(So guys. There's some concept art in my gallery, and now you know what it belongs to. I'm hoping to get in at least one chapter every few days. Please comment or whatever. It should get interesting...) Sundays in the Roch household were always spent out of the house, as a rule. Materia Roch usually went out with one or two of her friends, to the mall or a movie. Her mother Bayarmaa often went shopping for groceries, and Abner, Materia's father, went out with his buddies to watch whatever game was on that day. Sunday, February eleventh was spent in much the same way. Bayarmaa dragged her husband (who was quite unenthusiastic about the whole thing) to help her pick out some clothes to give to a relative for their birthday. They left Materia at home after the "we'll be home in a few hours, go to a friend's house or something while we're gone" speech. Though Materia was a junior in high school, her parents were very anxious about leaving her alone in the house. Materia stood in the window and watched her parents pull out of their short driveway, and collapsed onto her bed, just to the side. She reached out and grabbed her cell phone from her headboard where she had dumped it last night after talking for a few hours with a friend of hers. She thought for a moment, then punched in a phone number. She rolled onto her back, pressing the phone to one ear and staring around her room. It was smallish, with starch white paint on all four walls and the ceiling. She had plastered all five planes with posters, but still, she couldn't shake the sterile look, though she had lived there almost her whole life. The floor was tan carpet, with clothes and school papers strewn across it carelessly. The phone rang and rang, but finally, somebody picked up. "Hello?" asked a young boy's voice. He sounded about ten to her. "Hey, is Jaclyn there? Tell her it's Mattie," she said, and waited. The boy mumbled something, and she could hear the distant thumping of feet as the boy ran through his house. She pulled the phone away from her ear when he screamed for Jaclyn. Almost immediately, another phone was picked up, and a breathless Jaclyn screamed at her brother to hang up. "Hello? Who is this?" "It's Mattie. I told your brother to tell you," Materia responded. Jaclyn sighed. "You KNOW he doesn't tell me ANYTHING. So what's up?" she asked. "Nothing much. Are you busy? I was thinking we could go hit the mall today." "Um, I don't think I'm busy. Who's driving?" "I will. I'll come pick you up in a few, alright?" "Mmmkay, see you then." Materia hit a button on her phone and shoved it into her purse. She tugged on a pair of sneakers and her faux fur trimmed winter coat, and checking to make sure the door was locked, headed outside. She carelessly tossed her purse into the passenger seat, wiped the snow off her windows, and started the car. She backed out of the driveway, and began heading towards the subdevision Jaclyn lived in with her family. The traffic was horrid. When the traffic stopped completely, she groaned, and cranked up her radio. It was playing one of her current favorite songs. She almost didn't notice when the car in front of her began pulling away. Materia hit the gas, trying to make the light while it was still green. She wasn't in luck. It went yellow before she got to the light. She pushed on teh brakes, but she just went on skidding. Her eyes opened in horror as her car slid on black ice into two lanes of traffic. The last thing she saw was a car coming straight at the driver's side of the car. Everything went black. When Materia woke up, she was laying on a carpet of leaf litter and moss. She blinked, and looked up from the veetation. She was wearing everything she had been in the car. Her purse laid a few feet away. She climbed to her feet, very gingerly. She glanced around. She was alone in a forest. Materia tok a few steps over and snatched her purse off the ground. She was in her car... She hit black ice, and- and... then what? She couldn't recall... But where was she?? She turned on the spot, and almost fainted when she saw what was behind her. She sat down in the mulched leaves, and stared at the enormous tree that had loomed behind her. In it, people hung from the branches by their hair, like giant fruits. All of them seemed asleep. In sudden horror, she touched her own head, and looked up. There was a large limb hanging straight above her. WHERE WAS SHE?

Wow, not too shabby :D The whole mystery of what happened and where she is rather intresting.

