Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kreen turns from his place on the cliff and begins to walk toward the dormitories, his thoughts now turning to his situation. He is currently stuck on an island in the middle of an ocean full of some of the most dangerous predators in the world. He is currently on said island with his standard assortment of blades, his basic assassin clothing, and his own natural abilities and skills. The rest of his equipment is on the mainland, which the very coast is over a mile away. How to get his equipment from there to here will require a great deal of thought.
As the Fae assassin walks, he comes abreast of the second human, the newcomer, and speaks since the elf does not.
"In coming here you have been added to a small group of us who are recruited to guard the children of the dragon's mate, Mirage. We know not when the eggs will hatch, no one has seen fit to give us an idea, but we have been told that ours will be a difficult task. You met us today as we were being tested by our human...leader, we shall call him for now. I expect that you will be tested much the same not long from now."

((YAY! Fun stuff!))

He jumped as the Fae started speaking after the seemingly long silence. Rath nodded every now and then to show he was listening. He took in every word that the one behind him spoke, as he followed the elf in front of him. He was ready for the upcoming test, though he was worried that he would fail and make a fool of himself.
The journey of the future would be a long and prosperous one, he thought. Rath pondered what had happened over the past period of time. He was lost in a desert, and now, he is to befriend and guard a dragon...
All he had was the clothes on his back and his weapons...He was excited, intrigued, yet doubtful. Would he be right for this? The human decided not to question it, his intuition, which he always trusted, said that it would all be a great adventure. Rath couldnt wait for the hatchlings to be born, or to meet the mother named Mirage, or to prove himself to this leader. He wanted badly for it all to happen instantly. But he knew it wouldnt. He would wait in his room until then- get a nice long rest for the next morning and whatever it would bring.

Sunlight filters down through the leaves of the dark squat trees that line the path, forming a somehow sinister pattern on the rough dirt trail. Strange cries and throaty noises sound distantly through the swamp, slightly muffled by the mist that lingers, even here near the swamp's edge. Down the trail saunters a lizard, standing three feet high and about eight feet long. A gossamer saddle of something resembling spider silk rests on its back, and slouching in the saddle is a fae with an expression of extreme boredom on his face.

Behind him on the trail are two more riders mounted similarly. Their expressions mirror those of the point rider. Where the fae travel all sounds cease besides their occasional bored yawns and the hisses of their lizard mounts. This is the fae swamp of the fae, one of the most perilous places in the world. However, the fae themselves give it its reputation, and they fear nothing within its confines, knowing themselves masters. These fae are members of the border patrol - a position of prestige in most nations, but a punishment among the fae. The border patrol is considered a convenient spot to place troublesome youth or political opponents, far from the major cities.

The fae riding point looks up briefly from his glazed examination of the ground in front of him. Shaking his disheveled flame red hair from his eyes, he looks at a bend in the path coming up ahead. Turning in the saddle, he announces "Wargs. A few. Who wants them?" The second fae rolls his eyes and looks behind him. "Merd...hey, Merd!" A snore from the third fae is the only response. "Oh, not again...he always skips his turn. That makes it your turn Dran." With a grimace the first fae slips from the saddle, landing lightly on the ground. "You two always get the interesting encounters, why do I get stuck with the ugly dumb ones?" The second fae laughs "That nymph had no interest in any fae as ugly as you Dran. I, on the other hand..." he trails off with a wink. A groan of disgust escapes Dran as he turns and heads towards the bend in the path. "We've been hearing about that nymph for three months now Gyrd, give it a rest."

As he rounds the corner Dran bounces lightly on his toes and slips off the path into the trees. A slight twist of one hand and a muttered syllable later his form shimmers and a new toadstool rests against the tree he was leaning against a moment before. Gradually the sounds of the swamp return to their prior volume. Amidst them is a new sound - part growl, part sob, part rabid scream. Across the path from Dran a beast stretches one clawed paw onto the path. The monster looks like a bear, if bears had 4 inch talons and green glowing eyes. Foam drips from its muzzle as it turns, sniffing the air. Moving entirely onto the path, the warg abruptly stands erect and utters a long howl. From further up the path four more of the creatures appear.

