...
-CLICK!-
Ahem...
Hello. This is Kris Dreemurr speaking. Sorry to sound so formal, but this is a biiit... Unorthodox.
The following session is a continuation of Part Eighteen, taking place right along side or close enough to the last part with me and Shorn. It ends where that part would have ended and that was the reason I cut off the end. There was honestly very little if any difference, other than a perspective change.
This was recorded before my part's reading as part of the glutton that is Part Seventeen, so I had to make a decision and split it not only for time-related purposes, but also continuity ones. It was gonna be... redundant, lets say.
If you recall, I cut when Noelle first turned off the mic, wanting to have a talk with Susie with us involved. Just so happened to be the perfect cut off.
This is when we came back. You can see why it needed a cut. The timestamp is probably on the longer side of our usual recording time. Not only that, but you would have lacked major context without my part.
Big believer in that sort of thing.
... It's been some kind of headache to keep all of this straight, lemme tell you. I'm absolutely going to start naming these parts more clearly. Sometimes, numbers are just not enough...
With all that said, I'll let the recording take it from here. Or should I say, Past Noelle...? Eh. Well, I hope we're doing well enough to excuse our amateur-ness~.
-CLICK!-
...
-CLICK!-
/-ell, they say realizing the mistake was made is the first step to learning. You can't change the past. You did a lot to get to this point, but if ya never made mistakes, you wouldn't have learned. And you did... That's worth something, I think.\
[Heh... Maybe I think you're just sweet talkin' me. That's also something.]
*Oh, hush, Susie~.*
[... Yeah alright. I just can't help it, okay?]
... Well, if that's how you feel, let's keep going. That's the best way to go about your guilt in my opinion. Owning the past without letting it make you.
[... Yeah. That's probably right. You've got the better track record, after all.]
I-... A-aw, shucks~.
... Oh! Uhhh... H-hello! I... really didn't think through turn-ning this thing on when I did~...
/Yeah, it seems to happen a lot. I just thought you were doing it on-\
SHUT.
/Oh, okay then.\
...
... Uh... Yes, well, we should just-... Back to where we left off!
...
We were nearing the end of our long walk. The bushes began to thin even as the forest stretched on and stone began to push back the forest grass and leaves.
These stones, which formed our new walk way, were overgrown with moss and cracked separate by grass blades. The trees, nevertheless, found land to make purchase, even though it looked quite like they *erupted* from the stones themselves with cobbles at their roots upended and in piles of broken pieces.
I looked around at this area while walking, keeping an eye on my surroundings, regardless of how impatient I was about finding Kris for my own reasons. The last thing I needed was to miss something because I was too upset to consider the possibility of an ambush. Once again, being afraid was not as easy to shake off, just because of being upset...
My company followed me at a distance... I could hear they were talking to each other, but would you believe me if I said that having big ears didn't help me hear them?
... It's best someone else talks for that moment, huh? Brief as it was, you guys deserve all the details you can get, so... Ralsei?
*O-o.. Oh! Me? Why not Susie?*
Because out of the two of you, you probably want to do it. The narrating, I mean.
*... I-is my love for story telling that obvious...?*
[Like a dodgeball to the face, dude.]
*H-hey!*
Okay~. No messing about~. Ralsei~!
*... R-right.*
-Hrrnk~!- -Clmp-clmp!-
*Thank you~!* ... -Crnk!- Okay! So... This is going to be me, Ralsei, telling about the conversation I had with Susie! I would call it a short aside, but it wasn't quite short enough to say that with honesty...
Without wanting to wait overlong, let us get through this!
So... We were walking at a distance behind Noelle, as she said. I was rather worried for her. Though we had just met, I could feel much and more was wrong. I needed no reason to be concerned. It was merely normal to concern myself with the well-being of my companions...
Ever since the outburst, the reindeer had been acting very distanced and focused with an aire of troubled-ness about her. I had a fear that this might lead to bad decisions or even less effective attentiveness to detail, but there was more to things than that alone.
She was in dire need of a sympathetic ear and positive reinforcement...
About when I was thinking this, that was when I heard Susie scoff, my eyes becoming wider with surprise and my head turning to look in her direction to see her.
She was narrowing into Noelle's back with annoyance clearly writ upon her face, arms folded over and her head shaking. "Frickin' Priss. Thinking she's the only one who's suffered... Where the hell's she get off? And what the hell would she know about that? Why are we even following her ass?" She had asked me that one while looking at me with her eyes alone.
I frowned and sighed silently through my nose. "I know that you are feeling great irritation with her at the moment, Susie. But I do think you are maybe missing the point..."
She snapped her head to me and gestured a flexed, strained hand my way, narrowing down at me. "So what?! Should I kiss her boo boo and make it all better?! That brat basically unfriended me, so why should I give a damn?!"
... I shook my head and sighed openly, taking my hat's rim within my fingers to pull it over my eyes... Then, I tried again, meeting her gaze with a more level-headed stare. "Susie. What happened to bring Noelle here in the first place?"
Scoffing at me, she threw her arms up before they plapped down against her sides, her head shaking. "Seriously? That ain-"
"Susie, please. Just answer."
Squinting down at me as if I had asked for something outlandish... she then sighed exhaustively and rubbed a hand over her face before proverbially hitting me with the facts. "Friggin' drama queen over there got in trouble with her supposed long-time leech- His name's Berdly... His dumbass was butt-hurt she made buddy-buddy with me and had a big, fat, friggin' stupid argument with her. I'unno what got said, but the shit-bird smacked the crap out of her. Probably because she acted all hurt or said some thing and that got 'em feeling like less than a big man~. She got upset, bolted into the woods and then fell down here. After that, I don't know, so that better be enough."
She rolled her eyes and went back to staring at Noelle's back with a narrow, scoffing again. "Drama queen... First, Kris sticks their neck out for her off a promise they made to her father, tells her I'm nice of all things. Ain't my fault they lied. I didn't give 'er the wrong impression. They did. I tried to set her straight in the nicest way possible while tryin' to BE nice." Shrugging her arms, she then goes on to mention, "And really, why me? I'm the big bad of the school! I make people scared to look at me!"
"Then, I can see why she is so upset."
Susie did a double take on me before glaring my way. "Oh, come the fuck on! What?!" She grit her teeth at me and narrowed tighter. "I did everything Kris asked and shit still went wrong! Don't you dare tell me this is my fault!"
I looked her in the eye and displayed no fear. She was trying to twist things. And I knew why. "It is not ultimately your fault, but you have done nothing to help the problem, Susie."
I caught the side of her darkest glare for that line as she balled a shaking fist. "RALSEI..."
But shaking my head, I went on. "No. Humor me and take this seriously. I do not claim to be an expert, but Noelle is in a precarious place right now, I feel."
She puffed through newly-sealed lips and rolled her whole head as she continued to keep pace with Noelle. "So what? She's sensitive to EVERYTHING."
"We all have our insecurities, Susie," I reminded her. "Were you not long ago unwilling to let your guard down around any at all? Was this not the case with Kris and I...? For that matter, was this not so with Lancer when he made a lapse in judgement?"
... Susie had nothing to say to that. She just... turned her head away and hid her face. Though, I could sense the face she made was a bitter one. "... I swear, one nice thing and suddenly I'm the source of all friendliness..."
I turned my eyes to Noelle and sighed at her distant back. "I understand you are frustrated, but there is more going on here than either of us could ever know with no foreknowledge. Perhaps, Noelle suffers from her upbringing. Or mayhap it is something else, like a tragic loss. I would not know, but she is hurting. And her words earlier may hold the reason..." Turning to her, I asked, "Do you recall them?"
