Obsidian Fires
Part 9
By Mieren
White Blaze hissed furiously, back arching as something heavy slammed into the front door for the third time. He froze in shock and sank to the ground as the door was forced open suddenly, amber flames licking a lithe figure as it ambled into the house leisurely, golden-brown eyes locking with the tiger's.
* * *
Cale staggered to a halt, panting raggedly in the burning heat. His skin suddenly tingled and went cold, causing him to sigh and relax in relief. The others looked at him curiously, sweat running down their curious faces in rivulets. Concentrating furiously, deep indigo flames licked his fingers as he began studying the surrounding area.
The area around them slowly began to darken, the shadows shooting across the trees and trails blocking the fierce light of the sun above.
"Thank you," Sage gasped into the slightly cooler air.
Dais made a face. "You could have done that earlier," he grumped.
Ryo flopped onto the ground leisurely. "I don't see why you guys are griping. It's not that hot," he said slowly, blinking when everyone, except Rowen, glared at him angrily. "What?"
"It's not hot?" Kayura asked slowly, eyes narrowing.
"Master of fire," Neris muttered, throwing him a gesture that Ryo was certain he did not want to understand.
"Can you do something about this?" Cye asked slowly, eyes growing hopeful.
Ryo blinked again. "Well," he drawled, looking around uncertainly, "if I can control fires and the essence of heat, I don't see why I can't banish its presence…"
Kento and the Warlords glared furiously at him when he trailed off. Their scowls faded slowly as the incinerating heat abated suddenly, leaving them at nearly subzero temperatures before Ryo could stop what he was doing.
"I'm not sure which is worse, the heat or Ryo's tampering with the temperature," Cye grumbled, ripping his cloak out of his bag and hunkering down in it instantly.
"Make up your mind," Ryo growled, temper flaring.
Not wanting to hear the upcoming argument, Sage wandered over to where Rowen had plopped down in the shade of a largish tree, cloak drawn about his shoulders defensively.
"How're you holding up?" he asked as he flopped down beside his best friend, ignoring the glare thrown in his direction.
"Go away," Rowen snapped, eyes flashing a furious crimson.
Sage made a face. "You can drop the act, Rowen. I'm not buying it," he said slowly, making a point of catching his friend's gaze in his own. Cold sapphire blue eyes met his own and he had to struggle not to flinch under the vicious glare.
"Are you going to leave, or must I make you?"
Grinding his teeth and refusing to swallow nervously, Sage met his friend glare for glare, praying that he wasn't going to get himself hurt doing this.
"How long have you been traveling with us now? Almost two days, isn't it?" Sage asked carefully, building up his courage slowly.
Rowen blinked at the unexpected question. "And?" he sneered, quickly replacing the confusion etched on his features with a scowl.
"Aren't you hungry yet?"
Rowen froze, his back and jaw going rigid. "Are you suicidal?" he hissed, eyes shining wickedly. Sage locked his jaw and turned to face the other way, presenting his back to Rowen and tilting his head to the side. He grinned weakly when he heard Rowen inhale sharply through clenched teeth.
"Turn around," he snapped, eyes flashing.
Sage cocked one eyebrow insolently. "I knew it."
"How did you figure it out?" Rowen sighed, making a point of not looking up.
"Well, for starters, Cye snapped out of his insanity after a few minutes the first time he tried it, and within a few seconds after the second. There is no way you could be out of your mind for this long."
"What else?" Rowen prompted dejectedly.
"You're not eating again."
Rowen flinched as though struck. "Now look, Sage. I have my reasons for this and I don't want you saying anything to the others."
Sage nodded slowly. "You're afraid that you're going to hurt us. You heard what Cye said, didn't you?" Rowen nodded numbly, drawing a ragged breath. "How much did you hear?"
"Too much for my liking."
"That's hardly descriptive."
"I heard that I'm going to 'stain the ground with the blood of my friends' before I 'free the world to the light' or some such. I don't want you guys anywhere near me when I'm on the field ahead."
"Field?"
Rowen twitched. "Yea. There's a field up ahead with strange structures of crystal or ice on it. I'm not really sure."
"How do you know this?" Sage whispered fiercely.
