Post by Wilhelm Opens-the-Way on Jul 7, 2011 14:58:59 GMT -8
The Wind spirit had me in it's icy grip. And it did as who would one day be reborn as Alex Trueheart bade it. The Theurge would one day die, be reborn, Renounced, was the proper term, and become of the half-moon Philadox, bearing no longer a name I must never speak. The once-and-future-Alex had the spirit turn me upside down, removed from me the Umbral ground like a puppet on strings. The armor of my former master the Fae knight Tyrn McCullough hung haphazardly from the cord around my arms.
"Look at what we have here," said the Theurge, with a mixture of amusement and bafflement.
"Yeah," said Abraxas One-Ton, "A kid," he scoffed. "Oooh," he mocked Alex's use of force and made 'spooky fingers'. "Big whoop."
"Not just a kid I think Abraxas," said a young Black Fury, Thalia Deed-Catcher, the Glabrys slung across her back nearly bigger than she was in Homid.
"A cub." A massive dire wolf, Hispo was the word that came to me from my father's books, shifted in front of me into a man, tan and powerfully muscular. The others deferred to him almost immediately, instantaneously and subtly. Alpha was the word my mind knew when he spoke.
The rest of them... sniffed me, and agreed. It made me uncomfortable.
"Why are you here cub?" The question was direct. Surely he wasn't being philosophical.
"I..." What could I say? The knight I followed was dead, killed by a massive red dragon, and all I got was this lousy armored t-shirt? I stalled, stammered.
"Speak up boy." Would-be-Alex was stern.
"Uh, I... I'm lost." It was as close to the truth as I could manage upside down in front of actual Garou that, by the way terrified me since they were the first I'd seen since my Father had tried to kill me all those years ago.
"He's fading boss," said Abraxas, scanning me with some technological device that looked like it was out of a science fiction pulp novel, "Kid how long have you been out here in happy fairy land anyway? You're half a ghost."
"Uh... I, I dunno really. Time... moves differently he said, my master. Years maybe, since I was a boy." This set Abraxas' jaw dropping, and would-be-Alex to chuckling with Thalia. I was 14. I'd gotten thrown into the Umbra when I was 8, and apart from the half-yearly excursions to Sir McCullough's patent office, the umbra and the Fae Gateway had been my home.
The native-looking man's fierce eyes narrowed.
"Where is your master?" he asked, looking at the armor hanging precariously from my belt.
"Dead," I replied, sadly, an edge of anger creeping in. "Killed by the dragon Fáfnir, who breathes poison into the land," my face was red, both with anger and sadness that this stranger was asking about the death of my only friend in the world, and also from the blood rushing to my head from being held upside down.
The pack shared a weighted look, and more than words passed between them.
"And you killed this dragon then?" asked the Alpha.
"What?" Was he crazy? "No! I'm... I'm just his squire, it's... a dragon. Fáfnir is legendary, it cannot be defeated, not even with the blade Gram, which my master quested for and still lies sticking from it's impenetrable back! It's immortal, impossible to kill!"
There was a pause as the pack looked at each other, the silence broken only by the swaying slow clatter of the armor hanging from my back...
...Until the entire pack broke into raucus laughter, except for the Alpha, who seemed as if the noise were a fly that was buzzing near his ear.
"I am Orion Wyldblood, Alpha of the Deep Skies Pack, Modi," he paused when I showed no recognition of the word, "Ahroun, Lupis, Fostern of the Fenrir Tribe," he continued, "And I have killed many such things.
He waved a finger. Almost-Alex nodded, and without preamble I felt the wind spirit release me and drop me to the Umbral earth with a clatter of armor and my lanky teenaged bones.
"Now get up cub," Said Orion, "It's time you retrieved your master's sword and found out if you are Garou."
"Look at what we have here," said the Theurge, with a mixture of amusement and bafflement.
"Yeah," said Abraxas One-Ton, "A kid," he scoffed. "Oooh," he mocked Alex's use of force and made 'spooky fingers'. "Big whoop."
"Not just a kid I think Abraxas," said a young Black Fury, Thalia Deed-Catcher, the Glabrys slung across her back nearly bigger than she was in Homid.
"A cub." A massive dire wolf, Hispo was the word that came to me from my father's books, shifted in front of me into a man, tan and powerfully muscular. The others deferred to him almost immediately, instantaneously and subtly. Alpha was the word my mind knew when he spoke.
The rest of them... sniffed me, and agreed. It made me uncomfortable.
"Why are you here cub?" The question was direct. Surely he wasn't being philosophical.
"I..." What could I say? The knight I followed was dead, killed by a massive red dragon, and all I got was this lousy armored t-shirt? I stalled, stammered.
"Speak up boy." Would-be-Alex was stern.
"Uh, I... I'm lost." It was as close to the truth as I could manage upside down in front of actual Garou that, by the way terrified me since they were the first I'd seen since my Father had tried to kill me all those years ago.
"He's fading boss," said Abraxas, scanning me with some technological device that looked like it was out of a science fiction pulp novel, "Kid how long have you been out here in happy fairy land anyway? You're half a ghost."
"Uh... I, I dunno really. Time... moves differently he said, my master. Years maybe, since I was a boy." This set Abraxas' jaw dropping, and would-be-Alex to chuckling with Thalia. I was 14. I'd gotten thrown into the Umbra when I was 8, and apart from the half-yearly excursions to Sir McCullough's patent office, the umbra and the Fae Gateway had been my home.
The native-looking man's fierce eyes narrowed.
"Where is your master?" he asked, looking at the armor hanging precariously from my belt.
"Dead," I replied, sadly, an edge of anger creeping in. "Killed by the dragon Fáfnir, who breathes poison into the land," my face was red, both with anger and sadness that this stranger was asking about the death of my only friend in the world, and also from the blood rushing to my head from being held upside down.
The pack shared a weighted look, and more than words passed between them.
"And you killed this dragon then?" asked the Alpha.
"What?" Was he crazy? "No! I'm... I'm just his squire, it's... a dragon. Fáfnir is legendary, it cannot be defeated, not even with the blade Gram, which my master quested for and still lies sticking from it's impenetrable back! It's immortal, impossible to kill!"
There was a pause as the pack looked at each other, the silence broken only by the swaying slow clatter of the armor hanging from my back...
...Until the entire pack broke into raucus laughter, except for the Alpha, who seemed as if the noise were a fly that was buzzing near his ear.
"I am Orion Wyldblood, Alpha of the Deep Skies Pack, Modi," he paused when I showed no recognition of the word, "Ahroun, Lupis, Fostern of the Fenrir Tribe," he continued, "And I have killed many such things.
He waved a finger. Almost-Alex nodded, and without preamble I felt the wind spirit release me and drop me to the Umbral earth with a clatter of armor and my lanky teenaged bones.
"Now get up cub," Said Orion, "It's time you retrieved your master's sword and found out if you are Garou."
It was really neat to read about our pack again, I think you caught the personalities well in this snapshot.