Untold Retribution [An Eld Character Tale] - Ch 4 Up!

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Untold Retribution [An Eld Character Tale] - Ch 4 Up!

Postby scmarshtacky » Mon May 11, 2015 11:29 pm

This is a story I've been thinking about for quite some time, though I haven't written much of it yet. Figured I'd go ahead and put it here for thoughts, opinions, critiquing, ect. I'm also hoping actually posting it will inspire me to work on this a little more frequently.

Notes:
~ I will try my hardest to keep everything accurate with the lore. If you see a problem, you are free to politely comment and correct me.
~ Comments and kind critiques are welcome.
~ This is the first story I've written that the entirety of the plotline isn't completely clear in my head. This may be good or bad, only time and more chapters will tell.
~ Enjoy ~


Summary wrote:Ishkeir lived the entirety of his youth on the peaceful Floating Isles of the Avains. That was, until a mysterious individual broke into the Buteo mansion one night and left destruction in their wake. The incident has forced Ishkeir to travel down to the main land of Eldemore, but finding one individual amongst thousands is no easy task. Although, blending in with humans while hunting for the strange person may prove to be even more difficult.
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Re: Untold Retribution [An Eld Character Tale]

Postby scmarshtacky » Mon May 11, 2015 11:30 pm

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Re: Untold Retribution [An Eld Character Tale]

Postby scmarshtacky » Mon May 11, 2015 11:31 pm

Chapter 1


Ishkeir’s sword connected with his opponent’s. With a slight twisting of his wrist, the man’s grasp on his weapon was broken. Ishkeir pressed forward, and the so-called warrior fell backward in an attempt to get away. Dorian, as the man was called, landed ungracefully on his bottom.

“Ah, I’ll never be able to beat you Ishkeir,” he said with a good-natured laugh.

Ishkeir scowled. “No, you won’t with moves as clumsy as that. Are you an Avian or an elephant?”

Again Dorian laughed. Rolling his eyes and the blundering “warrior”, Ishkeir turned back toward the mansion he called home. It was built from the finest of Eldemore’s timber, and was nearly as old as the great Oblivion War. The inside was decorated with a multitude of nice furnishings ranging from paintings of his ancestors, to polished weaponry, to tapestries of his family’s crest. It was almost as well decorated as a noble’s abode. Almost.

“Ishkeir?”

Ishkeir came to a halt in the hallway as his father’s voice sounded from a room to his right. He backtracked a step, and turned into the large room. It was barren accept for a small table in the center of the room. Two large bamboo sliding doors were situated in the back of the room. They opened toward the east garden, and were nearly always open, except for today.

“I thought you were sparring with Dorian?” his father said when Ishkeir moved inside.

Ishkeir sat down cross-legged, and leaned back against the think wooden walls. “I wasn’t sparring with him. He’s an oaf of an Avian father. He needs to be put back in training.”

His father gave a long sigh and absentmindedly smoothed out a couple of the feathers on his long, dark brown wings. Ishkeir had taken after his mother in the color of his feathers; his wings started in a soft red-brown with light highlights at his shoulders and faded into a patchwork of dark brown and white feathers at the end. His hair was similar in color.

When his father looked back at him again, his keen, golden eyes bared into Ishkeir’s. Those golden eyes he had inherited. “Ishkeir, you have to stop this foolishness of beating up the family and then storming away.”

Ishkeir cocked his jaw and shifted his eyes to the side wall. “It’s their own fault for not being strong enough. Besides, they’re from the side branches of the family anyway.”

“It does not matter!” his raised tone caught Ishkeir’s attention immediately. His soft-hearted father never raised his voice. “We all hail from the Buteo line. We Avians are few and far between, even on these floating isles, you know that. Picking a fight with the rest of the family and with the other lines just to satisfy your own boredom is not acceptable.”

“Then why don’t you find someone that can put up a better fight!” Ishkeir snapped, standing up, whirling around and storming from the room. He was sick and tired of being confined to this place with nothing to do for entertainment. His father may be the head of the Buteo line, but in Ishkeir’s mind, he certainly didn’t act like it.

As Ishkeir rounded the back side of the mansion, a squawking caught his attention. Looking up, he saw his bonded griffin circling above his head. “Haku!” he called, and the mighty creature responded by moving lower until it landed a meter away from Ishkeir.

He took a step forward to stroke the golden brown griffin, and in return Haku nipped affectionately at his ear. He’d known the griffin since childhood, and he was the only individual Ishkeir considered a friend.

