Setting a New Path

[Eowyn]

Rad'Belin loved his daughter dearly, and was proud as his eyes became glossed and he pressed his lips delicately on the top of her forehead. "Be safe on your travels," he said calmly, his wise voice deep and aged, "Let the Mother Goddess of the Moon guide you, for she will light the way."

The young elvin woman smiled at her wise father as he caressed her cheek before her attention fell to her brother Birein, who didn't look pleased that she was leaving but respected that she follow her heart. His dark hand nudged her in the shoulder, a half of an attempt of a smile crossing his purple lips. "I'll miss you sister, you'll come back won't you?"

Eowyn giggled, shaking her head passively as her smile grew so large her polished white teeth nearly glowed in the moonlight. Giving him a light punch in his well built peck, assured him that everything was going to be fine. "Don't worry about me, brother. I will one day return to my tribe. Fate will bring us together again, for we are all one."

Birein was a warrior of the tribe, a leader under the wing and teachings of his father he shared with Eowyn, Rad'Baelin. The young dark elf was well built and thick for his race, his ears peirced with finely crafted warthog horn in each ear, tribal tattoos along his body and arms. He was cunning, stubborn, but came with great strength, and courage. He would one day become a great leader like the one that had now, the Great Shifter. "Be careful out there, and take my spear... Let it be a gift from me to you."

Eowyn's thin, peaceful fingers lightly pushed the spear down, her eyes falling on her brothers. "I have the Mother to guide and protect me, Birein. When one carries a weapon to fight, they will surely find one." Birein nodded, understanding his sisters words, wishing not to question her choice. Ever since they were young he has gone out of his way for protecting her, which caused some problem with the male locals in the tribe, but was honored to know that they shared a great bond that no one could ever seperate.

"And let the Mother be with the both of you. Blessed be." Bidding farewell, Eowyn slugged her backpack over her shoulders, taking her walking stick from a tree. The woman looked back on the tribe, giving them a long slow wave before turning to her new path to the road of mystery. Many things and experiences were out there, and the young woman wanted to see them all.

"About fucking time..."

The dark elf was so unexpected to hear Sebastian's voice that it made her gasp, sucking in a quick breath of air as she looked up at him leaning against a tree from a tree branch. His fairy wings flapped a few times as he twirled his small little cigar around in his mouth, taking a few nonchalant puffs to make a small cloud in the air. Eowyn glared slightly, more than used to his mischieve and he always found ways to make her heart rattle like a war drum. "Sebastian!" she hissed playfully, "I've told you to quit doing that. You nearly gave me a heart attack..."

"Well, hell Ewoyn." Sebstian spat as he flapped his wings violently flying around theh small elf a few times before he hovered at her side, "I've been waiting for over an hour on your sorry little ass. What happened, did you fall in or what? You better not have had a goodbye party and decided not to invite me! I told you that the last time I got a little too drunk. How was I supposed to know your sister was blind..."

"Frankly, its obvious." Eowyn scowled a bit after being reminded of the occasion of the encounter between her eldest sister and the magicless fairy. "I'm surprised she didn't make you into a dish of fairy dust."

"You have to admit, it was kind of funny."

"No, no it wasn't.."

"Damn, really starting to feel like I'm the only one with a sense of humor around here..."

****

The path was thin and hardly used, likely used by some deer in the region as Ewoyn let it take the lead to the start of their quest while Sebastian rambled as he always did, talking about drinking stories that the elf really didn't take much interest in. All her life she has been quite the 'goodie two shoe' so to say. The forest was deep and isolated from any population within Alerar. "Sebatian, what is the ocean like?"

The pesty fairy arched his black slicked haired head to the side, giving her the look as if she were very unintelligent. "Are you being serious? Oh, god. You're serious... Okay, well you see. Picture your rivers, but expanded it for miles into a large body of water. There are waves at its surface that move back and forth...couldn't tell you why, but they do.. must be the wind...or somethin.."

Ewoyn smiled warmly as she continued to march, looking up at the beautiful moonlight before her. The thought of seeing such a thing, such a large body of water made excitement swell inside of her. Sebastian didn't seem so pleased to see the look and passion in her eyes. "Don't get your hopes up too much, kid. We're still a long ways from it."

"We should set camp." Eowyn announced, to Sebastian's relief, changing the subject, "The sun will rise before long."

The slim fairly let out a long yawn, stretching out his arms as far as he could. "Sounds grand.."

The afternoon passed and it was soon to hit late afternoon when Ewoyn's eyes opened, waking to the natural growling of her stomach, irrtated with hunger. Rubbing her stomach a few times, the woman sighed before she crawled out of the tent to see Sebastian passed out by what was once the fire. He had let it go out throughout the afternoon. The smell of his homade brew was in the air. The little man was passed out from intoxication...

Ewoyn couldn't help but smile, but the growling of her stomach was starting to become like that of a command from a dire bear. Looking over her shoulder a quick moment to make sure Sebastian wasn't about to wake anytime soon, stripped from her clothing before walking out from the path and into the forest. Upon walking her form took that into a panther and jogged deeper into the forest to find her a tastey meal. Hunting as a conavore predator was much more interesting and fun than simpyl searching out one with her bow. It came a little too easy over the 70 years of practice. Sometimes the trees would whisper the deer away to give her a better challange.

