... I had been walking for hours from then on. I was sweaty both from before and after the fact, making my fur stick to me and itch. My hooves felt ready to split. My calves were tense. I was sick of carrying around a staff... The only reason I didn't throw the thing away was because it was absolutely my life-line to Comet... And if all else failed, I was at least fairly confident that I could use it to give someone a mild concussion... Whatever the case, I wish he would have let me at LEAST ride him to wherever he'd gone off to. Though, I guess I needed to work on being some form of master. I've never had a pet before... But you'd be smart to never call Comet that. He might be sweet, but he has his dislikes...
... The next time I made myself look up, sweat dripping straight down my face, I gasped softly in relief and started to jog forth a little.
I had finally arrived to a place I truly would feel safe within... at least for a little while...
It was a small village teeming with a race of people I had once again never seen before. But we'll get to them in a moment.
The village itself was very interesting. Houses made like nests with branches and vines or whatever worked, but with simple roofs "tiled" quaintly by Autumn leaves. Some houses were large-ish with more detailed decor and some smaller and more simple. Some sat on the ground and merely rested like tents, but most others were indeed planted high up in the trees on platforms held up on branches made by... more branches, really. It was all tied together and suspended up by ropes or even vines naturally growing off of the trees. Both made fences around the platforms to keep people from falling. Even more impressive, all of these platforms were linked together by what appeared to be rope slides or wood and rope bridges.
Silhouettes hustled all over by crossing said rope slides via hooks made from their magics. I could tell, because the hooks were the only things that lit up with a variety of colors. Those who did not have places to go in a hurry used the bridges to walk to where they were going.
It was all very elaborate, larger than I'd expect from someplace in a forest, and wide spread. It had to be half a mile long and wide, if not oddly shaped. That said, it was also very primitive. There was no way someone like myself could have lived in a place like that. Staring up at the nearest tree-mounted house in awe, I honestly wondered how someone would get up there. Certainly, there were the rope slides that led to all the platforms and houses, but... I didn't see any leading up to the top level in the first place...
And that's when I was treated to the exact how, to my alarmed gasp. I hopped out of the way, recoiling with my hands up in defense as a rope was dropped down, thumping upon the grass... Slowly, I let up on my guard, but kept cautious as I stared at it. It wriggle a bit, making me tense. Then, I turned my attention up just in time for someone to come almost face to face with me, smile over his fanged muzzle. "And indeed, a lass ye' are," came his loose tongue'd accent and smooth, young voice.
I screamed a little and jumped back again, readying my staff and pointing it at his face, much as he blinked a little at it's gnarly end. My eyes wide, I shivered uncontrollably in my fear and warned him. "Stay back! I-I'll use this! ..." And then, I blinked when he did absolutely nothing for a full half minute...
He even let me get a full look at him.
He seemed to be a sort of cabbit lagomorph or something, complete with a cat-like tail that had a bunny-tail-like pom on the end. He possessed absolutely massive ears as long as my arms and as wide as my head that could probably hear for miles... were it not for the great amount of fluff inside. His face was very rabbit like, but his silver eyes were slit like a cat's with blue pupils. The rest of his body was shaped much like a cat's, but with stronger back legs with large paws. They were complete with hooking claws that retracted
I am very certain I've said this for Shorn's paws, but uh... getting kicked by those feet would have hurt... a lot. There was substantially more surface area, so possibly even more than!
The rest of his people were just like him, but their bodies varied in shapes and their fur patterns were too intricate for words. His shape, in specific, was slim, but well-built. His legs were the thickest things to his body that he had, but even they didn't look the most muscular or overly thick. Just average... Or as average as you would find in a forest when survival was for the fittest.
His fur pattern was amazing, like the rest of his kinds' fur patterns. The most normal details on him were his colors of black and white. Just about everything was black, except for his muzzle, fingers, his toes and the tops of his legs- not to mention the pom on his tail, which were all white. As for the rest of him, I saw white shapes in his pelt that belonged on mosaics or in a piece done by a famous painter like Sticafro. It was common for cats to have amazing fur patterns, but this was like staring at something else entirely.
The only shapes that I can recount from his fur clearly were the ones on his forehead. They were three thick crescents interconnected through their backs, but toward the one side and not the middle. They sat on his forehead, large and standing out above the rest, considering you couldn't miss them. On one ear, there also appeared to be a star-like pattern overlapping itself toward the bottom. One brow also appeared to be highlighted white while I could not make out the other.
He and his people wore the most "free" clothing out of any of the tribes I saw in the forest. Simply put, tribal loin cloths were about all the men wore. They were simple sheets of an unknown black fabric with beaded waist bands. The DELTA RUNE was painted on them in white.
The women wore black, bird (?) feathered skirts and bikinis with beads along their straps and waist bands, much like the men. The DELTA RUNE was painted on a cup of their bras.
I couldn't help but stare in increasing alarm as my very presence began to gather a crowd of these people. I frowned, backing away and shaking. I had no good idea of what they wanted, but I was scared. That was all I knew.
