An Adventure Awaits

A

Araluen

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Original poster
The wind was blowing so hard as the rain pelted down that Phoebe could barely see where she was going as she lent forwards, trying not to get knocked over by the gale. She was heading back home from a walk she'd taken when the sudden storm had rolled in, and so as luck would have it, she got stuck in it trying to get back. Phoebe wasn't one for short walks, either, much preferring to go on long and leisurely strolls instead; that, and away from her small village of a home was the only time she could ever get to play around and practice with her inherited magic. When she and her twin sister were only 4, their mother had died of one of the many illnesses that had swept the Kingdom, and their father was left to care for them. However, not even 2 years ago, he'd been killed in an unexpected raid that had come to the village by their Kingdom's enemies and had then traveled well up into the hills and to the castle itself.

A loud crack of thunder and a bolt of lightning shot down somewhere near Phoebe, and she jumped with a frightened yelp before picking her pace up into a full run now, barely managing to see the dim lights in the village come into view. About another 10 minutes later and she was finally rapping on the wooden door of the brick house herself and her sister lived in, waiting impatiently for Alkina to open the door for her. Soon enough, the brunette opened the door, cursing her sister's absentmindedness for wondering off before finding some towels to help dry her off and then moving over to the fireplace. Alkina looked nothing like her sister. A little thinner in the face, more athletic, and definitely physically stronger. Phoebe had inherited her magical gift from their mother and was the more feminine of the two, whereas Alkina had decided that she wanted to pursue Archery as both a hobby and in hope that she could become part of the Kingdom's army one day. That day had yet to come, unfortunately, so in the mean time the twins ran the local bakery on weekends for the actual owners, and during the week Phoebe ran a small tailoring business from within the house while Alkina would go out hunting and tag along with a few of her guard friends.

"This weather is strange. It came out of absolutely no where, and it's so dark. Something..."

 "Doesn't feel right, I know." Alkina finished her sister's sentence as she made sure Phoebe got warm, and stayed so,"I've got some chicken soup cooking. It should be ready soon so that'll help warm you up."

 "Mmmm. Oh, y'know, I nearly got struck by lightning coming down from the forest. It was so loud, and for a brief moment I'd felt heat... It must have been behind me but I sure as hell wasn't going to stop." Phoebe laughed softly as she watched Alkina shake her head before walking off into their small kitchen. As weird as it seemed to her that Alkina wasn't the domestic type, she was a darn good cook.
 
Emily unlaced up her boots as the finishing parts to her soaked clothing. Today she was to meet Nikolas for some staff training then to learn the basics of magic with Molly and Castiel. They both owned the bakery with their significant others - Castiel's being Isaiah and Molly's being Mallory. Molly and Castiel were brother and sister but kept mostly to themselves save for the two sister's that they had run the bakery on the weekend. As it was the end of Sunday she would have gotten in a lot of training but the freak storm had caused her to leave.

A creak from downstairs signified Nikolas was done with his shower. He had come back to her house since it was much closer than his was. He actually went out of his way to come help her with sword skills as he was part of the guard. However, there was only one bedroom in the house so Emily leapt to the dresser when she heard him coming up the stairs. When he opened the door she had her underwear on and a long shirt.

"..." Nikolas's eyes flickered up her body before landing on her wide eyes. "U-u-uh I'm sorry!" He shut the door and turned around with a light grin and a blushed face.

Emily was speechless. But in her speechlessness she slipped on a long, baggy pair of pants and opened the door rapidly causing Nikolas to fall backwards into her. "I'm sure you've seen a pantless girl before Nik. Get dressed and downstairs. I will make us something to eat."

He grinned awkwardly since there was a rumor about a year prior about him and his girlfriend at the time. It was supposed that they had slept together before marriage. The guys teased and praised him but his girlfriend at the time got into a lot of trouble. Finally, he had to quash the rumors in a public way to save her. Though many people remained unconvinced, the trouble for his girlfriend came to a halt but not in time to save their relationship. "That was a rumor. And PLEASE wait til I'm done getting dressed. You burn the most basic of things! I actually learned something from my ex-girlfriend. If you would let me teach you..." Nikolas would not finish that sentence. If he did, he would get hit. The first time he told her she would make a proper wife and ended up with bruises up and down his body along with a bruised appendage of a private kind. He had learned his lesson.

