.:Character list:.
Oimohe:
Animal Form and
Human formEivr:
Animal Form and
Human formTaxikoth:
Animal Form (No pic for the human form even though that's what he uses.)
Lkot:
AnimalLkailk:
AnimalVnae:
AnimalLisei:
Animal form (There is no pic for her human form even though that is what she uses.)
.:The Story:.
A normal day, a day like many others. Well, actually... there were no 'normal' days in this place. When you see a pack of rotting canines with scales and dragon like horns running around and a Grim Paragon that's blindingly bright you can quite easily know that this isn't exactly a 'normal' place. A place where the sky is one great big ocean and not a single beast is harmless.
"Hey~ The new recruit is supposed to be in today." The oddly colored Symona had found herself in her favored spot, sitting in the lap of their
lovely leader with her arms draped around his neck. "Is it another guy? We need more guys around this place. A woman's touch is nice and all... but there's too many around here. It's bad enough to have to deal with Kairon." It was amazing how she was still alive after so long. Amazing how Oimohe hadn't put an end to her affection toward him. Maybe it was just the fact she was his oldest comrade that had yet to betray him.
His shadow, a Pot O' Darkness, did mind though and coiled up around the throne that he sat in through, head colliding with Eivr's back to shove her out of his lap. "I don't choose the gender of those that join our ranks. If you wish to make sure that we have more men in our folds, go scouting on your own. This one is another woman. I believe she said her name was Lisei, or something to that design." As he moved from his chair the Kirund, a mere pup judging by the size, slowly rose to its feet, quick to make sure it was right at his side. The younger ones usually stuck around him instead of their own kinda, as it gave them a bit more percentage of likelihood to live to a full grown Kirund.
Master, mutt, and psychotic woman all left the room together, heading toward where they were to make the portal and greet the newcomer. From their world it was just a cave made in to the side of a cliff, but from where she was she was supposed to be meeting them at a clock tower. The plan was to make the portal there where it wouldn't be noticed, and then they would destroy it once she was inside to prevent anyone else from getting in as well as keeping her from leaving if anything went wrong.
Once again she shadow took its own form, pulling away from the owner as it darted toward the cave. Its body, apparently taking on the shape of a flame like dragon, slid up the canyon wall, creating a frame for it. Now all they would have to do is walk in to the cave and they would find themselves walking out of the clock tower door instead.
"I don't see anyone..." The symona grumbled out, leaning back against the clock tower with arms crossed over her chest. "The least a newbie can do is be on time. Show they actually mean that they wanna be with us." Of course even if the other woman had been there she would have found something to comment about. She would have found the smallest little detail to tear in to the other woman about.
Instead of bothering with listening to Eivr's qualms about who they were supposed to be meeting, Oimohe's eyes fell down upon the canine at his feet, which apparently knew what the man wanted. The very second eyes had fallen upon it, it got back to its feet and scampered off, nose inches from the ground. No, it didn't know an exact scent to find. Just that there was some woman that it was supposed to find. This was a rather abandoned area, so with any hope if it found someone they would be the right woman. If it brought back the wrong person.. well that just meant a nice little snack for later.
"Oi...." While the Kirund was away it gave her the perfect chance to bother him about what was bothering her. "Why do we need new members? Aren't things a bit crowded already? You've got a whole world of creatures that listen to you, Taxikoth, myself... and even that nut case of a woman half listens to you from time to time." The other woman was of course Kairon. She hated calling her by name, for she hated her. She hated that she was still newer to the group and yet was free to do as she wanted.
There came no reply for a while as the amethyst eyes of the withdrawn being looked out at the dark night that his beast had trotted out in to. "Don't forget your place Eivr." He clearly wasn't pleased. Usually he let her say whatever she wanted, and here he was reprimanding her. "We'll do as I please. I won't shape my thoughts around what makes you happy." Of course, would it be Oimohe if he did what made people happy? Certainly not.
Tension and silence were the only things that followed his words for some time, as Eivr knew better than to keep that conversation going. It was one that there was no winning, and the loss wouldn't be a small one at that. If she was stupid enough to keep bickering with him... well she wouldn't have lasted as long as she had if she were that stupid. That was for certain.
