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Post by theonemouse on Nov 10, 2009 18:05:11 GMT -7
Teddy Ruxpin: Unleashed
Crystal Wing - Chapter 1
Story by: The MOUSE
Original concept by: Legendbourne
She had watched him for several months now, his every move and daily comings and goings; amazed at his progress at learning to use his new found abilities. In his possessions were seven very special crystals that her mistress would easily kill to get her hands on, stones she knew he had but had never once seen since she began watching him. This was part of the source of this young man’s power.
A rueful smile touched her lips.
No, not a man.
He was Illiop.
They were an ancient race of bipedal beings who had evolved from a now extinct race of prehistoric ursus and who knew how to harness the power of crystals to accomplish just about any task. Her mistress had told her about the seven he possessed; ancient stones of amazing power that could unlock abilities one could only dream of, but which could be wielded by only an elite few.
This Illiop was one of those elite.
From high atop this cliff she had watched him learn to tap and ultimately control his growing abilities. His friends never saw her, but she was absolutely certain he knew she was there. Less than a week into her vigil she had seen him practise his second sight; to control it. And those glowing eyes had turned to her without a single hesitation. At the time she had been worried that he would signal her presence to his friends.
He never did.
So she continued to watch him, as he no doubt watched her with his second sight. It was an odd feeling to know that her “prey” could see her as well as she could see him.
Then she couldn’t.
With a blink he had vanished from sight.
She frowned, both annoyed and intrigued at this new ability, teal eyes scouring the region below to find him again.
The sound of a foot scraping loose stone forced her to whirl around…
… and face her “prey”.
* * *
The moment he had unlocked the true depth of the Oracle’s Sight in himself - learning to use it not only for precognition, but for seeing everything around him at any given moment - Teddy Ruxpin had known she was there. His mind’s eye had opened to the sight of a lithe, young woman perched high on the cliff like some feline stalking prey. She wasn’t an Illiper, he could easily see that from her features. Her teal eyes never left him for a second, not even when a delicate hand would brush away stray locks of rich, earthy hair from her face. There was an intensity in those eyes that stirred up something strange within him.
Oddly enough, he didn’t feel like he was in danger from her. She looked more curious than deadly.
So he let her watch while he kept an occasional eye on her. He soon began to wonder who she was, where she came from. He pondered why it was she was watching him and not any of his friends.
Was she after the crystals?
More often than not, the new people he met were after the simple looking stones. Over the last few years he had them in his possession, he had learned that his ancient ancestors had been forced into wars to protect these stones from the wrong hands. Countless warriors had fallen in the past, countless guardians of the seven crystals. He was the last one now. It was his charge to protect what was left of the Illiop heritage.
He had to know her intentions.
This was the perfect opportunity to try out a new ability the seven crystals had unlocked in him, one the Crystal Book had helped him hone. Closing his eyes, Teddy took a deep cleansing breath. Almost immediately he felt the wash of warmth surround him, a rush of wind blasting past his ears. The image that entered his mind was of the overlooking cliff where the woman was.
The ground texture beneath his feet changed.
Opening his eyes, he was on the cliff.
The woman hadn’t moved from her perch, leaning farther over the edge as she searched for him below. His feet crunched in the loose gravel causing her to whirl around to face him.
Teddy felt his breath catch.
The description of an angel was the closest comparison he could find, and even there the description failed to capture her appearance.
Definitely not an Illiper.
Thick leather made up her leggings and top, sparsely covered by a mix of chain mail and plate mail in strategic places needing protection. From what he could see, she held no weapon, but the intensity of her gaze was weapon enough.
He swallowed hard to rid himself of the lump in his throat.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
She blinked at him, standing slowly, but remained silent. Teddy took a tentative step towards her, hoping he wasn’t menacing.
“What is it you want?” he asked again.
Again, she didn’t respond.
Her teal eyes drifted down to the runes decorating the tabard he had found in Felaril, a slight look of recognition alighting her features at the ancient designs. Hesitantly, her fingers reached out and brushed one of the runes, causing it to glow brightly.
Teddy blinked in surprise.
Only the stones had ever caused the runes the react.
Before he realized it, his own had had enclosed hers gently. She was trembling now, as if unsure, but she didn’t pull away, her eyes fixed with his. He wasn’t sure why, but the urge to touch her face was just too strong to resist.
She didn’t understand why she was trembling. She had stood before many Illiops, Illipers, and Perloons in the past without such a reaction. But there was something about his aura coming in contact with hers that struck a long since dead chord. His hand rose to her face and she cringed despite herself. Her mistress had meted out more than one punishment that began this way. The Illiop’s expression softened in reassurance, gentle fingers gliding along her cheekbone before his palm came to rest on her cheek. She softly exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she had held, eyes closing to the warmth of his hand. No one had ever been so patient or so gentle with her...
Her eyes abruptly snapped open with a startled gasp, pulling away from his touch.
“No!” was the only word she uttered as she whirled on her heels and leapt off the edge of the cliff.
Horrified, Teddy tried to stop her, only to be stopped in sheer awe as a pair of large, feathery wings erupted from her back in a shower of dull steel coloured plumes. A few powerful beats had the woman disappearing in the clouds. Teddy could only stare for a moment before bringing his eyes back down to the ground still littered with a few feathers, a gentle wind picking a few of them up and blowing them away.
He picked one up at random and twirled it between his fingers. The color was nothing like its owner. The woman had seemed bright, vibrant, yet incredibly reserved. This feather was dull, looking almost tarnished and tired. Teddy looked to the skies again, to where she had disappeared through a cloud.
Who was she?
* * *
The dark lady tapped her fingers in growing impatience on the armrest of her chair, a black mist swirling around her angrily. It had been nearly four months now since her top lieutenant had left. Four months since she had sent her to spy on the Illiops living on the Ile of Rillonia. It was a simple enough mission: determine the threat level these Illiops posed now that they possessed the Seven Crystals of Virtue.
Those damnable stones had been one of the many causes of the dark lady’s demise. Their creation five millennia ago had ushered in an end to her reign and her imprisonment in the Abyss.
But no more.
The gods had been foolish to send them to this world twenty five centuries ago. It was only a mater of time before mortals and even the few demi-gods that remained got their hands on them. The moment a corrupt soul had touched them, her prison had shattered.
She was free now, and she would remain free.
Necriel had done well when establishing this cult she now exploited. Most were weak-minded fools she could manipulate to her desires. Tell a lost soul you’re a goddess and they bow at your feet. She had nearly two legions of these creatures, and the allegiance of those militaristic Gutangs.
Now there was a race she could get used to.
They were ruthless, powerful, and resourceful; all qualities that suited her perfectly. It was a shame the little death demon was gone now. Absorbing her powers into her own would have made things so much easier in this world.
She fixed her black eyes on the door before her as the sound of footsteps reached her ears. Soon a woman emerged, her dulling wings held as proudly as a breaking spirit could hold them. She kneeled before the dais where the dark lady sat.
“Lady Ssenkrad, I have completed the mission you tasked me with,” the woman announced.
Ssenkrad smirked. “It took you four months, my dear child. Longer than your other missions ever took.”
“You asked me to be thorough…”
“I did. What did you find?” Ssenkrad frowned at the woman’s sudden hesitation. “What did you find?” she repeated more forcefully.
“Illiop refugees, My Lady. They do not know what power they possess with the stones. They are of little consequence and resources should not be wasted on them.”
Ssenkrad looked at her in scepticism. There was something about her hesitation, about the slight shift in her aura she felt, that didn’t quite fit. She had encountered something during her mission, something far too pure to dismiss.
“You’re not lying to me, are you, Areal?”
Teal eyes snapped up in shock. “Never, My Lady!”
She pondered the woman a moment more. “Retire to your chamber until I have further use for you.”
“Yes, My Lady.”
Then, after Areal had left the room, “She saw something she isn’t telling me.”
An old crone, her green skin leathered with age, hobbled out from behind Ssenkrad’s throne.
“She may have been touched by the Stones,” this one rasped.
“If so then she got closer to them than I thought. But there is more, I just can’t quite put my finger on it yet.”
The elder woman nodded thoughtfully. “I noticed the shade of her wings is darkening. Soon, she will hide nothing from you.”
Ssenkrad smiled arrogantly, the memory of how she found this girl playing in her mind. After her escape from the Abyss she had been a mere shade of her present self, hiding in shadows to escape the gods prying eyes. She had stumbled upon this girl playing near a river, absently tossing stones in the waters as adults of her kind worked nearby. Already Ssenkrad had been able to see this girl was special. The other Avians all had steel or silver coloured wings, but this child’s original colouring was the brightest of iridescent whites she had ever seen, reflecting sunlight almost painfully. For the shade, it had been easy to lure away the child. She was so young and trusting of strangers. No one noticed her missing until it was far too late. And even then, the shade had just enough power left to eliminate those who would cause her the most trouble at the time. Since then she had carefully taught the child about her abilities as an Avian, weaving lies about the world around them to keep her under control. Areal became her spy, her vindicator. Ssenkrad sent her to kill off disruptive elements to her plans, or discover new elements that could forward it.
“She was young when I began to twist my web on her. Once her wings go black, everything that is hers will be mine.” She looked to the woman. “My dear Understander of Legends, did your research reveal anything for me?”
“Some, My Lady. Quellor’s secret library held the tomes I needed all these decades. The Stones are useful for bringing the darkness you seek, but no longer needed as the sole source of energy. The power you will gain from the Avian girl will be more than sufficient to regain your place over the gods. I have begun to prepare the tools you will need to fulfill the ritual once you take her magicks.”
She rested her chin on steepled fingers with a pleased laugh. “Everything is coming together nicely.”
* * *
Areal pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging her legs from the cold in her room, her wings wrapped around herself like a cloak. This was no room, more like an alcove with a ledge for her to sleep on. There were no pillows, no blankets, and no embellishments to bring warmth to this space. This high in the mountains, the weather was bitterly cold. She knew this was how the mistress kept control over her, slowly breaking her spirit, but she also knew that she couldn’t speak up against it.
This was her life.
The Illiop’s face flashed before her mind’s eye, her hand subconsciously touching the cheek he had cupped.
He has been so warm, so gentle. He was nothing like the dark lady had told her the people in Ralm were.
Somehow, she knew that he would be the one to end all of this, to finally set her free.
But would she brave enough to help him when the time came?
And she knew that time would come.
* * *
Stirring a large pot of soup on the stove, Illana Ruxpin watched her Son sitting at the dinner table as he twirled the strange feather absently, a cheek resting on his knuckles. His eyes never left it as if he were trying to read some invisible, ancient story written into it. A small frown creased his brow.
The last time such a look had crossed his face had been when he had returned with the Crystals. Back then he had spent many hours on end pouring over anything he could get his hands on to discover their uses. He looked just as determined now.
Illana looked to Burl, her husband, sitting across from their Son, her eyes questioning him. He merely shrugged in response, not understanding Teddy’s newfound interest or silence.
But a Mother’s instincts are strong and she had to know.
“You’ve been staring at the feather for an hour now,” Illana began. “What’s so special about it?”
Teddy spared her only a moment’s glance before continuing to examine the item, never once changing his posture. “It’s not the feather that’s special. More like who I got it from.”
Burl smirked. “Got it from an angel, did you?” to which he and Illana laughed.
Teddy straightened with an air of illumination in his eyes. “I think she might just have been. That would explain the wings.”
His parents hushed in slight shock. “Wings?” Burl questioned. “You’re sure you saw wings?”
“Yes,” he replied, wondering was his parents were giving him an awed look. “This came from her wings when she took off.”
Burl looked to his wife. “An Avian.”
“I didn’t think they still existed,” she breathed.
“Avian?” Teddy questioned.
She wiped her hands on a kitchen towel as she sat across from him. “Long ago, during the time of our ancestors, there was a race of beings called Avians. They were often referred to as angels because that’s what they looked like. All of them were so beautiful with wings of silver that were said to be able to blind anyone if they caught the Sun just right. Illiops, Illipers and Avians were allies, good friends, trading in everything and helping without having to ask. Some thought the gods had created them as our caretakers; to watch over us and make sure that we… well… evolved. There were rare and deep bonds between our people and the Avians; I mean truly deep, spiritual bonds that seemed to transcend the mortal heart.”
Teddy scrunched his nose at her. “Tripping a little close to the hopelessly romantic there.”
“And yet, it was said to be true. Think of the purest form of love and that’s what was said to have happened to a handful of lucky few. Our three races were always together, pair-bondings were bound to happen. When the Gutangs first arrived, the Avians were at the forefront of the battle. Flying machines against flying beings seemed like a pretty even match. But the Gutangs cheated, using nets and weapons no one had ever seen before. Shields and armour were useless against them. The Avian warriors were wiped out. Our ancestors begged the survivors to flee with them to Felaril where they could try to make a concerted effort for a stand, but the Avians would not give up their mountain homes. Not a single Avian was ever seen again.”
“Until now,” Burl corrected, pointing to the feather. “Where did you see the Avian?”
“She’d been watching me for the last four month, up on the cliff.”
“Watching you?”
“I saw her with the Oracle’s Sight. She didn’t seem to care much about what other people were doing. She didn’t do much except watch. I got worried that maybe she was after the Crystals so I went up the cliff.”
“The cliff isn’t climbable.”
“I know. I used one of my new abilities.”
He noted his Mother’s slight expression of worry. True, he had been learning much from the Crystals and about the power Wilma had bestowed him, but she had always felt it was too fast, that the dreams guiding him were urging him on too much.
“She didn’t say anything when I got there,” he continued. “She suddenly got spooked and flew off.”
“You’re sure she was real?”
Teddy looked to the feather, then to his other hand, the one he had laid on her cheek. He nodded slowly. “She’s real… but I have no idea where she went.”
Illana began to smile excitedly. “Can you believe it? Avians! And in our lifetime no less. It almost seems too fantastic.”
Burl abruptly sniffed the air. “Is something burning?”
Her eyes went wide as she whirled towards the kitchen. With a near scream of dismay, she ran for the stove where the soup pot was in the process of overflowing. Burl ran with her to help. Teddy watched them struggle almost comically with the pot before retuning his attention to the feather.
He didn’t even know her name.
His Mother had said Avians had silver feathers. This one was almost too dull to even be called silver. More like steel that had seen better days. It was almost as if he could see the feather darken in his hands.
Somehow he knew she would be back.
And he vowed silently then and there to help her.
To be continued...
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Post by theonemouse on Nov 10, 2009 18:06:51 GMT -7
Teddy Ruxpin: Unleashed
Crystal Wing - Chapter 2
Story by: The MOUSE
Original concept by: Legendbourne
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Grubby expertly twirled the quarter staff, taking a quick swing at Teddy’s head, a blow the young Illiop easily blocked with his own staff. The resulting crack of gemwood on gemwood seemed to echo in the distance.
“So, let me get this straight,” and he took another swing, at his knees this time, which was again blocked. “You saw a lady on the cliff…”
“Yes.”
“… who suddenly grew wings…”
“Yes.”
“… and flew off?”
Teddy dodged another blow and swung his own staff, connecting with Grubby’s weapon with another crack. “I know, sounds a little fantastic.”
