Bizz's Short Stories

[Percivalé]

Sometimes I have dreams that inspire me to write random oneshots, and I decided I should start contributing to the writing section after my previous story died due to inactivity of the people that were in it. I think it's been over a year now, which is.. interesting. Oh, and I'm taking requests, if you want to make one; plus, any feedback that you perhaps want to make can be posted in this thread

Anyway, I wrote this one for someone's birthday. It's loosely based on a dream I had almost two years ago.

--

I- Diluted Sky

Out in the horizon, the moon was bright and orange and closer than I had ever seen it before. I yawned, thinking about how exhausted I felt; I never truly slept anymore, all it was in actuality was I resting on a bed or other soft area and closing my eyes to the rest of the world. I would dream sometimes, albeit now it only seemed like my life was a dream that I waded around in for the rest of eternity.

I see her looking at the strange moon alighted in the sky. I watched her hair wave about in the wind; it was the most beautiful thing I have seen, but I never say it out loud. She doesn’t turn to me—I don’t think she even knows I returned from my walk long ago. I muse on the possible things she could be thinking about, and briefly wonder if perhaps I was in her thoughts, but I dismiss the thought as unlikely. I sigh and remain there, momentarily immobilized by her wondrous grace.

“Are you thinking on your country?” I ask almost involuntarily; she is startled and twirls around suddenly. She begins to laugh at herself for it, and her smile is mesmerizing.

“Oh, I apologize, I didn’t notice you were back…” Her voice is smooth and calming, “I suppose I was just feeling a little nostalgic.”

“The landscape is astounding tonight, isn’t it?” I ask her. My mind is easily wavering from place to place in slight delirium. It is late, and we have reached high atop the mountain. I nearly forget what we came here for in the first place, but it quickly comes back to me, which is a relief.

“Hehe, it is…” Her eyes are sparkling with reminiscence, and they are so full of vitality and innocence. “I would go hiking where there were pristine lakes and rock formations that were said to have mysteriously appeared ages ago… I would watch them at night and never leave.” I hear a slight accent in her English, though I try hard not to obsess over it. It was easy for me to obsess.

“Do you think maybe you want to rest here?” I feel selfish, since I may be asking her this more for myself if anything; my drowsiness is already causing me to sway slightly when I walk, like a drunkard. I attempt to keep the subject off of the fact that we were running away from our oppressors and the dictator that restricted our freedoms. We are refugees now, but I made a vow to protect her and nothing else mattered in my world. I didn’t know her well, not really, and I initially feared that I never would, but she seems grateful to me for saving her life. Had I not arrived when I did, they would have killed her for being foreign. Racism and paranoia were high nowadays.

“Ah, we can if it is what you want. Is it what you want?” Her expression is always warm and sincere; it made me almost envious. I survey the land quickly for any sort of threat, however there seems to be none present, so I nod.

“Yes, it seems safe enough to camp here for the night.” I feel slightly guilty, “I hope you do not mind… it’s rather different from the nice home you used to dwell in.”

“Oh, a little dirt and some insects are nothing to me…” She giggles again. “Nada para mi!” Nothing for me, I translate in my head.

The moon is so bright and dilutes the darkness of the sky. I see the light even when I shut my eyes under the shrubbery, and I hear her soft breathing next to me. She’s already fallen asleep? I ask myself, and I smile as I feel my own consciousness slipping into the world of slumber.

--

Edited June 5, 2010 by Bizz

[Percivalé]

II- Excerpt from Bizz's Story, fifth life

“Excuse me.” I heard the sharpness in his tongue as well as the confrontation in his voice; he’d been following me for quite some time, I could already tell. I hesitated to face him, my policy of being nonchalant taking effect. I casually glanced over my shoulder and saw the irate expression on his face.

“Is there something you need?” I asked, my back still turned to him.

“Look at me, you coward.”