The plum-colored monster shook her head and shrugged as she folded up her arms once more with an unreadable expression, eyes again hidden in her hair. "Somethin' about not being like I want her to be. I don't fricking know."
"But you do know. And you care, otherwise you would not recall even that much."
... She went silent... other than a forced scoff.
Humoring her, I repeated the line I felt was more important, looking at her as I said them in all seriousness. "'You don't know why I'm like this.'... She said this in anger. Or maybe it is better to say frustration. Regardless, it is clear she has deeply seeded reasons for being as she is. And her intensity with her current task suggests to me a desperation to find Kris, whom she may feel is possibly the one person who may understand her."
... Susie clicked her teeth. "It'd make sense. Kris and she grew up together. It was them, Noelle and Kid for like.. ever until some years back. They've been friends for as long as I can remember." Turning her head, she went on to say, "I kinda assumed she and Kris were... K.i.s.s.i.n.g. with each other. But I don't know anything for a fact. Only she would."
... At that... I admit... I felt a little... weird about the thought of the two of them kissing... Though, maybe that is a bit much to share.
... I merely shook my head of such thoughts and focused upon what mattered more. "It does not matter. That matter, at least. What does matter is that we make an effort to understand and respect Noelle's feelings. She has only stumbled upon the Dark World as you two did: by accident. She was not prepared for any of what being here asked of her thus far and may continue to ask, depending upon certain factors..." With a furrow, I suppose I must have sounded begging, "We should not begrudge her for her fears. They are to be expected. Why don't we seek instead to support her...?"
... Susie crossed her arms tighter... And then eased them... Breathing through her nose, the dragon-like monster relented, "Whatever, man. But if that plan backfires, I'm not promising I won't hurt some feelings. And I ain't talkin' about just hers. I'm not changing myself for anyone. If they don't like me, fine. I'd rather that than acting fake."
With a shrugging smile, I shook my head in a bit of a furrow. "Of course. I would never ask you to change yourself. I merely ask that we come to understand her reasoning. It may be surprising." I blinked to the side as I admit, "A-after all, I can't be right. I can merely be close." Turning my attention back up to Susie with an uncertain blankness to my face, I went on. "I've... no way of knowing exactly what she has been through. And I have no REAL idea what approach will have us learn the truth. Every person is different..." I offered with a shrug, "If such an approach does not work, we can only continue to try different ones. Though, I strongly move against physical violence..."
... My reasoning seemed to get Susie to think more clearly. She sighed and shook her head, holding at her eyes for a bit... Then, she looked down to me as the hand fell away and nodded... before she made a squint that appeared in her eyes. "Are you takin' lessons from Kris in secret? Because I swear this sounds like stuff they'd say."
I gave a humorous smile with raised brows, pushing up my glasses. "Ehee! I think you may have it backwards. I taught Kris about Sparing and Pacifying~."
She smirked a little at that. "You know, that kind of explains a few things. I knew I never remembered-"
"We're.. We're here." A hesitant response that came from right before us and caught both of us stopping in surprise. We snapped all attention to Noelle.
She was staring up at something great, but we still couldn't see her face, so I can only guess that her expression was a somber one, despite her current mood. There was that bit of hesitation, after all...
We both followed her gaze to see... a large collection of buildings of great stature and even greater design situated uniformly around a large stone road. They were beyond complex. Grander maybe than anything I had seen at that point. Grander than even mine and the Kingdom of Aces... yet, ruin took them all the same.
Windows were suggestions of form with no glass or broken bits still remaining. Doors let out massive piles of impassible mosses and rot. Their forms were riddled in cracks. Some buildings were even so bad that I considered it a treachery to walk too near them. How impossibly unstable, some seemed, held together by only the vainest hopes. I feared even a small tickle from a foot falling the ground might cause them to fall upon us.
One building very near the entrance to this ruined city we found was so ruined that it seemed that it began to... melt or crumble to the ground from wear.
One building further on was missing an entire section of it's top half, said section easy to find broken to bits at it's foot on the road so completely it couldn't impede progress inside, having become a faltered pile of stone bricks.
Each brick was in awful shape or in no shape at all. Dirt, mold and fur-length moss had merged them with the street. And the street itself was not well-maintained. It grew more of the same grasses, molds, mosses and even some brushes across it's ruined face in between its bricks' cracks.
Yet another structure of the same shape's near entire "face" had fallen off, leaving a clear picture of what was inside. Moss choked, small-creature-riddled floors, walls and ceiling with deformed roots growing tumorously from within, growing leaves that had poor size and fullness...
There were hundreds- if not thousands- of these buildings stretching on ahead of us. I could tell, even from my angle on the ground floor. To think of the sheer wall of them that went on to my west and east, like a castle-town wall... Many, many people must have lived there... And yet, it was painfully clear they were long, long all gone by the time we got there.
Every stone structure we had come across had looked old... But the suggested age of this grand city... this place that stretched on for a good long distance... It was perhaps the oldest. My raw guess at the time was that the city had been falling into disrepair for a thousand or double the years.
... It was a sight that gave me great sorrow. I could feel my face fall before I bowed my head and gripped my hands into fists... "... What happened here...?"
My question brought all eyes on me.
And my next called into question the true issue that sprung forth into my mind, fresh and raw. "The Fountain did not do all of this... What could have happened to this place...?"
...
"Yeah, actually..." I turned my head up, never minding my expression, to look at Susie, who looked on at the great ruin with a narrow. "This all bugs me, now that you mention it. The place we met you in- that other mideival kingdom. When did the other fountain spring up there? The one that WASN'T there before, I mean..."
A question I had the answer to. I raised my brows and looked off in the distance to the towering beam that struck the black sky. "That fountain's formation was a day before your's and Kris's arrival. But change came to the kingdom before then... ... ..."
I was about to go on... but I stopped and closed my mouth as I squint at the ground with a hand to my chin.
"What," came Susie in question. "Why did you stop?"
... My head turned back up to her and Noelle, who was staring at me despite not being entirely in the mood for this all. "Why do we not wait to further elaborate upon this matter? Kris should be here to hear what all I have to say as much as you two. It will save on time."
With a sigh, Susie shrugged and rolled her eyes to the side Noelle wasn't at. "Ya know, that excuse is pretty annoying."
Noelle, however, said nothing. She simply spun around and walked the ruined street, to my surprise, as her hooves clacked along. I turned my head to Susie, who looked a little taken aback... but unwilling to show any sympathy as she shook her head and clicked her teeth, grumbling to herself as she walked after her. "Do you even have an idea where you're going?"
And to that question, Noelle turned her head with a narrow and factually stated, "Yes. I do know where I'm going."
With a scoff, Susie further remarkingly asked with an exaggerated shrug, "Okay. How?"
A wind blew passed Noelle as she turned from Susie in a hum, right back toward the open road leading in... There was a pause...
"Well," Susie demanded.
Noelle did not respond to Susie, but she did ask, "Barred? What do you mean? Why wou-"
And then, there came the repetitive sounding out like the thunder from lightning hitting something earthy. It was far off, but caused us all to look around for the source of the sound out of alert. And... there was a steady build-up of rumbling before finally a great crashing boom sounded out! Whatever made the sound caused the ground to shudder! We all braced, expecting something like an earthquake! However, the intensity never quite reached that strength. It just vibrated particularly hard before, like the sound, it settled more and more...
