Sora's Story (chapter 1 now reworked)

After a lot of careful planning and writing I now will post my first chapter of what I hope to be my best story yet! If you're confused as to who Sora is then visit his bio in character discussion. Without further ado let the story begin!

NOTE: I have edited the "flying squirrel moment" to make a bit more sense due to Warhammer's (AKA Warrior3000) advice.

NOTE II: Following the advice of Warhammer (Warrior3000) I have edited my story a bit. Expect every chapter so far to be edited in the same fashion that I did this chapter in. The basic plot will stay the same, but the format will be changed to be a bit better.

NOTE III: I have fixed some long overlooked grammatical errors.

NOTE IV: I have finally started the long project of reworking my chapters to contain more detail, and much more of it at that.

Don't worry, this won't be entirely about updating chapters with more detail until they're all redone, I will post new chapters every so often as they're finished.

I have also changed the title back to the original of Sora's Story rather than Sora's Adventure because, let's face it, Sora's Adventure is bland and Sora's Story, while still simple, sounds much cooler.

I have also decided to adopt a new "alternating" point of view for the story. Most chapters will be told in first person from Sora's perspective, but some will change to either a first person view of another character (IE another character goes solo for a bit and his/her tale is told from their perspective so the readers don't get confused) or a third person view sometimes (mostly for chapters containing very important scenes). This chapter will still be in Sora's perspective, since he's the only true main character so far.

In addition to this, I've decided to add a little flare by having the header for the chapter names colored depending upon what happens and where as well as the characters that the chapter focuses on.

And to top it off, some minor plot details will change. Certain things will no longer happen and be replaced by other things. Anyways, let's get this show on the road.

NOTE V: This chapter's popular for notes, isn't it? Anyways, I added some dialogue that I forgot the first time around.



I hid in a hollow tree deep in the forest, keeping my senses active and awaiting the sign of the predator. The leaves rustled in tension as I waited it out. I had been shrunken, and was at risk of being caught. Every second that passed felt like a minute to me, and every minute like an hour. Until finally, I had caught a scent on the wind. The scent of my pursuer.

"Hey!" I called out. "I know you're out there! Let's get this done with!" Walking out of the tree, I found a fairy, rather large in comparison to myself but she was only the size of a human. She had flowing brown hair and, like many other fairies, wore no clothes. The playfulness in her blue eyes was obvious.

"You know I'm supposed to find you. You're not supposed to find me!" The fairy said with a giggle.

"I guess I'm not." I said, shrugging. "Oh well... Gotta fly!" I snapped my fingers and immediately a strong upwards gale blew. I spread my arms revealing a couple leaves I had stuck to my shirt and hopped off the branch.

My goal was simple: get to the safe point without her catching me. I kept on wagging my tail, creating bursts of wind each time propelling me foward. Had it not been for that and the fact that I was gliding, I would've been caught before I could even blink. Well, maybe not that fast, but you get the picture.

I kept a vigilante eye out for something I could do to slow the fairy down, be it to make a sudden sharp turn or a route that would slow her down. Eventually, a tree managed to pose as an obstacle. Had I continued, I surely would've crashed and that would be the end of that. I turned sharply to the right, rolling over in mid air and avoided the tree.

But my pursuer had done the same, still hot on my tail which I never stopped wagging. Eventually, the darkness of the forest lit up and gave way to the light of the sun, a clearing of grass and a small town comprised of small stone houses in the distance. A tree sat outside, a couple figures sitting on the branches. Two to be exact.

"Almost... there..." I said, feeling the wind run through my fur. Like all good things, my makeshift glider began to lose it's use as I lost altitude. I kept cool and let it take me as far as it could until I rolled onto the ground and began to run the rest of the way, never letting my tail stop wagging. Even when I was on the ground, it allowed me to run considerably faster than normal.

As I approached the tree, the two figures sitting atop the tree branches slowly began to resembled what the actually looked like, all of them being fairies. Looking back, I saw the fairy closing the gap, her eyes burning with determination.

Knowing that she'd definately catch me before I could reach the tree, I drew a claw from my finger and dove for the tree, trying to get it with my claw. And that I did, just as her fingers wrapped around my body and lifted me up.

"Well whaddaya know! I won this time!" She exclaimed in happiness.

"Um... I hate to rain on your parade but look at the trunk." I pointed out.

Her eyes shifted towards the bottom of the trunk, and she saw what I had hoped for: a scratch along the bark of the tree, barely visible but still there.

"Still, that was a fun game. I almost thought you would catch me, Maddie." I said, smiling.

"Alright then, I guess it's time to unshrink you." The fairy said. She set me on a tree branch beside the two fairies and in a flash of light, I was back to my normal human size. Or rather, Neko size, since that's what I am.

"So then what about you guys? Did you get here in time or did Maddie catch you?" I asked my fairy friends.

The fairy that sat to my right answered first. Her hair was somewhat short and blonde while her eyes were green and, alike Maddie, she wore no clothes. Her name was Chloe. "Well, I just barely made it here before Maddie could catch me."

Then the fairy on my left answered. She had short black hair and deep brown eyes. Continuing the trend, she too wore nothing. Her name was Sara. "I almost got here before I got caught..." She said, sighing.

"Hey, it isn't that bad." I said, trying to comfort my friend. "It just gives you another reason to try harder next time."

I jumped down from my perch and checked the sky to see the sun directly overhead. "I gotta get back home now. I told dad I'd be back by noon." I announced.

"Aw but today's your birthday Sora! Shouldn't we be spending more of it having fun together?" Maddie asked.

"I wish I could, but it's just not that simple. Today's a very important day and I can't be late." I explained. "And you know just as well as I do why it's so important."

"Alright. But promise." Maddie said, a serious tone taking over her voice. "Promise that you'll return home safely."

I looked around to see that Chloe and Sara's expressions had changed too. They also looked worried, obviously about me.

"Don't sweat it." I said with a smile on my face. "You don't have anything to worry about, I'll come home safe and sound no matter what. Promise."

"Alright. But before you go, there's something I want to give you." Maddie said. She rushed into town and five minutes later, came back with a clear glass vial in her hand containing a clear liquid.

"I got this a while back. It's magical ink that you can use to make moving sketches." Maddie explained, placing the vial into my hand. "It's from all of us."

"Wow. Thanks! I'll make sure to try it out sometime!" I said, expressing my gratitude.

"You're welcome!" My friends said in unison. After that I walked off to my home to find my dad waiting outside.

"Hi Sora. I take it you had fun in the forest?" My dad said, a smile on his face.

"Yep, I had a lot fun in the forest." I said as we walked into my stone home.

"Good. Now then, the time has come for your final test. Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yeah. I just need to go get it from my room. I'll be back ASAP." I said. I rushed to my room and grabbed my backpack off the floor and rushed back to my dad.

"Alright then, let's get you to the forest." He said. The very words made me both nervous and excited.

He mumbled some magic words and a portal opened right in front of me. He gave me a glance and I glanced back. With a deep breath, I headed through and thus, an adventure of grand proportions began.

END OF CHAPTTER!

Okay sorry it took so long to pump out this chapter! Hopefully it won't take quite as long for the next! Also I'm not too fond of chapter 2's name so if anybody has any suggestions to make feel free to make them.

NOTE: I have now edited the format of chapter two for your reading pleasure. Enjoy.


"Alright, I've reached my destination." I said to myself, coming out of the portal.

"So then, first things first, I need to find food and water." I said to myself, checking over my plan. "Shouldn't be too hard."

I began walking through the forest, keeping my senses alert to any signs of danger, sometimes stopping to sniff around for signs of danger, and sometimes I would stop to listen to my surroundings. I couldn't risk any chance of getting eaten.

After an hour of wandering aimlessly through the forest, a lone berry bush came into view in front of me. Eyeing it suspiciously at a distance, I sniffed the air.

Who was to say that 'berry bush' wasn't actually a carnivorous plant in disguise? I definately didn't want to take that chance. Deciding the area was safe for the time being, I walked up to the bush.

Swinging my backpack around and holding it by the strap and opening a pouch on the front, I plucked the berries one by one until all that was left was the shrubbery.

Satisfied with my harvest, I slung my backpack into it's original spot and continued my search. I walked for what seemed like hours, I really couldn't tell. I could no longer see the sun from beneath the canopy of trees.

At that point I was becoming tired. Knowing that fatigue would dramtically decrease my chances of survival should I run into a predator, I rushed over to a tree and investigated. Deciding that it was safe for now, I sat down next to the large tree.

I didn't bother to hide, knowing from personal experience that it would do me know good.