I spun around; instantly, I recognized his looks. His eyes were the same color and housed the same flames of vitality. His facial structure was familiar, and even his hair was the same jet-black that I could remember from exactly a year before. I was almost frustrated at the sheer coincidence of this situation. Instantly, my voice changed its tone.

“You do realize where we are, correct?” I asked him, suppressing my anger to the best of my ability. How dare he violate the sanctity of this place, especially if he was who I believed him to be? I felt the frigid winds grow stronger, and the man’s boots made crisp footsteps in the rising snow.

“My brother instigated his attack here on a bunch of trespassers who were known to be bandits on this territory. You were one of them, weren’t you?” I watched him come closer, his unrelenting gaze on me never averting. I retained my calmness and returned his glare.

“I won’t deny it; I did travel with them here in this area.” I bit my lip and kept my stance firm, already making a decision in my head for the worst-case scenario. “I wasn’t an original part of their group, though. I only was for a year—well, before almost of them were all slaughtered. By your brother.” I felt a sudden spark from flame that I thought burned out a year ago tinge inside of me. Where did it all go?

“They weren’t supposed to be here, and they were all well aware of that,” He sneered. I saw his smirk. “They never informed you of it, did they? They must’ve never really cared about you—“

“That’s enough.” My voice broke, something that I wasn’t expecting it to do; I looked away into the engulfing blizzard. “They cared about me, more than you will ever know.”

“I can say the same about my brother, but you killed him!” Suddenly I felt the winds of anger bluster past my ear, and I knew now that he was serious about this. How did he ultimately bring it down to me? How did he find me? Somehow, the tracking abilities must have been something that ran in the family. I looked back at him, at his face. The desire for revenge was present, right there in his eyes.

“I did what I did to avenge my comrades,” I answered; after all, there was no hiding it now, was there not? “It is something that cannot be helped; the Bizzling Clan takes its duties very seriously, my dear friend.”

“You admit to it, then!” I flashed him a smile.

“Do you want to kill me?”

He was caught off-guard. The offer was doubtless a fervent surprise to him; he just stared at me, flabbergasted. “Why would you—“

I cut him off with the action of drawing my sword slowly, its gleam present even in this blinding snow. I held it in front of me, brandishing its blade upward. It was so beautiful, and I knew that even he was momentarily mesmerized but its grace. I kept my stance firm, and repeated the question. “Would you like to kill me, to avenge your brother?”

He was skeptical of me, I knew. “What is this?”

“A genuine offer.”

“Is this some kind of trick?”

“No tricks here, I promise.” I thought quickly for ideas to further convince him. “You know, us of our Clan have been taught that it’s rather shameful to be killed by your own weapon in battle. We have very strict codes and rules that are instilled into us the moment we are born. Right here, right now, you could kill me and shame me at the same time… all for the honor of your brother. Doesn’t it sound delicious?” I licked my lip for a dramatic effect, thinking about the brave warriors that died here. Would they be proud of me? Would they shun me for this? I never took my eyes off of this man, to prove to him that I wasn’t a liar.

“You…” His voice trailed off, and he trembled. He finally gave in. Reluctantly, he accepted the blade, grasping the hilt firmly. “You’re… strange.”

“But of course I am, my friend.” I looked to the side and stared at the ruins for a very long time. Fyo and I were the last of them now, and forever they would live on in our hearts. “Before you kill me… may I ask for your name?” My curiosity never failed me, after all.

He hesitated to answer the question, but nodded in courtesy. “I am Kyan of the mountains. And you are?”

“They call me… Bizz.” I heard the song of my Clan raging on in my head, sung by the troubadours of only a few certain lands. We are the protection, we are the land… we are the storms, we are the Clan…

“Are you ready, Bizz?”

I stood, tall and dignified.

“I’m ready.”

It was difficult to tell if he was inwardly afraid or instead rejoicing at his triumph, at the thought of ending my life.

“Very well, then.”

