A Werewarg in Felarya

Wow, now even the dryads can throw spears...

Haha. Good to see this story back on track.

Haha great chapter ! Once again it's hilarious to see those two universe collide

SuperPieGuy9 wrote:

Oh my god I loved that ending!! That was definately worth the wait!

Glade you liked it.

Stabs wrote:

Wow, now even the dryads can throw spears...

She's got a good arm, she just needs a little practice with her footwork.

Jætte_Troll wrote:

Haha. Good to see this story back on track.

Hopefully I can keep it that way.

Karbo wrote:

Haha great chapter ! Once again it's hilarious to see those two universe collide

Maybe one day they'll see eye to eye.

'Course Joseph will need a ladder.

Poor Andry, being used as a beast of burden.

With that little fib about Joseph's "medicine" I have to wonder what's going to happen when Andry decides to try some.

Hehe, I really liked the lead up to the dryad encounter at the end. I had a feeling that's what was going to happen and the way you handled it was great. Joseph's single most important Felaryan survival skill was quite fitting and hilarious. And I'm sure Andry will not soon forget the lesson!

I can't wait to see what trouble Andry and Joseph get into next.

So I'm not dead. Though because of college, I feel a lot like I am. I'm sorry if anyone was waiting for the next chapter of this thing, because that was quite a wait.

Here's the point where the story starts to get something of a plot. Before this the last couple of chapters had been short stories only barely interconnected from Andry's perspective.

Lesson 4 - Self Reliance

Andry sat outside her den, watching the clouds slowly float by overhead. She watched a few harpies fly by as well. They threw insults at her, Andry threw rocks at them, all in all nothing to out of the ordinary or exciting. Yep this was shaping up to be a pretty standard day, nothing interesting in sight, just a calm boring day. The third such day since Joseph had left.

Andry laid down on her back, staring up at the sky. It had been three days since Joseph had left for 'personal' reasons, whatever that meant. The day he left, now that had been an interesting day. It all started when they got back to her den after their ill fated target practice...

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"I can't believe I got run off by a glorified shrubbery!" Andry whined to the diminutive companion still clinging to her shoulder.

"Yep, seems to be a reoccurring theme for ya," Joseph mentioned before laughing.

Andry turned her head towards Joseph and stuck out her tongue, which just so happened to bump into him and knock him to the ground, with a loud thumping sound, which was followed but a plethora of curses.

"What in the hell did ya do that fer!" Joseph asked as he finally got up rubbing his backside, "Damn that stings worse than whiskey in a wound."

"For laughing about this!" she answered as she found a sunny patch of grass to lie in. Andry through herself into the patch angrily, the force of the impact causing Joseph to fly up into the air once again.

"Damn it Andry!" he hollered as he was flew through the air. This time however when he fell back to the ground he landed on his feet. Dusting himself off, Joseph peered up at his scaly companion, "Sheesh, what's got yer tail in a knot?" he asked.

Andry reached over and picked up Joseph, setting him on her stomach, she then placed her arms beneath her head, which allowed her to see her tiny companion clearly with only minimal effort. She stared at him awhile before finally speaking, "I'm just a bit confused that's all."

"What, about that Dryad?"

"No," answered Andry, "Not about that. You're the one that's got me so confused."

"What do ya mean?" Joseph wondered, "I ain't done anything confusing."

"I don't even know what you are Joe," Andry said, pointing at him with the tip of her tail accusingly, "I know your not human," she said.

"Ya, how so?"

"I don't think human beings should be quite so fast, or so strong, I mean I've seen you snap a duiker's back with one blow!" Andry shook her head, "Don't get me wrong your still a puny little speck, just not so puny as the rest of them."

"...Thanks fer the compliment," Joseph said sarcastically, "Stll how would you know how strong a human being can be? There's quite a bit of variance I'll have you know."

"And then, there's your fangs," Andry continued, ignoring Joseph's arguments, "I know humans don't have fangs, nekos do, but your certainly not one of them."

"Yeah...well...look can't we drop this? Its about time for lunch anyway," Joseph said licking his lips, "I am peckish."

"Which reminds me the amount that you eat is insane! You're always hungry!"

"Look I ain't always hungry!" Joseph declared confidently. Sadly his stomach seemed to disagree with, and chose that instant to interfere with a loud growl, "That doesn't prove anythin'!" he shouted, trying to drown out the sound of his own hunger.

Andry snickered as she watched Joseph squirm uncomfortably on her belly, "Yeah, your just the picture of a modern diet, aren't you Joe?" She laughed again, "And those aren't your only secrets either, I mean what was in that box that was so horrible I couldn't see it?"

In response Joseph seemed to clutch his stomach and hunch over in pain. Andry could feel the faintest sensation of liquid slowly dripping onto her stomach as Joseph groaned.

"Hey Joe, hey!" she yelled, "The heck is wrong with you?" Andry actually sounded concerned, surprising even herself.

"I don't understand...I just ate, I shouldn't be this hungry...not so soon," Joseph was panicking, "I planned it all so carefully, how could this be happenin' now?"

"Geeze and you say I whine a lot," said Andry, "If your so hungry we'll go hunting again, I don't know why you're making such a big deal about it."

