Young Writers Society

Shiruba:

A few swift blows with his katana, as usual, made quick work of the tree branches looming in front of him. He was at the head of the procession that wormed its way among the trees. Behind him, the sailor hummed a tune to himself, occasionally snatching up his pipes and playing a series of random notes. "Just experimenting," he said with a sheepish grin after the song almost lured Shiruba, who was in the midst of swatting back a series of branches, into striking the sailor with his sword, which would've no doubt been lethal.

"Why haven't you already started?" complained Shiruba after a few minutes. The woods were eerie and seemingly endless, looming in massive numbers of dead pale trees as far as he could see. Worst of all, he had absolutely no sense of where he was traveling, and worried that he was only wandering in a circle. Though he had heard it was a common habit among lost humans alone, his own inability to find a familiar landmark to gauge his location made him distrust his own senses. "I'm sure we've gone far enough."

"In this forest? I doubt it," replied the sailor calmly, lifting a branch away from his head. "And we need to be a far ways from where we last were if we can hope to find her. This music travels far, in case you can't tell."

"Yes, I already know, and, if you had played it earlier without her having been attracted to it and then coming to you, she must be some ways from here," mumbled Shiruba. He was impatient. Rightfully so, of course - he desperately wanted to find her. And every second he couldn't see her, or every place he couldn't find her in, just made him more and more enraged. It was his natural coping mechanism. Unfortunate for the poor branches who had to deal with his wrath.

The sailor was unnerved. Shiruba's anger was normal - he doubted if he had ever seen him not controlled by some form of rage. Whether against his grandfather, family, country, a random stranger who annoyed him, an acquaintance who managed to do the same, or innocent people who were unlucky enough to be in his way, he was constantly upset by something. Rather, in this case, it was the forest. As Shiruba had felt some time before, the quiet and calm landscape seemed eerie. The trees seemed unfriendly, and their great numbers seemed to be closing around him.

Looking for something to keep his mind away from his odd surroundings, the sailor snatched up his pipe. Before anybody could stop him, he chose a song at random and began to play it.

Schadel:

As they make their way through the forest to whatever place that the "ordinary" sailor deems to be best for finding the person Shiruba is looking for, he starts to become aware. He keeps hearing footsteps. It's hard to pick up on them, almost as if the owner of them is trying to mask their footsteps with the group's. Schadel keeps turning his head back to see their follower, but they are never on the path when he does so.

Suddenly, he hears them approaching. They've given up on the tactic of hiding their footsteps. The other members of the group become alert as well. The sailor's song falters for a second before falling silent. Nendros becomes tense, along with Margaret and Shiruba. Magic begins to form in Blanx's hands. Claret readies the cookware she had picked up earlier. Aska moves just a bit closer to Nendros. And Schadel prepares for the sight of an unknown foe.

Their follower shoots a bullet. It doesn't hit anyone, but it's enough to make everyone just a bit more nervous. And then their follower emerges from behind one of the towering trees.

At first, Schadel assumes that their follower is a man. But it quickly becomes evident that their follower is, in fact, a woman. He estimates that she is around five feet tall. Her eyes, a vibrant green color, watches them from a tanned face. Her short, dark brown hair is messier than his own, and maybe messier than Nendros'. The woman's, who he believes to be in her late teens or early twenties, attire consists of a brown tunic, leggings of the same color, sturdy leather shoes, and a somewhat flamboyant long coat that is the same shade of green as her eyes. Though she is wearing a coat, Schadel sees visible muscles.

And in her calloused hands is a titanium gun.

She holds it with ease. Clearly, the woman is no stranger to using it. Her eyes travel from one person to the next, the barrel of her gun obediently following. She finally decides on a target.

The sailor.

She releases the safety once more with a barely audible click. "See this gun?" she asked the assembled group. "I want you to tell me how I ended up here, and where my partner is. If you don't..." She gave them a cold smile. "I'll shoot this man."

Shiruba:

It took him a few seconds to register the unknown voice. He was so distracted by the emotions coursing through his mind and his incessant anger invoked on the branches that he didn't even notice somebody was talking until he registered the audible click of a kind of weapon. Shiruba had never heard anything like it before, but the next words made it clear that it was not of any peaceful intent, nor was its wielder.

He slowly turned around, and found that the weapon's wielder was pointing it at the sailor with a cold smile on their face.

