LAKE
The forest was quieting down now as the sun began to set. The creatures of the day were abandoning their forest to the denizens of the night, with the sun's red glow signaling their wake. Soon, for a moment, for a very precious moment, the forest would fall into a state of complete and utter silence, preparing for its transition into the world of darkness. But tonight, this peace got broken into a million little pieces by an extremely winy voice, so damn loud that it made the birds fly for dear life.
"Tsiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!" shouted Celcia, her voice echoing throughout the forest, "Come ON! We've been walking through this forest for HOURS without even so much as stopping to catch our breath! I need a BREAK!"
Tsi cast a frustrated look at Celcia and sighed.
"Alright," he said, annoyed, "It's going to be dark soon, anyway."
Celcia and Tsi set up camp and started a fire. Celcia sat on a boulder and rubbed her feet. They were aching and swollen from all of the walking she had been doing.
"How is it that you can walk for so long and not even get hungry?" asked the exhausted elf, "It's insane! I know you're a Terrian and everything but come on!"
"You forget," answered Tsi, setting the firewood down, "on top of being injured, I had to walk for three days without even a day's worth of food. Stopping to rest wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind."
"Are you sure you're human?" asked Celcia, sarcastically.
"Sometimes I wonder," answered Tsi, humorously.
Tsi set his backpack down and took three metal, rod-like objects out of the side pocket before sitting down by the campfire. Both he and Celcia drew close to the roaring fire. The night air was cold, and the heat of the flames felt good.
Celcia looked up at Tsi and asked, "So, what's for dinner?"
Tsi assembled a six-foot skewer out of the three rods as he answered, "I'll tell you when I catch it."
"Catch it?" asked the confused Celcia, "You do know we have food in our backpacks, right?"
Tsi stood up as he answered, hoisting a woven sac over his shoulder, "Everything in there is too small to make a meal out of, and I doubt you only want to eat sandwiches and fruit for dinner."
"Point taken," replied Celcia, an embarrassed grin on her face.
"But if you want," continued Tsi, "maybe you could fix up some sort of side- dish while I'm gone."
"Uh," replied Celcia, nervously, "Ok."
"Cool," answered Tsi, turning to leave, "I should be back before too long. Try not to get into trouble while I'm gone."
"Hey," said Celcia, defensively, "I believe I was the one keeping YOU out of trouble back in Loru, Blue Dragon Boy."
Tsi laughed under his breath as he walked away from camp. Celcia opened up her backpack and looked unconfidently at the small rations inside.
"Well," she said to herself, "If I can juggle thwarting villains, stripping elves and dealing with that idiot, Junpei, surely I can handle something as simple as making a side-dish, right?"
Tsi made his way through the trees, looking for anything edible that may have been sneaking around in the dark. Though his reasons for being there were simply to catch his next meal, he couldn't help but admire his surroundings as he walked through that haunting place. The forest, though dangerous, was also very beautiful at night. The sounds the forest made while enveloped in the darkness made it seem as if the forest itself was a creature of the night, greeting the moon with a series of chirps, howls, and other mystifying sounds. The wind ran it's cold, gentle fingers through the trees, and for a moment, though short, it made Tsi feel as if his presence there was no more than insignificant.
As Tsi walked through the dark world that was now the forest, he came to a small but beautiful lake, illuminated in the light of the moon. "Wow," said the young Terrian, astonished by the sheer majesty of the aquatic jewel before him. The small body of water lay before a tall cliff of which the water from a greater body ran off of the edge and fed the child lake that rested beneath it.
"Hey!" exclaimed Tsi, "You know what? I'd bet my belt there's some fish in here! That'd go great with anything Celcia might make!"
Sure enough, there were fish. Tsi noticed one of them leap up out of the water and he immediately set his sac up to where it would work as a type of basket. Tsi slowly walked out into the lake and stood deadly still as he waited for his opportune moment. He stood and would continue to stand for as long as it took for his prey to make itself known.
