Stories of the irrational but true nevertheless.

Well, I was half right.

Our journey passed uneventfully the first day; we didn't waste time or breathe on speech, just ran forward. Normally, I feel like myself and Ann are something of wolves among the sheep in normal company; now I felt like the sheep itself, running from slaughter. And honestly, we would have been fucked if not for the oddities that started occuring....revolving mostly around Ann. Now, most everything weird I've experianced with this lot has had Ann smack bang at the center. Maybe because she's an elf, maybe because she's just lucky, maybe it's just a fluke, maybe she's special some other way....I don't know. But even with Illoria and Lim around, the oddest things still occured primarily around her.

So when night fell, and suddanly goblins sprang from the ground in the hoardes they traveled in behind and in front of us, but Ann found safty only steps away in the form of a santucary that was not supposed to be there, I wasn't surprised. We charged through the goblins and only she was badly hurt- Meyone and I were unharmed, pretty much- and put the circle between us and them. They killed each other trying to get at us, but they couldn't get past the stone ring to us.

Ann claimed a horse had been standing where the stones now were, but neither Meyone nor myself saw any horse.

We stayed the night there without incident, and headed out again the next day.

And this, friends, is when shit starts to go wrong.

It started with us being stalked by what our lovley, chattey tour guide called a land worm. More like a snake-like animal that moved in heartbeats and was big enough to swallow me-

-y' know what, I don't think I like that turn of phrase anymore. Considering, you know, that it did. Swallow me whole, that is.

I am getting really tired of being eaten by things.

See, Meyone told us that if this worm came into site and headed our way try and intimidate it.

Ann did not intimidate. She pissed.

She's damn well good at that.

She shot the thing and sure as fuck, dispite Meyone's attempts to make it change it's mind, it charged at us. And nearly as soon as the fight started, it reared down and just- lapped me up.

....it is really unpleasent to be in something's stomach. And it takes a painfully long time to hack your way out. Luckily, most of my important items survived, but just about everything non-magical I possessed got....dissolved.

I think this is the point where I first fell into the really bad mood.

About the time I hopped out of the other side of this thing's belly, Meyone started to get....wobbly. Seriousely not looking too good, folks. Ann was back well clear, and didn't seem injured- or not badly, anyway- and I prayed she'd get him clear or get a potion in him while I kept this thing's attention.

She did- almost too late, but she did- and we came inches away from putting the thing down- inches- but it wasn't stupid. It didn't want to die. And even though I tried to finish it off as it fled, flee it did. Ann fired off a shot and, thanks to 'hawkeyes' she'd purchased from my shop- keeper friend, she managed to hit it. But it got away, anyway, and she didn't get a chance to make another shot, even if she could've hit.

We worked with potions, the wand, and good old fashioned banadages and herbs to clean ourselves up, and continued on.

Nightime again, dispite our mad, almost desperate dash for safty we could damn well see in front of us. It honestly seemed as though nighttime wanted to catch us; wanted us to be trapped.

We ran. We ran until we were helping each other, urging each other, until we didn't, honestly, think we could.

And then Ann informed us she was leaving the road.

And then she did.

We didn't have much choice- we couldn't just let her sprint off by herself- and we followed her.

They followed us, goblins inches from our heels, on the sides of us, swarming like insects, sensing free game now that we were off the road.

Until we followed Ann over a bridge that crossed a line of salt, and, like before, they couldn't follow us.

One tried, and it became Crispy. Yes, that's with a capital 'c'. It burst into a little ball of wriggling flame and then poofed away in the air, ashes.

Yummy.

The others took the hint.

So, we were safe-ish-for now. Turned out we'd managed to find Fera, too- this, it seemed, was the place, according to the sign on the bridge.

We found a stream that Meyone refused to dirty by cleaning up in, so Ann scooped water from it and started to clean him up. I had no such qualms, and washed myself a bit in the stream. Ann muttered at me about Meyone's point of not wanting to dirty this water, not knowing who it belonged to, and he gave me a Look (another capital).