"I don't know how I know. I just do," he said softly, poking at the ground with one finger, drawing rough sketches of strange runes in the dry earth. "You're not going to tell them, are you?"
Sage sighed and scrubbed one hand through his hair. He wasn't used to hearing Rowen plead like this for any reason. Lips twitching, he decided to extract a price for his silence.
"On one condition."
"What?" Rowen asked warily, shifting away slightly at the look in Sage's eyes. He set his jaw stubbornly. "No way."
"The others are going to get suspicious," Sage informed him slowly, deciding to turn the one thing against Rowen that he couldn't counter. Logic. He could hear Rowen grinding his teeth.
"Fine," he grated out, eyes flashing angrily at being defeated so easily. He smiled and decided to add in his own piece in this. "It has to look real, you know."
Sage flinched but nodded immediately. "Remind me to kill you later."
Rowen smirked at him for a mere instant, the slightly amused expression on his face betrayed by the tightness around his eyes. They only regarded each other for a moment before Rowen slammed into him in a full tackle, spilling them both onto the ground in a tangle of arms and legs. Sage flinched slightly when he felt his throat sting suddenly, trying to relax while giving the impression that he was fighting back, which was not an easy combination in the circumstances.
He hadn't been pinned to the ground for more than a few seconds before he felt hands pulling Rowen off of him forcefully. He groaned as he was pulled to his feet, head spinning as he tried vainly to figure out up from down, which was exceedingly difficult at that particular moment. He forced his eyes to clear enough so that he could lash out with at least minimal accuracy, landing a heavy blow in Kento's ribs before taking a swing at Ryo's shoulder. Both landed awkwardly on the ground as they were knocked away from Rowen, exchanging startled expressions before looking up at him incredulously.
"It's okay," he slurred, swaying slightly. "Leave him alone. I'm not hurt."
"Hit head falling, I think," Neris muttered loudly, throwing a meaningful look in his direction.
"You can't stand up for him just because he was your best friend," Ryo murmured, alternately looking at him concernedly and glaring at Rowen.
"Is my best friend, not was," Sage grumped, trying not to grind his teeth. He looked over at Rowen's frosty expression and tried not to sigh. He had promised he wasn't going to tell the others, but it looked as though it would be a hard promise to keep. At least Rowen seemed to have his part down well.
"You're nuts," Sehkmet muttered, moving well back into the shade that Cale was struggling to maintain in the blistering heat. Ryo sighed and reasserted his control over the heat, looking down the trail uncertainly.
"You fit to walk?"
"I think so, but I'm not sure that Rowen can at the moment."
"Don't tell me that you're worried about him!" Dais cried out in shock.
Sage threw him a look that could have peeled paint, shifting into his centaur form abruptly and walking somewhat unsteadily over to Rowen. Angry sapphire eyes peered up at him from under a shock of equally blue hair, but no resistance was offered as he hauled his best friend off of the ground and set him on his back. Rowen shifted forward to lean heavily against him, his face buried in Sage's shoulder as he attempted to shield his eyes from the meager light that made its way past Cale's darkness. Sage had to struggle not to make a face that betrayed the act they were putting on when he felt the back of his shirt grow damp with his best friend's tears.
Don't worry, Rowen, he said, careful not to let anyone else hear him. Everything will work out fine. Cye's had other premonitions that indicate that we'll be fighting again in the future, so we'll survive somehow.
I notice that you aren't elaborating on the premonition part. How bad is it?
Bad enough. Don't worry about what's coming until we have to deal with it.
Sage froze, his mind reeling. He and Rowen were speaking to one another by telepathy. That hadn't worked since they had arrived here.
It still doesn't, Rowen thought darkly, interrupting his thoughts. It's just that the area we're in is so heavily saturated with magic that some of the simpler things can still be done. If we weren't right next to each other, this wouldn't work.
How do you know that?
Rowen paused for a moment, exhaling loudly. I don't know. I just do.
Sage snapped his head up when he realized that the others were talking to him, calming immediately when Rowen sighed softly and relaxed against him.
"Earth to Sage! Hey! Anyone home?" Kento cried out loudly, poking him in the ribs a bit more forcefully than was really necessary.
"Yes?"
