Epic of Sonata (IC)

[\/£in]

The morning sun arose slowly in all it's valiant behind the eastern hills and just as it had began lifting slightly towards the center of the sky and all was beginning to be blue, the western sun peeked above the old inactive Volcano spewing hints of whiteness across the sky. Both beginning the journey to the center of the sky where they will both part ways towards the opposite sky by nightfall. At just five in the morning, everything was clear and lit upon the island.

At the bottom of the hills sat a log cabin and barn where wild animals were being used as livestock. Smoke was already rising above the stone chimney of the abode, where the old watcher of the isle, Seeth, would begin the morning tea and stew the last evenings wild catch. It was here that every morning, the four children whom had grown up on the isle under his wise and giving ways, would come down from wherever they made their home in the recent years and share a morning with their old master and his tea.

Misc slowly eased the door open to the cabin and entering to find Seeth already sitting at the table close to a pitcher of tea and a venison stew. Four bowls and cups were already sitting at four chairs.

"Have a seat boy," spoke the gray haired man as he motioned with his hand to the table.

Misc nodded with a smile and sat down pushing his bowl and cup to the master where they were filled to the rim with the stew and tea and then slid back to Misc.

"I hope the other children do join us this morning," stated Seeth in his usual wheezy voice.

"I'm sure they will," replied Misc as he sipped his tea and tried a spoon of the stew. "I'm sure they'll be running here till the day we all pass on."

Seeth looked to the boy quietly, "That cannot always be so."

Misc took a moment to understand the master's words but before he could even so much as ask what Seeth meant, he could hear the footsteps of someone outside.

[lain]

A bit further inland on the island was a large treehouse. Such a place had been home to a young girl of seventeen years of age named Ren and also her twin brother, Luke. This morning wasn't much different than any others. Ren was off on one of the bridges her and her brother had made to connect different parts of the house with another and about to go off to do who knows what. Ren never knew what lay ahead for her on a new day, but she usually ended up getting hurt or getting scolded... or both. She stopped at the end of one of the bridges and slid down a rope to get down on the ground. Her bare feet touched the dry dirt causing a small 'poof' of dust when she landed and then soon she sprinted off. There was nothing chasing her, but perhaps in her mind there was a giant dragon right behind her about to eat her for breakfast. It was an odd thing for an older teenager like Ren to imagine and most would consider it childish. But she lived for excitement and if there was none, she made it. If it was in her head then so be it.

Trouble was put on the backburner when she felt her stomach grumble. She spun on her heel and changed direction to head to the old man's cabin, figuring he might have breakfast for her. Ren wasn't picky... at all.

Her small and calloused feet carried her as fast as she could go while a large grin stayed plastered on her face. She could see the cabin up ahead and she could smell food. But, before she could reach it, she disappeared with a squeak into a disguised hole.

"Ugh..." She struggled to get up and then she dusted herself off, "Darn it. I just put this here yesterday."

"LUUUUUKE!" She yelled, "NEED HELP! I'M STUCK IN A HOLE-- AGAIN!"

[That_Guy]

From within the dark mysterious depths of a dark and warm cave came the methodical ringing and hiss of something lurking within. Any wanderer venturing to the mouth of the dark cave would realize that from deep within the twisting natural cave an ominous red glow bathed the walls in an eerie red light.

Clang Clang Clang... Hisssssssss....... Clang Clang Clang

Any brave and noble adventurerer daring enough to explore the innermost depths of the cave would find a very opposite sight of what the mind's eye might imagine.

There, hunched over a red hot lump of metal, was the spindley form of Silvio. For hours a day this solitary creature would spend hunched over an anvil, with a hammer in his hand and a lump of some metal in his other. Today he was working on the final piece of his latest addition to his rapidly expanding armory.

His one good eye worked in unision with the hammer, his mind pinpointing exactly where each stroke should fall, and his well practiced hand executing the order with pinpoint accuracy. In a matter of minutes that misshapen lump of red hot metal had taken the shape of a large flat curved shape about the size of a rather slender man's torso. Satisfied with his work, Silvio plunged the hot metal into the water basin next to his, instantly causing it to cool down.

Offhandedly, Silvio glanced to the mouth of his own cave system. It took his mind a second to register the information his one good eye had just recieved. Instantly, his head did a double take.

Almost as instantly, Silvio dropped everything he was doing and headed straight for the exit, cursing under his breath as he went. He was late, and it did not do well to be late for the master!

[Biophysicist]

Luke never was one to rise early, and today was no exception. He was dreaming about the time when he had first forged his sword-pen out of a normal pen that had run out of ink and some magic. It had been quite the exhilarating experience, as he'd never really used Rift before. And his sister was there, in a hole in the floor, screaming about something...

Wait. That wasn't right.

Luke realized what had happened as he woke up. His sister really was screaming about being stuck in a hole, and that had impinged on his dream.

Well, too bad. She had to learn to stop being so careless one of these days. Luke decided to let her stew for a few minutes.

That didn't end up happening.

"When will you learn..." he said, when he'd reached the hole.

Getting her out would be a challenge. He'd need some long rope-like implement, and he didn't have any with him... But he did have his pen, and there were some vines nearby.

With a snicker-snack noise, the glow around the pen lengthened into a sword, which he used to cut one of the vines, after which he lowered it down the hole.

"Come on," he said, almost resignedly - as he was convinced he'd be cleaning up after his sister's antics (like he was now) for the rest of his life.

[lain]

There were many grunts of anger and struggle as she tried to get a foothold and then catapulted herself out of the hole, tackling her brother. "Ooof!" She exclaimed, but then pushed herself up halfway, looking down at Luke, "Good morning!" She grinned, "Thank you so much! I thought you didn't hear me at first. I was getting bored." She stood up and then helped him up, but soon after, hugged him tightly like a little kid who hadn't seen their mommy all day.

"I was just headed over to the old man's place. Hungry?" She asked, poking his stomach playfully, "So, we can walk together!" She smiled, ever cheerful in the morning. She would be cheerful anyway, but it was an added bonus that Luke was not a morning person.

"Or we can race!" She gasped, "That would be fun. I don't like racing against my imagination. If I win, it's no challenge. But if I lose--well-- I just lost to my own imagination and how sad would that be?" She laughed, "Well, either way, I'm going. I'm starved. I didn't get to catch anything last night. I know that because I just checked a second ago... in the hole. Hehe," She grinned innocently and then took off again. The girl had far too much energy for her own good.

Soon enough, she got to the cabin and rushed to sit down, "Good morning! I-- Oh..." She stood up again and went back to the door way to wipe her dirty feet, "Sorry. You know how I hate shoes." In an instant though, she was back sitting with the old man, Seeth (Ren just preferred to call him 'old man') and Misc.

"I guess I'll just help myself. No need to cater to me." She smiled and did so, pouring herself some tea and some stew, "Aw... I wish you would have made more. Luke hasn't even eaten yet and I haven't seen Silvio out and about either. I guess I'll just have to take a small share." She sighed, disappointed since she was very hungry, "Maybe I'll go catch something later for myself."

"So how are you two this morning? It's so nice out, isn't it? I'm sorry about the ruckus. I had made a trap yesterday and then I forgot where it was this morning. Luke had to fish me out." She chuckled and then started eating her stew.

[\/£in]

Misc's eyes widened in worry as the footsteps he heard approaching suddenly stopped and the faint sound of yelling followed. He jolted from his chair, but found the old man's hand against his leg motioning for him not to go.

"But..."

"It's just Ren," he stated with a smile. "She fell in her own hole."

"Then shouldn't I..."

"No, Ren and Luke's abilities are dependent on each other. It would be wiser for him to save her, it is a good way of strengthening a bond."

Seeth went back to sipping his tea and looking away from Misc, whom had slowly taken his seat and listened attentively as the sound of Luke scolding Ren when he reached the hole came softly to his ears.

"See," Seeth chuckled. "The connection with those two is superb."

The door opened with haste, almost as soon as the old man had finished talking and sending him into a jump as Ren's burst through him off. Seeth collected himself and calmed his nerves.

He got ready to start shouting about her feet, but she seemed to have caught herself and went back to the door before returning to the table and befalling the meal like a starving bandit.

"So how are you two this morning? It's so nice out, isn't it? I'm sorry about the ruckus. I had made a trap yesterday and then I forgot where it was this morning. Luke had to fish me out."

Misc looked to the old man, now wandering how he had known what had happened without looking outside. Seeth just smiled realizing that Misc was starring.

"It's no different than any other morning," replied Misc with a smile. "It's as Seeth taught, this island's location means little to no storms or clouds."

"Let the gods bless us shall there be a storm," shivered Seeth.

[Biophysicist]

Luke really didn't need further proof of his sister's insanity. He hadn't needed it for years. He kept getting it anyway.

Sigh. The girl had way to much energy for her own good.

"I'm sorry for my sister's... enthusiasm," Luke said by way of greeting as he entered the cabin.

Resigned to be constantly embarrassed by her, Luke headed over to get something to eat.

<OOC>Imagination's dead today... I'm exhausted and irritated. (Really, I'm sorry for my continual short posts. I'd do better if I knew how.)</OOC>

[lain]

Ren stopped eating for a moment when Luke came in and started apologizing for her. That irritated her to no end. She didn't do anything wrong. She let out a small 'hmph' and decided to converse with Misc and the old man instead of her wet blanket of a brother.

She recalled a moment ago when Misc commented that all the days were nice and sunny. "So, you are implying that we should not be grateful and embrace the lovely day? You shouldn't take things like that for granted, Misc. If there was a storm you'd be thinking about how you should have enjoyed the nice days more often, wouldn't you?" She smirked and poked his arm playfully, "You're so quiet it seems like you would think about these things."

[\/£in]

Misc laughed lightly at Luke's comment and shook his head, "I don't see any reason to apologize, Ren will be Ren."

"You're so quiet it seems like you would think about these things."

"I can't spend my whole life thinking about everything," he smiled. "Then I'd be boring and not paying attention to reality. Oh man, I could even accidentally fall into one of your holes, wouldn't want that would we?"

He took another bite of the meat and sipped on the almost vanquished cup of tea. "Anyhow." he began looking to Ren with curiosity. "How do you forget about the hole you spent so much time digging up?"

[lain]

"Reality is boring," Ren joked along with Misc, "And the only reason I forgot is because I was hungry. And it didn't take me that long to dig. I'm just glad I didn't put sharpened sticks at the bottom. I almost did that. That would have been a disaster." She laughed, "I might even be dead right now!" She laughed again, somehow finding humor in this morbid comment of hers. That was Ren...

"I'm dying for something good to eat though. I mean, stew is great. But... I want a big meaty piece of venison or something! No more fish and birds and rabbits. Something GOOD." She closed her eyes and tried to imagine how it would taste, "If I think hard enough, the stew will taste just like fresh game..." She sipped the stew and then smiled, "Delicious. All it takes is a little imagination."

"Hey Seeth," Her face turned blank, "I feel a little funny... this tea doesn't have caffeine in it does it? You know what happened last time. Luke remembers. It was worse than when I tried some rum. At least with that I just couldn't stop laughing..."

[\/£in]

Seeth smiled eating his meal when Ren's question about caffeine came to thought. His eyes turned into a blank stare of horror. Quickly he pulled a cane up from the floor and used it to lightly tilt Ren's tea spilling it into the floor.

"No caffeine, just sugar...so no tea for you." the old man smiled as he pulled the cane back and laid it on the floor. "There is water in the well."

Misc laughed again, this time at the old man's reaction to the tea having sugar.

"You really shouldn't have said anything," Misc stated looking to Ren.

