A Bit More Excitement

[chiannehere]

Iara opened her eyes.


She found herself crouched in a fetal position in front of a small tower of stones someone had put up. Looking down, she let out a sound of annoyance as she realized that she was practically naked, save for a straw blanket that someone somehow placed on her. 'They find a naked girl and leave her alone with a blanket?' And to think, she thought humans would be far more atrocious than that.


Iara looked behind her to observe the tower of stones she woke in front of. On the biggest stone, there was a carving of her symbol, a full-looking moon (not exactly full). The top of the biggest stone was littered with small candles, now melted into splatter-looking nubs of wax. Right behind her were clay plates, now empty and weathered down from years of being exposed to weather. This was one of her shrines and it was the picture of decay.


Stumbling on her legs, she stood up and took another good look at the shrine that used to be dedicated to her. It probably now served as a point of interest in order to get somewhere else. "If you turn right at this group of rocks, you'll find the village..," Iara muttered to herself, remembering the sometimes human voices she heard when they neared the shrine. Most of the time, she heard people talking about their inane lives; sometimes someone dared to murder someone else and hide the body near her shrine. The sacrifice would've given her power but no one knows about her nowadays. It was boring.


She turned around to look at the road. It was early morning and the chill made her shiver. She would have to find some way to procure some clothes, and while she probably can't die, this feeling was pretty uncomfortable. Iara could have started a fire but she wasn't sure if she had access to any of her powers this early in her human transformation. With that thought, she simply sat back down, leaning against her shrine. Someone will turn up eventually.

 

[AlphaDraco]

"Okay, I have take a right when I get to this group of rocks and it should be a straight shot to the village. I think..."


Xavier looked up from the tattered rag that was the remains of his map. The road before him was, well, not much of a road. It was more of a well-worn trail, created by the occasional fall of feet and hooves. It had been like this for the past several hours, and he couldn't help but wonder if he had taken the wrong path back at Sukon. Wouldn't be surprising, his map wasn't exactly the most up to date or intact thing in the world.


Xavier took one more look at the map before rolling it up and placing it in his pack. If he had taken the right path and the map was to be believed, then he would find the collection of rocks just over the next hill. If he was wrong, then he had a four hour hike back the way he came and an annulled contract in the next town.


Striding forward, he let his mind wander as he passed scattered trees and patches of grass. Normally, letting his guard down would have been incredibly stupid, but there were not supposed to be any real threats along this road. Not enough travelers went along this path to attract bandits and the soil wasn't rich enough in minerals to birth a troll. There were goblins that lived in makeshift tree forts, but they were just goblins.


It was about twenty minutes till he crested the hill, and another ten before he came across the odd cluster of stones. 'Huh. Seems to be the remnants of the tower if the positioning of the stones are correct. Wonder what it was for? Maybe it used to belong to a scholar or recluse?' Those would be the only to types of people who would live this far out anyway.


Being the adventurer that he was, Xavier could not help but take a closer look at the ruins. Maybe it would have some symbol or artifact that had been overlooked for all this time. It was not hard to believe, the general state of the dilapidated structure practically screamed worthless, but people like Xavier could never be too sure. So he closely studied the ruins as he approached, looking for any signs of, well, anything. It was because of his intense focus on the structure itself that Xavier did not notice the figure leaning against the ruin until he was right up near her.


"Okay, so no obvious symbols beside the weird circle thing on the rock, but there is candle wax and....." Xavier stopped as he looked down and saw a naked woman covered by a straw blanket. His face immediately turned bright red.


"Oh Bara! I-I'm sorry! I d-didn't see you there and-" Xavier stammered before realizing he was still looking at the lady. Quickly, he turned around to give her some privacy. Several years of traveling throughout the land, fighting monsters and getting into some of the worst situations possible, and he was made helpless by a naked girl on the side of the road.

 

[chiannehere]

Iara hadn't realized how tiring her transformation was until she started to doze off, waiting for somebody who had to come along this way. She thought she was hearing voices but it wasn't long until her eyes fluttered closed, the straw blanket rising and falling in tandem with her slow breathing. At a panicked voice, her eyes shot open and she turned around to face whoever decided to rouse her from her sleep. Sleep? Isn't that what humans do?


