Argh. So sudden. Kinda.
*works on chapter*

The sun would rise soon. Susan was curled up on the sofa, about half-way through her book. She'd been unable to sleep. She was worrying about Tom, who should have returned by now. She was worrying about the people in Depada, who she'd seen on the news. She was worrying about what had happened that day at the town hall. As hard as she tried, she couldn't concentrate on her book. The lamplight flickered on the aging oak-panelled walls. This had been a beatiful house, back in its day. She looked up at the circular stained-glass window. One of the small panes was missing. She walked over to the desk and removed a small tube of glue from the top drawer. She crossed to the window, and was about to pick a blue pane up off the floor, when there was a knock at the door. She tossed the tube of glue onto the sofa and headed for the hall. She opened the door as far as the chain would allow, and saw that it was the council leader.
"Hello, Mr. Dalton!" she exclaimed. She was about to comment on the pleasentness of his surprise visit, when she saw his expression. She removed the chain and opened the door. "What's wrong?"
"Hello, Mrs. Bradhurst. Is Tom back?"
"No, why?"
"I'm calling an extraordinary meeting of the council. You'll see why. Come as quickly as possible. You'll have to tell Tom about it when he gets back. See you there." With that, he left. Susan closed the door. This was a worrying development.

Tom was a notoriously bad riser. Barely conscious, he was unaware that anything was wrong. Without opening his eyes, he turned over in an attempt to find a comfortable position. Something was wrong. His bed felt different. Blearily, he opened his eyes. Above him were the beams and planks of an uncovered wooden ceiling. The morning sunshine blazed through a modest window to his left. A familiar looking grey buck and an unfamiliar female rabbit were looking down at him. The latter's hand passed his eyes and he could feel her mopping his forehead. It hurt. He tried to call out, but all he could manage was a brief guttural sound.
"Shhh," murmured the girl. Memories of the previous day's events started to return. He cleared his throat, and croakily asked what was going on.

Susan entered the council chamber by the rear door. The wall behind her curved around on either side until the two halves face each other, then a straight wall ran between them, forming a half-moon shape. Two long desks, one on either side, curved around with the wall. Like everything else in the town, they were showing their age. Between them and the wall councillors were standing in small groups, murmuring quietly to one another. In front of her lay the central aisle. Beyond the desks there were two steps down into a lowered area, at the end of which stood leader's desk, three steps up. On the wall behind hung the coat of arms of the town. It was a curious feature. It had been granted to the town in a previous age, by a king whose name nobody could remember. It was in recognition of the arduousness of being a frontier town. Right now, the town was about as far away from the frontier as you could get. Susan had pondered this the first time she had gone to see her husband speak. Now her attention was caught by something quite different. On the leader's desk, facing her and the councillors, was a monitor. The computer it was attached to was turned on, but the screen itself was turned off. Behind it sat Dalton, quietly observing the scene.
Susan walked over to two of her acquantances and asked what was going on. It appeared everyone had a theory about why the meeting had been called. Nobody knew anything conclusive. Finally, the last sleepy colleague entered the chamber. Dalton called for order, and they all took their seats.
"Ladies and gentlemen," began Dalton, "we have two serious problems on our hands. A few hours ago I was watching television. Not at home, but in a Channel Eight news van. I have a recording of what I saw." He stopped, and made sure he had their undivided attention. "I think you should all watch it." He switched on the monitor. The first frame was showing, an eager Channel 8 presenter in front of the Greenthorpe mansion. Dalton pressed play. The councillors watched intently: the rats, the paintings, the marines, the figure in the kitchen... A few of the councillors couldn't stand the sight of blood, and had to leave hurriedly. When they returned, the hall was silent. As they sat down, Dalton continued, "That's not the only problem. Most of you will know about the incident at the town hall yesterday. Some of you were there. A few of you will have recognised the gentleman involved."

