New Worlds

[3kul]

((I'm feeling too lazy to draw, and too bored to not post again, so why not do another time skip? Having so many races is getting too confusing anyway.))

Another 100 years has passed. It would be clear to any outside observer that there are now five seperate races on this nameless planet.

Those who chose to return to their tree-like guardians (ie: the Brisicans (under Bris) and the Fofosu (under Fosu)) haven't changed at all in the past century, though the Holrysians have cross-bred between other races (Brisican, Murk and Amenitite) to the point that they no longer could be considered compatible with them. The Liyaons consider themselves to be a single race, though they are actually now composed of two different species - the slave race, a hybridization of Murks and Amentites, along with the Liyaons themselves.

Societies have begun to develop, some more advanced than others. The Brisicans and the Fofosu have long forgotten their shared language, instead reverting back to what they feel is natural, and run in a mostly tribal society. They hunt and forage throughout their territories, but they are very primitive - hunting and gathering in small groups using very basic tools is just about all they can really comprehend at the moment.

After spending only a few short decades with Murdelk they came to learn that it was a trap, Murdelk had only agreed to bring them here to help rear his new race, the Kachi-kachi, whom were driven back thanks to the supernatural abilities of the mutant Holrysians (created by Murdelk himself) for long enough to allow the masses to escape to the ocean.

Holrysians are a very clever and physically-able race, with advanced concepts such as agriculture, medicine and even religion becoming immensely popular. They have now returned to the surface world and inhabit several small colonies along the beaches, and so fishing has also become quite mainstream. Holrysian society is now lead by one individual, a descendant of the surviving mutants from their struggle with the Kachi-kachi, and as their mutated bloodline carries on from one generation to the next it could be considered as a very primitive monarchy.

The Liyaons do not have a physical barrier preventing them from advancing, but they do have a mental one. For many years they have held strong values in both hunting and fighting, but to advance as a race they have been forced to realize that they must now turn to farming and more realistic sources of food. Both hunting and fighting are now considered recreational sports, and ways of proving one's standing in society - farming, though conceived by Liyaon minds, is done entirely by the slave race.

The Liyaons have been expanding themselves gradually over time, advancing into the Amenitite territory only just a few decades ago and destroying the deviltree that grew there. The Amenitite population was quickly absorbed into the slave race, and two territories are acknowledged by the Liyaons as being 'theirs' - Lao, the desolate place from which they originated, and Nem, the red jungle that they'd conquered. As the land in Nem is quite fertile, it is mostly populated by slave farmers, whilst Lao is the base of operations for most Liyaons.

The race is lead by their goddess, the almighty Liyao, who visits once every ten years, and in her absence she chooses the strongest individual to lead. In her most recent visit, she expressed great pleasure in their conquest of Nem, and the race is now looking to other lands to conquer.

((To sum things up, the Holrysians and the Liyaons are the only two races that will continue to advance - those natural races that now live in tribes (ie: Brisicans and Fofosu) will not advance at all, as their respective trees do not believe that sort of thing to be necessary. Should I ever get my planet to the stage that people can visit it, you can consider them to be native NPCs

I could say that Murks and Amenitites are now extinct, for they no longer exist as individual species, though technically they've just evolved into something else, so it's not really quite the same thing as extinction (I just can't think of the right word for it).

Currently the two main races live on opposite sides of the world to each other. The ocean is at the south pole with the desert up in the north, and everything else lies in between the two.))

------------------------------------------------

HollowEyes had all but forgotten the tiny world that he'd created all those weeks ago, mainly because shortly after finding a way out he'd been distracted with some very urgent Council business (free pizza in the Elites' Lounge), and was then further distracted by some not-quite-as-urgent-but-just-as-important Council business (organizing payment for said pizza, which wasn't so free now that he was in charge of the Elites).

So it kind of goes without saying that he was pretty surprised to find it again, even moreso when he learned of it's new location - stashed away in a cupboard in his office. Given how this defied pretty much everything he knew about physics (which, granted, wasn't very much), he simply decided not to question it and consider it good fortune that it hadn't wound up somewhere much worse than his cupboard (such as the cupboard of any other Council member). He didn't remember putting it there but there wasn't too much point in questioning it, so he decided to pay his people a visit once more. He wondered if they'd still remember him...

HollowEyes was surprised once more as he entered his world, finding himself far, far above it, and it wasn't long before he felt the planet's gravitational pull dragging him towards it. Fortunately for the planet, the seemingly giant Parasitian managed to land in the middle of the ocean, in a spot that, by an even more fortuitous stroke of luck, was too far from the Holrysian beach colonies to affect them.

Though this wasn't the sort of place for them to be, but any nearby jedis would suddenly hear the screams of a thousand spidery creatures as HollowEyes pushed off of the ocean floor in order to resurface, crushing Murdelk's cavern with his large feet and flooding it as he did so. Murdelk himself was particularly pissed off with this, as it meant his end along with that of the Kachi-kachi and whatever other non-aquatic creations he'd stashed away in his caves.

HollowEyes however, did not feel this, assuming that he'd just lost his footing on some slippery rocks or something, and he began to make his way to the shore.

((Well it's taken me a day or two to sort this post out, and in that time I've managed to get motivated enough to draw up pictures for the new races. Here are links so that my already huge post doesn't take up any more space:

* Holrysian
* Liyaon
* Liyaon Slave

Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, as always I'm only able to take them with a webcam.))

[Swix]

((Cool, and I thought the Hard-Shells looked odd ))

In the space between dimensions...

"Mmmm... " Kheesth mused to herself, if she weren't so deep in her thoughts the Summoner would have been surprised she was even able to make such a sound. Tezca weren't thought to have the muscles to do this. Then again, few if any Tezca had traveled as much as Kheesth had so were unlikely to display such habits picked up from other races. The snake woman leant back from the table that wasn't actually there, resting a little more heavily on her own coils. The session with the Portal Guardian had taken longer than she'd expected (although she doubted even time was consistent in this place), yet she found she hadn't gotten any useful information from the being at all, he'd simply confirmed what she'd suspected all along. On the other hand, it was also just as likely he was keeping things from her deliberately, which wouldn't have surprised the Summoner at all.

"IS THERE MORE YOU WANT TO KNOW?" The Portal Guardians booming voice brought her back as the three pinpricks of brilliant light that served him as eyes peered at her, the avian-reptilian form he'd taken appearing to lean forwards slightly over the non-existent table.

"I'm sure you've given me all I'm going to get so far" Kheesth answered, carefully keeping her scales from changing to annoyed red as the being nodded clumsily once, which is a lot harder than you'd think. "There's just the language barrier"

"YOU ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT ONE KHEESTH" the Portal Guardian answered, quickly holding up a sharp fingered hand before she could speak again "AS FOR THE LANGUAGE YOU CALL COMMON, THEY WILL LEARN THAT BY THEMSELVES SOON ENOUGH"

"I suspected as much" the snake Summoner confirmed, suddenly it wasn't so hard to stay the usual grey-green. "Then that's all I wanted to ask"

"IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO LEAVE" the being remarked absently, and the Tezcan found herself falling through a Portal he'd opened directly below her.
_____________________________________________________________
On Celus

Inside the sheltered ecosystem beneath the smoothed out mountain, the once prosperous tree-dwelling Yallians numbers had shrunk. At first after Kelgens band had left they were careful with their food, but a mere few generations later they had become lazy. Even with the slight predation around the water hole numbers boomed once again, and the attitudes taught them by their grandparents proved their downfall. The Yallians who'd remained starved until their numbers shrank to half what it was before. That wasn't the end of it though, they faced something even worse after this crisis. A virulent disease swept through the lucky ones, picking off the too young, too old or too weak through hunger and decimating the population far quicker than any food shortage could have hoped to accomplish. Now only two are left, living in the rotting wood of the dwellings left behind for them. A single male and female who go by the names of Zeckul and Halyan are all that remains, and Halyan has been rendered infertile by the disease. If any other Yallians are to be found alive, they will be outside.

Zeckul had been out looking for food, since he and Halyan were the only ones left the plants had begun to recover, though the red-blue fruit trees were particularly slow to produce anything. It was only in the past few days he'd seen any buds on the treelike plants at all. Zeckul did his best to stay away from taking too much from them, instead opting to collect nectar for the time being. It wasn't too bad a food, and it meant they needed to brave the water hole very little, but eating just the one thing for too long could dull anyones taste.

The Yallian was surprised to see what looked like a puddle of water appear in mid air, but not as surprised as the Tezcan who'd found her downward fall through it suddenly stopping in favour of a sideways one, scales turning silver to show it as she landed with a thud.