This is where my bad mood got worse.

I try not to let my temper get the better of me with the exception of a few people and a few situations. And I do have a temper. But this wasn't the place to go off, so I smirked and good-naturedly blew it off. We spent a peaceful night.

Sort of.

On my watch of our little camp- I had last watch, in fact- I heard what sounded like the faint noise of childern laughing. It sounded like it could be my imagination working doubletime. I noted it and let it go; catalouged it in one of the dusty tombs of my mind for further inspection at a later date. I like taking watches; dispite the danger. So my mood had improved somewhat by morning, when I got Meyone up. I'd had a creepy but seemingly calm enough evening with just my own self and my thoughts, which is nice, sometimes.

My mood instantly plunged downward again the moment Meyone was awake. Apperantly I'd not gotten him up in time for his royal-bloody-highness, and I got my ears damn well boxed for it, verbally.

Well, boys and girls, there's the last time I ever try to do anything nice for this arrogent twit. He was hurt and we were all tired, and in a santaury that was close to, if not was, our goal area. We were as safe as we were ever going to be, at least as far as I could tell, and needed our strength and energy for when we needed it.

Yeah, apperantly I'm just a lazy fuckwit.

So he woke Ann while I slid right back into my not-so-pleasent mood (isn't it funny, how Meyone is, for the second time, the cause of this mood?) and we picked up and started walking the salt line. Ann wanted to, Meyone did whatever she wanted to (and even in my rapidly blackening mood, I found and find this adorably tease-worthy) and I? Had nothing better to do. I had no plans to leave that place without one or both of them, and I could have walked the other direction, a kind of 'met in the middle' situation, but then if something had happened, I didn't particuarly care for the idea of it happening with me by myself. So we walked the parimiter.

And found nothing, of course. Bridge again, what looked like an abandoned working area. Woods, cut in half by the line, woods with blinking blue lights in the middle circled by it. No people. No sign of civilization. Then we found another, much larger bridge, with an arch over it, and a road leading two directions.

We crossed our protective line and turned around to look at the arch.

Take the word 'Fera', and move the 'r'.

In case you don't get what this spells right off, let me help you out.

Fear. Or, technically, since there was a space where the letter should have been, 'Fe ar'.

Yeah, I know, shut up, Semie.

At her urdging, I hoisted her heavy ass up to inspect the moved letter- nothing behind it- and then held her up longer to put it back.

Why couldn't Meyone do that? I'm not really sure. I guess I was the convient and closest lifter. Plus, we're a bit used to relying on one another, so maybe it was just habit that she asked me.

I grummbled about it, of course, and when I lowered her, she whiped her grimy hand across my front. I know my cursing irritates her, and it was partly that and partly habit that had me spitting a half-amused 'fuck you!' at her.

And then a hand connected with my shoulder. And I got scolded, like a fucking two year old. Like he had any damn right to tell me how I could and couldn't speak. Like he knew me. Like he had any jurisdiction over me. Fucking scolded. Self-righteouse, arrogent man had the balls.

My bad mood clicked into a whole 'nother level of bad-mood-ness. I was embaressed and pissed off, getting swiftly more annoyed with the situation at hand, strung tight as wire, and fucking well tired, hungry, hurting, sore, and irritable.

But I smiled something that felt more like a snarl and said 'my appologies' in a sheepish tone (that felt more like a grumble), flinching and rubbing my arm.

Smile, Semei.

We went back on our safer side, and continued on a ways. Hours later and we made camp again. And during my watch, it happened again- the noises. Childern laughing.

I feel incredibly stupid. I didn't think anything of it- I thought, at the most, it was something trying to lure people into the darkness, looking for the source of the kids. Bad idea to wander through the darkness on a thought that maybe there were brats wandering around in the dark. Why would there be?

I should have mentioned something the night before. I should have at the least awakened my companions the second time I heard it. Of course it was something out there. Of course it's not just my imagination.

