The Other Side of the Mountains

[JKrew]

Mitsuko woke up early one morning. He had decided the day before, that he would go, and hike over the mountains to the other side. He took a little bit of food, and a few other things for the trip. After he was completely ready, Mitsuko walked out of his house (which was already in the mountains) and headed for the other side.

As Mitsuko climbed higher and higher, the air got colder and colder. The bright sun shone down upon his brown hair, and blue and black clothes. Soon, the dirt that he was walking on turned to snow, and instead of having rocks to grab onto, Mitsuko had to grab onto ice. Still, he proceeded up the mountain.

Finally, after climbing for about half the day, Mitsuko reached the peak. He looked all the way down behind him to see how far he had climbed. Then, he looked over the Arkane Lands, which is where he is going. Stopping at the peak for a while, Mitsuko started a little fire to warm himself up and sat down to take a break.

[Kruck]

Kruck climbed up the hard, rocky dirt path. It was not a very well-trodden path; nay, it was only known to a couple very skilled climbers who wanted a challenge which this steep hill provided.

At any rate, let me continue. Kruck's forehead shined in the late afternoon sun; he'd broke a sweat some time ago. He had a carved staff in his hand: used for expeditions such as this. He poked it all around in front of him, hoping to be warned about any rocks jutting up from the path.

Kruck soon stopped for a rest, sitting down on a fairly large rock by the side of this path. He drew a bottle of water from his waist, unscrewed the top, and drained the contents: clear, refreshingly cold water.

"That just hits the spot!"

Kruck declared. He looked around him, still catching his breath. There were some trees around; to the east lay a forest. To the west, to the left of the path, was mountains; this was the way the path curved soon. That curve signaled that Kruck had almost reached the peak of the mountans.

Kruck got to his feet, determined to reach the peak before complete darkness fell. He started a slow, but quite steady pace. As he looked to the peak a thin line of smoke was viible in the setting darkness.

Another traveler. Might as well say hello, maybe grab a bite to eat and then catch some shut-eye.

After a few more minutes of fast walking spurred on by the idea of getting a good night's sleep brought Kruck to the campfire. He spotted only one human.

The man with the trenchcoat walked into the small clearing. "Hullo." A greeting was heard. Kruck sat down near the man. "Got anything to eat, friend?"

[Gen]

"Yeah, just abandon me . . . gods . . . well, we'll see how
you're feeling tomorrow morning now won't we. Ha!" the
girl couldn't have been a day over the age of twelve
human years, and her thin frame caused her to stand out
in sharp contrast to the soft and muddy trail winding its
way up the mountain. Her 'friends' had taken her over to
the Arcane lands during the night, and they were
supposed to spend a night out under the stars, but
when she awoke, they were nowhere in sight.

She let out an aggravated sigh which sounded
dangerously close to a whimper by the time she finished
the release of air. She was hiking up the hill, away from
the actual arcane lands themselves, when she saw the
smoke from a fire rising just over the top of the
mountain. She had been climbing for numerous hours,
and it may have just been that she was delusional from
dehydration and that the dark streaks of cloud against
the almost burning bright sky were mere figments of her
imagination, but, so eager was she for any sort of human
contact, she decided to risk disappointment and venture
over anyways.

The soft flutter of wings was heard overhead, as a black
moving spot dropped gracefully to the ground in front of
the nameless, wandering child. "Come on, Tamara," the
winged creature said in what was almost a singsong
voice, "we've been waiting for you for forever!"

The child could only stare wide-eyed at the being in front
of her. Tamara knew that she had met this creature
before, but something was telling her that she shouldn't
have been in that place. The winged one jerked her
head slightly indicating for the girl to come along, and
extended her hand. Right as the child grabbed it, the
winged woman threw a very unfriendly, cautious stare at
the two silhouettes by the newly formed fire, but quickly
looked back down into the innocent amber eyes of the
child whom she was leading away. A dangerous malice
flashed quietly through the archangel's eyes, but was
gone as quickly as it had come.

It's the wheel of fortune
It's the leap of faith
It's the band of hope
Till we find our place

"Come on," she whispered encouragingly. "We've been
waiting for you."

[Triunis]

Through the deepening snow trod a tall, dark creature. He muttered to himself about the cold, but seemed to show no ill effects from it despite his sparse clothing. As he stopped to rest, he peered up the sheer cliff before him and saw a trail of smoke rising up.

Hmm. Perhaps they have food . . .

The creature stood up and swung snow off his tail, then proceeded to the cliff. There, he embedded his claws into the ice and began to climb.

As he ascended, he could feel ice crystalize on his scales. He blinked rapidly to keep his eyelids from freezing over, and was breathing at a pace to match. As he neared the top, he heard a cracking noise and felt his left hand fall from the cliff. With that, he slipped and was hanging with nothing but his right-hand claws.

"Ahh!"

He looked down, and saw that he was perhaps ninety feet above the ground.

In retrospect, there were probably safer ways up.

He pulled back his free hand and rammed it through the ice. He could feel intense pain in one of his fingers, and wondered if he had broken it. He continued to climb despite the throbbing in his hand and soon pulled his torso over the edge of the cliff.