Veetation? Nifty XD I likes X3 <4

lol, yes. Veetation. XD Stupid typos. You know what I meant. lol

A voice behind Materia broguht her back to her senses. "Hello, lass, you look like such a SWEET little girl..." She spun around, and found herself at an even more shocking sight than the tree that was growing humans. A large, white, leathery bipedal creature stood there, looking down at her with incredibly dark, comically round black eyes and thick eyebrows. Something about them seemed strange. Perhaps because they didn't have that speck of light in them? It smiled at her with a lipless mouth that forever bared its crooked yellowed teeth. It had a large muscular body, and stood at maybe eight feet tall. When Materia took a step back, it reached out with a large, unclawed paw. "No! No, sweetie, you shouldn't be afraid of me!" It rumbled calmingly through plaque covered fangs. It looked very freakish to her, but its voice was very soothing. She hesitated. The creature, whatever it was, grinned at her with a cocked head. "Tell me, sweetie, what's your name? I may be able to help you to wherever you want to go..." It said to her. "What ARE you?! Where am I?" She replied. The thing took another step towards her, and she took another back. Her foot hit her purse, and she bent to pick it up, her eyes never leaving the white creature. "My name is Theron," it replied with its silky voice, "And you've arrived in This World. What's your name, sweetie?" "This World?" She asked, a cold edge in her tone. She was liking this creature less and less... Something about it was unsettling; how it talked, and those EYES... Theron replied a little impatiently. "This World. Not YOUR World, but OURS. Another World. Other World. Your kind pop in from time to time. They just fall off that tree, no warning or anything. My people and I keep a look out for you humans, and try to help guide you along your way. Your NAME, sweetheart?" "My name is... Jackie," she said. She didn't know why she didn't tell it her real name, and for some reason, her friend's was the first to come to mind. "Would you mind pointing me towards the nearest city or whatever?" Theron looked at her with its pitch black eyes. It took a few steps towards her, and she didn't back off, so it came right up to her. It towered over her, and for the first time she noticed a second set of arms, folded behind the thick, clawless ones. They were wickedly armwd with four incredibly long and lethal looking claws. Theron saw her glance, and suddenly, without warning, it reached out with its clawless paws and gripped her against it, squeezing her painfully against its belly... It was snarling down at her, and she realized what she had taken for eyes at a distance were simply patterns on its skin- its true eyes were on its jaw, two sickly white orbs with thin, + shaped pupils. It stared at her crazily, jaws apart, and saliva stretched between them. Its fat, purple tongue looked like it was attached to the roof of its mouth... "Oh, yes, sweetie... I'll show you the way, the path you'll take! I'll show you the way to Death...!" It snarled. Theron's voice was no longer pleasant; it had taken on a predatory tone, with menace rolling off it like thick blood. She rummaged through her purse as best she could. One arm was against her neck, adn the other her elbows, and they were crushing her harder every second. She couldn't breathe. Finally, she found what she was feeling for, and pulling it from her purse, wheezed at the beast as best she could. "Eat THIS, SWEETIE!" With that, she ripped the cap off the spray bottle, and blasted Theron in the eyes with the fould smelling concoction. It dropped her instantly, and flopped onto its back... No, onto its stomach! She looked in horror as it stretched its neck back, and stretched out its clawed legs. It's true form, it seemed, was a quadrupedal monster, with two thick arms perched on its back like two grotesque, mutated wings. It rolled on the ground, wiping its eyes in the leaf litter, and screaming with pain and confusion. "YOU WENCH!!! What manner of venom did you spit in my eyes, you wench?!" It cried in agony. Materia couldn't help but be a bit smug, if shooken up and gasping for breath. "That would be my home-brewed pepper spray, beast. Don't you like it?" She said, and to her horror, the creature blindly leapt towards her voice, surprisingly swiftly. It wiped its eyes angrily with its spare arms, to no avail. She held her breath out of terror when it cocked its head, listening for her motion. Its nostrils flared, and she knew it was determined to catch her. Materia carefully took a step, and dashed off when Theron pounced again. It obviously had fairly good hearing, because she thought she had been pretty quiet. She raced off into the woods, with the beast chasing after her footsteps. She looked around, but all the trees looked alike. She contemplated climbing one as she ran for her life, but she figured Theron would simply jump up and tear her apart, even if it COULDN'T see. She ran past a particularly large tree, then doubled back and pressed herself against the back of the tree. Theron, who heard her behind the tree, kept running towards her. Materia sat in suspense behind the tree as the galloping rustle of leaves grew louder and louder... She braced herself for the attack she knew would come in instants, with her eyes squeezed tightly shut: the rancid stink of its rotton breath on her face, the yellowed teeth sinking into her shoulder or arm... THACK!! Materia's eyes snapped wide open as she felt Theron's impact into the tree. She cautiously crept around the tree. The white beast was on the ground, sprawled unnaturally. The top of its head and snout had been bloodied and crushed on the tree. It wasn't moving. She nudged it with her sneakers. It didn't move. She looked at the tree, then. The bark was bashed off the tree in one spot. She kicked Theron, but it only caused it to jolt limply like only a dead thing would. She had killed a intelligent being. Intentionally or not, she had, even if it wasn't her who dealt the deadly blow. She was surprised and slightly disturbed to realize she didn't care that Theron was dead, intelligent as it was. A voice cleared behind her, and she spun around, pepper spray held out at the ready in front of her. It wasn't another white creature. This time it was a yellow eyed, hooded creature. It held a roughly woven cloth sack full of mushrooms. It looked past her at Theron, and jumped excitedly, gesturing. Deciding it wasn't a hazard, she lowered the spray, and to her dismay, it grabbed her sleeve with a green, blunt clawed hand and dragged her through the trees... Only minutes later, she was on the edge of trees, and before her stood a small village. There were of the hooded creatures doing various tasks, and they all stopped to stare. Instantly, a wolf appeared from a hut, wearing a top hat and holding a cane. It walked up to her on its hind legs. "Hello, human! I'm the mayor of this village. Welcome to our world!"