Continuing his walk, Ishkeir headed east. Haku followed him, still begging for a bit of attention. It didn’t take long to reach Ishkeir’s favorite spot on the floating Isles. The ground formed a nice hill; but venturing down the hill, one would find that the ground quickly turned from a nice slope to a sheer cliff, marking the edge of the Isle.

Below, on a clear day, one could see the main land of Eldemore far below. Today was one of those clear days. Ishkeir lay down at the top of the hill, and stared up at the sky while imagining the noise of a bustling town down below.

Haku laid beside him, and Ishkeir stroked the soft fur on back. “They just don’t get it,” he muttered absentmindedly to the griffin. “I’ve been trained as a warrior. I’m supposed to be fighting, but up here in this wretchedly peaceful place, there won’t ever be anything to fight. What the hell is the point of being a warrior then!”

Haku cawed at Ishkeir’s shout, in a manner that make him think that his bonded friend agreed with him. Ishkeir wondered, not for the first time, if life down on the main land was different.

He had never met a human himself, but he had heard the stories of their foolishness and violence. Then there were the wolf-kin, rumored to be wild and chaotic. He figured the lot would be relatively entertaining, or at least more so than the other Avians on the Isles.

Ishkeir was pulled from his thoughts as Haku bit at his ear. “What?” he sighed, mildly annoyed to be broken from his daydreaming. He hadn’t realized the sun was already beginning to set over the horizon, and now that he paid attention, he could hear his mother’s voice calling his name in the distance. With a groan, he pulled himself to his feet and headed back up the hill toward the house.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *


It was early in the morning when Ishkeir awoke suddenly; the sky was pitch black outside and the sun still hours away from rising. He sat up slowly, wondering who dared to wake him up at such an ungodly time.

For a moment, all was utterly silent, and then Ishkeir picked up a strange rustling. Not like that of a mouse or insect. It was larger, but quieter. Something about the noise sent chills down his spine. He grabbed the daggers he kept near his bedside and shifted toward the door.

He paused for only a split second before flinging it open. He caught a hurried movement out of the corner of his eye, but the shadow had already disappeared around the adjacent hallway. Ishkeir sprinted after it and flung himself around the corner.

He fully expected to have caught up to the shadow. His speed was almost unrivalled after all, but when he turned, the thing had already disappeared. Ishkeir hesitated for only a second before rushing forward and throwing open the doors to the outside.

A quick scan of the yard, and he found the figure moving off to the northwest. Ishkeir wasted not a second chasing after it. Now that he could get a clearer view, he could see that it was definitely a person, but they wore a large black cloak, hiding their entire figure. The only thing Ishkeir could say for certain was that the person was shorter than himself.

He didn’t suspect them to be an Avian based on their stature, but their speed was incredible. If not Avian, then what were they? And why would another race be in their house at this time in the morning? How did they even get up to the Isles in the first place?

Ishkeir was just few meters away now, and they were running straight toward the edge of the Isle. Ishkeir slowed ever so slightly, a triumphant smirk covering his face. The person had no choice now but to stand and face him in a fight. If they jumped, they would surely die.

However, to Ishkeir’s utter astonishment, the person did not slow down; they sped up, and threw themselves right off the edge of the Isle.

It took Ishkeir half a second to process what had just happened. Looking over the edge, he could see the individual in freefall.

Why...? Was the only thing that came to Ishkeir’s mind. The only thing that awaited them now was death. Or so he thought until he saw the form of a griffin circle around the edge of the Isle, swoop under the individual, and catch them on its back.

Ishkeir was fully prepared to dive off after them when a distant scream from the house made him pause. His eyes flashed to the disappearing person, back to the house and back again. Clenching his teeth, he whirled around and jogged back toward the mansion with a silent vow to track down the intruder later.



A/N - First chapter up! Sorry it's so short. It always takes me a chapter or two to really get going. The next will be longer. The autocorrect on my PC has also randomly decided to die for no reason, so if I misspelled something here, I apologize. Just let me know and I'll fix it. Feel free to post any and all comments here. ^^
I hope you enjoyed~

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Re: Untold Retribution [An Eld Character Tale]

Postby scmarshtacky » Thu May 14, 2015 10:31 pm

Chapter 2



The situation inside, Ishkeir would’ve never imagined. Blood covered the floor of his father’s bedroom. There was so much if it, he couldn’t even tell where the original wound was. His mother was crying loudly, but Ishkeir just felt utterly numb.

How was such a thing even possible? The Avian race should be the strongest there was, or so he was always led to believe. How could someone have slipped in unnoticed and murdered his father? The numb feeling was beginning to fade, replaced not with sadness, but with a deep rage and a desire to utterly destroy the individual that had the gall to come up here to their peaceful Isle to do... this.

