Dancing Lights and Shadows ((Isaak))

After but a few hours here, Olivia felt it. Felt the decay of civilization deep in her soul. Needless to say, it scared the spunk out of her. So, she snuck out of the dorms the first chance she got and ran to the forest the first chance she got.

Now, slumped cross-legged against the trunk of a great tree, Olivia took in a deep breathe, and let the nature seep through her veins. She took it in greedily, replenishing her magic, regaining the small piece that she had felt slipping through her fingers. She glanced up at the sky, blue eyes desperate. This place... will be the death of me.

Dying at the age of sixteen... that was terrifying. She had years, thousands of years before she went on to Avalon. This was just... She shook her head, red curls flying wildly. No. This was not an option.

She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself, pulling her knees up flat against her chest. It was dark here, something she was used to, but still... an all-encompassing lonlieness flowed through the forest. Nervously, she held out a single hand, closed her eyes, and thought of one of the only spells she actually knew.

When she opened her large blue eyes, the lights had started. One by one, lights formed in the palm of her hand, so small and dim. She waited, as they grew brighter, and she let them go, drifting off into the air.

There were about a dozen when she was done, all different colors and sizes, floating around her head, winding through the trees, bouncing up and down. She watched them, shining through the darkness.

Olivia had no idea how long she sat there until she noises started. The small little sounds of breathing, the shuffling of feet. Olivia stood quietly, and looked into the dark woods. She waited, with held breathe, waiting.

Nothing happened, but the noises remained.

"Umm... hello?" Olivia felt the least like a Sidhe she had in her entire life. Instead, she felt more like a helpless little girl, about to be swallowed up in a fairytale about big bad wolves and friendly lumberjacks.

Her footsteps were slow and careful, barely making a sound as she crept over fallen leaves and long grass. The lights followed behind her, bobbing along like they hadn't a care in the world...

I'm so sorry I didn't get a reply in this weekend, I was really sick, and am recovering, but do expect a reply in the net few days.

((Got caught up on life...but pretty museless. I will get this post done though.))

Isaak snapped out of his daydream, only remembering bits and pieces. He did know enough to have an answer as to why his heart was pounding do fierce, though. His dream was about him, but it wasn't. There were two versions of Isaak. The one watching the scene play out, and the one in the scene. The two Isaaks were very different people though. Somewhere in his mind, Isaak figured that the one in the scene was the New Elder's version of him. Mean, spiteful, crazy and capable of murder. The other was himself, well, himself before he left the clan. The scene was a funeral, in the elven way. But it was his mother's funeral. And He was the one who killed her. It progressed to his father coming back only to try and kill him, and himself ending up doing away his father quickly. From there, haze.

Standing up next to the building where he took his nap, Isaak started to run. Not because he wanted to, but because something in his nature was compelling him to run. So he ran around that building a couple of times in the twilight, but that wasn't enough. So Isaak sprint to the forrest in the distance, letting his feet slam against the pavement harder and harder until they went numb. His mind wasn't able to focus on anything, but Isaak was glad for it. Why would he want to focus on something that never happened, in a place that he could never go back to.

Upon entering the forrest, Isaak felt his eyes adjust to the darkness; silver bits glowing a bit brighter to give him a sort of light vision, but most people don't notice it. He jogged through the trees, and settled for sitting in the branches of one to catch his breath from the running. All of that running. Climbing up into the tree, Isaak felt his hand catch on a part that was rather pointy. Bringing it up to look at, he eyed the bright red liquid oozing from his palm, and non-chalantly wiped it on his hankerchief in the back pocket of his jeans. Now that he was sitting on the branch, Isaak eyed something strange. As he focused on it, the more strange it got.

Light...orbs? Is that what I'm seeing? Isaak thought to himself as they rose up through the nearby trees. What could make something so similar to the life festival in Hedeby? No one here knows where I come from. Unless...someone from where I come from is...here. Isaak thought as a picture of the New Elder flashed up in his mind.

"No," Isaak said to himself, "He has a great ruling life back in Hedeby. Why would he come here to hunt me down...he already banished me from my own mother." Isaak thought spitefully towards the man who did that to him, and slowly he got down from the tree and started towards the orbs. The life festival, why do I miss it so much? Isaak thought to himself. It was a great time for the elves. Everyone was high in spirits and there was a grand competition...at the end they released light orbs made by the young elves practicing magic...

A person?! A person was sitting at the origin of the orbs? Isaak was dumbfounded by the strange face in the darkness surrounded by orbs as he peered from the tree he was behind. There was not much he could gather because his great vision was diminished by the presence of the light orbs, but he could still make out that it looked female, and smaller than himself...though that may account for the fact that she was sitting. Someone had to be mighty powerful to be able to create light orbs...and suddenly Isaak became very aware of the fact that he could be in danger. So it came as a complete surprise to him when the girl spoke.

"Umm... hello?" A voice rang out, and Isaak closed his eyes. He was grateful for his dark clothes and he hoped that the stranger wouldn't notice him standing there behind a tree. Already he felt the itching to change and get the heck out of there. Isaak knew that if he changed that he would likely black out fro m the pain, and then his body would be theirs for whatever they wanted to do as he lay helpless. So he resisted the urge, but he didn't know if he could hold out much longer. If the girl found him, Isaak had no clue on whether or not he could hold back changing.

Maybe if he had is eyes open or was focused, he'd hear the moving of leaves and the light orbs. But he wasn't, so he wasn't prepare for what happened next.