In the distance, after a while, there could be heard a scream and then some sort of yelling. Things weren't clear until the Kirund pup came in to view once again. He was... dragging some girl by her arm toward them. Couldn't he have been a bit more careful? If that was the right person they wanted her in one piece. The poor woman appeared to have given up the fight to get away from the beast, but that didn't mean she wasn't still reacting. It was impossible to tell exactly what she was saying, but there was probably some rather colorful language within it all.
"That her...?" Eivr certainly wasn't impressed. If this woman was to be part of their ranks, what in the world was she doing freaking out over a Kirund? It wasn't even a full grown one. What did she expect to see when they got back home? Geeze... At this rate this woman would have a heart attack or something.
Oimohe gave a small nod, watching the Kirund sit down with the woman next to him, quivering. The canine's tail was wagging behind him, as if expecting praise for bringing back a horrified being. "If it weren't her, I'm rather sure that he would have brought back just an arm. She's a dragon. That tough hide is the only reason we see her here in one piece." She wasn't quite what he was expecting, but at least there was proof already that her body was sturdy. Still.... she was quivering before them. This was where she had been told to meet and it was beyond the time they were supposed to see her here. "Explain yourself, Lisei. Let us know why you shouldn't be dog chow."
Pulling her arm free from the Kirund's mouth, Lisei's lime green eyes looked up at the two looming above her.
"T-There's a f-freeze warming- I-I-I mean, freeze warning in effect!" she stammered out, rubbing her arm that she had been dragged here by. It had not a single scratch on it, seeing as how scales had covered it like armor. Now that they weren't needed they merged back with her body, looking like only a rough patch of skin for the time being. "S-Since I'm cold blooded.. I was taking the time to put on lots of clothes. I'm sorry.. I didn't realize that I was late. It's not too late though..."
She soon found herself being lifted by the collar of her shirt by the other female, coming face to face, eye to eye. Eivr's eyes were red and orange, as if there was some fire burning deep inside, which led Lisei to believe that she was honestly going to die right that moment. "When you're told to be somewhere at a certain time, you get there." her words came out in a rumbling growl, the fires of her eyes dancing around. "Don't think things are always going to be easy on you. If you want to go run around and play you shouldn't be joining us."
"That's enough..." She hadn't been expecting Oi to come out and stop her from going further on about what happened to those who were late. It had been her thoughts that he'd allow her to punish the Black Baal Dragony for holding them up. Instead he continued on, "Go ahead and take her on through the tower. If I'm not back soon, send the Paragon out here. It might turn out to be a bit hard to pull it down on my own."
Muttering something under her breath, the Symona turned back to the tower and began to drag Lisei as the Kirund had, only she had her by the collar of her shirt still instead of the arm. The moment they had stepped out of the cave that they had used as a link, Lisei found her body being slammed against the canyon wall with Eivr's hand laced around her neck, the grip certainly not friendly.
"W-What did I do wrong now? I-I would've w-walked if you wanted me to, m-ma'am." First she had been attacked by that hound and taken back to its master like a stick that had been thrown to play fetch, and now here she was getting beat up for not doing anything that she could think of. Had she been told to get up and follow she would have. No force needed.
Once again their were those eyes... Those eyes that wished to take away all life like the fires that they resembled. She could feel the pressure as the woman's claws tried to dig in. Thank the deities that her rough hide didn't give way so easily. "I'll be watching your every step. One mistake and you'll find that your skin won't always keep you safe." Lisei could feel her neck warming up, as if the woman's hand was on fire... but it wasn't? Sure felt like it. "Your best bet to life is to stay as far from Oimohe as you can. Stay out of the shadows."
Eivr finally released the other's neck, watching her fall to the ground and place a hand gently on her neck. "Stay here while I go get the Paragon. More away from there and don't expect to live much longer." With that Lisei was now left by herself for some time.
