Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Hush little one, forget the day's sorrow.
The night has come to whisk you to tomorrow.
The shades are drawn, let your soul find rest,
Hush little one, this is all for the best."

Linneas slept as one who has never found rest until that very moment. His lids were heavy ladden, his breathing was calm and deep, his entire body seemed as peace.

A pity the same could not be said for his dreams.

He was elsewhere, far from his room in the shop, far from the shop in Barton, far from Barton in Gaia. He was, as mentioned, elsewhere. He was in a dream, a dream that was too real, too solid, too tangible to be a dream. And in that dream, he was lying on a bed, in a bedroom of sorts.

The walls were covered in tapestries where creatures of all sorts and shapes (many of them he had never seen before that moment) were woven with gold, and silver threads. The floor was wooden, polished with a substance that was similar to wax and yet the shine was unlike anything he had ever encountered.

The bed was soft, filled with down but it purred and vibrated whenever he moved on a certain spot. The canopy (there was a canopy?) that draped across the bedposts was made of a fabric so sheer it resembled freshly spun spiderwebs.

Nervously he got up, the bed seemingly whimpering in objection but he ignored it. His sights lay on the armoir with the full length mirror standing beside it. Cautiously he approached the armoir, and passed by the mirror. He paused, seeing something unusual from the corner of his eyes and stood before the mirror.

The fiery red hair had been replaced by persimmon hued locks, and his golden eyes were a steel gray. But that had not been what caused him to stumble back and land abruptly onto his posterior.

Linneas was... a woman?!

Before he could even attempt to understand what was happening, a knock came from the door. "Are you ready yet?"

"Not yet, I'll be there in a moment." Linneas found himself responding. He moved against his will, dressing himself with the accompaniment of retreating footsteps. Flowy cloth pants and a loose shirt adorned his body, and before he stepped out of his room, he grabbed for a small notebook lying atop a table.

Absently he flipped through the pages,

"I'll be free soon..." he read, "Free from everything they said I'd never escape. I'll show them!" But as he stepped outside the door, he tripped.

And promptly fell out of his bed, and found he was back in his room, in the shop, in Barton, in Gaia.

((until the title changes, only Syrie and I may post n.n))

The rest of Linneas' day would prove uneventful, mundane almost. The dream lingered in his mind, but whenever he attempted to make sense of it, the dream would flee to the corners of his mind that he is unable to reach. Perhaps the most curious thing about his attempts would be his almost fixation on the fact he had been female.

Once in a while, Ning would catch him absently looking in the mirror, staring at his chest as if he was expecting something would burst out of it any moment. Whenever the Tale realized this, his face would crimson and he'd simply mention how he needed to change his style of clothing.

He stopped by the Study on occasion, no longer attempting to clean as it had proven futile time and again. He seated himself before the Tome, reading the roster, trying to recall if he had met all the Tales written.

And then... he spied an entry he was certain he had never seen before. Two names, two authors? It was unheard of that Linneas would not have known of them, given their unique circumstance.

"What is going on here?"

She ran, her bare feet pounding on the marble flooring. She could hear boots pounding on the ground behind her as well as the click of someone's heels. She was more afraid of the latter catching her as she ran. Her cinnamon hair thwaped against her back, the flames of the lanterns lighting the firebrick highlights. A corner was coming up on her fast as she mentally wrestled. She knew they'd split up but which way gave her more chances to outrun or outthink them? She'd always been good at this but now she faltering.

She was behind her. She was catching up and Chailyn was beginning to panick. She skidded on the slippery floor, barely managing to turn left. She slammed into the wall letting out a yelp. She didn't have time to catch her breath, she couldn't think. She just had to run. She took off hearing shouts but not the voice of who she was really running from. The guards could catch her for all she cared. They didn't scare her.

She scared her. The girl who had the same face, the same hair, the same eyes, the same everything. The only difference was her intent, her heart. She wasn't scrambling, she was walking with ease unlike the other.

Chailyn scrambled faster her heart pounding her chest. She could feel the beating in her throat, in hear head, even in her clenched fists. She didn't even noticed she'd turned the wrong way. Her purple eyes faltered before focusing on the wall in front of her. There weren't any doors, there weren't any windows, there was just a dead end. She stopped dead in her tracks. She whippered around backing up against the wall.

