"All fun and no games make Visse a mean gal"
Mkay, here's part 10 of Nali skins.
Yesterday I've been thinking a lot about the next story. Of course it'll envolve Necris, but also a couple of other races.. and.. well you'll just have to wait. It'll be a totally different story, once again.
Part 10: The path…
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Falling down a small chasm, the gang landed in a safe spot, on a field of grass. Visse got up to her feet, and looked back, ready for any Skaarj trying to engage attack on them. But nothing happened.
A Nali moon was shedding some light onto the dark surroundings.
Laque joined her, while George helped the others on their feet.
“Careful there”, Agouba yelled,” you Skaarj are so clumsy.”
“Take it easy little man”, George growled.
Agouba swallowed and walked up to Visse.
“So what about the other Skaarj?”
Visse slowly turned her head towards him, carefully looking at the path lying above them.
“Obviously they’ve decided not to follow us. Maybe they’re afraid of something?”
“Hm but what about the Freylinn”, Agouba mumbled, “how will we get back to the..”
Laque interrupted him.
“Why, when we get back, we’ll simply have to cross their outpost once again.”
“Great”, Agouba said with a whining voice.
“How’s the head wound?”
“It.. it needs to be taken care of it I guess, I’m feeling dizzy..” Agouba sat down, with his head in his hands.
Barak took a bandage out of his backpack and took care of that ugly wound.
“Don’t have to lose hope this quickly Agouba”, Barak smiled, “trust me, we Necris have been through worse.”
Visse heard him saying that. She glanced at Laque, and she was grinning.
“Yeah we have, haven’t we?”
“Sure”, Visse whispered, “now all we need to do, is take care of Neo’s leg, and .. well…who was the map?”
George unfolded a dusty map, and he tried making out their exact location.
“Hm, obviously we’re riiiiight here…”
“Well duh”, Visse mumbled, “we haven’t started our journey yet. What I meant saying was, where do we go from here?”
“Let’s see” George studied the map, and Visse grew more impatient with the minute.
“We’re supposed to follow .. a path.”
“A path”, Laque said and yanked the map out of his hands,” let’s see where this path leads to, shall we?”
“Suuure”, George sighed.
“Damn you Necris females have a bad temper.”
“No we don’t”, Visse answered him while studying the map.
“See Laque, this path leads us to a small valley and a village.. apparently, and further on lies a huge building, a fortress maybe.. I can’t make out what this is.. another village? Anyway, behind the fortress lies .. a valley.. again…and a huge rock formation.”
Neo stood up, and tried walking back and forth.
“The leg is ok I guess, no severe damage. I’m all right”
Visse smiled. “Good, cause we’re about to make a long journey I’m afraid. Good thing we Necris don’t need much supplies. We can go 2 days in a row without food or drinks. But the others?”
George shook his head. “I’m sure there’s plenty of wildlife around these parts. I maybe a guide, but every Skaarj has hunting skills. I’ll take care of myself , Rumiko and Agouba.”
Agouba scratched his head. “You’ll do that for me?”
“Sure thing, little man”
“Stop calling me little man!”
“But you are!”
“OK enough with the bull****”, Laque yelled, “let’s go. Neo you’re sure the leg is fine?”
“No problem, I’m with you guys/girls/things .. you know”.
“The path starts right beyond this corner”, Visse said while scanning the map and looking at the surroundings.
“We can’t possibly miss it.”
The small group walked up to the “corner” and in front of them , there was the path, made out of brown-red stones.
“Here we go”, Barak sighed, “I wonder what is waiting for us out there…”
Visse grinned. “Nothing my knife can’t handle, baby..”
They must’ve been walking for an hour, when Rumiko all of the sudden , obviously irritated, groaned:
“Why don’t these lanterns work?”
“They used to I guess”, Agouba smiled at her, “but when the Skaarj condemned this area, turned it into a forbidden zone for all the Nali…”
“Oh yeah right, crappy path, crappy planet, why do we have to go on this stupid quest. I can hardly see anything…”
“Stop whining”, Visse said with a hoarse voice.
“Maybe we should sleep, rest, right here”, Laque muttered. “We Necris might have incredible stamina, but obviously our fellow travellers need a good night rest?”
“A night on Nalina is around 10 Nali hours”, Visse whispered (10 N.H.=16 human hours)
“Ok, why not. We’ll camp right here, guys.”
