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 Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 10:06 pm
As it seemed that he might reach that gap that bridged his forest world with the next, something landed him right on his feet again. "You shouldn't go near them," a voice echoes lightly to him, though the young Tale can't tell if its from somewhere nearby or from inside his own head. "They don't trust you. They want to hurt you." Looking warrily around him, Ayden doesn't see anyone nearby as he calls out, "Who's there? What is this place?"
"You'll just trouble them if you get too near," it continues to warn without revealing itself.
The sound of the person's voice seemed so familiar but it still made the dark Tale want to shudder. "if- If any of them knows where Elana is, then I have to get to them," he explains and gets ready to sprint off again.
"Then pay close attention as you try to approach them," the mysterious voice advises before the Tale can take his first step. "Their worlds will slowly begin to shrink and converge as you get closer to them." By this point, Ayden was already running towards the other Tales again, all the while, trying to escape the voice that refused to distance itself no matter how hard he ran. "The edges of their worlds will grow darker, and the materials that they are made of will harden into cold stone until you are all trapped together."
The white haired boy did his best to try and ignore the constant babble in his ears but as he watched the nearby island worlds, he could see exactly what the voice had predicted. Slowing his pace to a stop, he couldn't help but wonder if he was really the cause of this. "Once you're trapped with them, they'll turn on you and blame you," the hidden voice continues to whisper into his ear.
"How do you know they'll do that?" Ayden whimpers back as the one chance at finding his sister and home seemed to be slipping through his fingers. The young Tale couldn't just sit there again and just wait to be rescued, but he also couldn't ignore the effect he seemed to have on his surroundings. As his doubt and fear began to creep back in, his forest gradully grows thicker and colder. The voice's words continue to do their job, as bits and pieces of the tiny worlds slowly harden and get eaten away, barely noticable to anyone not paying attention.
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Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 10:06 pm
He had been thrown, pulled away from those he'd been trying to warn - they needed to know!! - but the Wizard hadn't accomplished what he'd intended; not entirely (if he'd intended what Khia believed he had, that was). Instead of being transported out of this strange alternate dimension, he'd slammed his claws into what looked and felt like cold red crystal and tore through. The result was that he was in a place that still smelled of the alternate dimension, but felt different...and the blood red gems that restrained his ephemeral form - that kept his powers (powers that were far, far too much for any one creature) limited were crumbling before his eyes.
'Not good...'.
Khiarhu's last thoughts before the last gem shards were of his friends, his family...and the fact that they were in danger.
His body twisted and morphed, changing in a way it only had done once before - when he'd grown. When this dark energy had increased for whatever the reason and he'd killed a man; when Syrie had nearly killed himself trying to restrain his child. Khia's fur lengthened in places, his body grew to proportions that bordered on the movie-esque "10 times as large". The shape-shifter's limbs lengthened with disgusting snapping-crackling-ripping sounds; but the most noticable change was his head - instead of the two smallish sets of horns and two eyes, he had three sets of long, wickedly twisted and sharp horns and three pairs of slitted red eyes that glowed with a strange inner fire.
In this form, his mental state was that of a lesser demon; he was - for all intents and purposes - an oddly cunning feral bent upon destruction and carnage and the Wizard was his target. He'd fixed it into his mind that killing that man would fix everything...so true or not, that was what would happen.
And so the hunt began...
Elsewhere, the Wizard was leaning over a crystal viewing ball with his apprentice, peering at the very confused Tales trapped in their strange alternate worlds with a bit of something that might have been a smile, twenty years previously but that was - at that moment - just very disturbing to the girl that served him so diligently (despite her deep misgivings). She was no longer feeling the need to leave these creatures they'd created...not only had her curiousity been piqued on a research level, but her maternal instincts had been touched and responded. These were their children...she wanted to see them grow.
Obviously, he did not feel the same, because he was bellowing at her to get back to work on the elaborate symbols that needed to be drawn for their return to the homeworld. When she tripped and demolished what he'd already drawn he muttered sharply that he should have never brought her with and shoved her out of the way. "Leave, woman - you are useless!" And with that she was free to go to the group of Tales that Linny had talked to...and to leave her 'master' to the spell that would ultimately drain the "children" of their essence.
At least she could go and explain things to the "children"; it wasn't like they were very far, just in an alternate dimension: one that allowed the Wizard to siphon their energies. Each group - the ones that had formed mainly from her more positive energies and the ones formed mostly from the Wizard's negative energies - were held separately but near one another by the dimensional prisons created by her master and herself. She could not press into his creation, oh no - she could not even begin to imagine that the Tales held within his negative energy prison were in any sort of danger - but she could go and spill the entire story to those held by her magic, her spells.
And that is what she did; outlining everything Linneas (who had been Expelled out into the Real World again and was currently back on Gaia being tended by his Uncle Syrie and the kitsune's adopted son, Veloren) had told them anda whole lot more...