The Tezcan reared up and started to brush the dust off her cloak with her four arms, hissing incoherently in her own language whilst Zeckul managed to drop his nectar carrying equipment and stared at the large reptile with his mandibles limply open.

After staying stock still for several seconds, Zeckul realized just how foolish he looked, and that he really didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of who he thought this was. Since she seemed busy doing something he failed to see the point of, Zeckul snapped his four mouthparts back together, gathered up his hollowed out 'baskets' and yelled the word "Kist!" as loud as he possibly could.

[Swix]

((Continued because I wanted to write more but couldn't due to time ))

"Kist!"

The voice that was clearly from one of the creatures she'd encountered before pierced through Kheesths ears just as she finished brushing the last of the dirt from her cloak. 'Damn it' Kheesth thought 'he dropped me right in front of one of them... Probably on purpose too'

The Tezcan straightened her cloak before turning around to look at the excited creature, who'd now added his own hisses to the excited and repeated yells of "Kist!" ((Apparently Yallians get hyperactive when they're excited )).

"You're right, that's me. So who are you?" Kheesth spoke to him in common, though she kept little hope that he'd understand. From what she could see, apart from a slight shrinkage of the clubs that rested on their shoulders they'd changed very little since she'd been pulled out of this place.

She was right to hold little hope as well, the creature clutching a few small blue gourd-like 'baskets' looked hopelessly confused by what she'd just said, but at least it made him go quiet. Kheesth sighed, she'd have to resort to crude sign language again. Again, she pointed at herself.

"Me, Kheesth" she said, causing the creature to start yelling out her name again. The Tezcan used her fingers to click, rather than put a finger to her lips to get him to shut up and pay attention, recalling watching Genyal do the same thing. It worked even though the gesture was different, and the hexapedal creature looked up at her expectantly. The Summoner pointed to herself once more, then pointed at him as she asked "You?"

The creature loosened his grip in order to free one of his six digited hands, doing his best to copy her gestures. It seemed to work better than the words as realization suddenly and obviously glinted in his three eyes.

"Mih, Zeckul!"

"Zeckul..." Kheesth began, then stopped as she realized there really was no way for her to ask what she wanted without even a basic understanding of their language. Apparently Zeckul had taken her sudden silence to mean that she was expecting more of him though, so he added something to what he was saying. Kheesth didn't quite catch what he was saying so she had to ask him to repeat it. The words weren't understood but their general meaning was as Zeckul obliged.

"Mih, Zeckul. Yallian" he repeated, now looking at her in more of a curious way, as Genyal had "Yallian itre hiil Zeckul itre. Zeckul itre u Yallian"

'I think I understand what he's trying to say' Kheesth thought so they're calling themselves Yallians'

"Zeckul" Kheesth asked, lowering herself enough that she could illustrate what she was saying on the ground as she did "take me to the other Yallians". The crude drawing showed them as 'stick figures' together, accompanied by an arrow pointing to figures identical to the one she'd used to indicate Zeckul. "Me, Zeckul, Yallians" she said as she pointed at them to try to make sure he understood.

Zeckul looked bewildered now as well as confused, he scratched off all but one of the Yallians and pointed at it as he looked up at Kheesth and said "Halyan"

"Halyan?" Kheesth repeated, confused herself. Had she just taken what he'd said before the wrong way? Zeckul began pointing at the figures on the ground again "Kist, Zeckul, Halyan. Halyan itre u Yallian clie Zeckul. Zeckul wret Halyan brit fru sheii inlez grat"

Zeckul finished, looking up at the Tezcan hopefully. Unfortunately Kheesth still didn't understand, so the Yallian began talking again as he gestured for her to follow him. He figured she'd been away for too long so it never occurred to him to question why someone who'd just appeared from nowhere needed to learn his language to understand him.

"Ooble Zeckul, o twi llieut rin ve yuun shar, Halyan" with that said, and the gesture understood Zeckul turned to his left and began making his way towards the tree 'house' he and Halyan lived in whilst Kheesth followed behind.

((That bit is now finished, yay! Took longer than I thought it would though.

Here are the translations from Yallian to English, if you're interested .

Yallian: "Yallian itre hiil Zeckul itre. Zeckul itre u Yallian"
Translation: "Yallian is what Zeckul is. Zeckul is a Yallian"

Yallian: "Kist, Zeckul, Halyan. Halyan itre u Yallian clie Zeckul. Zeckul wret Halyan brit fru sheii inlez grat"
Translaton: "Kist, Zeckul, Halyan. Halyan is a Yallian like Zeckul. Zeckul and Halyan are the only ones left"

Yallian: "Ooble Zeckul, o twi llieut rin ve yuun shar, Halyan"
Translation: "Follow Zeckul, I will take you to meet her, Halyan"))

[3kul]

((I was surprised to see that Kheesth has ended up with the almost wiped-out colony, but it does make things kind of interesting too. The virus is a pretty clever idea, I hadn't even thought of factoring stuff like that into my planet, I suppose that I should...))

The Holrysians were unsure what to make of what had just happened - something bigger than they could ever imagine had just crashed into the ocean that they'd left. They were fortunate enough to be too far away to be washed away by the colossal waves that HollowEyes' impact had created, though they now had no idea what to make of this.

As the waves settled, they could see the something resurfacing. First a horn, then a giant head, followed by four arms... Their cries of fear were replaced with cries of joy, this was the second coming of HollowEyes. They danced about on the shores, shouting out greetings to the almighty one as he approached them.

HollowEyes was surprised to be greeted in this fashion, considering that he didn't recognize these creatures. "Uh, hello there." HollowEyes said as he stumbled ashore. "Who are you guys?"

Many of the crowd were shocked - how could the almighty HollowEyes not recognize them?! "We are the Holrysians, and I am their leader." The Leader spoke out, his bright green eyes burning as he confronted the God. Unlike the rest here he did not seem too jubilant about HollowEyes return, for he didn't know what to expect from their God. Would this be the end of his family's reign? "Holrysians? What happened to the Brisicans?" The crowd murmured amongst themselves, wondering why their God was being so strange. "We are descended from the Brisicans that followed you, my lord, along with the Murks and Amenitites who followed them."

HollowEyes decided to think for a moment or two before responding to this, for there was quite a bit for him to take in. Evidently, time had passed much faster here than it had in the outside world, probably by a few hundred years or so give how different these creatures looked. More surprising though was the impact that he'd had here - it seemed as though he'd become some kind of religious icon during his short time here. "I see... Ah, just give me a minute..." He reached down and picked up the Leader, bringing him up close to his face. "How long has it been since I was last here?" The Leader appeared uncomfortable at being asked this question, for the Holrysians did not have a concept of time beyond understanding the difference between day and night. "Many, many generations, my lord." "Uh huh..." Not a particularly helpful answer, thought HollowEyes. "Care to fill me in a bit more than that?"

"Our religion based around you states that after spending some time with our oldest ancestors you entered the ocean and left them. They wandered the planet and spread your divine teachings to all that would listen to them, and eventually they decided to search for you beneath the waves." He sounded a little bitter about this, because he and many others partially blamed HollowEyes for what happened to their people under Murdelk's control. "They met a deviltree in an underwater cave, he was named Murdelk, and he said that he had spoken with you and would offer us a home. For a while things were good, and then one day Murdelk released his own children upon us, the Kachi-kachi. My ancestors fought the Kachi-kachi to give the masses time to excape, and after returning to the surface world we made our homes here, on the shores of the ocean."

HollowEyes listened intently to what he was sure was the abridged version of the world history that he'd missed out on. He noticed that the leader was now looking at him expectantly, as though he was hoping for some kind of explaination. "Well I suppose that Murdock is as much of a jerk as he ever was - I barely got to speak with him at all before he warped me out of this world." HollowEyes had gone to meet with the underwater tree many many years ago, but it had freaked out when he appeared and created a warp portal in a desperate act of self-defense. HollowEyes had been caught by surprise, having no idea that the trees were capable of such things, and was sucked back out and into the Cave.

The Leader was a little surprised to hear this explanation, as he hadn't expected that their God could be bested by the deviltrees. "So what's your name then? Seems I owe you for looking after things whilst I was gone." The Leader suddenly changed attitudes altogether, now feeling a little embarrassed that HollowEyes was talking to him as though they were on the same level. "I am Buuse Bef, my lord." HollowEyes was surprised to hear a familiar name. "Ah! You wouldn't happen to be descended from Belkben Bef, would you?" "Yes, we carry last names in honour of our ancestors." Buuse replied, now proud that his ancestor's name rang a bell for the God. "How interesting... And you are the Leader of the Bris- ah, I mean, the Holrysians? Just you?"

