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  • Artist Info: Been working on a story for a while thought id post a piece and see what people thought. comment if you want more or have ideas you think would make for good story line<br />
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    It was about 7:30 pm and I walked down the road to the Quick Stop after work to get a few things for dinner. The Quick Stop is a little convenient store that carried almost everything you could need. As I was walking out of the store someone ran into me, or so I thought, and I was knocked to the ground. With the food I had just bought rolling around everywhere I looked to see if the person was alright but instead of a person she was… well not… she looked like any other women I guess... except her skin was a dark silver color and she had claws, wings, and a tail, and her face was reptilian as well... I guess you could say she almost looked dragon like. She didn’t look all that scary though, infact she seemed incredibly frightened. I asked her if she was okay, but she got up and ran around the corner into an ally way. As she ran her wings and tail trailed behind in such a way that it was almost mystifying. I proceeded to pick up the goods I had dropped when two men came running around the corner of the store. They had identical work suits on except that one was white and the other dark blue. They stopped and looked at me but I tried to ignore them until the man in blue asked if I needed help and started picking up some of the food that was still scattered across the side walk. The man in white asked if id seen anything strange “Hmmm..? Nothing I would call strange..” I replied keeping a strait face. He looked at me cockeyed and then the two of them continued running down the road. As I watched them run off and noticed something silver twitch in the ally and looked just in time to see her tail pull behind a car. I picked up my things and continued to walk home. About three blocks south of the Quick Stop was a dirt road that led up into a forest and about half a mile in was my house at the end of it. As I walked I somehow knew she was following me even though I never saw or heard her the whole walk and I tried to. When I got to the house I went around back and entered through the kitchen door. Leaving the door open as it was a warm summer night, it was nice to let the wind blow through the house, and I put the food and stuff away. I left some different things on one of the larger plates and set it on the table then leaned out the back door, “I know your out there somewhere you don’t need to be scared“, I waited a moment but there was no answer, ”I’ll leave the door open and some food out for you if you want to come in and eat.“ With that I closed the door but didn’t latch it so she could just push it open if she decided to come in. I went into my room down the hall and got into my sweat shorts and went to sleep. She slowly crept up to the door and pushed it open. Closing it all the way behind her and then she saw the food on the table. she hadn’t eaten in days and was ready to eat anything. My friend Kai lived with me and walked into the kitchen for a drink and stopped when he saw her. She looked at him a minute and he looked back then continued on getting a glass from the cabinet and pouring a drink of water without anther glance at her. He then went back to bed when he finished. She watched him the whole time and was a little shocked at first, then was over it as she used the same glass he left on the counter and got herself a drink. Then laying on the floor between the couch and coffee table of the living room she fell asleep and as she put later the first good night sleep she had since she was a little girl. The next morning I got up and walked into the living room. I noticed the girl sleeping on the floor and it looked like she was trying to hide between the couch and coffee table. I watched her for awhile and tried to think why those two would be chasing her. Then I went into the kitchen to make breakfast. I put a pan on the stove and then got out the bacon and eggs. I tore the bacon up small and let the little pieces cook a couple minuets and then cracked and dumped the eggs into the pan. I scrambled it together and made three omelets. Then as I was setting the table I noticed that she was watching over the couch and trying to stay hidden so I just smiled to myself and finished cooking. I put the food on the table and went into the bathroom for a shower. When I got out I went to my room and got dressed. When I went back into the living room I saw her in the kitchen looking at the omelets like she had never seen one before. “Good morning“ I said calmly. Startled, she jumped and spun around. She looked at me as if waiting for me to do something and then her gaze drifted to the bottom left corners of her eyes. “Th-thank you for, letting me stay, I-I have to go now” and as she tried to leave I asked “Why not stay for breakfast, im a pretty good cook and I made enough for you.” Her stomach growled as if siding with me and she agreed to stay a little while. As we ate she told me her story. She had escaped from a lab that studied Half-breads. Half-bread is a cruel name given to those half human and half beast, mentally there no different from anyone else, but they look intimidating to most and so have been treated as animals. She said that her father is a dragon that lived on a mountain range in a cave over looking farm land that he often fed on. The people of the village that used the farm land got tired of him eating crops and livestock so they offered him a female virgin as a sacrifice. Of course that wouldn’t work for real but there were stories of how that was the way to be rid of a dragon and they were desperate. Instead of killing or eating her though the dragon was captivated buy her beauty and kept her, almost like a pet you could say. He took care of her and protected her and eventually befriended her. He finally decided that he didn’t want her to feel trapped and told her to go back to her village, but she refused she had fallen in love with him for talking such good care of her and agued that the village had sacrificed her and so must not want her. She stayed in the cave with him and he often let her ride him as he flew, but he always reminded her she was free to leave should she wish it and she always refused. After about a year she offered herself to the dragon and they had a child. Sadly when the young girl turned 5 the villagers all stormed the cave and killed the dragon for feeding off the farm land. Seeing the girl they had sacrificed still alive and with a child half-bread they became furious, calling the child an abomination and a demon, they tried to kill her as well, but the mother grabbed her up and though sustained many mortal wounds escaped to a neighboring town, sitting in an ally the mother died of her wounds and the child wandered the streets aimlessly till a man in a blue suit took her to the lab and she was raised there by the men in white as she called them. Every day they did tests and experiments on her. Trying to find out how strong or tough she was, giving her different “medicine” they said but she knew it was poison because she always got really sick. She guessed they were testing her immune system or something…or just trying to kill her without her knowledge. One day they were moving her to a new room for observation and she saw an open door down one of the halls. So when they took the chain of her arm to put her in her new room she ran for the door and escaped, and after about 20 minuets of running she ran into me. “You can stay here as long as you want” I told her smiling, how could I not offer her a place after what she went through. “N-no I have to get farther from the lab, they might find me here and I don’t want to go back“ She said desperately. I humbly replied “They won’t find you here and I will keep you safe if they do” “thanks” she said “but still…” at that I interrupted her “well if you weren’t going to stay why did you follow me