Post by Kiddo on Jan 7, 2008 21:22:19 GMT -5
It's been a while. But I got a cool idea and couldn't resist. I also need expendable volunteers. Emphasis on expendable.
The gray lands were quiet. They usually were as this was the place were dreams were formed, where thoughts were given life. It wasn’t like the Underdeep either, where subconscious terrors and fears manifested despite the person’s deepest desires that they would not. No. These were the gray lands were imagination was made manifest and someone with enough inspiration and enough strength of will… vividness of the mind’s eye… could create.
This was were worlds were born.
The quiet was normal. But something about it unsettled Kiddo and she remained where she was, listening, her oversized fox ears quirking here and there. Her hearing hadn’t been the greatest lately. None of her senses had been. It was frustrating. She was dressed in scant leathers, tribal in design, and her faithful spear sat on the ground near her side. Wings, the red of the heart of a fire and streaked with gold and blue, trailed along her back and down to the ground were a fox’s tail, tipped with gold, rested.
This was not the usual quiet of the gray lands waiting to manifest. There was something else to it. Something that she had been hunting for days, skirting from half-formed world to half-formed world. None of them were her own. They were the thoughts and dreams of those that inhabited the NTWF and she had touched through each one briefly, trying to find the source of this strange disquiet that had gripped her.
She’d been out here a very long time and had yet to find its source. And now… with the mist swirling around her and the sense of being watched from afar – no. Not watched. Judged. She crept forwards on all fours, dragging her spear with one hand. Like an animal, gone feral from too much time in the wilds. The mist swirled around her, forming nothing, creating nothing, and it was only blind faith in how this place worked that kept Kiddo from panicking about the fact that there was no ground.
These were the gray lands. She had been there too long.
There was a figure up ahead. Kiddo paused, watching. She hunkered down, sniffed the wind. Nothing. The person was tall, very tall, and clothed in robes that seemed to be made of the mist itself. Then it turned and lifted one hand, covered in cloth, and lifted the veil that covered her face.
“So, is this really an emergency?”
Stal looked a bit irritated to be outside by the fountain. Crystal couldn’t blame him, as it was drizzling slightly. But the weather meant that they wouldn’t be interrupted and apparently Crystal had something she wanted to share with him. Urgently.
“Not really an emergency. Well, I don’t think. Kiddo can handle herself, right?”
“Kiddo?”
“Yes!”
And the ninja pulled her scarf down and brandished a letter. After a moment she quickly hunkered over it, shielding it from the rain with her body.
“I found it at the HQ this morning. No one saw who left it but it has her name and I recognize her writing.”
“So. Drop the suspense and tell me what it says.”
Crystal cleared her throat and began reading. She had obviously read this before as her words were clear, concise, and automatic.
“NTWF:
There is something amiss in the Gray Lands. It is not on the scale of the demon invasion that nearly destroyed us all but it is still of some concern. I think I am in more danger than anyone in the NTWF but I still believe you merit some sort of warning.
Be wary of the Veiled Lady. She is not what she used to be.
There is no need for alarm as of yet but be cautious. As I said, I believe I am the only one in danger right now and will inform you if this changes.
Regards,
Kiddo”
For a moment the two sat there, silent. It was Stal who spoke first.
“Wow,” he said, “She vanishes for almost a year and then returns with some cryptic message that makes no sense. Who is a veiled lady?”
“Capital letters there,” Crystal said, “Kiddo must think she’s something important then, if she’s using capital letters. Veiled Lady.”
And when Crystal said it, it had weight, and Stal shivered a bit from the rain and the mist at his feet.
“But it still makes no sense. She should have told us what the Veiled Lady is.” He stood. No cause for concern but he wanted to do some research of his own. Besides, it was getting colder outside. Soon there would be snow, no doubt.
“I bet it’s something Kiddo has figured out and assumes we know,” Crystal replied, folding the letter up and stuffing it in her sash, “She’s been gone too long.”
“Think she’ll come back?”
Crystal pondered this for a moment and then shrugged.
“Perhaps. If the situation is dire enough.”
