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 Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:33 am
 "Aren't you little! How cute, cute, cute!" Misaki had sensed something this morning upon her awakening. A calling, unknown and unheard by most, perhaps even the one who'd reached out. In her excitement, she'd zoomed through the forest in search of the one whose heart was ready to be opened. "I've never seen an adult so small. You are an adult, aren't you?" She really had never seen such a small adult. Yes, Gale was still larger than the perma-cub elemental. That didn't seem to matter, though. It was quite a long time of gawking and 'aww'ing before she actually remembered why she'd appeared in the first place.
"OH!" she exclaimed, rising up on her back paws. Next, her back paws even left the forest floor as she rose into the air and hovered about a foot high. "You're the one who called out, yes?" Childish but not unintelligent, Misaki already knew the answer to that question. "I'm here to help you out, so don't worry!" The cub's pink eyes began to glow and the world around the two began to fade without warning, as if it were melting away. "Here we go!" In a white flash, the melting world was gone, replaced with a very desaturated looking world.
"This is your heart. Boy, it's not very bright, is it?" A giggle accompanied her words, as if she knew something the other didn't. "Miss Gale, do you see that mountain?" Behind them and barely visible through the thickness of this new forest was a tall and ominous looking peak. "On the other side of that mountain is something that will make this world as bright as it can be. You can find it, I'm sure! Just go to the cave." As vague as the explanation was, she seemed finished.
Jumping from the ground and hovering again, she grinned. "Well, good luck! I believe in you! Bye-bye~!" She began to laugh merrily. In a fuzzy flash, she was gone. Throughout the forest echoed her high-pitched giggling for quite a while before it finally faded with her form. Now Gale was alone, seeking something that was yet to be revealed to her completely.
Your adventure begins now. Good luck.
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:06 am
"Cute? You are one to talk!"
Gale laughed at the sound of the elemental's voice. Her sightless eyes fixed on Misaki, she judged that she was a youngster by her cheery voice, and a special one at that. She grinned, a look that didn't often cross Gale's reserved and composed features. It wasn't often that she got such an interesting visitor, either.
Sensing the change of air currents with her sensitive quills, she was startled to find that Misaki had risen in the air somehow. Yes... Gale supposed she had 'called out'. She had been longing for something more in her life for a while now... and she hadn't expected anything to change. How her call was 'heard' by anyone was lost on her, but Misaki's enthusiasm was so catching that she really didn't think about it. "Help me out?" she echoed, wondering what was in store for her.
Suddenly, Gale felt the world melt away under her paws. She gasped and jump back, clicking the bracelets on her front ankles together. There was... nothing there! No echoes bounced back! Gale almost panicked but suddenly she felt the earth under her paws again. It was different though... cold.
Before speaking again, Gale listened to Misaki's explanation. This was... her heart? She had to smirk. Of course it would be dull and cold... Her entire world was dull and cold, featureless except for the things she heard, the things she felt, the scents of things she couldn't see... She thought bitterly of the illness that took her sight when she was just a little cub, her enthusiasm waning now. "No, I cannot see it," her ears pricked as her voice bounced off the trees, using the noise almost like a dumbed-down, imprecise version of bat sonar. Like she always has. "But my paws can feel the terrain rising, and my quills sense the air currents... It's behind us." She nodded, thinking she would have to figure things out for herself.
This was confirmed when, with a happy laugh, Misaki disappeared. Gale stood still as the laughter faded, the echoes letting her guess the size of the forest. It stretched indefinitely on either side of her and in front of her, but it changed behind her. Quickly she turned around, clicking her bracelets together. Yes, that was the right direction to go. Whatever that meant.
"Well Gale," she said to herself, "Here goes something."