She was coming...

Chailyn tossed and turned in her slumber, something that was rather odd for the tale. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead as she tried to slow her breathing. She whimpered clawing at her pillow, attempting to reach for someone to help her. She dug her fingers into the soft pillowcase clenching the material. Tears pierced through her eyelashes, slipping down the front of her cheek as she opened her mouth. A shaky breath followed by a high pitched whimper prodded her sleeping companions to nuzzle at her. It didn't seem to help at all as she curled into a ball.

A paw touched her shoulder and Chailyn bolted up right, causing the cat to fall backwards. She sat on her knees, staring at her surroundings. She was safe? She let out a slow breath turning slightly to see her pets watching her. She swallowed hard, brushing the tears from her cheeks. She didn't feel safe. Her hand reached out, taking hold of the black plushie that was nearby. She cuddled it, pulling her knees up and burying her face.

Aido slept deeply, curled up atop her blankets. She was still in her day clothing, as she hadn't bothered to change before collapsing on the bed. One arm was loosely gripping an old, worn walrus plush while the other was buried in her scarf, squashing the cloth to her cheek.

Within her dream she wasn't even given the comfort of being inside. Firmly planted in a well worn saddle she bobbed along with the movement of the creature underneath her. Feathers, wings, and long taloned feet, it was a far cry from Rael and the forest rising around her was lush and warm, opposite to the barren trees of home.

Absently she wiped at her forehead with a sweat tinged wrist, only succeeding in thickening the existing layer of sweat further and drizzling some of the salty fluid into her eyes. With a noise of annoyance she stripped out of the long frock coat adorning her torso and readjusted the satchel at her side, double checking at the buttons and latches that assured that it would stay shut.

Beneath her, her mount continued to trot onwards, trampling the foliage under its feet until a sharp crack of twigs snapping somewhere behind them caused it to stop, perking and looking around warily. Its feathers fluffed out to brush against one of Aido's exposed ankles and her hands as she finished adjusting her trousers.

Pausing, one hand on her scarf, she looked around. The shadows beneath their feet twitched and tightened, attuning to her worry.

Behind them the slow, shifting change of a large shadow, which had been happening so slowly she hadn't even noticed it before, suddenly snapped and finished its shift at breakneck speed, fully forming into whatever it was going to become.

With a jack of her heart Aido chucked her tongue sharply and edged her mount into a straight out sprint, one hand snapping out and clutching the satchel to her chest as the other gripped the reins.

She'd left them in her dust before, but that had been on the plains, with the sun near noon, she couldn't help but doubt the chances of a similar tactic working here.

Coat tails flying behind them they sped through the trees, leaping over low logs, and frightening more than one small animal away from its leafy meal. But the almost metric tempo of crashes followed by the absence of noise followed by yet another crash didn't abate. The short absences meant their pursuer was taking the shadows, but only for short bursts of distance- but why?

Mind whirling she tried to puzzle it out. Multitasking between that, directing her mount and franticly trying to recall the map of this area she barely noticed when the lack of foliage crushing sounds lasted a moment longer than usual.

With a snarl and a flash of white teeth their pursuer, a black mass of a creature, leapt from the shadow of the nearest tree ahead of them. Wildly her mount squawked, and snapped backwards, arcing a leg to deliver a kick to the black creature's chest.

As soon as her mount had reared backwards Aido had been thrown. Nothing gripped the way it should have and she slid off her mount all together, numb pain lacing her arm as, for just a moment; her hand was stuck, tangled in the reins, before the leather thankfully snapped.

The force of her fall had pulled her mount back just as it kicked, forfeiting most of the force behind said kick and the poor creature was toppled over. Squawking it kicked and pecked against the black creature, which quickly followed it to the ground. But the white teeth bore down on it even as dark rivets of blood ran from the black creature's golden eyes.

Scrambling up again Aido nearly ran to her mount, about to try and force their attacker from it, but she was frozen in her tracks. The black creature's jaw, having seemingly stretched to a width it should not have been able to reach, was fitted neatly around the skull of her mount. With a low growl it crushed her mount's head between its teeth and proceeded to crunch on the fragments, its golden eyes shifting to focus on her once the corpse ceased to twitch.

