Those Who Dance in Moonlight (Open)

OoC: Hey, people! I'm back! Here, I'll be playing Ona (link in sig).

BiC:

A lithe, black wolf with stunning amber eyes like stars sat in the bushes. A long sword was resting on her back, and in her fur, feathers were tied with small beads of turquoise and wood. The feathers were of various golden hawks, so the stood out against her pelt of jet black fur. She was watching intently, goings-on from afar....

A distance away, there was a village, lit up with torches and fires on the hearths of houses. The black she-wolf swished her tail as she meandered down the slope into the valley housing the village. She lifted her head, and pricked her ears, halfway down the hill. There seemed to be something different about the air here. She looked to the sky, then left, then to her right.

A flaming arrow whizzed over her head. Ah, my assignment must be here, she thought, ducking deeper into the grass. This must be the place. Quaint town, though, I was expecting something grander. The black wolf began her way through the darkness to where the arrow had been fired.

Shadows meandered through the night on the second plane. She could see these, unlike most normal beings, who can only see on the first plane. She shook her head, prying deeper to the fourth and fifth planes. She knew these figures. Nightmares, as they were simply called, were the creatures her race opposed at all costs. She seemed to frown, but ignored them.

The lithe black wolf continued through the night, with only starlight reflecting upon her obsidian coat.

OOC: I will be playing as Karash.

BIC:
You are the only other I will allow, an ancient and alien language hovered in the air for a moment, a godly tone in its voice. Vibrations shook the grass, the few trees in the area, and the air itself. Rapidly the oscillations gained power and range, spreading from a small spherical area to about 8 meters.

The phenomenon seemed like one only possible when deep in the astral body, but this was happening in the mostly secluded grass-land area outside of a town. Soon something unrepresentable through human eyes occurred: space began to distort and time seemed to dramatically slow in the section of space.

As space began to condense and expand in pulses a body could be seen in the center of the distortion, it seemed as if it was falling in every direction at the same time, and yet being pushed out as well... a visual almost impossible to properly describe.

A sudden scream came from the portal, someone inside was in pain, and each pulse of the unnatural occurrence seemed like it should be tearing him apart, his entire body would soon be revealed though as it fell, or was pushed out of the fluctuation.

A bright white-clothed figure emerged, unarmed but seemingly dangerous just by the scars on his, obviously, war-stained face. The spacial anomaly ended almost immediately as the creature emerged into reality. The red-haired figure stood quickly and scanned the area as if paranoid.

He growled like a beast, replicating the angry face found golden chest-plate, his yellow eyes glowed with a dim light in the darkness as if darkness itself had never found him...

Strangely out of all the things in this new world he arrived in, he took notice of an arrow in the sky (though the fact that it had fire on it he was unaware of). He felt some need to follow it, as if his deity had a divine plan for him that he must follow.

The she-wolf pricked her ears as she felt the ground shake and the grass tremble like a frightened rabbit. The wolf then heard a low growl. She turned, and gazed at the red-haired figure. It was not human; she knew that by its scent and by looking on higher planes. It smelled distinctly of desert, of which there were none near or around this area of the countryside. It had a golden breastplate, and eyes that seemed to have forgotten the darkness enfolding them. Not human, and not shade, nor nightmare. She held her body in a way that showed she was either ready to flee or attack the creature on the spot.

It growled right at the red-haired figure. No fear- the first lesson of the Dream Guardians. Remember your training, Ona. The wolf looked ready to pounce. Is this my mission? The disturbance I felt? No-- It cannot be. It cannot; this is not what my briefing stated I'd be fighting. Ona lifted her head with an air of dignity. She let out a series of barks, presumably meaning to ask a question, though if you didn't know Wolfish, you couldn't tell if it meant "How's the prey running?" or "Why are you here?" The barks were not at all hostile, and in fact meant, "Who are you? You are interfering with my mission."

Ona stood there, expecting him to either look at her with an air of bewilderment, or answer.

OOC: I like your charrie... If Ona and him were ever to team up, they'd be a very powerful team... Power over matter and dreams.

OOC: thanks I liked reading about your character as well, and yeah together we could control the material and mental worlds

BIC:
The distortion from earlier was somewhat clouding Karash's mind and he felt threatened for a while, he continued to growl to his surroundings as he scanned them, the threatening display may be all he needed to stay safe in this new world.

Then something caught his eyes as he turned around, it was a fine black wolf, though he would know neither the color nor the animal, it was an alien to him. It had strange objects within it's coat as well... they seemed to be leaves? No not quite, they were feathers, but those were practically one in the same on his planet.

