[ST] The Lament of the Lake

[KuroNeko]

The Lament of the Lake

- Introduction -

The Untouched Lake, the northernmost settlement on Amethia. For as long as anyone can remember, it's been a lake untouched by humans, savages, or any other race besides Neptunites. Indeed, the Untouched Lake is aptly named.

Those who have attempted to enter the Neptunites' secret haven could tell you that a type of magic lies deep within the lake, repelling all who swim down there, making exceptions only for Neptunites. However, for reasons beyond anyone's knowledge, the barrier seems to have weakened lately, and the magic of the Untouched Lake is slowly fading. Now, the silence that falls over the lake is an eerie one. The fish and water-dwelling creatures are beginning to die out. It seems that either something has already happened, or something is going to happen soon - and whatever it is, it will greatly affect the lake and the Neptunites.

You just happen to be passing by, on a mountain trail that is only a few hours' travel away from the Untouched Lake, when an old Magus, who was concentrated on something in the sky, turns to you.

"Can you sense it, too? No, no..." he shakes his head wearily and turns his back to you again. "I don't think you'd be able to anyway. The magical waves are different somehow. It's giving off a feeling that is far too familiar for my comfort. It's ... eerie." He finishes, his voice almost reduced to a whisper now.

The trail splits. One will take you all the way to the Untouched Lake in a matter of hours - you would arrive by sunset. The other path will take you back south. As though sensing that you're in the middle of making a decision, the old Magus, still staring up at the sky, suddenly mutters,

"Which path will you choose?"

[paulfalcon]

"Hm, hm, hm... rum-ti-tum... twiddle dee dee~" An over-energetic Kaz, demicat Shadower of the Silver Light, muttered to himself as he was flipped upside down, walking through the pass with his hands. He then bounced up from his hands and flipped forward, landing onto his feet. "TA-DAH!!! .... Hm?"

He stops, noticing that there was an old Magus standing there, looking up towards the clouds. He quickly walks up behind the old man, not making a sound and he yells. "HEY!!! WHATCHA DOIN'?!!" he yelled, making the old Magus jump. He snickered in a satisfied tone and he started hearing the Magus mumbling about the ackwardness he feels about the Untouched Lake. Kaz stood up straight and saluted the Magus. "No need to worry, old man. My name is Kaz and I was sent here to solve this case by the Silver Light. I'll crack it down to it's very foundation and solve the mystery!

The old man blinked "I hope you aren't thinking of going on your own... it's dangerous." The Magus hopes to reason with the child but, when he looks, he sees that the child is already walking on ahead. "Hey, boy! Come back here! BOY!!" His calling goes unheard as the boy just keeps going on ahead down the road in an energetic, bouncy fashion.

[starrevolution]

Reiko was passing by as well and at first he thought the old magus was a statue. Approaching him he tried to get look at his face but the magus's cloak concealed it. Shrugging, Reiko continued on towards the southern fork, when he heard a voice croak,

"Can you sense it, too? No, no..."

He heard the old main trail off in mumbles and he turned to face him wondering what he was saying. Reiko wanted to keep walking but the man's mumbling was entrancing. He stopped and finally addressed Reiko.

"Elf were you travelling with a child Demi-cat?" he asked.

"No... and I prefer to be caled Reiko Shellight." he said his eyebrows in a frown. "Why?"

"No respect for elders..." mumbled the old magus before he looked up at him. "He just went on down the path to the Untouched lake. I wonder what it is he wants there I wonder..."

"THat's odd. Demicats don't normally stray from Kyimara City... Why would he want to go to the Untouched Lake? Ive heard rumors about it being dangerous..." and then he realised that the rumours might be related to the Demi-cats. Now he was interested. The man began mumbling some sort of warning but Reiko was alrdyh off down the fork leading to the Untouched lake.

[paulfalcon]

(I was actually waiting for others... but, without further ado!)

As much as time has went by, one would think the Kaz would of been close enough to the lake since there wasn't much disturbance on the road. However, the environment itself was a disturbance for Kaz. Too busy playing around in the bushes like someone his age would, he is seen standing up from the bushes, holding up a shiny rock. "Oooo... how pretty.." He was rather amused by the smallest of things, it's hard to believe that he's a mercenary on the job.

Suddenly, his ears stood straight up over his head. He heard someone or something walking down the path he had just walked. He hid himself amongst the shadows of the hills and trees, looming over to see who it was that stepped down the road. He hid within the bushes with both of his ears feeding off the sound of the footsteps, knowing that the one coming would be in view shortly. He didn't really care what it was, if it were a monster, he would kill it. If it were someone sent to aid in to solve the mystery, it'd be kind of fun to spook the person out of their wits.