" You don't understand!" Joseph leapt off of Andry, and started to walk away, "I need, I need ta' get outta here," he stammered, "Need ta' get away."

"Well, alright then...I'll come with you."

"No!" Joseph roared at her, "You stay here, I gotta...go alone...haven't been payin' attention...went to long...I gotta go alone. Somethin's wrong, its never come at me so sudden, or soon..." Joseph turned to the giant nage, "Andry, promise me, you won't follow, can you do that?"

"Joe, your being ridiculous, what's the ma-" Andry was cutoff.

"Promise!" he roared at her, his eyes flashing.

"Okay...I promise, I'll stay here...as long as your back in the next couple of days..."

Joseph seemed like he was about to continue arguing, but he decided against it and ran off.

Andry watched him go, I wonder what's wrong with him? And what was with his eyes.

=================================

And that had been that, Joseph had gone crazy in record time and ran off. She'd never seen him act that way before...

No wait, I remember he acted like that when he had me tied up, after I...was going to...well enough about that. But this time was even stranger, before his weird behavior took a long time to build up, but this time...this time he went from sane to psychotic in about three seconds, Andry paused mulling this over...Actually, now that I think about it, I've been hungrier as of late...those duikers I had for dinner last night aren't tiding me over at all.

Andry heard her own stomach growling, "Man that's louder than that thing that was running around last night," Andry shivered at the memory.

=================================

That night, after having coming back from hunting, Andry slithered into her den. It was a cave that opened up in the side of a nearby hill. Andry remembered when she had first found the thing. The opening was smaller than the size of her fist! This however was convenient as she was roughly the size of her finger at that point, and didn't want anything large predators sticking their hands in her hideout.

Slowly but surely, she expanded the cave as she grew. She had spent hours digging away at the thing, not wanted to lose her home due to her outgrowing it. At this point she actually had a very comfortable dig out with more than enough space to for her to lounge about, Even with Joseph's stuff laying about, cluttering up my nice clean home!

The one concession that she had made to safety was that she never expanded the hole and larger than was necessary for her to get in. Even now she had to slither into it head first, through a passage way nearly as long as herself. That way nothing larger than herself ever had a hope of getting inside her den, and as loathe as Andry was to admit it, even a giant naga still had predators lurking around the various corners of Felarya.

The really smart idea she had was that she had dug the tunnel upwards. She knew several predators that had dug out there dens slanting downwards in order to appear more 'menacing' to the small folk, but Andry knew that appearing menacing didn't help when the rain came. Besides, she didn't need help being menacing, she was perfectly capable of that on her own, and she would personally punch anybody in the face who said otherwise!

Andry left her door open, in case Joseph came back while she was sleeping. That had been one of his ideas, a door, probably because he was afraid that something was going to sneak in and get him in the middle of the night. Andry scoffed at the idea, but helped him with it none the less, mostly to humor him. As if anything that preyed on humans would want to stand up to her! Even fairies knew better than to wake a sleeping naga. Well most fairies anyway...

Still it was a good looking door, she had helped Joseph carve it out of stone. And by help Andry meant did all the work herself because he was too small to do it, while he, ahem, 'supervised.' Whatever that meant, as far as Andry could tell it meant stand around, do nothing, and complain at regular intervals. Digging out the air holes had been the hardest part, as she had to go as slow as possible to make sure she didn't crack the door. Her own makeshift diamond headed tools worked fine though.

They had also been helpful in attracting prey...not that I eat tiny adventurers anymore...she had tried that once since she started learning from Joseph, claiming that the adventurers were thieves but than he rambled on something about 'entrapment' being immoral. Which didn't make sense because he used traps all the time!

Though only real help he had been was with the locking mechanism, which Andry admitted was pretty interesting. He had to crawl inside it to carve most of the mechanism, which was just as well because she had no idea how they worked, despite his attempts to explain them. To lock the door all she had to do was roll it into place and it would lock automatically. To open it she had to press up on the catch and and roll it back, at least that's how it worked from the inside. On the outside she had to move a dial around to certain symbols in a specific order.

The symbols were numbers that Joseph had taught her, from zero through nine. All she had to do was spin it, stop at a number, spin it the other way, and stop, and finally spin it one more time back the original way, and the latch would click back and she could open it.

Andry was most interested in the symbols themselves however, even more so than the lock. Joseph had explained to her that the small folk had thousands upon thousands of different symbols, making many languages. He said he teach her once her hunting was better, and Andry had to admit she was looking forward to it. To be able to translate the thoughts in her head into permanent images was an intriguing possibility. Those small folk invented at least one useful thing. Unlike those stupid clothes he keeps trying to get me to wear.

She had, technically, agreed to wear them, but she had though he would give it up after awhile. In a corner of her den however there was a skirt and top make from the hides of multiple duikers. It was slow going, especially since Andry refused to help with this one, but Joseph was surprisingly fast with a needle, and slowly but surely her clothes, ugh, were coming along.

But all that aside, this night had been truly terrifying for Andry. As darkness fell she could hear something off in the distance. It sounded like a Kensha Beast, but much, much deeper. Kenshas had multiple howls, each one meaning something different. This thing though kept using the same maddening howl, sounded like something that was being tortured and satisfied at the same time.

