Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:45:17 +0000 From: mvnwiid@gmail.com Subject: Toramdon Eyes - Chapter 6 All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. All rights reserved. The moral right of the author has been asserted. Chapter 6 The Eddar Woods The sun was shining through the trees as Mordain, Handar, Roxy, Richard and Jason through the forest; a cold bitter wind rustling the leaves of the trees. There were strange noises to be heard from all directions. The ancient trees held a foreboding air. The four friends were very uncomfortable, yet Handar seemed in his element. They walked over logs, dodging trees, and listened to the sounds of the woods. "This is creepy; the noises alone are enough to drive me insane." Roxy said climbing over a log It was around midday yet through the leaves of the dense woods it looked like dusk. Handar suddenly came to a halt, "Something is wrong," his head turning left and right, he got his bow out from his shoulder and readied it. "Get behind me," Handar said. The four friends huddled behind Handar, "What's going on?" Mordain asked. "I'm not sure, my elven senses are telling me something shifted in the big scheme of things, I don't know if we are threatened or if something else changed. It might be the change is another presence nearby, I don't want to take any chances." "Right..." Mordain answered... "Your elven senses." They stood like that for awhile until it became evident that there was no threat nearby. Handar frowned; his delicate face twisting awkwardly, "something is up guys; I can't place my finger on it. Let's get to a clearing and rest a bit." Handar walked out ahead, and the rest followed vigorously, not really knowing what's going on, but figured it best not to argue. They got to a waterfall and a river flowing, like a little peace of heaven. The beautiful colors sparkling from the fall, the natural gardens around them. "This is a beautiful grove" Mordain said in awe. Mordain walked over to a little garden of flowers. The other three went to the river to get a drink. "This is really beautiful. Roxy exclaimed. I would not have imagined an evil looking forest could hold something this beautiful." "This is the Eddar River, said Handar; it flows from the great ocean up to the Sojet Mountain Range. This is one of the smaller waterfalls. Also the river is diverse with life. The mer-people abide in there; they rule the oceans and rivers. "Really, is it safe though? Because I'm hot as hell." Roxy asked. " As long as you stay here and don't stray, it will be safe." Handar answered. "I want go swim, come guys race you there!" Roxy said and ran off. Roxy, Richard and Jason ran over to the river and jumped in, clothes and all. Mordain looked over at the river shook his head, laughed, and looked back at the flowers. He had never seen anything like it before, so beautiful, he touched one of the flowers and tried to pick it. "I wouldn't do that if I was you," Handar smiled. Mordain looked back to the flower patch, and saw the flowers coming to life; the pedals looked like they were a dress to a little human with wings." "Flower sprites like to live near a river; they need the spray from the water to survive." Handar said. Five sprites flew up to Mordain - Alive with colors. "Hi there..." Mordain said holding out his hand to one of the sprite went closer to his hand and sat on his finger. "They are so beautiful" Mordain said almost in a whisper. The sprite smiled at him and said in a sing-song voice: "We are the sprites, and are one with the universe; we are embodiments of what we are. I am a flower sprite, you have showed me kindness Mordain of earth, I grant you my gate opened." None of his friends seemed to notice, they were by the river, and Handar sat by a tree and smiled at Mordain. "What is your name?" Mordain asked. The sprite smiled at him, the other four that awakened flew around him in strange patterns. "That is not important." "What do you mean?" Mordain was mesmerized by the creatures' beauty. The sprite giggled and flew away, colors dancing around her. "Thank you Mordain." And she disappeared into the forest. Mordain was stunned for a second, he looked over at Handar. "Come here Mordain." Handar said. Mordain walked over to Handar feeling a little strange, as if a new way to breathe had just been discovered for him. As if he could do...more. Mordain sat next to Handar; they looked over at the other three swimming in the river, cooling down. "There is something you need to know" Mordain shuffled closer. "Your power works differently than the rest of your friends. If I am correct, you have four the original five's Toramdon eyes' powers. Just possession is missing." Mordain nodded, "So, Possession was the fifths power, awesome. How does my power work then?" Handar looked stern once again, as if he was thinking hard. "Mordain you are the most Powerful of the five Toramdon Eyes. When the Original five got their powers, laws of power by power was made. Yours was the strictest. Your power is the hardest to control and ultimately the most destructive. So think about it, of the five most powerful beings in the universe, you are the most powerful. You see, there are creatures on Torandia called sprites, they are embodiments of what they represent. Like you just met a flower sprite, she is literally a flower, but with a spirit, and alive, so to speak. There are a lot of different sprites, like Steam sprites and even flame sprites, not all of them as beautiful as the one you just saw, but equally important. They are part of the Fay familia, and..." "So they are like fairies then?" Mordain asked. "Yes, they are in the same family, now when your powers were discovered four thousand years ago, a deal was struck with the Fay Queen Lilith. Every