Completed A Broken Wanderer

[Damian]

Fall 10 512AV A strange sensation passed through Damian even before he approached the renowned city of illusion. There was something in the air that bothered him greatly as his claws tapped on the wooden surface of the ship. It had been almost a season since he had befriended a kind sailor who invited the dog on board to travel with him over the seas to the Suvan. Nyka had proven to be enjoyable however the urge of companionship had caused him to follow the young man without question. He remembered the time they played together after the playful tournament rounds of the Nykan festivals. The young man had found his performance funny and foolish at the same time. He remembered when the tourist offered a bit of bread to him, which caused Damian to only warm up to the man all the faster. They played and wrestled with each other and even hunted in the forest, all the while the bond between man and dog grew. Even aboard the ship, surrounded by nothing but water, Damian never had a dull moment. He caused havoc among the crew as he found a love of water as he jumped off ship and swam along side the boat. The stretch of sailing was nothing but fun and play for the shadow kelvic and blew past him faster than the wind that filled the sails. Yet on the eve of their landing in Alvadas’ docks, the wind brought with it a certain air that disturbed Damian. Even as the rough rope was wrapped around his neck, a sign of ownership and loyalty, did very little to make Damian want to leave the ship once firmly anchored ashore. “Come on Shade,” a name the sailor gave him, “you don’t want to stay here, offloading is always boring.” Damian whimpered and tugged on the rope leash held by the sailor. The man looked concerned for a moment as he approached Damian and began to stroke the top of his head comfortingly. “What is wrong? I know it is a new place, but I promise I’ll protect you.” Damian’s tail thumped loudly on the wooden deck, though he remained stubbornly seated on the wood. The sailor frowned a moment, which made Damian’s ears lower, before he moved to his pocket and produced a bit of hard cheese. Damian could catch the pungent scent of the treat before it became visible to him. He made a move to the hand before it was swiftly pulled away from his snout. “Come,” the man said firmly. Damian whimpered and yowled loudly before he finally stood and began to walk along with the man. “Why do you have to taunt me so Jeremiah?” Damian thought to himself before he was fed the salty, aged, cheese. Committed to walking with Jeremiah now the duo made their way into the city of illusion. Jeremiah seemed to know his way around the city, something that Damian came to realize relied mostly on landmarks rather than a map. The feeling of unease intensified as the day continued to draw on. Jeremiah could read Damian’s posture as he adopted a more skittish than playful posture the entire time they walked. “Shade, I hear they have a fighting coliseum here. We should give it a look into. Does that sound good to you?” Damian looked up at Jeremiah with a somewhat terrified, pleading look, though loyal to his companion he remained by his side. Jeremiah crooked his lips into look of uncertainty, “hmm maybe we should. Perhaps a bit of local food will make you feel better huh?” Damian’s tail wagged. He could never say no to a meal, especially one that he did not have to hunt for. The colors of the city were vibrantly lit with green, red, and even yellow washes of light. People Damian passed were dressed in pastel colored clothing, their faces he did not remember. Just faceless beings with disembodied voices that gave passing glances and pets to the matte black dog. It was surreal to walk around in the city as buildings seemed to crawl across the surface as well as vanish with a flick of an eyelash. “How peculiar. This wall had my scent marked on it, now it doesn’t. Heck it is even a different color.” Damian sniffed a building wall as Jeremiah busily spoke with a merchant. “Well best get back to work.” Damian shrugged the strange occurrence off and lifted his leg once more to leave his mark. However, just as the warm mark graced the stone bathed in red light a horrid screech manifested from between his legs. Damian jumped back in shock as a mouth made of stone appeared on the surface. Lined with jagged, dagger like teeth it snarled and chomped at Damian. He stared wide eyed at the mouth as his back fur furrowed and spiked along his spine. His snout was lowered as he began to bark and growl back at the mouth. His tail swayed back and forth as he snapped at the mouth made of stone with his jaws. He barked and growled as he made a commotion. Jeremiah turned to the sight of Damian as he barked and growled at a plane, stone wall. “Damian, come here and stop causing a ruckus.” Damian heard Jeremiah’s words and shook his head. The strange mouth seemed to have vanished before his eyes. “Damian, come!” Jeremiah commanded once more before Damian reluctantly left the wall and returned to Jeremiah’s side. Damian couldn’t help but turn his head back toward the wall behind him. When his eyes focused on the wall once more, an arm had pushed through the wall along with half a torso. The red stone formed a solid head that hissed loudly in Damian’s ears. The strange creature that he had seen scraped its skeletal fingers across the stone and continued to hiss. Damian made sure to stay in front of Jeremiah, the rest of their journey through the city of Alvadas. “I don’t like this city much.” Damian came to the conclusion as he and Jeremiah made their way toward the monumental coliseum.