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:57 am
With that, Gale departed on her journey. The going started out boring and mundane, very much like Gale's wanderings in the real world. She fell into a familiar pattern of motion; take a few steps, click bracelets, listen for the echoes of any obstacles, and repeat. She yawned, wondering if she would ever reach the mountain or if she had died and was doomed to wander the forest forever. It was strangely quiet, the only regular sounds coming from the clicking of metal on metal. There was no sense of time here, she thought as she passed yet another pine tree. Just one's own exhaustion.
The dullness made Gale sleepy and inattentive. It was a long time before she thoughts to check her air with her quills, feeling for changes of air pressure. She did so then, flairing them up and around her, just to realize that she was going right off course. Blast it! Why wasn't she more careful? It would take forever to get back on track. Dismayed she flopped down in a heap and curled up, feeling utterly hopeless.
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Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 11:50 am
Gale must have dozed off. She awoke slowly, wondering why she wasn't nestled in her soft, earthy den. She stretched and yawned, feeling strangely refreshed. Blinking her eyes open, she took in the grey scenery that greeted her.
Wait.
She blinked again, trailing her eyes slowly along the foliage. How... how was she seeing this? She rubbed her eyes with her forepaws and stared dead ahead. It was... impossible!! She couldn't see anything! She was blind! And yet, she could pick out the detail of the leaves before her, study the cristalline formations inside a rock... Tears welled up in her clear silver eyes, marring her vision until they spilled down her cheeks. It was more than enough to encourage her start walking again.
Standing up tall, she took confident steps forward and laughed. It was great to be alive!
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 8:04 am
Her newfound sight allowed Gale to get back on course in half as much time as she expected. There was still a long ways to go but that didn't discourage her in the least. She kept her eyes open, her gaze never staying in one spot very long before flicking somewhere else. If only there was some colour here. Were all hearts this dreary grey? Or was it just hers? She mulled over that for a while, wondering what Misaki meant about 'brightening' the world. Or her heart... It was all entirely confusing.
It took another space of time for Gale to realize something. Her super-sensitive hearing was gone... When she had lost her sight, her hearing had become her biggest asset. Back in the real world, she could hear people approaching from a great distance. Then, she used her hearing to listen for the subtle echoes that marked out obstacles in front of her. Her sense of smell wasn't as powerful as it used to be, either. She had used it a lot to navigate as well. Curious, she closed her eyes and clicked her bracelets together, expecting to hear the answering echo. Instead the sound was muffed, and it really didn't tell her anything about her surroundings. Pondering over the change, Gale opened her eyes again before continuing along her way.
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Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 8:19 am
Traveling was making Gale weary. She stopped to curl up under some bushes, stretching her tired forelegs in front of her. Studying the plants, she realized she had chosen to lie under some rose bushes, judging by the pattern of thorns along their outer branches. No blooms blossomed on them, and the fact disappointed her. The smell of roses was her favourite scent... She sniffed, hoping to catch even a tiny whiff of roses. But there was nothing. Was it her sense of smell? Was it weaker now than she first thought? Gale shook her head, catching her quills on a branch. Even her quills weren't as sensitive as they had been before. She reached up to untangle them from the bush.
There amongst the branches was a tiny, grey rose bud.
She cupped it gently in her paws, caressing the little thing. Maybe there was some hope for this strange heart-world. If only she could find 'the cave'. Whatever that meant.
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Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 6:51 am
The 'night', as Gale called it, was not restful. She woke up shivering violently, huddling her paws and her tail tight against her body. It took a huge amount of effort for her to get to her paws again. She really didn't feel like going anywhere... but she knew that she couldn't stay here and find the answers. The mini-kylan pulled herself away from the rose bushes, her head spinning. Briefly Gale wondered if she had eaten something rotten when she realized that she hadn't eaten anything since before she met Misaki. Glancing around, she tried to spot something to eat but found nothing. Was there food in this heart-world? What about water? Gale suddenly felt horrendously thristy. She licked her lips dryly, wondering why she hadn't felt the need to drink until now.
Her paws feeling heavy, she took her first groggy steps. She would have to find water soon.
