Young Writers Society

Thytes beamed. "That sounds rather sweet," the lion said. "I am happy to see that it is a name you are proud of - I have known plenty of people who are not, and watching them come to terms with their identity can be, painful, especially when there is not anything I can do to help."

He then looked back at the stranger, finding, to his surprise that the stranger's personality had changed entirely. He seemed more laid-back and friendly than before, and was actually speaking in a language Thytes understood. It was enough of a difference that Thytes was reasonably sure he was talking to a person who had bonded with someone else. That someone else must have been the agitated person Thytes had overhead, the one who had been talking about symbiotes (whatever those were).

"Not a problem at all," Thytes said, shaking his head. "I have a few easily frustrated friends myself, and it appears that the both of you have been relatively gracious and friendly so far. Even in rescuing Arryn, though you appear to have had, uh, communication problems."





The roaring of the sea echoed in Lunis's ears as he woke up. The panther, feeling fur brush against his cheeks, kept his eyes shut. There wasn't any need to move anytime soon - he was comfortable, he could feel the sun warming the fur on his back, and everything sounded so calm and quiet that he almost thought he was dreaming. No shouting from the neighbors tilling the fields, or the cawing of birds roosting on the roof of the house, or the screeching of a tea kettle whistling over a fire. It was so relaxing that, if not for the voice by his ear, he would've fallen right back to sleep.

"Lunis?"

"Mmm," the panther said.

"Lunis."

The panther nuzzled the pile of fur he was sleeping on. "Mm?"

"Lunis, stop using my chest as a pillow."

"No," Lunis mumbled, wrapping his arms around Zech.

"Lunis, I know you can hear the sea."

"We don't live that far from the ocean."

"Lunis."

The panther pulled his head out of Zech's chest, yawning. "Come on, Zech," Lunis said, blinking his eyes and staring at the sand around them. "I just want to-"

Oh. He was on a beach. With the ocean right behind. And strangely-colored grass growing around the rocks that made a small cliff. Over which stood a massive, partly-destroyed castle. To say nothing of the bright colors of the trees and plants that grew around it, or how the sky was the wrong shade of blue, or how there were only two moons.

Lunis immediately buried his face in Zech's chest again.

"Lunis."

"I'm not doing this bulls*** again," the panther rumbled.

Zech set a paw on Lunis's head. "It's not like we've got any other choice," Zech said. "But we can wait here a minute, if you'd like."

The panther hesitated. "That'd be nice," he said.

Storms came quickly on Miri. It was always hard to tell exactly when they were arrive - it was one of the planet's perks, though he used the term loosely. He had never gotten over his fear of them; the first time he had heard the booms of thunder, he had covered his ears and hid underneath the nearby blankets.

Now, he continued the practice. Hiding among the tower - away from the castle's visitors, and away from the darkening sky - he watched as rain began to drizzle outside. It wasn't long before a downpour started. He could hear dripping water behind him. There were so many leaks, but he couldn't try fixing all of them now. He'd never be able to reach all the holes.

So he just sat there underneath the safety of the old, ratty blankets, fingers tapping on the crumbling windowsill as he waited for another meal.

As he continued to gaze out at the storm quickly rolling across the forest, the little lighting flickered and dimmed. He frowned; the storm must have irritated the energy source. If it wasn't for the plethora of people gathered in the library, he might have gone down and fixed it.

There was a boom.

And then darkness.

Discarding his blanket, he rose from his makeshift bed and began to approach the exit in the darkness. He knew his way around the tower and the rest of the castle - it was his home, and no one knew it quite as well as he did.


The lights flickered.

A wave of unease washed over Ollie. She could hear the rain pouring outside. She wasn't exactly sure where - maybe a courtyard, through the open roof of an old, crumbling hallway, or something else - but she knew what it implied. A storm had fallen upon the castle. She knew she was supposed to be worried about strange, alien storms, but she was more worried about what regular old storm - Earth storms - involved.

Her worst fears came true when a very, very loud boom of thunder rang out, shaking the bookcases as the room was plunged into darkness. Ollie tried to fight back the urge. She had to pretend that she was normal, even though she never again would be.

But the fear was too great.

Control slipped away as her body - hidden in the darkness of the library - was coated in a thick layer of a goo-like substance. Every inch of her was submerged by it; the mix of reds, oranges and yellows would have made it almost look like the substance was made of fire, even though it never would be. Even her face was covered, replaced by a face that wasn't hers and yet technically was - with large, white eyes and a mouth filled with shark-like teeth. Other things were slightly altered; the body was less like a morph suit that highlighted her curves and basic figure, and more like a thick layer of clothes - it was much flatter and gave the appearance of her being more muscular than she was. And there was the few extra inches added underneath her feet, making her feel disorientated for the first few minutes that followed the change.

"Oh no," quietly said a voice. Not her voice - Fern's.