Andry moved to close the door, but stopped, "What if Joe comes back, and he's stuck out there with that...thing?" she asked herself, I mean, I know he can be a little pest but, but I don't want him to get eaten... the thought sounded odd to her, as she had tried to eat him herself not so long ago. Still there it was, she found that she had grown attached to the little guy.

The howling got closer and closer, but Andry refused to close the door, Come on Joe, just get back from your little trip so I can close the door!

Andry slithered to the back of her cave and shivered as she listened to the howling. Finally, it started to get softer and softer as the thing making it got further and further away from her, till she couldn't hear it anymore. She breathed a sigh of relief and finally managed to get herself to sleep. Whatever that thing is, its gone now, she thought, I just hope Joe's okay...

Nice to see her so concerned about him. And I see she's still looking for loopholes to try and eat people!

I imagine he can't hide his condition from her forever, though.

Huzzah! You're not dead! I'm glad to see Andry actually cares about Joe now. And it seems pretty odd how the Warg took him over so fast. Nice job dude. I'm dying to see the rest.

French snack wrote:

Nice to see her so concerned about him. And I see she's still looking for loopholes to try and eat people!

I imagine he can't hide his condition from her forever, though.

Yep, Andry's still trying to find an excuse to eat every human she meets.

SuperPieGuy9 wrote:

Huzzah! You're not dead! I'm glad to see Andry actually cares about Joe now. And it seems pretty odd how the Warg took him over so fast. Nice job dude. I'm dying to see the rest.

Yeah, it does see, odd, doesn't it?

It's good to see you're continuing the Joseph and Andry's story. Don't worry about taking too long between chapters.

It was a humorous turn-about for the naga to be accusing the "human" of being hungry all the time. I sometimes wonder at the number of starving predators running around Felarya the way many stories are written.

I liked how you handled Andry being alone after Joseph ran off. Her thoughts about his stuff cluttering up her neat lair made me laugh. As did her thought about punching anyone who didn't think she was menacing enough.

I suppose the part I liked best was when she complained about not being able to trap adventurers (whom she considered thieves) and could not understand why setting traps was immoral when Joseph does exactly the same thing with his prey.

The ending was sweet, with her admitting she cared for him and did not wish to see him hurt. They've come a long way since that first meeting. Just hope Andry herself doesn't come to harm because of Joseph. As badly as she would feel, I think Joseph would react even worse if he did such a thing.

timing2 wrote:

It's good to see you're continuing the Joseph and Andry's story. Don't worry about taking too long between chapters.

It was a humorous turn-about for the naga to be accusing the "human" of being hungry all the time. I sometimes wonder at the number of starving predators running around Felarya the way many stories are written.

I liked how you handled Andry being alone after Joseph ran off. Her thoughts about his stuff cluttering up her neat lair made me laugh. As did her thought about punching anyone who didn't think she was menacing enough.

I suppose the part I liked best was when she complained about not being able to trap adventurers (whom she considered thieves) and could not understand why setting traps was immoral when Joseph does exactly the same thing with his prey.

The ending was sweet, with her admitting she cared for him and did not wish to see him hurt. They've come a long way since that first meeting. Just hope Andry herself doesn't come to harm because of Joseph. As badly as she would feel, I think Joseph would react even worse if he did such a thing.

Glad you liked it!

I wouldn't feel so guilty about taking so long between chapters if there was say, a correlation between the length and the quality of the writing. Sadly most of the time it seems like a spend 99% barely even thinking of the story, and the rest furiously writing ideas as they pop into my head. Whether that's a good or a bad thing, I have no idea.

I have a lot plans for both Andry and Joseph so don't worry about either of them being killed off.

At least for now... Muahahahahahaha!

Nice chapter ^_^
it's raising the tension. and it's nice to see how far these two went from their initial encounter

Karbo wrote:

Nice chapter ^_^
it's raising the tension. and it's nice to see how far these two went from their initial encounter

Glad you liked it!

Sylvia's Scare

My submission to the Those Who are One with Nature Contest. It crossesover with certain things that are happening in the latest Joseph and Andry story, which I have to start continuing...once finals are over anyway.

This is a little rougher than I'd like, because I don't have anymore time to work on it. Not due to the time limit mind, as that was extended, but I personally do not have anymore time to work on it. Also its definitely a different type of story from what I normally write, so if has the overall appearance of a shambling abomination, stitched together haphazardly a convoluted plot...dang, I just made myself feel bad.

Wow, its been a really long time since I wrote a chapter, way too long. Stupid finals, and then stupid busy Summer.

Sorry about the wait.




A field of scales reflected the sun's rays, stealing it's fire to cast their own iridescent light into the shadows beneath the great canopy overhead, a sight that would dazzle any passerby and cause them to hesitate for a moment, a moment that, since this was Felarya, could be their last.

From the perspective of the giant naga who owned said scales however, they simply reflected the sunlight right into her eyes, making it almost impossible for her to take an afternoon nap. This was further exacerbated by a sudden rumbling in her belly that seemed to grow with each passing second
....................