Stomach attempting to throw itself out her mouth her body pivoted and she fled in the opposite direction, clutching the satchel to her chest with one hand and reaching out for the shadows with the other. Damn the treaty, she couldn't last here!

A figure, human this time, stepped from behind her as she disappeared into the shadow, reaching out casually and finding her shirt just behind the shadows. With ease it hauled the fighting girl back from within the shadows and threw her a fair distance away to tumble out of the tree line.

Skidding, grip tightening on the writhing tendril of shadow she still held Aido scrambled up, but the woman, cloaked and face hidden, was already besides her again, and snatched up her satchel.

"No!" Aido cried, lunging for it, shadow hardening to form a blade, but the woman had already thrown the precious pack behind her. It lay where it landed for a second before sinking into the shadow of the tree. As she lunged the woman caught her, ignoring any pain she might have felt as the blade pierced her side, and threw Aido backwards yet again.

Aido landed in a heap in the middle of a well fed stream and was unable to gain her footing before black creature sat upon her torso and the woman began to saunter towards her-


-jackknifing upwards Aido fell off her bed's edge. She didn't move from where she landed on the floor, concentrating on keeping her mouth shut, trying desperately to keep the bile in her throat down.

Besides her Rael rose out of the shadowed floor quietly and leant against her, trying to offer comfort through his cool touch.

But as Aido looked at him her stomach flip-flopped and she saw the black mass of a creature's jaws crushing down-

With a muffled cry she found her footing and raced for the bathroom.

Silent when he slept, warm and unmoving, Ameretat made an excellent pillow for a sleeping kitten, and so Anahita used him as one, small paws curled around her brother's feathers. With both his kids curled up on the couch having a midday nap, Ambrus had taken the rare opportunity to carry his paperwork outside, watching the sun creep across the sky as he read over lease agreements and tabulated numbers.

Had he been inside, he might've had opportunity to be surprised to see his older child squirming in his dreams, taloned feet kicking at air and wings feeling for air currents that weren't there. Awakened by all the fussing, Anahita had tried punching her brother to make him stop twitching, and that got him to lie still a moment--but he didn't wake up, like he usually did when she punched him. Frowning a small and impotent frown, the Boundless flopped back down on her erstwhile pillow, closing her eyes and drifting back off to dreams.

Dreams that were likely far more peaceful that Ameretat's.

They had brought out the oars when the wind failed them, and the quiet steady splash of water lent a tempo to the coxswain's chant of "stroke!". He stood at the prow of the boat, fingers on the pommel of his sword and eyes on the darkness ahead. It was an incredible privilege, he knew, to given charge of the ship at such a young age, but acid worry gnawed at his guts and the position's honor was the farthest thing from his mind.

The wind had never failed them before. A few of the lesser birds had murmured about this, equating the wind with the presence of divine favor and wondering what they had done that God might abandon them so. He and the coxswain had hissed them into silence, upbraiding them for their lack of faith and shouting orders for them to unship the oars. They had shared a thought, he and the coxswain, as they did so--a traitorous, faithless thought--that maybe the little birds were right, and they had been abandoned to their own devices here in the belly of the beast.

Breaking eye contact, each had abandoned that thought to the back of his mind, and gone about rallying their crew. Back to work, they had said; there will be wind if God wills it, and if not--

A clearing of the throat at his elbow drew his attention; he looked down to find the keeper and her cage of butterflies, the poor lost souls huddling together in the center of their enclosure. "There's something following us," she told him, her voice little more than a whisper. "I can hear it."

"Stroke!" shouted the coxswain. Oars bit into the water with a chorus of splashing and thrashing, then momentary silence.

Something--several somethings--dove into the water in that momentary silence. He fancied he could see them from here--the keeper put a hand to her face, drawing in a pained breath--sinuous, glowing, anguinous shapes. And they were gaining.

