W
WesteriaVale
Guest
Original poster
Status: Closed
Hey, I'm Wes. This is my Original RP Interest Check Thread. If you want to do a Fandom story with me, you'll have to go to my other interest check Here.
Expectations:
Adept writing level. I listed this as Adept for posting level. Going down to Intermediate is also fine, but no lower than that. To quote Iwaku this means: "An Adept roleplay is best suited to players who have a varied character repertoire and a grasp of complex themes. High reading comprehension is expected. There should be little to no "fluff" posts."
Posting length. I'm not going to come out and say you have to write 300+ words or six paragraphs. I expect each post to have pertinent information and advance the plot. If you can do that in 100 words or less or at least two sentences, then awesome. Lets do this. But chances are you cannot in so few words/sentences. So please post an appropriate amount. This also means I don't want 1000+ words or 12 paragraphs that say absolutely nothing. Keep things concise and interesting.
Posting speed. I don't care if you post 15 times a day or once a year. (Though the later would be very sad.) I just want you to stick around if you're still interested. If you need a break, let me know. I've had very successful RPs that only got a reply or two every month or so. And I personally do not do speed posting. I don't like the pressure of it. I'm looking for something to relax after work not cause me more anxiety.
Contribution. I'm not going to carry the who plot myself 100% of the time. Sharing the burden is why I RP online in addition to writing my own stories. If I wanted to do everything myself, I'd write it all myself. That said, when I'm controlling the plot line, I do get kind of possessive. ;)
Plot & World Building. I will expect input into both of these before we even start the RP.
Characters. I expect you to play more than one character. If you have only one main, OK. But you need to have some secondaries. Also, if you're one of those people who say: "I'm female so I only play females" you can leave. I require you to play both genders. Also I don't accept Mary-Sue like characters. Or helpless damsel-in-distress-all-the-time characters.
Rules:
- No One Liners.
- Good Grammar. I will boot you if I cannot read what you have written easily. If I have to re-read and decipher, I wont keep going.
- Meet expectations.
- Lost Interest? Let me know. It happens. I'll do the same.
- Sex is not going to happen. This might be in the One x One section, but it's not going to be Romance. If that is why you're here, go now please. (A hint of romance is fine, but it's going to be a very minor plot detail)
- I will not be your wish fulfillment.
Genres:
- Horror
- Mystery
- Suspense
- Action
- Any "-Punk"
- Time-Travel
- Fantasy: Urban and Traditional
- Sci-fi: Modern and Futuristic
When you woke up, you weren't where you remembered yourself. In fact you're lying next to another guy/girl who's still unconscious. What happened last night? You can't really remember. It's a a blur.
Plot idea: So the two characters wake up in a motel on the same bed. Each one has no idea what happened or how they got there. All they know is they now have matching tattoo around their left and right wrist respectively. They decide to part, but find that it gets hard to breath and focus when they separate, so they're forced to remain together. Soon they find out that they can work magic together and that they're wanted by the supernatural community for a crime they didn't commit.
Plot idea: So the two characters wake up in a motel on the same bed. Each one has no idea what happened or how they got there. All they know is they now have matching tattoo around their left and right wrist respectively. They decide to part, but find that it gets hard to breath and focus when they separate, so they're forced to remain together. Soon they find out that they can work magic together and that they're wanted by the supernatural community for a crime they didn't commit.
(YC/MC) is placed into witness protection. The reasons? Depends on who's character it is. If it's mine, MC was a hit man as it was and is offered witness protection in return MC will turn on his employer, a powerful head of state. But this program isn't like the others. (YC/MC) is sent back into the wild west and is granted a new start. But what happen when (YC/MC)'s past begins to catch up with him/her anyways?
So this is kind of a reality twister. Character A gets a terrible headache one day and passes out. A wakes up to find themself back in their 25 year old body, years in the past. They have to navigate this strange old place, full of people they remember but haven't meet yet. And A has to discover if this is true or was the dream reality?
Hundreds of years in the future man has expanded across galaxy. They have worked around the problem of distance and the limits of the speed of light. (This of gateways like in Stargate. *my geek is showing*) On the fringes of a distant galaxy there is a large planet the United Star Systems use as their prison. This is a planet only used for the worst offenders and for most it's a death sentence. For there is no technology there, only what you can use from the land. Since most cannot live without technology they perish quickly. Those who survive have grouped together in a small community that watches each other closely. For they have all committed terrible deeds. And then there is the rumor of what happens when you leave the community. Whispers of creatures that live on the planet...
Set in a mystical world. YC can see the future. Those who can see the future are taken in my the Monks. This order of holy men and women keep the clairvoyants safe from those who'd abuse them. However this does involve keeping them inside the Spire of Souls, and ancient building that reaches down into The Great Inland Sea, Miora. The clairvoyants are leased out to those who can affords them to tell the wealthy their future. In order to produce visions on demand they seers are given a drug called 'Faith' that opens the spiritual third eye to enable the clairvoyants to see while the drug is in their systems. YC is one of the better clairvoyants. When MC arrives in the Spire to see a clairvoyant, s/he is given YC to see his future. YC tells him that if s/he is to succeed in his mission s/he needs YC. MC makes plans with a ally, a merman to break out YC from the Spire.
Note: This was a story I was writing for a while so I do have a very detailed and concise plot. So if you want to just be dragged about, this would be the only plot for you to do it in. That being said, I'm not going to keep to my pre-established plot unless you'd like that. I personally would enjoy going a different direction with this entirely.
Note: This was a story I was writing for a while so I do have a very detailed and concise plot. So if you want to just be dragged about, this would be the only plot for you to do it in. That being said, I'm not going to keep to my pre-established plot unless you'd like that. I personally would enjoy going a different direction with this entirely.
This was an old RP I did once that only lasted a few months before it ended. The basic idea was a mystery. Shifters were dying and no one knew why. There was no rhyme or reason for the deaths. So there was a council called and all shifters from all corners of the land came to the Ancient city of Oasis to see if they could come up with a solution. There was heavy horror planned (along with a reason and ending).
Name: Ivan Farace
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Race: Sphinx Shifter (But he cannot Shift)
Appearance:
--Lost Photo--
Physical Description: Ivan is tall and skinny like most cat shifters. He is tan from living in a desert city and spending time outside. He has black hair that is less common in his tribe. He has the traditional green eyes. He is scared on his arms from attacks from the other members of his tribe. His hands are calloused from digging and excavating.
Personality: Ivan is a loner by force. He doesn't talk to anyone in his tribe because of what he is. He tries to keep himself happy, but it is hard to do when everyone hates what you are. He spends most of his time alone in the ruins because they have interested him since he had been little. He's very intelligent. Everything he knows is self taught. He is also paranoid. He is always watching his back and not letting anyone close. After all, it's not paranoia if someone is really out to kill you.
Family: Ivan is the youngest child of five. He was born last only because his mother killed herself after she discovered Ivan was incomplete. His father threw him out right after this. Ivan was only four. An older woman took pity on him and raised him in secret until he was old enough to defend himself. After that she too ignored him. Since then he has been on his own for his survival.
Weapons: Two long knives.
Skills: Agility, paranoia, and luck. Ivan is quick, thanks to his heritage. He can't always match a Shifter for speed, but he has gotten extremely skilled at reading moves and defending himself from large cats. He also has his paranoia to help protect him from getting into bad situations.
Reading ancient writing. It's a must have skill for anyone researching the ruins.
Night vision. Like any self respecting cat, Ivan can see well in the dark.
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Race: Sphinx Shifter (But he cannot Shift)
Appearance:
--Lost Photo--
Physical Description: Ivan is tall and skinny like most cat shifters. He is tan from living in a desert city and spending time outside. He has black hair that is less common in his tribe. He has the traditional green eyes. He is scared on his arms from attacks from the other members of his tribe. His hands are calloused from digging and excavating.
Personality: Ivan is a loner by force. He doesn't talk to anyone in his tribe because of what he is. He tries to keep himself happy, but it is hard to do when everyone hates what you are. He spends most of his time alone in the ruins because they have interested him since he had been little. He's very intelligent. Everything he knows is self taught. He is also paranoid. He is always watching his back and not letting anyone close. After all, it's not paranoia if someone is really out to kill you.
Family: Ivan is the youngest child of five. He was born last only because his mother killed herself after she discovered Ivan was incomplete. His father threw him out right after this. Ivan was only four. An older woman took pity on him and raised him in secret until he was old enough to defend himself. After that she too ignored him. Since then he has been on his own for his survival.
Weapons: Two long knives.
Skills: Agility, paranoia, and luck. Ivan is quick, thanks to his heritage. He can't always match a Shifter for speed, but he has gotten extremely skilled at reading moves and defending himself from large cats. He also has his paranoia to help protect him from getting into bad situations.
Reading ancient writing. It's a must have skill for anyone researching the ruins.
Night vision. Like any self respecting cat, Ivan can see well in the dark.
Once upon a time, further back than anyone could remember, there were Dragons. Of course, no one believed in them anymore. They were just legend. A legend that said the Dragons came first. They were the first Shifters. They were the only shifters of their time. They walked the world and one day they left. Or died. Or fled. No one was sure. But everyone agreed that Dragons were no more. And that after the Dragons vanished from the world, leaving only whispers of their existence, the other Shifters showed.
First were the main Tribes. The sphinxes, the Crows and Ravens, the Wolves, the Bears and the Lions. These are considered the Elder Tribes. Next to show were the Young Tribes; this Tribe consists of everything from the Squirrel shifters to the Whales. Of these Young Tribes, only a few have gained respect from the Elder. Nevertheless it was soon apparent that none of the Shifters could live with other animals. They were just dissimilar enough that there was constant fighting between the Tribes.