"SCREW IT! I'M GOING AFTER HIM!"

Andry was tired of waiting for Joseph to return, she was hungry, and she certainly wasn't going to wait until Joseph came back before going out to look for something to eat, not to mention looking for the little runt himself. She was going to forge ahead and find something to eat herself, after all, it was about time she put her new hunting skills to the test.

I wonder if Joe smelled something tasty and decided not to tell me, so he ran off and ate it all himself! The thought struck Andry like a thunderbolt, That would explain why he's taking so long, he's chowing down on a whole herd of duikers! The thought was a little ridiculous, as even Andry had to admit, but if there was any human being who could eat that much, Joseph would be the one.

Remembering the howling creature that had terrorized her the night before, Andry grabbed her bundle of spears and wrapped them up in a vine the way that Joseph had taught her a few days earlier. By doing this she soon had a makeshift quiver for her wooden missiles.

Shouldering her armaments, Andry slithered her way through the undergrowth, her hunger slowly gnawing at her belly, as her eyes darted this way and that, looking for anything edible. At last they focused on a large orange fruit, a citroise, dangling just above her reach. With a quick motion from her spear, the citroise was retrieved from its arboreal loft, and bought down to her level.

Andry bit into the fruit, savoring the feeling of food in her mouth. As hungry as she was, Andry didn't care that she was stooping to eating plant matter, a food she loathed, but often had to rely on. Besides, as fruits and vegetables went, a citroise wasn't so bad, a little on the sweet side, but filling.

At least they were supposed to be, but upoin finishing her meal Andry found herself not only completely un-satiated, but actually hungrier than she was before. There was something odd about this unusually persistent appetite, Andry couldn't remember feeling so hungry before in all her life, and she'd nearly starved to death several times in the past, though she'd never admit it. It was almost...unnatural...as if some unseen force was causing this feeling of ravenousness in her.

Andry slithered onward hoping to find something to satiate her.

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A figure sat in front of a large orange orb, roughly the size of a man's head, but perfectly round, and smooth. It glowed, bathing the room and the elf in an orange light. The orb was on a white pedestal raising it to the observer's eye level.

The being that sat in front of the orb was seated on a large stone throne. She had a youthful, pretty look to her face, though her steely blue eyes betrayed her an sharpened intellect, seeming much older than the rest of her. Her large ears ended in points, revealing her to be an elf, these ears poking through a long mane of long yellow hair. Her body was covered by a black cloak she had wrapped around herself.

She sat slouching in her chair, looking at the orb, studying it. While there was not much to see with mundane vision, the elf was anything but mundane. Her mage's vision probed beyond the surface of the object, trying to grasp the hidden enchantments, the finely crafted spells, that gave this object it's unique properties.

At last the elf was done with her observation, whether it was because she had found what she wanted, or had grown bored was unknown, as her face betrayed no emotion. With a wave of her hand, and the throne rotated on it's axis, powered by some hidden mechanism.

Now the elf faced a strange mirror that hung in on a nearby wall. It's surface was dark, reflecting nothing but shadows, this however changed when the elf waved her hand again.

The mirror sprung to life, light shown from it as it cycled through various images at a rapid pace. First there was an image of a harpy flying down to grab a neko, next it zoomed in on the neko who was gorging herself on a small group of captured tomthumbs, unaware of the danger she was in, or perhaps uncaring, as evidenced by the maddened expression of hunger she wore as she threw the tomthumbs into her mouth, two at a time, before gulping them down.

The following image was that of a herd of duikers being attacked by a lone Kensha beast. However, the duikers did not run, being too busy gorging themselves on the grass. Even as the Kensha downed them one by one, the duiker's could not tear themselves away from the feast, as the herd was dying one after another.

More images flashed on the screen showing similar scenes, creatures so ravenous that their hunger was controlling them utterly. They would not stop eating, even at the cost of their own survival. Suddenly the elf's eyes narrowed, and she sat up in her seat. Quickly she held up her hand, and the screen stopped flashing, halting on a single image.

A large black creature, looking much like a four legged kensha beast, but much larger, standing a whopping fifty feet at the shoulder was shown on the screen. It was fighting a gigantic flying squid, the specimen abnormally large even for its species, easily five times its size of the strange best. What was more amazing however, was that the creature was winning! The squid was already missing the majority of its two longest tentacles, these having been ripped off and likely devoured by the strange creature.

Still, the squid would not retreat, having been driven mad by its hunger. It flew forward, grasping at the beast with its remaining tentacles. It managed to lay hold to the beast, and bring it forward to its vicious beak, which shot forward, ready to rip into its captured prey.

However, despite the squid's best efforts, it could not pierce the thing's hide, only leaving thin, shallow scratches in its skin.

The beast howled, and with a brief struggle, managed to escape the grasp of the larger squid. It then dove forward, biting at the squid's head, aiming directly between the squid's eyes.

Sharp teeth drove through soft rubbery flesh, and into a cluster of nerves in the great cephalopod's head. The creature writhed in pain for half an instant, smashing trees and rocks in it's death throes, and then it suddenly went limp, the color draining from it's skin till it was as white as chalk. It's body fell from the sky, as its air sacs slowly deflated, till it rested on the forest floor, defeated.

