PM to join [The Bronze Woods] To stumble upon death... (Bakar)

[Verinskae]

Summer 76th, AV 15, Mid-day, {Snake Form}

Skae lazed in the sun, light refracted off her scales, giving them a mirage of different shades. She lay on her belly, the massive length of her body coiled up tight against itself as she digested the remnants of her last meal. It had been a young doe, barely even a snack for an anaconda as immense as Skae was, but it was better than nothing. Game had become increasingly sparse and far between, as of late, in this part of the wood. Prey had slowly, yet increasingly become aware of her deadly presence here, thus migrating to a safer region of the wood. She would need to change hunting grounds soon.

Skae knew she was too close to the road, barely even a few chimes from the path itself, regularly used by trading wagons and travelers alike. Any fool unfortunate enough to veer from it, and venture deep enough through the thicket, would soon find themselves in the stomach of a giant snake.

She cared little of being discovered outside Syliris's walls, many a tavern frequent blabbered on about ghosts, monsters, and giant creatures residing within the bronze wood. She knew now that most of it was blown off as drunken old fools tales. Of course, there was always the danger. Stories added up, the same tale from many mouths quickly became noticed. The last thing she wanted was a retinue of Knights actively searching for her. The eaten, however, told no tales.

Skae had attempted to hide the majority of her mass under a thick layer of dead leaves. Yet, any creature with a sharp eye and some form of intelligence could easily discern something amiss with her long, dark body protruding slightly from the foliage.

[Bakar]

I promise I'm not that scary..

Remembering her trip to the woods last week, Bakar decided that it wasn't so bad out there. Aside from the stress and fear of that meeting.. but it all turned out alright! Feeling much better from her slight overgiving of the last trip.. stupid mistake.. and mostly in sync with her new body, she felt it would be alright to take another trip into the woods, to clear her mind. To hear the birds and wind. To interrupt it again with her out of tune flute playing! Ahh, relaxing. She smiled at this thought. She knew she wasn't good, but it was something that she was working on.

Grabbing her flute and striding with strength that she hadn't had in a long time, she left her home and made her way to the gates. She nodded happily to the guard, acknowledging his warning of danger. She had seen no danger! That fact that she may just have been lucky didn't even cross her mind.

She followed the wagon worn path until she was sufficiently away from town, then turned off that path, to get some privacy, away from the main roads. Using the same tactic as last time, she made a path of broken branches and a road of rocks, so she could easily find her way back to the main road.

She was taking in the sights and sounds of the woods, happy to have rediscovered the wilds. The birds chirping, the wind blowing. Such peaceful, happy sounds. Smiling, she turned to the skies, mostly blocked out by the tops of the old trees, and stood there, basking in the energies of the forest.

Her mind returned to the task at hand, as she continued her trek through the woods. She passed through old leaves that had fallen from the trees. Kicking them happily, like a child with a pile of leaves during the fall. As she eyed the next batch of leaves, readying her leg to cast the leaves to the wind, she spied something out of place.

She slowly lowered her leg as she eyed the anomaly. What was there? A dark thing, out of miss in the bright orange and red leaves on the ground. Buried in the leaves was something. Not even stopping to think it could be dangerous, Bakar brushed off some of the leaves from the object. It was long, dark and squiggly. She ran her hands over the side of it. It felt.. scaly.

She froze, aware that she might have just made a very very bad mistake. She moved as fast as she could away from whatever it was, but in her haste, slipped on some of the leaves she kicked away earlier. Damn her and her clumsy nature! She heard a shuffle behind her as she scrambled to rise. Placing her back to a tree, she turned to watch as the creature shifted beneath the leaves. Whatever it was, it was huge. And she had likely pissed it off.

[Verinskae]

She was a leader, others followed her command. A serpent's head emerged from the darkness. It's eyes pierced in to her with a deep melancholy. Mother... I... All was red. Blood cascaded from her hands, like a waterfall. She was being hunted, by her own kin. Cold eyes and deadly fangs, everywhere. She could hear the Myrian tongue. She was in a pit, spears thrumming against wooden shields. Wild screams and death all around. She was strangling a Myrian with her bare hands. It transformed into an anaconda. It was her child. There was pain, more pain than she could bare. There were more screams, blood ran from her eyes, her nose, her mouth. All was silent. She was in a desert of white. Nothing but white all around. It was cold. She was dying, she was...

