Kivari's story...

[Ashen Rain]

~(Alright, so this is a character I made about a year or so ago, on a different site. She may seem familiar, as I did try to use her as a character before, but that fell through. Recently though, I've decided to send her role play as a story for my college portfolio.

Please excuse all of the random explanations, as those are mainly for the professors who will be reading this- though you can read through them as well, as they will probably help you understand better too. =p

Please, do feel free to comment. In fact, I beg of you too. I know that the grammar may be bad, but I need it this way to show how I'm improving in my portfolio.

However, if there is anything you have a question on, or something that confused you, please let me know so that I can make an explanation for it (as I don't want the professors she be confused either. =p) Also, any advie would be very helpful and appreciated. ^^)~


Short Explanation of this character: This character was created on a web site, and acted much like a character in a video game would- save for the fact that rather than playing with a controller on a television, I was able to write a story on what she did. She is one of my older characters that I still feel has some potential, and that is why I deem her worth enough to send to you.

In my time spent on the web site where she was created, I wrote many segments of her story. There are times where she communicated with other characters, and became part of their stories just as much as they became a part of hers. Other times, I interacted with the supervisors of the web site- they would give me a problem or a situation, and I would have to write some story line where my character would fix it. If I did well my character was rewarded, much like one would be after defeating a boss in a video game.

As I did have to follow a specific character sheet template, there are some things on here that appear to be, more or less, part of the gaming aspect of the web site I went to. With every thing that I could use, however, I attempted to add some characteristic description to it. This character was created and based in a fantasy world that was not of my imagination- and should I ever use her again in an actual piece of writing, I will probably end up editing her to avoid copy right laws. In my writings with her, I had to confine myself to the rules of the 'game' and therefore her history is based upon the history of the fantasy world she was created in, which I did not write.

A short summary will be posted in blue before every major chunk of my own writing, to help you better understand what is going on. Also, any interactions that another persons character (or a supervisor that gave me a problem to fix) has with her will have a short explanation in red, so that no story line will be skipped.

Without further adieu, here is my character, Kivari Wight, and her story(s).

Date started: 01-18-2006

Name: Kivari Leah Wight
Region: Cald (A fire type region)
Sex: Female
Weight: 118 lb.
Age: 18 (1 Magi Age = 0.8 Human Age)

Primary Stats:
Brawn (BRA): 3 - Like a natural Calder, Kivari is more about muscle. She doesn’t feel that she can really trust anyone except herself, so she relies more on her fists than spells or creatures.
Agility (AGI): 2 - To help enhance her fighting ability, she has gained an average amount of speed. Her muscles aren’t large enough to hinder her movements, so she can dodge most normal things... hopefully.
Purity (PUR): 2 - Though she is a fighter, Kivari is generally good. She doesn’t not enjoy doing wrong, unless it is something that society deems wrong and she feels is right. Her self purity is stronger than what her social purity is...
Dreaming (DRE): 1 - All in all, Kivari widely believes that she is the only one she can trust. This being said, she works on her body and muscles, more so then she does on the ability to call forth minions to fight for her, be they spells or creatures. She only calls upon these when she really needs too.
Knowledge (KNO): 2 - Kivari is not a stupid girl, though she isn’t a genius either. She feels that muscle will pull you through most of the time, but that you have to have just enough smarts to balance that, or you’re no better than anyone else.
Charm (CHA): 2 - Kivari is normal looking, and nothing spectacular. She doesn’t like being in the center of attention, though she could probably be if she really tried to. She’d rather just sit back, by herself, or leave the general area of annoying people who actually try speaking to her. She feels no shame in simply walking out on somebody if they’re bothering her.

Energy:
Class: Pixie - lvl 1 / 0 PAsc
Starting Energy: 7 (+1 for 12AP, +2 in Cald for class skill.)
Energize: 4
Power –Thud (3):Choose one magi in play. Thud causes that magi to lose two actions during their next turn. Thud cannot be used again the next turn.

Skill EXP: 670/1000 PAcs

Class Skills/level (1/15):
Battle Tactics* ( Home Region ): At Lvl 1 The Pixie knows it's home region very well, it can use the regions surroundings to help in battle. By this, the Pixie starts with 2 Additional Starting Energy in the Region during a battle.

Skills: (5SP/6SP):
Weapon Skill (Punch Knife): 2
Unarmed Combat: 2
Creature Fighting: 1

Regional Boosted Skills: (1/1) Pyromancy: 1 (Regional Skill)

Boosted Skills: (0/0)

Flaw: Fear of skittish insect-like dreams- Kivari is tough, but anything creepy and crawly scares the living day lights out of her.

Investments: (4/4)
- Punch Knives (two, one for each hand. Both have rocky handles, and two sharp, silvery red blades)
-Magma Armor
Effect - Defense: Whenever a Creature attacks your Magi directly, add two energy to your Magi before energy is removed.
-A back pack, with a random amount of clothes and food inside of it.
-Bug repellent. A very large can of bug repellent.

Misc: 8DP (5DP+2DP/5DP+2DP)
Spells (0/8 ): None
Creatures (2/8 ): Quor (4 mana), Spark Chogo (2 mana)
Relics (1/6): Magma Armor (1 mana)

Animate Points: 18 (18AP/18AP)
6AP = + 2 Dream Points
12AP = +1 Starting Energy

Description/Concept/Background:

Basic Appearance: Shiny black hair, quite nearly like fluid ebony, with random reddish-orange highlights, giving the illusion of molten lava cooling. Her face is shaped somewhat like a rounded almond, and her eyes are angled just slightly. Her eye color interestingly matches her hair- black, with the strange red-orange streaks, but the red color in her eyes is thicker than the streaks in her hair, so from a distance her eyes look to be a reddish brown. She is a tad smaller than average, 5'3" in size, but she makes up for it with better than average strength. Her skin is tan, a normal Caldian color... with an almost wood like tint to it. There is a large burn scar on her left leg, from a quor grabbing it when she was little. She generally wears whatever she feels like, but most of her outfits include the colors black, red, or brown, and she usually wears a pair of thick red boots.

Basic Personality: Fairly quiet, and anti social. She can be kind hearted and sweet, but she normally just... isn’t. She doesn’t feel as though she needs anyone else to accomplish all her goals in life, and so she sees no reason in actually making an effort to communicate unless she absolutely has to. In all honesty, however, she is a very good person, and only aims to hurt people in any way if they are interfering with her choices in life.

Background Story:

(A quor is a four armed magma-rock creature, with two short and rocky legs. When a dream creatures is defeated, rather than becoming a corpse, it fades away- due to the fact that they are just dreams. Occasionally, it is possible to kill a dream creature without it fading, and generally predator dream creatures are able to do this. After the creature fades, it leaves behind something called animite- the currency of the Magi world. Occasionally, a faded creature will also leave behind infused animite, which, rather than being used for money, can be forged into a ring to summon that creature from the dream realm.

Here is the first part of Kivari's story- Her background. In this, it catalogs certain large events in her life, from when she was born, to when she turned eighteen. She is a 'magi', a race of people that take upon the elemental aspects of the regions they are born in, as well as the ones they travel to (though not to the high extent of the one they originate from). Magi use special abilities, spells, relics and even special monsters called 'dream creatures' which they can summon from special rings to help them survive in their world.

Kivari was born in Cald, the region of fire and what she is most attuned to. After her mother died in child birth with her, Kivari's father grew cold and bitter, and mistreated her before finally sending her away on a 'quest' as a child, to get a ring forged from a dream creature that had viciously attacked her.)

On the porch of a rocky black home in Cald, a man paced back and forth. He quietly ran his fingers through his spiked red hair in worry, and he peeked into the window of the house. After a moment, he shook his head, ran his fingers through his hair again, and continued pacing.

Not even minutes later, a woman shouted and moaned, causing the man on the porch to go still. He hurried to the door, but a small noise stopped him from opening it- a baby's cry. Unmoving, the man gave a short laugh, and a small smile. He covered his eyes, and sighed softly, then moved over to a chair on the porch and sat, waiting for the midwife who was helping his wife give birth to come out and tell him it was alright to go back inside.

Worry crept back into his chest when the midwife did not immediately come out. He kept glancing at the door, and rubbing his eyes anxiously- what were they doing in there? Was the baby alright...?

He jumped when the door opened, and he stood, looking toward it. The midwife was there, holding a tiny bundle in her arms, but her face was blank and serious.

"Darill," The midwife finally said, after what seemed like hours. "... There has... been a complication."

The man, Darill, stared, before running to the door, and pushing quickly past the startled midwife. The baby in her arms instantly began crying, and the midwife began scolding the new father, but he didn't listen. He headed into the room where his wife had been helped into earlier in the day to give birth. Now, she lay there still and pale, her sweaty black hair laying in wet strands across her face.

