Patti...
Thanks for being the OFFICIAL keeper of adresses. Thanks a lot since my
original address got beayen down by my father when he took apart my comp
to upgrafe it. Sourry if I kinda misspell stuff today, I'm sick with
fever so I type slow and can;y see the keyboard clearly.
I wanted to send this part off yesterday, but ht ML crashed/ Oh well...
It's safe to assume that people who believe that Reality Bites live in
the world on their own creation. A world fashioned by their own
imagination...through art, through dreams, through anything one
perceives as her destiny. Where the impossible is possible, where
dreams are reality, where the end is endless....a mixture of paradoxes
all blended together in one fantastic realm.
Some call it a place for dreamers, those who defy Reality on their own
accord. Others call it hogwash, that such a world exists. And still,
others believe that this is a realm of beginnings, endings, and
eternity....where nothing is limited as long as the person has a
complete control of her visions.
Though the place remains nameless, I believe the third statement.
Where visionaries like us are given a perchance to dream, to explore the
possibilities of one's mind, one's imagination.
I called this place Ether.
A.C.E. NON-JQ PRODUCTIONS hesitantly presents........
E. T. H. E. R.
(Everything Through Heart, Everything Real)
I figured that Ether was a perfect name for the place. Webster defined
it as "An imaginary substance regarded by the ancients as filling all
the space beyond the sphere of the moon, and making up all the stars and
planets."
Ether is a substance that creates, yet it exists as something unproven,
something unreal. Something that makes things possible.
Something that works like a person's mind, one's imagination.
Something that captures the attention of everyone's soul.
In my case, however, it went through extremes. It captured my
attention alright.......
By pulling me in. PHYSICALLY.
And so my journey on Ether begins.
EPISODE TWO: THE CHILD MERCENARY
Alexis opened her eyes slowly, groaning softly as sulight pierced
through her eyelids. She lay still, until her blurry vision came to
focus.
She sat up, moticing that she was on a pile of lush, green grass. She
looked up at the dark green folilade of trees covering her location like
a canopy.
"HEY!" Alexis exclaimed, jumping from the ground. She eyed her
surroundings frantically. A green forest surrounded her, a sparkling
brook near her side.
She didn't recall having a brook in her backyard, or a forest.
"This doesn't look like my BACKYARD!"
Alexis sighed, a black strand of hair falling on her face. She brushed
it away impatiently as she carefully walked around the strange place.
"Did I...WALK home from school?" she thought, peering at the dark part
of the forest curiously. She snorted at the thought, she never walked
home from school because she'll have to cross the freeway and that was
practically suicide. "Dammit, I don't remember how I got here! Mom's
gonna KILL me!"
She berated herself silently for getting lost. She stared at her
surroundings again. "But the place...looks...FAMILIAR somehow..."
The black-haired girl stopped, then spotted a red-yellow-green
something on the grass beside her. She stopped down to pick it up.
"Oh...my notebook," Alexis said, staring at the multi-colored cover.
She flipped the pages and found her simple, black signpen stuck in one
of it's pages. "Oh yeah....I marked the page so I could finish a part
of 'Crimes that Bind'. But I don't remember carrying it with me."
She frowned, feeling the ground rumbling beneath her feet. She stared
down on the dusty path, seeing the tiny pebbles on it bouncing up and
down. "What the--"
The rumbling grew louder, and Alexis turned around to see A stampede of
four legged animals charging at her.
"YEAAAAAAARRGGGHHHHH!"
Through instinct, Alexis dove out of the way, rolling to the ground in
a tight ball, her arms protecting her head as a stampede of deer rushed
passed her, sending clouds of dust at their wake.
When the rumbling ceased. Alexis hesitantly stood up, looking back and
forth.
"Wild deer in California?" she muttered, raising an eyebrow. "The
Animal Crisis Center's gonna have a field day with THIS one!"
"OOOOHHHH DAMN!"
Alexis turned to see a panting, young girl staggering at the dirt path
in front of her. She had a knife bared in her hand, and she looked
tired and annoyed.
Alexis blinked. "What the--," she thought, speechless.
She figured she might as well ask directions.
Alexis approached the girl carefully, eyeing the knife. Jael, her
friend, taught her how to disarm an armed person with a twist of the
wrist. In any case, she had to be on her guard. The girl looked like a
lunatic.
"Errr....excuse me?"