Noelle seemed to gasp and ask... someone... something like, "W-wait! That didn't come from in the city, did it?! I-is that what you meant?!"
"What-... Who the heck are you talking to?!"
It was Susie who asked, staring at Noelle like she was crazy as she was pulling herself into a straight enough stance. We were all still sensitive from the tremors.
Noelle turned to her carefully with a furrow, hands squeezing around her staff. She was shaking...
And then came another wind, this one almost knocking my hat off and making me clap it down to my head!
At about that time, our reindeer girl gasped her eyes wide and whirled around. "No!"
Now, Susie was uneasy. She glared and walked over to Noelle, briskly reaching her as she demanded, "What?! What the hell are you freaking out over?" At about that time, the wind heaved again, whistling the buildings in a great, long exhale. But myself and Susie largely ignored it...
At that point, I was really starting to feel impatient with her. I narrowed at her and shouted, "Susie!"
She snapped around to me and spat out through grit teeth, "What?! I'm asking her one stupid question! Can't you idiots grow-"
"Please, stop talking," requested a desperate Noelle as we both turned to see her wide-eyed and scared expression over her ready-to-run posture. "I-I can't hear anything like this!"
Susie was utterly lost and confused.
But me? I had already started to suspect another power was at play.
Noelle could hear someone talking to her. That much was obvious, but not the who. I never would have guessed it could have been The Veil herself.
Susie shook her head in sheer disbelief, "What the friggin' shit's so important you're...?! I didn't even-" Noelle suddenly took to squeezing her ears in frustration, shuddering and whining out, cutting Susie short much to the latter's surprise.
Pulling her hands free of her ears, Noelle cupped her hands into a begging ball passed her arm-hung staff and indeed begged, "Please! I can't explain, just... Please...!"
Sensing the urgency radiating off of Noelle had Susie clamming up already...
And then came a mighty thunderclap far louder than any before it! A horrible shudder coursed through the stones that almost set all of us staggering to our knees! I looked around, desperately trying to figure out what was going on!
... I did not find the source. I could only surmise it was somewhere behind the endless wall of buildings.
"...F-fine!" I snapped my head back down to Susie's declaration, blinking at her as she was grabbing a wide-eyed Noelle by the sleeves, her own eyes wide, but still narrowed. "Do whatever ya gotta do! Talk to the air! As long as we find Kris, I-I don't care! So, come on!" She practically shoved Noelle back as she let go, much to Noelle's unnerved surprise.
I didn't need to understand how that came about. Susie didn't know all of what was going on, but it was obvious something was wrong. She likely gave up on trying to find reason, convinced of Noelle's ability to find Kris or too frustrated with her to care what she did at that point. Maybe a mix.
Regardless, the reindeer wasted no time in putting a little distance between herself and Susie before she looked around and asked, "Ma'am? Please. I need you to guide us to Kris! I'm sorry I didn't hear you before, but-" A breathless wind blew through as Noelle froze in her words, eyes wide.
Grunting, she immediately took off ahead of us in full run, hand tight around her staff!
I took a gasp and ran after her while shouting, "Noelle?! Wait for us!" And Susie wasn't far behind, running perhaps faster than me as she gained particularly quick.
The wind, heaving and surging over and over, practically became like a companion. Each time it blew, Noelle stopped and looked around, then took off in another direction, forcing us to keep up as she would not be slowing down. That sent us weaving and bobbing through the streets and the thin alleyways of the structures around us so many times that the amount of times blurred in my mind.
It became far more like a chase than merely following her. Fortunately, if she did get a bit too far ahead of us, she would turn around while jogging backwards and beckon of us to "Hurry!" before she whirled back around and sped off again. She was definitely quicker than both of us. But what I noted more-so than her speed was the lack of hesitation.
She really cared for Kris. More than she was afraid for herself, she cared if they were okay.
But eventually... the easy following of directions became less so as she came skidding to a gasping stop at the end of an alley way in between two buildings, staff up in defense!
We very nearly ran into her when we caught ourselves stopping clumsily behind her. "Why are we-," was all Susie could get out before we all undoubtedly spied the reason we were stopping...
"Bright Ones!" An exclamation from a male kytsater! He was with three others and all were clad in leather or less, drawing their weapons from their backs or from the very air which their magicks formed them from. Immediately, they began to close in on us as we were backed right back into the alley.
"Shhhit, we don't have time for this!" Susie was crude about it, but not wrong...
Noelle looked around in clear nervous desperation... before her eyes shut and she breathed out a begging, "Please, don't kill anyone...!" And then, she raised her staff high, lighting bright the green and red gems as she shouted, "COMET!" The staff burst with a colorful wave form as the men were beginning to converge on us!
... And then... Then came a slightly distant, blood cooling roar that had both I and Susie snapping to and fro to find the source. The men and women kytsaters had stopped as well, even more uneased than we were, turning every which way in clear alert and pointing their weapons about...
...
Do you want to take back narration, Noelle?
(Oh! Of course!)
-Crnk!- Alright-y! Here you go~.*
...
-Hrnk~!- -Ahem...-
To be perfectly clear, I didn't want to call down Comet at all. And I wasn't clear on whether he would show restraint. I mean, the only other time I had called him, he made a giant lizard into a shish kebab.
But... we just didn't have the time. Anything could've been happening to Kris. They could of been dead or dying. And so, my feelings decided for me when I called out for Comet...
... You know, I gave him that name purely because I always liked the reindeer names of Santa's sleigh carriers, but thinking back to this moment... maybe the name Comet could make more sense in the literal term...
Down like a comet streaked our savior, his long body like a tail as I watched him nosedive, a viciously threatening face about him, teeth bared and eyes ablaze.
Striking the ground like lightning, everyone shrieked at his crashing arrival, tremors and dust exploding out from his landing!
Debris was sent everywhere into the air as his long body contorted to fit the space of the street... A terrible leer that had once fallen upon me was directed squarely upon the kytsaters, who were shaking with fear and backing away in denial. "SH-SHULONG!" One had cried it out.
"Holy god...!" The swear came from Susie, who was actually backing away with wide eyes. Ralsei was astonished and visibly sweating fear, a hand capping his hat and another clutching at his heart... Why shouldn't they be scared? It was like a level 99 boss from a video game plopping down in front of you when you were previously fighting against level 25 normals and already under-leveled...
It's four-pointed pupils sharpened to near nothing down upon them as it's maw began to seethe blue flames.
And I was filled with dread in that moment, clutching my staff and biting my lip. He was going to kill them all!
As he breathed in, head rising on his long, fur-bristled neck, the flames in his mouth flaring up in color. No!
I ran up to one of his legs while Susie shouted, "Noelle, STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM THAT THING! IT'LL-"
I ignored her. Instead, I clasped both arms on it's ankle and shouted, "DON'T!"
My call caught Comet visibly recoiling as a few stray flames jut from it's teeth and caused the Kytsaters to jump back in fear. He snapped his head around and down at me, flaming mouth still burning, but eyes less sharp as the star-pupils more properly formed, blinking at me from an otherwise unreadable expression.
"... N-Noelle...?!" I could hear Susie stutter in shock, but I was more concerned with Comet...
I was frowning, I know that. Shaking my head, I corrected, "Pl-lease, just protect us...! Can you do that without killing anyone...?"
... He snorted at me in annoyance, it felt, then immediately turned full growling attention upon his foes before unleashing a flaming roar their way, much to their horrors as flames danced and bled before them in rage!
