Lonely Island Inn

[NicTei]

Alright, some of you may already know what's going up here, but I'm not going to say.  It'll actually be up sometime today, as far as I know, but I'd still like to keep you guessing.  Not that I want you to do that here; I'd prefer if you did it elsewhere.  I don't want my topic loaded up before I can upload anything.
   Night Abyssion has become bored with the life he leads at the aptly named Lonely Island Inn.  Even with his foster father and tutor Old Tim, things are going too slow for him.  But when he decides to explore the strange and foreboding Monolith, his perspective is quickly changed, and he will have to fight to make his way home again.

Table of Contents
Prologue:  Journal Entry 1
Chapter 1:  Old Tim
Chapter 2:  The Monolith
Chapter 3:  Seledonia
Chapter 4:  The High Council
Chapter 5:  Luna
Chapter 6:  Dark Side of the Moon
Chapter 7:  The Valley
Chapter 8:  A Narrow Miss
Chapter 9:  Doppelganger

[Saint]

Technically, it wouldn't be guessing if I told people what it as, but I shalln't anyway, unless the demand is high , of course!  Saint gives the peoples what they want!

[NicTei]

DON'T F***ING DISCUSS IT HERE!!  NO POSTS!!!

[NicTei]

Journal Entry Number 1:  Day 1 of Cycle 3 in the Year AD2013

   My name is Night.  Night Abyssion, if you want my full name.  I’m writing in this little sketchbook for the sole reason that Old Tim gave it to me for my birthday, which, consequently, was today.  I don’t know what I’ll write about yet, so give me a second to think.

   Oh, I’ve got an idea.  I’ll tell you about how I came to be where I am!  Well, since I don’t enjoy origin stories, I’ll just give you the basic run through.  I’m a Rayvin, not from this side of Inverse.  I don’t know how I got here; I was just an infant when I came, so it’s all a mystery to me.  I’ve asked Old Tim, but he won’t really give me an answer.  He says that I’m too young.

   I have, however, asked the others that hang around often, and they tell me a wondrous tale.  Apparently, I fell from the sky in a flash of bright light, straight into the ocean.  It was then that I made my first acquaintance with the Aquatians, or so they say.  As the story goes, they held me above the water and brought me to the island where Old Tim was, and from then on he raised me as the son he never had.

   Then there’s the Monolith.  It rises out of the ocean just behind our island, and Old Tim says that it’s bad luck.  I’m not so sure; I’ve felt a pull from time to time when I look at it.  I’ve noticed strange things about it, like how the sea is always calm immediately surrounding it, despite storms.  Fish and birds seem to avoid swimming or flying near the Monolith, which is odd.  Even the occasional dragon that I see will steer clear of it, some even turning around before daring to get close.

   Well, Old Tim’s calling me in; apparently supper’s ready.  I really wanted to sit outside tonight and watch the sky-jellies rise, but I guess that’ll have to wait for some other night.  Despite what I’ve thought on other occasions, I guess life’s not bad here at the Lonely Island Inn.

{+}

   Rin looked around cautiously.  Despite her armor, she had managed to escape the battle swiftly, following her comrade’s orders against her own wishes.  Tears ran down her face as she ran, but her helmet had prevented her from wiping them away, and they had dried on her face, giving her cheeks a strange feeling.  Now, as she leaned against a tree in a clearing trying to catch her breath, she had the chance to remove the oppressive helmet.

   Hair of a color equivalent to finished rosewood flowed out, cascading down her back and shimmering in the bits of sunlight that filtered down through the leaves on the trees.  Warily, she kept a vigil for either of her comrades, her green eyes wide and watchful.  Removing one of her gauntlets, she wiped her hand across the smooth skin of her face, ridding her cheeks of the dry tears.

   A twig snapped, and she was instantly on her feet, a long sword in her hand, gripped tightly.  As a bush nearby began to rustle, she raised it to a position where she could easily strike down any attempt at an ambush.  She dropped her blade, however, when an armored form stumbled out of the brush, scorch marks and dents in the once shining metal the protected the person inside.

“Vance!” Rin called, rushing forward to help him.

   Grunting, the armored figure pushed her away, leaning against a nearby tree.  Reaching up, he pulled his helmet off with some difficulty and tossed it to the side.  A shade darker than Rin’s, his hair was long for a boy, extending down a bit past his nose.  Brushing his sweat-laden bangs out of his dark blue eyes, he slid down the tree into a sitting position.

“I think they got Quix,” he muttered, taking deep breaths.

“Quix can handle himself.  Are you okay?” Rin asked, hovering over him.

   Before Vance could answer, another form came hurtling out of the bushes, though it wasn’t of its own power.  The armored form, helmet ripped off and parts of its armor torn to shreds, had been thrown into the small clearing.  Leaping up, Vance caught the slightly smaller boy, knocked over by the force of the impact.  Running over, Rin inspected him for injuries.

   A shock of tousled blond hair stuck out from his head in many directions at once, and though his eyes were closed, both Vance and Rin had seen him conscious enough times that they knew they were a warm, chocolate-brown color.  Leaning over, Rin tried to wake him gently before Vance shoved him off and shook him roughly.  Unfortunately, he didn’t stir.

“Curse those mecha,” Vance muttered.

“What are we going to do?  I can hear something coming,” Rin asked, looking in the direction that Quix had been thrown from.

   Vance was silent for a while, but soon stood up and put his helmet back on.  Lifting his sword from where he had dropped it, he faced the direction that the possible enemy was coming from.  Rin started to lift her sword, but he shook his head.

“No, you take Quix and get him to a hospital.  I’ll hold it off while you run,” Vance ordered.

“How do you know it’s not another mecha?” Rin asked.

“We took them all out,” Vance assured her.

“Then what about the damage you’ve both taken?” Rin asked.

“They seem to know when they’ve lost, and the sore losers blow themselves up,” Vance retorted curtly.  “Now get going.”

   Rin lifted Quix onto her back, straining to hold his weight even without parts of his armor.  As she started to run, she heard Vance yell and charge, but a strange sound made her stop.  Turning, she saw that Vance’s arms and legs had been frozen in place, and as she looked at the figure who had done it, she uttered only two words.

“Thank God…”

[Saint]

I love the imagery you've created there.  A seemingly carefree dreamer writing beause he can, and expecially the girl's undryable tears.

One thing, the spacing is out here:

...they were a warm, chocolate-brown color.  Leaning over, Rin tried to wake him gently before
Vance shoved him off and shook him roughly.  Unfortunately, he didn’t...

[NicTei]

Thanks.  Spacing fixed.

[NicTei]

   In the middle of a vast sea, a small pinprick of light fought in vain against the encompassing darkness as the clouds obscured the moon’s light from the dark waters below.  This light came from a small building on a lonely isle, a few palm trees around it, but other than that, not much else.  This building was the Lonely Island Inn, a strange thing to find on such a remote little block of land.  Inside this building, two people were seated at a table, both eating and talking somewhat animatedly about the repairs they needed to do after a squall had knocked over one of the palm trees and opened a hole in the roof.

   The eldest of the two was a grizzled old man, the keeper of the Inn.  His gray hair was receding from his forehead, and he was wearing an old, dark gray tunic, a white belt holding it closed.  His skin was tanned and weathered, for he had spent many years out in the sun working to keep his Inn in a decent condition.  His old black eyes still twinkled with a sharp intelligence that anyone could see it would be dangerous to underestimate, and as he spoke it was plain to see that he was already planning every single move in fixing the hole.

   Opposite him was a much younger boy, though he was just about as tall as the old man.  His jet black hair was long and shaggy, but if one were to touch it, it would’ve felt as light and soft as a bird’s feathers.  Almost glowing in the light, his pale skin perfectly brought out the color of his eyes, as deep blue in color as the ocean; his appearance was almost feminine, and if it weren’t for his physique and something in the air about him, many would mistake him for a girl.  Like the old man, he wore a tunic, but there were holes in the back, and through them two large, black wings protruded, though they were folded against his body.  Just beside him on the table was a small, leather bound notebook, a quill made of one of his own black feathers resting on top of it.

“So Night, what do you plan to do tomorrow?  I could use a hand with the hole in the ceiling,” the old man was saying through a mouth full of fish.

“I was going to talk to Visser after devotions, and then practice my technique a bit,” Night replied.

“Fighting after prayer?  Sounds like putting a bar across the street from a church, if you ask me,” the old man retorted with a wry smile.

“You don’t think I should?” Night asked.

“I would like some help fixing the hole in the ceiling…” the old man answered.

