Worlds Apart yet Drawn Together
In a land lost not only in the ages of time, but in the folds of reality, a war rages on, a war that seemed to have no start and no end, just rises and falls, a war of good, evil, of senseless fighting and desperate struggles for salvation. In an attempt to save his people, a powerful King had cast a spell on his own lands, ripping it from the very stream of time that it had once been bound too. This King was known as Kekoron, and his people were the innocent creatures of legends, the winged miracles that children heard tales of in wonderment and awe, his people were the fairies. And since the day that his people fled the world of humans, Kekoron had lived only to serve and protect his people, and for ages their home had been a sanctuary. But that era had long since seemed to fade away, leaving only a need for change and growth and strength. Where two generations of fairies seemed to clash, the ones striving for a peaceful calm, and the ones striving to protect their homes at all cost. And one without the other would lead to a serious tear in their way of life, one side did not judge the other, for they needed each other and could see that. The ones that wanted to spend their days playing and laughing and singing their songs needed the others who wanted to be strong and fight. The ones who chose to fight had need of song and music to fill their spirits and strengthen their hearts as they faced their grim times.
And at this point in time there was one particular group of fairies that were resting out in the outskirts of the woodlands that surrounded the Enchanted Kingdom, behind them and still visible through the thin spread of trees was a barren land of dust and stone and shrivelled trees. What horses however seemed untouched by the dirt they had surely trodden over, and boots remained unstained by the march across the barrens. All boots save for that of three gruff men however, stout individuals clad with hefty armour that had made the long march difficult for them at times, but the stubbornness of their people kept them going.
A silky velvet blue cloaked figure atop one of the few steeds that marched within the group had watched the marching Dwarves with a distant look of interest, a stirring of memories that were both pleasant and painful. The smaller of the other riders, Vohan sat mounted on his Unicorn and positioned safely between Krelan and Levon, two of the youngest princes older brothers. The Dwarfish mutterings had been humorous at times, some of the others didn’t appreciate their grumbling, some liked them almost solely for that reason. But all had to admit that despite their rough nature, these men were noble and loyal and had done a lot in helping them.
"Ye wouldn’t mind if we stopped’ere fer a rest now, would ya my lady?" A deep voice sounded from the middle of the three, who had turned his face back towards one of the four mounted figures. "Jus’ long enough to wet our tongues and catch our breaths." There hadn’t been shade for the last few hours of their travels, so even if the leader of the three Dwarves hadn’t asked for it, Queen Lillian would have made a suggestion to do so herself now that they finally arrived at some shade.
"I think we all could use a rest." Replied the tender voice of the fairy Queen in agreement, and with that the handful of soldiers around them seemed to move off, each with a purpose in their strides as they set about ensuring the area was safe as well as setting up the camp. Whenever Vohan saw a Dwarf, all he could think of was Michael, and with no idea of how different the flow of time was back in the world where he had once lived for so short a time, the Prince was almost sure that all he once knew was faded and gone, like all mortal lives seemed to go so quickly to his people. But sometimes, just sometimes, Vohan was so sure he could still feel them out there, still sense their spirits, their friendship burning strong, sometimes it was enough to keep him strong, sometimes it was enough to break him.
Home was where the heart was, but how can Vohan admit that his heart lay scattered? Yes he loved his world, he loved the magic and the wonders, he loved his family and the people who had helped raise him. But he loved Michael and Riley and Arlen, he loved Tessa and… oh he missed Tessa… he missed them all but there was something more about Tessa that just tied the Prince’s stomach to knots when he wondered about her. There were moments he felt cheated of so many things, and times where he knew he had done what he had to do. But to think of Tessa old, to think her as having left the world of the living… it almost made him a little bitter to think he had been robbed of a chance to know her, almost faintly angry with himself that he had let himself waste so much precious time by not approaching her sooner just because he feared what he didn’t understand at the time.
Although not having counted accurately, and too distracted with other things to be sure, Vohan only knew it had to have been somewhere around two hundred years since he last laid eyes on the friends that had touched him so deeply. And it was important to him to see them again, and yet as the years had passed his family told him it was time to move on, that they didn’t know how different the time line would be, and for the first century Vohan had been told relentlessly by his father not to dare go back. There had been times Vohan had stood at the gates that separate their worlds, his from the humans, his family from his friends… a line he dared not cross but longed to do so with every inch of his heart…but it was a barrier that was near on impenetrable, and his duty was here with his people, but… did he not have a duty to his friends as well? It would have been nice to know that his sense of duty towards them wasn’t so emotionally driven, that it wasn’t almost entirely based on wants and desires, unlike his people here who needed help, who needed another healer and helper, someone who would help play music and sing songs and stand with them when danger approached. Then again, however, the formerly named ‘Scott’, found himself thinking of all the danger that befell the school, and all the help they had needed, and how few of them there were compared to a world full of people all fighting the one enemy… the X-men fought many and had few allies to help them.
