Untold Words

[the friendly fiend]

Joe's house was actually quite a long way from the school, but he just walked Flynn home so she didn't have to walk alone. Usually he had a car meet him a block from her house.
As they were walking the gravel road away from the school, Flynn remained silent.
"Hey-you okay?" He asked her as he put his arm around her.
"I'm fine." She said with her head still down, her hair covering most of her face.
"Good, cause that guy was just a wimp. He'd never try anything." He said reassuringly as he looked back up. Flynn looked up at him, surprisingly angry.
"How do you know that? And what was the whole slur about your dad, Joseph? What is going on!?" She frustratingly raised her voice at him. He tried to stay calm but her obliviousness got to him sometimes.
"Maybe if you paid attention to everything around you, maybe you'd know!"
She narrowed her eyes and punched him in the shoulder.
"I'm not oblivious!" She argued.
He turned back towards her as they stopped on the road, "Don't you understand!? Something is happening-something big. The government took out Kirk to shut him up because they don't want any more people questioning the officials they look up to. They don't want anybody to know that they're actually the bad guys!" He looked around as he shouted, making sure nobody was near them.
This just made her angrier as she punched him in the shoulder again.
"I don't need you to explain it to me! Or protect me!" She sighed frustratingly again as she began walking away from him, pretty fast.
Joe was a little shocked at this, but he called out to her.
"Flynn...Flynn! Come on! Where are you going!?" He yelled to her as he began walking slowly, she was up ahead quite a bit.
She turned back to yell at him, but kept walking.
"I'm taking the old way home! And don't try to follow me!"
He sighed and shook his head.
~
"Well, well, well...what have we here?" Came Alec's voice from the shadows within the forest. He walked out onto the road with his hands in his pockets and two of his 'friends' who were some of the biggest guys he'd ever seen.
Joe sighed as he turned around and shook his head.
"Seriously? I'm done for today. Go home, Alec." He turned back around and started walking when all of the sudden, he was grabbed by his backpack from behind and swung around-with quite force. One of Alec's 'friends' had done this. As he swung back to face them, Alec's two friends with tight grip on him, he watched Alec walk up to him.
"A cat that the wind dragged in?" Answering his own question.
Joe replied with a smirk. "So that's why you're here. Car forget to pick you up again?"
Alec's mocking look faded again as he punched Joe right in the stomach.
Joe had hunched over, his friends had let got of him and he was coughing, trying to regain back his air.
"Do what I paid you for." Alec said to his two friends with a small smirk as he looked down on Joe.
Joe looked up at him, thinking. I can take them.
He took of his backpack and jacket and set them in the grass, while doing so he looked back down the road again, Flynn had disappeared. He sighed with relief and anticipation.
At least she's safe.
~
As Flynn walked away from Joe, she was muttering under her breath. As she reached a part in the road with a small graveyard on the right, she saw the path leading through it that she and Joe had taken all the time when they were kids. It proved a shortcut for some of the time, but they usually used it when they were pretending they were on an adventure. She sighed and began where the graveyard gates were.
As she began walking through the graveyard, on the small path that had rarely been used since their childhood, she thought about what they had argued about.
Flynn may have been angry at the moment, but she wasn't really angry now. Joe had saved her from that really creepy guy back at school and she should be thanking him. But sometimes, Joe was too much for her. He always seemed perfect. Great friends, good grades, good looks, he pretty much knows everything about anything. She scowled to herself.
She would apologize to him later.
As she turned her thoughts to the road, a slight fear began to edge on her. She hadn't remembered the exact trailing of the path that lead her home, and the road in the graveyard was already looking unfamiliar. As she topped a small hill, she came to a fork in the path. She couldn't remember which one had taken her home. She thought about turning back, saying sorry to Joe, but she'd already come so far. She was hesitant for a moment, but chose to walk on the right path. She was confident as she continued walking. Sticks and leaves and every natural kind of debree littered the path. Looks like people don't come here anymore. She thought.
As she continued walking, the road eventually ended and she was walking on grass, wondering if she really had taken the right road. As she was thinking, her foot twisted slightly on a group of twigs on the ground and before she knew it, she was flying through the air, already preparing herself for the face plant into the grass which she knew was coming.
~
Joe laid there, thinking, trying to remember what had happened. He was in so much pain though.
No-think, remember!
He remembered Flynn's hair, and getting heated up about...something...
Then he remembered Alec and....oh yes...now he remembered everything.
He was lying in the grass in a clearing of trees, they had dragged him here when he had first fallen unconscious. It was just off the road a bit and they had done so just so he'd have a harder time pinpointing where he was when he woke up.
I almost had them...Joe thought. And he was right.
When the first two monsters that Alec had as 'friends' tried to beat him up, he easily avoided their attacks and began to take some himself. He'd even managed to get all three of them on the ground in a matter of minutes, giving Alec a black eye to brag about. But from there they had continued to refuse to fight fair. They ganged up on him, first hitting him in the sweet spot, (Something that definitely was not entitled in a fair fight.) and then taking advantage of him from there. All in all, they had broken his nose, (something they had called his image breaker, but he hadn't really cared) dislocated his shoulder, and left a ton of bruises and blood to prove it.
His stomach and abdomen were on fire and aching fiercely. That may be a cracked rib, he thought to himself.
How he had survived was clear. They didn't want to hurt him too bad, just cause as much pain as possible. Now Joe was glad that Flynn hadn't been there to see it.
He tried to move, but even thinking about it seemed to make his body ache and throb with pain.
I gotta get up...he thought. Gotta get home and....but those were his last thoughts as he faded back into unconsciousness.  