He was swift; instantly I felt a bolt of pain course throughout my entire being as he thrust the piece of steel into my chest. I kept myself from crying out in pain; the agony was excruciating, despite my having felt it before. I struggled to look at him one last time before my mind lapsed in memory; I was lying in the snow, my precious sword stuck into the ground next to me. My murderer trailed off into the blizzard, and before my vision failed entirely I thought I could see him take one look back before the weather rubbed out the rest of his figure.

I took a last, deep breath as I felt the warm, ominous glow around me begin to take hold of my body. I heard the familiar whispers of the Spirits pass through my numbed ears, and my count went down from seven to six. How odd it was to lose my fifth life this way, though I didn’t regret it. I knew he would be happier now, or maybe he would realize the errors of his actions. Either way, I hoped to keep myself from this place and to never see him again. A new wisp of life flowed into me—I involuntarily breathed it in, felt a sharp spear of pain, and blacked out.

When you are done, please tell me…

So I may straight begin!

Haste! Lest while you’re lagging,

I remember him…

[Gunlord]

Hey, Bizz! It's nice to see you again ^^ These lil' pieces are actually quite good...fairly well written. Just from glancing at these I think you've improved a fair deal since the last time I gave your fics on FFn a looksie, so long ago. But I guess that's to be expected. Very nice work :)

[Percivalé]

It's about time I posted more here :K So here's a snippet of something I wrote for other forum I go to

(yeah, there are a few grammatical mistakes I should get to fixing but bleh)

it's also FE-based so it explains some things

III

Levity took a slow, deep breath as she fumbled about her satchel; her hands still shook despite the arduous mental effort she put into staying calm. The night air was crisp and accompanied by small breezes brushing gently against the thief’s hazelnut-colored hair. The grass shimmered with the dew of the dusk, as well as with the blood of opposing factions. In the aftermath, the whole world stood still.

The girl finally pulled a small glass bottle from somewhere in the pocket of her long jacket. She brandished it in the air in a momentary triumph and emitted a relieved sigh—it was there all along. Panic was causing her to lose time. Quickly she turned to the man that lie on the ground next to her; his brown, shoulder-length hair hid his eyes from the world, and his cerulean-colored trench coat was stained dark red. Cautiously Levity pulled the cork off of the bottle with her teeth. A pale blue liquid rested inside; there was still enough for exactly one dose.

“DL, are you still with me?” Levity asked the man, though got no answer. She looked over him carefully, though discovered he merely slipped into unconsciousness; she relaxed somewhat. “Hang on, okay? It doesn’t matter who you are, or what you did… but you better help me out and just keep going, all right?” She shook the bottle until the substance inside began to fizz, and continued to speak. “I’m sorry this happened to you… I wish I knew what happened…” She paused as she lifted his head gently with one arm and took up the strange concoction with the other. She bit her lip.

“Here we go…” The trembling girl began to pour the liquid down DL’s throat; reflex caused him to swallow it, choking lightly on some. His coughing subsided after a few seconds, and Levity sank back down to her knees, throwing the bottle and watching it roll down the grass. She hadn’t the strength nor the heart to break it. “Now we just have to keep living a little longer until the rest of them find us. Can you do that for me? You hate cooperating with people, but this is important… so just don’t die…” The lack of response wasn’t something Levity was adjusted to, which pressured her into talking simply to be comforted by her own voice.

“I… I know you’re pretty hurt, and this looks really grim, but you’re a bastard, DL. You’re the biggest bastard I’ve ever seen, maybe even bigger than Tiko…” She ran a hand through her hair and looked up to the sky into the vast myriad of stars; menacing clouds were beginning to roll in, and the wind’s touch became more frigid. “And, from what I’ve seen, the bastard always lives. Always… without fail…”

Finally the woman fell next to the injured man both in exhaustion and to keep close to him. For a tedious amount of time she listened intently to his erratic breathing, to ascertain that it would improve. Feebly and reluctantly, Levity wrapped her right arm around his torso and lie there with him, waiting for signals. She wasn’t entirely sure what signals they would be, but she surmised she would know what they were when it was time for them.

