Well, that was a short two weeks. I've haven't been writing as much as I have over the month beforehand, but I'm far ahead of schedule anyway, so here's the second piece. There isn't much action, because this chapter is more about introducing how I will be writing the characters and their interactions, giving people a chance to both get used to my personal style and to point out any OoC-ness that you may notice. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 1: Welcome Changes

Noire and Severa fell out of the blue circle, now above most trees. Noire scrambled to her feet, whereas Severa had landed gracefully on hers.

'The sky… blue sky! It's blue, Severa! The sky is blue!' Noire was drunk on the novelty of the clear weather.

'I have eyes, Noire. Looks good. I can barely remember the last time the sky wasn't pitch black.'

'Wh-what do we do now? Where are we? Where are the others?!' Severa could tell Noire was about to have a panic attack as she searched around for her talisman. 'Where is it!? Where's my talisman!?'

Great, thought Severa. Now she's hyperventilating. She slapped her companion, a stern look in her eyes. 'Snap out of it! Lucina took it off you remember? You don't need some ruddy piece of metal anymore; there's no-one we need to fight. We meet at Ylisstol the night before Emmeryn dies and Lucina will give it back.'

Noire rubbed her now red cheek. 'Okay.' she whispered.

Severa rolled her eyes and sighed. 'Fine, I'm sorry I hit you, alright? Now come on, we need to figure out the date.' She picked a direction and started walking.

'That's okay.' came the near-silent reply.

Brady, Owain and Cynthia all landed with a thud.

'Ah! As if me back wasn't bad enough.' Brady groaned.

Cynthia's pegasus panicked at the sudden change in gravity and flew around for several seconds before calming and returning to Cynthia's side. Cynthia grimaced as she used the beast to drag herself to her feet.

'Ooh! That was hardly the most heroic thing I've ever done.'

'Ha! Such meagre bruising will scarcely dampen our spirits in the long haul.' Owain had quickly sprung to his feet. 'Come, great paragons! We set course for Ylisstol. Owain Dark, Great Avenger of the Night, shall lead the way!'

Brady struggled to stand, relying heavily on his staff. 'Yeah, well, if Mister Dark could let the other two "paragons" know where we are, that'd be great.'

Owain smiled awkwardly in their direction. 'Ha ha, yeah, I guess I don't know.' His sword hand began to twitch violently. 'Aha! Never fear, comrades, for the hand shall give us direction.'

Before Owain could leave the pair bewildered and lost, a cackling voice came from behind the nearest trees.

'Don't know about you, boys, but I reckon an "Avenger of the Night" ought to fetch us a good lot of coin back home.'

A band of barbarians revealed themselves hidden behind the trunks of a forest.

'Little did our three young heroes know they had stumbled into a trap, but less still did their captors know-' Owain was interrupted a swift crack on the head by Brady's staff.

'Quit yer yappin' and jes' kill 'em.'

'Ooh, the cripple's got a mouth on him, but can he walk the talk? Oh, sorry, guess he can't walk at all.' The leading thug's jeer was met with a chorus of laughter from the onlooking brigands.

'That tears it!' Brady shifted the intricately patterned metal dial on his staff and slammed it into the dirt, releasing its energy.

A yellow light encompassed the gang leader and he was teleported to Brady's position as he raised the staff again to bring it down on the man's face.

'Agh! Gods! You're gonna pay for that, brat!' He brought his large axe around for a killing blow, but Owain got there first, his sword slicing into the barbarian's guts.

'And so, with their leader dead on the forest floor, the cowardly bandits turned and fled the deadly triumvirate.'

'What's the betting we got no such luck?'

'Oh, don't be so mean, Brady. I like Owain's little stories.'

'"Little stories"? You offend me, dear cousin, I-'

'By the gods, can we just get this over with?' Brady turned the dial again, preparing for long-range healing as the rampant mob charged them.

'I've got to say, I'm pretty glad I ended up with you, Nah. The location could've been better, though.'

The pair trudged through the deep swamp, occasionally needing to pull each other's legs out of a particularly thick part.

'Only because you're a coward and know I'm actually capable of handling this myself.'

'I'm not a coward!' The young taguel insisted indignantly. 'I've just got to look out for myself to preserve my species!'

'And as I've said before, if we don't stop Grima, you'll be the last taguel corpse. You can turn into a giant weasel, you've don't even have anything to worry about.'

'I'm a bunny, not a weasel!'

'The difference being…?'

'A bunny is cute and adorable, whereas weasels are evil and cunning. Just look at one; they're clearly plotting something against us rabbits. Plus, a bunny can't exactly defend itself as well as a weasel can.'

'How about this, then? Either you help when it comes to a fight, or I ditch you here.'

'Alright, alright. But couldn't we at least transform to get to Ylisstol faster?'

