The Last of Her Kind » Places

         After an hours walk, they could hear the bustle of Market Day as vendors from the surrounding farms gathered to sell their wares. The streets were filled with Wight and Ivlisar who all chatted and examined various fruits and livestock available for purchase. The children grew excited as they drew near.
"Alright boys," Isias said, "you know what to do. If you get anything good, bring it back to me." With a quick kiss, her took the boys deep into the bustle, their little fingers eager to dip into the pockets of the unsuspecting Ivlisar. Nina and Mirisa made their way into the center of the square to sell the Dawn's Roses, who were frozen in their blooming states. When they found the perfect spot Nina dropped down and handed the basket over to Mirisa, "Alright beautiful, you know what to do," and smiled, pinching her cheeks with her fingers and taking a seat next a fountain to watch.

"Oh, how pretty," an elder Ivlisar said, crouching down to Mirisa and touching the white flower with her fingertips. She handed over a coin and Mirisa removed a rose from the basket, handing it over. She smiled softly and returned to Nina's side. The trap was set.

Dawn's Roses are a key ingredient in an elixir only used by wealthy Ivlisar to maintain their beauty and youth. In addition, they are very easily spotted in a crowd. Nina retrieved the coin from Mirisa and handed her another rose, then peered through the crowd to catch Isias' eye and gave him a quick nod. After the first rose sold more and more of the wealthy came to purchase them from little Mirisa, who silently smiled and took their coin. Nina kept back, instinctually touching her ears through her cloak, ensuring that their tips were always covered and watched as the boys made their way underfoot, targeting those who carried the white flowers. They weaved through legs and stealthily dipped their little hands into pockets and baskets taking anything they could get their hands on and disappear back into the crowd. Isias walked about, his short sword hidden beneath his cloak, to ensure that the children stayed safe. When their own little pockets were full they would run back to him and empty their haul into his satchel. The boys loved their game and had become very good. Tarek and Doyle were still quite new to the group but had picked up the skill quickly. Now that he was older and could no longer move as undetected, Hamza used his charm to distract young women and his physical prowess to strike up a conversation with the men, creating perfect little diversions for his brothers. As usual this went on for hours, the more roses sold, the more pockets were picked, the heavier the satchel grew.

Then the ground began to shake. Nina's ear perked to the south as she locked eyes with Isias. They knew the sound all too well. The Drougue were coming. Fear grew in the town square as the Wight and Forrest Ivlisar began to pack up whatever they could and ran, leaving behind carts and livestock. What was a peaceful market day was drenched in panic, "Mirisa, let's go," Nina shouted taking her quickly by the hand and rushing to Isias' side. Hamza and Doyle stood with him, but Tarek was nowhere to be seen. With everyone running about in panic he was impossible to spot, "Tarek!" they shouted. The shaking of the earth intensified as hundreds of Drougue approached, breaking through the forest line.
Isias removed his satchel and shoved it into Nina's arms, "Go," he shouted, "Take the children and go, I will find Tarek, I'll be right behind you" Doyle sobbed, "Where are you, brother?" The army moved quickly toward them and Nina herded the children away and toward the sanctuary. She stopped at the edge of town, "Hamza," she said sternly, looping the satchel over his head and pushing Mirisa's hand into his, "Take Doyle and Mirisa back, I'm going help Isias find Tarek." He took both firmly by the hand as they pulled away from him, Mirisa reaching out to her and crying, Doyle sobbing harder than before, "Nina, don't go," he cried. She crouched down and looked them sternly in the eye, "I need you to be brave, listen to Hamza, follow the path. When you get there barricade the door and extinguish the fire. You need to hide. I will come back with Tarek, I promise." She pulled a dagger from her waist and turned to run back into town as Hamza dragged them back through the forest.

