Torment of the Wind

[MayRndz 1128]

“The wilds know no honor and yet I find myself among them walking the dark unlit path that one has not walked before me. Let me light the way for others to follow and I shall devote myself to this lifestyle. Take that how you will. I will return when nature has spoken when the wild gods have challenged me, and when I feel I have proven myself worthy.” 



The Riptide druid had always been keen on exploration, taking on many journeys to find herself  lost within thoughts of one's own mind. She had grown up as an angry child, watching family tear themselves apart, starting fights that were not hers, something about that had been all so wrong.  H'r feet hitteth the ground running the moment she hath left high-lone and when she had finally shown her bloodied scared face; she had been hath changed by the course of nature . Noone quite had the chance to see past the guarded pine swirling visage, the roughened ‘ame determined, often  lacking a smileth till h'r heart hadst been did melt. She became someone who would not go down without being stricken by a real challenge, and thus she knew where she'd be setting out to hunt…    

The stature of the ‘ame stood towering tall, her shoulders rolled back as a cloak draped about armored shoulders. Burgundy paint streaked across her battlestriken face, rolling downward into spikes that looked like the fangs of a wildcat. Something about h'r lack of gear spake most wondrous means of adventure, and challenges to each their own… giving the idea that she was near prepared for whatever she was to come across. Not afraid of what may be to come.

“I promise I'll be safe,” her gentle tone rang out as arms outstretched to wrap about her lovers, holding them in a tight embrace. Head lowered to rest upon one of their shoulders, “I'll be back soon.” As she turned she didn't dare look behind her to see who had come to watch the departure. Feeling eyes upon her armored back, persistent to keep composure.

Her gaze lifted to the arching gates of the vale scanning over the grooves in the wooden structure the appearance of it all too comforting to her, this place becoming so much more than a quaint home. “The blood that boils within my veins and guides me forward is that of the sanguine fire,” she softly rang out.. Roots parted and lifted, revealing the trail ahead before she stepped forward gravel crunching below her. 

As her journey set off she heaved, chest rising and falling until she had nothing left in her. Aching from the long strained hike, the straggling huntress slowed her movements until she fell into a groove. Stretching to reach her backside, streaking across it as limbs were tugged into a stretch. It was around noon with the sun beating down upon her when she finally settled on the edge of a fallen log, taking a break for the time being.

No one knew where she had been going, but she didn't need to tell anyone where anyone who knew her already knew how much of a danger fiend she was. The druidess' personality living up to her totem, the riptide druid as she persisted through rough conditions with endurance, and could be rather violent in means. Less because of how she had been raised and more because of a fear of being left alone. Everyday thoughts raced through her mind in which she had to respond to her own mind ‘im not afraid’ people having turned their backs multiple times over leaving her in a self-conscious state. She wasnt ever trying to be reckless wandering off like that, no.. she was simply broken too many times over. 

Her feet carried her onward and she traveled for the remainder of the day the continual sound of nature meeting her leithe pointed ears, birds singing from branches swaying above and flowers that had just begun to bud swimming through the grasses as zephyrs blew throughout the maze of trees.

By this time tomorrow she knew she'd be off in the mountains, her breath heaving through the thick air of. As she settled  heightened elevation. Laying upon a pine blanket, her mind shifted imagining the whole world back home sleeping soundly undisturbed by the dangers living around them even if they had been facing problems prior to departure. The image haunted her through the night as she lay, a lovely one gazing at the stars, and the subtle sparkle of stars who gazed back.



A softened sigh escaped the druid's lips looking back to the shelter created from sticks and logs, leaned up on an angle to look like a teepee. It had been her shelter the previous night, and though she didn't ever truly sleep she had stopped to rest. Her feet felt tired from walking miles of unsteady terrain, shoulders sagging a bit forward as she began to sling gear over her shoulder. “Right here we go again,” a muted rumble escaped the woman's lips. It had been her 7th day out in the bitter winds and endless climb up mountains, down through the valleys below, something about the cold hard ground was just not comforting…

“Out of all the places, course the mountains,” she chuckled to herself as she smothered the firepit burying its ashes, sifting to lay the logs that had been her shelter to the ground, an unusually weary distance was kept as she thought to herself of what was to come as she did such. It didn't take long before the elfess had been off again walking along the slowly blooming ground, coming to a halt as her eyes panned up the mountainside.

