Those of the Past.
Ridley peered around the shadowed DarkVeil forest in concern. Every instinct in his body was telling him something was seriously wrong, and all of his senses were on alert. Around him, most of the others seemed jittery and on their toes too. Perhaps it would not have been so bad if it were daylight, but they'd elected to push on through the spooky Fae land in darkness and now that they were here, every single one of them regretted it
"Tell me why this is worth it again," Marina whispered to Jereez as they creeped slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible. So far they'd met nothing dangerous, but there was always time to be wrong. Jereez leaned into whisper her reply.
"The Dragon's breath is a powerful force, if Lauthal gets her hands on it, she won't just be Empress, she'll be a reign of terror."
"I thought she already was a reign of terror," Damon suggested under his breath from behind them and received a dirty look from the imp.
"That s surprising," Jereez snapped back, "I didn't know you thought!"
"Shhhh! Ridley hushed their bickering, drawing the group to a stop. Norda glanced around the suddenly silent forest in her own search, feeling a similar sensation to Ridley. She was certain they were being watched.
"Does anyone hear that?" the elf suddenly asked, her super sensitive ears picking something up. They all stood as statues, pricking up their ears. Jereez's cat mewed in fright and bolted from her shoulders into the forest.
"Chase!" the imp cried, taking a few steps forward after her familiar, then stopping only a few paces later as the moaning Norda had picked up a moment earlier became audible to the rest of the group. It rose in intensity as they glanced around desperately trying to locate the source.
For a moment Marina was certain she had glanced a ghostly figure dodging from behind one tree to another out of the corner of her eye. She tried to convince herself it was nothing, that she was seeing things, but then they were everywhere, surrounding the group and flitting about in a circular motion so that the adventurers were confined and could not escape.
"I knew this was a bad idea!" Damon muttered.
The comment irritated Jereez, mostly because she agreed with it, to the point that she lashed out at Elwood the dwarf instead, as he raised his battleaxe, "You can't kill something that's already dead!" The ghosts continued to circle, not particularly threateningly, but not friendly either. These were no vague forms but actual ghost people, still dressed, in detail, in the clothes they had worn at death. Strange ghastly faces whisped by so quickly that their features could not be made out properly.
Suddenly, they stopped, and one lone figure streaked forward to pause, abruptly, before Ridley. It was a woman, with long hair that floated about her head as though submerged in water. She had a youthful face, though she would have been older than most of the adventurers. Her eyes searched Ridley's face neutrally then, for a moment, it almost seemed as though a small twinge of a smile tugged at the corners of her straightened mouth.
As quickly as she had come, the ghost woman fled back into the forest, but at the same time, the circle of ghosts she had once been a part of appeared to flee, melting away into the darkness and leaving the group of adventurers standing alone in confusion. Something important had just happened, but what?
"I don't feel dead," Jereez said, directing her comment to Damon. But its sarcasm was lost as her own confusion leaked its way into her remark. They looked around for a moment, and then Norda lifted a hand in the direction they had previously been heading in.
"Look," the elf told them, and everyone turned, their eyes following the direction of her hand. Stepping lightly through the trees ahead was a petite character, as small as Jereez but looking perhaps even more fragile than the imp. The woman that headed towards them was not a ghost, but real living flesh. She had wild long blonde hair and bright sky blue eyes. She wore a filmy pink material, though her feet were bare and almost seemed not to touch the ground. Behind her, glittery butterfly wings vibrated, shimmering despite the lack of sun.
"Fae," Jereez murmured gently under her breath. She was as awestruck as the others, completely entranced by the beauty of the small creature drifting towards them. As the fae drew near, a small black cat peered out from the undergrowth, and stepped out to thread its way through the petite woman's legs.
"You have been fortunate, travelers," the fae addressed the group as she also came to stand in front of Ridley, the way the feminine ghost had done earlier, "those of the past find few who trespass on our land to be justified in their purpose."
"Then we might continue?" Ridley asked, after a short pause. If his interpretation was correct, then the ghostly display a moment ago had been in search of their reason's for trespassing on fae land, though he was still unsure how the ghosts were related to such an investigation. The fae watched his eyes with a hint of light amusement.