"... Kiva?" Darill whispered, swallowing. His wife made no reply, and he already knew the reason behind her silence. He didn't know what to do now. Should he go to her, touch her arm, and find that she's truly gone? He gritted his teeth hard, closed his eyes, quietly leaving the room, and shutting the door behind him. He even ignored the ornate crib, and the baby toys strewn across the floor. He just left.

Back out on the porch, Darill made no attempt to take the baby. The Midwife approached him, tapped his shoulder, and held the tiny one out to him. Terrifyingly, Darill turned and glared at the child, almost to the point that the midwife snatched the baby back to keep her safe. But Darill gently took the infant from her arms, and held her close, looking at her small face and her short black hair. He didn't smile. He looked angry. Quietly, he moved away from the door, and the midwife followed. She watched on, concerned for the baby's safety. Darill made no move to harm her, but he lifted his hand, and closed his eyes. Moments later, the house where Kiva lay dead erupted into flames. The midwife, now terrified for her own life, quickly ran away.

Darill sighed softly, though his eyes were still hard. He lowered his gaze from his old home, and was surprised to find that his new born daughter's eyes were open, and staring at the house. She was as quiet as he, silently watching the rising flames with small black and red eyes. Darill grimaced, and closed his own eyes...

"... Say good bye to your mother, Kivari..." He whispered to her, before turning and heading away from the rising flames...

~-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-~

"Kivari... come here, now."

Kivari's back sagged slightly as she let the weight of the two buckets of water rest on the ground. She was seven, and her arms were greatly sore from having to do this every day for the past year. Watering a filthy garden... she thought to herself. Who makes a garden in Cald, anyway? Like anything would grow... Isn't this what we have those, tree hugging, Naroom people for?

"Kivari, what in Cald are you waiting for? Get in this house, right now."

"... Yes, Darill..." Kivari murmured, releasing the handles of her water buckets from her cramped fingers. She rubbed her sore arms slightly as she entered the small house where she lived with her fathe- No, not father. Darill. That's what he wanted her to call him. Never daddy, or even dad, like normal children got to call their parents- or at least, that’s what she figured was normal. The only contact that she had had with other children was seeing younger ones than herself, holding onto the skirts of their mothers as she gathered water from a spring three miles away. They got to say ‘Mommy’ and ‘Daddy’, and they didn’t have to carry heavy water buckets for a garden that was just going to dry up any way.

Past the door, Darill stood, staring resentfully down at her, as he always did. The only time he ever looked any different was when he was recalling his wife, Kivari’s mother. Apparently, her mother died giving birth to her. The other thing that was apparent was the fact that Darill blamed Kivari for his wife’s death.

“What took you so long?” Darill asked, bitterness in his voice.

Kivari already knew he was speaking of the water buckets. “There was a long line at the hot spring. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry wont cut it. Those plants wont live long unless they have water. If they die, it’s on your head.”

Kivari glanced out of the window, to the plants resting in the back yard. They were already dead, or close to it. Why did her father persist in playing this game with her? She sighed inwardly, and bowed her head. “I’ll be quicker next time.” she whispered.

Darill glared, and made a face of disgust. “Pft. If you’re trying to be quicker, than why are you still standing in here? Get back outside and finish your chores.”

Kivari gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and nodded. Trying to stay calm, and to keep herself from either shouting, or even worse, crying, she turned and headed back outside. Crying was something close to a sin in this household... and she’d never hear the end of it if even one tear fell.

Outside, Kivari stopped next to the buckets. From setting them on the hot ground, most of the water had evaporated. There wasn’t even enough water left in both buckets to quench a single plant.

In anger, Kivari kicked one of the buckets over, and lifted a rock from the ground. Her face was red and upset as she chucked the rock into the open field of red earth before her, and went back for a second and third rock. She continued throwing them, till a hollow thud, and a dull, murmuring growl entered her ears. Still standing in the garden, one rock fell from her fingers, but the other hand still held a thick, sharp stone.

Within the distance she had been throwing the rocks, a large quor stood, shaking it’s arms, and turning to face her. It gripped the earth with two arms, and made fists of anger with the others, opening it’s mouth in a resounding roar. She had pegged the thing with one of her rocks.

Quickly spinning around, Kivari ran to the house, and made a grab for the door handle, the quor now closing the distance between them. In her haste, Kivari smacked into the door, fumbling with the knob and trying desperately to get into the house. Tears stung her eyes as her head throbbed in pain from the bang, but at least she was getting away from the quor. The door pulled open, finally...

But then something on the other side yanked it back shut.

Terrified, Kivari looked up through the window to see her father staring down at her. She could feel the tears now rolling wetly down her face as she heard the latch to the door click shut.

“Deal with your own problems.” Darill told her, his harsh voice muffled through the glass. “And stop bringing more problems to me.”

Sobbing now, Kivari begged for him to open the door, pleading father, daddy, Darill, anything that might tug his heart strings as the quor neared her. Nothing worked. He wasn’t even standing at the window any more.

The quor roared again, and she felt his heated hand upon her leg, burning a print into her flesh. With a shriek, she was spun and pulled from her position, and now lay on the ground, under the quor’s glowing gaze and burning fury. She screamed again, and curled up into a ball while covering her face with one arm as the quor lifted two fists into the air, and prepared to smash them down on her. She grimaced, and sobbed, kicking and pushing at the creature with her legs and free arm, until suddenly, the thing cried out in pain.

Confused, Kivari quickly looked up to find that he sharp stone had penetrated the quor’s left eye. The dream creature thrashed about, and grabbed at her arm, but she quickly moved it away, and sought more rocks. The thing scraped at his face, trying to unhinge the rigid rock, but it had no effect. In a rush, Kivari began hurling more stones at it, in an attempts to drive it off. However, one stone, amazingly, hit the jagged one in the eye of the quor, knocking it further in. The monster, his brain (however small it was) pierced, roared once more, went rigid, and fell back on the ground. Kivari watched as the thing lay still, feeling terror in her heart. Her stomach heaved, and she turned and gagged upon the ground next to her.

When the quor finally began to shimmer and fade, the thing left in it’s place was a large hunk of animite. Kivari wiped her mouth, spat, and looked at it in confusion, as the door behind her opened and forcefully pushed her out of the way.

Kivari stared in disbelief. Exiting the house hold, Darill seemed to pretend that nothing at all had happened. He stooped, and lifted the large chunk of reddish animite, then turned and looked to Kivari with his usual glare. But, strangely, he took a pouch from his side, put the animite into it, and held it out to her.

When she didn’t move to take it, Darill sighed in irritation. “Take this,” He told her. “And go to a ring smith- anyone you feel like. There’s enough money in here to get a ring for this creature made, so go get it done. And don’t waste any of the money on food. I want to see the ring when you get back.”

Kivari stared at him, her eyes bewildered, and shyly took the bag. Once she had it, Darill wasted no time in walking past her and back into the house. He shut the door behind him, and she heard the lock click once more. Standing there, she swallowed slightly and shivered- probably due to shock from the attack. She knew he was serious, however terrifying it was for a child at the age of seven to be sent away. Looking down slightly in shame, she suddenly grimaced at her vomit, and quickly covered it with dirt before looking back to the house. Sighing again, she then turned headed away from her place of torture, from the only home she had known, shaking her head...

~-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-~

(After leaving home and becoming lost in Naroom (the region of plants), Kivari was found by some villagers and helped- though she was forced to work for them for five years so she would have enough food and money to survive on her way back to Cald. When she was finally able to return home, she had her quor dream creature ring forged and bought a relic. Once she came to her old home she found that her father had disappeared, though how she truly felt in that situation is uncertain. After ransacking what she could in the house, she left the evil memories of her life behind and became stronger in the fact that she was past that point in her life, and felt that nothing like that could or should ever happen to her again.)

Kivari hefted her pack slightly, and stared down at the ground. The earth was red beneath her feet, a sure sign that she was in Cald once more. Finally back, after... five years? She couldn't believe that she had grown to the age of twelve in the time span she was gone from home. Then again, it probably wouldn't have taken so long had she had a map.

In the first leg of Kivari's journey to find a ring smith, Kivari nearly starved to death. She actually had to fight random creatures to get a meal at times (even if this was when she realized that she could actually harm dream creatures with her bare hands- a useful skill). She had no idea that she was going in the wrong direction- away from Cald entirely- until the ground became lush, and green, and strangely springy. Grass, or some such nonsense as that...

In the first place she ended up in, Kivari was quite near collapsing, and very quickly gave up hope of ever surviving when she realized that she would have to find her way back to Cald. But then, someone in a random village of Naroom found her, and fed her. Nice enough, but he did make her work for it when she was better. More gardens, and larger ones... she could have payed it off with the animite her father gave her, but that was for the ring. She didn't dare touch that money.

