A dream within a dream (Isaac)

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Still engaged in the idle hope that some force intervene on his behalf, and with the belief, fueled by his adrenalin and uninhibited by all the evidence to the contrary, that his plight deserved attention from high above, if not from his own level, Isaac marked the approach of his attackers and readied his weapon, the lantern hanging from the end of his staff that he now arranged hastily for use. At once his thoughts upon the old subject of assistance in times of need were dispersed; all superficial distress was lifted away as he took his position, the near-formless pose that was less a trained stance than a nervous constriction of the legs and arms at a satisfactory distance from one another. Within barely a flicker he was moving forwards to engage the nearest archer; he gripped the staff and swung it in a wide arc, aiming to smash the lighted lamp into the body of the coming creature.
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Mio stared, dumbfounded, as the arrows hit the earth and burrowed in. Her grasp on her dagger tightened, her nails digging into her thumb as she tried to assess what sort of creatures they were dealing with here.

Her contemplations were interrupted however, when another volley of arrows flew through the air. The young adhiel threw her hands over her head instinctively to cover herself before belatedly realising that the attack had not been an attack at all, but a distraction. Her gaze searched automatically for Isaac.

And found him surrounded. Without a thought for a plan of attack Mio launched herself towards her companion, scrabbling up from the dirt and running at the shadows surrounding him. She noted briefly and subconsciously that they were outnumbered by too many to two. Not good odds.

Thoughts and notings seemed to stream soundlessly through her head as she ran, her pulse pumping a fast tattoo against her neck, driving adrenalin in and fear out. She felt like she had been lifted out of her own body and left to watch, as the curly adhiel she had thought to be herself brought the dagger in her right hand sweeping down, it’s path aimed at the neck of the closest creature before her.
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Assistance in times of need.
Help from above.

These were all fine sentences in heroic stories when there was no other explanation for success save insane abilities or luck. Most people preferred the feeling they were being favoured by higher powers, which might explain the recurrent theme. This part of the story was usually followed by the wise remark that the gods only help those that help themselves, lending an extra quality to the hero.

Little people too featured frequently in stories, although more in those fit for the youngsters. Usually they were named in one breath with faeries, goblins, trolls and magical wands, drawing a shiver of delightful fright from the children.

Too bad this was not a story.

This time a less than magical wand would have to do the honors and Isaac had better put his trust in his skills or he might not live to tell the tale. This notion was clearly etched into his survivalist attitude since the man did not wait for divine assistance, but took matters into his own hand, swinging his staff with vehemence at any of the unlucky creatures close enough to get hit.

The undergrowth added a nice swoosh to the move, making it sound as impressive as it looked when the light on top hit the first critter. With a loud yelp it was catapulted against a birch, a sickening crack just audible over the screams of the next in line.

The beings were so light that the impact barely slowed Isaac's momentum. While his staff followed through on the movement Mio's strangely detached state allowed her to close in without being noticed...or perhaps the creatures were too focussed on Isaac and they were not perfect after all.

Anything was possible and anything would just have to be good enough right now.

Horribly outnumbered the strange pair swung and swept, bringing down several of the dark ones. While Mio stabbed the neck of one, two took it's place. Their vicious yellow eyes now alternated between Isaac and Mio, which proved to be their downfall as it left the woman clear for another cutting motion. Yet rustling from the left told her that she had been noticed by more than the actual attack force. Was she going to move further towards Isaac, or were evasive maneuvers in order?

Choices, choices. It was impossible to keep track of the horde but whoever had said that size did not matter, was wrong: size did matter today, as did their combined strength which kept the little ones guessing at which blow to evade next.

