Post by Bah on Sept 5, 2005 19:12:05 GMT -5
*I realise now how much I need to fix up that Love Between Lands...Plus, it was crap compared to some of the stuff I've read on this site...so I figure it would be better if I posted something that wasn't a fanfic...so I have more control over it...yup...Anyway *sighs* On with the first chappy of my story. By the way, if you want to suggest a title for this, go ahead...I'll give whoever came up with the best title credit when I *hopefully* get this thing edited further and published...which is going to take FOREVER...*sighs again* I wish I could...so...Comments are needed desperately...I realise this isn't the best thing in the world, but...read on...*
Summary
Air…the Goddess of the Elements, and protector of the cycle that enables life to be…the creator of all. Without her, the other three would not exist. The world would crumble and life would parish. Too bad she no longer has enough power to sustain the cycle…
Prologue
The bright yellow sun slowly rose over the vast and field-dominated land of Raleigh. Light orange-trimmed clouds lazily floated in front of the sphere, casting dark shadows across the great meadows. The threat of storm lay on the far reaches, beyond the tall peaks of the Tamanka mountain range. Despite the obvious rain clouds, the cheery hriels were jumping from branch to branch, looking for the bright blue morning berries and being very talkative. The golden sheen of their feathers reflected the warm light, channeling it through a cottage window and into a sleeping girl’s eyes. Grumbling, she twisted away from the glare and pulled her covers up over her head. Her ears picked up the sound of a door creaking and she sighed, picking up her pillow and muffling the noise out. The door to her room had open the slightest bit, allowing a small shadow to slip through and run across the room, jumping up onto the girl’s legs. It made its way up her side and rested on the upper part of her arm. The little shadow creature emitted a low, purr-like sound, much like the ringing of tiny bells.
“Get offa’ me you stupid cat…” the girl murmured softly, rolling to face the wall. The shadow fell off and pooled on the covers, making itself comfortable in a dip in the blanket.
“Alius!!! Wake up!!” A female’s voice trailed into her room, a slightly nagging lilt tainting the words. Annoyed, the girl tossed her pillow across the room and watched it flop to the floor in a mess of goose down.
“Another day wasted,” she said irritably, shoving her covers to one side. A frantic mew came from beneath the folds of woven cotton and the shadow slid like liquid between the wall and her bed, only to come out from under the wooden support beam in the shape of a cat. The creature became overjoyed at the sudden abundance of feathers to play with and immediately started chasing them around Alius’s room, pouncing on them when it got close.
“Stupid cat…” Alius muttered under her breath as she trudged out of the door and into the hallway. Her long hair flowed a bit behind her as she walked into the small, sunny kitchen, its dark blonde shading catching the brief sun rays that came from small splits in the thatched roof. The smell of fresh bacon and eggs filled the whole entire cottage. Her mother was setting the table for breakfast, humming a joyful tune. Alius slumped into a rickety wooden chair and sighed, placing her head in a hand.
“Good morning, Alius.” The woman said; placing a plate of bacon in front of Alius and another one-filled with eggs- next to it.
“Morning, Hazel…” Alius replied moodily. She stabbed three pieces of bacon with a fork and shook them off above her plate, watching them fall onto the wooden surface without interest. The shadow cat came into the kitchen and sat at her bare feet, looking up at her with its mysterious green eyes, clearly begging for scraps of food. After being shoved off a couple times by one of Alius’s feet, the shadow took the hint and jumped onto a chair on the other side of the table, looking dejected and hoping someone will feel sorry for it and give it a piece of bacon or a scratch behind its ear. When no sympathy was shown, it gave an inward sigh and pranced up onto the windowsill to window hunt some birds.
“You sound depressed,” Hazel commented, putting some bacon on her plate and then going for the eggs.
“Jee…how could you tell?” Alius responded in a flat tone. Her eyes, golden yellow with flecks of red and orange, caught a glimpse of her shadow creature, which was now on the kitchen windowsill. It seemed fascinated by the golden hriels that flitted through the gnarled branches of the hour tree.
“Well, I thought you’d be excited,” her mother said, a bit surprised at her daughter’s unusual lack of energy. This was clearly not the Alius she knew and raised.
“About what?” Her daughter asked. With a surprised shrug, Hazel replied.
“I thought you and Fiona were going out to pick morning berries soon, aren’t you excited about that?” She inquired, feeding the cat a piece of bacon. The creature had long ago lost interest in the loud, obnoxious birds and came around for another bout of begging. It worked this time and the cat hurried under the table to snap it up in peace.
“We do that every morning.” Alius said frankly, staring at her mother.
