[u]Phrenesis[/u]

The night was cold and dark, only a sliver of moonlight penetrated the clouds offering some little natural illumination but not enough to see clearly. A tall and imposing figure sat atop a midnight black horse, his face and body cloaked in shadow as his penetrating gaze surveyed the poor souls brought before him, shackled and locked, covered in dirt and clearly mistreated. A small fat and grubby man emerged from the darkness that lay shrouded over the path and he approached the tall and unmoving figure before bowing slightly and in a thick heavy accent he barked “As requested I have brought them to you, oh chaotic one.” 

The tall figure turned, moonlight showing his face for a brief moment and revealing his pale and scarred completion. His left eye was also covered by a few tatty bandages, showing clearly that the eye itself had been removed, leaving a gaping and messy hole which was clearly becoming infected despite the rough bandage covering it. “So you have” responded the figure calmly and coldly, offering no words of praise or other indication of his feelings to the grubby man. 

Silence dominated the scene for a moment as the grubby man shifted uncomfortably, obviously afraid to ask for the payment he so desperately wanted. The tall man dismounted from his horse and strode over to the two huddled and shackled figures, taking pause to examine them in the moonlight as best he could. The first was a man with shoulder length dark hair, clearly on the wrong side of his youth as grey was dotted throughout his hair and his face showed the wrinkles that came with age. He also had a large bruise on his face from where he had been obviously struck, the mud covering his baker’s style clothing showed that he had also been dragged for some distance with little care to his wellbeing. Next to him was a young woman, clearly much younger and slightly better treated, though also covered in some dirt and a few signs of abuse here or there she seemed mostly unhurt. 

“What do you want with us?” begged the shackled man, the sound of fear clear in his voice. The tall one eyed man ignored him and gazed intently at the woman before moving his face towards hers, causing the shackled man to cry out and attempt to struggle against his restraints and add “leave her! Leave my daughter alone”. In a few quick and powerful movements the tall man had unlocked her shackles and pressed something into her hand as he moved his face intently closer to hers. 

Just as it appeared the man was about to kiss her he froze and stared intently into her eyes. Suddenly from every tiny orifice in the man’s face a black oozing gas seemed to expel itself and rush into the woman’s face, the whole process taking no more than a few seconds or two before the tall one eyed man collapsed backwards into the dirt, leaving only the woman stood as a strange bemused expression soon covered her face. 

The fat grubby man rushed forwards, obviously concerned and confused that his employer had collapsed. He crouched next to the man who lay in the dirt with his one eye staring dully up towards the moon and poked at him once or twice before it became clear that he was indeed dead. Suddenly the young woman took a small step forwards and with the knife that the tall man had placed in her hand she slit the fat man’s throat in one smooth and graceful movement, his beady little eyes bulging for a split second before his writhing body collapsed next to that of the tall man, blood spilling out across the dirt as a meek gurgling sound escaped him. 

From the shadows it the treetops above a raven cawed several times as it floated down from a branch where it had been watching and waiting, landing softly on the young woman’s shoulder before staring at the man who remained shackled and crouched over. 

“Now father…” began the woman, her voice now sounding cold and distant, a sarcastic twinge in her tone “don’t worry about anything, everything will be fine – after all it’s time for the fun and games to start” Suddenly a huge grin spread across her face as she began to gently stroke the raven on her shoulder with one hand, the other tracing her own body shape as if to explore the new form that he, Phrenesis had taken. 

[u]Fritz[/u]

The small stone skipped rapidly across the still lake, ripples spreading out from each time it bounced through the water before it disappeared in a little splash. Sat on the bank atop a fallen tree was Fritz, several books spread out around him with bits of paper and some pencils littered about. He was bored after spending the last hour or so intensely studying the chemistry book that he didn’t quite understand, the many chemical chains and diagrams combined with the small text now starting to give him a bit of a headache and so he had started to skip stones across the surface of the lake. 

Skipping another stone he grinned as it bounced clean across the lake and to the other side, landing on the opposite bank and giving him the idea to explore around to the other side. Packing up the books and things quickly he stood and stretched out before jumping down from the log and beginning his short walk around the edge of the lake, his eyes wandering all around as he did so. He whistled a little every now and then as he made his way, occasionally stopping to examine something here or there that peaked his interest. He soon found himself on the opposite side, and after that he found himself following a little trail that lead away from the lake and through a large field before it eventually lead him to a small looking wooded area he wasn’t familiar with. He paid little attention to where he was going and just instead focused on enjoying himself. 

