Completed An Interesting Encounter (Ariann)

[Wymond]

4th of Summer, 513

Wymond crouched down and held his short bow at the ready as he scanned his surroundings. He was in a forest of some sort, but this forest was strange and ethereal. His normally very sharp senses were muffled, like the strange fog that seemed to cover everything. The Kelvic frowned in confusion and then he shook his head as if to correct his focus once more. Wymond’s heterochromic eyes searched for any sign of danger as he pressed forward into the forest. A flash of movement caught his eye, he turned quickly and drew back his arrow but whatever had moved was now gone. He growled quietly in irritation.

It was then that the scenery decided to change, to that of what appeared to be a beach like area? Wymond couldn’t recall ever seeing a beach such as this one. He stood up right and looked around, his bow seeming to dematerialize in thin air. He then took an attentive step forward towards the water. The waves gently lapping against the shoreline gave Wymond a calming feeling. He kneeled down and sat upon the soft warm sand, his bare feet being kissed every time the waves would meet land. Bare feet? Hadn’t Wymond been wearing boots just moments ago?

Not many things made sense in the strange place, but it didn’t seem to bother him. He lifted his hand up and ran his fingers through his shaggy black hair so that the sea breeze could blow through it better. Wymond sighed as he relaxed slightly. Perhaps this place wasn’t so bad after all?

[Ariann]

In the distance, a city of coral spires rose from the sea, the waves lapping harder upon the shore as the city appeared. When the city finally stopped rising, a woman seemed to fade into existence on the shore, sitting butt-naked on the sandy beach, letting the waves rise against her legs. She had strange, blue skin that was slick like a fish. Her hair wasn't strands, they were fins, moving on their own behind her as she watched the spectacle in front of Wymond. Jutting out of her wrists and ankles where dorsal fins, strange bone-like appendatures used in swimming. Her eyes were a stark contrast to her skin, emerald in color and large in size. She had a cherubic look to her, her eyes oversized in comparison. Her lips were a startling oceanic blue, as if she was suffering from hypothermia without any other symptoms. She was bare of clothing, her goods plainly laid out for anyone to see.

"Charbosi." The woman said, a sad longing in her voice as she gazed out towards the spires of coral that rose a hundred feet out of the water and probably sank many, many more miles beneath. When she spoke, her voice was soothing like a siren's and yet she bared rows of sharp, triangular teeth like a shark. She didn't appear to be hostile at all and the water moved in a strange motion around her. The waves surged back and forth, creating strangely dull shapes of people and buildings on the water's surface. Anyone who'd been to Nyka would recognize a few of the buildings. Ariann watched the waves as they changed into the University located in Zeltiva. "I feel alone." The woman said, her words echoing in the sky, Alone... alone... alone... alone... alone...

[Wymond]

At first, Wymond was startled when he saw the blue fish like woman sitting nearby. He was torn between watching the strange city rising from the ocean and the nude woman. He wasn’t captivated because she was nude. That never bothered him since nudity was a common thing for a Kelvic. It was her appearance as a whole that drew his attention. What was she?

Then she opened her mouth and spoke, it was lovely yet so very sad. He watched her a while longer as she stared out into the vastness of the blue water. He never saw a creature that looked so forlorn.

“I feel alone…” she whispered to the sky, which strangely carried her voice like an echo.

Wymond couldn’t contain his curiosity for much longer as he stood up and walked over to her. “Why do you feel alone?” He asked. His voice was pleasantly deep with a slight rasp to it. He was fairly tall; standing at 6’2’’, and his body was lean but still very toned with lightly tanned skin. His face was slightly angular, with nicely shaped cheek bones. He then sat down next to her, but still at a safe distance so that she won’t feel afraid and so that he could escape should she prove to be a threat.

[Ariann]

The waves suddenly crumbled and became natural again, no longer showing glimpses of a forlorn place. The woman looked up, but her lips did not move. The man was in her dream, after all. She didn't need to speak. The skies replied instead. Zeltiva... Nyka... Ravok... Syliras... Sunberth... The list rattled off nonsensically, Morphing. It can be done with Morphing. The Charoda are dwindling. Charbosi has closed.

Ariann looked up at Wymond, her bulbous green eyes boring into him. The waves surged and coalesced around her, a tidal wave crashing down on her form, which was swept into the sea. With Morphing, I can change my inner being to that of a human woman's. I could reproduce with a human. I could save my race. The skies echoed with thunder in a distant place and a hazy fog settled in a circle in front of the man, like a opaque mirror. It showed the Charoda woman looking at books within the university in Zeltiva. She was looking at the Anatomy of humans and had a thick leather-bound book next to her labeled 'Morphing: A Guide to Your Inner Being'.

Wymond would feel Ariann's presence again, behind him. She approached quietly, almost gliding across the sand, which held her form easily. She was much shorter than he, no taller than 5'8". She got up close to the man before he could turn around, leaning against him so her arms rested on his back from wrist to shoulder. Her soft, delicate skin was cold, yet held a unique warmth to them. "I feel alone... strange. My home is far away, but I feel so close. Ricky. Leila. Ximal. My friends." The last word lingered in Wymond's ears, echoing off the air around him. "I feel alone despite their presence in my mind..." Three figures appeared before Wymond, mere holograms made of opaque mist portraying Ricky in his Wave-guard uniform, Leila in her normal garb and Ximal with his shirt off. Ariann laid her head against Wymond's back, nuzzling into the warmth of his body. "My friends..." The skies echoed.

[Wymond]

Wymond listened to the voice that was everywhere yet nowhere at all, all these strange occurrences seeming to be so normal in the Kelvic’s mind. Ah, so that is why she was so sad. Her people, the Charoda, were dying out. And that coral city must have been Charbosi? So not only was she scared for her people, but she was also home sick. That had to be a dreadful feeling. She had been to so many places, even his home city of Sunberth. She must have visited after he had left to travel. And what could be done with Morphing? So many questions, it left Wymond’s head spinning.

