Completed [The Aylasa Cave] Haunted Caverns (Aoren)

[Fubuki Kouri]

Fubuki Kouri 61st of Spring, 7th of Bell, 513 AV "Fueeenyeyeyeye~" Kouri mumbled an incoherent speech as she stretched her ethereal body. She was lying down on her favorite tall tree branch. Her very long ethereal white hair spread out behind her, her very long strands of hair goes all the way from her head to freely dangling from the tree branch's side. The one near a hollow hole on a tall tree's bark where she stashed her belongings. Oh yeah... I gotta get back to the Svefra camp by tonight... She was taking another break from her training sessions with the Deathspeakers of the Svefra in preparation for an expedition to hunt the pirate captain Braten together with the Svefra. "At least, I want to have some fun first..." The training sessions were intense and very tiring for her, but she knew that Madame Ophea only wanted her to be stronger and thus increasing the odds of survival in the dangerous hunt for Braten. Hmmm... I think I'll go look around in the forest... Kouri floated down to the forest and started to wander, taking her chances of finding something interesting.

[Aoren]

Aoren walked the pathways of the forest quietly. He was finding himself more and more outside the city walls as of late. Call it wanderlust. Call it an undying need to see the sky as the last vestiges of winter were burned away by the heat of the season. He called it restlessness. Regardless he had decided to go exploring today as he had been finding himself in more need of worldly knowledge.

"I wonder where my feet will take me today?" He spoke aloud to no one but himself. Crazy, perhaps but a past acquaintance once said that nearly all men were crazy. Aoren didn't believe himself to be of any less sound man than the next man. He paused for a moment.

"Well I suppose if the next man were a lunatic that wouldn't look so good on me, now would it?" He parted some underbrush with the top end of his quarterstaff. He was in a new part of the region that he hadn't quite been to as often. He had explored enough as a boy when it was safe and always when others were nearby but today he'd decided to be a little more adventurous. As he parted the underbrush the rocky formation of caves in the cliff side came into view. Caves were dangerous places. Many of them in the whole region had served as homes for refugees escaping the wrath of the Djed storms during the cataclysmic Valterrian.

"Hmmm...why do I get the feeling that this is a bad idea?" Because it probably was. Aoren, however, hadn't been to caves in some time. He was itching with curiosity today. Of course, he was well aware of the old adage that followed curiosity.

"Something about cats and all that..." Pushing aside more of the underbrush that he could walk through it, Aoren padded up to the entrance of the cave.

"Well...no one in recent memory has died of cave searching." Recently anyways. He comforted himself with those words as he studied the entrance to the cave. This was going to be interesting to say the least.

[Fubuki Kouri]

Fubuki Kouri "Hello~ Ahahaha~" Kouri mockingly waved her right hand to a family of foxes. She was kneeling down in front of a fox's nest hole. The mother fox was terrified at the phantom in front of her but braved herself to say and protect her cubs, the mother tried her best to appear as intimidating as possible and snarled at Kouri. "Kehehehe... AHAHAHAHA!!" The eerily haunting laughter of the ghost girl echoed in the area. The fox's pitiful attempt to intimidate her was amusing, very amusing. Kouri wanted to show this animal what true intimidation looked like so she slowly opened her mouth in a wide grin, wider... wider... and wider until *riiip* the sound of flesh ripping could be heard as Kouri's cheeks slowly tore itself apart in two, granting Kouri with a gruesome Glasgow grin. Her crimson eyes turned into reptilian-like slits and Kouri continued her demonic laughter. She now looked like more of a monster than a little girl. The mother fox couldn't take it anymore, she scampered back to her nest hole and whimpered in fear, but she still refused to leave because of her cubs. "........." Kouri's face immediately switched to an unamused expression. Kuh... She curses in her mind. This act was her usual way of venting her longing for her parents. Everytime she saw someone or something, be it animal or people, being shown paternal affection to, she would try to destroy it. "Hmph..." Realizing that this fox would not leave her cubs no matter what, Kouri stood up and proceeded to continue her wandering. After fifteen chimes of boring floating, Kouri's ethereal eyes spotted something interesting. It was a man with dark hair, dark eyes, and fair skin-tone. He wore leather clothing and his attitude was not like someone who has lost their way in the forest, but was of a curious explorer. Oooooh~ I wonder where he's going~? Kouri took interest in the man and 'dove' down to the ground up to her nose. Now only her eyes and top of her head were visible to the naked eye, the rest of her body were underground. Kouri then silently followed the man from behind. After some time, Kouri found the man heading to a formation of caves in a cliffside. Oooh! I bet he's going in there... caves huh.. caves... hehehe~ A mischievous idea popped in Kouri's mind. Caves are dark and full of enclosed spaces. I think... I will play with him, ahahaha~ Yes, she would do it. She would have some fun with this explorer, she would scare the shykes out of him and make him ran back home with his tail between his pants. Putting her plan into motion, still creeping inside the ground; Kouri took a different direction from the main entrance and headed to a stone wall near the entrance. She looked to her side and saw the man examining the cave's entrance. Ehehe, come on, go in... I will be expecting~ With that declaration Kouri floated forward to the stone walls, phasing through it and went inside the cave.