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Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:45 am
There was no water in sight. It was all the same; trees, some bushes, trees, some bushes... The mundane scenery just made Gale more and more thirsty. She had barely started to walk before she was forced to rest again, exhaustion grasping her in talons that refused to let her go. And the shivering didn't stop. Gale shook uncontrollably, feeling as if she was going to vomit. Her breathing was laboured now, every breath rasping through her dry throat like sandpaper. She closed her eyes and tried willing away the sensations without success. What was happening to her? Was she going to die? Was she dead?
A little whimper escaped the mini-kylan's maw as she lay down. The motion was enough to make her head spin and lights spark in her vision. The world reeled and before she knew it, she had toppled to her side, her ear crunched in the rough gravel. She brought her limbs tight to her belly, grimacing as nausea threatened to make her stomach heave.
This was familiar...
She remembered a time when she was a pup. It had started harmlessly enough as a fever. Her parents had expected her to make a quick recovery after a few days of rest. But then the thirst hit. The terrible, agonizing, insatiable thirst. She remembered being carried from the cave every morning by her mother, to be laid by the cool stream that ran near the family's home. There her mother would watch as she crawled to the edge and gulped mouthful after mouthful, but it didn't help. Even if she drank her own weight in water her throat would continue to burn. And then...
Gale whimpered again at the half-formed thought and tried to fall asleep.
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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 7:29 am
Gale slept fitfully through a handful of feverish dreams. She dreamt of her mother, her father, the time after she had lost her sight... And she dreamt of monstrous, unfamiliar shapes with sneering faces and jeering words. A few times she cried out as daggers of pain shot through her forehead, leaving dark holes that ate away at the edges of her vision.
She couldn't go through this again. The pain of losing her sight... why was this happening to her? Was this some kind of sick joke? She was given her sight back just to have it snatched away again? It wasn't fair. Weakly Gale brought her forepaws closer to her face and gazed at her bracelets. There were so many dark patches now she could barely see their silver surfaces, worn down and scratched from being struck together for so many seasons. Suddenly she flung them away, sending them careening into a bush. She couldn't live that way again! Uncontrollably Gale sobbed, the pain jabbing at her skull as her throat seared. She was so dehydrated now that she shed no tears.
Blindness or death?
The voice was so sudden in the almost-silence that Gale started. It took her a moment to focus on the words and realize that she had been asked a question. Her eyes flicked around the trees as she saw a shape move through them, dark and formless like a shadow. Something by the ground shimmered as it went.
"Why make me choose?" She asked back, her voice barely a rasping whisper. She tried to find the shadow again, but the tears in her vision stopped her from spotting it.
Because you must. The voice was even closer now, making Gale's quills spike in fear. Then she heard a growl, a deep rumbling sound almost like someone was... laughing?
"But why?" Gale cried desperately, groping the air in front of her. The laughter just grew stronger and a flash of pain, unimaginable pain, slammed into her forehead, drawing out a horrible shriek from her already tortured throat. She writhed on the ground, clutching her head.
Then a thought occured to her. It was cloudy at first, but it grew stronger.
Was her very life less important to her than the ability to see? After she had lost her sight, the fever had disappated faster than it had hit. She had been a frightened little cub back then, forced to live with her disability against her will. But, she had learned. She had learned to listen for the things other couldn't hear, to feel what others couldn't touch, to sense what others passed by... She had suffered, yes, but she had lived.
And that was more important.
With a bright flash her pain was gone. The world vanished as Gale fell into a deep sleep.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:02 am
Gale yawned widely as she awoke, stretching her long lithe body and every limb in turn. She rubbed gravel from her ear and shook her head, sensitive quills flaired and drifting in the subtle air currents. She pricked her elegant ears forward as she brushed her fur down, listening for any sounds in the dreary quiet.