Here, he groaned as he viewed another wall of equal heightbefore him. Looking to his left, he saw a slightly less hazardous way up and began walking in that direction. As he did so, he viewed two figures trudging slowly up the hill. Smiling, he broke into a quick trot that soon accelerated into a speedy run. In minutes he had reached the creatures, and skidded to a halt.

Before him was what looked like a young girl and a tall, angelic-looking creature. He thought that neither of them looked like particularly good company, but he decided to try to speak to them anyway.

"Greetings. What brings the two of you all the way up this gaeaforsaken mountain?"

[Kruck]

Kruck did not quite know why he asked tis question: he was not polite unless he absolutely had to be (which was never) and even if this guy did not have food, Kruck would not be obliged to give him some of his modest meal.

But, the man did not respond. Kruck did not mind this at all; he just wanted to eat, sleep, and get on his way. He had better things to do then make friends.

He drew a small bag and a normal-looking can out of his trenchcoat. He drew some jerky out of the bag, and started chewing it, washing each peice down with a slurp of the can, which was actually Red Bull energy drink.

As he munched on a peice of jerky, his gaze wandered to the surrounding area. And it stopped on two- no three figures apparently conversing near them. Their talk floated over to Kruck, but he could not quite make out what their saying.

He slurped down the rest of his drink and got to his feet. This guy at the campfire obvioously didn't like takling (or maybe he's a yes-man? ) and he suddenly felt like talking.

He discreetly, or as discreetly as he could, walked slowly over to this trio.

[JKrew]

Mitsuko was sitting there, in front of the fire, resting, almost fallen asleep. Suddenly he was waken up by some noises he heard. They came from lower down on the moutnian. He got up and waqlked over to the edge of the mountain, looking over to see what had made the sounds. He saw a bunch of people, each coming from different directions, climbing toward the top where he was. Why are a whole buch of people coming up here now? Usually few people come this way. It might be the fire I made. He thought, as he watched.

Just as soon as he turned around, he saw someone who just got to the top right then. The man asked him for some food, but before Mitsuko could reply, the man pulled out somde of his own and started eating it. "Well, it looks like you have your own food. I don't have any anyways." Mitsuko replied to the man. "Do you have any idea why everyone would be coming up here right now?" Mitsuko asked him.

[Gen]

There was a visible color drain from the winged-
creature's face as words were spoken to her from a
being standing behind her. She took a deep breath
and fronted a smile before turning around to face her
inquisitor. "Well hello there, Sir. We have been
visiting that town down there," and with a graceful
sweep of her arm, the archangel indicated the Arkane
Lands to the stranger. Her other hand found the arm
of the girl whom she was guiding and clutched it
safely. "We were just leaving as you approached."

Out of nervousness as well as habit, the woman was
unconsciously flexing and straightening her wings,
though only slightly, it still offered an air of
nervousness to her words. Her smile, however, was
very sincere and her cobalt eyes fearless. The child
accompanying her seemed full of awe at the strange
new creature before her. If the wings weren't out of
the ordinary enough, now there was a man who didn't
even look remotely human.

"Why is your skin funny?" she asked serenely, in the
manner which only children can capture.

The archangel hushed her and tried to step in front of
her, hoping to keep the conversation very formal as
well as very short. "Sometimes, Tamara, even Aeryc
gets bored of making everyone the same, so He makes
other types of people. Just like I have wings and you
don't." With this, the archangel noticed her unconscious
wing movement and ceased. However, the child
seemed unfulfilled.

"Does it itch?" she asked quietly, while burying her
face slightly in the soft down of the archangel's wings.
The woman threw an apologetic glance at the stranger
and then made her grip on the child more firm, though
still treating her delicately.

[Triunis]

Something is wrong here . . .

Triunis shook the feeling as soon as it came over him, and smiled at the little girl's question. He knelt down in front of her, but kept the angelic being in his line of sight. Something about her signaled a kind of anxiousness, and he wondered if she had more purpose than she let on. He smiled at the girl.

"No, it doesn't itch, kasabanti*. It's just how I am. It helps me swim, and it keeps us from getting sick."

He looked up at the woman, and smiled. Though his face was happy he kept a reserved caution in the back of his mind. The monarch did not get where he was by trusting angels.

"So what are you doing all the way up here in the mountains with a little girl? It hardly seems healthy . . ."

((*kasabanti - Kasyuni word meaning "little one" in an affectionate, effeminate manner. Used almost universally, but only on Kasyune is it used for its original purpose instead of as an insult to big strong people.))

[Kruck]

Kruck did not hail any of these three, instead lngering back and giving no indication of his presence. But he was still in hearing range. After listening a little while, it seemed like quite an odd conversation to him.

I never liked angels....they freak me out. And little kids are a pain....I don't even know what that guy is....some kind of reptile? Never trusted them either....

Kruck unknowingly stepped closer to get better hearing of what they were saying when he stepped on some twigs, breaking the silent atmosphere. He looked up sheepishly, hoping these people weren't looking for a fight or anything.

[JKrew]

(((I'm waiting for one of the others to reply.)))