"Yes. My family has had special powers for many generations, and so we lead the Holrysians." "Special powers? Like what?" HollowEyes was curious, he hadn't expected the little creatures to go and develop a monarchy whilst he was gone. "Erm, it's like lifting things... But with my mind." Buuse was struggling to explain it, but HollowEyes knew exactly what he was talking about. "That's called telekenisis... Any idea how many generations have had that ability?" Buuse looked about uneasily, not wanting the masses to hear what he was about to say. "I'm told that it was a gift from Murdelk to my ancestor Buubef, but that in her it was quite weak. Apart from the glowing eyes she was barely distinguishable from the rest. For me, I can lift another person without too much trouble." HollowEyes frowned a little, not knowing how Murdelk had meddled with the Holrysian gene pool like this and not liking it either. Not that he could really complain too much though, he'd done his fair share of meddling on this world.

"You've kept yourselves quite selective though, and it's only gone through the one family." HollowEyes thought that it would be better for more of the little people to get this ability, though he could understand why the Bef family wouldn't want to share it - after all, there's no sense of superiority if everybody has the ability. "Well, just try not to let it die out and it shouldn't be a waste."

He put a slightly confused Buuse down and returned his attention to the masses. "So. It's been a few hundred years, and I'm a little out of touch - how far along have you people come since I last saw you?" He spent the rest of the day talking with and listening to the Holrysians, trying to get a complete understanding of what was new, what he'd need to teach them and what to avoid mentioning to them.

[Swix]

(( 3kul wrote:

[3kul]

((Yeah, that is a bit rough ))

About a week or so after returning to the world that he'd created HollowEyes was woken up by several excited screams. "What now..." He muttered to himself, wondering if there was anything that didn't excite these tiny people. "Come quick, Lord HollowEyes, something amazing has happened!" Came several happy voices, to which their almighty one replied "just HollowEyes is fine..." as he got up to look at where they were heading.

However when he spotted what they were looking at even he had to admit that this was pretty surprising. The beach was now littered with the corpses of hundreds of spider-like creatures, and more were washing up with each and every wave. "The Kachi-kachi are dead!" He heard somebody shouting gleefully, which caused HollowEyes to frown. "Hey now, the mass slaughter of a people is hardly something to rejoice about, even if they were your enemies." His words instantly silenced the people, and they gathered about HollowEyes as though he were about to impart some divine wisdom upon them. "No, that's all I had to say, really, you don't need to- Ah! What are you doing!"

The crowd all turned to where HollowEyes was pointing, to a couple of people who'd begun to eat the egg sacs off the back of a few washed up Kachi-kachi. "Well, our ancestors used to eat these so we thought-" "Are you serious?! Can't you see that these are rotting corpses? Do you have any idea how sick eating that will make you?" "But the eggs look fine!" A few of the people were attempting to argue with HollowEyes about this, as there was a time when Kachi-kachi eggs were considered quite a delicacy amongst their tiny culture.

"Oh, they're fine, are they?" HollowEyes said, somewhat irritated that he was being told what's what by a bunch of midgets who looked up to the first giant to walk past them as a God. He crunched something in his mouth and spat it out - it was a tooth. "You there, pick that up and cut the egg open." He said to the Holrysian whom the tooth had landed closest to. The tiny female seemed to be shaking at the sound of their God's angry voice, and so she did as he said, though as soon as the tooth pierced the egg sac something burst out of it. All hell broke loose as the tiny spider skittered about on the beach, hissing and snapping it's tiny jaws wildly - even as an infant it equaled an adult Holrysian in size, and so HollowEyes was now trying to work out a way to crush it without crushing any innocents.

"Calm yourselves, people!"

The mutant leader Buuse's voice attempted to break the screams, though they only stopped when he held the Kachi-kachi in the air with his mental powers. It struggled against his invisible grasp, though could not break free, and so Buuse was able to move it to a clearing to allow HollowEyes to smite the pest. With one quick gigantic stomp the crowd breathed a sigh of relief, and HollowEyes was able to address them once more. "Listen up Holrysians: thou shalt not eat from rotting corpses. Ever." He could hear many of them trying to commit this adage to memory, which was a little annoying considering that it should be common sense. "Why, my Lord?" "Yes, tell us!" HollowEyes remembered the simpler times when these little people never questioned him. "Because old meat will make you sick, and old eggs will either have babies or will also make you sick."

"You heard our Lord, let's push the Kachi-kachi back into the sea!" Buuse shouted out, and began to shove one of the large spiders towards the waves. "No, that's probably not so good either." HollowEyes said, now less annoyed because they really didn't have a way of knowing this one. "Most of what you eat comes from the sea, so if you dump old meat in there the fish will eat it and they'll make you sick." Confused murmuring in the crowd told him that they did not understand why this was so. Giving up, HollowEyes decided to give them something a little more God-like. "The malicious spirits of the Kachi-kachi linger over their bodies! They will bring us bad luck if we leave them here or dump them in the ocean!" The confusion was replaced by shock, surprise and most annoyingly of all, understanding.

"What must we do then, mighty HollowEyes?" Buuse asked HollowEyes on behalf of the rest of the Holrysians. HollowEyes thought for a moment or two - which was better, burial or cremation? He couldn't rightly recall... As he was contemplating this, he suddenly had a very good idea. "The spirits must be freed from the bodies! Gather the corpses a ways from your houses, and I will teach you how to do this!" He proclaimed in a most dramatic manner. The crowd cheered and began to move the bodies, and HollowEyes felt like hitting himself over the head. It was really quite sad that this was the best way to get through to them.

"Thank you for smiting our ancestor's enemies, mighty HollowEyes. Please tell us what we can do in return for your blessing us like this?" HollowEyes saw that Buuse had climbed up to his arms, as the leader did when he wished to speak with the God in private. "What? No, I didn't..." HollowEyes trailed off as he recalled how he'd entered this world - landing in the ocean, smashing some rocks beneath his feet... "What do you mean, mighty HollowEyes?" Buuse appeared most confused, now having no idea as to why their enemies has spontaneously gone extinct. "Buuse, I will need you to look after the people for a little while, I need to think about this turn of events. Do not let them bother me whilst I am thinking - only you may speak to me, but only as soon as you have gathered all of the corpses." Buuse nodded, bowing as he climbed down from his God's arm. "As you wish, mighty HollowEyes."

HollowEyes then sat down and began to think, shutting out the random chatter of the Holrysians. He had many questions about this world that he'd created that even he couldn't figure out an answer to - what were the trees? How did they create life? How is it that at one time a tree had warped him to another universe to escape harm, and yet the next it was destroyed completely by accident? He continued to ponder over these conundrums long into the night, unable to come to a reasonable conclusion.

[Swix]

((I was just looking through my older posts, and saw I gave this place three suns . I'd completely forgotten about that))

"Halyan, wait!" Zeckul called after the distraught female whilst he scurried down the ladder even faster than the Tezcan thought possible. He'd been going full speed as it was, at the velocity he'd just given himself he landed so unsteadily he almost fell over, even with six legs to support him. He soon found his intention of running after Halyan blocked by one of Kheesths hands, and looked up to her to see why.

"Do not pursue her" Kheesth explained, watching the area the female had run off to carefully "it will do neither of you any good"

"But why?" Zeckul asked, obliging her by keeping his place. Kheesths scales gained a hint of red at the question, showing her irritation.

"Because if you go after her now you will push her into staying here alone. She will come when she is ready" Kheesth explained, removing her hand now she was sure she wasn't going to lose both of them. It would be a terrible waste if she did find survivors outside.

"Oooooh" Zeckul said, as understanding washed over him "I get it. You're going to give her the Inspiration so she does what's best" The Yallian nodded his head once sagely, whilst Kheesths scales began to gain more than just a hint of red. It wasn't just Zeckul with his blind faith though, she suddenly found it extremely hard to think as all four elementals burst into raucous laughter inside her head. Not Spirit though, which was interesting but which the serpent would have to ponder another time.

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm going to do" Kheesth told him, resisting the urge to sigh "now let us go. I have not been watching the outside since I created this place" and on that reflection, she probably should have. At the time the Yallians and the small pocket of an ecosystem had proved far too interesting not to observe.