"Stupid deer!" the girl muttered, stamping her booted feet on the
ground. "THERE goes my dinner! Jeez! You'ld think by now they'd realize
and accept their place in the food chain! They're MEANT to be eaten, I
tell ya!"
The black-haired girl blinked. "Uhhh....okay...."
Alexis surveyed the appearance of the young girl, who looked no more
than twelve years old under her perception. As she did, she noticed
that the kid was doing the same.
The young girl blinked at Alexis. She had her hair in a pony tail,
with a sword hanging from her side. She had a leather pouch on the side
of her hip, and black gloves covered her hands. She was dressed in a
long, green tunic and black leggings, with a yellow sash wrapped around
her waist. Her feet were encased in soft-looking brown boots.
"Boy," the girl tsked in disapproval, eyeing the taller, black-haired
girl. "You sure dress strange."
Alexis looked down at her clothes. She was dressed in a loose, white
button down polo shirt, a short khaki skirt, white socks, and
black-and-white nike sneakers with a big, jeans jacket tied around her
waist. Her hair was, as usual, worn in a high pony-tail with black
strands escaping it to frame her face.
"ME dress strange," Alexis cried defensively. "What about YOU?! You
look like one of those gang banging muggers about to hold me up!"
The girl raised her eyebrow. "What's a mugger?" she asked.
Alexis sighed. "Nevermind," she muttered. "Do you by any chance
happen to know how to get to Westchester from here?"
The girl looked at her exasperatedly. "What? There's no place called
Westchester as far as I know," she replied. "The nearest town around
here's called Escasalon."
The girl crouched down to tighten the string of her boots. "You're not
from around here, are ya?"
"How would I know if I don't even know WHERE I am?!" Alexis cried in
exasperation. "I'm tired, I'm hungry, and my CONTACTS are drying up!"
The girl looked at her as if she were crazy. "You're strange," she
commented bluntly. The kid sighed. "Well, in case you don't know, this
place's called Shale. It's the western continent on the Varr ocean."
"WHAT?!"
The girl looked annoyed as she eyed Alexis, who was trying to keep a
hold of her rarely unleashed temper. "Listen, lady," the girl said
gruffly. "I don't know where you think you are, but this is the
Gretcera Woods. Wherever Westchester is, it sure ain't here!"
Alexis sighed. She mentally diagnosed that the young child standing
before her was mentally unbalanced.
"Well, thanks anyway...." Alexis muttered, turning to walk away.
"..for NOTHING!" her brain cried, frustrated.
Suddenly, a loud, sharp sound echoed in her ear. It sounded like a
mixture between a growling, a rumbling, and the wind whistling.
She jumped when she heard a loud, inhuman shriek.
The young girl jumped to her feet, her eyes wide. She rushed towards
Alexis' direction, grabbing her hand.
"C'mon!" the child cried, tugging at Alexis' arm. "We gotta get going!
NOW!"
"What the HELL'S going--"
The foilage of trees above them burst in a shower of green and red
leaves. A large, dark shadow loomed above them. Both girls' eyes
widened in fear at the gaze of two, reptillian golden eyes.
A medium-sized, black and navy blue dragon loomed above them, flapping
its wings, growling. It's claws shined silver in the sun, and the
scales reflected off a rainbow-colored light. Its wings flapped
gracefully in the wind....
And it eyed them hungrily, the blue-green jewel on its forehead glinted
as menacingly as its eyes.
"It's a Wyvern!!!!" the young girl cried.
"SHIT!" Alexis cried. An inner alarm started ringing in her head as
she realized how beef steak felt when she went down for dinner during
Fridays at her house.
"RUN!" the child yelped, turning back into the forest.
The two doubled back into the trees. The Wyvern roared in the air and
started swooping down into the path.
Alexis ran faster than she ever did in her life. She told her brain to
shut up when it started commenting on the wonders of adrenalin. She was
accustomed to running quickly, but she'll have to do more than her
regular pace to outrun a large, flying reptile.
She ran even faster, preventing herself from screaming, her heart
pounded in her chest and she could practically feel the hot breath of
the creature at the back of her neck. Trees and rocks passed her in a
blur as she hurdled over a fallen tree trunk lying on her path.
The young girl gasped and panted beside her as the two continued
running. She kept up with the pace of the older girl with the strange,
light shoes.
