Welcome to Gaia! ::

((*Skips forward a bit ahead of the "Welcoming Party* Dun worry, Nem. I plan on picking that back up very soon))

Leviathan travels up along the bank of a small stream that weaves and works its way through the thick forest. The large, watery creature looks about as he does, exploring the island as he follows along its veins and arteries, the waterways of the chain of land masses. The pale moonlight reflects off of his "skin" as his eyes glow and pulse with a soft, blue hue

The creature looks over toward the sound of the voice as its eyes light up a bit more. It begins walking toward where Ash was lounging, staying about 15 feet away. "Greetings," it responds simply in a deep, ancient sounding voice.

He kneels down to be at the girls height as he looks her over just a moment. His head then turns toward the sky and looks about through the moonbeams breaking through the leaves and branches of the trees. "I suppose, considering the nice night, that I am doing well," he says before looking back down to the woman. "And yourself, if I may ask?"

Leviathans head moves in what could only be interpreted as a nod as he looks up before looking at her again. Due to the lack of city lights, the stars shone bright and true and reflected in odd patterns along his liquid flesh due to the cover of the trees. "I do like the starts quite a bit. And no one is ever truly alone in this world."

He watches in an almost curious way as she rummages through her bag for something, stopping to look at each thing that falls from the sack. He then reaches up and lightly picks the leaf from her hair before "blowing" on it. It looked as if someone had taken a deep breath on a cold winter day for a type of mist/fog leaves his mouth, even though nothing really opened, and the leave flots up back into the trees. "You may call me Leviathan."

While all these other things were going on all around the island -- conversations, interrogations, reconnaissance -- one man wandered alone amongst the sparsely populated, torch-lit streets of the village, steering well clear of any other delegates or Draconians that he passed. His long black coat swayed gently behind him as his head swiveled back and forth slowly, taking in all the sights around him.

The man turned along a street that led up the slope of the hill, and continued along for a few more minutes. Finally, he stopped near the top of the hill, where the House of Elders was located. He looked around, located a nearby bench, and walked over to it so he could sit down. From there, he surveyed the calm, serene little village splayed out below him.

Johnathan Nemesis smiled.

-------------

Elsewhere, just off the coast of Nokohai . . .

Rethir, a wiry brown female Draconian, sat alone on her tiny patrol raft as it bobbed gently on the black ocean waves, watching the shores of the Forbidden Isle apprehensively. A thick fog had settled over the lonely little island, blanketing it in an impenetrable layer of mist and silence. It happened every now and then, and whenever that cloak of white descended upon Nokohai, Rethir always made sure to steer her craft quite clear of the island's shores.

Above her, the stars which looked so comforting and peaceful to Asherah and Leviathan seemed cold, cruel, and malicious to the young female, who only had the soft sound of the waves lapping against the side of her raft to keep her company on her lonely vigil. Lamenting (not without guilt) the fact that her Guardian partner, Pik, had chosen to stay home to care for his sick hatchling, Rethir continued to watch the bank of fog that lingered ominously less than a half-mile away.

Abruptly, a dark shape broke through the cloud of white, soaring far above the ground . . . headed directly for her.

Rethir felt as if her heart had stopped, and she suddenly recalled all the stories she had heard in her youth of the horrors of the island . . . the ghastly spirits that lingered there, always looking for living flesh to feed upon. At that moment, the female felt herself filled by something that she had never experienced before: unfathomable terror. Her first instinct was to turn and fly in the other direction as fast as her wings could carry her, but she managed to remember that she was supposed to be a Guardian of the island -- a protector against all threats from both beyond and within Virconia's borders. She reached for her spear, praying that ghouls were susceptible to the weapons of mortals.

However, as the shape grew closer, Rethir peered a little more carefully . . . and laughed as a wave of relief washed over her. It was only Mirkeel, one of the few Priests who regularly set foot on the island. However, as he drew closer, and finally landed on her raft, Rethir noticed that he seemed very tired. His beautiful silk clothes were badly wrinkled and dirty, his movements were conducted half-heartedly, and his eyes were rimmed with red rings of exhaustion.

"What happened?" she asked, worried.

Mirkeel didn't seem to hear her at first, so she repeated the question. Another few seconds of silence passed . . . then he turned to look at her, and spoke. "Stay away from the island tonight. The spirits are very restless . . ."

He paused, as if remembering something unpleasant, but continued speaking a few moments later. "Inform the other Guardians." With that, he took flight again, heading for Kratua. Rethir looked fearfully at the mist that covered Nokohai, and took to the skies as well, flying towards the location of the nearest Guardian patrol raft.

She didn't know if it was just her imagination, but as she soared along, she could have almost sworn that she saw ghostly shapes moving within the fog . . . .

[It's not that. I wasn't saying what they were thinking. It was a suggestion I supplied through narration. >.O I know you don't want to fight, so I'm trying to give you a way to avoid combat. My characters are doing this because this is exactly how they should react. Of course they would be suspicious of your character if he shows up out of nowhere with this really strange story. If you really want to avoid fighting, I recommend you go along with my suggestion.]

[That part was my suggestion. Then you said:]



[. . . And so on and so forth. I'm just wondering why he would say all that if all they gave him was a simple and confused 'What?'. >.O In shorter terms, I'm just trying to suggest something that would help your character. That's all. You can choose to follow it or not, but conflict is unavoidable if you choose to ignore it. That's just how my characters are.]