“Well… What about those ruins you found?” Hazel asked. “By the way you were chattering on about them yesterday, I thought you found them quite interesting…Unless you were putting up a front for Fiona, and it was really just her who found them interesting…Which, of course, I highly doubt.”
Alius glared at her mother for a moment and brought her cross gaze back down to her food. She thought about the ruins her and Fiona had found the day before and what her mother had just said.
”Oooh, boring crushed little houses, yeah, that’s exciting,” Hazel knew that wasn’t what Alius was thinking.
“I don’t know…. maybe Fiona won’t mind if I just skip the berry picking today…. I don’t really feel like it.”
“Well, Alius. What are you going to do about it? You already told her you were going…”
“Yeah…better go,” The sunny eyed girl said reluctantly, getting up from the table, “Come, Noir.” She beckoned to the shadow cat. It followed her obediently out the door, closing it with a swish of his tail.
Alius ran over endless seas of flowers and rocks all the way to the river. She could see the many, many berry trees across the blue water and ran over the fallen tree that her and her friend used for a bridge to get to the other side. Her feet led her to a rock formation, used as a kind of lookout. Her gaze scanned the orchard, looking for Fiona.
“Alius, where were you,” Alius turned to look at the large formation. Fiona, her rose colored hair gleaming, was sitting on a large slab of rock, eating the morning berries that she had picked earlier.” Its too late you know… the morning berries are already turning.”
Alius looked up and sure enough, the little blue berries were all turning gold and orange as the sun went higher into the sky.
“I’m sorry Fi, I woke up a little later than I wanted to.” Alius lied, picking Noir up and scratching under the shadow cat’s chin. It purred, the quiet tingle pleasing to the ears, and melted through her arms.
“That’s all right Ali,” Fiona said, jumping off from the rock and joining her friend, “Its not the first time you’ve missed berry picking.”
“Yeah, well…you want to go to the ruins??” Alius asked, quickly changing the subject. “Maybe we’ll find something worth looking at. Like an ancient sword or something…”
“Oh! Well, if you have to know, I’m a bit spooked about that place.”
Alius sniggered. “Honestly, something’s up over in those ruins, and I’m scared of being eaten alive by monsters or something…”
“Monsters, huh? That’d be interesting. Do ya’ think we should go?” Alius asked slyly, winking at Noir.
Fiona quickly shook her head, berries falling out of her woven basket, fear treading her dark blue eyes.
“Weeeeeeell…” Alius said, a mischievous smile twisting on her face, ”Too bad!!”
It was then that Alius went sprinting around the hour trees, over rocks, and through the long grass that skirted the end of the orchard with Fiona yelling at her to come back. After a few minutes of wearing her voice hoarse, she ended up throwing her basket down and running after Alius.
Summary
Air…the Goddess of the Elements, and protector of the cycle that enables life to be…the creator of all. Without her, the other three would not exist. The world would crumble and life would parish. Too bad she no longer has enough power to sustain the cycle…
Prologue
The bright yellow sun slowly rose over the vast and field-dominated land of Raleigh. Light orange-trimmed clouds lazily floated in front of the sphere, casting dark shadows across the great meadows. The threat of storm lay on the far reaches, beyond the tall peaks of the Tamanka mountain range. Despite the obvious rain clouds, the cheery hriels were jumping from branch to branch, looking for the bright blue morning berries and being very talkative. The golden sheen of their feathers reflected the warm light, channeling it through a cottage window and into a sleeping girl’s eyes. Grumbling, she twisted away from the glare and pulled her covers up over her head. Her ears picked up the sound of a door creaking and she sighed, picking up her pillow and muffling the noise out. The door to her room had open the slightest bit, allowing a small shadow to slip through and run across the room, jumping up onto the girl’s legs. It made its way up her side and rested on the upper part of her arm. The little shadow creature emitted a low, purr-like sound, much like the ringing of tiny bells.
“Get offa’ me you stupid cat…” the girl murmured softly, rolling to face the wall. The shadow fell off and pooled on the covers, making itself comfortable in a dip in the blanket.
“Alius!!! Wake up!!” A female’s voice trailed into her room, a slightly nagging lilt tainting the words. Annoyed, the girl tossed her pillow across the room and watched it flop to the floor in a mess of goose down.
“Another day wasted,” she said irritably, shoving her covers to one side. A frantic mew came from beneath the folds of woven cotton and the shadow slid like liquid between the wall and her bed, only to come out from under the wooden support beam in the shape of a cat. The creature became overjoyed at the sudden abundance of feathers to play with and immediately started chasing them around Alius’s room, pouncing on them when it got close.