For Isaac it was clear his partner was moving into the thick of the fight, exposing herself to the same dangers, if not worse since she was trying to break through the thick circle. It was up to them to either get out or actually slay every little one of these darklings.
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He had just felt the sharp thrill of superiority over his foe when the sight of the incoming droves cast his spirit back down. But as their chances of survival grew dim, his opposing will grew fervid, and he now swung his staff with the expectation that it land hard and always strike true, no longer mindful of his limits, nor considerate of the possibility of error in his attacks, while aware, by default, of the many movements about him of swarming targets, and firm in his belief that his arrival, unscathed, from one to the other side of their collected ranks was inevitable. He aimed his blows at the attackers whom Mio's own assault should displace from their intended path, intending to disrupt their formation, if they had one, and to obstruct the movement of the horde by congesting its inner pathways with dead bodies.
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Swipe after swipe, and that horrible tearing sound that accompanies the renting of flesh. Had she not been too immersed in surviving, Mio would have shrunk back in disgust from the chaos unfolding around her. Instead she was here, blind and deaf to the screams and the smell of imminent defeat.

The dagger in her hand felt warm under her palm, but whether it was the heat radiating from her own adrenalin filled body or the warmth of blood on her weapon, she couldn’t tell.

Her father had once told her that when he held a sword in his hand and was obliged to wield it against another, sometimes he could keep a logical thought in his head, fresh and ripe so he could plan every movement he made. However, sometimes (he always told her with a distant look in his eyes and stern cock to his head) the red thing took him. The red thing? She’d asked then, hazel eyes bright and alert with childish curiosity, What’s the red thing? Her father would look at her and sigh, as if remembering echoes of far away trauma he had experienced. The red thing, he’d say softly, is what I gave myself to when all else failed me. It comes from the deepest recesses of instinct, the dark place we all lock up and throw away the key to. It is the instinct to live, to fight, but not to die. A strange emotion would pass across his face then, and Mio had always translated it as sadness. I gave myself to it, he’d say again, leaning down to ruffle his daughter’s hair, and I pray to Pan it will never take you.

But it had.

It raged inside her like an untamed beast, snarling and writhing with fury so that she gave herself up to it, throwing herself into it’s path. The red thing saw the sweat run rivulets down her face, it saw her slash her foes with vicious sweeps of her arm. It saw her throw away fear, horror, strength, and it gave her strength of mind.

Swipe after swipe, and that horrible tearing sound that accompanies the renting of flesh. Where Mio would have ran not moments before, she and the red thing fought on.
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Aiming was superfluous as the little shadows kept moving in, trying their very best to seperate Isaac from his companion. The continuous movements were starting to work on his muscles, slowly tiring them out. The number of rows between the twosome was growing steadily, sometimes thinned out by the ever sweeping staff when suddenly the critters exploded in front of Mio.

The red haze -once unleashed- blurred the woman's vision, granting her strength where fatigue should have been setting in. The extra burst of energy cleared her path towards Isaac within flickers, adding her sharp weapon to his bluntness.

Together they stood and fought against overwhelming odds like long time companions. The shadows kept coming. The swipes kept hitting home. Dark blood was flowing. Slices along their legs burned, although nowhere near as viscious as the faithful arrow Isaac had cut out before. Muscles sympathised and burned along, although it was hardly noticeable to the enraged Mio.

It was hard to determine whether the woman knew what she was doing. The next slash might just as well hit Isaac as the critters surrounding them. For now they would simply have to trust each other and themselves until either the enemy gave up or they would go down.

Slash. Light reflected off Mio's knife, blinding a critter until his breath died in bubbles.

Swipe. Another shadow was propelled into a lighter patch of the forest, screaming when his exposed skin started to welt and burn for lack of darkness.
[size=75]Gavin:She's the emerald eyed agent of chaos
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Isaac did his best to corral the creatures into Mio's reach, his movements almost frantic with the sensation of fatigue, and with the drag on his arms and legs like which it felt. The creatures' immolation at the touch of sunlight seemed their only weakness, and Isaac screamed, "We have to get them towards the light!", not knowing whether the elf would understand his words in her altered state, but already acting as he had directed her to do, edging from his place toward the nearest patch of illuminated ground and swinging all the while.
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We have to get them towards the light!

Isaac seemed so far away, his voice sounding as though he had shouted it from the other side of the forest.

...towards the light!

She had just been immersed in the killing, her right arm gripping the knife in a death grip. Sweat poured from her brow and she could feel the muscles in her arms tensing tighter and tighter, like wound up elastic. Her body tingled with pain, but the red thing threw her forward. Towards the light.
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Light.

