Earth and The Sacred Realm

Dervogilla began to wake up, not visually stirring. She could hear voices. One sounded familiar, the other feminine. Her body used to heal faster, before her failed attempts at children, but since then she didn't heal as well. She didn't know how bad it was yet, but she felt like she was dying. She heard the female voice, "What happened to her?" The sound was muffled by the static in her head caused by the pain. She didn't remember it being this painful when it first happened. The flight over made her black out but that felt great compared to now. The familiar voice started speaking and she concentrated on listening to him. "its the fact she came to find me.... something must be on her mind." That was...

"So... Solomon." Gilla barely groaned out the words. She looked around, not knowing where she was. She saw Chi and Solomon. "Who...?" She could smell the human blood on the floor, though she couldn't see the body. But she had a good idea of what she was. "Never mind. Sol, we..." She panted and held her breath trying to deal with the pain. Everything was mixing together. She needed to find a way to get herself stitched up and cleaned out or she'd bleed to death or get an infection. Her intestines were cut, though not bad, causing them to leak into the open wound. She could feel that she was bleeding out the back as well, which meant it went all the way through. The only thing she had to be happy about was the blade was so sharp and didn't tear or cause much damage in width. She put her hand over her wound and tenderly started putting the tip of her talon in to feel. She sharply inhaled and winced.

"I need... I need werewolf fur. Girl, I know I don't know who you are and I doubt you know me. And this is a lot to ask, but I NEED this. You need to go, find a werewolf and get the fur." Werewolf fur, when the person is turned, is incredibly strong and makes very good stitches. They lose some of their strength during the day. But when the full moon is out, the stitches lend some of their healing power to the area around them and allow it to heal faster, though not nearly as strong as the healing factor in a turned werewolf. "You have to hurry, if you don't, it will be too..." Gilla passed out. When she woke up, she couldn't tell how much time had passed, but it was still dark. Or dark again...

Gilla saw that Chi was gone put saw Solomon, standing now. Her voice was very quiet, "Solomon, come here. I need to talk to you while we're alone." She swallowed and took a breath. "I don't know what's going on, but I was visited today. One of those big chickens came down and... hu... hu... I don't know what she wanted. She said she needed to talk to me. Maybe I should have just listened, then maybe I wouldn't be bleeding out on... Whatever I'm laying on." She cleared her throat and tried to refocus her eyes, which kept blurring. "But I don't know what she was trying to say to me, we ended up fighting instead of... Instead of talking. But if they're coming down into the mountains a... Into the mountains and talk into th... and talking to us directly then it... Something must be up. I'm not strong enough to find out what's going on. I need you to... Find out what's going on." She touched his arm but then hers fell. She fumbled for a moment and caught his palm. "I'm sorry about what happened. I..." The, Gilla passed out again.

The eerie feel of the lake did not disperse as time passed. It was quiet, as if the whole area surrounding the lake was filled with death. No, not quite. It wasn't negative, just strange, and she wasn't sure it was her place. She didn't like the lack of animals; it made her feel alone.

Gancan was acting strange, almost as if he were hypnotized. She didn't understand what he was talking about, but an ominous feeling shrouded her when she noticed that he was right. There were no stars. It made the sky seem hollow and her sense of seperation sharply rose. This was unnatural.

"Gancan, what is this place? I don't feel..." she began but was cut short when something happened that outweighed all the other oddities. All in just moments, it was as if something had flown out of the lake itself. Startled, she had near toppled over in shock and ended up with Gan half on top of her. Her eyes were wide with disbelief. What magic was this? How had she never heard mention of this? It was far too shocking for her to take in. It had happened all too fast and unlike anything she had previously heard of.

The 'thing' had doused her in water, her clothes damp, though not as saturated as Gan. She wondered with awe how it was that he had settled down so suddenly and was managing to sleep being so wet. Was he not cold? She blamed all that Homebrew pumping through his veins for that absurdity.

"We cannot stay here", she spoke softly, trying to rouse Gan from his slumber. She didn't feel right here... couldn't digest what had happened. She wanted to leave immediately. If it weren't for the full moon, she may consider staying a while to explore, to find out what the hell had just transpired. However, there were so many reason she must abandon this place. "The wolves are about".

Just as she spoke, battle sounds surrounded her, the first sounds to penetrate the sacred stillness of this place for an immeasurable amount of time. The sounds drew closer and closer. Muskets?

Then there was a small figure in the water, and then a howl. A howl.She watched as the creature sprung upon the enemies pursuing it, and shook Gan violently. "Get up! The creatures are upon us! Look, one of them right before us!" she cried, drawing her twin daggers as she spoke.

She did not know who the wolf was currently engaging in battle with, but an enemy of the wolves was her ally. She charged at the creature, yelling in anger, her daggers begging to sink into the animal's filthy flesh.

Silk barged into the elf's room, grinning from ear to ear with pride at her discovery. "You such a smart one, Silk", she muttered as she staggered inside. A small mob of humans were peering at her from down the hall, curiously. She slammed the door in their faces, annoyed.