The Sphinx shifters isolated themselves in the Great Desert, in Oasis. Oasis was one of the oldest cities in the world. No one knew who built it, only that the technique to build the hard black adobe had been lost to the sands. Sadly, the skills of building such a marvelous city were not the only thing lost to the sand. Miles of Oasis had been covered by the desert. Only a small bit remained. Still, it was large enough to house the entire population of the Sphinx Tribe.
What remained was now Oasis. There were tall trees, bigger than three men standing side by side and high enough to reach over the tops of the buildings. The buildings were all three stories tall, each level the height of two shifters stacked vertically on top of each other. The trees shaded Oasis during the day and trapped the heat during the night. There were three great bathing pools in the city feed by an underground spring. The water was always cool and tranquil.
Oasis was the jealous homeland for the Sphinx. They guarded it against all the other Tribes and greedily kept it for themselves. The Sphinxes were a traditional and superstitious people. They kept to Oasis and never went into the rest of the city that had been devoured by the desert. Anyone who did never came back, or was killed for it. The Tribe itself was ruled by the family of the First Sphinx. The current head was a woman shifter named Green. She ruled firmly over the rest of her family and Tribe. Everyone was ranked by their birth. Soldiers were middle class, the council was upper and the workers were lower.
Ivan Farace was none of these things. He was the abomination to the perfection of tradition. A blight on the entire Sphinx society. He was a reminder of impurity. You see, Ivan was special. He was a Sphinx without the ability to shift into his cat form. He was only one side of a perfect union. And to make matters worse, his bloodline was untainted.
They would have killed him. Perhaps they should have. But never before had a Sphinx killed another Sphinx because of their differences. Tradition won out and Ivan lived. But it was a hard life. His mother killed herself, his father disowned him, and his brothers wouldn't even look at him. For while the Tribe wouldn't kill him outright, they didn't have to save him. They left him to die as a little boy, but he had survived.
The Crippled Cat they called him. He didn't deserve a name in their eyes. By the time he hit his early twenties he was used to being ostracized from the Tribe. In secret he explored the ruins outside of Oasis, trying to find meaning to his life. Everything had settled into a pattern. Then one day everything changed.
A Sphinx died. It was nothing new. Death wasn't uncommon. At first everyone ignored it, than it happened again. Then the rumors came trickling in. A Crow talked about other Tribes falling asleep than dying. It was all over. What started as something so small became a huge epidemic within a few days. It was called the Sleeping Death. First you fell asleep, then you died. Men, women, children, the young, the old, everyone was at risk. There was no rhyme or reason for the deaths. It was terrifying. Isolation didn't work, neither did any remedy the healers knew. Shifters just kept dying.
The Sphinx council convened when Green died in her sleep. The First Family sequestered themselves away for three days. On the fourth they came out of the meeting hall and announced their plan. A Great Gathering of the Tribes. It was shocking. If there was one thing the Sphinxes loved more than tradition it was their isolation. But that was over now. Shifters from all the tribes within two week's distance were to come to Oasis to try and find a cure.
Ivan was in the market when this was announced. It had floored him and made him hope. If the council could change tradition, then maybe he could go home? Of course he squashed this thought as quickly as it bubbled up in his brain. No, no matter what, he'd never be accepted and as long as he knew that he'd never let his Tribe beat him down.
In two weeks the Tribes would try to find a cure. The waiting was the worst. Three more shifters died before the fifth day of the ninth moon. The middle and lower classes, which could be spared from duties, huddled around the meeting hall waiting to hear good news. A week passed. Two. Still, no good words. The Sphinxes began to get restless. Rumors said that they were not getting to a cure; they were too busy bickering with each other.
Ivan had tried to stay away from the meeting hall. One of his elder brothers was a guard: Vessey, the second eldest. He knew if his brother saw him, he'd not escape the meeting without a beating. Being a crippled cat meant he couldn't take on a shifted Sphinx. He wasn't strong enough. He hated that. Hated that he could only see better in the dark, had quicker reflexes than most, but not the ability to change into his other half. A half of himself that he wanted more than anything, more than his family, more than one memory of his mother. But Ivan couldn't stay away. Curiosity killed the cat after all.
Ivan fell to the ground hard. Small particles of sand abraded his hands and arms, the areas that took the brunt of his fall. The sand under him gave under his force and saved him from getting anything other than a few scratches. His black hair fell into his green eyes, blocking his view partially. He still managed to see someone lash out at him with their foot. Ivan twisted on the ground and rolled out of the way onto his back.
Ivan's left hand flicked to his waist and pulled out a long knife. He hissed as he rolled again to his side and onto his feet. The right side of his face was covered with sand. His right hand and arm were bloodied, but he still gamely pulled out his second knife. There were two Sphinx shifters still in their non-shifted forms and two who were Sphinxes. Ivan shifted his weight backwards as one of the cats moved closer, ready to roll backwards with the attack. But it was stalled by one of the guards.
"Farace." The guard said looking at Ivan. "I thought I told you that you were not welcome here."
Ivan bared his teeth. "Vessey, I have as much of a right as anyone else." Just because he couldn't become a cat didn't mean he wasn't one. It wasn't right. But no one in the tribe cared, or even considered him part of the tribe. Even after all these years it still hurt. Even his older brother Vessey denied him. They once used to be inseparable. Now they were strangers.
Vessey dropped his hand and one of the cats attacked. Ivan flipped the blades, rolled backwards, tossing the cat off and stabbing it's leg. Ivan tried to dodge the second cat. However it still landed on his back, forcing him to the ground and all the air out of his lungs. He couldn't help the groan that escaped him. The heavy cat on his back pressed it's teeth to Ivan's unprotected spine. Ivan stilled. The large cat's breath was hot against his neck.
Was this it? Were they finally going to kill him and be rid of him? Sure they might get a reprimand for it, since he was still technically tribe and tribal law forbade it, but... His heartbeat slowed down as a calm came over him. Surely it couldn't be worse than this living Hell?
Then the cat on his back stepped off. Ivan gasped in his first breath and a lung full of sand. He coughed desperately as he pushed himself to his feet. "This is your last warning. Next time I'll kill you myself. Go." Vessey said as he turned around, dismissing Ivan. Ivan didn't hesitate. He left. He ran. He was a coward. Even after all these years he just couldn't give up, no matter how much he wanted to. What was he still living for anyways? Hope that one day they'd accept him? He hadn't had hope for that in a long time. Today was just a reminder of why that hope should never come back.
Ivan ran until his legs began to burn from the strain. Ran until the heat was making him pant. Ran until he was dangerously close to dehydration. Then he stopped. His legs bent and his knees hit the ground. He dropped his knifes in order to grab at the sand. It stung his already abused and cut hands, but he didn't care. His body hurt, but that didn't matter. He dropped his head and tried to control his ragged breathing. He didn't care about any of those things. He didn't care that Vessey, his brother, had openly and with witnesses, declared his intent to kill him. No, he didn't care. The fact that he was wasting precious tears wasn't because he cared. It wasn't.
Ivan picked himself off the ground once the heat became unbearable. He replaced his long knives after cleaning them. He swept back his black hair out of his eyes. He squinted upwards and judged the time a little past noon. The meeting had been going on for a while now. Of course, if it was anything like previous meetings, nothing was getting done. He wasted the first half of his day trying to get in. He wasn't about to waste the second half.
Ivan looked around. No one was out in the desert at this time of day. He was the only one stupid enough to go out here. He half smiled to himself. It was a common belief there was no water anywhere but in Oasis. Ivan had found pools in quite a few of the abandoned ruins. Of course, since it was forbidden to go into the ruins, the belief did hold true for the tribe.
There were ruins scattered everywhere in the world. Ivan only had access to those which were closest to Oasis. He never went more than a two day's walk away. Since that would dump his out of tribal lands. He wasn't willing to test whether or not he'd be safe off the Sphinx lands.
The ruins outside of the city were similar to the city of Oasis. The only difference is that the buildings had not been kept up. Some were broken beyond their level of repair. The walls were seemless like those in Oasis and the buildings the color of sand. Ivan had drawn a map of the ruins, where some buildings might have been buried by the sand. This he kept in the ruins themself; along with some of his excavation gear. In a few of the ruins he had discovered sub floors. They had been blocked after a while, and he couldn't open them by himself. However this lead him to the belief that all the buildings were connected under the sand.
Ivan didn't know the purpose of the blocked tunnels, but he happily mapped out where he thought they were. One day he planned to go down there and see for himself. He also ranked the buildings in order of importance. As far as he could tell, Oasis was where the ancient Shifters used to live. They also had more buildings that extended into the desert. It told Ivan that one day the desert would swallow Oasis whole, but not in quite a few lifetimes.
There had also been a large brick road, made out of the same material the houses had been made out of. Ivan had discovered parts of it after a windstorm had made a valley in the sand. (Of course, since the sands moved he only had a few minutes to do an investigation. He keeps an eye out now for more roads.) He mapped out the theoretical route and had discovered an area he now called the temple complex. It was a series of seven short, stout buildings, more wide than tall.
The temple complex was a day's walk from Oasis. It was rather out of the way and you'd miss it unless you were looking for it. The buildings were always covered with sand and half buried. Ivan himself had missed them the first few times he had been in the area until he knew something had to be there. When he had uncovered the first building he had been ecstatic. These were the first ruins he had discovered that were less than two stories tall. It made him wonder if there were other buildings he had missed since he didn't spot them. Hence the areas on his maps he marked that might have buildings lost to the sands.
The buildings in the complex were situated around a perfect square. The building in the middle had almost been completely covered, but after a while Ivan had managed to find a door. He called the building in the middle, the temple. He hadn't explored far, since it was like a labyrinth in there, but he had plans to do it soon. He had finished mapping out the other buildings and taking notes of their structure, relics left behind, and carvings on the wall.