Are you going to render this as a comic or something (if you have concept art.... :)

Maybe. Perhaps over the summer, if I have time. :) Concept art is there because the creatures int he story are so strange, and hard to imagine (and describe, sometimes). ^^

Hahaha! Peodophile monsters... ^-^ I will read the following chapters.

woot! Found time for Chp. 3 ^^ -------------------------------------------------------------------- Materia shrunk back from the wolf, eyes narrowed. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think I can trust anybody in this dream," she growled at him. "I've already been attacked by a supposedly friendly creature, and I've only been asleep for maybe ten minutes..." The wolf flattened its ears back and wrinkled its snout. He looked less comical now than before, with its wolfish grimace. He narrowed his black eyes in what seemed to be cold fury. "Theron." "How do you know about Theron?" She queried cautiously. The hooded creatures were still watching her from all around. The wolf adjusted his top hat with one large paw. "Oh, I know all about Theron... We all know Theron. They're horrible creatures, and we're constantly having to put up with them. They LOVE meat..." he trailed off sourly. "The question is, how did you survive Theron? That's quite a feat for a newcomer." He motioned for her to follow him, and thankfully, he didn't grab her sleeve like the green creature had. She followed him at a distance, making it clear she was on her guard. "You can relax now, human. Theron won't dare come into the village during the day." The wolf reentered his hut, and Materia followed. It was surprisingly spacious inside, at least ten feet in diameter. There was a haylike plant scattered across the floor in heaps, and no furniture to be seen. The wolf discarded his cane next to a particularly large heap near the far side of the round building, and layed down on the springy material in a position only a quadruped could manage, betraying the canine in him. "I killed Theron," she stated coldly, and poked warily at a lump of the plant stalks before stiffly sitting down on them. The wolf raised its eyebrows, but seemed unimpressed. "He won't ever be coming into the village, day or night." "No, human, you don't understand. ALL of the aminemico are Theron. Every last one. And they ALL," he repeated, "like meat." "Wait- what do you mean? Aminemico?" She furrowed her brow, and opened her purse, which she somehow managed to keep hold of all through Theron's chase. She had, however, lost the cap to her pepper spray. She carefully put the bottle in her purse as the mayor sighed. "You really are hopeless. Granted, you are swifter on the uptake than some of the humans who came off that tree... That big white beast you say you killed? We call them aminemico, just like you are a human and I am a warg. And in turn, their names are Theron, just as mine is Seath and yours is..." "Jackie." "...and as yours is Jackie," he said, looking at Materia strangely. "At any rate, they all call themselves Theron for whatever reason. Why, because of them, our kidnappers are often nicknamed Theron. Creatures simply vanish overnight..." He trailed off again, ominously this time. "So, Seath, how do I wake up?" "Wake up?" Mayor Seath looked at her with unbelievably dark eyes. "There's nothing to wake up to, Jackie. You ARE awake." He looked away from her piercing gaze, glancing at anything but her. One of the green people ducked into the hut, wielding a black iron pot of something. The wolf- no, warg, held up a paw. "Not now. And that's MAYOR Seath to you," he added to Materia as an afterthought. She raised her eyebrows as she edged away from the creature. It was now holding the pot out to her. Inside, she could just see the surface of something that looked uncomfortably like a skinned rabbit. She shook her head at it, and it clutched the pot to its chest for a moment before retreating from the hut. "Of course I'm not awake. I'm asleep at home in my bed, and I was going to get up and go to the mall, but I fell asleep again. This is a dream. It HAS to be." As she said it, she actually believed it a little bit. Mayor Seath finally looked at her again. "Look. Jackie," he said slowly, and sat in thought for a second before continuing. "I was hoping you'd put two and two together on your own. It's always so much less of a shock if you figure things out before I have to tell you... Can't you remember anything else, after you planned on going to this mall of yours? Anything you even seem to THINK you can recall?" "Well, I think before this dream, I had one about driving my car... I think I got into an accident in my dream," Materia stated, convincing herself that it was a dream. Mayor Seath sighed. "Jackie... It wasn't a dream. You got into an accident. And you woke up here. I don't fully know myself how it works yet, but it seems like when somebody gets hurt in your world, really bad, they fall off one of the trees in this world like a ripe peach." "It was a dream. I can't be hurt, I'm dreaming. Dreams don't hurt people," She said stubbornly, and a little histerically. It was a dream. It WAS a dream. It was a DREAM, not a real accident. "Of course it was a dream!" The warg climbed to his feet, and his top hat fell off. He crossed the small hut with no hat and no cane, just muscle and fur and claw, and whapped Materia across her left cheek with a large rough paw. She shut up instantly, and he glared down at her. A red blush appeared where he had struck her, along with four raw lines where his claws had scratched her skin. "You were panicking," he said calmly, and stepped carefully back to his hay heap for his cane, stopping on the way to snatch his hat off the