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lucathiaHm, my NaNo has turned completely RPG-esque. I guess I should have expected it since these characters are pretty influenced by games, and I use them as names whenever I'm prompted to name someone in a game. Last time with these same characters, I set the story in our world with some kind of hidden society of ability users and half-breeds, but since I decided to start all over, now they're in some fantasy setting. Yeah. There was a lot more dialogue and interaction with my previous attempt when the character focus was different, but now with this character...he is not talking much at all. Seriously, he only said a few words in this part, and half of that was "Mother." Haha...
I dug out some drawings I did of these characters though (but yeesh, the last drawing was from 3 years ago), and now I'm kind of getting really excited to finally be filling in their history. Getting excited bodes well for my writing, though I'm still more tempted to draw the characters than write them. XD;
If anyone is interested...here's the first part. It would make me very gleeful if anyone read this. :) It's fairly boring, IMO. I won't be posting this daily since I don't seem to manage to finish scenes in a single day, and who knows how far I'll get, haha. I hope this won't be it. The focus at the moment is Rykatu, and you've probably noticed it's part of my LJ username, but he's definitely not based on me. =P I borrow his name for games, especially MMORPGs when I have to name a male mage. I have some inkling what's going to happen next, but no idea what's going to happen in the long run. -___-;; Things happen veeery slowly. But so far, there are hints of a conspiracy! Death threats in the night! Dragons and magic! Whoot! \o/
Tentatively named "Veline" at the moment, but I really have no idea what to name this.
PART 1 ~3215 words
RYKATU
Rykatu followed his mother silently towards the top of the summit. Once the path ended, he watched as his mother’s shape shimmered, her human form disappearing before his eyes. With one fluid motion, she unfurled her wings and took flight. Each rhythmic beat brought her higher and higher, all the way into the clouds. Rykatu looked on, the sun blinding him as he watched his mother circle around to highest point of the summit. He knew everyone in the tribe was currently watching his mother’s majestic flight with abated breath. Despite her size, she landed gracefully, her claws tearing into the face of the cliff. Her long, serpentine tail curled around the rock. Rykatu carefully took a step back to avoid the rubble that had been scraped off by her landing, wincing when one pebble nicked the skin of his hand despite his precaution.
He wiped the blood from his skin on his trousers. Around him, the tribesmen who hadn’t transformed applauded with their human hands at his mother’s display. Those with higher status who had transformed for the meeting roared to show their pleasure before they too took flight. One by one, five of the village elders landed on perches of their own, their claws burrowing into the hardened dirt without any resistance. Although Rykatu had to strain his neck to watch them, none of their perches reached higher into the sky than his mother’s. The elders circled his mother in a pentagon with his mother in the very center, elevated above them all.
Once everyone settled down, his mother expanded her wings to their full length, blocking out the sun that shone from behind her. Her deafening roar followed, immediately hushing all those below her. In the shadows cast by his mother’s wings, Rykatu listened intently to the meeting held about settling the small skirmish with their southern neighbors. He sat down on the warm boulder behind him, knowing that even though the matter should have been easy to take care of, the elders were sure to give his mother trouble. Just as he thought this, one of the elders glanced at him and snorted with a curl of fire.
Without a change in expression, Rykatu stared on impassively beyond the tips of his mother’s wings, the arguments and complaints a faint murmur in his ear now that he was no longer trying to pay attention. He ignored the stares the elders gave him. They were nothing new. He already knew their discontent at his existence.
Breathing out, he folded his arms in front of him before crossing his legs. This was taking far longer than necessary.
-----
Hours later when the sun was no longer high in the sky but rather barely peeping over the next mountain range, the meeting finally ended. Although he looked like he had been paying full attention the entire time, he had zoned out after the first hour. He only knew the meeting was over from the gust of wind caused by the landing of the elders followed by his mother’s downward flight. The large motions of her wings stirred up little hurricanes of sand as she landed. Rykatu pushed himself off the boulder to greet his mother as the sands settled.
Her form shimmered in front of him, her red scales melting into flaming hair, her wings folding behind her, disappearing altogether into her back. He couldn’t tell from his distance, but he knew her sharp talons that had gripped the sides of the cliff were shortening into the dainty nails of a human’s. In her human form, she liked keeping her nails cleanly clipped. Her tail was the last to go.
“Mother,” he greeted with a small bow.
Normally, despite all the trouble the elders gave her during meetings, his mother always walked away with a tired but satisfied smile, but today, no such smile graced her lips. Instead, a small frown was in its place. She was troubled, and that was entirely unlike the confident leader that she was.
She turned her piercing yellow eyes at him and jerked her head towards the path that led down from the summit. Behind her, Rykatu could see the smug looks the elders sported. One of them, an ancient and stingy woman who was responsible for the tribe’s gold, had her lips curled in a mocking smirk. She tossed her dark auburn hair before she began talking with the other elders.