"Are you okay?" Kayura murmured softly, the darkness not hiding the worry in her liquid eyes.
"I'm fine," he answered firmly, throwing a glare around the group. "We need to get moving."
"You need to rest," Ryo growled, latching onto his arm forcefully.
"No way. Look, I'm going with or without you. So are you coming or not?"
Sehkmet growled out something that he was glad he didn't hear as he started forward. He sighed in relief when the others fell in behind him.
* * *
Mieren glared at the trails just ahead of the wall of fog that stretched solidly around the mountain, passing over the trail that she wanted to follow. She growled and leapt through it, the resonance of the spell she had cast so long ago causing her skin to burn painfully.
Breath rushing in through clenched teeth at the burning heat she encountered, she peered at the train in front of her, eyes shining with a dangerous light. There were tracks on the trail before her, and there were a lot of them. A group of nearly a dozen, at least. She ground her teeth and bolted through the inconceivable heat at a backbreaking lope, hissing in pain as her bare feet began to blister and peel from their exposure to the ground.
Looking up to the sky, she swore loudly in her native tongue. If the sun was burning this fiercely now, she had no desire to be out when the next cycle began. She had missed the deadly cold of the previous night, but apparently someone had not. Something heavy had passed through, leaving distinct hoof-prints in the soil even through the layers of ice that must have been there.
She sighed again. A group was in front of her by at least a half a day's travel and she fully intended to be the first one to reach the fields ahead. What was even worse was the cycles that she knew were coming. Things were about to get bad.
* * *
Mia hunkered down in the corner of the basement stiffly, eyes wide and watering slightly as she heard the roars coming from above. She recognized White Blaze's roar, but the answering growls and snarls thoroughly unnerved her. She whimpered and clutched an old baseball bat closer to her as White Blaze's roar echoed through the house again. She wondered how much longer the two would be fighting.
* * *
Cye darted up to the front of the group as they moved down the trail, resolutely spreading his arms and digging his heels into the stony soil.
"Yes?" Sage drawled, coming to a stop just before running over his friend.
"What's wrong?" Ryo and Kento asked simultaneously, recognizing the look on the youngest Ronin's face.
"Look at the sky," he murmured, spinning to peer past the unnatural shade that Cale was still holding in place around them.
For the first time in hours, the others looked up from the trail.
"It's dark," Dais whispered, his one eye widening.
Cale looked over at him with a haunted look. "It can't be night yet. The sun only came up a few hours ago."
Cye shook his head firmly. "It's not night," he said through a tight throat. Neris and Siellon immediately nodded in agreement.
"Mouri of the… um… Cye," Siellon murmured, his soft voice catching everyone's attention.
"Yes?"
"How familiar are you with the spell that was cast here so long ago?"
"Not at all."
"Earlier you said… never mind. The cycles of weather here are twisted, much like everything else in this area. We have been extremely lucky so far not to have encountered any of the animals, but I fear that we cannot avoid the weather."
Cye blinked and looked to the others uncertainly. "It's going to rain. I know that much. So what's wrong?"
Siellon sighed at looked dejectedly towards Neris. "You want to explain, light cousin?"
"No way. You started the explanation, so you finish it," Neris muttered, edging towards the back of the group.
The dark elf made a face. "Pansy. Well… uh… Cye, the thing is…"
"Yes?" he prompted, growing irritated.
"You know how hot and cold it got just last night and today…"
Paling slightly, Cye had a sinking feeling he understood what he was about to hear. "Out with it."
"Unless you're just damn talented in controlling the waters, we're all going to drown. It's that simple."
Growling darkly to himself, Cye relayed the message to his friends.
"It's going to rain," he said simply.
"And?" Kento prompted, not liking the look in Cye's sea blue eyes.
"And we're about to go swimming."
Everyone in the group, except for the elves and Rowen, exchanged horrified expressions.
"Tidal wave?" Ryo asked sweetly. Cye only nodded darkly. They were cut off from saying anything further when a steady, and moderately heavy, rain began, drenching them all within a few seconds.
"This isn't too bad," Kento said slowly, peering around uncertainly.
"Will be," Neris assured him in a dull voice.
