The Continent of Nishanoya - Forest Region of Betulla Vallis - 350 A.V
The sun hides behind the mountains, as the moon peeks through the hills, like a game of hide n' seek. Crimson and gold rays escape from the greyish evening that approaches the lilac sky. The horizon is bonded like a tranquil painting on a silk canvas. Some days the heavens will cry or even become heated with rage. The clouds can be overcome with the frost of the winter nights. Even the breath of the stratosphere can turn ill, but at the last, a day must end. The day and time must always end. This is life. This is reality. This is completion.
Albeit not this day. This is a day that the
Prudentia scholars must mark. A day that has been witnessed and felt by all on the
Planet Ra'Ahsh
. The day did start like any other day. Several guilds and businessmen from the
Merchant Association of Rahdan were out setting up shops and selling their wares in the marketplaces. Officers of
Sentinel Hall walk the beat to keep law and order. Elsewhere, little transportee boys, displaced from their parents, were looking for a wealthy pocket to pick. Everyone started the day normally. Until the atmosphere turned and everything changed.
It couldn't compare to what the inhabitants normally felt. It was much different. Very peculiar. The pressure was so heavy that it can be felt, like the pressing down of the incubus while you sleep. The feeling inside you was overwhelming like facing a foe that you knew was much more powerful. The clouds in the sky turned black while the mauve void seeped through. Engulfing the heavens. Dissipating the morning dew. The rumbling of thunder shook the very foundations of everyone and everything. This was worse than the Residual Void Energy, that occurs every year on the anniversary of tragedy. This was like a stampeding horde of Orc and Demon-kin going to war with the gods.
Beyond the Southern Shores, pass the Emerald Mountain Ranges, through the mystic woodlands of Betulla Vallis, surreal beams of fiery light pierces through and descends upon the earth. The climax of this occurrence finally shows, leaving the ground scorched. As the dust settled, a man lies there muddied and covered in blood. His body bore no cuts or wounds, so it was clear that he was not injured. Tattered fabric sits at his navel as the blood drips down his abdomen and pieces of flesh slowly peered off his chest. His pants are damp, and boots covered in hard dirt. He regains consciousness. Eyes begin to focus. His anxiety is triggered and he becomes nauseated by the intense smell and messy display on his body. Confusion has set in as he gets up staggeringly. Wondering how he got in this predicament and how he suddenly arrived in here.
" Dammit what is this? Where the hell am I?" The man's thoughts are scattered, while he tries to get a grasp on his current predicament. His various holsters sat empty where secondary weapons and medicines should be. Primaries were gone. The sheath of a dagger sits empty beneath his left armpit. His pants are damp, and boots are filthy. The only thing that remained was a collection of herbs in his pocket, a flint knife, and a tied collection of books and scrolls. It is snapped in and tied tightly on his hip with custom leather straps.
" This doesn't make any sense", he says to himself.
Although no injuries were present, his body was extremely sore and fatigued. His heart begins to beat faster, as he leans against a nearby Sycamore. Multiple visions, loud screams and voices spin vigorously in his mind.
" CERE... CERE!".
As he tries to shake it off, evil beasts and demonic creatures of the forest are watching him as he takes deep breaths, in and out, trying to collect and reason within himself.
" Alright, I have to get food, raiment, and shelter fast, but first I have to find a way out of this situation, I doubt they will just let me go!", he reasons within himself.
Laying out hundreds of scenarios, thoughts are racing through his mind. The nearby perimeter is penetrated by the beasts that have been watching him in anticipation. They circle him. Moving, looking, peeking through the bushes, branches, and leaves. Sporadic emotions, mixed instincts, and beastly intuition. The man and the creatures of the forest both are at the point of piqued curiosity.
The man closes his eyes and lets his instincts take over.
" I can smell the rotten meat in their teeth, seems my senses are a bit sharper here.", he said to himself.
As he assessed their numbers, he also noticed another creature in the midst of them, much different from the others, observing the situation silently, but with an aggressive and intense gaze. The beast decides to press on and comes closer as the man readies himself. The surrounding groups of growling and snarling beasts make way for this menacing figure as their jaws drip with saliva. The branches on the ground cracks as the wind blows the leaves. They fall whimsically to the ground in front of the man as he looks intensely to his enemy. The beast that approaches seems to be a leader of the pack. As he emerged from the shadows it seems to stand about seven feet tall. The moonlight shone on parts of his two-toned face, revealing a vertical scar down the left side. He looks at the man with an intimidating, but curious look, as he continues his approach. He begins to emit his aura, that filled the surrounding area with fear, dread, chaos, and despair.
