Flashback Realm Shock

[Alyra]

25th of Summer, 508 AV

The day was a beautiful one, especially for those out near the waters. A cloudless sky perched above the coastal waters of Sunberth. At the shore, the tide came in long, easy waves that lapped at the land like the carefree strokes of a paint brush. The wind whispered sweet songs of comfort in the sailors' ears, putting them at ease beneath Syna's affection. Nothing was foreboding, not a sign of strangeness was to be seen.

And yet, there was strangeness to be found. There, in the calm waters near Sunberth, the sky cracked. There was no catastrophic storm, no whirling winds or massive waves to show for this crack...just the clean sky and the calmness of the waters. Somehow, though, a creature slipped through the split in the sky. She slid through the crack like yolk through a broken egg, meeting the water in shock.

She didn't move at first; she didn't know she had to. These waters were strange to her, this realm was something long forgotten. The rush of the water against her skin was a sensation that she hadn't felt in ages. The wind that playfully toyed with her hair were ancient childhood friends of hers. And though she wished to greet these long-forgotten feelings of familiarity kindly, the fallen woman found herself being dragged beneath the surface.

What was she to do? Swimming was never a skill she needed in the Land of the Divines. Even if she knew how to swim, she wouldn't know how to employ such knowledge in this cumbersome, tangible form. So she did the only thing she thought helpful: scream. She hoped that her plea for help would carry across the calmness of the day, reaching the ears of a rescuer. If it did not, then the fallen girl feared that she would fall once more, and this time there would be no guarantee of a landing.

Words: 318 (not including the timestamp)

[Alyra]

As the Ethaefal dipped farther under the water's surface, she wondered why Syna had sent her to this solid death. If her goddess wanted her out of her realm, then she could have very well killed the woman there. If Syna hadn't wanted to kill her, then why hadn't she given her knowledge of how to swim?

Strong arms wrapped around the woman as she let herself slip into unconsciousness. When she came to, the woman was smoothly bobbing back and forth. She ran her hand over her surroundings, exploring with her sense of touch while her eyes were still waking up. She was wrapped in rough sheets, with a plain cotton dress on. When her hand roamed towards the wall, it was met with splinters. Her hand snapped back away from the sharp, unpleasant texture, causing her to roll off the bed. The Ethaefal hit the floor with a small thump, as her body was cushioned by the layers of sheets she dragged down with her.

By now, her eyes had revived themselves. The woman sat up, slowly spinning as she looked at the room. As she peered around, she saw that she was enclosed in a windowless, wooden room. That, combined with the steady bobbing sensation, gave her the impression that she was on some sort of over-water vessel.

In the other room, she heard two people arguing. Though their voices were both low in tone, their voices were raised. The longer they argued, the more the woman realized that it was her that they were debating over.

"She was drowning, Mac!" One shouted.

"Oh, thas terrible. Whattya gonna do with her now?! We dun even know 'er--" The second, "Mac", retorted. The first one interrupted in the middle of Mac's sentence.

"We don't have to know her! What's she gonna do? Single-handedly steal the boat?"

"Dun matter what she's gonna do! She's got horns on 'er head. What udder kinda magic ya'think she has in 'er? We can't bring 'er back to Sunberth--they'll kill 'er, an maybe us wit 'er jus for bringin' 'er 'round!"

Horns? The woman reached for her head, running her fingers through her smooth hair. They were unrestricted, never once hitting these supposed horns. Pushing her body up, she stumbled over to a nearby table. The boat rocked, sending the girl flying into one of the chairs by the table. It fell over, crashing to the ground loudly. She clung to the table, staring at the hanging mirror on the other side of it.

She stared at a bizarre, yet vaguely familiar creature. The white dress she wore hung loosely, suggesting that it was meant for a large woman. Her skin did the opposite, grasping tightly to her bones and muscles. Dark brown eyes gazed back at her, watching as she ran her fingers once more through the brunette locks atop her head. Who am I?

Words: 483

[Alyra]

"Who are you?" One of the voices from earlier called from the doorway. He stood with his arms crossed, and his jaw protruding in anger. "Where'd the other girl go?" Eyes wide, the girl stammered to find the proper words. Her mind ran through a language that she hadn't spoken in forever, as she was no longer able to speak her celestial tongue.

"I told ya! Look at 'er, stealin' skins of innocents!" Mac spoke up, shouting from around the younger man's shoulder.

"Who'd she steal the skin from, then? You been hiding innocents down here, Mac?" The young man snapped. "Let her be, she's obviously scared."

"It's trickery, jus so she can steal our skins. An guess who's first up? Ain't me, Kevers; I ain't as young an hansome as ya." Mac squinted at her, pointing an accusatory finger in her direction. "Trow that one over, er else it'll be yer skin, pal."

"No!" The girl lurched forward as the boat moved once again, slamming into the table. It was more drama than she had wanted, but it worked in her favor: both men stopped talking, looking at her with concern. "Please, I swear--Stealing skin," She stumbled through the words, the language still coming back to her. She spat out words frantically as they came to her. "I don't do that, please don't."

"Well den howdya--" Mac began before the younger man silenced him.

"On deck, Mac." The two shared a tense glance before Mac huffed deeply. He turned, huffing in frustration once more before he stomped his way up a nearby ladder. The Eth expected that the man would be pleasant when he turned, all smiles and comfort as he spoke to her. This, however was not the case. When Kevers turned, his face was as stern as when he looked at Mac.