all the way here?” she gasped and then thought for a moment “I guess I wanted to know why you didn’t tell them you saw me run into the ally?” “well, I was helping someone in need” she gasped louder this time and gave a little bit of a jump. “What!? Is something wrong?” I asked “N-no, its just, no one ever called me someone before, ive always been referred to as something or it” “oh, well that must have been difficult for you” I said sympathetically. “well thanks for breakfast ill be going now.” She got up to leave and as she started out the door I told her she was always welcome. She smiled and then ran into the forest behind my house. I lived outside the towns boarders and the whole town was surrounded buy woods save for a single valley to the east. I decided I should be getting to work as it was already 830. I put the food away and then left. I work at a book store selling manga in the teens department, its always slow but I don’t care because I like reading the manga myself and there’s a lot of interesting stories of nearly impossible situations and they always make me wanna keep reading. Anyway I couldn’t stop thinking about her, then I realized I never got her name… I felt dumb for not asking. I was thinking of where she would go because not many people accept half-breads. Several labs have tried to domesticate them for pets, but they think the way we do and have a self cautious which makes it more like slavery. A lot of people fear them and try to kill them in the belief that they are demons and abominations. Right after my lunch break two men came in to talk to me. It was the same man in blue as the night before and the other was a man in white, but not the one I met last night. “Tell me everything you saw last night.” the man in blue demanded, but I kept quiet. The man in white leaned forward over my desk. “it would be wise to just answer us.” I looked him right in the eye with a blank stare, “…and if I don’t..?“ the mans face got red with anger and he stood up. “I told him..(nodding my head at the man in blue) that I didn’t see anything that night that I thought was strange.” I acted as though trying to remember “I was buying food and on the way out my shoe lace got caught in the sliding door and I tripped, that’s when you showed up asking me weird questions. I looked right at him without flinching and I could see on his face that he was believing my act. “I see, well take my card and call me if you see her..(His word trailed off) im mean anything strange” I looked at him a minute and then said “so your looking for someone then.” I kept a strait face and played off like I had no clue as to what he meant. The man in white jumped and said, “Who said we were looking for someone…you do know something don’t you? Spit it out” I stayed calm and replied, “You wouldn’t be here asking questions if you weren‘t right…besides he just said ‘if I see her‘, her usually means someone doesn‘t it?” He looked at me cautiously and told me they’d be back if they hear anything about it that they thought I knew and didn’t tell them. After they left I started wondering how she was doing. The world shunned her and I felt sorry for her because she wants a place to call home and is likely to never find it. I then felt myself wanting to see her again and wondered if I ever would. I thought a lot about it on my way home that night. I started to make dinner when Kai came in. He’s always out on the mountain doing physical training, saying the world is too relaxed and that one day it will need his ability to save it. I told him about the situation and he just said “oh, I see“ as if it was just another common problem. As I was eating I heard a sound like someone running on the gravel of the rock garden on the side of the house. I went outside to see what it was and the man in white I met the first time ran into me just as I rounded the corner. “Are you all right” he asked “im so sorry, you didn’t happen to see anything just now did you?” I truthfully this time told him no but I knew he had to have been chasing that girl again. I showed him a game trail that led through the woods and said it would be the most likeliest path for anything to escape on and he took off down it. When I turned around to head back in I saw the dragon girl come from the opposite side of the house as the man was running on and she was watching the whole thing. “Um- th-thank you” She whispered “I thought you were going to get farther away” I asked. She replied in a rather disappointed tone “I tried but I was discovered and had to hide, then I found myself being chased and running around and ended up here, I guess I just knew it was safe to come here. Sorry I keep bothering you“ “N-no its no bother at all your welcome here as long as you want.” I said trying to cheer her up “Come in for dinner and stay the night you look exhausted, I don’t have to work tomorrow so ill be able to help you out of town if you want“ she agreed and we went inside. Kai had gone to his room without eating for some reason so I let her eat his and she told me a more detailed story about her life. She told me her name was kinira. She told me her birthday and I was shocked to find out that it wasn’t just close to mine but was in fact the same day, we both 24 years old. While talking Kai came out and got himself a drink and when he saw Kinira he had a blank expression on his face as if he just expected her to be there. He then just went back to his room like always. After we ate I set up a blanket on the couch for her to sleep in and then went to my room. I started playing one of my video games like I always did before bed and Kinira came in attracted to the noises. I showed her what it was and let her try to play. Although she had never done that kind of thing before she was surprisingly good at it. At about 10 I shut the game off and went to bed and Kinira left before I was asleep, but in the morning when I got up she was laying at the foot of the other side of the bed almost like a dog or cat would. I laid there still for a minute trying to figure out why she came back into my room. I figured she just didn’t want to be alone and decided to get up. I got up slowly and folded my blanket back over her and then went into the kitchen to make breakfast. I was getting some sausage out of the fridge to put in a breakfast style stir fry and when I closed the fridge door she was standing right there and it startled me into making me drop the package of sausage. She asked to help so I let her scramble some eggs while I put the sausage in a pan with bacon onions and peppers and fried it all together. When it was all finished the eggs were a little over done but not burnt but the rest of the meal covered it up so it wasn’t that noticeable. As we started eating Kai came out and made himself a bowl of cereal despite the fact the was plenty of food for him to have. I lauphed to myself because that was just how Kai is. After I was done eating I went out back to train because Kai insisted I be his sparing partner, but after a while I thought it was kinda fun and kept at it. I used the same tree since we moved there so the tree was bare of all bark for the first 6 ft off the ground and was a lot thinner from me punching it or hitting it with my bow ken, a wooden training sword. Kinira was watching and after about half an hour or so Kai came out. “hey lets have a match” he said. I turned around and he had his bow ken with him so I agreed. Our matches last so long though that neither one of us has ever won because we get to exhausted to keep going. We both either block or dodge everything we throw at each other so there’s no way to tell who’s better. After a few hours we stopped to have lunch at around 11:00. As we ate someone knocked on the door and when I answered it no one was there but then as I was returning to the back porch I heard a gun shot and saw Kai chasing someone though the back yard…I ran out the front to cut them off but was too slow and got out in time to see a man in a blue suit running toward a black SUV with Kinira unconscious and over his left