Her eyes narrowed as she took a good look at the man. It seemed that he was just trying to find his way around, probably using her shrine as something to base his directions off of, like usual. "What are you babbling on about? Have you never seen a naked woman before," she croaked and cleared her throat. After eons of basically talking to herself, she never thought that she would have to work on making the same sounds humans did. "Sorry, uh, it's been a while."


Iara stood up slowly, holding the blanket tighter around her as she turned to face him. "Would you be so kind as to procure some sort of clothing for me? I just woke up here."

 

[AlphaDraco]

"What. Yes, I mean, No? Umm, wait ahh..." Xavier was taken aback by the woman's response. Most women would have freaked out at the situation, or blinded him with magic if they were talented enough. It had happened before after all. Still, he was not expecting the almost condescending tone. At least that was what he guessed it was, it sounded like she hadn't spoke for quite a while.


Xavier took off and began to look through his bag, a wonderful device that seemed to hold more than it physically could, trying to find something the naked woman could use as clothing. "I don't really have anything you could wear besides this Dragonbane cloak," he said as he took out a ratty green looking garment. "It may not be much, but at least it will cover you up. And its fireproof, so there's that.."


Xavier held out the cloak to the side, trying not to look at his less than modestly dressed guest, one thing nagging at the back of his mind. "What do you mean you woke up here? Did someone kidnap you or something?"

 

[chiannehere]

"A cloak... better than nothing I suppose." Iara gratefully took it and donned it on her person, shedding the blanket. The cloak was much warmer than she thought, and like he said, it was fireproof. "This will do for now. I don't suppose you have better clothing somewhere else?" she asked, hoping that maybe there was more in that bag of his. If this was the first thing that he grabbed though, she shouldn't get her hopes too high. Maybe the town where he was headed to would have more clothes.


'Don't humans use currency?... I probably should have thought this through.' Iara brushed off the thought, telling herself that she would have to deal with it when the time came. She didn't have or know what options she had at the moment, anyway.


"Uhh... no." She quickly thought up of what choices she could make. She could either lie, and go along with his suggestion that she was abducted, but that required more of a back story that she didn't have time to think up. She could tell the truth, but who knows if he would believe her. The last time Iara made actual contact with humans was when they were speaking a more archaic language and fire was a luxury. 'Well... whatever he chooses to believe, I'll just set him on fire or something along those lines.'


"I'm a goddess. I decided to take on a human form because, believe it or not, being all godly isn't what it's all cracked up to be," Iara shrugged. "You humans lead much more interesting lives, I'm guessing. Where are you headed to? Are you off on an adventure? Or something of the sort?" She'd most likely tag along with anyone, as long as there's something out of it for her.

 

[AlphaDraco]

"Nope, I do not have anything else you can wear." Xavier said as he put back on his pack. "Unless you wear a size fairy of course, but I doubt that."


Now that the woman had donned a more appropriate outfit, Xavier could now actually look at his fellow traveler. Her appearance was quite odd, her facial features easily betraying a foreign origin. The real question was where she was from. Her eyes hinted at being from Ishar, though she could just as well be from any of the other kingdoms the resided on the Sian Peninsula. And was she slightly tinted red?


Xavier blinked and rubbed his eyes, and the tinted red was gone. It had probably been an optical illusion, or the side effect of staring directly at magic several dozen times. Either or. Then the woman said something he really wasn't expecting.


'Okay, she thinks that she is a goddess. She is insane,' was Xavier's first thought. A human couldn't be a god, and barely any of the deities were known for any humanoid forms. Isilith and Voluth were the only two that were worshipped that looked human, but Isilith was always portayed with shining golden locks, and Voluth was a guy. Xantos would have manifested as a storm or natural disaster, Gul as an enormous Eel, and Bara would have destroyed reality just from his appearance. So why would she even claim to be a goddess?


