Introduction - The Great Cataclysm *READ FIRST*

[Shattered Moons]

The world of Abode was a quiet world with two brillant white moons hanging in the sky, when visitors from another star known as the High Ones came, looking for more of their own. Thinking they had found a world where their kin called home, they began their decent, reshaping themselves and their home into forms that they believed their kin had taken. But there was a terrible accident. The troll pets that the High Ones kept interrupted the ship's controllers and caused them to spiral out of control. They crash landed in the wrong place and in the wrong time. Gone were the castles and the cities. Gone were the roads and the knights in fanciful armor. Instead, they found themselves lost in a savage, prehistorical world. And worse, their magics were failing them.

But they survived, their numbers growing and spreading out throughout the world. Some lived in the forest, some in the desert, some in the frozen north, other on islands, in mountains, and on the plains. Each group lived on their own, though they knew of each other and small numbers would occasionally travel years to visit their kin in another part of the world. Little did they know, another cataclysm would strike the world and throw everything off balance... again.

A stray asteroid, taking aim at the beautiful planet, crashed instead into the smaller of the world's two moons. It saved the planet from a direct impact, but the small moon was destroyed, careening into the larger moon before being destroyed nearly completely. Tidal forces all around the planet washed away costal towns, land-locked others, and pulled the axis out of alignment. What once were lush forests, now deserts stand. Where the land was gripped in ice, rotting bogs and marshes abound. Mountains fell into the ground and flat lands were ripped open into fissures and cliffs.

The remaining elves, scattered about the world, now have to refind themselves, rebuild themselves, and some how find a way to survive in this world of Shattered Moons.  

[ChosenSavith]

Our story begins...

Starsong:The last thing Starsong remembered before the shockwave hit her was watching in horror as a bright, silent death omen filled the sky. Much worse than the eclipse when her son was born, the light, like the darkness, was overwhelming. Then there was nothingness. She awoke to the patter of rain on leaves, cold and numbing. She half opened her blurry eyes and reached to rub her aching head. The realization that her arm didn't move hit her before the pain did, and panic overwhelmed her. She struggled to get up, her left arm dangling at her sice, she felt nausious and dizzy. She noticed a figure laying next to her. *Savith??* She sent, reeling over from the pain.

Savith:Only the barest flicker of incoherent thought replied from Savith's mind. His mind seemed to be searching out, like a hand on the end of a broken arm, feebly groping about for something tanigle and more real than the pain and darkness.

Starsong:She leaned back against something rough and unnatural. Her working hand feeling over her numb left arm, searching out for what could be wrong with it. **Savith...** she sent again, this time weaker as her head throbbed, on the verge of passing out once again. She could move her legs, and her eyes were becomming more clear, but that which they saw was not anything she recognized, nor understood. **Shine?** she sent and heard a distant whimper, at least she knew her wolffriend was still alive. She found something near her leg, something hard, a branch. **Savith?* She tried again and jabbed at the form laying near her with the stick.

Savith:A sputter, a cough, and a more clear thought from the glider replied the poke. **Larias,** his mind questioned, sending for... someone else. But the clarity of it was too much, and back into the darkness he sank. He'd been floating up above, scouting for that herd he'd seen on his way into the holt from astride his bondbird, when the blast hit him. It sent him tumbling like a moth in a sharp blast of winter wind, and hurtled him to the ground, where he lay broken and unmoving.

Starsong:As her nimble fingers moved over the deadened arm, she found the source of its dysfunction. The arm had come out of its socket. She had seen this more times than she cared to and knew that what was to come next was not going to be pleasant. She sturdied herself against the broken tree she had been leaning agasint and gripped her arm hard. With a sharp upward jerk she herad a pop and a loud cry she was sure didn't come from her mouth. Her head reeled, and her stomach turned and she fell over, panting. Slowly as she sat and listened to Savith's ragged breathing near her the numbness lessened and she regained some feeling in her arm. She sat up again and looked over to where she heard the whine. Shine was limping towards her, tongue lolling out. when he reached her she pressed her forehead against his muddy and damp one. After some more time, and with Shine's help, she was able to stand and bend over Savith, she was unsure of how hurt he was and started to feel for the broken bones.