shoulder and he was shooting at Kai as he tried to catch him. The man made it to his car and drove off with Kinira, when I caught up to Kai he said that the man had shot Kinira with a dart that made her pass out instantly and then grabbed her before he could do anything. The way the guy was running though was as if Kinira weighed nothing at all…like he had no more then a pillow on his shoulder. Kai took off after them on his bicycle and I started asking around for info on any Labs nearby…I knew that’s were they would take her…Kai was really fast on his bike and kept up with the SUV well enough but it was a struggle non-the-less. After a couple hours Kai called me on his cell and told me he followed them to a Lab, like I thought but he didn’t want to go in without backup. He told me were it was and I went back to the house for supplies. I got there around 6:00 and met up with Kai in the forest line. We watched for about an hour to see what the security was like and then proceeded to a side door. After checking for an alarm we went in quietly and immediately checked for cameras and guards. There was one camera but it was easy to get by and we carefully searched the place. We split up and Kai started making little distractions here and there and then finally caused a big diversion by deliberately getting seen sneaking into a room. I found a scheduling form in one of the closets and it had a list of all the rooms in the lab with who was in them when and why. After looking carefully I found out they wanted to do a mental scan of the escapee…obviously Kinira, so following signs on the ceiling I found my way to it with little effort thanks to Kai. There was a door that had “re-evaluate” written on a slide so I tried to open it but it wouldn’t go. I heard footsteps coming down one of the halls so I hid around a corner waiting to see who it was…as it got closer I realized the sound was from behind me so I thought I was found out. Spinning around to face whoever was there I was relieved to see Kai with a set of Keys he beat off a guard. Checking room after room leaving them all open, we came to an iron cage like door in front of some stairs leading down. We unlocked the door and headed slowly down the stairs. I expected some kind of dungeon for holding the prisoners in What I was surprised to find a long white hall with a doorway every 6 ft…there were no doors and each room was bout 8 by 9 ft give or take and there was a creature in each one…not just half-breads but normal animals too. I found a half tiger man in one of the cells awake and he explained that they all had callers on that caused crippling pain if they tried to cross the doorway and that a remote device was used by the guards to turn off the collars when they wanted to move them. After passing about 30 or 40 more of these identical rooms we came to the end of the hall and there was a large bulletin board behind a desk coved with hooks that had key chains on them. Each chain had what looked like car alarm remotes and the man at the desk asked “Can I help you?” I replied with my bow ken knocking him unconscious and proceeded to turn all the remotes off. Still kinira wasn’t here so after showing all the creatures out we continued to look for her but this time less discreetly. We finally came to a room that said Scanner on the door but there was no key whole…then I noticed a key pad to the left of the door. Kai started trying different codes and finally ended up setting off an alarm so I waited around for a guard to show up but he looked at me and said “2146...I never wanted this job but I had no choice I needed the money for my family” without any more he left and Kai put in the code. The door slide open and we saw Kinira laying on what looked like a cat scanner. Kai pulled all the wires off here and I carried her on my back outside. We were met by several men and Kai got ready to fight…a couple had guns but after Kai gets going it don’t matter to him he took them out one by one until more arrived and he started to get tired…and I couldn’t fight with kinira on my back and was afraid to pt her down but then a black SUV came around and stopped in front of us…it was the guard who gave me the code…”Get in, hurry” he yelled and we jumped into the vehicle before he even finished his words. He took us back to my house and left. We went inside and I put Kinira on the couch and then left some food and water on the coffee table in case she came to in the night and then Kai went to bed. I stayed up till about 10:00 watching her and then went to bed. In the morning I made some oatmeal with applesauce in it and sat in the chair next to the couch. Kinira hadn’t moved and must have still been under the effect of the drugs they shot her with. Kai got up around 9:00 and went to work. I started cleaning up the house a bit when Kinira finally woke up. I made her something to eat and then when she was finished “How you feeling” I asked “I-Im okay…” she said softly…probably still a bit loose from the drugs. “I gotta go to work soon im already late but if you want you can come with me” I told her. She agreed and I gave her something better to were other then the lab coat they had her in and then we left. At work I showed her what I do and she helped me open boxes while I stocked the shelves and then I took the register so my boss could go on lunch. He didn’t mind me having Kinira there but he was uneasy around her because she was a half-bread and he wasn’t used to them. She picked out manga that was the first of a rather long series I had read already and she sat at the customer help desk that we never used. By the end of the day Kinira had read all 33 books in the series and seemed to enjoy it. She read them in just a few hours but it took me 4 days to read. After that she went to work with me every day from then on. She liked reading and looking at the manga and I liked having someone to talk to while working. Kinira was with us about a month and came to trust us enough she was like part of the family with me and Kai. She was still timid but then again it was kinda funny. My boss started paying her to help at the store since she was there so much and became quite fond of her. He was a close friend of mine and it was good to se him accepting her like a normal person. On the way home one we had been going to different places for dinner to give kinira an idea of were everything in town was at and even though people still stared when we went by they were getting used to her slowly. We were looking for a place in a part of the town I hadn’t even been yet when we came to a rich party in the park so we decided to crash it for dinner. We were there about an hour and Kinira amazingly was unnoticed for the most part but then a commotion broke out in the middle of the party so I moved to see what was going on. A man in leather and a ski mask was holding a woman at gun point and demanding money from people. I told Kinira to go home so she wouldn’t get hurt and approached the man calmly. “Get back right now!” he said pointing the gun at me. I backed up a bit and asked, “Ok, calm down what is it you want?” Pointing the gun at a red Honda by the road “I want all the money everyone has put in the back of my car!” I watched him a minute and he pointed the gun at me again “Well that’s not going to happen I cant let you rob these people” I said still calmly. He got angry and yelled “How you gonna stop me if I shoot you” and I responded simply “Your gun is still on safe” Looking at the gun a moment he flipped the safety switch and said” Now what do you have to say” “Your gun isn’t loaded” I said, I could see into his magazine well and he didn’t even have a clip in. Quickly he looked at his gun and then threw it at me let go of the woman and ran. I chased after him and got into his passenger door before he got into the drivers seat and he didn’t notice at first but I asked him “Why you gonna risk jail robbing that party with no idea how to use a gun?” He jumped and looked at me a minute and the started crying. “Im so sorry I just needed the money really bad, someone