great, Draca thought to herself, making a good impression on the others already! She brushed the grass and dirt off the dark ruffles of her robes, and shot off at a sprint to catch up to them, who had already started walking toward the woods, laughing and chatting about pasttimes. She shook her head and took her place beside Nardo, a fumbling elf, she observed, that had a fascination with potions. She was looking at his pack, of course, that was strapped from his shoulders and towered at least 2 feet above his head. The clear glass of empty potion bottles clattered against the metal rings hung about the khaki pack. There was a large green bottle, she saw, that stuck out of the flap at the top of his bag. It carried some sort of powder.

 

Ingredients, she said to herself, and brought her attention to the trees ahead of them. Aira and Geelef, who were ahead of the others, were pushing through the thick ferns and berry bushes at the base of two large oak trees. The others followed quickly after, but stopped as they arrived at a large wall of thickly entwined vines; it was obviously a man made barrier judging by the runes that were etched all about the thorny barrier. Aira had drawn his sword and was raising it above his head when Geelef stopped him.

 

"Wait a second," he said, stepping up to the vines. "These markings... they look familiar. I think I can read them."

 

They waited as he ran his fingers about the marks, careful not to impale his finger on one of the blood red thorns.

 

"From what I can tell, they say this wall is a barrier to keep 'beasts of large proportions' out," he said slowly.

 

"Do you think it's talking about us," Aira asked.

 

"I... I don't know."

 

Aira only shrugged, not giving it a second thought, and brought his athame, glowing from the tip of the handle to the tip of the blade with blazing fire, down upon the thorny wall. Sword and vine made contact, and with only a few quick slashes, enough of the wall was cut that they could pass through. They rushed through, ducking to miss a rogue vine, and huddled at the other side. As Draca passed through, she looked at the runes. They were also etched on the other side of the wall as well.

 

Perhaps they weren't keeping anything from getting in, she thought with a chill, but perhaps they were keeping something from getting out. She frowned, pushing the thoughts away, and huddled around the others.

[Tumaros]

Tumaros jumped slightly as he felt Draca nudge closer to him. He looked at her face...she seemed like she was frightened.

 

Even though Tumaros wasn't used to newcomers in the group of companions he had grown so attached to over their last round of adventure after adventure...he felt it was part of his duty to make her feel welcome.

 

"Don't worry," he whispered, quietly pulling his bow off of his back and notching an arrow in. "As long as you're with us, you're safe."

 

She looked up at Tumaros and smiled. "Thanks..." she muttered, however she kept on her guard. She wasn't too sure whether she should trust this...wild, weather-beaten elf...her eyes fell on his sword, caked with dark blood, causing a shiver to run up her spine...but then again, maybe he was just a friend in disguise.

 

"Still..." she whispered to herself. "One can't be to careful..."

 

"How right you are..." said Tumaros, smiling.

 

Draca jumped. How could he have heard what she said? Not even Aira turned his head! This elf was certainly more sensitive than many...his head turned every now and then at the slightest crackle out in the surrounding vines.

 

Suddenly, Geelef (who was in the lead) held up a hand.

 

He spun around and spoke to the others. "There's something up ahead..." he whispered. "Get your weapons ready...it sounds like it could be big..."

 

Tumaros laughed quietly. "Just like the good old days..."

 

Nardo, preparing a potion, laughed as well. "Yeah...boy I missed them."

 

"What are we waiting for?" roared Aira. "Let's go kick some biggie beastie ass!"

 

Tumaros looked at Draca and smiled warmly. "Like I said, just stay near one of us, and you'll be fine."

 

"Heh...thanks..." said Draca, laughing weakly.

[Nardo Lala]

Together with the others she felt quite safe indeed, but it did not take long for Draca to have her worries confirmed for the vines were already twitching around to close the gap they made behind them.

 

“There is a strange smell in the air, we better prepare ourselves for a serious fight†said Geelef. Aira nodded and held his already unsheathed sword in a tighter grip, while he heard Nardo shaking his rattling bag trying to fasten it a little tighter around himself. Tumaros looked around and scoured the area, then grabbed a hand of dirt and with a frown took a light sniff. “Something is alive in here, and its not a species I know of†Indeed the surroundings where certainly strange and totally different from where they were before they stepped though the gap. They were all standing close to an almost circular tall wall of entwisted thorny vines. Some as old and hard as centuries, other with fresh pumping poisonous juices and their spikes were glistening in the little sunlight that seemed to concentrate on a small object that Geelef had spotted on the opposite side from where they were standing. Indeed there on a small raised platform there was a weathered encarved stone table. On its base and around it was a different kind of lush’s flowering plant with thin moving sprouts crawling about. It was very humid in there. The ground beneath them seamed to steam and was soft and mushy. In the centre, in front of the pedestal was a large grating, tightly secured with clamps and seals, a few metres wide, covering a large dark hole underneath.