"I. Don't. Need. Your. Help." Her orange eyes glinted with the anger of a phoenix. Emily's voice made Nikolas recoil. With a huff she stomped downstairs and Nikolas heard pots and pans clanging.

"Oh please dear lord, let my stomach survive this."
 
Alkina went about making food for herself and her sister, peering out the closed window as she did so. Not that she could see very far... The storm was still going crazy outside, the rain hammering against the house from all directions, and it didn't take much longer for the hail to start bucketing down. Had this storm come along like any other, she would have considered it normal. But it hadn't. It had come out of no where, as if conjured by magic by an angry witch or something; actually, Alkina wouldn't put it passed that, if she were to be honest. Quite a lot of weird things had been happening lately that didn't have much of an explanation, and she'd even noticed the slight increase in guards' duties when things did go strange.

"'Kina, do you think that somebody is trying to attack the Kingdom? I mean, with the strange things going on, and this storm especially... It's just really weird, and I just can't put my finger on why this doesn't feel right." Phoebe walked into the kitchen and stood beside her sister, before glancing down at what she was cooking, "Mmmmm."

"I don't know. In all honesty I wouldn't put it past anyone. Even the forest creatures have been scared for the past few months. We hardly see any of the Centaurs anymore, and even the waters have gone quiet. Something's going to happen Phoebs, I can feel it, and I don't like it." Alkina shook her head with a sigh and shoved her sister away so she could finish cooking and then serve.

Phoebe sighed and walked away, back into the living room to sit in front of the fire. She stared for ages into it, watching the flames flicker and the wood crackle. She knew her sister was right. Something was going to happen, and soon. She just hoped that whatever it was, that it wouldn't cause too much devastation among the village. It wasn't something that anyone needed right now. Or at all, really. But it was going to happen, and she doubted there'd be much she or Alkina could do about it. Phoebe absolutely hated situations like this. Where she knew something was wrong but she couldn't do anything to fix it. It made her uneasy and on edge. Looking out the window closest to her, she could have sworn she saw something flying in the sky, but figured it was a trick of the light - after all, Dragons never came near populated areas anymore. Not after the last season of Dragon Hunting had happened and they'd nearly lost 3/4 of their breed. But, she supposed that with this freak weather, they may have chosen it to go out hunting unnoticed. Then again, trick of the light or not, it may not have been a dragon. It could have easily have been any other form of giant flying creature. It wasn't as if they didn't exist entirely... They were just rare.
 
Nikolas shivered after sitting down to the porridge Emily had made, not from the food either. It actually smelled amazing. Just an ominous feeling. They ate and later they both fell asleep on the bed - facing away from each other as was customary for the pair.

The thunder and lightning rolled throughout the night but disappeared at dawn. During the hours of sleep fallen on the kingdom, a weird mist from the rain crept into the outer village and up through the inner area and even to the kingdom. Anyone awake would barely have missed it. The mist seeped into anyone sleeping or awake who had recently been in a fowl mood - angry, dissatisfied, depressed, etc. It would amplify their feelings within hours causing a disrupt not only in town but all over the kingdom. People who had good magic or were leaning to the lighter side of feelings would be unaffected.

In the center of the woods, an elder ala (but young in appearance) shifted from the shape of a giant Zilant to that of a raven-haired, raven-eyed woman. Her skin was eerily white. Her foot steps came to a halt in front of another woman, this one being of a bit younger in looks.

Blonde hair tumbled to her knees in waves as her blue, wisdom-filled eyes stared at the ala. "Well, it seems you have completed your task. I do not think anyone will the wiser to your storm. Thank you your grace." Inside the witch scoffed. She hated being polite to a creature she felt inferior to herself. But it could not be helped. An ally as strong as this was not to be offput. If anything ever did go wrong, she would help her. "I do so appreciate the kindness you have shown me by coming out here." Grabbing the sides of her skirt gently, Lina curtsied.

The ala nodded. "Of course dear Lina. You are one of my favorites. Think of this as a gift. I will be off. I must raid a town over the mountains yonder for a fill of my stomach. May your plan be fruitful." Another shift in body and she flew off - this time in the form of a white-scaled dragon.