Darkness.

Shadows.

Light.

The journey into the light was demanding, harsh. Blood and sirupy blackness. The few steps that seperated them from relative safety turned into miles while they fought their way through the hoards. Little beings exploded when coming into contact with their opposite force. Screams were so abundant it became hard to hear anything else.

A ray of light fell on Isaac's boot. The little creature clasping it let go under clouds of steam and fell back into the darkness. Mio's knife reflected the life-saving sun a thousand fold, throwing the masses back and allowing her to escape to Isaac's side...where they found themselves immersed in little four-leaved clovers growing all around them.

Everywhere the little leaves touched it called down the sun through the twisted branches while the shadow creatures backed off, hissing in frustration and counting their losses.

Wounds began to sting. Several slashes along their legs burned. Less had reached their arms, but at least none of the arrows had been useful after the hoard attacked for close combat. The burning was that of a possible infection, but certainly no instant poisoning.

Then there was silence.
Blessed silence.
And a rather ostentatious hat hanging from a branch.
[size=75]Gavin:She's the emerald eyed agent of chaos
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The creatures had gone, the clearing before them quiet and strangely still. But the dagger in her hand felt sticky with blood. A sickly reminder of the chaos they had only just left behind.

The first coherent thought she had was 'I'm alive. We are still here.' All the same, the little adhiel had to glance down briefly to check she was in fact still there: Her body just seemed like a mass of aching rubber.

She had felt the red thing seep out of her at the last, like a pungent gas. It had left her lightheaded, hot and cold all at once, and her body seemed to be shaking uncontrollably.

Very slowly, like a child fresh out of it's mother's womb, Mio lifted her hands to her face. Her right one still grasped the dagger, her knuckles whitened with a death grip she could not release. She spread her left one out so that she could see the clearing in front of her through the gaps in her fingers. A faint frown creased her face as she watched her hand shiver before her, and she clenched her fist tight, trying to stem a cold feeling of weakness.

The dazed adhiel gazed absently around her, feeling as though she was surrounded by a cage of glass that prevented her feeling everything she should. She reached out and pushed it away, her left hand trailing lightly through the air like an exhausted mime artist. Then, slowly but surely, Mio began to 'take stock': Her legs stung with scratches and small wounds from the creatures, her arms ached with strain, and her heart pounded in her ears like a drum; A dull aching pulse that shivered through her bones, shaking her like a flimsy wooden frame. She radiated exhaustion, her eyelids suddenly becoming heavy with fatigue.

With much effort, she turned towards Isaac and tried to ask if he was all right. But her mouth opened and only a small croak came through. She closed it and her throat rippled as she swallowed. A feeble attempt at a smile quivered at her mouth as she felt herself fall to the floor like a stone, landing in one crumpled heap of flesh and clothes. Mio hugged one knee, swaying on the floor as she peeled the knife from her right hand and watched the blood return to the skin. A lump of bile rushed up her throat and she leaned to the side just in time to throw up on the floor, retching weakly onto the ground.

Recovering, she leant back and breathed in slowly, opening her eyes to look at the sky. A small patch of colour in a tree caught her eye and she stared at the hat on the branch, mesmerized by it. It suddenly seemed normal that she should find an inanimate piece of clothing hanging from a tree, and she continued to gaze at it, her stained dagger lying in the dirt by her side.
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OOC
Since we're still in doubt where Isaac might be, we will continue with Mio on a little sidetrack for the player's fun :)

IC
The hat kept swaying, a little more to the left than the right. The sun reflected off a brightly coloured bead hanging from the top. The ray found it's way directly into Mio's eyes, blinding her for the merest flicker.

"You can stop staring now." A tiny voice remarked while an even tinier hand grabbed the hat and placed it on the head going with the voice. Little Hollery looked tired, but intensily smug. He folded his arms and looked at the woman. "Don't need me, eh? Who do you think found all these clovers especially for you dumb biggies? ME! That's who! I worked my hat off to get here in time since you would not help me. It really wasn't such a weird question, wasn't it, to ask you to help me?"

