LaQue

Journey [SporkoBug & LaQue]

“Warbeasts,” Haki said with a worried expression.

Haki got up and quickly put out the fire and dispel the fairy lights. Momenta later Adrian appeared and looked at Haki with a blank expression which means that the situation isn’t good.

“Two Warbeast, three humans,” Adrian said than took a glance at Chance, “and a vampire. Red eyes, pale skin, strange aura, similar to the boy. You need to get out of here. We can't fight them. Get in the air and I’ll draw them away.” Adrian turned to leave but got immediately tackled by a strange-looking man. He wore a long back robe with a pattern that resemble roses. He had blood-red eyes, two long fangs, and long pointy ears.

“My my what a prize I’ve stumbled upon. So the rumors are true three more things for me to collect,” the man said. He slowly looked at everyone until his eyes landed on Chance. He licked his lips and moved towards the haft vampire.

Haki tried to move and grab Chance but was quickly pinned down by some large force. He looked to find two large wolf Warbeast pinning him down. “Hello brother, what are you doing so far from home?” the Warbeast said.

“Diana, Atari take…,” Haki tried to yell but a quick punch to the stomach knocked the air out of his lungs. He coiled in pain but did his best to hide the pain. In response to his stress, the forest started to become restless. The wind began to flow. Trees rocked back and forth. The sky a dark gray.

Journey [SporkoBug & LaQue]

“Impressive yourself miss Nessa,” Haki said.

Haki finished unpacking the supplies for dinner just in time for Adrian to return with a bundle of wood. He set up a makeshift campfire then let Haki got started on dinner. Adrian was never a good cook, he could cook to survive but anything beyond that was out of his skill set. Letting Haki do his thing, Adrian turned to his maps and notebook where he kept all their information. He sat down at a nearby tree and turns to his maps. They were almost haft a day off course and he feared that the man would disappear without a trace. For now, thanks to his informant and some enchanted paper, the man was still sited within the city.

“So what does everyone want for dinner, I just plan on making stew but is there anything anyone is craving,” Haki asked the group.

Adrian shook his head and returned to his work. Haki then turned to the other and waited for their answers. He then suddenly remembered about Chance and got out a glass vile of a red liquid. “Chance I have some blood if you need it. It's human blood but I also have other kinds if you prefer something else,” Haki said showing the haft vampire the vial of blood.

“Oh I also have something for…,” Haki was interrupted by echoing howls of wolves. Haki growled in the direction of the sound and turned to Adrian who already went to scout.

“Everyone brace yourself I don’t think those were normal howls,” Haki said.

Journey [SporkoBug & LaQue]

Haki pulled Chance into a tight hug and quietly whispered, “Chance’s it’s not you’re fault. I’m not blaming you so there’s no need to apologize.”

He then let go of chance, looked right into his eyes, and said, “you don't need to blame your self for what happened. If anyone is to blame it's Diana but again it's not your fault."

Haki let out a long sigh then turned to the others, “lets camp here for tonight. The griffins probably have had enough excitement for one night. We can pick up in the morning. I’m sure Adrian expected something like this would happen anyway”

Adrian rolled his eyes and chuckle. He did hire someone to go ahead and scout for the man just in case something happened. He wasn’t surprised that Haki already knew but it always amused him. “Right I’ll set up camp. You take care of the boy.” With that last statement he headed off into the forest to gather supplies for a fire.

“I’ll set up some lights for us,” Haki said than claps his hand together. He summoned a fairy light and released it into the air. The glowing orb of various hue bounced around in the air before splitting itself into a dozen tiny lights that lit the entire area. He then started to unpack supplies from the griffin and got ready for the night. Normally he wouldn’t dare camp during the night because of the dangers, but the meteor shower somehow calmed the forest making it unexpectedly safe.

Journey [SporkoBug & LaQue]

Haki watched as Chance attempted magic with morbid fascination. He was curious about what form of magic the haft vampire would produce. While watching he felt a sudden chills run down his spine as Chance’s magic started to radiate from his hands. Suddenly a sharp pain penetrated his chest causing the griffins to panic. Diana sensed the magic from Chance and flung both of them off then caught Haki before he could fall.

“CHANCE!” Haki yelled. He broke free from Diana’s grasp and dove for the vampire. Once he was in arms reached Haki pulled chance into his grasp.

“Don’t worry I got you,” Haki said just as Diana grabbed them out of the air before setting them down on the forest floor.