Ivan ducked into one of the ruins he used as a base. It was dark and cool. He took a deep breath and headed to the far wall. The sound of water his his ears first. He bent over a small basin in the wall and looked into the clear water. He wiped his hands on his pants before reaching in and cupping some water to drink. He drank slowly, until he was feeling better. Then he cleaned the cuts on his hands and arms. He also checked his back for wounds. He had a few gouges from the claws of the sphinx who jumped on him. But nothing major. He cleaned them all and bandaged the worst of the wounds.
Ivan finished bandaging himself up quickly. It was something he had to do for himself ever since he was a little kit. It wasn't even something that bothered him anymore. So it was no bother, not even when he had to bandage a wound on his back. Once he was finished, he shrugged his shirt back on and forgot all about the scratches.
Ivan dropped himself on the part of the floor that he considered his work station. It was a small semicircle of papers and artifacts. He sat down cross legged and looked at one of the sketches. It was of the entire area of the ruins, as much as he could tell, that used to be Oasis, but now Oasis was much smaller. His eyes flitted over the sketch in the gloom. If he hadn't been blessed with his cat like senses, he wouldn't have been able to see at all. As it was, his eyes were fully dilated.
Ivan's dilated eyes moved to the small section he called the temple complex. He rested his chin in his hand. His free hand gently traced the charcoal lines. He pulled back before he smudged them. He sighed and looked outside and judged the altitude of the sun. He would have enough time to head out to the temple before it got dark, but just by a little. He grabbed his archeology pack and headed out into the oppressive heat.
Most shifters were inside at this time of day, which was the hottest part. However if one moved from ruin to ruin, it was possible to avoid heat stroke or sunstroke. Ivan was used to this method of travel. You just had to make sure you drank lots of water. He would be able to move faster once the sun was setting. He would need to break into a jog in order to make sure he was at the temple complex before the light failed completely.
Ivan did this, just as he had planned. His feet slipped a little on the sand as he neared the temple in the middle of the complex. His eyes picked out the entrance. It was covered with sand. The sands around here seemed to keep the entrance covered. He slid down a sand hill to the covered door. His hands pulled the sand away with ease. Soon there was enough of an opening Ivan could slither through, push the door open and climb into the temple. The sand hissed as it fell through the open door.
Like the first time he had ventured into the temple, the building was dark. The inside seemed to eat light. It was eerie and exciting all at the same time. Ivan believed it was the floor which produced this phenomenon since the floors were made of an entirely different substance than the rest of the buildings. Ivan had tried to take a sample once, but it was as unbreakable as the other material. He'd given up after brusing his hands with the effort.
Ivan flicked a torch into life. The fire licked the oiled cloth around the stick. Ivan lifted the torch and watched the shadows dance. Then he went to work. He dropped his bag of tools and extracted his instruments for measuring. He sketched a scale representation of the first room. Once he was finished he moved onto the door on the right. The first room had two doors, one to the right which Ivan went through, and one to the left. Each room had many doors, which is the reason why Ivan had to abandon his first cursory search. It was too easy to get lost. It was also the reason why Ivan was just focusing on getting the building mapped and not drawing the pictures and words on the walls. Even though they were truly fascinating.
Ivan paused in his initial walk through of the second room. This room was oddly shaped. He sketched it down and noted how the walls were completely parallel to each other like all the other walls he had come across. He moved into the next room on the right. He was just going to keep making rights until he either ran into a room he had already been through, or ran out of rooms. Whichever came first. Ivan had finished sketching the third room when he entered the fourth and realized it was a dead end. He nodded his head happily, progress. Then a carving caught his eye. He brought the torch closer to it. His fingers traced the outline of a dragon.
His mouth dried and his heart picked up it's pace. Dragons were myth. Old stories said there were dragons, but no one had seen one in living memory. Myth had it that dragons had lived at the time of the first shifters. There wasn't an agreement on what happened to the dragons however. Some myths said that they were killed. Others said they left the world of their own volition. No one was really sure they existed at all.
This right here, was the first sign that dragons had ever existed. Ivan nearly dropped his torch in his excitement. He was the first to find evidence of dragons. They were carved in the wall of the temple. He had to sketch this! He spent a long time on the sketch of the walls, making sure every detail was perfect. The dragon he fussed over the most, it's unique proportions. It's wings that seemed to flutter on the wall. Once he was done he touched the carving again and sighed. He could have sat there looking at it all year.
Finally he pulled himself away. He was eager to see what else this temple had to offer. So Ivan set back out to map the other rooms. It was slow work, but enjoyable. He was finally able to forget what had happened that afternoon with his brother. Exploring was one of the few reasons why he got up in the morning some days. He sketched room after room after room. When he realized he had mapped everything on the right hand door just off the entrance, including one of the rooms off the left door, he retraced his steps.
Ivan restarted from the room next to the entrance on the left. This time he chose the door on the left. Since the door on the right would take him back into the areas he had already mapped. He had to replace his torch at this point. The wood had burned down. But Ivan had come prepared. He had enough to last him two days straight.
Ivan pushed the door to the fifth room open. It ground itself open with a large groan. Ivan was slightly surprised. This was the first sign of wear in the temple. He carefully peered into the room. It wasn't any different looking that the other rooms. Ivan frowned and knelt on the ground. The floor was different. He unslung his bag and rummaged around for an item. Ivan's hand returned with a smooth circular rock.
Ivan attempted to roll it across the floor, but it veered into the wall to the right and bounced off only to roll into a corner. That explained it. The floor was uneven.
"Strange." Ivan muttered to himself. Why was the floor so uneven here? Was it intentional?
Ivan was cautious stepping on the floor, but it appeared solid enough. Satisfied Ivan ventured into the room to retrieve the rock. The trust rock was good for random things. He rarely used it, but occasionally it did come in handy. Like tonight. He tested the rest of the floor just to be safe. None of the stones moved and everything was solid. Ivan was beginning to think the uneven floor was intentional.
Finally Ivan began to map out this room too. He made sure to make a note on the page about this room's uneven floors and groaning door. Everything that was different needed to be recorded. It could be nothing, but it could be important. After all whom ever built this temple had given him his first connection to the dragons!
Ivan moved onto the sixth room still thinking about dragons. Perhaps that was why at first he didn't realize anything was out of the ordinary. He moved his torch around to get the size of the room. It was hard to tell, but it was very large. Larger than almost every one of the rooms except for one. That one had been a long corridor that seemed like it would go on forever.
Ivan moved the torch so he could better see the floor. In this room the floor looked worse. The floor was obviously uneven. Ivan frowned. This room said to him that it was highly unnatural. Ivan's frowned deepened. What would cause this? He moved the torch and something green caught his attention from the corner of his eye.
Green? Ivan thought. That was also strange. So far everything in the Temple had been black from ceiling to floor. He turned his head to look at it and froze. His heart pounded in his chest. Except this wasn't a good adrenaline rush like when he found the dragon carving. This was pure fear. Ivan was looking into a green eye. And the eye was looking back.
Ivan dropped the torch and it went out. Terror clawed at Ivan. He fell backwards as he tripped in his aborted flight. His breath was audible in pants as he picked himself up and felt his way for where the doorway should be. His hand touched the door and with a relieved noise he burst through it and slammed the door closed. He leaned against the door and took deep breaths. He couldn't hear anything from the other side. And now that he wasn't in the room anymore, he wasn't panicking so much.
In fact Ivan was beginning to feel quite silly. Nothing in the Temple was alive. The place had been sealed for year and years. Even if something had been left behind it would have died by now. Ivan carefully, with still shaking hands, lit another torch. He cautiously opened the door. Nothing moved. He extended the torch and it shone on the eye. It didn't move.
Ivan ventured further into the room. The light from the flames illuminated shiny black…scales? His vision seemed to swim for a moment before settling. He was looking at a dragon. A great big dragon. Ivan sat down on unsteady legs. They felt like jello. His entire body was like jello. There was a giant dragon, or was it normal sized, in the middle of a forgotten building.
Minutes passed as Ivan sat there staring at the great green eye. His brain refused to comprehend the sight. If he hadn't seen the carving back in the other room all those hours ago, he wouldn't even had been able to say the eye belonged to a dragon. When Ivan felt better he stood back up and moved closer to the dragon. When he was within arm's distance he paused. It wasn't moving. Was it alive?
Ivan and the dragon looked at each other for a long moment. Ivan took a deep breath and reached out. The dragon didn't move. Ivan's hand made contact with the black head. He jerked his hand back as if burned. No movement. He touched it again. It was cool to the touch. Like the stones of the walls and floors. He sighed heavily. Fake. It was a carving.
Ivan had to sit down again. This time he laughed at himself. What a fool he was. He thought it was a real dragon. He laid down on the uneven floor and looked up at the stone dragon.
"You're not real." Ivan was finding that he was actually disappointed. If he had found a dragon, would his tribe take him back? Would they find something in him worthwhile? Ivan snorted. Doubtful. He picked himself up. It wasn't time for self-pity. He had a stone dragon to explore.
Ivan smiled happily as he walked around the dragon. It was big. About three shifter lengths long. That is, if the shifters all stood head to foot in human form. The dragon wasn't that tall however. Maybe about Ivan's height plus another half of him. But since the stone dragon was curled up like a cat, it was hard to tell. If this stone replica was anything like the carving, it could easily be three times that size if it stood up. Thank the Gods that it was only stone and not real. The green eye did seem like it was watching him. Ivan dismissed it as a trick from the fire's light.
