Subj: [ffml] [HD] The Broken Geomancer Date: 01-02-15 22:37:04 EST From: dshumate@bbtel.com (Shumate) Reply-to: ffml@yahoogroups.com To: ffml@yahoogroups.com (Final Fantasy Mailing List), HillionDynasty@egroups.com (Hillion Dynasty Mailing List) *Well, I finally decided to introduce a second character into HD... I'm afraid I didn't do as good a job on this chapter as I would have liked to have, but I'm half-asleep as it is... so here it is. For those of you who know what "Furries" are, well, Gray is a cat one. Your move, Pyxie :-) ------------------------------------------ Gray Errellant darted quickly through the lush foliage of Firln Wood, slipping silently over forestland that had been his home for all nineteen years of his life. Had been. Gray belonged to a race of creatures known as Lithes, seemingly a cross between a Human and a feline, though Humans and Lithes were actually very distantly related. Loose, baggy clothing garbed him, colored to let him blend into the forest surroundings. his clothing concealed the short, bright yellow fur that covered his entire body, save where his shoulder-length, brown hair grew. Gray's feline ears, tufted and poking up through his hair, perked up as he detected a keening, shrill whine filling the air. Gray nimbly dodged behind a tree as an arrow shot through the space he had just occupied, striking another tree with a thwack. He broke into a quick dash, his tail balancing his slender form, slightly shorter than an average human. Abruptly, the screening foliage gave way to a clearing, and Gray skidded to a halt. His grey, elliptical feline eyes that were his namesake scanned the clearing rapidly, picking out only one figure in the grassy circle itself, with several more waiting at the fringe of trees opposite from him. Rustles of foliage sounded behind him and to his sides, and Gray muttered a soft curse as he realized that he was surrounded completely. He turned to face the other in the clearing, a Lithe like himself, with white fur, patterned with spots. "Aaron..." Gray said softly, hoping that maybe trying to talk things out one last time might help. Aaron, his best friend since he had been a cub, drew his short sword, glaring at Gray with hate-filled eyes. "You..." Aaron seethed, nearly hissing through his teeth. "I can't believe I even know you! You disgust me!" Gray flinched at the piercing words. "To go against us like this... our village, our way of lives, to use MAGIC!" Aaron said, building in volume until he was practically screaming. Gray stepped back involuntarily. "I... I d-didn't m-m-m-mean t-t-to..." Gray swallowed, his stutter that he had had for his entire life showing with his nervousness. He hadn't meant to use magic, to break every rule of his village and religion. But what else could he have done, with the accursed raiding Lycans burning his village? He hadn't meant to make the forest come alive... Magic was revered as a sacred force by his people, a force only suitable for use by what the Lithes believed were the true gods... Espers. Mortals using magic was the most dire blasphemy possible. Yet, as Gray had watched his village burning not a month gone, rage blinding him, he found himself making the very forest and earth rise up, tearing into the invading canines with rocks and crushing them to death with living roots. Gray had been hunted by his own people, in his own homeland, for nearly a month. He could barely remember what had happened in the battle, yet his best friend was standing opposite from him, ready to kill him. Despair poured through his being as he watched Aaron advance. The other Lithes in the woods around him notched their longbows, or drew throwing daggers, complacently waiting their turns if Aaron, the foremost hunter of the still half-destroyed village, were to fall. Gray closed his eyes in resignation and hung his head, not even bothering to draw his twin set of heavy knives that hung at his waist. There was no way he could get out of this, no way he could... Aaron raised his sword above Gray, the short length of steel whistling slightly in the air as the white-furred Lithe raised it above Gray's head. A small part of Gray's mind could not bear to allow him to give up, though. Gray gasped slightly as he felt that part of himself reached out, latching onto... something. It felt like... the earth. The land. He felt the very ground and trees as if they were a part of himself, the entire planet. Aaron cried out fearfully as he felt something grip his legs. Looking down, the Lithe saw thick tree roots twisting and winding around his legs, his waist, lifting him into the air before throwing him away from Gray. Gray seemed to be in a state of shocked trance as the Lithes in the trees found their wooden bows shattering into splinters of their own according. The trees seemed to move of their own accord, blocking and entrapping Lithes. The ground lurched, splitting in several places, and sending several cats to their death below. Gray recovered dazedly and looked in horror as the environment moved to protect him. *No... not again... gods, not again...