It seemed Vohan had never been the same since his return home, making it difficult for his family to treat him as the helpless infant of the family but also his age made it hard for them to treat him with the maturity he seemed to have gained. If anything however, the youngest sibling seemed more able to communicate with his elder brothers, and for that his relationship with them had gotten better in the recent centuries. Krelan and Levon even began to include Vohan in their mischievous bursts of activity, which the King was both irritated by as an icon of authority, but pleased by as a father. When they got into trouble, they were all in trouble, and for some reason, that seemed to please Vohan, which was turning out to be a relatively hard thing to do otherwise.
The hood that obscured the young Prince’s face was brushed back as he had began to dismount, a not so distant screeching howl causing his unicorn to move about uneasily and forcing Vohan’s wings to flutter beneath the cloak as he tried to stable himself. A tension swept the group, and those half way through doing something remained frozen and alert as their eyes ventured about the surroundings as well as each other.
"Ye heard’em boys, we got guests comin’!" The leader of the Dwarves, Grimbold Stonehammer, raised a hefty looking axe, the delicate streams of light that poured through the canopy catching it and causing the unusual metal to glimmer as it captured the rays of light. "An’ its always polite t’make’em feel welcomed!" The other two gave an energized growl as they too lifted their axes, and the other fairies joined in the raise of arms, those who had reverted to their smaller sizes grew larger save for the scouts who darted off to see what was coming from where. There was a moment of dead silence, even the trees themselves seemed to quieten and strain for any sound of what was to come, but still no one was prepared enough for the attack to defend against the first assault. A flurry of movement surrounded them and a deep disgruntled grumble was all that was heard from Grimbold, sticky webbing seeming to shoot directly at him, and with a sudden jerk of such force his body was tugged fiercely into the shrubs and trees before any could take hold of him.
"Hold positions Dwarves! They’re trying to lure you away from the group!" Distress swept the remaining two, Orgrimar and Brimably’s yells previously hinting of their split second instant to chase down their leader, stopped only begrudgingly by the voice of Krelan. A similar sort of attack had occurred earlier in their travels, only with a fairy guard, if Orgrimar hadn’t demanded the rest to stay their grounds the group would have been split and cornered. Unfortunately for the last time, the first fairy to fall had been that one who was first attacked, and so the frame of mind for the loyal Dwarves seemed desperate to save their leader from the same fate. "Stay with mother Vohan!" The elder Prince demanded, as was both expected and insisted upon by the entire family, that should danger fall Vohan would always stay as safe as possible, not that the youngest Prince was always following those orders as of late, which was why his brother felt the need to reinforce the King’s orders.
Stout figures gave a vicious yell of their own as the Dwarves charged at the first figures that came from behind the shroud of trees and shrubs, misshapen humanoids that were known as a race of Troll who captured, bred and trained the oversized spiders from lands distant to these, bringing them to these woods for the sole pleasure of watching the fairies cringe in fear at the sight of their beasts. However even as the fight began, even as the Dwarves through their might in against the intruders and ruthless fighters, it was clear by the desperate looks they shoot towards where their leader had vanished, that their minds and focus were split. Their friend and leader was taken… Vohan clenched his fists as he stood, his mother watching on in case her healing powers were needed, Vohan’s eyes turned to the spot Grimbold vanished, the disturbed thicket, the seconds that passed and the greater the chance of his death if time continued to progress without him being recovered.
What if it had been Lexi? What if this group had been Green Rescue, would they all have just stood here, even if for the greater good of protecting someone important? Would they let another be left till things cooled down if Mr Summers needed protecting? Though Mr Summers himself could better survive this encounter then Vohan’s mother, she was wise and beautiful and ancient, but her powers were not fatal, they were healing, and her ability to command the plant life and many of the animals could only do so much to help her, and it depended on the will of the plants or animals! What if it had been Michael, or Riley, or Tessa? The thought drove Vohan from his mother’s side, almost unintentionally slipping off into the shrouds at a bolt, his legs moving before his mind could even catch up and try to ask what he’d do once and if he found the missing comrade.
Screeching continued to howl, but now so did the clashing of metal and grunts and yells all following him through the woods as he ran, pale grey eyes darting around to try and find any signs of the missing Dwarf. The pounding of Vohan’s heart made it feel as if the very world itself was shaking, the idea of getting captured by a giant spider most definitely not a pleasant one. Heavy footsteps seemed to be beating into the ground behind him too, he wasn’t sure at first if it was following him, and Vohan didn’t dare look back, he had to keep his eyes on where he was going in the crowded thickets. Soon it was clear though, soon he knew he was being chased down, someone, or something had caught the Prince as he broke away from the group, which is what everyone knew would happen, that they tried to split you up, some waited just for those who would run away for whatever reason. A grunt came with every breath and every thud from the other behind, which meant Vohan knew when the other drew nearer and when space came between them.