Back on the other side, Oimohe and the Kirund were trying to tackle the problem of the clock tower. It was old and slowly starting to fall apart, but
try as they might, the clock tower just wouldn't move at this rate. If it had been a full grown Kirund with him, it would have been possible that he could had strapped a harness of some type to them to have them pull it down. As it was though, he'd just have to wait for Eivr to bring the Paragon. Not Lkailk, but the other one, the nameless one. It was much better for these things that required brute force.
It had taken a bit longer than he would have liked, but after a while the Paragon had made it in to the same realm as him. "Leave the rest to me... I'll make it back through the normal connection when I know no one will see me and try to follow me through." Already he had moved to the side of the tower, claws grating against it as he looked down at the one who had demanded he be brought here.
"Good. I'll leave this to you than." The words were barely muttered before he had slipped away in to the clock tower, the pup at his heels like a little child clinging to its parent. Not more than a few seconds after they had moved to the safety of their own realm had the Paragon sent the tower crashing down beneath his weight, tearing it to mere rubble within seconds.
Both women looked at the two as they arrived back, Oimohe's shadow slinking back down to spiral around him before slipping back down to the earth. Eivr certainly wasn't pleased when she heard the words, "Give her a tour around the place. Or at least take her to Taxikoth so he can." come from the tanned guy. Joy... She was stuck with the other woman for a while longer. Did he just
want her to kill the newcomer? Before he left them he added in a quick, "And don't think about disposing of her. I didn't go out there to see her dead within one night."
Once he had slipped out of sight the poor Black Baal Dragony could feel the eyes of the other woman gleaming down at her. "Ah.. I-I'll be fine on my own, ma'am.. I'm sure I could manage to find my way around after a little while." It was clear that she didn't want any trouble and was.. possibly even afraid of Eivr? Well, the woman had attacked her once already while their leader of sorts hadn't been around."
"No... I've at least got to get you over to Taxikoth..." The quicker she drug the sniveling excuse of a dragon to the scientist the sooner she could get away back to her favorite spot. Well, if she wouldn't get kicked out for being so snotty to Lisei. "Just get up and follow me. And I do mean follow closely. I don't want you getting killed off on my watch. That's just trouble I definitely do not need right now." Moments later her feet were swiftly carrying her away from the other woman and closer to their destination.
It took Lisei a moment to scramble to her feet, but she did finally follow after Eivr. Already she was having doubts about having joined up with these people. She didn't really even know too much about them. In fact, she was beginning to wonder if she was even told the truth about them. She certainly wouldn't be sleeping for a few days... not until she felt safer about being here. Trying to run away was even becoming a hot topic in her mind.
As if almost on que, Eivr's head turned slightly so her eyes could glance back at the other. "Thinking about running?
Don't even try. Your colors will fall right off once you run in to some of the beast that roam around these lands. After that I'm pretty sure they'll make you a snack too. That thing that brought you to us? It's called a Kirund. That was just a pup in fact. Fully grown you're lucky if your head would even come to their shoulders. It's not like you're very tall after all. They travel in packs too, so just your precious tough skin wouldn't be able to protect you when they're all working on mauling you. If they didn't get you some of the other beasts would." She let out a small chuckle and shook her head. "There's just no way you'd get out of here alive, you know."
"I kinda figured that was the case..." Lisei let out a small sigh, rubbing her arm as she remembered the fangs of the pup grating against her flesh. "Don't worry... I'm not going to run off. Even though I know you don't exactly want me to be here... I'll stick around since my greatest chance of living seems to be if I go meet this Taxikoth person and let him take me under his wing."
Another chuckle. Apparently there was something wrong with being around Taxikoth as well. "You'll be lucky if he doesn't decide you'll be the next experiment. Maybe that's why Oi wanted you in the first place. It'd certainly explain why he would tell me to take him to you." Joy... So that meant there wasn't a single sane person around here. If she wasn't putting up with the woman that would rather have her dead she would have to put up with some sort of crazy scientist. Oh well... She'd take her chances with the scientist. Sad as it was... that still seemed the safest place to be currently.