As far as finding out who it was, Kaz finds out that it is an elf, a male elf that wields a Spear. His ears twinge in excitement as the elf passes by. He slips from his hideout and, as quiet as a cat, he creeps up to the elf. He notices the elf stop a moment but, he didn't even let up a moment to hesitate. He sprang upon the seemingly unsuspecting elf, bringing one of his cat like, razor sharp claws to the elf's neck. "Hello there." Kaz says in a rather friendly voice, despite the situation "Will you be my friend?"

[starrevolution]

Reiko's hand flew to the hilt of his spear but he did not raise it. He had known that something was skulking around in the bushes, and therefore he wasn't entirely surprised when the creature jumped on him.

"Well..... That's the first time I've been asked to be someone's friend while having their claws at my neck!" He said with a good natured chuckle. He looked down at his neck and saw that the claws belonged to a demicat.

"If you'll release me, kind kitty-cat sir... I do think we can come to be friends." he said calmly.

[paulfalcon]

Kaz chuckled a bit and released the elf as he was asked. "So, uh... my name is Kaz, just Kaz. Nice to meet you, mister!" Kaz stood up and scratched at his head a bit, seeing how tall the elf was compared to him. "Wow, mister, you are pretty tall. That must be very nice." He chuckled a bit as he glanced down the road. "Well, I guess you met with the nice, old, funny looking guy with the hat, right?"

Kaz takes a few big steps forward and stops, looking towards the elf, rubbing the back of his head as he did. "I want to ask you something, mister. Why was that old man so worried again? I don't quite remember why. His story got boring so, I started looking around at all the beautiful flowers and I just went on ahead. Heh heh... so, I don't remember a thing."

[starrevolution]

Reiko blushed at the physical contact made with the male demicat. Truth was he was a bit of a pervert.

"That old guy said something about the magic waves over the lake... Im sure it will make more sense once we get there!" Reiko said confidently, already starting to like his new travelling companion. They seemed to get along well and he was nicer than most travellers Reiko met... even if he was a bit odd.

They continued down the downhill path to the lake...

[KyahRyorin]

"Your time isn't done here! We've avoided Death for too long now. Go!" The woods flew by him, he was reliving the same nightmare. He tried to stay back, to help fight, but it was no use. The group shrank from his view as he somehow glided at a remarkable speed away from them. The shrieks and cries however, did not go away, they only grew louder the farther he went from the group.

"No! Wait! I want to stay! I want to help!" He cried out, but he kept moving back, away from the group, the shrieks and hysterics following him. Then it grew dark, and he felt himself being swallowed into the darkness, drowning out his cries and covering everything he reached for. Drowning... drowning... he felt his eyes close unwillingly. Eternal sleep was beckoning...

The words of the old man came out of nowhere, chasing into Sharkov's thoughts. He jolted awake from his daydream to see a magus standing and leaning close into his face. The sudden awakening caused Sharkov to jump backwards and almost land on his rear, but he grabbed onto a nearby tree and steadied himself into an upright position.

"You there, young man. Are you all right?"

Sharkov shook his head. "I'm fine. I just... got caught in the past again." He muttered, rubbing his eyes and stepping forward a bit. His tail swished back a forth, as if it were anticipating someone to pounce on him.

The magus gave a somewhat startled look at Sharkov, then chuckled. "Well, by the Muses, bless my old soul. You're a Pheonite. Hard to come across people like you these days, no?" Sharkov merely grunted. Now was not the time to be marveling at another species.

He saw a fork in the road ahead of him. "Where do these two roads lead?" he asked the magus.

The old man sighed. "This way leads you southwards into town." He paused, trying to make it sound interesting. Then he pointed to the other path. "Down that way is the path to the Untouched Lake. Something, I fear, has gone wrong in that place." He sighed and clutched his forehead a bit, his expression worried. "A demicat and an elf have already made their way down that path."

Sharkov cocked an eyebrow, somewhat amused and interested. Something gone wrong...? And there were others who had already gone down that path? Well, this was interesting.

He thanked the magus and walked forward. "I'll be joining the others then. It can't hurt to have a little adventure once in a while, right?" And with that, he walked down the path towards the Untouched Lake, hoping the others weren't too far ahead of him.

A little while later, he saw a demicat and an elf walking along the path. Trying not to sound too rude, he called out to them. "Need a healer to join you? I'm sure that if something goes wrong here, you'll need all the help you can get."

