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The Verdant Dreamer (Closed)

Started by CyclicalCycal, November 25, 2016, 09:19:15 PM

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CyclicalCycal

As Rin continued down the path, she found a surprising lack of creatures. It was just her and Cara. The path stretched on, for ages, the trees bending to make certain one knows its way. Now that the two had left the graveyard, the trap, it seemed that the forest was more welcoming.

Cara, however, seemed dead. Or dying. She was weak, her skin had grown paler. No more power suffused her body, no more movements or communication. Cara was inert.

Medievarad

And Rin kept walking, until Cara felt off. Until she grew pale.

She gasped and immediately dropped to her knees, letting the young girl's legs rest on the ground. She brought her now free handhand up to check Cara's pulse.

CyclicalCycal

Cara's pulse was weak and fading further still. She was, indeed, dying. Rin could hear movements. Something was leaving the foliage, and approaching the two. Its footsteps sounded akin to a person.


"Wyy ldcikkyz la fbzho. Iwnofq?"

Its voice did not. It sounded like bark scraping on bark. It was one of the...entities. It was not an animal, though. It was some sort of...person. Formed through wood, with green power leaking out of its...'skin'.

Medievarad

Rin grit her teeth and pulled Cara closer to her chest, tears welling up in her eyes. "Come on, Cara, don't," her breath hitched softly as one of the tears ran down her cheek, dropping on Cara's nose. "Wake up.."

She glanced up at the figure that appeared. She couldn't understand it, she was sure it couldn't understand her either. Yet, she still croaked for help from the mysterious being.

CyclicalCycal

"...fo-llow. Take. Chi-ld." It stated, language broken. It didn't wait for a response. It didn't pay any attention. It simply turned, and began to move. "Pp fwul ylcf iqvkkzfiwm arl, uvg Q, ukfotg bjh tbqol flv." It rambled, mostly to itself.

Medievarad

She needn't moreis instruction. If it meant Cara's safety. She got to her feet. Cara still in her hands as she followed the odd creature.

CyclicalCycal

"Ofho kixh ny izikwvx nrz vkv lmwctq fz bkm ekzfl. Kmt pzmalwp plmb em erdjthbg. Lk jilvgg lm oumcwcs nrz jhi nw omcyv icu kqxin. Eh eqxcx vrb uhv bmu lgdu...zwu qh vyy lrmu gzy, bkmp wyy Lumcpvl eltn gzy, brw." The creature...explains? Questions? Rambles? Its language is not normal, no, not at all. Elder, ancient...archaic. The entity simply paces off, moving through the path. "...we. Tra-vel. For. Hou-r. Then. Drea-mer. Keep. Chi-ld. Li-ve."

Medievarad

Rin frowned slowly, she couldn't make heads nor tail from the odd, ancient language. So she merely followed.

Then she frowned as it spoke, more clearly, in a language she could understand. "Will we be in time?"

CyclicalCycal

"Don-t. K-now." It replied, as it travelled, falling back into dead, empty silence. It waited, for a rather long time, before speaking again. "Th-e ch-ild. M-ust. Not. Die."

Cara was still alive, aye, but she was growing worse. It was slow, but it was there. Time would tell if she would live.

Medievarad

Rin nodded slowly. "She's not allowed to die," she answered with a soft murmur, still trailing behind the creature, glancing around warily still.

Their surroundings were still hostile to her, so she could only be careful.

CyclicalCycal

The entity escorted Rin for a long while. The path was so similar. Yes, there were changes from here to there, yes there were turns occasionally, but it was all so similar. It felt like they had been travelling through the same one hundred steps. Forever.

Eventually, though, the three would reach a clearing. The entity would lead Rin into it. It was a small, circular clearing, with a towering great oak that loomed above all. At the base of it, sat an entity akin to the one that had been escorting them. A humanoid figure that looked as if it was clad in plate armour, from head to toe, not revealing a single piece of skin. The armour was not iron, though, it was the same bark and wood amalgamation that all the creatures had. The oddest part, though, was the 'helmet' or 'head' of the humanoid. It was not a regular plate helmet, but one that covered its face, with six empty eye sockets carved out. There were long, ornate carving that lead to the back, and seemed to coalesce at the back, but Rin couldn't quite see.

It was also dead. Very dead. It was slumped down, head tilted to the side, not moving, not even showing any forms of life. No movements for breathing, no reaction to the group. Nothing. It looked like a corpse.

"...the. Fa-ther." The creature that had been leading Rin spoke, again.