Even when she had finally payed off her debt, she continued working. Now she was making her own money, and could continue to do so. She was saving up to buy things to eat for her journey back home... and, maybe some extra money to buy a few other things. The Naroomian she worked for didn't mind her slaving away out in the garden- he actually found it quite amusing that he had his own little knuckle down from Cald to break her back for him.

In the end, Kivari was fairly well off. Back pack, new clothes, food, an animite pouch of her own (containing her extra money), and even a map. She had grimaced when she realized the distance she would have to travel to get back. But she made it, and this time she did so without starving, and in record time. All the days of toiling in a garden made her stronger, and also helped her quite a bit with pummeling with her fists along the way. She was quite skilled with her hands...

Back in Cald, she quickly found the ring smith, and had the quor ring made. However, the problem was... how was she going to explain to her father the extra money? She gritted her teeth in thought, until her eyes rested upon something behind the counter. Kivari's eye brows raised slightly- it looked to be something out of a fiery fairy tale. Magma armor... for a girl, flexible, and it was just within her price range. As soon as the ring smith came back, she bought the armor, and tried it on. It was a bit too big... but she'd grow into it eventually.

The thing she didn't have to grow into was the ring. She blinked, looking at it carefully as she headed out of the store. It had been made to fit her, instead of her father, and she had forgotten to tell him what size she needed it in. When asked if he could resize the ring (the beautiful red gem set in gold) the man laughed, and told her it would cost her. She had just spent nearly all the rest of her money on the suit of magma armor, and he wouldn't take it back from her in exchange for resizing the ring.

Outside of the store, she glared back in at the man, and kicked the wall of the store in anger. Now her father would punish her again... probably go get some evil bug like creature, make her hold it, or put it on her. She shivered. She hated bugs with a passion, and her father had loved to use it against her.

But now, as she was nearing her home, she stopped thinking about her travels. She didn't think about bugs, or starving, or working... She just thought about how she would explain things to him, especially why the ring didn't fit him, and why she had been gone so long.

Once at the house, she looked at the door, and set her face to a stern expression, though she was confused as to why the house was so quiet. When she finally opened the door, she saw the reason why.

Everything inside was covered in a thick layer of red dust, old, as if it hadn't been cleaned in two years. Her father wasn't even in the house any more. He was just... gone.

Quietly, Kivari went from room to room, looking at everything. Once finished with that, she gritted her teeth, then smiled slightly, and headed into her father's room. Inside, she saw his bed, closet, night stand... all very plain. She glared at these innocent things that belonged to him, been a part of his life. She wanted to break them up into tiny little pieces so that she'd never have to look at them again, but she shook her head, and decided against it. She'd just leave, like her father had. She wouldn't have to look at anything then.

But first... the closet. What did he keep in there? Kivari headed over to the door, and opened it, looking around. Coats, shoes, much more variety in clothing than he had given her. She nearly slammed the door shut, until out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a red box. Confused and enthralled, she bent, and lifted it, opening it up. On the inside of the lid, there was a picture of a smiling woman, with black hair, and dark eyes. Her father was standing next to her.

In the box, however, were a set of knifes of some kind- rocky red handles, and two sharpened red blades. Kivari swallowed slightly. Were these her mothers? Carefully, she lifted the picture from the box, folded it, and put it in her pocket. Then, she picked up the knives. They were confusing, the handles bent in an odd way. How was she supposed to hold them? She blinked, then realized, and put the handle of one of the knives between her middle finger and ring finger. They were a set of punch knives- which were perfect for her, because she already knew how to work well with her hands during anything, especially punching.

In the bottom of the box, there was a belt, where the knives were supposed to hang. Quickly, she put it on, finding that it only sagged a little bit when on the last hole. She smiled softly, and put the knives on the belt, before turning and leaving the room.

She quickly ran-sacked the rest of the house. She found food that she could carry that was still good, and anything of value, which wasn't much. She finally left the house for good. Outside, she looked back once, then blinked, and remembered the ring. Carefully, she lifted it from her pocket and out from the picture, and slid it onto her ring finger. She smiled just a bit- this was hers now. Her father would never bully her again. She was her own person, and would continue to be, from this point forward.

She turned, and headed back toward Cald.

~-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-~

(At the age of seventeen, and alien force came to her planet and threatened to take it over. Knowing that no magi would survive this attack, the Elders of every region (save for the evil region of Core) helped to create magical portals to an alternate world similar to theirs known as Inix. Upon arriving in the Inix fire region and meeting the native race there, Kivari promptly left the safety of her group, preferring to rough it on her own.)

Kivari growled slightly as someone brushed past her. This was idiotic. She was seventeen now, and she had been shoved into a group of Calders who were trying in vain to be the first to escape from the Invasion.

At different intervals, as the line (more like the hulking mass of Calders) moved along, Kivari checked over herself. She would make sure that her Quor ring was on correctly, and would check her new Spark Chogo ring as well. She grinned slightly. That had been an interesting battle... but, before the reminiscing began, someone bumped into her again.

She shrugged it off, and checked that her purse was still secure on her hip- which it was. It happened to be hanging right next to one of her punch daggers, which was, she thought, a good enough warning in the least. She sighed again, bored out of her mind. This was either going to be extremely tiresome and uneventful, or something interesting (and quite probably annoying) would happen soon. She wasn't sure which side she was rooting for...

Hours later, she could see the portal ahead of her, and a swarm of people rushing toward it. Much bumping and shoving began, and Kivari was not at all pleased with this fact. Shouting random insults, and shoving back, eventually Kivari stumbled through the portal to Inix, and insisted (against the guards will) on turning around and going back through the portal to get revenge on the person who had pushed her through.

Eventually, the guards got her away from the portal, and into a group of wandering Caldsmen and women. They were basically heading somewhere to find a base camp of some kind, in one of the regions that they were used too. Kivari slumped along in an uncaring manner, following them there, and even seeing some of the natives- the Delvers, or something of the sort. She coughed lightly as the two races met, and interestingly, she moved away from the group. Now that she was in a place like home, she didn't really need them anymore. She'd wait till they established a city, or something... but right now, she was free to go. Sure, she'd come back and visit from time to time... but, she shrugged it off, finding it easier just to take care of herself...

~-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-~

(Somehow, the Core region managed to get through to Inix without the knowledge of the other Elders. It was here that the Core found a bell like contraption (called a chime) that would spread the taint of evil, in an attempt to corrupt the other inhabitants of Inix. When the Elders heard of this, they found that the only way to stop this from coming to pass was to ring the chimes in their regions before the Core chime could be rung, though they needed to find them first. In the end in the even now deemed the 'Chime fall', all regions were able to ring their chimes before the Core- except for the forest chime in New Naroom. After the horrible noise of the Core chime, taint began to fall around the world of Inix, and the Forest chime's ring only halted it somewhat. Those that had made it through the taint without succumbing to the evil were lucky. Those who had only mildly been infected could be treated. The creatures and people who had been totally corrupted however could not be helped. And so the taint grew and spread...

An Ergar is a lizard like fire dream creature, with a long tail, and thickly toothed lower jaw.)

A year or so later. A year of life on Inix. It was confusing... things seemed the same here, but they were so... different. And then the Chime fall...

Kivari remembered it. She didn't know how she had gotten past it. It was one of the few things she was actually afraid of- not the concept of possibly having to live with the core-like taint in everything, but the actual happening. The noise of it... the thing that resounded in her heart, and made it stop for an instant before the next chime rang from underground.

She had been out in the deserted plains of New Cald, hoping that no other living thing was out there. If the Chime fall came, and she was away from all of the tainted things that could hurt her, she would come out of this alright. If the Chime fall tainted her... well, at least she would be too far away from anyone else to hurt them.

The noise was terrible... and the wait for the forest chime was even worse. She knew something wasn't right when the red rocks of New Cald darkened, and did not lighten again when the forest chime rang out.

But she hadn't gotten tainted. She still had herself.

She quietly wondered about the Delvers, and the other races on Inix that she did not yet know about. Were they angry with all of the Magi for letting the evils of the Core follow them through the portal? Technically, wasn't it their fault for not stopping them, and letting them into this new world that did not belong to them?

She rubbed her eyes, and ran her fingers through her hair, something she had picked up from her father mostly by accident. She began to walk again, heading toward anywhere she was going... where ever she felt like.

A growl behind her caused her to turn her head. An Ergar from atop a small crag was glaring down at her. Across it's molten streaked frame were black lines. Tainted. Beautiful.

Quietly, Kivari turned, and pulled her punch knives from her belt, moving her fists around the hilts. She smirked slightly, and took on a brawling fighters stance as the magma lizard crept closer.

"... Bring it on," She muttered to it, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet. "... I've had much worse..."

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(The next segment marks the point in which Kivari's more real time actions come to pass. This is also the point where she had some slight interactions with other characters as well as web site supervisors. Short explanations of character and supervisor replies shall be explained in red.