 

They took a few careful steps forward towards the platform and the large hole. Nardo shrugged his back and held his staff in a defensive stance in front of him, carefully not to tread on anything he should not step on at the same time looking for anything useful. He looked at Braca who was walking close “Don’t you feel it…these plants are kinda like watching us†“Hmm, yes that could be…,†she replied with a dashing smile, “…but I am more worried of something else that I am sensing.â€

 

Geelef suddenly spoke “There is something laying on top of that table†“Look there…†Nardo nodded and replied “I would not get to close yet, these plants I have not seen before and they could be poisonous or paralysing, let me check if I have some preventive antidote†They were now within metres of the altar and the large hole in he ground, when suddenly a soft unhumanly growling screeching sound suddenly came deep from beneath the grate…

[Aira]

An acrid stench wafted about them, catching them offguard and knocking them back with their fingers clentched on their nostrils. Draca, eyes watering, looked through the veiling steam and at the grate, eyes wide in horror. It was gone, and no where in sight.

 

She turned around, taking her fingers from her nose, and poked Aira hard in the shoulder. He looked at her, then at table. He shook his head in disbelief.

 

"A mushroom," he announced, puzzled. "What the-"

 

He had stepped forward onto a vine, which in turn wrapped around his leg. Tight, and getting tighter. He yowled in suprise, and spun around to face the others. But the vine tugged, tripping his feet and knocking him to the ground. Another yell of suprise pierced the air, but not from Aira. Draca too, had fallen from the ground, and was being dragged towards the hole. Aira grabbed for her hand, which were flailing about, but missed. The others seem to awake from a trance, and jumped to the aid. Nardo and Geelef grabbed Aira by the wrists, as the entangled cord began to pull him as well. Tumaros had a hold on Draca's arms, but the plant had him skidding accross the forest floor. Nardo, realizing this, grabbed hold of Tumaros's hand, and pulled back.

 

"Let go of my arm," Aira said, waving the blade still clentched in his hand. "I'll cut myself free!" Geelef let go, and Aira snapped the dagger back, slashing the vine in two. Nardo let go of his other wrist, as Aira struggled to his feet. Sword raised, Aira ran to free his friend. But another vine sprung from the muddy earth and wrapped itself around his wrists, lifting and taking Aira with it. The blade dropped to the steaming ground below, as Aira kicked and squirmed above.

 

The others were busy pulling Draca back, as her feet had already reached the tip of the hole. It pulsated beneath her legs, a beat that played against her pounding heart.

 

She realized that her knees had already grazed the edge, and moved past into the heated darkness. She looked back in terror, and screamed. The mushroom on the table throbbed with the rythym of the void.

 

"It's the mushroom," she shouted out. "Get the mushroom."

 

Geelef let go of his hold on her elbow, and whipped an arrow against the drawstring of his bow, aimed, and with a little boost of elemental magic, he let it fly. It soared straight into the mushroom's stalk, splitting it in half. The white head, broken into puss-oozing pieces, fell to the table with a splat. Aira, still struggling, felt the vine loosen it's grip on his wrists (which were now bleeding against the constriction), and he fell to the ground on his back. The others already had Draca on her feet, and she was brushing herself off as they turned to him and gasped.

 

His ears were lowered, and his ruby was flashing bright, steadily growing faster between pulses. His eyes were glowing a fearsom red, and the muscles in his neck and his temples twitched. He was clearly pissed, and getting angrier by the second.

 

"Uh oh," Draca muttered, only to be moched by the others.

[jjk]

Aira in a fit was trying to hurt the dieng "things" heard a slight wistle behind him.

 

The others panting and bruised looked through thick bushes to find this random whistler.

 

Draca was thinking this was another trap, so she suggested them look away.

 

Geelef worked his way through the "vines" and grabed at the bush, as he thrusted it apart a big man with a large smile bursted out in a great voice, "Having troubles mister?"

[Geelef]

The moment the man appeared, the vines dropped dead, leaving everybody watching around for the source of this sudden quietness.

 

"Err, OK. I think my troubles just ended..." Geelef said, kinda surprised.