Night looked out the window.  “Oh, the sky-jellies are starting to rise late!  I’m going outside, Tim!” he said, getting up from his seat as he finished his plate of fish.

   Running outside with his journal, he looked first at the water, then gradually up into the sky.  As bulges appeared on the ocean’s glassy surface, he would watch them continue to rise until the near transparent, glowing jellyfish began to float into the air, ‘swimming’ as if they were still in the ocean.  Night didn’t know how far they would rise, not even Old Tim knew, but he assumed that some of them eventually made it to the stars.

“Night, don’t let them sting you,” Old Tim warned from the doorway, wiping his hands on a white towel.  “They’re rather poisonous, and I’m not sure we’ve got enough of the antidote.”

“Alright, Tim,” Night replied, disappointed.

   Tim closed the door most of the way, just a crack of light seeping out and coloring the beach sands and shifting waves yellow.  Night sat down and watched the jellyfish lazily undulating further into the cloudy expanse above the ocean, eventually lifting his sketchbook and dipping his quill into the inkwell that he had left on the sand.  With gentle strokes he started to draw the strange creatures, adding the stars behind them and the clouds drifting in front of the stars.

   All of a sudden, he felt a strange burst of air, though the sky-jellies didn’t seem to notice it; they still flew on, undisturbed.  At once, Night knew what it was and turned around.  Opening his wings, he quickly flew to the top of the Inn, resting on a small platform that Old Tim had built there for when he wanted to look at what lay beyond the Lonely Island Inn.

   Rising into the clouds, and even further beyond that, as Night knew from looking at it so often, the Monolith stood.  When the night was clear, however, you could see all the way to the top.  It rose far beyond what anyone would think, and just as one thought it would never end, it suddenly cut off to what appeared to be a plateau.  The waters immediately surrounding it were even more placid than the sea extending beyond that invisible barrier that sat what appeared to be only yards away from the structure, but again Night knew better.  Because of the immense size of the Monolith, ones sense of distance was thrown off completely.  It was only a day’s sail to the barrier, but another day before one could even get close to the Monolith.

   Not that anyone wanted to, of course; it was a bad omen.  Even the Aquatians, the fearless warriors of the sea, dared not swim past the barrier.  Beyond that line, it was what the Aquatians called ‘Dead Sea.’  Night had often toyed with the notion of testing the water to see if there were even any plankton near the foreboding object, but never acted on it.  In truth, he was frightened of it, despite the pull he felt from it.

   When a sudden chill ran down his back, he flew down from the platform and landed on the porch in front of the door.  Pushing it open, he slipped in, looking around the small lobby before seeing that Old Tim wasn’t there.  Stalking quietly through the hallways, he listened at the door to the old man’s room.  Hearing snoring, he smiled slightly and proceeded down the hallway to his own room.

   Sitting down on the edge of the straw-filled mattress, he drew back one of the stiff, terrible flower-print curtains to look outside.  The sky-jellies were still rising, nearly scraping the clouds.  They looked like stars that had fallen to cast their light from a smaller distance.  Leaving the window open slightly, Night lay on his stomach to keep the strain off of his wings, finally falling asleep with his head on his arms.

{+}

“Night, get your butt out of bed!  Visser’s at the dock!”

   Night awoke to Old Tim yelling at him.  Opening his eyes, he looked around his room for a moment.  Dust particles were floating lazily around in the sunlight, and though it was a somewhat calming sight, it was also rather disgusting to see so much dust in his room.  Yawning, he got up and looked in his small closet, pulling out a new tunic and put it on.  Tossing on a new pair of pants, he left the small room, covering the window with the curtain again, and walked through the hallway, muttering his morning devotions the whole way.

   Walking through the kitchen, he stepped through the lobby and out of the Inn.  Once outside, he started to walk around back of the building, where the dock stuck off the back of the island.  Even before he got onto the planks of wood, he could see Old Tim standing near the end, looking into the water.

“Alright, Night’s here, so I’m leaving,” Old Tim said to whatever he was looking at, moving quickly past Night on the dock.

“Hi,” Night said, looking down into the water and waving.

   Just under the surface was a humanoid figure, but its skin was a blue-grey color, and rubbery in texture.  Two big, black eyes were set into the human-esque head, a tail-like protrusion extending from just above where the neck met the back of the skull.  Gills were on both of the Aquatian’s cheeks, and as Night watched, it waved at him with a three-digit hand.  Popping its head above the surface, it looked at him unblinkingly.

“What’s going on, Visser?” Night asked, sitting on the edge of the dock.

The Aquatian, breathing through gills on its chest, replied quickly.  “We’ve felt something strange in the currents lately.  Father’s gone with a group of our stronger males to see where it originates.”

“I’ll give you one guess as to where they end up,” Night said with amusement.
The Aquatian smiled, showing off white, piranha-like teeth.  “So quick to blame the Monolith?”

“Hey, you can see just as much as everyone else that it’s a bad place,” Night replied, looking down at his friend.

“I’m not the superstitious type,” the Aquatian said snobbishly.

“And yet you still wimped out on a dare to go there,” Night answered with an amused smile.

   In response, Visser lowered her head down into the water up to her eyes, leaving them above and blowing a bunch of bubbles.  This was a gesture akin to sticking your tongue out, and Night started to laugh.  Visser kept it up until she, too, started to laugh, interrupting the bubble flow.

Suddenly, the Aquatian closed her eyes.  “I must go.  Father is back,” she said.

“So soon?” Night asked, raising his eyebrow.

“It’s urgent news, or so the currents tell me.  Goodbye, Night-ka,” Visser replied before disappearing in a flurry of motion.

   The suffix ‘ka’ was the equivalent of ‘friend’ in the ancient Aquatian tongue, one that wasn’t spoken often by anyone under the waters, and so far Night had only heard Visser using it.  Even then it was scarce.  Sitting on the dock a while longer, Night finally got up and started towards a fighting dummy that was stood up in back of the Inn.  It was barely taller than he was, and set on a structure that resembled a wheel so that it could turn.

   Lifting up the two foot-long sticks that had been placed beside the dummy, he spun them around in his hands, finally stopping with the majority of the stick extending from the back of his hand.  Taking a stance that appeared to be merely for looks, he suddenly struck out with an unexpected attack, striking the dummy’s arm.  It started to spin, its other arm swinging at him, and he hit it back.

   Repeating this process until it was going fast enough, Night ducked under the arm and kicked it in the head, causing it to bob back and forth on its springy support.  The strikes started coming high and low, causing Night to work to block the next strikes.  Keeping up his speed, he suddenly let his wings explode open, and, rising into the air, he landed behind the dummy, hooked one of the sticks around it, and pulled back sharply.  It fell completely backwards, a slot in the wheel at the bottom allowing it to fall completely horizontal.

   Breathing deeply, Night sat back and dropped the sticks.  He had often wished he had a better ‘opponent’ for his practice, but at the same time he didn’t want to work too hard.  Finally catching his breath, he heard Old Tim yell for him from up on the roof.  Sighing, he opened his wings once more and flew up to help.

{+}

   Visser swam towards her father, Strae.  The slightly larger Aquatian was swimming back and forth in the water, pacing impatiently with his spear resting on his shoulder.  What Night hadn’t been able to see from where the dock was Visser’s legs.  They were the same make as a human’s legs, though with only two toes on the foot and fins running up the side of the shin.  Visser’s father, however, had five octopus-like tentacles in place of legs.  Many of the Aquatians had actual legs, though some had tentacles, and others had fish tails like mermaids.

   It seemed that the entire community of Aquatians had turned out for this; they were all surrounding Strae and two other males.  The other two males looked just as impatient, though were trying to hide it.  They floated in place, arms crossed and eyes half-closed.

“Father, what’s happening?” Visser asked as she approached.

The older Aquatian stopped.  “Now that everyone is here,” he said, “we can begin.”

   The other two opened their eyes and nodded.  One swam towards Strae, an object bound in kelp and various other weeds clutched in his hands.  Handing it to him, he quickly swam back, as if the object frightened him.  Strae looked at him for a moment, and then turned his attention back to the gathered community.

“As you remember, it was sixteen years ago that a black-winged infant fell into our world, brought to us from parts unknown,” Strae said as he began to unwrap the object.

“Yes, we know of Night Abyssion.  He lives with the old man on the island,” someone in the crowd said.

“He’s been such a help to us, giving us materials for weapons when the old man is otherwise occupied,” another added.

