Young Writers Society

I crouch down low on the opposite side of the fire, arrow lined up and aiming at his throat whilst the air around the flame-like mist that surrounds the tip of the arrow chills my lungs.

Hilo is incredibly skilled at hand-to-hand combat, taking a blade to the monsters throat before it could complete it's bound at Ras.

Ras is staring at the boy, distracted momentarily by a nearby tree that explodes into flames and sawdust. Great effect, though I'm not sure what the purpose of it was.

'What?' Everyone is looking at her. 'Did I forget to mention that when I use majic, ninety-nine times out of a hundred I blow things up.'

She's joking... Right?

Karana kneels down by the boy, whispering some incantation to him. Slowly his skin lightens and he starts to look almost human.

'What just happened?' I ask, peering at the new boy.

<Jennelea>

The boy's eyes fluttered open, Oh no, it's happened again! he crunched up into a ball waiting for the people surrounding him to attack.

He stayed like that for a while, but no attack came. Slowly uncurling his eyes flicked from side to side 4 people stood, around a fire, one of them pointing a arrow at him, pieces of some type of animal scattered on the floor.

Jennelea stood up fast and snatched the knife from one of their fingers.

"What do you want?"he yelled

They all glanced at each other, each thinking their own thoughts.

He ran up behind one of them and put the knife to their throat,

"I said, WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?!?"

Slowly Jennelea walked backwards dragging the hostage with him. The boy smiled, no one had not made an attempt to attack him yet.

Letting the hostage go, spinning the hostage around to face and throwing the knife at it's owner's feet, he said,

"Wanna bond?"

Everyone's mouth's dropped open.

<Kitsune>

Hahaha!

Perhaps I heard wrong?

'What?' I ask.

'I want someone to bond with.'

I don't mean to insult him, but I can't help giggling a little, before pulling the arrow further back, re-aligning my aim.

'Sorry, but, didn't you just try to kill us?'

'I can explain,' he says with a distinct certainty, or maybe he's bluffing.

'Be our guest.' (i-v-n) snorts.

__

(I-V-N) - insert volunteers name

<Jennelea>

The boy smiled,

"OKAY!"

He sat down and began eating the scraps off the ground, Kitsune yelled,

"Not literally!"

Jennelea stood up and said,

"Ahhh, sorry I apoligise! It's been a VERY LONG while, since I've been in human company. I didn't recognise you being sarcastic. You should work on it."

Kitsune's eye twitched, Jennelea grinned,

"It seems I need to work on mine too!" He laughed

"Oh, yeah, sorry for attacking you guys. Everytime I become unconscious or faint or am out of my actual body for any reason, I'm overcome by something, I'd like to call her Bloodlust!"

Kitsune's mouth dropped,

"Her?"

Jennelea nodded and licked his fingers,

"Yep, it's definetly a girl! So, wanna bond? Oh if the answers yes, what's your name?"

The boy reached his hand out towards the other person,

"I'm Jennelea!"

Karana

I smiled. Another companion gained!

"I don't mind you accompanying us," I said, looking around the entire group. "What's a few more people on a journey?"

hmmmmmmmmm its dying!

QUICK SOMEONE WRITE!

*It appears I haven't in a while*

Ember hummed lightly on the road. She had long lost count of steps, but it didn't matter. She was almost to the town, and there were always people to ask how many steps it was to the blacksmiths or wherever.

But she was starting to get worried. Usually she could hear the sounds of the town by now.

And suddenly, she could smell something even more troubling:

Smoke.

Her heart jumped to her throat, and she urged Wildfire to a trot. The ground crunched under his hooves, and he snorted uneasily. Afraid that her horse would get spooked, Ember stopped and unmounted. She bent to the ground and gathered a handfull of the dust. She rubbed it between her fingers, then smelled it. She almost choked.

Ash?

She almost opened her mouth to call out, then decided against it. If everyone was hiding, then there must be something dangerous.

Ember walked over to the left of the road, feeling for a wall. She met one, but, to her horror, it was almost demolished. She couldn't even recongize it and find out how many steps it was back to the mountain.

While she tried to figure out where exactly she was, she heard Wildfire whinny in fright behind her and bolt.

"No! Wait!" She shouted, running blindly after her horse. But running behind a horse can spook the calmest, and he only ran faster.

Ember slipped in the ash and fell, and her involountary gasp earned her a lungful of ash. She crawled to her hands and knees, blinded by fits of sneezes and cough for quite some time. When she was finally able to breath again, she let out a frustrated shout that echoed against the demolished brick buildings around her.

