Young Writers Society

Though it had been weeks since he'd entered the valley on his journey to reach the coastal town of...he sighed. His map had been stained with water. So the coastal town of Waterstain? Sure.

Though it had been weeks since he'd entered the valley, he had yet to see the sun, and his lack of ability to feel time was beginning to drive him mad. Nevermind the rabid monsters that flew overhead or lurked in the bushes.

Darian laid back against a rock, staring at the spattering of colored stars above, and wondered when something interesting would happen .

The man sighed for what had to be the hundredth time since he had ended up here – wherever here was. He regretted checking out the old key in the warlock's shop. The sign had said that the key would bring the owner to another world; he had foolishly hoped it would bring him to the Fae Realm. He had also believed that there would have to be some sort of incantation to unlock its powers, but he had been wrong in that aspect as well. The moment his fingers had touched the magical artifact, he had been whisked away to some mysterious valley.

And now the key, which he fingered as he continued walking, had been rendered useless.

Sweat dripped down his face. He knew it would be easier to revert back to his actual form, but his current one was the one people recognized him by. If he ran into someone he knew, he would want them to see Loki A. Lias.

He snapped his fingers. His black suit was replaced with a red tank top shirt and a pair of loose black gym shorts, though his golden locket still hung around his neck.

I crept through the shadows, making sure that I was not spotted by anyone or anything. I had entered this stupid valley 5 days ago, because someone had said that if I went here, then I could find a wizard, who would be able to give me the magic I needed. I stopped as I saw someone in front of me. I couldn't quite make out what they looked like, but they were definitely there. I drew my blaster and crouched in the shadows, watching, to see what they did next.

[Character description -> clubs/2532/forum/75747?start=0#p838876 ]

Darian, who had crouched over his low-light burner to cook a can of beans, suddenly felt the threat of looming danger.

Now, stick with him here--because if you've ever been stuck in a wooded valley of perpetual darkness with few rations and no orientation to lead you to your destination, you, too, would feel endangered.

So Darian slowly stood and cleared his throat, chunks of beans flying from his throat. How could he play someone who could want him dead? Robbed. Plundered. Charm? Deceit? Threats?

"If there's a person out there," he called, sighing, "I killed a giant bird earlier and can't carve the damn thing." He turned a few times, hands in his pockets. "Sure would be a shame for it to go to waste for a scrawny, unarmed priest."

I heard them call out to me, offering food. I stood up and walked over to them, keeping my blaster ready as I didn’t know weather or not I could trust them. "Why are you here?" I asked as I sat down across from them.

His stomach growled. Frowning as he looked down at it, he quickly decided that he should have ate something before going to the warlock's shop. Or, he thought as he stared into the darkness, I should have brought a snack. It was a mistake that he almost regretted more than picking up the key.

His stomach hurt, and it was already taking a toll on his mental health. He could smell a fire burning. And, with it, he could smell some sort of food. His mouth watered at the scent of the imagined meal. He wondered what it could possibly be, and why the smell was getting stronger as he continued down the path.

His eyes widened as he was struck by realization. He wasn't imagining the smell – it was actually there!

In the best of circumstances, he would have easily acted like Loki A. Lias. He would have calmly walked to the source of the tantalizing smell, dressed in a simple yet elegant suit. He would have seemed out of place among the environment he was currently stuck in.

But this wasn't the best of circumstances; he was incredibly hungry. Without bothering to change his outfit, he rushed down the path in a flurry of motion. He was certain that he had a wild look to his eyes as he sprang from the bushes. The two men sitting next to what appeared to be a burner stared at him, dumbfounded.

He suddenly felt incredibly awkward, and very aware of how crazed he must have looked to the two. Giving a nervous wave, he uttered an incredibly quiet, “Hi?”

Then he cleared his throat and spoke more confidently, because he was Loki A. Lias and flamboyant was supposed to be his middle name. “Hello there,” he said, this time far louder than before.

"This valley is more full then I thought." I said to myself as another person ran out of the bushes and greeted us. "What are you doing here?" I asked him as he sat down.

He glanced down at the key in his hand; he was surprised to note that he had forgotten to slip it into his pocket. Doing exactly that, he said with a sheepish smile, “I was traveling and got a bit lost.”

Lying was one of his many talents. It was possibly only rivaled by his extraordinary reading skills, and only failed him when in the presence of Ari. Even the mere thought of her beautiful face made his cheeks feel warm. She had that strange effect on him. He had never experienced it before, and it still confused him greatly. He understood his feelings, but it was their mere existence that baffled him. She shouldn't have effected his life as much as she had.

He looked at the two men. “I go by the name Loki A. Lias. What are your names?”