[Stormelle]

It was cold all around him, and, as far as he could tell, extremely dark. Darius Swanson shivered slightly, despite the cold he could still feel Samson on his lap. He blinked, slowly taking in the little amount of light in....Where was he? He glanced behind himself, no tree, but a wall of slick rock. A small stream ran through the cave like place, the stream moved slowly out of sight. "What the...? Some kind of joke?" but who would pull a joke on him? Had someone been watching him enter the forest? Perhaps a neighbor kid who....Was bored? Darius didn't know any of Wesley's neighbors and by extension they couldn't very well be angry with him, could they? "Hey...Samson..." Darius proded the cat, who yawned, stretched, and hoped off his lap, acting as if nothing was different. "Your a weird cat dude...Weird."

"Thank you." came a sort of purr. Darius froze, he'd been about to get up but....Did Samson just speak?

"Did you just...?" Darius couldn't bring himself to finish the statement, he'd just noticed his bag and the books a top it were here.

"I did. And better pick up those books...They are important and might actually help you to understand." Samson said, his green-ish eyes watching Darius with a harshness that Darius had never seen there before.

"Are you....Eh..." Darius raised an eyebrow, the shook his head, putting the books into the bag and slinging it over his shoulder. Suddenly Samson hissed, a very cat like noise, but then he lept over the stream, crouched low to the ground.

"There are things out there..." he said, ears flicked forward to listen, though the constant swishing of his tail told Darius that he was unhappy.

'Still a cat at heart...Or instict...Or whatever.' Darius thought before stepping over the stream and around the bend in the cavern wall, where he could now see a light ahead of him. "Curiouser, and curiouser." he said, smiling and looking back at Samson, who's ears were now flicked back though he was following behind him still.

Wesley leaned forward, wrapping her arms as best she could around Caspian's neck, taking a deep breath which smelled of horse and forest. She smiled, a true smile, she loved riding especially on Caspian. He leapt over a tree that marked their path but his leap was smooth and easy. "I wish I could just get away...Even for a little while..." she mumbled, her smile fading and tears brimming in her eyes. Her bag thumped quietly on Caspian, another rythmic noise. She took another deep breath, closing her eyes. As she closed her eyes she felt Caspian's speed increase, his neck muscles seeming more tense than they should be. She opened her eyes, sitting up, as she sat up she could see a bright light ahead of her, a light far beyond what the sun was putting off for around her there was little light that filtered through the trees.

"A clearing...? But no...The light..." she thought aloud, bringing her hand up to shield her eyes she attempted to see past her hand, squinting. "Caspian..." but he didn't seem to hear her, or head the slight tug she gave on his reins, he simply prowled through and then the light was around them, Wesley couldn't place it's source but could feel a great rushing of wind all around her, Caspian nickered loudly, and then...
"Where am I...?" Caspian had come to a sudden stop, they had certainly reached a clearing, but instead of the familar dark greens all around her before her was a soft green meadow, on the other side of which was a large opening to a great cavern, she glanced behind herself, at which point she saw a forest. She dismounted, leaving Caspian where he stood, his ears pricked forward and his head tilted very slightly, he was sniffing the air. Wesley stepped back into the forest, but there was no trail, no sign of where she had been. What was this? Her brow furrowed she returned to Caspian, taking his reins and leading him toward the forest, tying his rein to one of the trees, crouching down to observe the clearing.

Caspian's whinned softly, a slight whine, she glanced back at him. "Hush" she said, putting her hand on his face, and frowning, she watched.  

[the friendly fiend]

Flynn's face felt the cool grass on her face, her hair lay around her. She sighed and for a minute laid there, it felt nice on the soft earthy floor. Besides the fact that she had just banged her head against it. She opened her eyes and grimaced as she pushed herself up, brushing off the leaves and twigs that stuck to her clothing.
As she sighed and smiled to herself, ready to start out again, she looked up. She stopped herself. Had the scenery...changed? She looked around and then behind her. This place was not the where she came from. In fact, there wasn't a path at all behind her, no headstones, no creepy dead flowers...nothing that looked the same. She stood there for a minute, just looking around, trying to figure out what had happened.
She was standing in what seemed like a forest, in a very small clearing. Grass and foliage surrounded her, it seemed there was no path to get in or out, she had just ended up there.
This is a dream, she thought, I took that fall too hard and now I'm lying in the graveyard unconscious and here I am. But it seemed far too real for a dream.
Uh oh. She looked around again and down at herself. Am I dead?
As she looked at the trees around her, she noticed one had a peculiar marking on it. She walked up to it and felt it with her fingers. There was a small indentation on the bark, it had been worn down quite a bit, but it was still there. As Flynn felt the texture of it she looked at the ground, thinking. She looked back up at it and whispered, "An arrow?"
The only reason she had known this was that archery was one of her favorite sections they spent on in gym. She was pretty good at it too. Sometimes, she actually went to a range to practice, but that hadn't been for a while. She remembered a young girl first learning archery had missed her target completely. When Flynn was retrieving her arrows, she saw a mark that resembled the one she saw now then, except more fresh and raw.
She stepped back and looked around again. She would have to get out sometime. She tried to see through the trees, but the light that was shining through the foliage was bright. She stepped through some trees to see clear enough a meadow and something that looked like a dark hill in the distance.
~

