Things Aren't Always What They Seem (Closed)

by **Verilian** on February 17th, 2012, 9:13 pm

It was probably Aello who woke first, though Nex surely did not sleep well. His mind was filled with disturbing dreams. Dreams of rabbits.. which normally would probably have been a pleasant dream of his. But this dream was not of normal rabbits. And there were many of them, so very many, all around their peaceful little cabin, all watching the building as Aello and Nex slept. The dream was so real Nex could almost smell the rabbits.

But that wasn't what would wake him, or Aello. It was the shaking. Aello began to shake at some point in the night, shake and shiver, and no matter how close she drew in the furry wolf it wasn't enough. They would wake before Nex ever began to feel the bite of the cold, though it wasn't long before even the wolf protected beneath his warm fur began to feel it's bitter sting as well. The temperature had dropped considerably since the two fell asleep, now well below freezing, to the point that it hurt not to move. They would not sleep any more that night, not without some form of warmth. They needed a fire, but what was there to burn.

The cabin was made of wood, obviously, but to take from the cabin would mean to expose themselves further to the cold. The snow, though it was less now than before, burried any hope of finding useable wood outside. All that was left was the table, or perhaps their own possessions. Aello couldn't stop shaking, except for when she was moving, and Nex found himself shaking from time to time as well. And it seemed to be getting colder still. Neither wanted to move, they wanted to stay bundled and warm, but there was no hope of that. Not moving meant freezing, and only the gods knew how much colder it would get outside, or how long the cold would last. With the sun still many bells away from rising, fire was their only hope for warmth.

OOCSorry for the short post, but I didn't want to jump ahead too much either.

by **Aello** on February 18th, 2012, 8:18 pm

Aello's teeth chattered, as she ran her hand over Nex's fur. Running her fingers through the thick black hairs, scratching him behind the ears as tendrils of silver escaped her lips. "We have to do something... about this petching... relentless... biting cold," Aello whispered, as she gave Nex one final, loving scratch, before gently lifting his snout away from her, and easing herself onto her feet. Her bones creaked as she moved. Her muscles ached. Everything felt tight. Frozen, and so unwilling to move. Almost incapable.

The aurist rubbed her hands together frantically, trying to warm them up as she crossed the room to the table. She raised her hands to her lips, blew into them. Warm breath swirling against her palms as she clapped them together, and kept on running. "We'll have to start a fire Nex," Aello whispered, as she pulled her dress off the table, now long dry, if not somewhat cold, courtesy of the weather, and stuffed it into her bag. From there, she rummaged around in her bag until she found a few more slices of dried apple, and plopped them into her mouth. Chewing thoughtfully, she hoped it'd help warm her up even as she searched for her tindertwig, forcing it into her pocket when it was found.

As soon as she had finished, Aello put her bag on the ground, and circled the table with her trembling hands. They felt so numb, as they turned purple about the edges. As she tipped the table over it, so its legs threatened to ram into her side. Forcefully, frantically, she twirled the upper wooden legs away from the table. Tore them from where they once rested, and tossed them onto the ground. Huffing, strangely satisfied with herself, the aurist went after them, picking one leg up first, and slamming it against the floor until it broke. Until it splintered into several pieces. Jagged, dark edges of wood crawled across the floor, trying to get away as she forcefully beat the other leg.

When she was done, Aello tossed the leg and stared at Nex. Her dark eyes flashing as her chest rose and fell rapidly. "We need a fire... try not to get too close," she warned, as she went around the room, gathering the larger and smaller edges up. She placed them in two, small separate piles by the side of the fireplace. As soon as she had finished, she knelt down by the side of the fire and stacked the larger shards into an immensely lopsided teepee. She then placed the small ones, which would serve as kindling at its base.

This should do, Aello thought, as she pulled her tindertwig out, and with trembling hands, tried to draw it across one of the spare pieces of wood. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, with her chattering teeth, and shivering limbs, she consistently missed her mark. "Petch," she muttered, as she closed her eyes and imagined what it was like to be warm. To be standing outside in the sun. Gold lining one's skin. The tingling sensation of the rays crawling up your spine, as it let its warmth sink in. As it grew to such an intensity, that you began to sweat. Aello imagined that sensation, the warmth of the sun, sinking into her hands. Crawling up the length of her arms, to her shoulders. Slowly, winding its way upwards, to her neck. Her head, the line of her hair. She imagined a shield locking in the heat. Keeping the cold at bay.