"We need to hide," she said. Their roles were reversed; only Fern could hear her now. It was impossible to get Fern to return to her previous state; she was too scared, and more thunder was likely on its way. But they couldn't let themselves be discovered like this. It was dangerous, even if someone didn't know what a symbiote was.

"Hide," Fern agreed with a nod, moving behind a nearby bookcase before Ollie could suggest the same move. They needed to get farther away. But another boom of thunder rang out, and Fern - giving a startled, terrified cry as she writhed in pain - knocked right into the bookcase.

It fell to the ground with a loud crash.

Tale gathered the very little light in the room into a ball to light up the area. They walked over to Fern/Ollie and held out their hand.

"Communication problems," Arryn muttered, with a sigh. "That's one way to put it."

And then the lights went out, there was some screaming and then there was a mighty crash. He flinched, and grabbed at the nearest person--which just happened to be someone's furry ass. From a few feet away, there was a flurry of muttering in that language Arryn didn't understand, and then there was a soft glow illuminating the dark clothing Cathal wore. The glow was raised until Arryn could see the other man's face. But it wasn't Cathal's expression... Was that....the other one? He frowned.

"What's going on?" Not-Cathal asked, frowning in confusion at the sudden darkness--and the sudden cash and the screaming. "Where is the girl?"

There was another rumble of thunder and Not-Cathal flinched, the glow in what seemed to be his hand flickering. Arryn ducked down behind the person he was using as a sheild and tried to ignore the rumbling. He and storms did not exactly have a good relationship, and from the way Not-Cathal was reacting, he didn't either.

"How are we supposed to know?" Arryn shouted, pressing his face into a well-defined thigh. "It's not like any of us can see in the dark!" There was a pregnant pause, and Arryn went still. Stupid question. He clearly wasn't in Sankar anymore. "....can anyone here actually see in the dark?"

***

Cathal, meanwhile, was panicking inside Nuada's head. What is that? he cried, cringing as another rumble of thunder echoed around the room. Is this a storm? WHAT THE HELL, NUADA?!

Nuaha chuckled at him. What's wrong? You never experience a thunderstorm before?

You know as well as I do that that is exactly the case!

Before Nuada could reply, there was another flare of light from where Taleweaver had been standing. Cathal felt Nuada wince but then, together, they glanced towards it. Taleweaver was illuminated by a ball of light. Nauda and Cathal stared as he strode across the library to something just past the now obviously knocked over bookshelf they could only just see.

Well, Nuada drawled. That's interesting...

Mmh, indeed... But what was the screaming about? And seriously, where is the Ollie girl?

Nuada shrugged and took a step forwards. "Is everyone accounted for apart from Olivia?"

When the clouds rose over the windows and left the room in a pitch black state, Bear's hand dropped to the holster at his side. He could have turned the flashlight on in a moment, but he spent the few minutes listening to what the vines had to say of the people in the room. There had been a new shift in the room.

The vines and the air plants had already informed Bear that half of the people in the room were, for lack of a better word, multifaceted. When the Cathal and Nuada pair had started speaking, trading back in forth in who was addressing the band of adventurers, Bear had painful memories of his own possession.

For God's sake Carter, it was one time. One time I was possessed by that demon. With a black widow plan and granted it was two months, but it was one time overall.

Once he gathered enough information, Bear clicked on his light as the small one called Taleweaver was already moving towards the source of the disturbance. Bear shown the light beam in the direction of the figure, carefully moving it along until he found the face. It would have been slightly disturbing to the average person, but he had scene far worse in roadkill gone wrong.

Bear decided to speak to this form, guessing that Ollie was contained somewhere within. If the vines were to be trusted on the validity of their information. Which they were.

To the figure specifically, he whispered, "Where's Ollie?"

The vines came down from the ceiling of the library, wrapping against his arms and trying to pull Bear back into what they were calling safety. He wanted no part in that and repeated the question again, a bit louder this time with a temper rising in his voice, "Where's Ollie?" There was a moment of pause before the vines spoke again, giving him a secondary name. "Can you tell me, Fern?"

She darted back as another boom resounded through the room, letting out a scream - and covering what would have been ears - in a poor attempt to block out the noise. Fern had heard far worse noises before, but the sudden sound waves overwhelmed her.

"Fern, it's alright," Ollie said. Her voice was soft and reassuring - or, at least - Fern knew it was meant to be. But it wasn't just the noise that was overwhelming her. It was all the strangers, all the bright, unfamiliar lights, everything about the situation. She wished she hide back under Ollie's sleeve, but then she would have to reveal Ollie's secret, and Ollie would be unprotected.

The people here were dangerous. She couldn't risk Ollie getting hurt - it was her job to protect her, since Ollie always made sure she was alright. "No," Fern said. She backed away from the one with the flashlight and the one with the extended hand, noting the anger in the first one's voice.

