Through Ancient Ruins (Navi007)

OoC: Well, at first I thought I wouldn't be able to start this for a good while, but then I recently found out I could start it now. Let's get this on. I'll be using Zarek. :]

BiC: It felt like it had been days since Zarek left the last town he'd been in. If he didn't get a real meal and place to stay soon, he swore anything he'd turn into a caveman. On the Reaver went in his travels, his two faithful axes sheathed at his back. He was tired of relying on fish and other game for his food and using caves and such for shelters. It wasn't that they were bad, only that they got old. Zarek continued moving along until he came upon something he would have thought last to see. A pile of ruins in the middle of a small meadow.

This immediately made him think of the last time he'd heard about or seen ruins, which was during the quest to save his homeland from a great darkness. During that time, ruins were a typical thing to care about. Now though, Zarek decided he should just move on and ignore the area. He was too sick of his current life to stop for anything but a town. While he walked in the ruins, he took a look around anyway just to see if there were any others around. Pretty soon, he saw a young woman with blonde hair tied up in a braided bun, most likely younger than him, wandering about the area and seemed to be studying it.

Deciding it might be helpful to ask this lady if she knew whether or not there was a town nearby, he started walking towards her and then rose his right hand to call out for her.

"Hey, excuse me, miss!" Zarek asked, still moving towards the woman. "I want to know--" But as soon as the woman saw Zarek, she sprinted away as quickly as she could. Zarek began to chase after her.

"Now wait a second! I just want to ask you if there's a town nearby!" he called again. But the woman vanished as quickly as she'd taken off.

"Hmph. What a wimp," Zarek mumbled to himself. "Still, I need to find a town soon. Otherwise she isn't worth my time at all." With that, Zarek continued on his path in hopes he'd find that woman again, knowing there has to be some way to see if she can help him.

OoC: Sorry, this is all I can think of for now.

OoC: Not at all, it was very good ^^ Sorry mine took so long...

BiC:

It was not until I was certain that the intruder was lost behind me that I dared to stop running. The man—if that was indeed what he was—had given me a terrible fright, for such a sight I never would have expected to see in these unpopulated woods. It seemed that fortune would never deem me far enough from a human establishment to keep me from falling into their company. This man in particular, however, appeared to be something more than a mere human. His hair had been the strangest color, a bluish green, and the axes he carried...I imagined they were hewers of men, not trees.

It did not help that he had appeared somewhat more dangerous than a normal man, too. His aura was far too strong to be normal, and more than that, it had a strange sort of energy that had tickled the air when he had approached me. It was a strong, yet erratic sensation, like little bits of energy hanging in the air and striking into me at the most unsuspecting moment. To say I had been startled by such a presence would be to put it far too mildly—I had nearly screamed upon being hailed by him. Now, I chastised myself for being so careless. If I had not been so engrossed in the ruins, I would have noticed the strange man almost immediately, but as was typical for my luck, I had been distracted right when I should have been paying the most attention.

Ah, well, I suppose it cannot be helped now. I have eluded the man for now, and I cannot conceive how my appearance could have gained enough interest for him to follow me. Perhaps I was somewhat rash in fleeing so quickly...

But I certainly knew that I had not been. Such an imposing person, tall with his broad shoulders plated with spikes. Spikes, of all things! They truly were quite an intimidating ornament, but I was sure they served more purpose than decoration. The man must be absolutely daft to expect a woman, completely alone in a deserted forest, to stay and keep company with an armed man with two conspicuously large axes in his possession. His tone had been none too kind in greeting, but I supposed it had not been what one could consider hostile, either. Perhaps he would have been somewhat pleased to know that I would have ran even had he appeared normal, for company was not something I desired of anyone or anything. Solitude was my way now, and even in this foreign place I had the small comfort of it, solitude being one of the few behaviors of humans that I actually understood and indulged in. One did not have to worry about entertaining or protecting company they did not have, but unlike most, I also had to worry continually for any companion's safety from myself. Thus, I gave most creatures a wide berth whenever possible, especially when traveling.

To my relief, the thick green foliage around me had betrayed little of my passing, though I could make out the small imprints my boots had made in the soft dirt. Despite my panicked run, the lush forest around me was perfectly calm, the animated chatter of birds in the branches above entirely unalarmed. Except for the breeze rustling the leaves above, there were no other perceiveable movements, save for the slight and erratic shadows of small creatures rummaging about the surrounding foliage. Despite this wonderful calm, however, I was disturbed. Silence was not a welcome thing when I suspected that there were strangers about, particularly ones that carried quite intimidating axes.

Come to think of it, that was just about all I had been able to see of the stranger; his weapons. He had been standing with his back to the sun, which had covered most of his front, and certainly his face in shadow. His voice had been somewhat snobbish as well, as if he had expected me to immediately comply to whatever bizzare demands such a man like him would have. What on earth would a person like him want, anyways?

And then I heard it. The snap of a twig or a rustled branch is generally the sign of typical animal movement, but under such circumstances, I was certain it was the man. I whipped around at the sound, and to my dismay, there he was, striding through the forest quite purposefully towards me. Naturally, I fled.

I could have sworn that the man called something after me as I ran, but I paid no heed to it. When I focused my sole attention on escape, that was indeed the only thing my mind bothered itself with at the moment. My nimble feet carried me through the forest with great ease, and I began to suspect that I had once again lost the stranger, when I was suddenly forced to come to an abrupt stop. Before me stood a tall and precarious rock face, which extended past either side of me for quite a distance, the heavy foliage around it promising a very difficult run. As I stared helplessly at it, I saw that it would be far too difficult to climb, as footing would be poor and the cliff extended well over fifty feet above my head. If I had been careful at all, I would have seen this coming, but my mind had been too focused on treading quickly over the ground to notice any obstacles that might lie ahead. My only choices now were to confront the stranger or attempt to flee by flying. The latter choice, of course, would reveal to him what I was, and that I wanted to avoid at all costs.

And so it was that I turned nervously around to face the man that had been chasing me.