floor. "You say dreams don't hurt people. Did that hurt?" He asked, his back to her as he stared at the wall, through the wall, into space. Materia didn't respond. Her cheek throbbed. "Did it hurt when Theron was crushing you against its back, Materia? Did it hurt when you were running from him, gasping for breath?" "How do you know my name?" she breathed, terrified. This wolf, this WARG, it had seemed almost harmless at first, but now it looked as if it wouldn't hesitate to attack her if she showed weakness again. "I know many things, human." Seath turned his head, and Materia could see a beady black eye peering at her. "You carry a strong name. Materia..." His eye seemed to glaze over a bit, as if recalling a stale memory. "'Of the Human World.' A powerful name indeed." Materia stared in growing horror. She rose from her plant seat, and backed out of the hut. Before she was all the way out however, Mayor Seath called her back. "If you want to live, I suggest you come back and sit down." Materia complied. She wasn't sure if he meant she would die in the wilderness, or if HE would kill her, but either way... She sat back down. Seath, however, remained standing. "There's a way things work here. While you are unconscious or whatever you are in the Human World, you are very much awake and alive here. If you die in your world, I believe, you die here, and visa versa. If you were to recover in your world, however, and return to consciousness... Your soul, or whatever it is, would return to your world, and your body here would dissolve and return to the tree of your origin." "So you're saying that if I can survive here long enough, I'll wake up in my world?" Mayor Seath chuckled unpleasantly.

rawr, two in two days. I'm living on the edge. -------------------------------------------------------------- "I never said anything of the sort. IF you wake up in your world, you leave this one. IF. However, about half the time, the humans who come here either die or live the rest of their lives here. Many people NEVER return." He turned around to face her."But before you freak out on me again, let me explain something else to you about this world... Names are very powerful here. I am Seath, wolfish. Aminemico are Theron, hunter. You are Materia, Of the Human World. Our names give us unique... Oh, what's a good word. Traits? Possibilities? Maybe... Our names offer a new route in our future. It's hard to explain, and I think you'll have to learn it the hard way. Often, parents name their children after a trait they already have, to keep things simpler... But in the long run, Aminemico are great hunters because they are Theron. I am Seath because I am wolfish. The Slaafks out there, they are free slaves because they are Slaafks. "Humans don't usually have to worry about this though. They just name their offspring as they please. I think the last human through here was a Tavor........ which is..." His expression darkened, and he began walking in his unsteady way towards the hut's entrance. Materia quickly leapt after him. "WAIT! So, you say names are powerful here? How is my name supposed to help me?" She followed him out of the hut into the daylight. She shaded her eyes from the sun, and ignored the stares of the Slaafks. "I don't know if it CAN help you," he said loudly, not looking back, and still hobbling. He was leading her down what seemed to be the main "street" of the village. Huts of all sizes lined its sides. Dust clouds rose off the dirt path with his every step. "This has never happened before. Usually their names mean random useless things like 'son of so and so' or some manner of animal or just plain nonsense... But YOURS, Materia, directly ties you to your world. Of the Human World. Perhaps that means you can find a hole in the way things work, and forge a path back." "So I might have a bigger chance at getting back than anybody else?" They turned around a largish hut on the end up the "street," now walking along the forest edge on a much smaller path. Strangely enough, out on the forest side of the path, a mailbox stood. It was much larger than the mailboxes Materia was used to, but the same shape. A tiny, almost comical red flug was sticking up on the side. Mayor Seath walked over to the box, and removed his hat. He pulled a few folded pieces of paper from the inside of the hat, and reached up as far as he could to open the box and jam his mail inside. Jam, because it was stuffed full already. "A little help, please?" he asked impatiently, trying to close it without losing any papers from inside it. Materia stayed where she was. "You didn't answer my question." "What was your question, again?" He asked bitterly, finally closing the mailbox. "I asked if that means I have a better chance-" she screamed and leapt back at a glimpse of pale skin and thin clawed legs coming at her. She scrambled back and ran into the hut on the end, hiding her face in her arms. She hadn't killed Theron! She had only knocked it out, and now it was killing Mayor Seath, and then it would-! "You can stop cowering now," came the warg's now familiar voice. "If you freak out like that every time you see something new, you're definitely going to die before you reach the next town over." She lowered an arm momentarily, before screaming at the top of her lungs. A huge white creature stood with its great head no farther than a foot away from her face. It had a four foot long beak, with sunken eye sockets and temples. Its eyes were yellow and pupiless, glowing in their dark pits. One could hardly tell if it was a feathered skull with luminescant orb eyes, or if it was plainly the head of an extremely bazarre and emaciated creature. Fingerlike protrusions stuck out of the top of its