The original male blinked with a crocked brow, tilting his head. With a small smile, he dropped off of the rope he had been hanging from this entire time and huffed. "Whoa, whoa, Lass! You can calm yourself. We ain't meanin' ye' no harm. Tis' plain you're harmless as well, otherwise ye'd have smacked me up the jaw by now. Yeah?" He had no idea I could have well accidentally called Comet...
... Even still... I furrowed my brow further and dropped my staff from the ready, looking away while I sniffled. I-I know I'm crying a lot, but keep in mind that I was constantly being hit with unknowns and scared all the while it was happening. It was a case of constant overwhelm... "I-I just... I just want to go h-home..." Small tears began to well up on my lids as I covered my eyes. "I don't e-even know what I'm doing... I don't know why I'm..."
"Whoa! Ye' can take it easy there, lass. Ain't any use in the water sports..."
... I let my hand drop enough to peek with one eye, staring at the man as he smiled down at me. ... He was much taller than I had initially thought, yet I felt... okay... He wasn't intimidating, to be honest. I dried my eyes and sniffled a little, before looking up at him again, clearing my throat. "S-sorry... This is all very new to me... I-I mean, this isn't my home. I don't belong here..."
He took a moment to grasp his chin in thought as the people behind him began to whisper amongst themselves about something. I guess no matter where you go, there is still gossip, huh?
He smiled and stood with hands on his hips. "What's yer' name, lass? Mine's Baht. That's ah, not ar. I know my accent maybe makes that a tad confused."
I looked up at him, probably looking both lost and confused, and said, "Well... I-I'm Noelle..." I dropped my head again and finished with, "But... Why does that matter...?"
He shrugged while his tail did a swish and looked at me with an honest expression, but a neutral one. "Dunno... But the way I look on it, Noelle, everyone who's 'ere now 'as a reason ter' be here, including ye'self. So, while I know ye' ain't of around 'ere, I kinda fig'er ye' got two choices: fig'er that out ye'self or let ye'self walk on cryin' about yer' misfortunes. Dunno 'bout you, but that second one sounds a mite dim."
He extended an arm to me and laid a hand on my shoulder, even as I looked away, lowering my head while I sniffled. "You sound like my dad..."
"Might be 'scause I am a dad."
I blinked up at the man in surprise while my ears bounced up a little, my cheeks pinkening a little. "W-wait... really?"
He chuckled a little, shaking his head as he said, "Nah~. That was me seein' if I could get ya' believin'!"
The admission made me stare blankly for a moment while he chuckled. I cracked up a little, even if I furrowed my brow. But I quickly recovered before leveling a narrow-eyed smirk at him, quirking an ear while I tightly folded my arms over my staff. "Har har. Very funny," I dry replied
With a hearty "hah", the man smiled honestly down at me and pat me on the shoulder rather roughly, causing me to yelp and shift a little. "Éy, there's a laugh. Even if it's fake, I'll take it!"
I made a soft giggle at this odd man with a wider, if not more nervous smile. "You know, you're pretty weird..." ... With a more appreciative smile, I went on. "But, thank you. You don't know me and you still went out of your way to cheer me up a little." I lowered my gaze to the ground tiredly. "But uh... b-backing up a little... I.. don't know what I'm meant to do beyond what a masked person told me to do... I just..." I frowned and looked off to the side, slumping my shoulders. In a pitiful tone, I told him, "I just want to go home..."
His smile vanished. The man eyed me for a moment as his tail twitched... He tilted his head and asked, "Ain't meanin' to ignore yer' hurts, but... The masked person..." I turned my attention back up to him, blinking as he cocked a brow. "They wouldn'ta happened uh have a queer tail with tentacles an' what not, would they áve?"
That he got that sort of detail right surprised surprised me... I nodded with a new-found curiosity and said, "I couldn't tell what sort of monster they were... or what gender they were, really... They just told me to go to that Black Geyser thing-" I pointed to the straight beam of luminescent darkness off in the distance and nearly obscured by the trees. "-and made it pretty clear they didn't like me..." At that last part, I bowed my head and frowned.
He made a critical expression as his tail flicked. "Well, I'll be. That's Shorn a'right. Kind of a harsh lass, though she means well."
I furrowed my brow in concern. "Y-you know her, then?"
He nodded. "Aye. I like t' think she's the last sensible Kytsater 'round 'ere. All the rest are crazed sons who'll likely linch their own offspring if they went against RED EYE'S will."
The new name made me squint in confusion. Tilting my head, I asked, "RED EYE's will? Who's RED EYE?"
She put his hand on his hips, groaning and shaking his head as the people behind him seemed to chatter amongst themselves. Turning to them, he said, "Éy! How's about ya ninnies give the girl ér space an' stop flappin' yer' gums!" They all grumbled and began to disperse Satisfied with himself while his tail swished about the air, he then turned his head down and took hold of his chin, massaging it in thought while he watched this one guy leaving. He held up a hand and called, "Hey! Ricord!"
