"Braaains..." The memiors of undead encounters.

[Christoph]

(Closed)



One fact we all need to face is that, from time to time, the dead just don't like to lay around the way they should. Sometimes, they will climb out of their graves, destroy villages, kill cattle, and eat people's various internal organs. Nobody is quite sure why. One thing we can be sure of, though, is that until the entire world starts raining holy water, the walking dead will always be lurking about... usually where you least expect them. Because that's what they do.

Of course, I doubted the existence of zombies, walking skeletons, and the like before I first stumbled upon the undead. In my defense, most people refuse to believe that sort of thing if they've never actually seen it. That, and I was a naive youth of 19 from a small town. I'd travelled a bit, but there was still much that I hadn't seen -- restless corpses with a hunger for human flesh being on that list.

And at that time, I had other things to worry about than the undead that I didn't even believe in.

* * * * * *

The blanket of night stretched across the sky, smothering the last of the day's warm, orange glow. Christopher walked briskly down a cobbled road through the countryside. He was wearing his white chef coat again now that the air was cool. He looked behind him. The city of Radasanth looked like a mere child's toy in the distance. He couldn't see any of the guards. He sighed with relief; they must have given up their pursuit. It made sense that the guards wouldn't put too much effort into chasing them down. It was just a disturbance that they'd caused -- nobody died and nothing got broken.

He glanced over at his new "acquaintance" -- otherwise known as the girl who'd tried robbing him in the city. He'd pursued her and they scuffled (with swords, whips, and knives, naturally) in an alley until the guards came to arrest them. She convinced him that they should run at that point, which led them to where they were now. He looked at her for a moment. There was something odd about the way she looked and moved, but Chris couldn't quite place it, especially not in the dim evening light.

She was leading the way away from the city so that the could lie low for a few days before heading back to the city. Maybe then Chris would actually be able to see to the business that he was in Corone to take care of. Hopefully he would be able to make it back to the city soon; there were warehouse owners and merchants that Christopher needed to barter with. The pair seemed to be heading towards a large forest, but Chris was not familiar with Corone and had no idea as to where they were or where they were going.

"I never got your name," he said at last, trying to break the silence.

[Dineia]

Dineia wasn’t even thinking of what she should have been doing as she had led the two of them out of the city. It would have been fairly easy to lose him in the streets of the city, but she didn’t think about it. She knew they had to lay low for a bit. The guards of Radasanth tended to keep a tight watch for ruffians and they were now subjected as ruffians. Upon leaving the city, she had rebound her whip to her belt and she moved unarmed and unhindered. She didn’t worry about her ‘companions’ ability to follow her and was actually quite impressed that he was able to.

They now were walking in the forest. Dineia kept ahead of him scoping the tree line for possible threats. Her ability to see in the dark seemed to be the most useful when she was in unfamiliar territory. She hadn't bothered to get her cape on but with the fading light, a chill settled upon her skin. She slowed when she heard his attempt at asking her for a name. She looked behind to the man. “It’s Dineia,” She said simply. “Yours?” she asked out habit. As she waited for an answer she donned her cape to protect herself from further chill.

[Christoph]

"Christopher," he replied softly as they trekked along. Chris was positive that there was something different about her. He had excellent vision, better than most, yet he was struggling to see where they were going as the light faded while she was walking along as though it were mid-afternoon. Was there something supernatural about her? He shook his head and pushed the notion aside. She was probably just familiar with the area, he hypothesized.

They went off the road and onto a narrow path leading deeper into the forest. The massive, lush trees blocked out what starlight and moonlight the night sky offered. Their trunks reminded Chris of massive pines back in northern Salvar, except these were even larger. They were great pillars of wood towering over them and supporting the heavens.

"Where are we going?" he asked. Chris didn't know much about the civil war in Corone other than rumors and a few bits of information. As of then, he'd yet to be caught up in any battles. He wanted to keep it that way. Still, a war meant that there would be fewer safe places to stay and wait.

[Dineia]

Dineia hadn’t really known where they were going when he asked her. She stopped and looked back to Chris hesitant to answer his question. “Actually, I haven’t had much experience navigating through this part of Corone,” She started facing the issue at hand. “I tend to stay in the city. It seems to be better for business you know. Can you see all right?” She asked before he could get a chance to get angry at her. She had completely forgotten that he didn’t appear to be an elf. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for an answer. It was in the silence that came that she realized that something wasn’t quite right. The only noise, besides their breathing was the slight breeze against the trees that was gradually getting stronger. There was something about the woods that gave her the creeps.

[Christoph]

"Wow... you're not familiar with this place?" asked Chris, torn somewhere between being confused, impressed, and even a little suspicious. "How can you see where you're going so well? I mean, have great vision, but even I'm having a hard time..."

He yanked his torch out of his bag and fiddled with it a little as he spoke. Looking up at her, he did something that he would have never dared do in his xenophobic home town. His palm began to glow slightly, and he held it mere inches away from his torch until a tiny ball of flame appeared and fell onto the torch, igniting it. And now Dineia knew something unusual about him; perhaps she would return the favor.

The forest unsettled him now that he had the chance to dwell on it. The sounds of frogs and crickets that Chris usually associated with wooded areas were nowhere to be found. There wasn't even a wind or breeze. There was only an erie emptiness surrounding the two travelers.

[Dineia]

Dineia had watched without comment the actions of Chris. She had seen her fair share of tricks from the many races that inhabited her country. It took a moment for her eyes to readjust to the sudden flow of light, but when she could see again she lifted her hair to reveal her ears. Though the points weren’t as sharp as if she were a full blooded elf, it was enough proof that she had elvish blood coursing through her veins. She didn’t feel she needed to explain. Everyone knew that elves could see fairly well in the dark. “So are you a mage or something?” She asked for the sake of keeping her mind off of the silence. She could no longer see beyond where the light of the fire danced. It was one of the minor disadvantages to her sight. “Or is it something else?”

[Christoph]

"Ah, yes, that would explain it," Chris commented, hiding his relief; it was good to know that it was just something mundane. He couldn't help but smile a little when he spotted her ears. Elves had always fascinated him. Not to mention he felt even better about having been able to keep up with her agility in their scuffle to the extend that he had. Chuckling at her question, he replied. "No, I'm not a mage. I've been dabbling in the arcane arts for a little while, but I can't do very much. Back in my home town, I'd probably be burned at the stake for little tricks like this."

Chris sighed. He loved his home and missed being away from it and all the people, but they were so intolerant. There were so many close calls where he was forced to scramble and hide his arcane books in his room before random visitors reached the top of the stairs. Even those who called him a "friend" would have alerted everyone to his secret. It made it difficult to get close to anyone.

"Anyway... is it just me or is this forest a bit unsettling?" He looked around again, trying to find some movement or life in the forest, or some scary looking tree that he could attribute to the gloomy atmosphere -- anything to put his mind at ease.

[Dineia]

“Where are you from anyway? I mean, I’ve seen all sorts of tricks here and nobody is getting burned at the stakes?” She asked. She herself noticed how unnatural things seemed where she was, but that was all the more reason to talk about something else. She was definitely afraid, but she wasn’t going to admit it. “Sorry if I seem ignorant, but I tend to stay in my own region.” She said. She had never really faced any discrimination in her own life, but she had once been witness to it. Not too many people were fond of half breeds such as herself even though the segregation of the races had ended in her region.

[Christoph]

"I live in a town in Salvar," Chris replied. "It's right along a major trade road, yet it's strangely socially backward anyway, even though it gets so much travel. They consider magic to be evil 'witchcraft.'" He shook his head ponderously at the lingering frustrations of his past. The cut on his jaw still stung. It was strange to be practically telling his life story to the person who'd given him that wound after trying to rob him. Still, they were alone out in the middle of nowhere. It would be best if they actually got to know each other a little bit. Besides, the half-elf didn't seem so disagreeable now that she wasn't trying to swindle him or attack him with her whip anymore.

"You've lived in Corone your entire life, then?" Chris asked taking another step down the path. Standing still made him nervous. He was beginning to reconsider their conversation as the forest seemed to grow even darker, despite the torch being lit. "Maybe we should keep going. This forest doesn't seem right. We can talk when we're out of it."

[LegendaryIsis]

They're going to pay for what they did... Chiyo thought, her mind in an enraged state. She was standing over the father, Fujiwara Sojiro. Tonight she would enter his dreams and fill them with terror that he had never imagined. Months ago she was just a house cat, and treated by this family as a lowly bug. They cursed her and abused her, saying that she had brought an ill omen upon the house. Finally Chiyo was able to strike back. She sat on the floor in her small calico cat form and started at the sleeping man. Her lilac eyes opened wide and a hazy look came over them as she entered his mind.