Savith:Savith was alive, but by morning he'll be wishing he wasn't. The broken arm would be easily reset and splinted. The same with the broken leg. The ribs would just have to be wrapped securely to ensure he wouldn't do anything stupid and cause one to puncture a lung, or worse. It was the blood seeping out of his crushed bright-metal helmet that was of the most concern. The helmet which now was worthless, but had no doubt saved his life.

Starsong:A skilled huntress, she has a fair understanding of how anatomy works, not only for the animals she hunts, but those tribes members that occationally hunt with her. After the evaluation of the broken bones on Savith's body her attention turns to the helmet. She can see the blood trickling out and pooling on the ground, she wonders how much has been lost. The metal contraption over his head confuses her for a moment on how to remove it without further damage. Carefully slipping a few fingers in and lossening it she attempts to gently tug it off.

Savith:With some ginger prodding, the helmet falls free, spilling rich auburn curls and blood as it goes. The motion makes Savith murmur, brows furrowing, but little else. A severe concusion, one which he'll survive, but magic should not be used.

Starsong:She frowned a bit as she looked at the gash, Shine sniffed it and began to clean the wound with his tongue. She tugged at her already torn leathers and it surrendered a few strips of cloth that she used to secure around his head once the wound was clean. She was starting to shake, her body was aching and if she didn't rest for a moment she was afraid her body would betray her and collapse on the ground. She took a few minutes for herself, gathering what sturdy sticks she could see nearby for splints. As she rested she surveyed the landscape and marvled at how alien it was to her, even the scents were unknown to her. something had happened, something bad. As Savith stirred in his sleep, she began the task of setting the bones and splinting, she started with the leg.

Savith:Too deep in the darkness was Savith that the rest of the bones could be set with ease. His body was lax and unresponsive, making any needed manipulations easy to do. And even after all was set, still he slept, not waking for two full days and nights... if they could be called days and nights. The sky remained a dull burning haze, and ash and grit snowed down in flurries.

Starsong:When the bones were set, She covered savith with branches and leaves and climbed onto shine's back. He was amazingly unhurt, a few scrapes, and some missing fur. She needed to survey their surroundings, and find some fresh water and food. After several hours she returned to Savith with berries and her drinking skin full. The water she filled it from was strange, but it was fresh and she sat vigil by Savith's side for a few days, feeding him mashed berries and water. occationally she would send out as far as she could to any who could hear her for help, but no response came.

Savith:When finally Savith woke, he locksent eyes squeezed shut with the effort, sending until he was breathless and dizzy. He sank back into the leaves he was nestled in, and stared at the hazy sky, eyes vacant and lifeless. On his face, he wore a mask of dull shock.

Starsong:She was dozing when Savith startled and jerked around for a bit, she instinctivly went to the club she had fashioned out of a large piece of wood and raised it towards the nervous form. She realized before giving Savith another wound to add to his troubles and layed the club down. **Savith??** She sent and waved a hand in front of his face. She smirked as he stared at the empty sky and thought about the club again.

Savith:A blink of his eyes at his name being sent against his mind and for a moment, there is no response, but then, like the good Chosen, he always replies when called. **What,** asked his mind with a dull heaviness.

Starsong:Her mind traveled back in time to where she stood with the glider, in the Chief's hut. Eye's narrowed and jaw set. She couldn't believe she was going to have to take him with her on the hunt. The herd was moving and they were wasting time with this nonsense. She recalled the thin elf's arrogance then and the memory hit her like a ton of bricks. **Are you well?** She could only muster as the reality of their situation had suddenly hit her hard.

Savith:The dull weight of Savith's mind can only make one reply. **No.** And then all at once his mind seemed to race, heart speeding up. **I have to get to the mountain,** he sent, the thoughts a tumble. Dare he hope? Fear and worry bitter the thoughts, hiding the hope that tries to flutter to life within him.