The small wood itself looked relatively uninteresting, though since he had not explored it before and he guessed that he had enough time to wander through some trees before having to return for the evening meal, he decided to investigate and see if he could find anything interesting or of note. Making his way into the woods he felt a little strange and tingly, or almost like he was being watched by something or someone. Pushing the feelings aside he continued onwards, ignoring the strange sense of foreboding that passed over him briefly as he made his way into the shade of the trees before leaving the little trail as he followed his feet forwards at his whim. 

The wood itself seemed normal as any he had been in before, some insects and slightly interesting plants caught his attention, but nothing out of the ordinary. After quite some time he started to wonder why he hadn’t found the edge of the wood yet, after all it was only small and he had only been walking in more or less a straight line and should have come out at the other side by now. He started to worry a little as more time passed, if anything the trees seemed to be getting thicker and more densely packed together – and he hadn’t seen the trail at all since he left it upon entering the woods, and sometime in the next few hours the sun would be going down. 

Picking up his pace Fritz began to run slightly through the trees, trying to turn as little as possible he soon began to realise that he had somehow gotten hopelessly lost in the woods that had appeared so small yet obviously wasn’t. More time passed and he soon began to think he would be stuck in the woods for the entire night, his mind going to how much trouble he would be in when he did manage to return. 

As the surrounding forest began to get darker and darker, the sun starting to set slowly above the treetops Fritz suddenly found himself in the strangest little clearing he had ever seen. It was only small but the trees all seemed to stop, no vegetation inhabited the centre of the circle at all and the only thing there was a small puddle of shiny clear looking water. Reflected in its very still surface was the full moon slowly rising into the nights sky, however it looked different somehow, magical almost. Peering into the pool intently at the reflection Fritz gasped slightly, totally in awe at the sight before him. He reached down with his hand brushed the surface of the pool causing ripples to break the perfectly flat surface. Suddenly everything around him rumbled and shook almost like how he would imagine an earthquake to feel, only with a much more jarring and bizarre feeling. He soon started to feel very dizzy and found himself pitching forwards, the small pool now shining more brightly than it was a moment ago. He fell head first into the pool, the liquid rushing forwards to meet him as it surrounded and engulfed him, smoothing out any feelings or sensations he had and rendering him unconscious as if he were in a very deep sleep. 

Unknown to Fritz he has just passed through one of the very few portals that connects the human world to the world of Emanseria during one of the brief moments it was active. His adventure is about to start.

[u]Sparrot[/u]

Sparrot sat waiting, as he had been instructed to by his love, his small eyes tracking all movement in forest that he could see, watching and waiting for the one his master had instructed him to wait for. As he waited he fixated on a small fae creature that was moving its way through the tree-branches closer and closer to him. It was a small fairy type creature, Sparrot was sure of it, having seen quite a number of them in his time that looked similar. [i]'Like tiny feet-walkers, they are, but with wings and a much smaller size Most silly looking'[/i] he thought to himself. His love ignored such creatures almost completely and as such Sparrot was content to do the same - that was until the little creature came within a few inches of the bird and had the audacity to smile and wave with its tiny tiny hand. 

Lightning quick and without warning Sparrot struck out with his beak stabbing at the surprised fae several times in rapid succession, causing severe and fatal trauma to its face and torso. The cruel act failed to register to the bird, its mind simply urging it to strike again and again before the creature lay dead and Sparrot stood over its body before beginning to feed. It tasted horrible, thick, hot meaty and peppered with the unsavoury flavour that always seemed to accompany the magical creatures he fed upon, it also led him to realise that he wasn’t hungry and was beginning to make himself feel nauseous by gorging himself. Without a thought Sparrot nudged the little fae’s body off from the tree branch causing it to plummet to the forest floor far below. [i]‘One down, one lot more to go’[/i], thought the bird in its muddled little head before it turned its attention back to the task at hand. 

[i]‘Where, oh where are you - Aergar Wald’[/i] thought the bird, singing to itself slightly as it did so [i]’My love wants to meet you, and so I make it so, oh Aergar Wald’[/i].

It had been several years since the bird had last set its eyes upon the woodland fae he was searching for, but Phrenesis had assured Sparrot that by waiting exactly here he would be able to spot the Imp some time or other, and when he did he could let him know that Phrenesis had a use for his services once more.