Over time, as she concentrated, the trembling seemed to die down, causing Aello to open her eyes, and glance down at the wood, and the tindertwig. Swiftly, before she had a chance to break her concentration, and destroy the shield, Aello struck the twig like a match. She drew its end up against the wood. The splinter. Over and over again, until it sparked. Crackling red fireflies dancing towards the fire pit, over and over again, for a few chimes. Flying, until they caught on the kindling. Sending up a small tendril of smoke as the wood darkened. As the shavings curled. As the fire began to crackle, and then roar, as it grew.

Smiling, Aello tossed the last wooden shard into the fire, before putting the tindertwig away. She placed her hands on her knees, and then, gently eased herself onto her feet. She could feel the shield fading away. Her hands growing cold again. As though she had just immersed herself in a vat of soulmist. "It's not much Nex, but it should help," she commented, as she turned back around the table, and pushed it closer to the fire. Turned it on an angle, towards the window and the door, in the hopes that it could serve as a barrier, helping to ward away the cooler winds that may seek to trickle inside.

Grunting, Aello pulled her bag off the floor, and walked back around the table. She plopped her bag down, and then sat next to it. Her back resting against the remnants of the wood. "Come Nex, we should be warmer now, if we huddle close together... just like before..."

by **Nex Paciscor** on February 29th, 2012, 12:42 am

Nex awoke gnashing his teeth, his luminous gold eyes taking in the sight of the cabin before remembering where he was. Yet even awake the uneasy feeling that pervaded his sleep carried over into his waking moments, and his body stiffened in response. It was odd to have his sleep trouble him so, especially one dealing with such tasty prey but the fact remained about the sheer unnatural aspect of the whole thing. Even locked behind the cabin walls resting with Aello he still felt as if eyes where upon him, as if the prey had become the predator and it provoked a shiver of fear from him and a welling sense of dread. Subtly a chill crept over his flesh, and prickled the skin. What sort of place was this?

The feel of Aello's hand took him from his musings, and turning to look at her, he felt his shoulders relax as the woman scratched him behind his ear. It was good to have her with him, her company always managing to soothe whatever ailed him. The odd clicking sound her teeth made gave him pause, till he remembered her shaking was what woke him up in the first place. He noticed now a chill pervading the room, some how much colder than it had been when they had slept, and could feel the cold air trying to seep past his fur to soak into his bones.

Moving with her press on his snout, he cast his head about to look around the cabin while she went about her business. Of course she was cold. While he had his fur to protect him, she had nothing but flesh and flimsy cloth to keep her warm, something that he figured must be hard for his human counterpart. He'd wanted to change desperately in that moment but he quickly realized that would do them no good for it would just make him as cold as her, and she would have no fur with which to pull close to her to keep her warm. That left her to gather the wood, and him to sit and wait with the eyes still staring daggers at him, raising his uneasiness.

Luckily soon she was finished and her voice called for him and padding over he took his place beside her and placed his head on her shoulder. He could feel the cold now too, the bitterness of it pervading his flesh, and making his muscles stiff. His back flexed in response but it offered only brief respite. At least her body, combined with the fire kept him somewhat warm.

by **Verilian** on March 9th, 2012, 6:35 pm

As soon as Aello got the first spark going the storm outside picked up. It didn't actually get any colder, other than the cold from the wind blowing through the openings in the cabin that bit into their skin. But it was almost as if the weather had responded in anger to her lighting the fire.. which was of course absurb. It was just coincidence, obviously, but even so it was a bit worrisome. When moring came there was no telling if they would even be able to get out of the cabin, assuming the storm had even stopped by then.

In all of their time in the wild Aello and Nex had never experienced a snowstorm such as this. Maybe people in the Northern Reaches were used to such weather, but in Sylira it never got so bad. At least, not to the knowledge of either person trapped in that shack.