Kheesth slithered around to make her way towards the two foot high and wide cavern leading to the outside of the world, recalling the last time she'd been close to there was when the creatures the Yallians simply called 'Hard-Shells' had invaded. Zeckul kept pace with her on his six legs, though he'd calmed down enough not to make himself accidentally stumble over them.

"Then our ancestors were right," the Yallian exclaimed enthusiastically "you were here before they were"

"So it would seem" Kheesth replied, scales becoming less red and more of a blue hue as she wondered whether or not she should have said that out loud. Nothing for it now though, as Zeckul had probably committed that piece of information to memory. What's done was done.

"Here we are" Kheesth announced as they approached the small opening, noticing that mossy red-blue growths had sprouted around the once jagged edges, which should make moving through them a little more comfortable.

"Follow closely" she instructed the Yallian as she flattened her arms against her sides and lowered herself low enough to the ground that she could move through the crevice. Zeckul made a noise of acknowledgement so the Summoner made her way outside. Apart from the moss that made everything softer, the crevice itself had changed very little. It still twisted and turned until you lost all sense of direction, save that your front was still your front.

Kheesth saw the light ahead changing back to the harsh light of the three suns, preparing herself for it and the wind she could hear blowing. It was a little weird that the sunlight wasn't quite so obviously yellow anymore.

The Tezcan finally made her way outside, twisting her long body and neck all the way around so she was literally looking directly behind her as her eyes adjusted. The first thing she needed to do was check on Zeckul before she did anything else.

The Yallian clambered out of the hole in the cavern, with all three of his eyes clinched shut so closely they looked like slits. His eyes would probably need more time to adjust than hers, since she was used to this kind of thing and this was his first introduction to both darkness and non-blue light.

"Ah! I've gone blind!" Zeckul exclaimed, the beginnings of panic clear in his voice.

"Do not worry, just wait, you will get used to it" Kheesth told the male, keeping both unblinking eyes on him nonetheless. At least he had the sense to open them slowly after realising Kheesth had been right.

"Zeckul!" they both heard a scared sounding voice coming from back inside the crevice "where are you? Kist, I can't see anything in here..." the voice was obviously Halyans, and the Tezcan was surprisingly annoyed by the Yallians use of her name, the same way other people would say 'gods' when they needed help and didn't think it would come.

"Halyan!" Zeckul called back in joy, now with his eyes half open "We're both out here, come on" He was answered by a frantic scuffling, soon followed by the females body making its appearance into the harsh light, which was in turn followed by a similar scream of confusion.

Kheesth let Zeckul handle Halyan, since he'd already found Kheesths advice to be true he was more than capable of explaining it to the female. The snake woman instead turned her head back around to see what their current environment was like. It was a hell of a lot different since she'd last looked, the wind less constant but still obviously there.

What the Tezcan set her green eyes on now was a lush jungle canopy, the moss that had made its way out of the cave covered almost everything not overshadowed by the giant plants growing in abundance. Most of the vegetation was the planets typical red-blue colouring, whilst there was only the occasional purple-red carnivorous plant interspersed with them. What the Tezcan was looking at was the result of millennia of plant spores migrating out of the sheltered spot and sprouting in their newfound environment. But that required water, and Kheesth did not have to look far to find it. Where once were the largest hardened cracks of the desert, the land had eroded away until it had become a gentle slope downwards, at the same time exposing the abundance of water beneath the planets surface. After time, the atmosphere had become thicker and experienced its first rain, so the land became habitable enough for the plant life and so other migratory life to prosper in the freer environment. Kheesth even recognised some of the insects flying about as similar to those left behind.

"I can see, I can see!" Zeckuls excited comments were suddenly cut short as his adjusted eyes took in the sights, causing him to become temporarily speechless. Halyan pretty much summed up what they were both thinking in one word, compensating for Zeckuls silence with "Wow"

((EDIT: Omg this post is huge! ))

[3kul]

((After reading your comments about the suns I went back to read over my old stuff, wondering if I too had forgotten something. I ended up being reminded that my planet was called Mudstar/Mudstra ))

"Mighty HollowEyes, we have finished-"

"Got it!"

Buuse jumped back in fright as HollowEyes suddenly leapt to his feet, nearly crushing the tiny ruler. "What is it you have got, Mighty One?" The leader asked, stumbling back up to his feet. "The secret, I think. Well, one of them at least. It would explain a bit, though you probably wouldn't understand even half of it if I told you." Buuse seemed a little disappointed to be thought of as such an unintelligent creature by their God, though HollowEyes didn't really notice this, as he was too pleased with his sudden revelation and wanted to check if he was right as soon as possible.

"Ah, I came to tell you that we've finished gathering the corpses. Fortunately not too many eggs hatched as we carried them, and I was quite to deal with the ones that did." Buuse said a little boastfully, attempting to gain some praise from the God. Childishly amusing, HollowEyes thought to himself, and was reminded that he had to deal with one problem before tackling the next. "Oh, very well then." He replied, getting up and following Buuse to the pile of dead spiders.

"Holrysians, listen up!" HollowEyes boomed, ready to unload another complete load (of mysticism!) upon them. "We must free the spirits of the vengeful Kachi-kachi so that they may find peace somewhere in this world!" This was met with mixed emotions by the crowd, most of them still feeling that a feast would be a better use for the bodies. "And so I ask that you... Wait, wait - have you invented fire yet?" HollowEyes found himself sidetracked by a rather important point that he'd overlooked. The Holrysians looked back at him cluelessly, whispering amongst each other to see if there was some sort of hidden meaning to their God's words.

"Uh, in that case, I'll take this as an offering!" Silence fell upon the crowd as he said this, each and every person present eager to hear what their God meant by this. HollowEyes however was now improvising, and had no idea as to what he should do. He had planned to cremate the entire pile of bodies, but why had he thought that a group of people who'd spent most of their lives in a damp, underwater cave would know the secret of fire?

Oh well, he could do almost anything and they'd be impressed, so he went on. "Yes, an offering! Though I am not a cruel God I do need to eat, and unlike yourselves I do not get sick. So I shall eat this offering gratefully, and bestow upon you a miraculous gift in exchange, the likes of which you have never seen!" As soon as he said this, the crowd exploded into cheers. They had now forgotten all about the prospects of a feast of old meat, and nobody seemed to be upset that HollowEyes was stealing the food - this was the biggest thing that had happened to them since, well, ever. As far as any of the most devout Holrysians knew, HollowEyes had only ever bestowed one gift upon his people, and it had been a most powerful cutting tool said to be able to pierce anything, though they were tragically lost before their people descended into the caverns of Murdelk.

HollowEyes long tongue extended out of his mouth, wrapping several times around the pile of spiders and then dragging them back into his gaping maw. To the Holrysians this was a feast, but to HollowEyes it was little more than a couple of mouthfuls (and he didn't really see what they were so excited about, the spiders really didn't taste that good). The crowds cheers had gotten even louder by the time he'd crunched down the last of them, and he could tell that he'd have to deliver on this gift as soon as possible. Fortunately for HollowEyes, he now knew something that would blow their primitive minds. He only wished that there was somebody here who would truly understand what this discovery meant.

The trees, HollowEyes assumed, would be unique to his world or any other created in the Corrupted Cave. No plant matter was ever used in the process that Speeder had developed, and so HollowEyes had a very strong suspicion that the trees could only have originated from Wall Slime spores getting into the world. The rather cruel and generally evil attitudes of the trees supported this theory, though for them to have mutated so quickly they must have come into contact with something incredibly powerful.

For this piece of the puzzle, HollowEyes suspected that these powerful influences may be something similar to a Warpstone, created from the residue of the sand and water that he'd taken from Blackstar to use as a base for the world. This would be the only explanation for the tree's warping capabilities (as well as their rather infrequent use of it, as from what HollowEyes understood of it, Warp Portals were freak occurrences for the most part, and very hard to contain).

His very loose understanding of these things formed the best answer that he'd come up with, and as he couldn't think of anything else that came anywhere near as conclusive as this he believed it to be true.

The new problem he was faced with was obtaining the Warpstone, if it did indeed exist here. If these masses of Kachi-kachi were dead and if Holrysian history was accurate, then that meant that Murdelk had almost certainly met the same fate. There was very little chance that he'd simply allow HollowEyes to accidentally drown all of his creations, and so the Parasitian strongly suspected that he'd accidentally crushed Murdelk. He hoped that he didn't damage the Warpstone, but there was no way of knowing that without going to see it.

