Semiwrath was on the move. The dark cover of night his only company, and only fear. He was suited to the dark, he could hide much more easily in it with his darkly colored body, flicker in and out like a shadow hidden among the inky blackness. But what can hide one so easily can also hide another just the same.
Semiwrath was on the move, a scroll tucked safely into his bag. Its contents vague but useful. The landscape it described may have changed over the years but that mattered little now. He knew where he had to go, and what he was going to do when he got there.
He halted, fire burning in his eyes as he beheld a cast expanse of wet earth and foul moist air. A smile crossing his face; only to fall at the memory of something similar not too long ago, his mind still unfamiliar and questioning about it, and yet…. he shook his head, no this wasn't the same place. Not even close.
His long tail twitching in annoyance as he pulled the scroll from his bag and rolled it to a particular section, squinting his eyes at it in annoyance as he looks over it again. His tounge flickered in and out with a low hissing, growing slowly louder as his temper began to rise.
"It's such an old parchment, the tale of the Cothica as told by the original master of the Overworlders. But it says nothing of what I seek. And this writing here…."
He pressed closer to certain scraps of writing different than the others, "Only one with no tribe…"
In a fury, he stuffed the scroll back into his bag, his face markings glowing dimly in the dark. Small clouds of purple mist escaping his mouth as he hissed to himself in anger.
"This is useless, According to this even if I am not of these tribes, or even this world, I cannot read any further if I do not have some sort of genuine bonds with these savages. What am I to do now?"
He froze, eyes widening. Had he heard something? There was someone…and a scent. His tail twitched in annoyance again as he flickered in and out of sight, scurrying up the nearest trees to let the remaining darkness hide him.
"that scent…it's almost like…" he growled to himself, it was one he wished he was not familiar with. One he had been growing tired of. But wait...
During all the time he had been spending in this world, hiding and slithering from place to place, careful not to be seen as much as possible, he remembered…snippets of conversations by other creatures, of tribe matters, trades, some sort of magic's and Chaotic Players. Those humans were not of this world anymore than he was weren't they? But they had dealings with the locals enough.
He smiled to himself, jumping through branches.
***8***
Raven shivered under her feathers glancing about the room as she woke. She stretched out any sleep lingering in her limbs as she rose from the small cot, glancing about the small sparsely furnished room. Confusion crossed her face as her eyes fell on the second cot which was still perfectly made and waiting for an occupant to crawl under it's blankets.
"Miss White Face?" she called sleepily, shivering as she left the covers, a breeze entering the room caused her to glance out the window. A figure standing on the balcony, a fox figure.
White Face glared out across the city, rising sun growing bright with the promise of warmth, slowly staving off the cold of night, the lack of her cloak allowing the cold to seep under her fur. She didn't acknowledge it, her mind was elsewhere, fuming. Her whole body tense, like a bowstring waiting to let the arrow fly.
"Miss…White Face?" she asked hesitantly.
The fox turned her head, golden eyes still burning molten fire. Raven shivered fearfully at he sight of them, her wings wrapping around her again.
"Um, your up early."
Whiteface sighed turning back to gaze at the view, "Up all night."
Raven shivered a little at the thought of this, thinking how that explained the chill in the room.
"You…couldn't sleep?"
"Been searching the city."
The tengu's eyes widened, "you left without…."
The fox reached a paw out, a ripple of blue spread like water as she touched something invisible to the regular eye. A barrier, no doubt in case they decided to fly or jump out. As the ripples faded back into nothing, she grumbled, "Still looking."
Raven frowned at this, did she mean she hadn't moved from that spot all night? but then she said she was searching. How, and what was she looking for? A building of some kind? But they weren't that high up the view wouldn't be much, not to mention even with moonlight it would be too dark to see much of anything. Let alone across the whole city.
Raven stepped up beside her, as a tengu she had excellent long vision, able to see for quite a distance. However her ability to see in the dark was about as limited as most creatures in the day time. in the oncoming daylight she could just make out the far wall of the city blurred in the dark.
"What…what for, exactly?"
Raven shivered, the fox's expression hardened, eyes burning even more, "Him. he was here in the city. If he still is I'll…."
A click caused her to stop mid sentence, her posture becoming a little calmer. Raven jolted in surprise as a guard came through the door carrying a tray of something warm sending a subtle scent that made Raven's stomach grumble.
"This is your breakfast for today." the guard grumbled through his face plate. The tengu hesitantly accepted her bowl and began to eat quietly on the cot. As he handed White face her share he halted, she hadn't moved since he came in, not a flinch.
"Eat up," he grunted, "After this I have orders to take you to see Najerin."
Absently the fox picked up the bowl, still staring out over the city, "If there's a sparing ground around here you can take me there to meet with him. I need to blow off steam."
The guard huffed, "Orders are orders. You don't get a say in where you meet with him. Or when."
The fox shrugged, setting the bowl down so it balanced on the wall. The guard left without another word.
***8***
Jake took a deep breath through his nose, he pulled out his scanner holding it up in the gathering light like he was deciding on his next photo, a smile playing on his face.
"I tell you Cody, times like this can be just perfect for battling, you get a great bit of scenery, and most players only ever get locations in the day time, but getting one with while it's still dark really makes for a cool battle, it's light out but still just dark enough to ambush your opponent."
Behind him another player, Cody fiddled with his scanner, jumping as it made a small sound, "So do you think I'll do alright in my next match? I didn't do so well in my first one."
Jake turned his red hat back the right way over his head, the chain on his baggy cargo shorts jingling softly as he moved, "Dude relax, your not the first person to totally wipe out in their first dome match. Besides, this time, with my help, you are gonna do great. Win or lose I guarantee you'll make a solid impression."
Cody blushed a little shivering in his jacket, his blonde hair falling into his eyes as he smiled shyly, "You think so?"
"Dude, I know so. Now hurry up and pick a place to scan, you got a match to get to."
"Ok, I'm coming, I just want to get closer to the trees here. if I land here first I should be able to get to a hiding place quicker."
Jake smiled at this, following Cody into the trees, "Now you're starting to think like a Chaotic player. Just try to hurry up, we're losing the night."
***8***
"The Cothica is hidden...stolen...taken?...the underworld...over...the dain…. Argh!" He hissed in frustration, a small trickle of purple mist escaping the corners of his mouth, "It's like this has four different messages written on it at the same time; and each say something different. But there's a piece missing, I'm certain of it."
He dug through his bag, pulling out a crystal the size and shape of a saucer and placed it against the aged parchment. The crystal glowed slightly as the lettering became somewhat visibly clearer, but the words became more difficult to translate. He hissed again angrily, moving down the paper slowly.
"Why isn't this working? What secret are you trying to…" He paused, seeing a section of text written a little differently than the others, "When four is needed, the four shall rise. No one tribe shall hold the decision alone. Does that mean…?"
A memory stirred in his mind, a tale of a place called the deep mines, were hidden away was a door. Locked with four keys from each tribe, the only thing they all agreed on, but had forgotten why until the Marillian attack some time ago. Could there be another secret behind the deep mines? Or...did it mean something else?
He went back up the scroll to the top and started over, using the crystal to make the letters clearer on sight. No, if it was referring to the Deep Mines, it would've mentioned something about them on this page. This was referring to something else.
"Four tribes, Four flows, four writings...four...no one tribe…"
With a hiss he rolled the scroll back up and stuffed it and the crystal back into his satchel, "It's a lock. a psyche lock in written word. It won't show clearly unless broken or conditions are met. Looks like I have more work to do than I thought, and I'm running out of time…"
"...Try to hurry up man, we're losing the night."