Immediately, they took up evasive action as Comet wrenched from me, yanking me off my hooves forward from his force onto my front in a grunting heap! Then, he began crushing and climbing buildings with his massive, ungodly-sharp claws loudly digging in, spewing fire and gnashing teeth and clawing for the retreating tribals! But to my considerable surprise, he wasn't actively aiming to make contact... Though, he was aiming to give them a horrible time of things.
... Gasping as I realized we were supposed to be in a hurry, I pushed up and onto my feet, looking around. "Ma'am! Ms. Vale!" And before I finished, a brisk wind blew through with her words, drowning out Ralsei saying something like "Vale?!"
{Forthward and 'yond the northeastern pass, Child! Quickly! Beware the danger and guide your Comet to thy aid!}
I could feel my body shuddering for movement the second she told me where, nevermind the danger. And so, when my eyes turned up passed the crumbling debris and ongoing blue flames dyeing the scene cold, I did. Taking off in a near-sprint, I clacked down the path, almost stumbling over still-settling debris fresh off of the abandoned homes, narrowly catching myself as another piece fell down toward me! I narrowly avoided it by merely staying my current running speed, hearing it bash heavy against the ground!
"Noelle, wait!" It was Ralsei again. I whirled around, skipping backwards to continue to where I needed to go as I shouted, "No! Just keep up! Kris is in danger!"
I whirled back around, looking around as I jogged ahead again, trying to see what pass she had been talking about... And as I spotted the tightly hidden way nearly unnoticeable between the packed buildings, I ran for it and jammed myself inside of it, brushing a shoulder against the wall briefly before catching myself and running the narrow passage! Never stopping and never stumbling, my lungs started heaving.
My only hope beyond finding Kris was that the others could keep up, because I wouldn't be slowing down no matter what.
My eyes stung and my heart hammered. Nothing but finding and making sure Kris was okay mattered. And if they were not okay? ... I don't know if I had thought that through... I don't think I did.
{Emerge from yonder end and proceed left 'round the bend, down a stairwell and interned upon a main road. Beware, thy opposition awaits.}
Even with the ye' olde English, It was easy to follow her directions. My mind was probably working quicker than usual for being practically on fire.
Regardless, as soon as I pulled out of the alleyway, I turned left and spotted some few kytsaters running toward me like a cavalry.
One stopped and pointed me out, shouting, "Over there," all the while his friends of three got out their weapons and started at me! I immediately shot my staff in the air and let it pulse with mixed light again as I shouted, "Comet, here!"
Not seconds later, the streets shivered as Comet landed growling atop a building overlooking the tribesmen! They stopped in shock and fright at the sight of him glaring wildly down at them!
And then, with a brief shriek, the shulong violently contorted his long body atop the building, causing the whole thing to wrench broken in half at the middle in a horribly loud manner! Then, Comet stepped quickly to another while his back set of paws kicked the building the rest of the way in half and sent it coming down at them while I shot my mouth wide open and yelped, backing up from the stone carnage to come!
That was about when Susie and Ralsie emerged, immediately spotting the falling building and then me as Susie commented, "Is it out of it's friggin' mind?!" Doing a double-take back at the crumbling structure, her eyes bugged wider as she and Ralsie rushed after me! "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, CRAP!"
The kytsaters all shrieked and bolted away in speedy leaps from the vicinity of the impending doom, just in time for the tons and tons of crumbling stone to blast down across the road in a tidal wave of debris! I nearly got swept off my hooves by the dust and stone, but thankfully not.
Covering my face with my arms to protect it from the aftermath while I coughed at the dry dust, I turned my squinting eyes up to Comet, who was only really visible via his eyes beaming down at me through the smoke. "G-good job...?! Bu-ut we can't get through now!"
He groaned at me as the dust was settling and the sight of his then rather ashamed posture came into view, complete with splayed ears and two forepaws stacked atop one another awkwardly... He was such a puppy despite his size and nature that it was honestly endearing~.
[He nearly killed us all and it's endearing to you...]
I-I mean, normal dogs of considerable size are strong creatures with the strength to seriously hurt their owners, but they still feel bad when they do end up doing something bad~. It's the same thing.
[He has giant scimitars for claws and sabers for fangs!]
... So?
[Oh my god, JUST NARRATE~!]
A-ahmn! Yes, well...
Now, I was left in the uncomfortable position of not having a way to get through, because upon looking around, this was a sub-standard road with no exits and no alleyways to hide inside... I hadn't tried riding him. And upon thinking of that, I slapped my face for feeling dense and groaned myself. "I am such a-" ... But then, I thought twice, releasing my face...
Was flying right now a good idea? Was it really? The Kytsaters all had insane jumping abilities. Who was to say the second we tried to lift off the ground they wouldn't be on us in a few short leaps, even with Comet on the defensive? He was strong and fast, but not with us on his back. Not because we would weigh him down, either. It was because if he moved too suddenly, someone would get thrown off. Someone like Me, Ralsei or Susie.
... We couldn't fly, even if we somehow avoided that, either. I didn't want to lead further trouble back to Kris. Thus, having Comet attack the kytsaters over and over again was actually hurting us more than it was helping us...
I frowned in hiss at the ground, knowing I created a more difficult situation.
... That was when I came up with a new plan. Turning to Comet, I humbly asked him the following. "Comet, it's okay. But I have a bigger job for you!" He pumped his head up, ears standing straight as his legs re-spaced... But if I just shouted everything aloud, things would just get more complicated. and so, I raised a hand and waved him down.
He seemed to understand me... and lowered his head down on his long neck, giving both Susie and Ralsei a near-death fright. "Fu-h-hu yikes!" I jogged over to his ear as he lowered it over me with a tilt, eyes wide in curiosity. Then, I went on, hands cupped as I whispered "I need you to find any groups Kytsater in our area and chase them out of it. Don't worry about one or two of them, we can handle a little fighting. Just keep the majority away from us. And when we find Kris, I'll signal you with my staff to tell you to stop. Okay, buddy?" A hidden point to the plan? Any more wary kytsaters traveling in smaller parties would be scared off by something they could not handle.
He pulled his head away as he stepped half of his long body down from the building and nodded high overhead at me, much to my appreciation.
"There they are!" I gasped and snapped my head back and up to a mob of Kytsaters standing atop a damaged structure.
Susie grit her teeth and turned to face them herself as she whipped out her axe over a shoulder."Took too much time...!"
At about the time I narrowed nervously and held my staff at the defensive, I shuddered to a stop at the sound of Comet growling overhead and the sight of each Kytsater gasping toward him in start, possibly realizing they had made a terrible error.
I turned around to see Comet flexing his claws and grabbing at the stone road in raking fashion beneath.
"Shu-" one of the kytsaters began, before immediately being silenced by a flaming roar from my angry partner, a jet of blue flames meters wide erupting toward them! They all fled screaming over the buildings as flames raved and burned across the initial one's head, scorching it blacker and blacker until the roar ended, the flames losing focus and puffing into embers! Even still, the head of the building burned, especially where there was moss or rooting...
Then, with a second, echoing roar, he bolted his massive, long body over the building, clipping the top with his hind-most legs before ripping away as his tail slithered beyond, giving chase as some small boulders of stone dropped to the street below and smashed to bits!
I nodded despite the ringing of my ears and took a swift, sweeping look around while Susie remarked, "Well cool that the squirrel dragon is on the job, but how do we get out of here, genius?" I mostly disregarded the derogatory word usage and focused.