He had a bad feeling about this. Just what had gone on during the meeting to make all five of the tribe elders so elated? The tribe’s five elders - the five women who held the positions of power - were never happy with meetings unless they managed to force his mother into something she didn’t approve of.
As he considered this, his mother had started walking before him, her red hair fluttering in the evening wind. He turned on his heels and lengthened his stride to catch up with her. She continued walking without a word. He followed behind her, his steps loud to his ears compared to her silent ones. They continued in this fashion until they were out of earshot of the others, though Rykatu could still imagine the glee on the elders’ faces. He wished he could put it behind him, but his mother’s somber mood was not allowing him to do so.
“Rykatu, did you pay attention to the meeting?” his mother asked. She did not look back at him as she said this.
Rykatu shook his head slowly but didn’t hesitate to answer. He never made excuses in front of his mother who valued honesty. “No mother, I am sorry. I only know that the meeting was about the skirmish with our neighbors.”
His mother breathed out heavily. “I see. As the future leader of our tribe, you should have listened more carefully. No other youngster was allowed to be present. You should have thought of it as a privilege.”
“I know,” he whispered in reply. He knew, but he also knew that no one in the tribe wished to see him as their future leader. He did not have his mother’s charisma, a presence that commanded everyone’s respect, nor did he have his mother’s impressive stature. He was still growing, that he knew, but he would never reach his mother’s lengths. His mother always shook her head at his misgivings and told him that he’d grow into himself, that she hadn’t been born with her charisma either, but Rykatu knew that lacking charisma and stature wasn’t the only thing wrong with him. Above all the faults the tribe found in him, there were two that they were absolutely unwilling to overlook, and there was nothing he could do about it.
One, he couldn’t control fire. Try as he might, he had no affinity with the element that was associated with the leaders of their tribe. Each leader since ten generations back had all been fire breathers. His element, however, was ice. His blue hair and pale skin were dead giveaways despite the trials the tribe put him through to force him to produce fire. Fire was physically impossible for him. Fire burned.
The tribe didn’t like him for his element and thought him to be weak because ice was weak to fire. It was an element completely unfit for one who would eventually lead the tribe. On top of that, there was nothing, absolutely nothing, that Rykatu could do about the fact that he was male.
As everyone knew, only females were allowed to hold positions of power in their tribe, as females were larger in size, more physically capable of fighting, and also the ones who ensured that their tribe continued on.
That was two strikes against him. As his mother’s only child, he had been born with the right to succeed her as dictated by the tribe’s rules, but that didn’t mean the tribe had to like or approve of him. Usually in the case when the leader had no female offspring, the next in line went to the branch family, but Rykatu’s cousins had all perished in the last war, leaving Rykatu a position he had never wanted.
His mother shook her head at his quiet whisper, having gone over this same topic countless times. She wanted him to breathe new life into their tribe, to shake things up and change it completely. He wasn’t at all sure he was the one for her vision, and he didn’t want a future where he’d be in the center of that snarky pentagon, surrounded by allies who were more like enemies, refuting irrational request after irrational request. He had never liked to stand out, but he knew that when it came down to it, he wouldn’t be able to say no to his mother.
When his mother stopped walking and turned around, Rykatu fully expected her to reprimand him for not paying closer attention during the meeting, but instead, he found her arms around him. She moved to tuck his head against her shoulders. Her hands then ran through his hair, combing through his long hair rhythmically.
It was soothing, so soothing that Rykatu wanted to relax against her embrace, but something was wrong. He was used to his mother’s need for reassurance ever since her family had been destroyed by the last war - he was pretty much all she had left - but she usually made do with squeezing his hand once or patting him on the head. An embrace like this one was rare.
“Oh Rykatu, what will I do without you?” With his face against her shoulder, he felt the rise and fall of her chest as she spoke, but he couldn’t see what expression she wore. Her voice sounded subdued and lost, and Rykatu was starting to feel his stomach churn.
“Mother...?” he ventured.
She sighed, but her hands didn’t stop combing through his hair. “If you had listened, Rykatu, you would have heard the decision the elders pushed me to make.”
Unfortunately, he had not listened despite being present since nothing important ever came out of the meetings. Now, all he could do was wait for his mother to continue speaking.
She sighed once again, her hands stopping and pulling him even closer.
“They want me to send you to the border to settle the skirmish.”
He relaxed slightly. That didn’t sound half as bad as he had been expecting from the gleeful looks the elders had sported, but he supposed they just thought him so weak that a small trip to the border would be enough to do him in.
“Do not think this is merely a light vacation. They are trying to get you out of the way. You must stay focused.”
His mother’s tone clued him in, and he felt his blood turning cold. Would they really go so far? What about his mother? What if something happened to her while he was away...but no, she was far stronger than him. She would be fine. Grimly, he circled his arms around his mother, his larger-than-life mother who had never once shunned him but rather needed him dearly, and spoke the words she wanted to hear.
“I understand, Mother. Please do not worry. I will return safely.”