kidnapped my wife who is friends with the couple holding the party and said if I didn’t rob them and give him the money he would kill her…” “Well then let me help you get her back.” I told him. He drove up a mountain road to where he was supposed to bring the money and there was a blue sedan waiting at the top of a hill. I had him stop a ways back so they wouldn’t notice me and to him to say he had the money but wanted to see his wife. He got out and yelled up to the car. “Let me see my wife I got your money please don’t hurt her!” A reply came from the car but was high pitched like he had inhaled helium or something “Bring it up and you can have your wife.” The car was sideways so I could get out the passenger side without being noticed and told him to keep going till he brought his wife out of the car. I snuck into the wood line and made my way up to were the sedan was to see what the situation was. He finally agreed to let the mans wife out of the car and I saw that it was just the one enemy but he had a gun to the woman’s head and was yelling about the money. I knew that the guy I was helping was out of ideas so I made a move and jumped from a tall rock behind the man with the gun and landed on top of him. He lost his gun under the car and I held him down the best I could but he was stronger then I am so it didn’t take long for him to get loose. The woman had already ran to her husband and I yelled for them to leave. With out a second thought he spun his car around and left. The man I was engaging still mad tried to get into his car and chase them but as he drove off I grabbed his gun and fired off the whole clip, even after both his driver side tires blew and he crashed into a tree I kept shooting till it was empty. When the gun jammed at empty I went up too the car to see how he was because even to a crook I cant leave an injured man. I walked slowly up to the driver door and he was laying on the hood of the car, he had gone through the windshield and cracked his head on the tree. The man was dead. I put the gun on the hood next to him and called the authorities and told them what happened. They came down and investigated the scene…I showed them where his car was before it hit and they took my prints to verify I had indeed used the gun. Then after an interrogation they told me I could go home. I gave them my work number and they left. My house was about a mile down the side of the mountain so I walked through the forest. There wasn’t a lot of underbrush so it was an easy walk. With about a quarter mile to go I realized I was being hunted and stopped to asses my surroundings. By my count I had at least 12 wolves trying to surround me and I was alone. I knew that if the whole pack were to attack I would be finished so I did what I was taught to do when dealing with a large number of opponents. I got into a defensive position, in this case I got on my knees but I was still upright and I spun slowly in a circle to try and figure out which one was the alpha. Just like a gang if you identify the boss the others will back off. I knew how to tell the lead from the rest because she would stay back in order to control the pack but would also be ready to make the kill once I was beaten. As soon as I found her I made direct eye contact, which was an act of defiance toward the leader and thus issuing a challenge to her. She moved forward cautiously and I turned my full attention to her knowing the others would not step in as she was now defending her right to be in charge. She circled a few times, studying me and I just kept my face to her so she couldn’t get at my back…I leaned left to give her an opening that I knew she would try to exploit and she did. Lunging at my neck I turned and put my hand sideways all the to the back of her mouth so she couldn’t bite down and then I grabbed her right leg from the left side and flipped her over. Not enough to hurt her but enough to put her on her back. I then grabbed her throat with my fingers pressing in and almost around her windpipe as if my hand was the jaw of another wolf which pinned her to the ground and only requiring a single hand to maintain because she wouldn’t risk hurting herself by trying wriggle free. I moved my face close to hers almost immediately after pinning her and kinda made a growl hissing noise to intimidate her. The I looked around and saw the other wolves starting to leave so I let her up. She shook her head shaking the dirt and debris off and then slowly moved after her pack still watching me. When I could no longer see any of them I continued home and Kinira came to greet me at the door. I had a few cuts and bruises from the skirmish but nothing serious so I told her all of what happened. Kai came in and turned on the TV, there was a news report of the incident I was in with the police and they had a picture of me on there so I explained what happened to him as I started dinner, After we all ate I took a shower and then we all sat down to watched some TV for a while to unwind and then went to bed. In the morning I got up and got dressed for work when my boss called me and said he wouldn’t need me to come in because he was training a new guy to handle the store on his own. I started to make breakfast, scrambled eggs with applesauce over them, Kinira, still sleeping on the couch do to lack of space, woke to the smell and helped me set the table…sure enough as soon as everything as done kai came out of his room and we all started eating. As I was picking up the dishes the door bell rang. When I opened it the was a kid about 16 or 17 and he said his dad is the one I had help the night before. He explained the their family honor obligated him to pay back the debt. I invited him in for some breakfast and as soon as he stepped in he froze. I looked at him a moment and then realized he was staring at kinira. I told him to relax and he moved to the far side of the couch away from her and I brought him some breakfast. When he finished I started to do the dishes and the boy came in and asked me to let him do it…I went and sat on the couch while he finished cleaning the kitchen. When he finished he came into the living room and stood in the far corner as if waiting for an order so I told him to sit down. He did but still looked nervously at kinira. I could see this making her uncomfortable so I started talking to him to distract his gaze. “So I still don’t know your name..” I asked. Looking over at me he said “My names Camorto and I live on the far side of town in the old mill house.” “Well then Camorto” I said “I need to get some things from the store, since your working for me do you want to paint the house while im gone…?” “Well that’s why im here…” He replied so I showed him where the paint and stuff was and he got started on the back. I went down to the quick stop and got some supplies we were running out of. Upon my return about an hour later not only was the house finished but the fence was painted and the yard was picked up and he was coming out with three bags of trash. I asked him y he did so much and he said kai was keeping him busy. I went inside to talk to kai and asked “wow your really taking advantage of that kid huh?” Kai looked up at me “well we got him I say use him” I called him lazy and went outside to get him but didn’t see him anywhere. I went around back and he was trimming the dead stuff of the tree line in the back. I told him to put what he had already cut in the firewood pile and then we went to the hardware store to get supplies to build an extra room for kinira. We barrowed a wagon and he insisted on hulling all the stuff back. We built it off the right side of the house so that it would open to the living room and it didn’t take that long. He seemed used to kinira already and even though he would talk to her he did as she said. We built the room to kinira likings and then painted it to match the house. We finished it just before dinner so I ordered pizza and he said he had to stay with me till the debt was paid. I asked him how long that was and he said that he had to work off the