time your power comes to the Toramdon Eyes he will not have all of his powers opened up to him. It was given to the Sprites of Torandia to guard, everyone guarding their part and like of the power." "Yes." Mordain listened closely. "Now the elements are Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and Spirit on earth, right?" Handar asked. "Yes it is." Mordain answered. "It's the same here, except we have an additional force we added to our elements called Nature. The flower Sprite is of the Nature element, a flower. "Okay, I understand, but what has that got do with my power?" "The elemental parts of your powers were divided up between the sprites. The reason behind that is only that when you discover your powers you can't control it that well. This teaches a person to be in control, and not have overwhelming powers. The other reason is, should you not be of pure heart; the sprites will never open their gates; leaving you weaker and less destructive. On your journeys from now, you will meet different types of sprites and gain more power. But remember, they only cover the elemental parts of your power, everything with a spirit basis you should already be able to do." "So she just now, gave me Uhm, flower power?" he said with an amused expression. "Yes, in fact she did, along with the rest of the nature powers. I think you will find it to come in handy at times. Try it out." Mordain could feel the power in his veins, it's like feeling your leg; you always feel it there, waiting to use it. "Okay let's see," Mordain thought of what he wanted to let happen. He saw the sprite in the back of his mind, and around him flowers grew up beside him. "Well that was fun. Not going to help, what am I gonna do? Drown the demons in flowers or make pretty necklaces for them?" Handar laughed. "Your powers will develop over time, you will see, you will use that. Now on to more pressing matters, I think we will camp here for the night, it's getting late. We need fire wood, and something to eat. I'm going to hunt, be back a bit later." With that Handar stood up and walked into the forest. Mordain looked at his friends in the river, he decided to go and join them. As he walked up to the river bank, something in the water caught his eye, a face, it disappeared immediately. "Mordain come on dude, the water is so warm!" Richard said. Fuck, he looks so sexy without a shirt, Mordain thought, the water running down his abs... "I'm coming." Mordain said taking off his shirt and running in to the water, the river was big, almost 50 meters wide. They swam around in the river, made horse play, and splashed each other. Eventually Richard and Jason decided to climb out and start a fire as Handar has not come back yet. They have done it once before, when they just arrived in the Eddar forest. They can do it again. Roxy and Mordain swam closer to the river bank, and sat down on a part that ran into the river, just their feet in the water. Mordain had just told everything Handar told him about the sprites to Roxy. "So, basically as you meet more sprites, you get more powers?" Roxy asked. "No, I didn't understand the sprite like that, she said, 'gate opened' or something, so I think the power is inside me, they only have the key that can open it or something." Mordain answered. "This shit just keeps getting weirder, Roxy laughed, just as we get the hang of something it gets more complicated. I really hope our powers don't have any funny tricks to them like yours." There was a moment of silence that the two friends just enjoyed the sound of the waterfall. "I saw something in the water just now; do you want to go do some exploring?" Mordain asked. "Do you think it's safe though?" Roxy asked suddenly lifting her feet out of the water. "I think we'll be able to take care of ourselves, don't you think?" Mordain smiled snidely. "Well here goes!" Roxy touched her power in the back of her mind, to Mordain it looked like she disappeared; she had changed in to a tiny little fish. Roxy swam down the side of the river, and thought about how weird is was breathing with gills. Mordain looked around in the water for Roxy but couldn't see her. Panic struck him between the eyes. He subconsciously reached for his power in his mind, and telepathically looked for Roxy; he found a little fish resonating with his brainwaves. "I'm exploring!" "You are a little fish! Come back up! What if you get eaten?" Right at that time Richard and Jason came running to Mordain, "What's the ruckus about?" Jason asked. "Yeah dude, I think you can't control your psychic abilities yet, you were practically screaming in my head!" Richard exclaimed. "Roxy and I decided to go exploring the river, and she took off way before I was even ready. She changed in to a little fish, and I lost her before even starting. Handar emerged beside Mordain. "Oh Hi Handar" Mordain answered. "So what do we do now? Go after her?" Richard asked. "I don't think we can." Jason answered. "I can, said Mordain. I don't need oxygen, I can create it around me with my powers, Leaves oxygenate and I can keep the oxygen around me with my psychokinesis. Handar looked in thought for awhile, "It couldn't hurt to keep an eye on her." With that Mordain dived in to the river and swam to the deeper side and dove down. "Roxy where are you..." Mordain thought trying to establish the link between their minds again. "I'm here Mordain come deeper." Almost hearing where Roxy is Mordain swam down deeper, and deeper. There was a trench near the bottom of the river and what seemed like 30m diving, which is deep for a river, in the middle of the trench there was what looked like a city to Mordain covered by a shimmer in the form of a sphere "What the...?" Mordain thought and swam deeper. "Roxy, where are you?" "Right here, next