 

"Hey... I've seen you before!" Nardo said, after he'd taken a quick look at the broadly smiling man.

 

"Yeah, and I know all of you, except this girl..." the man replied. He started counting everybody off:

"Aira La'Ean, Nardo Lala, Tumaros Treesoar, Geelef Greenleaves and his tiger." When he reached Draca, he just looked at her, didn't say a thing.

 

With a small voice Draca said: "M-my n-name is Draca..."

 

"Draca huh? Pleased to meet you. I'm JJK. Or just Jay, whatever you like."

 

Tumaros looked up at the name, then poked JJK in his stomach, smiling.

"Damn you, why didn't you say anything?"

 

JJK just smiled back and said: "What would you've done? It seems we're all kinda getting back together again."

 

Nardo nodded, more serious as the rest felt.

"Yeah, I've noticed that... It seems like something big is going to happen. It can't be coincidence that we all, the old gang, got together again. It wouldn't surprise me if we're being brought back together somehow."

 

"Gaia?" Geelef simply asked, but in his voice lay fear, and worry.

 

"I really don't know, my friend." Nardo said, just as worried. "But I think it is."

 

"Gaia? What's that?" Draca asked. "I might sound stupid, but I've no clue what it is..."

 

"Neither do I..." Tumaros said slowly.

 

"That makes three of us." JJK added.

 

"Ok, let me tell you." Aira said. "I didn't know of it either, until the night that Geelef entered the tavern Nardo and I were staying.

Nardo seemed to know a little bit of it, but Geelef told us alot more.

It seems that the planet we live on has it's own soul, it makes it's own decisions.

That soul can't control it's body, the planet, directly though, it must use the animals and people on the planet to do certain things.

Erm... Geelef?" Aira looked at the green-clothed Elf, hoping he'd be able to tell the rest.

 

"Yeah, that's about the basic thing. I think I know why Gaia took all of us. Magic is in fact the power of Gaia's soul, so every time we send a fireball at a bunny, we make contact with Gaia. And since we've been quite active at using magic, I think Gaia found it more easy to pick out us, rather than somebody else."

 

"So, Gaia is the soul of our planet?" Draca asked.

 

Geelef nodded.

"But now we gotta get out of JJK's hiding place.."

 

"What do you mean, hiding place? I stranded up here the same way you guys did: wandering around..."

 

"So, we're trapped here with some evil force at work?" Tumaros asked.

 

JJK nodded and pointed out one of the particulary big vines. "That one's moving again..."

[jjk]

(err finalfantasy XD)

 

--They all backed up to a spot with no vines--

 

"What is this place?" Jay asked, "I just wondered hear cause of a familliar smell..."

 

Aira chuckled

 

"Whats so funny?" squeaked Draco

 

Nardo interupted Aira and reached in his pocket, and said "This." as he tossed it over to Jay.

 

Jay smiled and gulped down the potion.

 

"But about that..."Thing" said Aira, "Gaia, whatever you call it, was IT attacking us? Is this thing bringinsg us together to help it..or to destroy us?"

 

Draco sat on a rock and picked up a twig, and said, "I don't feel like taking any chances" With a shiver Draco through the twig into a tree.

 

"Well I hope it's NOT after us because this thing...I mean...wow this could be life...no World threatining. You saw how hard it was to keep those vines from huring us.." said Geelef and was interupted by Aira mummbling "hurting? pfft. more like a scratch."

 

"Anyways," Geelef continued, "We must find out what it wants, I consider myself apart of this place, this forest, this planet...I want to help it before I have to hurt it. But about those vines, yea this CAN be bad...you saw them right JJK?"

 

"Uh, no but i did run into some dangerous spiders, or not spiders but they kinda just fromed from plants, they had some sort of root from their back to the ground. That and then Orcad."

 

"who?" asked Draco

 

"She called herself a predicter, she said this journey would be hard for us all, maybe with our friendship...but she said this would be real hard and longer than we can handle, infact she said 'Much longer'" Jay said

 

then Tumaros flicked his foot at the ground and sighed, he looked up at JJK and said "How much longer?"

 

 

XD

[Geelef]

[FF9 To be percise, right? ]

[Memories brought up by your last three words ]

 

 

"She didn't really know, I guess." Jay replied. "But she did know we were the only ones that might be able to come through one piece, maybe one piece and some splinters."

 

Nardo smiled. "I've heard of Orcad before. She really has the gift of foresight, but rarely uses it to do good. I think we might be set up to do something we don't really want to do, but we still have to do it if we stay together."