Looking down at the ground while sweat dripped my body, I began to panic... before I gasped and realized. These were all buildings with windows and doors! The easiest way out was the supposed-to-be-obvious one! "Maybe we can...!" I suddenly ran into a building to the right of the one fallen to pieces ahead of us... But no door was accessible and the windows I could reach either led inside to nothing but roots and fallen concrete or moss covered rooms with no other exits.
Then, I ran to the left side buildings, looking them over... and realizing that the building Comet broke in half was still mostly intact at the bottom. Not only that, but the building half that did fall seemed to have fallen apart in a perfect enough way to expose a neat, large enough portion of the building's left-hand entry doorway. It was somehow still there! Meaning, we had a hope.
I pushed myself into the doorway and emerged within a room that had poor visibility. Inside that space, it was a grossly prosperous jungle of moss and fungi, but it looked mostly empty besides furnishings that had fallen to rot and decay. Nothing within looked like it could have once been electrical or energy related of any design seemed to work.
And honestly, I couldn't spot anything that appeared to be of that function by my reckoning... It didn't really matter. If it did, the power in this city was dead, so there was no chance those devices would ever run again, if they were there.
Besides, what I was looking for was a way out. Not a collectable.
I turned every which way in the room and even began to walk the length. About when I was in the middle of the room, I heard Ralsei call out, "Noelle, wait for us!" I whirled around in hum and watched as Ralsei walked through into the room with me, watching his step as he made his way in while looking around.
Then, Susie swung her body legs-first inside, landing upright on her boot bottoms... She looked around and walked toward me as she asked, "What are we comin' in here for? It's almost easier to start climbing that wall Crazy Waist made outside."
I shook my head and narrowed away from her, before turning around and continuing my search of the room for an exit besides the one that we found in the entrance. "A window or a door to the next room. We won't find one back outside here that we can use." After saying that much, I jogged for a doorway I found on the opposite end of the room from the one where we came in. It's actual door had fallen off it's hinges eons ago, becoming rotting wood I trampled to smashed splinters without much effort. "Come on!"
"Jeeze...!" Disregarding Susie again, I continued passed a few fallen chairs and a table or two, maybe even a bed, before finding myself at the new room's opposite end and yet another door. This one was still on it's hinges, but only one set and it looked practically like it would tear apart... And that was exactly what happened when I pulled it's knob, gasping as the wooden mess tore itself in two and fell to the ground after I let go of the knob, crumbling to splinters and... spilling.. out unidentifiable bugs...
My fur crawled at the sight of them while I shuddered... but I soon shook my head and pressed on into the next room over.
While I was getting myself inside, I heard Ralsei speak up and ask, "Earlier, when we were running... Did you not say Ms. Vale?"
I could feel myself inwardly become exhausted. There was no time for questions and answers! I sighed and turned around to him, noting his nervous eyes... and immediately found my conscience instead of resorting to my irritation, though my face likely hardly reflected that. "Yes. I am listening to and talking to her. However, we don't have the time to go over this."
An explosion's roar rings out as I inwardly recoil, blinking and almost shutting my eyes as it is near immediately followed by a tremor that had us guardedly firming our hooves and feet to the ground for the moments it took to fade.
Honestly, at that point, it could have either been what was attacking Kris or Comet attacking Kytsaters to create further chaos. And it didn't matter. I was in a hurry and that interrupted my focus as I immediately walked from Ralsei and Susie back to my search of a way out at a brisk pace.
This all had been taking so long I was deeply afraid we'd missed everything and Kris would already be dead. And because the city ruins were so big, there was no telling if we had even made substantial progress toward them.
But eventually, I found us a way into a room some few down that had more color within it. Or brighter colors, which confused me... And then I looked left to see a great, big hole blown through the right corner wall, exposing the room to the outside! "Oh, Thank God!"
I immediately ran out into the open street, passed chunks of debris that likely once made up the missing portion and even kicking a few by mistake.
immediately upon doing so, wind blew through my fur at about the same time as a roar shrieked out in the distance and I came to stand on alert in front of the fallen chunk of the structure I just left. And on the wind, The Vale's voice carried through to my ears in a strange way. {- thou hearest me? Child!}
I furrowed at the urgency and blinked as I jogged further out into the street, trying to keep myself moving. "I-I'm here! What's wrong?"
The wind carried through and with it... I swore I could hear a sigh... It confused me and concerned me... But then she spoke on the next breeze, my hair being flushed backwards softly. {Mine own mind considered thou may hath been incapacitated or worse... Thy friend fleest still, though their pursuer is merciless upon those who showest arrogance. You must continue with all haste!}
I nodded in frown and answered back, "O-okay... Straight down the road, then the stair to the right, Ma'am?"
And she answered back quickly, {Indeed- now, go!}
Her urgent reply almost shook me physically, since well.. yeah. Her words came on brisk wind. But I quickly turned my head and called to the other two, who were just joining me at my back, despite the skeptical stare Susie was giving me. Ralsei looked conflicted, his eyes still nervous and a hand clutching at his scarf. "We need to hurry! C'mon!" It was all I could say in the hurry I was in before I began running down the road, directly toward the stairs down the right way.
Thankfully, there were no Kytsaters around at that moment. Comet and whatever else was out there might have been scaring them off more than one individually would do alone. That said, as I was descending the stairs with Susie in hot pursuit, I couldn't help but worry what kind of creature could create the awful tremors we were feeling besides Comet. And which of them was worse for a... less obvious reason. After all, if he thought to fight it off, thinking he was following my order in some round-about way, I didn't know if he was the strongest thing in this forest. I still stood learning of such things on the fly. He could have just been strong enough to make us feel like mice staring up at a cat... while a lion lurked just around the corner, stalking its lesser.
But that wasn't important, like two other things I learned passively in the passed three or less minutes back then. I think most can guess as to what these things were, but I'll refrain until later... when everything being described isn't still burning.
I was ducking and weaving through passage ways and down roads, sometimes avoiding taking direct paths if there were kytsaters of any considerable number still running about in those places and quickly- with considerable help from Ralsei and Susie, knocking out smaller numbers that were just in the way.
I mostly contributed to that by forming my air-leaf barriers if they struck first, which they usually did.
At some point in the next few minutes, however, the sounds of explosions and roars thinned out... And I grew increasingly worried. Were we too late?
As she had instructed a moment before that consideration came, I ran out into a wider open road and turned right, huffing and puffing, sweating, my chest burning, my legs aching, fatigue present from the use of barriers at a rather steady pace... And then, eyes shooting wide at what I saw ahead, I grunt and fumblingly skid to a halt on my hooves, staff up in defense...
There were only two... but I recognized these two very well. And I remembered the dread I felt closing in around me back in Baht's Village coming back...
It was the two kytsaters that wore the off-eagle and rabbit masks, respectfully. I'm sure you recall them enough. The eagle was the woman with no tail and a stronger build. Though she hadn't summoned her glaive this time, her rusted Knight's armor was a dead ringer, as was the missing horn...
The rabbit was the smaller, frailer boy carrying a staff made like mine, but with a whitening stump as it's head. The same boy that wore a coat that didn't let anyone see much if any of his body, not even his ears, which were kept in the cowl's ear sleeves. He, too, still retained his armored arm.
It made some sense that the obvious fighter wore less covering than the stand-out mage.
... I realize I never described what kind of armor it was beside calling it Knight armor. But that is because it didn't seem like any armor with any one distinction. Maybe that can be attributed to missing parts or poor condition, but I'm certain I've never seen anything that resembled the ornate, yet practical forms they had.