[Aoren]

Aoren was sifting through his body pack in search of a torch. The contents of the pack were all neatly sorted and properly folded so that they were easy to pick up and take out. Travel however, had a way of making that which you needed most fall to the bottom beneath everything else. After a few moments of neatly digging through he grabbed the torch pulling it out of the pack and setting it aside on the floor of the cave near his feet.

He glanced around to see if anything might be sneaking up on him or if there was any sort of imminent danger. There wasn't. One could never be too cautious when exploring the wilds no matter how close they were to the city. He retrieved some flint and tinder and struck them together near the head of the torch. The sparks hissed as they came into contact with the flammable wrappings around the head of the torch then caught fire. Aoren picked up the torch then deposited his things back into his pack. He slung one strap over his shoulder then the other before situating the pack comfortably on his back. He rose to his feet bringing the torch with him.

"Now lets see what is in this place." He grabbed his quarterstaff from where it rested against the cave wall. The dancing light of the torch illuminated the darkness of the cave well enough. As Aoren had never been inside this particular one he had no idea what to expect within its corridors. He was mindful of where he stepped. He'd heard of some caves being trapped so that the ancient inhabitants remained safe from the beasts that roamed the wilds in olden days. He doubted he would run into anything horrifying and outlandish today.

But there was always a chance.

Aoren admired the shape of the rock as he walked deeper into the mouth of the cave. He'd seen enough of caves to know that contrary to popular belief most of them were quite smooth on the inside. The majority of them had been made because water passed through them for centuries. Such wear and tear didn't tend to leave jagged edges but rather smooth rivulets in the walls much like the flow of a river. As he walked though, Aoren got the distinct feeling that there -was- something inside of this particular cave. He couldn't put his finger on it but there was...something. Maybe it was just the Djed wafting about the flows of the cave. Being magical himself it wouldn't surprise him if on some level he could feel the after effects of especially powerful wild magic. Then again, who wouldn't be able to sense the kind of power that ravaged the whole country not but a few seasons ago?

He continued his silent exploration. Sometimes there were items of interest deep inside the caves. Sometimes they were valuable. Most of the time they were just left over tools that had been abandoned when the caves themselves were abandoned. There was no telling what lay within the deeper parts of the cave. He didn't speak much nor make much vocal sound at all. Aoren had learned a long time ago that too much noise attracted unwanted attention.

Some days though, strange encounters just couldn't be helped. That too was also a lesson Aoren had learned. He dealt with them as they came. He bore a few scars from those encounters but one had yet to kill him. He was by no means confident that he could slay any monster in his path but most of the wildlife around these parts didn't stand up very well to a fireball. As he walked his foot bumped up against something causing Aoren to pause in his exploration. He looked down to see something half buried beneath dirt and rubble.

"What's this?" Aoren knelt down letting his hand slide down the shaft of his quarterstaff then allowing it to rest against his shoulder. He reached forth brushing aside dirt and dust. It was a book. Weathered with age. It could have been centuries old. It could have been left here by another traveler less than a month ago. Aoren wasn't adept at appraising such objects.