A mile or so off camp, she oddly found a deer with an arrow strung into it, though it didn't seem that fresh. The large black cat looked around, taking in a few sniffs before it slowly started to approach the corpse.

'stay back' 'its unsafe' 'beware' the trees creaked as the wind blew.

"Now!" shouted a voice as ropes suddenly launched themselves into the air catching the cat right from under its feet, "Wooo! We got ourselves a big en'!"

Eowyn struggled violently against the ropes but it was useless, the binds were too strong. The dark elf was so scared that she was in a panic, unable to think straight as a group of leather wearing bandits circled around her, one sticking her with a dart. The poison quickly flowed through her veins, making her eyes fall heavier and heavier as she was lowered to the ground. The last thing she could remember was a burly man looking over her, his eyes dark and cold, no emotion written on his face.

"Lester, we didn't catch no c-"

***
Cold, everyhing was so cold. Eowyn's eyes sluggishly opened with strain as her muscles tensed up, making it rather hard to move as she curled into a ball in fear, notcing it was now night and she was caged into a dark box with a window. From outside of her cell she could hear many voices talking and laughing. "Sebastian.." she whispered weakly, shaking to the point her teeth were chattering. She shouldn't have left, she should of never left alone..

"So what are we to do with that elf, boss?" One of the bandits asked, gorging himself with ale that poured so fast it ran down his cheeks.

Lester, the leader of the group just looked over at the locked up caravan. "We keep the little runt," he said cooly, plotting the siutation in his head, "We could make some easy living off of this one. She'd sell for quite the coin, seeing she is a rare breed of elf.."

Another Bandit laughed, nearly falling off of his log in which he sat. "That isn't the only thing you could do with her, Lester, if you know what I mean. That elf would be some fine-"

Immediately a boot met the Bandits ruggid face as Lester kicked him right off his set, recieving groans of pain as a response. The leader's eyes were narrowed as he looked down on him, his lips curled. "We might be Bandits, Leroy, but we're not barbarians. You touch her and I'll slice down your legs and leave you for the wolves...Do we understand one another? Plus these elves usually come in groups, its odd to find one alone."

"Y-yes, boss." The bandit responded, tears in his eyes as he stumbled to his feet while the fellow bandits like him just laughed and made uneeded ruckus. Maybe Ewoyn shouldn't of never left the tribe, her brother was right, the forest outside of their land was plagued with evil, danger. These men only wished terrible things of her, yet she had never done anything to bring them harm... Why? The dark elf only prayed that Sebastian wasn't far off her trail. He may of not been magical, but he seemed to have a good way of always finding her.

[Symbiosis]

It was not that it was hot. It was not even that the sun beat upon his pale flesh as he passed through the trails less traversed. He had accepted that the dirt under his nails would stay there for a few weeks, and that civilization would be very far away. What bothered Baxter Arlington most was that he was hungry.

And he also shared his soul with a demon, but he stopped complaining about that a month ago.

So, hungry, dirty, and tired the pen write of the Salvarian Herald lumbered forwards in a stupefied state, stomach growling like a caged beast as the essence of the demon swirled like a fish within his bloodstream. Symbiote, as the demon preferred to be called, had seemed to get quieter the further from villages and towns they were. Baxter rationalized that it was because there were no embarrassing situations the demon could put the Salvarian native in.

The path they travelled was not well seen, each step shuffling the overgrown plant life aside and sweeping back in his wake. His clothing, what one could call the tethered strands that clung to him like rags, shifted around each step he took, tearing more as random branches would rip at the remains and scratch his flesh leaving stark red lines along his legs.

Most of the trees stretched forever it seemed, patches of sunlight dotting the ground like a checker board. There were points where the full glory of the sun could be felt unhindered by the overhead flora and fauna. He reached shaking fingers towards his bottle of water, popping the canteen cork and lifting it up when Symbiote suddenly swirled forwards to the very edge of his fleshy prison, pushing against Baxter's chest like a child peering through a window. There was a silence in the air that disturbed the man, an unnatural quiet that heralded trouble. His brain began to think of where he would hide, but the demon growled alerting him the danger presented itself now.

He looked as something at last showed itself, leaves rustling as a fairy creature collapsed out onto the path cursing as a tiny piece of vine wrapped to its leg. Symbiote looked to the creature, scoffed in disinterest, and went back to swimming around Baxter's ribs, moving back and forth through each bone deftly.

"Are you..." Baxter said loudly in wonder. "A fairy?" He slowly moved closer, child like curiosity getting the better of him. He had heard stories of such creatures, but never seen one at all. He looked at the slender form, the gentle wings, and smiled as he attempted to touch it and see if fairy dust would sprinkle off.

"Hey!" The fairy shouted lifting a hand and slapping the finger aside. "Lay off the touching, freak!" The creature turned back to his entangled foot and started cursing again as it fought to free itself. Symbiote seemed to pay the little thing no mind, which was a curious thought. Usually the demon would relish in such opportunities to make an ass of itself.