------
Although Rykatu did not think of visiting their southern border as much of a cause for alarm, his mother was worried, and that worried him. He took a good look around him, wary for uninvited guests now that he was completely on his own. When his senses didn’t pick up on anything out of the ordinary, he started setting up camp. He remained alert - after all, his senses were dull compared to the others in his tribe. There was no telling what might happen to him when he wasn’t on the lookout.
He searched through his satchel for a flint stone and pulled his knife out from his sleeves. He arranged some wood in front of him and began his primitive way of starting a fire. His inability to start a fire from within had spurred him to learn many different ways of starting a fire with his hands. He had only ever left the tribe a few times, but after spending his nights without a fire the first time around, hands blistered from his failed attempts at rubbing sticks together, he was never without a knife and stone now, his preferred method of fire-starting.
Rykatu didn’t particularly need a fire, especially when he was much more suited for cold weather with his constitution, but there was something relaxing in seeing the sparks catch on and turn into a blaze in front of his eyes. He was often wary of fire and had learned firsthand how much it could hurt, but the warmth of fire also reminded him of his mother’s radiance.
He looked up at the night sky. It looked different, farther away, but he knew it was no different than what he usually saw from his vantage point outside his mother’s lair. However, his mind liked to trick him, making him think the sky outside his home was brighter than it actually was. The unobstructed view probably had something do to with it.
He had left home without any fanfare, with only his mother’s grim expression to see him off. Inside his satchel, he brought the item that his tribe sought to present their neighbors as a peace offering. He also brought with him a change of clothes. It would not do for him to present himself in front of their neighbors in his traveling clothes. He was, after all, still the son of the leader, no matter how much he was disliked.
Once he finished eating, Rykatu doused the fire and settled down for his first night away from his tribe. He had made good progress in one evening. If he set out bright and early the next day, he should be able to reach the border by nightfall.
-----
He didn't know how long he had slept, but when he woke up, it was still dark, and his heart was pounding furiously. There was no time to consider what had woken him up - he was already leaping backwards. A knife flew past his face, merely centimeters away from nicking his skin. He heard the knife clatter as it hit the rock on the far side. Rykatu quickly pulled out his own knife, his eyes darting left and right.
He had not wanted to believe that his tribe would be so ruthless, but had they finally lowered themselves to the point of sending assassins after him? He did not believe this was a random attacker, not this close to his tribe’s territory. Random bandits knew to avoid this area if they valued their lives. Rykatu, although he did not like fathoming the depths of the elders’ ambitions, knew them through and through. The fact that they dared to attack him this close meant they weren’t planning on letting anyone find his dead body. They wanted him to disappear. Once he was gone, his mother would have no successor. The next in line would belong to one of the elders’ offspring instead.
Rykatu crouched low and held his knife in front of him, the blade gleaming from the movement. If they thought he could be so easily defeated, they were underestimating him greatly.
Another knife flew out at him from the dark. Rykatu dodged but did not throw his own knife at where the enemy’s knife had originated. It would be foolish of him to throw away his only physical weapon. He located the enemy, a dark blur behind one of the jagged rocks. If only his eyesight were better, he’d be able to see more than a dark blur, but he’d have to make do with this.
When the next knife came flying at him, Rykatu sidestepped and rushed forward to close the gap between them. His attacker was most likely a hired hand. The tribe would not want this to be traced back to them. Following that same train of thought, this attacker of his most likely was not a fire elemental user, but Rykatu was not going to take chances. He had to finish this quickly. A physical knife fight he could win, but if his attacker happened to be a fire elemental user and tried to overpower him with fire, Rykatu’s chances of coming out unscathed would be low.
Rykatu took a slash forward with his blade and heard his unknown assailant gasp. Although his knife was short and his opponent had dodged to put a wide berth between them, Rykatu had quickly charged his knife with ice. Whenever he swung, little pieces of ice flew from his knife. The projectiles were sharp and difficult to spot in the dark.
They both jumped backwards, knives in hand, and regarded each other warily. Glaring red eyes stared piercingly at him from the dark, the only thing that Rykatu could make out.
When his opponent didn’t counter with fire, Rykatu held his knife before him, the infused ice property making his knife glow blue, a dead giveaway for his location. He saw his attacker’s eyes glance at his knife. Good. The distraction worked. A split second was all he needed.
In the very next moment, Rykatu slammed his hand into the ground. Ice extended in front of him, coating the ground. The red eyes widened. The owner of those piercing eyes tried to jump out of the way, but Rykatu had known that would happen. The ice rose from the ground, ensnaring his assailant’s legs. The eyes narrowed before five knives appeared all at once. He heard and saw his assailant fling the knives at the ice. One glanced off, one chipped the ice, one flew off without even touching its target, but the last two hit the mark and crumbled Rykatu’s ice trap. He grimaced as his ice crumbled. If only his opponent had been closer, his ice would not have been so brittle.
Before Rykatu could prepare to attack again, his opponent threw two more knives at him. He quickly shot out two ice particles to knock them off their path. They clattered to the ground.
