Topic: Lay your head down troubled one.

CinderElf

Date: 2008-08-24 21:43 EST
The snow fell, silently soft and cold. It has been for days and days has it been since Cinder had returned and yet he would not wake up. Lying beside the angel he defeated previously, ironic too his severed arm is right next to him. Cinder didn?t know; perhaps when he woke he wouldn?t care. The snow however would continue to fall?if one cared or not.


?Rvheressa, what are you doing you idiot?!

A young girl came over to the little boy sitting at the end of an abandoned dock. The little boy turned to her and smiled setting his fishing pole. He grinned nodding looking to his basket, then back to her. ?Hi sister?!

?Augh, really. Why do you insist on using that fishing pole, you?re not a fox?. She looked around for her brother?s friend Tellif who happened to be a fox. Smiling she sat beside him.

?I saw the goddess in the water she was smiling at me! Huh, oh umm..But the pole it?s sorta kinda fun?. He looked at his fishing pole with a smile. ?Besides it was a gift, I should make use of it right??

The young boy smiled and stood showing how many he had caught, he lifted the wicker basket revealing two Indigo Bass and a blowfish.
She sighed softly leaning back staring at the sky, her brother returned to fishing.

?Are you daydreaming again?? She knocked on his head playfully.

?The goddess visits you everyday it seems, I hope you really are daydreaming. It?s not good to be visited by god everyday those kind of people, oh nothing".

She chuckled looking at his lost expression.

?What?s with kind of, sort of fun anyways? That doesn?t even make sense, did Tellif tell you that? Those fox children are a bit strange. Oh never mind you don?t listen to me anyways. So are you done yet? I?m going to have dinner soon, come back to the cottage with your big sister?.

She stood and looked at the horizon, a few Dolshie were making rounds on the horizon and a Morttio vessel was coming back into port. The gulls too were following the fishing vessel in hoping to go over the deck once the crew had gone. In those days Plygrethia was quiet, the war had ended and the economy was starting to return. The Ferishan worked hard and the goddess had thanked them. They would live happy lives from now on.
Magic was balanced and art and culture was reinventing itself.

?Sessuna?? The boy seemed sad, looking at his line in the water.

She kneeled beside him and smiled.

?Oh, is it that again? I told you, I?m never going away, I?ll always protect you little brother. Nobody is going to harm you or me. Come on; let?s go home, I?ll clean your fish for you and I?ll make some cake okay, with oranges?.

?Okay?. He smiled; he loved her cake it reminded him of their mother?s, he almost would forget his parents hadn?t been for Sessuna. He still thought that she would go away even if she said she wasn?t.

He stood picking up his fish basket and his pole; it was too heavy to carry it so the young boy started to drag it.
Sessuna giggled at him and reached for the basket lifting it up with ease. Rvheressa frowned; he had to have his sister carry his own fish for him. He picked up the fishing pole and emptied the jar of bait back into the water.

?Are you sure you are alright?? She pushed the dock gate opened and waited for him pass, he nodded with a smile. He passed through and gave a bow to the old man who always sat at the bench near the lamppost. The old man grinned making a few wrinkles more prominent; he looked to Sessuna and smiled.

?Have a good evening Sessuna. Don?t worry about the boy; he?ll be strong like you one day. I?m sure your folks would be proud of you?.

?I know, and thank you. Have a goodnight Mister Choone?. She hurried up to her brother which wasn?t hard as he was following a stone he kicked when he walked back home. He stopped as she walked beside him.

?Is Choone honey-eying you Sister??

?What? No no, he?s an old man; old men are always sweet to pretty young girls?.

?Huh, I didn?t know that?.

She gave him a friendly knock on the head. ?Why would you, besides you?re too young to be thinking about that sorta thing".

?Hmmm?. He was disappointed but nodded.

They laughed and continued on their way home. Kanio was a very quiet part of Plygrethia far from the Royal City. Their home town Tayll was not far often times they would walk by their old home, it changed much since it switched hands. Kanio was a simple fishing town. Most everyone knew something of the ocean or of fish. Every year they held a sea harvest festival everyone would flock to Shuma, Hassidor or Kanio. Even the king would travel and feast with his people. The evening sky made this a an even more beautiful home, the salt air would brush in through the kitchen and blow the aroma of whatever was cooking.