beige, jagged feathered head. It opened its enormous gray beak, and she saw what lay inside- a set of healthy pink gums with jointed needle teeth sticking out. As it opened its mouth, its teeth, flattened against the gums, rose up and forward, framing a deep purple, raspy looking tongue. The creature narrowed its eyes at her, and rose a long, thin foreleg. It pinned her against the hut, and leaned in close. It's foot looked like a parrot's, with two toes facing forward and two facing back. Now, one was on either side of her neck, and the other two were firmly held against her collarbone. "Stop your screaming!" It hissed coldly through its teeth. It had an airy voice, like storm winds. It somehow seemed insubstantial. Materia shut up instantly, but her eyes were still bugged out. She could see more of it now- three more legs held it aloft while it roughly pressed her to the building with a fourth, but she could see two more smaller limbs clutching what appeared to be a leather bag, between the front and rear pairs of legs. "Now keep your trap closed after I let you down. I have an awful headache, and I'm very hungry." It released her from its grip, and prowled over to the giant mailbox with a strange gait. And no wonder, she thought in shock as she saw the rest of it. It had a very long supple back lined with jagged spikes. It's feathers vanished after its collarbone, replaced by tough leathery skin. Two very large spikes jutted from the shoulders of the front two legs, which were by far shorter than its hind legs. It also had a very long thin tail, lined with spikes of all sizes, arranged in matching quadruplets around its diameter. "You're early," remarked Seath, who didn't seem at all troubled by the creature's sudden appearance. It easily reached the box, and opened it up. Papers came falling out in torrents, landing in a leather bag the creature was holding open with its middle legs below. A full leather bag sat on the ground between its hind legs. "It seems some manner of creature has been preying on a town near the beginning of my route. A lot less mail, a lot less time. You," it said, pointing at Materia with a foreleg, while the other pulled papers from the box. "Go get me something to eat. I'm famished." It stared pointedly at her with a look she definitely caught. Go get me food, or I'll procure some myself. Namely you, sweetie. "Um-" Materia started, but Mayor Seath cut her off. "Seispes, I will be happy to provide you with accomodation. Would you like betail? Slaafk?" Materia went pale. They fed people to this monster? The Seispes didn't look up. "I'm sick of Slaafk and betail. It's all I ever get from you." "How about..." the warg thought for a moment. "Aminemico? Surely you don't see much of that." This time the huge beaked head swung the mayor's way. "And how did you manage to destroy this aminemico? For surely it isn't alive. You can't handle living aminemico. They'll consume the guards set to watch them after fooling them with their trickery." It stared coldly at Seath, with obvious doubt. "I didn't kill it. SHE did." The mayor pointed a toe at Materia, and she tried to disappear into her environment, wishing only to be invisible from its emotionless gaze. "I blinded it with a, uh, potion, and then I baited it so it ran into a tree. And died." She said awkwardly. The warg and the Seispes looked at her. "Sounds to me like the tree killed it," said the warg after a while. "To me as well," the Seispes agreed, closing the leather bag and tying it with anoter strip of leather. "Aminemico DOES sound enticing to me right now, though. Send some Slaafks to fetch it for me." It then commensed in opening the other bag, and rifling through countless bundles of papers and envelopes. Mayor Seath hurried over to Materia and grabbed her roughly with his free paw, gripping her wrist surprisingly strongly. He pulled her ack around the hut onto the main path. "That's the Seispes. Don't make it angry, keep it well fed, and make sure you get your mail in the box on time. That's all you ned to know about it. However... I'm going to see if it'll escort you to the next village over. Now that an aminemico is dead, Theron will be on the lookout for you. You must avoid them if you want to survive. I take no pleasure in feeling like a murderer, so I'm not about to send you into the forest alone." "But why do I need to go to some other village? Can't I just wait here until I wake up?" The warg called over a Slaafk and ordered it to drag Theron's corpse to some field, and turned and addressed her. "There are those of us with talents who are assigned to stand by near these human trees. We are supposed to aid you and keep you safe from predators like the aminemico. If they eat all of you, their numbers will boom and all of us except for those like the Seispes, who have natural weapons and know how to use them, will die out. It is in our best interest to keep your kind alive. "I am gifted enough to know names if I concentrate on the person enough." "That's how you knew my name wasn't Jackie!" "Yes. But I am one of the weaker ones. There is an elder in the next village who might be able to teach you how to use your name to your advantage. His name is... His name isn't important. At any rate, that's the Seispes' next stop, and since we're treating him with fresh aminemico, I think he may oblige and escort you there. "Sounds dangerous. I don't trust that Seispes thing." "Good. You shouldn't. But don't tell it that." He leaned in close, muzzle next to her ear. "If you'd like my advice... Don't trust anybody." "Anybody? Not even you?" The mayor smiled grimly. "ESPECIALLY not me. I AM a warg. Now, we better hurry along to the field and ask the Seispes for a favor."