But how to get it? He couldn't simply tell the Holrysians that he was going to look for it in the ocean, as they'd almost certainly take that as his way of saying that he was leaving them (as he'd unintentionally left them the first time after diving into the ocean). He didn't have a chance in hell of sneaking into there, as these little people were always watching him, and even though they'd spent a great deal of their lives underwater they hadn't actually evolved very much in the way of swimming capabilities.

In addition, there was the problem of the mutatious qualities of the object. If it had messed with the wall slime spores that much, HollowEyes didn't like to imagine what it might do to him or whoever else sought to touch it. There was no way to physically touch it, which meant that...

Ah! That was it! There was one person here who could retrieve the stone without touching it. HollowEyes turned to Buuse with look in his eye that made the mutant leader feel rather uneasy. "The gift I have for you is something I took from Murdelk long ago and hid in the ocean!" The Holrysians began to chatter amongst each other excitedly. HollowEyes did not yet know this, but many had begun to believe him to be a God with a strong affinity towards water, and that he had his home in the ocean. This was an interesting addition to the cult faith that was developing around HollowEyes, and one that was very eagerly accepted by the crowd. "However I must ask that one of you obtains it. This is how I bestow my gifts to people, and we cannot break tradition just because you have presented me with an offering." More excited murmuring, and dozens of brave Holrysians stood forward to offer themselves to their God. HollowEyes however, shook his head. "No, this is is not a task that just anybody can do, it must be done by your current Leader: Buuse Bef."

The leader looked nervous, and HollowEyes continued. "I have only one condition: you may not touch my treasure Buuse Bef, you must use your powers to bring it to us. If you touch it, even for a second, I shall know it." The crowd fell silent once more as this seemingly deadly warning was added, and they began to wonder if their leader was up to it.

"I shall do as you wish, mighty HollowEyes." Buuse said, bowing his head in respect to the God. He had previously considered him to be a most lazy deity, and only obeyed him out of necessity, though he now worried that HollowEyes was much more clever than he'd first thought. Perhaps his position as leader wasn't as safe as he'd thought after all, though in front of his people he had no choice but to accept the God's outrageous request. "Good then, you'd best head off as soon as possible. Take a Buo to help you get out there, you'll find my treasure amongst the remains of Murdelk's cavern."

The next morning Buuse left to search for HollowEyes' gift. It was less than a day's journey to Murdelk's cavern, but he wasn't sure how long he'd have to search for HollowEyes' treasure or how long it would take him to bring it back, and so he made sure to bring food and supplies. HollowEyes noted that the modern day Holrysian 'boat' was horribly primitive - it consisted of a log of driftwood with a rough hole dug out of it to hold the food Buuse took with him, and two long thick ropes made from some kind of seaweed tied like reigns around the Buo that dragged the boat along as it walked on the ocean floor below. He did smile to see that the Buo hadn't changed a bit since he'd last seen them (no doubt they'd had no need to evolve at all).

((Hm, I wanted to continue but I guess I'd better stop, my post is long enough as is.

In case you're wondering, yes, HollowEyes' idea is exactly how life originated on Mudstar/Mudstra. Mutated wall slime started it all .))

[Swix]

((. I hope your trees can't send their own spores off your world, or the Corrupted Cave will never be the same))

Kheesth let the two Yallians take in the scenery in front of them, although her own green gaze was far less awestruck. It seemed Kelgens logic would have served the entire colony well, had they heeded her words. The question that bothered the serpent now was whether or not they'd survived, and where they would be if they had. The isolated ecosystem was one of the most hostile places for any small species, but outside any of the animals could grow even larger.

It was a huge area to travel, especially with the two Yallians by her side now, but Kheesth was fairly certain they'd keep as close to the water supply as they deemed safe. So as long as they didn't stray too far away from the massive body of water that was now exposed to her right, they shouldn't miss any signs of a possible settlement. That was of course assuming that they hadn't developed a nomadic way of life since the colony split up.

"Kist" Halyan called, breaking the serpents musings. The females eyes were now adjusted to the different light around them so all three were open "I'm sorry I ran away. I should have known better"

"Don't be sorry" Zeckul said, getting his energy back after he'd goggled at the giant plants for long enough "she knew you'd come after us"

"But-"

"The apology is accepted" Kheesth told them, cutting in herself "and welcomed. Now we are going to look for the others" the Tezcan tilted her head slightly as she stared at them with that disconcerting, unblinking way that comes with being a snake "Do not wander too far away from me or you might get hurt"

Both the Yallians nodded acknowledgement as they made their primitive packs more comfortable, they didn't need to be given a warning twice anymore, and since it was off their creator they took it even more seriously.

The snake summoner started off, calculating that the likeliest place for the band to have set up their camp would be about the same distance away they'd had the colony from the underground lake. So she headed off in that direction, with Halyan and Zeckul following her as they chattered excitedly among each other.

As they entered the trees, Kheesth couldn't help but wonder where in this place the Hard-Shells now lived. It was obvious they'd originally evolved from those creatures she'd first set her eyes on, the ones who'd made their homes in the cracks, but where were they now? She couldn't see any sign of them anywhere.

This place wasn't without its own interesting features however, it seemed some of the insects had taken a similar role to the Yallians nectar-drinking ancestors, getting a little nourishment from the flowers in exchange for them to propagate the plants. Occasionally they saw some of the larger insects and even a few Scuttlers caught in the webbing or vines of the carnivorous foliage, so Kheesth and the two Yallians kept the purple-red trees at a safe distance.

It wasn't too long before they came across a creature none of them had ever seen before, a long legged creature crossed their path and caused Halyan to yell in fright as she hid behind Zeckul. The thing had four of its long, thin legs, each one almost five times longer than the Yallians height. These legs were attached to a tiny (at least it was tiny compared to its legs) sandy coloured body that was bereft of any hair. The creatures mouth had no teeth of any sort, but was covered in a web like substance. This creature also had a single eye set on the top of its body, most likely to keep a watch out for anything dangerous. It was however, obviously a creature that fed on microscopic life in the air, so Halyans alarm proved to be entirely unfounded. It had absolutely no interest in them, save to look at them curiously, before it kept going on its way.

For the rest of the 'day', they encountered no other strange creatures except a few more of the Long Legs, only larger or slightly changed versions of the creatures already found in the cavern. By this time Halyan had learned that these creatures weren't to be feared, and Zeckul too had learned something. He'd learnt not to startle them since they puffed themselves up when he did, exposing rows upon rows of tiny spikes until he went away. He found it funny until Kheesth told him off for it, her tone of voice was less than impressed. She was getting a little annoyed, it felt like she was hauling a couple of hatchlings around with her.

Soon what passed here for night began to fall, as one of the suns began to sink below the horizon. The Yallians were a little frightened as the harsh light began to fade, since they weren't used to the dark. However they'd also never slept (and were a bit puzzled as to why Kheesth did) so stopping and waiting for the next day before moving on never occurred to them. Not until the third, smallest sun was in the process of going down and dusk began to fall, that is.

"What's going on?" Zeckul asked, causing the Summoner to stop in her tracks "why are those... those.... light balls leaving?"

"They are called suns" Kheesth corrected, giving him the Common word for them. But she couldn't tell them exactly why they were going, since they wouldn't understand at all that the solid, unmoving ground they were standing on was actually spinning around and causing them to move to the darker side of the planet. So what could she say? "They need to go now, but they will be back later"

"When will they come back?" Halyan asked, watching the last one as it completed sinking below the horizon, and leaving them instead with an ever darkening sky.

"When they are recovered" Kheesth answered, as she honestly didn't know. She probably still wouldn't have known even if she'd spent a whole day out here before, since this place didn't seem to obey the laws of time the same way she was used to. At least they were coping better with night than they had been with the odd creature earlier, this whole place was a learning experience for all of them.

Yet they still hadn't found any signs of the descendants of Kelgens band

[3kul]

((No no, they've mutated to the point that they can't reproduce - regular wall slime is bad enough ))

HollowEyes had busied himself with some construction work whilst Buuse was gone. He was pretty bad at it, given his bizarre physique and body structure, but he was able to do much of the heavy lifting and the directing, which allowed the Holrysians to do the more delicate and detailed work.

Architecture was a dead art to the Holrysians, having spent many decades living in caves under the ocean, and most of them just lived in shallow holes dug in the sand. HollowEyes had intended to teach them to build clay-ball houses as he'd taught their ancestors centuries ago, but it seemed that the land too had changed over the years - there was no clay to be found here anymore. So instead he'd wandered over to a nearby bit of forest and torn up a few bright red trees. He didn't remember ever seeing them, but they seemed pretty sturdy (although they were quite thorny for trees). This place was west to the beach, so it didn't take HollowEyes very long to decide that he should check out the east too. Here there were no trees, but giant hard-topped mushrooms. Bright orange with blue spots. Bizarre, HollowEyes thought, but useful nonetheless. He ripped up a small copse of them and brought them back to the beach.