The one male with tan fur, a stockier build and three brown, zig-zagging lines around his ear turned back to him as Baht walked over, a cocked brow about his blockish face. He had a full chin-strap beard that almost looked like a mane over his actual mane, which was thick and rough-looking. His eyes were blue and hard to read."Ey?" His voice fit that of the burly man he seemed to be. Large and rough. When Baht stopped in front of him, there was a clear size difference between the two. Ricord, as he was called, was twice as wide and three heads taller. Yet, he had a gentleness to his face.
Baht looked up at him and folded his arms. "Girl ain't been ére fer' more than minutes, but I fig'er she ain't ate nothin' nor drunk a swig. Leavin' a wanderin' soul hungry just ain't right, yeah? So, mind ya getting ér some grub? Somethin's tellin' me gut she ain't got long 'afore she'll áve teh' leave. An' somethin' also tells me we'd be doin' our forest a favor." He then leaned in on the big guy and whispered something, but that was beyond me to hear.
It made me feel bad either way to impose on these people. I'm sure my frown was telling enough. Though, he'd also left me wondering about RED EYE. Who was that? What was so important about them and what was so bad about following their "will"? At the time, I didn't know anything about a knight of any kind that was threatening what I still didn't know was the Dark World and not mine. Clueless as clueless could be.
... (C-can I just simplify it? It feels like I'll just be repeating everything you just told them the other day...)
/That seems fair.\
(Okay, good.)
Well... after he came back, he smiled at me and raised his brows. "How's yer' grip?" He gestured to the rope he had descended from upon for a hint as to why he was asking.
Staring at it, I sheepishly made a half smile. "I-if we're being honest, I've never been a great rope climber... I can never ring the bell"
For a moment, he cocked his brow at the mention of a bell. I don't know whether it was because he didn't know what it was or whether he just didn't associate bells with rope. Either way, he shook his head and smiled. "S'fine! All ye' have t' do is hold on tight as ye' can. A'right?"
It took me a moment to get up to the rope and nod, but I was soon wrapping my fingers tight around the threaded hemp with a worried look.
"No need t' look so worried," Baht told me as I stared back at him while he was getting a good grip on my arm with one hand and a better grip on the rope with the other. Looking at his one hand holding my arm, it was almost scary how strong he felt without actually squeezing too hard. In physical strength, that seemed to be the running theme. The forest folk were just physically stronger than us in tons of ways... Except for when it came to Susie. She's just stronger than average, period... But I mean, when it comes to Susie, who-
/Uuh...\
A-ah. Sorry. I did it again, didn't I...?
/Heh. It's fine... You ramble a lot when Susie's not around. You know that?\
O-oh hush! D-don't tease me! It's a coping mechanism...
/Right. Sorry.\
It's fine... and... and I have been talking in-to (the mi-cro-phooone...! Huuuu~!)
/-snrk!- Uhm... You gonna be okay? You're face i-\
(You are not help...!)
/I know~. I'm sorry~. ... Really. I am. Just couldn't help myself.\
(...)
/Look, if it helps, I'll edit out this snippit. Fair?\
(... N-no... Leave it in. It's fine... I-it's embarrassing... but I think this m-makes it more authentic...? ... is the best way I can say it without feeling too embarrassed...)
/Oh... Well, okay then...\
... -Sigh!- Okay then... So... Where was I...?
/'Bout to take a rope ride.\
Oh. Right. Yes, about that. After I got to thinking Baht had great hand strength, he then told me, "Okay. Now, don't let 'er go." It was an abrupt command to me, because it came just as I was thinking that, so I looked up at him and let out a, "What," right as the cabbit was tugging on the rope. Immediately upon rebound, the rope tugged stiff and hard back up, ripping us both from the ground as I shrieked!
... Long story short, he gave me a pretty quick and direct ride up into the upper area of the settlement before walking me to his house... It was not the most pleasant stomach flipping experience...
When we got into the comfort of his home, the first thing I did was ask about where I was. The question seemed expect, because it didn't surprise Baht that I asked. Despite the new attire, I didn't exactly look like a local or act like one. And so, I learned what this place was called. Autumn Vale. And when I said that I'd never heard of such a place, he responded with, "Yeah, tha's expected. Yer' a Bright One. So, ye' prob'ly ain't never heard of anywhere's from the Dark World."
"Dark World" was what really made me squint. And that was a shock and a conversation in and of itself. It felt so unreal to me, but well... I believed him, based on the hypothesis in which I was 99% certain nothing quite on the same scale as that forest existed in my world. I could have always been wrong, but the assumption felt pretty right. It felt like it had been long enough for the Sun to have risen in the sky... or at least for a fair amount of it's light to have started peaking out over the horizon. When I brought that up, I got another one of those clueless stares from the cabbit. "What's a... sun?" When I tried testing him by saying, "The big, glowing ball in the sky that comes up after night time...?" ... he just sat there, even more lost. "Uhm... Sorry, but... night? ... Are these... Light World things...?" And that was when I truly believed it... This was not my world. There was no way a single creature didn't know what these things were. And it wasn't that they were known under different names, either. I tested that idea... they never co-related to anything Baht knew. They didn't exist, here...
