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Writers' Gallery / What's in your future? (What-If)
« on: August 13, 2014, 09:08:15 AM »
My first EQ themed fanfiction in years 
I've started it over at the Scroll and thought to post it here too. Hope you like it!
SPOILERS for "Final Quest Special" and (eventually) issues 1-5. Read at your own risk
The Two Moons were high in the sky, bathing the harsh landscape in a magical silver glow. Instinctively, the two elfin shapes steered clear of the patches of light, where they would be easily spotted from miles afar. Instead they crept in the shadows, treading cautiously along the tricky mountain slopes.
The smallest of the two wasn't really keeping up; it lagged behind, and now and then shuddered as if in pain. The other, who was slightly taller and moved in a strange crouched stance - not unlike a prowling animal - threw a look at its companion from over its shoulder.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Tired?[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]No. I can manage.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] The smaller figure slightly clenched its teeth, and its pointed canines gleamed in the dark. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]I'm just struggling with an old foe that won't give me a break. Don't worry about me, dear packbrother.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Old foe?[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] The other was instantly on alert.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Yes. But nothing that you have to worry for[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] its companion calmly assured. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]It's the fear... the same fear that has pursued relentlessly ever since we left the Holt. I...[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] It - she - hesitated. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]I don't want to believe that it might have all been in vain. Hope has carried me thus far... but the night is so cold, and it's been so long.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]When you want us to return... you only have to say so.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]I will[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] she replied firmly, [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]after we've found what we're looking for.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Alright, alright! Don't bristle.. it's not like you at all.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
Crestfallen, she trodded after him with her head hung low.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]I'm sorry.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Sorry? For what - oh, that? It was nothing. I'm used to have our chief growling my ears off...[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Hush![img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] Suddenly, the female came to an abrupt halt. Her entire body was stiff, and yet she quivered like a wolf pup who had sensed the return of the pack. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]It was here... I can scent it.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
Her companion said nothing, but the laugh died on his lips like a will-of-the-wisp. He, too, had picked the strong salty scent. Blood, freshly spilled - so much blood, in fact, that it made the wolf in him stir. But there was something else... something that he wasn't sure she had noticed, something faint and barely perceptible. The hair at the nape of his neck rose. Slowly, he pinned back his ears and growled.
The female looked at him in confusion.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Healer...?[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]You won't be the only one fighting an old foe tonight, packsister[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] he hissed.
Riled by his words, she paced nervously back and forth.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Let's get going. It can't be very far from here.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]It's useless. Don't you feel it in the air? Death...[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]NO![img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] The female doubled over, burying her face in her hands. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Please, no. You have trusted my instincts for so long... trust for a little longer.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]But - it' s too late.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]It needn't be. And if anything else - we'll have tried! Oh, please![img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
He should have told her no, he knew that. Everything in him was urging to turn back from this madness. It was the Way - and not just the Way of the Wolfriders, but the way of the vast world at large. But he couldn't simply meet her eyes and let her down.
She broke in a run, and he took off reluctantly in her tow, willing to let her take the lead now that they were so close. Not that she seemed to mind for the swap of roles - on the far contrary. Magically, her energies seemed to have redoubled overnight, together with the old fervor. And yet... for all her show of bravado, he couldn't shake off the feeling that it was the fear she wanted to outrun.
At length, they came upon a little niche in the rocks where the female halted, out of breath.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Look - we did it! High Ones be praised![img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] Already she was kneeling by the crumpled bundle of blood-spattered clothes and long hair. In a flash, the male was at her side.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Give her to me... there... easy.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] He let his hands run over the cold skin, looked desperately for even the feeblest spark of hope. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]High Ones have mercy...[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]It's not too late, is it?[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] The female's sending was garbled with concern. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]You can do it, I'm certain you can...[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]I-I dont' know. I've never... not with someone so far gone...[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]But it's not too late. She still has some life left in her. We can't have made it thus far just for nothing![img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]It'll be difficult... I don't think I can do it![img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]You can! Look at her. You are all that she has got... and she needs you[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] the female urged him.
Paralyzed, he looked at her first - and then, almost reluctantly, his eyes fell on the lifeless form in his lap.
From a youngest age, he had learned that everything perished, that it was simply in the nature of things - and in the nature of the Wolfriders - to lay down and die at the end of life. Death, when it comes, is neither friend nor enemy, his elders used to say.
But there in his arms was a mere cub whose life was slipping away with each passing moment. A cub who should have long been dead, and yet refused to die young - a wild, restless cub who refused the Way and the teaching of the elves altogether, a cub who just wanted to be free.
The healer's lips set in a grim line. Within him, the wolf snarled and sprang into the darkness, lashing at it with his fangs and paws.
At the cost of every bit of strength and magic that he had in himself, he wouldn't let death claim this spirited cub who so desperately willed to live.