[lain]

"No, no. I don't fight on this subject," Ren replied to Misc and then went off into thought for a moment, recalling the last time she had consumed caffeine and sugar even at the same time. Looking back at Misc, she cackled, "You just want me to streak down the beach again. Well, I'm not going to do it..." She trailed off a moment and then added quietly, "Even though it was fun..."

"Anyway, yeah. Is there anything fun to do today? We don't have to train today, do we?" Ren almost whined when she asked this, "I'm not getting any better! All I do is make things explode. Seriously! I sneezed last week and a fireball flew out in front of me. Luke had to put it out. A flaming sneeze?! Who's ever heard of that? Seeth!" She whined and then leaned across the table with an angry look, "You are a crappy teacher! I should have gotten better by now."

[That_Guy]

Silvio sprinted through the growth of the jungle covered island, his legs eating the ground beneath him at an impressive rate. Soon the small cabin came into view, and soon the thick jungle gave way to smoother terrain.

Finally, Silvio's slender body arrived at the door to the cabin. But before he entered, he unfastened his now dark stained leather smithing apron, and shed his thick gloves as well. He also left his well worn shoes in the same pile.

In a vain attempt to neaten his hair, Silvio ran his sweaty palm through his short black hair. He tried to quietly slip into the doorway, hoping his tardiness would go unnoticed, even though he knew it wouldn't.

Silvio looked like he had been through hell, with his sweaty body and clothes, black smudges over his face and arms, and the occasional piece of foilage from his run through the island. Completing the look, his eyes were downturned and ashamed, his hands wrung themselves in a perpetual motion, and his lanky form was hunched and crooked.

Essentially, he was a mess.

Hoping that the others weren't too interested in the newcomer, Silvio sat and began to eat his bowl of soup ravenously.

[\/£in]

Misc looked towards Silvio as he entered and noted how dirty the guy was. It was like looking at someone who had just rolled in dirt and mud and then smearing it across his body.

"Hard at it," Misc smiled towards Silvio. "I think we should get Ren to dig another hole and this time fill it with water."

Misc grinned towards the girl, "As long as she doesn't forget where it's at."

He quickly finished his meal and stood from the table looking at the others, "I have thing to do this morning. The cattle need to be moved to better grass."

Slowly he pushed his way through the cramped cabin and towards the door. As he opened the door a cold feeling enveloped his whole body and before him was a dark sky filled in red patches of fire. His eyes widened in horror at the sight.

"Seeth," he shouted. "I think we have a storm!"

Seeth peered through the doorway and instantly a worried expression came to be.

"Get to the caves," Seeth shouted standing up quickly and pointing out the door. "This is no storm!"

Just then the sound of something hurling through the sky and crashing into the ground could be heard, followed by a small explosion of dirt and stone. Misc looked upward to see that meteors were viciously flying downward towards the island.

"I said RUN!"

Misc jumped at the sound of Seeth's voice, but just as he was told he looked back to the others and motioned for them to run.

[lain]

Before Ren could even comment about Silvio being even dirtier than her, everything turned to chaos. She ran out the door with Misc after grabbing her brother's hand, "Cave, cave, cave," She kept repeating, but she was also trying to remember if she had dug any holes around where they were going. She didn't recall digging any, but she knew that she couldn't exactly rely on her memory one hundred percent so she was a bit uneasy about it. It wouldn't be very good if she or anyone else got stuck in a hole while flaming meteors were raining from the sky.

"What the heck is going on? Seeth, is there something you haven't told us?!" Ren exclaimed as they were running for their lives, "And Misc, I told you you should appreciate the nice weather more often!"

[That_Guy]

Ignoring the other's stares, Silvio sat haunched over his bowl, staring into the murky depths of the soup as if trying to escape into it. Finally, after he was sure everyone's attention was elsewhere, Silvio picked up his wooden spoon and dipped it into the steamy liquid.

No sooner had he done so that suddenly Seeth yelled "Get to the caves!"

Silvio was no fool, he did not stop to ask questions, or pause to take a look, he knew that if Seeth wanted them to get to the caves, he had a pretty darn good reason. So, without hesitation, Silvio helped the others out the door and ran with them.

As he took his first step out of the door, a shockwave hit him so hard he was blasted backwards into the doorframe. He struggled to pull himself back upright, his ears ringing constantly and his muscles feeling like rubber.

He looked ahead to find the others were well ahead of him, he would have to hurry if he was to make it in one piece. Instantly his lanky body flew into motion, his long legs thumping the upturned soil and debris rhythmically as he sprinted.

Through the constant ringing in his ears he could barely make out the howling of a large object falling from the sky. Without thinking he lunged forwards, thudding into the ground and hugging the ground tightly. Half a second later the ground erupted into a shower of dirt and debris, with a massive shockwave proceeding the hail.

Silvio felt the first of the clumps of dirt fal softly onto his body, and on that que he was off, rejoinging the rest of the group.

[Biophysicist]

Insert an expletive of your choice here - it's probably more or less what Luke was thinking.

He almost forced his sister away from him out of pure reflex but was able to prevent himself. He did get his hand out of hers, though - it would only slow them down to not do so.

For no particularly good reason, he activated his pen-sword... Not like it would do much good against meteors, but it was somehow reassuring.

"Ren," he said, "feel free to blast those things. Don't worry about starting a fire this time."

<OOC>Yah, lame... Don't really know what to do... Derpderpderp...</OOC>

[lain]

Ren had stopped and almost run back to help Silvio when he had been in the path of a severe shockwave, but by the time she flinched in that direction, he was already on his feet again and up ahead of her. It impressed her quite a bit how he just kept going like that. But she came out of her daze and kept up with the others.

Ren was quite athletic and quick on her feet. She loved to run so she did it often just for the fun of it. It was paying off now. She reached the cave and made sure that Luke was with her since he was her main concern. If anything ever happened to him, she figured she might just die...

"There are enough explosions going on, Luke. We don't need more!" She called back when Luke had told her to go all out, "We just have to get somewhere safe like the old man said!"

The second he reached the cave she hugged him. He was her big brother. Only by a few minutes, but he was her big brother and she would always depend on him and he would always come to her rescue even if he drove him a little nuts. She let go of him and waited for the others.

"Is everyone okay?" She asked, catching her breath and leaning against the cave wall.

[\/£in]

Misc reached the cave right after Ren, lunging in at a dive and sliding across the dirt floor of the rocky shelter just as a meteor exploded behind him. He stood quickly and collected himself before turning to face Seeth who was just about to enter the cave when one of the meteors slammed close behind throwing stone in every direction. Misc shouted to Sheeth, but it was too late as a piece slammed hard against the old man's back throwing him into the cave.

"Seeth," he yelled running to the Man's side.

Seeth only grinned as he looked to the group around him. "It has begun."

His smile faded to a serious look. "Do what...she tells...you to."

Blood coughed up from his lungs as his eyes went blank and his head tilted to the side showing no more tension in his neck muscles. Seeth was gone, and just his breathing stopped...the sky cleared and the meteors ceased.

Misc crawled backwards from the body of Seeth and shook his head, "This isn't real...this can't be happening." His head was pulsing from the tension and his breathing rough due to the panic inside him. "There's no way Seeth can just die like that!"

[\/£in]

Misc reached the cave right after Ren, lunging in at a dive and sliding across the dirt floor of the rocky shelter just as a meteor exploded behind him. He stood quickly and collected himself before turning to face Seeth who was just about to enter the cave when one of the meteors slammed close behind throwing stone in every direction. Misc shouted to Sheeth, but it was too late as a piece slammed hard against the old man's back throwing him into the cave.

"Seeth," he yelled running to the Man's side.

Seeth only grinned as he looked to the group around him. "It has begun."

His smile faded to a serious look. "Do what...she tells...you to."

Blood coughed up from his lungs as his eyes went blank and his head tilted to the side showing no more tension in his neck muscles. Seeth was gone, and just his breathing stopped...the sky cleared and the meteors ceased.

Misc crawled backwards from the body of Seeth and shook his head, "This isn't real...this can't be happening." His head was pulsing from the tension and his breathing rough due to the panic inside him. "There's no way Seeth can just die like that!"

[lain]

Ren let out a squeak when Misc dove into the cave and bits of rock flew everywhere. She covered her face and then coughed a few times from all of the dust. But when it cleared, she saw that Seeth was laying on the ground.

"Fricken' crap! Seeth!" She ran over, skidding onto her knees next to the old man as he said,
"Do what... she tells... you to."

"No, no, no!" Ren shook her head as her eyes watered, feeling a knot in her throat. She covered her mouth in shock, unable to take her eyes from the man who had practically raised her and her brother. He was gone. But just as tears began to stream from her eyes, the horrible meteor storm ceased.

"I don't understand. Who is he talking about?" Ren asked, looking at Misc who she thought was closest to the old man, thinking he would know. Her breaths were short from panic, but she tried to calm herself for the sake of Misc. "Misc..." She reached out and placed a hand on his arm and gripped the cloth of his shirt in her fingers, "I don't think we can be sad right now. What--what does he mean?" She choked a little, but kept herself from completely breaking down.

[That_Guy]

Silvio was behind the old man in the last stretch to the caves, trying to get the elderly wiseman to move faster. His one good eye looked to the skies constantly, nervously searching for any incoming meteors. The gap was closing between the two and the cave entrance.

"Just keep going Seeth! We're almost there!" Amongst the frantic strain in his voice, there might have been a hint of hope. In his mind he was going to make it, Silvio and Seeth and everyone was going to come out of this fine.

Just as he was thinking this, the screech and fevered howl of a large meteor filled his ears. Silvio had barely enough time to look up to find a he was staring at an ever increasingly large rock falling from the sky. The rock was going to hit them both.

Silvio didn't have time to get to the cave, or even think. He simply reacted to the situation. With a mighty shove he propelled his mentor towards the cave. In an opposite movement he threw his own body backwards, grasping at the earth for dear life.

With a final screech of rage the enormous rock collided with the earth, directly where Silvio and Seeth had stood less than a second before.

Silvio's world spun around him as his body was thrown violently into the air by the ensuing shockwave. Instinctively his muscles went limp, preparing the body for inevitable impact.

His reunion with the ground came hard, sending shocks of pain all throughout his body as the impact rippled through his body. Silvio gently rolled and bounced into a stop, where he was looking up into the sky. His right arm was pinned at an odd angle under his body, and he was sure it was dislocated.

Hid other arm, however, seemed fine as he rolled his head to see the effects of the meteor. Dirt covered his body, along with cuts that bled from shards of flying rock. As he looked back into the sky, he noticed it was much calmer then it was a few seconds ago. The meteors had stopped.

Darkness finally began to creep on the edges of his vision, and Silvio embraced the darkness. His head lolled to the side as he fell into unconciousness

[Biophysicist]

Holy woah.

That was unexpected.

Also stupid.

Time to be practical...

"Okay. This is bad. But this isn't the right time to get upset. Whatever the heck just happened could start again at any point... It seems prudent to hole up inside the caves for a while, until we can be sure that it won't. And we should also do something with Seeth's body... He'd probably want to be buried. So we'll need a shovel and some supplies. Anyone else have any other thoughts?"

[\/£in]

Misc looked to Ren shocked, "I don't know." he managed to push out through his tension.

He managed to edge close to the wall and use it as support to stand back up on his barely balanced legs. "He's gone," Misc murmured feeling the full weight of the shock on himself. "He's really..."

His eyes then caught the sight of Silvio whom had been tore up pretty badly by the meteor. Through the shock of watching Seeth die, Misc hadn't noticed that Silvio lacked to make it to the cave and now that he looked around, he was wandering if anyone else had either.