Xavier looked again at the face of the self-acclaimed goddess, at her Sianian features. 'Of course!" Xavier realized suddenly. 'Some of the Ishar kingdoms believed that their royalty were gods and goddesses in human form. She must be one of them.'


"Aye. Yes, your a goddess. Of course." Xavier said, trying to keep the humor out of his voice. The beliefs of those on the Sian Peninsula were absurd to him at the best of times. "May I ask what kingdom of the Sian Peninsula is yours? I could lead you back there after I fulfill as contract in the next town over?" If he played his cards right, Xavier could walk away from this with a full purse from a grateful kingdom.

 

[chiannehere]

Before Iara could think about why on earth he would have fairy-sized clothing, he interrupted her thoughts. He questioned her about a Sian Peninsula and what kingdom she owned. "Is that where all the other deities reside?" she asked, slightly confused. Why bring up some foreign land unless... he didn't believe her. She should've expected such. She did expect such and she could still feel the blow to her psyche. "Iara? Goddess of the Red Moon? Personification of the color red: war; passion; pure, unadulterated desire?" How many years had it been since she stepped foot on the land anyway?


She leaned against the rocks she awoke in front of, eliciting a sigh. "If you want proof or whatever, I'll give it to you," Iara shrugged. It was probably enough time for her to regain her powers quite a bit. "As for you, you didn't answer my question. Where are you headed off to?"

 

[AlphaDraco]

Xavier was a bit confused by the question. Did she not know the other kingdoms on her continent? Perhaps one of the Sian families kept their daughters withheld and ignorant of the world, there were worst things that some royal families did. Still, he had to play along with what she believed, otherwise it might end badly for everyone involved.


He nodded as he spoke, maintaining his humorless voice the best he could, which was getting increasingly difficult. "Yep, it is where other gods and goddesses live. Your divine family must be so worried about you being so far away."


Before he could inquire about the other members of her family, probably the best way to discover where she was from, she told him her name. "Goddess of the Blood Moon Iara?" The name was vaguely familiar, conjuring the image of faded text in an ancient tomb of the golems. Though the divine families of the Sian Peninsula were old, they were not even close to the age of golem ruins, which had existed since they were first tasked with shaping the world. Still, Xavier had to respond, and it was better to be truthful about his ignorance than to continue forward like he knew who she was.


"I'm sorry. I do not know who that goddess- I mean, who 'you' are. Never heard of you in my life. No need to show me proof, I definitely believe you. One hundred percent." Xavier gave himself a mental pat on the back for correcting himself. Deities the divine families may not be, but powerful mages they were. Her proof may cause another incident like the one in which he acquired the fairy clothing. Good Bara he did not want to go through that again.


"Anyway, I was just heading to Nottingwood for a contract I have to complete. Its just to the right of this pile of rocks." Xavier looked over at the sad ruins. "Its a shame to see that whatever stood here before is gone now. Whatever hermit built the place must have put a lot of time and effort into it."

 

[chiannehere]

"A family... That, I don't have." Iara was getting impatient with this human's stubbornness. If he didn't believe her, then he should say so. That was the principle of the whole situation. But no, he decided to go along with whatever she was saying, maybe testing the waters to see what he would get out of all of this. What insolence! There had to be some familiarity to her name. When the man still didn't comprehend, a sudden depression enveloped her being. 'Is this what it feels like to be forgotten?' With a smirk and a sniffle, she pushed herself off of the rocks and stretched her arms.


Despite him saying that there was no need for proof, she would give him proof, whether he liked it or not. There had to be something she could do to give her some sort of credibility. Iara squarely looked the man in the eyes again. She had promised herself that she would do no harm to any human, unless they actively tried to harm her but she let the promise to herself slide. She thought about how she needed to see to what extent her powers in her human form could go to.