"Tarek," she shouted, weaving through the panic as the Drougue began flooding the streets, snatching up Wight men and boys and tossing them into a large cage, "Tarek!" Isias spotted her and a look of horror overcame him, "I told you to go with the children," he snapped. Drougue surrounded them, "I'm a woman, they won't take me. GO! I will find him." Isias looked her in the eyes, "No, I won't leave you." Before she could respond they heard him, "Nina, Isias! Help," little Tarek shouted as he was lifted by his hair by an ugly drougue with a curved blade. They watched as he was flung into a cage filled with men, their hands shaking the bars as they cried out to their wives and children.
"No," Nina gasped, lurching toward him. Isias grabbed her wrist, his skin searing as her blood boiled. He winced, "Nina we will save him. You go around, I'll distract him." He ran toward the drogue and lifted his blade high, the monster laughed blocking the blow with his own, kicking Isias back. Nina ran as fast as she could, around the tavern to sneak up behind the cage. Tarek met her in the corner, "Nina, I'm so sorry," he stammered, tears running down his cheeks. "Shhh," she hushed him, "I'm going to get you out of here," she said, using her blade to saw away at the ropes binding the side of the cage. It took so long to get through, seconds felt like hours as she watched Isias fight with the guard. He was strong, but the drougue are massive creatures who move rock and live in the mines, he was no match. She sawed and sawed at the ropes, the men trapped inside helping push the panel. The ropes snapped and the wall fell, she snatched Tarek and looked up to Isias. He smiled when he saw that she was successful but let his guard down, then with a final blow, the drougue pushed his blade into Isias' chest. His smile was replaced with shock as blood poured from his lips, Nina screamed and dropped to her knees, clutching Tarek in her arms. The men in the cage poured out and pulled at her shoulders, "Thank you, but they're coming, you need to run. Now!" The drougue noticed the cage began to fall apart and started to swarm around them. Nina stood with tears rolling down her cheeks, clutching Tarek to her chest to block his view and ran without looking back to see Isias fall lifelessly to the ground. She ducked a blade swinging for her head and spun around its wielder. Her feet pounded the ground as she ran, the distance between her and the army growing larger and larger until she broke through the tree line. Tarek cried in her arms, "Nina, stop please, you're hurting me," he wailed. For a moment she stopped, setting his feet down and looking him over, a large blister formed on his face where he was pressed against her, "I'm so sorry Tarek," she cried, calming herself down, "but we need to run, can you do that?" He nodded, the salty tears stinging him wound, "I'll put something on it when we get back, but we need to go now." She took his hand and they ran together, through the forest and back to the sanctuary.

         The morning light barely breaks through the canopy of leaves high above her, but she knows the way without the aid of the sun. The forest is filled with tall, lush trees all standing parallel to each other. Beneath her feet lies a blanket of moss the reaches up to cover the roots and trunks all around her and the trickling of the river guides her to the flowering meadow. She stops at the water's edge to take a sip, looking up into the branches of a low hanging willow. This was the first place she met Isias and his father all those years ago. Though her memories of the time before she knew them have faded away, she does remember the feel of the bark on her toes as she climbed up into that tree to rest. They had stopped to drink just as she had now, having been hunting all day together.
Isias and his father had very similar traits, he too was a handsome, strong man.
When they found her they seemed shocked by her image, her red hair was long, even then. Her hazel eyes shined like gold, and her ears came to a long point.
"What is that?" she remembers young Isias asking his father, pointing up to her as she spied on them from the branches above. They both moved closer, gazing at her curiously.
"It's okay," Isias' father said softly as she began the climb, "I'm not going to hurt you." He sat with her, looking her over, "You're not a Wight, nor or you an Ivlisar… certainly not a Drougue." As he reached out to her, she pulled away from him, causing him to lose his balance and almost fall from the tree.
"Hey hey," he exclaimed as he caught himself, "Come on down, it's not safe out here." He reached out to her once more, taking her small, trembling hand into his. Immediately he withdrew from her touch, shoving his fingers into his mouth to soothe the burning sensation form her touch. Confused, she reached out to her once more, this time feeling only a noticeable warmth on her skin. "That's odd," she heard him mutter as he lowered her down, then jumped down himself. Isias immediately took her hand in his and smiled his toothy grin, "Hi, I am Isias! What's your name?" Nina didn't speak then, only looked him over with curiosity, "That's okay you don't have to tell me. Why are your ears so pointy? Where is your family?"
"Isias, leave the poor girl alone," his father commanded as he gathered their haul for the day onto his back, "We will take her back with us and get her cleaned up. You'll let her sleep in your bed tonight and you can come and sleep with me." He turned to her, "Does that sound Okay?"
Nina nodded gently, her stomach growled violently. "Oh!" Isias said, reaching into his pack and pulling out a piece of bread and a wedge of cheese, "Are you hungry?" Looking back she feels a little shameful for how greedily she ate all of his food, but they very kind about it. Isias held her hand all the way back to Distathia. "Since you can't tell me your name yet, I am going to call you Nina," he said as they walked. She was no older than four, he was five years older than she. Having no memory of where she came from, she nodded silently in agreement. After a few months, their friendship grew and his father became a father-figure to her as well. They fed her, gave her a bed in their home, and brought her to market day with them. They lived together as a family for a year after they found her until the Drougue invaded Distathia.

Nina shook the memories from her focus and stood, collecting her basket and continuing past to the meadow where Dawn's Roses bloomed in plenty. Looking up to the sky she hastened her pace. If they were not plucked soon they would close once more and would be worthless to sell at Market. The meadow was not far and as she stepped through the wall of trees she was struck by the beauty of the brilliant, white roses. The field was covered in the flowers, that only opened once a day before dawn, and closed one the sun shined over the treetops. Quickly she gathered as many as would fit in her basket and watched as they all began to curl back up for another day.