"Stupid humans", she said as she attempted to follow the elf to the bed. Instead, she stumbled and fell. Picking herself up she said "I think they wanna...wanna take to me with...with pitchforks or somethin', I'unno..."

She made her way to the bed and slumped upon it. She raised her hands to the Elf's ears, giggling as she tugged at them. "You got such funny ears. If it weren't for that, you might be... might be pretty, you know!" The elves were meant to be beautiful, but she'd never really learned to get over the fact that their ears were just ridiculous. It was just that she felt that nobody really needed ears that HUGE. Was it really essential?

The alcohol had made her suddenly feel dreary, and her eyelids kept falling over her purple star-filled galaxy eyes. She lay down, her body feeling rather heavy. "Anyway... The Old Gods wanna make the Earth go boom 'cause... 'cause you dumb earth-walkers fight too much and stuff. So they said that I gots'ta... gotta help the elfie make peace or some shit... So you gotta... er... get over all those abandonment issues and stuff.... gotta stop the war or... or yeah, we all die and stuff". She yawned tiredly, curling her small frame up into a ball and closing her eyes. She felt satisfied with accomplishing the first part of her mission and now she was exhausted.

Was it rude to just sleep on someone's bed? Probably but... she was a Sacred One, so she should be treated with respect, right? Most boot-licking elves would be honored to be in her presence! Besides... she was too tired to over-think courtesy and all that. "If the humans come to get me... tell 'em... tell 'em... tell them that I..." she couldn't even finish her sentence before she fell asleep.

"So, how was class today?" Marisa's mother asked her. They were having an early supper today, since Belle had to help take care of some evening work at a nearby orphanage, Matthews' Home for the Parentless — an endearing nickname, don't you think? They said Matthews was blessed by gods, since he managed to build it by himself in about three months. A lot of people (roughly 99.98%, give or take), though, believed "they" were crazy. Gods didn't really exist!

"I punched a guy."

"Sounds like a good day to me," Kevin chuckled. His enjoyment of his wife's casserole was interrupted by a knock at the manor door. He answered it, but the guest took a minute to catch her breath before she started talking.

"Is the missus here? It's just a mess with all the stuff on the floor and I couldn't get the kids to calm down and pick up their?" Belle did the interrupting this time, and she already had her coat on.

"Did you at least leave Rufus to keep guard?" Rufus was a dog taken care of at the orphanage; a watch dog with a silver-studded collar, but he'd probably lick someone to death before he bit them.

"Yes—"

"Let's go, then." With that, the ladies left to attend to their business, and Kevin changed the subject to keep things lively while the rest of the family went back to dinner.

"Harvest Day is coming up soon. Did you think of anyone in particular this time around?" Every year, the second of the humans' biannual crops is healthy and huge through most settlements, so pretty much everything is sold in bulk, and everyone has extra money burning a hole in their pockets. As an (extremely) old tradition of thanking those non-existent gods for more than enough food to last through the winter months, humanity used their excess profit in the form of giving gifts and wishing each other an even greater next year about two months after the actual day of harvesting.

"Nope."

"That's right; you never do."

"I do!"

"Name one," he cockily told her. After a short pause to think, Marisa eventually came up with one.

"Alice!"

"The bodyguard doesn't count, squirt; she's family. Good try, though."

Zaldir could hardly tell if she was telling the truth or was just being silly about the whole thing. One thing he did realize however was she was a Sacred One. The stars in her eyes proved that much. The old gods wanting to destroy earth for forgetting them? Well he only kept acknowledging the Seeker, but he supposed that counted for something.

But then the woman fell onto his bed in a drunken stupor. "Seeker's breath." he muttered. "We'll talk when your sober then you crazy woman, but it's gonna take more then that to make me feel like I need to help save everyone in this blinking world. No one cares at all for me. Least of all my own people." as he said those words he rubbed his slightly sore ears. At least she did not tug off the silver covering on his left eartip, which hid his scar from the destruction of his clan, in her drunken antics.

"Maybe if I go to the Garden of Elders, things will make sense there. But do I have to drag her along with me to there?" He muttered to himself as he heard knocking on the door as it felt like a mob of humans were gathered outside his door. He simply did the one thing he knew best when faced with this dilemma. He bolted his door up tight and sat down. "I'll just wait till she wakes up then shall I?"

Mel hadn't been able to see most of what happened, though what she had seen frightened her. Moedir's malicious use of the vines and the anger with which he acted actually scared her. The wind began to calm, slightly, but it was still harsh, cold and dangerous up there. She saw the man that had been turned into a tree and touched its face gently. She walked and found hair coming out of the ground, the same kind the man with the ax had. She looked back at Moedir. He'd saved her, but he used vines to tunnel through mountain, thick rock. She'd never seen anything like it and she never wanted to again. She swore, when she first was pulled to him, there was something wrong with his eyes, but she was in too much pain to really notice. The wind felt like it was about to rip her wings right off her back for a while and they were still very sore.