The man was walking out in a garden on a sunny afternoon. Chiyo flicked her tail in real life and suddenly corpses rose up out of the ground in the man's dream and grabbed his limbs. The man screamed and tried flailing around. The corpses's grips tightened and snapping sounds began to be heard. One corpse with a breath foul as rotting fish leaned close to his face and said in a voice that chilled the air, "Fujiwara...what have you done? What have you done?" All the corpses joined in with the first and their voices grew louder and louder. The man let out a final terrified shriek before his body completely went limp.

Chiyo blinked as she was suddenly thrust out of his dream and she heard another shriek and some wailing. "Sojiro! Sojiro!!" his wife was clutching his lifeless body and rocking back and forth. Chiyo realized that the man must have died in terror. His wife looked down at her with a look of horror. "It's you, you demon! Get out of here! You horrible thing!" she screamed at Chiyo. Chiyo hissed then slinked out of the room and began walking down the halls. People rushed into the room after her who had heard the wife's screaming. As she exited the house Chiyo could hear more wailing. She started at a run and didn't stop until she was deep into the city streets. Her heart was pounding as she walked down an empty alley and took a human form. "Why..." she said and rested her back up against the cool stones of the alley's wall..."why is there an aching in my chest?" she whispered to herself. Even though she had hated the family that had tortured her for 9 years. Somehow there was a feeling inside of her that she had never felt before. She suddenly felt a sense of remorse clutching at her chest. "He...wasn't...supposed to die, I," she said then slid down the wall until she hit the ground.

Chiyo didn't know what to do now. It was the middle of the night and she knew it could be dangerous to stay in her cat form. The Fujiwara's would definitely send people after her. They were one of the richest and well connected families in Kyoto. She shivered and realized her nakedness. She wasn't used to not having warm fur to keep her warm. She walked to the beginning of the alley and slightly peered out into the streets. A little ways down the road there was a group of young men with bottles of sake in their hands. They seemed completely intoxicated and had trouble walking down the cobbled streets. Chiyo had to find the tree where she buried her belongings before she could run away from Kyoto. If she didn't look like the other humans, she would be a very suspicious character. She quickly snuck out into the street and walked behind the drunk young men. When they got to the next alley, she quickly put her hand over the mouth of one of them that was trailing behind and dived in the alley as fast as she could. The other boys heard scuffling and looked around confused. Chiyo looked around as the boy struggled in her arms. She found a small crate and quickly picked it up to bash the boy over the head. One of the boy's friends laughed outside the alley and said, "He probably had to take a piss. He'll catch up." The other boys laughed and then their voices trailed away. Chiyo looked down at the boy she had attacked and sighed. She stripped him of his yugata and put it on before leaving his unconscious form in the alley.

"That was a bit rash but..." Chiyo sighed again and quickly began walking down the road that would led her out of the city and into the nearby forest. She knew her tree was there by an old shrine. She walked into the forest and after a few turns found the tree where she tied a small white cloth to one of its branches. She got down on all fours and began digging at it's base with her hands. A medium sized bag began to appear. All the items she needed for now would be in that bag. She unburied it halfway then tugged at it roughly to dislodge it the rest of the way. She was about to stand up when she sensed something. Her body froze.

"I found you demon," said a low voice from behind her. "You're responsible for the death of the great Fujiwara Sojiro. I'm going to send you where you belong..." Chiyo slowly stood up and turned around. A young samurai appeared in front of her vision. He had dark shoulder length hair tied up and out of his face and a wore plain looking yugata. A katana was strapped at his side and he held a holy staff in his right hand. "Since when do warriors exorcise demons?" Chiyo asked in a derisive tone. "Silence demon!" the man spat and threw something at her. A papery thin charm hit her forehead and she couldn't move. The samurai put his staff out in front of him and began chanting under his breath. Chiyo felt a burning feeling in her body and let out a gasp. The last thing she remembered was her body began to glow. She took one last disgusted look at the man who was attacking her until her vision blurred and she blacked out.

Chiyo groaned as she slightly opened her eyes. She slowly sat up and realized she had been laying on her bag. She blinked a few times before the memories all came flooding back. Her head shot up and she looked around, expecting the samurai to still be there. Instead she found any eerie forest that was very different from the one she had been in. She looked around with her night vision and a chill went down her spine. "The dead....." was all she said and she stood up with her bag. Chiyo didn't scare easily but this place definitely gave her the creeps. She didn't know where she was or if she was even alive. But she wanted more than anything to get far away from this place at that moment.

[Dineia]

The subject was finally brought into focus. Dineia regretfully paid attention to his comment and agreed full heartedly. “I was trying not to think about it.” She hissed, jumping when she heard what could have been a stick falling from a tree. “You know, I think I have heard a legend about this place,” She said standing closer to Chris. Though just recently he had been a victim, he was now, in a way, her savior. She looked behind her as they walked forward, deeper into the depths of the woods. Each step they took seemed to bring the forest alive. No animals could be heard yet it was as if the trees themselves were alive and talking to them. “If I am not mistaken, I believe I once heard a man report that there were dead people roaming these woods.” She whispered. She was doing everything in her power to remain semi calmed so that she would not run senselessly in every which direction due to panic.

Even though she had traveled outside of Radasanth before, it was never a trip at night and she tended to be in a caravan or on horseback. She had never gone this path either but it had to lead to somewhere. She had a general understanding of animals, but they still terrified her at night. In her mind, she always imagined that they would change into something cruel and try to hunt anyone in their territory. Of course it was all made up in her mind but it didn’t help that where they were now seemed ten times more ominous then anywhere she once traveled.

[Christoph]

"Walking dead?" Chris asked in disbelief. He shook his head, trying to make sense of it. "That's crazy. I mean, I've read about undead before, but I always thought them to just be legends or the products of insane rumors. It just doesn't seem possible." Looking around, though, it occurred to him that if there were going to be undead wandering around, the part of the forest they were walking through would be a perfect place for it -- assuming they actually existed. Chris didn't care to find out.

Surely, though, Chris pondered, there must be a logical explanation for these so-called zombie sightings. T It was probably just a few paranoid travelers who got spooked in the forest. The prospect of the dead crawling out of their graves was ridiculous and it went against the laws of science, not to mention the laws of nature. On the other hand, what if he was wrong? What if zombies really did exist?

"Do you know how far it is until we get out of here?" he asked, picking up his pace. The chef's eyes darted around; now every dancing shadow was zombie and every branch a skeletal hand. It was fortunate that the wind was still nonexistent, for its whistle would have surely been the howl of a banshee in his ears.

[LegendaryIsis]

Chiyo's head snapped to the right when she heard something in the distance. She could tell something was fairly nearby by the sound of snapping twigs and shuffling leaves as it made its way across the dead forest floor. She narrowed her gaze in the direction of the perturbing sound then saw a faint light below her from the corner of her eye. She looked down to find that her bag was emitting a small bulge of light near the bottom. Opening it with curious eyes, she reached in to pull out her charm of vitality which was giving off a soft white glow as she held it in her hand. She looked up again and listened for the footsteps. They seemed to be coming nearer but this time at a faster pace. Chiyo stood up quickly and to her surprise the charm let out a huge glow of light. She looked to where it was pointing as she held it, but didn't see anything but a giant dead tree in that direction. She paused for a moment then bit her lip as she realized it was pointing in the direction where she heard the footsteps coming nearer. "That can't be right..." she whispered and stuffed the charm back into her bag. She climbed into the old tree she spotted but could not climb too far for fear that the dead twigs would snap under her weight. Carefully she sat on the only sturdy looking branch and waited with precise eyes to see if whatever she was hearing would show itself. If it was the dead, she wanted to be out of the way of it. But if the charm was right, then whatever coming may be her only hope to escape this place. She sighed and shivered a bit. The yugata she wore was thin and she came to regret her human form more and more as she realized how much humans depended on the warmth of clothing. She wrapped the yugata closer around her body and then silently sat there as if she was part of the tree herself.

[Dineia]

“Just because I live here doesn’t mean I have visited every city. I have never traveled this path. It is way too creepy for me.” She heard more branches fall and her hand tightened on her whip. It sounded like it came from somewhere in front of them, but with the torch light she couldn’t see much of what could be lurking in the woods; not that she really wanted to. But for the sake of possible prevention of an ambush, she turned to Chris. “I am going to go up ahead,” She said but stayed by his side a bit longer. After a few deep breaths she moved on ahead outside of the ring of torch light. Once again, it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. She slid a knife from her belt, if anything seemed as if it were a threat then she would be ready for it.

[Christoph]

"All right... be careful," Chris whispered after her fleetingly as she went ahead. He exhaled slowly, sliding his sword instinctively out of his pack. It was then that he suddenly realized where they were. This was Concordia! He was standing in the legendary forest of Corone that he'd read about. It wasn't right, though. Concordia was supposed to be a place of life, peace, and serenity, not the grim and intimidating woods that he was standing in now. "Surely this can't be the result of a civil war..."

Chris let Dineia get a reasonable distance ahead before he continued on after her, keeping her in his sight. He knew that she could see in the dark better than he could, but he wasn't about to split up too much; it would just make them easy targets for whatever may or may not have been lurking between those trees. Even so, he felt very exposed out there on the lonely footpath.

