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 Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 5:04 pm
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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 8:32 am
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It had been quite a surprise to hear his grandfather's name being spoken so freely from the mouths of strangers all around him. A hero, the one who first tried to save the little one taken captive by the faun. What motive had they had in doing so? Such actions were clearly provocative, a justification to react. In this sense, he was incredibly proud to have come from his family, yet shamed to have ties to a faun in his lineage.
Really, it all was so sudden.
What was more unexpected, however, was the visit the hero paid to Malek despite his clearly-expressed distaste for the city itself. It had been without many words (for obvious reasons), yet the words written on that sheet had reverberated deep within him. The rhetoric and the strength they were recited to him, a result of his illiteracy, made his blood grow warm and his pulse quicken. The Guardians had noticed him; they were testing him and his resolve. If not for this very moment, what was it then that he had set out to do?
-----------------------------------------------------
Looking around, Malek stood past the edge of the Quiet Woods, his eyes darting around and a small pack of supplies slung over his shoulder. To say he was nervous about what he was about to do, about meeting this contact and doing his part to save this girl, would be a far understatement.
However, it was something he was fully committed to accomplish.
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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 7:42 pm
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Once Malek arrived at the specified location, he'd find a mess of little playing cards, mini riot gear scattered around, and a little sword stuck in the ground with a dented shield laying close to it.
There were many footprints and hoofprints all over, but hard to tell how many pae were there. Or if they could have been Raken's from the previous day.
It was eerily quiet.
The forest fire odor wafted in the breeze from the Great Tree. The smoke was still lingering, encircling the Tree like a dark cloud looming.
Malek wouldn't see or hear the ambush from behind. He'd only feel the bludgeon making contact with the back of his head for a moment before falling unconscious.
~.~
Malek would awaken in an upright position with his hands bound behind him, and his feet bound in front. He has a dark hood over his head. He wouldn't see anything. Scents in the air were similar to those of the ransacked contact point; smoke and forest.
He'd hear rustling and footsteps hustling around him. A bird squawked and then everything got quiet.
"We have to hurry before she finds us."
"Get to it, then."
"Derrick, you keep a look out and give the signal if you see any signs of the goddess."
"YOU WON'T G--"
"Shut that thing up!"
A few moments of scuffling and muffled shouts followed Lord Andrei's sudden outburst.
"Okay, you!" one of the pae poked Malek's leg with a stick. "We need you to give us information. If you cooperate, we'll let you go unharmed. If you don't, we have ways of making you talk."
Suddenly, a little girl started crying.
"So who sent you?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:51 pm
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The shetani walked along the edge of the forest, his eyes looking around for any signs to the ones he was meant to meet. He had never met them of course, but they had to be close; the strengthening scent in the air told him so. It reminded him of his home, of the burning firewood they used for cooking and heating, except more... organic? ...sickening? It almost smelled as if there was blood in the air mixing with that familiar sensation.
When combined with the total silence, none save for the forest's leaves, it made him a little uncomfortable.
Alright... It made him very uncomfortable.
But today wasn't about his comfort or his confidence It was about doing everything possible to save one little girl. To show her that they would do anything to get her back. His walking slowed as he approached what he assumed to have been the meeting point, an area littered with cards and gear. But why was it left in such a state. Surely they hadn't left without him, otherwise they would have cleaned up all traces of their being here; if they were suspicious, why not send one to meet him; if they had all gone to take a restroom brake at the same time...;
What was going on?
As he was turning his head to look around, he was completely unaware of the lurking figure nearby and of the danger in the situation. It wasn't until an intense pain in the back of his head brought stars to his vision, blurring it before quickly giving way to darkness, that he knew. And even then, there were but a few moments of panic before his mind gave way to unconsciousness.
-----------------------------------------------------
Everything was groggy and dark as he returned to the present, his eyes only half-open as the pain throbbed and made thinking difficult. His hands and feet were cold and numb, and as he turned to try and move them he toppled over in a disoriented fall.
As he hit the ground, a cold sweat began to cover his body as his mind became acutely aware of the situation. His hands and feet were tied together to the point of numbness; his vision wasn't still dark, there was something blinding him. What was going on? This was just a simple, if dangerous, recon mission to return a girl to her family, right? Wasn't that all it was going to be? With the familiar scent in the air, now heightened to his diluted sense of vision and touch, they couldn't be too far from where he'd been originally.