“Hey you,” Ishkeir rounded on a house servant that was halfway hiding behind the doorway to the room. “Start cleaning this blood up.” He maneuvered around the pool as best he could and carefully picked up his father’s limp body.

“You should call the rest of the family,” Ishkeir said to his still-distraught mother. “They need to know.”

She didn’t respond to him, but Ishkeir was quite certain that she’d heard what he had said. He trudged through the house toward the large inner parlor where he laid him down softly on the floor. “Stupid old man,” he whispered softly, though his voice was not harsh. “This is what you get for being too laid back in life.”

By noon, nearly the entire extended family had gathered in the mansion. A heavy and dark silence hung over the lot of them. Most were too shocked to cry, let alone speak.

Ishkeir sat against the back wall of the parlor watching the others come, stare at the body of his father, and then leave with a numb expression. Ishkeir remained silent as well, but not from shock; he was too busy thinking about how he would catch the individual that had caused this mess.

“Ishkeir.”

Ishkeir’s concentration broke as a husky voice summoned him. He didn’t have to look up to realize it belonged to the head of the largest branch in the Buteo line, Regis, his great uncle. Looking up at the older avian, Ishkeir wondered if he had gotten more white feathers since he’d seen him last. His wings and hair were already a patchwork of white and brown, but Ishkeir could swear there was now more white than any other color.

“What?”

“We’d like to speak with you, if you have a moment.”

‘We,’ Ishkeir realized, was a group of five men, each the head of their respective branch. They were scattered about the room, but were all staring in his direction.

“Fine.” Ishkeir muttered, pulling himself to his feet and heading out of the doors first. He traveled through the familiar maze of hallways until he arrived at a bare room situated in the back. It seemed like a quiet place to him. There was no designated meeting room in the house as the whole family very rarely had any sort of meeting. Ishkeir could only ever remember one, and that had happened nearly a century ago.

“So? What do you want?” Ishkeir asked bluntly when the small group had settled themselves on the ground.

“We heard that the young master witnessed the event...” the oldest of the group ventured. Ishkeir thought his name was Asius, but knew little else about the individual. The branch he led was the smallest, and he very rarely communicated with the rest of the line.

“The only thing I did was chase after the individual as they fled.” Ishkeir responded. “They wore a black cloak, so I couldn’t see any distinguishing features, but they weren’t an avian.”

A brief silence settled over them before they each turned to each other and began to whisper amongst themselves.

“I can’t believe this... this thing murdered Master Caesis.”

“If they got the Master, they must be incredibly strong.”

“How will we protect ourselves?”

“What if –”

“I’m going after them,” Ishkeir interrupted. He’d already promised himself that he would get vengeance, and if it took him to the edge of Eldemore, then so be it.

“But Ishkeir, you’re the head now,” his great uncle said. “You can’t up and leave.”

Ishkeir scowled at the older man. “I will find the person that did this, and I will end them. You can’t stop me. You can take over while I’m gone,” he said with a casual wave in Regis’s direction as he headed toward the door. There was a chorus of protest behind him, but Ishkeir paid the others no mind. He was on a mission and they wouldn’t stop him. Even if they wanted to, they didn't have the power to restrain him.

Ishkeir passed by his room on his way, grabbing the few essential things he had. He strapped his two daggers to each side of his hip and shoved the other items into a small bag. It was surprising to him how taking away a few things left the room nearly barren.

Ishkeir found it almost sad that in this life of relative luxury, the only things that he valued were his weapons, a few sets of clothes, his bedroll, and of course, Haku.

The sky was already darkening when he stepped outside once more with his bag of trinkets tossed over his shoulder. The servants of the house already had the wood set for a fire in the western courtyard. Ishkeir figured it wouldn’t be long now before his father’s body was brought for cremation.

Almost as soon as the thought entered his mind, he saw them walk from the house. His father’s body was laid out on an ornate, wooden carrier. To Ishkeir, it looked like a fancy stretcher. The wood was painted a deep red, treads of golden cloth hung off the sides in a crisscrossing pattern, and gems of garnet were embedded in the wood. Handles extended out at each corner. Regis, Asius, and two of the other men Ishkeir had sat with earlier (for the life of him he couldn’t remember their names), were the four carrying the body.

Ishkeir couldn't help but note that his father's face was very peaceful, as if he were merely sleeping. The blood had been completely cleaned off of his feathers, so that they shone a bright copper color in the sunset.