The boy quickly rushed to Silvio's body and began pushing the dirt off him in a frantic movement, not wanting to leave time for another member of this family to die.

"SILVIO," he shouted as he pushed dust from Silvio's closed eyes. "WAKE UP!"

"Hey," he shouted back to the others. "Silvio's hurt!"

He began checking Silvio's vital signs and found the boy was alive, but barely seeming so. "I think he's alive!"

"we should also do something with Seeth's body"

Just as Luke had spoken those words, Seeth's body turned to white flower pedals and traveled away on the wind.

"Seeth is MINE to take," came a voice that rattled the stones of the mountain.

Before the group appeared an elegant lady with eyes as red as fire and her body covered by what seemed to be clouds. Around her emitted an aura of light that seemed to make her appearance more soothing than it already was.

"Rahn has ceased his destruction and I have made sure that his return be delayed."

Misc turned his attention from Silvio and to the woman, "Who are you and what do you want with Seeth's body," he asked in demand.

"Do not demand of me answers mortal," snapped back the woman showing the clouds around her turn red with her anger before cooling off into the same blueish, white haze they originally appeared. "Seeth's body will be returned to the great cosmos where his soul will filter through all life and feed its energy to the living and the soon-to-be. I will see to it that this transformation and usage does in fact transpire, for I am the goddess of this world afterall. I am Pyre."

[lain]

There was so much going on now that Ren thought her brain might shut down. Now Silvio was unconscious and there was a floating lady with cloud around her claiming to be the goddess of this world. Perhaps she should have paid better attention during Seeth's lectures...?

But, Misc seemed to be handling the talking to the weird lady thing right now... so Ren sat down next to Silvio and propped him up on the wall of the cave so that he was upright. "Silvio...?" She sat on her knees and examined his face with furrowed brows, "Come on... now isn't a good time to be unconscious."

Ren remembered that she had a canteen of water in the bag she carried over her shoulder so she took it out and poured some on her hand and then wiped his face with it, "Seriously. The old man just died and disappeared into weird petal things. You gotta wake up. We need you."

She sighed and then turned to look at the floating lady again, "Hey... since you are the goddess of this world and junk, can you like-- wake up Silvio? I have a feeling it's important that he wakes up." She sat down in the dirt, looking at the woman and harboring a concerned expression.

[\/£in]

Pyre looked to Ren and nodded as she turned her eyes back on the unconscious Silvio. She moved through the air gracefully, while still holding a stationary pose and came before the unconscious boy.

Her eyes only looked upon him and his body glowed with a bright white aura as warmth and life was restore to the boys face.

"He shall be fine," explained the goddess as she then looked back to Ren. "He will awaken soon.

[Biophysicist]

Pyre...

No freakin' way.

She was just a Rift user who had decided to mess with them for whatever reason. It was obvious. Seeth had said she'd deserted this world a long time ago... Couldn't be her.

But wait. If she was just a powerful magician... Then Luke would be feeling massive energy from her. That was one of his lesser abilities: To a very low degree of accuracy, he could guess how much Rift ability a person had. And he was sensing none from her. This left one of two possibilities. Either her magic was being remotely performed by someone else, or she really was Pyre and her "magic" was of a different sort than the Rift.

It seemed safer to believe the second one, so Luke did so.

A weird look crossed his face. Imagine the girl (or guy) of your dreams, who had previously showed no interest in you, asking you out. Magnify that feeling of shock/disbelief by a large number. Your expression would be similar to Luke's. This only lasted for a second or two, though.

Then he found himself kneeling in front of her. "Pyre... Seeth had told us about you... But not the proper way to address you, I'm afraid..."

[That_Guy]

Silvio felt himself being awakened from the depths of unconciousness as a warm white light penetrated his mind and thoughts. He awoke slowly, in a hazy zone somewhere between sleep and awareness. His eyes fluttered open, his first sight being the face of Ren, staring down upon him with an anxious expression. His first thoughts came to his mind, Why is she so worried about me? Am I alright? Am I dieing?...

A glimmer of what looked like a cloud enfused with light caught the corner of his eye. He managed to turn his head, just enough to be able to see an alien figure staring at him. The face was familiar, and something about the aura around her reminded Silvio of something he had seen somewhere. His clouded mind frantically searched it's memory banks, eager to find the connection between the mysterious figure and what he knew.

His eyes widened as realization dawned on his dirty, scarred, and bruised features. A breathless word managed to escape his lips, "Pyre..." Silvio had remembered the face from an ancient mural he had seen in one of the many books he read constantly. Pyre was the creater and life of this world, promising that she would never return to meddle in human affairs. Yet here she was, meddling in human affairs.

The next thing Silvio noticed was Luke, trying his best to address the entity. Something else clicked in his brain. Seeth. Was he alive? Did he manage to get into the cave in time? Or worse yet, did Silvio somehow cause his own mentor's demise?

Though his dry throat pained him to speak, he had to know for his own sanity, "Seeth... Did he make it?"

[lain]

"Silvio!" Ren exclaimed, resisting the urge to squeeze him to death. He had just nearly escaped death. He didn't need to be returned to the brink of it from one of Ren's suffocation hugs.

She calmed and then paid attention to his question, "Um... he croaked and then when this lady appeared he turned into weird petal things and then floated away." She sighed, still sitting in the dirt, "Here, drink some water," She said, holding the canteen up to his lips and tilting it slightly. After she did that though, she stood up, looking a bit angry.

"Why don't we just call her 'murderer'? When she appeared Seeth died! She is not on my 'people I like' list." So... her list only had four people on it, but still... She stomped her foot and tensed her arms, a small explosion of fire coming from beneath her foot. She let out a huff of smoke. She didn't think she had ever been this pissed off in her life.

"I don't know that much about you because I have a short attention span, but I do know that you are a traitor and now a murderer!" She continued to leer at Pyre, "You better have a frickin' good explanation for all of this!"

[Biophysicist]

Insert the strongest expletive you can think of here.

Multiple times.

"Ren! Please! No! Don't!", Luke shouted as he stood up. "You don't get it, do you? She's the freakin' goddess who created this world - you don't go around disrespecting her! Or, on a level you might understand better, do you want to die, too? 'Cause that's entirely possible! Okay?"

Then, to Pyre: "I'm... sorry. I'm sure my sister will calm down... She doesn't mean it. Or maybe she does, but it won't last." Plaintively: "Please... Give her a chance."

[lain]

Ren got up in her brother's face, "Maybe you don't get it. She might have created this world but then she just left it! That would be like having a child and then throwing it in the garbage because it was too much for you to handle! You don't have to apologize for me this time, Luke." She shoved him out of the way and then turned back to Pyre, "I'm not scared of you. The worst you could do is kill me, but then that would be getting involved here, wouldn't it? And it would be proving my point. Why are you all of the sudden here? Going back to the garbage?"

[Biophysicist]

"Calm down!" (He almost added "Damn you" to the end of that, but didn't.)

"You think I don't get it? You're the one who's trying to go head-to-head with a goddess here!"

Deep breath.

"Okay, look. You want to know why she's here? Even I can tell that... She's given up on giving up on us. Example. This morning, when you were stuck in that hole of yours... I wanted to leave you there for a while to 'teach you a lesson', and because I was annoyed. But I couldn't. Well, same thing here. She's come back out of love, Ren, and you owe it to her to at least accept that."

Luke was now desperately hoping that he was right.

[lain]

Ren huffed and plopped down on the ground again with her arms and legs folded, "Fine. Whatever. I just want an explanation. And as far as the stuck in a hole thing, I seriously doubt that she had anything to do with you coming to get me. It's because you always come. You're my twin."

"It's not going to be so easy to change my mind though." She folded her arms tighter, not bothering to look up at anyone. She was too irritated.

(OOC : I think we gotta wait for Vein to post now. It could be days. lol)

[That_Guy]

Silvio looked at Ren with a mildy furious and confused expression, all he wanted was a simple yes or no, not some mysterious petal story. But what could he do, now that he was weak and deprived of water to say anything? Almost as if she had read his mind, she gently lifted a canteen of water to his blood-stained lips. He guzzled the cool liquid selfishly, to the point where the water began to flow out so fast it overflowed and ran down his cheeks, smearing the dirt that clung to his skin.

By the time he was finished, Ren was confronting Pyre and accusing her of murder.

The word 'murder' sucked the air from his lungs.

That meant that someone had been killed. It meant the obvious victim was of course Seeth. Silvio looked down at his dirty hands that had now begun to tremble. Were these the hands that had pushed Silvio's only fatherly figure to his demise? Another sickening thought racked his brain, was it Seeth's blood that ran on his hands?

All of it was too much to bear for Silvio, and at the moment not even a floating goddess who created the earth could pull him from his sorrow. A teardrop fell into his hand, and then a drop of maroon colored blood from the damaged tearduct in his dead eye. The drop of blood ran into the clear pool of salty tears, infecting the crystaline liquid with blood.

Silvio looked up bleedingly at the goddess. Though the water had soothed his throat, he still found words difficult to come by, "I didn't... kill him.. did I?"

[lain]

Ren looked at Silvio now, completely confused, "No, you didn't kill him. Why on earth would you think that?" She asked, still a bit wound up from the whole thing. Pretty much every feeling she had now was being turned into anger. It was less humiliating than crying or panicking... right?

"All I know is that Seeth died and then she appeared." Ren pointed accusingly at Pyre and then folded her arms again.

[\/£in]

Pyre took the girl's insults without even flinching to the words. She only stood and listened, feeling that it was only right to let the girl have her say.

"You may call me a murderer or curse all you wish, I have given up as goddess of this world and thus your insults are of little to me, but for future reference Ren. I could throw your body and soul into a bottomless abyss that we gods call Limbo, then I could mix it with hell whilst depriving your ever falling prison of any hint of death. So there are worst things than death."

She then listened to Luke and smiled, "It is similar to your logic Luke," she nodded before focusing back on the girl. "I did declare that I would never return to Sonata, but when you love something so much that you would sacrifice yourself for it, you can always take back your words."

She then held her hand out catching one of the petals in her palm. "I am not the one who took your beloved master, he showed loyalty to me and worshiped me in his own way, even though it has been many lifetimes since I left this world. I came to your master almost seventeen years ago."

Just then all that surrounded everyone turned to a hazy fog with numerous spiraling colors bouncing around playfully. It was beautiful to see the strobes twirl and twist and collide creating even more spectacular colors. Soon the surroundings faded away and focused in on a small village burning.

"There," Pyre pointed towards a hut where a much younger Seeth was knelt by a charred woman's body. His eyes were filled in tears and his voice distraught as he called her name, telling her he loves her and to come back to him.

"Emperor Fera of the Allure Continent, was visited by Rahn, god of the abyssal hunger. He posed as a weakened old man, due to his powers being unable to fully breach the protective barrier I bestowed on Sonata. None the less, he proved himself to the emperor by appearing at his bedside three nights in a row without alerting any guards. On the third night, Rahn warned that the legend of the four had began to come true and these four would bring down the empire if they are not stopped."

Seeth stood from the woman throwing his arms into the air. "Tell me what you want of me! Please Pyre, what is my purpose if I cannot continue on with my beloved."

Pyre closed her eyes showing a glimmering silver tear stream down her cheek. "Fera crusaded across Allure crushing villages and slaying any child her could find. Seeth's son was one of those. Just as Fera himself stabbed a blade through the young boy's heart, Seeth's beloved rushed to battle the emperor for her child. For this Fera ignited the woman into flames with his Rift. Seeth was the only one to survive that day."