"In here!" the child yelled, grabbing Alexis' arm and steering her to a
sharp right, diving into the dark green bushes.
The Wyvern closed in their direction, emitting hot steam puffs from
it's nostrils. Alexis squeezed her eyes shut. "Please don't see us,
please don't see us please don't see us...." she chanted inside her
head.
A loud, whistling sound shot out into the air. A loud, inhuman shriek
followed, echoing eeriely throughout the forest.
The black-haired teen opened her eyes to see hordes of arrows flying
out at the flying creature, striking it everywhere, some imbedding
themselves into the creature's scales while some of them got reduced to
ashes by one, fiery breath.
The Wyvern shrieked, then started spiralling to the ground, landing in
a heavy, loud thump. Its breath coming out in tired puffs of smoke.
"Who--" Alexis murmured.
"Terran Elves," the girl whispered beside her. "They live in these
parts. Very skilled archers, not like their aquatic cousins who usually
dabble with magic."
"Oh, I see...." Alexis mused. She blinked. "ELVES?!"
The two stood up as five elves surveyed the fallen, medium-sized
dragon. One of them poked the unconscious form with a stick.
The young girl approached the elves, smiling slightly. "Thanks a lot,
Maliha," she told the elf who poked the dragon with a stick.
Maliha grinned and brushed her golden hair away from her face. Green
eyes peered at the young child set in a taned face. She held a gold and
silver bow on her hands and was dressed in a green and black tunic and
black boots. Two long ears poked from the wisps of blond hair on her
head.
Alexis' jaw dropped.
"You're...you're an...oh my gawd!" the teenager cried. "Where on Earth
am I?!!!!"
Maliha looked at her, puzzled. She turned to the child. "What's an
Earth?" she asked her. The young girl just shrugged.
"She's been talking this way ever since I found her while I was chasing
my dinner," the girl said. She lowered her voice a little. "I think
she's a little sick right here..." she said, gesturing at her head.
"I am NOT crazy!" Alexis cried indignantly, hearing the comment despite
the hushed words. If there was one thing Alexis could do, it was
hearing and distinguishing far away voices. "I am PERFECTLY balanced,
thank you very much!"
Maliha gave Alexis a once over. "You're not from around here, aren't
you?" she observed.
"Gee...what gave you THAT idea?" Alexis muttered, exasperated beyond
belief.
"I can tell by your clothes," Maliha continued, missing the sarcasm in
Alexis' tone. She turned to the Wyvern. "Hmm...looks like we could use
this thing for our dinner."
Alexis' eyes widened. She looked at the Wyvern again, sprawled
unconscious, its dark scales shining in the sunlight, emitting a rainbow
colored glow.
"Why not let it go?" she asked quietly.
The young girl looked at her with a wrinkled expression. "And you SAY
you're not crazy!" she said.
"I'm NOT!" Alexis countered defensively. Her expression softened.
"I've never seen a real Dragon..."
"Wyvern," Maliha corrected. "There's a difference."
"Fine," Alexis said. "I've never seen a real Wyvern before....and it
looks magnificent. Besides, you really can't blame the thing, it was
hungry."
"Ah...eh heh heh heh..." the girl said, rubbing the bridge of her
nose. She patted Alexis' shoulder. "You're not from around here, so I
guess you don't know about a Wyvern's eating habits. They're TOTALLY
unpredictable, and if ya don't kill it while ya have the chance, it can
kill you!"
Alexis shrugged off the arm. "But it's...it's too BEAUTIFUL to be
slaughtered!" she argued. "I mean....what didja think those DEER
thought of you when you chased them for dinner? If ya got knocked down
by one of them, would you like them to kill you when all you're doing is
making sure you had food to survive?"
The black-haired girl approached the unconscious beast carefully. By
now, the Wyvern was awake, blinking at her with confusion.
"Jeez, you'ld think being older, she'd have more sense," the young girl
sighed, eyeing the teenager as she touched the scales hesitantly.
"It's alright now," Alexis told the reptile. "As long as you don't try
and gnaw off my limbs, I won't let them hurt you...err..hurt you MORE,
okay?" She brought her hand to touch the jewel on its scaly forehead
slightly in a comforting gesture as the Wyvern gave a little hiss in
defense. "Jeez, you'ld think you'ld have a better meal catching DEER
than humans. Venison's pretty good sometimes, ya know. Why not go for
exotic stuff? I mean, human meat only tastes like ordinary chicken...at
least, that's what I heard. Broaden your horizons a little, for crying
out loud."