Agouba fell to his feet, and immediately went to sleep. He was exhausted.
“Well look at that, our little man…”,Barak grinned while looking at Visse.
“I’m not tired.. what should we do in the meantime..”
“Anyone up for a game of “DethSquad” (a popular Necris “card” game)
“Sure, but let’s keep it quiet, Rumiko and George are already sleeping .. “
“That was fast”, Visse said. It was hard for her to imagine what life would be like, if you’re not a Necris.
“Who’s first?”, Laque smirked while looking at the others.
“I am”, Neo mumbled and the first card had hit the deck before the others were even able to breath…
Dawn.
“OOH I give up”, Barak groaned, “you’re the master. You’ve beaten me, as you did Laque and Neo…”
“Heeehee heee!!!!”, Visse cried. She got up from the grass, and started dancing like a mad cat.
“Be quiet”, Neo whispered, “you’ll wake the others, It’s pretty early.”
“OH nevermind”, Rumiko yelled, “ I’m already awake, thanks to miss ego-tripper Visse over there!”
Visse growled. “Shut up! I’m having fun here!”
Rumiko slowly got up, stretched and yawned.
“Well, we do have a nice view here, don’t we. 2 suns.. been a while since I’ve seen anything like that.”
“Hmwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
“What was that?”, Agouba cried, startled and shocked!
“Oh it’s just me”, George smiled, “I was yawning.”
“’I’ll take care of the eh.. meal.. food yeah.. give me a minute here..”
George took his ripper and disappeared in the nearby bushes.
“Will be back in 15 Nali minutes…”
20 Nali minutes later, George came back with a big, fat juicy Nalicow.
“I’m baaaaaaaack!”, he yelled.
“Oh no, not a Nali cow, you bastard!”, Agouba cried, while tears where running down his face.
“Get a grip”, Visse growled while slapping him in the face.” You want food, well.. it’s the best George could do.. just be thankful!”
“Take it easy on the little guy”, Barak said, while looking at the beautiful panorama he had over a Nali valley.
“I’m sorry, I can’t stand this pathetic whining..”, Visse hissed.
“Of course not”, Barak said and winked at her”, You’re a fierce blaidenmaiden.”
Visse smirked.
“Bet ya..”
When the Skaarj, Nali and Acron had finished their meal, that juicy Nalicow, they walked up to the 4 Necris.
“We aren’t able to make contact with our home planet Necron”, Visse sighed.
“Of course not”, Agouba whispered, trying not to look her in the eyes, “Skaarj have disruptors aimed at this place.”
“Look, Agouba, I’ve exaggerated back there, I’m sorry ok?”
Agouba started smiling once again.
“Just DON’T let it happen again!
“okay”, Agouba said while cringing his teeth.
“Where do we .. like go from here?”, Rumiko said, while burping.
“I see you’ve enjoyed your meal?”, laque said while showing a faint smile.
“Bet ya, those cows are really tasty..”
“We make our way through this valley”, Laque explained to the others, “it’s no big valley as you can see, it should take us up to 1 or 2 Nali hours to cross.. what do you think Agouba?”
“Yeah that should be right. Beyond this valley lies an ancient Nali village if .. it’s right there on the map right?”
“It is”, Laque answered him, carefully looking around.
“Are you expecting any danger?”, Visse asked her clan leader.
“Not really, but you never know.. right? I mean, look at our . “previous adventure” on earth..”
“Expect the unexpected”, Visse said while showing a big grin.
“That’s my girl”, Laque smiled, while squinting her eyes.
“OK guys/girls/its.. whatever, let’s go..”
It might have been a small Valley which our group was crossing, nevertheless it was an impressive one. Everywhere around them were trees, animals.. dragon birds flying over. This place was alive. An ancient heritage of an old, forgotten Nali generation.
There was a big waterfall, and a small lake. It was more impressive and breath taking than Nyleve’s falls had ever been. However, the water was yellow.
A sharp, warm wind embraced the small band while they were taking a breather, right in the centre of the Valley.
“This way, to the north.. “, Visse said while looking at her surroundings. She hate to admit it, but she was impressed. Necris were nocturnal beings, not used to bright landscapes and day and night, sun and moon…
But she noticed the beauty of this planet. And she kind of like it.