He looked back ahead; no sign of the sun on the other side of the beast. Not even the faintest glimmer of light, and not even a whisper of air hissing past the feathers of his face. The coxswain and the little birds had caught the urgency possessing their guardian and the keeper; "ROW, bless you all!" the coxswain shouted, the music of his voice breaking with strain. Trembling, the keeper turned her head aside, folding a wing around the cage full of butterflies. In the next drawn-out silence between strokes there was a hiss of scales on scales that was much too close, much, much too close--

Blind and silent, they took the coxswain first. Coils of ropy flesh threw loops around the little boat, making it buck like a stung horse. An army of tooth-filled mouths attached to the coxswain, who scarcely had time to scream before he was dragged under. The little birds--most of them--dropped their oars and sat dumb and frozen as the horror tore their caller apart in a spray of feathers.

He cursed them for fools. "Fly, all of you!" he shouted at them. "Get off the boat!"

Still, they sat unhearing. He gave them no more warning than that, for the horror was on the boat now, wrapping around the useless mast and crushing the little birds that didn't shake off its spell and skitter away. He put his arms around the keeper and her precious cage of butterflies, spreading his wings and leaping from the boat in a shower of sparks.

The keeper screeched. "Let me go, let me go--!" A tiny fist caught him in the solar plexus, and he dropped low enough to drag a talon through the water--too late, to notice the mouth rising to greet it, too late to pull it back...

"LET GO ME!" Anahita shrieked right in her brother's ear. Ameretat started awake, dropping his sister. She managed to land on her feet, tail lashing as she hissed at him. Somehow they'd ended up all the way on the other side of the room from the couch--to which she stalked back, the fur of her neck bristling.

How in the world had he gotten here?

The day had been a long and tiring one, but then again, it was the kind of thing he rather enjoyed. Fresh out of his shower, he spent the next half hour wishing his family good night, purposely messed up one of Luc's attempts at a magic spell so his hair stood out on end and fed all of his pets before he offically turned in. After he had changed out of his formal yukata, he lightly touched the huge scar left from his attack with a grimace. Yay, another damn marking to stay there forever. Yanking on a pair of pants, he quickly tied his hair into messy braids and flopped into bed, yanking his wealth of blankets over him roughly. Hopefully he would just be able to sleep without much worry of anything. But since he knew that he could never just sleep, he was in for some kind of dream or another. Shutting his eyes firmly, he flexed his gloved fingers a few times, the blades that were magically hidden by them flickering in and out of reality a few times before disappearing completely....

The ground beneath his feet was cold, branches and leaves crunching with a sharp sound. Having bare feet made that fact rather clear, but he didn't let it get to him. Cold feet was a minor thing to deal with. His headwings flicked and stood at alert for any random sounds that could alert to danger, eyes glancing from side to side just in case before he continued forward. As always, the forest was dark, no light allowed to pierce through the thicker than average foliage. Not that there was much to illuminate anyway. Somehow, a path was able to be seen and he could walk upon it rather calmly. The only light was the faint glowing of his purple iris, which only gave the place a slightly more eerie backdrop.

There was also a stiff wind out that night, lifting his hair up and about his frame, batting against his face and bare chest. Chillness tugged at his baggy pants he used for sleeping gear and swirled up the rest of his body to try to encase him in its cocoon. But that wasn't the only thing. Voices were also there.. harsh, bitter cries of pain, torment or extreme agony. All tried to batter at him from several directions at once. However, there was something much stronger tugging at him. Something that pointed in one direction. North. Whatever or whoever it was, it was ahead of him. Snorting in annoyance, since this was a way of pushing him around, he flexed his fingers and continued forward.

But even with the wind shifting leaves about and causing trees to move in twisted dances, he wasn't overly bothered by it. This he was used to. There was just something else. Weird.. The bottoms of his feet were tingling with an almost insane urge to move faster. But why? There was no point in running away from anything. Especially not here. Not in this place that he knew so well. In this place far away from anything and everything.. but also right smack dab in the middle of it all. This place... Shaking his head roughly, he cleared up the thoughts that threatened to converge on him, suffocate him in their vast numbers in a vain attempt to control him and strode forward, upping the pace a bit. The tingling was getting worse.