[LegendaryIsis]

Chiyo held her breath as she heard the footsteps from before come even closer. She looked down below to see if anything was coming. Nothing came into her sight but before she turned her gaze from the ground something caught her eye. A patch of dead leaves below her began to move. It was an odd movement as if something was pushing the ground beneath the leaves up. She finally let out her breath and watched with wide eyes as the leaves began to move more. Suddenly a decrepit hand burst forth from the ground and Chiyo couldn't help but let out a scream of surprise. As if the scream had awoken the ground itself, more hands burst out all around the base of the tree. In her shock, Chiyo jumped back and fell on a dead limb. It snapped under her weight and sent her backwards towards the ground. She turned in midair and managed to land on all fours even though she was in her human form. As soon as she landed more hands burst up out of the ground and grabbed her limbs. Chiyo screamed again and looked around for her bag that had her weapons inside. It had dropped a few feet away from her and she reached out a hand towards it only for it to be grabbed by another zombie. As much as she struggled, the corpse's grips were too strong and she winced as she felt them become tighter the more she flailed. How did they sneak up on me? I couldn't even sense them...They must not be the normal dead... she thought and bit her lip.

No child, we are not normal zombies. And it is lucky for us you fell into our trap. We have been starving for some fresh flesh she heard one of the zombie's thoughts. Chiyo knew she could sometimes control people's dreams, but she never imagined she could hear zombies. Please, let me go. I’m not even a human! she thought desperately hoping that one of them would hear. We know that, which makes you all the more appetizing, she heard in response and a low chuckle. Chiyo’s face paled and she tried her best to keep calm and think of a way out of the situation.

The zombie's arms could be seen now as they slowly pulled the tops of their bodies from the ground. Chiyo could see that three zombies were holding her down as their decayed bodies also rose from the ground. They leered at her with hungry eyes and she felt one give a sharp tug to her right leg. We'll split the body in portions. Everyone grab a limb.. She heard the thought of the zombie who had a hold of her leg. Chiyo looked back to her bag and gasped as she saw almost all of it was aglow with the white light she had seen before. "Someone...please..." she winced and tried to kick the zombie off her leg.

[Dineia]

She heard it before she saw it; the familiar sound of a breaking branch that was followed minutes later by a scream. Two thoughts came to mind, the first being that she had no clue why she wasn’t hi-tailing it in the other direction. The scream meant someone was in trouble, and though it wasn’t in her nature to rush to the first soul in trouble, there were always possibilities for rewards. Dineia scanned the direction from which the scream had torn the chilling air. She couldn’t quite distinguish what she was seeing. With her enhanced vision she could only see vague outlines of creatures which could very well be people gathered around something on the ground. The oddity of it was that there were what appeared to be appendages bulging from the ground.

Dineia turned to Chris in a conflict of actions. “Something’s going on. There are people or something up there.” She said behind her. That was when she faintly heard the plead for help. It was all she needed before she started to run towards the figures. Her whip was out in a loud crack. If they were just a bunch of rogues, the sound of it should have at least startled them. However, deep down she felt a chill giving hint that this was no normal situation. The stories that were told in the taverns had to manifest somehow.

She didn’t look to see if Chris was following. Her only thought was to stop whatever was about to happen. As the distance between herself and the unknown creatures lessened she could tell that they were indeed humanoid, but their condition stated that their living status was less than optimal. Suddenly her idea of rescue and reward seemed to be a fool’s destiny. But it was already too late. One grotesque face turned to look at her. Out of reflex, she snapped her wrist allowing the force of the long whip to cut into the flesh of the undead and continued to wrap around its unholy neck. With a backward flick the creature was pulled to the ground with its neck, though still intact, a lot less stable. From her side, she noticed the ground had begun to move. More appendages began to sprout like tulips after the first rain in spring. Dineia could vaguely see a figure that appeared to be living in the center of the undead, but her attention was now turned to protecting herself from the arising army of bodies.

[Christoph]

"What is it? What's going on?" Chris called after her, but she had already started going away from him again. He could hear the anxiety in her voice and knew that something was wrong. The scream that echoed between the ancient trees confirmed it. Somebody was in trouble, and Dineia was heading for it; she might need help!

With his torch in one hand and his sword in the other, Chris charged after her, in the direction of the scream, without a second though. He followed her footsteps as they headed off the path. Cries for help soon followed... from someone else, not Dineia. Further and further into the forest he ran he heard the sounds of struggle, moaning, overturning earth... a familiar whip-crack.

Finally, the light from the torch fell upon the source of the disturbance. There was Dineia, swinging her whip about, and there was someone else, another girl, struggling with a mob of dirty people. Extremely dirty people with tattered clothes, awkward postures, pale skin, long fingernails, and-- No, they weren't people. Their flesh and clothing was rotting off and they were climbing out of the ground! The undead truly existed! But that was impossible! Yet, the proof was right before him.

Deciding that there was no time to argue with himself over how impossible the current scenario was, Chris charged in, waving his torch at the walking dead people. His first thought was to ram his torch into one of them, hoping to light it on fire. He decided otherwise; they had just climbed out of the ground and would surely be damp. Instead, Chris thrust his sword into the neck of the closest zombie. When this failed to stop it, he pulled his dueling sword out and slashed at the abomination's head and neck repeatedly until it fell.

[LegendaryIsis]

Chiyo felt the hands that had a hold of her other limbs begin to pull roughly. She was about to let out a terrified scream when she heard a cracking sound. She looked up out of the corner of her eye to see a young woman with a whip in her hand. The whip was wrapped around a zombie's neck and it was soon sent to the ground. Chiyo looked back to the zombies holding her and saw that they were also distracted by the scene. They had even loosened their grip so she immediately took the chance to kick one of her legs loose then send it back into the zombie’s face. Before any of the zombies could retaliate she shot her body forward as hard as she could and rolled ending up back on her feet. Her right leg throbbed painfully but she had to ignore it for now. She pushed through some zombies that were closing in on her and made a dive towards her bag. As soon as she grabbed it the glow that was emitting from it vanished.

Another glow fell over the area and she turned around with a confused expression. She barely had time to see that a young man holding a torch was also fighting the zombies before more grotesque hands began reaching for her. She let out a hiss and jumped back towards a patch of unturned earth. Her weapons were in her hands in a matter of seconds and she turned to the zombies that seemed very determined to eat her, getting into a defensive stance. She held two simple wooden handles with curved blades. The weapons she fought with were actually a pair of sickles that were used to harvest crops. She had found them in a field one day when she was practicing walking around in her human form.

The closest zombie lunged at her and she held the blades together in front of her. With an outward swooping motion she slashed across the zombie’s torso as hard as she could. A thick brown liquid and a rancid small seeped from the giant gash in its chest. The zombie seemed unimpressed by the wound and kept coming at her. She jumped to the side of it and slashed it across the back. Before she could see its reaction two more zombies were right in front of her. She screamed and lashed out with the sickles, not knowing where she was hitting but just desperately trying to keep them from grabbing her again. How do you kill the undead with mere weapons? she thought frantically as she tried to keep them at bay.

[Dineia]

Dineia’s skin crawled with the horrendous stench that was overwhelming them. With each strike of her whip, more of the rancid smell filled the air. Her beloved weapon dripped with the brown liquefied residue. No matter how often she struck the creatures, they would find a way to stand once more. She had reverted to figure eights around her body; a defensive attack that she had learned with her whip. It acted like a force-field which kept the zombies at bay, but she was very much trapped.

The damp ground beneath her began to move as a hand shot up grabbing her ankle. The force of it not only startled her but threw her off balance. She fell to the ground onto her back; the wind was knocked right from her lungs. As she struggled for air, the zombies that had at once been held at bay were closing on her. You best be able to give me one hell of a reward she thought to herself as she pulled her leg free. She heard a moan behind her. She rolled into a crouched position and realized that she was now face to face with one of the zombies attempting to free itself from its grave.

With a gasp and a scream, Dineia finally realized that she was able to breathe again. In addition she felt a new rush of adrenaline rush through her veins. She didn’t know exactly what she was doing. Her body acted on its own. She watched as she wrapped the thin end of her whip around the zombie’s neck. Without a single thought as to why, she pulled both ends of the whip simultaneously as hard as she could. Brownish liquid splashed the front of her as the head disconnected from the body and landed in her lap.

The first thing she noticed in the seconds that followed was that the body had seized to move. The second thing she noticed was that she was surrounded again and she was still in a crouched position. This isn’t good she thought as she grabbed the hilt of one of her throwing knives. The entire thing was black so if she missed a target it would be near impossible to locate. Each second that she hesitated meant a lesser chance for escaping unscathed. Her whip wasn’t going to help much however. That was when she thought of a great plan. The hilt of her knives consisted of three holes through the metal; size enough to tie the end of her whip to. She worked as quickly as she could. Her hands slipped on the liquid that had covered the leathery hide of her whip. Her hands were shaking from the heavy beating of her heart.