“Enough!” Strae commanded, and all fell silent.  “There is no doubt in any of our minds that Night is our friend, but he must go!”

   This caused an uproar, the citizens yelling their protests and talking amongst themselves, and it took Strae many tries to quiet them down again.  Finally, everyone was silent again, though Strae had to take a moment to compose his next sentence carefully.  Before he could speak, Visser ventured forward.

“Father, if I may ask, why must Night-ka go?” she asked.

Strae looked at his daughter.  “It is because of this,” he said, finally unwrapping the object completely.

   A collective gasp arose from the crowd as everyone shrank back from the object.  It appeared to be just a normal fragment of stone, but they could all feel the strange way the currents faded when they neared it.  It was a fragment of the Monolith.

{+}

   That night, as Night lay on the platform on the roof watching the stars, he heard a strange sound.  Sitting up, he looked around, but nothing seemed to be wrong.  Returning his gaze to the stars, he began to gaze around when he heard the noise again.  Then he saw it; a large shadow moving through the sky far away.  There was something fishlike about it, but at the same time it also resembled a moving mountain.

   Watching it with caution, his curiousity finally got the better of him.  Spreading his wings, he took to the sky, flying towards the shadow.  Something seemed wrong, however; though he was flying towards it, he didn’t seem to be getting any closer.  It was then that he realized why.  With a yelp, he started to fly back towards the Inn.

“Tim!  There’s a Maeteor in the sky!” he shouted as he landed on the porch and ran into the Inn.

“Is it coming this way?” Old Tim asked, completely forgetting about what he was doing.

“I don’t know, I didn’t watch long enough,” Night panted.

“Best get in the cellar, just in case,” Old Tim replied, dropping the fish he had been cleaning.

   Running down the hallway towards his room, Night grabbed his inkwell and journal before exiting, crossing the hallway to another door.  Opening that, he entered a small closet.  Pushing a few things out of the way, he fumbled around on the floor, as if looking for something.  Finding a large ring, he pulled on it.

   With a loud creaking sound, more than half of the floor lifted up, revealing a stairway down into a small room dug out of the sand and reinforced with planks of wood.  Hesitating, he waited until Old Tim was almost pushing him down to step down the stairs.  With another creaking sound, the old man pulled the door shut behind him.

   For a moment, there was complete darkness.  Then, with a small snapping sound, a match flared to life in Tim’s hands.  Raising it up, he lit an old gas lamp to cast some light on the cellar.  Night was curled up in the corner, his wings against the cold, damp sand.

“I don’t like it down here,” he said quietly.

“If you’d rather be up there when that Maeteor passes over, be my guest,” Old Tim replied gruffly.

   Night didn’t reply, but tried to go to sleep.  To not be able to see the sky was pure torture to him as a creature of the air.  After hours of trying, he finally fell into a deep, fitful sleep.

{+}

“So what does this fragment of rock have to do with Night-ka?”

   The question was put forth by Visser after her father’s report had finished.  Apparently they had discovered other fragments of the Monolith and upon receiving orders from the elders of the community, the other two males had returned to the site where they found them and were bringing back everything they could find.

“Wait and see, Visser,” Strae commanded.

“They’re coming back,” someone piped up from the crowd.

   Everyone was silent, and closed their eyes.  It was true; they could feel their brothers moving towards them in the way the water moved around them, and it also told them that they were both weighed down by something heavy.  When they finally got in view, Visser could see that the two Aquatians were carrying between them an old, tattered flag, filled with rocks.

“We must fit these rocks together like a puzzle,” Strae explained.  “I don’t know why, but I get the feeling that Night is tied into this somehow.”

   Reluctantly, the community of Aquatians flowed forth and started to move the rocks.  Because they had separated from the Monolith, they seemed to lack much of the strange force that the structure as a whole possessed, but still managed to make them uneasy.  It took several hours of working on separate sections, and when they finally pushed them together, they could see fragments of something, but they couldn’t tell what.

“There’s something there, but what is it?” Strae muttered.

   An idea suddenly struck Visser.  Swimming upwards until she was almost at the surface, she looked down at it.  Calling down to her kin, she pointed at it excitedly.

“I see it!  I see it!” she called.

   From her vantage point, she could see clearly what the carving on it was.  It was a circle, surrounded by strange glyphs.  In the center was another carving, though this was of a figure.  For a moment, Visser thought it was a girl, but there was something about it that told her otherwise.  Protruding from its back were two large wings, and with it was a book with a strange shape on it, like a lower-case ‘t.’

“It’s Night-ka…” she muttered as the others began to swim up to see it.

{+}

   Night looked around, confused.  Hadn’t he been inside the cellar before?  Now he was standing on the surface of the sea, looking at the Monolith.  The Lonely Island Inn was nowhere to be found, and though he tried to fly, it seemed that his wings were too heavy.  As he looked at the Monolith, he realized that it was starting to move.

   It rose up out of the water, and as it did so it started to rotate so that it was lying on its side, completely horizontal.  Fins and eyes started to sprout out from it, its rocky exterior crumbling off to reveal flesh.  In a split second, the Monolith had turned into a Maeteor.  Crying out in dismay, Night started to run, trying to get away from the overly destructive creature.

   With shocking speed, it started after him, catching up in seconds despite its mass.  As it dove after him with its mouth wide open, it exploded.  Night turned around, seeing the chunks of flesh that were flying through the air turning into sky-jellies that started to rise into the air.  Stars burst into the sky like as if shot from a cannon, and Night rubbed his eyes at their brilliance.  Unfortunately he got too close to one of the sky-jellies.

   A loud hiss sounded from it, and its tendrils wrapped around his arm, stinging him painfully.  Collapsing to the ground, he through the creature off.  Feeling the venom running through his veins, he started to shake uncontrollably as Visser suddenly rose out of the surface, calling his name.

{+}

“Night!  Night!  Wake up!”

   Night jolted awake, Old Tim shaking him while calling his name.  Rubbing his eyes, he stood, his knees aching from being bent all night.  Groaning, he stood up with the help of the wall, leaning against it as he stretched his legs out.

“Is the Maeteor gone?” Night asked groggily.

“It didn’t even pass over last night,” Old Tim replied as he opened the trapdoor.  “I was going to wake you so you could go to your room, but you were sleeping soundly.”

“Yeah right, you just didn’t want to try,” Night muttered.

“That could be it, too,” Old Tim replied, laughing.

   Once out of the horrible cellar, Night ran through the Inn and out the doors.  Leaping up into the air, he opened his wings and started to fly straight upwards.  He kept going until the air grew thin and ice started to form, dropping a few feet to catch his breath.  He was above the clouds now, though the Monolith still rose high above him.  After basking in the sunlight for a while, he dove back down towards the water, pulling up just before he hit the surface.

“That is the last time I go in that cellar,” he said to himself as he skimmed his hand over the ocean’s surface.

{+}

“Visser, will you swim with me for a moment?”

   Visser looked up; her father was at the door to her room, looking at her.  Nodding, she swam after her father, closing the door behind her.  They swam in silence for a while, stopping when they had reached the limits of the Aquatian city.  Strae turned to his daughter.

“I want you to come along,” he said, looking right into Visser’s eyes.

“Father, I can’t do that.  Knowing what’s going to happen to Night-ka, I’m not sure I can trust myself,” Visser replied, looking away.

“If you hang back, you’ll be fine.  I just want you to come along so you can see the power of the Monolith, and why it is a dangerous thing to be near,” Strae insisted.

“I’ll think about it,” Visser answered noncommittally.

“Don’t think too long; we leave in an hour at the earliest,” Strae replied.

“Yes, Father.”

Strae put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder.  “I trust you.  You won’t try to interfere in any way.”

“I wish I had your confidence, Father,” Visser said, looking back into her father’s eyes.

“I don’t call it confidence, I call it foresight,” Strae replied with an amused smile.

{+}

   Night finally touched back down on the island, landing briefly on the sand before flying up to the platform on the roof of the Inn.  Sitting back, he looked up into the sky at a single bird circling above, shrieking out across the vast ocean.  Leaning back, he started to go to sleep, but jolted when he heard Old Tim call his name.  Standing up, he looked around the island, finally finding the old man on the docks, talking to Visser and her father, Strae.

“Night, can you come here for a minute?” Old Tim asked.  His expression was strange; it was stony and unreadable.

“Sure,” Night called, wondering what was going on as he flew down to meet them.

[Chinaren]

Caught up, and it's still good.   

Only a couple of smallies...

mouth full

It's mouthful here, one word.