         As dawn breaks, Nina wakes and listens to the harmony of the children sleeping and the loud snoring of Isias. Without opening her eyes she knows that he has fallen asleep near the entrance to the sanctuary while on watch. Luckily for them, the temple is hidden and not visited often. She opens her eyes and crawls over the children, careful not to wake them. The fire has almost died out, leaving only smoldering cinders behind. Taking a log from the pile, she tossed it in, and it immediately grows larger, filling the room with warmth once more.
Isias sleeps with a spear across his lap, his feet stretched out in front of him, and his head hanging to one side. She taps Isias on the shoulder to wake him and he snorts in surprise, "Oh I - I must have fallen asleep," he stammers as he stretches his arms high above his head.
"Come on," she says helping him to his feet, "It's market day. I'll go collect the flowers. You watch the children." Donning her boots and her cloak she takes a basket from the corner and steps through the curtain and out of the temple, taking a worn path deeper into the forest.

         Esme hums softly to herself and sways gently to her beat as light and smoke passes between her fingertips. She pressed her hands together and rubs them side to side before pulling them apart softly. The smoke swirls faster and faster between her hands, spiraling into a sphere that grows larger and larger between her palms until the smoke settles and a solid form remains. Esme chuckles as she admires her work, touching its surface and covering it in liquid magic. With one finger she dips past the blue oceans and pulls forth a large plot of dry terrain. The sphere shakes as the dust settles, leaving a brown, dull spot on her beautiful new toy. With the flick of her wrist, a wave of green flows across the plain brown spot. The gently dabs her fingers and pulls at the vegetation creating flowering meadows and little forests. In some places she stretches the land high to make mountains, in others, she dips low to create valleys. She grins as she waves her hands once more and the sphere begins to spin slowly in front of her.
"Big Brother, Big Brother," she calls out. The light around her pulsates as a deep voice responds, "yes little Esme, that is it?"
"Looky, looky!" she beams with excitement as she shows off her creation, "I'm not finished yet, I'm going to make some little ones too."
"It's beautiful," the voice replies, shining brightly on her and the sphere.
"May I have some of your ruin? I want to make them move."
"If you create them, I will make them move for you, little sister."

She dips her hands back into the oceans and pulls out some water, forming little figures, "I will call you Drougue. You will be nimble like these waters, able to slip through the cracks and deep into the land and powerful enough to wear away the soil below. You will look deeper and find beautiful things beneath the crust"
She gathers up some leaves from the meadows and spins them in her fingers, "You will be the Ivlisar, I want you to be intelligent and resourceful like these plants. With your knowledge you will create magnificent things from these plants I grew for you."
She scoops up some dirt and rolls it in her palms, "You shall be the Wight, strong and resilient like the land, able to build and raise life other than yourselves."
Big Brother beamed down on her creations and slowly they came to life. She places each tiny being on the land softly. The Drougue burrowed deep creating caves, the Ivlisar took to the shade of the forests, and the Wight sat in a large meadow.
"Big Brother, I want more," she whimpered.
He boomed from the abys, "Take a little from all three and I will give you a helper."
So, she took some water, some earth, and some flora and formed one more figure. Big brother reached out softly and touched its surface, a flame surrounded the figure and soon it too came to life. Esme screamed with joy, "Oh thank you Big Brother!" she exclaimed, holding the little man in her hands, "I will call you Mobeus"
The little man bows to her, "Then I shall be called Mobeus. How can I help you, Goddess Esme?"
She giggles at the title, "I like that, you should always call me Goddess!"
"As you wish, Goddess."
"Mobeus, I have a few of these creations on my toy here, but I want more! Can you help me cover the land in them?"
"As you wish Goddess," Mobeus responds. Soon he has filled and enchanted the entire sphere with her creations. Together they create more and more creatures to fill the ocean, cover the land, and circle in the sky.

"Esme!" an angry voice yells, his voice shaking Mobeus from her hands. He snatches the tiny man up and dangles him between his fingers.
"What do you want Zaticus?" Esme pouts, reaching for Mobeus. The boy lifts him higher and out of her reach.
"Give him back!" she pouts, "Big Brother made him for ME!"
Zaticus examines Mobeus, "Yeah, well maybe I want to play too."
Mobeus, dangling from the boy’s fingertips, "I was made to assist Esme and only Esme." Zaticus pinches Mobeus between his fingers, "I'm just as powerful as she is, maybe more. You will do as I command."
Mobeus remained silent as Esme launches her twin back "Give. Him. Back," she demands.
Doubling over in pain he glares at her, "Fine. Take your little toy," as he throws Mobeus hard onto the sphere. The impact breaks the Land she created apart into Three large pieces.
"Zaticus," Esme whines, "Look what you did!"
"Oh, I'm going to play, whether you want me to or not," he sneers as he steps away.