The men placed the carrier over the wood and a couple of the servants lit the wood. It burst immediately into a bright red flame that perfectly matched sky around the setting sun. Ishkeir’s gaze slowly drifted upward were the first few stars were beginning to shine in the night sky.

“When an Avian dies,” his father used to say, “their souls fly up to the night sky. We Avians are the embodiment of freedom because we were blessed with the ability to fly. The souls of Avians will always be restless, and that’s why the stars travel across the sky throughout the year.”

Looking up at those stars now, Ishkeir fantasized that his father’s soul was one of them. “Goodbye old man,” he whispered.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *


Most of the family had left by the time Ishkeir’s mind drifted back to reality. The flames of the fire had been reduced to small embers and the sun had long since set, filling the black sky with thousands of stars.

Ishkeir hadn’t meant to stand around for as long as he had. Flying down to the mainland of Eldemore in the total darkness wasn’t ideal, but he didn’t want to waste more valuable time sitting around in the house.

He took a quick sideways glance at his mother, who was still kneeling by the glowing embers. Losing two people in one day wouldn’t be easy for her he knew, but he also figured that if he approached her about his departure, she would do everything in her power to stop him. Ishkeir didn’t want to deal with that. Regis could tell her about it later.

Ishkeir headed slowly around the back of the house and toward the edge of the Isle. He gave a loud whistle on his way, and by the time he had reached the cliff, Haku had drifted over to his direction. The southern side of the Isle was far steeper than either the western or eastern sides. It made it the perfect spot for taking off.

“Let’s go find that wretch!” Ishkeir unfurled his wings and launched himself off the side of the Isle. He allowed himself to freefall for a second before pushing down hard with his wings and catching himself on a current.

He drifted for a second with Haku an arm’s length away, and scanned the area below him. Fortunately, the night was incredibly clear. A nearly full moon hung in the sky directly overhead, but Ishkeir found that it did little to illuminate the intense darkness below.

He was beginning to think that launching himself into a land foreign to him in the middle of the night wasn’t such a brilliant plan when a flicker of light to his right caught his attention. Ishkeir changed his direction and Haku responded appropriately, circling around Ishkeir.

Ishkeir couldn’t tell how long they had gone on for. At some point in time, he settled himself on Haku’s back for faster flying, but no matter how long they went, the light didn’t appear to be getting bigger. How far down as the mainland anyway, and how large was it? There was little else to look at either, other than the intense darkness, which made for an incredibly boring flight.He was tired too from waking up so early that morning. It would be so easy to just fall asleep...

Haku gave a short caw and Ishkeir startled. He didn’t remember dozing off, but his arms were wrapped loosely around Haku’s neck and he had laid down across his back.

Propping himself up again, Ishkeir realized that the sky had a light gray hue, and the light that they’d been chasing most of the night turned out to be a huge number of lights spanning across a vast city. In the center stood what looked to Ishkeir like a grand palace. It radiated most of the light in the area. Ishkeir could also vaguely make out water channels that weaved around the city. The whole area was surrounded by a large white wall.

After a moment of thought, Ishkeir directed Haku toward the dimmer area of the city, hoping it would mean less individuals. At his urging, Haku circled lower and lower, finally coming to a light landing on a cobble stone street.

Perhaps the area wasn’t quite as deserted as Ishkeir first thought. The outskirts were considerably darker than the middle of the city, but it still seemed to be just as populated, with smaller houses lined up in a neat row along the street.

“Guess this is a good direction to start,” Ishkeir mumbled to himself, heading down the street. His body felt heavy as he moved, a sure sign of his exhaustion. The snooze on the way seemed to have done more harm than good. This made the first order of business finding a place to sleep.

His wish was granted a minute or so later in the form of a shed attached to the back of one of the houses. It had a small opening to the outside. It appeared as though a door had once stood there, but it had since been removed. The opening was just tall enough for Ishkeir to pass through without ducking, and Haku just barely managed to squeeze into the narrow gap.

The inside was filled with straw and had the smell of animals, though Ishkeir didn’t see any around at the moment. It seemed like a quiet enough place to sleep. Haku didn’t object either. He went straight to the back wall, plopped down in a particularly large mound of straw and went right to sleep.

Ishkeir was slower to get himself settled. He sat back against the wall adjacent to Haku, set his small bag in his lap, and closed his eyes, but with the smell of a foreign land, it was hard to sleep despite his weariness. His mind was racing, but Ishkeir forced himself not to dwell on the place he was in, nor to think about the events of the previous day. Eventually, he found himself drifting off into a dreamless sleep.