Skae awoke abruptly, she must of slipped into a slumber at some point. She could feel something cold caressing her side. She instantaneously shifted from her lethargic state, and into a position of full alert. Her senses fired up, stimulated by the sudden intrusion. She felt co-ordinated vibrations through the ground, something was moving away from her. The piled on foliage exploded in a beautiful array or red, brown and yellow as Skae launched herself, like an arrow struck from a bow. Her target lay with their back to a tree, she was almost upon the victim. Her jaw naturally dislocated in anticipation of the meal. With a great, terrifying hiss, she brought her maw down upon her prey.

Skae came to an immediate halt, her huge, extended mouth barely inches away from her to-be-meal. That taste… She paused, frozen in sudden fear. Her ‘victim’ was radiating not even a slither of warmth. Her head snapped back in disgust, hovering a good ten feet above the intruder. Her cold eyes observed the being, her tongue flickering back and forth from her snout. Bakar?... It certainly tasted like him, yet, something was different. He seemed smaller, with softer features. Was it another one of his kind? It was no creation of Caiyha, that was certain. Bakar had not shown any hostility toward her, last they met, yet her suspicions were still strong. Deciding they would not make a great meal her massive form began to sink slowly into itself. Hair began to sprout from her serpentine head, limbs sprang from the bulk of her body, her abdomen taking on a more humanoid form.

All in all the transformation took roughly half a minute or so. The great reptile now stood as a woman. Skae was not particularly worried about revealing her true identity, after all, the creature before her also appeared to be disguised as something else in human form. She took a few steps closer to what she thought may have been Bakar, keeping her guard up all the while. Her eyes narrowed assessingly. “Bakar… isss that you? You walk and talk asss if of the living, yet, you appear void of life itssself… what manner of creature are you?”

[Bakar]

I promise I'm not that scary..

Faster than Bakar could even react, the leaves burst into the air, much faster than her kicks had sent them. It would have been beautiful, if it didn't hide the object of Bakar's fears for a second longer. Out of the camouflage, came the scaly being. A massive snake, larger than Bakar had even thought possible. It was flying towards her. This was the end. There was a blur of fang, a loud, bone chilling hiss. She was done.

Bakar turned her head down, not wanting to see what was coming next. She waited, each second seeming like an hour. Waiting. Waiting. She was.. still alive? She slowly opened her eyes, turning back to the creature in front of her. She saw the bulk of the serpent's body, long scaly death, in front of her. Following the body up, she saw the head of the snake, suspended in the air above her.

It was staring, a flick of the tongue every so often. Bakar was silent, unmoving. Terrified, she wasn't able to do anything. After a long, painful wait, she noticed something strange. The serpent was.. shrinking. Following the head down, she noticed strands of hair coming from it, as it slowly molded into another form. The rest of the serpent was also changing. Arms and legs sprouted out of the "torso" of the snake, which was now looking more like an actual torso.

She didn't know how long she stared at the spectacle in front of her, and she didn't even fully realize when it finished. It took her a moment to realize that the humanoid form in front of her was Skae. The girl she had met in the Rearing Stallion along with Ren and Kai. Bakar hadn't seen her for a while, and was unsure if Skae would even remember her. That was before the change, as well. So there was no chance.

Bakar was shaken from the event, while Skae just stared. She took a step forward, and Bakar pressed up against the tree more. She spoke, with the familiar accent she spoke with last time. Bakar laughed in her head. It made sense now. Oh, what an interesting last thought. She was going to die, and her first reaction was to laugh.

Just then Bakar realized what she heard. She was recognized somehow. And she knew something was amiss. In her fear induced state, she couldn't think straight, and thus answered differently than she had intended.

"What manner of creature am I?! What the hell was that?!" She said, louder than she had intended. "You.. you were a snake! A massive one! You were going to eat me!" She was nearly shouting now, her brush with death, along with the fact that she knew her would-be attacker, sent her mind into a whirl, not thinking straight, saying the first thing out of her mind.

"Void of life? Not as much as I would have been if you hadn't stopped!" She wanted to cry. "I'm never coming back here. This woods are crazy and I'm done. I'm never coming back here!"