I had come to accept that, though just barely... My next line of questioning fell back to the previous subject. I asked about RED EYE and what his or her "will" was. And so, I heard just about the same thing as was told to Kris about them... I guess THE KNIGHT is a better way to remember, but here, only RED EYE was their known name, both to this place and to me.
... I didn't get any telekinetic images showing me what they looked like. I just got a generalization. A knightly figure with a red and blue cape over their shoulder and glowing red eyes.
Baht told me what their whole will was and what they believed the prophecy was foretelling in place of normal beliefs- of which he also told me about when he realized I had no idea what either of those two things were. Both of them had me concerned and even scared of an obvious expectation. I didn't think myself a hero of any kind, so I held back the idea. Though, it was obvious what Baht thought I might be...
... Honestly... Why should tripping down into a big, gaping hole in the ground make me some prophesied hero? Furthermore, Kris, Ralsei and Susie were already technically a group just like their legend foretold... N-not... that I knew about them being there at the time. And besides... the whole thing sorta just sounded like malarky.
Having been sat down on a log meant to act as a chair, I was sipping a sort of berry tea from this cute little cup carved from wood. After hearing all of that, though, the flavor was like a bad taste in my mouth mixed in with the confusion of conflicting thoughts. I had to take a moment and shake my head at all of what I had been told before promptly massaging at my face.
Baht gave me a sympathetic look, smiling at me sat across from me on another log. Between us was food laid out on a cloth sheet like berries, veggies or various other non-animal edibles that looked almost nothing like the sorts I was used to on top of a sheet spread out across the floor.
He told me, "It may be a mite to take in, but were it nothin' but the truth, would ya be a glance's moment away from seein' proof of a Black Geyser outside?"
I didn't doubt his facts. I was just at odds with them. Turning them over in my head against the facts I knew about the DELTA RUNE myself didn't help that. After all, uh... I knew where I'd seen it from far too many times to keep it from my thoughts.
... (It's okay to talk about this now... right?)
/Huh? ... Oh. Yeah. Go ahead. this is as natural a place as any other.\
(A-alright...)
I looked up from my palm and furrowed my brows at him with a frown. "Th-this is all... understandable... B-but you and I know the DELTA RUNE from very different sources."
That caught him by surprise, causing him to blink with a raised brow. He rested his front with his elbows on his knees while he asked, "In what way? Did ya maybe spot ém on some wall or other? We all got it on our clothin' an' such. An' not just us, but basically every tribe what worth knowin'..."
I shook my head and smiled a little. "Not any of those, sorry." Sitting straighter and resting my tea's cup in my lap, I said, "It's origin for me comes straight from our Bible. The Bible of Angelic. A book. And from there, we sort of started putting the DELTA RUNE on everything."
The word "Bible" threw him off for a moment, but the Word book seemed to light up his eyes with curiosity. "Oh! A book! Yeah, know all 'bout those. Though, we're more 'bout keepin' those sorts uh things fer' personal stuff or leavin' little reminders."
I nodded and gestured a wave with a more assure smile. "We work about the same, then. Though, a bible is a medium for recording key points of faith in a religion or communicating it's beliefs."
His head tilted as his expression became confused again. "So... you an' your's made a faith around the DELTA RUNE? Well, that sounds 'bout like us, though we áven't really recorded such in books. Like I said, the forest dwellers got the ancient murals..."
I made a crinkle in my brow with an uneasy smile. "But... doesn't that mean that people don't have a solid basis of interpretation? That's how this all started, by the sound of it..."
Making a click with some suction through his teeth, he went on to speak with a straight face. "I don't think so, honestly. The armor-clad i'jiot seemed t' know more 'an even our elders. Anyone who claims to knows more án Ol' Shelluer may as well call émselves a King Steiner."
... He took a pause as he squinted at me, making me blink in awkward silence across from him as I nervously sipped my tea. He then put a hand to his chin as he thought... "Ye' know... Ya' kinda have the look uh' one, if it were a baby-faced lass uh' fourteen summers... an' had tiny horns..."
... I just stared at him with a confused furrow, shaking my head. "I... don't even know what you're talking about...?"
He gave a shrug, smiling in humor of my confusion. "Yeah, I kinda fig'ered." Then, he took to leaning one elbow to a knee while he held his chin with a cocked brow. "So... All that said, what's the DELTA RUNE to yer' lot, then?"
Abandoning the thoughts of what a Steiner might be, I smiled nervously. "Well... I'll attempt to be brief, but you may as well get comfy. There's no easy way to explain..."
... I think this is as good a place as any to just directly explain it.
Ahem... Right. The Bible. Heeeere we go... A-and no, I don't mean to act as some sort of pastor or what-have-you. I'm just going to give a brief synopsis... (Or as brief as will make sense...)
