Irulia: The Spirit Changers Quest

[Apelatia]

Lecta stirred on his cabin bed. His last memory had been of the nice girl whispering sorry in his ear... What could that mean? Was he...safe again? He sat up in bed and examined his surroundings. I'm back in the cabin again! The nice girl, I don't even know her name... Lecta pushed his legs out of the bed and put them on the floor, attempting to stand up. Suddenly, a wave of weariness came over him, causing him to fall back onto the bed again. "I'm a cripple... Noooo! This can't be!" Lecta wailed, a feeling of desperation edging into his voice. His last effort to save the group, his confused feelings for the nice girl, his cowardliness against foes... It was too much for him... Aghast, he stared in shock at the ceiling trying to get a grip on what was happening.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

Sam
As Lecta wailed Sam moved over and checked his legs. "They feel fine, I don't think anything's wrong with them, you just need rest." He finished speaking and turned to everyone else. "I'm going to go get some herbs, I'll be back soon." He slipped out of the cabin and headed towards the forest on this side of the marshes. He didn't walk far but he gathered enough herbs to treat the wounds of the others for a bit before beginning to set of back towards the hut.

Arthur
His dreams were troubled, the images of his dead parents dying flashing through his mind. Then, suddenly a wave a light swept through the dreams to leave Arthur standing in a white area. There was no floor, yet he was standing in mid-air. There was nothing that could be seen except for the white. A figure, glowing gold, floated down to reveal a man dressed in white, he was tall and evenly built, muscled but still streamlined. "Arthur." he spoke, "Listen to me." The man stood back and awaited the boy's reply.

 

[Apelatia]

Lecta relaxed slightly upon discovering that his legs were in fact, fine. He was just exhausted from his earlier efforts to divert the fire. Thinking about the day's events was enough of an enigma to have diverted his entire attention to solving his problem. First, there was the...nice girl. Whatever his feelings for her were, he would have to find out her name before he could even think about making any sort of advances. Even then, he didn't know how to proceed! Growing up, he had always been a solitary figure, walking the world alone, care-free. Any romantic thoughts hadn't troubled him before. But, this girl...from the first he had seen her, she had captivated him, causing an ache of longing to form inside of him. It was then that he had, for the first time in his life, caught a fleeting glimpse of what it was to long for someone to become his... other half. the feeling had been so unusual, it had caught him totally off-guard, rendering his actions useless and clumsy. Now though, he would have to think before he proceeded. His time would come. With that thought, Lecta smiled for the first time since leaving the citadel. "I'm OK, I think." He said to whomever was listening in the small, cramped room.

 

[DeletedUser35174]

Arthur stood in a world completely white, looking down he noticed he was rather floating than standing. Although he was frozen in sight at the beauty, his mind was screaming with rage and mourn. His parents were no more, always he fantasized that he would meet his parents one day, maybe live with them for a little bit, but now he knew that would never happen. His from now on would focus on one thing and one thing only, Kill Reibald. He would tear down trees and break mountains if he had to..... a golden figure, floated down, Arthur covered his eyes at the brightness. He opened them a second later to see a man dressed in white, "Arthur. Listen to me" the man spoke. "who....who are you, where am i" questioned Arthur.

 

[DeletedUser13682]

Seamus looked at the casualties. Lecta, the annoying new boy had some bruising on his legs. Arthur appeared unhurt. Both had soot on them and probably had minor smoke damage. After Lecta woke up, found his legs not working (strange), and laid back down, Sam inspected Lecta's legs. After saying they were alright, he left. Seamus walked over with a full waterskin. "Welcome back, Lecta. Thanks for the help with the fire. Would still be burning if we hadn't worked together." Seamus said all this with a begrudging monotone. Seamus inspected Lecta's legs then took some water out and poured it over Lecta's legs. The water glowed a bit then disappeared. "That should fix you right up. I trained as a healer, so I have to help you. I'm not a doctor though, so I can hurt you before I heal you. So get any romantic thoughts out of your head. Got it?"

