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Story Hour
The Celestial Empire (Romance of the Three Kingdoms-ish, Updated 12/09/05)
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<blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1913833" data-attributes="member: 15043"><p><strong>The End of the Line</strong></p><p></p><p>Nayu winced again as he heard the ever deeping hack of Felonca’s coughing. He turned, and through the early morning mist, he saw her, bent over at the base of the druidic mound, coughing fiercely. His eyes then flashed up, staring into the thickening mist as a growl came to his lips.</p><p></p><p><em>Where are you?</em></p><p></p><p>It had taken several hours for the party to hike back to the mound, and now they sat, and waited as somewhere within the soup, the sun began to make itself known.</p><p></p><p>“Hello? Good sir?” Chou’s voice echoed for the tenth time in the past few minutes. “Good sir, where are you?”</p><p></p><p><em>Screwing around likely, not even going to pay us back!</em> Nayu frowned deeply, and gave a pebble on the ground a sharp hard kick. The snap of it striking a tree echoed in the misty morning. He looked back at his friend, watching in anger, despair and fear as Liu came to her side, and gently patted her back as she struggled to breathe.</p><p></p><p>“I... am... okay...” she struggled to say over the course of a minute, before shakily rising to her feet. Her skin was drawn taut, her eyes sunken deep into her dark skin. Slowly, with great effort, her bony, thin arm pointed off into the mists, a look of question on her face even before she could struggle to utter the words.</p><p></p><p>Nayu’s eyes flashed to where she was pointing. <em>About damn time!</em> He breathed in deeply, planning to unleash a barrage of questions on the druid once his antlered head emerged from the mists. <em>Why weren’t you here sooner? My friend is DYING!</em> His mouth, however, merely hung open as he stopped before the words left his lips.</p><p></p><p>Instead of a hooded man, antlers rising from his cloaked head, Nayu saw a patch of pink within the mist... flowing into thin gossamer threads and then folding into itself, almost as if it were a bit of reddish steam. As he watched, amazed by what he saw, the pinkish mists drew even closer... ever closer, its tendrils seeming to reach out towards him, to touch him...</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, he felt as if thousands of pins were pricking his body on every section of exposed flesh. His eyes flashed down in horror, as blood began to seep from every pore along the first arm the mist touched, and then more of his body as the pink slowly enveloped him, its tendrils suddenly flushing a dark, blood red.</p><p></p><p>“Get off of me!” Nayu snarled, his hands clutching his morningstar, as he slashed through the depths of the mist, its red tendrils whirling and curling around the curves of his wicked weapon. He heard shouting, and felt his blood slowly pulsing out of him, as he struggled against the mist, and felt a force holding him there, as if the mists had grabed him and were holding him tight.</p><p></p><p>From somewhere, he felt a hand touch his shoulder, and the pinpricks suddenly abated somewhat. He spun, ready to attack, his frightened eyes catching the calm, brown eyes of Liu, blood starting to pool on the monks arm (Liu cast shield other). For a moment, Nayu felt strangely at peace, looking into the monk’s eyes, even as he heard Felonca’s raspy breaths close by, or the <em>whoosh</em> of Chou’s sword slashing through the air. For a moment, the young man sees his home, intact, his mother fixing dinner, his father in the bedroom, looking strangely at the plain wooden box that rested beside his parents bed...</p><p></p><p>Felonca’s wheezing, loud and anxious, snapped Nayu’s mind back to the present, as the reddish tendrils of mist seemed to cartwheel away, their thin strands breaking more and more, until nothing remained save the plain whiteness of the early morning fog.</p><p></p><p>“What the hell was... Felonca!”</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><em>BREATHE!</em> Felonca’s mind screamed, as her hand clutched her chest. <em>BREATHE! BREATHE DAMN YOU!</em> Her heart still pounded, furiously trying to give oxygen to the arms that had just finished swinging her warfans yet again in anger, the legs that had somehow carried her up the hill to Nayu. They all burst with pain as if on fire, and it seemed an inferno was eating and blazing its way through her lungs.</p><p></p><p>It was then she could feel it. A cold, hard presence, something she could not see, but something icily persistent. It was always just beyond her reach, just outside her line of sight, just outside her focus of mind, but she knew it was closing... closer and closer.</p><p></p><p>The corners of her vision began to darken, as she slumped forward, her lungs trying in vain to cough, but only managing a weak wheeze. <em>I’m going to die...</em> The thought made her want to scream, which only made the pain in her chest explode more, as her vision grew even darker.</p><p></p><p>The world about her seemed to recede. She could feel her fingers desperately clutching the grass under her, pulling as if uprooting them would breath new life in her lungs. The voices of her friends, only moments before seeming so close and urgent, were now fading into a confused mumble, the distant drumbeat of her panicking heart growing louder and louder. Their shouts seemed so distant, so faint...</p><p></p><p>Blackness enveloped Felonca.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><em>”Master always demands silence!” she heard a distant voice, high with the sparkle of a child not yet pubescent, call. </em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>“I know!” Felonca growled at Nixu, an even younger version of her growled back in annoyance. The world seemed to spin and whirl, as Nixu repeated his call.