... Okay. So, every religion has important persons or places, beliefs or ideals at the very heart of it's formation which has been shared by a great many people and passed around. And Our religion has several of these.
You see, our town's main religion is called Angelic. In this religion, the DELTA RUNE represents the good lord. God. They have no name, no true shape, no one true voice, but they created everything in our world. Not only that, but they gave birth to several sons and daughters- both human and monster-like creatures. All were and are called "The Angelics" and they all became paragons of a different sort. Virtue, Resolve, Wisdom, Innocence, Passion, Generosity. And finally, the last was a paragon deemed "The Guardian," breaking the pattern of names being derived from traits. And should anyone else do something just as worthy of praise as these Seven, they too would be written of... as long as they met one or two other criteria. This made people think of it as not only a bible, but a history book telling of the world's greatest people, not only heroes.
All of these people had names and they were born in different eras throughout history. I'd love to tell you all about them... but that would take far too long. At that point, I might as well pass you a copy of The Bible of Angelic.
While every one of them was devoted to doing what was right, fair and/or just- even kind, their deeds are directly related to their titles.
For example, Wisdom was known for his incredible intellect, which he used to provide for any ailed soul and even single-handedly halt one of history's greatest, oldest wars- The war between humans and Monsters. He-
/Uh, Noelle. Brief...?\
Whuh...? AH! S-sorry! I-I started rambling...
A-anyways, another simple example. Innocence was the kindest, most caring indivual, known for unbridled joy and putting a smile upon the faces of any who looked upon her happiness. She was a humble servant, yet she was always filled with love and joy for those she served and all besides.
The Guardian, known for innumerable heroics that are impossible to go through in one sitting, was a person who truly enjoyed life. Even as war was waged, they did the impossible and ended all of their fights without taking a single life. However... ... ... Right. Brief. Though, I think you can understand where that was going.
The rest of them, you can basically use your imaginations for and arrive close enough to the truth.
Though, I will say this: Every last one of these individuals existed in real life, though some religions may have named, deemed or followed them differently.
As you can about imagine, our religion is more along the lines of.. a collage of greats that we base our beliefs in. We took equal from every single one, not favoring one or the other above all else. Though, I guess you could tell Wisdom was my favorite, ehehee...~
... Regardless to say, Baht was giving me a strange look after I told him all of that. And I think, if given a moment to take it in, you'd give me that look too upon making one simple realization.
He sat up straight and turned over a hand in gesture before saying, "Well, that's all fine an' sounds like a good book uh role models an' all, but... What made yer' people believe these seven blokes were sons an' daughters of 'God'?" He leaned in over his knees as he took an a-... well, I guess not an apple. It was purple... A purple apple... in his hand. "Someone didn't jus' go 'round claimin' t' be a son or daughter uh yer' big guy, yeah?"
I shook my head as I laid my cup down on the "table" in between us, smiling as I said, "Oh, no. There was one thing they all shared in common with each other."
The lapin man tilted his head, causing an ear to hang at his side. "An' that'd be...?"
"They were not born from anything. They simply showed up." I took a strange looking dark-brown bun of what I think was bread in my hands before I looked at the already befuddled man in his wide eyes. "And they didn't start out babies, either. They started out as children."
The rabbit man just about dropped his head when he heard that with how wide of a dip it took. His face was pure exasperation with a squint. "Ain't no way! Yer' pullin' me leg!"
I cleared my throat and shrugged, shaking my head. "O-of course, I couldn't tell you if that is indeed true. I wasn't there way back when the original book that told of the first Angelic was written..." With a sheepish smile, I furrowed my brows and said, "If it is true, that alone is incredibly unreal. But I'd call just about everything they did just as much unreal as that. Whether that fact is true or not, I don't think there is a single individual alive today that could have done what they did to give us the world me and everyone else from my world live in today..."
Recovering from his earlier surprise and disbelief, he shook his head and cocked a brow. "Gotta be some place, then..." Smiling a bit, he tilted his head as an ear flopped free to the side, hanging. "I can't rightly say I believe ye' when ye' say t' me they're true... but I can see that the... stories... are held in high regard."
I nodded in understanding. It's not like I was trying to make him into a believer in the first place. It was really just a conversation that came out of telling him what the DELTA RUNE was to us. "To be fair, there are a lot of interpretations of the rune in our world. The belief that it's a representation of a higher power is only what is written into The Bible of Angelic..."
He returned a nod and took a hold of one of the strange apples, pulling it carefully from the pile as he bit into it. Pointing to me with the same hand, he spoke with his mouth full, saying, "If moffin' elshe, ish rilleh inth'resthin'." After chewing a bit, he forced the bite to one side of his mouth as his tail swished behind him. "Its pritty cool 'ow some thin's can be so diff'rent from place t' place like this." I couldn't agree more, though given the current situation and just HOW different it was for me, I was hesitant to nod in agreement. Swallowing after a bite or two more, Baht dropped his smile in exchange for a blander expression. "Though... It still kinda don't change much. Our problem's still pritty real. An' there's no tellin' what leavin' a bleedin' Black Geyser here in the middle uh The Vale 'll do t' her..." I frowned when I heard that and he went on with a serious enough look on his face. "It ain't been 'ere longer 'an a day an' already the animals are gettin' t' be pritty stir'n up. Feral monsters, too. Been attackin' without reason far too of'en, the both uh them 'ave. 'M jus' glad they 'aven't struck the village direct or nothin'..."