[paulfalcon]

Kaz heard the voice trailing from behind which made his ears perked up. It was an unfamiliar voice but, Kaz wasn't the kind to hold people back defenselessly. Kaz turned back, facing what looked like to be a Pheonite, a race not too common this day and age but, such details never really interested Kaz much. "Hello there. Sure, the more, the better, Nya~!" Even if that's not necessarily true, Kaz just loved the company.

He waited alongside Reiko so that the Phoenite could catch up with them. Kaz glanced at the Pheonite and smiled brightly, extending his hand out to the newcomer. "My name is Kaz, nice to meetcha! What's yours?" Kaz giggled a bit, a little bit excited about meeting someone new.

[KyahRyorin]

"The name's Sharkov. I'm a cleric." Sharkov told the two, taking Kaz's paw in his and shaking it. "I take it you're a fighter?" He asked them both, unsure of what else to call them. He saw one had a spear, and the demicat had his claws and whatnot. He shrugged his shoulders a bit, and let his staff lower itself a bit more into the ground. Seeing a demicat by himself was one thing, seeing a demicat with an elf was another.

Whatever this group was planning on doing at the Untouched Lake, it sure didn't look like it was being planned.

[paulfalcon]

The demicat scratched at his side a bit, seeming a bit eccentric but, he had his wits about him when need be. "Um, I remember hearing about Clerics but, I forgot what they were for." He thought a little, remembering his childhood friend, Trina, would always scorn him for his inability to remember all that he studied. He nodded a bit. "Yeah, my tall friend here is a warrior that's more skilled with lances and stuff, I guess. I don't see him carrying a sword or nothing." He raised his paw and pointed at himself with one of his claws. "As for me, I'm a Shadower. From silent death to stealing something valuable with no one noticing, I am the man on the job."

Kaz turned his focus back down the road. "Well, we better get there fast. From the looks of that old man, it doesn't look like we should delay any further." He started walking brishfully for a moment until he finally stopped, some realization that popped up in his head in which he should of thought of a while back. He turned back to the Pheonite and Elf. "So, uh... what do we do when we get to the lake?" This was another thing Trina scorned him for, jumping into things before carefully analyzing the situation. Being as young and hyper as he was, though, he wasn't a very great thinker.

[starrevolution]

Reiko gaped at his companion. "YOU'RE A shadower?!" He couldn't beleive a Demicat so hyper and carefree was a shadower, an agent of darkness...

"Well anyway we have stealth -" he pointed to Kaz, "Smarts -" he pointed to Sharkov, "and Strength." he pointed to his self. "I think we have a pretty good team going here! Let's keep trucking ahead, I'm sure we'll reach untouched lake soon!"

What worried him was what they might find at Untouched Lake...

[KyahRyorin]

Sharkov chuckled a bit, closing his eyes. "We heal, mainly, Kaz." Then he looked at Reiko, nodding slightly. "The old man said there was something eerie happening at the Untouched Lake. If we go and see what it is, maybe we can solve it and then be on our separate ways again."

When he heard Reiko say that Sharkov was the smarts of the goup, he stammered a bit. "D-d-don't be ridiculous. I'm hardly what you'd call a strategist."

[paulfalcon]

"Huh? Is that it?" Kaz said, scratching at his head. "Well, whatever. Let's just go, right?" Kaz turned toward the road and started bounding his way down the road, going off without any thought that he might be leaving his comrades behind. He was more interested in seeing the lake and seeing all the Neptunites and their city. The fact that the Neptunites wouldn't really welcome their company, Kaz doesn't consider that. As an innocent mind loves to indulge, he thinks everyone is all nice and peppy like him. He may find it to be otherwise as the tries shading the front holds the entrance to the lake.

Kaz smiled a bit as he stepped a little bit closer, seeing if he could get a good look inside. "Oh goody, it's dark inside. Good for me if there is some trouble that we might have to sneak up upon. Let's go!" Kaz said, pointing towards the entrance of the Untouched Lake.

[dagda]

Agathar saw the old Magus before the Magus saw him. The fact that he had keept of the path for the entire journey may have had something to do with it. No point leaving yourself open to attack by walking on an open road.
With a flourish of his green cloak, he appeared from the shrubary and said, 'Fine day, is it not old man?'
Startled, the Magus stared at Agathar before replying,
'Fine enough for a demicat, elf and pheonite to go a wander down to the Untouched Lake.'
Agathor concidered this. The development sounded as if it had great story potential amd the Muses knew he needed another story. Then again, the settlement down the other path would have drink. With a grunt and last flourish of his cloak, he began his journey down to the Untouched Lake.