The image changed to what looked like a cliff side where Seeth stood preparing to leap to his death.

"What Fera did not know was that I had already taken the four children and kept them in my cosmic kingdom, but humans cannot live there for long before they die. So I appeared to Seeth."

Seeth turned facing another imaged out Pyre.

"Take these children, keep them safe for they are the four. I will return one day and upon my return it will be time for them to set out and fulfill their destiny."


"He looked at me as if he knew who I was already, never asking questions. I placed him and the four of you on the island where no one could ever traverse unless I willed so. Pirates have forever wanted to loot that island, but their bones are now one with the ocean floors."

The surroundings seemed to move almost rapidly now, as if someone had taken the time Seeth obtained the children and pressed fast forward. Every moment of them growing and Seeth aging was replayed before the four.

"He loved you, I planned for his existence to surpass even you. A sage to live until Sonata one day dies itself...but Rahn's power has grown and he can now amass powerful strikes occasionally and thus he has found you four here and he has made his first move. He is the one who claimed Seeth's life."

The Scenery reached the present day and slowed down until it finally brought the four back to where they originally stood in the cave.

"Rahn's hunger is for reality. He travels through the cosmos seeking out worlds that gods have abandoned and devouring them to feed his never satisfied appetite. Sonata was abandoned, but I placed a barrier on it with all the power I could bring forth as a goddess. My power is now just as weak as Rahn's, I can only appear to you occasionally and I can not help you on the roads that lay ahead."

Misc looked to the goddess in disbelief. "Then what must we do?"

"Emperor Fera is on a mission to conquer this world and control everyone, once he has done this Rahn will have enough malice and evil to feed on and amass enough energy to break the barrier. Once he has come through, he will devour everything in the form of a cosmic black hole, there will be no death for anyone, only pain and misery for all eternity. The only way to stop this is to stop the Emperor himself, but his power is too great to just face. He has conquered and laid claim to my six guardians and through them he has achieved immortality."

Her hand came forth showing six stone figures.

"But these beings are far from immortal themselves, if they can be killed...Fera will become mortal and thus a chance to kill him will be possible. The great minotaur Selia, the serpent of the sea Ragnok, wyrm of the heavens Argon, giant of the continent of Hyras Peleious, shadow of the hellspawns Reid, and lord of unseen Azeruas. These six together give him his immortality. Once all six have been laid to rest, his barrier will fall. That is when your four must fulfill what is destined of you and strike him down."

Her hand closed and the stone statues turned to clay returning to the ground. "But your journey will not be easy. All the way you'll be fighting the armies of Allure and agents of the emperor. Not to mention that due to me giving away my godship of this world, I cannot tell you where these beasts are. It is up to you to find them and learn how to kill them."

[Biophysicist]

"Holy shi..."

Okay, maybe not the best thing to say in the presence of a goddess.

"So basically, bad guys are flailing around killing dudes, and we have to stop them before everyone gets eaten alive by the baddest dude. Sounds... challenging. Especially that sea serpent... I dunno. We all almost just died back there. How are we supposed to stop a god who can do that kind of..." He almost used an expletive relating to metabolic byproducts, but instead just said "thing."

Then he smiled darkly. "Still, do we have a choice?"

[\/£in]

Pyre smiled as she listened to Luke. It was expected that the four children before her may have fears about the road ahead.

"You do have a choice," Pyre nodded slightly. "You can do nothing and allow Rahn to devour your world or you can embrace your destiny and the prophecy and save the world around you. You four are the only hope for this world. Seeth trained you to be ready for this day, I've seen his training is far more fit than what is required of you, still this journey will be tough..."

Misc listened carefully to what the goddess had said and all the more felt the weight of everything crashing down on him.

"So let me get this straight." He began, looking at the goddess before him in disbelief. "Seeth is stolen from us and you appear now, to tell us that we have to go fight monsters and an empire. Where were you when he was killed? Why weren't you there to stop the meteor that took Seeth's life and almost killed Silvio!"

"I cannot physically interfere with another god's work," she explained.

"Then what do you call this!? Coming down here and telling us how to stop him."

"That is information," she replied. "I'm merely telling you what you can do to save your lives and this world. This is why there's a choice."

Pyre then looked to everyone. "A stranded ship will appear on the southern dock of the island by morning. Board it, you will not need to steer the ship, it will take you to the coast of Brevale on the continent of Selrune. Your journey will begin there."

With that Pyre turned away from the group and bursted into light, Vanishing from sight.

[lain]

Ren was about to say something else to Pyre, but she disappeared before she could. Letting out a sigh she stepped up between Luke and Misc, then looking over at Silvio again. "Well, if she isn't going to save the own world she created, then we might as well. I'm not doing it for her though or to fulfill some stupid prophecy. I'm doing it to save me and my friends." She said, a hint of annoyance still present in her voice, "This is bullcrap... it really is. But if no one else cares, we have to. What do you all say? Luke?" She instinctively looked at her brother for advice like she usually did about big things. With smaller things she would usually just run off and do whatever she wanted... but now, she felt she needed backing up.

[Biophysicist]

"Agreed. Not on the logic, mind you, but on the overall conclusion... We don't have a choice, despite what she said."

Now, onto practical matters...

"We're going to need to head to the southern end of the island. That's not exactly close... We should get some provisions. And probably weaponry would be a good idea... As would some changes of clothing. Sis, you and I will go take care of food and clothing. Misc, Silvio, the armaments. Unless anyone else has a better plan."

[That_Guy]

Silvio sniffed, finally standing up and brushing his dampened palms on his dirt-covered shirt. Cold reality was beginning to set in, and for Silvio this meant that he either sucked hup his losses or move onto bigger and better things. He chose the latter.

Silvio accepted his duties with a nod, before stating, "I was working on a project in my cave before..." He choked, trying to contain himself before moving on, "I have to finish it, it will be a lot of help to us." With that said he began sprinting, headlong for his own little cave. Once he reached it, he immediately got to work on his unfinished slab of metal, working at a devilishly fast pace in order to finish his creation. When his arms could no longer support his laborous work, he took a break by packing armaments for the journey.

Silvio's armory was nestled farther up the sloping volcano, inside of a natural cave that could easily fit a barn inside. The cave was littered with weapons of all kinds, inculding crude meelee weapons, firearms, ammunition, and some heavy weapons. Every sigle one of these weapons was created by Silvio's hand, with materials harvested from right on the island.

He was no Rift user, and he wasn't sure what type of weapon might suit one, but he could definately arm himself. Silvio began sorting through a pile of sidearms, choosing a rather odd looking weapon's system, that looked more like a medical brace then anything. He then spent the better part of an hour collecting ammunition, an assortment of small and large weapons, and electrical components, all which he stored in a wooden crate. He then took the crate back to his smith, where he resumed work on his creation.

[\/£in]

We should get some provisions. And probably weaponry would be a good idea... As would some changes of clothing. Sis, you and I will go take care of food and clothing. Misc, Silvio, the armaments. Unless anyone else has a better plan."

"Sounds good to me," stated Misc. "Me and Silvio will head up to his cave and get the armaments."

"I was working on a project in my cave before..." He choked, trying to contain himself before moving on, "I have to finish it, it will be a lot of help to us." With that said he began sprinting, headlong for his own little cave."

Before Misc could even catch up with how fast Silvio told everyone what he needed to do and the long sprint, Silvio was almost out of sight.

"Oh Shi--," Misc mumbled. "HEY! WAIT!"

Misc dashed after Silvio following him to his uniquely created cave. Upon coming to the entrance Misc stopped and nodded to Silvio as he watched guy enter and sounds of hammering and water sizzling sprang from deep inside. One thing Misc knew nothing of on this island was Silvio's caves, they were almost sacred to the guy and it just seemed too rude to ever go inside. Instead he waited quietly, listening to Silvio inside.

A few hours passed and he watched as Silvio left from the cave and made a run towards the volcano, returning with a crate. Again Misc only sighed and smiled to Silvio. He knew the guy was a man of little words, perhaps speaking too much was only an annoyance.

[That_Guy]

Silvio threw Misc a hollow grin, for he was too intent on his own work for there to be any delays. He was just entering his smith when he shouted over his shoulder, "Misc, go ahead into my armory and take anything you want from it and pack it in a crate." As he returned to his laborous work, he muttered under his breath, "We won't be seeing this place again for a looooong time..."

[lain]

Ren followed behind Misc and Silvio, cheerfully going into the cave. "Man, it's hot in here." She wiped the sweat off of her forehead and then grinned when she concluded that she could take anything she wanted. Silvio was right. They probably wouldn't ever be back here.

"Sweet!" She exclaimed, running around in the cave and taking all sorts of things off of the wall and equipping herself. She put on a helmet and walked up to Luke, "I bet you could hit my head as hard as you wanted and I wouldn't feel a thing." She knocked her knuckles against it and laughed, "You know, this whole traveling thing might be fun. Living off of whatever we can find on our own. It's exciting!"

She ran off and found a crate, pulling it out where everyone could put things in it. While humming a cheery tune she began throwing random armor and weapons into it. She had never been an organized person...

[\/£in]

Misc looked to Ren and gave a shaky expression of doubt. "We could die," he stated bluntly as he moved to a rack holding multiple katana shaped swords. "Dying isn't exciting."

He pulled down one the swords noting the expert craftsmanship and how the name of its smith, Silvio, was forged into it's hilt. Quickly he strapped the sword to his side. He thought to check the armors but he knew that heavy steel would only slow him down on the road.

"Worst part," he began shaking his head. "We don't even know where we're supposed to go, basically it's a wild chase through all the continents in search of beastly guardians..."

He spotted a few knives laid across a table and quickly decided that taking one would be wise. Discretely he placed it on the inside of his coat and made his way to the entrance of the cave.

"And Silvio is right, it'll be a very long time before we see this place again..."

His words spoke of grief and worry about the future, but his heart was silently screaming out for something like this all along.

"On the way up the hill I saw Seeth's shack was crushed by a meteor...we need somewhere to sleep tonight...just until the boat arrives tomorrow."

He turned facing the others. "Anyone got room?"

[lain]

"You could sleep on the floor in our tree house," Ren mentioned with a shrug, "But I thought we were leaving now. You know, chop chop!" She nodded, causing the helmet to fall over her eyes. It was a bit big on her... "We need to hurry, don't we?" She picked it up off of her head and put it in the crate before taking off the other stuff she had put on. She was just playing around with all of that. Now she was looking for something she would actually use.

After a moment of searching, she chose the daggers. Sure, she had no idea how to use them right now... but they were sharp and if she swung them around it might impede something from hurting her. Or she might her herself... that was the downside.

"There is no way any of us will be able to sleep tonight so we might as well just go! We don't have to steer-- which is sort of creepy by the way-- but then we could just sleep on the ship. I'm sure we will all have our own beds and stuff on there. I vote that we go now."

[That_Guy]

Silvio briefly looked up from his work as the arguement unfolded in front of him. There was no time for words anymore, just action. However, this did not stop him from throwing his opinion into the lot, "The boat doesn't arrive until morning, and I have to finish this. I'll need every minute of the night to finish what I can before we leave."

With that being said Silvio set back to work at a furious pace, churning out pieces of what appeared to be a suit of armor every so often. It was clear from the design that it was no ordinary suit that the average warrior might wear, it was clear that this was something different. These hunks of metal might later save all of their lives.