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

"You're both being idiots." The deep, rich, commanding voice was new to Seamus and Lecta, which made sense, since Mandan was the source. "We have the most feared cult in the known world after us, and you're fighting over a girl that neither one of you have attempted to court at all. Idiocy." The black clad boy's violet eyes, typically harsh in their appearance, looked as though they were capable of sending daggers. "I've kept my preferred silence until now because I'd hoped you all would stop acting like fools and actually do something for once, but if we're degrading to that level, then I must speak up. There will be time to discuss such things AFTER our lives are out of mortal peril. Until then, kindly drop it and let's make sure we all get out alive, understand?" With that, he readjusted the cloth over his mouth and nose, and made to stride out of the room, then stopped. "Oh, and when you do return to the matter...make sure I'm there." He then departed without another word, ignoring any outburst that might have come from the pair.

In truth, he still had wanted to keep his silence, but since only two of them had been present, he could consider it worthwhile...most of them still considered him utterly silent, meaning he wouldn't be pressed to participate in the tiresome discussions this group seemed prone to falling into at every turn...and if Lecta or Seamus tried to tell anyone that he'd spoken, who'd believe them? He hadn't spoken, even when their lives had been in immediate mortal peril...why would they believe he'd seemingly randomly spoken up? There was no reason, and so the power of his silence would persist.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

Arthur
The man cocked his head at Arthur's question, having obviously expected it. "You are currently inside the safety of your own head, recovering from your injuries. This is a dream, but you will remember it when you wake up. As for who I am. I am the Ultimate One. Now then: you must listen to me. I have been sealed into my cave by Riebald's dark powers, which is why I could not appear before you before. I have managed to transcend that seal in a dream. This is why I must ask that you leave your quest for revenge for now, it will earn you nothing. You can not defeat Riebald in your current state, he will capture you and force you to convert, and there will be nothing left of the boy known as Arthur Willis." The man spoke softly but authoritatively, "The only way you can gain the power to defeat him is if you seek me out, lift the curse on my cave and enter." The man began to glow and fade "It seems my time here is up. Seek me.." and he vanished. And so Arthur slept on, but this time his mind replaying the events of his dream with the Ultimate One.

 

[Apelatia]

Lectanus shifted uneasily on his bed. The healer boy seemed intent on demolishing his efforts to eventually court the nice girl. He had come out nice and all, thanking him for helping to put out the fire, but had then gone on to state that because he wasn't a doctor, he could hurt Lecta before he healed him, JUST so he could get Lecta out of the way. "What's wrong with you? You would sacrifice the greater good of our cause just so you can get me out of your way! You're just jealous, I can tell." Giving the boy a cold look, Lecta looked away, unsure of what to do. He was indebted to this boy for healing him, but now the healer was trying to lever that to his advantage. His feelings were his own, and there weren't just going to vanish into thin air like a puff of smoke. No, he wasn't just going to renounce his affections like that.

It was then that a deep, powerful voice emanated from the other side of the room. Lecta started, looking around for the source of the voice. Then he realised. It was the quiet boy who was speaking. He hadn't said a word since Lecta had crashed in on the party, after his escape from the monsters. What he wasn't expecting though, was the long, insulting speech that came forth from the 'quiet' boy, accusing him and the healer boy of being idiots, wasting their time and acting like fools! His last remark suggested that he was also interested in the pretty girl. Lecta started to speak, then checked himself. If he did that, the quiet boy and the healer would only have more leverage to use against him. So, now he would have two people to contend with. That made matters worse than before... From his time viewing the group though, he had noticed that the pretty girl seemed to be intimidated by the quiet boy... If that was so, then even better! Struggling to find some sort of inner peace, Lecta turned back over and looked at the healer boy. "I would heed his words if I were you. What is your name anyway? I can't go around forever not knowing anyone's name!"