Starsong:The mountain? She blinked and wondered if he had known what had happened, she wasn't entirely sure herself. she put her hands out to steady him as he struggled, her left arm had still not regained all its feeling or strength. **Woah, settle down! Your going to hurt yourself even more** She sent with urgency. **I don't even know where we are right now, and your in no shape to travel, so just calm down** She sent sternly. she had watched for the stars when the night came, but nothing emerged. just a dull brown and gray haze that had settled over the valley were in, she didn't recognize the mountains smoldering in the distance and she had no way of knowing which way home was, let alone the mountain.

Savith:**Let me be, wolf-elf,** snapped the Chosen's mind, fear taking root and sending out it's shoots. **I must fly.** Flight is but a long lost dream for the glider, for as he starts to reach for his magic to pull him aloft, his world spins. With an audible groan he shuts his eyes and falls back into the leaves, mind floundering about.

Starsong:Her brows furrow and her jaw sets again. **Fine, begone then, I was tired of tending to you anyway** She sends back harshly, she knew as she sent it that she shouldn't have been. he was worried about his kin, as she was hers. Her temper had flared up, as it always does and she watched him struggle to get airborn. She was relieved in her heard when he couldn't though, she really didn't want to be left alone. **Would you like some water?** She asked after a moment, fetching her watering skin.

Savith:Savith lay panting, weak, shaky, and afraid. His moss green eyes fluttered open again, taking in the haze of the sky above as the thought of cool water against his ragged throat tickled at his mind. **Thristy,** his mind sent despite himself as his body's needs took hold over the arrogant superiority his upbringing as a truely full blooded elf he shielded himself with.

Starsong:She tipped the skin to his mouth and let him drink, when he was done she crushed some of the berries and poked them into his mouth, she won't tell him how she had fed him while he lay unconsious. As he ate and drank she told him of what she had seen and what she had thought had happened. **I've seen, heard or felt nothing alive since I woke up a few days ago,** she said to him after she had said everything that had happened.

Savith:Savith took in everything, moss-colored eyes tracking onto Starsong's features, clutching onto something real, something elven. He ate in silence, too hurt to lift a hand to help. It was when she was done with her recounting, his mind putting things into place that he nodded faintly. **I'm full,** he began, pulling his chin away from her as he finished the last mouthful. **Something terrible has happened. Something that's destroyed this area and is keeping minds from touching over a distance.** He paused, locksent again, then clentched his jaw in stoic determination. **We were near your holt, the Grove, so it is there we will begin,** he stated firmly, his mind squashing down emotion. **When I can stand, we will be off. Save what food you can... we don't yet know the extent of the damage we've experienced.**

Starsong:She nodded at him, not used to taking orders from anybody but these circumstances were different. **We are many days from the holt by foot, we traveled more swiftly on our mounts. I have not seen yours, but mine is safe** she ran a hand absently over Shine's fur, as if making sure he was still there, and not a dream like everything else seemed. **Once you are well enough to travel, we shall leave this place. I hope we will then be able to found our way back** She looked up at the sky again, the gray haze swirled back.

Savith:Savith once took Kureel's place as Head of the Mountain's Chosen Eight. Orders are in his nature, both to give and to follow. He nodded faintly again, eyes drifting shut, even as his mind continued working through their plight. **we'll need smoked meats, ground cakes of fruit and rendered fats, what herbs are still left. My talonwhip and spear....** and on and on until his mind falter, faded, and he drifted off itno sleep.  

[ChosenSavith]

Savith:Weeks crawled by as the glider recovered under the
watchful eye of Starsong. As Savith recovered, the ash continued to fall, a soft silken dust that turned everything into a dull dove gray, until the rain began. It started out as a drizzle, but soon became a heavy downpour of hot rainwater, falling from the lowhanging clouds in large charcoal colored droplets. It was raining soot. It did little to wash away the ash and grim on the surface of the world, but by the time the rains began to let up two weeks later, the survivors were greeted by their first sight of the night sky since the catastrophe.

