Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-31986068-20160429231407/@comment-31986068-20170324044914

I contradict myself, the next snippets will probably be infrequent long bits all in one go.

This one's a long one... prepare yoselvs

She looked around. There were several tapestries hung around the room seeming to depict events. Rain could smell juniper incense burning. There was a large nest-like bed to the far left of the room, with a very small staircase leading up to it. The room was lit by only candles, and even then it was rather dark. \

Atop the bed lay a majestic golden lion. “Salutations, I am Gratil,” he growled. “You are Rain, I presume. I must speak to you about the prophecy... It is better that you know it and our current struggles.”

“Prophecy?” Rain asked. “Is that why I was here? Wasn’t that pig talking about that?” Gratil nodded. “Fireblaze had received several prophecies, but we know for sure only one, or perhaps two, may concern you and your sister.”

Rain sat down on her knees before Gratil. She had never been this close to a lion before. She was filled with fear and awe all at once.

“The first prophecy,” Gratil muttered, “came on the second night of the Feast of Nu-Ihn-Xi. Fireblaze, our Senior Head Healer, travelled to Beringia Memorial or Bering Land Bridge Preserve as you call it. I do not know the details precisely, but a great spirit descended from the heavens and gave it to her.”

Rain leaned forward. “What was it?”

“The raging storm, pitch black and sapphire-eyed,” Gratil whispered, “the soaring bird, brown-feathered and fierce. Together they shall collect the Seven, if they ever hope to save the winter’s turn. And the dreamer, sister to the bird, shall lay down their life for the raven in the golden heart.”

Rain took this in and decided it would be good to memorize it if she was to stay here long. Suddenly, a memory came rushing back from when she was at her cabin.

“I had heard... something weird like that back at my cabin with my sister and my dad,” she said. “Something about raven’s child, cat of Theta, Omega. It echoed from somewhere far away. Does that have anything to do with this?”

Gratil’s eyes lit up. “Roe put the Echoing Charm on that one sunset! I was going to tell you about that prophecy... You are special, I knew it... to be lucky enough to hear that... The raven’s child of Epsilon shall fight the wolf of Omega, but the cat of Theta will slay them both.”

The girl sighed. “Raven’s child. Our mother was connected to ravens. Now that I think of it, maybe she was...”

Rain told Gratil about the memory coming to her outside the doorway.

“But I don’t remember hearing about that other girl,” she sighed, rubbing her head. “Brendan never toldd us about another baby.”

“Brendan cannot be trusted,” Gratil muttered. “He fled from us but to think that he killed La Mañana, La Niña...”

Suddenly a random spurt of rage flitted through Rain. She jumped up and yelled, “You don’t know that! You have no evidence that he ever killed that blue fox!”

Gratil was as astonished as Rain was by this sudden burst of emotion. “I--”

Before he could finish, a very loud noise was heard. Suddenly behind Gratil, Rain glimpsed a flash of two red spots that promptly disappeared. A shape on the wall shifted and slithered into darkness.

Gratil jumped up at once. “The battle horn!” he growled. “We are under attack!” He glanced at Rain. “I would ask you to fight, but I fear your sister is in danger and the animals are aggressive. I suggest you find her- and when you do, you decide whether to fight or not. I advise against it but it is your own decision.”

He leapt out of the room.

Rain was stunned. Attack? Sparrow! Rain ran out of the room, and after struggling around a bit, came to the Grand Hall. Animals were rushing around. Young ones were wailing, and many were rushing to protect them and the elderly animals. Healers burst out of their den, some wielding staffs.

“Sparrow!” Rain screamed. “Sparrow! Where are you!?”

Condor jumped down from out of nowhere, carrying a dagger and wearing a belt filled with them.

“Looking for her?” she asked. “Once the battle alarm sounded, she stole one of Maxim’s fancy, top-ranking reward shaska, lucky duck, and rushed off with Ferris to where those filthy Shadowbringers are attacking. I think you should join the action personally, I’ve been surveying you a bit and I think this would suit you best. Here, careful it’s heavy.”

Condor grabbed a scabbard and sword from her belt and thrust it into Rain’s arms. It was heavy, and Rain wondered how Condor was even able to carry it about. Carefully, Rain drew the sword from its scabbard.