She leaned into the tree, not of fear now, but exhaustion. She closed her eyes and tried to recollect her scattered mind. Taking a moment, she reopened her eyes and looked at Skae. She knew. And she had "trusted" her with her own form. There was no harm in this.

"Void of life? No. I am alive as much as you. Just.. my body isn't." She had done a lot of thinking on this subject, and had come to that conclusion. She was alive. No matter what people said, she was alive, and she was a person. Just because some consider her dead, doesn't mean she has to.

"I-I am alive.." This was her first time saying it, instead of just thinking it. She didn't realize how silly it sounded, especially when the one she was telling clearly knew otherwise. She was starting to doubt her words. She wished she would cry, but her body refused. The feeling just stuck in her like repeated punches to the chest. "I-I am al-alive.." She repeated. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what would happen.

The thought of their first meeting came to mind. How hostile she had reacted. She had known something was wrong, even then. That must have been how she recognized her. She had some kind of sense, and she knew she wasn't living.

In her racing, panicked mind the thought of escape had been there. Her mind thinking of ways out of the situation.Her only real asset in this situation was magic. How could she do this. She remembered the array of colours as Skae had burst from the leaves, and how it obscured Bakar's vision, until the snake had burst from the foliage. She could use the same tactic, but instead of bursting through the leaves, turn and run, using them to obscure her path until she was back to the road, while hopefully someone was there to help.

In a more clear state of mind now, she realized that it may work, if the need arose. Not wanting it to be noticed, she had to be subtle about this. She placed her hands against the tree behind her back, ready to summon her Res in a gaseous form to run down the trunk, and under the leaves that were now scattered conveniently around the entire area. She would force the Res upwards, before transmuting an amount of it, tossing leaves into the air. The remaining Res she would use to pull the air closer, forcing the leaves into almost a whirlwind of camouflage. It would only need to last a minute, enough time for her to get out and have a headstart to the road.

She was stiff, and waiting for a response. Depending on what Skae did she would either prolong the conversation long enough for the Res to form and spread, or she would lower her guard enough where magic isn't needed. At least in this form.

[Verinskae]

"What manner of creature am I?! What the hell was that?!" "You.. you were a snake! A massive one! You were going to eat me!"

The small female was loud, so loud in fact Skae involuntarily shot a glance back in the direction of the road, worried someone may have overheard. She had, in fact, the intention of eating her, though she felt for some reason the female would not be too appetizing. She allowed the pale creature to continue her fretful rant. "Void of life? No. I am alive as much as you. Just.. my body isn't." Skae rubbed her chin thoughtfully. ...So, a corpse that has some how managed to reanimate itself? Fully conscious of who or what it is?...

"I-I am alive.."

Skae frowned. It seemed the pale figure could barely convince herself she was among the living, let alone the Dhani stood in front. Living inside a cold, husk of a body didn’t seem like much of a life to her, yet, who was she to judge what life was or meant? Skae shrugged, taking several brash steps forward until they were barely half an arm's length apart from each other. She noticed the girl had stiffened considerably, hands behind her back as if to conceal something of value. Skae leant in and brushed the side of Bakar’s cheek with her tongue. Tastes of a corpse alright, one none too fresh either, yet another taste lingers…

Skae took a few tentative strides back, planting her hind on to a protruding rock. She took her time considering how to proceed. Perhaps the pale being need not die today. Perhaps she could plant the seeds of a very unlikely friendship instead. After all, surely two creatures concealing their true identity from the populace of Syliras could come to some sort of agreement, maybe even help each other out somehow. “I have decided not to kill you…” She attempted her most benign smile. “You interesst me, I would learn more about your kind… are there more like you?” She raised her hands in a peaceful gesture. “Of courssse, I will share knowledge of my kin if you’re interesssted…”

[Bakar]

I promise I'm not that scary..

Skae stepped towards her, and licked Bakar's cheek briefly, before stepping back. Bakar didn't even process what had happened until the girl was back off again. She took a seat on a rock, and looked to be in thought. If she was going to run, now would be the time to set the route. She did her best to calm her mind and open the door to her power. She kept her eyes on Skae, and her ears open for any hints of danger, but the majority of her minds process was on getting the Res set, and getting away.

Slowly, the green trickled down the tree, in a liquid form initially. As it reached the ground, Bakar spread the minuscule amount of Res beneath the leaves directly between the two creatures. As she was doing this, Skae spoke.