*listens to blaring music with head on desk* I'm in good movie withdrawal... Need... to see... HP5... But I must wait until tomorrow evening! Though I'm fairly certain nearly nobody reads this here, it won't stop me from posting it. *stubborn* ------------------------- The warg marched Materia down the path, scattering Slaafks in their path. He led her to a largish field not far off. The Seispes crouched irritably in the grassy crop- it looked like wheat, but it was slightly bluish. A dozen Slaafks were in the distance, dragging the aminemico's corpse to the mailmonster. Seath shoved the girl roughly through the knee high grass towards the Seispes. "Go on," he murmered, poking her in the back with a blunt claw. She cleared her throat nervously. "Um, Mr.-" The warg whapped her hard in the back of her leg with his cane, and she remembered the Seispes was genderless. "Uh, Seispes! I have something I need to ask you about...?" The large beaked head turned slowly towards her. One eye focused on the body getting dragged closer by the minute, and the other turned on Materia. "Yes?" it hissed unpleasantly. She tried stepping back from it, but a paw met up with her back and she jerked to a halt. "Well, I was wondering if you could escort me through the forest to the next village... Once you've eaten your amin-n-nemico, that is..." The creature shifted its considerable bulk, and a hind leg slid out towards Materia. This time, she was able to leap back without a problem; the warg had stepped away as well. She looked at the foot that was only feet away from her now. Each claw was as big as her hand. "Well," The Seispes sighed. Hot, rancid breath seeped from its slightly opened jaws. "I suppose I haven't had aminemico for a while... But that doesn't mean I owe you any favors." It turned its attention towards its meal, which had finally reached the field. The several Slaafks that had delivered it dove away from the Seispes as it darted its head towards Theron's body. Its large gut was easily impaled with its beak, and just as easily sliced open. Fleshy intestines spilled out, and Materia covered her eyes. She could hear it tearing at the organs hungrily. It was worse than watching; she uncovered her eyes again, but wouldn't watch. The warg spoke up, then. "Well, you wouldn't be going out of your way, at all... Maybe we could procure another rarity for you the next time you're around?" The Seispes paused, and pulled its bloodstained beak from its meal, contemplating. "...It's a deal. But if you don't have another unusual food for me next time, YOU'LL be on the menu, along with the normal amount of Slaafks, Seath." He pointed a foreclaw at Materia. "And I'll hunt you down, too." Materia swallowed the dry lump in her throat, and shuffled towards Seath. The Seispes tore a couple big chunks out of the aminemico. Though large, there was very little flesh left on it. "When am I leaving? And how long's the trip?" She hissed at the warg. "We leave when I finish, and it'll take until tomorrow morning if we don't stop," the monster said after swallowing a mouthful of bloody meat. So the Seispes had good hearing... "Alright..." She muttered, brushing a small bug off her leg. It vanished into the tall grass. "Well, then, I guess this is it for us," Mayor Seath said in a fake cheery voice. "When you meet up with my superior, just keep these few things in mind. First, she really doesn't like humans, so try not to irritate her with your concepts and wants. Second-" "Wait, I thought you said it was a he!" "It's neither," the Seispes input indifferently, picking at the bones for every last scrap. "Like me, it is neither male nor female." "SECOND, he is a weary being. Amuse him and he'll be more willing to help you." The mayor looked her in the eye. He had that violent feel about him again. "I advise you to remain cautious at all times around her... He's not tied to his actions like we are. He can murder or save, damage or intervene, with no change in his fate. It would be wise to stay on his good side and watch his every move." "And how will this person help me? How will I know who they are? What's their name?" Materia asked intently, brow furrowed. She stared back at Seath, disregarding his wild aura. "He'll put you on track, whether it be a path of joy, or of death. And don't worry- you'll know you have the right person when you see them. Now get going!" The Seispes had finished, and stood on four legs, the sack of mail clutched in his middle legs again. Its head was covered in blood. Flies began congregating on its face, and the Seispes shook its head irritably to shoo them off. "You heard the warg, let's move!" it snarled, and shoved Materia towards the forest, in the direction the tree was. The Slaafks watched them pass, the Seispes periodically shoving Materia forward with its beak. They scattered in front of her, ducking into huts. They were obviously terrified of the Seispes, and for good