***8***
Jake and Cody walked through the trees with scanners in hand. One looked about in curious awe, the other as though he would rather be elsewhere but willing to stay for a friend's sake.
Jake threw his hands behind his head, yawning aloud, "Come on man, scan a spot and let's go. It's getting lighter out here."
Cody groaned, not enjoying the feeling like he was being rushed. reluctantly he raised his scanner...and stopped. it was faint but, he thought he saw something flicker in and out of sight in the trees. a creature maybe?
"Come on man let's go."
"Alright, Just let me scan this place." Maybe it was nothing, Cody thought to himself as the device began humming. As he finished he turned to Jake, "Ok lets…."
'Go back'. that's what he wanted to say, but he never got that far as he felt something long, lanky and supple like a snake wrap around him and squeeze him tightly as it lifted him up into the air.
"CODY!" Jake's eyes widened as he tried to rush in and help. before him, a tall black scaled lizard with blue markings on his face held the blonde boy in his tail with little effort. Now it turned to the second boy charging for him, it's mouth opened as a mass of sticky purple came shooting out, engulfing the boy from head to toe followed by an anonymous crackling, like something hardening over.
"Jake?" Cody struggled against his captor's hold, eyes hardening in anger, "What did you do to him?"
The lizard looked at him with little interest, a twitch of his tail sending the poor boy slamming into the ground. Cody gasped, his head spinning and his body aching from the impact.
"No need to fear for your friend," The black lizard hissed, reaching over to the purple mass with one claw and crumbling a section of it away, "He hasn't gone anywhere."
Jake gasped for breath, eyes going wide as he saw the blue marked face of the back Mipedian. he struggled against the violet cocoon he was still trapped in. the lizard touched Jake's head, his white tongue flickering in and out of his mouth.
"Be still human, if I wanted to harm you I would've done it by now."
Jake stopped moving at the reptile's touch, his eyes narrowing distrustfully, "Then let us go!"
The black lizard didn't seem to hear that remark as he pulled out an old looking scroll, pointing to a particular text, "Tell me, what do you see?"
Jake looked at between the scroll and its keeper in mock disbelief, "Is this some kind of joke? What makes you think that I can…?"
Wham! A twitch of the lizard's tail brought Cody slamming into the ground causing him to gasp in pain. Jake opened his mouth to yell hatred at the dark reptile only to find his captors mouth opening with a hiss, the white tongue licking at sharp teeth looking ready to snap the boy's head off.
"No one tribe, who better than a human like yourself?" He hissed as he pressed the aged parchment closer, "Now, Read."
Jake glanced to Cody still wrapped tightly in the lizard's tail, fire burning hatred in his eyes as he turned to the scroll, "This is...old...parts of it are too smudged to read."
The lizard hissed again, "keep going, tell me what you can."
Cody's heart raced, his widened eyes searching for something, anything, that could help him get out of this. he glanced to Jake trying to read from the scroll before his eyes, looking steadily more stressed like he was being asked to translate the Rosetta stone without any idea of how to even start.
Jake squinted his eyes, "the... power has been lost, Our great hero says ...it is for the best as the other tribes can no longer use it any more than we can…Fire rules our home..."
Thwack!
Cody and Jake both gasped in pain as the lizard's tail came around, striking the side of the cocoon with a dull thump. his white tounge flickering in and out as he hissed angrily, "Foolish boy, is that really all you see? Are human's not separate from the other tribes?"
Cody gasped, struggling to his hands and knees, noting with dull surprise that the dark tail had let him go in the impact, just as Jake's cocoon prison had broken apart. Ash he glanced up he noticed the scroll in the lizard's claws, eyes widening, "Keepers…?"
The black reptile froze, burning eyes turning to look at the young boy coldly, he held up the scroll to Cody's eyes, "What do you see?"
Cody shivered, wary of the tail lashing behind it's owner, but unable to look away, "Well...I…"
"Read child." The lizard hissed, his tail practically touching Jake's limp form.
Cody gulped, obeying, "'We lied to our tribes in order to protect them. To protect the power that flows through our world. We are of four tribes, but we remain the keepers of Perim.' it gets all smudged from there."

