Just somethin I work on from time to time.
Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 7:47 amKeep moving. Run. Walk. Crawl...it didn't matter. She had to keep moving. Up and forward. Forward and up. Moving in either combination of these two directions was all that filled the young woman's mind. How long has it been since she'd taken her reverie? Since she ate? She couldn't even remember anymore. All she could think was to move...forward and up.
Her soft footfalls echoed like thunder throughout the caverns and tunnels of her subterranean homeland. She knew anything hungry...or just plain angry would be able to find her. Find her then if she was lucky...eat her. If she was unlucky well, there are far worse fates then death. She paused in her movements just long enough to kneel by a running spring. She took a swift sip and lurched backwards...just fast enough to avoid the huge aquatic predator lurking beneath the murky surface of the water.
Forward and up. This had become her entire world, these directions had come to define her since her flight to supposed freedom. She knew if she kept to it she would reach her destination. Her stomach gurgled angrily again, demanding sustenance. She snatched a bit of cave moss as she moved along, swallowing the slimy fare absently barely aware of her actions at all.
Forward and up. Up and forward. The girl walked. Her once beautiful clothes hung tattered and frayed off her emaciated frame. Her beautiful hair now dirty and matted with sweat, blood, and who knew what else. Her once magnificent blade lay shattered on the trail behind her...who knew how many miles back. If she was attacked again, she knew it would be the end of her flight.
Forward and... She paused in her mantra and shivered...something felt odd. Not right. Something she'd never experienced before. It was the feeling she got when someone stood to close, their breath dancing lightly across her skin. But there was no one here but her. Whose breath did she feel? Continuing forward she saw a sight that stopped her in her tracks. She saw the stars.
#2
She could only gaze upward in absolute fear and wonderment. There was no ceiling. No cavern top above her head. Only...an endless sea of blackness dotted with millions of twinkling lights. How could anything survive up here? Something could just come crashing down from the sky at a moment's notice. She tore her gaze from the black sea above to survey her more immediate surroundings. The ground beneath her torn and bleeding feet was soft, like walking on moss, but the vegetation here was short and spiky. Some sort of giant...mushrooms sprouted from the ground, thick brown trunks that grew up and up and up, fanning dozens of smaller limbs covered in little greenish things.
She wrinkles her nose at the smell. The smell of fresh, moving air was something she was not used to at all. It didn't smell bad...just unusual. A long pointed ear twitched and she heard water. She set off slowly along the soft ground toward the sounds, coming to a small spring. She eyed it suspiciously but could see no visible predators so knelt to drink. The water was so cool and sweet. The flavor teased her tongue as it slid down her throat. She felt a smile spreading across her face for the first time in weeks.
She moved about this great mushroom grove taking in the sights and neverending sounds with a careful eye, used to seeing predators and assassins around every corner, she would not be caught unawares after her goal was finally reached. Her stomach chose that moment to emit a loud, very audible gurgle and she paused with a frown, looking about for something to eat. Up ahead...a grove of mushrooms not shaped like the others...their green things were rounder then the others pointy ones. Large red fruits dangled from the branches.
She closed on the mushroom cautiously, poked it then leapt back...wary of it attacking. When it seemed either dead, asleep, or something else she grasped a branch and tugged herself up toward the fruits. Taking one she crunched into it. The flavor was like nothing she'd ever tasted. Trial and error proved that the core of the fruit was less edible then the rest, so these she tossed to the ground. She spent much time eating her fill in the giant mushroom, and leaned against it to relax.
She studied the area beneath her...when something stranged happened. The black sea above was changing. Colors were spreading across it as though some mad artist had poured buckets of paints. She recognized purples...but the rest were unfamiliar. Mouth open in amazement she sensed something about to happen on the horizon. She fixed her gaze securely to it...then she screamed.
#3
She'd grown up knowing pain. Almost daily it was some new torment. Whether physical or mental anguish, pain was a sensation she'd come to be very familiar with. But this, what she was feeling right now was new. Seeing the great ball of fire rushing over the horizon, igniting the black sea above with terrible burning light she knew a new pain, one that seared away her sight as surely as it would destroy the rest of her body when the great ball consumed the planet.
It wasn't fair she thought bitterly. She'd come so far, fought so hard only to have the world destroyed on the very eve of her conquest. Her thoughts turned inward, not to home, friends, or family as a normal persons would. She had a home, and a family...neither something she thought of with any fondness or regrets. No, she thought of all the things she would never know. Never see, learn or do. Did surfacers sail that great black sea above? Harvesting the glittering gemstones of light? Did they dwell within these great mushrooms? Did they even have cities?
Minutes passed as she sat in the tree hands clasped firmly over eyes that refused to stop watering. She felt a heat on her skin and thought the ball was coming now...but more time passed and she didn't die. Didn't catch fire. What was happening? Was this some strange surface phenomenon? Was she in fact not in danger of being burnt alive? She listened, keen ears focused hard on her surroundings. She could hear no dying shrieks, no crackling flames and so...eyes shut securely she climbed down...or started too. Her feet ripped, cut, and bleeding badly for so long snagged on a sharp limb on the mushroom and she fell, landing hard on her back.