reason. The creature pushed her into the tree line. The afternoon light vanished suddenly, replaced with forest twilight. Materia suddenly felt very loud in the silence. Leaves rustled in her wake, twigs cracked like gunshots under her feet... Her breathing was loud, like an asthmatic's. She was aware of how quiet the Seispes was being... She glanced back, and saw nothing but trees, and far off, a hint of sunlight and the village. She whipped her head back forward. Nothing but tree trunks and the shadows between them. "You aren't a very stealthy beast, are you," the Seispes' voice came from above. She looked up in the limbs above, where the Seispes perched easily among the leafy branches and squirrel nests. "If I weren't here, you'd probably be dead already. Pity..." it said, ducking it head down through the branches and sniffing at the air around her. "I haven't had human in a long time..." The Seispes dropped from the trees, making only as much noise as Materia did with each step. The monster's movements were silent and precise, and she envied them. "How do you stay so quiet, with the leaves and twigs everywhere?" She asked boldly. She was getting the hang of this otherworld, she liked to think. "Thousands of years of practise." The Seispes slunk on with the human behind it, only occassionally rustling the leaf litter. Wherever they went, though, the birds stopped singing. More than once, Materia heard a larger creature dashing through the trees, away from the Seispes. "You two footed creatures aren't built for silence. You're built to wield weapons, which," it said, glancing back at her, "it seems you are lacking. Unless there's something in that satchel to protect you." Materia looked where the monster did, and realized she was still holding her purse after this whole time. She opened it to see what she actually had. Some lip gloss, whatever was left of her pepper spray, a few pens, a school ID, her drivers' license... and her cell phone! She snatched it from the bag in a rush and flipped it open. The familiar screen glowed at her. "...What's that you have?" The Seispes said cautiously, narrowing its pupiless eyes. "My phone. It's a...... it's a magic piece of metal and glass made by humans. We talk to each other with them. We can be far apart and by pressing some of these buttons, hear eachother like we were standing face to face." While explaining, she punched in her home phone number and hit send, holding the phone to her ear. Nothing, not even a ring. She checked the screen again. No signal. Of course. "Judging from your expression, this 'phone' of yours isn't functional." Materia sighed, and put the phone back in her purse. "Judging from your tone of voice, you don't seem to care in the least!" She snapped. The Seispes snarled, and lashed its spiky tail hardly a foot in front of her face, making her stop dead in her tracks. "I don't care about you, girl. I care about my next meal. Don't pick fights you can't win." The monster kept on moving, and Materia, still wide-eyed, rushed to keep up. They marched in silence for a nearly unbearable amount of time, until the Seispes stopped suddenly. "We're taking a break," it said simply, and leapt into a tree, where it sprawled across a few trees' larger limbs. Materia crouched at the bottom, holding her stomach. "Mmm, what's wrong, human girl?" As if on cue, her stomach rumbled up at it. "I haven't eaten since this morning..." She looked up at the forest canopy. A night sky could be glimpsed among the leaves here and there. "Ah, of course. I always forget that you small things eat more often than I do." The Seispes made no attempt to leave the tree. Instead, it curled its tail up beside its hind legs and looked down at its traveling companion. "Well...?" She asked slightly irritably, after a minute. The Seispes lowered its head towards her. "Well, what? You don't expect me to hunt for you, do you?" It snorted in hoarse laughter. She sighed and curled up at the bottom of the tree, ignoring the beast above her. Arrogant snob... It acknowledged her need for food and disregarded it. She narrowed her eyes and looked off to her left into the trees. As she did, the monster dropped from above, like before, and dragged her to her feet with a foreleg, scaring her half to death. "At any rate, break time's over. Move! If we continue at this pace we might make it before noon..." it said sourly, pushing her so hard forward she stumbled and nearly fell. They walked in silence once more. As the night dragged on, Materia became more and more sluggish, stifling yawns and dragging her feet. Finally, the Seispes became fed up with her. "Wake UP! You puny, insignificant, foul, putrid creature!" The Seispes reared up on its hind legs, grabbing Materia with its front. It braced itself against a tree with one foreleg, holding Materia by the waist with the other. "Can you not walk?" it snarled at her, shaking her roughly. Materia was totally aware and