--

The vast field was dark and dreary. Corpses were strewn about in an almost patterned fashion, with some here and some there. The divided sides of the war alternated: Tiko’s men, the CARA liberation, more of Tiko’s men, rinse and repeat. It was a cruel, twisted puzzle of death in which the pieces were eerily arranged to reveal a picture or perhaps a story of the infamous battle that took place mere hours ago. Rescue units would soon begin their conscientious search for the living and the not-yet dead. The effort would likely take days.

A single snowflake brushed gently against Levity’s face. She couldn’t remember how long she stared at the ash-colored sky or even if she’d been awake the entire time. She whimpered and pressed her body closer to DL’s; had to keep him warm, that was the only thing now. He seemed more stable than he was before, which brought relief to Levity’s wavering senses. The bleeding had stopped now, at least for the most part; all she could do now was wait, hope, and pray. His destiny was still up to fate to decide.

This was the man that saved her. This was the man that betrayed her. Levity was terrified to see him so vulnerable, and she didn’t know why.

She never wanted to see him like this ever again.

--

“Hey, Levity.”

Another hour, maybe two. Levity blinked her eyes open and twitched in sudden motion; she had dozed off this time.

“Oh… good. Thought you were dead,” a voice muttered breathily, “thought maybe the cold got to you or something. That poison made you pretty susceptible to everything for a while—it looked like you turned pale… every time it rained…” DL’s body jerked against Levity’s as he coughed a few more times. Suddenly, Levity sat bolt upright in realization.

“Did—oh, you woke up!” Levity squeaked; her voice was cracked and dry and generally underused, and as a result she sounded almost rasped. Her expression was slightly flustered as she quickly examined over DL again. “It worked?” she asked urgently, “I mean—you’re alive, right?”

“Well I’d sure hope so… unless we’re both dead.” His voice was so barely audible that Levity had to lean in closer to listen.

“I’m sure I’m still alive, at least,” Levity responded. “What did you do, anyway?”

“Had some fun with Tiko…” DL grinned. “Had a lot of fun…”

“But why?”

“I’m done now. Figured it would be… the last time… I had a chance…”

“Well, it won’t be.”

“You’re really insistent on keeping me alive… aren’t you?” The man attempted to shift his position, but to no avail; an excruciating bolt of pain paralyzed him.

“Don’t try to move…”

“I almost killed you, you know. I’m your enemy—I killed quite a few… of your comrades. I’m the… ‘blade of illusions’, remember? The magician that never tells his secrets, even to his… victims…”

Silence.

“I was the one who killed Bitto, you know—“

“Be quiet,” Levity interrupted, “just shut up. Sometimes I want to hate you so much, DL. I was tempted to leave you dying here in the cold, all alone.”

“But you didn’t.”

“Because you really are all alone now…”

More silence. The snow soon began to ravage the barren land, and would eventually engulf it with its icy embrace. Blusterous gales penetrated the bones of the two that remained there with immobilizing cold. Trees swayed to one side. The world would now begin to attempt its cover-up of the carnage, of the destruction, of the true sins of war, and leave nothing but vacant hills of white.

“Alone?” DL’s curiosity began to spark, though he could feel his consciousness slipping away again ever so slightly. No, dammit, stay awake.

“You betrayed us,” Levity explained, “you betrayed your own side. No one can really trust you now, can they? So you have no one now… but me.”

“I betrayed you, too.”

“But it’s different with me…”

“Why would you… want me? Don’t you already have Wizzy?” Levity’s eyes suddenly widened, and she blushed vigorously.

“Th-that’s none of your business!” she shouted louder than she had intended; her voice echoed across the empty clearing. “You just… it’s not that kind of different, okay? I just… you could have left me to die when Tiko experimented on me. I thought you were having fun watching me break… and suddenly you came again, when I gave up.”