to you, Roxy said . Mordain looked to his right; there was a little fish next to him, a very bright colored fish. Mordain laughed, "Good look, it suites you." "Whatever, Roxy replied." "What is that?" Mordain pointed. "Mer- people" Roxy replied flatly. "No shit. Are they aggressive?" Mordain asked. "Doesn't look like it. Want to go find out?" Roxy replied with just a tone of malice. "Sure, if they are aggressive I'll transform this river into a forest so fast they won't know hat hit them. Hail the Flower Power." Mordain laughed. Roxy just laughed. They swam down and Roxy shifted into what looked like the mermaids from afar, Roxy immediately noticed she felt a bit more tired. She had a fin, long red hair, and seaweed covering her bare upper body. "Now that look suits you!" Mordain gasped. Roxy just laughed, I wanted to see if I can really shift into anything, but this one made me tired, don't know why. They swam down a bit more and got to the gates of the underwater city. The upper part shimmered so they assumed it was covered with a shield of some sort. Two Mermen guarded the gate each holding a trident. "Who goes there?" The guard on the left asked. "I am Roxy and this is Mordain." Mordain was stunned by the shear beauty of the two fish-men guarding the gates. Both of them had long blond hair, the brightest blue eyes and faces the best oil painting wouldn't be able to describe. "What do you want with the mer-people?" The guard asked nonthreatening. "Honestly?" Roxy asked. "We just came down to explore, you see we are new to the world of Torandia and we just like to learn what we can. As soon as we saw you city we wanted to see it up close. "Are you not of the mer-people then, Roxy is it?" Guard on the right asked. "No I am a human, with a power to transform" Said Roxy with a hint of pride. The two guards didn't even raise an eye brow. "You may enter Atlanbore, but if you are here with malice, I will personally escort you out of my city and kill you." The guard smiled. Roxy looked at him, "We are not here for conflict trust me." Mordain still couldn't say anything, he just gawked. "I trust you Roxy of the surface people with the power to transform." It was Roxy's turn to smile at him. The gates opened and Roxy and Mordain went into the City. Swimming around were mer-people all busy with something, the traders were selling, it looked like a normal society except there was no paint in the houses and they seem to be made of mud and decorated with shells. In the distance was a castle they decided to go view, Mordain was still in a semi trance with all the beautiful people. "This place is stunning" Mordain said to Roxy. "I can't believe people crossed with fish could look this good. . ." Roxy couldn't help but laugh, which sounded more like a dolphin than a human laugh. "The others will probably get worried about us." Roxy said. "Yeah let's just see the all castle and go back, I'm sure they'll let us return if we want to." They got to the castle gates and gawked at the pure splendor of it. It had a blue shimmer, and the windows was a type of sea-green. There were guards at the castle door, dressed in blue tunics on their upper bodies, also both holding tridents. "Beautiful isn't it?" A voice asked them from behind. "Yeah" Mordain answered still mesmerized by the Castle. "Who are you?" Mordain turned around and saw the most stunning man he had ever seen in his life, his beauty was outer-worldly, he had strange huge friendly eyes that were the lightest blue, almost elven pointed ears, and an all round friendly face. "I am Kalim, The Protector of this City and who are you, lovely stranger?" "I am Mordain, and this is my friend Roxy." Kalim held out his hand and shook Mordain's, he turned to Roxy and did the same. Roxy stared just a second to long into his blue eyes, grabbed Kalim and kissed him. "What are you...!"Mordain wanted to ask in shock. Roxy pulled away, and blushed ferociously. "I am so sorry I don't know what came upon me! I'm so very sorry!" "It's to expect from a surface dweller, do not worry about Roxy. Even if you can shift into our shape, you won't have a mermaid's control. I am a siren, its part of a sirens power, to be irresistible to the opposite sex; mer-women have come to control it with their own power, same for female siren and mermen, as it is not in your blood to have a resistance to my power, it was to be expected." "A siren, Mordain said, aren't you supposed to be, like walking/swimming lust?" "Yes Mordain." Kalim smiled calmly. "Now may I kindly know your purpose in my kingdom? This is hardly the tourist destination and one of you posses the ability to look like one of us, I would really appreciate you telling me." "Can we trust you?" Roxy asked. Kalim laughed, "My dear, you kissed me, of course you can; and you are in my kingdom. It is I whom must know if I can trust you. "We can trust him Roxy. Kalim, we are the Toramdon Eyes." Mordain said hoping he would know what that is. "Really? Is it that time of the millennium again, well I do feel honored that you have come to grace Atlanbore with you presence. Please don't tell me you are only two this time?" "No we are four and what do you mean this time of the millennium again?" Mordain asked. "My dear Mordain, you don't know all that much about sirens do you? We do not age, once we reach a certain length and look, it stays, we do not get older. I am at this moment almost two thousand years old." Kalim smiled. "Sirens are the only beings that live longer than elves of the surface people." "I can only die, if I am killed, and to answer your question, oh, I had better send word to the other Atlantian communities. This is grave news indeed. Thank you for you honesty Mordain and Roxy, this will help us to be better prepared for the Water