[Damian]

The entertainment that greeted the pair was bathed in blues and green. A soft haze of dust filled the air as amber rays of sunlight passed through clearstory windows onto the halls below. The sound of cheers and flesh as it contacted flesh echoed through the halls as Damian and Jeremiah sat and enjoyed a quick lunch. Damian did feel better as his tail seemed to make a fan pattern on the red sand surface of the ground. His ears shifted on his head as he listened in on the different conversations and sounds. Though his attention was focused back on Jeremiah as he fed him a sweet piece of bread. “You know Shade, I was quite lonely before I met you. I know you aren’t just a dog and I feel silly admitting this.” Damian’s head tilted in curiosity, “but you just made a terrific companion. Made boring sailing quite bearable. Always having to fetch you out of the water and nets, you remind me of my son. I’m so very close to earning enough money to finally go home for a few seasons. I have a son who I bet would just love you.” Damian’s tail wagged, he had found that he enjoyed the company of children. He pushed his head against Jeremiah’s hand as he stroked and rubbed behind the ear. “I would love to meet your son Jeremiah,” Damian’s mouth hung open in a content, canine, smile as he thought to himself. Jeremiah chuckled as they shared a moment of happiness. Though that moment was shattered as the sounds of festive speech shifted to that of horror. Damian felt that sensation, fill his body fully now. It paralyzed him as he looked out the windows several stories above. The sky had been filled with a dark cloud, green and red flashes of light crossed the clouds and cast an eerie unnatural glow over the landscape. Damian now knew what that sensation was that he had felt in his soul, it was dread. Absolute dread, that was shared by those in the coliseum. Damian began to bark and tugged on the rope around his neck. He gagged and snorted as the crude collar dug into his neck and choked off his breathing. Still he fought until Jeremiah stood quickly from his seat. “What is wrong Shade, would you like to get back to the ship?” The silhouette of Jeremiah’s body glowed as the flash of lighting and a ear piercing crack of thunder shook the stone they stood on. The colored washes that lit the corridors vanished as the room was thrown into momentary darkness lit only by the strobe of magical lightning. Raw power, whipped about in the clouds and could be felt on Damian’s skin. It caused his fur to stand on end as it seemed Jeremiah was oblivious to the danger Damian felt. He pulled on the rope harder until finally it slid from Jeremiah’s hands. Free Damian began to dash for the exit. “Shade, wait!” Jeremiah called as he began to run after Damian. Those in the colosseum shouted in panic as Jeremiah began to run. Chaos erupted as some fled to the exits. Damian’s black body soon lost in the crowd. “Shade! Sade!” Jeremiah called for Damian. Damian heard the calls and stopped as he began to bark. Though some of his barks were cut short as busy feet kicked him and made him yelp. Yet he remained and endured the feet that stomped around him. His red eyes looked through the surreal scene of colored lights and panic stricken faces. Desperately he scanned the crowd for Jeremiah, faces he couldn’t remember if he tried passed by him as he stood at the exit of the coliseum. It was like he was part of a play as unnatural light flashed like colored filters across the stone statues and buildings. The sound deafened him as he barked out for Jeremiah who continued to seek him. Wild djed struck the colosseum as massive cracks formed in the stone. Large chunks of the building fell from the sky and onto the horrific stage set below. People ran for cover as the building began to crumble and turn to nothing but rubble. Pieces of heavy stone that could easily crush a man to death landed and sprayed his body with stone flac as they cracked the ground beneath his feet. In fact he remembered the distinct feeling of warm blood as he was splashed by crushed bodies nearby. The scent of human blood sickened him. Fur matted in sticky, crimson goop, he looked to the sky in hopes of seeing something peaceful. The sky glowed red as blood, distorted into what looked to appear as a river. A river of souls, a river of blood, flowed above and across the sky as he watched men, woman, children begin to be torn to pieces by stone and rubble. It was passing