The Far Side of the World

[Damion]

He ran light and silent beneath dark trees. Planted scarce months ago, the Toryn Seed had transformed the forest three days ride north of Miniopia. The forest had turned dark, and brooding, cousin to the shadowy depths of the Black Forest, which lay to the east of the huge city.

The Blue Druid drew power from his forest. It sheltered its attendants, in a way. A Druid did not survive a Toryn forest for long unless he knew the habits of the trees. They were dark, infected, filled with animosity, rage at life. The Toryn forest killed without thought, without mercy, and without discrimination. Intruders died, as surely as the sun came up every morning. Damion never found bodies, but every now and again, he heard the screams. There was power here, though, vast power; vast enough to drive the trees mad. They were larger at the center, nearer the focal point, larger and more vicious. The largest surrounded his cottage.

No one should have been able to get past those massive sentinels. No one should even catch sight of the sentinels...and yet his cottage was burning. How they had managed to get that far in the forest at all, much less do so without his knowledge, was a problem for later. They had failed in their objective, these unknown assailants. They were still alive, and they still pursued him, but they had failed, and they would die soon. Chasing a Blue Druid was like trying to trap water with open hands.

-----

Hiro waited, hidden amid the limbs of a tree on the edge of the forest. They were skilled, these strangely clothed intruders. They moved with a silence and grace that he had assumed was foreign to this world, ghosting into and out of the small lean-to that housed his bedroll as efficiently as any assassins he had ever seen. They had barely even showed confusion when they discovered him absent, had seperated and started into the forest with barely a pause. That had been their first mistake, and would be their downfall.

Three months previous, he would have been unable to stay here this long. The tree would have moved, the branch would have folded, a limb would have curved to try to sweep him off, something would have been done to make his life harder, and would have continued until he left the forest. Like any predator, they had to be cowed, shown who was boss. Now, he had...an agreement. At least with this part of the forest.

No screams yet. That was both good and bad. On the one hand, he would have to kill more of them on his own, but on the other...His feral mouth parted in a grin, yellow slitted eyes narrowing. This world had yet to provide him a suitable challenge. The first victim stalked beneath him on feet that would have been inaudible to any human. Hiro's pointed ears turned to follow the sound, and he dropped like a shadow. One down, six to go. They had underestimated the senses of the last member of a race that had vanished from the face of the planet over two millenia ago. Understandable, but unforgivable, that was their second mistake.

-----

In seconds, it was done. Damion whirled out of the shadows and through the group like a knife through warm butter. By the time the first body slumped to the ground, the druid was the only living person in the vicinity. His eye turned east, and he started off again, the silvery Blade flowing back up his arm to its hidden place in the thick collar of his cloak.

-----

He was cleaning his blade of the blood of his last opponent when a sound startled him to his feet, whirling to confront the assailant, blade at the ready in his right hand, the claws of his left extended. The young man who lived in the center of this cursed forest. He retracted his claws, lowered his blade, eyeing the other warily. The young man grinned and opened his hand. a broken twig fell to the soft ground. Hiro's face showed nothing, but he waited for his heart to stop pounding. The boy was an unknown, cunning and unpredictable. He stood by when he should attack, and charged forward when he should stay his blade. His good eye was deep green, by turns deeply expressive and as unreadable as a stone wall. He was a loose cannon. And he was frighteningly skilled; no one should have been able to move that quietly.

-----

Damion bowed low to the humanoid before him. Yoshi Hiromatsu was an acquaintance, had been a comrade in arms during the wars which succeeded the opening of the Portals of Zhova. His eye took in the body behind the catlike former assassin, recognized the clothing, and gears began to turn.

"You were attacked as well, I see."

A nod, and Hiromatsu returned to cleaning his blade. He had been born mute, and communicated only through a language of hand forms and gestures. That language had been lost long ago.

"Have you had time to check the bodies yet?"

Negative. The forcrad stood and slipped the clean blade into the sheath on his back.

"Did they have a leader?"

Shake.

"I'll check this one, you go and get the rest, I'll meet you at your shack. Look for a silver coin."

