Post by ittris on Sept 9, 2010 22:07:58 GMT -5
Another step, another raspy breath. Everything around is dry, the winds finally died down as if to taunt him with a glimmer of hope. This was just another stage in his eternal strife though; he simply drudged on, weary and heavy, through the sands of time.
Ittris was once in the highest ranks of the Holy Arc, up in the heavens. He was sent to earth on a mission, ordered to do what he does best: assassinate his designated target. However, this target was different than the rest... this one was, as far as he could tell, innocent. Unworthy of death quite yet...
A clump of sand flew into his face as he dreamt about his blurred past. He sputtered a bit and wiped his face, noticing it was more like mud than sand. Ittris looked ahead in the distance to the left and right, thinking where there's mud there must be water. He scurried forward a bit, to a large dune and upon reaching the top, he noticed odd sounds around him. The winds stopped blowing, and before him sat a great oasis of considerably massive proportions.
As he started to stumble down to it, he noticed the odd sounds weren't coming from the water. No, in fact he thought to himself "This sounds a bit familiar... it's the cry of something I've heard before...". Suddenly, he felt something crawling on his face. He slapped his face violently, and felt a sharp pain. When he saw his hand, he noticed the splattered carcass and guts of a Saw Scarab.
Suddenly, fear struck his mind- as he looked up to the sky he realized it was covered not with sand but with these deadly creatures. They began to fly in circles above him, like a halo of death about to land. He dashed towards the oasis, hoping to hide in the water. Then, he had remembered he was here in this godforsaken desert for a reason; the Tear of Roses, a jewel hidden in the great oasis at the center of the Klisha desert. It was a key for him to unlock the secrets of his past and why he was betrayed. He hoped dearly that this was the end of his searching...
He tumbled into the water, hardly remembering to take a breath before he entered. He stayed under though, seeing the scarabs dive at the water. He waited until the swarm had gone to resurface, gasping for air as he broke the water's edge. He looked around and to his surprise, the swarm was gone! Some had hit the water and drowned, the rest moved on. Ittris looked down into the cool water all around him, trying to get an idea of how deep it is. He began to swim towards the center of the oasis after seeing that it was only about ten feet deep.
Searching intently from the surface, Ittris finally saw a small sheen under the top layer of earth at the oasis' floor. Could this be? Has he found the Tear of Roses? He inhaled and dove down to the bottom of the oasis where he had seen the glimmer of hope. As he neared the floor, he noticed there was now more than one area which was sparkling. He slowed down a bit, wondering what was happening before his eyes. Suddenly, the shiny objects started to rumble and unearth themselves.
Ittris observed as hundreds of shiny golden spheres rose about him in the water. He started to feel uneasy (and a little short of breath) when the spheres stopped at his level in the water. He carefully eyed one the spheres directly in front of him, only a few feet away, as it started to uncurl... Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something golden darting through the water at him. He pushed himself back in the water, the golden streak just missing him. He now began to realize that he was surrounded by danger, not wonder and beauty. More and more, golden streaks began darting about at Ittris. He felt his adrenaline starting to pulse through his body, and as he dodged to the right of one golden streak, he snatched it from it's path. It burned his left hand terribly, and he let go quickly after, noticing one thing; the being he grabbed looked like a Biting Eel, just with a golden color and remarkable speed.
He drew his dagger with which he was so skilled, after countless battles beyond his own memory. Another eel swam by and he sliced it in half down the length of it's body. He felt a bit proud until he noticed the edge of his trusted dagger was red hot. It wouldn't be able to withstand many blows against these creatures. He rushed down to the bottom, diving and dodging as well as he could for being underwater, vigorously trying to find the jewel. He dug around in the sand, and dodged another eel from behind him. By now a sharp pain was piercing through his right leg. He looked down and saw that another eel had latched it's unforgiving jaws onto him. He sliced it's head off, his dagger burning hotter and now his leg too. He dug with all his might, running short on breath now and feeling lightheaded. He touched something smooth under the sand. He brought it up, dodging more eels as they plunged themselves into the sand. He had found it- the Tear of Roses.
Immediately he surfaced, starting to black out from lack of oxygen. He laid down next to the oasis, panting and grinning victoriously. He put his left hand against the bright blue desert sky, accounting the damage his hand had taken. He then glanced at the bite on his leg which was still burning a bit. He then clasped the stone at his side, fitting it perfectly into the palm of his hand. "With this..." he gasped to himself while gazing at the sky, "I may finally know my past again."
