|
Post by Renathan on Jul 29, 2019 13:38:58 GMT -6
A single stripey shell could be found on the way out!
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2019 18:36:59 GMT -6
Fiera soon found herself striding back across the dunes with an elemental golem seedling tucked under one arm. She had gotten Fern back to the kennels safely despite her injyr, and had washed the hardened and matted wax from her fur. Unfortunately, the rakai sarane seemed unwilling to go back out after that, apparently still stung by the wax, and needed more time to recover. With her main source of defense being out, Fiera realized that she could pick pretty much any of her pets and she would still be vulnerable in this patently unsafe place. After all, there was a lot more in there than hot wax, and the humanish wasn't eager to find out what, exactly. Still, that meant that she could bring any pet she wanted with her, resulting in her current selection. After all, Malchik needed the time more than most, for some very specific reasons.
Fiera 6 Malchik 0.1 26
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2019 18:41:21 GMT -6
Malchik and his 'siblings', three other elemental golems, were new additions to her kennel. They were free and Fiera was practically a hoarder, so she picked them right up and did her research later that night. (Accompanied by a gallon of ice cream, fuzzy sweatpants, and while tuned into the latest reality TV show.) One thing she had learned was to not get too attached. First of all, these creatures didn't really feel 'love' in the traditional sense. Once they had a master, they were bound to them in body and soul, following all orders efficiently and mechanically. The ideas of love, loyalty, and attachment needed not apply. As a result, there was no real need to bond with them like Fiera's other pets. For example Algol, her brown sarane whelp, was a rambunctious handful, and she needed to get him attached to her in order for him to still care about her when he got older.
Fiera 7 Malchik 0.2 27
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2019 18:45:12 GMT -6
Fiera set the wind golem down on the ground once she was inside the gate, letting it toddle along behind her. He wasn't particularly fast, but that was alright as Fiera padded through the densely packed sandy path, walking alongside a large salty lake (a mimicry of an ocean shore, but minus the entire ocean) that had appeared since she was last there. The other reason she didn't want to get attached to Malchik was also due to the nature of elemental golems (or at least the second version of them- she couldn't find much information about the first generation due to their rarity. Apparently they were quite sought after nowadays.). Apparently, golems of different elements could be combined to form an entirely new golem, a combination of the two classic elements. She had seen a couple illustrations of theoretical ones, and they all looked quite fanciful. Unfortunately, the method of creating them...
Fiera 8 Malchik 0.3 28
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2019 18:49:55 GMT -6
...Was lethal for the creatures being combined. Fiera felt a stab of fear when she read that- who could justify killing a living creature just to get a newer, fancier creature? Something about it felt just wrong. As she read further however, she realized that the elemental golem's lack of loyalty played into that. They didn't feel any true emotions or true pain, and they followed all orders to the letter. As a result, ordering them to kill themselves caused them the same amount of distress as ordering them to receive copious amounts of belly rubs or go play with their favorite toy. Elemental golems felt about as much loyalty toward themselves as they did their owner- which is to say, no sense of self preservation at all unless told. They didn't even truly die, not really, they'd just be combined with the other elemental golem and go on with their life as a completely new being.
Fiera 9 Malchik 0.4 29
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 29, 2019 18:53:39 GMT -6
That lead to Fiera not wanting to get too attached, though. She watched as Malchik shuffled around in the sand on the shoreline, moving in what at first appeared to be playful circle, but soon proved to have a definite, repeating pattern. While Malchik would ultimately be fine with his own self sacrifice, she doubted that she would feel the same way once he was trained up enough to finish himself off and combine with another golem. To be able to let go, that would mean that she shouldn't begin to hold on to start with. Fine by her- and what better way of establishing that then by bringing him to the Mansion. She was well aware of how potentially dangerous it was here- if he got picked off, so be it! She did rush forward to grab Malchik as he started to walk into the waves, however. She didn't need him dying THAT fast.
Fiera 10 Malchik 1.0 30
|
|
|
Post by Renathan on Jul 29, 2019 18:58:45 GMT -6
Is that... There is no way that... Suddenly, a rumbling sound is heard, and water begins to seep up from everywhere at once. It smells salty, and bitter. Better get out of here quick!
[The next 5 posts yield no result.]
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 30, 2019 6:13:20 GMT -6
She swept Malachi’s up into the crook of her elbow. Apparently he couldn’t be left on his own for too long. She sighed- at least being a wind elemental meant he was trivial to carry. Still, she hoped he’d get smarter as well as bigger as he grew- she didn’t want to have to be dragging him around forever. As of right now, he was about as smart as a box of rocks, waving his tendrils around aimlessly in her arms. She looked down as the waves lapped her toes. She frowned slightly- she could have sworn she was standing on dry land as she snatched him out of the water. At least these shoes were water proof. She cast a glance at the mansion as well, still a ways away. It looked about the same, tall and decrepit as usual. Fiera wasn’t exactly in a rush to get over there.