Rambling on the fellow was interrupted by a purple flash coming from the woods. "Enough." A female voice sounded. "You did well, Hollery Mick. I am sure they know who to thank."

From between the trees a brownhaired woman stepped into the fouled up clearing. "I believe you were looking for me?" Her simple clothes told a story of hard work, her youth one of perseverence. "Come, I'll take you to my home before the dark ones return."

With a gesture of her hand she beckoned Isaac and Mio to follow, yet it was going to be hard for the former to walk: the man was lying on the ground, face set in a very relaxed manner....vast asleep.
[size=75]Gavin:She's the emerald eyed agent of chaos
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Ulder:Syra is a great shredder of paralysis through analysis
Elvin:We call it the Law of Improbable Syrabilities
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Mio blinked.

'I'm not staring.' she mumbled distractedly, 'I'm.. just resting my eyes.' A tiny hand grabbed the hat and placed it on a head. A head she recognized. She blinked again, this time to make sure she was actually awake, and then peered up at Hollery with some caution. A tiny frown creased her brow, and she continued to stare at the tiny little man as he chattered away, wondering when she'd wake up.

''Enough." A purple flash and she jumped, startled. Mio rose to her feet, swaying slightly as she stood and brushed herself down. Dammit. She was awake. She bent and picked up her stained knife from the dirt, holding it ready in her hand. She didn't trust anyone.

The woman seemed to know who she was, but the young adhiel found herself searching anxiously in her memory for any recollection of the lady. Finally she grasped on a tiny thread, something Isaac had mentioned before: Abigail. Could this woman be the mysterious Abigail they were supposed to be looking for?

"I believe you were looking for me?"

'Uh...I...um.' Confused, Mio looked for conformation from Isaac, and let out a tiny noise of shock. She dropped the knife, knelt beside his prone figure, grasped him by the shoulders, and shook him, a welt of panic growing fast in her belly.

'Isaac!' she said, the urgency clear in her voice, 'Isaac, wake up!' Please don't let him be dead. Oh Pan, please don't let him be dead. Shaking hands reached for his neck, fumbling around his throat for a pulse. It was there, steady and strong. The battered little adhiel let her hands relax on his chest, bent her head, and cried.
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Immediately a kind arm found it's way around Mio's shoulders. "It's alright, love. I recognize the taint. He's been marked by the dark ones- not that long ago from the looks of it. The man will be alright if we'll leave him to wake up by himself."

"Pff, tried to warn them I did! But they would not listen, Abigail!" Hollery piped in, managing to evade the shooing motion of the woman's hand...just.

"Yes, Hollery, you're a great hero, we know." Abigail smiled at the jumping little figure. "Dear, would you help me lift him? I might have some questionable powers according to the villagers, lifting heavy men is not one of them."

Trying to lure Mio out of her grief she simply started to lift Isaac up. Keeping him on the forestfloor so close to the boundaries of her territory was not a good plan. The dark ones might return in force once they realized one of them was down.

Abigail frowned. She was not going to let Mio know of this particular danger right now. The main important thing was to get moving.

If the girl actually got up to help her, they made their way to a little cottage, build between three birches. Hollery followed at a distance, making little cracking noises as he tried to break the branches under his light touch.

"Please, come in." The woman invited Mio, which was really silly because they were trying to lift Isaac together, having no choice but to step inside unless she wanted to drop her friend. The little Mick jumped over the threshhold, waving his hat in a generous gesture.

"I suppose you have many questions." Abigail groaned, putting the man down on a rug in front of the empty fireplace. "Now is the time to ask." She looked at Mio expectantly.
[size=75]Gavin:She's the emerald eyed agent of chaos
Vanir:She's cute, it's her personality that gets in the way
Ulder:Syra is a great shredder of paralysis through analysis
Elvin:We call it the Law of Improbable Syrabilities
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ooc
I'll be gone next week: off to the woods!
:)
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Elvin:We call it the Law of Improbable Syrabilities
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ooc: Hope the woods were fun! :D

ic: The arm around Mio's shoulder was a great comfort to the adhiel, and she made a creditable attempt to swallow down her tears, blinking stupidly and wiping one hand across her face. She nodded numbly to the woman, rising to her feet and grasping Isaac by the shoulders. The little adhiel braced her legs to lift him, and hoisted him up level with her chest, finding his weight heavy, but not uncomfortably so.