Finally, a fish began to wander over to Tsi's side. Tsi saw the fish and continued to wait. It was almost close enough that he would be able to catch it. He stood still as a statue as he watched the fish, inch-by-inch, draw nearer to him. The fish flicked its fin one last time, and Tsi stabbed his skewer into the water, impaling the fish before he lifted it out and tossed it into the sac. The fish jumped around inside the sac, which, being big enough to hold a large deer, was much too deep for it to escape.
Tsi turned back to the lake and waited for another fish to swim his way. Shortly after, another fish did. He watched it closely and waited once again, but the fish noticed him and snapped back around. Tsi then shot his skewer into the water in hopes to catch the fish before it could swim away. He missed and had instead driven his skewer into the soil, and instead of the sound of a dip and a splash, he heard the most high-pitched scream he had ever heard in his life.
Tsi was greatly surprised and a little frightened to find that what he had stabbed his skewer into was actually the tentacle of something much, much bigger. The tentacle whipped itself away from Tsi and back into the lake with such speed that it not only made Tsi lose his grip on his skewer, but also made it dislodge itself from the tentacle and fall into the water. Tsi fallowed the movements of the dark gray extremity as it rose from the lake and whipped around in the air over the head of something that was beginning to make its presence there much more known.
As Tsi examined the strange apparition, he was caught off-guard when the entire lake came alive as all of the beast's tentacles dislodged themselves from the submerged soil and lashed around wildly. By this time, the creature's head was visible. In the center of all its tentacles was one, enormous, golden eye that was shaped like an arch and was lined in blue flesh. Beneath this eye was the beast's mouth, the same shape as its eye, and filled with many, long, sharp teeth.
Those teeth didn't worry Tsi as much as the number of tentacles flying around all over the lake. Not only were there more than he could count, but they all lashed around in such a way that it made it very hard for Tsi to fallow them.
Tsi armed Stratos and waited for the first assault. It came to him in the form of a large, gray tentacle followed by an angry roar. The tentacle met Tsi's blade and it was instantly sliced off as the beast screamed in pain, emitting a sound that reminded Tsi of an angry wind. The creature launched two more tentacles toward Tsi and they were both sheered off by Stratos' blade.
Tsi was having a very hard time keeping track of where each tentacle was. If only this creature knew that he could not avoid an attack from all of its tentacles, Tsi would be in serious trouble.
Two more tentacles came swiping at Tsi. Tsi cut them both off but was immediately trapped in the grasp of a third tentacle that had evaded his eye. Now Tsi really was in trouble. The tentacle lifted Tsi off of the ground by his foot and pulled him into the water. It pulled him deep below the lake's surface where Tsi noticed a large cluster of illuminated spheres. They lit up the bottom of the lake and Tsi witnessed a terrifying sight. The creature's head on the surface was only a small fraction of its full body, which was an extension that led to the bottom of the lake, and then spread out to cover the entire lake floor. Tsi looked a little closer to see a collection of skeletons amongst the glowing spheres, which, when also examined closer, were covered in transparent tendrils, and in the center of each, Tsi also noticed, was an eye.
"Oh Hell no!" thought the young and now somewhat disturbed Terrian, "I am not going to be food for your ugly little kids!"
Tsi struck the tentacle that bound him, cutting it off. When he did, he noticed a reaction in the main body of the creature. A section of it shivered for a moment when the tentacle was struck.
"Ah hah!" thought Tsi, "Those must be the tentacles' roots! If I cut those, it won't be able to move!"
A wise observation, but first, Tsi needed air. He knew that he wouldn't be able to swim to the surface in time. Those tentacles would probably capture him before he could, anyway, and that gave Tsi an idea.
Tsi waited for another assault from his adversary. He didn't have to wait long before another one of the beast's tentacles moved through the water to try to ensnare him in its grasp. Tsi waited until the tentacle was close enough, and then he drove his sword as deeply into it as he possibly could. Tsi held tightly as the creature, crying out in pain, lifted him out of the water and began to thrash its tentacle around wildly until Tsi was able to dislodge Stratos and dive back down into the depths.