The beast bit into the fallen squid, ripping it to pieces and devouring it.

The elf quickly made a simple gesture in the direction of the orange orb. It's light dimmed, as it's own orange hue faded into a dull white, much like the flying squid had done only a few moments prior.

The beast stopped mid feast, it paused looking up at the sky for a moment. Suddenly it disappeared, the elf's eyes widened in shock. She leaned in closer, and made another gesture at the mirror, causing it zoom in to where the creature had been.

There, in the center of the squid's tentacles lay a man, completely buck naked and sporting a large brown beard. He slowly stood up and stumbled off, a dazed expression plastered to his face.

The elf's eyes widened even further, and then a large smile spread across her face.

Perfect!

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A deafening growl shot through the Felaryan wilderness, the sound reverberating on the rocks and trees. Nearby trees quaked, as their leaves fell from their branches to cover the forest floor. A terror traveled to forest, a nightmare made flesh, a horror that threatened to consume all that lay before it's terrible might. It had already devoured an entire herd of duikers, and it was still hungry.

Andry clutched her stomach, trying to soothe the pains that shot through it. When that failed, she hugged her brand new kensha beast skin vest around her moaning in pain. It had been two whole days since she had set out to find Joseph, and Andry had seen neither hide nor hair of him, nor any other body part, not even tooth, or spleen!

"Why can't this hunger go away, I've never been so hungry in all my life, I've eaten and eaten and still I'm hungry!" she whined as she looked down at her stomach, which despite the food that she had eaten, looked unchanged, empty."

Andry's anger flared up at the thought and she angrily punched a nearby tree. The impact of her fist left a mark in the bark, but it also caused pain to shoot through her hand. She shook her fist angrily, "Stupid tree, stupid Joseph, stupid Tummy!" she roared.

But as the pain subsided Andry realized that the hunger in the pit of her stomach was gone, having faded while her mind was preoccupied with the pain in her hand.

"What in the...how?" Andry scratched her head, something was definitely up, but she couldn't tell what. Whatever it was, this strange hunger she, and the creatures that she observed felt was hardly normal. Something was definitely up, and she was going to find out what.

I hope Joseph hasn't been eaten...nah...he's too tricky.

Yeah, too tricky.

Andry continued her journey, slithering slowly through the forest. She saw wreckage wherever she went, here a pile of tonorian corpses, their limbs and bodies ripped pieces as the hive mates had tried to devour each other. Later on she saw a grove of trees that had been decimated, most of the trees having been ripped right out of the ground, these fallen ones bearing the bite marks of some horrible beast.

Still later she came upon the half eaten remains of a huge flying squid, its one remaining eye staring up at her. Even Andry found herself taken aback, What could of killed this monster? Andry thought as she bent down lower to investigate it, running her hand along the bit marks that covered it. Whatever it was, Andry could tell it had extremely large teeth.

As Andry investigated the carcass, she heard the rusting of leaves behind her.

Quick as lightning she tried to turn and face it, but it was already to late, as an unseen force tackled her to the ground.

It's great to see you back
And the story is continuing nicely. That's a strange and dangerous new situation you imagined here ^^

As if Felarya weren't terrifying enough already... Well imagined.

And well written too, as always. Just one small thing that niggles at me: Your tendency to write "it's" instead of "its". It's a nitpick, I know, but it distracts me from the story.

Good to see you back! This continuation looks very promising.

Karbo wrote:

It's great to see you back
And the story is continuing nicely. That's a strange and dangerous new situation you imagined here ^^

Thanks.

It's been awhile since I've looked into Felarya, its certainly seemed to grow since last time I checked!

French snack wrote:

As if Felarya weren't terrifying enough already... Well imagined.

And well written too, as always. Just one small thing that niggles at me: Your tendency to write "it's" instead of "its". It's a nitpick, I know, but it distracts me from the story.

Good to see you back! This continuation looks very promising.

Ah it's and its, my eternal foes!

Seriously though, I need to work on that, it bugs me too.

Glad you like the chapter. Hopefully the next installment won't take quite so long.

Nice to see the story continuing. I wonder what could've taken down that squid... as if I didn't already know!

Not much to say other than that it's pretty good.

New Chapter UP!

Lesson 6 - People Skills

Laying prone on her back, Andry stared up into two familiar sets of tear filled eyes.

"You have to help us!" cried the first set of eyes.

"It was horrible, it had all these teeth!" the second set chimed in.

"Please..."

"It ate everything!"

"You're so strong..."

"It wouldn't stop howling..."

"You have to protect us!

"It was even worse than the talking tonorian!"

Andry's face had turned a deep shade of purple, and her eyes almost seemed to bulge out of her head. "Get. Off. NOW!" Andry screamed the last word as she tossed the fairies off of her, sending them reeling through the air, and landing in a tangled heap, one on top of the other. Now free of the two winged pests, Andry hoisted herself up with a groan. When she had her tail back under her, she glared at the two fairies a snarl beginning to appear on her lips.

