Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sun's warmth seemed to linger throughout the the forest that spread along the border of the neighboring kingdoms. Barely visible through the thick canopy, the sun's rays reached out to its inhabitants. A soft breeze rustled the leaves, whistling through as it traveled on its way to no where in particular.

Busy making their way to and from profitable trades, a small caravan creaked and groaned along the dusty path. Lead by old and young steeds, the carriages ambled along the path always steering clear of the trees that appeared to reach out for their riders.

On occasion, there would be children. Always curious and never cautious, they would reach out and attempt to grasp leaves off a hanging branch. If successful, a squeal and a fit of giggles would announce their triumph. One triumph that was always dampened by the bickering voice of a mother.

But usually it was only men, superstitious old men eager to reach their destination as well as getting as far away from the forest as possible. It was said that the place was tainted, if not haunted. From Coroba came tales of a demon, a creature that claimed the lives of those unfaithful to the 'Eye of the Unblinking Surveyor'. From Wippshire, come tales of ghosts lingering among the brush waiting to claim your body. A ghastly nest of ghouls hungry for the life they had already lost. Whether they be truth or myth, the merchants kept their distance hoping they would never discover the truth.

Hidden within the mysterious greenery, past the tangled vines that protected them, lived a variety of creatures. Hunters, runners, diggers and gliders all invisible to the intruders. On occasion, they would be found out... A lost child, a starving hunter, wandering through the forest. But it would never last long, they were protected by a most peculiar guardian.

Crouched upon a thick branch, high in an oak tree, an orange creature sat watching the caravan move along the road. Green eyes moved steadily up and down the length of the group, pausing at each carriage to verify its occupants. A long, silky tail hung behind her slowly moving side to side. Its black tip moving in and out of view as it blended in with the dark tree. A black paw moved to the trunk, then back down to the branch...Its purpose lost for the moment.

The young vixen, called upon as 'Silva' for that was the name she remembered, entertained her thoughts wondering why these contraptions came and went so continuously. Finally sitting back on the branch, she scratched the white fur that spread along her underside feeling more than a little perturbed. Her ears twitched continuously, their black tips moving to catch the sounds that emanated from the busy group below. What was so important for them to travel so far from their homes and drag along so heavy a load? Never satisfied, she sighed softly, letting her gaze wander aimlessly along them as they slowly began to disappear at a turn in the path.

The question would remain unanswered once more, she knew this well. Hearing the annoyed chirps of the sparrow, she smiled, the bird was fighting with the squirrel again. Which would it be this time? A nut that fell from the tree, bonking the poor bird on the head again? As usual, the flustered aviary would find the rodent, wherever it may be, and somehow lay blame upon it. The poor dear would squeak angrily, then run along the branches trying to escape the fury of pecks that would always proceed.

Silva, chuckled to herself, turning to lean on the tree contently. Until she found her answers, she would be entertained quite enough with the creatures she had come to know so well. Hearing the soft rustle of grass as it bent under someone's weight, Silva stretched and leaped down from the tree. Using a lower branch to slow her descent, she landed in a crouch in front of a smaller image of herself. The fox stared up at her intently, the small creature watching Silva with a slight annoyance. Silva's ears lowered slightly in apology.

"Hello mother..." she muttered, following the four legged fox on her own two. As she followed, she couldn't help but let her eyes wander, knowing that she would be working soon enough...she wanted to enjoy her lazy escapade a little longer.

As the sun hit its peek in the afternoon sky above Kingdom City's commerce district, Freddie's stack of papers was nearly gone. She had only a small stack suitable for a few more stores. She was just leaving one of the many shops along Center Street when she bumped into a rather disgruntled goat man. He stared her down angrily with his bulging yellow eyes, watching as all the pup's church literature went flying out of her paws. "Watch where you're going!" He bellowed, purposefully stepping onto some of the papers.

Freddie shrank under the goat man's harsh gaze, keeping her eyes on his bulging ones as she groped the ground for her wayward papers. "I'm sorry mister," she appologized, accidentally grabbing his leg as she searched the ground for fallen papers. "I'm just delivering papers for the church, and I didn't see you, and..."

Not liking having his foot grabbed, the goat man let out a frightening holler that made Freddie fall backward and spill her papers again. Amuzed that he could frighten the pup so easily, he lifted one of the papers from the ground to look at it. "Humf," he grunted as he looked it over. "Nothing more than a sweat rag if you ask me." To demonstrate his point, the goat man stuffed the paper under his armpit to sop up his underarm sweat.