The silence that followed Lisei's words wasn't left to stand for long. They had come upon a building with some type of Fellox infront of it that she had never seen before in her life. Was this creature made by Taxikoth...? Wait.. Maybe it was one of those pets that she had heard about being created by some crazy scientist named Einsor? Either way, this wasn't a normal Fellox and for some reason its eyes were locked on her. "Chill. Oi said to bring her here." Oh good... Seemed like Eivr was going to keep up to her orders and make sure she made it to her destination. Thank the gods that the beast seemed to relax once again at the words of the other.
Pushing the door open, Eivr looked at Lisei and continued, "This is as far as I'm going. Just head on in and Taxikoth should be in there somewhere... Might be asleep. Most of the creatures in there are pretty harmless too, so I guess it'll be okay if I head on back now." Oh great... Now she was running off and leaving her to find a guy that she didn't even know. Maybe he was the only human, or humanoid, being in the building. She let out a sigh, noticing Eivr was already out of sight. Oh well... Might as well do her best to figure things out.
As she entered the building her eyes began to roam around. Seemed like... a normal house? For the most part at least. The furniture and such seemed a bit odd, but it had the same set-up as a house. Walking beyond the living room of sorts her hand pressed against a door, forcing it to slowly slide open. It was a dark room... Seemed like maybe a bedroom, but no lights were on so it was rather hard to tell. Dark... Holy Xai're! What was that that had just gone across her foo- A shrill scream rang through the air as Lisei felt something wrap around her leg. Her eyes told her it was a Duo-Nagi... One which could apparently quickly end her life if it so pleased even though it was so tiny.
Time seemed to stand still for a while before the feeling of the serpent around her leg seemed to vanish. The hand of another had slipped down to take hold of it and pull it away, pretty much just throwing it back out in to the livingroom. "If you're going to intrude in to my dwelling the least you could do is be quiet about it..." Apparently she had woken him up. The human form Shimin had gotten up out of his bed and gone over to her with covers clinging to him. It had either been that or show the boxers to some girl that randomly appeared in his house in the middle of the night.
"S-sorry... Eivr, um.. I believe that's her name..., let me in. Oi..mohe? He told her to bring me to someone named... Taxikoth I believe? She said he should be here." Her words were full of stutters and pauses, not quite sure what to say. What if this guy tried to kill her for waking him up? She didn't doubt it could happen. No one around here seemed to have any sanity.
He moved to the light switch and flipped it on with a sigh. Even with the lights coming on the room seemed rather dim. The light bulbs must have been low powered. "Well... You've found him." He had already moved from the light switch over to a closet, fumbling through it to find something to put on. The blanket had been dropped as well, giving her quite the view of his boxers which were white and covered with pictures of whole watermelons and watermelon slices. It was... kinda cute. Someone that lived in this insane place had comical boxers.
Once he was fully dressed Taxikoth turned back to Lisei, giving her the quick up and down look. "Lisei the Black Baal Dragony. It would have been quite nice if they had brought you in a lot sooner..." It was easy to tell he hadn't been asleep for very long. Seemed as though he was about ready to fall back asleep. She also noticed that for some reason he hadn't been using his right arm at all. It was wrapped up in cloth and just limply hanging at his side.
"Ah. Yes, I'm Lisei." She forced a smile, even though it was a tad frightening to think that he already knew her name. "I'm sorry for waking you up. She was told to either give me a tour herself or take me to you for that and she brought me here." With any luck maybe she'd be able to nicely talk her way out of any trouble that was brewing.
"And naturally she brought you to me... She's too hot headed to deal with other women..." Walking past her, Taxikoth turned back for a moment with a wave of his hand. "Come on. Follow me and I'll give you a basic tour of the safer regions." He wasn't about to take her all over the realm. That would take days... For now he'd just take her around where the rest of the dwellings were. It'd still be a good walk since he wasn't exactly close to the others.
Oddly enough, conversations were carried on while the two of them walked around. It was nice to find that there was someone here after all that she could get along with. Taxikoth was a relatively silent person, but he didn't seem 'evil' so to say. There was something... Sad about him really. Constantly her mind was wondering what had happened in his past to bring him here or what had happened to cause him the grief which he seemed to harbor. The big question though... What was under the cloth wrapped around his arm? It didn't seem like a normal shape. Had more of a dome shape where the hand should have been and was thicker than his other arm. Well, he did seem to be the scientist of their group, so maybe he had tried an experiment on himself and things hadn't exactly gone so well.