As though responding to the elf's comment, the rain began in a true downpour, effectively cutting off any communication or sight further than a half a foot away in front of their faces. A flash of turquoise flames shot through the rains, the swirling waters forming into a simple dome around the group.
"Cute trick," Sehkmet murmured, poking one of the walls of water experimentally with a thoughtful expression on his face. "How long can you keep it up?"
"Long enough. This can't last forever."
The Warlords and Ronins looked out of the enormous bubble they were in skeptically, several sets of eyes rolling when it became clear that the water had already passed the height of the dome Cye had constructed. Cye glared at the rising waters viciously, growling something under his breath that caused Sehkmet to snicker evilly.
"I'm going scouting," Cye announced, not wanting to put up with the stupidity of the Warlords. He chose to ignore the odd looks he received, walking over to the edge of the dome unconcernedly. He was about to walk through when Sage spoke up.
"This thing won't collapse if you leave, will it?"
Cye shook his head forcefully. "I wouldn't leave if I thought there was any chance of it collapsing. You know that." He didn't wait for the next complaint before shucking off his clothes and weapons, slipping into the water in the nude contentedly. He felt more at home in the swirling waters than he had since coming to this dimension to look for Mieren. He heard Dais muttering something about no sense of modesty as he swam away, the sound within the enormous dome echoing to his sharp ears clearly. He grinned and fought down a blush as he realized that he hadn't even given a second thought to Kayura's presence before stripping.
Moving towards the surface for air, he noticed a shadow moving along the surface of the water, the dark sinuous form moving at terrifying speeds. He waited for it to pass patiently, swallowing nervously when it circled back and hovered directly above him. He shrank back in the water slowly, trying not to draw attention to himself with any frantic movements. Lungs beginning to burn, he slid swiftly through the water to a clear area, fully intent of surfacing to gain a breath of fresh air. He nearly cursed aloud when the shadow mimicked his movements from above.
Looking around frantically, he decided to do the only thing he could in the current situation. Return to camp. Screwing up his face in defeat, he took a hesitant stroke in the murky water, freezing when the shadow above continued to follow him. He couldn't go back to where the others were without leading that thing to them.
Cursing mentally at whatever was following him, Cye spun expertly in the water to head in the opposite direction from his friends, peering around desperately. Even with his extraordinary ability to hold his breath, he needed to breathe eventually. He only had a few more minutes at the very best.
The black shape above plunged into the murky waters, heading unerringly in his direction at a ludicrous speed, pumping all six of its webbed feet frantically. Cye blanched and lurched strangely as he fought to move out of the way of the barbed tail lashing in his direction. It was almost like it was fishing, Cye thought disgustedly. Arching his back, he slipped out of its reach gracefully, not seeing the huge wedge shaped maw swinging around on the sinuous neck. A wicked spike on the top of its head grazed his chest, tearing a ragged trench in his pale flesh. Startled, Cye gasped.
Cye's mind raged at him for the pure stupidity of filling his lungs with water for the split second it took him to realize that the water wasn't burning like it should. He experimentally exhaled and drew another deep breath, blinking in shock as his oxygen starved lungs accepted the water happily and demanded more. He was so enthralled by the idea of being able to breathe underwater that he momentarily forgot about the shadowed entity chasing him. He was quickly reminded as the barbed tail whipped out, scoring a vicious slash across his shoulder.
Ignoring the burning pain, he spun in the water and headed deeper, lashing out with a tendril of water to knock the triangular maw away from him as he escaped. He spun around in the water, grinning wildly as he effortlessly descended backwards through the murky depths. The threat dealt with, he headed back to the others where he had left them, not noticing how swiftly he slid through the water with such minimal movements.
Coming up above the dome, he ordered the water to gently lower him to the muddy ground below, smiling to himself as a tendril wrapped around his wrist and placed him gently on the sopped earth. He remained sitting where he had been placed, too tired from swimming so frantically to get up at the moment.
"Well," he started, choking violently on the word. He made a face and spit out the water in his lungs before trying again. Clearing his throat roughly and making a face at the strange feeling that the air left in his throat and lungs, he began again. "Well, the water is pretty high, so I don't think we're going anywhere for awhile. Also, I think we should watch for some of the things moving around out there. They're big, ugly, and all around not happy to see us."