Freddie looked on in horror as the goat man crumpled up the newly soiled literature and threw it on the ground. "That's blashemous!" she said, pointing at the moist paper. The goat man laughed heartily at the pup's comment. "That's one way of putting it," he exclaimed. "Now it smells as bad as it reads."

Before the situation could get any worse, a tall dog man was able to grab the goat man roughly on the shoulder. "Larsbo," he whispered loudly, "what in the sight of the Unblinking Surveyor are you doing?" The goat man known as Larsbo looked at his friend as innocently as possible. "Oh come on, Bevo," he said as innocently as possible, noticing his friend flinch and look around at the mention of his name. "Me and the kid were having fun, weren't we?"

To show innocence, Lars grabbed Freddie by the head and proceeded to rub it rather roughly. Freddie growled briefly under the heavy head rub, escaping it as quickly as she could to avoid having any more of her hair pulled. "The king's gonna hang you for that," she said stirnly, pointing to the crumpled paper.

At the mention of the king and hanging, Bevo got between the two quarellers. He bowed down low to the pup, noticing the churchly robes she wore and hoping that he could charm his way out of not being found out. "Pardon my friend dear child," he said solumnly. "He has just been filled with the blessings of the Unblinking Surveyor and is now in need of rest after such a fine feast. He has a tendency to become cranky when his belly is too full you see."

Freddie was still feeling doubtful in spite of this new man's charm. "Um, he stuck church papers in his armpit," she said, pointing once again to the soiled paper. As a gesture of good will, Bevo picked up the soiled paper and lovingly smoothed it out. "Ah, well now," he said, holding the smelly page up to the accusitory pup. "I guess this is a signal from the Unblinking Surveyor that this page should belong to my friend and I. You see my child, now there is no harm done."

Freddie watched as the charming dog man folded the foul smelling paper and placed it in his pocket, patting the pocket lovingly as a sign of good will. She watched the goat man roll his bulging yellow eyes as his friend tried to patch up the argument, which did not sit well with her. "It's still blasphemous," she explained. "You should go to the church to tell of your behaviors to make right what you did."

Relieved, Bevo once again bowed to the child. "Of course we will," he said, glad to know his charm had avoided a scene. "We shall tell the brothers and sisters of our deeds and ask the Eye of the Unblinking Surveyor to look down upon us poor sinners."

Satisfied with the response, Freddie agreed to let them go. Bevo pat the young pup on the back as a sign of goodwill. "You are most forgiving my child," he said with a smile. "I shall be sure to ask the Unblinking Surveyor to look kindly upon you. What is your name so that I may pray for your good fortune?" Freddie blushed at the charming stranger. "It's Freda," she said with a smile, "but people like to call me Freddie sometimes. What's your name?"

Bevo winked at the young pup as she asked his name. "You can call me a friend," he said, grabbing hold of his goat friend's arm. "Now we must be off to make our confessions. Good day to you, and may the Unblinking Surveyor look well upon you."

As the two men disappeared into the bustling crowd, Freddie reminded herself to ask the monks and nuns if they had seen the two men come in for confession. She thought about the charming man as she went back to collecting up her church literature, unable to shake the feeling that the charming man might not have been telling her the truth.

It wasn't long before the creature came to a halt, Silva just barely managed to regain balance before landing squarely on top of the fox. Before she could protest, a low growl rumbled out of the tense creature. Crouching low, Silva placed a furry hand on her comrade, and made her way silently towards the sound of metal on wood.

At first, Silva had assumed that someone had gotten lost...Another careless outsider stumbling through the forest. Now she knew better. Fur on end, she swiftly moved along the unearthed roots. The sound grew louder and soon, what she had thought was the scent of a skunk, she recognized a sweet fragrance. It belonged to an outsider, but not a merchant.

Silva bared her fangs, and sure enough as she swung up on a branch, she spotted the intruder. A figure clad in long red garments stood barely three feet away. The vixen eyed him anxiously, the last one had come with hunters (hunter to her was anything that carried a weapon) and had found her slumbering in her favorite oak. The scoundrels woke her with their fright and a grumpy kitsune had chased them out with fangs bared.