Too long in the mists. Regardless of what the letter said; if there was trouble, she and Stal would have to know about it. It was time to start researching.
The gray lands were quiet. They usually were as this was the place were dreams were formed, where thoughts were given life. It wasn’t like the Underdeep either, where subconscious terrors and fears manifested despite the person’s deepest desires that they would not. No. These were the gray lands were imagination was made manifest and someone with enough inspiration and enough strength of will… vividness of the mind’s eye… could create.
This was were worlds were born.
The quiet was normal. But something about it unsettled Kiddo and she remained where she was, listening, her oversized fox ears quirking here and there. Her hearing hadn’t been the greatest lately. None of her senses had been. It was frustrating. She was dressed in scant leathers, tribal in design, and her faithful spear sat on the ground near her side. Wings, the red of the heart of a fire and streaked with gold and blue, trailed along her back and down to the ground were a fox’s tail, tipped with gold, rested.
This was not the usual quiet of the gray lands waiting to manifest. There was something else to it. Something that she had been hunting for days, skirting from half-formed world to half-formed world. None of them were her own. They were the thoughts and dreams of those that inhabited the NTWF and she had touched through each one briefly, trying to find the source of this strange disquiet that had gripped her.
She’d been out here a very long time and had yet to find its source. And now… with the mist swirling around her and the sense of being watched from afar – no. Not watched. Judged. She crept forwards on all fours, dragging her spear with one hand. Like an animal, gone feral from too much time in the wilds. The mist swirled around her, forming nothing, creating nothing, and it was only blind faith in how this place worked that kept Kiddo from panicking about the fact that there was no ground.
These were the gray lands. She had been there too long.
There was a figure up ahead. Kiddo paused, watching. She hunkered down, sniffed the wind. Nothing. The person was tall, very tall, and clothed in robes that seemed to be made of the mist itself. Then it turned and lifted one hand, covered in cloth, and lifted the veil that covered her face.
“So, is this really an emergency?”
Stal looked a bit irritated to be outside by the fountain. Crystal couldn’t blame him, as it was drizzling slightly. But the weather meant that they wouldn’t be interrupted and apparently Crystal had something she wanted to share with him. Urgently.
“Not really an emergency. Well, I don’t think. Kiddo can handle herself, right?”
“Kiddo?”
“Yes!”
And the ninja pulled her scarf down and brandished a letter. After a moment she quickly hunkered over it, shielding it from the rain with her body.
“I found it at the HQ this morning. No one saw who left it but it has her name and I recognize her writing.”
“So. Drop the suspense and tell me what it says.”
Crystal cleared her throat and began reading. She had obviously read this before as her words were clear, concise, and automatic.
“NTWF:
There is something amiss in the Gray Lands. It is not on the scale of the demon invasion that nearly destroyed us all but it is still of some concern. I think I am in more danger than anyone in the NTWF but I still believe you merit some sort of warning.
Be wary of the Veiled Lady. She is not what she used to be.
There is no need for alarm as of yet but be cautious. As I said, I believe I am the only one in danger right now and will inform you if this changes.
Regards,
Kiddo”
For a moment the two sat there, silent. It was Stal who spoke first.
“Wow,” he said, “She vanishes for almost a year and then returns with some cryptic message that makes no sense. Who is a veiled lady?”
“Capital letters there,” Crystal said, “Kiddo must think she’s something important then, if she’s using capital letters. Veiled Lady.”
And when Crystal said it, it had weight, and Stal shivered a bit from the rain and the mist at his feet.
“But it still makes no sense. She should have told us what the Veiled Lady is.” He stood. No cause for concern but he wanted to do some research of his own. Besides, it was getting colder outside. Soon there would be snow, no doubt.
“I bet it’s something Kiddo has figured out and assumes we know,” Crystal replied, folding the letter up and stuffing it in her sash, “She’s been gone too long.”
“Think she’ll come back?”
Crystal pondered this for a moment and then shrugged.
“Perhaps. If the situation is dire enough.”
Too long in the mists. Regardless of what the letter said; if there was trouble, she and Stal would have to know about it. It was time to start researching.