The little man with the hat seemed to be quite happy to chatting away to Abigail, and Mio used the distraction to regain control of her emotions as they walked with their burden. She breathed deeply, telling herself that what had happened had happened, and she would be prepared for what was to come.

But what is to come? She had no idea. The young adhiel stole a quick glance at the woman Abigail, wondering just what part she had to play in all this.

A little cottage came into view, and Mio could only assume that this was where Abigail lived. It became obvious when the kind lady invited her in, and Mio made a small attempt at a smile, nodding in thanks as they walked over the threshold with Isaac.

They placed him down in front of the fireplace. The adhiel found herself brushing his dark brown hair lightly on her face with an unusual familiarity before turning back to Abigail and Hollery.

Questions. Yes, she had questions, and suddenly Mio found her head swamped with them.

'How did you...why.. why are we... what happened to...' she shook her head frustratedly, 'Wait. Wait a minute.' Start at the beginning. Start with something simple.

'Who are the dark ones?' she asked finally, pushing away the burning curiosity that held all her other questions.

'
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ooc
*sighs dreamily....yeeeeah :)

ic
Much to her satisfaction Abigail saw Mio not only pick up Isaac, but herself as well as the Adhiel woman made the best of the situation. She smiled. People showed so much unexpected strength when confronted with the strange and inexplicable. They were so worthy of being kept alive when their minds and bodies were so flexible to deal with the complete unknown.

The entire wooden interior made the hut look smaller than it was. A small fire was burning to keep the moist away, it's light shielded from going outside by curtains in front of the small windows on every side but north. The simple furniture made it suitable to two persons to live here in relative comfort -if they liked each other enough to be in the same company every day.

Abigail closed the door. Outside the light was fading again.

Mio's sudden rush of questions brought a laugh out in the air. The woman raised her hands in mock defense. "Not so fast! I cannot read minds! Please, one at the time."

Luckily her Adhiel guest regained her wits and started at the beginning. Hollery was finding his way through a cupboard, pulling out something that looked suspiciously much like a piece of flat bread. A little, heavy bad on top was moving dangerously close to the edge of the shelf, almost toppling over unto the little man.

'The dark ones. They are our shadows. I think you know them." The young woman looked at Mio from under her dark eyebrows. "Ever had the feeling someone was watching you, and yet when you turn around there is no one? Or perhaps you awoke at night, so sure of someone or something touching you, finding only the darkness? Perhaps you saw something move from the corner of your eyes and still you can't really say what you saw. Those are the dark ones."

The woman walked over to the fire, rekindling it with an iron rod. She was completely oblivious of the little thief in her cupboard. "A long time ago when the world was divided, certain agreements were made...and many more broken afterwards. The dark ones are not evil, not as the definition goes. They keep to their end of the bargain, but they will jump on any chance to take revenge for when they have been wronged. And you..."

She gestured to the sleeping Isaac as well as Mio. "You broke into their territory, so they were just in attacking you. I am surprised you got this far around the wrong end. Had you not been given directions by Rackman?" Abigail raised her eyebrows.
[size=75]Gavin:She's the emerald eyed agent of chaos
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Mio nodded at Abigail's explanation of the dark ones, a slight frown creasing her brow as she stored the information carefully.

'Rackman?' The name rang a bell. Mio looked at Isaac and wished he would wake up. He knew all the answers to Abigails questions, whereas the little Adhiel felt like she knew none.

Rackman. He was the man who Isaac was with when they... saved her? It was almost laughable to think that she had been saved when all she had been was flung from one danger to the next. Mio swallowed down the small lump that had formed in her throat at the thought and brought herself determinedly back to Abigail's question:

'Had you not been given directions by Rackman?'