Kivari is wandering about in the wastes of New Cald, hot, tired, and out of food. She is searching for Cavalcade, the main city in New Cald that rides on the back of a large creature, so it is never in the same place twice. Once she finally finds it, she realizes that she has no money for food- and soon figures that to get money, she should get a job. Joining the lowest ranking of officers in the Caldian army, known as the Horde, she figures that she can gain power and work her way through the ranks while also getting a meal at the same time.)

Kivari squinted slightly, staring off in the distance. There was a rather large, moving red... thing, a good length away. The squint shifted into an acutely bothered glare, which was followed by a few inaudible grumbles. Why the Core does the Cavalcade have to move around? She thought to herself. A girl could freaking starve out here, waiting to find this place.

Respectively, her stomach rumbled fairly loudly, and she closed her eyes. Dang it all... alright... better keep walking...

Trudging along the broken path of Cavalcade, Kivari moved slowly closer. As big as the darned city was, it was surprising how it could get any where. She liked it better back in the old days- back before Inix, and jumping the rift to get away from the invaders. Back before the Chime fall. She shivered at the thought, and the hunger in her stomach lessened slightly. Thinking about the effects of the Chime fall would make many a magi feel ill, no matter who they were. Back before it, there wasn’t really an excuse- Even if you had been imprisoned your entire life, beaten and neglected every day, the sound of the shadow chime was still more frightening.

But now everyone just... lived with it. That was all. Take it in stride, be tough, fight for yourself, and move on. Or at least, that’s how Kivari felt about it. That’s how she felt about everything, since she had left home.

Half way there now... was Cavalcade moving toward her? Oh, that would be dandy indeed. Her stomach complained once more at the thought of being that much closer to food. She bit her lip to stave off the annoying noises, and tried cracking her knuckles slightly. Doing so caused her to look down at her rings. Both were gold, both had red gems of animite in the middle, and etched around the red stone was a picture of their respective dream creatures. There was a quor on one, it’s head at the top of the gem, and it’s four arms carved to look as if they were holding the animite to it’s middle section. The other ring held her spark chogo, standing behind it’s swirling red gem, and letting it’s tail coil around the bottom. She smirked. Nothing but decorations to her. She didn’t really need these things... but they were good to have around for back up. If she ever did need them for something, she’d always end up reprimanding herself for being weak, and she’d struggle to become tougher.

But... that wasn’t really a goal. She was getting bored with things... what was she really supposed to do in life? She wanted to become stronger so that she’d never need anyone else again, but... Meandering around in the wilds wasn’t getting her any where. She needed a real goal... like, a job or something. She was good at working, and no one could live off of the wilds forever... especially not the wilds of New Cald.

Finally, the vast, plodding city of Cavalcade was within reach. Another stomach rumble spurred her onward, and she quickly made her way up into the transported structure. She wondered meekly if all of this weight bothered the dream creatures carrying the town everywhere. No... they were strong enough to cope with it. She almost wished she could be like that...

The city scape was... interesting. Stony... rocky... That about covered it. But the wonderful smells coming from grouped restaurants... that was killer. Her nose and stomach carried her to where she wanted- only to find that she didn’t have enough money to buy anything. The next two restaurants were like this as well- all too expensive for her. She growled angrily along with her stomach, found her way into a small ally, and kicked over an innocent trash can.

“What do you have to do to get a freaking meal around this place...” she murmured to herself, leaning up against the wall of the alley. “I travel all the way here... and I still get nothing. This bites, majorly.” She crossed her arms, her fists tightly clenched, and glared down at the ground. Her stomach growled again.

Grinding her teeth, she sighed. “... Alright. I’ll just go make my own food, or something. Find some bread... some type of meat... whatever...” she told herself, moving off the wall slightly. A paper under her foot slipped when she moved, causing her to slide and fall. The paper, torn and weather beaten floated up into the air, and down into her lap. Glowering at it, she very nearly snatched it up and tore it to shreds, but she stopped. Blinking, she lifted the paper, and stared. On it was a picture of one of New Cald’s Chasseurs. The paper was too torn up to recognize which one it was, but he or she appeared to be pointing. At the bottom of the page, there were wispy, fading words... something about, the Defense of Cald...

She blinked again. Army. Job. Power...

She smirked slightly, and stood, dusting herself off. This was perfect. Jobs equal money, and money equaled food... heck, they might even have food for her there. And, even better, one of the teams she could sign up for was free for Calders. She thought about the other teams in the defense of New Cald for a moment as well... if this place helped her become stronger, the other teams probably would as well. She decided that, for a goal, it would be in her best interest to try and go through all stages of every part of the Horde, if she could. She’d simply start with the bottom job ranking, work her way up to the top, and then start on the next set... it was a wonderful goal. Absolutely perfect for her.

Carefully, she checked around the alley way, looking back and forth to make sure no one had seen her fall. Since no one had, she smiled, and walked out, making her way down to the center of the city- the best place to put an army, just in case there was an attack. Once she was finally there, Kivari straightened herself up, and dusted herself off again. Look nice, basically. She cracked her knuckles, looked at the torn poster once more, before crumpling it, and tossing it in a nearby trash can. She didn’t need it now...

Carefully, she pushed the door to the horde headquarters open, and stepped inside. This was it. She headed up to the counter before her. Behind it was a giant of a Calder- much larger than normal men. She almost felt like a young child again, and this guy would...

Her jaw stiffened, even as her stomach scrunched in pain and emptiness. No one would ever treat her like her father had. Never again.

“Sir, is this where I may sign up to join the horde, sir?” she asked respectively, standing rigid, and waiting to be answered...

(Charka, the Chassuer whom Kivari had been addressing and leader of the Horde, compliments her and moves on to an interviewing process, to see what he has to work with. During the interview, he realizes that she seems hungry, and offers her some bread, which she ravenously devours- much to her embarrassment after word. Charka relays to her that it is alright, and that seeing a new recruit with a bit of fire in her belly is always good. He then states that he has a job for her- Guarding a caravan and it's shipment of coal stones on it's way from the Cavalcade to a boarder land village called Ithina. He warns her that their enemy, the Imperial Arderians (natives to Inix, living in Arderial, the region of air and thunder. Regular Arderians can make their wings appear, and disappear, while Imperials are always stuck with them, and instead of having hair they have plumage) have occasionally sent out raiding parties along the path they are taking, so she should be careful.)

Kivari smiled slightly as she headed out of the Horde recruitment office. That had been a strangely... nice experience. The giant Calder had been very kind to her, even while she’d been staring at that bread of his. Thinking back on that, she blushed slightly again. That had been just a tad embarrassing. In one way, it made her feel as if she had been weak for letting food side track her. But, in another, she had received a compliment from the Chausser. The blush lingered for just a bit longer, but her tiny, smirking smile made it melt off of her face. Maybe I should be hungry more often... she thought.

As she made her way to the caravan, she quickly took a better look of her surroundings. Now that hunger wasn’t prodding at her, she was feeling a tad more alert. All of the buildings around her were still stone, simply made, and easily balanced, but... curiously fortified. They seemed fairly sturdy, and able to withstand quite a few things. But what if rocks fell from above...?

She blinked, and shook her head, before quickly running off to get to the Caravan. Here she was, joining the Horde, and she was already thinking as if she were part of an army. She would have stopped to laugh at herself if she wasn’t running. This was just another job. Nothing to really start believing in, though she did more believe in keeping the Cavalcades standing so that she’d still have a place to work. It was kind of like tending a garden, but... alright, so it was nothing like tending a garden. But she could do it. No sweat. Right...?

She wasn’t any where nearing late when she got to the edge of the Cavalcade, but she figured early was as good as anything. Quietly, she strode around the outside edges of the city until she spotted the caravan, and made her way down to it. She stiffened slightly, however, as she came closer. What had she done? She just put herself into a position where she’d have to be with people. She clenched her fists, and cracked her knuckles again. Oh well. It would’ve happened sooner or later during a job like this. Better to get used to it now.

With a respectful, yet serious smile on her face, Kivari found the person heading the caravan. She nodded politely, and swallowed a bit, running one hand through her black and red streaked hair.

“Hi there. I’m Kivari. I’m supposed to be helping you all out, and guarding the Caravan on your journey.” She said to the leader, coughing slightly. “... Anything I can... er... well, help you with now?”

(The leader of the Caravan turns out to be an Underling (From the region of the Underneath, a subterranean place dotted with random fungus) no older than fifteen, named Pieryt. She is leading the caravan, made up of six carts pulled and driven by various dream creatures, and must make it to Ithina to sell her shipment. If any bit of cargo is left behind or lost, they will have troubles making ends meet- and just as Pieryt is explaining this, a pack of fire dwelling, cat like dream creatures rush in to turn the creatures pulling the caravans into lunch.)

(Korrits are mobile mushroom creatures, about half the size of a human, and five of these are helping steer the caravans. Jores are much more like cattle or horses, and they are the dream creatures pulling the carts along. Jiles are agile cat dream creatures, and along with the smaller, ferret-cat like wykapi running with them in their pack, they are after the creatures running the caravan.)