The combined heat of both Aello and Nex with the help of the fire was enough to combat the cold, and eventually both hunters drifted off to sleep once more. Both had troubling dreams, though neither could remember what they were the following day. Neither of them would want to either, if they did remember. But dreams weren't important. What was important was the stinging sensation Nex felt on his ear. At first he barely noticed it, but then came a particularly painful sting that jolted him awake.

The sun was up, though he could only tell by the light coming in from the cracks in the ceiling. The window was completly buried in the snow. But neither of those things were what had awakened him. It was the rabbits. And they were nibbling. On him! And Aello. Tons of rabbits, at least thirty of them, all identical to the pair they'd killed last night. How they had gotten into the cabin without Nex hearing or smelling them he did not know, because he could hear and smell them now. And they were trying to eat him!

Aello would wake up a moment later when she felt something bite her hand. She would see the same things as Nex. The light, the snow, but of course her attention too would be focused on the rabbits. They were all over her, covering her. They were all trying to eat her, nibbling away at her flesh. If she just laid there and did nothing she would be dead within chimes, consumed by the rabbits, but of course Aello was not one to just lie there and die, was she? She would have to fight, and so would Nex. They were just rabbits, afterall.

OOC :

by **Aello** on March 10th, 2012, 2:40 am

Aello shook her hand. "Damn it Nex, you could have simply nudged me awake with your nose," she scowled, as her eyes fluttered open to find the horde of vicious rabbits surrounding them both. She could still feel two over-sized front teeth clamping down on her hand, as she muttered, "oh..." and hurried to her feet. She shook her legs, and her hand again, as she reached for her cursed dagger, bent down, and stabbed one who had a death grip on her middle. The rabbit fell away as she kicked her leg again, dislodging a critter who had lodged itself closer to her knee. The rabbit seemed to chitter, as it fell onto the fire's remnants. Screeching, as the flames lazily licked its fur, engulfing it slowly, in flame. She could smell the flesh burning as she stabbed another rabbit in the back and turned to Nex.

"Rabbits... don't normally do this... do they?" Aello grunted as she lifted her foot a little higher, and brought it down forcefully on a rabbit, who had been nibbling on her companion's tail. She heard a loud crack as the creature's skull fractured, rippling beneath its skin, as more blood spilled into the gathering pool. Smoke seemed to rise through the openings in the ceiling, as flesh fell away from bone. As another rabbit was kicked onto the fire, which was quickly growing to consume them both. Aello thought, as she fought for her life, that she could hear squealing akin to that made by a pig, as rabbit after rabbit was slaughtered. But in her frenzy, she truly wondered, if it wasn't simply her imagination.

Aello grit her teeth as blood dripped down her legs. She felt sharp piercing pains, wherever the bunnies had bit her, but she refused to stop fighting, and give into the pain. She couldn't stop, not until each one of them was dead. Methodically, she wove through the fluffy bodies, careful not to stab her companion as she crouched, swiftly raising and lowering her dagger into them repeatedly, until each body fell limp. "Petch... what the heck is going on?" Aello shouted over the bed of blood and matted fur.

by **Nex Paciscor** on March 18th, 2012, 2:30 am

A shock of pain rolled through him focused around his ear, and his golden eyes shot open to see small balls of fur cluttered around his body, and that of his master's as well. It didn't immediately register to the wolf what was going on in his sleepy state till the painful nibbling continued, and he saw the white balls of fur for what they were. Rabbits, patching rabbits.

Aello rose in the same breath as him, his teeth quickly setting to work on a rabbit fool enough to be chewing on his foreleg, and rending it's flesh with every jerk of his head, he tossed the creature aside, and clamped his maw around another hopping forward to have a go at his masters ankle. Snarling its fragile bones crunched beneath his teeth even as he slammed his shoulder into the cabin wall and knocked free a couple of the rabbits clinging to his body. There was no time to savor every kill though he knew as he dropped the dead animal onto the ground and craned his neck to snap of the head of one of the furry creatures clinging to his back. A burning sensation settled over his snout even as his own blood coursed down his fur as a rabbit chewed his ear to tatters, and throwing his head back to let out a loud howl, he could feel the burdensome beast lose it's hold and slide of his body. Growling and snapping to attention on the creature, he pinned the creature to the ground firmly with the press of his paw, and opened it's body with his fangs, gore spewing to coat his muzzle.