[lain]

"You all seem a lot more worried about this than me." Ren shrugged, "Oh well. Misc, I'll show you where you can stay. It's been a while since you have been over... I might have to clean up a few things." Ren laughed awkwardly, but then patted his shoulder, "I guess you don't have a choice though unless you want to stay here." She looked around... it definitely wasn't homey. Also, it was extra hot at this part of the island. Hotter than most people preferred it. Silvio was a bit odd in her opinion, almost seeming the exact opposite of herself. But Ren, having a short attention span, never really thought about it too much. Either way she was stuck with him and the others.

"I guess we can all meet back here whenever we are ready to go. Come on, Misc." She gestured for him to follow and headed out of the cave, out into the open where all the meteors had fallen. "Ugh... I hope that the house is still okay." She sighed as she climbed up onto a rather high pile of rubble, looking out at the forest, "I don't see too much smoke. Maybe a few fallen trees..." She looked back and smirked before jumping down onto the sand, "Might be a rough trip."

[\/£in]

Misc nodded and followed quietly. It was going to be a bit strange staying at her place, he was so used to staying at Seeths that the thought of being anywhere else was so foreign.

"I don't mind," he shrugged as she warned of the trip. "I bet the trip we begin tomorrow will be worst."

His heart was aching, he could feel the pain of losing their master almost as much as bad as he did when it occurred.

"Ren," he pushed out softly. "Do you think Seeth will be up there, in the cosmos watching us and if he is, you think he will help us?"

Deep down he didn't understand how they were going to make it through this alive, especially without Seeth.

[lain]

Ren stopped viciously removing rubble from their path and turned to look at him with a small smile, "I honestly have no idea. But I know that if he could help, he would. I also know that he would want us to get to work rather than be sad for too long." She furrowed her brows when she noticed Misc's expression. He had been closest to the old man... She let out a sigh and hugged him. When she let go, she stepped back and smiled cheerfully, "You still have us, Misc. Best of all, we have you. You are the oldest of us so we look up to you quite a bit, you know."

With that, she continued kicking away rocks (shouting in pain afterward since she was barefoot) and jumping over what she couldn't kick away. Before too long, she had lead him through the damaged forest to her tree house.

"Aw man..." Ren whined, looking up at her house that had been crushed by a fallen tree, "Oh wait... That just Luke's part of the house," She grinned, "Mine is over this way." She gestured for him again to follow and eventually came upon a ladder and started climbing it. When she got up high enough to see most of what was around, she called back down to him, "Looks like only Luke's room was completely destroyed!"

She got all the way to the top and then leaned over, looking down at Misc, "Climb on up. If you are scared to climb, I can pull you up over there. Luke made an elevator so that he could take care of me here when I got hurt and couldn't climb the ladder," She laughed, "So we know it works."

[Biophysicist]

Food, located. Some spare clothing, located. Something to carry this all in, not located.

Sigh.

Rift time, he guessed.

The pile of stuff made a noise sort of like "Poozoom!" as it suddenly shrunk down into tiny ball. Luke nodded, satisfied. It had taken forever to learn that trick...

The ball made another "Poozoom!" noise and expanded back to its original size.

Sigh.

Luke couldn't concentrate on the Rift enough to keep it going, apparently...

It took a few more tries to get it working, but in the end he pulled it off. Seeth's death kept being distracting...

Never mind Seeth. More important stuff. Like getting ready to go probably die.

Enough musings. He had to get some spare clothing for himself, too. And Ren, if he could work up the courage to go into her room. He almost never did, simply because she was a girl... (Like that's not an awkward thing to say.) Whatever.

Walk, walk walk... At tree house. Good. Walk to ladder... Oh, hey. Ren and Misc were already there.

Wonder why... May as well ask.

"Hey. What's up?"

[lain]

"Luke! I wondered where you went off too. Oh! Your part of the tree house got slammed by a tree." Ren stifled a laugh and pointed over to it, "Looks like everyone's staying in my room!" She grinned, not really caring too much that Luke and Misc were boys. She had been around them her whole life, after all, "Except for Silvio, probably. I remember the last time I tried to get him to stop working to play a game or something... He's like, deaf when he's in there."

So, Ren turned and went into her room, "Man..." She sighed, seeing that the earth shaking had knocked alot of her stuff around. Most of it was paper with scribbles on it. Unknown to her brother or anyone else she enjoyed drawing and painting. She was actually quite good at it.

Ren knelt down and started to gather the paper up into a stack, careful not to mess them up too much. She was being a bit hasty in grouping them together to shove them into a drawer, mostly because sometimes she spied on them on the island and sketched them.

[\/£in]

Misc nodded as she spoke and sighed. She was right, it was better to move on and live than stand still in pain and die in agony and if people were depending on him to do his part for this group, then he needed to man up.

He soon come upon her tree house and followed as he noted Luke's room crushed, he could only feel amusement to what Luke would say about that. He climbed the ladder coming into her room and quickly took a seat near a corner where he crossed his arms and leaned back. Relaxing had be foreign to him all day, especially since that morning when Seeth died and yet here it was almost sundown, as the two suns slowly parted ways heading for the east and west horizons.

His heart sank as he thought how this could be the last night he'd spend here on the homely island.

"Hey. What's up?"

Misc looked to Luke and smiled. "Yea, your place, totally trashed. When we get back one day I'll help you rebuild."

[lain]

"Hmmm..." Ren looked over at Misc, who had settled in the corner, "I guess that's your corner." She smiled lightly and stood up, walking over to a fallen dresser and picking it up. It was missing a drawer... oh... there it was. Across the room. She sighed and picked that up, sliding it back into the dresser. But, she blushed a bit when she realized that was the drawer that all of her... well, 'intimates' were in. Her heart rate skyrocketed and she hastily shoved all of her things back into the drawer. Hopefully neither of them noticed...

"So anyway... I guess Luke-- um-- you can sleep in that corner? Heh..." She scratched her cheek, now feeling the urge to get as far away from both of them as she possibly could. "Well! I'm going to go out! You know... get one last look at the island. Okay, bye!" She laughed nervously and pretty much sprinted out of the tree house, sliding down a rope and landing on the ground. Her feet and hands were calloused, so she didn't get rope burn easily.

Standing there a moment, she looked down at her feet and sighed. This day couldn't have been crappier... She decided to head out to the hot spring and try to relax a bit. Of course, it was near the volcano so she went back out that way. As she walked though, she felt strange. Her heart was still racing and she felt like she had to keep looking around. Any little noise seemed to startle her just a bit when she knew it was probably just some rodent. The sun-- er-- suns were setting and they would be out at this time. Yeah... it had to be a rodent or bird. But, she couldn't take it anymore. She had to run to the safety of the hot spring. It felt like it was safe. Sort of like when you are a child and jump into bed quickly to hide from the boogie man or what have you.

Finally, she reached the spring. Since it was near dark, she lit the torches with a carefully aimed breath. After that, she got into the spring, leaving her clothes nearby in case she needed to grab them.

Still feeling suspicious, she submerged down to just above her nose, looking around.

"Okay Ren... nothing is following you. You came her to relax. Do it." She told herself in her head as she started to bathe. She took a deep breath and reached for the soap that was off to the side, slathering it all in her hair and then rinsing it out. She held her breath and then went completely under to finish up.

Finally feeling a bit relaxed, she wrung out her hair and dressed again. She decided that she was just being paranoid. But something still didn't feel right about the island. She hadn't ever felt unsafe on it-- even walking alone at night. It was a little reassuring though that this was nearby Silvio's cave. If anything was stalking her he would definitely give it what-for. Not that Ren was defenseless... it was just reassuring.

She began to walk back, but then turned and looked back at Silvio's cave. She wondered if he was even going to sleep. He seemed pretty shaken up before. She began to ponder if he should be alone. Poking her head in the cave first, she took a few steps in.

"Hey, Silvio... you still working?" She asked, a strange uncertainty in her voice. After standing there a second, she took quick steps inside. Though it was hot in there, it still felt safer.

"I came out here to take a bath and I feel like something's following me. The island doesn't seem right. Can I stay out here? I'll sleep way over here and I won't bother you."

[Biophysicist]

"Indeed it has... Regardless, I need to get to my room to get some clothing for tomorrow for myself."

This would prove to be difficult. Disregarding the huge holes in the floor that took a lot of careful maneuvering to get around, there was still the tree that had fallen through the house. In the end, he resorted to cutting a small piece off with his sword to allow him to get through. This may have been a mistake, because it groaned ominously as he squeezed past it.

The room was totally trashed. The fallen tree had decimated just about everything. But, through some really good luck, the dresser was intact. Unfortunately, the way the tree had fallen was along the longest dimension of the room, making getting to it hard.

But, Luke did succeed in the end. Using the same Rift technique as before, he collapsed a pile of his clothing into a small ball, which he combined with the other one. Now to rejoin Misc in Ren's room...

As he tried to do so, he realized that cutting the tree had, in fact, been a mistake. The entire thing collapsed right as he was about to squeeze past it again, and the floor around the tree gave way, taking Luke with it. He fell to the ground below and passed out.

<OOC>Yah, no idea what to do. >.> </OOC>

[That_Guy]

Silvio's hammer fell with resounding thuds onto the red-hot steel over the anvil, as if swinging in time with an imaginary song. He had never worked this hard or this fast before in his life on a metal working project, and suddenly he was beginning to realize that he might have some time to improve his master project. Finally, the final piece was on the anvil, and like a madman possessed he folded and beat that unshaped slab of steel into shape, every hammer stroke bending the red hot material into a work of art. After what seemed like hours to Silvio, he was finally ready to plunge the newly born object into the black cooling water. As the water broiled from the heat of the metal, Silvio heard a small voice call his name.

He looked up to find Ren standing in the entrance of his cave, a hint of panic creeping into her voice. He listened to her story as she explained how uneasy she was feeling, and immediately Silvio's tired and beaten expression turned to one of concern. Though on the outside Silvio was cold and emotionless, on the inside he had a sense of protection for everyone on the island. He would be only too happy in helping Ren to feel better, even if it did mean abandoning his project for a few precious minutes.

Without hesitation he replied with genuine concern in his voice, "Of course you could stay here. You can take my room, I won't be needing it tonight." As he said this he shed his thick dark smithing apron, todding it to the side along with his leather working gloves. With a clean cloth that was tucked into his pocket he wiped himself clean, efficiently ruining the scrap of smooth cloth. He led Ren further into the cave, past the smithing equipment and furnace, past the storeroom filled with raw materials, piles of rock and minerals, and other odds and ends, before finally approaching a heavy cast-iron door. This portion of the cave was significantly less hot than the entrance, to the point where it was actually comfortable to be in. With a grunt he pushed open the heavy door, revealing a large open space that was his room.

The first thing one would notice was the tall metallic shelves lining almost the entire space of the carved out walls. Each shelf was packed with books of all shapes and sizes, each individually locked inside a shiny metal casing, so that if fire managed to get past the iron door, none of the books would be harmed. In the corner of the room was a desk, with stacks of thick parchment and scrolls, along with a few inkwells and quills. The cieling sparkled in the light cast by white-glowing crystals placed in a metallic basket hanging from the center of the cieling like a crude chandelier. What caused the odd sparkle were veins of pirite, or fools gold, that snaked across the stone like streams on a map. Silvio led Ren to another corner of the room, where another door stood proudly barring the way into another part of Silvio's personal cave. After opening the door, he walked into a small chamber in the shape of a pentagon with a vaulted cieling. A large somfortable-looking bed was plaed against of of the walls. What was miraculous about the room was the fact that half of it was made of clear glass, so that one could literally look outside of the slope of the volcano onto a view of the night sky and a beach. The starlight and moonlight provided the room with a dull light through the enormous glass window.