After getting settled, Kivari was having an... alright time. It wasn’t so bad, sitting at the head of the caravan on the way to it’s destination, and the young girl leading this thing was fairly nice as well- funny name, Pieryt. But, she was Kivari, and that didn’t seem to be a normal name either. Ah well, not much of a bother. Trying to be at least decent, Kivari kept up in conversation with the young miners daughter.

It came as a small surprise that, all of a sudden, Pieryt practically begged her to please keep the carts safe, or things would be bad for her and her family financially. Kivari grimaced, and swallowed just a bit. Having no money was hard... especially when you were seven, and starving to death.

Giving a light smile, Kivari opened her mouth to reassure Pieryt when there was a growl behind her, causing her to get goose bumps all down her right side. Turning quickly, she stared, nervously beginning to run her hand through her hair, but stopping just at the top. A volcano jile was quite near the caravan, and appeared to be stalking one of the korrits, who was trying to quickly move away. Two other forms that she could not yet recognize were a bit farther down, apparently stalking a separate korrit or jore there.

Quickly, she slid her hands around the hilts of her punch daggers, and lifted them, leaping from the front carriage in a rush. The movement startled the jore slightly, and they sped up a bit, but not too badly. Landing on the ground a tad unsteadily, Kivari quickly gained her balance and sprinted off after the volcano jile, who was closing in on the poor korrit. Giving a slightly feminine growl, Kivari came up on the tainted thing. The jile seemed a bit startled, not expecting to have a magi running up on him like this. Trying to spin to face her, the jile received a blow to the neck- which would have only stunned him, had a blade not been involved. The volcano jile gagged on it’s torn flesh, and began bleeding when Kivari yanked her knife back. After a few moments, the jile slumped and faded into nothing...

Panting slightly, Kivari backed away from the dream creature’s fading corpse, and looked to see where the other two dream creatures were- and what they were. Now that she was closer, she could see that the two creatures were both wykapi, and both were stalking one of the tethered jores. She glared harshly at them, and tightened her grip on her punch knives as she rushed toward them.

The wykapi were apparently more alert than the volcano jile. As she neared them, both creatures sprinted away. Confused, Kivari stopped, then decided to go after the nearest one. She moved on after it, then blanched slightly when it turned to face her. The strange cat creature turned and hissed at her, it’s fur raised. What is this thing, rabid? she thought, worriedly. She hardened her eyes, and moved in an attempt to jump, and get it, when the second wykapi clawed up her leg.

Kivari screamed, and turned. The little bugger had crept up behind her while she was chasing after this one- they were probably mates, or something. However, that did not concern Kivari at the moment- the thing that was bothering her was the small creature biting her. She twisted and turned in an attempt to get it off, eventually grabbing hold of the back of it’s neck, and tearing it off of her. It’s claws raked off of her magma armor, and into some of her exposed skin. In a rage, she roared and tossed the creature- it smacked into one of the caravans, and fell to the ground by it’s side, laying limp.

The other wykapi growled in anger, and moved to claw up her other leg. Kivari stamped at the thing, scaring it back, but it hissed at her, and jumped for her calf any way. Worried about this, Kivari ducked down slightly, dropped her weapons, and caught the creature up in her arms. While snapping at her and trying in vain to right itself, Kivari angrily took the creatures head, and jerked it. There was an audible crack, and the creature went stiff, it’s claws still embedded in her arm. Kivari gritted her teeth, and whimpered slightly, waiting for the creature to vanish so she could move without injuring herself again. When it did, she relaxed, lowering her head with a tired sigh.

After a moment of rest, Kivari finally looked up, finding that Pieryt was still driving the jore on their route. Giving a tiny smile of relief, she smiled, and picked up her weapons, moving at a light jog to catch up with the front of the team. She stiffened in her tracks, however, when the death cry of an unfortunate jore caught her ears.

Quickly turning, her face draining of color, Kivari caught sight of two things she hadn’t seen- a duo of magma jiles. Apparently they had been hiding on the other side of the caravan, and while she had been distracted by the wykapi and volcano jile, she had missed these two. Her heart sank slightly, and she swallowed. What would Pieryt...?

Kivari ground her teeth, and gripped her daggers tightly, one of her rings shimmering uncontrollably. With a roar, Kivari took off after the jiles, who were happily feasting upon the carcass of the ill-chosen jore. The site was horrible as she came close- the jiles were snarling and growling, both fighting each other for scraps of the corpse, while pawing at the other jore whom were just trying to get away. It was pitiful... the dead jore was still attached by rope to the others, and the last caravan was falling behind because the jiles wouldn’t let them move on.

Without realizing that there was something behind her, Kivari screamed at the jiles to make them get away. The jiles looked at her lazily for a moment, until all of a sudden they jumped, and hissed, quickly separating from each other. She didn’t stop to think- she just kept running to the nearest jile.

Once there, the jile turned to face her. The dream creature was too large to climb up her leg, and there was no chance of catching it off guard, but it could still jump. It slashed it’s claws at her, and she dodged as much as she could, fearing now that this was reckless, and that the other jile would be upon her in seconds, attacking her from behind. A noise behind her startled her enough to turn. Whipping her head around for what she only thought was a few useless moments, she was able to catch the last glimpse of two dream creatures fading away- the other jile, and... a quor? Her quor? She blinked, realizing that she must have summoned him on accident, when she was angry. Did her dream creatures know when she really needed help...? She thought she didn’t need them...

All of a sudden, a large weight pushed her backwards to the ground with a thud, causing her to lose all of her breath. She inhaled sharply, startled to find the jile she had been fighting atop her. She pushed the creature up with her arms to keep it from biting and clawing at her. She could hardly believe she had let herself become distracted like that. Furiously, she brought her bladed fist into the jile’s stomach, listening to the creature howl in pain. Blood spurted onto her as she pulled her dagger away, and moved her other hand back to lift the jile up again- too late, however. The jile swiped at her face with one paw, catching her cheek. She felt blood trickle down, almost like red tears- the feeling enraged her further. With a thundering thrust, Kivari kicked her red boot into the jile’s wound, lifting the creature up even higher. The thing slumped, and fell limp upon her at the same time she collapsed. Gasping for breath under the weight of the creature, she lay there even as it vanished. Her eyes trailed along the New Caldian sky, filled with greasy ash clouds, and she closed them and smiled ever so slightly.

“... Nothing I haven’t done before...” she murmured tiredly. Eventually, she rolled over and heaved herself from the ground, weakly dusting herself off, and straightening her hair. Gingerly, she touched her bloody cheek- the biggest of her wounds, besides the small yet stinging cat scratches along most of the rest of her body. Swallowing, she sheathed her punch daggers, shook her head once more, and jogged back to the front of the caravan. A guilty feeling welled up from her stomach and into her throat.

Sadly, she climbed back into the front of the caravan, her head hanging in failure. “... One... of the jores... I...” she started, biting the inside of her cheek. “... He didn’t make it...”

She swallowed again, and looked up at Pieryt sadly. She felt weak, and useless now. “... It was my fault...” she continued. “... I wasn’t paying attention... I thought I had killed all of the predators, but... if I had just checked, I would have been able to stop them before...”

Eventually, she closed her eyes, and bowed her head. “I’m so sorry...” she whispered. “... I’ll go walk up an down the caravans to make sure nothing else sneaks up on us...”

And with that, Kivari turned, and hopped down again. She pulled her daggers out once more, and swallowed slightly. She was tired, but upset, and willing to prove that she wasn’t entirely useless. Slowly, she began walking to the end of the caravan...

(Pieryt is fairly upbeat for having lost a jore. During the times that Kivari is near her, the Underling talks of her family, and how her life has been since they made the journey to Inix. Eventually, the time comes for a break, and Pieryt begins to unsaddle the jore near a spring so they can get a drink. Suddenly though, a thermal vent opens up in the ground, and the two teams of jore who are not yet unsaddled, along with their korrit drivers, begin to stampede in fear.)

(Kivari summons both of her dream creatures- The quor, and the spark chogo. A spark chogo is a fire rock like lizard, about the size of a komodo dragon. When Magi summon creatures, cast spells, or sometimes use special effects, they drain their life force, called 'mana', which may also cause them to feel weaker due to the energy loss. At the beginning of every chance to attack (or 'turn') some mana is replenished. At the beginning of each battle, a Magi's mana is generally at his or her normal level of mana. During the heat of battle, adrenaline rushes allow for mana to go over that normal level, but at the end of battle, after the Magi has had a chance to calm, it returns to it's normal state.)

Well, that was simple.

