11 Spring 492 A.V. Off the Kalean coast - early morning The first thing Rayage, Elianos, and Evalin saw that sunny Spring morning was a blue, open sky. Clouds danced merrily above them. A warm breeze tickled their decayed backs. Bubbling white water played in and out of their long dead hair, flooding their follicles one moment and then retreating in time with the tide. If they got up to look around them, each one would see a sandy beach beneath them, water behind them, and a forest in front of them. Nothing moved besides them; the shore seems entirely still, and peaceful. But, despite such idyllic surroundings, the three would have to think: why am I here? For the place, this shore - it was completely foreign to each and every one of them. The last memory all of them would have was of a ship, sailing a dark ocean. They stood at various places onboard it, moving to and fro as the crashing waves and Zulrav's fierce breath demanded. The sky was alight with thunder and lightning, and over the screaming wind someone shouted: and then, there was darkness. And now, they found themselves...here? Where exactly here was, none of them would know. Their clothes were soaked, but no wound, magical or mundane, had torn their host body. And looking down the shoreline would show the other two of their company; Rayage lay nearly halfway between Evalin, who was the farthest to the right, and Elianos, who lay to the left. But besides each other, there was no life around them. So where could they possibly be? --- The hunter, lying in wait, watched the three as they began to awoke. It was astounding to find such new prey come to him so easily, but the hunter wasn't going to pass this opportunity easily. A part of him wanted, hungered, for them. It wanted to attack them immediately, to rend the meat from their bones and watch the light in their eyes dim away...but, it couldn't! Another voice argued. Here, on the beach, it was too exposed...no. He had to lie and wait. But where then, the first demanded. Where should they attack?... ...The ruins! All of his voices cried in agreement at that. Yes – they would lure the three Nuits to the master's ground. The tree branch on which they crouched rustled quietly as their body moved, ever so slightly. The blade, a full length of glittering steel that ended in a sharp edge smudged by bright red blood, was inspected by a yellowed eye. The similarly red mouth opened in a grin. This was going to be his best hunt yet. All of the whispers in his head agreed to that too. |