"Ollie's not here," she added. Another step back. She was scanning the library for some sort of exit, but the easiest one was blocked off.

"I think we should run."

Fern nodded, then turned tail and bolted as fast as she could down the aisle. It was faster than Ollie could run - that's what Ollie had said the first time they ran together. There was a door on the other side of the library, and she threw it open with a loud bang; the door was barely on its hinges now, but she was just too scared.

She darted out into the hallway-

-and immediately bumped into someone.

She stared.

The person stared.

It was only for a moment, but it was long enough for Ollie, her voice eerily quiet to remark, "I think I saw a picture of someone like them in the book about what happened to this place - please don't panic, Fern, but I...I think whatever they are is responsible for what happened to this place."

Fern, though she towered over the person, let out a scream.

And they screamed right back.

They scrambled away from her. Ollie was trying to will her to run after them as they hurried into the damp, destroyed hallway, but Fern was just too terrified - she was frozen in place.

"Let me take over," she begged. "I think they're the one we saw - the one who left the notebook."

"Could hurt you!" Fern protested, her inhuman voice trembling.

"I'll be alright," Ollie reassured her. "I can protect myself, and I know I'll be safe if I have you there to protect me."

"Okay..." Fern reluctantly agreed, relenting control back to Ollie. They could have tried doing it together, but Fern knew that her fear would only hold them back.

Ollie went rushing down the hallway after the figure.

"We'll catch up to them soon with your speed," Ollie promised. "And when we do, we'll find out how to get back home."

Well, someone seemed to be particularly interested in his butt. Not that Thytes could blame Arryn - between the thunderstorm, the loss of power, Bear bring grabbed by vines, and the strange, goo-covered creature that had just run screaming from the library, Arryn had every reason to be distracted.

Still, the lion decided not to bring it up (mostly because it'd be a little awkward), instead darting over to the table. Ducking under it, he swept Jaron up in both arms and set Jaron on his knee. If Jaron's grumbling and absentminded swiping at Thytes were anything to go by, Jaron hadn't noticed a thing. The fox even had a little lantern casting light on the thing he'd broken apart. Thytes clung onto Jaron anyways.

"I can see in the dark," the lion said, trying not to stutter or shake. It wasn't like him to be afraid, but the creature tempted him. "Well enough to see whatever, whatever that was. Did, did you call it Fern, Bear?"



So much for relaxing on the beach.

Zech pressed his paws against his chest, trying to control his breathing. The cats had thrown themselves up the cliffside, darted across the path leading to the castle, dashed through a gap in the castle walls, and were now currently hiding in a half-destroyed shed placed next to an expansive garden. It wasn't something Zech was planning on doing again.

The panther, meanwhile, had slipped off his soaked pants, and was now lying on the floor, face pressed against the stone. "F***," Lunis whispered.

"Yeah," Zech said, staring out through a hole in the shed as the torrent raged on. "I'm getting the feeling it's not going to get any better from here."

Bear studied Thytes and his question carefully, still standing by the edge of the table and soothing the vines hanging on to his shoulders. They had been terribly upset by his movements toward danger and wanted to hang on. He realized what an odd sight this must have been and what an odd answer his reply would be, but there was really no way to get around it.

"The vines told me."

The lion blinked a few times in the pale light produced by multiple devices in the room.

"I've been communicating with them since I got here. They told me where to find different things within the castle, how to survive different traps, and how to communicate with the different people here."

A glance around the room revealed confusion from the rest of the crowd as well.

"Oh come on now. You can't look at me like I'm crazy with all the heck running around in your brains. These little ivy are such a gossip."

Still no response from the crowd. Only one small ivy vine hung to Bear's shoulder, detatched from the rest of them and rooted in the sweat along his arm. This was all he needed to find out information within the room and keep in communication with the rest of the plants in the castle. The vines were all linked to a single source, something deep within the castle and something he didn't care to investigate.

"It's not like I would jump off a cliff if they told me to do so," he paused for a second, resuming eye contact with Thytes and smirking as he said, "However if they told me to strip off my shirt, I'd answer immediately."

Oh. This was that whole Queen of Thorns thing all over again. Thytes wasn't quite sure how to take that - the Queen hadn't even been that much antagonistic in the first place, and Bear appeared to be talking to the vines instead of being made of them.

Not that Thytes could resist the chance to flirt back. "I would be surprised if the vines were to beat me to the punch," he said, propping his chin on his paw. "Though, I would appreciate if you informed me exactly what Fern is, because I cannot imagine I would have the chance to peel off that shirt before they come back."

Taleweaver was suddenly right in front of the ghost.

To be fair to Thytes reply, Bear could have been more subtle. He could have said something that wasn't along the lines of "I'm willing to be naked in your presence, it's all chill." But if he hadn't said that, Bear Thompson wouldn't have been himself.