His body jolted at the bird's crow, his head turning in the direction it had come from. There were a number of others around him; how many? Even for his sense of hearing, it was hard to distinguish footsteps from others. When they started talking, he could tell that something was very wrong about this.
He'd been ambushed.
Flinching at the dull poke of the stick, the shetani's made no other response to the words of the other. Even if they wanted information, even if he had any relevant information to give, he could not speak in any comprehensible way to them. It was his curse. Even so... his pulse quickened as he hear crying, a girl's crying. Was that the little girl who'd been taken by the faun?
Had he been taken by the faun?
The Guardians would protect him, right?
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 12:53 am
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From the tone and words of the shouting, that appeared to be who he was meant to meet up with. It was enough to send a chill up his spine as he shifted in his bound position, the muffled sounds much more chilling than the shouting had been. If they could have seen his face, he would have frowned at the poke.
Really, what was it with him and getting into situations where speaking was necessary? It wasn't as though he had any useful information to give if he had wanted to anyways.
This was why he never really had bothered with society.
Sulking aside, there were much more important things needing to be done at this moment. It wasn't like him to be so calm in such a moment, but maybe the surreality of it had served to help him detach from the emotion of it. It didn't matter what happened to him so long as this girl, now clearly a hostage and tool for bargaining, was saved. The dull feeling of something kicking him, a hoof rather than a foot, confirmed to him that this was the doing of the faun, and for a moment there was a complete disgust that there was a society willing to do such a horrible thing to a child.
A disgust that however distantly, he had ties to them.
The sound of the horn not too far in the distance could mean one of two things: either he was receiving reinforcements, or they were. A very positive situation, or a very negative one. Even if it was positive, if the faun were frightened they might leave him and take the girl, rendering this all for naught and casting him as a failure.
Maybe he could entice them to stay longer with a different sort of information.
The blindness they had given him was actually rather beneficial for this situation, as they couldn't necessarily read his facial expressions. Focusing all of his effort, he projected shadows all around the locations of where he assumed the faun to be based on the angles of their interaction with him. The images were highly detailed to the point of insects silently flying around and dew glittering the ground. They would appear to be on the edge of a clearing, dense jungle all around them. An invisible wind caused vines and leaves to move, some leaves to fall.
It was incredibly difficult to produce and maintain such detail, but hopefully it would be enough to distract them from hurting the girl.
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 2:57 am
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The horn was the warning signal that the goddess was near. The signal to high-tail it out of the woods less they be found out.
The bandits were too busy trying to pack up what they needed to notice much else. Except one of them, however, did notice the change in scenery and additional figures lurking behind the trees. "SHE'S ALREADY HERE!" he shouted, dropping his cargo and running through the brush. A couple of little fairies flew from the sack that he dropped and started smacking him and pulling his hair as he flailed and ran from the campsite.
One of the others who had been attending to Malek's situation - trying to stand him up - noticed the shadows and then dropped him. "We don't have time to get everything, we're surrounded!"
"Run! The goddess is here!"
Pae started tripping and dropping things.
One faun tripped over Malek, snagging the head covering. He aggressively yanked it off and became entangled and fell to the ground beside the hostage. Malek would be able to see his location now.
He was definitely in a forest, coniferous trees everywhere. And it was dusk. The light was low and the sun was already below the treeline. There were signs that the group had laid camp there. Burlap sacks were strewn around with wiggling contents as the pae scurried to flee the area. There were about half a dozen pae, give or take. Not all of them were faun, but most were.
A little angel girl sat on a tree stump, holding her doll and watching the commotion. She was unharmed, but frightened. She started crying as she dropped her doll when a large male faun with abnormal antlers grabbed her up and ran away with the others.
"Just leave him. We'll find another way."
The extra shadows spooked the bandits and confused them enough that they scattered, only taking the girl with them as they fled the scene. Malek was left laying on the ground, still tied up, and surrounded by bagged fairies, including one pissed off Lord Andrei who was still in his bag with a gag in his mouth.
In only a few minutes, all the bandits were gone, leaving behind a trashed campsite and their failed attempt to gain another hostage.
A dark blue bird perched on the stump where the little girl had sat. It squawked at Malek, followed by an incredibly accurate mimic of a child crying.
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Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 4:49 pm
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The goddess was indeed near. However, that hadn't been one of her tricks that had caused the group to scatter. Not even close to her M.O.