Demons. You will have my assistance, you need only ask. I will be off now; I have loads of preparations to make." Kalim swam away with those words. "Well, this was interesting; this world just keeps getting more entertaining." Mordain said. The two friends swam back to the gate and saw the same two guards at the gate. "Found what you were looking for Roxy?" The one on the right asked. "Yes thank you, what is your name by the way?" "I am Pradi." he smiled. "Pleased to meet you." Roxy blushed. "I am very pleased to make your acquaintance indeed I truly hope we meet again." "Same here," Roxy blushed "I see what's going on here!" Mordain snickered. "I am Schekson by the way, thanks for asking." The other guard laughed. "Well, see you guys again, we need to be off." Mordain said taking Roxy's hand and swimming up to the surface. The two guards looked at the duo ascending to the surface and Pradi said. "I hope we see them again. That girl is so beautiful." Schekson laughed. "I saw the way you looked at her, and even the way she looked at you. Luckily you are a demi-siren." "What is that supposed to mean?" "Well I'm pretty sure you'll be seeing her again." Schekson smiled. Pradi laughed, "I hope so." Mordain and Roxy got back to the camp and reunited with the others. No body spoke for awhile, until Mordain broke the silence. "So... we've been to Atlanbore." He said to no one in particular. Handar looked over at Mordain and Roxy. "Did they allow you into the gates?" "Yes, and they were quite friendly too." Roxy added very nonchalant. "Funny for the fish people to welcome someone into their homes, what did you tell them?" "We told a guy named Kalim that we are the Toramdon Eyes, he took it up well, and said he needed to make preparations and such. Then he left, very strange guy." "The mer-people are a strange people; I hope he communicates the news to Andoriam." "Who is that Richard asked?" "That is the Mer-people King. He resides in Atlantia. He is one of the Torandia Knights. " "Oh. Of course he is." Richard answered with sarcasm. "Yes he is. We were to go and tell him you are here once we were done at Rughnan, he is the only water based knight and does not have regular contact with the surface people. The five of them sat around the fire, until late that night. Roxy and Mordain telling them what happened down in the water, they spoke about Torandia and what was to lie ahead. Morning came and Richard woke up first, the sun was barely lurking over the horizon. From what Richard could make out through the trees, in the woods, it still looked dusk. This is so freaky, Richard thought, I've been the one to accept most of this, this crap very easily, I'm just going with it, and why, because I get to spend time with Mordain. This is all so twisted, I'm in another world, discovered I have 'powers' I'm in the middle of a forest, a god-damn elf is laying right there and all I want to do is to be laying there next to Mordain. He doesn't even notice me; Richard frowned to himself whilst looking over at Mordain. He looks so peaceful; one won't say he is such a loud mouth, know-it-all while he is sleeping. Though he looks uncomfortable in that sleeping bag, he still looks peaceful. Why does he have this effect on me, I can't understand it. Looking over at Roxy, she is hot and all, but I don't feel the need to jump her as I sometimes do with Mordain. I guess I am Mordain-sexual, Richard snickered to himself. Just wish he would start to notice me. Richard stood up, and stretched, well I guess I'll just have to make him take more notice of me. Meanwhile Mordain had woken up and peeked through closed eyes, he saw Richard looking at him. "Must have a problem with me being gay, those eyes are dark, that was definitely not a friendly stare," Mordain frowned at himself. Mordain saw Richard standing up, keeping his eyes peeked. Richard walked up to the nearest tree to take a leak, Mordain shut his eyes immediately. "Guess I'll just have to make him understand there is nothing wrong with me." Mordain decided to turn over and try to get some more sleep. After Richard relieved himself, he walked into a bit deeper into the woods. "God I need to get some fresh air, my head is killing me, I can't keep on worrying like this, Richard felt tears forming in his eyes, I hate myself, why can't I just be happy?" Richard walked a bit deeper into the woods as the tears started to free-flow. I don't want to be gay, I really don't. But fuck it, I'm head over heals in love!" Richards hands shot up in the air he didn't really concentrate on anything he just knew he needed to get away for awhile, he felt something stir in himself, he heard himself calling out, calling out to something from within his spirit. He felt something calling back to him in his mind, he didn't hear it so much as he felt it calling back; he also knew what was resonating with him at that moment. It was a Wayvern. If you asked him how he knew that he would have said he doesn't know. The wayvern flew above the trees for awhile then landed next to Richard. Richard looked at the beast standing next to him. It looked like a Dragon, only much, much smaller. This creature looked to be as big a horse, where as a dragon almost as big as half a football field. A Dragon's one claw is as big as a wayvern, but a wayvern think they are a full sized dragon, fight like one, and have the same amount of aggression. "Hi there little buddy..." Richard said holding out his hand. The wayvern looked at him. "I can speak you know, and I may look little, but I can tear you up in seconds, though I won't you are my master," she took a deep bow in front of Richard. Richard gawked at the small looking dragon. "Richard, you summoned me, you look distraught climb on my back, trust me, I will show you Torandia as