“I would have said crazy, but…” He ducked another swing. “If it was anyone else I would have said they lost their mind… and even there I’m not so sure you’re a hundred percent sane anymore.”
Teddy dodged yet another blow. “Wilma stopped speaking to me a long time ago, Grubby. This is all me in here now.”
“So you say, but she still left you her powers,” and he ducked his friend’s next swing.
“They’re not dangerous.”
“Again, so you say. For all we know this could be these abilities playing a trick on you, clashing with your own Illiop nature.”
“What about the feather?” and he lunged.
Grubby ducked easily. “Left behind by a bird. I swear, have you seen the size of pigeons these days?”
The Illiop snorted. “Very funny. And the girl?”
The Octopede smirked slyly. “An active imagination by a single hetero male who needs to think about settling down someday.” The staff swung again, just missing Grubby’s head. “Kidding! Kidding!” he laughed. “You’d never be able to stand the peace and quiet of a settled life. You’re too much like your Father was said to have been; an adventurer. On a serious note, I don’t know. Maybe a trick of the light or—”
Grubby stopped himself short as his friend seemed stuck in mid-swing, his eyes glowing blue. A small smirk touched Teddy’s lips.
“Look to the cliff and tell me if that’s a trick of the light,” and he straightened from his stance.
With a frown, the Octopede turned in place and looked to the cliff in question; that one rock monument that seemed to dominate the region of the village. With the sun shining from behind him, it was easy to see the rock formation’s every detail; from its wide un-climbable base to the very top…
Grubby froze.
There was someone there, perched at the top, staring down at them. And it was female. He looked to Teddy whose eyes still glowed blue from the Oracle’s Sight.
“That’s her?” he questioned his friend.
He nodded, blinking to clear the Sight. “That’s her.”
“And she’ll just stay there and watch?”
“Pretty much.”
“Kind of creepy. And she’s not after the Stones?”
“I don’t think so. Not that she’d ever find them; I haven’t gone back to them since I hid them away.”
“Doesn’t mean anything.”
“You’re being cynical.”
He leaned on his weapon. “More like practical, but I guess I should know better than to not trust that instinct of yours. We’ve gotten more than one ally thanks to it.” He looked up at the cliff again. “Who is she?”
“No idea.”
“You haven’t asked?”
“I did, she’s just not ready to talk yet.” Teddy sighed heavily. “All I know is she just stays up there and watches, and she doesn’t talk. I wonder what she’s waiting for?”
“An invitation,” Grubby suggested jokingly, still looking up at their watcher.
Teddy gave him a suffering smirk, and then bonked him on the head with his staff. The Octopede whirled around, rubbing his head petulantly. With a mock war cry, Grubby brandished his quarter staff and lunged at his friend.
* * *
The dark lady had sent her back to watch the Illiop and his friends. Areal still didn’t know what she intended with him and his people, but whatever it was didn’t bode well. Nothing the dark lady ever did meant anything good for those involved. In the past she had never been asked to watch for a second period of time. The first observation was often enough for the dark lady to determine her next action. A second observation was rare and often meant that destruction was imminent. All too often it was either a raid to raze those observed from existence, or Areal herself was sent to dispatch the object or person who had offended the dark lady.
She didn’t like either option.
But she had to obey or face punishment.
Truth be known, she didn’t mind watching this Illiop or his family and friends. They had such a normalcy around them in their day to day lives. It was comforting to watch, to actually see that there was more in this wretched world than just the hate she was taught to embrace. Her target had a good circle of friends within his village. The Octopede he sparred with seemed to be his best friend; he was the first the Illiop had told of her presence on the cliff. It appeared they discussed her being there for a moment, and then returned to their sparring.
So the Octopede didn’t see her as a threat either.
This reinforced her belief that this was why the dark lady sent her on these missions. She was inconspicuous as a spy or assassin.
Areal let her eyes drift from the duo below to the rest of the clearing. To one side was the village; to the other was a thick forest. Young Octopede and Illiop children played at the edge of the village, watched over by a handful of adolescent Illiop girls and a few older women. Smoke rose from the chimneys of a few houses, wafting odours of grilling meats and fresh bread to where Areal was perched. In the distance she could make out fields of young wheat and corn growing under the careful tending of farmers. Not far from that she could see the gleaming walls of some sort of temple. Beyond that was the sea that cut this island from the mainland.
It was all so quaint, so peaceful.
The colors of the inhabitants’ clothing were vibrant and meticulous. People smiled at each other in greeting before even a single word was spoken. The energy she felt floating on the air was so comforting and welcoming, tinged with carefully restrained power that aimed to soothe and welcome newcomers.
She sighed.
This was the sort of life she should have had, not the life of an assassin for a vengeful wraith. Biting the tip of thumb in concentrated thought, Areal returned her eyes to the sparring duo below.
Small steps often begin a new journey, she mused to herself.
Resolved, she stood and extended her wings.
* * *
Teddy parried another swing from his friend, momentarily risking a glance up at the cliff from the movement he saw in his periphery. His jaw dropping caused Grubby to halt his attack and turn to the cliff as well.
He froze in sheer awe.
There stood the woman at the very edge of the cliff, dark steel grey wings extended wide to catch the wind. With practiced grace, she hopped off the edge and glided down towards the clearing. Teddy heard the awed gasps and excited cries from those at the village’s edge, calling the attention of others to the sight. Somehow he knew that if the crowd got too close too soon, the Avian would bolt again. He held a restraining hand out to them.
“Stay there!” he called. “Please, give her space!”
Adults held their children back, teens clutched at any nearby arm, but everyone obeyed the young hero. Convinced, Teddy returned his attention to the visitor just as her feet touched the ground. She was still some distance away, looking from the assembled crowd to the duo in obvious caution and distrust.
“What’s she waiting for?” Grubby wondered.
The sudden weight of his quarter staff caused the young Illiop to look at his weapon abruptly. Quickly, he laid it behind himself on the ground.
“Put your staff down,” he instructed his friend.
“What?”
“She doesn’t trust us. Would you if someone was holding a weapon during a first meeting?”
The Octopede couldn’t fault that logic and complied with his friend’s request. Teddy saw the Avian blink, as if surprised by their actions. What kind of life had she led to be so distrustful and cautious? He could see the hesitation in her steps, no doubt mustering her courage to approach the duo. She stopped a good three paces from them, just out of reach. She just stood there for the longest time, as if sizing them up.
Grubby raised a hand in a sheepish wave. “Um… hi.”
She blinked at him, her head cocked to one side.
He looked to Teddy in confusion. “Doesn’t talk much, does she?”
“She not sure about us yet.”
The Octopede nodded, accepting that reason, looking at the Avian again. Then, “I’m Grubby,” he announced, hooking a thumb at himself.
Again, she just blinked at him.
“I’m Teddy Ruxpin,” the Illiop added, taking a page from his friend.
She blinked at him as well.
The friends looked at each other, unsure on what to do next.
Then, “Areal.” Both males snapped their attention on her. “My name is Areal,” she repeated, her eyes closing with an expression that said she would regret saying anything to them.
“Areal,” Teddy repeated with a small smile. “Welcome.”
She blinked in confusion, and then bowed her head in acknowledgement. Before anyone could react, a group of a dozen or so children broke away from the gathered adults and surrounded Areal, reaching curious hands for her wings. Her wings spread wide to take off in panic, wild eyes darting around all the young faces. Crowds were never something she was very comfortable with.
“Hi, pretty lady,” one child’s voice abruptly carried over the awed coos from the children.
Areal froze, staring at the young smiling girl. The dark lady had always told her she was plain, a monstrosity to behold. But something she knew for a fact was that children as young as this young girl found it impossible to lie.
The children went into a hush as she kneeled before the girl, nearly nose to nose with the now wide-eyed child. They stared at each other for a moment, unable or unwilling to break eye-contact. Areal suddenly smirked and winked, touching noses with the child in a playful bump. The little girl squealed in delight and surprised the Avian by throwing her arms around her neck in a tight embrace, forcing her to pick her up. The rest of the children took this cue to crush around her, lending their embraces in welcome to the Avian. At first unsure, Areal soon spread her wings to engulf the throng in their feathery warmth, feeling herself smile at their coos and giggles of delight.
Their innocence was such a beautiful sight to behold.
An elderly Illiop couple approached then, the aged woman holding a tentative hand out to Areal. Hesitating long enough to put down the child she had been holding, Areal offered her hand, unsure of what to expect. The woman warmly clasped her hand in both her own, tears nearly streaming from her eyes in joy. “Welcome back among us, child,” she told Areal.
Slowly at first, more Illiops followed suit, holding her hands or touching her shoulders with words of welcome, urging her gently towards their village. Areal accepted their invitation, still cautious of the whole situation. To say she was astounded by the laughter and smiles she was receiving from the Illiops would be an understatement. No one was treating her like the monster she had been taught she was. They all had awed looks in their eyes, welcoming her like some long lost relative or dear friend. Children still clung to her legs, petting her wings in wonder.
Teddy noticed her bewilderment and smiled gently.
“They remember the stories,” he explained as they walked towards the village. “We haven’t seen an Avian in a long time.”
She blinked at him. “Avian?”
“That’s what you are, isn’t it? I mean, you’re wings are darker than the stories tell, but...?”
“My wings...” She looked to the gray appendages. “They used to be lighter. I think… they were white once.”
“What happened?” Grubby questioned.
She shook her head at a loss, unable to remember just when the shade had begun to darken. But now that they had mentioned it, they were much darker than before. A vague image of herself as a child looking into a pool of water flashed before her mind’s eye, but didn’t last long enough to offer any insight. She shook her head again.
“I know nothing about my people, maybe this is normal.”
“The monks at the Temple of Drifting Sighs might have some books or scrolls you can look in to,” Teddy suggested. “There’s an entire library there of documents that go back to before Felaril was even built. I know I barely scratched the surface when I was there.”
“You… you would let me read them?”
“Of course. This is your history.”
Areal could only blink in awe. These people really were not dangerous. They wanted to help, they recognized her kind and respected it.
What possible reason did the dark lady have to fear them so?
The Illiops and few Octopedes showed her the entire village first on their tour, almost as if making sure that everyone knew an Avian was in their village. From there, Areal was taken to the temple Teddy had mentioned, much to the chagrin of the children who could not yet enter this building due to their young age. Even at the door, many of the crowd that had followed were turned away, saying they would be a disruption to those already inside. Areal was grateful for this, feeling her nerves ease at the thought of getting away from the masses. Thankfully as well, Teddy and Grubby continued with her as her unofficial tour guides. Though she would never admit it just yet, she felt safe with the both of them around, mostly Teddy as he had been the one she knew the longest, even if it was just from sight most of the time.
The monks at the temple had jumped out of their skins in sheer glee at seeing the winged woman enter. For Areal, she truly felt she could spend entire days on end in this temple. The Sun filtering through the crystalline walls offered an incredible play on light that merely added to the soothing nature of the edifice. A gentle tinkling of crystal eased the mind even further. Everything seemed geared to relax the mind and soul, to find an inner peace that was lost or fading.
Teddy smiled at the look of tranquility on her face, feeling her earlier fears lifting. He could have sworn her wings brightened slightly as well.
She was led to a central chamber, the largest she had ever seen, where Illipers and Perloons, as well as Illiops, sat meditating or reading large, ancient looking tomes. All looked up when she entered the room. Areal suddenly felt subconscious under their intense scrutiny. The monk leading the trio held a placating hand to the smattering of people in the chamber. It seemed to be enough to convince them all to return to their previous activities.
“Forgive their curiosity, Lady Avian,” the monk apologized. “Your kind has become almost a legend to our world.” Then, turning to Teddy, “Brother Ruxpin, always a pleasure to welcome you back.”
“Thank you, Brother Frithe. May we access the ancient tomes of the Illiop past? She wishes to know about her people and those books may hold some answers.”
“Of course. I will assign an acolyte to you to fetch whatever you will need,” and he bowed before racing off to begin his tasks.
“Brother Ruxpin?” Areal blinked.
He smirked sheepishly. “Long story.”
“To make it short,” Grubby offered, “Our friend here decided to live a life of piety a while back to atone for a sin everyone was fully prepared to forgive him for. His stint as a monk didn’t last though.”
Teddy grunted. “Wasn’t my choice that it didn’t last.”
“You would’ve gotten bored.”
“Maybe,” he admitted with a shrug just as a young monk came jogging up to them.
This one bowed nervously to the group, indicating a low table at the far end of the room that was bathed in the afternoon light. Teddy carefully instructed him on which documents they needed from the temple’s vast library. The monk stuttered his understanding and took off. Grubby smirked as they sat on the meditation cushions surrounding the table.
“You’d think he was serving a god or something,” he quipped. He then looked at Areal. “So, what’s your story?”
She blinked. “My story?”
“You know: Where you came from? Why you’re here? That sort of stuff.”
She shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know where I came from.”
“Not at all?” Teddy pressed.
She shook her head. “The earliest memory I have is learning to fly with My Lady. I know she’s not my Mother, but I have no memory of any family or home before her.”
“Is she some sort of noblewoman?”
“My Lady is… My Lady. She raised me, trained me… I owe her everything.”
Teddy noticed her hesitation as she spoke. There was more to that story, but felt it was not his place to press her for information she was not ready to give, save for one thing he needed to know.
“She’s the one who sent you here.”
She paused, unsure. Then, “I am My Lady’s eyes,” was all she replied.
“You’re her spy.” She nodded. “So, during those last four months, what did you see to report back to her?”
She looked him straight in the eyes. “That this is an Illiop settlement that is of no threat to her and should be left alone.”
He nodded slowly, truly believing her.
Grubby frowned slightly. “Would she attack us?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve noticed… My Lady has a tendency to be a little paranoid about the world around her.”
“Seems you are too.”
She looked at her hands. “I was because of her… I’m starting to see that a lot of what I’ve been told was wrong.”
Scant moments later, the acolyte returned with two more monks in tow, all of which had their arms laden with ancient tomes and scrolls of various sizes and thicknesses. It took a little bit of creative organizing to get all of these materials to fit on the table. The trio of monks quickly left afterwards so as not to disturb the new research about to begin.
Areal immediately dove into the books, teal eyes scanning page upon page with a hungry need for information. Somewhere within the delicate, yellowing pages were the answers to her many questions about her people. She knew the dark lady had deliberately hidden everything she knew about Avians. There was obviously something about her people the wraith did not want her to know. That information had to be contained somewhere within these pages.
Somewhere into their long search, Teddy felt the overwhelming need to put his book down to rest his eyes. The light had shifted outside, attesting to the time they had just spent. Grubby, it seems, had long ago given up the search and had curled into a ball on the pillows, fast asleep. On the other hand, Areal still searched through the pages of her book, a small frown of concentration on her face, her wings twitching ever so slightly with each new thing learned.
He had to admit, she was beautiful. In his seemingly endless travels years ago, he had encountered nymphs and elves and sprites that were all painfully beautiful, mesmerizingly so. Her beauty was different, deeper. It was serene beauty that could comfort as well as entice. Despite himself, Teddy found himself staring at her, watching the way she moved, the way she breathed. Part of him wanted to memorize everything about her at that very moment.
Her feathers abruptly ruffled as her body bent over her book.
Teddy straightened. “Found something?”