Decided not to kill me? So she had planned on it. She smiled at Bakar, but there was something offsetting about it. Maybe it was how quickly she had went from attempting to eat her, to smiling at her. "More about.. my kind? So.. you don't know what I am?" This set Bakar at ease. If Skae truly did not know, then she could explain herself, before someone else painted her kind as evil abominations. This broke her concentration, and the tiny amount of Res she had gathered had dissipated before Bakar could realize what was happening. Inwardly cursing, she decided to not try again right away. The lose of strength wasn't too bad at this point, as there really wasn't too much effort put into it yet. She was still feeling some effects though. Just a slight tug in the forefront of her head, threatening to become a headache or migraine if she continued. Instead, she would give Skae more time to explain herself, and observe how the situation would unfold.

She lowered herself against the tree, and leaned against it, watching Skae for any hostile movements. "I.. will tell you then. Listen well, as this is a subject that I don't talk of often. I am.. Nuit. You were right to say I am void of life, as I am.. undead." She wanted to look away, but dared not allow Skae to leave her sight. She realized now how uncomfortable it was explaining her being to others.

"N-not.. not only am I undead. This is not my body. The only thing present that is wholly me and mine is my spirit. Nuit's bodies.. degrade over time. We need to keep changing if we wish to live.. B-but we don't kill for them! W-well.. I don't.. I can't speak for all Nuit.. I.. honestly have only met one other. And I'm not entirely sure he can be a base model for all of my kind." She spoke the second half quickly, not wanting to repulse Skae, and prompt her to attack.

"I am 50 years old.. that.. that is the age starting from my change. Counting my time as a human, I would be closer to 70.. It's hard to tell a Nuit on looks, as their body is not their own. I'm told that I'm young, for a Nuit, as they're eternal unless killed."

"I didn't choose to be like this. It was forced upon me. My family was murdered, and I kidnapped. Instead of death, I was to be some bastard's experiment." Bakar was tense now, thinking back on the fuzzy moments before she was changed made her angry. "I don't know what he did, but I awoke laying beside myself. I was weak, and scared. I took the things from my body and absconded, leaving that place as fast I could, lest that man return. I had no time to think of what was happening."

"It's not a thing I choose, nor wanted. Don't mistake me for someone who asked for this being. Everyone from my years before are now dead. This is an entirely new world since then. And It'll happen again. Near everyone I meet here will grow old and die before my eyes. It's a life that no one should want."

"I'm sure you've already guessed at this point, but yes. There are more like me. They are few, but they are around. We are hated by most, as undead as seen as unclean and evil, and as such are shunned. I.. I try to hide it. I don't want to deal with the stigma of my people. For acts that I've not committed."

|You saw though. You knew. You've known since that day, back in the Rearing Stallion, haven't you?" Her gaze turned to questioning, as she wondered about Skae. "I've said all that I can, for now. I believe you offered knowledge of your kind as well?"

Bakar's mind once again returned to the well of her power, preparing to draw upon it if the need arose.

[Verinskae]

So, she was some sort of essence, a 'spirit' as the female had put it. Jumping from body to body from fear of rotting into the ground, along with the husk of a human body she currently resided in. It was one of the drunken tavern tales come to life, a real 'ghost' story, right before her very eyes. The 'Nuit', as she called herself, claimed not to kill her victims before taking possession of their bodies. Anyone could lie. Skae wondered if her own body was desirable in the eyes of this Nuit. She wasn't about to hand it over without a fight, if that was her intention. It appeared she had only ever met one other of her kind, suggesting that they were rare and far between. Probably not a bad thing… The thought of an army of walking corpses sent an involuntary shudder up her spine.

Seventy… An age to make any Sylirian gawp in awe, yet barely a milestone to the Dhani, having seen twice that many years. Eternal, unless… killed… Skae rolled the words around in her head, how did one kill something that was already dead?