 

[DeletedUser35174]

"You are currently inside the safety of your own head, recovering from your injuries. This is a dream, but you will remember it when you wake up. As for who I am. I am the Ultimate One. Now then: you must listen to me. I have been sealed into my cave by Riebald's dark powers, which is why I could not appear before you before. I have managed to transcend that seal in a dream. This is why I must ask that you leave your quest for revenge for now, it will earn you nothing. You can not defeat Riebald in your current state, he will capture you and force you to convert, and there will be nothing left of the boy known as Arthur Willis." Said the man, his voice emitting great power and authority. The Ultimate one, could it be?. Arthur had no doubt what so ever that the man who stood before him was the ultimate one. The man then started fading, It seems my time here is up. Seek me.."... " Wait... how am i to find you. WAIT!, Don't go." yelled Arthur after the man, but he knew it was no use. As the man vanished leaving him alone.

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Seraphim watched the ensuing events with a growing sense of confusion as the two boys seemingly began competing and threatening each other for no apparent reason leading her to wonder what she had missed; after all it hadn't been the first time that she'd missed something important and often blindingly obvious before.
Her sense of confusion only grew further when Mandan finally decided to break his silence, though she didn't share the same sense of shock that others did over it as she had shared several classes with him and so had heard him speak before though normally only long enough to answer an instructors question and never with such ferocity as this What on earth is going on here!? And what girl is he talking about there’s only me and...Oh the realisation of what was going on hit her like a ton of bricks her eyes going wide in panic as her skin turned a rather unbecoming shade of crimson.
Finding herself unable to meet either of the two boys eyes Sera slowly starts edging her way towards the door babbling incoherently as she does "I...err...I ...wow....err... I have to....have to....err..." with the power of speech now seemingly having left her she decides to cut her losses and quickly leaves the room.
With her hands clamped over her cheeks in an attempt to hide her embarrassment she dashes into the woods splitting into four separate entities as she does so more by accident than by any desire to lose any would be pursuers.
She wouldn’t go very far, not with Demon changers still in the region but after the revelation she’d just gotten she needed a little time to herself to think things through and more importantly to stop looking like a tomato.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

Sam
As he walked back towards the camp, Sam spotted one of the member's of the group, a girl, Seraphim he thought to himself, standing there looking like a tomato, and as if she was crying. Gently he moved up to her before asking "Hey, are you ok?"

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Hearing the voice coming from behind her Seraphim jumps in alarm though upon seeing that it was only Sam her mind quickly turns to other matters as she turns her back to him in order to hide her face which was no doubt turning bright red once more "I am ok just need a little time to compose myself...and think" this had never happened to her before, boys didn't talk to her, they talked about behind her back; she'd seen the side long glances they gave her and whispered conversations but none of them ever actually spoke to her...well...except for Lyle, but that had been a joke, had to be a joke, why else would all the other girls start laughing when he'd asked if she'd like to go for a walk in the citadel's gardens.
She'd been so surprised over the invitation that she hadn't been able to answer him and by the time she'd recovered sufficiently to do so the other girls had started laughing and he'd ran away. It was a shame really because she'd have quite liked to go for a walk in the gardens and he had been rather sweet to her in a nerdy kind of way.
Feeling that she was sufficiently under control of herself once again; the glow on her cheeks now down to a rosy pink she slowly turns to face Sam before speaking in a barely audible voice "Sam, why are the other boys fighting over me? They’re not planning on playing some kind of trick on me are they?" that had to be it why else would they be acting the way they were?

 

[Deleted User - 819397]

Having leaned back against a nearby tree, Mandan saw Sera leave the tent he'd just left, beet red. Mandan's eyes widened, and what little skin was visible paled a considerable amount. He hadn't seen her in there when he'd ranted! And he'd as good as said...Gods, he was the stupid one! Why couldn't he have kept his silence? Every time he opened his mouth, this kind of thing happened. Most times most people opened their mouth, they caused strife. That or they spoke about nothing like idiots. That's why he didn't speak often...he knew that actions spoke far louder than words...but in this case...there might have been an exception. Stupid...stupid...stupid. The dark boy changed into the poison dart frog so that Sera wouldn't notice him after rapidly climbing the tree to a low branch. Mandan's frog looked typical of its species, although there were more black streaks than was normal. Its eyes were violet, the tell of all Mandan's animals, but this one was hardest to see, owing to the small size of the animal. The poisonous film that this form was covered in made him a silent killer, something all his animals shared. However, he wasn't aiming to kill right now, but remain hidden as he thought furiously on how to repair the damage he'd caused with opening his mouth.