Whilst I appreciate you're trying to let the reader know the flying jellies (awesome concept btw) are poisonous, it seems a bit silly him telling the character that, as he'd already know.  Maybe say don't get stung as they are low on antidote.  A slight reword.

   All of a sudden, he felt a strange burst of air, though the sky-jellies didn’t seem to notice it; they still flew on, undisturbed.  At once, Night knew what it was and turned around.  Opening his wings, he quickly flew to the top of the Inn, resting on a small platform that Old Tim had built there for when he wanted to look at what lay beyond the Lonely Island Inn.

This paragraph is awkward, could use reworking.

[NicTei]

Well, thanks for the feedback.  As I'm running out of time, I'll keep this short.  I won't be here at all today, or at least not until very late at night (or very early in the morning as the case may be for you).  I'm heading somewhere else, so I won't get much writing done, and I won't be able to talk in the chatroom as I have for the past couple of days either.

So, see you tomorrow, I guess.

[Chinaren]

I also won't be, er... here.  Oh dammit.  

But I will be drunk tho!  



[fly] [/fly]

[NicTei]

Yah.  I was gone yesterday.  Went to a car show specializing in cars from the fifties.  There were a lot of 'Rat Rods,' which are cars that have been allowed to rust and decay just for the effect of it.  One of the jokes I made about them was that they're the safest cars to drive; get in a crash, and it'll disintegrate, not crunch up and stab into you.

Anyways, I learned a valuable lesson at the car show:  heat is not anyone's friend.  There were many members of the female gender wearing low-cut tops, sure.  But this is America, so half of them were either fat or old.  Or both.   *shudder*  I won't be getting to sleep at night...

But, I digress.  I'll be starting to work on the next chapter of this now, and I can't wait.  I'm introducing a new character that I've been thinking of, and just decided on a wardrobe for.  GO WRITING!! 

[Saint]

I'll be starting to work on the next chapter of this now, and I can't wait.  I'm introducing a new character that I've been thinking of, and just decided on a wardrobe for.  GO WRITING!! 

Do you even realise how FEMALE that makes you sound?

[NicTei]

*punts Saint out of the thread*


[fly][/fly]

[NicTei]

   As Night neared Old Tim and the Aquatians, he could hear that they were talking.  Straining to hear as he drew ever closer, he retained a disappointed sigh when they stopped, Strae noticing him coming.  Old Tim turned around, his expression still unreadable.

“Night, you’re supposed to go with these two to the Monolith.  They’ve got some urgent business they’d like you to help them with,” he said.

“Night-ka, it seems that there’s something stuck higher up on the Monolith, and we need your help getting it down,” Visser hastily explained.

“If it is what we think it is,” Strae stepped in, “then it may be a very important artifact that we thought was lost.”

“Cool!  Looks like I get to be an archaeologist for today!” Night said, beaming.
Suddenly, Old Tim pulled him into a crushing hug.  “Just be careful,” he whispered.

“I’ll be fine, Tim,” Night assured him, wondering why the old man was behaving so strangely.

“We’d best be going then,” Strae said slowly, turning and swimming off.

“Think you can keep up, Night-ka?” Visser asked mischievously before shooting off.

   Crying out, Night shot into the air and took off after them.  Old Tim watched him go, figuring that they would probably reach the Monolith in hours if they didn’t stop or slow down.  Growling as a tear started to fall down his face, he swore loudly.

“If he doesn’t come back, I’ll just have to haul my old bones over to get him,” he muttered, turning around and going into the Inn.

{+}

   Old Tim’s estimate had been close to correct.  Night was starting to fall by the time they reached the Monolith, for they had all involuntarily slowed to a stop at the barrier before Strae pushed forward reluctantly.  Before they had crossed, Night could barely see the two Aquatians beneath the surface.  Past the barrier, however, they were the only things that moved, for even the slight ripples that always occupied the surface of the water seemed to have disappeared.

   When they were finally at the Monolith, they stopped, staring at it.  Night looked everywhere on the stony structure in front of him, but couldn’t see anything the Aquatians would consider an artifact.  All that was there was an almost smooth face of rock.

“Where is it?” he asked.

“Fly up a little higher,” Strae instructed.  “It’s just above you.  You should be able to see it.”

   As Night flew a little higher, Strae watched, confused.  Something should’ve happened by now.  What was going wrong?

“It should’ve done something by now,” he muttered.

“Perhaps he needs to touch it?” Visser suggested.

“I’ll bet that’s it!” Strae answered, a look of genuine shock on his face.  “How did you know?”

“Call it intuition,” Visser answered smugly.

“Night!” Strae called.

“Yeah?” replied the still searching figure.

“You may have to brush off the surface!  Some sort of moss might’ve grown over it!”

“I don’t see any moss…” Night called back down.

“Just try it!” Visser hollered.

“Yes ma’am!” Night replied, saluting her in a comedic fashion.

   Reaching out to touch the surface, he became aware of a strange current just inches from its surface.  It was as if the Monolith was trying to pull him closer.  He hesitated for a moment, but his curiosity eventually won out, and he reached forward to touch it.  Brushing the surface with his fingers, he was disappointed to see no artifact covered in rock-colored moss.

“Nothing’s here!” he shouted down.

   Both Strae and Visser were at a loss, though Visser was secretly happy.  Turning to her father, she was just about to suggest they all go home when a strange light suddenly illuminated the Monolith.  Night started to fly away, but he was enveloped in the light, which reached out towards him like an arm.  With a loud booming sound, the light collapsed in on him, and he was gone.

“Where’d he go?” Visser asked, searching the skies frantically.

“To wherever the Monolith wanted him to go,” Strae said calmly.  “We must go.  It’s no longer safe here.”

   Wordlessly, the two Aquatians fled the scene, swimming as fast as they could.  Neither of them knew whether or not they’d just killed their friend, but they both knew that no one was safe if he stayed where he was.  Strangely, only they had seen the light; it was as if the barrier around the Monolith also blocked the ethereal illumination from the eyes of those that weren’t in the barrier.  So, it was with heavy hearts that they returned home to tell their community that Night was gone.

{+}

   On the other side of Inverse, a dark forest sat in silence, surrounding a strangely familiar rocky structure, miles wide and thousands of miles high.  Everything was tranquil, though possibly too much so around this strange stone pillar.  The stars high above were beginning to fade as sunlight began its conquest against the night, spreading across the sky and turning the blackness to a pale grey.

   This tranquility was interrupted out of the blue when a bright light flashed forth from the object, though not going beyond a certain line where its influence ended.  From this light fell a winged figure, trying to stop itself before it hit the ground.  As it fell through the trees however, its head collided with a thick branch, the hollow ‘thwack’ resounding through the forest, which had become quiet once more.  With a final, heavy thud, the figure came to rest at the base of the tree, no creature daring to risk seeing what it was.

{+}

“Get up and make yourself useful.”

   Night slowly rose, a terrible headache clouding his thoughts.  Through the haze, he could barely make out a silhouette standing over him, though facial features weren’t clear.  Groaning, he started to sit up, but a dangerous throbbing in his temples forced him back down.  It felt as if the entire percussion section from a marching band had gotten lost, crawled into his head, and started to play to pass the time.

“Are you alright?” the voice asked.

“Does it really look like I’m ‘alright’?” Night snapped.

“Watch your tongue,” the voice responded coldly.

   Massaging his temples, Night looked up at the figure standing over him once more, and as his vision cleared, he began to make out more details.  It was a boy his age or slightly older, standing just inches taller.  For a moment Night thought that his chest was covered in blood, but as sight returned to him, he saw that the boy was wearing a tight, form-fitting shirt of a deep red shade. 

   Most of the shoulders were cut out, the sleeves connected underneath the arms.  At the base of the sleeves, holes had been cut in the cuffs, through which his thumbs protruded.  Because of this, most of his hands were covered by his sleeve, though he was still wearing black gloves of a strange material that shimmered like silk. 

   As either a contrast or complement to the tight red shirt, the boy was wearing slightly baggy black pants, the cuffs tucked into knee-high, heavy black boots, silver plating on the toes and around the ankles.  Around his waist was a black leather belt, holding his pants around his slight form.  Connected to this belt at the base of his spine was a sword sheath of some sort, held completely horizontal.  By the length of the sheath, the blade it held was around a foot long, not counting the hilt, guard, and pommel; it was very likely a shortsword.

