Everflame: The Shard

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"Come on, up up up," the officer said and watched the two exiles stand. The guards surrounded them and marched through the corridor out into the open air where a few early rises watched with confused faces. The moved to the gate where Dim Lane stood with a beaming smile beside two figures, hooded and cloaked. One of them was a Chosen, with the red embroidery curling down the cloth. The mouse face of the other peeked under the hood, and her lizard tail snaked behind her. The gate crawled open and the figure stepped forward. The new sunlight showed the face. It was the Queen with a pinched brow.
"I shouldn't be here, but I thought I'd see you off Talin." Dim Lane meanwhile, hopped to Aria's side and put a wing around her.
"Exciting, huh?"




General Andreya Caisen jumped back as Leo flailed and spouted his madness.
"Whoa slow down, calm down. You going crazy or something? What do you mean we don't need ships?" she asked.




Aman tilted his head and leaned close, scrutinizing Entaru's eyes, observing the colours.
"I'll walk you there, but I have duties to attend to and you will be there a long while." He scanned down his servant's body and patted him on the shoulder. "Get dressed, the faster the better."

[Grace.E]

Aria looked perplexed at her boos, but then she smiled with what excitement she had, let me guess, on your search to prove your theory? she signed, though her face held support and curiosity

[tangletail]

Leo rolled his head back for a moment as he drew both hands up from his lap, and clasped them together with a tight grip. The index digits protruded from his paws and lightly moved back and forth. The tips of each finger collided with each other as they came forwards when the cat rolled his head to the front again. "Uhhhmmmmmm... hm," he hummed in a minuscule tune all while scratching his chin, and then spoke in a very quirky tone while he brought himself to his feet, "Well. I did say I feel like I was losing my sanity. If that answers your first question. That, or my IQ dramatically dropped in hyperspace to that of a fruit bat."


He paused for a minute, his right ear rotating from hear and there as if he heard something. The ear would come to a sudden halt, the open end pointing behind his still body. A few more seconds later the feline would move his shoulders in a light shrug before spinning on his heels to face the General. "This be a tad bit difficult to explain. The simple fact kicked me in the teeth, and tore all logical and cognitive thinking out of my... well lets not go there. Sooooo.... we are in the near future ahead a good ten something years... and the technology is a good ten something years behind, so no one would be traveling in space, because we are going old school," he said quickly, his voice going a bit faster and higher pitch showing that he was speaking on a single breath. When he finished he opened his mouth and inhaled deeply, just before he clasped his hands one final time and said, "OH! And the ship is destroyed. Another example of my -amazingly awesome- piloting!"

[Self-sain]

Meredith didn't respond, she opened her moth, but words escaped her. Siyan pulled her close to him, but she shook her body free, "..Who are you?", she finally said.

[KittKat chunky~]

Imshi woke suddenly, clutching the side of the boat as it lurched under the impact of a similar vessel. The boat rocked violently again as a second rammed into it's side, this time waking Yenchi with a startled yelp. Those aboard the vessels wasted no time and, even as Imshi stood and flared her wings out behind her, lashed tight rope bindings around wrists and arms. Yenchi followed the same treatement a moment later, leaving Vin to flutter in dizying circles around the boats and shriek his call of alarm.


Dragged bodily into the second boat, realization dawned as Imshi noted the reed-woven boats and clan clothing. "Insolence beyond comprehension, girl." The voice hissed through gritted teeth near Imshi's ear as she was thrown down into the boat.




The vessels traveled quickly back upstream, powering against the flow until they reached the bank nearest Tina city. There they came to a halt and the bound pair where hauled onto dry land. A group of women waited expectantly, fishing spears gripped tightly and eyes watching with the same steady gaze.


"You dare!" From the forefront of the group came an otter woman, taller and wider in the hips than any the others. She held a long knife of carved bone in one hand as she advanced upon Imshi. "Stand up straight girl! You dare take the fishing boat of a clan family. You dare break one of our greatest traditions?"


She stood before Imshi and spat into her face, lips curling into a snarl. "And you think yourself a Teresa... You knew well the implications of your action. We stood by, let you blaspheme like this, threw you from the clan. Bu that was not enough for you." Her blade rose with fury behind it, then stopped mid-strike. Yenchi had thrust himself between the two of them. A full head and shoulders shorter than the otter woman, he stood with a fierce determination in his normally quiet eyes and bared his chest to the blade. For a moment there was silence, and then the woman began to laugh. "Oh look see sisters, the girl's mate does protect her!"

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Before most of the guards could react, or even the Chosen for that matter, Talin had closed the distance and swept her up in a hug. He made sure that he didn't cause any actual damage or push the air out of her body, but he was trying to give her something to remember him by other than 'Fang'. "I'm going to miss you so much~" his voice reaching almost feminine levels before he felt a guard's blade press against his arm. He set her down and backed an appropriate distance away while still keeping his goofy smile. "Worth every year in that cell..."

[Grace.E]

Aria saw what Talin did to the Queen with an arched eyebrow, she began to seriously doubt that the queen wouldn't let him leave. was it me or do I sense deep sarcasm. she thought to herself, she desperately wanted out of this place, she wished her voice could work so she could cry out for joy.

[x]

Listy awoke, but it was not with a jolt, nor was it with a scream of pain or a deep inhale of breath. There had been no nightmares for her. For the first time. Cautiously, she wiggles her fingers, and her toes, to make sure she's really awake...and notices that they don't hurt. They don't hurt at all. Actually, she feels great! She sits up and gropes for her leg to feel it. No sharp sting, no ache. It is better.