A/N: I apologize for the lack of action and excitement, but this was needed to get to where I wanted to be with the story. Hopefully things will pick up with Ishkeir now smack dab in the middle of Alabaster city. Because what's better than plopping an Avian, who knows nothing of the other races, into a huge city filled with all sorts of people and Eld creatures?

Fun facts: Regis is based off of the Ferruginous Hawk, Asius is based off of the Upland Buzzard whose scientific name ends with Asius, and Caesis is based off of the Common Buzzard, scientific name Buteo Buteo. Fitting as the head of the Buteo line right? XP

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Re: Untold Retribution [An Eld Character Tale] - Ch 3 Up!

Postby scmarshtacky » Fri May 15, 2015 10:45 pm

Chapter 3


Ishkeir awoke to the sound of Haku screeching. He was on his feet, daggers drawn before the scene even came into focus. When it did, he found himself staring at the end of a mop pointed in his direction. The wielder of the mop was a pudgy woman.

This is a human? Ishkeir wondered as he stared at her. She barely came up to the height of his elbows and had mousey brown hair. Her eyes were also brown, and stood out against her larger, puffy red cheeks. Ishkeir was so busy staring down the foreign species that he momentarily forget that he should probably restrain her.

A growl behind the woman shifted Ishkeir’s attention. Was that a dire wolf? He’d only ever seen paintings, but he couldn’t imagine this creature being anything else. The black beast was considerably smaller than Haku, but didn’t seem deterred by the height difference as it squared off with the griffin.

“W-who are you?” The woman’s voice quavered as she spoke.

“No one of concern to you,” Ishkeir replied, voice deep and hard. He stepped forward, and the pudgy woman cowered backward until she hit the wall. Her eyes were filled with fear.

The dire wolf lunged at Ishkeir, but Haku intercepted it. The two fell and rolled on the ground in a mix of fur and feathers, growling and cawing. Immediately Ishkeir pressed forward, grabbing the mop weapon in his right hand and positioning the dagger in his left at the woman’s throat.

“Call it off. Now.”

The woman hesitated, eyes flickering between Ishkeir and the dire wolf. Ishkeir’s right hand clenched on the mop handle, and it broke in half with a loud crack.

“Midnight stop!” she cried, and the dire wolf froze on the spot. Haku paused as well, both creatures looking toward that masters for further instruction.

“I’m in search of information,” Ishkeir said when the woman turned to focus on him again. “An individual wearing a black cloak came to my homeland and murdered my father. I want to know who and why.”

“H-how could you expect me to know such a thing?” the woman squeaked. “I’m only a housewife. I travel to the market every day, but Alabaster is home to thousands. No one stands out in the crowds around here.”

Ishkeir frowned as he took in the information. So he had landed in a place called Alabaster, which, as he’d realized last night, was a rather huge city. This was going to be far harder than he’d first anticipated.

“Tch.” Ishkeir released her with a frustrated hiss and headed for the doorway. “Haku, come.” The griffin followed obediently, but not without a short caw back at the dire wolf.

The street outside was far more active this morning than it was last night. Women bustled around their houses and children were running around with various Eldemore creatures that Ishkeir had never seen before.

The young ones were so tiny, just up to his knees. When they would catch sight of him, they would stop and tilt their heads slightly in his direction. Their parents would then hurriedly call them back inside. Fear reflected in the eyes of the adults, and Ishkeir couldn’t figure out why. He hadn’t harmed them, at least not yet.

The residential road weaved into a larger one which then opened up into a plaza with even more people running about. Men led sleipnirs attached to wagons filled with all sorts of supplies: various fruits, vegetables, and grains. There was also jewelry, clothing, house care items, furniture, Eldemore creatures, and more.

Ishkeir couldn’t help feeling mildly overwhelmed by it all. The entirety of the avian race was less than the amount of humans shoved into this one plaza. And still, wherever he went, people would stop and stare at both him and Haku. When he looked toward them, they would turn around and hurry in the opposite direction.

He scowled. This was getting on his nerves.

“What?” He demanded to the next person he caught openly staring at him. This man had wild black hair, a wisp of a beard and was seemingly tall for a human's height. His gaping mouth gave Ishkeir the impression that he was relatively stupid.

“A-a-ah. I-it’s n-nothing,” he said as his eyes flashed from Ishkeir to Haku and back again.

Was he stuttering on purpose? His eyes didn’t reflect fear like the others, so Ishkeir didn’t think that was the reason. He took a step toward him, lifted his chin, and glared down at the man.

“You will tell me why people run away when they catch sight of me.”