At the mention of the decaying ruins, her mind went blank. Her left eye twitched. "A hermit?" She chuckled, a deep laugh wanting to burst out of her in both exasperation and anger. "Young man, this... shrine was built by many people way before your time. There was feast and celebration, sacrifice and adoration!" Iara could almost hear the sounds of the wailing prisoners of war her followers would bring before her, whose cries stopped short soon after. She could almost smell the delicious food they made in her name; she was given the best parts of every animal they hunted around the area. She could feel the hands of her followers on her statued hands, praising her and wishing good will and luck in battle. Those years were now gone.


In a whirlwind of emotions, Iara willed the man's body to heat up to uncontrollable measures, somehow wanting to see blood. Blood. A substance she practically bathed in eons before. 'An ever-flowing nosebleed should do just the trick.'

 

[AlphaDraco]

Xavier suddenly felt bad for Iara. She did not have a family, probably being killed off shortly after she was born. She seemed depressed as she lay back against the rock. Xavier could not help but be glad that he had known his family growing up, even if he had been the black sheep of the bunch. His sympathy for the faux-goddess made the burst of anger that came next all the more surprising.


Without context, her rant made little sense. Why did she care about these specific ruins? How did she know of its history? Why was it getting so hot?


The sudden and unexpected wave of heat took Xavier completely off guard. It felt like it was coming from within himself, radiating from his core, like he was sick with the Green. As if it couldn't get any worse, he felt a warm trickle come from his nose. He was having a nosebleed. Now Xavier was scared.


"What is going on?!?" Xavier, not waiting for an answer, slung his pack to the ground and tore through its contents. His training and experience took over as he searched for something to put this off, whatever it was. It definitely wasn't a natural illness, its onset was too fast, so the herbs and potions wouldn't work. If it wasn't natural, then it must have been magical in origin, a curse, and those were much harder to cure.


Xavier was getting desperate as he waded through more and more of his inventory, not seeing anything that could fix it. Then a faint, blue glow suffused the bottom of his bag. An Isilith flower. Reaching down, he pulled out the jar that had once been filled by the rare flora. Now there was only one. He used a lot with his luck.


Twisting off the top of the bottle, he grabbed the luminescent flower and held it up to his eye. The glow intensified, drawing the malignant magic out of his body and into the flower itself, dimming the poor plant until it had absorbed it all, leaving it blackened and dead.


"Is-is it out? Am I cured?" Xavier patted himself down and wiped away the nose bleed, the extra heat from his body leaving him. "Okay, I am good. Nothing abnormal now." Xavier let out a sigh of relief before turning to look at his guest. The only person around who could have done anything.


"Two questions. Why and how?"

 

[chiannehere]

Iara felt the swell of satisfaction fill her being as he watched the man try to alleviate the burning sensation she started within him. Her hand unconsciously clenched, willing to let the burning go even longer and hotter if it wasn't for the flower he pulled out of his pack. She squinted and wondered how such a tiny, fragile thing was able to overcome the magic she placed upon him. The world had grown around her, and she cursed at herself for not paying enough attention. What good of a goddess is she if whatever magic she does could be rendered useless?


With an exasperated sigh, she leaned against the rocks again. Touching the rubble somehow made her regain her senses. "I lost my temper," Iara simply answered. "I am...was...known for my anger, especially when dealing with insolent humans much like you," she seethed, yet the acceptance of her place in the world made her statement less scathing and more pitiful. She furrowed her brow and continued, "I have a special connection with blood. I could do so much worse to you, but I didn't. Because you are my ticket to excitement."


"Let me accompany you on this journey or whatever you're doing and there may be a little something out of all of this. Have you ever been blessed by a goddess, young man?" She made an inviting look, remembering the false promises she made to those curious to further her own ends. If the man gave her what she wanted, then she could be genuine for one of the few times in her life. While she can't go back in time or raise the dead, she could bestow a sort of bloodlust, useful in battle. Or something along those lines; it had been a while since she truly granted any of her followers a gift.

 

[AlphaDraco]

"You lost your temper..." Xavier leaned against the old ruin, dumbfounded at her answer. 'Because of course when I get angry at someone, I immediately curse them and smile while watching. Yeah, sure.' Xavier silently continued, not dumb enough to openly berate the magic lady who was apparently a goddess. A goddess prone to anger. And who found him insolent.


