Fantasy Windfalls - The Clandestine Forest

[Firebright]

Mironna was stunned to silence at the sight of the Wolf. She had expected a ravenous creature not a man. She yelped as he grabbed her throat and hung her on the tree. Being a rather short and tiny girl she was held up off the ground as he rooted through her stuff. She prayed that he wouldn't break a vial. she had several the had ready made acid in them and she didn't want him to hurt himself on them. 


Would he kill her now? Perhaps he would.  Then to her surprise he lifted her from the tree and set her on her feet. Hanging her bag back on her should he gestured to the barrier furiously. He wanted her to leave. She should leave, she knew this, but the fact that he was telling her to made her want to stay. He intrigued her and so far he hadn't killed her yet. Deliberately she shook her head no as she placed her hands on her hips. 


@TheSpaceInBetween @Tedronai

 

[TheSpaceInBetween]

Arturo was surprised at her defiance towards him, was this girl a complete idiot? Snarling deeply he approached her his eyes glowing a bright yellow fists clenching tightly as his teeth and claws elongated he roared loudly in her face. He wanted her out and now! Grabbing her arm he dragged her over to the barrier he growled again pointing with clawed fingers.


"Go!...Go!" He snarled deeply. His vocabulary was limited after all those years alone. Why bother talking if no one was there to listen. He pushed her forward glaring at her darkly.

 

[Firebright]

Mironna's breath froze in her chest with fear.  He roared as her and she tried not to flinch. She caught her hand aflame and waved it at him threatening to burn him. "No!" she yelled at him. she had no fear of him and he could make her do nothing. Why did he want her to leave? Was he this hate filled? What would happen if she showed him a bit of kindness?


Rather hastily she shoved past him and marched to a rock. Sitting down on a large flat rock she pulled out a book and began to read ignoring his raging fury. He tongue absentmindedly twisting around her labret.  


@TheSpaceInBetween

 

[TheSpaceInBetween]

Arturo's eyes widened as she caught her hand on fire and tried to burn him! He jumped back in surprise he didn't want to be burned that would hurt, why was she doing this? Snarling to himself as she told him 'No' What was this girl? Glaring at her as she pushed past him having the audacity to ignore his demands. 


Growling to himself he paced back and forth staring at her as she read her book, he had to get her out now! He growled loudly "Go!" He roared his voice echoing through the trees. His eyes glowed yellow as he dropped slowly to the floor. He arched his back and deep black fur started to burst from his skin, claws growing thicker that fingers and sharper than diamonds. His muzzle grew out of his face his sharp teeth dripping with saliva. 


He padded towards the witch growling fiercly. 


@Firebright

 

[Firebright]

Mironna looked up at him as he transformed into a full fledged wolf. Vicious and snarling she stood and stumbled backwards away from him. She fell over and tumbled down off the rock and to the forest floor. Her heart was pounding. There was no doubt that he would kill her, why would she not run? How stupid was she for wanting to stay. For feeling drawn by curiosity towards him. 


She stood hastily and snatched a vial out of her bag. She smashed it on a stone and thick purple smoke filled the air and she disappeared from his view. She reappeared behind him when the smoke cleared. Her hands now filled with burning fire.  She felt a throbbing in her head from where she had fallen and blood dripped down her forehead from her hairline. 


@TheSpaceInBetween 

 

[TheSpaceInBetween]

The wolf snarled still approaching agonisingly slow claws digging into the ground ready to pounce.


He snorted and snarled at the thick purple smoke swiping at the plumes to clear them away.  His head tilted at the scent now behind him turning his back arched at the fire in her hands he hated fire, truly hated fire it both struck fear in his heart and lit a fire  deep within. 


He padded forward and leapt leapt forward landing on the witch weighing her down he brought his muzzle to her eyes roaring loudly the sound echoing to a deep rumble around them both. He opened his jaws to bite down on her neck but stopped and looked to the barrier snarling he darted of into the forest.