I've started it over at the Scroll and thought to post it here too. Hope you like it!SPOILERS for "Final Quest Special" and (eventually) issues 1-5. Read at your own risk
Chapter One - Old Foe
The Two Moons were high in the sky, bathing the harsh landscape in a magical silver glow. Instinctively, the two elfin shapes steered clear of the patches of light, where they would be easily spotted from miles afar. Instead they crept in the shadows, treading cautiously along the tricky mountain slopes.
The smallest of the two wasn't really keeping up; it lagged behind, and now and then shuddered as if in pain. The other, who was slightly taller and moved in a strange crouched stance - not unlike a prowling animal - threw a look at its companion from over its shoulder.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Tired?[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]No. I can manage.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] The smaller figure slightly clenched its teeth, and its pointed canines gleamed in the dark. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]I'm just struggling with an old foe that won't give me a break. Don't worry about me, dear packbrother.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Old foe?[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] The other was instantly on alert.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Yes. But nothing that you have to worry for[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] its companion calmly assured. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]It's the fear... the same fear that has pursued relentlessly ever since we left the Holt. I...[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] It - she - hesitated. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]I don't want to believe that it might have all been in vain. Hope has carried me thus far... but the night is so cold, and it's been so long.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]When you want us to return... you only have to say so.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]I will[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] she replied firmly, [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]after we've found what we're looking for.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Alright, alright! Don't bristle.. it's not like you at all.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
Crestfallen, she trodded after him with her head hung low.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]I'm sorry.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Sorry? For what - oh, that? It was nothing. I'm used to have our chief growling my ears off...[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Hush![img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] Suddenly, the female came to an abrupt halt. Her entire body was stiff, and yet she quivered like a wolf pup who had sensed the return of the pack. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]It was here... I can scent it.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
Her companion said nothing, but the laugh died on his lips like a will-of-the-wisp. He, too, had picked the strong salty scent. Blood, freshly spilled - so much blood, in fact, that it made the wolf in him stir. But there was something else... something that he wasn't sure she had noticed, something faint and barely perceptible. The hair at the nape of his neck rose. Slowly, he pinned back his ears and growled.
The female looked at him in confusion.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Healer...?[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]You won't be the only one fighting an old foe tonight, packsister[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] he hissed.
Riled by his words, she paced nervously back and forth.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Let's get going. It can't be very far from here.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]It's useless. Don't you feel it in the air? Death...[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]NO![img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] The female doubled over, burying her face in her hands. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Please, no. You have trusted my instincts for so long... trust for a little longer.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]But - it' s too late.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]It needn't be. And if anything else - we'll have tried! Oh, please![img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
He should have told her no, he knew that. Everything in him was urging to turn back from this madness. It was the Way - and not just the Way of the Wolfriders, but the way of the vast world at large. But he couldn't simply meet her eyes and let her down.
She broke in a run, and he took off reluctantly in her tow, willing to let her take the lead now that they were so close. Not that she seemed to mind for the swap of roles - on the far contrary. Magically, her energies seemed to have redoubled overnight, together with the old fervor. And yet... for all her show of bravado, he couldn't shake off the feeling that it was the fear she wanted to outrun.
At length, they came upon a little niche in the rocks where the female halted, out of breath.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Look - we did it! High Ones be praised![img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] Already she was kneeling by the crumpled bundle of blood-spattered clothes and long hair. In a flash, the male was at her side.
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]Give her to me... there... easy.[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] He let his hands run over the cold skin, looked desperately for even the feeblest spark of hope. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]High Ones have mercy...[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]It's not too late, is it?[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] The female's sending was garbled with concern. [img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]You can do it, I'm certain you can...[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]I-I dont' know. I've never... not with someone so far gone...[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]But it's not too late. She still has some life left in her. We can't have made it thus far just for nothing![img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]It'll be difficult... I don't think I can do it![img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]
[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img]You can! Look at her. You are all that she has got... and she needs you[img width= height=]http://s22.postimg.org/hlzihdyct/cy_diam.gif[/img] the female urged him.
Paralyzed, he looked at her first - and then, almost reluctantly, his eyes fell on the lifeless form in his lap.
From a youngest age, he had learned that everything perished, that it was simply in the nature of things - and in the nature of the Wolfriders - to lay down and die at the end of life. Death, when it comes, is neither friend nor enemy, his elders used to say.
But there in his arms was a mere cub whose life was slipping away with each passing moment. A cub who should have long been dead, and yet refused to die young - a wild, restless cub who refused the Way and the teaching of the elves altogether, a cub who just wanted to be free.
The healer's lips set in a grim line. Within him, the wolf snarled and sprang into the darkness, lashing at it with his fangs and paws.
At the cost of every bit of strength and magic that he had in himself, he wouldn't let death claim this spirited cub who so desperately willed to live.
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