A rough hand reaching to grapple the steep rocky slope, heaving herself upwards. She had become accustomed to the cold, after all adventure was the cost of a wild cat's freedom. Her weight shifted from edge to edge as small rocks fell below her, clucking with echoed crackles when they hit the ground below. A fall from here down to the jagged terrain below would be deadly.

As she reached the peak of the cliff her gaze set out before looking at her journal and starting to map the surroundings. Cool air blew upon her face, and the air seemed thick, hard to truly catch your breath when not used to it. Below her the signs of a tricking river presented themselves and her lips tugged into a bit of a smile, “finally found you.” Between the valley of each mountain the creek slowly dribbled downwards towards a forming pool, one supplied by a natural spring. The stream was cold and small bits of waterfalls fell down over fallen logs and built up sediment. Truly a beautiful sight to gaze upon the clear water.

She slid down the side, gravel loosening and eroding away under the newly found weight, her feet carrying her close to the waterside as the druides leaned to begin loosening the leather straps of her boots. The brown material plagued by weeks of dirt and journeying she left them on the softened rock deposit, before she slid her feet into the water, toes sinking into the sand. Her hands stretched out to reach under the dripple of what was a small waterfall, cupping them together and lifting it to her lips. An appreciation for what she found always seemed to linger, she may have been reckless but she knew there was more to living this life than she ever let off. 

Later that day there she sat on the roots of a willow looming over the water, hands running over a branch she had picked up and a jagged stone dragging down the bark, clearing it; slowly whittling to a point for use. The tool eventually took the appearance of a simple wooden tipped spear. Her wooden feet wading back into the water sinking down as she wandered along the swerving windy stream widening as it trickled deeper down the mountainside before it opened up into a pool of lively fish, and creatures.

She wanted to dive into the depths of the water, having missed the cool feeling of the ocean beach, and sand below her back home. To head back and run to the arms of those she cared about most and let them know she was alive and alright. She knew she couldn't and had a task to complete, her lips pressing to a thin line as pine green eyes scanned to the water, watching the ripples and reflection of the sun as she rose the spear up over her head and struck down into the water below with one swift, bear-like movement.

Head swiveled as she brought a fish up from the waters on the tip of her spear, the red scales flamboyant against the clear blue of the waters. It squirmed back and forth like a feral beast escaping its imminent demise meeting face to face with civilization. She dug the spear into her shoulder, leaning and swiftly snapping its neck. Her gaze was content as she watched it fall still.

The druid lived up to her word of being fond of water, having settled with a ring of rocks and sticks creating a fire that was small.. Only big enough to roast the fish she had now skinned and she sat a great distance from it. The feelings of being a live bonfire lingering in the back of her mind… and because of that she never seemed to get close to the heat less she was cooking or forging.



She had been on the road for roughly more than a month living off the lands, a nomad that never loomed in one place too long. If someone had wanted to track her she would be quite the challenge to find the ‘ame she may have been reckless but she was ne’ stupid and knew what to tell and what not to. Her gaze constantly scanned the peaks and cliffs that loomed above having spent her weeks primarily weaving about the maze of valleys between each of the uruguani mountains.

She stood pausing each day as a large shadow passed over her gaze with swift and speedy movements. Each day this shadow passed over she became a day closer to locating the den of the beast itself. One that was located high up in the mountains where the air was thin and unbreathable, beastly talons and wings defending his home.

She knelt on the carpeted blanket of leaves and pine needles, her gaze scanning and watching from the silence and protection of the canopies splayed above with colors of green and gold -a void of sunlight blockage for all that lingered below- not all too worried about her surroundings, the prey about knowing as well as her this beast not leaving one's chance to escape once it had been spotted.

“Dunnae let this take me to the grave, Ti? That is not how I intend to return, from the roots,” she mused quietly cackling like the clicking of a deceptive wildcat. As the beast landed and drew itself within the grounds of a cave hidden well behind foliage and bushes she pulled her cloak close around her - the camoflash allowing her to blend in - albeit it did not prevent worry from creeping through her body as she pressed her hands together offering a prayer to the spirit of a great polar bear.

She saw the floor first as she pulled herself up peaking over the bushes covering the entrance, cracked and scathed from massive protruding claws calling out and telling trespassers to leave. Her gaze darting from one side of the chamber to the other, falling upon the settled being as his chest rose and fell, curled up in a peaceful slumber, a pang of guilt running through her “Sorry my friend.”