value of the life of his mother because I had saved her. I told him he had done enough and he said his father would not accept that so I set him up to sleep on a couch and then we all went to bed. After breakfast the next morning which was oatmeal, we used what was left to of the building supplies to build a one room house in the back corner of the yard for Camorto to live in while he was here and then I planed to use it for storage when he left. We finished around lunch so we went into town for take out and I stopped in at work to meet the new guy. My boss was at the counter and when I asked he said that he had to fire him because he was trying to steal from the register. I asked if he needed help for the day and he told me he could handle it. We left and went down to a moving sale that wasn’t to far from there and bought some furniture for kinira and camorto’s rooms. The man wife gave us a ride back with all the stuff in her truck and when we all moved in we went out back. Me and kai started training with our swords and kinira sat on the porch like always. Not sure what to do Camorto sat down in the grass and watched me and kai sparing for awhile and then when we were both to tired to keep going I asked Camorto if he wanted to learn. He agreed but I said “well im going to make dinner and I’ll teach you some after work tomorrow.” he agreed and then after dinner we played some videogames till about 8 or 9 ad then went to bed. In the morning I just got out a box of cereal and then when everyone else was up I notice kinira wasn’t around at all. I knocked on her door and when there was no answer I announced myself and went in, but she wasn’t there either. I went to work thinking maybe I would see her there but she never came. When I got home I asked kai and Camorto if they had seen her but neither of them had. It was getting late and I started to think maybe the guys from the lab had came in the night and took her again. Then I heard a scratching on the back door and so I moved to investigate. When I looked I saw nothing so I opened the door and the wolf I had wrestled with a few day before jumped away from the door and then turned to look at me. It took a few more steps and then turned again to look at me. Kai was watching now and said “this may sound kinda dumb but that thing is acting like one of the wolves in anime that always want someone to follow them” I looked at him a minute “you know I think your right…” Camorto came out and saw the wolf and got nervous, “so do you just have a habit of interacting with dangerous creatures or is it just recently?” he asked I asked him what he meant and he said “well you live with kinira and now there’s a wolf in the back yard” “kinira not dangerous at all and wolves are only dangerous if you gotta deal with a whole pack” he just looked at me and then I started off toward the wolf. It took off a little ways and then stopped to see if I was still coming so I followed it into the woods. After awhile the wolf disappeared but I felt myself being pulled somewhere so I followed my instincts and eventually cam to a clearing next to a cliff with a cave into the mountain. The clearing was small, about 5 or 6 feet across. I entered the cave slowly and it became a long dark tunnel that after about 15 or 20 minutes opened into a chamber with a glowing crystal structure hanging from the ceiling. It gave off a light blue light that made your whole body feel the way you foot does when it falls asleep. I looked around and saw kinira leaning on a stalagmite near the back of the cave. As I walked over to her I started to feel light headed and then a flash of light from the crystal fell over me and I heard a voice that sounded like my own from inside my head. “Raleith, you have waited so long to know yourself and to have as true friend, but only in the blackest darkness can the smallest lights shine, fear not change and accept your destiny…” the voice trailed off and I felt myself waking up. It all felt like a dream and then I realized I was still in the cave. I got up and looked around. The tingle in my body was gone and the crystal was black now…no light came from it and kai was laying on the ground by the exit of the cave…the tunnel was also gone. I walked out side and immediately felt disoriented. There was no forest and we were no longer on a mountain. There was a huge meadow with a tree line extending from the edges of the cliff the cave was in all the way around the meadow and about 20 yards ahead of me was a pond. I looked back at kai and then walked over to the water and saw kinira sitting on a small rock at the edge of the pond. “Are you okay?” I asked her. She turned around and said “yah but where are we” I looked around and replied, “I don’t know.” We talked about what happened and then kai came out and looked at kinira, then he looked at me, and then he looked around and asked “so what‘d I miss?” I explained everything kinira and myself had come to understand. We concluded that the crystals light was a rift in space and time and we had been moved to an alternate world. Kai blew it off as if it was a normal assurance and started walking around the pond. Im yet to see him surprised about anything. I stared at the water and as if on its own a single ripple pulsated across the water. Wondering what could have caused it I looked up to see a fairy about the size of my forearm fly down and it said ”I am Onna, the fairy of this lake and im here to guide newcomers in the right direction.” “and what is the right direction then?” I asked a little skeptically. She said grinning “that is a question that must be answered with a question, why are you here?” “I don’t know” I replied “we were in a cave and a glowing crystal brought us here…I think…” “Ahh, then you need to go to the city hidden from evil.” I looked at her a moment and asked “where do I find it?” “if I could tell you it wouldn’t be hidden would it?” and with that she flew backwards and vanished into the pond. “Well that didn’t help much…” I said looking puzzled and we tried to think of something to do when kai noticed a small village off in the distance. We decided that it would be the best place to start being as we needed information and didn’t have any. I thought kinira might stand out a bit but there were as many half-breads as not. Looking at a cart of food and realizing we were starving a young fox girl came out of a tent behind it and said “Greetings, im Karin, is there anything I can get for you?” I explained the situation we found ourselves in and she looked startled “Lets go inside for a moment” she said looking around as if making sure no one saw us. Once inside she said that she knew of only one time such a thing was mentioned…in a story from her childhood. She told us the story like this, “In the time of the great war and our last warrior lie dead, a single man came from the cave light, the cave all thought was cursed, and carried with him no armor, in him hand a single sword, old and tattered, using that sword he somehow slayed every monster and demon that came his way and finally drove the evil creatures back over the mountains, his sword placed in a shrine at the bass of the mountain to forever keep the darkness from retuning he himself went over the mountain and was never seen again.” I told her that we had indeed come from a cave on the far side of the meadow, and asked if there was an inn or tavern that would allow us to work for a room being as we had no money yet. She told us we could stay with her as long as we were in the village so we accepted and I offered help anytime I could and she always insisted that it wasn’t necessary. After she closed the shop for the night we followed her to her house and she made us dinner. It was some kind of soup that had meat and vegetables I had never seen before. While we ate she made some extra beds along the wall with palm leaves and then put a fur of some kind over each one. The house was a small two room hut with a fur hanging to separate them. The front room was where everything seemed to take place and the other was just for