That was when she looked up at him with startlingly large green eyes. Searching within him like he held some sort of answer. Then wave crashed around her, carrying her out to sea. Wymond leapt to his feet to grab for her but she had disappeared. She was replaced by a solid mirror made of fog. He could see her searching and studying franticly. She wanted to change herself so that she can mate with a human; to save her dying people. That seemed very honorable, but also very lonely.

When he felt her behind him, he was about to turn around to face her when he felt her press herself against his back. The sensation of her skin wasn’t particularly unpleasant, it was just unique. Her breath could be felt against his back as she spoke once more… Wait… When did his shirt disappear?

"I feel alone... strange. My home is far away, but I feel so close. Ricky. Leila. Ximal. My friends." Her voice was coming from behind him yet it seemed to surround him with her words. Like a thin silk scarf wrapping around his head. "I feel alone despite their presence in my mind..."

When Wymond looked up he saw three people who he assumed were her friends. It was clear that she felt deeply for them. They must be her only comfort on her lonely mission. Wymond’s heart ached for her. His heart ached for her and her beloved friends.

"I never had such people to care for me like your friends care for you. For most of my life, it had been just me." This time, clouds above started to change until they became a mirror, reveling Wymond's past. In the mirror above, his mother, a beautiful orange haired vixen kelvic was teaching an adolescent Wymond in his human form how to hunt small prey like rabbits and birds. Then the image changed to when his mother had died saving him. The large men had meant to capture them and enslave them during one of Sunberth's riots. She had tossed her son away before a burning building had collapsed on her and the men, leaving Wymond alone and afraid.

The image changed again to the arrogant smirking face of a handsome Inarta. "I never wanted the responsibility of friends and family again, for fear of losing them like I lost my mother. But then I found my bond mate, and my whole out look changed." The image was about to shift to a more... private memory, but Wymond quickly willed that away. But not before his face flushed a bright red color.

"I know what its like to be alone, yet surrounded by people. But I was lucky enough to find someone that I loved and who loves me in return. Tell me, miss... Is there someone that you love?"

[Ariann]

Ariann nodded, motioning to the man in the center. The one that she had called Ricky."There is. I feel love for Ricky, yet he does not feel the same as far as I can tell."Her eyes began to water as she glanced to the ground, as if looking through Wymond. Then her form disappeared and in the same instant appeared in front of Wymond, her hands clasped behind her back. She let her head decline as she felt his memories, rather than viewing them. She waited until the memories faded before approaching the man again, the entirety of the dream fading along with the girl once more. Everything went to black. Soon, Wymond's vision returned and he was underwater. Far underwater near the shores of Nyka, floating near a patch of coral that rested in a nook beneath a rock outcropping at the bottom of the shoreline. Ariann's figure laid there slumbering, nestled between the coral, sleeping like any normal human. Then another Ariann appeared from behind, standing next to his arm and grabbing onto him. Wymond would find that his clothes moved as if they were underwater but he would find that gravity acted as if he were standing on an invisible floor. Ariann hugged him tightly as she watched herself."That is I, on my third night sleeping in the corals on my way to Nyka to start my journey." She frowned, looking at herself for a long moment. "We speak right now, while I sleep there. I collapsed, afraid and alone."She muttered, frowning,"They call me Ariann. I wish to know you."As she said that, the entire picture faded to white and she stood in front of him, a mere five feet away. She held her hands behind her back, her entire body and all its components bare to him."Tell me your name. I will awaken soon and our dreams will part."She stated, pausing to listen to his reply.

[Wymond]

Wymond was at first shocked at finding himself underwater, but once he realized he could breathe he was able to relax a slight bit and take in his surroundings. It was beautiful, and mystical. The light shining through the water to create a cascade of shimmering beams. He had no idea where he was, but when he saw the sleeping body of the woman he had been talking to he then understood why he was here.

Wymond then felt a pair of arms wrap around his arm tightly, almost clinging to it. It was the Charoda female, yet she was down below? The confusion of the dream was starting to pull Wymond awake, but he was still solid enough to hear her. So he was seeing a vision of her starting her journey? Interesting.

Wymond looked to the young female Charoda and offered her a friendly smile; the slightly longer canines were now visible. “My name is Wymond, and I live in Wind Reach. I look forward to the day that our paths meet in reality, Ariann.”

[Ariann]

Wind Reach... wind reach... Wind Reach... The words echoed in the water around them as Ariann churned in her sleep and the vision began to waver. Still, she held on long enough to hug Wymond from the front, nuzzling against his chest with a realistic warmth. "I want to meet you and I believe we will. Goodbye, Wymond... goodbye, Friend..." And then, the vision behind her flickered for a moment before vanishing altogether, the dream now a subtle black background. Ariann still held him tightly, even as her form began to flicker as well. She lifted her head up to gaze into his eyes for a moment before she smileed. Then she was gone. The entire dream faded to black and the invisible force beneath Wymond's feet disappeared altogether. That was when Wymond began to fall.

[Wymond]

Wymond jerked awake in his tent, his skin was coated with a light covering of sweat as he panted and wiped his face. That was a very strange dream. Wymond groaned as he lain back down to look up at the tent from his bedroll. It felt so very real, but it was too strange to be real. Who was that woman? Wymond was sure that he had never seen her before in his life, or the underwater kingdom for that matter. But she seemed so... Lonely. At least Wymond knew that she wasnt completely sad.

The Kelvic looked outside the flap of his tent to see the sky lighten, a sign that he should wake up and begin the day. Perhaps one day, he will sate his curiosity and finally meet Ariann. One day...