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Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 10:45 pm
Tybalt awoke, eventually, with a pounding headache and a sneaking suspicion that something was Very Wrong. It wasn't so much the rough wood he felt under his cheek or the pitching and rolling of the boat he appeared to suddenly be on as it was the paranoia that lived in his head and told him to always be on guard whispering to him of illusions and manipulation. He pulled himself up with a stifled groan, hearing only the end of the elder Tale's warning. "Not sure what's going on, but unless you want to fade away, don't trust the --"
Don't trust. Who or what it was the shifter had meant was irrelevent; the instruction was one Tybalt had been following since he was ripped from the ether and dropped into the Study.
A quick look around only confirmed Tybalt's suspicions that not all was as it should be, what with a pair of trembling children perched precariously at the end of the plank--no, he thought to himself, they wouldn't be here; this isn't real--a giraffe seemingly suspended in midair over open water at their side. Older children sat on the deck, with other unfamiliar faces scattered here and there. That these other people, some known with a majority of strangers in the mix, were intruding in his dreamscape only added to his ever-growing irritation. This was his place, under his control, and if there was anything Tybalt hated, it was to have his control threatened.
Don't trust the...who? Don't trust the others? It seemed reasonable enough. Almost without thinking, Tybalt withdrew the dagger that hung at his side even here, even now, and the steel uttered a sibilant, malicious hiss as it met the open air. He stalked forward warily, unsure of where to start; all he knew is that someone was going to get answers, even if he had to bleed them out of someone.
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Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 10:58 pm
Elena watched the world shudder and ripple with no comment, her pinched lips the only hint of her worry and growing fright. "That's not entirely helpful," she said dryly to Jiro, looking around, careful not to turn her head too fast. Being dizzy was alright at home, but in an unfamiliar and likely hostile environment, having hit her head was already weakness enough.
She couldn't hear what any of the others were saying, but Tiwaz was instantly recognized, a low hiss escaping her. Great. Not only was she stuck in some weird place, that evidently wasn't anchored too tightly to reality, she was stuck here with people she either didn't know, or didn't like.
Speaking of dislike...The sound of Tybalt unsheathing his dagger was a noise Elena would always and forever recognize. Snapping her head around to find the source, she saw the parrot Tale coming down the steps of the garden, clawed feet clicking on the marble. Elena stood suddenly and abruptly, ignoring the dual waves of disorientation that washed over her. No way did she want to be anywhere near him to begin with, let alone with his dagger out! "At this point, I'd rather be alone," came the reply to Jiro's last statement.
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Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 3:39 am
Diae glanced around, a new fright in his eyes at the commotion that was happening around him. He glanced at Sylvester with large crystalline eyes that threatened to pour tears. He could not take this anymore, his young mind reeling for answers. Where's Aiai? Who is the other birdyman? Why does he have a shiney? Who's the shiny lady? What do they want? The tale coward at the parrot bird's advances upon... he couldn't tell if it was to his safe cluster or the shiny woman's area.
They're feet were light on the snow as they moved about. Diae delved further into Ameretat's comforting wing and let out a hiccup. The boy placed his pilot goggles over his eyes, watching as the frozen lake and the snow world about them fogged up in his vision. Diae gave a pitiful whimper as he watched how the parrot bird's claws pad impossibly lightly against the snow.
In a wave of confusion and wanting Tybalt to stop his advances on whomever he was advancing upon, Diae cried out, "Stop, pease!"
The boy faltered at the rich sound of his voice in the chilled air. Numbly he bit down on Eain's hand, attempting to keep himself from crying any more that night. "Do you kno-Aiai?" Diae asked in desperation for a hint as to where his pseudo sister went. "Why are you angry? Why do you have a pointy? Issit dinner time?"
He took a deep breath and pulled the goggles from his cheeks, dark red impressions were surrounding his eyes like a panda. "Please no be mean?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 12:43 pm
Geeze, how long had she been out? She must have woken up and then fallen back to sleep or something. Keaira's eyes fluttered open and then squinted shut again, whimpering something about how bright the flickering light was. When she finally felt brave enough to open her eyes and look around...well...now she definitely knew she wasn't in her room anymore. In fact this wasn't even her house! It was someone elses entirely! The flickering light was an old fireplace without any wood in it, yet somehow a bright fire still burned. Weird.
It looked like a living room! And there were other people in here too! Maybe this was their house...but what was she doing here?! She'd heard someone call her name but none of these other people seemed to notice her; maybe it was a dream. Kea sat quietly in front of the fire for a few minutes to just watch the others, frowning in her confusion. She didn't know any of these people! Where was her mommy?