@Firebright @Tedronai ( you have the floor guardian)

 

[Tedronai]

Main Street was quiet and peaceful; not a soul in sight. Even the square still a quarter of a mile distant was empty. It was the kind of peaceful that Ned had thought he would enjoy when he’d chosen retirement, but he was the embodiment of nature and nature was life, and life was anything but peaceful and empty. He continued into town, realising that he was humming and even fidgeting. He would have welcomed any break and a moment later he was left wishing he’d been more careful in what he’d wished for.


The sky darkened in an instant as thick cumulus clouds closed in over the hitherto clear sky and a chill wind blew. Something was wrong, he could feel it. Without a second thought he stepped from the paved footpath onto someone’s perfectly manicured lawn. Though he was clothed he could feel the grass underfoot as though it were a part of him. He reached into the grass with his essence, through the roots into the soil and from there he was everywhere.


Ned turned around and looked across the hilly terrain within the barrier and listened. He had crossed his little town in a heartbeat. In truth as the embodiment of nature he was near omnipresent, and simply had to choose where this form, this avatar materialised. There was trouble here, he had felt it, and it did not take him long to find it.


Up ahead lay the body of a small human. He knew she was still alive and a moment later began to stir. As she picked herself up from the floor as he made his way towards her. Reaching her side he saw that she was unsteady, likely because of the head wound he could now see. Ned took her elbow to aid her but only succeeded in startling her. Pressing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose he smiled to ease her. “Well, hello little lady. What brings you out her?”


@Firebright @TheSpaceInBetween

 

[Firebright]

Mironna caught her breath as she stood and none other than the Guardian helped her up. She flinched away from him and looked off after the Wolf. Turning back to him she smiled and lifted her hood back to her head. "I am a witch Sir. One of the ones who maintains the barrier. My name is Mironna. I came to uh...check it." She trailed off looking again in the direction of the Wolf. Why was she so drawn to him. He hated her.


She adjusted her cloak and her necklaces. A shill sweeping through her and she nearly toppled over. All her weight falling onto the guardian as her vision swam. Darkness threatened to over take her. She fumbled in her bag for a vial. When she found it she popped out the cork and drank it quickly. As quickly as it started her vision cleared and she was able to hold herself up. She pulled away from the Guardian. "My apologies Sir".


@Tedronai @TheSpaceInBetween

 

[Tedronai]

"Oh, please," he said, waving away the formalities. "No need for that. Call me Ned."


Though he smiled warmly he watched her carefully. The elixir she'd just taken was taking effect, she certainly seemed more steady on her feet. Even so, he was ready to catch her if she swooned again. She still seemed a little vacant, staring off into the distance, sentence unfinished


She hadn't really answered him and he wasn't sure if that was because she was having difficulty concentrating, or was being intentionally evasive. With that head wound he was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. He could have healed it in a snap, but with his powers waning he was loathe to use them unnecessarily. It might come to it yet for while he would rather not push her he needed an answer. Something was very wrong here.


"Do you remember how you came to be out here, Mironna? If you help maintain the barrier then you know the danger here."

 

[Firebright]

Mrionna nodded, "I came here to fix a breach" She was lying through her teeth but didnt care, "I must have tripped and fallen through" She reached up to swipe a streak from her forehead. she wrapped her cloak around her securely hoping that Ned wouldn't realize her true intent on coming here. Her thoughts flickered back to the wolf and his human form. Those bright green eyes that had so quickly changed to yellow. He was just a man...well... a man with some anger issues. why was he kept here? Surely is imprisonment wasnt right. Her mind flashed back to his violence towards her. Perhaps his imprisonment was needed. 


@Tedronai

 

[Tedronai]

"A breach?" Ned shouted, seizing Mironna's shoulders before he regained control of himself.


Thunder rolled overhead, yet even if that had not drowned her out he would still not have heard another word after that. He had known something was wrong here and now he knew what. The wolf was trying to escape and if the witches had sensed a breach he must have been close to succeeding.