Before she completely lost her temper however, Andry realized that the creature they had spoken of sounded awfully familiar. With a brief internal struggle, Andry managed to force herself to calm down. They said something about some sort of creature, with teeth and...howling...

"Okay, okay, why don't you two idiots start from the beginning," she said with a sigh.

The fairies popped up simultaneously, eager to continue their story.

Mab, or at least Andry thought it was Mab, the two blond fairies looked identical, even the patterns on their butterfly wings looked precisely the same. Whichever fairy it was, she addressed Andry, rubbing the tears from her eyes.

"We...we were just flying around looking for something to eat."

"We were really hungry," her companion who may have been named Titania interjected, "I've never been so hungry in all my life!"

"And we saw this tree filled with citroise, and we flew down to eat a few of them..."

"We normally don't eat fruit, but we were really, really hungry!"

"And then we heard this horrible howling sound!

"It hurt my ears! And it made all the trees around us shake!"

"And then this big old flying squid comes crashing through the trees!"

"Booosh!"

"So we shrunk down to hide from it, and then the...thing!"

"It was a big...black...fury...thing!"

"Yeah, like a big Kensha Beast, only it lost two of its legs, it came running for the opposite direction, growling at the squid!"

"RAWR!" said the other fairy, as she began imitating the fearsome black beast, her fear forgotten for the moment as she began to perform.

"Yeah and then the squid started waving its arms and snapping" her friend elaborated as she too gave into the dramatic urge, imitating the squid.

"And then they're like, 'I'm going to eat you!'"

"'No I'm going to eat you!'"

The two fairies were now, engaged in a mock battle, wrestling with one another, roaring, and howling, and waving their arms and making squishy squid sounds.

"And then suddenly the thing bites the squid!" the second fairy then leaned over and bit her friend on the cheek.

"OUCH, TITANIA!"

"Oops, sorry Mab, guess I got a little carried away..."

"Yeah, well then the squid dies," Mab finished, deciding to cut their little play short, "And the thing starts to eat it, but then the thing, well, it sort of...disappears."

"Yeah, one second its there, eating the squid, and then the next it's gone!" Titania declared.

"We were too scared to come out though, so we hid in the bush until we saw you coming along."

Andry stared blinking at the fairies for a few moments, "So let me get this straight, you two see this fight between a flying squid and this howling monster, and the monster wins, but it suddenly disappears. The huge monster just vanishes into thin air?"

The Fairies nodded, "Yeah," Mab repeated, "It disappears, one second we see it and the next, it's gone."

"And that's all you saw?" Andry asked, shaking her head in disbelief, How does a creature big enough to take on a flying squid just disappear? These fairies must be dumber then I thought!

"Well there was that human," Titania hazarded, "Remember the one without the clothes?"

Andry suddenly perked up at the mention of a human.

"Oh yeah!" Mab said, "He had the claws and the fangs!"

The Naga's eyes widened, "Claws and fa–what happened to him?" she asked, grabbing ahold of Mab and shaking her, "When did you see him, before or after the monster disappeared?" she demanded the dizzy fairy.

"Af-ter the mon-ster dis-a-pear-ed," the shaken fairy managed to get out. Andry let Mab go and she flopped to the ground, her eyes spinning from her rough treatment.

A smile slowly crept across Andry's face, as she broke out into a fit of giggles, "That...that means he's alive!" she declared laughing and hugging a still dizzy Mab who had only just managed to get back on her feet.

A thought suddenly crossed the grinning Naga's mind. "You guys didn't...eat him...did you?" she asked Mab who soon found that Andry's joyful embrace had become a death grip.

"No! We weren't even hungry!" she declared, as she struggled against Andry's iron grip.

"Yeah," Titania chimed in, "It was kinda funny, we were so hungry before the squid and the scary thing showed up, but afterwards...I didn't feel hungry at all."

Andry nodded, That makes sense, I experienced something similar, she released Mab, who fell to the ground once again, wheezing.

"So Joe's out there somewhere...and so is this monster...I have to find him," Andry declared mostly to herself, she turned to face the fairies, "Which way did he go?"

Titania pointed towards the now setting sun, "He went that way, he was moving really fast for a human."

Andry nodded, "Thanks for the info, Mab and Titania, sorry to cut and run, but I need to keep moving. I'll see you two around," she said as she began to slither off.

To her surprise however, as soon as Andry turned around she was tackled to the ground again.

"Wait, let us come with you!" cried Mab.

"Please?" begged Titania, "We're scared!"

"No, now leg go!" Andry said as she squirmed on the ground trying to shake the fairies off. It was no use however, as they held onto her as tightly as they could, refusing to let go.

"We can help you look for this Joe person!" Mab reasoned.

Titania nodded, "Yeah, we can shrink down and look in places that you wouldn't be able to!"

Andry stopped struggling, "That...that actually is a good point..." Andry thought for a few moments before replying "...Oh...alright! You two can tagalong with me."

"Really?" the fairies cried in unison, as they released Andry.

Andry righted herself and nodded, "Yeah, really. BUT! You have to listen to whatever I tell you to do got that?" she said sternly, "Also, no eating anyone without my permission..." she cracked her knuckles and and lifted lifted her fist into the air threateningly, "...Or else, understand?"