Tsi swam down to where the creature's tentacles connected with its head. As he prepared to strike, however, he hesitated when he heard several movements through the water. He turned around to discover that the beast's young were swimming toward him in a swarm. Also, he had attacks from the creature's tentacles coming down on him. He first slashed away the tentacles before turning around and blasting the approaching swarm of lights. When that was done, Tsi quickly turned and began hacking away at the base of the creature's head. The tentacles that had been Tsi's bane the entire battle were made instantly harmless as they fell away from the beast and sank to the bottom of the lake.
Tsi swam to the surface and stood in the shallows as what was left of his enemy screamed as it began to slowly sink into the lake. Watching the creature, Tsi had a very cold look in his eyes. It looked almost as if he had hated this creature all his life, yet he had never even seen it before. He didn't even know what to call this creature, riving in agony as it was.
"The day I became a warrior was supposed to be the best day of my life," said Tsi, "and ever since then, it seems that whenever I'm able to put my mind at ease, something like you just so happens to show up, and because I'm the type that has to give a damn, I'm the one who has to be in charge of exterminating you."
Tsi turned around to fully face his defeated foe.
"And you know what?" the young Terrian asked immediately before kicking his skewer up out of the water, catching it in midair, and hurling it at the creature, impaling it through its golden eye as it cried out one last time before sinking completely into the water, "I'm really getting sick of it."
Back at camp, Celcia, in her attempts to make a side dish out of sandwiches and apples somehow managed to end up making a hat. She had an extra-large sweat drop over her head as Tsi walked onto the campsite, startling her.
"Oh! Uh..." said the elf, nervously, "Hi, Tsi! What took you so... Whoa! What the Hell's that!?"
Celcia pointed at the tentacle wrapped around Tsi's shoulder. Tsi smiled and said, "I hope you like calamari."
The forest was quieting down now as the sun began to set. The creatures of the day were abandoning their forest to the denizens of the night, with the sun's red glow signaling their wake. Soon, for a moment, for a very precious moment, the forest would fall into a state of complete and utter silence, preparing for its transition into the world of darkness. But tonight, this peace got broken into a million little pieces by an extremely winy voice, so damn loud that it made the birds fly for dear life.
"Tsiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!" shouted Celcia, her voice echoing throughout the forest, "Come ON! We've been walking through this forest for HOURS without even so much as stopping to catch our breath! I need a BREAK!"
Tsi cast a frustrated look at Celcia and sighed.
"Alright," he said, annoyed, "It's going to be dark soon, anyway."
Celcia and Tsi set up camp and started a fire. Celcia sat on a boulder and rubbed her feet. They were aching and swollen from all of the walking she had been doing.
"How is it that you can walk for so long and not even get hungry?" asked the exhausted elf, "It's insane! I know you're a Terrian and everything but come on!"
"You forget," answered Tsi, setting the firewood down, "on top of being injured, I had to walk for three days without even a day's worth of food. Stopping to rest wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind."
"Are you sure you're human?" asked Celcia, sarcastically.
"Sometimes I wonder," answered Tsi, humorously.
Tsi set his backpack down and took three metal, rod-like objects out of the side pocket before sitting down by the campfire. Both he and Celcia drew close to the roaring fire. The night air was cold, and the heat of the flames felt good.
Celcia looked up at Tsi and asked, "So, what's for dinner?"
Tsi assembled a six-foot skewer out of the three rods as he answered, "I'll tell you when I catch it."
"Catch it?" asked the confused Celcia, "You do know we have food in our backpacks, right?"
Tsi stood up as he answered, hoisting a woven sac over his shoulder, "Everything in there is too small to make a meal out of, and I doubt you only want to eat sandwiches and fruit for dinner."
"Point taken," replied Celcia, an embarrassed grin on her face.