Leaping down from one of the trees just out of Malek's range of sight, Silvana landed silently and straightened up, carefully folding her wings out of the way of the bow slung over her shoulder. Her eyes scanned the clearing with the practiced ease of a hunter, noting what few remained: a few bound fairies (including the noisy one) and a bound youth.
The young goddess had been hoping to remain unnoticed a bit longer, but apparently someone else had had other plans. Could that have been the boy? Curious power, if so. She'd keep that in mind. Still, the situation remained something of a mystery to her. What exactly had those Pae been doing with this boy? And those other fairies? She had noted several Faun in their number, but unfortunately, the interruption had denied her the time to fully access the situation.
She did so hate being uninformed.
Like the Faun, she too had felt the attack on the Tree the instant it happened. A pain, a sense of loss, an injury too deep to see, but certainly not too deep to feel. The anger and pain of the Tree had reached as far as her own forest, and though the distance was great, Silvana was riding a similar wave of adrenaline and rage, desperate to find those at fault. Little news had reached her that was definite and something she could act on, other than being on alert for suspicious behavior.
This seemed more than a little suspicious.
Stalking towards the bound Pae'il like a predator, Silvana silently drew one of her hunting daggers while still out of his range of sight. She didn't know the boy or why the others had him or these noisy fairies. She had noticed the Faun in the group, however...and she was used to some not quite understanding her ways. Perhaps they too found the boy suspicious and meant to take him to question him. Her presence may have startled them, though they had similar thoughts.
Though, that still left her puzzled by the small angel child.
For now, she needed more information. And these suspicious individuals were already neatly bound, saving her time. She slipped over towards the bound Shetani, and quick as a snake, looped her arm around from behind and pressed the flat of her blade lightly, but firmly, against his throat.
"They were right, you know. The Goddess is always here. I know all that happens in these woods. They're mine," she purred in his ear, seeming alluring at first...until she finished with a sharp hiss.
"Now...I have little time or patience, mortal. Why did they take you and the noisy ones? Did you have something to do with the attack?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 11:15 am
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Already here? Who was already here? From that thought alone the shadows he was projected twisted and altered, some moments something unreadable, other moments traces of the detail from before. His wings, until now left unbound (as far as I can tell), flapped aggressively as the other tried to lift him, stopping their movement and folding back against him only as he again fell to the ground. The shadows were deformed and fading by now, disappearing altogether as pain flared against his face and his vision returned to him in a burst of light.
Well... faded light. Was it dusk already; how long had he been out? Looking around, he could see puffs of his breath before him due to the altitude and the looming shadows on conifer trees. He hadn't seen any like this in... well ever really. Even those from the mountain had looked different.
His eyes then turned to look at a little angel sitting before him, clearly young and clearly frightened. She must be the one he had come to save. Malek's arms and legs struggled against the ropes binding them to his back, desparately trying to break free and attend to her.
No. Set her down.
Let her go.
Please... She's done no wrong; just let her go!
Despair filled him as everyone fled, his uselessness apparent by the complete silence that followed. As they left, he burned the image of each and everyone deep into his memory, the anger searing them to the mind. He had one job, just one, and he couldn't even do that. What good was he, then? Eyes downcast, they only looked up again at the sound of crying. Her crying.
Were even the animals now making a mockery of his failure? Vision falling, his eyes stopped as they came to rest on the doll, the very image of the girl and her terrified face filling his conscious.
No, he had yet to fail. Stopping now; giving up now... That would be failure.
And at that moment, at that moment his resolve returned to him, the shetani felt the presence of another. Then the cold touch of a weapon against his throat. He froze, unable to react in time to the understanding that his life was now in her hands. Even with her tone, he knew that she was threatening him.
Fight or flight.
Flight was winning, but he hadn't a way to flee, nor had he a way to speak to her. Very slowly, he turned his head to best look at her, adrenalin dulling any pain he might have felt from rubbing against his throat. If he could, he'd make eye contact with her, and after that (even if he couldn't) he would shake his head no.
He wasn't even aware of the specifics of any attack after all; as far as he was concerned, there was a little girl whom had been kidnapped by the faun, and he would return her to her family by any means necessarily.
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Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 11:39 am
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What was the fool doing?
Frowning, Silvana lessened the pressure of her blade slightly as his movement began to create a shallow slice. He was trying to look at her? What good would that do him? It wasn't that she was trying to hide her identity after all. When he ceased shaking his head, she snarled and pressed the flat of the blade firmly beneath his jawline in warning. "Watch yourself, boy. Typically, if someone has a weapon to your throat...I'd suggest not moving. Tends to be the smart thing to do."