Now here stood another. Silva inched closer to see what he was doing, only to tense up further and snarl. The sound granted her a squeal of pure terror and the wonderful sight of the creature stumbling to safety. Once satisfied that he would not return, the young one slid down to investigate. The stranger had been working away at a tree trunk, leaving behind some sort of message nailed to the tree. There was something scribbled on the page, words maybe? Quite irritated, she ignored them and ripped the page off. After a moments thought, she began to chew it furiously.

One thing was to trespass, but this? Who in their right mind would do such a thing?
With a heavy sigh, she gripped the nail and began to pull and wiggle it. Unbeknown to her, the page that now resided in her stomach would cause a lot more trouble than the nail she worked at so fervently.

Her fingertips complained quite audibly, as she continued to pull and tug at the nail. But it didn't seem to budge. Frustrated, she glared at it for a moment, as if the action would force the nail to surrender to her whims. Suddenly, she was biting it...Growling and pulling with her teeth, the metallic taste making her nauseous. She pushed against the trunk with her hands and feet while pulling with her teeth, looking quite silly. Soon a soft 'zoomf' led to a thud and she lay on her back with the nail on her tongue.

Content, she crossed her arms behind her head and lay there, moving the nail around in her mouth. She gazed up at the bright sky, now visible to her, and enjoyed the soft breeze that caressed her fur. Unfortunately, she heard the soft steps of the fox coming near... Soon she would have another task to take care of. Until then, she shut her eyes.

Roland checked the position of the sun, walking through a forest beyond the burnt plain he lived on. It was starting to go down. Not a big concern for him as far as vision went. The loss of detail most people found at night didn't bother him a bit. What difference did it make to him if he couldn't see the colors of objects.

Pulling his cloak closer around himself against the chill and adjusting the crossbow on his shoulder, Roland looked to make sure the weapon wasn't easily differentiated from a normal crossbow. If somebody saw that it was a mechanical, he would be in big trouble. It occurred to him that this forest would be a good place to lose anyone following and so he started to run, jumping over twisting roots and ducking branches. Surely the church wouldn't be so stupid it wouldn't watch him, aye? Breathing hard, he ran on.

Along the expanse of the border between Coroba and Wippshire lies what is known as the 'Grand Whispering Forest'. The passing of wind through the canopy of the trees produces sounds similar to an eerie voice whispering to those who happen to be passing by. As a result of this phenomenon, stories of ghosts and ghouls spread across both nations, turning peace and tranquility into mystery and fear.

On one of the many dirt roads that connected both nations, a small black feline took her time traversing the lush greenery on her way to Coroba. She paced herself very slowly, stopping often to admire a tree or pick a flower from a bush; it seemed like she had not a care in world, despite the forest having such an awful reputation. Her name was Nyuza Applewood, and she had discovered long ago the truth behind the ghastly voices that were the subject of travelers nightmares. Since she frequented the Grand Whispering Forest due to her work, she managed to discern the sound of the wind which caused the offending illusion and as time passed, she began to distinguish musical notes during some of the whispers that occurred during her travels. She grew fond of the forest since her discovery, and now treads across the nation's borders with a turtle's pace, hoping to experience another one of nature's secret melodies.

As the wind began to pick up, Nyuza's ears twitched and swiveled while she walked through the forest; a whisper had begun, but no notes were produced. Nyuza lifted her gaze towards the tree tops, her eyes following the gentle sway of the leaves as she listened intently to the wind. Then, a slightly stronger gust brought the forest to life. Nyuza smiled as the notes subtly changed... Do......Sol......La......

"AHHHH! Run! They're savages!!" A small frantic Squirrel dressed in churchly garments bolted onto the path, running in the direction of Coroba. Startled, Nyuza jumped slightly and crouched low to the ground with fangs and claws extended. She had been too engrossed with what she was doing to notice the rushed footsteps approaching. Slightly annoyed, Nyuza let out a long sigh, relaxed her stance, and watched as the retreating figure disappeared from sight.

"What's his problem?" She wondered aloud, turning her gaze towards the spot he had appeared from. She stared for a moment wondering if she should investigate, weighing the sense of danger and curiousity in her mind. She wasn't particularly interested in the squirrel's plight, yet her inquisitive nature attracted her to find the culprit. Finally, she made the decision to explore, allowing her curiousity to prevail. She took a deep breath, taking the first step outside of the path she had always taken, and walked into the unknown wilds of the forest.

The rapier's hilt was in Roland's hand. Forests could be dangerous, even without the "God's men" behind you. He kept it retracted. The blade would catch on things otherwise. Even if he didn't have time to flick it out, the knucklebow made punches hurt.