Karash didn't know exactly what to make of it he stood tall in order to show dominance in a way, but the intention was to simply state he wasn't afraid. The opposing beast seemed to do the same, Karash liked its style so far.

Suddenly the beast voiced something, an unknown sound to this foreigner, but clearly a simple bark to anyone else. That isn't want he focused on though, he focused on the facial features of this being... it seemed to be questioning him, or atleast curious. He was the same.

How he hoped this thing could speak Shihaitan, who knows maybe it could, he'd never been off of his planet before so he had to give it a shot.

"Ṡi'alakul?" he asked waiting for a response.

Ona responded by tilting her head slowly to the left. What is his intentions? And whatever did he say? Shall I overlook this? Her linguistics did not extend many 'alien' languages, only ones for simple-minded humans. She figured she should try a response... but yet she didn't know how, or what language to choose. Oh, Father would know what to do... The wolf stood, still as a statue, save for the breeze rustling her fur for a few moments....

What a waste of my time, she thought, I have a mission I must attend to... and if I don't finish soon, the sun will burn me. With that, she turned tail and began to trot off. Whether or not the man with the red hair decided to follow was up to him, but she had a higher purpose. She began to run off, not in cowardice, but with purpose in her stride.

She paused at the top of the next hill, beginning to connect the dots. Flaming arrow fired in her direct vicinity, near a quiet, small village... and to top it all off, monsters typical of the Dreamworld at the base of the hill... This was, indeed the workings of the Nightmares, but not for typical Nightmare purposes. I will have to alert the tribes once I return home.

After Karash's question on whether or not the dog spoke his language it became apparent it did not, the feral canine tilted it's head in a way that clearly showed its bemusement. It looked as if thinking for a moment, perhaps trying to decipher the phrase, or perhaps thinking about something completely different.

Karash stood straight again as the wolf made a 360 and began walking in the other direction... had the being understood what he said? Was it maybe trying to lead him to someone who could speak with him? These were the first thoughts that flooded Karash's mind, and he simply took his first-guess' orders.

He began to follow the beast as it pranced off in the opposite direction, it seemed pretty confident on the path it had chosen, and if this was to be his guide that was definitely a good thing. Another arrow shot threw the sky and caught the Ancient Shihaitans attention, and it just happened to be in range of the lupine leader. Definitely a sign.

OOC: one question about the nightmares, do they have a physical form or can you see them because they are on a different plane visible by you? I think it would be interesting for Karash to fight an almost invisible enemy (since he can only see ACTUAL matter). I just don't want to ruin the appearance of the creatures.

OoC: They take solid form on the first plane... If he can only see real matter, then... Wait, this whole matter thing is confusing me. I do fantasy. You can feel free to do whatever you wish with, but their essence is on a different plane, like Ona's. If he can see Ona, chances are he can see the Nightmares.

BiC:

So he decides to follow me... If he gets in my way, he's a dead man, human or not... Though I have a feeling he is lesser, though he's definitely not human. Ona ducked between some grass that shadowed her in a blanket of blackness. She lowered her body in a crouching position, padding slowly as she snuck up on a serpent-like creature. The wolf's breath seemed to disappear as she dissolved into the black, much like a lithe hunter preparing for the kill. Grab it by the neck, drag it into the shadows where I can disperse the essence.

The black lupine hesitated for a split second, a moment quicker than a heartbeat, then lunged as fast as a bolt of black lightning. She clamped her teeth in a grip of steel around its neck. The beast flopped back and forth, attracting attention. No! It's too strong! How embarrassing; this hasn't happened since my Academy days... All of the beasts surrounding her turned to face her. I'd better fall back and think. She released the serpent, which quickly bared its foot-long fangs at her, hissing its discontent.

Whoops, no chance of that... I can't even take the time to shift to shade form. She growled at it, as if in challenge, but she knew she couldn't take down all of the Nightmares alone. She needed help, but if she ran for it, or howled for it, she'd make a fool of herself and her tribe. It was time for that creature following her to prove his worth... That is, if he decided to fight.

OOC: I guess that decides it then

BIC:

Karash continued to follow closely behind his furry guide as they made their way closer and closer to... something. Whatever it was, its form emitted a strange vibration making the creatures a haze, it was as if they were material but not at the same time, or perhaps the haze was created from a material form somewhere else simultaneously? This was something Shihaitan eyes were simply not meant to see.

The path-leader began to slow down into a creep and lowered itself within the shadows, this immediately told Karash to do the same, these creatures were obviously a threat for such a stance to be made. He became just as stealthy as his lead, though stayed behind a bit, he may be less efficient not knowing what exactly these beings were, perhaps he would learn by example.