She lay in the ash, terrified that whatever had done the damage was still here and had heard her cry.

No doubt Wildfire would try to make it back to the stables, she reasoned, and as soon as he did, they would come looking for her.

In theory.

But there wasn't any time to think about that now. All she could do was sit here until the monster or the Corone found her, whichever came first.

Oo big twist in the plot, big battle comming up, hopefully pushing the plot forward...?

<Kitsune>

At last we set off through the forest, until a dreadful stentch burned my nose. Burning; wood, stone, crops... Flesh. I shivered, and as much as I wanted to linger behind, my feet took me forward ahead of the others.

When at last I reached what might once have been a small village, i could hear the sound of my heart echoing inside me. The air was thick with smoke and the presence of ghostly screams, a kind of unnoticable ring that one finds at funerals and in graveyards.

This wasn't just a raid, at least then there would be bodies. Here, there was nothing. No skelatons, no homes, even the land shifted as I moved across. Nothing but ashes and the last of crumbling walls that formed the outskirts of the... What was I supposed to call it?

Remember back to what seems like forever ago, when I said 'everybody has sad stories', when I decided this elf girls was just another - I take it back.

Now I was filled with the same emotion that I had found foreign in her, what ever had made her story so less typical. What ever had made such a girl so thirsty for vengeance, I could now understand. What ever did this, was a creature foul beyond belief.

I found myself running towards a figure moving in the smoke, though when I reached it I didn't find a creature. I found a girl, coughing and spluttering, who lifted her head and looked straight through me.

'Are you alright?' I asked. I took one last deep breath of my own before pulling off my scarf and pressing it to her mouth. The dark figures of the others came into view, stopping stiff in their tracks. 'There's someone alive here!'

[Hilo]

Things were moving rather fast. Allies were coming and going almost quicker than I could keep track. I had seen a demon, befriended an elf, and pledged that I would help dispatch a dragon. Now I stood in front of a burning vilage with my new comrades, where there remained just a single girl and piles of steaming rubble.

An the day wasn't even over yet. This destroyed village was just another piece of the intricate puzzle. And actually, who knew how many puzzles there really were? This strange string of occurances… they weren't necessarily related. The world was enormous. I could've jus dug into several slices of the pie.

Now I needed to say something before I got too philisophical with myself.

"Any idea what could be the cause of this rather unfortunate disaster?" I asked my comrades. "And that girl looks in rough shape… we should probably get her away from here."

Karana

I rushed forward and knelt beside her.

A quick look-over told me enough. This girl was blind, she'd gotten lost, and she had inhaled some ash.

"You can trust us," I spoke calmly, helping her to her feet and guiding her. "We won't hurt you."

"Wh-who are you?" she stammered. I knew she was a little uncomfortable. It must be hard, not being able to see.

"I'm Karana, and I won't hurt you. Neither will my companions. Okay?"

It wasn't the first time Ember cursed the little creature that had blinded her. As far as she knew, these people were the ones who burned this village. She couldn't tell if they had weapons, how many there were, who they were, what clan they came from...

Her own clan would be out looking for her once Wildfire came back to the stables, spooked as a rabbit.

"Who are you?" Ember asked, trying ot keep her voice from shaking. "How many of you are there, how are you armed, and why are you here?"

Best to keep them talking until her clan got there.

Karana

"There are about six of us, we are not heavily armed, we're travelers, and we just found this village," I explained. I knew she was afraid, unsure, maybe even cautious...

"Where is your clan? We could escort you there..." I proprosed, hoping to befriend this girl.

"If I knew where they were, I wouldn't be sititng here," Ember hissed. THen she took a deep breath, knowing that she was being irrational. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, though she still didn't quite feel secure enough to tell them the name of her clan. "They're up in the mountains. My horse ran off, though, so they should be looking for me soon. Thanks for your generousity, though."

That last sentance, she realized, was a little icy, but, if they were travelers, they'd move on and not bother her anymore.

<Ras>

I turned away from he injured girl and began walking through the village. The sight was horrible, but I couldn't find it in me to cry. Fire circled around me his mind broadcasting confusion and distress.

"What could have done this Fire? Even in the slums we rarely saw such bloodshed. Damnit!" I slammed my fist against the crumbling wall of a house. "What happened here? It's too much of a coincidence, first my visions and now this. A stom is coming, and we might not be able to weather it."