But I didn't, did I? No. Instead, I woke Meyone at the barest crack of dawn, none too gently, and he woke Ann.

Then I opened my mouth, and once again, my slightly-recovering mood got shot right back down. Six foot plus of man stood towering over me, scowling.

The son of a bitch was trying to intimidate me. Hah! I hate to break it to you, sweatheart, but once a towering Were looms over you, more then once, or you come face to face with a man with burning white eyes, or a half-spider, half dark elf man appers in your dreams and battles the same man, or you help pull down a (weakened) giant vampire, or, ignoring all of that plus some, fucking Talron yells at you, then it takes more then a six foot tall bald man to scare you.

What? You've never had Talron yell at you. Shut up. It's almost as bad as Ann's father looking all seriouse at you.

Bad mood levels peaking. I felt my blood start to boil as he got in my face and demanded to know why I hadn't said anything. I told him the perfectly honest truth; we were safe here, and I didn't think it was anything.

He told us there were stories of childern being taken from villages, of creatures- a creature?- that lured them out and killed them. It found their innocence appealing.

I felt absoultly ill. But bad things were out there, what were we supposed to do, charge out into the darkness to save childern that may or may not be out there by fighting something we could not see, had no advanatage over, did not know how to fight, and could not win against at night?

I demanded all that right back, and he said yes, we should have. He would have given his life for the childern.

That's. It.

I'm surprised it wasn't out loud, the way my hold on my temper went twang.

It was pretty clear by this point that Meyone's opinion of me was less then exlimpliary, that I paled in all things compared to himself and of course, Ann, who he still followed about like a puppy following orders.

Now, on a side note, I have no problem with that.

I think it's adorable that he seems to be developing an intrest in her, and that she seems obliviouse. She's just as obliviouse to Ivy's attraction to her, or so it seems. I think it's sweet and cute as hell that Ann's picked up a silent gaurdian that she doesn't want to admit her own intrest in....even though I think it's there.

I plan on having quite a bit of fun teasing, hinting, nudging, shoving, and snickering madly under my breath at the pair of them while ignoring the sidelong looks and aggrivated glares.

Back on track, though, it was getting really irritating being on the wrong side of this man just for being who I was, while it was never more clear that in comparison, Ann could do no wrong. I know she's more lady like, and often much better at using her brains then I am. It's not that I don't have them, I just sometimes forget I do.

Even Talron, dispite his....dispite what we.....he treats Ann and I as equal parts of a whole. Meyone, though, acted as though Ann was the person to turn to, and I was just the puppy licking at her heels.

And now, apperantly, I was a dispicable person.

And so, with the last fraying bits of my temper went my good commen sense. Let him think whatever the fuck he wants about me. and so I specificually acted as though I didn't care. I acted like I wouldn't have given a fuck about those kids, anyway, like it didn't make me slightly ill that two of the kids were likely dead right now, and not in a painless way.

I may not always get on well with kids, and I don't always interact well with them, but I like them, and I like to be around them. I just don't know really how to talk to them, that's all. I've not been around too many- er, well, that I can remember. And that I had let two die made me feel like a coward.

No, I still would not have gone charging into the darkness to save them. Yes, I did feel like squished shit about it.

In my temper, I snapped out that I had a bad running record with kids, and Ann, to my surprise, supplied coldly that I had gotten the last child in my care taken, though she did not say by what.

It was true, yes, and worked for what I was trying to do in my temper, but somewhere in the back of my mind, it made me wince.

I hadn't meant to get Min kidnapped. And yes, I had taken a big risk with her life, but I didn't want the girl dead.

And as to his statment that he would risk his life for a child, I said that it was good to know one of us here would.

He stopped seeing me. It's the only way I can describe what happened. He didn't even give me a dirty look.

He told Ann maybe she should take watch, next time.

My anger did not go away enough to let me feel bad.

It did not go away at all, over the next few days. Even when Ann finally found our town- after we saw another bridge and a group of susipiciouse people outside our wall of safty- I did not stop being pissed off.