---

“My magic requires me to make something called a mana zome where I can freely manipulate space. It doesn’t take much to maintain but the initial cost can be significant if the zone is large. Because the zone travels with me so does the object I manipulate,” Adrian explains.

He was about to continue when Atari suddenly dove down. They quickly reached the forest floor where Haki and chance landed. They weren’t anywhere near their destination and would slow them down severely.

“Haki...,” Adrian felt something was wrong and walked over to examine his companion. He then grabbed Haki’s hand and saw little burn marks on them. “What the fuck happened?” Adrian signed.

“Nothing,” Haki said quickly.

He waved at Nessa before walking over to chance, “are you okay?”

Journey [SporkoBug & LaQue]

The spell only lasted a few minutes before all the colors started to fade. “I don’t see this all the time but I do have the ability to see it at will.”

“And no sorry you can not become a Druid. It is something you are born into not become. And to be frank you wouldn’t make a very good Druid. I gave up a lot of things when I became a Druid the biggest thing being the ability to hurt others. As a Druid I’m a watcher, an observer, I can only interview when something threatens the world. So most of the time I’m a pacifist. I don’t fight, hurt people, or defend myself by attack others. So technically I’m at your mercy if you decide to attack me. Well, you’ll probably get malled by Atari and Diana but I digress,” Haki said, “as for nature magic. You can try and see if you have any affinity for it.”

Haki reached into his bag and grabbed a small container. It was filled with seeds and small dried flowers. He picked out a small acorn then returned the container to bag.

“Here show me your palm,” Haki said than grabbed one of the chance’s hands and place the acorn on his palm, “focus your energy into your palm and the acorn. Whatever happens to it will tell us your magical affinity. If it grows then you have an affinity for nature, if it burst to flame it’s fire, if it levitates than air and so on.”

---

“Spacial manipulation allows me to change how objects and people interact with space. I can give an example,” Adrian said than clapped his hand together sending out an echoing sound. He then grabbed his journal and threw it into the air but instead of falling it stayed afloat in a fixed position next to them.

“I can also use it to teleport though only my self and only to places I can see but your magic is far fascinating,” Adrian mumbles as he watched the little star fly off.

Journey [SporkoBug & LaQue]

“Grumpy is an understatement,” Haki said with a laugh, “I’ve met grumpy and you are beyond that.”

“You're not doing yourself any good for being grumpy. There is much of this world you haven’t seen even if you’ve lived hundreds of years. So lighten up, it makes the whole nearly dying thing and all of the bad stuff much easier to deal with. And I’m speaking as someone who risks their life for a living and has seen the worst that humanity has to give,” Haki said. For a long time, he was in the same spot was Chance. The world becomes very dull when you have seen everything the world has to offer, good and bad.

“I know how about you see the world through my eyes,” Haki said than place a hand over Chance’s eye and chanted a spell. He then removed his hand causing the world to change. The meteor shower became twisting ribbons of color. Streams of emerald, gold, and crimson danced and twirled in the cosmos. The plants below glowed a brilliant green with thousands of different hues. The once empty sky was now filled with all forms of spirits creatures of the vail that glided through the air.

“This is how I see the world. It’s a lot less dull if you know where to look,” Haki explained hoping it would impress the vampire.

---

“Enchanting is not actually my specialty. I specialize in Spacial Manipulation. My enchanting skills are that of a novice. I can only enchant the one enchantment that allows for telepathic communication anything beyond that is too hard. If you want to talk about Magic ask Haki. between me and him he is much more adept at it than I. A little hard to believe but I am the muscle and he's the brain,” Adrian said, “mostly because he’s as dangerous as a butterfly. Not to say that he is weak but he would never hurt anyone."

“Speaking of magic. I’ve heard that yours is particularly impressive,” Adrian said.

Journey [SporkoBug & LaQue]

“Hm, that’s one way to put it. Bring a druid has its perks but it’s not as amazing as people are lead to believe. We are indeed more connected to nature than most which allow us to see through the eyes of druids of the past and the millions of creatures that ever lived which means sometimes I can't tell my memories from the memories of others. It's also rather lonely. Most of the people I meet only want my Druid’s Blessing which is a whole other mess,” Haki said.

Haki stayed quiet and listened to Chance’s story. He figured that Chance was tricked into becoming a vampire. Though he didn’t remember the man being a vampire which begs the question if they were searching for the same man.