The mutter of those words became the elfess’s mistake as a head rose, a specific head. The sole head of an eagle, followed by a body strong and powerful as a lions. Her gaze scammed over it as aggressive dark rounded eyes met hers, its warnings having become too late to head. There were no openings, no windows, not a single way free except to fight her way out as its body rose to block the path which she came. The idea that this was a den and there was something to be protected inside became clear as another layer of foliage covered a cave that was deeper, more crowded. 

Zaelyn tried not to stare at the creature as a hand rested upon the satchel she had created and the point of a jagged spear, drawing it fourth as feet spread apart. She gazed down first monstrous shaped claws stuck out in a wild sickening curve that could hook and pierce into one's armor.. No armor was there to protect her even if she had wanted it.

She released a puff of air, the two seemingly locked in place before she placed her right foot forward and sprung forward with a blade angled to hit before she could. She flew with speed and precision, her movements well calculated as she swung the blade twords its neck chor dripping before a lion-like paw lifted and claws slapped hard across her chest sending her flying to the back of the cave.

They brawled back and forth for what had seemed to be a long drawn while, covered in red blood from the creature as small amounts of sap dripped from cuts and wounds she was gradually receiving. The persistence of a face to face battle she had subjected herself to. A leg swinging as she moved to sift herself over the uncommon beings back and mount atop of it, the beast rearing up and thrashing about with her atop as the tip of her spear found its way through one wing… ripping acrossed and rendering the bird like wings flightless.

The druidess tried to prevent it as it began to make its descending flee upwards, The cry of a great eagle ringing out through the clearing, seeming to echo after a few moments as it met the rocky mountianside. A plummet to the ground that not she nor the beast could have prevented, and one would imagine it was the quickest form of solace the creature could have been offered as she slid herself down beside it staying frozen in her own momentary shock.

Eyes eventually came to a close as the beast curled into itself, breathing rugged and uneven as a light died out from the hostile look it had given her when they first began this brawl. She had not intended to drag it out so long but the words she had spoken a little too close had become her demise in that.

As it did she herself fell back and laid there, heaving as the cuts across her body began to close, leaving her a temporary solution to savor her time on the way back. She zoned there for a long while as if unable to entirely comprehend that she had indeed completed what she came here to do. 



A moderately tousled and dirtied druidess had made her way home, a makeshift bark based sled dragging behind her as she moved about with the body of the beastly creature following behind. A hunt that would forever live within her mind and stories of gore, and courage. Her cuts for the most part had begun to heal on her way back, but there was no denying their presence upon her surface visible for anyone who witnessed her return.

“Home” she rumbled, seeming to wander and take in the same arches she admired, leaving to venture past the forest and into the mountain ranges. Before anyone had the chance to halt or even speak to her she wove throughout the upward slope and made her way to her humbled underground house, halting outside as she leaned herself close to the towering maple tree, gently sliding a hand along the bark. Taking advantage of the moment alone she left the beast laying outside for an elven day retreating to the silence and solitude where no one could quite reach her mind, where she could finally get a day of proper rest.

It would be the day after that she finally came out to seek Nenar.
 

“When the time comes to venture we all ask ourselves, Where can the answer to the everlasting darkness plaguing this world be found? The loss and pain we carry, evidently is our own, The tugging of a stream in which we must wade across. I have braved the claws of a beast which is not often seen. I Heard the suffering and cries of a specimen past helping. Something we have not caused, and yet to an extent can't fix.

Somehow, someway, I have witnessed the destruction and fall of a past world, the plague of natural disaster which to be believed the aspects brought upon us. A battle in which we did not draw our blades, yet accepted this fall and moved on.

Let this new world, if nothing else to us, say that these words I write are true, and should carry your soul forward even as we feel the next end is near. Even as I have grieved, I have grown and changed. Even as we have suffered and been faced with pain of battle, we supported each other, and because of that let us bask in the feeling of having emerged victorious, strong, and making a change which most feel is not plausable. We do not need unity when a nation should not be fighting for land, but instead to protect what they already have not from each other but from the monsters and plagues emerging from the spiritual realms.

Knowing that, and only that I say these words so that everyone may hear me, I devote myself to the cause, till my ichor has run dry and I cannot run on these feet any longer, until a final breath leaves my body, to allow myself to fight and grieve for what is right. To the world I say, here I stand, judge me as you will.”