She felt a hand grab her left arm just as she finished tying a secure knot around the knife. In that moment she prayed that neither Chris nor the girl were near enough to be in the path of her newly made weapon. She jumped backwards into the zombie which had found hold on her, throwing it to the ground with her weight. When its grip lessened, she jumped to her feet swinging her whip a full 360 degrees around her body.

The edges of the knife cut through the thin flesh of all of the creatures that had surrounded her. Though the knife didn’t have enough force to remove any limbs from bodies, it was enough to make them lose some advantage. The adrenaline that she had felt from shear terror was wearing off fast and her body was beginning to exhaust. Her breathing was hard and ragged. All she needed to do was to get into a clearing in which case she could run, but with her weapons that she had it didn’t seem possible.

[Christoph]

Chris forced the terror and revulsion from his mind. He allowed his training to take over; he kept his feet moving, backing up and circling constantly to avoid getting swarmed and surrounded by the mob of rancid corpses. His blade struck repeatedly with metallic flashes, sinking into the zombie's unnatural flesh. Here and there, he'd chop a hand off as they reached for him. Primarily, though, he stuck with what seemed to work the first time; going for the neck. Though his sword wasn't razor sharp, the blade was good enough to hack through rotting flesh and bones if enough force was applied.

His efforts became mindless repetitive; stab, slash, step; stab, slash, step. It proved quite effective – partly because his foes were slow, but mainly because the undead didn't seem to be changing their tactics. Perhaps it was because they were mindless creatures and didn't know how to. Indeed, that made sense. Chris was just about to accept this hypothesis when his mind suddenly stopped wandering and returned to him to usher in a grim realization: he'd gotten himself separated from the other two. What was worse, his torch was attracting the lion's share of the zombies to his position. Surrounded and separated… lovely.

He fought on and continued to maneuver away from the onrushing horde, let they get a hold of him. At one point, he risked a glance behind him as he continued to step back and circle to evade his decayed enemies. More had circled around and were preparing to cut of his path and surround him. He couldn't fight this many on his own, and he had no idea if the other two were all right. He waved his torch at the advancing bodies menacingly. He would need to act quickly or he'd be in big trouble!

[Dineia]

Her muscles were getting tired and things weren’t getting much better. From the corner of her eye she vaguely saw Chris fighting his own battle. The light from his torch seemed to be drawing some of the masses away. She saw a gap then and dove between two bodies. She started to run then towards the girl who was struggling with her own army of undead. “Hey!” She shouted to the girl before her. She struggled to catch her breath. The air burned her throat and a pain had begun to spread through her side. She didn’t normally have to be so active and her body was completely foreign to it. “We have to get out of here.” She yelled as she lashed out at one of them that were still trying to get close in around the girl. There best bet was to get as far away from them as possible. She didn’t know how far exactly it was to the next city, but she knew that the Concordia forest was very large and if they at all got put into the wrong direction it could be days before they would get out again.

[LegendaryIsis]

No matter how much she slashed the zombies kept coming and Chiyo was being forced back more and more. She wanted to run away but there were too many of them surrounding her now for her to make a clean exit. A zombie reached out a hand to try and grasp her throat but then it suddenly stopped mere inches from her flesh. It turned its head slightly and looked back at the light that Chiyo recognized as the torch that had helped distract the zombies earlier. She could also see the figure of a young man clearer now, and so could the rest of the zombies that surrounded her.

Chiyo then turned her attention to the girl who was also there as she heard her words. "A-Alright," she said in a shaky voice. She didn't want to follow a human's orders, but she wouldn't complain at a chance of getting out of their current situation. The human seemed to want to help her for some reason. Chiyou figured it was because she thought Chiyo was also human. Before the zombies could surround her again she grabbed her bag from the ground and slung it over her shoulder. Her leg still hurt but she could barely tell as she ran out of that area as quickly as possible and followed behind the girl. The only thing on her mind was escaping those horrible creatures. She didn't even think about the boy they were leaving behind. She had to keep running. Her robe was now stained with the horrible fluid that had escaped the zombie's wounds. She was thankful that she had a change of clothes in her sack. She would follow the girl for now, maybe she could help Chiyo find a safe place to go. I guess I don't have a choice, she thought and kept running.

[Christoph]

Not good.

Chris was rapidly running out of space to maneuver. More and more of the unnaturally active corpses were encroaching on him from several directions. He struck out with his sword repeatedly, using all the force that he could muster. He carved up more and more of his undead adversaries as he fought and withdrew, but there were too many of them and his weapon didn't have enough mass to stop his foes. It became an effort to keep himself from gagging as vile fluids drenched his clothing.

The chef heard the sound of rapid footsteps and realized that the other two had managed to get away and were now escaping. I guess I'm on my own now... He grit his teeth and scanned for an escape path as he swung his sword and torch to keep the zombies at bay. They were getting closer and closer, though, and he was running out of room and time and his strength was fading; it was becoming more and more difficult to keep his fear under control. It felt as though walls were closing in on him.

Finally, Chris spotted an opening and sprinted for it with the last of his energy, his growing terror making his reckless. His only thought was to get away, no matter how. Unfortunately, this temporary mind set cost him as three zombies grabbed his arms and legs, clawing and biting. Chris couldn't help but cry out in pain as a set of undead teeth sank into the flesh on his shoulder. He struggled in vain to shake his unliving grapplers off of him; there were too many and they refused to let go.

[Dineia]

Dineia gasped for air as she slowed her pace. She and the other girl had managed to get out of immediate danger. From behind her she heard a cry of agony. Chris hadn’t escaped yet and now he was in trouble. Turning to the lightened area, she noticed that he was completely surrounded and unable to defend himself from the grips of the zombies. Dineia suddenly realized that she was torn between saving his life and saving her own. It wasn’t like her weapon was going to be any help in the scrimmage, but the girl on the other hand had some what of an advantage with her weapons. “We have to go help him.” She said finally, but didn’t immediately move back to the fight. She would need the girls help. If anything, they could knock a path clean for Chris to escape. She looked into the girls eyes as if silently telling her that she owed them. “If we just knock them out of the way a bit, he can get away.” She explained and waited for a reaction. If she didn’t get one soon it may very well be too late. In that moment, she decided she really didn’t want to have someone’s death on her conscience. It made no sense that she was able to destroy lives by robbing them of valuable’s without even a second thought, but if someone were to die while she was around was devastating. “Oh hell,” She said to herself as she started running back to the fray hoping that she had gotten through to the girl. “I better get some good brownie points for this,” She said as she readied her whip once more for battle.

[LegendaryIsis]

What did the girl mean that they had to help? The stupid humans had walked into the same trap that she had fallen into it. Maybe they had meant to help Chiyo in the beginning, but going into a fight where you ended up being the one that needed to be rescued seemed like utter idiocy. Chiyo watched the girl run back towards the zombies. A grim look fell upon on her face. Once she thought she might understand humans they went and did something impossibly unexpected. It was true that Chiyo had a good chance at helping the young man escape. She looked down at her weapons which were still in her hands. They trembled as she thought of the idea of running back into the mob of decaying hands and bodies that had tried doing everything possible to gobble her up. She didn’t owe anything to the pathetic humans. But Chiyo needed to find out where this place was. She needed to find a place to stay, and she didn’t like the idea of continuing through the zombie infested forest on her own. Even if they proved not to be of great assistance, it may be better in the end if she had companions to help her out of the forest.

Chiyo had finally made her decision. She took her bag from her shoulder and hung it on a nearby tree limb. She swallowed hard and gripped the handles of her weapons tightly, then she charged after the girl running as fast as she could. She kept her eyes forward on the enemies and when she reached the outside of the circle that had enveloped around the young man, she kept running and used her momentum to slash heavily across them. This time she aimed for their necks like she had seen the girl do moments before. Three zombie heads were lobbed off and rolled to the ground by her feet. Without pausing she kept pushing into the crowd of zombies and slashing, putting all of her body weight and momentum into her attacks. She yelled back at the girl hoping she would hear, “Go on ahead of me and get him out of there!”

[Christoph]

The torch fell to the ground as Chris strained against his unbreathing and tireless attackers. Knowing he was beaten, but still stubborn, the desperate chef refused to give up just yet even. Then, the sound of the two women returning reached his ears through the fight. They came back for him! He struggled with his free hand until he felt the handle of his ten inch chef knife in his grip and, with the renewed strength that his newfound hope provided, slashed behind him with the knife's razor edge.

His first target were the wrists of the hands grabbing him. The blade dug into flesh and bone, and with a sickening sucking sound and a snap the first and fell off. Chris fought with increased vigor to capitalize on the fact that many of the zombies were reverting their limited attentions to his saviors. When he finally freed himself, the gore-covered chef attacked with vicious fury with both his knife and sword.