Days later, Ittris ended up at a town at the edge of the desert. Amazingly, this town was right on the border of the Desert of Klisha. One side oversaw the great and vast desert. The other beheld a forest and many paths and plains, spotted with various types of foliage. He walked into this town, and noticed the people staring at him. He couldn't tell what they were thinking; some had a look of despair, others had a look of hate in their eyes. He bowed his head a bit as he walked down the street as some people hurried themselves indoors. It seemed this town wasn't used to strangers, or maybe had a bad history with them. Maybe they were scared. For all he cared, he just wanted a place to rest. Sleeping on his feet and in the sand hadn't quite cut it for him. So he walked until he came upon an inn.
The sign read "Chainshack Inn". Ittris assumed from this that the town's name was Chainshack, since he obviously couldn't talk to anyone. As he started to cross the street in the slowly fading light of the sunset, a man vested in navy blue with a rifle on his back approached him. The man met Ittris on the inn's side of the street. "Who are ya, and what business do ya have here?" he proclaimed gruffly. Ittris looked the man dead in the eye, and said his name. "I said, what business do ya have here?" repeated the vested man, now placing his hand at his holstered handgun. Ittris began to get a touch aggravated with this man, who wasn't dressed like an officer but was obviously an enforcer or protector of some sort. Ittris snickered at the man, feeling a bit devious, pointing at the man's sidearm.
"What are you laughing about scumbag?!" said the man, appearing to be somewhat self conscious now. "What IS that thing?" chuckled Ittris. The man looked at his side and back at Ittris. "What are you trying to pull? It's a pistol! Haven't you ever seen one?" Ittris couldn't help but laugh out loud now. He obviously saw something pathetic about it... though it was only four inches. "That's NOT a pistol" laughed Ittris. The man's face turned red and he drew the pistol, placing it on Ittris' forehead. "Let's see how funny you think you are after I pull this trigger! No monsters allowed in MY town!!!" The man began pulling the trigger, cackling. However, as many would, the man blinked just as the bullet fired from the gun. When he opened his eyes, his smile faded. He saw not the bullet splitting his foes head open, but instead he was staring into the sunset. He slowly lowered his gun as he felt the barrel of another one placed to the back of his own head.
"See?" said Ittris in a calm voice. "That gun's too slow, it would never kill something that's capable of simply moving about. What's more is the power level seems too low; I heard you call me a monster earlier? If you meant that there are monsters invading your precious town, your piece-of-junk peashooter won't have much effect." Confused and shook with fear and amazement, the man was frozen in awe. Ittris uncocked his revolver and put it away into his own vest, throwing his arm around the man. "Now, why don't you show me around town a bit sir?" he said with a sideways grin.
They went to the inn, and sat at the bar for a bit talking and drinking. The man turned out to be the mayor of the town, and one of the only "law" enforcers in it. He then spun a tale to Ittris about the death of his wife, leaving him and his daughter alone. "One evening about a year and a half ago, my wife making me a surprise birthday cake the night before my birthday. I had stressed how much I didn't want anything, but her kind heart had it's own intentions. She was going to make this cake special, and she probably planned a special evening for us the next day too. Our daughter was at a friends house for the day, and we let her spend the night there. I was in bed on the second floor in our bedroom, unaware that she was baking a gift for me... Neighbors say she was asking for a cup of sugar. When our neighbors on either side didn't have any, she went across the street. We live really close to the edge of the forest..." The man began to choke up with tears.
He caught his breath, and continued, stifling the sobs. "No one knows what really happened, after all it was late at night. One of the neighbors older children claim they heard an animal growling and snarling and a woman screaming, but he went back to sleep trying to ignore it in hopes that it was a dream. The next morning... There was blood all smeared all over the street in front of our house and on our lawn. I went out for some fresh air, and I saw her still body lying there, lifeless, breathless. Her throat had been clawed to shreds to an extent where you could see the spine. Her face was covered in blood, her eyes were open and glossed over. Her arms were torn, one of them almost completely from her body. Her clothes were ripped and drenched in a foul stench and an unholy amount of blood. All I could do was stand there, staring at the love of my life, now gone forever. Eventually my daughter came out and found me kneeling next to my wife, staring solemnly. She says I was expressionless, but tears were running down my face without end. She came and got me up, sobbing hysterically herself."
"After that.... life just seemed to slow down. The funeral came and passed. People have since fled the town, and several similar cases have been reported in our town since then. Now, I live to protect the remains of this town. I live to protect the memory of my wife. And I live to protect my daughter." The mayor could no longer speak, as he was bawling uncontrollably now. Ittris looked down at his drink, patting the mayor on his back. The night carried on a bit more, and the mayor took a room at the inn and passed out. Ittris then decided to go for a walk. It was way after dark, but he needed to calm his mind. "Besides," he figured "There's a full moon out." So he began trekking through the inner edge of the forest.