 

[DeletedUser13682]

After Mandan had ranted about how they were both acting like immature jerks in a situation of immense mortal peril, Seamus felt exactly like a fresh, steaming hot cow pie that had somehow been flattened by a farm cart. After Mandan left, Lecta agreed with him and asked Seamus's name. "Mandan is right, Lecta. I'm Seamus, resident healer. Glad to have another water elemental on board." After a swallow or two, he continued. "No more fighting over Sera. I'll teach you what I know about healing if you want. I hope you'll teach me some things as well."

Seamus looked at Arthur, who was still asleep. "But later. First I have to check up on Arthur." As Seamus walked over to Arthur, he heard the sound of running feet. Turning around, he caught a glimpse of Sera turning into her animals. If Seamus were to guess how much of the conversation Sera had heard, he would say all of it. The need to explain himself fought against his need to help Arthur. Medicine won. "Lecta, find Sera, make sure she doesn't get hurt. I need to stay here until Arthur is ok. I promise you that you're perfectly fine, if a bit sooty."

Seamus turned back to Arthur. Under his eyelids, Seamus saw rapidly moving eyes. This wasn't a deep coma, but the dream stage of sleep, if the new theory was to be believed. Seamus waited a bit for Arthur's eyes to stop moving, then slowly woke him up. "Welcome back Arthur. Need to make sure you're fine after your fall into a forest fire. Remember your dream at all?"

 

[DeletedUser35174]

Suddenly all was black, Arthur heard a voice in the distance, "Welcome back Arthur. Need to make sure you're fine after your fall into a forest fire. Remember your dream at all?". The voice seemed familiar... he blinked once and a thousand memories surged through him... The group....their capture....Heldon on fire......Hi...his parents. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH" He heard screaming, and realized it was him. Looking around him he saw Seamus the healer standing over him, on another bed sat Lecta, "m....m...my...my parents....my...si...sister" He mumbled as he forced every part of his body to obey. Arthur pushed himself of the bed and landed on all fours, a tremor of pain ran through his body as he forced himself to walk to the door. Tears were running down his eye as he took in his family's death. With a huge force of will.

He ran through the door, ignoring all the screams of agony he received from his legs. He ran, and ran till he could run no more, falling in a clearing. He looked back and saw the cabin as a small square, He yelled as loud as possible. He yelled because he lost his family, guilt and mourn were all he could feel. If he would've came earlier, he could have saved them. Arthur stopped yelling, his throat dry, he curled in his legs and sat against a tree, his head propped on his knees, hes arms wrapped around them, and he cried. Tears rolled down his cheek as he cried over the family he would never get to meet.

 

[Apelatia]

Lecta sighed inwardly from his sitting position on the rough mattress. The healer boy had introduced himself as Seamus, and after telling him to stay away from Sera...that was her name; had offered to teach him some things about healing in return for knowledge that Lecta had. Keeping him away from Sera wasn't just going to happen like that. His confused feelings for her were bubbling over like a boiling kettle right then. Sera had been in the room when Seamus and himself had been arguing and the quiet boy had lectured them. Having not noticed her presence in the room, Lecta felt ashamed to have acted so childishly in front of the girl he intended to eventually...maybe...court... She had then exited in a rather hasty manner, her cheeks red like crimson as she ran away into the forest, seemingly scared that the three boys all wanted her attention, which she obviously, from the way she was acting, wasn't at all used to... Lecta eyed Seamus sternly as he gawked after Sera's disappearing form among the trees. For a second, Lecta thought Seamus would run after Sera, but the healer eventually turned back to the boy on the other bed, Arthur apparently, and started tending to him asking him about his dream.