Joseph slowly opened his eyes as sunlight poured over him. His head was throbbing. His shoulder was throbbing. His stomach was throbbing. His whole body was still in one big throbbing pain. He wondered what time it was. He didn't have to open his eyes to know that it was still daytime, which surprised him a little bit, hadn't he been unconscious for long?
He opened his eyes and the throbbing pain in his head intensified as he closed them again. His pain came in waves.
He moaned as he tried to move his dislocated shoulder, but it only hurt more. The only thing he could think to do was just to lay there. But he had to get home.
He opened his eyes again and tried to ignore the pain. He looked around and tried to see the road. But he couldn't find it. He slumped his head back down on the soft grass and tried to rest.
Suddenly he felt something wet on his ear. He became very aware and wondered what it was and wondered if he should move.
He opened his eyes slightly and saw a giant dog staring back at him with emerald eyes. His vision cleared a bit when that giant dog become outlined into a wolf. Fear struck his heart. His thoughts began racing. A wolf? How far did they drag me...? I'm dead now...is he going to tear me apart...maybe he smelled the blood.....what...? His eyes closed again as he figured what he had seen was just him being delirious.  

[Stormelle]

Wesley crouched, hand still on Caspian's nose, rubbing it out of habit and knowing that it would help him stay silent. Suddenly she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, she glanced toward it. "Darius?" she whispered, looking very confused, for behind the dark haired boy came a rather familar fluff of orange, though the cat seemed to hesitate, disliking the open field. Wesley continued to watch but a part of her willed her to walk forward, that same part of her had been what was keeping Caspian quiet for the horse now gave a rather friendly nicker and moved as if to leave the forest cover, his tied reins stopping him. He paused, huffed, and looked at Wesley as if expecting her to untie him. Wesley, brow still furrowed, she untied his reins but stayed where she was.

Caspian, flicking his tail playfully, trotted out of their cover and toward the man, he looked up and tilting his head spoke, "Caspian?" that was all Wesley needed, she clicked her tounge, stepping from her cover and moving toward Darius. "Wesley?" and this time he sounded even more confused but then he stepped around Caspian and hugged Wesley then took a step back. "Do you know where we are?"

Wesley blinked at him, she wasn't one for hugs but she didn't say anything on the matter, "No...I was hoping you would..." she said, dragging her hands through her hair and sighing rather defeatedly she grabbed Caspian's reigns.

"Oh..." Darius paused, adjusting his bag slightly but then he looked slightly excited. "Samson!"

"What?" came a slightly annoyed growl from the ground. Wesley looked at Darius, who smirked slightly, and then down. There sat her orange fluff of a cat, Samson, and he had just said something...Something rather human. His tail had been flicking annoyedly but as Wesley looked down at him he seemed to smile and bowed slightly. "Mistress Wesley!"

Wesley paused, looked at Darius again, then crouched down and peered at the cat. "You can talk?" Samson nodded. "Always?" he nodded again. "Did you use some kind of magic on me?" the was an odd question to ask, unless you could read Wesley's thoughts for she was thinking back to the few months and how she had picked up the books about their true history.

Samson tilted his head, "No mistress. There is much you do not know....And this is not a prime time t explain, know this, you have magic of your own." he said and then glanced up at Caspian. "If neither of you is going to ride the equine, might I?" he wasn't a lazy cat, he just didn't enjoy being on the ground with the scent of wolves so heavily present, he wasnted to be able to see the creatures and be taller than them.

Wesley, frowning slightly, stooped, "Excuse me." though Samson made no ogjection, she picked him up and place him on the saddle where he sat, tailed wrapped around his legs and ears pricked.

-

Lia, her short hair bound by a thin string, her eyes focused on the distant gold light, she stood in a clear field, eyes following the light as it darted from one point to another, than it vanished, she whirled around but failed, from about came a hard breath of air an then a hard kick to her shoulder, she winced, but caught the foot of the person who had kicked her. But in a second she held nothing but air. She smirked, rubbing her shoulder slightly, and panting. "You're good to come out Rish."

From no where in particular a man with golden hair, which was longer than Lia's and tied back and hit the middle of his shoulder blades, appeared. From his back protruded two large wings that matched his hair in color. His eyes gave off a sharp glow, though that was fading, and his wings seemed to be melting away. As soon as the wings were gone and the glow gone from his eyes he shook his head, now breathing heavily. Two years of training and he could still only really manage his demonic forum for a little over a half hour, though Lia said he was doing well and with another year or so he might be able to hold it indefinetly. He woried, however, that there was little time remaining. He took a deep breath, attempting to regain his air he blinked and shook his head again. "Did you mean to let me get you?"

"No...You truly caught me off gaurd, and it's good thing you were able to get away." she said, a slight smirk lingering on her face for a moment, blue flames twinning slightly around her hands. Rish raised an eyebrow and Lia looked down at her hands, cursing and clenching her fists tightly together. "Marcus..He's trying to find me again..." at that Rishs' eyes narrowed and he put his hands over Lia's. The flames quickly moved around his hands but as they touched his skin they turned into a rather nasty smelling smoke. After a moment the flames were gone. Lia, frowning, freed her hands from Rish's hold and turned, walking swiftly back toward their "home".

"Lia..." Rish called to her, following slowly.

"It's nothing..."

"Sure it is...But if it's nothing...Why did I see the cave?" they both knew the location to which he refered, even without his stating it's name.

"He....He.....There...." Lia's chest was rishing quickly as if she was panicked and as she was trying to make sense of things. "There's something...Or someone....New...There...Marcus had someone watching the place as close as they could...He doesn't know what it is or even who it is...He thought it might be me...I think...Though why I'm not sure...I...I need time to make sense of things." she said, before waving slightly and running deeper into the ruined city that they had spent the past two years training in.