   Looking up from the blade, Night met the boy’s eyes and froze.  Though they were almost a warm shade of brown, they exuded a coldness and hatred that suggested a bloodthirsty predator, and Night tried to back away, but was pinned against the tree behind him.  Possibly as a reaction to Night’s eye contact, the boy looked away, the light hitting his shoulder-length hair in a way that made it look like brass, as opposed to it taking on the color of dead leaves in the shade.

“Are you able to walk, or do you need help?” the boy asked, not looking at Night.

“It’d be easier to understand you if you talked normally,” Night grumbled, staggering to his feet and ignoring the steady pulse in his head.

“Watch your tongue,” the boy repeated, emphasizing each word this time.

“Sorry,” Night muttered.  “Who’re you?”

The response was curt.  “I should be asking you that question.”

“I’m Night Abyssion,” Night answered, extending his hand.

Looking at Night’s hand, the boy just stared at Night as if to say “Are you serious?”

“I introduced myself,” Night said, withdrawing his hand.  “You could at least return the favor…”

“My surname is Phaeton.  That will do for now,” the boy said calmly.

“What’s your first name?” Night asked.

“I can’t see why you would need to know that,” the boy answered.

“You’d best tell me, or I won’t honor you by calling you by name,” Night said, trying the boy’s ‘higher than you’ approach.

“And why would I want your honor?”

Night started to reply, but couldn’t think of any real reason.  Closing his mouth, he decided that now would be the best time to find his feet very interesting.  His new acquaintance, however, relented.

“My name is Light,” he replied.

“Hey, ‘Night’ and ‘Light’ both…um…never mind,” Night said, his once cheerful reply fading as Light glared at him.

“Did you lose anything when you fell?” Light inquired.

“No, I can’t think of anything.  I didn’t bring anything from home…” Night replied after a moment of thought.

“Then let’s go.  This is a forbidden place,” Light answered, turning around.

   Seeing no other option, Night followed Light as he moved through the forest,  looked around in wonder; the foliage was foreign to him, for the great oak and ash trees were far different from the palm trees he knew.  Though there wasn’t really a path, it seemed that Light knew exactly where he was going; no step was unsure, and every movement he made seemed precise.  As they walked onward, Night suddenly felt a strange tension ease away.  Stopping, he turned and looked back into the forest.  Taking a couple of steps back the way they had come, he felt the tension return.  A step back and it was gone again.

“Have you lost your mind?”

   At the sharpness of the words, Night flinched and turned around again, seeing that Light had stopped and was staring at him condescendingly.  Smiling apologetically, he caught up to his new companion, looking to the ground once more.  Light resumed his forward motion, though he was looking around the forest more carefully now.  At length he stopped and whistled loudly.

   Out of the brush came yet another figure, and though Night was at first wary of an ambush in this strange place, his suspicions were rest when he saw that the other figure was apprehensive of both him and Light.  It appeared to be a young girl, but looking closer Night found that she had the features of a cat on her face, and her body was covered in short white fur.  The clothes she was wearing were dirty and ragged, contrasting with her fur greatly.  Her blue eyes were wide with barely restrained fear as she looked between the two, and her tail swished around agitatedly.  When Light spoke, her feline ears twitched.

“What’s happened at the camp?” he asked.

“M-mecha,” she stammered.

“Was it only you that escaped, or did the others get away?” Light asked calmly.

“Sorry to interrupt, but what’s a ‘mecha’?” Night asked, smiling apologetically and scratching his head.

   Both Light and the cat-girl looked at him like he had lost his mind.  While the girl stared at him, Light turned to look back in the direction they had come from, and then looked back at Night.  There was a strange look in his eyes, and it was only now that Night realized that there was a foreboding air of fallen grace around him.

“You’re not from this place?” Light asked, though it was more of a statement.

“No, I’m from Lonely Island,” Night replied.

“Are you from the other side of the world?” the girl asked, now more excited than afraid.

“No, I’m from Inverse,” Night said, looking at her strangely.

“He is from the other side of the world!” she muttered to herself.

“Silence!  Something is coming!” Light hissed, staring to the brush behind the girl.

   Exploding out of the foliage, a large grey form took over Night’s vision but for a split second.  It was suddenly knocked away by Light, who had moved fast enough so as to be a blur.  Grabbing onto both Night and the girl, he started to run through the forest, cursing under his breath in the old tongue that appeared to be his usual way of speech.

“Is that a mecha?” Night asked, trying not to trip as he was pulled along.

“Run!” Light commanded, suddenly stopping and pushing Night and the girl forward.

   Before Night could argue, another grey shape moved between him and Light, stopping long enough so that he could see what it looked like.  It was completely covered in armor, a beak-like faceguard covering the front of the jagged helmet, red eyes glowing from the holes.  Its hulking form moved with an uncanny swiftness, as if it bore no armor at all.  One arm ended in three fingers while the other ended in a long, curved blade, and as Night watch in horror, it swung the blade at Light.

   Dodging the swipe with a well-timed jump, Light landed on the blade, running up its length and onto the mecha’s shoulder.  Leaping off of its back, he shoved it forward so that it fell to the ground, which shook with the impact.  Its twin caught up with the three, and they both surrounded Light as the second got up again, supporting itself with its more natural looking arm.  It thrust its bladed arm at Light, who was standing in front of the other, and as he ducked it ran its comrade through at the chest.  A strange shudder ran through it, and its red eyes darkened.

   Noticing that Night and the girl hadn’t escaped yet, Light muttered something under his breath and ran towards them, grabbing them and pulling them along again.  Night tried to look back, but Light was dragging him so violently that if he took his eyes off of the ground ahead for a second he was afraid he’d fall.  He looked to the girl, but she seemed to be doing fine, running over the forest floor just as swiftly as Light.

“What were those things?” Night asked when they finally stopped in a clearing beside a small stream.

“Clockwork Knights,” the girl replied.

“Introduce yourselves while I keep watch,” Light commanded, disappearing into the forest.

“I’m Night Abyssion,” Night said, extending his hand.

“Serena Redthorne,” the girl replied, shaking it.

“What was he talking about earlier when he mentioned a camp?” Night asked, looking around for Light.

“He rescued me and five others from a small shed in the forest.  We were put there by some crazy old man,” Serena replied, shuddering at the memory.

“What happened?” Night inquired, curious.

“I don’t know.  One minute it was silent, and the next thing we knew there was a horrible scream, and he opened the door,” she answered, talking about Light.

“So he had you all at a camp then?  Where was he taking you?” Night asked, becoming suspicious of Light’s motives.

“We suspect he was taking us to Seledonia.  It’s a large city, and it’s not too far away from here,” she replied.  “But we didn’t want to come; we knew what he was…”

“What do you mean?” Night asked, confused.

   Before Serena could reply, there was a loud explosion from the fringe of the clearing and Light hurtled out of the trees, rolling along the ground before he managed to stop himself and stagger to his feet.  Growling, he looked back into the forest, but when nothing moved, he walked down to the stream.  Serena seemed to have lost all interest in what she was telling Night, though he could tell it was because of Light’s presence.  Any trust Night might’ve put in Light was now gone; Serena seemed to be a good person, so if she was afraid of him, there was likely good reason.

{+}

   Later that night, all three of them were seated around a small fire, Night and Serena chewing timidly on some plants that Light had claimed were edible.  He had already eaten what he had found, and was out looking for more for them.  They could barely hear him walking through the brush just outside the campsite, so they didn’t resume their earlier conversation.  Finally he came back, something
cupped in his hands.

   Night had seen berries before, but they were usually of a kind that grew on a certain type of algae; hard, sweet, and orange in color.  These, however, appeared to be clusters of many smaller berries, each of them either a deep purple or black; it was hard to tell by just the firelight.  Picking one out of Light’s hand, he tried pulling one of the small berries off the cluster, but it simply burst in his hand, coloring it a deep purple.  Serena laughed.

“You eat the whole thing; it’s a mulberry!” she explained, showing him by taking one and eating it.

   Following her example, Night put the entire purple cluster into his mouth and chewed.  Though it was better than the plants Light had found before, he found himself reluctant to take another; they were sweet, but not as much as the berries from the sea.  Still hungry, though he accepted them as Light put half of them in his hands and the other half in Serena’s hands, keeping none for himself.

“What, you don’t want any?” Night asked.

“I ate my fill at the bush,” Light replied, though Night could tell he was lying.

“Are we going to the city in the morning?” Night inquired after a short silence.

“Seledonia isn’t very far from here,” Light answered, though he didn’t elaborate further.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then,” Night muttered.