few has seen it before. You will certainly feel better." "What are you?" "I'm sure you already know I'm a wayvern, we are akin to Dragons; we are just a smaller breed and not quite as powerful regarding magic and sheer force. I am a green Wayvern by the way now you standing there as sad as you are affecting my own spirit get on; I'm going to take your breath away. Richard saw no point in arguing, he knew he needed to get away for a bit, and then he summoned a small ass dragon. That's what she is here to do, to take me away from this to clear my head. "Right you are Richard." The wayvern said. "You can read my thoughts then?" "Yes and so will all creatures be able to when you summon them, how else will you communicate in battle? My name is Rigaarth, now on you go. She bit his pants and put him on her back. She took off, Richard clutching her neck sitting on her back, she took to the skies. Richard couldn't believe his eyes, the trees stretched out as far as the eye can see. I suppose I could just fly myself to Kegh or whatever it's called Richard thought, but I don't know how long it will take the rest, and George said it's better if we go by foot, because we will learn how to control our power. Rigaarth flew higher and Richard could see Sal and far in the distance another town which he assumed is Kegh, "That is some far shit they want us to walk." Richard laughed at himself. Rigaarth flew around with Richard for awhile, Richards tears had dried by then and he was feeling like his chipper self, awe was his new dominating feeling. "Rigaarth I need you to take me back, I'm sure they are awake by now and looking for me." "No problem, hold on." Rigaarth took off; she flew faster than a speeding car, if Richard guessed. Yet, he didn't feel unsafe and the wind didn't really bother him that much. It must be part of the Wayverns' magic. Richard didn't even have any idea where north lay, let alone where his friends were, but Rigaarth flew as if she knew exactly where she was going. "We are almost there, prepare for descending," Rigaarth said. Richard felt the wayvern slowly starting to descend, he saw his friends thorough the trees, who looked to be Jason sitting by the fire and staring at it, Mordain and Roxy still sleeping and Handar standing up looking around. "Stop Rigaarth!" Richard said. Rigaarth stopped immediately, hovering just above the trees. "Look there." Richard pointed at not to far from where his friends were. "Ogres!" Rigaarth screeched with rage. "Fly a bit closer Rigaarth. I want to see them." "They must have smelled the food from the fire. They will tear your friends apart and eat them if they're not prepared. They are a vile and vicious creature" Richard saw about 8 ogres, making their way through the woods toward his friends, they looked as big as gorillas, but green skin in stead of hair, big noses, and long apelike arms yielding clubs. All in all how Richard pictured an ogre. "This is not good!" Richard screamed The ogre had started running, albeit grotesquely, but ran on towards his friends. Handar knew trouble was coming; he readied his bow and arrow. "Wake up! We have trouble!" Handar shouted leaving no doubt in his tone of voice. Jason ran to his backpack and grabbed his sword; he stood in a very threatening pose with the sword held diagonal in front of his face. Mordain and Roxy had never quite become so fully awake and alert as quickly as they did this morning when the stench of rotting flesh hit their noses. "Its ogres, they'll tare you apart and eat your raw flesh from your bones, be on you guard, I think there are about seven or eight of them." Handar said to the other three. "Where is Richard?" Mordain asked panicky, standing up from his blanket. "No idea, Handar and Jason answered in unison." The ogres broke through the trees and stormed down on the four, Mordain wasn't fast enough to think of anything to do, one ogre grabbed him by the neck. Around him he saw arrows flying from Handar's bow. The ogre stank; Mordain felt totally helpless kicking in mid air while the ogre held on tight to his throat. "Rigaarth, attack!" Richard screamed from on the back of the wayvern. Rigaarth let out a bone chilling battle shriek and swooped down to attack one of the ogres, her talons at the ready. As soon as she was close enough to the ground Richard jumped off her, and ran over to the ogre holding on to Mordain. Rigaarth let out another screech and attacked one of the ogres, her talons piercing into its eyes; the ogre grunted and brought his Club crashing down to the small dragon it hit her head with a hard thump. The Wayvern flew back up a bit disorientated, and then came speeding back down to attack the blinded ogre once more. Richard ran up to Mordain, but was blocked by the ugliest ogre of them all; "I'm having human meat tonight!" it said wielding his club in a threatening manner. Roxy was cornered by two of the beasts, standing with her back towards the river. "Girl meat." The ogre on the left grunted, licking its lips. Roxy gave it a look of disdain, "I am not a piece of meat!" She crouched down, and leaped into the air, transforming into a half man half tiger creature. Spinning through the air, she gashed the Ogre through the face and narrowly escaped the club of the other one. Roxy looked at her claws and the nails sharp as a blade. She smiled through her half feline face. "I love my power; she thought to herself, I can even mix two forms." She spun around and charged down on the ogre claws extended to the max, she gaffed it through the face, pulling back her right hand she forced her claws into its neck, and cut off half of its neck; it fell limp to the ground with a loud thud. "Don't puke, don't puke..." she thought to herself. The other ogre growled loudly obviously upset with Roxy