Ivan stepped back carefully and looked over the dragon from a distance. It appeared to be curled up on something. Ivan got closer again to look at it. Whatever the stone dragon was on was also made of stone. It was circular. About the same circumference as the dragon. In a way the base seemed to remind Ivan of the wells he'd find around Oasis. Was the stone dragon guarding water? It was a curious thought. Ivan looked down at the floor. Perhaps that was why the floor was breaking. The water running under the place was eroding it. Pressing against it, making it bow upwards. Might explain something if the shifters who built this place thought water as sacred. Ivan knew his people did because of its' scarcity.
Ivan made another circuit of the room. He was about back to the door, to get his supplies and start taking down measurements and drawing the dragon, when he tripped again.
"Shoot." Ivan swore as the torch went skidding out of his reach. He glared at the green eye that still looked like it was looking at him.
"Don't laugh." He snapped at the stone dragon. He looked back to see what he had tripped over, but the darkness was too thick. He sighed. Stupid floor.
Ivan moved over carefully to the torch and brought it back to where he thought he tripped. He stopped as the light made the floor look as if there was a hole. He reached out and brushed it with his fingers. It was a hole! Ivan thought that he could go and die a happy man. Today he was making so many discoveries. He reached down into the crack and pulled his hand away surprised as some of the stone fell apart.
Ivan stares at the stone pieces in his hands. Weird. A little freaky too. Ivan was beginning to get a little worried at the decomposition of the floor. And the fact that the stone dragon kept staring at him wasn't helping. Ivan, not wanting to fall through the floor, moved back from the hole. He froze as a small sound began at his movement. Ivan had no choice but to leap back as a large chunk of the floor fell into the darkness.
Ivan gasped as the hole widened and felt his heart pound. From behind him the eye of the dragon continued to stare. Ivan turned to look at it.
"It wasn't my fault." He asserted feeling oddly guilty. He didn't cause the floor to break. Well, not on purpose. It probably would have broken even if he hadn't come into the temple. Probably...
Ivan broke eye contact with the dragon to peer back into the depths.
Ivan shivered as he stared into the dark. Unlike the temple, this darkness made him nervous. He looked back over his shoulder at the stone dragon. The green eye as unmoving as ever. Ivan shivered again. The green eye was actually a little comforting. Its' eye was less accusing now, more worried. No. Ivan shook his head. He was just projecting. Stone Dragons couldn't feel anything. They were never alive in the first place.
"I think it's best not to go down there." Ivan told the dragon in a hushed voice. Somehow it seemed wrong to speak too loudly anymore. Like the darkness was listening. Ivan shivered again. Was it getting colder? Was it because there was water down there like he had thought earlier?
Ivan shifted slowly from his untidy sprawl. The ground groaned beneath him. He froze. The creaking continued. Ivan's heart beat escalated. Was he going to fall through the floor? Sure he had been curious to see what the tunnels were like, but this was too much. He looked back over his shoulder at the stone dragon. It was too far away to leap over there for safety. He looked around for somewhere else that might provide stable footing.
Ivan took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The floor under him was still making awful noises. Either he was going to move and maybe get to safety. Though chances were that he'd fall through. Or he could sit there and wait to fall. He gritted his teeth. He was going to chance it. He tossed the torch back towards the dragon. He shifted onto his hands and knees and prepared to spring.
The rumbling was loud and horrendous. Ivan tried to get to his feet and spring to safety but the floor provided no purchase. The darkness reached up and covered him. The light from the torch was soon blocked by the bit of floor that wasn't blocked. Ivan found himself missing the sight of the large stone dragon and the light of the torch. Both had made him feel safe.
Ivan fell for all eternity. Or so it seemed. When he hit the ground, he hit it hard. His legs folded under him. Pieces of stone floor pierced and scraped his legs. He cried out at the sudden pain. A chunk of floor hit him on his shoulder, almost causing him to pass out. He curled up into a small ball and protected his head, waiting for the rubble to stop pelting him.
Ivan lifted his head cautiously when everything stilled. Dirt and bits of stone rolled off of him. It was dark down below the floor. It was nearly impossible to see. The only illumination came from the flickering torch still next to the stone dragon. The scant illumination only showed him where the large hole in the floor was.
Ivan swore at the sight. The ceiling was tall, taller than he was. Taller than he could reach. He was trapped. Ivan didn't like the feeling of despair and hopelessness that overtook him at the thought. Would he die down here? He shivered. Definitely colder.
Ivan carefully moved his body. His legs hurt a lot, but he didn't think they were anything but bruised and battered. He carefully felt them over, but none of the gouges were deep or bleeding badly. It looked like it was his lucky day. He wasn't going to bleed to death down here. He would have chuckled if he hadn't been so terrified.
Ivan wobbled to his feet. He stretched as far as he could. Yup. Couldn't reach.
"Don't suppose you could be real and save me could you?" Ivan called up softly to the stone dragon. There was no response, but that was to be expected. He sighed and lowered his arms. Perhaps he could find another way out? He turned his gaze away from the ceiling.
Then he hesitated. His heart started beating faster again. What was that? He slowly turned his head to look back at the ceiling. His breath caught in his throat. A greater sense of dread came over him. What? He shook slightly, less from the cold this time, more from fear.
There. On the ceiling. What were those marks? Ivan raised his hand again and studied the edge of the hole he could see. His fingers traced the marks on the underside of the floor. Dear Gods. Were those claw marks? In an awful second Ivan remembered how uneven the floor was. How odd it had looked. How it appeared like something had been pressing upwards.
Ivan licked his lips and looked around. It hadn't been water, even if the stone dragon was sitting on a well. Ivan wrapped his arms around his body feeling small and helpless. Was something down here? With him? He wasn't wearing his knives; he had nothing to defend himself with. Not for the first time he wished he wasn't a defective shifter and could change into his second form to protect himself.
Ivan looked back up the ceiling. If there really was something trapped down here, it was free now. He thought of the stone dragon and winced. Sorry. He thought mentally. Obviously the dragon was supposed to be a guard. But of what? What had he done?
Ivan shook himself roughly. He needed to focus, not fret about what he couldn't fix. First he needed to get out of the hole. He needed to find a way back up. That was what had to happen first. If something really used to be trapped down here it probably wasn't still alive. Right? Just like the dragon. It wasn't alive. Whatever was trapped here wouldn't be either.
Ivan repeated this over and over like a mantra as he dared to move further into the darkness. If only he had kept the torch with him. He stumbled on a piece of the floor and fell down. He cut his hands as he braced himself. He winced, but didn't cry out. His instincts from earlier that warned him to be quiet had returned full force.
Ivan brought his left hand up to his mouth and his pulled a bit of rubble from it. He shook his hand out to get rid of the sting. He needed light. He might see well in the dark, but if there was no light at all, he was blinder than a bat. He reached around for a smaller piece of stone. When he had two of about the size of his palm and that were firm enough to not break into bits, he struck them together.
A small flash of light erupted. It was bright enough to illuminate a small radius for a split second. The after image lingered in Ivan's eyes. He repeated the action and the result. Then he stopped. Was there something in the darkness? His hands were trembling violently as he struck the stones together again.
Something moved. Ivan tried to keep a hold on his panic. He struck the stones together once more and illuminated the small area around him. Something black was right in front of him! Ivan cried out and stumbled backwards. He dropped the stone as he fled. His feet tripped over parts of the ruined floor. He had to get back to the light. He had too.
The inky darkness seemed to reach out and pick at him with cold fingers. Ivan sobbed a little as he felt something touch his arm. He jerked away and fell to the floor. His arm felt numb, like it was too cold. He couldn't move it so he used his other arm to scramble across the floor into the pool of light. He climbed upon the largest chunk of floor in the light and looked wildly around.
Nothing moved. He let out another little sob. He was going to die. Die in this darkness. He began to cry in earnest. He didn't want to die.
Ivan dried his eyes. The light from the torch was still strong, if it flickered as fire did. He peered into the inky darkness. If it wiggled a little, Ivan didn't discount it as his imagination. He knew something was out there. He fingered his numb arm. He still couldn't feel it, or move it. He squeezed it hard to make sure, but nothing.
Ivan slowly pushed himself to his feet. The only thing that kept away darkness was light. He couldn't escape without light. He looked up at the floor above him. He needed light. He worried his lower lip waiting for an idea to come to him. In reality, it hit him. A stone broke off and smacked him on the head. Ivan gasped and jumped, climbing as far up in the pool of light as he could.
Rocks. Ivan's eyes widened. If the ground was crumbling so easily, perhaps he could further collapse the floor. He picked up a smaller sized rock and tossed it at the floor. It broke a little more. Encouraged Ivan repeated the process until the torch fell down. Ivan snatched it up and waved it at the darkness. Since he first fell down he felt almost safe.
Now he just needed to find some way out of this tunnel. He didn't think there would be another entrance anywhere. After all, everywhere else Ivan had looked, the tunnels had been sealed off. Ivan peered into the shifting dark, his cat eyes straining to catch the sight of anything he could use to climb out.
Ivan gave up a short while later. He didn't want to venture from the hole, become lost, have the torch die, and be stuck with the cold darkness. This meant he was just left with a pile of rubble. Perhaps if he kept tossing rocks at the floor until it stopped collapsing? Then once that happened he'd build a mound to boost himself up and out. Ivan felt better once he had a plan and began to work.
It was hard and tiring. Ivan's muscles were straining as he shifted the rocks. The floor next to the stone dragon was sturdy enough. That was where Ivan was going to make his escape attempt. He had lost all track of time, but he knew he was beyond exhausted now. However he also knew if he stopped, he'd die. So he continued to work.
When he had piled all the debris he could, Ivan climbed up the mound. He reached one handedly up and his finger brushed the floor. Ivan's heart fluttered in joy. It was tall enough! Ivan gently tossed the torch up and jumped up after it. For a heart stopping moment the floor crumbled and Ivan scrambled for purchase. However it solidified. He pulled himself up and fell in a shaking heap next to the stone dragon.