She looked up at him, and then set the book flat on the table. “I think so.” The Illiop moved closer to her side to see the pages in question. “These pages mark the battle at the old colony in the Fa-dau’hi Mountains, before the exodus to Felaril. There’s mention of the Avians living in the cliffs above the colony.”
“My Mother told me about that battle. The Avian warriors were wiped out in the air by the Gutangs.”
He saw her eyes darken at the mention of the reptilian warriors.
“Those that remained didn’t want to leave the old city,” he continued. “It was their home. The Illiops escaped and no Avian was ever seen again. But that was some hundred or so years ago. According to my parents, there were never any Avians in Felaril.”
“You don’t remember?”
“I was still just a baby when were forced to leave. I went back a few years ago, but the only ones I saw were Gutangs. They took over the city.”
She nodded slowly. “Do you think some of my people are still there, at the old city? That some of them survived?”
“Possibly. You’re here, so more Avians have to be somewhere in Grundo.”
She had a slight pause, looking down at the pages. “I wonder what happened to my parents,” she breathed softly.
Teddy gave her a moment of silence in her thoughts, looking to the books still left to look through. One book caught his attention more than the others. It was a worn, leather-bound tome about the size of a journal. Picking it up, he opened it at random. He blinked in surprise at the contents.
“This might be useful to you,” and he handed her the journal.
Curious, she skimmed through the pages quickly to get a gist as to the contents. She gasped softly in amazement. “This thing reads like a how-to for everything an Avian should be able to do.” She hugged the book, giving Teddy a grateful look. “This is all so much more than I was expecting.”
He smirked ruefully. “Seeing as you weren’t expecting anything to begin with, that’s saying a lot.”
Her expression became sheepish. “My Lady taught me to never trust anyone but her; that the people of Ralm were out to destroy my kind.”
Teddy frowned slightly. “I’m starting to think this Lady of yours is not as benevolent as she wants you to believe.” He smiled gently. “Besides, how can any of us want to destroy a people nearly all of us forgot existed?”
The tiniest of grins touched her lips. “True on both counts.”
“You’re welcome to stay here, with us,” he offered.
She shook her head sadly. “I tried something like that when I was younger. There was a tribe of Grunges along the eastern coast of Grundo that had been willing to take me in. My Lady wiped them out and then… punished me for trying to leave.”
The Illiop felt his protective ire rise from her statement.
How dare any being try to lay such a claim to a life as to deny it from actually living?
He could see it in Areal’s eyes, a longing to be able to do what she wanted, to go where she wanted. Teddy laid a hand against her cheek in comfort and support, feeling her shiver slightly.
She leaned into his hand, eyes closing of their own accord. Areal couldn’t quite understand why, but that simple touch from him seemed to chase away most of the shadows that lurked in her soul. She could tell he wanted nothing more than to help her, but she seriously doubted he could ever succeed. The dark lady was too powerful and knew how to use pain as both a motivator and deterrent.
“If you and your people tried to help me, My Lady would kill you without so much as a second thought,” she voiced grimly.
“She would find that we Illiops can defend ourselves quite well.”
She looked at him. “Even against magick?”
“Even against magick.” He regarded her for a moment. “She originally sent you here to get the Crystals.”
Her eyes saddened. “Yes. I’m sorry.”
He smiled, his hand falling away. “Don’t be. And don’t be afraid of us… of me. If you need help…”
She looked at her hands. “I don’t know how to ask.”
“There’s no hurry. Hey, we’ve been pouring over these books for several hours now. Are you hungry?”
“A little.”
“Then I invite you to my home to eat... and stay for as long as your Lady lets you.”
“You... you don’t mind?”
“Not at all. You need a place to stay. My family would be honoured to have you stay with us. Your Lady said you had to watch us, she didn’t explicitly say you had to keep your distance, did she?”
There was no fault with that logic. To say she was touched by the offer would have been an understatement. The smile came unbidden to her lips in gratitude. A loud snore seemed to suddenly fill the room, causing them both to jump. Grubby was fast asleep, hugging a pillow tight. His snoring seemed to only get louder.
“I think he’s drooling,” Areal voiced.
“That’ll be a pain to clean out of that pillow.”
They looked at each other and laughed softly. Her own laughter shocked Areal and she covered her mouth with her hands. She couldn’t remember a time when she had laughed so easily. When Teddy chuckled at her she felt her cheeks warm from a blush. Mildly she wondered if he knew just how disarming he could be. It took a pretty hard shake from the young Illiop to wake the sleeping Octopede. This one raised his head groggily and looked around.
“Morning already?” he slurred sleepily.
“More like dinner time,” Teddy smirked.
Grubby perked up. “Even better,” he exclaimed, leaping to his feet and leading the way out of the temple.
* * *
Watching from the Ruxpin home’s front steps, Amber Avarrin immediately didn’t like this Avian as she watched her, Teddy and Grubby approach. She held a book clutched close to her chest almost preciously.
Something felt instantly off about this winged girl, as if there was something she was keeping hidden from the world.
Someone who kept secrets usually was not to be trusted.
Illana welcomed the Avian like the gloriously loving Mother she was while they were still at some distance from the house, a flock of the orphaned Illiop and Octopede children gathering around the group. The girl looked unsure about the warm greeting until Teddy said something Amber didn’t hear. Whatever he said seemed to get the girl to relax some, her gray wings cupping around the children. She saw the Avian smile ever so slightly, which in turn caused Teddy to smile at her. Amber frowned as they came nearer. The frown deepened further when the Avian smiled at the Illiop hero.
More reason not to trust her.
“Of course you’re welcome to stay, child,” Amber heard Illana assure. “I insist. I could use the extra hands in the kitchen tonight as well, we have a full house of children eating over.”
“Your fault for being such a good cook, Mother,” Teddy quipped.
“Um… I don’t know what help I’ll be to you. I don’t know how to cook,” the Avian stated meekly.
Illana waved it off casually. “No time like the present to learn. Nothing difficult; stir a few pots, add a few spices to taste… It’s a matter of making sure nothing burns.” She paused, giving the Avian’s wings a long stare. “Space might be a problem with your wings.”
Before another word could be spoken, the wings began to shimmer slightly, fading from sight in the sparkling of a pale light.
Amber snorted, feigning indifference. “Nice trick.”
Teddy spared her a moment to frown before returning his attention to the village’s guest. “Areal, this is a friend of mine, Amber Avarrin.”
Inwardly, Amber winced at the term friend. It was so generic, so ordinary. She couldn’t fault him for using the term. After all, she had been the one to keep him at arm’s length all this time, never daring to allow herself to bring him closer despite the yearning of her heart.
Once inside the Ruxpin home, Amber watched with growing annoyance the happenings in the kitchen as people began to gather in the family room and dining room. Illana had instructed the Avian, this Areal, what to watch for during the cooking of various dishes all the while avoiding being trampled by Grubby and Teddy racing in and out of the kitchen with arms loaded with dinnerware and plates. They were going to be around twenty at this particular meal.
At one point, had she been able to, Amber would have growled and gouged out deep troughs in the table’s surface at what she saw in the kitchen. Teddy had returned to the kitchen to ask if he could help with any of the dishes. Illana had waved him away; no doubt she was saying everything was under control. Instead of leaving the small cooking area, he turned to the stove where the Avian girl stood diligently watching over the cooking pots and pans she had been assigned. He spoke to her, something that caused her to break into a wide and proud smile. Amber would have given just about anything to have been a fly on the wall to hear exactly what it was they were talking about. And when the young hero gave the girl’s shoulders a warm squeeze, Amber very nearly hit the roof.
Watching the Ruxpin family, Grubby and the Avian commence bringing dishes to the large communal table was almost like watching a well choreographed dance, as if all five of them knew exactly where to be to be out of the way of each other or when to duck when a large dish was being carried out. Amber envied them. Kitchen duties had never been one of her strong points.
When it came time for everyone to sit, the Avian was accosted by two of the younger Illiop orphan girls, Danae and Lyra, who insisted she sit with them. She accommodated them with a laugh, letting them pull her towards the long table and sitting between them to stay any arguments. Sitting next to the three, Teddy had chuckled lightly as he watched the girls cuddle up to the Avian who seemed to be relaxing to the familial mood within this household.
Danae and Lyra were sisters, orphaned only a few scan years ago when Quellor had done his worst to try to destroy the Illiops. Their home had been on the Western coast of the island and had been easily ravaged. Those who had survived had joined Warriclim.
As much as she tried to, Amber could not find anything she liked about this Avian girl. It just seemed that Teddy ignored the world around him when she was around.
At the head of the table, Burl stood, effectively calling attention of the whole room onto himself. Everyone fell silent, waiting.
“Tonight, we have a special guest at our table. An Avian has not been seen among the Illiop people for many generations. We welcome Areal to Warriclim, to our home, and to join in our Blessing.”
Areal watched as those around the table joined hands, their heads bowing slightly as their eyes closed. Letting the girls at her sides take her hands, the Avian followed suit in respect for her gracious hosts.
“We know it is by the generosity of the land that we have this meal before us, and that it is by the mercy of the gods that we are all here. We offer both the land and the gods our thanks and we hope that they continue to feed us, protect us, and guide us in the days to come. Praise be.”
Those last two words were taken up by everyone gathered in reverence before the ordered chaos of the evening meal began.
From across the table, Amber heard Areal sigh a whimsical smile as she gazed at the table occupants. Teddy heard as well and looked at the Avian in concern.
“Something wrong?” Amber heard him question.
Areal smiled gently, almost sadly. “No, just… I’m going to miss all this when I have to go back.”
“You’re welcome to come back any time you want,” Teddy offered, much to Amber’s displeasure.
“I don’t know if I’d be permitted.” She looked to the people around the table once again. “This is the first time I can remember having a normal life, where I wasn’t obligated to…” and she drifted off, as if catching herself before she said too much.
Amber frowned.
So this girl did have a darker past than she first thought.
More fuel to feed Amber’s fire of mistrust.
Even more was added when Teddy reached over to grip the Avian’s shoulder.
“Your time here is your own,” Teddy voiced. “The first time you came to Warriclim you stayed over four months, even if you didn’t come down off the cliff for that time.”
Amber blinked at that information. She had been watching Warriclim for over four months? For what reason?
“Aim to stay for that long at the very least,” Teddy continued, not having noticed Amber’s reaction.
Areal smiled in gratitude.
Amber fumed.
Despite the Illiop female’s misgivings, the mood around the table was jovial. Areal found herself laughing until her sides hurt at the antics and stories from some of the children. She really couldn’t remember being so happy or feeling so welcome anywhere, not even with the village of Grunges all those years ago. There was a genuine family atmosphere in this house; that no one was above or below another in stature. She felt part of this family, mostly due to the fact that each time Illana had to walk behind her the elder Illiop never missed an opportunity to give a warm hug to the Avian. No one had ever been so caring towards her. It actually felt good.
Two of the older orphans soon began clearing the table as Burl urged everyone to move to the family room for the rest of the early evening. Many of the younger children crowded around Areal’s legs as they all entered the room, each launching a million questions about her life and her wings. They soon all joined into a chant to see the great feathered appendages.
Areal looked a little apprehensive and she looked to Burl and Illana. “With your permission?”
Burl merely smiled. “If it quiets the rabble, I have no problem with it.”
“Is there enough room for you, dear?” questioned Illana.
Areal looked around the family room to make sure nothing breakable was near. “I think so.”
She stood in the center of the room, making sure the children were out of the way of what was to come. In a flurry of feathers, Areal’s wings unfurled to the coos and ahs of all those assembled. Even Amber couldn’t hold back her awe at the shower of light feathers fluttering to the floor. Teddy was the only one to notice the change in her wings’ color. They were no longer the deep steel gray, but now maybe two or three shades below white. He smiled.
The children dove quickly, scooping up the loose feathers as if they were precious treasures.
Areal laughed gently at them before seeing a look of patient annoyance from Illana. She immediately knew why.
“Not to worry, Mrs. Ruxpin,” she assured, sweeping a hand towards those few feathers the children hadn’t picked up. “I can control them no matter where they are.”
Grubby’s nose scrunched in confusion. “Control?”
In answer, the loose feathers seemed to pop in a tiny explosion of shimmering dust, disappearing out of sight.
The Octopede blinked with each pop. “Amazing! Can you make them do anything else?”
She grinned.
The feathers held by the children suddenly began to blink a multitude of bright colors, some changing from feather to silver, to smoke, and then back to feather. As if sensing something she looked to where Teddy stood next to her, laughing at the children. She smirked at him, a smirk he caught.
He blinked at her. “What?”
Something suddenly began to feel very warm over his heart, coming close to burning. Surprised, he quickly reached into his tabard and pulled out the feather she had left behind all those days ago. It glowed a soft red, a great heat radiating off of it. Then it returned to normal. Realizing what had just happened Teddy mock frowned at the Avian, unable to stop the smirk on his own lips.
“Cute,” was all he said, swiping at her nose with the feather.
She merely laughed in response.
Amber frowned at this all too friendly scene. “Can you change their shape?” she suddenly asked.
Areal caught the tone in her voice, but hid that knowledge for the moment. “If I have to, yes.”
“Like what, exactly?”
She frowned inwardly at the Illiop female, feeling her cautious nature rise to meet this challenge. “A key, a can opener, shovel or chisel…”
“A blade?”
By this time all the adults were giving a strange look to Amber for her sudden questioning.
“Amber…” Teddy warned.
“If the situation calls for it, yes, a blade too,” Areal chose to answer.
“And what situations have called for it?”
“Amber, that’s enough,” Burl near snapped. “If she wants to tell us about her past it will be by her choice, not because you don’t trust her. Oh, don’t look so shocked,” he admonished to her surprised expression. “You would have to be blind,” he glanced at his Son. “… or really distracted,” then returned his attention to Amber. “… to miss the looks you’ve been giving her all night. The little ones trust her and children have an innate sense when it comes to good and bad.”
To emphasize that point, Danae and Lyra nearly lunged at Areal, latching on to her waist in an almost protective move, both glaring at Amber. Areal looked down at these girls in awe at their devotion. They had only just met her, but felt the need to stand with her in this. She caressed their heads in gratitude, favouring each with a smile. With an irritated grunt, Amber whirled on her heels and left the room. Teddy spared a moment to give Areal an apologetic glance before going after his friend.
Illana’s expression was truly remorseful as she approached the Avian. “I hope she didn’t insult you, dear.”
Areal shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ve actually been on the receiving end of much worse, Mrs. Ruxpin, believe me.”
Just within the other room, Teddy grabbed Amber’s arm to stop her. “What was that all about back there?” he hissed.
“She hiding something from us and all of you are blind to that fact.”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t you think I know that? She so much as alluded to it back the Temple.”
“So doesn’t that worry you?”
“Should it?”
“Yes, very much so. She’s a stranger to us and she’s keeping secrets from us.”
“Why should that matter to you so much?”
“Because it’s my experience that people who keep secrets are not trustworthy.”
“If we were to follow that philosophy then I wouldn’t be trustworthy either, because I’m keeping a secret from all of Ralm.”
“It’s not the same. You’re keeping that secret to keep all of us safe.”
“And what if she’s doing the same? Did you think that just maybe her secret is to make sure that none of us get hurt?”