Rish watched as she retreated, he quickly headed into the small building they'd found, one of the few that had for some reason been whole, and grabbed his pack and began stuffing his few belongings into it. If he waited on Lia she wouldn't let him go, and he still had about ten minutes left of his demonic power for the day. He glanced at Lia's bed roll, closing his eyes and attempting to make sense of his thoghts. All he knew is that some sort of magic was at work, something greater than him or Marcus, but something familar. He let out a sharp breath of air through his nose and put his bag across his shoulders consentrating for a moment, his wings came from his back again, his expression pained for only a moment, his eyes glowing once more he opened his wings and was gone.  

[the friendly fiend]

As Flynn started heading towards the big black hill, as she made her way through the trees and into the giant clearing, she noticed that there was actually a cave inside the hill. She stopped to look at it for a while but then kept moving. The grass was actually quite tall in this part of the field as she had to force her legs to nearly barrel through it. When she looked back up to the cave in the hill, she saw a sight that made her freeze.
On top of the hill, three wolves stood looking out at her. She hadn't noticed or even heard them go up there. And now they're going to eat me, and I'm going to die. She thought in fear. They stood at a stand still, just looking at each other for what seemed like forever to Flynn. She was just about to turn and run when something caught her eye.
A body was lying behind the middle wolf. Flynn was a fair off, but Joe's blonde red hair seemed to shine in the sunlight. Then the real fear gripped her. Had they killed him? Were they going to eat him?
She didn't question what he was doing there, or where they were, she only began running. And she ran with the legs God had given her. She didn't know what she was gonna do when she reached them, but she had to do something-Joe was up there! Her flaming hair flapped behind her in the wind as her eyes began to water because of the wind. She had run nearly half a mile when she reached the hilly side of the cave and raced up.
Now only one wolf stood alone, over Joe's body. She panted slightly as she looked at Joe. He was bleeding! She wanted to do something, anything-but the wolf seemed to be staring right into her soul with emerald eyes.
And that's when the unthinkable happened.
"Don't be afraid. He is alive. We are protectors, not killers." The wolf said in a deep and gravily voice.
Flynn blinked. Did that...? Did he...? What...?
Joe moaned as the wolf stepped back. Flynn rushed to his side and tried to turn him over.
You idiot! If you didn't weigh so much, this might have been easier!
He looked bad. His face was severely bruised and bloodied, his nose looked out of place and he mumblings and moanings continued.
Tears fell from Flynn's eyes as she saw Joe in this state, she looked back up to the wolf-but he was gone.
Maybe he was never really there...maybe I am dreaming... She thought as she looked back down to Joe.
"Wake up...wake up!" She said, shaking him a bit. She only got more mumblings in reply. She looked up and around, wondering where she would find help. In the distance, she saw some figures and maybe a... horse? They looked somewhat...familiar...

~

Kai's body was flung out the door as cruel phrases and curses were shouted out back at him. He dusted off his shoulders and sighed as he slipped his hands into his pocket and looked towards the village center where the townspeople had placed a fountain. Elijah was casually sitting on the fountain, cleaning her fingernails with one of her daggers. She looked over to him and raised an eyebrow.
"I take it that means no." She said dryly as she hopped off and they walked towards the village inn. This was the third village they had traveled to where the people had disregarded and rejected their plea to form an alliance for the underground resistance.
"If there weren't so many rumors floating around, maybe we wouldn't have such a hard time. Marcus is smart, I'll admit to that, but he's not worthy of some of the credit people give him." Kai said as they stepped off the village's main road and into the door of the inn.
"That's not surprising." Elijah said with a snort as they ascended the stairs, as she reached her door she turned towards him and confirmed their trip back to their main place of hideout, which was in the backwoods of eastern lands.
They had taken horses to some villages out towards the midlands because it seemed less conspicuous. If Elijah had chosen to take Aedreath to the skies, these people would be convinced in a heartbeat. But a lot had changed in two years. Most of the skies weren't safe anymore, for dragons or their riders. Luckily the eastern backwoods gave them just enough cover they needed. It was securely planted between the eastern mountains. Originally it had been there before, just abandoned, when Kai had shown her that place after they had left Le'ai, there were people inhabiting it, people a lot like them.
As Elijah closed her door she thought about the past. That's not all that's changed, she thought with a scoff.

After the Battle of Le'ai, and after they had found sufficient shelter, she then learned about Aedreath's injury. It had originally began as fuzziness in his left eye, but grew worse with time. After 5 months, his left eye had lost sight all together, and then the worse news came, the fuzziness had begun in his right eye. By now, Aedreath was practically all together blind. This had set them back by far. But since then, more people had joined their little hideout, and they had begun talking about an underground resistance group-they just needed more people on their side.
They had trained many, and while also training others, Elijah and Aedreath went through a new training themselves. Although he was blind, this didn't stop Aedreath from being a great battle dragon. After all, it was in his blood. His blindness strengthened the bond between rider and dragon, they needed to trust each other all the more if they didn't want to get killed.
But there were always downsides. Elijah always had him checked out by anybody she could find, healers, wizards, elders, even dark magic (which Aedreath did not let her linger in for long) if it would only help his sight.
Nothing seemed to do the trick. Another thing that Elijah guessed was attributed to Aedreath's lack of sight was the color change that she saw in his scales, the red of his body turned a dark auburn, fading closely with the color of his wings, which were black.
Living with Kai around had also been different. He seemed the same person, but he had dark hours sometimes, which faded with time, but at times he said things that worried her down beneath her fortress of hard emotion. He had retained one quality-worrying about her. It was especially bad now that she had led most of the training at their little hideout and was practicing new methods with Aedreath. She had a lot of scars. She was only twenty-four and she had more scars and memories that someone ever should.
But now was not the time to be regretful, now was the time...to prepare.  