After what felt like ten minutes passed, I stood back up and stretched briefly. Keeping my senses peeled, I continued my search for water until I heard a trickling noise in the distance. My source of water had been found.

Following my ears, I walked through the forest to find my water source. It became louder and louder until finally I had dropped into my water source. Opening my eyes, I found myself underwater.

I flailed my arms and legs in an attempt to surface. My attempts at surfacing were unsuccessful. Then I snapped my fingers. Seven clones appeared stacked on top of one another and passed me up to the surface.

Once there, I gasped and breathed heavily, taking in gigantic breaths of air. After a moment, my oxygen crisis died down and I was able to take in the serenity of the scene around me. The sun was setting, the river was flowing, and the forest creatures were singing.

Realizing where I had just been, I removed my backpack and searched through it. My Dream Journal was soaked, not to mention my pencil was now useless. The only thing of my art that survived was my birthday ink I had gotten the very same day. It was in an air tight container and as such it was the only thing left of my art.

I sighed in disgust at the thought that I used my ears alone. I knew better than that, and had it not been for my clones, I surely would've drowned. I always said that a wise traveler keeps all his senses open when traveling in Felarya, but I couldn't follow my own advice.

I sighed at the thought of having to wait over a week to start my art back up, but I couldn't let myself get discouraged now.

Reaching into my wet backpack, I grabbed my canteen.

Uncapping it, I put it in the water, the opening facing opposite the current. When the bubbles stopped rising up, I pulled it out and recapped it. Holding it by the neck, I put my hand underneath the container, my palm facing upwards.

Focusing fire energy into the air just above my hand, a ball of fire formed. My dad always told me to boil water before I drink it to remove impurities and the like. Keeping the flame steady, I could feel the steam rising in the canteen with my other hand.

Then all hell broke loose. In a sudden flash, my canteen uncapped and took off flying into the ground as it's boiling contents splashed all over me. Screaming, a deep burning sensation took over my body.

Distracted by the pain of the boiling water, I felt an impact on my head. Writhing around on the bank of the river, I was screaming in agony.

END OF CHAPTTER!

Originally this was going to be a part of chapter 2 but I figured it would be much cooler to leave you at a cliffhanger on the last chapter. So here it is. And by the way I'm not very happy with the name of this chapter either so like with chapter 2 feel free to make suggestions for the name.

NOTE: I have edited the format of this chapter for your reading pleasure. Enjoy. I've also fixed a few grammatical errors. And I also gave a bit more detail to the vore scen between Sora and the mermaid.


I couldn't take the pain much longer as it was proving too much for me. The pain was blocking out my ability to think. Then suddenly cold water splashed over me, soothing what the boiling water had done.

Opening my eyes, I found a face looking at me in what seemed to be concern. But what concerned me was the size of the face in question. It was big, no gigantic. Taking a sniff of the air, I found that the creature smelt something between a fish and a human.

No doubt about it: I had encountered my very first mermaid.

"So how do you think I smell?" She asked.

"Weeeellllllll, it's um, tolerable..." I answered. Truth be told, it made me both want to run and sink my teeth into her.

"Oh! I thought you were going to say I smelt like some kind of tasty fish!" She said, laughing.

Standing up, I brushed the grass off my body. I went over to the edge of the river and picked up my canteen. It was still hot, but it had cooled down since the incident.

"So was it you that healed me?" I asked, wondering why she hadn't made an attempt to eat me yet.

"Yeah that was me, guilty as charged. I heard somebody screaming and I came over to see what the commotion was and I found you." She said. "You looked like you were in a lot of pain so I combined my water magic with the healing properties of the soil and then you got better. So what happened anyways?" She finished.

"Well it was a bit of a mishap." I explained, shrugging. "You see, I was boiling some water in my canteen to purify it, but it just burst and splashed all the water over me. And now I know not to cap off my canteen when I boil water."

"Wait a second, boil? What does that mean?" She asked, putting her finger to her lip.

"Well, boil basically means heating water until it gets so hot that bubbles and steam rise." I explained.

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't know. I don't exactly understand how things work with nekos." She said.

Searching around, I retrieved my canteen's cap.

"So then, how do you feel like staying for dinner?" She asked. I feared this moment would present itself.

"No thanks, I don't feel like being eaten today." I said slyly.

"Is that all you think I am? A predator? I am deeply offended, kitty." She said crossing her arms.

"Well excuse me for being suspicious. Mermaids are generally known as predators and I happen to be pretty low on the food chain. Heck I'm probably even a delicacy to mermaids." I explained.

"Well your suspicion was right even though it won't save you." She explained. She reached for me while I narrowly dodged her large appendage. "You won't get away that easy!" She exclaimed as she reached out for me with another hand, succeeding this time.

"Well this is a perdicament..." I said as I was lifted to her face.

"Ha! I caught you, silly little neko!" She said. "And you know you were right about nekos being delicacies to mermaids. In fact you happen to be my favorite food!"

Gritting my teeth, I desperately tried to figure out a plan. If I used lightning magic I'd get electrocuted along with the mermaid and besides I didn't exactly want to electrocute her. My fire magic would be countered by her water magic. Wind wouldn't do much more than give her a slight chill. And my clones wouldn't be able to help me if I couldn't snap my fingers.

My only hope was that she would drop me into her mouth instead of stuff me inside. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. Soon, I felt all the blood in my body rush to my head and my tail being yanked off by the full force of my body weight.

Opening my eyes, I found myself staring right into the mermaid's cavernous maw. My heart pounding in my chest, I gulped. Her grip on my tail loosening, I snapped my fingers. A clone appeared underneath me, but unlike what I thought would happen, I didn't bounce off him and to others all the way to safety.

Instead I stayed in my current altitude and my clone was swallowed alive.

"Oh so you can duplicate. That's pretty cool." She said. "And if that copy tastes half as good as you do then you'll be quite a treat!"

The mermaid opened her mouth again and lowered me in where I was met by warm, moist air inside. I felt all the weight being taken off my tail and I dropped down. Landing on her tongue, I tried to stand up.

But her tongue wouldn't allow it. It moved and wiggled all around, sloshing me with it. Hearing moans of pleasure from the back of her throat, I knew that I would soon be swallowed.

I had to think fast, if I wanted to avoid that. I struggled around with all my might, punching, kicking, and flailing but unfortunately, it did nothing but increase the volume of her moans. Then the slimy tongue I lay upon pushed me to the back of her throat.

I lost all my focus. My fear paralyzed me. My entire body tensed up as I was swallowed alive. Beiing pushed down by her strong esophogeal muscles, I could hear her breathing and her heart beating. Soon I dropped in her stomach. A putrid, acidic smell immediately took over my nose.

Everything began to tingle and sting as her stomach acids went to work on me. That pain and the overwhelming stench was just enough to snap me out of my fear and I began, punching, kicking, and flailing against my fleshy prison.

To my complete dismay my best efforts of getting free were making her giggle. Angered by this, I drew my claws and slashed all around in my fleshy prison.

Coming to my senses, I realized that slashing my way out would do me no good at all. Immediately stopping, I snapped my fingers in frustration, placing a clone, albeit briefly, into her gut.

An idea sparked in my head at this event. It would take all the clones I could create to get her to puke but it was doable. Raising my fingers to my mouth and gagging, I blew as hard as I could and a whistle resounded, creating way too many clones for this girl's stomach.

They all disappeared shortly, but were present just long enough to get her coughing. The muscles contracted and forced me up along her throat. I quickly found myself back up in her mouth and she spat me out into the shallow water.

Surfacing, I was greeted by moonlight and nocturnal sounds.

"Hey! You're not supposed to do that!" A voice said. I turned around and saw the mermaid, still awake. "You're supposed to stay in my belly, you know that?!"

"Well I suppose you would think I should've stayed in there." I answered, my usual spunk returning. "But it's not too pleasant too pleasant in there, and I don't care to stay for another go. See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!" I said, running onto the safety of land.

Soon I found near a tree just large enough for me to sleep in. Sniffing around, I decided that it was safe for the time being and began to hollow it out with my claws. Entering my new home for the next nine days, I lay down for some much needed sleep.

END OF CHAPTTER!

the story is starting well I think
I'm really intrigued by this gift from the fairies. you know it's what every artist would dream of right ? XD

Karbo wrote:

the story is starting well I think
I'm really intrigued by this gift from the fairies. you know it's what every artist would dream of right ? XD

Well thanks Karbs! That means a lot coming from you!

