Once home to the Crystal Cities of the Hunter clans, Craiss Caverns is now a hollow empty shell of its former glory due to a strange misfortune in the past. Man-made tunnels now lead to this place, but tales tell of some never returning. (+3 Defense, +2 Offense)

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Re: Drax Isn't for Real

Postby AuroraSky » 07/31/2015 3:14 PM

"Yeah." Martin said, trying to think of something that Cecelia might have actually cared about. "Did you know there used to be entire cities in these caverns?" He asked. "Oh?" He nodded. "Yep. They were called the Crystal Cities. All of their structures were made from crystal, like their houses and temples. All of it was carved right in these caverns, too."

Cecelia nodded. "Fascinating." She said, flatly. Martin grew silent, deciding to give up and just try to will himself to stay awake, when all of a sudden Cecelia turned to him with such excitement he had nearly jumped with fright. "Wait a second..." She said thoughtfully. "Are they still here?"

Martin furrowed his eyebrows. "The Hunters who lived in them? No, they had to abandon the cities long ago because-"


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Re: Drax Isn't for Real

Postby AuroraSky » 07/31/2015 3:20 PM

"No not the Hunters. Queen Aurora already told me no one lived in the caverns anymore." Cecelia said, rolling her eyes. "I mean the crystal cities! Do you think that they're still here?" Martin had to think about that for a moment. His book hadn't really said anything about the cities being destroyed when the Hunters had to flee, so there was still a good chance that the cities were still there. Intact? Perhaps, perhaps not. It had been years since the Hunters had left, and without any upkeep the structures might have been damaged. "It's...possible." Martin said, though doubtfully. "If they are, though, there's no telling what's in there now."

Cecelia rolled her eyes again. "What could be in there, Martin?" She asked. "Like you said, all the Hunters left."

"Yeah but-"

"But what?"


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Re: Drax Isn't for Real

Postby AuroraSky » 07/31/2015 4:51 PM

He hated when she wouldn't let him finish. "But according to the books, the Hunters weren't the only things living inside of the caverns!" He blurted before she had the chance to cut him off again. Martin had raised his voice so loud that it had rang through the tunnels around them, echoing as if there had been a hundred of him, and he became painfully reminded of the fear he had felt before. That they weren't alone in the caverns.

But Cecelia looked to be less than impressed. "Martin, the only things left in the caverns are bats and bugs. And neither of those things can hurt you. Unless the bats fly into your face or something," She saw Martin's horrified expression. "But I won't let that happen." She added quickly.

Martin still wasn't convinced. He frowned. "But what about Drax?"


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now you
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a gleam...




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Re: Drax Isn't for Real

Postby AuroraSky » 07/31/2015 4:56 PM

"What's a Drax?" Cecelia asked him as they continued down the tunnel. So far they had been traveling down the same, straight tunnel, walls so narrow they could barely walk side by side, and Martin felt uncomfortable with the fact that they were heading deeper and deeper into the heart of the caverns. "Drax is a name." Martin answered, taking a peak behind them as if merely saying Drax's name would summon him. "They said he was a monster. A great monster, that looked like a rabid dog, with claws like butcher's knives and a tail with a mighty weapon that could smash right through crystal." He said, adding a whoosh for effect.

"Oh, yeah? Is that why the Hunters left?"

"Hmm? No." Martin shook his head. "The Hunters were able to drive him back and keep him at bay, though he didn't go down without a fight." He remembered the tales of how Drax's tail had cut right through the Hunter's, scattering them into a million little pieces. It had taken dozens of them to finally subdue the beast. Martin shuddered.


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a gleam...




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Re: Drax Isn't for Real

Postby AuroraSky » 07/31/2015 11:50 PM

"Then why are you so afraid of him now?"

"Because, Cece, the Hunters are gone now. Which means that Drax is free to run around the caverns and attack," Or eat, he thought with terror. "Whatever he wants. And no one can stop him." Martin said, tugging on her hand. Just looking at her, Martin could tell Cecelia wasn't at all concerned with Drax, at least nowhere near as much as he now was. Why couldn't she see? "Martin, how long ago did the Hunters leave the caverns?" She asked.

Martin struggled to recall. He didn't see what that had to do with anything. "Years ago. Decades, I think. Maybe even a century?" That was what the book had said, hadn't it? "Well, if the Hunters left that long ago, what makes you think that Drax, if he even existed, is still alive now? Shouldn't he be dead by now?"


I know you
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That look in y
our eyes is so familiar,

a gleam...




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Re: Drax Isn't for Real

Postby AuroraSky » 07/31/2015 11:55 PM

Martin flushed, now feeling quite silly. Cecelia was more than right. The Hunters had left the caverns so long ago, what did make Martin feel as though Drax might still be roaming the ruins? It simply wasn't logical, and Martin had felt stupid for now seeing so before. "Oh." Was all that he could muster. Cecelia half smiled at him and and then, in that way she knew he hated, ruffled his hair. "You know, for a kid who's so smart, you can be a dummy sometimes." She said, bounding up a little faster than him.

Martin paused, folding his arms. He huffed. He was no dummy. He was analytical, fearful, and might have still had the immaturity that came naturally to a five year old, but Martin was no dummy. All the tests had proved that notion wrong long ago. "I am not a dummy." He said firmly, but Cecelia wasn't paying him any attention anymore. Instead she was shining her light back and forth across the tunnel, which hadn't seemed to change at all since they had started walking.