A smudge of matter arched in air as the wolf pounced one of the otherworldly being, it seemed a rather simple technique but it was practically executed flawlessly... That is until the action drew just a bit too much attention.

Several other smogs of material essence seemed to face the now surrounded lupine, and if that was indeed Karash's guide sent by Netchur himself, he just couldn't let this be.

"ṇulaġa'iṡ!" he shouted, as if the creatures knew what he was saying, as if ANYONE knew what he was saying! He dashed from his position further behind the wolf and threw a fist at the serpentine haze in order to make it back up. Obviously the monster didn't want to be punched and so it easily evaded the blow, but thats not where the balled-hand stopped, it rocketed ground-ward and a pillar of earth launched at the smogling as Karash's fist collided with the ground.

Successful hit, but that surely didn't mean it was down for the count, and its friends didn't look happy at all...

Ona's follower, in her eyes, had proven himself. He thrust his fist for the ground, and earth launched itself upwards. It wasn't dead or even dispersed, but knocked out for a few minutes while she could handle the others was good enough.

The black wolf leaped at the others. "Your death awaits you. Prepare for eons of punishment." The nightmares seemed to understand her low, ominous woof, and half of them froze. The rest of them growled, hissed, or showed any other sorts of discontent towards her.

"What are you to say? The Master will kill all of your kind."

The wolf growled, jaws clenching. "Never. You are weaklings. You cannot take down the Guardians."

"Watch us. We shall start with your sacrifice!" The Nightmares converged on her, and she let out a howl, struggling. My essence... I feel it depleting.... My wolf form won't hold!

Karash was content with his initial attack but it didn't seem to do much against the numbers surrounding them, or rather the guide. The lupine being was only safe for a moment before it leaped back into battle, pausing to growl and bark, was it communicating with these monsters?

The pause seemed long enough for a decently sized conversation to be held, it it was in fact some type of communication they smog-like creatures clearly understood, but whatever was being said left them with malicious thoughts. Any that weren't seemingly frozen in fear began to target the wolf.

Karash growled as though a beast himself just before creating a small wall infront of the wolf, that might buy just a little time, he really needed to find something to use as a weapon though! His companion seemed to be weakened by something... what exactly where they facing?

More aggressive Shihaitan phrases spewed from the mouth of a warrior as he punched and dodged as much as he could before his fists were simply not cutting it. What should he use!?

The Nightmares hesitated for but a moment as the earthen wall sprung up around Ona, which gave her the chance to wriggle out from their grip. She limped to her companion, glaring at her rivals. "I'll never be able to fight them alone," she woofed in a low bark. She hesitated, then edged close to him, so his hand brushed the sword that was slung across her back. "Take this. Send them to the netherworld. I need to rest," she woofed, standing patiently beside him.

Karash began to look at his environment for inspiration as Shihaitans of his time were taught, utilizing the area was key to winning, but he couldn't find anything in particular that he could utilize with his skill. He began mumbling silently as he thought.

Suddenly something brushed against his hand, his guide had found her way to his side and seemed to be offering the weapon perched on her back. Even if that wasn't so he may have taken it anyway, what was the four-legged creature to do with such a fine blade?

He grabbed the nicely forged item and swung it twice for good measure, it was nice to calibrate weight and length real quick just before using a new weapon. The wolf looked tired though so he may be on his own for a bit, the new-found form of attack would be of great use right now though, he should be fine.

Karash jumped back into the horde of hazy enemies, their movements leaving a cloud of in-existent matter as a trail of where they'd been, it threw this warrior off only for a moment as he snaked his way passed a few of these monsters and into the center where he could do the most damage (though receive just as much).

One of the smogs jumped at him immediately after he reached his destination he pushed his hilt into what he assumed was a jaw before taking a swing while it was dazed, decapitating it. One down right? He hoped so, for all he knew these things could regenerate or even divide into even more enemies... A loud thump came as a beast bashed him in the back with something, it felt like a ton of bricks but it could have just as easily been the damn things fists.

Karash winced, accepting the blow but evading the next, and yet another coming from his side. He may have jumped the gun with these things, but he was waiting for the opportune moment. The clouds of matter gathered around him, a dark aura making Karash's skin crawl, but he would definitely fight it. 'close enough' where his thoughts just before spinning 360 degrees at least scraping every being around him, some may have taken a lethal blow but there was no time to count right now.

He could probably only keep them busy until his companion was better, she obviously knew more about them than he did... he was simply buying time.