The only real identifier was the runic engravings across the many pieces on the outward facing surfaces. These were not like the DELTARUNEs on other parts of their clothed person. They were like an alphabet. One I swore looked familiar, but could have been alien for as much of that language as I knew.
... As soon as all of us had sighted them, the mage lifted his staff and waved it upright in a sweeping motion, discharging a black and white aura off of it briefly.
Afterwards, a wide-enough circle lit up around us, much to our distress, before it shot up a black and white-highlighted, radiating barrier in most all directions, trapping us where we were!
Susie went dashing forward, axe high as she growled! Then, she brought it crashing against the barrier... but all it did was bounce, glancing her axe backwards with similar force to that which she hit it with and causing her to grunt and nearly fall backwards as the axe came to bash into the ground with a -Kang!- behind her, even as she tried to stop it.
A grunt from her sounded out as she picked it back up over her shoulder and glared passed the pulsing barrier curtain at the mage. She barked, "Why don't you assholes QUIT?!"
The mage plunked his staff's end to the ground and scoffed under his mask. "You shouldn't expect something so... irresponsible. Really. Whatever would possess us to "quit" when you and yours invade from an unseen abode beyond our sky? It would be far more outlandish if we did, rather than did not." Turning to Ralsei with that one, he then asked, "Reason being a mage's strength, you should understand well what I mean, my fellow Dark One. But alas, your reason stands misguided."
That didn't settle well with the goat. He narrowed and shook his head. "We have always resorted to words before wands! When have we ever not? If you just listened to us or given us the benefit of the doubt, surely-"
"Whelps and their talk," the female remarked as she shoved passed her partner, who stared at her as she went on to say, "This all ends when they die. Drop the pretenses, Friam."
The smaller kytsater identified as Friam made a discomforted grunt as they took to hunching a bit upon looking at their friend. A moment that caused the barrier around us to hum and distort briefly, causing Susie to zero in on the weakest point. She grinned and raised her axe.
With a startled gasp of realization, Friam refocused on the barrier and held his wand more firmly forward in his hand, causing the distortion in the barrier to refocus into a solid wall! In turn, the blow clashed the wall and thus Susie's slash again deflected off of it's rippling surface, making her strike the ground and crunch a stone block under her axe's heavy head, sending tiny sparking stones across the ground at our feet fairly harmlessly...
Again, her efforts were rendered useless, much to her grunting annoyance.
The eagle snapped her head toward her youthful partner and growled, hissing, "Keep that damn thing up, fool boy! What of the forest was that?!" Flinching from her words, I watched the boy turn his head from her.
Our purple axe-hander threw a glare out at the younger Kytsater and spat, "What's wrong with you? Drop that sissy barrier, little boy! Or are ya that scared of me?" ... Honestly, I didn't envy him in that moment. But only for a moment...
Disregarding her words and turning his head to his partner in a stiff fashion, he hesitantly asked, "H-Herra... Shouldn't they at least know why?"
"Does it make a difference in the end," she asked in a crude, annoyed tone.
"She's just scared your reason ain't good enough for us." Susie's outburst got the undivided attention of both Kytsaters as she glared them down passed her hair. "See? She's paying attention now~..."
Scoffing at Susie, this Herra folded her arms. "Think what you will. It doesn't matter. I only care that The Shepard wishes you gone. Why should I waste time spelling out why? Your existence is enough, given what you claim to be. I don't anticipate you haven't already been told why in the first place." It was true. The boy's question hinged upon us being naive. It practically seemed redundant.
But I wasn't really worried about that as much...
... At first, I wanted nothing but to shout my throat raw at them for again setting us back from finding Kris... But then, It sprung up in my mind... The tribe and people in the Lacats that had helped and very temporarily sheltered me. Gave me food and helped me escape... When I left, I don't know what happened, but those two were the same two I had identified back then... And so, I narrowed and stepped forward, squeezing my staff. A part of me didn't want to ask... "The Lacats. The rabbit-cat people... What did you do to them?"
The woman hummed in curiosity. "Hm? How would you know we'd been to see the-..." Her head tilted up. "Aaah, I believe I understand~... They swore up and down none of your kind had visited... However, the one or two lesser minds among them couldn't quite be so hushed."
I felt nervous about the way she said that.
She chuckled a little, looking at her hand's fingers, seeming to flex them individually one at a time. "I got a tad rough with a few of them. The fools wouldn't talk, so I made for them a reason. And well... Monster-kin aaaall break so very easy. It's rather difficult, pulling a punch when dusters cave under so little force. I might have broken an arm... crushed some ribs... killed a feck or two~." She turned her masked face toward me as I felt my blood run... but don't ask me if it was cold or hot... "Ah, but what are a few non-believers dead when they would of died anyway?" Dropping her hand, she coldly stated, "I think that's enough talk. I'll be taking your lives, now. So... really, all I've been doing is wasting time."
The world went silent for a slow moment in time to my reckoning... I felt... awful... Knowing that my being there had caused any number of deaths of innocent bystanders made me sick... I had a hand over my mouth and felt a numb, horrible feeling come over me for a moment... And then, that hand was back beside me... and then squeezing tight into a shaking fist. I felt my face contort once with sorrow, eyes snapped shut and teeth clenched... and then again with a violent rage as I glared at the woman, breathing out heavy under that amount of anger. I could have lashed out... But I knew being straight forward and angry was pointless when something was in the way...
... Magic casting 101, for any who do not know... Any spells, incantations or curses enacted by a single individual require a clear depiction and understanding of the subject matter present within the mind to cast in any meaningful clarity. Concentration is key if one is to cast and maintain a magic of any kind for any prolonged period of time, the strength of which is dependent upon the user for over eighty percent and twenty percent dependent on the soundness of the spell's concept.
A barrier is a perfect example of a spell requiring prolonged concentration. And so, it takes a certain amount of mental capacity up while casting it. But a barrier is also most useful in defensive use... not for traps. I guess I would know all about that, really.
And I had my perfect proof that this odd magic that kytsaters used was not in the least bit different from light world monsters' magic only a moment earlier.
It was when Herra interrupted Ralsei and startled her partner with her coldness... The barrier rippled, because the mage was taken off guard and nearly lost concentration.
That meant that all I had to do was bring his concentration down to bring the barrier down. Or just knock him out.
Even for as mad as I was in that moment, I'd never stoop to the eagle's low.
Furthermore, a barrier can protect you from harm... But the barrier being used was flawed against any magically adept monster using a spell that didn't need to be fired straight. From the way it acted, that being the blockage of physically connecting blows upon it's surface... this barrier was specifically made to work only for stopping anything that hit it, not anything that did not. There inlaid the flaw.
Any complete barrier was worth nothing if the intention was to use it to trap and kill. No attack could be made to kill us if there was no opening in it.
Herra didn't want that barrier to come down. Obviously, she had a way of killing us while we were inside of it...
And so, all I did was look up with my eyes alone in a way that made it look like I was rolling them... and saw in passing that the blackness above us was no rippling thing that was comprised of itself and white radiating in tandem. It was only black sky above us, solid and uninterrupted... The barrier had a hole.
Of course it would have to. Otherwise, there was no way to meaningfully do anything directed at us, regardless of if they meant to go for a physical or magical approach.
And that meant that this was a two way street... They could attack us or we could attack them.