Oh no. How was she going to explain that? They had been attacked by invisible assailants in the foliage? Voices pushed them into quicksand?? Mio let out a small noise of distress and pushed her hand against her forehead in frustration. She sighed, looked up, and attempted an answer,

'He did. I think. But we were..I was... distracted.' A slight grimace accompanied the last word, clarifying the uneasiness she felt and the complete inadequacy of her answer. Feeling desperate, the young adhiel threw up her hands and turned away from Abigail,

'Please, I don't know much. I don't even know where I am!'
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"At ease, m'lady, at ease." Abigail soothed Mio, a hand on her arm to reinfoce the feeling. "No one is testing you here. I just needed to know what had happened, whether your path had been disturbed....who actually broke the treaty first."

The woman filled a kettle with water from a barrel and hung it over the fireplace, swinging the metal hook back so the flames could touch it, quickly warming the water to it's boiling point. "We'll have some tea and I will tell you what you wish to know. You are in the forests surrounding Dolmensted. The history of this particular village is one of peace. Boring to some, ideal to others. Recently things have chanced...with the coming of the One, Dominicus."

Abigail looked at Mio sideways, watching her reaction to the divine name. "Not everything this younger god does is for the best of the world. In destroying ancient anchors, he is upsetting delicate balances from before his time. One of these anchors is a dolman, a standing stone. It was toppled by Matthew Hope and his followers. Did you hear of that man? He's heading the One church in these parts. Very charismatic. I think I'd believe him if I didn't know any better."

"In the meantime we're stuck with invasions of the dark ones because the protection around the village has been broken and they have every right to try and take these grounds back..." The woman sighed. "Rackman is one of the last to hold to the old stories. I know he is with me, but he has to look after his family, especially after what happened to his daughter..."
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''Recently things have chanced...with the coming of the One, Dominicus."

Dominicus. Yes, Isaac had mentioned him before. He'd told her that this god's followers wouldn't like her...

Briefly her memory took her back to when they had been standing in the forest,

''His followers tend not to like your kind. Nor will they take kindly to me. They control this place. They burn anyone whose convictions differ from theirs. Anybody with anything else to say, gets it. And now we're headed for someone else who had to leave, because she acted wrong. She behaved the wrong way. And now she's forced to live in hiding."

A tiny shudder ran down her back and the little adhiel couldn't help but steal a glance at Abigail. This woman had been forced to live in hiding? Mio couldn't imagine what she'd done for society to deem it wrong enough to hurt her. A little bubble of fear burst in her stomach and rose to her throat. Mio shivered and swallowed it back down, pushing one hand roughly through her dirty and knotted hair in silent distress.

'His daughter.' she said abruptly, echoing Abigail, 'What did they do to her? She is dead?'
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Abigail frowned, hiding a pained look in her eyes by brushing some hair out of her face. With a newfound smile she looked back at Mio. "You cold, girl? Want a fur around you?"

She checked the water, quickly pulling her hand back as it was almost warm enough. "His daughter...she died...Nishi." A deep sigh. "That was what broke him, I think. If they had not pulled the stone down, the defenses would have lasted. But now they have her...and they won't let her go. She died in a fire...it happens...but we all know the poor girl could not move on. She's trapped with the dark ones, her soul, that is. Trapped...all because some men cannot stand the relics of the past."

Her face hardened. "I think the tea is ready. Do you think you could swallow some? It will warm you up."

"All those that die in Dolmensted will be trapped...it is sheer luck no one has fallen since the stone did...cept Nishi. It is their right, the dark ones take only what they have a right to. There's even a song about it...the children sing it, they think it's a game." Abigail smiled warmly and spread her hands, her clear voice reaching out.

"Sleeper, dreamer, guard on top
Guardian fall and all will stop
Dreamer, dream and weave the land
We'll be safe as dolmen stand
Sleeper, sleep, do not awake
Or our souls are theirs to take
Guardian, dreamer, sleeper still
Please protect us if you will..."

Protect me... An idle voice, carried on the breeze outside. Abigail did not seem to notice. Hollery stopped his expedition through the cupboard and listened.
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Mio shook her head at the offer of furs, and then nodded at Abigail's question of tea, glancing at the hot water with a deep look of hunger. When was the last time she had something hot to drink? Or to eat for that matter?