sleeping. About a block down the road was a public facility that had restrooms and a bath house for the whole town. I initially thought it a little strange but then I just thought that it was the way things are here. The only light came from a torch outside so when the sun set we went to sleep. In the morning Karin said she would take us to the village elder for advice. She led us to a large building on the for side of the village that looked like a church almost and once inside a human cam from somewhere in the back and Karin introduced him as the elder, but he couldn’t have been older than 25 or 30. He asked us about 100 questions or so and we answered to the best of our ability. After the interrogation he told us to head to Mikite, a city across the north mountain range. He asked if we had ant weapons for protection and I asked “from what?” rather confused. He said that monsters prowled everywhere and that they don’t bother settlement because of the earth stones that protected them. He showed me the earth stone and it looked like a large garnet. It also gave off a hostile feeling somehow it was hard to explain. I told him we had no weapons and he gave me a letter of currency. He said it would be good till tomorrow and that we could get anything we wanted with no charge with a limit of one weapon for each member of my party and any items we could need. I took a sword from the armory and so did Kai, kinira took a bladed staff because she wanted to learn some magic and then I also took a bow with a full quiver of arrows, about 50, and then as we were leaving Karin came running up to us with a short sword and asked to join us. “What about your store?” I asked. She told me that the store didn’t make her that much anyway. I told her I wouldn’t stop her if she really wanted to come. We followed a path that led out of the village and through the forest toward the mountains. Sure enough we fought off many strange creatures as we went and when we finally reached the mountain the path stopped so we took a rest right there at the edge of the path. After a short while kinira noticed a rather large insect of some kind fly through some vines into the mountain so we went up to check it out. The vines covered a cave that we investigated and found it a long tunnel that wound into the mountain. We followed it down and it wasn’t so dark as we couldn’t see but still dark enough that we had to move slowly in order to navigate the cavern. It went on and on for a while… a tunnel led to a chamber and another tunnel from there led to another chamber…always just one way to go so it wasn’t like we could get lost but still the dark was depressing. Several strange creatures that looked like some kind of bird but instead of a beak they had a snout like a dog, attacked us as we went, but they were rather easy to fight off. We finally reached the end of the tunnel but before we could leave and find out where we were a giant of these creatures flew down, picked up Karin and carried her back into the cave. We followed as quickly as we could and a few chambers back into the tunnel we found her on the ground trying to fight of a lot of the smaller ones…we all rushed over and fought them off of her with some difficulty but they eventually flew to the top of the room where the giant one was hanging on the ceiling. It dropped down and lunged forward at me. I stepped to the side and swung my sword at it but it reared back and I missed. Karin and kinira fought the small ones killing them one at a time but there just seemed to be no end. Kai and myself focused on the big one which was now blocking the exit. I ran up close and it lunged forward, Kai came from the other side put a rather large cut in the creatures neck but it seemed to not notice because it still focused on trying to eat me and ignored Kai all together. The beast flung its head forward at us both and we had to move back. Kai ran up and tried to catch its attention and when it tried to bite him he put his sword side ways and by putting it on the creatures lower jaw he forced its head to the ground. I took the opportunity to jump off his shoulder and I impaled it through the top of its head and it fell to its side. We left the cave and started down the mountain and when we reached the bottom we set up camp for the night. One thing I noticed was that there were three moons in the sky. They were over lapped and relatively in the same spot. The biggest stuck out to the right a bit and was a pink almost red color. Then the other too looked the same size and lay on either side of the big one. A yellow one behind it and sticking out from the top left of the red moon and then a blue almost purple colored moon hung in front to the lower right of the big moon. They were so amazing that I could help but stare. I finally noticed the stars and the sky and it was like a kid had dumped way to much glitter onto a canvas. The stars also moved around the sky as if they were ants in a jar. We slept rather peacefully that night and in the morning continued to the city. We reached the gates about two hours later but they were closed and to heave to open ourselves. I knocked on them hoping for a response but none came so I knocked again a little loader but still nothing. I called over the wall “Hello, we are travelers, can you open the gates?” but there was no answer. I climbed the wall and looked around from the top, there were buildings in rows like a small city would expectantly look like and carts everywhere with signs to mark them, like a trading circle just inside the gate. It seemed as if the place was as busy as could be not ten minutes ago but there was no one to be seen now…not even a stray animal was to be found. I climbed down the other side and opened the gate for everyone. We looked around and started wandering through the streets. We eventually came upon a castle in the center of the city. Just as we came into view of the castle doors I saw feint movement as if they had just closed right before we got there. I told everyone to stay alert and to wait for me while I checked out the inside of the castle entrance. I opened the doors slowly and looked around but I seemed as deserted as the rest of town. I could somehow feel that I was being watched. It was a feeling so much stronger then you would think, as if I could see the people in the shadows. I called out “we mean no harm, we merely seek information.” There was no answer but I expected it this time, these people seemed to be afraid of any contact with us all. “I know you’re here someone come out and talk to us, at least give reason as to your discourtesy” Again I was replied to with silence. I went back outside to meet up with everyone and we decided to leave the city via the gates on the other side and continue traveling in the same direction. As we neared the gates and still no sign of anyone I noticed a young boy maybe four or five years old wave at us to come in and with no other sign to go on we entered the small house. Inside it was one room with three mats lined up in the corner for beds and a fire pit in the center that an elderly couple sat around. The boy took a seat between them and the man invited us to sit. He asked “Why are you here?” I told him the situation as best I could and the three of them looked puzzled, as would be expected. He told us that the king may be able to help but that no one has seen him in several months except a rare few and they all have left town with out a word and have yet to return. I asked how I would go about seeing the king when the entire town was nowhere to be found and the man explained the we should enter the castle and say that we would like to offer our service to the master of this city. I thanked him we returned to the castle. After entering the foyer again I said rather loudly, “I would like to offer my service to the master of this city.” after a moment of silence a man came from the dark and motioned for us to follow. We followed him through the dark, there was little light and not much to be seen. After a while we were told to kneel and then we herd a