... It was the first time I was made aware that I wasn't the only one suffering and... well, it was eye opening. There I was, thinking before then that feral monster attacks had to be commonplace in Autumn Vale, but it turns out that it was a new development made possible because of someone inviting some prophecy to happen.
... I was beginning to realize that maybe I shouldn't be doing nothing but looking for a way home. I wasn't a hero of any sort, though... so I really wondered what.
Turning my attention back up to Baht, I asked, "What.. do you think I-I should do...? To help, I mean..."
He turned his attention up to me with a neutral, possibly even confused expression. "Yer' askin' me...? Well, honest, I can't say 'at I know. If ye'r' feelin' some sort uh obligation t' do a fav'r fer' us 'cause o' what I said, ain't what I wanted..." ... He then folded his arms and legs before tilting his head. "I'm not about to be the one who bloody goes an' tells a wee lass to throw 'erself into a queer geyser t' make our lives ease a tad. Tha's nothin' to do fer' a problem ain't concern 'er.
Having heard that, it really did sound like the only way to help the people of this forest was to somehow become or find a hero... I bowed my head and stared into my tea, thinking hard about my options. I didn't really have many. There was nothing telling me that I would ever be making it back to Hometown, much less finding a way to escape the forest with no prospect of the world around me, nor where to go when I finally DID find a way out. I'd be wandering endlessly, forever looking for a way to get back home or maybe I would just find a safer place to live for the rest of my life if that turned out to be impossible for the simple fact of being trapped in another world...
My options, that given, were very much limited. I was scared of that first possible option. I didn't want to give up trying to get home... But I also didn't want to abandon people that needed help... that could benefit from my being there... that needed someone to help them... Doing what only benefit myself and made me happy was what landed me in this mess, as far as I knew...
... I rose my head with furrowed brows. I had made up my mind, even if I was truly scared of the idea and it's pressure. Baht saw this and raised a brow. "... You... a'right there?"
... I opened my mouth to speak...
"Kytsaters on approach!"
The shout from outside caught my breath in my throat as I turned to the doorway, hearing the ensuing commotion build. The footsteps and thumps therefrom outside of passing figures grew plentiful for a time.
Turning back to Baht, I did a double take on him as I saw that look on his face. It was like when he found out I had met Shorn. He quickly rose from his seat and stormed from around the "table" before head to the door and standing there, looking off at something.
Worried and scared, I almost didn't want to know what he was staring at... but I got up and came to the door anywaysSo many of the "cabbits" were lined up outside and raround the platforms. Far more than I realized had lived there... Looking at Baht's gaze, I then following it down from the trees and to the ground below. What I saw were at least a dozen people like Shorn, but dressed in slightly more concealing attire made from leather... Two of them in particular were wearing a full arm of somewhat rusted knight armor on opposing arms. Whether or not that was a sort of strange way to rank themselves, I wasn't sure. Either way, they were quite a bit different from the rest of what you might call the faceless sorts... (They were still faceless themselves, though I guess they looked less plain.)
The first was a female, stern figure, taller than the other with a roughly made blue cloth tunic with an uneven skirt. It laid beneath a leather breast pad and it's belts. Her wooden mask was shaped like a Bird's face; an eagle's, maybe. The beak was a bit too long, though.
It looked like she had brown fur with black markings all over. One of her horns was cut away at the half-way mark, but looked like it would have mirrored the other's head-crowning shape. Her other unarmored arm had a brown, leather wrist band on that carried the DELTA RUNE on it in white. Toward the back, said horn curved up like a spine. One fox ear was forced to splay outward by the completed horn, the other standing up straight. As for her tail, I didn't see one. It could have been that she didn't have one.
She was holding a sort of glaive made of that strange white and black magic.
And the second figure was male. Oddly, a frailer figure. There was a certain level of femininity, but his body was all-around slim. He would have looked like a child, if he wasn't still taller than me. The wooden mask he wore was in the shape of a sort of Rabbit's face, but the ears had spines made of knots left in the wood and the two front teeth were... still together, but made up two halves of a large, wide fang. His clothing was more concealing than most others', consisting of a rough and uneven dark-red robe decorated by many black, swirling glyphs and a large, white DELTA RUNE above his chest. He also wore a grey cowl with sleeves for his ears to stay in that half covered that same symbol. It seemed somehow joined to his mask, meaning I saw little to nothing of his body.
His tail was the only things of his body aside from his cloven paws and small, blue-furred hands with orange furred fingers that I could see. It was thicker than Shorn's where his fox tail was concerned, but it only had short tendrils which hugged around the base of that main tail.