And when we got into town, the cheerful happiness of the people grated on me, in my already foul temper, wearing away the enamel of my smile for every word. They doted on Ann and I was amused to note that the women seemed completly unintimidated by Meyone, sending him to chop wood in return for food, while Ann was sent to clean up. I was, apperantly, a bit barbaric in my armor (which no, I did not glamour. I was in a bad fucking mood, thank you, and I am a beligerant bitch when I'm allowed to remain in this sort of mood.) their reactions to it only made me that much more irritated, of course.

Yes, I know how little sense I make at times.

And so we started trying to discover the mystery behind these people's nightmare. But there didn't seem to be any nightmare. Everyone was annoyingly happy. They were, apperantly, preparing for some kind of festival, and here it got a bit creepy. From the way they talked, it sounded very much like this festival would be some kind of sacrifice.

Those are never ever good- I don't even have to have experiance to know that. Combined with the cheerful way they discussed it and the celebration before hand, I got a bit of a chill.

Attempts to find out more were nicely diverted. We were only told that this celebration was the passing of the rulership (?) of this town from mother to daughter.

Yeah, because that just clears it up so nicely.

We spent most of our first day working and helping out; Ann and I tried speaking to the kids. It was going fine- even I wasn't floundering too much like a damn fish- until she got up and fucking left me alone with them. I tried to continue our conversation, but got asked if they could see my daggers- they'd already played with Ann's bow. But her bow and my daggers are two differant things. For one, if you don't aim a bow at someone you have a difficult time hurting them with it. Unless you bash them over the head with the bow, and that has to be a bit dilleberate-most of the time. With the daggers- particuarly with magical ones- it's way too easy to hurt yourself or someone else. But I took them out and played with them a bit, showed off.

Then I got asked if I'd ever killed anyone.

And stupid me was honest. Hell, obviously these kids weren't stupid or naive, and they knew about that shit, to some degree. And all kids love stories involving fighting, for one reason or another. I was knew and unusual, and I doubt very much they'd had much oppertunity to speak with people like us who'd been willing to dicuss things like yes, I have fought and killed people to stay alive.

I don't know what made me paint myself in a bad light. I'd fought and killed to protect people, too, people I cared for, and I would again, without hesitating. But I was still in that ragged, piss-poor mood. So I said I only killed to protect myself, and when one of the little girls called me out on it, I couldn't defend myself.

I did not sign up for this to be a damned hero. I just want answers and to go back to my normal life.

Looks like that's what I was expected to be anyway.

That night, Ann slipped out of the window of the room we were staying in- a lady kindly let her use her kid's old rooms. I left the window open for her and went to sleep, fairly comfortable with the protection that line offered.

At least until Ann dashed back in like she was being chased. She slammed the window and told me that if the mist came in, get out of the room.

Needless to say, I was damn well awake.

She came back into the room with Meyone (fan-fucking-tastic) and together, they inspected the area while I kept an eye on them from the window. Ann said a wolf had attacked her- or rather, chased. It's body was complete mist, and all she'd seen was fangs, eyes, and paws or claws. It had stared her down and then taken off after her. We all went in a happy little group to explore the area, and found a great heaping whop of nothing. No marks, no tracks, no fur, no mist, no (thankfully) snarling, protective mist wolf. And so around the corner we went, at Meyone's suggestion, to report the incident to the gaurds.

Who did not belive a word.

At the very least, in her prowl of the town, Ann had found a little to go on- the name Jhonna, and where this person lived or at least stayed.

The next day, of course, the rumor had spread, in a not so nice way, of the person who claimed to have seen the ghost hound. Ann told me to ignore it, but it was not helping my still bitter mood.

Then we were all pulled back to the main area of this town, where we'd already been once, because Ann's 'Jhonna' wanted a meeting. Apperantly, this was a big deal.

Of course, a public announcment was made that this ghost hound sighting was utter nonsense, from the man that seemed to be 'in charge' around here- and not five minutes later, a woman took the stage in his place.