Keaira eventually pushed herself to her feet to walk up to a girl sitting on a fancy couch near her, tugging gently on the skirt of her dress to get her attention. "Um...miss princess lady?" She began quietly like a child trying to ask an embarrassing question, opening her mouth to continue speaking until she heard a boy her size yell for someone to stop. Huh? Stop what? Tugging the lady's dress? The girl turned to look back at where the voice came from and then in the direction she could hear the gentle scraping of talons on wood.
Hey! A face she knew! Keaira gasped. "Mister Birdy Man!" Her wings fluttered happily and she turned to run across the living room to the pirate; she skid to a stop when she spotted the dagger in his hand. "Are you carvin' pumpkins?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 1:18 pm
Crackle... Crackle... Crunch.
The misshappen beast wandered the 'between; a place that existed as a sort of walkway between the different dimensions and the worlds held within them. Easy enough to tread there in it's current form; it had been made to slip between the cracks, to dive in and out of the temporal, spatial and dimentional "waters" (so to speak). Easy though it may have been, it's current task was not nearly as simple as the beast might have hoped.
It wanted entry into the "Tower". It wanted into the pocket of swirling, whorling magic that it's prey had created for survival. But the magic was old and had been made when the Wizard and his apprentice, Edict had been younger...before they had realized they would need much energy to return home; before they had begun constructing the Study and Tome to assist in siphoning that energy from that world - that dimension - with the weakest magical boundaries: Gaia. As such, it was sturdy and refused to allow him entry. It would have to find a weak point in the spell's structure - be it by ripping through the fabric of time or space or what not.
Gallu did not reason this out. It simply lifted it's great horned head, sniffed a bit and then shook like a wet dog; the ruff of longer, thicker fur about it's six-eyed head moving with a strangely syllibant sort of hiss-whispering. It was scenting out the barrier between it and the space where the Prey was plotting his escape.
Massive clawed paws padded with soft clicks through the 'between. It didn't worry. It would get it's prey...*** Meanwhile... Several more of the Tales locked in the strangely bizarre "worlds" of their mind's creation, sharing in the confusion that wracked their similarly disoriented companions.
The moment Tybalt had drawn his dagger, the rippling shimmers at the 'edges' of their shared-but-not-shared prisons became more agitated. It was as though the hint of violence pleased whatever was waiting there.
The increased activity was accompanied with another startling developement: a voice that was not a true voice but more something that slid up one's spine and curled at the base of one's neck, just under the skull. Insidious and creepily invasive enough to make one's skin crawl, feathers poof, or furr stand on end.
'Something wicked this way comes~'
The Tales would definitely get the feeling that this was about to go from wierd/alarming to Very Not Good.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 2:24 pm
Something wasn't right.
Sylvester momentarily frowned at Tiwaz. "It isn't me," he whispered to her, looking over at Tybalt from his place on the floor. Maybe it wasn't wise to be so quick to pull a knife in a such a strange place. He might have said something, but it was obvious to Sylvester that he was no match for the parroty Tale, in knife-related activities at least.
More people seemed to have woken up around him while he had been preoccupied with worrying about his own death. There was the aforementioned Tybalt, who was even older than the last time Sylvester had seen him, and a winged kid with one absurdly long section of hair. He ran his fingers through the tips of his own hair, past the chunk that had never grown back after his cousin's wings had sliced it off. Maybe this girl could loan him some.
He gathered his legs close to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, ready to attempt to put his head between his knees if something bad happened. He sincerely doubted he could actually accomplish such an act, but if it worked in the movies, it was worth a shot.
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Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:22 am
Don't trust. The words stuck with him, a silent mantra holding sway even as he was approached by innocents. His fingers tightened on the hilt of his dagger as his gaze wandered amongst those assembled. The rippling scenery added a whole new layer of surreality to an already unbelievable situation. A sneer curled his lips as his attention was refocused on the obviously distraught boy asking him questions he would regret answers to. No sooner had Tybalt drawn breath to snap at him than a voice intruded where it was most certainly not welcome. His wings flared open before the voice had finished speaking, feathers ruffling as it seemed to leave an oily mental residue behind.
"Get back!" he snarled, not necessarily at them, and lashed out. The blade swung in a wide arc, the unreality they were trapped in tearing in its wake. His momentum ground to a slow, screeching halt most of the way through the motion, flickers of something visible through the hole in the world before it sewed itself back up. Space healed around the blade of the dagger, leaving a dumbstruck Tybalt holding the hilt, which seemed to be stuck in midair.
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Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 12:54 am
Everything was crazy and for the most part Tiwaz really didn't care. The ones responsible were nowhere in sight. Despite her suspicions Sylvester insisted that he also had nothing to do with this. With no one to blame there was no one to fight and no way to stop the madness. The vortex filled with a myriad of colours and shapes that continued to swirl as she stood there watching the others move about it.