Amber was nearing her wit’s end. “Why are you defending her?”
Teddy looked back to the family room where Areal sat on the floor, playing with the children, her wings partially wrapped around them protectively. It was such a different sight from when she had first arrived. Her eyes were brighter, more alive. Smiles and laughter came easily to her now. Her wings had lightened to near white.
“She needs our help,” he answered simply.
“From what?”
“I don’t know yet. She’s not ready to say.”
“I don’t trust her.”
He frowned at his friend. “Well, I do. I don’t even know why I’m bothering; you’re determined to hate her no matter what anyone says.”
With that he turned and returned to the family room.
Feeling particularly low at that moment, Amber watched the young hero sit on the floor near the laughing Avian, a child launching herself and tackling him to his back moments later. In that one short moment, Amber had guaranteed that any kind of relationship she may have wanted with Teddy would never happen.
* * *
“The death demon, Necriel, had us prepare this chamber when she came to us,” the Understander of Legends explained as she walked with Ssenkrad. “She had her own plans for it, but she shared them with no one. If the Avian is really who you say she is, My Lady, then this will be the perfect place for your endeavour.”
“Oh, she is very much that person. Her powers will ensure that I return to my former stature. Once I have that, the Stones will not elude me anymore.”
The dark being smiled as they entered the vast chamber. The roof had been left open to the elements, no doubt to allow for a surplus of power to escape if it could not be controlled. A stone dais was in the center of the room. One had to descend one set of stairs and then climb up a central set to reach the dais. This room would suit her perfectly.
“You still wish the Stones, My Lady?”
A billow of shadow swirled angrily around Ssenkrad. “Yes,” she answered simply, not feeling the need to explain herself.
The Understander of Legends did not press for a reason. “The Illiop, Ruxpin, has hidden them well. Not even my own magicks can find them.”
“After Areal’s powers are mine, I will find them. Are my demons ready?”
“Soon, My Lady. My acolytes are summoning the last of them. They will be ready in a few days.”
“Excellent.”
* * *
Sitting on the hearth, back to the warm stonework of the chimney, Areal turned another page of the journal like book Teddy had found for her in the Temple of Drifting Sighs. The flickering light in the fireplace illuminated beautiful flowing script that, although were confusing at time, made her want to read more until there was nothing left.
“There exists a few schools of thought to the true extent of the Silver Wing Avians abilities. The most prevalent is the Silver Wing is a dominant race within the species which also comprises a small number of White Wing Avians and an even rarer number of Crystal Wing Avian.
“White Wings are highly prized for their purity of color and the ability for them to sire or bare children possessing the same coloring or the more revered Crystal Wing.
“The birth of a Crystal Wing is extremely rare, their very existence hidden for their incredible power could scour the world of everything living if they should be controlled by those seeking dominance.
“Since the creation of this journal, four White Wings have been born. Of those, two have survived to the age of adulthood. No Crystal Wings have been reported anywhere among the five colonies.”
Areal bristled.
Five colonies!
The one at the old city of the Illiops had not been the only one.
“Found something good?” a voice suddenly questioned through the thick quiet.
Her head snapped up to find Teddy standing just within the doorway to the family room, a loose night robe over his pyjamas. His hair was dishevelled as if he hadn’t slept well.
Areal blinked a few times. “How could you tell?”
“Your feathers ruffled. Last time that happened was back at the temple when you found that bit about a colony at the old city.”
She blinked again.
He had noticed that?
“Um… There were five colonies,” she finally voiced. She glanced at a small clock nearby before looking at Teddy again. “It’s late. Couldn’t sleep?”
He grunted, scratching the back of his head absently. “It’s going to be one of those nights. What about you?”
She half winced. “Bad habit.”
He nodded in understanding and then indicated the book in her hands. “So tell me what you found,” and he sat on the floor in front of her.
“I might end up boring you,” she cautioned.
He shrugged. “Worst that can happen is I fall asleep. Either way it’s a good thing all around; I either get some sleep or I learn more about your people.”
She nodded slightly in agreement. “This thing reads like a scientific manual half the time. A lot of it is about Avian abilities; changing the look and feel of feathers to suit a situation.”
“You already know how to do that.”
“I learned it all by accident really. Being My Lady’s spy does come with a certain amount of danger at times. There’s mention about the fact that all Avians possess an innate power, the ability to harness the energies around them to do just about anything. I was just reading this last passage that mentioned that there were five Avian colonies, not just the one at the old city. There’s also mention that Avians make up three races.”
“Three races?”
She nodded. “Silver Wings, White Wings, and Crystal Wings. Silver Wings were common, they made up nearly the entire population according to this. White Wings were rarer. Says here that, since this journal was written, only two survived to become adults. And no Crystal Wings were born in that time.”
“You’re a White Wing,” he affirmed.
“You think so?”
“I know so. Since you’ve been here, your wings have progressively gotten whiter.”
He reached out and ran a hand down along the edge of her wing, mildly surprised to feel just how silky soft and warm her feathers were beneath his fingers.
“You can’t mistake this for silver.”
Areal fought hard with the blush threatening to color her cheeks. Many had touched her wings before, but not one of those people had made her feel so special from that simple contact. She watched his hand on her wing for a moment more.
“I realize now why they had darkened.” Her voice was soft in the dim room. “My Lady is trying to break me.” She felt his hand freeze in shock as she shook her head sadly. “I think this is why she preferred I watch from a distance. She didn’t want me to realize what was happening.”
“But, you had to have known.”
“Mm, I did. A little bit of me kept telling me, but I didn’t want to hear. It was only a matter of time before it all came to light”
She looked to the Illiop in front of her, her eyes filled with a kind of desperation. Her entire frame trembled.
“You said when I was ready, to just ask. I need your help. I want to be free of her. I want to stay here.”
With a reassuring smile, Teddy laid a hand against her cheek as he sat close to her side, a comforting arm around her shoulders. Her trembling seemed to subside, her eyes closing of their own accord. She let herself lean against him. His aura just seemed so warm, so calming. All her worries, her fears, seemed to trickle away to the point where she felt herself slipping away towards a peaceful sleep she had never known. She felt so safe.
“I’ll help you, Areal,” he soothed as his eyes closed in impending sleep. “You will be free.”
* * *
One by one, demons and other creatures of nightmares all but poured into the chamber, peeling away from walls as if they had been made of the very shadows that clung there. The more the mottle skinned acolytes chanted, the more creatures seemed to emerge from the void. They hovered like mist for a moment before developing shape and substance. This was the fifth group called in so many days.
The Understander of Legends watched her acolytes, members all of the Sinistry, work their ancient magicks to call forth these creatures. Part of her didn’t much approve, let alone agree, with calling beasts from the nether. They were often unpredictable and uncontrollable.
But the Dark Lady needed them.
Ssenkrad had told her that these creatures would allow her to regain her substance, to manifest more strongly on their plane.
Whatever that meant.
Ssenkrad was a wraith, a goddess in wisp form. What did she need of demons?
“I need to feed on their energies, my dear woman,” the Dark Lady whispered in the old crone’s ear.
The Understander of Legends jumped, startled. She had neither heard nor felt her approach. She recovered from her surprise quickly and bowed slightly.
“Feed, My Lady?” she questioned.
“As I have explained, I am hovering between planes. Their powers will bring me more fully into this world. My curse from the self-righteous gods who decided to imprison me. Once I am a little more solid, we will gather that village of Illiops. They have the Stones and I require them for the last stage of my plans.”
The Understander of Legends watched as the wraith floated to the center of the room, her arms opening wide in beckoning to the demons taking shape. These ones looked at the wraith, their forms bending in a sort of subservience to her. Slowly at first, the demons turned to smoke and merged with Ssenkrad, her wraith-like form taking on more definition as more and more demons were swallowed up by her. Although her form remained shrouded in a wisp like mist, her robes took on a more solid texture that pierced through the mist. The dark being stretched languidly with a blissful sigh when the last of the demons was assimilated, turning to face the learned crone.
“I’m starting to feel much better now,” she near cooed. “I need legions more. Can your acolytes handle that?”
“They will obey your command or die, My Lady.”
Ssenkrad smiled. “Good answer.”
TO BE CONTINUED...
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Post by theonemouse on Nov 10, 2009 18:07:54 GMT -7
Teddy Ruxpin: Unleashed
Crystal Wing - Chapter 3
Story by: The MOUSE
Original concept by: Legendbourne
Areal looked out over the crashing waves with apprehension, not for their terrifying beauty as the winds whipped them into foamy crests, but at their ability to hide object floating on the surface.
“You’re sure there’s no one out there? I mean, if this works, I don’t want to risk hurting anyone if I can help it.”
Grubby dismissed her worry with a slight wave, sweeping the vast sea before them. “Water’s too shallow in this area. Too many reefs around here for a boat to get stuck on. Besides, best fishing is on the North side of the island, not here. That’s where all the boats are.”
“You’re sure?”
“One hundred percent positive. We Octopedes are sailors, we know our water.”
She set her shoulders in acceptance and turned to Teddy who was busy studying the Avian journal. After having treated the children to an Avian flight show, the small group had retreated to this beach to test a few of the new discoveries the journal had offered.
Teddy raised his head as if feeling Areal’s eyes on him and nodded. “Right, according to this you have to…” His face scrunched up slightly. “You have to find your center.”
“Find my center,” she repeated slowly.
“I know, not very clear. According to this any Avian has the ability to focus an inner light through their wings by just finding the center of that light.”
Grubby scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, don’t supposed they mention how she’s supposed to find it?”
“No…” Teddy frowned, pensively, at the words on the page.
“But…?”
“But this sounds an awful lot like a meditation.” He paused for a moment, carefully studying the journal, and then closed it before tucking it under his arm to free his hands. “Okay, let’s try this,” and he motioned for her to face the sea. “Close your eyes and relax. Forget that there’s anything or anyone around you right now. Listen for the sound of your own heartbeat. When you hear it, look for that nugget of light that should be not too far away. Bring it forward then and release it.”
She nodded slowly, absorbing the information. It was vague in terms of a meditation technique, but this was new territory to them both.
But she could at least try the relaxing part.
Closing her eyes, Areal released a calming breath, her shoulders sagging slightly. She let her present concerns float away on the breeze tugging at her hair and wings, letting herself bask in the warm daylight.
Forget that there’s anything or anyone around you right now.
She turned her hearing inwards, away from the sound of wind and crashing waves, away from seabirds crying out as they flew. At first she didn’t think this sort of meditation would work, but she soon noticed a slight difference in the world around her. Slowly, one by one, the sounds became muted until all she heard was silence. It was a powerful silence, all encompassing, to the point where she thought this was how it felt to go mad, when a new sound began to piece the quiet. At first she thought it was a drum until it dawned on her.
This was the sound of her heart beating.
She concentrated on the sound, letting grow louder. Somewhere along the way she became aware of the darkness surrounding her. It was as if she were floating on an expanse of nothing, hearing only her own heartbeat.
Look for that nugget of light…
An ever so slight glimmer caught her eye, deep or far within the darkness. Curious, she focused all her attention on it. The light grew progressively brighter and warmer the more she stared at it.
Was this the so-called inner light she was supposed to find?
Bring it forward...
Mentally, she called the light towards herself, fascinated as she watched it obey her command. It hovered before her, a compact ball of energy and light that seemed to quiver with barely contained power. It felt young and ancient all at once, containing her life and all the lives of those that came before her.
… and then release it.
The darkness around her vanished in an explosion of blinding light.
She felt herself flying backwards and colliding into something hard before landing unceremoniously on her rump. Dazed eyes stared ahead of her, at the explosion happening somewhere across the sea. Vaguely she could see Teddy and Grubby gaping at her in awed surprise.
“Ow,” was all she could find to say.
Teddy quickly came to her side to help her back to her feet. She swayed slightly as she tried to regain her balance.
“You okay?” he questioned in concern, aiding her stand.
“I think so… head rush,” and she smiled meekly.
Across the sea a great column of smoke rose high into the sky from the blasts impact against the distant shore. Areal stared in worry for moment. Both Teddy and Grubby followed her gaze, feeling the same concern rise in them as well.
“Hope there was no one out there,” the Avian breathed.
Teddy blinked at the genuine concern her heard in her voice. “Do you want to try again?”
“If I want to control this, yes. As often as it takes.”
“How about we try a lower setting?” Grubby suggested before making a pinching motion. “A much lower setting.”
They spent the remainder of the day practicing this new skill until Areal had nearly mastered it and the intensity of the blast. She had learned that once she was floating before the ball of light within herself, she could detach small portions of it and the resulting blast would be proportionate to the size of the piece. Little by little she discovered that the meditation became easier, being able to call forth this energy without having to retreat from the world. As the day waned, this ability became almost second nature.
The trio had speculated at one point how the beach on the other shore must have resembled after all those attempts to control her new ability. It was agreed that all that could have remained was raw glass from the melted sand and crumbled or melted stone.
The evening meal at the Ruxpin home was more sedate then the previous night, most of the children staying with their other adoptive families this night. Areal had thoroughly enjoyed some of the stories she had heard from her new friends and was delighted to no end when they offered more stories, often reminiscing about past adventures or mishaps. It gave her glimpse into their lives without having to ask probing or delicate questions. She felt close to this family of Illiops and their friends. It was if, for the first time in a long time, she was finally where she belonged. She felt as if she had come home.
Amber was present for the meal and the relaxing afterwards, watching in distrust as Teddy sat close to the Avian by the hearth, both reading through the little leather-bound journal and commenting to each other about certain passages.
She left the room, annoyed.
The Avian was trouble, Amber knew it.
Unfortunately, everyone else seemed to be taken by this winged girl.
“… MAVO headquarters.” Amber heard the Avian state softly.
The Illiop female bristled at that and strained to hear the conversation from the other room, peering carefully around the corner.
“So your Lady took over after Necriel.”
“It was the logical thing to do. There were already a number of fanatics looking for something to follow, My Lady gave them purpose. Growing up she often spoke of the Death Demon, how she and I should try to win favour with her.”
“But we got to her before that happened.”
“So the fellowship in the prophesy, that was you and your friends?”
“With one more from a planet he called Earth.”
She smirked at him. “To think, I’m sitting here with a legend.”
“Look who’s talking,” and he winked with a grin.
Amber stifled a growl.
Areal suddenly began to look distracted, blinking repeatedly with a small frown marring her features. Teddy felt a frown crease his own brow at this, watching her look to the window.
“Something wrong?” he questioned.
Sparing him a moment’s glance, she moved to the window in confusion. “I don’t know. I feel… I can feel… something,” and she moved towards the front door.
Grubby replaced her at the window, peering into the waning daylight. “I don’t see anything out there.”
“And yet…”
Areal stepped outside, cautiously looking around the square in front of the Ruxpin home. Sure enough, the area was quiet. No one was about, nothing moved. But something still didn’t feel right to the Avian. Her wings spread wide, feathers ruffled, in a defensive move.
Something felt… cold.
“What is it you feel?” she heard Teddy question at her side.
“Like… there’s something dark and cold here, watching.”
“Where?”
“All around… and nowhere. I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense.” When he didn’t answer, Areal looked to find him pensive. “This sounds familiar to you?”