Silvio motioned to the bed and casually stated, "You can sleep here, I'll make sure the doors are locked so that you can feel safe."

[lain]

Ren followed Silvio with curiosity. She hadn't recalled ever being this far in the cave. She actually fell behind a few times, looking at the different things hung on the wall... she tripped a couple of times too but managed to right herself before Silvio would see. Even though she had come here to get rid of her uneasy feeling, Silvio had always made her feel weird. At least she didn't feel like she was in danger... she just felt weird.

"So... this is what you've been doing in here all of this time." She let out a small laugh, "It's a heck of a lot nicer than my tree house. Well, especially in its current state... Part of it got crushed by a tree. But, I guess it doesn't matter since we are leaving in the morning." She shrugged and turned her head to look out the window. As she did so, a calm smile spread across her face. The view outside was nice. Even though she had been on the island all of her life, she had never been right here at this spot. Everything looked different.

"It's a nice view," She said at length, turning and stepping a bit closer to the window. She was beginning to relax a little bit more. After another few seconds of silence, she made a small attempt at conversation, "So how are you holding up? I think we are all pretty drained right now," She sighed, "You should try and relax instead of working. I don't think any of us will get the chance to relax again in a long time."

[That_Guy]

Silvio sat on a small stone ledge hewn out of the rock in the chamber and listened to Ren. He couldn't be sure if she still felt uneasy, so he wanted to give her the reassurance of his presence to help calm her nerves. After a few moments of silence the effect seemed to be working, and she tried to make conversation with him, a promising sign of recovery. "I want to relax, but I can't, I have work to do before that boat gets here." He was surprised how hoarse and fatigued his own voice sounded, he was about to say more, but the realization of his own fatigue had seemed to melt away whatever energy he had. It was if all the emotional stress and the amount of work had finally caught up with him, and now it was sucking the life out of him.

But he couldn't give in now, Ren needed his company, so he tried his best to keep his outward appearance from showing his inward fatigue. After clearing his throat, he managed to continue the conversation, "Ren, what do you think the world is like? You know, out there?"

[lain]

"I don't know... not exactly. But I'm prepared to be prepared for anything." She laughed and sat down on the bed, still facing the window, "It sort of feels right though. I've been nearly every place on this island. I'm ready to explore other places."

"But everything still seems unreal." Her brows furrowed as she recalled the passing of Seeth. Strangely, she didn't feel sad. She felt sad for the others... but she didn't miss Seeth. It was different, him not being there, but that's all she felt.

"Well... thanks for letting me stay here. We should both get some rest. "Good night, Silvio." She nodded with a small smile and then lay back on her back on the bed.

[That_Guy]

"Yes, rest, goodnight Ren." Silvio replied flatly. His mind was conflicted by many things, Seeth's death, the exodus of the island, fatigue, a new world, and above all, the fate of the new world and everyone in it rests in their hands. He sighed and cleared his mind, he didn't need any of this right now.

Silvio waited on his stone seat, watching Ren fall into slumber. Soon her breathing became deep and methodic, her muscles totally relaxed on his bed. "Goodnight Ren." He whispered once more before leaving the chamber and closing the door behind him. He passed his study, the store rooms, and finally re-entered the heat of his smith, where he set back to work.

[\/£in]

Misc was just about to doze off when he heard the crashing of the tree just outside. Quickly his mind set on Luke, whom he had already been informed was well at work procuring some things from his wrecked room. He stood with a jolt and lept off the tree house down to ground level where he could make out in the blackness, the faint shape of Luke lying on the ground.

"Luke," he shouted as he moved to guys side and felt for a pulse. There was still life in him, perhaps more than enough. He shook Luke a little hoping to wake him up. "HEY! LUKE! If you're still with us, get your ass up."


*OUT OF CHAR: I'm about to Time skip in my next post, that way we'll all be waking up when the boat arrives, except Sil, I doubt he'll sleep xD*

[Biophysicist]

Luke proceeded to get his ass up, as Misc's voice caused him to un-pass out. Or whatever the correct term is. Things weren't making much sense to him at the moment.

"Ugh... What happened? Did I..."

Looking around, he figured it out.

"The floor collapsed and I fell down, didn't I? Ugh... Where'd my pen go..."

[\/£in]

Misc laughed softly. "Probably around here somewhere, but it's a bit dark to be looking for it, isn't it?" He stood once more looking back at Ren's tree house and shrugging, "Plus we need to get our rest for the morning."

Quickly he made his way up the ladder to the room where he retook his spot in the corner folding his arms and drifting back into his slumber.


The suns rose as usual and the brightness of their welcoming could almost give the illusion of world peace, but it was only an illusion...like a veil to cover the truth.

The feint sound of waves being disturbed could be heard on the distant shore as a large ship made of black iron and rotting wood slowly eased its way towards the docks sounding a ghastly crackling as it ceased its sail. The sound of old wood shaking and bending echoed off every stone across the island, almost like an alarm signally time to awaken.

Misc yawned and stretched his arms as he peered around in confusion to the sound, but soon he thought of the day before could only speculate this meant the boat had arrived.

"Shit," he groaned. "Just when I was dreaming it was all just a dream."

He looked anxiously for Luke hoping he hadn't found himself knee deep in...more trouble.

[That_Guy]

Silvio had been watching the ship since it's appearance on the horizon, his eye dark and uncomprehensive from hours of work without rest. However, Silvio had finally finished his masterpiece, and it was currently resting on the soft sandy dunes next to him. After what seemed like forever, the ship finally docked, and Silvio loaded a small dinghy with all of his supplies and books he had chosen to keep. The barely seaworthy little ship groaned in protest as he lay his creation onto the deck before rowing out to unload onto the ship itself.

Using some pulleys and rope Silvio found on the ship, Silvio hoisted his three boxes of supplies onto the deck into a neat pile. With a tremendous sigh, he collapsed onto the wooden boxes, falling asleep instantly.

[Biophysicist]

Loud noise. Quite scary. It caused Luke to wake up from a dream about a time when he had gotten lost in the woods for a few days with his sister. That had been quite fun for Ren but, at least in the beginning, scary for him. Scary. Like the noise.

"Potato," he said as he awoke, because at that point in the dream they had found some.

Luke shook his head to clear his thoughts. Then he swore - much like Misc had just done.

"Well... I guess today's the day we go on a crazy boat to get to a crazy quest to stop a bunch of crazy dudes. Fun."

He quickly got dressed, exited the tree house, located his pen, and headed off for the boat.

[lain]

Ren had slept deeply and soundly despite the noise of Silvio working into the night and the early morning. The girl usually did sleep like a rock. Once she was out... she was out until she woke up naturally. But it seemed that no matter what time she went to sleep, she woke up right when the sun was rising.

She was now standing at the edge of the beach and staring off at Silvio as he paddled up to the old looking ship. Her face didn't show much expression and her arms were folded. Her eyes looked into nothing as the wind made little strings of her hair dance around her face. She couldn't recall ever feeling this strange feeling she was having before. Apprehension perhaps? Or maybe everything was hitting her all at once now that the foretold ship was there. Everything was real. Very, very, real.

But, her rather serious expression changed when she heard feet hitting the sand coming towards her. She could tell by the rhythm of steps that it was Luke. Her face immediately became carefree again as she spun around and ran up to greet him.

"Morning!" She hugged him and spun around while clinging to him, "I hope you slept okay! I slept out here because I went to take a bath in the hot springs and then I got scared because I thought something was following me and it turns out that Silvio has this crazy mansion house if you go further into it and--" She let go and stopped herself, "Sorry. I was talking too fast again. I guess I'm just excited!"

[\/£in]

Misc touched the sandy beach not long after everyone else and found himself lost in awe at the sight of the ship. It was of course the first of its size to ever come to the island in all the years of his life and for him this would be a first for him, riding the waves across the majestic blue sea.

"It doesn't look..." Misc paused as he searched his vocabulary for an appropriate word for how he felt. "Advisable."

His foot became drenched as idly sank it into the wet sand. Small aquatic creatures, much like crabs climbed out of the sinking hole quickly running for the rocks near the shore. Misc pulled his foot up slowly retaking hold of the land beneath him.

"No use watching it float there," he motioned his hand. "We might as well join Silvio on that...death trap."

He made his way for a small boat tied to the old docks, climbing in and waiting for the twins to join him before he rowed to the ship for boarding.

[Biophysicist]

<OOC>My most sincere apologies. I totally missed Vein's post. Either the subscriptions borked or my memory/mental health are worse than I thought.</OOC>

"Excited? Interesting way to feel. I'd say I'm closer to anxious and a bit depressed."

Luke took a deep breath at this point.

"Well... Looks like this is it, Ren. We're in this together, I guess. That's 'we' as in all of us..." He trailed off, then darkly added, "I wonder how long that will last. Who's going to be the first to die, I wonder..."

Then he entered the small vessel that would take them to the ship without a further word.

Luke, if you can't tell, had slept very badly.

[\/£in]

((OOC: Ok, I really don't want to see this die, I have great things planned for the adventure. SO PLZ STAY WITH THIS GUYS!! :D But for now, I'm gonna give another major push to it))

Once everyone had boarded the large ship, the sound of a barely understandable scream echoed from high up in the crows nest. There inside the bucket shaped platform stood the foggy shape of a man dressed in worn garbs and his hair drenched as if he had fallen overboard or caught in a heavy storm. Just as he shouted the ship made haste as the anchor itself turned into mist and the ship was set afloat atop the water. It slowly turned cutting close to the shallows of the nearby beach, but luckily, and barely, missing the stones jutting near land. Soon enough it was on it's way across the sea and it had come to Misc at this very moment as their large home had become a small rock vanishing on the horizon, that the adventure was truly beginning.

Even though the land vanishing hurt a little, his attention was almost divided with the foggy figure in the crows nest.

"Was that a ghost," he asked Skeptical.

"Nay friend."

Misc turned suddenly to find several of the figures standing there with smiles and welcoming expressions.

"Ye be lacking the tales of mist, I see."

The crew laughed.

"Ye see, we're not ghosts, although we occasionally scare the sails off passing ships who think we are. We actually be part of a race far from the blood shedding lands of men, a land hidden in the fog. Those who know of us, call us the Mistics or Fogmen...but we self title our people the Kiri-men and it seems ye have tweaked an interest in someone powerful, or we wouldn't be out here collecting ye and bestowing passing with ye to Selrune."

"Pyre said this ship would be deserted..."

"Ah did she now, must be the lass who come to us with a grand payment and the terms of our job. Seems you have the goddess watching over ye for this. But when she says deserted, I be sure she meant once deserted, we salvaged this vessel. But nuff of that, we have a long journey ahead of us and you and your friends are much welcome to the dining room below. Beware though, we do enjoy a bit of rowdy play."

[lain]

Ren scratched the back of her head and watched the pirate-like crew as they explained who they were. She quirked a brow at them and looked at the one who was talking up and down. Her gaze drifted from one to the other. She had never laid eyes on a person outside the island... it was strange to see how different people could look. She also noticed that all of the crew were men. She had never seen another woman in her life besides Pyre; if that even counted.

"So... this ship isn't going to be just ours?" Ren asked, sounding slightly disappointed. She let out a sigh but then cheered up and smiled, "I guess we could use more people around us. It might be nice... maybe." She grinned.

"Aye, it be very nice, fine lass." One of the crew remarked. None of the men were much to look at, including this one. When he stepped up to Ren, she could smell his awful breath and she couldn't help but gag a little. But she tried to suppress it.

"What are you talking about? What are you doing? I don't like you being in my face." She flared her nose and huffed as she twisted the man's ear.