   Finishing his berries, Night began to look around.  The forest was incredibly dark, and, if his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, yellow eyes glared out from the bushes all around the clearing, staring straight at the fire.  Swallowing hard in fear, Night moved slightly closer to Light, who laughed a cold, heartless laugh.

“They cannot hurt you; they’re afraid,” he said, looking at Night.

“But what are they afraid of?” Serena asked, a knowing and almost sinister smirk on her face.

“The fire,” Light replied, glaring back at her and silencing her.

   After that, there was no conversation for the night.  Light lay down on his stomach near the fire, and was soon breathing deeply, fast asleep.  Night looked to Serena, asking with his eyes if they were going to continue their conversation, but she shook her head and pointed to Light.  Night looked at him, but saw nothing strange.

“He’s asleep,” Night whispered.

“That’s what he’d like you to think…” Serena replied before laying down, falling asleep shortly afterward.

   Night remained awake for a while longer, looking up at the stars.  They looked exactly the same as they did from the beach of the Lonely Island Inn, but the foreign surroundings seemed to ruin them for him.  They seemed tainted, as if their beauty no longer existed outside of Lonely Island.  Sighing, he stretched out on his stomach and tried to get to sleep.  It wasn’t easy, but after an hour or so, he found himself drifting off into darkness.

{+}

   Vance awoke suddenly, aware of a stinging sensation in his arms and legs.  Gritting his teeth, he sat up, ignoring the pain.  Through the haze of his own agony, he looked around, trying to find Quix and Rin.  Before he knew what was happening, he was pushed back down onto the bed he had been resting on.  A familiar voice cut off his protests.

“Relax, Vance.  Stephan found us.  He’s taking care of Quix right now,” Rin said, letting go of him.

   A few seconds later a young man walked into the room.  He was slightly older than Vance, the oldest of the three knights that he was now housing in his forest hut.  His black hair reached down his back, perfectly framing his pale, angular face.  Flowing brown robes hid his muscular body, and in his hand was clutched a mahogany staff topped by a small crystal orb, a cross visible in its center.  Looking at Vance, he smiled, showing off his white teeth while his black eyes took in the knight’s appearance almost greedily.

“Vance, you’re as reckless as ever!” Stephan exclaimed, taking the knight’s hand and shaking it.

“Yeah, and you’re as loud as ever,” Vance replied, wincing as his tender limb was shook.

“Can you blame me?  I’m hiding away in a very remote valley, so it’s not as if I get many visitors, at least not of the human race,” the healer said, resting his staff against the wall.

“How is Quix doing?” Vance asked, sitting up again and shoving Rin roughly away as she tried to push him back down.

“He’s a feisty one, that’s for sure.  He’ll be fine, so long as he doesn’t try and play leapfrog with the mecha again,” Stephan answered.

“You were watching and didn’t help us?” Vance asked dangerously.

“There’s nothing I can do against mecha, and you know it!” Stephan retorted, just as dangerous.

“Still, it wouldn’t have hurt you to try and distract them,” Vance pouted.

“Oh, lay off the guy already!” a voice said from the door.

   Vance looked up to see Quix standing there, his warm brown eyes sparkling with the laughter that always seemed to be echoing around his head.  Stephan lifted his staff again, pushing past Quix and going back into the room he had come out of.  Vance looked after him, regretting offending his friend, but not saying anything.

“So, what’re we going to do?” Rin asked after a while.

“We should report back to Ryft as soon as possible to warn the King about the Clockwork Knights,” Vance answered.

“I don’t know; we still didn’t find out who was controlling them,” Quix argued.

“Does it matter who’s controlling them?  They’re obviously not strong enough to fight on their own, so they send in the mecha as their fist!  If we eradicate the Clockwork Knights, then they’ll have no power!” Vance retorted.

“Unless you’re figuring that the entire situation has to do with strength, like always, and the Clockwork Knights are merely a diversion!” Quix shot back, his voice raising.

Before Vance could formulate a comeback, Rin cut in.

“We’ve got a couple of days anyways.  You two need to rest,” she interrupted sternly.

   Neither of them argued.

[Chinaren]

Damn you write long chapters!

Anyway, it's going well.  Only a couple of points this time:

You need to watch your POV, there's a sudden change somewhere round when he touched the monolith.

Also be careful of introducing too many names and stuff too quickly, it's sometimes difficult to take things in all at once. 

[Saint]

something in the air about him, .  That surrounded his home.

In response, Visser lowered her head down into the water up to his eyes, leaving them above and blowing a bunch of bubbles.

I think I found that gender-changed charater you mentioned.

[NicTei]

Found and fixed.  I'm just surprised that no one's commented about the mulberry 'tree.'

[Chinaren]

Ah yes.  Of course, Mulberries are root vegetables.

[Saint]

I thought it was a berry you made up..

[Phang]

Here we go round the Mulberry bush...

[Cutypie]

Very good I'll keep track of this story! 

[NicTei]

Why thank you Cpie!

[Chinaren]

Well, I shall add it to my bookmarks! 

[NicTei]

   Night woke up to the feeling of water falling onto his wings.  Opening his eyes, he saw that it was beginning to rain, the dark clouds beginning to float overhead stretching up for miles and spewing forth charges of lightning after each eruption of thunder.  Strangely, he found it to be an almost calming experience, far from the storms at the Lonely Island Inn.  When he was roughly kicked in the side, however, he scrambled to his feet and glared at Light.

“Come, we must go.”

   Nodding groggily, Night stretched his arms in the quickening rain and yawned, following Light to where Serena was waiting under the cover of the forest.  Night began to ask a question, but she silenced him by putting her finger to her lips.  Light nodded, pointing out across the clearing towards the trees.  Just beyond the edge of the clearing, Night could see large shapes moving amongst the ghostly trunks as the rain fell harder and became a veil.  The shapes had distinctive red eyes under jagged helmets.

“Silently,” Light said as he began to move.

   Alongside Serena, Night followed Light, occasionally looking back to make sure they weren’t followed.  Unlike their flight the night before, they were moving for silence now, not for speed.  Still, Light seemed as wary as ever, snapping his head around if a raindrop landed noisily.  As they stalked through the brush, a though occurred to Night.

“Light,” he whispered.

“What do you want that you would risk us getting caught by the Clockwork Knights?”

Undeterred by the cold response, Night went on.  “Why don’t you use that sword when you fight?  It seems to me that you could beat the Clockwork Knights easier.”

Light turned around and glared at Night.  “If you value your life, you will never ask that question again,” he answered quietly.

“Alright,” Night muttered.  Determined to have at least one question answered, he ventured one forth again.  “When will we get to Seledonia?”

“We'll get there when we get there.”

   Satisfied that at least one of his questions had been answered, though not necessarily in a satisfactory way, Night stopped talking.  The rain on the leaves above them was getting louder, as was the thunder.  A large drop of water would occasionally drop down from a water-laden leaf, landing on him and startling him, but his reactions were nothing compared to those of Serena.  Like any self-respecting feline, she detested water, jumping and hissing whenever a drop hit her.  Light would glare at her, but she took no notice, instead turning her attention to the skies and cursing the rain and thunderclouds.

“Seledonia is a mere hour’s walk away,” Light said when they stopped around mid-day to rest.

“I can’t walk any further in this rain!” Serena complained.  “My feet hurt, and I’m getting wet!”

“I don't care how wet your fur gets; you must return to civilization,” Light retorted.

“What’s Seledonia like?” Night asked after a moment of tense silence.

“You shall see when we arrive,” Light answered, looking to the sky.  “The rain has abated.  Let's keep going."

   Night listened, and sure enough, the rain had slowed, though not by much.  Ignoring Serena’s complaints, Light had begun to move on.  Not wanting to be left behind, Night convinced her to keep going and they both caught up, Night holding his wing over Serena to keep the water off of her, much to her delight.  They were silent as they walked; the receding thunder was still loud enough to cause a mild throbbing in their ears.

   The ground became progressively worse as time wore on, roots starting to poke up through the damp, rich soil.  After tripping on one for the third time, Night swore loudly and kicked the offending object, resulting in Light turning around and glaring at him again.  Coughing in embarrassment and muttering a quick prayer for forgiveness, he started to walk again, stepping into stride beside Serena.

“Nice job there, Night; tripping on a root!” she teased.

“Shut up, Serena,” he muttered.

“Why don’t you just fly ahead anyways?” she asked, looking at his wings.

   Night slapped his forehead and opened his wings.  Just as he was about to take off, however, Light turned around and grabbed onto his shoulder, holding him down.  Night glared, but couldn’t match Light’s steady, cold gaze.  He closed his wings.