Images of the slaughter that had earned him his incarceration flashed unbidden across his mind's eye. What would he do if he got free, what price would the inhabitants of Windfalls pay this time?


"The wolf," he said, forcing himself not to shout at the girl, but his impatience almost overwhelmed him. "Have you seen him? Which way did he go?"

 

[Firebright]

Mironna stumbled back away from Ned. Her lie had inflicted more panic than intended. "No, the wolf was not here. I believe it just was the normal wear and tear of time. I haven't had to mend this sector in the years. The wolf can not escape." She breathed out a deep breath as the wind filtered about her. Ned's change had scared her. Why was he so afraid of the wolf escaping? Would he be that violent? the wolf could have killed her yet he had not. She just knew she had to see him again.


@Tedronai 

 

[Tedronai]

Ned breathed, though he did not need to, though he hadn't even realised he had stopped. Those words brought him the greatest sense of relief he had ever felt, and with over sixty thousand years of life to look back over, that was no small statement. The wolf had not escaped, had not even been here, and yet nevertheless something was wrong, something had drawn him here. Perhaps it was his own fears.


When he had felt the irresistible pull here he had been musing on the wolf's fate, and when that cold shiver had come he had been visited with chilling visions of certain slaughter. There was no doubt in his mind that if the wolf ever escaped his prison Windfalls would be awash with blood. He would not stop, not until everyone was dead or he was. Ned had been hoping to find a solution but in the face of that realisation there was only one way this could end. He could not let him go, he would just find his way back here, and he could not keep him here. Even if he were that cruel it was just tempting fate and as this morning had proved, eventually something would go wrong with the barrier. It was sad but obvious. The wolf had to die.


@Firebright  @TheSpaceInBetween sorry it took so long, shit got busy.

 

[Firebright]

Mironna relaxed and turned to leave back to way she had come. Her mind had cleared and she fingered a vial in the bag. Vowing to come back again tomorrow she opened the barrier and stepped back through. The wolf was also a man. She needed to determine if he was good or evil. She walked back to her house and brought out her alchemy set. Carefully she began to mix some new regents.


@Tedronai @TheSpaceInBetween

 

[TheSpaceInBetween]

(So very sorry guys, been very busy and stuff but here I am with a pulling things out of the dead post, not finished editing don't post untill I tag you guys) 


He pressed himself against a tree and listened to the witch and the Guardian talk, his head tilted as the witch mentioned that the wolf wasn't here and explained that she just tripped and fell. He could feel the air change as the Guardian shouted wondering if he had escaped him confines. Thunder rolled by causing a shiver to go through him. He was going to kill him he was sure if that. 


The wolf side had a deep deep hatred for the Guardian for trapping him all these years, leaving him alone and giving a bad name to his whole being after all these years he had become this fierce hateful being. Before this even happened it was different he was only angry when he had to be. The Wolf made that clear accepting the scorching hatred for years so that was all he knew. 


Arturo shifted back back into his human form and walked through the forest in deep contemplation. 


He could fight..but the guardian had power he couldn't even fathom. The only weapon Arturo had was his words and he hadn't spoken in years. 


He he paused in thought and a smile came to his face. The witch. She held a curiosity towards him now he would force her to help him or at least try to communicate with her. 


@Firebright @Tedronai

 

[Firebright]

Mironna woke the next morning and threw her new regents into her padded bag. Wrapping her cloak around her self she walked back towards the barrier. There was a slight chill to the air and wind was swirling about today. It caught her hair and whipped it around like flames. When she approached the barrier she opened it quickly for her to enter then shut it. As soon as she was inside to pulled out a vial and downed the liquid inside. Is tasted like honey and made her feel warm inside. Instantly her senses sharpened. Colors brighter, smells stronger, sound louder. With these new senses she began to look for the Wolf.


@TheSpaceInBetween @Tedronai 

 

[Tedronai]

The guardian had at long last reached his decision. The wolf had to die, it was the only way to ensure the safety of the people of Windfalls.