She took a moment to look him over again. No weapons as far as she could see, though the others would have stripped him of any before she got here. He didn't seem to be much of a threat, but she wasn't about to let her guard down. Looks could be deceiving, of course. Few took her as a threat at first glance either. She remained knelt behind her prisoner, pressed in close between his wings, against his back. Her voice a mere whisper in his ear, she hissed, "Don't you shake your head at me again, boy. I want answers. You trying to tell me you don't know why they had you? Or are you protesting your innocence? Either way, I'm not feeling inclined to believe you. Clearly, they targeted you for a reason. I want to know why. Now, spill it."
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Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 12:01 pm
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Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 1:51 pm
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Foolish AND stubborn, apparently! She met his glare with her own, golden eyes narrowed in irritation. In a rare instance, she felt her deity heritage flare up, insisting that she smite the mortal for his insolence. She didn't follow through, however she did snarl with impatience, "Answer me, mortal. I don't have the time or patience to waste with you."
As the shadows stirred around them, her gaze flickered towards the movements. More shadow tricks. The child...yes, she'd seen her in the scrambling retreat earlier. The child's presence still puzzled her; how did that fit in here? She'd heard the faun questioning the boy here about why he was there, also asking what the City was up to. They seemed to think that the boy had something to do with the attack on the Tree, from what she understood, but he seemed to be trying to distract her with this child. Why?
He was trying to distract her, all while refusing to answer her directly. Tight-lipped little brat. Pulling her blade away from his throat, she moved swiftly before he could take action of his own. He'd be offered a brief view of the horned demoness with ornate wings as she slipped in front of him, straddling his lap, eyes narrowed dangerously. Then, with a strength belied by her feminine form, she grabbed the bound shetani by the shoulders and rolled him to the side, pressing him face-down into the ground. Placing a knee on his back between his wings, she leaned on him with enough weight to keep him from escaping.
"What connection have you to this child?" she snapped, irritation clear. "And how does this answer my questions? These Pae asked you about the City and who sent you. Have you anything to do with the attack on the Tree?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 2:09 pm
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Malek had but a moment for his shoulders to slack as the knife was removed from his throat. There was a fleeting feeling that maybe he'd gotten his point across; when she moved in front of him, he couldn't help but wonder what a demoness was doing questioning him like this, thought that maybe she was going to cut him free.
Then, before he could comprehend the moment, he felt his cheek hit the soil beneath him roughly. The force was enough to empty his lungs of air and send him into a momentary fit of coughs, his frame unmoving as she secured him to the earth. Blasted be the earth, blasted be them all. But, most of all, blasted be himself.
That he could really do so little.
That he could really communicate so little.
That he should be forced into such a failure as this; he really wasn't worthy of asking for the Guardians' favor. All he wanted was to save her. Why couldn't he just say these few words? 'The girl was kidnapped. I need to save her.' Simple enough, right? Opening his mouth, he again closed it without a sound and bit his lip, his own frustration with the situation obvious. Even if it seemed simple enough for others to speak, it was something he simply was incapable of doing.
The problem was that the shadows didn't appear to be helping his situation much, but what alternative did he have?
Closing his eyes, he again summoned a picture of the girl surrounded by the others. This time, however, there was a figure that resembled himself that appeared, running to grab the girl and lift her into his arms. She grabbed onto him, burying her head into his chest as the others chased after them. The pair gained distance and the kidnappers vanished, only for the perspective to shift as they approached a different pair. A female and male angel, clearly overcome with emotion and reaching out to them. The Malek shadow set the girl down and she ran into their embrace, the two larger ones falling to their knees as she pressed into their bosoms and cried. It would be apparent that it was tears of happiness and relief, not sorrow, that they shed.
Opening his eyes again, his cheek and shoulder growing numb from the pressure, he looked back to her. Guardians help her to understand what he was saying. If she only knew what had been done, she might understand and help to recover the innocent child. There was no reason to be involved, and as of yet he had no reason for any further action once she was secured.
Of course, recent events were certainly helping to bias him for future actions that he might or might not take.
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Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 4:24 pm
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Her eyes caught the subtle movement as his mouth opened...was he about to say something finally? No...her expression hardened once more as his lips closed. Was he really so stubborn? To resist a goddess in her realm? Could his secrets be so important to risk his own life by taunting her with this lack of cooperation?