Xavier started laughing. It was just his luck to run into a forgotten goddess that is the manifestation of blood and anger. One who could do terrible things to him if he pissed her off. It would not be so bad if they could go separate ways, but she also wanted to stick around and be her 'ticket to excitement,' whatever a ticket was.


Xavier started laughing again when she asked if had ever been blessed by a goddess. "That, right there, is by far the funniest thing I have ever heard. Everyone who even remotely knows me asks if I have been cursed at birth." He paused to catch his breath before pointing to himself and continuing. "I am the single unluckiest person ever to exist. I am the walking incarnation of the phrase 'anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.' So, no, I have never been blessed by a god before."


As if to make his point, the ruin he was leaning against crumbled apart, causing him to flail and fall.


"See what I mean?" He asked as he rubbed the swelling goose egg on the back of his head. "If you want to see the worst the world has to offer, if you want to constantly fall into traps, dungeons, and ambushes, if you want to be randomly attacked by bandits, monsters, and demons, then sure, stick with me."

 

[chiannehere]

Iara could feel the heat rise on her face when he laughed, and continued to laugh as she explained herself. She guessed humans weren't as idiotic as they were, once upon a time. Instead of feeling proud that this race improved throughout the years, she was embarrassed. She could have kept her mouth shut, but if she did, she would still be naked, and most likely captured by someone more devious than the man in front of her seemed. She opened her mouth to interject at his laughter, but was cut short, embarrassed enough to feel the heat on her palms, wafts of smoke rising from her ears.


The 'cursed at birth' aspect of him intrigued her a bit, though. Did his parents so something so vile that some wandering god inflicted their wrath on the child? Or was it just a curse that just happened to hit the wrong person at the wrong time? Somehow the latter seemed more likely, and the shame slowly left her body. It definitely felt like a curse how strongly she could feel such emotions; a side effect of her human form, it looked like.


When the ruins behind him fell, Iara felt more of that anger she directed toward him but as he had demonstrated, whatever curse she'd inflict upon him would just be whisked away. Like that. Instead of outwardly portraying her anger, she took a couple of deep breaths, the area around her getting hotter as she expelled whatever energy built up inside of her. 'Emotions. Bah!' But the man's offer seemed compelling. Iara fed off of danger, and it looked as if he was the only one to grant it to her. "I'll join you. You will prove more interesting than the common man." She neared him, the heat emanating from her still as strong, and looked around them. "Where were you off to again?" How sheepish she felt, not knowing where anything was.

 

[AlphaDraco]

Xavier tried not to laugh again as smoke billowed out of the goddess's ears. At least if he ever made her angry again, he would be able to see that wonderful display again. It would be worth it, despite the pain and embarrassment she could wrought on him. She was the deity of blood, war, and desires, so her interactions with society would probably get them run out of several towns at least.


"Anyway," Xavier said as he picked himself off the ground. "I was heading down that way to Nottingwood when this whole series of events went down." He pointed to the bend in the road that turned right at the edges of the ruin. "Its a pretty small town,which is good because you need to work on people skills, but I do have to fulfill a contract there." He looked up at the position of the sun in the sky, showing that there was about five hours left of daylight. "If we make a decent pace, we can be there by sundown." And with that, Xavier picked up his bag and began to walk.


After a while, Xavier's curiosity began to get the better of him. If the woman next to him was a goddess, then she must know the other gods, and Xavier had a lot of questions about them.


"So..." Xavier said, darting his eyes to look at the goddess, "Have you met the other gods? What is Bara like? My golem pal is always praising him, talking of how he created everything. The universe, the planets, even creation itself was created by him. Heck, its said his existence caused the creation of the other gods. So, whats it like being around him?"

 

[chiannehere]

As soon as the man started walking, Iara followed after, keeping pace with him. She never realized how uncomfortable she felt in just a cloak until they started moving. What a disgusting feeling. No wonder most humans are crabby at times. "How do you live like this," she muttered under her breath as she slightly struggled with moving alongside him. Legs were a new concept to her, not having much of a human-like form before all of this. After just a few minutes, she instinctively grabbed his arm, her grip hard. "I, uh, sorry." Iara quickly let go of him, soon finding a sizeable enough branch to lean on and use as a cane.