She needs to find the one who did this for her and thank him or her. She swings her legs off one side of the bed. "Hello?" she calls. "Someone there?"

[Entaru]

Entaru nods as he swings his legs off the bed and stands up.  As he moves to his dresser, he feels his face growing heated as he fought back a blush, being half naked in front of Aman. He quickly grooms himself and throws on his robe, not wanting to keep his master waiting.  Grabbing his staff, he turns back to Aman with a grin.  "I await your orders, my lord..."

[serpington]

the three found what they were after, the queens quaters, and sliped inside unseen, moving into positions they could easily hid in when someone returned. "you know, i still have no idea why you like coming here so much. it's just some rich persons bed." "not ust some rich person, this room belongs to the queen" "like i said, just another rich snob, waiting to take over the world." "thats not true and you know it!"

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Dim Lane beamed at his assistant.
"Well I will get proven right, but also I'll get to see the shard... hopefully." He flapped about with excited energy. "It's a real piece of history, possibly a part of a god, who knows?" Halfway through bouncing with glee, he froze. Talin was squeezing the Queen. All the attendants stared and the Queen wriggled in his arms. Once she was let down, her face was set in a deep scowl and a fierce blush.
"You idiot. You never could show decorum." She straightened her clothes and the three were led out of the city. The Queen watched from behind until the gate closed shut and the guards, officers and chosen dispersed. Queen Tizzarath was the last to leave, heading back to her home.





The general ran her fingers across her brow.
"Okay so you have gone a bit mental. But the ship can't be totally destroyed, we should go to it and send out a signal. The fuel cells might still work." She looked out to the cave entrance where the dawn light was peering in. "Yeah no point standing around here." She headed off, jogging through the cave, her shoes echoing against the walls. She disappeared into the open air and for a moment there was quiet. At a creep, in reverse, she moonwalked back into the cave and over to Leo. Her eyes were held on the entrance while she whispered.
"Leo, I know things are stressful but don't freak out. There's a giant lizard monster just beyond this cave."




Chosen Akela smiled at the girl though her stare still analyzed the girl.
"My name is Akela Nakka. I'm a very special person, Chosen by the Seeker herself to do good." For a brief moment, she looked into Siyan's eyes, her face deadly serious, before she grinned at Meredith again. "And I think you're a very special person too. I can feel it, right there." She reached forward and pressed at the girl's gut.





Listy's calls flood into Alex's head and he wakes with a start, bursting limbs out and tumbling off his chair. He fell in a heap, looking up at the blind girl.
"Huh? Oh you're up." He climbed to his knees and took the girl's hand. "I bet you feel a lot better though right?" He looked into her eyes, moving his head to track where they looked. "Still blind though. That's okay."





Aman slithered up to his feet and moved along the wall to the door, pushing it open and gesturing to it.
"Off we go then," he said, and the pair headed out into the corridor. They circled the inside of the dome until they entered a vein toward the central shaft that led down to the shard.
Stairs weaved down in a twist that lasted for hundreds of metres. The aura of the shard emanating up toward them, seeping into their ears, an unstable hiss. Aman flicked a grin to Entaru and for a moment he froze shuddering at the sensation.
"Feel him, my servant. It only gets better for you."





The Queen's bedroom was covered in wood and stone. Leaves spewed from the very walls and flowers bloomed around them. It was an artificial eden, twisted into shape but flooded with the living. The breeze flowed through the open window, and the sound of leaves caressed filled the room; but among it were the sounds of voices. They came from the door to the corridor outside. The voice of the Queen and some other women, coming closer.

[Entaru]

Entaru shivered, the sensation crawling deep into his bones.  He had no idea how to describe it...just as if something...something strange was wrapping around every cell of his body, engulfing them.  He felt drawn downward, as if being pulled down the stairs by every fiber of his being.  Entaru couldn't bring himself to speak as he continued past his master, almost in a trance from the power below him.

[tangletail]

Leo's grin suddenly cracked into a snicker, then suddenly a loud laugh. He called after her as he moved to the mouth of the cave, changing his accent completely into something a bit more outback, rowdy, and raspy as he came into view,"Oh? You met Savior. Careful, he is one of the most vicious tigers out there! He will bite you and pull you to the ground! In ten seconds, you're gone! I'm gonna touch it!" After saying that, he had completely walked past the large green lizard, and gave it a gentle pat on the head.


He smiled as he was greeted to the warm glow of the sunlight. His arms became outstretched as he breathed in a new world. "At dusk, the world, no the universe had threatened to collapse, for whom dawn shall bring a new light into the next beginning," he chuckled. "Delightful..." he sighed before raising up one of his legs and spinning to face the general. "While I might have completely lost my sanity, I must in form you that we are approximately ten million years in the future. And this future's universal technology is... primitive," he explained as he turned his head to look off to the distant sky, "you and I at most, have the most advance equipment that should have been outdated within a year of our original time, by the theory of Technical Development."

[x]

She nodded, and smiled, almost looked in his eyes. "Thank you so much, I feel a lot better. Maybe I can walk now without limping." She gripped his hand tightly.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Talin reluctantly left the city, giving a glance back as the gates shut behind him. He then turned to Aria and Dim Lane with a smile. "Since I got you out of the city, would any of you care to learn more about the Seeker or the other gods? It will take a day or two to reach the village by foot..."