Shiruba cursed under his breath. Whoever this person was, they had no doubt been following him and the rest of the party, perhaps for some time. He had completely ignored the sound of footsteps - even the bullet fired had been a barely audible noise in his mind, and he had somehow attributed it to the sailor playing a note terribly wrong. Now he might pay for his carelessness, which served to frustrate him all the more. While he didn't exactly like the sailor all that much, he certainly didn't want him dead, especially not while the sailor was the only person he knew that could help him find Enide.

A closer investigation found that the wielder of the weapon was a woman. Not particularly tall, with bright green eyes; a tanned face; short, dark brown, and messy hair; fairly young, likely younger than him. Than again, he was older than a lot of people he knew - he didn't have an average human lifespan. This person wore a mostly brown outfit - a tunic, leggings, and some strong-looking leather shoes - and a long, bright green colored coat, matching the color of her eyes. The last of these had been scratched slightly by the multitude of branches, but looked otherwise fine.

And, of course, she was threatening the sailor.

The said sailor reacted quicker than Shiruba could've. Holding out a hand peacefully as he slipped his pipes into one of his pockets, he began, "We haven't got a clue who you're talking about, lass. I know a friend here who's missing a partner, but I've seen her, and she ain't you. Unless'he changed her appearance in a sec'. And she never was good at disguises. I mean -"

"Get to the point," snarled the woman. "Just tell me where I am, and where my partner is. Do I have to shoot you?"

"Now now," chastised the sailor. Shiruba saw him surreptitiously sneak a dagger from one of his back pockets and hold it behind his back while gesturing with his free hand as he spoke. He frowned, but quickly averted his gaze, lest the woman catch on as well. "Let's not get so hasty here. I'm just as confused as you are, and I'm not one for getting shot while figuring it out."

"Luckily," said a voice from the trees about the stranger's head, emanating over the area. Shiruba's heart skipped a beat when he recognized the slightly melodic voice. "There won't need to be any shooting today." Addressing the stranger, the voice continued, "These people shouldn't be harmful; I recognize a couple of them. They're friendly. And I should know."

"I've been married to one of them for fifteen years."

Sakura.

Sakura, who obviously hadn't seen a gun before, spoke rapidly and without fear. Her face was flushed and her eyes wild with anger.
"Are you nuts? You're depleting the magical resources of these woods god darn it! What are you some kind of psychopath?" She paused for a moment before visibly calming down. "I apologize for my abrupt and illogical reasoning, I felt no environmental magic being channeled. Forgive me. I have no clue where I am either, only how long I must stay."

She observed the gun, speaking in whispers to the wind. "Interesting, a weapon using a hammer to trigger an explosive that fires the projectile out of the barrel. Fascinating. May I see it?"



Flaerwin

I stumbled through the woods, glancing left and right. I hoped none of them were following me- and even if they were they weren't getting me back in that cage, not now, not ever. I bent back a branch and heard it snap, I flinched, hoping no one heard it.

I ran several yards more, before deciding to climb a tree and get a good view of my surroundings. I pulled myself up by a branch, which creaked under my weight. I swallowed my vertigo as I climbed, learning that enclosed spaces weren't the only thing to be afraid of in this world. I quickly brought myself back to the ground.

I wandered until I heard footsteps, and then I beard a bang- a gunshot. I tore a branch down from a tree and held it like a baseball bat, going towards the sound. I found myself standing behind a girl with a gun aimed at an old man, and a tiny little girl yelling at her. Something about magic? I wondered who was really at fault here, and sat in that position to take stock of the situation, realizing that I probably should have done so earlier.

Zogin Arwitch:

Soul wouldn't be happy if he found out I was threatening people to get answers... she realized. It was an annoying realization. It was almost as annoying as the fact that no one knew anything about where her partner was. "Damn it," she muttered. The girl who had asked to see her gun looked at her expectantly.

"You can't look at my gun," she growled, holding it close to her. The smarter move might have been to return it to its holster, but the girl could possibly be a pickpocket. The girl was strange. She had mentioned something called environmental magic. She felt that she had once learned what magic was, most likely in an old history book. But conjuring the memory was a difficult task - especially when her brain was focused on finding Soul.

Suddenly, she remembered.

"I'm not sure why you're calling Sin 'magic', but my gun does use it." Without really thinking about it, she launched into an explanation. She was only focused on the girl. She wasn't paying attention to the woman who had just entered the clearing, the shock on one man's face, or the girl brandishing a branch like it was a sword. "I channel my own Sin into my gun. My Sin is only used when I'm firing my gun, as I did a minute ago." Soul had told her multiple times to be more humble, but she conveniently forgot.

