Endless Impossibilities.
By Klave of Rhuidean.
Ch. 1: Voice of reason in a reasonless world.
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Crash; A massive wave threw itself violently against the side of a heavily battered cliff. The jagged shards jutting out the side of it showed a grim look at the effects of the storm. They had been named the Bloody Crag's due to the danger it held under the water.
The wind suddenly picked up and hurled it's effects against the condemning wall, sending foreboding whistles miles over the choppy water. Scared, shrieking voices could be heard echoing through the jagged rocks, and the slight creaking of a rocking ship could be heard faintly.
"Captain! Your not seriously going to sail through this storm are you?" Dakker Kile was now the leader of the Elven settlers, the previous leader had fallen overboard and hadn't been recovered.
"That is no concern of yours Dakker." The gruff voice of the sea captain sent an angered expression across the face of the Elven leader.
"This is insanity! Wooden ships cannot hold against a beating like this!" Dakker argued farther.
"You can kindly remove yourself Dakker, your words of reason are useless." The captain turned back to the maps he had spread across a grafting table.
"Captain! The hull has sprung a leak---"
Crunch. The three men were thrown from their feet, and into different points in the room. Dakker recovered the fastest. He looked around the room, and found the captain crumpled against a lively statue. Dakker stumbled over to him, and tried to turn the to man towards him, but the captain's head would not move from the outstretched fist of the statue.
Dakker gasped, the captain's fate was by a life size statue of himself. His head had been impaled by the force he had been flung. Dakker turned from the gore and stumbled to the door of the cabin.
The door was held by something from the outside, but with a powerful shove he got the door open enough for him so slip through. Two sailors were leaning heavily on the door, and other sailors were recovering from the shocking blow.
Dakker rushed past the immobile sailors, right now he had one quest, and that was to find his wife and child. The ship had the sailor and captain's quarters on one side of the ship, and the passenger quarters on the other. The door to the deck was open, and Dakker realized it had broken off and blown away from the force of the impact and the overly strong wind.
Dakker rushed up from the stairwell, and stood in shock at the horrific scene. They had landed in the shoals right off the coast of some body of land. And the side of a cliff had the defining features of a bull skull when the lightning flashed. Another gust of wind almost made Dakker fall to the deck. Oddly he seemed to hear a word, and realized the it was coming from the wind blowing into the wall. "Leave!" It seemed to say.
A howling sound erupted behind Dakker, and he turned to see a funnel shaped cloud descending into the water just a few knots from the shipwrecked pile of wood. Dakker finally caught himself, and rushed across the deck, now was not a time to calmly watch as the elements killed them all.
His elven tribe seemed to have a better hold of the situation than the human sailors did, he entered the quarters, and everyone had almost finished gathering all their important belongings. Cela, his wife rushed to his side with tears of joy in her eyes.
"I feared the worst." She whispered softly into his ear.
"Everyone! The boat is shipwrecked, and destruction is upon us." Dakker hadn't realized it until now, but a great howling noise was growing louder and louder. "Hurry!" He cried, rushing to his son, and leading the group out onto the deck.
The door flew open as soon as it was unhinged, and at that moment a flash of lightning turned the night sky to day, accentuating the cliff side, and the pillar of wind that was now less than a knot away from the ship. The wood started to creak, and anything that wasn't fully attached to the deck started to slide toward the pillar of wind.
"Overboard! Everyone overboard!" Dakker shouted purposefully, and motioned toward the shoals, since that was the farthest point from the pillar of wind.
The mast creaked horribly and bent in an unnatural way, snapping every rope, and releasing the sails to the violent hunger of the wind. Dakker lowered the last of his tribe off the deck, and turned to the pillar to see that it was now about a hundred yards away. He felt the skin on his face start to peel off, and he had to grab hold of the railing to keep from being removed from the deck.
The boat splintered and creaked horribly, and the bow started to disappear, Dakker had been trying now for a couple minutes to crawl down the side of the ship, but the power of the wind was started to overcome him.
"Cela, where is Dakker? We can't find him anywhere." Cela turned from her head count to the water, everyone had gotten to shore safely she had thought. She turned her eyes to the ship, and in the darkness, she could make out a figure crawling down the side of it, with the pillar engulfing the entire boat.
"That's Dakker!" She fell to her knees, helpless cries escaping from her mouth. Only a miracle could save her husband this time. He disappeared into the water just as the ship was lifted from the water sending splintered boards flying in every direction. She never seen his head surface, and the shock that he was gone was chipping away at the belief that he would always come back no matter what.