'If you want to use up your only stone, fine; don't come crying to me when you run into the Grimleal and haven't got any juice left.'

Yarne sighed heavily. 'At the very least, can we get to that building?'

'What building?' Nah scanned the area; unrelenting tides of mud in all directions as far as she could tell.

'That one on the horizon.' Yarne pointed at a vague grey object, which looked more like a rock and even then, only if Nah squinted.

'Hold on a second.' Nah rifled through her bag, grabbing a fist-sized, emerald green stone.

She looked at the grey blob as her eyes began to shift into those of a reptile. The irises turned red as the skin around them became scaly and shone with a crimson hue. She snapped back to her normal features, letting the stone drop back into the bag.

'How did you even see that?'

'Hey, just because you're the apex predator, doesn't mean you're better at everything.'

'Well, if you're going to transform to get there, you should carry me; one of us at least should conserve energy.'

'Hey! Why can't you carry me?'

'Because you're the one complaining and if we get into a fight, I'm going to need my stone more than you'll need yours.'

Yarne looked sheepishly at the ground as he accepted his role of Nah's steed. His entire body began sprouting hair and what he already had elongated into a thick down. His face stretched and features became animalistic, his teeth sharpening into serrated knives.

When the transformation was complete, he was three times the size of a man, with powerful hind legs and razor-sharp claws. Light brown and white fur covered his body and two large floppy ears hung at the side of his head. Blue leather armour was strapped around his midsection, having grown with his body.

He turned his head towards Nah and, in a gravelly voice, said, 'Hold on tight; most people aren't used to going taguel speeds.'

'I thought you could only run fast if you knew it was in the opposite direction of a fight.' Nah chided as she clambered onto Yarne's back. 'Besides, I'm a manakete – I can probably handle faster speeds than you can pull off anyway.' She shook off a particularly large clump of mud which had stuck to her leg. 'Ugh; I really hope there's some way to wash off at that place.'

Annoyed, Yarne took off across the landscape, his larger form less hindered by the swamp. Nah screamed as she nearly flew off his back and tightened her grip on his armour, digging her fingers into the spaces between leather and skin.

Yarne felt the air flowing through his fur, welcoming the opportunity to stretch his muscles. Within a matter of minutes, they had reached the building, which was now obviously some sort of temple and only one floor tall. The intricately carved decorative features ordained every inch of the outside walls. It appeared to be based on plants, not that either of the pair could see much more than a few tufts of reeds in the slowly thickening darkness.

Yarne skidded to a halt just outside the temple's wide set of stairs leading up to the huge wooden doors, spraying mud into the air about him. Nah jumped down as he returned to human form.

'Gods, you flung mud everywhere; it's even in my hair now.' She tried to remove as much as she could, but with little success.

'All I want to do right now is sleep; it's getting late and we still don't know where we actually are, so we may as well get some shut-eye.' Yarne began his climb up the stairs.

'Wait, don't you think it's even a tiny bit suspicious? A random temple in literally the middle of nowhere and we still can't see any other sign of civilisation. That's a little too convenient for my liking.'

Yarne pulled a face of mixed sadness, tiredness and boredom. 'But I'm tiiiired. We'll just go in a little bit and sleep by the door if it bothers you that much.'

Nah still looked uneasy, but conceded to Yarne's desire to sleep. 'I suppose it can't hurt if we're only a foot away from the door…'

'Gods. Of all people, why'd I have to be stuck with you?'

Inigo bounded along after Kjelle, skipping around trees and leaping over smaller plants. 'Because we're connected; it's fate, I tell you. We're destined to be together.'

'Tell fate to get back to his real job of denying you every woman on the planet.'

Inigo recoiled dramatically. 'Oh, that's harsh. Why would you so injure one who loves you so?'

Kjelle turned her lance towards him. 'Are you going to shut up, or do I have to stab this sort of behaviour out of you?'

Inigo stared at the lance, contemplating his choice. 'Er… I'll be quiet.'

Kjelle twisted her lance and jabbed his stomach with the blunt end.

'Ow! Hey! I said I'd stop.'

'Can't hurt to be sure.'

Sure enough, Inigo's silence only lasted a few short minutes.

'Where are we? Come to think of it; when are we?'

'Wait.' Kjelle held up a hand, pretending to listen out for something.

'What is it?' Inigo whispered.

'Nothing; just cherishing the last seconds of you not talking. Anyway, to answer your question, I'm pretty sure I recognise this forest and we're going towards Ylisstol. As for the date; have we met anyone to ask?'

'No need to bite my head off. Anger mars your natural beauty.'

'Hopefully it'll be marred enough for you to stop harassing me.'

'No amount of anger could do such damage as to make you unattractive.'