"You're rather quiet," Baxter commented as he leaned back and looked down to his chest. Symbiote merely settled just under Baxter's heart and huffed. "Acting like a petulant child now? I shouldn't really be surprised."

The fairy looked to the human with concern, before going back to his task. At last Symbiote spoke, his voice clear as day as he began to swirl again.

"Fairy's are baseless, useless creatures."

"Beg pardon?" The fairy said looking to Baxter with a glare.

"Oh that was my demon neighbor, Symbiote," Baxter replied as if this was obvious. The fairy looked to him again, *eyebrow raising in confusion, before he furiously started to free himself. "You got yourself into a tricky knot, the more you struggle the more it tightens," Baxter lowered his hands to aid him, but the Fairy lifted his hands up in defense. "Trust me, I mean no harm."

There was a momentary pause before slowly the elf nodded. Baxter looked around and found a small twig. He pushed the long branch into a small hole, and then began to unravel the vine. Slowly he fought the vines away enough so the fairy could free his foot. He flew upwards, hovering just before Baxter.

"Thanks, don't have a way to repay you." Baxter smiled as he felt his stomach rumble. He gently let his fingers tap his flesh as he looked back to the elf and laughed lightly.

"Well, a good deed doesn't always need to be repaid. Think nothing of it."

"Okay!" And the fairy made to leave. Yet Baxter lifted a hand to detain it and with an irritated sigh the Fairy turned to look at him.

"Perhaps you could repay me. I would love to learn all about the fabled magic I read and heard so much about." Baxter gave him an innocent smile, looking silly considering the man looked like he was on death's doorstep. The Fairy at first was about to respond when it saw the very thin lines of something flowing around his body, visible only where his flesh was kissed by the sun. The Fairy looked back at his eyes and nearly fell when a startling realization hit it like a stack of bricks. The man was possessed! Gears started turning within the mischievous creatures mind and a plan formed swiftly. The Fairy grinned as it turned towards the last location of his friend he knew, and nodded once turning away to face Baxter once again.

"Well kind sir," He pretended to be distraught, which was not too far a stretch. "My powers were sealed by a terrible witch named Ewoyn! This dastardly woman broke me of my power, and then managed to get caught by a group of bandits!"

"Oh please...." Symbiote sounded like he wanted to wretch. "If she is so powerful, why does she not vanquish the bandits?"

"Because they placed a seal upon her that can suppress her powers!" The fairy shot back quickly. "If you help me free her, she'll return my powers and then I'll show and explain anything about my magic you want. Do we have a deal?"

Symbiote angrily growled as he lifted himself upwards towards Baxter's brain, digging his claws gently into flesh as he moved. The feeling was surreal, an indescribable event that made the pen write shudder.

"You can't honestly think he-" Symbiote was cut off by Baxter who stood an nodded once.

"I believe you! Anything Symbiote disagrees upon is never a good thing to give on. He usually wants the exact opposite of what I want. We'll help!"

"Dammit Binky boy!" Symbiote howled. "The fucking fairy is born to mischief! You cannot think he's really not getting at an ulterior motive!"

"Like you?" Baxter countered. The demon remained quiet as it settled around Baxter's ribs. Baxter felt a glimmer of triumph as he looked to the Fairy. "Lead the way," He gestured for the creature to lead him.

"Not too far," The Fairy pipped. "My name is Sebastian by the way!"

"Baxter Arlington." The pen write replied pleasantly. Symbiote swirled lazily as he grumbled, his thoughts echoing out like a ripple in a pond.

"This is going to be a long night..."

[Eowyn]

An hour or so had passed and the noise of the bandits grew faint, meaning they were likely overwhelmed by the aclohol that they had been drinking since the moon's rising. The young night elf slowly rose to look out the window, her eyes scanning what little she could see out of the padlocked caravan. Everyone seemed to be deep in slumber, so cautiously her nimble fingers reached down to the lock, attempting to pick the lock with a pin that she had within her hair. Only moments passed before a hard callused hand grabbed her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, elf." Lester scowled as his fierce looking lips curled into a snarl while his grip only tightened, "I won't hesitate to skin your bleedin' hide..."

Eowyn only let out a gasp as she tried to fight him off of her, but it was useless, his hold was superior over her strength and he had no intention of letting go. She was forced to meet his face, to hear his dark voice degrade her.

"You'll make quite the fine slave, my dear. That's all your stinkin' filth is worth in this world, a good coin. I catch you again," Lester threatened, his knife pressing into Eowyn's forearm to draw blood, "I'll bleed you out quicker than you can shed a pitiful tear..."

Upon being released, the woman fell back, holding her arm as blood ran down to her finger tips. The man was frightening, not to mention convincing. By the sounds of his voice, he was very serious with his statement. There had to be some kind of way to escape, there had to be...

After a while longer through the night, Eowyn had lost hope of escaping. It was impossible. The woman couldn't help but feel foolish to wander out and get into trouble so quickly. Than again, this could of happened to about anyone...