Unlike his.. err... companion... He wielded a sort of wooden staff, like me, with a gnarly head to it, but there was no gem. Instead, the staff just grew whiter toward the top.
The male stepped forward and turned his attention toward the tree homes. In an adolescent voice, he shouted, "Come out, Lacats! We've questions that you will answer! We do not wish to become invasive, though refusing will result in as much!"
Of course, the word "Lacats" was new to me. With a concerned, yet question furrow in my brow, I turned to Baht to asked what that meant in a hushed whisper. "Lacats...?"
Turning his attention down at me without changing expressions from that serious glare he had, he told, "T'is our kind's queer name." ... Turning back to the scene, he carefully pushed me back and turned his attention to his fellow kinsmen... He used a sort of face and hand sign language to speak to a female member of lithe proportions. What exactly he said in that sign language was beyond me, but they two seemed to understand each other, as did many others. It seemed like a second language to them.
After the silent conversation was ended, said female member stepped out from her home and onto one of the more visible rope bridges, staring down at the group of Kytsaters- more specifically the male of authority.
To be a little more specific of what she looked like, she had deep-green irises and three light-red triangles on her slim face: two under her eyes and a third on her forehead. Cream-colored fur. Wore a type of thread-made charcoal bikini and skirt... Her tail was exceptionally long, almost as long as her entire body, with a thicker pom.
The one who called them Lacats looked up at her as she met his unseen gaze... It almost felt like, for a split second, they were sizing each other up... and then, the female lacat spoke high in a clear, yet mature tone. "What business do ye' Kytsaters have 'ere? We a'ready said we ain't about fightin' for or against yer' kind..."
The male kytsater huffed behind his mask and shook his head, responding as he stamped his staff. "Yes, I am well aware of your choice of "pacifism," so if you cooperate with us, we shall leave all the sooner."
While the two of them spoke, Baht turned his attention to me, while I sweat through a frown. Keeping it hushed, he told me, "A'right. While we're about keepin' ém busied, I'mma have t' ask ye' to sneak ye'self out."
The prospect made me realize the potential danger I was in, much as I swallowed and sweat my brow, coming to clutch my staff closer. "W-what!? H-how...?!" I kept my voice down, more because I couldn't bring myself to speak any louder. My chest felt tight.
"A fair question," he said to me as he walked toward the spread of food. He was quick about wrapping it up and tying it all together... Turning his head to me, he cocked a brow and smirked. "Mind stickin' this sack t' yer' stick's pointy end?"
Blinking, I didn't immediately get it... Then I "oh"ed and turned my staff upside down, before taking the bundle of foods and poking my staff in beneath the knot, pulling it up and onto the sturdy stick until it slid to the head. Then I just sorta laid it over a shoulder. It wasn't quite as heavy as I thought it would be...
Nodding in his approval, the lacat smiled with hands on his hips. "Yup. That works. Should feed ye'self for a day or three, but waters gonna be yer' prob'." He then began to pad over to entrance again as he spoke. "Gonna have to apologize to ye', lass. I ain't got any magic port holes what could take ye' from this place. Yer' gonna have t' figer' that that part out all yer' own."
That got me to shiver and bit my lip, tightening my hold around my staff. "B-but...!"
He turned to me with an earnest frown. "Yeah, I know. Easier said than doin' it, right?"
I was unable to control my shaking, which in turn made my hooves clack softly against the wooden floor, giving me a very good idea as to how successful that would be...
"... Very well. Ye' aren't gonn' to leave, so I'll save me breath. Everyone, make ye'selves known!"
I gasped at the words, Baht shaking his head out of frustration. "'Course..." Turning his head, he looked at me and said, "Ye'll 'ave to make do. 'F not, they'll likely take ye' dead or alive."
... Face paling fear. I bit my lip and shuddered, eyes wide as I watched Baht walk away and outside. retreating unconsciously further into the house very slowly, I backed up into the back wall before long, then sunk down into a sit... I curled up into myself as the commotion outside carried on. Hugging my staff, I whimpered out. "C-Comet...! P-please, help me...!" ... But he didn't come. The staff's gem never lit up or anything... I was alone...
And then, as a breeze blew into my ears, the noise around me deafened... and a goddessly voice called to me... "Can yon ears yet hear mine voice, Bright One?"
I gasped and snapped my head up, looking around in alert and fright. "Wh-who's there...?"
"Ah. At last. Mine gift hath begun to truly awaken within you."
I furrowed my brows and attempted to retreat further, hugging my legs as I continued to look around for something I couldn't find. "G-gift...? Wh-what...?!"
"You've naught to fear, Child of Light. I am the guardian deity of this bountiful forest... I am The Vale. Gentle Mother whom protects the children of darkness which lay within mine bough."
... It was a bit much to believe, but the voice was so... soothing. Yet, it felt like it bathed me like the wind around me. "Th-the... The Vale...?"