She lay still, eyes closed, breathing hard. Was this the world she'd so badly wanted to reach? Where they had great flaming balls filling the land with harsh unforgiving heat and light? Should she just lay here and wait for death. No...that would be a coward's way out and she was many things, but a coward not one of them. She struggled to her feet, only gasping slightly as she put her weight on the injured one. The abominable heat was stifling however, so she shed her outer robes and tore a strip off of them fashioning a blindfold for herself. Bundling her robes up she tucked them under one arm, and began to walk slowly forward. Arms outstretched ahead of her and into the unknown.
#4
"I hate the forest. I always have, and always will." Alric Genarn was generally a pleasant enough man to be around. The ladies found him pleasing to the eye, with his rugged good looks, piercing grey eyes, and thick brown hair. The menfolk tended to like him as well, when he wasn't stealing their women. He was just one of those people that attracted others, he knew it too and made a living off it. His songs were beginning to catch on in some of the smaller border towns, which meant they'd spread to the bigger cities soon enough.
"I can't believe I'm out here...monster indeed..." He sighed, he wasn't one for traipsing around the wilderness but when one needed money as much as he did, one did what one must. "Goblins...a farmer with a sturdy pitchfork can deal with goblins...but at a gold an ear, who'm I to refuse?" So the young bard marched on, talking to himself often, either because he didn't like the quiet...or he really loved the sound of his own voice. Rounding a bend in the trail he jarred to a halt, and tilted his head, staring at the odd spectacle before him.
A woman was walking through the forest ahead. She was a bit taller then he, marking her around 6' even. Her body was by no means petite in any sense of the world, but not masculine either...it was an odd blend. She was tall and broad of shoulder, her exposed arms, stomach, and thighs were laced with taut muscle, she must outweigh him by at least 20 pounds. Her feet were bare, and even from here he could see they were badly wounded by the way she winced with each step...and the trail of blood behind her. Her curves were very pronounced, large firm breasts encased in a tight fitting metal bodice...of some purplish metal he'd never seen. What looked like the remains of leg guards clung to her thigh and calf here and there. The oddest thing of all though...wasn't her size or dress, but her snowy white hair and inky black skin. Her ears were long and pointed, but he'd never seen an elf of her sort.
He raised his hand in greeting...before noticing the makeshift blindfold over her eyes. "Er...hello there miss! Are you alright?!" He was more then a little surprised, (understandably I must admit) when instead of a shout back...she drew a dagger almost swifter then he could follow, and hurled it at him with unerring accuracy. "...I really hate the forest."
Her soft footfalls echoed like thunder throughout the caverns and tunnels of her subterranean homeland. She knew anything hungry...or just plain angry would be able to find her. Find her then if she was lucky...eat her. If she was unlucky well, there are far worse fates then death. She paused in her movements just long enough to kneel by a running spring. She took a swift sip and lurched backwards...just fast enough to avoid the huge aquatic predator lurking beneath the murky surface of the water.
Forward and up. This had become her entire world, these directions had come to define her since her flight to supposed freedom. She knew if she kept to it she would reach her destination. Her stomach gurgled angrily again, demanding sustenance. She snatched a bit of cave moss as she moved along, swallowing the slimy fare absently barely aware of her actions at all.
Forward and up. Up and forward. The girl walked. Her once beautiful clothes hung tattered and frayed off her emaciated frame. Her beautiful hair now dirty and matted with sweat, blood, and who knew what else. Her once magnificent blade lay shattered on the trail behind her...who knew how many miles back. If she was attacked again, she knew it would be the end of her flight.
Forward and... She paused in her mantra and shivered...something felt odd. Not right. Something she'd never experienced before. It was the feeling she got when someone stood to close, their breath dancing lightly across her skin. But there was no one here but her. Whose breath did she feel? Continuing forward she saw a sight that stopped her in her tracks. She saw the stars.
#2
She could only gaze upward in absolute fear and wonderment. There was no ceiling. No cavern top above her head. Only...an endless sea of blackness dotted with millions of twinkling lights. How could anything survive up here? Something could just come crashing down from the sky at a moment's notice. She tore her gaze from the black sea above to survey her more immediate surroundings. The ground beneath her torn and bleeding feet was soft, like walking on moss, but the vegetation here was short and spiky. Some sort of giant...mushrooms sprouted from the ground, thick brown trunks that grew up and up and up, fanning dozens of smaller limbs covered in little greenish things.
She wrinkles her nose at the smell. The smell of fresh, moving air was something she was not used to at all. It didn't smell bad...just unusual. A long pointed ear twitched and she heard water. She set off slowly along the soft ground toward the sounds, coming to a small spring. She eyed it suspiciously but could see no visible predators so knelt to drink. The water was so cool and sweet. The flavor teased her tongue as it slid down her throat. She felt a smile spreading across her face for the first time in weeks.