In the end, the small population had decided to build a communal house. HollowEyes himself hadn't seen to many of these, but he felt that the concept suited the Holrysians - it was essentially a large building, available for whoever needed it. Sharpening both ends of the many tree trunks, HollowEyes stuck them into the ground in a circle, and then placed the mushroom caps on top of these as a large roof. It was ugly and basic, but it was shelter all the same, and the people were quite amazed.

HollowEyes gave them a set of his own shattered teeth to use as tools, for carving or cutting the wood or whatever they wanted. At first they were all amazed that he should be so generous as to break his own teeth out for them, but then HollowEyes reminded them that he'd done the same thing for his ancestors. As they began to work on cutting out small windows and carving pictures of HollowEyes into the interior and exterior parts of the building, clouds began to swirl in a very unnatural manner over the ocean, and the water began to darken.

With a terrible ripping sound, HollowEyes saw the ocean begin to follow the clouds, swirling about in a massive whirlpool. "... I told him not to touch it..." HollowEyes muttered, wondering just what the hell Buuse had unleashed upon this world. The people below began to scream and rushed for the house, but HollowEyes called out to stop them. "It's safer with me! Climb up!" As serious as this moment was, HollowEyes couldn't help but laugh a little as hundreds of hands and legs began to crawl up his body.

"It would seem that Buuse has fallen prey to his own sense of greed, and attempted to take my gift to you for himself... Or something like that." Now was hardly the time for HollowEyes to go preaching to them, and he didn't really feel like it. He was more upset at being the one to force Buuse to do something like that, it was only natural that the young ruler would give in to his desire and try to take the crystal as his own...

~My LoRddd... PllleeeAAaassseEE heeeLLLllppPp MmmeeEEe!~

HollowEyes' train of thought was interrupted by Buuse, who was using the powers of the warp crystal to force his thoughts into HollowEyes' head.

~I can't help you Buuse. You shouldn't have touched the crystal.~

~IIiiiiII DdddiiiDDdnNn'tt... TttooOUuucHH... FffiIiiSsssHhhh sSaAAaWwww... IiiIII TTttrrRRriiIIiieEeeDDddd TttoOOo SssTOooOppPPp IiiIttt... AaaaAaTtttTtEeeEee YyyyYOouURrr TttTtrRrrEeaaaasSssUuuurrrRreee... AaaAaaTtttEeeeE MmmMmeeeEee...~

HollowEyes silently cursed to himself for not thinking of such a thing. Dangling a shiny object beneath the waves as you slowly drifted through the ocean was pretty much the only way that most people caught fish, and he'd been so stupidly caught up in his Godly act that he'd forgotten that there were bigger things that Holrysians lurking beneath the waves.

The Holrysians all seemed horribly traumatized by this, but the nightmare was not over yet. The warp-mutated amalgamation of Buuse and the fish loomed up from the ocean, absorbing the water surrounding it. It was like a hideous monstrosity vaguely shaped like a serpent, though the glowing eyes were unmistakably those of Buuse. HollowEyes had no idea how to help the poor doomed Holrysian, he just knew that they had to keep the hell away from it. It was extremely lucky that he'd told the rest of the Holrysians to climb up onto his arm blades, because they probably would've tried to rescue Buuse if he hadn't.

~I'm... I'm sorry Buuse, I didn't think it would turn out like this. There's nothing that I can do to help you, if you plan on getting out of this alive you have to save yourself.~

The serpent continued to stare at HollowEyes, it's glowing green eyes showing it's fear. It had no idea what was happening, all it knew was that nobody could help it, not even it's God.

~AaaaAAaaFFFfrrRRaaaaAIiiIiidddDD...~

The creature was losing it's intelligence, the one mind smart enough to think for itself was being diluted too much with the unintelligent mess that it was absorbing from the ocean. It made HollowEyes feel even worse, it was like he was sending something with the brain of an infant to an early grave. The Parasitian had no idea how the wall slime spores had manipulated the warp energy into their favour, but Buuse needed to learn how to do this quickly or not at all.

~Alright, Buuse, I need you to forget about the water, stop thinking about the water.~

~DdddDDrrRRRrrrOooOooWwwwnnNN...~

~No, you won't drown! You'll float, you can swim... Just forget about the damn water!~

HollowEyes began to panic as the last of the ocean was absorbed into the serpent, leaving a vast multitude of fish and other sea creatures flopping all over the muddy mess, unable to breathe. As soon as Buuse's thoughts weren't totally focused on the water surrounding him though, he stopped absorbing it into himself, and it spilled back out.

~Okay, that's good! You're doing okay!~ It was difficult to lie like this, because he couldn't even see Buuse anymore, as the warp-serpent had sunk beneath the waves.

~I'm ... Don't ... Water ... Fish ... Help!~

HollowEyes was losing his mental message, and he noticed that the ocean was now glowing a pale blue. It seemed that a warp portal was being created right here and now, and if he didn't think fast Buuse and the crystal would be gone forever. ~Listen to me Buuse, that crystal... It's Murdelk's, not mine! He used it to become a tree, to create life, to live forever. It's more powerful than I am and capable of anything, and now it's yours.~

The pale blue glow disappeared from the water, and the skies became calm once again. HollowEyes wasn't sure if he'd gotten his message to Buuse in time, but it was all he could do. At least, in the end, he'd been honest to his poor follower... Though it mightn't have cost him his life if he'd known the truth from the start.

"What happened to our Leader, mighty HollowEyes?"

"I don't know."

"Is he alright?"

"I said I don't know."

He snapped that last remark, causing everybody on him to fall silent. They did not understand what had happened here either, though it clearly displeased their God. "Where is Buuse's mate?" He asked, slowly spinning his arms about to check. Three females raised their tentacles, and nobody but HollowEyes seemed surprised by this. He hadn't realized that the Holrysians were polygamous (but then again it hadn't exactly come up). "You three will come with me to look for him. Everybody else... Stay here."

"But who will watch over us?"

HollowEyes cringed at this, as the reminder that he'd just killed his substitute leader was like rubbing salt into his wounds. It took him a while to come up with an answer, but he figured out something creative in the end. "I've given you tools and you know where to find wood and roofing. Try to build something whilst I'm gone."

He let the populace down to the ground and headed towards the ocean with the three mates of Buuse now atop his head. The rest of the populace had no idea as to what had happened to Buuse, but as they believed that their 'God' was capable of anything they were far more cheerful than HollowEyes felt that they should be.

[3kul]

((Double-posting because... I don't know, I just feel like updating this story a bit more.))

For a short while HollowEyes travelled in silence, his arm blades swirling slowly as he swam. He was in no hurry, because he did not expect to find Buuse Bef. Most likely they'd be finding the shattered remains of the warp crystal, the shredded corpse of the stupid fish that had eaten it or if they were extremely lucky, some faint trace of his faithful follower. HollowEyes deeply regretted coming back to this world, for it seemed like the good that he'd done here was far outweighed by the bad.

The three females atop his head were chatting away quietly with one another though, not quite loud enough for HollowEyes to hear what they were saying but loud enough that it was an annoyance for him. "Tell me your names." He said to them, killing their conversation with the ensuing nervous silence. "I am Leem Bef." "Please call me Renbe Bef." "... Shrom Bef." "Oh, so you are all of the Bef family?" HollowEyes replied, a hint of concern in his voice. He hoped that he didn't have to teach them about the hazards of incestuous relationships, although it wasn't uncommon to have inbreeding in royal families, or so the Parasitian had heard.

"No, but we are all descended from your first disciples. That's why Buuse chose us." Leem said quite proudly. "Really now? I'm amazed that you've kept track of something like that so well." HollowEyes truthfully responded, wondering how they'd kept such accurate biological records without the knowledge of writing. "To be descended from the earliest of your followers is something that our families have been proud of since they were first established." Renbe answered, HollowEyes noting that she seemed quite a bit more polite than the others. "Though it's only the Bef family that rose to power. The other families were content to lead quiet yet equally honourable lives."

HollowEyes wondered how true that was, as Shrom did not sound too happy as she said that last part. "I see. So who are you descended from then, if not Belkben?" His reference of the ancient Brisican by her first name seemed to give the Holrysian maidens a renewed sense of respect for HollowEyes, and so they quickly became eager to share their family histories with him.