"The name's Tony Waterbeck. I'm a pilot. I crash landed near Greenthorpe. I was trying to get back home to Technoir when I came across you lot in that forest." Tom had heard of Tony Waterbeck, of course. A sporting celebrity.
"So, how did you come to be chased by those thugs?" asked the girl, who had introduced herslef as Majo.
"I don't know. One minute I was riding along - " Tom stopped as the door opened and Louie walked in. There was something about him, something familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Uh. Hi."
"Good morning, Mr. Bradhurst," replied Louie. He drew a chair up to Tom's bed and sat down. "How's your head?"
"It's been better. But I'll live. Hey, did you ever go to Relwick University? It's just that you remind me of... of..." Tom trailed off.
"No. I never had the chance to go to university. Not that I never studied. I've... spent a lot of time in a library."
"I'm sorry. It doesn't matter. You must be Louie."
"Yes."
"Thanks for coming to my rescue last night."
"Well, I do have a vested interest in your safety."
"What's that, then?"
"You are Thomas Bradhurst. Councillor Thomas Bradhurst. You're in charge of property and planning in Greenthorpe."
"Yes. But you could buy property or get planning permission or whatever without me."
"I don't think many people in Greenthorpe would be willing to sell me anything. Besides which, I may already own the property in question." Louie stopped and looked at Tony. He'd already been told. "Mr. Bradhurst, I wonder if you know more than me about the property rights of the deceased. Or, rather, the undeceased."
"The undeceasad?" It clicked. A textbook from his first year at Relwick. How to Recognise the Undead.

Susan couldn't believe what she was hearing. When she first heard the rumours, she had thought she could believe in vampires. But now that she was actually being told that there was a vampire on the loose, it was too incredible.
"But we can't be sure the vampire in the video was Louie. We should be prepared for the possibity that there are two, maybe more." said Dalton. "Mr. Parker, you'd like to speak?"
"Yes sir, thank you. Our first action should be to demolish the Greenthorpe mansion. The vampire or vampires should have nowhere to hide or set up a base of operations."

Tom was silent. He'd been insisting that vampires didn't exist for years now. On the other hand, he'd also insisted that the tooth fairy existed. He prided himself in taking the unusual in his stride. He looked over at Tony. He probably already knew. It would explain why he had seemed a little distant.
"A vampire. So you want to know if you still own something you owned when you were alive?"
"It's not as simple as that. It's something I should have inherited, had I been alive."
"That's even more complic... You're... Are you Louie Greenthorpe?"
"That's very impressive, considering how old I was when I last had my picture taken."
"I think I have a vested interest in you now. The Greenthorpe mansion..."
"...Is exactly what I'm interested in."
"Oh, right. You'll be wanting it back. You must be pretty attached to it."
"It's not that," Louie started, then hesitated. The mansion had been his home for hundreds of years. He was sick of it, and yet at the same time he felt attached to it. "It's not for me. I want it to be a shelter for refugees."
"From Diamondus?" Majo nodded. Tom fell silent again. The mansion would house plenty of people. But what about the company that wanted the land? That deal meant everything for Greenthorpe. But then again, the shelter would mean everything for the refugees. "I'd have to check the law books. But I think you have a case."

"Mrs. Bradhurst? Will you make the decision in place of your husband?" Susan considered Dalton's request. She was only there as a stand-in, but Tom did need the site cleared.
"I think we can act without an absentee's consent in this case!" exclaimed Parker. "It's an emergency! We're not even changing the land ownership, we're just tearing down a building which we all recognize as dangerous!"
"We have to follow the proper procedure," Dalton replied. Parker scowled.
"It's okay. I'll decide. Yes, we should have it torn down." said Susan. She looked accross at Parker. There was a gleam in his eye. Perhaps it was because she didn't like him, but it looked malicious.
"Excellent," said the leader. "We'll need to call in the armed forces. They haven't been deployed to Diamondus yet, but we'll have to act quickly before they are."

Several hours later, Susan was back home and lying in bed. It had been a gruelling day, organising the demolition, and she hadn't slept since the previous night. Despite this, she'd been lying there for about an hour, wide awake. In the distance, she could hear hoofbeats approaching. Her ears pricked up, but the horse road on by, a few streets away. She turned over and tried to get comfortable for the umpteenth time. Several minutes passed with no sound but the ticking of the alarm clock. Then she heard the back door slam shut and her husband's voice call out. She leapt out of bed, threw on her dressing gown, and ran downstairs.
She stopped abruptly when she saw that they had company.