They sighed at the cottage and Sessuna continued inside to check on the food. Rvheressa stood at the slate path and checked the mailbox yet it was empty.

?I already got the mail?.

He closed it quietly; its rusty hinges made a noise as he closed it. He smiled at their home. It was a simple cottage made of stones and hardy wood. A half drawn fence covered with flowers, a large tree broke up from the back yard. They had a small garden of cucumbers, beans and grapes, all hung on their own trellis.

The war left many people homeless and the only thing of value was land. They sold their farm and lived in an apartment for three years as Sessuna worked to save up for a little home. Rvheressa even helped out every weekend at the farm they had called home for so long. Their luck happened when they received a duty payment from the king. Everyone who had survived or the they left behind from the war was given a payment. With what they had they bought this place.

A new home and a new beginning, in those days that cottage was happy and full of light.

The snow paused and now the land was terribly quiet, Cinder lay still in the frost. He felt safe he felt alone but safe. He didn?t know anything but his dreams.

?We have been together for two years, two beautiful years. Do you remember when we met, do you remember when I first said I love you? . I love you I do, and I know this is common for your people, not for mine, yet we all feel love don?t we??

?Cinder??

The beautiful human woman was dressed in an orange coloured top and floral print skirt with many different yellows and straw sandals, brilliant blue shelled earrings hung in her hair. Her eyes were the most beautiful of green fields and hair like fresh earth in rusty notes. She smelled so beautiful like a summers night when the flowers are caught on a breeze.

This distracted Cinder.

He smiled turning red looking down on the stone top of the table of the little bistro. He pulled a tiny white box from his pocket and set it on the table.

?Kristae, I love you. I want not to think of a life without you now. Would you do me a countless number of joys by saying yes??

She smiled brightly tears brushed her cheeks she pursed her lips not finding words. She sobbed out of joy, she stood and he stood. He took her in an embrace and softly paused to her ear, delicately he whispered.

?Will you marry me??

She nodded happily and shouted loudly. ?Yes?!

A few other patrons turned and laughed with smiles clapping.

?Yes! Yes! I?ll marry you Cinder?.

He wiped a few tears from his own and smiled slipping the ring on her finger. She was red with smile and he had never known a happier moment in his life. He sat back down carried by emotion, a smiled, she smiled.

"I don't have a ring for you Cinder".

"It's okay Kristae, you are all I want".

She smiled and undid her shell earrings and opened his hand and nodded.

"A token of my love as this ring is a token of yours then".

He nodded and took out his inexpsensive earrings of the middle holes and clapsed her's on. She smiled and kissed him from across the table.

Under the canopy of the little bistro, under the red orange sky, they held eacthoter?s hands and stared into eachother?s eyes. The green sea fields and amber skies.


Kalveas and Human, love.

The land was terribly quiet, Cinder lay still in the frost. He felt safe he felt alone but safe. He didn?t know anything but his dreams.

CinderElf

Date: 2008-08-31 01:44 EST
The desolate snow covered land was glowing in the reflection of the moon, its light cascaded across the white silken of snow. For now all was still saving for the slow pace of falling snow and a gentle ease of a burdened woman. A figure so careful not to expel all of its energy, the cold was unbearable. She clutched the sides of a fur cloak and nested her head within it's thick hood made of a bears head, and in the other she held fast a slowly fading light. She reached the edge of a great ice shelf and shivered from the howling winds. Its relentless attacks would have been harmless had she been not injured or he. Cinder stared at his death that night, he felt wasted and used by time, he was but only a puppet he thought for surely had he been if favour of at least one god he may have made it.

?Urorrot?.



~Earlier that day~



?Cinder, what is it??

?It?s a Polar Cat, I found her starved and cold, i can only assume she was abandoned by its mother; I figured you could use the company while I am out at sea fishing for so long. I know we have tried, perhaps it?s my fault for being a Kalveas I cannot have children with a human?. He searched her eyes for forgiveness and rubbed the small black kitten, it was so soft and weak. He smiled softly as it tried to suckle his finger.