Okay I'm really sorry I couldn't get this chapter out sooner but I kinda got sidetracked with stuff. Also I haven't quite worked out a name for this chapter so I A) temporarily replaced it with triangles and B) decided to make a contest out of it. Just submit the title here. But now... SAY HELLO TO CHAPTER 4!!

EDIT: Okay as said in my below post, I'm really sorry I haven't updated the story in so long but life has a tendancy to get in the way of things like that. So now I've gotten the chapter named and added a new part. The cliffhanger I left you on was cool and all, I know, but that also makes this chapter really, really short and somewhat unnamable so I integrated what would've been chapter 5 into chapter four. I hope you enjoy it while I get the next chapter pumped out.

EDIT II: I've changed the end of the chapter somewhat.


I awoke groggily. My eyes opened slowly to the sounds of the forest. I crept out of my wooden lodging and stood, stretching. I was still half asleep as I walked through the forest to the river. When I arrived I yawned and dunked my entire head under the water.

After five seconds I came back up gasping for breath and fully awake. My minor oxygen crisis died down quickly and that was when I was met by a horrible stench. I tracked it down to my berry pouch where I found a putrid liquid in the place of all my berries.

I gagged on the smell and puked. Never before had I smelt something so horrible. I plugged my nose and turned my backpack upside down over the river and shut my eyes. After a good minute I opened them and reluctantly inspected my berry pouch.

The stench lingered, but was much easier on my nose this time. I took a handful of grass and wiped it clean and moved on to inspect the rest of my backpack. My ink was still completely safe and my canteen looked like it was still usable, but also looked like it was deep fried.

I sighed at the thought of having to wait even longer to get to eat something and took out my canteen. I opened it up and found that it had the same putrid smell the liquified berries had, but to a greater extent, and again I puked.

I placed it in the water again, the opening facing opposite the current. When the bubbles stopped rising I took it out, emptied it, and refilled it. Then I snapped my fingers to summon two clones.

I handed the canteen to one. He held it by the neck of the opening while the other summoned a small ball of fire underneath it. I was having doubts about the container being able to hold and I didn't want to get burned again so I stepped away.

After a few minutes my clones had come back to me and gave me my canteen back. I snapped my fingers again and in a burst of wind they were gone. I examined it and found that no more steam was coming out and I capped it off.

I then placed the capped container into the water to give it a quick cool down. Then I took it out and placed it into my backpack which I slung over my back. I then wandered away from the river in search of food.

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After a good amount of time wandering through the forest I had hit the mother lode. I saw before me a clearing with four berry bushes! I ran jumped for joy and ran over to the nearest bush.

On it were plump blue colored berries. I plucked one and popped it in my mouth. It was the sweetest thing I ever ate. I then went over to the other bushes and identified that they all had the same type of berry.

I then began to pluck them and stuffed my face full of them. I just couldn't get enough. By the time I was done with my feast there still remained a full bush of berries. I plucked them and instead of eating them, I put them in the pouch on my backpack.

And then I smelt something that made the fur on the back of my neck stand up. I slowly turned towards the source and found a human sized dridder in plain sight. My eyes were fixated on the creature.

My heart pounded within my chest. I slowly walked backwards before I turned around and ran as fast as I could. However as soon as I started to run, I crashed into a tree and fell flat on my tail.

"Aww you're really that scared of me? I've seen some pretty big cowards in my life but you take the cake!" She said.

Immediately the fear was replaced by anger at the insult and I stood up and looked her staight in the eye. My blood boiled and my emotions took over. "What did you say?" I asked, in a very menacing tone.

"Oh isn't that cute! You're trying to be all menacing!" She mocked.

I drew my claws and charged at her, full speed and barely in control. I swiped at her and she grabbed my wrists and threw me to the ground.

I felt pressure on my chest and saw one of her eight legs.

"Oh so now you're challenging me?" She asked, in a sinister sounding tone. "Not a very wise choice. But I do like to work for my meals and that was more work than just catching you." She giggled and lowered her face to my shoulder, biting into it.

I screamed in pain and found myself becoming sleepy. The pressure on my chest disappeared and I felt something wet and soft wrap around me. Before I knew it I was out like a light.

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I awoke slowly, to a dim light and the sound of thunder and falling rain.

"That's some storm isn't it?" A feminine voice said. "It came so suddenly. It's almost like magic. In fact I'll bet it is."

I took a sniff of the air and identified the source as a dridder. The very thought of being in a dridder's den scared the life out of me.

I tried to stand up, but quickly found I couldn't move my arms, legs, or tail.

"It's no use to try to free yourself; you're cocooned in my thread and there's nothing you can do about it." She said.

An black, hairy leg dropped down in front of my face and I gulped. I reluctantly looked up to find the same dridder from before.

"You know you've got some pretty interesting stuff. And that little jar... what's in that thing?" She asked, curiosity in her voice. "And do you really treasure it that much to seal it off so that nobody can use it? Oh well, it's probably just water anyway."

She moved closer and picked me up, propping my cocooned feet up. I was beginning to sweat as she stroked her hand down my neck.

"My, my, my aren't you a magnificent feast?" She said, causing the fear inside me to intesify.

Moving her face beside my ear she whispered "You sure do look tasty."

This only made me more scared to the point that I couldn't even think. I began to stuggle in my cocoon again, but to no avail as she giggled in quite a sadistic tone. I trried to draw my claws, but they would not come out and all the feeling in my hands was gone.

She had bested me. I closed my eyes and awaited her to bite me again, injecting more of her venom. She opened her mouth and slowly moved it over my shoulder. I could feel her breath as I held mine.

Suddenly a loud noise filled my ears. It was louder than anything I'd ever heard before and gust of wind overcame me. I felt the dridder's hot breath go away as well as the feeling of being enveloped by her thread.

A scream filled my ears and I opened my eyes. A gigantic cyclone of wind was tearing through the forest, and the dridder stuck in her own thread inside the howling winds. I collapsed to the ground, wondering what just happened.

After a while of shaking my fear, I stood up shakily and experienced a shake in the ground. I ran for the exit but I tripped over my own numb tail. I closed my eyes and braced myself, but there was a sound of falling and sliding rocks.

I stood up and saw that there was a rock staircase leading down in front of the exit. I picked up my backpack and went down to explore.

END OF CHAPTTER!

Okay so after formulating the concept of the plot I decided to rename the story. I'm sorry it's taking me so long to put out these chapters and I apologize but life just keeps getting in the way, not to mention I tend to get sidetracked by the AVGN and video games among other things. I swear I'll have the next chapter up Saturday at the very latest... or at least that's my intention.

Okay I'm REALLY sorry I've been taking so long doing these chapters, but my mind can be rather annoying when I'm doing something like this. Just know that it hasn't been abandoned and I'm still working, but recently life has gotten in the way, especially with state testing now. Don't expect much from me in the future and check out chapter 4 in a little while... nuff said.

Da dun da da! You found chapter five! Yeah I've just finished chapter five and now I'm ready to share it with the world.


As I descended the staircase it became darker and the scent of the air became musty and stagnant.

I had no idea what would be down there and as such, I was on guard, waiting for any signs of danger. As I continued to descend the stone staicase, it became increasingly dark. I stopped for a moment and closed my eyes, focusing on shifting my 'vision mode' as I like to call it to 'dark vision'.

I opened my eyes and immediately saw that the bottom of the staircase was just a few steps away in addition to a couple unlit torches. I closed my eyes and shifted back to my normal vision mode and continued to descend.

When I reached the bottom I held up my hand, palm facing upwards, and created a small fireball. I walked over towards the first torch and lit it, followed by the others. Now I could see perfectly and investigated the chamber.

The walls were made of a strange black rock and the chamber in all was actually pretty large. I also spotted a strange symbol on the wall in onne area and went over to investigate.

It was about the same size as my head and a bright white in color, contrasting the color of the walls around it. It consisted mainly of a circle with swirls of gray inside.

I also felt a strange feeling coming from the symbol as though it was an inactive rune awaiting an awakening moment. It also seemed to radiate magical energy of the wind variety.

Further investigating, I pressed the palm of my hand against the center of the symbol where the swirls seemed to be coming from and going to. Suddenly the earth began to shake again and the staircase I had recently descended began to shift back into it's original position and the torches went out.

As this happened I ducked and covered myself again, in case debris fell from above. Fortunately no such thing happened and as the tremor settled down I let out a sigh of relief.

I stood back up put out my hand, palm facing upwards, and focused a bit of fire energy into it. However not even a spark appeared and I was left wondering. I tried to create a current of lightning after the failed attempt and failed at that too.