“Yep. You had the flame of potential burning in you,” DL said. “That kind of thing… doesn’t go to waste.”

“I still don’t know what you mean by that, DL…”

“You beat me, didn’t you?”

“That doesn’t mean anything. I almost feel like you let me win.”

Had DL the strength, he would have been chuckling heartily to himself by this point. Instead, he could only wheeze slightly. He closed his eyes. “See, but you could tell the difference… I did hold back a little. When I saw it was you… facing me… by yourself… I remembered…”

“What?”

His voice trailed off into the bleak darkness; he was asleep again, and Levity sighed. A single tear began to escape from her eye for a reason she could scarcely fathom. Slowly and hesitantly she got down next to DL again, getting as close to him as possible and never letting go. She could hear the incredibly faint sound of footsteps and the hooves of horses, and smiled—the timing was perfect. Chao’s Mercenaries were fast approaching now.

Edited September 17, 2010 by Levity

[Freohr Datia]

Weeee awesomeness!!!

I love the great detail you use! More people should read! You really are a great writer.

I think my favorite one was the second. =) But they were all real good.

[leilan21]

There's a certain melancholic quality in your works. Don't wory, they are sad but good as well. Good job

[Percivalé]

It's been a whiiiiile

Anyway, this is kind of a continuation to the last work. It's supposed to be in two parts; I cut it in half, so it'll be continuing again soon. I might add some things to this one later to make it seem more complete, but right now I'll just call it 'mostly finished'.

IV

---

A man with long, golden hair that he tied back trudged regretfully through the thickets and fronds of the bleak landscape. The forest was a menace until one got to the heart of it, near to where the man’s destination was. Just ahead would be the skirmish he was looking for, and it was there that his experiment would take place; finally, his vengeance for the man that betrayed him so long ago. He chuckled wearily to himself and continued on, doing all he could to prevent his hair getting caught in the brambles; he felt the soft wind brush against his face and the snow flittered onto the leaves and also into his eyes, to his annoyance.

“Whispy, SSP, and DL,” the man began to recite to himself as if by memory, “the three amigos that never turned down even the toughest of jobs.” He laughed. “All of it is gone, Whispy! All you once knew was gone, and companionship is ruined. What of it now?” He spoke to himself as if performing a monologue in a play, “I hear that they fight here at this very moment. That scumbag Tiko and his men, and… the…”

Whispy paused suddenly, and squinted his eyes. He kept his quiver hoisted securely over his shoulder, arrows resting neatly inside, and he felt his back to make sure they were all still accounted for. He peered around the trunk of another tree, hoping to locate what he ardently desired to find—and licked his lips at the very sight of it, the true entertainment of war! The CARA liberation was easy to spot; Tiko’s minions dressed in identical uniforms to easily identify between themselves. The dictator Tiko never favored individuality, as was known throughout the land.

“All lined up like… monotonous idiot pawns…”

His mind locked eyes with the task at hand Whispy assigned for himself; he saw the flash of white and the excitement immediately welled up inside of him. Her hazelnut-colored hair flowed closely behind her, as if it were a veil to keep her emotions hidden from those who found her back exposed. The foreign man licked his lips in exultance and readied his bow; as long as her back remained unprotected, it mattered not, for her hair could not salvage the CARA member’s soul from the fate that soon awaited it. The moment was nigh and Whispy waited patiently for the very minute the gales calmed and thus were incapable of deterring his arrow’s path from its inevitable target.

“They took DL from your side, didn’t they?” He spoke to himself again with a maniacal chuckle, “That bastard is where he belongs now, away from you. I’ll save you from him… with no hard feelings, m’dearest.”

The battle raged on for some ten more harrowing minutes before the graceful motion was prepared; bow and arrow were raised and the insatiable elation could not be contained. The wind sang and the clouds above raged on. Whispy closed his eyes and breathed in the dry, cracked air of the winter’s evening.