She moved about this great mushroom grove taking in the sights and neverending sounds with a careful eye, used to seeing predators and assassins around every corner, she would not be caught unawares after her goal was finally reached. Her stomach chose that moment to emit a loud, very audible gurgle and she paused with a frown, looking about for something to eat. Up ahead...a grove of mushrooms not shaped like the others...their green things were rounder then the others pointy ones. Large red fruits dangled from the branches.
She closed on the mushroom cautiously, poked it then leapt back...wary of it attacking. When it seemed either dead, asleep, or something else she grasped a branch and tugged herself up toward the fruits. Taking one she crunched into it. The flavor was like nothing she'd ever tasted. Trial and error proved that the core of the fruit was less edible then the rest, so these she tossed to the ground. She spent much time eating her fill in the giant mushroom, and leaned against it to relax.
She studied the area beneath her...when something stranged happened. The black sea above was changing. Colors were spreading across it as though some mad artist had poured buckets of paints. She recognized purples...but the rest were unfamiliar. Mouth open in amazement she sensed something about to happen on the horizon. She fixed her gaze securely to it...then she screamed.
#3
She'd grown up knowing pain. Almost daily it was some new torment. Whether physical or mental anguish, pain was a sensation she'd come to be very familiar with. But this, what she was feeling right now was new. Seeing the great ball of fire rushing over the horizon, igniting the black sea above with terrible burning light she knew a new pain, one that seared away her sight as surely as it would destroy the rest of her body when the great ball consumed the planet.
It wasn't fair she thought bitterly. She'd come so far, fought so hard only to have the world destroyed on the very eve of her conquest. Her thoughts turned inward, not to home, friends, or family as a normal persons would. She had a home, and a family...neither something she thought of with any fondness or regrets. No, she thought of all the things she would never know. Never see, learn or do. Did surfacers sail that great black sea above? Harvesting the glittering gemstones of light? Did they dwell within these great mushrooms? Did they even have cities?
Minutes passed as she sat in the tree hands clasped firmly over eyes that refused to stop watering. She felt a heat on her skin and thought the ball was coming now...but more time passed and she didn't die. Didn't catch fire. What was happening? Was this some strange surface phenomenon? Was she in fact not in danger of being burnt alive? She listened, keen ears focused hard on her surroundings. She could hear no dying shrieks, no crackling flames and so...eyes shut securely she climbed down...or started too. Her feet ripped, cut, and bleeding badly for so long snagged on a sharp limb on the mushroom and she fell, landing hard on her back.
She lay still, eyes closed, breathing hard. Was this the world she'd so badly wanted to reach? Where they had great flaming balls filling the land with harsh unforgiving heat and light? Should she just lay here and wait for death. No...that would be a coward's way out and she was many things, but a coward not one of them. She struggled to her feet, only gasping slightly as she put her weight on the injured one. The abominable heat was stifling however, so she shed her outer robes and tore a strip off of them fashioning a blindfold for herself. Bundling her robes up she tucked them under one arm, and began to walk slowly forward. Arms outstretched ahead of her and into the unknown.
#4
"I hate the forest. I always have, and always will." Alric Genarn was generally a pleasant enough man to be around. The ladies found him pleasing to the eye, with his rugged good looks, piercing grey eyes, and thick brown hair. The menfolk tended to like him as well, when he wasn't stealing their women. He was just one of those people that attracted others, he knew it too and made a living off it. His songs were beginning to catch on in some of the smaller border towns, which meant they'd spread to the bigger cities soon enough.
"I can't believe I'm out here...monster indeed..." He sighed, he wasn't one for traipsing around the wilderness but when one needed money as much as he did, one did what one must. "Goblins...a farmer with a sturdy pitchfork can deal with goblins...but at a gold an ear, who'm I to refuse?" So the young bard marched on, talking to himself often, either because he didn't like the quiet...or he really loved the sound of his own voice. Rounding a bend in the trail he jarred to a halt, and tilted his head, staring at the odd spectacle before him.
A woman was walking through the forest ahead. She was a bit taller then he, marking her around 6' even. Her body was by no means petite in any sense of the world, but not masculine either...it was an odd blend. She was tall and broad of shoulder, her exposed arms, stomach, and thighs were laced with taut muscle, she must outweigh him by at least 20 pounds. Her feet were bare, and even from here he could see they were badly wounded by the way she winced with each step...and the trail of blood behind her. Her curves were very pronounced, large firm breasts encased in a tight fitting metal bodice...of some purplish metal he'd never seen. What looked like the remains of leg guards clung to her thigh and calf here and there. The oddest thing of all though...wasn't her size or dress, but her snowy white hair and inky black skin. Her ears were long and pointed, but he'd never seen an elf of her sort.
He raised his hand in greeting...before noticing the makeshift blindfold over her eyes. "Er...hello there miss! Are you alright?!" He was more then a little surprised, (understandably I must admit) when instead of a shout back...she drew a dagger almost swifter then he could follow, and hurled it at him with unerring accuracy. "...I really hate the forest."