A while later Tom, Tony, Majo and a properly clothed Susan were sipping tea in the living room. Louie had declined the offer of a drink, but sat with them as Tom recounted the events of the last few days.
"...And it turns out that Louie here is none other than Louie Greenthorpe."
"Greenthorpe, as in the Greenthorpe Greenthorpes? Are you descended from...?" Susan began.
"I'm Louie Greenthorpe the first. Brought to you by the vonderful vorld of vampires," said Louie. Beneath her fur Susan's face went white.
"It's okay. He's more sanguine than sanguinary," said Tom. He laughed feebly.
"That was terrible, dear."
"It's better than the one about the waffles."
"Fine, fine. He's not 'sanguinary'. But someone else from the Greenthorpe mansion is."
"What?" chorused Louie and Tom.
"The night before last a TV crew and a bunch of marines went into the mansion. We saw the tape in the council. There was this dark figure. He - it - killed them. It killed them all."
"Oh no," said Louie, gravely. "I thought he was dead. It was self defence. He was trying to kill me. I left him for dead. That's why I wanted to get away from Greenthorpe." There was a pause.
"Who?" inquired Majo.
"Theodore Thatcher. He came in when you were unconscious." There was silence. After a while, Susan spoke.
"The council asked the Carrotus government for help. They said they'd deal with it, but we didn't think they took it seriously. So Councillor Cobley put the video up on the net."
"Anonymously?" guessed Tom. Susan nodded.
"It should get a response in a few days."
"But what kind of response? A few experts or a full-scale invasion? It would be nice if the town were left standing," said Tom.

The sun had set. Susan entered Tom's study with two mugs of tea.
"There you go. I thought you might like something to drink."
"Thanks," replied Tom.
"So, what are you looking for?"
"I need to find out what Louie's legal status is with regards to property law. We need to find out if he can get the mansion for the Diamondus refugees."
"The mansion? But..."
"What?" asked Tom. Susan told him about the council's decision. Tom sighed. Now he'd also have to go through the building safety laws in order to save it. This was going to be a long night.

Several days had passed since the television broadcast had gone online, and there was still no sign of any kind of special forces. The cold, lonely mansion loomed menacingly over the surrounding grounds. There had been no sign of the new inhabitant, but it had been a tense few days in the Bradhurst household. Tony had decided to stick around and salvage what he could from the wreckage of his ship.Tom had spent most of the time buried in tome upon tome of legal jargon. Susan was continuing to take care of his council duties, with nobody knowing that he had returned.
The vote passed: a town-sponsored symbolic funeral would be held for Theodore Thatcher, who had disappeared into the Greenthorpe mansion and, they thought, hadn't been seen since. Susan knew otherwise, but kept her mouth shut.
"The next item on the agenda," announced Dalton, "is the Peddleburg Forest refugee camp, as decreed by his royal highness King Jazz and passed by the Carrotus Assembly."
Susan's ears would have pricked up, had she not been excercising full self-control.
"I for one think the proposals are on too small a scale," said a short, dark green rabbit two places to the right of Susan. "The proposed camps will not offer enough space for the number of people likely to leave Diamondus, and a larger camp in the area would certainly be sustainable."
"But that is how the powers that be choose to allocate their funds, and it is beyond our power," said Dalton. "The debate should focus on the impact of the camp on our community, and what our actions should be."
"Mr. Chairman," began Susan. "Does the camp or any part of it lie within the boundaries of the Greenthorpe municipality?"
"I regret to say I do not know. They have provided a map of the proposed camp, if you would like to check."