"I made this gun when I was younger," she bragged, "so I'm the only one able to use it."

"Who are you?" a boy covered in bandages asked her.

She grinned. "I'm Zogin Arwitch, one of the best adventurers in the region!"

Shiruba:

He stood stock-still, shocked, as Enide gradually lowered herself from the tree she'd stood upon and landed upon the ground gracefully. She hadn't changed in the slightest - still poised, still refined, and still with a sense of drama. And, of course, she seemed unharmed. A gaping Shiruba found his surprise dissolving into relief. Immense, overwhelming relief.

Then, taking a few steps forward, he embraced the figure he'd spent so much time looking for while the sailor casually watched, a bemused smirk on his face.

"You probably searched half the forest looking for me, didn't you," whispered Enide in her husband's ear. It was more of a statement than a question; after fifteen years, she had found that his behavior was quite predictable. Especially when it came to the people he loved.

"Only for you," he replied with a sigh of joy.

"And I'm supposing you confronted and threatened the people I see you've met?"

"Errr...," said Shiruba, looking away awkwardly. "Well...you know me too well."

"At least I know you've never made a good negotiator," noted Enide, beaming, as she stepped back to look at the state Shiruba was in. "But, in spite of what seems to be a few cuts and scratches, you're otherwise unharmed. And it looks like you were able to make a few new friends in the process. Nicely done."

She continued before he had the opportunity to speak. "Though I'm sure you probably want to leave right now, now that you've found who you're looking for."

"I only stayed in this forest for one person," he replied matter-of-factly and firmly. "I won't be staying for anyone else."

"You are a mighty irritating romantic, you know that?" barged in the sailor, who stood between Shiruba and Enide and poked Shiruba's chest with an accusing finger. "Everyone 'lse can get lost and die, but it's all well if you have her. Didn't you hear? Someone here is missing a partner, likely in the same pain you were in, and it looks like there's a group of magic users here. Maybe stronger than you."

"What of it?" replied a frustrated Shiruba, causing the shorter sailor to grow slightly pale. "If they're so strong, they can find anyone else who happens to be lost in these woods. My purpose is accomplished, and I'm not one to stay around and risk death any longer. I will be leaving, and, with Enide beside me, I will not be stopped."

The sailor grew silent, stepping aside. He knew what was likely to happen, but he couldn't do a thing to stop it. Shiruba was stubborn and powerful, easily too powerful for the sailor, who only had music and a small dagger. But maybe Shiruba's power wasn't enough to get himself out of a conflict. Perhaps Enide also realized this; she seemed to have a calculating expression on her face. The sailor wasn't quite sure what to make of her - it was hard to tell what exactly she was feeling or what exactly her true intentions were. But he suspected she felt the same way he did, and was waiting for her husband to figure it out.

"Well, while that's nice and all," called out Shiruba to everyone else after the stranger had identified herself as the adventurer Zogin Arwitch, "I'm afraid to inform you that I will not be here any longer. I've found the person I'm looking for, and I have no more intent to stay here."

"Does anyone have a problem with that?"

Flaerwin

Magic? Sin? I shivered, I knew I had to get out of here before they started firing spells at me, but then again, what more could they do? Was there anything that hadn't yet been done to me? I didn't really want to find out, so I backed away slowly. Next thing I knew I was on the ground with a squeak, darn my clumsiness. I got to my feet as fast as I could, hoping for the best. I had dropped my branch so I grabbed the closest thing to me- which just happened to be a fallen tree twice my size. I held it like a shield, unsure whether or not wood would make an adequate shield against magic.

Nendros:

They all turned to the bushes. There was a girl standing there, wielding a stick as a poor excuse for a sword. She was human, and she watched the odd assembly of people with wary blue eyes.

Nendros gave her what he hoped was a warm smile. "You can put the stick down. We're not going to hurt you." He gave a pointed look in Zogin's direction. "Though I may not look like it, I'm human." The girl still kept her stick raised. "My name is Nendros." He gestured at Aska. "This is my best friend Aska. The boy with the bandages is Schadel. The man with the purple hair is Blanx. The two of them are grim reapers."

Schadel grinned, realizing that Nendros was trying to reassure the girl that they weren't going to hurt her. "I'm the owner of Schadel's Necromancy Agency. Blanx owns a magic shop. And if you can see the ghost girl next to me, her name is Claret. That's why there's floating pans."

Claret waved her pans.