He blew away a bit more dust then squinted at the cover. What writing there might have been there was worn away by the elements, limited though they were inside the cave. With a steady hand he opened the cover and began trying to discern what he could from the first few pages.

[Fubuki Kouri]

Fubuki Kouri "Fueh~" Kouri appeared at the corridor near the cave's entrance. She examined her surroundings, the cave was dark and looked abandoned like most caves actually. Hmm... She looked to the direction of the light streaming from the cave's entrance and could see the figure of a man doing something. Ehehe~ She mischievously giggled in her mind and flew up, turning her body upside-down, and buried her body in the cave's ceiling up to her nose. Now only her eyes and upper part of her head were visible in the cave's ceiling. As the man entered, Kouri kept unmoving until he walked past her. Ehehehe~ Hehehe~ She barely let out a giggle at her prospect of haunting this explorer. When the man was at a few meters in front of her, Kouri began to move; stalking him from the cavern ceiling. She kept following and observing the man examined various items and rooms inside the cave. This took Kouri by surprise What? Someone used to live here? Kouri couldn't help but wonder on why anyone would live inside cold, dark, and damp places such as caves. Then the man seemed to found something that caught his attention as he stopped and examined an object. That's a.. book? Kouri recognized it and assessed the situation. Now is the perfect time, mueehehehehe~ She flashed a grin and put her plan into motion. First, she slowly positioned herself directly above the man and extended an ethereal black tendril to seize his torch. This should put him into confusion as he would saw a torch floating on its own. Ahahaha~! Kouri then threw away torch far away, now the light from the torch couldn't illuminate the man's location, leaving him in darkness. "Hehehe~ Ehehehe~" Kouri let out a haunting eerie giggle that echoed in the caves to confuse the man more. Then she slowly dropped down from the ceiling, shifted to an upright position, materialized herself, and hugged the man tight from behind. Using her ghostly frost-touch to surprise him. Kouri then put her chin on the man's right should and softly whispers "Hello~"

[Aoren]

"Whoa! What the--" Aoren was startled as his torch was wrenched from his hand and tossed a good distance away. He quickly rose to his feet and gripped his staff looking around the cave. He couldn't see much of anything. It was too dark. He was on high alert as he began pacing his way back toward the discarded torch.

Something was definitely in the cave with him. Had it been a spell? Had it been a beast? Aoren didn't know of any beasts that had the ability to be be invisible then again they could just be lurking in the darkness. He tightened his grip on his staff, ready to strike out at the first opportunity. That was when he heard the laughter. A haunting echoing laugh that rebounded off the walls of the cave. It made the hairs on the back of Aoren's neck stand up on end.

"That...cannot bode well." Aoren looked around the cave as he edged slowly toward the ring of light cast by the torch.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Little did Aoren know that the source of that laughter intended to do just that. A shiver went up his spine. The world suddenly grew very,very cold and the Drykan man felt as if he were being embraced from behind.

"Hello~" Aoren jumped nearly five feet he shifted away from the cold embrace that was wrapped around his waist and whirled around to see if he would come face to face with whatever creature was threatening him. He dropped into a defensive stance. His legs were spread shoulder width apart. His knees were slightly bent. One hand rested near the end of each tip of the quarterstaff. Aoren knew how to use his staff and he was prepared to lash out at whatever it was sending chills up his spine.

[Fubuki Kouri]

"Ahahahaha~! Eheheheheee~" More haunting giggling echoed in the cavern. The man's reactions were satisfying. To think the once calm explorer could went into bouts of shock and confusion. After Kouri touched and whispered to him, the man literally jumped at almost five feet. Woah... Kouri was genuinely awed, she thought only Kelvics like Akilia or Vaspira could jump like that and that was in their animal form. The man now was putting a defensive battle-ready position, it was quite amusing. Kouri didn't have any thoughts that this could do reimancy or any other magic that could hurt her, so she didn't feel intimidated at all. "Ahaha~" Kouri positioned her tendrils to slither on her right palm so she could looked like she was picking up objects with her right hand. Kouri then bent down and picked up the man's torch that was lying on the ground then she held the torch with her hand like a normal human would do. Now her flickering form was illuminated by the torch's light. She beamed the man a malicious grin and her pupils shrank to reptilian-like slits, she was planning to see what could this man do against beings like her. She doesn't want to hurt him, she simply wanted to play.