"What happened?" Ryo breathed, dropping to the ground beside where Kento had already collapsed.
Cye made a face. "Some ugly thing with six legs, sharp teeth, and a barbed tail tried to kill me. In trying to get as far away from it as I could as fast as I could, I accidentally discovered that I can breathe underwater. You don't need to worry, I wasn't drowning," he smirked.
Sage shook his head. "That's not what he meant."
Cye only blinked up at him for a moment before trying to stand so he wouldn't have to crane his neck so horribly to talk to his friend. He only ended up lurching strangely to the side. He looked down at his legs in shock.
Slick pale turquoise scales covered him from the waist down in what could only be called a tail. Eyes bulging, he reached out towards the fish-like tail with one hand, freezing when he saw the delicate webbing between his fingers, pale silvery turquoise scales running halfway up his forearms. From shifting slightly, he noticed a strange weight on his back. Probably a fin of some sort, he thought, struggling not to grimace. Judging from the way it seemed to move, he decided that it was collapsible. A merman? Mer-elf in his case, he corrected himself irately, eyes narrowing.
"You didn't notice?" Sehkmet's voice snapped him out of his contemplation.
"You think?" he snarled, running his fingers over his throat curiously when he noticed the strange sound to his voice. His searching hands quickly located the gills hidden just under his jaw. "Interesting," he murmured.
"Interesting!" Dais cried out in frustration, his eye flashing crimson for a moment. "How can you be taking this so calmly?"
Cye screwed up his face in consideration before looking up again. "No one did anything to me. Whatever happened, I did it, so I must be able to undo it."
"You did it?" Kento asked incredulously. "How?"
"I have no idea. But I'm assuming I did it at the same time I started breathing underwater." Cye paused and fingered the gills on his throat again, fascination painting his delicate features. "As soon as I figure out how I did this without the help of magic, we might be able to use it to our advantage."
"Cye?"
"Yes, Neris?"
"How in the hell did you do that?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out at the moment. I have no idea."
Siellon cleared his throat softly. "There are only a few ways that could happen. The first is that someone did it to you."
"Nope. Whatever happened, I did it."
"The only other options are that you cast a spell on yourself or that this is an innate ability. Since the lighter magics aren't working and the darker would mess you up, I can only assume that it's an ability you were born with," the dark elf mumbled thoughtfully, his eyes glowing with a rapt light.
"Innate ability," Cye called to the others happily, smirking at their startled expressions. He noted wryly that even Rowen seemed shocked.
"Elves can't do that," Sage protested.
"Like you would know." Cye let out a deep breath and shrugged. "It's the only possible explanation. If my ancestor was a sorcerer, he may have done something to himself."
Neris shook his head. "I know the histories. Mouri would never have done that."
"It's the only possible explanation."
"There might be more to your ancestry than you know."
"I doubt that."
"Hey Cye," Sehkmet called out happily, plunking down beside him. "When you figure this out, you're going to show us, right?"
"Why wait?" Dais asked slyly, a malicious grin forming on his face. Neris twitched and called out something to Siellon, who growled something under his breath.
Sehkmet and Dais locked eyes for a moment, before turning in unison to pin the two elves.
"We want to be like our friends again," Dais hissed out, pushing Neris more firmly into the mud with his six heavily muscled arms. Siellon squawked and squirmed in Sehkmet's taloned grip, letting out something akin to a shriek when the former Warlord acted like he was preparing to spit on him. He cried out frantically to Neris, who nodded quickly.
"Yes, yes. Like friends," he wailed, shifting away from Dais's angry scowl.
Glancing at one another, the two Warlords shrugged and stood up leisurely, congratulating themselves and the two elves mumbled softly among themselves with chastised expressions.
Cye curled up into a ball the best he was able in his current form, gasping for breath. Sage flopped down in the mud beside him and placed a hand worriedly on his shoulder, seriously considering throwing him into the water. Cye looked up at him with tears forming in his eyes.
"You might want to protect Kayura," he managed to choke out in a strangled whisper, face reddening as he went into another fit of giggles. Kayura's shriek caught everyone's attention, causing heads to swivel wildly. Cye choked on another fit of laughter. "Too late," he gasped.