The fairies nodded, "Understood, Miss Naga sir!" the fairies said in unison, saluting.

"Good. And you can just call me Andry, alright?"

"Yes sir, Miss Andry, sir!"

I'm making a huge mistake, Andry thought to herself as she waved to the fairies, "Alright then come on you two, we better get going before that thing shows up again."

With that Andry slithered off towards the setting sun, in hopes of finding were Joseph had gotten to, the two fairies Titania and Mab fluttering behind her. The three of them, now destined by the bonds of fellowship, or in Andry's case by the bonds of not complete disgust. Together, they would find where Joe, wherever he had gotten to, and maybe, just maybe, they would find out what was causing these unnatural waves of hunger to infect the land.

It had been a full three hours before something occurred to Andry.

"Wait a second...you said he was NAKED?!"

Fairies have the potential to be lots of fun, and you certainly bring out that potential here.

A few typos:

"The fairies popped of simultaneously"
"And then their like"
"its gone" (twice)

French snack wrote:

Fairies have the potential to be lots of fun, and you certainly bring out that potential here.

A few typos:

"The fairies popped of simultaneously"
"And then their like"
"its gone" (twice)

Yeah, fairies are fun.

Thanks for pointing out the typos, I corrected a few of them.

Great continuations ! ^_^

Andry and those two fairies.. Mhh that will sure spice the search up

lol

Nice! I really need to come around here more often. Been missin' out on too much.

Tim and John are from the story Sylvia's Scare

I rushed this one a bit, not really editing it properly.

Lesson 7 - Trailblazing

Private Tim Gerrick was cold, he was tired, he was hungry, and he was very, very scared. Above everything else, he was lost, lost in one of the most dangerous realms in all of the multiverse, Felarya. Giant trees stood all around him, and he could hear the calls of strange beasts, and every once in awhile the faint hint of a feminine voice. It sent chills up his spine. The worst bit however, worse then the constant threat of the horrible monstrosities or the cute, buxom monstrosities, was the fact that John was being of no help whatsoever!

Tim glared at his companion and the current focus of his ire, Private John Gersen. For reasons completely inconceivable Tim he was perfectly relaxed. If I didn't know any better, I'd say John was enjoying his surroundings.

John bent over and plucked a flower out of the ground, sniffing it, "Ah, isn't it nice to get out of that stuffy old bunker?" he asked Tim, "Don't you just feel alive out here?"

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Tim yelled in frustration, "DON'T YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH TROUBLE WE ARE IN RIGHT NOW!"

John looked at him, puzzled, "Yes, that's why I'm not the one yelling."

Tim covered his mouth with his hands, "I...you...ugh!" he whispered, "Doesn't it concern you that everyone else in our squad has been eaten already, don't you feel the least little bit perturbed?"

John ran his fingers through his short brown hair, "Yeah, but its not the first time that's happened," he laughed, "You and me, Tim, we're gonna be fine, I can tell. Everything is going to turn out fine."

Tim let out an aggravated sigh, "I seem to lack your confidence."

Grinning, John slapped Tim on the back, "That's okay buddy, that's what you got me for!"

Tim sighed "I just don't know, John, I think...I can't stop being so paranoi–!" He stopped mid speech as he fell downwards, "Ah hell! what now?" he cried as he fell. There was a soft squelching sound as Tim hit wet dirt. Recovering his senses he quickly sat up and looked around.

The hole wasn't that deep, only a couple feet in depth. It was fairly wide though, as Tim could lay completely stretched out within it. As his eyes focused, he realized that there were four smaller holes connected to the large one, which was strange, it must of been made by something intelligent, erosion could not carve something this strange, not even on Felarya.

As Tim started to stand up, something caught his eye. He saw a soiled and muddy rag on the floor. As he moved to inspect it, he found that the rag was actually an extremely well made, if very worn, duster. Tim shook the duster as hard as he could in an attempt to get the dirt off of it. As he did so, a very large knife sheathed in animal hides fell out of the folds of the duster, followed by a hat that was in the same worn condition as the duster.

"Hey John, come look at this stuff!" Tim hollered as he wiped the dirt off of his discoveries.

John walked over and inspected the items in Tim's arms, "Nice there Tim, I told you it wasn't so bad," he bent down an offered his friend a hand up, "Come on let me help you outta that footprint."

"Thanks," Tim said as he grabbed ahold of John's hand a

nd pulled himself up, "Wait a second did you say....?"

Tim turned around and looked at the hole he had fallen into. His mouth fell open. He was staring at a giant footprint left by some gigantic doglike creature.

"HOLY SH----!"

=================================

The mumansi sniffed the air suspiciously. It had caught the smell of something suspicious. It stomped the dirt and snorted trying to discourage whatever was stalking it. Satisfied, it lowered its head and began to nibble at a few fruit bearing bushes it had managed to find, tearing them out of the ground and chewing on them slowly.

As he ate the mumansi felt an insect bite his leathery hide, but he ignored it. Again it bit him, and this time he shook himself hoping the scare the insect away, before returning to his meal. He was in the midst of swallowing another bush when he fell down, dead from the two spears piercing his side.