The story of Nishi sent yet more shivers down her spine, and Mio hugged her elbows as Abigail sang, wishing to Pan that she had never met these 'dark ones.'

Protect me...

The voice came from nowhere. The little Adhiels hazel eyes widened in fear and she instinctively produced Isaac's knife, backing up against the wall with shudder.

'What was that?' Hollery had stopped rummaging. Perhaps he had heard it too. Mio looked at him, her face hardening,

'What was that?'
Syrawenn
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Little Hollery's hat fell of his head. "You heard that, didn't you?" He repeated the question back at Mio, both of them talking over a confused Abigail's understanding.

"Heard WHAT?" She demanded to know, throwing the herbs into the boiling water. "You heard what?"

The little man dumped the crackers he'd been trying to get a hold of, and jumped towards Mio.

Isaac...

Hollery blanched. "Now I know I heard that!" He exclaimed. "That's the name of mister sleepy here, isn't it?"

So glad you came...

Abigail stared from the one to the other, obviously not hearing the ghostly voice playing with their heads.

Will you stay this time?

A male voice answered, too soft to understand. The voice sounded awfully familiar.
[size=75]Gavin:She's the emerald eyed agent of chaos
Vanir:She's cute, it's her personality that gets in the way
Ulder:Syra is a great shredder of paralysis through analysis
Elvin:We call it the Law of Improbable Syrabilities
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'Woah!' her voice rose in panic and Mio stared blindly around her, knife held threateningly before her.

'What is going on?' She wanted someone to answer her, and for the answer to be reassuring, but she knew no one would, and she knew that it wouldn't be.

She glanced at Hollery, her eyes clouded in distress, and then glanced at Isaac. Could he hear the voice too? Wherever he was now?

Wake up. Please wake up. I need you to wake up.

The adhiel found herself sinking further and further into panic. Perhaps she could cope with things she could see, things she could safely stick her knife in and know that would make them go away. Abigail couldn't hear the voice, and that scared her.

A tear ran blindly down her cheek, and Mio brushed it away angrily. Why did she keep crying??

'Stop it!' she found herself saying, 'Whoever you are, stop it!'
Syrawenn
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Post by Syrawenn »

Abigail kept a close eye on the strange Adhiel woman in her room. Somehow something or someone was calling her. Hollery could hear it, but she could not. It was frustrating to be so human from time to time. Frustrating because it kept her out of the loop unless she purposefully went into a trance.

It has to be the dark ones...they are too close. The girl must have been touched by something of the Aether. It's calling to her.

To go into a trance while this Mio was so obviously in need was not a good idea. Another sigh escaped her lips as she awaited the inevitable.

Hollery Mick shook his head, as disturbed by the goings on as Mio was. "Abi! Do something!"

The voice sounded hollow. Surroundings were fading again. Mio felt pulled out of her body, pulled out of the little house, into the night, into the darkness...slight nausea and then a mountain looming over her. A dark, dark mountain.

The ground was black. No trees, just a rock and a little girl sitting on it. She was dressed in a white nightgown, her brown hair moving in the nonexistant wind.

"Hello..." She said, looking at Mio with big eyes. "You're not Isaac."
[size=75]Gavin:She's the emerald eyed agent of chaos
Vanir:She's cute, it's her personality that gets in the way
Ulder:Syra is a great shredder of paralysis through analysis
Elvin:We call it the Law of Improbable Syrabilities
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This wasn't right.

Confusion set in first and foremost, and then came a horrible sense of dread. And yet, this wasn't like the stomach renching falling of the last time she was transported. Mio closed her eyes tight shut and bit her lip. This was horrible.

'You're not Isaac'

The little adheil's eyes flew open in surprise,

'Uh..' she said shakily, 'No. I'm not.' There seemed like little else to say, and Mio swallowed heavily, staring at the girl before with an almost identical wide-eyed expression.

'Who are you' she blurted out, if only to keep herself from bursting into tears again.
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