“D-dear s-sir,” he said, lowering his head slightly, “we d-don’t s-see many of your k-kind around here. And well, Avains have a b-bad r-reputation.”

“Bad reputation?” How did they come to get a bad reputation? As far as Ishkeir had heard, Avians on the mainland of Eldemore were incredibly scarce.

“Y-yes. Because of the h-halfborns.”

“What halfborns?”

“The h-half h-human and h-half Avians of course. T-they are r-rumored to be an unruly lot, they are. T-they say that if you look at one the w-wrong way, they’ll t-transform and d-destroy the w-whole town. Demon birds they call them.”

“I see.” So that was the cause. Ishkeir turned his back to the bumbling man and strode off.

He now ignored the people that stared at him as he traveled down the streets, though he could feel their stares. Ishkeir wanted to at least get a feel for the city before the day was over.

Turned out the whole area was much bigger than he would’ve thought. The palace-like place he’d seen last night formed the center of the city. Around that were the shops, inns, markets, restaurants and the like. Moving slightly further out, one could find large houses, presumably owned by those with a rank the in the society or those who were rich. The outskirts of the town housed the commoners.

By the time Ishkeir had made a nearly complete lap of the city, the sun was setting behind the white wall. He stopped in the shadow of a large white building and stared up at the sky. Haku stood at his side, trying to snatch up the small glowing insects that flew through the air.

At least, Ishkeir thought they were insects until one buzzed right by his face and he got a closer look at it. It looked more like a small flying canine than anything else. Curious, Ishkeir grabbed one out of the air.

It struggled in his grasp, it’s six wings flapping hard in an effort to be free. On its tail hung a bright orb of light. Ishkeir let it go, and it darted away, leaving a trail of light in its wake. “Don’t eat it Haku!” Ishkeir scolded as he saw his griffin dive after another one. “The last thing I want on my hands is a griffin with diarrhea."

A low rumbling in the distance drew Ishkeir’s attention. The sound grew louder as he stood there, a noise so deep that the pebbles on the ground were quivering with the vibrations. Haku gave a nervous squawk as pranced around.

“D-dragoons.”

Ishkeir jumped. Drawing his daggers and lunging at the unknown person.

Rather than trying to move out of the way, the person raised his hand, and caught Ishkeir’s wrist in an unbreakable hold. Ishkeir’s eyes widened as he realized it was the same man he’d encountered earlier in the morning.

“You...” The remark was supposed to come out of his mouth in a hostile way, and Ishkeir was disappointed that he sounded more surprised than anything else. “Who are you?” he demanded, quickly remedying his tone of voice.
This man looked human but Ishkeir wasn’t so sure now.

“N-no one you s-should concern yourself with,” he said pleasantly, and perhaps too cheerfully for Ishkeir’s taste.

“You seek something that cannot be found in this city,” he continued, voice changing from the carefree tone to something older and wiser. “However, I think you’ll find that staying here for a time will greatly increase your knowledge in many ways and will help you in the future.”

“Why should I listen to the babblings of an old man?” Ishkeir challenged.

“You seek entertainment in the form of fighting, yes? There are plenty in the underground of Alabaster that could use a good bashing and along the way you’ll find pieces to the puzzle. Sounds like a good deal doesn’t it?”

Ishkeir clenched his jaw. That was a proposition that was hard to just pass up. Still, he didn’t want to bound by anyone. Especially this strange person. He opened his mouth to tell him so, when he realized that the strange man had vanished without a trace.


A/N - Well, apparently this story is just going to lend itself to relatively short chapters. Sorry about that, though it means I can turn them out at a faster pace. I did write and edited this pretty quickly, so I apologize in advance for errors.

Hooray for a slight bit of plot development. I admittedly made some of it up as I went, but I think it turned out pretty good. And don't forget that I love comments. ^^
As always, hope you enjoyed~

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Re: Untold Retribution [An Eld Character Tale] - Ch 4 Up!

Postby scmarshtacky » Thu May 21, 2015 10:39 pm

Chapter 4


“What do you think that old man meant by underground?” Ishkeir muttered absentmindedly to Haku as he weaved his way through the streets. Walking always helped him think, but no matter how much he reflected on the strange words, he was no closer to finding any sort of answer.

A scream ripped Ishkeir from his thoughts. He was quite tired of the loudness of this city. How much was it to ask for some peace and quiet around here? Haku gave a quick nip at Ishkeir’s hand and took a couple hopping strides in the direction of the scream.

“You’re really that curious are you?” he asked the griffin. With a sigh, he relented. “Alright, alright fine. Maybe we can pin someone down for more answers.”