“Too bad he betrayed you, Levity…”

He opened his eyes, and waited a moment; not in hesitation, but in pity—

“Adiós.”

—And the graceful, swift motion was completed.

The archer spent one last instant of time watching the projectile successfully strike its mark, and he grinned. He turned about and began to amble away, triumphantly listening to the panicked screams of medics before he vanished into the coming night without looking back. He never looked back.

--

Levity felt only the excruciating, terrifying pain that froze her dead in her tracks. Her mind registered naught but a single female screech, shrieking her name. She could not discern her voice from the other mindless, soulless cries of war and attempted to rip her own voice out into the sky—albeit heard nothing. Blood dripped to the already-bloodstained earth below; her breath failed her and gravity overtook the poor girl’s feet. She could not recall falling on her side and the obscure voices surrounding her, blubbering nonsense she could no longer understand.

Her consciousness broke through once: she heard a question from the tone, despite the mashed-up words, “evity… e.. ow.. ?’ And a single flash engulfed her. She surmised this was it, that already she headed into the light in death, yet no; allowed a few more minutes, a stint of time. She clawed her hands at her wound in desperate reflex and then sprawled them into the sky, mindless pain now controlling her every move.

The light came again, and again.

She inhaled once and, finally, cried out his name.

--

“A single arrow, through the back and protruding through her chest.”

A wisp of a shadow stood before a team of other shadows in the evening. The first shadow buried his face into his hands and refused to confront his comrades; he had failed them. Then one, a female, laid a single hand onto his shoulder and shook her head.

“Cascore… I wasn’t quick enough—“

“No, you’re not even the damn priest here!” Cascore snapped back, then quickly turned away again in recoiled remorse. “… She wasn’t long in the first place. We got her stable for a little while, but she still isn’t long. Someone got her good.”

The third shadow suddenly chimed in, a bubble of rage coating the atmosphere around him. “What do you mean, someone got her good?!” His voice was a panicked squeak of denial, “You f-fucking idiot, I can’t believe you’d just give up on her like that! You didn’t even try!”

“Wizzy, you can’t accuse me of not trying.”

“Then what are you going to do…”

The shadow’s sentence was cut short and a fourth moved into the thicket as if in a drunken stupor; hopeless concern took the form of clumsiness, and the shorter woman stood before them, distraught and rather vexed.

“Her voice sounds ter’ibly like a breathless shell of fear. Ther’s nothing else.” She brushed her robes clean of snow and stood even above the others despite her size; her status was apparent at this point, and even the blizzard seemed to halt something of its blustering in her presence. She continued her speaking with a dull, heavy sigh, “But I know what she wants. She’s r’questing to see him.”

Him.

Wizzy was the first to fly into a frenzy. “Th—that bastard, no! After Bitto?! Never! I will not allow this! As her friend, I can’t…” Cascore interrupted him once more, shoving him slightly to the side. He was irked albeit cooperative, and said no more, for the priest continued his point anyhow.

“Ake, I don’t know if we should do this,” he went on, “I… only fear what he’ll do on the outside. I know it may be a groundless fear, maybe at this point, but I’m worried at what he might do. You can never tell with that man.”

Ake sighed again, this time sounding exasperated. “She’s not alive for much more time.”

“Ake, I’m just unsure…”

Suddenly the second shadow, after staying silent and into the shroud of anonymity for the majority of the conversation, intervened into the middle of the three with huffy impatience. Her hair flowed long and red and her dark eyes penetrated the moment as well as the souls of those who lingered near her.

“You know what I think?”

She paused and stared.

“I think this is ridiculous,” she began, “that even when I come to argue my point she lies there, alone, in the bitterness of the cold without the one she opened up to more than anyone else here could simply because we’re afraid for our own lives. What is he going to do?” She emphasized so much on ‘do’ that it rang sharply throughout the field. “Get him here. Get him escorted here. Don’t just wait there like slow mongrels as I yell at you, go! She doesn’t want to die alone! Don’t make her… !” She choked up and instantly Ake hurried over back into the darkness. Cascore and Wizzy floated like apparitions hanging over the haggard, disheveled Geecy as she silently wept there throughout the snowstorm; eventually they trailed after the great Ake, leaving Geecy to mourn in solitude.