voice, “Let light fill my eyes.” A single torch was lit and as we watched it, it was placed in oil and as the oil caught fire it ran around the room. There must have been a small river of oil all the way around for soon the whole room was lit. The king and queen sat not ten feet in front of us and he demanded our names. I introduced the party to him and he asked why I had come to him, I explained the situation and asked if he could give us information on the subject. He agreed to answer any questions I had if I could complete a simple task. I agreed to try anything he would have me do and he told us this, “For 500 years a beast has guarded an air loom to the throne that was stolen be a master thief. Many years have been spent searching for the lair of the beast and now that it is found I have sent many brave men to there deaths to retrieve the artifact but none have returned. If you could kill the beast and bring back the item then my gratitude would grant you anything and everything you could desire upon return.” I told him I would give it a try and asked what it was exactly I was to find. He explained that he himself did not know for the item had been gone so many years. I told him we would need supplies to complete the mission and he wrote us a “bill of right” stating that because he as king owned anything within the borders of the city that I could take what I needed free of charge. I started by taking my sword to the smithy and got it re-forged as did Kai, Kinira went to the mage guild to see if she could learn any magic and Karin gathered medical supplies. I traded my bow for a stronger lighter one and the shop keeper minded not as the one I had was a collectors piece, even though it was to frail to use. We all met at the gate when we where finished and the king met us himself. He gave us a map to the location of the treasure and said he had done all he could for us and wished us good luck. We headed for the forest area west of the city that was surrounded by a mountain range save for a small pass. We fought many monsters well suited to the forest but none the less we fought through them. Finally we came to a temple at the far end of the forest at the base of the mountain range. As we entered a man named Darius approached us from the side of the temple and explained he was sent by the king three days ago and was training to fight the beast before entering. He joined us and we proceeded into the temple. Many monsters filled the halls of this place and gave us quite a struggle, however Darius was beyond us. He was sticking down the creatures with a single hit and nothing they did seemed to faze him. After passing through many riddled rooms that required great effort of thought to figure out we came to a dead end and seemingly nowhere to go. The room was filled with statues that looked ever more real and they all seemed to be in a defensive position. As I turned to leave a chimera fell from the ceiling and whipped its tail across the room. Darius caught the beasts tail which was a snake and swung his sword to remove the leg the creature tried to crush him with. The eyes of the snake glowed yellow and a beam of light hit Darius turning him to stone. The leg grew back and another beam shot out for Karin, she dodged to the side and we maintained our distance studding its movements till Kinira found an opening to use some fire magic that she had learn in the city. With the beast distracted I lunged forward to strike but the creatures tail fired its beam at me. I rolled to one side in hopes of the creature petrifying itself but the laser had no effect. Kinira continued her magic assault and I took a knee at which point Kai jumped from my shoulder into the air above the chimera and drove his sword through its spine. The creature reared up and I placed my own blade firmly in its chest. The tails eyes fixed on Kai who still clung to the creatures back and as the beam fired toward him he jumped back words toward me and the yellow light stuck the chimera where Kai had pierced it causing the monstrous beast to turn itself to stone. I then sought Darius to see what could be done for the man but it was futile. I claimed his sword, Masamune, and then we began searching for anything that could be an artifact. Around the beasts neck hung a medallion, and with nothing else to found in our searching we left the temple and returned to the city. Upon returning to Mikite we were greeted with a celebration and the king himself came to the gates in welcome. “It is good to see finally a party return from this quest tell me is the beats dead, do you have the crowns air loom?” I told him the tail and he seemed not at all concerned or dismayed at the loss of Darius, his only interest was in the medallion. I showed it to him but before he could take it I asked, “So now you’ll tell us what you know about our situation wont you?” The king looked at us intently and then told us he knew nothing and demanded the amulet. I refused him and said it wasn’t our agreement and he then ordered us killed on sight. All the guards seemed reluctant to attack but followed there kings orders. We fought them off without killing any of them and the king grew ever more angry the longer we held out. Suddenly in a burst of dark purple light the king revealed himself to be some kind of demon and again demanded the artifact but I again refused. The demon gathered energy into spheres and threw them at us. Kai was hit and thrown into a cart of fish and left unconscious. Kinira used her fire magic but it hit some kind of barrier that surrounded the king and repelled any attack we tried. He threw more energy balls at us and we dodged as best we could. After a long struggle it seemed as if we were getting nowhere when the demon stopped attacking and said, “You fight well for none have yet lasted so long, surrender and give me the medallion and I will let you live as my servants.” I replied with a threat of my own, “give us what we want or ill destroy the medallion.” He laughed “As if a mortal could, ill kill you before you get the chance.” I asked what made it so important and he told me that the medallion had an enhancing power and that if one had them all that one would be near invincible. He explained he already had two of the medallions, lightning and darkness. The medallion I held was of earth and completely useless at the moment but I knew there was no way I could let him have it. I looked over and saw that Kai was coming to so I made an all out assault of attacks which of coarse hit the barrier but I kept it up. As long as I was attacking the barrier he couldn’t attack us. Kinira kept using here fire and Karin was guiding us from a distance to make sure we didn’t take to much damage. The demon didn’t notice Kai slowly moving his way around to get behind him and when he was in place I put all my force into a single swing which even though it hit the barrier it sent the king stumbling back at which point kai attacked the blind spot. Thrusting his sword up through the demons neck he twisted and the kings head popped off like a cork in a shampain bottle. The demons body fell to the ground and the towns people all came out of hiding and rejoiced at the site of the beaten demon. I took the amulets from him as well as a ring I gave to kinira and a bag of coins. We were given anything we needed to continue our journey. Suddenly my vision went white and I heard that voice again, “You follow a path selflessly helping anyone who asks, and thus stray from the destiny fate has handed you. However your choices make your destiny and so make your path is now your own. But there is a path you must take that at the sacrifice of many will lead to the salvation of many more. Go now to the east, travel to the ocean and meet with the people of the sea. They are in need of you. We will meet again in your near future….” I came to standing just as I was as if it had never happened. I began asking around for information about this world and the ocean I was now egger to set out for. We stayed at the inn to rest and that night one of the maids