* Gray thought. He whirling around and, driven by sheer terror, ran faster than he ever had in his life. * * * Evening tinged the sky with a multitude of colors hours later as the sun slowly sank beneath the horizon. Gray lay unconscious at the edge of a small forest path. He was battered and bruised from running blindly through the woods, until a short cliff that lead down the path had brought involuntary sleep, bringing a stop to his terror. A net of healing herbs sprung from the ground, wrapping around Gray as a blanket. The forest certainly has to protect the one true Geomancer the world had seen in three millennia... -Arcanis Subj: [ffml] [HD] Upon a Forest Path Date: 01-02-20 18:52:28 EST From: dshumate@bbtel.com (Shumate) Reply-to: ffml@yahoogroups.com To: ffml@yahoogroups.com (Final Fantasy Mailing List), HillionDynasty@egroups.com (Hillion Dynasty Mailing List) Gray tumbled through darkness, freefalling through the blackness of unconsciousness. Images filled his mind, a rapid barrage of flashing, one after the other. His home, his childhood, his friends, his family, his entire life filled his mind, washing him in guilt. Then came the darker images... his friends, his village, soaked in blood. Swallowed by the ground he had somehow pulled apart, choked to death by the forest, dying from poisonous plants that had sprouted from the ground and grown in seconds, or by a mass of lethal forest snakes, pulling their shrieking forms down with venomous fangs... Then, another set of images. The earth, the landscape, nature, abruptly ripped apart, torn asunder by shrill keening bombs, falling shells of death and destruction. Fire consumed a distant land, bringing down human structures, trees, and plants alike. The very earth screamed with agony and pain as it's body was ravaged, and Gray wanted to scream with it. Pain, fire, screaming... "...is it..." "...think..." "....barely breathing..." "...get Pyx..." Scattered voices cut into Gray's unconsciousness, pulling him out of his dark, coma-like sleep. His body ached, and he felt as if he had fallen some high cliff. From his scattered memories of last night, he believed he had. A constricting blanket of what felt like plants was being pulled off of him, hands being run over his body as if to check for injury. He somehow knew that he had none, and Gray reluctantly opened his eyes, blinking against the light filtering through the treetops that struck his yellow, furred face. "Hey, look, the thing's waking up," one of the voices said, a male one. "Don't call him 'a thing', Hortian" a melodious female voice reprimanded. Gray's feline eyes quickly adjusted to the light, though his vision was still a bit blurry from unconsciousness. He was greeted by a feminine face, assumedly the one that had just spoken, hovering over him. "Hey there," the woman said warmly, "Are you okay?" "I checked. He's fine." A large, muscular man said coldly, standing protectively near the woman. "W-where am I?" Gray asked groggily, clutching at his head as he slowly sat up. "You were out cold on the side of this path," one of two near-mirror image twins said. Gray looked around unsteadily, his bleary vision clearing. He was indeed sitting near the edge of a narrow dirt trail that wound through the forest. A steep, short cliff, presumably what he had fallen from, bordered the path closely. "Um, not to be rude, but what ARE you? And what's your name?" the woman inquired, bringing Gray's attention back to those that had awakened him. "I-I'm a L-Lithe. M-my n-n-name i-is Gray," Gray said, flushing with embarrassment at his stutter. His stutter always broke through when he met anyone of another race, especially since he so rarely did. "So your some kinda cat-person? I think I heard about some of you guys," one of the twins said. "Doncha` usually stay in the forest?" "Y-yeah," Gray said awkwardly, getting unsteadily to his feet with the aid of the human woman. "What, do you have some kinda speech imped-- impedidi-- trouble with talking?" The other twin asked. Gray flushed and nodded again. "Well, Gray," the woman said, "I'm Pyxie, and this," she said, gesturing to each person she named, "is Bix, Hortian, and Pokey. You look like you've had a rough time, why don't you come back to our campsite for a bite to eat?" "O-okay..." Gray said, scratching the back of his head, and taken back by the hospitality. "Great!" Pyxie said, clapping her hands. "You'll meet the others when we get there." Gray simply shook his head confusedly as he followed the group of humans. * * * "Wow, so you don't really have anywhere to go, do you?" Pyxie said. "I guess not," Gray said, shrugging as he surveyed the strange party, of which Pyxie seemed to be the leader. He had told the party of his village's destruction, though because he did not fully understand everything that had happened, he left his own people hunting him, and how he had somehow coerced the forest into attacking, out of the tale. At least, until he could sort out what had happened... "Well, why don't you come with us?" Pyxie asked cheerfully. Gray blinked in surprise, so did several others in her odd group. The large man, Pokey, seemed about to say something, but abandoned whatever it was. "You'll have a great time at the harem!" *The harem...?* Gray thought in confusion. He hadn't heard that term before, but he couldn't very well wander around forever. "Okay, if it's okay with you..." Gray said, his stutter mostly gone now that he had met most of the party. "Great! It's settled," Pyxie said buoyantly, standing up. "I guess we'd better get going before noon, hm?" Gray somehow felt he had gotten himself into a very fine mess of uncertainty... but somehow, he trusted this woman called Pyxie, as well as the rest of her party. -Arcanis --------- The Last Esper Head of Development for FFML RPG Co-webmaster and Chronicler for www.ffml.org Master of Nonsensical Jokes and Inane Commentary Author of Extremely Mediocre and Corny Literature