Dry sobs racked his slender frame. He had made it. He laid there for a while, until he could pick himself up. He pushed himself up on weak arms. He grabbed the torch and pulled it closer, keeping an eye on the hole. The darkness was milling about like mist, some of it was pressing at the edges of the hole.
Ivan made a small noise and pressed closer to the stone dragon. Then Ivan froze. His head turned slowly, his heart pounding double time. The dragon's head was turned all the way to the hole. Ivan shivered. Had the dragon always been looking that way? Ivan could have sworn that it had been looking at the door when he had come in. Only one great green eye had been visible from where he had fallen in. But now…
Ivan shook his head. No. That was impossible. Stone dragons couldn't move. It wasn't logical. Ivan slowly circled the dragon, deciding he didn't want to duck under its half extended head. When he was close to his bag, he snagged it and fled. His feet took him back to the entrance only getting lost once. He was stumbling from exhaustion when he finally climbed out of the temple.
The sun was low on the horizon. He had been in there all night. No wonder he had been so tired! Ivan tossed the useless torch to the side along with his bag. He turned back to the door and shoved it closed. It ground slowly, but he managed. Once that task was complete he shoved as much sand as he could over the entrance.
Ivan pulled back from his frantic pace and took a deep breath. The door was fully covered. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and paused. His hand was bloody. He extended both of them all looked at them. It had probably been when he had climbed out of the hole. Now that he noticed, his hands were stinging. He had no way to clean them here, even if he had time. He looked back up at the sky and judged the time. If he hurried, he could be back at Oasis by sunset.
Ivan's stomach twisted as he realized what he'd have to do. He doubled over and lost it. When he was able to get up he wiped his mouth and covered his vomit with sand. He'd have to tell the tribe what he had done. They would kill him. Ivan trembled. He could run away. Run and never look back, but he couldn't. They were still his family, and this was his mess. He wouldn't abandon them. Ivan set off back to Oasis. He'd tell them and face the consequences.
His pace was slow as he kept to the shadows. He was sweating and dead on his feet. He had developed a small limp from the fall down the hole. And it was only hours until he'd make it to Oasis. He stopped often and drank water and rested. However the knowledge of what was under the shifting sands kept him moving. The sun arched high and higher in the heavens and the heat increased. His pace slowed down even further.
Ivan stumbled into his building as the sun began to sink below the horizon. The cool was a blessing from the Gods. He stumbled over something and ended up sprawled on the cool ground. Ivan groaned and laid there too tired to move. Finally he forced himself to his feet. He staggered over to the water basin and drank. He cleaned out his hands, dropped off his bag and headed back out.
It was strange. He knew he was going to go back to Oasis, chances were they'd kill him, but he was still worried about keeping his secret safe. The crippled cat archeologist. Ivan shook his head. The world shifted and Ivan fell to his knees.
"Okay. Bad idea." Ivan told himself. "Don't do that again." Ivan climbed back to his feet and continued to walk. His world narrowed down to his feet. Just put one in front of the other. It was all he could manage in his state. He was bloody, bruised, beyond tired, and completely resigned to his fate.
When the ground changed Ivan staggered to a stop. He looked up in surprise. The sun had set and the moon had risen. He was now in Oasis. He hesitated to take another step. Doubt crept into his being. The council was having a set of meetings with the other Tribes. Would they even bother to listen to him? Especially after yesterday when he had been kicked out after he tried to sneak into a meeting. Ivan frowned. Perhaps they'd ignore him, or arrest him, thinking it was just a cry for attention.
Or worse. Maybe they'd listen then dismiss what had happened. Ivan swayed on the spot. After all it did sound ridiculous. If not for his arm, perhaps he wouldn't have believed it at all. He looked down at his arm. There was a back mark on it, wrapped from elbow to the middle of his upper arm. The arm was no longer cold, but it was still numb. That Ivan was sure of from the many times he had fallen on it.
Ivan clutched his wounded arm close to his body and took a small step forwards only to fall over. He made a small sound as he hit the hard stone street. His legs had gone past the point where they had felt like they were on fire, to a dull throbbing pain. He took a deep breath and attempted to stand, only to find his legs wouldn't respond. Ivan swayed as he glared at his legs.
"Stupid." He said out loud. This was all stupid. He looked up and saw someone standing in the road. Then everything seemed to melt into darkness.
First were the main Tribes. The sphinxes, the Crows and Ravens, the Wolves, the Bears and the Lions. These are considered the Elder Tribes. Next to show were the Young Tribes; this Tribe consists of everything from the Squirrel shifters to the Whales. Of these Young Tribes, only a few have gained respect from the Elder. Nevertheless it was soon apparent that none of the Shifters could live with other animals. They were just dissimilar enough that there was constant fighting between the Tribes.
The Sphinx shifters isolated themselves in the Great Desert, in Oasis. Oasis was one of the oldest cities in the world. No one knew who built it, only that the technique to build the hard black adobe had been lost to the sands. Sadly, the skills of building such a marvelous city were not the only thing lost to the sand. Miles of Oasis had been covered by the desert. Only a small bit remained. Still, it was large enough to house the entire population of the Sphinx Tribe.
What remained was now Oasis. There were tall trees, bigger than three men standing side by side and high enough to reach over the tops of the buildings. The buildings were all three stories tall, each level the height of two shifters stacked vertically on top of each other. The trees shaded Oasis during the day and trapped the heat during the night. There were three great bathing pools in the city feed by an underground spring. The water was always cool and tranquil.
Oasis was the jealous homeland for the Sphinx. They guarded it against all the other Tribes and greedily kept it for themselves. The Sphinxes were a traditional and superstitious people. They kept to Oasis and never went into the rest of the city that had been devoured by the desert. Anyone who did never came back, or was killed for it. The Tribe itself was ruled by the family of the First Sphinx. The current head was a woman shifter named Green. She ruled firmly over the rest of her family and Tribe. Everyone was ranked by their birth. Soldiers were middle class, the council was upper and the workers were lower.
Ivan Farace was none of these things. He was the abomination to the perfection of tradition. A blight on the entire Sphinx society. He was a reminder of impurity. You see, Ivan was special. He was a Sphinx without the ability to shift into his cat form. He was only one side of a perfect union. And to make matters worse, his bloodline was untainted.
They would have killed him. Perhaps they should have. But never before had a Sphinx killed another Sphinx because of their differences. Tradition won out and Ivan lived. But it was a hard life. His mother killed herself, his father disowned him, and his brothers wouldn't even look at him. For while the Tribe wouldn't kill him outright, they didn't have to save him. They left him to die as a little boy, but he had survived.
The Crippled Cat they called him. He didn't deserve a name in their eyes. By the time he hit his early twenties he was used to being ostracized from the Tribe. In secret he explored the ruins outside of Oasis, trying to find meaning to his life. Everything had settled into a pattern. Then one day everything changed.
A Sphinx died. It was nothing new. Death wasn't uncommon. At first everyone ignored it, than it happened again. Then the rumors came trickling in. A Crow talked about other Tribes falling asleep than dying. It was all over. What started as something so small became a huge epidemic within a few days. It was called the Sleeping Death. First you fell asleep, then you died. Men, women, children, the young, the old, everyone was at risk. There was no rhyme or reason for the deaths. It was terrifying. Isolation didn't work, neither did any remedy the healers knew. Shifters just kept dying.
The Sphinx council convened when Green died in her sleep. The First Family sequestered themselves away for three days. On the fourth they came out of the meeting hall and announced their plan. A Great Gathering of the Tribes. It was shocking. If there was one thing the Sphinxes loved more than tradition it was their isolation. But that was over now. Shifters from all the tribes within two week's distance were to come to Oasis to try and find a cure.
Ivan was in the market when this was announced. It had floored him and made him hope. If the council could change tradition, then maybe he could go home? Of course he squashed this thought as quickly as it bubbled up in his brain. No, no matter what, he'd never be accepted and as long as he knew that he'd never let his Tribe beat him down.
In two weeks the Tribes would try to find a cure. The waiting was the worst. Three more shifters died before the fifth day of the ninth moon. The middle and lower classes, which could be spared from duties, huddled around the meeting hall waiting to hear good news. A week passed. Two. Still, no good words. The Sphinxes began to get restless. Rumors said that they were not getting to a cure; they were too busy bickering with each other.
Ivan had tried to stay away from the meeting hall. One of his elder brothers was a guard: Vessey, the second eldest. He knew if his brother saw him, he'd not escape the meeting without a beating. Being a crippled cat meant he couldn't take on a shifted Sphinx. He wasn't strong enough. He hated that. Hated that he could only see better in the dark, had quicker reflexes than most, but not the ability to change into his other half. A half of himself that he wanted more than anything, more than his family, more than one memory of his mother. But Ivan couldn't stay away. Curiosity killed the cat after all.
Ivan fell to the ground hard. Small particles of sand abraded his hands and arms, the areas that took the brunt of his fall. The sand under him gave under his force and saved him from getting anything other than a few scratches. His black hair fell into his green eyes, blocking his view partially. He still managed to see someone lash out at him with their foot. Ivan twisted on the ground and rolled out of the way onto his back.
Ivan's left hand flicked to his waist and pulled out a long knife. He hissed as he rolled again to his side and onto his feet. The right side of his face was covered with sand. His right hand and arm were bloodied, but he still gamely pulled out his second knife. There were two Sphinx shifters still in their non-shifted forms and two who were Sphinxes. Ivan shifted his weight backwards as one of the cats moved closer, ready to roll backwards with the attack. But it was stalled by one of the guards.
"Farace." The guard said looking at Ivan. "I thought I told you that you were not welcome here."
