Transitions: The South Road (Open)

[BattleMage]

At some point in a mans life he decides he wants to be successful. He get tired of binge drinking and getting in fights. That is why Derrick Magnum, the Traveling Mage, found himself on the South Road leaving Concordia. He knew he was destined to one day become something greater than a small town trouble maker. After all he was alone in the world, he couldn’t recall anything of his past. Truthfully he didn’t mind, loved ones only dragged people down. He didn’t need anyone.

Concordia was particularly cold on this fall night. It made the hairs on Derricks neck stand upright. Paranoia was beginning to set in for the young handsome mage. The trees even seemed to be watching him as he passed further down the south road to an unknown destination. Derrick didn’t mind where he ended up, just as long as he had some adventures on the way.

He wondered what the trees were saying in their ancient tongues. Were they talking about his sloppy unbuttoned tunic? Or some growing dangers that awaited him ahead in the clouded path ahead. Derrick could usually be defined as a brave man, but that was more of liquid courage, tonight he was sober and the chilly night was beginning to make his mind wonder.

The dense greenery that could be see in the daylight was now ebony under the canopy above. Ahead of him Derrick could see a boulder beside the winding South Road. With haste he ran to the boulder and took a seat. He was tired from the long day of walking from Underwood. He knew no one would miss him in that town, save a few friends. That was all he really had, a few good drinking buddies.

Derrick catching his breath looked at the hardly distinguishable landscape around him.

“Trees, that’s all this damned place has is trees.” Derrick hysterically exclaimed to an unseen person. The silence and darkness of the forest was beginning to play trick on his mind.

In his fit, Derrick begin to doze off and eventually fell asleep. For hours he slept under the canopy of trees hiding the moons dim light. Around him unseen creatures crawled through the lush forest. If Derrick could really see what creatures lurked in the depths of Concordia, he could at least come to the realization that he had good reason to be scared.

[Sumnner]

He yawned wide, his fist nearly being swallowed whole by his gaping maw, and shook his head a few times to clear his dreary vision. He blinking lazily at the hard packed earth beneath his slowly shambling feet, blinked and slowly lifted his gaze forward. The road seemed to stretch endlessly into the distance, disappearing over a misty blue-white horizon. He smacked his lips together slowly, loudly and yawned a second time. Shaking his head a second time, a bit more violently this time, he once again returned his gaze to the ground and continued shuffling forward.

After a while the sun set, the red-orange orb snaking long slender veins of yellow sunlight into the sky, turning clouds purple, orange and a hundred different hues of the two. He barely noticed, the ground disappearing beneath his sore feet occupying almost all of his attention. It was because of this, that after another series of long miles that he did not remember walking, that he found himself in the thick of a great forest. Dark and lush, eerie as it was beautiful. He blinked, to tired to show the surprise he felt, and cast his gaze around him lazily. He was surrounded.

After a few long moments of staring he shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, readjusted his violin case and turned to continue on his way. That was when he saw the boulder ahead of him, glowing a soft gray in the cool moonlight. A shadow was cast across the top of the boulder, long and of the same height as a man, but the details of the shadow were quickly lost on him. He was more interested in the small dip it made in the ground beside the road. It was suddenly looking very comfortable to a road weary soul such as himself.

Shambling as quickly as his sore feet could carry him, he fell heavily into the small fold and breathed a long sigh of relief. Before he knew it, not that he would have prevented it, he was breathing the deep long breaths of sleep.

[BattleMage]

Sorry for the delay, I've been in the hospital and I have a broken jaw that is wired shut so we now have plenty of time to RP. Haha.

Much like the bodies of men the moon needed rest. It crept slowly down in the west, making way for the beaming sun of the east. With the sun came the noise and liveliness the night lacked completely. It also disrupted what harmony Concordia had to offer. Birds and beasts now ran amuck being rowdy as they came and went. It wasn’t a big beast or some foreign creature that woke Derrick on that beautiful Concordia morning, no it was but a small bird that chirped almost directly above his head, harbored by the great oaks above.

Chirp. Chirp.

Derrick arose his eyes were thirsty and his voice was hoarse. “Blasted bird! Why do you mock me find another tree to take refuge in, god forbid there is but a million of them!”

Chirp. Chirp.

Derrick had yet to direct his attention to the strange man who hit the hay almost directly underneath him.

Chirp. Chirp.

“Damned bird, if it takes me the whole day I will climb these trees and tear your wings from your breasts!...”

Derrick began to jump from the rock that he made his cradle in until he had to divert his fall in mid air.

“What in the name of...?!”

He fell undisturbed to the ground from his rock. He almost hit the slumbering stranger that was under him, but missed only by inches. Derrick, now dazed, sat upright staring at the unknown man who rested under the rock.

“Hey buddy...” Derrick kicked the leg of the stranger trying to wake him up.

[Sumnner]

For a wonder, he didn't dream. Perhaps it had something to due with his level of exhaustion, perhaps it was the place he slept, or perhaps he just didn't remember. Or maybe he had finally learned how to forget on cue. The thought was fleeting and vanished before he could properly analyze it however, and it helped little that he was jarred from sleep by a gentle tapping on his leg.

He started, jumping slightly as the tap roused him from sleep to wakefulness with an abruptness he hadn't experienced in what seemed a life time. A voice was speaking to him but his mind, still fuzzed with sleep, didn't catch the words. Instead he was preoccupied with the why he had been awakened so rudely, not necessarily the thought of by whom. He blinked slowly at the gray surface of the great stone before him, taking a long moment to realize that the thing that had awakened him was behind him, and he twisted his head accordingly.

His vision was still blurred significantly when the thing, a person, came into view, and he couldn't make out any details beside that they were wearing black and had black hair that framed a lightly tanned complexion. He blinked slowly, trying to clear his vision and groaned as he pushed himself up onto his elbows.

"Wha..." he mumbled sleepily. Inhaling deeply through his nose and swallowing back what seemed a flood of pasty saliva, he cleared his throat and tried again. "What is it?" It was at this point his vision cleared enough to make out the details of the person, sitting as it turned out, before him.

His thoughts froze solid, frosting with an abruptness similar to a freak blizzard during a deep freeze, and the words he had lingering on the tip of his tongue were swallowed with an audible gulp.

It was plainly obvious to him that the person sitting before him was not human, and he couldn't for the life of him, nail down the suddenly overwhelming feeling of fear. Just where exactly had he woken up...

...For the second time.

[BattleMage]

The sorrows that now painted the expressionless face of Derrick were unforgettable for the Elf mage. He had spent the last months since his departure from Underwood scrambling about the woods his heart and soul at constant turmoil. He could not forget the paths he had crossed thus far and the obstacles he had overcome to make it where he was. Yet still he seemed so far from his goal.

The fear that stretched across the uneasy face of the man in front of him made Derrick back up. He didn’t think he looked that alarming now a days. At one point in his life he could have been called handsome, but now he wore a greasy beard and long tangled locks. He was unkept for an elf or for anything in that case. It didn’t bother him though. He had courted his fair share of dames and exchanged stories with the drunks of many bars. He now kept one goal in his head, that of adventure. He retired liquor for Astra, his staff. His azure eyes shifted sizing the fretful man the stood in front of him. He seemed to be out of place in the middle of the forest and Derrick being the Wandering Mage and all would no doubt offer him help.

“Hey pal I didn’t mean to alarm you. You sort of startled me to be honest.” Derrick let loose a grin exposing the white teeth from under his dry lips. “I am Derrick Magnum, traveling mage and luckily today I will playing the role of guide because you seem lost.” Derrick too was lost, but he would act as if he knew his way. At least he could maybe calm the man down hopefully.