Death of family members, kidnapping, being experimented on? All these things Skae knew far too well, like an old wound ready to split open at any moment. The Nuit appeared to be wrapped in her own self loathing, rambling on about how she hadn’t chosen this life, and how she wouldn’t wish it upon any other. We all have little choice in what we are, it’s what we become that defines us…

So, she had noticed back then, back in the tavern. The Nuit was perceptive, if anything else, a trait they both shared, it would seem. Bakar had held up her end of the deal, she saw no reason to withhold her’s. Skae paused for a moment, thinking how best to describe her kin. “I am Dhani… we are not common here in Ssylirasss, ass far ass I know…” A smirk crept up the left side of her face. “...yet, we number greatly in variety around Mizahar, all manner of shape, size and colour. Ssome are fassst, ssome are sSstrong, otherss… could kill a man with a ssingle, venomousss bite… I myself am a constrictor, the largesst, and sSstrongest of our kind…” She paused, allowing the last words to fall off her tongue in a slow, subtle hiss.

Skae had no desire to tell this Nuit more than she needed, nor did she feel the need to open up to her past, as Bakar had done. Instead, she pulled herself up from her rock seat and strode over toward the Nuit. She halted a few inches before the pale figure, cold eyes fixed on seemingly lifeless ones. Skae brought up a hand, observing her long, slender fingers in the mid-day light. “Tell me… Nuit, if you are dead, then do you feel no pain?”

[Bakar]

I promise I'm not that scary..

Dhani.. a race of snake people? That explains the hiss in her voice.. Skae told her that her kind was also uncommon here, however, they were more numerous in other areas. They varied. They weren't all massive snakes, some were faster some with venom.

Largest and strongest.. the words were drawn out, almost as if Skae wanted to really push that point across. Bakar almost wished Skae was one of the venomous ones. With no blood pushing through her veins, she was essentially immune to poisons and venoms. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Bakar felt trapped now. Stuck in this area with a deadly being.

That said, she was currently not a massive snake. She was just a women. Still, stronger than herself no doubt. But not nearly as intimidating. There was just something about the fact that she could easily end her that made her nervous around this women now.

Skae stepped closer and Bakar had no where to go. She looked into Skae's eyes, cold and calculating, before Skae raised her hand and examined her fingers. The next words that came out of this women's mouth were the trigger that initiated her flight or fight response. Flight was her first choice. She tapped into the well of Djed she had and her Res was pushed out of her hands, straight into the ground. It spread to the surrounding area slowly. As it reached out behind and too the sides of the girl, the Res dissipated. No, no! Bakar wasn't able to properly manipulate her Res as it stretched too far away from her. She reduced the scale of her plan, and focused on the space directly around the serpent-lady. She just needed some time now.

"Tell me... Nuit, if you are dead, then do you feel no pain?"

Bakar stammered nervously, "P-pain? Wh-why?" Her mind struggled to keep focus on her magic. "N-no.. we still feel pain. Through the same way we are able to keep control of the bodies." The Res was covering a small area, directly behind the Dhani now. Her being so close required a slight change in plans. A distraction behind the girl, to draw her attention away, before assaulting the girl's face with the leaves, hopefully confusing her long enough for Bakar to get away.

Debating how much she should tell the girl, she continued. "B-being undead, I don't sleep. I.. I can't sleep. Not unless under certain circumstances. So.. I can't lose consciousness, even from pain. I will be stuck, enduring endless pain if someone was to truly wish it.. and able to contain me." Bakar's arm was twitching now, an effect of using her Djed. So she shifted, and sat on her hands in order to attempt to hide the fact. There was a pain in her head. It was more than she was used to, screaming at her to stop. At the same time, there was a second, opposing feeling telling her to do more. Bakar knew that the louder, harsher voice was more reliable than the gentle, kind one.

"I-it..." Her words were hesitant now, the pain muddling her words. "It is both a blessing and a curse. Blessing because no one can pain me enough to render me unconscious, so I can keep f-fighting them off.."

"A curse because there will be no relief from it." The amount of Res, she deemed sufficient. All she needed to do now was transmute an amount of it, thrust it upwards, pull in additional air, then buffeting the women with the leaves. Bakar laughed in her head. Yeah, that's all. This is more than she's ever done with her magic before, and it was really starting to take a toll on her..

With the Res in place, Bakar tried to take a more confident approach. She transmuted a small amount of the Res, a slight rustle was produced as the leaves shifted. "Why do you want to know?" Bakar stood, slowly. Her legs threatening to give out under the pressure, she leaned against the tree to keep better balance. She looked Skae in the eyes again, trying her best not to show how scared she really was, or the weakness she was feeling. "Do you plan on hurting me?"