Ittris was once in the highest ranks of the Holy Arc, up in the heavens. He was sent to earth on a mission, ordered to do what he does best: assassinate his designated target. However, this target was different than the rest... this one was, as far as he could tell, innocent. Unworthy of death quite yet...
A clump of sand flew into his face as he dreamt about his blurred past. He sputtered a bit and wiped his face, noticing it was more like mud than sand. Ittris looked ahead in the distance to the left and right, thinking where there's mud there must be water. He scurried forward a bit, to a large dune and upon reaching the top, he noticed odd sounds around him. The winds stopped blowing, and before him sat a great oasis of considerably massive proportions.
As he started to stumble down to it, he noticed the odd sounds weren't coming from the water. No, in fact he thought to himself "This sounds a bit familiar... it's the cry of something I've heard before...". Suddenly, he felt something crawling on his face. He slapped his face violently, and felt a sharp pain. When he saw his hand, he noticed the splattered carcass and guts of a Saw Scarab.
Suddenly, fear struck his mind- as he looked up to the sky he realized it was covered not with sand but with these deadly creatures. They began to fly in circles above him, like a halo of death about to land. He dashed towards the oasis, hoping to hide in the water. Then, he had remembered he was here in this godforsaken desert for a reason; the Tear of Roses, a jewel hidden in the great oasis at the center of the Klisha desert. It was a key for him to unlock the secrets of his past and why he was betrayed. He hoped dearly that this was the end of his searching...
He tumbled into the water, hardly remembering to take a breath before he entered. He stayed under though, seeing the scarabs dive at the water. He waited until the swarm had gone to resurface, gasping for air as he broke the water's edge. He looked around and to his surprise, the swarm was gone! Some had hit the water and drowned, the rest moved on. Ittris looked down into the cool water all around him, trying to get an idea of how deep it is. He began to swim towards the center of the oasis after seeing that it was only about ten feet deep.
Searching intently from the surface, Ittris finally saw a small sheen under the top layer of earth at the oasis' floor. Could this be? Has he found the Tear of Roses? He inhaled and dove down to the bottom of the oasis where he had seen the glimmer of hope. As he neared the floor, he noticed there was now more than one area which was sparkling. He slowed down a bit, wondering what was happening before his eyes. Suddenly, the shiny objects started to rumble and unearth themselves.
Ittris observed as hundreds of shiny golden spheres rose about him in the water. He started to feel uneasy (and a little short of breath) when the spheres stopped at his level in the water. He carefully eyed one the spheres directly in front of him, only a few feet away, as it started to uncurl... Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something golden darting through the water at him. He pushed himself back in the water, the golden streak just missing him. He now began to realize that he was surrounded by danger, not wonder and beauty. More and more, golden streaks began darting about at Ittris. He felt his adrenaline starting to pulse through his body, and as he dodged to the right of one golden streak, he snatched it from it's path. It burned his left hand terribly, and he let go quickly after, noticing one thing; the being he grabbed looked like a Biting Eel, just with a golden color and remarkable speed.
He drew his dagger with which he was so skilled, after countless battles beyond his own memory. Another eel swam by and he sliced it in half down the length of it's body. He felt a bit proud until he noticed the edge of his trusted dagger was red hot. It wouldn't be able to withstand many blows against these creatures. He rushed down to the bottom, diving and dodging as well as he could for being underwater, vigorously trying to find the jewel. He dug around in the sand, and dodged another eel from behind him. By now a sharp pain was piercing through his right leg. He looked down and saw that another eel had latched it's unforgiving jaws onto him. He sliced it's head off, his dagger burning hotter and now his leg too. He dug with all his might, running short on breath now and feeling lightheaded. He touched something smooth under the sand. He brought it up, dodging more eels as they plunged themselves into the sand. He had found it- the Tear of Roses.
Immediately he surfaced, starting to black out from lack of oxygen. He laid down next to the oasis, panting and grinning victoriously. He put his left hand against the bright blue desert sky, accounting the damage his hand had taken. He then glanced at the bite on his leg which was still burning a bit. He then clasped the stone at his side, fitting it perfectly into the palm of his hand. "With this..." he gasped to himself while gazing at the sky, "I may finally know my past again."