I snapped my fingers to see if I could summon clones but still no dice. Nothing I'd tried so far seemed to work. And I tried one last thing. I focused on creating a gust of wind. Unlike my previous attempts this succeeded.

Not only did it succeed, it also caused the torches to light with strange ghostly flames that cast a somewhat eery glow upon the chamber. The symbol on the wall also began to glow and the wall it stood on sank into the ground revealing a long corridor.

Seeing as I could no longer leave the way I came, I decided to push forth, still keeping my senses peeled for signs of danger.

END OF CHAPTTER!

ah good ol temple runs

Archmage_Bael wrote:

ah good ol temple runs

I know! Good ol temple runs'll make your brain melt and taint your logic... or at least this one would...

i blame the fairies. =_= they drive me NUTS. I love it.

HOLY FLIPPING FELARYA!! TWO CHAPTERS ON THE SAME NIGHT?!?! THIS IS MADNESS!! *runs around like a glouteux with it's head blasted off* NOTE: THIS CHAPTER IS COULDN'T BE ENTIRELY POSTED DUE TO CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. FOR NOW PLEASE LOOK AT THIS AS A LONG PREIVIEW OF CHAPTER SIX.

NOTE II: I HAVE POSTED THE REST OF THE CHAPTER FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE. ENJOY.


I ventured forth through the now open passage and quickly became aware of several beams of light over the course of the hall as well as many hatches along the walls.

I slowly crept forth until my foot hit something and I tripped, causing a massive faceplant on the ground. I slowly lifted my face from the hard stone floor and realized that some hatches on both sides of me had opened, revealing many small cannons.

I quickly began to crawl away but just as I was getting out of they're range they blasted fire from both directions, frying my tail. I yelped from the sudden heat and quickly began to run around in circles like a glouteux with it's head cut off.

My tail was wagging violently from the pain caused by the fire and I began to try to focus some wind energy into my tail. It began blasting wind and put out my tail, but also caused me to crash into the wall, again landing me on the floor.

I picked myself up from the floor and exammine my tail to see the damage done. It was charred and the fur on the end was burnt but was otherwise unharmed.

I examined my surroundings to make sure that there weren't any other booby traps in my immediate vicinity and began walking foward. As I continued the smell of mold and dust began to be replaced by a smell of decay.

Eventually I stumbled upon a skeleton lying by the wall. Every sense I had told me to turn back but I knew that it would do no good. I shivered at the sight of the skeleton and noticed it was clutching a piece of paper in it's hand.

At a distance, I examined it and determined that it was a message of some sort. I steeled my courage to retreive the note and I slowly crept up to it and took it. As soon as the note left the bony hands the entire skeleton fell apart and I barely managed to hold back a scream.

I slowly opened the note and read it. It read "To those who wander here in the future, this temple is a death trap of booby traps as well as housing a ferocious monster. It would seem that no magic will work here either excluding pure wind magic. And triggering a single trap at the wrong time may cost you your life like it did me. As for the monster, I have managed to encounter it and it would seem that it copies the form of the unlucky souls who manage to find themselves here, but that is all I know. I do not have much time left in this world and I wish those who come here in the future luck in getting out of this god forsaken death trap. Signed, the once great explorer, Jackie."

I looked ahead and saw two light beams running across the hall. I decided to trigger them at a distance to see what I'd be up against as well as possibly giving me a chance to run past it relatively unscathed. I crumpled up the note and threw it at the beam.

When it hit, several hatches on both sides of me opened, revealing crossbows. Upon seeing this I ran just in time to dodge several would be lethal arrows but instead of colliding with the walls and each other they began to follow me at breakneck speed.

I ran away at top speed and didn't bother to try to avoid the light beams ahead. I just ran through, not caring about them anymore, triggering several more crossbow traps.

As I ran, a door way came into sight and just as I was passing through it I tripped, sending me flying well into the next chamber. I closed my eyes and awaited what seemed to be thousands of arrows to pierce my body but after about two minutes of awaiting it I opened my eyes and looked back to be absolutely flabbergasted by the sight.

The same thousands of self aware arrows that followed me had just frozen in their places by the doorway, not entering it by an inch.

I let out a sigh of relief as I investigated this new chamber when a voice came out of nowhere.

"Hee hee hee, you're pretty good for one so young!" A voice said. "I am the so called monster you read about in Mr. Jackie's letter, but in reality, I simply stand watch over this temple. You've come a long way and now your final trial here has come. I have been watching your movements and skills and I have crafted a shadow clone, if you will, of you. In order to leave this place with your life you must conquer this shadow clone and if you do, a magnificent prize will be yours." The voice explained.

Immmediately as the voice finished it's last sentence a shadowy neko emerged and drew it's claws.

I gulped and steeled what remained of my courage to give this imposter a taste of what the real me can do. I drew my claws and awaited the clone's first strike.

It rushed me at incredible speed and swiped at me. I narrowly dodged and managed to counter with a kick. The clone was sent flying back towards the center. It focused lightning to it's claws and I tried to do so as well but sadly the magic block was still in effect on me.

My doppelganger lunged at me and swiped his claws at me and the lightning extended to my chest and shocked me hard. I was temporarily stunned as he kicked me down and I forced myself to my feet.

I was met by a blow to the gut and fell back on the wall behind me. My copy snapped his fingers and seven clones appeared. I forced myself up and snapped my fingers, but I still couldn't do it.

My anti clones charged at me, claws drawn, and swiped at me. I dodged the first but the others proved too much and they cut me up.

My arms, legs, and chest were bleeding and I was losing blood fast. There was no doubt if this battle drew on much longer I'd end up like the once great explorer Jackie.

I brushed myself off and rushed the clones and swiped at them. I was too fast for them to dodge and they fell to the ground, disentegrating into shadow goop.

The final one was the original obviously and he charged at me, swiping at my already deadly wounds. I blocked his attempts with my own claws and kicked him back, creating an opening.

I took my own turn and rushed at him and slashed at his chest. I hit and a black goo poured out of the opening. He collapsed to the ground and disentegrated into goo.

I put my hands on my knees and breathed heavily, chuckling at my accomplishment. I felt a hand on myy shoulder and turned around to look at the being who put it there to find an adult fairy.

"Good job, Sora. You've done well and earned access to the glove I have protected for so many millenia." She said.

"W-wait a second. H-how do y-you know my n-name?" I asked, stammering.

"So you noticed. All in due time, young neko, all in due time." She said mysteriously. Suddenly she glowed with a ghostly light and I could feel my wounds close, although the pain intensified.

She took her hand off of me and walked to the center of the room. She raised her arms in the air and began to mumble unidentifyable words. Just as she finished the earth began to shake and I dropped, covering myself again.

Soon the tremor settled down and I heard the same sliding, scraping noise. I opened my eyes and stood up and saw the fairy beside a pedestal with a glove on it as well as another staircase beyond them.

"The Glove of Vichini will help you on your way Sora." She said. "Take it and head up the stairs to the outside world."

I walked over to the pedestal and grabbed the glove. I turned to ask the fairy a question but she was no longer there. I sniffed the air and it smelled no different than before.

In addition to this the black goo had disappeared. I sighed and shoved my curiousity to the back of my mind as I ascended the stairs and left the death trap that had failed to kill me.

END OF CHAPTTER!

OMG! THREE CHAPTERS IN THE COURSE OF TWENTY FOUR HOURS?!?! THIS IS MADNESS! THIS IS BLASPHEMY! THIS IS FELARYA!


I finally got out of the temple and was met by a rainstorm. Immediately, I sneezed from the cold and shivered. I've got to find shelter FAST! I thought. I began to wander the wet forest, as the rain soaked me.

I was constantly on the lookout for some kind of shelter. Be it a cave, a hollow tree, or even a dug out in the ground. Anything would do. After all, it was night and the rain was cancelling out my sense of smell.

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I searched for what seemed to be an hour. I was about to giver up when I heard a voice.

"Hey over there!" It called out. I searched for the source and found a human girl near the mouth of a cave with a bright light flickering inside.

I sped up a little bit over to the human.

"Hey, you look pretty tired." She observed. "Do you need a place to stay for the night?" She asked.

"Y-yeah. I'd like that." I answered.

"Good. Come on inside and rest up." She said with a smile on her face. I followed her inside a cave and saw a fire crackling away on the ground.

I walked over and sat down, purring from the sheer joy of being warm again. The woman walked over to the other end of the fire and sat down.

"So what's your name?" I asked the kind girl.

"My name's Maria, nice to meet you." She answered. "You?"