"That was amazing!" Mab exclaimed as she flew out of a nearby bush followed by her nearly identical companion.

"Yeah," Titania chimed in "That was awesome!"

Andry slithered out from the same bush, her arms crossed and a smug smile plastered on her face, "Yep, it was a pretty good throw wasn't it?" she replied, basking in the fairies praise, "Yep, there aren't to many predators out there who can kill a munansi with only two spears," she added, cocking her head to the side and twirling her tail triumphantly.

Titania's eyes lit up as she stared at Andry in admiration, Mab on the other hand was looking quite pale at the moment as she focused on the dead mumansi, "There...there sure is a lot of blood huh?" she said starting to feel a little queasy.

Andry nodded, "Yeah, I left some pretty big holes in the thing if I do say so myself!"

"How come it didn't run away?" Titania asked, "After the first spear I mean."

"It was something Joe taught me," Andry's face fell a little bit at the mention of her lost friends name, "Its a mix of several different plants, he called it an 'anesthetic'. Basically it's a liquid that makes it so you can't really feel pain. He said it's mainly for treating painful wounds, but can also be used on weapons so that prey doesn't know that it has been attacked until it is too late."

Andry pulled a bit of sharpened flint from her belt, and began to skin the mumansi. Titania stood on her shoulder, shrunken down to human size as she watched the brown haired naga field dress the carcass.

Mab flew away, gagging in disgust, "Ugh, that's why I swallow everything I eat alive!" she said under her breath, as she went to explore the surroundings.

Andry turned her head toward the fairy on her shoulder, "So Titania, are you and Mab twins or what? I mean you two look exactly alike."

Titania nodded, "Yeah, we are, been together ever since we we're born. Two of a kind, peas in a pod, all that good stuff..." the fairy flew down next to the sharp tool that Andry held in her hands, "What is this thing?"

"It's a flint knife," Andry explained, "Joe taught me how to make it. You take a piece of flint, which is a type of rock, and you hit it with some other rocks, and it makes a sharp edge that you can use to cut things." Andry was being a little generous when she called it a knife. While it was certainly sharp, her tool lacked both a point and a handle, meaning she had to hold her tool from the side opposite of the edge. Still it performed its designated task well enough, slicing through the mumansi most effectively.

"You mean you can make a knife without metal?" Titania asked surprised, "With any old rock lying around?"

"No, its gotta be a special rock, Joe said it has to chip rather than crack, and it has to make a sharp edge when it does, like glass."

"Oh," said Titania, somewhat disappointedly as she dropped several rocks she had grabbed in excitement.

Andry finished skinning the munmasi and managed to shove one of her spears through it, skewering it from mouth to rump. She then set up a fairly basic campfire, which began to cook the thing, answering Titania's various questions about what she was doing, how she was doing it, and so on. The fairy seemed curious about every little thing.

As the munmasi cooked, softening its meat and enabling Andry and her fairy companions to eat it without breaking their teeth in its tough flesh, Andry rubbed some of the munmasi's brain matter on its hide.

"It's called tanning," Andry explained to Titania before she could even begin to form the question, "The brain contains a type of acid that preserves the hide, and keeps it from rotting, Joe called it 'tannic acid' brains, certain types of bark and...other things...contain high amounts of it."

Titania nodded, "So...are you going to make another vest from it?"

"Actually I was thinking about a belt...and maybe a loincloth," Andry mumbled the last bit.

"Why," Titania poked the naga in the side, "You're not becoming modest are you? Or maybe that little human of yours..."

Andry grumbled, "Hmmph."

"What is it with you two?" Titania asked, "I mean you seemed concerned for him, and he seems to be teaching you many interesting things, how exactly did you too meet."

"Well, I tried to eat him," Andry started, "But I decided I'd rather have him teach me a few human tricks," she finished, deciding to omit one or two unimportant facts about the first couple of times she meant Joseph.

"Huh, that's it?" Titania asked.

"Uh...well...he may have saved my life...among other things," Andry admitted.

"Saved your life...what could a little human possibly save your life from..."

"Say...where did Mab go to?" Andry asked deciding to change for the subject.

Mab had disappeared for quite some time, Titania, who had up until this point forgotten about her sister, became rather worried, "She...she has to be around her somewhere."

Both the fairy and the naga began to search high and low for the missing Mab. They had almost begun to panic when they were interrupted by a 'mysterious figure.'

Mab jumped out from the nearby bushes, startling her two victims. She wore a worn wide brim hat, and had a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Reach fer the sky pardners, or else!" she declared, raising a two sticks that looked vaguely like pistols at Titania and Andry respectively, "I'm Rawhide Mab and I ain't the kinda hombre you want to mess with!"

Titania promptly smashed her fist onto the top of Mab's head, "Mab, you scared me half to death!"

"Ow, Titania!" she whined, "That hurt! I was only funnin' I didn't figure that ya'd git so worried!"

"And drop the accent Mab," Titania exclaimed, "You're not even doing it right."

Andry ignored the squabbling fairies, as she looked at the hat on Mab's head. Her eyes widened.

"Mab...where did you find this hat!"