"Aye! A feisty one! You'd make a fine pirate, lass!"

"You bet your rear end I would," She smirked with a glint of mischief in her eyes, "Just watch this." She turned smugly and hoisted herself up onto the railing of the ship, doing backflips like a gymnast. Of course, her bare feet did not hold up well to the wooden rail and when her foot slipped...

"SPLINTER! AAAAH!" She screamed as she went to grab her foot and fell off into the ocean. When she resurfaced she started swimming towards the ship, trying to keep up with it. Though she was quite embarrassed she was more concerned about getting back onto the ship. "Luuuuuke!" She called out, expecting her brother and savior to come and rescue her as he always did.

[Biophysicist]

<OOC>The reason for the long reply time is that I find your posts really hard to respond to, lahde (and also how to spell your name). You probably know this from our attempt at a 1x1 already, though.</OOC>

Sigh.

That girl was going to get herself killed one of these days. And probably not the giant epic evil of doom they were going against. It was far more likely that she'd die because of deciding to tap dance blindfolded while climbing a mountain or incinerating herself with her own fire or something.

Still, until that happened, Luke was going to do his best to prevent it. Not that it was particularly easy (or rewarding - she never learned anything from her mistakes).

There were two options here. One, dive into the water. Two, Rift.

The second option was quite a bit easier, more dignified, and drier, so he went with it. Soon, Ren was back on the boat, though soaking wet.

"My apologies for my sister's... enthusiasm. I'm Luke. Miss Nearly Drowned there is Ren. The one you were talking to first is Misc. And the fourth person is Silvio."

[\/£in]

The Kiri-man smiled and nodded to the two and then glancing back to Misc and Silvio, who was passed out...

"Ah, well we be the Mist Sailors of Prevain...and before you say something else, yes that's the mythic lost land of the mist."

Misc cocked a brow, was he supposed to know about Prevain? He had never read of them in any of the books.

"We'll make sure ye get to Brevale safe and sound...and dry if we can help it," he gazed at Ren who was now dripping water all over the deck. He looked to one of the crew members and nodded watching as the guy made haste to grab a mop and clean the water up. "We don't need someone slipping off the boat."

The man looked to the sun as it seemed to be lowering in the distance. "As I say, enjoy yerselves and if you need anything, just ask...we just ask you don't disturb the capt'n too much. Eh get a bit grouchy when ye do."

With that the Kiri-man made his way to the cabin door leading to the lower deck.

Misc looked around and could catch numerous Kiri-men making eye of Ren. It made him feel nervous.

"Guys," he began as he turned and faced the two. "Be careful...especially you Ren, being the only girl on the boat may make them overlook that you're a human...no telling what they may try."

[lain]

Ren coughed on all fours when she was back on the deck, gaining her breath back after a few seconds. She sat back took a deep breath as she began to look around again. Luke had been apologizing for her again... she couldn't make out what he had said since she was coughing while he was speaking, but she could tell by the tone he was ashamed of her... again...

After the men left, she stood up, trying not to drip water all over the deck any more than she already had since the man cleaning it up seemed a bit annoyed.

"Sorry," she said, "I'll wring my hair out over the side."

Ren had a long mass of hair that was excellent at holding huge amounts of water. She began wringing it out with her back turned to everyone. But she did feel the lewd looks of men on her. Though she hated to think back to that lecture Seeth gave her personally when she 'became a woman' she knew it would be important to stay away from those men. Misc and Silvio were her friends and Luke was her brother, so she never worried about anything like this before. She had never been around people she couldn't trust. It worried her a bit.

"Right, Misc..." Ren said quietly as she turned around again and kept her arms folded so that her chest was partially covered. Clingy wet clothes probably weren't the best 'man deterrent'.

"I'm sorry I embarrassed you, Luke," Ren looked down at her wet feet and then back up to him, "But stop apologizing for me. I can apologize for myself if I feel like I need to. And I don't feel that way right now. Well-- except for the water thing." She laughed awkwardly and glanced at the crew member who was still cleaning up her mess.

[Biophysicist]

Anger boiled up within Luke. He'd saved her life about twenty times - or probably many more - from her various misadventures, such as this one, and the best he got was a change to do it again, if not ingratitude. This was it. The last time that would happen. He was going to teach her a lesson.

"Ren," he began angrily, but then his rage subsided. This was his sister. Hyper and annoying as she may be, he wasn't about to start yelling at her, especially not here.

"Uhm. Let's find you some dry clothes, okay? I have some of yours stored in my spell-storage-thing." He didn't mention it, but he'd included some more formal clothing, which he thought might be the best here - it was rather... unsexy. He doubted Ren had ever worn it, but she might want to now.

<OOC>Explanation of last paragraph: Earlier, Luke had use Rift to put various supplies into magical storage (with the OOC reason being that it would be weird if the characters were carrying around a bunch of clothes and stuff, but to not do so would ruin suspension of disbelief, at least to me). He had included some somewhat formal clothing of Ren's, and is hoping he can get her to wear it because he thinks it will get the men to back off, as it's not "sexy". I honestly don't even know if that's realistic, though...</OOC>

[lain]

(OOC : Look at Ren's pic. She's pretty well covered. She was just wet and uhh... missing the outer coat thing. I was picturing just a loose shirt under it. But she will have another coat like tunic thing in the crate. When you say formal it makes me think 'dressy' in other words 'pretty'. Not good. lol /OOC)

Ren nodded to Luke and looked through the crate for her stuff, "Hey thanks for getting some of this. I forgot a few things, I see." She smirked and lifted up a small mirror, looking at her drenched self and laughing, "I look like a drowned rat!"

She stood up and now held a new garment over her arm and a pair of boots in her other hand. She figured out that being barefoot on a ship wasn't a good idea just a few minutes ago.

"You stand guard." Ren soon found a closet full of supplies for the deck. Mop, broom, all that good stuff. It was cramped, but she really didn't trust these guys yet and Seeth's words were coming back to her to make her paranoid. That was a horrible day, she remembered. She couldn't look at any of the boys for weeks after that.

Shaking the thoughts away, she changed clothes and came out mostly dry except for her hair. She tightened the belt around her waist and pulled up her boots a little more. "That should do it." She nodded with a smile, taking her sopping wet clothing and wringing it out over the edge of the ship before shaking them out. She found a place to hang them and then returned to the crate, pulling out a hair brush and then attacking her tangled mane.

She wore a thoughtful look while she sat with her legs folded on the deck, brushing her hair absentmindedly and watching as the island she had been raised on disappeared. It was a tiny speck on the horizon... and then it was gone.

"Well... I think Silvio has the right idea." She smirked and leaned against a pole with her arms folded. She shut her eyes, being lulled to sleep by the motion of the waves rather than nauseated by it. "Maybe we should all get a little nap."

[\/£in]

Misc left Ren and Luke to their task of getting Ren dried and in some proper clothes. His heart couldn't help but push him to covertly explore the ship a little. Perhaps some information or anything that he should be weary of.

He made his way to the lower decks and had been searching corridor after corridor until he heard voices from one of the rooms on the lowest deck, it was the voice of the Kiri who had greeted them on the deck.

"Look," he began. "We're being paid for their safety, and possibly by a goddess might I add!"

A younger crewman stood. "A goddess me arse," began the youth as he stood on the chair and waved his arms in a frenzy speaking lower now. Most of the conversation fell quiet and little escaped to Misc's ears.

"So for the Moral, I do say we take that human piece of booty and make fine use of er on this ere' ship."

"That is vulgar and what about the..."

"Screw that goddess, she abandoned this world...I REALLY doubt she did come and procure the means for their safe travels, the newbies are liars...and I need some fun."

A roar of agreement arose as all the men except that one man held their glasses high.

"We just need to do this at the right time."

Misc began to back up and make a run for it, but caught his back punching against a strong figure...almost like a wall of flesh. He turned slowly to see a tall muscle built Kiri with tattoos adorning his face. That was all Misc noticed before a swift hand come down on him and his vision blurred away.

When Misc opened his eyes he found himself in a perfect square room with no doors and only a cage keeping him in the center.

[lain]

Ren slept soundly against what seemed like the most comfortable wooden pole in her life. Well, until the wind blew just right so that she fell over and hit the deck. A split second after that, she jumped up and hit the back of her head on the pole.

"Ow..." She mumbled, rubbing the back of her head. She stood up and took in her surroundings. Silvio was still asleep on the crates from what she could tell. It was dark by now. The sun had sunk into the ocean perhaps an hour or so ago and the stars were just barely starting to show. The moon was only a sliver, making it obvious that it was going to be a rather pitch black night.

All of these things together gave Ren a strange feeling. Her stomach twisted and the deck creaked as she took a step towards Silvio. The poor guy must have been exhausted. She suppressed a laugh and covered her mouth as she watched him. If it weren't for the rise and fall of his chest then he would look dead.

But Ren, deciding that it was a bit chilly to just be laying there like that, got out a blanket and spread it over him. "Sleep tight." She whispered as she walked away, gradually feeling the uneasy feeling again. It was like no one else was there besides the four of them. Her, Luke, Silvio, and-- Misc? She started to look around, wondering where he might have gotten off to. Maybe he had gone down into the ship for some food... Food!

Suddenly Ren's face lit up and she opened the door to go down the stairs and into the corridors, "Misc! You jerk! I'm starving!" She ran down the stairs distracted by the thought of food. A few steps away from the bottom, she fell onto her face. "Ow..." She sat there a moment but was soon as excited as she was a moment ago and running down the hall like the silly girl she was.

She stopped when she thought she smelled something. First it smelled rather strong and perhaps fermented. Rum... Second she smelled something savory. That was what she wanted. Like a dog, she sniffed the air to the source, standing right outside the door. She kicked it in.

"No fair to eat without me--! Hey, where's Misc? I thought he ditched us to get more food." She blinked, now all eyes on her. "Um, so... are you going to let us eat?" She grinned and clasped her hands in front of her.

The Kiri men exchanged glances and looked at each other, "Sure, have a seat lass."

"Okay. But my name's Ren, you know?" She shrugged and sat down.

"Help yerself. You'll need all the energy you can get for the fun time we're going to have."

"Like, a party?" Ren asked with her mouth full, taking a bite of bread. She had taken an entire loaf.

They all laughed, "Sure, like a party. Probably one you've never been to."

Ren started to get that uneasy feeling again... She grabbed a bottle of rum and set it next to her. She didn't intend to drink it because she recalled that rum was inflammable. If any of those men got any close to her they would get singed eyebrows.

She noticed that they were nudging a young one of the group who kept glancing at her. He actually looked a bit shy. Perhaps around her age, actually. He actually wasn't that bad looking. Dirty blonde hair and big blue eyes. Suddenly, the boy stood up.

"I-I can show you to your room if you like." He gulped and extended his hand. By now Ren had had time to eat a good portion. She was actually starting to feel a bit more comfortable and the boy's sincere expression calmed her a little. She stared at him a second before she stood up. Everything had gone well! Now she was going to get her own room!

"Okay!" Ren shrugged not taking his hand before heading to the door. She looked back at the boy who was looking at the men he probably looked up to nervously. He was getting some type of encouragement from them. He straightened up and walked in front of Ren down the hall.

"This way, m'lady." He forced out, his voice nearly cracking. He couldn't have been older than sixteen. Soon he stopped at a door and opened it. He stepped in and started to light a lamp but was having trouble with it.

"Oh, I'll get that." Ren grinned and blew gently onto the wick and it lit up.

"Rift user? A rift user...?" The boy muttered to himself.

