Completed Fire and Water

[Anibesa]

21, Winter, 517av

It was night time, and Anibesa hadn’t slept yet. Usually the girl preferred to sleep during part of the day, whether that be evening or morning, so she didn’t have to miss out on any of the night, though since the lights at night and the odd rumbling sound, she hadn’t felt as comfortable as she usually did! Especially now that odd scorch marks had been found on trees.

Tonight she was heading to the community pool again, trying to practice her swimming again until she felt confident enough to progress to the sea and its sometimes turbulent waves.

Smiling slightly, she finally arrived at the community pool, and seeing it empty again she hurriedly pulled her clothes off, until she was stood in nothing. With it being night time she felt no need to worry about being seen naked, and her time in Syka had taught her that nudity was acceptable, especially with how hot it was all the time.

Once she was fully naked, she carefully walked down the steps into the pool, not caring that the only light was that of the stars and the moon, and soon she was submerged up to her shoulders, her now white hair floating around her in the pool.
She wished she had brought a way to tie her hair up and keep it out of the way, but she hadn’t so she knew she’d have to cope with her hair getting in the way and sticking to her face.

Now that she was in the water, she lifted her legs up, kicking them gently and waving her arms through the water, treading the water to see if she could remember how she’d done that the last time, to find that she could still do it and the memory seemed to have engraved itself into her mind.

Taking the chance to glance around while she treaded the water, she checked again to see if anybody was there to see her when she would undoubtedly mess up and fail.

|| "Common." || "Fratava. " || "Tukant." ||

[Anibesa]

When she saw nobody else around, Anibesa automatically felt more confident, knowing that any way that she messed up would be between her and the water, and nobody else in the settlement would know what she had done.
Her eyes settled back on the water and she realised that if she wanted to try to swim in the oceans and seas, she’d likely have to find a way to cope with going under the water when the seas were rough.

Calmly she propelled herself towards the side of the pool and place a hand on the top of the stone so she could pull herself up later. Then gently she lowered her head under the water, air bubbles flooding out of her mouth as she did so before she forcibly pulled herself out of the water, coughing and spluttering from the feeling of the water filling her mouth.
She realised now that she’d have to try to hold her breath and keep the air inside her as she went under the water, and taking a few deep breaths she lowered her head under the water again, her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth closed, holding the air in.
Air bubbles escaped from her nose as water filled it, but little air escaped her mouth and after a few second she returned to the surface, feeling triumphant in her attempt, before glancing around again.

Though the night was her favourite time, she couldn’t deny that it was more dangerous in a place like Syka. While most others slept, various animals were more at home and willing to leave the safety of the jungle and hunt for their food. And with the odd noises and lights now appearing, something felt off all the time to Anibesa.

Sighing, she shook the worries from her head, preparing to duck back under the water a third time.

|| "Common." || "Fratava. " || "Tukant." ||

[Anibesa]

Her head was about to sink under the water when the sound of a rumbling came from the rainforest and Anibesa found herself standing up fully, her feet on the floor of the pool and the water up to her shoulders before she looked up towards the sky.
Again there was a fire in the sky, and as beautiful as it was, it felt unnatural to Anibesa. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen it, but she’d never found herself getting used to the unusual lights that almost seemed to dance.

Feeling slightly uneasy as she realised how quiet the surrounding areas were aside from the rumbling, Anibesa decided that it was probably time for her to leave the community pool and go back to the safety of her tent where she could get a fire set up to ward off her fears and any predators that might be in the area.

Carefully she lifted her feet and started to kick them, using her arms to paddle herself to the steps into the pool, believing that an attempt swimming would probably be quicker than trying to wade out of the pool.

Once she had climbed the steps she took a few moments to attempt to wring her hair out, before starting to pull her clothes on.
Her undergarments first, her pants next, but then something caught her attention. The sound of something walking nearby.
The idea of a fearsome predator having left the jungle to hunt the easy pickings of the people living on the beach flooded Ani’s mind and breathing sharply and rapidly she turned to look the direction that the noise came from.

It was too dark for Anibesa to see anything detailed, though as she tried to peer into the darkness she thought she saw what could be a humanoid form, though before she had chance to focus her attention a beam of light came towards her. It was thin, and bright, though it’s brightness didn’t light up the surrounding area, and above all else it was quick.
It came fast, and Anibesa barely had time to comprehend what was happening before it had hit her. Almost instantly she found herself losing consciousness and her body fell to the ground limply.

|| "Common." || "Fratava. " || "Tukant." ||

[Gossamer]

The jungle around the Bathing Pools was deadly silent as the two men in uniforms stepped out of the jungle. One looked at the other, his eyes drew up in surprise.

"What in the ninty worlds is that?" One man asked the other one one as they slipped from the jungle. "I don't know but we can't stay here. You heard the gate. Our reliefs are here. We need to get back. They are early... we need to find out why." The second man responded.