Medievarad

Rin could only soldier through the distance which seemed to stretch on for infinity. No words came from her, she didn't complain or even speak. Only occasionally glanced at Cara with clear concern on her face. She didn't have the time toof think whether they would be too late.

As they reached the clearing, the creature adressed as 'the Father', Rin slumped to her knees, holding the child still.in her arms. "Save her," she whispered softly.

CyclicalCycal

The entity walked over to the 'father', and poked it in the head, rather pointedly. It slumped over, hitting the ground with a 'thump'.

"Wake. Cara lj bcub. Fuvuuhz. Czremq."

This changed it. The father began to light up. Green energy formed in its six eye sockets, the power forming through the carvings in its head, welling up at the back, pouring out like some well of eldritch power.

It looked at the scene.

It slowly rose to its feet. And it spoke. And its voice was booming, and hateful, and mighty, and the very trees winced at its words.

"You...dare bring my child...wounded and hurt? You invade my lands! Who are you?!"



Medievarad

Rin grit her teeth and rose to her feet again, holding Cara as she did. "Who cares for that?! Your daughter is dying! I was told she can be healed here!" She called out in answer, being able to produce quite thethe volume. "Ask your questions later." Slowly, tears stung in her eyes and her voice became more silent again. "Just save her, I will answer your queries after I know Cara is safe."

CyclicalCycal

"NO! I will not be spoken to in this way! Not in my..." The dreamer wavered, his gaze turning to the child. "...court...Ca...ra. Cara...oh..." He staggered forwards, his rage fading away in an instant. "Oh, gg gmcu, jqmhb, nlknth arufob..." The dreamer, the so-called 'father' lurched over, going to grab at Cara and take her from Rin's grip. "Bfo'zh pwukcvj. Xnhrmm. Qw. Uwfj pxzvlea. Q fip pvhl wpkv...Z wiq..." The other entity. The one that didn't speak properly. The one that seemed less...sentient, than the dreamer simply watched. It seemed to have no opinion on this. It was unnerving.

Medievarad

Rin glanced at him, her face distorting into a soft snarl. But the father gave way andto decided to persue the wellbeing of his daughter, rather than Rin's so called intrusion.

As soon as Cara was taken from her grip, Rin slammed her armoured fist in the ground and bowed her head deeply. "Thank you," she could only state.

CyclicalCycal

"Oh, no, no, no...little sprout, no..." The dreamer mumbled, wearily. He set Cara upon the ground, glancing about, rapidly. Thoughts were rushing through him so quickly, he could barely think. His whole body shook, and though his entire face was coated by some form of helmet or mask, one could easily tell.

He was panicking. More than ever before.

"You-GOLEM!" He yelled out, snapping his eyes to the other entity, to the golem. It looked towards the dreamer, wandering over. "Forgive me." He stated, bluntly, grabbing the golem. As he did so, the emerald glow faded, siphoning through the golem's body into the dreamer's hand. It collapsed, an inert and useless chunk of wood. The dreamer placed his hand onto one of Cara's eyelids, the one that covered her false wooden eye. The verdant glow around his hand trickled through it, down beneath her eyelid and into her body.

The dreamer watched, shaking. Worrying. Praying.

After this had taken place, the six lights upon his helm died out, briefly, siphoning his own power, instead of the golem's. Once more, he placed it into Cara, using her wooden eye as a gateway for this. After this, three of the six lights lit up, again.

Cara's father pushed himself back, away from the child, staring at the ground. His movements were slow, sluggish and deliberate. He stared at the ground for a long while, saying nothing. Doing nothing. After some time, though, he looked up at Rin. His voice was no longer accusatory, nor hateful. It was shaky and inquisitive. "...w-who are you? And...please tell me...what happened...to my daughter?" No more demands. No more anger. No more wrath of a scorned lord, or a monster just awakened. Now, he spoke the words of a father who was deeply worried for his child.

Medievarad

Rin glanced up at Cara's father, pushing herself up again. She didn't pay heed to the previous scene, it wasn't in her interest and she had no idea what just happened.

"She was lost," Rin started with a soft sigh. "I wished to return her to her father. She dispatched of your guardians with some kind of... Magic. Magic I don't know."

CyclicalCycal

"Our magic? Ours is the boon of the forest." Cara's father explained, placing his hand over the grass and twisting it up. A flower sprung up, where previously there was nothing. "I know...I could see what she did. She needed my magic. She was...lacking, and because of it...dying. Tell me, then...who are you, that has...guided my daughter here?"

Medievarad

Rin nodded slowly, before glanced at her father. "I am Rin. Nothing but a traveler," she answered with a soft sigh. "I found her, I thought she needed to get back home."