How long he walked, he didn't know. Rather, it was more he lost track and stopped caring about it. But for some reason, he stopped, his feet slowly shifting him about in a slow circle. The scenery was the same. Nothing had changed... he hadn't been walking in a circle, damn it! What was the meaning of this!? Finally, when he stopped, he had his back facing the North. The way he was supposed to go. And now everything seemed to have changed. Light now flooded the path, causing his eyes to go blind and he ducked his head, hair falling over his features to give them a sense of comfort. ******** bright! The sounds of birds singing and water burbling from somewhere else made his demonic wing twitch in annoyance. What was with all the cheer all of a sudden?

The voices were different as well. Calming, soothing, accepting. A warmth like he got when he was held attempting to sweep over him. Odd how both sets of voices seemed to try to call to him, as if to lure him in one direction or the other. Warmth or cold. Light or dark. Pick a way, pick a side. Why? What would it do for him to be on one and not the other? The wind, which was now so balmly he felt like he had just stepped out of his bath again, played teasingly with his hair... hmph...

"Enough..." That voice... his insides froze as he slowly turned so that he stood sideways and it all became clear. To the right, the path was dark again, as it had been when he had arrived, the cries and anguished screams making the darker side to him almost grin. To the left, the blinding light, the soothing warmth and the soothing cheerful singing. Right there, in the place he was standing, was the only center. Was there to say there was some kind of center ground between these powers? No.. that couldn't be it. There was no such thing... But that wasn't what his eyes were focused on. No, it was the person standing before him. The tall giant of a man who had his face. Blood red eyes glared down at the boy, purple iries flaring with annoyance as black hair shifted on the suddenly chaotic wind, tips red as if they had been dipped in blood. "More than enough..."

A searing pain than seemed to attack Jiro's hands, forcing him to look down. The blades.. they were reacting as they always did. Gritting his teeth, he tried his best to endure the pain, feeling the stickiness of his own blood sliding down his fingers to drip onto the ground as the blades started to deep into his hands. But while he was trying to get his mind to focus, he didn't realize he was stepping backwards, still between the Dark and the Light... until he was running through it as quickly as he could, the sounds of the Other following him the only things he could hear. Why... why was he running? Because.. he had no choice...

Finally managing to focus, golden eyes stared at the slowly opening path that was straight ahead of him, his bare feet catching on everything. So quickly had the forest turned. Once so calm and almost bored but now out to get him. Hearing the Other's enraged cursing and stamping feet, he caught himself as he fell and dashed off again. Not again.. he could not be taken over again! Breathing harshly through his nose, he ran without a sense of purpose but only his burning need to get away keeping him going, the path twisting and trees only a colorless blur to either side of him. How long was this damn forest?! A rock tripped him up next, causing him to slam down hard to the earth. s**t... this wasn't good at all... But his foot was twisted, he realized as he tried to move it and only hurt more instead. Still struggling, he heard pounding steps slow and then stop completely before he turned his head and looked up. The look of triumph he saw made his face pale and he tried to conjure up his blades as the Other reached out for him with a hate filled snicker...

His eyes flew open, panting harshly like he had been running. The scar on his chest burned and he placed his hand over it as he shifted onto his side. Thankfully, he hadn't made anyone else wake up... though he knew he had been screaming since his throat was dry. When did he scream? Why would he scream?

A faint chir caused him to look up and see his Idle Thought peering down at him, chirring again, the sound filled with concern. Not able to answer, he only scooped the pet close and stared at the nearest wall, his eyes showing he was in deep thought. He was not going back to sleep anytime soon obviously.

[ Message temporarily off-line ]

Armel let out a squeak as he jerked into a sitting up position in his bed. His eyes wide in the dark as a snap was heard from the story book hitting the floor. Armel listened quietly for the familiar raspy laughter of an amused Serkan somewhere near by. Yet there was no one, and as far as he knew the hellion couldn't get into his dreams could she?

That dream didn't have the markings of the hellion, however, why did he dream it...?

Armel almost expected for Serkan to appear and tease him about the nightmare, but maybe she had gained a better hobby for once. He eased himself back into his bed and under his covers, but no matter how he tried his eyes would not close and he could not get back to sleep.