“You’re far more skilled than I was told,” came a very female voice with a musical lilt. His mysterious assailant was finally talking.
He didn’t bother asking her who had sent her. He had a fairly good guess, and he doubted she’d divulge any information.
“This is far more trouble than it’s worth,” his assailant commented.
With those parting words, she disappeared into the dark, those red eyes blinking out of existence as if she had never been there. He stood still in case she were to return with a sneak attack. His eyes darted back and forth, noting the knives that lay at his feet. She had not collected them before she left.
When he felt the time trickling away with only darkness as his companion, Rykatu let his icy enchantment over his knife fade. Adrenaline was still coursing through him. This was most likely not the last time his life would be in danger during this trip of his. He knelt down to examine the knives that had been thrown at him. One particular one caught his eye. After checking that there were no traps laid on the knife, he returned to where his satchel lay, wrapped the knife, and stashed it away.
The handle of the knife had a curvy leaf symbol engraved on it. Perhaps he’d have time to investigate that later.
Hopefully posting this will motivate me to write the next part. <3
I dug out some drawings I did of these characters though (but yeesh, the last drawing was from 3 years ago), and now I'm kind of getting really excited to finally be filling in their history. Getting excited bodes well for my writing, though I'm still more tempted to draw the characters than write them. XD;
If anyone is interested...here's the first part. It would make me very gleeful if anyone read this. :) It's fairly boring, IMO. I won't be posting this daily since I don't seem to manage to finish scenes in a single day, and who knows how far I'll get, haha. I hope this won't be it. The focus at the moment is Rykatu, and you've probably noticed it's part of my LJ username, but he's definitely not based on me. =P I borrow his name for games, especially MMORPGs when I have to name a male mage. I have some inkling what's going to happen next, but no idea what's going to happen in the long run. -___-;; Things happen veeery slowly. But so far, there are hints of a conspiracy! Death threats in the night! Dragons and magic! Whoot! \o/
Tentatively named "Veline" at the moment, but I really have no idea what to name this.
PART 1 ~3215 words
RYKATU
Rykatu followed his mother silently towards the top of the summit. Once the path ended, he watched as his mother’s shape shimmered, her human form disappearing before his eyes. With one fluid motion, she unfurled her wings and took flight. Each rhythmic beat brought her higher and higher, all the way into the clouds. Rykatu looked on, the sun blinding him as he watched his mother circle around to highest point of the summit. He knew everyone in the tribe was currently watching his mother’s majestic flight with abated breath. Despite her size, she landed gracefully, her claws tearing into the face of the cliff. Her long, serpentine tail curled around the rock. Rykatu carefully took a step back to avoid the rubble that had been scraped off by her landing, wincing when one pebble nicked the skin of his hand despite his precaution.
He wiped the blood from his skin on his trousers. Around him, the tribesmen who hadn’t transformed applauded with their human hands at his mother’s display. Those with higher status who had transformed for the meeting roared to show their pleasure before they too took flight. One by one, five of the village elders landed on perches of their own, their claws burrowing into the hardened dirt without any resistance. Although Rykatu had to strain his neck to watch them, none of their perches reached higher into the sky than his mother’s. The elders circled his mother in a pentagon with his mother in the very center, elevated above them all.
Once everyone settled down, his mother expanded her wings to their full length, blocking out the sun that shone from behind her. Her deafening roar followed, immediately hushing all those below her. In the shadows cast by his mother’s wings, Rykatu listened intently to the meeting held about settling the small skirmish with their southern neighbors. He sat down on the warm boulder behind him, knowing that even though the matter should have been easy to take care of, the elders were sure to give his mother trouble. Just as he thought this, one of the elders glanced at him and snorted with a curl of fire.
Without a change in expression, Rykatu stared on impassively beyond the tips of his mother’s wings, the arguments and complaints a faint murmur in his ear now that he was no longer trying to pay attention. He ignored the stares the elders gave him. They were nothing new. He already knew their discontent at his existence.
Breathing out, he folded his arms in front of him before crossing his legs. This was taking far longer than necessary.
-----
Hours later when the sun was no longer high in the sky but rather barely peeping over the next mountain range, the meeting finally ended. Although he looked like he had been paying full attention the entire time, he had zoned out after the first hour. He only knew the meeting was over from the gust of wind caused by the landing of the elders followed by his mother’s downward flight. The large motions of her wings stirred up little hurricanes of sand as she landed. Rykatu pushed himself off the boulder to greet his mother as the sands settled.
Her form shimmered in front of him, her red scales melting into flaming hair, her wings folding behind her, disappearing altogether into her back. He couldn’t tell from his distance, but he knew her sharp talons that had gripped the sides of the cliff were shortening into the dainty nails of a human’s. In her human form, she liked keeping her nails cleanly clipped. Her tail was the last to go.
“Mother,” he greeted with a small bow.
Normally, despite all the trouble the elders gave her during meetings, his mother always walked away with a tired but satisfied smile, but today, no such smile graced her lips. Instead, a small frown was in its place. She was troubled, and that was entirely unlike the confident leader that she was.