Lina smirked and watched the form fly off into the distance and slowly the shape disappear to nothing but a speck. "You can come out now Rick."

A man stepped forward from the shadows and smiled wryly. "Well done Lina. Still holding onto that leash I see. How goes the rest of them?"

Before speaking, she shot him a glare that could stop giants in their tracks. "They are loyal thank you very much. Unlike you recently. Talking to the royals at the kingdom we both loath." Lina gave a load and pointed scoff. "Give me a break. All you want to do is ensure that the kingdom will be yours. Making the Princess swoon and her father adore you! I hope that you get found out! I hope - " She was cut off that instant when he pinned her to a nearby tree.

"Hush your tongue witchling. I am your mentor and guardian and..." His eyes flickered up her form. "Well maybe not that.. yet. But you do NOT speak to me that way. If your tomfoolery gets this opportunity taken away from me, I will strip your powers in the most brutal way possible." His light brown eyes were filled with menace as they bore into Lina's own.

The pink lips so close to his trembled as she tried to sound brave and unafraid, though unsuccessful, stammering out, "Y-you can t-try. I would n-never-r let you do that!" She swallowed hard. If there was one person she was afraid of, it was Rick. He was the one who helped her come up with a plan. But it wasn't supposed to start for a couple more months. That way, he would be king and her little trick would instead go towards lighter feelings - changing them to a darker side. Though it would still have no effect on good magic. That was always a pain. But Rick figured once his princess was on his side, he could get rid of the goodie two shoes.
 
After the warming meal, Phoebe curled up on the couch against her sister, randomly babbling on about what she'd been doing out in the woods before the freak storm. She'd been with Azrieph, one of only two Centaurs from his clan, or heard depending on what you wanted to call it, that had a magic ability as she did. Since they were young, Phoebe had often crossed paths with him on her ventures through the woods, and as time passed, she'd become reasonably good friends with him. See, it was usually against a Centaurs' Clan's lore that they weren't allowed to interact with humans, but considering that Phoebe wasn't a human, it had eased the process and allowed his interaction, but not full friendship-type relationship. It wasn't until she'd revealed that she was adept in magic, that Azrieph had taken it to his elders that he could learn not only from the one elder that was a spell caster, but also from Phoebe. It had been an amazing experience for her, when she'd been sort-of indoctrinated into the clan so she could be allowed by their lore to become his teacher. That had been a good 6 years ago, and since then she and Azrieph had created a proper bond of friendship, and even Alkina had come to be introduced to him, and had even learnt a thing or two about being a warrior from him as well.

"So long as he's doing well, at least. Perhaps it will be an idea to go see him once we know that everything is alright again. Because surely something bad would have been planned to happen behind the scenes of this storm. Anyone who pulls ou a freak storm and attempts to do something close enough after it, is an idiot. But, most of the people who have tried to overthrow the Kingdom or something of the sort, has been an idiot." Alkina mused softly as she braided her sister's hair gently.
"But come. T'is time for bed. We'll hopefully be able to assess the damage in the morning. If it's bad, lets just hope we still have jobs so we can get it fixed." She tied Phoebe's hair at the end before standing, "Goodnight. Try and get some sleep, and stay as warm as you can." Turning, Alkina then headed to her bedroom and laid on her bed, but it took her a long time to fall asleep, something constantly bugging at the back of her mind.

"I will, don't worry. G'night." Phoebe smiled as she too stood and then headed into her own room, climbing into bed and snuggling down. Within minutes she was sound asleep.

Azrieph, as soon as the strange weather had started and Phoebe had left, he went straight back to his Clan with great speed. Not only was it safer with them, but he also wanted to know what the elders would be talking about in regards to the weather. It was incredibly unnatural and he was sure that they would be the first in the Kindgom to find out. However, by the time he'd gotten back to where his Clan normally would be hiding in such weather... Unfortunately for Azrieph, the weather worsened before he could search very far for them, so the best he could do was find a ditch between some old tree roots and get as comfortable and sheltered as he could. But there was no way he was going to sleep tonight... At one stage though, he could have sworn he'd felt the strange presence of some sort of shape-shifting being; it's essense being blown along with the gale-force wind and rain.

~~
((For a picture of Azrieph, check my Male Characters gallery :D Designed him so I could write this reply.))
 
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