"Indeed, dear child. Do not fear, for I have madest contact with intentions pure... Mine wish be to providest thou aid in this, your time of greatest need."
... I didn't know a thing about her nor whether or not it really was The Vale, but I knew that I didn't have any options... Loosening myself up, I pleaded, "Please... I-I'm scared... I don't want to be h-here..."
"Then plainly recite mine words and channel thine mind into thy staff whilst thinking of yon friends."
It made no sense how that would save my life, but I had nothing to lose. Staring desperately into my staff, I tried to focus, but everything was chaos. I tried to think of my friends, but my thoughts kept falling back to my immediate fear!
"Young one, you must needs calm thy mind and focus."
I whined and bit my lip. She wasn't helping with this pressure... But... I did find one thought that comforted me... I found myself thinking... of a better time when me and Berdly were laughing... I thought of Monster Kid and their klutzy ways of falling over and still getting right back up... That time Catti smacked the old Kris for that terrible "humans hiding under the bed" prank, then treated me to pizza to calm me down... a time where Jockington did that cool jump-rope trick of becoming the rope... (... This is embarrassing to admit...) All the times my dad and I played games together... The rare moments where my mom thawed and laughed with us...
... ... ... I thought of the newer memories of Kris smiling while they told me about Susie... and I thought about... Susie... I couldn't stop thinking of her, actually... and that was when I stopped shivering... I wanted to see her again...
I opened my eyes and stared into my staff... I was still afraid, but I wanted to see her more than anything else... So, I focused while The Vale spoke to me, wind still blowing softly around my body, blowing through of floating my hair.
"Repeat mine words, Child... 'Dust cast mine form, wind takest mine soul.'"
"Dust cast mine form, wind takest mine soul..." A soft glow began to emenate from the gem of the staff, red and green.
"'Deliver both wayward a friend and makest me whole.'"
"Deliver both wayward a friend and makest me whole..." The glow grew brighter as my body was slowly being surrounded by the same light, much to my surprise! It was making my fur stand on end, as if I had goosebumps... Taking a deep breath, I shook my head and refocused my attention to the gem of my staff, sweat trailing my brow. I needed to focus, so I forced back any logical fleeing thoughts. Just keep thinking of your friends, Noelle, is what I thought to myself...
"'Ianuae Magicae.'"
"Ianuae Magicae...?" I had no idea if I said that right, but my staff suddenly felt less solid as the light off of it pulsed outward. It was falling apart into dust...! I gasped upon realizing that... Then again as I felt my body begin to shiver! I clutched my sides and groaned as the light around me grew! It was blinding! And before I knew it... my body burst into glowing dust!
-BISS!-
I was totally aware of what was going on... but I felt no pain, even if alarm was my main emotion. My body had been dusted, but I was very much alive... I was seeing all of the dust surrounding myself, but I was unable to move or make a sound... If I had to guess, the point of view I had suddenly taken was that of a MONSTER SOUL amongst the dust. I thought I had unwittingly killed myself!
Suddenly, the dust from my body started to swirl and gather around "me". It was both an awe-inspiring spectacle and a truly mysterious terror. I had no idea what was happening!
The next thing I knew, I was suddenly shooting off out of the house, carried upon a strong wind! It was disorienting and terrifying, but above all, it should have been impossible.
I didn't know exactly where I was going nor if I was even alive anymore. I had just been disassembled into my base elements and I was still conscious of it all...
... Uh...
/Hm?\
H-hey, Kris?
/Yeah?\
Uhm... I think it would be better if Ralsei told what happened after this. I-I sort of... fainted at some point... Remember?
/Huh... Oh yeah, now that I think about it, you did mention that... I guess I should have invited him.\
... O-oh well~! It just gives us some rest time in between, r-right?
/Right.\
... S-so I just turn it o-off like this?
/Err. No, that's the microphone volume.\
O-OH SHOOT. UHM. H-HOOO, DANG IT, I DID IT THE FIRST F-FEW TI-
-CLICK!-
... ... ...
Phew... That's both of Noelle's parts.
I won't lie. I have been battling a wicked cough for the duration of two weeks. It's been real, but I'm glad I got this done during that time.
There was a lot to consider in these chapters. Between Noelle's abilities, the different fauna, the Lacats, Hometown and beyonds' religion and so much more, these two chapters have been choc-a-block full of world building. And I get it. That seems to be all I'm doing.I love this sort of thing, I won't lie. But I hope you've all been enjoying that. we'll be getting to the good stuff soon.
Now for reviews...
Iduneven - While I appreciate the flattery, let's not target anyone. ^^; That said, your point is very valid. As for your guess, I guess we will just have to wait and see, now won't we? Though, getting to a point in the story when that dream might be relevant will take quite some time, I suppose.
oof - ^^ I'm glad that I seem to be succeeding there! That's why I go into such detail when trying to describe their faces and action. I would love to see how this could look in game form, but I am not Toby, nor am I skilled in making any such games. XD
FlygonNick -Yus. Many moosin exposé! 8D And here's some moar!