The many dragon birds flying by were making screeching sounds, almost as if they were extremely excited by seeing the visitors coming to their territory. How long had it been since they had seen anyone…?
Finally, the group made it to the end of the Valley, and were approaching a big rock formation.
“There, that cave.. it should lead us to the village, mentioned on the map…”
“yes”, Agouba added, “an ancient old Nali village, once a..”
“We don’t care about it’s history”, Visse muttered, “we simply want to cross it, so we’re once again, one step closer to those damn skins..”
“Shame I forgot my screenshooter”, Rumiko sniffed, “this place is breathtaking.”
The group disappeared in the cold cave.
All of the sudden they had reached the village.
“Well that was quick”, Barak whispered, “one triniton we’re in that cave, the next we’re .. at the village.”
“Nali teleportation magic”, Agouba answered him.
“But I never saw the teleporter.”
Agouba smirked.
“Of course you didn’t. We used it in one of our castles, called Elsinore. You simply step into one of those teleporters, and there’s no flash, nothing.. you simply walk through.”
“Elsinore?”, Neo smiled, “what a beautiful name.. man this is great stuff, give me a couple of Kraylins here, I need to write this stuff down in my notepad! This is all so exciting!”
“This is not what one would have considered to have been a .. prosperous village. Only a couple of houses, and one well..”
“Yes, it almost looks like an exact copy of the famous harobed village.”, Agouba said while whipping his nose.
“Most our ancient villages look the same.. small settlements…”
“SO this is how you Nali used to live?”, Visse said, it almost sounded as if she was interested.
“Yes”.
“How primitive.”
Agouba mumbled and walked towards a shiny rock, covered with moss.
“There!” He kicked the rock, and immediately a cry resounded.
“YOU idiot!”, the rock yelled at Agouba!
“Wh..wha.. wha..??”, Agouba stuttered and took 2 steps back , frightened of what he might see.
The rock unfolded itself, and a turtle –like creature was looking at him, angry and patting his rear end.
“Where you come from, does everyone kick one another in the bum?”
“N..n..n..”
“Say what, Nali?”, the rock yelled.
“NO SIR”, Agouba cried and fell to his feet, waving his hand as if he was praying.
The rock rolled his eyes and sighed.
“Get up you silly Nali. Man everytime you yell at those idiots, they fall to their feet and kiss the ground…can you believe that?”
“Who are you”, Visse asked him.
“I could ask you the same question! Kicking me in the arse!”
Visse stared at the rock. It couldn’t stand her fierce look anymore and answered:
“Ok ok take it easy lady. I’m Moork, a rockdwarf.
“A rockdwarf? First time I’ve heard about any rockdwarfs on Nalina. But then again, this is only my second visit to this planet.”
“Oh so you’re a Noob eh?”, the rock mumbled, “Noobs always show disrespect to the veterans of a world. Look at that stupid Nali grrrr!”
“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry”, agouba cried.
“Get on your feet”, Visse growled.
“It’s been a long time I’ve seen anyone around these parts”, the rockdwarf said, while carefully looking at each groupmember. “What do you .. eh.. creatures look for ?”
“I guess we can trust you”, Laque smiled,” we look for Nali skins.”
“Oh dear, oh dear”, the rock laughed., “well sorry I can’t help you. Bye now.”
“WAIT”, barak yelled.
But the rockdwarf had returned to it’s previous state and didn’t move.
“Little son of a bitch”, Neo whispered.
“Ok, never mind, let’s cross this village, and .. we’ll wind up, show me that map again”, Laque said, trying to remain calm.
“We’ll wind up .. at that fortress .. so soon?”
“An ancient fortress”, Agouba smiled.
“Everything is ancient around these parts”, Visse said while frowning, and showing her teeth”, so stop saying that you idiot.”
Agouba looked at his feet and turned around.
“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s move on… stupid rock.”
At the end of the village they noticed another cave entrance.
And once again, before they knew it, they had left the village behind them, and had arrived at the ancient fortress.
Agouba seemed shocked.
“What’s wrong?”, Visse asked him, “someone stepped on a Nali plant?”
Neo smirked.
“No, no, do any of you even know what this place is???”
“Nooo, we don’t, .. do tell us.”, Barak answered him while looking at a gigantic, impressive what appeared to be a former Nali fortress.
“This is, what the older Nalis call.. the DARK ARENA!”
Every single group member stared up to the mighty building.