“Vaguely. Something I saw in the journal.” He opened the small book and quickly flipped through the pages in the dim light. “Here. It says Avians can sense shifts in magicks, can feel the very nature of the magick or its user.”
The Avian’s eyes scanned the darkness, growing more and more anxious from this strange and growing sensation. “This is dark magick… older than anything I’ve felt before.”
“Maybe it’s—”
Teddy turned towards his home when the sentence was cut short. “Mother?” he called.
Burl looked around in sudden frightful worry. “She was right here. Illana?”
But the elder Illiop female was gone.
Amber frowned directly at Areal. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t—”
A scream rendered the air from one of the nearby homes. While Burl remained behind with the children, the rest of the group ran for the house. The lights were still on inside, but there was no sign of movement, no sounds from inside. Teddy tried the door, only to find it locked.
“Hope Digger doesn’t mind...” and he rammed his shoulder to the door, breaking the lock.
The house was empty.
A growing air of panic was gaining foothold on Areal’s face. While being new, this situation had a feeling of the frighteningly familiar. Another scream shattered the night, this time being cut short by some ominous thing. Illiops began to cautiously step out of their homes, curious at the happenings yet terrified at the implications. Areal caused her wings to glow brightly, turning night to day in the small square.
There was something there; she could feel it hovering just on the edge of her senses, hiding in dark corners and shadows that her light couldn’t reach.
One moment she could see the yellow chitins of the Octopedes scattered throughout the crowd. The next moment, they were all gone.
“Grubby?” Amber called to the masses.
Frightened murmurs were her only response.
Areal saw Burl Ruxpin’s anxious face, and then in the blink of an eye he was gone. Teddy’s hand gripped hers tightly, almost daring whatever was out there to try anything now. Slowly at first, then more quickly, Illiops began to vanish from sight. The Avian saw the innocent faces of Danae and Lyra looking to her for reassurance.
They, too, vanished.
Areal felt her breath lock in her throat. “No! Danae? Lyra?” she called, feeling tears sting her eyes.
“Amber?” Teddy called.
Areal turned to find they were alone now surrounded by a darkness blacker than pitch and so dense that not even the piercing light from her wings go punch through it.
“No…” she breathed in fear.
She looked to Teddy when he squeezed her hand…
… only to see him swallowed up by a shadow, his hand ripped from hers.
“No!”
Areal whirled in place, trying to see through the black, to somehow find her friends.
“Teddy!”
Nothing.
Blindly she plucked a feather with each hand and dropped into a warding battle stance at something she felt behind her, the feathers instantly transforming to swords.
A form seemed to take shape, an ugly sneer perpetually plastered on its horrendous features. This creature seemed to be melting or rotting as she watched.
“Lady Ssenkrad would speak to you, Avian,” the creature rasped before fading to mist again.
And, as suddenly as the shadows had arrived, they were gone.
The sun had not yet set over the horizon, bathing the land in a blood red light. The village was silent, empty.
The swords vanished into a shimmer of light as they fell from her hands, her entire self suddenly feeling very numb. Areal dropped to her knees, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.
“Dear gods, no…” was all she could whisper.
If Ssenkrad had taken the entire village it could ultimately only mean one thing.
She was going to kill them all.
And it was her fault.
She hadn’t warned the Illiops of the danger.
She hadn’t tried hard enough to convince Ssenkrad to leave this village alone.
Her fault…
For the moment, Areal doubled onto herself and cried.
* * *
In life people who have experience the sensation often argue that burning alive is the worst of sensations while others say it is freezing alive. To the population of Warriclim, the feeling given by this odd transport by demons easily passed both.
Since it seemed to combine both into one.
Hovering in some black mass, unable to see or hear, each living being was subjected to an assault on the senses designed to either subdue through pain, or drive the individual rank mad from it.
It seemed to last for an eternity and a mere second all at once.
Sounds reached Teddy’s ears first when the darkness began to slowly fade around him. People were whimpering in fear and pain, children were crying, some of the stronger members of his village were panting hard to try to recover from the experience. When his balance surfaced he found himself on his hands and knees, looking down at tightly fitted stones.
The darkness lifted completely and he looked around.
His friends were all around him on their knees or on their backs, just starting to recover. Little by little the villagers regained their feet and took in their surroundings, though Teddy already knew where they were.
“We’re at MAVO headquarters,” he announced to the crowd.
“Yes, you are,” a voice cackled gleefully.
Ssenkrad regarded the hundreds of Illiops and handful or so of Octopede, Perloons and Illipers, gathered before her with a self-congratulating grin. They huddled in informal groups in fear, trying to reassure each other that they could still find a way out of the hopeless situation.
Only three pairs of eyes stared at her in clear defiance: An Illiop male, an Illiop female, and an Octopede male.
“So these are the righteous and mighty heros that defeated both Quellor and the great Necriel,” she intoned mockingly. “I was expecting giants by all the tales I’ve heard. Frankly, I’m not impressed.”
The Understander of Legends stepped forward and rattled her walking staff at the assembled masses. “Do not be too confident, My Lady. These are dangerous people. Especially that one,” and she pointed at the defiant Illiop male. “He, himself, killed Quellor.”
Ssenkrad didn’t miss the slight wince that filtered across his face. “Ah, so this is Ruxpin,” she near cooed. “I’ve heard much about you, dear boy. You possess the Stones.”
“Stones you’ll never have,” Teddy countered.
“We’ll see.”
Dark ruby eyes turned to a door where Ssenkrad saw movement. A small smirk turned up the corners of her dark lips.
“Areal, my dear girl, come and see the culmination of my careful planning.”
Teddy’s eyes snapped to the door where the Avian entered, her wings hidden from sight, her eyes refusing to meet his. He could see the remnant of tears still glistening on her cheeks.
Had she cried all the way from Warriclim to here?
She walked deliberately to the center of the room, dropping to one knee in a subservient bow to the dark being.
“My Lady.”
The Avian heard Amber growl angrily. “There, you see now that we couldn’t trust her? She works for them!”
“Amber, shut up,” Grubby hissed.
Although murmurs rippled through the frightened Illiops and Octopedes, not a word came from Teddy.
Areal couldn’t look at him, ashamed by the turn of events. She blamed herself, for not being more passionate in her argument to the dark being to leave the village alone.
Ssenkrad chuckled lightly at the torment before her. “You’ve arrived just in time, my child. I have a task for you.”
Areal held back the heavy, tired sigh that threatened to escape. “What is it you ask of me, My Lady?”
“We all know that Ruxpin hid the Stones. It would be such a waste of my power and resources to look for them now that we have him here with us. Make him tell us, my dear.”
The Avian’s heart froze in her chest.
She had heard those words often enough in the past, part of her soul dying with each torture she had been forced to inflict to gather needed information. Make him tell us, my dear.
The words repeated over and over in her mind, squeezing her chest until it felt her lungs would explode.
She couldn’t do it.
She couldn’t hurt the one person who had shown her nothing but patience and caring.
She couldn’t hurt him.
“No.”
Everyone looked to the kneeling Avian. Her eyes were still on the floor, but she was blinking quickly in surprise at herself. The words had left her lips without so much as a second thought.
The dark being took a step towards the girl. “What did you just say?”
She raised her head, somehow finding a newfound courage within her to stare pointedly at Ssenkrad.
“No, My Lady.”
Teddy saw the shocked look on the dark being’s face and couldn’t help the satisfied smirk that crossed his lips. After all her years of service to this monster, Areal was standing up to her at last. He couldn’t have been prouder of her.
Ssenkrad saw the near smug expression on Teddy’s face and scowled. “I do not tolerate insolence,” she ground.
The air began to crackle with gathering energy, centering on the dark being. She merely lifted an arm, pointing at the Illiop, white hot energy releasing from her fingertips.
Cringing and closing his eyes tight, Teddy braced himself for this attack…
… but felt nothing.
Opening his eyes he found Areal standing between him and Ssenkrad, her pure white wings spread wide both in defence and defiance, slightly singed feathers smoking from the attack.
She had taken the brunt of it onto herself.
For her part, resisting the energy’s force had been easy for Areal. It was nowhere near what she had received in the past. Areal had long ago gotten used to that low level of voltage from her many previous punishments. This was something this wraith was good at; using pain as a motivator and deterrent without killing the individual. For this defiance though, the next onslaught would not be so forgiving.
Ssenkrad glared at the winged girl, not missing the fact her wings had returned to their immaculate white.
“You dare defy me, girl?”
Areal stood proud, her chin high, feeling Teddy’s hand lay flat between her wings in support. “I dare.”
The dark beings features twisted from her ever growing anger.
“I had hoped to take your powers willingly. I see now that I must break you for that to happen.”
Before anyone could react, Areal was thrown across the room and into a wall. The only move anyone had seen from the dark being had been the barest flick of her wrist.
Areal had crashed against the wall with full force, dropping to the hard floor in a stunned and unceremonious heap.
Acolytes and demons prevented any of the assembled Illiops or Octopedes from going to her to offer aide, Teddy at the forefront of them all.
Using the wall for support, Areal struggled to get to her feet, her eyes never leaving Ssenkrad. She knew all too well what was coming next and no amount of preparation would make it tolerable.
Time seemed to slow as the dark being raised her hand towards her, fingers outstretched menacingly.
The crackle of white hot lightning filled the room, dozens of painful tendrils weaving through the air towards their target.
For what it was worth, Areal closed her eyes.
The pained scream was ripped from her throat on contact.
All her muscles contracted violently, the force of the blast physically lifting her off the ground and slamming her into the wall behind her in a flurry of ripped feathers. It raged on for what seemed an eternity before she was left to drop to the hard stone floor again.
She could feel her muscles twitching in agony, every move to get herself off the floor a struggle against her own self. Raising her head just enough she could see Teddy struggling against the acolytes to get to her. It gave her the strength to rise to her hands and knees while her wings hung limply at her either side. Ssenkrad sneered at the pain she saw, mostly from the peoples the Avian had befriended from having to watch her struggle.
“Lock them up until I have need of them,” the dark being instructed her minions, then turned her full attention to the Avian. “You will learn your place, girl.”
For a brief moment, Areal watched her friends being taken away rather forcefully, many fighting with their captors to stay, to try to help the injured Avian. She allowed herself a small sigh. At least, for a little while, they would be safe. Her eyes closed, her body bracing itself for the next attack.
She didn’t have long to wait.
* * *
Teddy struggled to bend or loosen the bars to his cell, anything to get them to move and let him loose. But they were set in solid stone and did not budge. Muffled slightly by countless walls and floors, he could hear Areal’s agonized cries as Ssenkrad punished her for a double defiance.
She didn’t deserve this.
More than anything he wanted to go where she was and somehow shield her from what was happening, even if he didn’t know why that urge was so strong. In the past, many a close friend had been in a similar sort of danger and he had rushed to save them, but never a headlong rush without a plan much like he was contemplating now.
Perhaps it was because he had urged her to stand up for herself against the dark being.
Perhaps it was because he felt all this was his fault.
For whatever reason, each time he heard her scream, he felt his heart twist just a little more.
“She brought this on herself,” Amber voiced as if reading his thoughts.
He near growled, still examining the cell’s bars for any weakness he could exploit. “Not now, Amber.”
She leaned back against a wall. “I’m just saying the truth. She deserves no more than what she’s getting right now.”
“And just what little piece of twisted logic made you decide that?”
“She’s the reason we’re all here. She works for them.”
He rounded on her angrily. “For all her life this place, these people are all she’s ever known. Placed in the same situation, can you truthfully say that you would have done anything different?”
She opened her mouth to answer, but not a sound would come.
“No, didn’t think so,” he responded to her silence. “Grubby?”
The Octopede gave the back wall a hard punch in frustration. “They reinforced the place since we were last here,” he informed his friend. “Solid rock and concrete. I can’t even scratch it.”
“Can you try the bars?”
Grubby moved from the back of the cell through the small crowd of villagers to the steel bars, using two sets of his appendages to grip them. He strained for a moment, shifting his grip to then try again and adding a third set of arms. He grunted with a shake of his head, releasing the bars.
“Gemsteel. They don’t want us escaping this time.”
“Teddy!” a voice called from one of the other cells.
Looking across the way he saw another Illiop waving to get his attention. “Digger, what is it?”
“It’s gotten really quiet out there!”
Teddy blinked and focused on the sounds around him. Sure enough, there were no more screams. He looked to the door leading back to the audience hall, a great sense of worry filling him. Quiet murmurs rippled through those in the cell with him, worried whispers moving from cell to cell.
Amber couldn’t help the worry that began to rise in her throat. Despite what she thought of the Avian, she was still a living being and being subjected to who knew what kind of tortures.
For the cries to go quiet…
Even Amber had to shudder at the thought.
Time seemed to drag as everyone strained to hear even just the slightest sound. A lock being unsecured and a heavy bolt being pulled reverberated through the silence as the dungeon’s main door was opened. Two acolytes entered, their skin an ugly purple from the twisting of past magicks.
Between them they dragged the Avian’s limp form.
She didn’t move, didn’t react, as they all but threw her on the cold floor in front of all the cells. The acolytes said nothing as they turned and left the room, metal ringing loudly against metal in the silence when the door was once again bolted shut.
Staring at the immobile form, Teddy felt his legs give out and he fell hard to his knees. He barely heard the whimpers of sympathy and worry from the others of his village. Areal’s wings were bent at unnatural angles, her feathers singed and scorched to brittle and blackened stalks. Her hair was singed and matted. Red welts decorated the skin of her arms from painful burns. Her eyes, although open, stared at nothing. Black pupils were narrow, near pinpoints.
She looked… dead.
“Areal…” he called to her gently.
She inhaled sharply, her pupils dilating to a more normal size. Eyelids fluttered shut, a frown creasing her brow as wave upon wave of pain shot through every part of her, her groans hoarse from her earlier screaming. She had to fight with her own arms to bring them up from where they lay limp at her sides. Opening her eyes again, she could just barely see Teddy in one of the cells not far away, watching her in worry. In a supreme effort, Areal summoned every ounce of her remaining strength to just crawl across the floor to him.
As much as he could, Teddy pressed against the bars to reach out to her, grasping her outstretched hand when she was close enough to pull her the rest of the way. He helped her sit up, her weak form leaning against him and the bars, his arms wrapped around her to offer comfort and support. She gave him a weak, pained smiled, her eyes barely open.
“I misjudged how pissed off she was at me,” she managed to croak.
He cradled her gently, cupping her cheek in concern. Her eyes closed of their own accord. More than anything, right then and there, she just wanted to let herself sink into the nothingness. For that one brief moment, all her pain, all the shadows in her soul just seemed to lift away. But she felt she didn’t deserve his caring and concern. She knew she caused all this.
“She’ll come for you next,” she told the Illiop.
“I know.”
He turned to Amber who, despite her misgivings for the Avian girl, was busy tending to this one’s shattered wings.
“How bad is it?”
“They didn’t leave a single bone in her wings unbroken. If she had enough time to rest, they might have a chance to heal. And then there’s those burns… How can she still be alive after all that?”
Areal chuckled morosely. “A stubborn will to never give up.”
Teddy’s arms tightened around the girl slightly. “Do you have any Dylinda on you?” he asked Amber.