She turned her piercing yellow eyes at him and jerked her head towards the path that led down from the summit. Behind her, Rykatu could see the smug looks the elders sported. One of them, an ancient and stingy woman who was responsible for the tribe’s gold, had her lips curled in a mocking smirk. She tossed her dark auburn hair before she began talking with the other elders.
He had a bad feeling about this. Just what had gone on during the meeting to make all five of the tribe elders so elated? The tribe’s five elders - the five women who held the positions of power - were never happy with meetings unless they managed to force his mother into something she didn’t approve of.
As he considered this, his mother had started walking before him, her red hair fluttering in the evening wind. He turned on his heels and lengthened his stride to catch up with her. She continued walking without a word. He followed behind her, his steps loud to his ears compared to her silent ones. They continued in this fashion until they were out of earshot of the others, though Rykatu could still imagine the glee on the elders’ faces. He wished he could put it behind him, but his mother’s somber mood was not allowing him to do so.
“Rykatu, did you pay attention to the meeting?” his mother asked. She did not look back at him as she said this.
Rykatu shook his head slowly but didn’t hesitate to answer. He never made excuses in front of his mother who valued honesty. “No mother, I am sorry. I only know that the meeting was about the skirmish with our neighbors.”
His mother breathed out heavily. “I see. As the future leader of our tribe, you should have listened more carefully. No other youngster was allowed to be present. You should have thought of it as a privilege.”
“I know,” he whispered in reply. He knew, but he also knew that no one in the tribe wished to see him as their future leader. He did not have his mother’s charisma, a presence that commanded everyone’s respect, nor did he have his mother’s impressive stature. He was still growing, that he knew, but he would never reach his mother’s lengths. His mother always shook her head at his misgivings and told him that he’d grow into himself, that she hadn’t been born with her charisma either, but Rykatu knew that lacking charisma and stature wasn’t the only thing wrong with him. Above all the faults the tribe found in him, there were two that they were absolutely unwilling to overlook, and there was nothing he could do about it.
One, he couldn’t control fire. Try as he might, he had no affinity with the element that was associated with the leaders of their tribe. Each leader since ten generations back had all been fire breathers. His element, however, was ice. His blue hair and pale skin were dead giveaways despite the trials the tribe put him through to force him to produce fire. Fire was physically impossible for him. Fire burned.
The tribe didn’t like him for his element and thought him to be weak because ice was weak to fire. It was an element completely unfit for one who would eventually lead the tribe. On top of that, there was nothing, absolutely nothing, that Rykatu could do about the fact that he was male.
As everyone knew, only females were allowed to hold positions of power in their tribe, as females were larger in size, more physically capable of fighting, and also the ones who ensured that their tribe continued on.
That was two strikes against him. As his mother’s only child, he had been born with the right to succeed her as dictated by the tribe’s rules, but that didn’t mean the tribe had to like or approve of him. Usually in the case when the leader had no female offspring, the next in line went to the branch family, but Rykatu’s cousins had all perished in the last war, leaving Rykatu a position he had never wanted.
His mother shook her head at his quiet whisper, having gone over this same topic countless times. She wanted him to breathe new life into their tribe, to shake things up and change it completely. He wasn’t at all sure he was the one for her vision, and he didn’t want a future where he’d be in the center of that snarky pentagon, surrounded by allies who were more like enemies, refuting irrational request after irrational request. He had never liked to stand out, but he knew that when it came down to it, he wouldn’t be able to say no to his mother.
When his mother stopped walking and turned around, Rykatu fully expected her to reprimand him for not paying closer attention during the meeting, but instead, he found her arms around him. She moved to tuck his head against her shoulders. Her hands then ran through his hair, combing through his long hair rhythmically.
It was soothing, so soothing that Rykatu wanted to relax against her embrace, but something was wrong. He was used to his mother’s need for reassurance ever since her family had been destroyed by the last war - he was pretty much all she had left - but she usually made do with squeezing his hand once or patting him on the head. An embrace like this one was rare.
“Oh Rykatu, what will I do without you?” With his face against her shoulder, he felt the rise and fall of her chest as she spoke, but he couldn’t see what expression she wore. Her voice sounded subdued and lost, and Rykatu was starting to feel his stomach churn.
“Mother...?” he ventured.
She sighed, but her hands didn’t stop combing through his hair. “If you had listened, Rykatu, you would have heard the decision the elders pushed me to make.”
Unfortunately, he had not listened despite being present since nothing important ever came out of the meetings. Now, all he could do was wait for his mother to continue speaking.
She sighed once again, her hands stopping and pulling him even closer.
“They want me to send you to the border to settle the skirmish.”
He relaxed slightly. That didn’t sound half as bad as he had been expecting from the gleeful looks the elders had sported, but he supposed they just thought him so weak that a small trip to the border would be enough to do him in.