StarsongThe land was dead, no sign of animal life was to be found, The huntress had no job to fulfill, she salvaged as much of the meat they brought with them and gathered all the berries on the bushes. Filling her water skin she returned to Savith and looked skyward. Though she had seen it for a few nights now, the sight still sent a chill down her spine and an uneasy feeling in her heart. **We now know the way back, We should leave soon.**

Savith:Savith's eyes relunctantly pulled from the heavens above. Giving Starsong a glance, the glider nodded, **Yes. Let's.** What was he hoping, in that monosyllabic send? What wish seemed to flavor it? The taste of hoping they'll find Starsong's holt whole and in one piece. The taste of praying that they'll find warm furs to crawl into and in the morning,when he woke, this all would have been just a bad dream.

StarsongShe held out a hand to help Savith up, his wounds were healing, but slowly. she knew this journey would be difficult for him. She nodded in understanding at him, she too longed for home and the comforts it may provide, but her mind now was set on the task at hand. **Two, maybe three days travel on foot, we should keep watch out for any other signs of life** She summoned Shine who was pawing at the ground and packed what she could on his back. Her bow was in one peice, but her arrows had snapped beyond repair.

Savith:Savith's whip, however, did not fare well. The strong silk cord had tangled and the delicate spring inside had fractured in his fall. The claws remained stuck closed, the useful sharpened edged sheathed within itself. His spear was no where to be found. He took Starsong's hand after his first futule attempt to manage it alone. He leaned heavily on the shorter elfess, body light-weight for all his height. **Good,** was all he replied, the thought curt as he struggled to keep any more emotion or feelings spill free.

StarsongThey set off, the forest path she had been traveling on had long been obliterated. Four days walk it took till something looked familiar. The landscape had changed drastically from the valley where they had awoken. Now on the outskirts of her lands, she looked around, heartfallen. The land was black, scorched and dry. Heat eminated from the earth in geysers and crags. The forest, the river, everything, was gone. She tried desperately to send to her tribesmates but no answer returned. She was angry, she looked up at the broken moons and cursed the high ones, kicking a nearby pile of scorched land.

Savith:Savith ached with each step, his long lean glider's body not used to being bound tot he ground for so long. As Starsong grew angry and began to curse, the glider surveyed the landscape, pushing away his fatigue. A frown pulled at his lips as he saw the desvastation. From here, his mountain home should just be visible on the horizon, but he refused to allow himself to even look. Instead, he resumed his march toward what once was Starsong's Father Tree. **Come, huntress,** he called with a mind voice gentled by exhaustion. **Perhaps we are not yet close enough for survivors to hear you.**

StarsongStarsong wiped the angry tears from her eyes and followed Savith. She could not tear her eyes away from her home, the place of her birth. She saw destruction with each step she took, leathers and pots littered the charred ground, she looked for bodies, but she did not see any until she was a stone's throw away. "No...." she whispered audibly and began to run. She could see a pile at the base of the father tree, she knew it to be once elven but the misshapen forms were no longer such.

Savith:Savith drew to a stop as Starsong began to run. He stood still, expressionless, for what must have been hours, before he finally took his eyes off the sight of the charred bodies and disarray. Forcing his mind into 'work mode' the Chosen looked about for anything still useable as he sent, mind disturbingly emotionless, **Find what useful items you can, then check the food stores for anything that's still edible, and see what you can do about replishing your arrows. We leave at dusk.**

StarsongStarsong had sat huddled at the small group of bodies as Savith sent, she had tried to distignuish who might be who. The chief, her lovemate, her recognized, her son? Were any of these bodies theirs. She could not tell. She felt numb, all over, she didn't want to leave, she couldn't. She turned a tear streaked face to Savith and shook her head. She had to give them a proper burial, a proper howl, a proper death. Not like this, not in this manner.

Savith:Savith's eyes narrowed at the shake of Starsong's head. **Get up and check the food stores,** the glider repeated in the same emotionless words-only send as before. **If they are empty, then there is nothing left here.**

StarsongNothing left?? His words echoed in her head, the numbness began to fade, and replaced by anger. Her hands clenched into fists, her brows narrowd and her jaw clenched shut. She willed herself to get control of her anger, nothing good would come of lunging at the tall elf and attacking him over and over again until the pain subsided. Intead she stood, and turned her back to him, she wouldn't let him see the angry tears rolling down her face. She summoned Shine and began to arange the charred remains in fashion for her tribe.