***8***

Semiwrath snapped the scroll away from the boy, overlooking it's contents for himself once more. as before he could see a mess of words that melded together, but now he could see snatches of exactly what this young boy had said, "four flows, keepers...yes it's here after all."
He turned to the pair, the first one getting up and reaching for his device, urging his friend to find his and get out of here quickly. I think not. Placing the scroll back into his bag he reached a claw to grasp the blonde one by the back of his shirt collar dragging him back a ways, the other stood up defiantly.
"Let him go you Mipedian scum, I have connections in the underworld that would make your scaly hide rattle."
Semiwrath's tail twitched a little at this, the boy's statement had something click in his mind, "What you read. Then that's why….the longer you humans interact with any one tribe in Perim, the more you are apart of it, consider yourselves as part of them. Even if that tribe doesn't realize it or even acknowledge you as such the fact to Perim remains..."

***8***

Jake never saw the tail coming as a sudden pain hit the side of his head and sent him to the ground sprawling. Cody's terrified face was the last thing he saw as the lizard turned to look at him again, the blue markings glowing again as he smiled.
When Jake finally woke up, both were gone, and Cody's scanner lay forgotten.

Hova: Phew, finally got it done. thank you all for being so patient with me on this. on a happier note my writer's black seems to be subsiding. Sadly though with the holidays still looming over us I wont be able to get another update till maybe the end of next month, so... yeah.

Sarah: (pulling headphones out of her ears) Hey, in that update video, is that your real voice?

Hova: ^_^; yeah.

Sarah: sheesh it changes around a lot.

Hova: Huh?