glance as he thought he had witnessed the illusion of the skeletal man who came from the wall pass by and plunge its arm through man. The red of the stone hid the color of blood well as it almost seemed to absorb it. A deafening screech that only Damian could hear made his head pound and heart race even faster. Damian finally caught sight of Jeremiah as he walked through the chaos and called for him. The noise was so loud that he couldn’t hear his voice. Damian began to run toward him, happy to find his master and hopeful that he would be able to guide him to safety. A ring in his ear, the sound was no longer deafening. No, the silence was loud in his ear. Damian barked, yet nothing resonated from his snout. Yet he continued to run toward Jeremiah. Jeremiah stopped in the red sand as his face lit up in joy as their eyes made contact with each other. Damian felt happiness as well as he continued to run toward Jeremiah. Damian’s eyes momentarily focused on what went on behind him. Families froze almost instantaneously as their skin turned crimson red and opalescent. Their faces of terror permanently frozen in the disfigured but distinct expression of absolute terror. Morbid statues, they stood bonded completely to the red sand turned to ruby beneath their feet. When he had finally reached him, Jeremiah reached for the rope and gripped it in his hand. With great haste Damian began to pull Jeremiah, whether he liked it or not, away from the colosseum. Jeremiah resisted for a moment before he began to run along with Damian. Damian looked over his shoulder up at Jeremiah and watched as he mouthed something with a smile on his face. Damian liked to think that he had said, “Good boy.” A praise that had grown sacred to him over the long journey. It was not just something that was bonded to the surface of Damian’s skin, it was a bond formed between their souls. It made his tail wag to see his companion’s face alit with a smile among the dismal lighting and disaster around them. The coarse sand rubbed his leather paw pads raw as they began to bleed. Though just as his hind paws left the surface of sand and finally made it to stone, his pace was halted. He yelped, soundlessly as the collar around his neck tightened and injured his throat. The adrenalin pumped through his veins as his body landed on the sand behind him. Quickly he stood and looked at Jeremiah. An expression of joy still on his face as his skin slowly began to redden. Damian’s eyes grew wide as saucers as he noted the hand that held the rope had turned to ruby. He jerked his head around as the jem like substance began to crawl along the rope. It snapped off as Damian tucked his tail in and ran. “No,” was the only word that crossed Damian’s mind as he watched as his companion slowly turned to ruby before his eyes. He looked back and noted that the strange magic that had turned many into statue had halted when it met stone. He turned back around and barked toward Jeremiah hopeful that his silent call would beckon the frozen man to move once more. The truly proud expression on Jeremiah’s face stung Damian to the core as the face froze. The empty eye holes seemed to project something into Damian that he had been a good dog, a loyal dog. Yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had failed Jeremiah in some way, he still was alive. He felt a drive to stay by his companion’s side and be turned to gem as well, but he was to much of a coward to face death in such a way. As he ran, Damian howled his sorrows as sought shelter. Damian jerked awake against the crook of a tree root. His body was tightly pressed against the rough wood of the root. The soil in front of him and part of the bark had been scratched deeply, Damian’s claws were bloody. Slowly and groggily Damian stood from where he had pushed himself to. Feathers decorated the place where he had caught the bird he had been tracking prior. “Damn it Damian. How do you expect to sleep if the color of blood makes you faint!” He growled to himself in frustration. The carcass of the bird he had caught was long gone, taken by a scavenger while he was passed out. His stomach growled in hunger as he sighed and sniffed the ground below him. He had caught the scent of whatever it was that took his meal and decided to follow it. He moved through the forest that surrounded Alvadas in search of the thing that stole his food. As he tracked the animal, he began to think back to that strange storm, the storm