"I'm descended from Lem Sheek, that's where my name comes from - Leem." Leem shouts out, excited to hear what HollowEyes has to say about her ancestor. "Heh, Lem was an interesting Brisican. He was the first to tame the Buo, you know." HollowEyes began, recalling the time when he'd first found Lem Sheek, having learnt to tame the Buo all by himself. His stories of ages past were fascinating to the three mates of Buuse and they seemed to enjoy them immensely, but HollowEyes was finding it painful to talk about.

It was really only just hitting him, but those Brisicans he'd spent so many days wandering about with, teaching things and talking with were gone forever, and he'd never see them. HollowEyes had never had a friend die before, and he found that it wasn't long before the tears were streaming from his eyes. The three Holrysian females couldn't see their God's sadness from where they were sitting though, and so his sorrow remained a secret. He wondered if Gods ever feel these kinds of things - how many hundreds of friends and favourite subjects must deities like Au'Marui and Paranesia seen come into their worlds only to die in the blink of an eye?

It was a most depressing thing to think about, and HollowEyes was glad to be welcomed with an interruption when the three females atop his head spotted something.

Where there had previously been ocean, there was now land. Not too much, maybe enough for HollowEyes to walk around in a small circle, but enough for the Holrysians to build a small city on, if they so desired. Leem, Shrom and Renbe had no idea where it had come from, but HollowEyes could see quite easily. To Holrysians it was a huge island, but the Parasitian would-be-God could see that it was nothing more than a big lilypad. Checking underwater confirmed this - the plant's stem continued down deep into the murky depths.

"Please wait here, I need to check something." HollowEyes said calmly, allowing the three female Holrysians to get onto the 'island'. He didn't wait to hear what they had to say, the second they were off he dove beneath the still waters.

~Buuse... Why would you do this?~

~Because I wanted to help. And I believed that this would help you too.~

The plant's reply was deeply disappointing to HollowEyes, as he'd sorely hoped that he was wrong. Down where the stem connected to the ocean floor, he saw a small glowing bulb vaguely shaped like a certain Holrysian leader. This was what Buuse had chosen to become with the warp crystal's power.

~You're quite similar to Belkben. I never understood her either.~ HollowEyes finally thought, having no idea what else he could say. Buuse seemed nervous at the mention of his ancestor. ~Do... Do you think that she'd have approved of me? And what I've done?~ ~I think she'd be happy.~ HollowEyes replied, not really sure of how to properly respond to such a question. ~That's good...~ Buuse sighed, the water rippling slightly around his centre. ~It's kind of hard to speak like this, and I'm feeling really tired at the moment. Can we talk again some other time, HollowEyes?~ ~Whenever you like, Buuse Bef. We'll be close by.~

The bulb went silent, and HollowEyes waited for a moment longer before resurfacing. He couldn't explain it, but he felt oddly relieved with this outcome. It wasn't because he had less to feel guilty about or anything like that, it was... Well, not something that HollowEyes had really ever felt before.

"Did you find Buuse?" "What has happened to him?" "Is he..." These questions, which had previously stabbed at him like knives, now simply washed over him. They no longer seemed aggressive or accusatory, and HollowEyes was able to answer them.

"He's quite fine, though he's gone through some fairly drastic changes. I'm sorry to say that you won't be able to see him again, at least, not in the same way that you could before, though if you'd like maybe I can teach you to speak with him some day." Each of the women had different reactions - Leem was openly grieving for her lost mate, Renbe was weeping silently whilst Shrom seemed quite indifferent. "I'll give you three some time to yourselves, I'll go get the others to bring them here." "Why?" Shrom asked, for herself as well as on behalf of the other two. "Because this will be where the first Holrysian city will be established."

[Swix]

((Sorry, every time I thought of adding more to this it was 2 or 3 am and I was sleepy ))

Zeckul and Halyan stopped their trek in a small area where the tree branches sheltered them, whilst the trees themselves ringed around them on all sides. They would have kept going, but Kheesth was worried about possible nocturnal predators and so had insisted they stay put. Whilst her eyes were a little more suited to the dark, her ancestors having evolved on a planet heavily overgrown with jungle and almost as hot as this one, this would be the two Yallians first ever night and their eyes may well not be able to compensate as much. Several Scuttlers joined them in the natural shelter, resting on the thinnest branches of the red-blue plant life. They were actually going to sleep.

The two Yallians stayed in the centre whilst the serpent kept both unblinking eyes watching out for anything that might threaten the two companions of hers. It occurred to her that if they weren't intelligent beings she'd find this a little strange, Tezca were predators whilst the Yallians certainly were not.

The pair talked among themselves, loudly at first since they were new to the dangers of darkness, but the Tezcan indicated she wanted quiet. Their voices became a low murmur as Kheesth continued her watch, every so often flicking out her tongue to taste the air, as the wind was no longer loaded with painful sand particles.

The night seemed quite uneventful, and the dark was making her feel tired so the Tezcan risked yawning. Apparently a few seconds was enough though, as when she snapped her mouth back together she saw a set of four glowing, red eyes staring at them from outside the ring of trees. The thing was the nocturnal predator she'd feared, and it emitted what sounded like a low growl at her. Kheesth moved her hinged fangs forwards as she opened her jaw, displaying the impressive pair of poisonous teeth to the creature before she hissed aggressively at it. It was a completely different sound to the one she'd used with Genyal before, that was just a warning. This one though was a full on, 'leave before I kill you because I can and I will' noise, and it caused the Yallians continued conversation to cease as they wondered what had upset her so much. The Scuttlers noticed something wrong as well, as they woke with a start and scrambled to get as far away from the two arguing predators as they could.

The creature was still there, as those eyes had definitely not moved and now she was being treated to the sight of an impressive set of predatorial teeth. The Tezcan made herself higher, effectively making her seem bigger than she actually was and repeated herself. The four eyed, nocturnal animal finally got the point and slunk away, though Kheesth kept an eye out for it even after the eyes left her sight.

"What were you doing?" Zeckul asked curiously, although the Tezcan had to fold her fangs back into their usual resting place before she could answer him.

"I was warning off a creature from coming in here" Kheesth answered them, but fixed them both with a sharp glare soon after "don't copy that sound. You will get into trouble if you do" Not from her though, she could handle that thing easily, even without magic. They on the other hand would struggle since the unclear silhouette of the creature was roughly twice their size. If they copied that particular sound, then it might mistake them for her.

"Okay Kist" Halyan and Zeckul said simultaneously, the serpent half expected them to salute or something. But thankfully they didn't, instead they both shut up in order to watch the first of the suns begin to rise, heralding the start of the next day.

[Swix]

((Adding more because I have extra time to play with today, also I am bored ))

Kheesth, Zeckul and Halyan set off again, this time the two only stopped every so often in order to replenish their packs of food. There was plenty for them to eat though so it wasn't like they weren't spoilt for choice, and after their diet of mostly-nectar they were happy to eat everything but the sickly sweet produce of the flowers. The Tezcan Summoner kept a closer watch on their environment this time, but they mostly came across the Long Legs with their weirdly arranged body parts, who did as they had the day before and only gave them mildly curious looks.

That is, until the trio came across a much larger clearing, where Kheesth got her second glimpse of a Hard-Shell, Zeckul and Halyan their first. This one looked different to the ones that invaded before though, it was larger and its opposable pair of legs were equipped with one long spike each as opposed to claws. It was also standing on its claws in such a way that made it look as if it was trying to levitate itself off the ground through sheer will power alone, and making grinding, chomping noises with its teeth.

"That's a... " Zeckul began, before he trailed off as he realised that the Hard-Shell was not alone. He also stopped Kheesth lower hand, which had been on its way to hold his mandibles closed until she could determine whether or not they were out of danger. Halyan simply watched with wide eyes, her stump of a leg twitching nervously.

The Hard-Shell seemed to be guarding a hole in the ground, and as it moved position so did the creature it was guarding it against. The other creature had four red eyes, two set in the front facing position and two to either side, and its rounded head had a wide jaw that was currently open enough that not one, but two rows of teeth were exposed. The front row were fang-like, designed for grabbing and holding on to prey, whilst the second row were flat and looked far more suited to crushing harder tissue, such as the shell that protected the creature in front of it.

The predator also had a set of four small ears in a similar arrangement to its eyes, as well as a single nose. Its body was quite squat and muscular, designed for sprinting short distances rather than running for an extended amount of time, and its body was covered in fine purple hair. It also had six legs, on the end of each were three long, large toes with nasty looking claws on the end. It reminded the Tezcan of felines from other planets, it even moved with similar fluid gestures, surprisingly unhampered by the extra set of legs.