awake when it stopped, and terrified to boot. The Seispes dropped her into the leaves bitterly, sinking back to four legs. "I'm not going to carry you there!" "Sorry!..." Materia flinched away from the monster in fear. They traversed the forest again, seemingly getting no closer to the village Materia was being sent to. Materia realized she knew nothing about the person she was to be meeting there. "Um... Seispes? What's this person I'm going to see like? What's their name?" "Oh, it's something special, it is..." the Seispes growled darkly. "That horrid creature is the reason I can't just EAT you." "But what's his NAME? Nobody's giving me his name!" "That's because it HAS no name, idiot!" The Seispes rumbled angrily, stalking along. "Long ago, perhaps, but nobody remembers it now, not even me." "No name...? How can somebody have no name..." Materia said softly to herself. "We're almost there... I smell the city," the Seispes said only moments later, and fell silent, stopping where it was. "Um... aren't you coming?" Materia asked tentatively. "You, uh, have mail to deliver, right?" The seispes sighed, and glared at the bag he held like it was the enemy. "Damn it... It isn't like any mail actually reaches the city people... and there's never mail going out... DAMN IT! I hate you both!" It roared, frustrated. Materia flinched, holding her purse like a shield in front of her. It sighed, beak sinking down in resignation. "Yes, you filthy human, I'm coming..." It swore more under its breath, getting edgier and edgier as they neared the city. "What did you mean... when you said no mail reached the people and no mail came out?" She asked, breaking the silence. "I meant what I said. No mail ever reaches who it's addressed to in this city. It all goes to IT. And no mail ever comes out, because it goes through IT first... It's not somebody you want to cross," the Seispes hissed darkly, apparently reminescing. Materia clamped her mouth shut, afraid to make the monster angrier with her. Suddenly, they broke through the underbrush into morning light. The Seispes hesitated at the forest's edge, as Materia covered her eyes in pain while they adjusted to the dazzling day. "Your mail." She heard the Seispes growl, and looked up quickly. Somebody stood several yards in front of them, on a flagstone street. Uniform stone structures stood side by side, with only a few feet between them. Quite a bit away stood an enormous building that reminded Materia of Greek temples. She jerked back to reality when the Seises tossed a fat bundle of paper, tied together with twine, over her head at the figure. The person caught it deftly and held it one handed, glaring at Materia, who was once more swallowing the lump in her throat. It was the person, she was positive. It stood at normal human height, about six feet. A large dark brown braid fell over the left side of its face, obscuring an eye, and the rest hung loose, neatly curtaining its shoulders. It wore a strange, loose black robe wrapped at the waist with a tattered red sash. She saw a hint of a sheath at its left hip, but it must have seen her looking, and moved its arm- and the letters- to block her view. "I've never known you to travel with company, Seispes." The voice was cold, and carried across the distance between them easily. It was powerful, but lacked passion that even the Seispes had in its voice. "I've never known you to care," the Seispes snorted back, tossing its large, lethal head. "About anything. At any rate, I'm getting well payed for bringing this... HUMAN to you." "Being payed by who, if I may ask?" It was polite, but as the Seispes had said, it didn't seem like it cared at all. "Seath, naturally. Never known him to do ANYTHING himself. Sounds like somebody else I know." The Seispes stared pointedly at the robed person. "...Very well. Leave my city. The human stays. Before you leave... I've left a dead fowl in the usual spot. Hold up the bargain..." The person smiled blandly at that, but the Seispes took several steps forward, facing them. "One of these days... When you forget, just ONCE to hold up your end... I'll be here. And I'll ransack your city, and I'll kill travelers. But I'll keep you alive with me, and you'll be the last thing any of my vicitms see. And then, we'll see how long it is before you're shunned from your own world!" The Seispes ranted in its face. The person didn't flinch. "You know as well as I do that I won't forget. You also know that the people here already fear me too much to retaliate to anything I do. The price of immortality... Leave my city, Seispes. I've grown tired of you." The Seispes glared for a moment more, before turning around and sauntering back into the trees, only glancing at Materia, who was left standing alone with the nameless person.

OMG OMG I WANT MORE MUST HAVE MORE ow ow ow you made me read XP and that is a hard thing to do witch means your are doing a GREAT JOD!!!!!!

Thank you!

np