?You don?t know that perhaps it?s me, I have had health issues all my life, and you knew that. Blame yourself everytime, we are happy aren't we? Perhaps we were meant to have this kitten as our child; besides I think she was meant to be your father she looks like you when you are sleepy?.

She giggled and kissed him. Cinder smiled and took a sip from his spiced wine and nodded looking at his gift.

"A fox truly made this, it is a wonderful pole". It was a fishing pole similar to the one he had in his youth. Kristae sat petting the kitten as she watched Cinder pretend to cast in the living room, he?d reel it in, then cast it out once again.

?I love you Cinder, she is our adorable daughter. Would you name her??

He smiled setting the fishing pole down and wrapped his arms around his wife and nodded kissing her and then the kitten. ?Delliah?.

?Delliah?is that??

?Yes, Ferish for Love, you are my Delliah and so is she now?.

It was their third Christmas and the first holiday spent in their new home on the Mirue Province. It was an old vineyard that they had accuired with the help of Kristae?s parents. A lazy tree stood in the corner, Kristea sewed the ornaments herself, Delliah had curled herself up under the tree. Cinder sat asleep at his favourite spot, the old green chair facing the window outside to the bird feeder. A few chickadees ate at times staring back inside at Kristae who sat on the arm of the chair sipping her cocoa watching them and her beloved, she felt so at peace in this old home with her husband and a new member of their family.

The sun penetrated through grey emotionless sky, it was summer yet winter thrived here and the snow would surely fall when sun set. For now the warmth gave hope to Cinder as he finally awoke to the light shining upon him. He yawned brushing off the thick dressing of snow and clumps which stuck in his together in his long hair.

He stared for several moments at the arm which was severed and retrieved it from the ground beside the angle corpse. He remembered the children in the other world; he also realized there were things he had to do here and there. Like that angel which was frozen in the snow he too was frozen in time.

He sighed, and picked up his still left arm and wrapped it safely under his right. As he walked he felt continuous pain shooting from his right side and across his chest, his head throbbed with pain, he walked on despite this and after several minutes later he fell, his side had been hurting all this time and not it had become infected previously in Larooma he would be better off. The cold starved his fever yet drained him of all his strength, for such ha mighty wizard was befallen to foreign insects and infection. Now the cold who was his ally was his foe.
He searched for a current of magic and used it to his best ability; for nothing was strong here he only produced a giant ball of fire and his fur cloak which kept him warm. He decided to turn into the human thinking for sure it would provide him some better comfort and security.

?I am truly uncertain, nothing is written for me of this journey?.

She moved trying her best to get to the ice shelf and board the Naglfar, Cinder knew it was awaiting him ,it was his to use for only a short time and he had used a great deal of that time up.


Jennifer slid to her back on the hard ice and stared at the sky as it poured white fragments from it?s terrible gray void, she stared out of breath looking at them all as they hit her lashes. The wound on the head glistened like the ice and she became weary and weak. Cinder could not stay focused. Perhaps this was not written at all. He had finally made it yet could not go any further, her pain, his pain was too much, and Cinder would give up on himself. The magic light vanished and he returned to his true self, breathing slowly. He crawled onward and reached the end of the shelf. He stared hard through the thick snow and down to the Naglfar; its crew of wraiths still remained awaiting his return. He had forgotten all about them and wondered why he had not cast them aside a while ago, to remain connected magically in two worlds, he was impressed with himself.

He fainted and fell from the edge; the devilish creatures took flight scaling the dangerous wall with ease and encircled their master. They carried him downward and onto the ship of death and prophesy. He banished a few to regain some control of his mind and he sat against the gunwale cannons, he relit the fire and sat in silence.

The vessel made way from this place and Cinder fell asleep once more. Returning to his dreams once more.

The wraiths set him below deck into the private room. The Naglfar groaned as it forced itself free from the ice. The ship was well off and their own, the wraiths took course they didn?t have a direction yet felt they would arrive where the master had intended.

"Vh?rtto".

CinderElf

Date: 2008-08-31 04:22 EST
He rubbed his eyes for they were filled with smoke it took time to adjust to his senses, he felt so dizzy.

?You are just a speckle on a robin?s egg?.

?I know, but I can?t remember anything else?.

?Are you certain??