[Aoren]

Aoren blinked at the ethereal being floating in front of him. He watched as she willed the torch to hover not but a few inches from her translucent form. Aoren's eyes took in her shape. A little girl probably no more than eleven or twelve years old. He wondered briefly what sort of traumatic event could have caused such a little girl to cast away the gentle embrace of Dira in favor of a life...or rather un-life of mournful grieving. Maintaining his defensive posture he narrowed his eyes at the ghost.

"What do you want?" He adjusted his grip on his staff reaching deep inside of himself. He felt for the spark that existed within all beings. The wild fire that could be harnessed if only you had the skill to manipulate it. Aoren slowly willed his Res to gather in the palms of his hands where it wouldn't be noticed.

"Leave me in peace spirit and I shall continue on my way that we may part without any sort of difficulty." Aoren didn't know whether this spirit was here to guard the cave, the book or simply haunted the area. Regardless, he didn't really want to find out. He'd never fought a ghost before and had no idea what they were capable of.

[Fubuki Kouri]

Fubuki Kouri Kouri kept up the threatening posture until the man narrowed his eyes at her. It was not the eyes of fear, it was the fierce eyes of a battle-ready warrior. The ones that said don't mess with me.... "......." Kouri's expression slowly switched from threatening to intimidated. Her pupils returned to normal and lips closed. Why is he not afraid? D-don't tell me he's a mage... but he doesn't look like it... Kouri couldn't decide if the man was bluffing or he was truly a mage. "U-uhm... are you a mage?" Kouri sheepishly asked the man. It was a rather absurd question really, one moment she was playing with the explorer, now she was timidly asking him about his abilities. Kouri was taken aback when the man commanded her to leave him. "Uuu..." She whimpered in fear. Perhaps this man was bluffing, perhaps he was truly a mage; either way, Kouri didn't want to take her chances. She wanted to have fun today, not fight. If she was defending her Master or friends, sure she would fight anyone even if they were mages or spiritists; but she was not defending anyone today, she was merely playing like a child who wanted to have fun. "W-w-well... uuuh... I'm just here to have fun... uhm... I-I'm sorry..." Kouri slightly bowed to him, apologizing. "T-though... I can help you find your way here... I can go through walls and uuh... explore ahead if you want. I-it's the least I could do..." This man seemed offended at her pranking and Kouri wanted to make up for it somehow.

[Aoren]

Aoren waited for the spirits response. Seeing her contorted form sent chills down his spine. He was afraid. He was definitely afraid but he didn't want to show that in front of her. For all he knew she could make the cavern come crashing down upon their heads. Or rather upon Aoren's head. That was not an experience Aoren wanted to see if he could survive. To die in a bitter dark cave at the hands of a malicious spirit whom he provoked. So he maintained his posture. He stared at the ghost until she apparently backed down.

"Am I a..." He was surprised by the question. Did she sense him conjuring his Res in the palms of his hands? Rather than answering her question verbally he straightened his posture dropping his defensive stance. He brought a hand in front of him at chest level. The Res he conjured was then visible. With a silent command he ignited the Res thus creating a sphere of azure blue fire. After a moment he let it dissipate but he kept his guard up. He didn't trust the ghost. He side-stepped the spirit and grasped the torch holding it high.

"If it was fun you wanted, child..." He turned to face her head-on. "You could have just asked." He gave her a tentative smile. His eyes however were still guarded. Everything he knew about spirits, undead and creatures who opposed the living were terrible. They gave him the willies.

"I had intended to sate my curiosity and explore this cave. I'm not so sure now. How do I know you won't try to lure me to my doom? Or to more spirits that are waiting to rend my soul to pieces?"