Maliha looked at the young girl beside her, confusion written on her
face. The youngster shrugged and twirled her finger around her temple
in a gesture to imply that the stranger in the khaki skirt was crazy.
The Wyvern gave her a pained croak as wavery lines started engulfing
the creature's body.
Alexis drew back her hand. "What the--"
A bright light exploded in front of her eyes. The young girl and the
elves stood back, unsheathing their weapons.
"Get out of there!" Maliha yelled at Alexis, aiming her arrow at the
glowing beast.
Alexis was too stunned to move, seeing the creature writhe and glow in
front of her. A crackling sound reached her ears as her brain tried to
register what was happening.
The light faded. Alexis blinked and rubbed her eyes, then looked at
the Wyvern.
It was gone....and the creature was replaced by a young, blond-haired
male dressed in a black-and blue tunic.
"ACK!" Alexis yelped, stumbling backwards from the being. "Wha-- but
you were...and then...."
Maliha lowered her bow and arrow. "A halfling....." she murmured. The
elf looked at the young child beside her. "Calm down, Ann...."
Ann lowered her sword, her eyes wide. "Oh wow..." she murmured, her
eyes wide. "A halfling....it's not every day one of the Wyverns would
produce a half-human...offspring. It's against their rules." She eyed
the lad sympathetically. "His entire family would have been banished or
exiled or killed. I heard it was the consequence of having a
half-child."
The sandy-haired lad looked at Alexis with tired, blue eyes. She
blinked back in return.
"Thanks," he grated out before he lapsed into unconsciousness.
Alexis peered at him, wide-eyed, then poked his side with her finger.
Ann came over and hesitantly bent over the unconscious male.
"Is he...dead?" she asked.
"I'm not....sure," Alexis replied. "But he's still breathing, so..."
Maliha sighed. "It won't do him much good if we keep there bleeding,"
she said briskly. She turned to the other elves. "C'mon, let's carry
him back to the citadel."
As the other four elves reached to carry the blond-haired lad. Maliha
turned to Ann. "C'mon, mercenary, we got food in our place. Yoi're
more than welcome to join us."
Maliha looked at Alexis. "And you, foreigner. What do you call
yourself?"
Alexis brushed the dust away from her khaki skirt and looked at
Maliha. "I'd call myself tired, sleepy, and had a heck of a long day,"
she replied loftily. "But if you want a name...it's Alexis Ericta, aged
sixteen."
Maliha nodded. "It's an unusual name," she told her. "It won't do you
much good to stay out in a strange land all by yourself. We have strict
policies of having strangers visit our citadel, but you seem like a
harmless sort. You're more than welcome to join us."
"Well...thanks."
Ann tugged at Alexis' sleeve as the elves walked deeper into the
forest, carrying the blond half-dragon. "C'mon," she said hurriedly.
"Let's move. The citadel's really great, you'll like it!"
With that, the child mercenary dragged Alexis with her as she ran to
keep up with the elves.
END EPISODE TWO
*sniff* Copy ad paste rules..:)
NEXT EPISODE...
The blond chuckled. "Boy, you got it rough," he replied. He gave her
a grudging smile. "Thanks for stopping them from killing me," he said
gratefully. "It's not everyday a strange girl would call me
'beautiful'."
Alexis took a sip of water. "I meant your draconic..."
"Wyvern."
She sighed. "Fine, Wyvern," she replied. "I meant your Wyvern form.
It's not everyday I get to see one...well, YOU'RE the first one I've
seen in real life, though I've seen lots of pictures."
The blond boy's blue eyes landed on the yellow, red, and green covered
notebook she had on her lap. "Alexis, huh?" he inquired, gesturing at
the name in black ink scribbled on the cover."
"Yeah. At your service," Alexis replied. "What's your name?"
The blond leaned back on the wall, grimacing a little at the bruises on
where he landed on the ground.
"Well, my Wyvern name's Xalcathon," the halfling replied. "But in
human form, my name's Maverick."
EPISODE THREE: THE HALFLING
coming soon hopefully....
--
---Alexis: Chaos Insanity Ensuer
FANTASY QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
"She will remember your heart when men are fairy tales in books written
by rabbits."
-- The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
(
geocities.com/televisioncity)