by killing his companion, he stormed towards her and grabbed her around the waist and started squeezing her, Roxy started to lose her breathe, the ogre was trying to squeeze her to death! "Two... can... play... this... game..." she wheezed struggling to get free, her adrenaline pumping through her veins. She looked into the Ogres reddish yellow eyes, and her own feline eyes turned to snakelike eyes. She slowly turned into a huge black Python, the ogre dropped her immediately, he tried to hit her with his club, but the snake was to fast for him, the snake tried time after time to bite the ogre but kept missing but only just. Moving with a speed heretofore unseen Roxy grabbed the ogre around his feet and the beast fell. The ogre grabbed the snake by the neck. The snake opened its mouth and spit the ogre with poison; trying to clean its eyes failed to notice the snake wrapping around his body, the ogre screaming with pain. Roxy continued to squeeze the life out of the ogre, the beast couldn't breathe and finally fell dead to the ground, Roxy turned back into herself, and still laying on the floor saw the commotion around her, what looked to be a little dragon was fighting with a ogre, another dead one lay close by with six arrows protruding from its neck. Of the eight that originally attacked them only five was alive. Jason stepped away from the club slamming down on him. "Oh no you don't." Jason fling lifted his sword and it hit against the club, looking over Jason saw the ogre still had Mordain around the neck and pinned against the tree. Jason knew one wrong move and the ogre would snap Mordain's neck . Jason failed to notice the ogre moving toward him and barely jumped out of the way of the club hitting the ground. Jason swung around and shoved his sword into the back of the ogre. "That's fucking gross..." Jason muttered to himself, pulling his sword out of the beasts' back. Rigaarth had finally bested her foe watched Richard with the ogre blocking his way; the ogre behind them holding Mordain by the neck, licking his lips. Handar, Jason and Roxy reunited a little way from Richard; Richard took a few steps back and joined them. "Let...me...go..." Mordain struggled in the grasps of the ogre, trying to pry the ogres hands open. "You will taste especially delicious. I like thin bodies, your meat isn't as tough as the fat or muscled ones." Mordain felt a bit light headed from the lack of oxygen. "My life has just made a turn for the better, it would seem things weren't going to be as boring as they seemed. It will not end like this!" Mordain thought to himself. "Think, think, you're going to pass out soon!" Mordain closed his eyes for the briefest second, the ogre smiled, and then suddenly his eyes shot back open, his eyes were only white, no iris and no pupil to be seen. The ogre looked confused. Mordain smiled. A tree branch from the tree Mordain was being held against came down like an arm and a hand and grabbed the ogre around his middle, out of shock the ogre dropped Mordain, and he came crashing down to the ground. The branch suddenly stiffened and snapped the Ogre in two. Failing to notice the remaining ogre in time, Mordain felt a club to the head, he saw stars and everything went black, none of the others saw this coming, they were too focused on what Mordain had just done. Mordain's limp body fell to the ground. The ogre turned around, "Who is next? I'll kill all of you!" The tree friends looked utterly shocked, their friend lay there motionless . Richard was distraught, he started screaming from the top of his lungs, an animalistic scream; he turned to look at the foul beast. His hands shot out beside him, never once stopping the distraught scream, the forest started shaking, all matter of sound erupting from deep within the woods, tears were running freely from Richards eyes. Handar looked wildly about. "This is bad, fall down now!" He screamed on top of all the noise to Roxy and Jason, Not needed to be asked twice, all three of them fell down, Rigaarth taking to high skies. The trees erupted with all manner of birds, ones from earth, ones from Torandia, and half of them never seen before, two hundred thousand birds or so from every direction came flying into the ogre, literally tearing him apart, piece by piece. Not once did the screaming stop from Richards's mouth, nor from the ogre. No birds touch Richard at all. When the birds started to take their leave, there was no trace of the ogre, not even a stray hair. Richard collapsed to the ground next to Mordain and took his head into his lap. Caressing Mordain's hair, the tears never stopped falling; at that moment it became apparent to Richard just how in love he was with Mordain. The other two whom thought it was only infatuation was shocked beyond belief at the sudden display of power. First Harold, now this. This must be love... Handar looked at the sight in front of him, hoping Mordain will be fine. Roxy and Jason ran to Richard, Handar quickly following suite. "What power...." was all Handar could think. "They are definitely the Toramdon eyes of late." "Is he alright?" Roxy asked with a shaky voice. "He is breathing...That's a good sign... He can't die; I didn't even get the chance to tell him how I feel, and I just wanted to, and the ogres...Please wake up Mordain!" Richard said nearly shaking Mordain. "Bro, you have to wake up... Bro...." Jason said sadly, poking Mordain in the side. "Do...that one more...time and I will...break your...fingers" The three of them looked delighted, "You're alive!" Roxy said happily. Richard looked elated, "How do you feel?" Still stroking Mordain's hair. "Like shit ran over twice, my head hurts like a bitch..." "He might have a concussion." Handar said interrupting them. "Let me have a look, Handar crouched