Clementine Silverwood's Story

Everything seemed grey, except for the colorful dancing leaves, which were slowly reaching the ground. The wind was singing songs about despair and hope at the same time. The silver sun was barely showing its beams from the massive light grey clowds, which have replaced the sky once again.

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" Clementine was running as fast as she could. From time to time she would stop by a tree and take a 30 second break, panting and trying to ignore the pain in her lungs and legs. "Excuse me!" She approached a mysterious figure. "Where is the Maple Inn?" She asked him. He could give an answer, but instead he threw out his machete and swang it at Clementine.

In the meantime, the rest of the heroic group, chosen for finding a cure, was waiting for Clementine in the Maple Inn.

A young woman with long white hair and piercing blue eyes sighed softly, shifting to place her left elbow on the table in front of her and rest her cheek against the palm of her hand. Absently, she poked the now empty glass in front of her, staring intently at it as if she expected it to grow legs and tap dance for her. Sighing again, louder this time, she allowed her head to slide down until her chin was resting on the table and took another look at the group she was sat with.

Two were males. One had long hair and yellow eyes and looked like he would be fun to be around. The other had blue-black hair and red eyes which gave off a scary look, he seemed rather serious and Kyanna wasn't sure that she would get along with him so well.

A lock of hair fell into her eyes and she blew it away before looking at the last member of the group. It was a girl, and Kyanna found herself feeling glad that she wouldn't be the only female on this trip, it would most likely have been awkward if she had been. The girl was probably the youngest of the group and had fox ears sticking out from her hair, Kyanna wondered if she was bubbly, tilting her head to the sightly as she started to think.

Her thoughts trailed off as she spaced out and she unknowingly ended up staring at the male with red eyes, not noticing anything around her.

A young man was leaning his back against the wooden pillar beside the front desk of the inn he and a few nameless faces were currently housed at for the time being. He had his eyes closed, arms crossed, with one leg over the other in a patiently waiting manner. He wasn't making any movements, nor sounds. Not even the sound of him breathing could be heard. It was as though he were nothing more than a mere statue made out of flesh, fully dressed with black leather clothing and a set of blue-black hair. However, this statue wasn't something one would really want to look at. He gave off a certain aura that spoke "Don't mess with me", and wore an expression to back it up. Truth be told, he didn't look like he even wanted to be there in the slightest. As if he had much better things to be doing than to be waiting for the final addition to this odd group of "heroes"...

Neik merely stood there, silently, along with the rest of the group. He and the other 3 were the only people currently in the main lobby of the inn. Not even the innkeeper chose to stay and offer them anything aside from the complimentary drinks he had set out for 5 before scurrying into the back room. Neik's drink sat untouched atop the counter of the front desk beside him. There was plenty of condensation that had by now formed into a thin pool of water surrounding the underside of the glass mug the beverage was resting inside of, showing that it had been a fair amount of time since the drinks had been set out for everyone. As far as Neik was concerned, the glass itself could melt before he touched it, which wasn't going to happen anyway. He had no interest in that kind of beverage, anyway.

It wasn't long before he felt someone's eyes on him, which was immediately beginning to irritate. He decided, that since it was obviously someone in the room who was doing the eying, that he would allow them the chance to go back to their own business, however, that chance seemed wasted, as it was a full minute and a half before Neik finally opened his eyes and paused for a second before moving his eyes in the onlooker's direction, still maintaining his position. Not saying anything, he just stared back into her eyes with his own. It was the pretty, long-haired woman. Keeping his eyes trained on hers, he waited for her to notice that he didn't take too kindly to being stared at...

Kyanna daydreamed of a world where magic didn't exist and technology was far more advanced than in the real world, and she found herself not liking it very much at all. Still, she stuck with the dream, curious to see what would happen in her imaginings.

A niggling feeling formed in the back of her mind, like she was being looked at. However, she pushed it to the side, not wanting to return to the real world just yet. The feeling kept growing and growing until she could no longer ignore it and she snapped back to reality, blinking a couple of times before realising that she had been staring at the man with red eyes.