"But if you want," continued Tsi, "maybe you could fix up some sort of side- dish while I'm gone."
"Uh," replied Celcia, nervously, "Ok."
"Cool," answered Tsi, turning to leave, "I should be back before too long. Try not to get into trouble while I'm gone."
"Hey," said Celcia, defensively, "I believe I was the one keeping YOU out of trouble back in Loru, Blue Dragon Boy."
Tsi laughed under his breath as he walked away from camp. Celcia opened up her backpack and looked unconfidently at the small rations inside.
"Well," she said to herself, "If I can juggle thwarting villains, stripping elves and dealing with that idiot, Junpei, surely I can handle something as simple as making a side-dish, right?"
Tsi made his way through the trees, looking for anything edible that may have been sneaking around in the dark. Though his reasons for being there were simply to catch his next meal, he couldn't help but admire his surroundings as he walked through that haunting place. The forest, though dangerous, was also very beautiful at night. The sounds the forest made while enveloped in the darkness made it seem as if the forest itself was a creature of the night, greeting the moon with a series of chirps, howls, and other mystifying sounds. The wind ran it's cold, gentle fingers through the trees, and for a moment, though short, it made Tsi feel as if his presence there was no more than insignificant.
As Tsi walked through the dark world that was now the forest, he came to a small but beautiful lake, illuminated in the light of the moon. "Wow," said the young Terrian, astonished by the sheer majesty of the aquatic jewel before him. The small body of water lay before a tall cliff of which the water from a greater body ran off of the edge and fed the child lake that rested beneath it.
"Hey!" exclaimed Tsi, "You know what? I'd bet my belt there's some fish in here! That'd go great with anything Celcia might make!"
Sure enough, there were fish. Tsi noticed one of them leap up out of the water and he immediately set his sac up to where it would work as a type of basket. Tsi slowly walked out into the lake and stood deadly still as he waited for his opportune moment. He stood and would continue to stand for as long as it took for his prey to make itself known.
Finally, a fish began to wander over to Tsi's side. Tsi saw the fish and continued to wait. It was almost close enough that he would be able to catch it. He stood still as a statue as he watched the fish, inch-by-inch, draw nearer to him. The fish flicked its fin one last time, and Tsi stabbed his skewer into the water, impaling the fish before he lifted it out and tossed it into the sac. The fish jumped around inside the sac, which, being big enough to hold a large deer, was much too deep for it to escape.
Tsi turned back to the lake and waited for another fish to swim his way. Shortly after, another fish did. He watched it closely and waited once again, but the fish noticed him and snapped back around. Tsi then shot his skewer into the water in hopes to catch the fish before it could swim away. He missed and had instead driven his skewer into the soil, and instead of the sound of a dip and a splash, he heard the most high-pitched scream he had ever heard in his life.
Tsi was greatly surprised and a little frightened to find that what he had stabbed his skewer into was actually the tentacle of something much, much bigger. The tentacle whipped itself away from Tsi and back into the lake with such speed that it not only made Tsi lose his grip on his skewer, but also made it dislodge itself from the tentacle and fall into the water. Tsi fallowed the movements of the dark gray extremity as it rose from the lake and whipped around in the air over the head of something that was beginning to make its presence there much more known.
As Tsi examined the strange apparition, he was caught off-guard when the entire lake came alive as all of the beast's tentacles dislodged themselves from the submerged soil and lashed around wildly. By this time, the creature's head was visible. In the center of all its tentacles was one, enormous, golden eye that was shaped like an arch and was lined in blue flesh. Beneath this eye was the beast's mouth, the same shape as its eye, and filled with many, long, sharp teeth.
Those teeth didn't worry Tsi as much as the number of tentacles flying around all over the lake. Not only were there more than he could count, but they all lashed around in such a way that it made it very hard for Tsi to fallow them.