--

Three silhouettes arrived, tallest one in between; he held a faster gait than the guards on each side, causing them to force the speed of their own pace. They each kept one of the man’s arms so as to restrain him, though he did nothing to struggle in the first place. He simply retained his self-conflicted gaze, though held his head up in a façade of self-confidence. The blizzard raged on, ravaging the fields with its roaring, icy winds as the Illusionist of the land of CARA was led to the back of camp in the thickets, the ground which served as Levity’s makeshift deathbed. His dark eyes meticulously scanned the place and allowed his dissipating sense of reality to cope, at least.

Everything was silent. The wind calmed slightly and the three now stood over Levity and the exhausted Ake, who looked up.

“She’s got maybe anothe’ minute. My treatment won’t work anymor’.”

DL, the Illusionist, swept his jet-black hair out of his eyes with one hand. With an enigmatic and hostile haste, he stooped down to Levity’s frail, broken dying frame and closed his eyes.

“Levity.” His menacing, hollow whisper was suddenly absent, and his voice took on a much gentler tone. “Look at me. Look at me if you can hear me.”

She struggled desperately to adjust her head so as to see his face. Her dark-green eyes, glazed over in pain, searched wildly and finally, finally, she caught a glimpse of him; though her strength was drained to prevent her from speaking, she reacted immediately to his voice. DL sighed; in relief or in selfish pity, it was uncertain.

“Gone for one minute, and look at you.” He chuckled wearily and somberly, “Come here. Come here, and I’ll wipe that terrible fear right out of your eyes.” Suddenly, he took her up tenderly in his fervid embrace; she gasped weakly and Ake started, but stopped herself. The pain would be over soon, regardless of what Levity felt.

DL watched intently Levity’s body jerk and shake in hopeless and erratic breaths before he continued. “It isn’t so bad. You don’t have to die here, Levity. Death is only the beginning of another life. A pure life, where your allies will never again turn against you…” He closed his eyes again and breathed in; he never once remotely loosened his hold on Levity, and even tightened slightly when she went through a particularly haphazard breath. Her tense muscles began to loosen, and her eyelids could no longer support themselves. “Calm yourself. If you head for life in eternal fear, you will never truly live again. Give it all up now. Relax with me. Can you do it?”

Levity’s eyes finally and forever shut.

“I never left you. Despite your suspicions,”

Her breathing ceased.

“I never once planned on it.”

Ake placed a hand to her heart, and DL clutched the girl’s body tightly, a solemn wind permeating the entirety of his soul. In an instant he cast a volatile glance to the ground a distance away from his side, and spotted it then. Ake realized immediately.

“Yes… r’moved it by magic,” she stammered hesitantly, “figur’d I’d make it mor’… comfortable for her.”

Slowly, DL laid Levity’s corpse to the soft ground and stood. In a single second he bent and scooped up the bloodied, broken arrow shaft that rested there; the cruel, twisted fate that soared on swift wings and brought Levity to her end! He shook there in anger, perturbed that he never experienced this particular emotion since Tiko’s insanity and his deranged experiments that tormented whole cities. An entire city, covered in poison; the snow, tainted black, tainted red; leaders thrown into blatant corruption, and innocent peasants endlessly engulfed and drowned into the twisted games of war.

He knew it was a game most twisted, for there was a green feather he recognized as belonging to only one man he had once known, in which the name of whom escaped in a sinister breath of an ardent desire for vengeance, “Whispy.” And Ake stayed there, oblivious to the decision the ashy clouds soon spelled in the destined sky.

[Freohr Datia]

D= I'll have to read this some other day instead of today. Aw.