“Do not think this is merely a light vacation. They are trying to get you out of the way. You must stay focused.”
His mother’s tone clued him in, and he felt his blood turning cold. Would they really go so far? What about his mother? What if something happened to her while he was away...but no, she was far stronger than him. She would be fine. Grimly, he circled his arms around his mother, his larger-than-life mother who had never once shunned him but rather needed him dearly, and spoke the words she wanted to hear.
“I understand, Mother. Please do not worry. I will return safely.”
------
Although Rykatu did not think of visiting their southern border as much of a cause for alarm, his mother was worried, and that worried him. He took a good look around him, wary for uninvited guests now that he was completely on his own. When his senses didn’t pick up on anything out of the ordinary, he started setting up camp. He remained alert - after all, his senses were dull compared to the others in his tribe. There was no telling what might happen to him when he wasn’t on the lookout.
He searched through his satchel for a flint stone and pulled his knife out from his sleeves. He arranged some wood in front of him and began his primitive way of starting a fire. His inability to start a fire from within had spurred him to learn many different ways of starting a fire with his hands. He had only ever left the tribe a few times, but after spending his nights without a fire the first time around, hands blistered from his failed attempts at rubbing sticks together, he was never without a knife and stone now, his preferred method of fire-starting.
Rykatu didn’t particularly need a fire, especially when he was much more suited for cold weather with his constitution, but there was something relaxing in seeing the sparks catch on and turn into a blaze in front of his eyes. He was often wary of fire and had learned firsthand how much it could hurt, but the warmth of fire also reminded him of his mother’s radiance.
He looked up at the night sky. It looked different, farther away, but he knew it was no different than what he usually saw from his vantage point outside his mother’s lair. However, his mind liked to trick him, making him think the sky outside his home was brighter than it actually was. The unobstructed view probably had something do to with it.
He had left home without any fanfare, with only his mother’s grim expression to see him off. Inside his satchel, he brought the item that his tribe sought to present their neighbors as a peace offering. He also brought with him a change of clothes. It would not do for him to present himself in front of their neighbors in his traveling clothes. He was, after all, still the son of the leader, no matter how much he was disliked.
Once he finished eating, Rykatu doused the fire and settled down for his first night away from his tribe. He had made good progress in one evening. If he set out bright and early the next day, he should be able to reach the border by nightfall.
-----
He didn't know how long he had slept, but when he woke up, it was still dark, and his heart was pounding furiously. There was no time to consider what had woken him up - he was already leaping backwards. A knife flew past his face, merely centimeters away from nicking his skin. He heard the knife clatter as it hit the rock on the far side. Rykatu quickly pulled out his own knife, his eyes darting left and right.
He had not wanted to believe that his tribe would be so ruthless, but had they finally lowered themselves to the point of sending assassins after him? He did not believe this was a random attacker, not this close to his tribe’s territory. Random bandits knew to avoid this area if they valued their lives. Rykatu, although he did not like fathoming the depths of the elders’ ambitions, knew them through and through. The fact that they dared to attack him this close meant they weren’t planning on letting anyone find his dead body. They wanted him to disappear. Once he was gone, his mother would have no successor. The next in line would belong to one of the elders’ offspring instead.
Rykatu crouched low and held his knife in front of him, the blade gleaming from the movement. If they thought he could be so easily defeated, they were underestimating him greatly.
Another knife flew out at him from the dark. Rykatu dodged but did not throw his own knife at where the enemy’s knife had originated. It would be foolish of him to throw away his only physical weapon. He located the enemy, a dark blur behind one of the jagged rocks. If only his eyesight were better, he’d be able to see more than a dark blur, but he’d have to make do with this.
When the next knife came flying at him, Rykatu sidestepped and rushed forward to close the gap between them. His attacker was most likely a hired hand. The tribe would not want this to be traced back to them. Following that same train of thought, this attacker of his most likely was not a fire elemental user, but Rykatu was not going to take chances. He had to finish this quickly. A physical knife fight he could win, but if his attacker happened to be a fire elemental user and tried to overpower him with fire, Rykatu’s chances of coming out unscathed would be low.
Rykatu took a slash forward with his blade and heard his unknown assailant gasp. Although his knife was short and his opponent had dodged to put a wide berth between them, Rykatu had quickly charged his knife with ice. Whenever he swung, little pieces of ice flew from his knife. The projectiles were sharp and difficult to spot in the dark.
They both jumped backwards, knives in hand, and regarded each other warily. Glaring red eyes stared piercingly at him from the dark, the only thing that Rykatu could make out.
When his opponent didn’t counter with fire, Rykatu held his knife before him, the infused ice property making his knife glow blue, a dead giveaway for his location. He saw his attacker’s eyes glance at his knife. Good. The distraction worked. A split second was all he needed.