Ivan bared his teeth. "Vessey, I have as much of a right as anyone else." Just because he couldn't become a cat didn't mean he wasn't one. It wasn't right. But no one in the tribe cared, or even considered him part of the tribe. Even after all these years it still hurt. Even his older brother Vessey denied him. They once used to be inseparable. Now they were strangers.
Vessey dropped his hand and one of the cats attacked. Ivan flipped the blades, rolled backwards, tossing the cat off and stabbing it's leg. Ivan tried to dodge the second cat. However it still landed on his back, forcing him to the ground and all the air out of his lungs. He couldn't help the groan that escaped him. The heavy cat on his back pressed it's teeth to Ivan's unprotected spine. Ivan stilled. The large cat's breath was hot against his neck.
Was this it? Were they finally going to kill him and be rid of him? Sure they might get a reprimand for it, since he was still technically tribe and tribal law forbade it, but... His heartbeat slowed down as a calm came over him. Surely it couldn't be worse than this living Hell?
Then the cat on his back stepped off. Ivan gasped in his first breath and a lung full of sand. He coughed desperately as he pushed himself to his feet. "This is your last warning. Next time I'll kill you myself. Go." Vessey said as he turned around, dismissing Ivan. Ivan didn't hesitate. He left. He ran. He was a coward. Even after all these years he just couldn't give up, no matter how much he wanted to. What was he still living for anyways? Hope that one day they'd accept him? He hadn't had hope for that in a long time. Today was just a reminder of why that hope should never come back.
Ivan ran until his legs began to burn from the strain. Ran until the heat was making him pant. Ran until he was dangerously close to dehydration. Then he stopped. His legs bent and his knees hit the ground. He dropped his knifes in order to grab at the sand. It stung his already abused and cut hands, but he didn't care. His body hurt, but that didn't matter. He dropped his head and tried to control his ragged breathing. He didn't care about any of those things. He didn't care that Vessey, his brother, had openly and with witnesses, declared his intent to kill him. No, he didn't care. The fact that he was wasting precious tears wasn't because he cared. It wasn't.
Ivan picked himself off the ground once the heat became unbearable. He replaced his long knives after cleaning them. He swept back his black hair out of his eyes. He squinted upwards and judged the time a little past noon. The meeting had been going on for a while now. Of course, if it was anything like previous meetings, nothing was getting done. He wasted the first half of his day trying to get in. He wasn't about to waste the second half.
Ivan looked around. No one was out in the desert at this time of day. He was the only one stupid enough to go out here. He half smiled to himself. It was a common belief there was no water anywhere but in Oasis. Ivan had found pools in quite a few of the abandoned ruins. Of course, since it was forbidden to go into the ruins, the belief did hold true for the tribe.
There were ruins scattered everywhere in the world. Ivan only had access to those which were closest to Oasis. He never went more than a two day's walk away. Since that would dump his out of tribal lands. He wasn't willing to test whether or not he'd be safe off the Sphinx lands.
The ruins outside of the city were similar to the city of Oasis. The only difference is that the buildings had not been kept up. Some were broken beyond their level of repair. The walls were seemless like those in Oasis and the buildings the color of sand. Ivan had drawn a map of the ruins, where some buildings might have been buried by the sand. This he kept in the ruins themself; along with some of his excavation gear. In a few of the ruins he had discovered sub floors. They had been blocked after a while, and he couldn't open them by himself. However this lead him to the belief that all the buildings were connected under the sand.
Ivan didn't know the purpose of the blocked tunnels, but he happily mapped out where he thought they were. One day he planned to go down there and see for himself. He also ranked the buildings in order of importance. As far as he could tell, Oasis was where the ancient Shifters used to live. They also had more buildings that extended into the desert. It told Ivan that one day the desert would swallow Oasis whole, but not in quite a few lifetimes.
There had also been a large brick road, made out of the same material the houses had been made out of. Ivan had discovered parts of it after a windstorm had made a valley in the sand. (Of course, since the sands moved he only had a few minutes to do an investigation. He keeps an eye out now for more roads.) He mapped out the theoretical route and had discovered an area he now called the temple complex. It was a series of seven short, stout buildings, more wide than tall.
The temple complex was a day's walk from Oasis. It was rather out of the way and you'd miss it unless you were looking for it. The buildings were always covered with sand and half buried. Ivan himself had missed them the first few times he had been in the area until he knew something had to be there. When he had uncovered the first building he had been ecstatic. These were the first ruins he had discovered that were less than two stories tall. It made him wonder if there were other buildings he had missed since he didn't spot them. Hence the areas on his maps he marked that might have buildings lost to the sands.
The buildings in the complex were situated around a perfect square. The building in the middle had almost been completely covered, but after a while Ivan had managed to find a door. He called the building in the middle, the temple. He hadn't explored far, since it was like a labyrinth in there, but he had plans to do it soon. He had finished mapping out the other buildings and taking notes of their structure, relics left behind, and carvings on the wall.
Ivan ducked into one of the ruins he used as a base. It was dark and cool. He took a deep breath and headed to the far wall. The sound of water his his ears first. He bent over a small basin in the wall and looked into the clear water. He wiped his hands on his pants before reaching in and cupping some water to drink. He drank slowly, until he was feeling better. Then he cleaned the cuts on his hands and arms. He also checked his back for wounds. He had a few gouges from the claws of the sphinx who jumped on him. But nothing major. He cleaned them all and bandaged the worst of the wounds.
Ivan finished bandaging himself up quickly. It was something he had to do for himself ever since he was a little kit. It wasn't even something that bothered him anymore. So it was no bother, not even when he had to bandage a wound on his back. Once he was finished, he shrugged his shirt back on and forgot all about the scratches.
Ivan dropped himself on the part of the floor that he considered his work station. It was a small semicircle of papers and artifacts. He sat down cross legged and looked at one of the sketches. It was of the entire area of the ruins, as much as he could tell, that used to be Oasis, but now Oasis was much smaller. His eyes flitted over the sketch in the gloom. If he hadn't been blessed with his cat like senses, he wouldn't have been able to see at all. As it was, his eyes were fully dilated.
Ivan's dilated eyes moved to the small section he called the temple complex. He rested his chin in his hand. His free hand gently traced the charcoal lines. He pulled back before he smudged them. He sighed and looked outside and judged the altitude of the sun. He would have enough time to head out to the temple before it got dark, but just by a little. He grabbed his archeology pack and headed out into the oppressive heat.
Most shifters were inside at this time of day, which was the hottest part. However if one moved from ruin to ruin, it was possible to avoid heat stroke or sunstroke. Ivan was used to this method of travel. You just had to make sure you drank lots of water. He would be able to move faster once the sun was setting. He would need to break into a jog in order to make sure he was at the temple complex before the light failed completely.
Ivan did this, just as he had planned. His feet slipped a little on the sand as he neared the temple in the middle of the complex. His eyes picked out the entrance. It was covered with sand. The sands around here seemed to keep the entrance covered. He slid down a sand hill to the covered door. His hands pulled the sand away with ease. Soon there was enough of an opening Ivan could slither through, push the door open and climb into the temple. The sand hissed as it fell through the open door.
Like the first time he had ventured into the temple, the building was dark. The inside seemed to eat light. It was eerie and exciting all at the same time. Ivan believed it was the floor which produced this phenomenon since the floors were made of an entirely different substance than the rest of the buildings. Ivan had tried to take a sample once, but it was as unbreakable as the other material. He'd given up after brusing his hands with the effort.
Ivan flicked a torch into life. The fire licked the oiled cloth around the stick. Ivan lifted the torch and watched the shadows dance. Then he went to work. He dropped his bag of tools and extracted his instruments for measuring. He sketched a scale representation of the first room. Once he was finished he moved onto the door on the right. The first room had two doors, one to the right which Ivan went through, and one to the left. Each room had many doors, which is the reason why Ivan had to abandon his first cursory search. It was too easy to get lost. It was also the reason why Ivan was just focusing on getting the building mapped and not drawing the pictures and words on the walls. Even though they were truly fascinating.
Ivan paused in his initial walk through of the second room. This room was oddly shaped. He sketched it down and noted how the walls were completely parallel to each other like all the other walls he had come across. He moved into the next room on the right. He was just going to keep making rights until he either ran into a room he had already been through, or ran out of rooms. Whichever came first. Ivan had finished sketching the third room when he entered the fourth and realized it was a dead end. He nodded his head happily, progress. Then a carving caught his eye. He brought the torch closer to it. His fingers traced the outline of a dragon.
His mouth dried and his heart picked up it's pace. Dragons were myth. Old stories said there were dragons, but no one had seen one in living memory. Myth had it that dragons had lived at the time of the first shifters. There wasn't an agreement on what happened to the dragons however. Some myths said that they were killed. Others said they left the world of their own volition. No one was really sure they existed at all.
This right here, was the first sign that dragons had ever existed. Ivan nearly dropped his torch in his excitement. He was the first to find evidence of dragons. They were carved in the wall of the temple. He had to sketch this! He spent a long time on the sketch of the walls, making sure every detail was perfect. The dragon he fussed over the most, it's unique proportions. It's wings that seemed to flutter on the wall. Once he was done he touched the carving again and sighed. He could have sat there looking at it all year.
Finally he pulled himself away. He was eager to see what else this temple had to offer. So Ivan set back out to map the other rooms. It was slow work, but enjoyable. He was finally able to forget what had happened that afternoon with his brother. Exploring was one of the few reasons why he got up in the morning some days. He sketched room after room after room. When he realized he had mapped everything on the right hand door just off the entrance, including one of the rooms off the left door, he retraced his steps.
Ivan restarted from the room next to the entrance on the left. This time he chose the door on the left. Since the door on the right would take him back into the areas he had already mapped. He had to replace his torch at this point. The wood had burned down. But Ivan had come prepared. He had enough to last him two days straight.