“If you break the cover of the trees, every Clockwork Knight around will see you,” Light explained.

“So?  I can fly and they can’t!” Night pouted.

“Never assume,” Light answered darkly.

“Can we get going?” Serena asked impatiently.

“She has a point,” Light said to Night before turning around and walking on.

   Grumbling about not being able to fly, Night started to walk once more, enduring the near-deadly roots as best he could.  By the time Light decided to rest again, Night had tripped multiple times, the reward of such a feat being a face full of dirt.  Serena laughed, and Night had the impression that even Light was amused, but it was hard to tell; like Old Tim just hours before he left, Light had a neutral expression set on his face.

“Seledonia isn’t too far now.  When we’re there, you can go to the Steamline and go home,” Light said suddenly, looking off into the distance.

“We don’t have any money, though,” Serena complained.

   In response, Light stood up and opened a small bag on his belt that Night hadn’t seen before.  Reaching into it, he pulled out three golden coins and two silver coins.  Both colors were roughly the same in size, and both had the image of a dragon curled into a circle carved on it.  The only difference was in the numbers that the dragon was surrounding; the gold coin had a ten inscribed on it, and the silver coin had a five in its place.  Light handed them to Serena.

“That should take thee as far as the Steamline will travel in any direction,” Light said before turning to Night and handing him an identical amount of coins.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” Night asked.

“Use it to return home,” Light replied matter-of-factly.

“But there isn’t a ‘Steamline’ or whatever that goes to the Lonely Island Inn,” Night pointed out.

Light thought for a moment.  “We shall figure it out when we arrive in Seledonia,” he answered at length.

   Standing once more, Light started walking again.  Sighing at the shortness of the break, Night tucked the coins in the fold of his belt and followed after him, Serena groaning but getting up and following anyways.  The ground became a lot less rough as they continued on, grass sprouting up before them as the trees grew further apart.  Finally they came to a hill that gave them a good look at the landscape.

   Just beyond the base of the hill was a large town, enormous buildings rising into the sky in a cluster in the middle of the city.  To contrast these expensive looking buildings, they were surrounded by dingy, run-down shacks; mere slum buildings.  Night stared, having never seen a city before.  It was strange to see the large skyscrapers in the middle of such obvious poverty, as it shouldn’t have been possible.

“That is Seledonia,” Light said, seeing his look of confusion.

“Let’s go!” Serena exclaimed, running down the hill.

“Idiot!” Light seethed as something large and grey hurtled out of the forest just beside them, headed straight for her.

“Serena!” Night cried out, running forward.

{+}

   Light watched Night running and sighed.  Tracing a circle in the air with the index and middle fingers of his right hand, he called forth a small bit of power from a vast store inside him.  As he ‘drew’ in the air, a thin red line followed his fingers, making the object visible.  Hesitating for a moment when he had completed the circle, he followed the motion of the Clockwork Knight closely with his eyes, estimating where it would be in a few seconds.

   Drawing a cross in the middle of the shape, he added a smaller duplicate of it to the right side of it on the line of the larger circle.  Inscribing the Greek character for ‘alpha’ inside the smaller circle, Light took a step back as the entire ‘sketch’ flared to life, the red line becoming fire.  Pulling back his hand, Light took a step towards the burning ‘drawing’ and hurled his hand forward as if he were punching, but with his palm open.

   Instantly the burning symbol hurtled down the hill in a linear path, though it didn’t light the grass on fire as it passed over.  It shot past Night, who gave a startled jump when he saw it go by.  Serena screamed as it came towards her, but as the Clockwork Knight charged after her, it got right between her and the flaming object.  It hit the mecha and burned onto it, halting its motion.

   In the moment it took Light to get from the top of the hill to right behind the mecha, Night didn’t even blink, but still missed him moving.  Placing his hand on the cross, Light looked at the mecha.  It was jerking, trying to move, but the symbol that was on it prevented motion.

“Alpha Seal, release,” Light commanded before taking a step back.

   A wave of oppressive heat washed over him as the symbol erupted into flames, lighting the mecha on fire.  Serena ran out of the way just as the Clockwork Knight exploded, shards of metal flying everywhere but somehow missing Light, who was mere feet away from the site of the combustion.  The flames died down quickly; strangely, not even a single blade of grass was singed where the explosion had occurred.

“Wow…” Night breathed, still staring at the place where the burning mecha had been.

“Come,” Light said, walking quickly towards the city.  “Others will have seen that.”

   With the city of Seledonia in sight, they started walking faster, Light turning around to make sure that they weren’t being chased by Clockwork Knights.  As they neared the city, Light seemed to become more alert, looking around warily at the slum buildings as they walked past them.  Night looked around into the empty, dark windows and shivered; there was definitely something creepy about the houses.

“They're staring at your clothes,” Light muttered to Night.

“What, no one wears tunics?” the Rayven asked.

“They are…uncommon,” Light answered.

“I guess I should get new clothes then…” Night muttered, more to himself than to anyone else.

“This place gives me the creeps,” Serena whispered, looking at the seemingly empty houses.

   Out of nowhere, someone bounded out of a house to her right, coming right at her.  Before she could register what had happened, the person had been thrown back into the house.  Light was standing in front of her, his hand outstretched with the palm open.  Looking back at the other two, he muttered one word.

“Run!”

   Night nodded and, grabbing Serena’s hand, started running for the nearest of the skyscrapers.  Agitated by the disturbance, more people began to come out of the slums, grabbing for the two as they ran.  For a moment, Night thought they wouldn’t make it; a small group of people were standing in front of them, barring their way.  They advanced with greedy smiles on their faces, and Night didn’t really want to know what they were thinking of.

   Suddenly they were gone, running in different directions as a cloud of dust erupted from where they had been standing.  When the dust settled, Light was standing where the middle of the group had been, crouched down on one knee.  There was a slight crater beneath him, as if something had hit the ground hard.

“How can you move so fast?” Night asked, amazed.

“Save your questions; we must get inside,” Light answered, pointing at the nearest skyscraper.

   Moving quickly to the doors with Light covering them from behind, Serena and Night both entered as quickly as possible.  Light followed only when he saw no one giving chase.  Inside the doors, Night and Serena were being held up at security.  Standing up to the guards, the third member of their ‘party’ glared into the tall men’s eyes.

“Why aren't you letting us pass?  Don't you know who we are?” he asked fiercely.

“Well who are you, then?” the guard retorted in what he took to be a smart manner.

“I trust you know the president of SciCorp has a son?” Light growled.

A look of horror passed the guards’ faces.  “G-go right in sir!  And your friends!  I apologize for the inconvenience!” the guard that Light wasn’t glaring at stammered, opening the door for him.

   Nodding regally, Light stepped through the open door, Serena and Night following after him with looks of shock on their faces.  Still red in the face, the guard closed the door, receiving a solid slap on the back of the head from his companion.  Once out of range, Light turned to the other two.  When he saw the shock on their faces, he rolled his eyes.

“Have you never been inside a building before?” he asked Night sarcastically.

“I didn’t know you were the president’s son!” Serena exclaimed.

“I’m not,” Light said quietly.

“But you just told those guards you were!” Night said, confused.

“Petty deception opens many doors,” Light answered sagely, a smirk almost coming to his face but dying when he saw another pair of guards coming.

“Quickly, we must get you onto the Steamline,” he said to Serena.

“I can find it from here; I’ve been here before!” she said defiantly before running off.

“Damn!” Light muttered, starting for another door.

“What’s wrong?” Night asked.

“Don’t follow me!” Light called back as he broke into a run.

Night matched his pace.  “Why not?” he asked.

“Look back at your friend!” Light growled in response.

   Night slowed and turned around.  Serena had stopped halfway up the staircase and was now talking to the guards, tears on her face.  Looking over to Light she pointed at him and broke down, her words apparently becoming incoherent after that.  The guards, looks of anger and hatred on their faces, pulled out strange-looking, objects that were black in color and started to chase after Light.

“Stop him!” they yelled ahead to another guard, but by that time Light was past him.

   Looking back to Serena, Night saw her watching their chase with an evil smile, one of great satisfaction.  He stared at her in confusion for a moment, and was startled even further when he saw her turn and go up the stairway, tossing the bag of coins that Light had been carrying into the air as she ascended.  She was still laughing to herself, which Night found terribly strange.

“What did she tell them?” Night wondered out loud.

“We need backup!  The criminal is getting away!”