Dragging marks! So the stories were true about these trolls allowing their pets to take the victims off to feed upon! Vohan was never sure if that was just something to scare him at night or if it was true, it seemed so barbaric and cruel that he never wanted to believe such things could happen to others. A creaking of a trees branching sounded not too far ahead of him, Vohan knew he had to get there, he still couldn’t look back, he couldn’t let himself get scared! He just had to keep running, if he could find Grimbold and get him back to the others, their fight could still be heard in the distance, Levon’s voice even yelling for Vohan calling for his brother unsure if Vohan was taken or had run off but assuming the worse. While Vohan felt bad, while he’d have loved nothing more then to turn around and yell back that he was ok, he couldn’t, and he’d not be able to explain to them how it felt to know the pains caused by losing someone you thought of as a team-mate, a comrade, a true friend. They didn’t have those things, not like Vohan had, not like the Dwarves had, even if this was the most stupidly dangerous thing one could do, Vohan would do it without hesitation, even if in the end things don’t go well for him, he’d rather try then give up, he wasn’t sure he could bare watching what those two would go through if they lost their companion in arms. Their emotions already entwining within his own desperate struggles and needs, it almost fuelled him and Vohan wasn’t able to think of anything other then finding Grimbold, even if what he found was just a bloodied trinket of what the great Dwarf once was.
The Prince burst almost unexpectedly into a clearing, space suddenly all around him, a good twenty meters of drying grass and only a scattering of rotting stumps that had their trunks seemingly ripped clear off them. The clearing somewhere between fresh and decaying, the canopy shrouded with broken branches almost leafless as if touched by the autumn season despite the green lustre that should have bestowed their branches. Masses of thick silken threads wove the trees branches together, some almost bending to the strength of the webbing that tied itself around them. A fearful stare drove Vohan to stillness, how a loud crunch from behind was enough to make the Prince jump as he turned his head towards what must be almost on top of him by now due to his hesitation. Only it appeared someone else had gotten on top of the troll that had chased the Prince, roots seemed to have grasped about the feet of the other as he lay face down in the mulch, pressed down by the entwining roots that had swiftly and silently slithered about the bulky form.
Vohan turned around, his eyes peering up into the trees to the hanging corpses that were thankfully for the most part almost entirely obscured by the thick webbing that cocooned them. It seemed however at that precise moment, not only did the soft murmurs of Grimbold call for the figure that the Dwarf couldn’t quite make out with his vision blurred by the dizziness of a slow paralysing poison that seemed his form, something else also called the Prince. Something that was not heard with his ears, but with his heart, a pull that seemed to want to rip him from this very moment and draw him somewhere else. This couldn't stop him from helping Grimbold though! The very essence of all that flowed over him was pushed aside as best as the young Prince could as his feet carried him almost unsteadily to the Dwarf. The healing hands of the youthful fairy made no hesitation as they grabbed at the webbing that bound the other, the fear this caused caged by sheer will alone.
A gust of wind seemed to whirl about him, a sense of magic sweeping through the air, a surge of something… it felt as if something was taking his very strength, and while the spider's webbing touched his flesh his magic also began to drain and fade. Azure eyes closed, a moment of fear as the Prince wondered if this was some sort of dark magic the spiders had gained, some sort of trap… When the fairy’s steel grey eyes opened, trying to fight it all off, trying to see past the confusion and strange sense of power in the air, he had to get to Grimbold out of here, he had to get the Dwarf back to the others… And with the Dwarf fully away of the effects spider webbing had on the fairies, Grimbold made all the effort he could spare to help wiggle from the netting, his weakened strength making him offer however very little help.
"Vohan!" The call was Krelan! They were coming, coming to help! The Prince forced a strip of tough webbing that bound Grimbolds left arm, his voice raising to call back but his face staying focused on the task at hand. "Over here!" Now the legs, hands moved almost with a will of their own while Scott struggled with what felt himself being pulled apart not on a physical level but something so much deeper, and as painless as it was, it was so draining and tiring. But he had to help pull Grimbold to his feet, the Dwarf was stout and heavy, there was no way Vohan could carry him, especially with the armour that was worn by the other. That didn't stop Vohan from trying, and as the fairy's feet stumbled with the effort of helping Grimbold stand, his face lifted to the silently crackling of unseen energies that flowed like a river in the air about them. The unseen became visible for the briefest of flash and what stood in the center of all the commotion that had buffled and disorientated Vohan was... it almost took all the breath from Vohan’s lungs as he stared in a mixture of shock and disbelief.
"…Tessa?" Was this a trick? "You can’t be…" …real… she can’t! But what if she was? Oh she looked real, she looked alive and she… her emotions… she was real! No one could fake such strong emotions! "…Tessa?" Oh he wanted to leap at her, to grab her up in his arms and hug her so tightly! But no! He couldn’t, not here… not where it wasn’t safe. Distant calls, distant yells, the Prince had no idea what was going on, but he realized that neither must she, how he wanted to explain it all, to step aside and tell her what was happening, but he couldn’t, now was not the time. A creeping in the tree tops could be heard, ‘smaller’ spiders inching cautiously towards their prey and wanting to keep the Dwarf in their nest and not have him taken away. The very sound caused Vohan to look up and while they were a more manageable size, they still were huge, like a medium sized dog from Tessa’s home world… oh god Vohan hated spiders.
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