As Kivari was heading toward the end of the carriages, Pieryt called her back to the front. Confused, she headed quickly back, worrying about another attack, only to find that Pieryt was alright. Not only was she physically alright, but she seemed fairly cool and mellow about the fact that one of her jores had just been devoured. Strange... but, maybe Pieryt didn’t need her jores to be happy. Kivari found that very responsible- yet lonely... Even if Pieryt didn’t think that she needed all of her creatures to continue on, what if she had lost more? She couldn’t continue her travels without the jore... why was she so up beat?

A break in the conversation caused a thought to pop into her head- Pieryt wasn’t too upset, because she could still rely on all of the other jore on her team. Kivari wondered a moment what it was like to be able to rely on something- dream creature or not. But then again, she realized, I’m was able to rely on my quor, even though I hadn’t expected too...

The conversations between her and the Underling subsided, and during a quiet part of the ride, Kivari nibbled her bottom lip in thought. Was it... safe to rely on others, rather than just working to get stronger, and rely on yourself..? The quor she had stashed in her ring had been the one who had given her the lovely scar on her leg. Could she trust something like that..?

Mulling over this, the caravan came to a halt. Kivari, her thoughts interrupted for now, clambered down off of the carriage, and moved away so that Pieryt could unhitch the jore. It was interesting... kind of. The saddles were taken off, and knots untied and the like... but it wasn’t really of any interest to Kivari. She payed attention just enough in case she was asked to help, but she... well, she just wasn’t asked.

When the first few sets of Jore were released, Kivari meandered over to them, slightly curious. The creatures snorted, shook their head, and began sipping from the hot waters near them. They were large, bluish, and had pretty shiny noses. A simple thing, but it made her smile slightly none the less.

As she watched the creatures drink, she checked up on the ones who were not yet by the springs out of the corner of her eye. Pieryt was moving on to one of the last two carriages, when all of a sudden a vent opened up, shooting out super heated gas into the air. The blast made the earth tremble, and sent a few rocks flying up into the air. Kivari gasped, and fell to her knees on the ground, trying to catch her balance. When the earthly tremors had stopped from underground, Kivari was confused to find the earth still shaking slightly. A nervous grunt from one of the jore near by made her blink, and look up. Shocked at the sight before her, Kivari stared, and quickly got to her feet.

The two teams of jore that had not yet been released had taken off running- dragging their cargo of coal behind them. Gritting her teeth, Kivari swallowed slightly, and took off after them. All together, the jore were moving only slightly less faster than her, and gaining speed on them was proving to be difficult. She could see the carriage bouncing on rocks and the like, and she grimaced, hoping the cargo would come out of this without too much damage.

After a short while, Kivari was beginning to slow a bit. The jore, being frightened, were being fueled by their fear, and gave no sign of decelerating. There was no way she was going to catch them like this. Frustrated, she balled one fist, and hit her leg slightly- but blinked. On that fist was her spark chogo ring... and on the other, her quor. She bit the inside of her cheek in thought... could it work?

Swallowing, she closed her eyes, and her rings shimmered. She felt the energy being drained from her- maybe it hadn’t been the best thought to dream them both at once- and she dizzily fell back a bit. Before she hit the ground, though, something caught one of her arms, and pulled her back up. Opening her eyes, she saw a quor standing in front of her, one of it’s eyes scratched, scarred, and being held tightly shut. This was the same quor who had tried to kill her when she was young, and yet now it was helping her up. Unlike her leg so many years ago, the quor left no mark on her arm this time. But why...? Didn’t it have memories of that time? Shouldn’t it still wish to kill her? Or was it that since it was a part of her energy, her life now, that harming her would only bring harm to itself? Was this slavery, or a mutual bond...?

A small, chuckling growl brought her out of her thoughts, and she looked to see her large, lizard like spark chogo grinning at her. He seemed to be waiting for her command, or something...

Swallowing, Kivari realized that they still had a caravan to save. She shook her head to clear it, then set her face sternly. “Alright... Quor...?” she half asked, wondering what to call the creature. It nodded simply at her, and she returned the nod. “I need you to go out there, and try to slow the caravans down... don’t hurt the korrits, or the jore? Alright?”

The quor made a grumbling noise in his throat in answer, and turned, quickly running on its legs and using two of it’s arms to pull itself along. Quietly, Kivari watched after, wondering if it was right to control dream creatures... But she eventually shook her head, and turned to the chogo at her side.

“... Spark?” she said, receiving a nod from this creature as well. She bit her bottom lip in thought... what else did she need?

The answer was given to her when another rumble underground set the earth shaking. Apparently, somewhere in front of the speeding jore, another rift in the ground had opened, spewing more heated gas into the air. If any of the jores hadn’t been frightened before, they were now. Both carriages turned sharply, whipping around so quickly that they threatened to topple their loads. Kivari wondered how the poor korrits were hanging on, when the thought came to her.

“Rope!” She half shouted, turning to her slightly surprised chogo. “Spark, go get the ropes from the unsaddled jore! These guys are coming back this way, and if this works out the way I really hope it does, I might be able to catch them and stop them!”

The spark chogo made no noise of agreement, but swiftly turned, half running, half slithering to get the ropes which Kivari needed. While she waited, Kivari watched the on coming jore, before blinking, and swallowing. They were headed right back for the jore drinking at the spring. If the running jore reached them, the entire group of them would stampede. She had to stop them before that happened, or this was going to be a tad more difficult.

Her spark chogo returned to her, a few loops of rope in it’s mouth. She quickly snatched it up, and began running, her lizard like dream creature following close behind. As she moved, her hands moved as well, trying to tie a knot like she had seen Pieryt do. She was feeling very thankful that she had watched the underling unsaddle the jore now...

Once the knot had been tied, and the rope had been formed into a kind of lasso, she sped up toward the jore. “Spark!” she said loudly, “Go get Quor, and tell him to focus on the second carriage! I’ll take the first one! If the first one stops, all the jore should stop, but I need to you two to keep the second team from smashing into the back of the first cart!”

Her chogo gave a slightly high toned growl in agreement, and rushed off to get to the quor, whom was trying to stop all of the jore. Kivari moved into the path of the stampeding dream creatures, and stood, lightly swinging the lasso. She closed her eyes and swallowed for a moment, praying that this would work.

As the jore came at her, still many feet away from the jore at the spring, Kivari half tossed, half held out the lasso. Somehow, the loop of rope missed the first jore, and caught onto the horn of the second in line. Yanked forwards, Kivari quickly began running to avoid getting a large rope burn.

Running, and pulling herself closer, eventually Kivari was able to pull herself onto the back of the jore. It’s eyes looked at her wildly, but she held on, and whispered that it was alright. Carefully, she moved on the jore, going up, and climbing along the ropes to the first jore. He grunted slightly at her, too busy running. The korrit driver made a high pitched noise at her in worry, and Kivari nodded. Taking hold of the ropes used like reins on the lead jore, Kivari yanked back heavily. The jore skidded slightly, trying to slow, and causing the other jore behind it to slow as well. Eventually, the caravan slowed to a crawl, but Kivari still

[Ashen Rain]

(As Kivari makes her way back to the camp site, she finds that Pieryt and her caravan are being attacked by an Imperial Arderian.

(If a Magi's mana is fully depleted, the Magi will become weak, and will most likely faint, though occasionally they do not. During the next turn, if a Magi's mana has been depleted, he or she will not gain any mana due to the fact that their body is weak and in shock. If attacked in this state without a dream creature to protect them, a Magi is left helpless and will probably die. When Magi die, they do not fade away like dream creatures do- so if one dies, there is no chance for him or her to return.

A vashp is a creature from Arderial, that looks like a short and stumpy snake, with colorful, butterfly like wings.)

Kivari sighed, massaging her arms slightly with her fingers. She and her dream creatures had gotten the two carts under control, and Kivari was enjoying the ride back to camp now that the korrits were driving again. As she was taking her well deserved rest, her thoughts drifted fondly back to her quor and spark chogo, who were resting on the second caravan behind them. They had been a great help, despite what Kivari had previously thought. Maybe she really wasn’t alone in everything she had to do.

As they pulled close to the rest of the jore, another sound proved to stun her. Pieryt had just screamed.

Leaping from the front of the wagon, Kivari moved her hands to her sides, lifting her red bladed daggers to her hands. The sight was not a good one. Pieryt lay on the ground, and was very slowly getting to her feet- she appeared to be hurt. Another magi was there, floating over the field and striking things down. He laughed in triumph as he yanked his weapon from the body of a jore. An Imperial Arderian had found them.

Kivari ground her teeth softly, staying a short distance away from the scene and wondering what to do. She had no spells, and couldn’t reach the Arderian from the ground... How could she stop him? As she thought, she looked through the area... there was a ledge behind the Arderian. If she could get to it without him noticing, maybe she could jump off of it and pull him down from the sky...

Carefully, Kivari maneuvered her way around the site of the attack, steeling herself against the laughter of their assailant as he sent a crackling lightening bolt toward an unsuspecting korrit. She climbed the ledge, hoping the Imperial soldier wouldn’t see her. She was in luck- the man was paying more attention to it’s next victim, and had his back turned to her. Kivari bit her bottom lip, waiting for the right time to strike. All she needed was for him to move close to the edge of the ledge...