Aello's voice drew him from his kill, her words commanding attention and looking about he noticed the carnage was over with the death of all the rabbits, though the uncomfortable feeling the creatures brought on remained. It simply wasn't natural, and certainly wasn't the way rabbits were supposed to act, though if he'd thought about it more, he'd realize that neither was the patch of forest they were in. He was simply consumed by the fact that his prey tried to eat him. His master's question begged an answer though meaning his contemplations would have to wait, and within a blink of an eye he had shifted, and stood before her, covered in gore and wearing a scowl on his face for this was not a mirthful time for him despite the feast arrayed about him.

"The rabbits are strange" He spoke with an iron certainty, though he failed to realize he had stated the obvious.

by **Verilian** on March 28th, 2012, 3:51 pm

Rabbit after little white rabbit fell to the jaws and weapons of the pair of travelers. Each rabbit let out a squealing shriek as they died, their wails of pain dying slowly with their last breaths. They were not challenging foes, though both combatants were covered in scratches and cuts by the time all the rabbits lay dead. The smell of burning bunny flesh filled the cabin as the fire licked hungrily at their fur, their ears, their paws and eyes. The rabbits were quickly consumed, and when the last of life fled the last of them, the cabin was filled with an eerie calm.

And then something began to stir. Something unseen, though even with her magic inactive Aello could sense a shift in the cabin's aura. It wasn't one thing, but rather everything in the room, from the dead rodents to the burning fire to the wood of the cabin itself. It was an aura of anger.

The fire burned, crackling loudly, loudly enough for one of them to turn and look. As if in slow motion an ember floated out from the fire to land on the floor. A wisp of smoke rose from the place where the ember landed, and then a small flame broke out. Almost instantly it went from tiny flame to a large fire, licking its way up the walls and across the floor toward the pair.

There were two exits. The door was blocked in by snow, they could barely budge it. The window too was buried under snow, and small pile having formed inside the cabin where the snow poured in. They could try to dig their way out, but would they be quick enough, or would the snow cave in on them and crush them as it began the bottom of the pile began to heat up.

Then an image came to mind, something barely noticed from when they first awoke. One of them remembered the light coming in from the ceiling. Though the door was blocked and the window buried under snow, the roof itself was still letting in light! If they could find a way to reach it before the fire consumed the entire cabin and them inside, they might just be able to break out somehow. It was a desperate attempt, but it might just work. Or they could try their luck digging out of the snow. One way or another they had to do something, lest they be cooked with all the rabbits.

by **Aello** on March 28th, 2012, 11:43 pm

As soon as the last white rabbit had fallen, Aello sheathed her weapons. She looked over to Nex for a moment as her chest rose and fell rapidly. She was struggling to regain her breath, as her nostrils flared, taking in the rising smoke. She turned to the fire, her eyes growing wide. "Petch Nex! We have to get out of here!" Aello screamed as she looked first to the door, and then the window, realizing that there could be no escape, she glanced up, towards the subtle tendril of cool air wafting down through the cracks. "There!" she hollered, pointing to the crack as she pulled back, and reached for her scattered belongings and pack, holding a mixture of both their things. "We'll get out there! Hurry up and shift!"

The aurist's voice was stifled as crackling flame overcame. It danced across the room as she retrieved the length of coiled rope. She pulled an arrow loose from her quiver then, and quickly, bound its middle with the rope. Soon, the nock met with the serving, her bow was rising, and her left eye had closed. The string was being drawn back, and within an instant, the arrow had been sent forth, through the air. Forcing the gathering grey to ring around it, as the point finally imbedded itself in the far end of the roof. The girl smiled as she strung the bow up her shoulder, and gave the rope a light tug. It seemed to hold. Smiling all the more triumphantly, Aello placed her hands high, and her boots against the low. She allowed them to slither up as her hands inched higher and higher, and slowly, she made her way away from the fire.