[Stormelle]

Samson's tilted his head, eyes watching something in the distance, toward the large cave. "Someone else is here. Someone from our world." he said, making both Darius and Wesley turn to look, of course, both of them were looking at the cave, not the top of it.

"Where?" they said, in unision, both glancing very slightly at Samson.

"On top." he said, matter of factly.

Both of them looked back, to their astionishment there was indeed something atop the hill, though wether it was really a someone could be left up to the beholders eyes, and both of the humans gave the cat a rather odd look but Weslye paused a moment.

"What if there is someone else there? I mean...We got here." Wesley said, glancing at Darius, who shrugged.

"I'm game. Let's go." he said, and before Wesley really had time to react he was already running through the grass.

Wesley exhaled sharply, "Move." she said to Samson, who jumped to her shoulders, perching there idly, she shook her head slightly but mounted Caspian and was after Darius in just a moment. And though he was a fast runner, and a good runner, the grass was taller the closer the got to the cave. "Get on." Wesley said, reining Caspian in for a moment and allowing Darius to mount behind her.

It seemed, after that, it only took them a moment to close the distance between them and the cave, they quickly spotted a trail that lead, hopefully, up to the top. Darius dismounted and moved to dash up the trail, "I'll go on ahead and-"

Samson cut him off, "I think Mistress should go first." his green-gold eyes seemed to spark as he said this and Darius raised an eyebrow at him.

"Fine." he said, coming back and taking Caspians' reigns as he did so. Wesley dismounted and began her own slight jog up the path, she wasn't a runner not really, she liked the outdoors and was fairly decent at most everything but running but Samson had leapt from her feet and was trotting along the path infront of her, behind them came Carius and Caspian at a much slower pase for Darius had to find a trail which Caspian could take without being injured.

As Wesley reached the top she paused, the first thing she noticed was the red head that she'd not known the name of, then her annoying cousin. Though he wasn't being annoying at the moment, she wanted to retreat, she knew only the theory of thing medical, she'd never really had to act on it. "W-what......happened?" she managed to get out between deep breaths of attempts to get her breath back.


-


Rish blinked, taking in his surroundings, he was in a...House? He looked out the window, making quick note of a sign he could just barely see below the window, more likely an Inn. He looked up and could see or hear, he was never really sure which sense told him what first, that someone was about to come in. He quickly hid, for though the room was small there was a screen to one side, perhaps something to change behind? Rish didn't really care, he just wondered why he was here, for he'd intended to go to the cave, but apparently his magic had other ideas, and it was generally good for him to follow such ideas.

Elijah paused, something else was in her room, something familar but not sensed for some time. She glanced about her room, seeing nothing, then took a step forward, her hand lingering over her sword hilt.

Rish watched, eyes keen on the figure on the other side of the screen. He could see that it was a woman, and he could both sense something familar about her as well as smell it, for in his demonic forum everything had a scent odd though it was he'd grown used to it to some extent. He thought back, for only scents he'd smelled in this forum would smell familar in this forum, but when had he seen any other woman besides Lia in this forum? He thought, and thought hard. Once...In the very beginning he'd seen many people at once, amoung them, three other women. A shiver ran down his spine as a relization hit him, his time was ticking away. Hesitating, he stepped out from behind the screen, glowing eyes falling apon Elijah. He blinked at her, placed his memories of her, and spoke, "Elijah? Rider of Aedreath?" it was a question, for though he knew her, he could not believe his eyes. Why would his magic have led him to her?  

[the friendly fiend]

Flynn's hair flipped behind her as she whirled her head around at the sound of voice. To her surprise, she saw the girl who had also been in Kirk's class standing there, panting slightly. She didn't really have time for much confusion as more tears rolled down her cheeks. Joe's head was lying in her lap, he was still groaning.
"I-I don't know. I just-I just found him like this." She managed to stammer. She looked back at him in worry. She thought she shouldn't tell them about the wolves right away. Most likely it had been apart of her imagination, and they might think her crazy otherwise. As she looked back to Wesley (she congratulated herself for only moment on remembering her name) and heard some movement behind her. Were more people here?
~
Elijah quickly drew her blade at the sound of the screen opening. As she pointed it into the face of a man who looked more like a demon, she hesitated when he spoke. Then she took him in.
"Rish?" She said, confused. She lowered and sheathed her blade. She studied him for moment to make sure her eyes weren't tricking her. He was in demon form. For a moment she put her hand back on her sword hilt and realization hit a chord in her. What if Marcus had gotten to him? How had he found them?
As she looked over him, she could tell he was slightly confused as well. This relieved her a bit as she took her hand off the hilt.
"What are you doing here?" She said as she took a chance and let her guard down willingly, hoping Marcus hadn't gotten to him.  

[Stormelle]

Samson looked at the girl then at Wesley, "Mistress, now is not the time to hesitate, if you would." he nodded toward the boy. Wesley looked at him as if he were crazy.

"We'll need to wait for Darius and Caspian...I've got some first aid stuff in Caspians' saddle bags an-" but Samson cut her off with an angry look, his ears completely back against his head and his eyes narrowed and watching her intently.

"Listen to me." he spoke, his voice almost a hiss though not quite there. Wesley glanced at him, at Flynn and then moved forward.