"Hm? Yeah. I can explode stuff." She smiled, feeling sort of special now. But she noticed that something was wrong with him. In fact, she had never even been told his name. "What's your name?"

"I-I- um... Gem." He backed up a little and shut the door.

Ren quirked a brow, "Am I not catching on to something?"

"Look, can I just stay in here with you for a little while and-- I mean-- I really don't want to-- But-- can you do me a huge favor?"

Ren stepped up to him, "What? I don't know you. Why would I do you a favor?"

"If I don't do something with you then I can't be a real Kiri man."

"You know I just told you I can make things explode." Ren pursed her lips and looked rather unamused.

"No! I really don't want to! Can you just let me say that we... did...? You don't even have to kiss me! Heck! You don't have to touch me! Just let me stay in here for a while..."

Ren blushed slightly at the mention of that 'thing'. But she turned away and sat on the cot with her arms folded. "What time is it now?"

He took out a pocket watch, "Probably nine... yeah, nine fifteen." With that, he sat on the floor, "Until ten? You don't even have to look at me."

"Fine. But then go."

The boy sighed, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. In fact, ever again. I want to forget this." She then blew out the candle and lay on the cot. She thought she heard the boy leave after a while, but she soon fell asleep again. Unfortunately, she wasn't aware of the uproar it would cause...

[That_Guy]

Silvio awoke with a start to the sight of a pitch black night sky, pocked with the twinkling of distant stars. He lay there on his bed, staring out the glass window out into the night sky, the creaking of the ship's hull on the calm waters soothing his muddled mind. Soon enough, he pulled up the bedsheet around him and curled back to sleep.

A moment later his eyes snapped open, a creaking ship, he was sleeping on crates, Silvio wasn't on the island. In a moment of panic, he threw off the blanket that had been draped over him and stood, his eyes wide and frantic. Then the memories washed over him, and he remembered everything. Seeth, the goddess, hours working on his project, the ship, and finally the last few moments before darkness enclosed his mind.

"Heheheh... Looks like ye finally get 'round to wakin up boy!" A harsh voice cut through the night. Silvio wheeled around and found himself staring at an aging sailor, who was propped against the large wooden wheel. A broom handle had been wedged between the spokes of the steering wheel, so that it would not turn. It was clear the man was there simply to doze, as implied by the bottle of spirit in his hand. It was the first time that Silvio had ever seen someone outside those on the island, and the experience was... familiar.

It took Silvio a while to find words, "Where are the people I boarded with?"

"Oh, ye mean te other tree?" A small grin twisted onto the man's face, and even from a distance he could spot the mischievious twinkle in the man's eye, "The lads are fine, and the lass? Well... she's probly doin' just swell at te moment... just swell..." The man purred. Instantly Silvio kicked into gear, something was going wrong, he could sense it. Quicker than the sailor could respond, Silvio had launched his body through the door to below decks. For a few precious minutes, he flung through the corridors, encountering a few surprised sailors on the way.

Finally, he found what he was looking for, two sailors had their ears pressed against a closed door, seemingly eavesdropping, a perplexed expression on their face. Suddenly, the door opened, and a starch white boy Silvio had never seen before emerged. He looked embarassed, which set Silvio to thinking he had tried something on Ren.

Silvio barreled past the two sailors and the boy, actually knocking the boy off his feet. Inside the dark room he saw the motionless body of Ren on the room's sole cot. In a frenzy Silvio produced a match to light the lantern on a small shelf. With a trembling hand he raised the light to shine on Ren.

An explosive sigh of relief escaped his lips when he found Ren, unharmed, napping peacefully on the bed.

[lain]

Ren shot up out of bed when she heard the toppling of people over outside her door. Before that even processed, a light was being shined in her face. She squinted and looked up at Silvio. He looked relieved.

"Can't I get any sleep around here?" Ren rubbed her eyes, still feeling like she hadn't had enough sleep.

"Aye, the lass must be tired."

"Well--" The boy blushed further and tried to push the other men away from the door. They soon grabbed him and ran off with a burst of laughter and underneath that, quite a few vulgar jokes. Fortunately, the door had been shut back so that their voices were stifled.

As everything came back to her, Ren smacked her forehead, "I hope you think better of me than that. Please get that out of my face though." She swatted away the lantern and put her feet over the side of the bed.

"I'm perfectly fine." She said, looking up at him again. A small smirk appeared on her face when she recalled the look he had when he had just awoken her. He was worried about her...

"So, I hope you believe this. If you don't then... well that just sucks. And you can't say anything to Luke because he will think I'm lying." She stood up and leaned against the wall next to a little circular window that looked out over the sea. "I came down to find Misc. Then I found some food. Then some boy said he'd show me to my room. He shut the door and said that to become a Kiri man or something he had to be with a woman. But, he didn't want to. So he asked me to let him sit in here a while to make the others think that he had been with me. He sat in the corner for a while and I fell asleep. End of story." She sighed, now regretting having not thrown the boy out on his rear end into the hallway. But something about the sincerity of the boy got to her. He was probably the nicest one of those people here.

"This has to be the weirdest place ever. I think I might put a chair against the door and not come out until we get to... wherever. I think it's Brevale. But-- Misc was right! I'm nothing to them! It makes me sick!" She clenched her fists and hit her head on the wall, "I want out of here. I thought it would be fun on a ship. But I've never felt so weird in my life."

Ren took a deep breath and closed her eyes, now leaning the side of her head on the wall. The lantern flickered and cast a soft yellow light over her as she watched the flame dance. Silvio was usually quiet, so she didn't even mind if he just stood there and said nothing. But she had to ask him...

"You believe me, right?" she looked back up at him with large and sincere eyes that begged for his reassurance, "And you won't say anything to Luke?"

[That_Guy]

Silvio studied the girl's eyes, as much as he wanted to believe her, his brutally realistic mindset told him she could just as easily be lying. However, her eyes were devoid of any sign of lust, pain, embarrassment, or even the lurid stare of one who had been drugged. He silently cursed himself for even doubting for a second that one of his closest friends was telling nothing but the truth. Now it was his turn to redeem himself, Ren needed comfort, and Silvio was going to do it the best way he knew how: through words.

After a long moment of searching his mind for the propper words, he finally spoke, "I believe you, Ren. I won't tell Luke either, this secret is safe with me." Silvio looked into Ren's eyes, as if he was somehow establishing a connection between them, "Ren, the men on this boat are beasts, their minds have been won over by their bodily desires. You, on the other hand, are different, you aren't like them. You're better than them, and that hardly makes you nothing in my eye."

Silvio took a moment for his words to sink in before continuing, "If you'd like, I will stay with you for a day or two, so that you may feel safe."

[lain]

All of his words sunk in and soothed her worried mind. But when he said 'eye' instead of 'eyes' she stifled a laugh. "Sorry... It's just-- eye-- and you have one eye." She started laughing, "I'm sorry! I can't take so much seriousness! And that was funny." Her cheerful exclamation brought back the normal Ren. The Ren she hadn't been since they got on the boat.

"Thank you." She smiled and stood on her tip toes to hug him around the neck in one of her infamous suffocation hugs before letting go. She patted his chest, still smiling, "You don't have to stay here. I'll be alright. I'll do that thing with the chair I said. And if I have to, I'll explode some things."

"So you should probably go. Thanks for worrying about me." She nodded with another smile and let her hand drop to her side, "But... I still haven't seen Misc." She blinked, now recalling that she had never found him. She got distracted with food and then all of what happened. "Maybe we should look for him?"

[That_Guy]

Silvio smirked, he never really made jokes about the loss of his eye, and using 'eye' in place of 'eyes' was common for him. However, if it made Ren more comfortable, than he was willing to let the comment slip past. When he saw her go in to hug him, Silvio breathed in deeply and prepared for the embrace. Soon she had Silvio in a hug any body builder would be envious of, and it felt like his ribs might snap at any moment. The vertebrae in his back actually popped a few times because of the pressure.

When Ren finally pulled away, Silvio let out an explosive sigh of built up air in his lungs. When Ren mentioned that she hadn't seen Misc around, Silvio's guard immediately rose again, for he had no idea what these sailors had in store for them. "Yes, I believe it would be wise to seek him out. Let's go, there's no telling what's wrong with him now." As he said it, Silvio had opened the door to the small room and stepped out into the passageway.

[lain]

Ren stifled a laugh after he turned to the door, knowing that her hugs usually made Luke, Misc, and Silvio alike uncomfortable. But, she was a little apprehensive about going out of the room. She walked up behind Silvio after taking the lantern off the nightstand and peeked out the door, watching him walk down the hallway. It looked as though all of the men had retreated for now, but Ren carefully stepped out and shut the door behind her lightly.

She eventually caught up to Silvio, "Hey," She said in undertone, "Do you think that... maybe we are on the wrong ship? By some really weird coincidence? It was foggy..." She held up the lantern just a bit so she could see the look on his face, "I think we are being tricked. Maybe they are trying to kill us to keep us from-- killing whoever that bad dude is. Maybe they are on his side..." She stopped walking and tried to get a better look at Silvio's face to perhaps try and decipher what he was thinking.

[That_Guy]

Silvio managed to keep a dertermined mask upon his face, mostly for Ren's sake. If he showed fear, she would become fearful, but if he showed courage, then she may follow his example. He wanted to keep what he was really thinking away from her. Maybe she was right? What if the people on this boat wanted nothing more than to kill every one of them? It was definitely a possibility, from what Silvio knew, their enemy was powerful, and had influence in many places. If this was true, than Misc and Luke had to be found fast, none of them stood a chance alone, outnumbered as they already were. Their best chance would to be to avoid the sailors and stay as a group together.

After a long while, Silvio said "I dont know the intentions of these men, wether they are misguided, or... whatever. All we have to do is find Misc, and once we're all safe together we can figure out what to do next. This boat right now is the only real hope of getting anywhere, so we just have to trust the sailors for now."

[lain]

Ren let out a small sigh, "I guess we do have to trust them... they have us way outnumbered. We won't get through this by just strength." she had begun to walk again, but she suddenly stopped, getting a strange feeling in her stomach and a chill up her spine. She placed her hand on the wall and part of the wall moved back slightly. It was a hidden door. Knowing that someone might see them, she stepped back and looked at Silvio, tacitly asking what to do. If Misc was in that room and got free then the Kiri-men would know that Ren and Silvio had someone to do with it. As far as what Luke was up to at this moment... she wasn't sure. He could be in there too. She wanted to whine and pace from worry, but she kept still and tried to remain calm. But the air was not calm...

"I have an idea." Ren pushed the door open and shined the light into the room.

"Hey! What are you doing in here?" A strong and pretty much gigantic man stepped up in front of her, but his anger faded when he saw she was a woman.

"I was just looking around the ship for my friend and--" She held up the lantern again, "And there he is." She smiled, "I don't know why you would capture him but..." She set the lantern down and tried not to vomit as she thought of a few things to say. She stood on her tip toes and whispered something in the man's ear.

A grin slowly spread on his face and he released Misc, leaving the room after giving Ren a suggestive look that again made her stomach twist.

She hoped that he would be distracted long enough for them to figure out what to do.

"Misc!" Ren said in a louder whisper as she ran up to the side of the cage and knelt down, "Are you okay?" She looked him over, seeing that he looked unharmed at the moment. After that, she started scrambling around for keys. Of course, they were hung on a nail on the wall. She took them off the wall and unlocked the tiny prison with a wide grin, "We were wondering what happened to you." She looked back at the door to see if Silvio had perhaps sneaked in after the man had passed by. She took Misc's arm and tried to help him out, "What happened?" She asked.

(OOC : If I need to change anything, Vein, I will.)