Kivari tightened her grip on her punch daggers, crouching behind a large rock. All she needed was one good leap, and she could drag him to the ground... Finally, he was in the right position, and she took that to her advantage. She pushed away from her hiding place, and raced toward the tip of the ledge, hurtling quickly off of the edge toward her target. She growled slightly, punch daggers held at an angle which would cause them to stick into the Arderian’s body.

Time suddenly slowed. Kivari felt as if she were floating in mid air, as the Imperial Arderian turned to face her, a wicked grin planted on his face as his palm crackled with the magic of another spell. His eyes were a sickly gray blue, and though he was tanned from the Inix sun, he seemed paler, a but more thin... Apparently this wasn’t one of their strongest magi. But something was strange about him. In the middle of her thoughts, the sky opened with a small clap of thunder, and rain fell like warm drool from the newly formed clouds.

When the first few drops touched her, the world came rushing back. She fell toward the opposing magi- and the ground- at a quicker rate. The Imperial Arderian chuckled evilly as the last of his spell left his palm, but Kivari hardly noticed that this rain was even a spell. The Arderian expected spells from her, but he would be getting nothing of the sort. It was only luck that he wasted his power on this- and luck that he wasn’t paying as much attention as he needed to be.

Kivari finally came into reach of the sky magi, who tried to move a tad to late. She was able to catch his pant leg with one dagger, but the man kicked her off of him before she could do much damage. She fell again (it wasn’t a pleasant feeling, and she decided that she would try avoiding it if she could), holding her daggers outward and away from her body. She hit the ground hard, a strong ringing echoing through her ears as one of her daggers fell away from her, clanking loudly against the rocks. She pushed herself up with one arm, and shook her head. It had hurt, but luckily she hadn’t sustained any real damage.

A bellow from above sent her gaze skyward. Apparently, she had nicked the Arderian a bit more than she thought, though it was honestly just an annoying scratch. The tear on the magi’s pants had a minimal amount of blood on it, but the red sent him into a fury. With a burst, some small Arderian creature appeared and floated down to Kivari, intent on her destruction. It’s owner laughed in spite of the Cald girl as she moved to her feet, holding her single dagger loosely in her hand.

“Like you’ll be able to stop it on your own, you little hot head,” shouted the floating mage in a strained and slightly whiny (and annoying) voice. He curled up into a sitting position, smirking wickedly down at her as the sluggish rain continued to fall. “Go ahead, sparky. Summon a creature... waste your energy. You can’t get me up here. I don’t even have to waste a powerful creature on you- just a rain vashp. You’ll be long dead before I have to get to you...”

Kivari rubbed the shoulder that she had fallen on with her free hand, and tightly gripped her dagger in the other. The vashp came closer, baring it's strange little fangs, and hissing at her like some kind of... odd, snake. She grimaced slightly. It was an odd looking creature... she had never seen anything like it before, and she had seen quite a few creatures.

But she just gritted her teeth, and held up the dagger in a threatening way. The vashp stopped in mid float, looking down at the Calder and then back at it's master in great confusion. The Imperial Magi's smile slowly began to fade. He glared down at the Calder in anger.

"Summon a creature already! You can't stop the vashp any other way." He shouted, pounding a fist into his leg. "You have to summon a monster, or hit it with a spell! Do something!"

Kivari smirked just a tad, and held her position. The Arderian growled in frustration, and pointed a finger at her. "You're an idiot, Calder! Get her already, you stupid vashp!"

The vashp hissed again, snarling as it sped near to her once more. Kivari readied herself as it drew within her reach, and she almost laughed as it gnashed it's teeth at her. With a crash, the vashp jumped against her chest, knocking her backward onto the ground. The Arderian let out a shout of triumph from above, then went still as Kivari pushed the creature off of her, pulling her dagger from it's sheath in the vashp's chest. Stunned, the Imperial Arderian watched as his creature faded, and his rival stood, blood dripping from the tip of her short blade.

"... You were saying...?" Kivari said up to him, a smile plainly planted on her face. The sky magi growled angrily and pointed his spear toward her, preparing a dive in her direction. He stalled in mid air, gritted his teeth, then smiled at her, relaxing again.

"... Oh well." He said to her, holding his free hand up in defeat. "The vashp was a weakling anyway. I believed you were too... and still are." He chuckled, and grinned at her in a malicious way. "... But maybe you aren't as wimpy as you look. Try this one on for size, powder-puff (Kivari cringed, and glared). He should be more to your liking..."

He threw back his head and let out a clamorous laugh, a ring on his other finger glowing bright blue. Kivari watched him, waiting for the creature to appear by his side, or somewhere near him. She wondered briefly where her other dagger was, when a soft growl from behind made her spin around- too late however. Another alien creature latched onto her arm, causing her to cry out in pain. The creature, whatever it was, had thin, sharp teeth, that sunk deep into her arm, and it made sure that it stayed there by holding onto her with it’s two hands.

Kivari screamed again as the teeth sunk deeper into her flesh, and she stabbed at the monster clinging there. The thing growled, along with giving a strange whining noise, and shook it’s head, tearing at her arm and causing blood to drip. Kivari screamed again, and left her dagger in the beast’s body, now pulling at the thing to get it off of her arm. She was no longer thinking coherently, with all of the pain. All she wanted was this thing to go away. Above her, the Arderian was laughing uncontrollably, holding his stomach with his free hand.

As she screamed, tears of pain running down her cheeks, a sound echoed throughout the ground. The eyes of the creature on her arm opened wide, and it shook, before startlingly shattering into tiny shards of dream energy, and disappearing. The sky mage above them soon stopped laughing, then shouted angrily. Confused and holding her injured arm close to her body, Kivari turned, her teary eyes widening at the sight of Pieryt kneeling, her hands pressed to the ground. Pieryt looked up and smiled slightly, her eyes wavering with the remnants of the spell she had just cast.

“It’s called Resonance.” she said to Kivari, before looking up at the Arderian. “That was for my dream creatures!”

The floating mage glowered furiously down at them. “I’ve had it with you irritating little groundlings!” He thundered, pulling up his spear. “You’re like wingless flutter yups! I’m going to finish you off myself!”
Seething, he made way for another dive, directed toward Kivari. She knew that there was no way of avoiding the magi’s descent. She found her lone dagger, resting on the ground, and lifted it to her uninjured hand, hoping to get at least one good swipe at him before he took her down.

But as the winged magi came at her, a rock flew threw the air, and hit him on the cheek. He stalled, and looked toward the underling in lightening anger, but the Under mage hadn’t done it. Another rock flew, and another, all of varying sizes. The Arderian shouted loudly, trying to block the stupid things as they flew past him, or pelted him. What on Inix was going on...?

A large bellow from a dream creature bloomed from behind her, and she turned her eyes slightly to see what it was. Her Quor, two of it’s arms loaded with rocks of different shape and size, stood there, using it’s second set of arms to chuck the projectiles at the Imperial Arderian. The sky mage screamed in annoyance, then yelped and began coughing as a misguided rock hit his throat. He choked slightly, hunched over and trying futilely to stop the rest of the rocks from hitting him, and tearing out his feathers.

Kivari looked on silently as the sky mage fought, before gripping her dagger tight. Somewhere behind the mage, a reptilian growl was heard, and Kivari caught sight of Spark slithering toward her with something shiny in his jaws. She looked back up at the Arderian, who had sunk a bit lower in the onslaught of flying stones, and she gritted her teeth. With a shout, she chucked her red dagger toward him. The Arderian was too busy to notice the blade until it had sunk into his stomach.

With the shout of pain from the sky mage, the Quor stopped tossing the rocks. The Imperial tried for a few moments, trying to stay air born, but he eventually fell. He crouched on the ground, holding his stomach as blood seeped from between the blade and his open skin. His wings crumpled in a mangled heap beneath his body...

Kivari was sickened. The most she had ever killed was a dream creature, that would quickly fade after it’s death. No mage, in all the world, would ever just fade away. Quietly, she made her way to the man who now lay dying...

He growled as she approached, red specks flying from between his teeth. His spear had fallen away from him, and he was now weaponless, but she made no attempt to hurt him further. He fell back on his side, and held his stomach, panting slightly in pain and anger.

“You... wench....” he shouted, blood speckling the space between them. “Come to kick a dying mage! You’re a sick w****! You’re weak!”

Kivari nodded slightly, and swallowed a bit. “... Yes, I am.” she whispered.

This seemed to make the man all the more angry. “Don’t make fun of me! If you’re so weak, then how did you summon those creatures without my spells affecting you?! It’s not possible!”

Kivari sighed a bit. “... The had been summoned before we started fighting... They were just hiding...”