The wolf gazed at the red-haired man fighting. He's worthy, she thought, as she allowed her body to slip into shade form. A shadow flitted across the ground, and she was gone for a few minutes, while her companion was fighting.

What she was doing was recorded in the memories of dreams from a mortal. She hustled to the nearest house, and made a quick link between her and the nearest sleeping mortal-- a maidservant sleeping on the job. She eased slowly into the dream as if it was a comfortably hot bath, feeling her wounds heal almost instantly, but she figured her companion could survive another few minutes.

The dream spirit took in her surroundings. Ona found herself sitting in a patch of wildflowers, in broad daylight. The dream was obviously a sweet one, because she saw the maidservant swing her leg up over a horse, then begin riding in the valley. Ona sat back, letting her human form absorb her. Her vision changed from simple colors in a wolf's sight to the broad spectrum that humans see as she sat idly by. She rested her hands out behind her, and lay her legs out straight in front of her. Her dark hair was let loose, and draped over her shoulders in a jet black cascade. The maidservant saw her, and mistook her as a nightmare- a person watching to snitch on her. Ona sighed, seeing this coming.

"No need to fear," Ona called out. "I will not tell your master, nor any of the other commoners. Our secret."

The maidservant nodded, and resumed her ride.

Ona decided that by this time her companion was probably weakening. She slipped out of the Dreamworld and back into reality. She began to hurry back to her companion.

curses of an alien language echoed on the fields of battle where Karash bought his guide time to heal. There were few that were slain, the majority only taking a hardy swing and missing their own retaliation chance. Karash was getting use to the biengs' hectic fighting style, when they tried a strong over-hand attack he swiftly side-stepped to attack their open torso, if they clawed at him he would escape backwards while jabbing within the openings.

It was still quite a battle regardless of tactics being deciphered, the numbers alone would tire him out soon as he continued to block heavy attacks with earthen-walls and dodge the swipes of quicker adversaries. Karash had just taken out another anomaly of a life form, his borrowed blade slashing diagonally through its cloudy form (in his eyes of course). The monsters too were beginning to unveil the tactics of Karash, like a scorpion he would sting at them, but like an elusive prey he would escape to start the cycle over again, noticing this the smoglings seemed to plan ambush attacks, preventing such guerrilla tactics.

"ugh!" a painful grunt escapes Karash as he finally contacted by an overhead swing, though it was while backing away from the clawing moves of another, the blow collided with his gut making him spit out any and all air in his lungs instantly, he growled in defiance with the small breaths he could take after the attack, "kar..." he began a famous battle cry of the Shihaitans. "kor..." he brought himself up, almost being attacked again by the being behind him, he quickly escaped such a fat by slashing behind him and amputating the unsuspecting foe.

"KUR!" the final word was shouted, giving him the strength of a true warrior, his heart thumping rapidly as he jumped back into battle, hopefully this adrenaline rush would last long enough though...

"Kar... kor... KUR!" were the seemingly nonsense words she heard her companion shout as Ona resumed her wolf form. Whatever it was, it sounded like a battle cry. Though she knew he could handle himself, she began to creep through the brush, ready to attack the Nightmares.

The wolf plunged into the fray once again, her strength renewed. Dangerously close to the sword, she dove down into battle, pinning a Nightmare, and quickly dispersing it. The rest of the Nightmares took a pause in their battle to stare at her. She snarled menacingly, her teeth looking sharper, her coat blacker, and her eyes fiercer. "Leave here. I'll deal with you later. If you don't, say your last words."

The monsters grumbled in protest, then became shades, and disappeared in short order. Ona gazed at her companion respectfully for a heartbeat. "I cannot understand your language, though I wish I could and you could do the same."

Karash was continuing a good fight, his adrenaline hiding the pain from the fierce blow he'd taken moments before, his blade swung quickly through the air ridding this new world of another monster with every rare connection. His battle cry had empowered him, and the sword emphasized it, dispatching or disabling cloud after dark cloud of matter.

A sound came from behind him after another steady back swing, he turned to noticed the wolf had returned (and the blade luckily didn't harm her). She quickly annihilated one of the otherworldly creatures and looked fiercely at the remaining crowd, her burning eyes telling the tale her voice could not.

With great haste the smoglings evacuated the area with grumbling sounds of dissatisfaction and hatred, they didn't leave in any form known to Karash though, rather than fleeing by foot.... they disappeared into thin air, not a particle to be seen dissolve into the gaseous substance or anything, they were just gone. Did they destroy themselves out of fear of this lupine-guide? Karash's eyes could grasp no answers in this phenomenon.