With a slight sigh of inner regret, Dran considers his options. Well, if I were my father, I'd just blast them to cinders. If I were my mother - well, I wouldn't be stuck out here. he concluded with a wry grin. But, since I'm not...let's have some fun.

Dropping his illusion he steps onto the path a few feet in front of the first warg. A fey smile lights his onyx eyes as he launches himself towards the startled monster. Ducking inside it's unprepared swipe he channels the kinetic energy of his body into an explosive series of lightning fast punches up the entire length of the beast's stomach and chest, ending with a double fisted uppercut directly to the warg's jaw. A discerning observer would have noted that the actual contact point was an inch in advance of each hit. Any observer at all would have noticed that a fae's punches should most certainly not have done the damage that they had. The warg sways for a moment, head cocked at an impossible angle, before slumping to the ground. Rolling to the side Dran bounces back to his feet. And then dives to the side as a wickedly sharp set of talons cleaves the air where he had been standing. Well, so much for the element of surprise. All four of the wargs were at him now, slashing and snarling. Dodging and rolling, he was able to avoid their strikes, but even though they tended to get in each others way, there was no opening large enough to give him a shot at a killing blow. I can hit these all day without making any progress, it's time for a change of direction. Mid-dodge, Dran leaped straight at his nearest opponent, muttering something under his breath. Growling ferociously, the warg's huge paw connected squarely with Dran's face, spinning him completely around and sending him directly towards another warg.

Yes. Wincing through the pain, Dran accentuated his spin, lashing out with his foot, focusing all the energy of his motion into the contact point - his heel. He felt the beast's skull give and then collapse in an explosion of bone fragments and brain matter. Landing heavily, he rolled to the side just fast enough to avoid being pinned by the falling body of the warg he had just slain. Two down, three to go. Halfway to his feet, a heavy blow caught him in the center of his back. Even diffused through his body, the force of the blow half-stuns him, picking him up and throwing him a dozen feet to land heavily against a tree. Blinking back sudden tears from the impact he staggers groggily to his feet, just as a keening wail pierces the air. A brilliantly white spiderweb of light catches the wargs, holding them fast. The web grows brighter and brighter, the keening wail ever more piercing, until with a sharp crack the web seals itself, every line joined to every other line. A moment later the web fades, and chunks of fried warg drop to the ground.

Blinking to clear the afterimages from his eyes, Dran looked wryly at his two smirking companions. "Very amusing." Shaking his head, he walked back down the trail towards his mount.

Kreen looks over the room as he enters, passing the first two sets of beds set perpendicular to the walls and coming to a stop at his own in the back right of the room. He then turns and takes in the specifics of the area, noting the coarse, dull brown woven spread over each of the beds, each totally uniform with the others. Each, with it, had a small mound of equally coarse woven fabric that serves as a pillow at the head of it. Finally, Kreen's eyes settle on the elf, sighing inwardly. This is not what he signed up for. Dealing with emotional problems is not something that he, as a Fae and an assassin, has done in a decade and a half. Deciding to use all that he has at his disposal, the assassin turns toward the newcomer and points at his companion in a silent gesture of 'deal with this' and an equally silent plea of 'I haven't the slightest idea what I'm doing here!' in his eyes.

The elf stopped the moment that his shoulder was touched. He accepted the kerchief and dryed his eyes.

"Th-thank you sir. I a-appologize for my selfishness. Thank you."

He took a deep breath, focused his energy and did the spell one more time.

"Renori-esa!" A burst of light dove fourth and created a great rune on the floor and bore fourth a table laden with fruits and grilled veggies fit for three.

Artes smiled greatly and laughed. "Heh-heh... D-dig in folks..."

Artes blushed slightly. "Wh-why thank you Mr. Rath. I am very glad I could help." The elf took a plate and moved over to his bag and took out three pairs of utencils. He took some grilled asperagus, broccoli, carrots, and a pair and ate at his bed, smiling meekly.

Artes finished and set his plate aside. Yes, this was what he could do. He knew he could become better, he just had to try harder. He'd have to practice... alot, but he would become just as good as Kreen and Zeal and make sure he would not be a burden to them.