Nod. The black clothed humanoid strode off through the night, heading for the edge of the forest. Damion knelt, rolled the body over, and started searching.

-----

When Hiro emerged from the forest, the younger man tossed him something that glimmmered and flashed in the starlight. He caught it deftly in one fur-covered hand and examined it, retrieving one from a pocket woven into the dark clothing that looked as though it was made from one long strip, wrapped innumerable times around the muscular body. They were identical. His eyes went to the druid, leaning against the shack.

"I think we'd better check on your friends, Hiromatsu. Do you need to pack?"

Hiro shook his head slowly, slipping both coins back into his pocket.

"You know where they are?"

He didn't. He only knew where one had gone, but there was no way for him to make that clear, so he just nodded and started off, knowing the young druid would be right behind him...even though he heard nothing.

-----

Miniopia was a boomtown. Founded two years ago, it had grown exponentially since, and was now the largest single city in the known world, a haven and a melting pot for all. In Miniopia, dwarves bumped shoulders with elves, religious leaders bade good morning to eachother daily. It was the home of the freethinkers, the inventors and the artists, and as such had given birth to technological advances previously undreamt of. Anything and everything could be found in the sprawling city, and the huge black man from a time before time was one of the many who now made it their homes for exactly that reason.

[Zzyxx]

Zzyxx was present in Miniopia that day, namely because his manor was running low on supplies and he deceided that he needed the travel. On his way to the city, he noticed a large, dark forrest that gave off an evil vibe. Zzyxx didn't know what to make of this, but he decided best to leave it alone. The denizens of a forrest he could handle, the forrest itself.... he was not that powerful yet. Yet was the key word in many of Zzyxx thoughts. He was always striving to make himself stronger, better, more able to defend those he cared for. The problem was finding something that would be challenging to vanquish, but wouldn't kill him. He had been close to death far too many times to count. He had arrived at the city and, for now, all was good though he was still on the look out for adventure.

[Diablo]

Diablo was walking through the town, though he was a vile creature Kain was in control and had suppressed him into the back of his mind. Kain had taken the responsibility of housing Diablo in his mind granted he was Kain’s creation, his best and most powerful to be exact. Diablo almost trifled his own power and managed to take control every once in a while when Kain was under extreme pain, pressure or when his rage took over but for no he was calm and connected to his senses. Feeling the dark taint from the forest made Diablo somewhat stronger. Tainted things always caused him to gain power and this could be bad if he was able to gain control once more. Kain spotted Zzyxx and waved to him, walking over, “You sense the tainted forest as well?” Kain gave a worried look towards the direction where the taint seemed to come from.

[Zzyxx]

Zzyxx looked over at Diablo. He put his hands in the pockets of his duster... you never could be too sure what diablo would do next, best to be prepared.

"Aye, I saw it really, my shadow sence has thankfully all but faded away."

[Diablo]

Kain seeing the movement of Zzyxx, smirked. "You have no worries, I, Kain, am in contoll, Diablo is nothing but a scare on my hands.. For now."

Kain stretched a bit, he had just awaken from a nap.

"You have any ideas on what to do about this? It sems dangerous but mayhap we can take it if we work together or at least inspect why its giving off this bad omen."

[Zzyxx]

Zzyxx looked back in the direction of the woods. He knew his bad feelings were justified... but his curiosity won out.

"Ok, we can check it out... but i'm not getting under any branches. Evil forrest are water by blood, not streams."

[Diablo]

"Very well then, but if worst comes to worst, we can the tourch the sucker."

Kain's hand was soon cover with fire for a few seconds. He waved the fire away adn turned towards the tainted forrest. "Shall we? I can fly us or we can walk, its up to you mortal."

[Zzyxx]

"Go ahead and fly me. I have never flown before."

[Diablo]

Kain took two steps back and ran forward, he scooped up Variah onto his back and grabbed Zzyxx under his arms. The three flew towards the forest.

[Zzyxx]

Zzyxx looked down, got queazy for a second then suddenly burst into an extended

"WEEEEEEE!!!"