"Lady Flynn, please allow Mistress Wesley some space." he said, his tail flicking sharply as he looked at the girl. "It is for the beterment of Lord Joeseph." Despite the bit of playfulness that one could see in his face one could also see that he was very loyal, very wise, perhapse beyond his years.

Wesley looked at Flynn, eyes just as confused as hers', and attempted a small smile, "I-I can help him." she hoped desperately that she didn't sound as weak as she felt, only hoping that Flynn would trust her.

-

At first Rish didn't respond, still looking at Elijah in a very puzzled manner, then he winced, looked away, stooping over slightly and his wings melted away. After taking a few deep breaths he opened his eyes and then slowly looked up at Elijah, "I have no idea...My wings led me here." he turned, looking out the window, his back to her, taking in the scene again. "Where are we?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at her, his eyes their normal red once more. It was a bit of a frightening but the glow was gone, and if one knew him one could see that he was much better than he had been for some time. His face was calm, and though a flame seemed to flicker in his eyes, they too were relatively calm.

"It's been a long time." he said, not waiting for Elijah's answer, the fire in his eyes dimming slightly, he suddenly bowed, "Forgive me for abandoning you..."  

[the friendly fiend]

Flynn stared into Wesley's eyes and nodded. She trusted her.
She looked back at Joe and gently laid his head back on the grass and stood, backing away slightly. She touched Wesley's shoulder slightly in gratitude before she stepped away. She had no idea what she was going to do, but the talking cat that had strangely known all of their names had ordered her to do something.
She glanced at him before wiping away her tear streaked face on her sleeve and looking back at the scene before her. She sighed and slowed her breathing. Get it together girl.
"I'd trust the feline-however against my personal belief that goes." Said a deep, gravily voice. Just like the one Flynn had heard before. She swung around to look behind her and saw the wolf standing there again. His deep green eyes searching out Wesley's. He took a couple of steps forward, his black fur brushing up against Flynn's leg as he sat on his hind legs next to her, looking at nothing in particular. His head came up to about Flynn's forearm.
She stood frozen, staring at it. Maybe...she hadn't imagined it.

-
Elijah watched as he stooped over and changed back into human form. It looked slightly painful. But as he looked back up to her, she was relieved-he had certainly looked better than the last time she had seen him.
She was puzzled at why he had been led here though. Could it have something to do with what had happened two years ago? She hadn't seen him in so long-she hadn't seen anybody she had battled with in a long time.
She relaxed more as he looked out the window.
"We're in a small village in the midlands. The pass into the mountains is just east of here." She replied to him, still wondering why he was brought here.
He spoke, and then bowed.
She was slightly surprised and uncomfortable at this but then signaled for him to look up.
She shook her head and replied, "Don't apologize, we all had things we needed to do." She looked down at the ground, wondering if Kai had already fallen asleep.
She turned back to him.
"Now that you're standing in front of me, it's hard to believe that two whole years went by. What have you been doing?"  

[Stormelle]

Whesley had been about to kneel nest to Joe when an unfamilar voice met her ears, and after it, a sharp hiss from Samson. Her head shot up and she looked directly at the large wolf now sitting next to Flynn. Her eyes grew shockingly large, she took a half step back.

"Forget the dog Mistress...He speaks right...Despite our mutual dislike." his ears were back once more, tail flicking sharply, and glancing back at the wolf every once in awhile. "I have questions for you dog, you and your pack of half-men. But they must wait should Lord Joeseph be sustained. Mistress, listen and listen well."

Wesley, eyes still fixed on the wolf, could only be brought back to where her attention was truly needed by Samson's sharp growl-meow as he settled next to her to instruct her. She jumped slightly but finally looked down at Samsons, questions dying in her mouth, she saw the look upon his face and knew it to well. She let her head hang slightly and looked at Joe, what to do...Where to start? She really didn't know. She looked at Samson.

"Place yours hands on either side of his face." Samson said, waiting for her to listen. Wesley moved slowly, trying to be as gentle as she could despite the fact that Joe was unconsious. "Now...Focus yours energy into your hands..."
Wesley tried but there was too much noise, the sound of something moving against the stones in the distance, something much closer that was probably Darius and Caspian as well as the soft breathing of the wolf, Samson, Flynn, Joe, and even herself. She wondered rather suddenly why she had never noticed these sounds before. She shook her head slightly, "It won't work."

Samson's brow furrowed and his tail gave an extra sharp flick, "Think of the time you've felt the most happy...Most energetic." he said, seemingly to think outloud.

Wesley did so, and almost immediately a light seemed to come from somewhere in her chest down her arms and slowly began to creap over Joe, engulfing him and becoming almost blinding.
Darius stumbled to the top of the hill, Caspian huffing slightly in a noise that seemed to say he was glad of the little bit of even footing there was here. As he came to the top he quickly closed his eyes, for ahead of his something shone brighter almost than the sun around them.

-

Rish frowned slightly at her insitance that he stand, though he complied, he was good at listening, so long as he didn't have anything against what was being told to him. He listened quietly and when she asked what he had been doing he paused, brow furrowing. How does one describe what he had been doing? It could be called training, for in truth that's what it was, but it was almost more of a honning that anything else. Reining in his powers....Learning to control them.

He looked at Elijah a moment, his thoughts still moving and deciding what would be best, looking down and turning to looking out the window he spoke, "Training...Or something to that effect....To control my demonic powers." he said, looking back at her with a slight glow in his eyes and on his hands, though the glow faded quickly. "I can only hold the powers so long...Or...So long and truly be myself..." he shivered. There had been occassions when he and Lia had been training and he'd pushed the limit, spent his time, and become a darker him. Lia had told him this, though of corse, he had little recollection of his own. This did, sometimes, make him doubt what had happened, though Lia had plenty of bruses to prove it. He flinched slightly at the idea but shook it off.