Oh good, more shadows again.
Why did he keep doing that? Wouldn't it have been much easier just to tell her what he wanted to say? Less energy, less confusion...unless he was purposefully trying to confuse her. Maybe that's why he was going to all the trouble. Staring at the shadows for a moment, she realized the message was clearer this time, at least in answering her first question. The rest still seemed to be ignored.
"So...you want to be a hero. Take her home." That still left her with other questions. "But...why would they want her? Why would they want you?" She'd heard the shouts to 'leave him', that they'd 'find another way'. "They planned to take you too, you know..." she muttered, looking down her trapped prey who stared back at her at an awkward angle. "But...why?" She turned her attention upwards and out, focusing for a moment. No...they had already moved beyond her reach. The culprits knew well enough to head straight for the edge of the forest to escape her pursuit. Which left her with only the silent, stubborn captive for interrogation. The possibility never occurred to her that he might not be able to answer her...only that he refused to. If only he'd stop resisting her.
"Shadows are means of deception and trickery, used to hide the truth from sight." Her voice had gone steely and soft. With little warning, she swiftly thrust her hunting knife into the soft earth a few inches in front of the captured shetani's face. Still holding him pinned, she leaned over him to meet his gaze straight on. To do so, she tangled her fingers in his hair, pulling his head back to limit excess movement, while preventing him from looking away. "No more shadows, boy. Nor head shaking. You look me in the eye and tell the truth. What proof have you that you had nothing to do with the attack? Can you convince me you haven't made all this up because you truly harbor ill-intentions towards the Faun?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 11:49 pm
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Despite her stern look, the slightest of a smile seemed to creep on Malek's lips as she interpreted his projection out loud. Yes... Yes! That was exactly what he wanted to do, all he had ever wanted to do. Not necessarily be a hero in the grand scheme of things, but just to return a young, kidnapped girl with her family. Talks of heroism were of little use to him. Well... He did also want to appease the Guardians', as they had chosen someone so worthless as him to do their will, but the emotion and the energy invested in this had made it so much more personal.
So yes, simply put, he did want to be a hero.
As for why they wanted him... Wouldn't he like to know? Her explanation for their motives did little other than confirm his own suspicions. Somehow, his location and intentions had been leaked to them. It would be simple enough to add a relatively scrawny shetani to their collection of captives, or so they clearly thought.
The shetani's eyes widened and there was a definitive reaction of his body, a flinch away from the cold steel which found itself beside him. Hadn't she understood him though? A nearly-audible grunt accompanied a pained expression as he was pulled from his hair, his neck stretching in an awkward angle to align his face with hers. From here he could get a clear look at the goddess; how poor a situation, really, that one so beautiful should treat him so coldly. Were it for a different set of circumstances, he might have actually fancied her quite a bit.
As it were, however, he bit his lip as his eyes rested on hers. It wasn't in his nature to seek confrontation head-on. No, it wasn't in his nature to seek confrontation at all.
But what was she doing, talking about the faun? It was almost... almost as if she meant to protect them over her own kind.
He could practically spit on the idea.
To take away his shadows and body language was to render him effectively dumb. Swallowing once, a strange feat considering how dry his throat had become, his eyes broke away and looked downcast. Maybe, maybe for once, he might be able to speak?
He opened his mouth and closed it.
No... It had never worked before, why would it now? When was the last time he had even attempted to make words?
The shetani's teeth grated together for a moment before he bit his bottom lip, clearly deep in thought with conflicting emotions. As hard as this might have been normally, he normally would have also been able to avoid even trying.
Circumstance can be a funny motivator, though.
Letting his mouth hang open, he simply breathed as he tried to think of the words he wished to say. His alibi, so to speak. 'I have never been near the tree. I have an uncle there. The girl was kidnapped for a reason we do not know and her parents grieve for her; I was sent to return her home.' Would that be so difficult?
Guardians help him.
"..." A breath out. "Eai hiaff iinaeifah..." as he began speaking, he could hear his voice cracking as the words came out in a mess of sounds as they usually did. It was almost heartbreaking to hear; he could nearly feel his words, if you might call them that, dripping with shame. "naiirivhhhhr..." his eyes looked even further away, his spirit breaking and tone fading. "...bvvhein thuu lea chhaalie..." His body shook against his will as he internally curled into a ball and cried, his outward appearance perhaps a poor mask of those feelings. How pathetic.
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