Chapter 4 - Arrival
In which the author shows great unoriginality in the selection of chapter names.
Asgard, 900 years after Ragnarok...
Recently, there had been a surge in the number of secret societies in the Holy Land. Every two-bit wizard with money to burn was creating his or her own organization. Brotherhoods, sisterhoods, orders, clans, triads and other societies were all the rage among the fashionable crowd.
One of these societies had it's meeting place in a certain small dark alley. Every Saturday evening, its members would come from across the land and furtively make their way to a small grimy door located in the darkest, most forbidding part of the above-mentioned alley.
Whereupon a sly and sinister voice would hiss in a conspiratorial whisper...
"Speak the password, friend."
And always, always the acolyte seeking entry would reply with the same string of apparent nonsense...
"Hrover does not own Riviera - The Promised Land."
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When last we left them, our heroes were in the process of beginning a new adventure. However, let us now direct our attention to the object of their quest, the poor, maltreated Lina.
The girl had been dumped unconscious into a small clearing surrounded on all sides by dense woodland. She awoke to find herself in possession of nothing but the clothes on her body and a sizeable bump on her head. To add to her misery, dark clouds loomed above, bringing with them the prospect...nay, the certainty of an approaching storm.
It was at this point that she realised she wasn't alone.
Some soft but distinct cries were coming from directly in front of her. Further investigation led to the discovery of a small cat-like animal. Its fur was tawny brown with black stripes streaking across. Currently, the tiger cub appeared to be fascinated by a small flying creature.
"Welcome to Lina and Fia's house!" said the creature, and Lina instantly recognised it. It was nice to see a familiar face again, even if this particular individual only had a six word vocabulary.
The fairy too, was glad to see our energetic archer. The last few hours had seen her unceremoniously plucked from her usual position outside Fia's house and dumped in the god-forsaken forest. In addition, she had had to deal with the unwanted attentions of the little tiger cub, who was even now trying to swat at her with a clumsy, but surprisingly strong paw.
"Welcome to Lina and Fia's house!" the fairy said again, and in that one sentence managed to convey her total disgust and contempt of all living things. She waited for Lina's reply...
"Kawaii!!! Its so CUUUUTE!!!" cried the highly excited girl, having caught sight of the cub.
Apparently, Lina hadn't been paying attention. The girl had the cub locked in a tight hug. In total violation of animal abuse laws, the girl was slowly squeezing the life out of the poor animal. Lina herself didn't seem to notice the cub's frantic gasps for breath, so intent was she on properly appreciating its absolute adorability.
In the end, the poor cub was saved by the sudden appearance of its mother. Lina's eyes grew as large as saucers (let's assume for the moment that Lina does not have oversized anime-type eyes) as she took in the appearance of the new arrival.
The large predator was easily twice her size, from her angle she had a perfect view of its open mouth. Slowly loosening her grip on the cub, Lina had a sudden vision of being ripped apart by the tiger's razor sharp, 7 centimetre long canines. She made a small "Eep" sound in her throat that gradually became a quiet whimper.
Seconds later, the terrified nature lover was running for her life. Following close behind her was the tigress, clearly unamused by Lina's recent display of affection.
Uh oh. thought the small part of Lina's brain not currently involved in trying to stay alive.
Lina's in trouble now...
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Author's Note:
Hmm...Lina IS in trouble now. Hope you've enjoyed reading the latest chapter in the series, don't forget to review!
Oh, by the way, I find the first part of each chapter (the one which gets the disclaimer in) simply a joy to write. However, ideas are hard to come by though (even though its only been 4 chapters) so if anyone has any suggestions I'd greatly appreciate it if you'll drop me a message. Thanks in advance!