The predator emitted a low growl in response to the Hard-Shells chomping and grinding noise, confirming Kheesths suspicions that it was at least related to the creature she'd warned off last night. As they watched, the almost feline pounced on the Hard-Shell, but it was quick to jump back in pain as the creature jabbed at it with its long spikes, clearing almost two foot before it landed. The Hard-Shell made its chomping, grinding noise again but stay put, whatever was down there was worth putting its life on the line it seemed.

The purple predator growled and tried a different tactic, this time leaping just short and darting a paw out instead, flipping the unprepared Hard-Shell over onto its back before it ducked down its head. A crack sounded throughout the clearing as the shell gave way to the powerful jaws of the predator, and the Hard-Shell wasn't moving when the feline like creature brought its head back up with it in its mouth.

That wasn't the end of it though, as what sounded like a low rumble as of the patter of many clawed feet came to their ears. The feline like predator noticed too as it looked curiously at the hole, it was either inexperienced or this had never happened before. Kheesth instinctively backed away further, taking the two Yallians with her. She was right to as well, as one after another Hard-Shell burst through the hole, all of them resembling the first and began to mob the predator. The purple furred creature was quick to make a get away, leaping through the trees, straight past the trio and using its powerful legs to propel it as far away as possible.

The Tezcan plucked the two Yallians off the ground as the Hard-Shells continued their pursuit of the predator, covering the ground with their sheer numbers. It was a good thing despite the twos quickly subdued complaining, as they saw the very real danger of being trampled that they'd just been saved from. The Tezcan didn't leave them hanging though, she let them clamber up onto her lower hands so as they wouldn't be hurt.

Once the majority of the Hard-Shells had passed, they found they were not alone anymore. A small group of soldiers (as that's what these were, soldier types) now ringed around them, the menacing claws pointed in their direction. If Kheesth had the ability to, she probably would have frowned.

[3kul]

HollowEyes returned to see that not too many Holrysians had improved upon the communal house design, and most of them had tried to make other things instead of houses. Some had hollowed out the hard mushroom caps to find that they made decent boats, though not an awful lot had been done with the logs. HollowEyes spotted one Holrysian having made a staff of some kind out of a small branch with a fish skeleton tied to it which he thought was interesting, and upon noting this he saw many others rush up to this Holrysian to ask how he made it. HollowEyes decided to cut to the chase before they began to run about creating more staves.

"Listen up Holrysians - there is a new place for you to live out in the sea."

They all cheered at this prospect, despite having spent quite a large amount of time and effort building a home that they wouldn't use. Once again, HollowEyes found himself amazed at their unquestioning obedience to him. "It'll be good because, uh, there's plenty of food out there, and it's safe from any of the others living on this planet." Nobody seemed to be listening to that part, and they quickly swarmed HollowEyes so that he could carry them out there. He'd planned on taking the communal building with them, but he couldn't carry it with people swarming him like this...

Oh well, it wasn't anything too special, he could just leave it behind. HollowEyes walked back into the ocean, carrying the masses of Holrysians on his arms and head. It was a slower swim trying to make sure that nobody drowned (although to be fair, the Holrysians appeared to be accomplished swimmers for the most part), and so they had to wait a few hours before they arrived on the giant lilypad.

Once they did though, they were all quite amazed. They had never seen an 'island' before, and many of them thought that it was truly bizarre to be wandering about on top of what should've been water. HollowEyes tried his best to explain what had happened to Buuse Bef and how he'd become the plant that made up this island, but the only ones who seemed to understand it properly were the three wives of Buuse. In the end, HollowEyes decided that once again, it was easiest to lie to them, and said that upon taking his gift Buuse ascended and created this land for them. It wasn't terribly accurate, but it still left them with the right sort of feeling in HollowEyes' opinion.

As soon as the novelty wore off, many of the Holrysians began to dive into the water, swimming about. Of course, they couldn't go so deep as to see the bottom of the ocean like HollowEyes could, but they were very interested to explore their new surroundings. The underneath of the lilypad had a forest of root-like tendrils dangling all over it, most likely to prevent fish from eating the plant, as the few people who attempted to eat it found it unbearably bitter.

HollowEyes remained in the water as they explored the new plant home, watching on as several Holrysians made some unsuccessful attempts to catch some very familiar slimy fish. He was keeping an eye out for any larger fish that may take advantage of the new 'hive' that had suddenly appeared in the ocean, though thus far he hadn't spotted anything. With danger at a lull, he turned his thoughts to issues that would soon become pressing for the Holrysians - food, shelter and boredom. It'd be better to tackle these things before they became too problematic, but he didn't have too many good ideas just yet.

((Short post! ))

[3kul]

((Double-posting to split the updates))

The crowd roared as Drot the Liyaon fell to the ground. The pitiful creature, once the proud and tall leader of the Liyaons, was now nothing more than a dying cripple, his arms broken and his blood flowing out of his many wounds and into the dirt of the colloseum. An immense white figure stood above the rest, grabbing the victor of the fight and raising them high up for all to see.

~The winner, and your new Demi! Sorgo the Merciful!~

More cheering as Sorgo, still drenched in the blood of his adversary, gave a victory roar. He was so excited that he hadn't retracted his blood soaked arm-spines, as was usual courtesy after a fight, but nobody seemed to care.

With the 'election' over the colloseum emptied pretty quickly, for as their religion dictated the Liyaons must give the new leader time with their Goddess to establish how things were going to run until she next decided to appear. Drot was simply left dying in the dust, which was what he deserved by the teachings of their Goddess, the almighty Liyao.

"It honours me to serve you, almighty Liyao!" Sorgo shouted with great enthusiasm, finally sheathing his arm-spines. Little Sister wasn't terribly pleased to have Sorgo win the election, as he seemed more 'for the people' than the last leader, but he'd won the fight and so he deserved to lead for a little while. ~So what'd you have in mind for the future, Sorgo?~ Sorgo gave the bizarre upside-down grin that his species was capable of thanks to their overly large jaws, and began to detail the kinds of changes he planned on implementing. Nothing seemed terribly new or interesting to Little Sister, and it seemed for the most part that this would be a boring decade, until Sorgo mentioned something terribly displeasing.

"... And also, let me assure you that unlike my predecessor, I will hunt down all deserters ruthlessly." ~What did you say?!~ She mentally screamed, causing the vicious Sorgo to cower before her godly self. ~Nobody deserts their own race! That doesn't even make sense! Drot mentioned nothing like this!~ "It would seem that Drot kept secrets from you then... Let me assure you that I will not do the same, mighty Liyao." Sorgo grovelled, hoping to gain the favour of the Goddess. ~Oh, I know you won't Sorgo, but only because I'm not leaving this time. I'll be watching you day and night - the second you do something I don't like I will crush you.~

Sorgo was both terrified and thrilled, for whilst his life was at stake he was the first Liyaon ever to be able to rule whilst Liyao herself was actually present. "In that case, let me tell you my best plan." Sorgo replied, eager to please the Liyaon Goddess. She didn't expect much from Sorgo even with this supposed 'best' plan, but quickly found herself surprised. It wasn't nearly as violent or barbaric as she'd have liked it to be, but it was practically oozing with potential.

~So in short, your plan is to make a world map?~ She cut him off, feeling that he was getting far too carried away with his explanation. "Yes, almighty Liyao, so that we may spread your influence to all that exist in this realm... As long as I have your blessing, that is." She grinned and wove a tiny hand from a few strands of hair. ~Consider yourself blessed then. No better way to plan world conquest than with a world map.~ Sorgo was immensely pleased to hear Little Sister's positive reaction, and rushed off to start organizing the necessary expeditions.

Little Sister remained in the colloseum, feeling oddly nostalgic thanks to this Sorgo guy. He reminded her a lot of one of the first Liyaon rulers, who'd suggested this colloseum to her, an idea that she'd loved the second he mentioned it. She'd long forgotten his name, but he was one hell of a brutal leader, and had piqued her interest enough that she'd stuck around for his rule too. Fighting to the death had never been so popular as it was back then, though as it had almost decimated the entire population Little Sister no choice but to tell everybody to cut back on that sort of thing. Fighting was more complex now than it was back then, but nobody really ever showed bloodlust anymore, save for during election fights.

A war would definitely bring that viciousness back to the race, Little Sister thought to herself, or failing that, slaughtering a few inferior species for their land and resources would be just as good.