His muscled ached, his nose stung from the noxious gases of decay, and his lungs felt like they were filled with shards of glass. He was finally making progress, though. There was a tiny glimmer of hope that he might escape, that he might survive, and he was fighting for it with sheer will power. At last, he burst out of the mass of undead, free from their grasp. He air as though he were a diver coming up for air.

"Run!" he shouted to the others as he began to sprint away. "Hurry!"

[Dineia]

The density of bodies which had surrounded Chris was frightening. He can’t possibly be alive She thought as she helplessly whipped at the mass of undead. She constantly checked behind her making sure she wasn’t going to end up surrounded again. To her surprise it seemed the army of undead was at its max. She couldn’t make much sense of the bundle of rotting flesh, but she suddenly noticed something happening in the midst. It was then she noticed that Chris had freed himself and was fighting with a new frenzy to get out. He was fighting a path right towards her. After a moment she stopped using the whip which still had the blade tied to the end for fear that she would hit him. Finally he burst through the bodies like they were a surface of the lake. In her shock she failed to hear his desperate order to run until he had already sprinted ahead. The sound of a moan right behind her made her feet spring into action as she sprinted after him.

“You use magic,” She started as they ran. “Why the hell didn’t you use it against them!?” She cried. She just wanted to rest a bit and get out of the creepy forest.

[LegendaryIsis]

Chiyo panted as she sliced through the zombies with all of her might, but there were so many of them the effort seemed fruitless. She saw Dineia had gone ahead of her and was also fighting through the rotting corpses, but Chiyo’s main concern now was keeping the zombies from capturing her. She paused momentarily as she heard a yell up ahead and the sound of Dineia’s whip ripping through flesh suddenly stop. A zombie to her right saw her hesitation and took advantage of the opening. It leapt out at her and grabbed her by the throat. Chiyo didn’t have time to block it but as quickly as it clutched her neck her blade had slashed into its flesh and severed the zombie’s hand from its arm. Then she used her free blade to cut into the zombie’s torso and bring it down to the ground. When she looked back up a small gasp escaped her lips as she saw the young man they were trying to help was running straight for her. She figured if he had successfully escaped from the zombies that were surrounding him the human girl couldn’t be far behind.

Without hesitation Chiyo turned around and jumped over a couple corpses that lay on the ground behind her. She too began to run as quickly as she could, the hand that had grabbed her throat was dangling from her neck and swung back and forth as she ran. She was too scared to even notice and too scared to even care at the moment. She just kept running, leading the group away from the fray and out into an open area of the woods.

[Christoph]

Chris couldn't feel his legs anymore, but he kept running anyway. He didn't dare turn to look back for fear that one of the undead abominations would somehow be right behind him. Time seemed to lose meaning as he sprinted away; he could have been running for hours, or merely minutes. His legs finally failed him at the bank of a wide stream. He was in good physical shape and was used to strenuous activity, but his relatively body had been pushed to its limits. He hit the ground and began to cough and gag uncontrollably, partly because of the strain on his lungs and partly because of the disgust from the bile, filth, and rotten slime that he was soaked in.

He'd heard Dineia's question, but never responded. He didn't want to answer; he was too exhausted to answer. Perhaps she would forget that she'd asked it. Currently, Chris has dirty bite and claw wounds to deal with. He threw off his cloak and removed his chef coat. Even the simple grey shirt that he wore underneath was filthy and covered in decaying gore.

"Blech..." This was all Chris could choke out before dunking his head in stream. The cool running water his face like a sweet divine mercy.

[Dineia]

Dineia stopped behind them as they reached the stream. She constantly scanned the area behind them for any sign of the undead army. If she was forced to fight any more her body wouldn't be capable of it. "I-I think we are safe now," She said after catching her breath. She joined Chris at the side of the stream falling to her knees in sheer exhaustion. She felt disgusting and all she wanted to was to change. She only had her regular clothes however in addition to the leather she was wearing. Her regular clothes were not travel friendly. She would have to wash out the stench as best as she could. She cupped her hands into the cold stream which hurt her hands. She closed her eyes and held her breath as she splashed the water over her face. Even though the water was unbearably cold it was better then the ick that had sprayed her body. After a moment of scrubbing she looked up to the new girl.

"Who are you anyway, and how did you get into that mess?" She asked realizing she knew nothing about this person before them. She looked behind her once more checking for the zombies, but didn't see any. At least they could relax a bit and she could get some answers.

[LegendaryIsis]

Chiyo saw that the other two had stopped by a stream and fell to her knees in exhaustion. When they hit the ground she felt something swinging around her neck and yelped when she looked down to find a zombie’s hand was there, cut off right below the wrist. She was so scared earlier she had forgotten about it and now she quickly flailed it off her flesh with a shudder. As soon as the hand was far away she bent over the ground taking deep breaths to try and calm herself and to supply her body with desperately needed oxygen.

After a few moments she looked up wearily to the humans unsure of what to say. She saw what they were doing by the stream and thought that it was a good idea. She crawled over to the relatively clear stream and scooped water into her hands to splash herself in the face. She did this a few times then began to scrub at her arms and legs, trying to get all the decaying flesh and rotting blood from her body. It was hard not to throw up with her sensitive nose picking up every putrid scent as she carefully washed it from her body. Chiyo was thankful for the change of clothes she had in her sack. She would’ve changed into them sooner if that samurai hadn’t come and thrown her into this mess to begin with.

Chiyo froze when she heard the girl address her. She didn’t feel like being friendly with these humans. She was glad to get out of there but she was forced to put herself in danger to save the stupid human boy after she had escaped. She didn’t owe either of them any favors. Chiyo frowned slightly and stood placing her sack over her shoulder. Without a word she walked away to go change behind a tree. She choose one that was relatively near the stream yet far away from their previous venture.

[Christoph]

It's often reasonable to assume that disbelief would be the first response after an encounter with zombies. For and unfortunate many, this is the case. They would sooner throw up their hands and refuse to believe that they had just been attacked by the walking dead despite the fact that all evidence points to the contrary. Perhaps it's a form of psychological defense to prevent trauma. In my opinion though, it is a fool's response.

When I was first attacked by the undead (lost my rotting cherry, if you will), there was no denying it. I was nearly killed by them; I got lucky. The point was this: I wasn't going to lie to myself. I was not going to convince my terrified ego that they were just normal humans... slow, moaning, amazingly filthy, flesh-eating humans. When one is lost (I'll admit it, I was pretty damn lost) in a forest somehow infested by flesh-eating crimes against nature, trying to convince yourself otherwise isn't going to help anything.

I've come to realize that the best thing you can do in such a situation is to calm down, lick your wounds (figuratively, of course, since they are probably filled with zombie juice…) and never, ever, bicker with your comrades (wouldn't that be nice?) Also, have a sense of humor. I'm sure someone will ask how I could have a sense of humor in such a situation. To be completely honest, I'm not entirely sure how I did it either.


* * * * *

"Glad to see that everyone is so friendly," Chris commented with a cynical air in his voice. He shook his head and sighed. He wasn't in good shape at that moment; getting upset with his current company's ungrateful attitude wouldn't help. He turned to Dineai and couldn't help but chuckle. "What a night! I never thought that I would ever run into something that I didn't even believe in, only to realize that they were EXACTLY how I'd imagined them to be. Walking corpses hungry for brains... who'd have thought..."


The last little bit of the sun's light had vanished at some point during the fight and subsequent flight. The moon's glow forced its way through the parting clouds to provide a pseudo replacement for the lost daylight. Finally, Christopher removed his blood-stained shirt, revealing his fit, wound covered torso. He'd slimmed down a little and put on some muscle in the past months, especially after leaving Salvar four months prior. The dim light illuminated seven fresh bite marks and even more bloody scratches covered his chest, arms and shoulders like tattoos, along side older scars from his run in with wolves back in northern Salvar. They would need to be cleaned and wrapped before they became infected and fever overtook him.

"Do you have any bandages?" he asked the half Elf as he began to clean his injuries with the river water. The cold liquid hit his bleeding wounds like hot coals, causing him to clench his teeth, fighting the urge to cry out. "I only brought one. I wasn't expecting zombie related injuries." He forced himself to chuckle again through his pained face.

[Dineia]

Dineia watched as the girl ignored her question. It was good to know people were still as hopelessly rude as she was. She didn't go after her but rather stared at her retreat to a desolate tree. After a while she had turned her attention back to Chris. "You know," She started after his comment about the zombies. "They may not have been after just your brains. As a matter of fact...I don't think they were smart enough to know what your brain was." She smiled weakly to herself. She hadn't quite recovered from the shock of actually encountering the undead, but at least she was starting to feel like herself again. She once again considered changing. If anything she could at least change her top. The stench was still over whelming her. Before she had a chance to even move to her pack she saw Chris remove his shirt. She didn't noticeably stare, but she didn't see why she couldn't admire an appealing body when she saw one. She also noticed the welted marks of scars on his shoulders.