“Stupid cat…” Alius muttered under her breath as she trudged out of the door and into the hallway. Her long hair flowed a bit behind her as she walked into the small, sunny kitchen, its dark blonde shading catching the brief sun rays that came from small splits in the thatched roof. The smell of fresh bacon and eggs filled the whole entire cottage. Her mother was setting the table for breakfast, humming a joyful tune. Alius slumped into a rickety wooden chair and sighed, placing her head in a hand.
“Good morning, Alius.” The woman said; placing a plate of bacon in front of Alius and another one-filled with eggs- next to it.
“Morning, Hazel…” Alius replied moodily. She stabbed three pieces of bacon with a fork and shook them off above her plate, watching them fall onto the wooden surface without interest. The shadow cat came into the kitchen and sat at her bare feet, looking up at her with its mysterious green eyes, clearly begging for scraps of food. After being shoved off a couple times by one of Alius’s feet, the shadow took the hint and jumped onto a chair on the other side of the table, looking dejected and hoping someone will feel sorry for it and give it a piece of bacon or a scratch behind its ear. When no sympathy was shown, it gave an inward sigh and pranced up onto the windowsill to window hunt some birds.
“You sound depressed,” Hazel commented, putting some bacon on her plate and then going for the eggs.
“Jee…how could you tell?” Alius responded in a flat tone. Her eyes, golden yellow with flecks of red and orange, caught a glimpse of her shadow creature, which was now on the kitchen windowsill. It seemed fascinated by the golden hriels that flitted through the gnarled branches of the hour tree.
“Well, I thought you’d be excited,” her mother said, a bit surprised at her daughter’s unusual lack of energy. This was clearly not the Alius she knew and raised.
“About what?” Her daughter asked. With a surprised shrug, Hazel replied.
“I thought you and Fiona were going out to pick morning berries soon, aren’t you excited about that?” She inquired, feeding the cat a piece of bacon. The creature had long ago lost interest in the loud, obnoxious birds and came around for another bout of begging. It worked this time and the cat hurried under the table to snap it up in peace.
“We do that every morning.” Alius said frankly, staring at her mother.
“Well… What about those ruins you found?” Hazel asked. “By the way you were chattering on about them yesterday, I thought you found them quite interesting…Unless you were putting up a front for Fiona, and it was really just her who found them interesting…Which, of course, I highly doubt.”
Alius glared at her mother for a moment and brought her cross gaze back down to her food. She thought about the ruins her and Fiona had found the day before and what her mother had just said.
”Oooh, boring crushed little houses, yeah, that’s exciting,” Hazel knew that wasn’t what Alius was thinking.
“I don’t know…. maybe Fiona won’t mind if I just skip the berry picking today…. I don’t really feel like it.”
“Well, Alius. What are you going to do about it? You already told her you were going…”
“Yeah…better go,” The sunny eyed girl said reluctantly, getting up from the table, “Come, Noir.” She beckoned to the shadow cat. It followed her obediently out the door, closing it with a swish of his tail.
Alius ran over endless seas of flowers and rocks all the way to the river. She could see the many, many berry trees across the blue water and ran over the fallen tree that her and her friend used for a bridge to get to the other side. Her feet led her to a rock formation, used as a kind of lookout. Her gaze scanned the orchard, looking for Fiona.
“Alius, where were you,” Alius turned to look at the large formation. Fiona, her rose colored hair gleaming, was sitting on a large slab of rock, eating the morning berries that she had picked earlier.” Its too late you know… the morning berries are already turning.”
Alius looked up and sure enough, the little blue berries were all turning gold and orange as the sun went higher into the sky.
“I’m sorry Fi, I woke up a little later than I wanted to.” Alius lied, picking Noir up and scratching under the shadow cat’s chin. It purred, the quiet tingle pleasing to the ears, and melted through her arms.
“That’s all right Ali,” Fiona said, jumping off from the rock and joining her friend, “Its not the first time you’ve missed berry picking.”
“Yeah, well…you want to go to the ruins??” Alius asked, quickly changing the subject. “Maybe we’ll find something worth looking at. Like an ancient sword or something…”
“Oh! Well, if you have to know, I’m a bit spooked about that place.”
Alius sniggered. “Honestly, something’s up over in those ruins, and I’m scared of being eaten alive by monsters or something…”
“Monsters, huh? That’d be interesting. Do ya’ think we should go?” Alius asked slyly, winking at Noir.
Fiona quickly shook her head, berries falling out of her woven basket, fear treading her dark blue eyes.
“Weeeeeeell…” Alius said, a mischievous smile twisting on her face, ”Too bad!!”
It was then that Alius went sprinting around the hour trees, over rocks, and through the long grass that skirted the end of the orchard with Fiona yelling at her to come back. After a few minutes of wearing her voice hoarse, she ended up throwing her basket down and running after Alius.