And so, I considered with some ridged haste what could do the job. I wasn't well trained in combat magic, but all I needed was to formulate a spell that hit with enough force or gave undeniable reason to focus attention elsewhere...
And then, it hit me. I knew the perfect spell and I had none other than Ms. Toriel to thank for it.
I raised and held my staff forward, looking at the boy with a narrow as my magic lit the gems. They flashed their green and red briefly before their light died once again.
Nothing appeared to happen...
And so the larger kytsater scoffed and shook her head. "Not very skilled in magicks, are you?"
I only stared at Friam, unblinkingly.
And then, it happened...
-PAH!-
Fire exploded at the boy's backside and caught him with it's many licking flames, singeing his rear end and causing him to yelp as he made an awkward stagger forward!
In that moment, Herra went stiff, before jerking around to see him patting his backside over and over in whimpering panic! He was trying to put out fire that had caught onto his clothes, his yet flailing tail and those tendrils! And in that same moment... the barrier BURST into glassy shards raining down around us, to Ralsei and Susie's surprise!
The shards harmlessly crashed down against the block road before breaking down further and further into fading, opaque shards, assuring we were free...
... Susie grinned before raising her axe at chest level and taking off full tilt in a dash toward Herra! In cackles, she shouted, "COME 'ERE!"
Herra whirled around to meet her and tried to summon a magical weapon, but as whatever it was half-materialized, Susie struck through and shattered the weapon's half-made form with a bash from her axe to the woman's side- surprising me as it raked across her body with it's single blade, ripping beyond fur through skin and causing the eagle to growl in pain!
And then, Susie brought the axe head back from the first swing. Not bothering to flip it, she took a heaving second swing with the blunt end and BASHED the woman in the head while letting out a roar! The blow sent Herra down and into the ground as if she were pulled down by an anchor. She took one bounce of impact before her body was still, splayed on it's side over the ground...
Out cold...
...
Before I go on, you're probably wondering what just happened. Well, that fire that burst on Friam's back was the spell I had cast.
It's called Cantrip. It's the weakest of all offensive fire spells, but also the easiest to learn and flexible, too. The spell takes the form of a medium-sized ball of fire and explodes when it tags someone or something. Better yet, it can be materialized anywhere by Monsters who possess the capacity for Projection Casting.
Not going to spend too much time on this, but an explanation is absolutely necessary for those with a more basic understanding of magic...
There are four ways to cast a spell or use magic abilities: Contact, Shooting, Breathing and Projection. All are self-explanatory, though Projection is the one that the fewest Monsters can use. The rule obviously extends to Hybrid or otherwise Differential Species.
The way it works is akin to throwing a voice. Casting a spell is perfectly visible through the hand or catalysts like my staff in flashes or glows, but where you are casting it is not. Projection technique can cast a spell out to form anywhere in your visible vicinity. Though in more extreme cases, the tax for casting is higher.
Furthermore, there is no visible connecting line that indicates where you are casting your spell from. Though, it is well known that most monsters choose or have to cast them directly from themselves. Of the Monster races that I have seen capable of Projection Casting, I can only confirm Reindeer and Capricorn- that is Ms. Toriel's race... More on that another time. I want to elaborate, uhm... But Kris is giving me the "your rambling again" eye~.
/Who, me? Never.\
Shut it~...
Basically, what that means is that my Cantrip could be materialized behind someone or above them or anywhere around them for that matter. It takes some effort, but it won't drain me.
The best part about Cantrip, however, is that it can be "set". And what that means is that it can travel or be made into a stationary trap... I made it into a traveling fire ball across the air behind Friam and set it to run into his backside.
Fire is fire. Even the weakest flame can be terrible if given the right amount of fuel. I just pumped a little more into it than usual to make a small bonfire...
The only thing I wasn't sure of in my plan.. never happened... I honestly feared Herra would be able to read my mind since I had to really focus on what I wanted my spell to do, but it seemed like she didn't even try. My guess? Too full of herself...
Back to where I left off...
... Having just put the fire out, the mage grunt and shakily pulled his staff up to cast, but... Well, he found himself suddenly sniped in the staff-wielding hand by a shot of frigid magic.
It exploded into glistening crystals all around his arm as he shrieked and dragged awkwardly back, frozen arm hanging down as he held it's encased form!
And then, suddenly ice exploded around a leg, coating it in the same crystalline shards and stopping him in his tracks with his next shriek... He snapped his head up to us, shaking from the cold... and found the culprit of his current predicament.
It hadn't been me. I know no ice spells.
Ralsei's finger-gun was raised, the index finger's tip smoking from the chill... He was furrowing at the downed mage. Obviously, he still hated fighting...
I walked up to the boy still yet masked as his partner snoozed away on the stone floor. All the while, he squirmed against his icy entrapment, only to break the one leg's iced holds and then... go falling backwards with a yelp onto his side, the iced leg incapable of balancing didn't crack, only chip at the edges. Whatever grade that spell Ralsei used was, it was a complete freeze to anything it could hit. Friam was not strong enough to break it's ice.
As I neared the fallen kytsater, I narrowed him down and breathed out my anger as he feebly tried to push away, faced up at me... before shaking my head. "I should hurt you like your friend hurt those villagers... But then, I'd be as bad as her... I don't have time for you. So, just stay out of our way..."
After that, I walked passed him and turned to look at Ralsei while the kytsater squirmed and struggled against his ice restraints. "We need to go. It can't be far now, but I'm worried about how quiet it's been."
He nodded while Susie, who was saving her axe up, made a face about leaving the two alive. I'm sure that's what it was about. Then, she looked at me... with an expression I couldn't read.
Taking this as a signal I could start out again, I turned and ran from the scene, holding my staff at an angle easy to do so with. Ral and Su were in tow, this time keeping up a bit better with me. "Ms. Vale, are you still there? Are we close?"
... I was left running aimlessly down that road for an uncomfortable few moments, panicking with every second. I dreaded to know if something happened... And then, wind whistled passed my ear, carrying her voice, exasperated.
{The road leadeth onward unto thy companion... The danger has for the moment abated, however, with.. abashedly little injury, I must admit." I gasped at that informative tidbit and bounced to a slow halt, huffing as I stared up into the air... "Though, the injury sustained preside within yon friend's guide... They cannot be so lucky again. I-I would yet make haste... Though, thee may rest easy to know of their survival. I had not expected such a miraculous event. Humankind truly is unique...}
... I squint in confusion. What did that mean? I didn't understand... But the part I did understand was that Kris was okay... That was good, even if I felt crummy for the fact that we did nothing to help save them. They apparently saved themselves, Kris and the guide. I still had no idea who it was with him... Still, the one portion at the end had me wondering about what it was that apparently Kris did...
"Hey, why are we stopping?!"
To Susie's shout-out question, I turned around and sweat. "S-sorry... She says Kris is okay for now, but that we should still hurry. They're just down this road with one other who's injured."
"Wha-" I had already started to jog away again. I still just wanted to see Kris. Still, I heard Susie shout out, "Tell your friend she's bipolar as shit! God!"
And so we went on at a brisk pace, following the old, depreciated paths and breaking-to-broken buildings. My eyes were open for any movement. Any signs of any figures...
... That was when I saw them. Two figures, one leaned up heavily against the other, stood still with the uninjured of the pair holding a sword out...
The uninjured swordsman wore plated metal armor with a ripped up red and blue cape or scarf fallen over one shoulder, worn out from wear or damage. The armor covered the hands and the legs up from the feet and to the knees. A black cloth lay under it all, covering up the whole body.