Quickly, Kyanna mumbled soft apologies before looking away leaning back in her chair and tilting her head back to stare at the ceiling as her fingers tapped some random rhythm on the table.

"Thank you sooo much, mister!" Clemmy smiled at the mysterious man. "The bear behind me didn't see that machete coming!"
"You didn't see that bear behind you coming either." The man spoke to her. "Be very careful next time. And as you go from that path, you walk around 20 minutes, you reach a village. The Maple inn is there. If you don't find it, ask someone there and they'll show you."
"Thank you sooo much! Thank you for saving me! You also help the whole world! I better stop talking and run!" Clementine started running trough the path with such speed, it would be assumed that she would reach the village for 10 minutes, no less.

When the blue haired girl disappeared from the man's sight, he collapsed on the ground. His lifeless body was lying on the fallen dried leaves. He was neither dead, nor alive.

As soon as the girl finally noticed that she was staring and looked away, Neik too, took his eyes away from her, resting them back on the door of the inn before closing his eyes once more. He was already beginning to regret the promise he made a year ago; he had a feeling that this was going to be one of the worst experiences of his life... He could be further perfecting his skills right now, or sharpening his mind, or even simply training his body more proficiently, but no; he was stuck at an inn, surrounded by people he didn't know, knew nothing of, already didn't like, but was expected to trust complacently. And who was he stuck with, anyway?

From what he gathered after he walked in, just before heading straight for his current position over an hour ago, there was a fairly toned young man who came off as very...lazy; a woman with fair features who seemed to have a knack for losing focus when bored; and a child who appeared to be part fox. Definitely the most interesting individual in the bunch thus far, as Neik wasn't too familiar with her kind outside of stories and information from books he'd read. This would be the first time he'd ever seen one in person. But that aside, how reliable could he find her -- or any of these people, for that matter? And then there was the one who had yet to appear. Neik's opinion of them was already low based on their tardiness, but he supposed he'd give them the benefit of the doubt for now. Maybe they were killed by a bunch of bandits, or eaten by some foul creature. In which case, their existence in this endeavor was worthless from the get-go if it were that easy to dispose of them...

Neik was trained to be very patient, so waiting alone was nothing. However, it was beginning to annoy... How much longer were the 4 of them expected to wait for this unknown warrior? How was he supposed to trust his back with someone so clearly irresponsible? The sound of the ticking coming from the large clock above the front desk filled the void of his pause in thought. He couldn't trust someone like that. That was the bottom line. Hell, Neik could barely count the number of people he trusts on one hand; most of which were now dead or gone, but this little meeting was the beginning of something that would require a large amount of trust. In the venture, these 3 faces -- as well as the one that still has yet to reveal itself -- are going to be the most familiar to him... For at least a good while, anyway. Finally, Neik let out an audible sigh, truly depressed after that thought entered his mind.

Clementine stopped in front of Riku. She stood there, panting for a while, looking at the leader into his eyes.
"I... I'VE MADE IT! YES! I'VE REACHED YOU!" Riku was expecting her to tell him her name, but instead she managed to find energy to jump in joy around Riku, even after the massive running.

"My name is Clementine Silverwood." Clemmie replied. "Let the cure finding adventure begin!"

Before everything, the group needed to find a dragon and kill it. It didn't harm anyone, but they had to end its life, because its heart had an orb, which could show the direction to the plant that could end the global problem. It was heartbreaking that their mission started with taking an innocent life in order to save many others, but there was no other way.

Kyanna glanced at the long-haired man as he spoke, rolling her eyes a little as he winked and left before turning her attention back to the ceiling again. It wasn't that she didn't want to get to know the others, more that she was feeling rather lazy right then, perhaps the drink had effected her more than she realised. Sighing deeply, she slumped forwards, resting her head on the table once more as she closed her eyes.

The sound of shouting from outside registered in her mind and her right eye opened lazily to glance at the door, wondering whether she should go outside and see what was going on or not.