Tiwaz growled his response to Elena's hiss. She was no more pleased with some of her company than the older girl was. of course she'd not waste energy of petty fighting now.
When the blade flashed and made it's arch her eyes glowed bright for a moment in fear and she followed the yell, ducking behind Sylvester. She was no coward but the strange boy was one of the few who near equaled the armed one's size. If something bad happened perhaps he could be persuaded to act.
Considering the way the sky had broken, sucking away the colour and for a brief moment letting her see beyond Tiwaz was pretty damn sure something bad was going to happen. " Don't break things, you don't know what's outside." At least within the vortex they were safe. It was bright and constantly shifting about (evident as grey patch of ground turned florescent green and bubbled like a hot spring but it was safe, outside was unknown dangers.
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Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 4:21 am
Run! Hide! Diae gave a small cry and a jump, effectively bumping into Amertat's side, at Tybalt's lash and watched as the boy attempted to fight something that could not be seen. he wasn't trying to hurt them he was trying to save them. Diae's view off the other tale softened as he watched the parrot boy's motion.
Then it happened to him, the ripples were back.
Diae forgot completely about Tybalt as the world he considered safe rippled once more. The ferocity of it all was frightening. He looked up to the sky, the Aurora Borealis changed shapes and that was to be expected. But it was rippling. Like when Sie would hit the top of his fort, created with blanket and chair, as if something was trying to break in. He looked again at the people around him. The shiny woman, Feathers, Girrafu, parrot man, and lacy girl were scattered about the forest and pond respectively.
"Wha's happening?" Diae addressed everyone aloud, clutching to the ragdol even tighter then before.
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Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 8:09 am
As soon as the world stopped moving the way it wasn't supposed to, Elena drew herself up and stared at Tybalt firmly. "Put that away," she snapped out frostily, the cold laced through her tone an icy reminder of what had happened the last time the two had tangled. To be sure, while the princess counted herself the victor, in truth, it had gone to Tybalt that day. "Unless you want to bring ruin down on us all?" Her icy resolve and brave front were cracked and flawed with shivering fear as she watched the last of the ripples firm back into strong stone and tree. Only those who knew to look would detect the faint shaking of her shoulders.
But she was a princess, born to rule and to lead, and damned if she was going to break in the face of this, in front of those who likely wished her ill. Besides, someone clearly had to take charge, lest the little ones break into panic.
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Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:27 am
"Why do you look so mad, Mister Birdy Man?" Kea frowned and took a step back, nearly tripping on a footrest sitting in front of an ornate armchair. "Was someone bad?" The little girl screeched when Tybalt suddenly lashed out with the dagger, scrambling back until her wings hit something soft and alive. She whipped her head around to apologize and see who she hit, but all that came out was, "So--are you a real giraffe?!" Kea's eyes were wide, but she looked amazed. He was just like her stuffed animals! Now that she thought about it, Kea hadn't taken the time to see who was in the room with her. Mister Birdy Man, a boy with goggles, this giraffe...another big pretty birdy! A boy wearing strange clothes and a girl dressed somewhat like her? Then there was the pretty princess lady on the couch.
Heeeey wait a second! Was that wall moving? Kea blinked and stared at it for a minute, covering her mouth with both hands and squeaking. The wall! The ceiling! They were rippling! Houses weren't supposed to do that! The feathers on her wings ruffled and the hair on her neck stood...in fact so did the rest of her hair, it was suddenly black and spikey like a person in a funny drawing. That voice was creepy! And now the princess lady was scolding Mister Birdy Man. Kea calmed down when the house around her finally stopped shaking in a way it really shouldn't. "U-um...where are we?" Last she checked even in Gaia the air couldn't be ripped like a piece of cloth. But what did she know? She was just a little kid.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:09 pm
"I'd settle fer bringin' silence down on you," Tybalt retorted, narrowed eyes taking in the suspended dagger, the snotty princess, and the scattering children. "Make yerself slightly less useless an' mind th' midgets," he continued, his focus returning to his half-vanished dagger. A tug did nothing to move it, nor did a hearty yank. With a grimace of frustration, Tybalt dug his talons into the "deck" and threw himself backwards, hoping to use his own weight to wrest the dagger from its new sheath. It didn't work, but the space around it seemed to shift, delicate cracks spiderwebbing from the base of the hilt.
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Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 11:17 am
"Um..." Sylvester held his hands out in front of himself as Kea nearly backed into him. His eyes darted to the dagger still stuck in the middle of nowhere, then fell back to the girl. "No, I don't think so," he replied. "I just kind of look like one." His very human, if a bit furry, fingers twitched as he lowered his hands. He didn't have an answer to the question of where they were, so he just shrugged.
He rolled forward onto a knee. It wouldn't do to just give up and hide now that Tiwaz had decided to make him her living shield.
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