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Now Felonca saw her Master’s room... the room of Master Yen-Chuan Hsiu, the legendary warrior, proud tiger hengeyokai, destroyer of legions. Along the walls of the small antechamber hung trophies from his days as a General in the Imperial armies; A wickedly curved scimitar from one of the cities of the Slave Coast, an exquisite bow made from deerhorn and birchwood, taken from a chief of the Kara Kitai tribes.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>Felonca thought she felt her warfans slipping, and quickly adjusted her grip, even as panic flooded her mind. To be found in Hsiu’s chambers like this would earn certain death. To be found red-handed stealing from Master Hsiu’s chambers would lead to a fate somehow worse than death.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>“Bastard,” her mind whispered, thinking of the constant abuse he’d heaped on her during her longer than acceptable stay at the Academy. Her eyes flashed to the window, where just on the horizon the first rays of dawn were rapid stretching from their slumber. She gave an imperceptible hiss, and looked again at Hsiu’s trunk.</em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>“He deserves it,” her mind snapped, and she reached down and gingerly, silently pulled out a dagger. Its hilt was exquisite with a large ruby on the end, its blade silver etched with characters she could not recognize. After a split second of thought, it was in her boot, as she swiftly made her exit...</em></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><em>Death is very loud,</em> Felonca thought, as the rumbling, thundering noise assaulted her, flowed about her, seemingly through her. <em>They always said that to rest with the ancestors would be a peaceful repose...wait...</em> The thundering rose slowly separated itself, the continuous rumble now dividing into individual thumps. After another moment, Felonca realized it was her heart.</p><p></p><p>“GAH!” she gasped, eyes flashing open to a blinding light. For a few seconds she was disoriented, a world of light and sound assaulting her senses, before her mind was able to organize them into sights and sounds.</p><p></p><p>Nayu was mere inches away, relieved panic plainly on his face. She felt his hand fiercely gripping hers, as a brother would protecting his sister.</p><p></p><p>“You were just within my help, young one. You are very fortunate,” came the whispery, mysterious voice the party had heard only the day earlier. She turned, and found herself looking into the dark hood of the antlered druid. </p><p></p><p>It was then that she realized she was breathing. There was no pain, there was no screaming fires within her chest. Giddily, she looked down, and watched her chest rise and fall a few times. No pain.</p><p></p><p>“YES!” she suddenly was up, and without thinking did a backflip of joy. After she landed, she started to run in circles around the party, laughing and cheering.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>“Woah!” Chou cried, barely dodging the hyper and ecstatic Felonca. “Watch out, I think her kick might’ve caused some pain if she’d hit!”</p><p></p><p>“Crazy as ever,” Nayu grinned, his eyes flooding with happiness.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emperor Valerian, post: 1913833, member: 15043"] [b]The End of the Line[/b] Nayu winced again as he heard the ever deeping hack of Felonca’s coughing. He turned, and through the early morning mist, he saw her, bent over at the base of the druidic mound, coughing fiercely. His eyes then flashed up, staring into the thickening mist as a growl came to his lips. [i]Where are you?[/i] It had taken several hours for the party to hike back to the mound, and now they sat, and waited as somewhere within the soup, the sun began to make itself known. “Hello? Good sir?” Chou’s voice echoed for the tenth time in the past few minutes. “Good sir, where are you?” [i]Screwing around likely, not even going to pay us back![/i] Nayu frowned deeply, and gave a pebble on the ground a sharp hard kick. The snap of it striking a tree echoed in the misty morning. He looked back at his friend, watching in anger, despair and fear as Liu came to her side, and gently patted her back as she struggled to breathe. “I... am... okay...” she struggled to say over the course of a minute, before shakily rising to her feet. Her skin was drawn taut, her eyes sunken deep into her dark skin. Slowly, with great effort, her bony, thin arm pointed off into the mists, a look of question on her face even before she could struggle to utter the words. Nayu’s eyes flashed to where she was pointing. [i]About damn time![/i] He breathed in deeply, planning to unleash a barrage of questions on the druid once his antlered head emerged from the mists. [i]Why weren’t you here sooner? My friend is DYING![/i] His mouth, however, merely hung open as he stopped before the words left his lips. Instead of a hooded man, antlers rising from his cloaked head, Nayu saw a patch of pink within the mist... flowing into thin gossamer threads and then folding into itself, almost as if it were a bit of reddish steam. As he watched, amazed by what he saw, the pinkish mists drew even closer... ever closer, its tendrils seeming to reach out towards him, to touch him... Suddenly, he felt as if thousands of pins were pricking his body on every section of exposed flesh. His eyes flashed down in horror, as blood began to seep from every pore along the first arm the mist touched, and then more of his body as the pink slowly enveloped him, its tendrils suddenly flushing a dark, blood red. “Get off of me!” Nayu snarled, his