Sage looked up in a state of shock, the first thing to greet his eyes was something that looked remarkably like a dark blue man-sized bat, sprawled catatonically in the mud. A mop of navy blue hair trailed down from a quivering head sporting massive pointed ears, a thick line of fur running down the backbone and ending in a bushy wolf-like tail. Thick leathery wings hung limply in the mud, the membrane connecting it to the back running from shoulder blades to hips. Taloned hands and feet were painfully clear from where pale skin contrasted with the dark sludge that passed for the ground.
Tearing his gaze from what he thought was Cale, he looked up at Kayura, clamping his lower lip in his teeth when he saw the deep black side of a centaur. He struggled vainly not to smile at the mortified expression on Kayura's face as she looked herself over numbly. He decided to show some pity and walked over to see if he could calm her down a little before she killed the two offending elves.
Kayura let out a furious shriek and launched herself at Dais, who blanched and leapt frantically out of her way.
"That'll teach you to phrase your demands better," Sehkmet chortled, his laughter cut short as Cale tackled him with a murderous look in his eyes.
Cye continued to snicker when Sage moved over to pry Kayura off of Dais, noting that everyone else was either engaged in laughing or rolling their eyes. He was careful not to change his expression when his gaze moved across Rowen, the older boy grinning slightly in amusement. Following his gaze, he could see why.
Cale and Sehkmet were pounding one another into the mud. Sehkmet had the advantage of armor-like scales covering him, but they weren't helping him much at the moment, Cale being far quicker than him. Talons met scales in a soft clicking as Cale launched another attack, growing increasingly furious when Sehkmet only laughed harder, both of their faces turning purple, though for quite different reasons.
The battle itself was quite humorous. No matter how hard they tried to avoid it, every few seconds, both of them became firmly entangled in Cale's wings, phrases that could only be described at interesting ringing through the air. If their battle wasn't bad enough, Kayura and Dais continued with their own.
Kayura had the white-haired idiot in the mud under her hooves, lashing out viciously as she tried to pulverize him. Dais was too busy laughing and making crude comments about her and Sage to fight properly. As things stood at the moment, he was barely keeping the furious woman from crushing him, having to employ all of his strength to hold her just above him. Sage wasn't helping matters much, trying to calm Kayura down while occasionally delivering a kick to the Warlord's ribs when he thought that she wasn't looking.
Cye tore his gaze from the battles and looked to the others again. Ryo and Kento were too busy laughing to do anything to stop the carnage, and the two elves were trying their best to remain unnoticed as the others pounded each other. Rowen was watching everything with a shadow of a grin on his face. The tightness around his eyes led Cye to believe that he was struggling not to laugh aloud.
"Hey, Rowen," he called out softly, trying not to let anyone else hear him. "Could you help me with something real quick?"
Rowen gave the others one last strange look before shaking his head in resignation and wandering over in Cye's direction almost absentmindedly. He plunked down in the mud with a curious expression on his face.
"What did you do anyway?" he smirked.
Cye smiled slowly. "I knew it. You're not messed up at all. So what's with the deception anyway?"
Rowen jerked in shock, eyes widening. He cursed under his breath and quickly adopted a scowl. Cye snorted loudly.
"Too late for that. Just give in and tell me. I won't tell the others," he murmured, eyes shining. "You have a good reason or you wouldn't be trying this. What is it?"
Rowen sighed softly. "Remind me to kill them later for distracting me," he grumped, glaring at the Warlords and Sage. "Look, I only know what I heard you say and I recognize a premonition when I hear one."
"What I said?" Cye asked incredulously. Rowen shrugged.
"I can't repeat it. You go all weird when you start doing that and don't remember anything afterwards."
Cye's expression turned thoughtful. "Can you at least tell me vaguely what it was, or would that set me off too?"
"There's a blackish crystal ahead that you said is alive. There was something about me hurting you guys before destroying it in the night."
"Okay," Cye drawled, brows furrowing thoughtfully. "I can see why you'd want to run us off, trying not to hurt us and all, but what is foreordained will take place. No man can stand aloof from his place in the destinies of the worlds. As the ancient gods have decreed, so shall it come to pass."