The wolf then looked at Karash as though thankful, or at least respectful, he held his head high feeling that he'd proven himself well, and that he'd done so in front of the one sent by Netchur (as he assumed). There was quite a barrier in vocalized speech, but the furry-warrior's eyes said everything, and Karash nodded.

Now new there were many new thoughts and questions to be answered, the most important of which: what now?

Ona glanced to the horizon. Her time there was almost up. The sun, if she didn't hurry to her own realm, would burn her to death. Fear fluttered through her heart, but she tried not to think of it. Even so, her tail drooped dejectedly, one of her ears rotating to take in all the noise around her out of nervousness. She knew that that was not the end; that the monsters she defeated were merely the tip of the iceberg of the Master's-- whoever he was-- plans. She had a hunch that whatever it was, it wasn't good, it was very bad.

But the first thing she had to handle was a way of communication with her companion. She knew that much; if she couldn't communicate with him in one way or another, their companionship would be difficult to manage. With one paw, she scratched the ground absently, then it hit her like a load of bricks. She could communicate through drawings. The only problem with that was quick, passing conversation would be very difficult, but until she found something better, it would have to do.

She ripped at the tall, lush grass, and kicked up dirt until she was standing in a small ring of soil which she patted down with her tail, then sat on the grass beside it. She hesitated a moment, then scratched out a picture of a circle, which she adjusted, and constructed it to look slightly like a planet. Ona sat back, hoping her terrible art and cock of her head would get the point across: Where are you from?

The battle had ended now, the sun was almost up (though Karash wouldn't be able to tell), and the wolven companion began to look distraught, nervous, or fearful. Karash could only feel the heat rising to something he was more accustomed to, but the star in the sky of this planet was no match for the two of his. He wondered what was wrong with the wolf for a while, but she seemed to get a grip of herself quickly.

'I really wish I spoke this creatures language...' Karash's translated thoughts stated, things would indeed become difficult to maintain without another basis for conversation beyond body language. That's when the wolf seemed to have an idea though, she clawed at the ground oddly, digging into it, sadly engravings where already hard for Shihaitans because lighting is what made it so easy for humans. He squinted with straining eyes at the pictograph as it took shape.

A roughly circle shape was carved he could tell, but what would that mean to him? then some little details where added, something that looked alot like a map... or a planet? Same difference. Karash felt he understood the message, but then the furry creature infront of him cocked it's head. 'ah this is a question' he concluded in his mind. How would he depict where he was from though? He had no idea where he was or how he got there, The Ancient Shihaitans created astral charts which would be useful if he had an idea of where he was in space!

For now he settled with carving the name of the planet in his own language: a line was drawn as a starter at the top and then the words came down from it like a lightning bolt from a cloud, several swerves and curves where input and proper diacritic vowels were placed. Gaila it read, this was the only way of conveying it he could think of, besides that he said the word aloud "Gaila" while pointing at the engraving.

"Gaila," responded her companion, pointing to a symbol in the dust below her feet.

Ona gave a nod of her head, and erased with a broad swipe of her tail. She drew an arrow pointing to herself, and an image of a valley with squiggly lines for plants. She drew a tree in the mix, then blurred the picture with her paw. She hoped he would get that it said, My name is Mist.

The sky was growing lighter, and the stars were flickering out. She had ten, maybe fifteen minutes to sunrise. She gazed east still seeming nervous, though she still had her ears toward the... Gailan? to make sure he knew she was still listening.

Maybe the Guardian's records have something on his race. I may be able to find something, and learn to link with him.

Karash was happy to see the being across from him understood, or at least he hoped that's what the nod meant, but he couldn't think of any other translations of the gesture for the moment so he was quite sure.

The wolf then began to draw a landscape, pretty similar to the glyph-like drawings on Gaila, the trees where something he hadn't seen until arriving on this planet, so he looked at one nearby for comparison and conformation that that's what the drawing was. Suddenly though, after finishing the creation, the lupine brushed it, creating a blurred appearance, this would be a tough one for Karash.

There was no mist on Gaila, a desert planet, there was a lack of water to create it, or anything similar. Karash thought hard about what the blurred picture could be interpreted as, and sadly ended up with sandstorm. Sandstorms where a common part of the weather on Gaila, happening several times almost everyday, though varying greatly in severity, the blurred pictograph seemed to remind him of the phenomenon though.

As he thought about it for a while, thinking he had it correct, he pronounced the word referring to the veiled appearance created by a sandstorm: "a'iṡova?" he said, the shh'ed s sound coming just before a very soft v, and each vowel carrying a strange tone.