"Where are we going?" asked Tony. He and Susan were strolling along one of the roads out of Greenthorpe.
"The forest. Take a look at these two maps."
"'Greenthorpe Municipal Service Map', and 'Carrotus Immigration Ministry Ordinance 27B/6 Appendix C: Map'. Very official."
"Look at the longitudes and latitudes."
"Ah, so this appendix corresponds to this part of the forest?"
"Yup."
"So we're going to look at it? Why?"
"Look at the Municipal Service map. There's a rectangle approximately where the toilet facilities are on the other map."
"Yeah, I see it. What's it for?"
"That's exactly what we're going to find out." They had passed the last house of the town, and were walking through the narrow strip of fields that lay between the town and the forest. Susan was enjoying the walk. It was nice to escape the daily council duties and get some fresh air. Tom spent most of his time cooped up in the office. It was no wonder he was so eager to go to Orleton. And now they were both stuck at a desk all day. They had to get out of Greenthorpe. When the current situation was wrapped up. But the news from Diamondus was getting worse every day. Would they ever leave?
Eventually the road veered away to the right. Row upon row of carrots lay before them.
"We'll have to cut across this field," said Susan. "Don't break any of the stalks, it'll attract carrot flies."
They made thier way carefully accross the field, and eventually came up to the forest. As they proceeded inwards, they found themsleves wading through the decomposing leaves. After a while, Susan stopped. "This should be it. Do you see anything?" Tony looked around at the trees which grew in every direction.
"Nope."
"There must be something. Come on, let's keep going." They had trudged a bit farther when Tony suddenly fell flat on his face.
"Are you okay?"
Tony got up, spitting out a few leaves. "Yeah. The leaves cushioned the fall, but my foot hurts from whatever I tripped over." Susan scrabbled about in the leaves and unearthed a slightly rotted wooden fence post, attached to thick wires which presumably led to more fence posts. Right enough, as Tony joined her in clearing the leaves, they came up with another fence post, and then another. On the wires between these two hung a metal sign. "Danger - Radioactivity."
"Y'know, I'm thinking..."
"That we should leave? Yeah."

"I should deal with him," exclaimed Louie. His expression was grim. "It's my fault he's there."
He edged round a mound of scrap metal to the sofa, where Tony was watching television. Several more days had passed, and Louie was getting restless.
"Departures from Diamondus are being plagued by delays. One of the biggest such delays is immigration screening. Officials are doing their best to make sure that nobody who views refugees as traitors are allowed aboard the ships to cause havoc. But many people are prepared to risk a dangerous journey if it means getting out of a dangerous city. Violence here has escalated over recent weeks, and people are beginning to question the decision to end commercial flights. Shona Corran, Blue Rock News, Felpana."
"Even with those delays, the refugees will be here before the mansion is safe," said Louie. "There's been no sign of any special government forces. You'd think with the peddleburg camp being set up so close, they'd at least be concerned." He gazed at the television. "Think of the media coverage, after all." He looked away as a picture of Gary Parker came up. If that guy became governor, there'd be hell to pay.
"Don't do anything rash," advised Tony. "Do you know what you're dealing with?"
"I'm dealing with a vampire."
"And that's your specialist subject."
"Yes. Yes, it is." He swept out of the room. In the hall, he met Susan.
"Is Tony still slouched in front of the TV?" she asked. Louie grunted an affirmative.
"Shouldn't you be doing something about this mess?" she asked Tony upon entering the room.
"I'm not moving until I get a geiger counter."
"There's one on this panel here," she replied, gesturing towards a carefully extracted portion of his ship.
"Yeah, that's how I know I'm safe here. And I'm not lugging that thing around."
"Neither of us were even affected. You're probably getting a lot more radiation from the TV."
"Right. What channel do you want to watch?"
"109," said Susan, and she sat down. "By the way, you're my cousin."
"What?"
"Everyone thinks Tom's away, and you've been seen coming and going. So you're my cousin, if anybody asks."
"Ah-hah," said Tony, grinning. A few minutes later, Tom came downstairs and joined them on the couch.
"I've done it," he said.
"What? How?" asked Susan.
"I think I managed to find the most obscure loophole ever. According to our treaty with Muckamo, land on either planet can be held by anyone who has occupation rights on either planet. This means that land on Carrotus can be held by anyone with any kind of Carrotus occupation rights. They can also own anything on the land. Now, under the local burial laws, people who have died are given limited occupation rights to their place of burial. The Muckamo treaty doesn't mention specific occupation rights, so it doesn't matter if they're limited or not. The treaty was signed before Louie died. Now, under the Death Certification Verification Act..."
"Stop, please stop," said Susan, despairingly. "We believe you."
"Right, right. Sorry. So do either of you know where Louie is?"