Tsi armed Stratos and waited for the first assault. It came to him in the form of a large, gray tentacle followed by an angry roar. The tentacle met Tsi's blade and it was instantly sliced off as the beast screamed in pain, emitting a sound that reminded Tsi of an angry wind. The creature launched two more tentacles toward Tsi and they were both sheered off by Stratos' blade.
Tsi was having a very hard time keeping track of where each tentacle was. If only this creature knew that he could not avoid an attack from all of its tentacles, Tsi would be in serious trouble.
Two more tentacles came swiping at Tsi. Tsi cut them both off but was immediately trapped in the grasp of a third tentacle that had evaded his eye. Now Tsi really was in trouble. The tentacle lifted Tsi off of the ground by his foot and pulled him into the water. It pulled him deep below the lake's surface where Tsi noticed a large cluster of illuminated spheres. They lit up the bottom of the lake and Tsi witnessed a terrifying sight. The creature's head on the surface was only a small fraction of its full body, which was an extension that led to the bottom of the lake, and then spread out to cover the entire lake floor. Tsi looked a little closer to see a collection of skeletons amongst the glowing spheres, which, when also examined closer, were covered in transparent tendrils, and in the center of each, Tsi also noticed, was an eye.
"Oh Hell no!" thought the young and now somewhat disturbed Terrian, "I am not going to be food for your ugly little kids!"
Tsi struck the tentacle that bound him, cutting it off. When he did, he noticed a reaction in the main body of the creature. A section of it shivered for a moment when the tentacle was struck.
"Ah hah!" thought Tsi, "Those must be the tentacles' roots! If I cut those, it won't be able to move!"
A wise observation, but first, Tsi needed air. He knew that he wouldn't be able to swim to the surface in time. Those tentacles would probably capture him before he could, anyway, and that gave Tsi an idea.
Tsi waited for another assault from his adversary. He didn't have to wait long before another one of the beast's tentacles moved through the water to try to ensnare him in its grasp. Tsi waited until the tentacle was close enough, and then he drove his sword as deeply into it as he possibly could. Tsi held tightly as the creature, crying out in pain, lifted him out of the water and began to thrash its tentacle around wildly until Tsi was able to dislodge Stratos and dive back down into the depths.
Tsi swam down to where the creature's tentacles connected with its head. As he prepared to strike, however, he hesitated when he heard several movements through the water. He turned around to discover that the beast's young were swimming toward him in a swarm. Also, he had attacks from the creature's tentacles coming down on him. He first slashed away the tentacles before turning around and blasting the approaching swarm of lights. When that was done, Tsi quickly turned and began hacking away at the base of the creature's head. The tentacles that had been Tsi's bane the entire battle were made instantly harmless as they fell away from the beast and sank to the bottom of the lake.
Tsi swam to the surface and stood in the shallows as what was left of his enemy screamed as it began to slowly sink into the lake. Watching the creature, Tsi had a very cold look in his eyes. It looked almost as if he had hated this creature all his life, yet he had never even seen it before. He didn't even know what to call this creature, riving in agony as it was.
"The day I became a warrior was supposed to be the best day of my life," said Tsi, "and ever since then, it seems that whenever I'm able to put my mind at ease, something like you just so happens to show up, and because I'm the type that has to give a damn, I'm the one who has to be in charge of exterminating you."
Tsi turned around to fully face his defeated foe.
"And you know what?" the young Terrian asked immediately before kicking his skewer up out of the water, catching it in midair, and hurling it at the creature, impaling it through its golden eye as it cried out one last time before sinking completely into the water, "I'm really getting sick of it."
Back at camp, Celcia, in her attempts to make a side dish out of sandwiches and apples somehow managed to end up making a hat. She had an extra-large sweat drop over her head as Tsi walked onto the campsite, startling her.
"Oh! Uh..." said the elf, nervously, "Hi, Tsi! What took you so... Whoa! What the Hell's that!?"
Celcia pointed at the tentacle wrapped around Tsi's shoulder. Tsi smiled and said, "I hope you like calamari."