"...He's actually gone..." The thought brought an unending stream of tears to her eyes. She had seen him die right before her eyes, but still the belief that he would come out of nowhere with that grin that always made her melt would not go away.
"Cela!...Cela! we have to go, get up!" She finally came to herself, and followed her sister further inland escaping the 'Pillar of Death' and painfully leaving her husband behind.
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Dakker gasped, the water was bitter cold, but he didn't have time to care about that, the shore was only a short swim away, and the boat was quickly being engulfed. No matter how hard he tried to get away, destruction and his very probable death was only seconds behind him. A sharp pain hit the back of his head, his eyes rolled, and the darkness turned darker.
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"Cela, you know he died for an honorable cause, that should be enough to stop worrying." Cecil gave her a reassuring smile, followed by a comforting rub on her shoulder.
"He's not dead, I can feel it." Cela replied to her sister, rubbing beads of sweat off her forehead. The three long days of walking in this hot weather was starting to have a noticeable effect on everyone.
Cela had noticed that everyone was starting to look to her as a leader, she wondered why they weren't choosing some of the younger men, but she guessed that they're loyalty to her husband traveled onto her. They had asked her to name they're tribe, and start appointing them jobs. She had taken the fastest runners, and sent them ahead as scouts. Her husband's closest friends she had made the defenders of the tribe since they were among the few that knew how to use a weapon tactfully, and they wore the chitin breastplates they had salvaged from the wreck proudly.
Vipale sighed heavily, wiping furiously at his forehead. "Mother, why is it so hot?" He muttered through chapped lips. The loss of his father hadn't set in yet, probably because he was so young.
"I don't know honey, none of us know why, your just going to have to be strong like daddy, ok?" A small nod was all Cela received from the boy, and the group of about forty elves traveled on silently, avoiding the sharp-looking leaves of the only plant life in sight.
Cela was starting to fall asleep from exhaustion, a bright light shot into existence for about two seconds ahead of the group. Whispers came alive, then a second light flashed, it was a frosty blue color, and Cela couldn't imagine what could have made something like that, other than...
She looked toward a large man striding next to her. "Bargen! Be ready for anything." He had been her husband's closest friend, and she had made him the leader of their defense, which he accepted graciously.
A figure came into view running towards them at a very fast pace. Within minutes the figure turned out to be one of the scouts; Quern was his name, he was most likely the fastest runner in the tribe.
"Cela! There are three...men ahead...or we think they're men at least, they cast lightning strong enough to sear a man's flesh, the others are in hiding, but they killed Luk. I think we can take them with arrows from behind though." He smiled, removing a bow from his quiver, and knocking an arrow.
"Thank you Quern, Bargen, bring me one of these men, dead or alive." Cela was shocked when both men bowed. Bargen gathered the other defenders, and Quern led them back to the battle sight.
Shouts were heard after a little while, more flashes, then everything was over. Soon after, all the men returned dragging two bodies, one was Luk; Quern's brother. And the other wasn't quite a man. He was very thin, his body had a bluish hue to it, and his head looked like it had been split open.
"They put up a good fight Cela, I shot this one right in his head, and he still had time to cast lightning twice before falling to the ground." Bargen drug the body before her.
"He smells bad mother." Vipale's calm voice broke into the conversation, and he walked to the side of the body, bending over it's head. "Mother, he's still alive." Vipale said calmly, standing up.
"That's nonsense honey, there's no way he can still be alive." Cela almost laughed at the foolishness in her son's words.
"Bargen, please kill him." Vipale's voice became more urgent, and he took a step back. "Please Bargen! Kill him! Now!" The man suddenly shook, He opened his eyes, focusing on Vipale.
"I'll take another with me!" The man wasn't human, his voice was beastly, and it quickly cast lightning from it's fingertips.
Shrieks sounded in the crowd, and the blue glow of the lightning was overcome be a brighter light. Vipale's body seemed to absorb the lightning his pale skin turning browner and browner. "Mother, I'm scared." His voice was calm once more, but his gray-blue eyes were filled with fear.
The beasts head rolled away followed by blue blood spraying in every direction. Bargen was standing over the beast with his sword drawn. And Vipale, with a shocked expression fell on his back.
"Vipale!" Cela screamed, rushing to her son. "Quick! Get him under some shade!" Cela kept calling orders, but her words were lost as Vipale fell out of consciousness.
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Feedback is well appreciated, I haven't written in a long time, so please tell me if it's good or bad. Constructive Criticism is always welcome. Flamers will be laughed at.
Thanks all.
Klave