"Well, my name's Sora and it's nice to meet you too." I answered. "So Maria, I'm just a little curious here, but what are you doing out here?" I asked.

"Well why don't you tell me first?" She said.

"Okay, fair enough." I said, shifting to storyteller mode. "You see, I'm a member of a clan of neko mages. And every member at the age of fourteen, goes to an area around the Great Tree for ten days. That member must survive there for ten days and return alive. If he or she succeeds, then he or she becomes recognized as an adult. It's sort of a rite of passage I guess. And my fourteenth birthday was about three days ago." I explained.

"I see. That must be pretty rough." She said, remarking at the trial I was going through.

"Well for the most part it's decently easy. You just steer clear of predators and make sure you've got a source of food and water handy." I explained.

"Well then, you must be quite a remarkable neko." She said.

"Well I wouldn't call myself remarkable. I just know what I'm doing." I said. "But enough about me. I still need that question of mine answered."

"Okay then. You see, I'm just here because umm, I like to travel. Yeah that's it." She said nervously.

"You know, there's no reason to lie to me. If it's embarrassing I promise I won't laugh. You can tell me." I said.

"Oh... well um... truth is I was on a hunting trip with my family... and well I found a duiker and I chased it. It got away and I got lost." She said, obviously embarrassed by the truth she told me.

"Well there's no reason to be embarrassed. You chased a duiker and got lost. It doesn't really compare to the first time I boiled water. I ended up boiling it while the canteen was capped off and it ended up splashing all over me." I said, sympathizing with Maria. "And besides, embarrassmment is a natural thing to deal with. Noboody goes their whole life without experiencing at least one embarassing thing."

"Really? Well thanks Sora. You've made me feel a lot better about myself." She said.

"Don't sweat it, Maria." I said yawning. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've had a pretty eventful day today and I need some sleep. Good night, and don't let the bed bugs bite." I said.

She had a look of discomfort on her face as she looked around.

"Hey don't worry. It was just an expression." I said, chuckling.

"Oh. Well don't scare me like that, Sora! I've got a really nasty fear of bugs!" She scolded.

"Sorry." I apologized, yawning again.

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I awoke slowly, and saw that it was no longer raining and the fire was out. I turned on my side and saw Maria sleeping across the now burned out fire pit. I stepped out for a brief moment and looked up in the sky. I saw that the sun was rising in the distance.

I stepped back inside and saw something that made me nervous. Maria was no longer there and in her place was a naked girl with fairy winds on her back. She woke up and stretched her arms and stood up.

She turned to face me and when our eyes met she had a look of bewilderment on her face.

"What did you do to Maria?!" I demanded.

The fairy looked down at herself and at her back and snapped. "Shoot, I thought I that spell down!" She said in frustration. "Well Sora, I'm sorry I tricked you, but I'm not human; I'm a fairy. You see, what I told you last night was true. I did get separated from my family while chasing down a duiker."

"And I tried to um find them but I just couldn't and then it started to rain. I managed to find this cave and some wood and a little box in here. I managed to make a fire with some little magic twigs in there and I cast an illusion spell to make it seem like I was human." She continued, her voice breaking. "The reason I did that was because I was hungry and thought if some humans or elves or nekos came in here I could trick them and eat them. And then you came along. At first I had intended to talk to you a little but and then um, uh, well eat you, but you were so nice and I had so much fun talking to you that I started to like you. I wanted to be honest with you and tell you what I really am after that but I was afraid that if you found out you'd run away." She finished, beginning to cry.

My natural instincts were telling me to leave her there, but my kind side was telling me to stay and confort her. I pushed my instincts aside and put my hand on her shoulder. "Hey don't cry Maria. I'm not going to run away." I said, trying to confort her. "I'll admit that you kinda scared me a little when I saw that you were a fairy, but I don't mind. Fairy, human, elf, naga, whatever, I could care less what race you are. What matters to me is that you and I enjoy each other's company and that's all." I said.

Maria wiped her tears and sniffled. "Thanks Sora. You're a really nice person." She said.

"Don't sweat it." I responded casually. "Now then, let's get you back to your family okay?"

"What? You'd really do that for me?" She asked. "I-I don't know if I can let you do that. My parents really like nekos and they don't really see them much as people."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure I can figure something out." I said. "And besides I can't just leave you here."

"Thank you Sora. You're a great person." Maria said as she threw her arms around me, embracing me in a friendly hug.

END OF CHAPTTER!

mother nature told you "sloooow dowwwwn" then you said "f-u" and kicked her in the face with your ENERGY legs...

what i mean is, you must be really into this story to have churned out so many in the past few days XD

Archmage_Bael wrote:

mother nature told you "sloooow dowwwwn" then you said "f-u" and kicked her in the face with your ENERGY legs...

what i mean is, you must be really into this story to have churned out so many in the past few days XD

Well I did hear a voice telling me to slow down but I just shoved it aside. Thanks for helping me identify that little voice in my head Archmage! And I am indeed really into the story myself, and I actually didn't intend to post so many chapters in such little time! It just sorta happened!

nice chapters ^^
hehe the joy of running in a cave full of traps and tumbling from one to another XD

Karbo wrote:

nice chapters ^^
hehe the joy of running in a cave full of traps and tumbling from one to another XD

Thanks for the compliment Karbo! ^^

And yeah that was a really rough time for Sora... poor kitty got his tail burnt! XD

Okay the next chapter's up and running. I just want to say, before you read this, that there is a bit of a time skip between chapters seven and eigh----Wait a sec... oh my god! The story's barely beginning and there are already EIGHT chapters!! Wow! This is probably the longest beginning in the history of literature!! NOTE: I have not been able to post all of the chapter due to certain circumstances again. Sorry. For now, please look at this as a preview of chapter 8. NOTE II: I have posted the rest of chapter 8. Enjoy.


I sat on the ground in front of a river, taking a break from the long search for Maria's family. It had nearly been a week now and not a hide nor hair of either of them had been seen. I bit into the fruit I held in my hand.

Maria was sitting next to me, obviously distressed over her missing family. She sighed.

"Hey Maria, why the long face?" I asked, knowing exactly what the cause of her stress was. "We'll find them. Don't worry about that."

"How can you be so sure, Sora?" My friend asked. "We've been searching almost a week now and we haven't seen anything of them."

"Well, call me crazy, but I just have a really good feeling that they're still out there somewhere." I said."And I'm sure they haven't given up either, you know. It's only a matter of time until we find them."

She smiled at me. "Thanks Sora." She said.

"Don't sweat it. That's what friends are for." I replied.

Maria and I had grown quite close in the week that we knew each other. We had saved each other's lives a couple times and even began to share secrets and tell each other of our dreams among other things.

I looked up at the sky. It was nearly 3:30 in the afternoon. Only a few hours remained until sunset and only a half hour would remain until night after that. I tossed the inedible core of my fruity snack aside and stood up, brushing myself off.

Maria did the same and she shrank down. It was a system we worked out. We both knew I was faster than her so she would fly around me while we searched and if danger presented itself, I'd grab and carry her away, using my magic if need be.

I began walking into the forest beneath the tree tops and extended my claws. I began to use them to climb up and went onto a tree branch. I looked out into the distance in all directions possible. Nothing but trees, bushes, and an occasional harmless animal.

I closed my eyes and sniffed the air to see if anything was hiding. Nothing out of the ordinary. I tuned my ears to listen for anything that might help us find Maria's family. I heard a slight rumbling noise in the distance.

It began to get louder as the seconds passed by.

I remember that noise... I thought. When my friends chased after me during our predator and prey games... the volume of the footsteps is virtually the same... does that mean there's a giant fairy walking around... no. If it was a giant fairy I'm almost positive they'd be flying. But I don't know of any other sort of creature that be that big to make a sound like that... does that mean there are predators here that Dad never met during his trial?

The footsteps stopped.

"Hey Sora, what's up. Do you hear something?" Maria asked.

I opened my eyes. "Yeah. Footsteps. And really big footsteps at that." I answered. "I dunno what they belong to, but I'm willing to bet my fur we wouldn't be safe from the source creature or whatever it is."

"Well, I'm pretty sure it's not a fairy since we usually prefer to fly around than to walk. Not to mention if a fairy got their wings damaged they probably wouldn't survive the encounter at all..." Maria mused. "So that means it's either a giant elf or a giant." She concluded.

"A giant elf or giant... I assume they're predators." I said. "Am I right?"

"You hit the mark Sora." She said. "I'd suggest we get out of hear while we have the chance."

"Right. Let's get out of hear Maria." I agreed.