next to Mordain and Richard. Handar inspected Mordain's eyes and felt him everywhere. "He has a minor concussion, luckily you didn't seem to get the full blow of that swing, Richard, hold him still, I want to try and heal him." "Heal him how?" Richard looked up skeptically. "Reiki," The elf answered blankly, "Elves are natural masters in the art. Handar put his hands over Mordain's head, and a luminescent glow emitted from his hand. Mordain's eyes closed involuntarily, it seemed out of pleasure, a moan escaped his mouth. Richard felt a pang of jealousy, but Handar looked up and smiled at him. "The elven Reiki is rarely, if ever, practiced on humans, it is a feeling Mordain is not likely to be used to, the reason we don't, the human it is used on acts like a magnet and absorbs the power, to be able to use it himself, that is how the Humans learned the art in the first place, it gets bonded into their genes, so it can be carried over to future offspring and such." All of them nodded. "So Mordain will be able to use Reiki?" Richard asked holding Mordain still. "Yes, and seeing that his power entails this as well, he will be a strong user in Reiki. I needed to carry the power over, as it will most definitely be useful in your quests later on." Mordain eyes snapped open, "That felt so good! Pain is gone!" "Richard smiled down at Mordain in his lap; he had to restrain himself to not kiss him." Mordain looked up into Richards eyes, the beautiful blue eyes he fantasized about getting lost in so many times over, suddenly he became aware of where he was laying, and aware of his hand in Richards'. Everything felt right at that moment. "Hey." Mordain said dreamily. "Hey yourself..." Richard answered with a smile, stroking his hair. "Almost thought we lost you there bro, Jason said kneeling next to Richard. "Welcome back." Roxy said with a huge smile. "I have officially decided I hate Ogres, they are disgusting; they stink and they are just horrible on the eyes." Richard said. "Well you sure tore one apart, and your little dragon killed one as well." Jason answered. "Rigaarth! I forgot about her!" Richard said hastily, "Rigaarth please come down!" All five of them looked up and saw the miniature Dragon landing next to Richard and Mordain. "I'm glad to see you are okay Rigaarth." Richard smiled at her. "And you" Rigaarth said. "You can go Rigaarth; I will call you when needed. Thank you." Rigaarth bowed her head and took to the skies. "We need to be able to travel faster than this, at this rate the veil will crumble, but we'll still be parading to, what's its face." Mordain said. "Kegh?" Handar answered. "Yes, that place, why don't you have cars?" Mordain said frustrated. "I don't think he knows what it is." Jason answered. "I have been to earth, it's those large metal things with wheels that you sit in that transports you, they pollute the air; I could feel your earth crying out to me in pain. That's why I have never returned to earth, and never will. Elves are one with the nature around them. We here on Torandia have made alternative arrangements. We travel by horse or foot. We are seldom as rushed here as you are on earth. Because the elves live longer than almost any other race, we are even timelier than any other." "So basically we have to walk our asses off?" Jason asked. Richard looked far away, concentrating on the sky, not even noticing the conversation; in fact he has been quite silent since the battle this morning. "Yes until you have mastered your powers a bit more." Handar answered. "What do you mean?" Jason asked. "You'll see." Handar smiled. They immediately started the long walk to Kegh. Night fell upon them, and Mordain found himself looking for a comfortable spot to sleep. This foliage was horrible; roots coming up out of the earth, ancient and huge trees growing a finger space apart from each other. It wasn't the easiest task to find a comfortable spot to sleep. "Success!" Mordain uttered. "I found a comfortable space for my tent!" Roxy and Jason looked at each other with knowing eyes. There were only two, two-man tents. The previous night no tents were erected as it was a warm enough night out in the open air, they only utilized their sleeping bags and Torandia having no mosquitoes, they decided to sleep in the open air. Tonight was different. It was cold, the wind blowing in from the north, brought a chill to everyone it touched, it held a foreboding air. "I shall start the fire in the mean-time; you can put up your mini-houses." Handar said. Elves didn't have the need for tents, so he wasn't fazed at all. Handar started the fire and the two tents were up. The five of them sat around the fire. "Handar", Roxy asked, "tell us more about this world we are supposed to save please. We dived head first into this, must be a millennium generation thing, we get bored easily, and any type of entertainment we take head on. But yet, we actually have no idea how the scheme of things work." "My dear, Handar said in his sing-song voice, I cannot tell you all you need to know, it is not my place, you will understand later, when we see Rughnan, he is the person you need to speak to. Even George his brother kept things from you, as it is not his place. Although he told you the basics, I don't think you really understood what he told you. Rughnan will remedy that. This world is linked to your own in such a manner which you will not understand. The only person to really have a good grasp on this is Rughnan. He will explain all this lot better than I can hope to explain." The five of them spoke around the campfire; Jason grilled a few pieces of meat for each of them. Jason and Roxy glanced at each other, "I think in going to crawl in." Roxy said. "I'm quite tired too!" Jason quickly looked around and followed Roxy. Mordain