Things were back to normal... Sightless silver eyes blinking away her sleepiness, Gale noticed that her sharp hearing was back along with her other senses. But she didn't feel the same bitterness about losing her sight as before. She hadn't realized that she had put so much value into her sight when she should have been thankful to be alive and well. Shaking her head, she wondered if she would experience any other strange things like this. Was this all part of 'brightening the world'?
Well, she was fine now, and there wasn't much use standing around asking herself questions. She went to click her bracelets together just to remember they were gone. When she thought about it, she noticed that she had lost her necklace sometime during her illness as well. Curiously Gale felt her ears. At least her earrings were still there. Remembering she had flung her bracelets in a bush, Gale went over to find them. She felt around underneath the foliage but couldn't feel anything.
"Hmm," she murmered, circling the plants for any sign of them. In half stride her foot brushed the side of something smooth. She pawed it and realized it was a bracelet, but it wasn't like the ones she had thrown away. She continued to feel it when she found a second one lying right beside it. They were made out polished metal, and if Gale could see, she would have seen that each one was made up of two strips, one silver, one gold, wrapped around each other. They slipped over her paws easily. Gale was surprised at how light they felt.
Experimentally she clicked them together. She couldn't help but gasp at what she experienced next.
The bracelets rang like a pair of clear bells, the melodies and tones weaving together in a strange, ethereal chorus. The sound waves traveled far before returning to Gale's ears, echoing off the forest trees. In her mind's eye the sounds etched the scenery in silver, outlining everything clearly for her to 'see'. She repeated it once, twice, three times with the same results. What was this, this.... sound-sight? It was as if the bracelets were made for her...
Giggling like a little cub, Gale bounded off into the forest, the musical ringing of her bracelets breaking the stifling silence.
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Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:33 am
Gale sensed that she was approching the mountain. The terrain was becoming rougher and rockier beneath her paws. The trees and shrubs began to thin, and those that still grew were sometimes stunted in growth, clinging to the barren, rocky soil. With her new sound-sight Gale navigated easily, but she couldn't avoid stepping on sharp shards of rock that forced her to stop and rest, plucking the evasive things from between her paws. The slope had started to increase earlier that 'day' as well, and continued to do so. After this journey (if it was real, not some craziness of the mind), she would be in good shape. She chuckled at the thought, tossing a rock away and listening to it ping off one of the stunted trees.
That 'day' Gale had noticed something else about the mysterious bracelets. She found she could change the notes depending on where and how she clicked them together. Each note changed her sound-sight too. Deep notes thrummed far and wide around her before returning in echoes, allowing her to see great distances but at the loss of detail. High shrill notes didn't travel very far but they etched incredibly detailed pictures in her mind. Notes in between did a mix of both.
Playfully, she clinked them together in a chiming tune. The notes rang through the forest, carrying the melody with it. Grinning, Gale got back to her feet and pranced down the path, head held high.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:05 am
After a 'night's' rest and a cheerful 'morning', Gale found herself in front of a rock wall. She knew by the air currents that she was quite a bit higher than she was mere 'days' ago and she was truly on the mountain now. The terrain was hard now, unlike the softness that was the loose soil of the forest. She had been traveling along a thin path until it abruptly trailed off. Now she was faced with this obstacle, with no apparent way to go around.
"C'mon Gale, think," she muttered to herself. She reached up with her front paws and pressed on it as if she was trying to knock it over. She felt along it, feeling for the dips, nicks and cracks she might use to climb it. Once she found a promising hold, she gripped it as best as she could. She had an idea.
"Okay, deep breath now..." Gale inhaled, knowing that if she was going to climb this thing, she would have to be quick. Kylan paws weren't exactly made for grasping rocks like this. Tensing her body, Gale gave a great leap upwards. She hit the wall with all four paws before she began to fall. But Gale had a plan. Quickly she searched for a foothold and when she caught one with a back paw, she launched herself as high as she could off of it. This time she hit belly first.