hands clutching his morningstar, as he slashed through the depths of the mist, its red tendrils whirling and curling around the curves of his wicked weapon. He heard shouting, and felt his blood slowly pulsing out of him, as he struggled against the mist, and felt a force holding him there, as if the mists had grabed him and were holding him tight. From somewhere, he felt a hand touch his shoulder, and the pinpricks suddenly abated somewhat. He spun, ready to attack, his frightened eyes catching the calm, brown eyes of Liu, blood starting to pool on the monks arm (Liu cast shield other). For a moment, Nayu felt strangely at peace, looking into the monk’s eyes, even as he heard Felonca’s raspy breaths close by, or the [i]whoosh[/i] of Chou’s sword slashing through the air. For a moment, the young man sees his home, intact, his mother fixing dinner, his father in the bedroom, looking strangely at the plain wooden box that rested beside his parents bed... Felonca’s wheezing, loud and anxious, snapped Nayu’s mind back to the present, as the reddish tendrils of mist seemed to cartwheel away, their thin strands breaking more and more, until nothing remained save the plain whiteness of the early morning fog. “What the hell was... Felonca!” [i]BREATHE![/i] Felonca’s mind screamed, as her hand clutched her chest. [i]BREATHE! BREATHE DAMN YOU![/i] Her heart still pounded, furiously trying to give oxygen to the arms that had just finished swinging her warfans yet again in anger, the legs that had somehow carried her up the hill to Nayu. They all burst with pain as if on fire, and it seemed an inferno was eating and blazing its way through her lungs. It was then she could feel it. A cold, hard presence, something she could not see, but something icily persistent. It was always just beyond her reach, just outside her line of sight, just outside her focus of mind, but she knew it was closing... closer and closer. The corners of her vision began to darken, as she slumped forward, her lungs trying in vain to cough, but only managing a weak wheeze. [i]I’m going to die...[/i] The thought made her want to scream, which only made the pain in her chest explode more, as her vision grew even darker. The world about her seemed to recede. She could feel her fingers desperately clutching the grass under her, pulling as if uprooting them would breath new life in her lungs. The voices of her friends, only moments before seeming so close and urgent, were now fading into a confused mumble, the distant drumbeat of her panicking heart growing louder and louder. Their shouts seemed so distant, so faint... Blackness enveloped Felonca. [i]”Master always demands silence!” she heard a distant voice, high with the sparkle of a child not yet pubescent, call. “I know!” Felonca growled at Nixu, an even younger version of her growled back in annoyance. The world seemed to spin and whirl, as Nixu repeated his call. Now Felonca saw her Master’s room... the room of Master Yen-Chuan Hsiu, the legendary warrior, proud tiger hengeyokai, destroyer of legions. Along the walls of the small antechamber hung trophies from his days as a General in the Imperial armies; A wickedly curved scimitar from one of the cities of the Slave Coast, an exquisite bow made from deerhorn and birchwood, taken from a chief of the Kara Kitai tribes. Felonca thought she felt her warfans slipping, and quickly adjusted her grip, even as panic flooded her mind. To be found in Hsiu’s chambers like this would earn certain death. To be found red-handed stealing from Master Hsiu’s chambers would lead to a fate somehow worse than death. “Bastard,” her mind whispered, thinking of the constant abuse he’d heaped on her during her longer than acceptable stay at the Academy. Her eyes flashed to the window, where just on the horizon the first rays of dawn were rapid stretching from their slumber. She gave an imperceptible hiss, and looked again at Hsiu’s trunk. “He deserves it,” her mind snapped, and she reached down and gingerly, silently pulled out a dagger. Its hilt was exquisite with a large ruby on the end, its blade silver etched with characters she could not recognize. After a split second of thought, it was in her boot, as she swiftly made her exit...[/i] [i]Death is very loud,[/i] Felonca thought, as the rumbling, thundering noise assaulted her, flowed about her, seemingly through her. [i]They always said that to rest with the ancestors would be a peaceful repose...wait...[/i] The thundering rose slowly separated itself, the continuous rumble now dividing into individual thumps. After another moment, Felonca realized it was her heart. “GAH!” she gasped, eyes flashing open to a blinding light. For a few seconds she was disoriented, a world of light and sound assaulting her senses, before her mind was able to organize them into sights and sounds. Nayu was mere inches away, relieved panic plainly on his face. She felt his hand fiercely gripping hers, as a brother would protecting his sister. “You were just within my help, young one. You are very fortunate,” came the whispery, mysterious voice the party had heard only the day earlier. She turned, and found herself looking into the dark hood of the antlered druid. It was then that she realized she was breathing. There was no pain, there was no screaming fires within her chest. Giddily, she looked down, and watched her chest rise and fall a few times. No pain. “YES!” she suddenly was up, and without thinking did a backflip of joy. After she landed, she started to run in circles around the party, laughing and cheering. “Woah!” Chou cried, barely dodging the hyper and ecstatic Felonca. “Watch out, I think her kick might’ve caused some pain if she’d hit!” “Crazy as ever,” Nayu grinned, his eyes flooding with happiness. [/QUOTE]
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