Welcome to Gaia! ::

While spending many hours wandering around the minishops section of town, I've discovered another contest. It was for a different type of pet, a creature known as a Kyunru, with the second-place prize being a kun-kun. What a kun-kun was exactly wasn't revealed, but the Kyunru were cat-like creatures with bushy tails, wings, short horns, and hooves on their hind legs.

This contest was offering four newly discovered Kyunru, one of which was allegedly a griffin hybrid. I was intrigued.

Unfortunately, I didn't qualify for this contest, for various reasons.

But I've added this interesting shop to my 'list of shops to stalk'. I've learned that 'stalking' is a popular term used in the minishops to express constant persuing and/or frequent visits.

I wonder what on earth a Kun-kun is...?

The manager of the Kyunkunru has vanished.

Yes, vanished.

And it was under the most mysterious of circumstances. It involved blood, some sort of portal, and a large blue object, according to witnesses. It was said they saw her running across the shop grounds, holding the crystal-like thing in her hands, and looking terrified. The last they saw of her was her trembling, fearful figure as she disappeared into the protal.

The portal is still there. I was too wary of it to go near, though. Like many of the fellow 'stalkers', I fear for her.

What on earth could be going on?

I've not been home for about a week. But I do have a good reason...I was sucked into a portal while visiting Kyunkunru. Strange as that seems, it's all true...and it gets even stranger.

Recall that Miss Karasu disappeared a while ago--Well, she was found. As it turns out, her situation was far more serious than suspected. So serious that it required intervention from the Gods. Kyunru Gods.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

It started with a normal walk to Kyunkunru HQ. The next thing I knew I was sucked into a dark, strange portal, and then, as soon I was dumped into the alternate dimension, I was being ushered into a seat by a creature more bizarre than I cared to realize at that moment. Needless to say, I was a little mortified. As the woman (that's what the creature had appeared to be at that moment) began to explain, I do believe I fainted once or twice. It became even more intense when several more of the human-looking creatures joined the rather large group of kun-kun/kyunru owners and fellow HQ visitors. They were the gods of this alternate world we'd been deposted in.

It was very rough for me. I was rarely awake. But when I did manage to keep myself from passing out from fear, I caught snatches of the story. Kyunru eggs, kun-kun gems, and two children of the Kyunru deities I mentioned had been kidnapped by a spirit-rabbit. After almost a week of deliberation (and a catastrophe involving the woman I'd seen earlier), the deities, called Pantheon discovered a way to get into the thief's hole. They selected volunteers who they thought would be most worthy, arranged them in groups of five, and then sent them on seperate quests into the hole, in hopes of recovering the stolen eggs and gems.

I was, shockingly, among them.

I can't understand what the Pantheon saw in me...I was so nervous I kept needing to be prodded along by a fellow adventurer named Kia. It was by the light of her Angelic Kyunru's halo that we managed to to get as far as we did in those dark tunnels.

At one point, music began to build. It was a haunting, echoing melody that grew and grew as the group continued further.

Eventually, we stumbled into a cavern that was immediately illuminated by Subaru's halo. Crystal stalactites in a plethora of blinding colors twinkled from the walls and ceiling of the cavern. Most notable was the Kun-kun gem that had been placed on a pedastal in the center of the room. It was the source of the music.

Niyati, the Pantheon who was leading us, insisted that we each try to pick it up. The others tried, and, to everyone's great alarm, the singing turned to a terrible wailing shriek whenever it was touched.

Then it was my turn.

I remember my reluctance to pick up the gem. After all, who wanted to hear the gem screech again? But I grudgingly wrapped my fingers around the gem and lifted it.

To my great surprise, the music suddenly cressendoed into an upbeat, quirky tune. Niyati nodded in approval, and told me to hold on to the gem for her.

Deafened and numb with awe, I continued with the rest of the group. At one point, we ran into a small, talking creature that was in the possession of one of the Kyunru eggs. It agreed to hand over the egg if three riddles were answered correctly. A red-haired woman named Chirigami answered all three correctly, and was allowed to take care of the egg.

Niyati, at last, told us that all the rest of the missing had been found, including the two eggs of the dieties. We were bidden to return to the surface.

When all the search parties returned, we were magically sent back to Gaia with the help of the Pantheon.

When we arrived there, those that had been put in charge of eggs and gems were asked to speak to Karasu, who had been found safe. I gave the singing gem to her.

She put it in a bottle, filled it with stormy mist, and, smiling, handed it back.

I thought I was going to die from pleasure.

I find that I'm having trouble sleeping. The reason is either because I'm so excited to see the Kun-kun that I can't rest, or perhaps I'm having Kun-kun-music withdrawls. That little gem sure makes a lot of noise, but once I became used to it I found its song very soothing. Now that the bottle is empty, my home seems deathly silent. It's difficult to sleep when all you can hear is the ringing in your ears.

I tried sleeping with normal, human-made music, but it wasn't the same. There's something very peculiar about that gem's singing, and it's almost addictive. Unfortunately, Kurasu has not deemed it a worthy time to meet the kun-kun yet, so I suppose I'll just have to suffer.

Curses.

The party was delayed slightly. And I was late! All of my sleepless nights finally caught up with me, and I slept in.

When I got there, a few of the new creatures had already been revealed. The owners were being led up to the strange Ieldi Village Tree by Karasu, who presented their companions to them. I wasn't aware of this until I was urged to follow her by some fellow owners.

And now I have it. It's incredible...words can't describe how mesmerizing it is...I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't give Yaraif (as I've decided to call it) as much attention as I should of on our first meeting; I was too busy being absolutely horrified by Siff and his child. Pathetic, I know.

But enough of that--I quickly realized that Yaraif is quite a handful. It has wild pink hair and a very pale blue skin, and its face looks like a rabbit's. But it doesn't act like a rabbit...it keeps biting me. I swear, its like a ticking time bomb! Its personality and emotions change so quickly it's nearly impossible to keep up! Like, for example, I tried to study the tiny egg it always keeps with it. But when I touched the egg, Yaraif started yelling and swearing at me in Kunkunese. (Do you know how bizzarre that is?!) Then I handed the egg back, and it cuddled up against my cheek and started to...purr?

I left the party shortly after I received Yaraif. I wanted to get to know it better without fearing for my life while I was around Siff. I didn't get a chance to talk to it much, though...As soon as I got home, it had a fit of hyper-activity, and then fell asleep.

I guess I'll just wait until morning.

I neglected my work today, in order to stay home with Yaraif. She needs to eat every 3 hours, and I want to keep her company until she's more used to me. Eventually, I'll have to figure out some way she'll be able to take care of herself while I'm busy. Now that I think about it....

Nevermind. I'll write that later.

Anyhow, I stayed with Yaraif. I wanted to teach her a little English. I started with colors.

...And ended with colors. She loved learning their names. She was constantly zipping all over the house, finding new objects, and yelling, "PROLO! Heke saa cowwur?!" I followed her obediently for hours, trying to remember the names of the more obscure colors like chartreuse and cobalt. Fortunately , my house is rather lacking as far as color is concerned.

Yaraif wants see to it that this is changed...