Fiera 11 Malchik 1.1 31
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 30, 2019 7:03:33 GMT -6
Just then however, the ground rumbled ominously. It wasn't enough to knock anything over, and a particularly distracted person may never have noticed it. Fiera was perceptive however, and immediately found it unnerving. "An earthquake...?" She wondered alloud. She didn't know what earthquakes had to do with a nautical theme, which made her wonder if it was real after all. Nothing looked like it had been shifted out of place or knocked over. Then, she felt the water splash her ankles. Her ankles? Not her feet? But she had stepped out of the waves! She looked around, getting worried now. Sure enough, the water had spread, now covering her ankles and extending further. Had the earthquake caused this? She stepped further away, but found the "lake" keeping pace. It really was going to become an ocean at this rate! She turned to look at the gate, but found that water had lapped across the front of it.
Fiera 12 Malchik 1.2 32
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 30, 2019 7:31:11 GMT -6
Fiera watched as all the islands of land back toward the gate drowned before her eyes. What the heck! Did the mansion somehow know that she wasn’t really feeling it today? It didn’t matter now- she couldn’t leave if she wanted to at this point. The gate was completely blocked off. She was trapped! Fiera was only part cat, but she still didn’t care for water. Swimming especially was not her strong suit. Every time she came across a river on her way to the labs, she had to walk along it until she found either a boat or a ferry. Swimming was out of the question. After this though...she realized it might be a good idea to learn. She held Malchik even tighter, and thankfully he didn’t struggle. A glance at her other side showed that the path to the mansion was still clear.
Fiera 13 Malchik 1.3 33
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 30, 2019 10:37:47 GMT -6
Looking around, she found that the rest of the mansion’s lawn was having the same problem, slowly sinking beneath the waves. Despite that however, the mansion itself didn’t seem to be sinking at all. Despite the rising water, it would appear that this flood was another magic illusion- albeit one that was doing a very good job of convincing her. Fiera started creeping backward toward the mansion, watching the sea cover the path behind her. Looks like she’d be spending some time at the mansion after all- at least until all this dried up again. Fiera bit her lip as the water rose even faster- how long would it take for it all to go away? Until the end of the month? How long was she going to be stuck here? If the water knew, it gave no clue, and instead began to ride faster and faster, making Fiera break into a sprint.
Fiera 14 Malchik 1.4 34
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 30, 2019 10:42:22 GMT -6
Fiera tore down the beach, hissing loudly. She could feel the spray of the water licking her heels, and some part of her brain appreciated the similarity to being chased by a predator. Not the rest of her brain though. The rest of her brain thought that this sucked. All the while, Malchik sat contentedly in her arms, despite how closely she was clutching him. She supposed it was a good thing that elemental golems didn’t feel any distress- it made dragging a pet along with her like this a lot easier. She groaned uneasily as the sand under her feet grew wet, coming up in soggy clods and slowing her run. It was all like a bad dream. Still, unlike a dream, at least the door was getting closer. The water lapped across the top of her shoes now. Finally, she threw open the door of the mansion, and slammed it shut behind her.
Fiera 15 Malchik 2.0 35
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 30, 2019 10:58:15 GMT -6
Fiera breathed a sigh of relief, and then yelped, clutching the door handle. The front room of the mansion... was NOT the same as before. When she first came in, it was a room full of wet wood and rotting furniture. Gross, but nothing special. Since then though, the room had either been replaced with another one or collapsed completely. There was a shallow shard of what was formerly wood flooring under Fiera’s feet. If she had stepped forward just a few more inches, she would have plummeted into the pit below. Inside the hole was dark, dank water and what looked like shards of the old wood floor poking upward. Fiera cringed. If she had fallen in..,yikes. She was amazed this place hadn’t been torn down, if just for the safety issues. She wondered if it was possible to go back out, and slowly turned the knob and pulled.
Fiera 16 Malchik 2.1 36
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 30, 2019 11:33:13 GMT -6
Almost immediately, water that must have been at least waist deep gushed through the gap, and Fiera struggled to close the door, finally cutting off the flow. Holy crap. Guess she was stuck in here. She cringed, and looked over the edge of the pit, and then from side to side. There was a little ledge of jagged wood going all around the room, partially rotted but still sturdy looking enough to hold her wait. But looking around... she realized there was no other doors in here other than the one she came in through. It was just bare wooden wall, all the way around the room. She sighed deeply and threw her head back. Just her luck. She had to wait for the damn lawn to drain, and she couldn't even sit down while doing so, let alone explore the rest of the mansion. Something in here truly hated her.
Fiera 17 Malchik 2.2 37
|
|
|
Post by Fiera Ferella on Jul 30, 2019 14:17:36 GMT -6
How was she going to get out of this? Fiera could still hear the water flowing behind the door. If anything, it was getting higher, though the door still stood sturdy. Think, think... she then opened her eyes, and saw a potential solution. Instead of a regular ceiling... the pit just kept going up. She could even see sunlight through the roof of the mansion, with multiple floors between her and the top. And stretched throughout the floors was a web of ropes. They were thick and hempen, like the kind you'd use to hoist sails or lash ships to their moorings. Instead of being tied to ships however, they were wrapped around structures in the house, or disappeared into the depths of the various rooms that Fiera couldn't see. They all looked pretty sturdy too, with no sign of weathering or rot. She could only wonder if they were placed by man or magic.
Fiera 18 Malchik 2.3 38
|
|