Bear cleared his throat, took up eye contact once again and replied, "It will be another time then. Right after that dinner date."

He took the moment of silence to think about exactly what the relationship between Fern and Ollie was. They were not like Cathal and Nuada, who could seamlessly occupy the same form and maintain some level of internal dialogue. But Fern had over taken Ollie's body, creating a shield around her, rather than just switching the mindset of who was in control.

"Fern is some sort of symbiote. I saw the outline of her form in the folds of Ollie's jacket just before our light source was dimmed by the thunderstorm."

Bear set his back pack down on the table, taking out the contained items while gathering his thoughts. He was thankful for the enchantments that Carter had cast into the bag that gave it a higher volume capacity.

"I think, and these are just my personal opinions, that Fern was triggered by the storm and felt a need to protect Ollie."

Met with blank looks from most of them, except for the questioning glare from Thytes, Bear sighed and admitted, "Yes, the vines did inform me a bit about that too."

He looked down at the items laid on the table, took off his outer shirt and slipped on the jean jacket. Bear managed to keep his eyes away from Thytes while the change in wardrobe took place, but did straighten his left cuff to bring emphasis to the disaster bisexual patch.

It was a good description of Bear.

“I wouldn’t be against a shirt or two going missing around here,” Arryn said from where he had abruptly sat on the floor when Thytes had moved away. He looked up at the vines with a frown, then at the way Bear was stroking them. “Are you a mage? And by the way, lion-boy, seeing in the dark is fascinating. Wish I could do that, but nope. I get stuck with the remnants of the mages I killed in my head.” He rolled his eyes. “Such joy.”

After a moment and another, less violent, rumble of thunder, Arryn got to his feet and brushed non-existent dust off his ass. He glanced from Bear to Thytes and the fox-boy to Cathal and back. With a shrug, he moved towards Bear and his vines.

“So,” he began, completely ignoring the look Not-Cathal sent him, “how does the plant thing work?”

Before Bear could reply, Arryn abruptly stopped short with a grimace as sharp, bone-deep pain shot through him, centred on his wrists. He hissed our a sharp curse and went down on his knees, jolting the old injury in his right thigh. The pain ebbed and flowed for a moment and he glanced down at the bracelets. The soft blue-green glow of the gems was growing more intense by the moment, and he couldn’t help wondering how the hell they were working if he wasn’t even on the same planet as the control bracelet. Because somehow, it had come with him—and he didn’t have his balance with him. Sir was... Well, definitely not present and he needed his balance to help fight the perverted magic in the bracelets. Arryn knew he was a strong mage, but not that strong.

The pain suddenly left him and Arryn sagged abruptly, curling over to plant both hands on the library’s stone floor. “Shit,” he panted, breathing heavily to try and manage the residual pain. It wasn’t the first time he’d been stuck with the bracelets on, and apparently wasn’t going to be the last. He grimaced again. “That never... gets any... easier... ugh...”

And then he abruptly passed out.

Everything fell into chaos.

In retrospect, Ollie should have seen it coming - things had been going far too nicely. She had almost managed to catch up to the mysterious person, Fern remaining quiet and nervous as Ollie darted from hallway to hallway. Even though the other person looked relatively human, they were surprisingly fast.

They just weren't fast enough for a symbiote.

But just as she was close enough to reach out and grab onto the person's shoulder, Taleweaver appeared out of nowhere in front of the person. What followed happened in a matter of seconds - the person dropped to the ground, rolled out of the way and went rushing away from Fern, Ollie and Taleweaver. None of the three got to see where they went.

Ollie, going too fast to slow down, slammed into Taleweaver, knocking them - and herself - to the ground in a tangled heap of limbs.

When she raised her head only seconds later, the person they had been chasing was nowhere to be found.

"A symbiote?" Thytes said, trying hard to focus on Bear's words instead of Bear taking off his shirt. "Was Fern effectively covering Ollie, then?"

In spite of - or perhaps because of - how scared Fern had been, Thytes worried if Ollie was okay. It was a big, poorly-lit castle, full of things a lot worse than bookcases to run into.

Before Thytes could ask if they should follow Ollie and Fern, Arryn took the opportunity to comment on Thytes's eyesight and make a slightly disturbing comment about dead mages. And before Thytes could ask about that, Arryn's bracelets flashed, Arryn fell to the floor, and then Arryn passed out.

"Arryn!" Thytes shouted, reaching an arm out to grab Arryn's. Pulling the man over to the table, Thytes set him on his back and stared down. Yep, Arryn was out of it, but the gentle rise and fall of his chest said he wasn't dead. Not that that was of too much comfort. "What happened to him?" the lion said, panic in his voice as he glanced up at Bear.

Tale fell with a loud clang and they sighed. "How many times am I going to fall today?"