 

"Well, I'm not planning on leaving you guys again!" Aira said fiercely. "And it'll be fun. Just like the old days."

 

"Yeah, I wouldn't wanna miss anything like that," Tumaros added "Though it was kinda painful sometimes, we always managed to keep moving. You guys are the only ones which I trust enough to go on such an adventure again."

 

"Know excactly what you mean..." Geelef went on. "We don't even have to say what we're gonna do, everybody just knows what he's got to do..."

 

"OK people, let's quit this deep conversation and get moving, these vines get more active by the second!" Nardo interrupted them.

 

Shooting a quick look around, Geelef saw that he was right, where the vines had lain still a few minutes ago, they were now twisting and curling again, doing their best to get off the floor, towards the intruders of their forest.

Aira picked up his dagger again, Nardo and Geelef unseathed their swords and Tumaros readied his bow.

"Uhh, you guys, I don't have a weapon anymore..." JJK said timidly. "The sword I had broke on one of those vines..."

Geelef threw his staff to Jay, who caught it easily. "I expect it back after this." Geelef said.

 

Draca looked at the others, to frightened to say a word. Geelef bent over to her, and whispered: "Don't worry, Cath'll protect you..."

Draca nodded, and looked at the white tiger now standing between her and the vines. She swallowed.

 

 

Without any further ado, the group plunged itself into the twisting vines, Aira Nardo and Geelef slashing every vine they could lay their swords on, Jay bashing the vines with Geelef's staff and Tumaros keeping the bigger ones at bay with his magical arrows. Draca followed the others closely, always protected by Catherina, who set her claws and teeth in every vine which made a move for Draca.

It didn't take long to reach the wall they slashed their way through, Geelef and Aira both summoned a fireball and blasted the thick thorny viens out of their way.

"Let's go, before the gap closes again!" Geelef shouted, while he slashed a vine in two which was attacking Aira from the back.

 

Swiftly, they all jumped through the hole, two by two, Nardo and Aira being the last ones to jump out on the other side. Tumaros sent a few arrows through the gap to make sure the vines didn't come through, Aira cast a quick shielding spell over the gap.

"That should hold at least until the gap's been closed..." he said.

"Everybody alright?" Tumaros asked, looking at the others.

"Just a few scratches." Geelef said, running his finger along a small cut on his face.

"How about you, Draca?" Aira asked.

"I'm fine, thanks to Cath..." she said, patting the tiger on her head."

 

"Still, everybody should take a bit of this," Nardo said, while pulling out a vial with a bright red potion in it. "I wouldn't be surprised if those vines were poisonous, this should make sure you'll be alright."

 

Passing the vial around, everybody took a small sip, Geelef also put a few drops into Cath's mouth. "Doesn't taste too good, I know... Just swallow it, it'll make you feel better." he whispered to his pet.

 

"Now, where should we go from here?" Aira asked.

[Nardo Lala]

"Hmmm. I don´t really know for sure, but the Orcad has given me this" mumbled JJK while fumbled in his beltbag and took out a parchment. "Have a look at this."

 

The parchment was unrolled and passed around. Everyone had a good look at it.

When it was Nardo´s turn he also recognised the ancient writings. It was a map, quite detailed with markings. "By the house of Lala! Its the ancient temple of Abraxas!". It was said it carried somewhere in his catacombs an extremely high magical treasure. "

 

Geelef stood up "The magic around us is drained away every minute, looks at Cath´s collar and your amulet, who knows how long before it will affect us as well." Aira nodded with a smile, "Whatever is behind this has to deal with us sooner or later, who knows what we´ll find on the road, but that temple is only a few weeks journey, we should make it before the winter falls" "Are we sent there to collect or protect ?" Draca asked. Geelef just smiled and spoke "Who knows?"

[Geelef]

They set off, turning their backs on the wall, which had repaired itself by now. Evening had fallen during the fight and the escape.

Nardo and JJK were walking in front, talking about the Orcad which had given the map to Jay. Aira and Draca followed, both of them smiling every so long, when a good memory passed their conversation, Geelef and Tumaros closed the lines, walking together silently, being greatful that they all were back together.

"Good times ahead..." Geelef heard Tumaros mumble beneath his breath. The Elf bowed his head slightly, a hard to notice confirmation to those three words. His blue-shining eyes darted to the bushes at their sides every now and then, returning to the road when he saw the white tiger following them closely, watching over them as an angel.