Neik remained still, eyes closed as the lazy man spoke and left the inn. Get to know each other better... Yeah, right. Like Neik had any personal interest in learning more about these people. All he needed to know was how skilled they each were in their craft. The fair woman with white hair was obviously a witch, based on the atmosphere around her, however, she seemed to lack professionalism, so there was no telling how reliable she might be. The little fox-girl was...well, little. Maybe that was her "talent"? And then there was their "leader", who had a fairly seasoned build by the look of him, and even carried a sword. Neik couldn't quite put a finger on him, but was at least sure he had to be strong in order to be assigned the leader of this little entourage. Neik had his own personal take on each individual so far, but he wasn't foolish enough to underestimate their potential in combat based on their outward appearance. He was just naturally skeptical.

Upon hearing the shouting outside the inn's front walls, Neik finally opened his eyes, calmly.

"Looks like the wait is over." he said to no one in particular. He merely eyed the door, waiting for whoever it was to enter so that they could all get on with this little journey.

As the two who were outside came into the inn, Kyanna sat up, opening both eyes to take a look at the latecomer. Long light blue hair and purple eyes was certainly an odd combination, but she was pretty none the less, Kyanna just wondered what she would be like.

Raising a hand, she gave it a lazy wave. "The name's Kyanna, if you want to shorten it then call me Ky. Under no circumstances do you call me Anna because if you do, well you might wanna fear for your life. It's nice to meet you all I guess." She gave a small smile, tilting her head to the left slightly.

Zeyphrine was fast asleep, sitting in her chair with her head tilted back.
She was like this, rather for the whole time she was waiting for this girl to come. Suddenly, a loud voice made her spring to life.
"I... I'VE MADE IT! YES! I'VE REACHED YOU!"
She jolted awake, with a small yawn afterwards...
"Oh...your here. Im Zeyphrine."

Clementine didn't expect Riku to suddenly drag her, which caused her to squeal. The two girls introduced themselves to Clemmy. "Kyanna and Zeyphrine, right? Well, my name is Clementine!" The girl cheerfully responded. "I'm very, very, VERY sorry for being late!" Clementine's purple eyes went away from the two girls and stopped at a man. "And what's your name?" She asked him in a childish curiosity.

The man Clementine was addressing was still in the same position he had been in when he first arrived at the inn, his eyes closed once more, until they opened upon feeling the young girl's stare. His red eyes fell onto her own purple, and paused for a moment, searching her expression.

"Second in command... Neik Vallier..." he finally spoke, calm and clear, stating his name and place in the group while giving no further information about himself, nor offering any form of proper greeting to other 4 in the room. It was as though they didn't matter to him in the least. Without blinking or taking his eyes away from Clementine's, he moved onto another subject in the same calm, clear tone. "You really are quite late... I trust you won't make a habit of this lack of responsibility once we're out in the field?" Neik finished, staring straight into her eyes with a serious, almost cold look.

Clementine could feel the freezing chill from Neik's words and look. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be late! I had trouble finding the inn! Sheesh!" She just met the second in command, and she already has negative goosebumps up her spine. Good thing the leader is more loosened up. The two girls seem to be very friendly too. "It won't happen again, I promise!" Then Clementine's expression went cheerful again. "So, let's go!" She happily started running out of the inn, unintentionally pushing and breaking an expensive vase in the process.
"You need to pay for this!" One of the employees told Clemmie. She started looking for the money she was supposed to bring. Yes, you guessed - she didn't find them.

Kyanna flinched at the sight of the clearly expensive vase breaking, sighing a little at Clementine's clumsiness and the fact that she couldn't seem to find her money. So not only is she clumsy, she's forgetful as well... Well, this'll make things interesting I guess.

Quietly, Kyanna picked up her bag as she stood, placing the strap over her head to rest on her right shoulder and letting it settle against her left side. Then she checked that her daggers were still in place. She slipped past Riku and Clementine, mumbling a quiet "I'll be waiting outside" before opening the door, exiting through it and letting it close softly behind her.