"You may," she agreed, "the Dragon's breath must be protected, and not only for the reasons you believe. Dragon's breath of the most ancient dragon it is the armour, the protection between this place, and the realm of neutrality. Without it, it would only take the frequent misuse of powerful magics," she eyed Marina, and then Jereez up as she said it, causing both to look uncomfortable and perhaps a little offended, "to tear a hole between realities. Through the breach would every detail that is not impartial be sucked, into nothingness would disappear every emotion, every feeling, every idea, thought, belief and value, until very beings themselves drifted away into the void.
"Here, the Fae have always protected the physical manifestation of this magical force, but something has arrived with the imp Empress that frightens us, and those of the past. Even if it did not, she collects such an army around her that many might perish and we would still not reach her at the center. For the first time, we find we are helpless to do our duty." She was suddenly so beautifully sad, that not one of the travelers doubted that they would do their all to help the fae.
"What did she say?" Elwood whispered hoarsely to Norda beside him, not completely following the fae's speech, but wishing to help regardless.
"She said now is the time to use your weapon," the elf replied calmly.
"We will stop her," Ridley agreed with the fae, and Jereez began to wonder, a little bitterly, when the human male had suddenly become leader of the group, able to make decisions for the rest of them. The fae smiled softly, then pointed to her left, over the treetops to a far away mountain-top.
"There lies the distant peak, where the old one resides, and where the cruel Empress now intrudes. But," she held up a hand to stop anyone, particularly the enthused Elwood, from immediately hurrying off towards their destination, "let me provide you with a gift first."
The fae held out a hand upon the silent agreement to accept her offering, "It will require the eye of the dragon." Everyone immediately perked up and turned to look at Jereez.
The imp shrugged, "I don't have it," she explained, "I let Damon steal it from me a few hours ago back at the cliff view outside of DarkVeil." When everyone looked at her strangely, she added in her own defense, "I'd planned to take it back later!"
Damon hesitated, and looked red-faced. For one thing, he'd secretly enjoyed believing he'd finally managed to best the imp. The delirious smirk that had been plastered across his face the last few hours immediately drifted away. With a terribly sad and regretful face, though not one that inspired as much pity as the fae's, he dragged the giant gemstone from his pouch and held it out to her. There was a pained expression on his face as the fae took it gently from his reach.
For a moment she held it, stroking the gem thoughtfully, then the fae turned and bobbed down to the forest floor and, clearing a space, planted the dragon's eye firmly into the ground.
"Now why didn't I think of that!" Jereez said mockingly, and then had the impudence to look insulted when one of her co-travelers elbowed her in the side. Perhaps because it was, strangely, Damon.
A moment later, there was strange rumble of thunder, and then a bright beam of light pierced through the dark forest, even though it was nighttime, to shine down directly upon the gemstone. Everyone watched in amazement as a moment later a ghostly figure suddenly appeared in the beam of light and held up its hands to study them strangely.
Ridley and Marina gasped, Norda raised an eyebrow and Elwood looked confused, as were Jereez and Damon at the responses of the rest of their adventuring group. The two of them couldn't understand what was so special about this particularly ghostly apparition.
"Snails!" Ridley took a step forward towards the beam of light containing the confused looking Snails. He was still wearing what he had been the day Ridley had last seen him, with Damodar, as the evil man killed Ridley's long-time friend and partner.
"He doesn't look like a snail," Jereez said in confusion, but was promptly ignored. Ridley went to take another step towards his friend. Snails looked up and opened his mouth to say something, but at the same time, the beam of light streaked downwards into the gemstone lying in the ground. For a moment the dragon's eye pulsed brightly, then dimmed back into its original state.
"I don t understand," Ridley said, turning desperately towards the fae. She bent down and plucked the dragon's eye out of the ground, then held it out to him.
"Neither do I," she admitted, "but those of the past tell me the dragon's breath may be able to restore your friend. Take this now, and keep watch of it carefully." Ridley nodded and took back the dragon's eye, full of wonder and hope that he might, somehow, have a chance of resurrecting his dead companion.
"I told you to trust me," he told the dragon's eye affectionately, turning it in his hands.