She was stunning, and it wasn't all just her looks; she had that way about her, as if she were a queen instead of....whatever she was. And she wore a ruby amulet around her throat.

She said she'd had a vision; that she'd seen the ghost-hound had returned.

This lead to many a gasp and wide-eyed look in Ann's direction that she ignored.

Needless to say, the appolgies came in swarms after this woman got done speaking, more on this creature and the person who had seen it and come forward, and Ann managed to at last inquire about just what the hell was going on.

We discovered there was a good and bad side to this coin. It seemed that as long as this amulet was being worn, the town stayed safe. But it shortened the wearer's life significently, and after fifteen years, the woman (always woman) who wore it must hand it down to her daughter, and then die. And the father of the daughter always died, too, killed by this- wolf creature Ann had seen.

There was a memorial to the first man to fall victem to this near the town, and, assuming this situation was the 'mystery behind the nightmare' we went to check it out. Nothing odd about the tomb/memorial, except for that under the traditonal name and rest in peace, were what we later found out were words in a song. They were carved in odd, looping waves, but other then that, we found nothing out of place. And we spent a good while inspecting the damn thing. We came back later, too, and Ann found butterfly cocoons; not odd, except for it was the wrong time of year for them, she said.

We finally gave up and came back, and were put, once again, to chores.

Now, Ann had confessed the night before, after seeing her new friend, that she had fallen asleep....and elves, apperantly, don't do that while they're alive and well. But fallen asleep she had, and apperantly, she did again tonight, once we got back in. I wouldn't know; I went to sleep and, for the second night in a row, was rudely jerked awake by her.

And you wonder why my mood stayed bad. I was getting less sleep in this safe shelter then I'd gotten out in the danger zone back home.

But I did as she asked when she wanted me to go get Meyone. I accidentally woke the lady letting us stay here, but she went back to bed without too much fuss. Meyone was more difficult. He still wasn't seeing me, and it took twice for me to get him to listen. But finnally I got the big lug into our bedroom, and Ann explained that she'd seen that horse again, and meant to follow it.

She slipped out the window, and Meyone followed a moment later. I took the time to get into my armour- what, like I was going out without it- and followed after them.

We chased her on her fruitless search for her invisi-horse in the woods near the town for the better part of the night, until the tolling of an alarm bell sent us sprinting back.

We are in so much trouble, was the only thing I could think. I had a feeling I knew at least partly why there had been an alarm set up.

Sure enough, as we got back into town a shocked person announced that he'd found us, that we were alive.

But it wasn't all just us vanishing into the woods. It looked like something very, very big had taken a clawed appendage and just ripped down the side of the building we were in.

I had disturbing flashbacks of things like Primov and Draconians. But none of that was here (at least, as far as I knew) and there was no concivable idea in my mind as to what could have done this. Or why.

We were given a temporary home in the lodgings of another family, where none of us were sure we were safe.

The next few days passed uneventfully. I have never made a bigger fool of myself then I did the next few days, and the more I fucked up, the worse my mood became. And the worse my mood became, the more I fucked up.

I failed pathetically and miserably and trying to get information from childern(I, in fact, pulled a Lim Dul and opened my mouth where I should have kept it shut.)

I accidentally was seen glamouring my armor. I hadn't even thought about being cautiouse, as I was too hot over a mini argument Ann had gotten started with me. (I was getting really fucking sick of her telling me I was the reason we were there. I fucking know that, shut the fuck up before I blow up all the hell over you.) In fact, Ann and I were rather at each other most of the next few days.

Meyone, of course, already knew the information I had managed to get, and more besides, and lorded it over me in his self-righteouse, egotisitical manner that made me want to slap him and damn the consequences. No, he did not do it blantently, but his manner was more then enough to let me know that he'd just gotten his rocks off showing me up.

