Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Build: Average
Skin: Light Brown
Hair: Tan-gold, braided, to low back
Eyes: Golden amber
Appearance: Helki tends to prefer loose, comfortable-fitting clothing in dark, earthy tones. She is strong and fit, her skin a deeply tanned light brown, and her large eyes are golden amber. Her long, fine hair is often braided neatly in a plait that reaches almost to her waist, and the brown-gold strands have been bleached by the sun.
Other Form: By donning the sacred Priestess' skin, she can transform herself into the form of an elk. The revered Elk Priestess of her people is a huge creature considerably taller than most elk with pure white fur, which gives her the appearance of a mystical ghost.
Personality: Though calm and sensible much of the time, Helki has an uncontainable thirst for adventure. She is good-tempered and optimistic, as well as clever and deft. She is mostly a loner, however, who keeps to herself and is content to watch others; she has a good memory for what she sees.
Bond: Insensa Toerii
From: Offworld Avengaean Bonding Project
Sponsorling: Rijesi
The old priestess, her ash-white hair long and braided, lies in her tent, frail and weak. She knows her time is nearly spent, and she prepares herself to choose a successor. A new Priestess of the Elk People will be chosen today.
The village is bustling with activity as people prepare for the ritual and the feasting and celebrating which will follow. In the activity, the young woman is completely overlooked as she walks towards the tent which holds the Altar of the Elk People. Helki steals inside unnoticed, and she stands in front of the Altar of her people. It is made of polished wood and covered with a thin lining of gold; the etchings carved into the sides tell the history of the Elk Priestesses. And, of course, draped reverently over the Altar, was the sacred skin itself. The pelt of an enormous elk, with smooth, ivory white fur, large enough to cover a human and cloak them. The Shroud of the Elk Priestess.
A glance to the left, a glance to the right. Nobody’s around, nobody’s looking. Helki steps softly up to the Altar, and hesitantly, she sticks out her hand, almost afraid to touch the skin. She steels her nerves, however, and snatches the skin in one swift moment, folding it into a bundle which she stuffs under her cloak. She dashes out of the tent.
The rest of the tribe could hardly fail to notice that their sacred skin had been stolen, and retribution was swift. The hunters were sent into the forest, this time to track a human prey. Helki could hear them approaching, and she ran away, as fast as her legs could carry her, the stolen skin still clasped tightly in her hands. She ran, on and on, until her legs began to ache and her breathe became shorter and shorter. Still, the tribe’s hunters followed her trail; worse, they were gaining, coming closer to her as she slowed.
She nearly cried out as she tripped over a loose stone, but she stifled her cry. She could hear her chasers’ footsteps now, and she dived to the side, off of the trail, to try to hide. It was no use; she hadn’t wanted to use this yet, but now she had no choice. She unraveled the skin in her arms, the long pelt falling to drape across her legs and brush the grassy ground.
Helki threw the skin over her head and shoulders like a cloak, and allowed it to drape over her arms and legs. She nearly cried out in surprise when the Change began. It didn’t hurt, precisely, but it was a strange feeling to have her body mold itself into a new shape. It felt like hours, but after only a few minutes, the change was complete.
A radiant, white-furred elk stood up, causing the hunters to gasp as it towered over them. It dashed away suddenly, hooves moving far swifter over the ground than a feeble human’s, and the hunters soon lost sight of it.
Helki felt like laughing as she raced over the ground much faster than she could have in her own human body. Now she felt powerful, full of boundless energy, as if she could run forever. She had left the hunters far behind, still in shock at witnessing the sacred elk. She snorted to herself smugly.
The huge elk slowed to a stop as she looked around her. Her long ears perked up alertly at the sound of branches and leaves crackling in something other than wind. Her heightened senses detected the sound of more hunters. Except these were no mere humans.
Helki gasped silently as a large, black-furred wolf stepped out of the brush in front of her, teeth glistening in a snarl. As if on cue, a chorus of unearthly howls sounded through the air, signaling the approach of the rest of the pack.
Scared now, Helki pivoted and dashed away from the wolf. She could tell from the snarls behind her that the wolf was running after her. She, however, was larger and faster than the predator, and the sounds of pursuit soon began to fade. It was too soon to celebrate her escape.
A virtual wall of wolves faced her, eyes glinting and teeth shining maliciously. The rest of the pack had found her, and were now surrounding her, enclosing her in an ever-tightening circle. There was no more running; she would have to fight her way out, or die here.
She struck out at the nearest wolves with her heavy hooves, striking a few and making others back away cautiously. She could not take on all the wolves at once, however, and one burly wolf leapt onto her back and sunk his teeth into the back of her neck. She bucked, trying to throw him off, but other wolves were attacking, snapping at her belly and legs, and she was slowly sinking to her knees…
The hunters had returned empty-handed to the village, having lost the thief. The tribe was outraged at the desecration of their altar, but the old Priestess was silent. She settled down in front of the fire, and slowly, the tribespeople gathered around her, recognizing the beginnings of a spell.
Eyes focused as they had not been for many years, the Priestess began chanting in the old tongue, sending a magical punishment that would reach the heretical thief, even when the hunters could not.
“Spirits, avenge your Priestess! Cut the thief’s ties to this world, set her adrift on the black tides outside of time!”
Too weak now to fight back, Helki at last tumbled to the ground in a pile of wolves, but before she hit the ground, everything changed. It was black and silent all around her, and she shivered in the biting cold. There was nothing around her. Was this death?
An eternity seemed to pass in this place, it might have been minutes or years, Helki could not tell. Finally, something happened. She first felt a warm breeze, like a wind from a heated desert. Then, all at once, she fell out of wherever she had been, collapsing in a heap on a hot, sandy floor.
She struggled to her feet, somehow tore off the elk skin, and looked around her, in her own human form. Expansive desert around her in all directions. With nothing else to do, she wrapped the skin around her shoulders and set off towards the setting sun.
It seemed hours later when she came to a vast city of metal. It soon became apparent to her that the inhabitants were no strangers to magic, either. She wandered through the streets, taking in all the varied sights around her.
She found someone who understood her language, and she discovered she was in Driolo, on the Planet Atu. It didn’t take long for someone to direct her to the school, and with nothing else to do and nowhere else to go, she decided it wouldn’t be too bad an idea to bond a dragon…
Bond: Helki
Gender: Female
Breed: 5/8 Air
Mother: Jesreaea Toerii
Father: Tellae Caelumpictor
Height: 14'
Length: 28'
Colour: Green-Yellow
Number: 10
Personality: A bit of a romantic at heart, Insensa has as much a love for adventure as her bond. She, however, is quite the talker. Where Helki might want to keep silent, Insensa is all about exchanging news and info with the locals, even trading (or stealing, if she can get away with it!) items of value.
Abilities: Verbal Speech, Psionics (Telepathy, Telekinesis, Teleporation), Invisibility, Shapeshifting (Human)