"Sit down, lady."

Words: 308

[Alyra]

Most people would just sit down. Especially if the person ordering you to sit was this man: tall, with arms the size of barrels. He clearly was raised for life on the water, and happily lived it. His skin was thick, stained a deep red from working beneath the sun all day, and it wrapped around enormous muscles. Even if this "Kevers" didn't know anything at all about combat, he would still be able to kill the woman before she could protest.

She, however, wouldn't be satisfied with simply taking her licks. "I promise, I wouldn't, I can't," She pleaded with Kevers as they both sat at the table.

"I didn't think you were gonna eat me, lady." Though it sounded humorous, Kevers didn't smile. He settled into his seat, folding his hands in front of him as he leaned into the table. ."I wouldn'ta brought you on board if I thought you were. Where'd you come from? I'm assumin' you're the same girl that I pulled from the water earlier today...so why do you look different? How'd you do that?" He launched into his interrogation without delay, and threw the questions at her without a pause between them.

The blizzard of questions that he threw at her was disorienting. She became flustered. She didn't know the simple answers to his questions, which she assumed he preferred over a long narration. How could she explain to him that she fell from the divine realm in one sentence? Would he even understand what she was saying if she did somehow find a way of explaining it to him? All of this was dependent on her regaining her knowledge of the common tongue, as well. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes as her mouth flapped open and shut like a fish gasping for air.

"Alright," He squinted at her while waving his hand about, pushing away his questions. "How about this? I'll catch you up on--" He motioned towards the room around them. "--all of this, then you answer me. Better?" She nodded, tacking on a brief, half-hearted smile of gratitude at the end.

"I'm Kevers, and we're on my ship, Katerine. Today is the 25th of Summer, and we're takin' you to port at Sunberth." He paused, evaluating the look on the woman's face. "You know what that is?"

"Port?" It didn't really matter what he was talking about; she was confused about the majority of what he had just said. Sunberth? Port? She knew those words had some sort of significance to most people, but they were just words to her.


"Sunberth." She shook her head in response. "Smaller city on the Southeastern coast. Full of people like Mac, that basket case from earlier. 'Okay' people, but they're all a little..." Kevers shook his head from side to side as her perused for the right word. "A little 'overly careful.'"

There were a few chimes of silence as she pondered the new information. Overly careful...overly careful... She rolled the words around her mouth, enjoying the way they felt as she practiced them.


"Your turn, lady. Let's start with your name."

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[Alyra]

She frowned. What name? When she dwelled with her goddess, her name was a series of harsh swooshes and smooth clicks, a photo album strung together with nonexistent thread, an idea that she always held in the back of her throat. It was a word comprised of impossible phrases. It wasn't meant as a form of verbal identification, and, thus, didn't exist in the common tongue.

How do you explain something that didn't exist in this world, but did in another? Maybe I could show him? She shook her head, realizing that that was silly. My name is does interpretive dance. That won't work, will it?

If she couldn't use her former, celestial name, then she would have to create a new one. It would have to be a sort of homage and representation of her celestial life, making the obvious choices things that either had to do with the sky or Syna. Sunshine? Joy? Warmth? Everything that had she could think of at the moment that had to do with her goddess sounded bizarre. She was not going to pick a name like "Sunshine"; it made her sound like she was named after her favorite pet pony.

Sky? Star? Both were decent options, but didn't resonate with the woman. The latter did, however, give her a good idea: why not share the name of a star? Those sounded elegant enough, and would most likely be unique to her. The only problem was that she only knew the name of two stars: Nash, and Lyre. Nash sounded to masculine, and Lyra sounded too much like "liar." Though she didn't want a name that didn't match her appearance and mannerisms, making the distinction between "lyre" and "liar" all the time sounded tedious. Maybe making one of them sound...softer?

Kevers raised two eyebrows. She didn't appreciate being rushed, but the woman understood that the decision had to be made eventually. Soften...let's add some A's in there somewhere. The Eth tried multiple combinations: Nasha, Asha, Nashia, Lyra. Lyra! That's it! She grinned, playing the name over and over in her mind. Hello, I'm Lyra. How do you do, name's Lyra! Lyra's the name, nearly drowning is the game. Though it sounded solid, the name also sounded incomplete. There was something that was missing...

"...Hello?"

"Aahh...Lyra." She spat out quickly. It wasn't a disappointing name, and she could deal with changing it later.

"Alyra?" A grin slid across the woman's face. That's the one.

"Yes, sorry. My name is Alyra."

My name is Alyra... She repeated the word over and over again. Alyra, A-L-Y-R-A, Alllyyyyyrrrraaa, ALYRA It sounded pretty good from every angle. Alyra's smile widened.

"My name is Alyra."

[Caela Dorin]

Grade Awarded Alyra Experience Skill XP Earned Intelligence 1 Observation 2 Lores • Lore Earned • Screaming for help when there are no other options • Not being able to swim • Intelligence: Eavesdropping • Kevers: Rescuer after the fall • Mac: Wanted to leave me to drown • Skin stealer: Mac’s explanation for change of appearance • Alyra: A new name for this realm Additional Comments I just have to say that I loved this. Short, sweet but funny. I loved how she picked her name. I also loved her translation of her celestial name. Do interpretive dance! Great stuff. I'd be interested to see the aftermath of this little thread like how she got on once she reached land for instance. A lovely read and hopefully there'll be more in the future. Please edit or delete your grade request and PM me if you have any questions or concerns about your grade. x