"And you, my friend?"  

[the friendly fiend]

Flynn watched Wesley's movements in wonder. She heard Samson and the wolf's playful and sarcastic banter. She only looked down at the wolf again as he seemed to give sort of a grunt with a smirk. She looked back up to the situation before her in earnestness.
She heard movement behind her, but she couldn't look away-mainly because she couldn't believe her eyes. Joe's body began to glow. The light grew brighter and brighter until she had to cover her eyes with one of her hands and look away. What was happening?

In Joseph's mind, he was dreaming. He was back home. His family surrounded him, including Flynn. Everyone seemed...happy.
Suddenly the dream faded, as something was bringing him back to consciousness.
He felt hands on either side of his face. He opened his eyes slightly-his headache had seemed to pass. In fact, he wasn't in any pain at all, his body was sore but...it was definitely an improvement. What had happened?
With his eyes slightly open, he could barely make out a blurry figure looking over him. There was really bright light everywhere. He saw a slight red gleam off of her hair.
Flynn. He thought.
He raised up his hand and grabbed a hold of hers that was still on the side of his face. He was about to smile and say something to make her laugh but all of the sudden he heard a pop and an excruciating pain entered his shoulder.
Joe let go of the hand and sat up and grabbed his shoulder as his eyes opened wide. The hands slipped from his head. He had grunted at first, but then sighed in relief. His shoulder actually felt...better, now that it had popped back into place. He was fully conscious now.
He blinked a couple of times, but then turned to address Flynn except...it wasn't Flynn.
He locked eyes with the girl who had been looking over him, there was some confusion in his eyes. He felt as if he had seen her before....? He realized he was staring and looked away to the ground. But he then looked at the strange cat that was sitting next to the girl. He saw Flynn in the background with...a giant...wolf...? Even farther than that he saw a young man with a horse....now there was complete confusion on his face.
He looked back to the girl.
"What...happened?"
~
Elijah nodded to his story and seemed interested. There was a lot she didn't know about Rish, but she was willing to learn. A small smile appeared on her mouth at his salutation. She studied him for a moment before answering.
She began unharnessing her sheath.
"After Le'ai, the man I was with led us to a safe haven in those eastern mountains. It is safe...for now. I too, have been through some sorts of training, " She paused, thinking of Aedreath with a slight frown, "mostly just taking in those still willing to fight for their freedom. We're a small band, and the future isn't bright, but it's all we can do to survive."
She was looking down at the ground, but at this point looked up at him, unsure of how to go about asking the next question.
She proceded with caution.
"Have you heard anything about...?" She intended Cerast, but knew that it might strike a chord. If he didn't want to talk about, it was perfectly fine. After all, she'd been there.
 

[Stormelle]

"Wha-What happened?" she stuttered, still shocked and even slightly flustered, a slight pink in her cheeks, after he'd touched her hand. She glanced desprately behind her but no one else seemed ready to provide an answer, Darius was still staring and so it seemed was Flynn. The wolf was watching silently and Samson was looking at her with a cool expectant expression. She looked back at Joe, "I....We....", looked down and away from the whole group. "To be honest....I'm as lost as you are." she said in a soft voice, still unable to meet anyones' eyes. She felt like a freak and like the one who should be taking charge all at the same time. But she'd never been a people person, never. That was Darius. Why wasn't he helping her? She shuddered. What was going on? Her breath became shallow and quick as her thoughts began to move even quicker and confuse her even more.

At that moment Darius shoved Caspian's riens into Flynn's hand, "Hold him." he said firmly but not unkindly and moved toward Wesley. "Wes....Calm down." he put his hand on her shoulder and attempt to get her to look at him, she wouldn't, though her breathing did slow. Darius sighed, letting go of her shoulder and sitting down, expression exasperated. "Samson." he growled.

The orange cat seemed to smirk and flicked his tail, "You should be talking to the wolf, boy. I know we are in another world but I know nothing of the world." he said cooly, eyes lazily fixed on Darius, Wesley, and Joe.

-

Rish looked up sharply, his eyes flashing slightly, "No." he said cooly, the looked away a slight hint of desperation on his face. His brow furrowed and he wouldn't look at Elijah for a minute then he took a deep breath, "But someone is there...I have a reliable sorce that says someone new is there....I was going to investigate when my magic led me here....Have you heard anything on this?" he asked, looking up her, his expression as calm as he could make it.  

[the friendly fiend]

Flynn looked at Darius and nodded at his command as she took the reins. He was a beautiful horse, and although Flynn was thrilled, curious and confused at how Joe had been healed so miraculously, she knew that some people needed space, so she stayed back and looked at the horse for a bit, it getting slightly nervous around the wolf, but Flynn stroked its nose slightly.
Joe smirked slightly when she replied, but then got very concerned when he heard her shallow breaths and saw her shudder. He turned his body towards her as her friend came up and calmed her down a bit. He wanted to help...but he didn't really know her and he didn't want to seem...awkward.
Then Joe glanced at the cat...did...it just....talk? He rubbed his forehead again and wondered as well where they were.