Days later, Ittris ended up at a town at the edge of the desert. Amazingly, this town was right on the border of the Desert of Klisha. One side oversaw the great and vast desert. The other beheld a forest and many paths and plains, spotted with various types of foliage. He walked into this town, and noticed the people staring at him. He couldn't tell what they were thinking; some had a look of despair, others had a look of hate in their eyes. He bowed his head a bit as he walked down the street as some people hurried themselves indoors. It seemed this town wasn't used to strangers, or maybe had a bad history with them. Maybe they were scared. For all he cared, he just wanted a place to rest. Sleeping on his feet and in the sand hadn't quite cut it for him. So he walked until he came upon an inn.
The sign read "Chainshack Inn". Ittris assumed from this that the town's name was Chainshack, since he obviously couldn't talk to anyone. As he started to cross the street in the slowly fading light of the sunset, a man vested in navy blue with a rifle on his back approached him. The man met Ittris on the inn's side of the street. "Who are ya, and what business do ya have here?" he proclaimed gruffly. Ittris looked the man dead in the eye, and said his name. "I said, what business do ya have here?" repeated the vested man, now placing his hand at his holstered handgun. Ittris began to get a touch aggravated with this man, who wasn't dressed like an officer but was obviously an enforcer or protector of some sort. Ittris snickered at the man, feeling a bit devious, pointing at the man's sidearm.
"What are you laughing about scumbag?!" said the man, appearing to be somewhat self conscious now. "What IS that thing?" chuckled Ittris. The man looked at his side and back at Ittris. "What are you trying to pull? It's a pistol! Haven't you ever seen one?" Ittris couldn't help but laugh out loud now. He obviously saw something pathetic about it... though it was only four inches. "That's NOT a pistol" laughed Ittris. The man's face turned red and he drew the pistol, placing it on Ittris' forehead. "Let's see how funny you think you are after I pull this trigger! No monsters allowed in MY town!!!" The man began pulling the trigger, cackling. However, as many would, the man blinked just as the bullet fired from the gun. When he opened his eyes, his smile faded. He saw not the bullet splitting his foes head open, but instead he was staring into the sunset. He slowly lowered his gun as he felt the barrel of another one placed to the back of his own head.
"See?" said Ittris in a calm voice. "That gun's too slow, it would never kill something that's capable of simply moving about. What's more is the power level seems too low; I heard you call me a monster earlier? If you meant that there are monsters invading your precious town, your piece-of-junk peashooter won't have much effect." Confused and shook with fear and amazement, the man was frozen in awe. Ittris uncocked his revolver and put it away into his own vest, throwing his arm around the man. "Now, why don't you show me around town a bit sir?" he said with a sideways grin.
They went to the inn, and sat at the bar for a bit talking and drinking. The man turned out to be the mayor of the town, and one of the only "law" enforcers in it. He then spun a tale to Ittris about the death of his wife, leaving him and his daughter alone. "One evening about a year and a half ago, my wife making me a surprise birthday cake the night before my birthday. I had stressed how much I didn't want anything, but her kind heart had it's own intentions. She was going to make this cake special, and she probably planned a special evening for us the next day too. Our daughter was at a friends house for the day, and we let her spend the night there. I was in bed on the second floor in our bedroom, unaware that she was baking a gift for me... Neighbors say she was asking for a cup of sugar. When our neighbors on either side didn't have any, she went across the street. We live really close to the edge of the forest..." The man began to choke up with tears.
He caught his breath, and continued, stifling the sobs. "No one knows what really happened, after all it was late at night. One of the neighbors older children claim they heard an animal growling and snarling and a woman screaming, but he went back to sleep trying to ignore it in hopes that it was a dream. The next morning... There was blood all smeared all over the street in front of our house and on our lawn. I went out for some fresh air, and I saw her still body lying there, lifeless, breathless. Her throat had been clawed to shreds to an extent where you could see the spine. Her face was covered in blood, her eyes were open and glossed over. Her arms were torn, one of them almost completely from her body. Her clothes were ripped and drenched in a foul stench and an unholy amount of blood. All I could do was stand there, staring at the love of my life, now gone forever. Eventually my daughter came out and found me kneeling next to my wife, staring solemnly. She says I was expressionless, but tears were running down my face without end. She came and got me up, sobbing hysterically herself."
"After that.... life just seemed to slow down. The funeral came and passed. People have since fled the town, and several similar cases have been reported in our town since then. Now, I live to protect the remains of this town. I live to protect the memory of my wife. And I live to protect my daughter." The mayor could no longer speak, as he was bawling uncontrollably now. Ittris looked down at his drink, patting the mayor on his back. The night carried on a bit more, and the mayor took a room at the inn and passed out. Ittris then decided to go for a walk. It was way after dark, but he needed to calm his mind. "Besides," he figured "There's a full moon out." So he began trekking through the inner edge of the forest.