"Oof!" Gale gasped as she was winded a little, once again sliding down. She had no time to catch her breath. She managed to catch a ledge in the rocks with a forepaw and she clung there, drawing her back legs under her. With one last, final effort she jumped and hit the top of the wall sideways. Her bracelets hit the rocks with a jarring ring, leaving Gale dazed and blind for a moment.
Glad that her horns had stopped her from hitting her head on anything, Gale got gingerly back to her feet. She was now on a thin ledge, loose boulders precariously close to releasing themselves from the surrounding rock. She was lucky that the sound of her bracelets hadn't started a rockslide. With a nervous little swallow Gale felt along the path. She would have to be careful from there on.
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Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:23 am
The silence weighed upon Gale like a heavy blanket as she felt along the path, reluctant to use her bracelets in fear of sending half the mountain toppling on top of herself. The going was extremely slow, which frustrated the impatient kylan who wanted nothing more than to reach the top of the mountain, and then get down the other side as fast as possible. She hissed a little when she cut her paw on a sharp shard of rock, adding to the growing cluster of them already there. Traveling this way was also putting a physical strain on her as she twisted her body to avoid hitting the bracelets on anything. Her back was beginning to throb and yet she was afraid to rest just yet when the surroundings were so unknown.
Suddenly Gale was feeling air. There was a crack in front of her but she couldn't tell what it was. She backed up against the boulder she had been feeling in fear, wondering if she was about to fall off a cliff. In reality she was on a ledge that was quite wide and the crack wasn't very deep, but without sounds to guide her Gale had no idea.
Still reluctant to rest Gale curled up near the boulder, too afraid to do much else. At least she could let her back rest while she thought about what to do next.
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Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:44 am
It was hopeless. There was no way she could continue on like this without using her sound-sight... if she tried she might as well be flinging herself off the cliff. Gale was still convinced she was facing a cliff when it was no more than a crack in the mountain next to the stable ledge. She was so frustrated that she felt like she was going to cry, but she held it in, too afraid to make noise to even make a peep.
She could lie here forever, in this strange heart-world where time didn't pass normally and the need to eat or drink didn't exist. The flow of energy was different here... she wondered if it was even possible to age in the heart-world. And as far as she was concerned, she was stuck there now, with no way to go forward and no way to go back. She would be lying there for the rest of enternity.
Before she could stop herself tears began to run down her face. Instead of wiping away she just rested her chin on her paws, flattening her quills down her back and neck. Uttterly hopeless.
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Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:37 am
"Oh c'mon, stop moping about like that."
Gale had been lying there for quite some time now before she heard the voice. She sat up abruptly, ears poised firmly in the direction the stranger's voice came from. "Who's there?" She asked the mountain, utterly confused.
"Get up first. Geez Gale, you were stronger than this when you were a little cub." Then something tugged sharply on one of her quills. Gale gasped and lept clumsily forward, falling chin-first into the dirt. That voice... it was familiar!
"M-mother?" Gale stuttered, pulling herself back on her feet carefully. But her mother... she had passed away seasons ago! How could she be here now? How could either of them be there now, in the heart-world? Why wasn't she falling to her death after that sudden leap? Billions of questions swarmed Gale's thoughts.
"Yes," the voice snapped, impatient. "Who did you think I was, your uncle Ned?" At that Gale had to grin. Whoever this was, it sure sounded like her mother. She felt the other kylan stroke her face gently. "My my, how you have grown... now stop crying like a little newborn. Do you want to climb this mountain or not?"
"Yes, mother..." Gale answered quietly, feeling ashamed like a little cub who had been caught doing something naughty. There was no doubt in her mind now... this was definitely her mother. She had been a gorgeous blue and white mini-kylan, much like herself. Back when Gale was a cub, it had been her mother who had encouraged her to work through her disability, who had taken care of her since birth and all through her illness despite the danger of catching it herself... And now she was back to help again. Gale felt immediately grateful.
"Well let's go!" Gale felt a gentle shove from behind, turning her in the right direction. Another push told her to get walking and so she did. Perhaps things weren't hopeless after all.
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