I know you
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th you once upon a dream
I k
now you
That look in y
our eyes is so familiar,

a gleam...




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Re: Drax Isn't for Real

Postby AuroraSky » 08/05/2015 9:07 AM

As they strolled, once again in silence, Martin couldn't shake his uneasiness. While what Cecelia was saying did seem theoretically logical, Martin wasn't entirely sure that she was correct. After all, they lived in Skytaen and Evelon, where spirits and demons and monsters and witches and vampires and voodoo queens were very much real. Magic ran their world, and Martin himself had met beings who had been living for centuries though appearing to be quite young. So who was to say that Drax was just an old wive's tale? "Do you remember where they said the cities were?" Cecelia asked him, interrupting his thoughts.

Martin tried to remember. "I think they said they were in the heart of the cavern. Which means the middle."

"I know what that means." Cecelia muttered.

[26][26]


I know you
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th you once upon a dream
I k
now you
That look in y
our eyes is so familiar,

a gleam...




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Re: Drax Isn't for Real

Postby AuroraSky » 08/05/2015 9:12 AM

Cecelia pointed up straight ahead. "So if we're trying to get to the middle, we should just keep down this tunnel, then." She decided, half asking half telling Martin their plan. "How big are these caverns anyway?" Cecelia said, looking back over her shoulder. For a second Martin had thought that perhaps she was feeling a little skeptical of continuing on, and he had gotten excited at the prospect of turning back, but then Cecelia had said, "We'll be walking down this thing forever. But once we get to the end, think of how amazing it will be!" And all of his hope had died.

They continued walking down, hand in hand. They walked, and they walked, and they walked until Martin could feel his knees beginning to buckle and the blisters on his feet getting sore. He had been trying to conceal his discomfort, but now it was becoming too great. "My feet hurt." He complained.

[32][32]


I know you
I walked wi
th you once upon a dream
I k
now you
That look in y
our eyes is so familiar,

a gleam...




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Re: Drax Isn't for Real

Postby AuroraSky » 08/28/2015 10:38 AM

"Martin." Cecelia groaned in that tone where Martin knew that he was really beginning to wear on her patience. But how could he help himself? He was almost five years younger than Cecelia, and quite a bit shorter. With the rate that she had been going, his little legs could barely keep up with her, not to mention he still hadn't gotten any sleep. Next time, he told himself, he would just let Cecelia go about her business.

Fat chance of that happening.

"We're almost there." Cecelia told him. "I can feel it." Martin couldn't imagine how his sister could have known that, he was the one with the pretty extensive knowledge of the caverns, but decided to just go with it. Better not to make her any more tired of him that she already was. "Okay." He agreed weakly.

[37][37]


I know you
I walked wi
th you once upon a dream
I k
now you
That look in y
our eyes is so familiar,

a gleam...




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Re: Drax Isn't for Real

Postby AuroraSky » 09/26/2015 9:58 PM

Image

From a cavern tunnel a ways from the children, the beast stirred to awake from his slumber, his fur coming to life with fiery green anger. He blinked his eyes to adjust them to the darkness around him, before rising up to stand on all of his fours.

Yes, he could feel it now, a disturbance. Somewhere deep within the caverns was a presence that the beast had barely known; a presence that he had not felt in quite some time. Drax gave a deep, guttural growl that sent the resting bats about him into a fearful flurry, a rabid foam forming and dripping from his snout onto the cavern floor.

He had been asleep for quite some time now. Once the Hunters had fled, Drax had had no challengers left, leaving the caverns as his playground. And once his patrolling had proven to be fruitless, Drax had resolved to taking a well deserved rest, waiting for a new challenger to come to him, waiting for his next mighty battle.

And now, it seemed, the time had come.


I know you
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th you once upon a dream
I k
now you
That look in y
our eyes is so familiar,

a gleam...




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Re: Drax Isn't for Real

Postby AuroraSky » 09/26/2015 10:03 PM

"Come on Martin!" Cecelia whined, ducking into another one of the crystal caves.

Martin, who was desperately trying to be as excited about their discovery of the crystal ruins as his sister was, yawned with the exhaustion his five year old body could not take. Smacking his gums together, Martin shuffled after Cecelia, nearly tripping over his own feet. "I'm coming!" He called after her.

He couldn't exactly recall the details of when they had actually found the caverns, only that when they had it had been breathtaking. From a tiny groove in the cavern ceiling, moonlight had been able to peep through, and the crystal was reflecting it in every which way. Martin and Cecelia had been bathed in lights of blue, purple, green, and white, and it had all been so wondrous.

Martin yawned.


I know you
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th you once upon a dream
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now you
That look in y
our eyes is so familiar,

a gleam...




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Re: Drax Isn't for Real

Postby AuroraSky » 09/26/2015 10:10 PM

Inside the cave, which couldn't have been longer than twenty feet and what Martin had imagined to be a standard living space for the Hunter, Cecelia was eagerly fingering all of the ruins. Picking up the fragments with the same frailty a gardener would have grabbing up weeds out of the ground, Cecelia inspected the crystals, her tongue stuck out in determination. When she grew bored, she dashed it away over her shoulder and grabbed something else.

Beside her, Martin was gingerly picking up pieces of crystal between his fingers before cupping it into his palm like he was holding a baby bunny. He oohed and aahed, and held it up to the light to give it a proper look. "Magnificent." Martin breathed.


I know you
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th you once upon a dream
I k
now you
That look in y
our eyes is so familiar,

a gleam...




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