Once outside, she leaned against the wall, staring up at the sky as she enjoyed the breeze running through her hair. Before long, her mind had wandered and she was daydreaming again.

"That will be 1000 gold." The employee replied to Riku.
"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry! Thank you soooo much! I'll pay you back!" Clementine was obviously ashamed that not only was she late, but she also made the others pay for her mistakes... literally.
Things didn't start well for her. So far for the good first impression. However, she still realized this wasn't the most important thing, as saving the world was much more important.
"No matter how much I mess up... I'll do anything, so you can wake up... sis..." Clementine got serious for a few seconds. Then once again, she became cheerful and went out. "Hi! Kyanna, right? Isn't the weather nice?"
It was cloudy as almost always, but the weather was relatively good for it's season... for now.

Neik finally stood up straight, slinging his black leather rucksack over his right shoulder. The next thing to happen made him scowl slightly and eye Clementine with a look of annoyance. Almost immediately after, their leader, Riku, decided that he would pay for the girl's mishap. This didn't sit well with Neik, but he chose to merely click his tongue and walk towards the door. As he was passing Clementine, he stopped, noticing her sudden change in expression. It was far different from her previously demonstrated idiotic, cheerful one. This one showed some form of determined purpose, which made Neik raise an eyebrow at her before turning his head away and heading out the door to join Kyanna. He no longer wanted to be in that room. It was already a bad memory he'd rather try and forget...

Neik merely stood there, waiting for the other 3. He surveyed the area, checking corners and shadows among the trees, alleys around the inn, etc. Once he determined that there were no threats to their group in the immediate area (although not entirely safe either), his eyes rested on the side of Kyanna's face. Upon seeing how vacant her expression was, he gave a light scoff and shook his head, looking elsewhere once more. "This is gonna suck..." he said under his breath, heaving a small sigh.

Kyanna vaguely registered that she wasn't on her own anymore, and that someone was saying something to her, but it was inconsequential. She was too far into her imaginings of what their adventure would be like and her doubts in her own abilities led her daydream to become a daymare. She imagined herself unable to help as the others were killed in front of her before being killed herself. There were other scenarios besides but that was the one that stuck in her mind the most and would likely haunt her dreams for a few nights. What if I'm not strong enough? She didn't notice that she had whispered that sentence under her breath, as she subconsciously wrapped her arms around herself.

Neik clicked his tongue and closed his eyes after hearing Kyanna's words. He wasn't one to normally care about something like this, but he felt that he needed to confirm everyone's resolve towards seeing this mission through. And so he opened his eyes once more, and slung his rucksack in an underhanded throwing motion, launching it straight past Kyanna until it slammed against the trunk of a tree just ahead of them. The sound was loud enough to wake anyone from the common daydream, which was Neik's cue to speak.

"If you're so unsure of yourself, then why are you even here?" he said, pausing for a moment to allow her to register that she was being addressed as he began walking past and ahead of her towards the tree. "This isn't going to be easy... Some of us might even end up dying. If you aren't prepared to deal with that much, then you should just go home..." Pausing again, Neik took the same pose he did while inside the inn, resting his back against the decently sized tree; his person covered in the coolness of the tree's shadow. The only thing that could be vividly seen within it were his deep, almost glowing red eyes, which were trained upon Kyanna. "This is a mission for weapons... Not a princess who doesn't know what she's doing. Understand? Anna...?" he finished, adding a bit of provocation in his voice as he intentionally uttered the very name she so clearly and openly despised. He wasn't purposely trying to hurt her feelings, or even get a kick out of her reaction to the name she banned from the group's lips just moments previously. He was testing her. Not necessarily for her sake, nor his own, but for that of the group's. To see if they could truly rely on what seemed to be such a half-assed resolve. It was clear that at least 3 of the 5 in the group were completely set on seeing this thing through no matter what. But Kyanna was the first to admit she wasn't too sure about herself...