The hilt was silver. It curled about and had several carvings on it. It was studded with what looked like sea-green turquoise and dark blue sapphires. The blade was thin, but incredibly sharp as Rain learned by poking its side, earning her a sharp cut. The blade was wide enough, however, to fit in a beautiful carving of a sapphire-eyed bird.

A raven.

“What are you doing standing about?” Condor cried. “C’mon! Follow me! To battle!”

They ran to where animals flocked around, by several indents in the wall varying in size. They were tunnels. Condor easily crawled through a smaller one that rain had trouble with, but eventually they surfaced, in a spot that appeared to be near where Rain’s patrol teleported to earlier.

A huge, terrifying black wolf, larger than the one Rain encountered before, was leaping at an equally huge bear standing on its hind legs. The bear wore a small black fur hat, and several swords adorned a belt it had. Rain supposed this was Maxim. Beside him were Ferris, Deser, Sparrow and, to Rain’s surprise, the black seal from long before who had been in the Blacksmithing room.

Maxim roared loud enough to frighten anyone in their right mind away. “Грязная собака!” he yelled, then drew his shaska quick as lightning and aimed a blow at the wolf’s head.

The wolf whipped his head up, catching the blade in his teeth. Rain heard a crunch and a small yelp of pain.

Ferris and Deser grabbed their weapons and began to advance on the rest of the patrol, but Rain saw more shapes running to them on the horizon. The rest of the wolf’s patrol consisted of a small, black, foxlike creature with yellow stripes and a reddish arctic fox.

The fox thing cowered in the corner as the other one started to fight with Ferris and Deser. “Akaei!” he growled to the black fox. “Fight, you coward!”

Akaei, the fox, looked startled, but jumped up and nodded. She looked around frantically, then spotted Rain several feet away, holding the sword, and she charged. Rain looked for Condor, but she had vanished with Sparrow among the increasing Deltean crowd. The Shadowbringers’ number had also increased.

Akaei screamed like a jackal and launched herself at Rain. She gasped, and instinctively held up her sword to block her jaws. Akaei practically smashed and deflected off the sword, crumpling to the ground. Rain felt bad about hurting such a small creature that seemed as if she was forced to be among the Shadowbringers. To avoid further fighting with her she jumped past and, mustering all her courage, jumped into the feuding crowd and snuck up behind an occupied Shadowbringer cougar. She could tell by their musky scent.

Suddenly, a large image played before her, blocking all view.

There was a gathering of several animals, headed by a murky shadow, a snake and Aquilo.

“I shall explain it again,” the shadow whispered eerily, its voice a terrifying mixture of sounds Rain couldn’t decipher. “When the main crowd is getting pushed back by those miserable lot the Delteans, there will be an opening behind them. Sombra here will slither in and bite a few people to cause confusion, and while that is happening we will sneak in behind them, from this route by the old trees here... and some of us shall go inside to terrorize and maybe nab a few younglings, and the rest of us will surprise them from behind. Once the fools recover we’ll have them overwhelmed! It’s a genius plan...because I made it...”

Everyone quickly murmured in agreement. “Praise reaper and his battle tactics!” someone called out.

“Now,” the shadow growl-whispered, “let us go.”

“Reaper,” Aquilo muttered, “what about the human hostage?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Reaper snapped. “To battle! Quietly!”

The battle and reality around Rain returned. She gasped, recovering from the shock, and rushed about to the holes and trees the shadow and the others planned to infiltrate. ''They’re going to defeat the Delteans! ''

And I have to stop them!

CHAPTER EIGHT

not out yet ;)

I am planning on printing what there is of this so far, stapling it and showing it to my good friend at school tomorrow! He has a similar taste and was curious about it, so...

Wish me luck!

also we are REALLY diving into the action here

Spoiler alert: pay attention to that human hostage bit. think. cry.

Double spoiler alert: bellde may lowkey be the weatherman partner el nino/el manana (i prefer el manana because it's funnily irrelevant to weather, but has a deeper meaning to his backstory and also gorillaz references, the song el manana is beautiful, highly recommend you listen to it)

also, new gorillaz songs out today. *FANGIRL HYPE YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND*

bye nerds