Amber gave him an apologetic look and shook her head. The attack on Warriclim hadn’t left her the chance to grab her supplies. In her travel pouch was the small vial of processed Dylinda that would have healed the Avian, but that pouch was still sitting on her nightstand back in Rillonia.
“She’s not whole yet,” Areal continued. “Before all this I heard the acolytes talking. The demons who took you all are part of the way she’ll become whole.”
“Part of the way?”
She nodded slowly. “She’ll absorb them into herself. She’ll then take what powers I have before hunting for the Crystals. They’re the last phase of her plan. She always spoke of retribution. With so much power, she could destroy Ralm.”
“She won’t get the Stones and she won’t get you,” the young hero near growled, his hold on her tightening protectively.
An elderly sounding cackle filled the room. “Brave words, Ruxpin.”
The door to the holding cells clanged loudly as it opened, the Understander of Legends hobbling in with a group of acolytes and demons in tow. If looks could have killed, the multitude of death stares these newcomers received from the captives would have rendered them to dust.
“My Lady, Ssenkrad, would have words with you now.”
Demons faded through the cell’s bars to hold the occupants at bay as a couple of acolytes entered. His expression defiant, Teddy carefully released his hold on Areal and allowed them to escort him from the cell.
Fighting her pain, Areal twisted on herself to get to her feet, intending to lunge at the Understander of Legends to stop them all somehow.
This one barely lifted a hand, sending the Avian crashing back against the bars. She fell to her hands and knees in agony.
“Areal!” Teddy called in worry, struggling against his captors to reach her.
“Stupid child. My Lady gave me access to her magicks. I am not some helpless old crone. Not to worry, Ruxpin,” the aged troll mocked. “You will see them all again… when you are all in oblivion where you rightly belong.”
Areal managed to raise her head just as the door slammed shut. Tears streamed down her cheeks from the excruciating pain her injuries were causing.
A sudden look of determination crossed her face, pained eyes hardening. Several of her feathers dropped to the ground at an unspoken signal, transforming into swords and daggers before the captives’ stunned eyes. Her hand blindly plucked one of her longer feathers.
It changed shape as she forced herself to her feet, transforming into a long, crystalline blade.
Fighting every sting that lanced along her nerves, Areal raised the sword above her head, swung on herself, and then brought it down hard on the lock for the cell Amber and Grubby were still in.
It sliced through the metal with a shower of sparks.
Areal stumbled from the blow, the sword dropping from her numbed hands. It took a stunned moment for the captives to realize they were now free before they finally spilled out of the cell, picking up their newly made weapons as they went.
Amber picked up the sword Areal had dropped, meeting the Avian’s unwavering gaze.
“Get them out of here,” Areal instructed.
“If you think I’m letting you go after him alone then you’re insane,” the Illiop female countered. “Grubby, free the others! Don’t wait for us, just get them out!”
Throwing Areal’s arm over her shoulders to help support her weight, the two women quickly made their way out of the dungeon towards the main chamber.
* * *
Flanked on either side by two demons and two acolytes, Teddy Ruxpin stood with his back straight and his expression defiant towards the wraith-like being known as Ssenkrad. Despite the fact that her appearance and attire seemed geared towards causing fear, he had nothing but contempt for this creature, a being that saw nothing about inflicting the greatest of harms on others to further her cause. The angry swirls of black mist about her didn’t sway that thought in the least.
She nearly killed Areal, was repeated over and over in his mind like a mantra.
“The Understander of Legends thoroughly fears you, Ruxpin.” The dark being leaned forward a bit from her place on the high dais. “You don’t seem like very much of a threat,” she taunted.
“Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you.”
The mist swirled a bit more angrily, red eyes narrowing. “Defiant to the last. Exactly what I would have expected from your race.”
“You know nothing.”
“Oh, but I do. I was there when the first of your kind took their first breaths. I should have destroyed you all when I had the chance back then, but I didn’t see what kind of nuisance you were to become. My last mistake.” She turned to the Understander of Legends standing patiently at her side. “I require fifteen more of my demons. The rest I leave under your control.”
This one bowed and then waved a hand to a far shadow.
From its darkness, a number of shapes peeled themselves away, gaining a more distinct form each as they emerged. They surrounded Ssenkrad who merely opened her arms to them in beckoning. One by one their once solid forms faded to mist before being absorbed by their mistress. Little by little the wraith gained more definition until the swirling maelstrom around her all but vanished. Shock white hair now cascaded about her shoulders, her skin the darkest of ebonies cracked with garish bright red veins. A slight mist still clung to the hem of her blue black robes.
Ssenkrad sighed blissfully as the last of her minions was absorbed. “Yes, this state will serve me nicely.”
“Once a hell beast, always a hell beast,” Teddy near growled.
She feigned a pained expression. “Hell beast? Perhaps, but I can show mercy as well.”
He snorted in disbelief. “Mercy? You call what you did to my people, to Areal, mercy?”
“Areal had to learn her place again, that she belongs to me.”
“She belongs to no one but herself!”
She chuckled lightly, making a dismissing motion. “Ah, the refrain of the righteous. Shall we destroy that notion?”
* * *
Amber Avarrin peered around a corner cautiously, noting it curved at the end to bend around another corner. It was dark, lit by the occasional flash of light, but no one was about.
“That’s where they are?” she asked the Avian at her side.
Areal felt her ribs crunch slightly with every breath she took. “She needs to stay there to gather her energies. If she wants to get the location of the Stones from him, that’s where they’ll be.”
Amber began to walk down the hall, and then stopped. “You’re sure?”
She gave the Illiop a suffering glance. “Look, we can stay here and discuss this in a committee, or—”
“Right, right,” and they began moving again. “What can we expect?”
“Debris flying here and there, lightning, fire, brimstone… She’s really pissed right now and with her demons here, she has almost unlimited power to draw on. All we really need to do is take out whatever guards are there. You get Teddy out; I’ll take care of her.”
“She’ll kill you.”
Areal shrugged painfully. “I’m dead anyway. At least I get to choose when and how.”
The Illiop female regarded her companion for a long moment, gauging how sincere her last statement was. The look of pained determination written on Areal’s face proved she meant every word. She was willing to die to protect those from Warriclim, to protect Teddy. There was honour in that resolve.
Reaching the last corner, they peered around the edge at the happenings ahead. Two acolytes stood nearest to the door to the chamber, guarding it to keep whoever was in the chamber from escaping. Beyond them stood two demons, watching the events before them with perverse glee.
Both females had to resist the urge to gasp.
A tiring Teddy was using every skill he had been taught in the past to evade the lightning attacks Ssenkrad was launching at him; leaping in the air one moment in a perfect flip to dodging and changing direction at the last possible moment to avoid being hit. But the room offered very little for him to use to either hide from or evade the attacks. Only a few loose chunks of wall littered the ground, making excellent launching pads to gain extra height, but nothing more.
He dashed in one direction, turning at a full ninety degree angle at the last possible moment to avoid a blast.
Next he would run towards one of the walls, managing to run a few steps up the side of it before executing a perfect flipping twist, dropping towards the floor in a diving roll and evading another blast.
The next moment he would run up the stone steps directly at Ssenkrad, only to back-flip out of the way of another attack and run off in another direction before she had a chance to realize she had missed again.
His movements were slowing though and soon Ssenkrad would hit her mark. Amber never noticed Areal pluck two feathers from her wings and approach the acolytes from behind.
Wordlessly, both from stalker and prey, the feathers turned daggers sunk into the acolytes’ backs, felling them where they stood.
As if sensing her presence, the demons turned to the door in time to see Areal toss the same two daggers, imbedding them into each of their skulls before they could react.
Ssenkrad noticed the demons fall and looked to the door in disbelief, halting her attack. “You!? So you still have some fight left in you.”
As best she could, Areal straightened defiantly. “With my last breath, I will fight you, monster.”
“Monster? This is the gratitude I get for having raised you?”
“Stole me. And I will stop you.”
“We shall see just how willing you are without these Illiops around to inspire you.”
And with that she returned her attention to Teddy who had taken advantage of the small pause in battle to catch his breath. Amber had moved to his side to offer her support to the winded hero.
The Illiops suddenly realized too late that they should have taken the opportunity to escape.
Time seemed to slow as the dark creature brought her hands up to bare, energy crackling to life at her bidding.
The glowing mass grew to an immense size, pulsating with a life of its own. Suddenly, it released, rushing towards them.
Amber screamed.
Teddy couldn’t tear his eyes away in terror.
A shadow swiftly blocked his view, the gleaming orb colliding with this form with explosive force.
Teddy blinked a few times to clear his sight.
Amber raised her head from her cringe.
Standing tall, ignoring all her injuries, her wings glowing with crystalline intensity, was Areal.
The ground around her smoked from the force of the blast, but she seemed unaffected. In fact, her entire self seemed to blaze with a renewed strength, with a power that rivalled anything Teddy had ever seen in the past.
Not only did her wings seem to glow like crystal, each feather had transformed into a shimmering crystal, glowing with a inner light that only seemed to intensify with each passing heartbeat.
There was no mistaking what she was now.
“Crystal Wing,” Teddy breathed in the room’s sudden silence.
Areal glanced over her shoulder and favoured him with a reassuring smile. She then glared at Ssenkrad before her, not once missing the fact that the Understander of Legends had beat a hasty retreat.
A coward to the last.
“Teddy, Amber, get out of here,” Areal instructed, her voice like steel. “This is between me and Ssenkrad now.”
“Foolish child,” the dark being chided as Amber all but yanked on Teddy’s arm to get him moving to the door.
“We’ll see who’s foolish, monster.”
Risking a glance to the door she was reassured to see both Illiops were gone. She allowed herself a small smile before fixing a cold stare on her former mistress. “All you ever wanted was they power you knew I possessed.”
Ssenkrad sneered. “Why else would I keep you around, aside from your uncanny killing abilities?”
“Abilities you taught me. I almost became like you.”
“All the better to claim everything you had. I saw a child White Wing. I knew what abilities that particular branch of your people possessed. Afterall, I helped create your races. But you, a Crystal Wing...” She laughed gleefully. “Oh, how this planet’s gods will regret ever imprisoning me after I take your powers. I won’t even need the Stones after that. This world will tremble and crumble to dust!”
Areal’s wings glowed blindingly bright, spreading wide and seeming to grow to an impossible size until every shadow in the room disappeared.
“You so much want my powers, the power I now know are that of a Crystal Wing.” Her expression grew darker.
“Let’s just see how much of it you can stand.”
To be continued...
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Post by theonemouse on Nov 10, 2009 18:09:08 GMT -7
Teddy Ruxpin: Unleashed
Crystal Wing - Chapter 4
Story by: The MOUSE
Original concept by: Legendbourne
A loud explosion sounded deep within the maze of corridors, followed shortly after by a violent tremor that threw the escapees to the ground. Teddy and Amber had rejoined the rest of the villagers, still seeking for the way out when so many acolytes and demons ran from corridor to corridor. The escapees were all unwilling to confront these beings, but all felt the sense of urgency to leave. With the sound and resulting tremor from each explosion, the tunnels became more and more unstable, dropping chunks of stone and debris on the residents of Warriclim.
Teddy would stop at each explosion and look back down the tunnel they had just come from.
Had it not been for the vice grip on his sleeve and the insistent tuggings of one very headstrong female Illiop, he would have charged back to the chamber without so much as a second thought.
Areal was back there, in the midst of those explosions.
What kind of battle was taking place?
Who was winning?
Was Areal alright?
Amber pulled on his sleeve again, pulling him in the direction the crowd was moving in.
Ahead was what looked like a door where a number of acolytes were rushing out of. No doubt they too realized the folly of staying in the crumbling building. They never even bothered to stop the villagers and once prisoners. Once outside, the demons and acolytes scattered like leaves to the wind, disappearing in shadows and running through hidden passes in the jagged stones formations that surrounded MAVO. Some even dove recklessly down the gorge to escape.
With careful coordination from Grubby, Teddy and Amber, the villagers began the treacherous trek across the rickety bridge that spanned the gorge. Only a few could be allowed to cross at a time, the young heroes not trusting that this bridge could stand the weight.
The rumbles from the battle deep within MAVO became more and more violent with each passing moment. As the last villagers crossed the bridge with the three heroes close behind them, the ground gave one more terrible shake, snapping the bridge’s tether lines on MAVO’s side of the gorge as if they were made of tissue. Those still on the bridge held on to the rope railings for dear life.
Wooden boards rattled and groaned from the release in tension, the bridge picking up momentum in its down-swing towards the rock face.
It crashed in a cloud of decades old dirt, dust and aging wooden splinters.
Looking up the bridge Teddy was relieved to see his friends had managed to hold on. One by one they began to climb the remnants of the bridge, relieved to find solid ground once at the top. Reaching the top himself, Teddy looked back to the dark edifice in worry. It still shook and rumbled from the furious battle within. The rumbling abruptly reached a roaring crescendo.
What few windows there were blew outwards, beams of pure light bursting through with destructive force.
The entire building seemed to swell, as if unable to contain whatever was within.
The roof of the main chamber suddenly exploded, a column of immaculate light reaching far into the sky, the force of the blast blowing violently in every direction and forcing the escapees to take whatever shelter they could.
And as suddenly as it had erupted, the light vanished.
What was left of the building crumbled in on itself, vast plumes of dust sent billowing into the air.
The silence that followed was almost deafening.
The only thing anyone could do was stare at the ruins across the gorge.
“You think it’s over?” Grubby all but whispered to his friends.
Amber shook her head at the remains of the buildings. “No one could have survived that.”
“Maybe she did,” Digger voiced in hope, seeing the look of devastation on Teddy’s face. “I mean, she did say she went through some pretty rough stuff, right?”
She closed her eyes with a soft sigh. “She so much as told me that she was prepared to die if it stopped that thing. She didn’t look scared about it either.” Amber dropped her eyes to the ground in shame. “I’m sorry I ever doubted her,” she breathed.
All Teddy could do was stare at the ruins, at the billowing clouds of dust floating on the breeze. Part of him dared hope and imagine the Avian girl suddenly bursting from the rubble and flying off.
He knew that was impossible.
But he couldn’t shake the feeling…
Excited calls began to ripple through the crowd, drawing eyes skyward. The heroes dared hope it was because they saw Areal, but that hope quickly faded.
Through the constant black cloud-cover that surrounded these mountains, a fleet of air ships drew nearer.
Grubby couldn’t help the smirk. “Gimmick’s been busy.”
With a sigh, Teddy stood. “Have you ever known him to sit still for very long?”
“I wonder how they knew we were here?”
Teddy shrugged. “One of his machines maybe.”
With the precision only a Perloon engineer could accomplish, the airships landed near the villagers, the captain of one such ship quickly disembarking to assess the situation.
“Well, when we picked up seismic activity out here, you lot are the last thing we expected to see,” he stated to no one in particular.
“We didn’t really expect to be brought here either,” an Octopede within the crowd responded.
Burl moved to the front of the crowd. “Don’t suppose we could all get a lift back to Warriclim? I don’t think our original ride will oblige us.” He couldn’t help but wince at the memory of how they came to MAVO.
“We can accommodate all of you.” The captain looked to the smoking ruins. “Is there anyone else we should look for?”
Teddy looked to the crumbled stones and felt his heart give a painful squeeze. “No, there’s no one else.”