Savith:Burial. It's a custom the glider still doesn't quite understand fully. His tribe doesn't die, and the few that do... well, no one ever hears of those, so his tribe don't seem to die ever. Plus, as a full blooded elf, his soul is bound to the Palace of the High Ones - the original craft that carried their ancientors to this time and place. Once his soul has left his body, there's nothing useful left to it. Discardable, in a fashion. But he waited, squashing down all emotion as he watched Starsong pay homage to her tribesmen.

StarsongAfter many hours, her hands black with ash and soot, she kneeled down by the remainder of her tribe and howled into the dying light. She could not leave them until she had. She howled and payed respects to all that she saw, and all that she didn't. Once finished she gently climbed the remains of the father tree, and looked into the stores. She found nothing much that could be salvaged. A few unbroken pots filled with dried fish and fruits, some slightly damaged furs, a few more water skins and a handful of arrows. She then went to what remained of her den. She did not see anything she recognized, everything she had was burned to cinders. Once finished, she placed the supplies in the pack on Shine's back and started towards the east without a word to the Glider.

Savith:Savith had slowly begun searching the remains of the holt himself while Starsong howled. The song was all too eerie and heartpulling for him to watch her sing it. Even just listening to it, brought primal chills to his spine and threatened to shake his emotions free of his control. Inside, he glided himself a bit here, and a bit there, moving silently, if unsteadily, about the holt. But little was salvagable, and when Starsong turned to go, he paused once, looking back at the pile of dead elves at the base of their once glorious tree-home. The stony mask crumbled for a moment, brows pulling together. He had known some of these elves. He had lived with them at one point. And elves, no mater how impure their blood, are still elves. Turning, he once again locked out any feelings of remorse. Grief will come when the work has been done and he can allow himself to rest.  

[ChosenSavith]

Starsong: Starsong tried not to think about too much of what had passed. She was a wolfrider, and would rather live in 'the now". But every now and then a heavy sinking feeling would hit her in the heart and she would have to excuse herself from Savith for a while. It was only after the 4th night she realized what was missing on the horizon that they were walking toward. The mountain. It was a grand glorious mountain, and she could see it from the highest branch of the father tree once upon a time. She had wondered if Savith had noticed this too.

Savith: If the glider took notice, he said nothing, merely trudging on, step after step, with his eyes on the ground ahead of him. What once were bright, glorious locks of auburn spiral curls, now hang limp in matted dreds about his face and in his eyes. The matted hair curtained his expression and hid the ache which step accosted him. During the times they stopped to rest, Savith spoke and sent little, slept deeply, and seemed aloof and detached. He wasn't even locksending anymore. And still the grand and glorious Blue Mountain never drew near. Instead, a fractured pile of crumpled rock, like an ant hill whose base had shaken out from under it. Here, the glider stopped, peered at the otherworldly blue-gray granite, and sighed.

Starsong: She had barely noticed where they were going, but was sure glad Shine sensed it. As they emerged from a tanged web of thorn bushes the chasm was sudden and very deep. On the other side the once glorious, high perched mountain had slipped and fallen into the crevices in a giant rock slide. She could only stare not up, but down to where the mountain, what remained of it, lay. The chasm made an eerie whistling noise as the wind blew through it, she looked to Savith.

Savith: Savith stared at the fallen mountain dully for a few moments. His face was unreadable and unmoving save for the quirking of one eyebrow and the slight tensing of his jaw. **We need to find fresh water,** the Chosen sent finally, thought still a cold unyielding stone, as he turned away from the sight and began walking south.

Starsong: She just watched him go for a moment then back to the mountain. She had never trusted gliders, but she was not the sort of elf that wanted to see them dead. **Should we look for survivors? Have you been able to send? I can't reach anybody... but they may not answer me** She sent as she followed him, she kept her ears perked for the sound of running water.