As soon as Seamus started talking to Arthur, the other boy jumped up and started walking towards the door. He seemed to be in obvious emotional distress, signified by the fact that he kept moaning about some father, mother and sister of his. Why would he care anyway? It wasn't as if Spirit Changers had any close attachments to their parents. Lecta only knew bits and pieces about his parents, which he had prized from his instructor back at the citadel, many of which he treasured, but if one of his family died, what would it matter? He didn't know them. Arthur was overreacting.

Seamus interrupted Lecta's thoughts by suggesting that he go and talk to Sera and find out if she was OK. Lecta stared, dazed at the floor. Seamus wanted...him to go? This could be his opportunity, but what if...what if...Sera rejected him... Pushing those thoughts aside, Lecta stood up, then after a few seconds of overcoming his dizziness, strode outside in the direction Sera had travelled. Suddenly feeling nervous, he considered turning back, but then again, what good would that do? The quiet boy was nowhere in sight, so he wouldn't need to worry about him for the moment... Padding along silently in his brown boots, Lecta located Sera, only to find her talking to Sam. That just made matters worse. Lecta felt his cheeks grow hot, he was nervous... Walking up to Sera, Lecta addressed her, "Sera... I'm really sorry about earlier...I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Can we talk together please? Glancing at Sam, he added, "In p...p...private... if you don't m...mind.." Lecta looked away, flustered. He was handling this horribly badly...

 

[DeletedUser31931]

Leo
"It's your fault Leo. It's all your fault." the voice came out of the dream taunting him. He had done nothing to save Arthur's family. The image of them dying flashed through his mind and he woke up as Arthur screamed and ran out of the door. "Arthur...." he said, his voice a hoarse whisper, "I'm so sorry." He tried to drag himself out of bed but his burn wounds ached, badly. He had dragged Arthur out of the forest fire and now he was paying the price, the burn marks on his legs would never heal naturally. "Seamus..." he whispered "Are you alright? Thanks for helping out"

 

[DeletedUser13682]

Arthur mumbled something about his parents after a horrible scream. A nightmare involving family, and apparently one powerful enough to prompt an escape from the cabin. This was bad. Seamus hadn't had time to check and heal Arthur. As Seamus was about to run after him, somebody else spoke up. It seemed that Leo was here as well. And he was hurt. Seamus could hear it. "I'm fine Leo, but you're not. Stay in bed. I'll see what I can do."

Seamus's eyes were drawn to Leo's burns on his legs. Blistering and swelling and blotches. Second degree. They were bad, but nothing a few weeks of healing could fix. "I'm not going to be able to heal this right away, but I can heal it over a few weeks. THere might be some scars and skin discolouration, but you'll be fine." Seamus grabbed another waterskin and began treatment. "Why were you saying sorry to Arthur?" Seamus asked, as the first of the water disappeared.

 

[DeletedUser31931]

Leo
"Why were you saying sorry to Arthur?" Seamus asked as he began to heal Leo.
"I... arrived... late." Leo whispered his voice not containing to keep the sorrow out of it. "Something... terrible... happened... it's all.... my fault." His hoarse voice was filled with sorrow and regret. "I... need... to talk... to Arthur..." He sounded desperate which he was, he had to say sorry and help him, before he went mad with grief. "Seamus, help me... to Arthur... please."

 

[DeletedUser28032]

Looking up Sera swallows hard as she spots one of the boys in question approaching her, silently wishing that she had found a better hiding place "Oh...hi Lecta" she mumbles in response to the boy, casting her eyes down to examine the toes of her boots.
Upon being asked if they could talk she hesitates for several moments unsure whether or not it would be a good idea to do so after all what if this was the trick? however after several seconds of painful deliberation she quietly replies to Lecta "I guess so" she wasn't too keen on the idea of talking to him alone just yet though he had said sorry so he couldn't be that bad...right?