Kjelle shook her head and sighed. 'Just so I know; are you going to keep talking for the entire journey? I want to weigh up your usefulness in a fight against how annoying you are.'

'In the fight for love, words are my weapon and I shall not rest until I have claimed your heart.'

'A simple "yes" would have sufficed.'

Kjelle waited until he had bounced over to the side of her free hand before using it to slap him, hard enough to send him spinning to the floor. He spent the next half a minute stretching his jaw and blinking tears away, buying her another chunk of silence.

'Damn. That was a wallop and a half.' he groaned, pushing himself up from the wet forest floor.

'Yes, I do think it was rather well-placed.' Kjelle mused, admiring her handiwork. 'Though I definitely could've got more power behind it; probably could've left a proper bruise, rather than just a red mark.'

Before Inigo could complain further, the pair stumbled out of the trees and onto a path. Looking left, they could see an exit to a clearing only ten metres away.

'Aha! Told you I knew what I was doing.' Kjelle announced as they came into a large open field, a small town at the other end of it.

'Um… I hate to rain on your parade, but that's way too small to be Ylisstol.'

'It's better than you would've done if you'd been on your own. Come on; we'll ask someone in town when and where exactly we are.'

It took only a couple of minutes to reach the town, at which point, they found a sign saying "Welcome to Southtown".

Inigo looked at it, slightly confused. 'Isn't Southtown on the other side of a forest to Ylisstol?'

Kjelle was clearly unimpressed with herself. 'Yup. Not only have I managed to not lead us to Ylisstol, I've actually taken us further from it. That's just great, isn't it?' She let her shield and lance lie against the town's small outer wall.

'Oh, well. Like you said, it's not like I could've done any better. We can still ask someone inside what the date is.'

Kjelle grumbled to herself as the pair entered the town.

Gerome landed kneeling on a long wood and rope bridge, Minerva falling below, but gathering her bearings soon enough to fly back up in a matter of seconds. Faint roars erupted from around the area and Gerome looked around at what he knew must be Valm's Wyvern Valley.

The pillars of rock dotted across the landscape dominated his view. Bridges of the same kind as the one he stood on stretched between them, allowing easy passage for any people who decided to journey through. Below him, at the bottom of the valley, very little plant life grew, most of the available sunlight blocked by the pillars.

Topping the constructions themselves were lush patches of grass and flowers, visited by insects of all species. Small mammals sprinted between the cover of larger plants and holes leading to their warrens.

Wyverns of all colours and sizes circled the site. One glided down for a closer look at what it probably assumed was its next meal, landing at one end of the bridge. It bared its teeth, snarling at Gerome, but didn't dare move onto the fragile construction.

Minerva came to her master's rescue, roaring at the young red male and landing near it and stretching her wings and neck as a sign of dominance. She flapped her wings at it but it stood its ground, keeping low and hopping backward from the advancing beast. Minerva whipped around, gouging a scar in the ground between the two with her tail. The male realised it would stand no chance in a fight and departed, turning to fly away from Minerva.

Gerome finished the journey to the end of the bridge, where he moved to stroke Minerva's head.

'Thank you, Minerva.' He looked around at the largest gathering of wyverns known to the continent. 'I had hoped to leave this until after we had dealt with Grima, but I suppose this is Naga's way of sending me a sign.'

Minerva was sniffing the ground and her tail waved happily across the grass. Gerome moved his hand along her neck to the saddle around her chest. He undid the clasp, pulling the leather seat off of her back.

'Go. Live at least some of the life my mother denied you.'

The beast turned to see her master, growling inquisitively. She ran and leapt off of the nearest cliff, roaring as she soared upward.

The masked rider deduced which direction was north and navigated his way to the south-eastern exit from the valley. He turned to glance once more at his best friend and, to his surprise, the large blue reptile was flying over to him.

He turned back as Minerva flew past him and landed a few feet away. She turned to him and dropped the saddle she had picked up between them, nosing it closer to him. She held her head low, indicating her willingness to continue with him.

'I suppose we are each other's memento of her. Very well.' He locked the saddle back onto the wyvern's belly and climbed into the seat. 'Thank you. The journey would have been lonely without you.'

So ends my first chapter. I could have sworn it was longer, but I checked and the others are all about the 4,000 words I promised. I particularly enjoyed writing the Nah/Yarne section here and describing the transformations (I'll be doing more of that later as well). Oh, and fair warning: if you're going to ask "was there a reason you did(n't)…", there undoubtedly is. I am constantly thinking about the big picture (it's why I can't handle writing short stories - I even develop larger plots in my head when I read my friends' short stories), so there's probably a reason for "…".

That's enough rambling from me. School starts up again in three days, so I'll be able to judge whether I can speed up the uploads, but expect Chapter 2 to appear in the first week of October.

Have a nice day,

TRN