Everyone else quickly introduced themselves (save for the sailor), some more reluctantly than others (like Shiruba). After that was done, Nendros turned his attention to Shiruba.

"I have a problem with you leaving," he informed him. "A big one. We helped you looked for someone you cared about when we had just met." His tail began to swish back and forth. Aska took a step back to avoid his helmet getting knocked off. "Now you're in the same situation we were. A stranger needs help. The only thing that you know about them is their name and that they want to find their partner. And all you can say is, 'If they're so strong, they can find anyone else who happens to be lost in these woods'?"

An all too familiar anger coursed throughout Nendros. He hadn't felt this level of rage since eleven years ago. "You can't go doing that!" he yelled. "What if her partner dies because she didn't have the help she needed in order to find them?! Are you just going to leave her sobbing on the ground because there was nothing else that she could do with the excuse of, 'Well, she's strong enough to handle things on her own'?! Are you going to make her live with the guilt of not being to save the life of the one person she cares about?!"

Nendros took several deep breaths. When he spoke again, he was calmer, quieter. "If you're fine with that guilt, then walk away right now." His tone turned dangerous. "But I warn you. If you walk away and dare show your face to me again, I wouldn't give you a single ounce of mercy."

Flaerwin

"Umm... I g-guess I c-can help." I stuttered, silently cursing my troubles with speech. "N-not sure h-how useful I can be though."

"Oooh, a stutter. Those are great for disguises, but I feel bad for those who don't have them on purpose." Came a voice from the little girl. "Forgive me, but I must ask; are you in disguise? And if so, why in so much blood?"

I bristled slightly. "W-why would anyone st-stutter on purpose?" I looked down at my clothing, registering exactly what she'd meant by the blood. "Umm... Most of that isn't m-mine." I chastised myself, no need to frighten the girl.

"Whose then?" Stated the girl patiently.

"P-people with guns." I gave the lady with the gun a meaningful look. "And t-tasers and c-cages. They earned every d-death." Why couldn't I keep my mouth closed once I started talking?

Shiruba:

The already pale Shiruba's face grew white at this display of anger, and he fell utterly silent. Unmoving, he was caught between paralyzed in fear and angry enough to attack anyone and everyone in sight with his katana. But, of course, neither option would be anywhere near reasonable. The former would display him as being weak, and also expose him to be attacked by whatever else lived in the forest (after all, having met many of the people trapped within it, Shiruba had the distinct impression there were yet others scattered about the landscape who had not been found yet, some of whom might not be so friendly). The latter, of course, placed his loved ones and friends at risk. And he already had enough knowledge to know what would happen in that event. However, between the two raging emotions, he hadn't any idea what to do. His mind was overloaded, and so he remained there. Silent, unmoving, staring straight ahead of him.

Enide looked at him with a curious, yet also expectant, expression, raising an eyebrow. To Shiruba's other side, the sailor finally let out an audible groan. Wary, he raised his hand and waved it front of Shiruba's face.

"You alive in there?" he called out in a somewhat loud voice. "I get it's hard to understand being outmatch-"

Shiruba aggressively batted the sailor's hand and glared at him. The sailor shot back one of his own, sneering in what was most likely annoyance.

"What I think he meant to say," said Enide, placing her hand on her husband's shoulder after a minute of this fierce staring contest, though he still stared at the sailor and didn't bother to look at her, "is that it wouldn't be fair to leave. Not now, not while our friend here doesn't have their partner, who might die if we all don't pitch in. Had you not searched for me, that could've happened. I might be strong and capable, but this forest is brutal. I could've died alone. In the wilderness. Far away from you."

"But you are my only concern," shot back Shiruba, wheeling around and pointing at her. "Whoever this partner might be, they aren't. Why should I help somebody who I don't even know? And what are the odds they'll turn out to be friendly?"

"Your friends may have had the same concerns, but they seem to have gone searching with you regardless," she replied calmly, gesturing in a dramatic sweep all of the acquaintances Shiruba had met in the forest. He sighed. She was persuasive, undoubtedly so, and her calm demeanor never failed to temper his anger, even if only slightly. But that didn't mean he was finished just yet.

"I don't care," he said forcefully, though almost begging. "I care for you. This person may seem trustworthy, but their partner might not be. This could be a trap. And I want to protect you above all else. Keep you safe, from harm, from danger."