"You can see her, can't you?" Tumaros asked.

Geelef nodded, still looking at the next turn.

"I can only hear her sometimes, but never see her." Tumaros went on. "It must be pretty nice to see that well in the dark."

Geelef turned his head and looked at his old friend.

"Yeah, it's even more beautiful than at day, everything's surrounded by it's own blue aura, Cath, and everything else that's white, light up even more. I can see her aura through the bushes every now and then."

Then his eyes turned back on the road again.

 

Tumaros looked at Geelef for a few more seconds, trying to understand what the Elf was thinking, then gave up, nudged his green-clothed companion, and ran to Nardo and JJK.

 

"Where are we gonna stay for the night?" Tumaros asked Nardo. "Cause we don't have any edible food anymore, it's all washed away in the river."

"We'll stay in the forest for tonight, see if we can catch some rabbits, though I haven't seen any yet, only those big wolves, but they taste pretty bad."

Tumaros smiled. "Heh, I know what you mean. I'll see if I can shoot some rabbits, maybe a deer. But I fear we're gonna be pretty hungry tonight."

"Just tonight though," Jay added. "Tomorrow we'll reach the city of Yhr-fell, I know a nice little hotel over there, we can stay there for free. Saved the owners life once."

"Yhr-fell?" Tumaros asked.

JJK nodded.

"And what about the shops over there, can we buy some good equipment?" Nardo asked curiously. "I could use a pair of new boots."

"Loads of shops. It's one of the biggest cities I've ever seen, though only those who have already been there know it actually exsists. It's full of magic."

Their conversation was stopped abrubtly by Aira, who was running along full-tilt, smiling broadly.

"What's up, Aira?" Nardo asked.

Aira slowed down a bit and shouted over his shoulder: "Saw a pack of rabbits over there, I'm hungry!"

 

They all bursted out in laughter and ran after Aira, ready for some cooked rabbitmeat.

[Aira]

They slowly approached a rather large bush, covered with tiny purple blossoms. The air around them was crisp and hot, and beads of sweat began to trickle down their foreheads. Aira slowed as his feet skid in the soft dirt, and he shoved a finger to his lips, telling them to be quiet and still, and pointed back down at the brush. It quivvered a bit, branches shaking and leaves rustling in the silence. Another smirk grew about Aira's face as he raised his arms slowly over his head, and leaped, laughing excitedly.

 

Suprised squels came from every direction as rabbits burst from the base of the bush. They ran straight, in circles, and spun about in fright, as Nardo and Geelef chased after them. Draca, planted face first in the dirt, struggled to her feet, fingers wrapped around a rabbit's foot. It struggled for freedom, kicking back at her, but she managed to hold tight to it. Tumaros, also laying down, had his hands under the bush, reaching for a rabbit huddled near the base of the trunk. It's ears were back, its eyes wide, as the elf's fingers drew near, and it lashed out, teeth tearing into flesh. Tumaros snatched his hand back, sucking on his finger. He pulled it out and looked at it. It was bleeding allright, and as he shook his finger he noticed Aira out of the corner of his eye.

 

"Need some help," he asked, as Aira kicked about. His head and torso were burried in the bush, and his legs were sticking straight out as he tried to free himself from this develish plant. But it held tight to him, and he grunted in the effort. Tum laughed, and wrapped his hands around Aira's boots, forgetting about his finger. He tugged and tugged, pulling back as his feet slid from under him. He landed on his rear, but got up again. He tried once more, but still to no success.

 

"Pull harder!! Puulll harrrddeeerr," Aira yelled from inside the leafy cage. But still, not the slightest budge. Tumaros laughed again and shrugged, running after a rabbit that zipped past his foot.

 

"Wait! Get me outa here!" Frustrated, his temper rising, Aira beat at the branches, but drew his hand back as his clenched fist made contact with the sharp edge of a broken twig. Face pinched in the sudden pain, his fist added to his frustrations, and he kicked and screamed in anger.

 

Nardo, however, had his arms clasped around a white rabbit, but it kept slipping from him, trying to escape, he caught notice of Aira's strugglings, and when he got a good hold about the fluffy mass, he walked over toward him, laughing at his catch.

 

"Hey Aira, look at..." but he was cut off by a sudden yell coming from the center of the flowering leaves. Aira, reaching the first peak of his temper, went tense, legs falling down, his ravings and mind going numb. The air grew hot, and as Nardo strained his eyes, looking harder into the bush, he caught sight of the bright red light emenating from somewhere deep inside. He suddenly recognized it as it pulsed, remembering such occurances in their past.