Gary put the phone down. So Thomas Bradhurst had returned, and there were people staying with him. Why would he be hiding?

Louie walked up to the mansion, cloaked in twilight. Being a vampire, his night vision was excellent, but there were still plenty of pitch-black shadows for an assailant to lurk in. He slid up to the door, raised his hand to the large brass doorknocker, and knocked it twice. He could hear the thumps echoing around the cavernous main hallway. He'd given up the element of surprise, but Theodore will have known he was coming. This way, he overstated his confidence. Not that he wasn't convinced this would be easy. Theodore must have had very little to eat in the last few days. Louie remembered that when he first awoke in his coffin, it had been days before he became reasonably adept at catching prey. And, by this time, the marines would be unpalatable. He clasped the doorhandle and pushed. There was no need to turn it. The lock had given way decades ago and lay in pieces under the cobwebs on the floor. The door swung wide open. Louie entered the hall, passing through the frame in which the inner doors had once stood. He took up position just inside, and called out Theodore's name. The only response was his own echo and the scurrying sound of a fleeing rat. Louie resisted the urge to hunt, and began to proceed slowly down the hallway. Theodore would probably be in the library, as it was the warmest room. Louie had wondered if the books helped to insulate it. He could do with some insulation himself. A light but cold breeze had followed him inside. Louie headed for the drawing room. From there, a spiral staircase led up to a room adjoining the library. It wasn't the most obvious route, and there were no hidden corners for anyone to lurk in. He was about to enter the drawing room when he heard a sound from a room across the hall. Coughing? No... wimpering. He changed course and cautiously entered the morning room. There, huddled in a wicker armchair, sat Theodore. His head was in his hands, and Louie could hear him sobbing. Louie relaxed, and Theodore used his opportunity to strike.


What can I say? I'm a sucker for cliffhangers.

Whee! Another really long chapter!

It's going to be a little while before I get my story up, as this weekend I've got 2 essays, a 15 page packet and an abstract project to finish all by monday.

Very good chapters, Doubble Dutch and Toxic Bunny. I like the cliffhanger in yours, Toxic.

Sweet.

Homework has slowed down, and all long term projects have been done. Tommarow I'll be writing, Thursday I'll be at Homecoming football game, Friday, I'll be writing, Saturday is homecoming, and Sunday is rushing to complete possible homework assignments/writing.

I think most of us will be very busy now that school has started again, i have to learn several big chapters a week for both of my educations and i have to finish an entire book full of assignements and work on two Dutch projects and one English project, plus an assignement for my (advanced human physics or however you call it in English) class, so i'll be very busy, plus i play pool every wednesday and Friday night so i'll have very little time for this but i'll be sure to read everything and get my own chapter done when the time comes, good luck everyone.

Noone?

As far as I can tell, Strato has been too busy for the last forever to do anything non school related.

I've written about 2 paragraphs thusfar.

I know how it goes, Stratn ..

I'm not quiet sure but i think i'll seize writing, im sort of slowly giving up on all things JJ2 related.

-nm, i'll finish this thing. I'll check back every now and then.-

I expect that my Chapter will be done by tonight or tommarow.

=D

this looks a bit dead to me... too bad...

~Alex

I guess it has been a long, long day for Stratn.

By the way, in case anybody's keeping record of the story, I thought it necessary to point out that I changed my first chapter. See the quotation after the inspection of his wrecked ship.

Thank you Acid.
If Stratn does not finish his chapter this week we shall skip him and move on.
Anyone that is in favour say 'I!'

I

Me, no wait Z! No, I!

I. =)

Π.

I.