In the very next moment, Rykatu slammed his hand into the ground. Ice extended in front of him, coating the ground. The red eyes widened. The owner of those piercing eyes tried to jump out of the way, but Rykatu had known that would happen. The ice rose from the ground, ensnaring his assailant’s legs. The eyes narrowed before five knives appeared all at once. He heard and saw his assailant fling the knives at the ice. One glanced off, one chipped the ice, one flew off without even touching its target, but the last two hit the mark and crumbled Rykatu’s ice trap. He grimaced as his ice crumbled. If only his opponent had been closer, his ice would not have been so brittle.
Before Rykatu could prepare to attack again, his opponent threw two more knives at him. He quickly shot out two ice particles to knock them off their path. They clattered to the ground.
“You’re far more skilled than I was told,” came a very female voice with a musical lilt. His mysterious assailant was finally talking.
He didn’t bother asking her who had sent her. He had a fairly good guess, and he doubted she’d divulge any information.
“This is far more trouble than it’s worth,” his assailant commented.
With those parting words, she disappeared into the dark, those red eyes blinking out of existence as if she had never been there. He stood still in case she were to return with a sneak attack. His eyes darted back and forth, noting the knives that lay at his feet. She had not collected them before she left.
When he felt the time trickling away with only darkness as his companion, Rykatu let his icy enchantment over his knife fade. Adrenaline was still coursing through him. This was most likely not the last time his life would be in danger during this trip of his. He knelt down to examine the knives that had been thrown at him. One particular one caught his eye. After checking that there were no traps laid on the knife, he returned to where his satchel lay, wrapped the knife, and stashed it away.
The handle of the knife had a curvy leaf symbol engraved on it. Perhaps he’d have time to investigate that later.
Hopefully posting this will motivate me to write the next part. <3
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 07:57 am (UTC)*flails* Eeeeeee! You posted it!
(Maybe Rykatu's one of those 'silent protagonists'? ;))
*____* Transforming dragons!
"He already knew their discontent at his existence."
DD: Awwww.
"Although he looked like he had been paying full attention the entire time, he had zoned out after the first hour"
XDD *laughs* That's a good skill to have.
D: He's incompatible with fire. Awwww.
"but Rykatu’s cousins had all perished in the last war, leaving Rykatu a position he had never wanted."
DD: Awww.
"instead, he found her arms around him. She moved to tuck his head against her shoulders. Her hands then ran through his hair, combing through his long hair rhythmically."
Eeeeeee. ♥
“They want me to send you to the border to settle the skirmish.”
O____o That seems much for one person.
...
Oh, okay, not by fighting. ^ ^;
Woo! Fight!
"If they thought he could be so easily defeated, they were underestimating him greatly."
*grins*
"Whenever he swung, little pieces of ice flew from his knife. The projectiles were sharp and difficult to spot in the dark."
Eeeeee! Cool!
"This is far more trouble than it’s worth,” his assailant commented.
With those parting words, she disappeared into the dark"
*laughs*
"The handle of the knife had a curvy leaf symbol engraved on it. Perhaps he’d have time to investigate that later."
:D Hint of conspiracy!
Muahaha, I will guilt-trip you in to writing more!
Not really:DAaaah, this made me feel so sorry for Rykatu! And I hope the assassin shows up again. :D
She would want to get her knives back?no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 10:54 am (UTC)I am laughing so hard now. Oh gosh, it's so true. Rykatu fits the silent protagonist role so well, and silent protagonists are so prevalent in games. Oh my gosh, why didn't I see this before and the only time they talk is when you're supposed to make a choice. Let's see...Rykatu doesn't even speak one word when he gets ambushed, haha.
Yup, transforming dragons. I don't think I've used the word dragon yet in the story (have I?). I think some other character will probably be the first to actually describe them as dragons.
Haha, you commented on the zoning out part. XD; I think I will have fun with that when another character is watching him.
I have no idea what the details of that war is yet, but if I get around to that part...whoot, more stuff to write about!
Ahaha, yeah, he's not there to settle it by fighting. I couldn't quite remember the right word for that position. =/ I still can't remember!
Hahaha, it sounds so weird that she just...disappeared like that. Sounds like I'll need to expand that part later. XD
Rykatu is...not in a very good position, is he? XD; I am going to put him through so much more trouble, ahahaha. The assassin part is going to be great to write. <3 I'm getting lots of ideas, whoot! \o/
no subject
Date: 2010-11-08 10:49 pm (UTC)Eeeee. :D
I didn't mind silent protaginists, but then they really started to bug me once I began writing fanfic (how do you know they're in character? D:) And then it looked weird when the conversation started getting filled with information you didn't hear from the protagonist.
Hey, he had to save his breath for fighting. ;D And he surmised quite a bit from the fight, which, in part, got validated.
Yeah, you said dra... *checks* Huh. You didn't. XD; I saw 'wings', 'claws', and 'serpentine tail' and thought of dragons. And your comment yesterday helped too. X3
XDD Muahaha. So they'd see that and know - wait, no, they wouldn't. Eeeeee! They're think he's paying attention! :D
I keep thinking the word begins with 'o', but I doubt that's right. XDD; Mediator?