The sky mage glared, and spat at her. “You sneak! You tricked me! But more will come from the Sky City, and tear apart your useless race!” He shouted, his eyes turning to her bloodied arm. He smiled wickedly, “... We’ll tear you all apart!”

Softly, she nodded again. “... Yes, you will.” she told him, sinking down to sit beside him.

The man shouted, now clawing the ground to reach her. “Stop making fun of me, you sick little hot headed freak!” he said, the pain clearly in his voice and eyes. “Kill me, just like you want to! Get closer! I’ll take you with me!”

She swallowed again, and bowed her head slightly. “... No, you wont. I’m sorry. I’m not making fun of you, I promise.”

The man continued growling, struggling to reach her, before stopping. She was shaking. He grinned widely through his bloody teeth.

“You’re scared of me!” He shouted, almost happily. Kivari nodded, her teeth held together so tight that she couldn’t speak. The sky mage laughed, before coughing again, more blood coming out than before.

“I’m sorry...” Kivari whispered again, her voice wavering.

The Arderian smiled again, opening his mouth to say something, before he stopped. He wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He coughed again, and rasped out an annoyed, “Why?”

She looked back up at him, at the mans face, with soft little tears in her eyes.

“... I’m sorry that someone as strong as you had to die, instead of a weakling like me...”

The sky mage stared at her, shivering just a bit, almost as if he had just realized something. Maybe he had realized that he could have lived today. Maybe he realized that she could be the one laying here, dying, and he was actually the sick one, because he would have been doing all of the horrible things to her that he had expected her to do to him.

His eyes wide in resignation, the man reached for her. “... My name is Avios Mensin Skywater...” he said. She nodded softly, a few tears running down her cheeks. She knew why he had given her his name...

But Kivari would never know what the man had found out. His eyes suddenly sparkled in some form of realization, then softened in the strange sleep of death. She leaned over, and with the bloody fingers on her injured arm, she managed to close his eyes. Two red dots of her own blood were lain to rest on his eye lids in eternity with him- a small offering, damage he had done to her in exchange for the damage she had done to him.

A small, purring growl made Kivari turn her head. Her spark chogo looked at her quietly, before resting the shiny object he had in her lap- her second dagger that she had dropped. There was something else though... a feather... One from the Arderian’s wings. It would probably be a good idea to take this to Charka, when she returned from her travels.

Pieryt came to her, and helped Kivari dress and clean her wounds. Moments after, her Quor came to her, holding the second of Kivari’s daggers. Amazingly, it was clean... almost as if the red blades had soaked in the blood of the Arderian. She put both blades back in their places at her hips, and asked Quor if he would take the body of the Avios, and cover it in rocks so that the other creatures in New Cald would not pick at his flesh. She stopped slightly, then bent, and lifted a large stone. Carefully, she went to the back of one of Pieryt’s caravans, and found a small chunk of coal. She took it, and quickly wrote something onto it, before Pieryt came over to her.

Her face slightly red at being caught, Kivari set the piece of coal rock down. Pieryt took the large stone from Kivari’s hands, and looked at it, before smiling sadly. As Kivari watched, Pieryt cast a second spell, and traced her fingers over what Kivari had written on the stone. When it was handed back to her, Kivari found that what she had written in the stone was now engraved into it.

“... That spell was called, Erode.” Pieryt said.

Kivari nodded, reading over the words on the stone, before moving over to where her Quor had covered the body of the Arderian. She rested the stone at the head of the grave site, and sighed softly.

“..Avios Mensin Skywater...” She read aloud, bowing her head slightly. “Rest in peace...”

Turning back to the caravans, Kivari finally headed back to where Pieryt was. Pieryt was trying quietly to figure out how they were to now drive the carts the rest of the way to the city.

“Here...” she whispered, tapping the Underling on the shoulder. “... My Quor can take the place of your jore, and pull the cart. Spark can take the place of your Korrit, and drive the cart... if it helps...”

Kivari’s Quor and Chogo came up to Pieryt, in case she decided that she did indeed need their help- but Kivari moved off on her own. Quietly, she pulled herself into the front of one of the caravans, and sat, pulling the long wing feather of the Arderian from her pocket. She watched it quietly, then twirled it back and forth in her fingers. A small, strange breeze blew past her. Silently, Kivari twirled the gray and white feather one more time, then let it go. The soft breeze lifted it, and carried it away, far from her sight.

Running her hand back through her hair, the Calder sighed, and rested her head in her hands...

(After the battle, the rest of the trip moves on uneventfully. They arrive at Ithina, and a group of guards come in to protect the caravan on it's last legs to the village. Pieryt thanks Kivari for her help, gives her a hug and a bag of animite as pay. Kivari waves good bye, and turns to head back to the Cavalcade, and turn in her report.)

Summoning a creature is also called dreaming a creature. Unsummoning is also called undreaming.

Another odd wind blew by...

Kivari sat in the front of the cart, just watching it pass, watching it move the red earth before her, and before the cart she sat in. She swallowed slightly. Pieryt was behind her, doing something to help assure that the caravan would be able to make it to their destination. She wondered briefly if this would all work out in the end... and, if she would ever feel alright about killing the Arderian...

She sat, hushed, and her mouth dry. Why did she feel so bad about this? Why couldn’t she just let it go, like the rest of the things she had ever killed in her life?

... Maybe because Avios wouldn’t be coming back.

She gagged suddenly, and leaned forward a bit, trying to keep from getting sick. She shook her head in disgust, and spat over the side of the cart, before wiping her mouth off. She turned, and looked behind her, rummaging around for a canteen of water, or something to get the nasty taste off of her tongue. On a second note, she also looked for some food... her stomach had apparently been empty for a bit, and she needed something to fill it. As ill as she felt, it was better to get sick with something in your stomach than without.

She found a bit of soft bread, pale cheese, and mushrooms in the pack behind her. Apparently, this was something from the Underneath... She wondered for a bit if this was specifically for Pieryt, before she found something that she recognized. Spiced peaches... She looked at the round red fruits, and smiled slightly, lifting one up. Her stomach settled almost instantly... These things would give you a kick, and leave you with a spicy sweet taste in your mouth.

She bit into one, and sighed, letting the warm juices run down her throat... It was somewhat comforting... Carefully, she took a sip of water from a canteen that she had found in the bag of foods, and curled up slightly as she waited for Pieryt to come back...

Hours later, Kivari jumped awake, holding a mostly full canteen, and a half eaten spiced peach. The noise that had awoken her was the strange sound of a horn. Cautiously, Kivari shook her head, and sat up, looking around. Pieryt was next to her, and the caravan was moving.

With a slight yelp, Kivari reached for her daggers, then groaned as she moved her injured arm a bit to much. Pieryt blinked, and laughed slightly, then shook her head. “Hey, it’s alright. They’re not coming to get us. They’re welcoming us.”

Kivari looked at her strangely, then turned, and looked out in front of her. Many men, riding on the backs of some interesting dream creatures, were riding out to the caravan. Her stomach sank slightly, and she turned back to Pieryt, feeling terrible.

“... I fell asleep...” She whispered slightly. Pieryt shook her head, and smiled.

“Honestly, you needed it.” The underling told her. “Don’t worry... the rest of my Korrit’s, and your Quor and Spark Chogo kept an eye out. I would have woke you if anything bad happened. It’s alright, really.”

When the men on the dream creatures reached them, quite a few things happened all at once. Pieryt hugged her (even though her arm was injured, and it hurt quite badly) and handed her a bag of animite. Kivari smiled slightly, almost feeling that she had done a good job.

The soldiers that were coming to escort the caravan helped her wrap her arm more efficiently. Apparently, it needed to be in some form of a sling, till the muscles healed properly. They gave her some kind of gray, odd smelling potion that they said would help during the healing process. She had shrugged and had nodded. As long as she didn’t have to eat it...

Eventually, Pieryt really had to get to town. Kivari was given food for her journey home, and watched quietly as the caravan went out of sight. It was kind of sad, really... One of the few people that didn’t seem to mind her company, and that she hadn’t felt too awkward around.

She smiled slightly, and turned to her dream, before nodding slightly. They nodded back, then slowly faded as she undream them. She smiled somewhat, watching her shimmering rings. She’d call on them if she needed them... But for now, she felt safer on her own.

She turned, heading back toward where she believed the Cavalcade was. She would probably be annoyed by the time she got there... but maybe not. Maybe she had grown up enough during this trip to feel more mature about things.

As she began walking, the odd wind blew past again, a long, gray feather floating on the breeze. Kivari froze slightly, and swallowed as the feather blew past. Maybe she wasn’t as alone as she thought she had been.

When the minor fear had passed, and she felt somewhat safe again, she started out walking again. She’d have to get back eventually... she needed to tell Charka about the Arderians. She gave a tiny smile as she moved on back to Cavalcade...

“... Thanks for the reminder, Avios...” she whispered...