Talking with him a couple nights ago, it sounded like he was saying he should just be skipped. (Unless he managed to write something up that night and didn't tell anyone, but he should have posted that by now.) Who's next anyway?

Actually, Stratn told me last night he quit. And KRsplat is next.

How nice of him to tell us about that.
Oh well, good luck KrSplat.

Someone need to tell KRSplat that he's up? ;P

Good idea.

Darn, I'm too late to understand what's going on.

Doesn't this seem familiar somehow?

Let's skip KR and move on if anyone is still interested.

I sure hope there are enough people to continue, I was enjoying being a part of this.

Am I next?

Yes.

Go for it Cobs!

Can I be next after I learn what's going on?

Just wondering... Did this die? It unfortunately looks as if it did.

Cobra has been busy, and hasn't had much time to write, as far as I know. But she had been working on her chapter.

Oblivion.

It was still with her. Stars, those blazing masses of burning gas, so distant that they were like flecks, distant reflections cast by some miraculous diamond. Even through the rapidly-curling corners of her sight where the stars were being consumed by inwardly-folding explosions of purple and orange, it was beautiful. The haze of her mind was trying to blend it into the cloud of other nearly-forgotten memories, but it was if they were burned into whatever remained of her eyes.
But those stars! She had seen them before, had she not? They didn’t move, but when was she able to see them? Common sense would suggest that she had seen them, but she could not remember. Perhaps she was thinking too much, perhaps she should instead try to catch one of the fleeting memories. But they escaped her so easily.
Her brain had been slowed by the Jade Dawn, no doubt. She could think clearer than this once. It hit her that she had been sitting in the place they left her for quite some time. It just had not registered in her brain to get up.
Perhaps this mental haze was how she and her siblings were enslaved. With addled brains from the poisoned water, they were encouraged to bury all thoughts deep within the poison. Once it became habit, then they would only drift deeper and deeper into the haze until their bodies were mindless vegetables. But who wanted vegetables? Who wanted worthless bodies that consumed resources?
Of balance and long-suffering they had been taught; noble goals indeed, but also an underhand way of making slaves. How foolish had she been! Running to them to flee from herself, only to find that her comforter had been using her. She cursed herself for letting herself fall for such a ploy, and tried to rise. Her feet felt like they were smoldering with streaks of pain linking the places where her damp knees had came in contact with the green-powdered ground. Staggering against the wall, the open wounds on her paws grated against the rough surface, causing her eyes to burn with tears, literally. She shrieked and fell, trying to keep her paws from sinking into her sockets. Was there still some Jade Dawn in her eyes?
They had poured a fluid on her. That’s what she needed to find. One arm was forced away from her eyes and she started feeling around her robe in hopes of finding some hidden concentration of it. Panic was breaking through her normally deathly calm mind. She had to find it, somewhere! Somewhere somehow before it burned clear through her head, or before her self-possessed limbs killed her.
The hem of her robes! It seemed that the fluid had traveled down (as fluids often do) and had collected in the worn hem of her robes. She forced her other hand down and breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the rippling snap of fabric tearing. Before it was all completely separated she was already pressing it deep into her eyes. It hurt with a dull pain, but it the fire was gone.
Rising painfully to her feet, she tried to take a few steps but proceeded to walk into a wall. After regaining her bearings, she tied the fabric around her head. Hands were necessary for finding her way. Keeping one paw on the wall, the other stretched out in front of herself, she went straight ahead at a leery pace. It was no easy task trying to maneuver. Maybe if she crawled? No, she couldn’t let herself do that. She would be too vulnerable. She tried to concentrate on her feet, namely feeling the ground beneath her as she walked to see when pavement turned to grass or gravel. It was far from fast as she grazed her nails on the ground so less uniform than the crystal floors she once knew.
When the wall ended, she stopped and contemplated. It took quite some time for her brain to realize that she had been just standing there stupidly, just thinking about what to do next. With no other options, she just continued ahead.