Her thoughts were pulled away as her eyes traveled to the sky. Something was moving...? Something.... Large. And why did the sky look lik an ocean? "Hey.... Taxikoth...?" Her words had a good bit of time between them and were quite drawn out. Something just didn't seem right about this. Why were they under the water yet it didn't seem like they were...? This certainly gave a new meaning to 'under the sea'.
Finally, after a long pause while she just stood there looking up at the sky with Taxikoth staring at her, Lisei finished was she was going to say.
"I can't pretend to understand it but... are those whales in the sky?" They didn't really have the
shape of whales, but what else could it have been? They were huge!
The humanoid Shimin actually hand to laugh at her question, but shook his head in due time. "No. Those are actually some of the worst creatures around here. I'd worry about them more than the Kirunds." He had heard the story of the pup dragging her to Oimohe and Eivr, so he knew that by now she knew what those were at least. "From what I've seen they get to be roughly about the same size as the grown Kirunds or possibly a bit larger. They haven't really been given a species name, as I haven't had the chance to full study them. They aren't as trust worthy as the Kirunds. The slightest bite from one of those or prick from the barbs on their body will flush poison in to your body and you'll be dead within hours. I'm not sure if your scales would be able to hold up to the jaws of a full grown one. While they don't travel in packs like the Kirund, I'd say they likely pack more power." He said he hadn't studied them and yet he already seemed to know a lot about them.
"But... They're in the water. Wouldn't they die on land before they could do any damage?" It was a very logical question. She had never seen a creature that could live on both land and water. Well, she had seen animals that could stay under for a long amount of time, but no animals that could easily live on both land and water. With her luck these creatures could just stay under for a long time since he was talking about barbs.. Made her think of a certain type of fish.
Taxikoth shook his head and started walking once again. "They're mammals, but they really do live in the water. It's odd because they seem to have lungs. I've seen them roam around land for hours at a time. I suppose maybe they have gills as well that are hidden beneath their fur." Oh yes. He hadn't studied them at all.
The tour had gone well, and Lisei had found out about her true purpose here. She was in fact meant to be an experiment subject of sorts. Nothing major, but Oimohe wanted to figure out how her powers worked. He wanted to know what in her body could cause her scales to surface whenever she was in danger. His hopes were that if it could be figured out they would be able to use whatever gene caused it to their advantage, creating creatures that would bend to his will easily and do whatever they were told.
Despite the experiments that came in the times to follow, Lisei found she actually got along with Taxikoth quite well. She would allow him to run any test he wanted while asking him to tell her about the different creatures and places of this realm. She did see Eivr and Oimohe sometimes, but it seemed like they didn't come around here often. Lkailk the Paragon had been a rather interesting creature. He was so sweet, and yet the others seemed to hate his guts. Lkot seemed to always be under feet along with the little Duo-Nagi who she could never remember which was the male and which was the female. That trio seemed to be the cause of many a broken beaker. She had been told Vnae was a Cyber Fellox and that she should keep away from it at all times unless she wanted to be dismembered.
"Taxikoth... What will they do with me once you're done with all the experiments...?" The question had been in her mind for many days and she now asked it as she sat outside, leaning back against Lkailk's neck that was curved on the ground around her. They had gone out so the Shimin could gather some herbs, but after a while it had just turned in to a chance to relax.
The answer hadn't exactly been what she was hoping for. "I'm not fully sure. He could have me strip the power from you and kill you, or he could want you to stay here to do work for him like Eivr and myself." He left out Kairon's name because the woman had not yet gotten the chance to meet her. "Chances are that you won't be kept around though..." She felt as though she almost caught a tinge of sadness drift out through his final words.
Lkailk, who she thought had been asleep, now voiced his opinion on the matter. "Why would Mashter want Shay killed, Tako? Shay ish nishe(nice)..." He slightly lifted his head to look at Taxikoth, but didn't move too much since he knew it would only disturb her.