I had managed to find out about a man named Jules; a man Meyone had already met and spoken to. We went to see him again, and he was willing, if not nessicarily happy, to share what he knew about Ann's hound and the details behind all this that he knew. Apperantly, he'd tried to fool the hound by sending Jhonna into a dark room, then sending a man in to......um, breed. He hoped that if she never knew who this person was, the creature wouldn't be able to hurt him. Just in case, he was apperantly watching, because the thing did come.

And Jules tried to fight it off. It put him down for some time. Took him a nice long while to recover, and the beast got what it was after anyway. Nice try, though, bud, have a go next year, win a prize.

We tried to find out whatever we could on this celebration and some way- any way- we could change or stop it. But we kept hitting brick wall after brick wall, and soon all of us were frustrated and confused. We helped clean up the lady's house during the day. I mentioned that I had not pissed off anything that big lately, and to my surprise, there was something that could have been amusment in Meyone's voice when he asked me if I was sure.

For just a split second, my still raw temper flared, and I had the urdge to be a nasty little thing. But it was gone as fast as it came, and let my voice stay good-natured. I told him the only things I'd pissed off lately were gossipy old ladies, childern, mothers and Ann- and Meyone himself, I added, and was surprise to feel myself smirk wryly at him.

He almost slipped up and smiled back. I think he forgot he hated me for a second. I don't hate him. I just don't know how well we'd do with prolonged exposure to one another.

At night, we had bigger problems.

Ann had had a vision....a horrifying one, apperantly, that had her wake up screaming in the middle of the night.

To my surprise, Meyone revealed he'd had the same nightmare/vision the night before.

Jules told us it wasn't the first time. Outsiders had reported sharing visions with and because of Jhonna before. Still, this felt- differant.

We didn't get any answers when we tried. We were told we could talk to Jhonna and Jhonna's daughter, Sonya, in two day's time, and, in my mind, we should just sit back and wait for that moment before we took action.

We needed more to go on.

I got a lovely vision of my own, though I was awake for mine, and it wasn't as bad as theirs, I expect. I'd really rather not go into detail, though it ended the same way theirs had- with the words the stone eye being screamed. We had already looked high and low for the meaning of those words from their dreams, and come up empty handed.

Mystery behind the nightmare, indeed.

Well, Ann wanted to go see if something was wrong, going on the assumption that if I had gotten the vision now, awake, perhaps Jhonna was awake, too, and there was something amiss. But the house was quiet and dark, and the guards not only blew us off, they lied to us. Or at least omitted something.

I was surprised again, when, coming back, Meyone said that he belived I could very well have been awake during my little session; he said a family member had had it occur. Well what do you know, it speaks. And not just to spit at me.

Well, if he was making an attempt to be civil, I could, too.

When we finally got to see Jhonna two days later, things only got more confusing. In between then and there, we kept seeing that damn symbol in our waking lives; the most drastic being me being so sure that I was going to be crushed into goo via falling post.....when it turned out that it hadn't fallen in my direction, hadn't been a real danger at all.

But the same fucking symbol had poped up, as if it had fallen just to let us see.

Needless to Say, Jhonna didn't help.

According to her, the things we were seeing was our subconciouse trying to give us the answers we were looking for. The horse, the creepy visions, the hound, even, the waking vision- they were all us. And, she went on to make things worse, one or all of us had brought that building down. Our subconciouse had done it, for one reason or another. People have had abilites and traits surface here they never knew they had before, she told us. This place, that little amulet, tended to bring it all out to the fore.

Pretty summed up, what she said was adjust or get out, because she couldn't help us. It wasn't something she was doing.

So what, does that mean that the thing Ivy sent us to figure out isn't really in this town at all? Is it the 'stone eye', whatever the fuck that is? Or something.....something a lot deeper and a lot more ominouse? Is it something to do with Meyone bringing down a building with his mind? Because, as he admited later, he was pretty damn sure he'd been the one to do it. His worry, his concern of danger, had done it. Somehow Ann had sensed he was going to cause the distaster and gotten us out of the way.

Ivy, remind me again why I listen to you.

Wait, scratch that a moment.

Ann, never fucking listen to me!