Wait, isn't this was older human used? Well, she couldn't think about that now. She'd rather use something to help rather than fall on her bottom and embarrassing herself again. Maybe she'd look more menacing this way. Maybe. She did get that old withered vibe as she leaned on the branch, managing to keep alongside him.


Iara mulled over the question he asked, trying to remember if she did come across any other deities in her time. Most likely, although she mostly remembered days spent alone, visiting a shrine of hers or two. The name Bara seemed familiar at least. "Do you think us gods and goddesses talk to each other on a daily basis?" she asked him, posing a question of her own. "Bara is familiar. Whether he did create everything, I cannot answer. Perhaps you could ask him yourself?" Surely humans had some sort of way they could communicate with other deities, it wasn't like she herself bothered with the rest of them.

 

[AlphaDraco]

Xavier stopped walking when Iara fastened her grip on his arm, her fingers as strong as iron. She was surprisingly powerful despite her feminine appearance. This impression was short lived as the mortalized deity began using a branch similar to an old man's cane.


'I guess she hasn't gotten her human legs yet.' Xavier thought as he wondered why she was having such difficulty walking.


Xavier felt his spirits drop as Iara spoke. He had hoped that meeting a goddess, even one that was forgotten, would give him some knowledge and insight into the more well known and probably more powerful deities. Alas, it was not to be.


"Yeah, I thought that the gods would communicate with each other. Koz and Xantos were said to communicate often, and Isilith and Voluth are supposed to work together to balance life and death."


Xavier stopped and thought. Did the gods communicate with mortals? There were prophets of course, but the only prophet of Bara had been the First Golem, the progenitor of his race and carver of the continents, and the only way to communicate with him, without prayer as that was rather one way, would be his resting place. "Speaking to Bara is a bit more complicated than you might think. While there are temples and priests to him, the only way to actually communicate with him would be to go to the Golem's holy city of First Son's Peak. And that is located at the center of the largest desert on the planet. Even if I could get there, there is no guarantee I could talk to him. The artifact of the First Golem is known to be very picky on who can use it."


Xavier continued walking for a bit before something began to nag him. "Why does no one know of you? It cant be because of your more dark powers, Koz is still worshipped and he created dragon-storms. Heck, I know three species of the top of my head that would like a deity like you to be there center of worship, so what gives?"

 

[chiannehere]

Iara could feel the disappointment hanging onto him as he mulled over her answer. It didn't seem like humans nowadays thought much of their deities, although that was more is based on her predicament. She felt sorry that she wasn't able to say more about it, but then suddenly berated herself for feeling such. Human emotions seemed violent and ever-changing, she observed. She listened as the man spoke on about the gods he believed in, how they seemed to have great responsibilities. They seemed scarier than she was believed to be.


She frowned. Iara would think that there would be an easier way to communicate with a god. "Isn't that... a bit tedious?" she asked, a small questioning smile on her face. There had to be an easier way, what with all the magic milling about. She picked at the peeling bark off her stick as they continued to walk, soon getting used to putting her weight on her new legs. "Anyways, tell me more about Koz and Xantos and Bara. Maybe I'll remember who they are in a moment." Her head felt fuzzy, a feeling that she hadn't noticed earlier.


Golem's holy city...the First Son's Peak... Why did everything sound so unfamiliar to her? Was this the same land she tended to? It felt like just a few years ago. How time seemed to spit in her face right then.


When he asked about why she was forgotten, Iara stopped. The feeling grew to a pulsing pain in her head. "I... I can't remember," she muttered, wobbling a bit. She remembered herself at her peak, gradually slowing down to a mere listen-in on humans every once in a while, but what did she do after then? What had she done the last few years? The more she racked her human brain, the more the stinging pain spread through her skull. It was as if her body didn't want her to remember. Her inability to give him a straight answer, just made her more frustrated, the heat of her body rising to an unimaginable degree. Her eyes glowed a bright white for a moment, and then stopped. Iara fell to the ground, unconscious.