He started off with Haku several strides ahead of him. He let the griffin lead the way, knowing that Haku’s superior sense of hearing would get them there a bit faster. One turn to the right and two to the left put them at the opening of another, small square. This one was far more deteriorated than the other plaza, with graffiti on the walls of the surrounding buildings. The dirt-stained cobblestones were cracked where weeds had pushed their way through the stone.

It took Ishkeir another moment to locate the source of the sound. It was a female surrounded by a group of four males. They had her pressed up against the wall of a building taunting her.

Ishkeir didn’t have to know much about humans to realize what they were doing was far from appropriate. Still, he had no desire to intervene; humans wouldn’t make for an interesting fight.

Haku had other plans though. He loped off toward the scene with series of squawks. “Haku wait!” Ishkeir yelled, though the griffin seemed to be on a mission that even Ishkeir couldn’t stop. Haku spread out his wings as he approached and reared up in his hind legs.

They paused for half a second to gawk at the griffin before scattering. “Stupid demon bird girl!” one human shouted as he backed away. “You’ll regret this!” another said before they turned and ran.

I guess now is as good a time as any to get information... Ishkeir mused. He took a few running steps, catching up to one of the humans in split second. Ishkeir moved in front of the man, effectively cutting off his escape.

“I have a few questions. You will answer them,” Ishkeir stated, positioning his dagger at the man’s throat. The man jumped backward, hitting a wall behind him. Ishkeir moved forward a step to trap him there.

“Easy man, we’re just playin’ with ‘er ‘ya know. Was all good fun. No need ta –” he rambled off in a thick accent, eyeing Ishkeir and the dagger.

Ishkeir had to take a moment to try to piece together the words before he continued. “I don’t care about the girl. I want to know what the ‘underground’ is.”

The human raised his hands as if to declare his innocence. His whole body was shaking slightly, and his sandy brown hair was plastered to his head with sweat. “I ain’t from the underground ‘ya hear! I ain’t got nothin’ to do with them!”

“I don’t care if you do or don’t!” Ishkeir shouted, pressing his dagger into the man’s neck so that it drew a slight bit of blood. He was quickly becoming irritated with the human. “What is it?”

“Okay okay!” the man responded, pressing himself further against the wall. “Umm the underground is, like, where the worst kinda people gather. They’re the people that run the black market, and the people that protect ‘em. Mercenaries ‘n assassins ‘n stuff. They say if you come across ‘em, you’re as good as dead. They sorta keep to ‘emselves though, so you don’t see ‘em much. Thank the Ancients. Still, some say they rule the city, we just don’t know it.”

So, basically a group of people dedicated to doing whatever they want, and who may or may not be controlling the city from the shadows, Ishkeir summarized. He withdrew his dagger and stepped away from the human. The human paused for only a moment before turning and fleeing from the scene.

When Ishkeir turned back to the girl, she was slowly stroking Haku’s head. With the other humans gone, Ishkeir realized that her appearance was unusual to say the least. She had small feathers along her arms and around the edges of her face. Upon closer examination, her eyes were also two different colors, one blue and another dark gray. Her black hair was tied up in a braid, and her face seemed quite young.

Haku gave the girl a final sniff to confirm his mission was complete and then trotted happily back over to Ishkeir. You goof, Ishkeir thought as he watched the griffin who was clearly proud of his work.

Ishkeir then shifted his attention to the girl again, who was roughly ripping the feathers from her skin. Tilting his head, he sized her up. So this was one of those Avian-human halfborns that gave his people a bad rap. He didn’t even try to hide his disgust.

The girl held his glare for a moment before turning her body to hide her face. For a seemingly endless amount of time, neither of the two moved. Haku broke the silence with a loud caw, prancing in the space between them.

“Geez, what is with you today?” Ishkeir said, shifting his attention to the griffin.

Haku gave a shorter squawk in response, pranced a couple of feet toward the girl, and then back again.

“Really? That’s the type of person you want as a friend?” Ishkeir glanced at Haku skeptically. No matter what his griffin thought, he didn’t think he could get on board with such an idea. He truly didn’t want to associate with that type of person.

Once again, Haku pranced over to the girl. This time he snuffled in her pockets and bag.

“Don’t eat that!” the girl shouted hastily. She jumped a step forward, away from Haku, and pulled out the apple that was in her bag.

So that’s how it was... Ishkeir thought as he watched Haku beg for the apple in the girl’s hands. He had almost forgotten it had been over a day since the two of them had eaten anything. Now that he thought about it, he was pretty famished.