I jumped down and wagged my tail once, creating a blast of wind to break my fall. And he sticks the landing! I thought to myself.

I began to walk deeper into the forest, keeping my senses alert to any possible signs of danger. After a while I heard light footsteps and stopped. I looked around and sniffed the air. Nothing in sight and no scents out of the ordinary.

I began walking again and the light footsteps were heard again. I stopped and surveyed my surroundings again. Nothing at all.

Am I hearing things? I thought. No. I can't just be imagining those footsteps. Not to mention they're out of synch with my own and not the right volume. Something's stalking me and I have no clue what... better safe than sorry I suppose...

"Hey, Maria." I whispered.

"What is it?" She whispered back.

"Something's stalking us." I announced, keeping my hushed tone. "I think we should get outta here."

My tiny friend nodded. She flew up and perched herself atop my head. I suddenly took off running, wagging my tail vigorously to generate what I like to call tailwind to boost my speed.

Behind me, I heard very loud footsteps. I didn't bother to look back, because I knew that could very well screw me up. Suddenly a rock my same height rose from the ground and I jumped out of the way, barely avoiding a collision.

Maria held onto my fur atop my head when this happened. I continued to run through the forest, looking for a place to hide from the predator. I spotted a burrow in the ground ahead of me that was just big enough for me.

I dismissed the idea, however, because I knew from the rising rock that this predator doubled as at least a competent earth mage. I jumped over it and disaster struck. the entire ground ahead of me crumbled away, leaving a hole for me to fall into.

I gasped and tried to grab onto the ground in front, but sadly it was out of reach and I plummeted to the ground where I twisted my ankle on impact. I felt the weight of my friend lift and saw that Maria had grown to help me up.

Suddenly a hand came down and scooped her up and another came after for me. With little reaction time and my twisted ankle, there was little I could do.

"Oh goodie! Not only did I get a neko but a fairy too!" A voice cried out.

Disoriented, I looked around and found the face of a woman. I tried to sruvey her, but all I could see that could even help me identify her was pointy ears.

"Oh, are you trying to get a good look at me, kitty?" She teased. "You naughty little scamp, you!"

I hissed at her. I absolutely hated it when complete strangers called me 'kitty'. I took a deep breath and began to devise a plan of action. However, as soon as I got thinking she but the hand I was in to her face and opened her mouth.

"SORA!!" Maria cried out.

However instead of putting me in her mouth like I expected her toungue came out and covered my upper body. Then all of a sudden, it retreated into her mouth, leaving me soaked in spit.

"Ooh, aren't you delicious?" The predator complimented. "And all that magical energy you've got sure does add to the flavor!"

So she can taste magic? I mused.

The predator's hand went back to it's original position and the hand that held Maria went over to her face. I began to struggle as her mouth opened and Maria screamed. Her toungue came out again and enveloped her to shortly retreat to her massive maw.

"Wow you two are so yummy!" She declared. "You'll be quite a meal along with those other fairies I caught!"

At hearing this, Maria and I gasped. Her hand brought me over to the other and quickly relinquished me to it's counterpart. The free hand then went over to an area below our range of sight and returned with a very large green bag made of some kind of foliage.

The hand we were in brought us over and shoved us inside. We plummeted down and crashed upon a few naked bodies.

"Ugh, great!" One voice said in a sarcastic manner. "As if it wasn't crowded enough in here!"

"Dan?" Maria said. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, unfortunately." The newly identified person said. "This is quite a fix isn't it, Maria? So anyways, what's with the guy on top of me?"

"I'm Sora." I said, introducing myself. "I'll just come out and say that I've been helping Maria find you and the rest of her family."

"Really?" Dan asked. "Are you a fairy too? And why are you wearing clothes?"

"Nope. I'm one hundred percent neko." I stated.

"Then why didn't she try to eat you? And why did you stick around to help her?" He asked.

"Well it's a long story." Maria cut it. "But let's save the chit chat for now. Dan, are Mom and Dad in here too?"

"Yeah but they fell asleep. This thing sucks the energy right outta ya." He explained.

"I see. Well let's see if I can get us all outta here." I said. I began to wag my tail vigorously, but to my surprise nothing except laughter from Dan came.

"Darn it... this thing's got a magic block too..." I said out loud.

"Sorry, I should've mentioned that earlier." Dan apologized. "We tried to grow our way out of this mess but that didn't work. And we tried a bunch of other spells too, but none of them worked either."

"Well there's still probably a slim chance of survival." I said. "If one of us manages to stay awake long enough for this elf to reach in and grab one of us, we might be able to magic our way out."

"Do you have a plan of some sort?" Dan asked.

"Well, not so much a plan as a concept." I said. "I'm still trying to think of something to do when she reaches for one of us."

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My plan had begun to fail. I could hear the elf's stomach growling now accompanied by her snoring and I could barely move. Not to mention Dan and Maria had fallen asleep. I was desperately fighting my body's wishes to fall asleep.

Suddenly a strange bright green light shone. My strength began to return to me many times stronger and I traced the light to the glove I had picked up a week ago. This was the first time it happened and it had induced a bit of shock to me.

I moved my hand to my mouth and whistled. A small army of clones appeared as I hoped and burst the bag. We all began to plummet as I whistled again, summoning a small army of clones who blew air at us to slwo our descent.

I landed gracefully on my feet and quickly snapped my fingers, causing six clones to appear At this moment the elf was awake, albeit dazed. We all loaded up one of the four sleeping fairies and ran off, wagging our tails to increase our speed.

The energy that was flowing through me was incredible. It felt as though I had eaten at least five jars full of miaxi honey and the wind we produced was incredible.

"Oh no! My breakfast is getting away!" The elf said suddenly, snapping out of her daze. Her footsteps pounded against the ground as we ran through the forest, sun setting.

My pursuer was fast, but with the Glove of Vichini, I was faster! In just ten minutes of running she stopped running and panted.

We kept running until she was no longer in sight and took a breather. My clones and I set the family of fairies down and they disappeared in a gust of wind and I collapsed on the ground, gasping.

It seemed my magical glove had a drawback. Once the effect wore off, I'd have an energy crash it seemed. I fell asleep.

END OF CHAPTTER!

Another title change! Sorry! Just want to let you guys know that the concept of the plot has changed again and hopefully for the last time. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter ready for you soon.

Okay now, here comes chapter nine. Also there is another small time lapse in between chapters eight and nine.


Maria, her family, and I continued through the forest. I kept my senses alert even though her parents had assured me that if anything happened, they'd keep us all safe. I knew for certain that there are always bigger fish, so to speak.

It was quite odd how they had decided to come to Kortiki Town with me and even odder how they convinced me to believe they'd follow the rules there. But it happened and that was that. But at the same time, I also was glad because that meant I could see Maria all the time.

I heard a rustling noise from a nearby bush and motioned for the family to stop for a moment. I snapped my fingers and a clone appeared to shortly sneak over there. He pushed open the bush and found a baby duikeer. I snapped my fingers again and in a gust of wind, my clone was gone.

Silently, we continued to walk on through the forest.

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The scents of the town wafted through the air to my nose.

"Not much farther to go." I announced. "We're almost there."

As we continued to walk towards the town a scream pierced my ears and I quickly identified it as belonging to Maddie.

"MAADIE!" I gasped.

I rushed off towards the town, hoping everybody was alright. I quickly got into the town and rushed to my friend. When I came to the center the sight horrified me.

My father lay on the ground, unconcious, Maddie was up against the wall cornered by two nekos, one with a hammer and one with what seemed to be a magical staff. There were also many stone replicas of the various residents of town and they smelt just like the real ones.

I rushed at them and tackled the neko with the wand away. However they both retaliated and the neko with the hammer swung it at me while the staffed neko immobilized me with a spell of some sort.

The hammer connected with my side, flinging me hard into a wall which cracked both it and some of my bones.

"SORA!!" Maddie cried out as I was hit by the hammer.

My dad woke up and the neko with the magical staff began humming unidentifyable words. I rushed him and the neko with the hammer swung at me again, connecting and launching me into my friend.

Dad began to cast a spell of his own.

The neko mage's incantations grew louder and faster and his staff began to glow. As Maddie and I picked myself he pointed between me and my dad. A ball of glowing light came out and I braced myself, closing my eyes.

"Odd..." A feminine voice said. "He should be made of stone right now. Are you sure you did that spell right, Clyde?"

"Yeah I'm sure." A gruff, manly sounding voice said back. "It's gotta be something with that kid."

I opened my eyes and saw the two nekos in front of me and saw that my Dad and Maddie were now made of stone.