that had killed his companion. He had not returned to the site since that Spring. The Spring that usually signified the rebirth of life, but instead was tainted with the blackness of death. He hated blood, the scent and sight of it brought back the memories of that day. It always made him faint and seize up at the thought. Even more so now that he had finally decided to face his apprehensions and return to the morbid ruby forest of statues that once lived. “Wait, I hear something.” Damian’s thoughts were interrupted as he heard the sound of an animal off in the distance. He crouched low as he began to slowly inch his way closer. What met his eye was an animal similar to that of a rat. Though the larger body was no doubt caused by the devastating storm. The pests sharp teeth dug into Damian’s kill as it tore away flesh from bone. Busy with its meal, Damian slowly began to approach. The color of his fur helped him hide in the brush and arrive closer than most predators to their prey. It only made it easier as Damian lept from the brush and latched his jaws around the rat’s thick neck. It squealed loudly as Damian gripped it firmly. Though not firm enough to break the animals thick skin. He thrashed his head around and heard the squeals echo off the stone that surrounded him. He paused a moment and felt the heavy body was still alive, though the squeaks had grown quieter. He thrashed once more until he felt and heard a loud snap. The mutated rat’s body soon was flaccid as its neck was broken. Damian didn’t dare to look down at the ground or the rat, fearful that he may have made the creature bleed. He instead kept his kill in his mouth and began to make his way back toward the city. The journey was long, made longer as the city continued its shifts throughout the day. Nothing was ever the same, however one that had lived in the city long enough had learned to navigate its path. His heart thumped harder as he approached the grim graveyard made of ruby. The place where the colosseum once stood was now nothing but a garden surrounded by crimson gem. Slowly, Damian began to make his way toward the vast landscape of gem. His paws hesitantly took a step forward onto the glass like surface. He half expected to be changed into ruby, like he had to fulfil a destiny of being nothing but a statuesque memory. He passed by many figures, some with broken arms and limbs that litter the ground beneath them. Other had been subject to grave robbers as their rubble was nowhere to be found around them. The pools of colored light was no more, only a twisted dream, but instead warm sunlight shimmered off the rain and weather eroded bodies of people past. He knew where Jeremiah was but decided to prolong his route to him. But as his stomach growled more firmly, he began to bring his journey to an end. Slowly he began to approach Jeremiah from behind. The same running pose, with an outstretched hand that once held the end of Damian’s leash. Damian began to breath harder as he slowly rounded in front of the statue and looked up at Jeremiah’s face. Still frozen with that proud look, it still stung Damian’s heart. He dropped his kill at the statue’s feet and reared up on his hind legs to scratch and paw at the surface of the statue as if he expected it to move and pet him. But when no such touch appeared he slid down onto his paws in a depressed slump. His hunger had left him as he laid in front of Jeremiah. “Why’d did this happen?” Damian wondered to himself, naive to the dangers of magic and it’s existence in nature. “Why couldn’t I have waited with you and protected you? I would of been right next to you if I didn’t run.” Damian felt his stomach growl painfully, though his mind told his body he wasn’t hungry. With a bit of disdain he began to eat the rat he had caught, if only to quench the pain. “Wait, I can still be by your side.” His ears perked a bit as he spoke to himself. “Yeah yeah, you can’t die if I remember you.” His tail thumped, “I’ll just wait here until I die myself and then we can go together. I’ll visit you and will not leave this city.” He continued to eat until the rat was completely consumed. Damian sat next to one of the statue’s feet as he nosed against Jeremiah’s leg. “Welcome to Alvadas.”

[Fallacy]

XP Award! Name:Damian XP Award: +2 Tracking +1 Hunting Lore: A Good Companion Blood Smells Bad Outside of Alvadas Notes: Welcome to Alvadas. Any questions or concerns about the rewards gained please send a PM