"You know that Oimohe doesn't care how 'nice' someone is, Lkailk. You shouldn't allow yourself to get attached to a test subject." Was he really talking to Lkailk, or was he actually meaning for himself not to get attached? It wasn't like he deeply cared about the Paragon's feelings anyways, so it shouldn't bother him that the Moonling might cause the huge beast's emotions to become upset. In fact, he would only see that as a reason to do it. It would mean that he would become cold hearted finally.
That day was possibly the first day that the Shimin had started to show that he himself was starting to grow attached to the woman that was just another test subject in the eyes of Oimohe. Eivr must have cause on to this, for he found himself being called upon by Oi one day and now he stood their infront of his throne, awaiting his words. "I think it's about we ended the experiment. You're obviously having a difficult time secluding the right gene. I want her gone by tomorrow morning." When he said gone Taxikoth knew he didn't mean just out of the realm. No experiment just freely left.. They were all finished off.
There was a pause for some time now before the Shimin's head hung down, eyes closing. "I understand. By this time tomorrow she will no longer be around." He gave what was almost a bow before finally leaving with a heavy heart. It was his fault that she was going to have to be killed and it was a lot sooner than he expected. Had he not allowed himself to get attached to her it would have been possible for her to live as he and the others did. Her life could have possibly been granted... but now things had to be put to an end.
Back in the room he had left, Eivr wrapped her arms around Oimohe's neck from where she had been standing next to him. "We'll find someone else like her some day. I'm sure it's not a trait that just one single person in that world has. If you want I'll start the search tomorrow." She wasn't sorry in the least. She had been looking for some way to get rid of that woman and she had finally found it. Oimohe allowed his subjects to get attached to no one. Well, Eivr was sort of an exemption. She knew Oimohe didn't love her and didn't care. She did everything she could because she loved him, and he was willing to put up with that so long as she didn't actually tell him of it all the time. For others to fall in love meant their life or the other person's.
"Don't bother. It wasn't an important project anyways..." A short and simple reply for a short and simple end to it all.
Lisei was there to open the door for him when he got back to the lab. "So what did he want?" She knew there had to be a reason behind him being called out there, and whatever it was must not have been a good reason judging by the detached look on the other's face.
At first he was not inclined to reply. He slipped in to the house and found his way over to one of the couches to sit down. "There has been a snag in the plans. Things have to end now Lisei..."
The sound of that didn't sound good. She slowly let the door shut before finding herself on the other couch. "What do you mean by end? You said the other day that you felt like you were getting close to finally finding the right gene. Don't you want to find it?"
Sighing, Taxikoth let his good hand slid up to rest over his eyes. "I mean things have to
end. It's over. He doesn't care about the gene anymore, and he wants you gone. Before you ask, no. He doesn't want you to just leave because you know too much about us by now and he does have a few enemies in the outside world that did manage to get away. He won't let that happen again." Judging by the silence from the draconic woman, he knew she wasn't taking this well. "Lisei... This is my fault.
I love you... but not that much. Eivr took my affection toward you and used it as a weapon. She knew that she could cause this. My love for you isn't true
love, but instead closer to friendship. The one I loved was taken from me before I even came to this place, and there is no one that would ever be able to replace her... I'm sorry Eivr has used me as a tool to get to you."
"It's okay... I understand..." Lisei muttered, eyes downcast. "I knew since the day that I asked you what the end would be that I didn't have long to live... I came to terms with that by deciding to just be happy and give you when I could. I'm almost... glad that I'll die at your hands though. I've thought for so long that Eivr would be my death and it's frightened me. I know that you would make it as painless as possible."
After some time it had been decided how things would go down. A knife would be laced with a poison that he had made some time ago. It numbed the nerves, so there would only be an initial sting. Once her body was fully numbed he would deliver the final blow. That night, resting in what would be her coffin, the plan was taken in to action. She gave him a smile and thanked him for his time. Within moments,
with the kiss of a knife, her eyes shut forever...That night Lkailk helped find a good final resting place for her body and made sure the grave was deep enough that a hungry Kirund wouldn't want to dig it up for an easy meal. Flowers were put in the coffin as well as on top of the grave once it was covered back up.
A good lesson was learned within that.. In this world, one couldn't even make friends.