Welcome to Gaia! ::

he opened his eyes and blinked in the stong light of the daytime son. where was he? who was he? what was he. he wanted to open his mouth but felt no mouth to open. his vision cleared and he felt himself being set down gently on soft grass. he blinked and focused and saw not one but two faces. one was a bald man. with strange features and piercings. wait! that was who he had awakened to before! he looked to that persons eyes and found them somehow comforting. he shook his head to clear it. and as he did so he felt another voice in his mind and looked to the other face. it was covered in a mask! she was older then him... howold was he. he tryed to think. he looked to her face and saw he eyes worried. was he hurt. again he tried to speak. but found no words had come. he raised hand to his face and fount it smooth. he had not the features that the man had. he was in a mask as well. it didnt seem right, but there was another like him right here! why did everything feel so wrong. he began to shake getting scared when the man began to speak.

"you are safe child. do not worry. i am glad to see you have awakened. you had Zahar here quite worried you did," he said calmly and reached out and ruffled his hair.

he looked the boy over, "im thinking he is fine, though just confused lass. but ill not argue your point."

mavrik came over to the gathering and ploped down beside the boy. Sk placed a hand under the boys back as he was trying to sit up and he helped him to a sitting upright position, " ya ok there sport?"

he looked to the other mask that had spoken to him," i... i... just pain," he looked himself over an moved around a bit, "but... Zahar? i... i... i am frightened. but you both. you. well," he wiped away tears not wanting to shed them at this meating. his clothes were a mess as it was. regaurdless of how he tried this would not be the impression that he wanted to make, "im not afraid of you is all im trying to say i guess."

he thought about the tactical implications of having a pure mind link with someone. it was a powerful tool when he had experianced it during his stay with the drow. but he shook that away. he was not in a place like that anymore. "do you have a handle lad? an name that you remeber? i am... well... jsut call me SK as Zahar does. and thanks zahar for the info."

"i am.. i.. i am.. im.. i dont know...," he teared and then blinked them away quickly, "i am fine i think. please tell me of you and such i um. im lost. are we going home? or was that my house with the missing wall there. im sorry... im confused," he stood and was now transfixed on the the tail the was swishing from the back of SK, "you! you have a tail! that is so cool. its fashionable as well! i think that looks neat! i want a tail! do you have horns? you'd look neat with little horns," he said with child like innocence and excitement, " and you have a sword! and those things on your hips! are you a warrior? you both look liek you have been through a lot. did you fight a dragon?"

he winked at zahar, "we lad, let us walk and we will tell you of the adventure that led us to ye. you have a regal face lad. let us give you a handle. i think the name artimis suits you. artimis, " he made a grand gesture with his hands and smiled at the kid likeing his thirst for adventure and his adventurous spirit as well as his desire to apear composed. he stood and looked to zahar, "shall we go?"

he smiled, "artimis? i kinda like that. how about artimis de'arileth? i like that can i be called that," he looked back and forth from zahar to sk and so forth.

sk looked to zahar with a smirk, "sounds good to me, how about you zahar?"

he nodded and motioned for them to start walking back toward the village. he cleared his throat and let him self slip into the role of bard as it were to weave the tail for the enjoyment of the boy and hopefully zahar as well. he began with how he had met the rade and slew them and then how zahar and the fire mask had saved him and how he had then found the large grey masked man in the forest and bested him then moved on to find zahar. he told of how she had hurt her hip whilst fighting off the, "HUGE 20 FOOT LONG SEA SERPENT," this of course was an exageration for the joy of the boy whom he found he liked quite a lot. the boy listened hanging off every word and remained silent the entire time. for the battles he used his blades to fight off imaginary foes and lept around making acrobatic displays for the pleasure of his small troupe. zahar seemed to be enjoying the recanting of the tail as well. far more then she seemed to like actually being on the adventure. he told of how he carried zahar for a long time and howt he had fallen and searched the catacombs. he took out the instrament and played a soft soothing song for the boy and zahar to show the prize he had claimed from the journey. he told of the detales of the labryinth. it had been over 6 hours and it was gettting near dark now but neither he or the boy really seemed to notice untill he snapped to reality for a moment and looked to zahar.

"would you like to stop? it seems its gettgin dark."

he shrugged to zahars comments and signed, "just wanted to put a sense of wonder in the boy. a good story teller is a weaver of words and can spelbind an audience with his or her tails"

"well i guess i should eat something."he rubbed his tummy, "i am pretty hungry. and my feet kinda hurt, but that was a great story," he looked to SK, "can you tell me the rest of it while
we eat SK?"

he nodded to the boy, "tonight you get off easy, no wood collection for you!. you will stay here with zahar. mavrick an i will go get wood for a small fire," he clucked to mavrick and the ROUS fallowed, "call me if you need anything lad. zahar, if you sense something tell him to call me ok? i will be back in a flash," with that he left zahar and the boy to chat with mental speak as they would.

he thought long and hard. it was tough to come up with anything. he knew nothing almost. he knew nothing of himself. nothing of why he had a mask. he ran a hand over his mask and actually found he liked the way it felt. he looked to zahars face and noted the features of her mask it was beautiful as well. it was wrong yet he liked it, "how about this question then, where are we going?"