If there was more to describe, forgive me, but the second I saw the face of the figure... everything else didn't matter.
A face I knew so well from childhood making an expression I hadn't seen on it for a long time... Shock. Understandable, given they were supposed to be the one who found us. Right out in the open were two characteristics that threw me off for a split second. Medium length black hair and pale baby-blue skin on an angular face baring dark-red, dim eyes shaped like almonds.
And then, the rest fell in line with what I knew and understood. A smallish human nose. Human lips. Human ears that barely showed in all the hair. All-around normal... for a human. That's at least what I considered normal. I had all of one human friend and I considered them the norm.
Even with the two differences, only one person owned that face... It was Kris.
I could see a smile stretch over their face as emotion welled up in their eyes. "Noelle...?" ... I had missed that voice.
... At some point I had stopped in my tracks... only to start jogging.. and then running toward them, feeling a wetness stream my cheeks and this broken smile form across my muzzle.
There was a quick moment where Kris set their unidentified friend aside and quickly stood back up before I essentially almost blasted them off their booted feet in the middle of wrapping them in a hug. There were stumbles, but we eventually stood there... hugging it out...
We were dirty and hurting, my body ached in a way it never had for all the crap we went through in the span of no more than a half hour, but definitely less. I didn't care... I had just found my best friend again. "Kris...!"
Who cared about the white lie? Who cared about the stress at the moment? What did it matter that destiny was calling? Here was a genuine friend... One that I had for all my life... I certainly didn't care for anything else. For that moment, I just wanted to lose myself and reunite with them.
The dark world could... or would have to spare a moment...
"I'm glad you're okay, Noelle... I'm sorry you ended up in our mess." They had said that.
I shook my head and chuckled through a soft sob. "I-it can wait... Just... just shut up and hug me back...~!"
... When I felt their arms slowly return my squeeze, it all felt lighter. The situation, my anxiety, the day and life itself... There's... nothing like reassurance from a childhood friend... My thoughts drifted back to Kris, Kid and I... Our childhood...
My eyes opened for a moment, still filled with tears, to consider again how things were different then... So different... The worry in my soul came back to take a bite at the moment as I recalled how Kris had been acting strange... But I pushed it aside to just... bury myself in the shoulder of the friend I wanted so badly to see all that time...
The worry wasn't going away. And we'd both have to face harsh reality soon... But for the moment... I just wanted that hug to last...
Maybe it was awkward, seeing as we had three pairs of eyes on us, judging for themselves. I can just imagine Susie was rolling her eyes back then. And knowing him now, Ralsei was probably smiling his approval. All I can say for sure about Sh-... Ydith... was that she was watching...
... It could all just wait until the moment ended...
-CLICK!-
... ... ...
This chapter was a headache.
I realized that I made several oversights in that the booms and collapsing of buildings would be audible to Noelle and co. The city can't be big enough that these things are inaudible with distance. Buildings crumbling down does not a soft sound make.
Not only that, but I had some trouble with one other detail. When it's not the focus of a scene, you tend to forget that this whole story takes the form of a past reflection- a recollection, better yet. So, at one point, I forgot that it was supposed TO BE TOLD IN PAST TENSE... Yeeah. I know I told the first chapter of this story in Present Tense- something I paddled back and forth about redoing and ultimately said no to, but I still have no intent to move to present tense. That's just confusing.
But anyway, let's move from that. I updated my bio a few days ago to try and explain my writing style, but to be frank, those rules are not completely accurate to how I wrote in the past. Maybe I should spruce things up a bit one day... Or just get on with it and return to it once things are more comfortably settled. Yeah, that sounds better.
... When writing this "part", I realized that Noelle is the character I've written in the perspective of the most, which... I guess makes sense, given this is her "chapter." And boy, do I have plans for her. Those plans are already well in place and I hope you all will enjoy what I do. Fans of the #1 Christmas Reindeer Fan will like where this goes, I think. I am not switching the main character, though. Kris is still the one.
If this was a slice of life, oh absolutely! But Noelle has one problem that I think we can all agree on where Drama and Action are concerned: She is too dependent on others.
Let's talk about that. My version, at least, by what we know from Chapter 1 and what I have just written is not okay alone. And when I decide a main character, I go over in my head who could make it without any help.
Kris has the only claim to main character in that one. They have a reload button handy. Even if they die, they'll come back again and again until they get it right. They aren't strong and they aren't perfect. But they have no need to be, here.
Susie? Listen. I love her. She is not a protagonist by nature and that shows through. But that is the problem. She needed to be guided to the right course several times and even then, choosing the "good" option does not come to her easily. And there's nothing wrong with that. We'd probably struggle, too, if we had to work with bad conditions or off-partners. She almost acts as such a contrarian that it takes her having to save those she genuinely considers to be her friends and following their example for her to go against herself. She likes chaos. We love her for it, but that's not very heroic... In a Dn'D setting, she's absolutely Chaotic Neutral.
That isn't to say she'll never change, but I'm not giving you the answer as to how.
Ralsei. Now, he is an enticing option. And smarter than people consider. How smart? Well, don't you worry. You'll see... But he does have a considerable drawback. A few. When Ralsei acts, he never considers fighting an option. Harm is not in him to do naturally. He is so true wannabe hero that he refuses to do harm to his opponents that would last passed an inconvenience. Straight-laced and kinder than anyone else, he is also very naive. But also not stupid. His experience as seemingly abandoned has left him with a massive question upon his worth. And that's the enticing part. Worthiness, to him, is in his title. Prince. Either it is what he is or it is what he wants so badly to be... But my version, at the very least, has developed doubts.
After all, how can anyone be certain an ancient prophecy is foretelling anyone, no matter the resemblance or title, as The Chosen One(s)? What answers could any arrive to when consulting monuments and dusty words instead of the people who left them?
And I'll straight up say it. Berdly is so not an option that I can't imagine it. If ever he thinks he's a Delta Warrior, it's vanity... which does give me ideas, but lets stay the hand.
... Now, if we started talking about the adults of Hometown, there are no shortages for interesting candidates... Huh.
By the way... :3 No. I didn't forget about them. I never forgot about them... Keep that in mind. It won't go where you think it will~.
Lastly, I hope things were clear enough in the Cantrip and Magic Casting 101 segments. I have been dying to explain how some of the magic in the games works and hopefully, this contextualizes some of it. I almost went with another explanation for a bit of it, but I ultimately didn't like how it sounded like something from Final Fantasy XIV- not because it's a bad explanation, but because I am not trying to be a boring copycat.
It only made sense to explain it here, though, since "Cantrip" is hardly the only spell witnessed to have the Projection property and capacity. To name a few, there is Directional Spear, Spear Spike, Magic Missle, an entire arsenal of Bone related attacks, Pastry Party, Summon Tuffet, G. Blaster, Electrons, BoMbs, Star Shower, Lightning Strike and Pellets. (All of these names are non-canon, but if you know, you know.)
And as many of you know, Contact, Shooting and Breathing are all in the games as well... Technically, Breathing can also be called other things. However, those are mostly weird exceptions that don't work like any other examples. We don't need to double the types of Casting just to give every last one a specific pocket to exist in. That's real whatever...
But let's finish up, here. Otherwise, I just won't submit the chapter and that's no good...
Spoiler alert for the next chapter: It's stressful.
Find a pillow when it comes out if you've been squirming through the previous stressers we've had, here.
The only way to work through your problems is to bring them up, right?
Next time: P21: Discussion Overdue