Both men were dressed in tight leather that was painted or dyed to match the jungle. Both of them also had what looked like grease paint on their faces that mimicked the same camouflage the clothing did. They carried what looked like cylinders with hand grips that glowed faintly. Gemstones in the end swirled with light, drawing attention to the weapons.

"We can't let this oportunity pass though. This one has horns! See?" He said, reaching the place where Ani lay beside the pool and nudged her curved horns with the toe of his boot.

The other man was already kneeling beside her. "She's probably from off world. One we don't know about yet. I'll get blood and tissue. You get hair and mucus. Make it fast. We are already behind." He ordered as he reached for a pack belted to his hip.

Quickly both men worked, rolling Ani to her back. One drew blood and snipped off a piece of tissue beneath her arm the size of a quarter. The other one clipped a lock of her hair and then pried open her mouth to swab something around inside of it. The two were finished in seconds, carefully stowing the vials of blood and tissue plus the mucus and hair. They left her laying there, stretched out, and quickly moved off, light footed into the jungle.

Before they left though, one man pulled something else from his pack and passed it over the back of her neck. It was a small stone that was about the size of a pinkie finger nail. As he passed it once over her neck then brought it back right at the base of her skull, he pressed it there and the thing burrowed under her skin, leaving no trace.

"There, she's marked if we want to find her again. I really want to figure which sort of humanoid this one is. It's rare we come across one uncatalogued." He added, shaking his head. "I wish I had time to make a sketch. I'll do it later, but I will forget details... I know I will." He added, leaning down and opening one of her eyes for a moment to check the color and what type of pupil she had.

The other man snorted. "We better get going. It's seriously getting late." He added.

"I know... I'm ready." The man said reluctantly, almost unwilling to leave the Eth laying by herself alone by the pools. The little settlement, as the men had discovered, seemed fairly safe though. Big predators were kept away by even stranger large predators inhabiting the settlement and by security measures that were put in place to make the area a bit safer than just camping out in the jungle.

They had a rendezvous to make and as they'd discussed, they were already late. The two men left quickly.

Ani would wake a few minutes later. The crook of her elbow would be bloody. The man hadn't bothered to staunch the blood or bandage where he'd drawn it from her arm. And too the underside of that same arm would have a miza sized thin piece of flesh gone - skin and all. There would be a funny taste in her mouth, and if she was really observant, she'd notice a lock of hair missing.

[Issie Asure]

Issie has been spending his past few nights restlessly tossing and turning as he couldn't really shake off the feeling of something wrong. His sleep has been all but restful as he has now taken to taking walks around the settlement.

Ismael had never really felt ease, especially since the scorch marks on the trees appeared. This had been something Issie has never seen, it could have been magic, yet Issie has no real knowledge of what magic is so he had no way to find out if it was. He however began to set up closer to the settlement instead of closer to the jungle, as he normally did. Yet that night felt even stranger as Issie thought he heard someone come from the forest.

Issie started to take a walk to try and ease himself. His walk was mostly uneventful, just the occasional breeze, yet his eyes shot open when he saw an unconscious woman on the ground near the pool. He rushed over and started to try and figure out what happened, she looked to have been shot as her body seemed to be wounded by it yet, her clothing was not scorched or even touched by water, indicating she was probably swimming naked. Issie began looking around to see if there was sign of a struggle yet none was much of evident. Then Issie began inspecting the woman with a bit more depth, she looked fine, other than the scorch and, a small piece of flesh from her arm?

Issie began to shake her awake to see if she can regain consciousness as he said, "Hey, wake up". His head trying to understand what could have happened, yet couldn't really know what was done. This could be like what happened to the trees, the scorches might be evident of that.

[Anibesa]

The feeling of being shaken was the next thing she remembered. She was groggy as she regained consciousness, her head clouded as she took a few minutes to remember what had happened before she slowly sat herself up into an upright position, aware of the man near her though not fully rational enough to address him. Her eyes hadn’t even adjusted fully to even look at him yet.

”Shyke…” she mumbled her eyes having slowly adjusted to the little light in the area, then she felt a pain run through her though before she looked down at her arm to see blood staining her elbow. As the feeling of pain grew she turned her arm slightly to see a piece of the flesh missing and a look of confusion spread across her face before she looked towards the man.
”What happened?” she asked slowly. She could remember the beam of like but nothing more, and she wondered if maybe the man could offer any insight.

As she closed her mouth she tasted something unusual and almost immediately opened her mouth again, sticking her tongue out and trying to wipe it off with her hand, hoping to get rid of the unusual and unpleasant flavour, and her eyes glanced over herself until she found the scorch wound, just where the light had hit her.

Her fingers lightly traced over the wound and she winced slightly, unsure as to what exactly could have made such a wound and left her unconscious. A form of magic maybe? Though she hadn’t heard of anything that allowed people to use a beam of light as a weapon of any sorts, but she hadn’t heard much of any sort of magic in example.