The defeated tone in his voice quelled any further questions or comments from anyone within earshot. Silent, Grubby and Amber stood at his side while he just stared at the rubble. Everyone from Warriclim had escaped, but to do that someone had to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Amber looked to the airships after a long moment. “We’re the last ones left now, Teddy,” she informed. “There nothing more we can do here. We should go home.”
He nodded numbly, but made no move to leave.
He didn’t want to leave.
His feet felt rooted to that spot, unwilling to take him anywhere.
Looking to Amber, Grubby hooked a thumb towards the airships. When his friend was ready, he would join them. Amber sighed softly. It wasn’t fair that Teddy had to suffer so much in life. His burden was heavy enough as it was without adding this weight to his heart.
Teddy didn’t dare use his Oracle’s Sight to find Areal in the rubble. He couldn’t bear to see her broken body crushed under so much debris. Even if she was in a pocket somewhere, he didn’t think it possible that she survived. He wanted to remember her as she had been: vibrant and captivating, and not...
He felt his heart squeeze painfully once more.
Closing his eyes, he silently said goodbye, and then turned to join his friends on the airship.
With each step he took away from the gorge something began to feel warm against his chest. It grew warmer and warmer until the sensation began to physically burn.
A pained yelp escaped his lips as he quickly reached into his tabard, pulling out a single feather that now glowed a dangerous bright red. This was one of Areal’s feathers, the one from when they had first met face to face. He stared in confusion before blinking suddenly in realization.
“She’s alive,” he breathed, hope returning to his heart. He ran onto the ship. “Captain, please, do a low fly over the ruins.”
As the Perloon crew obeyed, Grubby looked at his friend strangely. “What is it, Teddy?”
“Feel this,” and he held the feather up to the Octopede.
Grubby barely touched it before he had to recoil, having been burnt. “It’s hot!”
“Remember what she said, Grubby. She knows where each of them are at any given moment. She can control them no matter where they are.”
Both Grubby and Amber’s faces registered the same expression just as the ship lurched into the air. Gaining just enough altitude, the ship turned with expert ease towards the crumbled building, staying just low enough to pass over the rubble without snagging any of the pieces still jutting out.
All the refugees aboard the airship lent their eyes to the task, peering over the edge to the ground below in hopes of finding the Avian. Using his more sensitive eyes, Grubby scoured the rubble below for any sign of their friend. If anyone could spot even the tiniest sign of her, he or one of the other Octopedes could.
Flying over one pile of debris he thought he saw a flash of white through the black stones.
“Circle this spot again!” he called to the ship’s crew.
The ship turned slowly and came to hover over the spot again. Grubby blinked to get a better view.
“Drop a ladder!” he ordered. Then, turning to Teddy, “There are feathers right below us.”
It was the only prompting the Illiop needed. The moment the rope ladder was unrolled, Teddy was the first to climb down to begin the search.
Sure enough the ground had a sparse scattering of white feathers that flitted lightly in the light breeze. He scanned the area quickly when slight movement caught his eye.
Fingers!
Fingers were wriggling from beneath a stone slab.
Calling his friends to follow, Teddy dashed to the huge slabs of stone. Helped by Grubby and some of the Perloon crew, the young hero gripped the stone and used every ounce of strength he had to lift it. Their combined efforts managed to lift the slab enough for Amber to reach under and pull out the battered body of the Avian who screamed from the pain despite her best efforts not to.
Teddy quickly let go of the stone to come to Areal’s side. She was lying on her back, staring at the sky and panting desperately for air over her pain, unable to contain her whimpers of agony. Tears fell from her eyes.
Areal noticed him just on the edge of her blurred vision and she blindly reached out to him, her battered fingers clutching his tabard in a desperate grip. His hand closed over hers, feeling her tremble with the effort to just hold on.
“... I... am... free...” she rasped, a weak smile flitting across her lips.
“Yes. Don’t move, Areal,” he instructed, worry lacing his voice. “We’ll get you some help.”
At a look, one of the Perloons ran back to the airship to arrange to have the Avian moved safely. Teddy carefully smoothed rebel locks from her face, cupping her cheek in his palm, her skin cold to the touch. New injuries were added to the numerous ones she had endured earlier. It was a simple miracle or it was her stubborn will to live that she was even alive at that moment.
Her eyes closed of their own accord, the wisp of a blissful smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
“... I... am... free...” she repeated, her world going black just as a travois was brought to her side.
* * *
A Perloon stood at the edge of a wondrous looking village and stared at the sky where a number of flying ships were approaching. He removed his glasses, giving them a thoughtful polish before putting them back in place. Silently he wondered what his men had found at end of their journey. It had been many hours since they had left the village to discover what it was that had caused the strange seismic disturbances far to the north.
Reports had trickled in long before that of a new guiding force having filled the leadership void left by the death of the death demon, Necriel. Able spies had been sent to keep a close watch.
But when the ground had begun to shake as far south as this village from somewhere in the vicinity of MAVO, it had signalled a time for action. The now returning fleet of airships had been the best choice to investigate, able to travel from one end of Grundo to the other in the least amount of time.
“Hello! Gimmick!” a voice called down from one of the ships.
Newton Gimmick blinked in surprise at who he saw waving at him.
Grubby was on the ship?
Not far at his side was Amber Avarrin?
This was when he noticed each ship carried a number of Octopede, Illiops, Illipers and Perloons. A quick mental estimate made him realize the entire population of Warriclim had to be present.
“What in Ralm…?” he muttered in confusion.
Only one of the ships came down for a landing, a group of the Perloon crew racing off with a stretcher towards the medical quarters. Teddy, Grubby and Amber followed moments later, the young Illiops eyes following the stretcher until it vanished from sight.
“Well, you three are certainly the last people I would’ve expected to see,” Gimmick greeted warmly. “What was your entire village doing that far north?”
Amber shrugged nonchalantly. “Escaping.”
Gimmick blinked. “What?”
“Long story,” Grubby sighed. “The other ships are taking everyone else home, but we needed to get some help for our friend.”
“The one on the stretcher?”
Grubby nodded. “She nearly died helping us escape.”
Gimmick noticed how silent Teddy was, his eyes still staring off in the direction the stretcher had been taken. He had known the Illiop to be worried about his friends when they were hurt, but he couldn’t recall the look of abject worry ever having graced this one’s face.
“Who is this young lady?” the elder scientist questioned.
“Areal,” replied Grubby.
“An Avian,” added Amber.
Gimmick had an almost violent start. “An Avian? Are you certain?”
Amber nodded. “The wings pretty much confirm it.”
The Perloon began to laugh like a scientist having discovered the most amazing of treasures. “By Grundo! An Avian! Amazing! Yes, let the healers tend to her. Come, come, come, Eunice will be trilled to see you again. And you must tell me about this latest adventure of yours.”
And he ushered them towards his home.
Teddy bit the inside of his cheek. He was worried for his friend, that he couldn’t deny, but he was at a loss to explain to himself why he felt so lost at that moment. She was safe, Areal was getting the medical attention she needed.
Why then did he feel like he needed to be there?
Once at Gimmick’s home they discovered that Eunice was not present, much to the inventor’s chagrin. No doubt she was at the infirmary due to her uncanny skills with medicines and healing.
Like the perfect host Gimmick busied himself preparing tea for his friends, posing as many questions as he could without prying too much, allowing the three to tell him as much as they felt comfortable telling. With Grubby, that was absolutely everything that happened since the Avian arrived in Warriclim. Every so often Teddy would smile patiently at the Octopede, amazed that his friend could talk so much and often on just one breath.
Grubby spoke of when Areal first appeared to the villagers, how children seemed to be naturally drawn to her like some older Sister, how she could focus energy through her wings…
He left nothing out.
Gimmick absorbed all the information with the glee only a scientist could portray.
“… and that Ssenkrad lady kept saying she was a god or something like,” Grubby continued.
“Did she now? Strange, there no mention of anyone by that name or anything close to it in our world’s ancient history.”
Teddy snorted over the rim of his cup. “Another demon trying to pass itself off as a god,” and he took a sip.
“No doubt. And the Avian was her ally?”
Amber winced slightly. “No, more like an exploited innocent.” Teddy raised an eyebrow at her. “I was wrong, okay? I admit it. You know I have problems trusting people.” She turned to Gimmick. “The demon used her, controlled was she knew about the world to keep her under her thumb. My own reasons for not giving her the benefit of the doubt aside, she put herself in this state to make sure we all got out. She told me herself back there, she was ready to die to save us.”
“Fascinating! Simply fascinating! I would love to learn more about her species. An Avian hasn’t been seen in centuries.”
Grubby gave an apologetic look. “Then you and she will be learning at the same time.”
“What?”
“She doesn’t know anything about her past, except what she learned from a journal Teddy found at the Temple of Drifting Sighs. There’s a lot of info there, but…”
Teddy stiffened suddenly. “Oh, I still have it on me!” He pulled out the small journal from a hidden pocket and handed it to Gimmick. “There’s a little bit of history in there, but the older passages are written in a language none of us can read. We’ve had to piece a lot of her people’s history together.”
Gimmick took the time to skim through the pages, pausing here and there. “Detailed in some places, sparse in others. Many Avians must have contributed to this work over time. Possibly this was passed down through a family, from generation to generation.”
“She’s managed to unlock new abilities thanks to that,” Amber stated. “Those helped us escape.” She looked to Teddy. “You called her a Crystal Wing.”
He nodded slowly. “There’s a passage that talks about the sub-races of her kind. Silver Wings are common. White Wings, what we first thought she was, are a little rarer. And then Crystal Wings are beyond rare.”
Gimmick returned his eyes to the journal with a gleeful smile. “Amazing…” he breathed.
“Newton!”
They all looked up as Eunice came bursting into the quaint house, her cheek flushed with barely contained excitement.
“Newton, we have an Avian in the infirmary!” she gushed.
He smiled patiently. “I know, dear. She is their friend,” and he indicated the trio sitting in the small living room.
“Oh my, in my excitement… Were you all on the airships that flew over a few hours ago?”
“Yes, m’ame,” Grubby nodded.
Teddy stood slowly. “You were treating her? Please, how is she?”
She measured her expression carefully, wanting to reassure him. “It will take time for her to heal. Whatever she went through left her broken and bleeding, inside and out. We had to induce a coma to make sure she can heal properly.”
“But she will heal?”
“In time, yes.”
“How long?” Amber thought to ask.
“She’ll have to stay in the coma for about two or so weeks, we’ll know more later. It could take a few months before she is back to full health again. We have to take things slowly for now. And when she’s well again she’ll have to learn to use her legs all over again.”
“Until she’s fit to travel again, our home is your home, my friends,” Gimmick announced. “You’re free to stay or go whenever you so please.”
Amber didn’t wait for her friends to discuss it. She stood, her shoulders square.
“We’ll stay, thank you.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
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Post by theonemouse on Nov 10, 2009 18:10:03 GMT -7
Teddy Ruxpin: Unleashed
Crystal Wing - Chapter 5
Story by: The MOUSE
Original concept by: Legendbourne
The room was peacefully quiet when Eunice walked in that morning. Lying as comfortably as possible, well cushioned benches pulled close to the bed to help support her massive wings, was the Avian girl. The splints had been removed from her wings only a few days before. Eunice and her staff had discovered that these appendages healed as quickly as a real bird’s wings, bones knitting together easily and rapidly. The rest of Areal’s injuries would take a little longer, but the induced coma was no longer necessary.
If all went well, Areal would be waking from her coma this very morning.
The Perloon looked to one of the room’s corners and smiled gently. Teddy Ruxpin sat sleeping as comfortably as he could in a chair there, arms crossed over his chest. The moment he had been allowed into this room, he had taken permanent residence there, spending every moment he could at the Avian’s side.
As heart warming a scene as it was, from what she had learned from Grubby and Amber, this was no doubt due to the sense of responsibility he felt towards the Avian.
Eunice walked over to the bed to check on Areal. Most of the burns and scars were faded now, mere shadows of the ugly red welts and scratched that had mapped themselves across her skin. She carefully pressed two fingers against the base of Areal’s jaw, feeling a strong pulse beating there. The Perloon saw the light flicker of eyes lashes as the Avian began to slowly regain consciousness. It was a good sign, reacting to touch this way.
“She’ll wake soon?” came Teddy’s voice in the quiet of the room.
Eunice almost yelped in surprise, meeting the young Illiop’s worried eyes. “Yes, dear boy,” she assured. “She’s already reacting to touch. Did you sleep there again last night?”
He rubbed the sleep from his face with a tired sigh. “Just in case.”
“Your dedication is admirable, but why do you feel so responsible for her?”
He stared at Areal for a moment, collecting his thoughts. “I helped her see the truth. She wanted better for herself and I offered her a way to that.”
“Perhaps you did. But from Amber has told me, her actions then were of her own choosing. You should not feel responsible for her free choice to the point where you lose sleep.”
“That… that’s not what’s keeping me here.”
She looked at him at his hesitation, seeing a slightly lost look on his face as his eyes never left the unconscious Avian. Eunice smiled gently. She had seen that look so many times before on the faces of young men towards a girl who had just caught their fancy. Her own Mother had told voiced the line so often in her youth. The heart often knows before the mind.
She chuckled lightly. “When she wakes up just make sure she drinks plenty of water, and make sure she doesn’t move around too much,” and she left the room.
Teddy stared blankly at the closed door. Gimmick’s wife knew why he was acting this way around Areal and she wasn’t telling him. There was nothing more annoying that someone holding the answers and not sharing them with those who needed those answers. He rested his chin in his hand, giving the door a short glare, and then turned his attention back to Areal.
The frown eased from his face as he just watched her.
The early morning light filtering through the window made the whole scene before him feel like a dream of peach and gold light. He could sit and watch her into the late hours if he could.
The corners of her lips twitched slightly in a weak grin.
“You’re watching,” her voice croaked in the silence.
He couldn’t help the grin that came in response to that.
Her eyes fluttered open slightly, slowly taking in the room around her, before settling on him. His grin spread to a smile when her eyes smiled at him.
“How do you feel?” he asked, wincing at how lame his question sounded.
She sighed softly, staring at a wall before smiling. “For the first time in a long time, I feel free.” She frowned suddenly before looking at him. “That sounds strange, doesn’t it?”
Teddy shook his head. “Not in the least.”
“Where are we?”
“Gimmick’s Village. You needed help fast and we have friends here.”
“But how…?”
“How did we get here?”
She nodded.
“Seems Gimmick had set up spies and machines around MAVO headquarters to keep tabs on things since Necriel. He sent a fleet of airships to check it out when the ground started shaking.”
Her eyes took on a distant look in thought. “Right, the Perloon village. Ssenkrad often spoke of their technology. I think this place was going to be her next target.”
Teddy smirked. “That’s something no one will ever have to worry about now thanks to you.”
A haunted look entered her eyes. “She was so strong. I didn’t think I would be able to stop her.”
He touched her shoulder in reassurance. “But you did.”
“Barely. She’s not completely gone, but we won’t be seeing her for a long time.” She paused, a small frown marring her features. “I could feel the souls of so many beings she consumed to get to the point she was at.”
“Those souls are at peace now.”