and Richard saw the two of them going into the same tent. Handar smiled quietly to himself. "I'm going to scout for impending danger, see you later." Handar walked into the dark of the forest, leaving Mordain and Richard sitting opposite each other at the fire. "That was weird," Richard tried laughing nonchalant, sounding more like a strained goose. Looking at the fire fidgeting with his fingers, Mordain said "Thank you for saving me today." Richard just smiled at him and muttered something under his breath looking into the fire. "What did you say? I didn't catch that." Richard looked Mordain straight in the eyes and said, "I said, I'd do anything for you." Mordain looked back down at the fire, clasping his hands together. "You don't know how long I've wanted to hear that, now that you said it, I don't want to believe it or maybe I'm misunderstanding you." "What do you mean you have waited to hear this?" Richard asked quietly. "Richard... you have no idea..." Mordain stood up and walked seemingly to nowhere into the woods. Richard hurriedly followed Mordain into the dark, "Where are you going?" "Nowhere, I just need to think." They walked a bit into the woods. I almost died today, if it wasn't for this Torandia thing, I'd still be living my normal little life, and now you tell me you'd do anything for me. Why?" Silence reigned for a few minutes while they walked deeper into the dark. Richard saw a big tree root coming out of the ground and sat down on it, dropping his face into his hands. "I don't know how to tell you this." he said. "What?" Mordain looked concerned. "I know your brother told me you are in love with somebody else and I should wait, but Mordain, I think I'm in love with you. I know this might not be the perfect time or place to tell you this, I don't expect you to fall into my arms, I just wanted you to know, to get it off my chest, I'm not gay, I really like women, it's just you, you're so graceful when you walk, the way you move your eyebrows when you talk, your sarcasm everything about you just presses the right buttons in me. Please don't hold it against me, I don't expect you to drop everything and go for me." The awkwardness hung in the air. Mordain looked at Richard "Why didn't you ever tell me?" "I didn't know before, I realized it a month or so ago. I thought you hated me because of the way you were with me before that day at the mall." "I don't know what to say to you Richard; I don't know where to start." Mordain started fidgeting, his heart almost pumping out of his chest. "Like I said you don't have to say anything, and I don't want you to just date me because I'm your brother's friend and I like you..." Richard looked the slightest bit dejected. Mordain sat down next to Richard. "And my friend." he said softly. Mordain glanced over at Richard, and looked him in the eyes. The wind started blowing softly, the night noise dying down the slightest bit. "I think I know how to answer all your questions..." Mordain whispered. Mordain slowly leaned in to kiss Richard, the electricity between them was almost visible as tiny lightning strikes between their lips, by now only half an inch apart... Both of them closed their eyes. Their lips made contact and Richard grabbed the back of Mordain's head drawing him in, kissing him harder. Mordain took Richard around the hips. The kiss lasted a good five minutes; Mordain was the one who broke the kiss. Still holding onto Richard he said, "I had no idea, the guy I was in love with, whom I told my brother about was actually you." "Really?" Richard sounding both happy and surprised. "Really." Mordain smiled hugging Richard. "For about few years now." Richard was in absolute heaven. Mordain too. "Do you think the plan worked?" Jason asked Roxy lying next to him. "I think so, haven't heard them for awhile." The two of them lay in their tent trying to eavesdrop on them, but couldn't hear anything. Mordain and Richard returned to their tent soon after and slept sound for the first time in days, holding on to each other. Morning broke and Mordain saw the faces of Roxy and Jason peeking into their tent. Roxy wearing a huge smirk said, "I see our plan worked." "Get out..." Mordain mumbled. "Don't they just look so sweet...?" Jason answered giggling. "Get out!" Mordain shouted throwing them with a pillow, still in Richard's arms. "Calm down baby, they just wanted to see if we're okay." Richard said sleepy. Mordain's heart melted, a smile crept over his face; he visibly relaxed and fell back into Richards arms. Handar's voice could be heard from outside the tent. "Get your things together please; we have a long way to get to Kegh." The four friends got their things together and packed up. Mordain and Richard kept stealing glances and kept on smiling at each other. *** Hi Guys, Please remember to go to www.mordain88.wordpress.com for a blog of the story and things. The good news is the updated map is done! yay! so that will be on the blog in the next few days. There is a reason that mordain and richard "found" each other so early in the story, and no no one dies. Well not as far as I have planned or written just yet. Ive just fininshed chapter 17 yay. so its coming on nicely. As you noticed by now I try to update once a week. I just try and write at least one chapter for every one i publish. So once again, please visit blog, please leave comments i love reading them, and they really do inspire and motivate me. Hope you Enjoyed the chapte! Michael XXX *** No part of this story may be reproduced, stored in a public retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission in writing of the author, not ne otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than which it is published and without similar condition imposed on the subsequent reader.