Where did she want to go? While she was lying on her back as her vision faded, the clear stars had brought back a memory. They had been that clear ages ago, at the Pneum Arlik. Finally her mind registered a place! She could not remember where she grew up, but that place had been significant. Somehow. She was there once, was she not?
As time ebbed in a fashion she could not sense in the slightest, she made progress into a town of sorts, as far as she could tell. The other creatures were invisible to her, but far from silent as she heard whispers of soft, fading steps away from her. Soon the soft steps became more of a clatter, and there were people talking. It was a language that she knew, but she could not hear more than gasps and someone telling another not to stare. Not that it mattered, not like she would ever catch anyone ever staring at her again.
If she had emotions, she would have cried.
For the most part, the creatures avoided her, running away or holding still, thinking they could hide but she could still hear their breathing. Her aching fingers grazed one of the hiders once, and it inhaled sharply but stayed still. As much as she wanted to cry out about the injustice, she remained silent.
The loyal ground revealed to her that she was in a town, for the surface became more polished and there were fewer clumps of grass. The walls were sandstone though, she could tell from the roughness, especially after she ran into one, bashing her knee and chin into it. Facing defeat and with no logic to help her, she sat with her back to the wall and listlessly felt the wind caressing her lips.
“For the love of…what are you?” she heard. Who was the speaker? To her left, about a yard away, somewhat feminine yet rougher than a woman’s wont. “I...I am lost. Tell me, how can I get to the Pneum Arlik?” she didn’t know what else to say. She pulled at the wallet, debating with herself. If she offered this person money, she’d never know if she had enough, or if was robbed, and there was no way she could put her fate in the hands of a stranger.
Paws tentatively reached for her arms, trying not to touch the open sores. She recoiled, but the touch was gentle. “I am not going to hurt you. Please, I only want to help you. My name is Erditine.” She could feel retracted claws on her rescuer’s paws, and fur rougher than her own, yet not completely ragged. The jerk upwards revealed Erditine was not too strong.
“I need to get to the Pneum Arlik, please. I-I will pay you for your trouble if you do no harm to me.” She raised the wallet, but kept her fingers clenched about it incase they tried to take it from her. “There is nothing to worry about, my friend. My path takes me there, and you will be no burden. We are not far.” They linked arms, and started off with a pace so much more confident than she had been in ages.
“Thank you.” She uttered silently. “I would have been alone in the dark if you had not stopped for me.”
“Think nothing of it. Who would I be, to leave someone wandering alone? It is for this reason that our society has fallen to war and left our souls desolate and searching.” Then there was a silence that she hardly noticed. While her reality was still dawning upon her, Erditine broke the silence. “What is your name, my friend?”
She did not know what to say. Her school had given no one a name, to unify them. They had been encouraged to call the others siblings to show no favoritism. Was there a name for her before her siblings took her in? “I do not have a name.”
“Every being has a name, and every name has a meaning. Even if you do not have one to tell me, there must be one that only you know. Until you reveal it to yourself, I shall call you Neoma, for I know that you have traveled far.”
“How do you know this?”
“I am a seer. It was revealed to me the moment I saw you.” She, Neoma for now, remembered how amongst her siblings there were supposed seers who divined in the waters. Already she had distrust for Erditine.
“This is no ordinary time. There is a new era for this age, and all the beings of Magic are being drawn to this area. Each race has a different reason and a different legend that pulls them, but they are all being called. Even the ones who have forsaken the old ways are feeling the calling on their souls.” As Erditine spoke, she felt something radiate heat next to her right shoulder, and a slight ruffle of her fur. “A fire pixie! See, they are coming! Ah…I am sorry. I forgot.”
“Think nothing of it, and do not let my affliction affect your method of speech.”
Erditine shifted slightly, then regained her composure and they started walking at a faster pace. “But as I was saying, even the creatures who deny the magic inside them are arriving. Even vile creatures in which there is no hope and nothing truly alive about them are regrowing their souls. Something important is happening.”
Then silence. Erditine hummed some epic to herself as they crunched though the undergrowth, and she tripped a couple times over some hidden branches. Something pulled at her mind for a moment, asking if this was an uncomfortable silence, but it faded into the haze.