"What did you do to them?!" I demanded, immediately forming a death grudge against the two nekos.

"We turned them to stone." The staff wielding neko said.

"Yeah and now I'm going to do this!" The hammer holding neko continued for him.

She rushed up to my now petrified Dad and swung her hammer, crushing him to bits.

"NOOO!!!" I cried out, my hatred of them forming deeper. "Who do you two think you are?!"

"Well, we're going to rule the world soon." The staff neko began. "And you see, we're just going around killing the races off. Only nekos that don't react peacefully towards other races deserve to live."

I hissed at them. I quickly rushed at them, unable to bear my rage any longer. I slashed the neko with the staff but he dodged effortlessly and countered with a slash of his own.

Unable to react, he hit my shoulder and it began to bleed. I covered my wound and rushed at them again, this time trying for a kick.

This however also was dodged and the hammer wielding neko quickly swung at me, landing me on the ground with several broken bones.

The neko wielding the hammer stepped on my chest, putting it under massive amounts of pressure. She raised her hammer and I closed my eyes.

"Hey come on!" A voice said. "What happened to that determination of yours, Sora?"

I opened and Maria and her family were holding the neko back. She stepped off and took a few steps back. The neko mage began to chant again and fired another ball of light, this time aimed at Maria.

"LOOK OUT!!" I cried out. I ran over and shoved her aside, taking the blow right in my chest. Instead of turning to stone, I heard a loud cracking sound and screamed in utter agony, forcing a gasp from the family of fairies. I coughed up blood and fell to the ground, gasping and wheezing.

Then my glove glowed. In a flash all the pain from my body disappeared and my wounds closed up instantaniously. Energy flowed through my body once again and I rushed at the two nekos.

I slashed the mage and connected with his chest. He screamed in agony and fell back, coughing, wheezing, and gasping. The hammer wielding neko rushed over and cast a spell of healing upon him.

He rose back up and quickly grabbed me by my wrist.

"It's been a long time since somebody was able to injure me, boy." He said, in an evil manner. "And you possess the glove of Vichini. Therefore, you must die."

I struggled against the neko's grip as he mumbled strange, unidentifyable words. A feeling a dread overcame me and Maria and her family were trying desperately to free me.

Then everything went dark. I passed out.

END OF CHAPTTER!

It's nice to see the adventure continue That moment in the elf's bag looked quite a close call ^^

Karbo wrote:

It's nice to see the adventure continue That moment in the elf's bag looked quite a close call ^^

Well I'm glad you're enjoying the story! And I have good news! Chapter ten is here! To all those reading this, enjoy.

NOTE: I edited the second half a little bit to clear up some plot holes that would've popped up.

NOTE II: I changed the chapter around a lot, added some detail, and added an extra scene in at the end. I decided to rename the lead thief since she's going to need a better name than what was inferred in the original version of this chapter. I won't spoil the reason, even though it's obvious. Other characters will be renamed too. French people (or people who know French) will be able to figure out what her new name means.

NOTE III: Added a color for the chapter. Yes, that's all I did. I know it's pretty insignificant, but hey, I told you earlier I was gonna do it and I'm gonna do it. I also decided to change the chapter name a tiny bit. My puns are way too cheesey.

Chapter 10: Deserted

I awoke slowly. My eyes barely opened and all I could see was sand. It was dark out, and extremely cold. In the moonlight, I saw three humans going through a backpack. My backpack to be exact.

"Whadda'ya think all this stuff's worth?" The man on the left said. He had a scratchy voice.

"We could probably scrounge together nine diamonds if we sold everything." The human in the middle said. She had a bit of a charming, feminine voice. "Including his body."

"Damn, he musta been really cheap." The human on the right said, possessing a rugged, deep voice.

I forced myself to get up, ignoring the pain I felt in my body. Everything hurt like hell.

"H-hey..." I called to them, struggling to stay on my feet and breathing heavily. "I'd like it if you left my stuff alone..."

Gasps were heard all around.

"But you told me he was dead, Kevin!" The scratchy voiced man rasped.

"Who are you?" I asked, dazed. "And where am I?"

"Hmm, it seems we've got a tenacious kid on our hands..." The woman in the middle said. "Maybe we could sell him as a slave somewhere... who knows, he might fetch a good price."

"Just g-gimme back my stuff and I'll be willing to settle this peacefully..." I bargained. Unfortunately, these bandits didn't seem to be interested in hearing my arguement.

"You're trying to bargain with us?!" The woman said, obviously surprised by my statement. "Hah! Do you know who you're dealing with?! I am the great shadow theif and Black Market Dealer, Voluer! We will be taking you with us, and if you try to resist, it will not be in your favor."

"S-so?" I asked, smirking. "I'll just m-make sure you don't get the chance..."

I drew my claws and lunged at them. The two men grabbed my arms and threw me to the ground, sand finding it's way into my mouth.

As I tried to get up, I was zapped by lightning. And by none other than Voluer.

"You shouldn't have done that." She said, walking up to me. "I zapped you with a weak lightning bolt to keep you alive this time. But I will not hesitate to kill you if you keep resisting. The choice of whether you live or die is up to you."

As I felt myself being dragged off, a new feminine voice spoke out.

"Let him go." It said.

I tried to lift my head to see who this new person was, but everything faded to black immediately.

END OF CHAPTTER!

I updated chapter ten with what would've been chapter eleven. Enjoy it, because it's the last you'll see out of me until I beat Final Fantasy III.

Okay another title change. God I'm changing it so much! Well hopefully this'll be the last one. Chapter eleven is now up for your viewing pleasure. Also I used this tune for inspiration when writing the dialogue between Sora and Aria, as well as help set the mood for when I posted the chapter. Also, this chapter is a bit of a plot dump with lots of dialogue.

Note: I have changed the ending a little bit to clear up a bit of confusion for the more confused readers of this story.


After a while I began to become weak. My skin fur was deteriorating and the stench had overpowered me, making me feel sick to my own stomach. In what I thought to be my last moments, I pondered the fairy's words. What exactly did she mean by 'don't be scared'?

Suddenly, I was enveloped in soft wetness as I felt the muscles below me contract, forcing me up. After a few seconds I was in her mouth and she spat me out onto her hand.

"Are you alright Sora?" She asked me.

"Alright?" I repeated to her weakly. "ALRIGHT?! WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!"

"And here I thought you'd be glad that I helped you out." The fairy said, dropping me flat on the invisible sky-ground.

I realized that my strength was suddenly returning to me and jumped to my feet with my usual grace.

"Helped me?" I repeated, very confused. "How the heck does eating me, and almost killing me help me?!"

"I'll have you know that what I did has a much deeper meaning and effect, young neko." The fairy said huffily. "That happened to be a possession technique I used on you. It's dangerous, obviously, but I helped you get your stuff back and get you away from those humans."

"Well excuse me for not knowing that you possessed my body like some kind of ghost!" I said, becoming annoyed.

The fairy sighed, raising her hand to her forehead.

"We're getting off on the wrong foot here..." She said. "What say we start fresh?"

I sighed too. I knew that she knew something about the nekos who wrecked Kortiki Town, as well as petrify all of it's residents aside from myself. I nodded, showing her that I was ready to forget about the incident.

"Alright then." She said, shrinking back down to my size. "Anyways, as I said before, I require a favor from you and that requires you to be free and strong in the physical sense. Your body is now free now that I stepped in and possessed you for a bit, but it isn't strong enough to undertake the request that I ask of you."

I nodded to show that I understood.

"Continuing on, the nekos you met at your home. They are known as Bonnie and Clyde. Ten thousand years ago, they came here to Felarya under the cruel circumstances of it's dimensional unstability when I met them." She continued. "I took pity upon them and granted them a hammer and magical staff I had intended to use for myself for protection. You see, my tribe was not based on the predetation of sentient creatures because of something that happened in the past and as such I was brought up to see humans and nekos as people instead of food."

"I never heard from them again and hoped that they somehow found a way to get back to their home. However, after ten years they returned to my tribe's settlement with much more malice." She continued. "They set fire to our homes in the trees, petrified my friends and family, and crushed their stony bodies. For some reason or another, they were immune to our size shifting abilities and we could not use them to alter ourselves. I was the only survivor."

"And here I thought I had it rough..." I muttered under my breath, beginning to feel sorrow for Aria.