 

[chiannehere]

Iara opened her eyes. She felt as if she had gone through the same thing before.


"Why the hell did I just black out like that?" She muttered to herself, silently cursing her human form. She probably should have taken to account how physically weak they were, although a headache like that wasn't something to ignore. Her vision was initially blurred, so she figured that her companion took her to some inn and left her there. She wrinkled her nose as she tried to remember what happened. He asked her about why she was forgotten, and she guessed all hell broke loose that way. Well, she wasn't nothing if it weren't for her theatrics.


Once her vision cleared up, she moved her arms to push herself off of what seemed like to be a hard bed. Or more like tried to move her arms. Her eyes widened as she tried to wriggle her hands, bound together by rope. Her legs were the same way. 'Are you fucking kidding me?' At first, she blamed him, the man, for taking advantage of her poor self when she was left unconscious. She was wrong about him, and was about to go off on a tirade when she squinted her eyes to take notice the mass next to her. It was him. Xavier. Tied up just as she was.


The whole event made her all the more angry. Why didn't he try to protect her? Or at least, try to revive her when they were in danger somehow. Despite all this emotion that seemed to be bubbling inside of her, Iara showed no outward signs of it. Her powers seemed to be muted, or shut off. The realization made her go cold. As if she wasn't annoyed already by their predicament. Reaching around, she looked to see if there was anyone else and concluded that they were alone. Great. At least their captors let her keep the cloak for some odd reason.


'Hey.... You, get up!" Iara squirmed over and rolled around until her legs could reach him, her feet nudging his back. She hoped he wasn't dead or something of the sort.

 

[AlphaDraco]

Xavier ran. They were after him, hooves kicking up dirt as they lowered their horns. For the thirteenth time, strings of curses flew from his lips to the bird that decided to drop red berries on him while he tended the bulls. The profanity did nothing to stop the enraged bovines as they raced towards their splattered red target. Xavier gave his last burst of speed, using every ounce of energy to outrun the bulls. A horn nudged his backside.


"Ah! No! No! Stay away you bovine bas-" Xavier thrashed awake, only being held back by the ropes bound around his hands, arms, and legs. Slowly, he ceased his movements. "Why the hell am I tied up?"


From what he could see, there wasn't much to see. It was a plain looking cobblestone floor, a little worse for ware. The wall he was facing looked the same as the floor, and he could not see the ceiling from his vantage point.


The only other thing that he could sense in the room was the angry breathing coming from right behind him.


"Who's there?" Xavier asked as he twisted and contorted his body until he could turn to see the person behind him. He was greeted with the angry face of Iara. "Oh. Hey Iara... Why are we.. Do you know why..." Xavier decided it was better to shut his mouth.

 

[chiannehere]

Iara couldn't help but titter to herself as she watched Xavier audibly move around in whatever trance he seemed to be in. All things considered, she was grateful that he was still alive and kicking. If he was dead, well... she'd have to think of another way to incur her wrath on the person who made this all happen. The thought scared her though; if this person had something to keep her powers in check, then what power did she really have in the human world? It changed too much too quickly, she thought.


She turned her head to see Xavier waking from what seemed to be a fitful dream. Bah, to be dreaming in a predicament like this! She nudged him with her foot again and sighed. "I don't know. No. And no, to answer whatever questions you may have," Iara replied, a frown on her face. "I'd feel a lot better about this predicament if I had proper clothes..." she trailed off, the cloak still a blanket over her frame. This was annoying, this whole thing was annoying. It made her face turn a slight shade of pink, she was that annoyed. "All I remember was... pain." She puffed her cheeks out as she gave a long exhale. She fainted, an embarrassing realization that just made her even more annoyed. "I hate feeling whatever that was and all this uncomfortable..." Iara muttered to herself as she tried to move her arms and legs, wanting to wrench herself out of the bounds.