"Why are you traveling here? There's nothing useful for miles. Also my name is Crifide Hinchoy." I couldn't risk telling him my real name, as if the empire was here then they would have told everyone to try to find me, and the last thing I wanted was to be captured.

Beans-in-mouth, Darian turned to Loki and swallowed, passing his plastic spork. "Darian. No last name so far. Dad was a hippie." His eyes turned to the man sitting beside Loki and an eyebrow raised. "You're...dressed like it's Halloween. I kinda love it, but you gotta tell me: is it Halloween? Or are you part of a new new secret police?"

"I am dressed like this because I want to stay alive."

This was a terrible idea. While in her heart she was still very determined to not be home, running away from home - ableit with some planning, but clearly not enough - was turning out to be quite the daunting situation to find herself in. Running away made sense, but the bad ideas probably started when she decided to run into the forest on a whim, when she thought she was being followed. It probably didn't help that she was particularly paranoid about that, because of all places, a forest is much easier to be followed in without your knowledge than out on an open road. But the point was to lose them! And at this point, she had done just that [if there even was anyone following her in the first place (there wasn't)], but she had also lost herself.

"What kind of forest is this anyway?" She grumbled, hacking away at a branch with her knife in frustration. "Who puts a forest here? Why can there be any signs of civilization? Why did the sun betray me and disappear forever?"

She continued to verbally complain and mumble to herself as she pressed on through the forest. She'd tried countless times to try and retrace her steps, but clearly, she was not good at navigation and was directionally challenged. In defeat, she slumped forward, leaning on a tree.

"Geez louise." She took a few deep breaths, feeling the exhaustion of hours of walking beginning to catch up to her. "Looks like I'm gonna have to camp out like one of those naturalists or something."

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a bug land on her arm, and before she could even recognize what kind of bug it was, her hand had slapped it dead. In mild disgust, she wiped it off on a tree. As she lifted her arm she caught a whiff of her own scent, grimacing. She took a closer look at her underarm, noting the round sweat circle that had made it's home there.

"Well at least I can sweat freely." She shrugged, adjusting her oversized hiking pack on her back. It was full of everything she needed, and at this point, everything she owned (apart from things that dwelling in her pockets, like her keys, knife, some cash). She took a sip of water and took out some jerky as a snack, and after feeling revived enough to continue, she carried on, deciding she'd just have to search for a good enough place to settle down for the night as she roughed it out. It wasn't very long before she smelled what she immediately recognized as a campfire - and maybe food. Then as she cautiously drew closer, she heard voices.

"Oi vey." She whispered to herself as she peered out through the trees at the mysterious group in the distance. Would she interfere? Should she interfere? What were the chances of these strangers being hostile? She was unsure. That didn't stop her from walking forward with a confidence she herself didn't identify with (it seemed she was always doing things without thinking, really).

"Heyyy strangers." She adjusted her snapback, tucking her short, greasy blonde hair under it. "I'm Amy, and I'm lost. Who here's in the same boat? Or should I say the same forest? Haha, am I right?" She gave a small laugh, looking at the three dudes as a standup comedian would an audience in expectation of laughter. Her confident stance quickly deflated however, her stature shrinking down as she slouched again, tired from the weight of her bag, mentally preparing herself to spring away if necessary. It wasn't like the joke was even good anyway.

He had never been so grateful in his entire life.

When the focus of the conversation had shifted to Crifide's outfit, Loki had still remained on edge. He was terrified that the conversation would return to the topic of his travels, and he didn't have the foggiest clue about how to respond to the man's question. But then Amy had suddenly walked out of the forest, and he knew that he was saved. Crifide and Darian would be more intent on learning about the newcomer; he no longer had to struggle to come up with an answer.

“I go by Loki A. Lias,” he said. After a moment of hesitation, he gave her a warm smile. She looked somewhat terrified of the group, and he thought that seeing a smile from at least one of the three of them would make her feel more comfortable. “Do you want to sit down?”

"Oh sweet heavens would I ever." Amy began to relax a little already, walking over to the small group huddled together and plopped down on the dirt. She unbuckled her bag and slipped her arms out of the straps with a sigh of relief, and used her bag to lean back on. "Ya'll, I've been walking around for who knows how long carrying this thing."

She began to stretch her arms and back, reaching up and every which way as she continued to talk. "And boy is A. Lias one heck of a name. If I didn't know any better I'd say it was an alias, ey, Loki? Haha, I kid, I kid. Bet you haven't heard THAT one before, haha. But ya know, people have more unfortunate names out there in the world. Knew a kid named Ben Dover. You can imagine how many times he got teased for that. Was a terrible and unfortuante naming, that one. But anyways!" She cracked her back, then her neck before looking at the other two strangers.

"What are you two's names?"

"My name is Crifide Hinchoy."