She calmly walked back to Moedir, the plants around him seeming to try to heal him. She'd used most of her power healing herself and between that, the flying she'd done today and the fights, she didn't have much strength left. Mel decided to try and carry him, kneeling to pick him up. Suddenly the thought of how tired she should be and the wearing off of the adrenaline, she suddenly felt like she had no strength. She nearly collapsed on top of him. Her breath was heavy and she felt like simply passing out. The stars, she could see them through the clouds and snow and it caused her to smile. She liked to smile. A deep breath in, the ice crystals burning her lungs, she smiled and tried to pick him up. It wasn't easy for her and she struggled. When she was finally standing, Moedir in her arms, she opened her wings, which hurt very much, and allowed the wind to pull her off the mountain until she was able to glide down to the ground. They came to a landing in a grassy area on the side of a road. In the distance was the silhouette of a city or town but it was far too far away to tell if it was Human, Elven or something else. There, she lay him in the grass and started trying to get the plants to help heal him before simply laying down.

Mel didn't need and wasn't willing to sleep, just to rest. Her body was sore and in pain and simply tired. She stared at the stars and smiled again. Her eyes closed and she began listening to the sounds and smelling the world around her. The smell of the grass when you were this close was a fine, earthy smell with the dirt having its own, rather strong, scent with it. The evening air was moist and you could smell the humidity just hanging there. The bugs and little nocturnal animals were out for their daily lives and it was all very peaceful. Mel began to concentrate on her breathing in a sort of meditation, happy that everything just felt right.

Sitting in his own thoughts, Solomon allowed himself to drift away from reality slightly, only to be dragged back when he heard sounds coming from Gilla. Just about hearing his name he fixed his gaze on her, even to the point when she asked briefly who Chi was, he paid no attention (which turned out good since she did not dwell on it either). " Chi... do as she asks... but don't be rash in collecting the fur... for when you return i have some matters i wish to discuss, or rather more a proposition for you"

When Chi had left upon this errand, Solomon stood staring out the slightly parted curtains, to gaze outside. No lights were lit since the fallen's vision at night was good enough to suffice in most tasks, let alone the simple curious gaze of an old fallen. Hearing Gilla speak once again, he turned his eyes down to her, and did as she asked coming closer to the bed. Listening intently to every word she said his expression never changed, except for a slight narrowing on his gaze when she mentioned the big chickens, which he took instantly to mean the sacred ones. " I shall seek out the one who done this.... i shall discover what message they intend to deliver, and let them hear a message of my own..." he said stopping his speech as he felt his hand clasped " You have no reason to apologize" he spoke, but she had passed out again.

He was confident Chi could find the fur they needed, for his mind was rather working on what the scared one would of done. It was obviously injured, so where would an Injured scared one head to from the mountains, the safest of bets would of been seeking out any nearby fair elves, Lest of course the sacred one decided to go it alone. A debate now raged in Solomon's mind, the prospect of him using his own presence

Silk awoke, rubbing her eyes as she did. Her body felt heavy and wrong, a rather unusual feeling for someone of her kind to experience. She momentarily forgot where she was before she laid her eyes on the elf again and memories came back to her.

Holy shit. She must have embarrassed herself. People willingly drank that stuff, rendered themselves into such a state voluntarily? It had robbed her of all intellect, dignity and balance. The hell would people want to act like that? Oh well. She'd found the damn elf and that was at least something. She'd been beginning to feel as if it were an impossible task.

"Ah... good morning...er...evening?" she spoke, unsure how much time had passed since she'd passed out in the alcohol's reign on her body. Though, even after she had finished speaking, her body felt returned to it's natural state and she no longer felt like she'd been hit in the head by a large, blunt object. That's what you get for being one of the Sacred One's, awesome healing capabilities and shit.

"So...um... yeah, about saving the world before the Old God's completely destroy it" she said, before remembering that the elf had not seemed too keen on the idea of making peace when she had mentioned it to him. She pulled a face, scowling hard. "You think I feel great about this, man? I wanted to be a priestess, hell if I wanted to come hang out with some dumbass, boot-licking elf, but noooo, you think I had a choice in the matter?" she said, crossing her arms across her chest, remembering how much this duty sucked. She really didn't care if the stupid earth-walkers completely annihilated each other; why the hell did the Old God's care so much? The whole thing was ridiculous. "So, if you want everything to just... you know... end, just like that, then cool, man. I'll just walk away. I didn't want this stupid job anyway".

What did she care if the Old Gods destroyed the planet? It wouldn't effect her much at all. Sure, it might seriously ruin her chances of becoming a high priestess if she failed this mention but...wait, it might completely destroy all chance of becoming a high priestess if she failed. Hell would she let some dumbass elf ruin her dreams.

"Gods be damned... Actually, no. I won't just walk away". She stood up, standing over the elf, looking down on him, deliberately trying to show herself off to be greater then him. "All right, pointy-ears. I'm a Sacred One and you're just a stupid elf, so you're gonna do what I say... or... or... Yeah. So what the hell's your problem? Why are you so bitter? And what's all the warring about, huh? Upset the Dark Elves don't wanna kiss our asses along side you lot, is that it?"

She wasn't even roughly sure how she was even supposed to go about this task... She supposed after she had some answers, she would have to seek out this elf's leader... if he even had one. That's only if she could convince the stupid elf in the first place.