 

Memories flooded past his eyes as he remembered...

 

Heat rising about them all, as they were gathered in a wood... Laena.. somewhat different.. and Tumaros and Geelef were there.. dressed in some sort of strange clothes.. Aira standing in the center of the crowded wood.. were the trees dancing?.. and fire. Brightly lit and growing brighter and taller about the dacing trees. Strange music.. making him want to dance.. but they joined hands. His frog.. But the fires in his mind were taking over him, flling his mind, until he was snatched away from them. New memories came to him, as he strained to see. Vision was filmy, blurry. Aira.. a tavern.. shadows.. and an orb, glowing brightly in the center... A small crowd of people, his friends, were standing about it, as they joined hands... the metalic taste of magic trapped in their mouths and in the back of their throat.. Aira's ruby pulsing... He was once again snatched away, barely aware anymore of Aira's ranting and cursing coming from the bush. He was lost in the wave of memories, barely aware of anything else... and once again the straining visions came to him again. The road was rocky... somewhat familiar to him.. yes, very familiar.. and his frog was perched atop his shoulder.. Aira was running ahead.. and mushroom.. no, not normal mushrooms.. large, monstrous.. scary. And what was this? Aira floating.. his ruby was pulsing again, and the taste of magic was on them again... more fire? No.. Aira's hair.. floating atop his head.. yes, it was fire, but it wasn't burning him.. What's this too? Light? ... coming from his mouth? .. his eyes?.. The fire rose about them once more..

 

He was snatched back to reality, shuddering, remembering Aira's burden of power...

[Nardo Lala]

Nardo stumbled backwards from the bush, for the heat was getting more intense by the minute. The picture that just flashed through his mind was real. Through the bush he could see an intense red light that was glowing from within Aira, pouring out of his eyes and mouth in strong rays. His head and body was suddenly covered with a pulsating shell, where flames licked on the surface, growing by the second as he struggled for his release.

 

They where all knocked back with a sudden waft of scorching hot air when the bush exploded and Aira suddenly shot up to the sky. Drifting in the large flaming orb around him, Aira´s eyes where wide open with fury, but not being able to see, his mouth was screaming in anger, but no sound could be heard. Only frustrating him more. Higher and higher he flew, his chest heaving and expanding, his fists clenched, veins pulsing, glowing, as if the anger within him was still not strong enough. Larger and larger the circle around him grew, with flames dancing in a more intense frenzy with every breath. Until in one go Aira suddenly released all.

 

The force of the second wave was ten times stronger, Geelef who just got back on his feet stared in awe as released by the explosion hundreds of large flames in the shape of phoenixes and unicorns where shot in all directions of the sky deep from within Aira. Then the blast came with a screeching sound that carried for miles. Dazzled for a few seconds, once again he scrambled himself up and looked again up in the sky. “Aira!†The pulsating power of anger that was surrounding him was diminishing and the power of gravity was taking an overhand. He still seemed to be in a trance though, or unconscious, or not aware, for he was tumbling down fast without any inner reaction. Tumaros and Jjk also saw him coming down, as did Draca and Nardo, they all rushed, just in time to catch him.

 

“Give him some air guys†Geelef spoke forcefully while nudging Jjk and Tumaros aside, anxious to see his friend more closely. Aira looked pale and drained, breathing, but barely. “Hmmm…†Nardo nodded after he had examined Aira a bit better, “Lala be praised, nothing to serious†He smiled “Give me a minute and I will have a potion ready that will knock his socks back on.â€

 

Nardo chuckled for a second but then put on his serious face. “Geelef please stay with him, while I work on it†Then he looked at Draca, Jjk and Tumaros. “He’ll be all right, please finish off those rabbits we caught, there is also a white one over there.†Tumaros held up the catch he had made already in his hand. “Look, Draca even found some carrots.†Gelled smiled “I think a good diner will do Aira and us all a world of good.â€

 

Nardo walked back to his bag, sat down and took out the necessary equipment and ingredients. He saw from the corner of his eye the others also being busy. Then he took his grinder in his hand and worked with great precision, for the ingredients were rare and the chance of failure was great. While being alone there was a worried look on his face. The sudden memories suddenly all brought back including Zabar, his dear friend, magic teacher, backing vocals and best frog ever, has been missing for ages and there where so many questions. “Why is nature suddenly behaving so oddly?†he mumbled to himself “if I can’t trust it… what would happen to the effect of my potions…â€