Trying not to twitch at the slightly glazed look that had slowly entered Cye's eyes while he spoke, Rowen nodded carefully, still eyeing the Warlords as they pounded on one another. "Cye?"
"Yes?"
"You did just what I said you would, and I didn't even start it this time."
Cye sighed and scrubbed one webbed hand through his sopped hair. "Great. Just what I needed. I wonder though, why do I know these things?"
"Don't know," Rowen murmured, eyeing Cye carefully. "You going to figure out what to about that or what? When it stops raining, you're going to have to walk or ride on Sage's back."
"Or Kayura's," Cye smirked, smiling wider when Rowen's lips twisted upwards in the semblance of a grin.
"I think that Sage is going to be busy riding Kayura," Rowen said softly, straining not to laugh aloud.
"Which means that I'm going to have to walk. I can't trust Kento or Sehkmet not to try to eat me."
"You could just flop down the trail like a dying fish."
"I think not. You wanna carry me?"
"And smell like fish? No way."
Cye threw him a mock glare before giving in and grinning. "You better leave before the others notice you're talking to me. I'll figure this out, I hope." Rowen nodded and squeezed his shoulder gently before hopping to his feet and moving to a secluded spot in the enormous dome.
Cye made a face at his retreating form, wondering exactly what all he had said in the past. The others seemed to think he spouted premonitions all the time but he couldn't remember anything of the sort. He began gnawing his lower lip as he wondered how much he had said. There also had to be some logical reason why he knew all of these things. Perhaps something in his past set this all off. I don't want them to know, he thought warily, freezing in shock when he realized what he had just been thinking. He desperately tried to call back the logic behind the simple statement, to remember what it was that he was trying to hide. His mind didn't oblige in the slightest, leaving him more baffled than ever.
Unable to solve that particular problem, he turned to another. He looked down to his legs curiously, wondering idly how he was going to undo whatever he had done. He sighed. It didn't really matter how long it took him. They weren't really in a hurry to start moving at the moment anyway.
Despite his best efforts to concentrate on changing back, his mind continued to wander to the statement he had thought, had understood, so briefly. Whatever it was that he didn't want his friends to know had to have something to do with his past, but he couldn't place what.
Cye jerked in shock when the scales covering his longish fish-like tail shifted to an incredible sapphire, silver hints flashing in the meager light that passed through the water above to reach them. He looked at his hands numbly, wondering why the scales running along his hands and forearms were now the purest silver. His hair fell in front of his face as he lowered his head slightly to get a closer look at himself. He froze instantly, face paling. His hair was the purest obsidian, shining a strange sapphire as it reflected the meager light in the dome. He made a face and cursed softly.
"Dude," Kento muttered, plopping down beside him. "That ain't right."
"Oh shut up," Cye cried out, concentrating on removing the webbing between his fingers. The webbing vanished obediently, but the scales did not. He wiggled his fingers experimentally before raising one for Kento's benefit, smiling innocently. Kento snorted.
"No thanks, honey. Not in the mood," Kento hooted.
"Just because he looks like a girl doesn't mean… AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! That hurts, you know!" Dais wailed as he darted by, Kayura trailing mere inches behind him, swords held ready. Dais clapped one of his right arms over the left one she had just hit, ducking behind Cye for cover.
"Hey! Leave me out of this!" Cye yelped, lurching in Kento's direction frantically for protection. Kento grinned at him as he helped yank his friend out of disaster's path just before Kayura and Sage flattened him into the mud. The older boy froze and looked at him strangely, eyes wide and mouth twisting into an odd smirk.
"That don't look right," he murmured, eyes dancing. Cye only looked at him for a moment before diverting his gaze to his legs, rolling his eyes at the sight. He had legs again at the moment, but, like his hands, they were still covered in scales. It also looked strangely like he was wearing flippers. The weight of the fin on his back appeared to have vanished as well.
"Getting closer," he muttered ruefully, rolling his eyes at Sage as he followed Kayura's retreating form to the other side of the dome, both of the idiots intent on pulverizing Dais, which Cye didn't overly object to at the moment. Dais was a moron. Who but he could have phrased his demand in such a way as to leave the elves, imaginative as they were, free reign to do what they wanted? A sudden thought came to mind and he made a mental note to ask the white-haired Warlord later if he used that phrasing on purpose. If he survived Kayura's wrath, anyway.