" Wook, nock Sha, Heep!",he roars out while his aura grows stronger. The animals around him howl in agreement.
"What the hell is this creature?!",The man says to himself, as he looks upon the beast. He knew that this land may have been different from his own, but this was beyond.
He continues to be on guard as he clenched his fists tighter. Coming closer, the beast slowly approaches, ignoring the man's disheveled appearance. The packs around him give off bellowing roars of excitement and pomp. Now fully able to be seen, there he stands. With chiseled forearms, the face of a panda bear, the upper torso of a dominant male kangaroo warrior, and a tattoo on his auburn-colored chest which resembles a pentagram with swords protruding out. His lower half showed off a strong tail and massive hind legs. His face gave off an ominous demonic presence, his ears long and slightly drooped down with piercings around the edges. The menagerie of enemies that surrounded them began to stomp and claw at the ground. He makes a quick huff at him, as if to say that the man is nothing before him and he gets in his fighting stance. The creature squares up and forms his paws into closed fists while crouching his upper body extremely low to the ground. With his tail acting as a third leg and his two feet digging deeper into the ground, he stares the man down. Simultaneously, Cere Zin prepares himself and gets into defensive stance. Their determination set. Their resolve absolute. It begins...
The Demon-kin warrior goes on the attack. His strong tail propelling him forward, he set off a kinetic explosion in the atmosphere behind him! While in a direct line drive towards Cere, he swiftly sends a right kick through the air, spinning his upper torso, as he prepared a hyper accelerated bear-punch!
"Poison? You cunning fucking bastard!", growls the man as he responds and dashes forward, eluding the sharp stream of poison that shot out from the beasts' claws when he kicked. He quickly met the beasts punch with double-arm block.
Both warriors clash, with so much force in between, it rippled the energy in the air, knocking them both back.
The creatures around them are at awe.
They both breathe in and out and then dash at each other again!
The beast launches himself in the air, his feet grab a tree branch about 20 feet above the man, he loops twice, and launches himself down with double-fisted hammer!
" SHIT!", the old man attempts to counter block, but the move was too quick as he takes the brunt of the blow, face planting him in the dirt.
" TAHK- WA- HEEP!", he bellows while laughing and mocking the man. He glares down at him and signals a nearby creature who had vine ropes on his shoulders, to come the place where the man lies. The creatures surrounding them howl and cheer as Cere attempts to lift himself up, blood coming from his mouth.
"Did I really get transported to another world just to get my ass whooped by a bloody Pandaroo!", Cere says to himself.
" COMMANDER, COMMANDER, I can't fight him he's too strong... Let the words be your strength. BELIEVE! ......" More visions shoot through Cere's mind as his body seems to want to press on and fight. He shakes it off and attempts to get up while another demon-kin beast attempts to tie him up. He pulls the rope, jerking the mid-sized creature towards him as he straight punches him in the face, shattering his jaw and knocking him into a nearby tree.
" Get the hell off me, intrepid little beast!", Cere Zin shrugs off the stress in his body.
" Now get your ass over here, where not done yet big boy!", Cere Zin spits the blood from is mouth and gets into an offensive stance.
" Haroo, haroon, hah!", The leader of the beasts gives a furious roar.
The beast emits a deadly aura in the atmosphere, even intimidating some of his peers as he stands tall and beats his chest left and right, giving off the appearance of getting stronger with each smite to the chest.
" Well, if I'm going to go out, let's go out with a bang as they say!", Cere Zin says to himself.
Suddenly, the book on his hip begins to react and he felt a burst of energy come from his side that seemed to penetrate his mind. A phrase coupled with a vision put the man at ease. He smirks while looking at the beast.
The man went into his pocket and quickly grabbed the herbs, crushed them, and threw them into the air!
" AMOVEO OMNE MALUM!", his voice thunders and echoes throughout the area as he swiftly sliced at them with his flint knife setting off multiple sparks that filled the area, like a fragrant phosphorus smoke bomb. Blinding the beasts and causing extreme internal damage, they screech in pain as a majority of them start to keel over in agony, holding themselves.
" Seems I struck nerve!", he sneers, mocking the enemy.
The tension in the area changes and the leader that was once approaching now stops in his tracks and is furious, but now extremely cautious. All of the creatures turned and begin to leave the scene as some of them assisted others that were knocked out. The leader made a nod to the man as he looked around at the embarrassing scene and then pointed at him.
" Too Wee Nock, Aganak!", said the beast as he spit blood to the ground.
" I'll be waiting!", said the man, as if he knew exactly what he meant.
The beasts all exit the ordeal, and the man slowly releases the tension pinned up in his body with a long sigh of relief.
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