Olivia fought with her own shuffling feet. Everything in her wanted to turn and run, to carry herself far away from whatever made its home in these woods. But she knew that two months ago, within the shores of the Green Isle, she'd never have thought twice about running up to whatever things went bump in the night. If the mortal world had made her soft, she'd just have to rough herself up again.

But still, even with that resolve firmly in place, her feet stopped. The only sounds was her own breathing, mixing slightly with the pattern of someone else's. She shuddered, the sound sending cold chills down her spine. It sounded like she'd always imagined the scene right before death, with nothing in the world but your last breathes and the heartbeat of your killer. Briefly, she wondered if she should call out again.

Are you kidding? Trust me, they heard you. And if they didn't awnser, that gives you every reason to go check, right? Olivia sighed, pushing a single lock of bright red hair out of her face. This desicion should not have been this hard. After all, it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Animals loved her. If it was even an animal...

Shaking her head, she strengthed her own determination, and inched her feet forward. The sound of crackling leaves covered the sound of the second pair of lungs, and her confidence grew stronger at the absence of the foreign sound.

It didn't take long to find what she'd meant to...

To say that she was surprised wouldn't have been an understatement. It would've been a bald-faced lie. In front of her was a boy, much taller than herself, but not much older. He had dark hair and she wondered if there was light eyes underneath the eyelids he had clamped so tightly shut. His clothes were rumpled and his dark hair windswept...

And though his eyes were closed, and he wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to her, there was a raw energy to him, a feral edge to his aura. His body spoke of wild and joy and things that felt like home to Olivia, that felt like running through the fields with her hair loose and her shoes left somewhere near where she had begun.

She wasn't sure if she should be paralyzed with fear or jump for joy.

So, instead, her bodt opted to freeze her limbs, left her blue eyes widen to cartoonish proportions. The orbs all around her turned a pale white, and lit up as bright as they could manage. A Fae curse fell from her lips.

"Oh, Maiden, Mother and Crone."

"Oh, Maiden, Mother and Crone."

To the sound of a female voice reaching his ears, Isaak opened his dark, silver flecked eyes to the brightness around him. It was stunning, how bright the dark forrest had become in the few moments he had closed his eyes. All he could see was the lights; Isaak felt the silver flecks in his eyes brighten up too. Probably to blend in or something like that. I don't understand how dark eyes with white flecks 'blends in', though... Isaak thought as he brought a dark hand up to shield his eyes.

The orbs, weren't they around the girl? If so, that would mean, she's here! And watching me? Is she attacking?! Do the orbs drain energy?! SHE'S ATTACKING ME! Isaak came to the conclusion, and felt the change coming on. Blindly stumbling past the girl, he shoved her out of the way as he ran towards the clearing she used to be in. He couldn't be attacked, he'd Change! Isaak felt the bones shifting, and willed for it all to stop. If She was attacking, he couldn't change without fainting or breaking a bone either.

He kept running, but stupidly with his eyes closed, feeling as though the bright orbs blinding him. It was when his outstretched hand smacked a hard tr that he let out a yelp and began cursing underneath his breath. Everything together, and on top of that, that girl might still be attacking me, or trying to get info for Elder! I can't keep it back! Isaak concluded as he let the change course through him.

"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Isaak screamed as his bones reconfigured and he turned into a Lythari hound once more. But something was wrong. Isaak didn't hear so much as felt the snap of a bone in his leg, and the pain start spreading on top of the Change. Everything was changing colors when he managed to get his eyes opened long enough. The scenery was swirling, and it went black as Isaak passed out next to the tree.

((React to this as you can, I am museless and only got that much out.))

A scream ripped through the trees as the young boy turned into the giant, hulking monster she'd only seen in her nightmares. Olivia froze in fear, the blood in her veins turning frigid and sluggish. What was happening? She hadn't known... she didn't know people like this went to Masquerade. She, Lucien, Ivy and Ari were diffrent. They were normal members of abnormal tribes. This was a werewolf. Werewolves were dangerous.

But... the monster looked up at her with eyes glazed over with pain and fear. The eyes were so human, and so far gone, her heart jerked in sympathy. "The Shores of Avalon," she cursed under her breath. The werewolf's eyes closed, and it's body relaxed in resignation.

"No." She didn't know where the word came from, but she stepped forward to take responsibility for it. "I will not be accused of letting you die." Besides, that would look really bad on my magic karma register. She dropped to her knees and put a hand on the monster's thick fur.

I... I don't know what to do. I don't have a heal spell yet! She ran a hand down the body, and when her fingers had barely brushed the top of the leg, the body jerked on its own. Broken leg. Broken. I... MEND!

Olivia placed both hands on the awkward bend in the leg, and closed her eyes. She didn't know if this was possible. No one she'd ever known had used 'mend' on a bone before, and she didn't have the slightest idea whether or not it would work or not. "Oh, ancestors Titiana and Oberon, lend me your strength. May the Maiden, Mother and Crone guide me." Pink magic began to swirl around her wrists. Help me heal this man. The magic radiated through the forest, their little clearing ever faintly glowing. The hairy leg of the person before her was bright with magic, and then.. darkness.

Had it worked? How could she tell? The leg looked normal enough, but what did that truly mean? Olivia sat back and looked at the face of her patient. "Hey... Mr. Wolf-Guy? Are you okay?"