"What's with your hair?" Ryo asked, edging closer to them as he tried to avoid Cale and Sehkmet as they rolled by. Cye fingered his onyx locks and frowned.
"Not a clue."
"Then I suppose you wouldn't know about your eyes either," Kento murmured sarcastically, struggling not to grin as Dais made another lap around the dome, Sage and Kayura closing in quickly.
"What color are they?" Cye muttered in a tone that was almost curious.
"One green and one blue," Ryo said slowly.
"Really?" Cye drawled. "Well, at least they match absolutely nothing. As a guy, I'm supposed to be colorblind anyway."
"You have an interesting way of looking at things," Kento snickered, lips compressing when Neris and Siellon darted by him in full sprints, almost within Cale's reach, much to their horror. Curious, he glanced around, hooting evilly when he saw Sehkmet sprawled across the drowned grass on the far side of the dome, twitching erratically and moaning obscenities under his breath.
"Cye!" Neris wailed frantically, ducking behind him as Cale chased Siellon past, the dark elf screaming obscenities so vulgar that Cye was unable to translate them into Japanese.
"Yes?"
"Save me!" he whimpered softly, flinching when Cale finally caught the dark elf, the two of them going down in a tangle of arms, legs, and wings.
"Why should I? You brought this on yourself. Those two didn't do anything to you, so you shouldn't have bothered them."
"Dais asked me to!" he cried out, scrubbing his pale blue hair out of his eyes irately and glaring at the white-haired Warlord from where he was currently warding off Kayura's blades with six separate daggers clutched in his fists. Cye chuckled softly.
"I figured as much," he chortled, eyes shining with his unimpaired mirth. "Very well, I'll stop the others, but you have to explain a few things when I do. Agreed?"
Neris nodded quickly, eyes wide as a bloody dark elf darted by yet again, Cale having lost his grip for an instant.
"Sage! Kayura! Cale!"
At the sound of their names, the three aggressors paused to look over to Cye curiously. Making a face, he waved them over.
"Knock it off. That kind of stupidity isn't going to solve anything."
Sage made a considering face and turned to Kayura curiously, obviously waiting for her reaction before saying anything. Kento looked as though he were going to make some crude comment, but remained silent when Ryo shook his head sharply.
"Now, Neris. What do you know of the cycles here?"
The light elf froze, paling instantly. "Not much," he admitted softly. "Just something about the frozen fields and burning sands."
Siellon plopped down in the mud beside them, wiping the blood from his mouth stiffly. He cleared his throat softly. "The entirety of the poem is this, light cousin.
Blinding fires of spells long since cast,
Represent the horrors of the past.
Passing the concealing fog now yields
Deadly cycles and frozen fields.
The night shall pass to burning sands,
And quenching rains will cool the lands.
Restored to health, new life shall rise,
Followed by a swift demise."
As Siellon finished, Cye nodded slowly and translated for the others.
"Two more cycles before we start over, huh?" Ryo murmured, glancing curiously at the shimmering dome of water around them.
"New life," Kento murmured thoughtfully, studying the ground.
Cye swallowed roughly. "Siellon, didn't you say we were lucky not to have encountered any of the animals?"
"Yes."
"Why is that lucky?"
"I'm not too sure about all of the details, but some of the others in the Dark Waters Sept say that the animals here are unusually intelligent and aggressive. There was also something about them being on the largish side."
Nodding slowly, Cye turned to answer his friends' curious stares. "The animals here are big, mean, and smart," he summed up.
"How bad can that possibly get?" Ryo muttered, eyeing the dome of water again nervously.
"Forget the animals," Sage cried out. "I don't like the swift demise part."
Silence followed his statement as the water outside the dome began to lower at a rapid pace, vanishing into the ground to leave muddy fields stretching as far as they could see. Shocked, Cye allowed the dome of water to vanish. A single wolf's howl in the distance shattered the unnatural silence.
"I think we should start moving," Cale breathed, answering nods circulating around the group.
To Be Continued…
Those who live in glass houses should not participate in nude yoga…