"Do you have any bandages?" he had asked her suddenly and she quickly turned her attention back to her pack which was lying on the bank next to her. She didn't say anything, but rather fished around in the front pouch of her bag. After a moment she found the bandages she had packed just for moments of injury such as these and tossed them to her new companion. She didn't bother to see if he had caught them, however, as she stood. She needed to escape the horrible smell that drifted from her corset. It was sad that she would probably have to find a special cleaner or even buy new ones if she ever wanted to feel clean in her leather corset again. She walked a few feet away to a nearby tree before she started to undo the lacing in the front of her corset. She kept her back to Chris as she swapped corsets. Her casual corset was black silk with laced fringes. It was one of her more enticing tops.

When she finished lacing up her top she turned to the direction the girl had wondered off to. "I will be back in a moment." She said as she started in the general direction. She was going to get answers from the girl no matter what.

[LegendaryIsis]

Chiyo was tucking her kimono around herself and was about to begin working on her bow when she heard footsteps coming in her direction. She looked up from her work with glowering eyes at Dineia and stared her down. What does she want, a thank you? she thought and kept her piercing gaze. She told herself that she wasn't afraid of humans anymore, ever since she had the power to take their form. But truthfully there was a stigma of fear deep down inside of her that she was sure she would never fully get rid of.

As far as she knew these travelers could be robbers who only helped her so that they could take the few belongings she had. She didn't think someone would go as far as to fight a pack of zombies, but she wouldn't eliminate the thought. Or worse, they may be demon hunters like the samurai she had run into, and if they found out what she truly was, they would show her the same kindness they showed the zombies. These thoughts raced around her mind as the girl grew nearer. Chiyo would've taken a step back if she were more decent but instead hoped the human would leave her alone if she kept up her unwelcoming disposition.

[Christoph]

"Well, I can't say as I ever want to find out whether or not they know where my brains are," the shirtless chef turned zombie fighter replied, smiling back. He was still inspecting and doing his best to clean his wounds when he felt eyes on him. He glanced up discreetly to find her looking at him, though she wasn't being obvious about it. Blushing instantly, Chris quickly returned his eyes to his wounds.

"Thank you," said Chris sincerely as the bandages landed next to him, pretending both that he hadn't noticed her looking at him and that he hadn't stolen a brief glance at her as well. The white cloth that he was using to clean his injuries was already stained completely with blood. He prayed the open wounds wouldn't become infected; there wasn't much more he could do with the supplies in his possession.

Christopher nodded silently as Dineia walked away. Without the certain... distraction that the half-elf served as, he turned his full attention to finishing the work on his injuries. With dextrous fingers, he worked to wrap the bandages around himself to cover the wounds to the best of his ability. They would probably need to be re-wrapped later, but he would worry about that then. With that done, Chris glanced around to make sure that both of them were still gone before quickly changing his clothes; he discarded the soiled ones, regarding them as a lost cause that wasn't worth the effort.

[Dineia]

Dineia finally saw the girl in the distance and slowed her pace to give her time to be fully dressed. When it looked like she was decent, she increased her pace again. "Hey," she said when she was about ten feet away. She wasn't oblivious to the threatening stance. "I think it is time you gave some answers. I have met a fair share of rude people, but they usually were people that I hadn't tried to save from zombies." She started leaving out the fact that she had also robbed the people that ended up being fairly rude to her. "Now, are you going to tell me your name?" She asked putting her hands on her hips like a disappointed mother. "Or am I just going to have to call you girl?"

[LegendaryIsis]

Chiyo finished tying her robe and looked back up at Dineia, changing her threatening look to an unimpressed one. "I don't care what you say human, I owe you nothing. The only thing I care about at this moment is getting out of this forest and if that means following around you and your foolish companion, then so be it," she threw her bag over her shoulder once again and walked back out towards the stream. She walked up to the spot where Christopher was an crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at him. "Do you know how to get out of this damned place?" She didn't feel like talking to the human girl, she seemed rude and tomboyish. Chiyo could tell that she was not like a lady at all and she doubted she had the intelligence of one on top of that.

[Christoph]

Christopher had already finished changing into his clean clothes and was already walking in Chiyo's direction when the strange girl reappeared from the forest. He'd gotten close enough to overhear most of the exchange between her and Dineia. He could feel his charitable disposition fading rapidly.

"I don't know," he replied bitterly to her question, narrowing his eyes. She could have at least tried to ask nicely if she was going try and pull this on me. "I may be too foolish to know how to help you." His usual soft, comforting gaze flared with intensity and contempt. He glared at her for a moment before turning his back to her. He exhaled in frustration as he paced away, glancing around for Dineia. It was only upon reaching the muddy, grassy bank of the stream that Chris finally turned to face his new acquaintance again.

“I mean, since you were so clearly capable of taking care of yourself and escaping those unholy walking corpses...” Chris began sardonically, holding his head at a condescending tilt. “Then you should have no trouble finding your way out of this forest without my help or direction. And that’s fortunate for you because you will receive neither.”

[Dineia]

Dineia frowned and took a deep breath. There was nothing more she hated worse than not getting what she wanted. At the moment, all she wanted was answers; mostly the name of the girl. The fact that she was being extremely hostile also confused her but it didn’t quite offend her; at least not in the sense that people being hostile didn’t offend her. She did however hate the idea that her effort to help the girl wasn’t even recognized. After a long moment she gritted her teeth and spun around to go after the girl. She wasn’t going to give up. That was when she heard Chris. He had apparently heard the exchange between them as well, only he wasn’t taking it as smoothly as she was.

“Chris,” She started as she walked up to them. “Don’t be so harsh,” was all she said before she started towards the girl again.

“And you, girl” She started, addressing her as she had threatened to do. She took a deep breath before continuing. "You may not admit you needed our help, but it was obvious to me you did. I could see your situation plain as day. If I hadn’t have come in when I did, they would have been feasting on your bones by now.” The volume in her voice had increased to a near shout, though she still wasn’t angry. She didn’t get angry until she had to. When she was angry she was capable of anything and it was that reason that she tried so hard to maintain patience with the girl. Her eyes had narrowed slightly and she clenched her mouth for a second to calm herself again.

“Now you insult us and yet you expect us to help you out of these woods. That isn’t how it works in this world. If you want something, you ask nicely for it, or at least pretend to be grateful when someone helps you.” She softened her tone when she said 'ask nicely', however, her words were emphasized by a flip of her hand. She glanced back at Chris for some support before she looked back to the girl.

“I don’t know what your grudge against humans is, being you look pretty damn human to me, but I have a different sort of blood running through my veins that deserves a little more respect then what you have been giving me." She paused a moment putting her hands once again on her hips. "I personally don’t like to be mistaken for human because that is only half of my heritage. I will, however, forgiving you for not catching that detail because it is dark out and only I would be able to clearly see this detail. But what I don’t forgive you for is that you have clearly avoided answering my question as to who you are twice now!” She finally said with a shout. She shook her head slightly not knowing why the girl just wouldn't answer a simple question. The final phrase was said with enough energy to scare and owl right out of a tree above them and she hoped it would at least get through the girl to give at least that one answer.

As her voice echoed off into the depths of the woods breaking clear through the eerie silence she waited patiently for the answer. Her eyes pierced directly through hers. She wasn't going to back down. That was one thing she knew for sure.

[LegendaryIsis]

Chiyo stared back into the girl’s eyes, rage filling up throughout her entire body. She took a deep breath before speaking, letting some of the anger out with her breath. “I’m nothing to you humans,” she began looking at Christopher, “or you half breeds,” she turned her eyes back on Dineia. Chiyo’s hands were shaking a bit now and she had to take another breath before she continued. “I’m something you step on or kick everyday. I’m only a nuisance and my existence means nothing to you. So if you think I’m going to thank you for what you did back there, you’re wrong. I’ll never say a praising word to a human. Never.” She took a few steps closer to Dineia not taking her eyes from hers as she walked. “So it doesn’t matter what my name is to you. I’m not a who, I’m an it. I may look like you but I’m nothing like you. I don’t expect you understand me or give a damn. I just want to get back to the place I know and I’m going to do it with or without your help.” She turned around sharply on her heels, sending a vivid glare at Christopher before completely walking away from both of them. It was a stupid idea to think that humans would help her. I guess I’ll have to do this on my own…Like always, she thought as she kept a steady pace.

[Dineia]

Dineia didn't feel an ounce of pity for the girl, if that was what she was looking for. She had heard all sorts of stories from different kinds of people. She knew very well the prejudice that was everywhere, but she also knew she didn't care what someone was. As long as they were not purposely mean to anyone and as long as they provided some kind of profit, she didn't care if they were even a bug. This girl obviously had some issues.