Ivan pushed the door to the fifth room open. It ground itself open with a large groan. Ivan was slightly surprised. This was the first sign of wear in the temple. He carefully peered into the room. It wasn't any different looking that the other rooms. Ivan frowned and knelt on the ground. The floor was different. He unslung his bag and rummaged around for an item. Ivan's hand returned with a smooth circular rock.
Ivan attempted to roll it across the floor, but it veered into the wall to the right and bounced off only to roll into a corner. That explained it. The floor was uneven.
"Strange." Ivan muttered to himself. Why was the floor so uneven here? Was it intentional?
Ivan was cautious stepping on the floor, but it appeared solid enough. Satisfied Ivan ventured into the room to retrieve the rock. The trust rock was good for random things. He rarely used it, but occasionally it did come in handy. Like tonight. He tested the rest of the floor just to be safe. None of the stones moved and everything was solid. Ivan was beginning to think the uneven floor was intentional.
Finally Ivan began to map out this room too. He made sure to make a note on the page about this room's uneven floors and groaning door. Everything that was different needed to be recorded. It could be nothing, but it could be important. After all whom ever built this temple had given him his first connection to the dragons!
Ivan moved onto the sixth room still thinking about dragons. Perhaps that was why at first he didn't realize anything was out of the ordinary. He moved his torch around to get the size of the room. It was hard to tell, but it was very large. Larger than almost every one of the rooms except for one. That one had been a long corridor that seemed like it would go on forever.
Ivan moved the torch so he could better see the floor. In this room the floor looked worse. The floor was obviously uneven. Ivan frowned. This room said to him that it was highly unnatural. Ivan's frowned deepened. What would cause this? He moved the torch and something green caught his attention from the corner of his eye.
Green? Ivan thought. That was also strange. So far everything in the Temple had been black from ceiling to floor. He turned his head to look at it and froze. His heart pounded in his chest. Except this wasn't a good adrenaline rush like when he found the dragon carving. This was pure fear. Ivan was looking into a green eye. And the eye was looking back.
Ivan dropped the torch and it went out. Terror clawed at Ivan. He fell backwards as he tripped in his aborted flight. His breath was audible in pants as he picked himself up and felt his way for where the doorway should be. His hand touched the door and with a relieved noise he burst through it and slammed the door closed. He leaned against the door and took deep breaths. He couldn't hear anything from the other side. And now that he wasn't in the room anymore, he wasn't panicking so much.
In fact Ivan was beginning to feel quite silly. Nothing in the Temple was alive. The place had been sealed for year and years. Even if something had been left behind it would have died by now. Ivan carefully, with still shaking hands, lit another torch. He cautiously opened the door. Nothing moved. He extended the torch and it shone on the eye. It didn't move.
Ivan ventured further into the room. The light from the flames illuminated shiny black…scales? His vision seemed to swim for a moment before settling. He was looking at a dragon. A great big dragon. Ivan sat down on unsteady legs. They felt like jello. His entire body was like jello. There was a giant dragon, or was it normal sized, in the middle of a forgotten building.
Minutes passed as Ivan sat there staring at the great green eye. His brain refused to comprehend the sight. If he hadn't seen the carving back in the other room all those hours ago, he wouldn't even had been able to say the eye belonged to a dragon. When Ivan felt better he stood back up and moved closer to the dragon. When he was within arm's distance he paused. It wasn't moving. Was it alive?
Ivan and the dragon looked at each other for a long moment. Ivan took a deep breath and reached out. The dragon didn't move. Ivan's hand made contact with the black head. He jerked his hand back as if burned. No movement. He touched it again. It was cool to the touch. Like the stones of the walls and floors. He sighed heavily. Fake. It was a carving.
Ivan had to sit down again. This time he laughed at himself. What a fool he was. He thought it was a real dragon. He laid down on the uneven floor and looked up at the stone dragon.
"You're not real." Ivan was finding that he was actually disappointed. If he had found a dragon, would his tribe take him back? Would they find something in him worthwhile? Ivan snorted. Doubtful. He picked himself up. It wasn't time for self-pity. He had a stone dragon to explore.
Ivan smiled happily as he walked around the dragon. It was big. About three shifter lengths long. That is, if the shifters all stood head to foot in human form. The dragon wasn't that tall however. Maybe about Ivan's height plus another half of him. But since the stone dragon was curled up like a cat, it was hard to tell. If this stone replica was anything like the carving, it could easily be three times that size if it stood up. Thank the Gods that it was only stone and not real. The green eye did seem like it was watching him. Ivan dismissed it as a trick from the fire's light.
Ivan stepped back carefully and looked over the dragon from a distance. It appeared to be curled up on something. Ivan got closer again to look at it. Whatever the stone dragon was on was also made of stone. It was circular. About the same circumference as the dragon. In a way the base seemed to remind Ivan of the wells he'd find around Oasis. Was the stone dragon guarding water? It was a curious thought. Ivan looked down at the floor. Perhaps that was why the floor was breaking. The water running under the place was eroding it. Pressing against it, making it bow upwards. Might explain something if the shifters who built this place thought water as sacred. Ivan knew his people did because of its' scarcity.
Ivan made another circuit of the room. He was about back to the door, to get his supplies and start taking down measurements and drawing the dragon, when he tripped again.
"Shoot." Ivan swore as the torch went skidding out of his reach. He glared at the green eye that still looked like it was looking at him.
"Don't laugh." He snapped at the stone dragon. He looked back to see what he had tripped over, but the darkness was too thick. He sighed. Stupid floor.
Ivan moved over carefully to the torch and brought it back to where he thought he tripped. He stopped as the light made the floor look as if there was a hole. He reached out and brushed it with his fingers. It was a hole! Ivan thought that he could go and die a happy man. Today he was making so many discoveries. He reached down into the crack and pulled his hand away surprised as some of the stone fell apart.
Ivan stares at the stone pieces in his hands. Weird. A little freaky too. Ivan was beginning to get a little worried at the decomposition of the floor. And the fact that the stone dragon kept staring at him wasn't helping. Ivan, not wanting to fall through the floor, moved back from the hole. He froze as a small sound began at his movement. Ivan had no choice but to leap back as a large chunk of the floor fell into the darkness.
Ivan gasped as the hole widened and felt his heart pound. From behind him the eye of the dragon continued to stare. Ivan turned to look at it.
"It wasn't my fault." He asserted feeling oddly guilty. He didn't cause the floor to break. Well, not on purpose. It probably would have broken even if he hadn't come into the temple. Probably...
Ivan broke eye contact with the dragon to peer back into the depths.
Ivan shivered as he stared into the dark. Unlike the temple, this darkness made him nervous. He looked back over his shoulder at the stone dragon. The green eye as unmoving as ever. Ivan shivered again. The green eye was actually a little comforting. Its' eye was less accusing now, more worried. No. Ivan shook his head. He was just projecting. Stone Dragons couldn't feel anything. They were never alive in the first place.
"I think it's best not to go down there." Ivan told the dragon in a hushed voice. Somehow it seemed wrong to speak too loudly anymore. Like the darkness was listening. Ivan shivered again. Was it getting colder? Was it because there was water down there like he had thought earlier?
Ivan shifted slowly from his untidy sprawl. The ground groaned beneath him. He froze. The creaking continued. Ivan's heart beat escalated. Was he going to fall through the floor? Sure he had been curious to see what the tunnels were like, but this was too much. He looked back over his shoulder at the stone dragon. It was too far away to leap over there for safety. He looked around for somewhere else that might provide stable footing.
Ivan took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The floor under him was still making awful noises. Either he was going to move and maybe get to safety. Though chances were that he'd fall through. Or he could sit there and wait to fall. He gritted his teeth. He was going to chance it. He tossed the torch back towards the dragon. He shifted onto his hands and knees and prepared to spring.
The rumbling was loud and horrendous. Ivan tried to get to his feet and spring to safety but the floor provided no purchase. The darkness reached up and covered him. The light from the torch was soon blocked by the bit of floor that wasn't blocked. Ivan found himself missing the sight of the large stone dragon and the light of the torch. Both had made him feel safe.
Ivan fell for all eternity. Or so it seemed. When he hit the ground, he hit it hard. His legs folded under him. Pieces of stone floor pierced and scraped his legs. He cried out at the sudden pain. A chunk of floor hit him on his shoulder, almost causing him to pass out. He curled up into a small ball and protected his head, waiting for the rubble to stop pelting him.
Ivan lifted his head cautiously when everything stilled. Dirt and bits of stone rolled off of him. It was dark down below the floor. It was nearly impossible to see. The only illumination came from the flickering torch still next to the stone dragon. The scant illumination only showed him where the large hole in the floor was.
Ivan swore at the sight. The ceiling was tall, taller than he was. Taller than he could reach. He was trapped. Ivan didn't like the feeling of despair and hopelessness that overtook him at the thought. Would he die down here? He shivered. Definitely colder.
Ivan carefully moved his body. His legs hurt a lot, but he didn't think they were anything but bruised and battered. He carefully felt them over, but none of the gouges were deep or bleeding badly. It looked like it was his lucky day. He wasn't going to bleed to death down here. He would have chuckled if he hadn't been so terrified.
Ivan wobbled to his feet. He stretched as far as he could. Yup. Couldn't reach.
"Don't suppose you could be real and save me could you?" Ivan called up softly to the stone dragon. There was no response, but that was to be expected. He sighed and lowered his arms. Perhaps he could find another way out? He turned his gaze away from the ceiling.
Then he hesitated. His heart started beating faster again. What was that? He slowly turned his head to look back at the ceiling. His breath caught in his throat. A greater sense of dread came over him. What? He shook slightly, less from the cold this time, more from fear.