He paused wiping his eyes from the sting.

?You are just a speckle on a robin?s egg?.

?I know, but I can?t remember anything else?.

?Are you certain??


He doubted himself and frowned.

?Yes, I had my mistakes, I felt so vunerable. It wasn't the way it was supposed to be.?

?Did you save your world or was it your illusion. I cannot remember. You tell me this.?

Cinder sighed looking at his hands, he had both, his
left arm was intact....he felt relived but scared for being here.

?I?m alone, I have finally fallen. Yes it was an Illusion."

?Yes you were alone, now not so much, of a fall the ones to fall you are here, you see. You belong here with me in dreams and in nigthmares.?

The strange woman veiled from a dark red curtain sat in a room filled with candles and incense burning. She lifted a pot with a jar and poured the jar into wide short cups made of cedar. She handed one to him and took the other. He couldn?t make her out through the curtain yet he could smell the incense and tasted the drink.

?I?ve never met you, who are you??

"Are you sure you have no clue as to who I am"?

She vanished and left him alone in the darkness.

?Who are you??

CinderElf

Date: 2008-08-31 22:47 EST
?Are we thinking of the past again??

Cinder sighed looking to the man then smirked and finished his drink. he was refilled another stout as the man stared freindly at him.

This bar was quiet and dim, the thick smell of cigarettes, pipes and liquor. A destroyer of dreams for some, others a muse. It wasn?t Cinder?s favourite bar, it was lonely and quiet, but he had much history here. Here on the edge of the world a bar in Midgar. It was a quiet life of old salts, coal miners, factory workers, builders, the luckless the lost souls of people who once mattered could redeem their sense of pride by being around others who too, just wished for a thanks once in their life. They deserved better but the world they helped shape turned their back on them, politics has a way of doing that.

Cinder smiled.
?Just a little bit...... Mostly of her?.

The man looked away and polished a glass, and then set it on the table and then another.

?Just a little bit? I?m thinking of what it used to be like in here ages ago when my grandfather ran this place. I guess you couldn?t do me a favour??


?Well, go an pour and we will see friend?. Cinder was rosy in the face and loosely picked the brandy glass up and swirled it softly the reddish brown liquor smiled back to him.

?Cheers?.

?Salute?.

He bit back and tossed the drink down setting it on the table and watched Cinder. He closed his eyes and brought it to his nose then tossed it down. He scratched his throat with that drink, he gasped as he opened is mouth setting the glass down on the table.

?Well??

?Well what??

?Are ya are aren?t ya??

?Give me a minute you, let that drink conspire, let it soak a while inside and inspire?.

?Alright, alright. I leave you to it?.


?I?ve got one, Holly?.

"Holly? Never heard of it".

"I wrote it a long time ago". Cinder looks into the empty glass alittle bit of brandy still ingered on, it always does.

"I'd love to hear it".

"Yea, it has been such a while that I sung it, let me know if you like it".

Cinder sat quietly, the bartender watched him for a moment before going back to work. He drank a bit more of the stout and then sat up on the bar top.

?Oh my sails are proud just like the summer wind. My heart is bracing through the fields of clover, Mountain glories and Wildflowers for me lover. My Heart is proud just like the summer wind.

For there don?t you see your love be gone pick up the fiddle and a bottle rum, sail with me and sing of the seas there be no finer lady who will sure to please. Musha mush a diddy I say no, to my sweetheart Is where I?ll go.

As it beats through the valley and the old streets of Holly Cove to once my sweetheart and to the ocean which forever I shall rove.Forever should I ponder should I wonder ever more, to return to my sweetheart and the bright green Holly shore.

Was so pretty and fair when I saw her, my heart it was so proud I asked her father. May I take your daughter for to be my wife, to love and cherish for the all of my life. He was thinking be too bold for this station already been a lad that she was taken. He kicked me out the door and fell down the stairs to the floor, that?s twas the day I fled from Holly green shore.

For there don?t you see your love be gone pick up the fiddle and a bottle rum, sail with me and sing of the seas there be no finer lady who will sure to please. Musha mush a diddy I say no, to my sweetheart Is where I?ll go. Theres many lands in all the world and sure enough I?ll find my girl.