"I set out to avenge my tribe using my last remaining possession, the Glove of Vichini that you now possess, and eventually I had met up with them. A great battle ensued and it tore up the landscape nearby. A tribe of nekos and fairies was caught up in it, and they were unable to flee, unable to fight, just too stunned by what had been happening in the vicinity. In the end I could not defeat them." She continued. "Using the last few drops of my power, I sealed them away and told the two tribes to watch over the seal so that it does not break. As my end drew nigh, I told them that they must build a settlement over the land where the seal was cast and to name it Kortiki, after my fallen tribe."

"And in the situation that the seal breaks, they seal my glove away in a dangerous area of the world and send young adults there for me to see if they were capable of handling it. Those nekos, were your ancestors and the fairies, your friends' ancestors." She continued.

I gasped at this statement. "Th-then that means..." I stammered. "You're the Guardian from the legends?!"

"So that's what you thought I was after so many years? A Guardian?" She asked, obviously amused by the statement. "Well I'm not a guardian, nor have I had contact with one."

"Moving on, after five hundred years passed the seal weakened and seven monsterous nekos broke out and rushed into the forest. A member of your tribe was sent to investigate them and he discovered that they were beginning to sap magical power from seven different regions of the world."

"However, before he could relay this news to the tribe he was killed and his spirit contacted me to tell me. I knew that they were feeding power to Bonnie and Clyde, but in my ghastly state I could do nothing but hope that one day a neko who is able to see me, hear me, and wield my glove would come along." She continued to explain. "And then you came along. You should know the rest by now."

"And that I do." I said, uncertainty in my voice. "I've got to stop those monster nekos and seal Bonnie and Clyde away, right?"

"That's the gist of it." Aria said simply. "I think there might be one in the desert where your physical form lies. And to help you, I'll stick around in your head and give advice and directions."

Suddenly everything faded to black. My awareness had fled me again.

END OF CHAPTTER!

Well sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. It took quite a bit of time to get this chapter to a level of quality I felt was acceptable, so I hope you enjoy it. And by the way, I accidentally pressed a couple wrong keys so it took even longer since I have no way of storing it virtually. In this chapter, Sora has a somewhat frightening encounter with a new character. Enjoy.


I awoke suddenly. I was laying in a small pond with the stars and two cresent moons above me. A gust of frigid air rushed over me. The sound of a crackling fire could be heard nearby.

I quickly realized that by the sound of the fire, the chance that I was alone was incredibly low. I jumped to my feet, ready to defend against or welcome whatever had made it.

"So you're finally awake." A young, feminine voice cried out.

I quickly turned to find the source; a small girl who couldn't be any older than the age of seven. She wore a black robe and her skin was very pale. She smiled at me, giggling.

Quickly, I realized that I was buck naked again.

"Hey, k-kid do you know wh-what happened to my c-clothes?" I asked, my teeth chattering.

"Yeah. I fixed them for you." She said. "They should be right next to you."

"Th-thanks." I said, my mind focusing on getting warm again. I sniffed them out quickly and noticed that they were not what I had originally thought them to be. Instead of a pair of blue pants and a long sleeve black shirt, it was very much the same as what the little girl wore.

An entirely black hooded robe with long sleeves. However, I was freezing and I didn't want to offend the little girl who apparently went through the trouble to do this, so I quickly put it on, followed by my backpack.

"Hee, hee, do you like it?" She asked. Something about her set my nerves on end. But I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I went over and sat down by the fire to warm up. After a few moments of purring, I responded to the eager girl. "It's pretty nice." I said simply. "I like how it feels."

"That's great." She said. "That helps a lot with the sun not getting in your eyes and stuff."

I just noticed her eyes. They were a dark shade of red. A bloody shade of red. It sent chills down my spine. I just took a deep breath and calmed down. Why did I have a feeling of fear in the pit of my stomach?

"So..." I began, attempting to break the ice. "Where are your parents?" I asked.

"Where are yours?" She asked me.

I sighed.

"Not here." I said in a sad tone of voice, choking back my emotions... The memory of their deaths...

"Oh that's so sad." She said, appearing behind me to put a hand on my shoulder. It was ice cold and it sent chills down my spine.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, obviously curious.

"I-I-I don't remember." I answered, stuttering from the fear. What was with this girl? What the heck was she? Suddenly her head moved close to my ear. I nearly jumped.

"You sure do look..." She said creepily. "Tasty."

"I'M GETTING OUTTA HERE!" I announced, jumping to my feet. I started to run, but as soon as I started she was in front of me.

"Oh, you don't want to hang around?" She asked. "I thought you'd like some company..."

I turned and began to run again but I felt her icy hand wrap around my tail. Her grip was strong and I pulled against it, to no use.

"Aw, I'm just thirsty." She whined. "All it takes is one quick bite and it's all over."

She pulled me back. I struggled all I could, but to no avail. Slowly but surely, I was dragged to the mystery predator. Aria's voice rang in my head, telling me to snap out of it. But I was paralyzed by the fear.

Soon I found myself in her surprisingly strong grasp and she revealed my furry neck under the black robe. She opened her mouth showing two rows of normal human teeth in addition to two medium sized fangs.

I struggled in her grasp but she was far too strong for me to handle. All I could do was hope that it wasn't anything like a dridder bite.

Finally, her cold wet fangs met my neck and dug into it. I yelped in pain as she sucked my neck. Then all of a sudden, she pulled back. And let me go. I dropped to the ground, terrified and grabbed my neck.

It was bleeding slightly and I felt nauseous.

"Sorry about that." She said, a belch escaping her mouth. "Excuse me. I always like to put on a show when I drink. I hope I didn't scare you too much."

Recovering from my fear, I rose to my feet. "Wh-what the heck did you do? What are you? Who are you? And why did you do all this?" I asked, completely confused.

"Okay, okay, sheesh." She said. "I figured you wouldn't know anything about my kind."

"First thing's first, I'm going to introduce myself." She said. "My name's Tammy and it's very nice to meet you. What's your name." She extended her hand for a handshake. Reluctantly, I took it and shook hands with her. Her hand was ice cold.

"I-I'm Sora." I said shakily, hoping I could talk my way out of the situation.

"What, no 'nice to meet you too'?" She asked. "Where are your manners?"

"I-I'm sorry." I said, still scared.

"Hey, I'm just pulling your leg Sora." Tammy said. "I know you're kinda shaken up. But anyways, I guess now is a good time to answer those questions you had for me."

"Y-yeah I think it'd be kinda nice to know what's going on." I said.

"Well first of all, what I did just now." She began. "It's pretty simple. I was thirsty, so I drank your blood."

"Wh-what?!" I responded. "Th-that's disgusting! Why couldn't you just drink some water or something?"

"Oh, nonsense. Blood's not gross. In fact it's pretty delicious once you try it." She said. "And really, eating solid food is much more disgusting. I mean, plants? Meat? Ugh, now that makes my stomach turn. But moving on. You wanted to know what I am, right?"

"Y-yeah." I answered.

"Well that's pretty simple. I'm what you'd call a vampire." She began. "Basically, we vampires are undead creatures of the night who drink blood for nouishment. We're not dead nor are we alive. We just exist. From the moment one becomes a vampire, they look the same age for the rest of their half life. I guess you could say we're a cross between the lving and ghosts. And sunlight is pretty bad for us. That's why I wear a robe. So I can go through Felarya without having to worry about nocturnal predators. And the reason I made a robe for you is because too much sun is bad for the living too and it helps with travel in the desert. You with me so far?"

"Y-yeah." I said, my fear of the girl beginning to decrease.

"And the reason I did all this. Well you can probably connect the dots with the blood drinking." Tammy continued. "But the reason I put you in the spring and modified your clothes is because I could really use a traveling buddy. And I kinda felt sorry for you when I saw you in the desert unconcious, injured, and sunburnt. So I took you here to this spring. My human parents used to always come here whenever they got injured because they say it has magical healing properties."

Finally, completely calming down, I noticed Aria's voice ringing in my head.

Don't just stand there, Sora! Run away, vampires are dangerous! She advised me.

Aria, I know what you're thinking. But I can't just leave her here. And besides, haven't you heard the expression "never judge a book by it's cover"? Also, she might be able to help us out. I replied to my tenant.

"So what do you say Sora? Can I go with you?" Tammy asked, her red eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

Don't say yes Sora! She's dangerous! Aria yelled at me.

"Sure I don't see why not." I said.

Oh no you didn't! Aria shot at me.

Oh yes I did! Like it or not, we need help. And I'm sure that Tammy would be an incredible help to us. Not to mention she probably knows quite a bit about the desert.

"Really?! You mean it?!" Tammy asked, apparently not believing her ears.

"Yes I'm dead serious. We're going together." I said. "But on one condition..."

END OF CHAPTTER!