There. On the ceiling. What were those marks? Ivan raised his hand again and studied the edge of the hole he could see. His fingers traced the marks on the underside of the floor. Dear Gods. Were those claw marks? In an awful second Ivan remembered how uneven the floor was. How odd it had looked. How it appeared like something had been pressing upwards.
Ivan licked his lips and looked around. It hadn't been water, even if the stone dragon was sitting on a well. Ivan wrapped his arms around his body feeling small and helpless. Was something down here? With him? He wasn't wearing his knives; he had nothing to defend himself with. Not for the first time he wished he wasn't a defective shifter and could change into his second form to protect himself.
Ivan looked back up the ceiling. If there really was something trapped down here, it was free now. He thought of the stone dragon and winced. Sorry. He thought mentally. Obviously the dragon was supposed to be a guard. But of what? What had he done?
Ivan shook himself roughly. He needed to focus, not fret about what he couldn't fix. First he needed to get out of the hole. He needed to find a way back up. That was what had to happen first. If something really used to be trapped down here it probably wasn't still alive. Right? Just like the dragon. It wasn't alive. Whatever was trapped here wouldn't be either.
Ivan repeated this over and over like a mantra as he dared to move further into the darkness. If only he had kept the torch with him. He stumbled on a piece of the floor and fell down. He cut his hands as he braced himself. He winced, but didn't cry out. His instincts from earlier that warned him to be quiet had returned full force.
Ivan brought his left hand up to his mouth and his pulled a bit of rubble from it. He shook his hand out to get rid of the sting. He needed light. He might see well in the dark, but if there was no light at all, he was blinder than a bat. He reached around for a smaller piece of stone. When he had two of about the size of his palm and that were firm enough to not break into bits, he struck them together.
A small flash of light erupted. It was bright enough to illuminate a small radius for a split second. The after image lingered in Ivan's eyes. He repeated the action and the result. Then he stopped. Was there something in the darkness? His hands were trembling violently as he struck the stones together again.
Something moved. Ivan tried to keep a hold on his panic. He struck the stones together once more and illuminated the small area around him. Something black was right in front of him! Ivan cried out and stumbled backwards. He dropped the stone as he fled. His feet tripped over parts of the ruined floor. He had to get back to the light. He had too.
The inky darkness seemed to reach out and pick at him with cold fingers. Ivan sobbed a little as he felt something touch his arm. He jerked away and fell to the floor. His arm felt numb, like it was too cold. He couldn't move it so he used his other arm to scramble across the floor into the pool of light. He climbed upon the largest chunk of floor in the light and looked wildly around.
Nothing moved. He let out another little sob. He was going to die. Die in this darkness. He began to cry in earnest. He didn't want to die.
Ivan dried his eyes. The light from the torch was still strong, if it flickered as fire did. He peered into the inky darkness. If it wiggled a little, Ivan didn't discount it as his imagination. He knew something was out there. He fingered his numb arm. He still couldn't feel it, or move it. He squeezed it hard to make sure, but nothing.
Ivan slowly pushed himself to his feet. The only thing that kept away darkness was light. He couldn't escape without light. He looked up at the floor above him. He needed light. He worried his lower lip waiting for an idea to come to him. In reality, it hit him. A stone broke off and smacked him on the head. Ivan gasped and jumped, climbing as far up in the pool of light as he could.
Rocks. Ivan's eyes widened. If the ground was crumbling so easily, perhaps he could further collapse the floor. He picked up a smaller sized rock and tossed it at the floor. It broke a little more. Encouraged Ivan repeated the process until the torch fell down. Ivan snatched it up and waved it at the darkness. Since he first fell down he felt almost safe.
Now he just needed to find some way out of this tunnel. He didn't think there would be another entrance anywhere. After all, everywhere else Ivan had looked, the tunnels had been sealed off. Ivan peered into the shifting dark, his cat eyes straining to catch the sight of anything he could use to climb out.
Ivan gave up a short while later. He didn't want to venture from the hole, become lost, have the torch die, and be stuck with the cold darkness. This meant he was just left with a pile of rubble. Perhaps if he kept tossing rocks at the floor until it stopped collapsing? Then once that happened he'd build a mound to boost himself up and out. Ivan felt better once he had a plan and began to work.
It was hard and tiring. Ivan's muscles were straining as he shifted the rocks. The floor next to the stone dragon was sturdy enough. That was where Ivan was going to make his escape attempt. He had lost all track of time, but he knew he was beyond exhausted now. However he also knew if he stopped, he'd die. So he continued to work.
When he had piled all the debris he could, Ivan climbed up the mound. He reached one handedly up and his finger brushed the floor. Ivan's heart fluttered in joy. It was tall enough! Ivan gently tossed the torch up and jumped up after it. For a heart stopping moment the floor crumbled and Ivan scrambled for purchase. However it solidified. He pulled himself up and fell in a shaking heap next to the stone dragon.
Dry sobs racked his slender frame. He had made it. He laid there for a while, until he could pick himself up. He pushed himself up on weak arms. He grabbed the torch and pulled it closer, keeping an eye on the hole. The darkness was milling about like mist, some of it was pressing at the edges of the hole.
Ivan made a small noise and pressed closer to the stone dragon. Then Ivan froze. His head turned slowly, his heart pounding double time. The dragon's head was turned all the way to the hole. Ivan shivered. Had the dragon always been looking that way? Ivan could have sworn that it had been looking at the door when he had come in. Only one great green eye had been visible from where he had fallen in. But now…
Ivan shook his head. No. That was impossible. Stone dragons couldn't move. It wasn't logical. Ivan slowly circled the dragon, deciding he didn't want to duck under its half extended head. When he was close to his bag, he snagged it and fled. His feet took him back to the entrance only getting lost once. He was stumbling from exhaustion when he finally climbed out of the temple.
The sun was low on the horizon. He had been in there all night. No wonder he had been so tired! Ivan tossed the useless torch to the side along with his bag. He turned back to the door and shoved it closed. It ground slowly, but he managed. Once that task was complete he shoved as much sand as he could over the entrance.
Ivan pulled back from his frantic pace and took a deep breath. The door was fully covered. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and paused. His hand was bloody. He extended both of them all looked at them. It had probably been when he had climbed out of the hole. Now that he noticed, his hands were stinging. He had no way to clean them here, even if he had time. He looked back up at the sky and judged the time. If he hurried, he could be back at Oasis by sunset.
Ivan's stomach twisted as he realized what he'd have to do. He doubled over and lost it. When he was able to get up he wiped his mouth and covered his vomit with sand. He'd have to tell the tribe what he had done. They would kill him. Ivan trembled. He could run away. Run and never look back, but he couldn't. They were still his family, and this was his mess. He wouldn't abandon them. Ivan set off back to Oasis. He'd tell them and face the consequences.
His pace was slow as he kept to the shadows. He was sweating and dead on his feet. He had developed a small limp from the fall down the hole. And it was only hours until he'd make it to Oasis. He stopped often and drank water and rested. However the knowledge of what was under the shifting sands kept him moving. The sun arched high and higher in the heavens and the heat increased. His pace slowed down even further.
Ivan stumbled into his building as the sun began to sink below the horizon. The cool was a blessing from the Gods. He stumbled over something and ended up sprawled on the cool ground. Ivan groaned and laid there too tired to move. Finally he forced himself to his feet. He staggered over to the water basin and drank. He cleaned out his hands, dropped off his bag and headed back out.
It was strange. He knew he was going to go back to Oasis, chances were they'd kill him, but he was still worried about keeping his secret safe. The crippled cat archeologist. Ivan shook his head. The world shifted and Ivan fell to his knees.
"Okay. Bad idea." Ivan told himself. "Don't do that again." Ivan climbed back to his feet and continued to walk. His world narrowed down to his feet. Just put one in front of the other. It was all he could manage in his state. He was bloody, bruised, beyond tired, and completely resigned to his fate.
When the ground changed Ivan staggered to a stop. He looked up in surprise. The sun had set and the moon had risen. He was now in Oasis. He hesitated to take another step. Doubt crept into his being. The council was having a set of meetings with the other Tribes. Would they even bother to listen to him? Especially after yesterday when he had been kicked out after he tried to sneak into a meeting. Ivan frowned. Perhaps they'd ignore him, or arrest him, thinking it was just a cry for attention.
Or worse. Maybe they'd listen then dismiss what had happened. Ivan swayed on the spot. After all it did sound ridiculous. If not for his arm, perhaps he wouldn't have believed it at all. He looked down at his arm. There was a back mark on it, wrapped from elbow to the middle of his upper arm. The arm was no longer cold, but it was still numb. That Ivan was sure of from the many times he had fallen on it.
Ivan clutched his wounded arm close to his body and took a small step forwards only to fall over. He made a small sound as he hit the hard stone street. His legs had gone past the point where they had felt like they were on fire, to a dull throbbing pain. He took a deep breath and attempted to stand, only to find his legs wouldn't respond. Ivan swayed as he glared at his legs.
"Stupid." He said out loud. This was all stupid. He looked up and saw someone standing in the road. Then everything seemed to melt into darkness.
This isn't a chat RP. But it does center around two people who only talk online on chat forums. They have just discovered a secret about their significant other that is quite devastating. MC discovered that her husband is actually an assassin and she's afraid to leave him, but afraid to stay also. She she turns to the internet and discovers YC, who is equally disenfranchised with their significant other. Together they support each other, but what happens when their online life starts leaking into their real life?
Magic user x Human
Were x Magic User
Ghost x Human
Cop(Local or Fed) x Criminal
Knight x Magic User
Mercenary (or Hitman) x College Student
Human x Alien
Other:
Have an idea you think I might enjoy? Go ahead and ask me.
Also, just so everyone is aware. Romance will not be a focus of the RP. Thank you. :)
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