Suddenly the giant wolf was beside them, and the cat, Flynn still holding back with the horse.
It seemed to chuckle as it replied to the cat, whom Joe had guessed was Samson.
"It's good that you don't. The less you see of it-the better." Said the wolf in his deep voice again. He continued as he knew the confusion that everyone faced.
"This world is not at peace right now. I can only assume you've been brought here for a specific reason-especially to this place and at this time." He gestured with a look around his surroundings.
"This place is sacred. Deep magic protects it, along with our pack of Guardians. It was either the magic that still exists here that allowed the female to heal the male, or the female has some sort of hidden power."
Another voice sounded from among them, but it was the voice of another wolf. They seemed to move like ghosts-in and out of sight at will.
"Forgive my brother. Sometimes he gets ahead of himself." The black wolf, the one they had seen first was smirking, as another slightly smaller, whitish-grey wolf walked up next to him and took in the visitors.
"Welcome to Shi'Lyra." He said.

~

Elijah nodded slightly at his reaction. It was understandable, at best. Her ears perked when he mentioned that someone new was there.
She saw his expression and went with it.
"Le'ai has a deep sheild of magic protecting it, it wouldn't be possible for anyone to get there easily without having to deal with such a forceful boundary and the wolves, unless they'd been there before-such as you and I. If someone new is there, that means that they would have to have originated from inside." She paced for a bit and looked out the window, concentrating on the horizon, thinking back on anything that might help them figure this out.
"I might have something," She looked back to him, "When we first retreated to the safe haven, the elders of the villages would always tell stories-legends, myths, even traditions that had been passed down from generation to generation. There was this one legend-they called it a prophecy, and it's more familiar in the eastern cultures. But it prophesied that one day, heroes would come in a great time of need. It's incredibly ambiguous and generalized, and farfetched, but it could explain-and more importantly, give hope."
She was on a roll now.
"I mean, think about it, " pacing once again, "the eastern lands used to stretch from the mountains all the way to the east midlands, that could easily encompass Le'ai." She stopped herself, now she was just getting ahead of herself. She took a deep breath and looked back to Rish.
"Okay, the first thing we need to figure out is who's inside Le'ai. And why."
 

[Stormelle]

Wesley listened quietly, she'd lost it in front of so many people. Darius knew why, and had helped, but still. She felt a tiny flame of pride flicker within her, she would have left on Caspian had she been on him, simply turned him and headed away. She was someone who thought of hypothetical things, or even historcal things like the books Darius had placed in one of her saddle bags.

"shi'Lyra. Great, never heard of it." Darius said simply, his expression a little cold as he looked at the pair of wolves. "one question. Are all animals here like you...Y'know, in that they can talk?" he had decided to ask questions, they needed as much information as possible. He looked the smaller wolve, the one who seemed more like he'd give him a square answer, in the eyes and waited.

Samson had ignored the larger wolve's comment on weather he should know more, he would know all that the group would know, perhaps it would help him if they ever managed to get home, which he was next to positive they would. He flicked his tail, looking over at Flynn. "Come join us girl, put the horses' reins down. He won't run." At this moment Samson looked up at the horse, who's ears were tilted very slightly back, and gave him a hard look. "Come." he said, again looking at Flynn when he said this.
-

"Sounds good to me. Shall we go now?" he was ready to help, he could get the pair of them there in moments with his magic, he'd just have to consentrate on the location and remember all he could of the place. He had about five minutes left, enough to visualize the place and get there and transform back before he became his other self and might turn on Elijah and whoever was still at Li'Ai, but it would be enough. If the wolves were there and he did loose control they would be able to help him, or so he hoped. He looked at Elijah, waiting. He didn't, however, take into consideration the late hour as time wasn't really something he ever thought about. He thought of days, months, and years...But hours...They were a strange thing to him, he simply considered the time he could spend in his demonic forum over a certain amount of time and it didn't span over an hour. He could hold that forum for thirty minutes in a day, 750 minutes in a mounth, etc. Hours weren't part of the way he thought, neither was the sun as he'd trained whenever Lia had told him to and trusted that she wouldn't push him past what he could safely do.  

[the friendly fiend]

Joe looked from the wolves back to everyone that was there. He was glad somebody was asking questions.
He stood up as he looked back to the wolves.
The black one chuckled again, he seemed to find their situation quite amusing.
He looked to the greyish one who replied to Darius.
"Most. Yes. There are a few breeds that have lost the ability, but it's very rare." The emerald eyes on both wolves stared back at Darius.
"Again, you must forgive us. It's been a long time since we've seen humans walk this ground. Even we, have not been human for a while."
"Wait-what?" Joe questioned.
The black wolf replied to his perplexed and confused look.
"Our pack is a form of hybrid. You could say we were of the were clan, but our manner and behavior differ greatly. In human form, we look just like you, but in our hybrid state, we take the form of wolves. This place was the site of a treacherous battle two years ago, ever since then, we have been it's guardians."
Flynn glanced up at Samson and looked back to the horse and dropped the reins as she inched her way to stand behind everyone. She was still confused at what was going on, but highly interested. This was probably the coolest thing that had ever happened to her.

This place...is so weird. Joe thought in his mind as he looked around them. He could see that the sun was setting. He glanced back to the others and saw the girl was still sitting on the ground. He offered her a hand up.
~
Elijah looked at Rish. She smirked. She admired his enthusiasm.
She saw him thinking to himself, she looked out the window and saw the sun, almost now nearly set. Night time never stopped her. She looked back at the door and wondered about Kai for a moment, but then decided to continue, he'd be furious that she'd left without him, but she knew Rish could be proper protection if things got too serious. And even if then...she always had the wolves to fall back on.
If he was still willing, she was willing to accept.
"Let's go." She said with another smirk.