"That is such a cowards answer!" She shouted. She didn't know why she felt so compelled to keep the girl safe, but to say she didn't care bothered her. She always cared. To a point anyway. "I know exactly what it is like to be considered lower than dirt. I am a half-elf so in the normal world, I am not considered human, nor am I considered an elf. I love my elvish heritage, but they are a proud race so I have no place in there home." Frustrated and not knowing what else to do, Dineia quickly grabbed her whip. With a gentle snap of her wrist she let the end fly towards the girl hoping it would wrap around her waist to stop her retreat. She was skilled enough to know how to catch someone without seriously injuring them.

"I have met my fair share of people whose woes are all because they aren't a normal race of people. What are you that makes you so different? I mean besides you living your life like you have none. I once met a demon once who was always being hunted. Not only that, most people were afraid of him. But you know what was cool about him? He still lived his life."

Dineia gritted her teeth before continuing. "One more thing missy," She started in a threatening tone. "Don't ever refer to me as being a human again." If anyone could see her eyes in the darkness they would have seen the intense fire that burned within. She was finally getting angry and it wasn't going to be pretty if she lost control any more.

[Christoph]

Chris has stood silently throughout the exchange, too frustrated to say anything. They'd just barely escaped an army of undead, and all anyone could do was argue. Chris paced back and forth several feet away and was perfectly content to stay out of it until he heard the sound of Dineia's whip. He stepped toward her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Dineia, that's enough," said Chris in a tone was the same as his grip: firm, but not harsh. Part of him wanted to be offended at how the half-elf spoke of humans. He was willing to let it slide, though; she was clearly upset. Chris only hoped that he could diffuse the situation quickly enough. "Just let it go. If she wants to run, let her." He shot a glare at Chiyo. The last thing that he wanted was to see a petty offense turn violent. His gaze softened as he looked back at Dineia.

"Please... just let it go. It's not worth it."

[LegendaryIsis]

Chiyo's back was facing both of them as she suddenly heard a cracking sound and felt what she soon realized was Dineia's whip wrap around her waist. She let out a small gasp expecting to feel pain but was surprised to find it just sat there loosely, keeping her from taking another step away. Chiyo turned around to look back at Dineia and gazed at her with an unreadable expression. The end of the whip that was around her torso unwound itself as she turned and it fell down to the ground.

She saw that Chris was soon by Dineia's side, trying to restrain her, but Chiyo could tell that Dineia's whip wasn't meant to threaten or harm her. She could tell by the expression the girl was wearing on her face. Chiyo didn't really hear Chris's words or catch the look he sent her. Her mind was now trying to figure out what Dineia was up to. Why does she care so much about what I am, or where I come from? Why is she trying to hard to get to know me? she thought, staring down at the ground.

Suddenly all the muscles in her body began to ache and Chiyo could feel the strain from the fighting she had done. She had never needed to exert herself this much before, and especially wasn't used to fighting so much in her human form. The adrenaline and shock of everything had finally worn off. Chiyo's breath became shorter and she looked up at Dineia with a confused look in her eyes. "I'm...Chiyo..." she managed to get out before falling forward on her knees as her legs gave out from exhaustion. She caught herself and sat on all fours staring at the grass, and blinking her eyes and trying to get her head to stop spinning. She couldn't think or say anything more at that moment, and focused mainly on not blacking out.

[Christoph]

A heavy silence passed, lingering for several seconds. Chris held his breath reflexively, unsure of what was going to happen next. Dineia's action could have easily been mistaken for a hostile one. Strangely though, the girl's expression wasn't that of anger or hostility. It was one of bewilderment.

Christopher took his hand from Dineia's shoulder as the other girl finally gave her name and collapsed to the ground. Perhaps there was more to this girl than simply someone being ungrateful and bitter. One thing that he'd learned since he left Salvar was that he shouldn't be so quick to judge others; different cultures came with different accepted behaviors. It was time to start taking his own advise. He smiled internally.

"It's nice to meet you, Chiyo," said Chris, smiling warmly and offering a hand to help her up. Chiyo... such an interesting name. "My name is Christopher." He exhaled slowly, hoping that the situation had finally cooled down.

"Are you all right? It seems that we've all had quite a night."

[Dineia]

Dineia was in shock. Not only did the girl just collapse, she had given her name. She started to pull her whip back and wind it up still not sure how to react. Chris had finally released her shoulder to greet the girl, but something wasn't right. She had remained motionless on the ground. With a subconscious hand movement, she clipped her whip back to her belt and walked over Chiyo, staring at her trying to determine what the girl was about to do. If anything, she looked as if she was about to black out.

When she heard Chris try to speak to Chiyo, she finally snapped out of her shock. He was rambling and the Chiyo didn't seem to be responding. She shook her head in annoyance and pushed her way around Chris to kneel beside her. "Don't you see she is about to black out?" She said not bothering to hide her annoyance. She looked at the girl and gently grabbed her shoulders.

"Hey Chiyo," She said softly tilting her head to look into her eyes. "Are you all right?" She quickly placed her hand over the girls head to test if she had a fever. Feeling nothing she waited patiently for a response. It would be extremely inconvenient if the girl decided to lose it right then and there. Especially since the night was only just beginning. There would still be at least six hours or more until dawn.

[LegendaryIsis]

Chiyo still sat on all fours, trying to remain conscious. She could hear the other's talking but it all came out as mumurs that she couldn't decipher. One of the voices sounded slightly annoyed and Chiyo blinked in surprise when she felt Dineia's hands on her shoulders. She tilted her head up slightly to look at Dineia before she felt a heavy throb in her head. She winced from the sudden pain and her body went limp in a matter of seconds as the world became a blur to Chiyo.

[Christoph]

Chris cringed at his own foolishness. How had he been so dense as to not even realize how bad of shape the strange girl was in. He shook his head; there was no sense in beating himself up about it now, at any rate.

"Quickly, grab her other arm," instructed Chris urgently, snapping back into the situation. "We need to get her to someplace more secure... being out in the open like this is dangerous if we linger." His eyes darted around anxiously. There was still no sign of their moaning, rotting friends.

"We need to get away from the stream. It's noise will make it too difficult to hear anything coming." He cursed to himself. "I don't know this forest... I have no idea where to look for temporary shelter."

[Dineia]

Dineia had been stunned when the sudden weight pushed down on her arms from Chiyo fainting. It was exactly what she didn't want to happen. She was relieved when Chris jumped to action, and when he had some of the weight she quickly grabbed the girls other arm. "Honestly, I don't know where would be more secure," She said replying to his comment. "If worse comes to worse," She started in between heaves as she began to drag the girl away with them. "We could always wait until she wakes. I am able to see at night, so I could stay on watch." She desperately wished he would agree to the option for her body itself was exhausted and dragging a girl around wasn't helping. She would rather relax and stand guard. After a moment her muscles gave out and she fell backwards onto her rear end. "I don't know about you but I am beat and this is foolishness to just move her in no particular direction. Neither of us knows where we are going and I can't keep doing this." She stayed on the ground, her pants slowly becoming damp from the wet ground. She leaned forward, Chiyo's arm still in her lap. "Not to mention, I don't think she would be too happy if we leave her stuff behind." She finished seeing the bag in the distance.

[Christoph]

"Don't worry, I wasn't going to leave her stuff," Chris assured the half-elf, offering her a hand. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right about moving again. They couldn't very well carry Chiyo off into an unfamiliar forest at night. This was especially true since said forest was infested with zombies. Plus, they were all exhausted. "We have to think of something..." He looked around for a moment and suddenly found the answer to their problems.

"Wait, over there," said Chris, pointing twenty paces up-stream as though he were selling property. A large willow tree was nested near the stream's bank. It wasn't much, but it would provide more cover than staying in the open would. "We can set up camp under that willow. It's probably out best chance."

[Dineia]

Dineia looked at the willow tree he was pointing at. It seemed like a great idea except for one thing. "When you mean 'set up camp', you don't mean lighting a fire do you? The last time you had fire present it brought those creatures in like moths." She declared shaking her head. "We can't risk having any more attack tonight. Not right now anyway."

She quickly took his hand and pulled herself into a squat. Chiyo's arm rolled off her lap into the cold, moistened dirt. "This means we have to move her some more." Dineia said staring at the girl. She resisted the urge to stick out her tongue. She was already tired, and unless they wanted to deal with a flood of undead again, she would have to keep watch. At least until it was closer to dawn. She sighed deeply and stared up at Chris.

"Whenever you want to move her again, just lead the way."

[Christoph]

"Dear god, of course I wouldn't start a fire," said Chris, laughing without even trying. He nodded to Dineia before hefting Chiyo up again. The claw and bite wounds were throbbing terribly, but he simply grit his teeth and fought through the pain. "I said make camp, not open a buffet." He shook his head wearily as they carried the limp Chiyo to the willow like one of the potato sacks that could be found at the tavern back in Christopher's home town.

When they finally reached the tree that would serve as their shelter, Chris set the girl down and nodded to Dineia through his exhaustion. He made his way quietly back to where they had initially found themselves, before returning with their belongings. He set everything at the base of the tree and practically collapsed a few feet away from Dineia.