“I hope so.” Her wings suddenly began to glimmer, fading into a multitude of sparkles. She sighed blissfully, shifting slightly against the pillows. “Much better.”
Teddy merely chuckled at her.
Areal raised her arms slightly to see them, her eyes carefully noting the number of bandages and visible marks now decorating her arms. She closed her hands into tight fists, testing her muscles.
“How long have I been sleeping?” she suddenly questioned.
He hesitated.
Her eyes fixed on him. “Days?”
A sigh forced itself from his lips. “Two weeks.”
“And he spent every moment of those two weeks at your side,” Amber Avarrin voiced from the door, a touch of humour in her tone.
Teddy frowned slightly. “How long have you been there?”
“Just got here. Eunice wanted me to try to convince you to go get some real sleep. As you can see, she’s fine. And you need rest.”
“I’m fine—”
“No, you’re not,” Amber interrupted harshly. “Two weeks without proper sleep isn’t good for anyone. You will go back to Gimmick’s place and get some real rest in a real bed if I have to drag you out of here myself.”
“Amber—”
“Don’t’ think I won’t do it, Ruxpin,” she warned, her eyes nearly glowing.
He was just about to reply when he felt Areal’s hand touch his arm. He met her worried eyes.
“Teddy, maybe you should listen to her,” she counselled gently. “I don’t want you making yourself sick over me. Please, go get some rest.”
He blinked, looking from Amber and back to Areal. “I’m not going to convince either of you otherwise, am I?”
Amber smiled in triumph. “Nope,” she confirmed.
He sighed heavily, his shoulders dropping in defeat. “Alright, you both win.” Then, looking pointedly at Areal, “But the second you need anything…”
She smiled gently. “I’ll know where to send people to find you.”
He hesitated a moment more before finally getting to his feet. Amber had to nearly push him out of the door to get him moving, closing the door behind him to keep him from just turning around and heading back to the chair.
“I swear, if I find him sleeping in the hallway…” she menaced softly.
Areal chuckled lightly. “He’s lucky to have friends like all of you who care so much.”
Amber winced. “Right… friends…”
“Is something wrong?”
She huffed a rueful smirk. “Nothing that wasn’t my own doing.” She turned to find Areal giving her a confused look. “I should explain,” she voiced, more to herself.
She sat in the chair Teddy had vacated and paused, collecting her thoughts. She seemed to be battling with herself to find just the right words to speak.
“I… I want to… apologize,” she managed. “I was out of line for attacking you each chance I got. It wasn’t your fault, any of this, but I was blinded by my own mistrust of strangers and jealousy.”
“Amber…”
“No, let me explain. I owe you at least this for how I treated you. You risked your life to make sure we could all escape, even after the way I treated you.” She looked at her own hands. “Now that I think back on my choices, I see how pretty damned stupid I was. I thought I was protecting him, and I missed my chance because of that.” She sighed softly. “All the time I’ve known Teddy I’ve kept him at arm’s length. I really thought I was protecting him from MAVO using anyone close to him against him. I guess I was scared of how I felt too.”
“You love him,” Areal stated bluntly.
Amber merely nodded. “But I want Teddy to finally be happy. And he seems so happy being with you. He sees me as a Sister. He trusted you from the first moment you showed up and, for the life of me, I can’t understand why that happened so quickly and so stead-fast. I mean, you bowing to that monster after we were all captured should have been enough for him to lose trust in you, but it never wavered. He trusts you with that most fragile part of himself; his heart. So I can tell you in all honesty that if you hurt him, so help me, I will personally rip out your wings and feed them back to you.”
“I would never intentionally do anything to hurt him,” Areal assured. “He helped me, more than anyone could ever know.”
Amber gave her a knowing smile. “I think I know how much.” She chuckled. “He’s good at that, helping people find the path they’re supposed to be on. It’s both awe inspiring and annoying.”
This won a weak laugh from the Avian.
“I guess, with all this, what I’m asking is… can we be friends?”
Areal offered her a smile. “Of course.”
The Illiop female sighed in relief. “I was terrified you were going to say no.”
“As much as you distrusted me, Amber, you never once gave me a real reason to hate you. Teddy counts you as one of his most trusted friends. I would be honored to have you as my friend as well.”
* * *
The moment Teddy’s head touched the pillow he was out like a light, plunged into a deep sleep brought on by too many days on end of staying up in worry. Truly he hadn’t thought he was that tired, but it was only when he woke in the morning of the following day that he realized how right everyone had been to insist he get a good night’s sleep.
He huffed to himself. If only it had been a good night’s sleep.
Images of black mountains buffeted by cold winds and flying ice had haunted his mind’s eye, showing the silhouette of some sort of ancient looking citadel in the distance. He could barely make out the flicker of protected torchlight along the walls.
And then he had awakened.
For the longest moment he had just lain there, replaying the images in his mind.
Where was that place?
Did it even exist?
He looked to the small timepiece on the nightstand, noting that the morning was still young. Stretching mildly, he threw his legs over the side of the bed and sat up, feeling his stomach grumble in hunger. Dressing quickly, he resolved himself to perhaps pausing long enough to grab a quick breakfast before heading to the infirmary to check on Areal. Amber would have his head for this, but he felt fine. He might have only slept a few hours, but he knew for a fact that a lot could happen in a few hours.
Entering the quaint little kitchen, Teddy noticed Gimmick sitting at the table near the window, completely engrossed in the Avian journal he had handed him all those days ago. Around him were various sheets of parchment and paper with hastily scribbled notes from Gimmick and strange designs much like in the journal.
“You found the cipher?” the Illiop asked his learned friend.
Gimmick looked up as if startled. “Oh, good morning, Teddy. I trust you slept well?”
Teddy shrugged, taking an apple from the kitchen counter. “The sleep of the worried.”
“Not to worry, my boy. Eunice and her staff are very capable.”
“I know, but I worry anyway.”
The elder Perloon chuckled gently. “One can never go against their nature. I’m sorry, you asked me something?”
“You look like you found the cipher to read the journal.”
“Yes, yes, I did. Simply a fascinating read. This journal was written by an Avian historian worried that her people would disappear with no record of their ever having existed.”
“So this is a bit like the Crystal Book?”
“Quite so. A chronology of various important events in the daily lives of this particular Avian colony, along with ancestral lore, skills and abilities Avians should know should they find themselves alone without an elder to teach them. I’m almost finished translating this last chapter written in their dialect. Strangely enough, it is almost similar to the writings I found in Arith Gaia. There were a few minor differences, but I had enough to construct a workable cipher to translate the text.”
“Can’t wait to read what you found. I’m going over to check on Areal and give her the good news on the journal.”
“Oh, she’s not at the infirmary,” Gimmick stated as Teddy moved to the door, stopping the Illiop in mid-bite to his apple.
Teddy swallowed hard to clear his mouth of the fruit. “Where is she?” he questioned in worry.
“Amber and Grubby have been taking her down to the meadow almost daily now to help her recover a little quicker, at Areal’s request.”
The Illiop’s face scrunched in confusion. “Daily?”
“Yes,” the Perloon responded, launching himself back into his work.
“Just… just how long have I been asleep?”
Gimmick chuckled, pushing his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. “Close to the amount of time you spent awake since arriving here, my boy. Say what you will, you were tired.”
Teddy blinked quickly, absorbing this information. “Guess I was,” he murmured to himself. He paused a brief moment. “You said the meadow?”
“Due East from the main gate,” Gimmick said, making flicking motions with his wrists in a general Eastern direction, but so deep in his work it was almost comical.
The air outside was crisp and humid with the morning dew, the sun barely above the mountains in the distance. Within the walls of the Perloon town, a few early morning animals ran about, preparing for the day. Only a few Perloons were out and about, either with their noses pressed into blueprints and other such plans for a new invention or already tinkering with said new inventions to perfect them. Teddy didn’t disturb them, knowing that these inventions and devices could prove helpful or important in the future.
It had always amazed the Illiop that this town’s main gate was never guarded. Like now, no armed guards or devices stood on either side of the entrance, a clear invitation to all travellers that this was a place to rest and perhaps trade for supplies. The system worked since no one seemed to dare attack such an unassuming town. An open door policy seemed to keep the citizens safe from potential enemies.
Keeping the rising sun in front of him, Teddy headed East, towards a vast open field of dried grasses and sparse trees. A shadow suddenly passed in front of the sun, causing the Illiop hero to pause for a moment. The object had been too big to be a bird and it was smaller than an airship or even a Gutang flying machine.
The glint of crystal sparkled from one of the object’s wings.
A slow smile tugged at his lips.
Areal.
Continuing his trek, Teddy wondered what it must be like to fly without the restraints of some sort of constructed device, to be truly free and soaring through the air. Standing at the bow of an airship, he got an idea of what it was like with the wind rushing past, but there was still a railing before him and a floor beneath his feet.
It wasn’t the same as what she was experiencing.
Cresting a small hill, Teddy finally saw Amber and Grubby ahead, both staring up at the sky at the Avian circling above them. Neither noticed his approach, so engrossed were they in the aerial acrobatics going on above them.
“Makes you wish you could do that,” the young Illiop stated, announcing his presence.
Both jumped slightly in surprise.
“Don’t do that!” Grubby admonished, a hand to his heart to slow its beating.
Teddy smirked. “You were busy watching the show.”
Amber looked back to the sky where Areal still flew. “It is impressive,” she admitted. “And she seems to feel better being able to fly at will. Her injuries healed faster this way.”
“Good,” Teddy nodded, also looking to the skies.
She suddenly smirked at him. “Told you that you were tired.”
He hunched his shoulders with a slight wince. “Rub it in, why don’t you.”
“I thought I was. But you were worried about her. Truth be told, we all were.”
“Even you?”
Amber sighed, looking back up in time to see Areal execute a hairpin turn in mid-flight. “Even me. All she wanted was our help and I was too busy trying to make her into the enemy.” She shook her head sadly. “I am seriously messed up.”
Grubby grinned impishly. “Yes, you are.”
He promptly ducked out of the way when she attempted to slap him. He straightened with a laugh, one that promptly died when he saw his long-time friend scanning the distant horizon with a slightly confused expression.
“Something wrong?” Grubby questioned.
“I’m… not sure,” and he blinked suddenly, giving both Grubby and Amber a sheepish look. “I don’t know. It like a can feel something, but…” and he shrugged.
Grubby frowned. “I really hate that instinct of yours sometimes.”
Teddy shook his head. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
He looked to the skies and saw Areal hovering in place and facing the same direction his feeling had come from. He could almost feel the frown on her face.
“Or maybe not,” the young hero stated in growing concern.
Both Grubby and Amber looked up to the Avian before following her line of sight to something hidden off in the distance. Somewhere in the tree line, hidden in deep shadows caused by the rising Sun, something had to be lurking to be felt by both the Avian girl and Teddy.
Teddy was about to use his Second Sight to peer into the shadows when movement from above caught his eye. As much as she could in mid-air, Areal had taken a braced stance, a glowing orb appearing between her hands. Moving her hands apart, this orb split in two. She tossed them down to the forest’s edge with ease and precision, causing two neat explosions side-by-side.
An inhuman shriek filled the air, followed by several howls, and then silence. Areal had quickly landed at the first shriek, standing protectively in front of her friends, her wings spread wide defensively. If she could help it, no one and nothing would get nears her friends to harm them in any way. Teal eyes scanned the shadows over and over for any movement, any sign that whatever had been there remained. Nothing moved as far as she could see.
A warm hand pressed against her back between her wings. “They’re gone,” Teddy spoke.
Looking over her shoulder at him, Areal saw his eyes glowing an eerie blue. Part of her remembered that his eyes had been the same the first time he had discovered her watching him. She straightened slightly, letting her wings slacken from their defensive posture, her eyes returning to the woods in caution.
“Did you see what they were?” she thought to question.
“Acolytes and demons.”
Her frown deepened. “I was wondering how long it would take them to start trying something,” she muttered bitterly.
He nodded in agreement. “The Understander of Legends escaped with a large number of them. It was only a mater of time before any of them started showing up again.”
Grubby sighed heavily. “And just when you think it’s all over…”
A thoughtful expression crossed Amber’s features as she looked to each of her friends in turn. She then huffed softly and squared her shoulders. “Well, the way I see it, they made one mistake in our favour.”
“What mistake?” the Octopede queried.
She smirked. “We now know they’re there.”
* * *
A dark mist began to swirl into shape as it peeled itself away from a tree, moving towards the center of a small, dark clearing. A pair of malevolent red eyes peered from the forming shape, roiling with both terror and anger. An old crone, a long staff laid neatly across her lap, sat near a strange little camp fire consisting of purple and blue flames licking to the sky. She tossed a small bundle of herbs into the fire, watching the flames take on a green hue for a brief moment.
“What have you found?” she demanded of the shadow without once turning to it.
“Perloonsss…,” the shadow hissed is a voice that seemed to echo into the nothingness around it. “They have the Illiop and the Avian…”
“Anything less would have surprised me.”
“The Illiop and Avian sssaw usss… They know we watch them…”
“It does not matter,” she dismissed. “Whether they know their end is coming or not, the result will be the same.”
“More difficult now…”
Black eyes turned slowly to the shadow, a frown creasing the crone’s features. “Are you trying to tell me that you and your kind will not be able to destroy them? That you are not as powerful as your Mistress claimed you were?”
The shadow cowered at the insult and the thinly veiled anger in her voice. “No… Missstressss wasss right about uss, … but…”
Her eyebrow arched. “But?”
“Missstressss gone… You are Missstressss now…”
“Does this change anything?”
The shadow paused, carefully considering the consequences of a wrong answer. “No… Missstressss…”
She allowed herself a small smirk and returned her eyes to the fire. Then, after a moment, the frown returned.
“Three times now that damnable Illiop has ruined plans so carefully set into motion. I thrice curse him and his race. Quellor was right to want to eliminate them all. I should have voiced my concerns about the Avian girl more loudly to Ssenkrad. She should have been sacrificed a long time ago.”
She tossed a different bundle of herbs into the fire, the flames leaping high and turning a dark red.
“There was something far too pure about her. I dare say she was Illiop touched before having even met one. That race’s blood could soften and destroy even the most devoted Acolyte of the Dark.”
“Missstressss not affected by Illiop…” the shadow stated obviously.
“Consider yourself fortunate for this, or I would be the one to send you back to the abyss.” She had a long pause. “Gather my Acolytes and your kind. I will send one of the unturned to draw out the Illiop Ruxpin, away from his people. You will then attack.”
“Yesss, Missstressss…”
“Do not underestimate their magicks.”
“No, Missstressss…”
“Go after the old, the children first. Break their will by making a show of their deaths.”
“Yesss, Missstressss…”
“Then deliver my vengeance onto them, a culmination of decades of foiled conquests of this world. I will remake it into a world where the gods of old themselves will return and applaud us for our triumph.”
“Yesss, Missstressss…”
“Go.”
The shade quickly retreated, disappearing from shadow to shadow until it reached another small clearing. Dark and mottled skinned beings grouped together as if to avoid the moving darkness around them. At the arrival of the shade, seemingly countless eyes rose from their previous focus.
A hush fell upon the crowd.
“The Underssstander of Legendsss sssaysss it isss time,” was all the shade said before the clearing suddenly became very empty.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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