Or you could just have something along the lines of 'she faded from sight'. There's magic here! :D (course, magic also has rules so...)
:D Woo! Have fun!
no subject
Date: 2010-11-09 07:05 am (UTC)Silent protagonists makes things hard. I find them kind of funny though. It's like...sometimes the other characters just infer things, and I go, huh? Did the protagonist say something to that effect? It's even funnier when the other characters make jokes about the protagonist not talking. XD
He did! I guess Rykatu's pretty smart and really introspective. |D
Haha, I don't think I said dragon. But I definitely have mentioned dragon a lot outside of the actual story in comments and such. XD
I still can't think of the word for Rykatu's position. Would he be a mediator? I was going to have him sent as sort of an...exchange? Not a captive, but he'd have to stay with them or something like that. Don't know why I can't think of the word. It completely stumped me, so I just glossed over that.
Haha, hm, yeah, that part definitely needs to be expanded on!
I'm having fun, whoot!
no subject
Date: 2010-11-09 09:16 am (UTC)Hey, maybe the protagonists are telepathic! ... Nooo, I do not need other (Other?) plotbunnies right now! XD;;
Overseer? Watcher? Surveyor?
\o/ Have more fun!
no subject
Date: 2010-11-09 10:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-09 10:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-10 02:03 am (UTC)Every time we talk about this game, I'm reminded that I need to finish it!!! Ahhhh. Another thing on my list to do after NaNo. XD
no subject
Date: 2010-11-10 10:08 am (UTC)So far I like your character, I think he's well-balanced. If a little quiet. I could definitely sympathize with him zoning out on the meeting xD
I wish you good luck with catching up, too! I only started out strong because I knew there's be some days in November where I'd have hardly any time to write at all and I'm kind of approaching them now and slacking off XD I'll probably be behind by the weekend.
Oh and I've seen you got a second part uploaded, I want to read that, too, but right now I've got to leave for classes. I'll be back for that :3
(Also, is that assassin going to become a permanent character? xD )
no subject
Date: 2010-11-10 10:45 am (UTC)Aw, thank you~. I don't know if he'll get more talkative. Probably not. XD
I hope I'll be able to catch up! *__* I've only written around maybe...1800 words or so a day since I started, which isn't enough to make up for the days I missed. The NaNo site tells me I need to write 2100 words a day now or else I won't finish until Jan 8. XD
Hm, yeah, first I need to make up those missed days, and then I'll need to write more for the days I know I'll be missing! I'm really impressed with your word count. *_____* I hope you'll be able to keep it up for the most part! Seeing so many of you where we're all supposed to be is making me feel really eager to catch up. XD Your title is called Taming the Dragon? Are there real dragons involved? :3 (And are you writing in English or...?) Haha, today my brother was suggesting for my mom to write a novel in Chinese. We were kind of wondering how long such a story would have to be. XD;
Oh yay~
I believe so about that assassin~ ;)
no subject
Date: 2010-11-12 07:16 pm (UTC)The MC that was created by me is able to transform into a dragon. For part of the story X'D
I have a weird genre mix-up, since the first part takes place in a fantasy world that the characters were thrown into, but they make it back from there eventually.
And yes, it's English. About the Chinese novel...I've also wondered how one would count words in Japanese XD Like, do "ni" "de" etc. count as single words?
I'm watching your word count! \o/
I've got a kanji test on monday, which really should take priority over writing right now...D: Especially since the teacher who's grading it is also responsible for whether I'll get to study in Japan for a year or no >.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-12 10:40 pm (UTC)I wonder if ni and de would count as single words! I think, based on NaNo's word counter, they'd probably do? Huh, but then, if someone spells something out in hiragana or katakana, would each sound count as separate words... that wouldn't be very accurate.
Ah, good luck with your kanji test! Better give a good impression too with your teacher? ;3
no subject
Date: 2010-11-14 06:12 pm (UTC)I am discovering my side characters as I go, it's been a fun trip so far XD
I think I will edit the hell out of my NaNo next month and after that I will probably keep writing forever at my usually slow pace as life hands me excuses not to be working on the story x'D But I do plan on finishing this story even after November if I have to. By now I care about it too much to let it go.
I wonder...actually "words" are counted by the spaces in between letters. Like if I wrote a g e h then OpenOffice would count that as 4 words. There's no spaces in Japanese! Word processors would need a lot more complicated programming to know where one word ends and the next starts! xD
no subject
Date: 2010-11-15 07:36 am (UTC)A new character sprung into existence for me today. XD; I'm thinking he might become important, haha.
Ah, you already answered the question I asked in my other comment just now, lol. I don't know if I'll be as motivated to finish my story after November (I'll definitely find way too many excuses to do everything but write), but I don't want to just let my characters hang without an ending. ):
Oh right. There aren't even spaces in Japanese. I didn't even consider that. XD; Japanese probably counts by character then? Twitter counts by character (140...I've found that's usually 1-2 sentences in English, but in Japanese, they can fit whole paragraphs!)