Ned squinted in the morning light as it glared off the lenses of glasses he did not need, and yet had somehow felt right when he'd created this avatar. As he shielded his eyes he studied the heavens. Though such measures were anything but reliable in this magical realm, judging by the position of the sun at least a day had past since he'd ventured into this shielded area. That in itself was nothing unusual, he had for so long lived with seasons being the smallest measure of time with which he was concerned. Living day by day was still not something to which he had become accustomed.


Once again Ned reached into the ground through the soles of his avatars feet and was one with all of the earth. It was like going home, but he was not here to be at peace. Ned searched for the presence of the wolf upon the surface of what was in essence his back, and with so small an area to search it was quickly complete. With his target found he rematerialized before the wolf.


"Well, hello and good morning mister wolf." Nature could be harsh but it was never cruel, and just because you were about to kill someone there was no call for rudeness.

 

[TheSpaceInBetween]

Arturo was making adjustments to his shelter, adding more waterproof sap and leaves. He felt something enter, it was the witch. Her curiosity had peaked about him now he would ask for help. He would talk to the Guardian, try to reason with him about his release explain how much he has changed and how he is in full control of the wolf. 


He picked up an axe to make a few more slits when his light was blocked by something.


"well,hello and good morning mister wolf" 


looking up he yelped in fear dropping the axe as he backed away. " You gave me a fright Guardian. What do I owe this pleasure? Have you thought about terms of my release? I would be very grateful if you would let me go. I am in full control of the wolf. The only issue I have is when the moon is full but I cannot help those emotions. I have no family now so I wish to remain in solotude in the home where I grew up. Instead of this prison."


he explained as he stopped at a tree. A pleasing look in his eyes.


@Firebright @Tedronai

 

[Tedronai]

Ned watched the wolf backpedal, his back arched like a frightened dog. He was more animal than man, even the words the spilled rapid-fire from him seemed more barks than speech. As he continued Ned let his thoughts wander, taking in the crude domicile that the wolf had been attempting to build prior to his arrival. Aside from the pleasant aroma of sap that lingered around it the building was a shamble, more kennel than house. Yet further proof if he needed it that the wolf was beyond saving.


Ned realised that the wolf had stopped speaking and snapped himself out of his introspection. Looking to him he saw what even in humans would be referred to as puppy-dog eyes. It was all painfully evident to him that he had arrived at the right conclusion.


“Well, as a matter of fact I have been thinking about the terms of your release.” Ned took the glasses from his face and began to pointlessly clean the lenses on his green cardigan. “I’ve come to conclusion that I can’t release you.”


As he spoke the world around them stirred, and the tree against which the wolf had come to a stop began to move. The branches changed, became fluid and wrapped around the wolf, trapping him. “If it makes you feel any better, at least you won’t be imprisoned any longer.”


@TheSpaceInBetween @Firebright

 

[TheSpaceInBetween]

Arturo's brow raised in false hope as the guardian mentioned about his release. He then mentioned that he wouldn't be released. 


He felt the ground shift and rumble under his feet, this was it. He was going to get swallowed up by the ground , buried alive.


he growled deeply as the branches wrapped around him, he struggled feircly as his eyes glowed. 


"Look! I know you have every reason to kill me. But what happend, happened so long ago. I was young and stupid and angry. I'm sorry about your family. I was feuled by the loss of my own family. I come to terms with my mistake you should come to terms with yours. I forgive you.." 


He stopped struggling and closed his eyes a few stray tears dripping down his cheeks as he waited for death to come. 


@Firebright @Tedronai

 

[Tedronai]

"I forgive you."


Those words hit Ned, shaking him more than the trembling earth had a moment ago. What did the wolf mean? He had only acted to keep the peace, to stop a murderous rampage and protect people. He had done nothing that needed forgiveness.


"Yes," he said, hearing yet another tremble, this time of anger in his voice. Trying to keep a level tone and failing he continued. "I have every reason to kill you. Yet you have me at a loss. In all of this, prey tell, what was my mistake?"


@TheSpaceInBetween @Firebright