Savith: **Any survivors would be shaping themselves down and out, or have already flown away,** the Chosen replied with but the faintest touch of an emotional quiver. **In either case, we'll find nothing of value down there.** And there again was that cold, unfeeling taste to his mind. He kept walking, one foot in front of the other, in that same methodical march he used on his way here.

Starsong: She nodded but said nothing for a while. **If we keep heading this way, We should reach the ocean soon, if it is still there...** she sent but she knew that he would know this. After walking for a bit longer she decided to ask **Who is Larias?** she remembered he called out that name during his recovery. She knows its probably none of her business but she didn't feel much like going on at the moment and hoped some conversation might help the time pass.

Savith: **No one you need concern yourself with,** came the snappish reply. Cold, like everything else, but this time, the cold comes from something else. Heart-stopping fear which snaps almost instantly into hate and anger.

Starsong: Starsong rolls her eyes and sighs as she leaps onto Shine's already burdened back and props her head on his. **As you wish** she sends back irritated and looks towards the mountains in the distance, she doesn't recall them being that far before....  

[ChosenSavith]

Savith: Savith keeps trudging along, eyes on the ground, step after step. **No water,** he asks finally, emotions once again under control.

Starsong: Starsong was busy combing the mats out of Shine's fur when Savith sent. She looked up, not really paying attention to her surroundings, she was getting tired. She perked her ears up and listened to the wind, it was a strange wind, one she was not familiar with. **We should be by the ocean soo....** Her send cut short as she suddenly tumbled off of Shine. The wolf had stumbled himself into a very sandy pit. The beach was there, but no ocean, just dried coral and rocks. Shine whimpered as he drug himself back onto a stable rock, the sands were shifting as if something underneath was moving. Starsong stood up and brushed herself off giving Shine a distasteful look before looking out at the wasteland.

Savith: Savith drew himself up to a stop as Starsong's wolf founders. Reaching out with mind and magic, he does his best to assist the wolf and rider out of the shifting sand-ocean. Once certain his huntress is safe on solid ground, he peers out over the 'sea'. "By the fallen Palace," he whispers, voice as rough and cracked as his lips.

Starsong: Staring into the distance with the sands shifting nearby made her a bit dizzy so she sat down, Shine leaping from the rock to the solid ground next to her. She had never seen anything like this before, she couldn't make any sense of it. **What had happened so bad that everything we know, everything we love is gone?** She sent it to nobody really, a confused thought, she shook her head and gently stroked Shine's fur.

Savith: **I..... don't know,** Savith sent in reply, mind likewise reeling from the sheer enormity of it. Everything was gone. Everything had changed. Everyone, as far as they could tell, was gone. The whole of the elven race, it seemed, rested with just themselves. And like a weight dropping from the sky, it all became too much. Savith dropped to his knees on the ground where he stood, hands falling into ash in front of him. His head hung and a cry, akin to a primal howl of rage/fear/grief/confusion, tore from his throat even as tears stung at his eyes and danced along his lashes looking to spill free.

Starsong: Starsong was stunned, she had never seen a glider act like... well... like a wolfrider before. She wasn't sure what to do at first, but her heart reached out to his and she stood silently and tenderly rested a hand on his shoulder. She let him be for a few moments to get out what he needed to. After a little bit she knelt down beside him to reassure him **If we made it, I'm sure others did too. Let us find a place where we can settle for a bit, I'm sure others will find us. If we keep moving we may miss them, but if we stand still, all the world's wind will eventually touch our faces**

Savith: Savith knelt, panting, frame shaky long after his 'howl' was done. He heard Starsong's send, felt her familiar presence, and could do nothing but nod. He felt hollow, like his mountain home was, as he pushed himself up to his feet, refusing to look in Starsong's direction. He paused there, a moment of uncertainty plaguing him. Where should they go? This terrain, it's so unfamiliar. The landscape could really be anything in any direction. He closed his eyes, turned away from the shifting sands, turned toward where the High Ones would pull him, and began walking.

Travel with us towards our destiny