”Who are you?” she finally asked the man, looking back to him briefly before her eyes scanned over the rest of the community pool to see that the rest of her clothes were still there, and that nothing looked particularly different from before she had lost consciousness.

|| "Common." || "Fratava. " || "Tukant." ||

[Issie Asure]

Issie watched as she tried to recollect herself, Issie then began to explain what he came to, "My name is Issie and, well, I don't know what happened to you. I was on a stroll and I spotted you unconscious near the pool. I came rushing over to see if you were alright". Issie begins to inspect the area to see if he could find if anyone was watching, the person who did this, or even someone who might know more, yet he didn't see anyone.

Issie then reallocate his attention to the woman in front of him as he said, "Do you remember anything? Anyone or thing you saw or heard?" Issie begins to think of what else could have happened to her, could have been someone using magic, a strange animal...an animal would not make sense, there would be some form of animalistic look, this was too precise, yet was hastily done, might have been someone who had strange liking for flesh? Not a cannibal, they would have taken her instead of leaving her, what could it have been for?

[Anibesa]

She listened to Issie as attentively as she could, her eyes on him most of the time, though occasionally breaking away to scan the area again, her instincts telling her not to let her guard down during the night anymore. Every slight movement, even a breeze rustling the plants and trees nearby set her on edge.

”Thanks.” she said calmly as the man said that he’d came to see if she was alright. ”It wouldn’t have been ideal to have woken up alone. Probably would be terrifying, wouldn’t it?” she said, a slight nervous chuckle following her thoughts as they all escaping her lips and made themselves known to Issie.

Then she heard him ask if she remembered anything and Anibesa leant forwards slightly, one hand gently rubbing her temple as she tried to recall what she’d seen, her memories seeming to be intact but she wouldn’t know if she’d forgotten anything from just before she’d lost consciousness. She remember seeing the shape of something, but couldn’t remember what that shape was, and she could briefly remember the beam of light, but not much else.

”There was something, but everything happened quick. I didn’t get the chance to look properly. But there was something!” she started, drawing her knees up to her chest as she continued thinking and recalling what she’d seen. ”There was a light though! Not like the light from the sun, or a candle!” she stumbled through her words trying to think of a way to describe the light. ”It was… Like a spear of light? Really thin and really bright, and lots of colours but not many at the same time. And it came from over there, I think?”

Anibesa raised a hand to point towards the treeline, choosing one point and then correcting herself to another point along the treeline.
”No… There maybe?”

|| "Common." || "Fratava. " || "Tukant." ||

[Issie Asure]

Issie had his eyes stay with her's as he listened to her in her description of what happened and made mental notes of what she explained. "Spears of light?" Issie thinks about the description of the 'spear' and instantly threw out Reimancy, he couldn't have done that, or had even dreamed he could have made a small bolt that could knock someone out and not engulfed them in fire. He then still kept magic on the table as the magic in the world is expansive in what could be possible. Issie began to follow where the woman traced her finger across the treeline showing where she saw the 'spear' came at her.

Issie sighed as he said, "Well, there is no way to search tonight for what it was, it'd be long gone and it would be like hunting for shadows in there". Issie began to stand as he began to say, while passing the woman her clothing, "You need to get some rest, tonight must have been a daze. Would you like me to walk you home?". Issie looked back to the treeline and tried to see if anything made a large disturbance, yet nothing seemed to had barreled through, so it must of had purpose in entering and leaving. Issie didn't know if it was sentient, yet he had a hunch it was.

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

Anibesa watched the man as he looked towards the directions she had pointed, though she herself wasn’t entirely sure if she’d pointed to the right area. With it being dark she couldn’t really pick out any notable features to orient herself, and her loss of consciousness had turned her around, metaphorically. She had no idea where she’d been looking when the light had come towards her, and now she was starting to confuse herself with her own thoughts as she tried to work out what had happened.

Then she heard the man speak, saying that it wasn’t possible to search for what it was now, and Anibesa nodded in agreement at his reasonings for his thoughts. She didn’t know how long she’d been out for, and she doubted the man knew, so whatever it was had likely travelled miles.

She carefully took her clothes when the man passed them to her, and she flashed a small, grateful smile to the man, pulling her shirt on first as she listened to the man.
Her hands were shaking slightly, and had she been travelling on the seas with her old pod she’d have put that down to the cold, but now there wasn’t that excuse as the nights weren’t cold enough to cause her to shiver. Instead she had to put that down to her nerves.

”Would that be okay? I’m not that keen on the idea of walking back alone, even if it is just along the beach!” she spoke softly, glancing at the man before she stood up to pull her pants up, her legs shaking slightly as she did so, but not as much as her hands were, though after a few moments of fumbling she’d managed to fully clothe herself, aside from the boots she decided she’d carry with her, instead of battling with lacing them up in the dark.

”Some weird things going on as of late, aren’t they?” she said calmly, more trying to keep up conversation so there wasn’t as much silence surrounding her thoughts.
~