No matter what the girl did, Haku wouldn’t be discouraged. He chased her as she ran away from him, pecking at the apple whenever he saw a small gap in her fingers. By the time they made a rough loop around the small square, a good portion of the apple was gone.

“Okay fine,” she relented, taking a couple of quick bites at the end Haku hadn’t gotten and then dropping the rest on the ground.

Haku dug into it immediately, ripping out the sweet fruit in huge chunks.

“I’ll consider it your reward for helping me, okay?” she whispered softly to the griffin, stroking his neck and back.

The Avian still stood off to the side, glaring at her with his sharp golden eyes. It unnerved her, but a small part of her was still curious. She’d never actually seen an Avian before. Her Avian father was long gone before she ever met him. She couldn’t help but wonder if her father looked anything like the individual standing before her now.

“What do you know about Alabaster’s underground?”

The sudden question made her startle. “The underground?” she repeated slowly as she watched his eyes scan over her. She felt as though those eyes were keen enough to see right through her very being.

“Well?” he prompted impatiently.

“The Underground is a name of a kind of organization in Alabaster,” she answered, still too entranced by his eyes to look away. “Mostly it’s a coalition of all sorts of criminals. Thieves, swindlers, drug and alcohol salesmen, mercenaries and the like. No one actually knows for sure what sort of people they are though since anyone who finds out about them ends up dead the next day.”

“They have any distinguishing features?” he questioned, voice hard.

“I don’t know... I’ve never seen one.” She replied. “They look gang members I guess?”

“Gang members,” he repeated the phrase slowly, and tilted his head ever so slightly to the right as his eyes focused on the ground in front of him.

“You... you don’t know what that is do you?” She asked, knowing that regardless of what he said to deny the accusation, it must be true based on his expression.

His eyes narrowed on her again. “Anything else?”

“Well there are a lot of rumors and stuff, but that’s just gossip.”

“Hm,” was all he said in response. “Haku.” He shifted his attention to the griffin, who took a couple of steps toward him and stopped. “We’ll find food later, now come on!” he said. Head drooping, the griffin made his way to the Avian’s side. He turned his back to her and began to head across the square.

“Um!” the word was out of her mouth before she had fully thought about what she was doing.

He turned his head slightly to glance at her again. “What?”

“I-I have food,” she blurted, trying to come up with something, anything to say. Part of her brain wondered what the heck she was even doing, trying to convince an Avian to stick around her for a little longer. No Avian would care about a dirty halfborn. The look in his eyes told her that much. But I want to learn more about Avians. In the end, it was this thought which dominated the others.

“I don’t want your food,” he replied, in the same blunt and emotionless tone of voice. Haku seemed to have a different opinion though. He pecked none-to-gently at the Avian’s hand, and gave a disgruntled sort of squawk.

“You’re being awfully pushy today, you know that?” the Avian grumbled, bending down slightly to address the griffin at eye level. The two seemed to engage in a silent battle of wills before the Avian relented with a sigh. “Alright fine, have it your way then.”

It was like this that Sianna found herself leading an Avian and griffin along the back streets of Alabaster toward her home.


A/N ~ I have a habit of changing points of view within chapters like I did in this one. There are certain things that Ishkeir's point of view just can't cover, and some things I wanted to expand on through Sianna's viewpoint. If you guys find this confusing, let me know. I try to do it subtly and in a way that improves flow, but I can't tell if it's just me that thinks this.

In other news, Haku gained more of a personality. Yay! Really, this chapter wouldn't have been possible without Haku's curiosity and insistence. As usual, I hope you enjoy~

<<Chapter 3
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Re: Untold Retribution [An Eld Character Tale] - Ch 4 Up!

Postby Lailic » Mon May 25, 2015 11:39 am

This is great so far cx I love it. Each chapter is more and more engaging. I didn't mind the perspective switch. I noticed it and noted who's it was but not enough for it to have much of an effect on the story.
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Re: Untold Retribution [An Eld Character Tale] - Ch 4 Up!

Postby scmarshtacky » Mon May 25, 2015 2:54 pm

Lailic wrote:This is great so far cx I love it. Each chapter is more and more engaging. I didn't mind the perspective switch. I noticed it and noted who's it was but not enough for it to have much of an effect on the story.

I'm glad you think so! ^^ I come up with more good ideas as I go, so hopefully that's why it's more engaging. I usually try to think though and plan each major scene in my stories. This time I'm just winging it. Hopefully that won't result in a quality decline. For now, it seems to be thriving pretty well, so I'll just keep at it like this for a while. :P
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