“Enough of that, so tell me more about yourself. How did you ended up here? Are you always this gloomy and vengeful? Now that I think about it what does a vampire actually do? I haven’t met many must less talk to one. Most of them want to kill me for my blood because is apparently sweeter and has medicinal properties. Do you have to drink blood? Is it a survival thing? Or a craving? Speaking of which I have some blood with me if you’re ever running out. I also have normal food too if you’re ever hungry. I mean push come to serve I have more than enough blood to spare,” Haki said with a laugh.

“Now that’s a very long story. Haki and I have been together since birth. We were both born into slavery and were sold as a pair since we refuse to leave each other. He’s the closest thing I have to a family so let’s leave it at that. I rather not dig up old memories,” Adrian said. He didn’t want to end their conversation on such a note but the memories left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Journey [SporkoBug & LaQue]

“Really now?” Haki started, “Seeing that you are at least a few hundred years old. Something like this mustn’t be new to you. I mean there have been countless in the past...actually don’t mind my rambling it is still an amazing sight.”

After a short pause, he started talking again, “Did you know to us Druids meteor showers are messages from the departed that warns us of an upcoming event. If you know how to read them then they would warn us of impending disaster or tell us of an event that will soon come about." He was never the one to read the stars but met many in the past that could. It was fascinating to him but he never showed a talent for it so he never tried learning.

“So Chance, why did you join us? What did this man do to you that cause so much hate?” Haki asked.

Adrian was left with more questions than answers after hearing Nessa's response. What did she mean by escape pod? Why did she call the meteors showers ‘my stars’? He was further taken back by said she trusted him. It was a foolish thing to trust someone especially when you just met them. He learned that the hard way after escaping from his owners many years ago.

“I see. Thank you for telling me. Is there anything you want to know about me or my companion?” Adrian said.

Journey [SporkoBug & LaQue]

Haki held Chance close to making sure he didn’t fall as he did his best to keep Diana temper under control. He had planned on making a truce with Chance but now that was out of options. Diana's temper was much more explosively than he had originally thought which soiled much of his plans. He let out a long sigh and looked to the moon and the thousands of stars that dotted the sky. He always loved the feeling of flying. It was his time to relax and calm himself.

“I’m sorry about Diana. She can be rather temperamental and possessive,” Haki said. He then noticed a twinkle in the sky and looked up to see a small meteor shower. Hundreds of small light fell from the sky lighting up the entire area in a blaze of light.

“Chance look a meteor shower,” Haki said pointing to the sky, “At least there is some beauty in this cruel world.”

“Technically yes I cam able to enchant the same ring but I don’t usually see the same person twice and if I do they usually want to kill me or Haki,” Adrian explained, “in our line of work we make a lot of enemies so it is much easier if I make new ones. Since we’ll be traveling together I might as well make you a more permanent one. I will have to do that once we land if you would like one that is.”

“If you don’t mind me asking. I would like to know how you came to this world,” Adrian said, “and of course I am willing to tell more about myself. Information for information I always say.”

He then notices Haki pointing up to the sky and looked to see a meteor shower, “my my what a sight to behold.”

Journey [SporkoBug & LaQue]

“Okay don’t panic and you’ll be fine,” Haki said then grabbed Chance with both hands by the waist and hoist him up onto Diana. The griffin let out a low growl but stopped when Haki cleared his throat. He then got on himself sitting right behind Chance.

With one hand holding on to Chance and the other on the rein he said, “Up Diana.” With that command, Diana stretched her wings and launched into the air with great speed. They reached a hundred meters in seconds before Diana dropped into a nose dive heading straight for the ground. They free-fall for few a seconds before Diana leveled out and glided through the air. The entire time Haki held on to Chance as tight as he could while trying not to fall off himself. “Well then. Could’ve been worse,” Haki said with a nervous smile.

Then almost instantly, Diana started to pick up speed and altitude. “DIANA stop this nonsense,” Haki yelled causing a small shock wave to radiate throughout the air. Diana almost stopped distantly and looked slightly terrified.

“I swore to god,” Haki said under his breath. “Chance are you okay?”

Adrian watched as Diana launched into the sky and perform a nose dive to the ground with a smirk on his face. Seeing that his companion was already far away he signaled Atari to fly. They took off into the air much slower than Diana and flew a little way aways form Haki. After becoming stable in the air he turned to Nessa and offer her an identical ring to the one before. He was never a big talker but didn’t want to ride in complete silence seeing as that would be rude.