Falias, Finias Chapter Nineteen

Kazdan Kalinkas nearly gets smacked in the face by a branch of orange leaves, but he stops it with lucky catch. He looks at the leaves and sees a pair of yellow eyes looking directly at him. He slowly looks up and notices that every shadowy spot in the forest has eyes on him.

"Reggie?" He nearly shouts since the blonde is about five feet ahead of him.

"Yes?" Reggie calls back.

"Do you see the eyes looking at us?" He sees Reggie stop to look around. The blonde then shrugs.

"I always thought it was just an artistic flourish in the card." Reggie doesn't give the eyes another thought.

He's never been harmed in Perim. Lucky him. Kazdan continues to move but keeps a tight grip on his Scanner in case he needs to port out. Within fifteen minutes of porting to The Forest of Life, the bright blue of the sky gives way to orange twilight. The yellow eyes glow in the darkening dusk like fireflies, and Kazdan hopes that they'll fly away.

Ten minutes later, they reach the location marked on their Scanner maps.

"Blimey, I never thought the crowd would be this big." Kazdan has to bite back a laugh when he hears Reggie say that.

He's right. There's probably like a hundred Creatures here. I thought realistically it would only be like twenty. Better than a thousand.

He pales though at seeing so many Creatures. None of them look half-dead or demons like a lot of UnderWorlders in UnderWorld City. They resemble animals and insects like wolves, deer, foxes, beetles, and ladybugs. He tries to find Accato in the crowd, but he cannot find the would-be rockstar.

"Why is your hair so puffy?" A female's voice makes him turn back and he gapes. It's Nivenna but with red skin and blue hair. She wears golden armor and a black loincloth that nearly reaches her knees.

This can't be Nivenna. She would never wear armor this showy, nor have twin braids since hair is so short. They've got the same eyes, the same facial structure, but the colors are all wrong. Who is she? Is she Nivenna's twin? No, that can't be it. High chances are they probably share a distant ancestor because no UnderWorlder or OverWorlder would have kids together? Right?

"Is there something on my face?" She asks Reggie who shakes his head fiercely.

"U-Uh, you just looked like someone I know." And she smiles in such a un-Nivenna way.

"I didn't think there was a human that looked like me." She teases so playfully. Nivenna would be sharp and dry. He smiles and doesn't reply.

"I'm Reggie and this is Kazdan." She shakes Reggie's hand and then Kazdan's in a firm grip that leaves his fingers aching.

"I'm Aivenna."

Kazdan bites down his tongue and stops himself from cursing.

Shit! Their names even rhyme! They must be long-lost sisters, or, more melodramatically, twins. Should I tell Nivenna about her? Would that do her any good to know that she has an OverWorlder sister? Probably not.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Accato is. He was supposed to meet us here." Reggie continues to speak.

"Accato's backstage getting ready."

"Oh."

"You guys are going to play after Katarin finishes her set." She hooks her thumb back at the stage where a gazelle-looking female is playing a pan flute.

"When will that be?"

"I'd say another ten minutes since she's halfway through 'The Epic of Eusyntha.'"

"Great." Kazdan groans.

"At least we won't have to wait." Kazdan nods since the wait is typically worse than what actually happens.

"I'll take you backstage." She offers, and the boys take up her offer without hesitation.

Katarin drinks from her water horn, while Quadore flutters around and chatters with every Creature that she orbits. The pink-skinned and magenta-haired OverWorlder flies towards her, and Katarin keeps drinking. She wishes it was mead.

"The human that fell in love with Lystone is here; he's part of Accato's band!" She squeals like she did when she got freed from being trapped in a barrel of wot.

"Lystone must've used her mugical dust." Katarin remarks as she re-seals the horn and puts it back in her bag with her syrinx.

"She swears on the Cothica that she didn't. And why would she? Humans aren't Maxxor." She giggles, and Katarin couldn't help but smile at Lystone's expense.

"Did you see the human during your performance?"

I had my eyes closed the entire time so I can picture all the notes. There were so many notes. I should've picked something shorter, but then Najarin would've been disappointed if I took the easy way.

"There are two humans. It was the red-haired one that fell in love with Lystone. And compared to his fair-haired friend, he looks like someone crazy enough to think that he could be with another Creature."

"They have names, don't they?" Najarin said when humans are playing their little games that they have something called "screen names" and those tend to be long and gimmicky.

"I don't–"

The blue curtains rise.

The spotlight shines on the stage. Accato is front and center with his customized lyre and purple highlights. He smiles like the professional musician that he is when the crowd, including Quadore, chants his name. He waves at his adoring fans and speaks into the sound crystal.