Checking his compass, Roland continued southwards, the fur on the back of his neck standing on end. He wasn't used to the forests. Mostly he spent his time in the cities. This was unfamiliar territory, and he would have preferred to keep it that way. Following the device, however, he thought he couldn't go wrong...

Having made the final paper drop, Freddie was ready to head back to the castle for another stack of church literature and a brief lunch break. She could hear her stomach grumbling as she wormed her way through the busy streets.

Before retrieving her next load of work, Freddie had to report to Mother Cooblie, a fat old hen who was the head of the Order of the Unblinking Surveyor in Coroba. Judging by the time of day, Freddie knew her superior would be in the Chapel of the Eye, the town's church and the home of the Order's most sacred relic best known as the Eye of the Unblinking Surveyor. Freddie hated the idea of going into the chapel to retrieve Mother Cooblie. She was notorious for her volitle temper, and it did not take much to set her off.

Freddie opened the door to the chapel very gently, looking at the few parishoners, nuns, and monks who had stopped by to pray their devotionals. At the center of the alter stood the large stone which housed the Eye of the Unblinking Surveyor. Freddie covered her right eye with her paw and gave a quick bow as the church's sign of devotion. Normally she was supposed to give a nuch more grandious bow, keeping her eye covered until the bowing had come to an end, but Freddie was in a hurry and no one seemed to be watching her.

Mother Cooblie sat at the front of the church with her hood covering her head and face and her feathery fingers pressed together in prayer. She sat very still, and her breathing was so quiet that one might asume that age might have finally taken her to her final resting and that her soul had finally reached the Hall of Devine Sight. Freddie gulped back a fearful lump in her throat as she whispered, "I'm done with the first stack," into the old hen's hood.

The old hen's still form sprung to life, giving the young pup a look of disapproval. "Your hood, Freda," she said in a low, threatening tone as she grabbed the hood of the pup's robes. With the hood in one winged hand, Mother Cooblie placed her other hand over her eye and bowed low before dragging the disrupting pup out of the chapel.

Mother Cooblie looked the guilty pup over from head to toe. "You're late," she said as soon as the door closed to the chapel. "You were supposed to return before afternoon devotionals. Have you no sense of urgency?"

Freddie stared down at the ground shamefully, feeling more shame over being dragged out of the church than at angering her superior. "I'm sorry," she said softly, hoping the appology would ease her punishment. Mother Cooblie made a scoffing sound at Freddie's reply. "Do you really expect me to believe that?" she asked sarcastically. "I can only imagine the sins you have committed that could make you so late."

Before the old hen could heckle any further, she felt a paw land softly on her shoulder. Turning around, Mother Cooblie saw the slender silhoette of a robed and hooded dog woman. Grabbing the dog woman by the arm, Mother Cooblie dragged her out of the doorway and let the door close to the chapel. "What are you doing here, Sister Tess?" she asked the intruder. Unable to answer verbally due to being mute, Sister Tess pointed at Freddie. Mother Cooblie smacked Sister Tess's paw away from what she was pointing at. "This is none of your concern," she said stirnly. "Go back to your sinner's prayers and leave this to me."

The only way that Sister Tess could protest was to hold up a small stack of church literature left on a pedistal near the chapel door and point to Freddie. Mother Cooblie raised an eyebrow as she watched the gesture, trying to interpret it. "You intend to get this child her next stack of work?" she asked, hoping to understand what her nun was saying. Sister Tess nodded in reply, her hood rocking against her face.

Mother Cooblie looked from dog to pup, trying to decide what she wanted to do. She was eager to get back to her prayers in the chapel, but was concerned about Sister Tess having an influence on the young pup. With a frustrated sigh, Mother Cooblie looked the two dogs over. "Very well," she said, much to Freddie's delight. "But as penence for your tardiness you are to go without your afternoon meal."

Freddie made a sound of protest, but a look from both her superiors ended her desire to complain. "Yes ma'am," she said with a tone of disappointment. Mother Cooblie looked stirnly upon the pup before turning her icey gaze upon the nun. "You are to take her to her task and return promptly," she ordered. "You are to do nothing more than that. You know your rules and the punishments that come with it." Sister Tess nodded slowly in reply, which Mother Cooblie accepted. With a stirn look on her face, Mother Cooblie walked through the doorway, keeping her eyes on her subjects until the door blocked her sight.