   Looking around for the source of the voice, Night saw that he had been standing next to a guard, who looked at his radio as if it were a nagging girlfriend.  Sighing he stood up, but Night stopped him.  Hesitating, he composed himself.

“Can you tell me why your friends are chasing that boy?” he asked.

“It doesn’t concern you.  Anyways, I don’t know, either.  He’s probably just one of them,” the guard answered, spitting out the last word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.

   The guard walked away, leaving Night in the lobby of the building.  Looking first in the direction that Light had run, and then in the direction of the stairs Serena had climbed, he uttered a quick prayer of guidance and took off after Serena, flying up the stairs with his wings.  At the top of the stairway he was met with a glorious, and rather horrible, sight.  Hundreds of people were milling about, some in casual clothes and others in fashionable suits.

   Pushing through the crowds, he thought he could see Serena up ahead, but lost her again.  It then occurred to him that he should be watching for the sack of money rising above the crowd before falling back into Serena’s arms.  Scanning the air above the people’s heads, he finally saw it near the end of the long room.  Running forward and pushing past people, he muttered “sorry” every time someone called after him.

   Finally reaching the other end of the room, he was aggravated to see that he had lost Serena again.  A flash of white fur caught his eye, however, and he saw her just as her tail disappeared around a corner.  With renewed vigor he chased after her, finally catching up to her in an empty passageway that was lined with doors.  Hearing his footsteps, she turned around, shocked when she saw him there.

“Night?  What’re you doing here?” she asked.

“What…did you tell…the guards?” Night breathed.

Serena laughed.  “It was genius.  After I took his money, I tore my clothes a little more and told the guards that he had cornered me in an alley, and then ‘broke into tears’ before I could ‘explain’ anymore,” she said, smiling evilly again as she said it.

“But why!?” Night cried out, making her jump.

“Do you even know what he is!?” she shrieked.

“I don’t care!” he roared back, tackling her to the floor.

   Grabbing the money she had stolen, Night started running for the window down the hallway, ignoring her cries of pain as she started to get up.  A guard stepped out around a corner, nearly running into Night, but Night dodged around.  He was aware of Serena screaming something to the guard, but he didn’t care.  With a prayer for protection on his lips, he built up speed and slammed through the window, glass flying everywhere.

   Going into a dive, he opened his wings at the last minute, swooping over the tops of the slum shacks.  Seeing Light being chased through an alleyway by the guards, he turned and called out to him.  Looking up, Light saw him coming, his arm outstretched.  With a strange half-smile, Light leaped into the air, grabbing onto Night’s hand.  Holding Light’s arm with both hands, the moneybag in his mouth, Night started to fly for a different building, but Light called up to him.

“No, the forest!  Fly for the forest!”

   Turning around, Night flapped his wings as hard as possible, aimed for the trees.  Looking down, he was horrified to see the guards chasing after them on the backs of animals that he’d never seen before, their black metal objects still in their hands.  Light cursed beneath him.

“Horses,” he muttered.

“Is that what those are?” Night asked, almost turning around.

“Fly!” Light barked, catching the bag of coins as it fell from Night’s teeth.  “If you don't get out of the range of their guns, we’re as good as dead!”

“What are guns?” Night asked, confused.

“Just fly!” Light roared back.

   Luck was on their side, for as they flew towards the trees, Clockwork Knights began streaming out, charging down the hillside towards the guards on horseback.  Shouting in horror, some of the men that didn’t have guns turned around and raced back to Seledonia as fast as they could.  The armed guards pointed their weapons forward, and though Night couldn’t see what they did, a loud hissing noise preceded the expulsion of strange, arrow-like objects from the very tips of the guns, steam propelling the pointed projectiles instead of gunpowder.

   Night didn’t wait to see the outcome of the fight; Light was almost hoarse from yelling at him to keep flying towards the forest.  Flying as fast as he could with the load he was carrying, Night soared above the treetops, looking for the clearing he had rested in the night before.  Light, however, steered him in another direction.

“No, your new destination is the tallest tree,” he said, pointing to a gargantuan tree that rose high above the rest.

   Sighing, Night aimed for the tree, his wings starting to ache.  Just as he didn’t think he could go any further, Light suddenly let go, twisting his arm out of Night’s hands.  Crying out, Night dove for him, but stopped.  Light wasn’t falling fast, and was in fact almost gliding towards the ground while moving forwards, headed for the tree.  Touching down, he tapped four knobs on the trunk in a specific order that Night didn’t see.

“What’s that going to do?  Open up a door in the tree?” Night asked as he landed.

   His question was answered, however, when the ground fell away underneath him, pulled up by powerful roots.  Night fell, vaguely aware that Light as once more falling at a slower pace.  Hitting the ground hard, he lay still for a moment, trying to figure out if any bones were broken.  Looking up, he saw Light touch down softly on the ground.

“What are you?” he asked.

“The answer would scare you,” Light replied coldly.

   Night looked around more, his eyes adjusting to the dim light in the underground chamber they were now in.  The walls were made of dirt, a few roots poking out and into the air at random points.  The ceiling wasn’t too high above them, eight feet at most.  Looking to Light, Night saw that he was standing in front of a door.  As he watched, Light reached into the bag of money and withdrew a card, holding it up in front of a hole off to the side of the door.  Seconds later, the door opened, and Light walked in, beckoning Night to follow him.

   Getting to his feet, Night stepped into stride beside his new companion, looking around in awe at the strange, glowing mushrooms that cast a blue glow around the tunnel they were walking through.  Continuing on, the smell of damp, rotten wood invaded Night’s nostrils; it wasn’t an unpleasant smell, but not something he smelled on a regular basis.  Just as he was about to ask where it was coming from, Light pointed up.

   The inside of the giant tree above them seemed to have rotted out, the enormous trunk providing space for a wide, spiraling staircase that went up through the inside and apparently out through a hole in the top of the tree, concealed by the leaves.  Opening his wings, he started to fly up, but Light caught him again, pulling him down to the ground.  Shaking his head, he pointed down the corridor ahead.

   Taking one last look up the hollowed-out tree, Night followed Light down the corridor.  Unlike before, he was almost readable.  He seemed tense, as if something stressful was about to happen.  This made Night unbearably nervous.

   As they walked down the hallway, the Rayven became aware of a strange power humming in the air.  The dirt seemed even darker, the roots popping out of the walls greener.  Even the stale air in the tunnel seemed to be alive, for a draft blew past him, though he couldn’t discern its origin.  Finally, they stopped in front of a set of large doors, a face painted on them glaring down at them.

“Halt!” a voice boomed.

   Startled, Night looked around for it source.  Light, however, was staring coolly ahead at the door, his gaze not broken.  That’s when Night saw the large black eyes on the door blink.  Crying out, he leaped back.

“Gate Master, we have business inside.  Move aside,” Light answered coldly.

“On whose authority?” the Gate Master boomed.

“On the authority of Light Phaeton,” Light growled.

The Gate Master seemed to consider for a while.  “Enter,” he scowled at length.

   The face moved onto one door, off to the side.  The doors swung open almost immediately, and Night felt a blast of power from inside.  Whatever the source of the energy in the air was, it was just beyond the threshold of the Gate Master’s door.

“Night,” Light said, a nervous edge to his voice, “welcome to the High Council.”

[NicTei]

Finished this last night, and I would've had it up, but certain...circumstances...prevented that.

Detailed feedback if you've got the time.

[Saint]

I can't give much in the way of detailed feedback, as I didn't spot anything but this:

You 'drew the greek symbol for alpha inside the smaller circle'.  You spapped it for a cross after I pointed out you used too many 'circles'.

And I should sincerely hope that you have another awesomely cute cat-girl who isn't a

[NicTei]

...perhaps you should read that part again...

   Drawing a cross in the middle of the shape, he added a smaller duplicate of it to the right side of it on the line of the larger circle.  Inscribing the Greek character for ‘alpha’ inside the smaller circle, Light took a step back as the entire ‘sketch’ flared to life, the red line becoming fire.

Anyways, I don't know about the 'cat-girl' thing.  You seem to have an unhealthy obsession with them...

[Saint]

Ahh, I read that as a duplicate of the cross...

And what's wrong with cat-girls?!?!

You tell me this isn't the one of the cutest things you've seen?

[NicTei]

Take a number and get in line.

[NicTei]

Alright, next chapter's done, but I've decided that I'll be writing the next of this before returning to HeartEater, just because I'll be introducing yet another character that I'm eager to have 'jump in' to the story.

Anyways, I'll probably post Chapter 4 tomorrow, so watch this space!