came to my room and asked if I had met with a chimera in the temple, after telling her what had happened she explained that the demon had turned the old king into the chimera for not giving him the medallion and then transformed into him. The temple was what was left of the castle that once overlooked the city and he castle the demon lived in as the king was once the church for the city. After hearing this I apologized for what we had done but she shook her head and said it was for the best. Later that night around the time one would normally awake to relieve ones self a knock on the door drew my attention. It was Kinira and she was unsettled about something. I asked her what the problem was and she asked me to come talk with her. I followed her down the hall and she opened the window at the far end. She flew out and onto the roof signaling me to follow so I climbed out and up to meet her. I asked why she wanted to meet with me on the roof and she just laid down on and looked up at the stars, I laid down next to her and she said that she knew where we were. I asked what she meant and she told me about how everywhere we went was familiar to her as if she was here once before. We talked about it for a bit and I told her not to worry. Eventually we fell asleep looking at the stars. I awoke to find kinira clinging to my right arm. I just laid there for awhile to not disturb her and watched as the sun rose over us. The light woke Kinira and she apologized for laying on me. I looked at her smiling and told her not to worry about it and then we went back in through the window. We went to our rooms to gather our things and then went down to the inns lobby where the inn keepers had made a big feast type breakfast for all the costumers currently staying at the inn. Kai asked how we where to get to work as if it where as simple as that. I looked back at him with a sarcastic grin and he just smiled at me like it was all just a game. After we all had eaten we gathered outside and made sure we had everything. As soon as we turned to set out all the people of the city were celebrating and we where given two horses to pull a cargo wagon that was also presented to us. I thanked them and we set out eastward, hopefully to find an ocean. As we traveled we came across many interesting monsters but were easily fought off. At about noon we came to a forest that was supposed to have a vast beach line and the ocean on the other side. We stopped at a large rock that looked like it could have been a sleeping bear for a break and to eat, but set out again as soon as we were finished. It is never smart to stay put in a forest for too long. We traveled slowly to maintain our direction but Karin and Kai both mentioned us passing the same rock formation we took a break at earlier. Kinira also said we had passed it once before our break as well. I marked the rock with my sword and we kept going, after about 20 minutes or so we came to it again and sure enough it had the scar from my blade. Knowing I had never been lost before and that we were going in a strait line we concluded an outside force was making us go in circles. We set out several more times but instead of strait we turned right or left and even going back the way we came the first time but it was no good. We stopped and made camp under the edge of the rock and contemplated how we could get out of this situation. Kai suggested destroying the rock but I said we would probably still end up coming back to the pile of rubble over and over. We made camp for the night but stayed on guard as we expected what ever force was keeping us here had a plan for us. As the sun set we became aware of several people watching us so I called out into the dark “I know your there come out..” A young man stepped forward and could only be described as an elf. He had an unseen aura that captivated us. He asked us why we had invaded the forest so I explained that we were headed for the ocean, and he told us that his clan could not allow us to pass. I asked his reason and he replied with “Im not required to answer that, if you’d like I can show you out but I cant let you through without permission from our clan leader.” I asked him if we could meet with his clan leader and he agreed to take us to the Elvin village but our weapons where not allowed. Two more elves came from the darkness and told us to turn over all of our weapons to them to be stored till we left. We placed our weapons in the wagon and one of the elves led the horses away. They elves led us through the forest for a short while, still passing the same rock over again but each time from different angles. I asked why we were going in circle and he said that the forest had a spell on it and that you had to walk in a specific pattern to pass into the village, and I assumed there different pattern to reach the ocean. We finally came to a large tree that had a strange moss growing all over it. The elf turned and introduced himself, “You’ll have to forgive my earlier rudeness but one cant always tell who he can trust, my name is Keilik.” I accepted his apology and told him our names. Then he pulled the moss, which was actually a drape of sorts, to the side and revealed the inside of the tree was hollow and had an wood elevator inside it. It had to be hand cranked so when we all were inside Keilik began pulling the rope to raise us into the canopy. At the top we got off onto a wooden platform that circled the tree and had wood rope bridges extending to other platforms that were attached to other trees. There were one or two small buildings attached to each of the platforms and I guessed they were houses. Then I noticed a pattern to it. The platforms made a large circle around a free flouting platform supported only by the bridges that connected it to the others. On this platform was a large building that covered the whole thing save for a path around its edge. We were told their leader resided there and we were instructed to go inside. As we entered I noticed that it was well decorated and seemed rather like a palace. There was a young Elvin girl that looked no older than 15 sitting in a wood chair with flowers growing on it. “Have a seat.” she said with a tone of that although innocent and soothing, let you know she was in charge without question. We sat on pre-laid pads that made a half circle around the chair and she introduced herself “I am Serillia, princess and current ruler of this clan. Why have you come here.” I explained the situation and then she spoke to Keilik in elvish for a bit. He left and then returned with several others that brought in food and drink. As we ate a man came in but this man had light blue skin and ears that looked like fins, his hands were webbed and he had some kind of fin coming from his elbow as well that flicked every few seconds like a cats tail does. He spoke with a rasp and it was a little hard to understand him. “I am Demiscreese, an emissary of the water tribe, just as you heard a voice telling you to come I heard a voice as well, I will take you to the water tribe and a new emissary will be sent back to the elves.” Serillia told Keilik to go with us and he agreed. Infact he was a little exited because he had never been to the water tribe before. We finished our meal and then returned to the forest floor, looking up the village could not be seen and Keilik explained that when the village was built a goddess shrouded the village so it could only be seen from within. We waited for our wagon and then Keilik led us through the forest again and after a short while came to a break in the tree line. As our eyes readjusted to the light we saw the ocean. I had never seen one even back home so I was utterly amazed. Water stretching on forever, the sound and scent were one-of-a-kind. Demiscreese told us to wait on the beach while he took care of something and then dove into and vanished beneath the waves. We sat down and enjoyed the ocean, the smells the sounds the sights. Demiscreese came back about 20 minutes later with anoth
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