"Aren't you aware of the expression 'strength in numbers?'" said Enide in a finishing tone. She had won the argument, and both of them knew it. She was determined to stay, and Shiruba could not change her mind. As much as he didn't like the prospect, he was forced to stay with the rag-tag group he'd been stuck with. "In effect, you would put me more at risk by leaving with the sailor and I alone, rather than with everyone here, especially if we run into something we've never seen before that happens to be stronger than any of us. And, after what might be a few hours in the forest, I've seen plenty of both. It is evident we have many strong and capable people, and I, for one, am determined to find this partner, whoever they might be, and see to it that they are safe. If you're smart, you'll join me."

Contemplating this for a minute, Shiruba finally grumbled, "Fine. I get your point. I'm coming with you. Let's go find this person, whoever they are, and then get out of here."

"Sounds fine to me," replied Enide, smiling in satisfaction.

Nendros:

"Good," he simply said at Shiruba's decision. He turned away from him, slipping his hand into his pocket. As he tried to erase the guilt that was weighing down on him, he fingered the cross in his pocket.

He glanced over his shoulder. If no one had interfered with his and Az's life, would he have eventually become like Shiruba, and she become like the person that Shiruba had searched for? After a moment of contemplation, he decided that it would have been the other way around. He would be telling her what to do and what not to do.

A tear slid down his cheek. He tried to frantically wipe it away, but the damage had been done. "Nen?" Aska questioned. There was a worried tone to his voice. "Are you okay?""

He forced a smile. "Yeah," he lied. "Some dust just got into my eye, that's all." In an attempt to change the subject, he turned to Zogin. "Can you describe your partner? We can't find them if we don't know what they look like."

Zogin crossed her arms. "He's about six feet tall and wears a black suit of armor that's a similar design to your friend over there." She gestured at Aska with a nod of her head.

Zogin thought for a second, her face fixed in a look of deep concentration. Then her gaze turned to Sakura. "Earlier you mentioned that I was 'depleting the magical resources of these woods'. So you can sense Si-magic." She paused. "If you can, then you've probably noticed that my magic is trailing off of me and going off in some direction. By following that trail, we can find my partner. He's at the other end of it."

"Why haven't you done that yourself?" Schadel asked, curious. "If it's as simple as that, why threaten us in order to find him?"

She frowned."I can't see it. That's the problem. I know it exists, I just don't know where. If I did, the two of us would already be searching for a way back to Medium."

Sakura

"Yes, I can sense magic- but I can't see it exactly... It's complicated. I'll try to find the trail you seek. But if it takes me a while I apologize- I was never well versed in this type of magic."

She saw Flaerwin shiver out of the corner of her eye. She then closed her eyes for a moment, searching for strings of magic to follow, although still unsure what she was searching for. After a moment she opened her eyes, gasped, got up, and promptly walked into a tree. She grunted before closing her eyes again, then opening her eyes one at a time.

"Trail coming off of you... Got it, it's that one..." She waved her hand as if picking up a strand of thread and then waved her other hand as if to send something else away. She then got up and began to walk as if following some sort of trail.

Flaerwin

Something about this little girl seemed out of place... Slightly creepy. But it wasn't as if I had much better to do than follow her. Of course, finding a way out of the forest and away from here was a priority, but it didn't seem like anyone was getting any closer to that goal. And many heads are better than one- or was that just one of those weird things the guards said? Either way, I wasn't really quite ready to trust advice- or people.

Aeron Gagnon

Wandering through the woods, trying to find anyone and wanted to know how he got here. Scared inside but he tries to be calm at this point, until he hears something..

????:

He tried to push a branch out of his way, but it went flying back and hit his helmet. He attempted a glare at the branch in question. However, he had never been good at them, so he assumed he looked less menacing and more along the lines of constipated.

A squirrel suddenly darted across the path he was following. It wasn't a path made by man, but one made by nature over a span of decades. He found solace in that fact. He knew he should be terrified he was so far from civilization, but he had always been fond of the great outdoors.

A pathetic spark of Sin escaped his fingers as he tried to make a bolt of lightning. If could control it, he could use it as a flare to get her attention. He tried several more times with the same result. He would just have to search for her.

He caught sight of someone as he continued down the path. Skidding to a halt, he turned to stare at the figure. If he had a heart, it would be leaping in joy. The person had to be Zogin! A smile spread across his face. Filled with hope, he burst into the clearing (not without getting hit by another tree branch, of course).

Aeron Gagnon

Getting even more scared, he then hesitated to think maybe he may know something.
But, he wasn't sure. With his hand trembling, he reaches for something in his pocket.