"You all know me, but I have two friends here that would like to introduce themselves." He moves to the side and lets the red-haired human have the crystal.

"H-Hello, I'm Kazdan." His voice sounds so delicate like a simple breeze could blow it away. The darkest hue of the night wraps around the boy's thin body like a dancer's uniform, while sleek silver hides his tiny feet. His red hair, with flints of yellow, resembles the puff ball of a cankerwort.

"And I'm Reggie." The blond human waves his wooden drumstick up in the air.

"We're The Volupicas!" They shout together. Accato lets out a melancholic wail with his lyre. The drums join in a few seconds later. Kazdan sways slightly and has hand on the crystal's bone-white stand.

"Strange infatuation seems to grace the evening tide.

I'll take it by your side."

When Accato sings, he sounds husky yet honeyed. That kind of voice demands your attention. However, this is a duet, so he has to be considerate.

"Such imagination seems to help the feeling slide.

I'll take it by your side."

His human partner's singing voice is almost nasally compared to Accato's. However, there's a gentle mockery that doesn't fit with the timid boy from earlier.

"Instant correlation sucks and breeds a pack of lies.

I'll take it by your side."

Together, their voices sound as one.

"Oversaturation curls the skin and tans the hide.

I'll take it by your side."

But it doesn't last forever.

"Tick, tock.

Tick, tock.

Tick, tock."

Kazdan smiles smarmily during his solo, getting more into his performance.

"Tick, tick,

Tick,

Tick,

Tick, tock,

Tick."

The duet resumes just as the human gets his final word out.

"I'm unclean, a libertine

And every time you vent your spleen,

I seem to lose the power of speech,

You're slipping slowly from my reach.

You grow me like an evergreen,

You've never seen the lonely me at all."

Accato's eyes are fresh with unshed tears, while Kazdan pinches his lips like he finds humor in Accato's pain.

"I,

Take the plan, spin it sideways."

They pause between their lines.

"I,

Fall."

Another doubt.

"Without you, I'm nothing.

Without you, I'm nothing.

Without you, I'm nothing."

Accato lets a tear drop. For Lady Etheno, she deduces.

"Take the plan, spin it sideways.

Without you, I'm nothing at all."

The crowd cheers them on, but she hears none of them demand an encore. The curtain falls while the band basks in their brief adoration.

I have to tell Najarin about this. Maybe then he can tell me if this song is one made by Accato or one from the humans.

Author's Comments- Here are the links:

Just like Nivenna, I'm using an older version of Aivenna, except her skin is a bright red like in the show. Yeah, I prefer her white armor design because it's more something an OverWorlder would wear. So I'm going to say she's going through a phase with the gold armor and black loincloth: a href=" . /_twMQfWeLjFM/SUmPLHO0LLI/AAAAAAAAAWo/eTqfWZ7hWYE/s280/Aivenna+ "Link/a

Here is an image of Katarin since she only appeared a few times throughout the cartoon. Heck, I didn't even know her name until I was looking through the Chaotic Wiki: a href=" . /chaotic/images/0/02/Katarin.689953. /revision/latest/top-crop/width/360/height/450?cb=20190530234224"Link/a

Here is an image of Quadore, she's the butterfly Creature that Peyton used in "BattleDrome of the Sexes" from her card I presume that she's a laidback and fun Creature who's also a bit of a gossip: a href=" . /revision/latest/top-crop/width/360/height/450?cb=20080628232222"Link/a

Kazdan's outfit is based on Donna Troy's cosmic-looking costume, except his has no jewelry: a href=" cms/filer_ "Link/a

Here is the link to the song which is "Without You I'm Nothing" by Placebo feat. David Bowie: a href=" watch?v=gTAcWmd2RzQ"Link/a

"The Epic of Eusyntha" is something I made up, but Eusyntha is real in the show. She appears in Kiru Village as that pan-horned girl that told Tom about Kaal and she was rightfully angry about the kidnapping and enslavement of her Tribesmates. I presumed she grew up to be a liberator or an avenger of sorts. Also, I'm going with the Chaotiki's spelling of her name since I couldn't figure out how to spell her name from "Yesterday's Heroes."

Well, this is the end of the prologue (or rather pre-season one), and the next chapter will finally be episode one of the series, but since this is mostly from Kazdan's POV, it's going to be quite different. I guess it's fitting to start season one in 2020. I'm hoping because I have episodes to re-watch and re-think how they'd fit in this AU. Also, I'm going to stop promising to get this out monthly or bi-monthly; I'll update when I feel like it. Thanks to everyone who still sticks with this story even after all these delays.

Next chapter: Kazdan's life has been fairly well, and then Tom enters back into his life.