"This has certainly been an eventful night."

[LegendaryIsis]

Chiyo's body shivered slightly as the night wind rushed over her. She wanted to open her eyes but wasn't sure if she was awake or still sleeping. She tried thinking to herself, and remembering what had happened. She was stuck between a world of awareness and slumber, passing through different forms of unconsciousness. She tried opening her eyes again but her head was too filled with a foggy numbness for her to succeed. She decided to quit fighting and lay back, letting the slumber overtake her.

Suddenly she opened her eyes and found that zombies had surrounded her once again. Not realizing it was some kind of nightmare, she screamed in terror as they all circled around her. Their faces were right in hers now and goosebumps broke out along her entire body as she could smell their putrid breathes. She screamed again which only seemed to provoke them as they all grabbed at her and began tearing her limbs from her body.

In real life she was groaning and tossed and turned in the cool grass as tears spilled down her cheeks. "N-no..."

[Christoph]

Chris exhaled wearily as the moon escaped dark grip of the clouds. He allowed his gaze to settle on the sleeping Chiyo. She seemed to be having a nightmare of some sort. It wasn’t surprising, given what had happened that night. He didn’t wake her, though. She would need her rest. He couldn’t help but smile slightly as he looked the moonlight reflecting from her pale skin and dark hair. It was short lived, however... what secrets was she keeping from them?

“I’ll stay awake with you,” said Chris, turning back to Dineia. He sighed and stretched out. “And we can figure out what to do next in the morning.” They would get out of this safely; he would see to it.

***

A slender figure walked silently through the ancient trees as the veil of night slowly thinned and waned. The stars were dimming candles, fading in the sky. Long red hair fluttered in the wind before settling over the shoulders of a flawless female body wrapped in thin white silk. The woman had a strange, surreal appearance; her skin was pale, her red hair was unusually vibrant, and he eyes seemed to glow in the twilight. She spread her arms in the breeze and ran between the trees. She spun around, laughing and frolicking like a child. Leaves swirled around her in the breeze. Morning was coming; she knew that it would be a good day.

The flutter of wing and feather floated through the forest, forcing yet another smile to her face. A small blue feathered bird flapped its wings and carried itself through the crisp air. It chirped a chipper song and it flew. The woman’s eyes lit up, but she composed herself and gracefully extended a hand, inviting the tiny creature to her. It came closer, but landed on a branch a few feet away instead.

She called to it, singing a sweet Elfish lullaby. The bird tilted its head and hesitated. Such an adorable head. She repeated the verse again, cooing softly. This time, her morning visitor sang back, mimicking the pitch and rhythm. The woman grinned, sang the next verse, and was pleased to hear the tiny bird sing it back to her. They continued calling and answering for several minutes. Finally, her new friend fluttered from its branch to her palm. It gazed up at her with charming, innocent eyes. She was almost overwhelmed with joy... but not quite. There was something missing. But what?

Then, in the midst of their singing, the strange woman’s eyes narrowed and her joyful smile twisted into a sinister grin. With one stern motion, her hand clenched around the small, helpless bird until its singing was silenced. Yes... there it was. She dropped the lifeless creature and spun around. She sighed cheerfully and walked off into the forest again in search of another friend, singing an elfish lullaby.

[Letho]

General Notes: Nothing much, just to say that, regardless of what the score says, I think this story has definite potential and that I’ll keep an eye out for the sequel.


CONTINUITY – 5

It’s a bit hard to score this particular aspect of the quest correctly. On one hand, most of the events that occurred seem a bit random, unconnected. You run into the forest, you just happen to run into a girl from another dimension that is attacked by zombies... On its own, it sounds like a collection of (in)auspicious events. However, I do realize that this is a part of a larger story and that you cut it off here just so judges don’t have to deal with a 10 page monster of a thread. Still, regardless of this detail, there are some things that could’ve been done better and some explanations should’ve been offered. For one, the whole introduction of Chris and Dineia is a bit weak, only vaguely explaining what occurred prior to their escape from Radasanth. This is always a threat when you start sort of in medias res, when part of the story already occurred. Isis was a bit better there, though maybe a bit too elaborate, thus breaking the pacing a little bit.

SETTING – 4

Very basic and rather uninventive, I have to say. This issue is common with forest settings. However, that doesn’t mean it’s justifiable to just blend into the usual forest setting. There is more then just trees and sporadic creeks in the forest. There are shrubs, saplings, decayed logs, stumps, thicket... hell, there could be an ancient graveyard from which these zombies came from. Anything besides just the trees and the darkness. And that’s another thing. I understand that Dineia has night vision, but Chiyo and Chris don’t. I don’t know if any of you were ever in a forest during night. I have and I can tell you even with a flashlight/torch, you can’t run through it without getting scratched by branches, damn near twisting your ankle on the broken twigs and stones hidden beneath the dry leaves. Bottom line is, don’t just make a forest. Make something unique that would make the reader imagine more then just trees and blackness.

PACING – 3

I’m sorry to say, but pacing is probably the weakest aspect of the quest. The chief reason for this is simple: none of you move the story forward enough in your posts. I mean, if you look at the resume of this quest, you can sum it all up in saying that you three ran into the forest, encountered zombies, fought them and ran away. And it took you six pages to do that. Add more content to your posts. Don’t make two pages of zombie fighting. Action can bring up the pace, but not if it lasts for too long and it’s basically just hacking at the zombies. For the sake of the pace, you can try skipping the turn of a character that is not doing anything particular (like that time Chiyo was going to go unconscious) or even bunny each other a little bit, maybe even include the other person’s dialogue. It would make your post longer and add more content into them.

DIALOGUE – 6

Dialogue was generally well done in this quest. I think most of the time it fit your characters and you didn’t do the usual mistake of putting dialogue in where it wasn’t needed, i.e. in a middle of a battle. However, there were some problems with dialogue as well. Sometimes it got lost in the middle of big fat paragraphs, especially in Dineia’s and Chiyo’s case. The general rule is to start a new paragraph whenever dialogue ensues. This is not always the case, like when the dialogue is an extension of what was written in the narrative, but it still shouldn’t get lost somewhere in your posts.

ACTION – 5

There were some discrepancies here that I couldn’t quite explain. For example, when Dineia goes from being a harsh to suddenly caring a whole lot about what happens to Chiyo. Or when Chiyo suddenly falls under the effect of the fatigue. Adrenaline rush usually isn’t a switch that you turn off and then you don’t feel it anymore. Also, at one point in the middle of the fighting, I think all of you completely forgot about weariness and just sliced and diced and ran, and then I think Christoph mentioned that he was tired, and then in the subsequent post, both Chiyo and Dineia both said they were tired too. There were good things too though, like when Dineia made a whip-knife or when Chiyo ran so heedlessly that she failed to notice the hand dangling from her neck. If you keep those interesting details and eliminate the negative ones, you’ll be getting even higher scores here.

PERSONA – 7

Though your posts were often short, I was surprised that there was actually a decent amount of your character’s emotions and thoughts in them. Christopher’s desperation when he was left behind, Dineia’s calculation, Chiyo’s don’t-give-a-damn-about-humans attitude was clearly visible in your posts. I was particularly surprised (in a good way) that you managed to deviate from the cliché in which a bunch of strangers find themselves in a pickle and they all agree to work with each other and proceed as if they were best friends their entire life. Good job.

MECHANICS – 6

There weren’t too many mistakes here. Here and there Dineia became Dinaie or something akin to that, or some words missed a letter or two, or some tense shifts occurred, but generally you did a decent job here. Most of the mistakes are the ones that Word doesn’t pick up, like when you write “muscled” instead of “muscles”.

TECHNIQUE – 4

I’m afraid didn’t see anything fancy here. I think it would help you a lot here that you did some foreshadowing, especially since the quest basically ends with a cliffhanger. The scene with the mean elven lady in the end was neat, but it seemed like a last ditch effort to give some sense to the whole thing, while still leaving a veil of mist around the entire story. I think technique would come to the forefront of your writing more if you took your time to elaborate on your posts, including more of your surroundings and your characters inner state. Then you are forced to use different devices to explain what is going on.

CLARITY – 5

I gave a five here mostly because of the thick paragraphs that occurred here and there, making it difficult for the reader to assimilate all the information. The basic rule is that one paragraphs deals with one thing that’s going on. Once you properly dealt with that with either dialogue or narrative and you move on to the other, make a new paragraph. Sometimes there is a need for long sections of text, but usually, if it’s longer then seven or eight lines, it’s too much.

WILD CARD – 7

Seven, because I’m a big fan of Resident Evil. ;)




TOTAL SCORE – 52


Congratulations!!!

SPOILS:

Christoph gets 775 EXP and 50 GP
Dineia gets 700 EXP and 50 GP
LegendaryIsis gets 650 EXP and 50 GP


EXP/GP added!!!
Christoph levels up!