Whatever his reason behind provoking Kyanna might have been, he was fully ready for her to back up the words of warning she gave over using that name; his guard never fully lowered for any occasion, thanks to his severe training over the years. That being said, he knew nothing of Kyanna's abilities, and if nothing else, this might prove to be the perfect opportunity to see just how useful she can be. Perhaps he could prove her wrong? Or help her understand that she, in fact, was not strong enough after all... Either way, the two of them would have their answer soon enough.

The sound of something heavy hitting the trunk of a tree snapped Kyanna out of her imaginings in time to hear Neik speak. Her gaze landed on him as he moved past her to lean against the tree and a small frown made its way onto her lips as she contemplated what he said.

The main reason she was there was because her mother had recently fallen ill from the disease they were supposed to find a cure for. Her mother was her world, the only person she really cared about and so she wanted to help her. But Kyanna couldn't help but feel weak and useless, she had always been more of a healer than a fighter and physically she wasn't all that strong. She knew some spells that her mother had helped her to make, and could use her daggers fairly well, but compared to others like Neik she knew she was probably useless.

Upon hearing the name "Anna", her temper flared and in one swift motion Kyanna drew a dagger from its sheathe and threw it towards Neik, the blade thumping into the tree trunk a couple of inches to the left of his head. Her lips were pulled back, showing off her teeth in a snarl as she glared at him. She spoke in a low, cold tone, "I thought I'd said never to call me that, or did that go over your pretty little head?"

Neik didn't flinch or change his position in the slightest as he felt the blade cut through the air and join itself with the tree he was leaning against. He didn't even look at it while it was prominently sticking out beside him. His eyes were solely on Kyanna as she was quietly fuming. After listening to her single sentence, he chose to speak in return.

"Oh, I heard you... I just don't care. You see, while something as silly as a mere nickname is all it takes to upset you, being around someone who is unsure of their own conviction is something that annoys me. Especially if that person is to be one of my allies until further notice. How can I trust someone who doesn't trust in their own capabilities?" he said, pausing for a moment to pull the dagger from the tree without looking away from Kyanna. Giving it a firm pull, he managed to yank it from its mantle. "You have a lot of fire inside you. Enough for you to get pissed over something so petty. If you ask me, you'd be better off using it to fuel your resolve, rather than that of mindless anger. Otherwise the strength you're afraid you don't have is being wasted on pointless doubts..." Neik paused yet again, finally looking down at the dagger in his hand.

He played with the tip of the blade with the gloved fingers of his other hand, checking it out. "Nice blade..." he said, looking back up at Kyanna. "I can tell you take good care of it." Neik then stood the dagger straight up with the end of his index finger, until it began floating in mid-air above his hand. "It'd be a waste to damage such a beautiful dagger on a weapon like myself... You should be more careful with your equipment in the future." Finally done speaking, Neik let the dagger slowly float back to its owner, until it gently rested back within its sheath on its own. Or so it seemed...

Neik held his eyes on Kyanna's for a short while after this display as another calm breeze flew between them, their hair ruffling in the wind as the sound of grass and leaves danced around the area surrounding them. If someone were to pass by and witness the current scene, they wouldn't have been able to tell that the young man standing in the shade of the tree had just been so dramatically threatened by the young lady standing across from him. It was almost...quaint, as a matter of fact.

A soft laugh escaped her lips as her body visibly drained of any anger she held mere moments ago. She broke eye contact with Neik, allowing her gaze to drift upwards to look at the sky. An almost sad smile appeared on her face. "I only really get angry over two things," she raised her left arm, holding up one finger. "One, when someone I care about gets hurt," a second finger joined the first, "two, when someone calls me Anna... I have some bad memories connected with that name." She shook her head to clear her thoughts before she ended up reliving those memories.

Kyanna lowered her arm to her side before looking at Neik again. "A weapon, huh? Is that what you really consider yourself to be? It must be sad to only be surviving rather than truly living..."