"Come Nex," Aello insisted. "Hurry," she added, as she made it to the top and grabbed onto the rope, tugging it out of the small cabin. If he hadn't had time to grab on yet, Aello wasn't worried, for she knew the rope was about a hundred feet, and there would be a ways to go if she wished to save it all. And if he had reached the rope, she was trying with all of her might to help him out. As soon as they had both made it, she'd run to the edge of the cabin, retrieve her arrow, and jump off the roof. The coils would follow her as she fell into the snow, and looked back over her shoulder. At the trail of coiled rope in her wake. The cabin spitting fire.

"Something is very wrong here," Aello whispered. "And there is no time to find out just what. We need to get away from here. Far away, and never come back."

by **Nex Paciscor** on April 22nd, 2012, 7:08 pm

Looking surprised at the woman's words, Nex turned to look at the spreading fire and froze, the tantalizing flames drawing on that instinctual fear that resided in his breast, keeping him rigidly still were he stood. His bond mate shared none of his reservations he saw reflected in the blazing light of a fire gone out of control as the woman quickly set the rope and began climbing up it, yet even seeing her move Nex couldn't yet bring himself to do the same. The fire it was consuming everything, paralyzing in its intensity. If he could only move, and be free of the fear.

He managed a hesitant step toward the rope that Aello had just climbed up, only to fall backwards when the fire flared up. Suddenly the rope was moving upwards, and the amount left to grab was quickly running out. Aello's voice echoed from above, drawing his eyes upward and distracted from the flames he at last moved forwards, stepping across the blistering floor of the cabin to latch onto the rope with his hands, holding on to it with an iron grip as Aello pulled him upwards into the exposing presence of the roof. He could feel the cold fully then as he came through the hole in the roof, and quick as he could get his feet under him, he hopped from the edge of the roof into the powdery snow below and rolling a few feet before coming to a stop.

"Lead the way, I will follow" Nex stated simply, his eyes going to the burning cabin as he looked back. Something was very off.

by **Verilian** on May 4th, 2012, 9:08 pm

They ran from the fire in fear, their legs dragging them through the heavy snow. It was cold and it was tiring, but they had to escape whatever mad forest they had entered. They ran and ran, for there was nothing else they could do. How could one fight something they could not see? And as they ran it began.. the laughter. It was subtle at first, and they might not have even noticed it with all the effort they were putting into their escape, but eventually they would notice it. Gradually it grew louder, and it wasn't long before Aello would recognize it. She had heard the laughter before. She knew the laughter, though she likely hoped she never hear it again.

Nex heard the laughter too, though his ears were far more keen than Aello's. He would pick up something that Aello would not, the sound of hooves galloping through the snow. He was the first to hear them, though Aello would be the first to see them. A heard of deer, all with great antlers, were stampeding their way. The forest was trying to drive them back in. It was trying to push them back toward the shack and the fire, and all the while the laughter sounded around them. Was it the forest laughing at them? Aello knew better, but perhaps Nex thought it was.

The deer were coming straight for them, their heads lowered and their antlers poised to gore the two strangers in the even stranger land. They would have to veer off course, though the deer would not pursue them if they did. They would run right past, deeper into the forest back toward the cabin and the fire. Aello and Nex would barely dodge them, but they managed, and then the laughter grew louder. As they ran they came to a dead end, the trail was so overgrown with thorns there was no way they could possibly make their way through. And behind them they heard another sound, an angry grunt followed by the roar of a mighty bear. To go forward was to be cut and torn by the thorns, though it might not be so bad as to go back and face the bear. And then the laughter grew.

Ahahahaaahahaaahahahahaaa!!! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!

It grew so loud it drove them both to the ground, their ears nearly bleeding from the pain. It grew so loud until neither thought they could take it anymore, and then there was silence. Only for an instant, and then it was interrupted by his voice, which echoed all around them.

"The forest is not so friendly a place, is it Miss Aello?"

It was him, the creature from the prison. The strange maddening creature she knew as Kiochi, servant of the Defiler, servant of Rhysol.