The trap in place, she was ready to spring it at any time. One wrong move from the women, and Bakar would be gone. As long as she could react fast enough, that is.

[Verinskae]

Skae listened patiently as the Nuit stuttered nervously through her reply. She feels fear… That, at least, was reassuring. Intimidate someone enough and they lose the will to fight. Fear was far too great an advantage to lose. What more, she did after all feel pain. Knowing one’s strengths and weakness was a powerful weapon.

Not needing to sleep was a grand trick, one which Skae wished she had, though, to be stuck in pain for all eternity did not sound too appealing to her. The Nuit had tensed, attempting to conceal her arms, unfortunately for her, the Dhani did not miss much. She thought she tasted something in the air, a familiar taste, similar to the one she had encountered in the tavern with Bakar a few weeks ago. Skae narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Do you plan on hurting me?"

Skae let out a long, deep sigh. There was a time when I would have hurt you, hurt you terribly, until you were screaming for the mercy of death to release you. Those days are long past… and a future within my home and clan along with them... Skae relaxed, a passive smile on her lips. “I was merely curious, I apologissse if my methodss are… unssettling…” She reached out with a hand, and brushed a strand of hair from Bakar’s cheek. She was cold indeed, cold as ice. Skae placed her hands on the Nuit’s shoulders and squeezed them, lightly. It was time to turn over a new leaf.

“I find myself… lacking allies within Sssylirasss… I imagine we could be of usse to one another, especccially becausSe of our… predicament…” She paused, allowing the words to sink in. “I could use ssome eyess and ears inssside the city. Perhapss sSomeone to eavesdrop every now and again on the guardss and knightsss? Information is crucCcial to ssurvival, and unfortunately, I must ssspend most of my time here, in thesse very woods. If word sSspreads of ssomeone who hass heard, seen, or known of any large snakes to resside in the bronze wood, I would be in your debt if you informed me as ssoon as posssible.” Her passive smile crept in to a mischievous smirk. “Of coursse… no friendsship comess without it’ss price, name yoursS…”

[Bakar]

I promise I'm not that scary..

Skae had let out a sigh, and softly brushed a hair from Bakar's face, smiling. Skae placed her hands on her shoulders, apologizing. She was about to start implementing her plan, but her sluggish reactions didn't allow her to do it before she lost focus, and her plan crumbled around her. Res dissipated, the air settled and leaves once again rested on the ground. Bakar felt this, and knew she didn't have the strength to do it again.

It was the brushing of the hair that made her lose focus. It was a gentle action, one that she hadn't felt in a long time. It was..calming, even from the deadly predator. It sent shivers down her spine, hung her head, and forced her eyes closed. It was when Skae placed her hands on her shoulders that brought her back, nervous and frightened again.

But Skae seemed troubled. She.. needed Bakar. She needed someone to spy on the knights, and she figured that Bakar was more suited than most to do so. She was unsure how to react. If Skae was doing something to call attention to the guards, was it illegal? Then again.. Bakar assumed that just the presence of a large beast was enough to garner concern from the population. And it's unfair just to be hunted for what you are...

She had no love for the knights. But.. there were a few that have helped her quite a lot. Garland. He was the first to come to mind when thinking of those fair few. If.. if I really wanted to, I'm sure he could tell me some rumours of going-ons... but it doesn't feel right to do something like that.. Her mind tossed the outcomes of what could happen in her mind. She didn't really want to deceive anyone.. but she felt like she shared something with Skae. Hunted, hated for what you are. Skae reminded her of the times she had been beaten and abused. Anger and shame welled up in her.

"I.. I will do it." She knew that it was wrong. But the words were formed of anger and solidarity. Skae was far from helpless, but Bakar felt that it was up to her to keep her safe at this point, and by doing so, would be able to keep her from the same harm, worse harm, that had befallen her. "I.. need time to think of what I request.." Friendship doesn't require payment.. this isn't really friendship. It's survival for her. "How.. how do I get your attention, if the worst occurs? And what are you going to do it they come?" Bakar was looking into Skae's eyes now. If she was needed, she was safe from the wrath of the serpent. Bakar had the feeling she might be hard pressed to find someone else to do this for her.