For there don?t you see my love be there across this ocean so neat and fair. For now I?ll pick up the fiddle and the bottle of rum, sail with ye from the moon to the sun. Sing of my true love while im out at sea no finer lady who will sure to please. Mush a mush a diddy I say no, to my sweetheart Is where I?ll go. Theres many lands in all the world and sure enough I?ll find my girl.?

The bartender and few folks had turned their attention to him and applauded Cinder. He smiled and picked up his stout shouting cheers with the lot of them.

Cinder quietly dreamt, it had been days and yet he never woke. The wraiths were troubled for the ship had stopped sailing there was a wind but perhaps it didn?t matter to a ship that was not part of this world. They assumed Cinder would wake up but even then they were unsure when. They were far from the snowy lands yet far from any land or anything.

?whattt issss master doing?? A wraith asked another

?Heessleepps ourrr job done yesssss??

?Unsureehe not wakeuppp?.

CinderElf

Date: 2008-09-04 13:06 EST
Our systems, perhaps, are nothing more than an unconscious apology for our faults, a gigantic scaffolding whose object is to hide from us our favorite sin. - Henri Amiel



The Naglfar sat still in the green waters not moving from its spot in the middle of the ocean. The wraiths made their boring walk about the deck as if they had a purpose to be summoned still. Cinder silently slept, his wraiths had wondered why it was that he remained in slumber, and thought perhaps it was a curse.

?Rvheressa, come to us, come to Lemuria?.we have been awaiting you?.

Cinder got off the bed in the small room and checked his surroundings. A few empty crates and his gear in the corner, his severed arm wrapped up in a shirt. Nothing he thought was out of the ordinary. He swore someone had called his name.

?What is that I sense, it is familiar?.

?Rvheressa, come?.

A ghastly image appeared before him, it was hardly visible but as he adjusted his vision he could make out a man. This man was wearing a crown of gold and gems which decorated the mantle. His garb was tattered and betrayed by time. His face looked human enough yet something more dead. The man?s eyes were a solid black, and he had no eyelids. As cinder moved the figure watched him for a moment and cleared his throat. He sounded as if he had water in his lungs.

?Come where, Lemuria? I cannot find it, it would take me a lifetime to find such a place, I don?t have much time left anyways?.

"More time than most".

"What's that"?

?You will come, you will. Rvheressa, we have been waiting for you yet you came too late. You will come on time the you visit the children yes, yes you will. You wish to reunite yourself with your lost path. You must revive Lemurian technology, you have they key, you will come on time next you arrive?.

The figure came closer to him and laid his hands on him. It grinned at Cinder staring into his amber eyes. Cinder felt as if he was being pulled inside the eyes of the man.

?What are you doing, stand back?. Cinder laid his one hand on the man?s face and expelled the figure.

He heard a thunder crack outside and the wraiths called for their master. He looked around the room in the darkness, he couldn?t sense him anymore. He opened the door slowly and turned. Rubbing his eyes he thought he saw Shanpava sitting on the bed.

?What is this a dream??

He ran up deck and headed to the bow of the ship, his wraiths had gathered there pointing in the water.

?Masterrr, looks in the sea?.
Cinder leaned over staring into the water, and saw the man?s face formed into the water, her turned up a wicked storm churning the sea as he spoke.

?Come to Lemuria, come we have awaited you. Bring yourself quickly and revive us?.
The storm ended quickly and the day continued on as normal, Cinder retreated back below deck not saying a word to his crew of wraiths, the devilish creatures from the void roamed the deck having nothing else to do.

?Why does he wish to remain hereeee in this oceann iss he waiting for something??

?What was that thing in the waters??

? I do not know?.

?I do not know?.

?I do not know?.

They hid behind the sails as daylight shone; Cinder sat in the dark cool room and wondered what that was all about. He mulled it over many times in his mind, he simply did not know.

?Shanpava, are you alright??

One wraith checked up on Cinder since it was his turn, he was silently sleeping. He paused glaring at the corner of the bed by his master?s head he then shrugged. Bored he left the room, at first he thought he saw a man in the room but had not sensed a living soul other than Cinder?s fractured one. He joined the rest on the decks that were hiding in the sails from the sun above.